If Obama and McCain had NASCAR uniforms

A writer named Bob Bader has a proposal in the Lodi News-Sentinel:

....for the sake of simplicity we should more clearly identify the primary players, their partners and sponsors. To start with, the various individuals who have their snouts in the public trough should be obliged to wear uniforms of a sort. The politicians' clothes might resemble those worn by NASCAR drivers and their crews, hard hats and all. Their political affiliation should be clearly marked by big "Rs," "Ds" and "Is" displayed on their chests sort of like the big red "As" that outed some less-than-distinguished persons many years ago. The politicos' sponsors' logos would be prominently sewn on their clothes and caps. That way, when you are out hustling their favors and votes on one matter or another, you'd know who else is kissing their rings to garner favors — it'd say so right on their uniforms. That way, you could temper your ardor based on the competition or lack thereof.

This is similar to something I once saw in "Good" magazine a couple of months ago.
Here's a picture of Obama and McCain with their NASCAR-style logos:

Click here to see the full-size original. Look at the logos that appear on BOTH uniforms. Bailout/bankrupt companies, one and all. Billions worth.

And people say that corporate sponsorship doesn't pay off....

Take The Liberal Test

To your right, just below the "About Me" verbiage, is an invitation to take a test. Hit the green button, and get back to me.
Here's a direct link, just in case I ever move the button to someplace else.

If you don't score at least 40% on this test, please lean back from your computer. (All that dripping saliva harms the keys....)

Fortunately, many of the people who ruined the word "liberal" in the U.S. are now calling themselves "progressives", since words aren't the only things those people screwed up.

For more links on how the word "liberal" has been corrupted, you can click here.

Liberal. It means "one who is willing to leave everyone the hell alone". It comes from the same root as Liberate, Liberty, Libertine (heh !), Libertarian, and several other currently unfashionable terms. A good, solid, honorable word.

HT to Chris with the Feline Enumerators for the link.

Barack Obama's Accomplishments As President Of The United States Of America

Before I get to Barack Obama's Accomplishments As President Of The United States Of America, I want to send out a thank-you.
Thanks to Coalla (sp?) King, my 11th grade typing teacher at North Sunflower Academy, I can type for hours and hours. A lot of my posts are waaaay too long.

So back in September, just as a joke, I wrote some posts that were nothing but headlines.

Barack Obama's accomplishments as president of the Harvard Law Review.

Barack Obama's accomplishments as a community organizer.

Barack Obama's accomplishments as a law professor.

Barack Obama's accomplishments in the Illinois State Senate.

and finally,

Barack Obama's accomplishments in the U.S. Senate.

The joke was that instead of my usual logorrhea, there was nothing at all beneath the headlines. Obama hadn't done much of anything other than reach for the next rung on his career ladder.



Dr. Ralph, who I keep expecting to appear on these pages morphed into some kind of bald, cat-stroking James Bond villain, gamely wrote comments under each post as fast as he could, I ridiculed The Doctor's contributions as quickly as I could, the fun lasted for a few days, and now those posts are among the leading Google results for Obama's accomplishments as lawyer, senator, teacher, organizer, and Messiah who came to save his people from their sins.

So..... 20 to 30 years from now, middle schoolers will have to write about Barack Obama's Accomplishments As President Of The United States Of America. They will go to the internet, or its future equivalent.

The internet is the first draft of history. Start commenting....

The New Quentin Tarantino Movie

Inglorious Basterds.
That's not a typo.
It's the new Quentin Tarantino movie.
Yes, that's Brad Pitt.
Other people play Hitler, Churchill, Joseph Goebbels, etc.
I'll probably see it in the theatre twice, and then buy the DVD.

Happy Presidents Day

Happy Presidents Day

Here's a list of the United States presidents and first ladies that I've seen, along with the circumstances. I've given each encounter a numerical grade based on nothing more than the general vibe of the experience.

Let's start with the most recent president. In February of '08 I saw Barack Obama when he spoke at Reunion Arena in Dallas. This was the infamous appearance where he got applause for blowing his nose. Having re-read my post about the event, I'm proud to say that I didn't get suckered in, although I had a lot of respect for his rhetorical skills. I'm also proud that I contributed $12.50 to help him defeat She Whose Name Is Not Spoken in the Democrat primary. But Godalmighty, he's an economic disaster.

Score: 7

I used to manage the Bookstop store at Preston & Forest in Dallas. (We were bought out by Barnes & Noble, who eventually closed all the locations or converted them to B&N stores.) This store was in the same shopping center where one-time presidential candidate Ross Perot got his infamous $10.00 haircuts. In 1992, Perot was often in our store saying things like "Ahm lookin' fer yer books on guvment waste !" We'd go find whatever he was looking for, and two nights later the little man would be quoting the books on television. We were drunk with power.

Another celebrity of sorts often came into the same store to kill time. George W. Bush was then owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, and he often came in the store and spent a lot of time in the History, Current Events, and Biography sections. He always bought more than one book. You can say a lot of things about the man, but illiterate he's not. In person, he's a really nice guy. We had more than one conversation about how 3rd baseman Steve Buechele's batting average was improving. Somewhere in my house I've got an autographed GW Bush business card that I've been trying to find for about 10 years.

Score: 9

I've never seen the current Secretary Of State, or her husband.

Score: 10 (out of gratitude)

The guy before The Clintons was George H.W. Bush. I saw him throw out the first pitch at a Texas Rangers baseball game in 1991. Papa Bush was captain of the Yale baseball team, and played first base. But the pitch he threw made it only 2/3rds of the way to home plate before bouncing in the dirt.

Score: 4

My mother went to high school in Merigold, Mississippi, and graduated in a senior class of maybe 7 people. One of these 7 was a guy named Larry Speakes. After running a few newspapers, Larry became press secretary for senator James Eastland, and then worked his way up to press secretary for president Ronald Reagan.

Larry's now known for two quotes: "I would dodge, not lie, in the national interest," and "Those who talk don't know what is going on and those who know what is going on won't talk."

In 1981 or 82, my father bought a used Winnebago motor home for about $2,500.00
That was about $2,000.00 more than it was worth. We worked on it for a few weeks, and decided to take it on a shakedown cruise.
From Mississippi to Washington D.C.
My mother made arrangements with Larry for us to get a private tour of the White House. My father's farm co-op gave us a 50-pound bag of Mississippi Delta rice to take to the Reagans. Larry's father was still the town banker in Merigold, and he gave us two fishing poles that he wanted to give his grandsons as birthday presents.

So my parents, two sisters, brother and I drove a ramshackle motor home all the way to the White House parking lot, got out of it with a 50-pound bag of rice and two fishing poles, went through security, and carried the stuff inside. We didn't get to go into the Oval Office, but Larry took us to the press briefing room where they have all the news conferences. Somewhere there's a picture of me behind the podium looking very un-presidential.

We got to see Reagan's helicopter land in the back yard of the White House. He was a very tall, very healthy looking man. The helicopter prop wash was blowing everyone's hair all over the place, but Reagan's didn't budge. He waved at us. I don't know if Nancy ever cooked the rice.

Score: 8

Before I worked at Bookstop, I managed stores for a Mom & Pop company called Taylors Books. I once had to help work the door for a Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter book signing when they came to Dallas. They were publicizing their book "Everything to Gain: Making The Most Of The Rest Of Your Life". The line of customers zigzagged down every aisle of the store, out the front door, around the store, and into the back alley. Carter seemed nice enough, and Miss Rosalynn seemed mildly sedated. Their publicist would hand them a book, the former president would write "Jimmy &", and his wife would write "Rosalynn Carter". They could get it done in less than 8 seconds per copy.

We had plenty of copies of the book. Acres of it. But the Carters could only stay for about two hours. Even at 8 seconds per copy, some customers were going to be turned away.

This would have been in 1987 or 1988. Reagan had been in office for most of his second term by then. History had already passed judgement on the Carter presidency, and that judgement wasn't very kind.

The people waiting in line to see JIMMY CARTER OF PLAINS GEORGIA with their own two eyes? They didn't care. These were die-hard democrats, the last of the true believers. Jesus Christ himself was inside Taylors Books, turning water into wine, and I was the one who had to keep letting them in at the rate of only one customer every 8 seconds.

This was my first experience with The Herd Mentality. It wasn't pleasant when Jimmy and Rosalynn left us to do radio and TV appearances.

Score: 2

I never saw Gerald Ford, although I had one supervisor in the early 80's who thought I should go to his wife's clinic.

In April of 1973, my parents got us up in the middle of the night to go to the new Naval Air Station in Meridian, Mississippi. Richard Nixon was going to be guest speaker at the opening of the base. Daddy fired up the station wagon, Mama threw some peanut butter and crackers in the back seat, and we took off.
(This was near the peak of the Watergate scandal, and the only places that Nixon could appear without being booed were military bases in the Deep South.)
When we got to Meridian, we'd eaten all the peanut butter and there was already a mob in the open field that surrounded the podium. The best we could have honestly done for seats was about 75 yards away from the president. But we are not a shy family.
Daddy saw some empty chairs in the second row of the VIP area, and we started plowing toward them. The seats had signs on the backs, reserving them for assorted high ranking officers. My parents STEPPED OVER THE ROPE BARRIERS WITH THE SECRET SERVICE MEN WATCHING, and led us to the chairs.
We got to hear Nixon speak from about 10 yards away. When the speeches were over, my mother was impressed that Pat Nixon got down on her knees at the edge of the stage to shake hands with a woman in a wheelchair.
Daddy's theory on why we got away with it: The Secret Service knew that any family smelling that much like peanut butter couldn't be a threat to the president.

Score: 8

I never got to see LBJ, but I saw his wife Lady Bird get the BRIT International Award of Excellence for her work in preserving Texas plants and wildlife. Fort Worth's own Van Cliburn played the piano and sang for her. It was a great night.

Score: 7

That's all the presidents and first ladies that I've seen. Hope you enjoyed hearing about it. I've enjoyed remembering it.

The Octuplets, Part 2

Cartoon from here. I'd planned to burn several gigabytes of text comparing the cost per child of the octuplets to the cost per household of the latest stimulus giveaway. Never mind. The picture says it all.

Caption Contest - E.T.'s Finger edition

I need a caption for this picture.
Jos Metadi won last week's Caption Contest.
Many thanks to the Grammar Nazis for pointing out three errors in one sentence.
Apologies to Flee for misspelling her Blogger Name.
More apologies to everyone who knows me. I just couldn't help myself with this one. What the heck were they thinking?

The Octuplets, Part 1

Here's CBS on the now-infamous octuplets:

The mother of newborn octuplets and six other children collected almost $168,000 in state disability payments for an on-the-job back injury that she and a doctor said was worsened by pregnancy, according to state documents released Thursday.
Nadya Suleman, 33, became pregnant with all 14 of her children after a 1999 injury during a riot at a state mental hospital where she worked, state Division of Workers' Compensation documents show. She stopped working, but had the six older children during that time, notes Early Show correspondent Hattie Kauffman.
"There has to be some question," says CBS News Legal Analyst Trent Copeland, "about whether or not a woman who's disabled and collecting over $150,000 worth of disability payments is really authorized to receive those payments if she's too disabled to work, but not too disabled to have at least a half-dozen children."

But wait, there's more !

Experts say America needs legal restrictions, like some European countries have. "I really do think we need laws setting limits on the number of embryos implanted," said law professor Lori Andrews. Chung added: "The difficult part on putting restrictions on the number of embryos transferred is that it will limit the ability of the physician and the couple to individualize the care." But it's how to care for these 14 children that has so many concerned right now.

And even more, from The Pasadena Star-News !

The birth of octuplets to a Whittier woman could spur the creation of new state laws regulating in vitro fertilization.
State Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, is considering introducing legislation that would prohibit the state from paying medical bills for multiples born using IVF and would regulate fertility procedures themselves to prevent multiple births.
"He's got a very big concern about the cost to taxpayers," said Aanestad spokesman Bill Bird.

Let's contrast all of the clamoring for more laws, more regulation, and more government interference in just about everything, with this next gem. Sorry, but I'm requring you to click here. Get back to me.

1) What would be the proper level of government interference in the life of the admittedly loony octuplet mom, vs. any person impacted by the last example?

2) Name 3 politicians you would trust to get it right.

A humane proposal for the benefit of Charles Ballard

Charles Ballard, a Rust Belt economist, believes that government spending can create jobs.

Of course government spending creates jobs. For government. And the friends of government who have contributed less to government than they hope to receive from government.

But at what cost to the big picture? And how many years until these jobs are created? There aren't that many of them that will begin this year - not in the rough drafts of the bill, anyway.

However, there is one worthy job that I would join hands with other taxpayers in creating.

To hell with whether or not it would stimulate the economy. Someone in a new government postition created specifically for this purpose needs to buy Charles Ballard a new suit.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant

Here's a link to some Obama statements about "transparency" in government.

Here's a link to an outfit called "The Sunlight Foundation", which is wondering why Congress is keeping their spending boondoggle shrouded in secrecy.

Now it's time for Texans to boycott Texas

We've got more problems in our peanut butter.....

(CNN) -- The Texas Department of State Health Services on Thursday ordered the recall of all products ever shipped from the Peanut Corporation of America's plant in Plainview, Texas, after discovering dead rodents, rodent excrement and bird feathers in the plant.

So in the spirit of last year's anti-China alarmism and calls for boycotts, I'm now calling for all Texans do the right thing and boycott all Texas-made products.

"It's For The Children"®

Senator Charles Schumer, on the subject of whether or not you care

Here's Senator Charles Schumer, on the subject of whether or not you care about the stimulus bill having more pork than the Chicago stockyards. (The video only lasts 16 seconds, unlike this Schumer quote, which I hope will last forever, and be widely mocked wherever caring people gather to give a damn.)

It's time to boycott Georgia

Here's CNN, on the congressional investigation into a Georgia peanut plant accused of knowingly covering up a salmonella outbreak:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The president of a peanut company and a plant manager accused of knowingly distributing contaminated food refused to answer questions posed by members of Congress on Wednesday, citing their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

The testimony of Stewart Parnell, president of the Peanut Corp. of America, and Sammy Lightsey, manager of the company's Blakely, Georgia, plant, before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee lasted less than 10 minutes.

Remember the good old days before trucking was de-regulated in the 1980's? It used to be more difficult and expensive to ship products across state lines into Texas. Back then, we didn't have to worry as much about contaminated peanut butter being shipped in from Georgia.

This salmonella outbreak is the legacy of "Free Trade". A loss of lives, a loss of jobs, and a loss of income for Texans. Do you think we'd have this problem with peanut butter if it had to be produced in Texas, with Texas inspectors reviewing the peanuts through every step of the peanut butter process? Wouldn't you be willing to pay more, just to know that your peanut butter was from Texas peanuts, grown by Texans, buttered by Texans, and inspected by our own Texas bureaucrats?

Because of Georgia's obvious Quality Control problems, don't you think it's time to boycott all Georgia products?

No?

Well think about that next time you read something like this.

An Octogenarian's Blog

Why couldn't this lady have been my social studies/history/economics teacher ??
Her site is called "An Octogenarian's Blog", and it is pure, undiluted greatness.

She makes me look like Al Freakin' Franken.
She name-checks Milton Friedman and Frederick Bastiat, both in the same post.
Her name is Anne Cleveland, AND SHE'S 80 SOMETHING YEARS OLD ! ! !
Wouldn't it be fun to sneak her into a Tim Geithner press conference, and then let her go medieval on him with the cameras rolling ?
Here's her "About Me" page. Here are the links to the newspaper articles written about her.

I love the internet. Love it, love it, love it.
Why do I get the feeling that if I live to be 80, I'll still be ranting to whoever will listen?

An Inconvenient Thermometer

We have a new record-breaking cold temperature in Maine.

It hit fifty degrees below zero last month.

This ties the record for coldest temperature ever recorded in New England, a record set in 1933.

Pics of global cooling from Freeborn John. Pics of schizophrenic Time Magazine covers from Globalwarming Lies.

Snowe, Collins, and Specter take a hit for the team

A group called The National Republican Trust Political Action Committee believes that there's a significant difference between The Daddy Party and The Mommy Party.

That's why they're trying to withold Republican campaign funds from (and support Republican challengers to) Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Snowe, Collins, and Specter were the only three Daddy Party members to vote for the Senate's version of the stimulus package.

Well, to paraphrase Voltaire, if Snowe, Collins, and Specter didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent them. Sooner or later, the thing was bound to pass, and it had to have some Republican help to get there. If debate had continued, various Republican goodies under the stimulus Christmas tree would've been slowly nixed until we got a genuine "stimulus-only" bill, and that wouldn't have helped anybody's donors.

Snowe, Collins, and Specter don't run again for 6, 4, and 2 years, respectively. They represent predominantly Blue states, so they're most likely to come out re-elected, especially since most voters have the same long term memory capability as guppies. No one will ever know if they volunteered to slut themselves out this way, or if someone further up the pyramid pimped them out.

Keep an ear open for harsh and savage criticism of Snowe, Collins, and Specter from fellow senate Republicans. Listen closely. Have you heard anything yet?

Chances are, you won't hear a peep. You don't send three people out to take a hit for the team, and then publicly criticize them for their willingness to do the dirty work.

Once again, please repeat after me: There is no difference between The Daddy Party and The Mommy Party. None.

If your economy has "performance" issues....

This is from Reason magazine's audio/video club, and it's priceless.



With a tip of the hat to Tim Lebsack at the Dallas County Libertarian Party blog.

Rahm Emmanuel - The Latest "Whitey" Nominee

It's happening again.
It's Groundhog Day.

Can someone explain to me, using little-bitty words that I can understand, why it is that so many people near the top of the Obama administration don't believe they should have to pay taxes? Why do they all want to spend your money instead of their own?

(Ahemm.....) Could it be that they don't believe their own rhetoric? Maybe way down deep, they believe that they're the best judge of how their paycheck should be spent?

This time it's Rahm Emmanuel. He's been living at the home of a lobbyist, and not paying taxes on the "imputed income" from that arrangement.

(The lobbyist has Rahm Emmanuel listed as a client, along with Emmanuel's Mommy Party Congressional Campaign Committee. That's a secondary problem that everyone is too busy to worry about.)

This is becoming tiresome. When I created The Whitey Award for "Eliminating Government Waste By Not Giving Government Any Money", I had no idea that I'd need a playoff system.
So Rahm Emmanuel is now a nominee.
Remember when, just 3 weeks ago, candidates for this award could demonstrate some false modesty and say "Oh, it's an honor just to be nominated...." ???? Remember that innocent era?

Well, it's not that way any more. It's not an honor for anybody if we have to nominate everybody.

The Ron Paul Page-A-Day #4

Here's the 4th installment of the Ron Paul Page-A-Day, in which I supply a section of Ron Paul's "The Revolution: A Manifesto" for your enlightenment and commentary, and to help sales of the best political book ever written.
In the previous installment, the good doctor explained why his campaign exceeded everyone's expectations (Hit the Ron Paul Page-A-Day tab below). In this excerpt, he gives a hat tip to one of his early role models.
Enjoy.

People seem to think I am speaking of principles foreign to the Republican tradition. But listen to the words of Robert A. Taft, who in the old days of the Republican Party was once its standard-bearer:

When I say liberty I do not simply mean what is referred to as "free enterprise". I mean liberty of the individual to think his own thoughts and live his own life as he desires to think and to live; the liberty of the family to decide how they wish to live, what they want to eat for breakfast and for dinner, and how they wish to spend their time; liberty of a man to develop his ideas and get other people to teach those ideas, if he can convince them that they have some value to the world; liberty of every local community to decide how its children shall be educated, how its local services shall be run, and who is local leaders shall be; liberty of a man to choose his own occupation; and liberty of a man to run his own business as he thinks it ought to be run, as long as he does not interfere with the right of other people to do the same thing.

As we'll see in a later chapter, Taft was also an opponent of needless wars and of unconstitutional presidential war-making.

This is the Republican tradition to which I belong.

Picture of Dr. Paul jump-starting the Constitution came from here.

My Economic Crisis Story (as requested by Governor Tim Kaine)

I'm still getting emails from Barack Obama. (I sent him $12.50 to help him defeat She Whose Name Is Not Spoken, and that got me on his mailing list.)

The man is still in campaign mode. They've sent out a video of Governor Tim Kaine explaining the Donor Compensation And Mommy Party Long Time Wish List Plan Economic Stimulus Plan.

Here's the Governor's request:

It's up to you to share and collect the real stories of this economic crisis. America needs to hear how this crisis is affecting your life and why the economic recovery plan is important to you and your community.You can record your story in the form below, on video, upload photos, or call a special toll free number to tell your story in your own way.
Once you submit your stories, they'll be made available to the public to show how critical it is to support the economic recovery plan.

Well, let me tell you about my day and my story, you rent-seeking bastards.

While you were trying to push through a "stimulus" plan that includes $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction, some co-workers of mine were laying off 80 great employees.

While you were advocating a freakin' joke of an "economic" plan that includes $75 million dollars for anti-smoking programs, and $400 million for STD and HIV prevention, I was cutting some 40-hour a week employees back to 32 hours.

When you were pushing a $400 million dollar subsidy for Global Warming Research, a great lady lost her sales job, and sent me an email asking that I keep her in my thoughts and prayers.

I don't pray much any more. But I do have thoughts.

I think you con artists should do us all a favor. Call in sick tomorrow. And the next day and the next. Stay home through the end of the year, and work on not paying your taxes. Stop muddying the waters. Come back to what we laughingly call your "work" when the recession is over.
We'll all get back to work a lot faster if we can keep you out of our pockets.

Submitted to Obama's "Share Your Economic Crisis" page on 2-9-09 at 8:50 p.m.

And Now For Something Completely Different - A Journalist LIkes Wal-Mart!!!!

The guy in the picture is Charles Platt. Mr. Platt went undercover from his usual gig at Wired magazine to work at Wal-Mart, an experience he wrote about for The New York Post.

Some people, usually community activists, loath Wal-Mart. Others, like the family of four struggling to make ends meet, are in love with the chain. I, meanwhile, am in awe of it.
With more than 7,000 facilities worldwide, coordinating more than 2 million employees in its fanatical mission to maintain an inventory from more than 60,000 American suppliers, it has become a system containing more components than the Space Shuttle - yet it runs as reliably as a Timex watch.

Mr. Platt obviously didn't get the memo. Wal-Mart is supposed to be 100% evil, right?

....Considering this is a company that is helping families ride out the economic downturn, which is providing jobs and stimulus while Congress bickers, which had sales growth of 2% this last quarter while other companies struggled, you have to wonder why. At least, I wondered why. And in that spirit of curiosity, I applied for an entry-level position at my local Wal-Mart.

This will be the good part. Here come stories about employees being chained in the back rooms, forced to work off the clock while Simon Legree wannabes spit on their Bibles.

Getting hired turned out to be a challenge. The personnel manager told me she had received more than 100 applications during that month alone, chasing just a handful of jobs. Thus the mystery deepened. If Wal-Mart was such an exploiter of the working poor, why were the working poor so eager to be exploited? And after they were hired, why did they seem so happy to be there? Anytime I shopped at the store, blue-clad Walmartians encouraged me to "Have a nice day" with the sincerity of the pope issuing a benediction.

Yeah, well, in some places with new stores, there are more than 20 applicants for each job. But that's because the masses don't know better, and haven't been exposed to the blessings of giving their pay to union bosses.

.... I sat at a table that was covered in untrimmed fabric under a protective layer of sticky transparent vinyl, like a couch cover. I'd seen better-looking decor at firehouse bingo evenings. Was Wal-Mart going out of its way to emphasize its commitment to cost-cutting? I guessed that the utilitarian ethic was so deeply embedded, it was just taken for granted.

I've been to the Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville Arkansas three or four times. I've been to the Canadian headquarters in Toronto about as many. This guy, Charles Platt, has definitely been in some Wal-Mart offices. The furniture makes the North Sunflower Academy cafeteria look like Tavern On The Green. If they had nicer furniture in their offices, I bet they'd be unprofitable enough to qualify for some bailout money. The Fools ! !

....A week later, I found myself in an elite group of 10 successful applicants convening for two (paid) days of training in the same claustrophobic, windowless room. As we introduced ourselves, I discovered that more than half had already worked at other Wal-Marts. Having relocated to this area, they were eager for more of the same.

These employees simply don't know better. They've been brainwashed. They were graduates of the American school system, and of course weren't qualified for..... oh, never mind.

The article is excellent, and worth reading. I can promise you've never read a Wal-Mart piece like this one. When you get a chance, please read the whole thing.

But I've got to include Platt's closing paragraph:

Based on my experience (admittedly, only at one location) I reached a conclusion which is utterly opposed to almost everything ever written about Wal-Mart. I came to regard it as one of the all-time enlightened American employers, right up there with IBM in the 1960s. Wal-Mart is not the enemy. It's the best friend we could ask for.

Charles Platt is a former senior writer for Wired magazine.

How To End An Ice Age? Sin

Here's National Geographic, on the possible origin of the Noah's Ark/Flood story:

Researchers generally agree that, during a warming period about 9,400 years ago, an onrush of seawater from the Mediterranean spurred a connection with the Black Sea, then a largely freshwater lake. That flood turned the lake into a rapidly rising sea.

Please read that paragraph again, very carefully. You WILL be tested.

Let's try filling in the blanks.

Researchers generally agree that, during _ _______ ______ about 9,400 years ago....

Did you fill in the blanks correctly? Did you say "a warming period"? Good. Let's try another section.

Researchers generally agree that, during a warming period about ______ years ago....

Very good, class. There was a warming period 9,400 years ago. Here's a nice picture of Mount Ararat, the mountain where Biblical scholars believe Noah's ark came to rest after the great flood.

Let's discuss what caused this flood. Please pick the cause you think most likely.

a) Sin

b) Climate cycles caused by natural fluctuations in the environment, the earth's core, sunspots, and other natural causes.

c) Adam and Eve's insistence on driving a Hummer, plus Cain and Abel's arrogant refusal to recycle.

d) Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble had a massive carbon footprint, but didn't have a cap-and-trade system.

e) Al Gore had not yet been born.

f) We don't have a freakin' clue.

Regardless of what you think about the cause of the glaciers melting 9,400 years ago, people found a way to blame themselves or other people for the resulting flood. (Genesis 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them." etc etc etc....)

We like to believe that the universe is all about us, whether it's a comet in the night sky (omens), the location of planets influencing our luck (astrology), or the earth getting warmer or cooler and causing floods or ice ages (religious flood stories, or the cult of anthropogenic global warming).

The reality? We really wish that the weather was all about us.

Not Welcome In Kansas Any More

Darwin and Lincoln have their 200th birthday coming up on Thursday.

From Unfairlybalanced.com

The Pelosian Heresy

This person has more control over your debt level than almost anyone alive.
Good Lord In Heaven.



Here's wisdom on how STD Prevention will stimulate the economy.



And here we are promising a "Pork Free" Stimulus Package, which seems like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it?????

Iowahawk on Obama's cabinet

Iowahawk.
Often imitated, never duplicated.

This is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Your share of the stimulus package

Mommy Party senators are feverishly working to get a few Daddy Party senators on board with the stimulus package.
They will be succesful.

But, you ask, what was the purpose of the earlier "Hell No" votes against the stimulus package in the House of Representatives?
It lets the Daddy Party say they were against it before they were for it. Nothing more.


If they were to vote against the stimulus, their states might not get their allotment of swill when it is dumped into the trough.


This thing is a done deal. Start buying land, gold, silver and other precious metals. Dollars are about to be worthless.

But what if you don't have any money to purchase land, gold, silver or other precious metals? What if you're one of the many Americans with tons of debt, which is one of the many factors that brought on the recession?

Great news ! We're going to get ourselves out of the recession by adding additional tons of debt ! (Most of the actual spending in this bill won't take place this year, but we must act now !)

At a cost of $937 billion, with only 138 million taxpayers in the land, your share of this abortion is $6,700.00. (Oh, you don't believe in paying taxes? Or maybe you work very hard to find as many tax deductions as possible? It's good to have you here anyway. I get so few Democrat politicians on this site.)


For a cynic, this is a great time to be alive.

The picture of "Uncle Sam's Empty Head Showering Dollars From Above" came from here.

Is Hilda Solis worthy of a "Whitey" nomination?

The nominees for "The Whitey" keep pouring in.
Click on "The Whiteys" label below for a thorough explanation of the prize and our current nominees.

Our latest Whitey Award candidate is Hilda Solis, President Obama's nominee for Secretary Of Labor, whose confirmation is being postponed because her husband hasn't paid all of his taxes.

Does this really count? Is Representative Solis worthy of inclusion in the same category as Daschle, Geithner, and Clinton just because her family's savings were hidden away under her husband's side of the mattress?

Another topic.... If you're an advocate for bigger government, more government spending, bailouts, giveaways, socialized everything, and economic stimuli (packaged and unpackaged), isn't it just a tad contradictory to claim any tax deductions? Don't your political views imply that Uncle Sam can spend your money more wisely than you?

The Ron Paul Economic Warning Montage, Mike Shanklin's Youtube page, and related matters

A guy named Mike Shanklin got in touch with me through Facebook, and sent me a link to his YouTube user page.

Wow.

This is pure, unadulterated greatness. I admire Ron Paul as much as the next (sane) person, but this guy hits a new level. The video I picked to post below is a compilation of all the times Dr. Paul predicted exactly and precisely what has happened. Can you imagine the dedication that this producing this video required, watching all those hours of C-Span and CNN and Fox?

You can dip into it anywhere. You'll learn two things: 1) Ron Paul was right, and 2) we need to find Mike Shanklin a girlfriend.

Caption Contest: Extreme Backhoe Edition

I need a caption for this picture.

Flea one lust weaks' capshun contist Flee won last week's caption contest, giving her back-to-back victories.

Congratulations are in order.

Someone is trying to get my funds out of that bank in Nigeria

I post these just to get hits from the other 800 million people who get Nigerian mail fraud emails. Every time I receive one, I add it to the post. When it gets too long, I start a new chain.
Don't even attempt to read this garbage. If you've found me through Googling any of these names, then welcome to my funhouse. I generally write about Libertarian Politics, and I spend waaaaay to much time ridiculing the Stimulus Package and Al Gore.

Now, on to the emails.....

This one has a better story than most, but the grammar is worse than mine.

THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR.
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIATINUBU SQUARE,
LAGOS-NIGERIA.
Our Ref: CBN/OHG/OXD1/2009
TELEX: CENBANK.
PAYMENT FILE: CBN/BEN/08.
Attn: Please PAYMENT NOTIFICATION OF YOUR FUNDS.
Definitely, I am sure that the receipt of this email will be of utmost blessing to you. Firstly, I will like to introduce myself formally; I am Mr. Richard Walter, the secretary to Prof. Charles Soludo, The Executive Governor of The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). You are been officially contacted by me today because I was instructed to do so by my boss, kindly note that your Funds were Re-deposited into the \"Federal Suspense Account\" of the CBN last week, because you did not forward your Claim as the Right beneficiary. The Central Bank of Nigeria is the parent Bank of all commercial Banks here in Nigeria.

My boss the Governor, was visited in his office by some Gentlemen today, really these men were unexpected by him because their visit was impromptu. He had to ask them why they came to see him in person and they said that they were here to collect the Inheritance/ contract funds Bill Sum of (US$7,500,000:00) $7.5 million which rightfully belongs to you as due payment on your behalf.

At this development He asked them who authorized them to come down to Nigeria for the Collection of this Payment and they told him that you asked them to come and collect these Funds on your Behalf. In fact this was the biggest shock that this Bank has ever received so far because your Inheritance Funds is still in the \"Federal Suspense Account\" of CBN, yet you sent these men to come and collect this Funds on your behalf without notifying us.

We do not understand why you should send these men to come and Collect your Funds on your behalf. If actually you want them to help you collect your funds, you should have at least informed him officially as the Executive Governor of this Bank. Note that they actually tendered some Vital Documents which proved that you actually sent them for the Collection of these Funds. Honestly, it really shocked him that you took such a decision without his consent. Below is list of the Documents which they tendered to this Bank today:

1. LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION.
2. HIGH COURT INJUNCTION.
3. ORDER TO RELEASE.

Actually, these Documents which they tendered to this Noble Bank are a clear Proof that you sent them to Collect this Funds for you.Finally, He, Prof Soludo told them to come back tomorrow morning and they promised to come back.As the Governor of this Noble Bank, he was supposed to Release this Funds to them but he refused to do so because he wanted to clarify this from you first. KINDLY DO GET BACK TO ME WITH YOUR TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER, OCCUPATION,AGE,AND ADDRESS SO I CAN REACH.

Due to the Nature of his job, he cannot afford to make any mistake in releasing these Funds to anyone except you whom is the Recognized Bonafide Beneficiary to these Funds. Kindly clarify us on this issue before we make this Payment to these foreigners whom came on your behalf.Kindly direct your response to the private email address of my boss, Prof. Charles Soludo, The Executive Governor of The Central Bank of Nigeria CBN).below for quicker deliberation and response from him on the release of your funds to you.
Name: Prof. Charles Soludo
Phone:+234 8034627314
Email: centralbankof.nigeria@pisem.net
OR c.bankofnigeria@ymail.com
Yours Faithfully,
Mr. Richard Walter.
Secretary.TO THE GOVERNOR.CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIATINUBU SQUARE, LAGOS- NIGERIA.

STATEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY:The information in this email and in any attachments may contain confidential information and is intended solely for the attention and use of the named addressee(s). It may not be disclosed to any person without authorization. If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient you are not authorized to and must not disclose, copy, distribute or retain this message or any part of it.IMMEDIATE RESPOND NEED TO THIS

This next one has better grammar, but it doesn't do anything to get me excited....

Sir / Madam

Re: Next of kin to my late client Eng. Adams.

I am Barrister David Brimley, a solicitor at law; I am the personal attorney to late Eng. Adams, who used to work with shell - Development Company. Herein after shall be referred to as my client. On April 25th 2005, my client, his wife and three children were involved in a train accident in Japan during their visit to Japan which all the families were dead. Here is some news about the train accident:

Click on the web address:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042500187.htmlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4480031.stm

Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my client's extended relatives, but this has also proved unsuccessful. After several attempts to locate a member of his family, hence I contacted you. I am contacting you to assist me repatriating the money and properties left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposit were lodge. Particularly, the bank where the diseased had an account valued at [$25 million dollars] has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within the next official banking quarter.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relative for the past years, now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to my late client. Since you are a Foreigner you are capable of doing this transaction. So that the proceeds of this account valued at [$25 million dollars] can be paid to you, then you and I can share the money 60% for me and 30% for you, while 5% will be used to offset all the expenses incurred in the course of this transaction including tax and 5% for the poor in your country. I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up our claims. All i require is your honest co-operation to enable us seeing this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Please get in touch with me by my email and send the following information to me.
Your full name Residential address Phone and fax numbers to enable us discuss further about this transaction.

Looking forward to your prompt response. get back to me through my private email address:davidbrimley1@rediffmail.com

Best regards to you and your family.

Thank you.
Barrister David Brimley

Here's one that arrived on February 12th, embedded in a graphic, making it somewhat trickier to copy.


Dear Friend,
I am Mr.Salisu Omar a banker in ECO bank Burkina Faso
I contacted you now on a business deal of USD$7.5,000.000, to transfer to your account
The depositor of the said fund died with his entire family during the Iraq war in 2006.
The customer & his entire family died, unfortunately, leaving nobody for the claim. if we make this claim, we will share it 40%/60%.
If you are interested reply I will give you the full details.
Waiting for reply
Best regard,
S Omar

An older one that slipped past me, trying to exploit the Madrid bombing:


I am Mr. T.Patrick, Senior Staff, with a Bank here in Madrid- Spain .
I got your contact while searching for a reliable someone to contact for this transaction in regards to a business transfer for a huge sum of money in a dormant account. I need your assistance to transfer to overseas Nine Million, Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars Only (US$9,550.000.00).
I am seeking your humble assistance to provide either an existing bank account or set up a new Bank account to receive this fund, even an empty account can serve this purpose, or you help to seek an honest and, reliable businessman who can assist us. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that this transaction is being handled by me and my colleagues, who are also departmental heads in the same bank.

During the course of our auditing we discovered a floating fund in a domiciliary account opened in the bank in 2000 and since 2004 nobody has operated on this account, after going through some old files in the records we discovered that the owner of the account who is a foreigner died in Madrid Bombing of 11th of March 2004,without any traceable next of kin hence the dormant nature of the account and if nobody come to claim this funds it will be re- channel to government coffers as unclaimed funds.

If this proposal is acceptable by you, do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed in you, I await your swift response via my personal mail : (teddypatrickbanker@gmail.com)

Yours faithfully,

Mr. T.Patrick.

T. Patrick needs some emails from all of you, just to help fill up his day. Here's another one, retrieved from the Spam file. After you look at these for a while, you have to wonder why the all make the mistake of mentioning Nigeria, long after the phrase "Nigerian Email Scam" entered our vocabulary. Why don't they improve their odds by saying "Estonia" or "Eritrea", or even "Stimulus Package" ???

Dear Friend
I am John Enoh Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, National Assembly Chambers of Federal Republic of Nigeria I write to honorably request your assistance in helping to receive amount of money into your account forsafe keeping and for future investment in your country.
By virtue of my position as the chief supervisor of foreign contracts, thesum of US$25,000,000.00 (Twenty Five Million United States Dollars) is available in escrow account that I intend to transfer overseas through yourassistance as a foreign partner.This money is as a result of Over provision in the Federal government budget for unpaid contract amount to foreign contractors who executed contract in theNiger- Delta in Petroleum industry. As soon as the contract amount is paid to you, I will share with you 40% and60% for me, my share you will help me to invest in any profitable and lucrative business in your country or any other country that you will so advise.
You can reach me by return mail, including
(1) Your full names and Age
(2) Your contact address and country of Origin
(3) Your company's name (if any)
(4) Your confidential telephone (cell) and fax number
The above information will enable me brief you more details of the transactionand also start the application process/documentation that will lead to therelease of the funds to you through bank to bank transfer.
While waiting foryour quick response I remain your potential investment partner.Best Regards,Honorable John EnohN.B. FOR CONFIDENTIAL REASONS DO GET BACK TO ME THROUGH THIS EMAIL ADDRESSmailto:ADDRESSjohneenoh@yahoo.co.jp----------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through bangla.net,
The First Online Internet Service Provider in Bangladesh

Now this one I kinda like. It has the appearance of legitimacy, if read while drunk. It's too long for me to fix the sentence/paragraph breaks, so I'm just going to paste it "as is".

Mr. George Kevin. 17c Av.Ghilat Age:58 years Marrital Status: Married with 3 children Occupation: Banker Country: Burkina FasoTel: +226 70 84 88 34 Dear Friend, Please, I want you to read this letter very carefully and I must apologize for briging this message into your mail box without any formal introduction due to the urgency and confidential of this issue and I know that this message will come to you as a surprise, Pls this is not a joke and I will not like you to joke with it. Before the U.S and Iraqi war our client MR.Hassan El Mahdi who was a business man and also an oil supplier to The republic of Burkina Faso made a numbered fixed deposit for 18 calendar months, with a total value of Thirty million United State Dollars($m30 000,000)only in our bank.Upon maturity several notices was sent to him, even during the war which began in 2003. Again after the war another notification was sent and still no response came from him. We later find out that the dceased customer along with his entire family(wife and children)died in a bomb blast that hit their home. You can read more about the bombings on visiting these: sites :http://http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.deaths/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6040054.stm After further investigation it was also discovered that the late customer did not declare his next of kin in his official papers including the paperwork of his bank deposit. And he also confided in me the last time he was at my office that no one except me knew of his deposit in our bank, So I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of($30 000 000)millions USD into your bank account within 14 working banking days. What bothers me most is that according to the laws of country a Burkinabe cannot come out and claim this fund.I don't want the money to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund. Therefore this is the reason why I contacted you so that our bank will release this money to you as the next of kin to the deceased customer. Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested.Upon the receipt of your reply and indication of your capability, I will give you full details on how the business will be executed and also note that you will have 40% of the above mentioned sum if you agree to handle this business with me while 60% will be for me. I don't want anyone here in our bank to know my involvement until you confirm this fund into your account and ask me to come over for the sharing as iindicated. Then after I will retire from our bank and come over to you contry fordisbursement acconding to the percentage indicated. therefore to enable theimmediate transfer of this fund toyou as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of kin ofthe deceased, Please, dont entertain any atom of fear because the transaction is 100% risk free. Be rest assured that I will provide all the necessary information which the bank may require from you during the process to make sure everything goes well and fast. Best Regards Mr George Kevin

Alisa In Wonderland wants you to think about something

Alisa In Wonderland, my favorite Israeli blogger, has posted an interesting thought experiment.
It's extremely rare for Alisa to type in English and when she does so, we should all take notice.
Ignore the Hebrew at the top of the post. That's strictly for home consumption.
She went to the hassle of translating all of this for your benefit, so get over there ! ! !

I think the answer to question "A" would be "eternity".
I think the answer to question "B" would be "about a year".

I have no idea what would happen on the West Bank.

Also, if you try to comment on Alisa's blog, the text will appear from right to left since it's designed for Hebrew. The three blanks above the comment field are for name, email address, and URL.

JUST 94 MONTHS UNTIL THE CLIMATE TIPS ! ! !

Check this out: A countdown clock that shows how many months we have before passing the "climate's" tipping point.

Note that they didn't say the Global Warming tipping point, or the Global Cooling tipping point.

It's just a countdown to the "climate's" tipping point, which, in spite of serious competition, is the most ignorant-assed statement I've ever seen gullible organizations sponsor (see list at the bottom of the clock page).

It started at 100 months, and now it's down to just 94.

PANIC ! PANIC ! PANIC ! THE CLIMATE IS GOING TO TIP ! ! THROW AWAY YOUR MONEY ! ! RUN NEKKID IN THE STREETS ! ! VOTE FOR ANTI-CLIMATE TIPPERS IN 2010 ! ! !

It's too bad they don't post the HTML for the clock, otherwise I'd have it in the sidebar with appropriate doomsday verbiage.

Here's The Devil's Kitchen on the topic of Climate Tipping, the motivations of Climate Tipping alarmists, and such like. Pleae, please, please hit that Devil's Kitchen link. It's glorious.

Dr. James Hansen, high priest of Anthropogenic Global Warming, comes in for well-deserved abuse in Satan's Snackbar. What most people don't understand is that Dr. Hansen isn't going to get any money to study AGW unless he can convince people that AGW exists.

(Anthropogenic Global Warming is the belief that we change the weather with our actions. It's very similar to the Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell belief system that homosexuality causes hurricanes to hit New Orleans.)

Thanks again to NickM with the Cat Counters for telling the world about THE DAY THE CLIMATE TIPS ! ! !

The Libertarian Blog Place

Here are a few things from today's Libertarian Blog Place.

Russell Roberts of the Cafe Hayek blog won't be shedding any tears over Tom Daschle removing himself from consideration for a Cabinet post.

Kevin Colby has a fun list of the items under the Stimulus Package Christmas Tree. The post is called "Pork Found In Senate Version Of Stimulus". In related news, there's been "Liquid Found In The Pacific", "Retirees Found In Miami", "Tax Dodgers Found In The Cabinet", and "Poo-Poo Found In The Latrines At Fort Pemberton".

Samizdata has Brian Micklethwait musing about cannabis. My favorite paragraph: "....it looks like cannabis may soon be legalised, but simultaneously nationalised. A bit like the Church of England with religion. This is the other way to discourage things, when outright banning has failed. As an agnostic about cannabis, I favour outright legalisation on libertarian grounds. As an atheist about religion, I have rather a soft spot for the Church of England."

Also on Samizdata, Johnathan Pearce wonders about the ethics of using tax money to pay for art. While you're over there, check out Nick M's comments on the subject, where he gives a shout-out to his debating buddy, Dr. Ralph. (Note to Nick: Put Counting Cats on the Libertarian Blog Place. You won't get but 10-20 hits per day from that site, but a lot of readers will save the link and keep coming back.)

Stephen Moore at "Point Vs. Counterpoint" believes that we're all living in a badly produced community theatre production of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". Stephen Moore's got a good point.

Christopher Manion at The LRC blog writes that because of the flood in New Orleans ice storms in Kentucky a lot of people drowned 55 people have died while Bush was on vacation while Obama tried to find cabinet members who paid their taxes and a lot of people still don't have homes and a lot of people still don't have electricity.

Also on the LRC....Kathryn Muratore reveals a new bill in the Maryland State Senate that would require certain government buildings (including schools !) to have a picture of the President in a prominent location. (If these shrines are constructed, look for school prayer to be a mandate, not a forbidden activity. All hail to thee, Obamessiah !)

And the UK Libertarian blog has dredged up one of my favorite Ezra Levant videos. Kids, if you're looking for a role model, be like Ezra.

An apology and a retraction

I made a major error a couple of months ago, and would like to apologize. I made the following statement:


So here's my prediction. We don't learn from the past. We're throwing huge amounts of our kids and grandkids' money at this problem. (The problem: investors have lost money at the Wall Street Blackjack table, and wish to be made whole again.) So far, that hasn't worked. The next thing we're going to do is shut down NAFTA and other Free Trade agreements. Then we're going to put prohibitive tariffs into place.


I was wrong, wrong, wrong. And I deeply regret what I wrote.



The freakin' idiots are going to put prohibitive tariffs into place FIRST. Then they'll screw up NAFTA. I got it backwards.

I can't believe I didn't catch that, and I deeply regret the error.


Seriously, here's the problem.....


1) The stimulus package has a provision which states that no foreign steel can be used in the upcoming infrastructure projects.
2) We've been buying a lot of steel from people who can produce it for less than we can.
3) If we make it illegal for American road contractors to purchase American steel, our former trading partners WILL make it illegal to purchase various items from us. Count on it.
4) The last time this happened was the result of something called the Smoot-Hawley tariff act, and it gave us the joyous decade called The Great Depression. It's hard to get an economy going when its illegal to trade with the other 95% of the world.
5) This doesn't even rise to the level of Economics 101.
6) They really are that freakin' dense. (The politicians, not the steel.)


photo of regret and remorse from here.

Another Nomination For "The Whitey" - Tom Daschle

There are several ways to eliminate government waste. The best way, of course, is to avoid giving the government any of your money.

That was the subject of a post I did a couple of weeks ago, where I nominated several great Americans for "The Whitey", an award given for hiding money from the government.

Nominees included Hillary Clinton, Timothy Geithner, and the two guys who wheeled a corpse into a convenience store in an effort to cash the dead guy's Social Security check. (Hey, if that dead man's money had gone back to the government, it would've been spent on inaugurations, stimulus programs, or bailouts, instead of drugs and alcohol.) A few commenters made other nominations, but no individual or group received more than one vote.

To complicate matters, we now have another candidate. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, nominee for Secretary Of Health And Human Services, neglected paying $147,000.00 in taxes.


As nominee for the Secretary Of Healthy And Human Services position, Daschle has proposed a Federal Health Board to oversee most, if not all, of our health care system.

This would not be cheap.

Daschle made similar proposals in his recent book "Critical: What We Can Do About The Health Care Crisis". Here's an escerpt from the Publisher's Weekly review of his book: "The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee necessary health care to all of its citizens, and as former senator Daschle observes, Skeptics say we can't afford to cover everyone.... blah blah blah."


Well, of course we can't afford to cover everyone. So why should Daschle bother giving the government an extra $147,000.00 of his money ? A brilliant move on Daschle's part, especially in light of his consistent support of higher taxes for high earners.





Like Tim Geithner before him, Daschle tried to suck up to the IRS before his confirmation hearing. Yes, he eventually wrote them a check. Yes, that's a tragedy. But at least he tried.


Therefore, I nominate former senator, current lobbyist, and future Obama cabinet member Tom Daschle for The Whitey award.

I also propose that we end these long confirmation hearings immediately, and simply rubber stamp all future cabinet members. With this ghastly crew of tax-dodger nominees, there's no telling how much more tax money they'll discover hidden away in mattresses.

And we wouldn't want to see it wasted.

Another Theoretical Question

There is a provision in the new Campaign Donor Reward Program Stimulus Package that prohibits the use of foreign steel in any of the new highway and infrastructure projects.

We currently purchase 40% of Canada's steel output.

Canada currently purchases lots of software, technology, and food from the U.S.

Let's assume that the Christmas Tree With Presents For Everybody ! ! ! Stimulus Package makes it through the Senate.

What do you think Canada will do in response ?

We're The Government - And You're Not.

Remember the truly horrible Civics videos of the 60's and 70's ?
What if they messed up and released an accurate one?

Irony Is Dead

Irony is now dead.
Hold a mirror up to its mouth, and you'll see no fog.
Irony has achieved room temperature.
You can bury it now. Don't even bother to take the morgue tag off its toe.



In the past, liberal western democracies have understood that no nation has ever "protected" its way to prosperity. The only way for anyone or anything to prosper is through trade. Trade with other people, families, neighborhoods, counties, cities, states, and especially, nations. That's the only way for consumers in one area to take advantage of the comparative advantage held in another area.


Well, it ain't looking good for Free Trade these days, mostly because those who can only survive and prosper inside a Protectionist Greenhouse are bribing others to put up more trade barriers.


But wait ! ! ! Four unlikely heroes, men of good sense, logic, and an understanding of history have risen to save the day ! ! They understand math, psychology, and economics ! ! According to some accounts, they can read books ! ! Some say they can read books without moving their lips ! !


Here's Lee Hudson Teslik, writing for RCP :


Pleas for economic openness rang out at this year's summit, particularly among the leaders of emerging economies. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned against reliance upon intervention and protectionism to cure economic ills, saying such policies could backfire (Guardian). Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao backed Putin, saying world leaders must remain vigilant (Xinhua) in their efforts to curb trade protectionism. Egypt's trade minister echoed concerns (Reuters) about protectionism, as did India's (Reuters).


Russia, China, Egypt, and India. Four of the most bass-ackwards places on earth. They get it.


We don't.


The date and time for Irony's funeral service has not yet been announced. But the family asks that you not bring any flowers or food that you didn't produce yourself. You might as well get used to it now.


Irony pic from here.

The White Man's Burden, by Rudyard Kipling

This was Kipling's response to the American takeover of the Phillipines in 1899.


"Take up the White Man's burden--

Send forth the best ye breed--

Go bind your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need;

To wait in heavy harness,

On fluttered folk and wild--

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,

Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--

In patience to abide,

To veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride;

By open speech and simple,

An hundred times made plain

To seek another's profit,

And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--

The savage wars of peace--

Fill full the mouth of Famine

And bid the sickness cease;


And when your goal is nearest

The end for others sought,

Watch sloth and heathen Folly

Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--

No tawdry rule of kings,

But toil of serf and sweeper--

The tale of common things.


The ports ye shall not enter,

The roads ye shall not tread,

Go mark them with your living,

And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden--

And reap his old reward:

The blame of those ye better,

The hate of those ye guard--




The cry of hosts ye humour

(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--

"Why brought he us from bondage,

Our loved Egyptian night?"




Take up the White Man's burden--

Ye dare not stoop to less--

Nor call too loud on Freedom

To cloke your weariness;





By all ye cry or whisper,

By all ye leave or do,

The silent, sullen peoples

Shall weigh your gods and you.




Take up the White Man's burden--

Have done with childish days--

The lightly proferred laurel,

The easy, ungrudged praise.




Comes now, to search your manhood

Through all the thankless years

Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,

The judgment of your peers!

Trying To Drink Ourselves Sober

A 40 Year Wish List, from the Wall Street Journal

You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill.
Oh? Try me.

....We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years;
But think of all the Americans who just might use Amtrak one day. Maybe. Perhaps.

$2 billion for child-care subsidies;
In other words, a breeding incentive....

$50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts;
Hello, Doctor Ralph ! Tell all the BoHo's to break out their paintbrushes !

$400 million for global-warming research....
Hmmmm.....I wonder what conclusions they'll reach? Is there any doubt? Should they even bother with buying thermometers?

and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects.
That's $2.4 billion just to DEMONSTRATE carbon-capture. They're not yet paying for it to be done in the real world. But you soon will be.

There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.
That's paying a lot of bread for people to watch the circus. Didn't Juvenal have something to say about that?

....Most of the rest of this project spending will go to such things as renewable energy funding ($8 billion) or mass transit ($6 billion) that have a low or negative return on investment. Most urban transit systems are so badly managed that their fares cover less than half of their costs. However, the people who operate these systems belong to public-employee unions that are campaign contributors to . . . guess which party?
The Greens? Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrat Party? The Constitution Party? The Surprise Party? I give up. Tell us, Oh Wall Street Journal, tell us.
Naw. Let's delete that part.

.....Here's another lu-lu: Congress wants to spend $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. Uncle Sam already spends $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles.
Well, how are they going to demonstrate Carbon Capture unless they have Carbon Emitting Cars to capture the carbon from? Doh !

....As for the promise of accountability, some $54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits. These include the Economic Development Administration, the Small Business Administration, the 10 federal job training programs, and many more.
Those people vote too, you know. Don't they deserve something for Christmas?

Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that "No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools." Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers.
I'll let that one stand on its own.

The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future.
No, that's not an issue. Don't act like they're even arguing the point. This is going to become a permanent part of the budget. Nothing is more permanent than temporary government spending.

This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.
I'm really tired of people talking about bipartisanship as if it were a good thing. Republicans worked hand in hand with Democrats to run up our current bar tab of $10,800,000,000,000.00
And now the Republicans want to run for the parking lot without paying? Just because the bar tab is about to double? Now that we're teetering on the edge of a spending disaster, they don't even want to argue about who ordered the last Margarita or the three JaegerBombs or the extra-spicy buffalo wings with Ranch dip?
Freakin' cowards, all of you.
Texas Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison ! ! ! I'm calling you out on this one ! ! ! Get your wrinkled butts back in there and help the Democrats blow some money.

A Nigerian Goat Has Been Arrested !

A Nigerian goat has been baaaaaad......