Einstein Would have Loved This Show

I'm not one to watch television on a regular basis, but there is one show I truly enjoy...Ghost Hunters.  It's a SyFy offering that you can catch weekly.  As the title suggests, a group of paranormal investigators travel throughout the United States and Canada investigating locations thought to be haunted.  The shopping list is expected (shadow characters, apparitions, voices, footsteps, moving objects...etc.).  It's always approached by this crew as an effort to debunk the claims and then collect evidence on what they can't explain.  It's fun.

That's where Albert Einstein comes in with his Theory on Relativity.  Einstein was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt in his later career that time doesn't exist in a linear fashion.  Instead, it was his conviction that the past, present and future all exist at the same time.  Do you see where I'm going with this?  It is all one single existence.

Since there exists in this four dimensional structure [space-time] no longer any sections which represent "now" objectively, the concepts of happening and becoming are indeed not completely suspended, but yet complicated. It appears therefore more natural to think of physical reality as a four dimensional existence, instead of, as hitherto, the evolution of a three dimensional existence.--Einstein (1952)

So, the footsteps heard above the paranormal investigator in a seemingly empty attic with no floors is, in fact, a "real time" sound of the past.  Only, it isn't really the past.  So if  past, present, and future all exist simultaneously, is it any wonder that the T.A.P.s guys hear things like this?

When you evaluate a significant number of Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) collections, those subjects that seem to possess intelligence in their answers indicate that they do not believe they are dead.  Perhaps they aren't.  They're just confused as to how a voice seems to pop up out of the ether asking them questions in their bedroom. 

On a side note, this brings all kinds of fascinating questions to the forefront in reference to the mechanics of some serial killers out there.  Hearing voices in one's head takes on a whole new meaning.

This from the State that Voted Themselves Higher Taxes

A day of fun on a frozen California lake becomes pandemonium after one person falls through the ice, then another... and another.
 

Man of the Year...(Time Mag...)

Those of you surprised that Time Magazine picked Barack Obama as its Man of the Year only need count the number of times he appeared on their cover in 2008 alone.  Twenty-five (25) out of fifty-two (52) times.  Nearly half.  Barack Obama would have been their Man of the Year even if he had lost this most recent election.  They'd being paying tribute to the Divider-in-Chief while chastising the rest of us for our blatant "racism."

We are in the midst of historic cultural and demographic changes, and Barack Obama is both the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America.
 

Translation:  Bringing Socialism and European malaise to the United States wrapped up in a healthy dose of finger pointing.

 In 2012, he found and forged a new majority, turned weakness into opportunity and sought, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union.
 

Translation:  The President of the United States created an army of extended hands, palm up waiting for an entitlement.  Such damage was done to the economy via out-of-control spending that individual citizens turned away from personal responsibility and initiative and towards Big Government presents.  This translated into a focus on immediate gratification and a vast growth to dependency.  Responsible economics was beaten down by a sycophantic press as an enemy of the people.   The American people voted their personal wallets in the majority and tossed down a shot of "immediate gratification" as opposed to long term healing of the economy.

Return on Investment (Yemen)

Please....please...you knuckledragging, mouthbreathing Conservatives are blowing this whole Benghazi thing out of proportion.  There's no reason to believe that this unfortunate "bump in the road" will even be remembered months from now.  Things happen, and then they go away...such is life.

SANAA, Yemen - Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen has offered to pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country.

An audio produced by the group's media arm, the al-Malahem Foundation, and posted on militant websites Saturday said it offered three kilograms of gold, worth $160,000, for killing the ambassador.

The group said it will pay 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) to anyone who kills an American soldier inside Yemen.

It said the offer is valid for six months.
 

Our current Administration's message was received loud and clear. 

This is Hilarious...(French People Rule!!!)

PARIS — Embattled French President Francois Hollande suffered a fresh setback Saturday when France's highest court threw out a plan to tax the ultrawealthy at a 75 percent rate, saying it was unfair.

In a stinging rebuke to one of Socialist Hollande's flagship campaign promises, the constitutional council ruled Saturday that the way the highly contentious tax was designed was unconstitutional. It was intended to hit incomes over €1 million ($1.32 million).

The largely symbolic measure would have only hit a tiny number of taxpayers and brought in an estimated €100 million to €300 million - an insignificant amount in the context of France's roughtly €85 billion deficit.
 

Breathe it in...swish it around in your mouth a little.  Ahhhhhhh...  So France's highest court shot down Socialist, Hollande's 75% taxation to those pulling in more than $1.32 Million.  That's rather bland so far.  But, wait...Hollande's Government of idiots is going to fix it and resubmit.  Try and guess how they plan on doing that.  Why, they're going to include more people in the tax bracket.

 The court's ruling took issue not with the size of the tax, but with the way it discriminated between households depending on how incomes were distributed among its members. A household with two earners each making under €1 million would be exempt from the tax, while one with one earner making €1.2 million would have to pay.
 

Thank you ever so much, High Court of France.  Of course, we will add those people to the "screw you" list.  Carry on.

PS:  Here's Orson's Loophole to this nonsense.  Lobby the French Government to include equal benefits to same sex marriages.  Once acquired, then claim that adding cumulative earnings of same sex couples is discrimination.  It's always fun to pit one form of Liberalism against another.  They tear each other apart trying to feel good about themselves.

 

Susan Sontag...Not dead enough...

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:  I've usually taken the high road when someone passes to the great beyond (just as Ms. Sontag did eight years ago today).  However, it is hard not to be cynical in today's world.  Some folks just rub me the wrong way.  Susan Sontag is such a character.

Below you will find a little essay that leaked out of my pointy head just after the 911 crisis at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and western Pennsylvania.  The catalyst was Ms. Sontag telling us it was our fault.  There were all kinds of adoring OpEds in the media on this day when she passed on back in 2004.  They paid tribute to, in my mind, a charlatan intelligentsia type.  I found it easier to portray the truth.  In the present, we are being governed by the Susan Sontags, and the Noam Chomskys of the world.  So yeah...Susan Sontag is not dead enough.

I was never a fan of Susan Sontag in life.  I am just as indifferent to her "importance" in death.  But, now that she has assumed room temperature, I gather that I could be categorized as "mean spirited."  I accept that...gladly and without reservation.

I’m With ‘Crash’ Davis, Ms. Sontag
November 13, 2001

One often wonders who is there to assist Susan Sontag in the event of a thunderstorm. There is always that risk in the undertaking of self-righteous nose raising that she may drown in the downpour. Be comforted in the realization that drowning requires the depletion of oxygen on the intake. Sontag has long been accustomed to existing without adequate oxygen reaching the brain.

Thomas Wolfe has her pegged as “just another scribbler who spent her life signing up for protest meetings and lumbering to the podium encumbered by her prose style, which had a handicapped parking sticker valid at Partisan Review.” That’s why Wolfe makes the big bucks.

At the risk of portraying a valid point wrapped up in the fictitious Durham Bull soliloquy of “Crash” Davis, “I believe…in the soul ... the small of a woman's back, the hangin' curveball, high fiber, good Scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap...” So, in the interest of comparison, what is it, exactly, that Sontag believes? She believes in herself. That is a meritorious endeavor. However, despite that very act being the goal of any caring parent to instill upon their child, there are serious repercussions to placing one’s confidence in an irrelevant claptrap.

Face it, she is amusing. No matter the issue. No matter the importance. Sontag is the moral equivalent of Benny Hill in a nunnery. She ensconces her percipience, and in the fashion of a drunk baker twists, kneads, and manipulates her message into a preexisting expectation of where her lapdog gnomes of the cultural garden expect her to be. That is all well and good except for the fact that the very foundation of her pedestal is a bunch of hooey. The Sisters of St. Augustine would, certainly, experience trepidation in the acts of Benny Hill. A thinking populace is no more swayed by Sontag.

In fact, I invite Sontag to speak at length, on any topic and at every occasion. It’s not because she says things I want to hear, or encourages a healthy discourse. I don’t and she doesn’t. However, the very nature of her ludicrous points of view is damaging to the credibility of anyone who, somehow, mirrors that high school lesson of “guilt by association.”

When she was interviewed by the New Yorker in the days after the September 11th terrorist attack she did not disappoint. The piece’s title “Observations by Susan Sontag” would have been enough. Where most would use that encumbrance as the header in their personal diary entry. Sontag, somehow, perceives her view as something to be showered upon the great unwashed. I always wondered what entitled her to that luxury. Surely, it wasn’t something that she regurgitated in the past. I have read a number of her “works.” The most impressionable on me was not her intended message I fear.

Early in her career she wrote a number of essays dealing with art. She expounded on Antonin Artaud, proclaiming him a failure. Sontag deduced that Artaud was unable to complete a thought and that his numerous varied works “amount to a broken, self-mutilated corpus, a vast collection of fragments.“ It never occurred to Sontag to look at Artaud’s endeavors as a means to a goal. Despite his own admission of his difficulties in grasp and concentration, perhaps he enjoyed what he did. Perhaps he enjoyed the challenge that accompanied the profession. Perhaps it was the striving for improvement that drove Artaud to cover the gambit of art, cinema, poems, prose, painting, music et al. Instead, Sontag could only see her picture of another artist’s work. There lies the cornerstone of her failings. And there lies the basis of her warped assessment of the events of September 11th. Her audacity to categorize Artaud as a failure in her definition of the word shows the epitome of hypocrisy when you digest, quite forcefully, one of her most well known pieces.

In Against Interpretation and Other Essays (1966) the intuitive response, as she would call it, was the concept of avoiding the intellectual and analytical evaluation of a piece. “The 'meaning' of art lies in the experiencing both style and content together without analysis. “ That’s an interesting revelation coming from someone who, quite solidly, categorized Artaud as a failure based on the inability to stay focused on a specific idea. I suppose, sometimes one has to twist, knead, and manipulate until the soft pretzel resembles what the public would recognize and consume.

Regardless, in the New Yorker Sontag queried, “Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a "cowardly" attack on "civilization" or "liberty" or "humanity" or "the free world" but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions?”

In her “intuitive response” Sontag failed to acknowledge the minor analytical detail that she is an American Citizen, and that the acts of the terrorists were defined by the actors to be murderous, callous acts in cold blood against all American citizens. No. Instead, we ‘intellectuals’ should ponder the all encompassing innate observations and deliberate the feelings of the rat bastards who butchered 4,537 human beings in the name of their “God.” To Sontag, that would be the reasonable response.

Sontag doesn’t think America plays fairly. “How many citizens are aware of the ongoing American bombing of Iraq? And if the word "cowardly" is to be used, it might be more aptly applied to those who kill from beyond the range of retaliation, high in the sky, than to those willing to die themselves in order to kill others.

What a wonderful argument for the necessity to initiate an immediate program to provide “certificates of participation” to all parties of conflict (no matter the purpose) so as not to have to go through the uncomfortable foible of having to declare a winner or recognize right from wrong, sane from insane, smart from dumb. I am reminded of the profound words of chronic law abuser Rodney King and my heart just runs with endearing warmth. “Can’t we all just get along?” The answer is “no,” and there are very valid analytical (sometimes intellectual) reasons for that disclosure. Life is not an exercise in participation. Life is not something to be pondered. It is more than that I hope. Maybe it is an ongoing mission in personal accomplishment and achievement. Life could be an effort to better yourself in all capacities. It is not an application in holding back your own potential so as to allow others achievement at your expense. The whole concept of freedom affords the opportunity to accomplish goals as an individual and as a nation. Making the battlefield one of equality is the “intuitive response” of inept logic. Show me a boxer with short arms, and I’ll show you a throw rug.

“Let's by all means grieve together. But let's not be stupid together. A few shreds of historical awareness might help us understand what has just happened, and what may continue to happen. "Our country is strong," we are told again and again. I for one don't find this entirely consoling. Who doubts that America is strong? But that's not all America has to be.”

By all means we grieve together. And, by all means, we shall not be stupid together. Instead, I leave that to Susan Sontag alone. Historical awareness is a conscious motivation to act in a capacity that would guarantee a desired outcome and future deterrent. History holds the souls of Beirut in 1983, Kenya in 1998, Tanzania in 1998, Somalia in 1993, Yemen in 2000, Saudi Arabia in 1996, New York in 1993, and New York, again, in 2001. We are finished with the history lesson Ms. Sontag. The class is entirely too loud. Our country is strong. We are strong in character and pride. I find that extremely consoling, because I realize that character and pride are not given, but earned. They are earned, sometimes, at the expense of those who would try to tarnish those innate qualities within us. A strength-of-purpose lives within the knowledge that our Republic has the ability to control our own destiny so that those cherished freedoms are not on loan from others.

Susan Sontag would say I didn’t understand her point. But, in the very color of her position I understood the whole encompassing view of her work. It initiated an intuitive response. I didn’t take away a single, one-sided, analytical perception as to what she was trying to express in each sentence or phrase. It was pure, unadulterated discord; all of it.

A lesson in reverse to Susan Sontag, never teach the unwashed how to juggle knives, lest they learn to throw them.

Fat Kid with a New Toy

The launch of the three-stage rocket - similar in design to a model capable of carrying a nuclear-tipped warhead as far as California - raises the stakes in the international standoff over North Korea's expanding atomic arsenal. As Pyongyang refines its technology, its next step may be conducting its third nuclear test, experts warn.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said the satellite launched by the rocket is orbiting normally at a speed of 7.6 kilometers (4.7 miles) per second, though it's not known what mission it is performing. North Korean space officials say the satellite would be used to study crops and weather patterns.
 

I'm a stickler for detail.  So, just out of curiosity, doesn't one have to have crops if they are going to send up a satellite to monitor them?  Whose crops are being watched by North Korea?  With the exception of the military, most North Koreans end up eating tree bark soup.

12

What a lucky baby!

She doesn’t even have a name yet, but she does have a great birth date.

She was born on 12/12/12 at exactly 12:12 p.m. by Caesarean section at New York-Cornell Hospital.

Although the auspicious date was chosen for the delivery, the time of birth yesterday was accidental.

“When the doctor looked at the clock he said, ‘Oh, my God, it’s 12:12!” said happy dad Michael Patterson, 37.
 

That's cool.  I feel sorry for the kid though.  All through her life, everyone will rub her head for luck.

Big Picture/ Little Picture (Right to Work)

HARRISBURG - Every legislative session for the last 14 years, State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe has worked the Capitol hallways to make Pennsylvania a "right-to-work" state.

Every time, the conservative Republican has seen his bills languish, not even mustering enough momentum for a committee vote.

"It's an uphill battle," Metcalfe, of Butler County, told The Inquirer on Wednesday. "Like pretty much any issue that threatens the power of the union bosses, it is quickly attacked and stifled."

Others might not use such lively terms for labor leaders and their clout. But the scenario Metcalfe described is unlikely to change anytime soon in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, even after another longtime bastion of organized labor, Michigan, became this week the highest-profile industrial state to let workers opt out of joining unions or paying dues as a condition of employment.

Like Michigan, Pennsylvania has a Republican-controlled legislature and governor's office. And like Michigan, Pennsylvania has a storied labor history that has produced financially strong and politically influential unions.
 

Here's what's going to happen...because it is happening already.  More and more states are going to become "Right to Work" states.  Pennsylvania and New Jersey will refuse to budge.  Fine, because large businesses in both states will set up domicile in those other states.  New Jersey and Pennsylvania will follow the financial exploits of states like California because corporate revenues will decrease at an alarming rate.  The revenue of the state will take a dip, and the next thing you know there is a deficit that no one can climb out of.

Pennsylvania already got a taste of this back about three decades ago when Mack Trucks moved most of their manufacturing from Allentown, Pa to South Carolina.   So these politicians who depend on Union cash for their coffers (both above and below the table) can posture all they want.  Soon, manufacturing is going to leave both NJ and PA at an alarming rate.

Oh...Those are Nice ...Skiing Accident?

 

Nope...just Hollywood fashion showing their usual lack solid judgement.

Occupy Dilettante

Malcolm Harris fought the law — and the law won.

The Occupy Wall Street protester arrested on the roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge in October 2011, who made prosecutors’ rights to gain access to published but deleted Twitter postings the center of his minor criminal charge, pleaded guilty this morning to disorderly conduct.

Under a plea deal, Harris was sentenced to six days community service at a private nonprofit if his choice. He faced a maximum of 15 days in jail.

He likely could still appeal the ruling and continue to argue against social media searches, a key argument throughout his case.

At the brief hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court, the tweet that brought the OWS protester to his knees was first revealed: “We took the bridge.”
 

OK...just so I'm clear...Malcolm Harris and his Occupy pals tried to disrupt traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.  They were successful.  Malcolm bragged about that on his twitter, and was arrested.  Fine...

But, in trying to appear innocent, Malcolm and his council tried to keep the Twitter out of Court because it was deleted from his account...even through Twitter is basically a public form of communication. 

The only thing that strikes me from this story is that Malcolm and the rest of his Occupy dilettantes must not possess much conviction in their own beliefs, of they would gladly take credit for their actions...unless they knew they were in the wrong...which they did.  Now if we could only get the local governments and law enforcement agencies and courts to actually teach that lesson.  Six days of community service  teaches nothing.

Lawsuits of the Stupid

The filmmakers behind “Indiana Jones” are real-life tomb raiders, a lawsuit says.

An archaeologist from Belize is suing Lucasfilm for featuring a replica of a stolen Mayan “crystal skull” in its most recent sequel, starring Harrison Ford.

Scientist Jaime Awe claims Hollywood hot shots used a model of the swiped Belizean relic in the 2008 flick, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” to rake in “illegal profits.”

Awe, who is suing on behalf of the Central American country, demands the company fork over a portion of the movie’s $768 million profit to his homeland.
 

In other news, Jim Carey is suing Jamie Awe for re-establishing his Dumb & Dumber character, Lloyd Christmas, without permission.   And, the inhabitants of the Ukraine in 10,000 BC are suing the Germans for use of the Swastika.

Hence the Word "Private"

For the second straight year, the chief executives of 36 private U.S. colleges or universities earned more than $1 million in 2010, according to an annual study by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Topping the list in Pennsylvania was Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, who earned a base salary of $915,000 and total compensation of $1,463,000. New Jersey's top earner was Princeton's Shirley Tilghman, who earned $711,000 in salary and a total of $902,000.
 

I'm a Conservative with a BIG C.  So, it should not surprise you that I think the field of education is inundated, dominated and owned by Liberals with a BIG L.  But, I still support the independence and freedom of private business. 

That means that I don't care if a private school pays their chief executive a bazillion dollars every other Wednesday.  It's a private business...which means, none of your business. 

Shocking...(Ground Zero Mosque)

It’s all pray and no play.

The Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero that opened with great fanfare a year ago is now an empty space with no community programs.

And while the developers behind Park51 insisted for two years that the project was more than a mosque, it now appears to be just that. Dozens of worshipers gather at the site on Park Place Friday for prayer services — but that’s the only activity in the building.

Gone are the Arabic classes, workshops in calligraphy, talks on the genealogy of Muslims in America, film screenings and art exhibits. The sole community event is a class in capoeira — an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines dance and music. The teacher of the twice-weekly class said she has five students.
 

Gosh...who would have thought that it was the equivalent to a victory dance in the end zone?  After all, there was loads of evidence that Muslims in that area just had no place to go.  Well, apparently they had somewhere else to go, or they never existed in the first place. 

Personally, I think the Burlington Coat Factory provided better benefit to society.

Oh...OK then...

 

Good news for Mitt Romney! Contrary to early vote counts, based solely on computerized returns from Philadelphia's voting machines, he did not get blanked in 59 of the city's 1,687 voting divisions.

A groundswell of support among people voting by absentee and provisional ballots reduced the number of divisions where Romney received zero votes to 50.

In addition, the certified results show 99 divisions where Romney was supported by exactly one voter.
 

I think this adds to the controversy.  Computerized voting machines showed a clean sweep in 59 districts.  However, you can't control absentee ballots so easily.

All the Way to Timbuktu

On the November night in 2008 when the United States elected Barack Obama President, I listened to the coverage on a transistor radio on a rooftop in Timbuktu. (Read more about Timbuktu in National Geographic magazine.)

I sat with a local teacher named Issaka and a businessman named Mohammed atop the small guesthouse Mohammed owned on the outskirts of the city, just a stone's throw from the rolling dunes that mark the southern edge of the Sahara.

Deep into the night we huddled against the desert chill wrapped in quilts, listening to the reports on French radio, discussing politics, and drinking glasses of steaming mint tea dutifully served by Mohammed's ten-year-old nephew Akbar.

To my great surprise, I found Timbuktu, the ancient city in northern Mali whose name is synonymous with the back of beyond, gripped with Obama fever. As I walked through the markets and visited local mosques, several men stopped me to ask if I was American and then gave a thumbs-up and an enthusiastic "Obama!"
 

Yes...YES...the chosen one was elected in 2008, and that was great news for Bali's Timbuktu.  There was hope.  There was joy.  There was...ummm...misrepresentation.  Four years later, Obama said that al-Qaeda was "decimated."   There were a lot of problems with such a statement, not the least of which is that the word, itself, since it only meant one in ten items no longer exists.  But, it was used by the President in Wisconsin to suggest that al-Qaeda was on its heels.

Unfortunately, Timbuktu tells a different story.  It's now owned by al-Qaeda.  So, one wonders what Issaka thinks of Obama now.

Last month, on Election Day in the U.S., I called Issaka, who himself had relocated to Bamako. He described how the capital, swollen with refugees from the north, remains tense with uncertainty and rife with rumors.

I reminded him of how Obama's election had stirred jubilance among Timbuktu residents four years before. He laughed. "That was a long time ago." But then in a wistful voice added, "We need Obama now more than ever."

James Bond is Not the Same Guy

Yikes...Bill O'Reilly and I are on the same page.

However, the biggest difference between Connery and Craig is that the former seemed to be having fun racing around the world doing the bidding of the British government. Craig does not seem to be having a lot of laughs.

In fact, Craig is a major brooder, and so is his boss, played by Judi Dench. Watching these two have a conversation is like watching Dr. Phil yell at some guy who just abandoned his family.
 

Never a fan of political correctness, I even am more annoyed when this "disease" overtakes a fictional character.   James Bond may always win against the bad guy, but he didn't even put of a fight against the real enemy.  He broods.  He emotes.  He looks like he would be happier serving as greeter to the local Wal-Mart.

AP By-line Always Contradicts the Facts

By-Line:

The U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. The government said Superstorm Sandy had only a minimal effect on the figures.

YAY!!!!!

 

And the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low in November from 7.9 percent in October mostly because more people stopped looking for work and weren't counted as unemployed.

 

 BOOOO!!!!!!

I Knew It, and I Still Feel Like Crap

I wrote this back on October 9th, when it became apparent that the State Department was lying.

Here’s a thought. What if the military knows that the weapons used to gain access to, and kill the American’s in Benghazi were provided to the Libyan rebels by the Presidential Finding decision that circumvented Congress back in March 2011. Therefore, the White House (under the advice of the State Department) armed the rebels, who turned out to be terrorists. Essentially, the White House and State Department provided the means and opportunity for terrorists to attack our Embassy and now they are focusing everyone on the opportunity to turn everyone away from the means (weapons).
 

That was far fetched.  That would never happen with this Administration.  Right?

 WASHINGTON — The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.
 

There you go.  Our president used a loophole to go around Congressional approval, handed weapons to a non-vetted group, and those weapons were likely used to kill our Ambassador, and three other fellow Americans.  That is why the White House, State Department and Intelligence agencies answering to the president were obligated to lie with impunity despite the facts right out in front of us all.  It was to distract from the real incompetence of our president who was campaigning for re-election.

Lincoln to be Screened in the Senate

From: Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve just learned that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has invited Steven Spielberg to screen Lincoln on December 19th 12th. But what’s different about this invitation is that Reid is offering to provide the U.S. Senate to Spielberg as the theatre. Reid’s invite only recently went out — and I’m told Spielberg will accept for his movie to play in the historic setting.
 

What I find amusing about this is the fact that Speilberg did not re-write history for the movie "Lincoln."  The Democrats are shown in their full colors as they fight tooth and nail to avoid the passing of the 13th Amendment.  The representatives of the Confederate Government (Democrat as well) take the same stance.

In short, you have a film that actually highlights that the Republicans (both party and Radical) support the abolition of slavery, while Democrats do not.  It's a shame that Robert Byrd will not be there to see it. 

Costas: Words Matter

Bob Costas last Sunday:

Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it.
 

Bob Costas today:

 "Domestic violence is part of it. Drugs and alcohol could be part of it," Costas said. "And I didn't say anything specifically about gun-control legislation or the Second Amendment. I don't want to repeal the Second Amendment. I think we should have responsible gun control, but that wouldn't prohibit somebody from carrying a gun."
 

You would think that someone who spends his career talking would take the time to understand the words that come out of his own mouth.  The whole basis of the "gun-control" lobby labors far and wide to suggest that guns only kill, and never protect.  His comments played right into their argument.

I Think They're Doing it Wrong...

I'm going to tell you a secret.

Wait...but, if you tell me the secret.  It won't be a secret any more.

Right.

The Pentagon has announced plans to assemble an espionage network large enough to rival the CIA in size, according to reports.

As part of the project, US military officials would send hundreds of additional spies overseas, the Washington Post reported.

It would also see the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) overhauled, away from a primary focus on activities related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When the expansion is completed, the DIA could have as many as 1,600 intelligence "collectors" around the world - far more than its current overseas presence which numbers in the hundreds.

That total would include military attaches and others who will not work undercover, the newspaper wrote.

But US officials said the plans also include deployment of a new generation of clandestine operatives to be trained by the CIA.

Big Oil v. Big Government

Just last week I called Bill Shuster a jackass.  He's the chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.  He was hinting at the necessity to raise the federal gasoline tax up from 18.4 cents per gallon.  I was angry about that for a number of reasons, not the least of which is how politicians of every ilk always cry foul when an energy company shows a profit even though they only make a profit of about 2 to 3 cents on every gallon.  Energy companies actually take the risk, pay for the research and development, finance the exploratory projects etc.  The federal government just collects six times the profit of the energy companies while doing absolutely nothing, and then suggest that the tax isn't high enough.

Well, that's the federal story.

Now, the individual states are getting into the extortion act. 

Gov. Corbett said last week that he is mulling an increase in one component of Pennsylvania's gas tax. In New Jersey, transit advocates are urging Gov. Christie to relent on his no-gas-tax-hike vow as a way to help pay for repairs to a transportation network ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

And in Congress, the new chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Bill Shuster (R., Pa.), said last week that "we need to explore" all funding options, including a higher gas tax.

Revenue from gas taxes has been sliding as people drive fewer miles and more efficient vehicles. And inflation has whittled away at the value of the taxes, some of which have not been raised in decades.

The federal gas tax, last increased in 1993, is 18.4 cents a gallon.

The Pennsylvania tax is 31.2 cents a gallon (32.3 cents if you count the 1.1 cent-per-gallon underground storage tank fee, which the state Revenue Department doesn't but the American Petroleum Institute does). It last went up in 1997.
 

Heh...let's see.  The average driver uses 729 gallons of gasoline per year.  If you live in Pennsylvania, you pay 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax and 31.2 state tax per gallon.  Add in the ground tank storage fee, and it averages off to 50 cents per gallon tax paid during every fill-up.   You're paying about $365 in taxes annually if you drive a car. 

So, while Exxon-Mobile pulls in about $15 per year profit from your purchases annually, the Federal and State Government are pulling in about twenty-four (24) times that amount with absolutely no costs or risks of running a business.  The Federal and State governments want more money from your fuel purchases.

Anyone remember how this strategy worked with cigarette taxes?  They taxed the hell out of cigarettes.  Less people smoked, and they were at a loss as to how the taxes (already spent) were dwindling.  So as the federal (and state governments-California) force fuel mandates in the form of mileage per gallon increases on us, they will wonder why the taxes (they already spent) are going down. 

Clown car politicians.  Next, they will switch to taxing what you actually buy (gasoline) and apply the tax to your actual mileage.  By that time we will all be riding bicycles on the freeways or some such nonsense.

Droning On from the So-called Experts

But when it comes to more sophisticated foes such as Iran, which has Russian-made anti-aircraft missile systems, the drone is vulnerable to attack. Last year the Iranians shot down a sophisticated U.S. stealth drone, the bat-winged RQ-170 Sentinel, and now the Revolutionary Guards say they have captured a ScanEagle version, which is launched from sea. Clearly the golden age of the drones, when they ruled supreme in the skies, is drawing to a close.
 

 Con Coughlin of the London Telegraph thinks the golden age of Drone warfare is already behind us.  Con Coughlin is mistaken.  The RQ-170 was not shot down.  It was, likely, a system failure.  So, the stealth aspect was intact.  Also, while the Revolutionary Gurards can say what they like, the Navy hasn't lost a ScanEagle. 

The next generation of drones is already beyond the pipeline.  The new Boeing Phantom Ray has a cruising speed of well over 600 MPH at an altitude of over 65,000 feet.   That puts everyone else's toys to shame, and the shape suggests stealth as well.  Add a liquid hydrogen mixture fuel source, and you have a drone that can stay on station for days at a time without refueling.

As I said, Con Coughlin is mistaken.  The golden age of Drones can't even be seen from this distance.  But, it's coming.

Fatalism on Display

Trevor Paglen’s The Last Pictures is a project that marks one of these spacecraft with a visual record of our contemporary historical moment. Paglen spent five years interviewing scientists, artists, anthropologists, and philosophers to consider what such a cultural mark should be. Working with materials scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Paglen developed an artifact designed to last billions of years—an ultra-archival disc, micro-etched with one hundred photographs and encased in a gold-plated shell. In Fall 2012, the communications satellite EchoStar XVI will launch into geostationary orbit with the disc mounted to its anti-earth deck. While the satellite’s broadcast images are as fleeting as the light-speed radio waves they travel on, The Last Pictures will remain in outer space slowly circling the Earth until the Earth itself is no more.
 

There's a video explaining the project at the link above.  I watched it...and it made me laugh.  What could be so funny about a fatalistic project to reach fruition only after humanity fails to exist any longer? 

Well...how about the fatalism as a whole.  I don't know about these clowns calling our demise, but I'm thinking that by the time the Earth succumbs to our Sun turning into a Red Giant, humanity will have colonized elsewhere.  But, even that isn't the funny part...really.  The funny part is that the video includes some of the images they plan to use including one of a mountain glacier that by using two separate images suggests the glacier is being destroyed by humanity. 

Yes, my friends...if it's at all possible these people want to get their message of anthropomorphic global warming out to the aliens billions of years from now.  After all, you have to control the narrative.

Personally, I think we should be including images of Paris Hilton,  Lindsay Lohan and the entire State of California so that when the aliens catch up to humanity on some distant planet, they underestimate us.

It's as Simple as That (Bob Costas and Gun Control)

Look, I'm a politics fanatic and a sports fanatic -- and I don't want to see stark political commentary become a regular halftime feature. But every once in while, there is something that that, in Savio's words, makes you so sick at heart that exercising your right to free speech -- in a place and at a time that will shock some people, to wake them out of their slumber -- isn't just brave, but it is absolutely necessary.

Bob Costas threw himself on the gears last night, even as the me-too machine of "popular" opinion chewed him up. It was absolutely the right thing to do.
 

Hey look...it's another Leftist enlightening us about the great application of the First Amendment at the expense of the 2nd Amendment while doing a dance of hypocrisy.  He fails to understand that the First Amendment is a two way street.  Yes, you get to say what you want...when you want.  But, there are repercussions if others don't agree.  You can say it, but you have to live with what you said.   It sure is a bitch when your career depends on popularity.  Then again, Bob Costas chose his career.  It didn't choose him.

Obviously,  a good deal of viewers to the football game on Sunday night didn't think Bob Costas was correct when he said, "Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it."  As a result, a signficant number of people took him to task by exercising their own First Amendment rights.

Apparently, in Leftistland, such repercussions are frowned upon when the opinion is contrary to their own.  In fact, it's so frowned upon that journalists defend the opinion they agree with by denigrating those contrary to theirs and selectively use free speech to make their point. 

I wonder if Will Bunch thinks it's okay for me to disagree with his opinion on the matter.  Judging by the faulty reasoning he applies to those who disagreed with Bob Costas' timing and words, I guess he assumes that he is protected by that same "selective" First Amendment.  Repercussions are for those that are wrong in their opinion....right?  Will Bunch and Bob Costas decide who's wrong.  It's as simple as that.

Occupy Nonsense

INSIDE A bare-bones office in the corner of an Old City union warehouse, members of the local Occupy movement are sitting in a circle beneath fluorescent lights, plotting their next move.

It's not quite the same vibe, though, as last year, when hundreds of Occupiers staked a claim on Dilworth Plaza for 56 days. No one here has a bullhorn. No one's disguising himself with a bandanna or a Guy Fawkes mask, or planning to go march against something corporate.

These seven or so people are sharing bagels and clementines, taking notes together, and earnestly discussing how to help those who lost everything in Superstorm Sandy. Later in the day, organizer Nathan Kleinman will head to Wildwood to visit people living in hotels, their homes up north destroyed by floodwaters.

"Mostly, what they need out there is volunteers. The main function of this space, in my view, should be as a volunteer hub," Kleinman, 30, tells the group gathered around him. "We shouldn't be stressing out over the stuff. We'll develop a plan to use all that stuff."
 

Apparently, everyone is smarter than I am.  I can't seem to understand how the Philadelphia Inquirer heard about an impromtu meeting of seven people sitting around eating bagels and clementines in an abandoned warehouse.  That's some mighty good investigative reporting.  Someone really knows their beat.  What luck that the seven people were on their best behavior and not taking a dump on a police car or anything to that effect when Philly's largest media outlet gave these seven people eating bagels front page coverage.

Besides, it's really hard to eat a clementine while wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. 

"One of the next things we'll look at is jobs, how to find jobs for all the people who lost them because of the storm," he says, touring the hall before he heads off to Wildwood.
 

I have a question.  These kids who are going to look for jobs for the people that lost them due to the storm...how is it that they have the free time available to do that?  Don't they have jobs?  How do they support themselves?  Oh...right...we support them.  Gosh I love publicity stunt do-gooder crap. 

I'm a Heathen

6:48PM EST December 2. 2012 - FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — An Army private charged with sending U.S secrets to the website WikiLeaks had a history of suicidal thoughts and aloof behavior that outweighed a psychiatrist's opinion that he was no risk to himself, two former counselors testified Sunday.

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Jordan and Marine Master Sgt. Craig Blenis testified on the sixth day of a pretrial hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning at Fort Meade, near Baltimore. The hearing is to determine whether Manning's nine months in pretrial confinement at the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., were so punishing that the judge should dismiss all charges. The 24-year-old intelligence analyst is accused of sending hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the secret-spilling website in 2009 and 2010 when he was stationed in Baghdad.
 

I must be a heathen.  It has always occurred to me that we should load up a prisoner's cell with sharp implements and ropes on the outside chance that said inmate would take care of business if they so desired.  I'm not sure where the attitude of protecting the inmate came from...especially if they don't wish to be taken care of.  Granted, there are those who are mentally ill beyond any thoughts of self-preservation.  But, this doesn't seem to be the case here. 

I say, put a long rope in Manning's cell and a reference book on historical high seas knot tying.  The choice, then, is his and not some half-ass defense strategy trying to make someone who allegedly released hundreds of thousands of classified documents to some creepy Australian guy appear to be the victim.

His Re-election Reward

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why President Obama took such a short jaunt into the Far East after the election.  It seemed like an expedited diplomacy trip on the surface, but that wasn't what it was at all.

It was a reward...to himself. 

Anyone who takes the time to understand the man in the US Presidency will come to one solid conclusion.  He is an absolute opponent to any type of historical colonial rule.  The Brits in India...horrendous.  The Brits in Burma...those bastards.  The United States in the Philippines...how could we?  You get the idea.  So, I suppose this wasn't a surprise:

Amid the flash, the centerpiece of Obama’s journey was his address at the University of Yangon. In the audience in the small but packed auditorium was Aung San Suu Kyi, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for advocating democracy and opposing the military dictators who controlled Burma.

Obama hit a critical note immediately, saying: “I came here because of my respect for this university. It was here at this school where opposition to colonial rule first took hold.”

He spoke to the legacy of anti-colonialism that courses through most of Asia today, including Burma, once ruled by Britain. Before World War II, Western powers ruled every country in Asia except Japan, Thailand and Nepal. That colonialism ended in 1999 when Portugal handed Macau back to China.
 

He wasn't shoring up support or hardlining China by his visits to various nations in a two day period.  He was doing himself a solid by rewarding himself with a visit to an anti-colonialism school in Yangon. 

I Like Grape Soda

 

A Republican lawmaker from rural central Pennsylvania who describes himself as a conservative Christian has made history as the first openly gay member of the state legislature.

Rep. Mike Fleck, 39, of Huntingdon, disclosed that he is gay in an interview with the Huntingdon Daily News published Saturday.

Fleck, who recently separated from his wife of almost a decade, told the newspaper he had struggled with his sexuality for years and hoped his openness would help others better understand the journey people have to take to live an authentic life.

"Coming out is hard enough, but doing it in the public eye is definitely something I never anticipated," he said.
 

That's right...I like grape soda and I don't care what anyone thinks about that.  I've long debated making this public knowledge, and it was a hard decision.  However, it's important that you know. 

I figured as long as it seems important to people what other people enjoy sexually, you might want to know what kind of soft drinks I enjoy.  It has the same relevance as far as I'm concerned.  The only difference is that my "community" (grape soda drinkers, inc.) doesn't stand up and shout it from the roof tops while claiming to want to be treated the same as everyone else. 

Tommy Flanagan of Countries (N. Korea)

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea announced Saturday that it would attempt to launch a long-range rocket in mid-December, a defiant move just eight months after a failed April bid was widely condemned as a violation of a U.N. ban against developing its nuclear and missile programs.
 

Of course North Korea, also, reported that they found an ancient Unicorn Lair as well.  So, there is that.  I'm sure the Photoshop boys are working hard on next month's missile launch.

Twitter is an Equal Opportunity Racial Tool

In the decades since the civil rights movement helped end segregation in the US, openly racist language has largely disappeared from public discourse.

Yet the re-election of America's first black president on November 6 sparked an ugly outburst by some students at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Racial slurs initially made in posts on Twitter and Facebook were soon repeated at an impromptu anti-Obama protest where campaign posters were also burned. Meanwhile rumours of a riot on campus spread on social media.

Researchers say the incident has highlighted how some people are more prepared to voice racist views online than in person. And how social media can be used to mobilise people who share those views very quickly.
 

There must be a genetic quality that allows Liberals (in this case, The BBC) to overlook all aspects of their reasoning.  Racial slurs from Mississippi students is one facet of the issue.  And, as far as I'm concerned, the ignorance and stupidity of these participating students is on display.

BUT, what about the predominately black population and their use of social media?  Let's include Spike Lee and his attack on an innocent white couple during the whole Travon Martin/ George Zimmerman affair.  Let's comment on those inner city 'yutes' who set-up "flash mob" petty larceny trips to the local Wal-Mart via Twitter.  How about the tirade of black social media users when someone with the same amount of melanin in their skin publicly announced their support for Mitt Romney.

Somehow, someone reasoned that racism, racial slurs and "ugly outbursts" only come from one side of an issue.  That isn't factual.  However, as the BBC shows here, they are doing everything they can to support that  narrative.   And, here's a dirtly little secret that is ironically obvious to everyone.  The N-word is used far more by blacks on Twitter than whites.  The arguments of the left remind me of a movie set.  They focus on the front (which looks correct), and call it a real house despite the wooden posts in the back holding up a piece of painted plywood.

Walk Away

WASHINGTON - President Obama didn't name names Friday in Hatfield, but some of his allies are doing just that.

They are singling out Republican congressmen from suburbs around Philadelphia, with ads and rallies pushing them to break ranks and get behind Obama's call to extend middle-class tax cuts while making the wealthy pay more.

Close on the heels of the president's visit, liberal and labor groups have planned demonstrations Saturday targeting U.S. Reps. Jim Gerlach of County, Pat Meehan of Delaware County, and Charlie Dent in Lehigh County. Others are pressuring Mike Fitzpatrick of Bucks, and a trio of major unions named him and Meehan in a radio ad.

Similarly targeted efforts on behalf of Obama's tax proposals are cropping up in other states.
 

This is just a microcosm.  This strategy is taking place in every state harboring a Republican House member.  The strategy for the Republicans should be simple.  Walk away.

I wouldn't even be adverse to every Republican (House and Senate) abstaining on each vote relative to taxes and the economy.  It is the quickest and most direct route towards removing the current Socialist natures out of Congress as well as the Presdidency.  It is non-partisan.

Face facts...the number of people dependent on government to give them things is high enough to become the single most important factor in elections.  The mentality today highlights immediate self-gratification.  The only way to overcome this current state of affairs is to remove the potential for the Federal Government to satisfy them.  Given the plan of providing an infinite debt ceiling and taxing the most productive among us out of existence (or to a different domicile in a different country), it will not be long before the Federal Government no longer has the means to issue "gifts."  The only counter for the Liberals out there would be to act in a way that would improve the economy.  Win/win.

That's right...I'm saying that America has to bite the big one before it can escape the ashes of Liberalism.  We are now in the position that suggests that our national bird should not be the Bald Eagle.  It should be the Phoenix.    It's all over but the second Revolution.  And when the figurative smoke clears, one political party needs to be in the position to state that they had nothing to do with it.

All You Need to Know about the UN and Palestine

UNITED NATIONS The United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday, by an impressive margin, to upgrade Palestine from its status as an "Observer Entity" to an "Observer State," a change greeted by celebration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and with an unusual display of emotion at U.N. Headquarters -- a Palestinian flag unfurled on the Assembly floor.
 

Imagine an illiterate joining a book club made up of other illiterate members.  They never really participate beyond spending all afternoon observing others pretending to read.  Finally, no matter what book is the focus of that particular meeting, the discussion is always about those two books they absolutely abhor the most.  Ironically, the author of one of those books they despise the most pays for most of their refreshments.

That's all you need to know.

Republican Bill Shuster is a Jackass (I believe in clarity)

WASHINGTON -- Blair County Republican Bill Shuster greeted reporters with a broad smile Wednesday in his first roundtable with journalists since his caucus selected him as chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Then he got down to business, telling reporters he would consider increasing the 18.4 cents per gallon gasoline tax as part of a wide-ranging package of measures being explored as a means of avoiding $600 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect in January.
 

What a jackass!  First of all, the Republicans always lose the "Big Oil" argument with Democrats because they never use the proper weapon.  Each time a Democrat whines about the profits raked in by the Exxon-Mobile's and the British Petroleum's, one only need point out that those entities pull in about 2 or 3 cents on each gallon of fuel sold, while the Federal government pulls in six times that amount per gallon. 

Incidentally, not only is Bill Shuster a jackass, he is giving the Democrats ammunition for the next election already.  Here's how it will sound:

Yeah...we democrats raised taxes on those nasty rich folks...but that Shuster guy...the Republican...presented a plan to tax everyone who uses gasoline.  He (and the Republicans) taxed the poor and middle class...  Vote for me...I'd never do that.

What a jerk.

 

Pussification of Humanity (Puppy Therapy)

Dalhousie University in Hailfax, Canada has introduced a "puppy room" for students during finals week. The kids can take a break from doing lines of addy and cramming for tests to play with puppies from Therapeutic Paws Of Canada, a group that brings cats and dogs to senior homes and schools.
 

Right...because once you get out of your little enclosed caring college, all you have to deal with is life.  Therefore, it is imperative that no one be over burdened by stress while taking finals.  That never happens in the real world.  There's no need to teach anyone how to deal with that nasty customer.

This is nothing more than (cover your eyes offended ones)  the "pussification" of humanity.  Whether it be the cancellation of little league all star games to protect the little darlings self-esteem or special rules put in place in football games to disallow a star from scoring too much; this wimpifying nonsense is everywhere.

I keep reading about bullying, and how it is a major problem in schools worldwide.  Well, fellow scientists, when you do everything you can to keep the little ones from developing defensive skills and thicker skin, you are teaching them how to be victims.  Creating a "puppy room" to deal with the stress of taking tests is just a symptom of that malarkey.

Another symptom is thousands of youths lacking self-esteem and proper motivation to succeed.  Quite simply, they peceive themselves to lack the tools to acquire financial stability and rewarding life experiences.  They end up standing on a street corner holding a sign and shouting at the top of their precious lungs at how the wealthy aren't paying their fair share.  They spend more time researching how they can secure entitlements at no cost than determining how they can earn those rewards themselves.  Immediate gratification rules the roost.  To these self-esteem damaged darlings, they think life should be like Netflix, but someone else should pay.

I know.  I got winded because some dinky college in Canada has a room filled with puppies to combat stress.  Not a big deal...right?   Well, no, unless you take the time to connect the dots to all the other "pussification" crap going on out there.

I'm the Government, and I'm Here to Help Increase Costs

Cracks are appearing in New York City's improvised network of emergency housing for more than 1,000 people who remain homeless nearly a month after superstorm Sandy, including scores of hotel rooms paid for with public money that have been vacant for weeks.

At the Milford Plaza Hotel in Midtown, 120 rooms paid for by the city at a nightly rate of at least $295 have gone unused since mid-November, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Knocks on the doors of dozens of the rooms went unanswered this week.

The tab for the vacant rooms at the Milford will be just under $1 million, according to the documents. A City Hall spokeswoman said the total cost of the post-storm housing program hadn't been calculated.
 

The rich aren't paying their fair share so that imaginary people can grab a free hotel room.  Not only that, but I can get a room at the Milford Plaza for $20 cheaper and I'm not reserving in a block which should result in greater discounts.

Pssst...these are the people who are going to be running your health care.  Do you really think it will be cheaper?

Beware of Liberals trying to Help Republicans

Republicans are shooting themselves in the foot with a campaign to prevent U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice from being nominated secretary of state.

The assault on Rice is supposedly due to comments she made just after the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. The GOP just can't seem to drop its failed preelection plan to create a huge scandal out of the tragedy. But the anti-Rice crusade is not only unseemly; it's counterproductive.

By rousing President Obama's ire with a campaign against his friend Rice, Republicans are boxing him in to picking her over the other, better candidate, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry. That's a shame, because Rice isn't the right choice for this critical position - for reasons that have nothing to do with the Benghazi attack.
 

Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer is looking out for the best interests of the Republicans in this piece addressing UN Ambassador Susan Rice.  She thinks the whole deal is about her absolute obfuscation of the truth during her television talk show tour (meant to assure the American people that the unrest in Benghazi and Cairo related fully to a youtube video).

What she never mentions in her article are the other reasons for keeping a political hack like Susan Rice out of the office of Secretary of State.  She, basically, ignored the growing unrest in Syria and provided China and Russia a foothold of influence.  She blew off various Security Council meetings where Israel was involved, and was missing in action when the Gaza Flotilla nonsense was going on.  There's more...a lot more.  But, you know, Liberal, Trudy Rubin, just wants to help out the Republicans. 

Her premise is that Republicans are being overly partisan forcing President Obama to nominate Susan Rice for Secretary of State (which is what?...Non-partisan).  She believes that John Kerry would be a better choice.  He was in Vietnam, you know. 

My personal opinion is that it really doesn't matter who ends up as Secretary of State.  It could be Rice, Kerry or Gilbert Gottfried for all I care.  It's not going to damage our relations with the rest of the world, because they are already at an all time low courtesy of Hillary Clinton in the current role, and Susan Rice as the missing-in-action US Ambassador.  The hottest spot in the world right now is Iran, and both have been totally inept in attempting to influence a favorable nuclear outcome for the United States. 

Jindal's Turn to get Attacked on Creationism

A couple of weeks ago, the Democrat Machine attacked Marco Rubio over misinterpreted Creationism comments.   Obviously, it was an effort to damage any future White House endeavors on his behalf.   His comments were simply an effort to combine science and religion, and I thought he did a rather good job of it.  He was vague, non-committal and highly aloof.

Now, it's Bobby Jindal's turn, because he has been mentioned in the same sentence as the term "White House" as well:

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is rapidly emerging as a new "moderate" Republican voice, but a court case beginning Wednesday is set to shine light on a controversial policy in his state which sees government funding given to schools that teach creationism.

The case has been brought by a Louisiana teachers union and is aimed at a voucher scheme whereby some parents can take their children out of poor state schools and get vouchers to use at private schools.

One of the most controversial aspects of the programme is that some of the schools included on it are conservative Christian organisations that teach creationism in their science classes. When parents use the vouchers at such establishments they are effectively giving state money to teach children lessons that can include alternatives to the theory of evolution or questioning the widely accepted age of the Earth.
 

In this case, the arm of the DNC extends to the Louisiana teachers Union.  This is how the DNC behaves.  It will never be a campaign of issues.  It will always be an effort to tear down the reputation of the opponent.

And, before you label me as a member of the Conservative God Squad (NTTAWWT), I should point out that I'm agnostic for the most part.  I believe in a Greater Being.  I just don't know what kind of silly hat he wears.

Hmmmm...Something Looks Different

It's the Indiana Colts cheerleading squad.  But, what's that middle aged bald guy doing there?

Oh...wait:

Ah...showing support for leukemia patients by shaving your heads.  Got it...and nicely done, ladies.

Of course, degenerates like me never look at your heads anyway.  Still...well done.

Redundancy and Fitting In

DRAG QUEENS WILL glitz up the next Mummers Parade in Philadelphia.

Ten veteran drag performers will join the New Year's Day celebration, each in costumes matching the theme of a Fancy Brigade.

"I think it's kind of crazy to be so mainstream now," said Ian Morrison, who handpicked the members of the first "Drag Brigade."

Morrison will participate as his drag alias, Brittany Lynn. He's been performing for 15 years and said that "Philly's come a long way" in terms of LGBT rights. He lauded the city for its support of the gay community, especially in such an iconic Philly tradition.

In the parade, the "Drag Brigade" - made up of Crystal Electra, Alexis Cartier, Misses P., Porcelain, Bridgette Jones, Stella D'Oro, Mary D' Knight, Navaya Shay and Cherry Pop - will lead the string bands from Washington Avenue to City Hall.
 

I think, perhaps, this is the only parade in the US in which a troop of drag queens will fit right in.  Having attended the Mummers Parade a number of times (a couple times sober) I can assure that no one really sticks out.  Everyone looks like...well...drag queens.

Public School Forgot to Teach This

Do these names look familiar?

Hiram Rhodes Revels

Jefferson Franklin Long

Joseph Hayne Rainey

Robert Carlos De Large

Robert Brown Elliott

Benjamin Sterling Turner

Josiah Thomas Walls

Richard Harvey Cain

John Roy Lynch

Alonzo Jacob Ransier

James Thomas Rapier

Jeremiah Haralson

John Adams Hyman  

Charles Edmund Nash

Robert Smalls

Blanche Kelso Bruce

James Edward O’Hara

Henry Plummer Cheatham

John Mercer Langston

Thomas Ezekiel Miller

George Washington Murray

George Henry White

Oscar Stanton De Priest 1929 1931

 

 

These gentlemen are the first African-Americans to serve in Congressional office (be it House or Senate).  Every single one of them was a Republican...EVERY SINGLE ONE.  The last in the list was the only individual elected to what the politically correct Left likes to call the "Modern Era."   De Priest was elected in 1929 to the 71st Congress. 

 

Then *BANG*...all of a sudden African-Americans elected to congress were Democrats.  What happened in that point of history that can account for such a switch in loyalties?  What changed the black vote (almost overnight) from Republican to Democrat?

 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt happened.  It was the point in US history where the Democratic party became the Party of "Giving Stuff Away."   The first twenty-three (23) black congressmen elected to office were all Republicans.  The Federal Government passed the New Deal, and all of a sudden loyalties changed.  FDR offered economic relief by opening up the coffers of the federal government.   At the same time, millions of blacks left the south for the north and points west.   But, the primary reason for the about-face was the fact that the Democratic Party was willing to introduce a meme of giving away gifts and creating dependents so that a captive electorate could be established.  That was the most basic purpose of the New Deal...political long-term dominance.

 

And it still works today...to the tune of about 95% voting loyalties among blacks to the Democratic party.  It's well over a half century later, and (as PJ O'Rourke might say) the party of Santa Clause is still active, but never really existed.