She's Pinchy!

Thought for the day:Root Cause of Why Statists Crave Power

2011-06-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

Statists take a dim view of humanity, likely due to the fact that they don't see people as children of God. Therefore they feel that people must be ruled, and legislated into "good behavior", and punished when they resist the control exerted by a State over their lives and fortunes.

Since the Statist does not acknowledge God as the grantor of natural rights, or the Creator of Man, the perceived vacuum of power must be filled- by the Statist, of course. The Statist perceives that he is better educated, more intelligent, more perceptive, less "superstitious" and better qualified overall to lead the God-fearing savages into Progress. He will force them if necessary. And somehow it is always "necessary" for "the greater good" or "for the children".

Something's always bottoming out when obama is around...

2011-05-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

Osama bin Laden Dies, Gets 72 Versions

2011-05-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

I know there's reportedly 25 minutes of video blackout, but with after-action reports and debriefings provided by the people who were there to the people who weren't there, how is it possible that the slick-messaging experts on Team Obama can't decide what it is that happened?

From The Bookworm room:

Usually when governments use misinformation, they use it to make themselves look good. The Obama Administration gets points for originality, insofar as it’s been using disinformation and misinformation to make itself look arbitrary, unlawful, helpless and stupid. Here’s jj’s great summary:
Okay, what do we have here:
1) There was a firefight.
2) There was no firefight.
3) Bin Laden was “resisting.”
4) Bin Laden wasn’t armed. (Makes the concept of “resisting” interesting.)
[4.a) And the newest one: the SEALS thought bin Laden was reaching for a weapon.]
5) He used his wife as a shield.
6) His wife was killed too.
7) He didn’t use his wife as a shield. She ran at a SEAL who shot her in the leg, but she’s fine.
8 ) Some other woman — the maid? — was used as a shield. By somebody. Downstairs.
9) That other woman — downstairs — was killed.
10) Maybe not. She was killed unless she wasn’t — and who was she, anyway?
11) Bin Laden’s son was killed.
12) Unless it was some other guy.
13) Bin Laden’s daughter saw him get killed. She’s undoubtedly traumatized, poor dear.
14) They were going to capture Bin Laden until the problem with the helicopter, which was:
A) It had mechanical trouble
B) It did a hard landing
C) It crashed
D) It clipped a wall with a tail rotor, effectively a crash
15.) They were never going to try to capture him; it was always a kill mission.
16.) No, it wasn’t.
17) The chopper blew up.
18) The SEALs blew it up.
19.) Panetta said yesterday the world needed proof and the photo would be released.
20.) Obama said today in an interview he taped with Steve Kroft for “60 Minutes” to be broadcast Sunday that it won’t be released. It’s too gruesome, would offend Muslim sensibilities (something he worries about a lot — I personally do not give a warm fart on a wet Wednesday about Muslim sensibilities), and how would Americans feel if Muslims released pictures of dead Americans?
21.) Kroft — who’s not a total idiot — pointed out that ever since “Black Hawk Down” days, Muslims have been doing precisely that, filming American bodies being dragged through the streets, filming Daniel Pearl’s head being cut off, filming any and everything.
22) Obama gets pissed at CBS, the tape gets cleaned up, that question disappears. (Inside info.)23.) We got a “treasure trove” of stuff from hard drives, etc.
24.) There were no phone lines, and no internet access at the “mansion,” they didn’t even have TV — what “treasure trove?”
25.) There is obviously in the pictures of the place a large satellite dish. I guess they used it for making salads.
26.) And now, just today: apparently the idea was to capture him, but only if he was naked. There was a suspicion he might be wearing a suicide bomber type explosive vest, or belt. So if he’s not naked and you can’t see if he has a vest on or not – shoot him.

The idiot Carney — they actually managed to find someone who makes Gibbs look good — is currently twisting himself into knots trying to explain why the photograph that the whole world was expecting isn’t going to be released. (Obviously the thing to do is get Trump on the case, he’ll force Obama to release it.)

The military did great, the administration — or whatever that bunch is, kind of like “The Little Rascals” — have managed to turn it into spaghetti. The story has changed so many times in the course of a mere three days it’s a joke — the world would be better off if Panetta had left the little shitwit on the golf course.

The President didn't order or authorize or forbid the mission to kill OBL. But he'll take the victory lap at Ground Zero!

2011-05-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

According to D.C. Insider, Obama was figuratively dragged kicking and screaming to a decision over whether or not to give the go-ahead for a mission to kill Osama bin Laden at the Abbottabad compound.

Tensions were especially high between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who favored the action, and Valerie Jarret, the President's advisor. Jarrett was against an action that could lead to an ever weaker political position for the President should the mission fail, and a further destabilization of the Middle East resulting from a successful mission that would offend Muslim sensitivities. Months ago, intelligence staff became disgusted with the politicization of a national security interest and resigned. This can be corroborated by checking the timeline.

Eventually, Leon Panetta resorted to initiating a program that reported to him alone, involving a covert ground attack against bin Laden's compound. When the 48-hr. "GO" command was given, the WH was TOLD, not requested. The WH then scrambled to abort the mission, but was overruled.

For more details on this story, please visit Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs and here.

Binnie Bunnies!

2011-05-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

Those naughty, mean, colonialist dogs killed a man whose family gave away bunnies to children! MSNBC must be running this story on a constant loop.

One would think that the bin Ladens had a modest, family-operated home-based business breeding and raising small animals for sale to local pet stores in the Abbottabad area. The surplus stock was given away to neighborhood kids as a form of Islamic charity. While the "binny bunny" was their most popular item, other favorites included the "Suicide Squirrel" and "Hamas Hamster". "Jihad gerbil" was also very well-liked.

White House Further Clarifies Conflicting Details of Bin Laden Raid (or "I have a narrative I can provide to you".)

2011-05-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

(2:00PM) White House press secretary Jay Carney is asked about the discrepancies in the White House's account of the bin Laden attack. "What is true," he says, is that "we provided a great deal of information with great haste.""Obviously, some of the information was -- came in piece by piece and is being reviewed and updated and elaborated upon," he says. "I have a narrative that I can provide to you on the raid itself, on the bin Laden compound."

(2:02PM) Of bin Laden, Carney says "He was not armed. Resistance does not require a firearm," Carney says, "but the information I gave you is what I can tell you."

(2:09PM) Jay Carney is asked about the "assaulter" rushed by a woman when Osama bin Laden was being attacked. The White House press secretary says he doesn't have details about who was firing, and he says the team entered the room one at a time.

(2:36PM) Carney then reads his notes: In the room with bin Laden was bin Laden's wife. She "rushed one of the U.S assaulters" and was shot, not killed. A woman on the first floor was killed "in the crossfire." Bin Laden's wife was unarmed, he says.

(2:37PM) "No she had arms. She was just un-armed. She didn't have a weapon."

(2:44PM) He notes that Obama promised as a candidate to get bin Laden. As far as "transparency", reduced spending, reduced deficit, increased jobs, the closure of the Guantanamo Bay facility, the implementation of civilian trials for detainees and a better national stature abroad goes, Carney responded that "(the President) also got his kids a dog, so that's two promises kept right there. Think about that."

(2:45PM) White House carny Jay Spokesperson clarifies that bin Laden had heard the noise of the helicopters over the compound, was startled out of bed, tripped over a Fischer-Price toy and fell down a flight of stairs in the dark, sustaining a massive and fatal head injury.

(2:52PM) WH says that the bin Ladin compound was home to 57 malnourished cats.

(2:53PM) WH corrects number of cats to 106 and adds that there was also an illegal football pool being conducted, and many pirated movies were found in the library.

(3:15PM) (WH press secretary hides under podium where audible sobbing is awkwardly ignored by correspondents for over an hour.)

(4:30PM) WH Press Secretary Carney emerges and states emphatically that he is "winning".

(4:32PM) Carney horrifies press corps by revealing that after photos were taken of OBL in his burial shroud, the body was removed and a mannequin placed in the weighted body bag for burial at sea. The body is being transported to the new underground complex built at the White House as a necro-mechanics research facility, where OBL will be subjected to experimental biochemical modifications and become a bioweaponized zombie. Once he becomes undead he will be returned to Mecca for the hajj where he will do what zombies do and start the Zombie Plague.

(4:35PM) White House further clarifies conflicting details of bin Laden raid. Osama bin Laden came out of the residence dressed in a floral housecoat to put his cat outside for the night. Twenty-five Navy SEALS suddenly appeared, having rappelled to the compound from helicopters. They tear-gassed bin Laden and his cat. While OBL was screaming and wiping his eyes a Navy SEAL got down behind him on his hands and knees while another SEAL shoved bin Laden over the back of the 1st SEAL in what is known in military jargon as a "tabletop". Osama reached up to straighten his hair towel as he had just washed his hair and put it up in curlers, and that is when the SEALS thought he was reaching for a weapon and pre-emptively shot him twice above the eye.

Post-Its at the Pump (AKA "gas roots activism")

2011-04-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is a very typical TEA-party action.
It doesn't rely on media access. It's easy, costs almost nothing, is non-destructive, legal, and creative. It's fun, and it engages the regular everyday working people we know and love. It's a simple means of getting a simple message out, which makes it effective.

The materials? A Post-It note, a marker, your creativity, and a gas pump.

I read about this at Breitbart's BigGovernment, where James Simpson tipped us off to it. I needed to get a half tank before prices shot up some more by this weekend, so I contributed the couplet above.

If you want to take part, please observe the following guidelines:

Don't cover up any warnings, advertisements, calibration stickers or keypads.

Keep the language clean.

Don't vandalize gas station property by writing on the pumps themselves! This is illegal and destructive. TEA party activists are famously respectful of both public and private property and the concerns of small business owners (as many gas station franchisees are).
Have fun! As Saul Alinsky pointed out, " A good tactic is one your people enjoy."

Redial "D" for....

2011-04-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), extreme far-left ideologue, is now comparing half of Americans to fleas.

In elevated rhetoric spewed during the budget fight, Senator Schumer said that “What we have here is a flea, wagging a tail, wagging a dog. The flea are the minority of House Republicans who are hard right, the tail is the House Republican caucus, and the dog is the government,” Schumer explained. “That flea is influencing what the dog does ... and it is sad.”

Yes, Senator, it is sad that you and Senator Harry Reid would rather shut down the government than stop forcing taxpayers to fund abortions, especially when they are performed on underage sex workers and girls who have statutorily raped. It is sad that your extreme far-left ideology compels you to defend choice not when it pertains to healthcare or firearm purchases, but to abortion, even that of minors transported across state lines in order to escape state laws requiring parental consent.

It is sad that when your party held control of the Presidency, the House and the Senate, you chose in 2010 to forgo passing a budget altogether. And now that Americans have risen up, angry at the irresponsible and dangerous spending habits of the past two years, you take umbrage.

Senator Schumer, you serve us. We are your masters. We will wag you, until we bag you.

April 9, 2011 Google results for "Schumer douchebag": 173,000 and rising

Whew!

2011-04-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

People of Wisconsin, aren't you glad that someone who makes up her mind before all the facts are presented is NOT going to be a Supreme Court judge?

It's YOUR fault gas prices are so high.

2011-04-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad that Obama is here to clear up my confusion. I seem to have the wrong opinions about everything.

I've been under the mistaken impression that gasoline is at the highest level in two years as the result of 1) uncertainties regarding the supplies of crude coming from the middle east given the social unrest in at least seven countries, 2) growing demand here as well as in India and China, and 3) the absence of any real effort at producing oil domestically.

But I'm just silly!

Today in Pennsylvania, Obama had to take some time during his speech to clear up some misconceptions held by a citizen in attendance. The citizen, like me, was also concerned about high gas prices and asked Obama about it. Obama sprang like a cheetah and cleared away the mists clouding that man's mind about what was really to blame:

“”If you’re complaining about the price of gas and you’re only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know,” Obama said laughingly. “You might want to think about a trade-in.”

See, rather than complain about the price of gas caused by these various policies, we should be altering our lifestyles, even if it means going into debt to purchase a new car. Or, if the gas mileage is pretty good, maybe we should all be riding motorcycles. It's our fault for not doing enough. It's our fault for griping when we could be buying new GM hybrids. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Thank you, Obama. Thank you, thank you.

Anyway, later on people had heard that Obama's wisdom had been dispensed as coolly and refreshingly as a Slurpee, and they looked for his sermons on the interweb, finding it not. For lo, it had been scrubbeth-ed away! But the cache of the Instapundit restoreth what was, what is, and what shall be:

A great clip for when we make one big trade-in come 2012.

Dial D for...

2011-03-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) is making the news these days.

Senator Schumer got his marching orders from the Democratic Caucus to paint the Republicans' proposed spending cuts as "extreme." He didn't know reporters were early to a conference call, and he let what can only be described as extreme partisan douchebaggery slip out. He's blaming Boehner and the Tea Party (AKA the "perfectionist caucus") for the latest budget battle all because Americans are daring to let their newly-elected legislators know that they are acutely concerned with the psychotic spending practices of a bloated and over-reaching Federal government.

It was so much easier NOT to pass a budget, wasn't it, Chuckles?

Apparently I'm not the only one with this assessment of his behavior.

3/30/2011.....Google results for "Schumer douchebag": 163,000 and rising.

"Fast and Furious"? More like "Fast and Loose".

2011-03-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

"Gun show loopholes" are often cited (baselessly)as the cause for the proliferation of illegally-possessed firearms. These "loopholes" were also blamed for the existence of so many American firearms in Mexico. When Mexico's president Felipe Calderon came here recently to criticize us in front of our own legislature, he and President Obama worked on a policy to stop drug and weapons smuggling across the border.

But now we see that our government has been involved with smuggling U.S. weapons into Mexico via the Phoenix-based "Operation Fast and Furious" since October 2009. CBS reported that the BATF was allowing smugglers to bring firearms into Mexico, then tracking the traffickers and arresting them. Or, that was the idea. (I'm a cynic, and I presume that it has been done so that the Obama administration has "evidence" to use in further destruction of 2nd Amendment rights.) Obama says neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder authorized Operation Fast and Furious. Obama's excuse: It's “a pretty big government” with “a lot of moving parts.”

BATF agents like John Dodson had misgivings about this operation and felt that weapons would be allowed to "walk" and be in the hands of criminals on both sides of the border for years to come, never to be retrieved. When agents expressed their misgivings about aspects of the operation, they were met with unhelpful or hostile attitudes.

Internal agency memos show ATF supervisors dismissed the objections of agents in the Group VII strike force, insisting the prize of getting permission to run a wiretap and eventually rolling up a major gun or drug gang in Mexico merited the risks.There were even comments interpreted by the agents as veiled threats that they could lose their jobs if they didn’t fall in line.“This is a time we all need to pull together, not drift apart,” Group VII supervisor David J.Voth wrote to his strike force team in March 2010, acknowledging “there may be a schism developing amongst the group.”“If you don’t think this is fun you’re in the wrong line of work — period! This is the pinnacle of domestic U.S. law enforcement techniques. After this the tool box is empty,” Vothwrote.“Maybe the Maricopa County Jail is hiring detention officers and you can get paid $30,000 (instead of $100,000) to serve lunch to inmates all day.” (Solomon, Heath, Witkin; The Center for Public Integrity)

Dodson also said, “What we were doing in my opinion was wrong. It’s not what we do and for my agency to openly and publicly come in and deny we are doing it, I can’t even fathom it.”

In December 2010, Customs and Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was fatally shot north of the Arizona-Mexico border while attempting to arrest bandits targeting illegal aliens. Two weapons recovered at the crime scene were traced back to Operation Fast and Furious. On March 3, the BATF stated that neither weapon appeared to have been the one used to murder agent Terry, adding “At this time, we’re not aware of any forensic evidence that would link these guns to the homicide."

With direct blessing of BATF headquarters in Washington and supervision by the U.S. attorney’s office in Phoenix, a special BATF strike force known as Group VII was given permission to let federally licensed gun shops continue selling weapons to straw buyers already linked to a suspected Mexican gun running operation.Officials told the Center that BATF allowed about 1,765 firearms over the 15 months of the operation to pass from gun dealers to the suspected straw buyers that were the accomplices of the gun running ring. Another 233 weapons had been bought by the suspects prior to the BATF operation starting, bringing the total number of guns in the case to 1,998. Of those, 797 of the guns were eventually recovered as a result of criminal activity on both sides of the border — including 195 from inside Mexico — after they were used in crimes, collected during arrests, or interdicted through other law enforcement operations, the officials told the Center.

Supposedly Obama has ordered AG Holder to assign an investigator to this issue because he wants to know who authorized the operation. Senator Chuck Grassley's attempts to get more information regarding the agencies involved in this operation have been stonewalled. Grassley told the Center for Public Integrity that he now believes those representations are contradicted by the documents his staff has gathered and the testimony of agents like Dodson. “The Justice Department and the BATF put up a wall to mislead the American people and were less than forthcoming,” he said.

What might have been

2011-03-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Remember the Skip Gates kerfluffle back in summer 2009? Professor Gates can't get into his house and a neighbor who can't readily identify him sees him and a companion messing with the door? Here's Obama talking about that, just before he pronounces that it was the Cambridge Police who "acted stupidly":

Well, I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts. What's been reported though is that the guy forgot his keys, jimmied his way to get into the house. There was a report called in to the police station that there might be a burglary taking place. So far, so good, right? I mean, if I was trying to jigger into -- well, I guess this is my house now, so...(LAUGHTER)... it probably wouldn't happen. But let's say my old house in Chicago. (LAUGHTER)Here, I'd get shot. (LAUGHTER)

Well, here it is, almost two years later, and guess who's locked out of the people's house?

President Obama. The Obamas returned early from their family Latin America tour to find the place secured, but Obama didn't try to "jigger into" it. (I think the word is, "jiggle" or "jimmy", Mr. President. I hope it's not racist to correct a black Ivy League graduate.)

And despite his insulting insinuations to the secret service, he's alive to talk about it.

Oh, and the LSM won't play it repeatedly like they would have had it been say, President Bush. But thanks to the miracle of the InterWeb, you can!

Oh, what might have been.... If only he'd given up and gone back to Chicago...

It's "kinetic military action". Try to keep up.

2011-03-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

March 24, 2011: Redefining "war": In the last few days, Obama administration officials have frequently faced the question: Is the fighting in Libya a war? From military officers to White House spokesmen up to the president himself, the answer is no. But that leaves the question: What is it?
In a briefing on board Air Force One Wednesday, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes took a crack at an answer. "I think what we are doing is enforcing a resolution that has a very clear set of goals, which is protecting the Libyan people, averting a humanitarian crisis, and setting up a no-fly zone," Rhodes said. "Obviously that involves kinetic military action, particularly on the front end." (Byron York, Washington Examiner)

If you're confused, it's because your "optics" are all uncalibrated.

Review:

March 23, 2011:
Jake Tapper of ABC informed readers that President Obama has redefined "exit strategy"
“The exit strategy will be executed this week,” President Obama said, “in thesense that we will be pulling back from our much more active efforts to shapethe environment. We will still be in a support role. We will be supplyingjamming, intelligence and other assets unique to us."

Obamacare Debate at Randy Hultgren's Office 3 22 11

2011-03-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

Obama's hourly-plan for the Libyan interference has changed again.

2011-03-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

OBAMA: No ground troops, no matter what happens... No, no wait a minute...

Camp Lejeune Marines to Libya...

Camp Lejeune Marines Rescue Downed Pilot In Libya

And from Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit:

Gadhaffi has to go! No wait! He can stay!

Barack Obama, 2007: "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

Joe Biden, 2007 (campaign trail, New Hampshire):
QUESTIONER: "I have a great fear that say you're elected as the nominee of the party. Next August sometime during the summer, Dick Cheney and George are going to bomb Iran."
BIDEN: "Legitimate concern."
QUESTIONER: "What can you do about it?"
BIDEN: "I am not one, who if you've observed me for some time, I am not one who's engaged in excessive populist rhetoric. I'm not one that pits the rich against the poor. I'm not one who's gone out there and made false threats against presidents about, and god love him he's a great guy, I'm not Dennis Kucinich saying impeach everybody now. But let me tell you, I have written an extensive legal memorandum with the help of a group of legal scholars who are sort of a stable of people, the best-known constitutional scholars in America, because for 17 years I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
"I asked them to put together [for] me a draft, which I'm now literally riding between towns editing, that I want to make clear and submit to the Untied States Senate pointing out the president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran. And I want to make it clear, I want it on the record, and I want to make it clear, if he does, as chairman of the foreign relations committee and former chair of the judiciary committee, I will move to impeach him."( Biden also said the same thing a few weeks later, at the Scott County Democratic Party banquet in Davenport, Iowa.)

Jake Tapper of ABC also informs readers that President Obama has redefined "exit strategy"

“The exit strategy will be executed this week,” President Obama said, “in the
sense that we will be pulling back from our much more active efforts to shape
the environment. We will still be in a support role. We will be supplying
jamming, intelligence and other assets unique to us."

So... we'll still be there, with equipment and manpower. We just won't be there as much?

Something about glass houses, and stones, and throwing? Ah, nevermind.

2011-03-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks, iOwnTheWorld.com

March 17: St. Patrick's Day Pinchiness

2011-03-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

"What could possibly make her pinchy about St. Patrick's Day," you might ask. You should know better. I can be pinchy about anything.
For instance, why isn't it considered offensive to those of Irish ancestry that a holiday or feast day dedicated to the patron saint of Ireland is primarily associated with drinking? And not just social drinking, but drinking on a level normally associated with Shrove Tuesday, or, better known to the libertine heathens as Mardi Gras? I mean, drinking large quantities of crappy beer is bad enough for the liver, but compound the problem by making that same liver filter out all the food coloring poured in to make that beer green, huh?

And imagine how I feel when Columbus Day, the one day dedicated not just to an Italian, but an Italian who discovered the Americas sort of, is met with at best ambivalence, and at normalcy, noisy protests by Latinos and Indians. Nobody says "Hey, it's Columbus Day! Everyone's Italian on Columbus Day!" or "Kiss me; I'm Sicilian!" Well, OK , I guess a kiss from a Sicilian might make some people nervous, thanks to Hollywood stereotypes, but you know what I'm saying. No one lifts a Peroni on Columbus Day.

Doing A Job That Americans Won't Do

2011-01-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

It is reported today by ABC15 that a lightly-weathered book was spotted in the Arizona desert on January 25 by a U.S. Border Patrol Agent who was "patrolling a route known for smuggling illegal immigrants and drugs." An official with DHS confirmed the discovery of the book titled "In Memory of Our Martyrs", which is published in Iran according to FoxNews.com. and "consists of short biographies of Islamic suicide bombers and other Islamic militants who died carrying out attacks."According to internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection documents, "The book also includes letters from suicide attackers to their families, as well as some of their last wills and testaments." Each biographical page contains "the terrorist's name, date of death, and how they died."

The article also recalls that U.S. officials, including FBI director Robert Mueller, have raised serious concerns in recent years over "OTMs" -- or illegal immigrants other than Mexicans -- who have crossed the southwest border at alarming rates.

Mueller testified before the House Appropriations Committee in March 2005 that "there are individuals from countries with known Al Qaeda connections who are changing their Islamic surnames to Hispanic-sounding names and obtaining false Hispanic identities, learning to speak Spanish and pretending to be Hispanic."

Just last year, the Department of Homeland Security had in custody thousands of detainees from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. U.S. Border Patrol statistics indicate that there were 108,025 OTMs detained in 2006, compared to 165,178 in 2005 and 44,614 in 2004.

Authorities would not release a picture of the book (158 pages, published by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance) to Fox News, or reveal how long they believe it was lying in the desert. Immigration officials have previously discovered items along the U.S.-Mexico border from Middle Eastern origin, including Iranian currency in Zapata, Texas, and a jacket found in Jim Hogg County, Texas, that was covered in patches including an Arabic military badge that illustrates an airplane flying into a tower.

Keeping The Heat On Sanford Bishop

2011-01-25T16:01:00.000-08:00

From Andrew Breitbert's BigGovernment

Here’s the quick pitch — Sanford Bishop is the congressman who admitted he knew about massive fraud in the Pigford settlement that was supposed to help black farmers but when confronted by farmers hurt by the Pigford settlement, he says it’s not his job to do anything about fraud.

Why is Pigford important? Because it’s a perfect example of everything conservatives and libertarians — and, hopefully, honest liberals — hate about government spending programs that cost billions, create fraud and waste, promote vote buying and don’t even solve the problem they set out to fix.

And it’s been covered up and falsely promoted by the media for over a decade now. Repeat after me: The actual black farmers were intentionally hurt more by Pigford.

For 12 years of politicians touting the “social justice” for the black farmer have systematically subverted their justice. The politicians and the lawyers and the “black farmers advocacy groups” have known this very, very well. They are Pigford flim flam artists.

I am committed to getting justice for the bona fide black farmers who faced government sponsored discrimination and land loss. These American heroes were betrayed by the so-called ‘black leadership’ like the Congressional Black Caucus, who sold them out at every opportunity. CBC member Sanford Bishop is a perfect example of the back stabbing that these men have faced.

We’ve issued reports, we’ve posted video interviews and now we’re drawing a line in the sand. Sanford Bishop is a symbol of the Congressional Black Caucus member who has sold out his constituency, both black and white. We’re talking bold action against Bishop and we’d like your help.

We want to inform the people who are most aggrieved by the Pigford scam and by Sanford Bishop. We’ve produced this 30 second campaign-style ad as a way to shed more heat and light on what Bishop has been getting away with in southwestern Georgia for nearly two decades.

And we want to start airing this video on television in Sanford Bishop’s home district in Georgia later this week

We think that by focusing on the easy to understand problem of Sanford Bishop, we can generate interest in the wider story of Pigford. If you support this move, please us know in comments.

In the meantime, please share this video. Put it on your blog, send it to your friends, tweet, like and buzz it. This isn’t about just one congressman in just on district, but that’s where it can start.

6 dead, 18 wounded, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.

2011-01-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

From James4America:
UPDATE: University responds to FOXNation.com:

Many Americans were startled to see University of Arizona students distributing t-shirts at the memorial service in Tucson yesterday. On the front of the shirts, “Together We Thrive” was printed, along with a trendy logo.

University spokeswoman Jennifer Fitzenberger told FoxNation.com “it was our idea to do the t-shirts.” She said distributing merchandise at a memorial was appropriate and rejected the charge that the University over-commercialized the service. “Our intention was to have something to remember after the event…something that symbolizes our community’s spirit…which would live on.” When asked if the University had worked with the White House or any partisan groups on any level regarding the t-shirts she said “no.”

Fitzenberger insisted the University made no money from the “Together We Thrive” t-shirts and they weren’t for sale. “We took the idea to University of Arizona BookStores and they contracted it out with a vendor.” Reports put the cost of the t-shirts at $60,000.

FoxNation.com spoke to representatives at University of Arizona BookStores who revealed the vendor they used….”Youth Monument,” a Los Angeles-based company specializing in “the hottest” college brands. “I don’t feel comfortable commenting on the story,” said Nick Ventura when contacted by FoxNation.com. Ventura called himself “a partner” at Youth Monument. When asked if the University of Arizona was a regular client and if there was any contact with the White House or any political group he responded “no comment.”

http://nation.foxnews.com/arizona-shooting-rampage/2011/01/13/t-shirts-handed-out-tucson-memorial

Here's the page of "Organizing for America" dated February 2008, showing John Berry's contribution: Together We Thrive. James writes, "Interestingly enough, the post...was being “floated” as the campaign slogan for Obama’s 2008."

Maybe the White House had nothing to do with "branding" a memorial service. But I bet the DNC did.

Stay classy, Progressives.

Like, this is my book and you should totally read it.

2011-01-07T13:10:00.000-08:00

This is a totally serious book about politics. If you don't know it already, I am John McCain's daughter (well, the blonde and not fat one, anyway) and I have like, spent so much time around politics that I had to write a book about it! My book is a whole 193 pages long, and there are like no pictures in it, so stupid mouth-breathing conservatives will probably not like it very much.
In case you don't know it, I am a Progressive Republican, which means that I am like, way more tolerant and inclusive than those other kinds of Republicans. Except that I don't really like those squeaky-clean wholesome Mormons very much 'cause I think they probably look down on my drinking and my crazy-sex and partying and foul language, and who needs that stuffy old bigotry? And I really don't like the Palin family very much 'cause it's like, always about them and the kids and like, "stop cursing around the children", and "do you have to drink so much when the kids are around?" and "can you put on some clothes when the kids are here?" and nag, nag, nag. Omigod! Freaking conservatives are so rigid!
Anyway, you are probably a Progressive Republican if you don't scream in fear when a gay person says "hi" to you, or if you have some black or hispanic friends. If you don't hate people for being different and if you don't want to kill all foreign immigrants who come to this wonderful land of Freedom you are probably a Progressive Republican like me. And if you think abstinence is stupid, and crazy-sex is totally awesome, you are a Progressive!
This book will make you sad to read about how badly I was treated on the campaign and how, like, I had to spend my own money and shlep my own bags and sometimes walk up stairs in crappy hotels! I know, right? Total buzzkill! But then it will make you happy to know that there are wild individualistic and freedom-loving Republicans out there like me who don't hate people with tattoos or women who wear pants. I am a totally different kind of Republican who accepts gays and doesn't want to burn them with fire. I love rock and roll music, and getting really drunk, and making out with the guy who's been following me for weeks to write a story in Newsweek! I think everyone deserves free health care for their whole lives, and I think rich people are greedy and should pay more in taxes, and I love black people. Religious people scare me.
I am ready to help my readers learn that there is no bigotry at all in Progressive Republicans like me and we are totally inclusive. Please don't be put off by my edginess. If you keep an open mind we can all have a totally awesome (Republican) party together!

Some Things Never Change, Like "Free Eats"

2011-01-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, TCM had a marathon showing of Hal Roach Studios' "Our Gang" short films. I viewed some and DVR'ed others, finding these shorts a welcome break from news coverage and whatever Netflix has sent me.

I had to laugh when the reel called "Free Eats" aired. It's the one where two midgets (or "fidgets", as Stymie calls them) dress as babies and, with the aid of two other con artists dressed as a husband and wife (the "wife" is a man in drag), rob a series of wealthy ladies of their jewelry. The kids have all been invited to a big party at a wealthy woman's estate for a day of cake and ice cream, balloons, a monkey and games. She's the wife of a Democratic mayoral candidate, and she wants to increase her husband's chances of attaining office by hosting a feed for the poor children of the area.

It reminded me of one of several incidents occurring this past fall where Democratic candidates had their support groups "buy" votes through feeds and promises of other goods. At the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Harry Reid gave free pizza to university students. http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid-makes-pitch-for-young-voters-and-hits-hard-at-gop-challenger-105322203.html Early voting was taking place at the Lied Library, next door to where the free eats were being given out. More on Nevada Democrat shenanigans can be found here. Booze, crack and pork rinds get you votes elsewhere. Mmmm, free food!

01-01-11

2011-01-01T16:22:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, interwebbers! And to the two followers I've managed to pick up (despite practically no updates made to the blog since it's inception), a big "THANKS!"
I resolve to update this blog a lot more frequently, even if it means only making short haiku posts.

I am looking forward to the 112th Congress and the 63 new members starting Wednesday, and likewise to the job of harangueing them into doing what they're supposed to do- reduce spending, cut taxes, shrink government. Census data showed that the population of NY has decreased, probably due to high taxes, high cost of living and the usual blue-state woes, with the result being that NY lost a congressional seat. I haven't yet researched just who will be getting the boot.

I look forward to another year of marital bliss with my husband.

I anticipate spending more time trying to figure out 1) exactly what is coming in the way of economic calamity and 2) how to prepare for it.

And the usual (except this time I really will work at it), more exercise and better dietary habits.

Thoughts on September 11

2009-09-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Eight years ago today, I was working in Clearwater, Florida. I wasn't at the lab bench fifteen minutes when my supervisor, Steve, interrupted my morning coffee reverie with, "hey- it's nine-one-one today. Wonder what kind of emergency we'll have." It was that kind of workplace, and Steve had a dark sense of humor. Wouldn't you know, about half an hour later, one of the production guys came into the lab and said "y'all heard? A plane crashed into the World Trade Center. It's on the radio." Steve and I looked at each other. "Huh, " I said. "What's the weather like there?" Steve said he thought it must be clear. A front had gone through and New York was having a bright, cool autumn day. It didn't make sense, but what do you do? You have to work and you can't be worrying about weird things like that. Maybe the pilot was drunk or had a heart attack. I was still operating under the assumption that the aircraft was a single-engine Cessna, or at worst a corporate jet. I turned on the radio to see what I could find out.

The broadcaster was talking about smoke pouring from the tower. Fire could be seen. Papers were fluttering across the sky. People stared upwards. Glass was falling into the streets. It had been a jet that crashed. A commercial passenger jet.

The newscaster then broke in to say that a second plane had hit. Just now a second aircraft, a passenger jet, flew into the second tower of the World Trade Center.

It was no accident. This was an intentional act. This was an attack.

The news went crazy. There were reports of missing planes. Orders to ground all aircraft were made by the FAA. Which aircraft in the air were under the command of hijackers? Which were inexplicably out of contact? A crash at the Pentagon. More panic. Reports of planes landing and accounted for. A reported incident at the White House. Where was United Flight 93? Reports of a crash in Pennsylvania. One of the Twin Towers collapsed. It fell. What do you mean 'it fell', I was thinking. How does that happen? A short time later, the second tower collapsed. The newscaster's voice cracked. He choked up relating it to us as he watched it happen.

I was stuck at work, wondering what was going on. There was no TV, only the two radios in the entire plant. The production guy who had been in the Army was pacing back and forth, dying to get home. When I did finally get home at about 5PM, I turned on the news. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was awful. Horrible.

People waving shirts from high up in the towers, beckoning for help. Firefighters and cops rushing into the towers. Smoke billowing across the Hudson. Papers and personal objects carried in the winds all across New York City, swept from office spaces where cubicles were broken and scattered and swept out of shattered windows. Disheveled and shocked people in office attire, some wounded, all frightened, covered in soot or gray dust, running as fast as their clothes or shoes or level of fitness would allow. Running away. Walking across the bridges in herds. Paramedics pouring bottled water over their faces, clearing the dust away. Palestinians and Iraqis celebrating in the streets, the shopkeepers giving away sweets. Londoners crying. Canadians and Israelis expressing sympathy and solidarity.

The jumpers. People forced to choose between burning to death in an inferno of jet fuel, or jumping to their deaths from one-hundred stories up. Only in morbid mind games does one ever contemplate having to make a decision like that. But today, some people had to make that decision for real. How does someone do that? Some tried to climb down the building's facade, and fell. Some tried to lower others to the ground with firehoses, or tried to be lowered. Some just jumped. A man and a woman joined hands and leaped into the sky.

Who were they? Were they having an office romance? Were they friends? Were they strangers, brought together by the simple fact of their humanity as they confronted death together? How does anyone make the decision to DO that? I asked this question over and over.

About five minutes into watching various newscasts, I found the presence of mind to get a videotape out and start recording what I was seeing. I knew that this was something that should not be forgotten. Certainly, the enormity and the horror and the outrage of it would prevent it from being so, but more than this, there was the real possibility of the events being diminished. People of this day seem to have shorter memories. History is viewed by too many people as irrelevant to them. Even worse, I knew that in the interest of partisan politics and political correctness, the horror would be smoothed over and the perpetrators would be apologized for. It would be important to see what was happening and be able to review it years later, unfiltered, un-spun and unrevised. The legislature was now seen gathered together at the Capitol. They were singing. For once in as long as I had been politically aware, the liberals were proudly singing America the Beautiful along with everyone else. How long would this unity last? When would the partisanship be taken up again?

Later into the evening came the night-time shots of small memorials put up in the city, built around any place that held large numbers of posted pictures of missing loved ones and flyers asking "Have You Seen..?" Close-ups of people's faces filled the screen as they were shown waiting nervously for word of a family member or friend that worked in or near the towers. Tear-streaks had plowed through the thin films of gray dust that still settled down on their faces.

The very next day, a special program was aired on the local PBS channel to inform the viewers about Islam. The program explained how Islam was a religion of peace. Jesus is an important prophet to the Muslims! Muslims had a beef with the Jews because Jews betrayed Mohammed during a battle in the 14th century, but Islam is a religion of peace. My boyfriend, having already read the Koran some time ago, was skeptical when I told him what PBS said. Another local station showed a report in which a Sikh man was being harrassed. His turban and beard confused the local yokels, who spit and cursed at him. Other local people were volunteering to go out and guard the area mosques against vandalism. People were unglued.

I taped another show about 9/11 after the news footage. The shots of people shown jumping and falling from the towers haunted me. They were forced to choose their manner of death, and no means was easy. I always think of those people, falling and tumbling past the windows. Are they aware? Are they passed-out? Has time slowed for them? Are their loved ones getting some terrible, certain sense of their deaths?

I thought of these falling people when, years later, Reverend Wright preached in a church attended by then-Senator Barack Obama a sermon about "chickens coming home to roost". When he felt it safer to speak his mind, fraudulent Amerind-impostor Ward Churchill called the people who worked in the WTC "little Eichmanns". I thought of them when John Murtha compared our troops to Nazis. I thought of them when Daniel Pearl was murdered, and when I heard the heart-wrenching screams of Nick Berg as the animals who believed in the 'religion of peace' cut his head from his body. Wright and Churchill and Murtha made me sick. The bloodthirsty adherents of "the religion of peace" made me sick and angry.

Eight years later, thanks to failure by the media to protect our interests and ineptitude on the part of the GOP, we are saddled with an administration that has a 9/10 mindset. We have had the Worldwide Obamapology Tours One and Two. President Obama has bowed to King Saud, said to "the Muslim world" that America "is not a Christian nation", and said that America is "the largest Muslim nation". He has hugged Hugo Chavez, ended aid to Honduras after Manuel Zelaya was deported (when he tried to become a Honduran dictator against the wishes of Hondurans and against the Honduran Constitution), snubbed the Iranian dissidents' pleas for help and stood by while they were slaughtered in the streets for demanding a fair election. Attorney General Eric Holder has exonerated two militant Black Panther Party members who had engaged in open, armed voter intimidation during the November '08 elections. The networks NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC and CNBC have shed all pretense of impartiality, and refuse to report anything negative about the Obama administration or positive about the new crop of dissenting Americans. Our national debt has quadrupled in eight months. Americans who are upset at the spending, the growth of government and the number of "czars" are called "teabaggers", "Nazis", "un-American" and "angry mobs" by their elected officials and the President of The United States.

Everything's coming to a head.

What I see coming is another attack. America is perceived as weak, led by a naive and inexperienced over-reacher who has no will to fight anyone except other Americans. The Muslims probably view him as an apostate, since Obama was an Indonesian citizen as a boy and was enrolled at a Muslim school. He probably recited the shahada countless times as a student. Kids don't care much about religion, or think about it, but adults do. Islamofacsists hate apostates. They hate Americans. Heck, they hate all Westerners. They hate weakness. Obama nails the Islamofascist hate-trifecta.

I've been wrong about a lot of things in my life, and I really hope I'm wrong about this. I hope I turn out to be a big, stupid jerk proven wrong about Obama and his policies and the path I think we're headed down. But I'm steeling myself up for being correct. It's eight years after America's heart was broken by people who hate us for our values and our foibles, and we haven't really acted like people who took a lesson to that broken heart. We're politically correct at the expense of security. The borders are wide open. Imams are allowed to preach hate in America. People in the President's administration preach hate. The ACLU prosecutes people who try to protect Americans. God and Christians are more vilified than the Islamists are. The lunatics are running the asylum.

This whole bit has been kind of a rant, and I'm sorry about that, more for my sloppiness than for your time spent if I may be so honest. I've read a lot of blogs today and a lot of comments on news and opinion websites. A lot of liberal Bush-haters and 9/11 "truthers" have been emboldened to come out of their spider-holes on this day and spew their disrespect, and it's been making me think of the jumpers' choices again. The images tug at my mind like the wind tugged their clothes, nagging.

Hard choices are coming, Americans. Think about what is important to you, and what you love. Think about the things that you don't need, and the things you absolutely cannot do without. Maybe the things are people. Think about and be ready to defend your values.

Think about who you are. Think about how your actions define you. Start thinking about what you're going to have to choose between when you get stuck between the infernos and the open skies.

Why So Pinchy?

2009-08-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

My husband, Alan, gave me the pet name "Pinchy". ("Pinch" for short.) It vies with "Tantor" for frequency of use, though "Tantor" is used mainly when I am being prodded to move a little more quickly, as in "Unk, Tantor, unk." (For those deprived neglectarinos who never picked up and read any of the Edgar Rice Burroughs "Tarzan" novels, "Tantor" is the apes' word for "elephant", and "unk" means "go".) "Pinch" is the default nickname, used when I am needed to find things, spell out words Alan wants to type as he works on papers or lessons, and when I am asked a question or otherwise summoned. If I am called by my Christian name, I know that the household atmosphere is frosty due to squabbling or that there is an emergency . If Alan calls me "Pinch" everything is fine.

This pet name was inspired by a completely unfounded and inexplicably stubborn misconception on his part regarding a "crabby" quality I am often accused of exhibiting. It's preposterous, of course. I am nothing if not the epitome of bubbling charm and a reliable elicitor of delighted giggles from small children. Despite this, and despite the suitability of three perfectly-delightful pet names previously given to me by Alan over the decade he and I have been together, "Pinchy" is the one that has withstood the test of time and will likely be mine forever.

In the admittedly rare occasion when I actually am justifiably (and only ever moderately) "pinchy", Alan will tease me by forming his hands into crab claws and making pincher motions with them. He puts on an exaggerated crabby-face and says things like, "Oh! she's so pinchy! So very pinchy! We'll have to put rubber-bands on her pinchers!" The man knows no shame. It doesn't matter if we are in the privacy of our home or on public transportation, Alan feels at liberty to tease me out of a foul mood whenever one appears. If he's across the room from me and senses I'm irritated about something, I see the hands go up and make pinching motions. It's cute. It makes being crabby a lot more difficult to have someone doing that at you. This attitude of his is probably going to be a major factor in our long and happy marriage.

I will confess that I do have a problem with happiness. The problem is that I am not sufficiently happy often enough despite having every reason to be so. The causes of this condition may be varied, but the causes are not as important as the cure. I think the cure involves nothing more exotic than recognition of the problem, acknowledgement that not being happy often enough is a problem, and the active cultivation of a sense of gratitude for the things I have and the things I don't have.

Dennis Prager has written many wonderful books, and in my opinion the most important of these is "Happiness Is A Serious Problem". I won't list all the reasons I have for believing that everyone should read this book, but I will say it has helped me to think more seriously about the importance and role of happiness in our lives and how to cultivate it. I had to mindfully start breaking out of old patterns of thought and behavior. Happiness takes work; it isn't natural and it isn't easy, especially in a world that seems to be mired in madness and superficiality. But happiness is critically important, to ourselves and our own well-being naturally, but also to the well-being and happiness of those who love us. As Dennis Prager points out, "...(W)e have a moral obligation to those around us to be happy." Why a moral obligation? Because our expressions of happiness, or the lack thereof, affect others, especially those who love us. If I seem to be unhappy it affects my husband, because what he wants foremost is for me to be happy. He works hard and sacrifices his own needs and wants for his family's happiness. If the family isn't happy no matter what he does, what is all the sacrifice for?

I am not proficient at happiness, but I think I am better at it than I used to be. Alan has certainly helped a great deal. He is a cheerful and positive person without being saccharine or phony, and I know that he is always putting my wishes before his. It's a lot harder to be crabby when involved in a marriage with someone like Alan. When I do manage it, though, the bouts are shorter-lived and half-hearted. I will become predictably crabby at "worthwhile" things: selfishness, irresponsibility, dishonesty, injustice, ignorance and so on, whether they are others' shortcomings or mine, and it is not only reasonable but good civic-mindedness to be bothered by these things. The "small" stuff is not such an issue anymore, though, and that shows improvement.

So... I am working my way down through smaller and thinner rubber-bands for the pinchers as I accept my status as a recovering crab. I just pray for the courage to snap at the things I should, the serenity to side-step the things I shouldn't pinch at, and the wisdom to know the difference.