Saturday, February 27, 2010

Dumbest Harvard Law Graduate Ever: Obama is the One

When you buy auto insurance, you get the coverages to actually purchase. If you are young and have only a rattle-trap car, you might purchase liability only figuring that the value of the car is just not worth the extra premiums for collision coverage. The government does not make the insurance company provide collision coverage for every policy, because among other things, the would raise the price making it unaffordable for many. But for the protection of the other drivers, the government does require that every driver carry liability insurance.

You would think a guy smart enough to be a Harvard law grad would understand that simple concept. If you don't buy the coverage, you don't get the coverage and that is perfectly fair.

Not Barack Obama, though. Watch this from the so-called health care summit:



Note: the other guy rear-ended him. the other guy's insurance company should have paid, right? Hmmm. Maybe the other guy was an illegal alien without insurance. See how well government mandates work?

You don't buy collision coverage, you take the risk. That is individual responsibility.

No wonder Mr. Obama wants a nanny-state. He could not handle the individual responsibility himself as a young man.

Monday, February 22, 2010

State v. Sieyes: Second Amendment Applies to States

The Washington State Supreme Court ruled February 18, 2010, that the Second Amendment applies to the states through the Fourteenth.
The case was State v. Sieyes, opinion here.

Notwithstanding that finding, the Court upholds the state's right to limit or prohibit 17 year olds from possessing firearms. In this case, the 17 year old was stopped for a traffic violation and had a loaded .380 under a front seat of the car.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Update on School Teacher Mass Firing

From Central Fall, Rhode Island, here is a story from Fox Boston with details on last week's reported firing:

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. - The superintendent of Central Falls, R.I., has sent letters to 74 of the high school’s teachers telling them she has recommended they be fired.

Supt. Frances Gallo said the teachers union would not agree on a plan to fix the struggling school that included a longer school day and tutoring before and after school.

Gallo said she offered the teachers 100-percent job security for next school year if they agreed to the conditions. The union disputes that claim.

Union President Jane Sessums said no job security promise was made.

The dispute over Gallo’s plan was mostly over pay. The teachers wanted to be paid more for working extra duties.

Central Falls High School is one of the poorest performing schools in the state, with a less than 50 percent graduation rate.

Gallo sent letters on Thursday to every teacher telling them that she is recommending their termination. She sent a letter to the Board of Education recommending they be fired last week.

The teachers plan to protest in front of the school Tuesday.
I wondered how that mass firing could work. Obviously, an immediate firing, even if permitted under state law, would have left quite a void in the school year.

Giving contract non-renewal letters for the next school year gives the school district and the teacher's union time to work things out.

I assume the district will get cracking interviewing replacements. The superintendent have better warn any replacements about how peaceful the union thugs are likely to be when the replacement show up to take "their" jobs.

Friday, February 19, 2010

I Ask The Brady Campaign To Help

I have written to the Brady Campaign for some help. Here is my letter:

2/19/2010

Mr. Paul Helmke
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
1225 Eye Street NW
Washington, DC 20005

Re: Candidate RatingSystem

Dear Mr. Helmke,

Inspired by the tea party movement, I am seriously considering running for office. However, since I have no prior legislative experience, I'm writing to find out how I can apply for the coveted "F" rating from the Brady Campaign. I think the "F" rating is important to my expected campaign.

Could you please send me an application so I can formally request the coveted "F" rating. In support of my application, my campaign philosophy will recognize that the best way to prevent gun violence is to arm law-abiding citizens. Criminals should fear the law abiding citizen, not the other way around. I will promise to introduce or support legislation along the following lines:

• A well regulated militia being essential to the security of a free state, I will support or propose a tax credit for the purchase of assault weapons and for the purchase of training in the use of small arms.

• Measures that would make ammunition and range fees tax-deductible, it being in the public interest that all citizens be well-trained in the use of firearms, including safety and proficiency.

• A federal prohibition on microstamping along with a specific federal preemption to prevent the states from adopting this foolish, expensive monopoly technology.

• 50 state reciprocity for concealed carry permit holders.

• Elimination of bans on possession of weapons in federal buildings and on airplanes, in a sincere belief that terrorists will be more intimidated by the prospect of ordinary citizens stopping them than they are be by being assured that their fellow passengers are defenseless.

• Modifications to the federal weapons disability laws to permit gun possession by non-violent felons and rights to apply for and obtain relief from the disability upon appropriate showings of a history of non-violence.

• Mandatory gun safety and shooting classes in public schools, including handgun and rifle training, coupled with elective courses on the public benefits of harvesting excess deer.

• Abolition of the ATF.

Surely these simple measures, all of which are just, reasonable, and appropriate for enactment are sufficient for me to earn your coveted "F" rating.

When you issue your "F" rating, do I get a certificate? Could we do a joint press release?

I look forward to your favorable response.

Sincerely,

David Carroll

Do you think they will help me?

Orrin Hatch's Get It Wrong About Tea Parties

From the Wall Street Journal:

American Fork » Sen. Orrin Hatch has a message for the Tea Party movement: Work with the GOP or see conservatives lose more ground.

"If we fractionalize the Republican Party, we are going to see more liberals elected," Hatch warned a crowd of 300 at a town meeting at American Fork Junior High School on Wednesday night, amid jeers from Tea Party supporters.

Hatch blamed extreme conservatives for the 2008 defeat of Sen. Gordon Smith, a politically moderate but fiscally conservative Republican from Oregon.

Hatch said if the Tea Party had not backed a constitutionalist candidate in that race, Smith wouldn't have lost to Democrat Jeff Merkley, whom Hatch described as "the most liberal senator," by 45,000 votes.
Senator Hatch appears to be equating the interests of the Tea Party movement with Republican interests. They are not the same. If both candidates are liberals, who care which one wins? They are both liberals.

If the Republican party want to win elections, it needs to field small government candidates. If the Tea Parties cause Republicans to lose when Republicans field progressive Republican candidates, the Tea Party is doing the right thing.

The Tea Party movement is a grass roots movement without established leaders. The Tea Parties are not about to organize behind poor Republican candidates. It is the Republican Party that needs to organize around the Tea Party movement, not the other way around.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Cut the Deficit: Eliminate Wasteful War on Drugs

I admit that this post is not especially current, except that with President Obama's wildly spirally deficits, which is nearly three times the atrociously high final year deficit under George W. Bush, we need a national conversation on cutting spending.

Unfortunately, it is useless to talk about cutting waste. Everyone wants to do that, but government is notoriously incapable of cutting waste in programs enacted by Congress or otherwise devised by bureaucrats. That is is was so laughable that President Obama promised to fund his health care plans with cuts in fraudulent and wasteful spending. Everyone knows that is mere fantasy.

You can cut wasteful programs altogether, though. It simply takes political courage and a Congress willing to act rationally.

Here is an idea: eliminate the federal war on drugs, including disestablishment of the DEA.

Don't get me wrong. I think addictive recreational drugs are a scourge on society. I have a recovering (20+ years) relative of whom I am very proud. It is tough to get off that stuff and addictive drugs are very bad for you. I have another relative who continues to slip into drug use and can't so far seem to shake it. Drugs have destroyed his life. But, it is for more accurate to say the he has allowed drugs to destroy his life. He made a choice. They both made their choices. In my mind, that is their right has human beings and citizens. Adults should be free to make choices, good and bad, without the nanny state chirping in.

By the way, the war on drugs has not made it any less difficult for the current user to get his drugs, just more expensive. Making drugs illegal has not made them unavailable.

What is the society's cost of artificially expensive, addictive, illegal drugs? More burglaries, robberies, murders, and gang activity. The war on drugs hurts all of us, by exposing us a victims to drug abusers trying to meet the artificially high prices caused by interdiction and domestic enforcement.

Even if the war on drugs were the right thing for the federal government to do, the inderdiction/enforcement strategy is wasteful. In the 1990's the Rand Corporation did a study on the relative costs and effectiveness of anti-drug strategies.

Let's assume our primary goal is to reduce drug use. Here are the results (in 1990's dollars) of the cost to reduce cocaine usage by 1% analyzing different available strategies:

1. Control drugs at the source, eradicating coca leaves, and interfering with the production abroad: $800 million.

2. Interdiction. Stop the drugs from coming in. $360 million.

3. Domestic enforcement. Arrest the users and distributors inside the US. $238 million.

4. Treatment of heavy users through outpatient and residential programs. $34 million.
Doesn't option number 4 make the most sense? If it is a proper role of government to reduce drug usage, the most cost effective strategy is also the least intrusive, and least harmful to the rest of us as potential theft victims. Why do we bother spending the big bucks on interdiction and domestic enforcement, other than to provide government jobs?

The federal government must be involved in the war on drugs if interdiction and domestic enforcement were the answer, because the federal government has constitution authority to control interstate commerce and foreign trade. The federal government should eliminate its spending on the war on drugs entirely, because the most cost effective solution is not a proper function of the federal government anyway. Leave it to the states to create education programs. Or let the states citizens kill themselves. It is none of the federal government's concern at that point.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Union Succeeds in Getting All Members Fired at Gov't School

Wow. Another effective union fighting injustice in the form of better schools. But this time, we have a schools superintendent with Reagan-like cajones:



We can't work no stinkin' 25 minuted longer, man!

Cherry Picking Latest ABC/NY Times Poll

I am admittedly cherry picking the results of the Feb 5 to Feb 10 ABC/NY Times poll which are most interesting to me:

MOST MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DESERVE RE-ELECTION?
Yes 8%
No 81

MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM NOT PASSING
President Obama 5%
Congress 37
Both 56
Asked specifically which party in Congress is more responsible, a majority again blames both parties. But more who single out one party choose the Republicans over the Democrats.
This analysis reflect the inherent bias that assumes that passing health care reform is desirable. Better no "reform" than anything that the Democrats have proposed, in my view.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Amy Bishop is "Odd"

More information emerges on the Huntsville Gun Free Zone Shooter" Amy Bishop:

A family source said Bishop, a mother of four children - the youngest a third-grade boy - was a far-left political extremist who was “obsessed” with President Obama to the point of being off-putting.
Now, I am not saying that all far-left Obama-obsessed supporters are shooting risks, but then again ....

Ghost Twittering: Obama's is With Moveon.org

If you are a follower of President Obama's tweets, get ready to be disappointed. He is not really talking to you. He hired someone else to do his twittering for him.

This really comes as no surprise. Did anyone really think the president had the time?

President Obama's ghost twitterer is a Moveon.org activist and employee of the Moveon.org front, New Organizing Institute.

In case there was really any doubt in your mind about how far left the President is, his choice of his pretend voice tells plenty.

He may try to move to the center to help his fellow Democrats get elected in November, but his heart clearly lies with the far, far left. Hence his appointment of such people as Anita Dunn (Mao is her favorite philosopher), Van Jones (self-avowed Communist) and on and on.

More Snow Coming (Blame Bush?)

The weatherman has gotten far more accurate these days with satellites and computer models. I offer these tributes to the coming storm predicted for today, 5" to 9" of the white stuff here in Columbus, Ohio:





Drive safely, please.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Improper Actions By Courtroom Deputy on Appeal

From the Arizona Republic:

A panel of Arizona Appeals Court judges this week heard arguments over a sheriff's detention officer who was held in contempt of court last November for taking a confidential letter from a defense attorney's files in open court during a sentencing.

At issue is whether Maricopa County Presiding Criminal Judge Gary Donahoe erred when he ordered Detention Officer Adam Stoddard to apologize publicly to the defense attorney or go to jail. Stoddard refused to apologize and was jailed.
Read it all.

What this deputy did was grossly improper and undermines confidence in our court system. He deserves punishment. He does not deserve the support he has received from Mericopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Trackbacks:
Courtroom Deputy Violates Trust .. On Camera
Courtroom Deputy Refuses to Apologize.-- Update: Deputy Jailed
Stoddard Released Pending Appeal

Victim Rich Gun Free Zone Shooting

By now you have heard about Amy bishop, the professor at the University of Alabama, Huntsville campus. She was denied tenure, so of course she just had to go shoot some fellow professors on the campus. three dead, three more wounded.

It's a gun-free zone, of course.

Why is it so hard for university boneheads to understand that the gun-free zone rules will only prevent rules-followers from bringing guns onto campus? Nut jobs bent on killing are NOT rules followers. Why can't the boneheads who run our universities get that? Now, three more people are dead.

Would these victims have lived through the event if the university were not a gun-free zone? We will never know. We do know that they had no chance under the university's policy. While they might have had a chance if they were allowed to carry on campus.

It is a case stranger than normal, because this woman had previously fatally shot her brother in 1986 when she was 19 years old.

Global Warming Myth Crumbling Updated

Two new stories from the British media show the rapid decline of the factual basis behind the global warming hysteria.

First, the IPCC has been forced to admit to yet another embarrassing error in its famous report. This time, the error is about the supposed rising sea levels in the Netherlands. The Guardian reports.

And over on the BBC, there was interview with British global warming advocate and climatologist Phil Jones, in which he admits, among other things that that has been no statistically significant warming from 1995 to present. In fact, Prof. Jones admits that there has been global cooling since 2002, but denies that it is statistically significant. Ignore the man behind that curtain.

The interview is here and the BBC analysis and report is here. The guy is still a True Believer, but a fair reading of his interview suggests that he is quick to rationalize his way out of contradictions. Look at his "hide the decline" answer in particular. He admits that he was trying to hide data that he considered contrary to data he preferred to use and which, of course, supported the global warming myth.

You see, it really is like a religion. Isn't it funny how the American media fails to report on or critically analyze this stuff.

Update: The London Times weighs in with more global warming skepticism with article headlined: "World may not be warming, say scientists."

The wheels are rapidly coming off the global warming hysteria. Where is the U.S. media? Hmmmmm?

Friday, February 12, 2010

Time for Congress to Ban Snow Storms

A funny opinion article in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

A better climate-change bill

By Sam Ryan
As the mid-Atlantic region faces yet another massive blizzard, the problem of unregulated snow can no longer be ignored. It's time for Congress to set limits on the crystalline mayhem descending through the atmosphere and disrupting the lives of hardworking Americans.

Certainly, snow-control legislation would require political will and bipartisan support. But if today's policymakers don't put an end to snowstorms, these boom-and-bust blizzards will continue to undermine our nation's growth and prosperity.

Consider the facts: Local governments such as Philadelphia's are struggling to deal effectively with the amount of snow we're getting. With Washington in the path of a major storm again, essential federal services will be shut down. And weatherpersons "predict" snow, but they don't do anything about it.
Read it all.

What really strikes me as funny here comes from the Marxist mentality of some of our Congressfolk. They seem to think they can legislate the laws of economics. Of Course they can no more change the laws of economics by legislation, than they can ban snow storms.

Who is Paul Ryan and Why Should You Know About Him?

Updated.

It seems there is one small government guy in Washington that actually walks the talk. Economist Paul Samuelson has written an article about Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that tells us that someone on Washington is actually responsible and serious about the size of government.

We all know that social security is the government's biggest expense. It is a giant Ponzi scheme to boot. But we now have many, many people dependent on it. The "system" is rapidly going bust. Paul Ryan wants to tackle the tough issues. And they desperately need to be addressed.

The rest of government is taking the ostrich approach.

Paul Ryan sounds like a great tea party candidate to me.

Update: Here is Paul Ryan's presentation of his Roadmap for America's Future.

Here is a Weekly Standard article discussing Paul Ryan and his road map.

Tea Parties: A Movement to Reckon With

There is a article in the left-leaning Economist on tea parties that bears reading. While I may have some quibbles, for the most part, the article makes sense. Read it here.

Sherrod Brown's Evil Tax Bill

Cross-posted from dumpsherrodbrown.com:

Looney left Sherrod Brown is at it again. After the Democrats created massive opportunities for abuse of federal dollars, in part by bailing out AIG and others, Sherrod Brown wants to punish the giving of bonuses by bailed out institution, to the tune of a 56% tax rate. So he introduced a bill to tax after-the-fact bonuses given by AIG and other bailed out companies.

We all hate greed with federal dollars. The real solution is to be stingier with those dollars in the first place. Cut federal pork. The porkulus and other massive spending bills make waste and abuse inevitable.

It is horrible tax policy to pass a punitive tax after-the-fact on money previously paid. Tax policy should never be used for punitive purposes. Of course, horrible policy is Sherrod's middle name.

If the bill passes, you can be quite sure that innocent will be punished with the guilty.

If there is a problem (and it does sound pretty bad), ex post facto tax policy is a truly evil way of dealing with it.

Update: Full disclosure. I did not receive any bail out money. I did not receive any bonuses from TARP money. 'Nuff said.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Blog Site of the Day: mycongressmanisnuts.com

It is really hard to argue with the proposition that Alan Grayson is nuts, at least in the colloquial sense. He has constituents that understandably want him gone.

At the American Thinker, James Lewis said of Alan Grayson:

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) is possibly not the most stable member of the House. Against hot competition from the likes of Sheila Jackson Lee and Barney Frank, the Congressman appears to have the thinnest skin among all the Doomocrats, having publicly called Linda Robertson, a senior advisor to Ben Bernanke, a "K Street Whore." Republicans are instigating "a Holocaust" according to Mr. Grayson by not surrendering to the multi-trillion-dollar ObamaCare plan.


Watch him and draw your own conclusion.



It is obvious that even Chris Matthews thinks Grayson is nuts. Watch here.

Go to mycontressmanisnuts.com to contribute to get rid of this guy. The site also has a video of more of his antics, specifically how he treats his constituents.

What is the Tea Party Movement?

Columnist Mark Davis nails it on the head with his analysis of the tea party movement in his column in the Dallas Daily News:

...The Tea Party movement is one of the most noteworthy grassroots uprisings in recent American political history. And one of the most misunderstood.

...

The Tea Party movement is not driven by social conservatism. That doesn't mean you won't find plenty of tea partiers who are devout advocates of protecting the unborn and traditional marriage - it's just that the Tea Party engine is driven first and foremost by a desire to return government to its proper constitutional limits and run it with a lot less money. Anyone driven by that passion is welcome in any roomful of tea partiers, no matter what views they may hold about God and gays
.Read it all.

Unions: Bad for America?

From Biggovernment.com:

Big unions want to get rid of an 86 year old volunteer school crossing guard:



If the video does not appear, link here.

A woman who voluntarily watched neighborhood kids for 20 minutes each day.

An eagle scout who voluntarily cleared a walking path in a park (SEIU did this outrage).

From Hotair.com on union angst over the blocking of Craig Becker, a terrible nominee for the National Labor Relations Board:

The problem for unions isn’t that Democrats are weak allies, but that Labor’s goals have become so radical as to split the only party that will countenance them. In decades past, unions fought for reasonable access to health insurance, workplace safety, and job security, an agenda that could win broad support from both parties. Over the last twenty years, the unions have become much more interested in hard-Left policies such as universal health care, and in staking out ridiculous demands on the labor-management relationship, attempting to win through government force what it could never gain through any reasonable negotiation.
In the long run, unions kill jobs. We need jobs. Whatever their past glories and benefits, unions are past their prime. Unions are bad for America.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Never Forget



See all the images at ABC.com.

Sherrod Brown Gets It Wrong; No Surprise There

Updated

Ohio's idiot Senator Sherrod Brown is at it again. This time he is complaining about President Obama's jobs proposals, including eliminating the capital gains tax.

While clearly the capital gains tax needs to go the way of the telegraph and buggy whip, I have to agree that the elimination of the capital gains tax is no quick fix. It will increase employment in the long run, but is not likely to have great effect in the short run. It will not immediately encourage new employment. It will end the penalty associated with cashing in investments, so the investment can be converted to new business. That will help employment, but again, over the long run.

Sherrod Brown's plan is, you guessed it, a new government program. He wants to tax (i.e., discourage) productivity and create a new government program to loan money to small businesses. He wants to do to business loans what last October banking disaster was for mortgage foreclosures.

Earth to Sherrod: We don't need MORE government programs. We need fewer government programs that stifle productivity and discourage entrepreneurs. Return to real Federalism, where the states regain sovereign powers under the United States Constitution.

Here are some ideas that are really radical.

1. Trim or eliminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is way past its prime. Money spent there generates diminishing returns. We are spending more and more to eliminate less and less contamination. If the states want such an agency, let the states do it. They already do, in fact. For interstate problems, they can do an interstate compact in appropriate cases.

2. Dump the entire Department of Labor. Get rid of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. If the states want it, let the states do it. We don't need a National Labor Relations Board. It kills jobs. If the states want such boards, let them enact them. We don't need anything that the Department of labor does on the national level. There is nothing that it does that, if desirable, could not be done by the states.

3. Eliminate or severely trim the Department of Transportation. Other than administering highway grants and maybe running the air traffic control system, there is little or nothing that could not be done better and cheaper by the states.

4. Eliminate the Department of Education. It educates nobody. To the extent that is has desirable programs, let the states do the necessary.

These are job killers. And the federal government has plenty more. Eliminate them.

I am not talking about unfunded mandates, either. Taxes should be cut to let the states take up the slack.

That would be a real jobs bill ... except for federal government workers. Most of them would migrate to state work, although probably taking pay cuts. But, my sympathy level is not great on their account.

Don't expect Sherrod to listen, though. More government program means more government and less liberty. That is just fine with him. He is simply a more and bigger government kind of guy.

Sherrod Brown is the worst thing to hit Ohio since Bob Taft.

Update: I can think of plenty more federal agencies who job-inhibiting functions would be severely curtailed if not eliminated: Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Department of Energy and on and on.

Once upon a time, the United States had the greatest innovation and growth in both technology and the economy in the entire world. We were a growing power. Now the United States appear to in in decline. Why? Government. Government is most efficient in only one thing: inhibiting innovation. One-size-fits-all regulation is really, really good at that. Domestically, government is all about a small (well, no longer small) group of people getting their jollies by telling the rest of us what we have to do. We have a government loaded with mini-despots. If you don't believe me, go the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to get anything done beyond routine renewing tags or a driver's license.

Global Warming and Snowstorms Updated

Inevitably, the nasty weather hitting Washington has the global warming skeptics (like me) crowing and the global warming hysterics (like MSNBC and most of Washington) getting defensive.

Here is moonbat Contessa Brewer, frequent unindicted runner up for Moron of the Day:



And here is Time, breathlessly assuming that the world is warming:

[W]hat happened to climate change? After all, it stands to reason that if the world is getting warmer - and the past decade was the hottest on record - major snowstorms should become a thing of the past, like Palm Pilots and majority rule in the Senate....
Apparently, none of these folks actually follow the news. The earth has been steadily cooling these last ten years according to the BBC.

Update: Check out John Lott's opinion piece on Fox News.

Ohio Republican Nepotism

Anti-gun former US Senator Mike DeWine is running for Ohio Attorney General. Until two weeks ago, pro-gun Delaware County Prosecutor Dave Yost was going to run for Attorney General, but no longer. The Ohio Republican party get Dave Yost its blessing and support to run for Auditor of State.

Coincidence? Hardly. The Ohio Republican party chairman is Kevin DeWine, Mike DeWine's cousin.

Why is Mike DeWine's anti-gun position so important? The Attorney General is the central office overseeing information on the concealed carry permit program (although it is the sheriff's who approve the permits). And the current Democrat Attorney General, Richard Cordray, (former Franklin County Treasurer) is pro-gun.

There is now a new Republican primary challenger to Mike DeWine, pro-gun Hardin County attorney Steve Christopher.

I am hoping for the choice between two pro-gun candidates. But if Mike DeWine is the Rrepublican nominee, a vote to Richard Cordray is a no-brainer.

Snow Closes Washington: Dems Blame Bush

Talking about the weather is usually reserved for casual conversation where you don't want to offend someone, and you don't otherwise know what to talk about. Today, however, the nation can rejoice that Washington is shut down again due to weather. As long as Washington is shut down and Congress is out of session, they are doing the rest of us no damage. Not even Sherrod Brown.

Just kidding about the Democrats blaming Bush. But then again....

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Free Alexa Gonzalez

In New York city, the city police handcuffed and arrested Alexa Gonzalez, a 7th grade girl, in her school. She was hauled out of school in the handcuffs. Her crime? She doodled on her desk. Zero intelligence policy at work.

Both the city school officials and the city police officials are now saying that their actions were a mistake.

No kidding. How could it have happened at all, unless we live in a police state? What is next? Will they be trying to get her to inform on her mother? She is not currently incarcerated. She does have a record. Nasty.

I agree with the ACLU on this one. The ACLU has filed suit against the school district, because this is NOT an isolated incident. The lawsuit alleges more than 20 incidents of excessive force.

Why Are Liberals so Condescending

For a real lesson in how liberals justify their bizarre pretensions to superiority over conservatives, read the article Why are Liberals So Condescending, then read the comments.

I came away with the suspicion that liberalism (a.k.a. progressivism) in the United States really should be a recognized form of mental illness.

Drink Beer For Healthy Bones

While we in middle America are always grateful when Washington shuts down, giving us a free day that the government is not doing damage to us and to the liberty of Americans, important news still crops up.

Today, the news is out. The news is good. we can happily report that beer is helpful in preventing osteoporosis. That's right.

Beer. Is. Good. For. You.

We knew it all along.

Not wheat beer, though. Beer made with 100% barley malt is best. Sorry, Bud light, Budweiser and other light colored, flavorless American Pilsner imitations.

So run, don't walk (and don't drive) to your nearest brew pub for a delightful, HEALTHFUL, 100% barley malt brew.

I'm betting that Obamacare would never give you a doctor's prescription for it.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Moron of the Day: Terry O'Neil, NOW President

First cam the Tim Tebow ad:



Then came Terry O'Neill:

"I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “That’s what comes across to me even more strongly than the anti-abortion message. I myself am a survivor of domestic violence, and I don’t find it charming. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself.”
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Moron of the Day. Well deserved.

Palin Palm ... Scandal?

The entire left side of the political spectrum, it seams, is revealing itself as inept, at least as public speakers.

I do plenty of public speaking myself. I understand that the prospect of public speaking scares most folks.

But here is a hint from a veteran: Better public speakers don't need teleprompters. Bullet points should be sufficient for good public speakers.

That is what Sarah Palin had Saturday night. Bullet points.

The great unlearned majority of the left -- and the lefty pundits who also rely on teleprompters -- can't fathom that Sarah Palin proved that she is a better public speaker than some dolt who needs a teleprompter. (Now who could I possible mean???}

The left doesn't need a reason to criticize Sarah Palin. They do it because simply she is.

Don' t Blow it in Vegas, Baby

The Massachusetts Miracle

The following television commercial ran in Massachusetts before January 19, 2010. Now the rest of us have a chance to see it.

Brady Campaign Complaint Backfires, Promotes Starbucks for Gun-Owners

The Brady Campaign loonies are trying to intimidate Starbucks into chasing away loyal customers. How does the Brady Campaign think that is going to work out, exactly?

The Brady Campaign wants to make Starbucks unsafe by inviting criminals in. How? The Brady Campaign wants Starbucks to ban guns carried lawfully, so the criminals bearing guns unlawfully will be safer.

By fear mongering about guns, the Brady Campaign hopes to make other customers afraid of the customers lawfully carrying guns. The Brady Campaign is trying to create a problem that it can solve by its gun-banning philosophy.

Evil folks, the Brady Bunch. But it makes me want to patronize Starbucks all the more (even though there are others whose coffee I like better).

A reminder: Criminals for Gun Control:


Telegraph Reports: Global Warming Hysteria Based on Unreliable Data

The Telegraph Reports: New errors in IPCC climate change report.

This is not really anything new, of course, but we are delighted to see the mass media, at least in Great Britain, begin to report on the massive fraud that is the man-made global warming (uh, sorry, "climate change") movement.

Nancy Pelosi's Sweating with the Socialists

Thursday, February 04, 2010

New Gun Range in Columbus

I am almost at a loss for words on this. This is a neighborhood that is hurting economically. I needs successful local businesses, but the neighborhood groups are opposing an indoor shooting range on the least logical of grounds. Watch:



I can understand a neighborhood opposing a gun range on the grounds of noise. Guns are loud. But on the grounds of crime?

There is no logical correlation. The opposition is only about ignorance and completely irrational fear. Logic does not matter.

These folks' statement in opposition are pitiful.

LEGOS in Looneyville

More proof that zero tolerance policies mean zero intelligence.

In Staten Island, New York, a 9 year old son of a retired police officer brought a LEGO toy to school. You guessed it: A LEGO police officer with a two inch gun.

Zero intelligence kicks in to teach a boy who formerly loved school that public school really is an evil place. His parents were called in, he was given a scolding, and we hear, nearly suspended.

Since the story comes to us from MSNBC, We assume that based on her previous history, Contessa Brewer thinks racism caused the boy to bring the toy to school.

Fair and Balanced

Fox News ran into Bill ayers on the street and obtained a video interview. No one watching this interview could accuse Fox News of any sort of gotcha. The questions were extremely softball.

What is funny is to listen to Ayers try to discern the hidden agenda in such tough questions about how Ayers thinks President Obama is doing.











As a domestic terrorist who got away with his crimes, Ayers probably did not deserve a fair and balanced interview, but that is what he got.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Arianna Huffington Ripped to Shreds -- No, Not Literally

Glenn Beck ripped Arianna Huffington to shreds (figuratively) last night over Ms. Huffington's weird mis-characterization of Glenn' Becks use of the word "slaughter." Ms. Huffingon mangled his obvious meaning turning it into an insinuation that Glenn was accusing Obama of planning to slaughter American citizens. Arianna Huffington reminds me of everyman's ex-wife who is capable of taking the most innocent of remarks and twisting them into something totally unrecognizable from the original utterance.

I get very angry at any side in a debate that misstates and mis-characterizes, seemingly intentionally. Although in this case, the mis-characterization may arise out of the left's collective delusions about Glenn Beck that he is somehow incendiary.

No. He is just very good at revealing the hidden agendas and making complex situations understandable. but the left does not like their hidden agendas revealed, hence the attacks.

More Obama Whoppers

The Washington Times has an editorial discussing President Obama's address to the Congressional Republicans in Baltimore last Friday. The editorial reveals some of his whoppers from the speech.

Addressing Congressional Republicans is a first step toward legislative bipartisanship, but only if Obama loses his "be reasonable, do it my way" approach.

President Obama wallows in the delusion that he is the country's savior and that the Constitution must be trampled for socialist ends.

Personally, I think he is hopeless and the only hope for liberty, and I mean restoring liberty, is to fight Mr. Obama's socialist agenda without compromise.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Superintendent Richard Responds - Perry High School Incident

After a Perry High school teacher in Massillon, Ohio, handed out political activist applications sponsored by the Democratic Party, critics decried the action not only as improper, but also accused the school of socialist indoctrination. According to news reports, Perry superintendent John Richard has received hate mail and suffered calls for his resignation. According to news reports, Superintendent Richard sent home an explanation to parents and considered the matter closed.

I wrote to Superintendent Richard and asked him to respond to three questions, which he has kindly done. I told him I would publish the responses on my blog. Here they are:

1. Was the handing out of the political material in anyway sanctioned by the district, understanding that handing them out violated district policy on distribution of political materials to students?

No, it was not approved.

2. Was the teacher in question disciplined in any way (e.g., reprimand, suspension etc) and if not, why not, since district policy was violated?

There was discipline involved.

3. What steps are being taken to prevent a recurrence?

I reminded all staff of our policy, and our building principals will do the same.
I respect Superintendent Richard's decision not to disclose the precise discipline, as it is probably best kept as an internal personnel matter. Still it is good to learn that the district did not merely look the other way when its policy was violated.

My thanks to Superintendent Richard for his responsiveness. I hope that all who read his responses will be satisfied that responsive action was taken.

Open Letter Follow Up

Who does Obama love? He shows us below:



Track back: Open Letter to Obama.

When It Came to Himself, An Advocate of the Single Payer System Rejected It

Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador is coming to the United states for Heart surgery. Story here. This is the same guy who was touting the benefits of the single payer system two years ago (video at link).

Of course, we will pray that his rejection of Canada's single payer system, hypocritical though it is, saves his life.

Feminist Takes on Hate Group NOW

The Washington Post is carrying an opinion piece by feminist Nancy Jenkins who is excoriating that nationally known hate group NOW for its intolerant attitude toward the Tim Tebow anti abortion ad scheduled for the Super Bowl. An excerpt:
I'm pro-choice, and Tebow clearly is not. But based on what I've heard in the past week, I'll take his side against the group-think, elitism and condescension of the "National Organization of Fewer and Fewer Women All The Time." For one thing, Tebow seems smarter than they do.
Read it all.

The Ethically Challenged Nancy Pelosi

Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request has obtained documents that reveal among other things, that Nancy Pelosi commandeered military aircraft for the personal use of her relatives. Details are at the Doug Ross Journal.

Forget illegal immigrants. I think we need a fence around San Francisco to keep Nancy Pelosi out.

Is it any wonder that Jack Cafferty called her a "horrible woman?"

Crime May be Hazardous to the Criminal's Health

From the Buckeye Firearms Association:

The Lima News is reporting that the number of people obtaining licenses to carry a concealed handgun exploded in 2009 to as high as 500 percent in some northwest Ohio counties.

And that has county sheriffs offering words of caution - to criminals:

"I hope criminals think twice before they attempt to steal from someone or harm someone," remarked Auglaize County Sheriff Al Solomon.

Allen County Sheriff Sam Crish added, "With the numbers growing, it's a huge risk if you're committing some type of offense you don't know who may be carrying."
Read it all.

Gender Silliness