Saturday, June 28, 2008

John McCain's Ralph Nader

Big writeup in today's New York Times (A Candidate Runs to a GOP Chorus of "Don't" by Julie Bosman), former Republican Congressman from Georgia Bob Barr is already on the ballot in 30 states as the Libertarian Party candidate for president and could have a definite Ross Perot influence spoiling McCain's chances. In the article Barr relates the story of a recent meeting in Washington between himself and a group of Republicans who told him "look, we understand why you're doing this. We agree with why you're doing this. But please don't do it." Amusing stuff these self-loathing Republicans. The article goes on to say that while in Congress he voted for the USA Patriot Act and the Iraqi war, led impeachment against Clinton and on the subject of gay marriage introduced the Defense of Marriage Act in '96. He now says he's for a quick withdrawal of troops as in all of them, feels states should have their own say re gay marriage and is against wiretaps without warrants. The Moral of the Story folks, if we had decent candidates to begin with we wouldn't need spoilers and in this case Barr says he got fed up with the Republican Party straying from its roots of controlled spending and limited government. Think of it this way as z just loves the analogy. We as conservative and tradition-minded Republicans are asked to give our hand in marriage to McCain but as all the political universe knows it ain't a passionate thing by any stretch and there's Bob Barr over there winking at us, you sly dog you, and he knows we can do better as if to say "I got it goin' on."

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Nancy Pelosi supports the "Fairness Doctrine"

She said that the proposed bill by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), called the "Broadcaster's Freedom Act" which would outlaw the "Fairness Doctrine", will not come up for a vote this year and she wants a revival of the "Fairness Doctrine." Dunno what the issue here is exactly. The msm are overwhelmingly liberal, talk radio is strongly conservative, no harm no foul. One side admits their bias, the other doesn't. As John Stossel once noted "asking the media about liberal bias is like asking a fish about water. Water? what water?" & at any rate free market forces have already determined that liberal talk radio is a big loser, does Al Franken and Air America ring a bell?

A recurring theme throughout History - the Ascent of the Psycho

A student of History could write a paper just on this theme alone which is basically people who belonged in lunatic asylums have run empires, countries and nations. Nero, Caligula, Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Ceausescu and the list goes on and on. As all the world knows Zimbabwean president or to be more specific the technical ex-president, Robert Mugabe, has run his country into the ground, an economic shambles with the usual starvation, mass fear and people trying to leave. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change party, won the election in March but apparently not by a wide enough margin so there was to be a runoff but Mugabe's Zanu-PF goon squads have been intimidating, torturing and killing people so Tsvangirai backed out. Now as usual the United Nations seems impotent to do something, can't get the supplies and humanitarian aid through, doesn't even have a consensus yet as it should over what to do about this 84-year old thug who's been in power way too long. The larger question is what exactly is the purpose of the UN anymore? why are rogue bodies allowed to have a say and can we replace the UN with something else?

Monday, June 23, 2008

George Carlin

When I heard the news my first reaction was he isn't supposed to die, he's just one of our regular social commentators we've gotten so used to. Now the fact that he's "dirty", he's not in the same sense of a Howard Stern, the curse word or the vulgarity is always in the service of some larger social or political point (think Lenny Bruce) not "ooh, look what I said!" Two examples will suffice. In one of his books he talks about all those cashiers who at the end of your transaction say to you "have a nice day" and Carlin would like to say back "just give me my f****n change." He also talks about that family uncle and we all have one who when he comes to visit lets the family dog liberally lick his face so he goes just a few minutes before your uncle lets him do this the dog's been cleaning himself so extremely well that and here Carlin goes on to give a rather coarse but hilarious and explicit description of just how clean your dog really is now. He is z's cup of tea, a kind of bourbon that burns the throat a little going down but you like the effects anyway and if something doesn't agree with you just put it down and go on to something else. I thought I'd add this, a favorite of Tim McCarver's - an idea that only Carlin can think up that somebody should go on Jeopardy and just stand there through the whole program, don't say a word and don't answer any questions and then go home. R.I.P.

Before we get started let's review the Obama ground rules first

At some fundraiser yesterday in Jacksonville Florida our political messiah said:

"We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid. They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black? He's got a feisty wife."

"and did I mention he's black?" well no you just did but now that you mention it I don't care if somebody's green or polka-dot or any shade in between, one term in the Senate does scare the living daylights out of me. Obama is not new, he's same old same old, change we can believe in would be throwing out the race card. And you already see all those political prognosticators and pollsters breaking us all down into racial camps and ethnic voting blocks, "whites won't go for that guy." Well yes many of them would if he were a black conservative, say if Thomas Sowell threw his hat into the ring, hell throw in Armstrong Williams as his vp (hey, now there's a thought). Oy vey, somebody please pass me that bowl of Prozac!

Z's theory of magnetic evil


So you're not feeling particularly well today. You feel tired and crummy, out of sorts and you have the late shift. You're proud of yourself though 'cause you're a real trooper who didn't call out like all those girlie-men who stay home on such a day and watch some cheap gas station porn but you notice an uptick in the number of annoying customers that day, some are even downright sarcastic (that imaginary motion of blowing a dart in your neck again). They sense weakness and in your weakened state you're like some injured elephant struggling on some African plain. It's not meant that you courageously go through your day in a mundane and peaceful manner with people generally leaving you alone and it's not being magnified because you're tired, your nerves being more sensitive to the slightest sling and arrow. NO, it's z's theory of magnetic evil and it also works in reverse on your good-mood days as I've mentioned. An important corollary to the theory is that you're basically in a time warp for that period of suffering, it never exactly flies by like your time on the Internet where 2 hours seems like 20 minutes. Magnetic evil, it's all around you (oooooohhh.....).

Saturday, June 21, 2008

A car is not a cigarette Bloomy

As reported in today's New York Post yesterday in Boca Raton Florida NYC Mike Bloomberg said this: "They should be raising the gas tax encouraging people to reduce consumption. The anti-tax people don't like that but using capitalism to encourage the right behavior is exactly the right direction of going. Tax policy is the way government uses capitalism." No Bloomy, capitalism is just capitalism. If it's a planned economy you're talking about capitalism ceases to be capitalism. Market forces will encourage right behavior. Some pro-choicer you are!!

Even some crabs are made in China


Went down with a friend to a marina on the Hudson River the other day and he goes to me "read those signs on all the fences." Sign says "Wanted Dead or Alive - the Chinese Mitten Crab" and proceeds to explain that some Chinese crabs have been found in the river here and are not a native species. Gave a description, they have big hairy claws with a 3" shell known as a carapace and are injurious to the Hudson River ecosystem with its native species. If you happen to see one bag it it says and put it on ice and send it in to the DEP. So we had that pet food scare not that long ago, the ingredient of gluten came from China and cats were falling ill. Next came those Chinese toys that were dangerous to young toddlers and now the Chinese Crab. hmmmmmm.....dunno though, some animal-rights activists might think the crab has some rights, after all he is here illegally.

Republicans first, conservatives second

I know quite a few people who are actually much more conservative than John McCain who unhesitatingly say they are going to pull the lever for him. They're very status-quoish, party loyalty above all. For them he becomes the true conservative in the race by default due to the fact that Obama is so much more liberal than, well anyone including Hillary. By all means vote your conscience but I can't vote this way. Don't become a pragmatic liberal which is really a "conservative" who believes in bigger government. McCain has to talk a conservative game at this point so I can only believe his type of conservative voter believes he's being sincere but you know the old saying, "campaign from the right but rule from the center or left."

Thursday, June 19, 2008

When answers to prayers are slow in coming


I do believe in the power of prayer, I get impatient though waiting for the results to roll in. Mass prayer for the same intentions imo is even better, scientists cannot explain it and even deny its existence but it's a force nevertheless although not in the physical sense. We live in a world where the wheels of justice turn but they turn slowly, we've been praying for World Peace now for how long? The Answer may not be in our lifetime but it will come. You almost wish you could call a 1-800 #, "yeah, did You get my petition?...and?"

Monday, June 16, 2008

A Constitutionalist first

I am at heart a Constitutionalist first before being a libertarian. Put it this way, even if I were a pro-choicer I'd still be against Roe vs. Wade, there ain't no talk of trimesters in the Constitution or even in the emanations of its penumbras. Even if I were a pro-choicer in favor of Adam and Steve getting married I'd still be against what the California Supreme Court did by overturning a clear majority of the voters there. Whasa matter? don't wanna do the legwork in your state legislatures ya lazy bums ya! So even if I were a pro-choicer in favor of gay marriage who feels pot should be sold over the counter at CVS I still wouldn't have a gripe with people who don't want drivers on angel dust plowing into shoppers at crowded shopping malls, would Ben Franklin say that the War on Drugs is somehow wrong-headed and irresponsible as a national policy? The document comes first, not your personal preferences, libertarianism is not the same thing as constitutionalism. As that conservative wag Florence King once quipped "as ye roe so shall ye wade."

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Tim Russert 1950-2008

Nothing seems to throw a man's lifework into sharper focus as when he leaves us, we tend to forget. It'll be strange watching "Meet the Press" this Sunday morning without Tim Russert. One of the most common forms of praise we're hearing about him yesterday and today is how unbiased the man was in his journalism, the sentiment most commonly expressed by politicians and everyone else is "he asked tough questions of everyone." I totally agree but the fact that everyone seems to be bringing it up, that it comes so naturally to mind, implies that most of the rest of the msm is just the opposite, otherwise why does this point stand out so clearly? One interview in particular stands out in my mind among many others and that is when he had Al Gore on and asked him his personal views on abortion. He asked the quite simple question three times and Al Gore just kept saying "I support the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision" but that's not what Russert asked him and truth be told Russert irked alot of feminists by his line of questioning. Bravo Tim! it was from the nature of his interviewing that if you didn't know any better you'd never have guessed he was a lifelong Democrat. Bob Newhart once said of himself that, while he has some strong political views "my job is not to educate but to entertain." If you change the last words around and put in "but to practice objective journalism" you have the man Russert. R.I.P.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Why we blog

This seems to be a running theme here of late. Lista says hers is a spiritual/political blog and Daniel says don't get too concerned that the left-wingers seem to have the blogosphere cornered at the moment, we can have influence elsewhere. Someone said at Beth's blog that the most important thing is to write for yourself and the number of hits is not that important. Why do I blog? To be perfectly honest and candid I want to have some influence in how people see events and social and political issues and to hold nothing back here I do get disappointed if the same 15 or 20 people read my blog everyday and nobody else for the time being. I do pay attention to my hit meter, are they the same people tuning in or others just getting a quick bite to eat on their way to someplace else? Sometimes though I'll make what I think is an interesting point or a fanciful turn of phrase and I'll see it picked up elsewhere, could be somebody read my blog, maybe not (my overly imaginative ego at work again). My blog is political but not exclusively so, I think it's perfectly valid to discuss the personal and spiritual so Beth can add Lista's blog to my links later, I find her comments section particularly interesting. Maybe it's a pride thing but I'm not just writing for myself, we all have some great ideas and analysis of, well, things in general and it would be nice if the msm picked up on it once in a while instead of always quoting the Daily Kos or the Huffington Post or instapundit or some blogger over at the National Review. I'd even like to think the candidates read our blogs from time to time and wouldn't it just make your day to have part of your blog up there on the tv screen being quoted on some well-known political roundtable (oh come on, be honest now!) Anyway this is why I blog and I'm not ashamed to admit it, like a pebble chucked in the lake and the ripples go out from there and somebody walking past notices it and yes we do need more conservative bloggers out there, the more the merrier. As for when one of my quotes make the big time I have my cigar already picked out for my blue moon moment.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Confuse people, be nice

Kind of a blanket statement but many neighbors, many people in general, if they're not nasty are at least indifferent, to be indifferent is not necessarily to be mean but a large chunk of the public falls into one of the two groups (or both). So I know this guy who used to live in a large city, neighbors today kind of keep to themselves and don't even say hi, many times you don't even know their names, just a big gray cloud of blah hanging over many sections of the country right now. So anyway the guy moves out to the country and on the second day a man comes up to him and says "good morning, how are you?" and he goes "what?" We had some storms last night, high winds, rain, a Dorothy and Toto watch for the upper areas and this morning the heat finally broke, so some older lady was walking in the street and goes to me "hello, good morning! Beautiful day, isn't it?" so I pause for a sec and then go "it sure is". Not used to it, like my friend says alot of people have a touch of I don't want to help you. I was talking to him at his job once and he went to ask a co-worker a question and he kinda grunted something piglike and kept walking and my friend imitates someone blowing an imaginary dart into your neck aka the societal insult. Used to go ice-fishing alot and I'm parking after a fairly decent snowfall and some guy comes out of his house and offers me his shovel so I can park better and I much appreciated such a rare act of kindness but for a nanosecond there you think maybe he's going back inside to finish his Cap'n Crunch in a skull and you're next. Women are known to blow the darts too so when one finally says to you in the library "you smell nice like you just got out of the shower" it takes time to register, you almost want to verify and confirm that it was an official act of niceness and maybe something more. So if you really wanna confuse the hell out of people be ye kind.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Our Caped Crusader is on fire

(a future Obama ad?)

The Robin Hood Plank of the Democratic Party

Obama wants to soak the rich. He wants to raise the income tax on those earning over 250G a year, from 35% to 39%. He wants to raise the capital gains tax from 15% to 25-28% according to CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. He wants to raise corporate and dividend taxes and most important of all he wants to tax windfall profits of the big oil companies.

Obama: "I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits and will use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills". He said this in NC at the start of his 11 state tour. "At a time when we're fighting two wars, when millions of Americans can't afford their medical bills or their tuition bills, when we're paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, the man who rails against government spending wants to spend $1.2 billion on a tax break for ExxonMobil. That isn't just irresponsible, it's outrageous."

Of course McCain has voted twice against Bush's tax cuts. Speaking of McCain in a new ad he touts his service to his country which is perfectly fine in an autobiographical sense to round out who he is but it ain't gonna make me vote for him.

Monday, June 09, 2008

One nation under Prozac

Kind of a theory in progress of mine but seems to me in my day-to-day dealings with people in general and even through just plain observation, couldn't put my finger on it right away but it seems like there's this vast fog out there. People have lost the art of communicating clearly, people drive funny, nobody's coherent, there's some kind of a funk thing going on out there. The conclusion of my theory, most everybody is on something these days and if you're one of the few who isn't and you're totally clear-headed it's like a feeling of being, well, stranded. You have some of the same problems they do but you don't take anything. You can look at the sit'ation rationally, from many different angles, you've been buffeted by Life for sure like everybody else and have the bruises to show for it but you can still drive a car without farting along and drifting totally oblivious to the fact that you've just created a minor traffic jam behind you, you can still clearly communicate your desires to the waiter at your favorite restaurant without your mental fog making his job that much harder, you pay your bills on time and don't whip out your credit card just to pay for some Double 1/4 pounder with cheese at Mickie D's. Dunno, just might want to deal with the Amish these days.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Shell-shocked by Life? Have a laugh, it's on me


When young people go out in the wee hours and drink like there's no tomorrow they call it clubbing, when you're older and you have a few they call you an alcoholic.

WW3, it finally happened. The end of History as we know it but there are two survivors and the Lord would like them to get things going again and replenish the Earth. There's UMA and...what's that guy's name again? He's cooly smoking a cigarette on the steps of some now desolate public library.

Oprah will never be able to spend it all even if she tried so she should at least buy every public library in the whole country at least 100 computers each SO I WON'T HAVE TO WAIT ANYMORE!!! It would be a humanitarian gesture.

Am I allowed to be against Barack Obama? (question first posed by the National Review a year ago but now more relevant than ever).

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Liberal bias? yeah, but they sure can write!


Somebody did a study once comparing the writing styles in different newspapers. The Ole Gray Lady was described as having a normal, adult, well-educated reading level whereas the New York Post was ranked as having something like a 4th grade reading level. The Post has a fairly regular feature called Times Watch but maybe the Times should have their own called Post Watch just for kicks. The reporters writing for the Times are mostly seasoned professionals who know how to put a sentence together whereas it's not at all uncommon to find in the Post sentences like "he blew his brains out" or "the car mowed down some bystanders". So yeah it's great the Post is a conservative paper, one of the few in the country, if you don't mind reading a comic book.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

I am proclaiming this day

National Get a Grip Day. Even conservatives have enjoyed the collective orbasm. As you all know by now (except apparently Hillary) Barack Obama is now the 1st black presidential candidate to win his party's nomination. That's cool, it's duly noted, but I don't get all bent out of shape about it. Dick Morris feels we are living in what he calls a post-racial era, dunno, if we were it'd be, to borrow a line from soapie, "BFD, I like pizza and beer." McCain is positively dull by comparison, he's an asterisk, a formality before letting History happen, a future question on Jeopardy, a Sunday crossword question. Hill has no choice but to accept the VP post, that is if Michelle lets her. It ain't the same though, what exactly was Ed McMahon's position again? If you take your conservative political philosophy seriously this is definitely one of those pass the Zoloft elections, either way you look at it Santa is coming on his sleigh with some Big Government goodies, most likely McCain won't be getting the reindeer to mush but he'll be helping hand them out. What's that you say, you don't believe in Santa? stick in the mud.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Don't mess with the Lohan

Haven't all celebrities been gay at one point or rumored to be from Tom Selleck to Tom Cruise? Even the theme song of The Flintstones talks about having "a gay old time", it's become like some 5th grade mentality ("he's gay"). It's more a case of the Gay Movement for lack of a better word in constant need of a famous mouthpiece and for a movement supposedly based on some libertarian premises they sure bother people alot, some gay mag is drooling at the thought of putting her on its cover. I still remember that spoof Jay Leno did once, he held up a mock TIME magazine with Richard Simmons on the cover and it said "Yep, I'm really really really gay", lol, but anyway I'm telling you right now, don't mess with the Lohan, she has a Mom you know.

Feminist covens


...that gives people the heebie-jeebies? You'd think the Hillary mess would get las feministas to thinking but that won't happen so I'll think for them. The way I see it is their two main goals right now are to keep abortion at all stages legal and to get Men to leave them alone (the emasculated Male). Judging by today's standards the 1970's romantic comedy "10" starring Bo Derek and Dudley Moore is a movie from the Dark Cave of the Past. If remade today the Dudley character would not be some playboy pursuing his dream girl across continents but, well, think Jack Jordan. Feminist premises would have it in the Horror genre right next to "Redeye". Feminism has become a little tired around the edges, it's well-known reputation for being frosty and humorless more than a little earned imo, I mean being pro-feticide and seeing Men as the enemy, how sexy is that? Total ossification has set in like finding dinosaur bones in some desert, Gloria Steinem is still saying the same things she spouted exactly three decades ago so for example any criticism of Hillary is ipso facto sexist. Now people still respect feminism but it ain't uppermost, imagine Obama saying people who criticize him are racist! Hillary is the advocate of a well-known philosophy with which not everyone agrees, Obama is more forward-looking. Both are strong advocates of legal abortion of course and liberalism in general but you don't really hear Obama talking about the a-word so that you even have conservative pundits referring to him as Bam (I mean how gay is that?) and not only that you'll still get the same old liberal package without benefit of all those Clinton scandals! A fresh start, they could even name an air freshener after him.

Monday, June 02, 2008

A referendum on the War

If Obama vs. McCain turns out to be a popular referendum on the Iraqi War Obama wins hands down. It matters not that these people may have originally supported the invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam or if they opposed it from the getgo, it's only 2008 and McCain's gone on the record that the Iraqi campaign should go on 'til 2013 and then he'd withdraw the troops in an orderly fashion after declaring victory there. If a majority of the voting public, whatever their political persuasion, is tired of the war then it matters not what us conservative bloggers have to say, it's a done deal, McCain is toast. Now Obama has gone on the record himself saying to Jim Lehrer "we need to be as careful getting out as we were reckless going in", McCain is just same old same old and will go the way of what's-his-name hawking Viagra in a few years. I see one positive in a President Obama, RINOS out to pasture.