Sunday, May 31, 2009

EUGENIO RECUENCO



I linked to RECUENCO's site from House of Harps and ended up with this unusual but beautiful clip.

Cat vs. Caterpillar



The Japanese have some beautiful fat cats. Regal and spoiled.

1950s Wisdom and 20s Slang


View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Here's a glossary of 20s slang. I was familiar with most of it but there were a few terms I've never heard like 'Fire extinguisher,' 'Orchid' and 'Cash or check?'


Ht/Behind the Curtain

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Bing Crosby: Swinging On A Star



ht/Dixi

Sotomeyer and Obama Contaminated by Affirmative Action






Pretty ballsy. He looks me right in the eyes and out and out lies to me. Just because Brian Williams seems to enjoy being insulted, abused and spat upon doesn’t mean that I like it. The teleprompter might tell Obama that Williams represents America. But he does not. And that foolish notion is just going to render Obama out of touch and too audacious.
This is at the root of what is the problem with both Obama and Sotomeyer. They are both products of affirmative action. They both got super fantastic grades and headed law review. Both of them are smart, well spoken and reasonably capable. But the lefty ideology of their college professors and law school professors dictated that students of identified protected minority groups who met the so-so standards that these two met should be made examples of. They had to be flung to the top of their classes to prove to the world that what lefties say about their sacrosanct groups is true. So, no matter what they do they get the anti-gentleman’s A+. Therefore they enter the world thinking whatever they do is A+ work.
But you have Obama who raises quickly from office to office without ever having mastered what was involved in any office along the way. His main skill is smiling while fools draw near to tell him how wonderful he is. He is better than average at delivering a speech. But the speeches are nothing to write home about. They are boring, empty off shoots of some forgotten Onanistic endeavor. He has achieved nothing. Even though he has spent years as a legislator he was never in one office long enough to forge allegiances, identify needed legislation and write it and make it happen. That would require a concern and knowledge about his constituents that would not have been able to coexist with his obsession with getting ahead. Now we have a president who truly believes he knows what he’s doing but could not possibly have a clue.
And he’s trying to hire an affirmative action judge. There seems to be no limit to how highly she thinks of herself and the magic power of her Latina-ness. But all reports seem to indicate that she is at the lower end of adequate for the position she presently holds. Maybe that’s why she looks down on white males: it’s a way of compensating for the frequency with which they reverse her decisions. And I have the impression that she would prefer not to publish her opinions. Barry O. must have felt his heart leap at her being a kindred spirit in that area.
************************************************
UPDATE May 31,2009 at 0715
************************************************
Ace of Spades HQ has a post pointing out that that Sotomeyer does not even meet the minimum ABA criteria to be a judge. (I suspect this does not matter to the ABA since she is an affirmative action grad and judge.) Much of what Ace says is from a post by a guy (and lawyer) who calls himself Blackiswhite, Imperial Consigliere. But Ace nails it in a short space so I'm just giving a couple of quotes from him which takes up the remainder of this space.


He points out that her statements are not only overtly and breathtakingly racist, as we have been arguing, but also that they violate the American Bar Association's Model Code of Judicial Conduct.
From BiW's caption of the commentary to Canon 1 of the Code:
"Deference to the judgments and rulings of courts depends upon public confidence in the integrity and independence of judges. The integrity and independence of judges depends in turn upon their acting without fear or favor. A judiciary of integrity is one in which judges are known for their probity, fairness, honesty, uprightness, and soundness of character. An independent judiciary is one free of inappropriate outside influences."
. . . . . . . . . . . .
However, there's no doubt about the 'favor' of this judge; that she believes white men to be inferior to her. That her ethnicity and background somehow convey upon her a greater natural ability to adjudicate. Why not also say that her ethnicity and gender also convey upon her a heightened natural ability to pick lettuce? Because that would be just as racist. This person has told us in no uncertain terms that she is not inspiring. Not intelligent.
Not judicial material.
He also quotes this part of the code regarding the appearance of impropriety.
"The test for appearance of impropriety is whether the conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the judge’s ability to carry out judicial responsibilities with integrity, impartiality and competence is impaired."
Well, besides her aforementioned OVERT, OBVIOUS, AND PRECISELY ENUNCIATED RACISM, there's this.
That she believes appellate courts are "where policy is made."
. . . . . . . . . . .
Which hardly inspires the confidence of people bringing cases before her, as they will (quite reasonably) believe that she will use any opportunity to use cases to shape policy in a leftward direction, rather than judge their cases fairly and according to established law. Thus eroding the public trust and confidence in the judiciary. Which according to the Code, is a major no-no.

************************************************
UPDATE May 31 1:00 PM
************************************************
Very relevant are the following quotes from Just One Minute.

The oddest thing about affirmative action is that it is promoted as a vital program with no actual beneficiaries.  Sonia Sotomayor is going to the Supreme Court!  Yet instead of hailing this as a triumph of affirmative action (since Princeton might very well have overlooked this qualified candidate many years ago) Ms. Sotomayor and her supporters want to pretend that affirmative action has had nothing to do with her success.
… .. ……. … .. . .. .
when the question of "equal resumes" was kicked around a few years back, the suggestions as to why black-sounding names were at a disadvantage was summarized as follows by the CalPundit:
The gist of the thread seemed to be that maybe blacks were more likely to sue over being fired, or maybe their degrees were perceived as being worth less due to lower standards caused by affirmative action...
In other words, if affirmative action distorts the college grading process as well as the recruitment process then equal resumes aren't really equal.  The greater legal protection afforded newly hired minorities is obvious.

Magnolias In Bloom






I just walked to a nearby mailbox to return DVDs to Netflix. And it was beautiful. You cannot go many paces in my neighborhood this time of year without getting the lovely aroma of the Magnolia blossoms that are in full bloom.
The first photo is a few yards from the front door of my apartment. It is a humming bird nest from last summer.
The next picture is a courtyard beside The Laguna Coffee Company. It's two blocks from my place and it looks out on Pacific Coast Highway. PCH runs the length of California along the coast. For the past 20 years I have been fortunate to always live very near PCH, thus near the beach. One minor annoyance is the sound of traffic all night.
Picture three is a view of the Pacific Ocean. This was taken three blocks from my apartment.
The last photo is of a house on the other end of my block. I call that the 'rich part of the block.' The building I live in dates back to the beginning of WWII. My building entered the world as housing for officers who were being trained at the airfield in Tustin.

Chesterfields and Arrows




If I had some Arrow shirts and collars and a couple of cartons of Chesterfields, I might be prepared to make it through the first few weeks my dealership is closed.


ht/Behind the Cuttain: Angry Chicken

Rita Hayworth, James Cagney. Pretty Woman

Dream Job




ht/Troglopundit

Friday, May 29, 2009

3 Beatles and a Uke

*************Ain't She Sweet************************
***************************************************

Tonight You Belong To Me

The Poetry of Vachel Lindsay

*Concerning Emperors*

I. GOD SEND THE REGICIDE

Would that the lying rulers of the world
Were brought to block for tyrannies abhorred.
Would that the sword of Cromwell and the Lord,
The sword of Joshua and Gideon,
Hewed hip and thigh the hosts of Midian.
God send that ironside ere tomorrow's sun;
Let Gabriel and Michael with him ride.
God send the Regicide.


II. A COLLOQUIAL REPLY: TO ANY NEWSBOY

If you lay for Iago at the stage door with a brick
You have missed the moral of the play.
He will have a midnight supper with Othello and his wife.
They will chirp together and be gay.
But the things Iago stands for must go down into the dust:
Lying and suspicion and conspiracy and lust.
And I cannot hate the Kaiser (I hope you understand.)
Yet I chase the thing he stands for with a brickbat in my hand.


*Euclid*

OLD Euclid drew a circle
On a sand-beach long ago.
He bounded and enclosed it
With angles thus and so.
His set of solemn greybeards
Nodded and argued much
Of arc and circumference,
Diameter and such.
A silent child stood by them
From morning until noon
Because they drew such charming
Round pictures of the moon.


*The Hope of the Resurrection*

Though I have watched so many mourners weep
O'er the real dead, in dull earth laid asleep—
Those dead seemed but the shadows of my days
That passed and left me in the sun's bright rays.
Now though you go on smiling in the sun
Our love is slain, and love and you were one.
You are the first, you I have known so long,
Whose death was deadly, a tremendous wrong.
Therefore I seek the faith that sets it right
Amid the lilies and the candle-light.
I think on Heaven, for in that air so dear
We two may meet, confused and parted here.
Ah, when man's dearest dies,'tis then he goes
To that old balm that heals the centuries' woes.
Then Christ's wild cry in all the streets is rife:—
"I am the Resurrection and the Life."

My Baby Just Cares for Me

****************************************************************** ‘A great moment from a great film Veronika Voss, 1982 by Fassbinder’




ht/Little Red Fox

Ongoing Obama Administration Lies about the Stimulus

Obama told out and out lies about positive effects of the stimulus. ABC has a video about the lies. Gibbs admitted that the claims were not true but the lies have remained on Obama’s dot gov website.

Cat Fight

The Finest Links In All of Christendom

Townhall.com has the transcript of an interview in which Hugh Hewitt makes Lawrence O’Donnell look like a fool. Actually O‘Donnell is a fool and Hewitt just puts the high beams on that fact.
Insert clever s.logan has observations on spelling bees and why she still spells it ‘rasberry.’
And So It Goes In Shreveport has a link to a special about Louisiana Honor Air. Then she has a post about Hannity’s interview of Marco Rubio.
Pundit and Pundette has a good post about Sonia Sotomryer that has quotes from many sources and links to a lit of sites.
By The Other McCain I think he means the good McCain, i. e. , not John or Meghan. From the Other I get this quote: "The idea that you pull back from a fight because someone is from a different ethnic group is part of the mistake Republicans made and how we got President Obama in the first place."
-- Ron Robinson, Young America's Foundation
And he has a post titled Happy News for Weimar America that describes the state of the American economy today. He’s not so sure you can take to the bank everything the President and his most respectful worshipers say on that topic.

ELVIS

Spanish Eyes


Blue Moon

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Congressmen Still Refuse to Read the Legislation They Vote On. Isthis Just A New and Exciting Way to Say FU to Their Constituients?


The ONLY answer is to vote ALL of the bums out.

ht/MsUnderestimated

How Did This Happen: 10 Years Ago Marriage Was Not A Civil Right Partisans Try To Argue That It Now Suddenly Is?

In history marriage has always been a contractual arrangement between two families. The aim in view was to join a man and a woman together to produce offspring. The marriage contract protected the woman and whatever property her family had made a part of the new union. And marriage has always been defined as being between a man and a woman. But gays and leftists think they can redefine anything at their whim.
Gays are presently arguing that marriage, rather than the contract it has been for millennia, is a civil right. It was not seen as such by the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, by Jefferson or by Woodrow Wilson. Same sex marriage was never seen as a goal of the civil rights movement. And even the the wacky and unrealistic United Nations has not recognized it as a civil rights goal. It is no such animal. They take this approach because they think it furthers their cause. If it would get them what they want they would abandon the civil right approach and use whatever definition became more convenient.
I think they’d call it a disgusting circus act if it got them what they want.
The gays against Prop. 8 have brought political involvement to a low seldom reached in America. Their Democrat compatriots did reach lower lows in their incarnation as the KKK. And ACORN is similarly enamored of threats of violence. According to the Marci Hamilton at the site Find Law, “some of the more radical among the protesters have crossed the line by entering churches to disrupt services and painting graffiti on churches, among other illegal acts.” Basically these gay activists, ACORN and Democrats want every last benefit they can wring out of civil society but are too often unwilling to be civil.

ELLA

"Stormy Weather" with Joe Pass, Hannover 1975


Lullaby of Birdland

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Crazies for Palin

This is all pictures and music.

Flapper Girl

This blog, Flapper Girl, is, I think, in some Slavic language. The singer is Lidija Ruslavanova (1900-1973), who I don't know from a lamp post. But I suspect she was a star of stage and screen in her snowy homeland. I'm only sharing it because I enjoyed it.

Blogs With Old Movies But Without Politics

The first site is called All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing! It's about the early talking pictures.

Here are are a couple of clips from the site. The first is from a movie called 'Chinese Fantasy.' It starred Rin Tin Tin and Myrna Loy.

Now here's a clip starring Alice White in Show Girl In Hollywood. They used to churn out the musicals. Now they're rare. I have to figure the cost/benefit ratio is off putting.

When I was a child I saw 'Giant,' 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,' 'How to Marry a Millionaire.' 'Friendly Persuasion,' and many other movies in drive-in theaters. From Another Old Movie Blog here is a mash up of some ads for drive-ins. Warning: your head might explode if you're in the habit of playing the race card.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Good OLD Bill Maher Insults Everyone -- What Is the Status of the Gitmo Detainees?

***********FOUL LANGUAGE ALERT*************************

Maher is way off base in his criticism of the status of the Gitmo internees. They are not suspected terrorists. They are prisoners of war in a nontraditional war. To render them subject to the criminal code is just foolish. Too many of the ones remaining will return to going to any length to destroy the USA. We, who will be their targets deserve better protection than would be afforded from just turning them over to the justice system. It would give our would be murderers unfair advantage since they were not apprehended by a normal domestic police force with a view to securing the proper evidence to convict them. They were captured on a battlefield with the main concern being the safety of the soldiers that protect our country. These accidents of history should not become part of the arsenal of weapons in their effort to become free and then continue their all out onslaught on our freedom and lives. It is unfortunate but the best solution I can see at this point is imprisonment for the remainder of their natural lives.
Nietzsche defined nihilism as the highest values devaluing themselves. This is Nihilism the HBO Edition.
Let it be noted that Maher has abandoned his long standing practice of having a conservative on the show (it was always one conservative being gang attacked by three lefties but they usually made it through OK and showed the flag). Maher is merging with the dinosaur media.

V. D. Hanson: Obama Has Never Trusted the Electoral Process, He Has Always Sought an Extra-Electoral Edge

Victor Davis Hanson: Obama, Palin, and the Culture Wars


*It used to be taken as gospel by Democrats that large sums of money would have a pernicious influence on the political process. But the Obama campaign raised more money than any candidate in the history of the Republic. And, suddenly, this is considered impressive rather than reprehensible.
*Our present educational establishment would rather graduate an illiterate with the proper political views than a literate student who can think clearly.
*ACORN's tactics come from the brutal style of Alinsky's bullying threats of violence.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Cheney's Enemies

I recently ran across a lefty commenting on a blog post. The lefty recommended that the blogger stop writing about Dick Cheney since no one cares about Cheney. This is of course contradicted by the fact that every news show on every network and cable outlet had been perseverating at length about Cheney for two days. And why would the commenter spend her time and energy on someone that no one cares about?
Talking about mindless and meaningless lefty talking points how about the endlessly heard claim about al Qaeda recruitment. I have become sick of hearing that the presence of Gitmo and the Bush interrogation methods have increased recruitment. Is there some definitive and reliable source of al Qaeda recruitment figures that only lefties have access to? Or are they so intimate a part of the network that they can read the books whenever they feel like it? I won’t say they are using the inducement of fear as a tactic because, well, just because I’m not going to say that today.
There is a great piece by William McGurn in the WSJ about the recent duel between Cheney and President Obama. It has a lot to say and is
tightly reasoned. So below are a few paragraphs the contain some of its best observations.


Ironically, it was left to Chris Matthews -- one of the vice president's most unrelenting critics -- to offer the best take on last week's dueling speeches. On his Sunday show, he put it this way: "I saw something from Barack Obama I never even saw in the campaign, a sense he was listening for footsteps, that he could hear Cheney coming at him and he was defensive."
Think about that. Back in those heady days after the 2008 election, anyone who suggested that Mr. Obama might find himself playing defense to Dick Cheney on Guantanamo would have been hauled off as barking mad. Yet that's exactly what Mr. Cheney has pulled off, leaving a desperate White House to try to drown him out by adding an Obama speech the same day Mr. Cheney was slated to address the American Enterprise Institute.
Of course, the effect was just the opposite. The White House reaction ended up elevating Mr. Cheney to Mr. Obama's level, and ensuring that his words would be measured directly against the president's. Like him or loathe him, Mr. Cheney forced the president to engage him.
For much of the Beltway, the Cheney surge is baffling. After all, when Mr. Cheney left office, his reputation seemed divided between those who thought him a punch line on late-night TV and those who thought him a war criminal. As so often happens, however, the conventional wisdom seems to have blinded Mr. Cheney's ideological opponents to the many advantages he brings to the table.
First is his consistency. The case he is making now is the same case he has been making for the past seven years. Even people who disagree with that case would have to concede its coherence, resting as it does on the notion that the United States is at war with terrorists and must react as a nation at war.
By contrast, Mr. Obama's war policies are increasingly incoherent. As a candidate, he excoriated the Bush approach to terror root and branch. As president, however, he has adopted some of the Bush policies, flip-flopped to the Bush side on others, and found himself at odds with his own party on closing down Guantanamo.
His speech on Thursday reflected these contradictions, at once reassuring the antiwar left that the Bush antiterror policies have been fully repudiated while trying to signal everyone else that he has retained most of their substance.

ht/Hot Air.com

Not All Blogs Are About Politics





The first photo is from from Kittentails. It's a West Australian blogger. Can you find the Ostrich? I can relax while reading her blog because it's like a low key journey through an alternate universe. And I don't mean that her universe is at all weird. She just has different priorities and concerns from those I have become accustomed to.
The second photo is from The Life Aesthetic. There are lots of pictures of this and other cute chicks. And it's another tasty and relaxing alternate universe. The blogger is taken up with decor, furniture, handbags and such to a degree irrelevant to my hormonal makeup. But the odd visit can be entertaining.
The last pic is from Little Red Fox. Recipes, great photos and an attention to attire beyond my ken. Not my world but a great place to visit. And I like the music more than a little. There is a very small music player in the upper right that you can use to flip through different songs. I highly recommend one with the title, 'Rachel’s -- Egon & Wally Embrace.' It sounds like an Errol Garner rendition of Claire de Lune. The next song that came on reminded me of the soft folk tinged music popular back in the sixties when I used acid. Hearing that song was like a mild, cushy acid flashback.

The Living Constitution

Of course we have a living Constitution. There are in the document itself amendment processes that can be used to revise and make changes deemed necessary by the citizenry.
But most who use the term ‘living Constitution’ are not referring to changes made according to the well defined methods laid out in the Constitution. They mean that judges will decide what changes are called for and make decisions based on their subjective prejudices. Thus that governments are, ”deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” becomes perverted into, “deriving their unjust powers from the consent of a bunch of self-righteous judges who make choices not sanctioned by written law.” And I feel sure THAT was not the intent of the framers.
Just for laughs I’m going to quote what wikipedia calls one of the strongest arguments in favor of the pushy-judges-who-don’t-know-their-place school of Constitutional interpretation. The wiki likes this ‘argument’: “the fact that the Constitution itself is silent on the matter of constitutional interpretation . . . [is] one of the strongest arguments in support of the concept of a "living Constitution" A philosopher would call this an argument from silence. It also proves that judges should mind their own business since the Constitution nowhere explicitly states that judges should not not mind their own business. It is also an argument in favor of Gitmo since the Constitution nowhere explicitly states, ‘Thou shalt not build prisons in Gitmo.’ I trust the reader is catching on that an argument that proves an infinite number of propositions truly proves nothing. And they call this one of their strongest arguments.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

What could be more fun than a box full of kittens?

**********************************************************

I Didn't Know My Head Could Do That

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.?

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

ht/*Haute Whimsy*

Gilda Radner: In a galaxy long, long ago when SNL was funny . . .



Frederick the Great Flute Concerto



The painting I usually have at the top of the page is of Frederick the Great playing the flute. He also wrote music for the flute. And he's famous for his army, his wars and his patronage of philosophers and artists.

Joe the Plumber Was Right?


I'm not quite sure I get this. The hallmarks of the Obama campaign and presidency have been lack of transparency, lies, obfuscation, lobbyists, tax cheating cronies given protection, broken promises and hate for America. But now Cavuto wants to get all literal over whether people who make $235,000 or people who make $250,000 are going to have their taxes go up. It is what it is! Talk about missing the forest of lies and cronyism for one dishonest little leaf.

ht/Heritage Foundation

Just When You Forgot How Crazy Olbermann Is He Opens His Mouth Again



Olbermann's words are, "like poetry from a high school goth."
It is always a good idea to point out that a Democrat president allowed the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor.

ht/Hot Air.com

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Isikoff Tells of Secret Meeting of Obama And The Far Left: They Want A ‘Trophy” Persecution of A Scapegoat To Give Appearance of Victory



They are so angry at the Prez that he was even compared to Bush. POTUS was not happy with that and he went so far as to call it ‘not helpful.’ Lefties can say the most hurtful things, can’t they?

ht/NewsBusted

Obama's New Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Is Designed To Decide Who Will Live And Who will Not

Barbara Howard, a black Republican government relations and media consultant based in Florida wrote a South Florida Times op-ed marvelously titled "The Politics of Blackness: A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing." In it she addresses what Garafalo has to say about black Republicans. She also addresses the absurd notion of someone as inexperienced and lacking in wide knowledge of the subject as Barack Obama taking charge of a complete overhaul of our health care system. Below are a few paragraphs from Ms. Howard’s piece.



Then, after all your records are computerized and accessed by the federal government, the new Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research will review your doctors’ recommendations for treatment and medications, and decide if they are “appropriate and cost-effective.’’

This council, made up of bureaucrats, could have easily decided that I was too old to have all the medical attention the hospital gave me, and there would have been nothing I could do about it. And, if I didn’t agree, I would be called all kinds of names, including the one comedienne Janeane Garofalo called those of us who are black and Republican – “pathological and suffering from Stockholm syndrome.” 

In case you don’t know what Stockholm syndrome means, it’s when kidnap victims become sympathetic to their captors.  And in this case, those “captors” are “racists” who “hate that a black guy is in the White House,” according to Miss Garofalo in her interview with MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. [...]

I dare say that Miss Garofalo knows little or nothing about black folk and definitely not black Republicans. But she speaks as if she does, which is a dangerous thing.

That’s what happens when someone has a little knowledge, but thinks they have a lot. 
. . . . . . . . . . .
Like Garofalo, Obama knows little or nothing about how to “fix” the best health care system in the world.
If it were not the best, then people from all over the world would not be coming here for treatment.  And Jackson Memorial Hospital (along with the Jackson hospital system) is known for having some of the best health experts in the world.  My experience there proves its reputation to be true.

But our new president, “the one we’ve been waiting for,” thinks he knows more than everybody, including all 43 presidents before him.  Yet he has not run any type of organization – ever.  Not a city, not a county, not a state, not a small company, not a large corporation, not an educational institution, not a non-profit organization, not even a governmental agency.

But our lives are in his hands. And if he doesn’t change his philosophy of big government running all our businesses, including our healthcare system, we will all be in big trouble.

ht/NewsBusted

"Give Me Power But Blame Someone Else For My Mistakes."

Some Democrats have defended Pelosi by saying that she could not talk about the contents of a classified briefing. Disclosing the contents of a secret briefing was not Pelosi's only option. If what was happening was as morally reprehensible as so many Democrats now claim, she should have looked at some other options. And she probably had a wider range of options after the Democrats took over the congress in '06. But she did ... nothing.
We are left with this bizarre picture of two co-equal branches where one branch refuses to accept accountability for anything that happened. The self-described pure and morally superior side is saying, "Illegal, immoral and bad things were done. And those guys over there need to be held accountable and pay a price. We bear no responsibility. Sure, we knowingly gave them the money with which they did it. But we only did that because they told us to. Go get them. They're bad and they'll get away if you don't hurry up. If you don't quit saying we we're implicated we might put you on trial. At the we'll have NBC dig up dirt on you and we'll nail your complaining ass to the wall. You and anyone else who expects accountability from any Democrat." They want the control over the purse that majorities in congress give. But they always want somebody else to be at fault if they misspend the money. That is not how adults behave or how responsible people behave. The voters should turn them out of Congress so they can have some alone time to reconsider how they use power.
Democrats want power without responsibility or accountability. They are probably going to have to unfairly prosecute a lot of people to make that work. And they're getting a good start on it.

Liz Cheney Destroys Anderson Cooper



I continue to be surprised that the MSM keeps inviting Ms. Cheney on to get their clocks cleaned. I guess they tend to be too narcissistic to even imagine that she will have no problem putting them in their places.

ht/JammieWearingFool

BILLIE HOLIDAY: Gloomy Sunday



This is also called The Hungarian Suicide Song. Just remember that the all mighty has fixed his canon against self-slaughter.

Friday, May 22, 2009

The Essence of House

crazy cat

Barack Obama’s Ingenious Solution to Illegal Immigration

Conservative Badlands has caught Barack Obama’s subtle but effective actions to end illegal immigration:
“He is much more creative - He knows that the only way to achieve this goal of reducing illegal immigration is by letting the American economy collapse and the Dollar devalue so much, that nobody wants to come into the country anymore.”
. . . . . . . . . .
“Bravo Mr President you truly understand the dynamics of illegal immigration and we are grateful that you will put an end to it!!”

The Great McGonicle’s Feats of Legerdemain

Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Nature of a Mirror

The sky has murder in the eye, and I
Have murder in the heart, for I
Am only human.
We look at each other, the sky and I.
We understand each other, for
For the solstice of summer has sagged.  I stand
And wait.  Virtue is rewarded, that
Is the nightmare, and I must tell you
That soon now, even before
The change from Daylight Savings Time, the sun,
Beyond the western ridge of black-burnt pine stubs like
A snaggery of rotten shark teeth, sinks
Lower, larger, more blank, and redder than
A mother’s rage, as though
F.D.R. had never run for office even, or the first vagina
Had not had the texture of dream.  Time
Is the mirror into which you stare.
By Robert Penn Warren

V. D. Hanson - In Defense Of Liberty (6 of 6) The Discussions Leading Up To The Iraq War

Duck Soup



Dictionary.com defines duck soup as an Americanism that means, "something that is easy to do or accomplish."

ht/Lolita's Classics

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

V. D. Hanson - In Defense Of Liberty (5 of 6) Is A Novel Depicting the Killing of the President a Sign of a ‘Shredded Constitution”?

Fun Facts About UC Merced

Last week Michelle Obama spoke at the commencement ceremony at UC Merced. I grew up a couple hundred miles from there. I'm going to share some fun facts about the school.

They have the biggest Bullwinkle and Rocky fan club outside of Frostbite Falls.

Will soon announce the founding of a School of Sneaker Design

Every member of the campus Young Republicans has been called “racist motherf##&er” at least 45 times. And that’s just by the faculty and administrators.

The students working in the cafeteria tried to form a union but Pelosi sent in ACORN workers to bust heads. ACORN's fee was $4.2 billion dollars to be paid by the taxpayers.

Of all the UCs they had the highest percentage of students vote for Obama. The also have the lowest SATs in the system and significantly lower IQ scores.

The school has no library. It had been open 6 years before this was even noticed.

Their hunt for a professor to teach the Austrian language continues.

The head of the Political Science Department knows he’s supposed to insult Palin. But he hasn’t done so yet out of a deep fear that she will find out and royally put him in his place.

They call their football team the Garafalos. They think it might be something dirty. They might be right.

Astaire and Rita Hayworth




ht/Classic Hollywood Nerd

Ann Coulter Discusses Truth Commissions


The one good thing about Truth Commissions is that Democrats will finally know what actually happened.

ht/Nice Deb

V. D, Hanson - In Defense Of Liberty (4 of 6) -- "There IS A Military Solution In Iraq . . . David Petraeus Has Brought It"

Yet Again Palin Ethics Complaint Determined To Be Unfounded

The money spent on Palin’s wardrobe has been found by the FEC to not have been spent illegally. That makes 12 ethics complaints against Palin shown to be unfounded. The lefty hate and smear merchants have been hard at work stalking the governor. I suppose the lies will not stop as long as Sarah P. is a viable candidate. Lefty hate really is a pain in the a&& because it is spewed constantly and it seems to get all over everything. The lefties are abusing the system in a sick, selfish attempt to create bad press for someone they hate. If this foolishness continues there should be created a disincentive to misuse the processes that normal people depend on. At the very least, people who continually bring these frivolous actions should have to pay all costs incurred by their target and by the government.

ht/JammieWearingFool

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Rev. Al Does Not Deliver -- MSM Ignores His Embarrassing Unconcern For Black Community --Again



ht/NewsBusted

Anderson Cooper Demonstrates How To NOT Apologize



This clip was billed as an apology. But actually it is more along the lines of an 'eff you if you don't like it, can't you mouth breathers take a joke,' attack. When CNN finally ends up completely financially broke this clip will be around to show that they were morally and spiritually bankrupt first.

ht/the B Cast

Cousin Bette -- The Movie



I just watched a movie version of Balzac’s ‘Cousin Bette.’ It was made about ten years ago. It’s a story that has nearly everything. There is love, hate, family, jealously, revenge, male camaraderie, musical acts, a little debauchery, a duel, lots of infidelity, some insight into the artistic temperament and the background is Paris sinking into revolution. It is a costume drama with good costumes and sets and lots of horses and carriages. I was motivated to rent it because Hugh Laurie and Elizabeth Shue are in it. Geraldine Chaplin, Jessica Lange and Bob Hoskins also have major roles. My main complaint is the music. It was OK but I think it could have been better if they had used more music from the period in which it’s set. They used lots of music from the time of Haydn. The music of Liszt, Berlioz, Chopin and others would have set the mood better.

Happy Birthday from Anna Gunn

Silent Documentary: The Return of Enigmarelle - His True Story!

I love this old time kind of thing. There is a marching band and some acts from a circus-like performance group. Sometimes when I can't sleep I get lucky and find stuff like this.



ht/Vitaphone Varieties

V. D. Hanson-- In Defense of Liberty (3 of 6)-- Utopian Pacifism and the Dangers of Leisure

Monday, May 18, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson - In Defense Of Liberty (2 of 6)-- Multiculturalism

My Trivial Trivia

I was tagged by Pundette, So here are 8 bits of trivia about me

1. When I was 19 I was mad, crazy about the writing of Bertrand Russell. But I am very much over that.

2. The first job I ever had where I got a paycheck paid $1.00 an hour. I chopped cotton in 104 degree heat. It was about 75 miles from Bakersfield, CA.

3. I am a Dodger fan. I got that from my great grandmother who was born in Edinburgh. She loved Sandy Koufax. I’m sure she would also have loved Fernando Valenzuela had she lived that long.

4. I once spent a year in the hospital recovering from a motorcycle accident. I broke both arms and both legs and fractured my skull. I was in a coma for weeks. I spent a lot of time in bed reading Bertrand Russell. But it was at this time that Russell was being replaced in my affections by the writings of Thomas Mann. I read Mann’s Joseph novels during that year.

5. While a stupid child of the 60s I enjoyed LSD. I was lucky to get through that alive and sane.

6. I was once thrown across a 12 foot wide room by a violent mental patient. At the same time I hit the wall the 6”6’ nurse I was working with hit the wall as well. Together we weighed over 450 pounds. I still don’t know exactly how the patient managed to do that. You have to be very careful around insanity.

7. I have never met a kitty cat I didn’t like.

8. I was born on April Fool’s Day.

I'm going to tag Adagio for Strings and Jane Q. Republican.

Victor Davis Hanson - In Defense Of Liberty (1 of 6)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Liz Cheney Kicks Some More Liberal A&&, While snagggles Suffers Great Doubt About the Legality of TRUTH COMMISSIONS

************** ***************** **********************
************************************************************************************




At one point three other people were trying to talk over Ms. Cheney. But MSNBC is not noted for good manners or interest in truth. I'm amazed they have had Ms. C. on twice in one week.

These truth commissions deeply trouble me. They run contrary to American tradition and our laws. Let Congress hold all the hearings and investigations they want. If anyone is suspected of breaking a law let him be charged and tried. But the lefties cannot reach the results they want by these means. So they are trying to make it up as they go along. Well, that is outside the rule of law that America used to cherish. Will they trample everyone's rights to vent their spleen? God help us if it comes to that. What they are now proposing is more like what was practiced by Robespierre and Stalin. We need to think long and hard and openly discuss whether we want to go down that road.

ht/NewsBusters

Mark Rubio’s America

*************Too bad Barack can't find his way here.***********


ht/And So It Goes In Shreveport

My Father Visits the new WWII Memorial






!.Welcome ceremony at Shreveport airport 2. Victory at Peleliu cut into stone. This is where my Dad was wounded. 3. Bob 'I ain't going to talk about it' Dole. 4. Wide view of the memorial. 5. My Dad. He'll be 84 in a couple of months.
****************************************************************************
Pat at So It Goes In Shreveport has a post from a couple of weeks ago that tells about the organization, Louisiana HonorAir. that is taking as many WWII vets as possible to see this new WWII memorial.

Letter to Barack Obama

I took this exactly from a comment on the NewsBusters site.

May 17, 2009 - 15:08 ET by kilrod
 AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
 Dear President Obama, You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and, unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.
 You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.
 You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.
 You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
 You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.
 You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.
 You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.
 You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.
 You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America ' crowd and deliver this message abroad.
 You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.
 You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.
 You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
 You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.
 You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.
 You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.
 You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.
 You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.
 You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.
 You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Reillys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.
 You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
 Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years

Mysterious and Magical Kabuki Cats



"I Don't Think He's Really A Reformer. He's the President of Earmark Nation."

Finest Links in all of Christendom

Jo-Joe Politico starts with a post questioning whether we can afford to go green. It includes this unsettling fact, “According to a study from King Juan Carlos University in Madrid, Spain, for every "green" job created trying to generate energy from windmills and solar panels, 2.2 jobs were lost.” Then Joe has a post titled ‘Is This A Christian Nation.’ And along the same lines is a post about Jefferson’s religious views. Jefferson did not believe in miracles or in the divinity of Jesus but he was not a Deist either (though I think you could accurately say that he was within micrometers of being a Deist). Joe’s piece sets out where Jefferson stood with a number of quotes from his writings. This post about Jefferson seems to have arisen from a disagreement in the comments section. If Joe disagrees with you he won’t get nasty or personal: he gets all factual and logical. He is a teacher and his writing exudes harmony. He has the deep down calming effect of a man who knows clearly what he believes and knows what his purpose in life is. He’s a veritable Balm of Gilead for the net. He has also added some great music to his site.
Pundit and Pundette has a wide ranging post that starts with them attending an, “event [that] was teeming with large families and right wing extremism of all sorts.” The speaker believes, “"Live baby, good -- dead baby, bad." Something of a no-brainer.” They were at a commencement ceremony at a small Catholic college and the speaker was Jude Dougherty. Then the post moves to the demonstrations planned for Notre Dame and some discussion of the abortion issue. P & P also have a good post about the Uyghurs and our right to bare arms unrelated to the second amendment.
And So It Goes In Shreveport posts about conservative dissatisfaction with Charlie Crist. A money quote: “"Charlie Crist goes all wobbly in the knees every time he hears Barack Obama's voice.” (You had me puking at ‘knees’) Pat also has a post about Mitt Romney’s speech at the NRA convention. I called my father yesterday and in the middle of the conversation I was searching through Pat’s old posts for this one about Louisiana’s HonorAir program. It seems that when I reached my Dad he was on one of their buses in DC on the way to the WWII memorial. The program was set up to take the WWII vets to see the new WWII memorial in the capital. My father loved it. He even became tearful when talking about how kind they were to him and the other vets (my father has never been shy about crying, usually happy tears; my Mom used to tease him mercilessly about it but I think she actually loved him more because if it). My father fought in the Pacific and he inculcated in me great reverence for American exceptionalism. He’s a Stevenson Democrat but all through my childhood I can remember him saying with great conviction that only in America could someone like him expect to have so great a life. I am grateful to HonorAir for doing this for my Dad.
Jane Q. Republican has an accurate haiku about Nancy Pelosi. Then she has a post about some strange goings on at the White House. Quick summary is: Obama claimed health care industry spokesmen promised colossal savings but the spokesmen deny saying what the Prez said then a White House spokesgirl said the Prez ‘misspoke’ only to deny that there had been a misspeaking within the hour. Jane Q., of course makes it clearer than I did.

Friday, May 15, 2009

"Sure I'm For Sale, Norman"

**********"Just make a reasonable offer."**********


Democrats and politics as usual.

ht/JammieWearingFool

NewsBusted

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Mayberry

Shady Grove


Leaning On The Everlasting Arms

Arrest Cheney. . . There's No Crime. I Just Want Him Arrested.



I got this clip at Black Five. This weirdo is actually pretty rational and open minded for a lefty. He listens to what is said to him. But there is still that frightening disdain for the rule of law and basic rights that leaves the idiot convinced that someone ought to go to jail just because they piss him off. I'm more bothered by the vast majority of lefties who would just twist the law and constitutional rights into an unrecognizable form to use against their enemies.

Black Kitten with a Remote Control Mouse

FCC OKs Nudity if It’s Alyson Hannigan


FCC Okays Nudity On TV If It’s Alyson Hannigan

Sheik Descended From Muhammad Has Set Up Military Training Facilities In The U.S.

There is a video of some of these facilities at Military.com. There are 35 compounds spread around the US. Maybe if we accused them of being Christians or hinted that they are in favor of a strict interpretation of the Constitution, Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama would take notice of this viper in our bosom.

Anita O'Day - Take The A Train

Betty Grable Pin-Up Girl

**************HUBBA-HUBBA***************

Jeeves and Wooster: Piano Duet - Honky Tonk Train Blues




Hugh Laurie singing Minnie The Moocher


Hugh Laurie singing Nagasaki

This Needs To Be Frequently Repeated

Here is a list of documents and such kept hidden by the Obama campaign:
1. Occidental College records — Not released
2. Columbia College records — Not released
3. Columbia Thesis paper — not available, locked down by faculty
4. Harvard College records — Not released, locked down by faculty
5. Selective Service Registration — Not released
6. Medical records — Not released
7. Illinois State Senate schedule — ‘not available’
8. Law practice client list — Not released
9. Certified Copy of original Birth certificate - - Not released
10. Embossed, signed paper Certification of Live Birth — Not released
11. Harvard Law Review articles published — None
12. University of Chicago scholarly articles — None
13. Record of baptism– Not released or ‘not available’
14. Illinois State Senate records–’not available’

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

They're fighting because one of them is in the box, and the other one is having a Vietnam flashback.

The Modern World of 1958



I even saw one of those new-fangled mimeograph machines.

The Attempted Destruction of Carrie Prejean and Saul Alinsky's Rules

In Hot Air.com's comment section this morning I came across this comment. I am going to reproduce it here because in an uncomplicated and clear way it explains how the vicious attacks on Miss California are Alinsky's rules put into practice. It is amazing how the self styled advocates of tolerance and peace have no difficulty with the total destruction of one of their fellow humans.

Why does everyone act so surprised that this attack:
1.) occurred in the first place? It was a given if not a complete setup from the word go.
2.) kept going in the face of hypocrisy on the part of the left? Also a given
3.) turned so vicious and hateful for so long? Once again, it was a given.
The attack on Carrie Prejean bears all the hallmarks of a by the book set of plays. It followed the Left’s bible on targeting: Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Specifically rules 4, 5, 6, 8, and their perennial favorite; 12. Go read the list and tell me if this wasn’t a textbook radical lefty approach. Sure seems that way to me. None of what they have done was a surprise.
On a side note: I love how the rest of the rules basically tell them that even if they lose they are winners and even if their opponents win, they really didn’t… I am lousy at things like this but SA’s Rules for Radicals basically seem to sum up as follows:
Find a target for your temper tantrum; make petulant demands that said target change its own values to match your own; scream loudly when target refuses; make dark and dire threats over things which you have no control; repeat demands; scream more loudly still, attack any aspect of target’s life no matter how ridiculous it makes you seem; scream until your eyes bug, spittle flies, and your face turns vermilion; demand that target’s supporters “be more moderate” (read: capitulate) about their beliefs because you don’t agree; blather, wince, repeat from step one ad endless nauseum until no one is listening to you any more; declare victory regardless of reality; find new target; start all over again…
Is that about right?
Sounds like my kids when they were between 2 and 4 years old… IIRC this attitude became undesirable when I turned their backside the same color as their face mid-tantrum. Viola. Two great kids with a future as successful human beings.
OK, sorry for the long-winded post, we now return you to your regularly scheduled 10 second sound bites…
TASS71 on May 12, 2009 at 9:26 PM


I will concede that she had the audacity and bald faced nerve to model lingerie, the complete naughtiness of which lefties have always stood four square and consistently against.