Friday, July 31, 2009

Bruno Walter Works His Magic

Bruno Walter - Sinfonia n° 5 di Gustav Mahler - Parte 1

Berlioz,Grande Messe des Morts:Lacrymosa

We Had Another of Those Fabulous Teachable Moments. Did Anyone Learn Anything???

RE: The recent nonracial-racial incident in Cambridge
I learned that if you’re an old bud of the right Chicago politician charges of disturbing the peace are unlikely to stick. I learned that if you are an old bud of the right Chicago politician you can, without evidence, defame the character of a police officer and be quoted frequently and approvingly by our mainstream media.

I feel very sure that we are all less safe now because of this puppet-theater-soap-opera mismanaged by the amateur in chief. Police officers have all been put on notice that they have less support from further up the chain of command. All police will be more hesitant. Some will answer fewer calls and avoid questionable and dicey situations. Will crime statistics get worse? How could they not?

Ann Coulter Says That If Racial Profiling Is A Problem Why Can't Anyone Name One Specific Case Where It Was Shown To Exist

Coulter & Sharpton On Obama Meeting With Gates, Crowley




Notice how King runs interference for Sharpton? Plus he seems to enjoy trying to give Coulter grief.

H/t: Real Clear Politics

Mississippi John Hurt -- 'Stagger Lee'



The Midnight Special / Odetta


What A Friend We Have In Jesus - Mahalia Jackson

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Anna Netrebko & Elīna Garanča - Les Contes d'Hoffman - Barcarolle

Frank Sinatra - Summer Wind

Cyndi Lauper - If You Go Away (live)

Cyndi Lauper - If You Go Away (live)

Professionalism, Unions and Teachers



If you are a union member you are not a professional.
If you punch a time clock you are not a professional.

h/t: Mommy Life

Rep. Paul Ryan Has Common Sense



h/t: Pundit and Pundette

In This Corner, Representing the Obama Administration, Is Matt Lauer

Lauer is so obviously in the tank for Obama that it is both funny and pitiful.


h/t: Breitbart

Beck Uncomfortable with Political Correctness, Oh, and, by the Way, Obama Is A Racist



As the negative reaction to the president’s thoughtless words are only slowly dying down I’m beginning to be more convinced that most of it has nothing to do with any racial component there might be. I am becoming convinced that the real hot issue is public support for the police. We know that the police can be picky, difficult to deal with, even a PIA sometimes. But most of us realize that this is part of the cost of having a minimal level of security and safety. And Barack Obama and the community organizer crowd don’t understand this basic fact of civilized life. The vast majority of Americans see all this as a necessary and inescapable cost associated with civil society. Unfortunately our president just sees it all as something to be twisted to his own purposes. I suspect that this is a thorn this lion will never be able to completely remove from his paw: it is a shibboleth of Obama’s siding with division, hate and disorder.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

MM and GB on Washington Corruption: "We Got Rid of Ratner, So It Can Be Done"

Michelle Malkin Promotes Her New Book



h/t: Hot Air.com

Finest Links in All of Christendom




Jo-Joe Politico has a post about the Gates-Cambridge PD situation. President Obama, when trying to walk some of it back, said that he might have given the impression that he was maligning the police. Joe points out that the president’s original remarks on the subject did not give any impression since the president came right out and said that the police had, “acted stupidly.” As the negative reaction to the president’s thoughtless words are only slowly dying down I’m beginning to be more convinced that most of it has nothing to do with any racial component there might be. I am becoming convinced that the real hot issue is public support for the police. We know that the police can be picky, difficult to deal with, even a PIA sometimes. But most of us realize that this is part of the cost of having a minimal level of security and safety. And Barack Obama and the community organizer crowd don’t understand this basic fact of civilized life. The vast majority of Americans see all this as a necessary and inescapable cost associated with civil society. Unfortunately our president just sees it all as something to be twisted to his own purposes. I suspect that this is a thorn this lion will never be able to completely remove from his paw: it is a shibboleth of Obama’s siding with division, hate and disorder.
Pundit and Pundette starts with a with a letter from a congressman who wants public hearings on the provisions of ObamaCare that encourages seniors to just go away and die. Then comes a post titled ‘Congress Is a Joke’ that gives lots of info and links about congressmen and senators refusing to even listen to constitutients and laughing at those who would read legislation before voting on it. Then a piece about Oregon state insurance possibly preferring senior euthanasia to spending money on treatment. And a post about tactics for coordinating counter protests to ACORN-type media events. (And so it goes in Shreveport has video clips of some fast responding tea party-style demonstrators.)
And so it goes in Shreveport announces the launch of a new website to consolidate info about the Inspector General that Obama illegally fired. Pat also writes about a strange meeting on a sidewalk between ACORN people and others who feel differently about the federal take over of health care. I love this because it shows that THE CONSERVATIVE BASE IS WAKING UP AND COMING TO LIFE. Obama’s Rasmussen approval index is now in double digital negative territory. Be sure and see the photo of the new puppy.
Patterico’s Pontifications has a story titled ‘Scumbag of the Day.’ Meghan McCain received a twitter from a man who she feared was suicidal. M McM did the right thing by turning the situation over to local responsible parties in the man’s home town. But Wonkette showed its a$$, big time. “Behold her nervous illiterate twitters,” wrote Ken Layne, a Wonkette writer, “about somebody she doesn’t know who may or may not exist, on the Internet, and perhaps at minimum exists on the other side of the country, typing some sadsack stuff about wanting to die. Teen-agers are hyper-emotional, Meghan, sort of like you…” You don’t walk this back. Layne has made it plain that he sees his own coolness and superiority as more important than a human life: how beltway.

Photos lifted from North Texas Tea Party

Monday, July 27, 2009

Diana Krall "Frim Fram Sauce" - - - Some Post-racial Jazz

Diana Krall "Frim Fram Sauce"


King Cole Trio - Errand Boy For Rhythm

Conyers Laughs at Congressmen Who Would Even Consider Reading Legislation Before They Vote On It



Does he think the voters chose him because he would be so good at wheedling money out of lobbyists and going on tax-payer funded 'fact finding' tours of the world's most beautiful beaches?
This guy either represents a very safe district or he'll be a YouTube casualty.
If the House doesn't start shutting up embarrassments like this statement there will be a backlash against all of them.

h/t: Hit Air.com

I Like Jindal for President But . . .



“Our federal government is currently just flinging stuff against the wall, in trillion-dollar chunks, to see what sticks. Congress’s own budget office has said the current “federal budget is on an unsustainable path” and that the Democrats’ health plan does not reduce “long-term health costs facing the government."“ Is what Bobby Jindal said a week ago. I like Bobby for president but when he made a big statement about health care a couple of weeks ago I cooled a little. He seems to know health care issues from much contact and study. But that can also weaken him since it can tend to adulterate one’s conservative values. Spending so much time and effort studying government interventions can get someone to thinking too much about how to improve those interventions rather than critically looking at whether they are sensible and constitutional at all. There is always a danger of becoming a right wing member of the establishment. But I’m looking for a leader who sees himself as part of the overall American tradition of limited government and individual rights and liberties rather than part of a competing tradition that mainly dates back to the failures of FDR.
I suspect that Bobby Jindal’s heart is in the right place. I just wish it was more obvious exactly where he stands.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Bing, Bette, Beatles

Accentuate the Positive - Bette Midler & Bing Crosby


Bing Crosby sings "Both Sides Now"


Bing Crosby - Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da

Chris Rock's Simple Tips on How Not to Get Your A$& Kicked by the Police

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


h/t: doubleplusundead

Race Relations from the Heart of Krazietown

Just out of curiosity I stopped by dKos to see what they had to say about the arrest of Prof. Gates. There is almost no mention of the incident on their front page. There is only one major story about it. The focus seems to about Gates’ victimhood and the kos kid’s unending perception of the eternal victimhood of blacks in America. Just because of the small amount of space given to this story, I suspect that dKos does not see it as good for advancing their agenda.
I saw a funny thing in a ‘rescued diary’ titled, 'The DeHumanization of President Obama.' The first two sentences of that diary go, “The virtual lynching of black men has become a fine art in today's media. It is no longer cool to do actual lynching.....much too messy and could get you put in jail.” I readily admit I could not read any more. I was laughing much too hard. If what America’s media has done to Barack Obama is virtual lynching, I wonder if all of mankind worshiping him as a god would even be enough for these fools. With incredibly few exceptions no one in the media will even press him on his endless nonanswers. If Obama were ever to get the same treatment from the press that George Bush received, these whiners would have an attack of the vapors and announce that the press has begun a virtual genocide of American blacks.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Booker T. Washington Explains Obama and Gates

“There is (a) class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.… There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public…”

-Booker T. Washington

David Shuster Redefines 'Racism'



It sounds like a joke but he seems very serious. In order to be accused of racism by this clown the only requirement seems to be that you say something he disagrees with.
As Obama's popularity plummets the air is going to be filled with charges of racism. When lefties feel threatened emotional blackmail flows like water. Which will no doubt just turn off more people, thus causing even lower popularity which will bring more emotional blackmail, and so on and so on.

Jeanne Robertson "Don't send a man to the grocery store!"

Jane Q. Moonbat Can Never Forgive Sarah Palin for Being 'Inelegant'

"And if you are to have scandals in your trailer-park family, let them be elegant ones — cf. Ted Kennedy, Ted, Kennedy, Jr., Michael Kennedy, William Kennedy Smith, David Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. and their assorted sins such as drug convictions, drug overdoses, serial sexual predations, loss of life, etc. — At least sin and quote Niebuhr, or discuss alleviation of the sin in Palm Beach or Hyannis Port."
Victor Davis Hanson might say that Sarah Palin will not be forgiven by the lefties just because of her lifestyle. It is social class profiling. They don't really care if SP makes mistakes. But they cannot forgive her for looking for moral guidance in the Bible instead of Reinhold Niebuhr. It's OK to dispose of all the inconvenient lovers you want but be sure to do the deed at Chappaquiddick and do it with class.

h/t: Pundit and Pundette sent me to the piece by VDH

Roses of Picardy, All Those Endearing Young Charms, Rose of Tralee

Richard Tauber: Roses of Picardy


Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms Allan Bruce


The Rose Of Tralee

I Am the President of All Americans, But Especially Of My Old Friends and Most Any Other Harvard Professor



It is sad that Obama doesn't even know how FOS he is. But I think he's loving the fact that he can so easily divert the MSM from his failures with cap and trade and socialized medicine. Any shiny object will draw the attention of press pool.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Pay Close Attention: Here’s How TARP, Stimulus Hoax, AIG, Goldman Sachs, Tim Geithner AND Cap and Trade All Intersect



The Democrats should never let go of control of the House because this whole thing reeks of impeachment.

h/t: MsUnderestimated

"They Speak Gaelic in San Francisco?"

Jaywalking is illegal because it instills fear for the future of civilization. But it makes for some funny TV.


My friend Cheryl sent me this clip.

President Obama's Ignorance About The Basics Of Health Care Is Eroding The Public’s Trust

For many years now Americans have had to become more informed consumers of health care. It is more difficult to get insurance companies to pay for treatment so people do more research to find out which tests, treatments and medications are necessary. With the wide dispersion of the internet it has become easier to do the necessary research. This might not be such a good thing for Barack Obama’s health care goals.
By now many Americans know that they might need to take some personal responsibility to see that test results move with them from doctor to doctor. They know that doesn’t have to be the “big problem” that Obama tries to paint it as. I would imagine that millions of Americans are sitting there thinking, “I know how to keep that from happening. I have actually done it for my son. This guy wants to oversee a total overhaul of the system and he doesn’t even know as much about seeing doctors as I do. No thanks.”
People who have researched medications for themselves or loved ones know that the difference is often much more complicated than the president’s example of two pills that are equally effective and differ only in price. People do not lose time or sleep over such questions. The real difficulty comes when an insurance company has decreed that there is only one medication that is acceptable in a situation when the doctor and the informed patient know there is a more expensive medication that is well known to be more effective. Obama either doesn’t know that such circumstances arise or he wants to act like they do not exist. There are a lot of people out here that know better. And Obama’s blatant parading of his ignorance for all to see cannot be increasing the level of trust.
And does he have to keep reminding me how much better his insurance is than mine? That’s just going to remind me that he has lacked motivation to become a more informed health care consumer.

Corelli Concerto Grosso Opus 6 No. 8 (Allegro & Pastorale)

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Butch Thompson Trio playing 'Nobody's Sweetheart Now'

When BHO Promises CSPAN Coverage What He Really Means Is That The Press And The Public Should Get Effed

This is from the transcript of the question period after the president's Wednesday night prime time clown show: "Q During the campaign, you promised that health-care negotiations would take place on C-SPAN. And that hasn't happened. And your administration recently turned down a request, from a watchdog group, seeking a list of health-care executives who have visited the White House to talk about health-care reform.
"Also the TARP inspector general recently said that your White House is withholding too much information on the bank bailouts. So my question for you is, are you fulfilling your promise of transparency in the White House?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, on the list of health-care executives who visited us, most of the time, you guys have been in there taking pictures. So it hasn't been a secret. And my understanding is, we just sent a letter out providing a full list of all the executives. But frankly these have mostly been at least photo sprays, where you could see who was participating.
"With respect to all the negotiations not being on C-SPAN, you will recall in this very room that our kickoff event was here, on C- SPAN. And at a certain point, you know, you start getting into all kinds of different meetings. Senate Finance is having a meeting. The House is having a meeting. If they want those to be on C-SPAN, then I would welcome it. But I don't think there are a lot of secrets going on in there.
"And the last question was with respect to TARP. I -- let me take a look at what exactly they say we have not provided. I think that we've provided much greater transparency than existed prior to our administration coming in. It is a big program. I don't know exactly what's been requested. I'll find out, and I will have an answer for you."

So his verbal answer is blah-blah-blah mealy-mouth mealy-mouth blah-blah-blah mealy-mouth. But what his actions say is: "I really don't care if you ever know what is going on in Congress or the White House. What makes you think it's any of your business anyway? And were you really stupid enough to believe any of my promises? Well, there's one born every minute."

Michelle O. and David Axelrod Set Up A Patient Dumping Scheme in Chicago and Now We Might Give this Gang Power Over All Health Care?

The poor people of Michelle Obama's hospital's neighborhood learned by bitter experience that they would be pushed off into a waiting room without even being registered into the system. The Chicago style lesson: if you want to be shuffled off into an uncomfortable chair in cold room and wait way too long for care come to Michelle's hospital but if you actually want medical care go somewhere else. Is there any reason to believe that Barack Obama will do any more to help the sick than his wife and his campaign chairman did?
(Oh,the answer is no.)


h/t: Hot Air.com

Sarah Palin Guilty of Being Sarah Palin

The AP said, “An investigator for the state Personnel Board says in his July 14 report that there is probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the ‘official’ legal defense fund.” There is no reason to believe that Gov. Palin could have had any way of knowing that this ethics regulation might be twisted in this manner. She knows she is public enemy number one for the MSM and the DNC. So she might be seen as being at fault for not imagining what unbelievable lengths these propagandists might go to to make her life more difficult.
There is no reason to believe that this ethics regulation has ever been this rigidly and prejudicially applied to anyone ever before.
Often motive and premeditation are considered necessary findings when identifying bad guys. But since there is no way Sarah Palin could have known that just such a spin would be put on this regulation, there is no way she could have an unethical motive or have engaged in premeditation. All the premeditation and evil motives here belong to the pack of dogs yapping at Sarah Palin’s heels because of their own hatred and self interest.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Giuliani Says Stimulus Was A Subterfuge That Has Served Mainly To Benefit Dwmocrats

Basically Obama was behaving like a Chicago-style pol. Which is not so strange since that is what he is.


h/t: NewsBusters

Red Sails in the Sunset by Al Bowlly -- 1935

Red Sails in the Sunset by Al Bowlly -- 1935


Al Bowlly - Whispering (1932)

Larry King and Doofus McCagun Gang Up on Liz Cheneyy -- And She Still Looks Good

They discuss Sarah Palin, health care and Obama's missing birth certificate, among other things. King makes it clear which side he is on. It's not really necessary for King to get pushy since Carville has always been able to take care of himself

Coulter Says Obama Cannot Handle Criticism

He's temperamentally unsuited for leadership. But who would know since he has never lead anything before.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

My Congressman Is Brow Beaten By Chris Matthews: Campbell Is Spineless



It is a gerrymandered, safe Republican district. But I think that he is getting pressure from conservatives and feels a need to prove he has street cred or something. It funny to watch him being a quarter birther but mostly afraid that crazy Chris Matthews might think he is crazy. I can't respect someone who cares so much about what Matthews thinks. I voted against this clown in the last election because he voted for TARP without having even read the bill. I will continue to vote against him because he continues to not read and not deliberate on the legislation he votes on.

h/t: Hot Air.com

They Are Not Lying, Their Director Is Just Very Confused

Finest Links in All of Christendom

Pundit and Pundette has a piece about Barbara Boxer’s racist attack on Harry Alford. Boxer is a sad case. Her lefty mentality has built a confining little box in her head for blacks and she is determined to not let them out of that box. She just cannot allow blacks to be just people like the rest of us. I often find it especially funny when these ideologues with their boxy little heads start calling others racists because they won’t build racist boxes in their heads and imprison blacks in them. P & P also has a piece about Rush's reaction to a recent speech on health care by Obama. Basically Rush says that every last word that Obama utters on the subject is a lie. But what are you going to say? Why would being elected president suddenly and inexplicably make the man honest? My favorite recent thing at P & P is the appearance of my favorite Canadian: Diana Krall. Yes, I think I like her even more than Mark Steyn.
And So It Goes In Shreveport has a post about tens of millions of people who will lose their private insurance if ObamaCare is passed. Remember how it was promised that ObamaCare’s public option would not would not give free health care to anyone who could somehow get their feet on American soil? Well, the Democrats in the House Ways and Means Committee have made a lie out of that. How can costs be lowered if ANYONE who can cross our intentionally porous borders has to be covered? How many tens of trillions of dollars might that end up costing? Why even listen to what any Democrat has to say about health care when they will probably say the opposite tomorrow next week? You cannot engage in rational discourse with inveterate liars.
Jo-Joe Politico has a post about Obama ordering Israel to stop a private company from building in Jerusalem. Please read the whole thing. I feel compelled to quote a few lines: “In what realm of imagination does President BO get off demanding that Israel cease construction on anything?
“How did he get jurisdiction over ANY foreign country, let alone Israel?
“ . . . Megalomania does not even come close to describing this guy's sense of self and his willingness to be in complete control of the universe.
“Watch it, boys and girls.
“He really is dangerous.
“Please wake up.
“This is no dream. Your personal future is at stake.”
Then there is Sonya Sotomayor and the confirmation process all of which Joe deftly skewers. Joe recontextualizes the hearing to put the lies and the humor in clearer light. Then Joe’s account of the hearings that he feels was inaccurately reported by the MSM.

Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major BWV1007


This piece made an appearance in 'Master and Commander.'

Monday, July 20, 2009

Chopin Berceuse in D Flat Major for Dixieland Tuba



h/t: squidoo

VIDEO: With ObamaCare Clinics Might Become Somewhat Primitive




If you are patiently and move quickly you might be lucky enough to actually have a doctor look at you in one of the new, low overhead clinics. Summary corporal punishment will be kept to the minimum necessary for efficient operation. The guards, all part of the ACORN-Obama Team are your friends. Gratuities are very welcome.

Old Equipment that is Prone to Failure Will Be a Hallmark of ObamaCare



Bureaucratically set prices and inept and uncaring central planning will lead to many equipment failures. The elderly and infirm will doubtless have mixed feelings.

Expect Long and Difficult to Access Waiting Lists with ObamaCare



Doctor, hospitals and clinics will be paid at rates set by bureaucratic fiat so there will be fewer of them. People will be forced into long waits and complications just to get on the waiting lists.

ObamaCare Dental Plan




Note the cost saving use of Schnapps for anesthesia. I don’t understand why six people would be necessary to extract one tooth. But they all seem very grateful to be employed (though that is probably more a function of Obamanomics than of ObamaCare).

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Republican for Cap and Trade Not Feeling Any Love at Home **And All New LEGISLATIVE PLACEHOLDERS


This is Mike Castle of Delaware. He claims to have read 300 pages before the vote. But the bill is 1200 pages long. The man appears to have no shame about his dereliction of duty. I know I'm a dreamer but isn't this something the House Ethics Committee should have to deal with?

It gets worse. There is a section that basically says, 'After the bill is passed we will add to it and stick the new stuff here.' Isn't that the part of the Venn diagram where extra-constitutional and unconstitutional overlap? Michelle Malkin covers covers this obamination that the rats in congress are calling a 'placeholder.' Be sure to read MM. This is another area for my fantasy Ethics Committee to deal with.
He never explained why he voted for the bill.
I would compliment him for his courage if I thought this was more than a flubbed PR stunt. I don't think he cares what his constitutients think. I suspect he thinks the voters have no real power over him. To speak somewhat honestly to people you feel are beneath your dignity to mix with is not courageous. It's a stunt.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Buchanan and Maddow on Sotomayor


It seems that Maddow is strongly in favor of racial discrimination but does not trust anyone but herself to choose the victims.

h/t: NewsBusters

The Most Hated Member of Congress? Asks Members to Go on Record on Whether or Not They Will Accept ObamaCare for Themselves

It must be a joke. I cannot remember a Congressman or Senator EVER sacrificing anything for the public good. I don't expect Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Diane Feinstein or Maxine Waters to suddenly forget they chose this career path for the good of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Diane Feinstein and Maxine Waters. Barack and Michelle's lavish lifestyle in the White House certainly does not inspire sacrifice. But there will be sacrifice from those who will be paying the taxes to maintain these lifestyles. A look back at Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette would be instructive.


h/t: And So It Goes In Shreveport

Jackie Mason on Palin Derangement Syndrome

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Democrats Are Blissfully Uninformed About the Realities of Socialized Medicine

PM Brown looks surprised that socialized medicine is not always a wonderful experience. If he was just finding out about this, he's amazingly uninformed (rather like Obama and the clowns in Congress who ignore this corner of reality). If he already knew he's too dishonest even for government (rather like Obama and the clowns in Congress who ignore this corner of reality).

Government Makes You Wait for Doctor from Hands Off My Health on Vimeo.



What Every American Needs to Know About Socialized Medicine. If ObamaCare were ever implemented, everyone forced onto it would have to be excluded from Obama's town hall meetings. They could only allow in union members and government employees who would be blessed with a higher level of care (medical ethics be damned).

Tim Evans (London, United Kingdom) from BigGovHealth on Vimeo.

Lunch Room Economics

July 15, 2009 - 09:44 ET by vrwc13
Lunch Room Economics
Suppose that every day ten men go out for lunch and the tab for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
All for the same meal.
So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men ate lunch every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. He said, "Since you are all such good customers, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily lunches by $20. Food for the ten will now cost just $80."
The group still wanted to pay their bill the same way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men -- the actual 'paying' customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share"? They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being "paid" to eat his lunch. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same formula based on what was paid, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay!
And so: The first four continued to eat lunch for free (no change)
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $50 instead of $59 (15% savings).
Each of the six who had been paying was now better off than before, and they all still ate the same meal. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar back out of the $20 savings," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $9"! "Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got back nine times more than I!" "That's true!!"shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $9 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. This payment system exploits the poor!"
So the nine men surrounded the tenth guy and beat him up. The next day the tenth man didn't show up for lunch, but the other men sat down and ate without him, anyway. When it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something interesting. Between them all they didn't even have enough money to pay half the bill!

And that, boys and girls, presidential candidates and economic pundits, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much or attack them for being wealthy and they might not show up to eat with us any more. In fact, they could start eating lunch some other place where the atmosphere turns out to be a lot friendlier.

[The above is taken in whole and exactly from a comments thread at NewsBusters.]

Social Security Administration spends $700K on Phoenix conference



Social Security spokesman says the commissioner flew in coach class. No reason given as to why we should believe this without video proof.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Liz Cheney: Too Smart for Basic Cable

From Morning Joe this morning. She reminds me of Bonnie Hunt.
Some lefties want Dick Cheney put on trial for not sharing certain CIA planning with Congress. LC points out that if they actually read the law, they will see that it was not broken. The leftie position seems to be: "Don't cloud the issue with facts. We don't care what the law says were going to keep saying DC should go on trial no matter what you or the law say. You're probably only saying all this because you want to run for the Senate. But we stand for something really something . . . well . . . something real important like the separation of powers. We care about great and important things while you are just concerned about your own personal ambitions." Strangely she was not accused of racism. At least not yet.


With Single Payer the Patient Is Not A Customer: A Customer Is Someone Who Has A Choice

Brian Lee Crowley (Halifax, Novia Scotia, Canada) from BigGovHealth on Vimeo.

The Valued Linguist for Peace Voting Block

Why Do People Laugh at Obamanomics? That's Rather Like Laughing at the Final Scene of Hamlet


US To Trade Gold Reserves For Cash Through Cash4Gold.com

Monday, July 13, 2009

Jabba the Cat Hut

Sarah Palin and the Krazy Leftie Trolls



*****I frequent a site dedicated to shining a light on bias in the media, NewsBusters. It’s comments threads have always attracted some trolls. The trolls became especially thick and out spoken at the time that Sarah Palin announced her resignation from the Alaska governorship. Many of them accused SP of having committed felonies but none had even a shadow of proof. Then SP’s lawyer issued the warning that those slandering his client could very well be subject to legal action. Since that very moment NB’s trolls stopped the accusations of felonious acts. A rather dramatic proof that even the trolls didn’t believe what they were saying. I’ve wondered how organized these troll are. I’m convinced that many of them are just poor, troubled souls working out some pathology of hate and revenge. I have read about kos krazies advocating that they and other krazies go to conservative sites posing as conservatives to post hateful comments to make the other side look bad. But if you had to plant evidence to gain a conviction what are the chances of any guilt except for the evidence planter? So, to summarize, if a threat of action for slander shuts you up and you believe you’ll only have evidence if you plant it, you have a very weak case and low moral character.
What is it about the left that makes hate and dishonesty so comfortable for them?

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what is is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands


ee cummings

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Obama Likes Unemployed Americans So Much, He Is Trying To Create Millions More

A couple of years ago I completely changed my thinking about what goes on in Washington, DC. Now everything makes so much more sense. The secret: absent massive evidence to the contrary, just assume everyone in that city is a lying, bribe taking thief.


h/t: MsUnderestimated

Today's Worst Person In The World: SOCRATES



***********************************************************************************
Intellectual disgrace
Stares from every human face
************Auden

On occasion I have had liberal friends tell me what a great program Keith Olbermann has. Rather than attack Olbermann chapter and verse I have a quick gambit that tends to end all discussion. I merely point out that Olbermann never allows anyone on his show who disagrees with him. Unlike the liberals in Congress, on college and university faculties, those in the federal bureaucracy and the MSM most liberals have a sense of fairness. And, being basically honest, they know there is something suspicious about someone who avoids a frank and open discussion. I think that any liberal who would try to defend Olbermann’s dishonest approach to political commentary is probably not worth spending time with.
Olbermann is not at all alone in his intellectual cowardice and manipulation. This is common on MSNBC and the alphabet networks. Such behavior is a virtual confession by these media types of the poverty of their ideas. It is amusing to imagine how poorly the likes of Harry Smith, George Stephanopoulos, Meredith Viera, David Shuster, Chris Matthews and Ed Shultz would do if forced into an open discussion with someone like Victor Davis Hanson or Mark Steyn. But that is pure fantasy since all of these people know how badly they would look and would never let it happen. Because of his commitment to open and wide ranging debate, today’s Worst Person In The World: SOCRATES.
For decades universities have been well known for refusing to hire conservatives faculty in many departments. The work of David Horowitz and Ben Stein and others document this intolerant and tyrannous behavior.
A recent piece in Pajamas Media by Hans A. von Spakovsky describes some problems faced by conservatives in the federal government. A couple of quotes:
“The few fellow conservatives I found in the career ranks of the Justice Department were usually people who would only secretly admit their views.
“At work, they maintain the fiction that they are liberals or apolitical in order to avoid retribution. Those who are openly conservative usually have given up on ever getting promoted or are in dead-end career slots.
“Once a conservative is embedded into the civil service, he becomes beholden to careerist middle managers for salary increases, vacation approval, stimulating assignments, and even office location. Conservatives worried about kids, mortgages, good benefits, and glowing performance reviews can be quick to abandon pesky principles when faced with ideologically hostile middle mangers.
“The absolute fury and unrelenting hostility that I encountered as an openly conservative career lawyer at the Justice Department was something that had to be seen to be believed.
I was shunned from almost my first day on the job. My fellow career employees made it very clear that they would do everything they could to destroy me personally and professionally and drive me out of government. The only way a conservative career employee can survive isolation and pariah status is if Republican political appointees make a point of ensuring that liberal career managers do not bar conservatives from being hired or promoted, something that rarely happens.”
………………………………............................
“This critical mass of liberal career employees makes it very difficult for political appointees to implement conservative policies. The career employees do everything they can to directly and indirectly thwart those policies. I saw career employees misrepresent the law and conceal critical facts in order to oppose and stop the implementation of policies with which they disagreed.
“Another tactic is to simply ignore policy directives or orders to make changes. This was aptly described by Stephen Hayes in the Weekly Standard when he related how career employees at the CIA managed to push Porter Goss out, and stop all of the changes he was trying to make, by simply slowing down or ignoring all of his directives.
“Any conservative political appointee who relies on memoranda, information, or advice developed by career employees without double-checking the facts and scrutinizing the analysis is making a serious mistake. Career employees cannot be relied on to give nonpartisan, objective analysis on almost any issue. In fact, it was common to hear career employees talk about how much they hated Republicans and hated President Bush.
“Many of them acted as if they worked for one of the many liberal advocacy organizations that infest Washington. This was aptly described with respect to the Department of Justice in a redistricting case arising out of Georgia in the 1990s, where a federal district court criticized the Department’s lawyers for behaving like the in-house counsel of the ACLU (and then having very convenient memory lapses about their interactions with the ACLU when questioned about it). It has only gotten worse since that decision.
“One of my friends was a career staffer in the Department of Education, where most of the staff acted as if they were the NEA’s personal representatives in the Department. Another friend is a career lawyer who works on environmental issues at the Justice Department. Most of his fellow career employees think they are working for the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, rather than the American people.
“One of the lawyers in the Civil Rights Division has a wife who works for the very liberal Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Whenever the resumes of new prospective employees were sent to the staff when I was there, he would get on the speaker phone in his office and describe the applicant’s background to his wife. He did not care that everyone in the surrounding offices could hear exactly what he was doing and that he was disclosing confidential personal information; his fellow liberal employees all thought it entirely appropriate to get her approval.”

To many, many of these liberals it seems to be all about getting and exercising power. Honesty and reason do not enter in as considerations. Individuals who are so twisted can only create a twisted world. In order to compete in such a twisted world it seems inevitable that conservatives will have to modify some of our basic values. Some modifications of our embrace of openness might be necessary. But to do so without remembering that it is only temporary and for limited purposes would be suicidal. We must always keep an eye on truth, justice and the American way.

Vast Crowds Numbering Well Into The Dozens Greet Barack Obama in Ghana





These crowds were so small that the AP was making up excuses and his other MSM worshipers kind of acted like it never happened.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Cat Who Is A Major Boxing Fan



h/t: I Can Has Cheeseburger

Queen Margrethe of Denmark Said . . .

"We are being challenged by Islam these years - globally as well as locally. It is a challenge we have to take seriously. We have let this issue float about for too long because we are tolerant and lazy. We have to show our opposition to Islam and we have to, at times, run the risk of having unflattering labels placed on us because there are some things for which we should display no tolerance. And when we are tolerant, we must know whether it is because of convenience or conviction."

h/t: A New Dark Age Is Dawning

Cramer Thinks Market would Rise Significantly If Pelosi Would Recess Congress for Two Weeks



h/t: NewsBusters

Thursday, July 9, 2009

HarryBelafonte, Rita Hayworth, Michael Keaton, Dick Cavett,Winona

Rita Hayworth Jumps In The Line


BEETLEJUICE O Day Banana Boat Song Harry Belafonte


Beetlejuice - Shake Shake Shake Senora

Some Democrats Just Can't Control Their Racist Tendencies

Evan Coyne Maloney wrote: "NYS Legislators Fire Nearly 200 Workers Over Race 7 July 2009 @ 10:40PM
"Fredric U. Dicker—regarded as the pre-eminent political reporter in New York’s state capital—recently published a column decrying the complete breakdown of the state legislature, which has been unable to conduct business for the past month.
Buried way down in Dicker’s piece, starting at the 19th paragraph, we learn:
"During the first five months of this year, with the Senate under the control of its first African-American majority leader, [State Senator Malcolm] Smith, top Democrats bemoaned the lack of minority Senate staffers.
"But instead of trying to recruit new hires, they fired nearly 200 almost exclusively white workers and replaced them with a large number of minority employees, many of whom were seen by their fellow workers to be unskilled at their new jobs.
"The move produced severe racial tensions, made worse by the fact that, as a high-level Democratic staffer confided, “We’ve been told to only hire minorities.'’
"So, nearly 200 people lose their jobs in New York State because of their race? And not at the hands of some evil corporation, but our own elected officials?
"It’s quite telling that, in our political age, mass firings can still happen because of one’s race. It’s even more telling that—the only time I’ve seen this story get any coverage at all—it was in the 19th paragraph of an otherwise unrelated column."

h/t: Hot Air.com

"That's Great Now FixThe Economy"

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
That's Great Now Fix the Economy
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorJoke of the Day


h/t: Pundit and Pundette

First There Was Stimulus, The Unread Legislation -- NOW We Have Stimulus, The Most Expensive Joke Ever

Even Letterman doesn't pay this much for bad jokes.


h/t: Flopping Aces

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

NewsBusted


You CAN Buy Your Way Into Power -- Under Obama That Might Be The Only Way To Get Any



Here's a quote from Hot Air.com: “’By my calculation, nearly half of the top level of Obama campaign bundlers have been rewarded with some sort of role within the government‘.
“None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who knows about Chicago politics and its own patronage system.  Obama grew up, politically speaking, in a system that routinely handed out cushy sinecures to contributors.  He never once lifted a finger to reform the Daley Machine or even oppose it; instead, Obama embraced Daley and the political power Daley lent Obama.
“Morgen wonders when the national media will start taking a closer look at Chicago-on-the-Potomac.  I’d be pleasantly surprised if they did, but that won’t stop us from highlighting it for as long as it takes.”

Obama did not give each and every American a promise in writing that he would not bring record levels of corruption to DC, so he probably sees all of this as within the limits of his mandate. But really, why would you expect a Chicago politician to behave like anything but a Chicago politician?

A Collection of Gobsmackingly Useless Rationalizations

I offer this here because I found it thought provoking. It is a collection of gobsmackingly useless rationalizations. It is the Bill Moyers program. But, thankfully, Moyers barely appears at all. Sure liberal blather abounds in this clip. But listening to them remind me why I became conservative and why there is no going back. What kept going thru my head as I listened was the thought that closely studying the shadows will tell me exactly where all the furniture is and also where the lights are.

"There is a reluctance of Barack Obama to step into the Age of Barack Obama."


h/t: MsUnderestimated

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Wrong Ox Gored



From the Washington Times regarding the Black Panthers voter intimidation of voters in the recent election: "The commission's letter quoted "Veteran of the civil rights movement, Bartle Bull" calling the defendants' actions "the most blatant form of voter intimidation I have encountered in my life in political campaigns in many states, even going back to the work I did in Mississippi in the 1960s.""
"I'm a fan myself," said Barack Obama.

h/t: Hot Air.com