Pyro's Place

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

2009-12-07T12:35:00.004-05:00

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T19:56:00.002-05:00

Good Riddance Mr. Muhammed

2009-11-10T17:12:00.003-05:00

Tonight, Virginia is set to execute John Allen Muhammed, aka "The DC (or Beltway) Sniper." For those who don't remember, you clearly did not live in the DC area in the early 2000's. This piece of human excrement made me afraid to pump my own gas within 30 miles of DC during my senior year of high school. A brief recap:

During three weeks in October 2002, Muhammad and Malvo killed 10 people and wounded three, while taunting police with written messages and phoned-in threats and demands.

It could have been much worse. During Muhammad's second trial in Maryland, Malvo testified that Muhammad originally planned to kill up to six people each day for 30 days.

Muhammed admitted that he killed at random because he planned to kill his wife and didn't want to leave an obvious trail. Classy. But of course, it wasn't his fault. He was a victim of racism, of course!

He repeated his assertion that he was an innocent victim of racial bias in a letter to the federal court released last week by his attorneys. Muhammad charged that police and prosecutors "lied to the American people" about his case and withheld evidence that could clear him.

I will admit, I do get a certain sick thrill when I hear people who remember this guy say something along the lines of "You know, I'm against the death penalty, BUT I'm not going to shed a tear for this guy." It takes a special breed of person to unite people on opposing sides of such a polarizing issue. Governor Tim Kaine has already denied clemency, and so the execution appears to be going forward. If I had 1 wish, it would be that the execution were broadcast to the room of Mr. Nidal Hasan, of the recent Ft. Hood attacks.

Aloha Snackbar, Mr. Muhammed.

The Infamous Obama Unemployment Graph Part 6: Funemployment is Off the Charts!

2009-11-06T15:06:00.003-05:00

I don't know about you folks, but I'm sure glad that we're out of this nasty old Bush recession, aren't you? And so what if another 192,000 Americans had to lose their jobs in the month of October in order to prove the point, driving unemployment (or "Funemployment!") to over 10%? That's a small price to pay for progress. Don't believe those numbers? Well then let's take a look:

That's right everybody, if you'll notice, we are officially off of President Obama's chart! According to him and his team, we were never supposed to come anywhere close to 10% unemployment even without a "stimulus" (and other spending), and yet here we find ourselves.

But hey, let's totally trust these guys with our health-care!

President Obama Signs New Hate-Crime Bill, "Hate-Crimes" Magically Cease

2009-11-01T18:42:00.004-05:00

Yes folks, good news from this past week: Our long, national nightmare is over. President Barack Hussein Obama (Mmm, Mmm, Mmm) signed the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Jr. Hate-Crimes Prevention Act on Wednesday. The bill is named after 2 men, Matthew Shepard-a homosexual who was beaten to death because he was gay, according to his attackers; and James Byrd Jr.- the black man who was dragged to death by 3 men in Texas. Both murders occured back in 1998.

To loud applause, Obama hailed the hate crimes measure in the bill as a step toward change to "help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray."

Well how could anybody possibly be against that, you ungrateful peons? Why, up until now, people have not been protected from hate crimes. Just ask any cop, they'll tell you how they're told at orientation not to prevent hate crimes, only regular crimes. Hate crime victims recieve none of the protections that the rest of us get. Well, they used to anyway, before our President finally made a law protecting certain groups from violence. But don't get the wrong idea now, don't you white, Christian males then you'll get any protection from being targetted because of your how you look, who you love, and how you pray, you evil opressors you.

Of course, what nobody ever mentions is that of the 5 men involved in these 2 cases, all are either serving mulitiple life sentences or on death row. I'm not really sure how adding a hate-crime charge to the end would make things worse for them, but then again I don't fully understand the "feel good but do nothing" liberal mentality.

But, of course, who better to put forth the most straighforward reality of hate-crimes than Matt Stone and Trey Parker of South Park?

In the words of a radio personality I enjoy around here, Mike McConnell, "I don't remember ever hearing about somebody beating somebody else with a 2x4 out of love, it was always out of hate."

Gas Prices Rise 34 Cents in Less Than 2 weeks? Awesome

2009-10-25T20:07:00.005-04:00

First things first, I saw Zombieland today, and it was awesome. I highly encourage you all to see it. A-.

Now, on to buisness.

So for those of you who don't know, I deliver pizzas for Pizza Hut for a living. Well....part time anyway, I'm now a substitute teacher as well (hooray!), so now I'm only 20 hours a week instead of 40 at that job. Anyway, about a week and a half ago on Wednesday, I had to fill up my car after my shift. Gas that day was $2.45/gal. Thankfully I filled up that day, because the next day....let me repeat that, THE NEXT DAY.....gas prices jumped to $2.55/gal. By the end of the weekend, gas had hit $2.59, and by yesterday when I had to fill up again (hooray for a car that gets great gas mileage!) the price at teh pump was $2.79/gal.

I would like to take a moment to thank President Obama and the Democrat-controlled congress for this situation for 2 very important reasons:

1. Doing nothing to remedy the conditions that constantly cause oil to rise, including:
-Not drilling for domestic oil
-Not opening any new refineries
-Not allowing any new coal/natural gas/nuclear power plants, which would reduce their use of oil and gas freeing more up for the rest of us
-Their focus soley on their cap and tax scheme to drive us back into the medieval period as far as technology is concerned

2. Inflation thanks to their attempts to spend us into oblivion. Anybody can look up any of my "Infamous Obama Unemployment Graphs" posts (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) to see that the job saving "Stimulus" bill didn't do anything close to what we were promised it would do. Between that, TARP (Thanks President Bush, what a disaster that's turning out to be), Cash for Clunkers, and giveaways to pretty much every group that wants a handout (including most recently seniors on social security) it's only a matter of time until inflation starts to catch up to us. And with everybody in the world trying to weaken the dollar thanks to our runaway spending, it's already starting to show itself in the world market....like oil prices.

As I stated before, I've finally begun my teaching career an so am not working 40+ hours a week driving. Thankfully $4/gal gas won't kill me as much as it did last summer, but it won't exactly help unemployment and a depressed economy.

Wish Me Luck!

2009-10-19T21:47:00.003-04:00

So I have my interview tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM (EST) for a teaching job. Wish me luck!

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a New Mission

2009-10-09T21:07:00.003-04:00

As most of you are aware, I'm sure, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today, only the 4th US President (and only the 3rd sitting)to do so. And just 9 months into office, he surely ranks among those great American Presidents Woodrow Wilson and James Carter. And even if he did have to be nominated less than 2 weeks into his Presidency to qualify, he so obviously deserves it. I mean he gave that speech about nuclear disarmament, and who can argue that his speech didn't change the world?

But now ladies and gentlemen, we have a new task. You see, the Nobel Peace Prize won't get most Americans talking or excited. By a month from now, most will even forget he took it. And so we must set our sights on a new task. An award that will let the world know how truly great President Obama is. It is time to nominate him for the coveted, and highly prized, Heisman Trophy. Yes folks, simply click on that link, fill in the President's name in the "Other" box, and if he gets enough votes he will officially recieve 1 Heisman vote when the decision is made. Can we do it? In the words of our Dear Leader himself, "Yes we can!"

It Could Be Worse, They Could Be Det....No Wait, They Already ARE Detriot

2009-10-08T21:26:00.004-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, roll up the windows and lock the doors, we're about to take a trip through Detriot. Except for New Orleans post-Kartrina, Detroit is about the closest thing to a 3rd world country you can find east of the Mississippi River. I admittedly don't know about border cities in the southwest, so I'll confine my judgment a tad.

Michigan, you see, is part of America's derisively named "Rust Belt," the part of the northeast that used to be called the "Steel Belt" back in the '40s, '50s, and '60s. Michigan was once hailed as the car capital of the world, especially in the city of Detroit. But times change, and the steel and car jobs began leaking out of the country a long time ago. Now, a city like Detriot has "Unemployment Capital of the Country" as its most likely claim to fame. In fact, since 2000, Detroit's unemployment rate has been much higher than that of the US, and usually double the unemployment of the state of Michigan itself:

And today, a situation arose that proves how desperate things are becoming in the city that most Americans are glad they don't live in (despite the best propaganda of the famous rock band "Kiss"). It seems that 35,000 people simultaneously attempted to get government assistance, while the government can only give assistance to 1% of that number. Naturally, things turned ugly:

The economic tsunami washing over metro Detroit swept its casualties to the doors of Cobo Center on Wednesday in the form of 35,000 people so desperate for help with mortgage and utility bills that threats were made, fights broke out and people were nearly trampled.

City officials said a total of about 65,000 people over the past few days have gotten applications -- due next Wednesday -- for a share of $15.2 million in federal stimulus money to help people avoid foreclosure or quickly rebound from homelessness.

Ultimately, as few as 3,500 people may receive the help.

The link provided gives a set of charts on the side of the article to just how bad things are in the city of Detroit. Now, I'm not going to say that these problems are the result of Michigan turning a heavy shade of blue politically over the last few decades...I'll just point out that there's a stronger correlation between Michgan's election results and their economic woes than there is between rising CO2 levels and rising global temperatures...

The Infamous Obama Unemployment Graph Part the 5th

2009-10-03T20:40:00.004-04:00

Yes folks, I'm finally back, and with a vengence. I know you missed me, I missed you too, but we have lots to cover, so let's get right down to it.

I realize I'm a couple days late with this, but it's been a long week (and a long month, but that's neither here nor there) and so I have finally decided it is time to opine on the September unemployment numbers. But as the famous internet meme goes, "Useless without pictures!" so here is the chart you've all been waiting for (credit: geoff at Innocent Bystanders):

Man, those red dots just keep on climbing, don't they? So on to the numbers. September unemployment is 9.8% after September, up a mere 0.1% from August. Here are smoe more interesting facts from the Washington Post:

The recession's toll on workers rose again in September, with the unemployment rate climbing to 9.8 percent, its highest level since 1983, as the count of the nation's jobless topped 15.1 million, according to a government report released Friday.
...
The job losses have continued for 21 months, the longest such stretch in 70 years of records, analysts say. Friday's report underscores persistent long-term joblessness, with more than one-third of the nation's unemployed out of work for more than six months.

I wish I could be optimistic and say it can't get much worse. And let's be honest, with real (U6) unemployment up around 17%, how much worse can things get? But sadly I believe we're about to find out the answer to that question. If Christmas sales are bad this year, as I've heard many predict, then even more people will be layed off before the holidays, helping the cycle continue downwards.

It times like this that I almost feel guilty that I'll have 2 jobs by this time next month. Almost. After all, I have my own bills to pay and future to care about.

Selling Human Organs: A Recession Proof Industry

2009-09-07T13:06:00.002-04:00

Over the past week, several stories have come out about how the world's poor are coping with this worldwide recession. And in Iraq, the media have found a particularly interesting story to latch onto: Iraqis are selling body part, especially kidneys, to make money to support themselves and their families. With oil prices falling and the price of everything else rising in their country, many Iraqis see this as an easy way to make a decent amount of money quickly in rough economic times. In fact, there are even some success stories coming out about people who took such drastic measure to survive:

Paid almost $10,000 for his kidney, he spent the money on a Toyota car which he now uses as a private taxi.
“I have a chance to earn money now, before I had no such chance,” he said. “It’s not something I regret at all. I feel fine, my health is good, and I am earning better money for my family. Our circumstances are slowly improving.”

Of course, since these have to be sold on the black market, there are plenty of horror stories to go along with the success stories:

Not only is poverty forcing people to such desperate acts to survive, but there are street children being snatched up and forcible having a kidney removed by black market doctors. Even parents selling a kidney of their children for money.

This practice of abducting children for either organ harvesting or sex slavery or any other abhorrent practice in the 3rd world must stop, and those responsible should be shown no mercy.

However.

I'm here to take what appears to be a pretty controversial posistion: Any adult should be able to sell his organs at any time for any reason. A lot of people object to this philosophy, and I can understand their objections. I think, however, that giving people the ability to pull themselves out of poverty via selling a kidney, a chunk of their liver, even their heart, would be a great way to help the downtrodden. And yes, I will explain.

Part of the reason that many organ donor lists are so long is simple: many recipients, not enough donors. The one list that the legal selling of organs would do wonders for is the kidney list. Most people have 2 healthy, functioning kidneys, and most healthy people can live on 1 kidney. If a man facing a mountain of debt and a layoff needs to feed his family, and somebody is willing to pay him $20k for his kidney, that would go a long way toward helping this hypothetical man claw his way out of crushing debt. And in a more cynical way, the same could be done with hearts/lungs/livers. A man dying of a disease or accident that hasn't damamged any of his major organs, could even on his deathbed help his family in such a way. Yes, it's a cold and jaded way to look at the world, but how many families that decline donating their loved one's organs (for any number of legitmate reasons) would suddenly be more willing to let their deceased loved one be "harvested" for a couple thousand instead of letting perfectly good organs go to waste via enbalming or creamation? I mean it's only a logical progression: if the government can't tell a woman what to do with her body in regards to abortion, why should it be allowed to tell her what to do with regards to a kidney, finger, or spleen?

Yeah, this isn't a pleasant subject to think about. And there are many people out there who disagree with me. And by all means, share your thoughts either way, letting me know why I'm right or why I'm a monster for thinking this way.

The Infamous Obama Unemployment Graph: Act IV-The Plot Thickens

2009-09-04T20:43:00.002-04:00

And here we go again! The unemployment (or should I say, "funemployment!") numbers for the month of August have been released, and so we must update our ongoing series. And so, without further ado, may I present the chart we've all come to know and love so well, with all due credit to the original source (more info and graphs at the link):

And so, after briefly dipping to 9.4% last month, this month the number has gone up to 9.7%, which for those scoring at home, means it went up 0.3% last month. Also, that is the highest that unemployment has been since waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1983, before I was even born.(Pauses for a moment to let some readers contemplate on how old they feel all of a sudden...)

Part of the problem is that some of the "discouraged workers," the ones not counted because they're not actively out looking for jobs, went back to looking for work, and suddenly they're being counted again. But there were still 216,000 jobs lost, so that didn't exactly help either. A bit of perspective from the Wall Street Journal online:

The rise in unemployment, after dipping to 9.4% in July, came as more Americans returned to the work force. Teenage unemployment hit 25.5%, the highest since the government began keeping records in 1948. Most economists expect the rate to top 10% in coming months and stay over 9% through 2010 (emphasis mine on both accounts).

Hmmm, I wonder if minimum wage rising twice in the last year has anything to do with teenage unemployment......nah, that's just crazy talk.

H1N1 Is Back, and Scarier than Ever

2009-08-31T16:22:00.002-04:00

Yes folks, it's that time of year again. Tomorrow begins September, and September brings many images to mind: Kids going back to school, return of the NFL, the beginning of fall, and of course deadly flu epidemics.

What's that? That last one doesn't automatically spring to mind when you think of September? Give it a week. With kids going back to school/off to college, the H1N1 Swine Flu panic (remember that from back in April?) is about to rear its ugly head again. Why, just look at this headline from Foxnews.com:

Millions of kids, young adults and teachers are returning to classrooms and dorm rooms this week – prime real estate for the spread of H1N1 – and there’s still little agreement on how best to protect against the bug.

Now, they offer ideas for how to keep from getting this flu (or, you know....ANY flu) such as hand washing, flu shots, avoiding sick people, going to a doctor, etc. Now that article doesn't do much justice to the level of fear and panic you're supposed to have over this looming catastophe of mankind. For that, we must look elsewhere.

Forbes online also has an article up about how to fight the flu, but this one gives better panic-inducing statistics:

Last week, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a group of the nation's leading scientists and engineers, released a report on the H1N1 flu virus. The forecast seemed grim.

A more aggressive mutation of the virus, they said, could infect 30% to 50% of the population, lead to as many as 1.8 million hospitalizations and cause between 30,000 to 90,000 deaths compared to the annual number of 36,000.

Holy ****! Now there's the hysteria I'm looking for! 30%-50% of the US population (~300 million) would be between 90 million and 150 million infected with this nasty disease. We simply can't let that happen! I mean, how cou....wait, what was that death total again? 30,000-90,000? Seriously? Assuming the worst case scenario, in which only 90 million are infected and 90 thousand die, that's 1:1000 ratio of dead:infected. That means if the entire population were infected, only about 300,000 would die. That's what passes for an epidemic these days? A pandemic that, worst case scenario, could potentially kill less people than the run of the mill flu (30k vs. 36k) is worth panic, hysteria, and shutting down schools and colleges? From the same Forbes article:

Yet to Dr. Philip Alcabes, an epidemiologist and professor at Hunter College School of Health Sciences in New York, the estimate is a "plausible scenario," not a prediction.

"Should the public be alarmed?" he says. "Absolutely not." Besides, it's impossible to know whether the virus will mutate until the day it happens.

The moral of the story: try to stay healthy. Wash your hands, try to avoid people with the flu, and see a doctor if you feel really ill. You know, the stuff most normal people do anyway. Consider this your PSA.

(As an ironic aside, as I wrote this piece, my computer's anti-virus software went off, warning me of a possible infection)

Post-Racial America Looks a lot like Pre-Post-Racial America

2009-08-23T15:45:00.002-04:00

Sometimes it's nice to sit back and wax nostalgic. Why, just 1 year ago our economy was booming, with a record high Dow, Sarah Palin was about to light the Conservative base on fire, and Barack Obama was promising his election would lead to a post-racial America where we would all live in peace and harmony and rainbows and unicorns, Amen.

Fast forward a year, the Dow is under 10,000, Sarah Palin is continuing to light the Conservative base on fire, Obama is the first (half)African-American president. But sadly, that post-racial America we were all promised in exchage for electing Senator Obama to the office of President seems to have hit a snag. It seems that there are some racist elements of the American population, including some in the media and indeed the Democrat party, who are dead set on not giving any African-American in power a free pass. Instead, these Klansmen in disguise seem intent on pointing out character flaws and professional shortcomings of leading black politicians. The nerve!

Well thankfully, we have brave New York Governor David Patterson to straighten us out:

The state's first black governor yesterday blamed his political woes -- and those of President Obama -- on a white-dominated media that he accused of taking part in an "orchestrated" attack campaign.

"We're not in the post-racial period," Paterson said in a freewheeling interview on the liberal talk-radio station WWRL. "My feeling is it's being orchestrated, it's a game, and people who pay attention know that."

Ah, but fear not, Patterson has connections inside the racist realm of the media, and he has inside information about who they have next in their sights:

"The next victim on the list -- and you see it coming -- is President Barack Obama, who did nothing more than try to reform a health-care system . . . only because he's trying to make change," Paterson said.

Thank God for such amazing insight from Patterson, this way the President can be aware that there might be some people out there who may be critical of him because of health care. I mean the signs are all there that some people are preparing to oppose the President on health care, because they've been too afraid to stand up thus far, obviously.

But at least the President only has to face racists opponents, while poor Governor Patterson has to face opponents who are both racists AND hate blind people. That's a rough double-whammy for him.

I don't know about all of you, but I for one look forward to the promised land of a true post-racial America. The one where a black politician is immune from any and all criticism, unlike his white counterparts since the beginning of time. May that day come soon, Amen.

Brief Look at Senator Specter's Local Townhall Meeting

2009-08-13T17:24:00.018-04:00

So today, at 3 PM, Senator Arlen Specter (D-R-D PA) held a townall meeting at a local buidling about 2 minutes from where I work. It was a small meeting, holding only about 200 people, most of whom were invited specifically. Now this meeting that holds 200 people was held in a building where, just a month ago, Brett Michaels from Poison played to a crowed of over 2,000. Now, I'm no math major, but that first number seems significantly smaller than the second. Must have been an honest mistake....

Sadly, because I have a job, I was unable to attend the actual event. I managed to get out of my shift about an hour early to attend, but when I got there it was already 3 PM, so my hopes of getting in were already slim. I did, however, get the chance to see what happening in the parking lot.

Did I take pictures? Why I'm so glad you asked, hypothetical reader. Here are a couple pictures and 1 video of the parking lot. Unfortunately, all I had was my phone, so the pictures and video aren't the best quality, but I'll share anyway, you lucky soul you.

Here's one senior who won't let Obamacare take her without a fight.

The 9/12 project was on site, this was their poster.

We can only hope.

Perhaps my favorite slogan of the next 4 years.

I laughed harder at this one than anything else today.

A guy in a tri-corner hat. I like the hat, and it's my site.

It would have been worded better as "Politics is Organized Crime" but I didn't make a sign at at all and the guy gets his point across.

The sign in the backgound says "To Hell with Marxism, Liberalism, Socialism, Communism, and Obamaism."

Well I'd say this one is pretty self-explanatory. Poor soul thinks his doctor knows more about medicine than a congressman.

One protester is apparently not too fond of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union)

A classic Hillary quote from the campaing. Too bad she didn't see it coming back to bite her party in the ass.

As I left there was an impromptu (as far as I knew) recitation of the pledge of allegience when somebody unfurled a giant flag on the hill behind the astroturfing pro-Obamacare crowd. I only managed to get my phone out about halfway through, but you can see some of the crowd and the giant flag, so enjoy.

In the end, I tried but failed to get in to the meeting, but it didn't happen. I won't say these events are staged, but when the state troopers are telling you that most of the people inside had invitations and were bussed in, things do look a little suspicious to us common folks.

The Infamous Obama Unemployment Graph 3: We Are Saved!

2009-08-07T18:51:00.004-04:00

Today is the day. Can you feel the excitement? It's the day the July unemployment numbers are released. I know you're all anxious for the result, so without further ado I present you with the Infamous Obama Unemployment Graph for the month of July
Wow, do you guys see that? Unemployment went down a whole 0.1% from last month! Happy days are here again! From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate fell in July for the first time in 15 months as employers cut far fewer jobs than expected, providing the clearest sign yet that the economy was turning around.

Employers shed 247,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said Friday, the least in any one month since last August, taking the unemployment rate to 9.4 percent, down from 9.5 percent in June.

The incomprable Slublog over at Ace of Spades helps to break the figures down in a slighly different way from the MSM:

It's great to see the bleeding slow, but I wish the reason for it were different. Basically, unemployment went down because the rate of layoffs slowed; employment did not increase. People are not getting hired, they're just getting fired in lesser numbers.

Yay?

Now, I'm not an economist, but I have taken a couple math classes in my life. Something seems odd to me about 247,000+ losing jobs, but unemployment dropping by 1/10 of a percent. Not to worry, as during my research I found another chart from the same site as the one above, with a brief explanation:

Seems a little odd, since we actually lost 155,000 jobs in July (and we lost 247,000 jobs on non-farm payrolls). The only way we can lose jobs and still have the unemployment rate go down is if the labor pool goes down even faster. And in fact that’s what it did, dropping by 422,000 workers. But the “Want a Job” category only increased by about 100K, so where did the other 300K workers go?

As you can see from the chart, both the unemployed and “want to work” categories dropped, and we know that the employed dropped as well. Something’s not right here, unless 300,000 people simply gave up entirely and decided to become bloggers or something.

But of course the official unemployment numbers dropping to 9.4% (here's where I admit to being wrong at predicting minimum 10%) is proof that the recession is over. The stimulus worked, and President Obama saved us.

We're welcome.

I mean sure, it only took passing a $1 trillion+ spending bill back in January (Remember how urget that was? Congress couldn't waste time reading and debating it, but Obama could take 5 days off after its passage to go on a date and then fly to Denver to sign it), waiting half a year, and still surpassing numbers that we were promised wouldn't be surpassed if this was passed (And which are worse that what was predicted by the Obama administration itself if it wasn't passed).

Ah, but not so fast. Anybody remember how, when President Bush had an unemployment rate close to %5, we were always being told about the "discouraged workers" who were no longer looking for work and were therefore not counted among the unemployment figures? Guess what, Obama has to deal with that same figure. An excellent follow up from Jim Geraghty over at NRO (read the whole thing, it's rather short):

In July, 796,000 of those were taken out of their definition of the workforce, and thus their unemployment calculations for this month, because they have stopped looking for work "because they believe no jobs are available for them." Ten percent of the June workforce would be 15.4 million, 1 percent would be 1.5 million, and so 796,000 is roughly one half of one percent.

In other words, BLS took .5 percent of what you and I would consider unemployed and took them out of their total. And with that, unemployment went down one tenth of one percent.

But that's just crazy talk, from one of those right-wing mob Nazis. Everybody knows that President Obama would never lie to us. After all, they're the most transparent and honest administration ever. Right?

Help Dear Leader, Snitch on Your Unfaithful Neighbors!

2009-08-05T18:29:00.004-04:00

Good day Comrades! It has been brought to my attention that some of you out there are faced with a problem. It seems as though there are some fringe elements out there that are spreading false and malicious rumors about Dear Leader Obama. Such radical leaders as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Congressional Republicans, and large groups of protesters all across the country are speaking vicious and vile lies about Dear Leader's plans to social....I mean, "nationalize" the health care industry. Why, just look at what The People's Speaker Nancy Pelosi has uncovered about these hooligans:

Pelosi said that while Democrats are putting forth proposals to reform health care, "those not interested in health insurance reform are disrupting public meetings and not allowing concerned constituents to ask questions and express their views. Many of these opponents who are shutting down civil discussion are organized by out-of-district, extremist political groups, and industry-supported lobbying firms."

She's exactly right. Why just look at some of these blatant examples of right-wing "astroturfing" in an attempt to shut down rational discourse and demonize their opponents:

Can you believe the audacity of those.....what's that? Those are people on Dear Leader's side? Impossible! These are obviously plants of that bastard Karl Rove and the Conservative menace, being paid to act like that to embarass our side.

Nevertheless, Dear Leader needs our help. He is asking that your report all of these vile lies and those who spread them directly to the Whitehouse. So please do your part and send all of your tips to flag@whitehouse.gov. Now remember, this matter is of vital importance. No lead is too small, nothing is too suspcious to report. Email as many times a day as possible to be thorough. And we have a spam filter set up, so there's no need to worry about signing that email address up for things like male enhancement drugs, lesbian porn, or Nigerian bankers who need our help getting his money for him. In fact, these things help break up the monotony for our faithful workers, so make sure to send them funny posters and chain emails to keep them smiling and productive all day long. Good luck Comrades!

Cash for Clunkers: Why the Government is Incapable of Competing with the Free Market

2009-08-02T21:10:00.004-04:00

When I first heard about the "Cash for Clunkers" program the goverment was going to institute, I was skeptical. Shocker, I know. I'm a free marketer through-and-through, and one of those people that relizes that the only money the government can spend is our money. So the government says that they will give you up to $4500 for a new car, given the right circumstances at the time of trade-in of course. But of course conditions apply: only certain cars meet the criteria, your new car must have better MPGs than your old one, etc. And this program, which was set to run through November was allocated $1 billion dollars. As of this weekend, the program is out of money...and these people want to be in charge of our healthcare (shudder).

Right off the bat, there were a reason that I was suspicious of the program. This goes back to the government takeover of GM. A bad economy, worse poll number for the President, and a heavily depressed and solidly Democratic Michigan hurting for jobs seemed like the perfect storm for this type of temporary boost to the car industry. And make no mistake, this is getting some short-term benefit now in exchange for long-term pain. Any cars sold now because of this program are cars that will not be bought for the next 6-10 months. This is a glaring example of the "Broken Window Fallacy."

But today comes the news of just what the government is doing with the cars that are traded in via this program:

Wearing skin-tight, blue plastic gloves to protect his hands, Brad Brooks poured the liquid poison into the engine of a Ford Bronco, putting the 1992 sport-utility vehicle out of its misery...

"We poured it into that Dodge and it killed it in eight seconds," said Brooks, pointing to another vehicle as he put down the half-gallon jug of liquid called "Clunker Bomb." The chemical is sodium silicate. In red lettering on the bottle, it reads, "Engine Grenade," and there's a skull and crossbones over the profile of a car.

As a young person (24 years old), I'll admit to having to buy 2 cars in the last 10 years. Both of them had a previous owner, neither one had less than 80k miles when I bought it. Used cars are one of the best example of how "trickle down economics" actually works. Somebody richer than me buys a new car. After a few years and many miles the car's value goes down by 1/2-2/3 and I can afford it. I paid about $4000 for my first car, and $5000 for my current car. The first car I bought I traded in recently at 13 years old and 130,000+ miles, and with a little work by an auto shop or a skilled amatuer the car could be quite an affordable mode of reliable transportation for a high school kid/college student/poor family/down on his luck guy who needs transporation to a job. The car might sell for around $1500-2000, roughly half the price I paid.

When the government destorys these cars, they artificially inflate the price of used cars and used car parts. None of the engine parts can be salvaged from the car in the video above. But maybe Obama is just doing to car prices what FDR did to farm prices in the 1930's when he kept prices artificially high by destroying agricultural products that could have been used by many, many people during the Great Depression.

Who knows, maybe President Obama can use this method as a selling point when it comes to healthcare.

A Brief Note on the "Birther" Controversy

2009-07-27T20:33:00.002-04:00

It seems that every couple of weeks the controvery over Obama's birth certificate (any by extension his legitimacy as President) rears it's ugly head. For the record, I believe that he was born in the U.S. and is a natural born U.S. citizen. Those who claim a Certificate of Live Birth is not a Birth Certificate hold no water with me because I was born in Maryland and have a Certificate of Live Birth. My college roommate was from Ohio, and he told me that they have the same thing up there. But just today the conspiracy went mainstream. Today a member of the White House Press Corps pressed Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the matter:

As stated above, I don't agree with the so-called "Birthers" (or more derisively by some, "Nirthers"). However, while I believe they are incorrect, I also believe there are reasons why they think what they do.

President Barack Hussein Obama, who runs the "most transparent administration ever," surrounds his entire past in secrecy. He has refused to allow many records of his past to be released. The fact that every challenge involving his birth have been dismissed on proceedural grounds does not help. The man who many claim to be the "Smartest President Ever" has not allowed his college transcripts to be released. Any record of the infamous "Annenberg Challenge" seems to be guarded better than Ft. Knox. While my strong libertarian (small "L") streak tends to diminish my trust of government and government officials, I am extra suspicious of Obama. That said, I fully believe the issue of his birthplace is a futile one that does no good.

But in the end, they're "Just asking questions" after all.

That's One Small Step for Man

2009-07-20T17:06:00.003-04:00

(Pictured above: Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr.)
40 years ago today, Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the surface of the moon. American Neil Armstrong descended the ladder on the outside of the module, and he became the first man to step on the surface of the moon (followed soon after by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr.)

PRE-EMPTIVE WARNING: Any comments involving claims about the moon landing being a hoax will be deleted. This is your only warning!

America had spent th 1960s in a space race with the Soviet Union. Despite the Soviets being the first to launch a satellite, we had beaten them to the moon. America's best and brightest scientific minds had spent the last decade making this dream possible. Americans watched in awe as something that would have seemed impossible barely a decade ago became reality. The Apollo 11 mission had become (and remains) an iconic symbol of America. Here in this land of opportunity, the home of the brave, we can accomplish the impossible.I find it truly impossible to comprehend the bravery that these men possessed. They were attempting to accomplish what had never been done before.

But sadly, the greatest chapter in American history would not last. By the end of the next decade, America would seem like an altogether different place than she was on that bright and hopeful day: she would be humiliated in the Vietnam War, a wound from which she is still recovering; she would suffer thru the Presidency of Jimmy Carter with stagflation, the misery index, the surrendering of the Panama Canal, and the Iran hostage crisis; the "Greatest Generation" would start to give way to the "Baby Boomers," a generation that possessed some of the most selfish and self-absorbed people in our nation's history (see Clinton, Bill and Ayers, Bill for just a couple of famous examples).

But all is not lost, for even among the aging heroes of that fateful day, we see the spark of righteous anger that can inspire a younger generation to fight to restore America to her rightful place in the world.

Perhaps this young man will remember well in the future the term "fighting words."

Victor Davis Hanson: A Voice of Clarity in Our Time

2009-07-06T14:45:00.003-04:00

Not much of my own commentary on this piece, save to say that I am a huge fan of the works of Victor Davis Hanson. He's something of a hero of mine as he speaks with clarity and authority on many contemporary issues. He's also a master of Greek History and an excellent military historian writing such books as The Soul of Battle and Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power. He also has a collection of his short works over the last few years in Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq .

Ok, enough pimping for the man, on to the juicy stuff. He wrote an article over the weekend entitled Thoughts on a Schizophrenic Society. The article is essentially 2 part: Part 1 sums up nice as

The point? We live in an age without rules only to reinvent them at a whim. A prudish society does not invest billions in Botox, reconstructive surgery, and sexual enhancement; yet a Gomorrah does not demand public contrition for sexual intercourse outside of marriage. I am not passing moral judgment as much as confused about the consistency, and puzzled over what are the exact rules, if any any more.

While Part 2 speaks about the saddened state of California (the state in which he resides). Well worth the read, should only take a few minutes.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T11:35:00.002-04:00

You lucky people enjoy you day off at cookouts, firework shows, or whatever. I will be slaving away for 10 hours at Pizza Hut. Here's hoping nobody wants pizza on a warm sunny day like this.

The Infamous Obama Unemployment Graph 2: Obama's Revenge!

2009-07-02T21:01:00.007-04:00

Ah yes, many of us remember this graph from the past month (a copy of which can be found on this site), and here is the updated version with June's numbers thrown in. Credit is to be given here. Odd, isn't it, that even with the $1 trillion+ spending that President Obama wanted lest catastrophe strike us, here we are worse off according to his own prediction than we would have been without selling our souls to the Chinese.

Would You Look at That, Another 2 Examples of Blatant Media Bias

2009-06-29T14:39:00.002-04:00

Well well, it appears that Duke University may have another rape scandal on its hand soon. Of course everybody remembers the lacrosse players accused of raping a black stipper, it was all over the news. Many people lost interest soon afterward, but all of the boys accused were found innocent of their crime.

WARNING: The following still will anger/infuriate/deeply trouble you. Read on at your own discretion. The man on the left is Mr. Frank Lombard, associate director of Duke’s Center for Health Policy. He is accused of far worse than rape. He is accused of molesting his 5 year old son. On top of that, he is accuse of essentially pimping out his son on the internet to other perverted men to rape. And, not that it should matter, but his son, who is adopted (this will come into play later), is a black child. Now I find myself asking, where is Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc. up in arms over a white man repeatedly sexually abusing a black child? Ah, and therein lies the rub. From the above linked article:

The Associate Press (AP) did not mention the fact that the five-year old offered up for molestation was black. Bringing that fact to light might be damaging to the political coalition that exists between blacks and gays. Nor did the AP mention that the adopted child is being raised by a homosexual couple. Bringing that fact to light might harm the gay adoption movement.

Show of hands, who here thinks the media would bury this story if it were say...an evangelical Christian? Yeah, me neither.

But now, on to a happier story that proves the bias that exists in the media.

Every since Obama won the election back in November (and really, ever since about mid-2007), the War in Iraq has really taken a back seat in the media, hasn't it? Fewer "Grim Milestones," fewer "war crime" style photos, etc. Well today marks a landmark day in the Iraq war: US Forces Are Officially Pulling Out Of Cities Today. Why, it's almost as if we're winning a war that we were told 3 years ago was already lost. Well allow be to join in the congratulations of our brave troops have been put in harms way, some giving their very lives, to see this type of thing come to fruition.

Bread and Circuses

2009-06-28T14:56:00.004-04:00

"Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses."

--Roman poet Juvenal in Satire X

Michael Jackson died this past weekend. I know that must shock you, as there has been suprisingly little coverage of it in the news. I mean Michael Jackson has been famous since he was about 8, and sold a lot of records over the years. Sure he was no head of state, he didn't invent anything significant, he didn't cure any diseases, and he had some legal issues over the past couple decades, but you would think that he would warrant a passing mention in the news somewhere along the way.

Ok, obviously that's sarcasm, as you can't turn on any news station (or radio station, for that matter) without learning of his death. I typed in "Michael Jackson" into Google news and got the following result: Results 1 – 10 of about 121,496 for michael jackson. Well that number by itself doesn't say much, so let's look at another important event that occured this past week: Cap and Trade passing the house. Once again, plug "Cap and Trade" into Google news and we get: Results 1 – 10 of about 14,089 for cap and trade (Also for reference: Results 1 – 10 of about 33,381 for national healthcare.). Huh, seems like a tad bit of a disparity to me. After all, Congress passes bills all the time and a famous person's death is seen as significant (I wasn't alive then, but I hear the death of Elvis Presley was something of significance at the time).

Well hypothetical person asking the seemingly rhetorical question, I shall answer you. The Cap and Trade scam passed by Congress will end up affecting 99%+ of the population if it passes (and isn't rescinded later on), whereas Mr. Jackson's death will have absolutely no discernable impact on 99%+ of the population. For those unaware, the purpose of this bill is to cap Carbon Dioxide (you know, that gas you exhale each time you breathe) emissions put out by companies because it might possibly warm the earth up 1 degree over the next century. I know, I'm concerned too. But on the bright side, the bill is only about 1500 pages. But how could our Representatives, even as super-smart as they all are, have managed to read that entire bill, including 300 pages worth of ammendments put in at 3 AM the morning of the vote? Why it's simple....they didn't. Ask any of them. But it had to be passed, this was one of President Obama's pet issues. Upon passage of the bill, he said:This legislation will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy,” the President said:

“Creating new businesses, new industries, and American jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced.” It will offer rural communities and farmers new revenue streams from emissions reduction strategies and renewable energy technologies.

He dismissed the concerns of increased costs of energy, saying that, “in about a decade, the price to the average American [of energy] will be just about a postage stamp a day."

Huh, funny that he says the increase will be negligible, when during the campaign he fully admitted:

"You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."

But none of this matters. After all, Michael Jackson died, and they're supposed to do an autopsy any day now! Obama had better hope somebody famous dies when this hits the Senate, or that somebody REALLY famous kicks the bucket when his Nationalized Health Care bill comes up later this summer.

Bread and circuses, and the crowd is placated.

On A Small Hiatus

2009-06-12T19:25:00.001-04:00

I'll be on vacation for the next week or so, with limited (if any) internet access. There should be an update when I get back.

The Infamous Obama Unemployment Graph

2009-06-07T19:02:00.003-04:00

(Cue dramatic Music)

And so, being the lemming as most bloggers are (after all, current events and pictures are a sure way to get traffic from search engines like Google), I present to you the infamous Obama Unemployment Graph. Now, as most people can see from looking at the above chart, the Obama "stimulus" (note the sarcastic quotes I put there) has not done anything at all to stop unemployment and the loss of jobs. In fact that chart points out that even with the "stimulus" the unemployment rate is worse than what even Obama's staff predicted it would be without spending trillions of dollars we don't have.

Now of course, these numbers can't mean anything bad for President Obama. Even when Bush had low unemployment and a great economy, things were really bad we just didn't know it. We obviously needed our betters in the media to point out to us that Bush's sub 6% unemployment and 14,000+ Dow means that we were really in a recession and didn't know it. Now with Obama....why with Obama 9%+ unemployment and a Dow hovering around 8,000 means the economy is the best it's ever been. Why, even losing hundreds of thousands of jobs is a good sign! Just look at this piece from the AP:

The unemployment rate rose steeply in May, jumping by half a percentage point to 9.4 percent. Yet employers cut far fewer jobs than in recent months...The household survey, meanwhile, counted 787,000 more unemployed people, including 350,000 who entered the labor force in May. That pushed the unemployment rate to 9.4 percent, from 8.9 percent.

Wow, as more people become unemployed, less people are getting laid off? What are the odds of that happening?

But of course, nobody can top the L.A. Times. In a piece that is so over-the-top, it almost HAS to have been ripped off from The Onion, the Times talks about the joys of "Funemployment."

Buoyed by severance, savings, unemployment checks or their parents (emphasis mine), the funemployed do not spend their days poring over job listings. They travel on the cheap for weeks. They head back to school or volunteer at the neighborhood soup kitchen. And at least till the bank account dries up, they're content living for today.

And of course, some of the best commentary on this idiocity can be found over at Ace of Spades HQ. So here's an interesting dichotomy: Obama needs to spend trillions to save jobs, but there are apparently plenty of people happy without jobs. Well if these people don't need jobs, why should we be making all this extra effort that they themselves aren't willing to make?

Look, 10% unemployment is bad, I'm not denying that. But do you know what's worse? 10% unemployment and a deficit that's over $2 trillion. Especially when that deficit is supposed to prevent 10% unemployment. That's a double fail, which is an impressive feat for Pres. Obama to pull off.

And so to close, for those of you who don't ever want to sleep again, take a look at the U.S. National Debt Clock. There's nothing like seeing my future flushed down the drain to pay for useless and ineffective programs. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get back to hoarding supplies like food and ammo.

What Bias? A Study of 2 Stories at Opposite Ends of the Political Spectrum

2009-06-01T15:07:00.005-04:00

I know, I know, I can hear you all now. "Another post about media bias? Seriously?" As if this topic hasn't been beaten to death over the past decade. But never do 2 stories emerge that are so similar in plot but so different in coverage in the span of 2 days as happened this past weekend. For those of you who don't pay attention to the news, here are 2 links to news stories (via Ace of Spades HQ) about the shooting of abortion doctor George Tiller and the shooting of 2 military recruiters in Little Rock, AR.

Now according to most news sources, the recruitment center shooting occured around 10 A.M. today (not sure if that's local or Eastern time). The police have a suspect but haven't relased information regarding the shooter or the victims as of yet, so I admit I may be jumping to conclusions a bit early, but I'll go ahead and make the prediction for all to see: the murders in both of these stories will be treated very differently if the person who shot the military recruiters turns out to be a left-wing, anti-war protester. What's my basis? Well let's just look at the current deification of George Miller and what's being said about his murderer.

GIANT DISCLAIMER: I am not celebrating the death of George Tiller, in fact, being pro-death penalty, I hope the guy that shot him gets the death penalty as I do with most murderers. I don't advocate murder, and to be clear self-defense is different from murder in my mind. That said, I'm not upset about the death of a man who performed late-term abortions. Then again, I wasn't upset at the death of my paternal grandfather last week, since I had never met the man, so view those 2 statements as you will.

As anybody who has taken an English or Writing class in high school or college knows, the opening paragraph of a piece sets the tone of the entire writing. Everything that is written is colored by the presentation set up in the opening paragraph. So let's look at the opening paragraph to this piece about Tiller's murderer in the L.A. Times (keep in mind this only happened yesterday):

Reporting from Wichita, Kan. -- The 51-year-old man authorities are holding today as a suspect in the assassination of prominent abortion doctor George Tiller has long discussed violence against abortion providers and belonged to right-wing militia groups, according to reports and acquaintances.

Well would you look at that, the guy who murdered an abortion doctor was a right-wing militant! Why, that seems to fit in with that Department of Homeland Security report on right-wing terrorists in America release just a few weeks ago, what are the odds? Of course the piece does go on to quote pro-life people who condemned this murder, as most sane people will do. But these quote are buried at the end of the article, almsot as if they don't want them seen.

Now on to today's story about another shooting, this time of 2 military vets outside a recruiting center in Little Rock, AR. As I said, the police have not release any information as of yet, because they are still gathering evidence and questioning the person they detained, but this much I can tell you. Withing an hour of the murder of Dr. Tiller, everybody with a keyboard and access to the internet "knew" that he was killed by some right-wing radical anti-abortionist. Turns out they were right, but guess what? These same people are not going to assume that, given the evidence, the shooter in Little Rock was some left-wing anti-war radical.

What proof do I have? Nothing substantial, true, just the fact that it was 2 military vets who were the only victims, and the shooting occured outside a recruiting center. That seems a tad more evidence than an abortion doctor being shot in a church rather than in front of his clinic. But notice how, even 5-6 hours later, nobody in the media is speculating about the possiblity of a left-wing anti-war nutjob. Certainly somebody has thought of this.

So here's my prediction: the person who shot those 2 vets in Little Rock was an anti-war extremist, and almost certainly a left-wing liberal. If I'm wrong, I'll accept the criticism that I am due. But if I am right, which I of course suspect I am, I doubt anybody will know, because this story doesn't fit the "narrative." Which conincides with a subset of this prediction, that this story will be buried as quickly as possible by the MSM if certain "unpleasant" facts come to light.

But as I started off with, notice some of the simliarities. Both of these stories have victims that are cosidered heroes by a particular side (Abortion doctors=brave hero of the left, military vets=brave heroes of the right). All the victims were gunned down while engaging in their private lives (Dr. Tiller was at church, the vets weren't recruiters but were home on leave). All the victims were (again, I'm assuming here) cut down by extremeists who veiwed these men as the height of evil in the world. While both shooters deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law, one story will feature the narrative of a martyr being cut down by an extremist who is secretly supported by half the country even if they deny it as the other story is buried as just another senseless shooting by a lone nut with no connections or political affiliations at all that proves why we should ban guns.

“Where I work at ABC, people say ‘conservative’ the way people say ‘child molester.’”
— ABC 20/20 co-anchor John Stossel

UPDATE: One Army recruiter died and another was injured when a Muslim convert who said he was opposed to the U.S. military shot the soldiers in Little Rock, Ark., police say.

Carlos Bledsoe, 24, of Little Rock, who was known as Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, was arrested on I-630 shortly after the soldiers were shot outside a recruiting office about 10:30 a.m. CT, police said. An assault rifle was recovered.

EVEN BETTER UPDATE: Hey guess what? The guy was under FBI investigation after a trip to Yemen.

The suspect arrested in the fatal shooting of one soldier and the critical injury of another at a Little Rock, Ark., Army recruiting booth today was under investigation by the FBI’s Joint Terrorist Task Force since his return from Yemen, ABCNews has learned.

Well I certainly feel better about Obama wanting to release Gitmo detainees into the US under FBI surveillence, don't you?

It's the End of the World, but Obama Feels Fine

2009-05-25T15:39:00.003-04:00

So this Memorial Day finds the news wires abuzz with the unmistakeable proof of how much the world loves and respects President Obama. Did I say love and respect? My apologies, I meant the exact opposite. It appears as though the rest of the world is figuring out, long ahead of about 52% of the American electorate, is that President Lightweight has absolutely no idea what he is doing in the realm of international affairs.

Just this past weekend, North Korea (if you recall, 1/3 of President Bush's "Axis of Evil") conducted an underground test of a nuclear weapon.

Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed an atomic explosion at 9:54 a.m. (0054 GMT) in northeastern North Korea, estimating the blast's yield at 10 to 20 kilotons — comparable to the bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hours later, the regime test-fired three short-range, ground-to-air missiles, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources. U.N. Security Council resolutions bar North Korea from engaging in any ballistic missile-related activity.

Well isn't that odd? There's a story about North Korea doing something it was specifically banned from doing by the almighty and all-powerful U.N. Security Council. Why it's almost as if a world governing body that contains despotic regimes and anarchic thug states in its membership would be quite unuseful for stopping those same areas from acting up. But everything is OK folks, not only is North Korea part of the U.N. (which prohibited the weapons test that North Korea just ran), it is also part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Oh no, wait, I'm sorry. It appears that North Korea withdrew its membership from the NPT back in 2003

The official Korean Central News Agency said that, although Pyongyang was pulling out of the NPT, it had no intention of producing nuclear weapons.

"Our nuclear activities at this stage will be confined only to peaceful purposes such as the production of electricity," Friday's statement said.

Well as long as the nuclear materials are only for peaceful purpose like electricity, who could possible object? Oh wait, it seems as though I am mistaken once more. From the original link:

The regime "successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of measures to bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense," the country's official Korean Central News Agency said.

What kind of world do we find ourselves in when we can't even trust oppressive dictators to keep their word anymore?

But of course, not to be outdone, Iran (another 1/3 of that "Axis of Evil" mentioned earlier) made news of their own this weekend to insure that they wouldn't be forgotten about. Iranian madman/president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said recently that he would be open to a face-to-face debate with President Obama at the U.N. Now, what they would actually debate about is a bit of a mystery, because unlike President Obama, Ahmadinejad was actually willing to put preconditions on his debate:

But he balanced the offer with a sharp rebuke to Washington and its allies over Iran's nuclear program. He reiterated that Iran would never abandon its advances in uranium enrichment in exchange for offers of easing sanctions or other economic incentives.

The nuclear issue "is closed," he told a news conference.

Ahmadinejad, proving both his sense of humor and his sense of irony, said he would like to discuss "world peace and security issues." Hmmm, wonder if those talks would involve blaming the U.S. and Israel for every problem the world faces?

Fortunately, the people and government of Isreal know what Iran's true intention are, and have no intention of going quietly into that good night. While I have no idiotic "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" vision of Iraq and Isreal being close and permanent allies, having a functioning democracy in Iraq might make it easier for the small Jewish state to have a temporary and cold alliance with Iraq in order for those 2 states to oppose Iranian influence (who knows, maybe some Saudi funds thrown by the Sunni government against Iran's Shia extremists). After all, Iraq and Iran have fought before in my lifetime, and it's not unlikely that Iran would try to take out it's frustration on its neighbor again after yet another failed "push the Jews into the sea" attempt.

And just so we're clear, I put the blame for all of this squarely on the shoulders of you Boomers. You voted in Carter, who let Iran go to hell, and your generation tutored Obama into being a Marxist pussy. If the world goes to hell before I hit 30, I'm robbing each and every one of you of all your Social Security since I'll never see a dime of what I put in.

You Want Fascism? Bring on Government Run Healthcare!

2009-05-17T16:04:00.002-04:00

I am a 24 year old male, so I was only 8 when Hillary Clinton's famous "Hillary-care" came before congress and the nation. So for as far back as I can remember in my life, there has been a huge debate about whether or not the government should take control of healthcare in our country. Now it should come as no suprise to anyone who has read this site before that I take the conservative, capitalist approach that the government should stay the hell out of healthcare. But, everytime there is a debate about this topic, the whole "rising cost of healthcare!" line comes out time and time again.

Well this post is not going to focus on the argument that the reason healthcare costs keep going up is BECAUSE of government interference in the medical field. I won't go on at lengths about how America's "flawed" system (and yes, even I believe it's flawed, but for opposite reasons of gov't health care advocate) gives patients a better chance of cancer survival than in the socialized European countries. I'll only briefly mention how over in Great Britian, a country that has had socialized (read: Government run) healthcare for a few decades, cancer patients have been denied livesaving cancer drugs because they are "too expensive."

Fear not, today I shall take the mainstream media route: eschew facts and present opinion as if it were fact. Today I will demonstrate the proper way to turn somebody like me--a young, libertarian-leaning, live and let live, free-market capitalist--into a raving fascist. And the easiest method to achieve this goal is socialized medicine. This is the situation where my inner realist will murder my inner idealist. While I would fight a possibly quixoitic fight to eliminate socialized medicine once it has been established, I would have to live with the reality of the situation while it exists and do my best to make it palatable to myself. So let's get started on our journey, shall we?

Obviously when most people think socialized/government run healthcare, they think "free." After all, since they will not be paying directly out of pocket for medical treatment/insurance, they believe this will be a good deal for them. And this completely ignores the fact that emergency rooms are not allowed to turn anybody away and can't require payment once they have treated you. Admittedly at first, it would be a great deal for those at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder. Initially the "rich" (aka, anybody who pays taxes) would provied yet another benefit for the leeches...oh sorry, "downtrodden," of society. And as a taxpayer ("Rich" as pointed out in the previous sentence) I would be contributing to this system. And once the government forms a monopoly by eliminating those "evil" insurance companies, it will because easier to focus energy on the scapegoats who are responsible for more and more money being taken for healthcare costs. And who might be scapegoated? Well, each person's opinion will vary, but here is my theoretical descent into fascism and the conditions I would place on being qualified to recieve treatment.

To start with, any disease that is preventable will be heavily watched for to keep costs down. The worst offenders would be those who contract STDs. Medical records, now in the hands of the goverment, would be looked at to see who already has these diseases, as I don't belive in retroactive laws. However, with the wide availability and affordability of condoms, any person who contracts an STD thru ignorance, laziness, etc would be banned from getting treatment for their disease.This goes double for the homosexual community, who have higher disease rates than the heterosexual community. These diseases are too easy to avoid and prevent to allow valuable money to be wasted on medicine and treatment. Same goes for all obesity-related illnesses. If you wanna weigh 300 lbs. don't expect me to pay for your medical care.

What's next on the banning docket? Why, all drugs of course! Forget the talk of legalizing pot, we're talking about offically banning alcohol and tobacco again. Why? Because I don't use either, and they are bad for you. After all, if this logic is good enough for the left to call for the banning of trans-fat, then it's good enough for them to understand the logical conclusion of such madness. If you decided to go party every night from college thru your mid 30's, that's fine but I'm not paying 1 dime for you when you liver gets cancer or cirrhosis.

And finally, to end this ever-so-brief synopsis, we get to the real scapegoats. Illegal aliens can say goodbye to even setting foot in an American hospital. Convicted felons are immediately put at the bottom of the every list in every category for treatment. And congrats baby boomers, how that you are reaching retirement age, and therefor the limit of your usefulness to society, you shall be dropping further down the treatment lists every year you age. After all, as a 24 year old I have many more years left to contribute to the country and system, so my life is more valuable than yours in the eyes of any bureaucrat in a cold but logical sense.

Now don't get the wrong idea, I'm not actually advocating any of this. As stated above, I am first and foremost a live-and-let-live type. But if you are going to take my money (in essense stealing not just money, but time and energy that was taken to earn that money) to use for yourself as a child would, then I shall treat you as if you are a child. Just as a parent has the right to tell dependents what they are and are not allowed to do ("as long as you live under my roof...!"), so will I treat those who demand that I pay for their lifestyle.

There is a reason why when personal liberty is downplayed for the common good, dictatorhips arise. Ignore history if you so choose, but ignoring history will not stop its repetition.

A Futile Plea to the Media: Please Make Up Your Damn Mind

2009-05-11T15:09:00.002-04:00

Look, I'm a conservative. I make no secret of that fact. And as a conservative, I fall into the stereotype of thinking the media has a liberal bias, sometimes overwhelmingly so. Most of the time I don't care, beacuse I've learned to decipher stories in such a way as to absorb facts are reject opinion. It took some work, but I'm fairly skilled at it now (at least I think so).

Now I have no problem with journalists injecting opinions into stories they write. They have freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and I won't begrude them those rights (even if they don't want to allow me my freedom to own a gun....but that's a different rant for a different time). It only becomes a problem when they try to present opinion as fact.

(Warning, the following paragraph contains sports to prove a point, if you hate sports you may skip the following paragraph)
Let's take a quick look at the differnce between the 2, using the NFL as an example because it's my site and I am an NFL fan. Clinton Portis, RB for the Washington Redskins, had 1487 rushing yards last season. See that? That's a fact. I can point to stastics and prove that something is true. Yards are concrete, they have a set measurement, therefore they can be proven as a fact. Drew Brees, QB for the New Orleans Saints, was the best QB in the NFL last season. That is an opinion. Why is it not a fact? Because the term "best" can not be measured by any quantifiable standard. "Best" in an opininative term and its meaning varies according to user. Why was Drew Brees the best QB? Well he did have more passing yards than any other QB, and he tied for the most TD throws last season (hey look, facts!). That is indeed an impressive feat, but the Saints did not make it to the playoffs. Can someone be the "best" if they fail to reach the ultimate goal in their field? Perhaps. I think Drew Brees is a far better QB than say, Ben Roethlisberger, but Ben Roethlisberger was the Super Bowl winning QB for the Steelers. So facts can and do shape opinion, but opinions are not facts.

Now for myself, it has been rather interesting to watch the media report on the Iraq War over the last few years. Part of the problem This is not a secret, as many in the media admit to being politically liberal, even as they pretend to be unbiased in reporting the news. Here is a link to the FEC about donations to this past presidental election. This is just from CNN, where the story I link to later comes from. The totals: Obama: 12 donors, $4340, Ron Paul: 1 donor, $1250, Hillary: 1 donor $375, John McCain: 1 donor, $100. Facts, my friends.

Since about 2004, the reports on Iraq have been increasingly negative, reaching their crescendo in 2006 when everybody in the media declared that Iraq was in a full-blown civil war and we had lost. Nobody has yet to detract that statement that I have seen, rather they pretend that they never made it. Now when those in the media, who have the power to influence public opinion, decided that the war was lost (an opinion), they tried to back their assertion up with statistics (facts). Who here remembers every "Grim milestone" as troop casualties hit 3000, 3500, 4000, etc.? Nevermind that statistically these numbers represented historically impressive low casualty numbers for a war (especially one as long as this one), those numbers seem high to the average American and so they had the desired effect.

However, there came to be a dichotomy in the way these reports were viewed. If those in the media were so against the war, how did they feel about the brave troops fighting? Well along comes the "We supports the troops but not their mission" line, which is a farce so bold it does inspire some admiration at the stones taken to pull it off. But then the media started to turn on the troops, as they inevitably had to. Troop "atrocities" like Abu Gharib (anybody else get a "Frat House Hazing Week" vibe from the pictures presented to us?) and Fallujah. Well now to make even further distinctions. "We support the troops....but some of them are bad apples." Again, such an obvioius statement is breathtaking. Of course there are "bad apples" in the military, there are millions of people in our military. Nobody is that naive as to believe that everybody in our military is a saint.

But you see, the media has painted itself into a corner. In their news stories, there are only 2 types of people that join the military. The first type is the "good soldier." But you see, these good soldiers are merely naive children who were tricked by the military and the government (aka President Bush) into joining in an unjust and unholy war on the innocent Iraqis. See Casey Sheehan as an example of a 21 year old "child" who joined the military in 2000, and as a 25 year old "child" re-enlisted under his own power and was killed on duty in Iraq in 2004.

I will once again refrain from another tangentical rant about the mind-boggling hypocracy of a 25 year old man being too young to make his own life choices, but a 14 year old girl is smart and old enough to get an abortion without her parents concent or knowledge.

Now the other type of soldier in the media's mind is the "bad soldier." The bad soldier itself has 2 subtypes: those who were bad before joining the military, and those who turned bad during the war because the war is bad and made good people turn evil. Subtype 2 is the favorite type of the media as it fits in with their "The War in Iraq is a crime against humanity" template. And when such a story shows its face, we get a story like this one.

It all starts with the headline. The story starts off trying to get you to feel sympathetic with this monster (You were right, I think you are a monster). The theme of the story is that this poor, ordinary kid turned into a rapist and murder thanks to Bush's War. Nevermind the fact that he joined the military in 2005, well after both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were in full swing. No, he is the victim.

"All of my buddies were getting killed over there. My lieutenant got his face blown off. ... George Bush and Dick Cheney ought to be the ones that are arrested."

Green, a high school dropout, was a product of Bush's hometown of Midland, Texas. He had enlisted in 2005, leaving the hot, dry, oil-rich land of the Permian Basin for another hot, dry, oil-rich land.

"Joining the Army was the worst decision I ever made," he said.

Now, Green stands convicted for crimes he committed as a soldier.

No you piece of shit, raping and murdering a family because you have no soul was the worst decision you ever made. Do not try to justify your actions by blaming the military. And shame on the author of this article for trying to force me to feel sympathy for this lowlife scum.

The time has come for reporters to make up their mind. Do you really support the military and all of our service members? Or is our military full of inhuman monsters/a training place that turns people into monsters? Yes, this is a futile plea, but welcome to why I am not sad to see the media becoming obsolete due to their worship of Obama.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T13:26:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there. As a male, I of course can never fully comprehnd all the sacrifices mothers make, especially that whole "pregnancy" and "labor" and "giving birth" thing you ladies do, some of you somehow more than once. Biology is a cruel mistresses.

And now to end on a happy note, here's a related Mother's Day message from comedian Jeff Dunham and his sidekick Peanut:

2nd Amendment Math: 1 Dead Criminal Saves 11 Innocent Lives

2009-05-06T19:51:00.005-04:00

I realize that one of the dangers of the internet is that stories come out in bits and pieces. Usually not all of a story is available right off the bat, and people can jump to conclusions that could later be proven wrong. In the story I'm writing about tonight, not all of the facts are yet available. The story seems to prove the bravery and heroism of one young man. Facts could come out later disputing portions of this story, but the overall theme is one many of us on the right base much of our worldview around.

The story, via Jonah Goldberg at NRO (National Review Online), which I found via Ace of Spades HQ, is a story about a young man in college who saved the lives of himself and 11 of his friends by being armed and therefore able to defend himself.

Bailey said he thought it was the end of his life and the lives of the 10 people inside his apartment for a birthday party after two masked men with guns burst in through a patio door.

This story took your basic movie hostage turn: wallets and cell phones demanded, women and men separated, threats of death on the victims. But fortunately for all the innocents involved, one student had a handgun in his backpack. He first shot the man holding the guys hostage, and the man fled. Then, he shot the man (who is reported to be in the process of attempted rape) holding the women hostage . The 2nd robber jumped out the window, and was later found dead....after asking for somebody to call the cops to help him, ironically enough. Unfortunately, one girl was harmed in the crossfire; however, she is alive, recovering, and was not killed or raped.

Obviously there are a lot of variables in this story that will come out soon enough. Was the gun legal and/or registered? Was he allowed to carry it? What was the fate of the first robber? What charges will be pressed against this brave young man? For the skeptics: what is the likelyhood these men would have actally used their guns (even if they were actually willing to rape in either case)? But until then, let us take a moment to congratulate this couragous and quick-thinking young man for probably saving 11 lives.

On a personal note, I graduate from college in December of 2007. I lived in campus all 4 1/2 years, and it was a gun-free campus. We were told by campus security (who were not allowed to carry guns themselves until my last semester) that calling 911 from campus wouldn't do any good because the police weren't required to be familiar with the campus. We were told to call security first, and that they would call the cops and try to help out first themselves. Let my just say this was not at all comforting for me to find out. Police response time is long enough without having to add yet another step to the process (and not being 100% certain that step 1 would lead to step 2).

Currently I work for Pizza Hut as a delivery driver. Pizza Hut policy, which we are told at orientation, is that we are not allowed to carry any weapon to defend ourselves in the event of a robbery. I understand this, but it doesn't help that my boss informs me every month about another driver or two getting robbed in Pittsburgh. Would I ever use a gun in self defense in that situation? Hard to say, honestly. If I knew giving somebody the money would be all, then I wouldn't escalate the situation; conversely, if I knew only one of us would leave the situation alive I have no doubt I would use force. And I fully believe this was the situation this poor guy found himself in. When 2 men broke in, flashed their guns, and split up the party-goers, this young man had to know there was no good end for him if he remained passive.

The U.S Constutions states that we are "...endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The right to life trumps all other rights. The 2nd amendment protects a person's right to life, which this brave soul exercised when his right was threatened by these 2 thugs.

What happened that night will stay with this man for the rest of his life. If this story holds up in its current form, may he know that he did the right thing and come to terms with it.

The Media that Cried Wolf: Why We'll Never See an Actual Pandemic Coming

2009-05-04T17:17:00.005-04:00

I've always considered myself a skeptic by nature. Part of that is because I'm a realist, which means taking a lot of life with a grain of salt. This is especially true concening the media. Now I'm not an idiot, and I know how capitalism works. The media gets money by making every story seem like it's the most imporant story of our lifetimes. Most of the time it's not a problem, overblowing celebrity screwups or political misspeaks won't destory western society. However, there is one line that they media crosses too often: declaring a pandemic is upon us every year.

Every year, it seems the media types come out in sackcloth and ashes declaring "Woe unto us, the end is nigh." This year's pandemic-du-jour is Swine Flu (H1N1). Why this year, the numbers are staggering. In the U.S. alone there have been 286 confirmed cases in 36 states! Why, there's even been 1 death in the America....at least techinally anyway, as it was a Mexican child who died while in America:

The only swine flu death in the U.S. is that of a Mexican toddler who was visiting Texas.

But hey, the media says that THIS is the one that's gonna kill us all. And why should we doubt them? After all, it was basically the same flu that did actually kill close to 100 million people in 1918, when it was called the Spanish Flu. Never mind that the disease spread like wildfire because of the horrible conditions of trench warfare in WWI. After all in 90 years we have had absolutely no advances in medicine or living conditions.

I mean, it's not like the media does this every year. Oh wait, they do. Do any of you remember Avian Flu (H5N1)? Avian flu was suppoed to wipe out all of mankind as late as last year, but the totals for that disease include 421 infected and 257 deaths. Sure, that's an impressive kill rate of 61%, but take a look at this chart, which shows a vast majority of the cases occuring in Indonesia (141 infected/115 dead), Vietnam (110/55), and Egypt (66/23). Shining examples of medical advances and high standards of living all 3.

Of course Avian flu should never have had its chance, as back in 2007 West Nile virus was supposed to be the apocalyptic disease to end all diseases. A different rant for a different would involve the insanity of keeping DDT banned while mosquitos, as main vectors of WNV, threated to wipe us out, but I digress.

The United States in 2007; "A total of 3,630 cases of WNV neuroinvasive disease (WNND) and 124 deaths were reported."[10] This means that of extremely serious infections of WNV, less than 4% were fatal and the general total mortality rate was likely much less than 4% as most cases are not severe.

So just to recap, in a nation of ~300 million, a disease that infects just over 3500 and kills just over 100 will doom us all. Awesome.

And one more blast from the past, who can forget about SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)? The upper-respiratory infection from China was that going to kill us all was the pandemic of 2003.

There has been one near pandemic to date, between the months of November 2002 and July 2003, with 8,096 known infected cases and 774 deaths (a case-fatality rate of 9.6%) worldwide being listed in the World Health Organization's (WHO) 21 April 2004 concluding report.

Once more to recap, in a world that has a population of over 6 billion, 8000 infected and less than 800 dead is a "near pandemic."

Sorry to dissapoint everbody, but none of these count as pandemics, no matter how much hype they may recieve. Do you know counts as a pandemic? A disease that kills 100 million people, or a disease that is responsible for wiping out half of China and close to 1/3 or Europe.

I'm a student of history. The next great pandemic is inevitable. It is only a matter of time before something will wipe out a large portion of humanity, mostly in the developing world where sanitation is poor and medical care is almost non-existant. But you know what doesn't help? Screaming "THE SKY IS FALLING!" everytime flu season rolls around, or everytime 3 elderly people in Florida die of the same disease. I know I'm not the only one who has grown immune to the hyperventiling, and each year more and more people will do so. Eventually, nobody will care when the wolf is really at the door. The next Little Ice Age is approaching, and with it the perfect conditions for a world-shattering catastrophe.

So sorry Sheriff Joe, I don't plan to "Gird my loins" just yet over this. And I could be wrong, but so far it looks like it is instead the media that is on the wrong track yet again. History doesn't lie, but the media does.

Sometimes I Admire Those Lazy Welfare Bastards

2009-05-03T19:44:00.003-04:00

So there should be a real post up tomorrow, once I've had time to re-set my brain and catch up on all the news I've missed this week. It's been one hell of a week for me. To overview: 7 straight days of work (Sunday-Saturday), over 60 hours this week, including having to pick up an extra shift at work when somebody called out sick. Plus, one of the other drivers was on vacation this week, which didn't help.

-Saturday: My last day off before today, I watched the NFL draft and went out to dinner with my grandparents, bought my "new" car in time for this week of work

-Sunday: 10 hour shift at work

-Monday: Short day only 6 hours of work, and no other plans

-Tuesday: 6 hour shift, followed by practice for my church's softball team, which starts playing this week.

-Wednesday: 7 hour shift turns into 10 when I have to cover for the driver that called off work

-Thursday: 7 hour shift turns to 8 when I have to switch from driver to production because of the dinner rush

-Friday: 9 hour shift turns into 11 hour shift when the store gets busy while staffed with the most incompetent workers the manager could manage to hire

-Saturday (yesterday): 11 hour shift caps a 7 day workweek. What fun.

The wosrt part of this is I don't get 20 hours of overtime pay. Weeks at work go Tuesday thru Monday, so I'll only get about 3 hours. The good news is that I now get a 2-day weekend today and tomorrow.

Most of the people who read this won't care. But it's my site, damnit, and I'll put what I want on here. Plus some of you can relate, and most of you will understand why I haven't been online much this week.

It's All in the Timing

2009-04-24T18:18:00.004-04:00

So this is not a political post, it is a personal rant. So last week I notice that my car is starting to act up a little. The big problem with that is that I am a pizza delivery driver, so I need a car that is at least functional. My car is (was) a 1996 Ford Taurus with 133k miles (I bought it 5 years ago my sophomore year in college with about 80k miles on it, so it's lasted me quite a while.)

So this past weekend I call up a local dealership to look at some (used) cars after my shifts end (I've started working the day shift, so I'm out by 6 most days and this place is open until 9 on Tuesdays and Thursdays). On Tuesday I go in, look at a couple cars, get some numbers, and tell them a couple I'm interested so they can take a quick look at them, make sure they're running and would pass state inspection, and I set up an apointment to test drive them yesterday (Thursday) after work. I take a couple cars out, like one and decide on it. It's a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am with 80k on it for about $5k. I give them my info, they say they'll call around Friday to the banks they work with and find the best loan. (My wife got her car from this dealer, so we have a small history, but there is one)

Well today I'm working a 11-8 shift. Around 3 PM, my car dies. The alternator is shot, and as a result it has killed the brand new, 1 week old battery I have in the car. As I'm waiting for a ride back to work to switch over to kitchen duty for a couple hours, I get a call from the dealership saying the deal is done (they give me the details) and that I can pick up my car anytime.

Except that my wife co-signed the loan so that there wouldn't be any problems with the bank seeing 2 incomes instead of 1. Prefect. So I can't just push my car over to the dealership a block away to get my new (ok, "new"), perfectly working car. Luckily I got a ride home tonight and have tomorrow off work. So hopefully tomorrow my wife can just meet me at the dealership so I can get a working car again.

Man, being an adult really sucks sometimes.....this is definately one of those times.

Democrats Telling Republicans How to Win: What Could Go Wrong?

2009-04-20T18:53:00.003-04:00

To be upfront, I got the main article for this from my friend Afrocity. The article is entitled "The GOP's worrisome degeneration: Yes, worrisome." To give a brief overview and save you 5 minutes, the argument is this: the Republicans sending Specter packing would be horrible for the Republican party. The authror sums it up himself near the end of his piece:

If the party fails to moderate, then by omission it's taking just one more step toward a political graveyard of fractured conservatism. Why do I care, rather than rejoice? Why should you care? Because a morbidly ineffective opposition does no favors for liberalism's vibrancy or the vitality of a social democracy. Absent a healthy competitor to keep its game sharp, modern progressivism could die a quick, sloppy and arrogant death: just recall what happened to the modern GOP.

Now maybe I'm just the paranoid type (....shut up), but it seems to me that when your opponent starts telling you the proper way to win, you should be concerned. "No hey, you Republicans should totally run a candidate that most of you hate, becuase running a conservative will certainly lead to a Democrat victory, and who wants that?" Um....my guess would be Democrats would want that, and thus should be supporting the candidacy of a conservative that has no chance of winning. In fact, he already mentions this little tidbit in his piece:

Where did all those moderates go? Why, they "registered as Democrats," of course, because they've nowhere else to go -- leaving Pennsylvania's Republican Party as a self-strangling coven of ultraconservative mossbacks, and thrusting Specter into not-so friendly fire from the far right.

If all the moderates are Democrats, then what is the problem for the Democrats?

It also seems a bit odd to me that the party being led by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama (3 of the most liberal members of Congress) has its members telling the Republicans how WE need to run moderates for the good of the country. Really? This from the party that sat idly by while Joe Lieberman, a staunch liberal who had the gall to support the War in Iraq as his sole "Conservative" sin, was evicted from his own party in the primary only to win while running as an independent? This from the party whose only challenger to Nancy Pelosi's house seat in San Fransisco was Cindy Fucking Sheehan?

Look, I get that it's complicated. Senators are supposed to think more broadly than Representatives, hence having a larger constituency. However, Specter still has to answer to the people of Pennsylvania and more importantly, the Republicans of Pennsylvania. When you vote for or against somebody, you do so because of how well you think they represent you. I, for one, do no feel that Specter does an adequate job, and I will be voting for Toomey in the primary. Will Toomey, a Conservative, lose in a statewide race? Perhaps. But he is my choice over Specter.

And now for those of you Democrats who feel that moderates are better suited to hold office than extremists: prove it. Run a moderate Democrat....you know, one who will spit in your eye 50%+ of the time, because that's what moderates are supposed to do. After all, if moderates are the lifeblood of a democracy, why should the burden be all on our side (Yes, that is rhetorical)?

The solution is simple: if you want us to take your advice, then stop being hypocrites.

Pictured above: The Duke of Wellington, no doubt just after giving Napoleon excellent strategies on how to win the Battle of Waterloo

The Law is for Us Dumb Plebians, Not for Our Betters in Charge

2009-04-19T16:53:00.003-04:00

So for those of you who don't know, I used to live in Maryland, a state so Democratic that it's had only 1 Republican governor in my lifetime (24 years). That man was Robert Erlich (his Lt. Gov. was Michael Steele, the first African-American elected to state-wide office in Maryland, because I like trivia like that), and he was the first Republican governor since....wait for it....Spiro Agnew. Yeah, I'm sure that's company he loves being lumped with, but what can he do? Erlich served one term, then was voted out in favor of Martin O'Malley who previous held the title as mayor of Baltimore. Yes, that Baltimore, one of the worse cities in America for violent crime (which makes it a great sister city for DC). It was at that point I knew I could not live in the state after college, and so I moved one state north to Pennsylvania.

My representative in Maryland had been Steny Hoyer (D), the current Majority leader in the House. I figured I couldn't do much worse than him, and so I moved to western PA. Not long after I move here do I realize that I have indeed managed to do worse, as my current representative is none other than John Murtha (D-Senility). Yeah, that John Murtha, who called our Marines in Iraq "cold blooded killers." Well wouldn't you know, all 15 of those accused went to trial, and not one was found guilty. What are the odds?!

Well one of these men decided that he wasn't going to let his name be smeared without a fight. Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich decided to sue Murtha for slander. I know, a novel idea, how dare he try to hold our government representatives responsible for what they say or do?! But take heart my friends, here comes the courts to the goverment's rescue.

The federal Court of Appeals in DC this past week ruled that Murtha is immune from lawsuit over his remarks.

(Pictured above, John Murtha, explaining "I AM ABOVE THE LAW!")

According to the AP article linked above:

Murtha, who is opposed to the Iraq war, has said he made the comments to draw attention to the pressure put on troops in Iraq and efforts to cover up the incident. He did not mention Wuterich or any other Marines by name.

A three-judge panel on U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that Murtha could not be sued under the 1988 Westfall Act, which gives federal employees immunity from lawsuits arising out of acts they undertake in the course of their official duties.

Now, this may just be my own opinion, but does anybody else find it alarming and disturbing that the goverment granted itself the power of immunity? What ever happened to the quaint notion that in America, nobody is above the law? That the government was of the people, by the people, for the people? (Abraham Lincoln, Nov 19 1863) Well apparently I'm not alone in this opinion. Continued from the article:

Wuterich's attorney Mark S. Zaid said that despite the appeals court ruling, Murtha should apologize for his statements.

"It is disappointing that the court has placed members of Congress on a special pedestal and granted them carte blanche immunity to defame anyone they choose as part of their official responsibilities without even allowing a victim to expose the actual facts that are known only to the perpetrator," Zaid said.

At least 3 other Marines involved in the Haditha incident are taking Murtha to court, but in different jurisdicitons with no ruling as of yet.

Look, it's bad enough to find out that over the past 10 years almost every prominent Democrat has failed to pay taxes while trying desperately to raise ours, but that hypocracy is to be expected by many of us on the Right at this point. To give members of Congress a blank check to slander whoever they want and claim immunity is such a disgusting abuse of power that it simply boggles the mind.

When asked what kind of government had been created in 1787, Benjamin Franklin responded "A Republic, if you can keep it." I'm sorry Mr. Franklin, we are failing you. The People are too distracted to care that our Republic is turning into an Oligarchy. Time to remind our Congress who they work for, and that they are not above the laws they create for us Plebians to follow. This would be a great first step in reminding our Patrician class that they are not above us.

A Joyous Easter to You All

2009-04-12T12:47:00.001-04:00

Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior,
waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Refrain:
Up from the grave he arose;
with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;
he arose a victor from the dark domain,
and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior,
vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!
(Refrain)

Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior;
he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!
(Refrain)

You Have Been Weighed in the Balances and Have Been Found Wanting

2009-04-11T17:49:00.010-04:00

The title of today's piece comes from the book of Daniel, in which he translates the writing on the wall for the Babylonian king. The phrase is from the Hebrew word "Tekel" in the phrase "Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin" (depending on the translation, that's how the English Standard Version of the Bible spells the phrase). The quote was slightly bastardized in the movie "A Knights Tale" as "You have been measured, you have been weighed, and you have been found wanting."

This phrase seems apt these days. It appears to me to be the way the rest of the world views President Barack "Teleprompter" Obama. Sure, it's the inherent reaction between democracies and dictatorships. Dictators gernally outlast democratically elected leaders, and no 2 leaders are alike. Bush was tested, Clinton was tested, Reagan was tested; it's the way the world operates. The way that each leader respondes to these tests determines how the rest of the world will react throughout the rest of his term in office. This is why it is so vital for ALL of us to pay attention to these events.

So far, it appears that President Lightweigh has failed almost every test thrown his way. Iran is continuing its rapid acquisition of nuclear weapons. North Korea launched yet another missle despite the administraion doing everything short of sending a strongly worded UN resolution begging him to stop or else (another strongly worded letter would be on its way soon). The Somali pirates have, as of this post, attacked 2 American ships without so much as a peep from the White House about either attack. Europe rebuked every "pretty please" that was thrown at them about helping out in Afghanistan. Why, it's almost ironic how the man elected to restore our place in the world has managed to knock our prestige down even farther.

None of these events will go unnoticed. Iran, North Korea, and Somalia have already figured out that they can expliot the President and get away with it. Russia has no doubt noticed the shift in the last year from President Bush's push to make Georgia part of NATO to stop Russian expansion to President Obama's promise to scrap missile defense and back away from the defense of Poland and the Czech Republic. The Taliban have gotten bolder in Afghanistan and Pakistan (despite Obama's desire to invade Pakistan as stated last year during the campaign). Every Muslim country within 1 million miles of Isreal must be eyeing the potentially isolated oasis of Western Civilization in the Middle East.

But, it's not like we weren't warned (those of us paying attention anyway). After all, back in October (then) Senator Joe Biden told us "Gird your loins" because Obama would be tested within his first 6 months in office.

I'm hoping and praying for the best, I really am, but I just have one thing to say at this point: Congratulation Democrats, he's all yours. Let's see how well you play defense once your deflection technique is overwhelmed. As for me? I'm gonna enjoy getting to play offense for a change.

EDIT: And, is if right on freaking cue, comes this story. From Ace of Spades-Pirates FIRE on US Navy, and there was no return fire. I can't sum it up any better than DrewM (who made the post): "Obama. He's Jimmy Carter without the muscular foreign policy."

Entertainment in Leiu of Substance

2009-04-10T17:59:00.003-04:00

I have 2 of the next 3 days off, and with the wife working tomorrow I should have some time to come up with something halfway interesting/entertaining. (At least that's the plan). So in the meantime, enjoy some Friday night Dropkick Murphys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s51Vn4tjS0U

(Stupid Youtube, making me look like an idiot by having to ask for help by not working when I tried it the right way the first time....)

Idealism vs. Realism

2009-04-05T17:29:00.010-04:00

Looking back, I'm slowing starting to realize that one of the more important classes that I took while in college was a class called International Relations. Being a political science class, I found myself in the minority as a conservative. The reason that this was one of my more important classes was that I noticed something about my professor. The man was a Democrat, there was no question about it, but as the semester wore on I began to realize that he was a moderate-to-coservative Democrat. He required several small papers on topics throughout the semester, such as "Should Female Soldiers be Required to Wear Burqas in Saudi Arabia?" and other topics that would require us to not only pick a side, but defend it with reason and logic. This was at the end of my Freshman year, and as I look back, this class helped me solidify my Conservative principles.

The turning point came for me during a section that he titled "Idealism vs. Realism: the 2 Conflicting World Views to International Relations." The lesson essentially boiled down to the differece between "Real politik" (also described as "Machiavellian") vs. International Liberalism (also referred to as "Wilsonian Idealism"). Now like any teacher, he tried to stress that each side had its merits, and that a combination of the 2 was often the best method (basically the "Carrot and Stick" approach to diplomacy). But it was at this point I realized the difference in Conservative and Liberal ideology, and I then knew why, even at a relatively young age, liberalism would never appeal to me.

You see, I had always viewed myself as a realist. I attribute a great deal of this to having Leukemia as a child (I was diagnosed at age 7). Maybe this situation, which led to me not leading the sheltered life of many of my college cohorts, allowed me to face to reality of the world long before any of them were ready, I can't say for sure. But by the time I reached college age, I had seen enough in the real world to understand that there are *gasp* bad people out there who want to do bad things.

Hell, you don't have to look at the world at large to see this. Anybody who's been through school knows there are bullies, victims, and those who at times fall into both categories. Ah, but therein lies the distinction. You see, for all of the liberal taunting that Conservatives only see the world in black and white, it is Conservatives who recognize that there are 3 groups, not 2. To liberals, there are only victims and bullies. Victims are infallible, and bullies can do nothing right. There is no middle ground where a bully might have a legitimate grievance or a victim might be in the wrong. Look at their dichotomy of inner city blacks vs. inner city cops. To them, the cops are always wrong and the blacks are always right.

Now, being young, I am still fairly naive about politics, I admit. But I was almost certain that there were no pure ideologues on either side of the Realism/Idealism divide. Even realist, such as myself, tend to want to believe that some of our idealistic fantasies can come to pass with enough realism added to the mixture. Democracy in Iraq has been the largest Conservative Realism mixed with Idealism issue in recent memory. But then, last November, the majority of voters in the country decided that Barack Obama was the best man (sexist alert!) to lead this country. I, like many Conservatives I know, thought "This man can't possibly believe all this naive-sounding things he's been saying....surely he has SOME idea about how the real world works, and he will move toward the middle when he is confronted with the realities of all these situations he is about to face." Well, sadly, it appears as tho we were wrong. President Obama epitomizes the problems of idealists leading a world that is filled with realists and opportunists.

From MSNBC: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30053670/)

Obama launches effort to reduce nuclear arms
U.S. has ‘responsibility to act’ to rid world of such weapons, president says

PRAGUE
- President Barack Obama on Sunday launched an effort to rid the world of
nuclear weapons, calling them "the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War" and
saying the U.S. has a moral responsibility to lead as the only nation ever to
have used one.

In a speech driven with new urgency by North Korea's rocket launch just
hours earlier, Obama said the U.S. would "immediately and aggressively" seek
ratification of a comprehensive ban on testing nuclear weapons. He said the U.S.
would host a summit within the next year on reducing and eventually eliminating
nuclear weapons, and he called for a global effort to secure nuclear material.

"Some argue that the spread of these weapons cannot be checked — that
we are destined to live in a world where more nations and more people possess
the ultimate tools of destruction," Obama said to a bustling crowd of more than
20,000 in an old square outside the Prague Castle gates.

"This fatalism is a deadly adversary," he said. "For if we believe that the
spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, then we are admitting to ourselves that
the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable."

Aimed at North KoreaObama targeted his comments at one point directly
at North Korea, which launched a rocket late
Saturday night in defiance of the international community. The president was
awoken by an aide and told of the news, which occurred in the early morning
hours in Prague.

"North Korea broke the rules once more by testing a rocket that could
be used for a long range missile," Obama said. "This provocation underscores the
need for action — not just this afternoon at the UN Security Council, but in our
determination to prevent the spread of these weapons."

At a summit with leaders of the European Union later in the day, Obama
called for a swift, joint statement condemning North Korea's actions.

North Korea declared the missile launch a success. But the U.S. military
said "no object entered orbit," with the first stage of the rocket falling into
the waters between Korea and Japan, and the two other stages and its payload
landing in the Pacific Ocean.

Addressing another potential nuclear foe, Obama said in his speech the U.S.
will present Iran with "a clear choice" to join the community of nations by
ceasing its nuclear and ballistic missile activity or face increased isolation.

Proceeding with missile defenseHe said the U.S. will proceed with
development of a missile defense system in Europe as long as there is an Iranian
threat of developing nuclear weapons. If that threat is removed, he said, "The
driving force for missile defense in Europe will be removed."

The choice of Prague for such a speech carried strong symbolism, and Obama
didn't ignore it. Decades of communism were toppled in Czechoslovakia through
the 1989 Velvet Revolution, so named because it was one of the few peaceful
overthrows of communism in the Iron Curtain. The Czech Republic split from
Slovakia in 1993.

Obama praised the Czechs for helping "bring down a nuclear-armed empire
without firing a shot."

Obama coupled his call for a nuclear-free world with an assurance that
America would not unilaterally give up nuclear weapons. It must be a
one-for-all, all-for-one endeavor, he said, and until that is possible, the U.S.
will maintain a big enough arsenal to serve as a deterrent.

Drastically cut arsenals?
Few experts think it's possible to completely eradicate nuclear weapons, and many say it wouldn't be a good idea even if it could be done. But a program to drastically cut the world atomic arsenal carries support from scientists and lions of the foreign policy world.

The Comprehensive Test Ban

Treaty was signed by former President Bill Clinton but rejected by the Senate in
1999. Over 140 nations have ratified the ban, but 44 states that possess nuclear
technology need to both sign and ratify it before it can take effect and only 35
have do so. The United States is among the key holdouts, along with China,
Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, and Pakistan.

Ratification of the test ban was one of several "concrete steps" Obama
outlined as necessary to move toward a nuclear-free world. He also called for
reducing the role of nuclear weapons in American national security strategy,
negotiating a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia, and seeking a new
treaty to end the production of fissile materials used in nuclear weapons.

Obama also said the U.S. will seek to strengthen the nuclear
nonproliferation treaty by providing more resources and authority for
international inspections and mandating "real and immediate consequences" for
countries that violate the treaty.

Obama spoke after conferring with Czech leaders. He is nearing the end of a
sweep through five nations in Europe, pivoting from the global economic swoon to
the war in Afghanistan to, now, the crisis in North Korea and the fate of the
nuclear world.

Look, it's not that hard to figure out the error in this type of thinking. Well, it's not hard for realists to see the error in this kind of thinking. Would it be nice to live in a world without the threat of nuclear annihilation by insane despots like Kim Jong Il and Ahmadinejad, but giving up our nuclear weapons will not stop them from obtaining them. In fact, the sooner we got rid of our advantage, the sooner they would move to gain the edge. In fact, leaders like Putin, Stalin, Ahmadinejad, Hitler, Atilla the Hun, love idealists in power. Why? Because these men were realists, and knew how to take advantage of idealists.

The world is a dangerous place. Idealism itself is not a bad thing. Idealisms leads to the abolition of slavery. Idealism leads to democracy. Idealism leads to America. But if idealism is not tempered with hard reality, it becomes unsustainable. The Bible speaks of a day when "The wolf will dwell with the lamb," but until that day comes, would you rather be the wolf, or the lamb? Pick whichever side you like, but count me among those who prefer to be the wolf.

History Doesn't Repeat Itself, But It Does Rhyme

2009-03-29T20:30:00.006-04:00

The title of this post is one of the more famous quotes of 19th century author Samuel Langhorn Clemens. Clemens is more famously known as Mark Twain, and he was a true American genius (not to be confused with "Real Men of Genius" as trademarked by Bud Light).

I currently hold a B.A. in Social Sciences, and took as many history classes in college as I could. I took American history to 1877, American History since 1877, The Civil War, Western civilization before and after 1500 (2 classes), Sub-Saharan African history, Middle Eastern history, Modern History since 1945, and several political science classes. My family brought me up with an interest in history, and 2 of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence (Robert Morris of PA, and Lewis Morris of NY). Before I was 5, I had been to over a dozen Civil War battle sites. I started to pay attention to politics around the age of 15, and so I cosider myself more enlightened than many my age. Conceited? Perhaps, but I've seen plenty of anecdotal evidence in my life to support my theory.

One of the biggest problems I have seen with people my age (and I'll include up to age 30 in that group) is the lack of perspective when it comes to history and politics. One with any perspective needs to look no futher than this "Worst economy since the great despression" line that is being pushed by everybody with access to an audience. Many in my generation have lived their whole lives in an economy that has been rising at a (relatively) stable rate. Except for the tech bubble bursting in 2000/2001, there have been no major economic downturns since '82. Nobody my age is old enough to remember Stagflation, the Misery Index, 21% interest rates, etc. We're the spoiled offspring of the spoiled Boomer generation.

Yes, I admit I have lived a spoiled, relatively cushy life. My parents were upper-middle class, and between scholarships and parents' money, I didn't have to spend a dime of my own money on college. This allowed me a leg-up to buy a car while in college (which I paid for myself with summer jobs), and start off my post-college life with relatively little debt (tho my wife is another story...). But I am aware of this fact and admit to it. I have also worked at a minimum-wage job for the last year and have not taken a handout from my parents, charity, or the government during that time.

Unfortunately this last election seemed to revolve around history....the first (half)Black President. Everybody (ok, 52% of the population) wanted to be "part of history" and vote Obama into office so they could be on the "right side of history." Nobody cared about Obama's well documented ties to radical Marxism and terrorists; nobody cared about his complete lack of private-sector knowledge or executive experience; and nobody cared about him being completely unable to talk without a teleprompter attached to his freaking face. All that mattered was that Obama was young, cool, and black.

I was born in 1985, I don't remember Ronald Reagan or GHW Bush. I wasn't alive during the Carter era, but after reading about what those 4 years were like, the simliarities between then and now terrify me. Am I overreacting? I'll admit it's possible. I mean, at least Carter was a governor and a farmer before he became President. Whereas Obama has already proved to be in over his head. He's still campaigning for a job he already has, and his entire cabinet seems to be people from the Clinton years.

I have but a small glimmer of hope for my generation to not continue down the disasterous path of the Boomers. Obama's administration may yet provide the disaster that my generation needs to get a cold slap in the face from reality. Whether economically or militarilly, I do not wish for this impending disaster, but I nevertheless realize its reality and necessity.

After all, those who do not learn from history are complete morons who deserve to be punched in the face. (I may have changed that famous saying a bit.....I think I made it better.)

Politicians: Stupid or Just Gullible?

2009-03-27T22:33:00.004-04:00

This might be an ongoing series here, so in the future I may have to label this post "Part 1." But recent incidents in politics have led to ask a question: Are politicians stupid, or just gullible?

It seems that over the last month, politicians in Washington are doing their best to prove their incompetence. I've spent the last few weeks trying to wrap my mind around the Chris Dodd/AIG debacle. First, claiming he had nothing to do with the bonuses, then claiming his ammendment was changed, then claiming he was pressured to write it the way it was. Sure, lies and cover-ups are what this is really about, but in order for lies and cover-ups to work you need competent people. So was Chris Dodd stupid or gullible in hoping that nobody would notice this?

Next on the docket, the case of Madame Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. At a recent even in San Francisco, Madame Pelosi was speaking before a group of Hispanics, both legal and illegal, and told them that enforcement of current immigration laws is "un-American." She said

"Who in in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in
doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families?
It must be stopped....What value system is that? I think it's
un-American." The Speaker went on to call the immigrants, quote, "very,
very patriotic" while telling the crowd they were, quote, "taking responsibility
for our country's future. "

I'm not an idiot, and I realize all politicians pander, but to be speaking in front of a group of illegal immigrant, calling them "patriotic" while demonizing the basic law of the land, is an act of extreme arrogance. This is something that she evidently did not think would get back to the public at large. Again I ask, to believe that nobody would find out about this, or that there would be an outrage once it was found out: stupid or gullible?

For the final case-study tonight, the recent outburst of Senate majority leader Harry Reid. The first example shows Harry Reid's basic lack of understanding of how democracy and elections work. In a meeting with the Christian Science Monitor, Reid stated:

"I'm sure they're (referring the Republicans--ed.) going to find
someone to run against me. I know I have a target on my back," Reid said. But,
saying he has raised "quite a bit of money," added, "I'm real comfortable that I
will be competitive."

Wow, that's quite the startling revelation. The Republicans are going to try to field a candidate to take on a sitting Democrat, especially one in a position of power? But, to be fair, Reid may just be relaying information to his constituents, many of whom could have no idea how democracy and elections work. Reid then went on this last week to talk about how he was fooled by a Supreme Court justice nominee, John Roberts:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that Supreme Court Chief
Justice John Roberts did not "tell us the truth" during his 2005
confirmation hearings, suggesting Roberts misled senators into believing he was
more moderate than he really was.

The big problem here is that Reid convienently forgets to give any specific examples of lies that Roberts told during his hearing. Reid also neglects to mention that he voted against Roberts' confirmation anyway. So if he voted against Roberts when he thought he was a moderate, how much more "moderate" would Roberts have had to be to get Reid's vote (yes, that's rhetorical)? It wouldn't have been difficult to gain immunity from the Roberts nomination given the circumstances. So was Reid just too stupid to be able to clear himself, or is he gullible enough to think that fighting a losing battle while up for re-election is a good strategy?

Should Candidates Running for Office be Forced to Resign First?

2009-03-27T22:19:00.004-04:00

The following post was written by myself last December, and I am posting it here to recieve thoughts by others on the subject.

With President-elect Barack Obama officially resigning from his Senate seat tonight (I believe, I know he's abdicated it as of this weeked), it got me thinking about this scenario. I think there should be a law passed stating that if you currently hold on position in politics and are funning for another, you should be forced to give up your current position. Yes, I know it has a fat chance of passing since the people who frequently do it are the ones who would have to agree to it, but here's why I think it should be this way (and i'll use this election as an example):

-For the last year almost, multipile US Senators, who were elected by their constituents to perform certain tasks, have often neglected those tasks. How much time have Obama, Biden, and McCain actually spent IN D.C. being senators and doing their duties rather than campaining? How much did Sarah Palin spend in Alaska as governor between August and November? It's not just that these people are not doing their jobs, it's that they're getting PAID (by US after all) while NOT doing the jobs that they are getting paid for. How many of us get the same luxury? "Yeah boss, I'm trying to get hired by somebody else, and I'll spend the next year doing so and therefore won't actually be doing much work around here, but I'd still like to get paid just the same, thanks."-Once they are elected, they must vacate their office anyway. Yes, I know this means McCain and Palin can go back to their jobs, but Obama and Biden now have vacant seats that their constituents can't directly vote on, but whose replacements are appointed by state governors or congresses (ironically un-progressive, no?).

-Of those who attempted to run for President in the last 2 years, only 3 that I can think of were not neglecting their governmental duties to do so, because they were not in goverment at the time: Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee (former Govs.) and Fred Thompson (former Sen., current actor). Everybody else, on both sides, were neglecting their primary jobs-Dems: Hillary, Obama, Kucinich, Biden (congress); Bill Richardson (NM gov.)-Reps: McCain, Ron Paul (congress)That's at LEAST 7 people who were neglecting their duties for however brief a period of time (so for Obama and McCain, 2 years. For Kucinich, about 3 days)

-I'm one of those people who believes that the goverment that governs least governs best. But I also believe that if you are going to claim to be a public servant and I'm paying you, you'd better not be screwing off trying to get another job where I pay your salary while not performing the current job where I pay your salary.Some people will no doubt disagree with me on this, but I wonder what your opinions are.Exit question: Should you have to give up your current goverment job (such as senator or governor) if you are spending a significant amount of time trying to get another government job (such as President)?

Allow Me to Introduce Myself

2009-03-19T20:12:00.004-04:00

Ok, so I realize that this is a small, personal blog, and that not too many people will actually be reading this, other than maybe the occasional lounge lizard from LGF. But nevertheless, this will give whoever stumbles upon this a chance to find out a few things about me that you may/may not want to know.

So while my online name is usually "pyro," my friends call me TJ. Knowing how the internet works, that's all the information you're going to get about my actual name. I'm 24 years old, and moved here to western Pennsylvania after graduating from college at Harding University. I got a B.A. in Social Science with a teaching liscence.

Currently I am a delivery driver for Pizza Hut. Yeah, I have a college degree and am working minimum wage job, but money is money, right guys? And with me having just purchased a house (see the 5 posts below this for proof), any money is good money. And with Obama's "Next Great Depression" just around the corner, I guess any job is good to have. I'm doing everything I can at the moment to become a teacher here in PA, but since I graduted from college in AR, I have to deal with all the fun of government beauracracy in getting my liscence transferred to another state.

I am married. Know, I will not show you all pictures on here, as I repeat, I'm not an idiot at how the internet works. But I will say her name is Laura, and we met at college. We've been married just over a year, and have no kids. Not planning to anytime in the near future either, so you are all safe from clones of me running around for a while.

I envision my blog having a dual nature: politics and sport, in that order. I'm quite into both, but my sport of choice is football, and that is sort of a dry area between now and August except for the draft and the end of April. Due to that fact, this place will focus mainly on politics when I go into rants. My political beliefs are basically conservative with libertarian leanings.

Well, that's a good enough introduction I suppose. Feel free to drop by anytime, but there's no promise as to how often I'll update this place. Feel free to comment and leave me suggestions.

Last Set of Pictures, Hooray!

2009-03-16T16:19:00.000-04:00

As this is the last set of pictures, and should be the one at the top of the page, the following pictures are various ones taken of our new house, which cost us $54k (yes, that's not a typo, that's $54,000).

One picture of the kitchen, showing our brand new fridge (hooray!) next to the empty space where our stove will go eventually when we can afford one.

View from the opposite end of the kitchen, show out massive counter/cabinet space that was severly lacking in our apartment. Seriously, this kitchen is about 3 times the size of our old one.

View from the "dining room" of our liviing room. Yeah it's kinda messy, we're still not fully unpacked yet (it's only been a week and a half, get off my back!)

View of the living room from the front door. (Staircase to the bedrooms on the left) And the "dining room" portion of the living room is in the background where the white tablecloth is.

View from the kitchen of the "dining room."

Garage Pictures

2009-03-16T16:16:00.000-04:00

So our house came with a detached 2 car garage out back. Here are some pictures of it.

From the side yard

From the door in the back facing the house

From the right garage door

From the front, with our neighbor's garbage can in front of one of the doors

New House Pictures the 3rd

2009-03-16T16:11:00.000-04:00

The guest bedroom, currently used for storing clothes.

Picture of our bedroom from the corner, with my dog "Cooley" (named after Redskins TE Chris Cooley, thank you very much) caught in the middle of his leap onto the bed.

Main bedroom as seen from the door

The bathroom. Sink on the right, shower on the left.

More House Pictures

2009-03-16T16:07:00.000-04:00

Stairs leading down to the basement, with the door leading to the side yard

Our "dungeon room" (the basement room with no windows or any access to the outside) that's currently used for storing boxes

The "Canning Room"

Images from opposing corners of the basement. The puddle is from the walls leaking slightly during rain storms, there's a sump pump around the corner from the (Brand new!) furnace

My New House

2009-03-16T16:04:00.000-04:00

These are the images of the outside of my house, complete with yard, yay!