Ikea..... the American dream

For years, I've asked friends and colleagues if liberalism makes people stupid or stupidity is what makes them liberals.

The Boss sheds some light on the answer......

During a press conference in Paris, The Boss explained that much of the inspiration for his new album, set for release on March 6th, is anger at what he sees as the crushing of the American Dream in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

“I have friends who lost everything they had,” Springsteen explained, according to the Dagens Nyhter (DN) newspaper.

In 2009, he put pen to paper began writing the album's lead track “We take care of our own”.

“In this song, I pose a number of questions. Questions which I later try to find answers to in other songs,” said Springsteen.

The 62-year-old rocker claimed the 2008 financial crisis was the result of decades of deregulation that spawned an ethic of unbridled greed.

“We've destroyed the idea of an equal playing field," he said, according to the AFP news agency.

When asked if he thought the United States should be changed into something closer to a Swedish-style welfare state, Springsteen responded enthusiastically.

“Exactly! That's my dream! It's written between the lines. But you have to listen very closely,” he said, according to DN.

I just wonder what Bruce would say if everyone who has fewer assets than he does were to download all of his songs for free. He'd be OK with that right?

But hey, nothing says Americana like Swedish meatballs during the holidays.

More.....

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The Useful idiot isn't so useful anymore

Pat Buchanan whines because MSNBC no longer wants his services........

My days as a political analyst at MSNBC have come to an end.

After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous.

The calls for my firing began almost immediately with the Oct. 18 publication of Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?? A group called Color of Change, whose mission statement says that it “exists to strengthen Black America’s political voice,” claimed that my book espouses a “white supremacist ideology.” Color of Change took particular umbrage at the title of Chapter 4, “The End of White America.”

My take.........Buchanan was only on MSNBC because they needed a representative of the conservative movement who they fashion as a racist, anti-Semite, which Buchanan was more than willing to oblige.

Now he sounds like a woman who cheated with a married man and now finds out that he's unfaithful to her.

When you lie with dogs, you'll get fleas.

More....

Funny of the day

Thanks reader Bruce

Clue phone for team Romney

When I do tax work for client's, one of the things I advise them is that your tax documents support a narrative about your life.

For instance, you can live in a $600,000 home if you make $9,000 a year. Where people get into trouble is when their tax documents do not match their particular narrative.

The same is true for politicians which is where I get to Romney. I'm throwing out the question for someone to please answer, what the hell is Romney for?

Now I get that most people who run for president have some warped personal resume they want to complete but generally they have some overriding issues that they want to accomplish once they're in office.

Romney has been running for president for over six years now and all I can derive is that he wants to be bigger, better, stronger than the idiot we already have in office.

That's not enough.

As a result, we have these few things that Romney has done which paints a picture of a guy who's only real principle in life is what is politically expedient at the moment. That's his narrative (see Romneycare). Clue phone to Romney, you're not going to win a Republican primary that way.

I'm only offering this advise because I truly think Romney is the only one left in the field who can beat Obama, but if his advisers can't offer him this one idea than he probably can't win either.

Republicans have been starving for over twenty years now for a guy who can articulate and lead the conservative movement and all we can seem to get from the establishment is a younger version of Bob Dole.

But don't take my word for it. Keep doing what you're doing, it seems to be working so well.

Obama's greatest hits

The Nanny State............ literally

When I first read this, I just shrugged my shoulders thinking it was just one more government intrusion we've allowed........actually we've asked for.......... in our lives.

When reader Jeremy sent me the link, I decided to read the whole thing and this should make everyone's blood boil.........

A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.

The girl's turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day.

The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs - including in-home day care centers - to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home.

When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones.

The girl's mother - who said she wishes to remain anonymous to protect her daughter from retaliation - said she received a note from the school stating that students who did not bring a "healthy lunch" would be offered the missing portions, which could result in a fee from the cafeteria, in her case $1.25.

"I don't feel that I should pay for a cafeteria lunch when I provide lunch for her from home," the mother wrote in a complaint to her state representative, Republican G.L. Pridgen of Robeson County.

The girl's grandmother, who sometimes helps pack her lunch, told Carolina Journal that she is a petite, picky 4-year-old who eats white whole wheat bread and is not big on vegetables.

"What got me so mad is, number one, don't tell my kid I'm not packing her lunch box properly," the girl's mother told CJ. "I pack her lunchbox according to what she eats. It always consists of a fruit. It never consists of a vegetable. She eats vegetables at home because I have to watch her because she doesn't really care for vegetables."

The Gekko's have one nephew out of about twenty who eats green beans out of a can and will eat broccoli without bathing it in ranch dressing. So the fact that her kid doesn't like vegetables would make her normal.

But instead, we all have to play pretend and make believe that if the kid only had access to a vegetable they would eat it.

Seriously, where does it end?

More................

Life in "Progress" City - Detroit edition

From the motor city, where there hasn't been a conservative run city government since Peter chopped off a Roman ear.

Imagine a city where all the major economic planks of the statist or "progressive" platform have been enacted:

• A "living wage" ordinance, far above the federal minimum wage, for all public employees and private contractors.
• A school system that spends significantly more per pupil than the national average.
• A powerful school employee union that militantly defends the exceptional pay, benefits and job security it has won for its members.
• Other government employee unions that do the same for their members.
• A tax system that aggressively redistributes income from businesses and the wealthy to the poor and to government bureaucracies.

Would this be a shining city on a hill, exciting the admiration of all? We don't have to guess, because there is such a city right here in our state: Detroit

Detroit has been dubbed "the most liberal city in America" and each of these "progressive" policies is alive and well there. How have they worked out?

In 1950, Detroit was the wealthiest city in America on a per capita income basis. Today, the Census Bureau reports that it is the nation's 2nd poorest major city, just "edging out" Cleveland.

Could it be pure coincidence that the decline occurred over the same period in which union power, the city government bureaucracy, taxes and business regulations all multiplied? While correlation is not causation, it is striking that the decline in per capita income is exactly what classical economists predict would occur when wage controls are imposed and taxes are increased.

More.....

Solar Company Cuts U.S. Jobs, Expands In Mexico

Life in "Progress" City - Chicago edition

From the city of Chicago, where there hasn't been a conservative run the city since Moses parted the Red Sea.........

A former Chicago alderman turned political science professor/corruption fighter has found that Chicago is the most corrupt city in the country.

He cites data from the U.S. Department of Justice to prove his case. And, he says, Illinois is third-most corrupt state in the country.

University of Illinois at Chicago professor Dick Simpson, who served as alderman of the 44th Ward in Lakeview from 1971 to 1979, estimates the cost of corruption at $500 million.

More....

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Life in "Progress' Country - Greece edition

This can be your country after only three generations of "progressive" rule.

Looks kind of cool doesn't it?

C'mon man

Old Gordon decided to do one for the team and watch the Grammy's with The Lovely Mrs. Gekko. As I sit hear, I'm praying for the Lord to take my life.

I've probably watched a total of one hour of award shows during my entire lifetime. Tonight reminds me why.

Coldplay? Seriously, an audio of an animal with its leg in a trap would do a better vocal than Chris Martin.

I think I better be getting some serious brownie points for this.