Pot Kettle Black Award

Straight from Drudge

Photo surfaces of smiling Clintons with Tony Rezko.

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Clinton injected the indicted developer's name this week in debate with Obama: 'I was fighting against those ideas when you were practicing law and representing your contributor, Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago.'

Clinton tells NBC 'TODAY' show on Friday: 'I probably have taken hundreds of thousands of pictures. I don't know the man. I wouldn't know him if he walked in the door.'

For Billary to accuse anyone of hanging around unsavory characters has enabled them to win a PKB award six previous times. I just find this one more amusing.

At least this time, the guy's not Chinese.

Tonight's Bengal reunion

Tonight's DUI checkpoint or Bengals reunion will be.....

Police will conduct drunk driving checkpoint tonight in the city of Hamilton.

The 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. checkpoint will take place along Ohio 4 between Grand Boulevard and Fairfield city limits, said Officer Rich Burkhardt, a spokesman for the Hamilton Police Department.

Another, separate drunk driving checkpoint will be held Saturday night in neighboring Hamilton County, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Georgetown post.

Why people go red over blue

If you ever wondered why people move from the city to the suburbs, you have to read this letter from a frustrated citizen to Cincinnati City councilman, Cecil Thomas (Hat Tip to The Daily Bellweather and Clark Street Blog).

To give you a Reader's Digest condensed version. This poor guy has been the subject of several robberies and shootings in his Bond Hill, twice by the same guy.

I'll ask again to the jack ass who commented on this blog that "democrats are progressive and conservatives believe in the status quo". Do you think conservatives would put up with this status quo? No. That's why they move to the suburbs.

Apparently, it's really "progressives" who put up with the status quo by allowing criminals to stay on the street; by allowing incompetent and lazy detectives to remain on their police force; by employing incompetent and lazy prosecutors.

Look, I'm not a suburban snob. I lived in Pleasant Ridge for 8 years. Pleasant Ridge might be the most diverse community in the city. I was involved in their community council for 4 years. I loved the Ridge. Despite the fact that I considered the Ridge to be a safe place to live, my car was broken into three times.

The first time I called the police they told me to call some hotline number to file a report. The line was continually busy. I called at 4:30 in the morning only to get another busy signal. I'm convinced it's was how the city keeps their crime statistics down because the city can't report what doesn't get reported to them.

I've also lived in Oakley (before it was cool) and Corryville so I think I have a reasonable basis to judge city living v. the burbs.

Now let's go back to the basics. Democrats run all the cities in this country (except for New York). This is what you get with democratic leadership.

Suburbs and rural areas are run by status quo republicans. The people who run these areas wouldn't even finish this letter before some heads started rolling.

By the way, let's look at New York again. How nice was New York to live in during the Koch/Dinkins era v. Guiliani/Bloomberg era? It's not even close.

So once again I challenge all liberals/democrats/progressives (whatever you want to be called) to explain to me and the readers how your governance is so superior than those status quo, conservatives.

I always find nice snarky comments from libs on my other posts, how about addressing one of these posts for a change.

Kinder capitalism

So Bill Gates is looking for a kinder capitalism.

I've got an idea for Bill.... quit selling a crappy operating system. I think all of us would feel better about a kinder capitalism.

For the record Bill, the very capitalism you despise, is the capitalism that allows you to kick in $20 billion to charity and live in this slum.

• Assessed values (as of 2002) of $113 million, with over $1 million in annual property tax
• 66,000 square feet
• The wood columns from main floor to roof in entry area are over 70 feet tall.
• Some of the interior passage doors weigh over 800 lbs, but are balanced for easy use.
• The roofing is stainless steel.
• Hidden cameras are everywhere, including the interior stone walls.
• Gates insisted on saving a 40 year old maple adjacent to the driveway. The tree is monitored electronically 24 hours per day via computer. If it seems dry, it gets just the right amount of water automatically delivered.
• All woodwork is flawless. Much of the woodwork is of various rare types from all over the world - imported especially for this house.
• The theater (underground in a concrete shell) is the most state of the art theatre in the world according to specialty contractor.

I can't stand the thought of a billionaire whining.

I wish my raises were 8%

The state of Ohio is in a budget mess again.

Excerpt

The high figure represents 3.6 percent of the state's two-year, $52.3 billion budget that began in July and goes through June 2009.

In 1982-83, there was a $534 million deficit on a $6.7 billion budget - an 8 percent gap that was plugged with a hefty income tax increase. Other considerable deficits have happened roughly every decade since, with budget gaps just before and after the 2001 terror attacks comparable to current predictions.

I did some calculations on my trusty Excel spreadsheet and it looks to me like the state's budgets have increased about 8% per year.

This leads me to some questions.

1) How is it that the average joe can make it on 2-4% annual increases and the state cannot?

2) What programs do we have today that we didn't have in 1982? Are those programs necessary? After all, we did make it as a state pretty well from 1803 - 1982 without these programs?

3) The article mentions tapping into the "rainy day fund". Why does it seem like it's always raining at the statehouse?

The new state motto "Ohio..... The heart of it all... granted it's a solid purple heart getting bluer each day".

The few, the proud

Help! He's term limited but won't go away

Check out this article on Billary

Excerpt

It's astonishing to me that liberals still venerate Clinton. I can only assume that they admire his political success: he was the first representative of his party since FDR to win a second Presidential term. But his record of achievement in those two terms is appallingly slender.

Apart from Welfare Reform, which most Dems opposed anyway, his Presidency was divided pretty much equally between legislative logjam caused by his narcissistic faith in his wife's pipe dreams and impeachment efforts caused by his vile personal pathologies.

Yes, he happened to preside over a period of economic expansion, but we know by now that politicians have exceptionally limited ability to affect the course of the economy: in terms of the economy he got lucky. Even most of the Dems I know now accept this, so why is he still adored? I have to conclude that it's because people like winners more than anything else. Clinton's status is a consequence of the 'son of a bitch' philosophy: the guy may be a sexually predatory congenital liar, but he's OUR sexually predatory congenital liar.

More....

Follow up

My last post created some interesting comments. But I think most people misunderstand my position on drugs and this Spitzer proposal.

I am a believer in decriminalizing or legalizing drugs. I figure if you want to burn up your brains with some crack it's not much different then killing yourself with Cheeto's. It's on you to destroy your life.

My point on throwing people in jail was simply recognizing that Spitzer is allowing a rogue element to operate with impunity within the sate. See this post.

At the same time, I understand that due to our prohibition on the drug trade, a totally independent underground economy has developed. This economy has largely operated without much impediment from the DEA, US Customs, the IRS, federal, state and local law enforcement and I'm guessing, the NY Department of Taxation.

For Spitzer to propose this for state tax receipts is lunacy. Why wouldn't they simply collect the income taxes on the drug dealers that already operate. I would bet a large amount of money it would generate more than $13 million a year.

Eric is right in one regard, many red states have tried taxing drugs as well. Most of those proposals have sought to pile on drug dealers for tax evasion as well as the drug dealing.

The fact still remains, the state government of New York is driving residents and citizens of New York out of the state with dumbass governance such as this. Does anyone leave the state because of this issue. Probably not. But it plants the seed that NY government is not competent.

Once again, I request that you look at the electoral map from 2004. People are leaving "blue" areas in droves.

I'm simply asking the question, Why?

Those progressives think of everything

Eliot Spitzer has come up with a unique and "progressive" way to fund a $13 million dollar shortfall in the state's budget.

Excerpt

Drug dealers beware: Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer wants your help in balancing the state budget.

The governor proposed Tuesday that drug dealers be required to affix a state tax stamp on illegal drugs they sell — $3.50 per gram on marijuana and $200 per gram on drugs like heroin. He expects it to bring the state $13 million in revenue this year.

There wasn’t a whole lot of explanation about the idea, except a brief reference buried in one of the pieces of legislation accompanying the thousands of pages of budget documents released Tuesday. It says it will improve enforcement and tracking of illegal drug sales.

Now call me one of those stodgy, unimaginative, status quo conservatives, but I'm thinking, that drug dealers have already managed to avoid prosecution for selling illegal drugs. I don't think they're all that concerned with paying the tax on a bag of weed.

Here's an idea for the guv. How about arresting those drug dealers and throwing them in jail. You apparently know where these clowns are because you expect to collect a tax from them.

Wait a minute,..........

What's that sound.........

It's another Allied Van loaded up, leaving New York for a Red state.

Billary plays dirty

An excerpt from the uber conservative publication, The Nation.

The Clintons play dirty when they feel threatened. But we knew that, didn't we?

The recent roughing-up of Barack Obama was in the trademark style of the Clinton years in the White House. High-minded and self-important on the surface, smarmily duplicitous underneath, meanwhile jabbing hard to the groin area. They are a slippery pair and come as a package. The nation is at fair risk of getting them back in the White House for four more years. The thought makes me queasy.

How did it take so long for these liberals to get what conservatives have known for over 16 years.

My guess these complaints will all disappear when Billary goes up against a republican.

Hillary Clinton's Response (in a nutshell...)

I can't tell. Is this Hillary or Miss Teen South Carolina.

Global Warming... Making facts fit the theory

After Katrina, we were deluged with news reports about how global warming was going to increase the number and magnitude of gulf hurricanes.

Whoooooooaaaaa there Gordon. It's clear to us that since we've had almost no hurricanes hit the coast the past two years, that must be a result of global warming.

Excerpt

Global warming could reduce how many hurricanes hit the United States, according to a new federal study that clashes with other research.

The study is the latest in a contentious scientific debate over how manmade global warming may affect the intensity and number of hurricanes.

In it, researchers link warming waters, especially in the Indian and Pacific oceans, to increased vertical wind shear in the Atlantic Ocean near the United States. Wind shear, a change in wind speed or direction, makes it hard for hurricanes to form, strengthen and stay alive.

So that means "global warming may decrease the likelihood of hurricanes making landfall in the United States," according to researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Miami Lab and the University of Miami.

More......

Do these people have no shame?

Discrimination against gays

Excerpt

Would-be donors in the Seattle area are accusing blood banks of discriminatory policies banning most gay and bisexual men from giving blood.

When the Puget Sound Blood Center announced last week that Western Washington's blood supply was at emergency levels, some people responded with frustration at the stringent requirements that deny about 6 percent of those who try to donate blood.

About 24,000 people have been placed on the Western Washington permanent deferral list in the past decade, according to the Puget Sound Blood Center. An extra 3,000 are temporarily deferred, for periods ranging from one day to three years. The area's blood centers have accepted blood from nearly 443,000 donors during the same time.

"It upsets me when I see signs that say, 'We need blood, give now,' but they don't want my blood," said Pete, 26, an office supervisor who lives in North Seattle. He was put on the deferral list three years ago because he had sex with a man one time.

Donors are placed on the list based on their answers to initial screening questions. Men who have had sexual contact with a man, even once, since 1977 are automatically disqualified.

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And guess what? No one's probably received HIV from the blood supply either.

These guys should feel fortunate. I've given blood about four times and I wish Hoxworth would quit calling me.

I guess I'll never be "progressive"

My parents had their issues (like they all do) but the one thing the pounded in my brain, The more you do early the less you have to do later.

So when it would come to education they let me know early and often, do your work in school or you'll do a lot more later. These lessons didn't come from college graduates, my dad is a high school drop out and my mother a high school graduate. But they wanted something more for their kids. (for the record, out of five kids, we've got three college grads and two with college experience)

Unfortunately, I missed the bigger lesson of immediate satisfaction that so overwhelms our society. You go to school, not to get a nice, well paying, job later in life, you go to school for $8.00/hr.

Excerpt

Forty students from Creekside High and Bear Creek Middle schools in Fairburn will be the first to try the "Learn & Earn" program, where students will get paid to attend after-school tutoring programs.

Students will make approximately $8 an hour, and be eligible for bonuses if their grades improve, said Kirk Wilks, district spokesman. The initial students are in the eighth and 11th grades.

There will be a community kick-off Thursday at 3 p.m. in the Creekside High media center, 7405 Herndon Rd., Fairburn.

With the support of Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts, the pilot program will last 15 weeks and pay students for participation and performance. The object of the program is to determine if paying students to study will improve classroom attendance, grades and test scores, according to a news release from the district.

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Fulton County is basically Atlanta (Kerry over Bush 64-34) or a blue community.

Once again ask yourself the question, are the kids in Redville getting paid to be tutored?

More on GOP v conservatives

A good article on Reagan conservatism by Bill Kristol (HT Redhawk Review)

Excerpt

It's foolish to wait for another Ronald Reagan. But not just because his political gifts are rare. There's a particular way in which Reagan was exceptional that many of us fail to appreciate: He was the only president of the last century who came to the office as the leader of an ideological movement.

Reagan gave "The Speech" in October 1964, inherited the leadership of the conservative movement after Goldwater's loss, defeated a moderate establishment Republican two years later to win the GOP nomination for governor of California, and then defeated the Democratic incumbent. He remained in a sense the leader of conservatives nationally while serving two terms as governor, ran unsuccessfully against Gerald Ford in 1976, and won the presidency in 1980. He was a conservative first and a politician second, a National Review and Human Events reader first and an elected official second.

The thing to keep in mind about Reagan; he was the right guy for the right problems at the right time.

But I still contend the reason the conservative movement is faltering today is that too many republicans bastardized the message, used the message to get elected, then became part of the fat ass establishment. It's a scene straight out of George Orwell's Animal Farm.

I think the only person in the republican party that gets this is Newt Gingrich.

While I'm not a fan of Jerry Springer, I heard him on a talk show a couple of weeks ago and he made a very salient point on politics. He said (roughly paraphrasing) "The day you decide you're going to make a career in politics is the day you decide to give up your integrity because it becomes more about winning elections than leading change".

That's why Reagan was so far out in front of the republican party. He knew the conservative movement was much bigger than he was, he wasn't about winning an elections as he was leading something bigger than he. If you've never read his 1964 speech, you need to. It'll bring tears to your eyes.

I'm afraid Reagan had a qualities we'll never see in a leader again.

Republicans and conservative coalitions

A follow up to my post on David Brook's piece yesterday.

This one from The American Spectator.

Excerpt

IF THE REAGAN Revolution is stalled in this election cycle, it is because those at the head of the movement have stopped emphasizing its personal appeal to the average American. This is not the fault of Limbaugh -- who is rightly perturbed that he must constantly spell out a candidate's conservative bona fides or lack thereof -- but of those who forget that conservative ideals can resonate with voters in a way that liberalism cannot.

While folks who listen to Limbaugh can proclaim their core beliefs from the rooftops, liberal "values" must be slowly indoctrinated into the mainstream. This is why liberal talk radio is such a failure. Except for their radical base, not many people can take the left-wing mantra straight up. To succeed, they must cloak their message in pleasant euphemisms like "choice" and "equal rights."

Whatever polls may say, the majority of the American people do not embrace higher taxes, the culture of perpetual victimhood, government intervention in their lives, the taking of innocent life, and the defeat of our military at the hands of those who would see us all dead.

The first candidate who climbs up on the rooftop with the Rush and the rest of us and shouts these things out loud will be the one who walks away with the prize this summer.

More....

Liberalism and drugs

For years, I've struggled with this question; who's more optimistic about the human experience; liberals or conservatives?

On one hand, you could say it's liberals. Part of the liberal belief system is that with a helping hand, all people can succeed. However, the converse, liberals don't trust that people will help their fellow man so their going to force them to do it.

One could argue that conservatives are the more optimistic. After all, they believe that people can achieve on their own, and that achievement builds self esteem in people. The converse, conservatives don't believe in human institutions to handle problems.

As I've evolved from a liberal into a full blown libertarian, I've challenged people to that question.

However, there's been something I've noticed in the news lately that has me firmly believing that liberals are not the more optimistic. The issue? Drugs.

While we're still waiting on more information, it looks like drugs claimed the life of another Hollywood actor; this time, Heath Ledger. If you are so optimistic about the human condition, why do you need to fill your soul with this shit?

Look at this list, you're probably not going to find a huge number of republicans on it. If you were to ask these people what politician they supported this election it would probably be a democrat. Of course you can't because they're dead.

Let's face it, look at any inner city. The prevalence of drugs in these areas is ridiculous and as we all know, cities are run by democrats.

But Gordon, you're talking about depressed areas of the country where people are trying to mask their despair.

Really?

Heath Ledger had a life of despair? How about John Candy, Bon Scott, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Judy Garland, John Belushi, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Terry Kath, Chris Farley, etc.... Did they all have lives of depression and despair like those in the inner city?

I cannot find any good statistics, but I would be willing to bet a lot of money that the majority of drugs and alcohol are consumed in "Blue" areas? Anyone disagree?

I'd really like comments from those that do. For the past year, I've been witness to a number of stories where drugs have ripped through the lives of families and I'm truly trying to understand what it is that has people willing to throw their lives away for another hit off a crack pipe.

Over my 44 years, I've come to believe that God designed all of us with a "hole in the soul". It's the place God designed for himself but he gives us the free will to fill that hole with whatever we choose. Some people choose drugs, some alcohol, food, sex, blogging, porn, gambling, video gaming, etc.

We all have those comfort places where we go when we don't want to deal with life's struggles. I guess I'm just surprised at how many people choose drugs and wondering why when the costs are so high.

Conservatives on the warpath

David Brooks has a column basically stating that conservatives are ruining the republican party.

Excerpt

But then a great tightening occurred. Conservative institutions and interest groups proliferated in Washington. The definition of who was a true conservative narrowed. It became necessary to pass certain purity tests — on immigration, abortion, taxes and Terri Schiavo.

An oppositional mentality set in: if the liberals worried about global warming, it was necessary to regard it as a hoax. If The New York Times editorial page worried about waterboarding, then the code of conservative correctness required one to think it O.K.

Apostates and deviationists were expelled or found wanting, and the boundaries of acceptable thought narrowed. Moderate Republicans were expelled for squishiness. Millions of coastal suburbanites left the party in disgust.

Brooks then continues to rip conservatives for their luke warm support for the republicans running in the primaries.

I believe he totally misses the disgust conservatives have with republicans. Most conservatives owe much of their belief to Ronald Reagan, who exposed the failures of liberal policies since the "Great Society". We didn't have to look far.

Our inner cities had become a mess, unemployment and interest rates were astronomical. The US had become a country of uniform malaise.

Reagan was the right person at the right time to show that conservative principles work.

Unfortunately, too many republicans don't believe in those principles. They believe in a form of liberalism light but they want to wrap themselves with the flag of Reagan conservatism to win elections. You can't have it both ways.

Look, I'm not a believer in same sex marriage, but too many republicans decided that they could run on that issue alone while they continued to spend money like a drunken sailor ie the bridge to nowhere. I believe conservatives have just plain had it with the continual bait and switch. Especially when conservative know that conservatives principles work and wins elections.

All I've ever asked from a politician is that their policy support match some underlying principle of government. Instead we get a hodge podge of Mike Huckabee lying about his support of tax increases, Romney all over the place on abortion and John McCain thinking it's Ok for the state to infringe on First Amendment rights.

Please. I'd rather have a V-8.

Hillary's healthcare task force

From a Cal Thomas column...

Now the self-described “public interest group” may have come up with its biggest find of all (so far). It has obtained records from the Clinton Presidential Library that reveal the internal workings and attitudes of people associated with Hillary Clinton’s National Taskforce on Health Care Reform. These documents penetrate Clinton’s carefully crafted personae, expose her true character and suggest what she and her Democratic allies would impose on the nation, if given the power. The documents could — and should — have an impact on her presidential candidacy.

According to Judicial Watch, a June 18, 1993 internal memorandum entitled “A Critique of Our Plan,” authored by someone with the initials “P.S.,” acknowledges that critics were correct when they questioned whether the plan would work. “I can think of parallels in wartime,” wrote “P.S.”, but I have trouble coming up with a precedent in our peacetime history for such broad and centralized control over a sector of the economy. … Is the public really ready for this? ... None of us knows whether we can make it work well or at all…”

The road to equality

An excerpt from a Cincinnati Enquirer column on equality

But for ordinary Americans, race still plays a large role in determining personal earnings, educational attainment, access to health care, housing options and social relationships. We measure our progress not yet in equality, but in inching forward to close considerable gaps.

That is why, despite the fact that schools and federal offices are closed today, Martin Luther King Day is not a day of rest, but of restlessness. It is a day of both pride and discomfort.

Just for discussion, I'd like to ask. Are there any "successful" african-americans in our society?

If the answer is no, then we still have a serious racial problem in our country.

But if the if the answer is yes. How is that so? Those successful african-americans face the same racial stereotyping and bigotry as all other african-americans, yet somehow find a way to transcend that? How can that be? It's not like you can hide your "blackness".

I've said it before and I'll continue to preach it. I'm not the smartest guy around but I follow what the smartest guys around are doing.

Maybe people that manage the urban leagues, NAACP chapters, and rainbow coalitions, can look at those people in the african american community who are successful and ask, "what makes that so?" and try and replicate it through out the community.

But it's probably just easier to sit back and bitch and moan. It shouldn't be a surprise that people like Sharpton and Jackson oppose Obama mania the way they do. After all, if we can elect an african-american as president what does that say about the victimization of blacks in our society?

Life in Redville

As many of you know, I left my life inside the city of Cincinnati, aka Progress City, (Kerry over Bush 60-39) for a life in the burbs.

This morning, I saw something in Redville (Bush- 58 Kerry 35) that I never saw in my 18 years of life in "Progress City".

A salt truck on my street.

Gordon, you still don't get it. You can make fun of liberals but they know how burning fossil fuels to move snow and melt ice is bad for the environment. So "progressives" have come up with a better way to manage snow and ice removal.

Solar power.

After a few days of harnessing the power of that sun, no more snow or ice.

It's that time of year

As most of you know, I am an accountant. And most of you also know this time of year is really busy for accountants.

After spending six hours (I didn't have) this past Saturday screwing around with this blog, I took a step back Saturday night to question my priorities.

As a result, I decided I needed to make up a priority list for my life. My priorities are (in order of importance).

1) God
2) Mrs. Gekko
3) My clients
4) My physical health
5) My saxophone
6) This blog

Therefore, I've decided that as much as I like doing this, I need to take a step back, at least through tax season.

My plan is to do more links to articles of interest through the tax season with little, if any, commentary.

I'll try to write one "take" a day on something newsworthy.

I truly appreciate the comments I've received on the blog and I would love to keep it up at my current pace, but I have to nurture what is paying the bills and this blog isn't one of them.

So you'll probably notice a slight change of pace, in that I won't be going off on as many tirades. But the mission of the blog will remain the same.... Trying to bring something new to the debate.

Freakonomics and the ADA

The ADA was passed to provide more opportunity for disabled people.

Has it worked?

Ask the Freakonomics guys

Excerpt in NY Times Magazine

The Americans With Disabilities Act was passed to give disabled people better opportunities in the labor market, in transportation, healthcare, and other arenas. But the economists Daron Acemoglu and Joshua Angrist found that the A.D.A. actually worsened the job opportunities for disabled workers. Their seminal paper is called “Consequences of Employment Protection? The Case of the Americans With Disabilities Act.”

Finding money

Politicians are now contemplating rebuilding the Brent Spence Bridge, the bridge that links I-75 - I-71 from Ohio to Kentucky.

Problem?

The politicians can't seem to find the 3 billion dollars it's going to take to build it out.

I realize I'm just a blogger but how is it that we have enough money in the highway trust fund to build every bridge in West Virginia named after Robert Byrd?

How is it that we have enough money in the fund to build bike trails across the US.

We pay 18.4 cents a gallon on federal fuel tax; another 28 cents a gallon in Ohio fuel tax. I know where you can find the money.

Right underneath your fat asses.

When democrats run elections

How is it that every time a democrat runs an election (actually anything for that matter) it always ends up as a giant mess?

And by the way, I thought it was only republicans that repress the vote.

Global Warming challenge

The updated score for the global warming challenge through 1/18/08.

Warm 31 - Cold 15

Yet another "progressive" mind goes to waste

I'm sure every liberal out there would call Eliot Spitzer a "progressive" by every standard available. He might even be the standard bearer for "progressive" thought.

Well here's the decision making acumen by said "progressive"

Nearly every one of the 225 violent felons authorized for release during Gov. Spitzer's first 11 months in office had been convicted of murder, records made public by the state Parole Board yesterday showed.

The figures revealed that 215 of the inmates granted parole were convicted murderers while the rest had been convicted of either attempted murder or kidnapping.

"This is greatly disturbing," said Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee Chairman Michael Nozzolio (R-Seneca Falls), who held a hearing on Spitzer-administration parole policies earlier in the week.

"We're not just seeing violent felons released, we're seeing murderers get out-of-jail-free cards," he continued.

The new figures were made public in the wake of published reports that the number of violent felons released on parole dramatically increased after Democrat Spitzer succeeded Republican Gov. George Pataki, who had ordered the Parole Board to restrict the release of dangerous inmates.

Now let me ask you a question Mr. Progressive.

Where are these thugs and miscreants going to live? They're not heading to Redville to reside, where we have things like concealed carry permits and effective law enforcement.

No. These thugs are going to go back to the city, where they can prey upon innocent people in those communities. So your cycle of poverty can continue to circle down the drain.

Tell me again how liberal = progressive. What's so damn progressive about criminals victimizing your residents?

Steyn on the NY Times shots at the Military

Only Steyn can lay it out like this

Excerpt

Have you been in an airport recently and maybe seen a gaggle of America's heroes returning from Iraq? And you've probably thought, "Ah, what a marvelous sight. Remind me to straighten up the old 'Support Our Troops' fridge magnet, which seems to have slipped down below the reminder to reschedule my acupuncturist. Maybe I should go over and thank them for their service."

No, no, no, under no account approach them. Instead, try to avoid making eye contact and back away slowly toward the sign for the parking garage. You're in the presence of mentally damaged violent killers who could snap at any moment.

You hadn't heard that? Well, it's in the New York Times: "a series of articles" – that's right, a whole series – "about veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have committed killings, or been charged with them, after coming home." It's an epidemic, folks. As the Times put it:

"Town by town across the country, headlines have been telling similar stories. Lakewood, Wash.: 'Family Blames Iraq After Son Kills Wife.' Pierre, S.D.: 'Soldier Charged With Murder Testifies About Postwar Stress.' Colorado Springs: 'Iraq War Vets Suspected in Two Slayings, Crime Ring.'"

Obviously, as America's "newspaper of record," the Times would resent any suggestion that it's anti-military. I'm sure if you were one of these crazed military stalker whackjobs following the reporters home you'd find their cars sporting the patriotic bumper sticker "We Support Our Troops, Even After They've Been Convicted." As usual, the Times stories are written in the fey, more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger tone that's a shoo-in come Pulitzer time:

More....

Another night in "Progress" City

From the Enquirer

Police dogs were called in just after midnight Friday to search for two men who exchanged gunfire with two Cincinnati officers.

Around 11:45 p.m. Friday, two off-duty Cincinnati officers who were working a private security detail near Sam's Market on Dayton Street returned fire when two men shot at them.

Bullets struck the officers' unmarked vehicle, but the officers were not injured. It was not immediately known if the officers were in the car or outside when the shooting started.

Funny, I don't remember the last time shots were exchanged out here in the suburbs. You know, the suburbs, those "red" communities run by republicans, not to be confused with inner cities, those communities run by "progressives".

When shots ring out here it's a true news story, when it happens in "Progress" City, you just call it night time.

Tone deaf

The Underground Railroad Museum was caught off guard with the public sentiment when they tried to charge the city and county $1 million for land they were given by the same people for free.

Excerpt

He said the Freedom Center organization was assured during months of negotiations about the land that the funding was available and that the "political concerns had been taken care of."

"That's the only reason our board voted in the first place to seek compensation," he said.

He said he was surprised at the community's negative reaction.

Commissioner Pat DeWine called the $1 million request "extortion."

Councilman Chris Monzel also said the request should be rejected.

The county gave development rights - but not the land itself - to the Freedom Center in 2002 on the condition that the center build a park there. The park was not built, and many thought the Freedom Center should give the land back for free.

I'm going to forgo my usual criticism of the county and city on this one for the time being. My question to Mr. Murphy, what made you think the "political concerns had been taken care of"?

Maybe it was the public outcry when this white elephant went on valued space on the river in the first place.

Or maybe it's when you promised that no public funds would be needed for the project only to have your group come back before the project was finished with your hands out for more money....from the public.

Yeah, the love between the freedom center and the public is so strong, I can see why you would need to have the political concerns taken care of.

My hope is that the whole museum goes under so we can use that property for something productive... like a casino.

Hitch on identity politics

My favorite lib, Christopher Hitchens on identity politics

Excerpt

People who think with their epidermis or their genitalia or their clan are the problem to begin with. One does not banish this specter by invoking it. If I would not vote against someone on the grounds of "race" or "gender" alone, then by the exact same token I would not cast a vote in his or her favor for the identical reason. Yet see how this obvious question makes fairly intelligent people say the most alarmingly stupid things.

Madeleine Albright has said that there is "a special place in hell for women who don't help each other." What are the implications of this statement? Would it be an argument in favor of the candidacy of Mrs. Clinton? Would this mean that Elizabeth Edwards and Michelle Obama don't deserve the help of fellow females? If the Republicans nominated a woman would Ms. Albright instantly switch parties out of sheer sisterhood? Of course not. (And this wearisome tripe from someone who was once our secretary of state . . .)

More....

When will liberals look at the results

Last week, I caught this quote somewhere (if someone knows the site, please let me know so I can credit them).

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."
--Winston Churchill

I cut and pasted the quote to Word because I thought nothing says more in such few words.

Lately, I've been wondering, when are we going to look at the results on our "war on poverty"? Bush has taken a lot of criticism for his execution of the war, but even Bush reviewed the war's results and opted for a new strategy with the surge.

But what about our "war on poverty"? After 40 years and trillions of dollars, isn't it about time we reviewed the results of that strategy?

The results aren't pretty, we have more poverty now than we did before we ever spent one dollar on poverty. And now we have the additional problem of poverty of the soul in so many communities.

Yet we continue with the same strategy.

We've lost over 4,000 soldiers in Iraq, that palls in comparison to the number of young black men in this country gunned down in any given year. Frankly, the KKK in it's prime could only dream of the genocide in our inner cities. I can safely predict that another young black male will be shot and killed by another black male within the next week here in the city of Cincinnati.

Yet we continue with the same strategy.

Our inner cities across this country look worse than some parts of Germany after WWII.

Yet we continue with the same strategy.

Inner city schools are falling down dumps, which really doesn't matter because there's a daily 30-40 percent absentee rate inside the schools.

Yet we continue with the same strategy.

"Progressives" love to beat on Bush because of his insistence for being pig headed and doing things his way; without input from others. But seriously, are all these people who claim to be people of "progress" really any different?

They came up with these ideas of "progress". "If we provide a safety net for people, we can rid this country of poverty". It was a truly beautiful strategy.

Well here we are, 40 years and trillions of dollars later. Can we please look at the results?

Just plead the Fifth

What do the following people have in common?

Barry Bonds
Martha Stewart
Scooter Libby
Marion Jones
Dana Stubblefield

They all have been charged (some convicted) with lying to federal investigators.

Forget the fact that none of them were charged with the crime the investigators were investigating; they all lied to the investigators.

So if you are Roger Clemons, Miguel Tejada, or anyone else for that matter, who gets a knock on the door from a friendly fed. Simply shut your door and keep your mouth shut; plead the Fifth if you have to.

Otherwise, you are going to jail.

The preceding is a public service announcement from your friends at taxmanblog

Why break a perfect streak?

Tom Teepen with a piece on the surge...

Excerpt

Democrats in particular and liberals in general - and, no, the overlap isn't perfect, as rightist blather would have you believe - will make a mistake if they don't acknowledge that the increase in U.S. troop strength in Iraq has made a difference for the better.

There is a streak of opinion within the larger ranks of opponents of the Iraq war that, going far beyond the critique asserted by most, seems actually to covet U.S. failure in Iraq as somehow serving America right for the blunder of having gone there in the first place.

That is a malevolent righteousness that properly repels most Americans.

Yes, the polls reflect that a sizeable and apparently hearty majority has arrived at permanent disillusionment with the war, concurring that the premise for it was flawed if not outright phony and that the civilian planning in the Defense Department and the White House was gravely amiss.

Now why would any liberal admit to being wrong. It would break their perfect record for being on the wrong side of history since 1932.

More....

Funny Friday

Another clip from red green.

Friday Funny

Red Green looking to use those ethanol subsidies

Those smart libs

You have to check this out over at Right on the Right.

Happy Anniversary

This week will not only be the anniversary of Slick copping a BJ in the oval office but it's also the 35th anniversary of Roe V. Wade.

Maybe one of the most influential pieces I've ever read is a piece by David Brooks three years ago about how Roe turned the legislative process into a bitter & acrimonious stage for zealots on both sides of the issue.

Excerpt

Justice Harry Blackmun did more inadvertent damage to our democracy than any other 20th-century American. When he and his Supreme Court colleagues issued the Roe v. Wade decision, they set off a cycle of political viciousness and counter-viciousness that has poisoned public life ever since, and now threatens to destroy the Senate as we know it.

When Blackmun wrote the Roe decision, it took the abortion issue out of the legislatures and put it into the courts. If it had remained in the legislatures, we would have seen a series of state-by-state compromises reflecting the views of the centrist majority that's always existed on this issue. These legislative compromises wouldn't have pleased everyone, but would have been regarded as legitimate.

Instead, Blackmun and his concurring colleagues invented a right to abortion, and imposed a solution more extreme than the policies of just about any other comparable nation.

Religious conservatives became alienated from their own government, feeling that their democratic rights had been usurped by robed elitists. Liberals lost touch with working-class Americans because they never had to have a conversation about values with those voters; they could just rely on the courts to impose their views. The parties polarized as they each became dominated by absolutist activists.

More...

What most people seem to forget is that most states were already crafting legislation to handle abortion, some laws more liberal than others.

What we have now is a process where no one even respects the legislative process. If you have an issue with a law, simply venue shop to get your way.

It even showed up this week with the Clintons. They knew the rules in Nevada last March and never uttered a word, until it looked like it wasn't going to go their way; then bang, off to court.

Maybe there will be a day when the courts decide they no longer want the job of legislators and legislators decide to do theirs.

Fund on voter fraud

John Fund on the democratic hypocrisy related to voter fraud.

Excerpt

Both Democrats and Republicans are good at practicing hypocrisy when they need to. But it's still breathtaking to see how some Democrats ignore that it was only last week they argued before the Supreme Court that an Indiana law requiring voters show ID at the polls would reduce voter turnout and disenfranchise minorities. Nevada allies of Hillary Clinton have just sued to shut down several caucus sites inside casinos along the Las Vegas Strip, potentially disenfranchising thousands of Hispanic or black shift workers who couldn't otherwise attend the 11:30 a.m. caucus this coming Saturday.

More....

When narcissists marry

What happens when two narcissists marry and run for the same office? One party is probably not going to like it when the other takes their notoriety.

Joe Klein on America's favorite narcissists, the Clintons.

Excerpt

Time columnist Joe Klein created a stir at the Council on Foreign Relations earlier today when he suggested that "an element of unwitting sabotage" may be behind Bill Clinton's series of apparently off-message comments while campaigning on behalf of his wife.

Klein speculated: "He's worrying, 'Maybe she's going to be a better president than I was'."

He also suggested that Clinton was ambivalent about his wife’s candidacy because, alongside those fears, "Consciously, I think that he sees her [possible] election as president as the final validation of his presidency."

More...

Bill Clinton becomes heated over voter lawsuit

From the party of make every vote count. Unless, of course, it works against you.

Bumper sticker of the day

Where was this 16 years ago?

I find it amusing when "progressives" start railing against the Clintons' campaign tactics against Obama.

It's apparently just coming to these folk's attention that the Clintons are scumbags. Something republicans have known for 16 years.

Here's an excerpt from Psychobilly Democrat on the subject.

But I'm mostly tired of the Clinton campaign's tactics. Isn't ironic, that no matter what type of shield wall HRC builds around her little ivory tower of self-delusion, that she's shocked, just shocked, that surrogates continue to bring up the same (perceived) Obama negatives over and over again? I mean, gosh, they don't send people out and ask them to say these things. Not at all.

Really, now, Hill. The acts of the Clinton campaign, intentionally or not, have been loaded with code words and catchphrases alleging Obama is an inferior candidate becuase he used drugs decades ago or shucks and jives or whatever the hell else they lamely trot out.

I wonder if/when Billary wins the nomination, will these criticisms still be around? Where were these observations in past elections?

My guess, these people know the Clintons are scumbags but they are "the enemy of my enemy" so I guess that makes everything OK.

I'm going to throw this back once the nomination process is over.

The Cincinnati Fans

For our local sports teams owners who steal money from the local fans.

Huh?

This from our local "journalists"

Castro Says He's Too Unhealthy to Speak

How do you say your too unhealthy to speak when your too unhealthy too speak?

Bill Kristol - enemy of the people

I find it hilarious to watch the libs become totally unhinged with the NY Times hiring of Bill Kristol

A couple of pieces of note. The first from the Times lackey, I mean, ombudsman, Clark Hoyt

Excerpt

Of the nearly 700 messages I have received since Kristol’s selection was announced — more than half of them before he ever wrote a word for The Times — exactly one praised the choice.

Rosenthal’s mail has been particularly rough. “That rotten, traiterous [sic] piece of filth should be hung by the ankles from a lamp post and beaten by the mob rather than gaining a pulpit at ANY self-respecting news organization,” said one message. “You should be ashamed. Apparently you are only out for money and therefore an equally traiterous [sic] whore deserving the same treatment.”

Kristol would not have been my choice to join David Brooks as a second conservative voice in the mix of Times columnists, but the reaction is beyond reason. Hiring Kristol the worst idea ever? I can think of many worse. Hanging someone from a lamppost to be beaten by a mob because of his ideas? And that is from a liberal, defined by Webster as “one who is open-minded.” What have we come to?

More....

Another piece from Gabriel Schoenfeld as kind of a rebuttal.

Conventional Wisdom

According to this writer, the tight horse race among republicans is a good thing for democrats.

Excerpt

Democrats might have blown off Michigan, but they're certainly getting some goodies from the state. Romney's win makes it all the more likely that the Republicans' indecision will stretch well beyond February 5--all the way to the national convention. It will make terrific theater. And it will ensure that the ultimate Republican nominee--whoever in the world it might be--enters the fall campaign with a divided and perplexed party behind him.

If the democrats would have learned one thing and one thing only from their past two nominees, they should have learned that none of their candidates were battle tested for the big show.

When you play in the NFL, you don't get there without some sweat & bruises. In fact, some no doubters never make it because of a career ending injury.

The same hold true of politics. Clinton & Obama have surrounded themselves with the liberal elite, all yes men. What are they going to do when they get to the big leagues. Unlike the GOP where there's going to be some scars and hopefully some lessons from which to learn.

Unlike the democrats who can't seem to learn from their previous lessons.

Why our country is in such bad shape

If you ever wonder why our country is in such bad shape you need look no further than the Michigan primary.

Romney promised a return of the Michigan auto industry; an industry that everyone knows will never return to the glory day of the '60's and '70's. In addition, Romney promised better presents from the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and better pay offs from the tooth fairy.

McCain, to his credit, let Michiganders know that the auto business will never return to Michigan. And just as I said in a previous post, part of fixing a problem is recognizing said problem.

Unfortunately, Michiganders bought into the fairy tale and Romney.

How can any serious change ever take place when we have an electorate who only wants smoke blown up their collective asses? It's no wonder social security is in the mess it's in.

Wait! What's that sound? It's the sound of another moving van loading up in Detroit on it's way to a red state.

Obama's race problem

A great piece at the American Thinker about Obama's race problem.

Excerpt

A central tenet of modern liberalism, after all, is the unshakeable conviction that white American is deeply and irredeemably racist. For three decades, America's white liberals have invested in the belief that American is so incapable of racial fairness that society needs a panoply of laws, preferences, quotas, set-asides, and remedial programs to ensure that black people are treated fairly.

All of those policies are fundamentally based on the belief that America is deeply racist, that their fellow Americans are personally biased and institutionally prejudiced -- consciously and unconsciously, intentionally and structurally; racist in history and practice.

It follows that many race-holding liberals will be among the last to believe that America will ever elect an African-American as president.

White liberals face this cognitive dissonance: if they decide that America is ready for a black president and back Obama they would also be forced to surrender or at least modify decades of convictions about American bias.

The euphemism for this is "electability," and it is one of the reasons why the race and gender cards are being played so aggressively among post-New Hampshire Democrats.

More....

Talk about psychological projection. Here's the logic of a "progressive". I can't vote for a black man because America is racist and will not elect him.

Tony Snow Schools the Maher Panel

Speaking facts to idiots doesn't get far when they don't want to learn.

Hat Tip Mike McConnell

More "Progress"

Another business closes in downtown Progress City.

It's a good thing Cincinnati has an economic development department.

Why I'm not a "journalist"

I could never be a debate moderator because I'd ask a question like this to Billary

If you could only do three things as President what would they be?

and follow it up with

Why haven't your considerable leadership skills been able to get one of those things passed through the Senate?

Look, I'm just a dumbass blogger, what do I know.

But you know these TV personalities really know what's important information the public needs to know.

Dancing, singing or modeling? Hmm. Asked to choose what reality TV program she would prefer to compete on, Hillary Rodham Clinton chose the popular "Dancing With the Stars."

"In my dreams I would be on 'America's Next Top Model' but in reality I would have to choose my limited talents and of them dancing is better than singing," Clinton said Monday during a taping of "The Tyra Banks Show." "You do not want me to sing."

Now I realize that Tyra Banks isn't a hardcore journalist like, say, Katie Couric, but don't you think the questions are just about the same. The Clinton's have made business out of only granting interviews with media "friendly" types.

By the way, I know I was riveted on my decision before knowing that information, I guess Billary developed those skills during her vast experience as Senator and First Lady.

More...

Look for a Kennedy to drown this idea

Cape Wind proposal clears big obstacle

As everyone knows, you're only as "progressive" as the next public project to come your way, then you become a foaming mouth, conservative, NIMBY.

Watch the Kennedy's try and hold this deal under the water.

I'll be dead before this wind farm starts operations.

Brooks on Obama-Clinton

I usually find David Brooks to be a squishy conservative, but he lines up the Clinton/Obama race to a "T".

Excerpt

But Clinton’s real problem is that she is caught in a trap, which you might call The Identity Trap.

Both Clinton and Obama have eagerly donned the mantle of identity politics. A Clinton victory wouldn’t just be a victory for one woman, it would be a victory for little girls everywhere. An Obama victory would be about completing the dream, keeping the dream alive, and so on.

Fair enough. The problem is that both the feminist movement Clinton rides and the civil rights rhetoric Obama uses were constructed at a time when the enemy was the reactionary white male establishment. Today, they are not facing the white male establishment. They are facing each other.

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You mean there's crime in Progress City

The first part of actually fixing a problem is to recognize that you have a problem.

Apparently, our city leaders in Cincinnati do not want to recognize their problems and they get pissed when people actually spell it out for them, ie Joe Deters.

I first saw this issue pop up in a post over at the Daily Bellweather (read the comments). What I find totally amusing is that "progressive" leadership looks like a bunch of kids who's response to listening to what they don't want to hear is putting their hands over the ears shouting LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA.

Most of them are pissed because Joe Deters isn't out there blowing smoke up everyone's ass. He's calling it like the thousands of people who have left the city already know. Drive through Clifton Heights some time and look at all the windows with bars on them. Drive through Walnut Hills and see all the businesses boarded up. Listen to the news, the city already has three murders this year. The city is turning into a full fledged dump.

But here is how the "progressives" see the city's problem.

Councilman Chris Bortz, the chief proponent of the streetcar idea, said he doesn't entirely disagree with some of Deters' comments, including those about needing a new jail. But he said the prosecutor missed the broader point that policing and locking up criminals don't work in a vacuum - that economic development is key.

Just out of curiosity councilman how much money does No. Ky. spend on "economic development" as compared to the city of Cincinnati? My guess; it's a pittance.

You want businesses and residences to move back into your damn city, create an environment where people don't have to have bars on their windows. Aggressive cheer leading doesn't work.

I'll say here what I said over at the Bellweather.

I agree that drugs are rampant in the inner city. But why haven't these same drugs ripped apart suburbs like Beechwood, Upper Arlington, Dublin, Centerville, Mason, West Chester, etc.

The fact is, all of Ohio inner cities are dumps and they are all run by Democrats. It's either a matter of a dysfunctional community electing dysfunctional liberal leadership or liberal leadership who's governance creates these dysfunctional enclaves.

Which is it?

Another Clinton hit piece

Liberals so hungry for a victory in November, are starting to cannibalize their own.

Excerpt

There’s an old joke people here in the capital like to tell about Charles E. Schumer, the New York senator, and over the years I’m sure it’s been used to describe other politicians, as well: The most dangerous place to stand in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a bank of television cameras.

Well, that may be, but it seems to me that the most dangerous place to be in the rest of the country is between the Clintons and an elected office.

Just this weekend, after all the recent attacks against Barack Obama involving his kindergarten essay and cocaine, the “fairy tale” of his antiwar stance, we found out that the Nevada teacher’s union with ties to the Clintons is suing to keep workers on the Vegas Strip from being able to caucus in their workplaces, since most of those workers belong to unions that have endorsed Mr. Obama.

More....

You call this change

For a liberal, Christopher Hitchens gets it.

He's got a great take on the Billary

Excerpt

What do you have to forget or overlook in order to desire that this dysfunctional clan once more occupies the White House and is again in a position to rent the Lincoln Bedroom to campaign donors and to employ the Oval Office as a massage parlor? You have to be able to forget, first, what happened to those who complained, or who told the truth, last time. It's often said, by people trying to show how grown-up and unshocked they are, that all Clinton did to get himself impeached was lie about sex. That's not really true. What he actually lied about, in the perjury that also got him disbarred, was the women. And what this involved was a steady campaign of defamation, backed up by private dicks (you should excuse the expression) and salaried government employees, against women who I believe were telling the truth. In my opinion, Gennifer Flowers was telling the truth; so was Monica Lewinsky, and so was Kathleen Willey, and so, lest we forget, was Juanita Broaddrick, the woman who says she was raped by Bill Clinton. (For the full background on this, see the chapter "Is There a Rapist in the Oval Office?" in the paperback version of my book No One Left To Lie To. This essay, I may modestly say, has never been challenged by anybody in the fabled Clinton "rapid response" team.) Yet one constantly reads that both Clintons, including the female who helped intensify the slanders against her mistreated sisters, are excellent on women's "issues."

One also hears a great deal about how this awful joint tenure of the executive mansion was a good thing in that it conferred "experience" on the despised and much-deceived wife. Well, the main "experience" involved the comprehensive fouling-up of the nation's health-care arrangements, so as to make them considerably worse than they had been before and to create an opening for the worst-of-all-worlds option of the so-called HMO, combining as it did the maximum of capitalist gouging with the maximum of socialistic bureaucracy. This abysmal outcome, forgiven for no reason that I can perceive, was the individual responsibility of the woman who now seems to think it entitles her to the presidency. But there was another "experience," this time a collaborative one, that is even more significant.

During the Senate debate on the intervention in Iraq, Sen. Clinton made considerable use of her background and "experience" to argue that, yes, Saddam Hussein was indeed a threat. She did not argue so much from the position adopted by the Bush administration as she emphasized the stand taken, by both her husband and Al Gore, when they were in office, to the effect that another and final confrontation with the Baathist regime was more or less inevitable. Now, it does not especially matter whether you agree or agreed with her about this (as I, for once, do and did). What does matter is that she has since altered her position and attempted, with her husband's help, to make people forget that she ever held it. And this, on a grave matter of national honor and security, merely to influence her short-term standing in the Iowa caucuses. Surely that on its own should be sufficient to disqualify her from consideration? Indifferent to truth, willing to use police-state tactics and vulgar libels against inconvenient witnesses, hopeless on health care, and flippant and fast and loose with national security: The case against Hillary Clinton for president is open-and-shut. Of course, against all these considerations you might prefer the newly fashionable and more media-weighty notion that if you don't show her enough appreciation, and after all she's done for us, she may cry.

More...

Thanks

Yesterday, as Mrs. Gekko and I were watching a perfectly good football game, Mrs. Gordon said "is this blogging thing getting addictive?"

I have to admit that it is.

Now that my busy season is starting to kick in, I'll probably slow down some posting but when you get a compliment like this one from a fellow blogger of his quality, it makes it difficult to slow down.

If you've never caught Bearing Drift Ohio check it out, it's a "must surf" blog.

Reason # 46 for the death penalty

I don't like to comments on "alleged" acts of violence before we know all the facts. But let me just speculate on a hypothetical.

Let's say there's a deranged husband that stabs his wife to death and he decides it's a good idea to set his home on fire while his four kids are still in the home (ages 8,4 & 3 year old twins).

The kids die from the fire, some charred while the emergency room people are trying to keep them alive (I know this from second hand info from Mrs. Gekko's co workers at the hospital).

This guy has reserved himself a special place in hell and I'd like to think we can put him there.

Lie to pollsters

The Headline on Drudge

Washington Post/ABC News Poll: Large Shift to Obama

Let me make sure I got this right. The same news media that still wiping egg off it's face from last week is proclaiming this? Even the lowly blogger knows not to comment on these things before the actual election and we don't have "fact checkers" and all, like those true "journalists".

If people want to know how stop politics as usual you know what they would do. Lie to pollsters.

Seriously, what is gained by telling a pollster the truth. You know each and every one of these campaign camps use these polls to manipulate their message and hence the electorate.

What if they didn't know what we thought?

They would have to actually run on a message; maybe even their own message.

And the media? Let's just say polls should not be news. What people think is not a "news event" what is news is what happens at the actual voting booth, not polls taken weeks and months before that happens.

So go out and do your civic duty and lie to a pollster today.

Fascist America Part Dos

Earlier this week, I received quite a response on my Fascist America post.

Libertarian Jason had this comment

It's unclear to me exactly which points of hers that you "can't take seriously".

Here's an idea... Instead of expressing useless incredulity, why not elaborate in a more extensively rational and logical manner exactly why she is wrong.

Just simply saying, "ha!" isn't particularly enlightening.

So now I feel obliged to spell it out for Jason

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
The day we saw those towers go down, we didn't need to invent an enemy; it was clear that we had one.

2. Create a gulag
Where the hell is said "gulag". We have a detention camp at Gitmo. To my knowledge no Americans are being held there.

3. Develop a thug caste
What is this thug caste you speak of?

4. Set up an internal surveillance system
I assume this is in reference to the NSA wiretaps. Again, can someone name me a specific US citizen that has been prosecuted for an offense where these were used.

5. Harass citizens' groups
What constitutes harassment? What has the administration done to "harass" citizens groups.

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
Once again, I'm not aware of any arbitrary detention and release. Maybe Jason's neighbor was snatched up in the middle of the night, harassed, beaten and sent back home in the morning because I would think that would be front page news somewhere in the US.

7. Target key individuals
Again, who are these people being targeted, Bill O'Reilly?

8. Control the press
Just because liberals no longer control the press doesn't mean the conservatives are. Name a journalist jailed by the government. For some of the venom released by some of these media types towards the Bushies, I would think there would be more people in the "gulags".

9. Dissent equals treason
Once again, where's the treason?

10. Suspend the rule of law
And again, where has the rule of law been suspended.

After this, I say to Jason, "where's the beef" can you name one instance where the US has used the Patriot Act to prosecute a US citizen for something other than terroristic crimes?

Look if you read this blog long enough, you know I give to republicans and democrats alike. We've had enough of our civil liberties stripped without putting a tin colander on her heads and making some up.

We have to live everyday with true civil liberty violations drunk driving check points, drug forfeiture laws, confiscatory taxation, red light cameras, mandatory seat belt laws, etc. Before we start paranoid delusions of Patriot Act abuses, let's work on getting rid of the politicians who give these deals.

Comments from America's first black president

Apparently, Slick's upset that people are criticizing him and Billary on race issues

Excerpt

Former President Bill Clinton is expressing frustration with the backlash in the black community over his claim in New Hampshire that the press has coddled Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill).

“This is what happens any time anyone tries to question a statement or a position of Senator Obama,” Clinton says in an interview now airing on Sirius satellite radio. “The response is, ‘You’re attacking me personally,’ and that relieves him of the obligation to address the substance.”

I know you're going to find this hard to believe, but I'm with Slick on this one. After all, he is this country's first black president. If we didn't learn anything from the Don Imus affair, we know it's OK for black's to say what they want about other black's but not whitey.

Make every vote count

This just in.... from the party who wants "every vote to count";

Nevada’s state teachers union and six Las Vegas area residents filed a lawsuit late Friday that could make it harder for many members of the state’s huge hotel workers union to vote in the hotly contested Jan. 19 Democratic caucus in Nevada.

The 13-page lawsuit in federal district court here comes two days after the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada endorsed Senator Barack Obama, a blow to Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Obama addressed the Culinary Union at their hall earlier Friday.

The lawsuit argues that the Nevada Democratic Party’s decision, decided late last year, to create at-large precincts inside nine Las Vegas resorts on caucus day violates the state’s election laws and creates a system in which voters at the at-large precincts can elect more delegates than voters at other precincts. The lawsuit employs a complex mathematical formula to show that voters at the other 1,754 precincts would have less influence with their votes.

More...

Sabbath Sunday

Whenever I attempt to list the seven deadly sins, I inevitably forget one and usually it's the one I'm currently embracing.

For the record, the seven deadly sins are

Pride
Envy
Gluttony
Sloth
Lust
Anger
Greed

Which of these do find most in your life?

In the Bible, Jesus instructs us to be humble. For he knows, how easy it is to be critical of one person when we have our own baggage.

In Matthew 7

1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

It's so easy to condemn gays because we're not gay. But what if we're obese? The Bible has lots of passages about gluttony. What about pride? or greed?

We all engage in some or all of these sins. When engaged, we'll find that these kill relationships with ourselves, others & God.

So I challenge my readers to explore the sins they are most prone to. Consider the impact these have on your relationships with others. Finally, make a difference and share that experience with others.

All people all have their "hole in the soul". We can counsel others when we are humble enough to recognize our own hole and share that experience with others.

It's all about making a difference.