The Barnyard

Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay.........

2010-09-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

I went down to Perdido Key for the Labor day week end and added tuesday so I would not have to deal with traffic driving home. The beach was absolutely gorgeous and I had it all to myself on Tuesday. This is in the Gulf Islands National Seashore at the tip of the key.

I found this awesome little seafood grill right on Perdido Bay called the Sunset Grill for a reason, great food, a beach atmosphere, paper plates and great sunsets. This is the view from the outdoor dining area.

I was sitting on the dock behind the restaurant enjoying a post dinner cigar and beer waiting for the sunset when the Navy's Blue Angels came roaring out of the sun and flew right over us about five hundred feet off the deck. AWESOME!!!

That is a pretty little cay with a little beach to party on.

I said it is called the Sunset Grill for a reason, the back faces west. Yes folks it is paradise.

Believe me, I didn't want to leave!

Hello All You Sick, Twisted, Freaky, Morons

2009-12-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

I guess its time to come in off the water, with lots of big bass in the skillet, and get the Barnyard back in order since election season is coming around and the Dems need to have their walking papers handed to them by us, the people, their damn bosses. Don't worry the old goat has kept himself informed about all the antics going on in DC these past few months and none of it has surprised him since he predicted it from the get go about two years ago. I am glad Glenn Beck has finally caught up with what I was telling y'all back then.

Anyway I have been catching up on my long put off reading list and have been devouring books at a breakneck speed, some political and some a mixture of politics and pleasure. As any of the malcontents that have kept up with me over the years know, I am always interested in politics and Special Forces warfare so that lead me to quite a few fantastic authors that weren't on my original list. I went through Vince Flynn's spy thrillers like his ace Mitch Rapp does our enemies , we need a few more like him for real, and expanded from there. Next was Marcus Luttrell and "Lone Survivor", awesome story about a lone SEAL team survivor against incredible odds.

That got me interested in the SEALS, our baddest and best warriors, so I read Roy"SEAL founder" Boehm's ,"The First Seal" which sent me on to Richard Marcincko's "Rogue Warrior" series, so I have been reading like a half crazed madman for the last few months. I can say all these books are excellent if you want a behind the scenes look at SpecOps. I can say our Spec Op Warriors have a special place in my heart not far below the Lord.

The Goat is still living and breathing though I know I have been out on the water for an extended period of time . I needed the break after several years of balls to the wall blogging. I am back now so let's see if I lift this derilict farm back into operation...

PS: A shout out to my readers that know my name, I am on Facebook so tap me when you can.

Gone Fishin'

2009-07-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

I guess that can be taken literally as well as figuratively since I have neglected the Barnyard for a while now and am spending evenings floating around catching bass instead. I am not far from the small lake I grew up on and I still know what the fish like, having landed several well over five pounds, nice chunky, healthy big mouths. They have been tearing up the Storm swimbaits I have been using, 4-5 nice fish in a couple hours of casting.

I must say it is far more peaceful and relaxing than sitting in front of my computer reading and ranting about how badly Obama and his congressional minions are screwing up our country. I even got laid off a couple weeks ago, though I quickly found another job it was a first. I learned one thing though, filing for unemployment is a huge royal pain in the ass, thankfully I found work before I needed to follow through with the hoop jumping. I don't do tricks for the government very well.

I am actually glad I got laid off from my last job since the boss is a class-A1 jerk and not nearly as smart as he thinks he is plus he liked to whine for hours about how no one likes him, how bad former employees were and how crazy customers were. This is not a pleasant person to be around, I wonder why his business has gone down hill for the last twenty years, snark. He was bad when I worked for him fifteen years ago and has now become almost unbearable in his unrelenting pity party. I am glad I don't have to listen to his insufferable woe is me rants anymore. Anyway I bring a lot to the table for my new boss and can help her expand her business while given the freedom to do what I do best, my job. Another plus is my commute is much shorter and the hours are better so I might have some more time to spend here or floating around catching some lunker bass.

Waxman/Markey Cap And Trade Or Tax And Kill

2009-06-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

The wicked witch of the west, Nancy Pelosi, has brought the global warming kill industry bill to the floor for a vote this week. The Waxman/Markey bill will be a massive tax on all Americans who will see the price of everything remotely connected to energy use sky rocket under the guise of protecting/saving the environment from anthropogenic global warming. This thousand page behemoth of a job killing bill has little or nothing to do with the environment it is all about controlling energy and thus the people. It is a backdoor method by the statists to take away ever more of our liberty and freedom while expanding their own power and control over every aspect of our lives.

Have no doubts about it that this was all planned while everyone is talking about health care Iran and North Korea that that sneaky witch, Pelosi, and her crony, Obama, would try to sneak this massive tax hike in under the radar. It is typical of Obama that he is saying one thing while doing another on the sly, like a magician, one hand distracts while the other hand is doing something else. Do Not underestimate Obama and what he is willing to do to force his far left agenda through while trying to seemingly stay above the fray without blame.

Call your Representatives and Senators and tell them to oppose this massively destructive bill. It would raise the price of energy for the average household $1000-$2000 a year and that doesn't count the cost of motor fuel or the additional costs as the price of everything will have to go up, not to mention the inflationary pressure of printing trillions of dollars to pay for the absurd bills already passed by the thieves in charge.

If we don't fight back now it may be to late to save what we have left of the freedoms and liberty we once enjoyed and our founding fathers invisioned. Get of your ass now and make a couple phone calls to your Congressmen and women.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night Of Forbidden Love

2009-05-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

"Love Never Fails" 1Cor 13:8

They were together in the House.
Just the two of them.
It was a cold, dark, stormy night.

The storm had come quickly
and each time the thunder boomed he watched her jump.
She looked across the room and admired his strong appearance...
and wished that he would take her in his arms,
comfort her and protect her from the storm.
Suddenly, with a pop, the power went out...
She screamed...
He raced to the sofa where she was cowering.
He didn't hesitate to pull her in to his arms.
He knew this was a forbidden union and
expected her to pull back.He was surprised when she didn't resist
but instead clung to him.
The storm raged on...
They knew it was wrong...
Their families would never understand...
So consumed were they in fear that they never heard the opening of the door
Just a flash and the faint click of a camera...

Now that you have smiled today, won't you please help someone else?

Thanks to my sister for sending this on, I got a nice laugh out of it!

You Were Warned About Obama And His Congressional Minions

2009-05-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

Nothing the Obama/Pelosi/Reid trifecta or the MSM has done has surprised me as I fully expected it and spent a good portion of '07 and '08 in full warning mode about what they would do when given unfettered power. The teleprompter did not mask what Obama's agenda is/was from me or those that actually paid attention to who and what Obama really is, a far left liberal with a penchant for marxism and state control.

I am sick of the man and his voice along with his condescending professorial tone that he uses while lieing through his well polished teeth. This is going to be a very long four years.

Mark Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny"

2009-05-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

It is indeed a Conservative Manifesto laid out in language so clear and simple it is a delight to read. There is no heady or heavy philosophy or grandiose language just the basic truths upon which this great nation was founded as written in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Those documents are the very core of conservative thought and guiding philosophy on how to govern.

Mark also does a masterful job stating just why the liberals or statists as he calls them are so hostile to those very documents this country was founded on because they get in the way of the statist's constant drive for ever more power and control over every aspect of our lives. He does this by explaining how they distort language, blatantly lie and create crisis where none existed to create an excuse to take away ever more of our liberties in the name of some sort of equality, progress or fairness.

I can say that everything Mark discussed I can whole heartedly agree with and have even echoed many of the same themes and ideas here in the Barnyard over the years, just not as well. I have long considered myself a Constitutional Federalist which as Mark points out so very eloquently as the very basis of conservative thought. The whole book is quotable and I will have to get my own copy so I can highlight and mark the many passages that can expand on my arguments as a proactive voice for conservatism in government as opposed to the statist's "utopia" that enslaves us all to the government. I have no desire to live in some quasi-eurosocialist state that grovels to the world for approval. I want to live in the USA as our founders envisioned it with the freedom and liberty to pursue life, liberty and happiness as I see fit not as some bureaucrat does with the ability to defend myself and ourselves against all threats foreign and domestic.

If you ask me, Obama and his statist allies in Congress fit into the latter category and our Constitution and Declaration of Independence give us every right to oppose them by any and all means necessary.

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!!!

2009-04-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

I got home this evening to find a very pleasant surprise on my desk, Mark Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny". I never expected to get it this quickly from the library when I put my name on the waiting list but I did and I am thrilled. I will have to get a copy for my bookshelf to sit next to Natan Sharansky's " The Case for Democracy".

I have only read one chapter so far but feel like I just ate a multi course meal featuring beef tenderloin, the red meat is so rich with conservative flavor, no wonder it is sitting atop the NYT's best seller list considering the direction Obama and his statist cronies are taking us. No my friends conservatism is not dead or dying, it had just become complacent but the fire has been relit around the country as the "Tea Parties" show. I think Mark speaks for many that feel as I do about what conservatism is, not the watered down shinola of the beltway elite like Brooks, Frum or John McCain and his "valley girl" daughter but true to the Constitutional Federalism of our Founders.

I did not get Mark's radio show in California but now that I am back in Dixie I have the pleasure of listening to him on my evening drive home. I do miss Hugh Hewitt but Mark is a decent trade I can't complain about and I am sure Hugh would agree since I can't seem to find him on my dial.

Anyway, get Mark's book either from the library or shell out and buy it, it is worth every penny.

Time To Grow

2009-04-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

No, not the federal deficit, our garden, we got it all planted this weekend with maybe a few things to stick in around the edges. We have okra, green beans(Kentucky Wonder pole beans of course), three kinds of squash, broccoli, carrots, radishes, some herbs and most important, tomatoes. We have two heirloom varieties, German Queen and Pink Brandywine and a good standby hybrid Betterboy. I am very interested in how this German Queen produces, from what I have read it puts out huge, tasty, beefsteak slicers which this household loves.

I also got all my birdfeeders and birdbath set up and already have birds coming to visit them. I actually have more species here to visit than I did in California, out there I only had three or four species and here it will be around a dozen or more including the same ones I had out there except for hummingbirds.

The Teleprompter Strikes Again

2009-04-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

Smokin' Smoker

2009-04-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

Well I got the garden plot all tilled yesterday so now its time to relax and watch the grill smoke a nice pork roast, yummmmmm. I haven't smoked a roast in quite a while so this is my treat for getting all my major chores done, that sonny-do list was long.

Update: The rain held off long enough for me to finish my roast and then came in with a bang, tornado warnings and all. There were touchdowns and numerous funnels spotted in my area but nothing bad here though the sky got really black and roiled looking for a little bit this evening. Anyway, the roast was so tender you couldn't cut it with a knife, it just fell apart with a nice crunchy crust and moist ultra-tender inside, perfect pulled pork quality. Ah, life in the South -East BBQ and tornados, what a combination?!

Busy, Busy

2009-04-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Its nice to be back in Alabama for sure and to start back to work so quickly but dang my mom and sister had a sonny/bro do list all made up for me so between unpacking and doing chores I have had little to no time to blog. Its all cool though since I have a cheap place to stay till I get back on my feet and at least there is food in the refridgerator. I am pretty much done unpacking and the movers finally got here yesterday with my big items, dang I was missing my bed.

I've got the yardwork done which included the initial battle against a stand of bamboo, I hate that stuff and its near impossible to get rid of. It spreads like wildfire and will take over your yard in no time once it gets established. If you want my qualified advice after battling two different stands of it, never, never plant it in the first place, you will regret it if you do. The last stand took over a year to defeat in near daily battles with an ax.

I finally got caught up with my email today and have just semi-caught up with what's happening around the interwebs. I see our "Dear Leader" is still clueless about the economy or ruthlessly socialist, its hard to tell. He is definately dimwitted when it comes to national security but we all knew that didn't we. Hopefully I will be around more once I get settled in and get my schedule worked out.

Yay, I am Back

2009-04-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

I finally got internet access for my machine today so things should be back to fairly normal around the Barnyard once again after a turbulent last couple months. I probably will not be able to post with the same frequency I have the last couple years because I will be away from my computer working for someone else instead of myself. It stinks but at least I have a job, something that was nonexistant in California. My old boss is taking me back and seems very glad to have me back. Heck I worked for him for 12 years before I moved so he knows my work ethic and abilities.

Anyway, my sister has a beautiful home she has opened up to me till I get back on my feet. It has a nive deck and gazebo where I have to retire to smoke my cigars but there is a nice patch of woods in the back that is full of songbirds so my smoke breaks are filled with a chorus. The three dogs are a hoot, the older one knows me and is my buddy but the pups don't trust me yet, they'll come around though.

Safely Arrived In Alabama

2009-04-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

I got here about midnight last night after 18 hours straight on the road, what a long drive. I am on my sister's laptop tight now and will get my machine set up tonight and get a longer post up about the trip soon. I just wanted to let everyone know I was safely here.

We Need Chaotic And Unforgiving Capitalism Not Government Command And Control

2009-03-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

I love Mark Steyn and his column this week is an absolute must read. He skewers Obama and Geithner on turning what was a recession into an all out government power grab of the economy and everything that goes with it.

Writing in the Chicago Tribune last week, President Obama fell back on one of his favorite rhetorical tics: “But I also know,” he wrote, “that we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people.”

Really? For the moment, it’s a “false choice” mainly in the sense that he’s not offering it: “a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism” is not on the menu, which leaves “an oppressive government-run economy” as pretty much the only game in town. How oppressive is yet to be determined: To be sure, the official position remains that only “the richest five percent” will have taxes increased. But you’ll be surprised at the percentage of Americans who wind up in the richest five percent. This year federal government spending will rise to 28.5 per cent of GDP, the highest level ever, with the exception of the peak of the Second World War. The 44th president is proposing to add more to the national debt than the first 43 presidents combined, doubling it in the next six years, and tripling it within the decade. But to talk about it in percentages of this and trillions of that misses the point. It’s not about bookkeeping, it’s about government annexation of the economy, and thus of life: government supervision, government regulation, government control. No matter how small your small business is — plumbing, hairdressing, maple sugaring — the state will be burdening you with more permits, more paperwork, more bureaucracy.

Of course some regulation is needed to keep capitalism running as smoothly as possible like not letting people that shouldn't be buying a house get a mortgage. There is a big difference between good regulation and bad like killing our economy with draconian cap and trade rules on energy production and environmental laws that prevent anything from being built.

Obama and his fellow Demcrats are about one thing and that is the power to control you and every aspect of your lives while redistributing whatever wealth is left to the government.

Moving News

2009-03-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

I am 99% packed and raring to go back to Dixie where the water is warm and the girls are pretty. The movers are coming Monday and I will roll the next morning for a three day journey across this great nation. Don't worry I will take plenty of pictures and post a write up as soon as I can.

Dang, I really hate leaving my little house with all the work I put into it and the gardens but I am left with no other choice as it stands. The good news is my old boss is really anxious to talk to me so I guess I have a job waiting for me. I am extremely good at my trade, much of that thanks to my old boss, and anybody in my trade would be lucky to have me on their team.

Anyway, I am going to drink some beer and watch American Idol and Hell's Kitchen and just vege for a bit after all I have gone through recently.

Sarah Palin At The Alaska Lincoln Dinner

2009-03-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

It is a bit long and you can come back here when you have some time to watch it or the google page is here.
The audio is better on You Tube but it is chopped up into a dozen parts that can be found here.

Rush Limbaugh And Mark Levin

2009-03-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

They discuss Mark's new book "Liberty and Tyranny" and from what I am gathering this is an absolute must read for conservatives and moderates wondering what conservatism is all about. Via Hot Air where the other three segments can be found, I heard it live this morning and it is a must listen.

I might as well add this video as well of a Brit Parlimentarian ripping into PM Gordon Brown about government overspending. I have always liked that CSPAN program where they cover the Parliment questioning the Prime Minister, they let it rip in a way we seem to have forgotten. I also heard this on Rush's show this morning.

Obama Supporters Are Canvassing For Loyalty Pledges

2009-03-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is just plain creepy and certainly fits in the "cult of personality" that has been brought up many times in the last year or so.

Why would any sane person pledge loyalty to a politician that is clearly incapable of doing the job he was elected do let alone his economic plans and budget that will bankrupt America. I support this country and its Constitution not individual politicians and I want it and everyone in it to thrive not become slaves to the state. Obama's budget is 3.5 TRILLION dollars with deficits pushing 2 TRILLION for as far as the eye can see and that's if the economy turns around. We can't just crank up the Reserve printing presses and print money Zimbabwe style to get us out of this mess. To put this in personal terms Obama's budget for this year alone is $11,666 per person in America and that does count the Generational Theft Act or the porkulus budget bill that just passed let alone what the Fed and Treasury are doing behind the scenes. Where is all this money going to come from? Not to mention skyrocketing inflation because business just passes their tax hikes on to the consumer. This madness has to stop NOW. This won't hurt just conservatives it will hurt every single person living in the US today including you brain dead liberals that voted for this nut case President Obama.

Glenn Beck Goes On A Real Tear

2009-03-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

I've only heard his radio show a couple times and seen his FOX show once other than web snips like this but the more I see the more I like. It is well worth the 15 minutes of your time.

American Depression

2009-03-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

What is happening to the American psyche in these somewhat troubling times? The economy is sputtering, our enemies are emboldened and we have an inexperienced naively liberal President that increasingly appears to not have a clue as to how to actually govern. Victor Davis Hanson takes a look into the many factors that are playing to our state of mind far more elonquently than I can.

Why are so many Americans so depressed about things these days? It is perhaps not just the economy.

I think the answer is clear: all the accustomed referents, the sources of security, of knowledge and reassurance appear to be vanishing. Materially, we still enjoy a sumptuous lifestyle in comparison with past generations—and the world outside our borders. America remains the most sane and successful society on the planet.

But there is a strange foreboding, a deer-in-the-headlights look to us that we may be clueless Greeks in the age of Demosthenes, played-out Romans around AD 450, or give-up French in late 1939—with a sense it cannot go on. Why? Let us count the ways.

Heck even the New York Times and the AP are starting to wonder if the Teleprompter President is in way over his head. None of this really surprises me since I was warning about this Obama well over a year ago as being nothing but an empty suit with pleasing oratory. Many of us knew a long time ago that Obama would prove to be Carter II if he was elected and the sad part about it for our country is that he may prove to be even more disasterous than we ever feared.

God help us.

Governor Palin On Accepting Some Of The Stimulus Dollars

2009-03-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

She is accepting the dollars that will go to infrastructure and create jobs but rejecting funds that will grow the cost to Alaska in the future because of Federal strings attached to them. As I said in several posts about the "stimulus" about a fifth went to actually worthy projects and the rest was just a liberal hog trough of slop. This is via Hot Air and Conservatives4Palin where you can also find a transcript.

I think this is the path the other states should follow as well accept some but not all the money and use it wisely to actually create jobs and not expand social services with increased reliance on DC to keep them funded. Meanwhile my current Gov. Schwartzenegger just stuck his nose deep in Obama's crack, took a deep breath and declared it beautiful before moving around to the front side on his knees. Can I gag now?

I really like Sarah Palin and if she and Mitt Romney both run in 2012 I will have a very tough choice to make. That is still a long ways off especially politically since so much can happen in just a few weeks let alone years untill then conservatives need to focus squarely on 2010 in the hopes of getting Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid removed from their leadership positions in the House and Senate respectively.

There are currently about 40-45 Democrat House members representing districts that went for McCain in '08 and around 10-12 Democrat Senators representing red or purple states up for re-election next year including Harry Reid in Nevada. That is where our focus should be concentrated.

This Is Pretty Wild

2009-03-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

Some crazy folks got video of that underwater volcano that erupted near Tonga, shouldn't they be worried about some serious wave action or something, via Ace of Spades.

FOX On The AIG Hearings And Bonus Outrage

2009-03-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

There is all kinds of outrage out there over AIG employees getting bonuses after the taxpayers bailed them out but who is resposible for this, namely Chris Dodd(D) who put a provision in the stimulus bill allowing for them. The thing is these were retention bonuses written into contracts signed well before the bailout was needed. A retention bonus works like this, I agree to work for a company till a certain date and then I will get paid an X amount of dollars, its not a performance bonus, its a delayed hiring bonus common in the financial sector. AIG is contractually obligated to pay those bonuses, performance bonuses are another thing and from what I have seen none of those have gone out. The government despite all the grandstanding and screaming cannot interfere in contract law. Besides they are whining about 175 million when they spent almost 2 trillion in the last couple weeks and are talking trillions more, oh cry me a river.

Here is Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin and Jonah Goldberg talking about who really is to blame here, Democrats in Congress, via Hot Air.

Here is Shepherd Smith also giving the lowdown on who is to blame and with a bit more background on what caused the melt down in the first place which I explained in depth here many times leading up to the election of our Dufus in Chief, the community reinvestment act.

Brain Freeze

2009-03-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Ugh, I really don't know what to blog about since there is so much going on and I have so little time to sit and type besides getting ready to move 2500 miles. All I know is that the Obama administration is turning out exactly as I warned about for months prior to his election, a massively corrupt and disjointed affair of fecklessness along with a complete disregard for our Constitution. So heres a couple links to stories I found interesting.

Bob Owens at Confederate Yankee on Obama's DoD decision to stop selling spent rifle and pistol brass to reloaders and instead sell the melted down bulk to China, smart eh. I don't use military calibers so I have no idea how it will effect my ammo prices.

Michelle Malkin has been all over the bailout frenzy and the outrage over the AIG bonuses and she notes that the bonuses were retention bonuses written into contracts to be paid at the end of the contract, legally obligated. Its all smoke and mirrors from Obama and the Dems to distract us from their other shenanigans.

Now I have more packing to do, dang I accumulated a lot of stuff in a few short years.

Obama Wants Vets Private Insurance To Pay For Their Medical Care

2009-03-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

This just the latest outrage by the Obama administration, they want active and veteran miltary's private insurance to pay for duty related medical costs that have normally gone through the VA as it should. In other words if you want to serve your country you will have to have private insurance to cover any injuries you may receive while protecting America since Obama doesn't think you're worth be taken care of by the government but illegal aliens and octomoms are. This is outrageously stupid so much so that I really don't have words to express my disgust. Via Hot Air where Ed has more details.

The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.
“It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan,” said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. “He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it.”
The Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, “This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ‘ to care for him who shall have borne the battle’ given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm’s way, and not private insurance companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America’s veterans!”
Commander Rehbein was among a group of senior officials from veterans service organizations joining the President, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Steven Kosiak, the overseer of defense spending at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The group’s early afternoon conversation at The White House was precipitated by a letter of protest presented to the President earlier this month. The letter, co-signed by Commander Rehbein and the heads of ten colleague organizations, read, in part, ” There is simply no logical explanation for billing a veteran’s personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility to provide. While we understand the fiscal difficulties this country faces right now, placing the burden of those fiscal problems on the men and women who have already sacrificed a great deal for this country is unconscionable.”

The only relief I can take for this is that I doubt it has chance in hell of getting through Congress as there are plenty of Vets on the Dem side of the aisle as well that wouldn't go for this. This a way beyond stupid move by Obama and goes way past the line of being an un-American proposal. We owe our vets the very best care we have to offer and if there is any tab the government is obligated beyond a shadow of doubt to pick up its that one.

I can't wait to see Mike Yon weigh in on this since he is a vet and now a private war correspondent that has to pay for insurance before he can embed in war zones and if I remember correctly it is very expensive perhaps even his highest outlay. It is more than the average serviceman makes a month.

Moving News

2009-03-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

I had two of my biggest worries removed last week and I feel much better now. The first was an outstanding contract that had been in holding pattern for the last two years because the client kept changing the drawing for a piece of art glass, the architect and contractor released me from my contract and will finish the job working directly with my artist.

The second was getting rid of my inventory but a good friend came around and took it all off my hands for a decent price. I am worn out from spending the last couple days loading up a couple tons of glass, machinery and other supplies. We stuffed his truck to the hilt a couple times but were able to get it all in just a couple loads so that is a big relief and cash for the road.

Now I can concentrate on the final details of closing down my company which just consists of a few letters to the proper state agencies and packing up. The mover is booked for the first week of April and I will be back in the heart of Dixie a week after they load up, in time for my niece's first soccer games. Mom tells me she asks everyday when her uncle goat is going to get there. I know I am ready to get out of this state ASAP.

Is Osama Bin Laden Dead?

2009-03-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

I have long thought so for several reasons mainly in the fact he was such a media hog up until we invaded Afghanistan and he has been silent since. All his missives since 2001 are not conclusively from him and no reputable sources even Al Jazeera have seen him alive. There is a great article in the American Spectator that looks into this in great detail and comes to many of the same conclusions I have. It even examines if his Al Qaeda network is even really relevant anymore and if the main terrorist organizations are really state sponsored or just tolerated. It is a must read on how our own CIA is seriously out of whack. I have read Lawerence Wright's "The Looming Tower" so this sounds very credible to me.

All the evidence suggests Elvis Presley is more alive today than Osama bin Laden. But tell that to the CIA and all the other misconceptualizers of the War on Terror.

Seven years after Osama bin Laden's last verifiable appearance among the living, there is more evidence for Elvis's presence among us than for his. Hence there is reason to ask whether the paradigm of Osama bin Laden as terrorism's deus ex machina and of al Qaeda as the prototype of terrorism may be an artifact of our Best and Brightest's imagination, and whether investment in this paradigm has kept our national security establishment from thinking seriously about our troubles' sources. So let us take a fresh look at the fundamentals.

Odd Trivia Fact Of The Day

2009-03-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

President John Tyler was born in 1790 and two of his grandsons are alive today, some pretty amazing genes in that family. I would guess the parents were born in the mid 1800s and they were born in the early 1900s. It is amazing anyway you look at it.

Time For A Laugh

2009-03-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Via Hot Air

He doesn't know a real pink belly is done with a tennis racket and a hair brush.

Oh So Funny Democrats

2009-03-12T15:08:00.001-07:00

When Democrats got their panties all wadded up over Rush Limbaugh saying he wanted Obama to fail they held a slogan contest for a billboard meant to slap at Rush. They are a creative bunch after all from having years of practice from all their anti-Bush rallies and this is the best they could come up with, LOL.

That of course can easily be interpreted two ways, one critical of Rush but more easily as critical of Obama for his disasterous policies. I am sure Rush will have a good chuckle over it. Ed Morrisey put his photoshop skills to work on a companion billboard to go just down the road from this one.
This comes right on the heels of two more Obama cabinet nominees having to pull out with ethical or other problems, adding to a growing list. The smoothest transition ever, yeah right.

Obama Not Keeping Campaign Promises

2009-03-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

Peter Wehner does a masterful job of showing how vast the gulf is between Obama's words on the campaign trail and what he has done or not done with his actions not that he is in office. I couldn't say it any better so just hurry over there and read the whole thing.

Consider a partial list, starting with earmarks. During the campaign, Obama said, "the truth is, our earmark system -- what's called pork-barrel spending in Washington -- is fraught with abuse. It badly needs reform -- which is why I didn't request a single earmark last year, why I've released all my previous requests for the public to see, why I've pledged to slash earmarks by more than half when I am President of the United States." And as ABC's Jake Tapper pointed out, after John McCain picked Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, Obama criticized her for having been of two minds on earmarks. "When you have been taking all these earmarks when it is convenient and then suddenly you are the champion anti-earmark person," Obama said, "that is not change, come on. I mean, words mean something."

Yet yesterday, Obama signed rather than vetoed a massive, $410 billion omnibus spending bill -- which contained more than 8,500 earmarks. Adding chutzpah to his hypocrisy, Obama told reporters, "The future demands that we operate in a different way than we have in the past. So let there be no doubt: this piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability that the American people have every right to expect and demand." This is the fiscal version of St. Augustine's prayer, "Lord, make me chaste -- but not yet."

Jennifer Rubin then expands on this and as Jim Geraghty likes to say all of Obama's statements come with an expiration date, all of them.

Tea Party Protests And Going John Galt

2009-03-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

I have not read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" so I can't really classify myself as a Randian but from what I have learned lately I would surely qualify as such. As I understand it John Galt was Rand's hero that withdrew his productivity from society in protest of an ever intrusive over taxing government. I just watched this very interesting video from PJTV on going Galt as a large and growing segment of people are doing in protest of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid trifecta seeking to spend and tax us into oblivion.

I have always had a very strong libertarian streak that despises government though I recognize it as a necessary evil good for only a limited number of things. I am going Galt in a way by closing my business in California and moving back to Alabama since Ca. has chosen to raise my taxes by a minimum of $500 bucks a year and that's a conservative estimate. Once I get back to Al. we will get a big garden planted and put that good old canning process to work. Mom grew up farming during the Depression so we know what we are doing.

As we all should know our American Revolution basically started with the Boston Tea Party over taxation by England. Recently there have been quite a few Tea Party protests across America with a big one scheduled for 4/15, tax day. Michelle Malkin has done a yeoman's work covering and supporting these protests that our Obamedia refuses to cover also check the Instapundit for updates on protests that will be happening in you area. We aren't quite as organized as the International ANSWER crowd and conservatives are generally to busy working to show up for protests but one here in sunny SoCal turned out 15,000 to protest higher taxes.

Obama and his administration so far has proven to be the train wreck in slow motion that I and many others said it would be and his supporters are even left unable to defend him except through ad hominen attacks on his critics. I had one Obamabot criticize me for a misspelling of incompetent but with no effort to defend the charges, typical of the moonbats I have known.

All I can say is I hope the GOP can get its act together over the next year and a half so we can possibly unseat that witch from the House Majority chair, Nancy "I want an Air Force Jet Now" Pelosi. Hey Newt pulled it off in '94 against a not nearly as radical administration.

Yes We Can Do It Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sidenote: 59% of the people on an MSNBC poll give Obama an "F" , hmmmmm, short honeymoon.

Fun Video Of The Day

2009-03-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

I had to snag this from Rachel Lucas because with all the bad news lately seeing a wiener dog having some fun always brings a smile.

Thanks For The Patience

2009-03-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

Between my computer breaking down on me and preparing to move across the country I just haven't had much time to blog with any real thoughtful insight on matters at hand. I moved out to California 12 years ago with all my possessions packed into a Nissan Maxima but I have accumulated a lot more stuff since then and now need to hire a mover to move back. The cost was thankfully a lot less than I was expecting and makes more sense than dragging a big trailer behind me. I will already be filling my truck and a small trailer with my tools alone so getting my few pieces of furniture and boxes handled by a mover makes sense.

To add to just the headaches of moving is closing down my company and getting rid of my inventory in a rapidly dying state. My dream is dead for now but I will pull myself up by the bootstraps and move on and hopefully resurrect it in the future.

I hate to let my house go into foreclosure but I can gain some solice in the fact that uber-liberal George Soros is a major stake holder in the bank my mortgage is with. Yeah my credit rating will take a hit but not too bad since it was perfect to start with and it is a result of circumstances beyond my control.

At least I will be back where I have family, plenty of old friends to look up, golf courses that won't break the bank for a couple weekend rounds and water actually warm enough to go swimming in. I will miss the Sierra mountains, the temperate climate and wine country but I can find plenty of almost as good tradeoffs like Panama City, the Smokey mountains and turning my niece into the next Mia Ham. I also know an awesome fishing hole loaded with big bass on private property that I will have access to.

I have never asked for prayers except for others but now I am asking for them as I need your's and His support in this tough time for me.

The Rush Limbaugh Kerfuffle

2009-03-08T16:55:00.000-07:00

This has been all over the blogosphere, talk radio and the Obamedia for the last week and frankly it puzzles me. Rush is not the leader of the GOP and doesn't want to be and though I listen to him at least twice a week I am not a "dittohead". I do agree with him most of the time including his desire for for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid trifecta to fail with their quasi-socialist agenda because like Rush I believe those policies will ultimately be very bad for America and the global economy on a whole.

I also believe this is also a cooked up controversy by Rahm Emmanuel, Paul Begala, James Carville and George Stephanopolus to distract attention from the cratering economy as a result of the Democrats policy measures and agenda. Their whole agenda is to divide and conquer thus giving them the power to implement their social welfare nanny state by panicking the people into believing the government is the solution and not the problem.

As I and many others pointed out during the campaign it was Democrat policies that caused the banking and housing crisis to begin with and if you're looking for villians Barack Obama, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank are a good place to start. They are major players that forced lending institutions to make all those risky loans to begin with and then blocked reform efforts by George Bush and the GOP to put more regulations in place. They are now pushing taxpayers to bail out those that took and made those risky loans as a result of their policies not those of Bush or the GOP.

The sooner the government gets its kleptocratic sticky fingers out of the economy the faster it will recover. Increasing taxes and regulations through idiotic cap and trade policies on the wealth producers will only hobble the economy in a devastating way and that is just basic economics. The stock markets recognize this and that's why they continue to sink having lost over 50% of their worth since the Democrats took over Congress in 2006.

Rush is right to point all this out and that's why the Democrats fear and hate him and seek to demonize him. He exposes them and their sycophantic media to over 20 million people a day and they can't have that if they want to establish and solidify their hold on power which is all they really care about not you or me.

Obama Flubs British P.M. Visit Because He Is An Incompetent Jerk

2009-03-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

British Prime Minister paid the first formal meeting to Obama's Whitehouse and basically gets the cold shoulder and the Brits aren't very happy about the snub. Not only did Obama cancel a photo-op press joint conference he gave the Gordon Brown some very cheesy gifts after receiving some very thoughtful, very nice and very classy gifts from Brown. I would say this is not a helpful way to begin relations with a key American ally. This is from the Telegraph via Hot Air, you won't see it in our Obamedia.

Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been "overwhelmed" by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.

British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.

But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama's inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship.

Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.

A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama's inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to "even fake an interest in foreign policy".

A British official conceded that the furore surrounding the apparent snub to Mr Brown had come as a shock to the White House. "I think it's right to say that their focus is elsewhere, on domestic affairs. A number of our US interlocutors said they couldn't quite understand the British concerns and didn't get what that was all about."

The American source said: "Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.

"That was the gamble these guys made at the front end of this presidency and I think they're finding it a hard thing to do everything."

So Obama is too tired to properly fete one of our closest allies but he is not to tired to host weekly cocktail parties in the Whitehouse for his friends and serve them $100 lb. wagyu steaks while being entertained by Stevie Wonder. Maybe he should stop partying so hard and start concentrating on being President instead.

Now back to those gifts that were exchanged. PM Brown gave Obama a pen holder carved from timbers of the anti-slave warship the HMS Gannet along with the framed commission of her sister ship the HMS Resolute whose timbers form the desk Obama now sits behind and a first print seven volumn edition of a Churchill biography as well as showering the Obama's girls with gifts. What did the Obama's give in return, a cheesy boxed set of 25 American movie classic CDs and a couple toy Marine One helicopters from the Whitehouse gift shop.

To paraphrase Michelle Obama, for the first time in my adult life I am embarrassed for my country.

Guns And Ammo, A Booming Industry

2009-03-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

One of the very few industries not hurt by the deepening recession are the ones related to firearms. This is not really surprising given the growing unrest around the country over the Obama administration's draconian views on gun control and absolute disregard for fiscal responsibility and the Constitution. Bob Owens has an interesting post on the shortage of ammunition available, it turns out its being bought as fast as the manufacturers can make it.

As soon as I get back to Alabama I am getting my CC license and will start building my arsenal as fast as I can. I don't need or want "scary looking" military style guns that are no more effective than a typical deer rifle, I tend to find well made traditional styles more attractive to the eye and comfortable to shoot. I like knock down power over looks and most assault style weapons like the AR-15 shoot basically what I call a varmint load good for killing prairie dogs but not a determined enemy. I'll take a .300 magnum on the shoulder and a .44 mag or .45 acp on the hip over the 5.6 NATO or 9 mill anyday. The 5.6 is the same caliber as a .22 with a bit more range.

I certainly hope armed revolution does not come to pass but Obama may end up being more Lincolnesque than he could ever have imagined though I doubt his leadership style could preserve what our Founders shed their blood for if it does. As Jefferson said the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants.

Yay, I Am Back Up And Running!!!

2009-03-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

It turns out my memory boards crashed so I upgraded them from 512 megs to 2 gigs, easy for $43, and was able to restart my PC from new instead of having to reload everything that came with it. All the tech support people I have worked with from Dell and Comcast have been great and I have learned a lot about my machine in the process, almost enough to be a techie geek, lol.

The Barnyard should be back in action very shortly with the same biting analysis of Obama's economy killing policies and with some photojournalism from the the south-east instead of California. This state is stuck in a permanent FUBAR condition thanks to the Democrats and their union rats that run the state.

Please America! Do Not follow in California's path!!!! It is the wrong path to follow!!!!

I Am Still Down

2009-02-28T14:51:00.000-08:00

I still haven't received my recovery discs from Dell so my computer is still in its broken mode at least a buddy is nice enough to let me use his machine so I can stay semi in touch with the cyber world. The problem is that he has dial up service only and its slow as Christmas to a four year old and he uses AOL which I absolutely despise, oh well thats life.

He does at least get FOX news and a gazillion other channels I don't so I have something to look at while pages load. I also don't have access to my favorites list so surfing is limited to the few sites I can remember the URLs for.

I should be back to regular posting early next week unless my computer is in worse condition than just a couple corrupted files in Windows XP but I will lose all my files at least most of my pictures have been backed up. I use Blogger's Picassa service to save all the pictures I have posted here so that's a big chunk of them right there and most of the rest are on disc. I guess I should have gotten Carbonite's back up services long ago but stupid me kept putting it off and now I am paying the price for my inaction so be smart and spend $5 a month for their service. I wish I had.

I Am Still Alive

2009-02-24T11:38:00.000-08:00

I am alive and well but my computer is unfortunately not so well, it crashed Friday and I won't have it back up and running till later this week. I had to come over to a buddy's house to use his machine.

Anyway, I am also busy closing down my business and preparing to move back to Alabama after the California legislature was so kind as to raise our taxes even more. I have loved living here but they are absolutely killing the business environment here with taxes and regulation and the bottom has completely fallen out of the construction industry with no end in sight.

We Remember

2009-02-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

Today is the first yarzheit of the 8 bochurim who were murdered in the attack on Merkaz HaRav last year. On Rosh Chodesh Adar of last year, an East Jerusalem Arab gunman entered the library of the yeshiva and gunned down 8 students in cold-blood. These holy boys were killed while studying Torah, their sole crime to have been born Jews. Aged 15-21, they were committed and completely involved in Torah. As their families were plunged into the depths of mourning and sorrow, dancing and jubilation broke out in East Jerusalem, in Arab-controlled Judea and Samaria, and in Gaza. There was dancing in the streets and sweets were distributed, in celebration of the vile deed. As the Jewish nation felt the pain of this cruel attack, our enemies rejoiced in the massacre of teenagers.

The attack took place on Rosh Chodesh Adar, the first day of the month of Adar, associated with the festival of Purim. Purim commemorates the downfall of the Haman, the Persian vizier, and the foiling of his Final Solution against the Jewish people. Haman was a descendant of Amalek, the implacable enemy of the Jews. One week before Purim, on Shabbat Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembrance, we read the Torah's command to remember the evil of Amalek. The Torah commands us: "Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, on your way out of Egypt. That he encountered you on the way and cut off those lagging to your rear, when you were tired and exhausted; he did not fear G-d. And it shall come to pass, when the L-rd your G-d has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which the L-rd your G-d is giving you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget." (Deut. 25:17-19). It is an obligation to recall daily Amalek's cowardly attack on Israel.

Throughout history, thousands of nations have oppressed and persecuted Israel yet only Amalek is singled out for eternal remembrance and ultimate destruction. Why is Amalek alone to be remembered forever? Amalek was a nomadic tribe that lived in the desert. Its land was not a part of the Land of Israel and they were not threatened by Israel's advancement to Canaan. Despite this, they attacked Israel simply out of hatred and malice. They did not confront Israel head on but ambushed the rearguard, attacking the weakest and most vulnerable in the camp of Israel. This same spirit of Amalek has manifested itself time and time again in various nations throughout history, in their implacable desire to destroy Israel. The murderer, may his name be accursed, was from the seed of Amalek. His attack was so barbaric, so cruel and evil as to defy belief. To walk into a library in a house of study, a place of worship, on a holy day, and to systematically murder teenagers is an act motivated by the purest of hatred. It was not just an attack on a yeshiva, but on every synagogue and house of study, on every Jew and on the values of life and holiness which the books in that library represent.

It is a positive commandment to completely obliterate Amalek. Such a commandment seems jarring to the modern mind. Wipe out an entire people? We fail to understand that Amalek is not a physical entity but rather a concept, a national spirit. Amalek represents evil, denial of G-d and hatred of the Jewish people. Its warlike culture makes it antithetical to the message of the Torah and necessitates its destruction. The spirit of Amalek manifests itself so clearly in the gunman, the suicide bombers, the worship and glorification of death in Islamic society. To dance, give out candies and celebrate when teenagers are shot can only happen in a society completely steeped in hatred and violence. Such a savage society cannot co-exist with the Jewish people, the nation that loves and desires life and seeks peace.

Amalek shares the same numerical value as safek, meaning doubt. Amalek seeks to cause us to doubt G-d's Omnipotence, to doubt ourselves. our rights and claims to our land. When the emergency response teams entered the library, they found blood covering the pages of the Talmud. This demonstrates Amalek's utter contempt for G-d, for His commandment of life and its sanctity. The only way to overcome Amalek is by strengthening our connection to G-d and to His Torah. We must combat the doubt that Amalek seeks to sow by adding light. In the words of the Rav Kook, the founder of the yeshiva:

"The purely righteous do not complain about evil, rather they add justice.
They do not complain about heresy, rather they add faith.
They do not complain about ignorance, rather they add wisdom. "

The gunman stifled the voices of 8 young men. He tried to silence their Torah study and their good deeds. They have left behind a void of mitzvot that we need to fill, in order to defeat the darkness spread by Amalek. Let us all commit to performing an extra mitzvah such as laying tefillin, studying more Torah or giving tzedakah le'ilui nishmatam.

Remember what Amalek did to us! Evil cannot be compromised with or tolerated. It can only be wiped out. Let us remember:

Doron Mehereta, 26, of Ashdod
Ro'i Rote, 18, of Elkanah in Samaria (Shomron)
Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kokhav HaShachar (Shomron)
Yochai Lipshitz, 18, of the Old City of Jerusalem
Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, of Shilo (Shomron)
Neriah Cohen, 15, of Jerusalem
Segev Pniel Avichayil, 15, of N'vei Daniel in Gush Etzion
Avraham David Moses, 16, of Efrat, Gush Etzion

May their memories be a blessing and may HaShem avenge their holy blood speedily in our days.

Yehi Zichram Baruch.

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

The Riches Of Fake Obama Coins

2009-02-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

I know you have seen the commercials with Montel Williams peddling coins with Obama's face on them for twenty bucks. Well it turns out suckers are buying a couple dollars worth of coins with cheap stickers stuck on them.

It seems the perfect metaphor for people that bought into the fake messiah hype to have bought into this scam.

How To Fix And Grow The Economy

2009-02-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

As usual Newt Gingrich has come out with a list of policies that if inacted would work very quickly to jumpstart our economy now and into the future and I can't argue with anything on this list of twelve solid proposals.

1. Payroll Tax Stimulus. With a temporary new tax credit to offset 50% of the payroll tax, every small business would have more money, and all Americans would take home more of what they earn.
2. Real Middle-Income Tax Relief. Reduce the marginal tax rate of 25% down to 15%, in effect establishing a flat-rate tax of 15% for close to 9 out of 10 American workers.
3. Reduce the Business Tax Rate. Match Ireland’s rate of 12.5% to keep more jobs in America.
4. Homeowner’s Assistance. Provide tax credit incentives to responsible home buyers so they can keep their homes.
5. Control Spending So We Can Move to a Balanced Budget. This begins with eliminating congressional earmarks and wasteful pork-barrel spending.
6. No State Aid Without Protection From Fraud. Require state governments to adopt anti-fraud and anti-theft policies before giving them more money.
7. More American Energy Now. Explore for more American oil and gas and invest in affordable energy for the future, including clean coal, ethanol, nuclear power and renewable fuels.
8. Abolish Taxes on Capital Gains. Match China, Singapore and many other competitors. More investment in America means more jobs in America.
9. Protect the Rights of American Workers. We must protect a worker’s right to decide by secret ballot whether to join a union, and the worker’s right to freely negotiate. Forced unionism will kill jobs in America at a time when we can’t afford to lose them.
10. Replace Sarbanes-Oxley. This failed law is crippling entrepreneurial startups. Replace it with affordable rules that help create jobs, not destroy them.
11. Abolish the Death Tax. Americans should work for their families, not for Washington.
12. Invest in Energy and Transportation Infrastructure. This includes a new, expanded electric power grid and a 21st Century air traffic control system that will reduce delays in air travel and save passengers, employees and airlines billions of dollars per year.

This Is Very Disturbing

2009-02-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

Jim at Gateway Pudit has more with this from the clip.

Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania explains what former Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke told congress during the September 2008 closed door session. During the first third of the video an enraged caller is ranting to Rep. Kanjorski about how wasteful the first $700 billion bailout was. The best part is 2 minutes and 15 seconds into the tape where Rep. Kanjorski reveals what Paulson and Bernanke told congress that shocked them into supporting the first $700 billion bailout.

On Thursday Sept 15, 2008 at roughly 11 AM The Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw down of money market accounts in the USA to the tune of $550 Billion dollars in a matter of an hour or two. Money was being removed electronically.

The Treasury tried to help, opened their window and pumped in $150 Billion but quickly realized they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. So they decided to closed down the accounts.

Had they not closed down the accounts they estimated that by 2 PM that afternoon. Within 3 hours. $5.5 Trillion would have been withdrawn and the entire economy of the United States would have collapsed, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed.

If true this goes a long ways to explaining why the TARP bailout was needed but not the porkulus the Dems just shoved down out throats. If so who was behind these electronic transfers from US banks and why? Was it the unions here or foreign investors that believe Obama to be a total squish? Very few entities have the ability to cause a run on the banks of that magnitude and I damn sure hope the Obama team investigates it even if it helped get him elected.

Now This Is Stimulus

2009-02-12T19:27:00.000-08:00

Team this gal up with Amanda Carpenter and Mary Katherine Ham on a nationwide tour, FOX, PJTV ...

For My Many Pro-life Friends And Allies

2009-02-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

This 12 year old girl is awesome, via the other McCain. Warning, grab a tissue.

Concentrate Our Fire On Red State Democrats

2009-02-11T18:03:00.000-08:00

A whole lot of stink has been raised after GOP Senators Spectre, Snowe and Collins bucked our caucus and voted for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid omnibus porkulus and rightly so. They deserve all the scorn they are receiving and not one penny of future support from the RNC or the NRSC. However I don't support kicking them out of the caucus at this point since they at at least keep in range of a filibuster, well sort of.

Instead we need to concentrate our fire at Democrat Senators that represent the red states or even purple states and are up for reelection next year. Those states are Arkansas, South and North Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, West Virginia, Indiana, Montana and a few more I'm sure. I don't know who is up for reelection next year other then Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Harry Reid of Nevada. Boy would I love to see Senate Majority leader and chief idiot Reid get booted.

Our new RNC leader has his work cut out for him and he should make sure he has solid challengers for these seats that get plenty of backing from the national committees. He needs to concentrate his focus there and not worry about blue state rinos, let them live or die on their own merits but don't waste needed funds on them. The same goes for generally conservative congressional districts that had been in GOP control that the Democrats made gains in the last two cycles, we can take those seats back.

The Democrats have given us two silver bullets already in the porkubus spending package and blocking domestic oil and natural gas production, see the two posts below this one for more. I am sure they will give us plenty more ammunition as time goes by and they continue to push the failed New Deal/Great Society policies of the past.

The GOP can survive this setback and come back stronger as a result, just remember, Yes We Can and that our ideas and policies actually work to stimulate economic growth.

Democrats Are Trying To Block Domestic Oil Production Again

2009-02-11T17:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Sec. of the Interior Ken Salazar decided to delay opening up areas off the East and West coasts and in the Gulf that President Bush had opened up. With Obama and the Democrats trying to push their non-stimulus job creation bill this effectively removes a potential 160,000 new high paying jobs from the equation along with enough potential government revenue stream to pay for their bloated porkulus, 1.7 trillion in leases and royalty payments. The American Petroleum Institute sent out this press statement yesterday.

WASHINGTON – American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard today issued the following statement on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement that he would extend the Outer Continental Shelf Five-Year Plan comment period by 180 days:

“Congress made the American people wait nearly 30 years to address our immediate energy challenges. Secretary Salazar today told the American people they must continue to wait – even though more than two-thirds of them want to tap our vast domestic resources for the benefit of all Americans.

“The accelerated Outer Continental Shelf five-year plan process, which the secretary placed on hold today, was designed to address the critical energy concerns facing Americans. The draft plan already received a record 120,000 comments from states, environmental groups, industry, labor groups and members of the public – with 87,000 of those comments supporting expanded and expeditious development.

Secretary Salazar’s announcement means that development of our offshore resources could be stalled indefinitely. That would delay Americans’ access to nearly 160,000 new, well-paying jobs, $1.7 trillion in revenues to federal, state and local governments and greater energy security.

We share Secretary Salazar’s view that America needs a comprehensive energy policy that includes alternatives. In these tough economic times, Salazar’s delay does a disservice to all Americans. We should be moving as quickly as possible to develop more of our own oil and natural gas to benefit all Americans.”

Granted Salazar just extended the comment period for the five year plan so if you favor tapping our domestic resources of oil and natural gas make sure you make your voice heard. You can comment at the Mineral Management Service website so take a few minutes and make your feelings known.

This comes on the heels of the Democrats shutting down lease sales on over 100,000 acres of land in Utah along with efforts to permanently lock up ANWR and even more land in the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act,s22. Americans for Tax Relief sent me this last night.

While many of you have probably been focusing on the passage of the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Spending Package, Congress is also actively trying to restrict your property rights by passing the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.

This bill is being pushed by left-wing environmentalists to purposely block public lands to prevent fossil fuel extraction and exploration. This bill will undercut current progress toward affordable domestic energy by essentially "stealing" 300 million barrels of proven oil and 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from any future use.
Tell your member of Congress to Vote against the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009!

So much for all those promises they made to get off foreign oil this will only exacerbate the problem while we continue to remove hundreds of billions of dollars from our economy to send over seas, not to mention the losses in potential jobs and government revenue. We are nowhere near having any viable alternatives to oil and natural gas for at least a couple decades so we desperately need access to those vast resources untill then.

I guess a bankrupt energy less America is the change we can believe in.

Health Care Rationing By Stealth

2009-02-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

Buried deep in the Obama-Pelosi-Reid non-Stimulus act is a provision that would effectively ration the type and quality of health care you receive from your doctor. Rep. Michelle Bachmann points out how this is a major move towards the government taking over health care decisions.

Believe it or not, Congressional Democrats proposed a radical revision of health care policy as part of their economic "stimulus" bill. “Comparative effectiveness," as it is called, not only lays the groundwork for a full-fledged government take-over of Americans’ health care system, but seriously limits the choices for patients and doctors in pursuing treatment.

What it does is put in place a National Coordinator of Health Information Technology that will “monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective.” Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by the government to decide whether you're "too sick" to receive health care treatment. They will decide for you what scope of treatments should be made available to deal with your current ailment.

This will create a few government bureaucrat jobs but what does it have to do with stimulating the economy or job creation? It may very well hurt research and development in the medical field. Would this mean that terminally ill patients may not be able to get life extending treatment or that little old lady won't be able to get her hip replacement when a wheel chair costs less?

There are also provisions in it that basically end the welfare reform of the 90's by linking money given to the states to the numbers of folks on their welfare rolls, the more people that are on them the more money they get. Plus other massive expansions of entitlement spending on medicare, foodstamps and unemployment payments.

Barack Obama took over the airwaves the other night to claim there is no "pork" or earmarks in this porkubus generational theft act and in at least one respect he is correct. Pork is meat and there is no meat in this bill that would actually stimulate the economy. It is full of pure lard, pure artery clogging fat that is more likely to give the economy a heart attack while passing the bill on to our children's children and beyond.

Sunday Must Read

2009-02-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

Victor Davis Hanson takes a look at our "Brave New World" under Barack Obama. I have not read any of his books but I always enjoy his columns.

Arab-Israeli Journalist Talks About Hamas And Fatah

2009-02-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

Khaled Abu Toameh gave a talk recently to various Western journalists about Gaza and what the truth really is and his is a very interesting perspective since he hears both sides. Michael Totten was there and has posted it in full, I encourage you to go read it to learn what you never will from our press.

He speaks about the elections that brought Hamas to power in Gaza and why. He blames the West and even Israel for propping up and even legitimizing the openly corrupt PLO and Fatah which drove palestinians into the open arms of Hamas. I can see a lot of truth in what he is saying but you need to go read it for yourselves. He doesn't give cover for Hamas and doesn't blame Israel for wanting to protect their citizens he just tells the truth as he sees it from both sides of the fence.

How Would A Windfall Profits Tax On Oil Companies Affect Us?

2009-02-04T18:48:00.000-08:00

Liberals and their allies in the green movement love to rail against oil companies and their seemingly enormous profits while threatening to impose additional taxes on them. The truth is oil companies pay about $3 in taxes for every after tax dollar they earn in profit and that is passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices which are also taxed at the pump. My friend Jane at the American Petroleum Institute sent along this study they commissioned about the other affects higher taxes on them would bring on the American public. Not only would it cause the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs it would burden the American people with higher energy bills but it would send an additional hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign suppliers of that oil and natural gas. Why not keep those jobs and that money here?

This comes along with news that the Obama team is stopping the exploration for oil and NG in Utah that Bush opened up, bad move, at the cost of jobs and government revenue from one of the few sources that is not from taxes. Why not open our vast reserves of oil and natural gas, by some estimates more than Saudi Arabia, to exploitation since it will create jobs and actually grow the economy.

I am not against green technology and future energy sources but until we get there we are going to need oil and natural gas till those technologies are developed and perfected to a cost sensible point without government subsidies to keep them going. There is one thing that all the greenies seem to miss is that even their alternatives have a cost to the environment equal to or greater than the use of fossil fuels.

Batteries for hybrid/electric cars, wind and solar power require metals that must be mined and refined often with far greater environmental impact and energy use than fossil fuels. Biofuels even of the the non-food based variety also require vast land resources that could be put to better uses than providing fuel, like parks and such or growing food. Wind power is unreliable, unattractive and very expensive to maintain and set up. Solar power is slowly getting very close to the cost/benefit line for certain parts of the country but still would be better for individual households and businesses than to run a grid on any large scale. Nuclear power remains the cleanest and most efficient producer of power there is and we need to expand its development.

The point is we need to expand our energy options not shrink them while at the same time expanding our economy not hamstringing it with excessive regulation and taxation that will only do more harm than good. That is just good old Barnyard common horse er goat sense.

The Silver Salver

2009-02-02T17:28:00.001-08:00

Chaim Weizman once famously said that no state is given to a people on a silver salver. He was of course referring to the toil and effort of the early Zionist pioneers and to the thousands of Jewish soldiers who gave their lives in defense of their country. Many people erroneously believe that Israel was magnanimously handed to the Jewish people by the UN. They fail to recognize the hundred years prior in which Jews came from all over the world to establish themselves in Israel. Jews worked to raise money to purchase land through the Jewish National Fund. The Zionist leaders established schools and hospitals, and built the political infrastructure that would later become the Israeli Knesset.

The zeitgeist of the time, and the newest method of destroying Israel, is "the two-state solution". The UN has declared negotiations "irrevocable", and the US and the Mid-East Quartet have committed themselves fully to advancing this policy. It is an accepted dogma that the solution to the current problem is a sovereign state for "the Palestinian people". Billions of dollars have been poured into this project, as well as countless summits, meetings, UN resolutions and diplomatic tours. Anyone who is a "moderate" accepts the necessity of such a solution.

Especially due to the fact that the "Palestinian" narrative is largely a product of historical revisionism, there is little reason why the "Palestinians" are deserving of a state. In the 60 years since the so-called "Nakba", the Arabs of Gaza, Judea and Samaria have produced or contributed little to the world at large, besides terror and hatred. The Arabs have languished in camps, hotbeds of fundamentalism and extremism, and have never sought to improve their situations. Rather, they use their own desperation, actual and imagined, as a weapon against Israel. They justify their repeated murderous attacks on Jewish civilians and refusal to come to a peace agreement as a result of Israeli aggression, occupation or supposed war-crimes. Somehow, the world has come to accept that "Palestinians" are entitled to depraved behaviour as a result of what they believe to be historical crimes against them. Incredibly, the Jews who founded Israel never resorted to this. Israel arose out of the ashes of Auschwitz. The evil the Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis far outweighs any indignities the Arabs have ever suffered. The survivors of the Nazi death camps did not turn to suicide bombings and murder, but rather re-built their lives in Israel. Having lost their entire families, with barely any possessions, they became doctors, professors, artists, writers and contributed to society. Similarly, the close to a million Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Arab countries were not permitted to languish in camps. They are now an integral part of Israeli society.

Various UN organizations, as well as the US and EU, have spent billions of dollars on the "Palestinians". None of this has been used to build schools or hospitals. Children in Gaza barely know how to read and write, yet their are all experts at explosives and handling weapons. They may not be familiar with literature, math or history, but they will all proudly proclaim their deepest desire to grow up to be a shaheed, to kill Jews, the highest honour. When Israel left Gaza in 2005, it transfered to the Arabs billions to built their society. Instead, they used this money to buy rockets and missiles. The Jews of Gush Katif left behind greenhouses for the Arabs to use. Rather than creating a flourishing economy, they destroyed the greenhouses in a fanatical frenzy. This is a civilization that does not create, but destroys. It is a perverse culture which dances in the streets and gives out candy as Jews are murdered, as they did on 9/11.

It has been said that the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Despite the efforts of the international community, the "Palestinians" have never shown themselves deserving of a state. There is little central government in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. When given the choice to vote for a government to represent them, they voted overwhelmingly for a terrorist organization committed to the destruction of Israel and the genocide of the Jews. This says a lot about the type of society in which they live. Would it be the wisest move to give such a people a country? Has there ever been a moment in "Palestinian" history when they have rejected terrorism and violence? Given the Islamic regime in Hamastan, it would be hard to argue that the world needs another Taliban-style Islamic country. If one looks at Gaza, Judea and Samaria, they will see the self-inflicted squalor of the Arabs. They will see a pseudo-state whose streets are overflowing with sewage because the pipes have been used for rockets.

The Zionist pioneers found a deserted wasteland, uninhabited for thousands of years. They proclaimed it a land without people for a people without a land. These self-sacrificing chaluztim made the deserts bloom, built cities in desolate land, and created life where there was none. The Arabs, on the other hand, have done nothing. They are not the sons of the desert, but rather its fathers. The corrupt leaders of the "Palestinians" pocketed international aid at the expense of their people. They raised generations of children on a steady diet of death and anti-semitism, instead of giving them basic skills necessary to running a country. They prefer to whine about what they endured 60 years ago instead of planning for their future. Looking at the tragic failure of the "Palestinians" in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, there is not reason to believe that they can sustain a state. Such a state will undoubtably be used as a launching pad for terror attacks against Israel and a bastion of repression and fundamentalism. They are a culture that worships death and is addicted to martyrdom. Generations of Arabs have been taught how to die for their faith, but they have not been taught how to live for it.

No state is given to a people of a silver salver. The "Palestinians" have certainly not earned the right to a state. They blame Israel for their current situation instead of taking responsibility for the poor choices they have made as a society: multiple wars against Israel, endless terror attacks, creating a culture of fanaticism and hatred. In the recent conflict in Gaza, they could not accept that the Israeli onslaught was because of 8 years of rocket bombardment from Gaza. This juvenile mindset cannot maintain a country. It would be one of the greatest human tragedies to uproot 100 000 Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria, only to hand their land over to terrorists and their sympathizers. The Arabs simply do not deserve another state, especially one handed to them on the silver salver of UN humanitarian aid. "Palestine" has no industry, no infrastructure and is an assured failure. Israel will be forced to clean up the mess that the international community created in its backyard. Israel's leaders must have the courage to say no to what will assuredly be a Final Solution.

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

The Ultimate Bacon Explosion

2009-02-02T16:41:00.000-08:00

No this isn't another post about the congressional porkfest but rather one that involves real pork that sounds really really very tasty. I simply must try it someday.

The recipe is here and read through the comments at Hot Air to find some great ideas for variations. I would just add some caramelized onions to the original and baste it with honey while its smoking like I do my ribs. They use regular BBQ sauce though I bet a honey-mustard BBQ sauce would be awesome as well.

Oh Waaaaah

2009-01-31T22:03:00.000-08:00

Listening to local news I just heard a state worker lament that she hadn't had a Starbucks coffee in weeks, poor baby. Who in their right mind would spend $4+ on a freaking cup of burnt coffee? I hate Starbucks coffee even when I brew it myself, it simply sucks, no wonder they are shutting hundreds of stores. I'll stick with my Folgers regular roast at less than $.10 a cup, thank you, if I want mocha I'll add a pack of Carnation hot chocolate mix to my cup.

Obama Hates Mid-Western Poor Folks: Updated

2009-01-31T16:52:00.000-08:00

Remember all the foaming at the mouth rhetoric that flew at President Bush after Katrina well in the same vein I blame Obama for all the deaths in the recent ice storm that has crippled the midwest. There are 1.5 million people without power still, roads are blocked by trees and many can't get to shelters in the freezing temperatures and last I saw 33 had died and millions are suffering for lack of food and water.

WHERE'S FEMA? Where is all the breathless MSM reporting on the thousands suffering from Obama's neglect? How come Obama hasn't come and lifted them from their misery on the back of his magic unicorn? Oh yeah, he is to busy wining and dining on $100 a pound wagyu steaks to care about all those helpless poor folks freezing to death. Obama doesn't care about poor white folks he's to busy trying to shove his trillion dollar theft act through Congress and kicking back to watch the Super Bowl in his nice tropically warm Whitehouse. It must be nice to be an elitist asshat with a press corps adhered to his nether regions.

Oh and hey Obama, the miracle worker that you are, California actually voted for you and we could use some rain so if you could just order some up for us that would be nice.

Update: Instapundit has more as does Rick Moran.

Democrats Want To Stimulate SUV And Truck Crushing

2009-01-31T15:48:00.000-08:00

I all my years of following politics this has to be one of the dumbest proposals I have ever seen and it figures that it would come from a Democrat Sen. and a Rep. from California. Somehow I doubt they will get many takers since the vast majority of us that drive trucks and SUVs do so for a good reason. I saw this over at Gateway Pundit from SEMA.

Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)
S. 247 and H.R. 520
SEMA ( Specialty Equipment Market Association) is opposing an effort by some Washington lawmakers to include a national car crushing program in the upcoming economic stimulus package. Vehicles targeted for the scrap pile will likely include Chevy Blazers, Silverados, S-10s and Tahoes; Dodge Dakotas and Rams; Ford Explorers and F-Series; Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers; and any other SUV or truck that obtains less than 18 mpg.

The so-called “Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act” is "Cash for Clunkers" with a twist. Instead of focusing exclusively on old cars as is typical with scrappage programs, this bill will target any vehicle with lower fuel-economy ratings. Participants will receive a cash voucher to purchase a more fuel-efficient new car or used car (model year 2004 or later) or receive credit for the purchase of public transportation tickets.

Under the legislation, “fuel efficient” means at least 25% better mileage than the CAFE standard. It will be illegal to resell the scrapped vehicles. Bill sponsors want to destroy 4 million pickups and SUVs over the next four years.

Go read the rest of it over at Jim's to see just how absurd this proposal is. These idiot dems think giving somebody a $1500-$4500 voucher in exchange for a $30,000 vehicle so they can purchase a beer can on wheels is smart, nuts. I drive a 2000 Dakota 4x4 with a v-8 and after I put an after-market exhaust, air filter and programmable computer chip in it I get better than 18 mpg, not to mention about 30 more in horse power, so they can suck on my tailpipe.

Related: Read how California's green regulations are killing businesses and with them jobs. Here is another related story about our fruits and nuts regulators out here.

California is leading alright, leading in job losses, taxes and people and businesses fleeing the state, better watch it or they will lead the rest right down the bankruptcy blackhole as well.

The Red State Boys On The 'Stimulus" Pork Bill

2009-01-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney At The GOP Retreat

2009-01-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

I don't mean retreat as in running away but to their annual conference. Mitt addressed the assembled members about the porkulus generational theft act and other topics dear to conservatives. Needless to say but I sure wish Mitt were sitting where Obama is today. Hugh Hewitt has his speech posted and I encourage my fellow conservatives to read it. Here are a couple highlights.

I have often been asked what I think the Republican Party must do to recover. What I’ve said is this: My first concern isn’t about our party—it’s about our country.

In fact, the two are closely related. The best way for us to advance the prospects of our party is to do what we know is right for the country. This is what the American people expect of us. And that’s what we should expect of ourselves.

This is a time of hardship and uncertainty for millions of Americans. The question is: whose leadership and ideas will turn things around. And in such a moment, it’s our job to offer the clear answers, the proven solutions, and resolute leadership that will make this country strong again.

The new President and the Congressional majority are having a difficult time doing that. After all, they have a lot of campaign rhetoric to make good on. And they’ve got plenty of special interests to pay back. As the opposition party, we’re entirely free to do what is right for the country. There are certain advantages to that kind of freedom, and I suggest we make the most of them.

Heck I could excerpt the whole thing its all good so just go read it.

On a related note Dan Riehl has a speech by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that is also worth reading. Mitch has taken a lot of undeserved heat from conservatives lately even though he ran circles around Harry Reid the last two years.

Michael Steele To Chair The RNC

2009-01-30T16:54:00.000-08:00

The Republican National Committee voted in Michael Steele to be their Chairman today and I couldn't be happier. Mr. Steele is highly charismatic on camera and off while delivering a sound conservative message. I have been rooting for him since he announced his bid for the post and believe he has the ability to grow our party and expand its reach into minority communities that have bought into the liberal lies about the GOP something Katon Dawson would never be able to do while exacerbating the stereotype.

What Creates Jobs

2009-01-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

With all the debate about the non-stimulus pork palooza generational theft act being pushed by Obama and his Democrat majorities under the guise of "creating jobs" it would help to look at what creates actual jobs. In a word, profit, not the government because every job the government creates is paid for by taking money away from the profitable private citizen or business.

A business or corporation, large or small, must make a profit to stay in business and the more money the government takes from them in taxes the less they have to invest in new equipment, new hires or better pay and benefits for their employees. Taking money away from investors who made a profit on their risk in the form of capital gains taxes prevents them from investing more of that money back into the system thus creating more jobs thus spreading and growing the wealth even more. This really is not rocket science folks but plain old barnyard horse sense.

Every dollar the government spends has to come from somewhere since it does not have a product or service to make a profit from so it must come from private industry in the form of taxes and/or fees of some sort. If the government wants to actually create real jobs they should cut corporate and capital gains taxes in half at least and leave the money in the pockets of those that created the jobs in the first place. That is what the GOP has proposed and were outright rejected by the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Triumvirate in search of their socialist nirvana.

Now I agree that our national infrastructure could use some work but billions for bike paths, mob museums, std prevention, the National Endowment for the Arts and dozens upon dozens of the "projects" in this bill are not infrastructure or even close except maybe in a deranged moonbat's mind. We could open up our vast reserves of oil and natural gas while creating many thousands of high paying jobs and keeping hundreds of billions of dollars here in our economy instead of sending them over seas. We could build nuclear power plants, clean green cheap energy to power America into a cleaner more prosperous future with even more high paying jobs.

In short there is much we could do that would revitalize our slumping economy but the Democrats will have none of it. They are more concerned with paying off their special interest groups that donate money to them than in actually doing what is right for America.

I hope and pray the American people wake up and realize what the Democrats are doing, our future is at stake, our livelyhoods, our way of life could go the way of Cuba if we don't.

Democrat Spending Palooza Passes With Only Democrat Votes

2009-01-28T16:11:00.000-08:00

The House liberal goodie bag generational theft act passed 244-188 with 11 Dems joining all the GOP in voting no on Pelosi's crap sandwich of a non-stimulus lard bill. If it now passes the Senate Obama and his Democrat majorities will own the biggest deficit in our history in Obama's first couple months in office. The deficit will be larger than the entire Federal budget was in Bush's first year, good work Dems. I wonder where all the moonbat trolls are that were crying about the deficit under Bush? I wonder what the people who voted for Obama will think when this doesn't create or save any jobs?

Now it's time to melt down the Senate switchboard like we did on the amnesty bill and stop it there if we can. The economy will turn around without this huge debt load on future generations. If you have a GOP Senator or a Dem. Senator in a red state call and urge them to oppose it and make Obama and the Dems own it, don't let them have any bipartisan cover for when it fails to stimulate the economy. As the Wall Street Journal said today its just a wish list of liberal spending that's built up over 40 years. This is not responsible governance but more like spoiled rich kids in a toy store with credit cards they don't have to pay for.

The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future. Democrats insist that it will not. But it's hard -- no, impossible -- to believe that Congress will cut spending next year on any of these programs from their new, higher levels. The likelihood is that this allegedly emergency spending will become a permanent addition to federal outlays -- increasing pressure for tax increases in the bargain. Any Blue Dog Democrat who votes for this ought to turn in his "deficit hawk" credentials.

This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.

There are a handful of worthy projects in the bill that could be taken in under the normal appropriations process maybe 100 billion worth but the rest is just pork for liberal special interest groups and socialist welfare programs. I am proud of the House GOP for standing united against this outright theft and redistribution of wealth.

GOP Opposition To Democrat Spendulus Palooza Growing

2009-01-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

Obama has at least met with GOP leadership unlike Nancy Pelosi about his generational theft act he calls a stimulus package but has failed to win converts. Minority Leader John Boehner and his Whip Eric Canter are urging the GOP caucus to vote no on this massive pork barrel of spending that only stimulates Democrats and their interest groups. Obama rejected their ideas for business and capital gains tax cuts that would immediately stimulate the economy and refused to say that he wouldn't raise taxes to pay for it. Politico has a couple stories covering their meeting and while the GOP is being complimentary of Obama for coming to them they aren't going to roll over for him, I hope.

Obama and the Democrats keep saying the spending is for infrastructure like roads, bridges and electrical grid work and there is some of that in there but the vast majority of the spending is from their wish list. I don't know how money for the arts, contraceptives and groups like ACORN will stimulate the economy but there is billions in it for just that. Jim Manzi has one of the better takes on just what is in the bill and what it will do that I have seen.

A consortium of conservative groups and bloggers have put together a website where you can read the bill and various writings about it, Read the Stimulus, someone needs to.

Update: More here via Ace.

Hands off of Israel

2009-01-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama, only several days into his presidency, has already announced that it will be one of his commitments to "actively and aggressively" advance negotiations and talks between Israel and the Arabs. Obama's new Middle East envoy will arrive in Israel next week to begin to push the process. In his first call to a foreign head of state, Obama called Mahmoud Abbas, arch-terrorist leader of Fatah, to symbolize his dedication to "a two-state solution". In his words, he doesn't want a future "in which these is no hope for the Palestinians".

It is mind-boggling that, in light of the monumental challenges facing the United States and its new president, he should be meddling so much in the affairs of a sovereign country. Given the full-blown recession, approaching the levels of a depression, in the US, along with a host of other serious problems facing the decaying American super-power, Obama has chosen to concentrate his energy on the conflict in the Middle-East. Despite the almost-deified status that the media has given him, it is quite hubristic for him to believe that he will solve a close-to 100 year-old conflict within a few months of his reign.

Israel's relationship with the United States has often been a double-edged sword. George Mitchell, the new envoy to the Mid-East, will not even wait until after the Israeli elections to begin his work. This represents a great amount of arrogance and disrespect on the part of Obama. He clearly disregards the choice of the Israeli people in the coming elections. The political winds are changing in Israel and a new administration may not be as likely as Olmert to continue along the same path of concessions and surrender. Evidently, what Israelis choose for their future is irrelevant to Barack Obama.

Israel is a sovereign nation- not an American colony or a 51st state. The close relationship between the two countries is based on shared values and strategic interests. Yet, in the end, Israel must do what is best for itself. Obama has no right to force concession or make demands on Israel. It is not the place of the United States to meddle in the business or politics of another country. The new administration has many extreme challenges facing it, and it would do well to concentrate on solving those before committing itself to carving up Israel.

Regardless of whichever side in the conflict is right, this is just one case of a disagreement between two religious/ethnic groups among thousands. All around the world, various tribes, peoples, ethnic groups and nations are fighting over different land claims. The US has its own problems and should not interfere on these tribal squabbles. Unless there is a case of genocide or severe human rights abuses, the US should mind its own business. In Darfur, close to a million blacks have been murdered by Arab janjaweed militia. The humanitarian situation is dire and could use international intervention. Why doesn't Obama send his ambassador there? Why doesn't he exert the same pressure on the leader of Sudan responsible for this genocide as he plans to exert on Israel to commit suicide? Besides cases such as this, it is the height of arrogance for the American president to interfere with the politics of another country. Israel's leaders much decide what to do for the security and welfare of Israel.

Only a few days in power, Obama has shown himself to be incredible naive in terms of foreign policy. He is committed to advancing the same deadly and ultimately fruitless road as Bush and Clinton. Despite all of the various agreements and summits between Israel and the Arabs at American behest, Israel and the Arabs are no closer to peace today that they were in 1948. No amount of documents signed negates the generations of Arabs raised on anti-semitic and anti-Israel hatred. The Arab world today remains virulently opposed to Israel existence and any concession on Israel's part only encourages and increases terror. Israel cannot afford another disastrous Oslo, or a Road Map to oblivion, G-d forbid. Obama would do wise to butt out of Israel's politics and concentrate on the problems on the home front. Hopefully, in the coming elections, Israelis will elect leaders with the courage to tell Obama respectfully but firmly: "Hands off of Israel".

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Chairman Obama's Little Blue Book

2009-01-24T16:06:00.000-08:00

A group that calls themselves the History Company is marketing a pocket sized book of quotes from Obama's speeches and books in case you need to be inspired in our new age Obama. Via Newsbusters:

Printed in a size that easily fits into pocket or purse, this book is an anthology of quotations borrowed from Barack Obama's speeches and writings. POCKET OBAMA serves as a reminder of the amazing power of oratory and the remarkable ability of this man to move people with his words. His superb and captivating oratory style has earned comparisons to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and this historic collection presents words that catapulted his remarkable rise to the American Presidency. It is an unofficial requirement for every citizen to own, to read, and to carry this book at all times.

Includes themes of democracy, politics, war, terrorism, race, community, jurisprudence, faith, personal responsibility, national identity, and above all, his hoped-for vision of a new America. POCKET OBAMA is a portable, everyday primer for readers who want to examine the substance of his thought and reflect on the next great chapter in the American story.

The sentence I highlighted sounds an awful lot like the unofficial requirement for the Chinese not that long ago under a certain Chairman Mao Zedong and his little red book. Of course several of Obama's friends and supporters of Obama were noted Maoists, like Billy Ayers and Mike Klonsky. From Wikipedia on Mau's little red book "Quotations":

Among the most widely printed books in history, Quotations had an estimated 5 to 6.5 billion copies printed during Mao's attempt to transform Chinese society. The book's phenomenal popularity may be due to the fact that it was essentially an unofficial requirement for every Chinese citizen to own, to read, and to carry it at all times during the later half of Mao's rule, especially during the Cultural Revolution.

During the Cultural Revolution, studying the book was not only required in schools but was also a standard practice in the workplace as well. All units, in the industrial, commercial, agricultural, civil service, and military sectors, organized group sessions for the entire workforce to study the book during working hours. Quotes from Mao were either bold-faced or highlighted in red, and almost all writing, including scientific essays, had to quote Mao.

I wonder if our new liberal overlords are going to try and take it as far as Mao did, I would not put it past them to try. It sure wouldn't surprise me to see it end up on a lot of "suggested" reading lists on campuses around the country. I am far from being an advocate for book burning but the only use I could have for a book of Obama quotes would be for fire starter. I have to wonder what all the Chinese immigrants that fled Mao's communist China will think about this.

When you add this to all the Stalinist style campaign posters and his cult like following it all gets just a little creepy, well maybe a whole lot of creepy, don't you think?

Ruh Roh, Obama Takes On Rush Limbaugh

2009-01-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

I don't know if taking on the undisputed king of talk radio is what Obama really wants to do, Rush only reaches around 20 million ears in hundreds of markets around the country. Rush has said he wants Obama to fail with his trillion dollar nonstimulus generational theft act and I agree with him. I want Obama to be successful at protecting the country not bankrupting it or socializing it. Here is what the New York Post reported Obama told the Republican leaders in a recent meeting about his massive spending bill.

President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.

"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.

To the Democrats bipartisanship means the GOP rolling over to their demands not working with the GOP to actually fix things. Obama also had the audacity to tell Eric Cantor "I won" when Eric questioned several aspects of the "stimulus" bill. The only people this theft act will stimulate is every liberal special interest group and won't create any jobs or stimulate the economy in any way like across the board taxcuts would.

Rush responded today via Byron York.

To make the argument about me instead of his plan makes sense from his perspective. Obama's plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR's New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would also simultaneously seriously damage any hope of future tax cuts. It would allow a majority of American voters to guarantee no taxes for themselves going forward. It would burden the private sector and put the public sector in permanent and firm control of the economy. Put simply, I believe his stimulus is aimed at re-establishing "eternal" power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy. If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of this TRILLION dollar debacle.

Rush is of course correct and though I usually listen to Dennis Prager in that time slot I will be tuning into Rush on Monday. Rush is also right that the GOP should keep their hands off this crap sandwich and let the Democrats eat it all on their own, the Demcrats have the votes to pass it if they really want it without GOP support.

Update: I like Glenn Reynold's take on the "stimulus" theft act.

“This is not so much a stimulus, as a massive transfer of wealth from the politically unconnected to the politically connected.”

Michael Ledeen Interviews Michael Yon For PJTV

2009-01-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

I trust and believe these two more than any MSM talking head when it comes to issues about our War on Terror and this interview is a must watch. They discuss Iraq and Afghanistan and the differences. Yon makes a great point about the difference in that Iraq has a fairly modern infrastructure though very decayed from neglect while Afghanistan has almost none. I wish it could be embedded but it can't be and you will have to take a few seconds to register if you haven't already.

Friday Feel Good

2009-01-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

The Bush girls, Jenna and Barbara wrote a letter to the Obama's girls, Sasha and Malia, about their time growing up in the Whitehouse with their grandparents and parents that is very classy and moving. The text is here and even MSNBC acknowledged how sweet it was of the Bush twins.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

As a side note to this a commenter at Hot Air where I found this noted that you have to go all the way back to JFK to find male children as in kids living in the Whitehouse though John Jr was too young to likely remember any of it. Ford did have sons but they were all grown as were Bush 41's and Reagan's

How Can The GOP Regain The Majority And The Presidency

2009-01-22T18:33:00.000-08:00

David Frum's new website New Majority is exploring that issue and has an interesting interview with Rudy Giuliani on the subject. It is three parts but the segments are pretty short.

Ace has a lengthy post on this that I agree with, Rudy thinks the GOP needs to deemphasize social issues like abortion and gay marriage and instead focus on fiscal and national security issues. He is not saying we should abandon our socially conservative values only that they should not be the primary plank we run on with out having good strong ideas on the issues that drive a majority of voters.

Ace breaks it down into soft versus hard issues that can be argued with facts and figures and proven by history and where people's minds can be swayed one way or the other. The people that care about the social issues one way or the other are not going to be swayed by argument since those issues are generally set in stone and aren't winnable arguments for either side. Most swing voters don't really care about the social issues as political platforms but they do care about fiscal policy, law enforcement and national security and a lot of times hardlines on social issues can scare off voters.

The GOP can't exclude social moderates and still expect to win elections except in a handful of states and that is no way to regain a majority. I have a strong libertarian streak that believes government should stay out of our private lives as much as possible and adhere to what is set down in the Constitution as to what its duties are and legislating morality is not one of them. As Rudy says we cannot win back majorities by narrowing our voter base to only those that are socially conservative. I know social issues are at least the third or fourth position I look at when evaluating a candidate. I want to know their positions on taxes and spending first and foremost and where those spending priorities lie since those issues most directly affect me the taxpayer.

Anyway go read Ace's post since he does a better job summarizing it than I, he is the chief moron after all.

Obama Supporters Trash DC

2009-01-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

The You Tube title is fitting "The Post-Barackalyptic Wasteland" and I thought this was going to be the greenest celebration ever but with all those celebrity private jets that would be kinda hard and can't they at least put their garbage in a can or carry it out. I wonder how much DC had to spend to clean it all up, no wonder Bush called for disaster area spending.

Sidenote: Despite the media spin the crowd was only about half the size they say, not 2 million but more like 800,000 and despite wall to wall coverage on TV American Idol still bested it for viewership, LOL.

Good Bye President Bush, Hello President Obama

2009-01-20T18:12:00.000-08:00

Even though I did not watch the joyous coronation of the One I couldn't escape it entirely as its been all over talk radio and the blogosphere. From all appearances the transition went smoothly aside from some bloopers by Obama and Justice Roberts during the swearing in ceremony. Isn't it nice to live in a free country where transitions of power take place peacefully? Well at least when the transfer is from a Republican to a Democrat, in 2001 there were loud obnoxious protests by the moonbats, the President's car was egged and the walk down Pennsylvania av. had to be cancelled out of fear of riots. The Obamas were able to make the walk to the Whitehouse in peace and no one took a potshot at them.

Where all the rioting right wingnuts all the moonbat blogs were predicting? I guess they were at work carrying on like any other day and trying to ignore Chris Mathews and his tingly legs. Where was the coup that Bush and his goonsquad were supposed to pull off according to the moonbat blogs? Just like everything else moonbats believe they were wrong about that too it seems.

Today was an historic day as the first black man took the oath of office and our nation should be proud of that, we have come a long ways in the last fifty years. Barack Obama is now my President and I will afford him the respect the office deserves unlike the treatment offered by the moonbats to President Bush. I will applaud him when he does what's right for the country and respectfully oppose him when I believe his policies are wrong which is most of them if not all.

I am sure the moonbats will continue to be moonbats and when Obama doesn't come through for them on all his campaign rhetoric they will be crushed and outraged. It will be fun to watch Code Pink and the rest of the antiwar groups when he doesn't immediately pull out of Iraq, denounce Israel and surrender to Iran. Obama has a family that he loves and wants to protect that is now the number one target of jihadists around the world and he is smart enough to understand that. I am also sure the many security briefings he has recently received have given him a fresh perspective he did not have before.

Anyway I wish him all the luck in the world because he's going to need it, actually governing is not as easy as campaigning on empty lofty rhetoric and soaring speeches. The challenges he faces ahead are as difficult as any this nation has ever faced, our enemies will still hate us, the economy is struggling and Europe is still bassackwards.

Good Bye President Bush, I for one will miss you! You served with honor and grace and did what you believed to be what was right for our country. You kept us safe for seven years and liberated fifty million people from the worst of tyranny and showed them freedom's light. Enjoy your rest, you earned it!

Jackie Mason On The Inaugeration Of The One

2009-01-19T19:17:00.000-08:00

I haven't checked Jackie in a while but Newsbusters pointed me to his latest on Obama, Clinton and Geithner and its good.

Sarah Palin With Glenn Beck

2009-01-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

The more I hear from her the more I like her and I have been a big fan from the start, its her attitude, always sunny and optimistic. As I have said before John McCain and his team made a huge mistake when he tried to put a leash on the "pitbull with lipstick" at the start of their run, he should have turned the Barracuda loose and let Sarah be Sarah.

The video is not great quality but she still looks great and as Glenn said she is one hot Grandma. She is still a hot commodity for the media and I hope she remains so and runs for reelection as Gov. and not the Senate while boning up on foreign and domestic policy. We will need her in top form in a few years since I don't see anybody else in the GOP with her ability to connect with people.

What Are You Doing On Inaugeration Day?

2009-01-19T17:46:00.000-08:00

I am so sick of Obamania already that I am not going to watch or listen to one minute of the lovefest. I am going to do something really exciting like prepare my sales tax statement for the last year, well it will stimulate me enough to go split some more wood for the fireplace when I am done. I doubt I can send an IOU to the Ca. government as they are planning to do for taxpayer refunds.

I have to wonder if any of the of those in the media currently swooning over Obama will wake up anytime soon to look back at how idiotically biased they sound when Obama's economic policies bankrupt America. I remember when the MSM pitched a fit over the cost of Bush's '04 inaugeral but Obama is spending four times as much and not a peep only gushing adoration, aaack. The funny/sad part is a good portion of that expense is being funded by those bailed out Wall Street fatcats so taxpayers are paying one way or another to coronate the One.

Bush Commutes Border Agents' Sentences

2009-01-19T17:27:00.000-08:00

Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean got their sentences commuted today by President Bush and will be released on March 20th. This has been a sore spot with conservatives and border control activists for a couple years after they shot a drug smuggler and got exorbitant sentences after they tried to cover it up. Andy McCarthey, a former federal prosecuter, explains what they did and why they were guilty of a crime.

Compean and Ramos are bad guys. Once Aldrete-Davila was down from Ramos’s shot to the backside, they decided, for a second time, not to grab him so he could face justice for his crimes. As they well knew, an arrest at that point — after 15 shots at a fleeing, unarmed man who had tried to surrender — would have shone a spotlight on their performance. So instead, they exacerbated the already shameful display.
Instead of arresting the wounded smuggler, they put their guns away and left him behind. But not before trying to conceal the improper discharge of their firearms. Compean picked up and hid his shell-casings rather than leaving the scene intact for investigators. Both agents filed false reports, failing to record the firing of their weapons though they were well aware of regulations requiring that they do so. Because the “heroes” put covering their tracks ahead of doing their duty, Aldrete-Davila was eventually able to limp off to a waiting car and escape into Mexico.

If they had arrested the guy and reported their actions they would probably have gotten a slap on the wrist with some unpaid leave but they tried to cover it up and that was the mistake. Anyway I am glad Bush commuted their sentences to time served as their sentences of over ten years were far to harsh for what they did. The coverup will get you everytime.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker Gets High Honor

2009-01-18T16:02:00.000-08:00

In one of his last official acts in office President Bush has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Amb. Crocker. He is probably the most deserving of that honor in recent memory having worked closely with the Iraqi government and Generals Petraeus and Odierno to bring about the enormous changes we have seen in Iraq since the early days of the Surge. He has also served our country in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Syria. Here are President Bush's remarks via Gateway Pundit.

Members of the Foreign Service bring valor and professionalism to their work every single day. And there is one man who embodies these qualities above all: Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Over the years, Ryan has earned many honors, including the Presidential Meritorious Service Award and the rank of Career Ambassador. Today I have the privilege of honoring Ambassador Crocker with the highest civil award I can bestow -- the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (Applause.) It has not been bestowed yet. (Laughter.)

The son of an Air Force officer, Ryan Crocker has never been your typical diplomat. For social engagements, he likes to tell guests, "no socks required." (Laughter.) For language training, he once spent time herding sheep with a desert tribe in Jordan. For sport, he has jogged through war zones, and run marathons on four continents. And for assignments, his preference has always been anywhere but Washington. (Laughter.)

During his nearly four decades in the Foreign Service, Ryan Crocker has become known as America's Lawrence of Arabia. His career has taken him to every corner of the Middle East. His understanding of the region is unmatched. His exploits are legendary. He has served as ambassador to five countries. He has repeatedly taken on the most challenging assignments.

The man has never run from danger. As a young officer during the late 1970s, Ryan catalogued Saddam Hussein's murderous rise to power. In 1983, he survived the terrorist attack on the American embassy in Lebanon. In 1998, as the Ambassador to Syria, he witnessed an angry mob plunder his residence.

After any one of these brushes with danger, most people would have lost their appetite for adventure -- not Ryan Crocker. In the years since September the 11th, 2001, I have asked Ryan to hold numerous posts on the front lines of the war on terror, and he has stepped forward enthusiastically every time.

When the American embassy in Kabul reopened in the beginning of 2002, Ryan Crocker was our first envoy. When we liberated Iraq and removed the thug Saddam Hussein from power in 2003, I sent Ryan to help lead the reconstruction efforts. When the American embassy in Pakistan needed new leadership, Ryan Crocker was put in charge. In 2007, I asked Ryan to return for a final mission to Iraq as America's ambassador.

Two years later, Iraq is becoming a rising democracy, an ally in the war on terror, an inspiring model of freedom for people across the Middle East. When the story of this transformation is written, historians will note the extraordinary partnership between two exceptional men: General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. As the General carried out a surge of military forces to improve security, the Ambassador led a civilian surge to improve everyday life. In December, after months of intense negotiations, the world saw the culmination of Ambassador Crocker's masterful diplomacy -- two historic agreements for long-term cooperation between the United States and Iraq.

This is not the first time that Ambassador Crocker has executed a brilliant diplomatic maneuver in Baghdad. During a rotation at the American embassy nearly 30 years ago, he persuaded a young Foreign Service Officer named Christine Barnes to be his wife. (Laughter.) They have traveled the world together, and as Ryan prepares to retire from the Foreign Service, we wish the two of them many years of happiness. (Applause.)

General Petraeus recently said this about his retiring colleague: "It was a great honor for me to be his military wingman." And today it is my great honor to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to one of the finest Foreign Service Officers in American history -- Ryan Clark Crocker. And now the military aide will read the citation. (Applause.)

I hope Barack Obama is able to find as dedicated and capable people as Amb. Crocker for our foreign service.

Obama's Non-stimulus Stimulus Bankrupt America Plan

2009-01-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

Michelle Malkin rightly calls it The Generational Theft Act for good reason since there is nothing in it to stimulate the economy well maybe one or two worthy projects but the rest is pure greasy liberal pork. Amanda Carpenter posted a short list of some of the spending the Democrats are proposing, the pdfs are here, here, and press summary here if you are a glutton for punishment. I looked through the short press summary and its a disgusting pork barrel of welfare and liberal pet projects.

-$6 billion to weatherize "modest income homes."
-$6 billion to provide internet in "underserved" areas
-$6 billion for "higher education modernization."
-$20 billion in health information technology to "prevent medial mistakes."
-$20 billion to increase food stamp funding
-$87 billion to provide a "temporary" increase in Medicaid funding
-$300 million to provide rebates for people who purchase Energy Star products
-$600 million for the federal government to buy brand new energy efficient cars
-$400 million for state and local governments to buy brand new energy efficient cars
-$2.4 billion for carbon capture demonstration programs
-$350 million to research using energy efficient technology on military bases
-$300 million for grants and loans to state and local governments for projects that reduce diesel emissions, "benefiting public health and reducing global warming"
-$500 million for energy efficient manufacturing demonstration projects.
-$400 million to build major research facilities "that perform cutting edge science"
-$1.5 billion for expanding "good jobs in biomedical research"
-$400 million "to put more scientists to work doing climate change research"
-$600 million for satellite development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.
-$250 million "to address long-term economic distress in urban industrial cores and rural areas distributed based on need and ability to create jobs and attract private investment."
-$650 million to continue the coupon program to enable American households to convert from analog television transmission to digital transmission.
-$300 million for the National Wildlife Refuges and National Fish Hatcheries
-$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
-$400 million for "ready-to-go habitat restoration projects"
-$2 billion to provide child care services for an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work.
-$120 million to provide subsidized community service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans
-$1.5 billion to help local communities build and rehabilitate low-income housing using green technologies.
-$500 million to rehabilitate and improve energy efficiency at some of the over 42,000 housing units maintained by Native American housing programs
-$10 million for "rural, high-need areas to undertake projects using sustainable and energy-efficient building and rehabilitation practices"

Where are the infrastructure improvements, nuclear power plants, energy infrastructure like drilling for oil and defense? Yet there is money for welfare and the National Endowment for the Arts and wildlife refuges, now I have nothing against art and wildlife but what the hell do they have to do with stimulating the economy? Obama and the Democrats want to add a trillion dollars to our deficit for this crap, unbelievable. It is projected that Obama and the Democrats will have a deficit in his first year that is bigger than the entire budget of Bush's first year. I only hope the GOP can find its spine and fight this tooth and nail and make the Democrats own this pork palooza lock stock and barrel.

Must Read

2009-01-14T21:39:00.000-08:00

I don't normally link to liberals but Camille Paglia is a deserved exception to that self imposed rule, she slaps Katie Couric cross eyed and spanks global warmists with a clue by four. She also was a vocal defender of our conservative gal Sarah Palin. Its to good to quote so just go read all four pages!

Is Mexico On The Verge Of Collapse?

2009-01-14T18:18:00.000-08:00

The Dept. of Defense seems to think so and I can see why as there is basically a civil war going on between the government and the drug cartles. I don't know if I would quite put on the level with Pakistan as a failing state just yet but there is ample reason for concern about our security should it fail. You think illegal immigration is bad now just wait till they become refugees. This is from the El Paso Times via Hot Air.

Mexico is one of two countries that "bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse," according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.

The command's "Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)" report, which contains projections of global threats and potential next wars, puts Pakistan on the same level as Mexico. "In terms of worse-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico.

"The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."

Indeed the Mexican government recently had to send 2,000 troops to Juarez just across the border from El Paso to try and quell the escalating violence there. The problem is the cartels are paying of the police and military to look the other way and corruption is rampant in the political class as well.

We need to get that fence built pronto and use our National Guard to patrol the border. Those patrols could also be used to train other elements of our armed forces as well. I am tired of seeing reports about the Mexican military or cartel men using captured uniforms and equipment crossing our border to protect drug cartel shipments. Plus don't think for a minute that the jihadi's wouldn't use that instability to their advantage as well.

Mexico is a beautiful country with bountiful resources and a hard working industrious population that could/should be prospering not spiralling into despair and chaos. I guess that is what a few decades of socialist kleptocratic rule can do.

Yikes, This Is Scary

2009-01-13T17:35:00.000-08:00

If Obama gets all the spending he wants then the deficit will be as big or bigger than the entire budget, 1.7 trillion, when President Bush took office and the Democrats in Congress want even more spending than Obama has proposed. Obama has proposed just shy of one trillion dollars in stimulus spending and the Democrats are calling for twice that on top of the trillions they just wasted bailing out the banks and wall street. That is effing obscene to say the least.

I had moonbat trolls telling me how derelict Bush was in running up the deficit after the balanced budget of the Clinton years, thanks to a Republican lead Congress not Clinton, BTW. Now Democrats want to put our great great great grandchildren into debt with nary a peep out of all those lefty fiscal hawks.

The even scarier part of all this is that each year's budget uses the previous year's as a baseline and that base line is set to grow astronomically this year if the Democrats get their way and that does not take into account the unfunded liability of Social Security.

The deficit has skyrocketed because spending has grown from $1.8 trillion in 2000 to a projected $3.5 trillion in 2009, fully 95 percent higher. Of course, all that happened mostly on a Republican watch.

One reason the increase is so dramatic is the mystery of compounding. Each year, Congress passed pork-laden expenditure bills, which became part of the long-run baseline the minute they became law. Each time that the federal government wasted a billion dollars, it created budget space to waste $1 billion again and again, ad infinitum.

That’s perhaps the scariest fact about next year’s budget. The skyrocketing spending of 2009 will be the CBO baseline for every year after that. It will be easy to provide health care to everyone; the budget space will be blocked out. Indeed, Congress can spend with impunity in years to come, covered by the protective shroud of the CBO baseline that this year delivers.

We can ride big government spending and trillion-dollar deficits all the way to 2017, when the Social Security trust fund itself starts running deficits.

This year may establish a government-spending black hole with gravity strong enough to suck the U.S. economy over the event horizon. Such a spending path has two possible endgames. Neither is pretty.

Thanks to Ace who has some more rant on the topic.

Joe The Plumber/Reporter Reports From Israel For PJTV

2009-01-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

Joe is in Sderot which has been the focus of most of Hamas' rocket attacks on Southern Israel and gives as good a report as any you would see on TV. He has gotten some criticism from those high paid professional journalists because he dared to venture into their world to deliver stories they won't, good for him as he pokes them in the eye. He actually got to experience what the residents of Sderot have had to deal with everyday for several years now, an incoming missile attack while reporting from a house that had been hit earlier. Its good to see some reporting without the breathless spin but just good down to earth insight.

You do have to register, email addy and password, but it is free and worth the few seconds it takes. The video is here.

PS: Note when they have to run for the bomb shelter, Joe is about the last one in ushering in ladies first and then he and his camera man follow.

Sign Up For The Conservative Alliance News Letter

2009-01-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

You can sign up now from my side bar, the first issue is tomorrow so sign up now. It looks great with several conservative bloggers contributing their top posts. We will give you the news the liberally biased MSM won't while debunking their lies and spin with the conservative twist.

Not a Tear!

2009-01-11T13:23:00.001-08:00

Faced with a barrage of new footage of dead children, Israel's PR is negligible. Hamas has proven that it has no shame in abusing the dead, but gleefully shows pictures of maimed or killed children. The terrorists in Gaza use death pornography to further their nefarious plans of defaming Israel. The crowds worldwide scream "stop the holocaust in Gaza!" while employing the most cynical and obscene comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany. Suddenly, the world pretends to be interested in human rights and uses them as a weapon against the Jewish state. Politicians and celebrities denounce the supposed massacres in Gaza and even Jewish leaders preface their support of Israel with apologies over civilian deaths.

Save me the pieties over Gaza. The very same people marching in the streets against Israel had nary a word to say when over 4000 rockets fell on Southern Israel during the past 3 years. When Jews were murdered by Hamas missiles, schools and hospitals bombarded and lives torn apart, the world was silent. The streets of Europe were empty as long as Arabs did the killing and Jews the dying. That is "peace" according to the "humanitarians". There were no pictures in the media of grieving Jewish mothers and fathers, or of children who lost limbs to jihadist bombs. Where were the marches and protests when a gunman murdered 8 teenagers studying in a yeshiva, or a berserk Arab bulldozer driver crushed a mother and her young daughter?

The same day that the operations in Gaza began, a Sunni suicide bomber blew himself up in a Shiite mosque in Iraq, murdering 40 people. This barely made news. When Jews kill Muslims, it is a massacre. When Muslims kill each other, it's like the weather. Nobody pays attention. In the past few years, close to a million black Africans have been murdered by Arab janjaweed militia in Darfur. Thats is a real humanitarian crisis. If the same protesters opposing Israel's right to self-defense would have used even a fraction of that energy to protest the situation in Darfur, there would be no genocide. The protests have little to do with human rights but are just another excuse to demonize and vilify the only democracy in the Middle-East. Over 60 years after the Holocaust, many are still uncomfortable with the idea of Jews fighting back. A "ceasefire" is when rockets fall on Jews and they do not retaliate.

The mainstream media feeds us constant images of dead Arabs. They inform us that women and children were among the dead in Israel's attacks. Somehow they neglect to mention that the blame for the dead lies squarely on Hamas, which hides among civilians when firing rockets at Israel. Hamas brazenly uses schools, mosques and hospitals to store weapons and attack Israel, then cries about Israeli retaliation. It has used women and children to carry out its murderous attacks against Israeli targets. The same group that self-righteously complains of Israeli attacks on children fires missiles on kindergartens and schools in Sderot, Ashklelon and Ashdod. They raise their children on a diet of hate, death and anti-semitism.

I have not a tear to spare for any Arab killed in Gaza. The international community treats Gazans as pawns, not letting them take responsibility for their own actions. Last year, the people of Gaza democratically voted Hamas, a terrorist organization, into power. They chose, of their own free-will, to have Hamas represent them as their government. As such, they should suffer the consequences of their choices. After the attacks on Merkaz HaRav in March, thousands of Gazans danced in the streets, giving out candies and celebrating the cold-blooded killing of Jewish teenagers. My tears are spent on the victims of Hamas, not their enablers. I wish that Israel would attack Gaza with a true proportionate response, letting the people of Gaza know the pain of the citizens of Sderot who have not had a complete night's sleep in a decade, or of the Jewish mothers and fathers who lost children to Hamas jihadist attacks.

The world does not deserve our apologies. They forfeited their rights to moral superiority after 2000 years of deportations, expulsions, forced conversions, persecutions and pogroms. A world that did not treat Jews as human beings for two millenia has no right to lecture us on how we may defend ourselves. At anti-Israel rallies worldwide, crowds chanted "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas!", hoping that the wicked smoke of the ovens should blow over to the Holy Land. A world that still dreams of Auschwitz does not deserve any explanations or justifications.

Am Yisrael Chai!

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Moonbat Leftards Join Hamas Lovers In Jew Hatred Around The World

2009-01-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

I will never understand why the radical left moonbats rally in support of radical islamists since their ideologies are completely opposite each other. The left loves to proclaim its support for women's rights, homosexual rights and all sorts of humanitarian causes while the islamists execute homosexuals, oppress their women and launch indescriminate attacks on innocent civilians. The moonbats seem to think Hamas is innocent and Israel is guilty for some odd reason I will never understand. Well their violent protests around the world will hardly win wide support for their claim that islam is a religion of peace when they burn cars, attack police, vandalize businesses and synagogues and generally behave like anarchist fascists.

The wonderful Pamela Gellar at Atlas Shrugs has been covering all these violent anti-Israel protests and the peaceful pro-Israel counter protests with lots of pictures and videos so just keep scrolling. Jews all over Europe and alas even here in the US are fearing for their safety as those thugs get ever more violent in their protestations. What islamophobia, how about rampant anti-semitism? Will those perps be charged with hate crimes the same as if those attacks had been made on muslims or blacks? I doubt it though hate crime is the only way to describe them and here I thought the leftards were all against hate. I guess I was wrong.

Jim at Gateway Pundit has more on the rampant Jew hatred and anarchist violence of those protests.
Also don't miss this Mark Steyn column on "The Oldest Hatred"

PETA Nuts Reach New Heights Of Idiocy

2009-01-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

I think all the nuts they eat have gone to their head and studies have shown that a vegan diet reduces brain power. They now want to call fish sea kittens because who could eat a cute cuddly kitten right, well, besides a billion people in Asia. This all another PR campaign aimed at children to make them not want to eat meat at a time in their lives when the consumption of high quality protien like fish is critical to their physical and mental development. You cannot get the critical nutrition needed from a strictly vegan diet, they can come close through a carefully monitered and complex diet that relies on combinations of certain foods but it isn't the same since it lacks critical amino acids.

I tried going vegetarian many years ago because it seemed like a cool thing to do and I was running in lefty circles at the time but I noticed a drop in energy levels very quickly so I gave that up quick. Besides I like BBQ ribs to much for that, well BBQ anything for that matter including sea kittens. Heck I am starting to wonder how land kitten would taste on the grill since there are enough strays around here to stock my freezer for the coming Obama depression.

Speaking of energy levels, I went on a mountaineering expedition once that that had a vegan as part of it and we constantly had to wait on him to catch up. It sucked since we essentially had to prepare two separate meals, one for us and one for him using twice as much fuel as a result. I like trail mix with all the nuts, dried fruit and granola but I add meat jerky on the side for trail side noshing. The funny part is he was the only one in the group that had a gut, er slightly overweight and he was the one that ate all the "healthy" stuff LOL.

SEC vs Big 12

2009-01-08T19:07:00.000-08:00

Florida and Oklahoma have sqauared off for the BCS Championship and who would have thought it would be a defensive duel for two of the highest powered offenses in college ball. Its only 7-7 at halftime with two great goal line stands by Florida to deny OU any points. This is a great football game by any standard.

Go Gators!!!

YES, Florida wins 24-14, they may have beaten my Crimson Tide but the SEC retains the Title as the best conference in the game. We know how to play defense as OU found out the hard way. I also have to say the more I see Tim Tebow play the more impressed I am, he willed his team to victory and don't get in his way. The guy is a class act of the highest degree.

Congrats Gators, thanks for making the SEC proud once again!

Hamas; In Their Own Words

2009-01-08T16:49:00.000-08:00

The folks at MEMRI put this little video together of Hamas' vile rants against the West and Israel.

How would you like to have those monsters to share a border with? Well I guess some of the drug cartels to our south are almost as bad.

Sarah Palin Interview Excerpts

2009-01-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

She sat down with John Ziegler for an extended interview for an upcoming documentary on media malfeasance during the presidential campaign. John McCain and his staff made a huge mistake in not just letting Sarah be Sarah and just turning her lose along with letting her choose what media she wanted to be interviewed by. Here is a bit of the interview that John has released, via Hot Air.

I have said before that I would be torn between Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin in a primary and I still am but I think Sarah is able to connect on a much more personal level than Mitt is able to. I do not think she should run for the Senate, why be 1 of 100 when you are 1 of 50 and run a significant State. She should run for re-election as Gov., a sure win given her approval numbers in Alaska and be ready for 2012 and 2016.

Conservative Blog Newsletter

2009-01-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

I am teaming The Barnyard up with American Sentinel and a few others to put out a news letter to be put out twice weekly of our best posts and articles. I will have a widget up on my sidebar soon where you can sign up for these news letters, it is a secure list and your email will not be sold or distributed. My readers that I have email addresses for know I very rarely send out group emails and when I do it has an important reason behind it.

The folks over at American Sentinel are all good conservatives and good writers and I am honored to team up with them to help spread our message and extend our reach.

Porn Industry Wants Some Bailout Cherries Too

2009-01-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

The founder of Hustler, Larry Flynt, and Girls Gone Wild founder, Joe Francis, line up at the taxpayer trough for some of those bailout fun funds. I guess all that free porn all over the internets has cut into their businesses as well so they want to screw the taxpayer so they can keep screwing.

Another major American industry is asking for assistance as the global financial crisis continues: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said Wednesday they will request that Congress allocate $5 billion for a bailout of the adult entertainment industry.
“The take here is that everyone and their mother want to be bailed out from the banks to the big three,” said Owen Moogan, spokesman for Larry Flynt. “The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion. Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine.”
Francis said in a statement that “the US government should actively support the adult industry’s survival and growth, just as it feels the need to support any other industry cherished by the American people.”
“We should be delivering [the request] by the end of today to our congressmen and [Secretary of the Treasury Henry] Paulson asking for this $5 billion dollar bailout,” he told CNN Wednesday.

I guess hobos need their reading material too since they don't have computers to get all the free stuff. I don't have a problem with porn as a normal dude I have looked at plenty of it though I was never a fan of Hustler or the really hardcore stuff and have never seen any of the Girls Gone Wild videos. I do however report porn spammers to their internet providers because I hate spam. It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic but after all what would the folks over at AoSHQ do with their hands if the porn industry went under.

Cap'n Ed puts it best though.

The Real Issue: Gaza is Jewish

2009-01-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

Israel has the world's 4th strongest army, superior weapons, arms and technology. Hamas, while armed with deadly weapons smuggled in from Egypt and supplied by Iran, is nothing compared to Israeli firepower. If Israel wanted, the Hamastan stronghold in Gaza could be wiped out in an aerial assault in a number of hours. Yet Hamas possesses something which the current Israeli leadership does not possess: confidence in the justness of its cause.

Watching the news, Israel's claim in defense of its actions has been that Israel the right to defend itself. Faced with a genocidal group of terrorists committed to murdering and maiming as many Jews as possible, all Israel has to say is that it has the right to defend itself. Lost amidst all of the rhetoric and slogans is the fact that Hamas has repeatedly and consistently violated Israel's sovereignty and contests its right to exist as a nation. Sadly, the war being fought in Gaza is not a war to conquer Gaza, but rather a war to get rid of Gaza. In summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from Gaza, expelling close to 10 000 Jewish residents and dismantling their towns and villages, in an attempt to allow Gazans to build their own state. The discussion over the Disengagement consisted of mainly security, whether or not it would lead to peace or to rockets. Those who argued the latter were vindicated. Absent from the debate was Israel's entitlement to Gaza.

Israel's military failed miserably during the Second Lebanon War because its leadership lacked defined goals and objectives. While, thank G-d, Israel has been succeeding militarily in Gaza, it still lacks the same basic purpose. Israel's leaders have repeatedly emphasized that they do not intend to re-occupy Gaza and that should Hamas be destroyed, Gaza will be given over to Fatah. The powers that be see the current war as simply another means to further the two state (final) solution, the so-called "Road Map to Peace". In the minds of many Israelis, Gaza is simply not our land. The war is being fought to make the Disengagement final, to stop the rockets and finally be done with Gaza. Instead of realizing the errors of the Gaza Disengagement, Israel's leaders are determined to repeat the same mistakes in Judea and Samaria. Anyone with a limited amount of intelligence can see that the Hamas rockets in Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod are the fruits of the Disengagement.

Israel is in a stalemate with Hamas. It has surrounded Gaza City but hesitates to go in. The political leadership want to leave Gaza as soon as possible, and preferably hand it over to the more "moderate" Fatah murderers. The same mentality remains that Gaza is foreign turf. Because of this basic assumption, Israel cannot succeed in vanquishing Hamas. It must be repeated and repeated again, incessantly, to counter the Big Lie of Arab propaganda: The Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people. There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. Never in the annals of history has there been a sovereign Palestinian country, or a distinct Palestinian people, culture or language. The only three independent nations in the Land of Israel have been Jewish: the Davidic kingdom, the Hasmonean dynasty and the modern state of Israel. The term 'Palestine' was invented by the Roman emperor Hadrian after he crushed the Jewish revolt in 70 CE. Destroying the Temple in Jerusalem and scattering the Jews to across the world, he renamed Judea 'Palestinae', in the name of an ancient extinct people, the Philistines, in an attempt to erase the Jewish connection to Israel. Many successive empire conquered the Land of Israel yet none ever bothered to build their own nation. When Islam spread through the Middle-East in the 7th century, the Arabs moved into and occupied the geographical entity known as Palestine, yet never once did they consider themselves Palestinian. British document from the Mandatory period consistently refer to "the Jews and Arabs of Palestine", not the Jews and Palestinians. Only in 1967, once the Arabs had lost 6 wars against Israel did they decide on a new tactic and spun the tale of the "Palestine", stolen and occupied by the Jews.

This is not a conflict about territory, or about rockets and settlements. It is about moral rights, whether or not the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people or to the Arabs. In a betrayal of history, Israel's leaders do not have the strength and moral convictions to assert Jewish rights from river to sea. Precisely for this reason does Israel find itself incapable of dispatching a ragtag band of murderers and terrorists. The Arabs speak about "dying for Palestine", martyrdom, and will not compromise on an inch of what they consider holy soil. Israel speaks about self-defense, tactical victories, cease-fires, truces and the "peace process". It is no surprise that Hamas shows not signs of surrender despite an intense 11-day barrage while Israel's leadership (but not people) are demonstrating war weariness. The corrupt Kadima government is determine to surrender as much Jewish land as possible. A post-Zionist government does not have the capacity to implement the necessary solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Gaza is firmly Jewish. It was a part of the tribal inheritance of Judah, was the site of Samson's campaigns against the Philistines and where David slew Goliath. During Greek times, it fell to Alexander the Great and was eventually recaptured by the Hasmoneans. It was home to a thriving and flourishing Jewish community. In 1967, A. Ovadiah excavated the area and discovered a synagogue from the sixth century C.E. Archaeology evidence supports the biblical premise of a continuous Jewish presence from the Late bronze period until the Byzantine period (ca. 1500 B.C.E. through 632 C.E.) It must be recalled that most of the Arabs living in Israel only came in the middle to late 1920’s to escape economic hardship and political persecution by their own people for better opportunity. Gaza, as well as Judea and Samaria, remain under illegal Arab occupation and must be returned to their rightful owners. International law, enshrined in the League of Nations mandate for Palestine and recognized by the UN, gives the Jewish people sovereignty over the entire Land of Israel, and both sides of the Jordan. Various British policies further limited and reduced the area to be given towards a Jewish homeland. However, the world body has never repealed the Jewish right to the Land of Israel under the International law.

A true and lasting peace will only come to the region once Gush Katif, Neve Dekalim and all of the destroyed Jewish towns are re-built on the ruins of Hamas. The Jews of Gaza were unjustly expelled from their rightful homes. The entire leadership responsible for the Expulsion must be tried for crimes against the Jewish people. Only once Israel has the strength to firmly declare that the entire Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, and only the Jewish people, will the conflict be resolved. Until then, rockets and suicide bombings will continually maim and kill Jews. Israel's leaders crave world attention and acceptance and therefore are hesitant to assert Jewish rights over the Land. The offensive in Gaza has been limited due to international pressure. What Israel's weak leaders don't realize is that the world body hates the Jewish people. Never will the UN and EU be satisfied until Israel is wiped off the map, G-d forbid. As a wise man once said: "It is better to have an Israel that the entire world hates than an Auschwitz that world loves". Jewish morality demands that Israel defend its citizens and re-conquer its land. Our enemies must be either completely destroyed or transfered from the Land.

History will judge harshly those who seek to separate the Jewish people from their inheritance. The nation that begged, three times a day that "our eyes should behold Your return to Zion in mercy", cannot be defeated. "And I will turn the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God." (Amos 9:14-15). May we see the day when the prophecy of Amos is fulfilled. Amen!

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

About That UN School Israel Hit

2009-01-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

The media and the moonbats, I know that's redundant, are all in a tizzy over an UNRWA school where 30-40 "civilians" were killed by Israeli artillary. What they don't tell you is that there were several Hamas terrorist bodies among those dead and that Hamas was firing mortars from the school. The pig humpers that are Hamas are well known for using schools, mosques, hospitals and other places where civilians congregate to store weapons or use as firing positions for those weapons in the hopes that the IDF won't fire on them, cowardly bastards. They do this in the hopes civilians will get killed so they can then use the incident for propaganda purposes knowing their useful idiots in the western media will pick it up and run with it and the international community will then blame Israel.

There are reports that Hamas even had the building wired with explosives and may have lured the civilians into it promising safety and then purposely fired morters from it knowing the IDF would fire back. I sure would not put it past them that Hamas could have even set of those explosives themselves so they could blame the IDF, they are that cruel and deluded. Heck even the AP had to report that Gaza residents witnessed Hamas firing mortars from the school grounds and the IDF has video of them doing it, via Israellycool who has much, much more.

This was from Oct. '07 but it is still proof they use schools as launching points, note how the Hamas scum fire three quick rounds, hide the launcher in the school and then run away, effing pig humping cowards. Here is an IDF soldier spokesman explaining what happened and references the above video.

Plus here is an interesting piece from an Arab telling the palestinians to get over it, they lost and Israel won, time to move on. I should point out that Israel's Arab neighbors don't like the palestinians much either.

Update:The Muqata has much more info.

Democrats, Clowns And Corruptocrats

2009-01-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

Obama and his Democrat majorities have not even begun their new reign yet and the scandals already brewing are making the transition less than smooth. Govs. Blagojevich and Richardson and Sen. Clinton are all under investigation for pay to play schemes. It would all be funny if it were not so sad that these are people that are going to be in charge of running the country for the next few years. David Kahane has a must read only slightly tongue in cheek article on just how deep and long lived the culture of corruption is within the 'Democratic' Party. I used the scare quotes because they are hardly democratic in the sense of the word with all the cronyism and nepotism going around in their circles lately. Here is a taste from "Life in the Clown Car Fast Lane".

Can you believe it? Barack Hussein Obama II hasn’t even been inaugurated yet and he’s already been interviewed by federal prosecutors in the ongoing Blago mess; he’s seen Bill Richardson immolate himself rather than stand the federal grand-jury scrutiny that would have come with his appointment as Commerce Secretary; his boy Rahm Emanuel is both en pointe, having resigned the House seat that was previously warmed by Hot Rod and Dan Rostenkowski, and, apparently, on Patrick Fitzgerald’s tapes too; and he’s facing the prospect of the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, standing like a homunculus George Wallace in the schoolhouse door, ready to deny entrance to a black man when Roland “We Are the Senator” Burris tries to take Bambi’s hardly-even-used seat tomorrow.

And here we Democrats thought the Clinton administration could never be topped!

We are the party of Barack Obama and the Daley Machine; the party of the Clintons and their amazing alchemistic Library, which turns Saudi dross into altruistic gold; the party of Tony Rezko and Norman Hsu; the party of vaporizing fundraisers, absconding bagmen and sitting New Mexico governors (and a recent presidential “candidate”) currently under federal investigation for allegedly steering a state contract in the direction of one of his big backers, David Rubin of CDR Financial Products in Beverly Hills. Now comes word that Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state-designate, Congress and the Emoluments Clause willing, got millions of dollars for a mall in Syracuse shortly after the developer coughed up a hundred grand for the Bill Clinton “Foundation.” That’s what I call commerce!

We are also the party of Charlie Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who’s currently under “investigation” by the House “Ethics” Committee for a myriad of dubious practices, including using campaign contributions to pay his parking tickets.

He also mentions Chris Dodd but forgets Barney Frank, Jack Murtha or the several sex scandals that ensnared a few of them recently.

Now a very unfunny comedienne, failed radio talker and general asshat Al "Stuart Smalley" Franken has managed to steal a Senate seat for Minnesota. Everything I have read about this simply reeks worse than a warthog at a skunk convention. Norm Coleman had a 775 vote lead after election day but somehow the Democrats managed to find an extra thousand for Franken with most coming from districts where they had more ballots than registered voters but they counted anyway.

Meanwhile House Queen Nancy Pelosi wants to rewrite the House rules to completely block the GOP minority from having any say what so ever in the content of legislation so the Democrats can ramrod their agenda down our throats. This hearkens back to the day when bills were written in the backrooms without public transparency and then railroaded through Congress as Human Events reports.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.

Pelosi’s rule changes -- which may be voted on today -- will reverse the fairness rules that were written around Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.”

In reaction, the House Republican leadership is sending a letter today to Pelosi to object to changes to House Rules this week that would bar Republicans from offering alternative bills, amendments to Democrat bills or even the guarantee of open debate accessible by motions to recommit for any piece of legislation during the entire 111th Congress. These procedural abuses, as outlined in the below letter obtained by HUMAN EVENTS, would also include the repeal of six-year limit for committee chairmen and other House Rules reform measures enacted in 1995 as part of the Contract with America.

After decades of Democrat control of the House of Representatives, gross abuses to the legislative process and several high-profile scandals contributed to an overwhelming Republican House Congressional landslide victory in 1994. Reforms to the House Rules as part of the Contract with America were designed to open up to public scrutiny what had become under this decades-long Democrat majority a dangerously secretive House legislative process. The Republican reform of the way the House did business included opening committee meetings to the public and media, making Congress actually subject to federal law, term limits for committee chairmen ending decades-long committee fiefdoms, truth in budgeting, elimination of the committee proxy vote, authorization of a House audit, specific requirements for blanket rules waivers, and guarantees to the then-Democrat minority party to offer amendments to pieces of legislation.

Pelosi’s proposed repeal of decades-long House accountability reforms exposes a tyrannical Democrat leadership poised to assemble legislation in secret, then goose-step it through Congress by the elimination of debate and amendment procedures as part of America’s governing legislative process.

As Jim at Gateway Pundit put it this is the change we can believe in. All I can say is that I hope that the GOP can get its act together because 2010 could be another banner year like 1994 was as the Democrats show their colors as the corrupt, incompetent, kleptocrats they are.

More from VDH on Democrat corruption.

Israel Sends Ground Troops Into Gaza: Updated

2009-01-03T17:36:00.000-08:00

They know this will be a tough and dangerous operation since Hamas has been building tunnels and setting booby traps for at least two years. Reports are still pretty sketchy but there has apparently been some heavy fighting going on. Besides our own military the IDF is probably the best equipped and highly trained outfit there is and they know the tactics that will be used against them, IEDs and ambush attacks as the Hamas rats pop up out of their holes.

My readers of course know not to rely on our MSM to give us any straight reporting that isn't biased to some degree against Israel. The Jerusalem Post, Ynet and Ha'aretz are fair Israeli sources but as with the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts independent bloggers seem to have a lot more to offer. In this case Israellycoool, Mere Rhetoric, The Muqata , Israel Matzav and Meryl Yourish are the places to go for constant up to the minute updates on what is happening. Israel is a tech dense country so I am sure many other bloggers are posting on this as well. If you have a tip please post it in the comments.

All the same idiot asshats that had been organizing protests against the Iraq war now have a new conflict to scream and cry about as more terrorists get sent to meet their 72 virgin pigs. Atlas Shrugs has lots of pictures of the anti-semite, jihadi ass kissing protestors from around the US and the world. I guess they don't realize wailing and rampaging in the streets not only exposes them as fools but also hardens their opposition against them and even flips many who may have empathized with them the other way.
This is from San Franistan

They keep chanting "Free, Free, Palestine" but palestine has never existed so how can you free it if it never existed to begin with? Why don't they protest the fact that the other Arab countries like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt just absorb those palestinians and let Israel have its tiny slice of land? Its simple as Mile Totten wrote some time ago, the palestinians are the most hated group of bums in the Middle East and he lived in Lebanon for many years. Heck even Hezbollah doesn't like Hamas enough to help out and they are both proxies of Iran. In deed the only reasom there may be a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is because of Hamas and not Israel but the lefty moonbat protesters are historical illiterates as we here in the Barnyard have long known.

Update: This is an interesting developement, Hamas is killing Fatah activists in the strip, red on red bloodshed.

A Good Reason To Treat Gaza Like Dresden

2009-01-01T18:09:00.000-08:00

Hamas is booby trapping the entire strip in anticipation of an Israeli ground invasion including using women and children as shields and their version of "smart" bombs. There are no innocents in Gaza even the youngest are taught hatred for Israel so they should just be carpet bombed, there are no hearts or minds to be won there. The smart ones left already and made lives for themselves elsewhere. The women are vowing to blow themselves up among the "apes and pigs" and they wonder why Israel keeps the border crossings closed, from MEMRI via Gateway Pundit, Jihad Watch and Israel Matzav.

Following are excerpts from footage of Hamas female martyrdom-seekers in Gaza, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on December 30, 2008.

Masked woman clad in explosives belt: "I, the martyrdom-seeker Umm Suheib, have dedicated myself for the sake of Allah, and for the sake of redeeming my family, from which I have lost eight martyrs so far. I swear by Allah that I will turn my body parts into a fire that will burn the occupation soldiers, if they move towards my house.

"My beloved people, if Allah supports you, no one will be able to overcome you. We are confident of the support of Allah. There are thousands of martyrdom-seeking women like me, waiting for the occupier, in order to avenge these massacres. I pledge to my people that I will continue on the path of my family, and avenge the widows and the orphans. My people on the front-line, do not wait for any Arab president or king, but direct your appeal to Allah, the King of Kings. We are loyal to our oath, and will meet, Allah willing, in the paradise of eternity."

Masked woman holding rifle: "Allah said: 'Prepare against them what force and steeds of war you can, to strike terror in the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your own enemies.' We convey this message to the Israeli army high command, which bombards our sons day and night: We, the martyrdom-seeking women of Palestine, mothers as well as girls, are waiting impatiently for them to come. Allah willing, we will make them taste bitterness, if they move even an inch into our beloved Gaza Strip.

"I am the mother of two martyrs, and I will sacrifice myself as a martyr, Allah willing. I will turn my blood into bombs that will burn them. In every Palestinian home, a time bomb will await them. There will be days of battle between us, and this will be our opportunity to avenge our sons whom they have bombed, and the blood of the 400 martyrs who were killed in the headquarters. I am waiting for them.

My honorable people, have more forbearance and steadfastness. Your daughters march by your side on the path of Jihad and martyrdom."

Second masked woman holding a rifle: "If one of our men dies, a thousand men will set out in his place. We, the women, will set out. We are the granddaughters of Yassin, Al-Bana, and Al-Qassam. We are all the daughters of Palestine, the daughters of steadfast Gaza. We will set out, booby-trapped. From every home, a bomb will set out, and it will explode among the sons of Zion. We are no less than Fatima Al-Najjar and Rim Al-Riyashi [two Palestinian women who blew themselves up among Israelis]. We will blow ourselves up among those traitors, those apes and pigs."

Yes Israel can bomb its way to peace by wiping the Gaza strip clean of pig humping Hamas and its supporters despite what a terrorist sympathizer for the LA Times claims. Ace changed Israel to Hamas in her article and it makes more sense.

Happy New Year All

2008-12-31T20:42:00.000-08:00

I don't really celebrate the new year as its just another day to me But I wish all my friends the best and brightest to come after all we have the Obamassiah coming to cure all the ills on the planet. It has been an interesting year with the election process, victory in Iraq, and the economic meltdown. It was a record year for my humble blogspot as well and I have all of y'all to thank for it. I will of course be keeping my on Obama and the Pelosi-Reid congress and their attempts to socialize and bankrupt our future but I also hope to get back to my photoblogging of historic and scenic sites around me. As I post this it will be officially the new year in America and I pray the good Lord continues to bless us into the future.

Hamas Propaganda 101

2008-12-31T18:41:00.000-08:00

All those rockets and mortars launched into Israel are not from Hamas but from Zionist collaborators according to Hamas, yeah right. This idiot is almost as good as Baghdad Bob, from an interview with NPR via the Jawa Report is Hamas spokesdouche Ahmed Yusuf.

SIEGEL: But, wasn't the response of firing rockets into Israel…

Mr. YUSUF: There is no - actually, when we…

SIEGEL: Wasn't that guaranteed to bring on this retaliation by the Israelis?

Mr. YUSUF: No. No. This has nothing to do with firing rockets because there is no rockets fired. There are collaborators, sometimes they fire based on the Israeli asking them maybe to fire some of these home-made projectiles. They know that Hamas did their best to protect the border and not to let anybody firing rockets.

SIEGEL: But you're saying that when rockets have been fired out of Gaza, you're saying that those are being fired by Israeli collaborators whom the Israelis are arranging for them to do that, so that…

Mr. YUSUF: Actually, we all - let me try me to check if there is anybody actually - we check with those political and militant group who are really showing their commitment. And when we check, well, they - all them denied any of them been firing rockets. So, who been firing these rockets? We don't have an explanation except from those Israeli collaborators.[...]

Unfortunately, all the time they deceive the world community by claiming many things, and unfortunately, we are the people who really suffering, and this air strike they targeting everything, universities, mosques, schools, civilian home, residential areas, and also all the governmental building, which has nothing to do with these firing rockets as they keep claiming.

That's nuttier than the 9/11 truthers. Yep the Israelis are targeting all those places because the cowardly scum that makes up Hamas hides their weapons in and launches their rockets from all those places. What a f**king pig humper.

The Hamas pig humpers are proud of their human shields, like I said before, there are no innocent Gazans. Israel might as well gice Gaza the Dresden treatment since they are already damned if they do or don't.

Answering A Challenge

2008-12-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

Some nutter named Ted, don't know if he is left or right, left this comment on a completely unrelated post and I figured I would post it and respond on the front page. I really hate conspiracy nuts.

Challenge, can anyone prove this wrong?:–

1. Constitution Article II requires USA President to be “natural born citizen”.

2. BHO’s website admits his dad was Kenyan/British, not American, citizen when BHO was born.

3. BHO is therefore not a “natural born citizen” (irrespective of Hawaiian birth or whether he may be a 14th Amendment “citizen” of USA) — as confirmed in the Senate’s own McCain qualification resolution agreed to by BHO.

4. Supreme Court has already docketed two upcoming conferences, 1/9/09 and 1/16/09 — between dates Congress counts electoral votes (1/8/09) and Presidential inauguration (1/20/09) — to address Berg Case and fashion relief on BHO’s eligibility to be President.

5. Since no facts are in dispute, Supreme Court rules on Summary Judgment to enjoin BHO’s inauguration as President.

6. Therefore, BHO is not inaugurated as President.

7. Vice President Elect Biden is inaugurated Acting President under the 20th Amendment to serve until new President is determined — the procedure for which determination to be set out by Congress and/or the Supreme Court so long as in conformance with the Constitution.

Barack Obama's mother was a natural born citizen and he was born in Hawaii so that makes him a natural born citizen regardless of his father's stature.

All the other challenges have been laughed out of court and so will 9/11 truther Phillip Berg's latest.

The only reason I see for Obama not releasing the documents is that his real father is not Barack Obama Sr. since his mother was in Washington state going to college around the time she became pregnant and not Hawaii. There are some timeline and paternity issues that could be embarrassing to his life story but none involve Obama's citizenship.

May I also remind folks that Philip Berg is a Clinton supporter that thinks Bush carried out the 9/11 attack and in no way connected to the conservative movement. The vast majority of the blogs that have pushed this story are Clintonites as the vast majority of conservative blogs have brushed it off for what it is, a bunch of hooey.

Israel Continues Its Just Assault On Gaza:Updated

2008-12-30T18:21:00.000-08:00

Israel entered its fourth day of airraids on Hamas facilities and infrastructure in the Gaza strip with over 500 sites hit by precision munitions and about as many dead Hamas cretins. Hamas launched rockets also reached there deepest penetration into Israel striking Beersheba. Those rockets launched by Hamas are roughly aimed at population centers and not military targets with the sole purpose of killing civilians unlike Israel's precision strikes aimed at Hamas' military targets.

When Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and the people there elected Hamas to run things they became a legitimate target if they continued or failed to stop the barrage of rockets aimed at Israel. Israel has every right to secure its borders and to protect its people from attack no matter what the international weenies might think. It is not Israel's responsibility to provide for the people of Gaza but it is the responsibility of Gazan's duly elected leaders to provide for them. When Israel pulled out they left behind industry and greenhouses that Hamas looted and destroyed despite the fact they employed and fed thousands of Gazans. The Gazans are not oppressed by Israel they are subjugated by the very people they elected to lead them, only they have the power to put an end to the perpetual state of war they find themselves in by stopping the attacks on Israel.

This young lady from Gaza knows where to place the blame, on Hamas.

Commenters at Hot Air where I got the clip point out this could be Fatah propaganda as it was released by the Palistinian Authority, could be an attempt to triangulate as both parties are known for stagecraft.

Meanwhile Israel is determined to win the propaganda war by opening a You Tube channel and posting its own videos though the Google censors pulled this one it is still at Live Leak of Hamas cretins being taken out loading missiles on a truck.

Update: This is a must read highly relevant post with thanks to the Instapundit. It is to good to pull a quote from so just go read the whole thing.