Tag: politics

Vicious Lies and Slanders

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In relation to yesterday’s (Belated) Quote of the Day, I just received this via email. I’m not even going to go to Snopes to see if it might even possibly be real, I’m just going to roll with it:

They Walk Among Us

A Washington DC airport ticket agent shares the following 12 experiences that demonstrate the intelligence of our politicians and, therefore, why our country is in trouble!!! Oh boy!

1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman (Carol Shea-Porter) ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn’t get messed up by being near the window. (On an airplane!)

2. I got a call from a Kansas Congressman’s (Moore) staffer (Howard Bauleke), who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information, and then he interrupted me with, “I’m not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts.”

Without trying to make him look stupid, I calmly explained, “Cape Cod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa”

His response — “click!”

3. A senior Vermont Congressman (Socialist Bernie Sanders) called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that’s not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state.

He replied, “Don’t lie to me, I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state!” (OMG!)

4. I got a call from a lawmaker’s wife (Landra Reid) who asked, “Is it possible to see England from Canada?” I said, “No.” She said, “But they look so close on the map.” (OMG, again!)

5. An aide for a cabinet member (Janet Napolitano) once called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. I pulled up the reservation and noticed he had only a 1-hour layover in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, “I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time.” (Aghhhh!)

6. An Illinois Congresswoman (Jan Schakowsky) called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 a.m., and got to Chicago at 8:33 a.m.

I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn’t understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.

7. A New York lawmaker, (Jerrold Nadler) called and asked, “Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?” I said, “No, why do you ask?” he replied, “Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I’m overweight. I think that’s very rude!”

After putting him on hold for a minute, while I looked into it. (I was dying laughing). I came back and explained the city code for Fresno , Ca. is FAT ( Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on his luggage.

8. A Senator John Kerry aide (Lindsay Ross) called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, “Would it be cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii?”

9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman, Bobby Bright (D) from Ala who asked, “How do I know which plane to get on?” I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, “I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them.”

10. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called and said, “I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola , Florida . Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?” I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola , FL on a commuter plane. She said, “Yeah, whatever, smarty!”

11. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) called and had a question about the documents she needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded her that she needed a visa. “Oh, no I don’t. I’ve been to China many times and never had to have one of those.”

I double checked and sure enough, her stay required a visa. When I told her this she said, “Look, I’ve been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express!”

12. A New Jersey Congressman (John Adler) called to make reservations, “I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York.”

I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, “Are you sure that’s the name of the town?”

“Yes, what flights do you have?” replied the Congressman.

After some searching, I came back with, “I’m sorry, sir, I’ve looked up every airport code in the country and can’t find a Rhino anywhere.”

The man retorted, “Oh, don’t be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!”

So I scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, “You don’t mean Buffalo , do you?”

The reply? “Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.”

What’s worse; that someone would write something like this, or that I don’t really have a problem thinking it might just be true?

An Investment in Failure

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The 6/23/09 QotD:

Before the 1994 Republican takeover, Democrats had sixty years of virtually unbroken power in Congress – with substantial majorities most of the time. Can a group of smart people, studying issue after issue for years on end, with virtually unlimited resources at their command, not come up with a single policy that works? Why are they chronically incapable?

One of two things must be true. Either the Democrats are unfathomable idiots, who ignorantly pursue ever more destructive policies despite decades of contrary evidence, or they understand the consequences of their actions and relentlessly carry on anyway because they somehow benefit.

I submit to you they understand the consequences. For many it is simply a practical matter of eliciting votes from a targeted constituency at taxpayer expense; we lose a little, they gain a lot, and the politician keeps his job. But for others, the goal is more malevolent – the failure is deliberate. Don’t laugh. This method not only has its proponents, it has a name: the Cloward-Piven Strategy. It describes their agenda, tactics, and long-term strategy.

American Thinker, 9/28/08 – Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis by James Simpson

My 6/11/09 QotD:

Philosopher Bertrand Russell suggested that “Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.” And, it was Albert Einstein who explained, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So which is it — stupidity, ignorance or insanity — that explains the behavior of my fellow Americans who call for greater government involvement in our lives?

According to latest Rasmussen Reports, 30 percent of Americans believe congressmen are corrupt. Last year, Congress’ approval rating fell to 9 percent, its lowest in history. If the average American were asked his opinion of congressmen, among the more polite terms you’ll hear are thieves and crooks, liars and manipulators, hustlers and quacks. But what do the same people say when our nation faces a major problem? “Government ought to do something!” When people call for government to do something, it is as if they’ve been befallen by amnesia and forgotten just who is running government. It’s the very people whom they have labeled as thieves and crooks, liars and manipulators, hustlers and quacks.

Walter E. Williams, Americans Love Government

Now, Thomas Sowell from August of 2007:

It is not just in Iraq that the political left has an investment in failure. Domestically as well as internationally, the left has long had a vested interest in poverty and social malaise.

The old advertising slogan, “Progress is our most important product,” has never applied to the left. Whether it is successful black schools in the United States or Third World countries where millions of people have been rising out of poverty in recent years, the left has shown little interest.

Progress in general seems to hold little interest for people who call themselves “progressives.” What arouses them are denunciations of social failures and accusations of wrong-doing.

One wonders what they would do in heaven.

—

They have shown no such interest in how tens of millions of people in China and tens of millions of people in India have risen out of poverty within the past generation.

Despite whatever the left may say, or even believe, about their concern for the poor, their actual behavior shows their interest in the poor to be greatest when the poor can be used as a focus of the left’s denunciations of society.

When the poor stop being poor, they lose the attention of the left. What actions on the part of the poor, or what changes in the economy, have led to drastic reductions in poverty seldom arouse much curiosity, much less celebration.

This is not a new development in our times. Back in the 19th century, when Karl Marx presented his vision of the impoverished working class rising to attack and destroy capitalism, he was disappointed when the workers grew less revolutionary over time, as their standards of living improved.

At one point, Marx wrote to his disciples: “The working class is revolutionary or it is nothing.”

Think about that. Millions of human beings mattered to him only in so far as they could serve as cannon fodder in his jihad against the existing society.

If they refused to be pawns in his ideological game, then they were “nothing.”

Now, three quotes from my perennial “progressive” commenter Markadelphia:

Show me Nancy Pelosi calling for violence and cheering when a comment is made about lynching. I don’t doubt that she is corrupt–mostly everyone is up there–but fervent and psychotic? No. – 08/10/09

—

I have spent my entire life (41 years) studying history and have no problem admitting that, on the whole, Democrats have been more criminal and racist then Republicans. – 10/31/08

—

Correct me if I am wrong. You believe that government is corrupt and would make the health care situation worse. I too believe that government is corrupt but that’s because we elect nincompoops to office. If we elected people who were skilled and intelligent rather than someone you can have a barbeque chicken sandwhich with, then I believe government can work. – 09/08/07

We’ve established that Markadelphia (and by extension, I would hope, most on the Left) understands and admits that “mostly everyone” on Capitol Hill is corrupt, and that, “on the whole” Democrats have been more criminal than Republicans (not that that distinction matters a great deal, other than the fact that they are in complete control of the legislative and executive branches of government at the moment.)

After the 2008 election, I have to ask: Did we get rid of the “nincompoops”? Or did we just swap out a few?

And, given that “mostly everyone” on Capitol Hill is still corrupt, why on EARTH should we assume that “Cap & Trade,” “Health Care Reform,” “The Stimulus Plan,” or any other piece of massive legislation being proposed is anything OTHER than another DELIBERATE “Investment in Failure”? Another power grab by the corrupt and criminal class already seated in the halls of power?

Which is it – ignorance, stupidity, or insanity? I really want to know.

UPDATE:  Original JSKit/Echo comment thread is available here, thanks to John Hardin.

Right-Wing Hate Groups?

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One more swing at the Markadelphia piñata before I call it a night. When I posted the compilation video of Obama’s “I was for Single-Payer Universal Heath Care Before I Was Against It,” Markadelphia accused me:

As to this video, wow…what happens when you watch this? Do you immediately think of it as gospel? Or do you question how it was edited and ask yourself if it is propaganda?

But in a comment to my “Free Speech Permit” post, he linked to a story about how “Right-wing militias are on the rise.”

ORLY?

It was reported in the mainstream media, thus it must be true!

Or was it (DUM-dum-DUM!) PROPAGANDA?!?!?

The website Sweetness & Light did a little background checking on the source of that “report,” the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the author (sole author) Mark Potok, who also happens to be a Huffington Post contributor (no bias there!)

The evidence? Apparently Mr. Potok’s own fever-dreams. S&L has been keeping tabs on Mr. Potok for quite a while.

But these fever-dreams fit the template, and thus must be accurate! (Just as the angry crowds at “Town Hall” meetings are “astroturf” but the bussed-in supporters with professionally printed signs being paid $10-15/hr for their work are “grassroots.”)

No, Markadelphia, you don’t get no respect. On a daily basis you prove you don’t deserve it.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

As a recent convert from liberalism to conservatism, I must say… you all are so much more fun and entertaining! I truly wish I could have come to my senses sooner!

But now I find myself in this very strange place of conversion. I still hold some of my more liberal thoughts, but now find myself reviewing them from a firmer stance in reality. As my dear friend Kevin would probably phrase it, “You must have gotten tired of sniffing the Unicorn Farts!”

With this newfound light to the world, I also have a new view of where this illustrious country of ours is headed… and frankly it scares the crap out of me. I used to blind myself by saying, “We can make it better, we just need to try harder and come up with better solutions.” Something that I now have found out is very closely related to the Democratic motto when a plan of theirs goes wrong, “The philosophy can’t be wrong, the idea is sound… we just have to do it again, only harder!” Ah… to be free of the shackles of delusion.

— Mr. Bill, Rants and Reviews, “Where are we going, and what are we doing in this handbasket?”

I’m not solely responsible, but I may have helped create a monster.

The rest of it is worth a read, too. He’s asking questions.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

Another comment by reader “GrumpyOldFart” only this one’s all his:

Since Mark is making all these declarations about what the Republican base must obviously believe, let’s examine the actions of the Democrat base and see what they must obviously believe.

Let’s start with what they know. As always, the right will be held to a higher standard than the left, so I’ll limit myself to things that “I didn’t know _________!” on a given subject would be as absurd as saying, “I didn’t know professional wrestling was fake!”

1. They know that their party’s House Financial Services Committee Chairman, House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman, House Speaker, Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Chairman, Senate Rules Committee Chairman, are all flat-out crooks, and make very little attempt to hide it.

2. They know that one of their primary fundraising organizations is wholly owned by a multibillionaire who makes no attempt to hide the fact that he manipulates the organization, and thus Democrat Party policy, for his own purposes.

3. They know that that one of their primary “activist” organizations is under indictment for voter registration fraud in a dozen states, and that this same organization is going to be given quite a bit of authority over the census, which determines what? Oh, just unimportant things like Congressional districting, electoral votes, stuff like that.

4. They know their party’s current leader chose someone as Attorney General who declines to prosecute people caught on video engaging in blatant voter intimidation. Whether it’s because the thugs in question were his same party or his same ethnicity is immaterial, it’s quite obvious that the AG has neither the desire nor any intention of impartially enforcing the law. They also know this same leader nominated a Supreme Court Justice who demanded a case be judged on the race of those involved rather than on its merits.

5. They know that nothing the aforementioned leader says can be taken at face value. Nothing. I was for Single Payer before I was against it, the stimulus was not intended as a stimulus, you can start blaming me for the economy right now but it’s your mess, there will be no lobbyists in my administration except for almost the entirety of my cabinet, it’s time to embrace science rather than superstition even though my “science czar” is a eugenicist, everything will be discussed on C-SPAN and there will be a full debate and five full days for the American people to see the bill cos it’s all about transparency (although the Republicans will be locked out of most of the process, I’ll refuse FOIA requests, and I’ll insist that the bills are too important to actually read them before I demand your unequivocal support), we must have a full and open debate on the issues while my senior advisor unleashes union thugs on my opponents, we have to get clear of the lies, disinformation, misinformation and distraction even though I’m pressuring the CBO to fudge their figures when they disagree with me….

…I could go on, but you see the point.

6. They know that this same leader produced more deficit in six months than every other President combined in the entire history of the Republic, all while preaching fiscal responsibility.

Okay, that’s the highlights of what the Democrat base pretty much cannot help but know. And yet what quality, more than any other single factor, defines the difference between Republicans and Democrats? It is this:

When Republicans find out one of their leaders is making no real attempt to “walk the walk” (Ted Stevens is a good example) the base calls for him to be thrown out.

When Democrats find out one of their leaders is making no real attempt to “walk the walk” (Pelosi, Frank, Dodd, Murtha, Jackson, Rangel, Waters… sheesh, pick one) the base either defends him by demonizing his/her critics or says “So what?” and ignores it.

I’ll do links if you ask, but this is already very long and 5 seconds on google will provide you all you want.

What conclusions can we draw from this? There are really only two choices:
Either

a) The Democrat base fully shares the corrupt, “it’s all about my power, my perks, screw everybody who gets in the way, I don’t give a shit if it’s legal or not” mindset of the leaders they choose, or

b) The Democrat base considers ethics, honesty and the rule of law at best indifferent if not actually destructive to the process of good government.

Were there any justice in this world, that would leave a scar.

How much is it the insurance companies are paying you? Well deserved, sir! Well deserved!

Open Carry ≠ Public Panic

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Open Carry ≠ Public Panic

Long ago another blogger (I won’t link to it now, but you can search this site if you’d like) said about citizens carrying firearms:

I just…I just blink my eyes in amazement everytime this crops up – actually watching people feel the need to carry a concealed weapon in public…

If I were to take a live, armed weapon and carry it on my person, in public, it would eat away at my sanity just as if it were emitting lethal radiation. To know that I carried an instrument of sure and certain death on my person, available and ready to be pulled out and used at a moment’s notice to possibly kill…a child. A homeless person. An innocent.

Tonight I had dinner with about thirty people at a packed Golden Corral restaurant in Phoenix.

And almost every one of us was open carrying. About half of us (me included) were toting 1911s. At least another third were carrying revolvers of various types, from Single-Action Army models to modern Smith & Wessons. Then there were a smattering of the various plastic-fantastic pistols – Glocks, Springfield XDs, etc.

There was no public panic. Lots of children running about the place. (I damn near stepped on the cutest little girl – so much for my situational awareness in a crowded restaurant! She came around me like John Force at the WinterNationals, only without the blast of nitromethane exhaust to warn me.) Lots of families. No one got shot at the salad bar. No one was winged at the dessert buffet. There were no duels over the last popcorn shrimp. No wild-west shootouts over the last parking space.

No one ran screaming from the restaurant in fear. No one (to our knowledge) complained about all the armed people in the place. The police were not summoned. The FBI did not put in an appearance.

And nobody robbed the place either. (Can you imagine what an epic failure of the victim-selection process that would have been?) All in all, it was a pleasant meal with good company – all members of The Gun Counter. And me. I’m not a member, but I got an invite anyway. It was a much bigger turnout that I expected.

UPDATE – 8/16/09: INSTALANCHE!! Welcome! Please do spend a little extra time perusing the site. I recommend checking out the “Best Posts” on the left column.

<——— (Over there! Scroll down a bit.)

But get a beverage and a snack first. Some of them run a little long. I call them “Überposts.” One reader, for example, said Of Laws and Sausages was a “13,000 word wall of text, but I assure you, it’s worthwhile.”

Thanks for visiting!

Words to Live By – QotD

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Words to Live By – QotD

I got to the “public” townhall sponsored by Rep. Kathy Castor and the SEIU an hour and a half before the doors were scheduled to open. Apparently, it would not have mattered when I arrived. We stood out in the 90 plus degree weather only to be told that that the hall had been filled through a side door and no one else would be let in.

The crowd surrounded the building. We stood in front of every door and window and chanted “just say no” and “live or die”. The crowd was well behaved but really worked up. I heard several people say that there were three thousand people outside. I can’t confirm it but I certainly don’t doubt it.

—

I am upset, like everyone else that showed up, that we were locked out of what was supposed to be a public meeting. On the other hand, I am really proud of my fellow citizens. We represented every age group, every race and ethnic group. Rep. Kathy Castor made it clear that she doesn’t represent us. That is okay. Next election, we will find someone who does.

— Carol’s Closet, The Tampa Town Hall WAS NOT Open to the Public

Throw ’em ALL out.

RTWT. It’s a pretty interesting first-hand (“Primary Source”) account of the Tampa hijinx.

(h/t: Instapundit)

Where Are My Wheelbarrows Full of Cash

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Where Are My Wheelbarrows Full of Cash?

First I’m supposed to be a paid shill of the NRA and the eeeeeevil gun manufacturers, and now I’m supposed to be a paid shill of the Rethuglicans, the Big pHarma, and the Health Insurance Cabal for opposing the chOsen One’s selfless efforts to save us from our near-sighted stupidity.

I want to know, where’s my damned money?

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

AZLibertarian discusses the FedGov’s “Cash for Clunkers” program, reflecting on the experience the Arizona state government had with a similar program aimed at “alternate fuel” conversions a few years ago:

The taxpayers of Arizona bought me a third of my truck. Nice if you can get it, but the state can’t stay in business this way.

So, why is this relevant today?

Here’s why….The Cash for Clunkers program is going broke. They overstimulated. They’re having to add money to keep a program meant to last until October make it last beyond its first week.

In short, the fed.gov is doing today what the Arizona state.gov did 10 years ago. For their own reasons, they believe they’re smarter than the Invisible Hand, and it isn’t working.

Again.

— Alternative Fuel Clunkers, Twenty Miles of Bad Road

So we should obviously put them in charge of our health care.

RTWT.