Friday, end of the week. Fall is here, with a bang… 43 degrees this morning and even colder in some of the hills south of I90, and up in the Adirondacks. Leaves are changing the birds are flocking. Let’s see what else is happening.
- YetAnotherJohn gets a third place, and the boss gets an Honorable Mention in the OTB Caption Contest [1].
- Have ye heard of the new pirate movie? It be rated Arrrrr…. [2] Yeah, that was today. Why couldn’t one of the networks do a “Pirates of the Carabian ” marathon, for pity’s sake?
- Nice to see Krugman get handed his backside [3]on a plate. Of course, that happens every time he comes out into the real world, which in turn is why he so seldom does.
- You know, some purists are starting to annoy me, particularly when they get theselves tripped up by their own definitions. Libertarians, for example, who fall over their own feet talking about Democracy [4], when in fact what they’re bitching about doesn’t qualify in even the remotest sense of the word. As I told Verdon: ?
Is it naive to note that none of this stuff was ever put to a direct vote? All of it… Every damned penny, Steve, was ‘given’ us without our direct say so. And certainly, Fannie Mae in particular was an imposition from the White House.What I’m suggesting, here… is that ‘the people’ were never really given the choice in the matter. By definition, that hardly qualifies as democracy, per se’.
Oh, granted that arguably, some candidates over the years have partially campaigned on such governmental largess. But in each case, they present not an individual choice, but a package deal, a take it all or forget it situation.
I look at Obama, as an example, proposing huge tax hikes, and I wonder, if such tax hikes were given a straight up or down vote, minus the personality and all the other issues, would they pass? I doubt it.
If you’re going to use words at least have the courtesy to remain within the boundires set for them by the dictionary. I mean, Beck for example drives me nucking futz sometimes, but at least he stays within definitional lines you can predict and use as a basis for discussion. You know… welcome to words mean things, with your host Daniel Webster. You get outside those bounds and there’s nothing to discuss. It’s that (for lack of a better way of putting this) purity of meaning that helps keep my respect for Beck higher than for most people on this planet, despite some of the witheringly heated discussions he and I have had over the years.
- By the same token, then…. When a leftist starts talking about ‘faith tradition’ [5]take it as a sure sign they haven’t a clue about the meaning of either word, and they’re trying to manipulate something they don’t understand, to their own advantage by way of a false identification with it.
- Same for the word ‘Patriotism’. When Biden starts talking about your being a ‘Patriot [6]” reach for your wallet. And yes, I hear you saying Biden is no purist, but I suggest he’s pure socialist… it’s the only way he could come up with a remark like that outside of Cuba, Venezuala or the former Soviet Union, with a straight face.If I recall, Hitler said the same thing, too, but I’m not sure how far I want to pursue that line. The usual idiots will start chanting “Godwin” at the first opportunity.
- Thing is, all these things are in my view reflective of a mindset in each case. As an example, those who have problems with our support of our troops [7]… what kind of mindset do you suppose could be attached to such an individual?
- By the way, since we now have proof Charlie Rangel isn’t paying taxes [8]in spite of having written the tax laws, does that mean Joe Biden is questioning Charlie Rangel’s patriotism? Just curious.
- Memo to Stuart Taylor: So, does this [9] mean you EVER trusted the press to be fair and accurate? Oh. Yeah, I guess that WOULD be rather obvious from your past writings, huh? Took ya long enough.
- I mentioned the other day about the california Budget Veto? What do you know… the legislature backed down. [10] The slightest presure and these goons turn tail.
- Interesting post at the DC Examiner [11]this morning.
As the stock market plunged nearly 1,000 points in two days this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada was preoccupied with protecting billions of dollars worth of earmarks contained in a separate, unpublished committee report that got a one-sentence reference in a giant $612 billion defense bill. Reid engineered the 61-to-32 vote to limit debate on the bill, thus barring consideration of an amendment offered by Sen. Jim DeMint. The South Carolina Republican’s amendment would have deleted the reference to the committee report so that it would have to be considered separately. By leaving the language in the bill, the lawmakers were able to carry out one of their favorite maneuvers: Incorporating committee reports into omnibus bills so they can give billions of tax dollars to their cronies without recorded votes on specific spending measures. This is the same Harry Reid who with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to “drain the swamp” of Republican corruption if voters would return the Democrats to the majority.
But Reid’s move was not just a slap at DeMint. Under pressure from a bipartisan coalition of fiscal watchdog groups, including Porkbusters, Club for Growth, Citizens Against Government Waste, National Taxpayers Union and Taxpayers for Common Sense, President George W. Bush signed an executive order last January that directed federal agencies to ignore earmarks that only appear in committee reports. If DeMint’s proposal had passed, the earmarks in the defense bill’s committee report would have been merely suggestions – not legally binding spending instructions. No wonder Reid made sure the South Carolinian’s amendment never made it to the Senate floor.So much for the Democrat party promises of ‘draining the swamp’. All we’ve done is give power to the gators. Swamp Stompers take note.
- We got CLOBBERED with traffic when we posted the story [12] on that 20 year old brat kid of the Tennesee Democrat legislator Kernell being the one who hacked Sarah Palin’s E-mail. Based on the link totals form the other sites I’ve been wathcing of late, it appears the interest was indeed quite high. Wanna know what, though? I think what we have here, people, is the oft spoken values of the parents coming of age in the kid. I do have to wonder, though, how long it’ll be before the very same crowd who was complaining abut how Bristol Palin wasn’t under control will be making excuses for Kernell, saying’well, ya can’t control kids’…
- Did anyone notice that we’re on a stock upsiwng like we’ve not had in years? [13] So much for the gloom and doom crowd. And, so much also, for the fairness of reporting from the usual suspects. I’m willing to bet this is the first most of you have heard of this market gain. Oh… and I think I should point out it’s not just us. The whole world is involved, here. [14] London’s exchange had a day, like they’ve quite literally never seen before [15], as an example.
- So, Bubba says we shouldn’t under-estimate Palin [16]. I can’t help but wonder what precipitated that comment.
- I’ve got a question for Obama; How do you plan to deal with NORK, given that the negotiations you usually call the solution to any old thing that comes up, have worked out so well in this case? [17]
- Martin [18]: What will she say? As little as freakin’ possible, that’s what. I could be wrong, but I figure that by that time, the Raines/Obama connection will be full fruited with McCain finally getting off this kick of blaming the market and putting the blame where it belongs… on those two, and references to such matters will be off limits for the usual leftist crowd. As I keep saying, this is a failure of government, in the form of Raines and his buddy, Obama… not of the market. This bears on your comments on AIG, as well. As I’ve been saying, AIG is in trouble because the government screwed up by injecting itself into the home loan business in the first place…(Va F&F) and then by placing people like Raines and Gorelick in charge of the place…. who then turned around and caused a 10 billion dollar crisis, walking away with millions in their pockets to boot.
- As a matter of fact, I’ll tell you what; I’m now callingfor an investigation into the Democrats involved with this, who have walked off with millions of our money, and are the direct cause of this financial meltdown. Let’s get Franklin Deleno Raines up on the carpet. Get’s get Jamie Gorelick up on the carpet. Let’s get Barrack Obama up on the carpet. Let’s get them to explain away the connections we’ve been making between them and the fraud driven failure we’ve been witness to recently. Let’s question the Democrats who, when Bush and company pointed to F&F being in serious trouble, scoffed at the whole notion and said the whole thingw as overblown, and nothing but an attempt to divert attention from a failed Iraq policy… which also turned out not to be true, by the way. Let’s get the Democrats in congress and in the Senate to stop covering up their roles in all of this. [19] Let’s see if they survive those kind of questions. It’s time to bring the heat, people. Past it, rather.
- Have a great weekend.