Who Would Have Ever Guessed?

If only the government(s) could build some more prisons down here ...

Roanoke College has released another of its statewide polls, this one dealing with how Virginians view the economy.

The poll finds Virginians are “relatively optimistic” about the future, but that Southwest Virginia is the gloomiest part of the state when it comes to the economy.

Occasionally some politician tells us that JOBS are his/her top priority.

Then they go back to their efforts to force contraception on the Catholic Church.

And employers go back to their efforts to relocate to China.

Food stamps.  Bring on more food stamps ...

Obama Gets His Wish

He wanted prices to skyrocket.  He wanted us using less oil.  He's gotten his wish.

Gasoline consumption in this country, as measured by retail deliveries from refineries to America's stations, has plummeted since he took office (you may want to click on the image to enlarge it):

Look close and you'll see two small dots to the lower right.  They represent the most recent data.

The takeaway?

"Deliveries in November 2011 were 30.9 MGD, a staggering 47% decline."

What does that mean?

If we stipulate that vehicles and fuel consumption are essential proxies for the U.S. economy, then we can expect a steep decline in economic activity to register in other metrics within the next few months.

Such a sharp drop would of course be "unexpected" given the positive employment data of the past few months. But as the data above shows, employment isn't tightly correlated to gasoline consumption: gasoline consumption reflects recession and growth.

In other words, look out below.

My God.

Give It Up For The Environment

Your life, that is.  As in: Give up your life when your car catches fire so as to be able to say that you supported your president in his Electric Car Folly.  (Just make sure you save the Hope & Change bumper sticker before it melts into the plastic bumper.)

Here's some biting tongue-in-cheek to that end:




Sweet.

The Wall Street Journal Has My Back

With regard to Obama's "compromise" with religious institutions on just how much he's going to subjugate them, I wrote last night:

In the rule announced by his administration a week ago "the church" would be forced to provide employees with insurance coverage that includes aborticides and contraceptives.

In Obama's revised rule those churches would be forced to provide employees with insurance coverage that includes aborticides and contraceptives.

The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial this morning, has the same take:

Under the original Health and Human Services regulation, all religious institutions except for houses of worship would be required to cover birth control, including hospitals, schools and charities. Under the new rule, which the White House stresses is "an accommodation" and not a compromise, nonprofit religious organizations won't have to directly cover birth control and can opt out. But the insurers they hire to cover their employees can't opt out. If that sounds like a distinction without a difference, odds are you're a rational person.

The faithful for whom birth control is a matter of religious conviction haven't been accommodated at all. They'll merely have to keep two sets of accounting books.

As I wrote last night, Obama approached his "accommodation" with The Church thinking the dispute was over cost as opposed to conscience (which is understandable since he has no familiarity with the prior concept).  His compromise is the end result.

Obama thought he was being clever with his misdirection.  In truth his actions were pathetic.

The Journal takes the critique a step further:

"Yesterday's new adventure in damage control and bureaucratic improvisation makes the compliance problem much worse. There is simply no precedent for the government ordering private companies to offer a product for free, even if they recoup the costs indirectly. Why not do that with all health benefits and "bend the cost curve" to zero?"

In Fantasy Land Obama can do just that.  Which is where his "it's all free!" decision resides.

ObamaCare was never a serious undertaking.  It was legislating on a whim.

The mess Obama and his crew have left us with is proof of that.

On Obama's Latest Effort To Subjugate The Church

Let me get this straight.  Barack Obama decides to force all institutions owned by religious organizations in this country to conform to his ObamaCare mandate.

When they object - on freedom of conscience grounds - he lets them off the hook.

By not forcing them to abandon that freedom and by not forcing them to conform to his ObamaCare mandate?

No.  By making their subjugation to ObamaCare free of charge.

In the rule announced by his administration a week ago "the church" would be forced to provide employees with insurance coverage that includes aborticides and contraceptives.

In Obama's revised rule those churches would be forced to provide employees with insurance coverage that includes aborticides and contraceptives.

Only this time he - magnanimous as he is with other people's money - says they don't have to pay for it.

Like it was a cost issue all the time.

Michelle Malkin has it right.  She says Obama's revision isn't a retreat.  It's a re-trick. It’s not an accommodation. It’s an abomination.

A rather pathetic one at that.

Exit question: Has anything in Obama's life - since you got to know him - given the slightest hint that the man knows the meaning of the word "conscience"?  (Hint: the word money does not enter into the definition.)

Naturally

So which religious denomination has come out in favor of Barack Obama's decision to nullify the 1st Amendment and eliminate freedom of religion?

The United Methodist Church.  Naturally.

In response to Obama's new rule requiring that America's churches abandon their moral beliefs, stifle their convictions, extinguish their consciences, and subordinate themselves to the federal government, the chief lobbyist of the United Methodist Church had this to say:

 "This is a great day for women in the United States."

May God have mercy.

All The Right Moves

It's hard not to be impressed with this:

Gov. Bob McDonnell remains among the most popular chief state executives in any state surveyed by Quinnipiac University, with a 58 - 24 percent job approval rating.

One wonders, with the country struggling but with Virginia doing spectacularly by comparison, who those 24% are.

Holdout sore losers?

Liberals Are Like Circus Clowns

It's fun to watch them jumping through hoops these days.

Hey, remember Guantanamo?  That bastion of evil that warehouses all malevolence known to humankind?

Remember how incensed the liberals in this country were - not long ago - that George W. Bush kept it open for the purpose of torturing those potential innocents who were never given a day in court?

Don't remember that?

Neither do they.  See "Poll: liberals now just fine and dandy with Guantanamo."

That would be a poll conducted by the Obama sycophants at the Washington Post, by the way.

Is that precious or what?

But it gets better.  You know that rabidly liberal editorial page editor of the New York Times?  The one who spouts the party line no matter what?  Well, you might wonder how he legitimately maintains his expressed opposition to the detention of enemy combatants at Guantanamo and, at the same time, shows support for his fellow lefties who now are just peachy with Bush's torture chamber.

By God, he does it.  Though you're not going to believe it.  From his editorial yesterday, "Hurray for Guantanamo Bay,":

"Before expressing shock and dismay, let me clear something up. Mr. Obama never really made a “decision” to keep the prison open. He failed to follow through on the announcement that he would close it, and then let himself get rolled by Congressional Republicans when members of his administration tried to keep the promise."

Obama did not not decide to close the prison.  He just made the decision to not make a decision to close it.

An explanation that was led by "let me clear something up."

Clear?

I don't know.  You'd think someone who's paid to write cogent horse shit in what once was a very influential newspaper could have come up with something weightier than that.

My. My.  How these clowns do exercise themselves in their tireless effort to keep that lipstick on Obama's pig.

Why Health Care Coverage Is So Expensive

The costs are, in part, driven up by do-gooder politicians like our own Tim Kaine who want all insurance policies to cover everything and everybody.

How does that work?

Well, it doesn't.

Welcome to the USA, where health care delivery is more expensive than anywhere else on the planet.

A look at Mr. Kaine identifies him as a big part of the problem.  As evinced by his latest attempt to have it both ways on Obama's assault on the church.  From Hotline On Call:

Here's what Kaine said in an interview taped on Tuesday with WHRV: "I think the White House made a good decision in including a mandate for contraception coverage in the Affordable Care Act insurance policy but I think they made a bad decision in not allowing a broad enough religious employer exemption. This is something that's been talked about a lot today and I have definitely expressed my grave concerns to the White House about that. I support the contraception mandate but there should be a religious employer exemption that is broader than the one they proposed."

Kaine isn't breaking with Obama on the decision to include contraception in the list of preventative services insurance companies need to cover; but he is rejecting the president's decision not to provide a broader exemption for religious organizations.

Tim Kaine, being the snake that he is, carefully crafted a cover-my-ass response to the scandalous effort on the part of the White House to compel religious institutions to submit to Obama's will and renounce their convictions.

But I think there's a bigger point.  Kaine thinks it's a swell idea that insurance companies be forced to cover contraception (with some nebulous "exemptions").  Here's a request to the mainstream press: I would appreciate it if you'd ask Mr. Kaine which medical services, tests, and pharmaceuticals he would not want ObamaCare to mandate.

Insurance is expensive - in part - because politicians have already loaded up policies with all sorts of mandates.  Mandates intended to cover everything and everybody.  The frequency of which has not slowed.

Who's going to pay for it all?  The same guy who's paying our national debt?

It sounds so good, Tim.  But the piper is going to expect to be paid at some point.

It was fun while it lasted but we have reached the end of the line.

The Media Are Biased

And the sky is blue.

It seems like just yesterday that the mainstream press couldn't get enough of the salacious Newt Gingrich "open marriage" soap opera.

But now that a book has come out on the store shelves written by a former mistress of their beloved John Kennedy detailing his own unique style of open marriage, the press ...

NBC's Curry Grills JFK Mistress: Why Have You 'Burdened' People With Truth About Kennedy?

Monica Lewinski might have something to add to this discussion about media-favored presidents being "burdened" with the truth about their extramarital affairs as well.

Very Creative

Is this cute or what?  (You may need to click on the image and enlarge it):

Nice.

News From The War-on-Terror Front

My son-in-law, Marine Lt. Colonel Michael Kasprzyk, shown here recently receiving a commendation for his contribution to the war effort, is returning home this weekend from a six-month deployment. Next month he leaves for a one-year deployment to Bahrain.

Though it seems far removed now from our daily lives, the war on terror goes on.

And, like so many hundreds of thousands of wives, my daughter makes the best of it.

Here's to both of them for offering up the sacrifices they make.

Losers Get No Respect

You're all familiar with the term "Tebowing."

Well, get used to a new one: "Bradying":




I know I should feel sorry for the guy.

Instead, I side with one of the greatest winners of all time, Babe Ruth, who reportedly said: "Let me show you how it's done... Loser!"

The Truth Hurts

All were "electable."

All went un-elected.  Or, in the case of Ford, de-elected.

Sometimes ya just gotta say it the way it is:

Santorum Urges His Supporters to Reject Another Ford, Dole or McCain

I wonder who he's talking about.

Mystery Solved

A lot of experts are at a loss to explain where those five million Americans who were once part of the federal government's monthly "unemployment rate," but who disappeared from it, but never found work, went.

I found them:

Canada population growth fastest in G8

They all went where there was some ... hope ... for the future.

Alas:

Here in Foodstamp Nation?

No hope, you dope.

This Is a Joke, Right?

We can find all kinds of things to criticize about the now-defunct Soviet Union.  But one area in which the Commies excelled was in monument building.  Man, did they know how to construct "a lasting reminder of something; an exceptional achievement."  Example: The "Motherland" monument in Kiev:

In a word, WOW.

So you're in charge of constructing a monument to honor and commemorate the life, deeds and works of a great American - Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Who would you hire to design it?  The "Motherland" architect, right?

Well, not if you're running the Eisenhower Memorial Commission. Then you'd choose the dude who designed this (a monument to a stack of empty IKEA cardboard boxes left out in the rain all winter?)

And what might you reasonably expect from this designer when he's put his thoughts - nightmares? - acid indigestion? - irritable bowel syndrome? - before you for your review?  How might he portray the victor of the European campaign against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy?  The president who faced down the Soviets in the Cold War?

This:

A Monstrosity, Not a Monument: Frank Gehry's design for the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington is an insult to all concerned.

Such the shock.

A Suggestion For Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Before showing your ignorance ...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Clinton appointee, said last week on Egyptian television that if she were drafting a constitution in the year 2012, she wouldn't look to ours. 

 ... maybe you should read it first?

Oh, Dear

What next?

White House: Birth Control Mandate ‘Virtually Identical’ to Romney’s Massachusetts Policy

I'm wanting to support Romney.  I really am.

But at every turn, I'm given powerful reasons not to.

This ...

... makes me wet my Speedos.

Romney's Problem

Well, one of his many problems (not least of which is his record as executive officer of the state of Massachusetts).

Let's face it, he's too much like Michael Dukakis.

Policy positions aside, promises aside, track record aside - and this should seem so trivial yet it isn't - the man is too stiff, too formal, too businesslike, too straight (in the classic sense), too unneighbourly.

Not to the point of being awkward or scowling in public, like that godawful John Kerry from the distant past ...

... but like that other former Massachusetts Governor who seemed to never be of a wont to let his hair down and give America a great big hug.  A guy who never connected with the American people.

In a different world, it shouldn't make any difference the fact that Romney comes across as being cool and stand-offish.  But as President loser Dukakis will tell you - in his weaker moments - it makes a whole lot of difference.

James Buchanan could get away with it.

Only because the TV cameras weren't capturing his every movement.

Today you have to be The Gipper.  Or something of a soap opera sex slinger.

Or half-black ...

Romney?  I'd gladly work for him.  But would I invite him over for beers and yucks?

It shouldn't make a difference.  But it does.

Fact Is

[Number 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives]: ‘The Fact Is You Don’t Need a Budget’

The fact is, you don't need an irresponsible Number 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives either.

I Go Right To Bra Size

Men Don't Read Online Dating Profiles

Here We Go Again

How prescient those Nobel Peace Prize awarders were:

Report: Pentagon reviewing military options on Syria, just in case

Obama, prince of peace, is about to take us to war again.

For the love of God.

Babs Is Almost Home

You're drawing ever closer to that fateful moment, Ms. Walters, when the light bulb will finally come on and you'll understand what that little lump of aborted flesh and matter really is:

Barbara Walters: It's 'Heartbreaking' to Force Women to View an Ultrasound Before an Abortion

The obvious question is why.

The answer - an honest answer - makes anyone who reaches that point pro-life.

The Left Brain vs The Right Brain

Make sense of this ditty out of Democrat Land ("Montgomery County School Board is tired of shortfall"):

Undaunted by warnings of a record real estate tax increase — and spurred by Occupy movement supporters' urgings not to cut education — the Montgomery County School Board voted Tuesday to add a pay increase and 16 positions to its budget request.

The unanimous decision increases pressure on county supervisors, who are already looking at the largest tax increase in years to pay for new school construction.

"Government is doing everything it can to shortchange public education," veteran school board member Penny Franklin said. "We've got to put our foot down."

The Montgomery County School Board votes for (considerable) (expensive) school construction, which county supervisors acquiesced to. Then the board's members complain that there's no money in their budget for new "positions" or a pay increase.  And it's all "government's" fault.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Matthew 7:16-20, King James Version

Ye shall know these fruits by the fruits they bring forth.

Virginia Moves One Step Closer

The law was goofy from the git-go.  Thus:

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Va. Senate backs bill to repeal one-gun-a-month

A law that was passed (by Democrats, ahem) and signed by a (ditto) that restricted the freedom of 8,096,604 citizens of the Commonwealth so as to inconvenience a half-dozen badass gangbangers from New York City was the foolishest idea ever to make it into the law books.

It's soon to be history.

There's hope for humankind yet.

* Okay, non-adults are included in that 8,096,604 figure, which makes it a distortion since they aren't allowed to purchase firearms anyway. But it also makes for an impressive number, so i went with it. Shoot me.
** I know made up a few words.  But it was fun.

Faith Liberty Conscience

"Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."

-- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789 --

Much has been written about Barack Obama's startling and distressing decision to have America's churches bend to his will, defy their consciences, and adhere to the dictates of his health care program.  For those who missed it, see "Obama Declares War On The Catholic Church."

What has received only scant mention, however, is the response to his assault from "the church." A response that deserves attention. Because people of faith in this country are aroused like never before.

When was the last time you heard someone make this pronouncement from the pulpit?

"We cannot – and will not – comply with this unjust law."

Defiance.  Disobedience.

From a letter that Virginia bishops Paul Loverde and Francis DiLorenzo had read to those in attendance in all Catholic churches on February 5:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

We write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be “of, by, and for the people,” has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people—the Catholic population—and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.

[snip]

In so ruling, the Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so).

We cannot – we will not – comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. We hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

Together, we are the people – more than 700,000 of us – that form our Commonwealth’s vibrant Catholic community. Standing together, we must defend our right to practice what we profess and express our concerns and convictions about religious freedom to our elected officials.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Obama to Christians: Comply or face the wrath of an all-powerful government.

The Church to Obama: "We will not comply."

Breathtaking.

The letter goes on to ask all parishioners to contact their congresspersons and voice their outrage. Do that.

In addition, vow to - on November 6 - kick Obama and his ilk out of the White House, and never let his kind gain position of authority again.

And work to make it happen.

George Washington felt that it was necessary that we as a free people protect everyone in his or her worship of the Deity according to the dictates of their consciences.  Obama, unprincipled, having no discernible conscience, and having no understanding of the ties that bind this country together, has launched an assault on all that we hold sacred.

Civil disobedience.  It's come to this.

- - -

The Wall Street Journal this morning:

"The political furor over President Obama's birth-control mandate continues to grow, even among those for whom contraception poses no moral qualms, and one needn't be a theologian to understand why. The country is being exposed to the raw political control that is the core of the Obama health-care plan, and Americans are seeing clearly for the first time how this will violate pluralism and liberty."

Obama.  ObamaCare.  Ignoring the will of the people.  They will not stand.

- - -

To my liberal friends, I pose a question.  Here in Virginia last week the Senate voted to require Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to present to mothers an ultrasound before they ended the lives of their children (an intrusive government action that I have serious problems with, no matter how noble the reasoning).  I'll bet your reaction, though not grounded in principle or conscience so much as distaste for government interference in a citizens' right to exercise her Constitutionally-protected freedom to abort, was in opposition to that government intrusion.

Yes?

Well, if you were outraged by the Senate's action, imagine how Americans with consciences feel when their government tells them they must subordinate their ethical and moral principles because the government considers it to be a swell idea that churches and related organizations have contraceptives be made available to their employees and customers.

Think it through.  It's the same thing.  Magnified.

Obama Unprincipled

There is no better example of the man being devoid of those precepts necessary to formulate and guide his decision-making (see post above - "Faith Liberty Conscience") than this:

Obama Decides To Take Super PAC Money After All
Investor's Business Daily

Reversing his earlier stance, President Obama now says he'll accept money to fund his campaign from so-called super-PACs. Does the president have any principles he won't sacrifice?

In 2008 and again in 2010, President Obama took a tough stance on outside financing of political campaigns. In 2008, he inveighed against the pernicious influence of big money in politics and pledged to fund his campaign with federal matching funds.

But when he discovered he could raise a lot more on his own, he broke that pledge, raising $750 million.

[A]s Groucho Marx once said, "These are my principles. And if you don't like them ... well, I have others." Like Groucho, Obama always has others. [link]

Principles, Obama will tell you, are important. Really important. Probably really, really important.

But, as this his most recent action clearly reveals, not as important as keeping his job.

So much for principles.

Obama: Hey, What Comes Goes

With regard to his decision to require that America's church membership cast out its conscience and subordinate itself to his government, it's comforting knowing that, since he's unprincipled, and that his decision wasn't grounded in any perceptible precept or rationale, he and it can always change on a dime:

Obama spokesman hints at concession over church health care mandate

We want it in writing.

Not that Obama will feel any obligation to be bound by that.

The definition of the word "unprincipled"?

Unprincipled Adjective: unprincipled ənˈprinsəpəld
1. Having little or no integrity
2. The title of the most comprehensive biography of the life of Barack Obama

The Land of Oz

And speaking of government jamming decisions down the throats of the American people:

Appeals court rules California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

Think what you will about homosexual marriage, that "same-sex ban" came about in a popular referendum. The people of California (that "of the People, by the People, for the People" thing) decided to amend their constitution. The radically liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that their successful effort was unconstitutional.

That's akin to spitting in the face of We the People.

I Wonder What Changed

Media Thrilled Over 8.3% Unemployment in 2012, Despondent With 5.6% in 2004

It's Just a Matter of Time

First they came for the Communists ...

According to the CDC, breads and rolls account for about 7 percent of the salt that the average American eats in a day. Next on the list: cold cuts and cured meats; pizza; fresh and processed poultry; soups; fast-food hamburgers and sandwiches and cheese.

When your government is through with you, Kroger will have a leaf/twig department and a tree bark department.

Make no mistake, you'll live to an age at which you'll be crapping in your Depends and having the nurse's aide wiping the drool off your chin.  But you'll be healthy.

It's permissible by law to see the joy in that.

The GOP's Dilemma

If Mitt Romney becomes the Republican presidential contender, how is he ever going to attack - legitimately - the only important piece of legislation that his certain opponent - Barack Obama - was able to sign into law in his four years in office?

That legislation?  ObamaCare, of course.

Romney's dilemma?  ObamaCare 1.0.

See "RomneyCare: Exploding Costs, Higher Taxes."

But ... but ... but ...

My Head Hurts

That candle of Hope still burns in the hearts of America's conservatives:

Romney gets Rick-rolled: Santorum sweeps Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado in 2/7 trifecta

I have no idea what it means Big Picture. But it's still heartening.

Why Democrats Can't Be Trusted

One of many reasons - they aren't very bright:

Former Democrat Rep. Regrets Vote for Obamacare Due to Contraceptive Coverage

Nobody told her what the word mandate meant.

For the love of God.

'You Can Lead a Horse To Water ...'

No matter how much of our money Obama throws at this thing the American consumer is not going to buy it.  The latest "green" company to learn that harsh truth:

Fisker Auto Announces Layoffs; Requests Expedited Access to Full Dept. of Energy Loan Guarantee
By Doug Powers

Fisker Automotive, which was granted a $529 million US Dept. of Energy loan guarantee and then announced they would assemble the first line of cars in Finland, has announced layoffs at a Delaware plant that has yet to produce a single car:

The company says 26 Fisker employees have been let go from the Delaware factory where renowned automotive engineer Henrik Fisker promised to one day begin producing affordable electric sedans. A Delaware newspaper also reported that subcontractors working on the car venture have been let go.

“It’s temporary,” said Roger Ormisher, a company spokesman. “We’re being prudent and sensible as a company.” [link]

"Prudent and sensible."

If that were the case the company wouldn't be depending on government welfare for survival.

But as long as Obama has his hands on our checkbook ...

Headline of the Day

Who Castrated Ann Coulter?

How Proud The Pro-Abortion Crowd Must Be

They may have wrecked a fine organization that simply wanted to help women with breast cancer.

Oh, by the way, they'll tell you they did it out of compassion for women.

And they believe it too.

In truth:

Planned Parenthood's Hostages
Wall Street Journal

The Susan G. Komen Foundation, an organization dedicated since 1982 to fighting, and one day curing, breast cancer, decided to extricate itself from the culture wars by discontinuing grants to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest provider of abortions. The grants Komen had been making amounted to $650,000 last year, funding some 19 local Planned Parenthood programs that offered manual breast exams but only referrals for mammograms performed elsewhere.

The reality is that Planned Parenthood—with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion—does little in the way of screening for breast cancer. But the organization is very much in the business of selling abortions—more than 300,000 in 2010, according to Planned Parenthood. At an average cost of $500, according to various sources including Planned Parenthood's website, that translates to about $164 million of revenue per year.

So how did Planned Parenthood and its loyal allies in politics and the media react to Komen's efforts to be neutral in the controversy over abortion?

Faced with even the tiniest depletion in the massive river of funds Planned Parenthood receives yearly, the behemoth mobilized its enormous cultural, media, financial and political apparatus to attack the Komen Foundation in the press, on TV and through social media. The organization's allies demonized the charity, attempting to depict the nation's most prominent anti-breast cancer organization as a bedfellow of religious extremists. A Facebook page was set up to "Defund the Komen Foundation." In short, Planned Parenthood took breast-cancer victims as hostages. [link]

The Komen Foundation works to save lives.

Planned Parenthood is in the business of ending them before they begin.

And the Komen Foundation is seen by the Left in this country as being - all of a sudden - evil.

Makes me happy that I'm far removed from their sick world.

Creepy

Remind me not to sit on a bar stool next to this weirdo:

Chris Matthews: Obama's Smile 'Worth Five to Ten Points' on Election Day

It's one thing to be an acolyte.  It's another to come off like an adolescent groupie.

This Matthews character is kinda odd.

Fools

People who haven't the first clue as to what they're talking (or writing) about shouldn't be showing the world their ignorance.

Case in point:

CBS News D.C. Station Slams Voter ID Bill in Va. As '"Jim Crow" Voting Legislation'
By Ken Shepherd, NewsBusters

"'Jim Crow' Voting Legislation Passes in Virginia Senate," a CBS news headline on a Washington D.C. CBS news website alarmed readers tonight.

The AP/CBSDC story, filed at 10:33 p.m. Eastern on the website for CBS Radio's new all-news station WNEW, reports on the passage of a strict voter ID law in the Virginia State Senate. As we've noted previously, the Washington Post has reported, uncritically, Virginia Democratic legislators' Jim Crow comparisons, but it appears that CBS News is taking the Washington Post's bias even further (see screen capture below page break):

Richmond, Va. (CBSDC/AP) — A controversial bill that has drawn likeness to Jim Crow-era politics in Virginia has taken another big step forward.

The legislation that will force voters to bring identification to Virginia polling places on election day won Senate passage Monday after Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling broke a 20-20 partisan deadlock.

Monday’s vote in the 40-member Senate marked what opponents felt was the last chance to stop the legislation. Opponents claim it would suppress votes of minorities, the elderly or disabled and students.

Passage into law is largely thought to be a formality at this point. [link]

If these leftists at the CBS affiliate and at the Washington Post knew the first thing about the Jim Crow era, they wouldn't write such stupid shit. Jim Crow was about government-sanctioned and endorsed racial segregation. The voter ID law is simply about legitimizing the voter rolls and has nothing - nothing - to do with race.

These morons see in Virginia's soon-to-be requirement that voters show an ID in order to vote as being akin to racial segregation? Martin Luther King would be appalled. People with any understanding of history would be appalled.

The people of the Commonwealth of Virginia are appalled.

Where do they get journalists these days - the prison system?

Dogs Are Smarter Than Human Beings

The latest news item to prove the point:

Train strikes Christiansburg woman
By Courtney Cutright, Roanoke Times

A Christiansburg woman walking her dog on railroad tracks was struck by a train Sunday evening, according to a town spokeswoman.

The incident, which happened near Railroad Street shortly before 6 p.m., is being investigated by Norfolk Southern Corp., Becky Wilburn said Sunday. The Christiansburg Rescue Squad and Christiansburg police responded.

The victim is a 38-year-old woman from Christiansburg, but officials have not released her name. She was taken to LewisGale Hospital Montgomery, but Wilburn did not know the extent of the victim's injuries.

The dog was uninjured.

The dog was uninjured because it was smart enough to get off the railroad tracks when the freaking 9000 ton train came thundering down the rails.

The human? You decide.

Right Out of the PETA Playbook

I understand the dictatorship part.

And I understand the protest part.

It's the topless thing that has me baffled.

Does protesting against tyranny bare-breasted make the protest more strident?  Or just more fun to watch.

Or more distracting?

Nice boobs.  But what are they upset about again?

The Party's Over

Some leftist Democrat, writing for Politico, makes a claim that many conservatives here in the USA will - reflexively - want to try and refute.  But I'd be careful if I were they.

Liberal Delaware Governor Jack Markell:

Ronald Reagan’s legacy of constructive bipartisanship

The Republican presidential candidates are eagerly claiming the mantle of President Ronald Reagan. But as we mark Reagan’s birthday Monday, it’s fitting to consider the accuracy of their claims.

Reagan, originally a Democrat, famously remarked that he did not leave the Democratic Party — rather, that the party left him. Similarly, the tea party platform embraced by the Republican presidential candidates leaves behind the best of what Reagan accomplished.

Reagan was, in many ways, similar to President Bill Clinton — though partisans in both parties would hesitate to admit that. Both were former governors who defied political stereotypes. Both worked with political opponents to confront the challenges facing the nation and craft bipartisan solutions. Reagan worked with a Democratic Congress to pass comprehensive immigration and tax reforms. Clinton worked with a Republican Congress to reform welfare and keep moving toward federal surpluses.

The current debate among former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others could not stand in greater contrast with this shared legacy of constructive bipartisanship. [link]

Reagan worked with liberal Democrats in a sort of constructive bipartisanship? Say it ain't so!

It's so.

Well, we'll talk about how "constructive" it was in a moment.

But the painful truth is - despite the rhetoric that came out of the Reagan White House in the 80's (and despite the invective that was hurled at The Gipper for his dastardly starving of the poor and his blind eye toward the sufferers among us ... blah ... blah ... blah) - liberalism flourished.

That "constructive bipartisanship"?  Here's the truth of the matter: Reagan wanted a robust build-up of our military (you may remember that thingie called the USSR) and the Democrat-controlled Congress wanted billions for social programs (to be heaped upon existing social programs).

Both got what they wanted.

A bipartisanship that produced this (click on the image to enlarge it):

A national debt obligation that still remains unpaid to this day.

So here's where Governor Markell gets it right, and wrong.  He's right that there came about a bipartisan working relationship between Ronald Reagan and the Democratic Congress in his day.  But it was, in fact, a constructive destructive bipartisanship.  Like at no peacetime in American history, our government began writing checks that it couldn't cash, on a scale that was unprecedented.

Today's Republicans - to their credit - in lockstep with the wishes of the American people, refuse to go down that road any longer.

The bases for negotiation (thanks in no small way to the Tea Party) have changed, Jack.  We still look for constructive bipartisanship, but on our terms.  We're going to reduce the size of government, the size of the annual deficit, and the scope of the national debt; we'll negotiate with you on how deep those cuts will be.

Reagan indeed negotiated with the Democratic Party the rate of acceleration of the expansion of the government.  He sat down with his liberal counterparts and said, "here's how much I need, how much do you need?"  And they went from there.

Reagan's day is done.  We're broke.  Beyond broke.  And the government is so massive that it is unwieldy, out of touch, and so costly that it is breaking our country's back and crushing any opportunity for American entrepreneurs to thrive in a very competitive global marketplace.

We're willing to sit down with you Democrats and discuss - in harmonious fashion or otherwise - the means by which we put that monster back in its cave.  We're not willing to keep writing checks that our children and grandchildren will be forced to cash.

Constructive bipartisanship?  We're all for it.  But here's where the discussion starts.

Super!

OK.  Here's my take on Madonna's Super Bowl halftime show:  It was the best I've ever seen.  Which isn't saying much since most football halftime shows are godawful.  But hers was superb.

That having been said, Madonna showed herself to be every bit of 53 years old.  Where once, long ago, she danced, last night she ... sorta bounced.  Or strutted.  At times she staggered.  The plain truth? Her days of raunch are over.  (At one point, I swear it looked like she was having trouble getting up off the stage floor.)

Yeah, we all get old.

But we don't all pretend to be 20 years old and ... like a virgin ... either.

Here's to her performance.  Now get thee to the nightclub before you pull something.

Not So Super

My daughter called last night to tell me how much she loved the Clint Eastwood commercial that aired during the Super Bowl.  That would be this one:

My take? I told her I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what the point was. 

Clint Eastwood: "It's halftime, America. And the second half is about to begin." 

Fine. 

But the ad was about Detroit (actually, though you'd never know it, it was about Chrysler Corporation).

Detroit? 

Detroit of all places? 

This Detroit? 

Nowhere to run: The motor city flirts with fiscal disaster.

I like a good flag-wavin' rah rah commercial as much as anyone.  (Who can forget this one from Budweiser?  Or this one?  They still bring tears to my eyes.)

No.  Even Dirty Hairy can't make a success story out of that cesspool known as Detroit.

Nice effort.  Stupid idea. 

When Environmentalists Become $5 Hookers

Always remember - it's not about the environment.

It's about power.

Which, on this planet, flows from m-o-n-e-y.

Which goes a long way toward explaining the Washington Examiner's "Dim Bulb" award:

Dim Bulb: Sierra Club

What: Accepted $26 million in donations from Chesapeake Energy to aid its anti-coal campaign.

Why it's dim: As Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds notes, "Next they'll be taking Arab money to oppose Canadian oil sands development."

Cure: How about a little honesty for starters?

The Sierra Club took $26 million from a power company? Why?

I told you why. It's all about ... power.

Environmentalists Aren't Even Serious

You read stuff like this every day and wonder who's buying the snake oil?

Professor slammed after flying 20,000 miles to Tahiti for climate change lecture

Hey, who wouldn't hold a global warming conference on the beach in sunny Tahiti?

Thing is, this soothsayer with an advanced degree will do it again tomorrow.

And get rich doing it.

And morons out there will continue buying his bullshit.

Amazing.

When it comes to environmentalists, P.T. Barnum certainly had it right.

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Obama

Newt Gingrich on the president's effort to control the freedoms of America's religious institutions:





"The fact is what you're saying is there cannot be a genuinely Catholic university, there cannot be a genuinely Catholic hospital, that in fact it will have to be subordinated to the rules of a secular government.

"You're saying basically, 'Oh, you can have the name on it, but you can't actually be a Catholic institution. You can't actually be an evangelical Christian institution. You can't actually be an orthodox Jewish institution because we the secular government are going to impose on you.'"

Frightening.

- - -
Here you have it:

Pelosi Vows to Stand With Obama Against Catholic Church; Says Decision Forcing Catholics to Act Against Faith Was ‘Very Courageous’

Obama against the church.  That sums it up.

Exit question: Name another American president - in all our history - who has been so blatantly in opposition to organized religion?

I Too Was Amused

I read the op/ed column in yesterday's Washington Post and chuckled.  And was mildly bemused.  There surely was an ulterior motive.  But darned if I could figure out what it was.

I ain't alone:

Harvard Professor Attacks Mitt Romney As "Stealth Tea Party Candidate"

She's a statist academic who's an activist member of the Democrat party. Professor Theda Skocpol takes to the pages of the Washington Post to warn America that Mitt Romney is a "stealth Tea Party candidate":

"Romney has become the stealth tea party candidate, endorsing the essence of the movement while remaining unburdened by its public label. This makes him the ideal tea party candidate for the general-election battle against President Obama."

That's right, Mitt Romney of Blue Massachusetts is secretly some fan of Mises and Hayek!

Right.

Wrong.

Romney is to the Tea Party what Obama is to the truth.

Key words on which to focus:

"Harvard professor."

"Activist member of the Democrat party."

"Romney/Tea Party."

Think this Theda character is being straight with us?

Hard Times In Local Community

If it weren't bad enough that the economies of Bluefield, Virginia and Bluefield, West Virginia (just up the road from where I live) have taken a terrible hit as the coal industry in the area has slowly eroded over the years, their other major employers have struggled for survival as well.

How bad is it?

This bad: From The Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce's website, we get this promotional publicity blurb:

Diversity of the area's economy is seen in such companies as Flower's Bakery, Bluefield Beverage and Bluefield Gear & Machine/Industrial Plating Manufacturing. Retail and services, banking and the communications industries are proof of a financially successful Bluefield economy.

What's bad about that?  Sadly, two of the three manufacturers listed as being "proof of a financially successful Bluefield economy" are - or will soon be - shuttered forever.

Bluefield Beverage.

Flowers Baking Company.

Mercer County - on the West Virginia side of the line - as of the 2010 census, has a population smaller than it did before World War II.  And, with the closures of these two manufacturers (along with the recently announced closing of its only Kroger store), it will probably, by the next census in 2020, be smaller than it was in the 1930's.

Meanwhile, the president is focused on contraceptives.

And the news media are in a frenzy over abortion.

And a lot of people in the Bluefields are looking for work.

Where no work is to be found.

Where will it all end?  Where will it end?

So Far They Suck

With great fanfare and much hope the Republican majority in both houses of the state legislature began its work a few short weeks ago.  And now?  What do they have to show for it?  What do they have to put before those of us who got them there?

Squat.

"The people who voted for Republicans thinking something would happen will be quite disappointed," said Del. Bob Marshall ..."

There are those in the Commonwealth who wear the Republican tag on their chests. Proudly, when the time is right.  And, in opportune moments, they even call themselves conservatives.

But when the rubber meets the road, they're no different from all the damn Democrats in Richmond.

So what good are they?

And what's up with Sen. Harry Blevins abstention in that critical hour?

When Scientists Become Crusaders ...

... they cross the line.

In fact, they cross a lot of lines.

See "This is blatant scientific fraud." And gain a better understanding of the mindset that drives the now-discredited global warming movement.  And a better understanding as to why its leaders felt the need to manipulate data.

The fictional Elmer Gantry, in his day, let on like he was a crusader for Christ.  He, like Dr. James Hansen, had a huge following of true-believers.  Until he was exposed for being the fraud that he was.

In the case of Hansen, because he's inflicted so much damage, the demise of his credibility - if not his lucrative gig - couldn't have come soon enough.

'Journalists' Bring Shame To Their Profession

(Actually I paused when I used the word "profession" in the title.  Because, in the case of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure controversy, most national "journalists," in reality, were seen, to their shame, professing their loyalty to the abortion industry rather than furthering the profession that brings them their riches.)

Ross Douthat, writing in the New York Times (see "The Media's Abortion Blinders") outlines the problem:

Conservative complaints about media bias are sometimes overdrawn. But on the abortion issue, the press's prejudices are often absolute, its biases blatant and its blinders impenetrable. In many newsrooms and television studios across the country, Planned Parenthood is regarded as the equivalent of, well, the Komen foundation: an apolitical, high-minded and humanitarian institution whose work no rational person — and certainly no self-respecting woman — could possibly question or oppose.

But of course millions of Americans — including, yes, millions of American women — do oppose Planned Parenthood. They oppose the 300,000-plus abortions it performs every year (making it the largest abortion provider in the country), and they oppose its tireless opposition to even modest limits on abortion.

Even if some forms of partiality are inevitable, journalists betray their calling when they simply ignore self-evident truths about a story.

Three truths, in particular, should be obvious to everyone reporting on the Komen-Planned Parenthood controversy. First, that the fight against breast cancer is unifying and completely uncontroversial, while the provision of abortion may be the most polarizing issue in the United States today. Second, that it's no more "political" to disassociate oneself from the nation’s largest abortion provider than it is to associate with it in the first place. Third, that for every American who greeted Komen's shift with "anger and outrage" (as Andrea Mitchell put it), there was probably an American who was relieved and gratified.

Indeed, that sense of relief was quantifiable: the day after the controversy broke, Komen reported that its daily donations had risen dramatically.

But of course, you wouldn't know that from most of the media coverage. After all, the people making those donations don't exist.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell, "journalist," mentioned above, in particular, from the days of the Clarence Thomas hearings two decades ago, has worn her radical feminism on her sleeve on air for all the world to witness.  And abhor.  Yet she remains.  In her circle of friends her advocacy is no doubt appreciated and admired.  But in the real world she's seen as being just another boneheaded radical feminist who brings shame to her profession.

People like Andrea Mitchell, along with all the other "journalists" who make no bones about which side of the Planned Parenthood controversy they are on, look down upon us bloggers as being a bunch of partisan, no-account boobs.  But from up here, looking down on the shit their kind call journalism, the air is mighty refined by comparison.

Obama Declares War on Christianity

Peggy Noonan: "The Catholic Church was told this week that its institutions can't be Catholic anymore."

Who told them?

Barack Obama.

Noonan:

The president signed off on a Health and Human Services ruling that says under ObamaCare Catholic Institutions—including its charities, hospitals and schools—will be required by law, for the first time ever, to provide and pay for insurance coverage that includes contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization procedures. If they do not, they will face ruinous fines in the millions of dollars. Or they can always go out of business.

I invite you to imagine the moment we are living in without the church's charities, hospitals and schools. And if you know anything about those organizations, you know it is a fantasy that they can afford millions in fines.

There was no reason to make this ruling—none. Except ideology.

The conscience clause, which keeps the church itself from having to bow to such decisions, has always been assumed to cover the church's institutions.

Now the church is fighting back. Priests in an estimated 70% of parishes last Sunday came forward to read strongly worded protests from the church's bishops. The ruling asks the church to abandon Catholic principles and beliefs; it is an abridgement of the First Amendment; it is not acceptable. They say they will not bow to it. They should never bow to it, not only because they are Catholic and cannot be told to take actions that deny their faith, but because they are citizens of the United States.

If they stay strong and fight, they will win. This is in fact a potentially unifying moment for American Catholics, long split left, right and center. Catholic conservatives will immediately and fully oppose the administration's decision. But Catholic liberals, who feel embarrassed and undercut, have also come out in opposition.

The church is split on many things. But do Catholics in the pews want the government telling their church to contravene its beliefs? A president affronting the leadership of the church, and blithely threatening its great institutions? No, they don't want that. They will unite against that.

The smallest part of this story is political. There are 77.7 million Catholics in the United States. In 2008 they made up 27% of the electorate, about 35 million people. Mr. Obama carried the Catholic vote, 54% to 45%. They helped him win.

They won't this year. And guess where a lot of Catholics live? In the battleground states.

There was no reason to pick this fight. It reflects political incompetence on a scale so great as to make Mitt Romney's gaffes a little bitty thing.

There was nothing for the president to gain, except, perhaps, the pleasure of making a great church bow to him.

Enjoy it while you can. You have awakened a sleeping giant.

The president vowed - early on - to transform this country. He's making good on that pledge by attacking it at its foundation. When the church is forced to bend to the will of the central government - when people of faith are prohibited from exercising their once-sacred freedom of worship - and freedom of conscience - Obama's effort to make us all subservient to him and his kind will be complete.

He's declared war on people of faith.

To arms!

- - -

I call your attention to The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience.  Sign the declaration.  Join the fight.  Engage the enemy.  America is in peril.

Image Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Really.

Planned Parenthood gets image boost on Komen win 

What, they're not slaughtering babies anymore?

Same abortion mill.  Same image, dude.

Someone at Politico is guilty of wishful thinking, I do believe.

It All Becomes Clear

Now I understand why the publisher of the Roanoke Times sits (or sat) on the board of Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge.

As Nancy Brinker has found out - the hard way - it's best to be on the right side of those who can pinch your head off no matter how much good you do for the less fortunate.

Exit question regarding this shameful Susan G. Komen for the Cure scandal: If Brinker's organization actually provided assistance over the years to millions of women, and Planned Parenthood can denounce her at the drop of a hat, how pro-woman is Planned Parenthood exactly?

Debbie Meade will try and tell you the nation's leading abortion provider is exactly that.  Pro-woman.

Protecting her own ass is what she's doing.

Can you blame her?

Mixed-Up Kids

It degenerates into this:

Occupy activists to protest right-to-work at Super Bowl

Marching for that "99%"?  Hardly.  Fronting for the 11.9% is more like it.

Abandoning Ship

Obama enjoys excoriating the rich.  Telling them that they "aren't doing their fair share" and will, by God, be doing more.

The rich?  They shake their heads in dismay.  And in ever-increasing numbers, leave.

Number of U.S. Expatriates Continues to Soar

It starts at a trickle. And will grow.

As California and other blue states are finding out - the hard way - you can tax the crap out of those with money, but those with money also have the means - to pack their bags and move to the Caymens.  A crushing tax on someone who ain't there no more is going to get you squat in the end.

Just ask the controller for the state of California.

Who, by the way, is John Galt?

Cooking The Books

The ability of government (our government, all governments) to provide statistical analysis - and to provide confidence in the statistical analysis provided - has taken a beating in recent years, what with the whole "global warming/"climate change" debacle having been exposed for the world to see.

But it's not just government scientists who have given up their credibility.  Government statisticians are well on their way to being exposed as being the same kind of frauds as well.

Take a look at this chart showing what the author terms "Reported and Implied Unemployment Rate and Difference."  You'll want to click on it to enlarge it:

Tyler Durden, the author, provides the details over at Zero Hedge:

Implied Unemployment Rate Rises To 11.5%, Spread To Propaganda Number Surges To 30 Year High

Sick of the BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] propaganda? Then do the following calculation with us: using BLS data, the US civilian non-institutional population was 242,269 [sic] in January, an increase of 1.7 million month over month: apply the long-term average labor force participation rate of 65.8% to this number (because as chart 2 below shows, people are not retiring as the popular propaganda goes: in fact labor participation in those aged 55 and over has been soaring as more and more old people have to work overtime, forget retiring), and you get 159.4 million: that is what the real labor force should be. The BLS reported one? 154.4 million: a tiny 5 million difference. Then add these people who the BLS is purposefully ignoring yet who most certainly are in dire need of labor and/or a job to the 12.758 million reported unemployed by the BLS and you get 17.776 million in real unemployed workers. What does this mean? That using just the BLS denominator in calculating the unemployed rate of 154.4 million, the real unemployment rate actually rose in January to 11.5%. Compare that with the BLS reported decline from 8.5% to 8.3%. It also means that the spread between the reported and implied unemployment rate just soared to a fresh 30 year high of 3.2%. And that is how with a calculator and just one minute of math, one strips away countless hours of BLS propaganda. [link]

There are those out there - Obama sycophants all - who poo poo the notion that 1.2 million Americans were  summarily dropped from the rolls of "the employable" yesterday, wanting us to believe that it didn't happen, that it was simply a correction on the part of the BLS.

So, what, that's a good thing? That's supposed to boost confidence in the numbers the government provides? Oops, sorry, we over-counted the number of employable Americans by 1,200,000 and so the real unemployment rate went down - in one day? Media Matters for America - never known to be too attached to facts - dismisses the argument saying, "as economic experts have explained, that number reflected an increase in population from 2010 Census figures and is not the result of how many people 'dropped out' of the labor force last month."

A drop in the number of employable Americans is a reflection of an increase in population? What does that even mean?

No matter how you try to dress up that pig, the Labor Department does itself no favors by making such dramatic alterations to its statistics (let alone analysis). If the government's numbers can't be trusted, the government can't be trusted. Bottom line.

- - -

* As I've stated before, by following the path set forth by the BLS, all Americans could be unemployed and the unemployment rate would be zero.  Which makes the stat less than worthless.  Look at the number of employed and decide how America is doing economically.  For that info, see "Labor force participation rate at 30-year low." And be very concerned.


- - -


On that note, the same BLS reported that we grew 243,000 jobs last month.  If the numbers are to be trusted, that's a good thing.


- - -


Questions worth asking.  Questions needing answers.

Headline Of The Day

Steyn rips Obama’s ‘Brother’s keeper’ remark: ‘His brother is back in Kenya living on $12 a year’

How Proud Arlington County Must Be

Jim Moran, racist pig

Well, That Didn't Take Long

This morning I heaped praise on Susan G. Komen for the Cure when I read that its founder vowed to never bow down to abortion provider Planned Parenthood.

This evening I have only contempt for Susan G. Komen for the Cure now that its founder has bowed down to abortion provider Planned Parenthood.

Cowards.

Sure didn't take long.

- - -

By the way, it's good to know who your enemies are, and of that which they're capable.  From today's Wall Street Journal:

"Planned Parenthood is not about to let anyone escape without exacting retribution. With the help of allies in politics, the media and other advocacy groups, this week it undertook a vicious campaign against Komen that explicitly urged corporate donors to cut off the charity if it didn't relent. Individual Komen board members have been publicly attacked, as if trying to stay neutral in abortion politics is a crime against women.

"Yesterday Komen responded by seeming to back down."

Where Liberals Fear To Tread

I think I'd fit right in here:




I'm going to take a wild guess and say this guy is not an Obama supporter.

Where In The Bible, Barry ...

... does Jesus say government should seize the earnings of one individual and hand them over to another?

Perhaps Obama was telling the truth a few years ago when he told us that he never, in all those decades, paid attention on Sunday after Sunday in Jeremiah Wright's church.

That would explain this:

Obama: Jesus would tax the rich

No.  Jesus wouldn't.

Barry, see Luke 10:30-37. And pay attention this time.

Hold Obama To His Word

The Republican nominee should play this ad in every state every day leading up to November 6:




Obama gave himself three years to fix things.

Well, time's up, pal.

The Battle Is Joined

On one side you have a charitable organization striving to save women's lives.

On the other you have an operation centered around death and destruction.

I stand with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, whose founder has vowed to never bow down to Planned Parenthood and the filth who support it.

Here's to you, Nancy Brinker.

I Never Thought I'd See The Day ...

Ann Coulter whoring herself out in order to push the election chances of her man.  This is so unbecoming:

Ann Coulter has now written an unqualified defense of Romneycare. What she doesn't appear to realize is how useful her column will be to defenders of Obamacare.

She's smarter than this.  I just don't get it.

Jim Moran's an Idiot, Part XVIII

Look, I don't ever presume to speak for Republicans.  (They have enough trouble speaking for themselves.)  Or for African-Americans.  (Though I can proudly claim to be half as black as Obama is.)

But some lowlife mind-reader of a left-wing, northern Virginia Democrat blowhard harbors no such indisposition?

As usual.

Non-Republican non-black Congressman James Moran knows - knows! - what members of both groups think.

What a guy.  I hope, when I grow up, I can be just as omniscient (or was he just drunk again?) as Jim Moran is.

How proud you people in Fairfax must be of this towering sage.

Quote of the Day

From Floyd County resident J.C. Holden on a proposed wind farm on Wills Ridge:

"If a man owns property and wants to build a wind mill on it, that's his business. As long as that wind mill’s not bothering mine, as long as it's not throwing bird guts over on my property, let him have it."

I think that's a direct quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes.  Can't seem to find it though ...

Huh

I thought Dave Albo was one of us.

Guess not.

When Gov't Tries To Influence The Marketplace

"You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig."

-- Barack Obama --

After $3,000,000,000 in government subsidies intended to put lipstick on this squealer, consumers still see it as one big, fat pig:

Chevy Volt sales fall in January to just 603

It's still extremely expensive.

It's impractical.

It's inefficient.

It's uncomfortable.

And it may be dangerous.

Bottom line?  Unless Obama - by executive order - forces consumers to buy the thing, it is going to sit and collect dust.

Three billion dollars worth of market influence. 603 sold.

All to make environmentalists feel good about themselves.

For the love of God.

She Asks. I Answer.

Journalist Jamie Stiehm, asks the question in this morning's New York Times:

What's a Republican Feminist To Do? 

I know.  Check yourself into the American Museum of Natural History, sweetheart. Researchers there are putting together an exhibit of fossil invertebrates. You as a feminist - a rare species these days - would fit right in.

Hey, It's Been Great For Her

She's ridin' high and livin' large:

First lady Michelle Obama cites 'remarkable progress' on the economy 

You eighteen million unemployed and underemployed out there?

Eat cake.

Martinsville Is In The News

It was sixty-one years ago today ...

Crime History: Martinsville Seven sent to electric chair
By Scott McCabe, Washington Examiner

On this day, Feb. 2, in 1951, in Virginia, four of seven black men sentenced to death for raping a 32-year-old white woman were executed.

The remaining three men were executed on Feb. 5.

The execution of the "Martinsville Seven" -- condemned to death by all-white, all male juries -- caused a national outcry.

The appeals of the seven men marked the first time in the United States that civil rights lawyers used statistical evidence to argue that blacks are treated unfairly by the criminal justice system.

Of the 45 men who had been executed in Virginia for the crime of rape, all of were black and all the victims were white.

The courts were unswayed. The executions remains one of the largest for a crime against a single victim in American history. [link]

We report. You decide.

Romney Says What Every Conservative Thinks

I have tremendous admiration for the work that columnist Jonah Goldberg does.  But even he is, on occasion, wrong.  This is one of those occasions.

See his "What Is Wrong With This Guy?".  In it you'll find Goldberg savaging Mitt Romney for the latter's having said yesterday, "I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich…. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling."  Goldberg was aghast, writing, "[G]reat politicians on the morning after a big win, don’t force their supporters to go around defending the candidate from the charge that he doesn’t care about the poor. They just don’t."

Well, they do if their message is the right one. A solid one. One that we as conservatives yearn to defend.

News flash: America is awash in "poor" people, Mr. Goldberg.  And awash in programs to lift them out of poverty (though it's arguable whether the intention is to lift or to simply sustain) (might there be a direct correlation between the number of poor people and the number of programs to eliminate poverty?).  The more programs the government has come up with to assist those "less fortunate" among us, the more "less fortunate" we have.  If there is a segment in society, Jonah, that doesn't have to worry about its future, it's the poor.  They're taken care of.  By us.  Cradle to grave.  To the tune of four trillion dollars in transfer payments since it was decided years ago that they needed our help.

They're now drowning in help.

It's US that needs attention, pal.

If for no other reason than the fact that there are fewer and fewer of us as each year goes by.  And because we are under assault from those who choose to help the poor with our hard-earned money.  And because of people like Jonah Goldberg who don't have the balls to stand up and say, "Enough is enough.  The poor are getting all they are going to get"

What Mitt is communicating to this tortured land is the message that we - the backbone of this country - need government off our backs and out of our wallets.  And he's right.  The middle class in this country is shrinking like never before.  And Mitt says he's going to help.

And Goldberg can't deal with it.

Pander being his order of the day.

My question is this:  Will Mitt Romney be up to the challenge?  He stirred this up.  Will he rise to the occasion, as Ronald Reagan did, make his case in unequivocal terms, and not back down in the face of withering criticism from Democrats and the media that he knows is coming?  Or will he apologize and "clarify"?

I have lingering doubts.

But it's a teachable moment.  And his is a position worth defending.  One that I am more than ready to defend.

Let the Democrats dream up new programs aimed at "helping" the poor.  As they've done for the last eighty years.  And let them defend those programs in an age when those programs are proving to be abject failures - we have four times as many poor Americans as we did when anti-poverty programs were first instituted - and when Middle America is pleading for relief.

You go, Mitt.  Take that message to the people.  Shout it from the rooftops.  We got your back.