We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time. - Vince Lombardi

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Miss him yet?

Reason has a cool thread on Obama’s new threads.  He’s apparently put a new rug in the oval office that has five quotes.  Here they are:

“The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Towards Justice,” Martin Luther King Jr.

“Government of the People, By the People, For the People,” President Abraham Lincoln

“No Problem of Human Destiny is Beyond Human Beings,” President John F. Kennedy

“The Welfare of Each of Us is Dependent Fundamentally Upon the Welfare of All of Us,” President Theodore Roosevelt

Fairly blah, as you would expect from our President.  I’m not fond of the last one.  So the question becomes: what quotes would you put in the Oval Office?  The Reason commenters are going with humor—I particularly like this one:

“That rug really tied the room together, did it not?”

Which works on so many levels, given that Obama is doing to the Constitution what Jackie Treehorn’s thugs did to the rug.  We can go with humor, but I’ll take a serious spin on my quotes.  There was a fantastic article a couple of weeks ago from the incomparable Jonah Lehrer on the corrupting effects of power.  Essentially, we tend to give power to good people.  But power tends to make them into bad people.

Mr. Keltner compares the feeling of power to brain damage, noting that people with lots of authority tend to behave like neurological patients with a damaged orbito-frontal lobe, a brain area that’s crucial for empathy and decision-making. Even the most virtuous people can be undone by the corner office.

So I would want quotes that would remind me of the dangers of power.  Things like:

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” - H. L. Mencken

“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” - P. J. O’Rourke

“A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.” - Robert A. Heinlein

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” - Thomas Jefferson

“Four-fifths of all our troubles would disappear, if we would only sit down and keep still.” - Calvin Coolidge

Actually, I would take five quotes from any of those men in lieu of what Obama chose.  Apologies to Ayn Rand, Ronald Reagan, George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine, Penn Jillette, Barry Goldwater, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

Anyway, have at it.  Funny quotes, ironic quotes, inspiring ones.  Go nuts.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Have fun.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

A couple of weeks ago, there was much hemming and hawing because China’s GDP passed Japan’s.  However, I don’t think it’s quite time to panic about the chinese menace quite yet:

A massive traffic jam in north China that stretches for dozens of miles and hit its 10-day mark on Tuesday stems from road construction in Beijing that won’t be finished until the middle of next month, an official said.

Bumper-to-bumper gridlock spanning for 60 miles with vehicles moving little more than a half-mile a day at one point has improved since this weekend, said Zhang Minghai, director of Zhangjiakou city’s Traffic Management Bureau general office.

Some drivers have been stuck in the jam for five days, China Central Television reported Tuesday. But Zhang said he wasn’t sure when the situation along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou highway would return to normal.

Wasn’t this a Doctor Who episode?  Yes, I think it was.

Of course, we can’t claim to be that superior, since we have several cities—Washington DC most notably—that are pretty much perpetual traffic jams.  But I wonder when the people who go all faint and blushing over China’s environmental policies will freak out about this.  I mean, think of all the greenhouse gases!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Just read it.  A blogger takes out Obama’s metaphor that the Democrats are trying to get the car (our economy) out of a ditch.  He extends the metaphor.

The more responsible people who aren’t necessarily affiliated with either of the “major” political parties say things like, “You guys better get the insurance, and don’t drive too fast, and take off that blindfold when you’re driving.” So the democrats and republicans beat those people with a crowbar, and throw them in the trunk of the car.

Then they take turns driving.

They drive the car wherever they feel like it. Open roads. Back roads. Highways. They drive the wrong way down one-way streets. They make left turns on red. When they bother to stop at stoplights, they pull all the way out into the cross walk, so that when you’re out running you have to run all the way out into oncoming traffic to get around the front of their car. When the “check oil” light comes on, if they notice it at all, they just laugh and say, “We don’t have to check the oil right this minute! This car’s got another good 10,000 miles in it, easy!”

When the gas gauge indicates “E,” if they notice it at all, they laugh and say, “This car’s got another good 10,000 miles in it, easy!”

Then they all get drunk for awhile.

Read the whole thing.

Monday, August 09, 2010

The GOP for his woes! Sure, Charlie. It wasn’t you know, the fact that you are a crook that has you in hot water, it was them evil republicans and their lack of support in cutting you a deal. I guess Rangel is at least smart enough to know Bush is gone, and blaming him wouldn’t fly well. So instead of blaming Bush he went for the next best thing: the GOP. Maybe he forgot that there was video to disprove his bullshit? I was fine until the evil right got me in trouble! Dang, you can’t make this stuff up.

The again, in the day and age where the Lame Stream Media is busy trying to convince us that their lame horse isn’t the first one, as even the Feds can’t lie about the effects of Obamanomics anymore, while our elite party like it was 1999, this should not come as a surprise. Heck, we even have desperate demcorats trying to rig the November elections by putting up faux Tea Party candidates to siphon votes from their oppositions. That bloodbath sure is looking like it will be fun.

My guess is Charlie is just setting up the stage so he can then still run in November, win that election because his district likes that he is a scumbag, and then hand that seat over to demcorats when he just plain resigns. After all, if he was to deal with that now, the democrats would have to worry about losing even that seat. These crooks - and by crooks I mean demcorats - do play for keeps, though. Maxine Waters, another legally challenged demcorat, was unavailable for comment. We are in great hands people. Hope & Change! I bet these elitists hate the fact they even have to put up the charade.

Friday, August 06, 2010

I knew that son-of-a-bitch wasn’t all bad:

Today [August 5] is International Beer Day ...

If you’re a fan of craft beer and microbreweries as opposed to say Bud Light or Coors, you should say a little thank you to Jimmy Carter. Carter could very well be the hero of International Beer Day.

To make a long story short, prohibition led to the dismantling of many small breweries around the nation. When prohibition was lifted, government tightly regulated the market, and small scale producers were essentially shut out of the beer market altogether. Regulations imposed at the time greatly benefited the large beer makers. In 1979, Carter deregulated the beer industry, opening the market back up to craft brewers. As the chart below illustrates, this had a really amazing effect on the beer industry:

I’ll let you click through for the graph.  I’m saving my revels for this weekend, when I’m heading down to the Land Down Under.  But if you drink a good beer this weekend, spare a thanks to Jimmy.  I mean ... at least he did something right.  Maybe Obama will have a legacy this strong ... one day.

Friday, July 23, 2010

In a general display of how the leftist elites really feel about all those taxes they love to levy on the “undeserving rich” and everyone else, we have this interesting story about the new Kerry yacht:

Sen. John Kerry, who has repeatedly voted to raise taxes while in Congress, dodged a whopping six-figure state tax bill on his new multimillion-dollar yacht by mooring her in Newport, R.I. Isabel - Kerry’s luxe, 76-foot New Zealand-built Friendship sloop with an Edwardian-style, glossy varnished teak interior, two VIP main cabins and a pilothouse fitted with a wet bar and cold wine storage - was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine.

But instead of berthing the vessel in Nantucket, where the senator summers with the missus, Teresa Heinz, Isabel’s hailing port is listed as “Newport” on her stern. Could the reason be that the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state to the south a haven - like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau - for tax-skirting luxury yacht owners? Cash-strapped Massachusetts still collects a 6.25 percent sales tax and an annual excise tax on yachts. Sources say Isabel sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million, meaning Kerry saved approximately $437,500 in sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000.

The senior senator’s chief of staff David Wade denied the old salt was berthing his boat out of state to avoid ponying up to the commonwealth.

Seriously, you don’t think this decision was done on advice from his accountants to avoid taxes? If you don’t I am also sure you think Charley Rangel is being unjustly persecuted. One set of rules for thee, another for me. But we are the party of the little guy and the people. Right..

On a lighter note, Biden is again showing us how lucky we are Obama is president.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Just the other day I was talking to a lobsterman who told me this was the worst season ever. I am sure most people - even I did originally - will jump to conclusions that he felt this way because the lobster population is low and they were having trouble getting enough lobsters to make a living. That’s not the reason however that this gentleman gave me. He felt this was the worst season ever because of exactly the opposite! There was so much lobster out there that the lobster fishermen were bringing in so much stuff that it far exceeded demand, driving the cost of lobster down to a point where it was actually hurting them despite the record setting volume. I think he was definitely right when I paid $3.99 a pound – not on sale, but as regular price- for lobsters that went as high as 2 1/2pounds. And that was my choice, because my wife I doesn’t like bigger lobsters. I could have gone for bigger ones at the same per pound cost.

So I was baffled when I saw there was talk of a proposed ban. Is this yet another brilliant government maneuver to limit who gets to fish – those that pay off the right demcorats in these states no doubt – for them, the volume of lobsters that gets taken in, thus driving up the price due to an artificial scarcity, and to drive more people towards government for their daily subsistence? What gives? Are they just artificially going to control how much is available in order to artificially control the prices, and thus the income from these jobs? Nothing will go wrong with that I bet….

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Man the freak show is getting even funnier! Looks like the house democrats are all pissed at the WH for throwing them under the bus after they carried Obama’s water. And they have good reason to complain seeing they are looking at Armageddon come November.

House Democrats are lashing out at the White House, venting long-suppressed anger over what they see as President Obama’s lukewarm efforts to help them win reelection—and accusing administration officials of undermining the party’s chances of retaining the majority in November’s midterm elections.

In recent weeks, a widespread belief has taken hold among Democratic House members that they have dutifully gone along with the White House on politically risky issues—including the stimulus plan, the health-care overhaul and climate change—without seeing much, if anything, in return. Many of them are angry that Obama has actively campaigned for Democratic Senate candidates but has done fewer events for House members.

The boiling point came Tuesday night during a closed-door meeting of House Democrats in the Capitol. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) excoriated White House press secretary Robert Gibbs‘s public comments over the weekend that the House majority was in doubt and that it would take “strong campaigns by Democrats” to avert dramatic losses.

After they sold their souls to push the Obama agenda, they are now literally being abandoned by the WH, which knows that the house donkeys are going to take the hit for the Obama agenda and the utter failure and disastrous future it represents.

Frankly I think Pelosi and these other moonbats should be thankful Obama isn’t showing up to help them. Helping get Obama’s policies enacted IS why they are going to get hammered come November. I am not sure I understand what they hope Obama can do for them short of telling Holder to turn away from rampant fraud most of them would need to make it a close race.

Pascrell and Pelosi were the only Democrats to address the meeting. But interviews with more than 10 lawmakers and senior aides, from liberal and conservative districts, made it clear that scores of House Democrats at the gathering shared Pascrell’s and Pelosi’s dissatisfaction. Most of those interviewed did not want to be quoted by name criticizing the president.

Heh, guess having a Chicago thug Prez does have its drawbacks. Piss him off and you pay the prize. Priceless.

One House Democrat compared their relationship with the White House to the 1970s Life commercials starring “Mikey,” the kid whose brothers trick him into eating the cereal. “There’s a sense that’s the White House’s attitude toward us,” the lawmaker said. “And now, Mikey ate it and he’s choking on it, and there’s no appreciation.”

At least Mikey was given a cereal that wasn’t toxic, like all the crap these democrat went to bat to pass for Obama was, in that commercial. Choke on it you bastards! The American people were given a ginat shit sandwich from Obama and you, so it is well deserved.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Either Obama was handled by some right wing warmonger or he is showing more of the stupid that is rampant in the liberal ideological system when he said that al Qaeda was a racist organization.

A senior US official suggested Mr Obama was taking a direct swipe at the ideology and motives of al-Qaeda affiliates on the continent, which US intelligence agencies say are the extremist group’s most active branches. “Al-Qaeda is a racist organisation that treats black Africans like cannon fodder and does not value human life,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Mr Obama issued the personal warning to the continent of his father’s birth days after suicide bombers killed 76 in Uganda in an attack claimed by the Somali militant group al-Shabaab, which has links to al-Qaeda.

Mr Obama said terrorist organisations “do not regard African life as valuable in and of itself”. “They see it as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains,” he told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

I say brilliant! I sure as hell hope this was a plant by right wingers to finally get this government of fools, hell bent on making al Qaeda like us, pissed at these bastards. If you look at what Obama is saying it literally comes down to “hey, we finally see al Qaeda, and organization that has a long and distinguished homicide bomber and murder record, is bad because they are killing blacks!”, and it seems to be hitting one of the three pillars of liberal ideological black listing; racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Suddenly, because they are now going of West Africans, they are bad guys. Maybe now Eric Holder will have an interest in going after them? It’s Arabs on black violence, after all. Let’s forget the feeling you get reading Obama’s words that he is almost regretful that al Qaeda is targeting people he feels would be sympathetic to their cause for now, and focus on the fact that the WH suddenly has decided these guys are real bad. Maybe we can go after them for hate crimes now? Heck, Gitmo might suddenly become a good thing too. What’s next? Islamic radicalism might even make its way back into the lexicon? You have to forgive me for seeing a conspiracy here considering the revelations.

Let’s get the WH to see that al Qaeda is also virulently homophobic and sexist, and maybe we actually will get them to have the UN send them an angry letter…

Dirkka dirkka, Mohamed Jihad!

Friday, July 09, 2010

I could spend my time asking why people are wasting my time pretending this is news or why this has not garnered the scorn it is due, but I really think we should focus on this:

JULY 9--A Mexican street clown--arrested in full face paint--was booked Wednedsday on a sexual assault charge. Pedro Artega Velazquez, 53, was juggling on a Juarez street corner when collared by cops in connection with the alleged assault of his teenage stepdaughter.

FEAR THE CLOWNS! They are all agents of destruction and chaos.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Oh man, this is classic.  This guy really wants to go shopping.

Note: See update.

LOL--"WE ARE THE TORONTO PUBLIC, WE WANT TO SHOP!” I love how he makes a complete spectacle of himself for at least 2 minutes, then tells the dude filming him, “I didn’t give my permission for you to film me.” That, and he demands, “Why are you putting people through this?!” yet at the end, he whines to the people on the street, “DON’T YOU CARE?!!!?” No you stupid hippie, they’re too busy laughing at a fossil whose freaking out because he can’t get in to buy pumps to go with his manpurse.

The fact that his clothes clearly mark him as some commie asshole (check out the Red Star shirt with a peace symbol in the center that says “Resist” on it; I can’t make out the rest of the script) just makes it that much more hilarious.  You think he’d be happy that a corporate entity was being forced to lose money by closing early during the G20 meetings, but I guess shoe shopping trumps political principle when the rubber hits the road.

The teenager at 0:45 takes the video to a different level of absurdity.

Update: The original was removed, but some kind people at YouTube are on it: Click here for the funny. Rocketboy also posted a link in the comments. 

Monday, June 28, 2010

Read em, and weep. If you can filter out the MSM attempt to make this bumbling moron appear as an intellectual, what you see here is Joe either setting the stage for the Obama administration to come out and say GWB still is holding us back so we can’t deliver on the promises we made, but lets flush another few trillions down the debt hole in a pretend attempt that will funnel the bulk of that cash to our buddies, or Joe is telling the truth by accident, and we yet again see Obama and the donkeys for the inept morons they are.

Vice President Joe Biden gave a stark assessment of the economy today, telling an audience of supporters, “there’s no possibility to restore 8 million jobs lost in the Great Recession.” Appearing at a fundraiser with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) in Milwaukee, the vice president remarked that by the time he and President Obama took office in 2008, the gross domestic product had shrunk and hundreds of thousands of jobs had been lost. “We inherited a godawful mess,” he said, adding there was “no way to regenerate $3 trillion that was lost. Not misplaced, lost.”

The only thing missing in that “inherited” quote of Joe’s is the fact that this goes straight back to the ideologues on the left forcing lending institutions to give loans to terrible people that were risks, then using Freddie & Fannie to launder those crappy loans and create CDAs that the morons on Wall Street went along and traded in despite the obvious.

Here is some reality for you: as long as these “only government can save us” morons are calling the shot, the economy will stay bad or get worse.

Last week the White House put out a Recovery and Reinvestment Act update claiming that between 2.2 million and 2.8 million jobs were either saved or created because of the stimulus as of March 2010. In signing the Recovery Act into law on Feb 17, 2009, Mr. Obama said the measure “will create or save 3-and-a-half million jobs over the next two years.”

Oh, please! The only jobs they created or saved were government jobs, as private pay shrinks while government workers make out like bandits, never the less, and the private sector contracts as the public one expands. And that 2-3 million number is a joke. At best we have 400K temporary census workers that will be out of work come November, hopefully like most of these demcorats, whom will swell the ranks of those needing to feed at the government’s teat because the collectivists are trashing and robbing blind those that create jobs. The only thing old Joe left out was some “Hope & Change”, but I guess as many of us predicted what we are getting is hope that we are left with some of our own change after these bandits rob us.

Update: Editted to add missing stuff.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Don’t know if you caught the World Cup match this morning.  Or if you care.  I get into these things when the US is in them.  If nothing else, the US winning soccer games enrages the ROW.

However, in today’s match, in which the US made a historic comeback against Slovenia, we were robbed of a goal that should have won it.  How bad was the call? So bad it made my European co-workers side with the US.  You know it’s bad when Europeans side with Americans on a soccer issue.

Yes, Allahpundit?

Verdict: I blame Obama.

Why not?