Liberal vs. Conservative

Liberal vs. Conservative

Yes, I know it is a bit hackneyed by now, but this is the best twelve minutes I have spent in at least a few days. Enjoy.

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Turkey Day!

Child stripped, photog intimidated by TSA

Child stripped, photog intimidated by TSA

From the photographer/uploader's statement:

Lets get the facts straight first. Before the video started the boy went through a metal detector and didn't set it off but was selected for a pat down. The boy was shy so the TSA couldn't complete the full pat on the young boy. The father tried several times to just hold the boys arms out for the TSA agent but i guess it didn't end up being enough for the guy. I was about 30 ft away so i couldn't hear their conversation if there was any. The enraged father pulled his son shirt off and gave it to the TSA agent to search, thats when this video begins.

******* THIS VIDEO OCCURRED AT SALT LAKE CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ON NOVEMBER 19TH AT AROUND THE TIME OF 12:00 PM **********

***Insertion of what happened after the video (full story)****

After I finished videotaping the incident I went through the check point myself. I collected my things and went over to talk to the father and son. Before I could get to them a man in a black suit who had been talking with the other TSA officials approached me. He asked to speak to me and I obliged, wondering what was to come. He then proceeded to interrogate me about why I was videotaping the "procedures of the TSA". I told him that I had never seen such practices before on a young child and decided to record it. The man being frustrated at this point demanded to know my plans with the video, of which I didn't respond. Repeatedly he asked me to delete the video, hoping his mere presence could intimidate me to obey, but I refused. By this point it became obvious that he felt TSA had done something wrong and that I caught it on tape. After the interview, I left for my gate. I called my brother who told me I should put the tape on YouTube because this had been a recent hot topic in the news.

My gate was a long way off, but about 15 minutes after arriving 2 TSA agents came and sat 15 feet or so away from me. I stood up and moved so that they were in front of me and then took a picture. A 3rd and then a 4th agent came and sat down with the others. They would occasionally glance at me and talk on their walkie-talkies. I don't know why they were there or if it was a huge coincidence but they stayed for 30-45 minutes and left just before I boarded the plan. Interesting to say the least, intimidating? Maybe a little...

What is wrong with America?

What is wrong with America?

Drew Klavan gets it, and explains it to us.

Men used to be men - What happened?

Men used to be men - What happened?

Now that we have a limp wristed metrosexual president who throws a baseball like a girl, who will stand up for the rights and dignity of women and children?

Theme Song for Obama and his Minions

Theme Song for Obama and his Minions

TSA is out of control

TSA is out of control

Election Night Party at the Rimrock

Election Night Party at the Rimrock

Some Seattle bloggers are setting up a drunken (optional) victory party at a local dive. I'm gonna try to show up, at least for a little bit, but any of the rest of you closet conservatives here in the Seattle area (is there any other kind?) who want to sit in a bar, surrounded by screens tuned to Fox News, along with some like-minded people, come on down to the Rimrock on Lake City Way Tuesday evening.

The election night party has its Facebook page here, and all the particulars are here at Sound Politics.

How the democrats sunk themselves this time

How the democrats sunk themselves this time

A particularly accurate piece of meta-transcript is on display on PJ today, written by Frank J. Fleming. Like most political humor, it is dead-on accurate:

AMERICANS: “So, the economy is pretty bad and there’s high employment. You think you can do something about that?”

DEMOCRATS AND OBAMA: “We can spend a trillion dollars we don’t have on pork and stuff.”

AMERICANS: “No … that’s not what we want. We’d really like you not to do that.”

DEMOCRATS: “You’re stupid. We’re doing it anyway.”

AMERICANS: “That’s not going to help us get jobs!”

DEMOCRATS: “Sure it will; millions of them … though they may be invisible. You’ll have to trust us they exist. And guess what else we’ll do: We’ll create a giant new government program to take over health care.”

AMERICANS: “That has nothing to do with jobs!”

DEMOCRATS: “We don’t care about that anymore. We really want a giant new health care program. We’re sure you’ll love it.”

AMERICANS: “Don’t pass that bill. You hear me? Absolutely do not pass that bill.”

DEMOCRATS: “Believe me; you’ll love it. It has … well, I don’t know what exactly is in the bill, but we’re sure it’s great.”

AMERICANS: “Listen to me: DO. NOT. PASS. THAT. BILL.”

DEMOCRATS: “You’re not the boss of me! We’re doing it anyway!”

AMERICANS: “Look what you did! Now the economy is way worse, we’re even deeper in debt, and we have a bunch of new laws we don’t want!”

DEMOCRATS: “You’re racist.”

AMERICANS: “Wha … How is that racist?”

DEMOCRATS: “Now you’re getting violent! Stop being violent and racist, you ignorant hillbillies! And remember to vote Democrat in November.”

So the Democrats sucked. But not just plain old, usual politician sucked, but epic levels of suck where it’s hard to find an analogue in human history that conveys the same level of suckitude. It was sheer incompetence plus arrogance — and those things do not complement each other well. We’re talking sucking that distorts time and space like a black hole.

It’s Godzilla-smashing-through-a-city level of suck — but a really patronizing Godzilla who says you’re just too stupid and hateful to see all the buildings he’s saved or created as he smashes everything apart. Or, to use Obama’s favorite analogy, you have a car stuck in ditch, so you call the mechanic, but the only tool he brings with him is a sledgehammer. And then he smashes your car to pieces and charges you $100,000 for his service. Finally, he calls you racist for complaining. Obama and the Democrats have been so awful, it’s hard for the human brain to even comprehend.

They suck like a black hole? Nice. And true.

Evolution

Evolution

There are a plethora of tribal arguments making the rounds these days, among them Global Warming and Darwin's theory. There are plenty more, but these two seem to be particularly susceptible to a logical attack. (Who knows - maybe Bush really DID make a deal with bin Laden) Both sides to these arguments need to ignore the other side's facts to continue in their blissful certainty. These are complicated natural systems, and neither side wants to concede that the truth is NOT available to either side.

One thing I have learned in decades of readings in science during a period of immense progress in the state of understanding is this: The more we know, the less certain we seem to be. Greater knowledge give us the power to formulate better questions. The facts we learn refuse to support either of the polarized sides. We just do not know enough. This has reached the point of parody in the global warming debate, since one side was so sure that their truth was the objective truth that they falsified so much of the data that there has really been no advance of knowledge. None of that is true in the evolution debate, where both sides act from the same set of data.

Evolution is not a sound bite. It is a complex scientific theory that has many elements. Some parts of the theory are provably true, parts are provably false. Anyone who takes a definitive position on either side of the God vs. Nature debate is practicing a religion. Anyone who claims that Darwin or his successors can use their theory to explain or describe how a living cell emerged from a puddle of slime is as committed to his Darwin religion as any holy-roller. There is no way to use that body of work to describe how a fish became a lizard which became a bird or a mouse, let alone how that mouse became Einstein. Not a clue to how that was done. Personally I do not believe a deity was involved, but religion describes the phenomenon better than any scientist can - yet.

Once we get past the child's play of the actual origin of species, we can undertake to explain the Big Bang and the origin of the Universe.

Catastrophic Global Warming

Catastrophic Global Warming

This current interglacial period is coming to an end. True to form, the warming trend ended with a spurt of heat. Now we are hanging around the peak, maybe about to go into a global temperature decline. Ocean heat has not risen since 2004. Minimum arctic ice extent hit its minimum in 2007. The southern hemisphere is at record cold this winter. The only thing in scientific dispute is whether we are about to begin a cooling towards an ice age, or will the natural warming continue. Staying the same is the least likely outcome. It is not any exaggeration to say that we can take a 2 degree warming WAY better than we could a 2 degree cooling. 5 degree cooling and civilization is dust. Small, ambitious people are riding the wave of public cash and power on this AGW fraud. They are dining out and seizing power and tax money worldwide on this situation. Just remember one thing that is absolutely true - when the warming stops, the ice age begins. And all signs are that the warming has stopped. If that trend is not reversed, pray.

Quote of the Day - H.L. Mencken

Quote of the Day - H.L.Mencken

"The desire to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it"

H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

Quote of the Day - Marcus Aurelius

Quote of the Day - Marcus Aurelius

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180)

It's a great time to be an American

It's a great time to be an American

Benjamin Franklin once said "Where you stand depends on where you sit," but, beyond your situation, your stance also depends on your preconceived notions, your experience, strength, and hope, plus your expectations of what is possible. Thus, anyone who believes that the American constitution is the best rule book for the future, needs to come to terms with the reality that the constitution is not respected anymore as the national rule book, by any of the three branches of government that it created. Clearly, people who believe that we have but three branches of government have not closely read the document itself, which places sovereign power over those branches of government squarely in the hands of We the People.

In the last two decades, two major political groups have taken a stance far from constitutional rules, the social conservatives and the democrats. For the last four years the democrats have dominated the legislature, and have used their power to move the system further away from any semblance of constitutional rule over the expansion of their power. For almost two years the democrat party has dominated the executive as well, and they have acted in a way that seems bound and determined to remove any constitutional constraints on their almost dictatorial powers. Now it appears that they have overstepped the bounds of what they can get away with. Election day looms.

Zero base thinkers make a habit of reading opinion from all sides of the political debate. I must admit that reading sources from the political left has been a difficult chore these last few years, as they immersed themselves in the practice that has been so aptly named "Bush derangement syndrome," so unhinged has been their criticism of George W. Bush and all other thinkers on the right. The leftist (or statist) commentariat has reveled in their perception that their war against Constitutional limits to government power and American Exceptionalism had been won. It appears, however, that their celebration has been premature.

The counterattack began with the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, and the feckless response to those events by the president. It reached a fury over the cynical way the democrats pushed through their Trojan Horse health care bill. Now the terms of their defeat are being negotiated in election races nation wide. Clearly, this upcoming election will only be the result of a single battle in the war for control of our nation, and there will be many battles ahead, but it is clear that democrats will emerge from the elections in a depleted condition. I try not to predict the outcome of elections, but it is a common understanding that the control of congress will revert to the republicans, and the filibuster-proof majority the democrats hold in the senate is over.

So, these days, it has become less of a chore to read leftist opinion on websites like Daily Kos and Huffington Post. They reveal a diminution of respect for their leader, Barack Obama, who has turned out to be a disappointment to a vast majority of voters. He has not delivered on his implicit and explicit promises, made during the long campaign, to his base. Guantanamo stands, war continues, health insurance premiums soar. And, to the joy of no organized group, the economy is failing under the discredited policy prescriptions of the anti-business left. All this is fueling a strong response from freedom loving voters of all stripes, and should serve to depress turnout of many "Donkey" voters.

But the election is two and a half months away, so their can be no joy in the result yet. One can take joy today, however, in the disarray in the world of democrat opinion. For instance, Arianna Huffington writes,

"I get that the progressives, and the activists, and the young people who voted for the first time, and the disillusioned voters who returned to the polls in '08, feel slighted by the president. You thought you had a special connection with him, but it turns out he'd rather hang out with Larry Summers, flirt with Olympia Snowe, or play war games late into the night with David Petraeus. Face it: he just isn't that into you."

And the vitriol directed at president Obama can be found all over Daily Kos and other leftist, statist, and socialist sites has become entertaining, as the democrats engage in their cannibalistic practices. It seems as if no actual politician (with an actual chance to be elected) will ever be extreme enough for them.

As the sun sets on this latest attempt to seize power in the United States of America, it is a great time for us citizens. The democrats have been revealed as the party of the entrenched single interest power centers, and the super-rich. I do not advocate the republican party as the answer to the diminution of the constitution as the rule book of the American government. It is, however, the repository of the resistance to the Obamist movement, that is the horse the electorate has to ride at this time, if we are to move the government back, closer to the constitutional ideal. And they are riding it to victory in this latest effort to restore the rule of law to our republic.

The Essence of the Ground Zero Debate

The Essence of the Ground Zero Debate

Misguided individuals have sided with a group that desires to erect a monument to the destruction of the great symbol of Western Freedom, the World Trade Center. I say that they are misguided because they show their fundamental misunderstanding of what the enemy is all about. To review:

In Islam, the world is divided into two parts, Dar al Islam, or World of Submission, where everybody is either Muslim or pays the Jizya and accepts second class status, and the Dar al Harb, or World of War, with which the entire Islamic establishment is dedicated to take over by any means necessary. In a war, you have to pick sides. To stand above the fray puts you in the camp of the enemy.

Give us you tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The operative word is FREE. If you want to take over, and convert everybody at the point of the sword, stay home. If home sucks, rot there, do not come here to spread your idea of religion and government as one governing unit. Now THAT is un-American.

Quote of the Day - P. J. O'Rourke

Quote of the Day - P. J. O'Rourke

"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things bought and sold are legislators."

P. J. O'Rourke (born 1947)

Sarah Palin's main obstacle is from republicans

Sarah Palin's main obstacle is from republicans

There is a lot of opinion on the right that takes Sarah Palin lightly, even making fun of her. While a lot of this might be due to misogyny (after all, there must be a reason we have never had a female president) the rest of the criticism is, to me, eerily reminiscent of the early reaction to Ronald Reagan's candidacy.

Those of us old enough to have voted for Reagan remember how the left and the media, and even some in the republican establishment ridiculed him. An ACTOR fer crissakes! Many grass roots republicans were unsure of him also, but once he was nominated the jibes and caricature melted in the face of his down home common sense and the fact that we all knew that he was a lot like us. He was nothing like any politician we had ever seen before. Then he demolished Carter in the debates, and it was all downhill racing from there.

So go on republicans, keep equivocating about Sarah - it will only make her stronger. She may have a ways to go to be able to challenge the empty suit for the White House, but like Reagan, her biggest battle will be against the old men of the republican party - after three and a half years of bald-faced statist rule, America will welcome her far easier - and sooner - than the old guard of the republican party. They have power to protect, and Sarah is not a part of the old boy's power structure on the right. But in the end, politics is all about winning, and winning is all about turnout, and turnout is all about excitement. No doubt Sarah engenders excitement - from both sides.

A Poem

A Poem

I do not like this Uncle Sam
I do not like this gulf oil scam.
I do not like these dirty crooks,
how they all lie and cook the books.
I do not like when Congress steals
I do not like their secret deals.
I do not like this speaker Nan,
I do not like this 'YES WE CAN.'
I do not like their smug replies
when I complain about their lies.
I do not like this kind of hope.
I do not like it nope nope nope!

With apologies to Dr. Seuss, and thanks to whoever actually wrote this bon mot.

Democrats hope Obama 2008 model will help stem midterm losses

Obama screwed white voters, now he reaps the whirlwind

So, we elected the first black president. Next thing you know, we required him to live up to some (small) portion of the promises he made to us. He failed.

I have posted several times before the election that Obama has better be a decent president, or his election would be a harbinger of deteriorating relations between the races. That prediction is about to come true - in spades. As the Washington Post is beginning to realize.

Cuban Missile Crisis and Gaza

Cuban Missile Crisis and Gaza

It is interesting to compare the reaction of democrats to memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis to their reaction to the Gaza blockade. While the Left uses Israel's actions to further demonize the Jews, one wonders if there is a substantive difference between the blockade JFK placed on ships going into Cuba in 1962 and Israel's blockade on ships going into Gaza today. In both cases the ships are suspected of carrying weapons. In both cases international law supports the right of states to protect themselves this way. Yet Israel attracts the ire of democrats in a way that JFK never has.

Does it have something to do with the fact that Americans of Cuban descent, who vote in American elections, approve of the isolation of the regime of the Castro brothers? Is there a chance that, if American Jews would withhold their votes for democrats who refuse to support Israel, the democrats might change their tune?