From the Pictures Worth a Thousand Words Department

UPDATE: Whats in a Wave?

It looks like the folks in Libya didn't hear President Obama's Cairo speech; lumping our own dear leader in with despots like  King Abdullah, Hansi Mubarak, and Colonel Q-daffy. But wait... who's that turbaned fellow back row center with the big shit eatin grin? Why, its none other than the stalwart of Lebonese democracy, Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah fame. What the heck is he doing there?

Hard to Tell the Fascists Without a Scorecard
(Via RedState)

The Only Chart You Need to See Why the US is Screwed ( Courtesy of Business Daily via Maggie's Farm)



Iditarod Fever

I got the fever, Iditarod fever that is. Its time to shake off those winter blues and gear up for the start of Iditarod 2011. One week from today 62 mushers including 13 rookies and 15 women will leave Anchorage for the adventure of a lifetime.

Lance Mackey of Fairbanks is back with hopes of making it five unbelievable wins in a row, and tying the record of Rick Swenson of Two Rivers.

Race coverage will begin next Saturday but in the meantime here is a Iditarod Preview courtesy the Iditarod Trail Committee

Banana Republic

Caution: This is really loud. But I guess Anarchy always is.

Koch in a Can

A teacher unionist friend of mine forwarded the above cartoon but added that it should have read "Koch (Coke)" in a can" instead of Price Albert. Now that would be a funny twist on a liberal talking point, unfortunately I don't think there are any funny liberal cartoonists (see example above.)

According to the women that lets me live with her, I am the funniest guy I know,  so I replied to him...

Randi Weingarten and Richard Trumbka run into each other in Madison and Randi says to Richard, "Hey Rich,  Is that a Democrat Politician in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Now thats funny!

The Roots of Democracy

The other day I stole a quote from CK Chestertonin in a piece about the Egyptian brouhaha. CK once wrote “You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy, you must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.” Today Jerry Brower at Forbes expands this idea in a piece titled, Democracy: The God that Failed.

One of the tenets of classical political theory is that people get the government they want, which means they ultimately get the government they deserve. This does not just apply to democracies that are based on an explicit commitment to the “consent of the governed,” but it applies to other types of regimes as well

A monarchy, or even a dictatorship, still depends on the consent of the governed. The people can, and often have, refused to submit to an autocrat who strays too far from the zone of the people’s consent. Coups, civil wars, mass exoduses, disintegration's, and anarchies are just some of the tools that the people have used to withdraw consent from regimes to which they no longer can offer loyalty. Democracy doesn’t create a situation in which consent can be withdrawn–it simply institutionalizes the transition, creating a situation in which consent can be withdrawn without the bloodshed associated with regime change in non-democratic orders. In other words, the ballot is cheaper than the bullet.

This is why revolutions so seldom make things any better; they change governments but don’t change people. A revolution exchanges one group of rulers for another, without exchanging one group of rules for another. History is strewn with the corpses of stillborn liberal democracies starting with France in 1789, which attempted to imitate the United States experiment in self-government without supplying the spiritual, cultural and legal foundation that ensured its success.

Pity the poor disparaged French. They had all the ingredients of a successful liberal revolution right at their fingertips; they had Thomas Paine who brought along his experience in Americas revolution, they had the works of Montesquieu the philosophical backbone of the American experiment, and they had a motivated populace longing to free themselves from the tyranny of the Monarch and his snotty cake eating wife.

Yet, the whole project went off the rails because of one simple miscalculation. Instead of the triad of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (or property)  they opted for Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Now two of these things belongs with the other, but one of these things just doesn't belong. Liberty and equality can co-exist harmoniously as long as equality doesn't morph into equity. Fraternity on the other hand is problematic; and people have been loosing their heads (figuratively and literally) over being communal ever since.

But this little foo pah should have come as no surprise. Unlike America who  had the English political experience and 150 years of benign neglect to build the democratic institutions necessary to sustain a republic the French had no such experience. They were drawing on their own experiences, their own ideals,  and certainly the philosophy of that other great French thinker JJ Rousseau who wrote:

The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.  

I have no doubt that the people of the Mideast have that innate human desire to be free from tyranny but what are the experiences, ideals, and philosophies that will underpin the end result. Perhaps they will surprise us all but if the French couldn't pull it off who can?

News from Madistan

We have relatives in Madison and rumor has it that the Democratic Senators have slipped across the border into Iowa. My guess is they are hiding out at one of the casinos in Dubuque, probably playing with someone elses money.

I was wondering how long the teachers would be allowed to disrupt the little cheeseheads schooling before Governor Walker could terminate them for an illegal strike. I could use a job.

There will be a rally in support of the Governor Walker Sunday at the Capital.
I STAND WITH SCOTT WALKER RALLY

And the Nobel Prize for Hackery goes to.....

A good but annoying friend of mine who regales me with his liberal Shinola on a regular basis just to pull my chain forwarded this Paul Krugman piece recently that just proves that if there were a Nobel prize for being a HACK, Krugman would get the lifetime achievement award.

He begins, "There was a time when Republicans used to refer to themselves, proudly, as “the party of Lincoln.” But you don’t hear that line much these days. Why?"

That's one dandy Straw Man if I ever heard one, and what death defying feat of mental dexterity is Krugman going to use to knock it down? Drum roll please.......

"The main answer, presumably, lies in the G.O.P.’s decision, long ago, to seek votes from Southerners angered by the end of legal segregation."

Ta-daaaa, the Republicans all became racists in 1968. Who didn't see that one coming?

It seems that the only ones interested in racist hate are those that benefit from keeping a portion of the constituency in a state of racial hatred. They would like the useful idiots to believe that the Republicans are merely a  rag tag bunch of backward southern Klansman despite the fact  that evidence proves otherwise.

Governors - Republican 29-20-1
State Upper House Majority- Republican 27-21-1-1
State Lower House Majority- Republican 30-18-1
U.S. Senate- Democratic  51-47-2
U.S. House of Representatives Republican 242-193 

There is obviously  widespread Republican support outside the 13 States of the Confederacy. Hell, even Wisconsin has seen the light and rejected the politics of Robert LaFollette.

With the upcoiming Civil War Sesquicentennial rest assured that Krugmen et. al. will be draping Republicans in the Stars and Bars  on a regular basis.

Update: Juan Williams is sickened by the leftist racism too.

Thoughts on Egypt and Revolution.

I realize I haven’t written anything substantial for quite some time but this has been rattling around in the old melon since the start of the Egyptian kerfuffle.


When this thing so unexpected began catching everyone flatfooted I remembered a piece by GK Chesterton where he compared revolutions to the wind blowing through the trees. A child might mistakenly think that it is the tree that makes the wind but we (or most of us) know that  it is the wind that causes the tree to move.

Like the tree on a windy day what we saw on the streets of Cairo was not the revolution, but merely the outward expression of the revolution. The revolution had already taken place  before anyone, except maybe Mubarak knew it was coming. Chesterton writes, “Mobs pouring through the palaces, blood pouring down the gutters, the guillotine lifted higher than the throne, a prison in ruins, a people in arms—these things are not a revolution, but the results of the revolution.”

The Obama administration which never seems to be able to judge which way the wind is blowing was left twisting. The right, ever the realists, was sure that this could only end with a different flavor of despotism. The left media placed their bets on democracy even though an Pharaonic Thomas Jefferson was nowhere to be found. As Chesterton notes, “You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy, you must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.” There is little glimmer of that in the Arab world.

So despite everyones best guess, it wasn’t the supposedly reformed Brotherhood or the Egyptian huddled masses longing to be free; it was the military that saw the reign of an 82 year old dictator coming to the end and was not willing to pass the torch to the next generation of el Mubarak.

Mubarak, who has spent his life gauging and sometimes standing headstrong against these Arab winds recognized what was driving them this time and he tried to face it down once more. We will probably never know if the old despot really had a stroke or succumbed to lead poisoning but the militaries revolution looks like it has succeeded. Egypt went thought what looked like a hell of a blow but if history  is any indication it is probably safe to say that  the status quo came through it intact. Move along folks there is nothing more see here.

Obama Budget Cuts Visualization

Cinderella

Will bring a tear to the eye of everyone that has a Cinderella of their own. Enjoy.

Dennis Miller Speech

Dennis Miller is probably the most intellectual comic out there, who skillfully weaves often obscure but hilarious similes into his astute social observations. He once noted about Harry Reid that every time he sees the man he "expects CSI to run out and draw a chalk outline around him." This clip like a  fine wine starts out strong,  a little dry in the middle, but has a fine robust finish.

Merry Christams to All

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord come upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this king which is to come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Luke 2:1

Charlette Church "What Child is This?"

News from the Hindu Kush

The Salmon Kid landed in Afghanastan a few weeks ago and is cooling his jets at Bagram while he awaits a transfer to a FOB to train the Afghan military. He passed along the following video.

This was a favorite of mine when I was his age. Everything old is new again I suppose and this version is actually better than the original.

The Deconstruction of Obama's Progressivism

The Hoover Institution's Peter Berkowitz in a long but thorough primer on Barack Obama and the sources of his deeply ingrained modern progressivism comes to this conclusion:

One reason for the resounding rebuke delivered by the electorate to the Democratic Party and its leader last month was the immoderation and un-pragmatic character of President Obama’s progressivism. In its pursuit of a transformative agenda, it treated the public as too simpleminded or mean-spirited to adopt the correct policies for the correct reasons. It overlooked that while government is in a good position to provide equality before the law and equal opportunity, it is often a bad judge of what citizens deserve and poorly equipped to ensure equal outcomes. And in seeking to expand government’s responsibility for managing citizens’ lives, it ignored the prospects for diminishing citizens’ freedom.

The president and his fellow progressives needn’t be seen as having acted cynically. In the progressive mind — as illustrated by the president’s rhetoric on the campaign trail and conduct in office, and professors’ theories about deliberative democracy, pragmatism, and empathy — progressives are moderate and post-partisan because progressivism itself is not a flawed and incomplete perspective but rather the comprehensive perspective that has at last transcended the flawed and incomplete perspectives of the past. Progressivism’s vision of reform, progressives suppose, is vouched for by reason, by practice, and by the heart. It is equivalent for them to justice itself.

It follows that those who depart from progressivism are unreasonable, indifferent to or disdainful of how the world really works, and heartless — in a word, unjust. From the point of view of the new progressivism, compromise is form of compassion; it means offering the unreasonable, the impractical, and the heartless a seat at the table and providing them an opportunity to recognize the wisdom of progressive ways. And moderation for the new progressivism is kind of resoluteness; it signifies flexibility, patience, and persistence in pursuing progressive ends.

Confidence that one possesses the complete and final understanding of morals and politics can encourage a politician to think of himself as a transformer and redeemer rather than as a statesman. It can impel a president confronting dramatic electoral backlash to attribute opposition to his party and his programs to a fear that blinds voters to “facts and science and argument.” And it can drive him to rouse loyalists to adopt the ancient warriors’ ethic and declare, “We’re going to punish our enemies and we’re going to reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us.” One reason that progressives under pressure so readily succumb to the common temptation to deride voters who disagree with them as frightened and foolish and to portray fellow citizens as adversaries to be vanquished is that progressive assumptions about knowledge and politics make such conclusions about those who decline to follow their lead hard to escape.

Although Berkowitz delves into the influence of modern philosophers Rawls and Rorty one aspect that I think is always lacking in the explanations of the New Progressives is the influences of the early 20th Century radicals on the Progressive movement; as I have said before these ain't your granddad’s progressives.

The Socialists, Anarchists, and Syndicalist didn’t just fade away; although they all still maintain a web presence  they largely, along with the progressives, melted into the Democratic Party in the 1940s. The last gasp effort for them to stand on their own was Iowa's own Henry Wallace's run for the presidency on the Socialist Party ticket in 1948. Many of their ideas and rhetoric became a part of the progressive movement which today takes the form of anti-capitalism and anti exceptional-ism, while the term democracy no longer refers to a  form of participatory politics but instead is a means of political control.

Taken together Progressivsism  becomes a superiority complex that sees non believers as cattle to be herded and Constitutionalism as a quaint but inadequate means of social order that unltimately must be replaced.

The Berkowitz piece is a long but definitely enlightening read.

As you know posting has been pretty non-existent here for the better part of two months because the teaching program I am in prides itself on weeding out us "undesirables" by burying them in up to there neck in crap and covering their heads with honey. I am proud to say I think I survived. With only few loose ends to wrap up today I have the next couple weeks off to prepare for Christmas.

So to get you into the spirit of the season here is Clay Aiken (sorry it's the best version I could come up with) singing "Mary Did You Know." Enjoy!

From the WTF Department

THE CELL PHONE ENTITLEMENT
Via: Heritage

Welfare recipients in approximately 20 states–with more to follow– are currently eligible to receive a free cell phone with a limited number of monthly minutes. All individuals that qualify for state or federal welfare–food stamps, Medicaid, etc.–and have an income at or below 135% of the poverty level, are eligible. According to a Fox News report, the cell phone service is currently the fastest growing welfare program in the country.
In 2008, the fund that foots the bill for this program contributed $819 million to subsidize low-income telephone services. The fund is projected to grow to over $1 billion this year. That’s $1 billion of over $800 billion the United States will spend on welfare in 2010.

Brought to my attention by an alert reader deep in the heart of Texas. Thx Steve.

DON'T TELL ME WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY!
Via: Catholic Online

When U.S. President Barack Obama visits Mumbai, the most populous City in India, it will cost a whopping $200 million a day. The majority of the expenses will go towards security.

The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit," a top official of the Maharashtra Government, who had access to information about the arrangements for the high-profile visit said.

About 3,000 people, including Secret Service agents, U.S. government officials and journalists will accompany the President. Several officials from the White House and U.S. security agencies have already been in Mumbai for the past week with helicopters, a ship and high-end security instruments.

You are going to move the equivalent of a small Iowa town to India for vacation!  Perhaps you haven't heard, India is the world leader in  call centers for Gods sake, how bout you just phone it in and save us all a couple billion dollars.

Election Day 2010

We the People were mad in 2006 and in disgust handed the congress to the Democrats. By 2008 we were thoroughly pissed and doubled down on a man that claimed to be a post partisan post racialist,  promising to unite the country, heal the planet, and stop the rise of the oceans. He won with 52 percent of the vote and took office with the support of nearly 70% of the population.

Determining whether he over promised, over reached, or was in over his head is for future historians to determine. One thing is clear however, he has lost the support of 50% of the people that had placed their bets on hope and change who now feel that they were taken by some two bit televangelist. Today, We the People will put the brakes on this socialist nonsense. Where we go from here remains to be seen but rest assured this chapter of our national nightmare is not over.

Several weeks ago I watched John McCain, with a wink and a grin, like he was talking about your crazy Uncle Ed, say that these new Tea Party congressmen were going to make for some "interesting" caucuses. I once had a professor that used the term interesting whenever you said something god awful stupid. Lets face it establishment Republicans like John McCain have no respect for the Tea Party and no intention of changing their ways; their interests are too ingrained.

So unless some in the GOP have genuinely had an epiphany we will spend the next two years wallowing around in the status quo while the media, the Democrats, and the President paint the Republicans as a bunch of  mouth breathing Slurpee drinkers headed for another ditch and this time they will be right.

Flotsam and Jetsam

No I haven't died yet, just busier than a one armed shoplifter at Wal-Mart right now. I am taking a full load of classes and have two practicums in two different schools, in two different towns.

So in the interest of keeping this blog on life support a  while longer here is a little piece of optimism that you can play over and over and over....... (Via Ace)



From the Just Want to Scream Department:

Build it and they will come and it only costs a half billion bucks. The wacky bureaucrat with the capital D behind her name is the poster child for all that is wrong with the Wasteland previously known as Detroit. I love the part where her delusion (because she has a degree in urban planning making her the smartest person in the Detroit Metro Area) believes that all she has to do is  "re-educate" the masses and this boondoggle will somehow have merit. Doesn't that sound familiar?

To top it off my dear sweet mother in law in Warren can't figure out who to vote for this year. AHHHHHH!!!!!!
(Via Maggies Farm)



Meet Alaska's Joe Miller

Everything Old Is New Again

"This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves."

Ronald Reagan

Let me be the first to pee on the Democrats new logo.

Update 10/26: The best critique of the D logo so far:

Campaign-time, Team Obama knew marketing. The best visual talent crafted a campaign "look and feel" as polished as any roll out by Apple.

Remember that glorious day on the Mall in January? The new Pepsi cans were everywhere, its new logo ripping off the red, white and blue "O" sunrise glyph. For the next year, it seemed like everything coming out of a design shop mimicked the graceful font of an Obama campaign sign.
Now this. Deflated, dyspeptic. One more false dawn, promised, then snatched away. Obama used to be big. Maybe he can be so again. Maybe it's just the branding that got small. Let's hope.

Obama, like Steve Jobs, know its really pretty easy to get the herd to queue up; but once we get our shiny new gizmo home the bells and whistles never quite funtion as advertised.  In fact many of the complaints about BHO are the same gripes leveled at the IPhone.

• Poor reception.
• Inconsistent performance
• Text issues. Drops lines that are deemed patriotic or religious.
• Not good for business users.

And...
There's no replacement program!

Wouldn't you like a little hope with that change?

9/11 Nine Years Later

Another year has passed since evil descended upon America and we are no closer to resolving this conflict with Islam than we were in 2001. In fact we are probably in a worse position than we were on 9/12.

I base that on the two recent events that have again pitted Americans against the Religion of Peace. The Ground Zero Mosque controversy where this week the Imam makes the not so subtle hint that if this mosque is not built the US could "have national security issues". The second of course is the Florida pastor who feels the need to torch a few Korans. While I don’t necessarily condone his actions I support his right to voice his opinion in any manner that he sees fit.

Both cases illustrate the fact that while we are all endowed in this country with certain inalienable rights it sometimes takes more courage not to exercise them than to plow ahead at the expense of others. But more to the point however is that nine years later we have not come to grips with an ideology that has intrinsic anger management issues.

For all the dispositions one might find in any group or individual the one that has the potential be the most devastating, as we were to discover to our horror nine years ago, is one of an uncontrolled temper. Henry Drummond once wrote:

No form of vice, not worldliness, not greed of gold, not drunkenness itself, does more to unchristianize society than an evil temper. For embittering life, for breaking up communities, for destroying the most sacred relationships, for devastating homes, for withering up men and women, for taking the bloom of childhood, in short, for sheer gratuitous misery-producing power this influence stands alone…

The Muslim disposition is one that reacts to any insult, real or imagined, with a self flagellating flag burning hate fest. In the past we just shrugged at such antics. When Islamic religious leaders issued death warrants on writers, cartoonists, or Americans in general we reacted with the same indifference we might show the outbursts of a crazy uncle.

This indifference was a mistake in the past and it is a mistake that was compounded this week by the fear of upsetting an obviously ill tempered people. Kowtowing cannot change an evil disposition it only reinforces it.

We all have our moments when our temper bubbles to the surface of course but as a people the western tradition is centered on love and toleration and if we are ever to change the relationship between our two cultures, if Islam is ever to become compatable to modernity if you will, we have a moral obligation to stand up and scream "enough", just like we would scold a petulant child. This week we missed that opportunity.

Cf: Henry Drummond, "The Greatest Thing in the World"

Warriors vs The Baseball Furies