Thursday, 20 November 2008

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We work, we toil through every day,
Seeking somehow to make our way.
We pay our taxes as we should,
To contribute to the greater good.
We honestly try to observe the rules,
Even the rules bad made by fools.
But why in the world should it ever be,
That we’re the ones required to pee?
 
As employees we must pass that test,
To bleed our bladders on request;
Proving that we’re fit to pay
Our taxes that somehow go astray.
And end up in the hands of those
With no demand to drain their hose;
No urine needed for them to collect
My drug-free funded welfare check.
 
Somehow I think there’s something missing
When only producers must prove by pi**ing.
 
Russ Vaughn

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It's not fun any more, folks. Maybe it's post election burnout, maybe it's just the fact I have a lot of other things to occupy my time and my attention right now. On the good side, my daughter is headed for the hospital in a few hours to have a baby, even if they have to induce labor or perform a C-section. On the down side, I'm physically exhausted from the amount of time I've been spending outside overseeing some repairs on the house and feeling pretty helpless, after the election, to have any impact on the world anyway.

I'm going to quit doing my daily roundups for the foreseeable future; I may or may not put up an occasional single-topic post. I may decide to decide to resume my normal routine in a few days, or maybe after The Obama moves into the White House and the new Congress is seated, or maybe not at all. Time will tell.

Fellow Dogs, I won't ignore the site entirely. I'll be checking my email and taking a look at the site at least once a day. If you have any problems with the new TypePad interface, or with anything else technical that I might be able to handle for you, don't hesitate to ask for help.

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Wednesday, 19 November 2008

The TypePad people have decided it's time to "improve" their WYSIWYG editor, whether it needed improving or not. The most likely effect you're likely to notice is text -- in particular hyperlink text -- they've automatically color coded. When I remember to I can override their changes by using MS Front Page to create HTML that looks like I want it to look but I can't promise I'll remember to do it every time I update a post.

Fellow Dogs, if you want to you can just do what you can with the "improved" editor, then if your posts don't come out looking like you wanted them to shoot me an email and I'll clean them up for you as soon as I have a minute.

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In case you missed them yesterday:

• How Obama Got Elected
• Video: How Obama Got Elected

Also worth knowing about today:

Continue reading "2008.11.19 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Tuesday, 18 November 2008

Absolutely awesome. (Hat tip fellow vet Al Shirley). This version ain't bad either.

Also worth knowing about today:

Continue reading "2008.11.18 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Monday, 17 November 2008

I haven't been covering the Detroit bailout discussion up to this point but it's time to start. Obama and Pelosi think it's a good idea, a lot of key Republicans don't. To me the situation looks pretty simple; The Big Three are in trouble because over the years they've agreed to ever more ridiculous contracts with the UAW. If they go bankrupt whoever picks up the pieces can offer the autoworkers who lose their jobs new jobs at reasonable salaries, with reasonable benefits packages.

Worth knowing about today:

Continue reading "2008.11.17 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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After the presidential election results were in, the mainstream media, apparently realizing it had gone further overboard than usual in its despicable treatment of Alaska Governor and GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, decided to cut her some slack.

In an effort to make voters forget that it had gone on an orgy of character assassination and voter manipulation through bogus "polls" and savagely inaccurate "stories," the media suddenly backed off a bit. But just a bit. We even had a mini-outbreak of positive publicity about Gov. Palin.

Americans, those who truly are Americans and usually don't work in the media, were way ahead of the non-Americans who do work in the media. Suddenly the non-Americans in the media have produced new "polls" that aren't really any more reliable than the bogus polls used before the election, but the new ones now say her popularity is rising. How incredibly surprising.

This mind you, in the wake not only of some of the most vicious personal assaults since the heyday of Stalin and Hitler's propaganda machines, but also from remorseless attacks on Palin from the incompetents - or Democrat plants - who ran John McCain's presidential campaign.

Can you believe that these Nimrods - the same people who without Palin's authorization went on a spending spree in Manhattan's priciest clothing stores and then blamed Palin for spending too much on clothes - tried to cover their own asses, after McCain fell through his, by saying she brought the campaign down?

Let's get it all out on the table shall we? The one thing the pollsters were accurately predicting before the election was an Obama landslide and the only reason he didn't get it was McCain's choice of Palin for his VP running mate. If she hadn't been on the ticket, McCain would have fared just about as well as Mondale vs. Reagan in 1984.

Meanwhile, as reporters, editors, producers and publishers suck up to political elitists in the hopes that in the next election the media won't be a non-entity - as it should have been this time - the public is responding by turning off the media in a big way.

In Connecticut, two daily newspapers that at one time were stalwarts of the region's fourth estate - The Bristol Press and the New Britain Herald - are on the auction block and slated for closing if no one will buy them. This is not an anomaly.

The Journal Register Company has hired a broker to sell newspapers it owns not just in Connecticut, but in Pennsylvania and Michigan too.

Then we have the Hartford Courant, Connecticut's largest daily newspaper which bills itself as the country's oldest in continuous publication. The Courant has shrunk physically to the point that it looks like an enlarged roll of paper towels with gag writing on it instead of news.

Even though Connecticut's population has increased along with the nation's, the Courant's daily circulation has shrunk substantially and last summer it reduced its editorial staff by 25 percent. That was on top of less obvious shrinkage in staffing and coverage that had been going on at the Courant for years.

Nationally, the New York Times is suddenly a shining example of larger papers that no longer are considered viable investments. It too has shrunk to the point that its motto, All The News That's Fit to Print should be changed to Just What Fits. The reason is the same one as the decline in readership at papers like the Courant, the Herald and the Press. The public no longer trusts the media, and with good reason.

The Times' pro-communist, pro-terrorist bias is well known. Its treasonous publications of national security matters that put our troops who are fighting the War on Terror in even greater danger has been well documented. But even on a regional level the bias is equally intense, it just covers a smaller area.

The Courant gave overwhelmingly favorable coverage to Democrats in the recent election, including imposing a virtual blackout on coverage of the GOP candidate for Congress in its own district. In fact, the absence of coverage of the GOP candidate was so blatant that a case probably could be made that the Democrat received unreported in-kind donations of free "advertising."

It bears noting here, however, that there were bright spots in the darkness of the media blackout. Dennis House from Channel 3 television did a great job of covering both sides of the Congressional election.

And Steve Collins of the Bristol Press was out front every time with his blog column. In fact, when others refused to even mention that a Republican was in the race for Congress, Collins was writing in-depth articles giving fair coverage to both sides.

It is unfortunately true though, that Collins and House were the exceptions rather than the rule.

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin is finally free of the constraints of campaign handlers who obviously didn't want her on the ticket, and the results are clear. America is seeing the real Sarah Palin and discovering why she had such high favorability ratings in her home state before the Democrats' media propaganda machine kicked into high gear.

As Palin goes about the business of building a solid foundation for whatever may transpire in four years, the Republican Party is said to be working to reestablish itself. Some factions are saying the party has to be reformed and redefined with a broad liberal agenda to make it palatable to a wider ranger of voters.

I agree with the other side that says there is nothing wrong with the core values of the party, but there sure as hell is something wrong with offering up candidates who don't live up to them, don't adhere to them when they are in office, and turn out to be something else, even though they wear the GOP label.

If this last election was lost because the GOP didn't attract enough women and minorities, then the real job ahead of us is to communicate with women and minority voters exactly what the GOP has to offer them, versus the Democrats. We also have to communicate with - or write off - Jewish voters who went for the Democrats nationally in a big way, despite McCain's claims that he would cut into that demographic.

But first and foremost the GOP has to field candidates who really are Republicans and adhere to the values of the Republican Party.

Sarah Palin is at the top of that list, as is Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. I don't expect either of them to get much of a break from the media. It has its own agenda and will follow it lemming-like right down the sewer.

Republican candidates will have to find new ways to communicate with the voters and circumvent news organizations that will never give them a fair break or anything remotely resembling competent, unbiased reporting.

If the GOP is to reemerge as a true competitor it doesn't have to redefine itself, it just has to live up to its own definition, and do a far, far better job of communicating that definition to the next generation of voters.

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Saturday, 15 November 2008

Quote of the week (Helmet tip: Gunship II):

"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions… Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the ‘new, wonderful good society’ which shall now be Rome’s, interpreted to mean ‘more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.’ Julius was always an ambitious villain, but he is only one man."

– Cicero

Also worth knowing about this weekend:

• Three more years?
• Iraqi Cabinet Approves Security Pact With U.S.
• The Audacity of Victory: How To End a War
• One Down, One To Go
• Familiar Refrain on Afghan Surge

Continue reading "2008.11.15-16 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Friday, 14 November 2008

Worth knowing about today:

• Maliki now on board with “withdrawal agreement”
• Video: The surge worked
• “The war is over and we won”

Continue reading "2008.11.14 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Thursday, 13 November 2008

Aside from being depressed about the fact this country seems to be headed straight to Hell, I have a super-pregnant daughter and a major outdoor project I'm trying to get finished before the weather gets worse. I'll continue to try to do a short roundup every day but it may be a while before my output returns to normal levels.

Worth knowing about today:

Continue reading "2008.11.13 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Worth knowing about today:

Continue reading "2008.11.12 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Russ Vaughn passes this on via email for your Veterans Day enjoyment:

Soldier

I was that which others did not want to be,

I went where others fear to go,

And did what others failed to do.

I asked nothing from those who gave nothing,

And reluctantly accepted the thought

Of eternal loneliness should I fail.

I have seen the face of terror,

Felt the stinging cold of fear,

And enjoyed the sweet taste of a moment’s fear.

I have cried, pained and hoped,

But most of all, I have lived times

Others would say were best forgotten.

At least some day, I will be able to say

That I was proud of what I was, a soldier.

George L. Skypeck, Reg™, Copyright © All rights reserved, used with permission of Mr. Skypeck

Military Historical Artist

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[Previously posted at Small Town Veteran, Bill's Bites, and on this site last year.]

Did I ever mention Dad was a vet? I should have. He didn't spend a lot of time bragging but he was proud of it. He was part of an anti-aircraft gun crew on the USS Saratoga (CV-3). That could be him with his back to the camera for all I know. Why is it always too late when we realize we should have listened more and asked more questions?

Happy Veterans Day, Daddy. I miss you.

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Continue reading "2008.11.11 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Monday, 10 November 2008

Continue reading "2008.11.10 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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• Valtrex. linked with "Buy valtrex without prescription."

Sunday, 09 November 2008

J. D. Pendry

I left the country. Do you like that tired old political cliché? I did not leave the party, the party left me. Well, I am just kidding because I only left the country to visit my Grandbabies that are a short 14 hour plane ride past Atlanta. America is my country. Unlike the Hollywood nitwits who all threaten to abandon America whenever someone other than the most unqualified and liberal candidate in the nation’s history is elected president, I will only abandon America for whatever follows this mortal life. Before, however, it was the Democrats and now it is the Republicans who have left me.

I congratulate my country for another peaceful change of leadership. It is the signature of the freest nation on earth – the freest for now. I congratulate President-elect Barack Hussein Obama. Unlike the unhinged left, there will be no personal disparagement of the President from here. It is however, open season on his wrong-headed ideas, policies and approaches to governing. The treatment of President Bush from the Democrats in Congress, liberals in general and the news media in particular has been disgraceful, period. The Office of the President of the United States and the person holding the offices deserves treatment with dignity. We do not have to like them, trust them or believe what they say, but we can challenge all of that in a dignified manner.

Read the rest:

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Saturday, 08 November 2008

Weekend must-reads:

• What price popularity?
• Victor Davis Hanson: Post-journalism
• Bill Whittle: A Flag, on a Hill

Also worth knowing about:

Continue reading "2008.11.08-09 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Friday, 07 November 2008

Your not always so friendly neighborhood webmaster has outdoor projects to try to get finished before the weather gets too mean, a new granddaughter on the way any day now, and an ongoing major case of the ass about the election in particular and the political situation in this country in general. My daily roundups my be shorter than usual for an indefinite period of time but at some point in the future I'm sure I'll end up pissed enough about something to get serious about my blogging again.

In case you missed it yesterday:

• Election Analysis: America Can Take Pride In This Historic, Inspirational Disaster

Also worth knowing about today:

Continue reading "2008.11.07 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Thursday, 06 November 2008

Break's over, Bill. Back on your head. It's time to get started documenting all the reasons it's important to take back Congress in two years and the White House in four.

Hey world, look at us! We have a black President! Ain't that cool? Never mind he's the dumbest, most anti-American piece of shit to come along since Carter, or maybe even longer than that, at least we don't look like racists any more.

To those of you who voted for The Obama: You made your bed, now lie in it. Sweet dreams.

Today's must-read:

• Election Analysis: America Can Take Pride In This Historic, Inspirational Disaster

Also worth knowing about today:

Continue reading "2008.11.06 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Tuesday, 04 November 2008

It's over. The country I grew up in no longer exists. I'm not sure who I'm most pissed at; the MSM for being in the tank for Obama from the day he was nominated, the American people for not being smart enough to see through the BS and vote for the right man anyway, or John McCain for being too much of a wuss to properly educate the public about his opponent. I may or may not quit blogging about anything but personal matters. This site will remain here but someone else may have to care more than I do right now to make it worth visiting more than every few weeks.

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I took the time to vote against Obama and Durbin a little bit ago, even knowing it won't do any good; the Crook County machine will take good care of both of them but at least maybe I helped Lawrence County still look sensible on a county-by-county map.

If you can't win honest, cheat:

Continue reading "2008.11.04 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Continue reading "So, why should I bother voting?"

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Monday, 03 November 2008

Today's must-reads:

• All Barack Obama Statements Come With an Expiration Date. All Of Them.
• Video of Obama promising coal bankruptcy
• Stanley Kurtz: What We Know About Obama
• Tell Them They Can, Senator Obama

In case you missed them yesterday:

Continue reading "2008.11.03 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Sunday, 02 November 2008

You may notice I didn't use the acronym BOHICA in the headline, I only used BOHIC.

That is because BOHICA means, Bend Over, Here It Comes Again, but none of the groups I listed above, nor those like them, have even gotten "it" in the first place! So I dropped the "Again," and I am merely pointing out that they are going to get "it," this time for the first time.

It, is defined as the massive assault on their incomes that will accompany Barack Obama's tax plan should he be elected president.

Oh, don't go giving me that Race crap again, this is his plan, not mine. Obama has said over and over again that this plan will not affect people in my income category, regardless of whether it is $250,00 or $200,000 or $150,000. Hi, I am a member of the middle class. Pleased to meet you.

So it doesn't affect me, but it sure will come as a surprise to all those pampered professional athletes earning millions each year, not to mention the effete lefties in Hollywood making millions per picture, and the drugged-out rockers, rappers, groupies and roadies that make up the music underworld.

Are you a rich celebrity who is famous for being a rich celebrity? Well BOHIC baby, you are about to get the shock of a lifetime.

When he is out on the campaign trail Sen. Obama likes to attack "the rich" as if there actually is a caste system in this country where "the rich" are born to wealth and no one else has a right to aspire to "richness." He likes to talk down to Americans as if only he and a few close friends can start at zero and make something of themselves.

Sen. Obama likes to make it appear that a only few hundred multi-national corporate CEOs will be adversely affected by his tax plan - and by God, they deserve it!

But Obama is silent on the fact that many thousands of individuals in this country are small businesses unto themselves. This includes athletes, musicians and overpaid actors and actresses who live lavish lifestyles thanks to the freedoms they enjoy as Americans. Many of them also spend much of their free time bad-mouthing the country that guarantees these freedoms.

While they are running their mouths, they also have to file as small businesses because they make so much money.

If they don't at least file as a Sole Proprietorship or reinvent themselves as a Sub S Corporation, they'll get whaled with income taxes that would take a massive chunk out of their salaries not to mention product endorsements, speaker and appearance fees.

Individuals who have formed themselves into a small business can write off far more of their incomes in that category than they ever would be allowed to if they file their tax returns as individuals. But members of all the classifications I mentioned above, and many, many others, make far above $250,000 per year.

So while the campaigning goes on and the media continues to tell the first Big Lie of the 21st Century, thousands of "rich" Americans are about to get such a jolt to their psyches that we probably won't see a good sports contest, movie, stage production or concert for a long, long time.

When and if this happens, which means when and if Obama becomes president, it will certainly be a huge shock to the affected elitists. But it shouldn't be a shock at all.

My mother told me many times when I was a child that "you are judged by the company you keep." Well, Mr. Obama keeps company with Islamo-fascists, domestic terrorists, socialists, communists and assorted fringe elements, and he has done this all his life. So it is absolutely fair and proper to judge him by his associations, and to forecast that should he become president Mr. Obama will push hard to get his tax plan through.

Then, the chickens really will come home to roost. And I don't want to hear any complaining about this either.

These people who think they will somehow be exempt from the excesses of an Obama administration should look up terms like "purges" or maybe "pogroms." With a little more research they should be able to find "Red Guard" or "Khmer Rouge," or "Pathet Lao." All good and proper role models for the first Obama administration.

Oh, the term "Useful Idiots" wouldn't hurt either. I don't care if Marx was the first to use it, or Stalin or no one, it sure fits in this case. Every time there is a communist revolution masquerading as a socialist revolution, the lemmings who blindly follow the leader into these death traps are the ones who scream the loudest when things don't pan out for them.

They are the ones who feel the stab of betrayal the most, and they also are the first to be shot. Sorry about that, it's the way it goes. Look up Che Guevara if you don't believe me. Or, should I say, Late Allies of the Late Che Guevara.

Check into the thousands murdered by Castro, or the millions by Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot. You'll see where this is going. Then look up William Ayers' ruminations on how many Americans need to be eliminated to make "The Revolution" take hold in the USA. I think the figure was 25 million. But again, don't take my word for it. You can find these figures under "Red Purges."

While we're at it, since there is about to be a massive redistribution of wealth, I'd like a car from Bruce Springsteen, and a new house from Bon Jovi. And just to show that I am looking past the immediate material wealth and have long term interests too, I'd like a retirement equal to that enjoyed by Congress - paid for by the On-Air staff, past and present, at NBC News.

I'll make up the rest of my bucket list as this pans out a bit further.

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Obama has more good news for you bitter, gun clinging, Bible toting, hard working American Coal Miners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdi4onAQBWQ (Sorry, I couldn't get the embed to work.)

Please share this with all you know who live in these 26 states. Coal provides 50 percent of the electricity in America. It directly employs 81, 278 very hard working Americans. By its nature, it supports a large portion of the United States economy. And just for the record West Virginians (the country's number 2 coal producing state), Governor Manchin, Senators Rockefeller and Byrd, and Representatives Rahall and Mollohan all endorsed the Presidential candidate that will devastate an industry and our state.

26 coal producing states, 52 Major Coal Mining Companies, 81,278 Coal Miners

1. Wyoming 2 West Virginia 3 Kentucky 4 Pennsylvania 5 Montana 6 Texas 7 Colorado 8 Indiana 9 Illinois 10 North Dakota 11 Virginia 12 New Mexico 13 Utah 14 Ohio 15 Alabama 16 Arizona 17 Mississippi 18 Louisiana 19 Tennessee 20 Maryland 21 Oklahoma 22 Alaska 23 Kansas 24 Missouri 25 Arkansas 26 Washington

***

Webmaster's addendum:

Here's the video J D couldn't get to imbed properly:

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This post will grow as the day goes on. Please don't forget to check back later for updates.

Christmas in October:

Continue reading "2008.11.02 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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Saturday, 01 November 2008

J. D. Pendry

I was searching for a quote that would help make the point that our votes on Election Day are not for a person or to be a participant in some media hyped historical achievement. Voting is also not some statement that preserves your self-proclaimed political virtue. Voting is a selfless act. Voting is something we do for our country. Voting is fulfilling our most important duty as citizens of the world’s freest nation. It is the most important thanks that we can offer to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who have sacrificed from the beginning of our Nation’s history to the present day to ensure our right to choose our leaders. Please do not take this obligation lightly.

There were simply too many historical quotes from which to choose and too little space to discuss them all. Let the voices of history say to you better than I ever could that our votes are for America and whether it will survive as the nation it started out to be and became or whether it gets on the track failed nations have followed throughout history. As Governor Palin reminded us, “America is not the problem. America is the solution.” Just some thoughts to ponder as you pull the lever that will decide the direction of the world’s most blessed nation.

A vote for freedom unlike that experienced by any nation and the idea that America, as it now stands, is the world’s last great hope:

“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” – John Winthrop, founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630

Read the rest:

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A Russ Vaughn classic in honor of the fact it looks like Mad Jack's really going down this time. Originally posted 2006.07.23.

Semper I
Semper I is an old Marine Corps term applied to those selfish careerists who place their own success ahead of their men and the wellbeing of  the Corps. Congressman John Murtha is a living example of that disgraceful term.

A bugle blows in Arlington,
Lilting notes fill still sad air,
An eagle's tears a globe fall on,
Trail an anchor with despair,
For a man we'd wish had not to die,
Brave youth among the best,
A Marine, he lived for Semper Fi,
And with Semper Fi he'll rest.

So sadly is the contrast,
Between those who talk and fight;
Fat Pols for whom their war's past,
But now can't see the light,
Accusing brave young fighting men,
Of crimes they can't defend,
Disgraceful fat old congressmen,
Who've lost the will to win.

Yes there we see the difference,
Between those who fight to win,
And a congressman with no sense,
Who's committed grievous sin;
He's turned against his Corps,
And no one knows quite why,
Except he loves himself much more:
Classic case of Semper I.

Semper Fi to all Marines everywhere from an old paratrooper who holds Murtha in as much contempt as you do.

Russ Vaughn
327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Murtha portrait courtesy of BootMurtha.com. 

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Continue reading "2008.11.01 Politics and National Defense Roundup"

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