Trip to Amarillo ... cold got MUCH worse ... then The Boy comes home, holiday parties .... C Eve, C Day .... FFL playoffs ...and job  apps.  I've been busy and not feeling like writing.  As always on my trips I DO keep a notepad handy and scribble ideas for posts which may someday actually get worked into something.  But for now ...

Greg Gutfeld wrote a nice little Christmas post over at Big Hollywood.  In essence, after ranting about the ineffectual, wasteful Copenhagen Climatshapin' Hopenchangin' he wondered what the US could give the world as a gift. 

"

I think the world has forgotten that the biggest gift to this planet is America’s industry – and it’s time to remind them where they would be without it.

1. Whenever a horrible disaster hits, they would be dead. Be it an earthquake, a tsunami or a Madonna tour – we’re usually the first and biggest responders – saving the injured, and helping to rebuild. It is because of our tremendous capability to mobilize quickly that makes us a nation of superheroes. It also takes planes, trucks and tractors to do that stuff. Imagine that carbon footprint.

2. If they ever get sick, they would be dead. It’s true. While critical cretins like Chavez and Mugabe actually harm their own people, we save millions of strangers’ lives. Even that bozo called Bono admits it was George Bush who helped prevent the death of millions of Africans from AIDS. Yeah – I know what our critics will say: it’s easy for America to do this stuff. Well, it’s even easier not to do it.

3. If their family is hungry, they would be dead. Let’s not forget Norman Borlaug, who invented disease resistant wheat, saving hundreds of millions of lives in India and Pakistan. You can only do that if you’re of an industrial mind – thinking about people, not polar bears.

4. If they’re under the thumb of fascism, they would be dead. We possess the greatest military technology in the world, and we’ve used it to end horrible wars. Our industry of annihilation gave new life to many countries.

In sum, the very people complaining about America would not be alive, if it weren’t for America. Which is why, I say to them: Merry Christmas.

It sure beats a pair of socks."

which seem to work on the rubes in the MSM but are beginning to wear pretty thin on those of us actually paying attention.

From Reason...natch ....

Holy burning bushes! Did you know that everyone—and I mean everyone—agrees with the president? Obama stressed this week that you can "talk to every health care economist out there and they will tell you that ... whatever ideas exist in terms of bending the cost curve and starting to reduce costs for families, businesses and government, those elements are in this bill."

Not "some" or "most" or "Peter Orszag on a two-day bender" but "every" health care economist in the entire world would tell you as much.

This sort of exaggeration reminds us of another whopper the president unloaded. While promoting the stimulus plan in January, he claimed that "there is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jump-start the economy."

No disagreement whatsoever ... until the Cato Institute found 200 economists from major universities across the country who did have a disagreement—and judging from the stimulus plan's impressive impotence, perhaps Obama should have lent them an ear.

I don't like to spea ill of the dead but really there should be some .... propriety?

'Nobody Had a Better Sense of What Was Right Than Teddy' -- Parade's Effusive Cover Story on Mrs. Kennedy 

Mary Jo Kopechne was not available for comment.

and language and stuff .... others are beginning to take note of something I first observed during "Campaign '08."

Our president relies heavily ... perhaps TOO heavily ... on several tried and true rhetorical devices. 

“There are those who claim we have to choose between paying down our deficits…and investing in job creation and economic growth,” President Obama said last week. “This is a false choice.” During the same speech, he asked his audience to “let me just be clear” that his administration, having racked up the biggest budget deficits ever, is embracing fiscal responsibility, as reflected in his vow that “health insurance reform” will not increase the deficit “by one dime.”

For connoisseurs of Obama-speak, the address featured a trifecta, combining three of his favorite rhetorical tropes. There was the vague reference to “those who” question his agenda, the “false choice” they use to deceive the public, and the determination to “be clear” and forthright, in contrast with those dishonest naysayers. These devices are useful as signals that the president is about to mislead us."

Go read the whole thing

I've heard this usage three times in the last 24 hours in what I normally consider well written TV shows:

"2am in the morning"  or "1pm in the afternoon"

OF COURSE it's 2am in the morning - that's what the AM refrences.

 STOP THIS!

Bill of Rights Day

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A Moment of Reflection for Bill of Rights Day: We're Screwed

Tim Lynch at Cato pisses in our cornflakes on the morning of Bill of Rights day with his sad but true reflection on the state of our constitutional rights. Some excerpts: The First Amendment says that Congress “shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” Government officials, however, insist that they can make it a crime to mention the name of a political candidate in an ad in the weeks preceding an election. They also insist upon gag orders in thousands of federal investigations. The Second Amendment says the people have the right “to keep and bear arms.” Government officials, however, insist that they can make it a crime to keep and bear arms.... The Fourth Amendment says the people have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. Government officials, however, insist that they can storm into homes in the middle of the night after giving residents a few seconds to answer their “knock” on the door. The Fifth Amendment says that private property shall not be taken “for a public use without just compensation.” Government officials, however, insist that they can take away our property and give it to others who covet it.... The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. Government officials, however, insist that jailing people who try in ingest a life-saving drug is not cruel. The Ninth Amendment says that the enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights should not be construed to deny or disparage others “retained by the people.” Government officials, however, insist that they will decide for themselves what rights, if any, will be retained by the people. The Tenth Amendment says that the powers not delegated to the federal government are to be reserved to the states, or to the people. Government officials, however, insist that they will decide for themselves what powers are reserved to the states, or to the people.

 

Since Harry Reid saught to bring it up.

"When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said 'slow down, it's too early, things aren't bad enough.'" 

Yes, Senator, they were called Democrats. It was a Republican President that freed the slaves.

"When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted they simply, slow down, there will be a better day to do that, today isn't quite right.”

Yes Senator, they were called Democrats. Former Republican Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose party (not the Democrats or the Republicans) was the first major national party to support women's suffrage.

"When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today." 

Yes Senator, they were called Democrats. It was Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WV, who is now the longest serving Senator, who filibustered the Civil Rights Act for 14 hours in 1964. 44 Democrats (66%) and 27 Republicans (90%) voted to end that filibuster. 23 Democrats and 6 Republicans voted to sustain it. The Democrat's Majority Leader, Richard Russell, opposed the bill. The Republican Minority Leader, Everett Dirksen, was one of the Republicans who joined with Democrats to end the filibuster after the Civil Rights Act had been on the Senate floor for 57 days. Both men now have Senate office buildings names after them. Also included in the list of those Democrats who opposed: Sen. Al Gore, D-TN.

You want more? How about a little Middle Eastern revisionism?

From President Obama's NPP acceptance speech: “Likewise, the world recognized the need to confront Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait - a consensus that sent a clear message to all about the cost of aggression.”

Really, Mr. President? The vote in the Senate on the authorization of military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait, which took place on January 12, 1991, was 52-47. The Democrats controlled the Senate at the time; they voted 45-10 against the "consensus" on "the need to confront Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait." John Kerry, Joe Biden and 43 other Democrats voted to let Saddam Hussein keep Kuwait and expand his control over Middle Eastern oil from there, while continuing to develop nuclear weapons--which, we later learned, he would have had by 1992 or 1993, at the latest. In the House, the story was similar. The vote was 250-183, with a large majority of Democrats voting with Saddam Hussein. Sure, it would be possible to be more pathetic on national security than the Democratic Party, but it wouldn't be easy. What is interesting about all of this is the Democrats' need to rewrite history. Can anyone doubt that if Barack Obama had been in the Senate in 1991, he would have joined 45 of his Democratic colleagues in voting for Saddam Hussein's control over the Middle East? Of course not. Yet today, Obama is forced to pretend that ousting Saddam was a "consensus" decision taken by "the world." Thus does truth force itself on even the most unwilling auditors.

Want one more?

We've heard the President spend quite a bit of tie complaining about the profligate spending of the Bush Adminstration and the terrible situation it passed on to him. Obama was in the Senate for the last 19 spending proposal from the Bush Administration. He voted in favor of ALL of them. So did his Vice President. So did his Sec of State. So did his Chief of Staff! NONE of these budgets passed by more than 6 votes. In other words – had Obama, Biden, Clinton and Emmanuel voted AGAINST the spending, they could have prevented!