Again.
October 23, 2009
October 19, 2009
The age of “tolerance” is upon us–Lord, help us
Two must-reads:
A Tale of Two Soundbites by Mark Steyn and The Race Card, Football, and Me by Rush Limbaugh
I’ve sat back and watched the happenings of last week unfold, and it’s left me feeling very saddened for our country, and more than a little bit awed by the blindness of those who could look at it and see nothing wrong. Actually, that second part applies to a lot of things that have happened in the last 10 months.
Basically, if you can witness the outright libel of a private American citizen–left or right–and not be appalled by it, then you’re lost. If you can with a straight face watch the Anita Dunn clip praising Mao and conclude, in all seriousness, that she was joking, then you’re lost. No amount of argument or fact will make such a person sway their opinion, because blind ideology has taken root.
I hate to say the F-word, but I’ve got to wonder: Are we creeping into fascism? I know that the F-word was thrown around by the far left during the GWB years, and that’s why I hesitate to mention it now, but I finally feel emboldened enough to say it. No, it’s not some sudden takeover; it’s incrementalism, and it’s been happening for years. But be aware, Americans. Guard your liberty like you’d guard your child.
I’ve just got to excerpt a few lines from the Steyn column, and I suggest you read it entirely. He writes (my emphases in bold):
So if I understand correctly:
Rush Limbaugh is so “divisive” that to get him fired leftie agitators have to invent racist soundbites to put in his mouth.
But the White House communications director is so un-divisive that she can be invited along to recommend Chairman Mao as a role model for America’s young.
From my unscientific survey, U.S. school students are all but entirely unaware of Mao Tse-Tung, and the few that aren’t know him mainly as a T-shirt graphic or “agrarian reformer.” What else did he do? Here, from Jonathan Fenby’s book Modern China, is the great man in a nutshell:
“Mao’s responsibility for the extinction of anywhere from 40 to 70 million lives brands him as a mass killer greater than Hitler or Stalin.”
And:
Twenty years ago this fall, the Iron Curtain was coming down in Europe. Across the Warsaw Pact, the jailers of the Communist prison states lost their nerve, and the cell walls crumbled. Matt Welch, the editor of Reason, wonders why the anniversary is going all but unobserved: Why aren’t we making more of the biggest mass liberation in history?
Well, because to celebrate it would involve recognizing it as a victory over Communism. And, after the Left’s long march through the institutions of the West, most are not willing to do that. There’s the bad totalitarianism (Nazism) and the good totalitarianism (Communism), whose apologists and, indeed, fetishists can still be found everywhere, even unto the White House.
Rush Limbaugh’s remarks are “divisive”; Anita Dunn’s are entirely normal. But don’t worry, the new Fairness Doctrine will take care of the problem.
For a little “humor,” I saw this yesterday at http://www.directorblue.blogspot.com/, and think serves as a nice illustration to the discussion at hand:
Wiktionary defines the word fascism as follows:
A political regime, usually totalitarian…
…ideologically based on centralized government…
…government control of business…
…repression of criticism or opposition…
…a leader cult…
…and exalting the state and/or religion above individual rights.
Too harsh? Too “right wing”? I just relayed the definition. Any conceptual linkages between the words and images are the responsibilities of the reader.
October 15, 2009
Abortion doctor attempts to explain her actions. Fails miserably.
I must admit: This doctor’s mental meanderings defy comprehension. Do these people have souls?
Abortionist Reflects on Dismembering One Baby While Feeling Her Own Flutter in Her Womb
October 9, 2009
Obama wins Nobel Prize for Peace: Not a joke
I just woke up, poured myself a cup of coffee, sat down at the computer, and saw the headline that the weak-kneed, narcissistic, speech-making, socialist, America-condemning, terrorist-appeasing man-child neophyte of a president was just awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace–and spit out the first swallow of joe all over my laptop.
Unbelievable. If I didn’t laugh uproariously, I’d cry.
If it hadn’t before, the Nobel Prize has now most definitely achieved irrelevance.
As Rick Moran writes, “Sometimes, an event occurs that is so sublimely ridiculous that it becomes a parody of itself.”
That is what we have, here.
Keep in mind, too, that he was nominated for this distinguished award just two weeks after taking office.
Here, by the way, is the sad new criteria for the Nobel Peace Prize, courtesy of Feed Your ADHD:
Sit for 20 years in the pew of a church with a pastor that says “God Damn America” and deny you never new about his dangerous and subversive hate speech.
Ignore the man you picked to lead a “war of necessity” and endlessly debate whether to unleash a surge of troops or pull out, while the troops who volunteered to defend your way of life die.
Release 78 terrorists from Gitmo, where they couldn’t hurt anyone, into the wild so they can turn around and plot evil schemes to kill you and the people you purport to lead.
Give millions to known terrorist organizations, like Hamas.
Go to the U.N. and call for a new world order that ignores nation sovereignty.
Refuse to salute the flag, on stage, in public.
Stop wearing an American flag lapel pin because it has become a “substitute for true” patriotism.
Bow to a muzzie king whose country has secretly funded global jihadist anti-American terrorism for decades.
Sit silent while a murdering Marxist dictator lambastes the United States for nearly an hour.
Stick your head so far up the rear-ends of two other murdering Marxist dictators, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, you taste their food before they do.
Start disarming your country’s nuclear stockpile and stop missile defense plans while turning your back against a rogue nation that murders its own protesting citizens and denies the Holocaust and threatens to wipe your ally off the face of the map and tells lies that their uranium enrichment program is only for purposes of nuclear power.
Say your country has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive toward its allies, then turn around and show arrogance and be dismissive, even derisive toward its allies.
September 28, 2009
Confessions of one who has dared entertain the idea of homeschooling…
..and lived to tell about it.
I just read this Salon article, Confessions of a Home-Schooler, by Andrew O’Hehir, and I come away from it nodding my head and shrugging my shoulders in a “Yeah, I can identify” sort of way.
No, our children aren’t school-aged yet, and yes, we have a great Catholic school in our community that we plan on sending them to once they’re there.
But I will admit that the thought of homeschooling has crossed my mind a number of times, and–like O’Hehir mentions–it’s not because I’m some sort of denim-jumper wearing, Bible-thumping Christian (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) And it’s not even due to recent news stories like this and this (although they’re certainly up there on the list.)
It’s a whole number of different things, from the seemingly minute (“I don’t want to surrender my kids for so long at so young”) to the arguably more important (“I can’t believe some of the stuff they’re teaching my kindergartner!”)
I also know a lot of people who either homeschool their children, have been homeschooled themselves and still somehow manage to be normal, socialized human beings (note the sarcasm, please), or who, like me, dare to entertain the mere thought in the dark corners of their minds, and who find themselves pilloried for even mentioning it in certain sectors. So, yes, I identified a lot with the Salon writer’s thoughts. As someone who wasn’t homeschooled and isn’t currently homeschooling, I sometimes ironically find myself in conversations where I feel as though I am a defender of the Homeschooling Unclean.
I can also remember the 13 long years of mind-numbing boredom I suffered during my schooling years, and I retroactively realize the amount of everyone’s most precious commodity–TIME– that could have been saved and savored had it just been me learning at home, by myself. (Which brings to mind #14 in the bitter homeschooler’s wish list, linked below: “Stop assuming that because the word ’school’ is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we’re into the ’school’ side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don’t have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.”
If you’re reading this and find the usual “Yeah, buts” popping into your brain, I highly suggest reading the article. Just the stats on what kind of and how many people in this country choose this for their families is staggering–and probably underreported. If you’re still not convinced (and no one said you have to be) at least read “The Bitter Homeschooler’s Wish List” by Deborah Markus so that you don’t accidentally fall into any of the annoying habits of non-homeschooling Concerned People. I read it, and nearly fell off my chair laughing.
For the sake of total clarity and transparency, I have by no means been a life-long advocate of homeschooling, and at this point, we’re sending our kids to our local Catholic school. Homeschooling was never an idea that would have made sway in my brain even five years ago. But parenthood is a surprising enterprise, and it sometimes takes us places we would have never before imagined.
And I would still never be caught dead in a denim jumper.
September 16, 2009
Everything that’s fit to print…
…but isn’t by the soon-to-be obsolete mainstream media. (NBC, ABC, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The LA Times, The New York Times):
1) First and foremost, the corruption that is being uncovered at Obama’s favorite grassroots organization, ACORN. If this were a Republican administration, and ACORN was a Republican venture, Glenn Beck, James O’Keefe, and Hannah Giles would all be winning Pulitzers for investigative journalism and uncovering corruption. However, since this is so all-out incriminating and embarrassing for liberals and President Obama, the decrepit dinosaurs of media and print (mentioned above) have felt it best to ignore…completely…even though the Senate has voted to cut all federal funding to the group by a huge margin, and the Census has also cut ties.
O'Keefe and Giles undercover (hilarious)
2) The downplaying by the media of the million or more people who showed up in DC last Saturday, and the subsequent attempts to portray all of them–and anyone else who doesn’t agree with the agenda and spending by this administration–as nothing more than fringe racists. (Not to mention Joe Wilson, who was right.)
3) The murder of pro-life activist Jim Pouillion in Michigan last week. Obama finally got around to issuing a statement. We have yet to hear from abortion promoting groups Planned Parenthood, Emily’s List, NOW, and others. Do note that the pro-life movement didn’t incriminate the entire pro-abortion industry for the actions of a single lunatic among the many statements issued in the shooting death of Dr. George Tiller. And we didn’t even blame Olbermann…
From the above link:
David Bass, a writer at the American Spectator, noticed the juxtaposition.
“A growing sidebar of the James Pouillon murder (he was gunned down while peacefully protesting outside an abortion clinic in Owosso, Michigan) is the silence of national pro-choice organizations,” he writes today.
“I ran a quick search, and none of the biggies … have issued statements condemning the murder,” he says. “President Obama was late to the party, but he did end up issuing a statement on the killing.”
“On its home page, the National Abortion Federation gives top billing to mourning the loss of Ted Kennedy and to remembering George Tiller, whom NAF calls ‘an American hero,’” he adds.
Bass notes the contrast between the responses from pro-life and pro-abortion organizations.
“In contrast, a number of pro-life groups issued statements the day of Tiller’s death condemning acts of violence in the heated abortion debate (National Right to Life and Americans United for Life, to name two),” he said. “Naturally, pro-choice groups put out their own releases. But the non-existent response from abortion advocates over the cold-blooded murder of Pouillon – a man standing up for life and exercising his constitutional rights – should give us pause.”
“Could be that one side in this debate does, in fact, value human life more than the other,” Bass asks.
September 11, 2009
CFLs: Just plain dumb.
Losing American jobs to China, while endangering the health of Chinese workers, all for crappy light that is hazardous to our own health? Sounds fantastic!
Stock up on your beloved incandescents, folks. They’ll be gone by 2012.
Never forget.
The person who shot this clip set up his camera on his balcony 1 block away from the scene and left, unknowingly catching the second plane hitting the south tower:
Words are not enough.
Common sense questions on healthcare
Some common sense questions for Barack Obama (via gop.gov. and Gateway Pundit):
President Barack Obama: “Our collective failure to meet this challenge – year after year, decade after decade – has led us to the breaking point.”
Common Sense Question: If we are at the “breaking point,” then why doesn’t your government-run insurance plan start until 2013?President Barack Obama: “There are now 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage.”
Common Sense Question: On August 20, you said 46 million Americans were uninsured. What happened to 16 million Americans?President Barack Obama: “And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage.”
Common Sense Question: Does that mean 15 million Americans will lose their health care before your government plan starts in 2013?President Barack Obama: “We spend one and a half times more per person on health care than any other country, but we aren’t any healthier for it.”
Common Sense Question: Then why do people travel from around the world to receive health care in the United States?President Barack Obama: “Put simply, our health care problem is our deficit problem. Nothing else even comes close.”
Common Sense Question: Didn’t the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office say that the health care plan you have endorsed will add $239 billion to our annual deficits over the next ten years?President Barack Obama: “Reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan.”
Common Sense Question: If we can pay for “most” of health care reform by controlling waste and inefficiency, then why does a $900 billion health care plan include $820 billion in tax increases?President Barack Obama: “…no federal dollars will be used to fund abortion.”
Common Sense Question: Do you object to House Democrats defeating an amendment in the House Energy and Commerce Committee markup that would have explicitly prohibited federal funding of abortion under a government-run health care plan?President Barack Obama: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future.”
Common Sense Question: Do you oppose the House Democrat health care plan, H.R. 3200, which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said will add $239 billion to our annual deficits over the next ten years and “would probably generate substantial increases in federal budget deficits” thereafter? If so, which Democrat plan are you going to support?President Barack Obama: “Reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan…the plan I’m proposing will cost around $900 billion over the next 10 years…”
Common Sense Question: If there is so much “waste and inefficiency” in Medicare and Medicaid – two government-run health care plans – then won’t further government involvement in health care lead to further “waste and inefficiency”?President Barack Obama: “And I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen.”
Common Sense Question: Will you agree to meet with House Republican leaders to discuss health care reform, as they requested almost four months ago?
