Chris Matthews: "Panama Canal in Egypt"

Bwahahahahahahah!!!

"Egypt, of course, has the Panama Canal..."

Reagan vs. Obama Redux

I can't understand liberals - according to them, Ronald Reagan was a dolt, a gun-slinging, war-happy, bloodthirsty fool with that retarded economic concept of "trickle down economics."  Why the rush to resuscitate Obama's flagging political fortunes and milque-toast State of the Union with comparisons to Reagan?

Is the dirty little secret that the media in their darkest hours of self-exploration actually realize that the American people adored Ronald Reagan and are truly grateful for what he did for this country?  Considering that Reagan succeeded Obama the First, errr, Jimmy Carter, we need to be looking for another dolt, gun-slinging, war-happy bloodthirsty fool don't we?

Colbert Channels Olberman

Great bit:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Stephen Rejects Keith Olbermann's Power
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive

Frankly, I'm kinda bummed Olberman's gone - you have to admire a guy that was that insane that could garner an audience.  I'm not in favor of government tracking anyone, but putting those "risk of flight" bracelets on anyone that watched that show regularly might have been in order.

Why Bother?

For starters, the whole premise of the "civility" theme that the President used in his State of the Union address last night gives me the willies.  Using the tragedy of Tucson as a backdrop for the address to the nation is cynical at best, downright evil at worst.  What happened in Tucson, as we have covered on these pages before, was the act of a madman.  The only reason we are still talking about it was that it was a Congressman who took a bullet.  I bear no ill will towards Rep. Giffords ...we are all thrilled to hear the rapid progress she is making and our prayers continue for her and her family.  But the continued use of this event to lever a call for "civility," i.e. "you mean old right wingers just shut up" is wearing thin.  If we paid one-tenth the attention that Giffords is receiving to the anguish that the families of our military are feeling day in and day out, we would have a better sense of the price of freedom.  One cannot help but wonder at the irony of the fact that in any other medical system in the world, Giffords would be dead.  The very system that Obamacare has begun to drill into like the sentinel robots drilling into the ship's hulls in "The Matrix."  I am SO damned mean spirited!

How can we take our politicians seriously when a mass-killing by a madman results in date night on Capital Hill?  The silliness of having D's sit with R's to show the world that we can all get along and to prevent any further mass killings...has the rarified air of Washington divorced these fools completely from reality?  I will say this in favor of the Kumbayah moment though - it did seem to spare us from the truly ridiculous histrionics and aerobics of the Pelosi regime last year. 

Then, wonder of wonders, this morning we learn officially, what any sentient American already knew:  the Federal Deficit is at unsustainable levels - $1.5 Trillion... the total debt burden is over $14 trillion and rising at a logarithmic rate. But let that not prevent us from "investing" even more...especially in EDUKASHUN!! We're projecting to spend over $900 Billion in education in 2011 alone - and our return is students that have great self esteem but don't have a clue how to locate Brazil on a map or solve for "x" in a basic algebraic equation...let alone compose a sentence in the English language.  More money is not the answer, a restoration of education as a priority in the family would be a good place to start, but that is something that the Federal Government CANNOT do.  Point of fact, there's not much they can do - and less that they can do well.  Outside of our military, name a Federal institution that you would entrust with anything from fixing your car to cleaning your teeth to inventing...anything!  Federal funding and the need to increase it further is the crack cocaine of the teacher's unions and their un-funded pension plans, little else.  

Just once, I would like to have a President of the United States tell us the truth.  Get up on the dais in the House of Representatives and begin the speech with "My fellow citizens, the state of the union is that we are broke.  Flat out busted, zip, zero, nada...we have hit bottom. So I am not going to stand up here and try to think up pet programs for each of the interest groups that elected me, I am going to present this list to Congress of what I see as the necessary cuts that need to be made immediately."  Now that would go far beyond teleprompters and showmanship and straight to statesmanship, a trait sorely lacking.

Paul Ryan's Republican response to the show was measured and a far cry better than last year's debacle with Bobby Jindal.  But he and the rest of the elephants up there seem to have been partially neutered by the "civility" rap, so he didn't push back.  Michelle Bachman's message to the Tea Party was quite good, though creepily delivered with her looking at something up in the upper right corner of my screen.  How about someone getting fighting mad?  How's this:  "Mr. President, you say you want to work with us and you acknowledge that we have to cut spending.  How about leaning on that dweezle buddy of yours, Harry Reid, to let the repeal of Obamacare come to a vote in the Senate and once it passes, how about you not vetoing it?  That would show a civil beginning to a new era of  bipartisanship.  There is no point, Mr. President, in creating an entitlement that we ALL know we can't afford.  Let's work together to fix what we can and keep the government out of areas it does not belong."

Well, we are all allowed our fantasies.  So we begin 2011 with some political drama - Obama on the upswing we are told by the clones at CNN, not so fast counters FOX and in the mean time, we all know the truth.  We're broke and in need of dramatic cuts. The longer this goes, the more cynical the voters are going to get and the more strained the rhetoric.  No, that will not lead to more Tucsons, but it will lead to tragedy.  The tragedy will be that a once great nation no longer to meet it's obligations, will have to abandon it's friends, and figure out how to pay off it's creditors.  Greece and Tunisia will look like cakewalks compared to that impending fight.  Until a true leader emerges to avert that inevitable day, why bother?

Democrat Tar Baby (Can I Say That?)

This is a real tar-baby that the Democrats have created:



Repealing it in the House and getting it declared unconstitutional in the Supreme Court are jobs 1 and 2.  Winding the clock back to pre-Obama care so we can start to really fix the issues in our healthcare system and not wreck it to open the door for government-run-single-payer-Barney-Frank-wet-dream (ick!) pogrom will require incredible legislative and legal dexterity.

Two good places to start:

1. Tort reform - start with loser pays ( a good idea from our British cousins and a whole lot better than their healthcare system that Obama's boys want to emulate).
2. Increase insurance competition - open it up across state lines (there's a good use for the Commerce Clause!), tax incentives for pre-existing conditions etc.
3. Finally, on a more universal scale, and one that achieves conservative aims at reducing government, allocate a percentage of tax collected to a personal health savings account.  The individual would own it, control their own medical costs and it would bring responsibility back into the equation.  This is what they do in Singapore...once the account is fully funded, based on some metrics of anticipated use, the additional funds go back to the individual!

We've Done This To Ourselves

This is a little Taiwanese doodle, but it sure smacks of the truth:



While the portrayal of Obama is apt, the reality is we've allowed this to go on for a generation now, regardless of who is in power. Profligate spending will...HAS reduced our freedom and we are only now starting to pay the embarrassing price.

Solution? First, shore up our own house with the recognition that WE CAN'T AFFORD EVERYTHING WE WANT. Second, prioritize the remaining spending with a clear understanding of the Constitution and our responsibilities to the next generation of Americans and beyond. I still believe it is not too late to turn this ship around, but we need a concerted national effort and an understanding that we are all going to suffer, but in the long run, it will be worth it.

Atlas Shrugged Video Contest

Here's this year's winner of the "How 'Atlas Shrugged' Changed My Life" contest - very creative!



On to Galt's Gulch!

Sarah Responds

I'll be honest  - I have mixed emotions about Sarah Palin, but I have no doubt her heart is in the right place. I also have no doubt, whatsoever, that she had NOTHING to do with a whacko blasting off his Glock in Tucson last Saturday.  This is a classy response and deserves to be heard:


Sarah Palin: "America's Enduring Strength" from Sarah Palin on Vimeo.

What This Is

Michael Ramirez over at Investor's Business Daily nails the controversy over defining the Arizona killer:

Folks, this is a very sick individual and shame on anyone that would use this tragedy to score political points.  Shame too on politicians planning to introduce legislation to a) ban free speech  b) expand gun control laws c) encase the House of Representatives in plexiglass etc. etc.

Simple fact is there have always been and will always be psychopathic murderers in search of fame...and no amount of legislation will prevent this from happening in the future.  It happens here, it happens everywhere.  If there is any blame to be affixed, it is the parents of this sicko who were apparently so disengaged that they had no idea what was going on in their son's room.  There may be some emerging blame for a certain sheriff's office that apparently had been warned from several sources that this creep was dangerous and did nothing.

Right now let's focus our efforts and prayers on healing for the survivors and compassion for the victims and their families.

Magazine Cover Shot

It's a beautiful thing!