Bryan has compiled a list, complete with links, of a heap of “fringe actors” acting out over at Hot Air.
No Runny Eggs
The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.
Archive for the 'Politics – National' Category
March 22, 2007
A few fringe actors, or what the left really is?
Comments Off on A few fringe actors, or what the left really is?
Attorney-gate; a right, yet naiive, take
Former Assistant US Attorney Jeff Wagner eloquently explains why Attorney-gate is a whole lot about nothing. However, it’s not about the attorneys, or even about Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. It’s all about finding a way to snooker 16 RINO Senators into doing what not a single ‘Rat would do in 1999.
Indeed, this is much like the one-vote-short-of-success play Congress pulled in 1867-1868. Andrew Johnson, who took over when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, wanted to get rid of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Congress, which loved Stanton, passed what proved to be an unconstitutional law requiring Senate approval for any firings of anybody whose appointment was confirmed by the Senate (sound familiar, class?). Johnson damned the torpedoes and fired Stanton; Congress followed with impeachment and a trial.
Comments Off on Attorney-gate; a right, yet naiive, take
March 19, 2007
US soldier burned in effigy…and not in the usual places
(H/T – Michelle Malkin)
Little Green Footballs found some disgusting pictures from a pro-jihadi rally in…wait for it…
wait for it…
Portland, Oregon.
Michelle says, “Yes, question their patriotism”. I say, “What patriotism?” At least it gives me an excuse to bring out the best flaming protest pic ever…
Comments Off on US soldier burned in effigy…and not in the usual places
March 10, 2007
Who is in charge in Washington D.C.?
Since I can’t say it nearly as well as Scott Malensek (guest-blogging at Flopping Aces), I’ll simply give you a very brief Cliff’s Notes version and send you over there for the well-researched and lengthy read (do note I’ve disabled comments/pings for this post; if I get requests, I’ll consider opening them up here).
He notes that almost nobody on Capitol Hill has read one report or heard one briefing on Iraq; this despite repeated public requests from the Congresscritters for those reports and briefings. One particularily-embarrassing episode:
This week, after having been unanimously appointed by Congress, America’s commander in Iraq, General Petraeus took a break from his duties to make a public statement for the first time since taking command. Prior to his press conference, the general (who submits reports to the President every single day) offered to take time for a teleconference with the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority leader (both Democrats). They declined. Instead, they chose to meet with leaders from anti-war groups like Moveon.org and others (some of which are actually socialist groups like ANSWER). After meeting with the anti-war lobby instead of the General that Congress appointed to lead operations in Iraq, Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid held their own press conference and unveiled their latest attempt at ending the war in Iraq by any means other than success. They did not consult with the commanders in Iraq, the experts.
Then, he outlines how the wealthy use essentially-unlimited PACs (the only limit is that a PAC can donate $5,000 to a Congresscritter candidate, twice as much as an individual, and contributions of under $200 to a PAC doesn’t have to be reported at all) to funnel literally millions of dollars into politics.
If you do nothing else this weekend, go read the whole thing.
Comments Off on Who is in charge in Washington D.C.?
February 15, 2007
Today’s pick-me-up
With a lot more details and updates over at Hot Air…
Iraqi police got into a firefight with a bunch of Al Qaeda in Iraq members on the road between Fallujah and Samarrah, killed a top aide in that organization and, depending on who you believe, wounded and/or captured one Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the successor to the very deceased Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
‘Tis nice to know that the ‘Rats in the House still have the Algore sense of timing, with their retreat-and-defeat proposal (“unencumbered” by those “pesky” Republicans who wanted to put a support-the-troops amendment in) coming up for a vote tomorrow.
Comments Off on Today’s pick-me-up
February 13, 2007
House hearing on “Global Warming” cancelled
(H/T – Drudge)
Quoting the Drudge scoop:
The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled "Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?"….
DC WEATHER REPORT:
Wednesday: Freezing rain in the morning…then a chance of snow in the afternoon. Ice accumulation of less than one quarter of an inch. Highs in the mid 30s. Northwest winds around 20 mph. Chance of precipitation 80 percent.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 18. Northwest winds around 20 mph.
Considering the normal high/low for DC is 44/24, and there currently is a winter storm warning for the DC area, I guess we have our answer.
If I were original,…
…I would have had the brains to link this…
…to this…
…like Mary Katharine Ham, then to produce this…
…like John Hawkins.
Comments Off on If I were original,…
February 9, 2007
Err, er, Air Pelosi, a distant take
Revisions/extensions (3:21 pm 2/9/2007) – Corrected the committee John “Mr. Redeploy To a Country We’ve ‘Occupied’ for 61 Years” Murtha chairs)
The Washington Times reported that Queen SanFranNan, the Speaker of the House, wanted to permanently tie up one of the 4 C-32s in the Air Force inventory (that would be a custom-built Boeing 757-200) for her exclusive use. She (or more-correctly, the House Sergeant-at-Arms at her insistence) claimed she needed that particular aircraft because she couldn’t be inconvenienced with a refueling stop.
Some quick background before I continue: In the aftermath of 9/11, the Speaker of the House, as 2nd in line to the Presidency, became entitled to military transport. The Air Force routinely supplied the previous Speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, with a C-21 (the military version of the Learjet 35) or C-20 (if it was the -B, it was the military version of the Gulfstream III, if it was the -H, it was the military version of the Gulfstream IV) for travel between DC and his suburban Chicago district.
I call bullshat on SanFranNan’s specific request. First, let’s review the tale of the tape. The C-21 indeed would not have the range to fly coast-to-coast, as it is a tick over 2,300 miles. Morever, they’re currently based (as of 1997) in Illinois. Either of the C-20s, as well as the follow-on C-37A (the military version of the Gulfstream V) would have the range. The -20B can go 4,250 miles, the -20H can go 4,750 miles, the -32 can go 5,500 miles, and the -37 can go 6,300 miles. Yep, you heard me right; they all can go coast-to-coast without stopping for gas. As a bonus, she’d get there faster on the Gulfstreams.
Morever, the refuelling-is-unsafe line is a canard. Refuellings would be done at Air Force bases, not at commercial airports, and would be accomplished at speeds that even Fed-Ex would only hope to approach.
As for passengers, the Gulfstreams can carry 12 plus its crew of 5, and the Boeing can carry 45 plus its crew of up to 16. The Pentagon limits the entourage to 10 (with no room for the grandkids or hubby’s lobbyists), which is another point of contention between Queen Plastic and the Pentagon.
Communications on the Gulfstreams are a step down from those on the Boeing, but they still offer secure voice and data transmissions. The fact that Hastert lived with them renders that point moot.
So, if it’s not range, not passengers (at least as long as SanFranNan can keep the entourage under the limits) and not communications, what’s driving her to demand the C-32, using the House Sergeant-at-Arms and the chair of the House Armed Services Committee Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to threaten the Pentagon? It’s primary use is as Air Force Two, the Vice Presidential transport. Indeed, it is fitted out so similarily to the VC-25 (known by all as Air Force One), complete with a conference room and a private section for the VIP including a separate entertainment center and fold-out bed, that it is used by the President when the airport cannot accomodate the VC-25.
February 8, 2007
Do you really want a follower as President?
The reason I ask is the presumptive Democratic front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, has shown neither leadership nor conviction on Iraq. Today’s OpinionJournal featured article outlines her move from her husband’s position that Hussein needed to be ousted to Retreat and Defeat. To answer their question, that is precisely the stalwart drift she would bring to the Oval Orifice.
Comments Off on Do you really want a follower as President?
January 24, 2007
Health care – here we go again
In case you missed the State of the Union speech, one of the few major policy initiatives announced was a massive rewrite of the federal tax code designed to bring more people into the health insurance cabal. I haven’t quite decided whether President Bush was channeling FDR or the head of Aurora Health Care when he made the announcements that he would seek to make all health insurance expenditures taxable income and then give a standard $7,500 (for individuals)/$15,000 (for families) deduction for those that purchase or have their employer purchase health insurance. What I do know is that this has the potential to be more destructive than Bush’s previous meddling in health care, the grafting of prescription drugs onto Medicare.
First, let’s take a look at the current mess that is the tax code as it relates to health insurance. After a bit of research (thanks to the National Coalition on Health Care and National Association of the Self-Employed), I believe I have it down. First off, the portion of health insurance costs paid for by a “C”-corporation is a deductable business expense for the employer and tax-exempt in-kind income for the employee (which means that neither income, the employee’s portion of FICA, nor the employer’s portion of FICA taxes are paid). This was instituted under Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a way to get around his wage controls in World War II.
Next, those employees of “C”-corporations that participate in Section 125 health plans similarily have that portion of the health insurance costs declared tax-exempt (again, neither income nor either portion of FICA taxes are paid). I don’t know exactly when this came about, but apparently most employees have this as an option.
Thirdly, the self-employed (sole-proprietors, partnerships, and “S”-corporations), at least those not eligible to get in on a spouse’s or parent’s health insurance plan, get to deduct the cost of the health insurance from their income tax, but not the self-employment tax (the same as both the employee and employer portions of FICA). This is a more-recent change, starting off with a portion deductable from income taxes in the 1980s and slowly rising to 100% deductable a few years ago.
Those “C”-corporation employees unlucky enough to be paying health insurance costs out of their pocket outside of Section 125 plans, and those self-employed who don’t take advantage of a spouse’s health plan, use after-tax dollars, where both income and FICA taxes (both employee and employer) are paid.
Now, let’s jump to Bush’s proposal. It’s a Rube Goldberg attempt to get everybody into the health insurance cabal. First, it removes the unlimited tax breaks for health insurance costs on employees and self-employed individuals (leaving the deduction for “C”-corporations alone) and treats it as taxable income. Then, it gives every individual tax filer who buys or has bought for him/her health insurance a $7,500 deduction on both income and payroll tax (it’s unclear whether that applies only to the employee’s portion or both that and the employer’s portion), with a joint/head of household filer getting a $15,000 deduction.
Problem #1 – In order to make this appear “revenue-neutral”, the employer’s portion of FICA (and the “employer’s” half of the self-employment tax) would have to be collected on that first $7,500/$15,000. Guess what that is, kids? A tax increase on every employer who provides health insurance, and any tax increase on the employers gets passed along to the employees and the consumers. That could take the form of reduced pay, reduced health benefits, reduced jobs or higher prices, or any combination of the four. Worse, at least from the perspective of the Party In Government, if most of the plans above the limit dropped down to the limit, there is no hope of “revenue-neutrality”. What happens when gubmint runs short of cash? If you said, “They raise taxes,” give yourself a gold star. If you said, “They’ll cut spending,” smack yourself in the forehead.
Problem #2 – Since that first $7,500/$15,000 is taxable income, and without a redefinition of “taxable income”, it would be added to the Social Security obligations, where is the FICA money going to come from? It definitely isn’t coming from the employee (and half isn’t coming from the self-employed). Elsewhere in the State of the Union speech, President Bush pointed out the impending collapse of the three programs dependent on FICA (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) without offering up any plan (side note – where’s the ‘Rat plan for this time bomb?). Increasing those obligations without any thought to how to pay for said obligations is a recipe for a faster disaster.
Problem #3 – This does not address the underlying causes of escalating health care costs – the lack of a free market where the consumer has an incentive to hold down the costs and out-of-control malpractice litigation/insurance costs. It might drive down the costs of insurance at the very high end, as the Rolls-Royce health benefits (usually enjoyed by gubmint employees) are scaled back to avoid the adverse tax consequences. It won’t have any effect on the costs of those plans that are underneath the limits, and not many people who currently have employer-provided health insurance where the total cost is underneath the limits will have the savvy to seek out cheaper plans to get the “free money” from the feds. Indeed, by adding more people to the no-cost-incentive scheme, it will drive costs even higher.
Problem #4 – By making the employer’s portion of health insurance as well as the Section 125 portion taxable, this probably opens that up to state taxation. My money says that ‘Rat-infested states, such as Wisconsin, will seek to capture all of that money, including the portion the feds don’t.
Problem #5 – This would adjust using the Consumer Price Index. Last I checked, health insurance costs have gone up much faster than the CPI since who-knows-when. Simply putting a cap on the tax benefits won’t stop that, at least not without stripping the plans of essentially all coverage.
So, what’s the solution? Short of changing the dominant American mindset of wanting to live forever, preferably on somebody else’s dime, there is none.
January 23, 2007
State of the Union
Call me a sucker, but somebody has to live-blog the abomination, and with Blogger down (again), it falls to the likes of Captain Ed, Mary Katharine Ham, Erick at RedState and me. They’ll probably do a better job than me, but let’s roll with it anyway.
7:58 (all times will be Central; deal with it) – Plastic Pelosi is looking pleased she won this war.
8:01 – The First and Second Ladies have arrived, and the intros have started.
8:06 – Couldn’t we go back to messages transmitted by paper? This intro is worse than a prize fight.
8:09 – Here comes the Pres, and the first person who got his hand shook is Dennis the Menace. NOT a good sign. In better news, Mary Katharine Ham is serving Cheetos on her live thread (link is now above).
8:13 – Bush too pleased with his intro as the first “fe”male Speaker. I have to keep reminding myself, “Justices Roberts and Alito”. “Justices Roberts and Alito”. Class move noting the 2 members who are out with health reasons.
8:17 – Oxymoron alert – how can the ‘Rats keep true to their faith and honor the troops and respect the citizenry? Oh, that’s right, it’s Bush that’s signaling retreat and defeat.
8:18 – Charlie Rangel got up too early. He cheered the kill-the-deficit line, then Bush dropped the “no new taxes” line on them. Pres pointing out he halved the deficit 3 years early, then wants it eliminated in 5. Onto earmarks, noting they’re snuck in “when even C-Span isn’t watching”. Time to end the process, but issues a tepid halve-them challenge.
8:21 – Onto entitlements. 3 bad choices if they’re not fixed; tax increases, end to programs, benefit cuts. Doesn’t mention any fixes, but wants one from the ‘Rats. Nice try, but the presstitutes won’t let the blame be pinned on them. Now to education. Something for everyone (to hate) – choice and mo’ money.
8:23 – Tax shift time – health insurance “reform”. Stage 1, make health insurance a standard deduction of $7,500 for singles and $15,000 for families instead of an unlimited untaxed benefit available only to corporations. Stage 2, mo’ money to the states. Hey Jefe, if the fed taxes weren’t so damn high, we wouldn’t have to have the feds do subsidizing.
Now something for conservatives – more health savings accounts, medical liability reform (which draws the first boos of the evening). I can’t believe this line drew ‘Rat support – the best health care decisions are made by patients and their doctors.
8:27 – Border (in)security – “Guest worker” program. Say, would that have stopped the Mexican Army’s repeated incursions? Now lying about amnesty; not throwing the illegals out and granting them a special means of “legalization” is the very definition of amnesty.
8:29 – Energy – Complaining about dependence on foreign oil. Talks about clean coal, solar and wind, nuclear for electricity, NO mention of increased drilling. The ethanol mention wasn’t as bad as I thought; not talking inefficient corn-a-hole.
Spoke too soon – triple the corn-a-hole usage. Er, if we’re using corn-a-hole, we’re not saving anything. Shrink the cars again.
Ah, here’s the drilling. Double the Strategic Oil Reserve.
8:33 – Where’s High Priestess Heidi Cullen? Sounds like the Prez abandoned us on Global Warning.
8:34 – Second round of boos – ‘Rats won’t let you have votes on your judges.
Onto the Global War on Terror. Still no mention that the terrorists are Islamokazis (or “radical” Islamists). Plastic must’ve been watching Hiliary for approval to applaud the take-the-fight-to-the-enemy line; her applause was delayed.
Success stories time. First time I heard the Al Qaeda anthrax plot (still no official word on who sent the anthrax back in 2001).
8:37 – Did I hear right; the Pres actually called Al Qaeda Sunnis. I didn’t hear Muslims though.
8:40 – Positively Wilsonian call for making the world Safe for Democracy. Bush has the right idea, but the wrong reason why it works; the more people that have a voice, the less likely their leaders will act like Hitler or Stalin because of the instinct for self-preservation, not because of a non-existant sense of goodness.
8:43 – Tossing out Shi’a now. Still no mention that they’re Muslims. It might not be like Pubbies to abandon friends and break our word, but it’s been the ‘Rat motto since 1968.
8:46 – Line of the night – “We didn’t drive Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan only to have them set up in a free Iraq.” There are benchmarks agreed to by Iraq (but because we don’t want the Islamokazis to bust them, we won’t make them public).
Most Pubbies might understand the costs of failure in Iraq, but other than Lieberman, the ‘Rats either don’t know or don’t give a damn. If I were Pres, I would point out that the costs of failure were proven once before; when S(l)ick Willie Clinton bailed out of Somalia. Predictably, the ‘Rats sat on their hands (which got crushed by their fat asses).
8:51 – Good luck in getting the ‘Rats behind you, even with this new “bi-partisan” commission you’re doing. Time to increase the authorized strength of the Army and Marines and establish a civilian reserve corps.
8:54 – All the plastic in the world couldn’t hide Pelosi’s disgust at the revelation that Cuba is still not free. Darfur got a special mention (though once again, left unmentioned is the fact that Islamokazis are doing the killing). Is Bono in the house?
8:56 – Gallery time. Dikembe Mutombo first up, and he turned his unplanned NBA career into a partial realization of his original doctor dream, building a hospital back in the Congo. ‘Rats conflicted on whether to cheer the founder of Baby Einstein because she’s a woman that did it for the chilrun or vilify her for daring to become very successful out of nothing. Wesley Autrey IS a hero, as much a hero as the troops overseas he says are the real heroes – someone who will leap into the path of an oncoming subway train to save somebody who fell onto the tracks is one. One of those is next – Sgt. Rieman, who did much the same with enemy fire pouring in.
9:02 – “God bless,” and we’re out.
You can look elsewhere for the canned ‘Rat response.
Comments Off on State of the Union
January 20, 2007
Today’s signs the end of the world, or at least conservatism, is nigh
Item #1 – Hitlery (or if you prefer, Hiliary) Rotten Von Der Schlikmeister has tossed Old Crusty Black Pantsuit into the Presidential ring. The game is now afoot. Unlike Allahpundit, who called the timing an “amateur mistake”, I declare it a masterpiece. One of the most-watched weekends of the (mostly-)liberal Sunday morning talk shows, made so because those liberals without fax machines need their pre-State of the Union Address marching orders, now gets dominated by Hiliary, and the hosts “Meet the Press”, “Face the Nation”, “This Week”, and “Late Edition” won’t have to temper their genuflection before her with any criticisms from Limbaugh and the weekday Fox News crew.
Item #2 (with a H/T to Kate) – It sure looks like we’re about to get a massive tax increase from yet another President Bush. Take a gander at this line from this week’s Presidential radio address (the last one before his State of the Union Address)
Americans are fortunate to have the best health care system in the world. The government has an important role to play in our system. We have an obligation to provide care for the most vulnerable members of our society — the elderly, the disabled, and poor children and their parents. We are meeting this responsibility through Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. We must strengthen these vital programs so that they are around when future generations need them.
It even comes with Jefe’s own “read my lips” moment:
We must address these rising costs, so that more Americans can afford basic health insurance. And we need to do it without creating a new Federal entitlement program or raising taxes.
Item #3 – Investor’s Business Daily is reporting that a tax hike in the form of a cap on tax breaks for employer-provided health care is just one of the hard turns to the left that is expected to be announced on Tuesday night. He will also announce that, unlike Jim Ott (a major hat-tip to Josh Schroeder for getting that exclusive), he doesn’t want to lose his AMS certification, that making his 2001 and 2003 temporary tax cuts permanent are off the table, and that corn-a-hole will get a fresh massive federal influx.
January 11, 2007
Speaking of dying “reform”, this time federal
(H/T – Slublog)
You might remember that one of San Fran Nan’s goals of her 100 Hours gimick was to end earmarks as we know them by forcing disclosure of who dumped the earmark in. It actually is one thing I can cheer out of the Rat-infested House.
However, I have some bad news. Much like the every-other-year dance of pay increases for Congress, it was all a sham. It seems our “brave” new leaders in the Senate, Dick Turbin, Dingy Harry Reid, and Ted “The Swimmer” Kennedy, don’t want to kill earmarks in the Senate. While they did not manage to table the attempt by Jim DeMint (R-SC) to adopt the House language on earmarks instead of a competing definition that would exempt 95% of the earmarks (vote was 51-45, more on that in a moment), the Swimmer objected to unanimous consent, allowing Turbin and Dingy Harry to keep on twisting arms to try to keep the pork alive.
So, who voted how? It was close to party-line, with most of the Pubbies jumping onto the reform wagon a bit late and most of the ‘Rats clinging to the pork like a liferaft. Beyond the three that didn’t vote (Johnson, Brownback and Inouye), the ones that jumped ship were:
- ‘Rats who voted to not table the amendment – Cantwell, Feingold (shock), Harkin, Kerry (who probably will take the opportunity to say he voted for it before he voted against it), Landrieu, Lieberman, Nelson, Obama (who, if he didn’t mark himself for an extended stay at Ft. Marcy Park before, just did now), Tester and Webb.
- RepubicRats who are just too damn stupid – Bennett, Bunning, Domenici, Hatch, Cave-A-Lott (proving me right he wasn’t worthy to return to leadership), Smith and Voinovich.
The final votes are expected next week.
Comments Off on Speaking of dying “reform”, this time federal
January 5, 2007
One last Mushroom update
Harriet Miers, not-at-all-affectionately refered to on this blog as the Mushroom when President Bush floated her as a Supreme Court nominee, is leaving her post as White House Counsel as of January 31. According to Fox News the real reason for her resignation was the fact that Karl Rove is anticipating non-stop lawsuits from the ‘Rat-infested Congress, and Miers’ career as a civil litigator left her woefully unprepared in either the criminal law or separation-of-powers disciplines.
And this is the broad that Bush wanted us conservatives to swallow on the Supreme Court? Most of SCOTUS’ work is in those two disciplines.
Mexicans to drain Social Security dry
The Washington Times reports on a secret protocol Jefes Bush and Fox negotiated in 2004 to allow Mexicans who worked in the US illegally and get amnesty to collect Social Security for the time they worked here illegally. Though the totalization agreement that this is part of hasn’t been submitted to Congress, once it is, Congress has to reject it within 60 days or it becomes law.
So, what’s wrong with this? Actually, it’s two things. First, the illegals were not working here legally, and in most cases, it cannot be proven how much they earned. Why in the hell do they deserve Social Security benefits when there isn’t going to be enough to pay those under 35 the way it is?
Second, this sure sounds like a treaty to me. Last time I checked, treaties needed a 2/3rds concurrance of the Senate.
I guess we now know without a doubt which party Jefe Bush was rooting for this past November.
Catching up (take 2)
Had this ready to go when my router crapped out on me and I lost this. Let’s see if I can catch up again:
- John Washburn is still trying to find out exactly what happened in Milwaukee on 11/2/2004. Despite claims from the retiring Milwaukee Police Department chief Nan Heggarty that the investigation into the 2004 election was over on 11/27/2006, there is still no final report forthcoming. After weeks of getting the runaround, John finally got the US Attorney’s office to say that the report will be available in the next month. So, where’s the election records? The FBI says the Milwaukee County DA’s office has them, the DA’s office says they don’t have them. Bear in mind that this investigation was used by the
StateDoylie Elections Board to not process John’s election complaint. - The Dems learned no sense of humility in their dozen years in the political wilderness. Bela Pelosi and company are planning on ramrodding their agenda through the House without so much as a committee hearing or an amendment. Worse, President Bush is set to confirm again and again my fears from 1999 that he wasn’t a conservative. The Asian Badger was right when he predicted a shortage of KY Jelly.
- Speaking of not-conservative Republicans, Tommy Thompson appears to be serious about running for President in 2008. Not only does he have a website up (once again, I’ll state for the record I will not knowingly link to campaign websites, so you can find it yourself), but he
threatenedpromised Iowans with weekly visits. - With a hat tip due Jib, it seems that Taliban head Muhammed Omar has e-mail access. One of his intermediaries has been in contact with Reuters, and Omar says he hasn’t seen Osama Bin Laden since the end of 2001. Hey One-Eye, come on out of hiding so we can confirm you said that (and then confirm your death).
- Another hat tip, this time to Allahpundit and Owen – a bunch of gunmen overran a National Guard listening post in Arizona. Can we declare war on Mexico, or at least properly militarize the border now, Jefe?
- Speaking of gunplay, this is how New Years is celebrated on the North Side of Milwaukee. Patrick, I hope you kept your head down when you recorded the audio.
I hope that catches me up through midnight.
Comments Off on Catching up (take 2)
December 29, 2006
R.I.P., President Ford
Unless you’ve been in a cave the last 24 or so hours, you’ve already heard the news that former President Gerald Ford died Wednesday night. May God comfort his family and this nation as we mourn his passing.
Comments Off on R.I.P., President Ford
Post-Christmas quick hits
Sorry about the non-existent blogging the last couple days. There’s a few things I need to catch up on in the typical lull between Christmas and New Year’s. I may or may not expand on them as I see fit.
- Item #1 on the catchup – gift cards. I love them, and apparently so does Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee). Only thing is, he wants 80% of the value of any gift card that is more than 1 year old to go to the state. Especially illuminating is Red Fred’s interview with the Early Spinners over on WISN. I’ll put this in a language he (and the Spotted Chris) can understand – КраÑное Fred, идет к аду! For the rest of you, that’s Russian for “Red Fred, go to Hell!” (or at least that’s what AltaVista’s BabelFish tells me).
- Speaking of Freds, a much better Fred, fresh off his victory over me in the Cheddarsphere championship game, is running for alderman down in Racine. May you have as much success there as you did against me.
- So Gerald Ford was one of the early cut-and-runners, at least according to Bob Woodward. IF that’s true (I’d take the word of a used car salesman over the one of a presstitute), I wouldn’t be shocked; after all, Ford presided over the final defeat of South Vietnam.
Comments Off on Post-Christmas quick hits
December 22, 2006
Al Qaeda is stepping forth to claim victory
(H/T – a pair of Free Republic posts)
ABC News is reporting via Brian Ross’ blog that Al Qaeda has contacted the Democrats to say they deserve credit for their victory in November. Quoting Al Qaeda spokesman Ayman al-Zawahiri (as translated by ABC News) – “The first is that you aren’t the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen — the Muslim Ummah’s vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq — are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are the ones who lost.” Well, thank fuck you presstitutes and retread hippie voters.
Meanwhile, al-Jazeera (left unlinked here) is reporting that their man in Iraq, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, not only wants us out of Iraq inside of a month, but wants all our heavy weapons. Allow me to answer that – NUTS! For al-Baghdadi, el-Slimeroad and those of you with public school educations, let Charlie explain that answer, or read the account of the Army medic who handled the translations, Ernie Premetz (courtesy the St. Petersburg Times).
Comments Off on Al Qaeda is stepping forth to claim victory
December 21, 2006
DC court whacks McCain-Feingold
Remember those ads from Wisconsin Right to Life back in 2004, asking us to try to get Russ el-Slimeroad and Nobody’s Senator to break the filibustering of various judicial nominees? They were initially busted under the McShame-Slimeroad Lieberal Protection Act because el-Slimeroad was running for re-election at the time. After having the case sent back to them by the Supreme Court with instructions to “consider the merits of WRTL’s as-applied challenge in the first instance”, the DC District Court ruled 2-1 that it is, indeed, unconstitutional for Congress to prohibit mentioning a federal candidate’s name within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election if the aim of mentioning that name is to influence public policy.
Comments Off on DC court whacks McCain-Feingold
December 19, 2006
Fresh from the mind of David Zucker…
(H/T – Allahpundit)
…comes a history lesson. Since negotiating with the last madman who wanted to kill all the Jews went sooooo well, James Baker wants to repeat that experience.
Comments Off on Fresh from the mind of David Zucker…
December 18, 2006
Whack-a-ISG recommendation
Aaron’s doing it piecemeal so I don’t have to dredge through the abortion that Lee Hamilton and James Baker spewed forth. I just might anyway because many of those “recommendations” are putrid.
December 14, 2006
If you didn’t think of this before, it’s too late now
The United States Mint has, on its own law-making “authority”, made it illegal to melt your pennies and nickels, carry coins out of the country for anything other than “legitimate coinage and numismatic purposes”, or take more than $100 worth of pennies and nickels out in any one shipment. It seems that a melted-down zinc penny is currently worth 1.12¢, a melted-down copper penny is worth 2.13¢, and a melted-down nickel is worth 6.99¢. The federal price to pay for doing something that is not lucrative short of melting billions of coins – 5 years in Club Fed and $10,000 (plus the seizure of everything you own as you’re treated like a drug dealer).
Who the fuck does the Mint think it is, Congress?
November 30, 2006
So the Baker/Hamilton Commission is going for Retreat and Defeat
Allahpundit and Peter analyze it pretty damn well. Make no mistake; even though there is no firm timetable for the last chopper to leave the US Embassy in Baghdad under enemy fire, negotiating with the two thuggish countries that are turning Iraq into a hellhole along with a reduced presence both in numbers and in role for our troops over there will inevitably have the same effect on Iraq and Lebanon that negotiating with North Vietnam did for South Vietnam and Cambodia, namely a collapse of governments not necessarily anti-American in favor of virulently-anti-American ones. The effect in the rest of the world will also mirror the Vietnam experience; other countries will (rightly) see the US as an untrustworthy partner, unwilling to protect any interests that can’t be done via a short cruise-missile barrage.
One thing left untouched by just about everybody; Iraq will be turned into an unblockable superhighway between Iran and the frontier of Israel. Hope everybody likes strontium-90 and caesium-137 in their food, because one way or the other, that inevitable war will go nuclear.
Comments Off on So the Baker/Hamilton Commission is going for Retreat and Defeat
November 29, 2006
One less loser on the Pubbie side
(Too many hat-tips to give out, so I’ll just choose one from random – Sean Hackbarth)
Former Senate Republican “Leader” Bill Frist has announced he won’t run for President. From his statement:
Twelve years ago, I pledged to the people of Tennessee that I would serve two terms in the Senate – to serve as a true citizen legislator – and then return home. I said I’d come to the Senate with 20 years experience in healing, spend 12 years serving in Washington, then go right back to Tennessee to live where I grew up. I’ve never deviated from that commitment. And I will do just that.
In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close. I do not intend to run for president in 2008.
I’ll give Frist, who I’ve derided as Cave Jr, his due. He knows how to keep his word. Now, where is the next Reagan?
Comments Off on One less loser on the Pubbie side
[No Runny Eggs is proudly powered by WordPress.]
