When Is Mark Warner Moving to Florida?

Inheritance Tax Hypocrisy

I saw an interesting item in the Wall Street Journal this past weekend about the late Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio. Metzenbaum, who passed away recently at age 90, was a Democrat from Ohio, and was known for his leftist voting record and his baseless attacks on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was also a self-made millionaire who made his fortune in parking lots, according to the article.

What’s so interesting about Metzenbaum and his ilk is the issue of inheritance tax avoidance. Here’s what the Journal had to say:

But we come today not to judge the late Senator, only to praise him for one last act of personal financial acumen. Though a lifelong Ohioan, the Senator moved to Florida in 2002, according to a declaration of domicile filed with the Broward County Clerk's office in 2003. In doing so, he avoided paying his home state's income tax (top rate: 6.55%).

More important as he neared the end of his life, the former Senator also saved his family from paying Ohio's death tax, which features one of the highest state rates (7%) and lowest asset thresholds – $338,333 – in the country. Florida famously has no income or estate tax, which is one reason other than the climate that it is home to so many northern-born retirees.

Howard Metzenbaum thus denied the state in which he lived most of his life a parting financial gift. But he has at least provided the rest of us with a teaching moment in tax policy. If a liberal lion like Metzenbaum is willing to relocate late in life to avoid his state's death tax, maybe living politicians in Ohio will better understand how their confiscatory tax laws are driving its citizens to warmer climes.

Another leftist dinosaur, Ted Kennedy, has a hard time explaining why his wealthy family pays so little of the inheritance tax with which the rest of us poor peons are saddled. See the video here. (I think Brian has run this before.)

This brings us to Mark Warner. As we know, Warner ran with a promise not to raise taxes. He lied. He also told us about how he was going to repeal the death tax. Well, as Jim Gilmore and Bob Marshall can probably remind us, Warner lied about that too. Amazingly, Mark Warner has applied his fortune to a foundation, in this case to provide health care to poor communities, or so his web site says. Of course, wealthy people also start these foundations to avoid paying taxes.

Thanks to the tax cuts enacted under Bill Clinton and especially George W. Bush, the amount of wealth in this country has increased, and with it an explosive growth in philanthropic foundations. I do not deny that these foundations (including Mark Warner’s) do a lot of good, but leftists like Warner are being hypocritical by raising taxes on the rest of us who do not have the means to set up this kind of tax avoidance.

Of course, this foundation money may not be subject to inheritance taxes. So Mark Warner gets some reprieve that way. But I wonder, has the former Governor drawn up a will? Is there more money that will be shielded from inheritance taxes? I think it is high time he makes a full disclosure.

I do not wish Mark Warner to win the U.S. Senate race in Virginia, but I will not be so mean as to wish him an early and untimely death. That being said, will Mark Warner also make the move to income- and inheritance-free Florida one of these years?

Taxing Wright-Off

An Ill-Gotten Capital Loss

So we’ve all heard how Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) is so shocked at the words of his (former?) pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. “Enough,” declares the Democratic Presidential hopeful. But it’s only now that you’ve had enough? What have you been thinking the last 20 or so years? For that matter, what has everyone else been thinking?

The one thing we should not say about Wright’s statements is that they are really anything new. Wright himself alludes to black liberation theology, particularly James Cone, who is known for his hateful rhetoric. From what I have gathered, many of the left-wing churches (and this is not limited to any ethnic community) have either looked the other way, or outright (out-Wright?) condoned and approved this sort of thing. It’s either a sense of “solidarity” with a left-wing cause, channeling anger at conservatives, or a sense of self-ashamed guilt. I also find it ironic that Wright talks a great game about oppression and slavery, but then associates with Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene Walcott), a person who voluntarily joined a religion that was most responsible for putting blacks in “chains.”

The fact is, Obama knows quite well what Wright and his ilk have been about all these years. However, the congregation over which Wright presided represented an important stepping stone for a young lawyer with political ambitions, and besides, who would really challenge his associations? After all, that would be “racist!”

Even worse, this kind of behavior has been subsidized by all of us. Here’s what ABC News reported:

The bulk of his remarks addressed, however, different groups seeing each other as deficient. He acted out the differences between marching bands at predominantly black and predominantly white colleges. "Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality," he said. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. "Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style," he said. "They have a different way of learning." And so on.

This is really not any different from what university students as well as workers in government and private industry are being fed day after day, year after year. In fact, universities, private corporations, and government agencies at all levels pay over $1,000 per hour for the privilege of hearing this sort of drivel.

You don’t believe me? Check out this article from the March 2000 issue of Reason Magazine called “Thought Reform 101" by Alan Charles Kors. He describes one such “trainer,” Edwin J. Nichols, a man who has been hired by my employer numerous times. Here’s the training that your tax dollars have paid for:

What does Nichols believe? He believes that culture is genetically determined, and that blacks, Hispanics, and descendants of non-Jewish Middle-Eastern tribes place their "highest value" on "interpersonal relationships." In Africa, women are the equal of men. Whites were altered permanently by the Ice Age. They value objects highly, not people. That is why white men commit suicide so frequently when they are
downsized.

Nichols calls his science of value systems "axiology," and he believes that if managers and administrators understand these cultural differences, they can manage more effectively, understanding why, according to him, blacks attach no importance to being on time, while whites are compulsive about it. Whites are logical; blacks are intuitive and empathetic. Whites are frigid; blacks are warm and spontaneous. Whites are relentlessly acquisitive; nonwhites are in harmony with nature. White engineers, for example, care about their part of something; Asian engineers, managers should know, care about the whole. Whites are linear; nonwhites have a spiral conception of time. Nichols has a handout that he frequently uses. Whites, it explains, "know through counting and measuring"; Native Americans learn through "oneness"; Hispanics and Arabs "know through symbolic and imagery [sic]"; Asians "know through striving toward the transcendence [sic]." Asking nonwhites to act white in the workplace is fatal to organizational harmony. Understanding cultural axiology is essential to management for the 21st century. Now, reread his list of clients.

[Note that the list of clients is in the article.]

Strangely enough, the “Best of the Web Today” column in today’s Wall Street Journal online quoted Brit Hume from “Fox News Sunday.” Hume had no recollection of Rev. Jesse Jackson using the same kind of rhetoric. Hume continues with, “And I said that to him [Jackson] here the other day, and he said no, no, no, I'm not going to touch that.” Maybe that’s for good reason. Remember, Jesse “Shakedown” Jackson has embraced much of the same politics and theology as Wright, and has shaken down corporations and other entities to “hire” the kinds of trainers just like Nichols.

The real pity is that charlatans like Wright and Nichols actually distract minority communities from achieving real solutions Again, today’s Wall Street Journal had a great article about the real outrage affecting urban communities: The sad state of education. Somehow everyone misses the fact that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have sent their children to private schools in order to avoid the voters they take the most for granted. Heck, when you can count on the Jeremiah Wrights of this world creating a distraction, why not?

I once heard a great speaker on the topic of “environmental justice,” Dr. Christopher Foreman. He wrote a book called The Promise and Peril of Environmental Justice in which he also states that this is the kind of issue that distracts distressed urban communities from the real problems that they face such as high crime and failing school systems. Foreman, who happens to be black, was at the time a scholar at the Brookings Institution which is no right-wing think tank.

So basically, we pay for overpriced, crumbling schools in urban areas. We pay extra because of high crime that is not adequately prosecuted in many cities. We pay for bloated city bureaucracies. On top of it all, we also pay for hucksters and charlatans to teach us division and crackpot conspiracy theories. So, why are we all surprised only now?

Solidarity Forever?

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has a "tête à tête" with the California Nurses Association. Read about it at Intercepts.

Another Clinton Health Care Treatment

Saudi Arabia Gives Winged Pigs Free Use of Airspace

Jimmy Carter says Hamas is willing to accept Israel as a neighbor

Apparently, the pigs are still very much on the (Syrian) ground.

Robocall UPDATE

I posted yesterday about how I received a robocall from a leftist group called “American Family Voices,” and how these idiots referred to my Congressman as “Tom Wolfe” instead of Frank Wolf. Anyway, here are a couple of updates to the story:

1) I did call Rep. Wolf’s office, and yes, they had been notified by quite a number of people about this funny call. Congressman Wolf has not, in fact, changed his name.
2) Yesterday’s blog post was quoted in James Taranto’s “Best of the Web Today” column in the Wall Street Journal online! See item titled “From Bauhaus to the House of Representatives.” Thank you!

Fear not, dear reader. I am not "hooking up" with any anti-war group. I mean, they really flunked that "electric Kool-Aid acid test!" ;)

Famous Novelist Becomes Virginia Congressman

Based on a Phone Call I Received

I came home from work to find a robocall message from a group called “American Family Voices.” It said:

Under the watch of Bush-Cheney and Congressman Tom Wolfe, America has grown weaker. Despite billions of dollars spent to enrich private contractors in Iraq, not a single active duty or Reserve brigade in America is considered combat ready. Call Congressman Tom Wolfe at [district office number] and ask him what he is doing to change this. We can’t allow our military to be stretched so thin that we become vulnerable. Tell Congressman Tom Wolfe that something’s got to change.

[Emphasis added]

Now I do like some works of novelist Tom Wolfe, but I didn’t know he was also in Congress! Now you know this is a bit of snark, because, of course, the Congressman for the Tenth District of Virginia is, in fact, Frank Wolf. I checked his web page just now, and it does not show that he has changed his name. (Perhaps I will call his office during business hours tomorrow to confirm this.)

Now I looked up “American Family Voices,” and found some interesting information. Their director, one Mike Lux, is a former Clinton Administration official who started his organization with a lot of Big Labor funding. AFV has also received a lot of funding from leftist film producer Steve Bing (currently in a paternity dispute with actress Elizabeth Hurley). Lux is apparently collecting money for Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Now those of you familiar with the Virginia blogosphere know that this is the kind of idiocy we expect from the “Say no to war unless a Democrat is President” Clinton supporters like Nasty Leftist Schmuck (who certainly never will be "a man in full") and his moronic friends. Aside from the factually challenged message, it is obvious that these kinds of people can never appreciate the military victories, engineering accomplishments, and humanitarian work being performed by American military, civilians, and allies from a wide range of countries.

Clearly, the AFV people do not have “the right stuff.” They are so deranged by Bush hatred, they may well end up setting a “bonfire” to their “vanities.”

DC Madam Moving to Denmark

As Soon as She Gets Out of Jail

Hat tip: Ace

Convicted DC Madam Deborah Jean Palfrey has stated that she is moving to Denmark as soon as she finishes her prison sentence. Ms. Palfrey made the statement upon hearing the news that Denmark provides prostitutes for the elderly at nursing homes. “I have always wanted to help old people who can’t always help themselves,” said Ms. Palfrey. “’Escorting’ them to meet their basic needs is one way I can use my expertise to help society. I am glad that Denmark is enlightened enough to have a system in which my talents can be put to good use.”

Ms. Palfrey added that “Of course, I will not make it a requirement that anyone do anything illegal or immoral. Why would anyone say that my high-class health care workers would even think of such a thing?”

Elementary Thoughts XI

Wisdom from Ron's Seven-Year-Old Son

I think it's a very funny clock. I think it's tricky to tell time. I think it's curvy.

What happens if every hour it makes the house go into outer space?

[Daddy notes that he's really excited about the clock in the previous entry, but knows that Mommy would think it's a waste of money. Daddy actually does have a backwards clock in the office.]

For the Person Who Has Everything

The Dali Clock!

Available (appropriately?) at Stupid.com

Let's Turn Obama's Words Around

Shall We?

You go into these big cities in Illinois and, like a lot of big cities in the Midwest, the schools have been gone now for 45 years and nothing's replaced them...And they fell through the NEA administration, and the AFT administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to crime or radical ministers or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-white sentiment or anti-Jewish sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

All of a sudden, it sounds offensive, right, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.?

Water, Water, Everywhere

And Even a Drop or Two to Drink!

Our good friends at UCV posted an interesting item about the opening of a new water treatment facility in Iraq. The information, supplied by U.S. Central Command, speaks of how 60,000 people in the Iraqi town of Mahmudiyah now have clean water to drink.

As we know, lack of clean water is a huge problem in developing countries, and providing water treatment gives some of the biggest bang for the environmental buck. As we have seen here, though, most of the public attention is directed towards more scientifically shaky concepts like “global warming.”

What really gets me, though, is how many of today’s left wing “environmentalists” were against the liberation of Iraq. Not only did Saddam Hussein develop chemical weapons, fund terrorists, and murder hundreds of thousands of his own countrymen, but he also imposed vast environmental destruction. He deliberately drained marshlands in southern Iraq in order to punish the “marsh Arabs” of southern Iraq. He also played favorites with what populations got better access to clean water and electricity (not that any infrastructure was maintained properly). In fact, it is reasonable to attribute several thousand more deaths in Iraq to Saddam’s environmentally destructive practices.

Now that Iraq has been liberated from this thug and our troops, contractors, NGOs, and volunteers have helped to clean up the place, where is the gratitude from the lefties? Apparently, deranged hatred is more important!

Elementary Pranks

My wife and I were watching TV last night. I decided to get a glass of water and put some ice cubes in it. As I was drinking the water, I noticed it tasted funny. Then I saw something floating in the water. What was the stuff? Onion!

My seven-year-old had put onion in the ice tray (Monday, when my wife was making dinner and needed onion as an ingredient for something), filled it with water, and put it in the freezer. So when I got the ice, it slowly melted and released onion. He did admit to having pulled this as an April Fool's prank yesterday. I told him that it could have backfired if he got a glass of juice and put ice in it. He could have had "onion grape juice" or something like that. We can only just imagine the funny story he gets to tell his friends in school today!

As that Annals of Improbable Research always tells us, "Children are naturally good scientists. Help them stay that way."

You all can stop laughing now!

Bosnia Amnesia

Not "Seared" in Her Memory!

Via Drudge

Check out this video. What is interesting is, not only the typical Clinton lie and lame spin machine, but watching who performs for the troops. Yes, Miss Peace Activist herself, Sheryl Crow. No protests against American military action back when Bill Clinton was sending troops into Bosnia, were there? Just nice, mellow support. But hey, say no to war unless a Democrat is President!

Chag Purim Sameach

Tonight marks the Jewish holiday of Purim, in which we remember Queen Esther, her uncle Mordechai, and their work to save the Jewish community of Shushan, Persia from destruction by the evil Haman. I've always wondered if the Islamofascist regime in Iran would fall on this holiday some year. Haman and Khamenei, sound close enough, right?

On a personal note, it is also my grandfather's birthday. He is turning 105, so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish him Yom Huledet Sameach. Here's a picture of him taken a couple of years ago.

Obama Damn-A-Rama

Just about everything that can be said about Sen. Barack Obama and his (now retired?) preacher/spiritual advisor seems to have been said. Maybe the good Senator is learning how “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up!” In this case, Obama first tried to pretend this problem existed, then denied ever hearing any of Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s offensive sermons, then had to admit that he did. And he was a member of this church for over 17 years and didn’t know? Okaaaaaaaaay!

A few interesting things do come to my mind:

1) Rev. Wright sure had an interesting way of expressing his anger at America. At the same time, this particular congregation has been very successful, with thousands of members, correct? Now if the United States were so oppressive, would this church be so successful and be able to carry on all the charitable programs to which Wright and Obama have both alluded?
2) Wright’s views on the Middle East are very telling. Despite Obama’s protestations, the mindset of Jeremiah Wright is clearly evident in Obama’s foreign policy team. Senator Obama has clearly surrounded himself with people who do not value our allies (such as Israel) and would undo the economic growth that has come about via free trade deals on this side of the world. It really is no wonder that Obama had Wright on his campaign team at the beginning. Obama’s belated distancing at this point doesn’t pass the smell test.
3) Think back to the civil rights movement, and particularly to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now we know from his famous words that he sought justice through a more color-blind society, and his vision was much more harmonious. Now Barack Obama kept making excuses for Jeremiah Wright, saying that his angry words were a result of past discrimination. Well, Martin Luther King experienced lots of discrimination, and I’m sure it was at least as bad as what Wright has experienced. Now I looked up the famous “I Have a Dream” speech of August 28, 1963, and the conclusion is quite relevant here:

“Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring - when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children - black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Real faith brings hope and optimism, not feelings of hatred and victimization.

See? I could have saved Obama more than $20,000 that he spent on this church (and a lot of embarrassment) with my free advice!

Breakfast for Eliot

I hope it's not too late to revel in someone's misfortune here!

Tune: Breakfast in America
Apologies to Supertramp

Take a look at my girlfriend,
Not the only one I got
Not much of a girlfriend,
But she charges quite a lot

Take Acela through New Jersey
Like to see my hotel suite
See the girls in the Mayflower
I’m hopin’ my cash will come through
But there’s not a lot I can do.

Could I have Ashley for breakfast,
Banker dear, banker dear,
I want to have her on Wall Street,
Where everyone’s a billionaire

I’m a winner, I’m a sinner
Do you want my photograph?
I’m a loser, what a joker

I’m playin’ my jokes upon you,
Until I found that I’m through
Papararam pano daram no no no
Papararam pano daram no no no
Nya nya nya nyanya nya nya nya

Don’t you look at my girlfriend
I’m her only “Emperor,”
Not much of a girlfriend,
But that is what hush money’s for

Tried to builda life with Silda
She was not adventurous,
See the girls in California
I’m hoping it’s going to come true,
When all of my jail time’s through

Papararam pano daram no no no
Papararam pano daram no no no
Hey aham
Hey aham
Hey aham
Hey aham
Hey aham
Hey aham
Hey aham
Hey aham

Nya nya nya nyanya nya nya nya

Republicans for Obama?

Crossovers We All Have to Bear

I saw an interesting article today on National Review Online about Republicans who have been voting in Democratic primaries. The article said that, based on exit polling, most self-described Republicans were voting for Senator Barack Obama. Here is a quote concerning Virginia’s February 12, 2008 primary:

Virginia’s open primary on February 12 was the next test. There Republicans made up 7 percent of Democratic primary voters, and they overwhelmingly favored Obama, 72 percent to 23 percent. The 22 percent of voters who were independents weren’t far behind, at 69 percent for Obama and 30 percent for Clinton. Virginia Democrats were a bit less enthusiastic, at 62 percent to 38 percent. But the strongest Obama vote came from the 12 percent who called themselves conservatives, a group drawing members from all three party categories. They voted 73 percent to 24 percent for Obama.

In Texas, despite the exhortations of Rush Limbaugh, most Republicans who voted in the Democratic primary still went for Obama, though not by as great a margin as in other States.

Interestingly, there was this article last week in the Washington Times about how Obama was more likely to drive Democrats to vote for John McCain in the general election.

And contrary to conventional wisdom, numbers emerging from polls and primary results show that Sen. John McCain — who has alienated conservatives as he courts independents and moderate Democrats — holds an advantage over Sen. Barack Obama in the race for crossover votes.

There are now more McCainocrats than Obamacans — about 14 percent of Democrats say they would vote for Mr. McCain today instead of Mr. Obama, but just 8 percent of Republicans say they would vote for the Illinois Democrat, according to a Pew Research Center survey on Feb. 28.

Additionally, 20 percent of white Democratic voters say they would defect to Mr. McCain if Mr. Obama is the Democratic Party's nominee — twice the number who would cross over if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wins the nomination, Pew found.

This raises interesting questions: Are those Republicans crossing over in the Dem primaries voting for Obama because they are anti-war, or because they perceive Obama to be the weakest Democrat? Many of the antiwar Republicans were voting for Ron Paul, but maybe some viewed Paul as an unviable candidate and placed their votes where they thought they would do the most good. Then again, Obama has been classified as the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, so you wonder if he is a lot weaker than he is currently perceived.

Now Senator Clinton may not lose as many crossover votes to McCain, or so the polls say. However, given the state of the Democratic primary race, if Clinton manages to “steal” the nomination from Obama (based on getting a lot of Superdelegates, or getting pledged Obama delegates to abandon him), this could tick off a lot of the base, and especially black voters. Some may get sick and tired of being taken for granted and vote for McCain. The crossover potential should Clinton win the Democratic nomination (and especially if Obama is not her running mate) may be understated in the polls.

Now I realize the “crossover” analysis has been grossly simplified here. However, readers are welcome to share other dynamics here.

Interesting Juxtaposition

Courtesy of Drudge Report

These headlines were very close to each other:

Spitzer Used Hookers for Six Years

STUDY: At least 1 in 4 American teen girls has sex transmitted disease

I guess character doesn't count!

Just sayin' . . .

“An Insult to Monsters Everywhere!”

Obama Advisor Resigns over Remark about Clinton

Samantha Power, believed to be one of the chief foreign policy advisors to the Presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), resigned from the campaign today after it was revealed that she referred to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a “monster.” The group Helping All Monsters Attain Sympathy (HAMAS), an international advocacy organization for monsters, sent out a press release saying that Powers’ remarks “were an insult to monsters everywhere. We at HAMAS know what it’s like to be monsters, and we are especially disappointed that this came from the Obama campaign, which we had valued as our friend.”

The Clinton campaign did not have an immediate reaction. However, the Senator’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, started to say that “maybe Powers should have been more specific, like refer to Hillary as a ‘ball-busting monster’ or something like that . . .” Unfortunately, the phone connection went dead quite abruptly after former President Clinton uttered that phrase.

The message to the Obama to remove Powers was relayed by Congressman James Moran (D-VA-8). Moran is well-known for his monstrous behavior, particularly to women and minorities. In addition, many believe that Moran holds views very dear to those of HAMAS.

Islamic Rage Boy Interns at the Associated Press

Reason for Legal Nasty-gram to Snapped Shot Discovered

It has by now become a sad, yet well-known fact that one of our fellow Old Dominion Blog Alliance colleagues, Snapped Shot, has received a “cease and desist” letter from the Associated Press. What was not known until today was the primary motivation was the research done by the AP’s newest intern, one “Islamic Rage Boy,” a young man depicted on several blogs including Snapped Shot.

The young man, whose full name is not known to Westerners but often goes by the nickname “al-Ghotfuqr,” has told his manager, Priti H. Doshi (AP’s Corporate Counsel), that he perceives images of him posted on Snapped Shot to be less than flattering. “I was very fortunate to land this internship,” said IRB. “While I do not have any experience in Western legal customs, this provides an excellent opportunity to understand the system we want to destroy, er, reform to achieve diversity standards. I warn all such ‘blogs’ to be very careful of these unflattering depictions of the faithful, or else you, too, will be slammed with Allah’s wrath, er, I mean, you will receive warning letters from the Corporate Counsel.”

When asked how one would know in advance what photos would be acceptable, IRB added helpfully, “Please feel free to write Priti H. Doshi at pdoshi@ap.org or call him at 212-621-RATS (7287). Everyone should inquire immediately in order to avoid such blasphemy, er, incidents, in the future.”

Documentary evidence from The Nose on Your Face seems to support the existence of IRB’s new employment. “Besides,” said PA President Mahmoud Abbas, “al-Ghotfuqr was a favorite of the late Yassir Arafat, and he is giving us the most interesting information about the New York subway.”

William F. Buckley, Jr.

Many of the conservative blogs and publications are discussing the passing of William F. Buckley, Jr. today. Certainly, he was a great man, his National Review magazine is a fantastic publication, and I will miss him. Without repeating a lot of what everyone else has said, he was a great intellectual force who unified a lot of us behind principles by showing how conservative ideas bring better solutions to the challenges facing us, and by showing how the ideas from the left are often destructive.

The best memories I have of Buckley are of his mastery of the English language. Yeah, sure, I’m a dumb engineer, but his attention to language is what has fascinated and inspired me. No matter what profession any of us may enter, knowledge of English, and I mean good English, will always be helpful. One particular memory I have is of a letter writer (and this may have been to the old Washington Star newspaper back in the 1970s). The person wrote in response to a Buckley column, and included the phrase “pleonastic to the point of being catachrestic.” Now don’t you love stuff like that? (He must have had a profound influence on society – the Microsoft Word spell checker did not flag any of that as unknown words!)

Well, a proper eulogy for Bill Buckley should include some sesquipedalian grandiloquent verbosity, but I will keep my farewell simple. So may he rest in peace (in pace requiescat?), and let us all build a better world, both with language and ideas, in his memory.

Ralphie Runs Again

Cross Country in a Corvair

Perennial independent candidate Ralph Nader today announced yet another bid for the White House. Nader, who turns 74 on February 27, cited "the youth and inexperience of his major party opponents " as the main reason for yet another quixotic run. "While Ronald Reagan said in 1984 that he refused to make an issue of the age difference between himself and his opponent, I see the issue differently," said Nader. He also dismissed allegations that he has made millions from the stock of the large corporations he publicly deplores, saying, "I can teach those young whippersnappers [Obama and McCain] a thing or two about money and politics."

Ralph Nader also deplored the outsourcing of automotive parts to multiple countries. "I can show that we can tour the country in a small, fuel-efficient, domestically-made vehicle," he said. Unfortunately, all I have to work with right now is a General Motors product from 1965. From what I have read, though, the car is pretty safe."

Democrats, worried about a repeat of Ralph Nader's alleged "spoiler" effect from the 2000 Presidential election, faced the situation with bravado. "He's just a deflated old airbag," said a Democratic National Committee source who asked not to be named. Republicans appeared not to be worried, but were "disappointed in Nader's lack of gratitude for the growth in his portfolio due to President Bush's tax cuts."

And Now, a Musical Interlude

With a little military victory thrown in!

Hat tip: Zelda




A couple of cool quotes from the comments (in which My Pet Jawa wants to know what the music is):

"For such noble soldiers unafraid to be martyred for Allah, they sure do run fast when The Great Satan comes knockin.'"

"It's Wagner, 'Requiem fur Scheisskopfen.'"

Obama’s Military Source Discovered

Hope Floats?

During Thursday’s Democratic debate Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) claimed that American troops rode in open Humvees and had to resort to stealing Taliban weapons in Afghanistan due to their own weapons and equipment shortages. Since then, Obama has been challenged, particularly by Republicans, to produce his mysterious military source of information.

Today, the junior Senator from Massachusetts came to Obama’s aid. John Kerry said that the source was the same man who conveyed to him President Nixon’s orders to go to Cambodia in 1968. Kerry was quoted as saying that this individual would be of great help to Obama as he was “seared, seared in my memory!” Many Republicans wondered aloud if Obama would also receive a souvenir hat, possibly of the stannous variety.

The campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) reacted derisively. Top campaign aide Howard Wolfson was heard to say “Obama thinks that he’s on a swift boat to the nomination, but we’re going to give him some white water, that’s for sure!”

Life in a Northern Town

No, silly, that does not mean Fairfax!

Here is a remake of the mid-80s song as performed by Sugarland, Little Big Town, and Jake Owen.

For historical reference, here is a video with the original group, The Dream Academy.

Obama’s Radical Leftist Supporters

Hat Tips: Zelda and Powerline

Over the past couple of days, I have seen some disturbing news reports about the kinds of people Senator Barack Obama has attracted to his campaign. Most disturbing are his “advisors.” Powerline has featured reports about his terrorist-apologist supporter Samantha Power, for whom groups like Hamas can do no wrong. Can you imagine in an Obama Administration someone like that being trusted with a high profile position at the State Department? Powerline also reminds us that Obama has brought on one Susan Rice, the person who persuaded the Clinton Administration not to make Sudan turn over Osama bin Laden. Maybe confusing Obama with Osama is more than Freudian, eh? We don’t have to remind you that Obama’s church minister is known for having made Jew-hating remarks as well.

Zelda brings up another Obama contributor, Robert Ayers. Ayers was a 1960s Weatherman radical who participated in various bombings during the early 1970s. The New York Times picked a great day to print a flattering article about Ayers – September 11, 2001 (in which Ayers is quoted as saying “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.”) Ayers is now a professor in -- are you ready for this? -- Chicago!

Ron Paul was (rightfully) called to account concerning a contribution from a white supremacist leader. Why isn’t the same happening with Barack Obama?

Why does Obama insist on bringing people like this close to him and/or taking their contributions? What is his underlying foreign policy? Disturbingly, it is (to put it kindly) a very naïve approach to terrorist groups like Hamas or sponsoring countries like Iran and Syria. At worst, it is hostility to American allies and values. We don’t need this in the White House, that’s for sure!

By the way, Sen. Hillary Clinton has also sent advisors to meet with Syrian authorities, right after the car bomb death of terrorist leader Imad Mughniyeh. Condolence call, maybe?

I can’t wait for Snapped Shot to feature a picture of Islamic Rage Boy on the Obama campaign trail!

Castro to Become Democratic Convention Delegate

Resigns Cuban Presidency for “More Rewarding Job”

Cuban President Fidel Castro resigned from the Cuban Presidency after close to 49 years in order to become a “super” delegate to the Democratic National Convention. According to sources, Castro has reached an agreement with the Democratic National Committee to become “El Jefe” of a Cuban delegation that will replace the disqualified Florida one.

“We can have a primary, no trouble” said a spokesman for the ailing Cuban leader. “Any number of delegates you want, we bring.”

The move is widely seen as a big boost to Senator Hillary Clinton’s lagging campaign. “This primary is certainly full of tough decisions,” said Castro through written statement. “The Clinton health care plan is certainly more restrictive than what I would like. However, her views on government and civil liberties are very close to my own. Besides, Barack Obama is just too left wing for me.”

It is believed that former President Bill Clinton is also excited by Castro’s arrival to the convention. “I’ve always wanted to try some Cuban sugar,” said the former President. “Maybe Castro will bring some real Cuban cigars with him. I can show everyone all the great things we can do with them. Maybe one of the young women in his delegation would want to intern for me?”

Governors along several East Coast States are competing to give Fidel Castro a driver’s license. While New York Governor Elliot Spitzer and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley were thought to have the best chance, it appears that New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine will win out. Corzine had made a secret promise to name a rest stop along the Garden State Parkway after Castro.

Also an issue is whether or not Castro is really alive. “Nothing in the Democratic National Committee rules prevent the deceased from casting votes at the convention,” said top Clinton aide Howard Wolfson. Pennsylvania Governor “Fast Eddie” Rendell added, “Dead or not, we expect Castro to be able to cast votes in Philadelphia like so many other necro-Americans like him do. Castro should know that he does have a friend in Pennsylvania!”

McCain Accused of Plagiarism

The campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner today accused Republican Senator John McCain of plagiarism after McCain promised not to raise taxes. “This is the exact same line I used in my 2001 gubernatorial campaign!” complained Warner. It is believed that Warner’s campaign was planning to use Democrat-leaning blogs as a means of disseminating this point of view.

Republican sources point out that promising to lower taxes isn’t exactly plagiarism. A McCain campaign source said, “Unlike Warner, McCain actually means what he says. Besides, we all know that anyone who sends information through Bipolar Ben isn’t exactly engaging in straight talk!”

Chinese New Year and Presidential Elections

Originally calculated for the mini-AIR

Here is a table of who was elected and what “Chinese year” it was when the president was elected. Note that the Chinese calendar runs in a 12 year cycle, so U.S. presidents can only be elected in the years of the rat, the dragon, or the monkey. Until the time of F. D. Roosevelt, inaugurations were held on March 4, in the next "Chinese year" (ox, snake, and rooster, respectively). During FDR's term in office, inaugurations were changed to January 20, which was always in the same Chinese year" as the presidential election (since Chinese New Year never seems to occur before January 21).

The reader may decide what is the significance of the table on a particular president's administration. For example, several wars (War of 1812, Mexican War, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and both Gulf Wars) broke out after a president was elected in the year of the dragon. Additionally, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, and Teddy Roosevelt, who all had a "dragon" election, were famous for saber rattling. Some presidents elected in the year of the monkey (Grant, Harding, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton) have experienced major scandals in their administrations.

(Pardon the formatting, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to do tables in Blogger.)

Year. . . . Chinese year . . . . President elected . . . . Inaugural year
1788 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Washington . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1792 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Washington . . . . . . . . . Ox
1796 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . John Adams . . . . . . . . Snake
1800 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . .Jefferson . . . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1804 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Jefferson . . . . . . . . . . . .Ox
1808 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . .Madison . . . . . . . . . . . . Snake
1812 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . .Madison . . . . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1816 . . . . .Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Monroe . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ox
1820 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . .Monroe . . . . . . . . . . . . .Snake
1824 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . John Q. Adams . . . . . . Rooster
1828 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . Ox
1832 . . . .Dragon . . . . . . . . . Jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . Snake
1836 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Van Buren . . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1840 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . W H Harrison (1) . . . . Ox
1844 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . Polk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Snake
1848 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Taylor (1) . . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1852 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pierce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ox
1856 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . Buchanan . . . . . . . . . . . Snake
1860 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Lincoln . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1864 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Lincoln (1) . . . . . . . . . . Ox
1868 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Snake
1872 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1876 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Hayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ox
1880 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . Garfield (1) . . . . . . . . . Snake
1884 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Cleveland . . . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1888 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . B. Harrison . . . . . . . . . . Ox
1892 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . Cleveland . . . . . . . . . . . Snake
1896 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . McKinley . . . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1900 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . McKinley (1) . . . . . . . . Ox
1904 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . T Roosevelt . . . . . . . . . Snake
1908 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Taft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1912 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ox
1916 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Snake
1920 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Harding (1) . . . . . . . . . Rooster
1924 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Coolidge . . . . . . . . . . . . Ox
1928 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . Hoover . . . . . . . . . . . . . Snake
1932 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . F D Roosevelt . . . . . . . Rooster
1936 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . F D Roosevelt. . . . . . . . Rat
1940 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . F D Roosevelt . . . . . . . Dragon
1944 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . F D Roosevelt (1) . . . . Monkey
1948 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Truman . . . . . . . . . . . . Rat
1952 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . Eisenhower . . . . . . . . . Dragon
1956 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Eisenhower . . . . . . . . . Monkey
1960 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Kennedy (1) . . . . . . . . . Rat
1964 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . L B Johnson . . . . . . . . . Dragon
1968 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Nixon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monkey
1972 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Nixon (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . Rat
1976 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dragon
1980 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . Reagan . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monkey
1984 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . Reagan . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rat
1988 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . G H W. Bush . . . . . . . . .Dragon
1992 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . .Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . Monkey
1996 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rat
2000 . . . . Dragon . . . . . . . . . G W Bush . . . . . . . . . . . Dragon
2004 . . . . Monkey . . . . . . . . G W Bush . . . . . . . . . . . Monkey
2008 . . . . Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . ????? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rat

Note:

(1) President did not serve full term due to death or resignation.

More Pre-K Silliness

Overpriced and Oversold

Tennessee blogger Bill Hobbs has an excellent summary of a report concerning the effectiveness of pre-kindergarten programs being pushed by Phil Bredesen, the Democrat Governor there. Gov. Bredesen wants to add $25 million to the program, and, as Bill Hobbs has helpfully pointed out, this is on top of the $55 million the State of Tennessee has already spent on some 17,000 students. (See the comments section.) In other words, that’s over $3,200 per student, more than the average in affluent areas of Nashville or, for that matter, Fairfax County, Virginia.

Here is Bill’s money quote:

The study, funded by the Tennessee Department of Education and the Tennessee State Comptroller's Office of Education Accountability, shows that pre-K education does not help white girls and actually hurts white and minority boys. It helps only minority girls.

Tell you what: How about establishing a voucher program so parents can decide what is best for their children? Heck, let’s do that for all school-aged kids!

Now various bloggers (particularly Jerry) have pointed to the large amounts of money Virginia’s own Gov. Tim Kaine wants to spent on pre-K programs, on the order of $75 million (and more than $5,000 per child). Maybe he should take heed of what already hasn’t worked effectively next door!

Excessive spending for ineffective (or even harmful) government social programs. No wonder these clowns get mentioned as potential running mates for Senators Clinton and Obama!

Picture from SOTU Speech

Using Junk Science to Bash the Military

WHAT Reducing Dependence on Foreign Sources?

It looks like our old friend Henry "Nostrilitis" Waxman is at it again, this time assisted by Virginia's own Tom Davis (R-11). The two sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates demanding to know to what extent the Defense Department is -- Are you sitting down? This is shocking! -- experimenting with coal-to-liquid fuels! The letter cites a new law called "The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007" (which means President Bush must have signed it) a 310-page law (at least in PDF form) which is larded up with all kinds of interesting provisions. The one of interest today is here, according to Waxman and Davis:

No Federal agency shall enter into a contract for procurement of an alternative or
synthetic fuel, including a fuel produced from nonconventional petroleum sources, for
any mobility-related use, other than for research or testing, unless the contract specifies that the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production
and combustion of the fuel supplied under the contract must, on an ongoing basis, be less than or equal to such emissions from the equivalent conventional fuel produced from conventional petroleum sources.

Ain't that grand? So given all the hoopla about getting rid of our dependence on foreign energy sources, placing blame for high energy prices, or complaining about military readiness, or whining about the economy and loss of jobs, the global warming junk science is of paramount importance! It all goes to show you how for the leftists, any declarations about their caring for the military are crocodile tears.

Now an argument can be made that the Federal government already funds too much research, and the private sector can do it all more cheaply and effectively. However, this is a case in which the government is also picking its winning technologies. Did it occur to these people that the economy will be able to sort this out? My guess is that even our Defense Department labs will figure out all this fuel effectiveness much better than the corn-ethanol boosters who have ruled the roost on Capitol Hill for oh, the past three decades or more.

I knew that the Democrats are into all kinds of rationing, but I presumed that it was just to be at the expense of poor peons like you and me. Who knew that they would go this far? The bigger question is, why do Republicans go along with all this?

Dollar Tree Stock Drops 4.4%

Owner of Breck Label sees stock price fall as Democrat Presidential hopeful John Edwards ends race for his party’s nomination.

Time Wounds All Heels

Winter of the Clintons' Discontent?

I just love all these quotes about the Clintons from their (now former?) friends and apologists. This one is my favorite:

Columnist/Editor Jonathan Chait: “Am I starting to sound like a Clinton hater? It’s a scary thought. Of course, to conservatives, it’s a delicious thought. The Wall Street Journal published a gloating editorial noting that liberals had suddenly learned “what everyone else already knows about the Clintons.” (By “everyone,” it means Republicans.) It made me wonder: Were the conservatives right about Bill Clinton all along?” (The Los Angeles Times).

As it happens, I did read the the Wall Street Journal's editorial about the Clintons and their race-baiting. The Journal also noted the disappointment expressed by the left-wing writers. The conclusion (to which Chait had alluded) was:

This primary contest has been a rolling revelation for many Democrats and the media, as they've been shocked to see the Clinton brand of divisive politics played against one of their own. Liberal columnists who long idolized the Clintons are even writing more-in-sorrow-than-anger pieces asking how Bill and Hillary could descend to such deceptive tactics. Allow us to answer that lament this way: Our readers aren't surprised. [Emphasis in the original.]

Now we should all realize that Hillary Clinton still has a very good chance of winning the DemocratICK nomination, particularly with her strength in "superdelegates." The angry left editorialists most likely will come around to supporting her, because hatred of almost anything Republican is paramount. And let's face it, even Senator Clinton could well win the general election. I would never underestimate the power of the Clinton spin machine.

There is another trajectory, though. Yes, Hillary Clinton could well win her party's nomination, but what does the race-baiting mean? Does it get the minority vote to sit home? Does a larger percentage get attracted to the eventual Republican nominee (whome I am guessing will be either Romney or McCain)? Some of this depends on how much more offensive the Clintons become against Senator Obama.

Now I've made fun of Barack Obama, but from my point of view, he's mostly an empty suit without well-thought-out stands on the issues. However, what he doesn't deserve are some of the insulting characterizations that has come from the former President and the junior Senator from New York. Unfortunately, Bill Clinton gets out of control when everything becomes about Bill Clinton.

Truly a tragedy in the making.

Arafat Tried to Give Blood

Motivated to Help

Hat tip: Powerline

Several recent reports say that September 12, 2001 photographs of former PLO leader Yasir Arafat donating blood were staged. However, new information reveals that Arafat did, in fact, want to give, but was squeamish at the sight of the needle.

“Chairman Arafat always believed that it is better to shed someone else’s blood,” said a source close to the now deceased terrorist leader. “However, in this case he really was motivated to give his own blood to the American victims of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center destruction. After all, this way he could give them AIDS and other venereal diseases that he carried.”

Barack Obama Helps with Iraq Flag Compromise

“Change” for the South

U.S. Senator and Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (D-IL) announced today that he is helping to bring stability to Iraq by quelling riots over their flag controversy. Obama, who has been widely criticized by his primary opponents for his lack of experience and expertise in foreign policy matters, hopes that this action will “bring change” to his image as a lightweight.

The government of Iraq has been mired in controversy on finding a flag which would appeal to its various ethnic groups. Approval of the most recent flag has sparked riots in the streets as well as calls for even more compromise. Obama has told reporters that he as “seen an opening” to inject himself into the issue in his own innovative way.

“This is part of what change is,” said Obama. “We’ll change the Iraqi flag for the Confederate one on the State Capitol grounds. Since I've had this idea, I've decided to run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.

“I have gotten a lot of inspiration from Dr. Jeremiah Wright, the minister who married Michelle and me,” said Obama. Because he is such a good friend of Louis Farrakhan, “I can reach out to many communities in the Middle East that ordinarily get shunned. I think by doing this, we can pull our troops out immediately from Iraq,” added Obama

Obama also believes his move has helped him win the hotly-contested South Carolina primary and may well help him, particularly with the black vote, in other Southern States such as Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.

Obama concluded: “The flag of Iraq would look great in front of the South Carolina Statehouse. The only negative feedback seems to be from the kinds of people who would vote for Republicans or for John Edwards anyway, so their opinion doesn’t count for much. The Confederate Battle Flag should appeal to all Iraqi ethnic groups equally. I ask that the State Department bring this to Baghdad immediately.”

New Iraqi flag as proposed by Senator Barack Obama

The campaign of Hillary Clinton had no reaction to Senator Obama's idea, but former Senator John Edwards attacked Obama immediately. "My hair looks better in the wind that Obama's flags," said Edwards.

Democrat Health Care Plan

Image courtesy of Scott . . .








It's easy to see how a certain Democrat blogger gets all excited by this plan.

O'Brien Mulls LG Run

I heard last night at the Fairfax County Republican Committee meeting that former State Senator Jay O'Brien is deciding whether or not to run for Lieutenant Governor next year, assuming that current LG Bill Bolling decides not to run for re-election for that job. Jay O'Brien narrowly lost re-election last year in the Democratic takeover of the State Senate. O'Brien is a great guy, funny, and a good conservative on the issues.

In other news, Arthur Purves, who ran unsuccessfully for Delegate in Fairfax County last year, talked to the Fairfax County Republican Committee about his campaign, and the fact that he got 36% of the vote by spending only $9,000 against a much wealthier Democratic incumbent. One interesting remark he made was that he put a scare in some obscure blogger named "Not Larry Sabato." (Click link at your own risk.)

Bollywood Hava Nagila

Hat tip: Petitedov

This is one of the strangest YouTube videos I have ever seen!

Unimportant Fact not Published

I heard an item on the news this morning about how a teacher at Chantilly High School in Fairfax County, Virginia has been accused of using a computer to solicit sex with a minor. Naturally, I am disturbed that such a person is a teacher in a local school, but I am glad that the authorities have busted the guy (assuming he is guilty).

Now what is interesting about the article in the Post is that it mentions that this teacher, "Matthew E. McGuire, 29, taught Spanish and coached boys' and girls' track teams" at the high school. Oh, yeah, and one other thing. According to the school's web site, he (or at least someone with the same name) is also a faculty sponsor of a certain political club at the high school:

I took a screenshot and erased the names of other people involved in the club (though it is public information since the school put it on the Internet).

Now if the teacher was a faculty sponsor for a different major political party, do you think the information would have been left out of the article?

Kissin' Up to Reverend Al

Democrat(ICK!) Hopefuls and Sharpton

Hat tip: Republican Jewish Coalition

See New Yorker article here.

EXCERPT:

And on the surface, that’s partly what this primary season comes down to for Sharpton: a race to see which candidate can kiss his ring the most, the fastest, and with the most sincere pucker. With a black candidate and the spouse of “the first black president” in the race, the jockeying to secure the black vote in the primaries has never been more intense. All of which puts Sharpton in demand. “In the end,” he says, “they may all hate my guts. But it’s the reality of the landscape … how much they need me and how bad. I’m sure right now they know they need me.” Though many have said that Sharpton’s brand of identity politics is obsolete, citing Obama (not to mention the ongoing investigation of the reverend’s finances) as evidence, Sharpton isn’t worried. “Ten years ago, they said Colin Powell was going to make Jesse obsolete. And ten years before. They’ve always had a Barack Obama. There will always be a more inside, acceptable black they will say makes us obsolete. I worry about that as much as James Brown worried about Sammy Davis making him obsolete.”

First of all, you gotta love the lavish lifestyle of a man who is supposedly broke. Second of all, you can just count on another campaign full of race-baiting coming to your country this fall. I wonder what form it will take this time?

Umm, About that Increased Transportation Spending . . .

Another Little “Diversion”

It seems that our esteemed Governor has decided to set up a “Commission” to study the devastating contributions to “global warming” we in the Commonwealth are making. I heard of using the “rainy day” fund, but this is ridiculous! Seriously, though, I wouldn’t put it past the Dems to call this a legitimate form of “Transportation spending” (after all, to study climate, right?) Then, gee whiz, the study will show that all those roads we need in Northern Virginia will cause global warming, so the extra fees will just have to go into rail projects or grants to some (politically favored) environmental groups. So I guess not all the lane miles of roads will get built. Well, unless we agree to another tax hike . . .

Right-Wing Liberal rips the Commission up here. Speaker Howell, are you listening? Senator Ken, do you know about this? Well, you will hear from one of your constituents in a few minutes, anyway!

John Edwards Fabulous Facts

If you haven't read these from IMAO, you should. Just sayin' . . .

("Leather or tights?")

Kat's Carnival of Christmas

OK, I don't celebrate Christmas (though I'll take the day off that they give me), but Kat did a heck of a job on her Carnival of Christmas, so I for one congratulate her for all her hard work. Best wishes to all!

Taxes, Civil War Style

What Was Written in the 1860s

Whatever you think of the Washington Times, they run a great “Civil War” page each week. This week, the subject was Abraham Lincoln and his personal finances. Lincoln was evidently a pretty good saver (despite his wife’s alleged extravagant spending), because at his death, Lincoln’s estate was valued at over $80,000 (and a total of about $110,000 was distributed to Lincoln’s widow and two surviving sons a couple of years later).

The topic of taxes also came up in this article. Evidently, an income tax was levied to help fund the Civil War. It is possible that this same tax was declared unconstitutional, which is why we have the 16th Amendment instead. The passage from the article is quite interesting:

To help fund the war, Congress passed legislation that pegged interest rates on bonds at 6 percent. Treasury notes, which paid 7.3 percent, were referred to as seven-thirties. In addition, Congress passed the Revenue Act, imposing the first income tax, then called an "income duty," on Americans.

As of Sept. 1, 1862, income became taxable at the rate of 3 percent for amounts greater than $600 and up to $10,000, 5 percent for income greater than $10,000, 1½ percent for interest income, and 5 percent for all property of any kind. In June 1864, the rate of tax for income greater than $600 increased to 5 percent. The pro-tax New York Herald had this to say on Sept. 1, 1862, the day the national tax began:

"To-day begins a new era of this country. Beyond a few local and state taxes, which were felt by none but owners of real estate, this country has never been taxed before. We have jogged along quietly and comfortably, and have amused ourselves greatly by laughing at the over taxed people of England, where a man is taxed from the cradle to the grave; where light, heat and water are taxed, and where not only
every rich man, but even the poorest peasant, is obliged to pay largely for the
privilege of existence and the blessings of bad government. ...

"We could have wished, however, that this necessary tax should be more equally
imposed than at present, and that the Eastern manufacturers and the Western farmers had been compelled to bear an equal share of the burden with the people
of the other States, instead of being almost entirely exempt, and leaving the
commercial people of the Middle States to pay an unfair proportion of the debt.
...

"The effect of the tax will be to deepen public sentiment. The people will be less ready to excuse the mistakes of our government and our generals. ... The war will be better conducted, for every man, having to pay his money towards carrying on the war, will insist and assist that it shall be properly prosecuted and speedily and gloriously concluded."

Years later, when it was determined that the tax did not apply to the president or
Supreme Court justices, Lincoln's executor filed a claim that resulted in a $3,555.94 refund check paid in 1872 to Lincoln's heirs.

Of course, this was before the days of widespread government dependency. Still, it is interesting to note how some issues do not change over time. And what’s this about the President being exempted from the income tax?

You Can Have the Power

With Your Own Neighborhood Nuclear Reactor!

Hat tip: Ace

Toshiba builds micro nuclear reactor.

The 200 kilowatt Toshiba designed reactor is engineered to be fail-safe and totally automatic and will not overheat. Unlike traditional nuclear reactors the new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction. The new revolutionary technology uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The Lithium-6 reservoirs are connected to a vertical tube that fits into the reactor core. The whole whole process is self sustaining and can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid energy.

The down side is, that's still not enough to meet Al Gore's home energy needs.

Just a Few Hundred Nobodies

Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007

See Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee Blog post here.

Now what gets me is that I tend to see scientists trending in the "skeptical" direction, not the other way around.

EXCERPT:

Czech Republic: Czech-born U.S. climatologist Dr. George Kukla, a research scientist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, expressed climate skepticism in 2007. “The only thing to worry about is the damage that can be done by worrying. Why are some scientists worried? Perhaps because they feel that to stop worrying may mean to stop being paid,” Kukla told Gelf Magazine on April 24, 2007.

Now that is what I call a "money" quote!

I'm Surprised the Windows Haven't Gotten Smashed In Yet

Hat tip: Sondrak

Chinese Food on Christmas

Kat is going to kill me, but what the heck.

See video here.

More Holiday Stupidity

Ham for Chanukah #1

Ham for Chanukah #2

Holiday Stupidity

Happy Hanukkah!

Hat tip: Ace

What better way to kick off the holiday than to link an article about "Green Hanukkia Campaign Sparks Ire." Yes, a bunch of crazed Israeli environmentalists want all Jews to light one less Hanukkah candle to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions.

For those of you who aren't familiar, on Hanukkah, Jews light an increasing number of candles on each night of Hanukkah. There is also a "Shamash" candle that is used to light the rest. So basically, one candle is lit on the first night (plus the Shamash), and it increases to eight (plus the Shamash) by the last night of the holiday. So the total number of candles lit is 45. So these green whack jobs want to light 37 instead?

Here's what some rabbis had to say, according to the article:

"The environmentalists should think about how much pollution is caused by one solitary diesel truck on the road," Ze'ev said. "They should be fighting the trucks instead of Judaism. This is so trivial, so anti-Jewish and so anti-religious that even the worst anti-Semites couldn't think of it. Just like the Helenists, they are trying to extinguish the flames of the Jewish soul."

United Torah Judaism MK Avraham Ravitz called the environmentalists "crazy people who are playing with the minds of innocent Jewish people." He said the campaign would only convince people who do not light candles anyway.

Note: MK = Member of Knesset, the Israeli Parliament

The Hellenist comparison is apt. Clearly, these anti-religious nuts have lost the true meaning of the holiday, and are picking a different deity (Gaia? Appropriately Greek!) of their own.

Somehow I think the "Hellenists" aren't exactly shomer Shabbat (keeping Sabbath). Why don't these idiots just sit a couple of extra hours in the dark?

Elementary Thoughts X

More from the ever-inquisitive mind of Ron's seven-year-old son

Whhhhhhhhhhhha? What's the most drowsy medicine in the world? It is one of those that you put somebody under.

I don't want to say anything else.

Maryland Shocker: Prostitution Vote Included in Gambling Referendum

From Slots to Sluts

A hidden development in the new Maryland tax hike legislation has just been discovered. Along with hikes in sales, income, corporate, vehicle titling, and computer service taxes, the Maryland General Assembly authorized a Constitutional Amendment authorizing slot machines at certain locations. We at Isophorone Blog have since learned that the legislation also allows houses of ill-repute in the State.

According to Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, this measure will help the City of Baltimore (of which he was Mayor until recently) counteract its high homicide rate. “I feel truly that I have progressed from being Mayor of Baltimore to being Governor of Baltimore,” said O’Malley. Maryland Senate President Mike Miller added “No one will be able to tell the difference between these businesses and the way we’ve been operating in Annapolis for years.”

The General Assembly was reluctant to consider adding this legislation, but strong lobbying by former Governor Parris Glendening changed that. “Now that I am no longer a Professor at the University of Maryland,” said the former Governor,” I need to conduct my political and sociological studies elsewhere. And please don’t tell my wife what I am doing. Three marriages is enough.”

The general plan is to have facilities of differing types, including budget accommodations in the actual Pimlico racetrack horse stalls for those who cannot afford anything else. Locations in Baltimore City and Prince Georges County (convenient to Congress in DC) will probably be used. Still under negotiation is one in Montgomery County. County Executive Ike Leggett says he is generally favorable, but “Duchy Trachtenberg wants to make sure transgendered people are catered to here, and I can’t get approval otherwise.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Have safe travels, great meals, family harmony, and so on. We plan to spend time with my parents and in-laws.

Then there are the weekend chores. The leaves are getting ahead of my ability to collect them all again. Well, I just tried to fix my weed trimmer/leafblower/vacuum engine (throttle cable was broken, plus the gas tank leaked), so we'll see if the beast works now. (In case you are wondering, yes, my unit has a four-cycle engine.)

Oh, yeah, and it's my 11th wedding anniversary this weekend also.

Be well, everyone!

Wahhabi Worries?

Hat tip: Muenchhausen

A recent Washington Post article says that OPEC plans to fund climate change research to the tune of $750 million. Now I look at this kind of news and scratch my head. But let’s think about this. After all, as we know from watching the “climate change” debate, there’s a lot of “follow the money” going on around here. So I have to come up with all kinds of non-mutually exclusive possibilities:

1) Researchers are looking for another gravy train funding source outside of U.S. and European governments,

2) OPEC fears that expensive oil will make a competing energy technology competitive, and eventually cheaper,

3) OPEC wants to get ahead of the game and control the debate somehow,

4) Natural gas supplies owned by OPEC countries could be made that much more valuable as a “low carbon” energy source,

5) Middle Eastern potentates actually do want to diversify their economies before they become a bunch of date farmers again, and/or

6) Fill in your own cynical answer.

Now I am greatly skeptical about the theories of anthropogenic global warming, but I have to say that watching some of these guys squirm makes me chuckle. Nothing like good old American ingenuity (if some of the green groups would get the heck out of the way), is there?

Pennsylvania Gone Stupid

Hat tip: Mike Antonucci

I'm guessing that Tim Kaine is Jealous he doesn't get to be an Internet star like Ed Rendell!

Out of the Bubble, Into Fresh Air

Hat tip: Intercepts

So do you all remember former California Governor Gray(out) Davis? You know, the one who became the first State Governor to be recalled by the voters in something like 70 years? Well, he is learning how real people live, and had the following to say:

"There's an awful lot to be said about not being in the bubble. In the bubble, your world is aides and speeches, and you're not living a real life, and it's very hard to understand how real people feel about things. I've yet to find a single person, from a busboy to a janitor to a middle manager to a partner in a law firm to a CEO, who wants to give Sacramento disposable income. Not one human being."

Simply profound. And just in time for his 65th birthday. Better late than never, I guess!

Nanotechnology Comes to Hollywood

Science News You Can Use

Inspired by the light prison sentences given to celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan, Hollywood defense attorneys are rapidly adopting “nanotechnology” to help reduce potential sentences even more. Many scientists use nanotechnology to produce particles that are about one billionth of a meter, also called a nanometer. Such products are used in a variety of products and services from windows to sunscreen to environmental cleanup.

The environmental cleanup angle is what got green-sensitive Hollywood interested in new applications of “nano.” According to famed Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Tribe, even criminal sentences for drug abuse, repeat drunk driving arrests, and other crimes that would land an ordinary citizen in jail for a long time can be given “nano scale” to Hollywood celebrities. The ultimate goal is the “nanofelony.” Since a felony is at least a year in jail, a “nanofelony is 0.0315 seconds, or one billionth of a year (0.0316 seconds during leap year).” According to actor Leonardo diCaprio, “this shows that those of us in show business understand high technology the same way we understand the science behind global climate.”

It is also possible that these advances will inspire the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to create an award for legal defense. Based on diCaprio’s comment, “if Al Gore can receive an Oscar, anything is possible.”

The campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton is working hard behind the scenes to line up Hollywood support by making quiet promises of appointing judges who believe in nanosentencing. The Hillary! Campaign is working hard to counter possible inroads into Hollywood support by the campaign of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. It is believed that Sen. Clinton does have an advantage, since under her husband’s administration, Attorney General Janet Reno employed an early version of “nanoprosecution” of crimes committed by many Clinton supporters.

Major sports figures are very interested in this concept as well. Lawyers for Barry Bonds are believed to be negotiating a “nanomarathon” plea deal. Since a marathon is 26 miles, 385 yards, a “nanomarathon” is 0.0422 millimeters. Combined with a “nanofelony,” this becomes 1.34 mm/second, or about 15.8 feet/hour “hard running.” While even many left-wing law professors think this is reasonable, prosecutors still fear litigation from the American Civil Liberties Union on the grounds of “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Coincidentally, a lawyer formerly associated with O.J. Simpson’s defense team was heard to mutter, “Why didn’t we think of that?”

Video About Democrat Blogger Wins Country Music Award

Marching to a Different Drummer

You can see it here. The reader can decide on the "reference." LOL

Almost Page One News!

Hat tip: Rich Galen

From the New York Times, November 8, 2007:

Ma-ca-Connolly Moment

Dang, I wish we had a video!

Mason Conservative has the story of how Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connolly (D-Schoolyard Bully) lost his temper, and maybe more at a recent NAACP candidate forum. Republican Commonwealth’s Attorney candidate Patrick McDade was speaking to the group when Connolly . . .

jumped up and screamed "I'm speaking for Ray Morrogh [the Democrat candidate]!" Connolly then cannonballed to the moderators and grabbed the mic despite the hoots and pleas of the audience. Patrick then spoke up and said something to the effect that Morrogh had his chance to respond and he chose not to attend the event. At this point, Boss Tweed Connolly apparently shouted at the top of his lungs, "Sit down, this is none of your business. Sit down." Patrick then said that it was his business, since Morrogh was his opponent. Gerry responded, "You sit down! You don't run the NAACP! This is none of your business!" He then apparently started a rambling and factually incorrect (shocker!) speech for Ray Ray. And apparently, while Connolly blathered on, people filed out until there was only about a dozen left when Gerry finished. Connolly was scheduled to give the dinner address but bailed. Rumor was he was asked not to speak.

Do we need any more proof that the Democrats take the black vote for granted? I mean, how can anyone act this way in front of any constituent group and expect to make a good impression? Does Connolly think the people at NAACP are stupid? You Democrats keep it up, and we'll peel off another five to ten percent of the black vote in every election.

For those of you from out of town, you should know that Gerry Connolly is blackwhite, and the Commonwealth’s Attorney candidates are both white. The Commonwealth’s Attorney has been occupied for the past 40 or so years by Democrat Robert Horan, who is stepping down. Under Horan’s leadership, Fairfax County has the worst prosecution rate for felonies (72% are dropped to misdemeanors or dismissed altogether), the most overloaded and poorly prepared staff, and some of the worst budgeting of any jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Sure, by Maryland standards he would be considered a tough prosecutor, but we have higher expectations on our side of the Potomac River. Horan is also famous for bungling the prosecution of sniper John Allen Mohammad. See all the details here. Patrick McDade’s opponent has been an integral part of this mismanagement for the past 20 years.

Now Gerry Connolly advertises proudly on the highway signs about how Ray Morrogh is a part of his “public safety team.” With that kind of approach, it’s no wonder we need the Second Amendment!

Chinese Recall Fortune Cookies

Possible Toxic Message

Chinese authorities, already stung by the recall of lunch bags, are now being forced to recall certain fortune cookies. According to sources, the cookies contain lead on the print used in the paper fortune that is folded into the cookie. The Chinese themselves claim that the lead is only used on fortunes in which the Chinese word for “lead” (when it means the metal and pronounced LED, not when it is pronounced LEED) is defined for the customer and nowhere else. However, Greenpeace charges that the paper itself also “contains dioxins.”

Federal authorities are investigating other potential contaminated cookie batches. One unnamed source said cookies that had “lucky” numbers in the unordered sequence “12-5-1-4” had lead contamination. No actual contaminated cookie dough has yet been found, but more data have yet to be “crunched.”

Human rights activists suspect a more sinister motive in the sudden Chinese authority cooperation. It is suspected that Communist authorities are using the incident to crack down on dissidents. Rumors have been circulating on Chinese human rights activist websites that, in fact, the Chinese government uses prison laborers in unsafe conditions to make many of the cookies, and some of the “fortunes” were really coded messages being spirited out to reveal the names of those “being held prisoner in a Chinese fortune cookie factory.”

Political repercussions are appearing in American politics as well. Some are accusing Democratic hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) of accepting large contributions from American-based relatives of the Chinese Fortune Cookie Proletariat, many of whom barely speak English and work in low-paying bakery operations in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Connections to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are also being investigated. One FBI official who asked not to be identified speculated that “you never know whose fingerprints you may find when you ‘dust’ these places. These investigations are not going to ‘fold’ quickly.” Left-wing blog supporters of Hillary are denying any past consumption of the fortune cookies, saying instead that they have always preferred “fresh Twinkies.”

Ironically, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) was also disappointed with the fortune cookie recall. “I’ve been eating this brand of cookies for four year, and I’ve always found them to be mentally stimulating,” said the Democratic hopeful. “Besides, those fortunes were great sources for a lot of my campaign speeches.” Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) cautioned Obama on making such a statement, citing his own bitter experience with plagiarism. “He who copy fortune cookie finds campaign crumbled,” Biden allegedly said.

Create Your Own Democrat Blog Post!

So Easy, You Don’t Need a Brain (But It Helps)

First, you write

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE (or officeholder) PICKS WINGS OFF FLIES in BIG BOLD FONT

Make sure you use a PROFANITY or two or six.

Next, cite an anonymous e-mail source, preferably in italics.

Express sympathy for POOR, HURT DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE.

Forget to bring camera when photographic evidence would be easy to procure. Ironic when you are the type to stake a reputation on a “Macaca moment.”

Remember not to be caught in the hypocrisy of accusing the Republican candidate of something false, but making excuses for a Democratic Congressman’s unethical and bigoted behavior.

UPDATE 1: Upon further investigation, nothing was there. Witness directly disputes your account. Do not strikeout anything in the original blog post entry.

UPDATE 2: Find another irrelevant way to spin story for Democratic candidate.

UPDATE 3: Juxtapose any false discussion of illegal or unethical behavior with another post praising Hillary Clinton.

UPDATE 4: You find the laws you were trying to cite are also not relevant, are vague, and are certainly misinterpreted by you.

UPDATE 5: Encourage hateful comments by friends.

UPDATE 6: Join Joey for a healthy snack.

UPDATE 7: Threaten the family or employment of any conservative blogger who makes fun of you.