Adrienne's Corner

How about 4 more years of Obama?...

2012-01-31T11:50:00.000-08:00

it will happen if the GOP keeps doing what it's doing. Guaranteed!

I really don't care who is the Republican nominee, but I would strongly prefer it not be Romney. Most people agree with me.

Today Stacy McCain chided the Perry supporters and repeated his earlier statement that Perry sucked up oxygen and money from Santorum.

Well, who's sucking up oxygen now?

Michelle Malkin has thrown her support behind Santorum. I understand her reasons. I like Santorum, too. But I also believe that he is not going to be the nominee. Neither is Ron Paul.

I believe Dan Riehl gets it. Read:

Understanding The Current Primary

Palin gets it. And Jeffrey Lord gets it. Thanks to Dan for linking to the Lord article and you may want to make it your required reading today.

Newt Battles Mush From the Wimps

The path we are following is going to guarantee a Mitt nomination, which in turn will probably guarantee another four years of the destructive policies of the Obama administration and a cementing of Obamacare.

We have fallen into the trap of thinking that the next president must be a "savior." Newsflash: that job has been taken. The past few months have seen people jump from candidate to candidate with almost pathological zeal. First it was Cain, and after the establishment destroyed him, they jumped to someone else. At least the Paul supporters are consistently for Paul.

The best we can hope for is someone, imperfect as he may be, that will beat Obama. It isn't going to be Santorum or Paul. Your choice really is between Newt and Mitt. So all you folks that hate Newt and want Santorum or Paul? Hopefully, you'll manage to hold your nose and vote for someone you're not crazy about. I plan to do that if I have to vote for Romney and pray that we will be able to assert some sort of control over him if he were to be elected. Sitting at home on your sofa and crossing your arms is not an option.

Who is Chelsea?...

2012-01-31T10:53:00.000-08:00

someone who knows how to inspire:

My name is Chelsea Zimmerman, I am 29 years old and live in Holts Summit Missouri. I was born in Maryland, moved to Florida a year later, and have been in Missouri since I was nine. I still consider myself a Floridian, although I do love mid-Missouri. I have a slight intolerance for cold weather. I like a beautiful snowfall here and there, but I’d rather be outside enjoying abundant sunshine on breezy 75-85 degree days. I’m a small town girl, I prefer the beach or a quiet country setting to a big city.

Born and raised Catholic, I am constantly striving to deepen my faith and strengthen my relationship with Christ and the Church. I have a strong devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the rosary, enjoy spiritual reading, spending time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, frequent confession and going to daily Mass.

Twelve years ago, when I was a junior in high school, I received a spinal cord injury in a car accident that left me paralyzed from the chest down. I have a beautiful, blessed life, but not a day goes by that I don’t face some new challenge or limitation. The idea for the name of this blog actually came from an email that I sent out last year on the sixth anniversary of my injury. I looked back and reflected on things that I had come to realize over the previous six years and came up with the following:

Find out what Chelsea learned on her "about me" page on her blog, Reflections of a Paralytic

and while you're there, read what she posted today:

Strong Words from Newt on Embryonic Stem Cell Research and IVF

I see crazy people...

2012-01-31T10:18:00.000-08:00

and some of them are running for Sheriff.

Some things you just can't make up:

COEUR d'ALENE - A former North Idaho businessman and Post Falls Chamber of Commerce board member who was involved in a high profile shooting in downtown Coeur d'Alene announced he is running for Kootenai County Sheriff.

Adam M. Johnson, 27, will seek the elected post as a Republican.
He said finding a solution to the jail capacity issue without asking taxpayers to a fund a new building is key for the county, as is trimming the sheriff's office budget while finding ways to financially incentivize deputies to remain here instead of leaving for other departments.

Johnson said his recent legal troubles - which include a citation for consuming alcohol from the December 2009 shooting and a 2011 guilty plea for felony heroin possession - don't mean he isn't serious about the job.

"I believe in what I'm doing, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it," Johnson said Monday. "How better to give back, having been on the other side?"

With that reasoning, I propose Hannibal Lecter run for sheriff.

Johnson helped found the telecommunications business, Convertec Corp., in 2004. The business has since closed, but Johnson said he'd bring his financial experience running the company to the sheriff's office by getting grants to help pay for more cost-effective treatment programs instead of building a new jail.

His business is bankrupt, so the only logical thing is to bring his financial expertise to the county.

Johnson does not have any experience with law enforcement. It is his first attempt at any elected post.

Well, that's going to make the deputies rally behind him.

A big message of his campaign will be to financially support deputies to prevent them from leaving, which would save money and improve quality in the long run. He said he could look to increase deputy training and implement more merit pay possibilities.
"That's our human capital," he said. "We need to make a decisive investment."

Heads up, Adam. The ~~city~~ county commissioners set the deputy pay, not the Sheriff.

He said he'd brainstorm with all deputies on how facets of the office could be improved. While Johnson was in jail following the 2009 shooting, he saw many inmates without anything to do, which is why he said he's adamant about offering more rehabilitating programs. The county's work release building is one possible spot where more jail beds could go to ease jail crowding.

Because all the programs they offer now do such a great job? The majority of people in the jail are repeat offenders. The operative word here is "repeat." How about we find a way to ship them to neighboring Spokane? They'd feel right at home with all of the Kootenai county deputies that fled to Spokane for better pay.

The downtown shooting injured two men from Moses Lake, Wash. Attempted murder and aggravated battery charges against Johnson were dismissed in January 2010 by a grand jury.
During the legal troubles, Johnson lost the right to carry a concealed weapon and was placed on two years supervised probation.

I don't know about you, but the idea of a Sheriff who can't carry a gun is sort of weird.

article source

For what it's worth, I'm throwing my support behind Keith Hutcheson for Sheriff. If anyone wants to spot him a buck or two, you can do it at his site.

Occupy Rhode Island: Hey, let's throw condoms on Catholic high school girls...

2012-01-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

wow, just wow.

Obama loves these people...

PROVIDENCE, RI, January 30, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street movement threw condoms on Catholic schoolgirls, refused to allow a Catholic priest to give a closing prayer, and shouted down a pro-life speaker at a Rhode Island right to life rally on Thursday, according to its organizer. The event marked the third time protesters associated with the movement have disrupted a pro-life meeting in a week. read the rest

Brigitte Gabriel, founder of "ACT! for America" speaks out...

2012-01-30T13:55:00.000-08:00

and we should be listening.

This is a much see...

From the ACT! for America website:

ACT! for America was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese immigrant who came to the United States after losing her country of birth to militant Muslim fundamentalists during the Lebanese Civil War.

ACT! for America is a non-partisan, non-sectarian organization whose mission is to give Americans concerned about national security, terrorism, and the threat of radical Islam, a powerful, organized, informed and mobilized voice.

Whether the specific threat is violent jihad, stealth jihad, the advance of sharia law, the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, or the scourge of political correctness which is enabling the rise of radical Islam, ACT! for America stands ready to take action as the largest national security grassroots organization in America.

Through informed community action, education, public policy initiatives and grassroots lobbying, ACT! for America is successfully combating the threat of radical Islam.

Is income inequality really a problem?...w/ Update

2012-01-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

no, it's not.

One thing I've noticed about people who complain most about the "greedy" rich is the way they have of wrapping it all up in their concern for the poor. It's really no more than a clever way of masking their own envy. My question is, "Where are all these "poor" people? Oh sure, there are folks living under bridges, most of whom suffer from mental illness or substance abuse problems; none of which can really be remedied through laws.

In my dealings with the poor through different charitable organizations, one thing stands out for me; such people live way better than I do. They have more and better electronics, are able to buy better food through the food stamp program, and receive free medical care. While I'm reviewing my cell phone contract and trying to decide on switching to a lower cost pay-as-you-go phone, they receive free phones and airtime through several programs. I'd like a free cell phone, but I'm not going to get one. Clip coupons or shop sales? Why bother when the government is going to electronically fill up your food stamp card each month, which incidentally, in many states can be used at a cash machine.

In 2011, Health and Human Resources declared a family of four with a household income of $22,350.00 as "poor." While 22k per year is not a huge amount of money, believe it or not, many families are living on that amount. While it would be a stretch to live in downtown Manhattan on this amount, there are plenty of places in this country where they could live fairly well. It would take some dedication to thrifty living, but it's doable.

It would never occur to these "champions of the poor", to suggest that people not have illegitimate children when they're 14 or 15 years old, or that finishing school would be a good idea; two of the leading indicators of future "poorness." Instead, they cling to the notion that if we just give them more of whatever they want, someday they will magically be, if not rich, at least middle class. It simply doesn't work that way. Never has, and never will.

The uproar over Newt Gingrich suggesting that young people should have jobs at school was met with such a barrage of outrage it was stunning. When did it enter our national consciences that doing janitorial work was somehow demeaning? The last job my grandmother ever held before she died was doing janitorial work at night in a large office building, and she was a well-educated person. She loved it. But now, we think a 15 year old doing such things is tantamount to slave labor.

I'd take Newt's idea one step further. From first grade on, the children should be responsible for cleaning their own classrooms. When I taught at a private school, this was considered normal. Every Friday, the last period of the day was spent with the kids washing down desks and blackboards, vacuuming, and straightening the book shelves. Also, we had rotating teams every week that were responsible for cleaning up the lunch room after lunch. These kids learned to take pride in their classrooms and their school. Why are we paying adults to clean up after children? Is that not backwards?

Most of the people buying into this class warfare rhetoric are doing it so they can sit around with their five dollar coffees and feel good about themselves. The facts are inconvenient, and they'll avoid them at all costs.

Bruce McQuain, at Questions and Observations, in an excellent article today, talks about income inequality:

Income inequality: why you shouldn’t care

James Q Wilson makes many of the same points that have been made here over the last few months concerning the argument about income inequality that the left has been trying to use as a reason to tax the rich even more than they’re taxed now. In sum, most of the left’s arguments rest in the premise that the economy is a zero sum game and that the income the “rich” are taking had to come from someone else’s slice.

That argument, much like the climate change debate, depends on a measure of ignorance among those they’re trying to influence.

In reality, income inequality is nothing to be concerned about when it meets certain conditions. Or, in other words, it isn’t a zero sum game and everyone has an opportunity to do better. read the rest of this excellent article

and

Silverfiddle, over at Westen Hero, has another wonderful article about this whole class warfare meme.

Socialism's Sad Propagandists

The entire Class Warfare agenda collapses under serious scrutiny
President Obama's demagoguery surrounding wealth, taxes and everybody paying their "fair share" (what ever the hell that is) has passed its freshness date, but still it sits there in the public square, rotting like a sack of bloody fish heads in the harsh noonday sun. read the rest

Update:

Feds: ‘Poor’ Consume Like The Rich Be sure to read the comments

Reaganite Republican is mad as hell...

2012-01-30T06:01:00.000-08:00

and he's not going to take it anymore.

THIS IS WAR: If They Succeed in Forcing a Romney Nomination On Us, The Republican Establishment Must Be Destroyed

A month ago -when the Republican primary contest began to get ugly- it already seemed intra-party chasms that developed over this cycle would be taking some time to heal. We all still assumed that 'anybody but Obama' would get us together in the end, though...yet no longer: there's simply no dealing with the self-serving syndicate that's re-written history and gang-raped Newt Gingrich just to stick us with some fake conservative scumbag. The TEA Party movement is on the verge of extinction if we fail to go on the offensive- and I mean now.

With Romney riding a Florida surge brought about by a widespread RNC/MSM/Drudge/Coulter conspiracy against Newt, the damage is done... Mr Magic Underpants is suddenly pulling-away: apparently the ruinous (to the GOP) assault on Gingrich has succeeded in swaying just enough pudding-heads down there to hand him victory tomorrow, and thus sending fake conservative Romney along towards his long-planned coronation. read the rest

Duluth, Minnesota - home to white racists...

2012-01-29T14:28:00.000-08:00

according to Duluth mayor Don Ness.

The taxpayers of Duluth, 90% of whom are white, are having their tax dollars used to tell them what horrible, racist people they are. Does this make sense?

Have I ever mentioned the state bird of Minnesota is the loon? Well, it is.

(Not directed at any of the few conservatives that reside in Minnesota.)

H/T Moonbattery

I used to love to visit Duluth when I was wee lass. It always reminded me of a tiny San Francisco. The aerial bridge and the drawbridge held a particular fascination for me.

My grandma came from Duluth and actually lived at the Monastery of St. Scholastica. She left at age 16 to become one of the first telephone operators in St. Paul.

This is a picture of my grandma at the bridge on a visit with her daughters in approximately 1917. My mom is the little one and the other little girl is my aunt. Somewhere I have pic of my mom and myself standing in the same spot. Don't you love the clothes?

Click to embiggun the photos

This is a picture of the bridge in 1905

and this one from 1907

Duluth 1910

Pictures of Duluth from Lakesnwoods.com. Many more fascinating pictures there. Warning: It could turn into a HUGE time sink. I already found a picture of one of the cabins dated 1955 where we vacationed at Stone Gate Lodge outside of Paynesville, MN.

John Boehner: Obama's politics are of envy and division...

2012-01-29T12:18:00.000-08:00

because division causes envy, and envy is called one of the seven deadly sins for a reason.

video platform video management video solutions video player

H/T T. Christopher of Republican Redefined, who is a self-admitted Sunday morning news show junkie.

More:

Dr. Sanity: THE WINGS OF ENVY AND RESENTMENT

People who specialize in ENVY don't really want the good things the other person has; they want to insure that the other person doesn't have them or get to keep them.

Or, if they do want those things, it is a desire that comes in a distant second to their desire to destroy the good that others

ENVY is, without doubt, the underlying emotion behind the Marxist trope, "from each according to his ability; to each according to his need". The "enlightened" and morally bankrupt left has always believed that economic self-interest means simply voting yourself a share of the money earned by others. They wouldn't know how to create wealth if their lives depended on it; that's why they seek power over others--they see it as the only way they can survive in the real world; but since they cannot admit that to themselves, they will seize other people's wealth with one hand, while signing the political bills that make it impossible to create the wealth on which they themselves depend. read the rest

Canadian honor killers guilty. Receive automatic life sentence...w/ Update

2012-01-29T11:39:00.000-08:00

Islam - the religion of peace.

KINGSTON, Ont. — After Canada’s first mass-honour-killings trial, three members of a Montreal family have all been found guilty of first-degree murder in the drowning deaths of four other family members — including three teenage sisters.

A jury on Sunday handed down its guilty verdicts for Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, as well as their 21-year-old son, Hamed.

They had been charged with murder after the bodies of three Shafia sisters — Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and 13-year-old Geeti — were discovered in a submerged vehicle in a canal near Kingston, in June 2009.

Also in the vehicle was Rona Amir Mohammad, the 52-year-old first wife of Shafia, whom he married in his native Afghanistan before the polygamous family moved to Canada in 2007 and settled in Montreal.
A conviction for first-degree murder carries with it an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. source

GUILTY

Update: Go watch the video at Blazing Cat Fur

Goodbye!

Goodbye!

Daybreak in Dixie and Clinch Mountain Backstep...

2012-01-28T22:18:00.000-08:00

Kevin Pace and Early Edition

Matthew Arndt - Fiddle,Vocals. Christopher Arndt - Banjo, Josh Robertson - Guitar, Vocals, Jim Adams Standing Bass. Kevin Pace Band Leader, Mandolin, and Vocals.

The fiddle player is 15 years old...

The Catholic Church fights fire with fire...

2012-01-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

and don't forget they fight for all Christians.

Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, IL has asked parishes in his dioceses to reintroduce the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel as a way of combating B.O.'s intrusion into our Christian consciences with his pro-abort/contraception mentality.

The move comes in response to a new federal requirement that will force many Catholic organizations to provide insurance coverage for sterilizations and contraceptives.

“It is God’s invincible Archangel who commands the heavenly host, and it is the enemies of God who will ultimately be defeated,” the bishop said in a Jan. 24 letter to the Catholics of his diocese.

[...]“If these regulations are put into effect, they could close down every Catholic school, hospital and the other public ministries of our Church, which is perhaps their underlying intention,” Bishop Jenky said. “What is perfectly clear is that this is a bigoted and blanket attack on the First Amendment rights of every Catholic believer.” read it all

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.

Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host--
by the Divine Power of God--cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

O glorious Archangel St. Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, defend us in battle, and in the struggle which is ours against the principalities and Powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against spirits of evil in high places. Come to the aid of men, whom God created immortal, made in his own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Amen.

A warning from Fr. Philip Powell, OP

The Devil prefers that Christians keep quiet and he more or less leaves us alone when we aren't causing him any trouble. Reciting this prayer just might rile him up a bit. You've been warned!

Painting: Jacopo Vignali, 17th century.

More:

Philothea on Phire: No Soldiers for the Army? Voris Has a Point

Creative Minority Report: Bishop: Obama Said: To Hell with Catholics

AzCentral: Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted: Defy feds on birth control

The Tenth Crusade: Obama's Catholic Church Birth Control and Sterilization Mandate

True Confessions of a Prodigal Daughter: Catholics, Conscience, and Catholic Healthcare

Les Femmes: Catholics United Shills for Contraception

Sarah Palin calls GOP Establishment "Cannibals"...

2012-01-27T17:25:00.000-08:00

says they're using "tactics of the left."

From Sarah's Facebook page:

We have witnessed something very disturbing this week. The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent.

We will look back on this week and realize that something changed. I have given numerous interviews wherein I espoused the benefits of thorough vetting during aggressive contested primary elections, but this week’s tactics aren’t what I meant. Those who claim allegiance to Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment should stop and think about where we are today. Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater, the fathers of the modern conservative movement, would be ashamed of us in this primary. Let me make clear that I have no problem with the routine rough and tumble of a heated campaign. As I said at the first Tea Party convention two years ago, I am in favor of contested primaries and healthy, pointed debate. They help focus candidates and the electorate. I have fought in tough and heated contested primaries myself. But what we have seen in Florida this week is beyond the pale. It was unprecedented in GOP primaries. I’ve seen it before – heck, I lived it before – but not in a GOP primary race.

I am sadly too familiar with these tactics because they were used against the GOP ticket in 2008. The left seeks to single someone out and destroy his or her record and reputation and family using the media as a channel to dump handpicked and half-baked campaign opposition research on the public. The difference in 2008 was that I was largely unknown to the American public, so they had no way of differentiating between the lies and the truth. All of it came at them at once as “facts” about me. But Newt Gingrich is known to us – both the good and the bad.

We know that Newt fought in the trenches during the Reagan Revolution. As Rush Limbaugh pointed out, Newt was among a handful of Republican Congressman who would regularly take to the House floor to defend Reagan at a time when conservatives didn’t have Fox News or talk radio or conservative blogs to give any balance to the liberal mainstream media. Newt actually came at Reagan’s administration “from the right” to remind Americans that freer markets and tougher national defense would win our future. But this week a few handpicked and selectively edited comments which Newt made during his 40-year career were used to claim that Newt was somehow anti-Reagan and isn’t conservative enough to go against the accepted moderate in the primary race. (I know, it makes no sense, and the GOP establishment hopes you won’t stop and think about this nonsense. Mark Levin and others have shown the ridiculousness of this.) To add insult to injury, this “anti-Reagan” claim was made by a candidate who admitted to not even supporting or voting for Reagan. He actually was against the Reagan movement, donated to liberal candidates, and said he didn’t want to go back to the Reagan days. You can’t change history. We know that Newt Gingrich brought the Reagan Revolution into the 1990s. We know it because none other than Nancy Reagan herself announced this when she presented Newt with an award, telling us, “The dramatic movement of 1995 is an outgrowth of a much earlier crusade that goes back half a century. Barry Goldwater handed the torch to Ronnie, and in turn Ronnie turned that torch over to Newt and the Republican members of Congress to keep that dream alive.” As Rush and others pointed out, if Nancy Reagan had ever thought that Newt was in any way an opponent of her beloved husband, she would never have even appeared on a stage with him, let alone presented him with an award and said such kind things about him. Nor would Reagan’s son, Michael Reagan, have chosen to endorse Newt in this primary race. There are no two greater keepers of the Reagan legacy than Nancy and Michael Reagan. What we saw with this ridiculous opposition dump on Newt was nothing short of Stalin-esque rewriting of history. It was Alinsky tactics at their worst.

But this whole thing isn’t really about Newt Gingrich vs. Mitt Romney. It is about the GOP establishment vs. the Tea Party grassroots and independent Americans who are sick of the politics of personal destruction used now by both parties’ operatives with a complicit media egging it on. In fact, the establishment has been just as dismissive of Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Newt is an imperfect vessel for Tea Party support, but in South Carolina the Tea Party chose to get behind him instead of the old guard’s choice. In response, the GOP establishment voices denounced South Carolinian voters with the same vitriol we usually see from the left when they spew hatred at everyday Americans “bitterly clinging” to their faith and their Second Amendment rights. The Tea Party was once again told to sit down and shut up and listen to the “wisdom” of their betters. We were reminded of the litany of Tea Party endorsed candidates in 2010 who didn’t win. Well, here’s a little newsflash to the establishment: without the Tea Party there would have been no historic 2010 victory at all.

I spoke up before the South Carolina primary to urge voters there to keep this primary going because I have great concern about the GOP establishment trying to anoint a candidate without the blessing of the grassroots and all the needed energy and resources we as commonsense constitutional conservatives could bring to the general election in order to defeat President Obama. Now, I respect Governor Romney and his success. But there are serious concerns about his record and whether as a politician he consistently applied conservative principles and how this impacts the agenda moving forward. The questions need answers now. That is why this primary should not be rushed to an end. We need to vet this. Pundits in the Beltway are gleefully proclaiming that this primary race is over after Florida, despite 46 states still not having chimed in. Well, perhaps it’s possible that it will come to a speedy end in just four days; but with these questions left unanswered, it will not have come to a satisfactory conclusion. Without this necessary vetting process, the unanswered question of Governor Romney’s conservative bona fides and the unanswered and false attacks on Newt Gingrich will hang in the air to demoralize many in the electorate. The Tea Party grassroots will certainly feel disenfranchised and disenchanted with the perceived orchestrated outcome from self-proclaimed movers and shakers trying to sew this all up. And, trust me, during the general election, Governor Romney’s statements and record in the private sector will be relentlessly parsed over by the opposition in excruciating detail to frighten off swing voters. This is why we need a fair primary that is not prematurely cut short by the GOP establishment using Alinsky tactics to kneecap Governor Romney’s chief rival.

As I said in my speech in Iowa last September, the challenge of this election is not simply to replace President Obama. The real challenge is who and what we will replace him with. It’s not enough to just change up the uniform. If we don’t change the team and the game plan, we won’t save our country. We truly need sudden and relentless reform in Washington to defend our republic, though it’s becoming clearer that the old guard wants anything but that. That is why we should all be concerned by the tactics employed by the establishment this week. We will not save our country by becoming like the left. And I question whether the GOP establishment would ever employ the same harsh tactics they used on Newt against Obama. I didn’t see it in 2008. Many of these same characters sat on their thumbs in ‘08 and let Obama escape unvetted. Oddly, they’re now using every available microscope and endoscope – along with rewriting history – in attempts to character assassinate anyone challenging their chosen one in their own party’s primary. So, one must ask, who are they really running against?

- Sarah Palin

Obama goes looking for cheering crowds...

2012-01-27T16:33:00.000-08:00

and finds them at a college.

President Barack Obama Friday told an enthusiastic crowd of students at the University of Michigan that extra taxes on millionaires should help subsidize their futures.

Without mentioning former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by name, Obama used his campaign-style event to urge higher taxes on the nation’s most prosperous to reduce student loan-payments, increase student grants, fund universities and pay for high-tech research.

“You’re the ones who need help,” the president told students gathered at the University of Michigan’s Al Glick Field House. read the rest at The Daily Caller

I can hear the lazy semi-literate "childern" chanting, "We deserve more" - can't you?

More:

Dr. Sanity: The Liberal Solution: Fostering Dependence

Mark Levin about Gingrich...

2012-01-27T16:05:00.000-08:00

an opinion.

A vote for Romney is a vote for Obamacare... w/Update

2012-01-27T07:13:00.000-08:00

count on it.

I seem to recall early on in this process, Romney saying something along the lines of, "We need to keep the good parts of Obamacare and fix or replace the bad parts." Now, don't go running around the interwebs repeating that as a statement from God's lips to my ears. I looked for a reliable source (preferably a video of him actually saying such a thing), but it's gone down a memory hole.

Update: Thanks to Bunkerville we have video proof of what he said and links to an excellent article - and we thank him.

Obviously, his handlers informed him that was not a good thing to say, and now he's a bit more forceful about the repeal of Obamacare. The problem is, I don't believe him. And I don't think you should, either.

Obamacare needs to be dragged out into the sun, rubbed in garlic, shot with a silver bullet, and a stake driven through it's heart. After which, to be safe, it should be buried 50 feet down.

As Reaganite Republican pointed out:

Many conservatives -like myself- have been fighting this tooth-and-nail ever since it became apparent the GOP establishment was lining-up behind the grinning chameleon. Of course the biggest problem for us was a lingering doubt he would ever repeal ObamaCare... an imperative hot-button issue for many on the TEA Party right.

Frankly, Mitt is lying when he says he will 'on the first day' (can presidents repeal legislation like that...?): RomneyCare is the template for ObamaCare, and there is precious little daylight between them... he's never made any amends for that monstrosity, has he.

Read the rest:

Anyone Not Supporting Newt in Florida Is Casting ObamaCare Socialism in Stone

Bill Whittle tells us where are taxes are going...

2012-01-27T06:39:00.000-08:00

the non-producers take from the producers and vote for more.

Quote of the Day...

2012-01-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

on Beauty

Quote of the Day

"Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past--whether he admits it or not--can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love." Hans Urs Von Balthasar

H/T Lone Star Parson

Florida Debate live...w/ Updates

2012-01-26T16:59:00.000-08:00

at:

CNN.com live

I'd rather go to bed and read even though it's only 5:00pm our time. It's been a long day.

Holy moley! I should have gone to bed. They're talking about Mitt's taxes, illegal immigration, how Newt made his money, and NASA. Newsflash for CNN and the potential nominees - AMERICANS DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT CARP!!!!

Next up: Why would your wife make the best first lady? ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

Disqus is having a meltdown...

2012-01-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

or something.

Leaving comments has become a bit dicey, to say the least. I'm working on fixing it, which I doubt I can since I think it's a hiccup over at Disqus. We shall see.

Today is my lunch meeting of the Kootenai County Reagan Republicans and then a trip to my favorite store - Costco. I will probably splurge and buy Ameritopia by Mark Levin.

Is there another debate tonight?? Good grief...

J.C. Penney gets rid of hundreds of sales...

2012-01-25T15:30:00.000-08:00

and will slash prices by 40% - permanently!

Good for them. I've been saying this for years. Stores need to quit having all those phoney baloney sales where you mark something down by 40% or 50%, which means it's now the price it should have been to begin with.

I really like what the new CEO said, "Customers will not pay literally a penny more than the true value of the product" which echoes my motto of, "Something is worth only what someone will pay for it."

That's why I "heart" Costco. I know they will give me the best possible price on an item and it will be of the highest quality. I don't have time to clip coupons or be run ragged looking for "sale" items that are usually not a very good deal.

NEW YORK (AP) — J.C. Penney is permanently marking down all of its merchandise by at least 40 percent so shoppers will no longer have to wait for a sale to get the lowest prices in its stores.

Penney said Wednesday that it is getting rid of the hundreds of sales it offers each year in favor of a simpler approach to pricing. On Feb. 1, the retailer is rolling out a three-tiered strategy that offers "Every Day" low pricing daily, "Month-Long Value" discounts on select merchandise each month and clearance deals called "Best Prices" during the first and the third Friday of every month when many shoppers get paid. read the rest

Huff & Puff concerned about Mitt's maids?...

2012-01-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

no - really! They consider this an important topic.

Mitt Romney's Maids' Salary Raises Questions (UPDATE)

WASHINGTON -- For a woman with three houses and sixteen grandkids, Ann Romney doesn't have very much help around the house, according to her 2010 tax return.

as much as hate to link to HuffPo here it is

The comments are hilarious...

Jon Acuff on Imagination and Ideas...

2012-01-25T11:30:00.000-08:00

make time for thinking.

Christendom College leads the 2012 March for Life...

2012-01-25T11:06:00.000-08:00

and don't their shining faces remind you of the occupests? /sarc

On January 23, the entire student body of Christendom College, including members of the faculty and staff, led the 39th Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

There were an estimated half million people marching and the MSM said zip.

Who is Nellie Gray?

From Wiki:

Nellie Gray is an American pro-life activist, who founded the annual March for Life, beginning in 1974, following the Supreme Court ruling, Roe v Wade, which decriminalized abortion the previous year.

A native of Texas and a Roman Catholic convert, Miss Gray served as a corporal in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. She later earned a bachelor's degree in business and a master's in economics.

She was an employee of the federal government for almost three decades, at the Departments of State and Labor. After attending Georgetown University Law School, she became a practicing lawyer. After Roe v Wade, she retired from her professional life and became a pro-life activist, beginning with the March for Life.

H/T Creative Minority Report

Matt, over at St. Blogustine, has a wonderful photo essay from the march - and we thank him

2012 March for Life. Cold and wet but determined.

Newt Gingrich and the ethics charges...

2012-01-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

another side of the story.

Since I was not yet a political junkie back in 1990's, all I remember about the charges brought against Gingrich is that they were all dropped except for one. I seem to recall that on that one remaining charge (which was something not in the earth-shattering category) he was not "fined", but had to reimburse for the cost of the investigation. I may be completely wrong on that point and haven't done any checking up on what I remember.

And now we have Nancy Pelosi claiming she knows something about Gingrich we don't know. You can almost hear her saying, "So there, you silly people in fly over country."

Pelosi on a Gingrich Presidency: "That will never happen."

I'm shocked that a 71 year old woman would talk and act like some giggling middle-school girl on the school bus imparting some juicy gossip to her gaggle of girl friends. What is wrong with that woman?

I'll be bookmarking this following article by Byron York at the Washington Examiner for future reference and checking on some of what he has written.

As always, trust but verify.

What really happened in the Gingrich ethics case?

The Romney campaign has been hitting Newt Gingrich hard over the 1990s ethics case that resulted in the former Speaker being reprimanded and paying a $300,000 penalty. Before the Iowa caucuses, Romney and his supporting super PAC did serious damage to Gingrich with an ad attacking Gingrich's ethics past. Since then, Romney has made other ads and web videos focusing on the ethics matter, and at the Republican debate in Tampa Monday night, Romney said Gingrich "had to resign in disgrace."

In private conversations, Romney aides often mention the ethics case as part of their larger argument that Gingrich would be unelectable in a race against President Obama.

Given all the attention to the ethics matter, it's worth asking what actually happened back in 1995, 1996, and 1997. The Gingrich case was extraordinarily complex, intensely partisan, and driven in no small way by a personal vendetta on the part of one of Gingrich's former political opponents. It received saturation coverage in the press; a database search of major media outlets revealed more than 10,000 references to Gingrich's ethics problems during the six months leading to his reprimand. It ended with a special counsel hired by the House Ethics Committee holding Gingrich to an astonishingly strict standard of behavior, after which Gingrich in essence pled guilty to two minor offenses. Afterwards, the case was referred to the Internal Revenue Service, which conducted an exhaustive investigation into the matter. And then, after it was all over and Gingrich was out of office, the IRS concluded that Gingrich did nothing wrong. After all the struggle, Gingrich was exonerated. read the rest

H/T Jammie Wearing Fools

Donna Summers has a message for Obama...w/Update

2012-01-25T03:22:00.000-08:00

who do you think you're fooling.

When I worked for Creative Drum Shop in Phoenix, we rented all the percussion instruments (including all set drums) and much of the sound equipment to the Donna Summer Show. I was responsible for delivery of the van full of equipment, and under penalty of sure death, I was to guard the goods, see that they were packed up after the show, and safely returned to the store.

She and I joked about the fact that we shared a birthday (December 31) although she is a few years younger than I. Donna Summer and her staff were a delight to work with and her show was outstanding. And the "goods" were well treated and returned safely to the store.

Donna is a committed Christian and has spent many years on her art career. One of her paintings is below.

Update:

After doing a bit of poking about the interwebs, I've decided that this is most assuredly not one of Donna's paintings. I thought at the time it looked nothing like her other works (as one of my commenters pointed out.)

Since I think the picture is so fascinating, I've decided to leave it here and have posted a Donna Summer painting blow.

Anyone know who did the picture below?

Click to embiggum

Will the real Donna Summer painting stand up...

Laurene Powell Jobs...

2012-01-24T23:25:00.000-08:00

was a special guest of Obama for the SOTU address.

She was there to cheer on her hero, Barack, "I Care About the Middle Class Americans", Obama.

When her husband Steve Jobs died, his assets were approximately 8.3 BILLION.

And she has the unmitigated gall to call for higher taxes on the rich? How about this, "Miss Care About the Middle Class", Laurene. Why don't you voluntarily relinquish all but a million or so of your fortune for the good of the country?

Didn't think so...

Glenn Beck on the Obama lies...

2012-01-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

good for him.

This is not what we pay the president to do...

2012-01-24T20:11:00.000-08:00

if you or I did our jobs like this we would be out of work in one week.

Obama's schedule for Jan. 25, 2012

9:50 am || Departs White House
11:20 am CT || Arrives Cedar Rapids, Iowa
11:40 am CT || Tours Conveyor Engineering & Manufacturing
11:50 am CT || Delivers remarks
1:30 pm CT || Departs Cedar Rapids
3:35 pm MT || Arrives Phoenix
4:30 pm MT || Delivers remarks at Intel Ocotillo Campus
6:35 pm MT || Departs Phoenix
6:30 pm PT || Arrives in Las Vegas

All times Eastern except as noted

H/T White House Dossier

I'm a martyr...

2012-01-24T19:44:00.000-08:00

I sat through the entire SOTU address.

I was rewarded by this:

Gleefully stolen from Doug Ross - and we thank him.

Official Seal of the Obama campaign 2012

Why do they have to make everything so freakin' complicated?...

2012-01-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

in complete agreement.

What's the real state of the union?...

2012-01-24T16:12:00.000-08:00

certainly not the one you'll hear about tonight.

The questions to ask yourself before tonight's SOTU:

How many times tonight will you hear the words?:

1. fair or fair share
2. good jobs
3. middle class
4. equal
5. his long drawn out annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd

How much class envy will he breed?

Who or what will be blamed for everything (including sun-spots?)

Thanks to McNorman for this link. To quote her, "Read it all, don’t skip over anything." I might add, after you read it all - re-read it. We thank you for your attention to this matter.

Tickerguy's State Of The Union Address

My fellow Americans;

Four years ago, on this day in 2008, Bear Stearns stood on the edge of collapse. We did not know this, of course, as other than their two hedge funds' failure their internal condition was hidden -- by the company and by the regulators who were charged with keeping our financial system safe.

Over the next six months we came close to losing America.

Today, we're not in much better shape.

We have failed to address the first, and only, reason we find ourselves mired in an economic situation where we cannot grow and we cannot prosper. Where The Senate has failed to pass a budget for nearly three years. Where The House has proved unable to put forward a set of spending and revenue bills that balance.

The reason for our economic malaise, for the near-collapse in our economy in 2008 and the inability to exit the job recession of the last four years is that those who you vote for are incapable of telling you the truth. read the rest

Our Brave New World...

2012-01-24T14:11:00.000-08:00

all too true.

New Facebook Timeline will be mandatory in 7 days...

2012-01-24T12:07:00.000-08:00

I'm seriously considering deleted my entire Facebook page.

I never update my status and find what others are saying at times to be very disturbing. Do we really need this time waster in or lives?

From: Ytech

Facebook Timeline mandatory rollout: You have 7 days to scour your past

Facebook is the virtual home to more than 800 million active users, so any change to how the network operates is a big deal. And nothing could be bigger for the social hotspot than completely revamping everyone's front-facing profile page, and that is exactly what is happening today. Starting this morning, the new Timeline feature — that up until now has been an optional switch — is now mandatory. read the rest

Allen West speaks at the March for Life...

2012-01-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

you know - that march estimated to be a half of million people. The one the MSM was completely silent about.

Contraband...

2012-01-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

was fun.

It was a bit over-the-top in plausibility, but isn't that what movies are for?

Warning: Pay close attention from the beginning. It will seem disjointed but the pieces will come together. Also, do not drink any liquids before the start of the movie. If you have to take a bathroom break, you will be lost when you come back and your seat mate will not want to take the time to explain what you missed.

Next up?

John Carter in 3D

I rescind everything I've said about post-debate round-ups...

2012-01-23T20:59:00.000-08:00

because Smitty, over at The Other McCain, has done the best ever, most spot-on wrap up - and we thank him.

Please have your tray in an upright and locked position with all beverages secured.

TAMPA, FLORIDA NBC DEBATE
by Smitty

22:41 EST Mitt: If elected, I will institute the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Countries Not Named Greece.
22:40 EST Williams: Has America seen better days?
22:39 EST Newt: Yeah, we’re toast. I don’t want people for me, I want people with me.
22:38 EST Mitt: I have an inflatable record that is sufficiently buoyant to float the albatross and the galoshes.
22:37 EST Williams: RomneyCare; albatross, or cement galoshes for you?
22:36 EST Paul: Yeah, if want liberty and small government, you need to gaff these RINOs on the stage with me right off.

Read the rest

Over 400,000 March For Life In Washington DC...

2012-01-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

and the MSM prints almost nothing.

Allow me to repeat - over FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND peaceful people gather together in Washington, DC to pray and march for an end to abortion and no says a thing. And they call themselves news reporters?

Nice Deb has pics and videos - and we thank her.

Republican Debate Florida...

2012-01-23T17:53:00.000-08:00

9:00 PM ET

Watch Live

Bill Whittle Smacks Juan Williams...

2012-01-23T17:33:00.000-08:00

and the rest of the loony left.

More Bill Whittle:

Bill Whittle: What We Believe Series

Part One: Small Government & Free Enterprise here

Part Two: The Problem with Elitism here
Part Three: Wealth Creation here
Part Four: Natural Law here
Part Five: Gun Rights here
Part Six: Immigration here
Part Seven: American Exceptionalism here
Part Eight: A Nation of Desire here

and

Bill Whittle: Facing the Arithmetic
Bill Whittle: OBAMA AT HALFTIME ...
Bill Whittle: Just exactly who is Obama?
Bill Whittle : Eat the Rich
Bill Whittle: How to Steal Power
Bill Whittle: The Bridge in Your Mind
Bill Whittle: Three Years Under Obama

Be back later...

2012-01-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

and ready for the debate.

I think Mitt is going to do the proverbial "shot in the foot" tonight by attacking Newt (how in heck did we end up with two so-called front-runners with the names "Mitt" and "Newt"?)

We're off to a movie - Contraband. Mark Wahlberg is one of the good guys, so we'll support his movies. Lunch afterwords compliments of one of hubby's student who gifted us with several gift cards to a local restaurant.

For those that don't know the rules:

Play nice while I'm gone, use your inside voices, keep the sand in the sandbox, and return my toys at the end of the day...

(except for those who have been given their own toys due to their inability or unwillingness to follow the rules or those who were worthy to have their own. You figure out which is which.)

Odie, Randy, Dave, Blue, and Zilla have their own toys. In Zilla's case, it's a whole dang circus. Today I'm giving Bunni her own very special toy.

For Bunni:

We Told You So...

2012-01-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

Michael Voris sums it up nicely...

In case you missed it:

Catholic Bishops in a snit over mandated "free" birth control...

Obama on anniversary of Roe v Wade

2012-01-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

the most pro-death president in the history of this country said:

“And as we remember this historic anniversary, we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”

What in hell does that mean? How is a woman aborting a live baby ensuring equal rights with men? Are men planning on having abortions, too? How does abortion guarantee some sort of "opportunity?" Do women get up every day and "dream" about an abortion?

This is a typical meaningless sentence chock full of Pavlovian words guaranteed to make a loony leftie drool with self-righteousness.

And how about the equal rights of the men who don't want their child aborted? Oh, wait - they don't have any rights.

Read entire Obama statement

More:

Big Journalism: C-SPAN Casts March For Life As Simply “Anti-Abortion” Rally

Expecting good updates from Catholic bloggers who are attending today i.e. The Archbold's of Creative Minority Report, Kat, The Crescat, and Stephanie of Digital Hairshirt.

Survivor of abortion speaks...

2012-01-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

and does it very well.

However, the newscaster (bless her little heart), said "very" unique not once, not twice, but three times. Honey, there is no such thing as "very" unique.

Today is the March for Life in Washington, DC. News outlets? Crickets chirping...

How dumb are Obama's critics?...

2012-01-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

not very according to Robert Ringer.

Reprinted with permission:

On Hannity last week, the king of vulgarity, Jerry Springer, kept hammering home a puzzling point — that Barack Obama needs additional stimulus money so the government can hire more people. After all, he said, “the private sector can’t employ everyone.”

Now that’s one I’ve never heard before. The private sector can’t employ everyone, therefore the government needs to take more money from working people and “create” jobs for people who aren’t working? Springer’s comment was, of course, code for more redistribution of wealth.

The truth is that 100 percent employment is possible only in a police state like the Soviet Union of the twentieth century, where everyone was forced to work — at a job, and at a wage, that the state mandated. And we all know how well that system worked out for the masses.

By contrast, if there were such a thing as a true laissez-faire economy, everyone who genuinely wanted to work would be employed. The problem in today’s socialist America is that people do not have to work if they don’t want to. Millions of perfectly capable individuals have the option of remaining unemployed because of “jobless benefits,” minimum-wage laws, food stamps, and other forms of welfare.

Remove all of the above, and the employment rate would, indeed, approach 100 percent. Today, however, people have the luxury of taking their time finding a job that they believe to be worthy of their education, experience, and talents. And the result is that many people choose to be unemployed rather than “underemployed.”

The term underemployed makes me bristle because it implies that a person has a right to a job and a salary that he deems to be worthy of his efforts. Yet, no matter how hard I search, I cannot find any such right in the Constitution. Come to think of it, I can’t find any rights in the Constitution that the government has the authority to grant.

The fact is that the government has no right to take your money and use it to create a make-work job for someone else. Whether the private sector can or cannot employ everyone is another one of those false premises that the left uses to divert attention from the real issue — in this case, the issue of freedom.

Unfortunately, as crazy as Jerry Springer’s statement was, both Democratic and Republican statists continually show, through their actions, that they agree with him. Which is to say that they don’t believe in capitalism. What they do believe in is state capitalism — or, more appropriately, state-controlled capitalism, much like in China. Statist politicians clearly understand that continually increasing welfare benefits is the surest way to stay in office.

We’ve come a long way since Calvin Coolidge famously said, “The business of America is business.” Sadly, today redistribution of wealth is America’s number-one business, which is why free-market constitutionalists are finding it increasingly difficult to push through any cuts in public-assistance programs.

Isn’t it interesting that Ronald Regan, a Republican, and Bill Clinton, a one-time spread-the-wealth Democrat, both cut the number of people on food stamps and presided over the two most robust economies of the past half century? No doubt it was just an inconvenient truth.

But a little truth has never deterred Barack Obama from relentlessly striving to achieve his goals. That’s why one of Obama’s greatest triumphs in his quest to cleanse the United States of its evil capitalist system has been to increase the number of food-stamp recipients from 32 million to 46 million in just three years.
Not surprisingly, at the recent Fox News Republican debate, Juan Williams, a hapless media soul lost between two worlds, claimed that Newt Gingrich’s reference to Barack Obama as “the food-stamp president” had “racial overtones” — even though half of the people receiving food stamps are white! Nice diversion, to be sure.

The fact is that when Jerry Springer says that “the private sector can’t employ everyone,” he ignores the reality that, from California to Spain … from Wisconsin to Greece, the mantra of the pampered parasitic class is, “We don’t give a damn about the economy, the debt, or the government’s lack of cash. We want our benefits anyway!” Not jobs, mind you. Benefits.
Giving its crack editorial staff due credit, I believe Newsweek almost had it right in it’s cover-story headline, which read: Why are Obama’s critics so dumb?

In fact, with just a bit of editing, I was able to straighten out the wording for them: Why are Obama’s supporters so dumb? Why do they not see that by continuing to demand that the welfare state expand, their children and grandchildren are destined to live under tyranny?

As Thomas Sowell said in his article “An Ignored ‘Disparity’”, “Whole totalitarian governments have risen to dictatorial power on the wings of envy and resentment ideologies.”
Sorry, Jerry, but the problem is not the private sector’s inability to “employ everyone.” The problem is envy and resentment, the dark forces that blind welfare recipients from the certain consequences of their actions.

Which is why you can count on class warfare, like never before in our history, being the overriding theme of this year’s elections. It will be ugly.

You have permission to reprint this article so long as you place the following wording at the end of the article:

Copyright © 2012 Robert Ringer
ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and host of the highly acclaimed Liberty Education Interview Series, which features interviews with top political, economic, and social leaders. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, The Lars Larson Show, ABC Nightline, and The Charlie Rose Show, and has been the subject of feature articles in such major publications as Time, People, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron's, and The New York Times.

H/T Political Brambles

Some Days the Dragon Wins...

2012-01-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

Quote of the Day
from Jon Acuff

I like that.
Some days the dragon wins.
You work as hard as you can on a resolution or a goal or a dream and the day crumbles.
You tried your hardest, but for reasons in your control or out of your control, the day fell apart.
The dragon won.
Your manuscript was not written. Your miles were not run. Your dream was not dreamed.
But, and this is an awful big but, that was just today.
Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow is a new chance for you to beat back the dragon all over again. Tomorrow is a day you can win.
Don’t listen to the voice of fear that says, “Real writers never lose to the dragon some days. Real runners never miss a day of training. Real businesses never have down days.”
That’s a lie.
Some days the dragon wins.
And that’s OK. As long as tomorrow, you keep fighting.

The deliberate dumbing down of America...

2012-01-23T08:20:00.000-08:00

continues to gain speed.

Outside my window...

2012-01-23T07:50:00.000-08:00

and from my deck.

Crunchy crystallized snow and fog from the deck.

When I peeked out my office window I saw 21 doves waiting for the sun to burn off the fog.

We don't need no stinking photo ID to vote...

2012-01-23T07:08:00.000-08:00

even though 953 dead people voted in South Carolina.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina's attorney general has notified the U.S. Justice Department of potential voter fraud.

Attorney General Alan Wilson sent details of an analysis by the Department of Motor Vehicles to U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles.

In a letter dated Thursday, Wilson says the analysis found 953 ballots cast by voters listed as dead. In 71 percent of those cases, ballots were cast between two months and 76 months after the people died. That means they "voted" up to 6 1/3 years after their death.

The letter doesn't say in which elections the ballots were cast.

The analysis came out of research for the state's new voter identification law. The U.S. Justice Department denied clearance of that law.

Wilson told Nettles he asked the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate. source

H/T Bruce McQuain

It's Sunday evening...

2012-01-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

In Case You Missed It:

Chocolate for your Brain:   Thoughts on Birth Control

Blue's Blog:   Before government interference...

And so it goes in Shreveport:   The Spin Begins

Randy's Roundtable:   Congress Can Tell Obama To Pound Sound

Maggie's Notebook:   Solyndra Trashes Millions in New Unpaid For Parts: GOP Decries Solyndra Bonuses

and

Newsbusters:   Newt Gingrich Tells David Gregory 'Nobody in the Elite Media Wants to Cover' Obama's Alinsky Roots

March for Life Washington, DC...

2012-01-22T09:20:00.000-08:00

January 23, 2012

Last year, it was estimated that 400,000 people gathered in Washington, DC to proclaim the right to life. I have a feeling that tomorrow's attendance will break all records. These hearty travelers from all corners of the country will attend 3 days of activities, beginning yesterday. They will attend Masses and church services and pray together. Tomorrow they will march in unison for the stopping of the killing of innocent lives. They will not break windows, throw objects at police officers, or curse at bystanders. They will leave the Washington Mall spotless and unharmed.

Speaker of the House John Boehner will deliver opening remarks at the 39th annual March for Life in Washington on Monday, January 23, 2012.

“Respect for life has never been a political position for me: it’s who I am, and it’s who we are as a people,” Congressman Boehner said. “The cause of life endures in large part due to the vigilance of the American people, especially those who, led by Nellie Gray, march and pray in our nation’s capital each year at this time. It will be a great honor to address the March for Life as Speaker of the House and leader of its bipartisan pro-life majority.”

In San Francisco on Friday, a few hundred occupests threw Bibles and rocks at the police. They broke windows of businesses, illegally entered into an abandoned hotel, and blocked traffic, which hampered hard-working tax-paying citizens who were going about their daily tasks. Their voices joined together to spew hatred and vileness. In all, there were 23 arrests and two police officers injured.

In Washington, D.C., 11 people forced confrontations with police. They were arrested on the steps of the Supreme Court House and on the plaza, while another person was arrested inside the courthouse for unlawful entry. In every city that had a demonstration on Friday, the numbers were low, but the destruction, mess, and mayhem was high. source

This is what our president stands behind.

Any questions?

Quote of the Day

From: Tom McLaughlin

Borrowing, Abortion, Obama

[...]There's a critical mass of Americans that won’t take responsibility for the human life it conceives and it loves Barack Obama. It’s made up of men whose view of sex is “Slam, bam, thank you m’am. Oh, you're pregnant? Here’s $500 for an abortion.” It’s made up of women who would sacrifice their own children in the name of “liberation.” These are the Americans who would continue borrowing indiscriminately from the future to keep their unsustainable benefits flowing as long as possible. Obama helps them all feel good about themselves. They voted him into the White House and they will again unless an opponent emerges who can persuade them to take a long, honest look at themselves. read the entire article

March for Life Website

Outside my window...

2012-01-21T21:01:00.000-08:00

night falls.

Newt speaks...

2012-01-21T19:31:00.000-08:00

and says nice things about all the potential nominees. Good for him!

Newt Gingrich speaks in SC...

2012-01-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

and it's good.

"We don't want to run a Republican campaign,
We want to run an American campaign."

It appears Gingrich wins SC...

2012-01-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

Marianne Gingrich hardest hit.

Did the media really think the public cared about his personal life? First off, most older voters are working on their second or third marriage. We are a product of the 60's after all. So every time someone takes a swipe at Newt, they're taking a swipe at every American who has made some drastic mistakes encouraged by a society that was rapidly slipping down a slippery slope.

I applaud Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney for having been only married once. It's quite an achievement and they should be proud. But I hesitate to condemn those who didn't fare quite as well, and I don't automatically assume it speaks negatively about their character. We don't know what really goes on in any marriage. Heck, for all we know, Mitt and his wife loathe each other and Rick leaves the toilet seat up. Just sayin'...

Catholic Bishops in a snit over mandated "free" birth control...

2012-01-21T15:26:00.000-08:00

and who's fault is that?

Since birth control became available in the 1960's, the Catholic Church has done a disservice to it's faithful. They have refused to teach the reasons for the Church's position on the immorality of birth control, and most priests have slithered out of the fray by telling women they would have to "follow their conscience" - wink, wink.

Now Health and Human Services has said that birth control, including sterilization and the "morning after pill", will be provided free of all co-pays in all insurance plans. If you have a religious exemption, it will expire in one year. Don't like it - too bad.

With a few exceptions, the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) backed Obamacare as long as it didn't provide abortions. I think we all remember how well that worked out. And now, Daughter of Charity Sister Carol Keehan, president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, voiced disappointment with this newest decision handed down by Kathleen Sibelius.

This is the same sister who was bounced off of the prestigious Holy Family Hospital Foundation board over her support for the federal health care bill. Now she's disappointed in Obama? Perhaps she could send a note to Obama written with the ceremonial pen she received when the president signed Obamacare into law.

A few days ago, Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan lashed out at the Obama Administration for forcing religious organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience.

“Almost every employer and insurer in the country to provide sterilization and contraceptives, including some abortion-inducing drugs, in their health plans… Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights.”

This is what he posted on his blog March 15th, 2010

This is a very significant week for a cause championed by an overwhelming majority of Americans: health care reform. Our prayers are with our president and elected officials in D.C. as they work hard at bringing about a bill that is just and good for the country we love.
Thoughtful Catholics are especially attentive to this effort, but we find ourselves in a tough spot.

On the one hand, we are enthusiastic about universal health care. The Catholic community in the United States, led by brave sisters, has been on the front line of tending lovingly for the sick and frail for centuries, way before government ever got into it. The bishops have been advocating universal health care for nearly a century. So, we sure want to see it work, and appreciate the efforts of the president and both parties in Congress to bring it home. source

I like Cardianl-designate Dolan, and for the most part he does a good job. However, he and the other bishops dropped the ball on Obamacare - big time. Aside from the abortion issue, the bill is over two thousand pages of onerous mandates, regulations, and hidden surprises that will destroy the quality and accessibility of decent health care in this country. Nothing too Catholic about that. The real losers in this whole debacle are the Catholics who have been kept ignorant of their faith.

CatholicVote.org just posted "Obama Hands GOP a ‘Golden Opportunity’ to Win Back the Catholic Vote in 2012." Allow me to ask why they voted in overwhelming numbers for the wildly pro-abortion Obama to begin with? Could it be the lack of valid Catholic teaching that has been absent for at least 50 years? Does CatholicVote really believe that Catholics are going to turn away from Obama over mandatory "free" birth control since the majorority of Catholics are themselves using it?

More:

USCCB Statement

Philothea on Phire: "Catholic" Politicians: Selling Out the Church

Excellent article from Charles E. Rice, Professor Emeritus Notre Dame Law School, explaining why Obamacare is against real Catholic teaching.

The Catholic Church in the Obama Era
Oct. 22, 2010

Windfall Profit Board??

2012-01-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

WTHell?

I have to eat breakfast so I'll Let Matt explain it. He does a great job - and we thank him.

Paging Comrade Stalin: Democrats Propose “Windfall Profits Board”

"Free" birth control for everyone...

2012-01-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

allow me to repeat, "It's not "free."

Kathleen Seblious:

“This decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services." source

Preventive services? Last time I checked pregnancy wasn't a disease, unless, of course, you're Obama and you think a baby is a "punishment."

Listen to what The Lonely Conservative has to say:

No Co-Payments for Birth Control, But I Pay Co-Payments for a Broken Wrist?

More:

Outrageous HHS Final Rule: Catholic Groups Must Cover Contraceptives

It's Friday...

2012-01-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

what's going on.

Diogenes' Middle Finger: The Case Against Barack Obama...

Karen McQuillan at American Thinker: Now We Know Who Was Right about Obama

Creative Minority Report: Abortionomics Study a Fraud

Button's Blog: If You Want to Avoid Criminals, You're a Racist!

Stansberry's Investment Advisory: The Corruption of America

Always On Watch: The Sad Irony

Americans for Tax Reform: Comprehensive List of Obama Tax Increases

Atlas Shrugged: Post-American Statism: Dems propose 'Reasonable Profits Board' to regulate oil company profits

Conservative Hideout 2.0: Destroying the False Racial Narrative and Creating True Equality

Western Hero: Biofuels Bomb

Libertas et Memoria: Washington state's proposed gay marriage law to impact churches directly?

Questions and Observations: The looming health care bomb – a scenario

Sentry Journal: Newt Gingrich: Once again the left is trying to manipulate the right

That Mr. G Guy's Blog: Guns Only For The Wicked In D.C. #Rule5

Political Realities: SOPA – What Does it Mean to Bloggers?

Tereesamerica: Andrew Klavan Explains How Leftists Pave the Highway to Hell

and

This is a he-man and he-woman alert:

I think before I get a Rodinator, I'll get THIS!!!

My thoughts on the debate...

2012-01-20T08:37:00.000-08:00

mean absolutely nothing and so I'll keep them to myself.

(other than the Newt take-down of King which made my heart sing)

Something I've always hated is when any political figure makes a speech or engages in what passes for a debate, the after-show talking heads come on and tell us what was just said. I know what was said because I just listened to it, but secure in their pomposity, they assume we're too stupid to understand what was just said.

"You just don't understand", is loony left code for, "The discussion is closed because you're stupid and I'm smart." It's dismissive, and it's a way to stop any conversation they know they'd lose because they have no facts to back up their statements. Most people can handle someone hating them or loving them, but if you want to drive someone into a state of rage, just dismiss them and pretend they're irrelevant.

I have deliberately avoided reading anything having to do with the debate, particularly in regard to the ones who proudly claim who "won" the debate. I'll decide who "won" the debate based on what I saw and heard. Please don't assume I'm dumping on the many fine conservative bloggers who have posted fine articles about the debate, because I am most assuredly not. I just don't want to be swayed in my opinions by anyone, and reading many opinions tends to confuse. I would rather take time to ponder and "trust but verify" all by myself.

That being said, allow the kitteh to speak to the loony left:

Epilogue of "Ameritopia" by Mark Levin available free online...

2012-01-20T07:29:00.000-08:00

H/T for the link to Dan Riehl, who will be posting his review at Big Government hopefully on Monday.

epilogue is now available online

In the epilogue, Levin asks the question:

The essential question is whether, in America, the people’s
psychology has been so successfully warped, the individual’s spirit
so thoroughly trounced, and the civil society’s institutions so effectively
overwhelmed that revival is possible. Have too many
among us already surrendered or been conquered? Can the people
overcome the constant and relentless influences of ideological
indoctrination, economic manipulation, and administrative coerciveness,
or have they become hopelessly entangled in and dependent
on a ubiquitous federal government? Have the Pavlovian
appeals to radical egalitarianism, and the fomenting of jealousy
and faction through class warfare and collectivism, conditioned
the people to accept or even demand compulsory uniformity as
just and righteous? Is it accepted as legitimate and routine that
the government has sufficient license to act whenever it claims to
do so for the good of the people and against the selfishness of the
individual?

Newt started the night off right...

2012-01-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

hey, John King - sometimes the truth hurts.

Brilliant...

2012-01-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

and we thank her.

Dopey goes to Disney World

Home-schoolers given preference in hiring?...

2012-01-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

you bethca!

At last week's meeting of the Kootenai County Reagan Republicans, I was seated next to a gentleman who is the owner of several high-end fast food places in my town and Spokane, WA. In partnership with his son, they have introduced a popular, successful restaurant to the area.

I brought up the fact that many of my friends have gotten out of the fast food business due to problems with the work force, which primarily consists of teenagers. I found his responses interesting and asked many follow-up questions.

He first of all made it quite clear that one of the things he liked most about this new venture was the interaction with the staff, and suggested that the secret to a good staff was the manner in which they were interviewed and hired. When asked what the first thing was they looked for in a new hire, the answer was; "A home-schooled kid."   They found them to be more responsible, personable, respectful, and well, better educated.

I followed up with my usual, "Are they as socialized as public school kids?" He answered that he finds them better socialized for the very reason that they're not locked up every day with their peers forming some sort of a "closed shop" with little influence from adults.

Next was over-all personality and appearance. His restaurants do not allow more than two piercings - one in each ear, no cussing, and if they have a tattoo on their arm, they'd best plan on wearing long sleeves all summer. They are required to obtain a drug test at their expense ($30.00) which is refunded after 60 days of employment. He said that weeds out many of the kids right in the beginning.

Most telling was his closing statement which I'll have to paraphrase. He said they wanted to create an atmosphere where a "good" kid could work and not feel like an outsider.

Bravo!

More:

Home School Legal Defense Association: Can they get a job?

Ludwig Von Mises Institute:   In Praise of Homeschools

Bunkerville:   Next Generation, dumb as dumb can be?

Obama in Fantasy land

2012-01-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

on the taxpayers dime.

Obama spends your money to fly to Florida, pollute the air with his fancy jet, ruin the day for a bunch of kids, to read off a teleprompter a bunch of blah, blah that no one cares about. This is insane!

Next up today? Four, count 'em, four fundraisers in New York.

A feel good moment...

2012-01-19T10:34:00.000-08:00

for an otherwise ~~crappy~~ interesting day.

The little doggie in this video reminds me so much of our dearly departed Sophie. Often dogs who have been abused act mean out of fear. I wrote a fairly light-hearted story of Sophie, but the reality is that if a few gals at the shelter had not intervened, we would not have enjoyed many years with the gentlest and sweetest doggie, evah.

God bless the people that care for these abandoned creatures.

Watch Christian Videos and Read the Online Bible at GodVine.com

Medicare is a mess...

2012-01-19T09:06:00.000-08:00

and anyone who thinks otherwise either doesn't have to deal with Medicare or hasn't been paying attention.

Other then the time my mother was raising her children, she worked in the healthcare field. She started out after college in secretary positions to medical practices overseeing the office staff and billing. When she returned to work in the 1960's it was to update the entire medical records department in a major hospital in the Houston medical center setting up the coding for all the files - a job that took over six months with a staff of four. She later became the assistant administrator of that hospital and resigned that position to be executive secretary for the x-ray department.

My mother understood how healthcare worked and when Medicare was first proposed she declared it a mess and predicted it would eventually lead to wrecking the healthcare field. My mother was very smart.

From Reason.com

Medicare Whac-A-Mole
Why health care price controls always fail

House Republicans, you may have heard, are trying to “end Medicare as we know it.” And well they should—Medicare as we know it is the nation’s biggest fiscal disaster. For years members of Congress and the executive branch have been trying, and failing, to find ways to restrain the growth of government health spending on seniors. Medicare is a $500 billion program on track to become a $1 trillion program before hitting insolvency in 2024, even under the rosiest projections. The program looms as a threat not only to itself but to the budgetary health of the nation. It is the single largest driver of long-term federal debt. read the rest

and

From: Questions and Observation

Medicare’s Doctor (and patient) trap

Summing up Democrats in 24 seconds...

2012-01-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

H/T Mary Ann Kreitzer at Les Femmes who suggests we conjure up an image of Nancy Pelosi.

Rick Perry dropping out...

2012-01-19T07:39:00.000-08:00

that's all I have to say.

For Mark in Spokane...

2012-01-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

who blogs at Libertas et Memoria - your favorite bluegrass.

Outside my window...

2012-01-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

we had our first snow today and the birds were hungry.

Hubby had bought me a beautiful fancy bird feeder. When filling it last week it was dropped and it's been impossible to put it back together. He replaced it with one of the feeders from the back deck. Not the fanciest feeder around but the birdies don't care.

There were hundreds of birds feasting all day. The bird feeder had to refilled twice.

Even the doves showed up for lunch. At one point there were 16 doves eating seed off the back deck.

Snow without wind is always (sort of) welcome.

Marianne Gingrich unloading on Newt?

2012-01-18T18:21:00.000-08:00

so says Drudge.

Remind me again - wasn't Marianne the gal who was chipping around with Newt while he was married to Jackie? She obviously didn't have a mother as smart as mine who taught me early and well and said, " If you believe the married guy you're having an affair with won't do the same thing to you - that is, if you can get him to leave his wife, he'll do it to you. I took my mom's advice and avoided the married man trap. I have no sympathy for Ms Marianne.

Now Marianne wants to "end his career" with an "explosive" interview. She spoke to ABC news reporter Brian Ross for two hours and from what I can glean, the network won't show the interview until after the primary. After perusing previous interviews with her, it is clear she's pretty dang pissed at Newt for ditching her for a younger woman. This should be interesting...

More:

Hot Air seems to think the interview will air tomorrow

Drudge: Gingrich’s ex-wife is ready to dish; Update: Interview to air tomorrow?

Boehner on the Keystone decision...

2012-01-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

"Is it not in the national interest to create tens of thousands of jobs from private investments?"

Presidential Prolife Forum Tonight

2012-01-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

Watch the Live Stream of the Presidential Pro-Life Forum on Wed. January 18th Starting at 6:45 pm Eastern Standard Time

Live Stream

Obama the job killing Marxist...

2012-01-18T11:58:00.000-08:00

$5.00 a gallon for gas on the way?

Industry sources: State Department will reject Keystone pipeline reroute

Rick Perry: Americans should be 'unhinged' by decision to reject Keystone pipe path

Holy Carp! "I can has cheesburger" went dark today...

2012-01-18T09:27:00.000-08:00

not THAT is world changing.

First Wiki

and Google is making it's feelings about SOPA and PIPA known:

Dana Loesch, at Big Journalism, has a good round-up on SOPA and PIPA

Stop SOPA, Stop Censorship

Thank goodness I have some LOL cats hiding in the bowels of my computer.

Minnesota Moonbat Muslim Keith Ellison wants to lower voting age to 16...

2012-01-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

really? Really??

"Why shouldn't 16-year-old vote?" Ellison tweeted last week, according to Minnesota's Fridley Patch. "They can drive. Some have jobs. Let's empower our youth."

How about this, Keith. Let's put the voting age back to 21 except for active duty service men and women. Part of the problem in this country can be attributed to uninformed, uneducated, and functionally illiterate voters. While I'll admit that the difference between 18 and 21 is not huge, it would be a start. Might I remind you that young people and blacks put our current disaster of a president in the White House (interspersed with the out-of-touch radical commie Marxist types that you find in universities. Oh wait, they're teaching the kids. What could go wrong?)

Check out:

Obama's Litany of Failures

compiled by Doug Ross (hoo ha - he did a masterful job - and we thank him,)

Public Service Announcement: DaTechGuy gives some good advice...

2012-01-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

and I'll add to it.

We interupt our news/politicts blogging for a public service message about spam

As you might know I spent a lot of year in the tech field fighting virus, cleaning spyware and giving people advice on how to keep from being nailed by online scams etc.
When you see this stuff every day you sometimes forget that there are people unfamiliar with the scams out there, so for the benefit of those who might not know, here is an example of a phony e-mail trying to get your data read the rest

Allow me to add that when you get one of those annoying pop-ups warning you your computer has been infected such as this:

DO NOT CLICK ON "REMOVE" ALL OR "IGNORE." If you're a dummy like me, turn off your computer and call your computer guru. This trojan morphs so fast that the average person can't keep up with the fixes.

When surfing the web, pay attention to the address (URL) of a website before clicking through. If the address looks suspicious, stay away from that site.

If you don't have Malwarebyte, get it. After my last little go-round with the above trojan, I opted for the paid version which blocks the trojan before it enters your computer. So far it has been well worth the small amount of money compared to paying my guru to fix the computer.

Frankie went to the doggie beauty shop today...

2012-01-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

and had his first photo session.

All together now - awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Mark Levin: We are a Post-Constitutional America...

2012-01-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

and Obama is a Marxist.

H/T iOwnTheWorld

Juan Williams - race baiter extraordinaire...

2012-01-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

good for Newt!

Obama is a 3rd World pro-Muslim, anti-American, radical, fanatical, mendacious, sociopath...

2012-01-16T20:32:00.000-08:00

pretty well sums it up.

Great thanks to Granny Jan

It pegged me...

2012-01-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

how about you?

Take the test. The link is in my result box.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I do call soda "pop" and am forever being asked if I'm from Chicago.

Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, moved to Houston, Texas when I was 16 for about 15 years, back to Minneapolis for 2 years, 12 years in Arizona, and about 23 years in Idaho (All figures are approximate as they add up to more than my age by a few years - in case anyone does the addition.) For the record, I'm only 66, but I'm still a "young" lady.

Feeling discouraged about blogging?...

2012-01-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

this might help.

31 Unexpected Perks of Blogging You’ll Never Want to Give Up

You’ve got it! You’re officially a Have in a world of Have-nots!
What do you have? It’s probably not money, fame, or tax-write-offs disguised as corporate jets. It’s something more powerful.
You have a blog. And a darn fine one at that.

If you’ve said before that you’ll never give up blogging—surprise! You’re probably right!

Giving up a good thing is next-to-impossible. So it’s not a surprise to discover that blogging isn’t the sort of thing you just stop doing. In fact, anyone would be hard-pressed to give up blogging once they’ve discovered just how rewarding it can be. read the rest

Mark Wahlberg on his faith and his life...

2012-01-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

is prison the beginning or the end of someones life?

Republican debate in South Carolina...

2012-01-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

The debate start time 9 pm ET on Monday, January 16, 2012.

The debate will air on FOX News.

How to Watch the January 16 Republican Debate Online

FOX will have a Republican Debate livestream. If that doesn't work, you can try this January 16 Republican Debate livestream.

Obamacare chart updated...

2012-01-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

and it's not a pretty sight.

Thanks to Maggie, over at her Notebook, for bringing us this vision of madness.

Remember the astoundingly complex chart of how ObamaCare would be managed, released by Democrats…back then? It was huge then, now after actually reading the bill, we find that it has reached behemoth proportions. No one is surprised.
Here’s the current state of ObamaCare:

ObamaCare Chart Grows From Huge to Behemoth

The anti-Catholic pro-homosexual piggies are squealing in Minnesota... w/Update

2012-01-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

because a bishop dares to speak the truth.

Archbishop John Nienstedt of Minnesota has dared to tell his flock, including his priests, that marriage is between a man and a woman. How radical! And to make matters worse, he is backing a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

As to be expected, many of the usual activist homosexuals and their supporters are in a rage. Here's the problem in a nutshell: Activist (and active) homosexuals don't want equal rights, something we've never tried to prevent them from attaining. They want you and I to approve of the fact that they have deviant sex with a member of the same sex. It always comes back to this question: why would a group of people wish to define who they are by the manner in which they have sex? It could only mean that their sexual practices, abhorrent to most heterosexuals who have given it any thought, must be central to their lives - even as they loudly proclaim the opposite.

Listen to the position of Archbishop Nienstedt and tell me this is a "hater" of people. You can't - because he isn't. It's really that simple.

Update:

Peter, DaTechGuy, addresses the issue of the organization called Courage.

How DARE those Catholics do Catholic things

Next thing you know they might start having mass and communion:
On Tuesday, the archdiocese announced it was launching a local chapter of a national ministry called Courage “to support men and women who struggle with homosexual tendencies and to motivate them to live chaste and fruitful lives in accordance with Catholic Church teachings.”
This is fully consistent with Catholic beliefs and teaching which unlike protestant teaching states that it is the act rather than the attraction that is sinful.
As you might guess the idea that Gay Catholics might actually take Catholic seriously has some up in arms. read the rest

NB: No pigs were harmed in the writing of this post.

I'm going to miss Jon Huntsman...

2012-01-15T23:23:00.000-08:00

no, really - I'm going to miss him.

I think ~~John~~ Jon added a bit of amusement to this whole dreary process.

Have you seen Conviction?

2012-01-15T23:17:00.000-08:00

you should - it's excellent.

Conviction is the true story of Betty Ann Waters, whose brother was wrongly convicted of murder. Betty Ann, with only a GED, put herself through college and law school to help free her brother. Eventually, with help of Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project, Kenny Waters is freed.

Want to know who threw up most of the road blocks after the DNA evidence proved him innocent? That would be one Martha Coakley, attorney general of Massachusetts, who ran against Scott Brown in the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat in the Senate. Another reason not to like her...

Available to rent...

I may have to watch this later...

2012-01-15T09:51:00.000-08:00

or I might just beat myself with a whip instead.

Video: Watch the entire Huckabee Presidential Forum 2 from South Carolina

H/T Phoebe's Detention Room

John 3:16...

2012-01-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

WOW!

I heard a rumor there's a football game tonight... w/Update

2012-01-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

I just may have to watch.

In fact - I'm positive I'm going to watch...

Update:

OMGosh!! LarryD, over at Acts of the Apostasy, has really upset my turnip wagon.

Not All Bronco Fans Are Tebow Fans

It's Saturday...

2012-01-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

what's going on.

Pundette:   That urgency thing

Zombie:   The Leaf-Blower Paradox and the Fundamental Fallacy of Obamanomics

Bride of Rove:   Today’s Quote ~ Savage Distopia

Randy's Roundtable:   Liar In Chief (still a liar) Lies Again

Bunkerville:   Cass Sunstein behind monitoring of websites

The republican Mother:   History: It's Your Birthright!

Conservative Hideout 2.0: Tales of Voter Fraud: In Three Acts

Capitalist Preservation:   Know the truth about ObamaCare - Key Points

Maggie's Notebook:   Jimmy Carter: Egypt Muslim Brotherhood Brings Peace Respect to Israel Palestine: Right.

Standing on my Head:   Newt's Three Marriages

Woman Honor Thyself:   Gender Confusion?

Sentry Journal:   Video: Ron Paul’s 2002 Predictions All Come True!

Debt Crisis 101

H/T A Conservative Teacher via US Government Teachers Blog:

On the Lighter Side

Blue's Blog:   Wisconsin Declares War... :)

Diogenes Middle Finger:   Educational Crash Course #92

Always On Watch:   Your Weekend Funny

Woodsterman:   Ormie the Pig (This is Great)

Teresamerica:   Kennigan Master of Disguise

Luxury cruise ship, Costa Concordia, capsizes off coast of Italy...

2012-01-14T09:18:00.000-08:00

4,200 on board.

From UK Mail Online:

Sixty nine people are believed to be missing and three are dead after a packed cruise liner began capsizing off the Italian coast after running aground.

About 4,200 passengers and crew were on board the Costa Concordia which had left port at 7pm for a seven-day Mediterranean Cruise - but within two hours, it ran aground in the sea with a major electrical fault.

The 13 deck liner then began to take on water after hitting a rock creating a 160ft gash in the hull, near the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast - two weeks into the Titanic centenary year.

Following a large-scale evacuation of passengers and crew last night, Italian officials said 69 had not yet been accounted for, although they warned the passenger list might not be fully up-to-date. more pics and info

Rick Santorum defies Catholic teaching?...

2012-01-12T21:25:00.000-08:00

maybe - maybe not. Michael Voris speaks out on Santorum

Yesterday was a better day...

2012-01-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

because I stayed off the internet for much of the day.

Imagine spending the next 10 months listening to attack after attack against each of the possible Republican nominees - by the Republicans/Conservatives. That's exactly what's going to happen.

Is Bain Capital really an issue? By the time the anti-capitalists are done, it will be. Having not examined each and every document detailing what Bain Capital did or did not do, I won't be making a decision over their business practices. With only a cursory glance at the company, it appears they were not the "vultures" people seem to think they are. But, hey - that's just me.

Bob Belvedere, over at Camp of the Saints, has one of the best round-ups I've read so far - and we thank him.

Nomination Excitations: The Day After New Hampshire - Thoughts on the status of the race for the GOP Nomination and the candidates the day after the New Hampshire Primary…

I don't always disagree with Victor Davis Hanson, but his fine article Obama’s Postmodern Vision
while being correct about the direction this country is headed, attributes way too much to the "vision" of Obama. Trust me on this - Obama has no vision. He is an empty-suited sock-puppet living on the down-low whose only "vision" is of his next fun ride on Air Force One. Obama is a malignant narcissist, who is being played and manipulated; he actually believes the hype promulgated by the loony left. He and his equally despicable wife are sheltered and cosseted from the true feelings of the vast majority of the American public. We know this because no one has had the nerve to tell Mooch she looks like a hot-mess 99% of the time (I'm trying to be charitable by tossing her 1%.)   But remember, while Mooch runs around spending our money, she thinks we're ~~stupid~~ uninformed.

More things of interest:

Stephen Kokx, at Renew America: Rick Santorum is right

Les Femmes:   How Many Dead People Voted in New Hampshire? How Many Will Vote in the General?

Mark, at Libertas et Memoria:   Can a Catholic be a libertarian?
My thoughts? To those of us who study our faith, the answer is pretty simple. Find out why.

MarkAmerica:   A Few Words About a Word: Greed

Howard Portnoy at Hot Air Greenroom:   Obama’s P. T. Barnum campaign strategy

Matt, at Sentry Journal, pulls together an impressive amount of info:   A Tale of Two Stories: Electronic Medical Records Costs Jobs, Doctors Losing Money

MOTUS: Run-a-way Win: It's All Legal

Michelle Obama thinks we're stupid...

2012-01-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

but, not to worry, she and her husband will inform the great unwashed.

The arrogance of these people is mind bending.

Sweet...

2012-01-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

Watch Christian Videos and Read the Online Bible at GodVine.com

Romney Wins in N.H....

2012-01-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

and we are surprised, why?

Since I've had many years to witness elections in this country (the first I really remember is Eisenhower, although I was just a lass of 7), lately I've started to have a suspicion that the whole process consists of smoke and mirrors. In light of the fact that we have three branches of government, the frenzy over who will be president seems a bit over the top.

The sight of masses of people trying to get the attention of this candidate or that candidate, as though they are rock stars, is unsettling. It's always unsettling to see adults behaving toward any human being in such a manner, and it's not at all dignified.

I listened carefully to Romney's speech (video below) and everything he has said has been said before - over and over.

I think Shakespeare was on to something when he said:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Macbeth Act 5, scene 5, 19–28

From Jeffrey Tucker at Whiskey and Gunpowder

Jeffrey Tucker is the executive editor of Laissez Faire Books. He is past editorial vice president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and past editor for the institute's website, Mises.org. Tucker is also an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and an Acton University faculty member.

Elections and the Illusions of Choice

The political season has unleashed its predictable frenzy, much to the delight of people who make a living off it. But to what end? There are only two types of politicians who end up holding office, wrote H.L. Mencken: “first, glorified mob-men who genuinely believe what the mob believes, and secondly, shrewd fellows who are willing to make any sacrifice of conviction and self-respect in order to hold their jobs.”
That about sums it up. The plus side of elections is that sometimes the debates, discussions, candidates and parties, raise fundamental questions about what kind of society we want to live in. That’s the best we can hope for.

But there is a downside to all this hullabaloo: it gives the impression that the mere existence of the electoral process gives “We the People” a fundamental choice about the kind of state we want. This is not true. The politicians we elect are veneers or facades. They are bandits, but they do not constitute what is called the state. This goes for just about every developed state in the world for the last 200 years.

The whole election process leads people to believe that the state is embedded in its leaders. Not so. In France, this system ended with the execution of Louis XVI; in Germany, with the ascent of Bismarck; and in Russia, with the Bolshevik Revolution. The personal state died in the U.S. pretty early on, as even Thomas Jefferson discovered when he became president in 1801; he felt himself powerless to do anything.

The modern state lives outside the will of a particular leader or administration. Voting and elections only change the temporary managers, but do not touch the core of the problem. read the rest and ponder

and from Frank Salvato at Big Government:

Promises, Promises: The Reality of Campaign Speak

As the campaign cycle progresses, we are going to hear a lot about what one candidate or another is going to do about this or that. We will, to the point of weariness, be inundated with campaign promise after campaign promise, albeit, between gratuitous attacks, both political and personal. This is politicking, and the American electorate, for better or for worse, has come to accept a certain amount of it from the people in the political class. But expecting grandiose pledges and believing in the unattainable, well, those are two different things. It is the truly foolish who believe half of what a political candidate says he can deliver, and the blame for that foolishness must fall on the shoulders of the individual voter. read the rest