August 31, 2007

Quote of the Day: “Do you get the feeling that at this point Washington is run by two rival gangs that have a great deal in common with each other, including an essential lack of interest in the well-being of the turf on which they fight?”

Best blog post I’ve seen about the absurdity of the Larry Craig saga. Her opening salvo is “I don’t like my news pre-Onionized for me.” Yeah, me either. If toe-tapping in a public restroom is evidence of homosexual activity, I have some ’splaining to do:

Me: Honey, it pains me to tell you this, but I have tapped my toe in a public restroom, therefore I am gay.

Mr. Examiner: Hmmmm, that explains a lot!

Later….

Mr. Examiner: It pains me to tell you this, but your Mother is gay.

Examiner Jr.: I’ve known that for years.

Mr. Examiner: No, I mean she’s a lesbian.

Examiner Jr.: Whatever.

The dumbest blog post I’ve seen today. But it’s only 9:25 a.m. If his post is legit, this doofus thinks Gonzales timed his resignation to coincide with when Jon Stewart was on vacation. Same for the outing of the Larry Craig debacle, ’cause everyone knows Jon Stewart is just the most power media force in the country. Sheesh!

Never let ‘em see you sweat. Unfortunately, Harry Reid’s latest ploy reeks of sweaty desperation. Reid has announced he will work with those eeeevil Republicans in order to promote the anti-war agenda that the MoveOn.org/Kos crowd demands. What else can he do since the Democrat Congress has an approval rating of about 18% and Kos/MoveOn.org have him and entire Democrat Party by the short hairs? He can’t get his extremist legislation passed with just Democrats so he is having to reach across the aisle and give bipartisanship a shot.

The horror!

The propaganda arm of the DNC is ramping up for the ‘08 election.

At least 8 anti-war Iraq movies are set for release in the next few months. The latest is a Brian DePalma gem called “Redacted”. DePalma says that his movie “is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people. The pictures are what will stop the war.” “Reality” in a movie? Really! Aside from the over-the-top hubris and arrogance of DePalma, what kind of person is persuaded to change his/her mind about ANYTHING by watching a movie? I’m always amazed by people who see a left-wing polemic or propaganda piece like “Sicko”, “FH911″ or “Inconvenient Truth” and claim that the scales have fallen from their eyes and they are changed individuals. What sort of person is so easily manipulated that emotion, pathos and bathos overtake reason and logic?

DePalma and the other 8 filmmakers will be preaching to the choir and will not be bringing “reality” to any nonbelievers.

I cannot believe there are people out there who are so easily manipulated. Incredible!

NOTE: I may be updating this post throughout the day rather than creating new posts.

Blag-O-Rama

Now children, mind your daddy because he has your best interests at heart and he knows what’s best.

Blago vetos measure that would allow local voters to decide if they want to raise sales taxes in order to support schools. How silly! Of course the power to tax doesn’t belong to the people, it belongs to the powerful Illinois daddy-government. Same for the idea that local government should have the power to ask the people to raise taxes in support of the zoo. Get real, this just isn’t done!

Blago says he trimmed the state budget to make it more of a “moral document”.  Go figure, Blago cut projects added by his political opponents and approved the ones for his allies, yet Blago claims that his decisions weren’t political. So what does “moral” mean to a liberal Democrat like Blago? No one bothered to ask, but if you ask me, any time a liberal Democrat starts talking about the connection between government and “morals”, that’s a signal to hold on to your wallet!

Blago signed into law a measure supporting stem cell research. Over the last two years,Blago has used his executive authority to give 15 million in grants for this research, which has now become law. With private investors throwing money hand over fist to finance stem cell research, why is a state like Illinois, which is in dire financial straits, throwing money at this feel-good scheme? There is absolutely no proof that stem cells will cure anything; this is the next dotcom big thing. Why is our wonderful State O’ Illinois spending our limited resources to finance what amounts to  snake-oil?

Oh, well at least we can feel good about ourselves, which is what this piece of legislation is all about.

It’s all about daddy government deciding for us what is moral, who can raise money and what trends we must follow.

NOTE: My apologies—the first link is behind the D/A pay wall. Hey D/A, how about catapulting qconline into the 21st century?

Back From Israel and Ready to Embarrass Himself and His District

Yes, our specially selected congressman is back from his summer vacation in Israel and is ready to spout nonsense, as usual.

In Peoria Hare opined about the Gonzales resignation and the successor. Hare wants an AG with “unquestioned credibility and respect for the Constitution”. Maybe like Janet Reno who killed US citizens in Ruby Ridge and Waco and scared the bejeebus out of that poor Cuban kid. Yeah, we all want an AG like Janet Reno.

Moving on, in Quincy our brilliant congressman says that if only we weren’t fighting in Iraq all the nations bridges and infrastructure would be fixed.

If you believe that, I have a nice bridge in Minneapolis I would like to sell you.

Sheesh! Is Hare dumb or dishonest?
And why does he think we are dumb enough to believe him?

The Snort! Snicker! Guffaw! Of The Day

Well, two; both were so hilarious I couldn’t decide.

1. John Edwards says Americans should sacrifice SUVs for environment.

Amazingly, some reporter had the temerity to point out Edwards’ hypocrisy (he was probably a foreign reporter). Asked to justify his own excessive carbon burning lifestyle while demanding the less affluent sacrifice, Edwards’ lame excuse was that he was entitled to his environmentally unfriendly 28,000 sq. ft. McMansion because he “came from nothing and worked hard all his life…”

But why should the less affluent who “came from nothing” blahblah give up their SUVs which do less damage to the environment than Edwards Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous?  Anyone wondering about the intelligence level of the American public should consider the fact that Edwards has the politically support he does.  What does a Democrat have to do to be considered a hypocrite?

2. Blanco says Katrina evacuation was the “individuals responsibility

Don’t ya love it when Democrats are put on the stand and forced to testify under oath that they lose all that “government is responsible for all” claptrap and start sounding like Republicans by throwing the responsibility back on the individual?

Of course the Louisiana governor was not so reticent about assigning blame to the federal government in the aftermath of Katrina—-especially George Bush. She’s singing a different tune now that the courts want to hold HER responsible for what her government did, or didn’t do.

Considering Democrats are bullet-proof when it comes to either taking responsibility for their actions or for rank hypocrisy, it suprises me that there aren’t more people claiming to be Democrats.

I Ain’t Gonna Work On Rocky’s Farm No More

The Dispatch/Argus is reporting that AFSCME, which represents 73 Rock Island employees who work in streets, maintenance, refuse collection, and Sunset Marina are protesting a city proposal that would require certain workers to be on standby 24 hours a day, for a week at a time in case they need to be called to work overtime.

These are the people you call in the middle of the night when sewage is running into your basement, when your street is blocked with snow and your child has a medical emergency and when your water stops running or is running gunk.

The very important reason the union doesn’t want to be available for after hours emergency services is a familiar one: they want to spend more time with their families—-just like Karl Rove!

The quotes from the AFSCME spokesperson are priceless:

“All employees are entitled to family life after work hours.” I guess it’s a good thing they work as garbage collectors rather than doctors if they think they are ‘entitled”.

“(The government) is saying, ‘Your family doesn’t count at all.’ Only a sicko would think of a proposal like this.” I think the use of the word “sicko’ is telling here, don’t you? Once we get that government controlled health care the Democrats are all panting for, look for doctors to unionize and demand their entitled “family life”.

“We get the feeling the city doesn’t care about family values.” What a hoot! Democrats, who have controlled the city (and county) for years aren’t exactly known as the party of family values. The spokesman is trying to have it both ways.

The article ends by saying the average wage for these Local #988 employees is $47,804 and when health insurance and pension is factored in, it amounts to $61,405 a year. The fact that they have “free’ healthcare makes a lie of the “city doesn’t care” whine.

Furthermore, speaking of ‘family values” and “family life” wanna take bets on how many of the Local 988 got their jobs through family connections with the politically powerful and how many employees got their jobs from good old-fashioned cronyism?

These whiners need to be reminded that they are taxpayer financed and work for us, not AFSCME.

We Keep On Waiting, Waiting On The World To Change

In defiance of Democrat Party rules, Florida  has decided to hold it’s primary on January 29th, rather than on or after the party approved date of February 5th. As punishment, the Democrat Party has stripped all the delegates from Florida. Florida has 30 days to see the error of it’s ways and repent.

The nomination process has been broken for a long time. Every four years there is the inevitable kvetching about how Iowa and New Hampshire “don’t represent America” and should not have the first caucus and first primary.

In an effort to make the primary/caucus more representative, the Dems gave an exemption to South Carolina as a sop to blacks and Nevada to appease Big Labor.  Of course, once the door was opened, everyone went rushing for the exit. This is not surprising—-everything from abortion to Social Security to riverboat gambling has expanded beyond what was originally intended once exceptions and exemptions began.

The parties have been attempting to fix the process for some time, and have made it worse instead. Democrat activist Mark Siegal thinks the current chaos might be”the last gasp of the current system”.

But what to do about it? Some are promoting a national primary or a system of regional primaries.

A plan devised by the GOP called the Delaware plan would divide the states into four groups by size and schedule primaries and caucuses at one-month intervals, starting with the smallest states first and ending with the 12 largest. This would keep the nomination process open until the big states vote, making more states meaningful players and taking away the advantage the best-known, most heavily funded candidates now have and would prevent one of the current system’s biggest dangers, that someone could win a nomination without sufficient scrutiny. Think George Bush in ‘00 and Kerry in ‘04.

Which is why despite, or because of it’s rational logic, the Delaware plan doesn’t stand  a snowball’s chance of being enacted.

 Karl Rove blocked this reform measure in 2000, in part because the big states objected, which means that any reform by either party will be to the advantage of the powerful and not the people.

So we keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change.

Cat Scratch Fever

As you may have heard, there is a kerfuffle going on over in Davenport concerning the leak of information about the relocation of eServ from IL to Davenport. There was some dispute about the confidentiality of the documents, a reprimand by the Davenport mayor to the Alderman assumed to be the leaker, spy cameras, etc.  I’d offer an opinion about this except:

1. I don’t have a dog in this hunt, and

2. it’s just too danged Byzantine for a casual observer to follow.

So rather than opine about Byzantium, I’ll opine about what REALLY grabbed my attention, which was this column in the QCTimes.

You’ll notice that rather than begin with a recap of the subject, Ickes immediately launches an attack against the reporter from a rival news organization who received the “leak”. Schoolmarm Barb says that the D/A reporter “didn’t do a very good job” of protecting the leaker’s identity and shouldn’t have been used as a source at all, since there were at least two on-the-record confirmations of the information.

As far as I know, this is the first time a local columnist/reporter has openly attacked a reporter from another local news organization, although I’m sure there is plenty of mean-spirited back-biting and  vicious gossip in private.  So what gives? After making the attack on the D/A reporter the lede of her column, Ickes then dismisses the leak and subsequent reprimand as “one of the least  interesting elements” of the story. Huh? What?

What to say about a journalist who makes a big deal out of something, then immediately dismisses it as a big nothing?

Is it leak envy because D/A got the scoop? Grizzled veteran teaching them young whippersnappers a lesson?

Or just a case of catty meooooowness?

Comrade Beefcake

Those interested in beefcake of the Russian President, former KBG operative, middle-aged variety should check out the photos here where you will be treated to pictures of topless Vlad Putin fishing, riding a horse, moodily walking in a stream, etc. He’s quite impressive, really. He is considered a sex symbol and is also the darling of the Russian gay community. (Russia has a gay community? Who knew?)

Come on, check out what a brutal but buff former KBG operative looks like in middle age. You want to, you know you do.

NOTE: scroll down for more posts—-hope to do more later if the lightening isn’t too wild!

Mohammed Don’t Surf

The quote of the day has to be this: “God will surf with the devil if the waves are good.”

A 86 year old Jewish surfer is providing 12 surf boards to Gaza’s surfing community as a gesture to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Gaza has a “surfing community”?

Who knew?

Bumper Sticker Politics

James Carville at the DSCC is seeking a bumper sticker campaign slogan for ‘08. Sez Carville: “We need a turn of phrase that really jumps out and tells you right off the bat what this election is all about.”

I know! I know! How about “Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss”?

Works for me.