Brain Shavings

A simple question for progressives (#13)

2009-11-11T03:50:00Z

If jihadist ideology is supposedly a perversion of true Islam, how can it be "Islamophobic" to identify and remove jihadists from our military?

Video: Who is Joe Biden?

2009-11-11T03:30:00Z

Behold the people who elected Barack Obama and his running mate, uh ... um ...

Imagine that. Ignoramuses in L.A.! Who'd a thunk it?

Sarah Palin's qualifications for the presidency

2009-11-10T01:55:00Z

Perpetual RINO weasel David Frum drives to the hoop for a dunk on Sarah Palin ... and gets stuffed by Doctor Zero:

That isn't a glass of sherry gripped in David Frum's sweaty fist, Palinistas. It's a mug of scalding hot coffee, and it's going right down your throats. Personally, I'm stuck in an alternative reality where a hardcore leftist is running up astronomical deficits and double-digit unemployment, in the service of a liberty-destroying collectivist agenda. I wonder how many hard feelings the voters of 2012 will carry for the woman who gave 110% effort to save us from this little branch in the time line, and has the battle scars to show for it... assuming they can tear themselves away from obsessing over those "statistical studies that show her as the only vice presidential nominee in ticket to have hurt her ticket."
...

Do you suppose that tsunami of frivolous lawsuits from the Democrat slander machine might have had something to do with her "failure to make any serious progress" as governor? It doesn't matter to the dutiful scribes of conventional wisdom. When the Washington Post counts a Republican out, David Frum will always be there with a bottle of chloroform, to make sure they don't get back up. Deviation from the accepted script for Republican political life is dangerous populism.

...

Palin has developed a remarkable knack for saying all the things President Obama should be saying, at any given moment. While Obama was serving as the warm-up act for anti-American and anti-Semitic nutjobs at the United Nations, Palin spoke of her country's proud tradition of liberty and capitalism in Hong Kong. While Obama pondered whether the ruins of the Berlin Wall would make a suitable backdrop for his magnificence, Palin wrote of the twilight struggle between Ronald Reagan's America and the Evil Empire... and wasn't shy about naming both the heroes and villains.

Hey, David ... go sit on the bench and let the pros play. Twerp.

Incidentally, Sarah's back on Twitter.

@SarahPalinUSA

Video: The Way We Get By

2009-11-04T06:15:00Z

This documentary premieres on PBS on Veteran's Day. Set your DVR.

Don't miss it!

Cash for votes in Athens?

2009-11-04T01:12:41Z

Darn right. Jesse Hathaway's all over this Ohio Democratic Party scandal.

Turnout in my little precinct

2009-11-04T00:50:59Z

We had 606 voters today. Pretty high for an off-off-year election. If memory serves, we had around 750 voters show up for the 2008 election.

Newt is shocked, shocked

2009-11-02T22:35:00Z

Newt on Scozzafava:

As other Republicans threw their support behind Hoffman's momentum, Gingrich argued that the party needed to be more inclusive of moderates if it had a hope of retaking the majority.
He told The Associated Press he was disappointed, and "deeply upset" that Scozzafava endorsed Owens.

"How could she have accepted all that support?" he said, adding later: "I'm very, very let down because she told everybody she was a Republican, and she said she was a loyal Republican."

Gingrich now backs Hoffman.

Gimme a break. Newt's a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them.

Don't cheer the "end" of the recession yet

2009-10-31T17:35:10Z

Want a scare? I know it's Halloween, but this is genuinely frightening.

Not good. Not good at all.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released third-quarter gross domestic product numbers yesterday, and overall real growth at 3.5 percent was pretty good.
But examining the components of GDP reveals a more disturbing picture. While consumption, exports, and the government sector were up, private investment has fallen through the floor.

...

The third quarter GDP numbers show that the economy is only starting to "recover" because of growing government and expanding consumption, which has been artificially inflated by large government transfers.

Business investment continues to be in a deep recession. Companies are simply not building factories or buying new machines and equipment.

Why not? I suspect that many firms are scared to death of higher taxes, inflation, health care mandates, increased labor regulation, and other profit-killers coming down the road from Washington. That is speculation, but I haven't heard a better explanation of the death of private investment in America.

The freefall began in 2006. What was significant about that year? It marked the beginning of what Bizzyblog proprietor Tom Blumer calls the POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) economy.

I think we were both reading Memeorandum a moment ago.

Good reporting on the NY-23 race

2009-10-31T11:30:00Z

Robert Stacy McCain, Ali Akbar, and Erick Erickson are doing yeoman's work covering the rise of Doug Hoffman and the fall of RINO Dede Scozzafava in the special election for the vacant U.S. House seat in New York's 23rd District. Could it be that the NRCC is finally noticing the priorities expressed by GOP's conservative base?

Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich still appears to be stuck in some alternate universe where you can slap an (R) on a ham sandwich and it deserves his hearty endorsement.

11:35 AM Update: Scozzafava quits. The Other McCain just doesn't quit.

Text of the House's 1,990-page Obamacare bill

2009-10-31T11:00:00Z

This is what Congress plans to ram down your throat before you have a chance to stop them.

H.R. 3962 - Affordable Health Care for America Act

More information:
Doctors For Patient Care
Fix Health Care Policy
Horror Stories
Patients First
Patients United Now
GOP Health Care Solutions

Bush never went to Dover [Updated]

2009-10-30T03:30:00Z

Barack Obama went to Dover AFB to meet the caskets of fallen troops returning from Afghanistan.

Ah, such a refreshing difference! Golly, it's so wonderful to have Professor Hopenchange in charge now. As we all know, a single photo op on the tarmac far outweighs whatever the heck George W. Bush was doing for eight years. Let's see, what exactly did he do? Oh, now I remember:

President Bush has met hundreds of families of fallen soldiers, but he has yet to attend a servicemember's funeral, he said Tuesday.
"Because which funeral do you go to? In my judgment, I think if I go to one I should go to all. How do you honor one person but not another?" he said.

The appropriate way to express his appreciation to the family members of fallen troops is to meet with them in private, he said.

What a jerk Bush was. The nerve of that guy, meeting with the bereaved in private instead of using them to score political points!

Meanwhile, our living troops in Afghanistan wait for the reinforcements they need. I'm sure Obama will get around to making a decision one of these months. Probably.

10/30 Update: Yep ... plastic banana look-how-much-I-care photo op.

My theory on the GOP's thinking

2009-10-24T13:15:00Z

Maybe I'm just indulging my inner Tom McMahon here, but I suspect this is what passes for candidate selection strategy among the leaders of the Republican Party.

How else do you explain Dede Scozzafava?

Like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall

2009-10-22T02:45:00Z

That's what it's like when you find yourself debating an ObamaCare supporter.

It's frustrating to constantly drag the conversation back to the key question, no matter how many times the ObamaBot switches topics. We have to try anyway, since these mush-brained emotion-ruled leftists elected our current Congress. If we can't pin them down to a single logical conclusion, we must at least shame them into silence.

I did what I could.

Picking on Slow Joe Biden

2009-10-20T04:30:00Z

I know, I know. It's about as sporting as clubbing baby seals, but I can't resist.

Thanks. I feel better now.

An episode of Dirty Jobs just waiting to be made

2009-10-19T21:15:00Z

This guy ...

... needs to sing a poo-related duet with this guy:

Whaddaya say, Will and Mike?

Hat tip: @featherchick

Audio: Bob Frantz on the Gay Games

2009-09-30T11:00:00Z

Oh, joy. The City of Cleveland just won the competition to host the 2014 Gay Games. Here's the relevant audio from the first two hours of last night's Bob Frantz Show:

Hour 1

Hour 2

I don't see the point in creating a homosexualized version of the Olympics. If someone's an Olympic caliber athlete, they can compete in the Olympics. Their sexual tastes have nothing to do with it.

Who wants to crow about winning some event at a politicized athletic gathering that has no qualification standards whatsoever? For goodness' sake, the Gay Games are "not oriented to victory" ... whatever that means.

Every time I think Cleveland has sunk to a new low in punch-line-worthiness, the city breaks out a shovel and digs some more.

Sarah Palin's book now available for pre-order

2009-09-30T05:30:00Z

It's called Going Rogue: An American Life.

I reserved mine!

Column on anti-Obama coup is just plain nutty

2009-09-30T05:10:00Z

I say the following as a retired U.S. Coast Guard commissioned officer who swore and upheld a solemn oath to defend the Constitution.

Newsmax's John L. Perry is either nuts, a naïve fool, or a childish attention-seeker. His latest column speculating on the possibility of a U.S. military coup to unseat President Obama fails the most basic B.S. test. Perry hasn't the first clue about how our military's leadership understands its oath of office, nor does he demonstrate even the most rudimentary comprehension of our Constitution.

By publishing this bilge the editors at Newsmax have forever beclowned themselves.

More commentary:
Cassandra cracks open a can o' whupass

My kind of foreign policy

2009-09-26T15:00:00Z

When it comes to American foreign policy, we should stick to twenty basic principles, implemented in four easy steps.

ACORN document dump coming?

2009-09-19T21:15:00Z

Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell recently filed a tax lien against ACORN for $548,000:

The subpoenas from Caldwell, served last month, became widely known this week. They were served on the former chief of ACORN, Wade Rathke, who now runs the offshoot Acorn International, as well as Whitney Bank, where ACORN keeps its accounts.
The subpoenas seek a broad range of information since 1998 from ACORN and what the documents say are 361 related tax-exempt and non-tax-exempt organizations:

All W-2 tax income reports and 1099 tax filings issued

A list of every employee

All state and federal tax returns

Organizational charts for every affiliate

All audited financial statements

Documents related to the theft of nearly $1 million by Rathke's brother, Dale Rathke, who worked in the organization

Here's a brief write-up by The Pelican Institute for Public Policy:

ACORN Tax Lien in Lousiana

I simply cannot wait to see what this subpoena unearths. There's a backlog of decades of scum and dirty dealings in ACORN's past, and I am close to 100% certain that some of it will tie directly to Barack Obama's involvement with the group in the 1990s.

Of course, that's assuming that ACORN and company haven't already destroyed the incriminating records. Which is a big assumption.

How to determine if you're a racist

2009-09-19T18:15:00Z

Thank goodness someone created an easy flowchart!

Hat tip: Power Line

Major props to James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles

2009-09-19T17:40:00Z

Thank you both for lancing the boil that is ACORN.

How much education does $300 Billion buy you?

2009-09-19T14:48:00Z

Not much:

Hat tip: American Thinker

We told you Obama worked for ACORN

2009-09-18T06:30:00Z

Click on the images below to see them at full size.

Before Obama's site was scrubbed:

After Obama's site was scrubbed:

See the difference? Look at the second bullet point.

It's a start. The first one's a matter of semantics, but the third one's still a lie.

ACORN "audit" isn't

2009-09-17T18:30:00Z

"Independent review", my skinny white butt.

Next!

When you think "ACORN", think "Obamacare"

2009-09-17T04:05:00Z

ACORN shares office space and personnel with the Service Employees International Union. SEIU and other unions in the Big Labor alliance funnel millions of dollars to ACORN. ACORN and Big Labor lobby for the same legislation, endorse the same partisan political candidates, and work together in every other conceivable way. Members of ACORN and Big Labor pass in and out of the revolving door of the Democratic Party and the federal government. Sure, the fancy paperwork sitting on file in dusty government offices says that these organizations and people are officially separate entities, but that's like trying to hide a 500-lb nudist under a cocktail napkin.

Progressive politicians (*cough* *cough* Betty Sutton), Big Labor and ACORN are one and the same.

When you see the news reports about the disgusting things that ACORN does, remember that those same people work for gigantic labor unions, work on the staffs of liberal Congress members, and infest the Obama administration from top to bottom. Their reckless spending outstrips any in American history, and they intend to double down. Their tax hikes hurt small businesses, who employ the vast majority of Americans. Their ridiculous regulations and economically illiterate mandates caused the housing and credit crisis, which triggered last fall's economic crash. Their policies have driven unemployment to record highs, and will needlessly prolong the economic pain you're feeling.

When Barack Obama ran for President, he portrayed himself as a reasonable and moderate Democrat with help from the mainstream media. He is not what he claimed to be. He has always been joined at the hip to his former employer ACORN, Big Labor, and the most extreme elements of the radical left-wing fringe. He believes in their cause, wants what they want, and lies about it non-stop. He doesn't care about "the little guy", nor does he have your best interests at heart.

What he and his fellow smiling and soft-spoken radicals want is more power, and they'll take your property and your liberty to get it ... if you let them. The warnings were there before the election, and the warnings were right. There's still time to stop the slide toward utter ruin.

Don't just sit there hoping for change. Look at what that got us.

When you think "ACORN", think "Barack Obama."

When you think "Barack Obama", think "Obamacare."

Video: latest ACORN sting in San Bernardino

2009-09-15T21:00:00Z

For your viewing disgust, courtesy of Big Government, here's part one:

Remember ... ACORN is using your tax dollars to conduct these activities. Are you tired of this scummy group yet?

9:15 PM Update: The ACORN employee in the pink shirt is Tresa Kaelke (née Tresa Berhow, née Tresa Parten), who claims to speak regularly with politicians like California State Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod and U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. Babs denies it, of course.

9:55 Update: Sherry Anderson has a purported restraining order against Mrs. Kaelke, taken out by Mr. Kaelke:

Order of Protection for Tresa Kaelke's Husband

A total cutoff of federal funds to ACORN?

2009-09-15T13:30:00Z

Boy oh boy, I hope so. These crooks don't understand Americans who value individual liberty and limited government, but we understand them and their entire rotten playbook. Their houses are built on sand, and we're the onrushing tide. Stand by for a collapse.

A simple question for progressives (#12)

2009-09-15T13:16:03Z

Are the stated goals of ACORN substantially the same as yours ... and do you expect anyone to believe you if you deny it?

"Devastating" ACORN corruption news coming today

2009-09-15T10:15:00Z

A teaser from last night:

Saul Alinsky's corpse must be spinning at high RPM right now. Set your DVR to record Glenn Beck's show on Fox News Channel this afternoon. It's gonna be a doozy.

Hat tip: Freedom's Lighthouse

9:58 AM Update: Glenn just said on the radio that it concerns an admission of murder. This is gonna be quite a video, it seems.