How I Spent My Lunchtime Monday.

The world is run by those who show up. So we showed up.
I am, thankfully, just outside of the picture. And to correct the talking head - it was more like 300-350 people. (I stopped counting at 225.)

Oh No, They Didn't.

Oh yes, MSNBC actually posted this:
RECORD NUMBERS NOW LICENSED TO PACK HEAT
Firearms deaths fall as millions obtain permits to carry concealed guns

Did somebody miss their Maddow-flavored Kool-Aid today?

Busting The Narrative.

According to The Left / Mainstream Media, conservatives are just angry, racist white guys. So let me introduce you to Booker Rising.

Fire Another Bandolier. It's Not Done Yet.

Now this is how to cook bacon.

Hattip: Instapundit.

You Can Trust Your Cars To The Folks Who Sought The Stars.

Team Hopenchange will now use NASA to... fix Toyotas.

NASA was once the gateway to our new frontier, our hope for that most American of urges - to explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations; to boldly go where no man had gone before. Instead, NASA will now be used to trash a competitor of government-run GM and Chrysler. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the math here.

I mean, what would Kirk Do?

UPDATE: From the Comments, Underground Pewster makes a great point:
"Japanese have a space agency. Why not let them figure it out?"
Well, UP, their space agency is busy with, oh, I don't know... space.

The Climate Trumps The Constitution.

In the "war" on climate change, your freedom and liberty are expendable:

"One of the main obstructions to meaningful action is "modern democracy", he added. "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while." (emphasis mine)

At least they're finally being honest about their true agenda.

What's Worse? A Racist Or A Liar?

What if you, apparently, are both?

I Have A New Addiction.

Cross 'LOLcats' with 'Low Prices. Every Day.' and you get THIS. Its just like looking train wrecks - disgusting and sick, but you can't stop watching.

Hattip: Maggie's Farm.

Your Homework Assignment.

And, yes, there will be a grade. Bill Whittle over at Pajamas Media wants each of us to write out the Declaration of Independence. By hand. Word for word:

And I would urge you now – I would urge each of you listening to this today, especially those of you with children – to help me recover this document. We can’t get that ink back on that paper. But we can do something better. We can put new ink to fresh paper, and copy down once again those words exactly as they were written. We can whisper them aloud as we write them – as I did – and through writing them anew on the page we will inevitably write them anew on our hearts, as fresh and as clear to our eyes and our souls as they were the day that ink dried in that hall in Philadelphia.

A piece of parchment is a piece of old skin. A flag is a piece of colored cloth. A man groans in agony, dying in a dirty room. None of that matters. Not here. Not in America.

For above and beyond faded ink, and strips of colored cloth, and whimpers of pain are ideals that come once in all of history. Once. Never again.

I think it is time we all remember in detail what makes us Americans, and what it is that separates us from the paternalistic statism of Europe, Canada and Japan, the authoritarian dictatorships of China and Russia, and the murderous kleptocracies that are the rule in the rest of the world.

Chris Muir shows the "teachable moment" in this.

Reports Of Death, Greatly Exaggerated.

What with the economy, the post-Obama white-hot spike in firearms sales has been cooling. But our friends in The Left / Mainstream Media are gleefully declaring it a "collapse". If you have been to the range or to a gun show recently, the answer to that is, hardly.

Now, if we could get a collapse in ammunition prices...

UPDATE: If you had one of these, you wouldn't need - or want - an AR-series rifle.

Will The SRLC Be Hijacked Like CPAC?

If what I'm seeing in my inbox and on Facebook is any indication, there is a concerted push by Campaign for Liberty, Ron Paul's equivalent to Obama's Organize for America, to gain his fringe crusade more mainstream legitimacy by packing the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, April 8-11 - and repeat what happened at the CPAC conference. Why else would Campaign for Liberty be selling the $120 tickets to SRLC to their members for $30?

There seems to be a lot of attempts to hijack conservative political movements these days...

UPDATE 30MAR10: Packing the straw poll is apparently what they are trying to do, and they will likely do it. Watch that victory to be trumpeted by the C4L folks and the conspiracy theory crowd as proving Paul and his ideas are viable and mainstream. And watch the The Left / Mainstream Media use it to paint the GOP - again - as a a bunch of loopy paranoids on the fringe. The battle in 2010 is for the hearts and minds of mainstream Republicans and independents. And they are turned off by Paul.

Its Official. I'm a Geek.

Proof.

But, Like, We Just Cut The Deficit By $138 Billion...

US government debt to INCREASE to 90% of GDP by 2020. After operating for 232 years, taming a continent and defending freedom in three world wars along the way (the Cold War counts), the share of government debt each American household owned was $56,000 when Obama came to power. After only 14 months at the helm, Obama has increased that 22 percent, to $72,000 per household. 22 percent in only 14 months. By 2020, the CBO says it will be $170,000 per household.

What Obama is doing is unsustainable. Though, given the growing aversion to buying more US debt, I don't think we'll get to that 2020 number.

Sicko.

Fidel Castro praised Obama for imposing a one-party, government run health care system here in the US, and The Left / Mainstream Media say it's a first step toward government-run "universal" health care. Take a look at what their holy grail of universal health care looks like in Castro's workers paradise.
WARNING: Don't look if you've eaten recently.

A Star Is Fleeced.

Read this, and remember - these people are now in charge of your health care.

And claim they can tackle energy and the environment, too!

An Obama Voter Has A Technical Problem.

Jennifer in Long Beach shows off the mindset that gave us ObamaCare. Watch it all.

Hattip: Billy Ockham.

News Flash: Dog Bites Man.

This should come as no surprise: Half of U.S. Home Loan Modifications Default Again . If the government made it easy for you to get more house than you could afford, and made it easy to get bailed out once you couldn't afford it... why wouldn't you expect to be bailed out again?

The Democrat Party: Institutionalizing irresponsibility since 1913 1933 1966 1977 1993 2009.

Cartoon Time.

Team Hopenchange makes a small change:

Guess Who's Not Staying For Dinner.

Is there any traditional US ally Barack Obama won't treat like crap? Apparently not:

For a head of government to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of. Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip viewed in Jerusalem as a humiliation.

Geez. He didn't even give Bibi a pre-loaded iPod. I hope my American Hebrew readers remember this, and remember which side in American politics still understands the importance of "Next Year in Jerusalem". With your help we'll meet you there in 2013.

Fourth Estate Sale.

Can you say "government-owned media"? I knew you could:

The Local Journalism Centers, as they are being called, will each hire teams of reporters and editors, as well as community outreach managers, to report on an issue of regional relevance, including the reinvention of the industrial upper Midwest economy, efforts in upstate New York to attract innovative businesses, and agribusiness in the Plains.

The money and direction will be from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a government agency. Think about that for a minute. Do you really think teams of government paid journalists will report on something that makes government look bad? Me, either.

An in a related note, Hugo Chavez has arrested the owner of the last independent television network in Venezuela, for saying something Chavez found "offensive". Sounds like the action of a dictator to me, Spicoli. Dictator. Dictator. Dictator.

A Bishop Too Far?

Is Mary Glasspool The Episcopal Church's (tm) Arnhem Bridge? Maybe. This was published in the Church of England Newspaper. Not some obscure conservative blog or theological institute publication, but the C of E mouthpiece. I think C of E has had enough. Notice the directness and finality. The Episcopal Church's (tm) 'Operation Market Gay' may have finally pushed past the edge of the envelope this time.

David Vitter Just Won Re-Election.

From Politico, Democrat challenger Rep. Charlie Melancon has kissed goodbye his chances at a Senate seat in the fall: Melancon: I won't back health repeal.

A Personal Note.

I won't say why I'm in a right grump today, but I will say this:

If you walk like a conspiracy theorist, talk like a conspiracy theorist, and send me endless links to Alex Jones and Ron Paul like a conspiracy theorist, well...

...you're a conspiracy theorist. At least be man enough to admit what you are.

There. I feel better.

UPDATE: And if you think me an asshole, my dear 911 Truther, I'm not upset. It's totally understandable how you can get that impression. On the intellectual ladder of life, that's the only part of me you see when you look up. TTFN.

Good Question.

My son had to go to detention today (7:00am) for saying the word "fu*k" in school last week. On the way there, he wanted to know why he should be punished for saying the same word Vice President Biden said in public last Sunday night.

Welcome to the world of double standards, son. That, and we expect more out of you than we do Joe Biden.

Coffin Up Half-Truths. (UPDATED)

How desperate are The Left / Mainstream Media to discredit the opposition to Team Hopenchange and ObamaCare? Desperate enough to lie and smear as much as possible. Let's look at the "coffin" incident that has made the rounds. According the Politico :

A coffin was placed on a Missouri Democrat’s lawn, another in a string of incidents against lawmakers after their vote Sunday on a health care overhaul.

Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) had a coffin placed “near his home,” a spokesman said Wednesday evening.

The coffin was from a prayer vigil.

The implication they wanted to leave you with was that a coffin was left anonymously by a religious group as a death threat against the Senator because of his ObamaCare vote.

Well, here is the part they didn't tell you.

Read it all. Notice that, technically, what Politico reported was true - the coffin was "placed" near Carnahan's home during a prayer vigil. But by leaving out the several teensy-weensy facts - like the coffin was a prop in a protest over abortion and ObamaCare, it was removed by the protesters once the protest was over, there was NO insinuation that the casket was "for" the Senator, the group there was open about their protest and it was even reported on the local news - it appears Politico purposely tried to spin the story into one that fit current The Left / Mainstream Media narrative - ObamaCare opponents and Tea Partiers are not legitimate opposition, but rather violent domestic terrorists.

It is this kind of willful manipulation of the news that leads folks to not trust Big Media. Its what one expects of Soviet-era Pravda, not a free press. It shows desperation on the part of those who support the Team Hopenchange agenda, especially given how it easy in this age of the Internet to debunk a story and get out a counter-story.

It also shows how spineless our ruling elite has become. The Democrats have been demanding Republicans denounce "violence" in opposing ObamaCare. Which they should, and they have. Will Democrats now denounce "distortions" about those of us who oppose ObamaCare? I ain't holding my breath. The more the Democrats keep dismissing and attempting to marginalize the angry Republicans and Independents who oppose the Team Hopenchange agenda, the longer the anger will remain, and the greater chance of it boiling over.

UPDATE: Oops! Gatewaypundit reports that Politico does a little revise and extend on its remarks, so does the uber-paranoid Democratic Underground. How bad is it when even DU admits error?

Paging Dr. Freud, We Have A Slip In Asile Two...

One of the major authors of ObamaCare forgets his talking points. A brief moment of honesty ensues:

A Tampon Tax? (UPDATED)

If folks are reading this correctly, under ObamaCare "the term "taxable medical device" means any device (as defined in section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) intended for humans." Which means that unless Secretary Sebelius says otherwise, all of those will be 2.3 percent more expensive.

Glenn Reynolds and others are calling it 'The Tampon Tax' because, technically, those fall into this category. Since we can't cry anymore, let's have some laughs:

Tampon Tax? I thought they promised to only stick it to the rich?

Heyyyyooooo! [rimshot!]

Is that how they're trying to plug the "donut hole"?

Hello? Hello? Is thing on?

ObamaCare isn't even two days old, and already there are strings attached.

Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the buffet.

Add your own below in the comments.

UPDATE 30MAR10: BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Now THIS, is funny.

A Steeper Climb.

Watch it all. We need more like him.

Hattip: Pat Austin.

Those Who Ignore History Are Condemned To Repeat It.

We've been here before. Only this time, we're on the side of Lincoln.

Pop Quiz.

Question: What's the only thing bi-partisan about ObamaCare?

Answer: The fight against it.

The states realize that the much of the cost of ObamaCare - which magically didn't appear in the CBO 'score' - will fall on the backs, and pocketbooks, of their residents. Watch for cuts in colleges and universities, roads, parks, etc., to pay for the mandates ObamaCare will put on the states. Louisiana is already experiencing something similar now with Medicaid post-Katrina.

While Visions Of Sugar-Plums Danced In Their Heads.

ObamaCare: "It's just going to be like Christmas". Problem is, Obama and the Democrats just made your wallet Santa Claus.

Via Drudge.

An American Stockholm Syndrome.

It's what the Democrats are banking on now. I don't want to agree with this, but I think the author is right. We won't be able to repeal ObamaCare. We can repeal parts of it - like mandates - but the turd is already in the punchbowl; taking out some of the turd doesn't solve the problem.

To me, we need to take this to a much higher level, and be willing to play power politics better than they do. The time for protesting and sign waving is over. If they send one of theirs to the Presidency, we send 100 of ours to the Congress! It's the Chicago way. We have eight months. More on a game plan later.

The Truth Will Out.

Tawana Brawley's champion forgets his talking points.

I'm calling November 2010 the "Won't Get Fooled Again" election. Queue Roger, Pete and the boys.

(For those unfamiliar with Tawana Brawley, see this.)

Compare And Contrast.

What a difference 235 years makes:

On 23 March 1775, Patrick Henry said, "Give Me Liberty, or give me death!"

On 23 March 2010, Barack Obama said, in effect, fuck liberty; here's a new government handout.


UPDATE: A friend who visited Cuba back in the Clinton years remembered a big sign in Havana what said "¡Socialismo o Muerte!" ("Socialism or Death!") Underneath it someone had scrawled in Spanish, "What's the difference?"

UPDATE: Rewritten because it better reflected by sentiments.

3/21. Happy Dependence Day!

Mark Steyn, who as a Canadian has some experience with such things, looks at what government-controlled health care will mean for our future. It ain't pretty:

More prosaically, it's also unaffordable. That's why one of the first things that middle-rank powers abandon once they go down this road is a global military capability. If you take the view that the U.S. is an imperialist aggressor, congratulations: You can cease worrying. But, if you think that America has been the ultimate guarantor of the post-war global order, it's less cheery. Five years from now, just as in Canada and Europe two generations ago, we'll be getting used to announcements of defense cuts to prop up the unsustainable costs of big government at home. And, as the superpower retrenches, America's enemies will be quick to scent opportunity.

We're now the Great Britain of the 21st Century.

The Check Must Be In The Mail.

He wouldn't lie to us, right? Watch it all.


And don't forget to ask about that extra $2,500 around, um, November 2nd.

Hattip: Brietbart.tv

Timing Is Everything.

Via Instapundit, today is the 245th anniversary of the Stamp Act. I'm afraid recent events may prove history repeats itself.

Priorities.

Obamanomics is starting to show results. And that's before we have to bum another couple trillion to pay for ObamaCare.

The 'reform = spending' formula starts to have a problem when you run out of other people's money to spend. Maybe Team Hopenchange will just mandate each of us buy T-Bills instead. Well, all of us non-union scabs who work in the private sector and like to take care of ourselves. We're the problem, you know.

The Money Must Flow.

I'm going to re-read Frank Hebert's Dune tonight.
Considering the past 16 months, allegories abound.

(Wait till us Fremen scum Tea Partiers learn to use desert power fly-over power!)

The Beginning Of The Whirlwind?

The Hayride is reporting there may be an "Attack of the Attorneys General" in the making over ObamaCare. From Texas AG Greg Abbott on Facebook:

"I am organizing a conference call tonight for AGs across the country. We will discuss our litigation strategy about the health care bill. I will update you on facebook after the conference call."

Will Louisiana's Attorney General, Buddy Caldwell, be in on this? Don't bet on it.

Game Over, Man...

All your bodies are belong to Barack Obama.

Yeah, I'm pretty much feeling like this right now. Man, do we need a Ripley.

Blogging The Beginning Of Our End.

The Hayride has the blow-by-blow of Obama's health care takeover endgame. They update often, so check 'em out often.

Tonight's Required Reading.

As we await the biggest the-end-justifies-the-means government power grab in 75 years, Jonah Goldberg lays out the root of the problem: An American Divide.

Growing The Faith, Episcopal Church (tm) Style.

The Episcopal Church (tm) has spent quite a lot of time and (tithed) money suing dissident parishes and dioceses who can no longer support the national church's strident and myopic obsession with homosexuality. So the next time you hear The Episcopal Church (tm) justify their actions with some blather about fighting to keep a parish's property because of some deep theological obligation to defend the church and keep the properties for future generations, remember this:

"Just learned that the Diocese of CNY sold our former building to Muslims. Heard rumors before but today I passed by and saw that the doors were painted green. There was a crane there removing the cross from the bell-tower and hanging over the back door to the parking lot was the following sign "Islamic Awareness Center"

Think about that for a minute - The Episcopal Church (tm) put an active Christian parish out of their traditional home because that parish believes homosexual practice is a sin... and instead sold it to a faith that believes homosexual practice deserves death.

How's that for Integrity?

Christopher Johnson ain't happy about it, either.

You Wish, Barry.

You and your friends are going to own this giant turd all by your little selves - Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) is going to vote 'No' on ObamaCare.

Health Care Bill? What Health Care Bill? (UPDATED)

My wife usually turns on the TV in the morning to catch the news and traffic on our local CBS affiliate. Which means inevitably we have to suffer through that insipid national morning show on CBS (last week they televised a host getting his colonoscopy...). And what do you think was top of the national news this morning? The health care bill? The Slaughter Rule? Obama's awful interview on FoxNews? Missing CBO scores?

Nope.

Item Numero Uno was... There may be a witness to that Prius in California that got it's accelerator stuck. Number Two? A YouTube video of a truck in the UK pushing a car sideways. Three? Four? Five? Nope. The Health Care takeover was not mentioned at all. Even the CBS Evening News teaser said nothing about it. (I had to leave for the office after that.)

Now before we go about making nefarious conspiratorial inferences here, let's be clear - there isn't one. What there is here is a shared sense of purpose in The Left / Mainstream Media. They want this thing passed, as they know it starts the ball rolling toward their romantic Candy Land of government-run, single-payer health care. And they also know that the more this pile of offal Obama/Pelosi/Reid have cooked up is discussed, the more the American People don't want it. So The Left / Mainstream Media shuts up about it, especially as we get to the climax their grand passion play. No sense riling up us rubes any more than they have to.

Watch that change now that the CBO has, through much smoke and many mirrors, put up their 'score' this morning, indicating that having the government take away your health care freedoms will save the government a teensy bit of money. Well, teensy considering the trillions Obama and friends have already added to our debt in just the last year. Note that it doesn't say a damn thing about saving you money. It saves the government money. We all need to be clear who the beneficiary of this "reform" is supposed to be. If you work for a living in the private sector, it ain't you.

UPDATE: Did the CBO really finish 'scoring' the new ObanaCare bill? NRO says maybe not.

UPDATE: Oops. The CBO numbers Team Hopenchange are touting are preliminary, not final. Here is the actual report and letter to Pelosi.

More On The Constitutionality Of The 'Slaughter Rule'.

Maybe yes, maybe no. Constitutionality aside, what does this kind of a desperation move say about the wisdom, much less the ethics, of the proponents, and of that they are trying to implement?

Will ObamaCare Reduce Your Health Care Costs?

Um, not exactly. Wasn't that the Team Hopenchange reason for all of this?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

More Guinness goodies at Theo Spark.

Can You Hear Us Now? (UPDATED)

Baton Rouge Tea Party had ourselves an impromptu lunchtime health-care protest / honkfest today, across from the Louisiana Democratic Party Headquarters on Government Street. If the drive-by honking was any indication, Baton Rouge folks really, really don't want ObamaCare. You hear that, Mary Landrieu? How about you, Charlie Melancon?


(image by Red Stick Rant)

UPDATE 18MAR10: Article about us in the local fish wrap.

Suppose They Gave A Health Care Plan, And Nobody Came?

Well, not a lot of doctors, anyway. From the New England Journal of Medicine, not exactly your red meat, right-wing rag:

46.3% of primary care physicians (family medicine and internal medicine) feel that the passing of health reform will either force them out of medicine or make them want to leave medicine.

Read it all.

And Now A Word From Mr. Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson, that is, via Professor Bainbridge:

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

Something our Congress would do well to keep in mind this week.

Being In That Number.

Got our 2010 Census today, and filled it out tonight. Yes, the race for all at Villa RSR was listed as "American".

It's Only Eight Months Away...

A song to get us through the week. And the next few months.

Hattip: Theo Spark.

Kicking In Doors And Your Helath Care Future.

According to the Queen Speaker of the House, your health care requires the government "kicking through doors". Like yours, if you don't pay for the health care coverage they mandate.

Well, Duh.

It's time for Republicans to up their game. Actually, its about time they realize they are actually in the stadium. No more talking points. Lead dammit, or get out of the way!

"Dysfunctional Louisiana Politicians."

Karl Rove clearly repeats himself.

I agree that most of the post-Katrina blame belongs at the incompetent feet of Blanco, Nagin, Broussard, et., al., but W and this Administration are not without fault. Submitted for your consideration: "Brownie" and FEMA - the latter of which we still suffer through down here.

Feeling Down? Have We Got A Video For You... (NSFW-ish) (UPDATE)

Boobies and Kittens. Really. If you're not a guy, don't click on this. If you are a guy, there's a repeat button at the end.

Now don't you feel better?

Hattip: Aardvarks and Asshats.

UPDATE 15MAR10: Sent this to Stephen Green at Vodkapundit, and he has deemed it, "...the greatest video ever made." Who can argue with the master?

UPDATE 16MAR10: Welcome Vodkapundit / Pajamas Media Readers! Feel free to stay a while and poke around a bit. I was hoping my first PJMlaunche would be over some profound essay or snark I wrote, but if titties and kitties will do it, fine. Beggars can't be choosers.

Compare and Contrast - Tea Party vs. Coffee Party.

The much talked about - by The Left/ Mainstream Media, anyways - Coffee Party had their first nation-wide 'klatches' today. Gateway Pundit looks at what happened St. Louis.

Shhh. Don't Tell The Episcopal Church (tm).

Belmont Club looks at the recent massacres of Christians in Jos, Nigeria, (News to you? Not surprised. -ed.), and notices something Western secular Christianity chooses to ignore - traditional Christianity is growing in the Third World:

Today Christianity is a religion of the Third World. Europeans have largely converted to some soft and watered-down variation of the West’s only indigenous creed, Marxism, as represented by John Lennon’s “Imagine” song. Christianity can no longer be associated largely with the West.

And this:

“One factor driving Islamic militancy in many nations is the sense that Christianity is growing. Outside of the West, evangelism and conversion are two of the most sensitive issues in the modern world.”

Unless you are gay, evangelism and conversion seems to be a low priority for the national Episcopal Church (tm) anymore. And if the lack of information at Episcopal Life Online about the massacres is any indication, so apparently are the lives of their Anglican brothers and sisters in Jos.

Saturday Morning Required Reading.

Walter Russell Mead hits another one out of the park:

"Rule to live by, folks: when your theory of how the world works starts sounding like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, it’s time to recheck those assumptions."

Indeed.

A Paul I'm Liking.

Rand Paul. Unlike his father, he understands that national defense is not an academic exercise. That, and he doesn't have that cult-of-personality following.

Hattip: Libertarian Republican.

Pulling Up The Weedroots.

Left Coast Rebel sprays some investigative Round-up on the weedroots 'Coffee Party'.

Putting It In Perspective.

Obama's budget deficit for February 2010 was $220.9 billion. Not so far this fiscal year, but in just the last month. (And remember, February is the shortest month of the year. -ed.)

Think about that for a minute. $220 billion more than we took in. In one month.

Which prompted Hot Air to ask the question of the week: Does it really make sense to hand over one sixth of our national economy to the government, not to mention our health care freedoms, in order for Team Hopenchange to save an amount in ten years ($132 billion) that they just spent in... 17 days?

Giving Reid The Byrd.

GOP reminds Prince Harry that reconciliation isn't a one-way street. Though, regular RSR readers knew that already.

Was It Something I Said?

Noticed that the unique visits/page views jumped a bit today, and there doesn't seem to be any discernable reason, or pattern, or single source. No one famous linked to RSR, or talked about me in their blog. Weird.

Maybe people just like me.

...

Nah.

"...And Within Every Subsequent Term Of Ten Years..."

Unless you've been living under a rock and missed all of the taxpayer-funded TV adverts (the best we could do was Ed Begley, Jr.? Geez. -ed.) and the mailers, well, you know its that time of the decade. Yes, dear readers, the Census is upon us.

This year's form is somewhat less intrusive than 2000, and there is just one form for all. (We got the 'long form' ten years ago, and refused to fill it out.) But the race and ethnicity questions do seem to be an anachronistic throwback to another day. My race and ethnicity are public knowledge - I can't exactly hide it - so there is no privacy issue with divulging it. Its what the government is going to do with that information that concerns me, and many others.

Some folks are advocating people take a different approach to those questions, and suggest folks mark their race and ethnicity as 'Other', and write in 'American'. On first blush that seems silly, but the folks at Powerline don't think so. Maybe they have a point.

Government has become obsessed in the last few decades with dividing us, especially by race and ethnicity. They're two of the major yardsticks our elected Lords use to define us, measure the amount of pork they fling back at us, and to whom.

But unlike being French, Chinese or even Armenian, race and ethnicity do not define who is, or who is not, an American. Unlike any of those other folks, what makes someone an American is is a shared idea and ideal. Its a function of the head and the heart, not skin color or where you were was born. That's what makes us unique. So even thinking of race and ethnicity as a measure is, therefore, un-American.

If government will not stop, then maybe we should make it a tad more difficult for them to continue balkanizing us for their own good. Let's take President Obama at his word about building a post-racial America, and not buy into the race and ethnicity compartmentalization of the past.

Whether you are Black, White, Hispanic, African, Scots, or Chinese - if you are an American Citizen think seriously about checking "Some other race" at Question 9, and proudly print, "AMERICAN".

Pass it on.

UPDATE: Hot Air thinks it's a good idea, too.

When Fishing Poles Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Fishing Poles. (UPDATED)

Charlie Foxtrot has a post up about this article, in which the author claims that Team Hopenchange and their extremist allies in the environmental lobby concerned friends at Big Environment want to get control of, regulate, and perhaps eliminate, private angling.

I read the report in question, and while it says nothing specific like "ban cane poles" or "make bass boats illegal", there is enough holistic Lefty government boilerplate in there to give one pause. Generic and undefined feel-good phrases - "restore the health and biological diversity", "establish and implement an integrated ecosystem protection", and "implementing sustainable practices" - have been used to before by activists to claim open-ended authority to implement their extreme measures. And considering Big Enviro hates angling almost as much as it does hunting, well...

Charlie Foxtrot did come up with the best hook (and line and sinker! - ed.) to clarify the issue:

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you might get him arrested."

UPDATE: I mean, what kind of sick, depraved bureaucrat would want to ban this?

A Personal Note.

I haven't said this in a while, but it bears repeating every now and again:

FEMA sucks.

The 'Religion Of Peace' Tries A Little Inter-Faith Dialogue.

And 500 Christians are dead. A number of them Anglicans.

Which makes this upcoming Episcopal Church (tm) bulletin insert seem rather ironic, in that elitist, head-in-the-sand kind of way that The Episcopal Church (tm) is known for nowadays.

UPDATE: The Episcopal Church (tm) reports the massacres, but tries to ignore the Muslim connection. Calls the attackers "gangs", and says only "some reports" cite religious motivation. Only uses the word 'Muslim' once, and not in connection with the "gangs". Not exactly what the Anglican diocese website on the scene has to say (see 'Anglican' link, above). It appears The Episcopal Church (tm) is more concerned about not offending Muslim sensibilities than standing up for their brother and sister Christians and Anglicans. Now, if those poor Nigerian souls had been gay and in Uganda...

Seems Somebody Missed An Episode of 'Schoolhouse Rock'.

Words fail me:


UPDATE: Actually, here's a thought: This woman makes George W. Bush look smart.

Mr. Penn, Meet The First Amendment.

Hugo Chavez is a tyrannical, socialist dictator.
Hugo Chavez is a tyrannical, socialist dictator.
Hugo Chavez is a tyrannical, socialist dictator.

Got that, Spicoli?

Indeed.

Man Was Not Put On This Earth, Equipped With That Huge Pre-Frontal Cortex, To Live At The Mercy Of The Elements.

The Constitution for 200, Alex. (UPDATED)

Article III, Section 3: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

Who is Adam Gadahn, Alex?

UPDATE: CBS says it ain't him. CNN says it is. Stay tuned.

Don't Mess With Texas.

John Fund has an excellent analysis today on the recent Republican primary in the Lone Star State, and what it portends for the fortunes of the GOP and the Tea Party Movement - and the misfortunes of Team Hopenchange. More here.

Kay Bailey Hutchinson, a Bush "compassionate conservative" party regular who voted for TARP, got her clock cleaned. And while Perry won, it was just barely. Perry supported the Tea Party Movement early on, but a Tea Party inspired candidate, Debra Medina, split the frustrated voter vote. (Medina imploded after she would not disavow the loony conspiracy theories of the 911 Truthers and the Birthers. Had she done that, Perry would likely be in a runoff.)

The winners and losers here? The first and foremost loser: Team Hopenchenge. No, they weren't running, but they have sown the electoral wind; they are about to reap the coming whirlwind. The other loser: The current GOP establishment. Even their own don't see them as the coming whirlwind. They had their chance to tame Washington, but Washington ended up taming them.

The other big loser: Conspiracy theories. Birtherism, 911 Truth, New World Order, etc., are extremely toxic in mainstream politics. As Medina found out, just the hint a candidate might agree with them is enough. There is no middle ground here - you can not please both the vocal absolutist fringe and the frustrated mainstream voter. They can not be coordinated, no matter who won the straw poll at CPAC.

Which brings us to the winners. Running against Washington eekes out first: Perry sank Hutchinson by painting her as "Kay Bailout". The anti-Washington animus - which is always strong here in fly-over country - is monumental after TARP, the failed "stimulus", cap-n-trade, the health care takeover, and general Team Hopenchange arrogance. But the other winner, and likely the most game-changing, is the movement that has arisen to specifically oppose Washington's excesses - the Tea Party Movement. The Left / Mainstream Media are trying to play up Medina's loss as an indication of the lack of depth in the Tea Party Movement, but they miss the point - Perry and Medina together got of 7 out of 10 primary votes - they both embraced the Tea Party and their message of limited government and fiscal sanity.

The whirlwind is out there. Those who ignore it do so at their political peril.

Obama At The Bat.

Let's hope it works out this way.



Hattip: Theo Spark.

3 d20 Humor.

Glenn Reynolds linked to this cartoon; now I need to clean my screen.

The cartoon strip is xkcd, and is pure geek comedy gold.

A Musical Interlude.

The Violent Femmes were one of my favorite alternative/punk bands back in the 80's ('Blister in the Sun', 'Kiss Off'), so I can tell you this came as a real surprise:



Its actually pretty good. But my daughter is going to have a cow when she sees it, though.

Red Tide(s).

BigGovernment.com takes a look at the tax return of the Lefty Tides Foundation, ACORN's sugar-daddy, and finds pretty much what you'd expect. I wonder where you buy "general support" in bulk, because community organizing sure seems to use an awful lot of it.

"Really Good".

How Harry Reid described the loss of 36,000 jobs last month.
How bad is it when 36,000 more doesn't even raise the rate?

Reading, Writing, Education.

In Detroit, they're mutually exclusive.

A Tale Of Two Loonies.

It was the best of stereotypes, it was the worst of stereotypes.
If you're The Left / Mainstream Media, just presume a Tea Party connection and everything's fine.

Workers Of The World, Untie!

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Outcome-based education, comrades.

The Coo-Coo's Egg, Hard Boiled.

Hindsight is 20/20. Cliff Stoll, a geek hero back in the day (remember UNIX? command line? shell scripts? -ed.), tried to predict our digital future... and missed. Didn't we all?

Fun fact: Cliff Stoll was the first person I told after finding out my wife was pregnant with our first child in 1993. We were chatting on a bulletin board (remember those??) about some virus, I think. I've still got a print of the congrats email somewhere.

A Glimmer Of Real Hope And Change.

Senator Jim Bunning stands up for fiscal sanity. More here. Oooooh, the Democrats really don't like this. Makes them look bad.

Toady's Required Reading.

Dronism. Victor Davis Hanson looks at California, but those mindsets are really across the nation now.

OK-GO Does It Again. (UPDATED)

The guys who gave us the uber-geek treadmill video, hit another one out of the park. Watch it all.

Hattip: The Borderline Sociopathic Blog For Boys.

UPDATE 6MAR10: And another (earlier) OK-GO video of the same song. Not as complex, but gillie suite are involved. Really.

How Did I Miss This?

The amazing Sippican Cottage has another great blog: The Borderline Soicopathic Blog For Boys.
Highly recommended.

Also at Sippican: I lived through this; I'll survive Comrade Obama.

What's In The Tea?

A new report on who we Tea Partiers really are - not just some stereotype of who The New York Times thinks we are. We're not a bunch of bigoted, paranoid, Truthers, Birthers, and conspiracy theorists, clinging to God and guns and hate for Obama. We're ordinary people. We feel used and ignored by our government. We have had enough, and we want to do something about it.

Is that wrong?

Picture, Thousand Words, And All That.

Friends stand together.
Friends don't do this.

It's Perry Again.

Incumbent Texas Governor Rick Perry wins the Texas Republican primary.

Perry got just 50.96 percent, which is a bit surprising. Kay Bailey Hutchinson got 30.46 percent, and the early Tea Party favorite, Debra Medina, came in third with 18.57 percent. Medina looked like she had momentum, but it all seemed to collapse after she wouldn't disavow Truther and Birther conspiracies on the Glen Beck program.

Which proves that those are NOT winning issues. Are you listening, Ron Paul crowd?

Water, Water Everywhere...

NASA finds lots of water on the Moon. Not that it will do NASA or the US a damn bit of good, now that Obama scrapped our return to the Moon to pay for his pet projects. Per my buddy Rich, from his Facebook post: "Well, at least the Chinese and Russians will have water for their bases."

Team Hopenchange has replaced the New Frontier with a financial rat hole. The career rich and the career poor need the cash.

God Twitters Creation.

If you know Twitter and The Book of Genesis, this is falling down hysterical.

A Little Bias With Your Coffee? (UPDATED)

Like this is a surprise: It didn't take The New York Times long to do a puff-piece on the latest pro-Obama weedroots organization, the "Coffee Party". Hot Air has more.

Via Instapundit, here's a teensy-weensy fact The New York Times - Oops! - omitted: The only work in the private sector the founder of the "Coffee Party" has ever done is... strategy analyst for The New York Times:

Strategy Analyst
The New York Times
(Public Company; Newspapers industry)

April 1999 — September 2000 (1 year 6 months)

(Watch that disappear fast. -ed.) (UPDATE: It did. See below.)

As a Tea Partier, am I worried about this? Not really. I find it amusing, and rather ironic. It says volumes about how much The Left / Mainstream Media just don't get it - the majority of this nation may have bought what Obama and the Deomcrats were selling in 2008 (tax cuts, deficit reductions, ethics, fiscal repsonsability), but they don't like what they're selling now (socialized medicine, carbon taxes, record deficits, politics-as-usual, government takeover of private enterprises).

The "Coffee Party" is a reactionary stunt that will fizzle away after a few months. Why? Because the "Middle" in this country, which the "Coffee Party" purports to represent, doesn't want to be forced into government-run health care. The Middle in this country doesn't want to pay for the career rich and the career poor anymore. The Middle in this country doesn't want government regulating our lives for our own good.

This is what the "Coffee Party" will never understand: The majority of this country doesn't want the government to merely slow down a bit. The majority of this country wants the government to stop. Stop taxing us to death. Stop spending money they don't have. Stop trying to legislate and regulate everything. Stop treating us, the Citizens of this nation, like children. How many cups of coffee does it take to understand that?

UPDATE: Well that didn't take long. Annabel Park's Linkedin post - the one showing she worked at The New York Times, the paper who gave her such a glowing article - has gone down the memory hole. Anticipated that, so I saved a copy on my work computer. Will post tomorrow.

UPDATE: "Meet Me In The Middle" my arse:

The 40-year-old Park is leading an Obama promotional section on video-sharing site YouTube (www.youtube.com/unitedforobama) with around 10 other volunteers.

UPDATE: "Weedroots". Did this here RSR blog just coin us a new word? Maybe... My post is quite a few hours before his, and I thought it was pretty original.

UPDATE 03MAR10: As promised, here is the screenshot of Ms. Park's Linkedin page that suddenly didn't exist yesterday: