So, Mr. Stalin, How Many Saints Does The Soviet Union Have?

There is a God, and he has a delicious sense of irony. Proof: Karol Wojtyla, later known as John Paul II - a man who used his life and his Faith to struggle against godless socialism (first Hitlerian National Socialism, then Marxist Scientific Socialism) - will deliver one more kick to the ash heap of history when he is beatified this May Day.

A little post title history.

Sitting In My Blind Waiting For The Perfect Shot, And...There It Was - An 8-Point Princess.

Princess Beatrice at today's Royal Wedding:


-photographer unknown.

An Internet meme is born.

King Barry I, Or Hugo Chavez II?

Team Hopenchange thinks their agenda is just too important to let that Rule Of Law thing get in the way.

THE core question for next 18 months:

It all boils down to this: Are we to be a constitutional government with three distinct branches, or a single executive entity that makes policy, carries it out and decides for itself whether it's constitutional or not?

That's what the next presidential race is really all about.

Indeed it is.

Today's Required Reading.

The Case against President Obama's Health Care Reform: A Primer for Non Lawyers, Cato White Paper No. 32

Miss USA Meets TSA

Yes, Susie, as a Citizen in Obama's America, you have to go through this.

His Sister Was Bit By A Moose Once.

No, reali:



From here. Of course.

Bible Thumping.

My friend Christopher over at Midwest Conservative Journal shows why those who are unfamiliar with Scripture - because they usually don't believe a word of it - should not use it to make a point. Christopher, who does know Scripture, uses it convincingly to make his point.

How Much Of A Lightweight Is Barack Obama?

This much: He just coughed up his birth certificate. Why? Because of pressure from Donald Trump. Donald. Freakin'. Trump. The leader of the free world just got beat by a pompous blowhard with bad hair.

No wonder Kadaffi/Qaddafi/Gadaffii/(insert your spelling here) is still in power. Let's see how long it is before we get Barry's college records, too.

A Modest Proposal.

Like it or not, the Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling. I don't like it either, but yes, they will. If they don't, the President will have the ability to almost unilaterally cut spending necessary to keep us under the ceiling. And you know what he will do - muck up things the average, not-that-much-into-political-tussles American will notice and get angry about - close National Parks, stop Social Security payments to Granma, stop paying the troops, stop paying out creditors, etc., etc. Fiscally irresponsible in the extreme, yes, but it makes great Alinskyesque political theatre. Especially with The Left / Mainstream Media pushing White House talking points without question.

But, as this article points out, raising the debt isn't going win any points for Democrats with the average Joe and Jane. They (the Democrats) don't want to be the ones holding the bag here, either, especially with so many vulnerable seats in 2012.

Which gives Boehner, Ryan, Rubio, (Rand) Paul, etc., a golden opportunity to cut a deal. Not a promise for a few billion off here or there, but something big.

(Crapgamevoice) You know... a deal deal. (/Crapgamevoice) Like...

Tell Pelosi, Reid, etc., that the GOP will vote to raise the debt ceiling say, $1 trillion, if the Democrats agree to vote out a Balanced Budget Amendment to the States. There are several already introduced into the Congress this session . It takes two-thirds of the Congress to vote on a proposed Amendment before it goes to the States, so support from moderate/conservative Democrats is essential for the two-thirds number. Most States already live within such constraints, and I think they would be more than pleased to have the Feds do the same.

Whatever happens, the GOP can not let this opportunity go by and get a pittance (a few billion here and there) in return. That is not what they were sent there to do, and they will fare almost as bad as the Democrats in 2012 if they come out of this with a few lumps of coal in their bag.

If the folks on Capitol Hill want to do something like this, they better act fast.

OK, Can We PLEASE Move Onto The Important Things Now?

Here is Barack Obama's birth certificate.

There are a LOT of failings of our current President that point to his lack of fitness for the job. His place of birth has never been one of them. The 'Birther' issue has distracted us from highlighting the real problems before this nation. It has given attention to a malignant fringe strata in our body politic, and in so doing has handed our opponents an issue with which to poison Independents against those of us who argue for fiscal sanity and limited government. Because of 'Birthers', our ability to convince the critical middle to align with our point of view is now that that much harder.

The 'Birthers' should, if they have any honor - and any understanding of politics beyond a high-school civics class level - admit they were wrong and then STFU. But if I know them, they won't.

UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long.

What If Brittany Spears Had Directed 'Lord Of The Rings'?

Sippican at Borderline Sociopathic Blog for Boys accidentally found out while scouring the InterTubes. It ain't pretty:

So, How Are Those "Green" Jobs Working Out?

Obama's promised land of milk and windmills may not be so promising after all. In the scad of adverts in my inbox this morning was one from a company offering to do LEED certification for buildings - a "green job" if there ever was one. I get (and trash) these all the time, but this one was a bit different - it was offering a hugely reduced, flat rate to do LEED certification on any building of any size. It was substantially less - like, half - than we paid a for a LEED consultant just a year ago. (We have only done one LEED building, and we - and our banker - pray we never have to do another.)

Is This What We Have Come To????...

I hate to post something like this, but it must be seen. MUST. A woman, who turns out is transgendered, is savagely beaten - enough to cause seizures - and appears to have chunks of her hair ripped out while the employees in a suburban Baltimore McDonald's mostly stand by and laugh. Several even tell the two women who beat the third to leave quick because the police are on the way. The store manager made a half-hearted attempt to break it up but only one person - a middle aged lady - tried to actively intervene, and got punched in the process.

The inhuman savagery, violence, and lack of restraint is stunning, as is the idea that those teenagers thought such was appropriate for whatever the third had done. Equally stunning is the inhuman reaction to those who who witnessed the event, who seemed more interested in having something for their Facebook page than having any compassion for the victim.



UPDATE: Much more here. This is being considered a "hate crime". While I don't believe "hate" is a crime, if there ever was an example of a "hate crime", this is it.

Barack Obama: An Expensive Empty Suit.

Literally.

Happy Birthday, Bill.

Still looking good at 447. Don't believe me? Take it away, Kenneth:

Question Of The Day.

If TSA can't screen alleged pedophiles from their own ranks, how can they screen terrorists from our skies?

A TSA screener in Philadelphia, who gets paid by Janet Napolitano to touch other people's junk, now finds himself under arrest for allegedly possessing and distributing kiddie porn.

Remember this when one of Janet's blue-gloved minions insists on feeling up your daughter or son.

RUN-EPA

Just in time for Earth Day, dear readers, we are pleased to present government-funded Prius Rap:

Nothing But Comrades, Or, I'm Glad I Have A Lawn Mower.

Besides being one of the most sacred days in the Christian Faith, today is also one of the most sacred in today's Marxist Faith: It's Earth Day.

So in celebration, take it away, Mr. Byrne:



For our Marxist friends today is really a toofer - since it's also Lenin's birthday. With May Day just around the corner, and the birthday of Pol Pot (an early advocate of combining spread-the-wealth with back-to-nature) on 19 May, I guess this is the 'holiday season' for Marxists.

Yin/Yang.

Apple Computer:

Good: Apple named least "green" tech company. Companies exist to make things and provide services, not be butt-kissers for busy-body moralists. That doesn't mean dumping old SE30's in the Bay is OK - it means they shouldn't have to require employees wear all-natural, free-range, fair-trade skivvies because the Natural Resources Defense Fund or Al Gore thinks it's a nifty idea.

Bad: Apple is tracking you via your iPhone and/or iPad. I'm sorry, but what do they need this for? And, who will try to get their hands on it?
(cough) The government via lobbying by busy-body moralists (cough).

Scotty, This Is Schrodinger...

...We're almost ready to beam up the cat.

Wait till some Ron Paul/Alex Jones/911 Truther/Birther types look at that ominous machine and realize this was done... in Tokyo... before the quake. The conspiracy theories, they shall fly. UPDATE: Wouldn't be the first time.

Remember When The Left Thought Big Business Making Huge Profits Was A Bad Thing?

Nowadays, it seems to depend on which friends Big Business keeps. I bet the standard-issue Lefties won't be rioting because General Electric - one of Obama's most reliable Big Business supporters who seems poised to make buckets of cash off the government's "green" regulations and restrictions, saw it's profits jump 77%.

In the Era of Hopenchange, crony capitalism is bad - unless they're your cronies. And success is not measured by what you do anymore - but by who you know in government.

UPDATE: Concrete proof of that last point.

A Story That Is Sure To Generate, Um, A Lot Of Traction.

I predict this will be the most read article on the 'Net this week:

Yes, men really can make it longer: study.

Actually, I think this will be the most read article this month. No, wait... This year.

And The Ones Who Couldn't Tell An Umbrella From An AK-47 Will Get, What? An Award?...

The Burlington Mall in Burlington, Massachusetts - a place I frequented often while living in the Tax State, was evacuated today because two - not one, but two - Massachusetts Morons couldn't tell the difference between an umbrella and a "short-barreled rifle".

The poor sod who was just trying to keep dry felt so bad he came forward to the police. Will the idiots who wasted everybody's time because they couldn't tell a Totes from a Tavor do the same? It's Massachusetts - don't hold your breath.

Will The Left / Mainstream Media Now Worry About The Feelings Of The 'Christian Street'?

French (yes, he said French -ed.) fundamentalist Catholics destroy Andres Serrano's infamous 'Piss Christ' to protest "blasphemy".

While I find Serrano's work repugnant, I find the response in Avignon equally repugnant in a free society. The litmus test here is how The Left / Mainstream Media react/spin this story. Will we hear lots of there-are-limits-to-free-speech lectures from them, just like we did when the 'Arab/Muslim Street' went nuts after the Danish Cartoon kerfuffle? Don't hold your breath.

They Came From "Shangri-La"...

...And 69 years ago today these 80 men flew into history.

Next year in Jerusalem!

A very Happy Passover to our Hebrew friends.

Burnin' Down The Garage, Part II; Or, Bringing Back The Firebird.

Remember the story the other day about a garage fire in Connecticut, wherein a Government Motors 'Volt' - Obama's vision of a "green" auto future - was suspected of causing the fire? Well, dear readers, seems it caught fire again.

Today's Helpful Hint.

Don't bring a machete to a pocket-knife fight.

UPDATE" A friend noted that this proves, once again, it's not the size of your blade but what you can do with it. OK... So why do the ladies always go for the guy with the broadsword and not the one with the Swiss Army Knife? Even one with the larger, locking blade SAK? Um... metaphorically speaking, of course.

UPDATE: Maybe now is a really good time to mention that I have one of these. And if a great blade is important to you, you should have one, too. And I'm not speaking metaphorically.

Steve, Jobs Killer.

According to the deep thoughts of Jessie Jackson, Jr. (D-Luddite Heights), the Apple iPad is killing the First Amendment. Really. I presume he'll be proposing legislation to protect newspapers and printers from this evil. Maybe he can amend his bill protecting 8-track tape makers from cassettes.

The Grapes Of Spong.

This being Palm Sunday, I think it's a good time to note the progress the Liberal wing of Anglicanism has achieved in the UK:


One Rev. Dr Giles Fraser thinks all that "whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" is a bunch of hooey. So, Giles... what's the point?


The parish of Holy Trinity / St. Mary's, Guildford, apparently gets in touch with their inner Himmler, posting this bit of inclusive indaba dhimmitude on their website:



Some are saying the site was hacked, and have alerted the parish. Yet, the cartoon remains...


An electrician in the UK is facing the sack for displaying a palm-frond Cross on his dashboard. That's where mine is today. I thank my lucky stars (and stripes) that I don't live in the UK today.


Hattip to The MCJ.

UPDATE: In a related note, the grapes of "diversity": The 12th-Century Boys practice some interfaith dialogue and religion-of-peace cultural understanding in London. I don't know if Rowan Williams would approve, but I know he sure as hell won't protest.

UPDATE 18APR11: Well that didn't take long - the cartoon is gone. But have no fear, dear readers, there is something called "screenshot", and I have one. In case they want to get all Orwellian on us.

Bad Actor: Port Of Call New Orleans.

Actor Nicolas Cage was arrested in New Orleans last night on domestic abuse and disturbing the peace charges. Sounds like he was studying for a role as an NOPD police officer.

Post title reference is here.

Forget Carbon Footprint - Electric Cars Can Reduce Your Building Footprint, Too.

Ruling Class Irony Alert! Garage with two recharging electric/hybrid cars burns down; the cars are suspected culprits. Gee... I wonder how much carbon was put into the atmosphere by that garage going up in flames?

2008-2012 is looking more and more like 1976-1980 every day. Back then it was 'Pintos' going up in flames - now it's Obama's 'Volts'.

The Vanishing 50 Million.

Back in 2005, the United Nations Environment Programme predicted that global warming would create 50 million climate refugees by 2010. It was repeated by the The Left/ Mainstream Media as gospel, proof that "we have to do something" - e.g., more government control over our lives.

2010 is now past, and someone took a look at the UN's claim. Not only was the UN off by, oh... 50 million, they have tried to disappear the prediction now that is makes the UN and the chicken little AGW cult look like fools.

Read the whole thing. And remember this next time you hear some "expert" on TV or radio claiming dire consequences because of "global warming" "climate change".

UPDATE: Oh, wait... it's now 50 million by 2020. Geez. These people are starting to sound less like scientists and more like end-of-the-world types when they wake up the day after they predicted the end of it all.

We're Too Good To Call You Racist, Ignorant, Rubes Names.

If you consider yourself a conservative, or believe in individual liberty, or believe government isn't the answer but the problem, The Episcopal Church (tm) hates you:

But here they are, the nutcases, parading in prime time as if they were a legitimate alternative in a deeply divided nation that is struggling with huge and vexing issues.

Thanks to Rupert Murdoch, they even have their own television network to legitimize streams of vitriol, conspiracy theories, fears, rages, and suspicion. In the brave new world of leveling-by-Internet, anybody can say anything and claim to be an authority.

Who's to say a website is packed with lies or useful information? For example, I followed the thread of a comment by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., criticizing Tea Party folks for threatening other people's free speech. By the time his original words had fanned out to two dozen right-wing websites, they had morphed into a preference for terrorists over Tea Partiers.

Here is the "comment" by Sen. Lautenberg to which the Rev. Ehrich apparently alludes. Listen to the linked video closely.

“They [Tea Party Republicans] don’t deserve the freedoms in the Constitution, but we’ll give it to them anyway.”

Two points here:

First, in 2006 Lautenberg voted to preserve habeas corpus, a constitutional right, for Guantanamo detainees. So yes, Rev. Ehrich, Sen. Lautenberg does believe Islamofascist terrorists, who are trying to kill us in the name of their God, are more deserving of the blessings of our Constitution than his fellow Americans, like myself, who disagree with his politics but want to kill no one.

Second, and more foundational to this whole national debate, is the Senator - as do most of The Left / Mainstream Media - seems to think our Rights come from government. Government "gives" them to us; and government can take them away. We conservatives and Tea Partiers - who the Rev. Ehrich implies are the "bigots who burn, shoot and shout" - believe as our Founders did: Our Rights are derived from our Creator (whoever or whatever we may believe that to be). They cannot be taken away (only repressed), and the whole reason our government exists is to secure those Rights. This is the core of the American experiment. This is also a point Rev. Ehrich misses entirely, or ignores because he believes, as does Sen. Lautenberg, in the Monarchist / Marxist notion that Rights come only from government.

Speaking Truth To Idiots.

Chris Christie answers questions from The Left / Mainstream Media about education:



Gee, I thought it was us heartless Republicans who give up on the poor. Christie, as usual, nails the problem. Nails it. Where is this kind of clarity, spine, and plain speaking in the current crop of GOP goofs and ankle-biters who think they are qualified to be President? I pray he runs in 2012.

A Lightweight Snack.

As Louisiana Republican, I can assure you we don't eat our young like Caroline "I Hate Republicans" Fayard claims. But, as my buddy Scott quite ably shows, we will make a tasty meal out of a clueless member of the Democrat nobility. Tripe Fayard, anyone?

Tax The Rich!!

Well, tax those who, after they leave government service, parlay their time into influence-peddling, get-rich-quick schemes helping big corporations and NPOs manipulate the levers of government power for their own good. If we want to break the government/corporate/non-profit revolving door in Washington - which is breaking our financial backs - we need to take the profit out of it.

To that end, Glenn Reynolds has a modest proposal that I think just might work:

A 50% surtax on anything earned within five years after leaving the federal government, above whatever the federal salary was. Leave a $150K job at the White House, take a $1M job with Goldman, Sachs, pay a $425K surtax.

Personally, I'd go 75% for the first five years, and 50% on the next five years.

A Century of Perfection.

The greatest pistol ever designed, John Browning's Colt M1911, turned 100 years old at the end of last month.

In this humble shooter's opinion we should never have dropped the M1911 or it's .45 ACP round in favor of kissing-whiny-European-butts adopting the 9mm Parabellum as a NATO standard.

If you do not have an M1911, get one. And learn how to use it.

But Where Are Tina Turner and Mel Gibson?

Yes, Thunderdome exists.



Notice the yellow railing - safety first!

From here. Where else?

From Eternity To Here.

Instapundit pointed out this book today Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity. The assault on Christianity by The Left / Mainstream Media from outside is nothing new, and not the biggest reason we are losing our religion. The biggest reason is the assault on Christianity by those inside our churches. Can you say "Kate Schori" and "John Spong" boys and girls? I knew you could.

Mood Swing. Or, Why 2011 Is Looking A Lot Like 1979.

The Left / Mainstream Media may think the 2010 election was an aberration, a temporary bump on their way to their statist paradise, but they need to look at the Wisconsin Supreme Court race this past Tuesday - it says something entirely different.

A few months ago the GOP-majority Wisconsin Senate, in order to get control of runaway state spending in the Badger State (and defund one of the The Left's biggest cash cows, public sector unions) scheduled a vote on limiting public sector collective bargaining and automatic deductions of union dues from public paychecks. The GOP majority had the votes and the backing of the Governor, Scott Walker, who was elected in 2010 on the Tea Party wave. But Democrat Senators, desperate to keep the Benjamins flowing from the special-interest group (unions) which funds much of the Democrat machine, fled the state to keep the vote from happening. And Big Labor turned on the pressure, staging well-organized protests, threats, and a takeover of the state capitol in Madison. Even President Obama tried to influence the outcome by carrying the union's water.

But in the end, the GOP played hardball politics like the Democrats and got both items passed. Big Labor and the Democrats went nuts, and swore retribution. That is why the Supreme Court election is important.

To show their muscle via power politics, and put another reliably union vote on the Supreme Court when Gov. Walker's bills came up for challenge, Big Labor decided to make an example of conservative Justice David Prosser's reelection. So lots of union money and organization were put behind Democrat JoAnne Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general in Wisconsin, and the race was turned into a referendum on what the governor and Senate had just done. It seemed like money and a political machine would carry the day again for The Left / Mainstream Media.

But, something odd happened. It appears Kloppenburg lost. But even if she had won, it would have been by the the thinnest of margins - 10ths of a percent. So the lesson to take away here, dear readers, is this: Big Labor has no muscle anymore. Wisconsin was, until recently, a reliably blue state. If the unions and the rest of The Left / Mainstream Media can not, when they put forth maximum effort, soundly defeat a nebbishy jurist under these circumstances, where can they? And if Big Labor loses that guaranteed income they rely on (other states have done, or are doing, what Wisconsin has done), when can they?

Unions were once a good and needed thing, but I think they have outlived their usefulness. We no longer live in a Marxian world of set classes (in America, we never really did), where one side has all the capital and one side doesn't. Hell, nowadays a fry-clerk at McDonald's can open up an E-Trade account if they want. That economic mobility is in no small measure due to the efforts of unions in the past. But today such mobility is a given in most all segments of the American economy - an economy dominated by white-collar jobs, not blue-collar ones. If that is the case, are unions even necessary in 21st-century America for workers to have a voice?

ObamaCare Hope vs. ObamaCare Change.

If you really believed a government take-over of health care was going to make it simpler and more efficient, you are an idiot. I'm sorry, but there is no easier way to put it. And you deserve a future standing for hours in a crowded waiting room for someone to deliver unto you your "right" to "affordable, quality" health-care.

Every other government-run, socialized health care scheme ever tried by man has turned into a bloated, bureaucratic program that protects itself first and the patient second. ObamaCare is turning out to be just more of the same. I am 52, and I do not want some government bureaucrat making decisions about my life based on what the government can afford anymore than I want an insurance clerk doing the same based on the company's profit margin.

ObamaCare needs to be completely scrapped. We need to return patient choice to, well, the patients.

A Word From The Management.

We at RSR always appreciate hearing from our readers, either in the comments or by email. Yes, even the ones who suggest we perform some anatomically difficult exercises with a 2x4. That said, know this: If we are interested in something you have to say enough to post on it, we will either 1) link to it, or 2) post your comments directly.

We DO NOT utilize guest bloggers, nor will we post solicited articles.

So please, please quit asking or sending us your screeds on (fill in the blank) that you are convinced the blogworld must see. If they're that important to the future of this nation/planet/Ron Paul, get your own damn blog. Leave our inbox alone.

Thank you.

Pinky And The Brain.

"What are we going to do today, Brain?"

"What we do every day, Pinky. Try to... AUDIT THE FED!!"

But... But... If David Letterman and Jon Stewart Say So It Must Be True, Right?

If you get your news via the Mainstream Media and your values via Hollywood, you KNOW the problem with politics today is fat cat lobbyists and their big money fund-raising organizations skewing the process. And since fat-cats, lobbyists, and big-money are all "Republican", then the problem must be Republicans.

Think again.

The Grapes Of Fake But Accurate.

It appears much of Travels with Charley, fiction writer John Steinbeck's romantic, solo-across-the-country travelogue, wasn't that at all. It was, in fact, a lot of fiction.

Travels with Charley was a book I read young (a gift from my mother) and it is what put the travel bug in me. Because of Steinbeck, I have always been a tad disappointed in my wanderings across the US. The romantic in me hopes to find similar characters and places, yet never I quite seem to have the experience. Now I know why - they don't exist.

UPDATE: I know, I know, if I want to experience characters nowadays I should stop at this store when I travel. Is it really that bad, people? Really?

John Edwards Was Right.

There are Two America's - the America that works, and risks, to produce the goods and services we want, and the America that produces nothing and risks nothing themselves, but wants to tell the producers what to produce an how they should do it. When the latter America exceeds the former America, decline and decay are inevitable.

In the Unites States today, the latter now exceeds the former:

More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. (emphasis mine)

Glenn Reynolds notes: "To a certain crowd, this isn't a bug, but a feature." Indeed.