A Funny SNL Skit?

Hell, I didn't even know they were on the air anymore.



Bet Loren Michaels got a pleasant phone call from Valerie Jarrett after this.

Hattip: The Hayride.

With Obama And Holder Calling The Shots, This Comes As No Surprise.

Greenville Wal-Mart Shooter Picked Victims By Race:

A man who shot four people near a Greenville Wal-Mart in June picked out his victims because they were white, according to several indictments handed down against him. (emphasis RSR)

Good Question.

"The Christians in the United States, do they care about what’s happening to the Christians here (in the Middle East)?”

Good question. Let's take at look at my denomination. Uh, nope. But 'Laptop' the Canterbury Cathedral cat has died. Oh, the woe!

My friends in the UMC? Yep. They're paying attention.

My brothers and sisters on the other side of the Tiber? Yep, again.

But the meta-questions is, what will we, as Christians, do about it?

Religion Of Peace (tm) Watch. (Updated and Bumped)

It's been a particularly busy weekend of evangelizing for the Religion of Peace (tm):

Kenya: "The gunmen told Muslims to stand up and leave. They were safe, and non-Muslims would be targeted."

Pakistan: "The attack occurred as worshipers left the All Saints Church in the old quarter of the regional capital, Peshawar, after a service on Sunday morning."

For much, much more, go here.

UPDATE 23SEPT13: Something you won't find in the American Mainstream Media - unvarnished coverage of the Nairobi shopping center killings: "Survivors said they saw fellow shoppers mercilessly executed after being singled out as non-Muslim." Read the whole thing.

Board of Education vs. Brown.

The Left / Mainstream Media (Academia Division) is bringing back 'separate but equal'.

Alas, the post title should really be 'Board of Education vs. White'. I mean, how soon will it be before Eric Holder turns the fire hoses on a Tea Party rally? The Left / Mainstream Media are already advocating their political opponents be killed - see this, and this.

Well, That Would Explain Janet Reno.

Gennifer Flowers claims that Bill told her Hillary Clinton was bisexual.

What? You Were Actually Expecting Marcus Welby?

Remember hearing back in the summer when the Schutzstaffel, sorry, Mainstream Media, was reporting Team Hopenchange's upcoming full-cout media blitz to "sell" ObamaCare before the "exchanges" come online 1 October 1? Well, that's only 12 days off. I don't know about you, but, I haven't seen anything nationally pushing the joys of Kathleen Sebelius having access to your pap-smear results. But I have seen these:





Hattip: The Hayride.

Can Republicans Become The Party Of The People?

Good question. Short answer: Yes. But the GOP has to start acting like Republicans to do it.

In many respects we already are the party of the people. The GOP has 40-60% of the country ideologically, depending on the issue. What we need is to quit balkanizing ourselves through factional identity infighting between libertarian conservatives, social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, pro-defense conservatives, pro-business conservatives - something our opponents promote heavily, by the way, and use to isolate us - and focus on the big picture with which we all agree.

And, we need to learn to grow a pair. Fighting for what you believe in is no fault.

Bias? What Media Bias? Stupid Is As Stupid Does Edition.

My wife had on some insipid infotainment staple of The Left / Mainstream Media (that Charlie Rose guy is on it) this morning, and they were, of course, towing the approved line about how Boehner and the GOP are insane, and were going to shut down the government in order to stop ObamaCare because they wouldn't raise the debt ceiling. And they had the obligatory sound bite of Dear Leader sounding all leaderlike. Somehow, they missed this bit of Orwellian, or just out-and-out stupid, logic by Dear Leader in the same speech.:

Now, this debt ceiling -- I just want to remind people in case you haven't been keeping up -- raising the debt ceiling, which has been done over a hundred times, does not increase our debt; it does not somehow promote profligacy.

And hate is love, freedom is slavery, war is peace. Got it.

Ordinary Citizens, 1...

...Product of the Grand Rapids Public Schools, 0. It's A Teachable Moment if you think about it. First, this is how ordinary citizens should act when a fellow citizen in is in distress. Second, if the coward formerly on the bike did not want to be pinned to the pavement, she should not have tried to steal an old lady's purse.

Bias? What Media Bias?

The New York Times and President Obama met recently, metrosexual-to-metrosexual, for an off-the-record chat about Syria. Now why would they do that? I wonder...

Big Rock Candy Health Care.

This Tele-Tubby-level Oregon PSA aimed at 20-somethings is The Left / Mainstream Media's wet dream of Obamacare. All that's missing are a few unicorns and Obama's radiant face as the sun.



Hey, hipsters - news flash: You were "free to be healthy" long before ObamaCare, but you had to pay for it yourself for it like real grown-ups. Grown-ups are the people whose house you moved back into after you finished grad school and the Starbucks cut your hours to part-time.

Well, There's Our Problem.

Over at Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds compares the response to a mass shooting incident in 1966 with this most recent tragedy. Difference seems to be that, back in 1966, free men and women were allowed to be - and expected to be - free men and women. Today, not so much. We're expected to act like Europeans.

And the car Aaron Alexis drove to the Washington Navy Yard? A Toyota Prius. Which he was able to rent without any kind of background check. It's clear we need an Executive Order right away to ban the importation of these "assault vehicles". I mean, if it will save one life...

Today's Public Service Announcement.

Because Red Stick Rant cares:

The Bright Side Of The Street.

This is a personal rant. Move on if you, well, have a life.

Still here? OK. Since my surgery in May I walk in the evenings. Several miles (about 3.5 now) a night. And I live in one of those 1950's suburbs that decided sidewalks are obsolete, or cause crime or something, so walking and running in these parts is done in the street. Which brings up an interesting human / large-hunk-of-metal-hurtling-at-you dialogue. I know that, technically, pedestrians have the right of way, but even my fat arse has enough self-preservation skills to realize the right-of-way belongs to the distracted teenager in a Honda Civic. When it is still light out, this is all no big deal - you see each other at distance, both move out of the way, and wave politely as you pass (this is, after all, Baton Rouge).

But when it gets dark earlier, as it does nowadays, things get somewhat murkier. Even with my ample volume in light-colored clothes, I am hard to see after dusk. So it is not unusual to have someone flip on their brights for a few seconds to confirm my presence and to see that, yes, I have moved over to the grass side of the curb and out of their way. They will still veer left a bit to politely give a wide berth (this is, after all, Baton Rouge).

Until last night. An oncoming car - with those burn-thru-concrete, even-Ray-Charles-can-see-them, xenon/LED/laser headlights that German and Japanese car-makers love, obviously saw me, flipped on their brights, and then the inconsiderate bastard left them on as he/she/it approached. They only flipped them off once past me. I couldn't see shit. Well yes I could, metaphorically, because when they past I recognized the vehicle and it's occupants. It wasn't a surprise.

Why is this blog-worthy? Because, first, it's my blog and it annoyed me. Second, I want folks to realize those out walking / running at night are blinded when you put your hi-beams on them. It may help you, but we can't see the broken catch basin right in front of us. Please be considerate.

Here endith the rant.

Happy Birthday, Sinker-Yankee!

Enjoy:

No, THIS A Gun.

You have a .22 cal knockoff HK MP5 look-alike with a fake silencer?

I'm SO impressed.

Yes, that is a real Bofors 40mm cannon, made by Firestone during WWII, and will grace the stern of our little cabin cruiser project.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

...A trailer for 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' if Jerry Bruckheimer had done it.
It would have sucked, too.

Thank You For That Smackdown, Mr. Putin...

...May we have another?

President Obama declared that the United States is still prepared to act militarily to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons despite the decision to pursue a diplomatic deal and not strike Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons.

The only people shaking in their boots over Barry's threats are those laughing that hard.

Another Great Moment In 'Smart Diplomacy'.

Today's installment: Syria, Christians, and Al Qaeda; oh, my.

Maaloula is a special place. It has been a safe haven for Christians for 2,000 years - until now. It was a place of refuge so secure in its rugged mountain isolation that a dialect of the language of Christ, Aramaic, is still spoken here. But not today.

Its Christian community of 2,000 has fled. In the tight alleyways and streets that wind up the Maaloula's mountainside their language has been replaced by the Arabic of two bitter enemies: rebels from three Islamist groups and the soldiers of President Bashar al-Assad.

...

The rebels claim they took Maaloula to punish the Christians there for supporting the Assad government, a support that is real but tepid. For most Christians in Syria the fear of what Islamists might do if they win this war outweighs any dislike they have for Assad's system.

On Saturday, in a Damascus church heavy with gold and grief, they mourned the Christians killed in the battle. The framed photographs of the dead sat next to the holy icons of the Greek Orthodox faith, some men in the pews bandaged from injuries they'd received. "We blame Obama", one woman in black yelled at me, "he should have the Nobel peace prize taken away from him - he is helping the rebels who killed our Christian brothers".

Read it all.

This being Sunday, let's see what my denomination has to say. Well... uh... there is this standard issue "I do not believe further violence is likely to end the tragedy" boilerplate from The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Politburo President and Pope Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church (tm). But half the statement is just Kate's fawning praise of Obama for taking his smackdown by Putin like a real metrosexual:

I applaud President Obama’s restraint and willingness to look for diplomatic solutions — changing position requires courage of the first order. It is a sign of profoundly care-filled leadership both to test the possibility of other, more creative and life-giving solutions and to put the needs of vulnerable populations ahead of one’s own image or reputation.

"He Fights."

The post title was Abraham Lincoln's famous response to reporters who wanted to know why he stuck with U.S. Grant even after blistering attacks by the press and members of his own party. I think the same response sums up the GOP rank-and-file response to Rand Paul. He fights.

And, he wins. Yes, so does Chris Christie, but he is the darling of the GOP establishment.

Me? As a pro-defense, pro-American exceptionalism, small-l libertarian Republican, I'm on the fence. Both Paul and Christie have a lot to offer the GOP, and I like - and get frustrated - with both. Both are playing very long games - something that the post-Reagan/W. crowd did not. Paul and Christie are the de facto leaders of the two main camps in the GOP now, and them finding unity is the only the GOP is going to win in 2016.

The Right To Keep And Bear Arms Is Outmoded, They Say.

Riiight. Tell that to these Mexicans. Quote of the day week year:

A 47-year-old bureaucrat, who is sure that she will be killed if the gang retakes her town, said of her decision to join the cause: “I may live one year or 15, but I will live free." (emphasis RSR)

Old World Problem. New World Response.

Liar, Liar, Mom-jeans On Fire!

Remember, dear readers, it was just last month The One claimed, "There is no spying on Americans."

Oops.

Today The Washington Post - yes, THAT Washington Post - says that Team Hopenchange had the restrictions on spying on Americans removed:

The Obama administration secretly won permission from a surveillance court in 2011 to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, permitting the agency to search deliberately for Americans’ communications in its massive databases, according to interviews with government officials and recently declassified material.

And just who had those restrictions put into place to protect Americans privacy? WaPo is a bit vague on that:

The court in 2008 imposed a wholesale ban on such searches at the government’s request, said Alex Joel, civil liberties protection officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). (emphasis RSR)

Hmmm. Now what Administration was running the government back in 2008? I wonder...

Neville Again!

What if someone, say, P. J. O'Rourke, replaced famous figures in history with Barack Obama? You would get, well, this:

One if by land, and two if by sea, and three if by air, and four if by drones .  .  . Or is it two if by land, and one if by sea? .  .  . However, there will be no deployment of Colonial ground forces. So it’s two if by ship-launched cruise missiles .  .  . Or is it three if by airstrikes? .  .  . Anyway, the British aren’t coming.

The Astounding World Of The Future.

Never buy anything a Utopian is selling. Here's why:



Best laid plans and all that.

Exactly.

What he said: Why The Gun Is Civilization. Read it all.

That Red Line...

...Is getting much thinner. And yes, you said that, Mr. President.

Petard, Your Own, Hoist By. Syrian Edition.

Rand Paul kicks ass. Proof.

If he and Christie can get it together, we have our dream team for 2016.

The Old College Try.

Ever watch one of those lopsided college football games where a top-ranked university played some small-time regional school, and of course whipped their ass? Like, 70-0? And the best the commentators can say was the small school "tried their best"?

Well, that pretty much sums up this Hollywood excuse for going to war with Syria. Sadly, De Niro is right about Obama - he is trying his best. And therein lies the crux of most all our current problems, dear readers: Obama's best isn't good enough. We've sent Furman out to play LSU.

One Can Only Hope.

Are we nearing the end of Fannie and Freddie?

It's Time For John Boehner To Go.

We do not need a return to the GOP dhimmitude mindset of pre-1992. We cannot afford it. This country cannot survive it. Please Rep. Boehner, for the good of this nation, hand the Speaker's gavel over to someone who has a spine. Now.

Let Me Fix That Headline For You.

'Obama Punts Putts to Congress Over Military Action in Syria'

Or, as The Grey Man put it: The Blink Heard 'Round The World.

Medici Bank and Trust.

Just like Obama/Bloomberg/Pelosi have done wonders in growing the firearms industry, the Dodd/Frank/Durbin banking "reforms" are growing the pawn industry. Banking like it was in, I don't know, the 1400's. Now that's reform.

Your Syrian Policy Must Be Working, Mr. President...

...Even Canadians are laughing at us.

Good News.

I hope this kind of thing happens everywhere stooges for the anti-choice 'Mayors Against Civil Rights' shows up. Michael Bloomberg - the George Wallace of our day.

To Boldly Twerk Where No One Has Twerk'd Before.

Happy Labor Day, Everyone: