Wednesday, October 29, 2014

On the Assertion that Opera Was the Rap of Yesterday

I much prefer to think that disco was the rap of yesterday.

On Former Bush Ramrod and Lackey, Karl Rove, Now Writing Editorials For the War Street, Err, I Mean, Wall Street, Journal

I'll take, "Yet Another Embarrassment/Dagger in the Heart of a Once Proud and Well-Respected Publication", for a thousand, Alex.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

On Bill O'Reilly Making Hay Over the Fact that Today's Marijuana is Significantly Stronger than the Stuff From 30 to 40 Years Ago Was

It's like, "Yeah, Bill, and that's why people are only taking one or two hits these days as opposed to smoking an entire joint."......My God, do we have to explain everything to this fellow?

Saturday, October 25, 2014

On the International Energy Agency's Emission Reduction Proposal Which Only Reduces the Percentage of People on the Planet Who Don't Have Electricity by 14%

I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that nobody on that committee resides in the developing world, and that they all undoubtedly piss their pants whenever there's so much as a five minute blackout....Fucking assholes.

On the UK's Goal of Reducing it's Greenhouse Gas Emission by 80% by the Year, 2050

This would necessitate that they reduce their metric tons of carbon dioxide per $1,000 of GDP from .42 to .03 AND accelerate their decarbonization rate (as observed from 1980 to 2008) by upwards of 4-fold. Does anybody with so much as a brain-stem truly believe that this is possible?...THESE ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE WACKY, PEOPLE!!...........................................................................................P.S. And it also must be stated that the observed decarbonization that did occur occurred primarily due to deindustrialization (which I gather that the Brits do not want more of) and a one-time switch from coal to gas (which will be difficult to replicate and which could only occur via nuclear and/or hydro AND LOTS OF IT). To say that even this level of decarbonization (on into the future) is a given is itself dicey.

On the Joel Osteen Sirius XM Radio Show

Oh yeah, I'm going to dish out my hard-earned money so that I can listen to this Bible-thumping idiot pontificate (that, and the fact that he's already worth over 50 million) - I don't think so!! I would rather listen to wasps buzzing around my head.

Friday, October 24, 2014

On the 11 O'clock Rebroadcast of Chris Hayes's, "All In" (and Where Do They Get these Titles?)

Gotta wonder what the audience for it is. 10? 12?

On the 1962 Classic Film, "Requiem for a Heavyweight"

Still can't watch it without sobbing (that stairwell scene between Gleason and Harris, most especially).

On Ducky (Over at Les's Site) Referring to People Such as Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Gregory Meeks, Barbara Boxer, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Alan Grayson, Bernie Sanders, Barnie Frank (Yes, I Know, He's Retired), Keith Ellison, Henry Waxman, Adam Schiff, John Conyers, Etc., Etc., as "Nice Polite Conservatives"

That just might be the most delusional and brain-diseased comment of recent memory, folks. I mean, I had always thought that this dude was a little bit out there but this is seriously insane and I challenge the people here - name me one sane, fair-minded, and sentient human being who would have ever uttered such an off-the-charts and bizarre statement like this? I certainly can't think of one (even low-ball jammers like Octopus and wd know that these folks aren't conservative).

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Note to Fox New's John Stossel

Fella', please, stop having these ridiculous debates with Bill O'Reilly about legalizing marijuana. You will never, ever, EVER, EVER, convince him that grown-up adults should be able to make their own decisions as to what they put into their own frigging bodies. He's a moralist and an individual totally incapable of seeing the other side (always pointing to the supposed unintended consequences of legalization while never even acknowledging those of the "drug war"), and why a smart individual like you would be so consistently willing (yeah, I know, Fox is paying you) to bang his head against the wall (the next nuanced position by O'Reilly will probably be his first) is inexplicable to to me. It truly is.

On Whenever Allison Moorer and Shelby Lynne (Sisters) Perform Together

Banana ice cream on pineapple pie - only sweeter.

On Steve Earle and Allison Moorer Divorcing

The fact that his previous 6-7 marriages also shit the bed probably should have cued us.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

The Four Places that President Obama Should Never Frequent

Let's see, I'm probably going to go with a) West Virginia, b) Eastern Kentucky, c) Eastern Ohio, and d) Western Pennsylvania. Coal country, me-buckos, and those "working folks" do not like him there.

On the Concept of Taking as Gospel Books Which are Critical of Your Political Adversaries and Not Believing at All Books Which are Critical of Your Political Friends

I could never be a partisan (there have been good, bad, and mediocre Presidents from both parties and any sane and reasonable individual would obviously concur with that), having to go through life with such a mental straightjacket on while looking like a total idiot on the outside. I mean, I just couldn't possibly live like that....COULD YOU?...DO YOU?

On Partisan Stooge, Thom Hartmann, Suggesting that a 2-Time Winner of the Peabody Award and an Individual Who Has Consistently Criticized Presidents From Both Parties Would Risk His Entire Career and Reputation to Create Out of Whole Cloth a Quote Simply to Tarnish a Fellow (Lyndon Baines Johnson) Who Everybody Already Knew was a Racist

Exceedingly bizarre and yet par for the course.

On Lyndon Baines Johnson

He was a war-monger (attacking a country that had done literally nothing to us - the first Gulf of Tonkin incident having been precipitated by American provocation - and hence being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands), a racist who routinely used the n-word, opposed civil rights for decades (it was Eisenhower who put forth the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and it was Eisenhower who wanted a much stronger bill - only to be stymied by Johnson in the Senate) and only became in favor of them once he decided to run for President, and a spendaholic whose profligate spending (which, in fairness, Nixon continued) in the '60s more than likely paved the way for the inflationary craziness of the 1970s. To say that the fellow was a below average President is as about complimentary as I can get and if it wasn't for Nixon and Bush 2, I just might have had to call him the worst of my lifetime.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Channelling Howard - The Pinning Back My Ears and Going For it Edition

1) "Alexis Arguello, INCH FOR INCH AND POUND FOR POUND!!"............ 2) "VIRUET CANNOT LEAN AGAINST THE ROPES...BECAUSE DURAN WILL BEAT HIM UP!"............ 3) "A CHINK IN THE ARMOR...OF BOZA EDWARDS!"............ 4) "The Quarry legs, a little rubbery, THE FACE A PULPY MESS!"............ 5) "The great heavyweight champions of all time, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, AND YES FOR MY MONEY JOE FRAZIER, TOO!"............ 6) "HE HAS KNOCKOUT POWER...IN EITHER (he pronounced it, eye-ther) HAND!"............ 7) "LET'S TALK TO MUHAMMAD! LET'S TALK TO MUHAMMAD!"............ 8) "THIS IS TARGET PRACTICE FOR YOUNG GEORGE FOREMAN, TARGET PRACTICE FOR YOUNG GEORGE FOREMAN!!...DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!"............ 9) "The WBA, the WBC; RUMP ORGANIZATIONS!"............ 10) "This (the Ali-Evangelista fight) has all the excitement of a Spanish silent movie."

On My Feline Walking Across the Living Room Floor With Not One But Two Rubber-Bands in Her Mouth, Depositing Them in My Sneaker, and Then Standing Over it as if it Were Fort Fucking Knox

In the words of my ultimate hero, Eric Cartman, "It was most totally awesome."

In the Fact that Arkansas State Used the "Fumblerooski" Tonight

Always pleased to see that old chestnut dusted off (though, no, nothing will ever beat the original; Bobby Bowden using that sucker versus Clemson in 1988).

On the Fact that Oscar Pistorius Only Got 5 Years and May Ultimately Only Serve 10 Months of Actual Jail-Time (this, After Blowing His Wife to Pieces)

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that justice wasn't even remotely served, and that maybe, JUST MAYBE, they need to bring the jury system back in South Africa.

On the Megyn Kelly Interview of Michelle Malkin Tonight

They should have just gotten a room (with me supervising, of course).

On the Fact that GM is Still Losing Close to $50,000 For Every Chevy Volt (Even at a Sticker-Price of $40,000) that it Makes

Well, I guess that if you know that a wheelbarrow of federal greenbacks is waiting right around the corner to bail your sorry asses out, anything is possible - http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-generalmotors-autos-volt-idUSBRE88904J20120910

On Environmental Nut-Cases Like Bill McKibben Saying that Oceans Rising Hundreds of Years From Now Are a More Important Consideration than Securing Electricity and Economic Development For Third World Countries Now

These people make me sick to my stomach and the fact that they make these proclamations from the comforts of such first world privilege makes it even more nauseating. In the words of engineer Siddhartha Shome from the Breakthrough Institute, "How can one seriously suggest that the village kid in India should give up her hopes of prosperity, education, and health care today, in order to prevent rising oceans many years down the road? What would Americans do in the same situation? Or Europeans? Or human beings anywhere?"...There's a lot of talk about racism these days, both sides accusing the other of it. To me, this is pure racism.

Monday, October 20, 2014

My All-Time Favorite Line-Drive Hitters

George Brett, Paul Molitor, Al Oliver, Mark Grace, Tony Oliva, Roberto Clemente, Harold Baines, Kirby Puckett, Bill Buckner, Jose Cruz, Keith Hernandez.

On the Assertion by Folks Such as Al Gore and Barack Obama that the World Already has the Technology Necessary to Meet the World's Burgeoning Energy Needs While Simultaneously Also Decarbonizing

They are either ignorant or they're lying. I cites specifically the research of Martin Hoffert of NYU which clearly shows that even if were to implement ALL of the stabilization wedges (many of which aren't even feasible in the first case; wind turbines replacing coal-fired plants, for example) that the environmental lobby has been advocating, we still wouldn't even come close to the goals of a) stabilizing atmospheric CO2 levels at 500 ppm (it gets even more comical if the goal is 350 or 400 ppm) and b) securing the additional 255 quads of energy that the world will need by 2030 (derived at via a 2% annual increase - a 3% annual increase being even more imposing)........................................................................................I think that we just have to face it here, folks - our leaders are living in a fantasy world and, because of that, don't even remotely comprehend the scope of the upcoming challenge. In the words of environmental scientist and policy expert, Roger Pielke from the University of Colorado, "One can even invent seemingly more realistic scenarios involving the deployment of a new nuclear power station somewhere in the world every day for the next four decades or the deployment of 2,000,000 (emphasis mine) wind turbines, but these are not practically realistic scenarios. The fact is that no one knows how to decarbonize a large economy, much less the world, using existing technology on timescales implied by emission-reduction targets currently suggested by policy makers. Throwing everything we can think of at the problem is not nearly enough." Well stated, Mr. Pielke, well stated.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

'Cuse Him

Miami's Brad Kaaya isn't the only true freshman quarterback who's playing well in the ACC. Syracuse's A.J. Long (who started the year third on the depth chart) has also emerged on the scene and this former all-state standout from the Friendship Christian School in Lebanon Tennessee clearly looks like the future for his program. In just a game and a half (he got the job after Terrell Hunt went down with an injury and his backup, Austin Wilson, proved ineffectual), Hunt has completed 38 of 59 passes (64.4%) for 338 yards and 2 touchdowns. He's also run for 29 yards and a score (showing as well some great mobility in the pocket) and damned if this kid isn't one exciting player....Kind of reminds me (at 6'2", 190) of a bigger Russell Wilson and we all know how THAT turned out.

On ABBA Being a Member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Why don't they just put Barry Manilow, Air Supply, and the Captain and Tennille, too, in while they're at it? I mean, if your going to be absurd and make a total joke about it, go for it.

Will the Real Charles Oakley Please Stand Up


Honestly, folks, I wouldn't want to piss either one of 'em off; especially the Joseph Cotten character from Hitchcock's classic, "Shadow of a Doubt" (a dude who did everything but devour his victims).

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Heisman Trophy Winner 2014?

How 'bout this fella'; West Virginia senior wide receiver, Kevin White? The dude has 69 catches for 1,020 yards and 7 touchdowns in the first 7 games. I mean, I know that they usually don't like to give the Heisman to receivers but this kid has been off the charts and so maybe an exception could be made. He should at the very least get an invite to New York.

Top Ten Greatest Living Ivy League Graduates

10) Sonia Sotomayor/Clarence Thomas (tied) - two of the most brilliant Supreme Court justices in American history............. 9) Laura Ingraham - one of the most astute political analysts of her generation............. 8) Keith Olbermann - the finest American television journalist since Edward R. Murrow............. 7) Alan Grayson - a brilliant Congressman who everybody recognizes as a uniter, not a divider............. 6) Ted Cruz - one of the most brilliant minds to emerge on the political scene in years and a Senator of unquestioned integrity............. 5) Ann Coulter - a brilliant and fair-minded author whose contributions rank among the finest and most influential of the last 20 years............. 4) Donald Trump - one of the most brilliant business minds of the 20th and 21st Centuries and an individual of unquestioned integrity............. 3) George W. Bush - the finest Republican President in U.S. history whose neoconservatism could only be called a smashing success............. 2) Barack Obama - the finest Democratic President in U.S. history whose Keynesian economic philosophy could only be called a smashing success............. 1) Octopus - one of the most brilliant and original theoriticians in all of human history and I know this because he's told me so, many times.

Friday, October 17, 2014

The Most Inconvenient Correlation of All?

How 'bout the murder rate going down 41% (52% if you consider it per 100,000) at the same time that gun ownership and right to carry laws have proliferated?.......................................................................................P.S. Yes, I know, it's just a correlation and other variables could obviously be at play here but you know, YOU KNOW, that if the relationship had gone in the other direction, the gun control folks would be screaming like a banshee and they'd possibly have some justification for it, I'm just sayin'.

On the Legendary Alternative Band, Uncle Tupelo (From the Early 1990s)

The Flying Burrito Brothers, REM, and Nirvana had a kid.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

On the Constant Comparisons Between Obama and Carter

I really hate to say it but the comparison's unfair.....TO CARTER. a) Jimmy Carter was a vastly superior leader (his response to the Soviets invading Afghanistan, for example, while not exactly perfect, certainly had a moral clarity to it).............b) He was also an exponentially more effective broker when it came to peace in the Middle East (his tireless work on the Egyptian, Israeli peace accords was amongst the finest of the 20th century).............c) Carter was a far more honest person (it's gotten to the point where I really don't believe much of anything that Obama says anymore).............And d) Carter was a political moderate (my kind of Democrat, in other words) who probably had a better relationship with the Republicans in Washington (the leadership back then being Howard Baker in the Senate and Bob Michel in the House) than with his own damned party (the entire thing being complicated by the Ted Kennedy challenge)....................................................................................Look, I'm not saying that the Carter Presidency was a successful one - it clearly wasn't. But the fellow was decent and not everything that went wrong was entirely his fault (the OPEC craziness, for example)....And, so, yeah, I would take him over Obama (and, yes, Bush, too) in a heartbeat.

On the NFL League Office Currently Having Tax-Exempt Status

Can we all at least agree that that's a bunch of bullshit (millions of dollars in lost revenue that the rest of us have to make up for)?

On the Claim by Some Folks that Obama is the Worst President in U.S. History

The dude obviously isn't (Andrew Johnson, Millard Fillmore, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, and Richard Nixon were all exceedingly worse). But in the words of one of my favorite historians, Ralph Raico, "He's the only one that we have (meaning of course that we need to keep an eye on him like we did - or should have done - with of his predecessors)."

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

MIA/POW?

Not that I watch Fox 24/7, mind you. But ever since Colonel David Hunt (easily the sanest military analyst on that network) stated on "The O'Reilly Factor" that bombing the Iraqis YET AGAIN probably wasn't a good idea/strategy, I haven't seen hide nor hair of the guy. Gee, you don't think that they started water-boarding his ass, do you?

On the James Stewart, Robert Ryan 1953 Western, "The Naked Spur"

Indians - not gullible and suicidal enough.

On Former Bush 2 Butt-Sniffer and Current Fox News Contributor, Marc Thiessen

He's a sissy, and it's literally gotten to the point where everything that the asshole utters (almost all of which does nothing but rubber stamp and spin for his former boss's naivete and ham-handedness) makes me want to vomit. I mean, seriously, wasn't it neoconservative nimrods like this who got us into trouble in the first place (creating instability and a vacuum, strengthening Iran, uncorking all of those pent-up ethnic conflicts and paybacks, etc.)? I'm kinda thinking so and if it were up to me the fellow would have been bitch-slapped long ago.

On the Hard-Core Left and Police

I'm going to put it in the "love-hate" category. On the one hand, they're always condemning law enforcement officers as a bunch of knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, troglodytic, racist buffoons (the criminal justice system is racist, they proclaim, and who, pray tell, is a better prototype than police?)  BUT, being that they're also enthusiastic union Joe Blows, they also tend to embrace these folks when push comes to shove, the situation calls for it, etc........Hey, maybe Meryl Streep can portray them in an upcoming movie; "Progressive Slug's Choice".

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

On Kentucky Democratic Senatorial Candidate, Alison Lundergan Grimes, Refusing to Admit that She Cast a Vote For Obama

This was a totally self-inflicted wound, folks. All that the woman really had to say was, "Yes, I voted for Obama. I didn't feel all that great about it but the candidate that the Republicans put up was a total dweeb and so I ended up picking the lesser of the two evils." Boom, done. I mean, seriously, wouldn't that have been a better way to approach the thing than all of this spinning, doubling down, sounding ridiculous, etc.? I'm thinking so.

If Obama Ever Came Out For a Flat-Tax and a Doubling of the Pentagon Budget

Shaw would still support him, Hannity would still oppose him, and I'd still be banging my head against the wall....Rise above it, people.

Monday, October 13, 2014

On Boot-Lickers, Sycophants, Party-People, And Yes-Men

Yeah, I'm thinking that the country's got a few too many of each, on the right and the left.

On Obama/His Propensity to Advertise His Strategy Ahead of Time to the Enemy (the Fact that He Told the Taliban Precisely When the Surge Would Be Over, Told those ISIS Dirt-Bags that He Wouldn't Use Ground Troops, Etc.)

Precisely why I consider the dude to be a mediocre, at best, Commander in Chief (though, yes, I'd still probably rank him a trifle over Bush in that it was Bush who initially stirred the hornet's nest).

The Difference Between Me and the Shawmeister

I hold the people who I vote for TO A HIGHER STANDARD, not a lower one, and I certainly do not spin for them. Yes, I voted for President Obama in 2008 and, yes, I wanted him to succeed (even planning on voting for him again right up until 2011), but when it became patently obvious that the man was utterly substandard, borderline incompetent, and as divisive as any President in recent memory (calling Paul Ryan's budget, "thinly veiled social Darwinism", his derisively delivered "you didn't build that" speech, his campaign hacks attempting to blame Romney for some lady's cancer death, etc.), I had to reassess. I mean, I do have to live with myself, for Christ.

Shaw's World

This one is a hum-dinger, folks. According to Shaw (selective perceiver extraordinaire), the President that Chris Matthews (yep, good, old spittn' Chris from MSNBC) "gushed over" wasn't President Obama BUT GEORGE W. BUSH. And her "proof" for this is a spate of incomplete, out of context quotes (probably lifted verbatim from Media Matters) in which it appears (I say, appears, because knowing Matthews half of them were probably sarcastic) as if Matthews is complimenting Bush. It's the oldest fucking trick in the book and as I said to Shaw I could have done the exact same thing regarding O'Reilly (who idiots on the right like Limbaugh and Levin have accused of being too soft on Obama - a la Media Matters with Matthews) and Obama and who in his or her proper mind thinks that Bill O'Reilly has been gushing over Obama.....................................................................................Look, it's a free country and anybody is free to pontificate on whatever but this is a perfect example of why partisan ramrods like Shaw, Limbaugh, Olbermann, Levin, Media Matters, and The Media Research Center really ought not to engage in media criticism and why they should leave that important task instead to those who don't have a fucking axe to grind; i.e., folks such as Howard Kurtz, David Zurawick (who managed to offend both Olbermann and O'Reilly within the span of a week), Marissa Guthrie, etc........................................................................................P.S. And in terms of Chris Matthews, I have closely watched his career for close to 25 years now and, yes, for a significant portion of it, Matthews truly was a moderate, independent, and nonpartisan analyst. But once a) Bush invaded Iraq and b) Obama came on the scene, he has obviously gotten far more shrill and partisan (the dude literally did hundreds of segments on the Plame fiasco) and the fact that there are still apparently folks out there who fail to see this is utterly bizarre. Matthews gushing over George Bush - LOL. 

Sunday, October 12, 2014

The Most Underrated On-Screen Pairing?

Hm, how 'bout Gregory Peck and Joan Bennett in "The Macomber Affair"? No, it wasn't the greatest Hemingway adaptation ever but the chemistry between the two stars was good and they're both good looking. You could worse (Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in "The Tourist" - a perfect example).

Saturday, October 11, 2014

The Next Big Two Sports Star?

I'm probably going to go with this fellow; Elijah Deveaux, from Christian High in Charlotte North Carolina. Not only is Deveaux one of the top 15 football players in the talent rich state of North Carolina (he's classified as an "athlete", meaning that the kid could potentially play quarterback, running back, receiver, or defensive back), he's also a standout baseball player (an outfielder who can run, field, hit, and hit with power) who's already making many pro scouts drool. He's also an excellent student and because of that just recently committed to Duke, which leads me to think that he's going to be just fine no matter what he ultimately decides upon.

On Actor, Jeremy Renner

I'll take, "Younger and Considerably Less Nauseating and Obnoxious Versions of Sean Penn", for a thousand, Alex.

Baylor 61 TCU 58 (With No Overtimes)

Defense Shmefense.

On Jesse Jackson and those Miscreants, Guttersnipes, And Douche-Bags Over at MSNBC Interjecting Race Into the Ebola Scare

The only reason that those U.S. aid workers got the experimental drug and the African fellow didn't was because Franklin Graham, the guy who had sent those aid workers over to Africa to help the population (yes, Graham can be a dick but he evidently has some good qualities, too), PAID FOR THE DRUG (there was also apparently a shortage of the stuff). If Reverend Jackson and the rest of those race hustlers had really wanted to help this poor soul, then why didn't THEY step up to the plate. I mean, it's obviously not a question of cash in that they all have way more dineros than brain-cells and what a wonderful gesture it would have been, especially if they had done it more on the QT (alright, quit the laughing).

Friday, October 10, 2014

Note to Charles Blow

Try being a police officer (an inner-city one, especially) for a couple of months, Blow. Do it and when you're done doing it tell me if you still believe that police officers have "all the control" and "all the power"....Ya' dumb asshole.

Calvin (From "Calvin and Hobbes") to Al Gore

"The more you know, the harder it is to take decisive action. Once you become informed, you start seeing complexities and shades of gray. You realize that nothing is as clear and simple as it first appears.".............................................................................Of course, it also must be stated here that Calvin (as was the case with Gore), ultimately decided to not risk becoming informed and was majorly chastised for it by Hobbes, "You're ignorant, but at least you act on it (in Gore's case, making a movie with close to three dozen errors and having none of it - to steal a phrase from Michael Crichton - add up).

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

On People Like Obama and Warren Crediting the Government for Various Businesses Succeeding

OK, but then is it also appropriate to BLAME the government when other businesses shit the bed? I mean, it seems to me that they can't have it both ways here; taking the credit for successful enterprises and then passing the buck for failures - TRY AS THEY MAY.

On Why Trade Wars Are Bad

Try, because they all too frequently lead to killing wars (not to mention, third-world destitution, economic downturns, consumers and exporters getting royally butt-fucked, etc.).

On Nicki Minaj and Johnnie Ray Both Having Acted Insane On Stage

Yes, but the latter one was faking it.

More Unimpeachable Evidence that Lower Top Marginal Tax Rates Actually INCREASE the Amount of Taxes that are Paid By these Individuals

http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/tbb-0302-13.pdf - As you can plainly see from these charts (which were all derived from the U.S. Department of the Treasury), the amount of revenue that was collected at the 24% rate was significantly greater than the amount which was secured at the 73% rate (a 122% increase; $321 million versus $714 million) AND the share of the income tax burden for those making over $100,000 a year also soared, from 29.9% to 61.3%; a 105% increase! Yes, it took a year or two for the tax cuts to kick in but once in fact they did, tax revenues skyrocketed (just as they did in the '60s, '80s, and 2000s) and the economy as a whole benefited. There, I mean, there it is.

On Georgia Tech Being 5-0 This Year

They started 2011 6-0 and finished 8-5. Please, consider Will Hart a skeptic here.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

On Why Gay People Deserve the Right to Marry

They fight in all our wars. They serve in our police and fire departments (pulling people out of burning buildings). They teach our children and drive our ambulances. They save our lives in hospitals every day. They work as prison guards in some of the toughest facilities in the country. They patrol the border and the coastline every day. For anybody out there to even suggest that these folks don't deserve the same rights as the rest of us is as about as un-American as it gets, in my opinion.

Miscellaneous 179

1) Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the governments of Canada and Sweden in the 1970s, California over the past 30 years, even Dwight Eisenhower - they all tried to tax their way out of a deficit and into prosperity, AND THEY ALL FAILED. When are these politicians finally going to realize that catapulting good money after bad isn't necessarily the best way to go (though, no, I'm not opposed to a modest increase in taxes as a part of an overall deficit reduction package, a la, Bowles-Simpson)?............2) The federal government collected twice as much revenue per taxpayer ($5,700 versus $2,600) when the top tax rate was 50% than when it was 70%. Please explain to me here why this isn't an optimal situation.............3) Much has been made about the top 1%'s income having risen rapidly since the Reagan era (and, please, keep in mind here that this population changes significantly from year to year, decade to decade), as a result of the tax-cuts, ostensibly. But I really want folks to think about this one. The income statistics are based on gross income and what the tax-cuts did was to allow people to keep more of this gross income, and, so, the fact that the end result of this policy was people making more gross income tells us what, exactly? It tells me that if you allow people to keep more of their own money, they're probably going to be willing to work more and harder to make more of it (and the fact that the government ultimately gets more revenue is a benefit as well).

On CNN Doing a One Hour Special on the Malaysian Airline Tragedy/Mystery this Evening

Mustn't have though that they covered the thing sufficiently initially (straight face difficult to maintain).

On the Odds of Ted Cruz Ever Being Elected President

I have a better chance of dating (and, yes, I'm clearly dating myself here) Courteney Cox, Felicity Huffman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Isabelle Huppert, Patricia Clarkson, Helena Bonham Carter, Patti Scialfa, Patty Griffin, and Linda Fiorentino simultaneously than this a-hole has of ever even sniffing Pennsylvania Avenue.............Of course if the Democrats nominate some drooler like Elizabeth Warren, stranger things have happened, I guess.

The 800 Pound Bad Idea in the Room

The left will dwell on an abortion clinic bombing from 25 years ago and hammer every pro-life conservative in the process. But when it comes to entire Islamic countries mutilating women, slaughtering homosexuals, and killing folks simply because they adhere to a different religion, they just don't seem to want to get overly exorcised about that (choosing instead to call that dimwitted Neanderthal in Nevada a "terrorist"). I mean, I know that we want to respect other people's cultures, religions, etc. and all but every once in a while you do have to call a spade a spade.

Monday, October 6, 2014

On Greta and Paloma (The Lesbian Power Couple From the Long Running Argentinian TV Series, "El Elegido")




Totally sick and I even watched some of the episodes with no English subtitles.

On Leon Panetta Having Criticized President Obama in His Newly Released Book

Yeah, Mr. Panetta's gonna get slimed for sure (MSNBC and the Daily Kos no doubt already having him in their cross-hairs).

On Biden Comparing the Human Rights Record of Saudi Arabia to that Stalin's Russia

The Vice President's right and he shouldn't apologize for it, not now and not ever.

On the Alternative Rock Band, Cowboy Junkies

I guess that there are some people out there who don't like 'em....Not sure that I would trust 'em, though.

On Connors, Borg, McEnroe, and Lendl

33 grand-slam titles between them. That kinda says it all, I think.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

On 25, 30 Year-Old Fellows Making Seven Fifty, Eight Bucks an Hour

It appears to me that there are two possible solutions here; a) beg the government or company involved for more money or b) improve your human capital in an effort to make yourself more marketable and thereby retain your human dignity. Needless to say, whenever I mentor a young person, I tend to push that latter strategy.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

On Stalin's Purging of the Red Army

It was off the charts in its paranoia in that, while a military coups was entirely possible in the '30s, Mr. Stalin not only purged some 47,000 officers (most of whom there wasn't a shred of evidence against - Tukhachevsky, for example - and always via a show-trial), a significant number of those people were either shot in the head or sent off to Siberia where they ended up dead there due to starvation, torture, overwork, and/or exposure.............................................................................And it didn't stop there, either, people. It has also been alleged (by multiple historians; Robert Conquest, Jim Powell, just to name a couple) that Stalin arrested approximately one quarter of the Soviet Military Council and that a significant majority of these folks either committed suicide or were murdered in cold blood by Stalin's goon-squads. Of course, the most ironic case of all was the fact that even Stalin's number one killing machine, Yerzov, himself got swept up in the paranoia and was eventually shot between the eyes as well.......Any damn person with a pulse, basically.

On Jon Stewart and Climate Change (What Used to be Known as Global Warming)

What the fellow knows on the subject you could fit on the back of a postage stamp. And his entire approach pertaining to it is one of pure, unadulterated genuflecting to state authority. I mean, is is obvious to me BEYOND ALL DOUBT that the fellow has never looked at the satellite temperature data (which have clearly shown no increase in atmospheric warming for 17 years now), never looked at the ARGO data for oceanic temperatures (which have clearly shown no increase in ocean warming since 2003), never looked at the global sea ice figures from the University of Illinois's Arctic Science Research Center or the University of Oslo (which both have clearly shown no appreciable change in global sea ice for 30 years), never looked at the myriad of data from across the country (I highly recommend the work of Ryan Maue from FSU and Roger Pielke from the University of Colorado) on extreme weather events (which have all clearly shown no significant changes pertaining to cyclonic activity, flooding, droughts, etc), and never even looked at the climate models themselves (73 of the 75 having overestimated the actual warming)....Not that I would necessarily ever expect this clown to be an expert on this or anything else, mind you, but a little bit of research certainly wouldn't hurt.

Friday, October 3, 2014

On Rosie Lourde and Lauren Orrell From the Hugely Popular and Critically Acclaimed Australian Web Series, "Starting From Now!"

I'm probably going to go with, "the most fetching on-screen pairing since Montgomery Clift starred opposite Donna Reed in 'From Here to Eternity'."......And they're really nice girls as well.

On Louisville Redshirt Sophomore Running-Back, Brandon Radcliff, Purportedly Once Having Squatted 700 Pounds

I'm getting a hernia just thinking about that one.

Notes on "Integrity" (From Underground)

1) Just because Lisa (who I'm not endorsing or taking sides with here) doesn't sensor her blog doesn't mean that she agrees with every damn thing that's written on it (I mean, my God, she lets me post there and I pretty much hate the whole damn universe lately). AND when people objected to the comments in question, she took 'em down. Sorry but I'm probably going to have to vote, several notches down from total vilification, here.............2) Over at Les's site, I brought up the higher out-of-wedlock birth-rate in the black community and posited that maybe, JUST MAYBE, this was one of the major causes of poverty in that community. I was immediately targeted as a racist and not a single person came to my defense. I was also called a "shill" by one of the more vitriolic mouth-breathers over there and that's even more ridiculous in that anybody who even knows me a little bit knows that I strongly oppose ALL aspects of corporate welfare; subsidies, tax breaks, mandates (the ethanol mandate being one of the more egregious ones), bailouts, etc....Again, no defense.............3) And I am sorry, people, but hard-core and mindless partisanship in which you fail to hold accountable people on your team (in this case, the left's unwillingness to criticize Obama on NSA abuses, rendition, a sextupling of the drone attacks, the fact that the fellow has a "kill-list", the fellow's war on whistle-blowers and medical marijuana, his legislating via fiat, his attack on a sovereign nation without U.N. approval, etc.) is about as far from "integrity" as you can get. Sorry, Ms. Shaw.............4) And I think that we all got the "point" here (hell, even Rusty who seemingly despises Shaw has conceded that the comments were vile). Some idiot made an idiotic statement AND IT WAS WRONG.... There, now can we all get back to rescuing Western civilization?

Thursday, October 2, 2014

On Obama and Holder Wanting America to Have a "Conversation on Race"

They don't want a conversation on race. They want a tutorial on race with them as the professors and us as the pimply faced freshman. And it isn't just with those two folks, either. Over at Les's site, I brought up the high out-of-wedlock birth-rate in the black community and underscored it as a possible reason for the significantly higher poverty rate in that community and I was immediately attacked by a couple of slantheads (Octoschmuck and Flying Douche-Bag, let's call 'em) and it was strongly inferred that I was a racist. A conversation, A CONVERSATION? Yeah, right.

On the Latest Lisa, Shaw Donnybrook - Addendum

We live in a culture in which people are perpetually offended and outraged (the left, especially). Some asshole put something offensive on Lisa's blog (directed at Shaw; a partisan whose partisanship is antithetical to Lisa's, apparently) and Lisa didn't take it down right away - WHO FUCKING CARES? I mean, yeah, it was wrong but a) 99.999999% of the people on the planet will never see it, b) you probably shouldn't get all worked up about what some moronic degenerate says about you, and c) why in the hell would you even go to a blog like that in the first place? Fuck 'em and move on, that's what I would say (and what I did to a psycho douche-bag named 1138 who once accused my father of raping my mother - I banned his sorry ass and didn't give a rat's ass about what he said about me at his blog, boom, done).

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

My Top 5 Least Favorite Fox News Talking Heads

5) Karl Rove (his entire purpose seemingly being one of salvaging the Bush legacy). 4) Marc Thiessen (a former Bush speechwriter/stooge and only slightly less dim than Rove). 3) Jon Bolton (another Bush disciple and a person who would probably bomb Denmark if we let him). 2) Colonel Ralph Peters (a hardcore neoconservative schmuck/high-pitch Eric sound-alike whose case of Obama Derangement Syndrome rivals that of Hannity's). 1) Colonel Oliver North (a fucking criminal - 'nuff said?).

Horseshoes, Hand-Grenades, And Playing Florida State

While North Carolina State couldn't quite pull off the upset Saturday, a) they gave it a great effort and b) they scored a major league coups on the recruiting trail. Reggie Gallaspy, one of the top 40 high school running backs in the country and the 14th best player overall (both stats according to Rivals.com) in the whole state of North Carolina (some folks have even compared him to Todd Gurley), verbally committed to NC State and, yep, you got it, one of his reasons for committing was the Wolfpack's great performance. Welcome to Raleigh, kid!