Sunday, September 30, 2012

Forward, comrades!

The Obama campaign goes retro.


How'd you like to see those things looking down on you from billboards and buildings in a second term?

Update: Hand jive (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Update II: Haw! Biden goes for a ride.

Assortment

Bob Belvedere introduces us to an outstanding kiwi blogger, Trevor Loudon, an advocate of individual liberty who is fighting the good fight.

Swampy obviously needs something to fill up the idle hours of her day.

Looks like I'm going to have to start growing tobacco plants under lights in my basement.

Walking while intoxicated.

Ok, let me get this straight. If you vote against somebody strictly because of his skin color, you're a racist. But if you vote for somebody just because of his skin color, you're not. Is that the way it works?

Hey, Democrats, how's that early voting strategy going?

Hmmm. Pretty strong teachers' union ya got there.

Worker's comp, Australian style (not just Australian, really; this kind of stuff happens in the states all the time).

Pixie Place has the latest witty and instructive exchange between Hugh Hewitt and Mark Steyn.

David Brooks' credibility is like the stock market in the mid-70s: it keeps falling and falling, and, just when you think it can't get any lower, it falls some more. Brooks:
“So, Obama, I think his task is reasonably clear — just be calm, stay calm, whatever that British slogan [is that] we’re all repeating now, ‘stay calm and in control,’ whatever it is,” Brooks said. “And so he just has to be calm. And somebody made a good point today. He had a pretty bad week in the Middle East, or a pretty bad two weeks in the Middle East, but he reacted with calmness. And so he sort of gets a pass on really what is sort of a chaotic administration policy.
One wonders if Punch Sulzberger (God rest his soul) didn't die from sheer embarrassment.

Another Obama-era disaster that's getting virtually no press.

Ann Romney's designer biker-wear was at the top of Yahoo!News all day yesterday. Dudes, really? I mean...
Please.

Biden promising seniors free colonoscopies.
Anesthesia not included.


As relatives go, these are a whole lot less strange than my uncle Hubert.

Sunday funnies

Powerline has a lineup of funny pictures. My favorite:

Today's Chuck Norris fact: Chuck Norris doesn't have to do anything for a Klondike Bar.

That wild man of the worldwide web, TimT, soldiers on (or, rather, oldier on).

Obama phone humor (H/T: Rebecca).

This has been making the rounds for years, but never was it more appropriate than today:



Ronald Reagan tells a joke about Democrats:



Saturday, September 29, 2012

Aw, ain't that cute!

Obama has a gang named after him.

Although it's the president's own gang that worries me.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Nothing to see here, move along

Matt Damon’s new movie, which is an attack on American oil companies, was financed, in part, by completely objective and disinterested members of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates, who could not possibly have any reason whatsoever to be concerned about America’s increasing domestic oil supply.

I think I’m gonna call some of my friends in the service station business – Brian, Jimmy and Corliss – and we’re gonna go riot outside of the UAE’s embassy. Maybe run a Pennzoil banner up the flag pole. How dare they disrespect our Profit!

Come on, boys! Olé FUBAR ! Ululululululu....!!

Limited appeal of a goggle-eyed melon head*

One of the funniest lines I’ve read this week appears in a post by Steve Hayward at Powerline on the energy of the grassroots vs. the nail-biting GOP elite:
One reason it is good to get out of the Beltway bubble is that you really do appreciate how much of a bubble it is when you sit in a bar or pizza parlor somewhere out in Real America, and someone you know pops up on CNN, and no one pays much attention. Or when they do, they shrug their shoulders and go back to their conversation about substitute chefs refs. No one says, “Oh, quiet–David Gergen is coming on!”
* Coined by the immortal Andrew Ferguson to describe Gergen’s physiognomy.

Didn’t they make fun of John McCain for stuff like this?

Head of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, says she doesn’t use email.

Other things she seems to have no use for: her brain, good judgment, and the Second Amendment. And Weight Watchers.

Big Phoney

There's no such thing as a free lunch cell phone.

Hey, this race card is marked!

Ann Coulter provides a brief summary of the Democrats’ hypocrisy on racism. One of my favorite lines: “You will never see anything so brave as a liberal fighting nonexistent enemies.”

Happy Feet Friday

A fabulous blues “convention”, featuring Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and other terrific musicians.




Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Caliphate of Oslo

Norwegian officials have mastered dat whole salaam t’ing, yew bet!

“Mr. Netanyahu? This is the operator. You have a collect call from President Obama.”

Here’s my advice, Mr. Prime Minister: don’t accept the charges (he’ll probably just do something stupid, like inquire if you have Prince Albert in a can, or ask you to page “Mike Hunt”).

BTW, where is Barry’s red line? I’m thinking somewhere north of the fuse.

Update: Via Instapundit.


Student loans

Sweet! They’re not just for tuition and books anymore.

Why, I bet he's already awarded Obama a knockout in the first round

Al Gore will cover the presidential debates for his tiny little network, Current TV.

"I polled 100% of our viewers, and both of them indicate that there's nothing Romney could conceivably say in the upcoming debates that will stand up against Obama's awesomeness."

BTW, is it just me, or does Big Al look like a vampire on the wagon in that photo?

Was the most infamous film nobody's ever seen a terrorist false flag operation?

Some intriguing speculation from Walid Shoebat.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Think Mitt can't excite a crowd?

Think again. Check out the third video in this post by Stacy McCain (who is on the ground, covering Romney's appearance in Toledo).

Update: Haw! "[Obama's] like the special needs kid you’re not allowed to make fun of."

Update II: Roger Simon's execrable attempt at humor was bad enough. But how particularly awful for him that Ace happened to notice.

Fumbling Endlessly in the Dark

Yeah, I kinda thought that's what "Fed" stood for.

Looks like QE3 is just another random shot.
A quiet day on Wall Street turned into the worst sell-off in three months after a Federal Reserve official said he doubted the bank's effort to boost economic growth would work.

Charles Plosser, president of the Fed's Philadelphia branch, told an audience Tuesday that the Fed's effort to support the economy would likely fall short of its goals.
Here's a thought: maybe it's pointless to keep using monetary policy to counteract the ill effects of bad fiscal policy.

Hey, Nobel Prize Committee: drop me an email and I'll tell you where to send my dough.


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Obama's lies

Now with footnotes! (H/T: Blue Crab Boulevard).

All the lies in the world, however, won't keep a certain class of overprivileged celebrity from trying to drag America into the fantasy age of politics: Obama has landed the, er, coveted Madonna endorsement.

Although Mitt Romney, in my opinion, has bagged a way cooler ally.

I'm predicting riots in the streets

"World bacon shortage 'unavoidable'".

Elsewhere, our Chinese subsidiary, the Pleasant Abode of Celestial Oversupply, launches a new product.

Ah, yes, what a jolly good fellow

Talking airhead, Piers Morgan, on Ahmadinejad: "He's a surprising character. He's unpredictable. I don't think he's mad in the way that many in the west perhaps prefer to see him. He's certainly a caricature figure when he comes to America. I didn't get a sense of a crazy madman. He is at times charming and sinister and contradictory and unpredictable, and occasionally he says stuff you find yourself nodding in agreement."

Charming as well as sinister? I know it sounds fantastic, but, somehow, it seems that Piers Morgan can't tell the difference between Ahmadinejad and the late George Sanders...



Here's a tip, Piers: did your guest smell like a flatulent polecat? Ok, then, thaaaat's Ahmadinejad.


Update: The New York Post is obviously a surer guide than Piers Morgan (H/T: Jeff).

It's easy for Obama to be ahead in the polls...

...when you get this kind of dishonest sampling. Also see here.

Many polls are assuming up to an 11 point Democrat registration advantage (the advantage in Democratic wave year, 2008, was 7), and are undercounting independents.

It's all part of the Democrat strategy, folks. The donks, assisted by their mamluks in the media, are working overtime to demoralize Republicans and independents. Don't let skewed polls pick the next president; let's defeat Barry AND the mainstream media.

I expect all paquistas to do their duty.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Belles lettres in the era of Obama and Clinton

How a reporter who is not in the tank for this administration gets treated by one of Hillary’s factotums (language advisory).

Maybe I ought not to be too tough on the aide. I’ve seen these sorts pass through my own federal agency from time to time, after having served as underling for some big shot in the executive branch or in Congress. One can only imagine the depths of humiliation and self-abasement to which they have sunk in their previous jobs working for people who, almost by definition, suffer from narcissistic personality disorder. Now, take this fellow Phillipe Reines, for example, the aide mentioned in the story linked above. After months, or perhaps even years, of slaving away under Hillary Clinton – a woman not known for her sensitivity to the dignity and self-esteem of her staff members (or anybody else, for that matter) – he has most likely reached the limit of his endurance. Scheduling travel and meetings, having to make numerous last-minute changes, vetting prospective interviewers, intercepting inadvertent telephone calls from silky-voiced females trying to reach Mrs. Clinton’s husband, quite possibly being tasked with washing her stockings in the sink of his hotel room in some distant third-world backwater, or tracking down a bottle of just the right shade of Lady Clairol ("Winter Wheat") the night before a big speech: these are the kinds of things that can break a man’s spirit and leave him looking desperately for someone on whom to practice the atrophied machismo of a rapidly vanishing manhood. There is nothing particularly surprising, after all, about a whipped dog snapping at a stranger. Mr. Reines will probably wind up as an untenured lecturer at a third-rate liberal arts college, or perhaps he may end his days as an associate at a progressive think tank, sipping latte in a dingy cubicle and collecting rejection notices from publishers in connection with his unreadable memoirs. So, let us take pity.

Another reporter, usually very reliably submerged in that very large Obama tank, comes up for air briefly and wonders aloud why Obama is suddenly very shy about meeting with foreign leaders.

Oh, and Joe Biden brings us up to date on what is apparently a secret, massive new troop surge in Afghanistan.

Transforming America, one Amendment at a time

Having trashed the First Amendment, by imposing health care requirements on Catholic institutions and individuals that are inconsistent with the Church’s religious beliefs, and by trying to intimidate citizens in the exercise of their free-speech rights in order to placate Muslim extremists, does anybody seriously believe that Obama, in a second term, will not go after the Second Amendment?

That is really the “red line”, as far as I’m concerned.

Probably just "work related"

Ft. Hood mass murderer in intensive care.

H/T: Captain Heinrichs

Monday movie

The final shootout from the gorgeously-filmed Open Range.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Worse than Carter

And far more dangerous.

Obama said on 60 Minutes that Israel's concern about Iran and its nuclear capability and intentions is "noise".

That's right, genius, and the noise sounds like this.

For those of you who are serious about losing weight

"Democrats Offer Lunch With Gore and Pelosi As Prize for Donations"


Barry and Hillary apologize to the Muslim world

Muslim world responds:

"Apology accepted."

Update: A very straightforward denunciation of the Obama administration's hypocrisy and pusillanimity from T.L. Davis (H/T: Weird and Pissed Off).

Update II: On history: not learning from, condemned to repeat.


Sunday funnies


This ride? It's the bomb!

Bob Newhart takes a different psychological approach.


Saturday, September 22, 2012

Wildlife against Obama

This deer has the right idea.

And that's the way it is

Noted shrinking violet, Pat Condell, gently lays out a few small quibbles with the religion of peace.

(H/T: Jill J)

Just for fun

Here's a quirky little video that celebrates...I don't know what, exactly. Human daring? The adrenalin rush? I really dig the soundtrack; it has a great minor-key, heroic-face-off-with-doom quality.

Update: Can one draw any political or social conclusions from the video? I think so. Among other things, there will always be some people who refuse to live as sheep.

Assortment

Sweet dreams, Mr. President.

What Obama was actually thinking when he was on the Letterman Show.

The view of Obama by blacks is not one of monolithic approval.

Some funny tweets about Obama, collected by Pixie Place II (my favorite: @exjon: At this point, there could be video of Obama reading “My Pet Goat” and the press would praise it’s Proustian narrative structure).

Randy brings the funny.

Steve Burri finds the ideal sample ballot.

Hey, Mr. Prez, I got a question...

Sure, Scarlett Johanson is sexy; but I've always thought that she looked kinda, you know, dumb. And what do you know, she really is.

Fishersville Mike discovers an ideal candidate for a budget job in the Obama administration.

Woof!

(H/T: Moonbattery)

Univision appearance backfires on Barry.

Fast and Furious guns now turning up in Colombia.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Really, Nevada?

You think Harry Reid is a good senator? If it's true that we get the elected officials we deserve, it's difficult not to conclude that a majority of Nevada voters are morons.

Release your tax returns, Senator!

Update: Need more proof?

Happy Feet Friday

Joe Liggins and his band reprise their mid-1940s hit, “The Honeydripper”.



Bonus! Brother Jimmy Liggins cruises along to the strains of “The Cadillac Boogie”.




Next stop...Canada?

Canada has passed the U.S. in the area of economic freedom (H/T: Captain Heinrichs, head of Paco Enterprises' research dept.)

So, if Obama wins, should I just move to Canada? As a prospective Canadian, what should I know?

You go, Rick Perry!

Sweet Tweet!

H/T: JeffS

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Fore! ward

The Oval Office. President Obama, attired in Bermuda shorts, Hawaiian shirt and Maxfli sun visor, and armed with a Ping putter, is tapping golf balls in the direction of one of U.S. Grant’s overturned whiskey tumblers. A tall man enters. His pale complexion, liquid eyes and long nose suggest a bowl of oatmeal garnished with a couple of imported gooseberries, a plastic spoon protruding above the rim. It is Jim Messina, the president’s campaign manager.

Obama: Hi, Jim. Just a mo; I’m trying to sink this long put…*Tap*……*Clink*. Sweet! Now, what can I do for you?

Messina: Mr. President, I just got your note.

Obama: The one about my idea for targeting old people in hospices and asking them to name my campaign as a beneficiary in their wills?

Messina [rolls eyes]: No, I hadn’t even heard about that. I’m talking about this other idea; the golf tournament thing.

Obama [beaming]: Pretty inspired, eh? The Presidential Open!

Messina: But, sir…

Obama: I know, I know. You’re thinking that we should call it the Obama Open; and, frankly, that does appeal to me. But I’ve been accused of being narcissistic, so, it might be better from a p.r. perspective to honor the office, not the man.

Messina: That’s not the point, Mr. President. I mean, associating yourself with a golf tournament is bad enough, but the charitable aspect…

Obama: The charity angle is key, Jim! I can’t simply pocket the proceeds…er, can I?

Messina: No, sir, you can’t. But establishing a golf tournament for the purpose of raising money to rebuild burned embassies and consulates! You’d be reminding voters of two big negatives: a lack of seriousness – conservatives are actually tracking the time you spend on the golf course – and the chaotic responses by the White House to the violence in the Middle East.

Obama: Lack of seriousness!?! Dude, have you looked at this shirt? A big splash of red hibiscus flowers against a background of dark green ferns. These are some seriously hip togs.

Messina: But surely you can see the danger of highlighting a foreign policy and security failure.

Obama: Hold it right there! There was no foreign policy and security failure.

Messina: Can you justify that statement?

Obama: I certainly can [pauses to look out of window]. Look! A squirrel!

Messina: Mr. President, you can’t just keep recycling the squirrel gambit.

Obama: Why not? It’s worked for the last four years. And all the major media outlets have conveniently developed an undying interest in the doings of our furry little friends. Besides, this tournament isn’t a one-off. Muslims are a frisky bunch; they’ll be burning our stuff down for years to come. Hey, look at it this way: it’s a privately funded stimulus plan. Why, it’s practically Romneyesque! Say, where are you going?

Messina: I suddenly have an urge to wash my hands.

Caption time!

A little late, but in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, I invite you to caption this photo:


“And so, Captain, after the election I’ll have more flexibility in dealing with you Somali pirates.”

You know what might be nice? Act Like a Real President Day.

Obama's gotta go

Or, rather, one of his supporters does (be sure to check the comments).

H/T: Captain Heinrichs

Update: The Washington Examiner has published a detailed report that compares Obama's carefully cultivated image with some very inconvenient facts.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Maximum Leader

Are you kidding me? An Obama flag?!?


Ahhhhh, wait a minute...Obama flag...flammable version...$$$!

M'yes, I think I've just discovered Paco Enterprises' big Christmas gift item this year.

Update: The flag reminds Gateway Pundit of something grim.

A timely citation...

...from one of the timeless political geniuses of that long ago era when America was a land of giants, courtesy of Bob Belvedere.

Like cockroaches, Anthony Loewenstein is still very much with us

Long-time readers of Tim Blair will remember his multiple skewerings of anti-Zionist Jewish nutcase, Anthony Loewenstein, including this classic fisking of Lowenstein's book, My Israel Question.

Loewenstein has scribbled another tome of fevered ravings called After Zionism. Last month, he spoke at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London to promote the book, and made an astoundingly revolting comment:
But, during the Q&A Jonathan Hoffman asked Loewenstein how many people Loewenstein thinks should die for this one-state solution, that Loewenstein wants so much, to come into existence. The idea being that Israelis are not going to vote themselves out of existence, so presumably such a state could come about only by force involving more bloodshed.

As Loewenstein wasn’t quite answering the question he was pressed further by Hoffman as to how many people Loewenstein thinks should die. First, Frank Barat, the Chairman, answered “200,000″... Then Loewenstein answered “Six million. That’s my answer. Write that down."
Oh, I just did, Tony, baby, I just did! And now my dozen or so regular readers - probably more than will ever read your book - can share my revulsion.

H/T: Jill J

Barack Obama, regular guy

I guess that fundraiser at rapper Jay-Z’s place in New York was just way cooler than a meeting with Netanyahu would have been.
President Barack Obama attended a fundraiser at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club in Manhattan that featured a champagne tower of 350 bottles worth $105,000 - more than twice the median household income of an American family.

The tower of $300-a-bottle Armand de Brignac Brut Gold, known as 'Ace of Spades' because of its label, is a permanent fixture at the club.
I’m kind of reminded of the scene in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where the other animals are looking through the window of the farm house at Napoleon the Pig, partying with some of the local humans and preferred members of the pig class.

Update: Oh, and what a class act this Jay-Z character is! (Hit the link and scroll down).

He ought to be good at it; after all, he's done a great job redistributing unemployment and poverty

But of course Obama wants to redistribute wealth! That's who he is. That's what he does.

Some contrarian thoughts on the Middle East

From "Spengler".

Very interesting stuff. In a nutshell: there is going to be a regional war, it's just a matter of when.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Really, what a novel idea!

“We need to send a new message, and fast, that attacking our embassies is as dangerous as drawing down on a cop: you should expect to be shot.”

Amen to that. You send soldiers into war zones armed with guns. We send our diplomatic staff into equally dangerous places armed with…what, exactly? Copies of Obama’s Cairo speech?

By the way, don’t miss Jeff Goldstein’s utterly devastating and comprehensive summary of our current political environment. A taste:
As the bodies of our slain diplomats were being unloaded from the transport planes in a staged maudlin public spectacle, Obama’s Twitter account was pimping sweatshirts; and the Obama election team was preparing a National Yard Sale Day for Obama.
Also: will Attorney General Eric Holder be filing an amicus brief supporting the prosecution?
Egypt's general prosecutor on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for Florida Pastor Terry Jones and seven Coptic Christian Egyptians linked to an anti-Islam video on YouTube that sparked riots across the Middle East, The Associated Press is reporting.

Update: Jeffrey Lord is on fire, stomping all over the pretentious nonsense that is this administration’s foreign policy.
Can you imagine if the Roosevelt administration sent the Secretary of State in front of newsreel cameras to insist that in fact there was no need for war on December 8, 1941, because there was no connection between the previous day's Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the aggressive desire of the Japanese for military expansion? That the whole problem revolved around the film portrayal of an Asian (Chinese) detective named Charlie Chan? Then banned the U.S. government from using words or phrases that might offend the Shinto religion which proclaimed the Japanese Emperor was a god?

What if the Secretary of State of the day insisted there was no connection between Nazism's anti-Semitic ideology and the ongoing Holocaust? That all those death camps for Jews were really the fault not of Nazi ideology but a mocking, tasteless anti-Nazi film… made in America called I'll Never Heil Again. A film made by three Hollywood Jews named Louis Feinberg, Moses and Jerome Horwitz? Known professionally by the names of Larry, Moe and Curly -- The Three Stooges?

Well, Joe, that’s pretty much always been my opinion of you

Biden: “I’m good at being No. 2”

Actually, to be perfectly accurate, I’ve always considered Biden to be what you might call in polite circles a “No.2-head”.

Ben Bernanke still trying to pull a rabbit out of his hat

Er, how’s that goin’, Ben? Kinda like this, isn’t it?


God is not mocked

Ok, here’s the thing. I am a Christian, and, as such, I take offense when people – edgy “artistic” types, for example – blaspheme my Lord. The purpose of blaspheming is not really to attack God, in whom the blasphemer does not believe, but to insult those who do believe in Him. At its most basic level, this is simply very aggressive bad manners. However, I have always held that the sacredness and purity of the Lord is inherent to His being, and that these attributes are in no way actually diminished by the attacks or disrespect or simply the agnosticism of unbelievers. In other words, if a person blasphemes…well, in the worst-case scenario, it’s his problem, not God’s.

Many Muslims, on the other hand, become apoplectic when you show disrespect toward their Prophet, frequently acting with, quite literally, homicidal intentions. It is almost as if the special place that Mohammed enjoys in their belief system is somehow dependent on everybody either believing in his sanctity (if that is the right word in the Islamic context), or keeping mum on the subject of their disbelief, lest the tiniest skeptical or scornful voice should bring down their entire cosmology. This level of violent zealotry seems more akin to an expression of metaphysical tribalism, totemic or fetish-like in nature, than to genuinely humane religious belief - a sign, as the old Buffalo Springfield song has it, saying “Hooray for our side.”

President Obama thinks that this madness should be humored, even at the cost of our constitutional rights. But we’re not talking about the harmless character from Arsenic and Old Lace who thought he was Teddy Roosevelt. We’re talking about people who see themselves as the sword of their jealous god, about people who want to kill us. The odds of having any success in changing the minds of such folk, by trying to reason with them or by paying them tribute, are on the order of slim to none.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Memo to my publisher

Change the main character from Che to Mohammed and backdate 1400 years. Sure, there will be some potential physical danger, but you can't buy this kind of publicity!

Update: Captain Heinrichs provides an example of the "clash of civilization".

La trahison des clercs (continued)

Michael Knox Berran at NRO has a fine short article on the collapse of the integrity and seriousness of the mainstream media. A sample:
Having been corrupted into a semi-official state press, America’s mainstream media is now transforming the most important election in a generation into the political equivalent of an episode of The Bachelor. Liberalism’s scribal class is actually pleased that the contest has become a referendum not on the president’s record or his plans but on his charisma and popularity. In the kingdom of vapor, substance has no place.

This is how republics die, in thrall to the inane, the frivolous, and the inconsequential. A liberalism incapable of persuading the public to embrace its policies has been converted by its media tribunes into a publicity stunt. As a result, the nation that gave the world the Federalist Papers and the Lincoln–Douglas debates may very well reelect a flawed chief executive for no other reason than that he has been continuously portrayed as a super-nice guy by the media lackeys who tend the Obama cult.
The media’s abdication from its role as an unbiased, fact-finding institution has, of course, been a long-term process, and whatever reputation media outlets have enjoyed in the past for fairness was probably always somewhat exaggerated. But never in my life have I witnessed the combination of trivialization and fan-boy enthusiasm that I am seeing in this election cycle. The poor filmmaker who produced the unflattering movie about Mohammed has been accused by some in the administration of “abusing” free speech. He’s not in the same league with the journalists, reporters, pundits, and talking heads of the major news media who are using free speech to chip away at our liberty (and ultimately theirs, too, though they're too stupid to see it).

Unrelated update: Haw! Via Ace: "If Obama Failed This Badly Cleaning Up The Mess Bush Left For Him, Think About How Badly He'll Do Cleaning Up The Messes That Obama Has Left For Himself"

Happy Citizenship Day!

Mrs. Paco became a U.S. citizen on Citizenship Day in 1984, at a large ceremony at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Vice President George H.W. Bush gave a speech, and at home that night, there was a spot on the NBC news broadcast dedicated to the ceremony, and for a few seconds the screen was filled with the image of a smiling Mrs. Paco, holding 3-year-old #1 son in her arms; he was waving a little American flag. Outside the Orange Bowl, the Republican Party was doing a land office business registering legal citizens to vote.

Just another vignette from the hallowed Reagan years.

Do it!


Via the Troglopundit.

Update: I know just how you feel, kid.


Gratefully lifted from Moonbattery.

Monday movie

Fred Astaire and the smoldering Cyd Charisse from the “Girl Hunt” sequence in Band Wagon (alternate title: "Detective Paco, in his dreams!") As Astaire once said, “when you dance with Cyd Charisse, you stay danced with.”


Sunday, September 16, 2012

Tim Blair pulls out the fisking scalpel

Evil police vs. religion of peaceniks.

Sunday funnies

Guy pays parking ticket with dollars folded into origami pigs (and delivered in two doughnut boxes).

Jack Benny and Mel Blanc in another classic comedy routine.



For the serious knife enthusiast...


And don't forget to stock up on these...


Haw! Yard sale for Obama.



Saturday, September 15, 2012

Free speech meme

Instapundit has a link to a meme site featuring the Muslim world's most hated film maker. Wade on in!

Here's one I did.


Another American value under attack

Free speech? The free exercise of religion? Yes, those are threatened. But I speak now of the suppression of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which seems to be, er, spreading (R-man, make sure your pun fees are paid up).

Looks like the administration's having another transparency problem

Jim Treacher reveals that the State Department is clamming up about the attack in Benghazi that resulted in the death of American ambassador Chris Stevens and other diplomatic personnel. Keep scrolling, and read the infuriating details on Jim's own run-in with State Department stonewalling.

Update: "Burn the strawman!"

Update II: "Photo of the Day".

Update III: In From the Cold has an interesting take.

Update IV: It seems that our Australian friends are currently being, er, honored by the presence of some caliphate fans. Tim Blair has some useful advice for the permanently discontented: "Simply pack up your scimitars, wrap all of your womenfolk in their favourite freedom sacks, and get the hell out of Australia."

Friday, September 14, 2012

A show of hands, please

How many of you agree with White House spokesparrot Jay Carney that the fanatical mobs that are attacking American embassies and consulates, burning our flag, and murdering our diplomatic and military personnel are not directing their anger at the United States?

Ok, that was an easy count. Now, how many of you believe that this latest round of violence - which erupted on September 11th - is all because of a low-budget movie that disses Big Mo - a movie, you may recall, that nobody ever heard of?

Uh huh. Similar count. One last question. How many of you believe that Obama's policy toward triumphalist Muslims is to tolerate the hell out of them? To appease them back to the stone age?

Ok, thanks. Just conducting a little reality check among my readers. You all passed with flying colors.

H/T: Moonbattery

Mark Steyn on Obama's "performance" in Vegas

He is, to put it mildly, unimpressed.

Happy Feet Friday

Matt Murphy lays down some guitar boogie (with an assist from Memphis Slim on piano).


Thursday, September 13, 2012

Criminal negligence

I simply don't know what else to call it.
According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and "lockdown", under which movement is severely restricted.
The Slacker-in-Chief needs to be hit, and hit hard, on this story - in spite of the media's yowling about Mitt Romney hollering "Fire!" in a crowded theater. Mitt was right, because that's what you do when the theater is actually, you know, on fire.

Update: Charles Krauthammer on the collapse of Obama's policy in the Muslim world.



Update II: More details on the attack in Libya (H/T: Tree Hugging Sister).

Ah, so that's how you spell it


From the comrades at The People's Cube.

Plus: How do I con thee, let me count the ways... (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The real problem with Romney's criticism of Obama's response to the murder of Americans in Benghazi

He didn't go far enough.

The first point made in the post linked above is utterly damning:
1. Barack Obama skipped the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) the entire week leading up to 9/11:

Sure, why would anyone think there might be some violence on 9/11?" ...Additionally, the US was warned that extremists might attempt to burn down the embassy. On Monday.
Seriously, this item ought to be spread far and wide.

Update: Freakin' incredible! Obama didn't attend the intelligence briefing the day after the 9/11 attacks, either.

Update II: Worser and worser - Marines at the U.S. embassy in Cairo were not allowed to carry live ammunition.

So, is this deal still on?

The U.S. government is planning to forgive a billion dollars in Egyptian debt - “as part of a plan to bolster Egypt's move to democracy, administration officials said [emphasis mine].”

Hey, all you angry Egyptians, ease off, will you? We’re ripping up your promissory notes.

Of course, the violence in Egypt and Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East isn’t about money. It’s about an irrational hatred fueled by the extremist views of a triumphalist medieval religion that has set down deep roots among millions of people seeking to give purpose to their otherwise dull and hopeless lives by participating in a cultish movement bent on building a delusional paradise based on destruction and death. It is a Grand Distraction from the dreary and sometimes desperate pointlessness of their daily existence, an opportunity to shine, spiritually, in a corrupt and oppressive temporal world that they have neither the wit nor the courage to change along humane and practical lines. It is the clannishness and tribalism of the Bedouin writ large, and The Other, no matter what proofs he may offer in token of peace and friendship, is always the foe, an obstacle to the creation of the universal Dar al-Islam.

In short, these are not people who are going to shed their spiritual “purity” in return for indoor plumbing, wide-screen television sets or even the voting booth. A sea change in the world view of the militant Muslims may someday be possible; miracles do happen. But in the meantime, a transformation of the way we set about defending our own civilization from their pathological violence is vital. We cannot buy their friendship, we cannot assuage their anger with pusillanimous apologies, we cannot prevent their mass psychotic episodes with pretty speeches. If they will not love us, then let them fear us - and discover, to their cost, the full measure of our wrath. Believe what you will, thou sons of the Prophet, but know that you draw your daggers at the peril of your lives.

I speak of an ideal, of course, not of what we have under the current administration.

And I offer up my prayers for the souls of those Americans murdered in Libya, and for their families.

Anchors aweigh, comrades!

The Democratic National Convention accidentally (?) honors the Russian navy.

Breaking

U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other embassy employees killed in Benghazi attack.

Update: Here is some background on the movie that allegedly ignited the violence in Egypt.

Thomas Sowell calls out Bill Clinton

What a shame for the Democrats that Dr. Sowell is so good at taking names and kicking ass.
Bill Clinton loudly proclaimed to the delegates to the Democratic National Convention that no president could have gotten us out of the recession in just one term.

But history shows that the economy rebounded out of a worse unemployment situation in just two years under Harding, who simply let the market revive on its own, as it had done before, time and time again for more than a century.

Something similar happened under Ronald Reagan. Unemployment peaked at 9.7 percent early in the Reagan administration. Like Harding and earlier presidents, Reagan did nothing, despite outraged outcries in the media.

The economy once again revived on its own. Three years later, unemployment was down to 7.2 percent — and it kept on falling, as the country experienced twenty years of economic growth with low inflation and low unemployment.

The one, and only, time you will see me agreeing with Keith Olbermann

Joe Scarborough has presidential ambitions? Please.

Unrelated update: Doesn't this qualify as a gaffe? I mean, it's not like 9/11 was on the order of Betty giving Archie his class ring back.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Fedoras

They're coming back strong.

Just be patient, Ben

After the election, we hear that Barry's going to have a lot more flexibility.
President Barack Obama won't meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of September's U.N. General Assembly in New York, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday after Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that the White House had turned down a request for talks. But it's not a snub, the aide said. It's due to Obama's busy election-year schedule.
That's right. Obama keeping his narrow arse in the White House for another four years is the main thing; actually doing anything useful while he's there is really a bridge too far.

Update: I guess his nibs is too busy to worry about this, too.

Update II: My bad. Looks like Obama's people issued a strong statement after all (NOT!)

H/T: Jeff

Update III: At least some in the American Jewish community seem to be having second thoughts about Mr. Hope 'n Change.

H/T: Captain Heinrichs

By the way, does anybody know anything about this movie that's supposedly made the Prophet's fans so frisky?

In Memoriam


Monday, September 10, 2012

Assortment

I know, it's a target-rich environment, but Tree Hugging Sister finds a particularly idiotic useful idiot.

Our foreign policy is definitely on autopilot.

Never mind us, for a moment; are Egyptian Christians better off than they were four years ago?

The ATF: faster and furiouser than we thought.

Cyclist down!

You could just sort of feel the IQ average in the room falling...

Obama's math skills are, if you can believe it, getting even worse.

What's a fashion-conscious striker to do?

A sandwich? What are you, some kind of racist?

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches: the slippery slope.

Now, this is what I call a flagrant miscarriage of justice.

Well, sure, where else would he keep it?



Monday movie

Bob Mitchum is Philip Marlowe in Farewell, My Lovely.


Despair is the unforgiveable sin

Don't succumb to it.

More from Rick Wilson (H/T: Gabriel Malor at Ace of Spades).

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Hell's Morons

Caption contest!


"Say, honey, does your boyfriend have a very sharp knife? Just askin'."

Sunday funnies

Impressionist David Frye does his specialty, Richard Nixon.



Vaughan Meader, who had a brilliant, but sadly short, career as an impersonator of JFK, had a very successful album, The First Family. Here is a selection:



Maybe a fence would be a good idea: "A Humpty Doo couple were shocked to wake up to find a water buffalo had jumped in their home spa" (I'm not sure which is funnier, the story or the fact that there is a place called Humpty Doo).

The Classic Liberal has a video of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke as a child.

Of origami and catching pigeons with a yo-yo.


Friday, September 7, 2012

Wanted: New presentation scheduler for the DNC, 2016

One may be pardoned for wondering if Karl Rove (or perhaps Dennis Miller) had a secret, devilish hand in picking (and scheduling) the speakers at the Democratic National Convention.

Monica Lewinsky’s rabbi - the same night as Bill Clinton.

Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, who was apparently supplied with both a bogus southern accent, a DVD of All the King’s Men, and a large cup of coffee laced with cocaine (her performance was, shall we say, extremely animated?)

The utterly hapless John Kerry, who managed to drag the “are-you-better-off” meme into a discussion of foreign policy by pointing out that Osama bin Laden isn’t better off than he was four years ago (so, he’s just like the rest of us, John?)

And good ol’ Slow Joe Biden – who had the nerve to give a better speech than his boss (whose mediocre oratory is being roundly panned across the political spectrum today).

Oh, and I can’t forget Cardinal Dolan, whose closing prayer pretty much represented a can of gasoline and a match to some major planks in the Democratic platform.

I have never witnessed a bigger convocation of hams, gigolos, end-of-careerists, unholy rollers, decaf Bolsheviks, infanticide fans, wholesale cutpurses, mythomaniacs, estrogen-obsessed juanita-one-notes, common frauds, philanderers, race-baiters and 10th-percentile IQs as I saw on display at this year’s Democratic National Convention. If the Mental Health Association of Central Carolina wasn’t there in force, handing out brochures and coupons, then it missed a great opportunity.

Fasting for Obama

Now I've heard it all.

Elsewhere: quite possibly the best Tweet on the Democratic National Convention.

And...

Thus spake Joe.

Plus: Fake journalists using fake names to buy souvenirs celebrating their fake hero.

Update: You know, sometimes the defendant is better off not taking the stand.

Happy Feet Friday

Jimmy Barnes updates an old Joe Turner classic, “Shake, Rattle and Roll”.


Thursday, September 6, 2012

What the...

I go away for a couple of days, come back, and suddenly feel like I've woken up in the middle of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The Democratic National Convention. Who are these people? These are Americans? Earthlings, even? These clowns actually have a floor fight over whether God should be mentioned in the platform? And whether Jerusalem is the capital of Israel? Not simply the defense, but the celebration of abortion (perhaps they would have been happier with a reference to Moloch than to the Judeo-Christian God)?

And what about the lapdog press? And John Lewis completely prostituting himself, and crapping on his own bona fides as a civil rights leader, by trying to equate voter ID with the bad ol' days of Jim Crow.

Perhaps the height of absurdity was reached by Chris Matthews, who, in one of his on-going man crushes, was so enamored of Bill Clinton's speech, that he volunteered the asseveration that his latest priapic idol is so smooth he could fornicate with martians. Which, if nothing else, gives us a hint of what Chrissie will be doing on Halloween...

"Trick or treat, Bill!"

Hurry sundown November.

Update:




Wednesday, September 5, 2012

A major new threat to the Republic

That's right - due to some urgent family business, I will be offline for a day or two. Consider this one of my rare open threads.

Here are a few things to get you going:

Did you know that we all "belong" to the government? If anybody's going to put us in chains, it's the Democrats.

For once, I pray Rahm Emanuel is right: "We have a once-in-a-generation president".

A drunken, misogynistic ghost puts in an appearance at the Democratic National Convention (where's the hologram of Kennedy and Dodd creating a waitress sandwich?)

Important update: Having dropped "God" from their platform, the Democrats are now apparently afraid of a lightning strike.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Brad Smilo works the crowd at the DNC

Hello, everybody. This is Brad Smilo, of Paco World News Daily (PWND), reporting from the floor of the Democratic National Convention at Bank of America Stadium, located in Atlanta-wannabe, Charlotte, North Carolina. As we approach the opening of the convention, the air is charged with...well, not with electricity, exactly; it’s more like the smoke from a slow-burning fire in a peat bog, with Democrats no doubt hoping that their performance over the last four years will be obscured by the slowly forming clouds of impenetrable rhetoric and vaporous promises.

But let’s talk to the people here on the ground and get a sense of what the convention means to them. Excuse me, ma’am.

Woman: Ma’am? What do think this is, the Dark Ages? My name is Athena Dewpoint.

Smilo: How do you do, Ms. Dewpoint? I’m Brad Smilo of Paco World News Daily and I’d like to get your take on the convention. Are you a delegate?

Dewpoint: Yes, from the progressive commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Smilo: Oh. I would have thought you were from Florida, since you’re dressed up as a quarter-section of pink grapefruit.

Dewpoint: This is a vagina costume, genius. I’m not only a delegate, I’m a member of Code Pink.

Smilo: And what does the costume symbolize?

Dewpoint: Our unalterable opposition to the objectification of women. We hammered the point home by sending photos of our actual vaginas to the Republican National Convention.

Smilo: How did that work out?

Dewpoint: Those sexist bastards sent the pictures to the Center for Disease Control. Of course, the upside is that many of us got invitations to come in for free penicillin shots. But, still…

Smilo: I see that you’re carrying a placard with a somewhat gruesome picture on it. Isn’t that Goya’s painting of the titan Saturn eating his children?

Dewpoint: Oh, so you’ve got a problem with abortion, do you?

Smilo: Er, I don’t think I need to detain you any further, Ms. Dewpoint. Ah! There’s a familiar face, folks. Vice President Biden! Over here!

Biden: Huh? What? Ohhhh…Hi, Chad!

Smilo: It’s Brad, Mr. Vice President, Brad Smilo. How’ve you been?

Biden: Fine, just fine. Haven’t seen you since our last interview. Heh-heh. Didn’t actually see you then, either, really, since you were talking to me through a locked door.

Smilo: That’s right. You were locked in a closet in the basement of the White House. It was just after your comment about Republicans wanting to put black people in chains, wasn’t it?

Biden: W-e-l-l, it’s not a closet, exactly. The president calls it a refocusing room. You know, a place where we can have some solitude and clear our heads.

Smilo: And is your head clear, now?

Biden: Oh, absolutely! Plenty of room for new ideas in there, now! In fact, I’ve submitted one to the DNC presentation committee.

Smilo: Can you let me in on it?

Biden: Sure. You recall how Clint Eastwood used that empty chair to make fun of President Obama?

Smilo: I certainly do.

Biden: Well, I figured, why not turn that against Eastwood and the Republicans? So I had a picture taken of a whole bunch of people, sitting around in chairs, who can’t wait to vote for Obama this November, and I suggested that we spotlight the photo on the giant screen we have set up here in the stadium.

Smilo: And where did you find so many people sitting in chairs, committed to voting the Democratic ticket?

Biden: At the detention center for undocumented aliens in Nogales, Arizona.

Smilo: Y-e-s, I see…Er, let’s move to another topic. You were asked yesterday whether Americans are better off today than they were four years ago, and you said they are, but it was “too hot” for you to go into detail. Wasn’t that something of a dodge? Is it cool enough for you to address the issue now?

Biden: It really was too hot, Chad, and I’d be glad to answer your question, but, right now, with all these fans blowing, it’s a bit too cold. I think I’ll wait until it’s j-u-s-t right. You know, like in Goldilocks and the four bears.

Smilo: Three bears, wasn’t it?

Biden: Who are you, Paul Ryan? Numbers, numbers, numbers…

Smilo: One more question, Mr. Vice President, and then I’ll let you go. How do you think the Democratic Convention is going to stack up against the Republican convention, in terms of messaging?

Biden: Oh, no comparison, at all. The Republicans were all about cheap shots and pandering to minorities. Our convention is going to take the high road; we’re about professionalism and dignity. By the way, have you seen my pants?

Smilo: I admit, I was a bit curious about your state of undress.

Biden: I ripped them on a nail, and I handed them off to some woman dressed as a watermelon, and asked if she could sew ‘em up. Maybe you saw her? She was carrying a sign with a weird picture; looked like Al Sharpton eating a whole smoked ham. No idea what that was about. Oh, there she is! Hey, doll face, over here!

Dewpoint: Here you go, mister Vice President. This woman’s work is done!

Biden: Thanks! Here, let me just slip into these…H-e-y…Come back here, you! You sewed the cuffs together!

Dewpoint: That’ll teach you to stereotype, you chauvinist pig!

Biden: She can’t get away with this! See you later, Tad. I’m going after her.

Smilo: Thank you for your time, Mr. Vice President. That was Vice President Joe Biden, who is, at the moment, showing some surprisingly good form as a potential Olympic sack racer. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for additional displays of “professionalism and dignity” as the convention progresses. This is Brad Smilo, saying, so long for now!

Monday, September 3, 2012

You've got hate mail!

The Troglopundit receives a hilarious communication from a non-fan (Al Sharpton, I'm guessing, though the commenter claims to be a "lady").

Why stop with a sand sculpture?


(Via Mike McNally)

Update: I kind of like the official theme song of the Democratic National Convention.

How long before we see an instance of Godwin's Law at...

Whoa! That was fast!
The Chairman of the California Democratic Party already had political pundits, delegates and rivals buzzing a day before the Democratic National Convention formally opened in Charlotte, North Carolina, after telling KCBS Radio exclusively that Republican tactics had been akin to Nazi propaganda.

“They lie and they don’t care if people think they lie,” Chairman of the California Democratic Party John Burton told KCBS Monday in Charlotte. “As long as you lie, Joseph Goebbels, the big lie, you keep repeating it, you know.”
Hey, why stop there, donks? If you're going to demonize, demonize!

"Imagine a Mitt Romney presidency..."

Fill 'er up!

The DNC is apparently worried about filling Bank of America stadium in Charlotte during Barry's re-coronation Thursday night, so they're busing in students from around North Carolina, and black church parishioners from South Carolina. I suspect, as desperation mounts, the DNC will fall back on the old reliable press gang.

"Hoy, you lubbers, off you go to HMS Fiasco! And toe the line once you're aboard if you want to avoid a taste of the lash!"


President Obama: the Brad Smilo pre-convention interview

Good morning. This is Brad Smilo of Paco World News Daily (PWND), and I have a very special guest today. It's good to, er, see you, Mr. President.

"Good to see you again, too, Brad."

Mr. President, as you head into the convention, the Republicans have been repeating the refrain, "are you better off now than you were four years ago?" How do you respond to that, sir?

"Oh, I'm much better off than I was four years ago, Brad. I was just a junior U.S. Senator, then, kind of at loose ends, you know, looking for something to do. And then - Bam! - president of the United States."

Actually, sir, I think the Republicans are addressing their question to the public at large. Are they better off than they they were four years ago?

"Are you kidding? Unemployment was around 6.7% at the end of 2008, when Bush was still in charge. That was pretty high."

Well, yes, but it's now well over 8%, and has been for practically all of your term of office."

"Sure, for my first term. But in my second term, you'll see us do a 360 on the unemployment figures."

Isn't that supposed to be a 180?

"Who are you? Paul Ryan? Numbers aren't everything.

Well, then, let's turn to something non-numerical, something that's maybe a little closer to your comfort zone. That big sand sculpture of you at the convention site; isn't that a tad...

"Awesome?"

Vain is the word I was looking for. Or perhaps pretentious. Certainly provocative, and very much open to ridicule. For example, rain has already washed part of it away. The Republicans might pounce on that and say it's a metaphor for your presidency. Besides, the way the mouth is shaped, it looks like you just jammed a whole sugar cookie in your gob.

"The rain was no doubt the result of sabotage. Elizabeth Warren heard from her tribal contacts that the Republicans hired a shaman from the Lumbee Indians to do a rain dance. Humph! Just see if they get federal recognition for their tribe in my second term! And I don't see it as being a metaphor at all, except possibly as a symbol of the urgency of our fight against man-made climate change. By the way, don't mention that sugar cookie thing to Michelle, ok?"

No, no. Your secret is safe with me. One last question, Mr. President. There continues to be a lot of talk about the possibility of dropping Joe Biden from the ticket. Any truth at all to those rumors?

"No, that's just idle speculation. I'm sticking with Joe."

Excuse me, sir, but is there any significance to the fact that you just crossed your fingers?

"What? Er, no, of course not! I was simply, um, picking at my cuticle. Heh. Bad habit."

I see we're out of time, so let we wish you luck at the convention, and I'll see you there.

"Not if I see you first. Heh-heh. Just kidding, Brad.

Mr. President, you're doing that thing with your fingers again...

"Darn cuticles!"

Everybody have a great Empty Chair Day!

H/T for image, Gateway Pundit

Update: National Empty Chair Day is off to a great start!

It's a terrific riff on Clint Eastwood's shtick at the RNC, during which he addressed an empty chair that served as the perfect proxy for our hapless president. Unfortunately, the vast federal bureaucracy over which Obama reigns offers anything but an empty chair. In fact, it more closely resembles this:


That needs to go, too.

(Photo by Reuters, via the Telegraph and Riehl World News).