Friday, November 30, 2012

Was it really a typo?

"[T]he United Nations accidentally published a tweet calling for a '1-state solution' to the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians."

Sure, sure. An accident. In reality, I'm certain that the UN's gangster nations truly do prefer a one-state solution - and you know which state they want to survive (hint: it ain't Israel).

Leftist jackass of the week

Rep. Hank "Not So Big" Johnson, of Georgia. who thinks we ought to amend the constitution to restrict corporations' right to free speech.
“These corporations, along with the people they support, other millionaires who they’re putting into office, are stealing your government,” Johnson was quoted as saying by CNS News. “They’re stealing the government and the U.S. Supreme Court was a big enabler with the Citizens United case.”
These corporations, along with the people they support, other millionaires who they’re putting into office, are stealing your government...oh, you mean like Barack Obama?

Update: Rebecca in the comments reminds us that this Johnson is that Johnson.

Hurricane Sandy uncovers something that's been missing for decades

An 80-year-old West Point cadet's jacket travels from Virginia to New Jersey (and back again).

Warren Buffett's pathetic play for attention

What's the old saying? Politics is show business for ugly people.

Update: Somebody ought to smack Buffett upside the head with a hard copy of this Forbes article, which shows that his current pro-tax stance is, shall we say, a tad inconsistent with his past positions.

Happy Feet Friday

Deadpan songstress Virginia O’Brien offers a novel version of A Bird in a Gilded Cage.



Bonus! As Virginia O’Brien says, no matter how you slice it, it’s still Salome (that's Tommy Dorsey and his band providing the instrumental).




Thursday, November 29, 2012

The decline bores me, bring on the fall

Barry’s email fundraising success explained.
Profanity was a hit, the phrase "I will be outspent" was a winner and recipients apparently preferred "ugly, yellow highlighting" over something more aesthetically pleasing.

In the end, most of the $690 million the president raised online was through email.

The most successful subject line? "Hey."
Guy ought to wear jeans and a baseball cap turned around backwards during his inauguration speech, just to complete the picture of what passes for hipness these days.

Several presidents have had their pictures on our currency; Obama's mug doesn't rate a spot on a phone card or a yogurt coupon. And yet, here we are, looking down the barrel of four more years of hope 'n change.

Straight shooting on the Middle East “Peace Process”

From one of the greatest of the straight shooters, Pat Condell.

Meanwhile, Europe continues its slide into utter pusillanimity (or is it anti-Semitism masquerading as pusillanimity? Your call).

Hats off to Stephen Harper

The Canadian prime minister stands up for Israel.

So, is Harper the leader of the free world now? And what does that make our own Barry? Why, the permanent slacker who leaves the heavy lifting to someone else - as always.

(H/T: Eminent Canadian Captain Heinrichs)

Elsewhere, the western press continues to let itself be bamboozled (H/T: Jill J).

The mark of the cloven hoof

Is that a whiff of brimstone in the air? I don't know, but I've an uncomfortable feeling that we're approaching the end times. Traditional moral beliefs, long-standing taboos, standards of all kinds - they're all falling. From respect for life to the work ethic, from the concept of modesty and personal dignity to a belief in the virtue of individual liberty; they're all under assault by the freaks, the perverts, the narcissists, the irresponsible and immature, the greedy and the vicious, the petty little self-appointed gods of modernism, socialism and every other vile "ism" that seeks to order our existence in accordance with the idiotic theories of half-wit politicians or the insane dreams of diabolical philosophes.

I mean, really, it's hard not to see the hand writing on the wall when one reads about zoo bordellos in Germany, an Oregon father using provocative photos of his own daughter to sell a car, naked protesters in Rep. Boehner's office, political litmus tests for foster parents in the UK, the election of Alan Grayson - and Barack Obama, for that matter...the list just goes on and on. It all reminds me of one of Wodehouse's observations: that maybe man really isn't God's last word on the subject.

Now, I'm no historical determinist. Things don't have to be this way. I believe in free will and the capacity of human beings to change themselves and their societies for the better. But there are critical moments in history - and this may be one of them - when people of virtue, intelligence, strong moral character and common sense, having become exhausted from striving against evil, simply withdraw from the public discourse and leave the field to the wicked and their pliable foot soldiers, the invincibly ignorant. The problem, of course, is that "it rains on the just and the unjust"; we cannot truly withdraw into our own personal little worlds when the great big world insists on intruding.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Death of a heroic woman

Bob Belvedere on the murder of a courageous Mexican mayor, Maria Santos Gorrostieta.

How do we know that Susan Rice's political career is toast?

Because Barry says he "couldn't be prouder of her".

Buffeted by b.s.

The faux folksy sage of Omaha is at it again: preaching the virtues of higher taxes.

The retrograde nature of progressivism

Redistribution is always and everywhere about less, in the aggregate, never more. Less freedom, less opportunity and ultimately – yes, all you entitled layabouts! – less “free” stuff. Janet Daly covers the issue well in this guest post at Zero Hedge. A sample:
So here we all are. Like us, the member nations of the European single currency have embarked on their very own double (or is it triple?) dip recession. This is the future: the long, meandering “zig-zag” recovery to which the politicians and heads of central banks allude is just a euphemism for the end of economic life as we have known it.

Now there are some people for whom this will not sound like bad news. Many on the Left will finally have got the economy of their dreams – or, rather, the one they have always believed in. At last, we will be living with that fixed, unchanging pie which must be divided up “fairly” if social justice is to be achieved. Instead of a dynamic, growing pot of wealth and ever-increasing resources, which can enable larger and larger proportions of the population to become prosperous without taking anything away from any other group, there will indeed be an absolute limit on the amount of capital circulating within the society.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Oh, crap

I didn't know that that obnoxious fugitive from an anger management seminar, Alan Grayson, had slithered back into congress. The donks must have been hauling the dementia patients in by the bus load for this clown to get elected.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Radio silence

I'll be offline for a couple of days. Broadcasts to resume Wednesday (probably).

Update: What a danged mess! Who's been playing with my authentic replica of Moses' staff? And why are my Indian masks showing up on eBay? Oh, and please stay out of my lab! (Wouldn't want anybody to get hurt).

Monday movie

The climactic final shootout from Shane.


Sunday, November 25, 2012

Sunday funnies

The day after the election, I was as shocked and appalled as I would have been if this had actually happened.

"New" old inventory sale at Paco Enterprises!

Misogyny among the lower orders.

I want to learn how to do this, and then be fired point blank at Michael Moore (although I suppose there could be a ricochet problem).

Friday, November 23, 2012

Pardon me...

...while I rush out and get my HVAC license.

It stanks!

Oliver Stone's and Peter Kuznick's commie crockumentary, that is.

In European news, Charles Martel is spinning in his grave (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

The withdrawal of Jewish settlements from Gaza is starting to look…

…let’s see, what’s the expression I want, the mote juste? Oh, yeah. The withdrawal of Jewish settlements from Gaza is starting to look pretty stupid.

More on Hamas and the obscenity of the terrorist “state” from Bruce Thorton.

Update: British conservative Douglas Murray at a Cambridge Union debate comprehensively demolishes the argument that a nuclear Iran is no big deal (H/T: Jill J).

Happy Feet Friday

The Andrews Sisters sing Six Jerks in a Jeep.



What the heck, might as well do a replay of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy while I'm at it.



Update: YoJ thinks the ballads are more memorable than the hot stuff. As a dyed-in-the-zoot-suit hep cat, I can’t say that I agree; but, since Arizona’s one of my potential retirement destinations and I might wind up being his neighbor someday, I want to keep the peace. So, here are the Andrews Sisters in a recording of Apple Blossom Time (which is a truly lovely tune).




Assortment

Well, there it all is, in incompetent and white.

The taxman cometh.

In the wake of the depressing election results, at least there is the upside of delicious irony.

Former commander of British forces in Afghanistan highly skeptical of prospects for peace in the Middle East (H/T: Jill J).

Paul McCartney hopes you enjoyed your peanut butter sandwich on Thanksgiving.

Mmmmmmm...eggnog pancakes!

"Oh, the humanity!"

Analogy of the year, found at American Power.

Conservatism illustrated.

This must be what Thanksgiving in heaven looks like.

MSNBC's Ed Schultz as you've never seen him before.

A reporter from Al Jazeera, of all outfits, is doing some genuine investigative work on Castro's Cuba.

Fish caught, but takes angler with him.

For sale, by Paco Enterprises' real estate subsidiary, Get Real(ty)! Beautiful tropical island hide-away, low maintenance property, er, very private. Be sure to bring your boat and plenty of supplies.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best wishes to Paco Nation for a happy holiday! Hope you all get to spend some quality time with friends and family.

I took Monday off and Mrs. Paco and I did what we usually do shortly after a Democrat wins the White House: we went shopping at our favorite gun store (Virginia Arms). I was looking for a pocket pistol and found a sweet little Smith & Wesson model 642 (.38 Spl +P, five shots, fits in the palm of my hand).


So you won't consider your visit here a total waste of time today, here's something appropriate to the day (and the times): Howard Rich's article, "A Thanksgiving Lesson".

"Why, sure, pretty lady, I'll be glad to say a few words into your microphone."

Update: Gee, all of Obama's promises really do come with an expiration date.
Peace, one of two turkeys pardoned by President Obama last year, was euthanized Monday, according to an official who insisted the timing of the death - days before the Thanksgiving holiday - was not suspicious.
If this had happened before the election, perhaps Obama would have lost the turkey vote (which, as the results show, he carried by a wide margin).

Update II: God bless our troops, and keep them safe today and always.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Better than transcendental meditation

Whenever I’m feeling annoyed, depressed, harassed or gloomy, I take some time and contemplate the humble echidna; calms me right down (courtesy of that wild man of the worldwide web, TimT).

The echidna came in handy this morning, as I tried to recover from a most unsettling experience. I had come back to my office from a relaxing smoke, and noticed that I had a voice mail message. I began to play it and found that it was from one of my colleagues in our agency's economic analysis department. I was about 30 seconds into what turned out to be a longish message when one of my employees barged into the office. She saw that I was on the phone and retired quickly, but her sudden appearance must have been more distracting than I thought, because when I resumed listening to the recorded message I had unaccountably developed the impression that I was having a live conversation. The economist droned on awhile, and I interjected a question during a momentary break in his spiel, and - here's the weird thing - his next comment coincidentally turned out to be an answer to the very question I had asked, which, of course, perpetuated the notion that I was talking to someone live, rather than listening to a recording. However, I attempted to ask a couple of additional questions which he ignored, just talking away, then he hung up. Suddenly I remembered that I had been listening to a recorded message, not actually participating in a live dialog.

Hmmm...m'yes...I believe it's time for a long vacation, perhaps in one of those places where the tourists spend their time acquiring new skills in arts and crafts - like, for example, basket weaving.

Henry Wallace: an even bigger fool than Joe Biden?

He was at least arguably more dangerous. In the course of ripping apart the tiresome agitprop of Oliver Stone’s upcoming Showtime series, The Untold History of the United States, Scott Johnson at Powerline quotes from an article by Ronald Radosh that provides the context on vice president and presidential candidate Henry Wallace that is sorely missing in the cable series:
If Wallace was no radical on domestic issues, he did prove to be Stalin’s dupe in foreign affairs. The liberalism he came to espouse was that of the Popular Front, the call for an alliance between Democrats and American Communists and Socialists as the vehicle through which to advance the agenda of FDR’s expanding welfare state. As early as 1943, Wallace warned of “fascist interests motivated largely by anti-Russian bias” who were trying to “get control of our government.” These views are what endear Wallace to Stone.

So enamored of the Soviet Union was the vice president that in May 1944 he traveled to 22 cities in Soviet Siberia. There, the NKVD played Wallace for a fool. He described the slave labor colony of Magadan, which the Soviet secret police had transformed into a Potemkin village staffed by actors and NKVD personnel, as a “combination TVA and Hudson’s Bay Company."

According to his own testimony, if he had become president, Wallace would have made Harry Dexter White his secretary of the Treasury and given a position in government to Laurence Duggan. Both men were Soviet agents. As a KGB cable found in the Venona archives shows, the Soviets hoped that Duggan would aid them “by using his friendship” with Wallace for “extracting .  .  . interesting information.”
Interesting how we seem to be coming full circle: a revival of FDR’s Provider State, and a shameless defense of Stalinism.

Hence, calls for a resurrection and expansion of the New Deal

Zero Hedge shrewdly refers to our present “dust bowl economy”:
In our economy, debt is the marginal field that has been plowed up for brief exploitation and profit. In response to the drought of income and collateral that supports debt, the Federal Reserve, Congress and the Obama administration have actively made the crisis worse by doing more of what failed spectacularly: encouraging more debt with zero-interest rate policy (ZIRP), massive "socialized" subsidies of housing and mortgages, and so on.

Just as in the dust bowl years, the occasional rain raises hopes of complete reversal. In our dust bowl economy, every "green shoot" of debt expansion, consumer confidence, builder confidence, retail sales, etc. is taken as "proof" that the "recovery" is "gaining steam" and the economy has fully reversed course from contraction to expansion.

Then a few months later the "green shoots" whither because the fundamentals that enable more debt--household income and asset collateral--are both deteriorating. Income is down 8% from 2007, and median household net worth fell 38% from 2007 to 2010.
Read the whole post. The only things missing now are the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Update: More in the same vein from Amity Shlaes.

Tribal rites

Victor Davis Hanson on the tribalization of America.

Poor aim and preposterous propaganda

Hamas terrorists are once again engaged in dead child fakery (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Monday, November 19, 2012

Et tu, Bobby?

Really, governor? The problem is that Republicans have to start "liking people"? And the other day Jindal was saying that the Republican Party couldn't just be the party of the rich - thereby playing directly into the hands of Democrats, who have been forever peddling that false message while simultaneously banking enormous donations from Wall St. fat cats and sinister domestic and international billionaires.

The Democrats have spent the last couple of decades demonizing huge blocs of people - Caucasians, non-union workers, people of religious faith, the entrepreneurial class - and we Republicans are the ones who don't like people? I don't think you enhance the notion that the GOP is the party of ideas through a false admission that it is, and has been, pretty much what its enemies have always said it was.

Jindal's comments were triggered, it seems, by a statement from Mitt Romney that he lost the election because of Obama's "gifts", i.e., the expansion of benefits and support to an electorate increasingly dependent on the federal government. That certainly isn't the only reason Mitt lost, and it might not be a politically correct formulation, but the statement, as far as it goes, is absolutely true, and is a perfectly accurate characterization of what has been the Democrats' long-term strategy since the New Deal.

I'm with Brit Hume: "someone should probably hose Jindal down".

Oh, and here's a great idea from John McCain. What's the best thing we can do to "regain some credibility" in the Middle East? Why, send Bill Clinton there as a special envoy.

"Did somebody say belly dancers?"

Monday movie

Ray Milland almost gets caught in The Thief (1952).


Sunday, November 18, 2012

Wild guess

Valerie Jarrett is the person who watered down the talking points ultimately given to Susan Rice.

Oh, and we may never know the truth, at least not for a long, long time. Count on it.

Good advice for the Republicans who are left

Swampy's got it.

Sunday funnies

One of our competitors is taken down (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).


Ah, those great animated Disney films! Snow White, Bambi, Dumbo, and, er,The Story of Menstruation.

We really have come down to the last Twinkie.


Friday, November 16, 2012

Barney Frank’s legacy (and Chris Dodd’s)

Work hard, save your money, utilize credit responsibly – and you’ll wind up getting screwed by the government. Zero Hedge shows that the middle class is, once again, bearing the brunt of the continuing housing crisis. A tasty sample:
And before the indignant reactions surge that this is in some way an ethical condemnation of the poor (or the rich, although we are far less concerned with that accusation), it is not: people, regardless of social status, poor, middle-class, wealthy, will act according to their motivations first and foremost, which are primarily driven around greed, and the various other deadly sins. If given the option to upgrade one's standard of living, and told to not worry about much else, everyone would take advantage. Obviously, the hangover always comes, but that never stopped anyone from drinking the night before.

The problem arises when none other than the government, which is the worst, most corrupt, most conflicted arbiter and enforcer of human behavior, is put in the position of determining how to encourage mass social behavior for the future: this is central planning at its absolute worst [emphasis mine – P.]
Oh, by the way, while I’ve got your attention. Paco Enterprises is going to follow Denny’s lead and start charging an Obamacare tax for the privilege of reading this blog. Since my tax will be progressive – 0.01% of your adjusted income times the number of page views per year – I’ll need to see your tax returns. This is, of course, voluntary - just like federal income tax payments. So is the jail time for non-compliance (i.e., if you elect not to pay, then you’re volunteering to go to jail). And don’t think you can get around the tax by reading this blog in Switzerland.

Paco Enterprises stands with Israel


(Image found at Legal Insurrection)

Update: Whoa! I might need to rethink my position after seeing this shocking photo of Israeli aggression.

Happy Feet Friday

Goree Carter and his Hepcats rock the house with a late 40’s Texas boogie called “Rock Awhile” (considered by many to be the first genuine rock and roll recording).


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Trouble abroad

David Goldman (a/k/a "Spengler") has written an interesting article on David Petraeus and our intelligence challenges worldwide (H/T to an anonymous commenter).

The Peter Principle, illustrated

Susan Rice rose to - and, indeed, soared above - her level of incompetence some time ago.

I'm afraid our country is destined to hit rock-bottom before we have a chance of regaining anything remotely resembling the dreams of our founders.

Why, yes, Barry..

...as a matter of fact, we do have a problem with you. And will continue to have for the next four years. Get used to it, my thin-skinned little bean pole.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Message for the upcoming generation of aggressive spongers


Courtesy of Miss Red, who, sadly, is retiring from the blogging gig.

How about showing some fight?

In the wake of the election results, which shocked many, if not most, conservatives (including me), I’ll go out on a limb and offer a prescription to Republicans in the House and Senate.

1) Even when Democrats have been out of power – either in the White House or in the legislative branch – they have been obstreperous, obstructionist and highly partisan. I see no reason for Republicans not to be the same way. What conservatives want to see is the aggressive pursuit of our central principles. We would rather see our party as a tiger temporarily caged than as a rabbit scampering pell-mell for the illusory safety of the tall grass. People will eventually rally around a banner that is stoutly defended - even when that banner stands for something false and reprehensible, as the Democrats have proved time and again. How much more likely it will be that people, in time, shall rally around something that is true and good. If we believe what we say about the importance of individual liberty and smaller, less intrusive government, and about respect for the Constitution, then these truths have not become falsehoods through the unfortunate setback presented by one election.

2) If the principles we advocated yesterday were right and just, they are right and just today. It is not only economically detrimental, but an immoral concession to the aggressors in the class war, to blithely state that increasing taxes on the “rich” is no big deal after all, or that Obamacare has somehow attained the status of a law of physics. Continue to denounce bad policies and the ideological motives behind them.

3) Recognize, once and for all, that the mainstream media are the enemy. Talk through them, over them, around them – but talk. And don’t just talk; declaim, argue, attack. Attack the media as well as their masters, challenge them, show them up for the leftist mercenaries they are.

4) From here on in, you are not just opposing whoever the Democratic president or presidential nominee happens to be. Certainly, you’ll go after him (or her), too; but in the war of ideas, you are not simply fighting one man or woman; you are fighting an entire political party and its widespread apparatus, in the unions, in the academy, and in the press. Don’t just tar the man; tar his worldview, his allies, his supporters – the whole ideological infrastructure that props him up.

5) You cannot genuinely compromise with people who are working around the clock to destroy your way of life (and perhaps you into the bargain). Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi. These are not just “people like you and me.” They are deeply flawed, incomplete human beings who fill the void of wisdom and understanding with arrogance and hatred, little tin pot Lucifers seeking to overthrow God and the natural law, high-stakes gamblers who see the generality of mankind as chips in their game of personal power, and for whom dishonesty is but a tool of their trade.

6) Fair warning: do not sell our birthright so that you may obtain a mess of potage.

So, Obama had a press conference today

How did the reporters react? About the way you'd expect.


The real significance of the Petraeus affair

Charles Krauthammer cuts through all the sordid details and gets right to the point:
“And that brings us to the ultimate issue, and that is his testimony on Sept. 13,” he continued. “That’s the thing that connects the two scandals. And that’s the only thing that makes the sex scandal relevant. Otherwise it would be exercise in sensationalism and voyeurism, and nothing else. The reason that it’s important is, here’s a man who knows the administration holds his fate in his hands and he gives testimony completely at variance with what the secretary of defense had said the day before, at variance with what he heard from the station chief in Tripoli, and with everything that we had heard. Was he influenced by the fact he knew his fate was held by people in the administration at that time?”

Did you ever have one of those particularly futile days?

Drunk Japanese businessman takes a long walk down the up escalator.

In case we're truly stuck with it...

"Five Ways to Protect Yourself against Obamacare" (H/T: Instapundit).

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Assortment

News you can use: Swampy offers some great suggestions for preparing for hurricanes (and practically any other kind of emergency).

Before Republicans go overboard trying to turn themselves into Democrat-Lite, they might want to mull over the possibility that the recent election results had more to do with a personality cult than with anything else.

Look for the Obama administration to ramp up affirmative action initiatives.

Barry and his secularist priesthood continue their war on religious freedom.

Applied mathematics, workplace version (Haw! “Demonstrate, using practical methods, that shooting HR personnel raises productivity by 42.743% across the board”). Big H/T to that ramblin’ man, Boy on a Bike.

Liberty at Stake performs an autopsy, identifies Stupid as the cause of death.

Steve at the Pub scratches Air France off his list.

France gets it wrong on the ground, too.

But, lest I appear to be picking unfairly on France, permit me to link an insightful piece by a French well-wisher, the Dissident Frogman (H/T to friend and commenter, Spiny Norman).

Jump, Nancy, jump!

Is John Boehner up to the job of defending conservative principles and turning the House of Representatives into a bastion of common sense within a government otherwise gone mad? My guess would be no; or, perhaps, hell no.

Michelle Malkin discusses some of the problems associated with amnesty. She’s also got a great photo of John Kerry…


Looks like caption time! Here are my two contributions:

“Whoa, wait a minute! Deer don’t wear orange hats, do they? Sorry about that, buddy!”


“Push!.......Push!.......I said PUSH, dammit! What? Oh……. Pull!”

More fun with emails

Looks like the whole Obama administration has been running into trouble with emails: for example, Lisa Jackson at EPA and Carol Browner, late of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy.

So much evidence, so much documentation; yet, the bloodhounds will probably wind up being locked in their kennels – especially since the spectacularly corrupt Eric Holder seems to be staying on at the Department of Justice (Ha-Ha).

Well, as the pundits never get tired of saying, elections have consequences. Which always puts me in mind of one of H.L. Mencken’s most famous aphorisms: Democracy is the idea that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it – good and hard.

And, with respect to the Petraeus/Broadwell/Allen/Kelley business, while the details are titillating, let us not forget the larger, and far more important, story. As friend and commenter Yojimbo put it:
Remember that during this time period: An Army FOB was overrun with many killed when they received no support. That chopper with SEALs 6 and many others went down. Our embassy in Kabul, along with other agencies was attacked. A base was attacked with the loss of a significant percentage of Marine strike aircraft damaged or destroyed. Terrorist infiltrators in uniform killing Americans has increased dramatically. Our killed and wounded have increased dramatically over this same period.
Adult supervision is required. Too bad our next shot at getting it is four more long years away.

Sad fate of an undecided voter

"An Arizona woman, in despair at the re-election of Democratic President Barack Obama, ran down her husband with the family car in suburban Phoenix on Saturday because he failed to vote in the election, police said on Monday."

The joke's on us

Obama is apparently considering John "How to Marry Your Way to Success!" Kerry for Secretary of Defense.

What next? Michael Moore to take charge of the school lunch program? Eva Longoria appointed to the Supreme Court? Bill Ayers to head up the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

The other day, Bob Belvedere cited an observation from the late Jaques Barzun: "When people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent." The recent election reflected heaping helpings of both futility and absurdity. The federal government, and a huge swath of the American electorate, can no longer be considered serious about their responsibility for the nation's future - which makes for dangerous times, indeed.

Unrelated update: Is there anybody in uniform who hasn't been sending emails to Jill Kelley?
In a new twist to the Gen. David Petraeus sex scandal, the Pentagon said Tuesday that the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, is under investigation for alleged "inappropriate communications" with a woman who is said to have received threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom Petraeus had an extramarital affair.

Unrelated update II: Unpaid social liaising, illustrated.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Test your gag reflex!

"Figurines of President Barack Obama are being put in nativity scenes in shops in Naples, Italy for the Christmas season."

No, he's not depicted as the ass.

Not to worry

The Obama administration is rapidly closing off federal lands to oil extraction, but you'll be, er, relieved to find that a replacement source of energy has been discovered.
Four African girls have created a generator that produces electricity for six hours using a single liter of urine as fuel.
Tinkle Power!

Just for my edification

What is an "unpaid social liaison"?

Hey, there's a web site dedicated to monitoring Obama's terrific jobs machine

Be sure to visit Daily Job Cuts, your guide to layoffs, bankruptcies and plant closings.

Secession, anyone?

Twenty states have petitioned for peaceful secession (Texas has collected more than 25,000 signatures).

I think I'd like to be an admiral in the Arizona Navy.

Haw!

Stacy McCain: "What did Big Bird know and when did he know it."

Monday movie

A scene from The Phantom, an adventure movie based on the comic strip character of the same name.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

What the hell is going on?

David Petraeus' mistress, Paula Broadwell, appears to have revealed in a recent speech that the CIA annex in Benghazi held two militia prisoners.

Is this something she should have known? And why, given the completely inadequate security of the place, would prisoners have been held in Benghazi?

Yeah, I can see why the Obama administration would want to keep all this under wraps until after the election.

Oh, and Hillary won't be testifying on Benghazi next week because of a "scheduling conflict".

California: the laboratory for American liberalism

The Democrats pretty much ran the table in California, and are proceeding with a host of garden variety leftist programs. I think the initial exhilaration of the liberals will - how shall I put this? - abate, somewhat, when the unicorn stampede finally runs off the cliff.

Saluting our finest


A rereading of General Washington's farewell address to the Army seems appropriate. A sample:
It is universally acknowledged that the enlarged prospect of happiness, opened by the confirmation of our Independence and Sovereignty, almost exceeds the power of description. And shall not the brave Men who have contributed so essentially to these inestimable acquisitions, retiring victorious from the Field of War, to the Field of Agriculture, participate in all the blessings which have been obtained? In such a Republic, who will exclude them from the rights of Citizens and the fruits of their labours?

Sunday funnies

I think I'll just stick with the ol' rod and reel (h/t: Captain Heinrichs). Update: Here's the full video (Thanks, Jeff!)


Having a little trouble buying this...

Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in a scene from the classic screwball comedy, Bringing Up Baby.





Saturday, November 10, 2012

Heckuva job, Barry!

Coney Island joins the Third World.

Shamnesty II

Mickey Kaus details why amnesty of the type many conservatives are suddenly advocating has the smell of Epic Fail.

Just one coincidence after another

Obama lost every state that requires a photo ID to vote.

Update: Ok, the timing of Petraeus' resignation was not a coincidence:
[T]he White House, with concurrence by the FBI and Justice Department, held off on asking for Petraeus’ resignation until after the election. His resignation occurred three days after the election, avoiding the possibility that Obama’s ill-fated appointment of Petraeus could become an issue in the election.

FBI agents on the case were aware that such a decision had been made to hold off on forcing him out until after the election and were outraged.

“The decision was made to delay the resignation apparently to avoid potential embarrassment to the president before the election,” an FBI source says. “To leave him in such a sensitive position where he was vulnerable to potential blackmail for months compromised our security and is inexcusable.”

At least as detrimental to our country as Obama's incompetent economic and foreign policy initiatives is the thoroughgoing corruption of the people in his administration who are making a mockery of both the law and our national security. Jarrett, Holder, Napolitano, Geithner and now, it pains me to say, Petraeus.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Surely not

I’ve seen a few news articles and blog posts that seem to seriously include Joe Biden in the handicapping of the 2016 Democratic nomination. That’s what I call extremely long odds, given that Hillary Clinton is undoubtedly interested in the nomination, but after this past Tuesday, who knows? A Biden victory would certainly underscore one of Marx’s best known lines: history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.

Oh, and the surest way for Ann Coulter to completely lose her credibility – with me, anyway - is to ever again promote the presidential aspirations of Governor Sandy McLardass.

On a related topic, I agree with Michael Thornberry:
"Our liberals can beat their liberals" is not a battle cry Republicans can follow to victory. Even if it were, such a "victory" would be as hollow as a tennis ball.

The Democrats are unapologetically the party of the left. If Republicans would ever stop mincing around and start being the full-service party of the right they might get somewhere. As it stands, Republicans continue to natter on about the "electability" of yet another moderate, politically correct, Marquis of Queensberrry, oh-so-polite candidate who refuses to pin the tail on the odious donkeys and as a result gets his rear handed to him by Democrats who never hesitate to throw the fastball high and tight.
Amen. A Republican Party that would be a “full-service party of the right” might have trouble at the national level for another cycle or two, but I believe it would greatly lend itself toward the creation of a powerful grassroots movement that could begin rebuilding the party from the ground up, starting at the all-important local, county and state levels. As things inevitably get worse over the coming years as a result of the Democrats’ statist policies, there is at least a chance that, demographic changes notwithstanding, a large proportion of the electorate will eventually catch up with the novel idea that the touchstone for many good things, including economic prosperity, is individual liberty and the reduction of the scope and expense of government. If we truly believe in what we’ve been advocating, then either the majority of people ultimately come to accept our philosophy or they don’t – but they’re definitely not likely to if Republicans don’t do anything but offer a “Me too” program. For all our sakes, let us at least provide a clear and consistent alternative to the present madness: a ray of hope for the believers, and a beacon of enlightenment for the currently benighted who may well tire of their role as domesticated ruminants in the Democratic pasture once they’ve seen the dreary, soul-destroying aspects of American liberalism up close.

The Obama layoffs

Darleen Click at Protein Wisdom has what is sure to be only a preliminary list of companies responding to Obama’s economy by cutting employees loose. By the way, I love this particular story:
One man, owner of a trucking firm in Ventura — 75 employees, $6 mill payroll, discussed how even as times have been tough over the last few years, he’s made it a point to make his payroll, even dipping into his own savings. He was walking by the breakroom and heard some of his employees snickering about the election and they had wanted Obama to stay President to make sure the rich pay. He then thought “what am I putting myself at risk? He then went and canceled his order for 6 new trucks (approximately $600,000 worth of an order) and is planning to lay off 20 or more people. So sad, too bad.
Look for more and more people and businesses to implement variations of “going John Galt”. If we cannot slay the beast in open combat, then let us starve the thing.

Shamnesty

The wisest commentary that I have seen, so far, on the panicked, headlong rush by some conservative pundits toward the false panacea of amnesty is by Heather MacDonald:
If Republicans want to change their stance on immigration, they should do so on the merits, not out of a belief that only immigration policy stands between them and a Republican Hispanic majority. It is not immigration policy that creates the strong bond between Hispanics and the Democratic party, but the core Democratic principles of a more generous safety net, strong government intervention in the economy, and progressive taxation. Hispanics will prove to be even more decisive in the victory of Governor Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30, which raised upper-income taxes and the sales tax, than in the Obama election.
I don’t profess to know how we go about “regularizing” people who are in this country illegally. One thing I do know is that we shouldn’t be facilitating the creation of greater numbers of them. They are, for the most part, an increasingly strong component of the Democrats’ army of ballot-box mercenaries, and, like most Democratic constituencies, they want “free stuff”.

Well, he didn’t betray us

…but it looks like he betrayed somebody: “CIA Director David Petraeus has resigned, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in a written statement Friday. The former Army general, who rocketed to global prominence as the man in charge of the ‘surge’ in Iraq, quit over an extramarital affair, MSNBC reported.”

Oh, and now he won't be testifying on Benghazi next week, as originally scheduled. How...convenient.

Happy Feet Friday

Here’s an interesting video on the roots of rock ‘n roll, consisting of a series of short audio segments.



Thursday, November 8, 2012

Going forward

I will leave the reading of election entrails to others. But since committed constitutionalists and traditionalists now seem to be in the minority – or, rather, since the upholding of our constitutional liberties, and the very concept of liberty, itself, are not as important to many voters as Obama’s posturing during the recent hurricane – I will simply stick to my role as a right-wing guerilla, focusing on pinking the left-wing beast whenever possible. Toward which end I once again cite the Paco Enterprises’ motto, borrowed from Auberon Waugh:
There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible.
Need to put that in my banner.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Watch California

Watch it closely. In my opinion, it will be the first state to implode from the burden of taxation, regulation, spending and public union greed. You are looking at the very model of the future collapse of the U.S. economy, the portent of things to come.

I've heard of dead people voting...

...but dead people winning elections?

Oh, by the way: sorry, Ben.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

America throws itself under the bus

Common sense breached, freedom leeched, tipping point reached.

Looks like it’s time for Paco’s open letter to his fellow citizens
Hi, America. Are you insane?

You have just imposed the third term of Jimmy Carter on this formerly great nation. Why?

No, really, why? You have returned to office the most ignorant, ideologically hidebound and most myopic president of modern times. I take it, then, that you’re ok with unemployment in the 8% range, a stagnant economy, a foreign policy based on Emily Post’s book of etiquette, and a cavalier attitude toward the Constitution?

You black people (and white, too, for that matter) who voted for this guy due to his melanin content; you’re fine with record unemployment among African Americans as long as your totem is the right color?

You starry-eyed liberals who continue to harbor the illusion, despite an endless series of pistol-whippings by reality, that big government is going to usher in a golden age of equality and fairness and kumbaya communitarian love; you don’t see – you really don’t see – that the kind of leveling you desire will require state-sponsored oppression, and probably violence, on a massive scale?

You investment fat cats and Wall Street Bankers; you believe you can negotiate the kind of sweetheart deals that will lift you above the ruin your man is inflicting on the rest of the country while keeping your own wealth secure. Want to gamble that you’re somehow luckier than every other “savvy” moneybags throughout history who thought (incorrectly) that the crocodile would be satiated when his turn came? I’ll take that bet!

You parasites who think the world owes you a living; what are you going to do when you finally figure out that the “world” was really just the taxpayers, and they’re all tapped out?

Oh, and how about Benghazi? The abandonment of brave American citizens to the jihadists – two of them working a machine gun that cut down some 60 of the attackers before they themselves were killed – represents a more accurate and potent symbol of this administration’s foreign policy than the takedown of al-Qaeda’s chairman emeritus. But, hey, most of you aren’t diplomats, so it’s no big deal, right?

You people have rejected the Judeo-Christian concept of God and have now placed your faith in a herd of spindly sacred cows and a tin-horn trail boss who are all blithely heading for a precipice. I may never be able to get my country back, the America based on the principles of individual liberty and self-reliance. But I promise you this, Obamaphiles: you’re never going to get the America you want. The money and the patience of what’s left of the productive class are going to run out while your plans for Utopia are still on the drawing board. And when the economic and social collapse comes, you’re going to find that the only people who are prepared for the ensuing chaos are (1) your political enemies, and (2) the mass of common criminals whose rapacity won’t be in the slightest degree palliated by your progressive social views.

And in the end, it will all be for nothing. The ascendancy of a collectivist state, even with an invaluable assist from its kapos in the media, cannot permanently turn a human society into an ant hill. Socialism is irrational at its core, and is therefore as doomed to failure as a submarine welded together out of colanders.

Savor your victory while you can, because ultimately you’re going to find it remarkably indigestible.
Update: Friend and commenter JeffS has a link to an excellent post-election Chris Muir cartoon. We are now the guerrillas.

Three words on exit polls

President John Kerry.

Bring it on home

I don't have to tell you what to do.

Mrs. Paco and I went to vote shortly after the polls opened this morning (longest line I've seen since I've lived here). It's cold and Mrs. Paco is suffering from her asthma, but there wasn't any holding her back. Not today.

Under this sign we will conquer...


God Bless America!



And who, having heard this version, will fail to be moved?

Finally, a last shot of inspiration and genuine hope.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Canada prepares for fallout from U.S. election

Via the ever-vigilant Captain Heinrichs: "Canada Beefing Up Border Patrol In Event Romney Wins Presidential Election".
Media outlets report that the possibility of a Romney Presidency has prompted the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they’ll soon be required to “hold down a job, hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O’Reilly.”

Canadian border farmers noted that dozens of sociology professors, animal rights activists and Unitarians crossed their fields last night. “I went out to milk the cows yesterday, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,” said Manitoba farmer Red Nesterenko, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry. “He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken. When I gave him some fresh warm goat milk he tossed his cookies and left. Didn’t even get a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?”

Oh, we can imagine, Michelle

That’s why we have to get your man out of there.

Smitty speaks the unvarnished truth

“Obama Causes, Meets Coffins”.

Elsewhere, Moonbattery has a symbolic depiction of what things are going to look like among the liberal diehards if Obama loses the election, and a reader writes to Powerline to report on the size and intensity of feeling at an enormous Romney rally in Pennsylvania.

Monday movie

Cowpoke Henry Fonda reads the letter written by a lynch victim in The Oxbow Incident.


Sunday, November 4, 2012

Assortment

Great advice yesterday from Glenn Reynolds: "REMINDER: Don’t forget to change your clocks tonight, and your President on Tuesday."

Obama's ventriloquist is making threats.

Powerful Romney ad over at Ace of Spades.

Rudy Giuliani jumps up and down on Obama's loins.

Hmmmm. Petraeus may have some 'splainin' to do.

What is he afraid of, a coup? Nanny Bloomberg won't let the National Guard help in Brooklyn because they - horrors! - carry guns.

Obama has created a whole lot of something, but it ain't jobs.

Steve Burri has what is quite possibly the very best take on Obama's comment that "we will leave no one behind."

The Troglopundit floats an extremely terrifying scenario.

Obama's Katrina (Update: much, much more from Tree Hugging Sister today).

What your political yard sign may say about you, via Pixie Place.

Mind-Numbed Robot has a video clip that offers five good reasons to vote for Romney.

Isn't he loooooovvely? I guess not.

Miss Red has an excellent post on hats vs. caps.

Seen outside my church this morning:




Sunday funnies

Bob Hope in the final shootout from Alias Jesse James (which features Bob getting some help from a host of TV and movie western stars).

Er, "stuff" southern women say.

Nice try.

Perhaps someday we can put a rubber chicken on Mars.

TimT discovers an artistic masterpiece, right under the public's nose.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

A word from Ronald Reagan

Obama is ending his campaign on a typically divisive note, taking up the "revenge" theme.

Ok, Barry, take that!


If Obama is reelected, I guess this will be me a few years down the road...



Friday, November 2, 2012

Obama shoots his wad

Hey, don't blame me. Blame David Axelrod.
“You can see in the speech that he’s delivering — that he, that this is coming from his loins,” Axelrod declared, adding, “I just wanted to say loins. I wanted to see if I could get loins in the story.”
Er...why?

Odd

In my agency - as is the case with most federal offices - pictures of the president and the vice president hang in the lobby. Biden's photo mysteriously disappeared a couple of weeks ago and hasn't been seen since.

It's a good start.

Update: Ah. Maybe he's taking it with him.

Happy Feet Friday

The Murphy sisters, from the WWII era.


Thursday, November 1, 2012

Make it so


Via Chicago Boyz.

How you likin' it, James?

Steve Skubinna, from the comments on a previous post, reflecting on the fact that James Wolcott, noted hurricane groupie, finally got his wish:
The one bright spot is that James Wolcott finally got to cheer for a hurricane up close and personal. I mean it's always fun when they stomp on inbred rednecks in flyover country, but so much better when they flood your subways and put your apartment in the dark. Then you can really get intimate with the ultimate MILF, Gaia.

What, is he a hostile witness?

One of those fascinating-but-not-at-all-surprising headlines from Breitbart: “Obama ‘Has Not Participated’ in Benghazi Investigation”.
Today, the White House press secretary let it slip during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One that President Obama’s inaction on the Benghazi situation now extends to inaction on the supposed investigation taking place. The administration has still not made clear what exactly is being investigated, or the extent of the investigation.
Yeah, I recollect that mobster Frank Costello wasn’t too thrilled about testifying before the Kefauver Committee back in the early 50s, and it was precisely because he was, er, “anticipating results that show us exactly what happened and who is responsible and what lessons we can learn from it and ensure it never happens again.”

“Hey, be sure and let me know what yez find out, ‘cuz I really want to get to da bottom a dis whole racketeerin’ t’ing, capeesh?”

Update: The whole thing's starting to look like what Clint Eastwood referred to, in the bowdlerized version of Heartbreak Ridge, as a "clusterflop". From CBS:
CBS News has learned that during the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Obama Administration did not convene its top interagency counterterrorism resource: the Counterterrorism Security Group, (CSG).

"The CSG is the one group that's supposed to know what resources every agency has. They know of multiple options and have the ability to coordinate counterterrorism assets across all the agencies," a high-ranking government official told CBS News. "They were not allowed to do their job. They were not called upon."
Update: Of course, an ostensible clusterflop is probably what Obama wants: create a lot of smoke until after the election.


Yeah, it’s always bad when you have to explain your joke

Especially when you (probably) weren’t really joking in the first place.

Looks familiar

Everything within Hope, nothing outside of Hope, nothing against Hope.

Update: See what I mean?