So would I

“Obama Would Like McCain and Graham to Go to Egypt”.

It’s one way, right?

Update: John McCain accidentally walked into a room today where the president was meeting with Senate Democrats and received an enthusiastic ovation.

So what? He’s been accidentally walking into rooms where Republicans were meeting for years.

Anthony Weiner’s communications director

Savor the eloquence.

President Svengali

Obama's campaign to "nudge" us toward certain behaviors (acceptable to him) continues apace.

Not content to transform our institutions, he wants to get inside our heads and control our thoughts. Of course, you know what he's ultimately after...

First Amendment fun

The Chattanooga Times Free Press rolls out the red carpet for on the preshizzle:

Welcome to Chattanooga, one of hundreds of cities throughout this great nation struggling to succeed in spite of your foolish policies that limit job creation, stifle economic growth and suffocate the entrepreneurial spirit.

Gets a little harsh after that.

Seriously?

You want to have a conversation on race? Ok, great. I’ll go first.

If you want to be taken seriously on matters pertaining to race, then stop acting like race is all that matters, that it’s a pure, unqualified entitlement.

The Congressional Black Caucus? Not serious. Oh, I believe they really mean it when they propose the horrendous and idiotic misanthrope Sheila Jackson Lee as head of Homeland Security; by serious, though, I mean logical, thoughtful, wise. Logical, thoughtful, wise people do not support a policy of careerism for ignorant, shameless, foul-mouthed, bullying hacks. Why? Because, in the first place, ignorant, shameless, foul-mouthed, bullying hacks don’t deserve to have their careers boosted, and in the second, they will make you look bad.

Oh, sure, Lee is currently a ranking member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security. She’s also a full-on narcissistic harpy who treats her own employees as if they were slaves in a buyer’s market. Imagine her trying to run one of the largest bureaucracies in government, employing the Pol Pot management style she currently employs among her congressional staffers. The whole department would probably defect, en masse, to Ecuador.

Of course, this may simply be the CBC’s strategy for getting rid of an embarrassing member. In which case: shrewd move guys!

Washington, D.C.

It isn't just the politicians who are crazy.

Detroit hits rock bottom

No, I'm not talking about the bankruptcy. I'm talking about the complete inversion of societal norms.

There’s such a thing as being too American, you know

Michael Shulan, one of the Big Apple’s mincing cultural exquisites, was plucked from the teeming masses of the city’s intellectualoids to serve as the creative director for the 911 Memorial Museum, in which capacity he originally tried to bar the display of an iconic photo of firemen raising a U.S. flag amidst the destruction.

Michael Shulan, the museum’s creative director, was among staffers who considered the Tom Franklin photograph too kitschy and “rah-rah America,” according to “Battle for Ground Zero” (St. Martin’s Press) by Elizabeth Greenspan, out next month.

“I really believe that the way America will look best, the way we can really do best, is to not be Americans so vigilantly and so vehemently,” Shulan said.

Hmmm…m’yes. Quite so, old top. The photo is merely a third-rate, derivative expression of the image of U.S. Marines raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi – which is, itself, nothing but a paean to American jingoism (and let’s not forget to congratulate ourselves on being among the relative few who know how “paean” is pronounced, let alone what it means, what?) Not to mention that the picture is…how shall I put this…insufficiently representative of America’s rich racial diversity. Not quite the thing, at all.

Mr. Shulan continues:

“My concern, as it always was, is that we not reduce [9/11] down to something that was too simple, and in its simplicity would actually distort the complexity of the event, the meaning of the event.”

Oh, absolutely, my dear fellow! There must be layers and layers of unexplored complexity, irony, and nuance that belie the superficial explanation that this unfortunate incident was due to the decision by Muslim terrorists to murder as many Americans as possible in one spectacular blow. Of course, the Muslim terrorists themselves have stated that it was as simple as that, but can they – poor, confused chaps that they are - legitimately claim to be the sole authors of this seminal act of violence? Should we really overlook our own role in what was arguably one of the most dramatic and tragic examples of entrapment in history?

Say, here’s an idea: why not photoshop a trio of proto-occupiers on top of the rubble, holding a banner with the words, “We apologize on behalf of America for our crusade against Islam”, or perhaps, “We asked for it!”

Or better yet: how about if a band of patriotic citizens bundles this bozo off to the docks, and heaves him onto a trash barge? Or is that too…simple, too lacking in complexity? Well, then, remove his trousers, paint his buttocks bright orange and epoxy a plastic daffodil between his butt-cheeks.” How’s that for “complexity” and “meaning”?

Life imitates art

“Gunman's audacious raid at waterfront hotel made famous by Hitchcock's 'To Catch A Thief’”.

Yummy!

The food preparation subsidiary of Paco Enterprises – Mission: Digestible, LLC – invites investors to consider buying into our new franchise, McCow-Stem-Cell’s. The goal is to take full commercial advantage of the revolutionary new beef produced from bovine stem cells.

The raw meat is said to be grey with a slippery texture similar to squid or scallop.

[Hmmm…Better make sure we have great fries]

Monday movie

Edward G. Robinson: down and out on Scarlet Street.

Sunday funnies

Perspectives, male vs. female (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Speedy Gonzalez beats ethnic stereotyping rap.

Ah, the charming place names of olde England.

Yeah, a baseball bat would certainly be my weapon of choice if I were going to rob a gun store.

Scary. Every day, I'm growing a little bit more sympathetic toward Wally.

What to do with Luxembourg?

Hey, who says Muslim countries make a mockery of justice?

Turkey clears bird of spying for Israel.

Eloquent discourse on the unsuitability of Chris Christie as a Republican candidate for president

I wouldn't vote for that fat bastard if he was runnin' against Bill Ayers.

Update: And, Ryan, you're beginnin' to piss me off, too.

Happy Feet Friday

Sammy Price is all over the place with the All Keys Boogie

ObamaCare is bad enough

But having it policed by the IRS is an idea that is completely incompatible with privacy rights and good government. It’s time for a line in the sand on this issue.

More on the general theme of government intrusiveness from Jeff Goldstein, who claims (correctly, in my view) that we now live in dragnet nation.

Obama: If I had ever attended a family reunion, it might have looked like that

Flash mob robs store in D.C.

I didn’t think Australian politics could possibly get more interesting…

…but I was wrong: “WikiLeaks Founder Assange to Run for Australian Senate”.

Gifted and stupid

Another artiste demonstrates that the possession of a particular skill does not necessarily equate to a high degree of general intelligence (even the skill in this case is assumed for the sake of argument; I never cared much for Pink Floyd, myself).

Rahm Emanuel to the Guardian Angels: Hey, stop drawing attention to the fact that I suck at fighting crime

Mayor Twinkle Toes says the city doesn’t need the famous citizens patrol helping out on Muggers’ Mile.

The U.S. Senate

A great place to find your soul mate.

Not in Fidel Castro's league yet...

...but getting there:

President Obama’s speech on jobs and the economy Wednesday in Illinois took 1 hour, 6 minutes, making it longer than every State of the Union address of his presidency except the one in January of 2010 when he spoke for 1 hour 9 minutes.

Weiner rising

New York City's (possible) next mayor exposes himself as a serial - and apparently unrepentant - flasher.

Update: Haw! "Weiner Steals Thunder on National Hotdog Day".

Assortment

I wish I'd have known; I might've bid on Doc Holliday's dentist chair.

Hey, if we can't have justice, cash and cell phones will do (H/T: 36 Chambers).

Things may not be looking up for Australia.

Liberty at Stake provides some interesting blog introspection.

Why, yes, I think "insanity" is, indeed, the mot juste.

San Diego mayor Bob "Filthy" Filner continues to excite comment. And I love this:

Attorneys familiar with the law say, if the actions described are true, Filner could be charged criminally with sexual battery.

Also last week the San Diego County Democratic Party issued an unusual press release after voting 24-24 to not ask for Filner's resignation.

So now there's going to have to be an expensive recall effort. California is so utterly boned.

The federal government's borrowing binge? Unsustainable.

Remember the Clinton rule when using a dart gun: never inhale.

Garry McCarthy - Chicago Police Superintendent, and arguably the most bone-headed police chief in America - is now fighting crime with strongly-worded letters.

Yeah, but can you get traffic updates?

Dirty dancing

(H/T: Doug Ross)

Democrat rule

The results are inevitable.

Monday movie

Kirk Douglas, as Doc Holiday, is as quick with a knife as with a gun.

Bonus! Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday face down a rancher and his crew.

The phony maverick

Every time he appears on the public stage, I clearly see the Rancho Liberal brand: "McCain backs Obama's call for 'stand your ground' review".

I'm getting tired of this narcissistic idiot; I wish Arizonans would, too, and shove this clown out of office.

Sunday funnies

Stacy McCain's loving tribute to the late Helen Thomas.

Via that wildest wild man of the worldwide web, TimT, comes this trailer for Star Wars Downunder, a fan film that Tim characterizes as a "documentary".

Mental health isn't the issue; dude just needs a faster chair.

Obama's border fix (click image to enlarge)...



The physical examination (a scene from the British comedy series, Doctor in the House)



Swampy puts you some Eng Lit education with Thug Notes.

Dude, that's like the happiest meal, ever

"Pot Pipe Found in Kid's Burger King Happy Meal".

Laughing at you, Mike, not with you

Michael Moore is getting divorced from his wife of 21 years.

Now, I never even knew he was married. Maybe I heard about it once, and then immediately blocked my mind to the fact (somehow, the notion of Moore being married to a female of the human species seems vaguely...obscene).

Anyhow, a couple of folks around the blogosphere are having fun with the development - for example, Jim Treacher: "Michael Moore to split assets, pants". Also, Tim Blair: "Moore is now Flint’s best-known power couple all by himself."

Obama: the fire seems to be dying down; hand me that can of gasoline

In the wake of the not-guilty verdict in the Zimmerman trial, the president ventured into the White House press room today and passed along a few (no doubt carefully scripted) remarks on race, a little monologue consisting of incoherent fog, occasionally lit up by flashes of naked pandering. Perhaps the only real difference between the thrust of this chat and an earlier one on the subject is that Obama has gone from fantasizing about Trayvon Martin being his son, to imagining that Trayvon Martin might have been…him, 35 years ago (a natural enough thought; Trayvon was reportedly into drugs, too). I was struck by two comments, in particular.

The first: “I think it's important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn't go away.” And never will, as long as there are professional race hustlers like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and, for that matter, Barack Obama, forever attempting to fan the flames and diminish the significance of the genuine progress in race relations that has been made in the United States over the last 50 years for the sake of maintaining their investment in the highly profitable victimhood industry. A sign of cultural maturity, one might suggest, is the ability of people to distinguish between the dead hand of the past, and the world they’re living in now, and to give more than, at best, an insincere and grudging credit to the reality that Sanford, Florida in 2013 is not anything at all like Selma, Alabama in the early 60s.

And then there’s this: "There are very few African American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping at a department store”. Here’s a news flash, Mr. Unifier: I ain’t African American, and I used to get followed around department stores when I was a long-haired teenager dressed in old jeans, biker boots and a khaki shirt with a frayed collar. Sometimes I would just be passing through a store to get to the mall area, and clerks would walk up to me and ask if they could help me (in that cool, stony voice that intimates that the real question is “What are you doing in here?”). To some extent, it’s a generational thing: the establishment is suspicious of the true intentions of impetuous youth – and rightly so.

Oh, and one final point, Mr. President: you took Florida in the 2012 election, and Zimmerman was one of the people who voted for you. He’s one of your supporters, man. I mean, just how much room is there under that bus?

Happy Feet Friday

The Benny Goodman Quartet swings with The World is Waiting for the Sunrise.

Man follows Joe Biden's advice

With predictable results:

A Washington state man who illegally fired a shotgun blamed his action on a piece of advice doled out by Vice President Joe Biden earlier this year.

"I did what Joe Biden told me to do," Jeffrey Barton told Washington affiliate KOIN. "I went outside and fired my shotgun in the air."

Barton pleaded not guilty to one count of illegal aiming or discharging a firearm Wednesday after firing a shotgun in the air as he chased away people he thought were trying to break into his car.

(H/T: Mrs. Paco)

Practically a bill of attainder

Eric Holder's Department of Just Us has now set up a tip line to gather information concerning George Zimmerman's past utterances, if any, of a racist nature. I cannot say that I have seen such shameless persecution of a single individual in my lifetime - at least, not in the America I knew.

Open Thread

I'll be offline for a couple of days, so feel free to engage in wide ranging philosophical discussions without me.

Another use for salt

It makes for some interesting art.

Point, Counterpoint

Mike McDaniel has an excellent summary of the closing arguments presented by both sides at George Zimmerman's trial. You've read or heard that the state's case was weak; the summations show just how weak.

My hat's off to the six jurors who did their duty in the face of enormous pressure to do precisely the opposite.

Update: Economist and sage, Thomas Sowell, weighs in.

Update II: It's all about the white rage.

Scenic route

I've had to make a few trips over the last couple of months, to Fredericksburg and Richmond, and I-95 has been so undependable - or rather, predictably useless - that I've been using US 1, the old north-south highway that runs all the way from Key West to the Canadian border in Maine. I enjoy US 1, because of the heterogeneous mix of pretty, rolling farm land, and run-down commercial districts, both elements yielding plenty of specimens of abandoned real estate, which interests me, strangely. Maybe it's the ghostly quality of buildings that once were new and functional, and played a role in the lives of people who are now (mostly) gone. Maybe it's just the idea of the inexorable working of nature and the elements in reducing the untended creations of man to ruin. I think a photo essay featuring some of the lonelier, more delapidated structures would be interesting.

For instance, near Aquia, I noticed this abandoned assisted-living facility, which I'm pretty sure was originally a roadside motor court (click on image to enlarge).







In addition to what's barely standing, there are also fascinating historical markers denoting what is now long gone. Also near Aquia, there is a crucifix marking the first English Catholic settlement in Virginia.

Monday movie

Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, as on-again, off-again partners in the oil business, in a scene from one of my favorite old movies, Boom Town.

Sunday funnies

Me? I plan to go back to quill pens.

There's a whole lotta boogiemen out there you have to watch out for.

From the Department of Dubious Skills.

I would have thought these things were quite common in the Detroit area.

Detectives are born, not made (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

The L.A. Beast takes the mouse trap challenge.

As if California didn't have enough problems

Janet Napolitano hopes to, er, repeat her successes as head of the Department of Homeland Security in her new job as president of the University of California system.


"Hey, Jerry, have you got those resumes from conservative applicants handy?"

Potential new source of funding for ObamaCare

Zimbabwe shows the way.

Poor women have been exploited at their most vulnerable time by a hospital that charged them $5 every time they screamed during child birth.

Go, Canada!

Canadians invent human-powered helicopter (don't miss the video; the contraption is a thing of beauty).

H/T: Distinguished Canadian, Captain Heinrichs.

Happy Feet Friday

I’ll have three fingers of low-down boogie in this here tavern, with J.T. Brown.

For my sins, I work for the federal government

And ride the Washington Metro...which decided to jazz up my evening ride by providing me with a train that broke down in a tunnel, stranding me and scores of other passengers in cars without adequate air conditioning for more than 2 hours. We spent the first 45 minutes waiting for Metro personnel to fix the train on the spot, and then another 45 minutes waiting for a recovery train to effect a rescue when the repair efforts failed. Then, once we all transferred into the new train (blissfully cool), we sat around for another 30 minutes because it, too, was having mechanical problems (a light on the instrument panel indicated that the doors weren't all closed properly). They finally got the problem solved, the train went to the next station, and then promptly offloaded us because...the doors started malfunctioning again. Another train came along shortly, however, and finally got us all to our various destinations without further trouble. A good thing, too, because I was starting to get hungry, and was observing the other passengers with an eye toward assessing potential tenderness and palatability, in case the delay ran another hour or two.

And now there's this: the Insider Threat Program. In order to prevent future leaks (or at least, those that don't make Obama look like a decisive leader), the White House wants all of us government employees to spy on each other, and report any "high risk persons or behaviors". Failure to report could result in criminal penalties.

Yeah, let's make our offices look as much like a Havana neighborhood as possible, complete with snitches and block captains. That ought to make for a more pleasant work environment. I swear, I think I'm going to put some of these up on the wall:

Hey, thanks for your service. Now put your hands up, potential terrorist.

Wounded hero gets the TSA treatment in California.

Zimmerman vs. the Narrative

Daniel Greenfield has posted an excellent essay about the Zimmerman trial and its real context over at his blog, Sultan Knish.

Maybe it will be

That obvious, I mean.



(H/T: Moonbattery)

What's a hardline Muslim to do?

Your Islamist government is overthrown by a (more or less) secular military, your political party is chased off the streets, your leaders are arrested, what do you do?

What else? Murder some Christians.

I've said it before and I'll say it again (quoting my best friend's late father): these people are jes' ate up with the dumb ass.

Ass hat

Seems like Osama Bin Ladin was in the habit of wearing a cowboy hat while in hiding; figured it protected him from drones, somehow.

Hmmm. What's that smell? I believe it's opportunity.

Drone protection...



Gitcha some.

Again?!?

The comic antecedents of this latest example of a very peculiar geophysical phenomenon are lost in the dusty archives of Tim Blair's old blog; but insiders will smile in the knowledge that Wronwright is still at large (H/T: Mark):

Six billion tonnes of water vanishes from underground Antarctic lake — leaves behind city-sized ice crater

A look back

Friend and commenter Nashville Beat sent this link to a fascinating mid-20's travelogue film about London, made with an experimental color process. Beautiful and haunting.

The discriminating burglar

Hmmm. Two people broke into the offices of a law firm that is representing a State Department whistleblower and took three computers, ignoring other items of obvious value (e.g., silver bars), and leaving an adjacent office that had more than a dozen computers completely untouched.

How strangely…selective.

Monday movie

Gregory Peck is a tired, aging gunslinger who just wants to be let alone.

Your move

How to jazz up a game of chess.

Sunday funnies

Taco Bell: my new favorite restaurant.

A sport I think I could enjoy.

Facebook: it has its limitations.

Sounds kind of like a typical prosecution witness at the Zimmerman trial.

Well, at least the Cubs are trying. They installed a new pitching machine the other day. Unfortunately it beat them 4-1.

Chef Gareth Blackstock (Lenny Henry) has an encounter with a health inspector.

Assortment

Obama and company: the perils of clueless obstinacy.

Mark Steyn takes a look at Nigel Farage and the UK’s independence Party.

When patriotism wasn’t a dirty word in Hollywood.

Announcing the creation of the “Free Prezilla!” movement.

Calvin Coolidge was a president who wasn’t afraid to say no.

Why intellect is not enough: Jean-Paul Sartre’s transformation from a philosopher into a communist propagandist.

An update on the increasing militarization of the police – and the increasing militancy of prosecutors.

Has anybody seen this man?

Obamacareless: Wes Pruden on a “fiasco for the ages” (Heh. “Valerie Jarrett, the president’s most trusted (if not necessarily most competent) adviser, promised that the determined president is ‘staying the course.’ This is not reassuring, either, since it’s ‘the course’ that’s the source of the disaster. The flood has washed out the bridge across the river, but never mind, the road to where the bridge used to be is still there.”)

Church of Satan: Hey, we’ve got some standards.

Happy Feet Friday

Hey, baby, your cash ain’t nothin’ but trash (the Clovers, from the mid 50s).

Happy Independence Day!

Ah, the Reagan era. Great times.



(Check out more from Jason Heuser's Presidential Hero series at BuzzFeed)

Update: Bob Belvedere has the text from Patrick Henry's famous speech.

Automotive history

A short course.

Sounds like a natural progression to me

“Mongolian neo-Nazis rebrand themselves as environmentalists”.

By the way: shades of P.G. Wodehouse! Remember the Oswald Mosely-like Roderick Spode? His Black Shorts organization and his secret ownership of a lingerie store (“Eulalie Soeurs”)? Observe:

Based in an office behind a lingerie store in the Mongolian capital, the shaven-headed, jackbooted Tsagaan Khass stormtroopers launch raids on mining projects, demanding paperwork or soil samples to be studied for contaminants.

Perhaps the response to these fellows should be the same that Bertie Wooster gave to Spode in The Code of the Woosters:

The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting "Heil, Spode!" and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: "Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?"

How interesting that I should have occasion to cite that hilarious passage again.

What if Obama were truly gutsy and competent?

That is obviously the premise of White House Down, a spectacularly ham-fisted piece of liberal propaganda, nicely demolished by Katie Yoder over at News Busters.

The thing is laughably predictable: hip black president vs. evil, racist right-wingers (it might as well have been produced by David Axelrod, in cooperation with Michael Moore).

I’m afraid Obama has yet to find his Leni Riefenstahl - although there is no end of aspirants to the role in the news media, as well as in Hollywood, faithfully propping up the shaky cardboard image of their increasingly dubious Übermensch, and (to switch metaphors in midstream) cheerfully building gaudy, yet incongruous, word pyramids in honor of their stick-figure pharaoh.

Oh, wow, is that a supernova?

No, that’s just Social Security imploding.

Why should Snowden get all the attention?

I, too, am in the mood to reveal our country’s secrets, and hereby lay out for the world’s inspection, the U.S. plan to invade Canada (H/T: American Spectator blog).

Oh, and by the way

The 19 firefighters were heroes.

Wendy Davis is not - except in the ugly world of “progressivism”, where infanticide is considered a human right, and death is celebrated as the first and best solution to the problems of life. Watching the talking air heads of the media fawn over a woman who favors a society in which the most dangerous place for a baby to be is in the womb of his or her own mother…pretty revolting.

God bless their souls

An almost unfathomable tragedy in central Arizona: 19 firefighters dead in the Yavapai County blaze.

Obama’s new friends (continued)

Syrian rebels savages beheaded a Catholic priest and two other men last week. May God bless the souls of Father Murad and the other victims.

Yet another black celebrity fantasizes that he’s Frederick Douglass

Or perhaps a better analogy would be Nat Turner.

Look, I don’t know for sure whether George Zimmerman was justified in using deadly force or not – that’s what the trial is supposed to determine - but neither does Jamie Foxx, and automatically proclaiming Trayvon Martin to be a helpless victim, by wearing t-shirts featuring a doe-eyed image of the young man, isn’t an appeal for justice; it is a demand for a race-based outcome in conformity with the bogus sensibilities of the liberal narrative.

Monday movie

How do criminals get jobs? Why, they go to interviews, same as you and me. A scene from Kansas City Confidential.