Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Feet Friday

Tiny Grimes and friends truck on with some of that smooth post-war R&B boogie.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

The First Amendment

Apparently more dangerous than ISIS, Ebola and Russian aggression combined.

African-Americans turn on Democrats

Some of them, anyway, as indicated in this interesting video.

ObamaCare: Surprisingly generous

Hey, Mr. and Mrs. American taxpayer, thanks for subsidizing insurance coverage for foreign diplomats (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

No surprise there

Bill Maher is apparently too right-wing for Berkeley.

With Obama...

...everything, including Ebola, is just politics.

The chickens**t comes home to roost

Ed Driscoll on the Obama administration's latest infantile attacks on Israeli prime minister Netanyahu.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Monday movie

Lee Marvin and Roger Moore mix it up in Shout at the Devil.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Spotted in the neighborhood

Saw this shiny red 1964 Impala convertible yesterday. Sweet.





Sunday funnies

We're one step closer to the world of The Matrix.

Take a note...

Hostile witness: "Cockroach disrupts pest control chief's testimony".

They didn't ask me! "America says no to cappuccino potato chips".

Let's talk about Vespas (from the amusing site, Stuff White People Like).

Air New Zealand's truly epic safety video.



Friday, October 24, 2014

A small matter, perhaps

But flubs like this don’t exactly inspire confidence in the mainstream media. I was listening to the radio on the way home from work yesterday, and some guy at ABC news said that the Ottawa shooter was armed with a Winchester lever-action shotgun.

Now, Winchester did indeed manufacture lever-action shotguns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but this line was discontinued in 1920 because it couldn’t compete against the far more popular pump-action shotguns. So unless the Ottawa shooter was armed with a very old weapon, he was, in fact, carrying a lever-action rifle.

Another brave Canadian Sergeant-at-Arms

Aaron Goldstein remembers René Marc Jalbert.

Hey, I don't want my hair to catch fire...

...but this looks like a potentially terrorist act: "Man with 'Islamic extremist leanings' attacks NY police".

Happy Feet Friday

Something a little different from my usual theme. Today we've got a combination of ballet - and magic.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Accountability

And the lack thereof. Kevin D. Williamson writes about the ominous increase in Gestapo-like raids by militarized police forces, and law enforcement’s apparently casual approach to, among other things, getting addresses right. A taste:
Bobby Griffin Jr. was wanted on murder charges. His next-door neighbor on Peck Street, Joseph Adams, wasn’t. But that didn’t stop the SWAT team from knocking down his door, setting his home on fire, roughing him up, keeping him tied up in his underwear for nearly three hours, and treating the New Haven man, who is gay, to a nance show as officers taunted him with flamboyantly effeminate mannerisms. If the events detailed in Mr. Adams’s recently filed lawsuit are even remotely accurate, the episode was a moral violation and, arguably, a crime.
Yeah, good luck with that lawsuit, Mr. Adams. Especially since the only witnesses were probably just the members of the SWAT team.

Rep. Jim McDermott reveals deep-seated fear of his hair catching on fire

Ostensibly the congressman is talking about people“overreacting” to the threat of Muslim terrorism, but he used the “burning hair” metaphor so frequently in an interview on MSNBC yesterday that it’s difficult to avoid concluding that congressman McDimwitt has some kind of phobia about his own, admittedly striking, mane of white hair suddenly bursting into flames, possibly as the result of overtaxing his thought-box:
You have to wait and get the information, and I think the president, by not getting his hair on fire is doing exactly the right thing. We don’t know who did this, we don’t know if there’s a conspiracy or anything else. All the speculation you’re seeing in the press is done by irresponsible people in my view…

You know, we’ve just gone through the Ebola virus. That was the crisis of last week. Everybody’s hair was on fire about Ebola and suddenly a shooting occurs in Canada and suddenly our hair is on fire that somehow the Muslim hordes are going to come and get us; there’s no evidence for that.”

”Hey, I smell smoke. Does anybody else smell smoke? Wait...OH MY GOD!!! MY HAIR!!!! IS MY HAIR BURNING?!?”

A good closing message for Republican candidates

From Jim Geraghty at NRO. Here’s a sample:
Democrats, as the party of government, have proven themselves all too willing to avert their eyes from the problems of government, to excuse or explain them away, or to announce some bold-sounding reform that never gets seriously implemented and is eventually forgotten. They’re all too enthusiastic about nodding in agreement to bureaucrats’ excuses that their failures can be solved with a bigger budget. They’re all too likely to believe that appointing some other D.C. staffer in a special czar position will suddenly create accountability, honesty, and diligence. They’re all too inclined to accept passive-voice “mistakes were made” explanations with blame assigned to “systemic” failures instead of particular individuals who failed to perform their duties, meet their responsibilities, and act with integrity.
Remember also Michael Walsh’s dead-on definition of the Democratic Party: “Think of the Democratic Party as what it really is: a criminal organization masquerading as a political party.”

The next step, of course, is likely to be more difficult than simply getting rid of Democrats: revivifying the GOP by replacing its useless establishment figures with principled constitutionalists. That task is likely to be a long, hard slog.

Chuck Norris vs. Wendy Davis

Sounds like no contest to me: "Chuck Norris Gives Texas Voters a Kick, Boosts GOP Candidate".

Today's Chuck Norris fact: Chuck Norris can catch more flies with vinegar than with sugar.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Terrorism strikes Canada

A gunman (a Muslim convert, who woulda figured?) shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, an army reservist standing guard at the National War Memorial, and then ran into the Parliament building, where he himself was shot and killed by House of Commons Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers.

May God bless the soul of Cpl. Cirillo, and his family and friends. And hats off to Mr. Vickers, for stopping the terrorist before he spilled any more blood.

H/T: Captain Heinrichs

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Former Australian Prime Minister hands in his dinner pail

About 40 years too late, apparently. Hal G.P. Colebatch remembers the late Edward Gough Whitlam – and not at all fondly. A small sample from a much longer indictment:
When Saigon fell in April 1975, Whitlam directed the Royal Australian Air Force not to evacuate Vietnamese who had worked for the Australians and whose lives were at risk. Huge Hercules transport aircraft flew out of Saigon and Da Nang empty. He even frustrated U.S. attempts to get them out.
Fellow sounds like the most frightful left wing ass.

The thing about the intelligentsia…

…is that they always seem to be making war on intelligence. Andrew Klavan confirms something that we’ve all long suspected: the elite (at least, the present crop of that self-appointed class) are actually pretty stupid.

New presidential logo



Found at that national treasure known as The People's Cube.

Is John Kerry the stupidest Secretary of State ever?

I don't know, he's probably got a lot of competition, including his predecessor, but he's in there fighting for the title. He has now briefly turned his brainstem from the contemplation of the horrors of climate change to the rise of ISIS, which he pretty much blames on you-know-who.

Is ObamaCare still a thing?

This horrible piece of legislation seems to have gotten lost in the crowd of the Obama administration's other disasters and scandals, but, for my money, it's still the number one domestic calamity hanging over the heads of present and future American generations.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Monday movie

John Wayne in an emotionally charged scene from the classic western, The Searchers.

Some weirdness to start out the week

Ten mysterious photos that (supposedly) have never been explained (although I suspect many of them have actually been debunked).

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Sunday funnies


Chinese architects go all wild and crazy.

Why, yes, as a matter of fact this is sour grapes from a Detroit Tigers fan...



I guess it's more comfortable than a rocky beach: "Walrus falls asleep on submarine".

Dudley Moore is a one-legged man applying for the role of Tarzan with Peter Cook in this sketch from Beyond the Fringe.



Dear kitten.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Redlining on the irony meter

Obama has appointed an Ebola czar – naturally, it’s a Democratic Party hack with no experience in health care, epidemics or disease containment – but the real issue is the president already has a czar. And, for some reason, no one’s heard a peep out of her during this whole crisis.

Meet Dr. Nicole Lurie, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response within the Department of Health and Human Services. The most interesting thing about her time at HHS seems to be that she may have been involved in a funding scandal that channeled money to a company controlled by a big political donor, and away from a company that was doing research on a drug that, among other things, shows some promise in treating…Ebola.

This is not only the most dangerous and incompetent administration in U.S. history. It also represents a unique blend of tragedy and farce – rather as if P.G. Wodehouse had co-written Julius Caesar with Shakespeare. One keeps waiting for Obama to hit bottom, but we’re apparently peering into a mighty deep hole – so deep, in fact, that we may never even hear the thud (or splash, as the case may be).

Some people never learn

Don't bring a knife to a gun fight.

Happy Feet Friday

In this recording of a live performance by Art Tatum of a tune called Tatum Pole Boogie, Tatum applies his magical technique to the old eight-to-the-bar standard. Listen, and you'll understand why someone once wrote that Tatum's lighting quick fingers made it sound like two guys playing the piano.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

See no Islam, hear no Islam, speak no Islam

Mark Steyn opines on the resurgence of militant Islam and the possible restoration of the Caliphate (and the imbecility of secular progressives like John Kerry, who persist in arguing that this religion can’t possibly mean what many of its adherents fervently believe it means).

If we can’t impeach him…

…maybe we can quarantine him.

"Coherence Dissolves" would be more descriptive

"The Pentagon finally has a name for the operation against the Islamic State: Inherent Resolve."

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Mmm boy!

Gonna get me some Cheerwine pie next time I’m in Richmond.

For those unacquainted with Cheerwine, it is a kind of cherry soda made by a company based in North Carolina. When I was growing up, it was only available in the western part of the state, and was a special treat that we only got when we visited my grandparents; however, they now “export” it to other states, including Virginia.

And you’ve got to love a magazine called Garden & Gun.

Due process?

What an archaic notion! What (according to false liberals such as Ezra Klein) is due process when compared to the benefits of social change? Charles C.W. Cooke explores the chilling totalitarian subtext of the progressive ethos.

Bad combo

Obama’s like a combination of three notable historical leaders; unfortunately, they happen to be Neville Chamberlain, Jimmy Carter and Salvador Allende.

Republicans are likely to score big in the upcoming elections, but it seems this will represent a public rebuke to Obama and the Democrats rather than an endorsement of Republican policy prescriptions.

Are there any Republican policy prescriptions, by the way? I mean, aside from watered down versions of Democrat policies? Mark Levin had a number of depressing observations to make last night on his radio program, including the evaporation of support among certain Republicans for repealing ObamaCare, and the continuing shiftiness on amnesty. Perhaps the most stunning of his assertions is that the Republican establishment is working hard to pad the GOP’s majority in the House, not to counter Democrats, but to isolate and contain representatives associated with the Tea Party. Perhaps voters are willing to rally around a banner bearing the motto, “At least we’re not that guy”, for one election cycle, but establishment pabulum doesn’t make very good mortar for an enduring political platform, and I fear that the Democrats will return, more menacing than ever, like the evil spirit mentioned in the gospel of St. Matthew:
"Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."

Time to retire, Karl

Karl Rove's American Crossroads group, which has focused far more on trying to freeze conservative Republicans out of elections than on opposing Democrats, seems to be sputtering.

For a guy who doesn't like the military...

...Obama has sure created a need for a bigger one.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Monday, October 13, 2014

Assortment

Did the Obama administration know well beforehand that we were facing an outbreak of Enterovirus D68 as a result of the anticipated increase in illegal immigration from Central America?

An interesting warning about the government's capacity for abusing its power from a guy who's in a position to know.

Few groups have the ability to make liberals' heads explode the way the NRA does: the L.A. Times blames the NRA for Ebola.

North Carolina State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler seems to think his personal opinion outweighs the law, at least when it comes to concealed carry. Bob Owens isn't having it.

The BBC seeks out... Iowahawk(!)

ISIS, Ebola, hordes of illegal immigrants, Russian imperialism. How comforting that our Secretary of State is still focused on - you guessed it! - climate change.

Some of Wendy Davis's best friends are confined to wheelchairs.

President Obama continues to train for second career after leaving White House.

Dumb and dumber...



Monday movie

Robert Newton plans revenge against his unfaithful wife's boyfriend.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Sunday funnies

Going green is sometimes like going crazy.

Another reason to hate jury duty.

Maybe they flew south for the winter: "Hunt on for 1.5-ton gargoyles missing from church".

Time to get your dog ready for Halloween.

Brighten up your kitchen with the Voodoo knife block!

Key and Peele and an awesome Hitler story...

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Disaster Man



Gratefully lifted from the outstanding blog, Bookworm Room.

The Bush "dynasty"

The politics of meh. Patrick Howley reminds us that it was largely a combination of opportunistic conservative posturing and substandard opponents that enabled the Bush's to win elections (when they won elections).

I've got nothing against the Bush family, personally. H.W., W. and Jeb at least seem to be basically honest, decent men. But they're not fit to lead a revolution, because they either don't grasp the extent to which progressive ideology has undermined our traditional values, or perhaps because, at some fundamental level, they agree with some of the progressive movement's imperatives. We don't need dynasties (whether the name is Bush or Clinton).

Prayers for Richard McEnroe

Fellow blogger Richard McEnroe is having some significant health issues, as described by Deborah in the comments of a previous post.

We wish him the best of luck and pray that he comes through this trial safely.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Happy Feet Friday

Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey (and crew) deliver a red hot version of Well, Git It.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

How serious is Big Media about sponsoring intelligent programs dealing with important issues?

This serious: “NBC Tried to Lure Comedian Jon Stewart to Host 'Meet the Press'”.

A guy who’s made a career out of feeding breadcrumbs to an audience packed with liberal pigeons – sounds like a perfect choice to me, wonder how they let him get away.

Paul Krugman: Au contraire! Obama is quite the success story

Paul Krugman rolls up his sleeves, throws himself at the Augean stables, and emerges covered in horse shit .

Take just one topic: the economy. Does this look like success to you?

And if the guy’s been so successful, why are Democratic candidates treating him like he has Ebola? Why do a majority of Americans now consider him a flop?

When even the floptastic grandee of Georgia goobery starts to look statesmanlike next to Obama, the word “success” should be on no one’s lips as a descriptive term applicable to the present administration.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Why we fight

Even though the Republic may have gone into an irremediable decline, it is still important to stand for liberty, as Spencer Klavan observes in a short, but profound, essay.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

How does it feel, Lois?

To be hounded, I mean. Like your conservative targets were, by you.

Although, no, that’s not quite right. You were, in all likelihood, violating the law in targeting conservative organizations – almost certainly you violated the law in destroying relevant emails - whereas, in the video, you are simply being barraged with questions from a reporter. So the hounding is of a very different order – not so much hounding at all, in fact, but a vigorous and legitimate demand for a proper accounting.

Why is the Left so enamored of the public school system?

Because of (emphatically not in spite of) the fact, pointed out by Kevin D. Williamson, that “government schools are…the single most destructive institution in American public life”.

I don’t think “discipline” means what you think it means

An AP report leads off the latest display of Joe Biden’s chronic foot-in-mouth disease with the headline, “Blunders renew questions about Biden's discipline”.

No, this is not a question of discipline. It is a matter of intelligence. Joe Biden is an idiot who has left a trail of gaffes over a period of decades, proof positive not of an absence of discipline, but of an inferior mind. It is also an issue of the hypocrisy of the mainstream media. When Biden says something stupid and/or insensitive, it’s usually just “Joe being Joe”. When a Republican says something inappropriate (or something that can be made to sound inappropriate by depriving it of context), the press is all over the gaffe (or “gaffe”). I suspect that the only reason that Biden’s flubs are now getting any genuinely critical coverage at all is that the media wants to derail the ambitions of even the most unlikely prospective challengers to Hillary’s pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination.

The lost weekend

Well, not lost, exactly. You see, a fan belt came off the blog and I had to send to Dubuque to get a replacement. Can’t post without a fan belt, otherwise the thing overheats and melts my hard drive.

No? Not plausible? Ok, the real story.

Two events transpired in the very recent past which necessitated a trip to North Carolina. Bro Paco was diagnosed with prostate cancer a little over a month ago, and had surgery last Tuesday. We (Mrs. Paco, #1 son, granddaughter Maggie and I) drove down to NC on Friday and had planned to go visit him in the hospital in Charlotte Saturday morning. On the way to the hospital, he called and said he had convinced them to discharge him, so we collected him and carried him home. He is still experiencing some troublesome side effects – bloating, intense pain and his abdomen looks like someone was using him for target practice with an AR-15 , plus he was readmitted to the hospital yesterday because of a suspected blood clot – but, except for all that, his prognosis is good.

The other event was the biennial Paco family reunion. Because of the trip to the hospital, we were a couple of hours late, but that’s kind of the way I like it, since whenever you get a large number of Pacos together, you have to worry about the possibility of some kind of law enforcement sting operation, and I always like to make sure I’m not walking into an ambush. I met a man with my same name who turned out to represent the Texas branch of the family. Frankly, I didn’t know there was a Texas branch of the Pacos until I met this gentleman, who told me that a contingent of Pacos headed out that way in the early 1850s. He was a little vague on what the original bunch did out there; I asked him if they had anything to do with the cattle business, and he just smiled, shrugged and cocked his head to one side, as if to say, “something like that”. Anyhow, I hope to follow up with him in the near future.

Little Maggie – a genuinely sweet-natured child, vivacious and fun-loving (even if it is her grandfather who says so) – was a big hit, the food was excellent, and, as always, it was good to see those far-flung members of the family whom I encounter only rarely (and what a treat to see them all at liberty!)

Friday, October 3, 2014

Happy Feet Friday

Billie Holiday returns, joined by some of the greatest names in jazz – including Ben Webster, Lester Young and Roy Eldridge – in Fine and Mellow.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Two peas, pod

Barry and Jimmuh: soul mates.

You can almost feel the incompetence wafting from that photo, almost smell the flop sweat.

Good news from Canada

The Mounties will be keeping their fur-lined winter hats (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Can this administration do nothing right?

"The Obama administration withdrew updated quarantine regulations in 2010, prompting questions about how the policy change may have impacted the current Ebola situation."

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Well, if the Obama administration is behind it, she’s got nothing to worry about

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner claims the U.S. is trying to overthrow her government (and maybe even assassinate her).

Public health alert

We now have our first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S.

Unfortunately, about the best you can do to prevent infection, aside from wearing a haz-mat suit, is to frequently wash your hands.