OldSouth Wishes A Merry Christmas To One And All

OS could release a torrent of words upon the world and not begin to describe the depth of his gratitude to his Creator, Saviour and Sustainer; his Prophet, Priest and King; the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth.

Christ reached down and did for OS what was otherwise impossible--out of his mercy and love he reached down and rescued a young man whose life was completely swirling the drain, restored him to health, sanity, productivity, and placed him into an extraordinary marriage and family. Every bit of it completely undeserved, and yet granted in love. Every day since, Christ has done the same.

While OS is loath to preach, he does wish to convey that the Babe in the manger, who is Lord of Creation, offers you the same grace.

Merry Christmas.

Susan Rice Learns The True Cost Of Loyalty To The Winner Of The Nobel Peace Prize

Liberals become enraged when reminded that words have meaning, and that words spoken by government officials about serious matters really do have consequences.

OS has been amused to hear the name-calling at Outside The Beltway to just such assertions.

Susan Rice will never be Secretary of State. That's because she deliberately spread misinformation about the attacks on Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Not just one time, off-hand, but on five different networks, repeating the same disinformation--that the attacks were 'demonstrations' about a YouTube video that simply got out of hand.

That story was coming apart at the seams even as she was attempting to sell it.  She never refuted it, never returned to any of those networks to withdraw it. It was a case of loyalty trumping integrity, and she is shocked to find that the Senate wants a Secretary of State who is in the habit of telling the truth.
  
The Obama White House knew from the get-go that there never was a demonstration.

They knew it was al-Qaeda.

 Obama was too busy fund-raising to bother to rescue those poor people.

She says she was handed an intelligence briefing, one which the CIA later disavowed. Apparently, she didn't bother to ask questions before being sent out to take one for the team.

So, either she knew it was a lie (likely), or was just too lazy to ask questions (possible). In any case, she was completely willing to go out and try to sell the implausible story that a disorganized mob armed itself with mortars and instantly learned how to use them in a coordinated attack viewed real time by the White House situation room.

 It all fell apart, rapidly. She never went back to correct the record, and salvage her credibility.

Obama won his election, but just like Nixon, the odor of a major scandal lingers in the air.

And in dangerous times like these, the last thing this country needs is a replay of that soap opera.

Just Remember, Our Tax Dollars Rescued These Union Members. Violent Mob Outside The Capitol In Lansing Michigan

And Duh' Left characterizes people who attend Tea Party rallies as goons, people who attend church as intolerant morons, people who vote GOP as racist know-nothings.

And these are The Heroes of Duh' Left, doing what they do best.

Expecting to hear a peep of protest from the White House? Don't hold your breath.



Three cheers for the Michigan legislature and governor. Here's hoping and praying that more legislatures gain inspiration from their example. State by state, county by county, village by village, the Obama agenda can be disassembled, one little Leggo block at a time.

By the way, the governor of Tennessee announced today that his state won't bend its citizenry over the table by establishing one of Obama's 'Health Care Exchanges'.

He concluded that HHS is run by a clown circus, and he wants no part of it. And, he realized that the Tennessee legislature would never cooperate in the scheme.

If Himself wants to run the health care system, he can certainly try. He'll be finding fewer and fewer people willing to cooperate, especially as this video of his most loyal supporters circulates.

Julian Hattem: The Campaign That Never Ends. The Presidency That Never Began

Yep, he nailed it on the head.

Already, it feels like he's back on the trail. Just a month after the election, as the fiscal cliff approaches, President Obama has held just one meeting at the White House with Speaker John Boehner in the last three weeks, yet has taken the time to go to Pennsylvania and Virginia and chat with suburbanites and business owners. From the outside, he's building the consensus that he's looking for in Washington. 

But, but. but---we all thought Himself won the election.

Silly us!

The November election was just a way-stop on his endless campaign. This man possesses zero, nil, no skills required for actually governing. It's a point that many have tried to make about Himself for years. He's a Chicago machine pol, with a couple of years in the Illinois Senate, followed by a couple of years in the US Senate, and then to the White House.

He doesn't negotiate because he doesn't know how to actually hold serious conversations about serious things. He doesn't know how to work with Congress or the states of  the Union, so he issues executive orders and has the Justice Department sue the bejeezus out of anyone who dares go off his script.

He does know how to do one thing: Pander to crowds of disaffected people who look to him as some type of secular Messiah. So, he does that.

It beats working.

Meanwhile, OS encountered some other disaffected people last week:

He enjoys visiting pawn shops and antique malls, a guilty pleasure perhaps. But, he has also purchased some real treasures in these places. Last week OS had two hours free, so off he went to pawn shops in Louisville. He browsed at two, before his free hours expired. The first featured lovely, lovely jewelry--and OS regretted not having enough liquid cash to walk out with one particular ring for the sainted Mrs. OS. It was a dandy!

The second was in a less prosperous neighborhood, to state things diplomatically. For all its loveliness, there are swathes of that fair city which are, well, not prosperous. This pawn shop was flogging a model of a 9mm pistol that sells for well under $200.  There were buyers at the counter, one older black gentleman in particular, eager to buy. The salesman told him "I won't promise you it will be reliable. It may only get one shot off before it jams, and that could be dangerous for you. The brand names we feel confident of start at four to five hundred dollars." The old gent says, "I can't afford that, but I've got to protect my grand-babies from the burglars who are breaking in at night."

He handed over his drivers license for the background check, and the salesman called back to the stockroom for one of the 9mm MaybeItWillFire guns.

There weren't any thugs in the store, just middle-aged and older black folks desperate to protect themselves from the thugs. They aren't criminals--they can legally purchase firearms because they have no criminal records. They used to live in lovely middle-class neighborhoods, where their parents felt no need to lock the doors.

This is Life Under Obama. The Campaign That Never Ends. The Presidency That Never Began.

Right-To-Work Arrives In Michigan: The Protests Seem Hollow To OS

Wow. The Michigan House and Senate, both firmly GOP institutions, passed identical Right-To-Work legislation yesterday.

Man bites dog. Someone got something done.

The Democrats, predictably, screamed cursed and walked out.  That's who they are, that's what they do. They can't stop the legislation from being passed, signed, and made the law of Michigan. Since it contains an appropriation, it can't be put on the ballot for recall, either.

Remember 2009/2010, Washington DC, when the Democrat Congress and Democrat House pushed through the BiggestPileOfPorkInHistory, followed by Obamacare? The GOP members did not scream curse and walk out. They did vote against it, though, and were chastised for being 'partisan'.

Labor types flooded the capitol building in Michigan Thursday, cursing and screaming, attempting to disrupt business. No one in the press or GOP called them names.

Tea Party types wrote their representatives, called their offices, traveled to DC to respectfully protest. They were called horrible names, characterized as ignorant, racist, the scum of the earth. Dads and Moms and children, the people who still maintain intact families, own little businesses and go to church. These became The Enemy.

In early 2009, there was a meeting with House GOP members and Himself, with the GOP members begging the President not to pursue this course of action. They were dismissed out-of-hand, with Himself not attempting to conceal his contempt when he crowed 'Elections have consequences'.

Then he accused them of partisanship.

So, here we are, in Michigan, the home of the US Labor movement. Elections do have consequences, and the GOP is control. (How was it that Obama won the state, given the House and Senate results?)
The place is bleeding jobs, with firms moving to Indiana.

Legislation has been passed, which states that union participation is voluntary, and that payment of dues is voluntary. The Democrat cash cow has just been taken to the slaughterhouse. Union leaders will have work for their money, just like everybody else. Businesses will be able to establish and hire people without threat. Employment may return. Can't have that, you know--it may mean the free market actually works, and make people suspect that the union types may just be thugs after all.

The Justice Department will, of course, sue to overturn. It will lose, but it will burn a lot of Michigans' time/money/energy in the meantime.

So, one final thought for the Michigan Democrat and labor machine: Elections have consequences. 
It sucks to be you.

Once Again, Three Loud Cheers For Dean Dad

OS probably votes differently from Dean Dad, but he admires this gent so much.

Dean Dad has the unenviable task of helping to run a community college in the Northeast. He sees the realities of the lives of the young people (and now many not so young) that he is tasked with shepherding through the lower realms of American post-high-school education.  It gets seriously ugly sometimes. Dean Dad is a far better man than OS, by far.

This post is one of the best that has ever, ever, ever appeared on his little corner of cyberspace. It realistically describes, concretely, why young people need to pursue further education, and the consequences for those who don't. He also makes the case for the states to keep paths to education available for everyone, not just the well-heeled.

Well worth reading and taking to heart.

If Only If Only If Only...

'...the Left and its comrades in the press would express even twenty percent of the outrage about the dictatorship now forming in Egypt as they did about Todd Akins ill-informed view of gynecology, Mitt Romney's wealth, and NFL referees--we might have a chance of the entire Middle east not blowing up just now.

Counting Rifles: Iran Re-arming Hamas Via Sudan

This year, while we were paying attention to vital issues such as Rep. Akin's somewhat antiquated views on gynecology, and listening to an eavesdropped presentation by candidate Romney, and the latest adventures of Snookie (is that how it's spelled?), and NFL replacement referees, other people in other parts of the world were, well, a bit more focused on other things.

Like the Iranians, for instance....

 From the Jerusalem Post:

Israeli intelligence satellites have spied the loading of rockets and other materiel believed to be destined for the Gaza Strip, The Sunday Times reported citing Israeli officials. According to the report, Iran began preparing the weapons shipment around the same time Israel and Hamas negotiated cease-fire understandings late last week.

Sweet...turns out they've been busily arming Hamas with sophisticated missiles (and, naturally one would assume, trained people to operate and keep track of them, as did the Soviets in their day).

The shipment is said to include Iranian-made Fajr-5 medium-range rockets, the same model that was fired into the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas during Operation Pillar of Defense, the Times reported.
Last month, following an air attack on a weapons plant near Khartoum, the Defense Ministry's director of policy and political-military affairs accused Sudan of acting as a transit point for weapons shipments to Gaza.

OS does note that the Iranians/Hamas types did wait until after November 6 to begin firing their missiles at Israel--wouldn't want to, you know, disrupt TheObamaNarrative about how wonderfully well Himself has been able to restrain the Iranians and the Islamist crazies. That would have been impolite.


And, simultaneously, it was convenient for the whole Petraeus affair to wait until after November 6 as well. And that silly thing in Libya--well, Hillary was otherwise occupied in Australia at a wine-tasting, just couldn't work in a conversation with Congress.

So, Iran/Hamas politely waited for the official Obama victory lap to Burma (huh? Burma?) to begin setting off its own roman candles in celebration.

They are, after all, polite about this sort of thing. We will serve no mayhem before its time.

OS was walking one of the dogs yesterday, and an old movie came to mind; title forgotten, movie forgettable, but not this scene: A British contingent found itself holed up in a fort somewhere in Southern Africa, surrounded by more pissed-off Zulu tribes than one could count. The Zulu chiefs lined up their troops and staged a frontal assault in broad daylight against a well-prepared defense. The outcome was predictable--hundreds upon hundreds of dead tribesmen, no British losses, general good cheer amongst the troops.

A younger officer exclaims breathlessly to the grizzled veteran about what a great day they had had, and the grizzled old gent in his best stiff-upper-lip counseled him, 'You don't understand what happened here. They were just counting how many rifles we have.'  The movie became a much grimmer affair for the Brits from that point. The lives of several hundred warriors were meaningless to the Zulu chiefs, so long as they got their rifle count.

OS contends we have just witnessed Iran/Hamas counting Israeli and American rifles. Let's fire this many of this kind of missile from these spots, and see how well the air defenses work, and gauge the reaction from the IDF. Sure, they'll bomb the bejeezus out of us, but since we're set up in neighborhoods, all the press will report are images of bombed-out apartment buildings and dead children. Small price to pay to count rifles.

So, they found out that Israel does have good air defenses, so long as the US resupplies them, and they can mobilize 70K reservists in short order (now, where and how did they deploy?), and Miss Hillary will come scurrying from the Burma Victory Tour to make certain the Israelis don't do anything rash like flood Gaza with seventy thousand troops and tear them from limb from limb. After all, they reason, with that Muslim Botherhood sistah' at her side, we're good, and we've got access to every conversation anyway. No worries.

All of this feels so....Spanish Civil War...presented to the world as an epic struggle between the forces of light and dark, with its American brigade, and Picasso paintings and Hemingway and even Kim Philby lurking about, on the English payroll while working for Moscow. The stuff of novel and film and Pulitzer Prizes.

Actually, it was a dress rehearsal for the horrors to come, as the Nazis and the Bolshies tested weapons and tactics, using Spanish cities and civilians as live targets. The outcome didn't much matter, vis-a-vis who ended up in power in Madrid. The bigger question from Berlin was, 'Are we good to go?', and the answer came back a resounding 'Javohl!'.

And so on to the Sudetenland. And Poland.

Sitting here in his small town in the southern United States, there is damned little OS can do about this, except note that it is happening, and contend we have just witnessed a rehearsal.

In the meantime, every day is precious. Mrs. OS is wrapping presents, and there is a grandson to ogle today, and coffee to drink, and music to enjoy. It is a glorious clear chilly day, and the oaks are shedding their leaves.

And, for today, OS will remember the tale of Joseph from Genesis. All those evil people played into Jehovah's hands, and Israel was preserved thereby.

Thanksgiving Weekend, 2012

Life has been busy since OS last greeted his loyal army of readers. Eventful, blessed, productive, frightening at a few moments. 

OS's first grandson was welcomed into the world. If the events of his arrival serve as a portent, this young man is in for some real adventures. Those events (details don't really matter) also helped OS gain a bit of perspective in the process, about what is important, what is less important, and that which matters not at all. OS also learned that his first instincts regarding 'what-I-would-do-in-such-a-situation' were likely not the wisest course of action. He also learned that his daughter is one tough,  smart cookie, level-headed in the worst of crises, and that his son-in-law may be a more capable husband than first suspected.

That was just one episode since 6 November. The election just flew into the slipstream of life, and OS missed out on all the gnashing of GOP teeth in the aftermath.

OS regretted the outcome, but was not shocked by it. And given some days to ruminate, and a bit of newly-earned perspective. he finally has something to say.

Perhaps he has been wrong all along. He thought Obama and crew were an anomalous event, a case of a hustler who dupes his victims until all eventually unravels. He would be found out, moved out, and some semblance of sanity could be regained. This was an incorrect assumption.

Obama and his circle are not an anomalous event, and they are not the major problem we face as a nation (although they are problematic). Obama and Company are not the problem; they are the symptom, the natural product of a culture that has lost its sense of itself, its history, its values. 

Do Obama and Company lie about most everything, daily? Why, yes. The Petraeus Affair is just one example. This is serious stuff, ya'll. Hundreds upon hundreds of young people from the military of both the US and the UK arriving home either dead or maimed in body and spirit from Afghanistan, and we find out that their happily married commander is enthusiastically shagging his biographer, and a Washington Post staffer is serving as a ghost-writer for the biographer who is enthusiastically shagging the happily married commander in Afghanistan, the place from which hundreds upon hundreds of young people serving in the military arrive home to the US or UK either dead or maimed in body and spirit.

The standard Clintonian response is to claim, 'Well, that's just his private business, and does not impact his performance as an officer.' No harm/no foul.

OS dares anyone to try telling that to the bereaved families, or the wounded and their families. 

Go ahead, give it a try...let all of us know how you fare.

But the true moral of the story is, that for the vast majority of the citizens of the country, this stuff just doesn't matter. Truth, untruth/untruth, truth...ni modo, as the Mexicans say with a shrug.

The government runs guns to Mexican gangs, and hundreds of innocents are killed with them, and cabinet officers lie shamelessy about it? No matter.

Reports of no inflation when the price of fuel, milk and corn double? No response.

8.9% percent unemployment stats that really may be closer to 18.9%? No objection here. 

For poor souls like OS and his ilk, who believe we live in a created order, in a universe into which morality is woven, this is maddening. We rage and splutter and protest. But for the other half of the country, many of those assumptions simply do not hold sway. It isn't that they were considered and rejected, it's as if they never existed anyway. They never emerge above the intellectual radar horizon of their lives. It's not about race or income level, lest anyone be tempted toward that assumption. These folks live in all our neighborhoods, rich or poor, white or non-white.

For folks such as these, Obama is comforting, inspiring even. He can tell them WhatTheyWishToHear: That life is about them, their desires, their perceived needs, their fears, their stuff or lack thereof, their resentments, their perception of 'fairness'. That money really does grow on trees, that He Himself will look after them and smite the evil prosperous ones, and go to war against those nasty MiddleClassValues they so disdain.

Some claim, as did Romney and Limbaugh, that the vote was, in effect, bought by government largesse. This really is much too simplistic an answer.

So, given this, what next to do?

That question to be covered in subsequent posts. What to do, how to live in this strange, unfamiliar time?

In the meantime, OS is thoroughly enjoying his weekend with Mrs. OS, tidying up around the house, making soup, watching the Bond movies on the tube, talking with the kids.

And of course, googling at his grandson. For whom he is so grateful...

A Time To Reflect...OS Mulls November 2012

OldSouth hasn't disappeared, loyal legions of readers. But he has taken some time to reflect. The masthead still holds true--Culture Shapes Economy.

There has been much much much hand-wringing about the election outcome of last week. OS did not hold great hope that Mr. Romney would prevail against Himself and Himself's minions, although he came impressively close.

So the first conclusion OS draws is:

There are some 57 million people out in the voting public who did not totally drink the Obama Kool-Aid. That's a lot of people.

Much of the hand wringing has been about 'how the country has changed, it is a blacker/browner/immigrant/food-stamp culture that sees the government as Santa Claus (as Mr. Limbaugh so succinctly states it), etc, etc.'

Well, yes. This should not be surprising. When even gas-station convenience markets along the interstate highway system proudly post signs that that accept SNAP cards and other forms of government assistance cards for payment, the ground has shifted under our feet.

Second conclusion:

Piles of cash left out on the sidewalk will attract all manner of people, from the Jon Corzine types to drug-addicted street people, seeking their share of the loot. We should not be surprised that people will vote for the folks who deliver the piles of cash to the sidewalk. Mr. Romney's comments about the 47% were unfortunate because they was only descriptive. He did not, sadly, address the bigger issue of the moral hazard that accompanies government largesse, be it to banks or single mothers.

One would think, that given his dismal record, Mr. Obama and company didn't stand a chance. It's only logical.

Third conclusion:

Logic is over-rated. The behavior of most people, whether political, financial, romantic etc is driven by emotion. Obama understands this perhaps better than most of this present age. Just as did Eva Peron in hers. 

We are accustomed to a simpler political model: Candidate gains office via election, governs/serves/legislates for the appointed term, and spends some final months of the term making the case for a return to office. Easy. This model no longer is in use. 

OS has a friend in Ohio now exhausted by it all. Turns out, the Obama campaign of 2008 never departed, never let up a moment, kept all its Ohio offices open. These past four years have not been about governance, they have been a perpetual 2012 campaign.

Fourth conclusion:

At some point, chickens do come home to roost, to quote one famous clergyman of Mr. Obama's acquaintance. At some point, Mr. Obama will actually have to govern, and OS hears the faint sounds of clucking and crowing over the horizon. 

All those happy folks in the crowd in Chicago, the TrueBelievers, were jubilant last Tuesday evening. Good for them, they had worked hard, won, and got to celebrate and cheer. No problem there. But OS found himself thinking 'These folk aren't just celebrating that their guy won. They seem to be cheering for some watershed event, that from this day forward the culture of Protestant Heterosexual Monogamy/Work/Frugality has been dealt a mortal blow, and WE are going to replace it with our own Utopian Vision.'


Fifth conclusion:

Be careful what you ask for; you wishes may come true. Those stories about finding the magical lamp are cautionary tales.

Back to the hand-wringing folks. Either our ideas work on the historical long view or they don't. Math is math or it isn't. Physics is physics or it isn't. God is either mocked or He isn't. Christianity asserts that the Almighty is just that. He is the Potentate of Time, and rulers rule only with His forebearance. He always brings good out of evil, as Bonhoeffer reminds us. 

Sixth conclusion:

If we do a bit less hand-wringing, and go quietly about the business of building our families, churches, communities and states, we'll all do better. Instead of railing about Obama and his friends, make certain your grandchildren know their hymns and Psalms. It's pretty difficult to lord it over  people with hearts and heads full of that poetry. Remember the era of samizdat in the old Soviet Union--pulled the regime down brick by brick in the end.

It ain't over 'til its over. God may be doing us a favor, we're not privy to Divine Intentions.

It ain't over yet.

CBS In The Tank for Obama, Truth Be Damned

If we didn't already suspect it, this is proof positive...

From Breitbart:

In an astonishing display of media malpractice, CBS News quietly released proof--two days before the election, far too late to reach the media and the public--that President Barack Obama lied to the public about the Benghazi attack, as well as about his later claim to have called the attack "terrorism" from the beginning.

CBS unveiled additional footage from its 60 Minutes interview with President Obama, conducted on Sep. 12 immediately after Obama had made his statement about the attacks in the Rose Garden, in which Obama quite clearly refuses to call the Benghazi an act of terror when asked a direct question by reporter Steve Kroft:

KROFT: Mr. President, this morning you went out of your way to avoid the use of the word terrorism in connection with the Libya Attack, do you believe that this was a terrorism attack?

OBAMA: Well it’s too early to tell exactly how this came about, what group was involved, but obviously it was an attack on Americans.  And we are going to be working with the Libyan government to make sure that we bring these folks to justice, one way or the other.

Therefore, Obama's later claim to have considered the Benghazi attack to be a deliberate act of terror from the get-go was a bald-faced lie.

CBS knew as much, and sat on the footage that would have blown their home-boy's story out of the water. It was released, quietly, unannounced, on Sunday--far too late to enter the debate, but early enough for arse-covering. In other words, they actively abetted the lie.

Any behavior will do, just so long as it achieves the desired result.

These people have. to. go., before they get us all killed.

Forward! Let's Continue The Progress Of The Last Four Years! Forward!

Only one problem with this plan: The unemployment rate is now higher than when Himself took office.

So says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Hmmm.....

Got Vote?

Romney Running Ads In Pennsylvania...

...which means this traditionally BlueState is up for grabs.

All he need do is tell the truth about Obama, in Obama's own words:



OS finds this ad very cheering and bracing. It's not character assassination...it's just the blunt facts.

Kentucky, on the other hand, is not in play. A prankster put his name on the Democrat primary ballot last spring in the presidential race, and garnered north of 40% of the votes. Obama has been that terrible for the coal industry. He especially hasn't shown his face in Western Kentucky.

Southern Illinois is also coal country. What if everrrrrryyyyybody down there turned out to counterbalance the ballot stuffing in Chicago? Obama may yet win the state, but huge red swaths in the state map could scare those thugs into some semblance of public sobriety. Ditto for Chicago's western suburban counties.

In the process, send fire-breathing conservatives into every town council, county commission, school board, legislative seat, sheriff's office, mayor's office--you name it. Whoever wins the White House will have a sea of red lower office holders to contend with on a daily basis. That will also induce sobriety.

The counties of Ohio and Indiana along the Ohio River all depend upon coal-fired industries. What if they turned out on behalf of their friends who work in those plants?

Send the message, ya'll!! Those thugs count votes. Make 'em sweat, lay awake at night, see their booze bills climb. Let's have us some fun with these clowns, let's use the ballot box to rake them over the proverbial coals.

This blog post brought you by OldSouth, typing on a computer powered by the coal-fired steam plant forty miles west of his desk.

The Benghazi Debacle, Explained In Detail

An interview in the Jerusalem Post with CIA operative Clare Lopez.

She makes a convincing case that the Obama Administration:

1. Hung those poor men out to dry, and deliberately let them die at that embassy, knowing all along it was an organized attack, not a riot gone out of control, because...

2. The Administration has been running guns to Al Qaeda from Libya...which are showing up in Gaza, Mali, and Syria.

3. Is intent on making certain we don't let numbers 1 and 2 sink in before next Tuesday.

Clint Eastwood Says It All In Thirty Seconds: We Can't Survive Four More Years Of Obama

Dorothy Rabinowitz Defines Barack Obama

Great writing distills the essence of a situation, pulling together references and experiences from all points of the compass. This article, by Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Wall Street Journal, is great writing.

OS is simultaneously grateful for her work, and profoundly envious. He's never come close to this level of craft. Still, he proudly share this essay with you, because she puts her finger on the pulse of the Obama administration, and unblinkingly relates what she concludes:

In the 1967 film "A Guide for the Married Man," a husband, played by a peerless Walter Matthau, is given lessons in ways to cheat on his wife safely. The most essential rule: "Deny! Deny! Deny!"—no matter what. In an instructive scene, he's shown a wife undone by shock, and screaming, with reason: She has just walked in on her husband making love to a glamorous stranger.
"What are you doing," she wails, "who is that woman?"

"What woman, where?" the husband serenely counters, as he and the tart in question get out of bed and calmly dress.

So the scene proceeds, with the distraught wife pointing to the woman she clearly sees before her, while her husband, unruffled, continues to look blankly at her, asking, "What woman?" Confused by her spouse's unblinking assurance, she gives up. Two minutes later she's asking him what he'd like for dinner.

For much of the past four years, the Obama administration's propensity for asserting views of reality wildly at odds with those evident to most rational citizens has looked increasingly like a page from that film script. 

Ms. Rabinowitz has nailed it. On. The. Head.

Bulls-eye. Full marks. 10 for 10.

God bless her.

Main Things, Plain Things: A Few Simple Ideas To Remember As November Approaches

There is a wonderful Scots preacher who holds forth in Cleveland, Ohio, by the name of Alistair Begg.

Amongst his pithy gems of wisdom, he returns often to this statement:

Let's keep the main thing the plain thing, and the plain thing the main thing. 

In the coming days, it is going to get seriously crazy. There will likely be October Surprises pulled by the Obama Campaign. Past examples include forged documents about George W. Bush seeking to avoid military service--that was a gem! Also, a DUI from when GW was 26 years old, a time of his life he had previously freely admitted was marked by his excesses.

The Obama campaign, as Leftists do, will attempt to sow confusion. Remember Florida in 2000, hanging chads, etc.? After the dust had settled, three separate audits of results were undertaken, one by the YewNorkTimez. All three confirmed Bush won. That news never made the front pages, did it?

So, OS offers a few Plain Things to keep in mind when the excrement begins to contact the air circulation device:

We are 16 TRILLION dollars in debt, a huge part of that created in the past four years. There is NO plan to address this forthcoming from the Democrats. The Senate, controlled by that party, has passed NO budget in three years. The Senate and the current occupant of the White House both must be changed in order to save the Republic.

Food Stamp usage has soared, with no plan to reverse the trajectory.

Women are viewed as convenient idiots by Duh Left, and this woman calls them out on it.

Massive bank fraud continues, there have been no prosecutions, and will never be under Eric Holder.

And if you read nothing else of what OS offers, read this, and pass it along if you are so moved.

We don't have to put up with this nonsense. It will take a long time to undo the damage.

No time like the present to begin.

In the meantime, don't get distracted by the noise emanating from Campaign Obama.

Dear Mr. Romney: When You Discuss Foreign Policy With Himself, You Might Mention That Drug Smugglers Are Driving Across The Arizona Border In Broad Daylight

Just sayin'...

Just ask rancher John Ladd of Arizona.

His San Jose Ranch sits right on the Arizona-Mexico line, ten and a half miles of land stretching from the town of Naco west toward the San Pedro River.  Border Patrol has three camera towers on his property, an eye-in-the-sky Cyclops, and sensors hidden in the desert shrubs that activate when smugglers pass.  A pedestrian fence (pictured below) blocks the entire ten and a half miles.
None of these security measures have worked.

Since the end of February, Ladd has had at least nine drug drive-throughs across his land involving 21 trucks.  The smugglers cut the mesh border fence and pull it down, then ramp over the vehicle barrier just inside it.  In most cases they tack-weld the fence back up and brush out tracks to disguise the incursion.

Eight of these episodes occurred in broad daylight, and in two of them the smugglers passed within 50 feet of a camera tower.

The chaos building south of our border, and increasingly spilling over into the heartland of the US, is most definitely a foreign-policy issue, as well as a domestic issue.

Obama's back-door amnesty by executive order this summer, giving the 'get-out-of-jail-free' card to hundreds of thousands of illegals only worsens the situation. Even in OS's county, two days' drive from the border, illegals have been camped here for years, awaiting the Next Amnesty.

This only creates more chaos, giving incentive to flout the law, breaking down civil society.

Which, after all, is the goal of the present administration.

Chaos creates opportunity.

Man. Bites. Dog. The Nashville Tennessean Endorses Romney For President

Loooosey!!! Wha' happened?!!!!

The Nashville Tennessean has been the lap-dog of the Democrat party since time immemorial. They even hired Al Gore Sr.'s ne'er-do'well son as a staff writer back in the day, keeping the boy supported until the family could find him something respectable-looking to do.

That worked out well...

There was not a spending program, entitlement, progressive social cause, or Democrat candidate too stupid or odious to not merit the endorsement of Nashville's morning paper.

OS, and hundreds of thousands of other Tennessean readers, tired of it, and let subscriptions lapse, never to be renewed. The paper kept getting smaller, saying less and less, not even employing decent grammar many times in the past few years.

Only the die-hard Left stuck with it, as the paper kept printing what they so desperately wished to read.

The Fat Lady has begun to vocalize in earnest about Barack Obama when even the most brain-dead of editorial staffs, e.g. the Tennessean, has decided enough is enough.

After several paragraphs of hand-wringing in earnest, here come the words that matter most:


However, for all [Obama's] efforts, ranging from the stimulus package to green-energy development, to bring us out of recession, he has never found the key. He has generally made poor choices of the people needed to get the job done, such as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. And the number of jobs created during his term simply has not kept up with demand.

Should President Obama, as some suggested, have devoted his early political capital to jobs and debt reduction and pursuing Wall Street criminals, instead of health reform? Time will tell. But it’s clear whatever shaky bridges were burned in the push for health reform only emboldened Republicans to oppose his subsequent economic proposals. That has rendered much of his presidency ineffective.
Barack Obama was elected in 2008 with a call for hope and change. Perhaps the change he spoke of could only come with the help of Mitt Romney.

Enough is enough is enough is enough...not even the Tennessean can afford to pretend that the country will survive four more years of Obama.

Our Embassies May Be Under Attack, But Rest Assured The Republic Is Safe: Valerie Jarrett's Secret Service Detail

Can't make this stuff up, ya'll.

OS sincerely wishes it weren't true, because it means we are now approaching that day when a Politburo rules, with motorcades of armored limos escorting the PeopleInCharge through the boulevards...

From American Thinker:

Our U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans who served us there are dead because of insufficient security while the assistant to the president for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, a woman named Valerie Jarrett, has been given an entourage of well-armed, highly trained protectors as she goes to and from work in Washington, goes shopping or out to dinner, and travels to political events and vacations on Martha's Vineyard.

Why is Valerie Jarrett such a high priority when it comes to security, and why are our diplomats in Libya so much less of a priority?  In their eagerness to serve and protect the political interests of Barack Obama, the news media do not bother to ask and then inform the American people about this administration's particularly peculiar priorities when it comes to security at a time when security is something very much in the news and of great interest to the public.

Conservative outlets which have made inquiries about why some White House staffer merits better protection than U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was accorded are refused answers on the grounds of "security concerns."  Really!

Think you might have seen a major media story -- perhaps even a great many of them -- comparing the contrast in security protection between Valerie Jarrett and Ambassador Stevens if George W. Bush were president and it were Karl Rove rather than Valerie Jarrett?

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/our_ambassador_is_dead_but_obamas_political_guru_is_safe.html#ixzz29qNue0gm

The Poster That Says All That Needs Saying About The EU

Amazing...or not really, these days. DanHan weighs in.

Take a close look at this promotional poster. Notice anything? Alongside the symbols of Christianity, Judaism, Jainism and so on is one of the wickedest emblems humanity has conceived: the hammer and sickle.


For three generations, the badge of the Soviet revolution meant poverty, slavery, torture and death. It adorned the caps of the chekas who came in the night. It opened and closed the propaganda films which hid the famines. It advertised the people's courts where victims of purges and show-trials were condemned. It fluttered over the re-education camps and the gulags. For hundreds of millions of Europeans, it was a symbol of foreign occupation. Hungary, Lithuania and Moldova have banned its use, and various  former communist countries want it to be treated in the same way as Nazi insignia.
Yet here it sits on a poster in the European Commission, advertising the moral deafness of its author (I hope that's what it is, rather than lingering nostalgia). 

The Bolshevist sigil celebrates the ideology which, in strict numerical terms, must be reckoned the most murderous ever devised by our species. That it can be passed unremarked day after day in the corridors of Brussels is nauseating.

Remember, ya'll. This is the organization that won the Nobel Peace Prize this year. 

This organization drinks from the same philosophical waters as the US Democrat party.

Something terribly wrong is at large.

Thank You Cristina Odone, For Speaking Up About The REAL War On Women

Enough, finally, does become enough.

A 20-year-old Afghan girl has been beheaded, by her in-laws, for refusing to become a prostitute. Her mother-in-law and and a hired man cut off Mah Gul's head in the province of Herat last week.

The horrific case has confirmed the plight of women and girls in Taliban-strongholds such as Herat: it comes in the wake of the Taliban's attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who campaigned for girls' education in Pakistan.

 Ms. Odone then goes on to ask:

Surely, enough is enough? How many women martyrs do Muslim leaders need before they speak out against such misogyny?

What she fails to understand is the simple truth that Islam itself is the problem.  'Muslim leaders', who are the mullahs, have zero interest in speaking out against misogyny. It would be like Larry Flint preaching against porn, or SnoopDogg preaching against pot, or the Pope denouncing the Nicene Creed. Not even Saul of Tarsus, in his new role as Apostle Paul, rejected Judaism in his embrace of Christ.

What bothers OS is that our President, while yammering away about 'binders' and 'women's rights' ad nauseum, will stand up and tell the UN that he's down with Mohammed all the way, that he won't let anybody talk trash about The Prophet, US First Amendment be damned.
 
Miz Hillary, you got anything to say about this? You down with this, too? Does being Secretary of State trump everything?

We need people at every level of public life who will say the simple thing: These people are monsters, and we don't truck with them. At every opportunity given, we will oppose them with every means at our disposal. 

Obama will not do that. There is some basic conflict of interest inside his personality that will not allow him to state the obvious. This is not to say he is secretly Muslim--who knows, who can say? It it to say he is not the man for the job going forward.

Arlen Specter, The Man Who Led The Charge To Smear Robert Bork, Lawyer For Ira Einhorn, Turncoat, Poster Boy For Everything Wrong With Washington, Meets His Maker

Gone, soon forgotten, mainly unmourned.

He really was completely dumfounded in 2009 when greeted with thousands of angry constituents who had begged him not to vote for Obama's stimulus press and health care bill.

He really assumed no one was paying attention, was shocked to find that he was mistaken, and was shuffled off to a friendless oblivion by primary voters in 2010.

Three cheers for the primary system, and the secret ballot.

Do You Remember America?

HT Palladian View

By Charlie Speight

Do you remember America?
Do you recall that magnificent, unapologetic juggernaut of democracy and freedom?

Do you remember the America that made herself into a mighty power that she used to protect the oppressed elsewhere in the world, asking for little in return?

Do you remember how America created, built, manufactured, invented, assembled, hammered, welded, bought, sold, sailed, flew, plowed, sowed, harvested and shared?

Do you remember the America that was defined by her willingness to help, even to die for, others?  Do you remember that when there was war, America rescued the oppressed and rebuilt her enemies?

Do you remember Château-Thierry, Marne or St Quentin Canal? Do you remember the Maine?  Do you remember Guadalcanal, Normandy, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Sicily, North Africa, Inchon, Puson or Pork Chop Hill?  Do you remember Khe Sahn, Dak To, or Hue?  Do you remember the Berlin Airlift?  What about Kuwait, Bosnia, Somalia, Basra, Karbala, Baghdad or Fallujah?  Kabul, Tora Bora, Kandahar or Abbottabad?

Do you remember Arlington or the two dozen foreign cemeteries where American warriors are laid to rest?

Do you remember America when her citizens didn’t expect – demand – that government provide for them?

Do you remember when children thought the greatest thing in the world was to be President of the United States?

Do you remember when America’s President “preserved, protected and defended” America and would never apologize for her or bow to the ruler of another country?

Do you remember when America was hated by men of evil because we threatened their intent, and not by countries that question her commitment?

Do you remember when America’s Founding Fathers were revered as visionary pioneers of liberty and not reviled as “a bunch of old white men?”

Do you remember when America was trusted and respected?

Do you remember the America that cherished and not challenged religious freedom?

Do you remember when America looked to her Constitution for guidance and not loopholes?

Do you remember America when a movie for adults meant that children couldn’t understand the plot, not because it was full of foul language and nudity?

Do you remember when you could watch the news in America and not have facts washed out by political ideology?

Do you remember when it was safe for children to play outdoors until dark and walk to school by themselves – and be safe in those schools?

Do you remember the American soul?

She was never perfect.  America had her own internal troubles.  We need to remember that she hasn’t always treated all of her citizens equally and that prejudices, corruption, greed and vanity have left their stains on her history.  Nor should we ignore that technology, scientific discovery, ethnic diversity, social maturity and practice have made America better in thousands of ways.

Through all the sad and dark times, self-imposed or forced upon her, America has been good.  Though, at times she has tolerated her own injustices, she has been sought for justice by peoples around the world.   For over two hundred years, America’s destiny has been the providence of liberty and freedom for millions of people around the globe.

And America’s fate – her future – is yours to decide.

Don’t ever forget that.

Fred Thompson Summarizes The VP Debate: I Know Joe Biden--That Was Joe Biden

OS still believes the GOP completely dropped the ball by not nominating Fred Thompson for President in 2008. The fact that the man contributed much to saving the Republic from the Nixon White House in the early 1970's, and Tennessee from Ray Blanton in the late 1970's shows that we suffer from a case of short memory. So many remember him only as an actor, an accidental career, literally. Fred's really a crack small-town Tennessee Southern lawyer who took his talents to a big stage, and his contributions to this country are significant.

His main failing is his self-effacing personality--he doesn't live for the adrenaline rush of the crowd. He's more interested in making certain he's pithily expressed what needs saying, which brings us to today's essay from Fred:

OS urges his army of listeners to read it all, and offers up this particulary pithy paragraph as a foretaste of Fred's verbal skills.

I met Joe Biden almost 20 years ago and served in the Senate with him for eight. In private conversation among equals he can be candid, introspective and thoughtful. But when he puts on his political hat he has no inner voice that tells him, “Joe, you’re going on too long. Joe you’re being a bully. You’re being discourteous to your colleagues. Joe, that makes no sense. It’s obviously not true. Don’t say that.” He either has no idea how he comes across to normal people or he doesn’t care. I’ve never figured it out. However he parlayed a handful of votes in Iowa into the Vice Presidency. I gotta give him that.

There's much more where that came from.

Enjoy!

'Never Mind...': This Week's Jobless Claims Report Was An Inaccurate Anomaly After All, Because...

California failed to report several trainloads of jobless claims in time to be included in the report.

If something appears too good to be true, it is because it is...too good to be true.

If something looks, walks and quacks like a duck...it's a duck!

If  a BLS report smells like last week's Limburger cheese left in a hot car....

To quote the late great Gilda Radner: 'Never mind...'
 

BTW, OS managed to watch the House hearings yesterday on the Bengahzi debacle, and actually heard the PersonInCharge of embassy security worldwide (a dumpy-looking lady of not-sparkling intellect) claim that they had sufficient resources in place to defend the ambassador and the compound, to which an incredulous panel of Reps kept asking, 'So, tell me--why did our people get killed?'

The dumpy-looking lady had actually watched the attack real-time on State Department screens, which must have been agonizing. She was asked if she had any opinion at the time, or even later, whether this event was an organized assault or just a demonstration of angry Muslims pissed about some obscure YouTube video. She stated she had none then, or now. It was an amazing performance, to say the least.

The two people who had been pleading with the dumpy-looking lady for months to beef up security lest a tragedy occur detailed how they had been repeatedly ignored and denied the resources needed.

They were sitting beside the the dumpy-looking lady. She kept telling the Reps that she had done her job, that she and her superiors (whose names she reluctantly gave up) hadn't been given notice that a potential problem was brewing. When asked if she had ever been to Libya, the answer was 'No'.

It was dark, dark theatre.

Only it wasn't theatre, it was reality. Our reality.

You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up: The 'Violence Tax' Proposal In Chicago

Honestly, no matter how diligently comedy writers slave at their craft, the politicians trump them by just walking around and blabbering.

Chicago's murder rate is skyrocketing. Now, this could not possibly be attributed to the fact that Mayor Rahm(bo) Emanuel, former Obama Chief of Staff is not remotely up to the job of actually running anything, only in manipulating the system to get himself and his kind elected.

Governance, what's that?

It has to be SomeoneElse's fault, preferably George Bush, but blaming Bush for this particular tragic mess won't even pass the laugh test amongst the most rabid Chicago Democrats.

Sooooo.....if we can't stop the craziness, let's......make money from it! That's the ticket! We'll just tax the bejeezuz out of every gun and round of ammo sold in Cook County!!  That'll solve the problem, by golly!

Right?

Huh? 

What do you mean, people will just drive to St. Charles or Geneva or Wisconsin to purchase guns and ammo?  They wouldn't dare!

What's that you say? The gang-bangers who shoot up entire neighborhoods aren't interested in obeying gun laws? You mean to say they're criminals, not victims of a racist society? You don't think the tax will matter to them, but that it might discourage the law-abiding from defending themselves?

Nooooo....no chance of that.....

A Conservative Woman's Manifesto: Posted Obama Campaign Website!

It comes to OS's attention via an interesting coalition of conservative professional women in South Carolina, Palladian View.

OS gladly shares it with his army of loyal readers.

And, since it will soon disappear down the memory hole once His campaign gets word of it, OS copies it below, just to keep the words alive:

The set-up is: Someone has posted an e-card that say's 'Vote Like Your Lady Parts Depend Upon It'.

And someone leaves a comment with it that declares:

“Any woman that would vote for Republicans that are taking away our rights is NUTS. What’s next, it will be okay for your husband to beat you?” 

To which came the response from one Amy Clark:



I have counted to 10. I have smiled politely. But I am going to say what needs to be said:

I will vote Republican because I stand on the side of personal responsibility. I understand that while I have the freedom to make my own reproductive decisions, any lack of planning on my part does not constitute a crisis on someone else’s. Nor does it create an excuse to forfeit human life. I understand that my wants and desires don’t trump someone else’s freedom of speech or religion. I understand that forcing a religious institution to violate its conscience for my personal convenience would make me the worst kind of hypocrite.

I stand on the side of equality. Meaning, I believe that as a woman, I am perfectly capable of making decisions to provide for myself. Being on an equal footing with men negates the need for special concessions from the government to take care of you. I don’t need or want free “goodies” because I understand that a government that is big enough to give me everything I want is big enough to take away everything I have.

I stand on the side of intellectual integrity. Meaning, I don’t traffic in salacious scare tactics by insinuating that anyone would ever think that domestic abuse was justified. I don’t throw around flamingly false accusations that a political party is trying to take away birth control. I understand that tying “women’s rights” to “free birth control” is an insult to women. It shatters the notion that we have broken that glass ceiling, when—all these years later—we continue to allow attention to only be drawn to our reproductive system. Come on.

I stand on the side of moral integrity. Meaning, that though I have the freedom to behave in whatever manner I want, I choose to live a life worthy of the gifts I’ve been given. I understand the meaning of “TMI” and choose to behave accordingly. It’s called having class. I don’t appreciate my gender being hijacked by women who sacrifice dignity and self-respect on the altar of an “enlightened” sexuality. Your sex life does not belong in the political arena any more than the world revolves around you. Don’t embarrass me in front of my family and my colleagues in the adult world while you continue to childishly confuse vulgarity with liberation. One cannot be truly empowered if one doesn’t even have the power of self-restraint.

So perhaps we can agree to disagree in a lady-like manner. I am fine with that. You can call me archaic, ignorant, indifferent, and “NUTS” or worse, that’s fine. I will smile and say, “Have a nice day!” You see, I am truly, wonderfully, and grace-fully free, choosing to celebrate my womanhood, my motherhood, my intelligence, my ability and my challenges, my joys and sorrows, my integrity… and the knowledge that a woman’s real beauty shines from the inside—reflecting her strength of character.

But please, there’s no crying in baseball, and there should be no whining in politics. Quit making it difficult for those of us who understand that rights = responsibility. Please quit muddying the water of a woman’s voice in government but pretending you speak for all us. You don’t. I’m a card-carrying member of the NRA, not the NOW. You don’t speak for me, because I am, in fact, capable of talking about bigger issues. You know, like the $16 trillion national debt or the current crisis in the Middle East. Women are really that smart. We are! But when you claim that women’s top issue in this crucial 2012 election is birth control, how could you pretend to be seeking true equality?

So I will vote Republican, focusing on the real issues in this country. I choose to vote like our economy depended on it. I choose to vote like our Constitutional rights depended on it. And I’ll choose to vote with my brain, thank you. I just believe better decisions come from that end.

 

No, Virginia, GW Bush Did Not Create Obama's Deficits: That Was Obama's Doing

One of the more absurd moments for DuhPrez last Wednesday nigh occurred when he pontificated that the deficits of his administration were inherited, 'And we all know what caused that!', going on to cite two wars fought, increased domestic spending and that Evil Tax Cut.

This chart provides a reality check, and proof from the public record that Obama was, once again, making things up as he went along. He probably even believes the stuff he spouts, which is saddening to contemplate.

Next week's New Yorker cover tells the tale in one image. OS plans to buy a copy and frame it.

In Anticipation Of Tonight's Debate, An Essay That Deserves To Go Viral

These are busy busy days for  OS, with little time to read, much less write.

However, this essay merits attention, as we limp down the home stretch of a dispiriting political season.

What, one may ask, does the account of this particular obscure 20th-Century monster have to do with the situation we now confront?

In a word, everything.

Our President, and those around him, and those around them, all arrive to us from an academic and intellectual universe that deliberately turns the blind eye to atrocities committed in the name of Progress. Historical Necessity, you know. 

It's all so very polite, well-dressed, well-spoken, tweedy-jacket and sensible hairstyles for both genders. White wine, aged cheese, gossip over who will and won't be granted tenure.

It lionizes people like Castro, Chavez, Che, Arafat, Mugabe, Eva Peron, even Ken Philby wasn't that bad a chap.  He had his reasons, and he was sincere in his feelings as he created all that havoc. One must understand these things, you know.

That horrible man Mr. Solzhenitsyn, well he just doesn't exist. The cheek of him, saying all those things at Harvard after we had honored him so. 

He'll not be invited back, Nobel Prize or no. What was the committee thinking?

Ideas have consequences, and ideologies produce outcomes.

OS asks one thing of his readers. Consider the consequences and outcomes, historically, of the ideas and ideologies promoted by this present administration.

Then, go vote--early--as OS has a premonition of chaos engendered at the polling places of America on Election Day.

As We Prepare For November's Elections, A Thought To Ponder From Tom Paine

Well, not that Tom Paine...an admirer of his, a British subject who spent two decades working in Eastern Europe after The Wall fell, only to return home to a country debilitated by the same ideas that ruined Eastern Europe:

More than half of mankind experienced socialism in the twentieth century. Almost all of us experienced some less full-blooded implementations than were tried behind the Berlin Wall. There has never been a greater experiment in all human history and It led to the deaths of millions and the impoverishment of billions. If ever an idea was ready for the dustbin of history, surely this one was? Yet it marches on. A zombie ideology; dead but still a threat.

As the noise increases in the coming weeks, OS hopes we keep our focus. We don't need a glib hustler who would rather hang out with the ladies on 'The View' while in New York, at the expense of meeting with world leaders who have need of face time.  We need a sober grown-up, even if he is stiff as a board in front of an audience.

We need someone who has not drunk the socialist koolaid, insisting we partake with him.

It May Not Matter Who Wins In Syria, Given The Toll The Fight Has Extracted

There are people in this world, as Jesse reminds us from time to time, who are completely willing to burn the world down around them, just so they can claim to rule the ashes.

He, as usual, is correct.

This BBC slideshow give a glimpse of the ancient market in Aleppo, destroyed in this week's episode of Madness Overtakes Syria.

The next time we hear TheWinnerOfTheNobelPeacePrize describe these tragedies as a 'bump in the road', OS thinks it would be good if we asked a simple question:

To Where does this Road lead?

The Best ObamaChair Pic To Date: Sense Of Events

All those effigies are, well, in bad taste. Not a good idea. OS believes that it's possible to win every argument and never win one heart.

Humor always works best; low-key, to the point, elegant humor.

So, a big HT and OS shout-out to Don Sensing at Sense of Events. This is funny and pointed, if for no other reason that it draws the contrast between Churchill and our present occupant of the White House.

 Now, a brief thought about Eastwood's ruminations at the GOP convention. He walked out to greet the audience without a script, and spotted the chair. It wasn't a set-up, it was improv.

The humorless types in the press were not amused...they called him names, said he rambled, on and on. It never occurred to them what they had just witnessed--an actor, writer, director, producer with over five decades of experience taking the raw material of the occasion, the audience and one lone chair to create something totally memorable. Not bad for someone at age 83!

By the way, along the way--Eastwood ran for mayor of his little town and won, and served the office for several years.

Compare Eastwood with the current occupant of the White House: Which one actually has created wealth with his gifts, created memorable art (and continues to create memorable art), actually administered some office of government before seeking high executive office?  Which of them actually has done something with the days allotted by Providence, apart from running for office and spending other people's money? Why is it wonderful to be an actor/director if one is a member of The Left, and disgraceful and suspect when one is a conservative?

That empty chair looks more apropo with each passing day.

Hit that link--you won't be sorry.

The Obama Administration Moves Our Southern Border To Guatemala: So Says Alan Bersin Of DHS

Really, can't make this stuff up.

While we spend our energies obsessing about what Mitt blurted out while answering a question at what he thought was a private fund-raiser, we might wish to give a bit of our attention to what Alan Bersin says at a public and official function, a reception hosted by the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday evening.
 
Bersin is currently Assistant Secretary of International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. He oversees the Department's international engagement and serves as the principal advisor to Secretary Janet Napolitano on all international affairs.

Says Assistant Secretary Bursin at Homeland Security:

“The Guatemalan border with Chiapas is now our southern border,” Bersin said. He cited a study by Pew Research which showed that last year more Mexicans left the United States than entered it. This, he said, ended six decades of illegal immigration from Mexico.

Bersin said the change in the flow of migration is not a “flash in the pan.” He said economic conditions have played a part in reducing illegal immigration. But so, too, has border security, he argued. 

“The economy contributes to it but the enforcement posture in the United States has increased since 1993 in a way that was absolutely unforeseen. One of the great bipartisan accomplishments of the last generation, some would say the greatest accomplishment, Republicans and Democrats alike, was restoring the rule of law to the U.S.-Mexican border,” Bersin said.

Whew--glad we got that cleared up! We've restored the Rule of Law to the US-Mexican border!

Which really doesn't exist anymore...

Presidential Press Secretary Jay Carney, Winner Of The Ron Zeigler Award

It's become completely a no-brainer, spike it in the end zone decision by OS's Awards Committee.

For those who don't remember Ron Zeigler, he was Richard Nixon's loyal-to-the-death press secretary. He would proclaim a lie one day, contradict the next day with another lie, and then finally admit that those first statements were lies, while assuring one and all that the country could believe today's pronouncements.

He did this with a completely straight face, day after day, never a moment's apology, as if the cognitive dissonance of replacing one lie with another and another never occurred to him. His only competitor in our time was Baghdad Bob, who claimed the Iraqi Army had crushed the invaders, as the US Marines were pulling up across the street behind him.

Some of Ron's most famous quotes--

"This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative." –April 17, 1973

"If my answers sound confusing, I think they are confusing because the questions are confusing and the situation is confusing."

"The president is aware of what is going on in Southeast Asia. That is not to say that there is anything going on in Southeast Asia." –1971, answering a question if the allied troops were preparing to invade Laos.

Jay Carney must be channeling Ron and Baghdad Bob this week--it's deja vu all over again.

It did not take a genius to see that the attack on the consulate in Benghazi was a planned and orchestrated affair. Ever seen a group of protesters show up will mortars, full-auto weapons, RPG's, and knowledge of the layout of the target?

Turns out, there were never any demonstrators at all...just attackers...

But the 'spontaneous demonstration that just got out of hand because of that terrible terrible awful disgusting YouTube video' story was the Administration's story, and Jay was sticking to it. Even after the Libyan Prime Minister stated flatly that it was a planned attack. And that they had warned the Administration days before. Even after attacks on British diplomats had occurred some days before. The Ambassador himself knew himself to be on an al-Queda hit list. Ni modo. It was all the fault of The Video! Couldn't possibly be al-Queda operation! We've killed 'em all, we've got them on the run!
Bin-Laden's dead and GM lives!

They sent Susan Rice, our UN Ambassador, to five Sunday talking heads shows to talk the White House line. They talked and talked, and ducked and ducked, and spun and spun, and lied and lied and lied. And lied.

Because to admit the truth is to admit that Obama and Hillary left their ambassador hung out to dry, and got him killed.

Here's the sequence.

Finally, today, Jay Carney does admit the obvious. But never an apology, never a moment's embarrassment, never a moment of consideration that this sort of behavior absolutely crushes what little sense of trust anyone may have in him or his boss. 

It was a Ziegler Moment. And Jay decided to 'fess up while in the air on Air Force One--with loud background noise, spoken sotto voce.

'This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.'

'This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.'

'This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.'

It would be comic, except--this is how people get killed, wars get started, banks are allowed to blow up the economy, friends of the President are able to commit massive fraud and walk away scot-free, a thousand guns are put in the hands of drug cartels by the ATF and no one notices until the bodies pile up. Even then, no one can seem to locate anyone remotely responsible for the carnage.

The Politics of Golf, And The Golf Joke Of The Season

Mr. Obama does love his golf! One hundred rounds and counting since he took office.

George Bush loves his golf as well. From September 11, 2001 until he left office, President Bush gave up the game. He felt it would be unseemly to spend days on the course while he had troops in the field.

OS found this joke in the comments at the link above. Please feel free to share along.

It's an old joke, but like all great jokes, its power is rooted in truth.

Ye Can't Fool a Scottish Caddy

During his golfing vacation at Martha's Vineyard - President Obama had been slicing off the tee on every hole.

In frustration, he turns to his Scottish caddy to inquire what might be going wrong.

Sez the caddy: 'Aye, there's a piece of shyt on the end of yer driver."

The President picks up his driver and cleans the club face, at which point the caddy says:

"No, the other end."

Why I Love Mormonism--Simon Critchley NYT

OS is up to his ears in projects--lots of good things happening, but not much time to write this week.

However, he did run across this essay, and sends it in the direction of his hordes of loyal readers.

Critchley is an English academic resident upon our shores, and he provides a kind and gentle account of his views on the subject of the Mormon religion.

Mormonism is heretical, no doubt about that. At the same time, its errors tend to push its adherents in the direction of striving for virtue and productivity. Think the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as one public face of that approach.

By contrast, the heresy of Liberation Theology, in which the Beloved Leader was steeped, encourages resentment and class warfare. It's Marxism with a Christian patina, very popular amongst all those seminarians of the 1960's who 'heard the call to the ministry' and maintained their military draft exemptions while in seminary--in looong doctoral programs. Rev. Wright's famous (or infamous) pronouncements from his Chicago pulpit are not untypical of the theology he and his espouse.

So, this year, we have Heretic A vs. Heretic B at the top of the ballot.

Oh joy.

Yew payz yer munney, yew takes yer choice.

Fire, Meet Gasoline: Peter van Buren Explains The Libya Tragedy

My, oh my...

Our leadership really is that feckless. They left the ambassador hung out to dry in an incredibly dangerous situation, had ample warning, and did nothing to protect him.

These people must be sent home, before they get us killed. If they'll do that to a career foreign officer, they'll do it to us.

OS Answers Your Questions: Hillary Really Is That Naive, Obama Really Is That Clueless, The Muslim Brotherhood Are Not Our Friends, And The Press Is Spending Its Energies Vilifying Romney

One question at a time, ya'll, cuz we have entered the Twilight Zone...

Hillary's statement after she found out that she had gotten her friend killed because she hung him out to drly in an unprotected building in Benghazi on September 11:

This is not easy. Today, many Americans are asking – indeed, I asked myself – how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, how confounding the world can be.

Huh? Complicated and confounding? How'z-about incredibly dangerous, with vast swathes of it occupied by really bad people who will take innocent life without a second thought?

This is the woman who would have been President, and is in charge of representing our interests to the rest of the world, which she finds 'complicated and confounding'.


#2: Obama Really Is That Clueless

This guy skips intelligence briefings--many many of them. Won't meet with Bebe Netanyahu about the NUKES in IRAN, but will certainly be on time to meet with Letterman. All campaign appearances going ahead on schedule. First things first, after all.

#3: Mubarak Was A Bad Dude, But Obama Kicked Him Under The Bus In Favor Of The Muslim Brotherhood

Holy Jimmy Carter, Batman! We've seen this all before...and are still living with the fallout of Jimmy Carter kicking the Shah under the bus. The thugs who deposed the Shah run the place, and are busily building nukes to aim at Israel, whose leader Obama won't meet with, 'cuz he's got a show with Letterman.

By the way, in 2009-2010 Obama could have thrown his support behind all those kids who so desperately tried to turn Iran toward sanity. Instead, he stood by silently while the Iranian regime crushed their hopes. Those kids were pro-Western, by all appearances. They hate the mullahs. Why would Obama do that, and then turn around and support the Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt?

It makes no sense. His behavior makes no sense.

#4: See #3 and #1  

#5: Yep, you got it. The real outrage is aimed at Romney for suggesting that Obama is clueless and our foreign service is feckless.

You gotta love Obama's response--how did he have time to do that interview with the world burning down around him, btw?

Mr. Obama fired back later in the day, accusing his opponent of politicizing a national tragedy. “Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later,” he told CBS News for its “60 Minutes” program. “And as president, one of the things I’ve learned is you can’t do that — that, you know, it’s important for you to make sure that the statements that you make are backed up by the facts, and that you’ve thought through the ramifications.” 

OK, let's go over this again--numbers 1 through 4--and compare that record of behaviour with Himself's critique of Romney....hmm....and the press's microscopic coverage of Romney vs their blind acceptance of anything Himself might utter.

And then, we have his 'encouraging words' to campaign volunteers in Las Vegas yesterday--no cancellations of campaign appearances--

Obama, during his talk with the volunteers, described his visit to the State Department today. “I had a chance to go to the State Dept. to comfort some of the friends and co-workers of the the folks who had fallen and I reminded them that as hard as things are sometimes, as difficult as change is that if we’re resolute, if we don’t give up, if we don’t give in, if we don’t become cynical, if we continue to be realistic about how hard change is but also keep in our hearts that sense of idealism and sense of purpose then over time good things happen,” he said.

That's an interesting word, 'Change'. 'Change' from what, to what? Never ever defined, but there has to be a goal in mind. One does not become President without having a goal in mind...

Isn't It Wonderful To Know All Those Arab Spring Rebels Are Grateful For Allll That Support From The U.S. of A.?

US State Department Official Murdered By Libyan Rioters.

Perhaps we should apologize to them more sincerely.

Yep, that'll make it all better.

The Riddle Circulated In 1980 That Ended The Iranian Embassy Stalemate

The story is told that the incoming Reagan administration, during the transition of 1980 after the election, circulated a riddle aimed at certain sets of ears in Tehran.

It went something like this:

Q: What's flat, dusty, hot, and glows in the dark?

A: Tehran, the day after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated.

Evidently, the riddle circulated sufficiently. Much more went on behind the scenes than just that, of course, but the riddle appears to have played a significant part.

As soon as Reagan was sworn in, the hostages were put on the plane, and flown home. 

'Nuff said? 

The Embassy's Apology For Our Tradition Of Free Speech--An Administration In Complete Disarray

So--the rabble decides to attack the US Embassy in Cairo over some indy film-maker's obscure film critical of the prophet Muhammed, and the Embassy girds up its loins in response to the outrage...and issues an apology....from which the White House (which undoubtedly had earlier blessed the statement) begins back-pedaling furiously away.

This administration is in complete, hopeless disarray. This is Jimmy Carter helping to depose the Shah only to have the US Embassy held hostage by Muslim nut-jobs all over again.  OS is old enough to remember this debacle clearly. It was completely humiliating, and completely needless. That self-righteous old fart never has explained himself, continues to pontificate from Atlanta, and the press continues to lap up every word of his nonsense.

So, here we go again...

From Politico:

The Obama administration is disavowing a statement from its own Cairo embassy that apologized for anti-Muslim activity in the United States.

"The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government," an administration official told POLITICO.

The U.S. embassy in Cairo put out a statement early Tuesday that apologized for an anti-Muslim film being circulated by an Israeli-American real estate developer.

"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions," the embassy said in a statement published online. According to the Wall Street Journal, the film depicts the Muslim prophet Muhammed as a "womanizer, pedophile and fraud" — a depiction bound to offend many Muslims.

The embassy came under widespread criticism for failing to defend free speech in the face of threats of violence. Egyptian protesters rioted anyway, breaching the embassy walls and tearing down the American flag.

"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.  The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.  Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation.  But let me be clear:  There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a Tuesday statement.

The Romney campaign accused the Obama administration of sympathizing with the protests in a statement released after the administration statement. “I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi.  It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks,” Romney said.

OS Has A Few Questions For Dr. Brad DeLong

This morning's post from Dr. Brad DeLong is worth a read, as are his daily musings.

DeLong is a brilliant gent, as one can see in his short bio:

J. Bradford DeLong is a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, chair of its political economy major, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and was in the Clinton administration a deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury. 

OS has never had the privilege of having his very occasional questions published under Dr. DeLong's posts. Which is perfectly ok--it's his house, he gets to do as he pleases.

OS did send some questions along this morning, and as of this moment, they haven't been acknowledged. It's the academic year now, with all those pesky students stalking the halls, so patience is a virtue.

In the meantime, OS will post his questions here, to see if anyone else may have the same thoughts in mind.

Dear Professor DeLong:

At what degree of downward slope, for how long a period of time, will you perhaps consider the notion that the Obama Administration, with its parade of economic advisors, stimulus packages, 'Summer(s) of Recovery', etc. has not been an effective steward of the privilege of governance granted to it by the electorate? Their task was to reverse the direction of those lines.

Bin Laden is dead, thank heavens. GM is operating, but still significantly underwater if we look at its share price. It's better that it be operating than not, granted, but it's not quite as resuscitated as JoeB would have us believe.

What we were told last week was that all those promises made in 2008 simply were unattainable. Bill Clinton himself said that. Many of us knew that in 2008, just not a majority of us. Then, in his acceptance speech, the President seemed to reiterate those promises. I'm genuinely concerned by that.

What course of action do you see the Obama Administration taking that truly would turn those lines significantly in the other direction? We are 16 trillion in debt, which does limit our room to maneuver a bit.

You are a brilliant gent, and this is said with not a hint of irony. No one occupies your position in academia without that quality of brilliance and true achievement.

So, what do we do next? It appears to me that Obama will retain his office, as will most of the GOP House.

What should HE do next, the day after he is re-elected? Much of what he had done to date has not been effective.

Many thanks and good wishes--your blog is a favorite read.

The Next Time You Hear About What A Wonderful Leader Obama Is, Remember What You Read In This Article By Bob Woodward

We really came to the brink last year during the debt ceiling negotiation.


Holy. Cow.


Obama was prepared to veto anything not exactly to his liking, but he had no plan B in place for keeping the country and the economy in one piece.


This man has got to go.

Sometimes, Only Laughter Will Do: Prince Harry's Comrades Offer Their Support And Salute In The Buff

Maybe the young men and women doing the fighting in Afghanistan are trying to tell the self-righteous fretters back home to lighten up a bit...

The pics at the link are, well, cheerful and funny.  Perhaps the most fitting way to draw the whole episode to a close.

Note to Harry: You're a public person, big guy. Assume whatever you do or say will make the headlines next week. It goes with your role, so no whining, ok?

'Let Me Do That Again', or, What The Democrat Bosses Think A Two-Thirds Vote Of 'Aye' Sounds Like

The issue at hand was that Himself was getting beaten to a pulp because the Democrat Platform Committee had struck language that included mention of the Almighty and the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

So, the word came down from The Kremlin The White House to FixThisProblem!  So, dutifully, HizHonner The Mayor Of Los Angeles took the podium, and put the question to a voice vote.

The delegates were, well, uncooperative. So, in true Stalinist tradition, it was decided to keep voting until they GotItRight, know-whud-I-mean? After three attempts, with the 'no' crowd clearly in the majority, and more vociferous each time, The Chair decided that he had his 2/3's majority and deemed the question passed. The boos rained down.

No matter. This is, after all, Obama's World.  The original language suited him fine, he just didn't like the blowback. He'll continue to govern as if He were the Almighty's Chosen, and He'll hang Israel out to dry.  The reaction on the floor was a rare moment of candor. The majority of the delegates want no mention of the PotentateOfTime ruining their event, and the anti-Semitism of the Left is becoming ever more apparent.

Were OS Jewish, he would be making contingency plans in case Himself were elected. It will get ugly at some point in the not-distant future. 

As a Christian, OS is completely unsurprised, and really not upset. TheGreatIAm is doing just fine, with or without the approval of the DNC delegates, and it was refreshing for OS to see and hear his intuitions confirmed. The camera cuts to the audience last night during His Billness's speech told the tale. They do believe that the only kingdom to concern one's self with is in this world, and this speech was much more of a religious event than a political address. No telling what will transpire tonight...

The disturbing bit is that this sort of approach awaits us all in November--what if Himself decides that all those millions of people who voted GOP really were confused, mistaken, and need to be given the 'opportunity' to vote again, until they GetItRight? Or He decides that 45% of the vote and a minority of electoral votes really does comprise a majority...why that could never happen here, right?

OK, now take a peek at the video....