Liberal Daughter vs. Conservative Father

Latro Ergo Sum #3

"Latro ergo sum" - "I rant, therefore I am."


Obama the Unifier?
Barack Obama has made a big point about “unifying” the country. Actions speak louder than words, as they say. So what has Obama ever done to show that he can unify anything?
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The Democratic Party? He appears to be unifying that by crushing Hillary Clinton. It’s interesting that this “unifier” who wants to “reach out” was identified as the most Liberal member of the Senate in 2007. There were no cases of him breaking from voting strictly along party lines.
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This un-vetted candidate is fooling some of the people all the time. Let’s hope enough of the rest of us go to the polls in November.
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Supreme Court & the 2nd Amendment
The SCOTUS ruled that the Washington D.C. gun-control law was unconstitutional. Kennedy was the swing vote, this time voting on the right side. (In contrast to his opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, where he based his opinion on the approval of a European panel.) Think the Presidential election doesn’t matter? Do you want Barack Obama to choose the next Supreme Court Justice?
Democrats are Nasty CreaturesHave you seen all the Republican websites and ads making fun of Barack Obama for being black?
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No? That's because there aren't any.

Well, Democrats have websites and videos devoted to referencing John McCain’s age. Apparently racism is out of bounds, but age discrimination isn’t.

For those Republicans who wish we had a better candidate, here’s how the Gipper handled the same issue:







Cigars
My everyday cigar for the last few years has been the Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur III. I’m always looking for a new cigar, and on the recommendation of Robert Pratt, I tried the Don Kiki. I have to say, the White Label was pretty good, and the Green Label wasn’t bad, but the Brown and Red Labels left something to be desired. Sorry, Robert. [6/30/08 Edit: I wrote this opinion after trying the cigars, but realized that I had neglected to smoke the Don Kiki Brown Label torpedo, and it was fantastic. I change my answer about the Brown Label, and Robert Pratt was correct.]


On the other hand, I tried the Primos toro (received as a Father’s Day present) and really enjoyed it. My wonderful wife & kids also got me a new hygrometer for my humidor – and my old one turned out to be malfunctioning. They also got me the coolest humidifying device, the Drymistat tube with crystals in it that control the humidity. They’re regular crystal-looking rocks until you add water, then they expand, releasing preset amounts of humidity into the humidor. They’re similar to what are in Pampers. They are amazing. No wonder America’s #1.




Clint Eastwood
I recently watched Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales again. Phenomenal movie, maybe Eastwood's best. It’s interesting to see character actors in it who appeared later in Every Which Way but Loose. (Easter Egg alert: During the scene where the comancheros assault Sandra Locke’s character, there’s a split second when the camera is whirling around crazily, and you can see Eastwood in a t-shirt and jeans and the crew watching the action.)

Other People Say Smart Stuff, Too Part XIII

An interesting observation by Robert Novak:

"Although the 2006 elections were widely considered at least partially a protest against GOP conduct of the war, little has changed, policy—wise, since then. On Capitol Hill, Iraq is like the weather: Everyone talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. Democrats have a made a habit of fiercely debating Iraq, pushing legislation that would impact the war, but then retreating to symbolic measures, at most."

RINO Hunting

Peter J. Wirs wrote a column recently discussing the problems and choices facing Conservatives this election season.

Congressional Republicans and the national Republican party have more or less forsaken their Conservative base. While the Republicans controlled Congress under President Bush, government spending -- outside of the Iraq war -- exploded (pardon the pun.) Entitlements went up. Earmarks became part of the political vocabulary.

Meanwhile, there was no progress in advancing the Conservative agenda socially or politically.

Republicans faced the consequences of their actions in 2006 when they suffered massive defeat at the polls. Conservatives shunned Republicans because the Republican party had abandoned Conservatives.

Now the Republican presidential nominee is a perfect example of the recent RINO (Republican In Name Only) control. Through media manipulation -- The New York Times endorsed McCain in February, only to savage him after he secured the Republican nomination -- and party politics, we have at best a second-level RINO candidate in John McCain.

To quote my February post: "With McCain's abridgement of free speech (McCain-Feingold,) his support of amnesty for illegal aliens (McCain-Kennedy,) and his embracement of the "governemnt should handle manmade global warming" concept (McCain-Lieberman,) McCain has shown that he is not only willing to compromise, but eager to appeal to Liberal sentiments."

Wirs points out that Conservatives have choices:

1) Abandon Republicans completely at the polls so that Democrats can take total control. This is with the hope that in four years Republican politicans will have hit bottom and realized the error of their ways. This is the equivalent of letting the burning house burn to the ground then rebuilding from scratch.

2) Support all Republicans at all levels, with the idea of regaining control of the party -- even though those who betrayed Conservatives would still be in control. This is the equivalent of fighting the fire vigorously in the hope of saving the building.

3) Support McCain while ignoring Congressional RINOs. This would prevent Obama from winning but still leave Reid/Pelosi in power. (No "burning building" analogy comes to mind!)

My own thought is to support McCain as much as possible. An Obama presidency would be disastrous for years, with Democrats also controlling Congress. The possibility of him appointing Supreme Court Justices -- which the next President may have the opportunity to do -- is terrifying, given the crazed decisions of recent courts. (e.g., habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo Bay detainees; expanded eminent domain interpretation.)

We must then be selective in our support for Republicans. Conservative candidates must be supported with all the energy and resources we can muster. RINOs can look to their Liberal supporters for votes. Find key issues that are important to you -- illegal immigration, national defense, global warming, for example -- and see how candidates have voted on those issues. (Remember with RINOs you can't always go by what they say.)

At the same time we have to force local Republican politicians to toe the Conservative line. We must form the farm system that will supply future Conservative Representatives and Senators. At every level we need to evaluate where candidates stand philosophically. We have to start thinking long-term so we can avoid having RINO candidates as our only choice.

The Nemesis Tree

Okay, so I'm fighting this invasive species of tree at the home compound. Every time I cut one down, half a dozen others sprout up. The stupid things have thorns and resist every technique I can think of to get rid of them. I'm no rocket surgeon, and one of the many things I don't know about is trees. Even though we have a national park inside the compound.
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Based on internet research, I originally thought it was a Russian Olive tree. All the descriptions fit my plant nemesis until I noticed that my trees did not have....olives.

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I then, with complete confidence, decided it was the Tree of Heaven. All of the descriptions, especially those describing its hardiness and aggressive growth, fit. Unfortunately, once I really looked, the leaves did not match.

So I have an unknown species of aggressive, intrusive tree on my property that defies identification and obliteration. Any arborolgists out there?

Leaf comparison:
The Nemesis Tree:

[7/9/08 Update: We're hiring landscapers to come out and work on the grounds of the compound. They have no idea what the Nemesis tree is, and moreover, they've never seen anything like it before. No one else in our town has anything like it. We may be making first contact with an alien race -- if we all disappear, contact the government. On the other hand, we may be eradicating the last survivors of another planet.]

Two Gore-y Stories

Story #1

A new report indicates that Al Gore's energy usage over the last year increased by ten percent. Gore, whose gluttonous use of energy was chronicled earlier, consumes twenty times the amount of energy to light his mansion as the normal household. He of course is forgiven by Liberals for his -- umm....inconsistency -- because he is wealthy enough to purchase "carbon offsets." Each day, of course, more of his wealth comes from brokering "carbon offset" purchases by other rich Liberals, who can then feel good about themselves. Meanwhile, he admonishes everyone else to reduce their energy usage.

Story #2

One headline pretty much says it all:

Gore Endorses Obama

Once again Obama associates himself with someone of questionable character.

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How does Al Gore maintain any credibility whatsoever with any thinking person? I actually had to edit myself to keep from using coarse language to describe him.

"Hello, Al Gore..."

"Hello Al Gore; Hello UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Your science is flawed; your hypothesis is wrong; your data is manipulated." -- John Coleman, founder of The Weather Channel, rebutting the claims of manmade global warming in a speech to the San Diego Chamber of Commerce.

Nothing New Under the Sun

I thought I'd made up a really good word today - illiterati. I meant to insult some people who I didn't believe were particularly well-read or literate. Kind of a take off on the word illuminati ("enlightened ones.")

Rather proud of myself after I wrote it, I googled the word and found the definition in the Urban Dictionary. Almost exactly the same as mine. With the addition of the fact that illiterati "take pride in the fact that they are ignorant and in their refusal to learn."

So much for my attempt at originality.

Obama Back in the Day

The Chicago Reader published an article in 1995 called "What Makes Obama Run?" Mainly a kiss-his-ring tribute to Obama, the article reveals details about Obama that he tried to sweep under the rug in 2008.

"We have some wonderful preachers in town--preachers who continue to inspire me--preachers who are magnificent at articulating a vision of the world as it should be." - Barack Obama in 1995, while he was a member of Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ.

In 2008 Obama claimed he didn't know what Wright was saying. Eventually he disassociated himself from Wright and finally resigned from the church.

The conclusion that would logically be drawn is that Obama was not only aware of what Wright was saying, but idealized him and used him as an example. Just to refresh your memory, review what Obama's inspiration said.

Two points:
1) Obama's vision of the world as it should be embraces hostility and resentment toward white people; and
2) Obama will lie to get elected.

Stonehenge - Built by One Man

This is just too cool to believe. Some people are really, really smart.

AIDS Pandemic Claims "Misdirected," Says WHO Expert

I've posted before about the overblown claims "scientists" made about the so-called AIDS epidemic. Now the story comes out that the risk of an AIDS pandemic among heterosexuals was wildly exaggerated. Essentially, unless you live in sub-Saharan Africa, or engage in homosexual sex, or use intravenous drugs, or work in the sex industry, the chance of contracting AIDS is about zero.

Let me reiterate this point -- for twenty years or more we have been blasted with the message that "all of us are at risk" when it came to AIDS. Massive campaigns were mounted to scare us into changing our behavior or face possible extermination. "Experts" were paraded through the media endlessly, repeating the same thing over and over: AIDS was killing huge numbers of people, and it was only going to get worse. One might say that there was a consensus of opinion about the dangers that AIDS posed to the world.

And now, after billions of dollars have been put into the pockets of AIDS activists and researchers, they shrug their shoulders, say "We were wrong, sorry," and walk away. The similarity to the global warming scare is remarkable. Opportunists cash in on the fear of the unknown -- I'm talking about Al Gore, of course, but also any scientist who receives a paycheck for global warming "research" (read "confirmation"). Any scientist who finds evidence contradicting the manmade global warming liturgy is in danger of killing the golden goose and must be destroyed.

In five, ten or twenty years, global warming scientists will do what they have done with the AIDS scare -- say they were wrong and walk away without a backward glance. Meanwhile, millions will have starved from food shortages, economies will teeter and collapse, and billions of people will have their lifestyles turned back a hundred years -- because of "misdirected" alarmism.

Ooooohhh Yeaahhhhhh

Any doubts about which country is #1?

$45,000,000,000,000

Senate Democrats dropped legislation for a global warming bill that they had introduced. Apparently, the idea of introducing new government programs that would increase the cost of energy lost its appeal when gas hit $4 a gallon.

Little by little, maybe our side is winning. The Democrats may be waiting for whoever the next President is so they can be more confident it won't be vetoed.

Apparently "the most imporant issue facing the planet" (as bill sponsors like to call the global warming theory) can wait until Democrats can profit politically.

By the way, the estimated cost to meet all the global greenhouse emission standards is $45 trillion.

Other People Say Smart Stuff, Too Part XII

Because sometimes I get a little.....overwrought...about politics, this quote struck a chord.

Commentator Ben Stein, on CBS News Sunday Morning:

“In a free society, what we are and who we are depends on us -- except for the very most poor among us, where the government can indeed make a difference. But for the huge bulk of us Americans, no matter what any Republican or any Democrat promises, it’s up to the people in our house, not the White House. For most of us, what the politicians say is just sideshow barking, and when the circus leaves town we’ve got to get back to basics: work, save, and teach your children well, and enjoy the political sideshow. But it’s just show business, not real business.”

Bad News for Democrats

Washington Post editorial:

"The Iraqi Upturn: Don't look now, but the U.S.-backed government and army may be winning the war."

Burning Food

Jerry Bowyer recently wrote a very interesting column called "How Al Gore is Getting Fat Off of a Starving World." Contrary to what the title might indicate, it's not about Gore's latest prodigious weight gain. It's about how people such as Gore are profiting off the high price of foods.

The article goes into a lot of detail, but essentially it's this -- the recent increase in food prices is due to the government's policy to increase ethanol production ("...as an alternative to fossil fuels, which add carbon to the atmosphere, which causes global warming, which we're all gonna die from, yadda yadda yadda....") Agricultural product prices have risen sharply recently -- feed grain is up 41% in the last year -- and the government has blamed it on, variously, the problems with the weak dollar, higher fuel prices, general inflation....something.

During that same time period, though, fruit and nut prices are down 3%. And all the "reasons" the government gives for the high food prices also apply to these products, yet prices went down.

Coincidentally, different types of agricultural products rose in price as they got closer to the ethanol production process. We turn corn into ethanol, but we don't do the same with walnuts and bananas.

From the column: "It’s not a general inflation problem; it’s a problem of political corruption. America’s first presidential primary happens to be in Iowa. That gives ethanol first dibs at the pork barrel. Add Republican farm voters to Democratic environmentalists, shake vigorously and you get a brew called ethanol. The farmers get rich on taxpayer subsidies, the venture capitalists who focus on alternative fuels (I’m looking in your direction, Mr. Gore) get fat on profits. Good deal for everybody, except people who happen to eat food. "