"Ronnie turned over the torch to Newt"

Sarah would vote for Newt in Florida to "keep the process going"

"No one drowns in the truth!"

Recently I wrote about a book I had begun to read entitled The 7, by Glenn Beck and Keith Ablow. Now that I have finished it, I want to give it a very high recommendation. It is kind of a marriage between the best principles of psychotherapy and Christianity. The "7" concepts discussed in the book are courage, faith, compassion, truth, friendship, family, and common sense.

The book is chocked full of ideas about how we can go about changing our lives for the better. Can we make changes and grow as human beings without confronting pain? Nope! Should we be afraid to learn the truth about ourselves? Nope! In fact, the closer we get to truth, the closer we get to God, who is Truth! By hiding from the truth, living in denial, and avoiding learning and disclosing the truth about ourselves, we are essentially saying that we are not yet fully welcoming God's love in our lives. On the other hand, the more we move toward realizing in our thoughts and actions the best in ourselves, the closer we move toward God.

Can you forgive yourself? Can you forgive others? Is that not the essence of the Christian faith? Do you have the courage to resist the fears, anxieties, and other negative loops being run by your storyteller left brain? Okay, now I am mixing together the concepts in this book with my favorite book, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's My Stroke of Insight. That book and The 7 encourage us to resist negative patterns that we know will harm us, and both books give lots of practical suggestions as to how to implement change that will enrich our lives. 

My earlier post is here: http://bobagard.blogspot.com/2012/01/facing-truths.html

A father's love

Rick Santorum is off the campaign trail to be home with his three-year-old daughter, who has fallen ill. According to Newsmax, "Isabella Santorum has Trisomy 18, a genetic condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 18th chromosome. When asked about her, Santorum says his daughter was not expected to survive until her first birthday and often has to catch himself to stop from tears."

The quote from Santorum that caught my eye was this one: " I look at the simplicity and love she emits," Santorum said in a Web video his campaign released after his scheduling drew questions, "and it's clear to me we're the disabled ones." That reminds me of Jill Bolte Taylor's book My Stroke of Insight. Dr. Taylor writes that she will never again look with pity on people who are so-called disabled, because from her experience as a stroke victim she realizes that so-called disabled people may well have strengths and insights that we so-called able people do not have.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Santorum-Daughter-cancel-Republican/2012/01/29/id/425838?s=al&promo_code=E100-1

Yes, there is a record this time

via http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Worth-a-Thousand-Words

"Adopting the worst tactics of the left...to use against those to their right"

Jeff Goldstein adds his unique voice to those of us who refuse to be rounded up into the Romney camp:

"I’m curious why you’d expect me to reward a candidate who, in every election cycle, uses his money and his surrogates and sycophants to level insidious attacks against his opponents — not on the substance of their ideas, but rather in an attempt to smear them personally and, frankly, to ruin them. (The tell came last evening when Romney suggested to Wolf Blitzer that, in fact, Gingrich had indeed used a certain phrase, making his attack valid even if the phrase was taken completely out of context, and he knew it to be out of context.)
Watching the “pragmatic” center-right electability-jackals go after Newt Gingrich the last couple days — in a concentrated, concerted, and organized way — suggests to me that the establishment sector of “our” movement has adopted the worst tactics of the left, which it will use, amazingly, only against those to their right.
That is, these “pragmatists” are willing to smear and demonize conservatives (while pretending to define contemporary conservatism, in that way moving it leftward), and yet they make it their mission to woo the moderates and independents with pleasing panders and populist pablum.
And for this they deserve my vote?
Sorry, but that’s how Obama made his political bones. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to support that kind of behavior just because those reveling in it wear flag lapel pins and check R on their voter registration forms.
In fact, I hope they fail."
 http://proteinwisdom.com/

Will larger crowds mean more votes?

Gingrich is drawing larger crowds in Florida than the other three candidates: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/gingrich-draws-thousands-in-fla-while-romneys-santorums-2123241.html
via http://primordialslack.com/?p=2138

"She's ready for 'em!"

I found this here:  http://primordialslack.com/?p=2144

Why are the Dems and unions already going after Romney?

This should be a huge story. Obama and the Democrat National Committee and unions are spending lots of money attacking Mitt Romney in Florida. When Nixon's team did that in 1972, to promote the candidacy of George McGovern, whom Nixon beat handily, it was called "Dirty Tricks." Does this mean that the Dems think Romney would be their strongest opponent? Reporter Scott Powers of the Orlando Sentinel (not the New York Times, not the Washington Post, not the Wall Street Journal, etc.) broke the story here: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-democrats-against-romney-20120124,0,7825399.story

What is America all about?

Charles Murray believes America is coming apart. What has been your exposure to America? Take a test here to see: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=how-thick-is-your-bubble
My score was nine.
via Power Line: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/01/bubble-what-bubble-my-bubble-score-is.php

Do Republicans live in caves?

Chris Matthews interviewed Republican strategist Ron Christie:
Chris Matthews: In other words, there is no manmade influence on climate change? Is that your belief, Ron Christie? I didn’t know that. Are you out there with the full-mooners on this one?
Ron Christie, Republican strategist: Let me enlighten you on this one, Chris. I think global climate change is the biggest fraud that’s been perpetrated in this country. The scientific evidence isn’t there. This is something that Al Gore and his cronies have made millions of dollars of perpetuating a myth. That’s what I think.
Matthews: How are you standing on evolution these days?
Christie: I’m feeling pretty good in evolution.
Matthews: Do you believe in it?
Christie: God it our creator and I think that we all fall from the good Lord.
Matthews: So you don’t believe in evolution?
Christie: I believe that God is our Creator and we all from the good Lord.
Matthews: What is with the troglodyte? The Luddites? What is the party that used to believe in things?
Christie: Troglodytes? It’s true. One of the things you’re missing here is faith. You’re missing faith in this country.
Matthews: Excuse me, I don’t want to just plum the depths the position the party is taking that is so far right these days. Let’s go back to life on this planet here.

Watch the video here:  http://patdollard.com/2012/01/chris-matthews-people-who-believe-god-is-their-creator-are-troglodytes/

I looked up troglodyte in the dictionary: 

1. A member of a supposed prehistoric race that lived in caves or holes, a caveman.
2. (by extension) Anything that lives underground.

   The cave was populated by albino scorpions, blind salamanders, and other troglodytes.

3. A reclusive, reactionary or out-of-date person, especially if brutish.
4. (computing) A person who chooses not to keep up-to-date with the latest software and hardware.

Is Obama "Putin's patsy?"

This writer believes that Obama is "Putin's patsy." She documents her case here: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/russia_re-elect_obama_or_its_world_war_iii.html
and here: http://pjmedia.com/blog/clueless-obama-still-trying-to-reset-with-russia/?singlepage=true

J.C. Watts says Newt has the record

Add J.C. Watts and Laura Ingraham to those who laugh at people who say Gingrich is not a conservative. While Ingraham praises Romney today on her radio program for being extremely well rehearsed on the delivery of his message,  and winning last night's debate, J.C, Watts points out Gingrich's record of real accomplishments such as balancing the budget. He reminds us that Margaret Thatcher said, "Win the argument, and you'll win the vote." Isn't balancing the budget one of the most important issues we have confronting us in this election?

Limbaugh, Reagan, O'Reilly note smear campaigns against Gingrich

Newsmax has two posts today quoting Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Reagan, and Nancy Reagan praising Newt Gingrich's conservative credentials.
 http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Limbaugh-Reagan-Gingrich-Romney/2012/01/26/id/425666
 http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/Bill-OReilly-Talking-Points/2012/01/26/id/425704?s=al&promo_code=E092-1

Confusing, deceptive words

Obama was here in Colorado giving a fifteen minute speech to a specially selected closed-to-the-public audience that was "hushed," missing obvious applause lines, according to Denver Post reporter Jeremy P. Meyer. Meyer said the crowd seemed "strangely silent," and, at one point, Obama had to encourage the crowd to clap! Maybe they were confused at his message, which was that we should have "an all-of-the-above energy policy," given the fact that he had just nixed the pipeline from Canada to Houston, which would have created thousands of jobs.
 http://www.denverpost.com/ci_19831727?source=bb
Update: Perhaps there is another reason why there was a hushed, strange silence:
 http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2012/01/27/as-the-state-of-the-union-speech-shows-the-problem-with-obama-isnt-just-political-or-ideological-its-ignorance-inexperience-character-and-incompetence-too/?singlepage=true
Update 2: It turns out that increased oil production is coming from non-federal lands. Oil production on federal lands has plummeted since Obama was elected:  http://www.coloradopeakpolitics.com/diary/977/fact-check-the-real-obama-energy-policy-is-killing-job-growth-in-the-west
Update 3: Darleen Click reminds us that Sarah Palin is the one who first popularized "the all-of-the-above" energy strategy Obama in now mouthing: http://proteinwisdom.com/

Hurting

David Goldman (Spengler) brings us four graphs of the Obama years. One shows the rise in unemployment of African American young men, another shows the fact that real estate assets of American households have lost one-quarter of their value, another shows the 16 million people who should be working but aren't, and the fourth shows unemployment rates. There are a whole lot of people hurting: http://pjmedia.com/spengler/2012/01/24/obama-is-toast/

Asian-Pacific region embraces the U.S. military

China is rising as a military power, and being more assertive in staking claims to disputed territories, such as the energy-rich South China Sea. That might explain why countries such as Australia, Singapore, and the Phillippines seem happy to have as their guests various units of the United States military: http://www.neptunuslex.com/2012/01/26/baliktican-come-in/

Michael Reagan supporting Newt

Michael Reagan is supporting Newt Gingrich. Megan Kelly tries hard in this interview with Michael on Fox to get him to agree with Newt's critics, but Michael, like his famous father, is unshakeable.

Mark Levin reminds us: this is about defeating Obama!

Santorum supporter Mark Levin talks about the "establishment's" effort to "clear a path for Romney." He reminds his listeners that Romney did the same thing to Fred Thompson (who is supporting Gingrich) and Rudy Giulliani in 2008. Levin concludes that "Newt Gingrich did more for the conservative movement than virtually all of his present critics put together!"
Listen to the whole thing here: http://www.therightscoop.com/mark-levin-newt-did-more-for-the-conservative-movement-than-virtually-all-of-his-critics-today/

Reagan's mention of Gingrich in his diary

Fred Barnes unearthed what is perhaps President Reagan's only mention of Newt Gingrich in Reagan's diary: “Newt Gingrich has a proposal for freezing the budget at the 1983 level. It’s a tempting idea except that it would cripple our defense program. And if we make an exception on that every special interest group will be asking for the same thing.”
I found this here:  http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/50402

Framing the debate

Newt Gingrich is framing the debate: attacking Romney and Obama, as he flies around Florida with his wife at his side smiling and applauding.
I found this at http://ace.mu.nu./
Update: rdbrewer at Ace, though accompanying his post with a photo of Frankenstein, has decided, like I have, that Newt is the better candidate to go up against Obama.

Practicing seven wonders

I finished reading The 7, by Glenn Beck and Keith Ablow. It is about how our lives can change for the better, if we allow ourselves to experience these seven "wonders:" courage, faith, compassion, truth, friendship, family, and common sense. I appreciate the authors sharing how these seven wonders have enriched their lives, even though at times it was painful for them to face the lack of these qualities in their own lives. I know I have benefited from reading the book, and I hope I can inculcate and practice some of these qualities in my life better than I have in the past.

Courting the West

Today President Obama comes to Colorado, after visiting Arizona and Nevada, three states he needs to win in November. His more-of-the-same agenda includes opening up public lands for clean-energy private investments, spurring the military to go green, and doling out more tax incentives to the domestic clean energy sector. That worked well with Solyandra, you may recall. I like this photo of Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona pointing her finger at the Prez. Obama does not do well with women with whom he works, as reported in Ron Suskind's book Confidence Men.
Update: Iowahawk notes that the Sunday Washington Post has recognized that Solyandra is a "scandal," even though the Post's liberal perspective misinterprets who are the real victims of the scandal. http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/12/journalistic-sun-stroke.html
Update 2:  "This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy," and "except the Keystone pipeline." That's what you call an "internal contradiction." http://onecosmos.blogspot.com/

Not jumping on the bandwagon

Today Ace analyzes why he and others are not jumping on the Gingrich bandwagon:   http://ace.mu.nu./

Special Ops to the rescue!

This 32-year-pld American aid worker was rescued today by American Special Operations troops in Somalia. She had been kidnapped in October by Somali pirates. All nine of the terrorists who were holding her hostage are now dead.
Update: This is another public relations coup by Obama, and deservedly so. He called the woman's father after his State of the Union Address to let the father know that his daughter was okay.

The Republican Bill Clinton?

Rich Lowry says Newt Gingrich is the Republican Bill Clinton. I hope that means he'll be President for eight years. Like the others at National Review, Rich has few positive things to say about Newt. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/288989/gingrich-republican-clinton-rich-lowry

Obama's numbers

Mike's America has a great graphic illustrating Obama's numbers from Jan 2009 to now on a variety of important subjects: http://mikesamerica.blogspot.com/2012/01/viewing-guides-for-obamas-state-of.html

Some aliens will resort to anything for a good steak!

I found this here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/114658

Blah, blah, blah

Today I had to do a lot of driving in the car, so I listened to talk radio. The sports show was boring. NPR was trying their best to take down Newt Gingrich. Mark Steyn was in for Rush. He ain't no Rush. Glenn Beck and his two sidekicks were hard to listen to because each was trying to out-sarcasm the other, and all were obviously for Rick Santorum, as they took turns bashing Newt and being bored by Romney. I slid an audio book into the player. It was Glenn Beck's book The Seven. In it Glenn writes about the painful but ultimately happy process of overcoming addictions and finding authenticity. I sure wish this authentic man would spend less time with the sarcasm on his radio program. It gets really old. By the way, did you know that the only place you can get real news is on GBTV and the Blaze? Yup, I heard it from Glenn!

Adventures with Sara by Sara Agard, age 8

Once upon a time there was a girl named Sara. She owned a horse named Peanut. She lived on a farm. She liked to play with cats, make things, and pretend she was a pirate who doesn't wear shoes. She had six dogs. She liked to make up things using her imagination. She loved cats. On her wall there were lots of pictures of cats. Sara had five cats. She was the smartest person in her class. She had 112 friends. There were 88 people in her class. She had one best friend named Cora. She had a little brother named Ang and a little sister named Mo.

There was a castle right in back of her house. Prince Zuko was banished from the castle.  No one was supposed to talk about it, or else they would also be banished from the kingdom. Zuko was in a meeting with one of the lords who run the kingdom. Mo came into the meeting and asked why Zuko was banished. Sara told the lord not to talk to her sister like that. They never did find out why Zuko was banished from the castle.

Complete vindication of Gingrich on ethics charges

http://www.maggiesnotebook.com/2012/01/gingrich-ethics-charges-cnn-report-complete-vindication-john-lewis-claim-of-massive-tax-fraud-a-fraud-video/

Transcript of tonight's State of the Union address

I have obtained a copy of tonight's State of the Union address:

“Thank you, thank you please be seated. You are all starting to look like the liberal media with all this idolatry. Ok, I am going to keep this short tonight. Tee off is 6:30am in Pebble Beach and I need enough time to get to the west coast. (turn head and ask “Does Nancy still have the jet? That would help a lot”). Before we start I would like to thank Senate majority leader Harry Reid for helping me to stall a lot of legislation in the Senate. Thank you to Vice President Biden for his gaffes which allows Fox News to focus on him for a while. And a special “thank you” to Speaker Boehner for single handedly solving the worlds’ water problems with all those tears (wait for laughter to die down).

Since I have been elected President in 2008 I have been hard at work for you, the American people. In fact, sleep is at a premium these days because I have been working tirelessly pandering to union bosses to make sure my campaign donations don’t dry up. In three short years as your Commander in Chief we have accomplished many things for the citizens of this once great nation and most particularly for the middle class.

Our debt and deficits are at dangerous levels…they are too low. How can we possibly look to restrain the size of government intervention in your lives if we continue to have people demanding for government to live within its means. That’s why we haven’t passed a budget in 1,000 days….to give overpaid bureaucrats the much needed freedom to continue spending on their favorite pet projects like teaching shrimp to run on a treadmill or counting the number of male prostitutes in Vietnam or putting poems in zoos. These are the things that put Americans back to work. These are the spending projects that the middle class is demanding.

We have killed the Keystone XL Pipeline which would have brought oil from Canada to our refineries in Texas and Louisiana. We did this for two major reasons: one, strategically we wanted China to get this oil so they can continue to import cheap products to the U.S. so the Chinese will have the money to loan us, and, two, as your President I want oil prices to stay high so traveling for you would be too expensive. Middle class families would then be forced to stay home and cook dinner and watch T.V. This is all part of Michelle’s “Keeping The Family Together Energy Dependence Plan”. It will work. Just give it some time and it will show the same fruits as our stimulus plan. Who do the Canadian’s think they are anyway? It’s not like they are a staunch ally of ours like my good friend Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

And finally we will continue to focus on education. Tonight I am rolling out my new “Occupy The Classroom” initiative. This will allow students to go to college under a special grant that never has to be re-paid as long as you tell us in good faith that you are trying to find work after you obtain your degree. If you cannot find work within 10 years, the federal government will erase the debt.

When I took office I said this would be the most transparent administration in history and I have kept that promise. During my campaign I told everyone that would listen what I would do when President. Did you really expect for me to govern from the center? So, in closing, I will say this…and let me be clear…class warfare benefits everyone…redistribution of wealth benefits everyone…reckless government spending benefits everyone. Let’s continue to prey on the uninformed and together, we will finish our transition to a bankrupt European nation.

God bless you and God bless the United Socialist States of America! (slowly back away and don’t trip over teleprompter)
P.S. Don’t forget to take our online poll: “What are you most afraid of happening in 2012?”…. Barack Obama getting re-elected or the world coming to an end on Dec. 21st? Cast your vote HERE
via  http://governmentgonewild.org/stateofunionaddress

Payback

Arizona is getting in some payback with Eric Holder. The state is looking into whether or not the Feds broke Arizona laws in allowing guns to walk into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="video" width="400" height="340" data="http://www.abc15.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=16926">

My man Fred endorses Newt

Fred Thompson endorsed Newt Gingrich tonight. "I have come to the growing realization that Newt Gingrich is the guy who can articulate what America is all about," Thompson told Fox News.

Coulter and Christie, Romney's "spokesbigmouths"

The Right Scoop features a segment of Mark Levin's radio program today in which Mark defends Gingrich against "Krispie Creme" Christy of New Jersey for being Romney's "Spokesbigmouth" repeating left wing b.s. charges against Gingrich. Ann Coulter, of all people, accuses Gingrich of being "bombastic!"
Here is Levin on Christie: http://www.therightscoop.com/mark-levin-blasts-christie-for-parroting-old-left-wing-ethics-propaganda-against-newt/
Here is The Professor on Coulter: http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/01/coulter-world/
Update: John Hinderaker of Power Line is another conservative who does not seem enthusiastic about Newt: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/01/congratulations-newt.php

Naked pictures, or get groped?

Senator Rand Paul was detained by the TSA in the Nashville airport today after he refused to go through their procedures. Sunny decides to do this video about the TSA. This is her funniest one yet that I have seen.

Red meat

With people like Ann Coulter sad about Romney's decline and Gingrich's advance, how do we analyze the situation? Ace of Spades works really hard today to give Romney some advice: http://ace.mu.nu./

Facing truths

I am reading a book written by Glen Beck and psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow. It is entitled The 7. It is about discovering the truths about who each of us really is. Did you know Glenn's mother committed suicide? Glenn's confusion, sadness, and anger over this event caused him to turn to drugs and alcohol, have lousy personal relationships, and go from job to job. Meeting his second wife, Tonya, was a key turning point, followed closely by his finding faith in himself by finding faith in God through his participation in the Mormon church.

It is about "the 7 wonders" that a person can experience on the way to personal transformation and fulfillment. The first two wonders are courage and faith. The book seems very sound to me, both in its religious and psychological concepts.

Update: "Without question, truth is the most important value of a civilization."  What is truth? "Well, for one thing, it is the thing that results in bad stuff happening if we fail to appreciate it." http://onecosmos.blogspot.com/

he Tale of the Trolls: The birth of the beginning by Jon Agard, age eleven

Prologue:
A starship soared through the blackened space, leaving a trail of roaring fire to dissolve. In a split second peaceful flying turned into complete chaos. Beep, beep, beep, the siren blared. The pilot ran into the sleeping hanger and yelled, "Up, up up: Emergency!" We are heading into a black hole! The ship morphed through the vortex, leaving the passengers extremely uncomfortable. The doors were opened, and the three captains piled out. Even in their pain, they were speechless - for there in front of their eyes was a land of intense beauty. They found many amazing things; waterfalls the size of skyscrapers, vast deserts, trees with roots over fifteen miles long. and, to their great surprise, aliens! Thousands of different species of aliens! They could not believe what they had finally found: life!

The aliens made friends with the men, and they all learned great things. The aliens taught them their language and ways, and the men taught them their technology. Soon a whole new world was born.

The three captains that landed the ship were named  Harold Sheridan, Sandoval Sarvis, and Jerry Hellsting. One day the three men were taking a hike, exploring the new land. They walked over a hill. Jerry saw something. There was a giant pit filled with crystals. A huge earthquake happened. One guy fell into the pit. The others asked him if he was alright. "Yeah, I am, he said, as he all of a sudden flew up out of the pit, saying "What the...I'm flying!" The crystals were sources of power. Sarvis said, "We can use this power to take over the universe. Hellsting said, "No, we can use these crystals for good, keep peace among all living beings." Sarvis grabbed a crystal and ran away with it. Hellsting and Sarvis became enemies.


Chapter One:
Five hundred years later an alarm clock rang and danced on a desk. A male in his thirties awoke and scratched his head. He rose out of his bed and checked his calendar. A small sprinkle of rain fell along the streets of Tenochtillen City. The man opened his garage door and hopped on his motorcycle. As John McMurpheen drove along the roads, he swerved around a crazy stoopid, a small creature with a loud voice and a big mouth. A few minutes later, doors were opening and cars started filing onto the streets. The rumbling of John 's motorcycle stopped as he walked into a dreary bar that had a sign that read Parkinson's Pub. A man with a hump on his back bellowed, "Hey, John, how're ya doing?" "Pretty good, a raspy voice replied." "Got a few people who answered your ad," said Rumble the bartender. "Oh, good," said John. "They'll be here soon," said Rumble. "Do you want a drink while you wait?" "I'll have a coffee," replied John.


To be continued...

Pay attention to the roar!

Here is a blog post that gets it right:

The math is clear.  While negative ads can be effective if run in huge numbers -- as in Iowa -- what the voters are craving in the debates and on the stump is someone who can look liberals squarely in the eye and tell them why we are right and they are wrong.  The American conservative base has had to put up with being called stupid, racist, greedy and unfair for decades by not only the Democrats but the vast majority of the media.  The pent up frustration of these decades is magnified by the fact that George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush and John McCain would not or perhaps could not confront this. 

In fact, rare is the Republican candidate at any level who refuses to put up with this and fights back.  When they do, they become sensations.  Even Chris Christie and Donald Trump -- neither one a real conservative -- earned the love of the Republican base by simply deigning to fight back.  Marco Rubio and Allen West are far more popular and well known than they have any right to be simply because they refuse to accept the

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/psst_hear_the_roar_and_pay_attention.html#ixzz1kFJp9OhJ

No more bowing to Saudi Kings!

via http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/01/newt-victory-speech-no-more-bowing-to-saudi-king/

GOP voters in South Carolina choose a fighter

Another blogger for Gingrich

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2012/01/why-im-backing-newt-gingrich.html

Will she solve the mystery? By Greg Agard, age ten

There is an island in the Bermuda Triangle. Water is scarce there. A man named Qumarez is keeping all the water to himself. A bodyguard woman named Teutonic was traveling through the Bermuda Triangle, when the winds blew her ashore on the island. She decided to help the people of the island to get their water back from Qumarez. Qumarez keeps the water in his giant vault. Teutonic has to get through lots of enemies and obstacles to solve the mystery.
To be continued...

Words Obama can't use

From Ace of Spades:
Words Obama can't use: Success, growth, prosperity, plunging unemployment, factory openings, fury of new-home starts, expanding investment,growing middle class, increasing wages, security.
Why did Reagan, and then Bill Clinton, connect with people? It wasn't all about charm. It was also the content of their communications. Reagan could speak of it being Morning in America Again, because it was. Clinton could speak of 4% unemployment, because he had that (briefly).
They could talk about how great people had it.
Obama? He can only tell you that in four years time, his doctrine says things should be getting better.

"Enormously helpful"

"Very dramatic, very deep change in Washington"

You go, Newt!

Keep your horse away from bad luck! by Sara Agard, age eight

Once upon a time in the mountains there was a ranch. There were seven horses there and the people who owned the horses were Zoey, Clare, Sara, Mala, Haley, Matthew and Travis. Sara had a horse named Scarlet. Zoey had a horse named Pepper. Clare had a horse named Chili. Mala's horse was named Saga. Haley had a horse named Emily. Matthew had a horse named Rex. Travis had a horse named Thunder.

There was one problem: the cat! The cat was lazy. All it did was sleep. One day mice came out of Pepper's stall. The dog told the cat to go fetch the mice. She said, "Sorry, not interested. Gotta take my cat nap."

The next day a car appeared at the gate. There was a new girl coming. Her name was Chloe. She had a horse named Selana. All the horses became disturbed when Salana came trotting up. Chloe hated Sara because Sara's horse was prettier. Chloe pretended like she didn't care. The next day Chloe put her nail polish in the horse nail polish. Sara used that nail polish and Scarlet's nails turned pink, but Sara didn't care.

When Chloe used the nail polish, it turned green. Salana went up to Scarlet's stall and said, "You think you're a better horse than I; well you're not!" Scarlet said, "In fact, I am the best horse around here." Salana said, "I'm leaving. Excuse me. It's my hay time."

All the girls went for a horse ride. They saw mice running around. Everybody screamed! The dog barked and woke up the cat. The cat said, "Is that all dogs do is bark and wake up cats?" The dog answered, "Is that all cats do is nap?'

After the long trail ride the girls rode their horses into the pasture. Travis was there. He was their leader, showing them how to do their jumps for tomorrow. Scarlet jumped first. Travis said to Sara, "You did excellent. You and Scarlet worked together as a team." Then Chloe and Salana had their turn. Travis said "Stop!" He saw her jump and miss, breaking the spikey pole. Chloe stopped. Salana neighed in pain. Sara came over and noticed Salana was bleeding. They called the vet. Salana waited in her stall. The vet said she would be okay.

During that time the mice kept running everywhere. Scarlet broke out of her stall. She was terrified of the mice. Chloe was the only one in the barn, Sara came in and said, "Look what you did. You broke her stall door." Chloe said, "No I didn't." Sara asked, "Are you sure?" Sara decided to help Chloe with Salana, and they became best friends.

From Reagan to Obama

I am reading President Reagan's autobiography. Of all his accomplishments, the one he was proudest of was his handling of the economy, especially reducing tax rates. Even so, he gave the credit to the American people, who took full advantage of new economic opportunity. Despite the success of his policies, we now have an administration that ignores Reagan's successful plan. Above is the Obama plan.
I found this at Maggie's Farm: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

Cat School, by Sara Agard, age 8

Once upon a time in the cold mountains it was pouring snow outside. Inside the mountains was an enormous school. It appeared to be for cats only. The kind of cat you are is how they determine which class you were in. The girls were a little bit smaller than the boys, but otherwise everyone looked alike in each class.

There was a girl cat named Britney. She was really good at things, but there was one thing she wasn't good at: P.E. She didn't care. She wanted to do something else: read books! The cats actually lived at the school. When it was time for them to go to bed they would glue baskets across a row. Then they would put little pillows and blankets in their baskets.

There was one cat that no one could even challenge. He wore boots and had a sword. His name was Puss. All the other girl cats except Britney really liked Puss. Britney never did anything except read books. Sometimes they had "game time." Some cats would play with yarn balls and some would play in the trees.
Most of the cats played chess and scratched posters. Puss lifted weights, trying to prove he was stronger than any other cat.

If any cat got ahead of Britney, she would leap on them and jump on them until she got to the front. Sometimes when it was time to go to bed, the cats would not go to bed. Instead of going to bed they would sneak into the game room and play games. Britney said she would challenge Puss in a race. Puss was the fastest cat of all, but he was also the fastest reader. She challenged him in both. Puss was done reading before Britney. In the race it was a tie.

Succombing to pressure from Muslim Brotherhood

Just whom is the Department of Homeland Security watching? Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch wants to know, and we should also want to know: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/01/spencer-as-jihad-plots-multiply-dhs-slumbers-on.html

"Everything in America is going just fine."

One more from Daphne at Jaded Haven:
"It’s not like we need to correct any major problems in America. The economy’s going gangbusters, the budget’s balanced with a nice surplus sitting in the coffers, our three major entitlement programs are well-managed and solvent, especially Medicare Part D and goodness knows we can handle another trillion dollars in new war costs and futile nation building in the backwaters of a few more Muslim theocracies.
Our public schools, thanks to No Child Left Behind, are the envy of the world, busy churning out first class, creative STEM minds. The massive scourge of illegal immigration has been solved, unemployment is almost nonexistent and the emerging third world is snapping up our excellent, US manufactured trade goods at a fast pace on the open market.
We enjoy getting patted down at airports and don’t mind at all giving the FBI, NSA or CIA the power to poke into our phone, banking and online activities or wiretap us without justifiable cause or a warrant.
The Bill of Rights should naturally take a backseat to our fundamental liberties in the name of safety from terrorism. It’s no bother for Homeland Security to give us a grilling before boarding a Greyhound bus or let their dogs sniff our pants on the subway platform. Cameras on every street light, recording our faces and identities, the data filed into national security banks is no big deal. Being detained indefinitely without charges or access to legal council is the right way to go in these frightening times. Nobody really believes our government would just willy-nilly arrest or assassinate anyone who didn’t actually deserve it.
Seriously, what do you have to worry about if you’ve done nothing wrong?
Our political class is corruption free, the taint of moneyed special interests influencing, writing and subverting legislation is a relic of the past. Wall Street abides by an honorable code of fiduciary ethics, the federal reserve doesn’t print money out of thin air and congress would never countenance the reek of fascist taint by bailing out and going into business with failed private entities. High morality and constitutional rigidity permeates all levels of our financial and political classes.
The war on drugs has been highly successful, next to no one uses or sells illegal substances anymore. The billion dollar, tax funded police state to eradicate illegal mind-altering substances was well worth the money spent. Prison costs are minimal and plenty of space is available to incarcerate truly violent reprobates. Our local constabulary are still Mayberry friendly, a community of neighborly people we trust to maintain the peace and openly welcome in times of trouble.
So unlike those third world, jack-booted storm troopers armed with extensive military hardware who shoot first and expect complete oversight when they murder innocent people and sweet family pets. We still trust our police.
Criminal Federal offenses now number in the mere hundreds, citizens and business know exactly where they stand within the limited number of government agencies tasked with enforcing compliance, including the IRS. Navigating government regulations has never been easier or more citizen friendly.
Starting a business has become a breeze, entrepreneurship is exploding across the nation, new start-ups are sending GDP through the roof and offering more avenues for employment. Low corporate tax rates are feeding this trend, filling the nations treasury with enough revenue to fund expensive old age entitlements into the next millennium.
Our most important one percent, the military personnel who volunteer to do the nation’s most terrible bidding, are treated like gold. We would never dream of subjecting them to multiple deployments for irrational nation building projects in muslim cesspools, give military foreign aid to countries who are actively fighting our soldiers or leave them helpless to IUDS, bullshit Nato directives or State department insanity. Of course, we pay them extremely well for their hard service and provide excellent financial comfort in their retirement. We treat our true blue one percent like Goldman Sachs executives, drape them in golden parachutes and all that other soft, public monetary jazz.
We seem to have very few problems in our land of prosperous plenty that can’t be handled by a continuing course of big spending, government growth, liberty hating, neo-conservative ideological platforms.
So why bother replacing a center-left, big state president if the electable center-right, big state republican candidate is another diced version of the same song which lead to us to this sorry result in the first place?
Because that’s what Conservatives do, kick out one filthy asshole in order to elect his dirty brother.
Of course, everything in America is going just fine. No need to consider any real change in management."
Read more here:  http://jadedhaven.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/singing-the-party-line/

Progressives' Ignorance: "Ban it, tax it, or criminalize it!"

Daphne, of the brilliant Jaded Haven blog, resides in or near the city of Austin, Texas. The city fathers there are planning to ban plastic grocery bags. Here is what Daphne has to say about that:

"These hysterical people don’t have much faith in science, engineering or technology to tackle new issues or provide cost-effective solutions, preferring to harass our ignorant politicians into making terrible decisions that annoy the hell out of rational people like me.
Plastic grocery bags don’t degrade in landfills for five hundred years. That’s their Chicken Little, end-of-discussion statement on the topic. Of course, they’re wrong, but when has that ever stopped a furious ideologue from completing their fruitless mission?
As a matter fact, plastic bags could degrade in landfills within a very short time frame if one very cool science discovery was deployed. A few years back, a really bright teenager discovered that a refined strain of microbes could naturally degrade 46% of grocery bag plastic in six short weeks. I would be shocked if commercial applications of this discovery aren’t already being aggressively pursued considering landfills are a huge municipal concern and ripe for lucrative, tax payer cushioned profit margins.
There are a few other all-natural solutions on the horizon posed to solve the plastic terror, but in the meantime, there are plenty of companies offering plastic bags that chemically bio-degrade within five years. Why wouldn’t the city council ask retailers to exclusively use those products to combat the immediate landfill problem?
I’ll tell you why, because if you live in Austin or the any of the surrounding communities, your flimsy plastic grocery bags already meet that fast rotting standard. Walmart and HEB use them exclusively, Whole Foods, always the innovator, went the solo brown bag route at least five years ago.
Those are your three choices to stock up on groceries within a seventy mile radius from downtown Austin.
I can only conclude that Mayor Leffingwell and the craven simpletons serving as council members are busy trying to burnish their Green credentials with the Silicon Valley horde of progressive elitists who’ve infested central Austin over the past ten years.
The main activists leading the anti-bag revolution appear to be an impoverished crew of devoted Hackensack’s who’ve garnered the financial support of those who love their expensive luxuries. The hip money backing this current wave of insanity reside in high six figure, inner city homes, revel in weird their lack of children (no breeders here!) and brag over the two hemp bag’s worth of organic groceries they fill once a week at Whole Foods or the Barton Creek Farmer’s Market. It’s all about aesthetics, popular lifestyle and the latest cause de jour for these progressive, environmental vanguards.
None of these pristine people could ever imagine filling a HEB grocery cart to overflow in order to meet an ordinary family’s food needs for the week, much less hauling forty reusable bags along to take the goods home. That just doesn’t happen in their tight little circle jerk of a world.
It seems they can’t be bothered to acknowledge the extra gas-guzzling trips that will follow their no bag rule or the industrial waste produced and energy consumed by the increased manufacture of their mandated glut of sustainable bags.
I guess I shouldn’t wonder why they adamantly refuse to avail themselves of pertinent facts on this onerous ban. High brow fantasy is always preferable to reality when pushing through bourgeoise policies that will never taint a single progressive front door."
Read more here:  http://jadedhaven.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/progressive-ignorance/

The Real Romney: another view

Daphne at Jaded Haven has this to say:

Chumping Romney

January 13, 2012 by Daphne

Waiting for another inconsiderate, no-show contractor today, I finally took the time to watch Newt’s controversial attack film on Mitt.
After two careful viewings, I’m of the opinion that it doesn’t really matter if you hate Newt’s full-blown assault based solely on your pro-capitalist principles. This was a devastating piece of effective political savagery.
Spinning Romney’s track record at Bain as predatory, vulture corporatism could gain fast legs with the middle and lower classes who’ve been hit the hardest by our ongoing recession and declining manufacturing job base.
Let’s pray it takes wing.
Mitt’s casual explanation of market driven, creative destruction doesn’t quite fly in the face of how Bain actually operated in several instances. We aren’t talking about the responsive type of creative destruction following the natural demise of the agricultural age as the industrial revolution swept into constructive bloom.
What Romney did as the head of Bain Capitol was to purchase profitable mid-range companies and leverage their assets to the brink of fiscal insanity.
A short excerpt from a new book I’m reading, The Real Romney, gives a clearer picture of how our presumptive nominee ran his successful venture capitalism division at Bain.

In 1996, Bain invested $27 million as part of a deal with other firms to acquire Dade International, a medical diagnostics equipment firm, from its parent company, Baxter International. Bain ultimately made ten times its money, getting back $230 million. But Dade wound up laying off more than 1600 people and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002, amid crushing debt and rising interest rates. The company, with Bain in charge, had borrowed heavily to do acquisitions, accumulating $1.6 billion in debt by 2000. The company cut benefits for some workers at the acquired firms and laid off others. When it merged with Behring Diagnostics, a German company, Dade shut down three US plants. At the same time, Dade paid out $421 million to Bain Capital’s investors and investing partners.

If Romney’s Wall Street version of creative destruction floats your crooked boat, hat’s off to your black little hearts, have fun desecrating your warped conservative souls voting for Mitt’s rapacious vision of a prosperous America.
His petulant response of blaming wealth envy for the latest round of well-targeted criticism over his one adult act of private employment came across as smugly arrogant. I don’t expect that bucket of thin gruel will play well in Peoria, Birmingham or Sioux Falls come next November.
Most folks still recall the inestimable economic damage caused by creative destruction vampires like Bain Capital, their criminal Wall Street brethren and the corrupt political henchmen who facilitated the large-scale rape of this country’s financial landscape.
Gingrich and Santorum were part of that sordid crew, playing well-greased, civic back-ends to Romney’s private lusty thrusts.
I sincerely hope this full frontal assault on Romney’s private sector career derails his presumptive front-runner status. I can’t stand the man, couldn’t abide his amoral, plastic flexibility on the last go around. I enthusiastically applaud any effort that would see Mitt’s brand of bespoke statism burned straight into the ground.

"American Made"

via http://jadedhaven.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/the-tragedy-of-the-three-little-pigs-by-william-shakespeare/

"Culture of life"

CNS has a video of Newt Gingrich advocating defunding Planned Parenthood and giving the money to adoption groups, in order to promote a "culture of life:" http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gingrich-defund-planned-parenthood-and-give-money-adoption-services

Excellent satire

Have you seen the latest cover of Newsweek? It features Obama, and asks the question, "Why are Obama's critics so dumb?" i Own the World is ready with satire, imagining a Newsweek cover from 1938: http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=114794

How many votes would he take from Obama?

I have written often here that I fear Ron Paul running as an independent for the 2012 nomination, because he would take away votes from the Republican nominee. But, what about those votes he would take away from Obama Would those young people who voted for Obama in 1008 now go to Paul because of his desire to legalize drugs? This article raises some questions: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/01/18/election-deceptions

Eric Holder’s Political Prosecution of Pro-Life Educator Thrown Out of Court

Kudos to Liberty Council at www.LC.org!
"We have successfully defended Mary Susan Pine. A federal judge has ended Attorney General Eric Holder’s two-year political prosecution of this pro-life educator. Holder accused Pine of obstructing the entrance to an abortion clinic, in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (“FACE”).
In granting summary judgment, Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp concluded that the government lacked evidence to prove not just one, but “all three elements of its FACE claim.” Judge Ryskamp chastised Holder for seeking to apply federal law in a clearly unconstitutional manner: “Stretching the terms of FACE to apply to this case … would unjustifiably impinge on Ms. Pine’s First Amendment rights.”
The Government’s decision to prosecute Pine despite having no evidence of wrongdoing prompted Judge Ryskamp to suspect a conspiracy at the highest level of the Obama Administration: “The Court is at a loss as to why the Government chose to prosecute this particular case in the first place,” he wrote. “The Court can only wonder whether this action was the product of a concerted effort between the Government and the PWC [Presidential Women’s Center], which began well before the date of the incident at issue, to quell Ms. Pine’s activities rather than to vindicate the rights of those allegedly aggrieved by Ms. Pine’s conduct.”
This is a tremendous victory not just for Susan Pine, but for the First Amendment and the pro-life movement. Attorney General Holder sought to use federal law as a billy club against pro-lifers, but received instead a clobbering from the very Constitution he had sworn to protect.
Freedom-loving Americans everywhere should rejoice."

Via i Own the World: http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=114809

The Real Romney

Two journalists have published a book they have been working on for five years, The Real Romney. Here are some things they found: (via http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/01/18/The-Real-Mitt-Romney-What-You-Didnt-Know.aspx#page1

• Romney, a chauffeur, briefly while in college, loved tinkering with cars. Perhaps as a result, he believes that almost anything can “be taken apart, studied and re-engineered.”
• He was viewed as such a skilled leader during his first year of college at Stanford University that “you wanted Mitt on whatever committee or group you were [working on]. He would take charge and lead it,” according to a former roommate, Mark Marquess.
• He earned his degree in English Lit in 1971 with highest honors from Brigham Young University, going beyond his own father, George Romney, former governor of Michigan, who never graduated from college.
• Mitt Romney attended Harvard’s business and law schools simultaneously in a demanding four-year program. He graduated in 1975 with honors from the law school and was a Baker Scholar at the business school, in the top five percent of his class.
• When his kids were growing up, the roles in the Romney household between dad and mom were very clearly defined. “I was willing to change the urine-soaked diapers,” the authors quote Romney as saying, “but the messier types gave me dry heaves… So my wife allowed me to escape that.”
• Ann Romney, whom he pursued relentlessly until she agreed to marry him (she converted to Mormonism as well), remains “his chief counselor and confidante.” (She was diagnosed with MS in 1998, and is now in remission.) “‘Mitt’s not going to do something that they don’t feel good about together,’ said Mitt’s sister Jane.”
• When Romney was just 36 years old and a “business consulting star,” people thought of him as “mature beyond his years and organized to a fault.” He seemed “brilliant but not cocky.” More than one partner told Bill Bain, “This guy is going to be president of the United States someday.”
• When Bain first asked Romney to become head of a new company to be called Bain Capital – a firm that made millions – Romney “explained to Bain that he didn’t want to risk his position, earnings, and reputation on an experiment.”
  
  So, “Bain sweetened the pot.” If all of this failed, Romney was told he’d get his old job and salary back, “plus any raises he would have earned during his absence.” Not a bad deal. But Romney still didn’t take it. He was worried about the “impact on his reputation if he proved unable to do the job.” So Bain came back with another deal sweetener. He promised that, if necessary, “he would craft a cover story saying that Romney’s return to Bain & Company was needed because of his value as a consultant.”
  
  This time, according to Kranish/Helman, “Romney said yes.”
• While serving as a Mormon missionary in Le Havre, France, after his freshman year of college, Romney was hit head-on by a drunken driver and was thrown from the vehicle. One of the five passengers died. A policeman believed Romney was dead and wrote “il est mort” on his passport. Later, according to U.S. News, he was found to be alive by Sargent Shriver, a friend of his father and the U.S. ambassador to France at the time. Largely as a result of this incident, Romney believes that life is fragile and that one’s time on this earth should be spent meaningfully.
• He’s warm and charming with family and close friends, but he comes across as stiff and “all business” to others. According to Kranish/Helman, “He has little patience for idle chatter or small talk, little interest in mingling at cocktail parties, at social functions, or even in a crowded hallway. He [has] little desire to know who people are and what makes them tick.” 
• He is altruistic, generous to those in need. Countless times, he has gone out of his way to help other families through rough patches.

The government didn't do enough?

The Washington Post has discovered the Solyandra "scandal." In their opinion, the scandal was that the government did not do enough! Via http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/12/journalistic-sun-stroke.html

"Not seen since World War II"

via Invincible Armor: http://invinciblearmor.blogspot.com/2012/01/truth-about-our-national-debt.html

Pro-choice

"People who think abortion should be outlawed are pro-choice because they would allow other choices (childbirth, adoption, avoiding pregnancy via abstinence or contraception)."
James Taranto, as quoted today in Instapundit:  http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/

The Food Stamp President, or the Food Stamp Fraud President?

John Hinderaker writes at Power Line about Senator Jeff Sessions' attempt to get Obama to do something about food stamp fraud: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/01/the-food-stamp-president.php

via Instapundit

Can voters "connect the dots?"

Liz Peek writes in Fiscal Times about how unions have busted state budgets: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2012/01/18/Bloated-Union-Contracts-Have-Busted-State-Budgets.aspx#page1
via Instapundit

Ameritopia

Glenn Reynolds interviews Mark Levin, who talks about his new book Ameritopia here: http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=86&load=6518

Better for the Earth, or an Obama capitulation to environmental whackos?

An Instapundit reader asks:

So let me get this right. The Canadian Oil is supposedly worse for the environment, so stopping this pipeline will help the planet.
So instead of moving the oil in a safe way and be processed in US refineries operating under EPA regulations, the oil will now be transported across the Canadian Rockies where it will be loaded onto giant tankers and shipped across the Pacific where it will be refined in Chinese operations that have far fewer, if any, regulations in place.
Please let me know how the Chinese alternative is better for the Earth. Because no matter what, this Canadian oil is going to be sold.

 http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/

"Response ability"

Far and away the most valuable book to me that I have read in the last several years is Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's My Stroke of Insight. As a brain scientist, Dr. Taylor thought she knew something about the brain, until she suffered a stroke and lost the functioning of the left hemisphere of her brain. Over an eight-year period, she slowly recovered the functioning of her left hemisphere. During that time, with the right hemisphere dominating, she realized how natural it was to be compassionate, joyful, and grateful. She also realized that many negative qualities of her personality had vanished with the loss of the left brain. She determined to get back the functioning of the left brain, but to keep an appropriate balance between the left and right hemispheres, thereby not allowing the negative features of the left brain to dominate, as had been the case before she suffered the stroke. 

She writes about the obsessive qualities of the left brain's storyteller function, and how draining it can be emotionally. She defines responsibility as "response ability." That is, we can choose how we respond to stimuli. If another person approaches us with anger or frustration, we can choose whether we respond to that person with anger and frustration of our own, or "step to the right" (brain) with loving empathy and compassion.

We can choose whether to hang on to negative emotions, even though they chemically remain in our bloodstream less than 90 seconds, or we can choose to let them go and enjoy the present moment, be compassionate to others and good to ourselves. It's a matter of being aware of choices, and making healthy ones.

Scientists are finding that our brains are much more malleable than they previously thought. We can choose to let our left brain obsess with fear, anxiety, anger, or other negative thoughts, or we can choose to let them run their physiological course of less than 90 seconds and return to peaceful and loving thoughts. Can you see how revolutionary this process can be? I read and re-read excerpts from Dr. Taylor's book every day, and it has been a huge help to me.

Buying silence

Does money have anything to do with the media's failure to take a watchdog role with Obama? How much money did the Obama campaign spend on media ads in 2008? $427,000,000! This year the expectation is that the total amount spent by candidates will more than double what was spent in 2008. Read more here: http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_19761296?source=rss
On a related note: 

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Then, there is the matter of the timing of Congressional stock trades: http://biggovernment.com/whall/2011/11/18/exclusive-documents-the-kerrys-curious-stock-trades/

Israel buys time?

The London Times claims to have confirmation of Israeli intelligence being behind last week's assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist: http://formerspook.blogspot.com/

Adam and Eve and the first lawyer

In honor of Betty White's 90th birthday yesterday, Jeffro at The Poor Farm dug up this video from the Johnny Carson collection, and also wrote a tribute to Betty's career. In this video Adam and Eve discuss the first divorce:
Jeffro's tribute to Betty is here:  http://crazedpw.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-birthday-betty-white.html

Is love a set up? by Greg Agard, age ten

Jerry is in love with his spatula. His mom makes him date a human. One day his girlfriend came to his house and saw him making out with his spatula. She pulled out a gun and tried to shoot the spatula. The knife leaped off the counter and took the bullet meant for the spatula. The girlfriend ran away crying. The spatula thanked the knife for saving him. Then Jerry got jealous and threw the knife out the window, and the knife hit the dog's tail. The dog squealed and barked. An old lady standing near the dog heard the squealing and tried to run away, but she fell on the ground in the road. A car saw her and came to a sudden halt. The car behind that car couldn't stop, and crashed into the first car. A neighbor saw the wreck and called 911. The cops came and saw the knife on the ground and thought this was a sign of gang members causing trouble. They interrogated the old woman. She told them she saw the knife fly out of the window of Jerry's house and hit the dog. The cops went into Jerry's house. They saw the bullet the girl had fired at the spatula, and decided this was a gang house, so they arrested Jerry and took him to jail. The moral to this story: love is a big set up for a lifetime in the slammer.

Absolutely brilliant! I love this!

The Daily Show's John Oliver is my new hero!

Newt talks about the difference leadership can make

"Think carefully about what you really want the government to do."

Here is an important blog post: "Government policies, meanwhile, have managed both to over-regulate and under-regulate the economy, resulting in the massive unemployment.  Regulations on industry and manufacturing have made it far, far harder (and far, far more expensive) to open a new and productive business.  Under-regulation of financial gamesters, as well as political pressure from Congress, allowed for the inflation of the housing bubble.

So, yes, if you're young, government is very much your problem.  Any government spending is coming out of your hide, as is the debt created by the past generations.  Think carefully about what you really want the government to do."
via  http://grimbeorn.blogspot.com/2012/01/good-point.html

Humans in Big Gatherings

via http://grimbeorn.blogspot.com/2012/01/humans-in-big-gatherings.html

Tonight's GOP debate: Gingrich comes on strong against racism allegation

via Gateway Pundit: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/01/newt-gingrich-pummels-juan-williams-at-gop-south-carolina-debate-video/

Girls rule! by Sara Agard, age eight (or, try not to get an "F" in class)

Once upon a time in New York lived two sisters. They lived in a big apartment. Their names were Zoey and Kaylee. They were both thirteen. They both liked the same colors: purple and pink. They also had two dogs; one looked exactly like a wolf; the other one was a German Shepherd dog. Zoey and Kaylee were both getting ready to go to high school next year. In math they would multiply twenty times thirty times five, because some of the kids at that school didn't really pay attention in math. At breaks they would talk to their friends and do stuff at their lockers.

There was one girl in the whole entire school that was an excellent student. Her name was Violet. She had very black hair and brownish eyes. No one ever could even challenge her and win, but Zoey was exactly like her. In science Violet could do everything. The teacher asked her to build a castle, and she built one half the size of the room! Zoey never got "Fs": she built New York and Denver right there in the classroom. Before the teacher could ask a question, Zoey raised her hand. Both Zoey and Violet were very tall.

Violet and Zoey lived right next to each other. However, next door to them lived Alyssa and Marisa. They were twins. Next door to them were twin boys, named Thomas and Tomas. They were even snottier than Alyssa and Marisa. Zoey became friends with Violet. Alyssa and Marisa realized that they knew Violet: Violet and Zoey used to be their reading buddies.

One day Violet and Zoey were going to the park. They were having such a good time, then they realized it was time to go home, so they did. The next day when they got to school the teacher was very mad. She took them in front of the whole entire school. She said, "You both got "F's !" All the students felt their mouths drop open. "You forgot to turn in your homework!" Violet and Zoey stared at the teacher. They wanted to leave school, but they couldn't. They hid in the back of their car. Alyssa and Marisa stole the teacher's car keys and put them in their locker. The teacher searched all lockers, but did not find the keys. The teacher found car marks  all over her car (actually, they were paintings). Soon the whole school was painted pink. Five days later, the whole entire school was turned into a girls' school: no boys allowed.

Are you following what is happening in Iran?

Tensions are rising with Iran, whose leaders are threatening to cut off access to the Strait of Hormuz. "The United States has been quietly shifting both ground troops and naval forces to the Persian Gulf region. These include nearly 15,000 troops in Kuwait and an additional aircraft carrier. Pentagon officials deny these moves suggest a build-up to war." Via http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/1138486

Press covers up lavish Obama Halloween Party

via http://floppingaces.net/2012/01/15/sunday-funnies-169/

Hopefully!

Via http://floppingaces.net/2012/01/15/sunday-funnies-169/

Balancing the budget

via http://floppingaces.net/2012/01/15/sunday-funnies-169/

On to South Carolina!

 

Via http://floppingaces.net/2012/01/15/sunday-funnies-169/

Late night jokes

“According to National Enquirer, John Edwards has proposed to his mistress, Rielle Hunter. He gave three reasons for wanting to marry her: He loves her, she’s the mother of his child, and of course, a wife can’t testify against her husband.” –Jay Leno

 “Ron Paul – he looks like a guy you’d keep overnight for observation.” –David Letterman

 “A dead body was discovered this week on the grounds of a country estate owned by Queen Elizabeth. The queen said today she hopes this serves as a reminder to anybody on her staff that there is a right way and a wrong way to polish sterling silver.” –Jay Leno

 “Don’t you think Ron Paul looks like one of those people they interview after every UFO sighting?” –David Letterman

 “In Saturday night’s Republican debate, Jon Huntsman spoke Chinese. Why Chinese? If you want to reach the American people, you’ve got to speak Spanish.” –Jay Leno

 “While campaigning yesterday, Jon Huntsman said he was ‘ready to rock and roll.’ Not to be outdone, Mitt Romney said he was ready to ‘easy listen.’” –Jimmy Fallon

 “I’m having trouble warming up to Mitt Romney. He looks like the guy in the restaurant that comes to your table to make sure everything’s all right.” –David Letterman

 “Yesterday Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt stopped by the White House. There was an awkward moment when they tried to adopt President Obama.” –Conan O’Brien

 “Nation, unless you live in a cave, I’m sure you’ve heard that yesterday’s New Hampshire primary was won by Mitt Romney. And if you do live in a cave, I’m guessing you voted for Ron Paul.” –Stephen Colbert
Via the Flopping Aces blog:  http://floppingaces.net/2012/01/15/sunday-funnies-169/

Idjut!

Via Flares into Darkness, one of the best places on the web to visit: http://yargb.blogspot.com/2012/01/close-call.html

How is this for an explosion?

via Finest Kind fish market and clinic linking to http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/01/did_this_supernova_leave_nothi.php?utm_source=selectfeed&utm_medium=rss

An effective argument for Romney

Larry Kudlow asks, "Isn't a Bainful turnaround exactly what America needs?" http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/288117/isn-t-bainful-turnaround-what-america-needs-larry-kudlow?pg=2

"That'll be fine"

Confirming Romney's liberalness

I guess it really is true that Jon Huntsman hates Mitt Romney. By endorsing Romney and getting out of  the race on the eve of the South Carolina primary, Huntsman confirms the suspicions of South Carolinians that Romney must be a liberal. Huntsman had little support in South Carolina.

Which Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Colleen O'Connor writes an article entitled Call to Justice in today's Denver Post. She correctly asserts that Martin Luther King was about much more than overcoming racial prejudice. However, I believe we honor him today for his achievements in civil rights, not for his work to promote socialism. We honor him for his emphasis on having his children be judged by the content of their character, not his anti-Vietnam War work or his effort to provide a guaranteed annual income for all Americans. O'Connor ties King's legacy to today's Occupy movement. To the extent that is true, his legacy does not benefit America's poor or racial minorities. They can only benefit from the same things the rest of us can benefit from: love of learning, hard work and persistence, good humor, dreaming big and pursuing our dreams, being true to oneself, and being grateful to our Creator.
O'Connor's piece is here: http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_19750416
Related: Dr. Sanity says we are in a worldwide narcissistic crisis:  http://www.drsanity.blogspot.com/

Sparkles in their eyes

I meet a lot of really interesting people in my job. Last week I met a woman who looked really good, but I wondered how old she was, so I asked her, "How old are you going to be on your next birthday?" She said if she makes it to April, she will be 100-years-old! Humorously, she added that the way things are going in the world, she didn't know if she should try for that milestone. She told me that she had already outlived all her children but one, her 66-year-old "baby," with whom she was shopping. Of course, I asked her what her secret to longevity was, but I didn't really get an answer on that one. She clearly had a good sense of humor, though, and a real sparkle in her eyes.

The next day I met a guy who was wearing a cap that said US Marines. I asked him where he served. He said World War II in Okinawa! He didn't look a day over 65. I asked him if he was glad Truman decided to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He said no. He regretted that so many innocent people had to lose their lives. When I told him how good he looks, he said he plans to live until he is 120, at least.

Practice what you preach, Newt!

I just finished listening to an audio book by Newt Gingrich and his daughter, Jackie, Five Principles for a Successful Life. The book is read by his wife Callista, who has an absolutely great voice, with Newt and Jackie also participating in the reading. It is a good book, with sound ideas on how to live a successful life.  Too bad Newt didn't listen to his own advice, about staying positive, when it came time to battle Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination for President this year.  In the book Jackie brags about how her father is able to rest and "go to his happy place" with brief naps, then perform articulately under pressure. Maybe he should have done that, instead of attacking Romney's career in capitalism.

However, I like Gingrich's independent thinking. Compared to Romney, Newt comes across as a real person with flaws just like the rest of us. It would be a wild ride with him as President, but not boring.

The Broncos? Tim Tebow?

You've heard of bubbles bursting? Our bubble is bursting today in Colorado. The entire front range of the Rockies was clearly visible this morning as I drove in to work from my house on the high plains. No smog whatsoever. Why? Because the Broncos-Patriots football game began at 6 p.m. last night. That was the time when the last car left the roads, which were folded up at six p.m. sharp.

In December I wrote about a co-worker who warned me that the Patriots have Tom Brady, and all the Broncos have is God: ( http://bobagard.blogspot.com/2011/12/god-and-football.html). Well, that guy was waiting for me at the front door where we work this morning. He started in with his gloating, which I found quite unattractive. I pretended not to know there was a game last night. I said, "Are you sure? I think that game is tonight." I went on in this vein with a straight face. Then, it dawned on him that I was "gaming" him, and he demanded that I stop.

It's basketball time now, and Denver has a great team this year. The Nuggets are playing great team basketball, unselfish, with everybody contributing. We got rid of superstar Carmelo Anthony and a few others. In their place Coach George Karl has brought back Andre Miller and some European guys who can really shoot the basketball. Everybody is hustling, playing tenacious defense, and rebounding. They whipped the Miami Heat two nights ago. Look out NBA, the Denver Nuggets  are going to be the surprise team this year! (See how quickly we forget the Broncos?)

Horse Moon by Sara Agard, age eight

Once upon a time in the cold winter there was a little boy and his mom. They went into the forest, When the little boy turned his head, a black thing he had never seen before sprang up in front of him. The boy said, "Mom!" She said, "What?" When the boy turned his head, a big shadow appeared in front of him. It was just a rabbit. On the other side, there was another shadow. That shadow was white. It scattered far and fast. Along came the little boy's sister. She was carrying a sled. It had hay on it. She thought there was such a thing as magical horses. When the boy looked back again, the hay was gone. The horse had eaten it! Along came a little puppy running out of the woods. The boy followed the horse tracks. Instead of just one black horse, there were thousands of horses: gray, brown, white and black. The boy saw his little sister on one of the horses' backs. She was asleep. All of a sudden, one of the horses stared at one of the shadows that they had never seen before. Out of the blue, the horses scattered into the black forest. Everything there was black.

A little pony was walking in the forest. He froze. He had stepped on a stone leaf. The boy was about to walk into the forest, but when he turned his back, he saw a horse with red stripes. He had always been dreaming of a horse like that. The horse said to the boy, "Run, boy!" Before he could ask, she put him on her back and ran. She had looked all around her, and couldn't find anyplace to hide. The horse queen came out of the shadows. She looked at the boy. A herd of white horses lined up. The boy called his mom. His mom had left to go get a drink. The mom thought the boy was in bed. The boy asked the horse to give him a ride home, and she did. When he got home and opened the door, his mom was not there. She had left a note on the door: "Dear Marisa and Rex. I'll be back in a couple of days."

Rex had an idea. They would make a robot mom. It worked! Marisa was turning four. The next day Rex was going outside to play, but then he remembered that it was Monday, and he had to go to school. He took his little sister to school with him. They got on the bus. People were making fun of him. Marisa screamed for everybody to be quiet. "It's my birthday! Just because my mom's not here doesn't mean I have to have a bad day." Everybody was quiet. The moon was still shining really bright, because the bus comes early in the morning.

This boy is four-years-old!

Are you richer than Rockefeller?

“Or consider this,” I said, “Who was the wealthiest man in America early in the 20th century?” “John D. Rockefeller,” said someone. “Right,” I said, “and at its peak, John D. Rockefeller’s net worth was, in today’s $, about $200 billion, which would make him richer than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined.”
“But think what you have that he didn’t. He couldn’t watch TV, play video games, surf the Internet, or send e-mail. During the summer, he didn’t have air conditioning. For most of his life, he couldn’t travel by airplane. He didn’t even have [and here I picked up my cell phone] a 1G. And here’s the big one: If he got sick, he couldn’t use many medicines, including penicillin. Calvin Coolidge’s son, after playing tennis on the White House lawn and getting a blister, died. He didn’t have antibiotics.”
Found here:  http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/01/david-henderson-talks-to-the-occupy-folks.html

Where do you stand on "pissgate?"

Was it wrong if our soldiers urinated on Taliban fighters after killing them? Here is one blogger's post: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/01/our-confused-policy-in-afghanistan.html

Do you know who might be providing them with guns?

Chart found here: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/another-pyrrhic-victory-in-mexicos-drug-war/

Empathy?

Mark Steyn writes about the so-called empathy of the left. Please read every word of it here: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/287410/left-s-so-called-empathy-mark-steyn

Low-hanging fruit

Peter Heck writes in American Thinker that one of the Republican candidates could have won the nomination on the spot if they would have answered Diane Sawyer's question like this: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/the_answer_that_would_have_won_the_nomination.html

"Enslaving the mind and destroying the soul:" oh, is that all?

One of the things wrong with the Ron Paul candidacy is his desire to legalize drugs. Read more here: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/01/11/drug-legalization-chic

"It's not as hard as it looks"

I found this at American Digest: http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/driveby/hard_and_fast_is_how_i_go.php

Freedom of religion?

The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision today told the Obama administration that it cannot tell churches who they can or cannot hire as ministers or clergy. Analysis here: http://www.openmarket.org/2012/01/11/supreme-court-rejects-obama-administration-power-grab-over-churches-in-hosanna-tabor-v-eeoc/?utm_source=@Classicalliber&utm_medium=twitter

And you wonder why Ron Paul's liberty movement is so strong?

Iranian nuclear scientist killed

An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed today when two guys on a motorcycle magnetically placed a bomb onto his car. Read more here: http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=253112

Freedom versus discrimination

Ace posts a brilliant refutation today of Ron Paul's "freedom agenda." He shows how the emphasis on the sacred right of property enabled "Jim Crow" practices to prevail. A sandwich shop operator does not want to serve a black man, who just wants a sandwich. The man refuses to leave. The owner calls the police (the government), who arrest the black man for trespassing. Be sure to read the whole thing at Ace of Spades. Here is Ron Paul responding to Chris Wallace's questioning him on this issue: