Ronald Reagan 1964

Watch this speech.

I only recently read Barry Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative and like that book, this speech explains clearly why conservatism is what it is: fair, democratic, compassionate and uplifting of humanity in ways that modern liberalism will never be. Ever. My favorite part is the simple declaration that human history has mostly been people living under dictatorial systems, and we must not fall back into that! This great American Experiment is the anomaly, not the norm, and as in the classic Benjamin Franklin anecdote, (As Franklin emerged from Independence Hall the final day of the convention, he was asked by a woman, “Mr. Franklin what have you given us?” He responded, “A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”) we must work to keep it. Conservativism does.

More low temperature records being set!

Germany's coldest October temperature on record.

Of course, extreme lows are a part of climate change, right?

Death of Journalism

Well, plenty more indications that journalism is dying and why. Funny enough, this knowledge is accompanied by a prominent "journalist" writing a piece stating that Journalism is too important to die, or be for profit. That's right, folks, newspapers, news, should be 401-c non-profit. That's enough to prove the guy's a nutroot.

Funny enough, there are examples of news organizations making money. That, of course, is immaterial to the argument. Fox News is the devil, after all, even if Britt Hume and Chris Wallace have more jouranlistic gravitas than, say, all the ex-Clinton hacks on the major networks (can you say Stephanopoulos?).

The major media got punk'd over the Chamber of Commerce's fake support of Cap & Trade, and were busted on it. They lied about Rush Limbaugh for the express purpose of derailing his Rams investment opportunity and slammed their fellow Juan Williams for pointing out the lie. I love Charles Krauthammer's take: CNN fact-checked a SNL skit, but not the Limbaugh false quotes.

Welcome to the end of American journalism, let's hope its replacement actually does its job so it can stay around.

Nobel Prize? Really?

The Nobel Peace Prize has been a joke, a travesty, a mockery of the intent for so many years, it comes as no real surprise that the current winner is someone who appears to have accomplished only one thing that could possible put him anywhere near contention: winning one election (the Senate doesn't count as he got private divorce records released about his opponent so the last minute replacement Republican candidate, Alan Keyes, had no time to mount a real campaign, or any real chance).

My first real notice of this was when I discovered that Le Duc Tho, who co-led the North Vietnamese Military, was a winner (he refused, as his country wasn't communist yet, oops, I mean "wasn't at peace.") Of course, as an American, it struck me funny that the loser of the Cold War, Mikhail Gorbachev, won it in 1990, and that Yasser Arafat co-winning in 1994 with two men (and their country) he spent his entire life trying to wipe from the Earth is a joke.

2001 was a banner year for the Nobel award: The UN and its Secretary General, Kofi Annan. Guess the oil-for-food scandal didn't get in the way of the peacemaking. Obviously, given my political and philosophical stance, it's no surprise that I laughed at both Jimmy Carter and Al Gore's wins.

Sandwiched in between these are many that really have worked for peace, often by working for democracy in horrible, despotic situations at great personal sacrifice, like several of those that lost to our current President. Hmmm.

This is a different joke that those crazy choices above, though. It's an insult to those that have truly worked for Peace all their lives, those that have died for the cause, no matter even if sometimes it was horribly misguided and skewed from a leftish, utopian-hoping unrealistic perspective. So I say, shame on the Nobel Peace Prize committee. Shame on you.

This is amazing: if it doesn't work, don't try to replicate it, Congress! Colossal duh.

The kinds of reform built into the proposed legislation have been tried in a bunch of states and costs (premiums, expenses, etc.) have skyrocketed, resulting in FEWER insured citizens. Duh.

Global Warming Junk Science

This from the American Thinker, on how the UN IPCC are a bunch of liars, which for folks like me is not at all a news flash.

Again I say, having seen more chaotic weather around the world: our planet is ever-changing, chaotic, tumultuous, and unfair. Understand that and you may find some inner peace about chaos, as well as some understanding that if we TRIED TO KILL THE PLANET it would laugh at us. Ok, that's wrong. It wouldn't notice.

The earth has been hotter than this, it's been colder that this. Now go do something more constructive, and meaningful with your life than buying a hybrid, which does absolutely nothing to help anything but automotive sales figures and your fragile ego.

October 1st

Wow, it's been a month since I've made the time to post, unbelievable! Today our First Lady speechified about the "sacrifice" she made to help sell the IOC on Chicago, having flown in a private jet and wined and dined, meanwhile soldiers are dying in Afghanistan. Can you say "perspective?" Apparently not, nor can we say cronyism.

I am not the only one wondering what friends of the Chicago political machine (both in the White House and not) have real estate that will be purchased to make way for the Olympic buildings should the bid come to fruition.

Heard of NAMBLA? You will, if the Safe Schools sicko goes the way of Van Jones. Amazing, this crowd and the people they view as experts and leaders. Yes, I called him a sicko, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he's gay, most gays, like most straights, aren't sickos: he is.

Good question about Facebook groups and surveys: why is it only offensive if it's anti-Obama? Much like the Joker Posters, already discussed: when Bush was defamed, it's patriots expressing themselves, but when Obama is defamed, it's racist anti-Presidential and therefore Anti-american (nazi-ism, according to Ms. Pelosi, who probably couldn't name one belief of the Nationalist Socialist Party, other than eradicating Jews from the planet. Here's a hint: national health care as a way to control the population).