Monthly Archives: November 2009
A bacon smoothie?
Hmmmm, Richard McEnroe is apparently big fan! He even shares his recipe
Crushed ice and yogurt for a base, like any smoothie,
handful of shredded pork for body,
handful of bacon to taste
dash of BBQ sauce (optional)’
Newest post up at WWTFFD
Just finished posting my newest piece at What Would the Founding Fathers Do?
One of the key differences between Liberals and Conservatives is their tax policies. Liberals will tell you that higher taxes are necessary to help people, and will tell you also that higher taxes only ask the “richest” Americans to pay their “fair share”.
Conservatives will tell you that those higher taxes hurt all Americans because they can discourage the richest Americans from investing, starting new businesses, hiring people, giving raises, etc.
So, who is right? Well, let us take a look at something Thomas Jefferson said.
A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement.
Now, it would seem that Jefferson, were he here today, would side with the Conservatives. Less regulation certainly is a Conservative ideal, and you could safely surmise that Jefferson would also agree that lower taxes would be part of leaving Americans free to regulate their own pursuits.
So, let us take Jefferson’s words, and the Liberal and Conservative approaches and apply them to a story I found at Hot Air.
You don’t have to be a boxing fan to understand the uppercut that high state taxes gave to an opportunity for a big sports event in New York and New Jersey. Newsday reports on the decision by promoter Bob Arum to pursue a highly-sought bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather in Jerry Jones’ new football stadium in Texas instead of Yankee Stadium or the Meadowlands. What KO’d the East Coast? High state taxes:
It appears the Tax Man is about to do to Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. what Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto could not.
Namely, knock both of them out.
Out of New York, that is. And New Jersey, too. …
But last night, Arum dropped the hammer on the fight taking place anywhere east of the Mississippi River.
“No chance,” Arum said. “Nothing would please me more than to have it at Yankee Stadium, but the way the tax structure in New York is set up, it’s impossible.”
The answer is, no state taxes in Texas and a ton of them in New York and New Jersey. According to Arum, the fighters could lose more than $12 million in taxes if the fight takes place in New York and slightly less if it winds up in the Meadowlands.
Arum said that between New York State and city taxes and a tax levied on nonresident independent contractors performing in New York, the fighters – and the promoter – would lose 15 percent of all revenue generated by the bout.“It’s just not economically feasible to do events like that in New York,” Arum said. “It’s ridiculous, really.”
So, the high taxes in the Tri-State area caused the fight, which will have a big economic impact wherever it is held, to move to a location with LOWER TAXES? Hmmm, higher taxes drive a major sporting event from one state to one that is far less punitive financially to those putting it on? I think we can all do the math here can’t we? And who gets hurt? Yes, those rich folks like Arum, but also everyone working in the local area hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. Not too mention the loss in sales tax revenue for the cities surrounding this event. Everyone loses with higher taxes, everyone!
Looks like Jefferson was right.
*VIDEO* Millions Of ‘Stimulus’ Dollars Spent In Fictional Congressional Districts
“Charley, nobody is suggesting any wrongdoing here…”
I beg to differ.
Hoffman ‘Unconcedes’ In N.Y.-23 House Race – The Hill
Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has “unconceded” in New York’s special House election after reports that the vote margin narrowed between him and Rep. Bill Owens (D).
Hoffman conceded the race on Election Night after learning he trailed Owens by 5,335 votes. But the Syracuse Post-Standard reported last week that the margin had shrunk to 3,026 votes after recanvassing.
Hoffman appeared on conservative commenatator Glenn Beck’s radio show this afternoon. Beck asked the him if he would “unconcede.”
“Yes, if I knew this information at the election night, I would not have conceded,” Hoffman said. Beck asked him again if he was “unconceding” and Hoffman replied, “If that’s possible, yes.”
Officials in the upstate New York district are still counting over 10,000 absentee ballots, which also had Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava’s name on them. Scozzafava dropped out of the race three days before Election Day, citing poor fundraising and polling returns. She subsequently backed Owens.
Owens was sworn into Congress on Nov. 6, just before House Democrats voted on the healthcare reform. Should Hoffman come away with more votes, a highly unlikely possibility, Owens would have to be removed from office, according to the House clerk.
Hoffman would have to take over 65 percent of the absentee ballots in order to eclipse Owens. In the interview, Hoffman admitted his victory would be a “long shot.”
Congress summed up!
Paco nails it, describing Congress:
Sure, it’s a target-rich environment of vacuous, staring, gabbling imbecility
Read the whole thing, but that line was too good not to highlight
Major Hasan wanted US soldiers tried for war cimes
The signs that this swine was a Jihadist just keep adding up don’t they?
Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s military superiors repeatedly ignored or rebuffed his efforts to open criminal prosecutions of soldiers he claimed had confessed to “war crimes” during psychiatric counseling, according to investigative reports circulated among federal law enforcement officials…
Investigators believe Hasan’s frustration over the failure of the Army to pursue what he regarded as criminal acts by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan may have helped to trigger the shootings.
And we keep asking why this beast was not booted from the Army? And we keep coming back to one answer. PC!
H/T // JAWA
The Bower-in-Chief Bows again
Mr. President, really, are you this clueless? Really? How about this for a helpful hint. You cannot speak withouth the Obamaprompter, so, take it with you when greeting a foreign leader. If it it does not bow, then, you don’t bow. Easy enough?
Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin and Michelle Bachman walk into a bar……
And every Leftist in the joint promptly wet their pants! Dr. of Liberal Lunacy, Michelle Malkin writes about a new Derangement Syndrome.
Female Conservative Derangement Syndrome has spread across the pond. The Observer of London spotlights the “extreme” women in American politics that give them the willies.
She is a striking brunette with a decidedly outspoken attitude. She lambasts President Barack Obama as a socialist and has become the darling of America’s right-wing activists who flock to her appearances. She is hated by liberals and loved by conservatives.
Sarah Palin? Not quite. Meet Michele Bachmann, a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota who is being hailed as a new and increasingly powerful voice in American politics.
Bachmann, at 53, is a darling of the so-called Tea Party movement, which has campaigned vociferously against healthcare reform, the economic stimulus package and legislation to combat climate change. Her followers have been behind mass rallies in Washington and smaller ones all over the country. She has emerged as one of the most visible politicians in America, frequently appearing on the conservative Fox News channel, whose hosts often champion her causes.
She is part of an increasingly visible “female brand” of conservatism that is rising in America in the wake of the election of Obama. They include notable syndicated commentators such as Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter, whose dislike for liberals has grown ever more shrill in recent months. And, of course, Palin herself. She is still a giant of the political and media landscape and next week embarks on a book tour to sell her autobiography. It has already sparked a media frenzy, with a heavily hyped appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s show, and become a huge bestseller on pre-orders alone.
All these women express a mood of conservative discontent that is becoming increasingly vocal and, some experts warn, extreme.
Extreme? This charge always amuses me. Liberals lob the Extremist Grenade at anyone who opposes their agenda.
Pro-life? EXTREME! Believe in the right to keep and bear arms? EXTREME! Oppose higher taxes? EXTREME!
It is especially offensive to Liberals when women, or any other “minority” dares to be conservative. As much as the Left claims to believe in empowering women, they really only want to empower women who carry the Liberal banner. Any woman who does not? Well, they just don’t know their place!
Andrew Sullivan- Nutcase!
Pat has the diagnosis. EXTREME PALIN DERANGEMENT SYNDROME!
He’s live-blogging Sarah Palin on Oprah. No, I’m not kidding.
Andy, you are the Daley Douchebag for this! You sick, demented freak!
You know it is Christmas season when….
Moronic Liberals start hating on the jolly fat guy
The annual Assault on Christmas is revving up this year. Dateline Chelmsford, MA, specifically the Byam Elementary School:
Kathryn McMillan and Kathleen Cullen, who both have children at Byam, asked school officials to allow all holiday items at the gift shop following a ban on Santa, candy canes, stockings, and all Christmas, Hanukkah and other “religious items.”
But a meeting with some PTO parents on Thursday night grew heated as emotions got in the way.
“One of the parents said, ‘If we allow Santa, what do we say if a child brings in a swastika? Do we allow that too?’ “
McMillan said. “All I could think of was, are you kidding? You’re comparing a Christmas ornament to a swastika? It seems as if reason is lost somewhere and I just hope we can find it again.”
I have said before and do so again. Stupid should hurt!
But at least Rush isn’t in the NFL!
Jimmie Bise has a look at the NFL and its pristine ownership, which is so much more unifying without that Limbaiugh guy!
Why do some “Republicans” hate grassroots Conservatives?
Excuse me for asking but it does seem that a good many of the GOP establishment, including some “Conservative” columnists have a certain disdain for the average, everyday American who dare to get too acvtive in politics. The latest example comes from David Frum via Wizbang. Frum opines doom and destruction for the GOP in this piece.
The Republican fratricide in the November 3 special election in upstate New York may prove just an opening round of an even more spectacular bloodbath in Florida in 2010. In New York, Republican feuding lost the party a seat in the House of Representatives. At stake in Florida is not only a senatorship — but very possibly Republican hopes for 2012 as well.
Hmmm, I guess Frum forgets that the “Republican” rejected was a Liberal, a Liberal who ended up endorsing the Democrat? Would we really be better off with a Democrat in Republican clothing? Frum also misses the point about why Consrvatives rose up against Scozzafava and for Doug Hoffman in NY23.
We did so because we, unlike elitists like Frum, beieve in our principles. We do not believe in sacrificing our ideals just to elect an”R” who will stab us in the back, and vote along Liberal lines. But, Frum continues his scolding of the Conservatives, who are, accroding to him to stupid to know what is good for them. He is aghast that a Conservative, Marco Rubio, who is opposing Chaelie Crist for one of Florida’s senate seat is getting support from Conservatives.
But here’s the most important unasked question raised by the enthusiasm for Rubio among Washington conservatives: What alternative policy should have been adopted back in the spring, when interest rates had been cut to almost zero and the economy was still collapsing? Are vague bromides about big government anything like an adequate response to the worst economic crisis experienced by any American under age 80?
The great free-market economist Milton Friedman argued that the right policy in the 1930s was a bank rescue — but the bank bailouts (begun under a Republican president, lest we forget) are even more unpopular among conservatives than Obama’s stimulus.
A few days ago, I was talking to a roomful of young conservatives about the crisis. All agreed in denouncing both the bank bailouts done under TARP and the stimulus. I asked: OK fine, what was the alternative?
There was a short pause, and then somebody laughed: “I guess it’s lucky that we weren’t in power.”
First of all, Mr. Frum, I think your “quote? is BS! I would be surprised if you did not embellish, or even fabricate it. But, I really want to focus on your orgasmic support of the stimulus package. Are you sure Mr. Frum, that you are a Conservative? Because Conservative have principles sir. We actually believe in things like the Constitution, in the founding principles. Do you? You do know the Founders would be against this reckless spending orgy?
One more thing Mr. Frum, you are aware, I hope anyway, that Gov. Crist and Rubio are BOTH Republicans? They are both vying for the Republican nod to run against a Democrat for that crucial senate seat? Why would you seek to tell Florida Republicans that they must not have a voice in deciding WHICH Republican they nominate?
If Crist gets the nod, I am sure he will get support from Conservatives, we just happen to prefer Rubio. Why does that bother you so? Again I ask, WHY do people like you show such disgust for Conservatives who try to take a more active role in politics?
Perhaps you just think we should know our place? Just support anything with an “R” by its name? Just shut up and do what the elites tell us? Tell me how did THAT work out in 2008? Hmmmm.
What Would the Founders say to Democrats?
Just finished posting this over at What Would the Founding Fathers Do? My new group blog.
Ah, the “common good” we hear those words, or at least words to that effect from the Democrats in Congress and the Senate. We hear it from our Democratic president too. We also hear a lot about “spreading the wealth”. The Democrats claim that it is their duty to use tax dollars to help certain Americans. Of course those tax dollars are not found growing on a Magic Money Tree. No, they come out of every working American’s paycheck.
So, how would one of our Founders feel about the government “redistributing our wealth” to make things more fair? Well, we could easily read a quote from James Madison, who is the Father of the Constitution. In other words, if there was one single historical authority to turn to, it would be him no?
OK, so did Madison ever mention Congress spending OUR money? Well yes, look at this nugget.
I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.
How about the man who penned the Declaration of Independence? Thomas Jefferson? How did he feel about taxes, and national debt?
We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds…[we will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers… And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for[ another]… till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery… And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.
Finally, consdider this quote from Benjamin Franklin. When Democrats begin their talk of spending the tax dollars they demand we pay to help us. Remember that a key element of liberty is being allowed to keep the money we earn. Remember that higher taxes, more government spending and regulation intrude on our abilities to enjoy the fruits of liberty. Remember, this quote when Nancy Pelosi starts telling us all that it is FAIR that Americans who choose not to have health insurance should be fined and even jailed!
Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.
That is the essence of American liberty, and our Constitution! We are not free because Nancy Pelosi, or any politician allows us to be. Freedom is not theirs to give, limit, or to take or regultate! Liberty is the natural state of mankind. The magic of our Founders, and of our Constitution is that they recognized that we are designed, created, with liberties that no man, no government may take away. Our Consitution does not grant any rights or liberties. It protects them. It protects them. It protects them from the Nancy Pelosi’s of this country. Never forget that!
Obama’s magcal vanishing tax cuts
Via Wyblog who sums this up well Obama giveth and Obama taketh away.
It was the signature tax break in Barry’s massive $787 billion stimulus package. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit cut federal taxes by $400 for individuals and $800 for couples. We started seeing the credit in our paychecks back in April via lower withholding.
Now the Treasury Department’s Inspector General says “oops, most of us got too much of a credit.” If you have more than one job, or your spouse works too, or you collect Social Security in addition to other income, well the IRS is going to want that tax credit back by April 15th of next year.
Don’t you just love how Democrats “cut taxes”? Another day, another kick to the gut of the working Americans Democrats claim to love so much.
Space Shuttle Atlantis Blasts Off On Delivery Mission – Fox News
The space shuttle Atlantis roared into space Monday afternoon to begin a vital 11-day delivery run to the International Space Station.
The shuttle blasted off at 2:28 p.m. EST from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The liftoff was the second-to-last planned flight for the 24-year-old orbiter — Atlantis is slated to be retired with its two sister shuttles in about a year.
“All the vehicle systems are outstanding today, the weather is near perfect,” said launch director Mike Leinbach just before launch. “We wish you good luck, Godspeed, and we’ll see you just after Thanksgiving,” he said to the crew.
“We really appreciate all the effort that’s gone into making this launch attempt possible,” responded commander Charlie Hobaugh. “We’re excited to take this incredible vehicle for a ride and meet up with another incredible vehicle, the International Space Station.”
Hobaugh is leading the six-member crew on the STS-129 resupply mission to ferry about 27,250 pounds worth of spare parts to the station.
“Our flight is one of the first flights that externally will provide a lot of the spare parts and the long lead type of replacement items that are required to keep [the station] healthy and running for quite some time,” Hobaugh said in a preflight news conference.
Butchered Man Used For Kebabs – The Sun UK
Suspected cannibals killed a young man, ate part of him and then sold other bits to a kebab house.
Cops also believe the 25-year-old victim’s body parts may have been used to fill pies too.
The trio of homeless men were arrested in Russia – accused of murdering the man with knives and a hammer.
Prosecutors revealed: “After carrying out the crime, the corpse was divided up – part of it was eaten and part of it was sold to a kiosk selling kebabs and pies.”
Suspicions were raised when dismembered parts of a human body were found near a bus stop in the outskirts of the Russian city of Perm – which is 720 miles east of Moscow.
Your Daley Douchebag is….
The Bower-in-Chief! Via Hot Air
So much of an idiot, in fact, that according to Tapper’s source, at least one Japanese paper isn’t running the photo out of embarrassment. This tool actually groveled himself into a minor international incident.
The good news for O-bots? It wasn’t unprecedented. Nixon evidently made a modest bow to Hirohito in the early 70s. The bad news?
“Obama’s handshake/forward lurch was so jarring and inappropriate it recalls Bush’s back-rub of Merkel.
“Kyodo News is running his appropriate and reciprocated nod and shake with the Empress, certainly to show the president as dignified, and not in the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs.
“The bow as he performed did not just display weakness in Red State terms, but evoked weakness in Japanese terms….The last thing the Japanese want or need is a weak looking American president and, again, in all ways, he unintentionally played that part.
DOHbama! File this uder, “if Bush had done this”
Gatordoug
darcprynce
Dave C
