Lonely on Mars

That’s from the navigation camera on the Mars rover Opportunity, picture series Sol 1850. The entire library of raw images from both Spirit and Opportunity is simply amazing… All told, that’s 234,780 pictures and counting from a five year mission designed to last only three months. (So far, the rovers have suffered a broken robotic arm, computer resets, and a stuck wheel. Still, they keep keeping on.)

Anyway… Ansel Adams, eat your heart out.

Alan Speakman

Whiny Race-Baiter Gets Well-Deserved Smackdown

 

This could be the Smackdown of the Month, which come to us courtesy of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, AZ. And what a great way to start the week!

Doug Ross and Sweetness and Light both covered the initial brouhaha between Al Sharpton and Arpaio last week.  And Sherrif Joe proves that he can take care of himself by firing a sizzling shot across Sharpton’s bow. From the Maricopa County Sheriff’s website comes this lovely smackdown of “Rev.” Al , in the form of a letter from Arpaio, dated April 13.

 Dear Reverend Sharpton:

I have read about you with much interest since learning of the protest you plan to lead against me in Maricopa County in June as a way to force my resignation or removal from office.

Your public proclamation leads me to the conclusion: not only to you not understand Arizona; you also do not understand democracy. AS the elected Sheriff who, so far has been elected to five consecutive four-year terms, I answer to the four million residents of Maricopa County. I do not answer to the whims of the media, or locally and nationally elected officials who want open borders and who have thier own agendas. Nor do I answer to a publicity hound outside interloper who has demonstrated no interest in looking for the truth before making loud uninformed noises.

While your public outcries are colorful, there are several instances where you have inserted yourself into other people’s affairs without knowing any of the facts. Poor judgement has caused you plenty of trouble in the past and promises to do so again. Most earnest people want to learn by their mistakes. You seem to glory in repeating them.

I would like to help you avoid further embarrassment by assisting in your understanding of the illegal immigration problem here in my county. When and if you do make the trip here, I invite you to call me to talk about these false allegations.

We can discusss how my deputies are extensively trained by the federal govermnent to properly combat illegal immigration and how the laws of this state allow this Sherriff’s Office to question and investigate the immigration status of those people deputies detain in the course of our everytday law enforcement duties.

Don’t make the same mistake made by the four Democratic Congresssmen calling for a U.S. Deparment of Justice  investigation of this office. They and other politicians relied solely on media report and anti-law enforcement handouts that are replete with inaccurracies. They have brainwashed a handful of local residents to believe these lies. Rest assured that the men and women of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office do not racially profile anyone.

However, we do enforce the state and federal illegal immigration laws. And we will continue to do so as long as these laws are on the books. You can parachute into town, stomp your feet up and down and hold more press conferences against me — that isa hallmark of democracy too — but you will not stop me, nor slow me down for one second, from doing what is right.

Before you bring your circus to town and take to our streets by marching against this Sheriff, let’s get you fully informned for a change. Congressman John Conyers did not have the courtesy to respond to my invitation to visit with me personally. I hope you will consider my invitation. Surely, a man like yourself — a reverend — who famously preaches from the church pulpit understands the infinite wisdom of these words: You shall know the tur and the truth will set you free.. Let’s talk about the truth, Reverend. I waiit your response.

Sincerely

Joe Arpaio
Sheriff, Maricopa County

So what do you think:

• Joe Arpaio for President
• Joe Arpaio as Secretary of State
• Joe Arpiao as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

I say let’s clone him and get all three.

Stoutcat

The Wizard of “Uh”s

I admit it, I am easily amused.

Once I discovered the Wordle tool, I haven’t been able to stop playing with it. And when my husband suggested that I try it on a transcript of an Obama speech when he’s not on the TelePrompter (and no, this doesn’t count), I simply couldn’t resist.

You may recall that President Obama held a press conference last month, during which he spoke both with and without the aid of his trusty TelePromtper. His on-prompter performance was, as usual, nearly flawless. Once he abandoned it to answer actual live questions from the press, however, the real Uh-Meister came to the fore.

I took the transcript provided by the Washington Post, played the video of the conference, and added back in all the “Uh”s the the Post so kindly left out. Since the presser was a long, drawn-out affair, I only used Obama’s answers to the first three questions, but that was plenty. And the Wordle that was created speaks volumes. In this case, the picture is worth a thousand words: Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh…

Obama’s language, like his politics, is still coming from the Land of “Uh”s.

Stoutcat

P.S. don’t believe me? Here’s the text, uh’s and all, with link to the WaPo transcript and video. Go to Wordle.net and try it for yourself.

Obama… Gerrymanderer Extraordinaire

As you no doubt know, “gerrymandering” is redefining areas within a state or region to redistribute the voting impact for political purposes. But in a larger sense, it’s a rather tawdry method to circumvent “the system”.

It seems that President Obama and his crew might just be the master gerrymanderers. Consider the following:

• Friday, Obama-appointed EPA head Lisa Jackson proposed a ruling that greenhouse gases represent a threat to public safety, and hence should be regulated by the EPA. Last I checked, the EPA could fine polluters of all sorts. Bottom line? Who needs the hassle of  Congress with” cap and trade”, when one can simply take a “shortcut”. White House “Energy Czar” Carol Browner probably put it best:
  

  “There are things that can be done that won’t quite work within the existing law…”

• One of the very first things that the President did was to take control of the census. As goes the census findings, so goes the layout of the congressional districts – gerrymandering at its finest.
• Another aspect of the census that is troubling has to do with the involvement of ACORN in the taking the census. Honest and objective? No. Circuitous? Yes.
• Ever notice how many “Czars” this POTUS has appointed? Depending on who you count as a “czar” the number adds up to 18. I think that more czars than Russia had! But why so many czars in Obama’s administration?? Because senate confirmation hearing can be such a bore.

The bottom line is that President Obama is gerrymandering not just the EPA and the census, but so much of the system itself.

Alan Speakman

Hat tip to:
Gateway Pundit
CNN

Anderson Cooper, Others Reduce Coverage Of Tax Protest To Bathroom Humor

 

There was once a time in this country where our free news media took pride in presenting a fact-based approach to coverage. Those days are long gone, and if there had been any lingering doubt about how far the vast majority of the mainstream media in this country has fallen from both professionalism and credibility, that doubt was put to rest for those who watched coverage of the hundreds of tea parties around the country on April 15.

In particular, MSNBC and CNN topped (or, perhaps, bottomed) the list of disgusting, sexual references. Coverage on both cable new channels was comparable to a scene out of “Animal House” with all the innuendo, accusations of racism, sniggering references, and flat-out bathroom so-called humor. 

From Foxnews.com: 

For thousands of Americans, Tax Day was a moment to protest what they see as bloated budgets and a pile of debt being passed on to their children. 

For CNN, MSNBC and other media outlets, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the word “teabagging” in a sentence. So when the anti-tax “tea party” protests were held Wednesday across the country, cable anchors and guests — who for weeks had all but ignored the story — covered the protests by cracking a litany of barely concealed sexual references.

Teabagging, for those who don’t live in a frat house, refers to a sexual act… (Ed: A definition can be found here. ) 

Supposed professional journalists like Anderson Cooper of CNN repeatedly used this innuendo to refer to anyone involved in the demonstrations. Numerous variations of this sex act were made by other pseudo-journalists, once again confirming that much of America turns to amateur hacks for the bulk of their news:

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper interspersed “teabagging” references with analyst David Gergen’s more staid commentary on how Republicans are still “searching for their voice.” 

Cooper continued his use of pornographic innuendo throughout the segment. If you have the stomach for it, watch the video linked above.

And MS-NBC didn’t fare much better:

MSNBC’s David Shuster weaved a tapestry of “Animal House” humor Monday as he filled in for Countdown host Keith Olbermann… 

I suppose we should be greatful it wasn’t Olbermann himself. Make no mistake: these were rock-bottom single entendres being sent from a Beavis-and-Butthead brain right out to a potty mouth, and thence onto the public airwaves. It was shameful and embarrassing.

It didn’t end there, though:

Brent Bozell, president of the conservative Media Research Center, said “I’ve never seen anything like it.” “The oral sex jokes on (CNN) and particularly MSNBC on teabagging … they had them by the dozens. That’s how insulting they were toward people who believe they’re being taxed too highly.” 

The last laugh, however, may be on them. An estimated 750,000 people attended over 800 events around the country. As grassroots movements go, that’s an excellent showing for a first event.   

I urge all of you to write to the sponsors of these pubescent idiots and let them know you choose to watch some other source for your news and will no longer patronize any sponsor who chooses to fill the coffers of such short-sighted networks whose on-air  personalities choose to ridicule and belittle those who stood up for themselves.

Apparently, Cooper and the others have either forgotten or, worse, never learned a very important point about being a professional journalist: We are blessed, in this country, to have the right to a free press. But  that right, like all other rights enjoyed by Americans, comes with a corresponding responsibility. In this case, the responsibility is to report the news from a neutral perspective, leaving any personal bias (and yourself) completely out of the story.

America deserves better, and if the heads of any of these networks had the body parts their news anchors we so fixated on, they would fire or suspend them. Don’t hold your breath waiting, however.

Gerry Ashley

Fun With (Presidential) Words

 

Okay, I admit it. I’m behind the times here at Chateau Chat Valliant, so it’s likely that you all know about this already. But I’ve just been pointed to Wordle, a very cool word tool. On the offchance that you don’t know what it is, the site explains:

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.

It’s fun, it’s addictive, and it’s also very informative.

For example, out of idle curiousity (and at the prompting of commenter Stoutcat’s Sister), I “wordled”  the text of two separate presidential inauguration speeches, to see if it could tell me anything about the ideas and aspirations of the speakers. I left the standard defaults in place (it omits common words like “the”, “with”, “and”, etc.), and here’s what I got:

                                                            Inaugural Speech A

                                                            Inaugural Speech B

The two speeches were Barack H. Obama’s 2009 Inaugural speech, and George W. Bush’s 2004 Inaugural speech. Can you tell which is which? (Click on each image for larger versions.)

Stoutcat

President Obama: Credit Where It’s Due

Inspired by the Tiki Bar, courtesy of commenter Stoutcat’s Sister.

Stoutcat

Crazy Cat Lady? I Think Not

 

Click on this link and watch the video. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Did you watch the whole thing? No? Go back and watch the whole thing. Do. It. Now.

Now go ahead and admit it. You watched her backstage and thought “Loser,” didn’t you? I did, too. I was mentally wincing as I watched the shots of her being interviewed and prepping for her performance, chattering happily and, so I thought, obliviously about her cat Pebbles, and her life in her village.

You watched the judges and the audience get ready to boo her off the stage. You could see them preparing. And then she sang. There’s really nothing more to say, except, “Shame on us.”

Shame on us for setting our expectations so low for a nicely frumpy middle-aged lady with a cat. Shame on us for barely giving her a chance. We’re so accustomed to seeing “talent” (such as it is) all packaged up, slick, shiny, beautiful, and ready bestow its rainbow of gifts upon us. Susan Boyle isn’t young, or slender, or glamorous, or any of the things that society has trained us to expect in people with talent.

But Susan Boyle has talent.

Again, we have forgotten the lesson of judging books by their covers. Wasn’t it just last year that we “discovered” Paul Potts? And yet, barely a year later, we’re at it again. Expectations run from low to non-existant, and suddenly amazing things happen.

The world demands so much of us all now, that we forget that talent can be found, art can be found, beauty can be found everywhere. We just have to look. And try not to be surprised.

“I dreamed a dream…” Susan Boyle’s dream is coming true. God bless her.

UPDATE: HotAir links to a video interview with Ms. Boyle.

H/T: The Anchoress

Stoutcat

[Full disclosure: that song is so beautiful that a dog with laryngitis could bark it and it would still bring tears to my eyes.]

Post Tea Party: A Sleeping Giant Awakens?

Where Do We Go From Here?

Following the successful attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto reportedly wrote in his diary, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.”

The spending spree that has been the handiwork of President Obama and the Republicans and Democrats in Congress this year has similarly awakened the sleeping giant known as the American Taxpayer. Tens of thousands of us took to the streets yesterday (Tax Day) in Tea Parties designed to send a clear message to our elected officials: ”We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it any more!”

Make no mistake: This was more than merely about taxes. It is time the President and Congress were reminded that they work for us, not the reverse.

Samuel Adams said it best:

“The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.“

It’s  time to put both the Legislative and Executive branches of our government on notice: The Giant is awake, and it didn’t END with the tea parties. They were only a symbolic beginning. What come next is the real work:

• It’s time to end the political careers of those who abuse the privilege of representing us in Washington.
• It’s time to make note of who is up for re-election during the mid-term elections next year and to make ourselves aware of their level of performance when it comes to special interests and pork barrel spending.
• It’s time we work with our neighbors to organize better than the liberals did in the last election, and get the grass-roots movement moving forward and to throw our support to someone who has the guts to do the right thing in Washington.

Libertarian George Baumler once wrote:

“A great wave of oppressive tyranny isn’t going to strike, but rather a slow seepage of oppressive laws and regulations from within will sink the American dream of liberty.”

When we look at what Obama and Congress have slipped through since January 20, one can imagine what they can (and will) do over the next four years, if we don’t take a stand. Let that stand begin today.

H/T: Patterico

Gerry Ashley

Stoutcat Reports: Boston Tea Party

10:45pm: last update for the day. I’ll put up more photos tomorrow in a new post.

Technology and history shake hands

On the Steps

Boston Tea Party crowd control

Honestly, those were the only two cops I saw the entire time.

3:15pm: Just downloaded more photos. What a fantastic day. I wish I had been able to get down to the waterfront for more of the action, but the Day Job required my presence. Here are more photos.

At the foot of the State House

Great-looking crowds!

There was even a make-your-own-sign table!

It’s All Barney’s Fault

1:45pm: What a fun day! I estimate the crowd at about 1,500 – 2,000. Took lots of pictures, which I will be posting later this afternoon and this evening. Some video too, but I’m not sure how it turned out.

Everyone was smiling and having a good time. Parents, kids, dogs. Lots of dogs. Flags. Signs.

I met Sissy Willis of Sisu blog — she was there with her husband Tuck and another friend. They had great signs, and I’m sure she’ll be posting photos as well.

Please be sure to check back later for lots more photos.

12:55pm: More pics…

12:45pm: Wife just called from the tea party in Boston Common… Sounds pretty loud…

12:30pm: Gorgeous day, big crowd, great signs!

11:15am: Sky is blue, light breeze, looks like a glorious day for a tea party. I’ll be heading over to the commons in about 20 minutes.

5:40am: Weather is cool and dawn is just breaking through cloudy skies, but no precipitation so far, thank goodness. Heading out for my commute to work. I’ll be leaving the Day Job at about 11am to head over to the Boston Common, just below the State House, which is where all the action is scheduled to be. I’ll be toting my Canon digital camera, a small video camera, and my Palm Treo. Among all that technology, I should be able to update on a fairly frequent basis… I hope!

It seems fitting that, 236 years after the first Tea Party, citizens should gather together in Boston to protest again. It is all the more fitting that Boston is not alone in her protest. Tea Parties are happening all over the country–460 and counting are scheduled for today.

Will the mainstream media cover this unprecedented mass uprising, or will they try to cover it with a “nothing to see here” attitude? Time will tell.

Also, will we see any representatives from Code Pink, ACORN, or other left-leaning activist groups today? We’ll know soon enough.

Updates will show up at the top of this post.

Stoutcat

Note: Michelle Malkin, Instapundit, PJTV, and many others are covering the Tea Parties as well.