Cleaning out the Dead Wood

Q; What do you call a Republican Congressman who resigns after being arrested for possession of cocaine?

A: A good start.

This is actually a good idea, getting rid of the scofflaws who hold high office in advance of the mid-terms (because as we all know, scandal only affects Republicans and conservatives).

Apparently, Rep. Radel (R-FL) had insisted–after being arrest for cocaine possession–that he would continue in office after attending rehab. My guess is that someone either offered him a carrot or showed him a stick (or both).

I have a not-so-little list of others who the Republican party, the Congress, and the country would be better off without, but that’s for another post.

Stoutcat

H/T: Hotair

Life in Massachusetts

I know, I know, everyone else is writing about the shut down. Frankly, right now I just don’t care. I’m at the point of believing that every member of Congress, the entire Executive Branch, and all the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are stupid, lazy, venal, out only for what they can get for themselves, and entirely uninterested in what is best for the nation. Even Ted Cruz, whom I like very much and wish were my senator.

If Ted Cruz were my senator, I wouldn’t have to be dealing with stupid stuff like this:

I got so mad when I saw this in my in-box, I fired off a response:

Since you were so kind as to send me an email about my abandoned cart, I will be nice enough to reply and explain why I abandoned it with unpurchased items still in it.
You will notice that in my cart were 2 of the Ruger BX-25 10/22 .22LR 25 Rd Mag for Ruger 10/22 Rifle products.

Do you know why I left them in my cart unpurchased? Because you won’t ship them to Massachusetts! Do you know how I know this? Surely it’s not because the product description actually mentions this prohibition–it does not. I know that because I placed an order for these same products last week, presuming that they would be shipped, but my order got cancelled and I received a “Oops!” email from you folks stating that you can’t ship the 25 round mags for the Ruger 10/22 to Massachusetts! Nowhere in the product description does it mention this little drawback. It mentions not shipping to CA, sure. But not to MA.

My hopes were dashed. So I went and checked the exact item name so that I could get them from another source. Yes, I left my cart full of your stuff in your store. Sorry about that. Next time I’ll delete all the line items before I decline to buy from you.

Wishing you the very best from this stupid blue state,
Stoutcat
Harwich, MA

I know it won’t change anything, but it made me feel a little bit better. And if Ted Cruz were my senator, I’d already have those mags, dammit!

Stoutcat

The Road to Rosario

Historian Arthur Herman has a very interesting article at the Fox News website, which discusses the fiscal cliff, sequestration, and recent events in the city of Rosario, Argentina, where the good people have been rioting recently.

While unrest in Argentina is nothing new, Mr. Herman draws a very uncomfortable parallel between the events in Rosario and what is currently happening in this country, and calls out the real culprit, those actual takers: the unstoppably growing public sector economy.

Since 1970, America’s public sector has exploded as a percentage of GDP, rising to almost 25% last year. While the national unemployment rate hovers at the 8% mark, government worker unemployment rate is a cozy 3.8%. Sixteen percent of America’s workforce now work for government. By the time the Obama administration ends, we won’t be that far away from Argentina’s 21 percent.

Yet as an economic and social enterprise, government creates nothing. [emphasis mine]

Far from adding to people’s standard of living, government is the number one cause of poverty in this country. It forces those who depend on its largesse to live hand to mouth, with no time or money to plan for the future. They become unable to fend for themselves—and increasingly resentful of those who can… 

Obama and the Democrats are relative newcomers to the game. But Argentina reveals who really suffers when those who create a nation’s wealth get mugged by those who spend it–as just happened this week in Washington.

It’s the poor and the middle class, the very ones big government says it’s trying to protect.

At this point, I diverge with the author, as I have seen no evidence that the Obama administration is actually trying to protect members of the poor and middle classes. The only thing being protected here is the reliably Democrat voting bloc. And that’s happening in the usual way, with bread foodstamps and circuses Obamaphones.

Say what you will about Argentina, especially since the Peron era, the Obamas are no pikers. By the time Obama leaves office, there may not be much in the way of economic difference between America and Argentina.

And then the Obamas will waft away to gracious exile in Hawai’i, leaving the rest of the nation to topple, crash, and burn due in large part to the huge debt and even huger government that they deliberately created.

Rosario may look pretty good in comparison, by then.

Stoutcat

Report from the Ground on Cape Cod

I’ve been noticing things lately around here. Things like a prepoderance of Scott Brown yard signs (running about three to one in favor of our favorite RINO). And more springing up every day; just last weekend a huge new sign went up in the empty lot right across from the grocery store. Huge. Highway billboard big. SCOTT BROWN. Hard to miss.

Also, in noticing the yard signs, I also noticed that with the Scott Brown signs there are also likely to be Romney/Ryan yard signs as well. In those yards that sport Warren signs, there are no Obama/Biden signs. None.

Most conservatives around here don’t usually tart up their cars with a myriad of political stickers, and for good reason. This is completely unlike the loony lefty types who seem to wear their emotions on their bumpers. But I have noticed a cautious number of Brown bumper stickers, again running two-to-one more than Warren stickers. But what’s really telling, in my estimation, is this:

Take a look and tell me what is missing from the proud bumper of this typical lefty auto. Go ahead, I’ll wait. (The photo was snapped recently in my daily park-and-ride lot in Barnstable.)

Right; not only is there no Liz Warren sticker, there’s no Obama/Biden 2012 sticker.

While I’m not saying that Massachusetts is turning red, I do think it’s telling that this time around, those who couldn’t wait to embrace the hope and the change in 2008 aren’t even bothering to voice their support in the most socially ubiquitious way this time around.

And that’s enough for me, here in Massachusetts.

Stoutcat

Holder vs. Congress

As you probably know by now, the House of Representatives will vote this afternoon to determine whether U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is in contempt of Congress for obstruction of the Oversight Committee’s Fast and Furious investigation.

While those on the left are trying to spin this vote as election year politicking, the fact remains that it was Mr. Holder’s choice to refuse to produce requested documents for more than a year, stonewalling on every demand. Of course he ended up hiding under the umbrella of that ultimate refuge, President Obama’s grant of Executive Privilege.

For me, this is the very last straw. Some naifs are comparing Fast and Furious to Watergate, but there is no comparison. As Iowahawk so eloquentlyput it, F&F is “Watergate with toe tags.” If Holder had anything to do with it, he should be immediately fired and promptly prosecuted for the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Then he should be deported to Mexico to be tried for the murder of the 300 or so Mexican citizens who died because of this program.

But it’s not just that.

This man has been a problem from the moment he took office. This is a man who claims to believe that requesting a photo identification in order to vote is racist, and yet requires photo id to be presented when people come to see him.

This is a man who accused America of being cowards because we were afraid to talk about race.

This is a man who refers to African Americans as “my people“, disregarding the fact that he is the A.G. for the entire country, not just one segment of its population.

This is a man who refused to win a prosecution against members of the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation, choosing instead to simply drop the case and walk away.

In short, it really doesn’t matter how Congress votes today.

For most of America, Eric Holder is already beneath contempt.

Stoutcat

That Pesky War on Women (and Civility)

In the past few days, the Left has made much of the “war on women” meme being bandied about online. They’ve accused the Right of “inventing” it as a way to tar the Left, decrying any use of the phrase as right-wing smears. (Oh, except poor Joe Biden, who apparently didn’t get the memo.)

The latest salvo in this non-existant war on women came after Hilary Rosen commented about candidate Mitt Romney’s wife Ann that she had never worked a day in her life… For a women who raised a family of five boys, this would come as something of an eyebrow raiser. Mrs. Romney responded with simplicity and grace by remarking on Twitter:

After all sorts of backspinning by Rosen, the President, the First Lady, and a great many other Dem operatives, you might think that this would have died down.

You would be wrong. You ignore the great unwashed masses of venom-spewing hate mongers at your peril. They saw the subtle but unmistakable inference that Mrs. Romney is now fair game, and they are running with it for all they are worth. Twitchy has the story, in concepts of 140 characters or less. Since this is a family-safe blog, I won’t be posting any of the filth, but if you have a mind, click on over and see what the Romneys will now have to endure.

In retrospect, Sarah Palin caught a break. They didn’t start eviscerating her until July of 2008.

It’s not a war on women per se. It is, as it always has been, a war on conservative women.

Stoutcat

Now That We Have Your Attention, Mr. President…

My long-time friend Giuliana called me from San Diego on Sunday. She mentioned that a friend of her Navy SEAL husband stationed at Coronado Island had tickets to a very special NCAA basketball game that was played on the Aircraft Carrier USS Carl Vinson out in San Diego on Veterans’ Day. You may recall that it was the USS Carl Vinson that handled the disposal at sea of Osama Bin-Laden’s body recently.

She was told that because the tickets were for “special VIP” seats, she would be subjected to an intensive background check.  Why a background check for an NCAA basketball game? Because her seat would place her adjacent to President Barack Obama and the First Lady, who attended the game as part of their Veteran’s Day “Let’s spend more taxpayer money on an unnecessary trip to San Diego” program.

Ready To Play

The President wound up getting an earful from Giuliana, who is not one to shy away from speaking her mind. It wasn’t long before she made it clear to the President that she was proud to vote for him in 2008 (being part of history in electing our first African American President. And yes, I do have many Liberal friends). But then she told the President that now she was embarrassed that she voted for him because, “You turned out to be totally different than the way you presented himself in your campaign speeches.”  When Obama asked for some specific examples, Giuliana mentioned a number of topics.

When the President asked her what her sources of information were that she was quoting from, she said, “From a blog written by my friend Gerry Ashley… it’s called Grand Rants.”  She told me that Obama stared at her and smiled as he wrote it down.

POTUS Watches Michigan State Spartans Vs. #1 Ranked North Carolina on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson

It’s a bit unnerving to know that The President (the most liberal and dangerously close to socialist President in our nation’s history) chose to write down the name of the blog himself. We already know he and his staff are skilled Internet users.

I spoke to Alan last night by phone and he assured me there’s nothing to worry about. “Grant Rants isn’t even a blip on their radar screen,” he tried to reassure me.  I thought back to the scorching 8-part piece I wrote on the Abject Failure of the Obama Administration over a year ago.  And I replied,“Well, so far, perhaps, but then that’s because they probably didn’t know we existed. That’s all changed now. Did you hear me, Alan? Barack Hussein Obama wrote down our blog address. Do you think that’s so he could send us an invitation to a beer party in the Rose Garden?”

Alan laughed and said, “The most that will happen is that he’ll give this to a low level intern with instructions to check it out at their convenience. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Reassured, I hung up. But one question still remains: Should I offer coffee and donuts to the guys in the Black SUV parked across the street?

Gerry Ashley

Conversations with Robert: The Bachmann Agenda

A friend and I were having a discussion last week, and politics crept in, as it usually does.  It was a robust conversation, with attempted comparisons between the current Occupy “rallies” and the Tea Parties (he considered them at least somewhat if not heavily fringe), and concerns about the crop of Republican candidates, with particular attention given to Michelle Bachmann. My friend (let’s call him “Robert”) ultimately had to leave, but I subsequently sent him an email with links to information he was bound to find interesting and which would no doubt change his point of view about the Tea Parties, at least.

His response, via email, covered his concerns about Ms. Bachmann, and in particular, his reference to a statement she made, which he originally described as Bachmann “wanting to do away with the entire federal government.” In his email, Robert remarks:

Re: the point about Michele Bachmann:  I found it, and it was pretty much as I vaguely remembered it in the discussion at your house.  She both did and didn’t take a position, the logical implications of which would be fatal to the Fed govt… The context was a recent debate when she was asked how she would have responded to the young Tea Party guy in CA who asked how much of his money he should get to keep… Her answer: “I think you earned every dollar, you should get to keep every dollar that you earn. That’s your money, that’s not the government’s money.”   Period.  End of sentence.  My mouth dropped a bit, and I remember thinking. ‘Zero money for the government??  Even for MB, that’s pretty wiggy. ‘ 

A few sentences later, she did qualify the remark: ‘Obviously we have to give money back to the government so that we can run the government…’

My (charitable) interpretation is that the categorical ‘you keep 100 % of your earnings remark’ was just a misstatement… Even so, it does say something about her ideologically driven antipathy to govt.  

Robert cites Gawker on this, so I went to the link and discovered two things: first, it wasn’t a few sentences later, as Robert said; she followed up “it’s your money” directly with “Obviously we have to give money back to the government”. Naturally, I didn’t find that on Gawker, but searched out the text of her answer and found it that way.

The second thing is that Robert competely missed the tenor of the rest of Bachmann’s comment, by discarding it, in which she actually says this:

“Obviously, we have to give money back to the government so that we can run the government. But we have to have a completely different mindset and that mindset is: the American people are the genius of this economy.”

I see nothing in any of that that implies an “ideologically driven antipathy to govt.” So there’s that.

Back to Robert’s email and a bit of reiteration. He wrote:

My (charitable) interpretation is that the categorical ‘you keep 100 % of your earnings remark’ was just a misstatement–which would not be uncommon for the woman who confused John Wayne and John Wayne Gacy, and Concord NH and Concord MA.  Even so, it does say something about her ideologically driven antipathy to govt. 

Oh, Robert. I’ll see your John Wayne vs. John Wayne Gacy and raise you Obama’s “57 states“, “corpsman“,  the “Austrian” language, and throw in Joe Biden’s three letter word, “J O B S” for good measure. They’re called gaffes, and everyone makes them. I don’t believe that Pres. Obama really thinks there are 57 states, do you?

Back to Robert’s email:

My charitable interpretation is strained a bit, in view of a remark she made in NH last June when campaigning with a libertarian who was advocating a total one-year moratorium on Fed income tax.   MB’s take?  According to an account in Forbes:  “Bachmann called the notion “awesome” and went on to say that if taxpayers could keep their own money, it would been great for the economy.”  To my knowldege, there was no ‘wouldn’t it be nice…but that proposal isn’t very realistic’ language to go along with the “awesome.”

Well considering she was a guest there, she’s a good enough politician to know that it’s not a good idea to call someone else’s idea stupid. In fact, she made reference to, and praised, a similar (and far more reasonable) proposal made by her colleague in the House, Louis Gohmert. And everything else aside, if there were a one-year moratorium on federal income tax for individuals (with that loss of revenue being made up in other ways), it would, in fact, give a huge boost to the economy.

Continuing with Robert’s email (stick with me, he’s almost done):

More broadly, as someone who self-identifies as a Republican, I hate to see the party captured by two particular currents:  a)  blind and rigid hostility to government–and to tax revenues needed to make it operate.  (I am well aware of the standard argument here about there being plenty of revenue, just too much spending.)…[we’ll get to his second current–anti-scientism– in another post.]

Once again, I don’t know of any of the current crop of candidates, or any other leading Republicans, for that matter, who has a “blind and rigid hostility to government”. And if you’re well aware of the argument about there being too much spending, well, what’s your argument against it?

All that said, I’m not sure Ms. Bachmann is the best candidate. I’m glad she’s is in the race. If she ends up being the Republican nominee, I’ll vote for her wholeheartedly. If elected, I think she’d make a decent president. But I’m keeping an open mind, and I hope my friend Robert is, too.

And if he’s not, watch this space for more conversations with him!

Stoutcat

Fast and Furious: A Primer

Not sure what Operation Fast & Furious is all about? You’re not alone, as most of the mainstream media still are not covering this travesty. But the Washington Post has done a stellar job of boiling it down to its essential pieces, complete with quotes from those involved. Kudos to Sari Horwitz and Laura Stanton for their great work:

This could be President Obama’s Watergate. Until the wheels really start coming off the wagon, however, perhaps he should party like it’s 1973…

Stoutcat

Quotes, Damned Quotes, and Statistics

Over at Ace of Spades, they’ve created an absolutely magnificent infographic reflecting a then-and-now look at what President (or Candidate) Obama said and what, in the real world, has actually been happening. Sadly for Obama, the two don’t correlate very well. Judge for yourself.

Remember all this. Vote accordingly in 2012.

Stoutcat