To everyone over the age of 30, I have a message: The world is changing. Your ideas of what is “personal” versus “private” are outdated. The kids today, they share things. Now they’re on the facebook (yes, they’ve all left friendster!). They think it’s funny to post photos of themselves passed out drunk, for their friends to see. They send each other “sexts” (that’s a portmanteau word combing “sex” and “text,” and it means they send each other sexual text messages, sometimes even with photos of themselves). They take photos of themselves at parties, engaged in the act of “partying.” [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, trusted media & news by Ricky Sprague
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For as long as I have been alive, the Democrats have always considered those of us who hail from the South as uneducated country bumpkins, ignorant hillbillies, and moronic rednecks. Those who are in control of pop culture have derided, insulted, and slandered rural Southerners for literally decades, in movies, on TV, in the words they write in books and papers.

And now the folks at NPR want to try to point to the use of the word “hick” as a reason we should all vote Democrat in the 2010 elections?

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Tags: politics & government, race & culture by Mike McGowan
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Fox Butterfield’s All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and The American Tradition of Violence includes a section when Willie Bosket, who became a murderer at 15, decides to serve as his own attorney. Willie has not been to law school or received much of any kind of formal education and his approach is, to put it mildly, eccentric, such as when he insists on asking a witness endless variations of the question, “As a homosexual, should you really be testifying?” (There was nothing to suggest the witness was a homosexual, nor would it have had any impact on his testimony were he one.) Yet there is a method to the madness: soon the judge and prosecutor give Willie greater leeway than they would a regular attorney. And Willie, in turn, uses this to catch witnesses off-guard, to the point he’s soon representing himself far more effectively than “competent” counsel would. This approach to life seems to have been adopted by Carl Paladino.

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Tags: Mr. Sean goes to Washington by Sean Cunningham
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Last week Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow’s mayor of 18 years, was fired by President Medvedev. The news scored lots of column inches in the Huffington Post, Reuters and all the major papers, which is a rare honor for a regional politician in a faraway country of which we know little (and we do know little).  Partly this was because Medvedev fired him, and thus the story fits into the lazy trope so beloved of the world’s kerrrrap Russia correspondents, who otherwise might have to learn something about the country they purport to report upon: is this a sign that Medvedev is his own man, or does he still have Putin’s hand up his ass? [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, travel & foreign lands, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
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The other day I came upon a reference to a statement that, when first uttered, immediately became notorious: “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

This was, of course, part of Barry Goldwater’s speech accepting the Republican nomination for President in 1964. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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Oh my God. This is it. Jim, have you seen this thing? It looks just like him! Can you run this Dr. Evil costume back to the rack? I don’t need it anymore. This is the one. I’ll go as Obama!

You know who this guy is, right? Yeah, the President… black guy…yeah you get it. Can you imagine? Should I wear a suit with it? No…no…not a suit. I’ll wear a Hawaiian shirt. Oh man, that would be too good. Obama in a Hawaiian shirt, just hanging out. So funny. [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing, mostly kidding by Matt Scottoline, politics & government by Matt Scottoline
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I read a very good op/ed from the Richmond Times Dispatch website yesterday.  It was written by Mr. Barton Hinkle.  The piece explores the idea about where our obligations to the government come from.  It was very thought provoking, and extremely well written, especially given the depth of the topics the author touches.

But as I read through the piece, I realized that Mr. Hinkle was missing an important truth that, once considered, should alter his entire hypothesis.

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Tags: politics & government by Mike McGowan
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When Lisa Murkowski lost the GOP primary, it seemed her time in the U.S. Senate was over. The Republicans didn’t want her (and the party leadership were enraged that she might want to run regardless), the Democrats already had a candidate (and even when they learned Lisa had an unexpectedly open dance card, chose to stick with their guy), and if she made a go of it as an independent, voters would be required to write her name on the ballot. And thus she faces a uniquely harsh task for a candidate: not only must she battle the two majors parties to convince Alaskans to go to the polls to support her, but she must teach the general population how to spell “Murkowski.” [Read more →]

Tags: Mr. Sean goes to Washington by Sean Cunningham
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For the past couple of days, Christine O’Donnell has been under serious attack from the liberal media for describing one of her first dates, way back when she was a teenager, on Bill Maher’s “show” back in the late 1990s.  It has really annoyed me, so much so that I wrote about it two days ago.

But what is really happening in this situation?

Easy.  The liberal media is attacking Christine O’Donnell because they can’t defend Mr. Chris Coons, an open, self proclaimed Marxist, nor his policy positions.  Let’s have a look…

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Tags: politics & government by Mike McGowan
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I’ve always said that I’d trust fifty names randomly drawn from the pages of my phone book to run the country more effectively and efficiently than the idiots we typically send to DC as elected representatives. It seems as though Christine O’Donnell is giving me a chance to stand by that statement.

But more importantly, she is illustrating the hypocrisy of the left these days.

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Tags: politics & government, religion & philosophy by Mike McGowan
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This reason.tv video, about the charming old guy who owns Anchor Brewing Company and the recent increase in craft breweries in the US, kind of indirectly got me thinking about an issue upon which I break off from many members of libertarian-of-center ideological communities.

The charming old guy in question, Fritz Maytag, proclaims at one point that he is an exceptionalist: he views the American story as particularly amazing, inspiring, and beautiful. He’s a hardcore patriot. This attitude is quite widespread in this country (especially in rural areas, but just about everywhere, really), and perhaps even abroad as well, but I’m going to argue that it’s not an attitude that a libertarian ought to have. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, religion & philosophy by Calvin Pollak
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As I’m sure many of you have heard, the courts have ruled that the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is unconstitutional.  In a move which can be both a relief (Someone finally stood up to activist judges!) and a nightmare (Is the military really above the law?), the Pentagon told the country that they can just bugger off.

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Tags: on the law, politics & government by Mike McGowan
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A recent yahoo article takes the lede, buries it under about 50 pounds of dirt, then poops all over it by reporting that president Barack Obama has resorted to quoting Jimi Hendrix lyrics in his attempts to counter his “powerful” critics.

“Some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time — and they’re not always happy with me — they talk about me like a dog. That’s not in my prepared remarks, but it’s true,” Obama said during a speech at Wisconsin’s Laborfest on Monday.

Though Obama didn’t acknowledge it, the line was a verbatim quote from “Stone Free,” the first song Hendrix wrote after moving to England in 1966. “They talk about me like a dog,” the song says. “Talkin about the clothes I wear. But they don’t realize they’re the ones who’s square.”

It’s unclear if Obama consciously or unconsciously cited the lyric.

Once again, the main stream media — or, as I prefer to call it, the lame stream media, because they’re lame, [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, trusted media & news by Ricky Sprague
1 Comment »

The number-crunchers in Washington, D.C. might want to put down their abaci and direct their attention to the wisdom of Alexei Kudrin.

Mr. Kudrin, Russia’s finance minister, wants his fellow countrymen to chain smoke and drink to excess.

Those were not his words, exactly. But one can read between the lines.

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Tags: money, politics & government by David A. Brensilver
1 Comment »

Ok, the most entertaining thing I’ve read in a long time was the recent New York Times Op-Ed “The Billionaires Bankrolling The TEA Party”, by Mr. Frank Rich.  It shows that the New York Times has learned an amazing lesson.  With the success of the National Enquirer and the Jon Edwards story, something which used to be the sort of stuff you might expect to hear first from such a prestigious organization as the Times,  the Times has learned and decided to emulate the National Enquirer!

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Tags: politics & government by Mike McGowan
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Naturally I am concerned about overweight people. I am concerned because I have a big heart. Not an enlarged, unhealthy heart, like thickset people, but rather I am full of concerned feeling for them. I want them to be healthy. Even if they don’t want to be healthy themselves. I want this for them because I am healthy myself. I run almost every day. I eat healthy foods. And I feel great! Except for all this concern that I have for people who don’t run, and don’t eat healthy foods.

When I think of those butterballs, I feel sad.

But then I feel happy again when I think of the people who are actually doing something about our country’s obesity epidemic. People like me, who make enlightened food choices, and who exercise regularly. I am a lean and healthy 154 pounds, and at 6’1″, I am an appealing ideal to which others can aspire.

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Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Ricky Sprague
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America’s strength comes from its adaptability; its ability to remain dynamic and search for innovative ways to solve the problems that face us as a people. Whether it’s finding solutions to the dangers of terrorism on our airplanes, or finding ways to ensure affordable healthcare for all, our country is taking the initiative and making important decisions that will make us all safer and healthier.

Of course, there is still more we can do. That’s another part of our strength — our ability to recognize that we should always do more. There will never come a time when we shouldn’t be doing more.

We’re seeing this in Washington. Even the sweeping healthcare bill that was just passed is being made even more sweeping, because our leaders understand that laws, even existing laws, need to be dynamic, to change with the times. And times are changing. We’re not the same country we were when the health care bill was passed five months ago. We’ve grown. We’ve changed. Our laws need to change with us.

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Tags: politics & government, travel & foreign lands by Ricky Sprague
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There was a flash one day, and another a few days later and the war was over. Millions of Americans and Japanese that had just had their date with death cancelled turned around and went home. In Europe the fighting had stopped with Hitler dead, but the squabbling had begun already. Germany had been reduced to ashes in some precincts and barely touched in others. The Soviets were digging in and laying the chaulklines for the Iron Curtain which of course split Germany just as Berlin herself was split into a sector for each of the Allies. British, American and French sectors were Free Berlin. The Soviet sector, less so. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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It seems to this American that the people blabbering on about how Obama is a Muslim foreigner miss out on something far more threatening to our nation’s future: we haven’t seen Joe Biden’s birth certificate either. Not even a photocopy. Nor have we seen any birth announcements or baby photos, preferably of him dressed as a cowboy. From this we can draw one logical conclusion: our Vice President is a robot. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government by Sean Cunningham
1 Comment »

Our metaphorist-in-chief, Barack Obama, has apparently been getting a lot of “mileage” out of his latest metaphor, in which he likens the state of the economy to an automobile.

The first time President Barack Obama  used the metaphor at a Democratic fundraiser in April, he spent exactly four sentences on it: “And yet, after driving our economy into the ditch, they decided to stand on the side of the road and watch us while we pulled it out of the ditch,” Obama said at the Los Angeles event for Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. “They asked, ‘Why haven’t you pulled it out fast enough?’ ‘I noticed there’s, like, a little scratch there in the fender. Why didn’t you do something about that?'”

That is a great metaphor. You can see why he makes the big bucks. Enough that his wife can afford to go on great trips to Spain (do you think she ate any paella while she was there? I love paella). It’s easily equal to his other great metaphor, the one about the medical care bill being like planting seeds in a garden, only we don’t know what kind of seeds we planted, so we need to wait and see what comes up.

Actually, it’s a better metaphor, since it reminds people of “Cash for Clunkers,” arguably the president’s greatest accomplishment. [Read more →]

Tags: language & grammar, politics & government by Ricky Sprague
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