Curmudgeons Corner |
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Random thoughts on politics, current events, popular culture, and whatever else interests me.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Barack Obama's Monty Python Foreign Policy As the Ukraine continues to spiral into chaos, thanks largely to Russian subversion, George Will had an interesting observation about the Obama administration's feckless response to the crisis. According to the Washington Examiner, Campaign for Liberty, a Ron Paul organization, has decided to defy an IRS demand that it hand over its donor list. It may even refuse to pay fines that the tax agency is levying as a result. PETA Declares War on the White House Easter Egg Roll Now PETA, that organization which is apparently dedicated to the death of all joy where it comes to food, has declared war in Easter, or at least the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, a tradition dating back to 1878. Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Why the Apollo Moon Landings Still Matter Spaceflight Insider wonders if the Apollo 11 moon landing, which occurred 45 years ago this July, even matters. After all, it did not lead to lunar colonies, as many people at the time had hoped. Why Cliven Bundy Aimed to Misbehave and Why We Should Care Powerline lays out the case that even though Cliven Bundy is in the wrong where the strict letter of the law is concerned in his 20 plus year dispute with the Bureau of Land Management, he nevertheless deserves our support. George H. W. Bush the Greatest Former President? The New York Times seems to have pronounced George H. W. Bush the greatest living former president. The National Interest doesn't know what to make of that, considering the elder Bush's legacy a mixed bag. Monday, April 14, 2014
Taking nothing away from SpaceX, but its chronic inabilitry to fly missions on any kind of schedule suggests that the plan to go back to the moon with many, many small rockets is a non starter, unless you want every lunar flight to take several years just in prep time. 'Game of Thrones' Teaches a Valuable Political Lesson Again "Game of Thrones" had its second episode of the fourth season and we said farewell to a character who was not so much beloved but memorable. Along the way we learned a valuable lesson about politics. Man Suspended from Los Angeles Public School for Being an Awesome Science Teacher Greg Schiller is a popular science teacher who used to work at the Cortines School of Visual & Performing Arts. He has been suspending, apparently, for doing his job and thus frightening school administrators. Steve Israel Plays the Race Card in a Dog Bites Man Story It has become a kind of dog bites man story to mention a Democratic politician playing the race card, as Steven Israel, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did recently on CNN. Sunday, April 13, 2014
To Prove Global Warming, Many Middle Classs White People Must Die An unknown poster on a site called Climate Nuremberg, casting around for an argument to support the cause of global warming, actually suggested that what was needed was mass death and destruction to drive the point home. A Cautionary Tale of Government Run Health Care from Vermont Those who hope (or fear) that Obamacare is just a simple ruse to impose a Canada style single payer, government run health care system might want to look at the experience in Vermont as a kind of cautionary tale. Cliven Bundy Stands Up to Federal Government and Wins Someone in the federal bureaucracy got an attack of common sense and caused the armed troops sent by the Bureau of Land Management to the Bundy Ranch in Nevada to withdraw and to release the cattle it had confiscated. Saturday, April 12, 2014
Why Lyndon Johnson is No Hero, Liberal or Otherwise The 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act has brought out a lot of plaudits for its main architect, then President Lyndon Johnson. Michael Kazin, writing for the New Republic, would like to dissent. White House Spokesman Jay Carney Has Soviet Propaganda Posters in His Kitchen Thanks to a short piece in The Week, we have confirmation of everything we always suspected of both the Obama administration and of the news media. It seems that White House spokesman Jay Carney decorates his home with Soviet propaganda posters. IRS Hitting Tax Payers for Decades Old Social Security Debts Incurred by Their Parents Hot Air is reporting one of the greatest outrages yet inflicted during the Obama presidency. It stems from a little known provision in the 2011 farm bill that lifted the 10 year statute of limitations on debts owed to the federal government. Friday, April 11, 2014
Obama Bureau of Land Management Risking a Bloodbath in Nevada Ranch Dispute Cliven Bundy is a Nevada rancher whose 20 year plus long dispute with the federal government has every potential of turning into a blood bath, thanks to the ham handed actions of the Bureau of Land Management. Stephen Colbert Moves Up to Network TV as Host of 'The Late Show' Replacing Letterman The good news is the "The Colbert Report" is going to be cancelled. The better news, at least from an entertainment perspective, is that this is because Stephen Colbert is to replace David Letterman at "The Late Show." Kathleen Sebelius Falls on Her Sword Over Obamacare Kathleen Sebelius has resigned as Secretary of Health and Human Services, thus falling on her sword for the horrors that Obamacare has inflicted on the United States. Typically the left is trying to spin it as a triumph, according to Hot Air. Thursday, April 10, 2014
'Sharknado 2' Aims to Give Back to the Fish that Has Served it so Well "Sharknado" as most will remember was that so bad it was great shlock movie that aired on the SyFy Channel that depicted tornados filled with man eating sharks ravaging southern California. The inevitable sequel, "Sharknado 2" draws nigh. Partisan, Pro Obama Politicking Common at IRS Offices If you want to know how it was that the IRS was motivated to harass conservative and tea party groups, the Washington Times reports how partisan, pro Obama politicking seems to be common place at tax agency offices. Eric Holder is Affronted for Being Called Out, Plays the Race Card You have to hand it to Attorney General Eric Holder. He handles outrageous outrage pretty well, albeit tinged with just a little schoolyard bully menace. That is all designed to cover up some distinctly lawless behavior. Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Al Franken Designates Sarah Palin, the Koch Brothers as Enemies of the People Al Franken, the former comedian and current United States Senator from the great state of Minnesota, has decided to designate both Sarah Palin and the Koch brothers as enemies of the people for wanting him back in the private sector. Proposal: Use Texas Government Surplus to Fund Sales Tax Relief Texas, owing to a relatively robust economy and a frugal government, has about a $4 billion surplus in revenues going into 2015. A think tank called Texas Public Policy Foundation proposes that it be used for sales tax relief. Obama Gender Pay Equality Gambit Backfires The Obama administration believes that touting gender wage equality is the perfect issue to stir up female voters and distract people from Obamacare and the bad economy. It might have worked too if the White House was not a glass house. Tuesday, April 08, 2014
Maureen Dowd Imagines American Politics with Westeros Rules Maureen Dowd has invoked her inner Walder Fey and has imagined what life would be like if the rules of "Game of Thrones" were to prevail in modern America. The results are, well, remarkable. Monday, April 07, 2014
When the CIA Used 'Dr. Zhivago' as a Cold War Weapon The Washington Post has run a story about a CIA operation conducted in the late 1950s that involved getting Boris Pasternak's classic novel "Dr. Zhivago" into the hands of as many Soviet citizens as possible. California Radicals Protest Google Entrepreneur in Shakedown Move Internet entrepreneurs used to be celebrated, even in California, for their ability to create wealth while developing entirely new industries. No longer, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle. Time to Start Taking Down Putin's Empire of Corruption Bill Gertz at the Washington Free Beacon has a great story about the other unsavory aspect of Vladimir Putin and his regime. It seems that while he is looking for new territory to conquer, he has been raking it in at the expense of Russia. |