The Lasso of Truth

Restoring Dignity to The Office

That's no cherry tree...

Somehow, I remain unconvinced that painting long-dead American presidents doing the nasty with a young woman is “subverting authority” in any meaningful sense. Nor am I persuaded that Ms Lai has “moved beyond” the “Fuck the Man” symbolism that evidently preoccupies her. Though one might note her eagerness to “insert herself” into the project - which raises the question of whether Ms Lai’s ego has merely led her to seek out celebrity by bedding powerful men, albeit figuratively. Readers will no doubt decide for themselves whether Ms Lai’s handiwork is “playful,” “tender,” “exuberant” and “humanising.” Though in fairness she has set up any number of dubious quips about “vice presidents,” “sexual congress” and “secretaries of the interior.” 

Atlas is Shrugging

My dearest Ragnar...

could that be you?

The law of unintended and easily foreseeable consequences

Just doing their part for the environment...

Meanwhile, an unattended candle is being blamed for causing another fire in Mississauga during Earth Hour Saturday night.

A couple, honouring a global initiative to turn off the lights for one hour to conserve energy, lit a candle on a living room shelf.

The couple left their home on Stardust Drive without blowing the candle out, said Valade.

Damages to their home is estimated to be around $30,000.

Who says Mother Nature doesn't have a sense of humour?

If I wanted to live in North Korea...

I'd pack a bag and move.

The Annual Hour of eco-Madness is upon us and no one can say our family doesn't know how to celebrate it in style...

The kids came home from school yesterday and asked if we could make like the dark ages for an hour or so this weekend and the resounding response was HELL NO!

Between the deafening din of "Rock Band" being played full tilt, the air hockey table humming in the games room and every TV in the house on, the neighbours no doubt look at us as shining examples of eco-virtue.

My only regret is that I've already taken down the Christmas tree.

The corridor to Hell

Is wallpapered with teaching degrees...

A teacher's union is calling for a reduced limit on in the number of hours they have to spend with pupils each week.

The National Union of Teachers will debate a motion to spend a maximum of 22.5 hours a week in the classroom - the equivalent of taking a day off from direct teaching.

All in the name of providing a higher quality education perhaps..?

Primary schools could ditch traditional lessons in favour of teaching children how to use social networking sites such as Twitter, it emerged yesterday.

In the biggest education shake-up for 20 years, pupils would no longer have to learn about the Romans, Vikings, Tudors, Victorians or the Second World War.

Instead, under the blueprint for a new primary curriculum – which was drawn up by former Ofsted chief Sir Jim Rose following a request from Children's Secretary Ed Balls – they would have to be able to master websites such as Wikipedia, as well as blogging and podcasting. Compulsory sex education will start from five and children as young as nine will be taught to make 'informed decisions' about taking drugs and drinking alcohol.

As swathes of prescribed knowledge in science, history and geography are stripped back, schools will be encouraged to put a big emphasis on internet skills, environmental education, healthy eating and well-being.

The social engineering experiment continues, unabated.  Fear for your children.

How do you spell happiness?

Personally, I find it in the arms of the world's most wonderful man and the company of our children.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Others define it in terms of activities they like or the attainment of financial or career benchmarks.

Then there are people like Barbara Ballinger...

I'll be happy when Barack Obama wins. He's changing the world. The improvements in the economy and health care make me a happier woman.

I guess for Barbara, Heaven has come down to Earth.  Or chickens home to roost...it's a fine line, really.

Why "Atlas Shrugged" Matters

Mike Baron lays it out...

The reason becomes immediately apparent upon reading.  It might have been written yesterday.  Rand’s description of a socialist state taken over by “looters,” people who cannot create or produce but who seize power under the rubric of “fairness” is so spot-on accurate of today’s administration it’s scary. 

[..]

The delightfully named Stanley Mouch (”Mooch”) serves as First Secretary to the mysterious Mr. Thompson, the head of state. 

Mouch had summoned them all to Washington, as his friends and personal advisers, for a private, unofficial conference on the national crisis.  But watching him, they were unable to decide whether his manner was overbearing or whining, whether he was threatening them or pleading for their help.

“Fact is,” said Mr. Weatherby primly, in a statistical tone of voice, “that in the twelve month period ending on the first of this year, the rate of business failures has doubled as compared with the preceding twelve month period.  Since the first of this year, it has trebled.”

            “Be sure they think it’s their own fault,” said Dr. Ferris casually.

            “Huh?” said Wesley Mouch, his eyes darting to Ferris.

            “Whatever you do, don’t apologize,” said Dr. Ferris.  “Make them feel guilty.” 

“But it is their own fault,” said Eugene Lawson, turning aggressively to Dr. Ferris. “It’s their lack of social spirit.  They refuse to recognize that production is not a private choice, but a public duty.  They have no right to fail, no matter what conditions happen to come up.  They’ve got to go on producing.  It’s a social imperative…  There’s no such thing as a persona matter-or a personal life.  That’s what we’ve got to force them to learn.”

“Well, if you want to talk practice,” said Fred Kinnan, “then let me tell you that we can’t worry about businessmen at a time like this.  What we’ve got to think about is jobs…  If you want my advice-ohm, I know you won’t go for it, but it’s just a thought-issue a directive making it compulsory to add, say, one-third more men to every payroll in the country.” 

Can’t you just see Rahm Emanuel, Paul Begala, Obama, Pelosi and Axelrod saying these things?  Speaking of Pelosi:

Last week I almost quit.  It was over Chick’s Special.  Mr. Chick Morrison of Washington, whoever the hell he is, has gone on a speaking tour of the whole country-to speak about the directive to build up peoples’ morale…  He demanded a special train for himself and party-a sleeper, a parlor car and a diner with barroom and lounge.  The Unification Board gave him permission to travel at a hundred miles an hour-by reason, the ruling said, of this being a non-profit journey.  Well so it is.  It’s just a journey to talk people into continuing to break their backs at making profits in order to support men who are superior by reason of not making any. 

The solution Rand offers is for the men and women of industry and business to simply withdraw their skills and energies from the market rather than place them in the service of an evil socialist state.  In “Atlas Shrugged” they go to a secret valley in the mountains.  In real life, millions of Americans are reevaluating their efforts in light of the Obama administration’s punitive and senseless tax and spend policy.  It is a viable option and one which every right-minded American must consider.  And by right-minded, I mean Americans who understand the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to whom the pursuit of happiness is holy but the guarantee of happiness is a cruel joke perpetrated by the present gang of looters in the White House and Congress who couldn’t make a buck if their lives depended on it.

The Hour of Power

It's only 2 days away and as a conscientious steward of the Earth, you just know I'll be there with the lights on...every last one of them!

In fact, I saved taking down my Christmas lights until afterward, just to add a little something to the event.

Take part and make a difference.  And if you're looking for inspiration, just follow the deafening glow on the horizon over Brampton.  That'll be our house.

Nothing to see here, folks!

My kids love the subway.  Every time we go into the city for an event (fewer and further between these days) I try to fit in a subway ride somehow, because they love it.  I of course, spent enough years trudging around on the public transit out of necessity, to loathe it with a fiery passion.  Once I got a car, I got the hell out of the city and vowed to never buy a Metropass again.

My main complaint was with the smelly, ignorant passengers (not all, but many), the miserable drivers and the number of times my tender ass hit the floor of a bus because the driver slammed on the breaks while dozens of us stood with nothing more to hold on to than a slippery, scummy bar and the last vestiges of our dignity.

Now I have a new reason...

On the subway on my way over to feed Kathy’s cat while they’re away at a funeral, it finally happened. Some deranged 6th Century Mohammedan lost it and began screaming ALLAHU ACKBAR, calling everyone racists, and talking about Bin Laden and rising up.

I'll send you new knickers, Wendy.  Or better yet, you can go commando so that next time, you can threaten him with your uncovered catmeat.

Still Waters

Skippy joins the pile on...

Warren Kinsella is a preening, smug, inept, hypocrite and in that he embodies everything that is wrong with both professional politics and the human spirit. That so many Liberals hate him far more than I do - and I loathe the cocksucker more than words can say - tells me that the battle for whatever is left of the party's soul is far from over. He's an intellectual and moral dwarf and a SLAPP-happy thug, more than willing to play both sides of the fence, depending on which is more beneficial to his personal vendettas, both real and imagined. He relies on "libel chill" far more often than he does actual argument. Words like "sleazy" and "stupid" don't go far enough in describing everything he embodies, but the limitations of the English language are what they are. He's the skunk who farts at a garden party and then levels an accusing glare at an innocent fat guy in the corner.

And really, who can argue with that?

h/t

Weekend Pinup

We put up the gazebo in the backyard yesterday and today is the day for washing windows and climbing up on the roof to see how the shingles fared the winter.  Spring is finally here and the madness is out in full force!

  ~ It wasn't so long ago, us Canadians were lamenting the "brain drain", a term meaning the slow exodus of skill and talent from our side of the border, to the more prosperous and free United States.

Well, it looks as though St. Hopenchange is on pace to throw a halt and full reverse into that machine and send a teeming influx of talent (let's call them productivity refugees) back north -- where the government still lets you keep almost half of what you earn.

Of course, this only applies to the ones who make it out alive.  Wouldn't it be ironic if we had to revive the old Underground Railroad, to aid hard-working white folk in their escape from the first black president?

~ Enter this week's pinup babe (shamelessly lifted from one of the many Tea Party posts at Instapundit).  A little unorthodox for one of my pinups but I always try to make them relevant and judging by the way things have been going, this has never been more relevant. 

~ On the other side of the racial divide, the Aryan Guard gets beat down in the streets of Calgary during their annual march yesterday, by people who are -- shockingly enough! -- intolerant to racist hatred.  And here all this time, I thought we were a culture steeped in racism and xenophobia.  Sadly, it looks like all of the violence yesterday, was instigated by the anti-haters.  A little self-defeating, I'd say.

~ And while the Campbell's soup cans fly in the streets of Calgary, the violent pederasts in charge of Iran fling a little poo at the Obamanator, with all due (and predictable) amount of condescension.  Now this is the change they've been hoping for.

Both brilliant and wise

Rachel Lucas echoes my sentiments on the whole "Bowling for Retards" saga, but with more flair and a shamelessly transparent false modesty.

Who are you trying to fool, sister?  you're a rolemodel to at least a dozen of the voices in my head ;)

But most of all what I love about this story is the giant sucking silence I’m hearing from all those people who would be screeching like caged raccoons in my brother’s back yard if the exact same thing had been said by Bush or Palin or any other redneck hillbilly (like all Republicans are).

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Just deserts.  With video.

"Don't burn yourself"

"If you want a way out, use a gun: it's less painful."

What some women will resort to, to escape a culture that considers them less than nothing.

When your opponents disagree with you...

Just have them arrested on trumped up charges...

The Venezuelan government has called for the arrest of a key opposition leader on charges of corruption.

Manuel Rosales, who is mayor of the country's second city, Maracaibo, has said the charges against him are politically motivated.

The move comes just days after President Hugo Chavez sent troops to two major ports, including Maracaibo, in states run by the opposition.

Mr Rosales ran against Mr Chavez in the last presidential election in 2005.

Somebody get him a biscuit

Special K is in full smarm mode and feeling quite pleased with himself.

And does anyone doubt that our boy Warren had a need to pull out that spare pair of clean trousers he keeps for coffee spills and Obama rallies?

Monica's dress probably never saw so much enthusiasm.

It just occurred to me that Binks is probably their bastard child.  GAWD I'm so good at this.

Nothing but pure genius

You all thought it was a flub, but no...it was an expertly crafted diversion to distract from tougher questions...

I didn’t hear you mention the name of Roxana Saberi, the American journalist who was arrested in Tehran on trumped-up charges in January and still languishes in Evin prison, in your appeal to Iran last night. Or did I just miss it among all the words of poetic conciliation?

Because he's too busy asking them for a do-over.

It takes a big man to laugh at himself

and a big country to point and laugh back at him...

For the record, I don't think there was anything wrong with what he said.  The selective indignation of the terminally aggrieved is a little lame.  I make jokes like that all the time.

But I do it in the privacy of my home, with friends and family.  He's the leader of the free world, on national television (with international coverage).  You'd think he'd be a teeny bit more prudent.

"Barney Frank is a petty bureaucrat-cum-dictator"

For that line alone, Rossputin makes the Justice League.

What does it say about a culture...

when you need a national marketing campaign to convince people that it is a bad thing to poo where your drinking water comes from..?

More than 2.5 billion people worldwide reportedly don't have access to a clean, safe place to do their business. And in many cultures, toilet-related words and actions are taboo—adding to the challenges faced by development and sanitation workers, said Pete Kolsky, senior water and sanitation specialist at the World Bank.

Nearly five million people annually die of waterborne diseases, and more than 80 percent of the developing world's illnesses are caused by unsafe water and inadequate sanitation, according to the nonprofit group Water Advocates.

Traditional methods of building facilities and educating people about the connection between disease and exposure to fecal matter aren't enough to break through social stigmas, according to Kolsky.

Twenty-five billion dollars of foreign aid, folks.  Money well spent, I'd say.

The Great Canada - U.S. Divide

President Obama runs the talk show circuit like Brad Pitt with a new blockbuster on the horizon, while the rest of the country kisses their prosperity and their future a long, bitter goodbye.

But while he's quickly losing points with regular Americans -- the ones who actually pay the bills -- on this side of the border, the love affair is still smouldering, as is witnessed in the comment section...

 

Somebody get saeed a set of pom poms please.  And a drool cup.

Priorities please

To briefly revisit yesterday's post on the long standing tug of war over conservatism with or without God, I would just like to clarify -- on the originating subject of whether or not Gary Goodyear must profess a belief in evolution to be effective as Minister of Science and Technology ...

However you may feel about the "gotcha" nature of the question when it was asked, he had only to say that regardless of his personal beliefs, he understands evolution to be an important part of the discussion and should remain included.

Better late than never.

Call me when he mandates bibles in place of textbooks in science class.  Until then, let's move on, shall we?

Not very Christian of you

A sounder flogging hasn't been seen since Boy George got a little frisky...

Boy, how about us militant secularists, huh? You may not have heard the news (it's elsewhere on this page), but according to Jonathan Kay, we "want everyone in society to dogmatically subscribe to [our] views." Apparently we do not merely hold a set of opinions and wish, like anyone, that others would come to uphold them with us:We insist that they must do so "dogmatically." Yes, that's really the term he used. Perhaps a slightly awkward choice, considering the subject matter?

Kay's petulant gripe with "militant secularists" can be found here.

Religious conservatives lose valuable ideological allies when they take gratuitous, uninformed pot shots at those of us who do not subscribe to religious mysticism.  I have seen many who, when talking about liberal colleagues, will couch their criticisms with caveats of personal respect and admiration, but when addressing fellow conservatives who are secularist or -- Heaven forfend!, Atheist -- show nothing short of outright contempt and derision.

Short sighted and closed minded.

Yes Michael, I mean you.

Think about it.

The Cult of Personality

In love with the idea of Obama...

Obama, it seems clear, is not your usual pol, but a cosmic event and communal experience, on a whole other plane than traditional norms. "What's wonderful is that this political/cultural experience is propelling American society--and perhaps the planet--into a whole new phase of evolution and development," wrote one of Warner's respondents. And indeed, she would seem to speak for them all.

The idea of Obama has taken on a life of its own that exists quite apart from the actual man, and that has always been bigger, and much more alluring, than he. It is not what he does, but what he is and implies that has been so compelling, and one thing he is is not-white. Or he is half-white--a black man, who was brought up and raised by his mother's white family--which makes him still better: as a genetic mixture of Kenya and Kansas, he emerged as the literal symbol of national union, the two racial strains merged as one.

Anyone--your Colin Powell, your Michael Steele, your Condi Rice (who had a boomlet around 2006 in Republican circles)--could break barriers (as John Kennedy did with religion some 40 years earlier), but only Obama could appear in this role of a tangible symbol, the word, or the ideal, made flesh. Penumbrae of mangers and bulrushes lurked in the background, sensed, if not said in the open.

Russia to bail out tchotchke makers

"Better that the government buy matrioshkas than missiles I suppose."

Amen to that.

A smart enemy knows you don't attack a superior force from the front, you undermine it from below -- on it's weakest flank

And now that we've finished biting the hand that feeds us, let's move on to driving a shiv into the back that takes the blast for us...

The leader of the nation's largest veterans organization says he is "deeply disappointed and concerned" after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.

The worst idea ever?  I'd have to agree...

In case you’re new here, my husband Rupert (not his real name) is a veteran but has no service-related injuries so we have no immediate skin in this game, but when I mentioned this “idea” to him last week, his first reaction was essentially, “Are those dipshits trying to make sure no one ever enlists again?” You do have to wonder.

[..]

That asshole does not care about these men and women and he will never, ever understand what they and their families endure.

When the election was lost to Robin-from-the-Hood, Mikey and I consoled ourselves that the worst we were likely looking at was four years along the lines of another Carter disaster.  Sadly, only a few weeks in and he is on pace to eclipse Carter's humiliating absurdity by orders of magnitude in the first year.

The real question now is, what will be left of America when he's finally tossed out?  And who will be left to defend it?

I shudder to think.

My new hobby horse: Rand was right

How many of those intellectualist dweebs, who spent years poo-pooing Ayn Rand's "radical" ideas and "implausible" social scenarios, are shaking their heads and blinking in wonder that the world she wrote about is now spontaneously materializing before their very eyes --exactly as she'd envisioned it..?

In human behavior, incentives matter. People are choosers, not automatons. Mess them over enough and they're out of here. All history proves it. "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us." That bitter joke among Soviet factory drones sums up collectivism's ultimate failure wherever tried.

Of course, in the 1950s, when Rand was writing her epic about a slow-spreading spontaneous strike among Americans fed up with big government, tomorrow supposedly belonged to New Soviet Man. Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul II, the three champions of freedom who would prove otherwise, weren't yet heard of.

[..]

The novel may not be great literature. But its message of radical self-reliance has inspired millions across the decades. And the story is set right here. "We can't lose Colorado. It's our last hope," says a railroad employee at the start. A Rocky Mountain valley is the retreat from Galt that triumphs at the end.

Conference attendees at The Broadmoor, where Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute spoke after Malkin and "Atlas Shrugged" was assigned reading, weren't about to unplug Galt-style from daily life in protest against wind power, national health care, and charity-choking taxes. But they took seriously the disincentive effects against wealth creation and social comity in these and other collectivist proposals. We should, too.

As ever more people ride in the wagon and fewer are left to pull it, there will come a breaking point. Crowding taxation onto the highest earners and debt onto our kids, as President Obama proposes, invites collapse. Ignoring the constitution at will, as Gov. Bill Ritter and the spending lobby do, breeds contempt. Ruin must result.

I don't miss the single life

Jon David returns to Big Hollywood with the inimitable "Date a Liberal" series...

She was apparently participating in a scarcely known cerebral cap and trade program, whereby she was rewarded for using the least amount of her brain possible….by limiting the amount of intelligent thought escaping into the atmosphere she was accumulating credits. I could only assume she’d be getting an unprecedented tax refund. 

As she continued, the ideological division between us grew as I suspected it would. When it came to parenting, she subscribed to the teachings of progressive behaviorist Alfie Kohn, who believes that respect comes from internal authority as opposed to external authority….Stuart was allowed to call his mom, teachers, and adults by their first names. This was so they were not viewed as authority figures to be feared, but rather as equals.   

I was interested in knowing more about how liberals were grown. 

Here are some other interesting tenets of Alfie Kohn which Angelib was applying. 

• No punishment
• No rewards
• No competition

I had hit the mother load.  This was a big game liberal. I half expected a helicopter to swoop down over the ridge, where I’d see Sara Palin leaning out, aiming an assault rifle to put Angelib down like an Alaskan Bull Moose. 

But the Governor didn’t show so I was left with the only weapons I had: logic, reason, and the desire to see her face when she realized I was one of the uptight a**holes who can’t handle the fact that we have a cool President. 

I expressed a genuinely feigned interest in her methods which pleased her greatly. I did however, have some questions. I started off innocently: if there is no punishment, how does he learn not to do something? She explained that recently Stuart punched her in the stomach. Fortunately I was in the lead hiking position so she couldn’t see me fight the laughter. She continued. Instead of meeting aggression with punishment, she and Stuart talk it out. She sits him down and says that punching Mommy or Angelib in the stomach doesn’t “work for her.” It makes her sad. It was liberal foreign policy applied to a 5 year old.

St. Patty's Day Pinup

...and do you think I could find a single suitable pic of a saucy redhead in green?!  I'm obviously doing this wrong.  But I figured you would forgive me for choosing as ample substitute, my favorite redhead, the lovely Bianca...

~ Finally!  The storyline I've been waiting for...Superman and Batman take on The White House.  Add in a corseted babe with a lasso and we have the trifecta of Obama-fighters!

~ The perfect gift for the man who has everything -- except a life.  Sadly, it does not come with lubricant included.  Admit it, now you're worried to click ;)

~ The gracious and tireless Richard, of No-Libs notoriety, has got his place back up to full speed after a brief interruption.  I have been permitted as a guest poster for a long time but haven't been doing so because I am hopelessly inept and the Joomla interface was too complicated for my simple intellect to muddle through.  No more though!  That sweet Dick has provided me with instructions and 24 hour telephone tech support so I am free to spew my hatred over there now too!  Thank you Snookums.  Now I need to make a button for the sidebar...

~ At last!  Everything you ever needed to know about Attentional Blink.

~ AdRANTS takes on cewebrities and Herpes, with a predictable amount of hilarity.  Personally, I think there really could be a market for poo-inducing pizza.

The only good thing to come out of 9/11

...was 19 dead Muslims.

Bask, if you will, in the glory of tolerance and diversity of thought, that is theReligion of Peace^TM...

A Christian minister who has had heated arguments with Muslims on his TV Gospel show has been brutally attacked by three men who ripped off his cross and warned: ‘If you go back to the studio, we’ll break your legs.’

[..]

Pakistan-born Mr Samuel, 48, who was educated by Christian missionaries and moved to Britain 15 years ago, said that over the past few weeks he has received phone-in calls from people identifying themselves as Muslims who challenged his views.

‘They were having an argument with me,’ he said. ‘They were very aggressive in saying they did not agree with me. I said those are your views and these are my views.’

He said that he, his wife Louisa, 48, and his son Naveed, 19, now fear for their safety, and police have given them panic alarms. ‘I am frightened and depressed,’ he said. ‘My show is not confrontational.’

My advice to the good Reverend would be to toss the panic alarm in the trash bin and replace it with something a little more effective -- preferably one that shoots bullets.  Because as we clearly saw in cases like the murder of Theo Van Gogh, things can happen so swiftly that the only good a panic alarm will do, is to help police locate the body.