Your tax dollars at work

I'm "down" with this

so anyway, dig this noise; Ace sums it up:

I'm only being somewhat glib and sophomoric when I say don't worry, grant us the firepower and we'll come up with as much doctrine as you like to justify it.

thatisall

On an evening with no time for blogging

yet still, I find a way. The things I do for you people.....

so anyway, I was churning through the blogroll this evening and found a gem, via Ace. He linked out to a most excellent post by The Anchoress, of whom I've heard but until today I had not yet had the pleasure of reading. I'm firmly in Ace's "GWB did it OK, but he let us down on the following..." camp , but it was nice to be reminded that George is, at his core, one of us.

Both of you long-time readers (Hi, Mom! and the other one) know of my love of baseball; this clip sealed it for me. Call it my "we'll always have Paris" moment:



"Bounce it and they'll boo you" As Peter Gibbons once said: "Fcukin' A"

I'm sure you realize that I reserve the right to revise and extend at a later date.

One stop shopping

thanks again to Q and O

so anyway, McQ over at Q and O has an outstanding summation in rebuttal to the George Soros-funded "Center for Public Integrity" report that said (.....wait for it.....) BUSH LIED!

I had more to say tonight, but my blogging time has been cut short, thanks to IE7 crashing twice in the past hour. (Like it has crashed at least once a night every night this past week. Yeah, I gots an error report I'd like to send. In spades.) But it's all better now, children. I spent a grand total of eleven minutes finding, downloading, and installing Mozilla Firefox. So life should be good, or at least better, from now on.

More soon, I promise.

It's Thursday

and Fred Thompson is still out of the race, dammit

so anyway, I'm about as funked out as I was that dreadful November morning back in 2006 when The Evil Party took control of Congress. Where were you when you first heard the words "Speaker Pelosi"?

On one hand, I respect the Man, his contributions to The Race, and his decision; on the other hand I want to drag him out behind the barn and whip his ass with a car antenna from a 1968 Chrysler Imperial.

Yeah, I gots the seven stages of grief thing going on. Piss off.

Ragin' Dave sums it up smackly. Righteous, brother.

Thompson withdraws

It's official

Via Ace:

"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the US. I hope my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people." -- Fred Dalton Thompson

---

Update 21:50

Well, crap. Now what am I going to do?

I haven't looked about the dextrosphere since I left the office, so I have no idea what all the cool kids are saying about this development. My blogging time is limited tonight, so I'll take it all under advisement and will advise soonest. A few thoughts, then it's off to bed, children.

From the short list of three, ('cause Huckabee is right the fcuk out...I've had quite my fill of liberal ex-governors from Arkansas, thankyouverymuch) it distills down to the evils of three lessers. As in "Who to I distrust the least?"

At first blush, it looks like Romney will have to do. I still can't get over the mental image of Guilani standing at the Handgun Control, Incorporated podium. McCain is right on The War, but oh so wrong on so many other things (McCain-Feingold, McCain-Leiberman, McCain-Kennedy, notice a pattern?).

Romney supposedly has some "magic underpants" issue that is a big deal to some folks, but I don't give a damn about a candidate's theology, as long as they are soundly conservative.

I truely thought that Fred Thompson was The One. So much so that I almost violated Michael's Second Maxim on the Big Issues: Never, ever donate money to a political candidate, a church, or a charity.

I owe you the backstory on that one: TheMissus™ has signed up (feminazi issues, whatever) as a "Friend of Hill's" or whatever Senator Clinton calls her posse and I had suspicions that she was considering donating some of our (my) money to Sen.Clinton's campaign. Fine. Whatever. I decided that if she did donate to Senator Clinton's campaign, I'd send double the amount to Fred Thompson.

She didn't, so I didn't; we're frugal, after all.

Yes, I included charities. Lower my taxes, and then I'll reconsider the "charity" issue. The fact that most charities are churches in drag will weigh heavily in my reconsidering.

Late, tired. You get the picture.

I think he's got it

Righteous, Brother

Ragin' Dave is spot on in his latest post:

"Here's where I think the problem lies; conservatives are no longer part of the
Republican party. We've left. We burned our membership cards. We walked out, and
TOLD them we were walking out, and why.

Hows that working for use these days, eh?"

I burned my card long ago, I think the last time I "self-identified" as a Republican was 1990-ish; now days if asked I'm a "Constitutional Conservative".

A rather smallish demographic, it seems. But that's another story for another time.

MLK's Speech

read it again, for the first time

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of
segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro
lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material
prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the
corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we
have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this
nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of
brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new
militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of
all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence
here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny
and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk
alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot
vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no,
we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like
waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew our of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together,
to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at
last!"

Sunday Night Thoughts

did I mention the Blog Post Title Writer's strike continues?

so anyway, it got late early again, so my time is short. Fortunately, I have tomorrow off from the Stoopid Business, but The Children™ will be up at Zero Dark Thirty and my services will be required.

Where to start? Joe over at Cold Fury is keeping hope alive for Teh Fred! I want to believe, I really do. It's not over until you stop trying, right? The short take on Joe's post:

".....look, I’m still voting for Fred. If he drops out of the race, I’ll write him in for my vote. Yes, I know Fred has no chance of winning as a write-in candidate. Yes, I know if any significant numbers of conservative voters do likewise, the Republican nominee has no chance of winning - and that’s my whole point. My hope is that a sufficient number of write-in votes for Fred will force the Stupid Party to recognize that independent conservatives will no longer vote for liberal Republicans just to save us from liberal Democrats. That ship has sailed. Voters interested in a liberal
will vote for a Democrat, not a squishy RINO."

Looks like I'll be stockpiling ammo and canned goods.....I mean more than usual.

Via Ragin' Dave of Four Right Wing Wackos fame come a link to the American Thinker post on the (most dreaded) Clintons.

As always, read the whole thing(s).

There's always more, but, alas, it's late and I must go. We'll have words again soon.

Friday Night

on a Saturday...my calendar is all funked up

so anyway, those of you fortunate enough to endure me in real life will know that I've been preaching this for weeks now. It goes like this: Isn't it curious that the MSM is so gung-ho for Huckabee, who is the Stereotypical Characture of a "Republican"?

Fortunately, McQ of Q and O fame has done the leg-work to prove the point. To quote:

...the left and the Democrats see Huckabee - no matter how skilled he is at oratory, or charming and glib, or how well Republicans accept/tolerate him - is their dream candidate for the Republican nomination.

For one, he's a preacher - a Southern Baptist preacher. For the secular left constituency, that's a theocrat in waiting. Especially when he plops out statements like I highlighted above.

Secondly he's a Republican from a Southern state. For the Democratic base that makes him an automatic racist.

Tell me that isn't a combination from lefty heaven.

Please read the whole thing, it's well worth the effort.

As a recovering Southern Baptist, Ive always viewed Huckabee with suspicion. I know the type. Been there, done that.

When asked, my response is this: "I've had quite my fill of liberal ex-governors from Arkansas; Thank You, No".

Stephen "VodkaPundit" Green is ready to stick a fork in Fred Thompson. I'll take it under advisement: I respect Mr.Green's judgement, but hope holds eternal, right?

There's more to this though, but it's late. We'll have words again soon.

Monday Night Linkage

this will piss "Anonymous" off. Whatever....

so anyway, the Stoopid Business is back to full swing, so I only have time for a few quick links tonight.

Ragin' Dave has his mojo in fine order with his "Why the GOP loses" post. In making his point, he re-posts my Christmas list:

1. Secure the border.

2. Win the war on terrorism.

3. Control government spending.

3a. Shrink the size of the government.

4. Repeal as many gun restrictions as possible.

Righteous, Brother.

Elsewhere, McQ of Q and O fame sums up Senator Clinton's appearance on Russert's Sunday shouting talking head show. A teaser: she lost. But you already knew that.

In other news, supposedly unbeknownst to me TheMissus™ has signed herself up as a "Friend of Hil" or whatever Senator Clinton calls her posse. Hilarity (no pun intended; well, maybe just a little) will be forthcoming, I'm sure.

ThNF

Thursday Night Fred!



Righteous, Brother.

MNF

Monday Night Fred!

First workin' day of the new year

I've already had my fill of the Stoopid Business

so anyway, our old friend InsoluBlog is on a roll. First here and then here. OutStanding! And I'm not even a fan of the "Conan" movies.

Elsewhere; Ragin' Dave of Four Right Wing Wackos fame has graciously added Supply Side Politics 2.0 to the Four Right Wing Wackos blogroll. Thank You, Sir. The "Mutual Linkage Society" on the sidebar has been updated accordingly.

Late. Tired. thatisall.