Here Lies, There Lies

I've been driven to reduce the amount of news and especially political news I absorb because I can't take being lied to all of the time. John Stossel has a brief essay that illustrates the point.

We Pay Them to Lie to Us

When you knowingly pay someone to lie to you, we call the deceiver an illusionist or a magician. When you unwittingly pay someone to do the same thing, I call him a politician.

and,

Medicare is already $37 trillion in the hole. Yet the Democrats proudly cite Medicare when they demand support for the health care overhaul. If a business pulled the accounting tricks the politicians get away with, the owners would be in prison.

Bravo Mr. Stossel!

Dream Machine

Those of us who are not particularly good swimmers, and those of us who fear the seas creatures yet are curious about what is down there, below the waves, will want one of these submarines. Not that I can afford one. If I could it wouldn't be a dream machine.

The Super Falcon

Traffic Cams - Must We Have Them?

A friend of mine tells me that she received a ticket in the mail for coasting through a right turn while the light was red. One of those traffic cameras had caught the event.

Accounting for her time, she discovered that she was not the driver for the period in question. She had loaned the car to a friend who is known to coast through red lights. But, as the car's owner, the ticket came to her. I always thought that tickets went to the driver, not the car, and if they can't identify the driver then they can't sustain the charge. Right? Anyway, it is just one more incidence where traffic cameras are controversial.

I was reminded of this tale when I came across the following article:

Traffic devices: cash cows or safety aides

Fred Childress, president of Tennessee Liberty Alliance, said he's seen no evidence that what he calls "revenue cameras" have reduced accident rates.

All they've done, he says, is upset motorists, obstruct traffic flow and prompt drivers to avoid the city.

WWII Era Britains Also Regret What Their Country Has Become

Reflecting a sympathy found in America too, many of the British who fought to save their country and way of life during World War II find the country they now live in to be an unfortunate deviation from what they fought to preserve.

'This isn't the Britain we fought for,' say the 'unknown warriors' of WWII

In one letter in this collection, an RAF mechanic quoted a poem about comrades who fell in battle: 'I mourned them then, But now surviving in a world, Indifferent to their hopes and dreams, I grieve more for the living.'

Hail Hale and Lincoln , With Our Thanks

I have long known that President Abraham Lincoln is responsible for Thanksgiving becoming a national holiday, but the name Sarah Josepha Hale was completely unknown to me before today. But, it is she who is credited with inspiring Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day proclamation.

The daughter of a Revolutionary War soldier, Hale “was very patriotic her whole life,” Wood said. “The whole issue for her was patriotism and loyalty to our country.”

Starting in 1846, Hale had written several of Lincoln’s predecessors in the White House about establishing a national Thanksgiving, but her requests were rebuffed.

In a letter to Lincoln from Philadelphia on Sept. 28, 1863, Hale wrote: “You may have observed, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day in all the states; it now needs national recognition and authoritive (sic) fixation only to become permanently an American custom and institution.”

Now that I have made her acquaintance, I have one more thing to be thankful for on this holiday she championed.

Abe Pollin

My first knowledge of the man Abe Pollin came through my being a fan of basketball player Westley Unseld.

Unseld is a living legend in my hometown, Louisville, Kentucky. A local kid who stayed at home when he chose a college. All-American, All-Pro, and eventually an NBA Champion and Hall-of-Fame player, only the second NBA player to be named Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in his rookie season (along with Wilt Chamberlain), Mr. Unseld did no wrong. And his entire family seemed just as solid, (my older brother was taught at Seneca High by Westley's older brother George). So, when a citizen and athlete as solid as Westley Unseld trusted Mr. Pollin enough to go to work for him without signing a contract, just a handshake deal, literally, and that trust was confirmed time and again, then it was apparent that Mr. Pollin was also a special man.

It may seem strange to talk so much about another while lauding Mr. Pollin, but so strong is my respect for Mr. Unseld that his opinion of the man is, in my mind, the ultimate testament to how important a figure Mr. Pollin is in history. There are many others who also know of the greatness that was Abe Pollin, his community is filled with people who benefited from his industry, his integrity, and his sense of purpose. I never met the man, I wish I had. I regret how little I know of the man, but that handshake set a picture in my mind that he was the kind of man I strive to be, the kind of man we should all strive to be. But there was so much more there, and now we have lost his contributions and must carry on on our compass; may ours be as true as his.

"I just lost a real, real good friend," said Unseld, star of the 1978 title team who later became the team's coach and then general manager. "And I think it's more than any of you will understand or I could even explain. It's just going to be a big void in sports in this community."

Medvedev Longs To Be Groucho Marx, Or, How The Russian President Is Making A Fool Out Of Obama

Powerline

It is short, just read it.

Longing For W

I mentioned how heartened I was to hear President Geo. W. Bush speak the other day. Some others are now realizing how they too miss him.

We were convinced that ANYONE who was president would have done what Bush did, and would have set that right tone of leadership in the wake of that disaster. President Gore, President Perot, President Nader, you name it. ANYONE, we assumed, would have filled that role perfectly.

Additionally VDH on what Bush found on his first day.

I believe history will find GWB to be a good President. I am sure that we will miss him more and more in the next three years.

hat tip to small dead animals for both articles.

Photos: China's Pollution

Horrible!

Connecticut Waking Up?

Sen. Dodd may not win re-election.

How will the country survive without yet another blowhard in office? With the ways things go, the new guy will catch on soon enough. All hail the new guy, time for the arrogant Dodd to get out of Dodge DC!

Purple Hearts For Soldiers Wounded At The Battle Of Ft. Hood

Roger Kimball is on board with the reality, the soldiers killed and wounded at Ft. Hood were struck while on active duty in a war zone. They deserve the medals accorded their action, Purple heart medals.

Kimball also says:

Islam presents the West with a boundary case, testing the limits of religious freedom. Unlike Muslims, we believe people should be allowed to worship unmolested as they see fit. But in order to protect that commodiousness, the West must be intolerant of doctrines, like Islam, that preach intolerance.

Doctrines that have a religious dimension must not be allowed to draw on the prestige, the privileges, the immunities we accord to religion when they do so in order to deny those privileges and immunities to others. Such movements — Islam is one — should be regarded as what they are: activist political organizations whose aims are destructive of our institutions.

"Activist political organization", can we really deny that truth?

Biden's Halliburton

The famous lefty myth has it that the Bush administration went to war for oil. And, the ultimate villian in the left's eyes, Dick Cheney benefited from the work his old employer Haliburton was doing in the Iraqi oil fields. Charges never proven, both forever etched in the lefty's consciousness.

Of course, as is always the case with those folks, the truth no longer matters, the charge does the damage they seek. And they find that satisfying. So satisfying that it is no longer necessary that our government employees keep clean hands. After all, now the hands that are in the cookie jar belong to Democrats.

What happened here is clear -- Joe Biden advocated policies in Iraq that his adviser Galbraith also advocated. Galbraith profited handsomely off those policies through close ties to oil companies.

But you won't hear chants of Darth Biden from the liberal papers, such as the NYT.

Update: Another's take on the subject- Works and Days

Agnew Announced The End Of Jounalism

It remains the most influential indictment of American journalism ever made. Forty years ago today, this famous figure began railing against the corporate media.

And the big business of "media" has sought to control the message ever since. My biggest concern about the way media comes from not knowing how or when things will ever change. I may have to live the rest of my life under the intellectually demeaning thumb of big media hand.

Our present federal government is bent on taking over industry; I wish they'd take over the job of telling the truth, though it be foreign to them as well.

A Comforting Voice

I just returned home, (about 3pm est), and discover former President George W. Bush giving a speech at Southern Methodist University, the future site of his Presidential Library.

Hearing his voice makes me feel good.

Email To Sarah Palin

Gov. Palin,

First, let me congratulate you on the success of your book. I posted your Facebook book tour announcement to my Facebook page, and I am hoping that Naples, Florida makes the list of tour stops.

Now, to the matter that sparked me to write today.

My sister is one of those knee-jerk political types that see everything the old way; left vs right, conservative vs liberal, Blue vs Red and was thus compelled to post something anti-Palin in response to my call for you to stop in Naples. Her post is as follows:

Jodie's take-

"I see Going Rogue is already discounted from $28.99 to $4.50 and that comic book hasn't even been released yet."

She then adds a quote from the Huffington Post:

Fox News Fact-Checks Sarah Palin's Coin Conspiracy Theory (VIDEO)
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
This must sting a bit. Sarah Palin's newest conspiracy theory on the "disturbing" redesign of U.S. coins was too much, even for Fox News -- on Tuesday night, Fox fact-checked Palin.

Now, as you can see that is the same tired and untested bs we often see in politics these days. I wrote her a comment, of which I am quite proud, wherein I dissect the matter and offer a reasonable explanation of the events.

I said:

"Fox News is very fair that way, they've reported criticism of President Bush many times before. And, as in this case, their reporters don't editorialize, they present the facts, including any knee-jerk assumptions, and then leave it for the viewer to decide. In this case the Congress came to the conclusion that Palin did, moving IN GOD WE TRUST off the face of the coin was a mistake and it is now back where it belongs. Politico is obviously stuck in the old politics where everything is Red vs Blue, and they knee-jerk reacted assuming something Ms Palin did not say, egg on their faces now, eh?

It does seem unusual for a book still on the Best Seller lists to sell at a discount, (you can get a free copy with the purchase of a Newsmax magazine subscription too), she must not be in it only for the money."

I wanted to share my perspective with you in the modest hopes that there may be something in what I've concluded which will help you deflect the knee-jerk criticism I expect your detractors to undertake en mass in their attempt to live out their purpose in life, i.e. destroying that which they can not understand.

With great respect, and with great hope for the future, sincerely yours,

Rick Jones

To Our Veterans- THANK YOU

Coburn Wants Bill Read On The Floor

Out Loud, and Slowly! PLEASE!

2010

Reagan Library

On the day they remembered the Berlin Wall coming down we need to also remember the man who made it happen.

"How can we not believe in the greatness of America? How can we not do what is right and needed to preserve this last best hope of man on Earth? After all our struggles to restore America, to revive confidence in our country, hope for our future - after all our hard-won victories earned through the patience and courage of every citizen - we cannot, must not, and will not turn back. We will finish our job. How could we do less? We’ re Americans."

-Ronaldus Maximus

Col. Ralph Peters Calls It Ft. Hood's 9/11

Islamist terror strikes US again

"On Thursday afternoon, a radicalized Muslim US Army officer shouting "Allahu Akbar!" committed the worst act of terror on American soil since 9/11. And no one wants to call it an act of terror or associate it with Islam.

What cowards we are."

Obama the Anti-Commander In Chief

Marine wife explains.

Like so many of his campaign promises, Barack Obama's commitment to the military has undergone constant revision since he took office in January.

Fort Hood: The Day Political Correctness Killed

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the shooter murderer at Fort Hood, Texas was an Islamic extremist. And, he is proof that they don't have to be Al Queda to carry the hate of their disease against good people. Radical Islam is not a religion, it is a cult of control. Control over it's practitioners, with the goal of every person becoming a practitioner and controlled. The code of radical Islam allows for no tolerance of other's beliefs, experience is telling us that truth. And while our acceptance and tolerance of Muslims must not end, it can not be allowed to supersede good sense. Not every Muslim has nefarious motives, true, some are just people using the only way they know to get by in this life. Good sense tells us when we meet the others, those that have bad intent, those that have adopted the a stance of superiority and malevolence. We know them from their attitude, their words, their reasoning. And, especially we know them from their rank of allegiance. This murderer in Texas, for example, it is now said that he had professed that his allegiance to Islam was greater than his allegiance to the United States of America; that was a certain sign that he had his priorities wrong. Wrong for this life anyway. And while this is a temporal fault not exclusive to any one religion, believers in other faiths also make the same temporal mistake, when it is a Muslim making the choice he must be considered dangerous, radical, until proven otherwise. For dying, and killing others are fundamental tenets of radical Islam, taking away a life is the ultimate show of control for them. These are small people and must be treated as evil, and they must be brought under our control. The Bible says do unto others as you would have them do unto you; these radical Islamists seek control and therefore are begging us to control them. We must not shrink from this request. Control takes many forms, and all must be on the table in this fight. Standing up and pronouncing the truth about these deviants is one form, denial is not a river we can travel and survive. But is only a start and must be reinforced at every instance where radical Islam springs forth. Political correctness is a suicide pact in this matter, it is weak and ineffective in the face of an existential threat. In my daily life I vow to confront this evil directly, firmly, and without reservation every single time I meet it. PC be damned. There were many signs this man was on the path to be a danger, PC kept him in the fold, this must never happen again. PC be damned. Radical Islam is a cult of malice, and there is no place is this world for their philosophy! Anyone who pronounces that Islam is greater than other religions is announcing a threat. Anyone that holds allegiance first to Islam before adherence to the American system and its laws is announcing a threat. Anyone who promotes the idea of Islamic law as a guiding set of tenets is announcing a threat. I will not be threatened without delivering retaliation. That is not a threat, it is a promise. No more, never again. PC kills! PC be damned!