A Tale of Two "Vacations"

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." So goes the quote from the opening paragraph of Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens was of course using an invidious comparison of the events obtaining In England versus those in France during the closing years of the 18th century. For your amusement, dear reader, this humble blogster hastens to illustrate the continued use of invidious comparisons. One such example has recently found expression in the "Newspaper of Record", The New york Times in covering the present vacation by the current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The smile on his face, along with a cheerful wave, offered an unmistakable sign of relief that he was getting out of town not a moment too soon[...]The White House press secretary said, “I don’t think the American people begrudge a president taking some time with his family that’s well earned and well deserved.”

One should not begrudge the chief executive a deserved break from his strenuous efforts to socialize the US society during a depressed economy, the unemployment rate approaching double digits , the skyrocketing budget deficit/national debt and deteriorating conditions where our military is engaged. After all, he remains in continuous control of the levers of power wherever he may be located; be it at Martha's Vineyard or a $1million dinner date in New York with his wife.

Be that as it may, note the following portrayal of a similar "vacation" by his predecessor. The New York Times, July 9, 2001, reports on George W. Bush's first summer vacation as president:

On Friday, as new unemployment figures [4.5%] painted a newly troubling portrait of the American economy, Mr. Bush placed himself in the same scenes--golfing and fishing in a New England paradise--that once caused his father electoral grief.

Can't these people at the "Grey Lady" learn the definition of the words "petty partisanship"?

Forked Tongued Leftists

You wouldn't be aware of it by reading or listening to the so called mainstream media but there is a serious flap going on over reports recently in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet by one Donald Boström accusing the Israeli Defense Force of abducting Palestinian Arabs, killing them and harvesting their organs for sale. Boström's article appears to be excerpted from a book he researched and authored in 2003 using as his "sources" (those are scorn quotes) 5 Palestinian Arabs identified by first names only.

Needless to say, the Israeli government is outraged by such irresponsible "news" reporting and has demanded that the Swedish government distance itself from such a scurrilous assertion published in such a prominent "news" publication. The Swedish ambassador to Israel, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier responded with a statement distancing her government from the offending article.

The next day, the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, (Ms Bonnier's boss) issued a statement that Bonnier's condemnation "did not represent the position of the Swedish government". Bildt later clarified his statement by writing that: "The government cannot involve itself in "correcting all the strange claims in the media". Bildt added on Saturday: "There are very few bodies like the Swedish parliament in which opinion against pre-conceived notions and anti-Semitism is so strong, and therefore I don’t want to relate to that specific article.” This is a spokesperson for a Swedish government which routinely closes down web sites which offend the sensibilities of Muslims and even goes so far as to prosecute and fine Swedes who cite statistical facts relating to illegal drug trafficking by Muslim criminals.

Aftonbladet itself on Saturday published a piece entitled: "Israel fighting against Swedish freedom of the press,” calling for public support.

Just so you, dear reader, may grasp the hypocrisy and anti semitism of the socialist controlled Swedish government, the book screed referenced above by Boström entitled "Inshallah" was funded by various bodies, including the Foreign Ministry of Sweden, Swedish labor unions, and organizations based in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas.

hat tip: Berit aka Mrs. ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ
cross posted at: Eternity Road

Another Cog in the Messiah's Gosplan?

The so called cash for clunkers boondoggle scheme comes to a merciful end as of 20:00 hrs. on Monday August 24 amid accolades to its success including the employment of hundreds of new and overtime compensated AFGE members government bureaucrats (2 months earlier than planned). Those touting its huge success may soon be implementing a new government sponsored "cash for hovels" program which will doubtless proceed along the following gosplan: If your mortgage is "under water", that is, the balance due is greater than the value of your home, the government will pay off your mortgage and subsidize a new and bigger loan if you burn down your present home hovel and purchase a brand new eco friendly one with government subsidized solar panels incorporated into the roof.

This plan makes perfect sense according to the operators of the existing printing presses US Treasury and will doubtless jump start the depressed home construction industry. Participants will be encouraged to incur additional debt at artificially depressed interest rates subsidized by the purchase of Treasury bonds by our Chinese "allies".

Only in the fevered minds of our current Marxist rulers does this make sense. The only conceivable glitch that this humble blogster can envision is the increasing likelihood that the Chinese will wise up and decline to underwrite the scheme. Other than that, it should be another huge success.

The Insatiable Leech!

Heaven Forefend!

Recently in a "news" (yes, those are sneer quotes) article in the Daily Mail, the gentleman in the above graphic was referred to as a "gunman" (scare quotes this time). Following the perverse logic of those indoctrinated by the state to fear inanimate objects, it would be reasonable to amputate the penises of all male attendees at an event featuring Lindsay Lohan. After all, the males have come fully equipped to commit rape.

The following is excerpted from an essay by Michael Gaddy. I encourage one and all to read the entire article here.

An American, exercising his inalienable right to keep and bear arms, recently became the focus of the state and the media in New Hampshire near where Obama was to appear. Chris Matthews and other members of the propaganda ministry were apoplectic. How dare anyone other than a government bottom feeder be allowed near the Messiah with a firearm? What would have happened had this man decided to exercise his First Amendment rights at the same time he was exercising his Second?

What did the state and the media fear most about this man with a gun? Was it the man, the gun, the spirit of the man, or perhaps it might have been his ethnicity? After all, according to the media, if he were there to object to the socialist plans of Obama that would reveal his latent racism. We all know, white people concerned about government taking over their health care want to shoot anyone who is only half white.

What a masterstroke it was for the state to get Boobus to admit the only rights he has are those subject to the "reasonable" restrictions of his masters. The precedent has been set and we have agreed; you must submit yourself before the god called government, pass their background checks, take their approved qualification course, submit the required monies and wait for your ID card certifying you have permission from the state to exercise at least one of your former inalienable rights!

If you, and/or a member of your family, are assaulted by a madman with a weapon while in a restaurant, on a school campus, in church, at the mall, in a bank, in the parking lot where you shop or work, in a carjacking or a mugging, or visiting Obama’s home town, you must remember, the only people allowed to defend their lives and those of their loved ones are those who have been sanctioned by the state to do so. That is freedom in America today, granted by the state, bought and paid for.

Through our inactions and apathy we have acknowledged the state to be the masters of our lives; perhaps we can apply for the privilege of having our own health care, the right not to be forcibly injected by some vaccine whose side effects are worse than the disease or the right not to be imprisoned in a FEMA camp. Remember, we traded our rights for security. It is turning out to be one heck of a bad bargain.

Resistance, anyone?

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ indeed!

cross posted at: Eternity Road

"Health Care" Lies

Gentle readers; let's see if this humble blogster understands the most recent analogy put forth by our dear leader as an argument supporting the pro side in the debate over the pending federal health care proposals. He states that the government should offer a "competing" alternative to privately provided health insurance and cites the success of the private services of United Parcel Service and Federal Express who "compete with the U.S. Postal Service".

Had Dan Quayle uttered such an outrageous analogy he would have been justifiably excoriated in the media as an intellectually retarded idiot. Our dear leader is however given a pass for having insulted our intelligence apparently due to his messianic status.

Any high school sophomore able to earn a passing grade in a civics class should be aware that ALL private entities are prohibited by law from delivering first class mail. Couple this monopoly granted to the USPS with the abysmal quality of customer service (rivaled only by the local Dept. of Motor Vehicles) with the continued failing management of that government enterprise and it calls to mind the old aphorism describing the third world effort to develop a ballistic missile. The missile is named the Bureaucrat: "It won't work and it can't be fired".

The only examples of monopolies being able to effectively suppress competition involve the use of the government wielding its monopoly on the use of force. And these twits insist that we cede additional power to their collectivist wet dreams.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

The Arrogance of Power

The video below was taped at the city hall of your humble blogster's resident burg. The typical arrogance of his very own congresscritter is on display in all its glory.

An Obamamobile Before and After

Before
After

We must assume that the ambulance crew is awaiting the arrival of the rescue squad with the "jaws of life" in order to remove the hapless motorist in order that the "Smart Car" can be towed to the local Hummer dealership to be exchanged in the "cash for clunkers" boondoggle.
Thanks to John Ray from whose blog the graphic was shamelessly stolen.

Connect the Dots

Are any of you, gentle readers, puzzled by recent economic hype as is this humble blogster? The talking heads seem to filling the prime time airways with references to "green shoots" and indications that "the corner of the recession has been turned" and the "worst is over". All of this is in spite of the data which records the continued downward spiral of the world's financial/economic indicators.

Here in the US the (official) job loss for July was 247,000 and it is touted as "good news" (imagine the retching and kvetching if a Republican were in residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave). Additionally, note the recent run-up of nearly 3,000 points in the Dow Jones index since the lows of January. Very impressive no? Jim Rogers, CEO of Rogers Holdings Investment Group hints that the Dow could reach 1 million due to the recent and proposed bailouts and "stimuli" by the Federal Reserve and US Treasury (read taxpayer).

Something is inherently and structurally wrong with a financial system in which nothing is being produced, 600,000 jobs are lost monthly, and yet, the stock market goes up. Why is the stock market going up?

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which provided $700 billion in bank bailouts, started under Bush and expanded under Obama, entails that the US Treasury purchases $700 billion worth of “troubled assets” from banks, and in turn, “that banks cannot be asked to account for their use of taxpayer money.”[33]

So if banks don’t have to account for where the money goes, where did it go? They claim it went back into lending. However, bank lending continues to go down.[34] Stock market speculation is the likely answer. Why else would stocks go up, lending continue downwards, and the bailout money be unaccounted for?

Also for your further consideration is the status of the two major social "safety nets" in place here in the US. In case you weren't paying attention, the Medicare Hospital program (you know, the one that the politicians assured us was to remain solvent for a score more years) went broke LAST YEAR.

When the unfunded and off budget liabilities of Medicare and Social Security are added together, the sum as of NOW is in the neighborhood of $83 trillion.


For those of you government school dropout/graduates, that is a dollar sign followed by the numeral 83 and a pageful of zeroes.

The bill for the cost of turning over control of the monetary, financial and economic systems to political hacks since about 1912 is about to come due.

Pleasant dreams.

cross posted at: Eternity Road

Caption this Photograph

The above photograph of a two deck billboard was taken on 31 July 2009 by your humble blogster. It has been in evidence for several months on a busy thoroughfare not far from the residence. It simply begs for a caption. Any ideas?