July 21, 2011
The Joy of Lasers: Part 2
In the first article of this two-part series, we explored the rationale for lasers for rifles, particularly those with a high sight line relative to the axis of the bore. With handguns, and at handgun ranges, the rationale for a laser to eliminate the sighting problem inherent in the nature of such rifles doesn't apply, but there are still compelling reasons why lasers make substantial sense for handguns.
The handgun in the first two photographs is a Glock 26 in 9mm, commonly known as a "Baby Glock." It owes its existence to the Clinton Gun Ban and its limitation of magazine capacity to 10 rounds.
Glock—and eventually other manufacturers—decided that if they were limited to 10 rounds for a decade (but only on newly manufactured magazines—there were always plenty of standard capacity magazines available) they might as well design much smaller handguns with that capacity and the Baby Glock was the first of the breed. Glock makes the baby in a variety of calibers, but the 9mm was the firstborn.
As you can see, the entire unit is quite compact and rugged. But before getting too deeply into this particular unit and my reasons for choosing it, let's review what's available on the market. Manufacturer Websites: LaserLyte: This URL will take you directly to the Glock version of the sight. LaserMax: Go here for LaserMax's line of effective and reasonably priced sights. Crimson Trace: Go here for Crimson Trace's innovative sights. Viridian: Go here for Viridian's line of exclusively green lasers. They tend to be quite large and expensive. Insight: Go here for Insight's line of tactical weapon lights and lasers. They tend to focus on the military and police markets with more specialized and expensive designs.
Posted by: MikeM at 10:47 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Politico Reporter Changes Venues, Works for Same Cause
He's just the latest of many reporters that have quit "journalism" in recent years to officially work for the same folks they've actually been working for the entire time:
The media would do the country a tremendous service if they could be relied upon to report upon stories objectively. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of reporters and editors in the media business have a strong leftward personal political slant, and that affects their reporting as well. It has just become more overt in recent years. Of all the news outlets, it is unsurprisingly Rupert Murdock's News Corp that is the most politically balanced, with only a slight edge in donations to Democrats over Republicans (51%-49%). The balance carries over to news reporting in News Corp, which is why they are more trusted and viewed than many of their rabidly liberal counterparts. How is Keith Olbermann these days, anyway?
A Politico reporter who often penned stories about Sarah Palin and other Republicans has quit journalism to work with the Democratic Party in Arizona, sources tell The Daily Caller. That reporter, Andy Barr, has covered national politics for the publication since 2008. Barr leaving to help elect Democrats will likely fan the flames of critics who say Politico has a liberal bias. It's not exactly clear what his new job duties are. Barr wouldn't say, but told FishbowlDC, which first reported that Barr was leaving, that he left Politico on "very good terms." That report said Barr, who is from Phoenix, is taking a "political job," but didn’t say where he is going.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:50 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Quick Takes, July 21, 2011
ITEM: Iran Has Already Tested Long Range, Nuclear-Capable Missiles? Oh goody. Go here for the story. Unfortunately, it’s true, and it’s likely that Iran is closer to nuclear capability than our emasculated, politicized intelligence apparatus imagines. They will use nucs against Israel and us when they have them, and Mr. Obama is busy threatening to take away our elder’s social security checks and is focused like a laser on raising taxes. We live in a very dangerous world, a world made more dangerous by the incompetence of our own president who ignores those who represent the most credible threat to our nation.
ITEM: Adventures In Time Travel: Go here for a fascinating but brief story about Cornell scientists who have actually altered time. It was for only 110 nanoseconds, but it's real. The line between reality and science fiction becomes more blurred all the time. ITEM: Full Faith and Credit: Go here for a brief article by Mark Steyn. An excerpt: "We are sending a consistent message to the world that the political structures of the United States do not allow for meaningful course correction. That does far more damage to the “full faith and credit” of America than failing to hike the debt ceiling." Read the entire article to get the full context. It's now clearer than ever that our representatives in DC really do think we're stupid. ITEM: Miss Me Yet? Joy Nordlinger has a nice essay about Nobels awarded as political weapons (here). He notes, in part:"These days, you hardly ever hear a good word about Bush 43. The Left has always hated him, of course, and the Right habitually snorts at him. I have a feeling that Bush’s time will come. And that the haters and the snorters will look pretty small." With Barack Obama in the White House, they already do Mr. Nordlinger, they already do. ITEM: Perry Is In? It appears, according to Hot Air (go here), that he may enter the Presidential race. We have commented in past QTs about the very obvious shortcomings of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. In fact, it will be worth your time to visit an interesting article by Clayton Cramer (here) on why Mr. Romney will almost certainly be a losing nominee. As Mr. Perry is my Governor, a few thoughts: (1) I'm always a little worried about anyone who, if they fall down, is at risk of shattering their hair. (2) He's likely to be the most genuinely conservative (electable) candidate Republicans will have this year. (3) He has a real record of solid governance and economic accomplishment. (4) He's nothing at all like Barack Obama. (5) He actually shot an attacking coyote with a concealed handgun while out running (name any other politician who has actually carried and fired a gun so effectively, and even though Dick Cheney did shoot a lawyer, that doesn't count). (6) This year, all of that is pretty darned important. ITEM: I Was Wrong. A refreshing thing to hear and a character revealing and building thing to say, particularly when you're Cynthia Tucker, a columnist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a black columnist who previously editorialized in favor of racial jerrymandering to further black causes, a liberal columnist. Go here to read her essay embracing democracy. Congratulations to Ms. Tucker, not for being "white," and not for embracing conservative ideals, but democratic ideals that will help Blacks, not consign them to being eternally adolescent wards of the Democrat Party. ITEM: Well, I Can't Think Of A Better Use For Taxpayer Money! Let's say you're a federal National Institutes of Health bureaucrat with just loads of grant money to hand out for worthy projects (Deficit? We don' got no stinkin' deficit!). You find an intriguing grant proposal, one for research, which if successful, will answer one of mankind's most vexing and pressing public health questions, so of course you funnel $889,769 (in 2006) into the research. What was the research? What effect a gay man's penis size has on his sex life and general well-being. I'm not kidding. Go here for the story. It ought to get a rise out of you. I am soooo ashamed of myself... ITEM: A Child Molester Facing Years in Jail Walks Into A Bar And Says…There is actually no punch line to this one, except that the child molester gets to view the video he made of his victim as part of his defense. This is an issue outraging many in the Pacific Northwest. Go here to PACNW Righty for the story and comment. If we want the presumption of innocence for ourselves… ITEM: The Government Love You So Much Your Children Are Ours! Go here to Fox News for an interesting discussion about the proposal in the July American Medical Association Journal by Dr. David Ludwig advocating that obese children be taken from their parents and forced to meet government weight standards. Hey, if they can tell you which light bulbs to buy and force you to buy the insurance they approve, why not? It’s for the good of the children! ITEM: Everything Old Is New Again! It has often bandied about that Barack Obama is, if anything, even worse than Jimmy Carter, whose photograph you will find if you look in the dictionary under "truly wretched and incompetent president." On the anniversary of Mr. Carter's famous and fatuous "malaise" speech (I actually heard it when he gave it! I'm still recovering; I have these nightmares…) The bright and beautiful Laura Ingraham put together a montage of Mr. Carter's comments interspersed with Mr. Obama's. Talk about separated at birth! Actually, it's rather scary. Mr. Carter's photo in the dictionary is not destined for a long life, I'm afraid. Go here to Michelle Malkin for the audio. ITEM: Goods Versus Rights: Go here to the Weekly Standard for an intriguing essay by Noemie Emery about the difference between calling having free health care a right, and having the money to pay for that good (as in a consumer good). Her conclusion? The welfare state as we have known it is quite dead. Some people are just refusing to view the body. Good stuff. ITEM: Hey, Have You Noticed…? Department: Hey have you noticed how much gasoline prices have come down since Mr. Obama saved us all by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Yeah. Me neither. Aren't you glad he had the brilliance and foresight to do that? Yeah. Me neither. Discuss. ITEM: Louis Renault Award of the Week, Lamestream Media Edition: According to Presidential mouthpiece Jay Carney, the media is being excluded from debt-ceiling meeting because they dared to ask questions of President Obama. Apparently The One was annoyed with their manner of asking questions. Go here for the story. I’m shocked, shocked! Actually, you have to wonder if the mental midgets of the press will ever awaken to the reality that Barack Obama considers them, at best, to be useful idiots. Dear Press: Barack Obama is not America’s friend, and he is certainly not your friend. ITEM: Don’t Tax You, Don’t Tax Me; Tax That Cat Behind The Tree! That’s the old saying, isn’t it? Well, it certainly is in San Diego which is now proposing a cat “registration” fee, so of course, its not really a tax, except you have to pay it to the government. How would you enforce that sort of thing? Kitty SWAT teams making no-knock raids and shooting citizens whose cats stared menacingly at them? As goes California, so goes the nation? Not unless we all want to descend into economic and moral oblivion. Go here to see our feline future. ITEM: It’s Official: When his lips are moving, he really is lying. At his call-their-bluff, takin’-it-to-the-people speech on July 15, Mr. Obama said that 80% of the American people are “sold” on his “balanced” approach. That’s right: 80% of the public not only wants higher taxes, they’re virtually begging for them. Go here for the story and video. Funny, I don’t recall getting a polling call on that topic… ITEM: The Wages of Rhetoric: In the Age of Obama, talk has never been cheaper. Mr. Obama is infamous for saying that he supports X or Y and then either doing nothing at all to support X or Y or doing everything possible to destroy X or Y. Well, now Mr. Obama is absolutely ready to make big cuts in entitlements. Well, except ObamaCare, the biggest entitlement of all time, of course. Go here for an explication of that, and other Obama lunacies by the estimable Charles Krauthammer. ITEM: I Absolutely Did Not Say That I Did The Auto Company Bailout For The Unions—except maybe I did, but I didn’t really mean it, and it was a sort of joke, if I said it, which I’m not sure I didn’t, and anyway, this is all a distraction. Go here for the story. Last week in QTs we wrote of Ron Bloom, the White House auto company bailout honcho who once said that he did the auto bailouts for the unions, then vehemently denied it in testimony before Congress. Now it seems he’s backpedaling. I’m shocked, shocked! Where’s Louis Renault when you need him? ITEM: We’re AAA! Maybe not so much. America stands on the precipice of losing its AAA bond rating, which would make it much more expensive for the nation to borrow money and would almost certainly send consumer and bank interest rates into the skyrocketing energy territory so beloved of Mr. Obama and his Socialistic Energy Secretary Chu. Go here for the Wall Street Journal story on exactly why we could lose the favorable rating we’ve enjoyed since 1917. Nobody looks good, but Obama and the Democrats are leading the political lemmings right off the fiscal cliff, band playing and flags flying. ITEM: But Smart Diplomacy Is So, So…Smart! When your foreign policy consists of billions of cubic feet of noxious rhetoric, serial insults of your allies and base spaniel fawning appeasement of your most deadly and determined enemies, it’s rather hard to apply the adjective “smart” to anything you’ve done. Go here for a brief New Republic piece about the wages of Mr. Obama’s foreign policy fecklessness. We will be lucky to survive him. ITEM: Blast From The Not So Distant Past: Go here for a great story—in the NYT of all places—from Gretchen Morgenson about GM's blatant public lie about paying off its government loans. Some will remember that it turns out they took money from one government account and used that to pay off the loan about which they crowed. Did you know, by the way, that we still own $2.1 billion of preferred G.M. stock and 61% of its common equity? By all means, read the whole thing. ITEM: Feel Good Story Of The Week. Go here for the Fox News video of an Iraq War veteran who caught a burglar in his home and held him at gunpoint for police. If you ever wanted to find a poster person for responsible, calm use of firearms by a citizen, this is the guy. Special Bonus: He makes the point that his home state, Illinois, won't allow citizens to protect themselves, but Indiana, where he now lives, does. ITEM: Thank God For the Police In Midway, GA. Go here for another Fox News video about three young girls in Midway, GA who opened a front yard lemonade stand and were shut down by the police for not having a business license. Note to The Police in Midway, GA (and elsewhere): You have discretion. Even though you were legitimately enforcing the law, it's hard to imagine anything that would make you look more like dim-witted bullies than symbolically beating up on a few little girls selling lemonade in their front yard. Kicking puppies on the front steps of a church, maybe, but this one should be a no brainer. Way to shoot yourselves in the foot guys! ITEM: What The Hell Is He Talking About? Department: In his Saturday radio speech, Mr. Obama spoke, as he so often does, about the rich "paying their fair share." Let's see if I have this straight: Nearly 50% of Americans pay no income tax at all, and the top 5% of wage earners pay nearly 60% of all income taxes. Is that right? Why yes, it is. So from whom, exactly, is Mr. Obama going to get an additional "fair share," and at what rate will they have to be taxed? Would 500% do it? Isn't it true that even if we taxed every millionaire and billionaire in the US at 100%, the revenues generated wouldn't come close to covering even one year of the national debt at Obama levels of increase? Why yes, it is. So what the hell is he talking about? Discuss. ITEM: Run For Your Life! It's Global Warming! Well, not for the last 15 years anyway. Remember one of the Climategate E-mails wherein the deceptive scientists involved were quite annoyed that they had no explanation at all for why there had been no increase in warming in the last 15 years? Remember the hilarity that ensued when they said that this lack of an explanation put at risk the entire AGW racket? Ha ha ha! I certainly do. Go here for the story and re-live the humor. ITEM: How To Sell Through Sex: Go here to the Daily Mail (love those Brits!) for a fascinating article on how men and women see sexy ads differently. I know you're not surprised that they do see things differently (if you are, we need to have a chat after class; I'm worried about your continuing survival), but you'll be surprised about the specifics. Neat article; neat photographs, neat graphics. Who said all they care about over there are fish and chips? ITEM: Helping the Troops: Go here for an interesting NIMH video about how to be helpful to our returning combat veterans. It's about five minutes of your time that may make a difference for one of our truly best and brightest (they're not in DC—unless they're in uniform, that is). ITEM: It'll Replace The Gasoline Engine! Is it the Chevy Volt? The Nissan Leaf? Nah. As a matter of fact, there is no technology that is even close to being as efficient, convenient and affordable as the internal combustion engine. However, one possibility is using a flywheel in a sort of gas/flywheel hybrid. It has some promise, but as with electric cars, there is no free lunch. Read this article to see what I mean. Don't sell your stock in Exxon-Mobile just yet. ITEM: Arguing For Death Panels: Remember when Sarah Palin talked about government death panels under ObamaCare and was roundly criticized—until it was passed so that Nancy Pelosi could find out what was in it, and there is a death panel under ObamaCare? Remember the apologies Sarah Palin received? Me neither. Remember New York Times token conservative David Brooks? You know, the guy who thought that Barack Obama would be a magnificent president because his pants had spiffy creases? I'm not making that up. Well, Mr. Brooks has an essay in the Times basically arguing that when you get old and sick, why, life just isn't worth living, so you should give the right to kill you to government so that you aren't burdened with your life, because rationing is good because health care is expensive and old people are inconvenient and icky and all. The invaluable Jennifer Rubin (here) opens a can of pants crease remover on Brooks. There is a link to Brooks' article in hers. Should a guy who thinks he can read presidential success in pants creases even be allowed to write in public? ITEM: Reckless Endangerment: That's the name of a new book by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner on why we're in such a financial mess. Go here for a solid article by Rex Murphy of Canada's National Post, which profiles the book and names names. Barney Frank, by the way, is a primary villain. I know: You're shocked, shocked? Where's Louis Renault when you really need him? ITEM: Here's How You Do It. Any Questions? Go here to Power Line for a great, brief video of Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) on Face the Nation. The execrable Robert Schieffer tries to open a can of Democrat talking points on Rubio, who deftly replies with logic and rational thought. Schieffer, of course, has no idea how to respond. I know what you're thinking: Leftist partisanship? Surely not on CBS, the home of Rathergate! Yes, leftist partisanship, and quit calling me Shirley. ITEM: Louis Renault Award, Global Warming Division: So, Global Warming isn't really science? I'm shocked, shocked! Yeah. Right. Go here for a fascinating explanation of precisely why it fails to be—you know—science and is instead a sort of carnival barker's pseudo-religious something or other. The article contains real science stuff such as you shouldn't ignore contrary data and projections from unverified sources, and untested computer models aren't actual knowledge. I know: crazed right wing thinking, right? Gad, I hope so. It begins with "Philosophical Basis for Challenging the IPCC." ITEM: Chevy Volt? Forget That: Gimme A Flying Car! Go here for a fascinating story about an actual, practical flying car that may be driving—and flying above—American highways within a year. This is the real thing, gentle readers. Major league cool, but I wouldn't put the family car up for sale just yet. ITEM: Louis Renault Award Of The Day, MSNBC Division: Rachel Maddow, misleading the public? I'm shocked, shocked! Yeah, not so much. Go here to discover how Ms. Maddow recently misrepresented the Texas Voter ID law while combining the self-evident (to her) evil of actually forcing people who want to vote to identify themselves with the evil of people who hold concealed carry licenses. Is there no evil to which these Republicans will not stoop? Not in Maddow World. Good thing it doesn't actually exist. ITEM: The Economy: Democrats and Strippers Hardest Hit! Go here for a fascinating interview by Susannah Breslin about the business of stripping and the economy. Did you know that 9/11 hit the stripping industry very hard? The story has links to several other worthwhile Breslin articles. ITEM: So The Vacation Cottage is up to $50,000 Per Week? Book That Sucker! And you too could say that if you were Barack Obama, who, according to Hot Air (here) ABC, and other news outlets, will be vacationing at pricey Blue Heron Cottage on Martha's Vinyard this coming week. A guy deserves a bit of vacation now and then, but gad, talk about awful timing and choices! I seem to recall a past president who gave up golf because it might look frivolous when the nation was at war, and whose vacations consisted of a bit of infrequent time on his ranch in the international garden spot of Crawford, TX. Can't quite seem to recall his name, but I know he gets blamed for everything… ITEM: It's The Cops! And this time, they're behaving like pros. What is all the more remarkable is that a citizen openly carrying a gun is involved. I know that some people might get the impression that we here at CY are anti-police. The truth is, we're anti incompetent and abusive police, which are—thank goodness--a small percentage of all officers. Go here to see a video of one of the real good guys. ITEM: Paco To The Rescue! Go here for a great video about Paco the Chihuahua who chased off two armed robbers, preventing them from taking more than a small amount of cash from his owner. If Paco can do it, how can anyone claim with a straight face that we should submit to criminals and give them what they want? And with that great little story, I must thank you for stopping by, say a fond farewell and invite you, once again, to return next Thursday for another edition of Quick Takes! Woof! Get 'em Paco! Aiieeeee!
Posted by: MikeM at 12:16 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
July 20, 2011
UnFunny Former Comedian Distorts Study for "Gotcha" Moment in Senate
The only thing you can count on for certain is death, taxes, and for Think Progress to distort anything it can get its hands on, as evidenced once again in this story, where they claim Senator Stewart Smalley "destroyed" Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery in testimony, by proving that Minnery dishonestly used a Health and Human Services study.
The thing, is, as James Joyner points out, is that Smalley--er, Al Franken--is the one who was playing fast and loose with reality.The community-based reality howl over this and pat themselves on the back as if they've accomplished something here, when all they've done is further reinforce the stereotype that they're arrogant, petty and untrustworthy. I'm not sure that is something I'd be bragging about if I was them.
... from the period 2001-2003 and the first few months of 2004, every single "nuclear family" studied consisted of opposite sex couples. For the remainder of the survey, married same-sex couples in Massachusetts with children qualified as "nuclear families." Massachusetts has 6.5 million people; the other 49 states and the District of Columbia contribute an additional 301 million people. And, I'm led to believe, many people in Massachusetts still chose to marry people of the opposite sex. In short, the number of same-sex couples qualifying as "nuclear families" in the study in question amount to a rounding error. And Al Franken, who's a pretty smart fellow, damned well knows that. What's particularly infuriating is that he's using the power of his office and of the subpoena to humiliate a citizen for his own amusement and, presumably, those of his supporters.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 05:16 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Fair and Balanced With Political Donations, Too
Unlike, say, every other media company on the planet.
The donation balance seems to also carry over to legitimately balanced coverage of news events, which no doubt explains the popularity of their print and broadcast news outlets.
Political donations by News Corp., its employees and their families were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, with President Obama the all-time leading recipient, according to a report from the Sunlight Foundation. The transparency watchdog noted Tuesday that Democrats received 51 percent of contributions while Republicans received 49 percent, despite the firm's highly publicized links to the GOP, such as a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association in August.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:05 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Wow: Ninth Circus Says Call for Obama's Assassination is Free Speech
I consider myself a free speech advocate as much as the next guy, but I never felt comfortable with calls for assassination being considered protected speech, and trust me, I've seen a lot of it... just on signs at lefty protests during the Bush years.
The ultra-liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals disagrees:The court seems to be saying that the message Walter Bagdasarian communicated wasn't a legitimate threat, and there was therefore not a crime, since a reasonable person should not have inferred that he had the means, motive and opportunity to carry out the threat or equip others to do so. Am I reading that right? I guess we can expect to see "Assassinate X with a Y" tee shirts popping up on web sites now. Wonderful.
A divided panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that conviction Tuesday, saying Bagdasarian's comments were "particularly repugnant" because they endorsed violence but that a reasonable person wouldn't have taken them as a genuine threat. The observation that Obama "will have a 50 cal in the head soon" and a call to "shoot the [racist slur]" weren't violations of the law under which Bagdasarian was convicted because the statute doesn't criminalize "predictions or exhortations to others to injure or kill the president," said the majority opinion written by Judge Stephen Reinhardt. "When our law punishes words, we must examine the surrounding circumstances to discern the significance of those words' utterance, but must not distort or embellish their plain meaning so that the law may reach them," said the 2-1 ruling in which Chief Judge Alex Kozinski joined but Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw dissented.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:40 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
What Can A Man of Barack Obama's Experience Accomplish?
The stakes are enormous, even unprecedented, and the facts are clear: Our national debt has reached ruinous, astronomical levels and climbs higher every day. Mr. Obama has spent four trillion dollars in just over two years. The number is so large—and increasing daily--that it has almost no meaning for most Americans, yet Mr. Obama wants to spend much, much more. Virtually no one outside Paul Krugman thinks our current path of spending America into oblivion is remotely rational or sustainable, and even he is beginning to have the tiniest doubts. Moody’s is poised to lower America’s AAA bond rating, which would make it far more expensive to borrow and would almost certainly set off a round or murderous, Carteresque inflation, and that's the best case scenario. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security must be reformed. If ObamaCare is ever fully implemented, it will be sufficient, by itself, to bankrupt the nation, to say nothing about giving the government de facto power to mandate whatever it wants. Our revenues are sufficient to meet our needs, but our spending is completely out of control. If we don’t stop spending far more money than we could ever possibly have, America will go bankrupt, plunging the world into an economic apocalypse.
On one hand we have the Congressional Republicans, many obviously uncomfortable in stepping out of their business as usual comfort zones, but forced by circumstances and reality to actually stand up for no additional taxes and real spending cuts. Yet even so, they’re willing to give up more than two trillion dollars in additional spending, money we don’t have, money we will have to borrow. By any reasonable interpretation of “compromise,” more than two trillion dollars is quite a compromise. On the other hand we have Barack Obama, President of the United States. Mr. Obama knows the state of the economy. He knows the state of the debt, yet he wants to spend more money than even the most craven politician prior to the advent of The One was capable of imagining. And to do this, he wants to raise taxes to unheard of levels. What is little known is that through ObamaCare and other devices, he has already imposed enormous new taxes that will by themselves drag down an economy seriously weakened by years of wild spending abandon by Democrats. Yes, Republicans helped, but the pubic knows who the real spending addicts are and soundly spanked the Democrats in 2010. Mr. Obama speaks of “a balanced approach,” yet his idea of balance is that the Republicans not only give him everything he wants, they must praise his patience and willingness to compromise—by graciously accepting whatever he demands--as well. As Fox News reported on July 14 (here), Mr. Obama angrily and petulantly walked out of a recent negotiating session when mere Congressmen and Senators dared oppose his majesty. “"I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this," Mr. Obama angrily exclaimed before storming out of the session. Thus did Mr. Obama, who promised to unite Americans, who portrayed himself as the great healer, the man who would once again make America loved and respected, demonstrate his superior temperament and boundless intellect. Yet even before that ostentatious display of juvenile temper, Mr. Obama, representing the party that pretends to champion the poor and the elderly, threatened to cut off the social security payments of the poor and the elderly in August if he did not get his way. That'll show 'em who's boss. Why would the President of the United States behave so…irresponsibly? What, after all, can a man of Barack Obama's experience accomplish? In one sense, actual experience is irrelevant. The legacy media slavishly supports, even worships Mr. Obama. Even when he recently cut off White House Press Pool access (here) to debt ceiling negotiations because he was angered that the press wasn't appropriately respectful, they took the scolding of Press Secretary Jay Carney and wrote the usual puff pieces blaming everyone but Barack Obama, as usual, following the lead of the man who obviously abhors them. There is no doubt that the press has supported and defended Mr. Obama like the useful idiots he certainly considers them to be. There is also no doubt that they will continue to support the man in whom they have placed all their hopes, the demi-god they worship. Google "Obama Halo" and you'll find innumerable examples of Mr. Obama given a halo, and not by one press outlet, not by a handful, but by too many to count. Such mindless, incurious fealty is very valuable to any politician, and particularly those with monumental delusions of grandeur. Placing a halo around the head of a political figure may, to the media, be very symbolic, seemingly making them special, important, even deities. Perhaps they even believe that the God and gun clingers of Flyover Country would embrace such imagery, and therefore take to heart their word. The truth, of course, is that Christians find such mindless trivialization of the holy to be insulting, even blasphemous. The most egregious and insulting example of this kind of false idol worship is the Easter 2010 New York Times image of the White House at the base of a cross, with Barack Obama, obviously speaking (giving a sermon?) superimposed in profile over the cross. It would be hard to imagine an image that Christians would find more abhorrent and disgusting. As far as is known, Mr. Obama has not commissioned such images, but anyone with any knowledge of photography viewing these images understands that many are obviously posed, and posing requires the cooperation of the subject of the photography. Is it possible that the most brilliant man ever to occupy the Oval Office had no idea what all those photographers were doing? Has he never seen their photographs? It is also noteworthy that Mr. Obama has never—to my knowledge—made a public plea that such crude attempts at Newsweek-like deification cease. There is, in fact, reason to believe that Mr. Obama sees himself as more than man. There is considerable reason to believe that the press, the press that called Obama a god, that was awe-struck by his superhuman ability to swat a fly, that felt tingles run up their legs at the mere thought of The One, and thought that he would be an excellent president because of the crease in his pants leg will be every bit as taken with him in 2012 as they were in 2008, perhaps more. Stephen Marche, writing in a July 12, 2011 Esquire article, proclaimed Mr. Obama's narrative to be ancient, literary, the story of a modern Odysseus or Gilgamesh, a man of historic import and accomplishment.Posted by: MikeM at 12:15 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
July 19, 2011
BREAKING: Brian Ross Treated as Biased Hacks Should Be Treated
The arrogant little carp was man-handled by security today as he tried to badger Rep. Michelle Bachmann after an event in South Carolina.
I've long documented the dishonesty of Ross, both in terms of agenda-driven bias and factual ignorance. He is very driven, which is a plus for an investigative reporter, but considering his propensity for hackish, agenda-driven reporting, I wouldn't let him anywhere near my candidate either.Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:32 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
DOJ Pressured Gun Dealers to Supply Guns to Cartels
Hope and change and death:
...the dealer was worried about a spike in sales to those reselling the guns to the cartels: a handful of buyers bought 212 guns in a few days. "According to witnesses, that meeting was for the purpose of convincing the gun dealer to continue selling to the suspects and continue providing information to the ATF despite misgivings caused by the high volume of purchases," Issa and Grassley said in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. ATF correspondence released three months ago suggested gun dealers began balking in April 2010, not December 2009. Prosecutors painted a different picture of the meeting in a January 2011 memo turned over to lawmakers. It said the dealer was concerned about endangering himself or violating the law. He was told he did not have to participate in the sting. But the gun dealer was also told that information he did give about large firearms sales was "very important and useful to ongoing ATF investigations," said the memo, obtained by Reuters, suggesting he was pressured to continue in the sting.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 04:22 PM | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Something's Fishy With This Story
The Daily Caller is running with a hit piece by Jonathan Strong, sensationally claiming that Michelle Bachmann suffers from debilitating migraines and that she engages in "heavy pill use."
And that's just in the headline. I'm going to get out in front of this one and call "Bullshit." I am one the few..we lucky few... that has been afforded the opportunity to experience cluster headaches.
They are every bit as much fun as the photo implies, and are worse than migraines (I've had those too, infrequently), and according to women who have experienced both, cluster headaches are worse than childbirth, and allegedly the worse pain a human being can experience. They get the nickname "suicide headaches" for a reason.
I say this only to establish that I know firsthand how debilitating the severest forms of headaches can be, and that leads me to strongly doubt that Bachmann could hold her present job—much less get through the frenzy of the early primaries—without having to cancel numerous appearances and interviews if her headaches were as frequent and intense as the article claims.
I'll be very interested to see how or even if she responds.
Mike Follows-Up:
Michelle Bachman has now engaged in a massive cover-up by telling what appears to be the actual truth (here): She occasionally gets migraine headaches and has prescription medication which effectively deals with them. This would seem to be the kind of media idiocy eruption that has been so common with Sarah Palin who is often accused--in hysterical terms--of saying something accurate and rational.
Migraine headaches can indeed be painful and annoying, but they are--obviously--treatable, and unlike some conditions such as epilepsy, do not prevent people from driving or even piloting aircraft. So if the government does not consider Michelle Bachman unfit to drive a car or pilot aircraft, perhaps she could be allowed to be a practicing attorney, hold public office (hasn't she already done this stuff?), or even--dare I say it?--become President of the United States? After all, a good number of Democrat politicians of the female persuasion are demonstrably bull goose loony, and Mr. Strong doesn't seem worried about them.
Of course, I could be wrong. Mr. Strong, any day, could come up with compelling evidence that various other Republican candidates have hangnails, post nasal drip, indigestion, once expectorated in front of women and children, masticate three times a day, or practice serial monogamy. You don't suppose Mr. Strong will provide the same kind of information about Democrat candidates, do you? Nah. Didn't think so. Considering what Ms. Bachman has accomplished at a relatively young age, most people might find this revelation to be evidence of strong character and determination rather than an impediment to doing what she has already proved herself capable of doing.
Bob was right: this is a fish story, but instead of being about the trophy fish that got away, this one is about the press trying to convince us they've caught a whale while displaying a minnow.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:40 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
I'm Working On It!
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:07 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Absolute. Moral. Authority.
For the media, the agony of the families of the dead only matters when the President is a Republican.
My latest, at Pajamas Media.
Not so many years ago, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd asserted that "the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute." The sentiment of "absolute moral authority" for anti-war parents of soldiers lost in battle was embraced, amplified, and echoed by the Times, the Washington Post, and the overwhelming majority of print and broadcast media pundits while those parents served as useful political props for the media and progressive politicians. When the left took over both houses of Congress and the White House — and the mother they used as a bludgeon turned out to be a hate-spewing, conspiracy-mongering anti-Semite — the media quietly let the "absolute moral authority" card slip out of their hand. [murdered ICE Agent Jaime] Zapata's father is a Vietnam combat veteran with two Purple Hearts, and his siblings work in law enforcement. The family isn't demanding to see the president, or delivering ditch-side sermons to a fawning media. All they want is answers. Where is the media to bestow them with absolute moral authority and to champion their cause?
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:58 AM | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
July 18, 2011
Letter From The Teacher #10: What Do Teachers Know?
Anytown High School, Any State, USA
To: Bob, My Most Esteemed ColleagueFrom: Mr. English Teacher
Re: What Teachers Know Dear Bob: Hey there! Thanks for covering that after school hall duty for me yesterday. I really needed to spend the time with that parent. I owe you one. Earlier today I ran across an interesting old book: What Do Our 17 Year Olds Know. It's something of a critique of education, actually. As you can imagine, the authors pretty much think our 17 year olds don't know much and of course, it's our fault. They're not, by any means, entirely off base, but it stimulated my thinking (I know: very dangerous!), so I thought I'd come up with a list of what high school English teachers know. I'd appreciate it if you'd look it over when you have a minute and see what you think. High School English Teachers Know: * That centralized planning is utopian and foolish. It must, of necessity ignore human nature, so it is destined to fail before the ink is dry on the paper. For instance, "No Child Left Behind" mandates that every child in America be reading and writing and doing math on grade level by 2014. Any teacher could have told them how insane that idea is. People are born equal in the sight of God and under the Constitution, but not in intellect and ability. Some kids, no matter how many federal laws are enacted, will never be able to perform on grade level, at least in part because they have, for decades, been promoted based not on performance and acquisition of knowledge, but for social and political purposes. * That virtually nobody asks or listens to teachers when formulating policies and mandates teachers will have to try to implement. This is so because they think teachers know nothing about education, or because they fear that they do. Perhaps both. * That many mandates in how to best teach reading or writing are nothing more than fads dressed up in superficially impressive packaging, and that they will have to pretend to embrace them while doing what they know actually works until the people who staked their professional reputations on the latest fad have moved on to lay waste to greener fields, or until the next great fad promising to revolutionize education comes around.
Posted by: MikeM at 11:07 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Chickens Are Coming Home... To Roost
The target of a scapegoating attempt by the Obama Administration, acting ATF Director Ken Melson fires back:
The more I dig into this story here and at Pajamas Media, the more it seems improbable that Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano were not aware of Gunwalker. "Gunwalker" itself seems like an even better name for the scandal than it once did, as the plot is both different from the Bush-era Gunrunner program, and can denote more that just Operation Fast and Furious in Arizona, including Operation Castaway in Florida, the two suspected gun-running operations in Texas, and any similar operations that may have been run concurrently in other operational areas that are yet to be discovered. Grassley and Issa are asking the pointed, specific questions of prosecutors that already have the answers and are looking to catch the defendants in a provable lie. Rather obviously, they smell blood. The top officials of the top law enforcement agencies in our federal government have delegitimized themselves and the reputations of tens of thousands of good officers and agents for what increasingly looks like a malicious, murderous attempt by key appointed officials of the Obama Administration to orchestrate a plot that only makes sense as a justification for gun control. The people must have their independent prosecutor, and if the evidence supports charges, impeachment in Congress and prosecutions as warranted under the laws of the United States in a federal court. Considering the severity of the crimes, Congress should also consider the rare but legal option of allowing Mexican prosecutors to extradite those that deserve to be charged in Mexican courts. There must be accountability, or else.
rnal "smoking gun" report that acknowledges the role of top officials in the program that allowed guns to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Kenneth Melson, the ATF acting director, earlier this month also told congressional investigators examining the role of top officials in the ill-fated program that affidavits in support of wiretaps used in the operation are inconsistent with what Justice Department officials have said publicly. Melson told the investigators that when he raised his concerns with the Justice Department about "institutional problems" with the Fast and Furious operation, department officials resisted his desire to share his thoughts with Congress. "It was very frustrating to all of us," Melson told congressional investigators over the Fourth of July holiday, "and it appears thoroughly to us that the department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the department."
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Gunwalker Never Stops
Democrats continue to try to hide it, because the story just keeps getting worse.
I'll be on the air with WPTF this afternoon talking Gunwalker at 2:35, and on again with Cam and Company tonight at 10:20 on Sirius.Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:53 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
O'Keefe Strikes Again
This time, the goal was investigating Medicare fraud in Ohio, and as usual, they were way over the top.
No Medicaid employee in their right minds would provide services to drug-dealing, child-pimping foreigners with million-dollar cars. Right? Wrong.
In the video, the men explain to Ohio Medicaid workers that they are Russian immigrants who sell illegal drugs, drive a modified McLaren F1 sports car with a gold-coated engine, and use their underage sisters to perform sexual favors in exchange for drugs.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:45 PM | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
God in the Machine
So I have a clock radio.
It's nothing special, just a mid-range AM/FM device with two alarms, and I keep it tuned to a local AM classical station for my wake-up music. Well, something changed with that this morning. Instead of symphonic music, I was awoken to some beautiful Christian contemporary music--soft rock, I guess you would call it--and so I glanced over at my wife. "Did you change the station?" "Nope." The song ended as we snuggled up in bed, and then I heard an unfamiliar voice announce the stations call letters and place on the dial. We were listening to WMHK-FM, 89.7. Out of Columbia, South Carolina. 206 miles away. And the signal was clear as a bell. My radio dial was lying to me, still trying to tell me I was tuned to an AM station on the lower end of the band. WMHK is a 100,000 watt station that is occasionally heard as far away as Florence, SC (81 miles away) and Charlotte, NC (92 miles away), but we're more than twice that distance, tuned to another station, on another band, and we're getting their signal like their broadcast tower is in our back yard. I'd love to hear the technical explanation of how this happened, but I'm content with the minor miracle just as it is.Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:25 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
July 17, 2011
Chevy Volt Update for 07-18-11
Among the predications I’ve made regarding Chevy’s Volt is that its costs, in general, render it ridiculously uneconomical. Not only does its sky-high MSRP of $41,000 ($33,500 with the federal tax credit) place it outside the consideration of most the population which must buy the car in large numbers in order for it to make the slightest profit, the replacement cost of its battery pack, the life of which no one knows, is at least $8000.00 and possibly more. It’s highly likely to be the most expensive part in any dealer’s parts inventory.
For those interested in reading my scribblings on the Volt, merely enter “Chevy Volt” in the site search window on the CY home page and it will pull up every article and mention. Incidentally, I saw my first Volt a few days ago in its native habitat. It was actually being driven and was apparently owned by an actual person. This is significant in that I live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, an area--due to its high year-round temperatures--ideal for electric vehicles. It’s also an area with a very large and mobile population, a population whose work commute can easily exceed 100 miles a day. I’ve seen one Volt. Not a good sign for Chevy, particularly considering the likelihood that even at $41,000, Chevy is losing money on every Volt it builds. But now comes interesting news from Green Auto Blog (here) about a Volt belonging to Cars.Com. It seems that Cars.Com’s long-term test Volt (sounds odd—“test Volt”--no?) was in an accident. And it cost $14,187 to repair. That’s right, nearly half its post-federal tax rebate cost. Why would it cost so much? We all know that auto repair, and particularly body repair costs are very high, but even more so with the Volt. The Volt requires multiple heat exchangers, engine control electronics far more expensive that those in other vehicles, and a variety of other expensive differences that stuck the vehicle in the repair shop for nine weeks—more than two months. I'm sure that such things are far more expensive due to their rarity as well. It simply costs much more to manufacture 10 items than ten thousand.Posted by: MikeM at 11:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
July 16, 2011
Contempt Of Cop
The good folks at Pajamas Media have been kind enough to post my most recent article on the police and photography (here). As many of you know, police officers around the nation have been harassing, arresting, even beating innocent citizens for the heinous offense of daring to photograph them in the pursuit of their duties. This article explains why, with some notable exceptions, the police have no such authority. Must reading if you plan to have a camera anywhere near a police officer in the future, even on your own property--you'll see what I mean.
Posted by: MikeM at 04:59 PM | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
July 15, 2011
Born Free
For this third installment of our Literature Corner, we present a tale of humor in uniform. It has been said that police work is 98% boredom and 2% sheer terror. This is essentially true, but there is also humor to be had. Police officers learn that life is truly stranger than fiction. Mark Twain was correct when he said "Fiction is obliged to stick with possibilities; truth isn't." Most police officers will spend an entire career without having to fire their weapon in the line of duty. Even fewer will find themselves face to face with a vulture in a bedroom. This story, "Born Free," recounts just that tale.
Born Free It was 0300 and because things had slowed down, I had the rare luxury of being in the office working on a DUI report rather than doing it somewhere in my car when my shift supervisor, Sgt. Steve Kirshner, poked his head in and asked: “what do you know about vultures?” “Vultures? You mean the fly-around-up-in-the-sky-in-westerns type vultures?” I asked. “Yeah,” he replied. Kirshner didn’t like kids or animals and he didn’t care that much for adults either. “A little, I guess. Why do you ask?”
“There’s one caught in a house out west and we gotta go get it out.” Kirschner wasn’t happy about it at all. “Why isn’t Animal Control handling this?” I asked. “Called ‘em. They said they have no idea what to do with a vulture,” he replied in frustration, “said they don’t have the right equipment; they wouldn’t come out.” I started laughing. “Figures. OK, let’s go, but we’ll have to stop and pick up a vulture capture kit.” This was going to be good!
Posted by: MikeM at 11:53 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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