IMHO

Rip Van (Conservative) Winkle

Now, dear children, is the time to slumber and nap. Accept the fact that this is the time for progressives. Just hang your heads, and withdraw behind the mosquito nets. Speak not out, nor shout. Be quiet, be embarrassed, hold your peace and be dignified. Bailouts are not the end of the world. All will be well. Farewell, large machines. Farewell industry, farewell power, farewell capitalism. Sleep now and rest. We won't need you for another scene or two.

Stay locked, stay loaded, but keep your mouth shut. Just for now, little one, just for now. I know you made the world safe for democracy, that was a parallel universe. That was then; this is now, and we must worry about horny owls and such. Toads...toads are horny too! Carbon footprints, yes, I know. Don't worry, little one. Just be quiet and peaceful, non-judgmental and kind.

Be ever so still. Pretend you are in a Hiding Place. Soon enough, we will be saved.

More Union Hijinks

SantaCorp pleads case for bailout

Flanked by officials from the United Elf Toytinkerers union, SantaCorp CEO Kris Kringle today told the House Ways and Means Committee that without immediate government financial help, his firm would be forced to declare bankruptcy, lay off thousands of elves and reindeer, and potentially cancel its annual worldwide Christmas Eve toy delivery.
Read More...

Source: iowahawk (in rare form!)

Note: Well, hey...if ol' Kris Kringle is on the ropes, we're ALL in trouble!

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Financial extortionists take heart from BofA's surrender in Chicago

The Bank of America was the victim of a concerted shakedown that may soon be replicated around the country. Even President-elect Obama supported this new example of Chicago blackmail.

One of the casualties of the faltering housing market is Chicago's Republic Windows & Doors, whose line of credit was cut off by Bank of America.

In the first week of December, Republic laid off its workers and closed its doors. The company was supposed to give two months' notice, with continued pay and benefits. So the employees launched a sit-in.
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Source: Investor's Business Daily

Note: Now why should a bank be coerced into lending to a failing business? This seems to me to be a case of the drowning victim dragging the lifeguard into the deep as well. At least financially. Apparently, the bottom rung of the economic food chain is as equally prone to the moral rot of me-first entitlement attitudes as the upper echelons of capitalism. Probably more so.

Tobacco Kills Cancer

Russian scientists grow new tobacco that kills cancer instead of humans

Statistically, smokers die of lung cancer a lot more frequently than other people. The ill habit kills several millions of people every year, but the production of cigarettes continues to grow. Russian scientists have recently made a breakthrough discovery: they found the anti-cancer remedy in tobacco.

The lead scientist of the Moscow Laboratory of Transgenic Medications, Vyacheslav Kosorukov, said that the remedy had been found as a result of a series of tests conducted on animals. The tests were held to create modern anti-cancer medicines – they are still made on the base of ovary cells of the Chinese hamster and the mouse myeloma.
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Source: Pravda

Note: Obama is a smoker. I knew this would happen. But so soon? This is wonderful news. Would someone please alert the hotels across America?

Blessed Are The Peacemakers

Rick Warren to give invocation at Obama inauguration

Pro-life pastor Rick Warren will give the invocation at President-Elect Barack Obama’s inauguration. It makes a whole lot of sense. Even though Warren and Obama disagree on the life issue, they do see eye to eye on many social justice issues. This move is also classic Obama because it is a signal to religious conservatives that he’s willing to bring in both sides to the faith discussion in this country. Obama has never shied away from that.
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Source: CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network)

Note: Oh, that knotty "life issue." Both sides? How many sides are there to Christianity? Oh, I get it...pro-life and pro-death. No, that's not politically correct. Pro-life and pro-CHOICE - "choice" being life or death for the unborn. Well, we can't say that. Which side is Rick Warren on? Seems like he's "pro-Rick" at worst, boot-licking at best. What a disappointment.

Hmmm...Jeremiah Wright was otherwise engaged?

Interesting Turn of Events

Navajo Pursuing Wind Projects in China

Navajo Wind Energy Corp. (the “Company” and formerly Caliber Energy Inc.) (Pink Sheets: CLBN), a renewable energy company focused on creating electricity from the power of wind, is pleased to announce that the Company is negotiating to finalize the installation of a wind turbine equipment facility in the Republic of China. With this project in operation, the Company expects to secure its viability well into the future.
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Source: Business Wire

Note: I'm not sure what to make of this. Our own Native American tribes...investing offshore? On the one hand, why not? On the other hand, why so? I thought their objective was toward "improving energy resource governance within the Navajo Nation."

UPDATE: New World Order

And now for a world government

A "world government" would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws. The European Union has already set up a continental government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil service and the ability to deploy military force.

So could the European model go global? There are three reasons for thinking that it might.
Read more...

Source: Financial Times

Note: No longer is the phrase "one-world-government" confined to the lexicon of fringe freaks and pitiful paranoids. It's coming, and it's coming soon. Wake up, America!

Shaping Language

Words associated with Christianity and British history removed from children's dictionary

Oxford University Press has removed words like "aisle", "bishop", "chapel", "empire" and "monarch" from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like "blog", "broadband" and "celebrity".

Vineeta Gupta, the head of children's dictionaries at Oxford University Press, said: "We are limited by how big the dictionary can be – little hands must be able to handle it...
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Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Note: A sampling of words taken out - abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar. So if these words are no longer found in the dictionary, how will young readers define their heritage? Or is that the point?

Once Upon A Time

The Story of Freedom and Capitalism
By John Rossi, Florida

Once upon a time there was a very happy couple. Their names were Freedom and Capitalism. They married and had many wonderful children. Their names were Independence, Self-Worth, Hard Work, Dignity, Charity, Faith and Hope. They all lived happily for many years and the children respected their parents and loved them both very much. But Freedom and Capitalism later had several naughty children, very naughty. They weren't so respectful and never appreciated their parents. Their names were Wealth Envy, Environmentalism, Animal Rights Activism, Racism, Feminism, Ultra-Liberalism. These evil children blamed their parents for everything and hated their parents, Freedom and Capitalism. In fact, these unappreciative children began to hate their parents since they didn't realize their parents gave them everything they had and didn't realize that they wouldn't even exist without their parents. They hated their parents so much...
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Source: The Glenn Beck Show

Note: There is a happy ending, of sorts. Great story. Worth the read.

Good Morning, GITMO!

Daily life in GITMO is full of routines

For many of the detainees of Guantanamo Bay's Camp 4, the day begins before dawn.

The men, wearing flip-flops and clothes resembling doctors' scrubs, shuffle out of their cells into the cool night air. A diminutive detainee in a white scull cap stands by a fence, clears his throat, tilts his head skyward and calls out the first prayer of the day.
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Source: Associated Press

Note: Awww...a "diminutive" detainee? Merriam Webster defines "diminutive" as indicating "small size and sometimes the state or quality of being familiarly known, lovable, pitiable..."

Where did these "detainees" come from? Were they brutally yanked out of their small beds, by mean U.S. Marines, and dragged over their prayer rugs, to be thrown into the back of a monster personnel carrier? Is that how they got to GITMO?

Sorry, I rise before dawn myself. I shuffle in my flip-flops into the cool night air too. I tilt my head sky-ward and pray. Some people regard me as familiarly known, lovable, and pitiable. Guess I have a lot in common with the GITMO detainees, except I've never ambushed a Marine, or strapped a bomb onto an 8-year old.

Young America - Titans of Success!

Seven-year-old Rathdrum, Idaho boy invents America's next gourmet burger

Move over cheeseburger, Rathdrum, Idaho resident, 7-year-old Charlie Beckett has created America’s next gourmet burger – the “Holy-Peño Burger.” After a Championship cook-off today against nine other kid finalists from across the country, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. (Red Robin), the gourmet burger expert, selected Beckett’s “Holy-Peño Burger” – made with jalapeños, Cajun spices, pepper-jack cheese, to name a few ingredients – as the winner of the third annual “The Next Gourmet Burger Kids’ Recipe Contest.” The “Holy-Peño Burger” will be served in Red Robin® restaurants next summer, with a portion of the sales from the winning burger donated to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to support its child safety initiatives.
Read more...

Source: Business Wire

Note: America at its finest - creative, innovative, competitive, ambitious, and showcasing white-hat capitalist (corporate) generosity. Kudos to Charlie Beckett and to Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc.! I'll be watching for the "Holy-Peño Burger"!

More Mob Mentality

Karaoke Killing

A 23-year-old Malaysian man was killed on Thursday night after reportedly enraging other customers who felt that he “hogged the microphone” at what Malaysia’s Star Online described as “a coffeeshop-cum-karaoke outlet” in the town of Sandakan, on the island of Borneo.
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Source: New York Times

Note: Killing for Walmart bargains, killing for microphones...I think the world is suffering from too much Elmer Fudd: "Got-to-kill-da-wabbit! Got-to-kill-da-wabbit!" Too much Wile E. Coyote with his Acme explosives. Too much Tom and not enough Jerry. Sigh.

Not Your Mother's Christmas Gift

Planned Parenthood gift certificates could be used for deadly purposes

A number of Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana and Illinois are offering gift certificates for their services this Christmas.

Officials say the vouchers enable people to give their loved ones "the gift of life" — that would help pay for annual checkups and birth control — but also can be used for abortions.
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Source: Fox News

Note: What a deceiving name..."Planned Parenthood." Their focus is contraception and abortion, the means to avoid parenthood. They should change their name to "Banned Parenthood." I wonder how successful it would be if they marketed their gift certificates as birthday presents?

The card could read:

"Happy Birthday! We could have saved the cost of this greeting had your mother received this gift certificate!"

Nah...I don't think it would sell.

Barack Obama - Natural Born Citizen?

Suit contesting Barack Obama's citizenship heads to U.S. Supreme Court Friday

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Friday whether to take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, a continuation of a New Jersey case embraced by some opponents of Obama's election.

The meeting of justices will coincide with a vigil by the filer's supporters in Washington on the steps of the nation's highest court.

The suit originally sought to stay the election, and was filed on behalf of Leo Donofrio against New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells.
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Source: Chicago Tribune

Note: This will likely not get any degree of serious investigation, judging by the mocking tone of the article. However, it is a profound dismissal of the U.S. Constitution, and a needless controversy. The matter could be immediately and forever resolved if Obama would just produce his original birth certificate.

UPDATE: Iraq Withdrawal

Agreement for withdrawal of United States forces from Iraq

Dispatch from Michael Yon:
The incredibly important "Agreement For Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq" is published.

I'm in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, but will soon fly to Bahrain for some important war-related business. After Bahrain, it's back to Iraq then over to Washington DC, then down to CENTCOM in Florida...then Christmas, and back to the war. The primary current objective is to continue to build situational awareness pertaining to Afghanistan. This is going to be a very long war, and 2009 is tantamount the kickoff.

Who is Michael Yon?

Read the agreement... (Only the first few pages are displayed, but there is a link to the full document.)

Note: Not much (if any) emphasis on this in the regular media. I wonder why? The reader comments are very enlightening.

Who's Raising Your Child?

Couple investigated by CPS for making kids walk to school

Dan and Maree Koolstra said the incident began on Nov. 17 when their two oldest children missed the bus.

The couple claims they have told their 8- and 10-year-old children that if they miss bus then they have to walk to school [1.4 miles] as punishment. They allege this is a form of punishment they have set in the past and have enforced from time-to-time.

Maree Koolstra said she followed the children along as she drove in her car to monitor their progress.

Upon seeing the boys walking to school, a school official there contacted CPS [Child Protective Services] and that agency contacted the Koolstras.
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Source: NWCN.com

Note: Parental authority bites the dust. Why is it that all parents are suspect? Apparently, the state of Washington assumes that any parental effort to teach discipline and responsibility is an act of child abuse.

More on Gold

Citigroup says gold could rise above $2000 next year as world unravels

Gold is poised for a dramatic surge and could blast through $2,000 an ounce by the end of next year as central banks flood the world's monetary system with liquidity, according to an internal client not from the US bank, Citigroup.

The bank said the damage caused by the financial excesses of the last quarter century was forcing the world's authorities to take steps that had never been tried before.

"The world is not going back to normal after the magnitude of what they have done. When the dust settles this will either work, and the money they have pushed into the system will feed though into an inflation shock.

"Or it will not work because too much damage has already been done...

"This will lead to political instability. We are already seeing countries on the periphery of Europe under severe stress. Some leaders are now at record levels of unpopularity. There is a risk of domestic unrest, starting with strikes because people are feeling disenfranchised."
Read more...

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Note: This, from a giant like Citibank? Wake up America.

Anybody Seen Our Gold?

Edwin Vieira, Jr.: Silver and gold guarantee freedom

The Constitution of the United States adopted a monetary system consisting of silver and gold coin, in which the standard is the "dollar," containing 371 1/4 grains (troy) of fine silver, with the values of gold coins to be measured in "dollars" according to the free market's rate of exchange between silver and gold. Neither the general government nor any state is authorized to emit paper currency.

These restrictions prevent rogue public officials from turning public debts into currency, as a means for redistributing wealth from society to political elitists and their clients in special-interest groups.
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Source: Gold Anti-trust Action Committee

Note: This is a chilling perspective, written in April 2008. On the one hand, this view smacks of fringe-conspiracy theory. On the other hand, why is it that gold is not sky-rocketing?

UPDATE: War on Christmas

Freethinking winter solstice sign and billboard to go up in Olympia

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a state/church watchdog and the nation's largest association of atheists and agnostics, is making its mark on Olympia [Washington] in December.

In addition to erecting a jaunty "Reason's Greetings" billboard in downtown Olympia on East 5th Avenue (cross street Jefferson), the Foundation and its membership have a permit to display a Winter Solstice sign in the Washington State Capitol for the month of December. Members of the Foundation will assemble at 10 a.m. on Monday, December 1, on the third floor (near the George Washington bust) to dedicate the sign.

The engraved sign will read:

"At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail.
There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell.
There is only our natural world.
Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts
and enslaves minds."

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Source: Freedom From Religion Foundation

Note: How tacky. Not even a nod to the Judeo-Christian all-inclusive greeting, "Season's Greetings"...they just rip it off. What's with the stained glass? What's with the holly? Can't they come up with their own symbols?

UPDATE: Homeland "Security"

Pentagon to detail troops to bolster domestic security

The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.
Read more...

Source: Washington Post

Note: The Posse Comitatus Act, as far as I can tell, doesn't have much in the way of teeth. Wake up America!