"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty (via Insty)
Stacy’s morning post about the preposterous budget stays current, as that extended shaggy dog story continues to win friends among the sober. Via The Examiner, Sessions attains and holds the high dudgeon on this sad little crapflooder from the Executive branch:
Continue reading Bravo, Senator Sessions, For Beclowning Zients On BHO’s Orwellian Budget →
In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry . . .
— I Timothy 4:1-3 (KJV)
Steven Crowder gets some CPAC PDA from his fianceé, Hillary
“My theory is that, in contemporary culture, young ladies have become unaccustomed to being paid compliments outside the context of being ‘hit on.’ Because of feminism and political correctness, young guys have never learned to flatter a girl merely for the sake of flattery.”
— Robert Stacy McCain, Feb. 28, 2010
Every great love story ends “happily ever after,” and my concern for Traditional Family Values is often expressed by three words of encouragement to young couples: “When’s the wedding?”
One of the tragedies of 21st-century American culture is that young people from affluent backgrounds have been indoctrinated to think of marriage as a horrible financial burden, which must be avoided until one has completed college (and perhaps also grad school), and landed one’s Dream Job with all the perks — middle-class salary, 401(k), health insurance, et cetera. To do otherwise, the Indoctrinators of Youth have taught them, is to doom oneself to a life of impoverished misery.
Urgent News Bulletin to American Youth: That’s crazy.
If you listen to that nonsense, you’ll be 37 years old on your wedding day. I’ve often remarked that many upper-middle-class parents who would not dare disapprove if their daughter came home from college and announced she was a lesbian would, however, be outraged if their daughter came home from college and announced that she had eloped to marry her boyfriend.
There is no law that says college students can’t tie the knot, nor is there any law that requires young couples to pay for a lavish wedding, and anyone who says you can’t afford to get married is lying.
You can get married at the courthouse. A marriage license costs next to nothing. And two can live as cheaply as one. Continue reading Happy Valentine’s Day to the (Totally HAWWT) Future Mrs. Steven Crowder →
by Smitty
Hot Air identifies this Son of Attack Watch “. . .as the Obama re-election campaign rolls out yet another Snitch Central apparatus for its 2012 efforts.”
I want to see a Truth Teamer on Fox and have Megyn Kelly ask a member to define ‘truth’. As Progressives tend toward soulless zombiehood, the notion of watching their undead minds struggle to define ‘What is truth*?’ is somewhat amusing.
via American Glob, who has the full rogue’s gallery.
*Hint, Pilate: it was staring you in the face.
by Smitty
I’ll get to Sarah’s CPAC12 speech excerpt, but first, a review:
If you have it, you don’t need it.
If you need it, you don’t have it.
If you have it, you need more of it.
If you have more of it, you don’t need less of it.
You need it. . .to get it.
And you certainly need it to get more of it.
But if you don’t already have any of it to begin with, you can’t get any of it to get started, which means you really have no idea how to get it in the first place. Do you?
You can share it. Sure. You can even stockpile it if you like. But you can’t fake it.
Wanting it. . .needing it. . .wishing for it.
The point is: if you’ve never had any of it. . .ever. . .people just seem to know.
One more digression, though. It looks like Old Spice has kind of picked up on the resemblance. If NotMitt gets the GOP nod, I may indulge in a bottle of their product. The subtext is about the only thing making this cold open from 11Feb even sort of funny:
Which gets me, at last, to the point:
Sarah inspires a backronym riff:
Maybe, I think, the
message is that the
most intelligent test to
measure intrinsic trustworthiness takes
more in than truckloadish
money, insurmountable team & Tussaud.
And I think John Hayward was on the same wavelength, though I remarked to Mrs. Other Smitty, when Sarah spoke, words to this effect:
But mostly I think Palin fires up a crowd because of her sincerity. At one point, she said the Republican presidential candidate should be someone “who instinctively turns right to Constitutional conservative principles,” and it’s “too late to teach that.” She has that instinct. She doesn’t have to check off any boxes or carefully plan her oratory to please a conservative audience. She understands. She makes it look easy. She makes you wonder how her countrymen could have been foolish enough to put Barack Obama in the White House, and what he’s still doing there.
It’s possible her observation that it’s too late to teach our presidential candidate how to turn Right was meant as a veiled jab at Mitt Romney. She didn’t endorse anyone, and she repeated her desire for the primary season to continue, because “in America, we believe that competition strengthens us.” Not surprisingly, given her experiences during and after the 2008 campaign, she has a dim view of campaign consultants.
“The American people have spoken loudly for the past three years, demanding fiscal responsibility from our leaders and President Obama is either deaf or simply won’t listen. Today’s proposal of nearly $4 trillion in spending over the next year is preposterous, not only in overall funding but in priorities. If we do not get our spending under control, we will have turmoil in the streets — and that’s not a guess — all you have to do is look to Europe. America needs to lead, and America needs a leader prepared to make those tough choices. I am committed to balancing our budget and cutting $5 trillion in spending in five years. These are the measures necessary to not just put our nation’s fiscal house in order, but to spur on economic growth and confidence in our free-market system.”
— Rick Santorum, press release, Feb. 13
Among other things, Obama’s $4 trillion budget includes special economic aid to countries involved in the “Arab Spring”:
Most of the economic aid for the Arab Spring countries — $770 million — would go to establish a new “Middle East and North Africa Incentive Fund,” the president said in his budget plan. . . .
The Middle East and North Africa Incentive fund “will provide incentives for long-term economic, political, and trade reforms to countries in transition — and to countries prepared to make reforms proactively,” the White House budget document said.
James Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute:
All in all, Obama has proposed some $1.6 trillion in new taxes over ten years, taking tax revenue as a share of GDP to 20.1 percent in 2022 vs. a historical average of 18 percent. And despite all those new taxes, Obama’s plan would still add $6.7 trillion in new debt and make no progress in lowering the nation’s total debt levels as a share of output. The debt-to-GDP ratio is predicted to be 74.2 percent this year and 76.5 percent in 2022.
Tina Korbe at Hot Air quotes Rep. Paul Ryan: “We have a debt crisis on our horizon. . . . For the fourth year in a row, he’s decided to do nothing about it and he’s actually created a budget to make it much, much worse.”
Did somebody say “worse”?
As Allahpundit observes, the president’s budget proposes to zero out the D.C. school-choice scholarship for poor children while simultaneously proposing $100 million in subsidies for electric cars.
Remember when Obama told Joe the Plumber he wanted to “spread the wealth”? Obama didn’t say that this would involve taking money from poor kids to give it to rich people who buy Chevy Volts.
If Democrats told the truth, nobody would ever vote for them.
— compiled by Wombat-socho
TOP NEWS
House GOP Moves To Decouple Payroll Tax Extension
Boehner to schedule vote on payroll tax extension alone
Israel Blames Iran For Attacks On Embassies
Teheran denies involvement in attacks
Budget Filled With Broken Promises And Gimmicks, Say Republicans
Senators line up to lambaste “Debt On Arrival” budget from White House
POLITICS
“Super Tuesday” Looms As Decisive Day For Gingrich
Low on money, falling behind in polls…will he make it to spring?
NJ Senate Approves Gay Marriage Bill
Hoekstra Pulls Ad But Still Catching Heat
“Dogs Against Romney” Protest Planned For Westminster Dog Show
Former Corps Of Engineers Manager Pleads Guilty In Contract Scam
House GOP Opens Highway Bill To Amendments
Wisconsin Legislators Unveil New Mining Bill
Obama Proposes “Buffett Rule” To Replace AMT
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
NYMEX Crude Closes Above $100 After Sharp Rise On Monday
North Sea Crude Hits $118
Italy, Spain Ratings Cut By Moody’s, UK May Lose Top Rank
Apple Stock Powers Past $500
Luxembourg Minister Says Greek Exit From Euro Possible
CFPB Releases Model Mortgage Statement
Rackspace Profit Tops Estimates As Cloud Revenue Grows
U.S. & EU Approve Motorola Mobility Sale To Google
Inspections Of Apple’s PRC Factories Begin
Laptop-Shooting Father Fights Off Fame, Police
MySpace Making A Comeback?
Reddit Dragged Screaming Into 21st Century
SPORTS
Randy Moss Says He’s Coming Back
Family issues resolved, wide receiver wants back into the NFL
Sixers Hang On For Win #20, Send Bobcats To 15th Straight Loss
#2 Syracuse Sneaks By #18 Louisville
Magic Put Down Timbermutts 102-89
A’s Sign Slugging Cuban Defector Cespedes
Rumor: Peyton Manning To The Texans?
Former 49ers WR Freddie Solomon Dies, 59
England Thrashes Pakistan In 1st ODI
Nationals Single Game Tickets Go On Sale March 8
FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Autopsy: Houston Died From Prescription Drugs, Not Drowning
Alcohol a factor
Celebrities Shamed For Partying While Houston’s Body Still In The Hotel
Beyonce & Jay-Z Skip Grammy Awards
Kate Upton Revealed As 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Cover Girl
Nicki Minaj Panned For Onstage Exorcism At Grammys
Hilary Duff’s Hubby Mike Comrie Retires From The NHL
Oprah Begs Public For OWN Ratings
FOREIGNERS
UN Says Syria Encouraged By PRC, Russia Vetoes
Abu Qatada Release From Jail Sparks Furor
Saudi Blogger May Face Death Penalty For Mohammed Tweets
PRC’s Xi Begins U.S. Visit
Man Held After Amsterdam Airport Bomb Threat
French Socialist Candidate Assails Imposition Of Austerity Plan On Greeks
Young Challenger Takes On Chavez In Venezuela
BLOGS & STUFF
Pundit Pete: Obama Makes Surprise Appearance At CPAC
Babalu: Venezuelan Opposition Chooses Capriles To Challenge Chavez
American Power: Santorum Support Surges Among Tea Party Members, Evangelicals
Ed Morrissey: National Review Tells Newt To GTFO
Atlas Shrugs: American Jizya – Obama Proposes $800 Million For Arab Spring
James Pethokoukis: Obama’s Budget Doubles Down On Class Warfare
Weasel Zippers: CBC Head Emanuel Cleaver Says Obama’s Budget “A Nervous Breakdown On Paper”
Daily Caller: Inside Media Matters – David Brock’s Enemies List
Michelle Malkin: Non-Shocker Of The Morning – Soros Monkeys Coordinate With Democrats
iOwnTheWorld.com: Shoulda Had A Gun
Althouse: “Why America Keeps Getting More Conservative”
Paul Bedard: Privately, Obama Sees Recovery 1-2 Years Off
Marginal Revolution: Dividends And Taxation
Hit & Run: Ludwig Von Mises Approved Of Birth Control. So What?
by Smitty
Earlier, Stacy’s Green Room post about my otherwise righteous governor, McDonnell, doing the dirty work for Romney got me thinking:
McDonnell’s argument is dishonest and, furthermore, why can’t Mitt Romney fight his own fights? Should Mitt Romney wish to pick an argument with Santorum over this issue, by all means let him do so, instead of hiding behind Bob McDonnell’s skirts. Does anyone think it enhances Romney’s reputation to deploy his proxies to make liberal arguments against a conservative rival in a notoriously liberal venue like CNN? Why are Republicans doing the liberals’ work for them?
How badly does Romney want to win? Will he give it the Full Klinger? Continue reading This Post Served Sans Brain Bleach →
by Smitty
Pollstar reports that the new Rush record is going to have a novel backing it:
Science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson recently announced on his website that he will write a novelization of Rush’s upcoming album, Clockwork Angels.
Anderson, who wrote a slew of “Star Wars” books in the 1990s, including his Jedi Academy trilogy as well as the Young Jedi Knights series with author Rebecca Moesta, is working with his longtime friend, Rush drummer Neil Peart on the project.
“For more than twenty years, Neil and I have wanted to collaborate on something MAJOR, a way we could tie together our imaginations, and at last that’s happening,” Anderson wrote.
“I’m writing the novelization of Rush’s forthcoming album, Clockwork Angels, their first new CD in five years. Imagine if someone had written the novel of The Wall, Tommy, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when those classic albums were released. For Rush fans, Clockwork Angels is that project.”
Anderson said he worked with Peart to “flesh out” the story as well as with artist Hugh Syme whose paintings will fill the CD booklet. The author described the story as a “young man’s quest to follow his dreams” who is “caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos.”
Excellent. If I may confess, I’ve been enjoying The Boneyard in the car on the commute, and they offered a nice retro piece from Hemispheres today that was almost about how Hope and Change stay the same: