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Marc's Movie Review: The Descendants

George Clooney and this film have been nominated for Oscars and no wonder.  It's the kind of film that appeals to Hollywood types.  If Seinfeld was a TV show about nothing but was funny, The Descendants is a film about nothing that is .....well, pretty much about giving Clooney various scenes in which to pose.

A dying wife who cheated on her husband is the center piece of the flick.  Add in a couple of dysfunctional kids, beautiful Hawaiian scenery, a mega wealthy family and you've pretty much got the background of the movie.  The only thing missing is a redeeming plot, or even one that excites, surprises, shocks, disgusts or tugs at your heart.  This one has none of the above.

The last movie I saw with Angelina Jolie, The Tourist, seemed to have shared a similar motivation with The Descendants, having been written for the exclusive purpose of showcasing closeups of an attractive star.

No doubt Clooney can act.  I've seen him do it.  But he didn't do much of it in this slog.  In fact, on the few occasions when he had to be convincing, he employed very familiar head ticks, eye pops and fleeting smiles that were recycled without much in the way of original study.

The movie came and went without much being accomplished.  And the only thing worth mentioning at all is the over use of leaf litter in nearly every scene.

I can't really give it very high marks because it wasn't very entertaining, and in my book, that's what a movie is supposed to be.

"Take Out The CIA, That's What We Need To Do"

What percentage of the people believe that the CIA has accomplished a coup, that they are a government unto themselves, that they run the military, are the ones lobbing missiles and bombs on foreign countries,  that they are in drug businesses and take out dictators? 

Best Steak Dinner

In the past few years a number of high end steak houses have cropped up around the region. In Northern Kentucky Jeff Ruby has made a name for himself with broiled beef.  Of course Ruth's Chris, Morton's of Chicago and a few others have developed a national reputation.  But in my book, the best steak I've had in 30 years can only be found in Dayton Ohio, at the Pine Club.

Yes, some of the rising stars boast a devoted clientele, but at the Pine Club they've been making some of the best meals in America for over 65 years.  And with practice comes perfection.

Their Bone In Rib-eye literally could not be cooked any better. It is finished with just the right char on the outside to keep all that great moist flavor circulating around inside until you release it with your knife and fork.

Their baked potatoes are great but their loaded baked potato is topped with the kind of smoked bacon that makes you think it was cooked outside over an open fire by culinary experts in cowboy hats.

The selection of cuts of meat puts other steak houses to shame as does the Pine Club's low light atmosphere that draws you closer to those with whom you are sharing your dining experience.  Dark wood lit by little more than electric candles gives The Pine Club just the kind of antique manliness that tells you as soon as you walk in that these guys understand steaks.

Don't ask for desert, they don't serve it, and don't whip out a credit card, they won't take it.  You can pay cash, or, if you need to they will happily open a house account for you on the spot if you only have plastic money on you.

Be sure to leave enough room to eat a full meal when you arrive because there's nothing skimpy about portions and the basket of salted rye crescents which arrive first simply can't be avoided.

If you are looking for a reason to make a short drive (45 minutes from Cincinnati) to Dayton Ohio to attend a play at the new and exquisite Shuster Center to see top named talent when they come to town (funny lady Kathleen Madigan will be there February 3d) then be sure to set aside some time and treat yourself to the best steak dinner in the midwest at the historic Pine Club.

You can't afford to miss that treat.

Familiar Rhetoric, Failed Record

***THE ARMED CITIZEN*** An Every Friday Feature

Shirley Bennett ‘s boyfriend taught her to shoot following an attempted break-in at her home three years ago. She purchased a .38-cal. revolver, obtained a permit to carry and no longer felt vulnerable to criminals—criminals such as Joe Covington, a registered sex offender who approached Bennett’s SUV in a bank parking lot. “He was hitting me from behind, trying to force me into my vehicle,” explained Bennett. “I said, ‘I got a gun, don’t make me use it.’ I think my heart was going 90 mph.” Covington allegedly continued wrestling with her, so she drew her gun and fired a shot, causing him to run. Police found Covington several blocks away. “I honestly believe I would not be here today if I didn’t have a gun,” Bennett said. (Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, 11/11/11)

Reprinted with the encouragement of the NRA

Afternoon Funnies

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Elite Ignorace Residing In A Suburb Near You?

Thanks to Professor Volokh for bringing this to our attention:

In his new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960–2010, Charles Murray argues that a new elite class has emerged that is much more ignorant about the lives of ordinary Americans than were the elites of earlier generations:

As the new upper class increasingly consists of people who were born into upper-middle-class families and have never lived outside the upper-middle-class bubble, the danger increases that the people who have so much influence on the course of the nation have little direct experience with the lives of ordinary Americans, and make their judgments about what’s good for other people based on their own highly atypical lives...

Many of the members of the new upper class are balkanized. Furthermore, their ignorance about other Americans is more problematic than the ignorance of other Americans about them. It is not a problem if truck drivers cannot empathize with the priorities of Yale professors. It is a problem if Yale professors, or producers of network news programs, or CEOs of great corporations, or presidential advisers cannot empathize with the priorities of truck drivers. It is inevitable that people have large areas of ignorance about how others live, but that makes it all the more important that the members of the new upper class be aware of the breadth and depth of their ignorance.

As this year's elections approach might it be a good idea to examine how much in tune, or out of touch, the candidates are with the everyday lives of the people they seek to represent? 

It is my belief that informed voters make better decisions.  By the same token, informed elected officials make better representatives.  What do those who seek to represent us, really know about the lives we lead, the struggles we face and the things we need?

Those would be good questions for them all.

Erasing The Lessons Of History

It has been said many times that those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.  Put another way, though human error is a consequence of our flawed nature, repeating errors is a consequence of our inattention to unmistakable evidence of our flawed nature.  Unless of course we repeat errors by design.

This morning I received an email.  It purported to be a forwarded copy of something written by a "21 year old female who gets it."  What is attributed to this unnamed 21 year old female is her solution to the "social welfare, big government state she is forced to live in".  Here is her message:

PUT ME IN CHARGE . . .

Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.

Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal legations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, or smoke, then get a job.

Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks?  You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair.  Your home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.

In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the "common good."

Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules. Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self esteem," consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.

If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.

AND While you are on Gov't subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes, that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov't welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.

The sender then concluded the email with this: "We need to find this woman and put HER on the ballot this fall".

I rarely respond to these things, but since the sender had apparently distributed this pretty widely, I took the opportunity to click "reply to all" with this response:

Thanks for sending this.  I consider myself a conservative, and you a friend, so I’d like to take something in this email purportedly from a young woman, and challenge everyone who reads it to think about something.

In it she says this:

“Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks?  You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair.  Your home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.

In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the "common good."

In tough economic times when people are teetering on the verge of panic, tough talk like this can be attractive.  But please look closely at what she says and tell me what images come to mind.

First of all, one person is in charge of the rest of us.  We live in barracks, our homes are subject to inspection at any time, our possessions subject to being inventoried.

If we cannot find work, we will be required to report to a “government” job, chosen for us by the government which will sell our possessions and take our money for the “common good”.

Oh, I know, I didn’t point out that in her email the young lady wasn’t talking about you and me, but rather “those people” on welfare.

Hardship delivered on the winds of crisis are sometimes not of our own making, and avoiding it beyond our control.  “Those people” could just as easily be you and me or someone we love, in an instant. And even if not, I do not accept her premise that people be treated differently based upon their economic circumstances.

I would encourage anyone who receives this email to think carefully about the kind of world this young person thinks will be our salvation.

 I disagree with her vision, I am frightened that we could allow the next generation of Americans to get by with thinking these things and I feel compelled to speak out.

 I’m sorry if you think I’m picking on you, I’m not.  I just wanted to use this opportunity to ask people to stop and think about where we could be headed.

I learned a very hard lesson at a very young age:  We are not only responsible for our own actions, but we are also responsible for each other.  I write this because I care what you think.

Thank you.

Why did I choose to respond to all of these folks?  In part because I am concerned that if in fact some 21 year olds who have probably almost concluded their formal educations think this way, then we have utterly failed them.

And though it is no comfort to realize it, we are not alone:

One in five young Germans has no idea that Auschwitz was a Nazi death camp, a poll released Wednesday showed, two days ahead of Holocaust memorial day. [HurriyetDailyNews]

If those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, then the avoidance of making repetitive mistakes is tied directly to what one learns, which flows from what one it taught.

You might think that avoiding mistakes would be everybody's goal.  But it is not.  Some who would like to repeat history have positioned their kind as teachers who can erase history from the minds of a whole generation merely by not teaching it.

It is our responsibility to correct this error before it is too late.

Tough At The Top

As I watched the state of the union address the other night, I couldn't help but sympathize with Obama.  Not because I agree with his agenda, but thinking about what it must be like, day in, day out, with no real relief, to have every one of your ideas questioned, your personal integrity attacked and to have such dangerous friends.

I thought about how much pressure George W. Bush was under and all presidents before him.  Can you imagine what it must be like to have your closest advisers made up of people who owe their loyalty to you, but who just a few years ago were complete strangers?  And all the while they are in your midst, you know they could turn on you in an instant.

As the camera panned the house chamber during the speech I saw the oddest assortment of people.  In fact it looked more like the annual convention of side show freaks than an assemblage of men and women we should admire and trust with our future.

Today Drudge has a number of headlines all screaming missiles aimed a Newt Gingrich.  His honesty, his conservative credentials and his morality are all under attack because he is now leading in the polls.  If he continues to lead it will only get worse.

What kind of people survive this kind of gauntlet?  What kind of characteristics does one need to possess before entering that brutal battering?  And what kind of personality emerges on the other end?  In trying to answer these questions on my own I realized why the joint session of congress looked like the biggest collection of weirdos in history.

Newt had it exactly right in South Carolina.  Our tolerance for this kind of selection process is what keeps the kind of people we would prefer as leaders, from ever entering the fray.

Think about that the next time you feel like giving in to the temptation to shred a candidates character.  We get what we deserve.

Morning Funnies

Part II Of My Speech To The Kenton County Republican Women

My good friend, and lawyer, Bob Sanders suggested that I record my speech to the Kenton County Republican Women's Club Monday.  I forgot.  So I have been putting it in writing.

Part two is now online at KyForward.com

Click here to read it.

Thomas Massie Interview: Not So Good

I had a private conversation with a candidate the other day.  It was someone I've known a long time and consider a friend.  The candidate said "Thanks for some of the things you've said about me."  My reply was  "I hope you understand, I'm going to tell the truth as I see it, and it might not always please you."

I've just watched the interview with Lewis County Judge Executive and 4th District Congressional candidate Thomas Massie conducted by Ryan Alessi at Pure Politics.  Let me be clear, I like Thomas, I think he is driven to seek this office by his political principles, but I will also admit that I am more than slightly amused by the odd combination of his financial success, his "off the grid" lifestyle and his desire to work in the cesspool of Washington DC.

But at least two responses he gives during the interview make it very clear that he articulates a point of view which is out of touch with the district.  It was also clear that his "principles" are perhaps a little more flexible than he might himself realize.

First with regard to his fuzzy view of the world wherein he thinks he is firmly grounded in principle, but when pressed seems more interested in "appearing" to be principled when in fact he gives the impression that he is unsure of how his "principles"  would work in a real world setting.

For example, in the video interview below Thomas tries to define himself as opposed to government interference in industry, but when pressed by Ryan Alessi about the role of government in protecting the environment from power plant pollution, Massie says that litigation could be used instead of government regulation and talks about requiring power plants to put up a bond to pay damages.

Uh, Thomas, environmental litigation involves the enforcement of laws and regulations and the pursuit of damages is controlled by laws and regulations.  The last time I checked, laws and regulations are those things passed by government.

And his suggestion that a bond be required doesn't square very well with his fuzzy view of a world without government.  Who would "require" the bond if not the government?  With whom would it be posted how would it be enforced?

It sounds like Thomas is all for the kind of world where no government is required and we all prance around in the daisies with the kind of freedom and liberty known only to Adam and Eve but to the kind of people who grew up in Northern Kentucky, that kind of thinking might be perceived as a serious disconnect from the realities of the world in which we live.

Massie is also of the opinion that we are getting more pollution in the United States from factories in China than factories in the United States.  His solution?  Lower the regulations on factories in the United States.  Say what?

He thinks that pollution from Chinese power plants is making its way into the United States and causing more harm than pollution from our own factories and so we ought to get off the backs of American factories so they can then what, pollute more at home?  Come on Thomas, think this stuff through man.  You are coming dangerously close to pandering to that small fringe group of borderline anarchists who are trying to co-opt the TEA party and wiggle their way into republican politics.

But let's move on.  When confronted with the fact that Kentucky is one of the top five states in the nation with drug related deaths Massie was asked if he felt there was a role for the federal government to create a national prescription pill monitoring system and whether he'd push for something like this in Congress.  Once again, the disconnect between his "theories" and reality was apparent.

"No, I think the federal government should stay out of this.  I believe it is a state issue," Massie replied.  Alessi pressed further reminding him that pills have been flowing into Kentucky from Florida where it is easier to get them and asked Massie if this wouldn't then be an "Interstate Commerce" issue.

Massie replied, "I think the Interstate Commerce Clause is abused, you know they kind of use that as a free path through our Constitution, and no, I don't believe that's a federal issue....I mean, we deal with it in our county in the jail...We need more counseling centers....If there's more economic opportunity there are going to be fewer people resorting to drugs...as an abuse to get away from the reality of life." (Tape beginning at 5:45)

Alessi didn't let up, "Who should pay for those counseling centers?"  Watch Massie's response for yourself when he says "That's a good question,  I think they could be private, we'll have to look into that". 

Okay Thomas, you're new at this, you don't have to know everything, but your answer opens up a whole new line of questioning.  Who is "we" you are talking about that needs to look into creating and funding counseling centers?  Is it Congress who should be looking into setting up private counseling centers?  I thought you were opposed to government intervention in the private sector.  Hell, man, when there is an oil spill you contain it, you don't let it continue to flow while committees are formed to "think tank" how to deal with the next spill.

This interview was like watching a bunch of college kids in knit hats at Starbucks pondering stream of consciousness theories while stroking their wispy chin whiskers.

Real live moms and dads in places like Ludlow, Owenton, Wilder and Petersburg don't live in that dreamy kind of theoretical world.  They are fighting to save the lives of their teenage kids who are becoming addicted to heroin because it is cheaper than the synthetic opiate they first became addicted to  snorting Oxy-Contin.  In fact, I'm calling BULLSHIT on this whole discussion in Thomas Massie's response.

Yes, I know his idol Ron Paul has a long track record of suggesting that drug laws should be state not federal issues.  But this is no longer a local problem.  It is an epidemic. 

If there was a dread disease being spread by people traveling from state to state or carried on the wind, would Massie favor letting each state fend for itself?

I like Thomas.  I think dreamers are to be encouraged.  But until they get their heads out of the clouds,  their feet on the ground and meet and understand the real issues and concerns of the people they seek to represent, they ought to avoid taped interviews and watch what they say in public. 

Disqualification comes quickly and is not easily undone.

 

Morning Funnies

KyForward

If you haven't found your way over to KyForward.com yet, I invite you to come today.

Judy Clabes has invited me to write a daily column for her new online publication.  I was humbled and honored to be asked.  Today's column is one I think you might like.

You can find it here at KyForward.com.

Will Ron Paul Run Third Party?

Politico ran a story about the potential electoral train wreck which we could be facing this year.

The bottom line is that if no candidate receives a majority — 270 — of the 538 electoral votes, then the next president will be chosen by the House of Representatives, with each state having one vote.

But given Congress’s current low repute — 9 percent approval rating in one poll — all hell would break loose if the House wound up selecting the next president.

This scenario can happen only if there is a viable third-party candidate who wins at least some electoral votes.

Potential third-party candidates with a national following could include Ron Paul (running as a Libertarian)

Ron Paul has repeatedly said he is not planning a third party run.  As one interview posted below today suggests, Paul could be in a good position to influence the ticket at a brokered convention in September, probably too late to make a viable third party run.

But reports from some gatherings where Ron Paul "insiders" have been in attendance reveal that a third party run is "very likely" if Paul does not receive the GOP nomination.

Will Ron Paul Run as a third party candidate?  Only time will tell, but people have been giving Paul a lot of credit for playing the long game.  Might he be playing for 2016 where running for an open seat in the White House might be an easier task than running against a sitting republican president?

Keep your eyes open folks.  The Gingrich surge isn't the only story in town.

George Soros Agrees With ME?

After writing and speaking about this very topic for quite some time now I have to admit, had it not been for a mouth full of coffee this morning, my jaw would have dropped when I read this, from an interview with George Soros:

“At times like these, survival is the most important thing,” he says, peering through his owlish glasses and brushing wisps of gray hair off his forehead. He doesn’t just mean it’s time to protect your assets. He means it’s time to stave off disaster. As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history—a period of “evil.” Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America he predicts riots on the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties. [The Daily Beast]

Drats!  Now if I could only figure out a way to make a billion dollars in one day like he did.

Who Did Geoff Davis Slap In His Speech?

Ryan Alessi at CN2 Pure Politics posted an excerpt from a speech given by Congressman Geoff Davis over the weekend.  In the snippet Davis gives the three Congressional cadidates in attendance some very good advice.  He tells them that the job requires a 7 day per week committment which makes for poor parenting.

Davis recounted how he didn't know his own father and that he was chose not to seek re-election because he didn't want his children to share that experience.  I applaud Geoff for these words of advice and for his dedication to his family.

But then Geoff, after describing the level of involvement a seat in Congress requires, seemed to take a slap at some unnamed persons when he said this:

"I have a disdain for the glib members who spend time on TV, and enjoy the accolades and the others who enjoy being feted but don't take the time to actually read the legislation."

Who do you think was he talking about?  You tell me.

Rand Paul For VEEP?

Judge Andrew Napolitano on Fox Business News conducted an interview with a South Carolina political analyst who took a hard look at Ron Paul's long term strategy and offered one interesting observation.  If Ron Paul gets enough delegates between caucus states and others, he could broker a spot for Rand Paul on the GOP presidential ticket. (click here if video doesn't load)

 

Morning Funnies

Speaking In Kenton County

Today at 11:30 I will be speaking to the Kenton County Republican Women's Club at their first luncheon of the year.  I look forward to seeing you there.

I will return here later today.  Thanks for your support.

Campaign 2012: Fear And Loathing Redux?

Journalist Hunter S. Thompson covered the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern more closely than the rest, but in his book "Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail" he took journalism to a new level.  His book of collected articles was described as "the least factual, most accurate account" of the election.

To give you a glimpse of just how far news coverage has come in the last 40 years it is amusing to recall that Thompson's employer obtained at "great expense" a first generation fax machine so he could send in his reports from around the country, by deadline.

Today we not only have 24 hour news coverage on radio and television, but we have an army of citizen journalists blogging every detail and varied opinion about the campaigns, every step of the way.

This past weekend Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary.  The circus now moves on to Florida with thousands of eyes and ears looking and listening for anything newsworthy at all to write about which makes the job of bloggers like me all that much easier.

Because of the Internet we are able to read and cross reference every report in a matter of minutes.  We are able to direct you, the reader, right to that source as confirmation for the things we are saying.  We can cull out of the thousands of words being written about the contest those we feel are most important and condense them for your consumption.

We live in a wonderful era where the freedom of expression, speech and the press are mere extensions of the freedom of thought.

As this campaign progresses, keep a sharp eye out for any candidate who seems the least bit mushy on keeping these freedoms alive.  Those are the ones you need to fear, and loathe and ultimately defeat.

Congressional Candidates Speak

Ryan Alessi at CN2 Pure Politics has video of portions of the speeches given by 4th District Congressional candidates Thomas Massie, Gary Moore and Alecia Webb-Edgington at the Buffalo Trace Lincoln Dinner this past weekend.  For many of you, this might be the first time you will see and hear them speak.  I suggest you check it out.  CLICK HERE

Morning Funnies

Sex In The DC

Newt Gingrich has an ex-wife problem.  She has accused him of wanting an open marriage. He says it's false.  CNN thought it was such a big deal that they opened  presidential debate with a question about it.  Newt blew them out of the water to a standing ovation.  My question is, what were they all applauding?

Could some divorced people in the crowd have been empathizing with Newt's rusty ball and chain?  Might some of them been open minded republicans who favor same sex marriage and think that on balance Newt's problems are very tame?  Might there have been some folks who looked over at their spouses and wanted to show their support for Newt's bold idea?  Might some in the audience liked the fact that Newt was the kind of guy who, unlike Clinton, at least had the manners to ask first?

Who knows?  Odds are the audience stood up for Newt because he stood up to the media, but that conclusion ignores the fact that all of the people in that audience have the right to private thoughts, private lives and personal choices.  How many conservatives would stand and applaud if any of their private thoughts were called upon for public approval?

I'm not here to advocate for a public policy favoring open marriages.  But I am here to advocate for defending at least one place on earth where people have the freedom to choose the private life they want, to live it as they see fit according to their own faith, their own morality and the covenants they reach within their own relationships.

I happen to live in a community where the Baptist church is quite influential.  As you know, the Baptist church strongly opposes the consumption of alcohol.  Would it be fair, in an effort to slice out of the support base for a candidate, to ask his ex-wife if he ever drank?

Some faith groups refuse to take an oath, but will "affirm" that their testimony is true or that they will faithfully uphold the office they assume.  At what level should a person's preference in such things be dissected in a public debate?

You might say to me "Well, infidelity is a disqualification for all people."  No it's not.  With the divorce rate in this country at around 50% for first marriages and 65% for second marriages there are a lot of people out there who might have "fooled around" themselves.  Now of course among cuckolded husbands and women "done wrong" a strong aversion to open marriage would probably have had them sitting out the standing ovation, but infidelity is hardly rare.

What is really at work here is exactly what Gingrich said.  For the sake of sensationalism the media trotted out a gasp inducing story designed to derail Gingrich's candidacy but in the process accomplishes something far worse.  The politics of personal destruction is the reason good people, with solid ideas, who might become great leaders in difficult times, refuse to run for office.

I hate to keep beating this same tune out on my keyboard, over and over, but we need to wake up to the fact that we are not going to elect someone to sainthood.  When we choose a president, we hire someone to do a specific job.  We are not electing role models, that job belongs to parents.

There are plenty of reasons you might find to disqualify Newt from receiving your vote.  But when a disgruntled ex-spouse vomits up tales of private conversations we all get splattered.

Newt handled it very well.  The blame lies with the main stream media. 

Oh, and in case you missed it, or one who believes in guilt by accusation, he denied it too.  

 

***THE ARMED CITIZEN*** An Every Friday Feature

A woman fed her 1-year-old son in a bedroom one evening while her other boys, ages 15 and 8, relaxed elsewhere in the home. None of them knew that two masked men toting illegal guns lurked just outside. The men kicked in the door and aimed their guns at the 15-year-old, then at his mother when she tried to intervene. The men demanded cash and asked for two people by name, neither of whom was known to the woman nor her children. Fortunately the woman’s boyfriend arrived at the home soon thereafter, heard the commotion and retrieved his firearm. The boyfriend darted into the room and shot both intruders before they knew what was happening. The intruders ran into a bedroom, broke a window and fled. They were arrested when they showed up at the hospital suffering from gunshot wounds and covered in shards of glass. (The News-Gazette, Champaign, IL, 10/08/11)

Reprinted with the encouragement of the NRA

Morning Funnies

Don't You Find This Odd?

According to the Kentucky Secretary of State, still no one has officially filed to run for Congress in the 4th District, and even though Alecia Webb-Edgington, Thomas Massie and Gary Moore are behaving as declared candidates (Massie and Alecia have websites with a "paid by" disclaimer) only Moore and Webb-Edgington have filed papers with the FEC.

 

 

Where's The TEA Party This Year?

In a thoughtful article written by Ed Morrissey at HotAir, he examines why the GOP doesn't seem to have a strong TEA party presence in the presidential nomination process.  He wonders why, given their success in 2010, that they are not heard from as much this cycle as last.  But he has an answer, and it's a good one.

Consider the impact of the New Left movement in the 1960s. Originally outside of the two-party paradigm, the rise of the New Left created a rift among Democrats during the Vietnam War that led to their disastrous 1968 convention in Chicago and resulted in the election of Richard Nixon, and then his re-election in 1972. The New Left’s absorption into the Democratic Party took years — and arguably, didn’t produce a legitimate presidential nominee until Barack Obama, 40 years after the Chicago convention.

The key to success for the Tea Party is the long view.  Given the spectacular success of 2010, it would be very easy to expect nearly-instant revolution in political thinking, but that’s unrealistic.  The American political process is designed to prevent sharp lunges in any direction; it’s one reason why our political structure has remained stable.  Real change takes decades, not months, as fresh blood and fresh ideas work their way into the mainstream. 

I would add to Ed's analysis my belief that the TEA party will have a big influence on the outcome in November, but it might be signaled by the re-election of Obama.

Some, particularly the more militant Paul supporters, see the chance to defeat Obama as a long shot and would prefer to wait him out another four years, use the blow-back to elevate more TEA party folks into various offices and then run a strong candidate for the open seat, rather than challenging an incumbent republican president.

While there is a whiff of logic in this approach, there is a much greater flaw.

A second Obama term could spell the end of our economy, which means that the advocates of this strategy are putting poltical advantage above national interests.

They better be careful.

The First Casualty Of War Is The Truth

Barack Obama has released his first campaign ad.  In it he claims that the facts regarding the Solyndra scandal are being falsely reported.  He also takes credit for creating 2.7 million jobs in the clean energy industry.  Why such a softball ad?  To get people talking about him in positive terms.  And it will work.

 

Obama Must Want Romney Or Paul

Mitt Romney has been blasted by conservatives in recent days.  The result is that Newt Gingrich has gained ground on him in South Carolina.  So, ABC is rushing to the rescue with plans to air the results of a two hour interview with Gingrich's ex-wife.  The interview is being hyped as one which will destroy him.

Since the mainstream media is looking for a chance to destroy Gingrich, what motivation does that suggest? 

I'd say it is pretty likely that the Obama folks have made it clear that they would prefer to run against Romney or Paul in the fall considering that Perry has faded, Santorum is out of steam and the rest have been eliminated.

Morning Funnies