Although Some Sites Ignored Easter

(Image:  The saintly portrait of Cesar Chavez, Easter Sunday, 2013)

 

As I began my blogging activities this morning, I immediately discovered Google's Logo-of-the-Day had nothing to do with Easter.  Instead, the ubiquitous search engine decided to honor Cesar Chavez's birthday. 

 

Oh, I know Google isn't a conservative-leaning business, (along with Wikipedia, for that matter). 

 

But nothing spells "S-O-C-I-A-L-I-S-M," like ignoring a major religious holiday, celebrated  by about a billion people across the planet.

 

And speaking of social engineering, the gay marriage/defense of marriage continues to rage unabated in the Supreme Court.  Mark Steyn rolls-in on the less-than-humorous side of "Modern Family."

Happy Easter!

California Cantebury Tales

(Image from:  Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

Victor Davis Hanson's recent article paints a vividly grim picture of Beautifully Medieval California. 

He follows this up with a five day travelogue of Hope and Despair. 

While I'm not familiar with the landmarks VDH discusses in his narrative, I'm concerned by his assessment of California's state of affairs.  For now, the Golden State is showing the other 49 States of the Union what lies ahead on this "medieval path."

To top it all off, VDH offers the following "advice" on How to Weaken an Economy.

Less Unwon than Other Wars

(Image by Mike Lester)

 

Last week we entered the 10th Anniversary of the War in Iraq.  Media coverage breaks down to something like this...

 

 

...can you imagine the spin MSNBC will put on it.  (I don't watch that network so I admit I don't know). 

 

Meanwhile, Mark Steyn discusses this moment in history and brings up some interesting demographics in his Iraq Less Won than Other Wars article.

 

 

 

Taxpayer $ for a Parody Video? Illogical

 

Now I love  Star Trek as much as the next Trekkie.  However, when White House tours are cancelled and blamed on the sequester, our government doesn't have any money to waste.  (Especially on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, but that's for another blogpost). 

 

Someone should have let the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) know that it's time to tighten their belts and not waste money on making a Star Trek parody video.  (I know Star Trek uniforms don't have belts--I was speaking metaphorically).

 

Apparently there's also a Gilligan's Island video as well, but it's been deemed to have some training value.

But this is also the same agency that will ensure compliance of Obamacare...

O's Mideast Policy Out of Gas

(Image by Lisa Benson)

 

Last week Our Dear Leader visited Israel, a nation he's been snubbing for over four years now.  Caroline Glick asks:  Why?

 

While on tour, Obama clearly sided with the Palestinians and asked Israelis to "...put yourself in [their] shoes."

 

Debbie Schlussel's contact(s) within the "Zionist Entity" also reported on Obama hosting a speech at a university, rather than addressing the Knesset.

 

Comrade Karla suggests O's visit was merely to further his own political ends. 

 

The broken down/out of gas limo has been a popular motif among cartoonists, because its based on an actual mishap:  The wrong kind of fuel was pumped into it. 

 

 

(Image by Gary Varvel)

 

The net result of all this pandering to Islamists?  O's approval rating is lower than W's was in the middle east. 

 

Fancy that. 

 

No matter what we do, Islamists will still hate us.

 

Obama's trip sparked several comment from friends:

 

More rubbish. Israeli concessions, while part of the overall scheme of things, aren’t the main stumbling block right now. It’s the psychotic behavior of Israel’s neighbors that needs to be reined in. Good luck with that.  Very little is ever asked or expected of the Paleostinians—and they never fail to live up to that exacting expectation.

 

I'm still tyring to put the whole Israel trip in perspective, but the one thing that seems to have come out of it is that Obama greenlighted an Israeli strike on Iran when he said that Bibi's first responsibility is to protect his own people.

I suspect Obama does not realize that he said such a thing.  Or maybe he’s trying to set the US up with some deniability (having it both ways, as it were, not that “the Arab world” will care). That would indicate a political savvy hitherto not in evidence with this administration, so I remain somewhat skeptical.  I think it was Mara Liasson on the 6pm Fox news show who said “the US will be involved, one way or the other.”  Obama’s flaks are still trying to sell the “window for diplomacy is open” story line—though I figure that’s been a dead letter for some time.

 

Peres set him up like a bowling pin. He said that he has talked with many US presidents in his life and he knows when they say certain words that they mean business. Obama is now set up to ether look like an inexperienced fool who can’t talk to foreigners or a liar if he back peddles on that statement regarding Iran.

I think he's trying to play it both ways. He might be hoping the Israelis eliminate the threat so he can play the plausible deniability card, while avoiding having to take (or not take) some sort of positive action to prevent what he has clearly said, many times, is unacceptable. He seems to have realized that his diplomatic efforts have failed repeatedly, on pretty much every front. He's now painted in a corner and likely would be fine with the Israelis taking the heat. he also fails to realize that, as Mara says, we're in it no matter how things go, and might as well suck it up and make the best of it.

Agree. Main point is in your last sentence. But fathoming what a politician thinks or does would be as useful as asking a first-grader to explain Einstein. Remotely possible, but highly unlikely.



America vs The Axis of Crazy

(Image by Steven Breen)

 

North Korea continues its tantrum and issued issued new threats against the US. 

 

Mark Steyn considers North Korea part of the Axis of Crazy, a country with a virtually non-existant GDP--but is developing nuclear weapons, unlike wealthy western European nations.

 

VDH warns of the world becoming more dangerous once unhinged regimes think any one of them can "bell the American cat". 

 

 

(Image by Jerry Holbert)

 

The Cypriot Stick-Up

(Image by Robert Ariaill)

 

The Diplomad rolled-in on the Cypriot Bank Crisis in his Welcome to Dogpatch post.

 

Argentina did something like this years ago.  When I asked about this, my questions drew the following responses:

 

Argentina was the one who did it.  Cyprus is pretty screwed, too. Just threatening to do it means no one will ever trust their banks again.  Also, if you can seize 10%, you can seize 100%.

 

Not only Cyprus—I think there will be ramifications for Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal.

 

Agreed. No one is believing the "it's only this one time" line of BS! 

Meanwhile, political cartoonists see a common theme...

 

(Image by Michael Ramirez)

GOP "Autopsy"

(Image by Michael Ramirez)

 

 In the military its called an After Action Review (AAR):  A recap of what happened and more importantly, why things happened the way they did.  The group involved in AARs would then discuss what worked, what didn't and what will need to be done to improve performance.

 

In politics, at least as far as the current Republican Party is concerned, its being called an autopsy. 

 

And for good reason, because it looks like the GOP is demonstrating the definition of insanity: Doing (more) of the same thing over & over and expecting different results. 

 

Of course the Dems think "coming on in the same old style" is swell because they'll continue to lose elections "...in the same old style."

 

Comrade Karla believes:  They have too many of the  "usual suspects" involved in “advising” them. The same ones who lost them the past two elections.

 

He's considering joining the Silly Party. 

Presidential Respect?

 

Remember when bashing the president was in vogue back in...oh...say 2000-2008? 

 

Since Obama's first election, it's amazing to see how they've changed their tune.

 

I'm sure they'll fall back to their "old ways" if a non-Democtrat manages to get elected in 2016.

The ATT vs the 2nd Amendment

 

 

While the American Bar Association is issuing a "nothing to worry about folks" message about the Arms Trade Treaty, the folks at Breitbart aren't so sure.

Awards and Lawsuits

 

Last month, Michelle Obama announced the winner of the 2012 Academy Awards was Argo.

The Veterans for a Strong America weren't happy about the use of military members as "props" in Michelle's video appearance. 

Fortunately, there are groups like Judicial Watch, who aren't willing to let the Obamas continue to gloss over Benghazigate.  JW recently filed two lawsuits against the US State Department demanding a release of all information surrounding the attack on our Benghazi conulate on 9/11/12.

We'll see how far this goes.

Tensions Escalate in "The Land of the Morning Calm"

 

 

A week ago, North Korea threatened to nuke the US.  In response to this and other threats, the US and South Korea initiated self defense exercises.  Which of course, North Korea views as an act of war, which led them to "scrapping the armistice."

Komrade Karla asked:

So does this mean anything? Or is it just more nonsense. Or do we see more “border incidents?”

Another friend responded:  Time to let the ROKs roll.

This has the potential of getting ugly in an instant.

Or it could be just another "storm in a soju bottle?"

You're on Your Own

PJ Media asks police what citizens should do when confronted with an intruder and they're waiting for the cavalry to arrive in the nick of time.

The response:  You're on your own. 

Discussions like this are based on a functioning 911 system.  During a natural disaster, or "man-caused disaster," the 911 and other emergency communications will be knocked out, or overwhelmed.  Under such dire circumstances, citizens may be "on their own" for several days, as opposed to several minutes. 

This kind of scenario never gets factored into the gun grabbers' equation.

The Ringwraiths of the Media

 

 

VDH does an excellent job of comparing today's "journalists" to ringwraiths. 

Fearmongering Backfire

(Image by Glenn McCoy)

According to S.E. Cupp, Obama's sky-is-falling lies rhetoric, may hurting his credibility. 

 

While politicians panic, the populace enjoys a laugh at their expense, like in the latest SNL skit. 

 

However, all joking aside, our $16 trillion debt is nothing to laugh at.  Here's a visualization of the deficit's enormity.

Sequestration Skyfall

While I was enjoying myself at a convention, the sky supposedly fell on March 1st as the dreaded sequestration took effect.

Well the wheels on the government bus didn't fall off.  Michelle Malkin calls out some of the Sequester Jesters for bending some of the facts. 

Meanwhile, This Ain't Hell...lambastes those in and around the beltway for "feeling the pinch" of the sequestration.

And Comarade Karla claims he has a front row view of the Post-Sequestration Wasteland from his office...

 

...along with this "dire" narrative:  

 

Thinks are grim here….we’ve already started saving our urine so we’ll have something to drink and are researching recipes for how to cook our pets.  We could hear screams and the crackle of rifle fire this morning.

 

Then there's the Chicks on the Right with their Skyfall parody. 

I received several articles via e-mail on how mean-spirited Obama's sequestration truly is, but at the moment I can't find them.  In the meantime, despite the fear-mongering it's business as usual inside the beltway.

Stay tuned though, for more sequester silliness and seriousness...