Maureen's Monkey

Mitt’s No J.F.K.
By Maureen Dowd

The world is globalizing, nuclear weapons are proliferating, the Middle
East is seething, but Republicans are still arguing the Scopes trial.

No, while a catchy phrase, Republicans are not still arguing the Scopes trial though Dowd seems to be. She's hoping that Darrow will continue to confirm, over and over, that she's still right.

Mitt was right when he said that “Americans do not respect believers of
convenience.” Now if he would only admit he’s describing himself.

How utterly unfortunate that the harlequin of opinionated convenience would use such a statement.

Manmade Blast Of Global Warming Freezing My House

Ice Storm Coats Much of Nation's Middle

An ice storm slickened roads and sidewalks, grounded flights, and cut power
to tens of thousands Sunday in a swath from the Southern Plains to the Great
Lakes as even colder weather threatened.

Al! Please make it stop. Make it stop. Please! My polar bears can only tread water for so long.

Tubies, Photos And Catalogues

We’ve all been there. Hopping around the inter tubers looking for information and images only to find it is still a 1950’s version of getting in the car and traveling to a facility and asking the gatekeeper if it might be possible to see said information. Those might have been really cool field trips for 4-H or Jews for Jesus members doing “research”, such as little Roy who really just wanted to see photographs of the 1952 Milk Jugs Queen or Fetter Levi, who after attending his yahrzeit, was hoping to see more “biblical” images of the Virgin Mary. The gate keeper decided what you could or could not access, especially when the research included National Geographic magazine issues dealing with aboriginal people of the dark continents.

Libraries, government archives and universities, among so many institutions, refuse to change or just don’t get the internet. Actually, many times, I hear it is an economic decision, but it appears that in the long list of financial priorities, including documenting the sexual rights of dwarves with the left handed pathological lift loss syndrome, the improving and extending the reach of their holdings and archives is near the bottom of their list of priorities. Constantly breaking new ground is the mantra of these institutions however worthless that ground is. Of course, the other end of this spectrum of never ending yesteryear are those institutions that believe people that need more than a written description are too stupid which is code for a) we are too cheap to spend or b) we’re broke or c) if it was was good enough for my parents and their parents then it is good enough for you.

Where are the pictures, drawings, blueprints and plans? If I want to see a catalogue of physical holdings I can always visit a library or a museum. If I could see the images I am searching for, then I would be more inclined to look further into that facility, visit it and support it. I’m not traveling 300 miles to view material based on a catalogue written in 1780 by someone who couldn’t understand why all those nice young men dressed in red had to go back to England.

Andrew Young, Civil Rights Clown

Civil Rights Icon Calls Obama Too Young

Civil rights icon Andrew Young says Democratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama is too young and lacks the support network to ascend to the White
House.

In a media interview posted online, Young also quipped that Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has her husband behind her, and
that "Bill is every bit as black as Barack."

"He's probably gone with more black women than Barack," Young said of
former President Clinton, drawing laughter from a live television audience.
Young, 75, was quick to follow his comment on Bill Clinton with the disclaimer,
"I'm clowning."

Oh, HA HA Andy. Would you be offended if I ask about Amos? How about another Jew joke? Oh, we're just having too much fun, so stop clowning and tell us what you really think.

Young steps down from Wal-Mart post

In an interview, Young was asked whether he was concerned that Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close.

"Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."

Dat Andy, he be a joker, he be. He done double dated wid Bill, he did, I betcha. Dat Barack boy, he got too much white in'em, just look. Yeah, he get more years under him and he be be almos just black enuff.

Amb. Andrew Young has been one of the most divisive people ever in politics, race relations and the culture of our country. He is also a racist unable to be reformed. His dog is too old.

Obama will beat himself, thank you very much, without Andy's help, but Andy's support for Bill in blackface Hillary isn't going to help her much.

I am so sick of the civil rights racism that "leaders" like Sharpton, Jackson and Young have used to divide us and hold America hostage. They have set people getting along back decades

How Would Pelosi, Reid, etal Conduct A War - Look To NATO's Afghanistan Effort

Remind me again why we subdued Afghanistan and then handed it over to NATO so they could give huge chunks of the country back to the Taliban including the heart of the opium district? If Afghanistan has slipped your mind, remember that the sale of opium is financing the Taliban, they being the religious group that they aren’t.

U.S. to Hand Over Afghan Mission to NATO

The American mission to bring order to this unruly country is being
handed to a multinational force led by the NATO alliance, a move that will
subordinate U.S. troops under foreign command in a combat situation for the
first time since World War II.

NATO's ambitious mission could inject the flagging European-North
American alliance with a sense of purpose and also might take the heat off
Washington, seen in this region as too eager to fight Muslims. But there are
questions whether NATO will engage in the type of offensive operations the
U.S.-led coalition has.

"NATO needs to grab hold of this mission for NATO's sake," U.S. Central
Command chief Gen. John Abizaid said in a recent interview with The Associated
Press. Jumping outside European boundaries is "where the alliance needs to go to
stay relevant for the future."

In a little over a year NATO has been out maneuvered, outright lost, handed back or misplaced a lot of the country. Unfortunately, the Taliban, the court jesters of religion, warfare and culture, have been there to pick up the pieces.

Now, a multinational force, including American forces, are trying to take back a major city in the south of Afghanistan back under control. I agree with Gen. George Patton, I don’t like paying for real estate twice, which we have to do since we allowed our troops to be commanded by non-Americans without America’s best interest at heart.

In Afghanistan, a Do-Over Battle

The town, where some 2,000 Taliban fighters are believed to be holed up, was
surrounded on Friday by British and Afghan forces, in preparation for an
airborne assault by U.S. troops expected overnight in a drive to recapture the
town. Musa Qala was captured by the Taliban in February of this year, without a
shot being fired — they simply rolled into town and planted their flag after
British forces withdrew, having brokered an agreement with local tribal elders
to keep the peace. And the radical movement fighting to expel foreign forces
from Afghanistan and reimpose its harsh brand of Islamic rule has held the town
ever since.

The battle to own Musa Qala is expected to be intense, because of its value to both
sides. For the Taliban, there's major symbolic value in being able to hold a
town in a country ostensibly under the control of more than 40,000 NATO troops
and their Afghan allies. Musa Qala is also at the center of the opium industry
whose revenues fuel the Taliban insurgency, and its location near the mountains
north of Helmand make it a useful command center for an insurgent army. For all
the same reasons, it's important to NATO to dislodge the Taliban. That, and the
fact that it's a do-over, correcting what many officials see as a mistake by the
British forces that allowed the Taliban to take control in the first place.

The problem for NATO, however, is that Musa Qala may be a very
visible Taliban position, but it's only one of hundreds — by some estimates,
today, there is a permanent Taliban presence in more than half of Afghanistan,
and NATO — struggling to expand its troop strength from reluctant European
nations — is not well-placed to roll it back. The breadth of the territory
across which the Taliban now operates across southern Afghanistan all the way up
to the capital reflects the extent to which the uncommitted civilian population
is hedging its bets. With the harsh winter coming, Musa Qala may be one of the
last major engagements of the current fighting season. But next spring's
thaw is expected to bring the war in Afghanistan quickly back to the boil.

How many mulligans are we, the United States, going to give other countries that can’t quite decide if they want to win this war? Those mulligans are costing us our soldiers lives and respect from our enemy while enhancing our enemy’s standing in the court of public opinion including their standing amongst the losers barking and whining in the chambers of our Congress.

Notre Dame Gargoyle

Actually, I would call this (and the prior Assisi) a grotesque in that they don't disperse water through their mouths (yes, to gargle), but I'm sure someone related to Jack Iraq will disagree.
.

I like gargoyles and grotesques. Always have and my parents were glad they were attached to churches because they were the only wild things I didn't try to bring home.
.

My sister did "borrow" a camel for Halloween once, but that didn't count. Wasn't a gargoyle.

FUGLY

Photo sibertekt

I'm pretty sure this beauty has to be somewhere in LA

Assisi Gryphon

Photo: mysunsin

Do What He Says, Not What He Does

Another Hillary Plant Sneaks In Under the MSM Radar

As wily and wary as we have come to know the media to be, the many members of Team Clinton just keep out-Foxing them (apologies for the mention of the Hellish network).

In a great many of the media's post-game analyses of the Thursday, December 6th Mitt Romney religion speech, including that of the Associated Press, we are treated to the negative reactions thereto of one Costas Panagopoulos, who is rightly (if only partially) identified as "a political science professor at Fordham University".

..................................................................................................................

Go read the rest. I have also listed below a list of Dr Panagopoulos' history. Unfortunately, besides switching sides, the good Doctor's expertise appears to be in the classroom, boardroom and the newsroom, but not where it matters, in the voter's minds:

Dr. Costas Panagopoulos was a candidate for the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1992.

His list of expertise, outside of being a Hillary plant, is long:

Assistant Professor of Political Science
Director of the Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy and the graduate program in Elections and Campaign Management at Fordham University.
Research associate at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University
Founded and directed the Master’s Program in Political Campaign Management in the Department of Politics at New York University
Leading expert on campaigns and elections, voting behavior, public opinion, and campaign finance
Decision Desk team at NBC News during the 2006 election cycle
Offers courses on campaign management and strategy, message development, and political communication.
American Political Science Association as a Congressional Fellow during 2004-2005
Office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
Visiting Research Scholar at the Institute for Politics, the Internet and Democracy at the Graduate School for Political Management at George Washington University
Research Fellow at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, both in Washington, DC.
Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
Scholar-in-Residence in the Department of Government at American University
Yaught in the Political Science departments at New York University, Fordham University, New School University, SUNY, Yeshiva University, and Pace University.
President/CEO of XVOTES, a New York-based political strategy firm
Elected President of the American Association of Political Consultants’ Mid-Atlantic chapter in 2003
Developed expertise in international political consulting
Consultant in the Electoral Assistance Division at the United Nations
Developed professional specializations in the marketing, media and public relations industries
Worked for top domestic and international clients—including the United Nations Association—as a member of the Public Affairs and Crisis Management units at Burson-Marsteller, the world’s largest public relations firm
Adweek magazine as Features Editor to analyze the political advertising of the 1996 presidential campaign
Hearst, Conde Nast, and Miramax where he developed additional expertise in marketing.
Undergraduate degree in Government, magna cum laude, from Harvard University
Doctoral degree in Politics from New York University
Authored several scholarly works that have published in Public Opinion Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, Women & Politics, the Journal of Political Marketing, and Social Science Computer Review
Contributing Editor to Campaigns & Elections magazine
Senior Editor of the Journal of Political Marketing
Political analysis and commentary for various print and broadcast media outlets including: The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, New York Sun, Guardian, Village Voice, Newsday, CNN, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Inside Edition, BusinessWeek TV, Fox News and BBC Television.

Oh, as a candidate for the 17th District, Middlesex, Massachusetts State Legislature in 1992, Dr. Panagopoulos ran as a Republican. The 17th district, which includes Lowell, has a sizable Greek community which Dr. Panagopoulos presumably was a member.

[D] Cox, John F. – 11,269
[R] Panagopoulos, Costas – 6,896
[ ] Left blank on ballot – 821
[O] Write-in - 0

Campaign as he tells you, not as he did.

Ron Paul Poster Patriot

The Ron Paul Show

How one man can have thousands of supporters who raise millions of dollars that cause him to go down in flames.

The photo may be too perfect, but remember baby has the Constitution in one pocket and self rightousness in the other. We, the rest of America, can't measure up to the storm and the fury of Ron's Troofer Troopers.

Thanks to Sword At The Ready.

OPEN DISCUSSION

This chart is stunningly wrong. My wife allows me to win almost all of our discussions.

Please comment, add your own experiences and suggestions.

First IPod

blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/07/27/

What Does Nancy Think When The Cameras Are Gone

Diptych

I wish I knew the photographers name.

Like A Death In The Family

My father knew William F. Buckley, I did not. Both of them carefully observed the axiom that a youngster should be seen, not heard. Boy, did I disappoint both of them. My father never disappointed me. I am sad in a way one might be when a family member embarrasses those never expecting such an occurrence because William F. Buckley, who through patience taught us as if we were kin, has disappointed us.

I understand first hand the pain of suffering from your own decisions as well as the pain of losing one you love. To use that pain and the underlying circumstances for political or cultural gain (or to make yourself feel better) is stupid and illogical. It may be effective and emotionally powerful to rebut with a, "Yeah, well my (insert relative, the closer the better) died from (insert cause, especially good if it is a cause de jour)", but it makes for bad law, bad ethics and bad logic. Rue your behavior, but don't blame that which you abused. It's called free-will.

Bill Buckley Finds Joe's Tavern Close to Auschwitz

Stick me in a confessional and ask the question: Sir, if you had the authority, would you forbid smoking in America? You'd get a solemn and contrite, Yes. Solemn because I would be violating my secular commitment to the free marketplace. Contrite, because my relative indifference to tobacco poison for so many years puts me in something of the position of the Zyklon B defendants after World War II. These folk manufactured the special gas used in the death camps to genocidal ends. They pleaded, of course, that as far as they were concerned, they were simply technicians, putting together chemicals needed in wartime for fumigation. Some got away with that defense; others, not.

Those who fail to protest the free passage of tobacco smoke in the air come close to the Zyklon defendants in pleading ignorance.

Jacob Sullum of Reason Magazine makes excellent points in his discussion of free markets, Bill Buckley and the changed reasoning that almost self-writes illogical statements that follow such an emotional change. I agree with Mr. Sullum, who worked for Bill Buckley, but for me it is as if a favorite uncle just passed away and we all miss his brilliance and wit.

Democrats To Military - Screw'em

Pelosi, Reid and other liberal, progressive and socialist members of Congress believe their stated goal of losing the War on Terror, Iraq and Afghanistan will give them cover for their long held hope of marginalizing and then destroying the military.

The members of Congress supporting Pelosi and Reid, such as Waxman, Sherrod Brown, Conyers, Kucinich, Schumer, Levin, Keith Ellison, Chaka Fattah, Barney Frank, Jesse Jackson Jr, Charlie Rangle, Pete Starkravingmad and Bernie the socialist Sanders, are a motley crew of anti-military activists.

Army Civilians Could Receive Furlough Notices by Christmas
Some members of Congress have responded by saying the Pentagon has funds to continue operations through March, but a Pentagon spokesman today said furlough notices for Army employees could start going out the middle of this month. The employees would not be furloughed until after Christmas, but some contracts require a 60-day notice if the furlough will be longer than 60 days, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters
at the Pentagon. The department is using fiscal 2008 funds – not part of the supplemental funding needed – to keep operations going in the war on terror, he explained. “Anyone who thinks that this is not a serious situation is simply misinformed or is ignoring the facts. We have tried to be as matter of fact as we can on this, but the reality is that we are using our program budget for FY 08 … to fund our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Whitman said. DoD is using
its readiness funding, or operations and maintenance accounts, which typically pay for training, supplies, and maintenance of weapons and equipment.

It seems Congress wants the military to budget like them which is a day late and a dollar short except Congress won't give the military the right to print money. So, the military has to borrow from next year's budget, in the middle of a war, to pay for this year's budget as punishment for doing their jobs so well.

Why aren't voters up in arms about this? Why isn't the media? Where are more blogs? What will it take for the nation to scream from the roof tops that members of Congress and our government are stabbing our soldiers in the back? Those that say Congress is using funding to get their point across won't admit that our troops are being used as pawns, pawns that get killed so that some in Congress can speak at a leftist rally or raise more campaign money from anti-military and anti-American groups such as:

Institute for Policy Studies, Moveon.org, National Priorities Project, Jobs with Justice Campaign, Peace Action, Americans for Democratic Action, Progressive Democrats of America, the NAACP, ACLU, Progressive Majority, League of United Latin American Citizens, Rainbow/Push Coalition, National Council of La Raza, Hip Hop Caucus, Human Rights Campaign, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, National Hip Hop Political Convention, and the Democratic Socialists of America to name a few with Kos, Atrios, Firedoglake, Yglesias, Anybody's Huffington and other bloggers such as Mother Jones and Peace Blogs.

Fine group, eh? Represents America, huh? No, they don't. They represent a fringe of the Democratic Party which is shamelessly pandering to them. Some will say these people are just Americans offering another point of view of what America could become. That is partially right, because it would be an America but on lies, twisted logic, outdated and failed political theories and by stabbing the best of America in the back.

Unlike in the past, these people now hold positions of power in the House, the Senate, federal and state government bureaucracies, in education, unions and money groups within the political structure. This is not a conspiracy, it is a political campaign spread over decades of elections that has campaigned to remold America in their world view. It is a view few Americans would like because it is a campaign that starts with having America admitting that what we stand for is wrong. To finally be able to make "America's" admission of wrongdoing to the world their campaign to consolidate power must succeed.

As their movement grows in age it is ironic that these people and groups exude the same sense of entitlement they originally wanted to topple and was their stated purpose for starting their campaign. The protesters have become the money elite. The children who thought their parents politically and spiritually vacuous have now become their parents of another stripe, but the same none-the-less. They want to become what they detested the most, the moral majority.

That they are not the majority in America is of little concern to those who feel they have the right and the righteousness to make up the difference between their numbers and 50% plus one vote needed to tell America what is right.

They're wrong though and always have been, but who's going to convince them now they have their blood lust up with America's soul in their sights? Those that bill themselves as the most caring now will sacrifice whatever and whomever to attain their goals and they're starting with our military.

More importantly, who will stop them?

Happy Holidays? Not At Our House. Merry Christmas!

Being a genius, I have not yet figured out how to upload Adobe Flash products, but then Adobe products generally drive me to language my Mother used to punish me for.

This is a very cool vid. Short, sweet and to the point. Enjoy! For the 10% who might not, get a life.

http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A000005834.cfm

OECD Forcasts Arrival Of Chicken Little

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has issued a dire report. 60 years may not be enough time to race inland before the tsunami hits and man has shown a propensity to not be adaptable to change unlike dinosaurs.

Warming risks listed by population, costs
Report: 150 million people, $35 trillion in assets vulnerable by 2070

As for the cost of inaction, the report states that "(Hurricane) Katrina and New Orleans demonstrates how significant these consequences might be — 1,500 deaths, evacuation of 700,000 people, with hundreds of thousands still displaced two years on, massive flood damage from which recovery is still ongoing, and the global shock to the oil price.

"New Orleans may never fully recover and another major hurricane landfall could trigger further decline or even total abandonment," the report adds.

No mention of levees. No mention of a city below sea level. No mention of a city and state government that blamed their incompetence on the the federal government and anybody else they could think of. Of course my money is on the heavy drinker because even Nagin doesn't have the nerve to screw up Bourbon Street. If Galatoire's had opened on Atlantis, they'd still be open for business.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is the same group that:

[E]conomists at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development blamed obesity in Bermuda on Coco Pops (yes, the breakfast cereal).

I'm hiding my Frosted Flakes from these people.

This Was Just Baby Huey Chavez's First Try

Bumped up and updated just because of the brilliance. Why else? (Else? Maybe it's a lazy day? Shhhh!)

Siamese Twins Putin/Chavez - Election Cheats

UPDATE III: Stephen Green at Vodka Pundit and Glenn Reynolds (at whatever his blog's name is) agree that this year's attempt by Hugo the Chavez is probably just his first attempt to be loudmouth for life and permanent puta for Putin. Baby Huey will try again.

Proof That Environment Can Cause Brain Damage

Chanting the borrowed unofficial motto, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” the loons preach their doom and gloom. True? Who cares? It's a reason to get up every morning, one would hope.

Senate's 'historic vote on global warming' set for Wednesday...Snow likely...

China population to reach 1.5 billion by 2033...

UPDATE: NEW REPUBLIC Disavows Iraq Diarist's Reports...

Baby Jesus Stolen From Nativity Scene...

I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID IN KINDERGARTEN...

VIDEO: McCain's Senior Moment: 'I'm Older Than Frankenstein'...

2 Students Convicted in Bank Robbery; claim high cost of tuition...

Depp's SWEENEY TODD film rewrites history by featuring Big Ben - 50 years before it was built...

Saints on cellphones; Italy firm sparks controversy...

NBCNEWS ANCHOR BRIAN WILLIAMS PICKS 'MOTHER EARTH' FOR TIME 'PERSON OF YEAR'...

Jews urged to light one less candle for Hanukkah to help environment...

Anytime you have Brian “I can’t control my eyebrows” Williams, a plastic baby Jesus, Hillary’s campaign, and anybody in the Democratic Congressional leadership all making news on the same day, you have a &$*! storm that has nothing to do with the environment. It does have everything to do with a bunch of children that could not be verbally or mentally potty trained.