29 July 2008

Buzz-killers

and we were just starting to have a good time.....

so anyway, Kim duToit has announced his retirement from blogging, effective 30 November 2008; and he's taking his lovely wife with him. 1 December 2008 will feature duToits no mas. Their various enterprises will expire over time, as traffic drops.

Jeff Goldstein has also hung up his cleats, leaving Protein Wisdom (and the Pub) to a stable of capable (and appropriately funky) co-bloggers.

While I understand and respect their positions and reasons for the departures, I am none the less saddened by these announcements. The Other Side of Kim and Protein Wisdom were among the first additions to the blogroll here at Supply Side Politics. As these two bloggers have been on my daily "must read" list since '02; it's safe to say that both provided me some of the inspiration to start blogging my own self, back in June of '04.

The best of luck to them both.

25 July 2008

Red Swingline Stapler

it was the first thing that came to mind

so anyway, over at Protein Wisdom, Jeff G. (actual) has the goods on the (very) junior Senator from Illinois. You know you're digging some gold when just the title of the post makes you spew your drink:

what it might sound like were Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to carry on a conversation with a Swingline stapler
Jeff G. (actual) nails it, as per his usual.

Swingline Staplers provide a lot of comedy gold. To wit:

song chart memes
more graph humor

I rest my case.

24 July 2008

Follow up on "Andrea Mitchell"

do I really have to?

so anyway, my point was that you don't have to go to "journalism school" to be capable of conducting a "real" interview.

Supply a seventh-grader with a camcorder, the known facts, and a list of the "unknowns" on any given issue, then provide them with access to the parties involved. The result would be a "real" interview.

Charlie Rose and Larry King tremble in their respective boots loafers daily, knowing that if all you sheeple find out just how easy it really is to conduct an interview, they'd be on the street.

There was more, but you get the drift.

22 July 2008

Andrea Mitchell

can kiss my ass

so anyway, please excuse me for the blatant vulgarity. It is justified, as you'll soon see.

Karl over at Protein Wisdom brings us Andrea Mitchell's appearance on MSNBC's Chris "Thrill up My Leg" Matthews' Hardball. Mitchell and Mathews are discussing Senator Obama's visit to Iraq, and the media coverage thereof. I've excerpted Karl's excerpt, emphasis mine (but you knew that):

MITCHELL: Let me just say something about the message management. He didn’t have reporters with him, he didn’t have a press pool, he didn’t do a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. What you’re seeing is not reporters brought in. You’re seeing selected pictures taken by the military, questions by the military, and what some would call fake interviews, because they’re not interviews from a journalist. So, there’s a real press issue here. Politically it’s smart as can be. But we’ve not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before.
The quote linkage is back to the Newsbusters source code that Karl references.

Really? "Fake interviews" because they're not "interviews from a journalist"? Excuse me?

The mind boggles.

I'll have more on this tomorrow (or Thursday, or, you know, whenever); I must go now. The opening bell for The Stoopid Business™ rings in less than eight hours and I must sleep.

21 July 2008

What? No S.Weasel@work?

Fargin bastages

so anyway, this past Thursday evening I saw that Stoat Weasel was having some "issues" with the corporate world's net-nannies. Quoteth S.Weasel, her own bad self:

DAMN it! If you noticed the marked absence of Weasel today, it’s because I made the Internet Naughty List.
I saw it late in the evening and filed it away. I took a vacation day from The Stoopid Business™ on Friday (don't ask, nothing fun happened; long story, etc.).

Late this afternoon, as is my custom, I went looking for some S.Weasel to get me through the end of the day. "Access Denied" said the net-nanny. Bastards.

As of five-ish this evening, the Weaselly-goodness is still blocked by the corporate nanny-staters. Some jackass outfit called "WebSence" or some siht.

Did I mention that the net-nanny-type-people were scum-sucking hermaphrodites? No? Well, they are. Consider it mentioned.

I agree with Her Weaselness:
If they think I’m going to knuckle under and do my job or some shit, they don’t know the meaning of “weasel.”
Amen, Sister. We will not let the bastards keep us down.

19 July 2008

A new bumper sticker

yeah, I need one of these

so anyway, our Liege Emperor Misha's Imperial Torturer, B.C., has published the first official "Just Drill, Dammit!" campaign poster:


I've already set it up as the desktop background on my work laptop. I can't wait to see how it looks on my ginormous flat screen monitor at the office, or the reacts from the leftards in the cube-farm.

I'm actually looking forward to a Stoopid Business™ Monday morning.

18 July 2008

Yet another "art" calendar

to which I'll say "Thank you, No"

so anyway, DrewM. over at Ace of Spades HQ, and McQ of Q and O fame alert us to the "2009 Mosques of America" calendar.

As it turns out, the calendar's publisher, Global Publishing Solutions, is a part of the U.S. Department of State. Not "associated with", not "partnered with", no, it's your tax dollars at work.

As a Constitutional purist, I fully understand the "non-establishment" clause of the First Amendment. I have often scoffed at the ACLU's anti-religion position, their looking for offence when none is apparent. But imagine if the Department of State put forth a "Southern Baptist's Churches of America" calendar. Where would the ACLU be, in that instance?

Right up in your face with a lawsuit, that's where.

This being an "Department of State" issue, I'll go see if our "go-to-guy", Consul-at-Arms, has weighed in on the subject.

Still checking, please hold.

More soon. thatisall.

15 July 2008

The Supply Side

apparently has something to do with prices. Who'd have thunk it?

so anyway, the sweet, sweet science of economics rears it's cute little head again. It seems like only yesterday I was opining on the subject:

Short term, drilling here and now will bring down the market price of oil. As in tomorrow. The prospect of an increased supply on the global market will quell the speculation market and reduce volatility. It's like ECON 090, people.
Right, then. It seems that President Bush's speech today on the issue of domestic drilling rattles a few cages. The August futures price for oil fell $9.26 in the wake of GWB's remarks.

Just the prospect of increased supply against today's demand lowered the price. SHAZAAM! It's like it's science or something.

As Mike of Cold Fury fame put it: "Why, it's baffling". Ace was similarly gobsmacked by the news. Quoteth Ace:
Supply, demand. Present, future. Why, someone could make a mark in this world suggesting these concepts were somehow linked in some fashion.
Note that it was not the August, 2018 futures price for oil that fell 6.3%. Not ten years out as the leftards would have you believe. No, next month's futures fell on the strength of the remarks of a lame-duck President.

All the cool kids are linking back to Larry Kudlow over at NRO. He's got the goods.
Crude-oil futures for August delivery plunged $9.26, or 6.3 percent, almost immediately as Bush was speaking, bringing the barrel price down to $136.

Now isn’t this interesting?

Democrats keep saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the offshore areas. And they say that oil prices won’t decline for at least that long. And they, along with Obama and McCain, bash so-called oil speculators. And today we had a real-world example as to why they are wrong. All of them. Reid, Pelosi, Obama, McCain — all of them.

Traders took a look at a feisty and aggressive George Bush and started selling the market well before a single new drop of oil has been lifted.
Amen, Brother. Like I said, it's like it's science or something.

We can drill our way out of this. Every new hole we put in to our ground to extract the juice lowers the price.

This material will be part of your Final Exam. thatisall.

14 July 2008

Pickens' Plan

I'm listening.....

so anyway, via Josh Kahn over at The Next Right, the first installment of T. Boone Pickens' energy plan:



The teaser sounds intriguing. If I must pick nits, I'll respectfully disagree with Mr.Pickens over his "....a problem that we can't drill our way out of...." statement. Long term, agreed. We need to find another way. Solar and windmills are just fine, but we need to seriously get on the nuclear plan for electricity. Short term, drilling here and now will bring down the market price of oil. As in tomorrow. The prospect of an increased supply on the global market will quell the speculation market and reduce volatility. It's like ECON 090, people.

Kahn's analysis of the ad is spot on. Do go read, soonest.

thatisall

12 July 2008

Tony Snow, RIP

Tony Snow passed away today. He was 53, and is survived by his wife and three children.

Please see also:

Dave in Texas over at Ace of Spades HQ

VodkaPundit

Cold Fury

BLACKFIVE

and Jeff G. (actual) at Protein Wisdom meters the leftards' response to the news of Snow's passing.

Rest in Peace, Tony.

11 July 2008

Friday Night Fun

this is why I stay up late

Karl over at Protein Wisdom links out to a Wired post on the bestest photoshops of the latest Iranian missile test:


Now that's some seriously inspired siht, right there. I'm off to read the whole thing, and you should be, too.

thatisall

10 July 2008

no habla

The (very) Junior Senator from Illinois must be holding some Rosetta Stone stock

so anyway, Senator Obama believes that instead of immigrants learning English, you should learn to speak Spanish instead. Then everything would be peachy-keen and everyone gets a shiny new pony.

No, really. As Dave Barry would say: "I'm not making this up".

I don't know where to start on this one, so I'll kick the can over to those who have more time to blog than I.

The first reference to Senator Obama's remarks that I saw today was over at Ace's place:

When Barack Obama says that speaking Spanish will help your kids get a job, he's telling the truth -- but the jobs he's talking about are fronting a McDonald's cash register, or working at Wal-Mart, or even just pumping gas.....

.....Most jobs previously required no facility in any foreign language at all. But now many jobs increasingly demand Spanish as a skill, due to the large and ever-growing of domestic Spanish-only speakers.

He's not talking about forcing your kids to learn Spanish to open up additional job opportunities. He's talking about forcing them to learn Spanish to simply be more competitive at jobs for which a second language was never previously a requirement, nor even much of a benefit. What you could do yesterday with just the native tongue at English, you now increasingly need some Spanish to do.

You're not gaining any new opportunities or benefits; you're just having to expend time and effort to do what you used to take for granted.

[I didn't do a word count to see if I've exceeded the concept of "Fair Use"; I'm hoping that Ace grants me some slack. I'm not the AP, after all, so I think I'm being consistent with Ace's quoting policy.]

Rachel Lucas (doG, it's good to be quoting her again) rants on a similar vein:
..... Like I said, I love Spanish and wish to speak it fluently, and maybe some day I will. Because I want to. Not because I’ve capitulated to the fact that my state is being overrun by folks who only speak that language. Obama’s insistence that we all learn Spanish tells me a few things, not least of which is that he has no intention of doing anything about rampant immigration.
Amen, Sister.

I reserve the right to revise and extend. But you knew that.

Late, tired, etc. More soon.

09 July 2008

Wednesday Night

is garbage night, so my time is short



It would be instructive to see ads like this on all the major flip-flops Senator Obama has made recently.

h/t to someone on the blogroll.

08 July 2008

Another Tuesday

where to start?

*****UPDATED 11 July 2008*****

so anyway, I hope your Fourth of July and the weekend were splendid. It was non-stop-bop here at Casa de Miguel, replete with hikes through the woods, science museums, and finished off with a wiener roast and 'smores. Or however you spell it. Whatever. Wonderful weather, the only cloud in the sky was having to listen to someone to whom I would gladly give one of my kidneys rant large about life in "...the gulag of George Bush's Amerikkka...". And you people still wonder why I drink. Yeah, I'll give the kidney, but it'll be well worn....

But I digress; there are things at hand that need to be disseminated.

Mike of Cold Fury fame brings us Myths, busted, linking to an IBD editorial on the whole "drilling" debate. A snippet of the IBD piece:

• "Oil companies are sitting on 68 million acres of oil leases and refuse to drill."

This is yet another slander of "Big Oil" by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — one that has become a major talking point for Democrats in Congress. It's completely dishonest.

Oil companies have spent billions of dollars for those leases. Drilling has increased by more than 66% since 2000. They are searching for oil even as you read this. Some parts of those 68 million acres will have oil, some won't. But at $145 a barrel, you can bet oil companies have plenty of incentive to find it.

That said, 68 million acres is in fact a minuscule amount. Some 94% of federal lands — 658 million acres — remains off-limits to exploration. Another 97% — or 1.7 billion acres — of federal offshore properties likewise remains off-limits. These lands contain tens of billions of barrels of recoverable oil. It's there for the taking, now.

A few weeks back, Q and O had a great post on the "68 million acres" debate and the definitions of "producing vs. non-producing" leases, but I can't find it now. I'll keep digging and will advise.

*****UPDATE***** Here's the Q and O post on "inactive leases"

Speaking of Q an O, McQ takes a good look at Senator Obama's "national service plan":
It is one thing to encourage service. It is quite another to make it "compulsory". When it becomes compulsory, it is no longer service, it is a form of servitude. No matter how benign, when participation is mandated and rewards are withheld if requirements of the mandate aren't fulfilled, it becomes a form of tyranny.
Elsewhere; Ace brings us a link to a British Muslim who actually appreciates GWB's leadership:
The fact is you guys hate Mr Bush because he is not a hypocrite and you are used to hypocrites as your leaders. We hate what we don’t understand.

Yes, yes, all you bleeding heart liberals are cringing out there. I can just hear you. But the fact is, Mr Bush has had to take some very tough decisions and the world needs people who can not only talk but also act tough and admit mistakes.

Of course you think Mr Obama is going to make a difference, but as I write this, he’s already giving all the signs of somebody who will say anything to get into power only to act in exactly the same way as the Washington clique he aims to replace!

Hating George W. Bush is not only dull and unoriginal, but it shows a complete lack of understanding of the world in which we live in.
Perhaps, the elusive "moderate Muslim" has been found. Maybe not, his closing snark (that I'm reading as sarcasm, your mileage may vary) may belay his true beliefs:

And for those of you who still don’t buy into what I’m saying, look at the Middle East. Bush single-handedly managed to unite the Arabs in their hate for him.

Given how difficult uniting the Arabs is, it takes a special man with special skills to achieve this. He is just the kind of man to bring about peace in that region!

Late, tired; you know the song. Feel free to sing along. I'll do Senator McCain vs. Senator Obama tomorrow or Thursday (or next week, we'll see how it goes).

04 July 2008

Independence Day

read it again, for the first time.....

The Declaration of Independence

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. — The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free system of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.


John Hancock

Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
Geo. Walton

Wm. Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thos. Heyward, Junr.
Thomas Lynch, Junr.
Arthur Middleton

Samuel Chase
Wm. Paca
Thos. Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Th. Jefferson
Benja. Harrison
Thos. Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Robt. Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benja. Franklin
John Morton
Geo. Clymer
Jas. Smith
Geo. Taylor
James Wilson
Geo. Ross
Caesar Rodney
Geo. Read
Tho. Mckean

Wm. Floyd
Phil. Livingston
Frans. Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richd. Stockton
Jno. Witherspoon
Fras. Hopkinson
John Hart
Abra. Clark


Josiah Bartlett
Wm. Whipple
Saml. Adams
John Adams
Robt. Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Step. Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Wm. Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton

Outstanding rant

from an unexpected source

so anyway, this is spot on. It's from a Stoopid Business™ (automotive industry) web-site that is usually concentrated on the "inside baseball" news of the Stoopid Business™.

This week, Peter De Lorenzo of Autoextremist fame goes large. A taste from The Price of Independence:

.....And now, with rocketing gasoline prices pushing Detroit to the brink of disaster, and the crushing housing situation actually getting worse, this nation is facing a perfect storm of circumstances the likes of which it hasn’t had to face since the onset of World War II.

Back then the automobile industry responded to a national need unlike any other part of the manufacturing sector. From April 1942 until the beginning of 1945, no cars were produced in the United States. Detroit’s entire output was given over to producing war machines and the materials this country needed. Think about that for a moment.

Yes, it was a different time and a different era, but I would argue that the biggest difference back then was that this country was at war, but not at war with itself like it is today. Back then there was a common goal that unified this country like no other time before, or since.

Today, we’ve become a nation of warring factions hell-bent on destroying each other, even if it means destroying this country from within in the process.
Emphasis mine, of course. You must read the whole thing.

thatisall