Giron blames loss on voter supression

Tammy Bruce gets the H/T. Voter suppression is the new bogeyman of the left. Ms. Giron, people didn't come out to vote for you because you attempted to suppress their 2nd amendment rights!



Laughable.

"I have never taken a shower with Vice President Joe Biden."

Here's a funny parody: Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin go on Oprah to discuss Putin's role in helping pass immigration reform. Biden's explanation of the difference between Putin and Obama:

Look, Oprah, there’s little doubt President Putin knows how to take care of business. Vladimir is an aggressive alpha male who kicks ass without bothering to take names. On the other hand, President Obama is an affable man of refined tastes and a contemplative nature. He’s a much sought after daytime talk show guest and he gives a damn good speech. But when it comes to diplomacy, working with congress or making important decisions, President Obama’s moxie-muscle isn’t as strong and taut as his Russian counterpart. I for one applaud President Obama’s willingness to put aside what’s left of his dignity and self respect by asking President Putin to tackle our immigration problem. It will afford President Obama so much more time to focus on important social issues here at home like transgenders in the military, racist voter I.D. laws and providing middle-school children unrestricted access to the morning-after pill.

To phrase the distinction less wordily, it's "speak softly and carry a big stick" versus "never shut up and carry an autographed picture of Beyoncé in your wallet." Something like that.

The End of Anthony Weiner

Everything you need want to know is here.

Anti-gun is DONE in Colorado

Giron and Morse have both been recalled. Awesome. It is hard to overstate how big this victory is for supporters of the Second Amendment and gun rights. Here's the statement from the NRA:

A historic grassroots effort by voters in Colorado’s Senate District 11 has resulted in the recall of Colorado Senate President John Morse (D). The people of Colorado Springs sent a clear message to the Senate leader that his primary job was to defend their rights and freedoms and that he is ultimately accountable to them – his constituents, and not to the dollars or social engineering agendas of anti-gun billionaires.

Recall proceedings began earlier this year after Sen. Morse pushed through anti-gun legislation that restricted the ability of law-abiding residents to exercise their Second Amendment rights, including their inherent right to self-defense. This effort was driven by concerned citizens, who made phone calls, knocked on doors, and worked diligently to turn voters out in this historic effort.

The National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) is proud to have stood with the men and women in Colorado who sent a clear message that their Second Amendment rights are not for sale. We look forward to working with NRA-PVF “A” rated and endorsed Bernie Herpin (R) from Colorado Springs.

My personal favorite loser here is Mayor Bloomberg. Catch this?

Recall opponents, floating on oceans of money funneled into the recall contests by billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, outspent recall backers by a whopping 7 to 1 margin.

The fact that turnout numbers suggest such a competitive race given the anti-recall side’s jaw-dropping financial advantage is frankly, astounding. And the fact that so much of the money comes from out of state – the Denver Post recently reported that Bloomberg and California philanthropist Eli Broad personally stroked six figure checks – suggests that liberal elites from thousands of miles away think they can buy Colorado’s elections.

Man, who do they think they are? The Koch Brothers?? OK, I'm giddy over this, I'll admit it. Call it a Rocky Mountain High. The Kos Kids are crying. My dining room has been painted. It's a nice day in Ohio.

Picture of the day

From a Buzzfeed piece detailing Obama's blunders on Syria. Caption: The Winner.

The best thing I heard last night was Michael Rubin on Hugh Hewitt's show analyzing the perpetual gaffe situation due to the leaders of our country continuously flapping their mouths. He said something like, and I'm totally paraphrasing, "This is what happens when you have a President who is a Senator, a VP who's a Senator, a Secretary of State who's a Senator and a Secretary of Defense who's a Senator. They keep forgetting they're not in the Senate and the things they say now have consequences."

Tattoo Subtexts

I take many opportunities to point out to my kids that getting a tattoo is usually a huge mistake. It is obvious to people who think critically that tattoos invariably send messages to people who see them, mostly negative. Steve Sailer provides a nice, short quip about tattoo subtexts, quoting the New Yorker first:

Commenter slumber_j points to this New Yorker cartoon about "The subtext of all tattoos:" "Ask me about my parents' divorce."

Then he adds his own wisdom:

A related subtext might be: "I come from a long line of rash decisionmakers." On women, tattoos often seem to imply: "Pay attention to me because I, obviously, make poor choices, so you might get lucky."

It was so sad for me to see a thin, attractive sixteen-year-old girl with otherwise beautiful skin who had basically ruined the first impression she made by getting tats all over her arms. This was in the Rocky River, OH Target. Does she not realize that she doesn't need to call attention to herself? The subtext which came to my mind at the time was "I want all the wrong guys to pay attention to me."

I have many other tattoo disaster stories with which I could bore readers involving people whom I've known. Most of them involve the same sort of screaming subtexts. There are all kinds of ad campaigns going on to persuade people to not discriminate against the "tattooed", as if this is some type of genetic condition. If I were a minority who had suffered from bigotry due to my skin color or appearance due to my race, these campaign would enrage me. The "tattooed" have no one to blame but themselves if they suffer discrimination. Maybe I'll start a campaign which promotes this message: "It's OK to admit that you regret getting your tattoos."

Cra Z Bo D

Atheists don't have no songs

Priestly Prudence

Dymphna asks the question Should priests blog?, and then she answers it.

Nope. Not unless the blog doesn't allow comments and is strictly homilies, apologetics, or a collection of the priest's writings like this or this.

I've seen priest blogs that were too worldly, waspish to anyone who didn't slobber over them like a big happy dog, and well.... dangerous because they showed bad judgement, and did not show the priesthood in a respectable light. A priest blog should not be like a pop star writing to his fans.

This is a succinct but strong argument against priests having chatty, kitchen sink blogs, and the sites she links to are excellent. As St. Josemaria Escriva put it, "[H]ow do I serve our Lord? By talking to souls about God and only about God."

A Long, Long Time

Of course, it doesn't really compare with Shatner's cover. But that might be a good thing.

"Our enemies are killing each other"

Just for the record, I'm against military action against Syria. Act for America lays out why in their petition:

Dear President Obama,

We agree that the civil war in Syria is a humanitarian disaster.

However, America does not need to be dragged into another war that will stress our already exhausted military and weak economy.

Our enemies are killing each other with Iran/Hezbollah/Assad on one side and the Al-Qaida factions/Muslim Brotherhood/salafists on the other.

America's intervention in Libya and Egypt proved to be grave mistakes that undermined our respect and stature on the international stage. Enough of supporting enemies who hate us, costing us the lives of our precious sons and daughters with no clear objective or strategy in sight.

A strong majority of Americans don't want us to get dragged into another Middle Eastern civil war. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 60% of Americans do not support U.S. involvement and 89% oppose arming the rebels.

Therefore, we appeal to you in the strongest voice:

Don't drag us into another Middle Eastern Civil War and don't arm the rebel factions in Syria.

It's painful to look at how badly Obama is doing in his attempt to gain support for his military action. For example, Adam Kinzinger is a Representative from Illinois who is for military action:

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., on Sunday said he had offered the White House his help to rally support for a strike on Syria but had been ignored.

“A week and a half ago my office actually reached out to the White House and said ‘we support the strike on Syria, we’re going to help you round up support if you need it,’” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I haven’t heard back from the White House yet — I haven’t heard back from anyone,” he continued. “I don’t even know who my White House liaison is, who’s supposed to be creating this relationship.”

...

“He’s trying to build a relationship with Congress and there’s a trust deficit,” he added.

"A trust deficit." Republicans are always understating things. Perma-hawk Peter King is also lamenting the poor job Obama is doing.

“I just wish the president had laid this out better,” said King on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“I wish that he would be more of a commander-in-chief than a community organizer,” he added.

“He’s commander in chief, for one year he said a red line was there and then the red line was crossed and he sends [Secretary of State John] Kerry and [Secretary of Defense Chuck] Hagel out,” said King. “We’re told Congress is not needed at the 11th hour. He brings in Congress and then he says it’s not his red line.

“I can’t imagine Harry Truman or John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan or Dwight Eisenhower ever putting a nation in a position like this on a military vote,” King added.

I like Peter King, he has done great work in exposing Islamic fascism and lunacy and he is usually in lock-step with Act for America. And truthfully, I really thought about this one, read Bill Kristol's thoughtful argument supporting action and listened to other supporters make their arguments (Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved, et al.) I see the point, but I don't think anything we end up doing would do a lick of good for us or anybody else in the world. Obama doesn't want to do this, he's putting too many restrictions on the action and telegraphing them all. It's really a lose-lose at this point, and just because Obama flushed his credibility it doesn't mean America is going over the cliff with him. Andrew McCarthy said it best: "American credibility on the international stage is bound up in the recognition of, and willingness to act on, vital national interests. It is not embodied by any single political actor – indeed, when one branch of government acts against the national interest, our system is designed to enable the other branches to put a stop to it."

More Topix Action

There has been a lot of action over at the famous Topix post hilariously titled "Rod Dreher is on the cover of the latest Greater B. R. Business Report" on page 6 and page 7. The most recent accusation toward Billfr and me is that we are the same person. Here's part of my response, which you can read in its entirety on page 7.

His over-sharing of these kinds of things is nauseating to normal people, yet he is praised by many for being a courageous and creative journalist by many. And yes, I admit that he had many fans, and many people who believe him to be a wonderful and insightful writer. So the least that people like Countrylad can do is admit that there are *MANY* people – more than two — who find him disagreeable and obnoxious when he bashes the Catholic church, for example, or when he goes ballistic over Mark Levin's slip-up, or when he over-capitalizes on a family tragedy, or when he goes on about the "platonic ideal of chickenness" (feel free to Google that phrase). A lot of these people have found a home at my blog to vent about the content and style of his writing and there is nothing "circular" about their reasoning and there is nothing ad hominem about their criticism.

Now I know that a lot of people here believe that Countrylad is Rod Dreher. I'm going on the record now suggesting that it is not. I know he sounds like Dreher often, but I think he is just another local log-rolling partner of Dreher's. The more I read his weak stick apologetics for Dreher by attacking the opposition the more I feel like I'm doing the right thing by continuing the steady drumbeat of criticism.

And while we're on the topic, check out this recent one-star review of The Little Way of Ruthie Leming:

Embarrassing, condescending, passive aggressive backbiting
August 23, 2013 by hallowmetrop

I bought this book because of my interests in localism, the alternatives presented by small communities in contrast to metropolitan areas, family, the South, and religion. But it was an unpleasant read, because Rod Dreher is just not a pleasant traveling companion.

Little Way is weighed down with the author's bitter grievance toward his late sister, whose great and unforgivable crime, it seems, was to roll her eyes at the fact that her brother (the author) is a pompous and prissy character enraptured by his own voice. Again and again, the book goes out of its way to paint the late sister as cruel or rude or simple or thoughtless or otherwise unappreciative of Dreher's very special talents. Dreher seldom misses a chance to condescend to his late sibling. All in all, the book comes across as driven by a deep-seated selfishness - the late sister's life is reduced to a vehicle for the author's own personal growth story: "How All the Bad Things My Sister Did to Me Made Me a Humbler Man."

On finishing this book, the predominant feeling I had was one of embarrassment at Dreher's oversharing, and sorrow for the poor sister and her kids, whose family life has been so thoughtlessly hijacked and publicized by Dreher.

The author's conversation with his niece at the end of the book captures this all too well. In talking to this teenage girl, who has just lost her mother, the author cannot refrain from losing his temper because the little girl won't side with him, Rod Dreher, in his resentment-fest against her own late mother! It's hard to believe any grown man could be so mean to a teenage girl who has just lost a parent. Any reasonably decent adult would subordinate their own ego to the wellbeing of the kid at such a moment. But for Dreher, of course, the real wronged party isn't the deceased or her daughter, but always and eternally him. This book struck me as having a deeply bitter core, and shot through with passive aggression. I went in expecting to like it, but found it unsettling and unpleasant, and I would not recommend it to anyone.

I suppose that Countrylad thinks that this was written by Billfr, Pauli, Kathleen, Keith, Pikkumatti and Diane since we're all the same person.