Under the Fedora Christie, Woodward and MacFarlane

I’m looking at the dust up between Chris Christie and CPAC and can’t help but remember the movie Witness for the Prosecution from 1957.

There was a speech by Marlene Dietrich’s character at the end of the trial that was the true climax of the movie.

(spoiler alert)

Mrs. Vole:  Remember when I came to see you, you said that no jury would believe an alibi given by a loving wife no matter shown she swore he was innocent.  That gave me the idea.

Sir Wilfred:  What Idea?

Mrs Vole:  The idea to not be a witness for my husband but for the prosecution.  That I should swear Leonard was guilty and would expose me as a vicious liar because only then would they believe Leonard was innocent.

When I look at CPAC not inviting Chris Christie I see the same dynamic.

MSNBC not withstanding Christie is smart enough to know that the left is not going to lay off of him or paint him as anything other than a right-wing extremist. I suspect he figures with the president winning the state by that wide a spread and Obamacare being the signature achievement of this president (and I use the word achievement VERY loosely)this move takes at least one target off of his chest.

And when it comes down to it, there is nothing CPAC could do better for his re-election efforts than keeping him away.

By staying away nothing he says there can be use to call him a “right-winger” in a +18 Obama state. It also precludes a nasty confrontation with conservatives that could hurt him among a base where he can’t spare a single vote.

And Christie is playing it to the hilt.

“It’s not like I’m lacking for invitations to speak, both here or around the country, it’s not like I have a whole lot of openings in my schedule,” Christie said. He added, referencing the damage to his state wrought by Superstorm Sandy, “I can’t sweat the small stuff. I got a state to rebuild. I can’t sweat the small stuff.”

The next year the teachers were still there, the school was still there and everything pretty much remained as it had been before. It put the lie to the hype.

Bob Woodward said this evening on CNN that a “very senior person” at the White House warned him in an email that he would “regret doing this,” the same day he has continued to slam President Barack Obama over the looming forced cuts known as the sequester.

CNN host Wolf Blitzer said that the network invited a White House official to debate Woodward on-air, but the White House declined.

This has gotten a lot of play but as American Glob and Breitbart’s John Nolte put it the real story is the number of people attacking Woodward on the left.

If you want to know who is a member of the current version of Journolist this it’s a handy guide.

The Department of Homeland Security has started releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants held in local jails in anticipation of automatic budget cuts, in a move one Arizona sheriff called politically motivated — and dangerous. 

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement released more than 500 detainees in his county alone over the weekend. A spokesman for Babeu told FoxNews.com that ICE officials have said they plan to release a total of nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants.

Some Doctor Who.  Saw the special on the 2^nd Doctor this week.  I thought it odd that while they had Frazier Hines and Wendy Padbuty as guests on the special they didn’t have Deborah Watling particularly since Tomb of the Cyberman was the first episode that featured her as a companion.

I’m also surprised they didn’t include Patrick Troughton’s  son David Troughton who is active in the series, but that might wait till the next special on the 3^rd Doctor where he appeared as King Peladon.

The special was on at the same time as the Oscars which I totally ignored.  White uninterested I do find it amusing that so many people like Jane Fonda are so angry at Seth MacFarline for acting like….Seth MacFarline.

Anyone who has watched any episode of Family Guy or saw the movie Ted knew this was coming (particularly the musical numbers, MacFarline LOVES musicals).  The amount of racist, sexist and offensive humor directed against people is considerable.  If anybody thought MacFarline was going to change for the Oscars, they have a screw loose.

So I guess they’ll have to find new hosts for next year.  I hear Trey Parker and Matt Stone have the day free…

Under the Fedora 2-21-13

I’ve been watching the constant attacks on Marco Rubio for drinking water coupled with the hits on Ted Cruz for daring to question Chuck Hagel and the outside money that he won’t disclose details on.

It’s been fascinating to see the media continue to embrace this while doing their best to shield Senator Mendenez.  CNN actually ran 8 minutes in prime time defending Menendez on the hooker side and downplaying the corrupting side the “everybody does it” argument.

Sissy Willis put out a tweet on Senator Cruz on Wednesday that says it all:

If you want to know why Ted Cruz is hated or feared by the left.  This is why.

On the same subject Morning Joe argued Tuesday that Rush Limbaugh had hurt republicans because Democrats had won 4 of the last six presidential elections.  Actually republicans are 3 for seven in elections since Rush was syndicated but here is a better measure.

Both Joe Scarborough and I are going to be fifty this year.  From the day we were born till Rush Limbaugh went on the air happens to be 25 years, half our lives.  During that time GOP controlled the House of Representatives exactly 0 years and the senate 6 years.  At no time did the GOP control both houses of congress.

During the 25 years since Rush came on the air the GOP has controlled the house for 14 years and the senate for 10 years and for the first time in our lifetimes controlled both house and senate for 10 of them.

Interesting story out of NY,  Katherine Connell at National Review notes  Mayor Bloomberg has “won” in his confrontation with School Bus Drivers in NYC.  The drivers returned to work but apparently He might have done even better for the city if the Bush Strike Continued for a while:

Walcott estimated the city saved $80 million because it wasn’t paying bus companies during the strike

NRO reports the city’s contract pays $7,000 annually per student to get them to school and back.

Personally If I was a New Yorker I’d offer to take 4 Kids to school every day for them at $14,000 a year even at 3 hours per school day that would come out to $25.92 an hour for 3 hours work., but lets get more creative.

$7000 a year per student that works out to $38.88 per school day per student based on a 180 day school year.

If you offered students $20 a day if they got themselves to school and back without city help how many do you think would do so.  In fact how many would make SURE they didn’t miss a day or drop out if they knew, they could get a $20 for just showing up?  Or even better lets say parents had a deal where they could get $3500 deposited annually into an UGMA account for kids if they got them to school on their own.  Over the course of 12 years that $42,000.  Enough for an inexpensive community college or enough for a youth in a trade to start his own business.  Meanwhile NYC  would save $500,000,000

Talking about Schools a while back Massachusetts was debating a “Transgendered Rights” bill a while back.  Opponents nicknamed it the Bathroom bill and talked about girls being forced to shower with boys etc and they were dismissed.  The Transexual rights bill was passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor on Jan 19^th 2012 supposedly with the “shared bathroom ” aspects of it removed.

However with elections safely won by democrats in November what could not be supported by legislation politically has become the rule in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Department of Education on Friday issued directives for handling transgender students, including allowing them to use the bathrooms or play on the sports teams that correspond to the gender with which they identify.

It gets better:

The document said whether a student identifies as a boy or girl is up to the student or, in the case of younger students, the parents.

While the subject is snarkworthy:

Who needs a hole in the wall of the girls shower anymore? In Massachusetts all you need is a teenager desperate enough to see actual naked girls in the shower and viola you have access, and if those girls cover up, or scream or run into a stall to avoid you, remember THEY are the ones being unreasonable:

Scott said disciplining students who won’t acknowledge a student’s gender identity is appropriate because it amounts to bullying

Got that? If you girls don’t totally welcome Pee Wee into your locker room you are a BULLY and we all know how bad bullying is!

these are the actual guidelines issued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Education Department!

This bill is the logical extension of Gay Marriage, after you redefine what marriage and INSIST that those who don’t agree are bigots redefining what boys and girls are is no great leap.

People on the left, particularly Mike Barnicle have constantly said with snark “how does gay marriage effect you.”  Well now you know and it only took nine years.

If you are a parent of daughters and send them to a Massachusetts public school my advice is to get them out before high school and perhaps before middle school if you can financially swing it.

I’ve been writing a series on George Washington and why he remains the greatest president and greatest American who ever lived.  The first three parts  here, here and here with one more on the way.

A psychic opened up shop on the Fitchburg Leominster line.  I’ve always laughed at that kind of thing.  I always figured a real psychic would have won a lottery and retired once they figured out they had any such gift but what I’d really like to see is someone open such a shop and as soon as a person walks through the door says:  “Yes he’s cheating on you $20 please”, or “no you don’t want to quit $20 please.”

I have to admit this story made me smile:

The malware had been designed to attack Mac computers.

The same software, which infected Macs by exploiting a flaw in a version of Oracle Corp’s Java software used as a plug-in on Web browsers, was used to launch attacks against Facebook, which the social network disclosed on Friday.

The malware was also employed in attacks against Mac computers used by “other companies,” Apple said, without elaborating on the scale of the assault.

For a very long time, I’ve been a big critic of those who recommend Mac because “they are safe from virus”.  The truth has always been the only reason why you didn’t have a lot of malware for Apples was they were such a small segment of the market and the Willie Suttons of the net went where the computers were.

Now that Mac’s profile has grown they have become targets and a lot of people who never bothered with anti-virus software because they had Macs are going to be burned.

As time has gone by we’ve more details on Pope Benedicts physical condition I find myself wondering less and less why he decided to retire and more and more wondering if he will live to see retirement.

Finally I was pleased to see Bonnie Langford back in on Big Finish doing audios with Colin Baker after a very long absence, but have we really reached the point where we are doing paradoxes inside of paradoxes?

I blame Steven Moffett.  This is his vision of Doctor Who , in small does it’s fine  but as Faye Dunaway said in the Classic Move Little Big Man about working in a brothel:

if I was married and could come here once or twice a week,… …it might be fun, but every night is just boring

I sure hope things change with Dr. Who before it becomes boring.

See you in a week and don’t miss DaTechGuy on DaRadio Saturday Noon to 2 EST on the money matters radio network & FTR radio

Under the Fedora: Syndication DaPope and More

Michael Graham has now gone into Self Syndication in the same way I have, from the same studio I broadcast from, soliciting advertisers in the same way as I am, at the same time of day as me (except during the week rather than Saturdays)  and on all of the stations I’m on as well.

Who says great minds don’t think alike?

Pope Benedict XVI shocked the entire Catholic world by announcing his resignation this week effective February 28^th.  As  Jazz Shaw put it  The last time something like this happened the only Europeans who knew America existed were Vikings.

The news has been a Godsend to Catholic Dissident groups, not because there is any chance of the new Pope being a supporter of Gay Marriage or Abortion etc etc etc, as every voting Cardinal has been appointed by either Benedict XVI or John Paul II.  The odds are better of me being named Rush Limbaugh’s permanent replacement on EIB.

However it does allow them to pretend that they are relevant, get some airtime and generate the money necessary to support their status as leftist gadflies.

People are thinking what should you call an ex Pope.  I vote for Holy Grand Father.

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My co-blogger Roxeanne tells he she’s been having trouble with her internet for 4 weeks.  Comcast has really fumbled the ball on this.  I keep reminding her she has access to a blog now ranked 101 among conservative web sites.  Comcast should consider this too.

As I’m typing this Chris Dorner has apparently been killed by police but not before he took hostages and killed one officer and wounded another.

The celebration of Dorner based no race and ideology has been one of the more disgusting things I’ve seen.  It is in my opinion symbolic of a portion of society where fatherhood is a rare thing but even with that rationalization it’s still a shock, but it shouldn’t be after all there are those who celebrated Charles Manson, but there was a time before the net that people would be ashamed to celebrate evil publicly.

This week’s DaTechGuy on DaRadio BTW will feature Bishop Daniel Reilly in the first hour on the subject of the Pope’s resignation,  and author Dave Carter talking about his book to be released Friday “Che the lost diaries”.   It would not surprise me to see Christopher Dorner to be celebrated in the same way as Che.  On the bright side it beats him being lionized like Muma

It has been announced that the 2^nd Doctor Adventure that will be showed this month for the 50^th anniversary of Dr. Who is Tomb of the Cybermen.

I usually don’t’ have much good to say about Deval Patrick but in my opinion the state did an excellent job with the Blizzard of 13.  The lessons of 1978 and the ice storm seem to have been learned.

He’s still a bad governor but credit when credit is due.

Robert Stacy McCain is used to covering stories others have ignored:

It’s Ash Wednesday, and a 29-year-old kindergarten teacher was laid to rest in Westchester County, N.Y. Her story is now gaining international attention, but the New York Times and the national TV networks can’t be bothered to report the death of a woman who died after a late-term abortion by Dr. LeRoy Carhart. So the story got covered by Viral Read:

Some have objected and he has answered:

Accuse me of disrespecting the Morbelli family’s grief, denounce me for seeking to exploit this woman’s death for the sake of politics and I will repeat what I’ve said before: I don’t care, just stop ignoring this story.

This story isn’t about me or you or Jill Stanek. This story is about an abortionist who left a woman to bleed to death. If you want to target Jill Stanek for a lawsuit, please go right ahead, Bridgette, and I’ll cover the lawsuit, because that will call attention to the shameful enormity of the bloody career of this disgraceful butcher, LeRoy Carhart.

Double-dog dare ya.

No, Bridgette, you wouldn’t dare pursue such a lawsuit, because you know as well as I do that the more Americans learn about what “late-term abortion” really means, the more they’ll be horrified to know that the United States is one of only four countries in the world — along with China, North Korea and Canada — where abortions are legal in the 33rd week of pregnancy.

I’ll have Stacy on the show next week,  I wonder if anyone will bother to report this story by then?

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CPAC & Blogbash is coming, my friend Jerry Wilson is not impressed:

For the uninitiated — you haven’t missed much, believe me — BlogBash is a party thrown for political bloggers during CPAC (an annual gathering of conservatives) by one Ali Akbar, with whom my encounters have been well chronicled, and associates. It’s quite the to-do, with awards and sponsors and special guest star appearances by high rollers in conservative new media and politicians. Gaining admittance to BlogBash is the modern equivalent of trying to get into Studio 54.

Come BlogBash night, you will see scads and scores of blog posts and tweets from those in attendance hanging out with others in attendance, 99 44/100% of which will feature photos of said attendees in various states of inebriation hanging onto other attendees.

Assuming I make it to CPAC (my credentials have been approved) I’ll likely be at Blogbash.  You’ll find me sitting on the floor near an electrical outlet typing away as I always am.

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The GEICO ad of Dikembe Mutombo is simply brilliant.  It’s one of those things you can watch and just smile.  With the political scene being what it is you need a reason to smile these days.

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I hang with a group of friends on Tuesdays playing board games as we have since the 70’s.  Three of us went to High School Together.  The oldest of the three of us turns 50 this week.

This is my least favorite time of the year,  waiting for the start of baseball season.   The snow is on the ground and the first spring training games have yet to start Doctor Who hasn’t yet returned to TV.

Spring can’t come fast enough.

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Some TV?  My wife has started watching Arrow, it’s an interesting re-write of the old Green Arrow comic, its big into the whole Anti-hero theme but no matter how you slice it, you have a bunch of six packed guys doing very manly things.

Women were never big into superhero stuff but once you had movies and TV’s full of hunks you KNEW that was going to change.

Finally I want to thank the readers, when I decided to have a weekly tip jar goal so I could finally start paying myself I was very worried.  When I made my $300 weekly goal the first time I felt good but it’s not the first time but the 2^nd time that makes the difference.  Well Week two raised the $300 and then some.

None of this is possible without you.  I won’t forget it.

Under the Fedora: Courage Models et/al

This morning I was looking at Morning Joe when they said we had the potential for a repeat of the Blizzard of ’78 this weekend.  Apparently there are several computer weather models and the spread is as much as 1” to 16” inches in parts of NY State.

If 72 hours out our computer models have a 1600% margin of error what makes anyone think it’s sensible to base spending on computer models forecasting “climate change” over  30 or 50 years?

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Lost among the talk of the Robert Menendez and the Hookers and the Dominican donors is this story out of New Jersey:

An Elmwood Park man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring with his brother to violate federal election law by steering $21,400 in illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez.

Benedetto Bigica, 45, admitted that he worked with his brother, Joseph, of Franklin Lakes, from April 2005 to April 2008 to make the illegal contributions, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

And Joseph threw in his share:

Joseph Bigica, 47, an insurance broker, was a prominent Democratic contributor who won millions of dollars in no-bid government contracts across North Jersey. Authorities said he recruited 19 people, including family members and business associates, and used them as straw donors to make 30 illegal contributions to Menendez’s campaigns, totaling $98,600 from 2005 to 2009.

How did senator Menendez describe this?  His office called the Senator a “victim”

I was really excited about Robert Spencer being a speaker at the annual Catholic Men’s Conference for the Worcester Diocese.  It’s a great event, it was the first such men’s conference in the country and spawned a slew of them nationwide and there is no sight like 1000+ men lined up for confession.

Then this happened:

I was scheduled to appear at a Catholic Men’s Conference in Worcester, Massachusetts on March 16, until today, when the Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Robert McManus, directed that my appearance be canceled. McManus was under pressure from Islamic supremacist groups who were calling and emailing the diocese demanding that he cancel my appearance. I’ve been informed that they were asked to call the diocese and demand the cancellation by a Boston Globe reporter named Lisa J. Wangsness, who contacted me this morning and appears to have instigated the entire controversy.

Meanwhile He spoke at the Natick VFW this week I interviewed him afterwards:

I know the Bishop and he’s a pretty decent guy who has not given in to the media in the past.  I suspect he was badly played by the various groups involved but what really confuses me is this:

The Globe has not and likely will not be any sort of ally of the church and when the “new evangelization” gets into full swing the same people screaming for the removal of Spencer will be objecting to Catholic proselytizing .

What will happen when these same people start objecting then?

Karl Rove, Scott Brown and Mitt Romney not withstanding , you can’t win an election attacking your party and you can’t grow a party by treating your base this way.  Perhaps when the GOP figures that out  I’ll come back.

Things continue to go poorly in Egypt, in addition to the issues with freedom now they have an issue with bread:

the government is telling Egyptians (almost half of whom live on less than $2 a day) to eat less. You can’t make this sort of thing up. Egypt lost another $1.4 billion in foreign exchange reserves in January, and probably is flat broke after figuring in arrears to oil and food suppliers, and it imports half its food, so something had to give. In response, Egypt’s Islamist government is emulating North Korea’s approach to food shortages:

But …but I thought with Mubarek out his family wasn’t stealing anymore?  Where is that money going?  Well that’s a good question but the origin of this issue likely comes from another source:

“We need stability to get tourists back. But the Islamist rule is provoking more instability and rage,” said Sayed Abdel Tawab, a 33-year-old tour guide who has seen his daily earnings shrink from $32 per day to $11.

“I have no hope there will be stability,” said Yasser Bahlol, 33, in his own souvenir stand as he idly surveyed what would previously have been a bustling, high-season flow of visitors. Only a few Egyptian visitors wandered past, spending little.

It’s hard to pay for imported calories when you chase away the tourists who provide the capital for them.  As Spengler puts it…

We are watching something unique and terrible in modern history, namely the disintegration of a society of 80 million people, with the prospect of real hunger–a self-made famine brought about by social and political disaster rather than crop failure or war.

I don’t know how unique it is.  There is a certain fellow named Mugabi who managed to turn his country into a land of food shortages.

The Ravens won the Superbowl, that didn’t surprise me, that they were able to strop the 49ers on a goal line stand, that didn’t surprise me either, but I object to the entire philosophy of the entire non-call on the 4^th and goal play.

Either holding is a flagible offense or it is not.  The rule book doesn’t say holding is allowed if it is in the 4^th quarter of the Superbowl with under two minutes to play.

The game has become a lot about the ads, some ads like the Paul Harvey Farm ad will be remembered long after they are done, others like the Go Daddy Kiss will soon be forgotten.

The ad that I will remember most is the Prom Ad.  I hated it and its personal.  I always was told there were plenty of people at the prom alone, but at my senior prom I was the only single there.  A cloth was tied to the empty chair next to me   Single most humiliating experience of my life.

The real irony, my wife to be, same High School Class was at home, wasn’t  asked.

This week on DaTechGuy on DaRadio Noon till 2 EST Lee Stranahan joins us for the 1^st Hour to talk Steubenville while in the 2^nd hour Michael Graham will stop by briefly to tell us about his new show premiering Monday the 11^th on the New England Radio Network.

Join us on the Money Matters Radio network and on FTR radio.  Don’t miss it!