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!

Under the Fedora, Conventional wisdom and boobs

In the MSM this week it’s been all about Hillary Clinton and her inevitable nomination and election to the presidency.  Didn’t we see this movie five years ago?

Don’t count out Joe Biden for a moment.  Goofball image (I think that’s deliberate) not withstanding he served in the Senate for 36 years.  I suspect he has more to do with the Senate “no budget” move and the Obamacare passage than people realize.

Speaking of football the debate on the game continues, Bernard Pollard has this to say about the future of the game as things are done to make it safer:

“Thirty years from now, I don’t think it will be in existence,” Pollard told CBSSports.com. “I could be wrong. It’s just my opinion, but I think with the direction things are going — where [NFL rules makers] want to lighten up, and they’re throwing flags and everything else — there’s going to come a point where fans are going to get fed up with it.”

The pro-bowl was this week, once a year you have a game that is pretty much a flag football game without the flags in Hawaii to celebrate the best players of the year just before or just after the Super Bowl.

I’m sure a lot of people watched as the last game of the year when it comes on after or as the only game of the week before. But ask yourself this:  If every game was like that one would you pay to see it?  Would you buy an NFL package?  Would you go to the bar to watch it?

As these changes continue the viewers of the NFL will drift elsewhere, I suspect to the Legends (read Lingerie) football league.  Did you know there was such a thing with twelve teams in a national league nationwide?  If fans can’t have big hits they’ll just have to settle for big…..em ha well….moving on….

Did you know I have a co-blogger on my site?  I met Roxeanne De Luca in Boston the night of Scott Brown’s victory party back in 2010.  She is a brilliant young lady who has become a friend.  If I had a daughter I wish it would be her and if my sons were older, she is who I’d want them to end up with.

Yesterday she wrote a piece called:  How’s that women-empowering sexual revolution thing working out for you?

The author of this article, Allison Pearson, talks a lot about the porn culture and the ready access to a “virtual world” (online, texting, etc.). But she misses the point.   We could have thrown mobile phones at women in the 1860s, but no man would have dared to ask a lady to perform fellatio on him, because her dad would shoot him.  As in, dual to the death, all members of her family lined up to protest the treatment of their sister.  (I will note that some very backwards countries shoot the wronged woman, not the offending man.)

This is a sexual revolution issue.  Once we started saying that promiscuity is empowering, that sexual experimentation is fun for women, that pregnancy is the only obstacle a woman faces in intimate acts, we gave young men license to treat young women like unpaid prostitutes.  (Actually, worse – a man might understand if a prostitute said that she was off-duty for the night.)

She only posts maybe once or twice a week but she’s a gem.  I’m proud to have her here.

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As the Media continues to push gun control/confiscation/etc etc etc At PJ media Vodkapundit reprints a petition to eliminate armed guards around the president.  If Gun Free Zones are sufficient to protect our children they should be good enough for the politicians:

Of course a lot of definitions can be flexible for example words like “Newsworthy”  for example when one is a US senator and there is word about an FBI investigation concerning say, Underage Dominican Hookers and you’re scheduled to be on a national TV show.  You could cancel but if you can’t or won’t you may consider a strategy of deny, Deny DENY!

I suspect this was the strategy of Senator Robert Menendez as he appeared on ABC’s THIS WEEK two days after news of the FBI investigation of a sexual scandal involving underage Dominican Hookers broke.

Alas for the Senator ABC News’ Martha  Raddatz totally foiled that strategy by cleverly choosing to refuse to ask a single question on the subject

If Martha Raddatz, who we were all assured was an unbiased and professional journalist when questions arose before the vice-presidential debate last year, doesn’t find a scandal involving underage hookers and a US senator newsworthy when it involves a democrat why would any member of the party of Jackson feel restrained in anything?

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Allen West is now working for PJ media doing a feature called Next Generation :  This week talked about women in combat saying

This mission of the United States Military is to fight and win our nations war, fairness is an evaluative criteria.

While the media will ignore his words except to critique it the most significant thing he said was talking about how the enemy can strike anywhere

And as we saw four years ago at Fr. Hood Texas the enemy can strike where our troops should feel most secure their own military installation.  At Fr. Hood a pregnant soldier lost her life.

As a now syndicated radio talk host this might be a dangerous opinion but I’ve never understood the various commercials for testosterone or for erection pills (yes they have a name, but lets face it that’s what they are.

Victor Davis Hanson talked about the state of the state of California this week

Also, when you say, “My God, one of every three welfare recipients lives in California,” or “California schools are terrible,” you mean really, “Not in Newport or Carmel. So who cares about Fresno, or Tulare — they might as well be in Alabama for all the times I have been there.”

 He continues

Thank God for Mississippi and Alabama, or California schools would test dead last.

Somehow, in just thirty years we created obstacles to public learning that produce results approaching the two-century horrific legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. About half the resources of the California State University system are devoted to remedial schooling for underperforming high school students (well over half who enter take remediation courses; half don’t graduate even in six years; and well over half have sizable financial aid). The point of CSU’s general education requirement is not so much any more to offer broad learning (who is to say what is “general education?”), but rather to enter a sort of race, class, and gender boot camp that allows some time off to become familiar with how the culture and politics of the state should continue.

Hey as long as Mexico remains a bigger basket case, California will remain heaven to those who would cross.

As Glenn Reynolds says, “They’ll make us all beggars because they are easier to please.”

Well the first doctor who special is over and done as is the episode The Aztecs, it’s available on Netflix and you should watch it if you can.  It has a great message for today explained here.

See you next week and remember DaTechGuy on DaRadio is now Syndicated every Saturday Noon to 2 EST on the Money Matters Radio Network

Under the Fedora: The Man

Stan Musial died Saturday. 

Youngsters might not recognize the name although their spell checkers will.  Musial never dated movie stars, he wasn’t known for fights with the press, brawls in bars, or bad behavior of any time.  He was married for 72 years to the same woman who died last May and was never known to mistreat anyone expect opposing pitchers whose offering he deposited all over the field or over the fence from 1940 till 1962.

Musial won 3 MVP and was runner up 4 times.  Think of that a second, for one third of his career it was the consensus that he was the best or second best at what he did in the league.

That’s simply incredible.

There have been many tributes to Stan Musial over the last few days, but I think the greatest tribute to him was paid last year by Albert Pujois.

When he was signed by the Angels they put up promotional signs referring to him as El Hombre.  Given his numbers in 11 years he averaged 40 HR & 121 RBI a season while hitting .328. certainly number that would justify being called “El Hombre”, “The Man” but he would have none of it.

"I still have the same respect for him as I had, not just for what he's done in baseball but for what he did for his country. That's something you have to appreciate."

That really says it all doesn’t it?  BTW the Angels took down the billboards.

Best description of Stan Musial I ever read came from Bill James when declaring him the best left fielder of all time over Ted Williams :

Someone not thinking of death these days is Andrew Cuomo.  His latest abortion proposals bid to secure the Democrat left for 2016 are so extreme it produced this exchange between Elizabeth (The Anchoress) and her husband:

“he wants to be president. He is pandering to Planned Parenthood and Emily’s List because there is gold in them thar purses.”

My husband was appalled to ponder it: “a lot more than 30 pieces of silver,” he said, and it’s not going to get him to heaven.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not seeking heaven, just now,” I shrugged. “He’s seeking the White House, and power.”

Nobody is promised tomorrow, Andrew Cuomo might consider that, if he actually believed.  But I don’t’ think he does.

 I have given no pixels at all to Steubenville OH Rape case that has the left and the occupods in an uproar.  Lee Stranahan has and can tell you Everything you know about the case is wrong:

Among the widely reported and false claims:

• Steubenville is so corrupt that no justice is possible.
• There has been a massive cover-up in the case.
• The victim was drugged, put in a car trunk to bring her to a series of parties, urinated on, and left for dead in a field.
• That there a number of witnesses to the assaults who have not come forward.
• The school’s football coaches were involved in the night’s activities.
• That football players were given easy or preferential treatment in this case.
• No media was covering the case except for one blogger until Anonymous got involved.
• That no justice would happen in this case were it not for the intervention of Anonymous.
• The infamous video of Michael Nodianos joking has nothing to do with the legal case.

To reiterate, those claims are rumors that are unsupported by evidence and yet if you click on any link to a story about the case, you’ll find any number of in whichever story you read.

The Atlanta Falcons Tony Gonzalez moved one step closer to being  the Ernie Banks of Football.  A well-loved Hall of Fame player who never made it to the big game.  It’s quite possible Goonzalez is the best Tight End to ever play the game but he has some interesting opinions concerning marriage, (via Wikipedia)

Gonzalez had a commitment ceremony in July 2007 with his girlfriend, October, and considers himself married.

Considers himself married?  Really?  Well why not?  If we can redefine marriage one way why shouldn’t we redefine it any way anybody wants it to be?  After all it’s not like marriage is anything important.

People are laughing at this story about a guy at Verizon who outsourced his own job for a 1/5 of the price and pocketed the difference that he was being paid.

Two thoughts:  If Verizon was satisfied with the work and the price they were paying for it, what do they have to complain about?

Chip Jones at Conservative Report Online has a hell of a question concerning Benghazi:

You see, the Kalashnikov rifle chambers a 7.62 mm round. The US M-4 rifle chambers a 5.56 mm round. What is widely reported and accepted is that at least two of the TDY Green Berets who were assigned by the CIA as ARSO’s (assistant regional safety officers) were badly wounded and were treated for multiple gunshot wounds after they rescued over 20 civilian CIA workers from the compound.

The single question that needs to be asked is: “Were the rounds taken out of the wounded ARSO’s 7.62 mm or 5.56 mm?” And when the answer comes back “5.56 mm”, it opens the door to the proof that the cover up was meant to hide the fact that the Obama administration had been caught once again arming offshore groups that did not have the interests of our country at heart. It would open the door to proof that Benghazi was “Fast and Furious on Steroids.”

Covered a GOP forum on Monday with two of the candidates for Mass. GOP Chair

 Kirsten Hughes

 and Rick Green.

If you are a bit sleepy this from NiceDeb will wake you up:

Dr. Jim Garrow, a renowned author and humanitarian, made the shocking claim on his Facebook page, yesterday.

I have just been informed by a former senior military leader that Obama is using a new “litmus test” in determining who will stay and who must go in his military leaders. Get ready to explode folks. “The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not.” Those who will not are being removed.

Garrow noted in the comments that  “the man who told me this is one of America’s foremost military heroes,” prompting this relpy from one of his followers, “if this man is truly a military hero, he had better not be keeping this a secret. Military hero’s (sic) do what’s right, not what’s comfortable for themselves.”

Garrow responded, “have folks forgotten that the word is now out. I believe that the gentleman has done what he should and allowed all of us to sound the alarm.

If this is the slightest bit true it will be very interesting to see the reaction in the ranks.

Jack Mitchel’s book Fireside Chat is becoming more and more relevant

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A bit of a cultural thing, when I wanted that Bill James quote from the start of this piece I didn’t search the net.  I remembered reading it and ran upstairs grabbed the book I saw it in, leafed through it until I found it.  I tend to do that an awful lot when writing.  In this internet age/kindle age it must seem a quaint and amusing thing to do.  I’m sure some of the younger set must laugh at it.  Let them.  I’ll take the printed word over the pixel every time.  With the printed word I can say with 100% certainty that what it says on the page today will be the same thing it says on it tomorrow.

You know you are old when you find yourself using the words “the younger set” in a sentence.

Finally there is huge news concerning DaTechGuy on DaRadio.  Last week was my final week on WCRN AM 830.  Starting Saturday at 1 PM my radio show will be Syndicated by Cameo Productions.  The first stations carrying me will be in Massachusetts from the Money Matters Radio Network, a fourth online station will be added Feb 2^nd and from there, who knows?

Under the Fedora Ethics & Elastics

Back when I was in New York before the election there was a question during a debate between Ann Marie Buerkle and Hilary Rosen concerning fracking in NY

What wasn’t known at the time the question was asked was that NY State already had a report on Fracking and the environment commissioned by the state which said this:

The state’s Health Department found in an analysis it prepared early last year that the much-debated drilling technology known as hydrofracking could be conducted safely in New York.

Well this is great news, it’s strange that we are only hearing about this report now, but then again, if it was up to the Cuomo administration we still wouldn’t have heard of it:

“Thanks to a leak from an anonymous insider, we learned Thursday that a report commissioned by the State of New York has given fracking a clean bill of health. The insider ‘did not think it should be kept secret’ and released the document, which is now nearly one year old, to the New York Times.”

I’m sure the fact that Ann Marie Buerkle winning in 2010 by a razor thin margin had nothing to do with it. After all no governor would withhold a report that could mean jobs statewide just for political reasons.

And surely that kind of thing would not happen on the federal level

The Food and Drug Administration released long-awaited documents Dec. 21 on genetically modified salmon: an assessment of the fish’s potential environmental effects and a preliminary “finding of no significant impact” of the fish on the environment. This brings AquAdvantage salmon — Atlantic salmon that has been modified with a growth hormone gene from chinook salmon so that it reaches maturity faster — a significant step closer to FDA approval.

Astute readers will notice that the recently released documents are dated May 4. So why were they just released Dec. 21 — seven months later?

Well it’s not like they were talking to the political people on the White House side:

The seven month delay, sources within the government say, came after discussions late last spring between Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius’ office and officials linked to Valerie Jarrett at the Executive Office, who were debating the political implications of approving the GM salmon. Genetically modified plants and animals are controversial among the president’s political base, which was thought critical to his reelection efforts during a low point in the president’s popularity.

I wrote for a long time the left was acting like they were in deep trouble pre-election. Apparently they knew it too and made sure they held back anything that might depress vote from the president’s base.

Jazz Shaw asks a good question:

Obama originally swept into office claiming that the Republicans were the “anti-science party” and he was going to take the politics out science. Entine describes the White House block of the study’s release as, “a direct violation of numerous ethics regulations and possibly of federal laws.” But even if that weren’t the case, it would still be a stunning black eye for the administration which originally claimed it would change “the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology.”

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Speaking of things said before an election remember when Barack Obama said he would have more flexibility after the election? Well he proved it by a nominating Chuck “let the jews pay for it” Hagel for sec of Defense.

Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post opined a week before the pick that it seemed like an odd choice:

President Obama believes in tough sanctions against Iran; Hagel does not. The president insists that he wants good relations with Israel (and thereby can influence its decision-making with regard to Iran); Hagel has displayed a poisonous animosity toward the Jewish state. Hagel has advocated direct negotiations with Hamas; Obama has never gone this far. The difficulty in articulating to foes and friends our positions on an array of issues is greatly magnified when a critical cabinet officials has a long track record of disagreement with the president, or at least what the president says is his current policy.

Well it would be odd if President Obama actually believed these things

Of course some Obama supporters in the media see the Hagel nomination for what it is:

• · As a Republican who criticized President Bush’s policy in Iraq and supported the Afghanistan war, Hagel gives Obama cover to pull troops out of Afghanistan.

• · As a Republican who in 2011 called the Pentagon budget “bloated,” Hagel gives Obama cover to slash military spending, and to redirect money to deficit reduction and investments in Democratic policies.

• · As a Republican who questioned the validity of unilateral sanctions against adversaries like Iran, and who spoke against knee-jerk acquiescence to Israel, Hagel gives Obama room to maneuver against Tehran.

Hagel gives Obama the cover to do the things he really wants to do but didn’t dare say it aloud.

I don’t want to hear a single complaint from any Jewish person who voted for the president. 20 years ago there might have been an excuse for not knowing but in this internet age the only reason to be ignorant of what was coming was to choose to be so.

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I won’t laugh at them as lives are at stake, but I will laugh at Obama voters shocked SHOCKED to see the tax increase in the first paychecks of 2013 down 2% due to taxes. As Twitchy puts it

The harsh reality of crushed unicorn dreams and the bitter smell of regret. As Twitchy reported, Americans started noticing that Obama’s “fair share” claims weren’t so fair and many were shocked … shocked … that their first paychecks of the year were smaller.

The indebted young Twitter user above now says she was just being sarcastic, but plenty of Obama supporters facing smaller paychecks continue to show genuine disenchantment.

There are some people who are doing better in these times, people like Bill Richardson:

The U.S. Export-Import Bank recently steered hundreds of millions of dollars in federal loans to Spanish green energy conglomerate Abengoa, which happens to share an advisory board member with the bank.

There was a time when the MSM would have had an interest in this story, but in the age of Obama what happens with Democrats stays in places like the Washington Free Beacon.

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I don’t follow college football, but I really have to laugh when I saw my fellow Catholics going nuts over Notre Dame vs Alabama. A lot of folks were upset when they were crushed by the tide.

I wonder how many of these Catholics were outraged by Obama as the Commencement speaker or by big contributors to Emily’s (Abortion) list on the board?

Where your treasure is that’s where your heart will be.

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The NHL players have FINALLY agreed to a deal with the owners ending the lockout

The National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association struck a tentative agreement early Sunday that may end a three-month lockout of unionized players, league and union officials announced.

Pat Garofalo at US news is not happy with the deal:

But while fans are surely excited that their favorite teams are returning to the ice (go Devils!), it’s a shame that another professional sports lockout was resolved by taking a chunk of hide from the players. And make no mistake: the lockout was about owners trying to extract huge concessions from their employees, and they largely succeeded.

Time Magazine has suddenly discovered that there might be a downside to sex selective abortion

Growing evidence suggests that in countries like India and China, where the ratio of men to women is unnaturally high due to the selective abortion of female fetuses and neglect of girl children, the rates of violence towards women increase. “The sex ratio imbalance directly leads to more sex trafficking and bride buying,”

I don’t see why we should care, haven’t we been told for years these aren’t actually children being aborted? Mark Steyn who pointed this out years ago says this about the Time article:

The dearth of chicks will be one of the most important and consequential features of the global scene a couple of decades on, and, as I write in After America, “a world full of male frustrations will always find a market for sex slavery.” If American feminists wished to raise awareness of the issues Time is now addressing, they might give it an arresting name like, oh, “the war on women.” But I gather that title’s taken.

Hey it’s not a “war on women” unless the problem can be traced to white republican men or Christians, but maybe if Time blames it on colonialism they can pull it off?

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Finally for Christmas I got an excellent book for Christmas Ships of Oak Guns of Iron by Ronald D. Utt and noticed an interesting question from Charles Francis Adams as to when the US became a world class power:

Adams not only says “yes” but dares to specify an exact date and time when the country reached this point:

…To be specific , it was at thirty minutes after six o’clock on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 19th 1812.

It wasn’t Adams quote, but the next two sentences of the author Ronald D. Utt that caught my eye:

Adams did not have to remind his audience what had happened at that specified moment. They all knew, as did every schoolboy in the nation (emphasis mine)

I will wager not one boy in a thousand today knows the significance of that day, It was the day Issac Hull in USS Constitution destroyed the HMS Guerriere.

In other words it’s a story of heroes and such stories are not allowed to be celebrated in Modern America as I wrote last week:

A society emulates and it’s children aspire to what it celebrates. A country celebrates greatness, can remain great. A society that celebrates nothing, can’t.

That simple sentence in that book says more about the decline of America than any budget battle or reality show ever can.

Truer words never spoken

Under the Fedora: Back from Hiatus

While life has been busy for me the rest of the world has gone on:

The biggest news being in Egypt as an actual people’s revolution is taking on the Muslim Brotherhood while the MSM and Americans ignore it:

Fast forward a bit and we are more than two weeks into a second uprising in Egypt after the newly elected Muslim Brotherhood president Morsi took dictatorial powers for himself less than 24 hours after he won praise for taking the heat off the Muslim Brotherhood for not fighting Israel brokering a cease-fire between Israel & Hamas.

There are not only no cheers this time but it seems the western media in general and the US media in particular find this revolution unimportant and those fighting it not worth the trouble to cover.

While the media is keen on protecting Obama the press is missing something huge first the very fact of the revolution against the Muslim Brotherhood:

If with the protections that the laws of United States and Western Nations provide, follows of Islam feel intimidated, how must worse must it be is when you live in a nation where a person can disappear without effort, where the authorities are used to being obeyed, where the press isn’t free, where you find yourself monitored and where the religious, social and cultural norms are against you to the point where even if people don’t take part in acts against you, they either approve or understand?

Given that situation the revolt is huge as would the results:

If this revolution succeeds even slightly, say with the meaningless replacement of Morsi with another Muslim Brotherhood hack, that success will be an earthquake equivalent to Lech Walesa first day in the shipyard in Poland standing up and fighting.

It took a decade for Walesa’s activism to bear fruit and another decade for the freedom of Poland and the nations behind the Iron curtain to follow. It might take ten times that in a culture that doesn’t have the same history for this to bear fruit.

I can’t overstate the importance of this, if this happens it could be radical Islam’s doom.

While our government hasn’t been willing to endorse these peaceful rebels they are starting to get on board in Syria:

A plan to provide military training to the Syrian rebels fighting the Assad regime and support them with air and naval power is being drawn up by an international coalition

Assad is a murderous bastard of a dictator, however the people who are fighting him, who now possess chemical weapons btw, are no ray of sunshine either

A few days later, we returned to the issue of victims, of whether or not they are all shabiha, and his friend Mohammad. At the end of the day, I told him, he was a Syrian killing other Syrians. “I used to think about the people I’d killed, I’d think about their parents,” he says. “Yes, we are all Syrian, but we didn’t create these differences, they did. It is because I am Syrian, because these people, these civilians who are dying are Syrian, that I am doing this, that I am standing with and for my people. Those who are not standing with their people are not Syrian, they are traitors, and traitors must die.”:

This is real trouble:

ask yourself, if he was willing to kill his fellow Syrians, his fellow Muslims and his childhood friend, how much easier will it be for him to kill or blow up an infidel westerner if his religion calls upon him to do so?

When the fighting in Syria and elsewhere is done, hundreds to thousands of men like this will be unleashed on the world following a religious doctrine that tells them if they slaughter us they get paradise.

This is a preview of coming attractions, you can deny it or ignore it but that won’t stop it from happening.

I give credit to Canada they are taking a harder line with the rebels

“Canada told the Syrian opposition Tuesday it must reject extremism and embrace minorities before Ottawa will recognize its legitimacy as a successor to President Bashar Al-Assad, according to a federal official.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird explained Canada’s preconditions for official recognition at a meeting with representatives of the opposition Syrian National Coalition in Morocco on Tuesday, the official said.

Thank God somebody is

Incidentally there is also a cyber war going on in Syria, Stephan Faris writes about it here.

Speaking of rewarding bad behavior Brett Kimberlin who we have written about in these pages before had cases on both the federal & state level against him thrown out last week.

It’s actually worse than that: It’s not just bad characters, but bad behavior that have been emboldened. Why shouldn’t everyone with a grudge resort to the methods Kimberlin & Co. employed against Walker?

The targeting of political bloggers, the cyberstalking and harassment, are now all now acceptable tactics for which there is evidently no legal discourse. Thanks, Judge Potter.

And Attorney Dan Backer notes it’s even worse

“The precedent set here is just terrible,” Backer said, talking about how Judge Potter ignored Kimberlin’s violation of court orders to seal the discovery materials. “Why should anyone comply with discovery?”

Walker is penalized for obeying the Judges rulings while Kimberlin is rewarded for flouting them, sounds like the left on gun control.

As Glenn Reynolds says you get more of behavior you reward, more is coming.

If you want to know why Union thugs feel safe punching out Steven Crowder on camera this is why they know their faces won’t be on ABC, CBS or NBC.

I still want to know who writes the checks?

Speaking of villainy that is not being exposed Jay Nordlinger writes about the women in White in Cuba:

almost 100 members of the Ladies in White were arrested and beaten on Sunday. The Ladies are a Cuban democracy and human-rights group. For a story on the latest, go here.

I wish to name some of the women arrested and beaten. I will name, arbitrarily, three from the first half of the alphabet, three from the second. Marlene Abreu, Lisandra Farray, Tatiana López. Bárbara Pausa, Berta Soler, Olga Torres.

You want to know something cute? The dictatorship accused the Ladies of not respecting the “grief of the Cuban people” over the ill health of Comrade Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan strongman.

If you haven’t heard about the Ladies in White and their fight for justice in Cuba, you are likely an Obama voter.

Some sports, the New England Patriots absolutely destroyed the Houston Texans 42-14. This makes the third time in four weeks they have scored 42 or more points in their last 4 games (49 vs Jets 59 vs Colts). The difference in the teams is best illustrated by the patriots indifference to the result. The Texans called it the most important game in their franchise history while the patriots considered it an afterthought.

In the 21^st century The Patriots have won their division 83% of the time, appeared in the Superbowl 45% of the Superbowls winning 3 times out of 5 ( 27% of the total superbowls of the 21^st century).

To the players on the Patriots, the season will not be considered successful unless that 45% number becomes 50%, and that 27% number becomes 33%.

That must be how the Yankees of the 40’s & 50’s and the Celtics of the 50’s and 60’s felt. Fans should enjoy it, very frew teams ever reach that level.

A little cinema? The first of the Hobbit trilogy comes out this week, It’s one of the few movies I’m excited to see. That one of the shortest books Tolkien wrote on middle earth has been stretched to three movies is odd but if they are anything near as good as the Lord of the Ring’s series then Peter Jackson will be responsible for the two best trilogies of all time just ahead of the Godfather movies.

And yeah Godfather 3 was a good movie. It’s underrated because it is compared to the first two which were two of the greatest movies of all time.

Some religion, the Pope tweeted out his first ever messages Wednesday some thoughts on it here.

Finally this is the first Under the Fedora in three weeks, this is because in the space of 16 days my mother went from getting her license renewed at 88 to being on her deathbed unable to rise, eat, drink or speak.

The path from Doctor’s visit to Hospital to Intensive Care to Hospital Room to Home to die was very quick and reminds one that no matter what the Mayans say, you and I are all going to have our end of the world moment and need to be sure we are right with God.

I’m sure my mother is ready, it’s up to all of us to make sure we are.

Under the Fedora, Road Trip, Hookers and Elections

Under the Fedora is a day late today,  a large chunk of the column disappeared down the memory hole and had to be re-written.  It a pain but when you have people losing homes and business from a storm it’s a small thing to say.

With One week before the election it’s becoming increasingly clear, even to my fellow conservatives who have been telling me for six months to a year that my predictions of a Republican victory were wrong, to people who said my poll critiques was a case of denial, and to folk  who said that no matter what Mitt Romney did Barack Obama’s team would come up with some way to win, that the re-election of Barack Obama is just not going to happen.

It’s a strange contrast, so many on the left are constantly forecasting an apocalypse in climate, massive disease due to franken-foods or that this or that method of energy production will doom all mankind.  It’s always the cause of people and the world striking back at them for daring to move science or industry in a forbidden direction.  Meanwhile many on the right while having optimism in the country’s people never seem to share that same optimism in their own electoral prospects just KNOWING some unexpected doom , that next shoe is just waiting to drop to spoil their electoral hopes, sort of like Red Sox Fans pre 2004.

It’s been quite a thing to see the slow conversions of conservatives, worry to optimism to confidence to cockiness. 

The latest example comes from Ohio where Stacy McCain continues not only to see to see big crowds but also shows a GOP electorate that is willing to suffer extreme measures to do what needs to be done:

George Cullen has been canvassing door-to-door for the past five weeks. He usually hits about 50 doors a day, but only got 25 under the storm conditions yesterday.

If you have an electorate so motivated they are canvassing during hurricanes…

Meanwhile on the left you have actual breakdowns…

For the past several weeks, the 60-year-old San Francisco resident has frequently bolted awake in the middle of the night, in "a panic attack," she said. She darts for her computer and checks the latest polls. Some days she's so distraught that she can't exercise.

Every morning, she gets e-mails from friends who've been just as sleepless. Most are so tense, they can croak out only a few words. "Very anxious." "Worried."

"Nothing more needs to be said," said Edelman, a retired educational administrator.

How shallow are people who are having panic attacks over an election.  We have people who have lost homes, business, states devastated, people killed and the left is having panic attacks over Obama losing?

There are two cultures in America these days, lets hope our friends on the left, living in their post Christian secular culture can find comfort somewhere.

Speaking of comfort Sen Bob Mendenez (D-NJ) is finding some in the Dominican Republic, or should I say buying some:

Two women from the Dominican Republic told The Daily Caller that Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez paid them for sex earlier this year.

In interviews, the two women said they met Menendez around Easter at Casa de Campo, an expensive 7,000 acre resort in the Dominican Republic. They claimed Menendez agreed to pay them $500 for sex acts, but in the end they each received only $100.

Jokes about democrat and deficits not withstanding I have to disagree with Stacy McCain who ends his piece with the line:

What would Lilly Ledbetter say?

I hate to be vulgar but as long as he was a secure vote for Abortion she would say “Vote Menendez”

Any person who thinks democrat women who still kneel and worship at the altar of Bill Clinton are going to care about Bob Menendez paying for sex from women in the Dominican Republic has not paid attention to the Democrat party and where they have gone in the last 15 years.

One woman who would not have is the latest Saint in the Catholic Calendar Kateri Tekakwitha the first American Indian, a Mohawk to be a canonized saint in the church.  During my road trip I stopped by the shrine in Fonda NY and shot some video:

My full batch of photos are here.

That road trip was to cover different congressional & senate races in NY & CT.  There are several worth looking at: Freshman GOP candidates Nan Hayworth in NY-18 & Chris Gibson in NY-19 and in NY-21 you have a GOP challenger Matt Dohney trying to retake the large northernmost district in the state.

The most famous race that I visited was the Senate race in CT as Linda McMahon makes her 2^nd attempt to win a senate seat from the state, I spoke to one of her supporters

I also spoke to a women involved in CT politics on the local and state level

The congressional race she is talking about in CT-5 I think this race is a real sleeper and Andrew Rorabach Is worth keeping an eye on.

So we have a GOP candidate with a long record and some crossover appeal running in an open seat. Unlike Scott Brown in 2010 he doesn’t have the advantage of an opponent making critical mistakes on the trail but also unlike Brown he is not running statewide so his familiarity with the district and the voters could make all the difference.

And in NY-24 Ann Marie Buerkle is running for re-election in a rematch of 2010 against former congressman Dan Maffei.  I spoke to her campaign manager

He described Ann as a Great conservative in the NE, facing stiff challenge from a Washington insider well-funded. He calls Ann “the best conservative we have in the North East”, I’m inclined to agree but I wouldn’t limit the description to this area.

 and some of her volunteers one of who was actually a intern at WCRN

Strangely enough her opponent Dan “Col Runaway” Maffei continues to duck her including a Candidate forum I covered the people there were not impressed by his absence

and Candidate Ann Marie Buerkle who is one of the most accessible candidates a district has ever seen, didn’t mince words

Dan Maffei should be ashamed of himself and I don’t know how he has the moxie to go out and ask the people for their vote after he has turned down four of these town hall debates, that he’s turned down major network debates, one with the local newspaper. He is afraid to reflect on his record, he is afraid to take responsibility for what he has voted for. All he wants to do is as you said: Attack attack attack rather than looking at what he voted for when he was in congress.

All of these races deserves some of that cash surplus the GOP has but I would particularly suggest the CT-5 race as an excellent chance for a pickup, and while the redistricting in NY-24 wasn’t kind to Congresswoman Buerkle it is an excellent opportunity to confirm that it’s not just Barack Obama but the Democrat party that is being rejected in 2012.

On that same line Ladd Ehlinger has produced this political ad for the Tea Party urging a vote for the GOP.

This is Ladd last political ad, he gives many reasons for leaving the realm of politics

Fourth, politicians are, for the most part, clueless. There are exceptions, and I've been lucky to have worked with some. But on the other hand… well, I'll not name names, but for example, in 2010 I made a very popular viral video for one Congressional aspirant. He got hundreds of thousands of hits, and more importantly, hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. It was just about the only successful thing in his campaign (he lost big-time). But, in 2012, he used someone else – and received neither hits nor donations, and of this writing, seems destined to lose again.

Ladd is a great loss for the right but his movies will be a big gain for everyone.

Finally the World Series is over and the Giants have completed one of the great turnarounds in the history of baseball.  Down 2-0 in a 5 game series and 3-1 in a seven game series they managed to win six elimination games and then sweep the formidable Tigers in 4.  The most impressive stat.  In their last 7 games Giant pitching threw 4 shutouts and gave up a mere 9 runs.  That’s a 1.46 ERA those are Bob Gibson type numbers.

Now that’s something

See you after the election.

Under the Fedora, Courage, Movies, and Crafts

The fallout from Mitt Romney’s performance in Wednesday’s presidential debate continues to grow as even the farthest left of our populace are unable to deny the president horrible performance, but have come up with creative excuses for it to the point where those excuses have become a source of comedy.

But few people have talked about why Romney did so well.  There is a post at Hennessy’s view that details five categories where Romney excelled:

Command of the Facts

Affable Demeanor

Eye Contact

Consistency

Presidential

It made a lot of trouble for lefties particularly the Saturday Night Live gang.  If you don’t believe that Saturday Night Live has been in the tank take a look at this quote from the New York Times:

“It’s boring enough when they’re talking about all this and how it will affect Americans, but when you’re sitting there trying to pull comedy out of it, it’s really bad,” Mr. Meyers said. “There were people on Twitter saying: ‘You must be really happy, there’s so much in this debate. This is writing itself.’ I was like: what debate are you watching?”

Seriously, guys who actually write comedy for a living didn’t have material to use?  It was hard to write?

And note what clip was actually written.  You have Mitt Romney telling saying “I killed Osama Bin Laden” and Obama distracted by anniversary gifts.  The premise being: “Romney is a blatant liar and Obama didn’t call him out.”

There are funny conservatives out there, but until & unless they hit it big, they are as closeted as a Jew in 1943 Berlin.  (Or maybe not, is it just me or do I see celeb after celeb coming out for Romney lately?)

Even more interesting is the premise of the entire NYT article.  Of COURSE it would be hard to come up with such a sketch.

Strangely enough the New Yorker was able to do it in a single image

Of course Clint Eastwood beat them all to it.

You know when I saw that image I presumed it was a parody.  I just couldn’t believe the New Yorker had the guts to do it.

The cover worked btw because while everyone knew it was true many of the elites would not dare say it in public out of fear.

Speaking of telling the truth without fear we have heard over and over about the courage of people like Madonna unafraid to shock the establishment and establishment religion.  Apparently there are limits to such courage

The 54-year-old singer was planning to don a 'Terror Bride' outfit – a combination of a traditional Iraqi bridal veil and a US soldier's uniform – in the video for upcoming single 'Superstar' as a statement against oppression against women and war, but her advisers convinced her to ditch the political stunt because of the outrage it would be likely to cause.

A source said: ''Madonna had the outfit ready to go. She was really proud of it and said it was her 'Terror Bride' costume.

''She had paraded around in it and said she was going to wear it in her next music video.

''At first when people started telling her it was madness she just brushed it off.

''But when they mentioned that her actions could put her life at risk she decided to ditch it from her video and certainly won't be wearing it on stage.''

Imagine the outrage if fear of Christian retaliation had kept her from making the video “Like a Prayer.  The media would be non stop in it’s condemnation. 

Then again maybe not, if Christians were the type of people who would murder a singer based on a costume then the media would be the same silent coward they are toward violent Islamists.  Robert Spencer is a man of courage, Madonna is not a woman of courage, you want see a woman of courage, meet Pam Geller…

Or Brigitte Gabriel

for my money they are not only braver than Madonna, but are all sexier too, well except for Robert….

That call in the Braves Cardinals game on the infield fly was one of the worst calls I’ve seen in a playoff game since 1985 when a blown call at first cost St. Louis the series.  I guess the laws of probability took nearly three decades to even things out for the Cards.

They’re still going to have a tough time vs Washington.

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There are under 30 days to the election and with Scott Brown running in Massachusetts and New Hampshire as a swing state you can’t turn on any media in my house without running into a political ad…except on my show or blog.

Maybe it’s sour grapes on my part because I’m living hand to mouth in the Obama Years but you would think with a blog ranked as of this writing #192441 worldwide and #31848 nationally and with a Radio show 98 weeks old on a 50,000 watt Radio station broadcasting from the second largest city in New England might be of interest as an advertising platform to SOMEONE.

I guess the bottom line is the ad guys on the left figure not enough of their folks are reading me and the ad guys on the right figure why buy the cow when you are getting the milk for free.

It’s kind of disheartening when you are trying to make it as a business.

Speaking of Scott Brown one of the things I’ve argued to people on the right who are upset with him as the candidate is the idea he the choice is not between Scott Brown & Ronald Regan or Scott Brown vs Sarah Palin but Scott Brown vs Elizabeth Warren.

Many of my friends on the right think it’s our job to nominate the most conservative candidate we can.  I’d like that too but before we can even think of doing that we have a more important task.  We need to change the minds of our fellow citizens so they will VOTE for a more conservative candidate.

 We need to make the case for fiscal conservatism and we need to make the case for social conservatism we need to explain in language they can understand using examples they can relate to why social conservatism is better for the cities, better for the state, better for the country, better for society and better for THEM.

That should be job 1 for the GOP in a state like Massachusetts and if we don’t make that case Republicans will be holding their noses come election day in this state forever.

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Saw Taken 2 this weekend with the wife and my youngest.  It was pretty good, I particularly liked the character of the daughter showing the effects of her traumatic experience from the first movie.  I also liked the quick cuts, it makes it easier to simulate fast action, (my wife disagreed here).

The picture still reminds me of Big Jake, when I see Neeson speak I still hear John Wayne in Big Jake saying:

My job is to bring the boy home alive or  see you dead, every man jack of you, now I’d rather bring the boy home alive, it’s easier but either way I’ll earn my money.

Oddly Neeson expected this movie to be a straight to DVD picture never expecting it to be a hit nor for him to become an “action hero”

I suspect the movie will do very well at the box office,  it’s a perfect date move, the guy likes the action and DaWife thinks Liam Neeson is hot.  Maybe I should ask her opinion on Robert Spencer, but she doesn’t like beards.

I did my show live from the American Products store in Cherry Valley last Saturday,  a dealer set up there had what I thought was the absolutely coolest Halloween item ever

Here is a closer look at her stuff.

Isn’t that just America though  a woman at home raising her kids comes up with some ideas and it becomes a business.  I’ll be she could sell 50,000 of those candy corn Halloween Candy Bags every year if people knew about them.  (you can order them here)

I think that’s magnificent

Speaking of magnificent, if it’s under 10 days to my 100^th show brunch and live broadcast at Lago’s restaurant.  If you are in driving distance from Worcester click here to reserve a spot free.  If you want evidence that you should come here is exhibit A

Even if you are on the left and disagree with me, this place’s food is worth the trip, particularly if it’s on me.

See you next week

Under the Fedora Frenchie, Rooster, Lt Data & Sherman

I had such plans for Under the Fedora this week.

I was going to talk about the Hollis event with Kelly Ayotte & Lt. Gov Kerry Healey , the Mitt Romney event at Holman stadium and all I've covered.  I'll save that for next week…

…beacuse yesterday on 9/11 our embassies in Libya & Egypt were attacked, our diplomats killed, the flag torn down, the Islamic flag raised on 9/11 no less… and our administration responded thus:

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.

That is not an misprint, it is not a phony site, this was the statement put out.

As I watched last night all I could think of was Jimmy Carter.  Ironically  the same day that Greg Sargant insisted this was not 1980 our embassies are attacked, but that’s unfair to Carter, his first reaction was not to defend the Iranians who hit our embassy.

Moreover here is Sec of State Hilary Clinton:

"The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind."

Note that Mrs. Clinton’s first words were not for the Attacked Americans, the burned embassy, it was for the religious sensibilities of the attackers.

As Steven Clarke put it:

“While the responsibility for our lack of credibility in the greater middle east rests with Obama, let’s not forget that our middle east foreign policy is the product of Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Samantha Power and others who share their views. These past four years do not reflect well upon their judgment: something to bear in mind when talk of a Hillary Clinton presidency arises.”

My reaction to the embassy statement frankly is not printable, But Mitt Romney is a much more measured man that is he had this to say:.

“I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi,” the statement read. “It’s disgraceful that the Obama Administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”

And the media response to this has been united, loud and decisive, to condemn pillory and attack….Mitt Romney for his inflammatory statements: such as this headline from Salon:

Mitt’s shameful Libya statement

MSNBC has been unrelenting attacking Mitt Romney panel after panel condemning Mitt & Bibi Netanyahu  but hasn’t had much to say about the embassy statement, like the killing of the Copts and the burning of their churches as far as MSNBC and our friends on the left are concerned it’s never happened. Or It’s not newsworthy.

As I watched it this Morning I was in complete disbelief.

These people have no idea, no understanding at all.  This is their world view, that Israel is the enemy, in their world Islam has to be appeased, that Mitt Romney not those who have attacked our people are the enemy that HAS to be stopped.

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The title of this piece is Frenchie , Rooster and Lt. Data & Sherman.  That is because when I look at what has happened it reminds me of three movie/TV moments.

In the Movie 1943 Sahara a small contingent of British, French, Australians & Americans find themselves untilled in the Egyptian desert in 1942.  Earlier in the movie when a Nazi flyer is shot down the Frenchman offers to take him behind a dune, when the others object he says they don't understand: 

“This is a Nazi”. 

They ignore him, later in the movie when the small band is in a fight with hundreds of Germans.  Under a flag of truce Frenchie is sent to talk to the German commander, as he returns is shot in the back.  The British Officer too late gets it saying: 

“Frenchie was right, we don’t’ understand the Nazis”

When I look at our reaction to the Muslim Brotherhood this is what I see.

———————-

On the TV show Star Trek the Next Generation there is an episode called:  "The Most Toys" where an eccentric  named Kivas kidnaps Lt. Cmdr Data to add to his collection.  He continually threatens the life of a woman who has served him to keep Data in check and when they both try to escape he slaughters her with a weapon that produces violent painful death.

When Data picks up the blaster and orders his surrender his captor notes Data can not kill and threatens says the following:

“You will entertain me and you will entertain my guests if you don’t I’ll kill someone else, him perhaps, it doesn’t matter, his blood will be on your hands just like Varia”

Data the android without feelings finally concludes “I cannot allow this to continue.” And just as he is about to fire he is transported out

When I see the repeated deaths, and attacks by radical Islam, I wonder when we will say what Data does.

————————

The final quote come from the movie True Grit.  Here is a short clip of the scene where he after talking to a rat telling it to stop, John Wayne in his Academy award willing roll as Rooster Cogburn acts.

after Mattie puts the rat out Rooster turns to her and says 

“You can’t serve papers on a rat baby sister you have to kill him or let it be”

The full clip is here

This is the reality of radical Islam.  For years we have been warning about Islamic Terror, for a long time we’ve warned about the Muslim Brotherhood.  I’ve maintained that Libya & Egypt both have the right to the government they wish, but with those rights come responsilities.  Yet our friends on the left are convinced that we can talk our way out of this, that if only we are nicer and more submissive they will be come our friends.  This is not only a delusion it is a delusion that is fatal

I give the last word to General Sherman

"We cannot change the hearts of those people of the South, but we can make war so terrible…that generations pass away before they again appeal to it.".

And I will say out loud what nobody else wants to.  We can not change Islamists hearts we can not make the love us unless we abandon free speech and the principles we hold dear.  We can not change these people unless we submit and we are fools to try to do so.  All we can do is make them fear us, all we can do is make them understand that any such attack, any such action will produce a response so massive so horrible and so unrelenting that generations will pass before they consider striking again.

Remember It wasn’t diplomacy or even the impending invasion of Japan and the potential of millions of deaths fighting us that ended World war two, it was two atomic bombs.

Your call people.

Under the Fedora Eastwood, Atheists and a tale of Two Platforms

Last week the GOP convention took place in Tampa, it was shorted by a day due to the Hurricane but as far as the media is concerned the only person who spoke during that week was Clint Eastwood.

Eastwood’s speech was totally unexpected.  Not only was nobody expecting a comedy routine, but the style of the comedy was something out of the early sixties.  A time Eastwood would remember well but the audience familiar with Eastwood would have forgotten.

The media has been unanimous in it’s condemnation of the quality of the Eastwood business, it’s been a foolish, it’s been bizarre it’s been the joke of the RNC and Eastwood is a old man who doesn’t know what he’s doing.

The only problem with this argument is the reaction has been exactly the opposite, Eastwood’s empty chair has produced “Empty Chair Day”, the empty chair (with apologies to Amsterdam & Newheart) is now known as “Eastwooding” and we’ve even reached the point where people are urging the DNC to bring in it’s own elderly advocate in the form of Betty White to help boost the cause, and as late as Tuesday, Eastwood related items topped Memeorandum and if you go to the front page of CNN’s web page today.

Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t sound like a joke, an oddity or a failure.  I mean you actually had a union president beating up on a chair in response to Eastwood:

“Mitt Romney doesn’t have anything to say, Paul Ryan doesn’t have anything to say.”

 

Things took a dark turn when he then kicked and threw the chair, yelling “Dirty Harry, make my day! We’re gonna kick ass in November!” The crowd nevertheless, cheered him on.

Fear makes people do very weird things.  These people are scared.

But that’s not odd, it’s not the first time Eastwoods foes have been afraid of him.

Meanwhile there were a lot of other speakers at the RNC that the left found less interesting, the ignored Mia Love, the passed on Artur Davis on MSNBC but his speech while not producing a reaction from MSNBC certainly managed to drive Roland Martin up a wall.

What did Davis say that was so damaging to the left?  This:

“There are Americans watching right now who voted for the President but they’re searching right now, because they know their votes didn’t build the country they wanted. To those democrats and Independents whose minds are open to argument, listen closely to the Democratic party that will gather in Charlotte, ask yourself if you hear your voice in the clamor, ask if these Democrats still speak for you?

This was the re-occurring theme of the GOP convention and of speaker after speaker, not so much a reaffirmation for true believers but a message reaching out to those who voted the other way saying:   It’s OK to switch.

Oddly enough Mitt Romney, who gave a pretty good speech, has become almost an afterthought.  That was both good, (the media and the left was too busy hitting Eastwood to lay a glove on Mitt), and bad  (lot of people didn’t get much exposure to what he had to say).

Still a good week for him.

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There also were a lot of questions about the RNC platform on Abortion, no specific exception for rape and incest. Never mind that this is the same platform line that they’ve had for years, in the Age of Akin this is breaking news to the MSM.

Strangely enough this week we there were some major changes to the DNC platform that came out.  The document came out for taxpayer funded abortion, the media yawned.

Language favoring Israel was removed.

Below is the section missing from the 2012 document. Pay special attention to the areas in bold (H/T @RJCHQ) :

 

The United States and its Quartet partners should continue to isolate Hamas until it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and abides by past agreements. Sustained American leadership for peace and security will require patient efforts and the personal commitment of the President of the United States. The creation of a Palestinian state through final status negotiations, together with an international compensation mechanism, should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel. All understand that it is unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations to be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949. Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel.The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.

 

Each of these items are crucial to Israel and each have been key areas of contention for those who believe this President has not been friendly to the Jewish State.

And the MSM didn’t blink an eye, never mind there was a time when risking a split with American Jews would be big news, that would be front page headlines, in every paper and every newscast there is.

But there was a bigger change that came up.

For years religious types have been moving away from the Democrat party.  In their last platform the word “God” only had a single appearance.  This time around they don’t even have that, which produced an incredible piece of video when Brett Baier dared to ask Dick Durbin about it.

Outside of Fox this got very little press, Piers Morgan asked Debbie Wasserman Schultz about it and her answer was classic

“What I can tell you is our policies and our values are is reflected in many faith traditions and that what our platform is all about.”

What a generic piece of pabulum this is.  I can’t believe a party chairman would be willing to say it aloud.

While a platform Sans God might play poorly with the general public, it is playing well with the atheist movement, they might be celebrating if they weren’t so busy feuding among themselves.

Atheism ought to be a progressive social movement in addition to being a philosophical and scientific position, because living in a godless universe means something to humanity.

That’ PZ Myers last seen putting nails through Eucharist hosts.  And according to Myers what happens if you don’t buy into this new Athiest club (known as Athiest+) well:

And if you don’t agree with any of that — and this is the only ‘divisive’ part — then you’re an asshole. I suggest you form your own label, “Asshole Atheists” and own it, proudly.

Yeah this is really going to play well in Peoria

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Doctor who came back finally this week, we had a good but tragic story that was a real tear jerker but I was really annoyed to see what they did with the new companion.

I think Stephen Moffat  is a brilliant writer, Silence in the Library and Blink were classic episodes as was Time Crash featuring the 5^th doctor meeting the 10^th.

But since he became the head of the series it’s as if every story was a temporal paradox.

Finally the Brett Kimberlin crowd continues to issue threats to all concerned of Lawsuits and worse but his record in court doesn’t seem to be doing too well:

And then Kimberlin foolishly rested without asking me to authenticate the documents that were allegedly by me.  (I didn’t highlight this mistake when discussing the case because I hoped he would continue to make that mistake.)  At that point, my able attorney, Reginald Bours III stood up and said:

 

I’m going to ask that you [the court] make a finding now that the petitioner [Kimberlin] has not met, even initially, the burden of proof required under the statute.

 

In other words, Bours felt that Kimberlin’s presentation was so feeble that a defense was not necessary.  Every person is presumed not to have violated the peace order statute until they have been proven by the petitioner to have done so.  And further, an appeal to the circuit court it is a trial de novo, which means it is an entirely new trial, with the presumption I am “innocent” until proven “guilty” just like in the first trial.  (Or more precisely they presume I did nothing justifying a peace order until Kimberlin proves I had.)  The court agreed and dismissed the petition.

There is still a long way to go in this case but if I was a betting man I’d be betting against the bad guys here, oh and if you want to help the fight there is a rather cool auction going on with some great items from artist Chris Muir of Day by Day

Each 11″ x 19″ print has been signed by the following giants of the Blogosphere: Michelle Malkin, Glenn and Helen Reynolds (Instapundit and Dr.Helen), Bill Whittle (Afterburner), Jeff Goldstein (Protein Wisdom), Ed Morrissey (Hot Air), Robert Stacy McCain (The Other McCain), and Mandy Nagy (Liberty Chick).

And now you can get a copy of the print in one of two ways.  Two of them will be raffled off.  The third will be auctioned off.

And all proceeds will go to the Blogger’s Defense Team.

Sounds like a worthy investment to me