First, it looked like Donald Trump was going to endorse Newt Gingrich. Now, as both Jeff Lord and Ross Kaminsky have noted, it looks like he's going to give his blessings to Mitt Romney.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Boondoggle Projects Threaten California with Third World Status
Gov. Jerry Brown has an interesting definition of “third world.”
In an interview with a San Francisco radio station last week, Brown said California would become “a Third World country” unless the state builds a ghastly $100 billion high-speed rail line that’s been fraught with mismanagement, cost overruns and shaky ridership projections.
It’s an odd claim, considering many third-world nations are characterized by crumbling infrastructure, failed boondoggle projects and constant budgetary trouble. In much of the third-world, a new leader will pour massive amounts of a nation’s fortune into a single prestige project, only to have it fail when poor planning, bureaucratic incompetence and malfeasance slowly eat up all the funds.
By this definition, California seems currently on track to become America’s third-world state. Just like high-speed rail, the same spending lobby is promoting a nearly $1 billion per year tax hike so that a politically appointed panel can dole out favors to cronies. The $1 billion in new taxes under Proposition 29 goes into a lockbox that only this politically-influenced commission can access. Not even in cases of waste or abuse can the Governor or the Legislature make any changes! Proposition 29 sounds like it was plucked straight from the playbook of some Latin American dictator or Middle Eastern sheikh.
Jerry Brown ought to find the nearest dictionary. Pouring money into boondoggle projects while neglecting vital services like education and public safety is the surest way for California to join the third-world. Until California can figure out how to pay for what it already has, voters need to say no to more new spending.
Martha Montelongo is a columnist and radio talk show host.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Angelo Dundee, 1921-2012. R.I.P.
Legendary boxing corner man Angelo Dundee passed away at the age of 90. As of this writing, his cause of death is unknown.
To read the rest of this obituary, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this obituary, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Rush Should Credit Andy McCarthy, Not Me
It has come to my attention that Rush Limbaugh mentioned yours truly on his radio program today.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Don Cornelius, 1936-2012. R.I.P.
Don Cornelius, the longtime host of the nationally syndicated TV show Soul Train, died this morning of an apparent suicide. He was 75.
To read the rest of this obituary, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this obituary, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Romney's Poor Remark
Mitt Romney is drawing fire for saying he's "not concerned about the poor."
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Romney Only Needs 1,057 Delegates to Win GOP Nomination
At the risk of minimizing the significance of Mitt Romney's decisive victory tonight in Florida, let us keep in mind that he has won a grand total of 87 delegates.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
The Shafia Family Honor Killings
This story didn't receive much attention here but it has dominated the headlines in Canada since October when the Shafia Family trial began in Kingston, Ontario. Mohammad Shafia, his second wife Tooba Yahya and his son Hamed Shafia were accused of the June 2009 murders of his teenaged daughters Zainab, Sahar and Geeti (ages 19, 17 & 13) and his first wife Rona Amir Mohammad. Their bodies were found submerged inside a car in a lock along the Rideau Canal outside of Kingston.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Stream Of Consciousness Observations Regarding The 2012 State Of The Union
Obama insists he doesn't want our energy needs linked to unstable parts of the world. Then why did he veto the Keystone Oil Pipeline?
Obama remarked his grandparents' generation triumphed over fascism. Yet fascism is the very economic system that he advocates. Perhaps not yet in terms of wide scale deprivation of human rights but rather in the technical sense of the means of production remaining privately owned but strictly controlled by the government.
If we are all to play by the same set of rules, then why has it taken months for the National Park Service to do anything about the Occupy beatniks laying siege to a number of parks in Washington, DC?
Why should it be portrayed as a greater tragedy when a "single mother" loses her job rather than a man with a wife that stays at home? Seems both domestic arrangements are in similar positions without income.
In calling for a single source for the unemployed to seek information on training opportunities, doesn't that involve the federal government assuming more control over education?
Obama insists it should be illegal for students to drop out of school before they are 18. Why should this be a matter of federal interference and what will the punishment be for those leaving prior to that age?
If no country is better than any other according to multiculturalist dogma, then why should foreign students be allowed to remain here after graduation?
If women are to earn equal pay for equal work, then make them lug the same weight around the stockroom or warehouse without having to seek masculine assistance to do so.
If lightweight vests are being developed by federal researchers that can stop any bullet, will such protective garments be made available to civilians as well or do we have an obligation to be shot by law enforcement?
Interesting how it was mentioned derisively about a company that at one time ONLY produced yachts.
If it should be impermissible for insurance companies to charge more for women’s health coverage, then why should men have to pay more for motor vehicle policies?
Obama claimed politics is not about clinging to rigid ideologies. So why is it conservatives that must always surrender their basic ideals and ideas?
Obama claimed that government ought to only do what people are unable to do for themselves. Thing of it is, given his Frau's desire to manipulate and meddle in your dietary intake, the First Couple doesn't think you are really capable of doing anything for yourself.
Obama wants to grant tax credits to businesses hiring veterans. Why should the military status of a business's employees be any business of the federal government?
The best way to insure opportunities for veterans, as well as all other Americans, is for the federal government to know the least amount possible regarding the nation's workforce.
If it doesn't matter in the military what color or gender you are, as Obama insists, why are certain standards lowered for females seeking advancement and White males held back because of the color of their skin rather than the content of their character. If color has no bearing in the military, why are we often reminded that Colin Powell was the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as if that is suppose to immunize him against all criticism and scrutiny?
Would Bob Gates have been kept on as Secretary of Defense had he been a solid conservative Republican rather than an ardent establishmentarian compromiser?
Obama admonished the American people to look at what the nation could accomplish if the people were organized along military lines. However, the purpose of the military is to defend democracy, not practice it. In a civilian state, the average person is allowed to question the decrees and decisions of leaders at all levels: elected, appointed, and bureaucratic. Such bottom up scrutiny is not allowed in the military and is punished severely.
This analyst tabulated approximately 80 rounds of applause in the 2012 State of the Union Address.
by Frederick Meekins
Obama remarked his grandparents' generation triumphed over fascism. Yet fascism is the very economic system that he advocates. Perhaps not yet in terms of wide scale deprivation of human rights but rather in the technical sense of the means of production remaining privately owned but strictly controlled by the government.
If we are all to play by the same set of rules, then why has it taken months for the National Park Service to do anything about the Occupy beatniks laying siege to a number of parks in Washington, DC?
Why should it be portrayed as a greater tragedy when a "single mother" loses her job rather than a man with a wife that stays at home? Seems both domestic arrangements are in similar positions without income.
In calling for a single source for the unemployed to seek information on training opportunities, doesn't that involve the federal government assuming more control over education?
Obama insists it should be illegal for students to drop out of school before they are 18. Why should this be a matter of federal interference and what will the punishment be for those leaving prior to that age?
If no country is better than any other according to multiculturalist dogma, then why should foreign students be allowed to remain here after graduation?
If women are to earn equal pay for equal work, then make them lug the same weight around the stockroom or warehouse without having to seek masculine assistance to do so.
If lightweight vests are being developed by federal researchers that can stop any bullet, will such protective garments be made available to civilians as well or do we have an obligation to be shot by law enforcement?
Interesting how it was mentioned derisively about a company that at one time ONLY produced yachts.
If it should be impermissible for insurance companies to charge more for women’s health coverage, then why should men have to pay more for motor vehicle policies?
Obama claimed politics is not about clinging to rigid ideologies. So why is it conservatives that must always surrender their basic ideals and ideas?
Obama claimed that government ought to only do what people are unable to do for themselves. Thing of it is, given his Frau's desire to manipulate and meddle in your dietary intake, the First Couple doesn't think you are really capable of doing anything for yourself.
Obama wants to grant tax credits to businesses hiring veterans. Why should the military status of a business's employees be any business of the federal government?
The best way to insure opportunities for veterans, as well as all other Americans, is for the federal government to know the least amount possible regarding the nation's workforce.
If it doesn't matter in the military what color or gender you are, as Obama insists, why are certain standards lowered for females seeking advancement and White males held back because of the color of their skin rather than the content of their character. If color has no bearing in the military, why are we often reminded that Colin Powell was the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as if that is suppose to immunize him against all criticism and scrutiny?
Would Bob Gates have been kept on as Secretary of Defense had he been a solid conservative Republican rather than an ardent establishmentarian compromiser?
Obama admonished the American people to look at what the nation could accomplish if the people were organized along military lines. However, the purpose of the military is to defend democracy, not practice it. In a civilian state, the average person is allowed to question the decrees and decisions of leaders at all levels: elected, appointed, and bureaucratic. Such bottom up scrutiny is not allowed in the military and is punished severely.
This analyst tabulated approximately 80 rounds of applause in the 2012 State of the Union Address.
by Frederick Meekins
Reporters Without Borders: U.S. & Argentina Tied for 47th in Press Freedom
Last week, Reporters Without Borders released its Press Freedom Index 2011-2012. Out of 179 countries, the Paris based organization ranked the United States tied for 47th place with Argentina and Romania. In fact, the United States fell from 27th place because of the arrest of reporters during the Occupy protests last fall.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Video: Can Southern Occupy protesters answer four basic questions about our Government?
This is hysterical! From Accuracy in Media.
Van Jones promised back in November that the Occupy gang will put up over 2,000 candidates for election in 2012. After AIM’s Ben Johnson did some man-on-the-street pop quizzes in the south this past week, we sure hope they come through on Jones’ promise. Ladies and gentlemen: we present to you the fruits of public school social studies programs.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
UN's Agenda 21 destroying small communities, farms, livelihoods
Wildlands Project Cripples Rural Communties
CHALK ONE UP FOR DAVE
Editorial by Brian Hawthorne,
BRC Public Lands Director
I recently toured parts of southern New Mexico where my travels took me to a small town called Glenwood, right next to the Gila National Forest. The folks in Glenwood were very friendly and eager to show me around this small community. I was invited to visit with a group of locals at the Blue Front restaurant in Glenwood. After the best beef brisket lunch I've ever had, I was introduced and given a few minutes to give a presentation about BRC.
The Carter family used to run cattle on public lands near Escalante, Utah. See that alfalfa field in the background? It's irrigated with water from the Wide Hollow Reservoir, shown in the photo below. What's all that got to do with foundation funded "environmental" groups? Wide Hollow Reservoir's dam needs to be replaced. Thanks to lawsuits funded by foundations, plans to re build the reservoir have been litigated into oblivion. The result? The Carter's aren't running cattle anymore, and if the foundations are successful, that alfalfa field will be gone too. Either dried up and brown or built up with vacation condos. It's a crime!
I wasn't into my presentation for a minute when an elderly gentleman interrupted me. He did this remarkably politely, and when I think back on it now, I guess I could have been a bit 'put-out' by the interruption. After all, the group had invited me to come speak to them! But I wasn't bothered and sat down to quietly listened.
The gentleman told me the story of what has happened to Glenwood and other communities in the area. As with most small towns in rural areas, especially in the West, Glenwood had "grown up from nothing" based on resource related jobs. Jobs in logging, mining and agriculture were, and still are, the foundation of this community.
I continued to listen as my new friend described how foundation funded "environmental" groups began to change all that. He described how massive budgets allow these fringe groups to file lawsuits and systematically eliminate natural resource jobs. Closing roads is just icing on the cake, he said.
He talked about what happened to the community when the lawsuits forced the sawmills to close. Cattlemen were similarly affected, he said, and the population has been dwindling ever since. Most local businesses closed and community services dropped. He said this year their public school might have to close for lack of money.
"That hasn't stopped these radical groups," he said. The green groups are using litigation, legislation and, of course, the Endangered Species Act to take long held water rights. He said, "If they take our water, our community will die. There is no doubt about it."
Read the rest of the article at Stewards of the Sequoia
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Cain Endorses Newt
Tonight, Newt Gingrich received an endorsement from former GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain at a Republican gathering in West Palm Beach.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Kevin White, 1929-2012. R.I.P.
Former Boston Mayor Kevin White passed away tonight at the age of 82. He had been afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease for more than a decade.
To read the rest of this obituary, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this obituary, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Musharraf Postpones Return to Pakistan
Pervez Musharraf has postponed plans to return to Pakistan to re-launch his political career. Earlier this month, the former Pakistani military ruler had announced he would end more than three years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
CNN Florida GOP Debate Post-Mortem
Here are my final thoughts on tonight's Florida GOP Debate in Jacksonville which aired on CNN.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Santorum: Rights are God Given, Not Government Given
Rick Santorum had an excellent answer on a question from the audience about how faith would influence his decisions.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Romney: "Not Terribly Politically Involved" Until He Ran For Governor
In response to a query about Mitt Romney questioning Newt Gingrich's Ronald Reagan bonafides, Romney just said he "wasn't terribly politically involved" until he ran for Governor here in Massachusetts.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Are We Electing a First Lady?
Wolf Blitzer has just gone to a break. He is planning to ask each of the candidates, "Why would your wife make the best First Lady?"
To read the rest of their post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of their post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Romney is Out to Space
Mitt Romney chides Newt Gingrich for talking about a lunar colony on the moon.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Santorum Makes a Salient Point
I don't think Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have helped themselves with their terse exchanges on illegal immigration and Fannie & Freddie.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Robert Hegyes, 1951-2012. R.I.P.
Actor Robert Hegyes passed away this morning of a heart attack. He was 60.
To read the rest of this obituary, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this obituary, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Two More SOTU ?'s for Obama
Following President Obama's SOTU address on Tuesday night, I wrote out a list of a dozen questions.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Dole's Bitter Fruit
What makes Mitt Romney think Republican primary voters in Florida and elsewhere will be attracted to him by airing out Bob Dole's bitter fruit against Newt Gingrich?
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
And if N.C. Elects a Republican Governor
David N. Bass notes that Bev Perdue's decision not to seek a second term as Governor of North Carolina increases the likelihood of a Republican Governor being elected this November.
Well, if North Carolinians are motivated to vote for a Republican Governor chances are they will also be inclined to vote for a Republican President. Needless to say, this is not good news for President Obama.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
Well, if North Carolinians are motivated to vote for a Republican Governor chances are they will also be inclined to vote for a Republican President. Needless to say, this is not good news for President Obama.
To read the rest of this post, please check out The Spectacle Blog.
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