Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

May 30, 2008

Quote of the Day

"There’s no greater social power than the power to ration. And, other than rationing food, there is no greater instrument of social control than rationing energy, the currency of just about everything one does and uses in an advanced society." ~ Charles Krauthammer

May 29, 2008

Susan Sarandon: I 'Might' Leave US if Obama Loses

It's that time again, folks....when celebrity blowhards threaten to leave America if the election doesn't go the way they think it should. This time, Susan Sarandon is the doofus du jour, claiming that if Barack Obama doesn't win she may well be outta here (h/t: Hot Air):

“If McCain gets in, it’s going to be very, very dangerous,” she says.

“It’s a critical time, but I have faith in the American people. If they prove me wrong, I’ll be checking out a move to Italy. Maybe Canada, I don’t know. We’re at an abyss.”

I realize she's an actress who is highly in tune with her emotions and therefore more likely to be ruled by them, but come on already. We've heard plenty of this kind of talk back in 2004 and I can't think of any celebs who actually left because Bush was reelected. Not even the high-strung pottymouth Alec Baldwin or perpetually outraged (and brassier-challenged) Barbra Streisand.

Yes, Madonna and Gwynnie now have homes in England, but that's because they both married Brits...and yet I haven't heard of them actually renouncing their American citizenship. If you ask me, the Brits can have the two of them.

Unlike over-emotional Hollywood hooh hahs who make these sensational statements to get some press, I don't plan on going anywhere if Barack Obama does win. Where else would I really be better off? Canada or England, bastions of Socialism paid for by exorbitant taxes where increasing dhimmitude is the norm? Germany or France, where unemployment is nearly as high as the tax rates and radical Islam is gaining a stronger foothold every day? An impoverished nation like Mexico or Zimbabwe? Venezuela, which is withering under the stranglehold of Hugo Chavez?

Sure, if Obama wins I'll be unhappy and uneasy. But for now, nowhere is better than the United States, no matter who is at the helm. That may change down the road, but what realistic alternative do we have? (Besides, I don't have the cash reserves like Sarandon to just "pick up and go" whenever I please.)

By all means, Susan, take off to the Great White North, or wherever else may tickle your fancy. But while Sarandon may "have faith in the American people" I don't have faith that she'll keep her word if McCain emerges victorious in November - more's the pity.

Quotes of the Day

"It's a strange one-sided argument when [liberals] can cite Nixon going to China and Reagan meeting with Gorbachev, but [conservatives] can't cite Chamberlain meeting with Hitler."

and

"Because, really, who better to face down a Holocaust denier with a messianic complex than the guy who is afraid of a debate moderated by Brit Hume?" ~ Ann Coulter

I couldn't decide which one was better!

May 28, 2008

Greenpeace Activists Go Back to the Stone Age

And, one assumes, they want the rest of us to go back to the Stone Age as well. This video shows their attempt to deliver a "stone" tablet to the European Parliament in Brussels accusing auto industry lobbyists of causing - gasp - global warming.

Note the ominous ending...a busy highway in Belgium and a scary-looking exhaust pipe. I'm going to have nightmares tonight...not.

Was their Flintstone-like garb made from real animal skins, or did they use fabric that was created in a textile mill that was likely powered by some sort of fossil fuel? And what about their Flintsone-mobile? Was it made from real stone that they themselves shaped with handmade tools? Looks like plastic to me, which is, you guessed it, another petroleum product.

How did they transport the "stone car" to the protest site? Somehow I doubt they pushed it for miles and miles.

And how did they upload their video to YouTube? By a computer made with plenty of plastic (more petroleum product), using electricity that's likely created by fossil fuel.

Cripes, if you're going to protest the use of fossil fuels, make sure you aren't using products made from them.

Proof that some people have more time on their hands than they know what to do with. These losers need real jobs, stat.

h/t: Moonbattery

Quote of the Day

"Obama's "strategy" for dealing with evil is the progeny of a secular age that sees everything bad as curable through counseling, good intentions masquerading as wishful thinking and/or pharmaceutical intervention." ~ Cal Thomas

May 27, 2008

Happy Birthday AARON!

May 23, 2008

Bitter Americans Clinging to Religion and Guns

Thanks to Char for the inspiration!

Just in Time For Memorial Day

My friend Joe Skelly has written a moving tribute to Mike Spann, the first American soldier to die on a foreign battlefield in what is known as the War on Terror.

I won't waste your time with excerpts. Go over and read the whole thing yourself.

And don't forget to fly your flag this Memorial Day weekend in honor of Mike Spann and all of our other fallen heroes, from today and yesterday. Their sacrifice makes our way of life possible.

Has Public Voyeurism Gone Too Far?

My latest at Pajamas Media:

Most people love gossip. It seems to be an ingrained human trait. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the first intelligible words uttered by cavemen were, “Did you hear that Ogg’s wife is leaving him?” It used to be that gossip was relegated to backyard fences, the office water cooler, and local gossip columns. But as modern society has given us more leisure time and the technology to spread the word, peeking in on the lives of others has gone beyond idle curiosity, becoming fodder for mass consumption entertainment. As I said earlier, it’s one thing when individuals allow themselves to be exploited on reality television. It’s quite another thing, however, when individuals find their personal tragedies in the spotlight through no fault of their own.

Read it all here.

Conservatism Dead? Fred Says NO!

Fred Thompson, writing for the Wall Street Journal today, says that the death of conservativism is greatly exaggerated:

These were the principles relied upon by our Founding Fathers, and which paved the way for a Constitution that delineated the powers of the central government, established checks and balances among its branches, and further diffused its power through a system of federalism. These principles led to a market economy, the primacy of the rule of law and the abolition of slavery. They also helped to establish liberal trade policies and to meld idealism and realism in our foreign and military policies.

The power of conservative principles is borne out in the most strong, prosperous and free country in the history of the world. In the U.S., basic constitutional government has been preserved, foreign tyrannies have been defeated, our failed welfare system was reformed, and the confiscatory income tax rates of a few decades ago have been substantially reduced. This may be why the party where most conservatives reside, the Republican Party, has won seven of the last 10 presidential elections.

He goes on to remind conservatives of several key points regarding economics, education and the free market. Be sure to read the whole thing.

John McCain might want to think about snapping him up for a cabinet position...the man really knows where it's at.

May 20, 2008

Breaking: Obama 'Not Familiar' With Hanford Nuke Site???

He may not be familiar with it, but he's voted on it. (Who's losing his bearings?)

More of the hope, change and new politics we've been hearing about, no doubt.

Thirdwave Dave is breaking the story. Head over NOW for details.

May 13, 2008

Should We Intervene in Burma?

There's been some speculation that the United States should intervene in Burma, renamed Myanmar by the ruling junta that has been slowly strangling that nation for over 40 years. Add to that the recent cyclone that may have killed up to 100,000 people and the fact that the junta is not allowing foreign aid workers in to help distribute food and supplies offered willingly by other nations (including American aid, which was rejected out of hand) and the human catastrophe becomes simply astronomical.

But should the United States lead the charge? As heartless as it may sound, I would say no...not at this time. Let me explain.

As horrid as the conditions are in Burma, the country itself poses little or no threat to American interests. They aren't planning to attack us or our allies any time soon. Bear in mind too that the Burmese junta has a great deal of support from China, and it's not really in our best interests to antagonize China right now.

The American military is stretched quite far these days, with troops in Afghanistan and Iraq -- not to mention our peacekeeping presence in nations like Germany and South Korea. And anti-war activists have been screaming about the cost in human and monetary terms since we first entered Iraq in 2003. Would they welcome our entering Burma as well? If they do, they are bigger hypocrites than I ever imagined.

And speaking of Iraq, yes, conditions for the Iraqi people were just as bad, if not worse, than they are for the Burmese. They were being tortured, starved and even eliminated by a brutal dictatorial government. But the main difference is this: in a post-9/11 world, President Bush -- along with former president Bill Clinton, members of Congress, the UN and a number of other world leaders -- believed Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs. We went on the intelligence we had at the time, which believed that Hussein was planning on using his stockpile against us and our allies. Knowing only what we knew then, we could not afford to call his bluff.

Five years later, even though the tide has turned in Iraq, we are still being pilloried for our presence there. We've been criticized by the Left at home and by naysayers abroad for our "unilateral" approach to entering Iraq. So why should we take the "unilateral" approach in Burma -- especially when there's nothing in it for us? What is anyone else doing about it?

The usual suspects believe that military intervention is fine as long as it's purely humanitarian (Darfur comes immediately to mind, as does Bosnia). When it comes to military intervention that would somehow benefit U.S. foreign policy goals, then such action is suddenly uncalled for.

If we had nothing else going on, I might agree that we should try to do something. But we have more than enough on our plate right now. As sorry as I am for the plight of the Burmese people, we cannot fix all of the ills in the world. As usual, damned if we do, damned if we don't.

May 02, 2008

Britain's Labour Party Receives Major Drubbing

The local council elections in Britain are turning into a nightmare for the ruling Labour Party. The BBC reports:

Gordon Brown has admitted a "bad and disappointing" election for Labour, as the party suffered its worst council results in at least 40 years.

In total Labour lost 331 councillors and key councils like Reading. Tory gains include Bury and North Tyneside.

Britain has been a Socialist paradise for years now. But things may finally have hit the tipping point: it's possible that the citizens are finally starting to tire of the expensive government programs subsidized by higher and higher taxes, coupled with the multiculturalists' slow eradication of British culture.

It doesn't help that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (whom my friend Adrian always refers to as the "unelected" prime minister...he simply stepped in when Tony Blair stepped out) gave their citizens the finger by signing the EU treaty rather than allow the citizens decide with a referendum as promised. That and his idiotic stance on how to define Islamic terrorism (unfortunately being echoed recently by the Bush administration) may have been enough to convince Brits to say, "Enough!"

I asked Adrian for his thoughts on the election results. After gleefully declaring that it was "a good day -- knowing the anti-democratic sod Gordon Brown has egg all over his face," he sent a follow-up with a more thoughtful and detailed analysis:

Some analysts yesterday, when poll results were coming in, tried to suggest that the figures were a protest vote against Labour/Gordon Brown.

Hopefully Labour will just die as a party. They could not get into power for years because no-one wanted socialism any more. Blair appealed to right-wingers, even though he later betrayed them. Gordon Brown is a boring old Marxist. And thus is out of touch with the electorate. His views belong to another era -- the 1960s and 1970s, when workers were going on strike and bringing the economy to the brink of stagnation.

By general election, Adrian refers to a parliamentary election, where Brown's seat (and others in parliament) would be up for grabs. Unlike the U.S., the Brits don't have what we would call federal elections every two or four years. Legally there must be a general election held five years and one month after the previous one, but they can be called by the party in power at any time. So with this pathetic performance by Labour in the council (local government) election, Britain may be seeing a general election in the near future.

And speaking of London mayor Ken Livingstone (affectionately referred to as Red Ken for his Commie-like tendencies), it looks like he's on the way out too.

Is this the beginning of a reversal of Socialized Britain as we know it? I don't know. But I surely hope so. A great nation has been brought to its knees by Socialist/multicultural claptrap. I'm hoping they get it together so they can stand tall once again.

Supreme Court Photo ID Ruling Sparks Silly, Sanctimonious Debate

My latest effort over at Family Security Matters:

If photo ID is such a burden to society, why aren’t these folks complaining about the everyday need for such a document as listed above? (It sure would save me time when out shopping if I don’t have to dig my license out of my wallet every time I want to write a check.) If you don’t have a license or other photo ID, are you not being disenfranchised every time you go out to run an errand?

Read it all here.