Nightly Ramble Night Off

Because of some serious schedule problems, I have to give the Nightly Ramble the night off. It’ll return at the usual time, tomorrow night.

Les Paul, the guitar legend, has  reportedly died., over in White Plains, NY.

Right Wing News recently emailed more than 260 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send in a list of people they considered to be the most influential on the right. Representatives from the following 40 blogs responded…

All That Is Necessary, The Anchoress, Argghhhh!, AtlanticBlog, Atlas Shrugs, Basil’s Blog, BitsBlog, BizzyBlog, Melissa Clouthier, Conservative Compendium, Conservatism Today, Copious Dissent, David All Group, Dodgeblogium,Katie Favazza, Cassy Fiano, GraniteGrok, Guardian Watchblog, Infidels Are Cool, Jihad Watch, Libertarian Republican, Likelihood of Success, Linkiest, Don Singleton, Little Miss Attila, Mean Ol’ Meany , Moonbattery, Musket Balls, Newsbeat1, No Oil For Pacifists, The Nose On Your Face, Pal2pal, Pirate’s Cove, Right Wing Rocker, Right View from the Left Coast, The Smallest Minority, Solomonia, Vox Popoli, WILLisms, , Wolking’s World

An interesting list, and one, I think that is revealing in ways the left may not like.

The list and come comments are here.

Honey, even a nitwit knows that when a president must hire out his real job to 32 czars, he was never CEO material

Kyle-Anne Shiver, American Thinker

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere: The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the Gas Station Edition A short one tonight, because off scheduling issues

• Dems in strouble with Seasoned Citizens; says The Politico:
  

  “Frustrated older Americans are packing the town halls on health care. They are incredibly passionate about their Medicare benefits. Polls show senior citizens largely disapprove of health care reform ideas so far. . . . But so far, Democrats have focused much of their health care sales pitch on middle-class Americans and the uninsured — a slight that has been noticed by senior citizens, who hold great influence with members of Congress. . . . Critics say the proposed $380 billion Medicare cuts in the House bill — including cuts to the privately administered Medicare Advantage program — will lead to long waits for care, doctors dropping patients and doctors deciding if their older patients ‘are worth the cost,’ as one TV and Web ad from the 60 Plus Association warned.”

  Gee, ya think? And let’s recall, gang… every cost this congress and administration have mentioned, has been lowballed.  Do you suppose deeper medicare cuts are in the offing?  I guess ‘end of life planning’ is cheaper.  How evil must one be, to be recognized as such? The only thing we’re missing in this plan is the cost of the cattle cars to transport people to the ovens.

• MEANWHILE, AT THE TOWN HALLS: Obama gets caught shipping thugs in to help him push his Obamacare. Atroturfing, indeed. Of course when the questions are controlled like that, and only ‘approved’ questioners can speak, the thing gets very quiet. I should tell you, Michelle has been doing her usually wonderful job of tracking these astroturfers. Can you imagine why support for this monster is falling off?
•  PELOSI HAS LOST PAGLIA: What’s next? Adam Graham, too.
•  BILLY BECK WILL LOVE THIS:Ron Radosh examines The Debate over Soviet Espionage

I’ll probably get in trouble with Eric for even mentioning the name of the twit  Meghan McCain, but I am bored and feel like swatting a gnat.   Miss McCain notes in the Daily Beast:

So Michelle Malkin successfully rounds out the trifecta of extreme female conservative pundits, following Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter, who believe that I, and Republicans like me, need to shut up and get out of the party. Is this surprising? Not really, given my father’s complicated history with the extreme right of the GOP. But what confuses me is this: Malkin recently posted an item on her blog about how “drowning out opposing views is simply un-American.”

What do Malkin and the other conservative pundits hope to accomplish by arguing that people “like me” have no place within the Republican Party? And who exactly are people “like me”? Young people? Moderate people? Young female people? People with tattoos who go to biker rallies?

Mean while back in the real world, Michelle Malkin is slamming Barack Obama for using plants in his town halls:

As we always like to point out: There are no coincidences in Obama world

If Miss McCain had half the intellect as she has vanity, she’d know that Michelle is admired in the conservative world because Michelle attacks liberals.   Malkin exposes liberal lies and she does so on a routine basis.   In stark contrast, Miss McCain only attacks conservatives and complains that she isn’t getting enough attention.

Allah Pundit, Hot Air, demonstrates that he knows who signs his paychecks and in the procress deos pretty good job pegging Miss McCain:

[Y]et the base hates her while they, errrrr, tolerate me. Why is that? If the “old guard” of right-wingers is so retrograde, how does a wayward atheist like me end up co-blogging at one of the biggest righty blogs in America? Simple answer: I spend most of my time challenging the left while Meggie Mac spends hers challenging the right, so I have a certain baseline credibility on our side that she has yet to establish. And why would anyone listen to criticism of their own side from someone who doesn’t (yet) have credibility

The path forward is clear for Miss McCain.  Will she take it?   Note likely.   She is likely to remain a non-entitity, among conservatives.

Aside, Miss McCain does not need to talk less.    She needs to say more.    Joe the Plumber is not driving unemployment towards ten percent.   Barack Obama is.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere…The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the “Outdoor Advertising” Edition

• WILL OBAMA PAY THE PRICE ON CUTTING MEDICARE?  Byron York asks that question today.  I honestly don’t see how he’s going to get away with not paying the price for that,  (Already the ads are out about it from the opposition) but then again, he’s already gotten away with so much.
• EXECUTIVE JETS NOW HISTORY? Over at The Politico, John Bresnahan is saying, that Jack Murtha, of all people has offered to eliminate funding the new fleet of Gulfstream jets for Congress. The earmark king doing that? Sorry, I’m not sure I buy it.
• FIGHTING THE SMEARS, BARRY…, or silencing the opposiiton with the power of  paid union thugs, and government thugs? After all, anyone who disagrees with Demcorats is “UnAmerican”. Apparentlt that means 57% of us are “UnAmerican”.
• TRINKETS: Don’t tell that to the novelty people who are selling anti-Obama stuff by the ton.
• DEMOCRATS AND HEALTHCARE PROTESTS:  The Democrats are busy playing the deer in the headlights on this one. They don’t know what to do. Barone goes over it with his usual talent.
• FORGET THOSE PROJECTIONS, FOLKS:  All those rosy economic forecasts don’t mean squat when the bill comes due for the huge-ass spending Obama’s been doing.
• A LONG ISLAND HONOR KILLING: Again, Phylis Chesler does a great job with this stuff as always. Again, I’m forced to ask, why are we welcoming this stuff into our culture? On what twisted basis do we find we must ‘respect’ such a culture as would do such things?
•  ARE LIBERALS SECEDING FROM SANITY?   So asks Micheal Lind, at Salon. Mike, I gotta tell ya, that ship sailed decades ago. And they haven’t erred, Mike. It’s the Democrats who have fouled up. And the disaffection from the Demcorats and the RINOS is not limited to the south, as we are seeing in the polling numbers. But do continue the way you’re going. It’ll make it all the sweeter come November 2010 and 2012.

Mike Allen at The Politico is reporting:

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder and honorary chairperson of Special Olympics, died early this morning at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass., surrounded by her family, the organization said in a statement. She was 88.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver was a sister of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and mother of Maria Shriver, the first lady of California.

The family had reported Friday she was critically ill at a hospital on Cape Cod.

Long time readers will no doubt recall I hold no truck with the Kennedy Family at all. Yet, I will make respectful note of the lady’s passing.

The Washington Post recent ran a lame video, which among many things, suggested the Mrs. Cointon should drink a “Mad Bitch” beer. The left was not happy.

video:

So I suggest, as Mrs. see fit to act like a bitch, isn’t “Mad Bitch” beer appropriate?

Historical notes:

• One of the endearing nicknames for Mrs. Clinton is PIAPS, which stands for Pig in a Pants Sui, QED.
• Back in 1992, when B.J. was running for President their spin was vote for one, but get two.   Evidently the time has expired on the two for one deal.

Hat tip:  Allah Pundit, Hot Air.

Addendum:

Charles Krauthammer, as Dr. Charles Krauthammer, Havard trained a psychiatrist, on Tuesday’s All Stars,  suggested that Mrs. Clinton was just plain upset, via National Review:

She was supposed to be the president of the United States at this point. She was going to be queen of the world. Instead, Obama bestrides the world. He gives speeches in the great capitals, in Cairo — and she is in the Congo! You’d be upset, also

I wonder if the Smartest Woman in the World was so stopid as actually believe her press clippings?

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere…The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the Vacation Edition Not that I actually have one this year, (Thanks, Barry!) but I can dream, right?

• IT’S THE CULTURE, STUPID: I’ve said for years, it’s not racism, it’s cultural clash.  Mike Shelton at Pajamas Media confirms:
  

  The story is about a young man, Chinedu Ezeamuzie, 21. Originally from Nigeria, he’s lived most of his life in Kuwait. In 2003, his parents brought him and his three siblings to America, where he was enrolled at the Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia, his first time in a public school. He came from a mother and father that instilled values of family, community, spirituality, and self-betterment.On his first day in school, wearing khakis, a button-down dress shirt, and nice leather shoes, this African caught the attention of the African-Americans in the school cafeteria. They ridiculed him. He said, “They gave me ‘the look,'” and asked in so many words, “Why is this guy dressed like the white folks, like the preppy guys?”

  He would be insulted because he ate in the school cafeteria with whites. The blacks accused him of being a “traitor.” Such attitudes made no sense to Ezeamuzie. In Kuwait, his life was enriched in time spent with Europeans, Arabs, workers from the Philippines, and a mixture of groups from the African continent. The thinking was so puny, narrow, and counterproductive that it was hard to believe it was coming from Americans.

  What have I been saying, gang?

• NOT COOL: Boortz makes the same point I’ve been kaking for the last several days as regards Support for Obama and the Democrats and does a good enough job it’s worth quoting here:
  

  

  Neal Boortz

  Democrats are shell-shocked. They truly cannot believe that this is happening to them. Just last February they were participating in a coronation that was to usher in a new age of Government Cool. Now people are starting to realize that there is nothing all that cool about the government taking over almost 20 percent of our economy. The polls are clear … almost 7 out of 10 people are satisfied with the health care they’re receiving right now. They’ve seen the mess that government has made out of Social Security. Recently they saw that the government couldn’t even do the work that thousands of used-car salesmen handle every week with no problems. These people wonder why Obama is so hell-bent on getting this done NOW, and they suspect that’s because the more they learn about the plan the less they’re going to like it.

  Well,Nneal, it’s like this… A lot of them have figured out that the real purpose behind the push isn’t the stated one. This isn’t about solving the problem, it’s about growing government power.

• MUSLIM MODERATES? REALLY?  Ryan Mauro over at Pajamas Media today makes the case that Islamic moderates are winning the war against the radicals. He points to a number of fronts where the radicals have made major electoral losses and clearly have lost publc support, and then says:
  

  

  Ryan Mauro

  Skeptics of this argument will point to Egypt and the Gaza Strip, where extremists have made gains due to elections. It must be noted that they did not win because of democracy, as the freedoms that enable moderates to have their voice heard and win a following were denied. In such a situation, the extremists offer the only alternative to the government.

  Of course, this doesn’t mean that the war on terror is over. Somalia is falling to al-Qaeda affiliates and a terrorist offensive sponsored by Syria and Iran or a regional war could reverse many of these gains. The battle between moderates and extremists rages on in the West as well, as frightening percentages still express support for different elements of radical Islam. This is all true, but these victories are showing an unmistakable trend in favor of the moderates. I am in agreement with my friend John Loftus, who writes that “we may be witnessing the death throes of the fundamentalist terror states, and the birth of a renaissance of modernity in the Middle East.”.

  Frankly, I’m unconvinced. Oh, I don’t doubt that the moderates are starting to come out of their shell a bit, and I do not doubt at all that the radicals never really had the popular support among Muslim rank and file types.  I’ve said that the only way the radicals were going to be defeated, was if the moderates were heard in greater numbers… that silence their amounted to defacto support. What Ryan fails to add into his calculations, here, however is that terrorists have a tendecy to win far  greater influence than their raw numbers and overt support would suggest, simply because they’re terrorists. More… (And something that Bush never allowed his calculations to consider) …they tend not to use democracy to do it, being rather prone to bypassing it, as demonstrated in Egypt, the Gaza and more recently, Iran. The question of who wins this war eventually, still depends on moderates standing up not just in the election booth, but on the streets to fight the radicals. And I wonder if the courage needed for such a noble task is in them.

  You see, I wonder what the definition of a Muslim moderate is. I’ve yet to see one, as measured by western standards.

•  SHE’S IN: Judge Sonia Sotomayor was officially sworn in over the weekend as our new member of the USSC. Of course we were subject all weekend to plattitudes of how ‘historic’ a day it was. How can that be, if we’re already in a post-racial society? Do these morons actually think before they shovel this sludge?

David Boaz has noticed a pattern… one we’ve mentioned here before.

David Boaz

Some people on the left can’t see any excuse for opposition to collectivism except racism. (Which is, of course, as Ayn Rand said, “the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.”) Today it’s Paul Krugman:

But they’re probably reacting less to what Mr. Obama is doing, or even to what they’ve heard about what he’s doing, than to who he is.

That is, the driving force behind the town hall mobs is probably the same cultural and racial anxiety that’s behind the “birther” movement, which denies Mr. Obama’s citizenship.

That is, Paul Krugman can’t understand why people would oppose government control of health care â€” or skyrocketing deficits, or a federal takeover of education, energy, and finance along with health care â€” unless they’re driven by racism.

The point Boaz makes is hardly new.  The Democrat party has been playing the race card for generations, now, and have been making the most of group politics for as long. anything that questions the cause of the left , which is to say, socialism, must in fact to be racist in nature.  I’ve devoted entire columns on my previous websites during the fight over “welfare reform” to the concept that the vast majority of welfare recipients at that point were at the time and remain white.  Yet when the subject of welfare reform came up, those pushing for such reforms were racist, until such time as the person proposing such reform was America’s first black president, Bill Clinton.

I submit that what we’re seeing in the case of Krugman, and, for that matter, the current White House, is simply more of the same .  They are playing the race card because historically it has worked rather well toward political ends. The we have also seen such group plays on such matters as feminism, for example.  Any time one group can be used against another for a socialist political goal, the Democrat party can be found there.   Almost as if they had read the history of the Russian revolution , and understood the tactics of Lenin. Or, at least they’ve been reading Saul Alinsky.

It should, of course, surprise nobody that Krugman is at the center of this race card game. What mystifies me is that, given it’s history, anyone takes it seriously, anymore.

There’s more at the link. Go and read.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere…The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is The “Pick Up Some Milk” Edition

• HEALTHCARE CRISIS AS MEASURED BY COST:  Dean Kamen one of the world’s most prolific inventors of healthcare technologies  says,  at of all places Popular Mechanics, that the notion that the U.S. has a healthcare crisis is flat out wrong.  Rather than slowing the pace of medical progress in order to cut healthcare costs, he argues, America should be encouraging more innovation in life-saving drugs and technologies. Well, yeah, that is how a free people in a capitalist society does things.  Which is why Obama and congressional Democrats will never do it. I must say I’m shocked this ever made print in that magazine.
• DID THEY REALLY WANT DEBATE? Joyner, today:
  

  

  James Joyner

  The theme of Wednesday’s edition of OTB Radio was “Crazy Politics.” Spurred by the bitterness of recent discussion threads on seemingly innocuous topics, Dave Schuler and I wondered where it was all headed.Well, we got a pretty good clue last night.

  Six people were arrested last night in St. Louis  after one of the many town hall meetings going on between Members of Congress and their constituents on the attempt to reform our health care delivery and payment system.

  Well, look. First of all, let’s disabuse ourselves of the notion that anything labeled “reform” is automatically an improvement.  Let’s also remove from the table the undercurrent in all of this that this is a reform. It  has, rather been clearly shown many times over as a mere government takeover… which by it’s nature precludes any serious re-reform in the future. That said, let’s continue with Joyner, who includes clips describing the various ‘town halls’ and their results, and then says:

  Regardless, however, we should be able to agree that shutting down public debate on the matter in the guise of “being heard” is not only unproductive but un-American.

  James, you’re making the assumption that the people running this town hall .. the Democrats…wanted anything to do with a free and open discussion. Where’d all the SEIU mob come from if that’s what they were about? I’ve addressed this issue, in some detail in a recent post here. If there is anyone who needs a taste of their own meds, it’s the Democrats on this issue and so many others. It’s the Democrats who made this level of discourse not only the norm, but the requirement. As one commentor over there quips: “It’s so good to see how President Obama has brought us all together … a national “Kumbaya” moment.”

•   THE SECOND 100 DAYS: Boortz says, today:
  

  

  Boortz

  How’s it working out for him so far? According to Rasmussen, after six months in the Oval Office, Barack Obama has a lower job-approval rating than did ten of the last twelve presidents at the same point in their presidencies.Barack Obama has been far worse than I ever could have imagined. I don’t think that one year ago anyone could have convinced me that he would have been this dishonest, this radical and this dangerous to the cause of freedom and economic liberty. I have serious doubts about the ability of our country to survive eight years of this man’s politics.

  Which means, dear reader, that Boortz is today, where I was back on November 12th last, and even before. I told you guys what I figured was going to happen with this guy in power. I said as much in my left-handed endorsement of McCain.

• SPEAKING OF MCCAIN:  He agrees with me that Clinton going to kiss gargoyle backside is a bad move.

I am over fifty and have neve been a member of the  AARP.  Why?   Because the AARP does not represent their members, they use them.    The AARP does not listen to their members and does not seek to advance their interests, from Moe Land, Red State:

The young people trying to run the Dallas AARP meeting (while almost-successfully managing to hide their baffled contempt at the way that the audience refused to take direction) certainly thought so. Up to the point where they ran away

video:

The so-called AARP representative refused to listen to their members and walk out of the meeting, rather than hear the member’s concerns. If you are a member of the AARP, tell the AARP to take a hike.

Addendum:

More, Michelle calls the AARP brass condescending: 

Watch the senior citizen “hooligans” and “civic vigilantes” in Dallas question a condescending AARP representative about Obamacare. Dues-paying members are speaking up about the organization’s sellout of its members — and the AARP brass is not happy. Yes, the winds of real hope and change are blowing:

I would hope that in the future condescending will change to lonely.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read on the entire ‘sphere… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the Take Out Edition. Just a small one, tonight, due to a tight schedule.

• WHERE ARE THE BIRDS? Twitter stopped, today. Apparently, hackers using a denial of service attack.. a fairly common ploy.   Looks like Facebook got hit too, though I’m not hearing about outages. Just slowdowns.
• THE REBELION AGAINST OBAMACARE WILL NOT BE TELEVISED: With all of the numbers of people , and the pluaraityof polling data that says Obamacare simply doesn’t have voter support, do you suppose the Dinosaur media can make mention of the anger that’s out there at the Democrats?  Nah. And yes, Neal, it IS about Obama. Always HAS been. VDH has a great one today on this topic.
• LINK OUR STUFF: Speaking of the Dinosaurs… looks like Reuters is starting to learn. But frankly, I’ll belive it when I see them not responding to links and quotes with lawsuits.
• REMEMBER WHEN… Congress raised hell about automakers flying private Jets?  Apparently all that’s forgotten now.  or maybe it wasn’t about waste and excess… maybe it was about intruding on their powers, in the congress. After all, it’s only the really important people who should fly,  right?
• “CASH FREEZER” JEFFERSON GUILTY:  on 11 of 16 counts. He’ll be on the street in  six weeks, you watch.

Bumper Snicker of the Day:

TEA’D Off (Taxed Enough Already)

As seen my my Mk II’s.

Bumber Snicker II, American Power:

MY TEA IS BREWED WITH

100% HOMEGROWN,

BLUE-JEANED,

RIGHTEOUS,

INDIGNATION!!

Cold Cash Convicted, from Paul Courson

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) — Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted Wednesday on 11 of the 16 corruption charges against him.

Jefferson, a 62-year-old Democrat, was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 4, 2007, on corruption charges, about two years after federal agents said they found $90,000 in his freezer. Authorities said the cash was part of a payment in marked bills from an FBI informant in a transaction captured on video.

Stink Progress has got got the long knifes out for Mara Liasson, as in Mara Liasson fo National Public Radio:

LIASSON: I thought that woman actually asked a pretty legitimate question — especially Cash for Clunkers is like a mini- Katrina here. I mean it’s not good to start a program and not be able to execute it.

Video:

Liasson is liberal.

Barack Obama

The Joker is Wild, John Hawkins, Right Wing News:

Supposedly, prior to yesterday, the Joker Obama posters had only shown up in LA and Atlanta. Well, now a few hundred have shown up at George Washington University. Here are a few pics I was emailed yesterday. Unfortunately, they’re a touch on the dark side. No flash, maybe? 

Here come the Brides:

Hamas Brides

Tell me again how is wrong to judgemental and that all cultures are some supposed to be deemed equal.   Sure!  

For what it is worth, the groom most likely will not be allow to have martial relations prior to the girls’ puberty.

Hat tip and More:  Gateway Pundit.