Is He Running?

I might have to do some more research on Mike Pence.  Is he running in 2012? 

American Specator has text of Pence's speech last night at Hillsdale College.  It's a must read.  Here's a teaser:

The presidency has run off the rails. It begs a new clarity, a new discipline, and a new president. The president is not our teacher, our tutor, our guide or ruler. He does not command us, we command him. We serve neither him nor his vision. It is not his job or his prerogative to redefine custom, law and beliefs; to appropriate industries; to seize the country, as it were, by the shoulders or by the throat so as to impose by force of theatrical charisma his justice upon 300 million others. It is neither his job nor his prerogative to shift the power of decision away from them, and to him and the acolytes of his choosing.

Yeah!  Read the whole thing.

The speech is loaded with good stuff.  Is he running?

More Pence:  Here he is at the 2010 Value Voters Summit:

Retreads

I'm not really liking my choices here:

Romney's in first place with 22% followed by Mike Huckabee at 21%, Newt Gingrich at 18%, Sarah Palin at 17%, and Ron Paul at 6%.

...How about you?

Hey! Let's Blame it all on the Tea Party!

When Obama's popularity plummeted as he pushed one power grabbing policy after another, The White House decided to blame Bush.  When that didn't achieve the desired response they blamed the GOP in general, "the party of no!" for blocking all their initiatives (when, in fact, the Dems have a majority...).  Now the strategy is apparently going to be "Blame the Tea Party" because they are "shouting loudly" and are mysteriously funded, and are extreme!

Jay Cost has an excellent response to this tactic:

For the swing voters who determine elections, it's clear by now that the midterm is going to be about the deeply unpopular policies of President Obama.  Attacking the Tea Partiers is not going to distract them because the Tea Partiers have had nothing to do with those policies.  

Buy they can try it.  In fact, go for it.  I'm betting it will backfire on them.  People are sick and tired of Team Obama blaming everyone else for his missteps.  So, go for it. 

Vodkapundit has the best quote response to this strategy, and Stacy McCain, the best video.

Meanwhile, I'll be over here ticking off the days until November.

Maureen Dowd's Irrational Rationality

Is Maureen Dowd attacking Christine O'Donnell in her latest column or Barack Obama?  It's hard to tell.  Both?  Probably.  She begins with one thesis and ends with another and I completely miss the rationale that ties them together.  Did she write two columns and a poltergeist in her computer blended them?  I don't know.  She tries to tie it together but it just doesn't work.

She begins clearly enough mocking Christine O'Donnell and her "Palin Mini-Me" look, (because that's what matters so much about politicians, right?  Their looks?) then picks up the witchcraft and Tolkein threads that have moved through the blogs this week. 

This is the line where Dowd attempts to ties her two threads together...

She’s also smart to think of politics in terms of passion and myth — two elements Barack Obama was able to summon during his campaign that are sorely missing from his presidency.

 ...because now she's mentioned Barack Obama and now she can spend the rest of her column about him without another word on O'Donnell (which isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

The last third of  Dowd's column deals with Obama's lack of passion and empathy.  She spends two thirds of her column mocking O'Donnell's passion yet then bemoans Obama's lack of it.  Which way do you want to go, Maureen?

This is actually the closing line which Dowd seems to believe ties it together:

The insane have achieved political respectability while the sane act too good for it all. The irrational celebrate while the rational act bored and above-it-all.

Is she calling O'Donnell "insane" or just people with passion?

If this is best high dollar talent the New York Times can offer, there's hope for us all when it comes to making the big bucks.

(H/T:  Memeorandum)

Full Metal Jacket Reach Around: The Oktoberfest Is Coming Edition

Will wonders never cease!?  I'm getting my FMJRA up on Saturday morning instead of Sunday night!  Maybe the routine is returning, after all!  This is the Barksdale edition today because there is a bigggggg event coming up in a couple of weeks:  Oktoberfest!*  Time to make your plans to attend if you live around here and have base access!  I have it from a reliable source that 200 tickets were sold the first day sales opened.

Steve and I got a little prepped for the festivities last night by going over to the Barksdale Club for prime rib night, then walked over to Hangar 2 for a cold Octoberfest* in our new mugs.  We apparently stumbled into a promotion party because the DJ was there and so were lots and lots of folks in a celebratory mood, dancing, singing karaoke, and cracking jokes.

The bar at Hangar 2 is really a neat place because there's a lot of history there.  There is the obligatory graffiti and signatures on the walls; the ceiling tiles are signed and decorated by various units that are there and have been through, there are emblematic sashes and patches nailed to the exposed beams, and of course, your own personalized mug (if you so choose) hanging from hooks from the beams.  The huge deck outside is where we do "cook your own steak night" in the summer and where we sit and watch the leaves in the fall.  There's a neat table out there made out of a bomb rack that's quite unique.

The best thing about the place is the people we meet there, not the least of which is Joy, the "bar guard" as one fellow called her, but she's got a heart of gold.  She takes care of  "her boys" on steak night by taking their cooked steak and whipping it into a delicious Thai beef salad.  She brooks no nonsense, though!  We met some fun guys from Minot AFB last night who, sadly, will be leaving before Oktoberfest on the first.

I took some pictures last night on my phone, but out of propriety I think I'll just leave them in my phone!  Besides, if you get caught with your cellphone at the bar, and someone sees you and rings that brass bell on you, you've got to buy drinks for the house.  That would have been a lot of drinks last night.  I was trying to be careful.  At any rate, Here's the info link on how to get to Oktoberfest 2010; the date this year is October 1, a Friday night.  Two weeks.  I'm totally there.

Rounding up the blogs this week:

Fishersville Mike's handy dandy Weekend Watchdog returns!

Pirate's Cove has excerpts and commentary from Palin's speech in Iowa.

Obi's Sister has the coolest feel good video I've seen lately!  Loved it!

Don't miss Doug Ross's post on the Waxman-Weiner hearings on talk radio.

Da TechGuy is outraged.

Bride of Rove has an excellent series going on life married to a G-man.  You'll learn something.

The Other McCain has concerns over Murkowski's grasp of reality.

Grandpa John is already calling the 2012 election and the good news is that I get to be beer czar!

Everyone's read the "quote" by FLOTUS about the job being "hell"; Ed Driscoll has a roundup of the whole thing, including the walkback.  Takeaway line:  Obama has lost control of the narrative of his presidency.  Yeah.  I'd say so.

...And some related thoughts from Little Miss Attila.  (Love the new subtitle on her header; probably been there a while, but I just noticed it.  Awesome!)

The Camp of the Saints noted Constitution Day with a couple of fabulous prints and No Sheeples Here posted a video.  Mind Numbed Robot also noted the day and has some handy links.

Jimmie Bise covered the Democrats rebranding this week.

Legal Insurrection did some research on that "Buckley Rule" Krauthammer tossed about this week; I'm glad because I'd already pulled my Buckley off the shelves to start plowing through.

Ruby Slippers has excerpts from Christine O'Donnell's Values Summit speech. Pundette has the commentary.

Oh dear.  Reaganite Republican is polling the 2012 Top Five Republican options.  Head on over and speak up now.  C'mon back when you're done.

Sippican Cottage is posting some great stuff these days.

Critical Narrative, and Thomas Sowell, address the idea of political labels.

A Cop's Watch posts on the end of global warming!

Sandy posted the viral Facebook letter from the ER doctor which you should read, if you haven't.  He's real and so is the letter.  I saw something akin to what he writes about when my mom was in the ER.  A young man came in to the ER for treatment of a rash that he'd had on his forehead that he first noticed two weeks ago.  WTF? 

Okay, I'm off to lay low and do Saturday stuff.  Might sit on the swing outside and finish a book.

Ahhh, maybe not.  Might stay in today.  Y'all have a wonderful weekend.


*Spelling note:  I spell Octoberfest with a "c" when referring to the beer, because that's the way Sam Adams labels it.  I spell Oktoberfest with a "k" when referring to the event because that's the way BAFB markets it.

O'Donnell Will Have to Represent Delaware, Not the Tea Party

The party fallout over Christine O'Donnell's victory in Delaware continues to dominate the blogs and Memeorandum.  Charles Krauthammer, for example, in his column today reaffirms his statements from earlier in the week that her election is a win for the Democrats and the the Palin and DeMint endorsements were reckless and irresponsible

Can O'Donnell win in the general election?  This article in the CSMonitor suggests that she has become a more mature candidate over time, which seems to indicate that should she run a smart campaign, she could indeed win. Linda Feldman, author of the piece quotes political scientist Joseph Pika who says:

“Democrats could be overconfident,” he continues. “Democrats could be overaggressive – she could quickly become a more sympathetic candidate if everyone seems to pile on. If Democrats seem to practice politics as usual – be seen as committing character assassination, for example – they could confirm the basic appeal she has of challenging the establishment and ‘politics as usual.’ ”

What is important to remember, Tea Party or not, is that the Senator from Delaware must represent the interests of Delaware, not the Tea Party.  If the Tea Party got Christine O'Donnell to the general election, she will still need to convince Delaware voters that she will represent their interests.  She may have to, at times, cast an unpopular vote if it's in the best interest of her state as Scott Brown has had to do for his state.  However, Delaware voters cast their ballots for her so there is apparently some longing for a more conservative track.

Maybe is it just all an anti-incumbent, anti-establishment backlash.  Either way, O'Donnell can still carry the day in November.

Peggy Noonan today explains that Tea Party candidates are being elected partially because voters want them to go to Washington and temper the out of control spending.  Noonan constructs an elaborate yardstick and clock analogy, but she makes a valid point when she says:

"So there's a sense that dramatic action is needed, and a sense of profound urgency. Add drama to urgency and you get the victory of a Tea Party-backed candidate".

The left is already throwing everything they can at Christine O'Donnell, who incidentally has hit the money bomb since Tuesday.  TPMDC, in particular, is dredging up every word and utterance O'Donnell has made in the past twenty years, and O'Donnell is, so far, handling this gracefully.   In a candidate forum yesterday she said

“I was in my twenties and very excited and passionate about my newfound faith. But I can assure you, my faith has matured and when I go to Washington, D.C. it’ll be the Constitution on which I base all of my decisions, not my personal beliefs,” she explained Thursday to cheers.
 

She is definitely a candidate that can win; she's proven that now.  It the end it is important to remember that the Republicans dug the hole they're in themselves and did it a long time ago.  To place the peril of a potential Senate majority in the lap of Christine O'Donnell just isn't fair.  And at this point, I'm not sure if the Republican establishment just may be doing her a favor by railing against her.  While one would hope that the Republican party could unite and come together for the good of the party, it appears that the time for some pruning may be in order.

Christine seems to be doing just fine without them.

(AP Photo)

Chopped Liver

Sigh.  I guess I'm chopped liver, once again.  Granted, I've been off my game for a few weeks; hell, I can't even get linked at Memeorandum anymore. 

But, a great blogger once said, "chopped liver doesn't have feelings," so I'm okay.

*Sniff*.

Mug Club

We finally got our Hangar 2 Club mugs and how better to initiate them than with Octoberfest! Mine has a P47 on it and the Army Air Corps logo to honor my dad. Steve's has both the Army and the Air Force logo as he served in both. Now our mugs will hang from the ceiling hooks at Hangar 2 and will be here whenever we need a refill!
All cheers steak night!

The Fallout Begins

Primary night got even wilder after the Delaware race was called, it seems.  I shut everything down and tried to go to bed (not very successfully, I might add - UP every hour for one thing or another...) but I did see Karl Rove trashing O'Donnell on Hannity.  It was, of course, a sign of things to come. 

Never mind the "let's unite" philosophy that normally takes place after an election like this.  Never mind pulling together for November.  Now we have Rove acting like a sore loser trashing the winner.  We have Rachel Madow who, in the absence of a Christine O'Donnell Sex Tape, is pulling out a Christine O'Donnell TALKING about sex tape.  Michelle Malkin reports that the NRSC is refusing to back O'Donnell in the general election, a move Professor Reynolds calls "dumb" more than once.

And it hasn't even been 24 hours since the victory in Delaware.

Oh, and Charlie Rangel held off his challengers in New York.  Go figure.

The good news?  Rubio is trouncing Crist in Florida. 

Primary Night UPDATED

I'm watching Delaware - live results here.

Right now?  O'Donnell is up 952 to 733.  It's early.

The Other McCain is live on scene.

Update:  Moving right along...O'Donnell 3963 to Castle 3236.  That's with 14% reporting.

Update 7:36:  The site is SLOW loading now!  We've got O'Donnell 8104 and RINO Castle 6660 and that's with 26% reporting.

 Update 7:38:  Including absentee votes, the totals are now O'Donnell 9,280 and RINO  7855.  That's with 31% reporting.

Update 7:44:  With 47% reporting it's O'Donnell at 15,145 and RINO at 12,186.  Stacy is reporting cheers of "Go Christine Go!"  at headquarters.

Update 7:51:  With 65% reporting we now have O'Donnell at 21,422 and RINO at 17,993.

Update 7:58:  And now we have 75% reporting and O'Donnell has 24,686 and Castle has 21,349.

Update:  8:00 p.m.and Stacy calls the race:  O'Donnell with 54% and Castle with 46%.

Last Thoughts:  And now the pontificating can REALLY begin as to whether or not O'Donnell can win the general election or not.  Has Delaware now turned over the potential Senate majority all because of the Tea Party?!   Mary Katharine Ham "retweets" that DE has gone from "Strong Rep: to Strong Dem".   On the other hand, Michelle Malkin notes that

Nine-term, cap&tax, bailout buddy Soros Republican Mike Castle has been denied a Senate seat. Thank you, @ChristineOD.

So can O'Donnell win a Senate seat?  The way I see it, maybe Delaware Republicans did sacrifice "the Senate majority" for the sake of ideology, but honestly, putting Castle back up there is no different than having a Democrat in the seat regardless of the designation after his name.  If Delaware voters wanted to send a message, I believe they just did.

Latest tally:  With 322 of 325 precincts reporting, O'Donnell has 30,429 and Castle holds 26,912.


Now let's see if New York puts Rangel back in there.
 

Repbulicans v. Conservatives in Delaware

Here's the video, via Matt Lewis, of  Krauthammer's negative outlook I posted yesterday of Christine O'Donnell's chances in Delaware today:



Stacy McCain scoffs and thumbs his nose at Dr. Krauthammer...meanwhile, John McCormack, who has been pulling against O'Donnell from the beginning, notes that the Democrat in that race polls 26 points better than O"Donnell.

This race has pitted Republicans against conservatives in a way I've never seen before. 

Follow the thread at Memeorandum today.

Something Fishy In Charlie's Camp

How in the world did I miss THIS story yesterday?

State Republicans moved the three-way U.S. Senate race to a new level Saturday, with party leaders pointing to an audit of their books they say implies Gov. Charlie Crist— now an independent candidate for U.S. Senate — ran up potentially "hundreds of thousands" of dollars in inappropriate charges.

Party Chairman and state Sen. John Thrasher said the expenses came to light during the just-completed forensic audit by Alston & Bird LLP — which was the examiner in energy giant Enron's 2002 bankruptcy. He said the party may sue their former standard bearer to get the money back.

Not surprised.  When you lie down with dogs...

And the defense?  Crist's camp is crying foul saying

..."party bosses" should "stop playing the same old political games and take a hard look at their own nominee" before attacking Crist.

Moral equivalency is seldom a good strategy. 

The Senate Calls a Mulligan on Part of Obamacare

The Senate will be voting Tuesday to repeal a portion of Obamacare.  Small steps!

Seriously, the onerous burden the bill  places on small businesses with regard to reporting purchases over $600 to a single vendor is about to bring a landslide of paperwork on the small business owner and no doubt would have forced more than a few out of business rather than hire some full time paper pusher to keep up with the task.

The WSJ gives an example:

Think about a midsized trucking company. The back office would have to collect hundreds of thousands of receipts from every gas station where its drivers filled up and figure out where it spent more than $600 that year. Then it would also need to match those payments to the stations' corporate parents.

And the Democrats who voted for this stupid thing are claiming now that they were blindsided and didn't understand that part.

That's just criminal, if you ask me.

Any one of those numbnuts who voted for this bill without reading it must GO.  It's bad enough if you voted for it and you DID read it, but at least you voted according to your principles (I guess.)  But to vote on such a massive power grabbing, life changing, Constitutionally questionable piece of horse manure like Obamacare without fully understanding all its implications is beyond criminal, especially when you consider the fact that said numbnuts won't be taking part in it themselves.

Amateurs.

Down to the Wire in Delaware

The Delaware Senate race is getting all kinds of buzz today because of the latest PPP poll putting Christine O'Donnell ahead of Mike Castle.  This race has garnered the attention of nearly every pundit from one end of the country to the other, including Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh. 

In this particular race the lines are sharply drawn and people feel strongly about their position.  Mark Levin is convinced that O'Donnell is the right candidate while Charles Krauthammer just told Brett Baier that a vote of O'Donnell is simply self-indulgent as she cannot win.  Krauthammer believes that Republican control of the Senate could rest on this one race.  He's not alone in that position, either; Ed Morrissey at Hot Air writes:

If control of the Senate comes down to this race, and it very well might, would it be better to have a Republican squish holding the seat and give the GOP control of the Senate floor and all the committees, or to hand it to either Harry Reid or Chuck Schumer for the next two-year period in which we’ll see at least one Supreme Court retirement and Obama still attempting to push through his radical agenda? 

Rush Limbaugh takes the opposite stance.  On his program today he drew parallels between O'Donnell, Sarah Palin, and Sharron Angle, suggesting that they threaten the ruling class because these women are "not like them."  Limbaugh points out that O'Donnell, for example, isn't being attacked because of her stance on any issues.  She's been attacked for numerous personal grievances, as Palin was, but not on the issues.   Nobody is digging into Mike Castle's personal life; just O'Donnell's. 

By the way, Rush also quoted from Professor Jacobson's blog today, too.  Big Time!  He referenced this post (which wins the Great Title Award of the Day) by the good Professor in which he said,

The "nuts and sluts" defense is a common employment law tactic whenever a female employee brings a claim.  It doesn't matter what the claim is, the defense -- after the usual legal mumbo jumbo -- will be something like this:

"She's nuts.  And by the way, pssst, she may be a slut."

That is the mode of attack Democrats use against conservative women.  Sarah Palin is the prime example, as she routinely is called crazy and is sexualized by the left (to the silence of liberal feminist groups).

The nuts part of the attack is being used against Christine O'Donnell in Delaware by the local Republican establishment, and also by two leading conservative magazines, The Weekly Standard and National Review. 

Rush said, "A Senate full of Mike Castles isn't going to get us anywhere...if that's our majority with a bunch of Mike Castles in there, we're in trouble."

So where do you go with that?  If you're a Delaware Republican, do you vote for the RINO just because he's supposedly electable?  Charles Krauthammer insisted Castle will win the general election:  "They'll call off the fight in the first round," he said.  O'Donnell, he said, doesn't stand a chance.

Does it really come down to how badly one wants the majority?  Can O'Donnell win the general election should she win the primary?  She's collected a number of big endorsements, including the NRA, Sarah Palin, Tea Party Express, and Senator James DeMint, yet FreedomWorks won't sign on.
Daniel Foster at The Corner suggests that O'Donnelll could actually win if she ran a smart campaign in the general election.

Michelle Malkin lays out the case for O'Donnell here.

It's a huge gamble, isn't it!  So much at stake.

Either way, the debate will be moot this time tomorrow.  We'll know how Delaware feels about it all soon enough.

Full Metal Jacket Reach Around: The 9/11 Round Up Edition

What a busy weekend!  I've been on the go all.weekend.long.  Yesterday was consumed with a million errands and yard work while today was filled with visiting my mom and school work.  I had to grade papers, update the gradebook and get lesson plans in order for the week.  I took time out yesterday to watch that messy LSU/Vandy game; was not too impressed with my Tigers.  If they don't get it together the big SEC teams with kill them.  Today, Steve and I went over to the Bossier Municipal Complex to see the flags put out by the kids from the Minden Youth Challenge program.  They put out over 3,000 flags in memory of the 9/11 victims.  Awesome sight.

Let's do a quick sift of the blogosphere and see what all I've missed while I've been busy this weekend:

There were some awesome 9/11 posts:
Camp of the Saints
Sister Toldjah
Althouse
Wyblog
Fishersville Mike
The Other McCain
Mind Numbed Robot
Left Coast Rebel
Reaganite Republican
Pundit and Pundette

Emptysuit reports that poverty is at an all time high.

Doug Ross reports on gun battles in Arizona between agents and smugglers.  Not good.

Pirate's Cove has the story of Obama's veto of solar panels at The White House.

Legal Insurrection has a must read post on The Southern Poverty Law Center.

Stacy McCain and Smitty have a great post on the 9/12 rally with lots of pictures, once they finally found the mall, that is.

Bride of Rove has an insightful conversation with a doctor.

Red has added a new word to her banned word list.

Ed Driscoll comments on the Paglia / Lady Gaga column.

There's lots more, I'm sure, but it's getting late and I have to do a couple more school related tasks before work tomorrow.  Here's hoping for a calm, sane week and I can finally get caught up.

Boehner Stars in Obama's Speech

I had to laugh at this line in The New Republic yesterday:

I think it's safe to say that President Obama has given up on bipartisanship, at least for the foreseeable future.

When was he ever practicing "bipartisanship"?  It's been Blame Bush and Blame Republicans ever since Obama walked onto the national stage.  Obamacare, the Stimulus and everything else this administration has rammed through Congress has been done strictly on party lines, for the most part, with Obama bellowing about Republicans being "the party of no" the entire time.

Yet he does still have his supporters.  And to them, I'm with Stacy McCain:

What’s really depressing is the thought that some percentage of the adult population greater than zero is so intensely stupid as to believe a speech composed chiefly of self-glorification, blame-shifting, naked partisanship, false dilemmas, class warfare and Keynesian claptrap.

Sad, but true.

And now it's not only Bush's fault, but Boehner's fault as Obama elevated Boehner's status by giving him eight shout outs in his speech.  Boehner must be pleased!

(AP Photo)

Seniors Out of Luck Under Obamacare

This is the kind of thing that makes my blood boil; it's the kind of thing that makes me double over with dry heaves when the libs paint themselves as the party of compassion:

In his analysis accompanying the recently released Annual Report of the Medicare Board of Trustees, Richard Foster, Medicare's chief actuary, noted that Medicare payment rates for doctors and hospitals serving seniors will be cut by 30% over the next three years. Under the policies of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, by 2019 Medicare payment rates will be lower than under Medicaid. Mr. Foster notes that by the end of the 75-year projection period in the Annual Medicare Trustees Report, Medicare payment rates will be one-third of what will be paid by private insurance, and only half of what is paid by Medicaid.

Altogether, ObamaCare cuts $818 billion from Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) from 2014-2023, the first 10 years of its full implementation, and $3.2 trillion over the first 20 years, 2014-2033. Adding in ObamaCare cuts for Medicare Part B (physicians fees and other services) brings the total cut to $1.05 trillion over the first 10 years and $4.95 trillion over the first 20 years. 

That's via Peter Ferrara and Larry Hunter at WSJ.  There's more and it's worse.  Read the whole thing.
 
And don't expect the Medicare Czar to get all up in arms about this.  It's exactly what Dr. Death Panel would want.  And let's not forget, AARP endorsed this garbage for their members, too.

Oh and if that doesn't rock your boat, you might take note of the fact that private insurance is going up too.

Yeah.  All that crap about "if you like your health care plan, you can keep it!"  was exactly that.  Crap.  

The party of compassion doesn't care much about your mother.  Or your grandmother.  Or you, for that matter. 

Joe Wilson was right.

Obama Finally Appoints .... Asian Carp Czar

Who said Obama's jobs initiative isn't working?  Why, he created one today.  One new job.

The Asian Carp Czar.

Yessir, John Goss is the man charged with keeping the offending Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes, and Obama is giving him a budget of nearly $80 million, to lead this "multi-pronged federal attack against Asian carp."

What could an Illegal Immigration Czar do with $80 million?  Suggestions?

Cross posted at Potluck

Big Government Bullies vs the Little Light Bulb

How many incandescent light bulbs can I stockpile before 2014 and where should I store them all?  Boy, you can bet I will be!

Via Memeorandum, this Washington Post story about the closure of the last GE plant in America to make incandescent light bulbs.  Two hundred workers will lose their jobs.  The jobs will go to China:

What made the plant here vulnerable is, in part, a 2007 energy conservation measure passed by Congress that set standards essentially banning ordinary incandescents by 2014. The law will force millions of American households to switch to more efficient bulbs.  The resulting savings in energy and greenhouse-gas emissions are expected to be immense. But the move also had unintended consequences. 

That was a Democratic Congress, by the way, pinning their hopes and dreams on AlGore's global warming fantasy.  

By 2014 all incandescent bulbs will be history and you'll be forced to use those squirrelly CFL bulbs filled with mercury and made in China that don't light worth a darn and cost three times as much.

Professor Jacobson is taking predictions on a Mexican light bulb cartel while Althouse is also planning to stock up on the good stuff.

Mark Krikorian at NRO has the best summation:

We can complain about this among ourselves all we want, but Republican candidates need to actually run on this sort of thing — acknowledge that it’s just a light bulb (or shower head or whatever), but that a government big enough to tell you what light bulb to use is a government big enough to take everything you have.

It's not JUST a light bulb, of course.  It's the ruling class telling you how to live your life.  Krikorian is absolutely correct that before you know it, the government will be so big and so powerful they'll tell you what kind of car to drive (oh..wait....) or how much water you can use, how much gasoline you can consume, where you must buy that gasoline and the exact chemical makeup of that gasoline.  Heck, before long they'll even be telling you what doctor you can see and what you can see him for and whether or not you can have that prescription regardless of your own ability to pay for it.  They'll even be telling you we can't be innovative and search our own oil reserves.  Worse than that, they'll try to tell us we can't tap those reserves even though we know where they are because, you know, we might kill a caribou in Alaska or offshore drilling could possibly be *gasp* dangerous.

Oh wait.  Well.  Of course they can tell us what kind of light bulbs to use.  They're in control of everything else already, aren't they.

Damn.

Sick as a Dog

I spent yesterday, Labor Day, flat on the couch trying to fight off some nasty sinus infection mess my husband decided to share with me.  (Love you, honey!)  After my good times last March - July dealing with pleurisy because of a similar situation, I'm headed to the doctor this afternoon;  no more tough-guy-I-can-fight-this crap for me. (BoR is thrilled to hear this, I know, as she implored me to go to the doctor for weeks last time.)  Hell, better go while I still can!

But that's beside the point.  The point was, I really wanted to blog about Obama's "dog" comment but I just feel to bleh to do it.  What's he got against dogs, anyway? 

Pundette covers this topic quite well and you should check her out;  I think she's absolutely correct when she notes that the strain of failure is showing on him.

And now he thinks a road building, infrastructure, union schmoozing stimulus is going to save his sorry self?  Think again.  Gawd, at least half of that would be spent on signs patting himself on the back.  And correct me if I'm wrong, but are those really lasting jobs, anyway?  No.  I didn't think so.

Okay, I'm carrying myself to work, then to a doctor, then back to the couch.  Behave yourselves today.

Update:  Did the doctor thing; three prescriptions later, I'm back on the couch.  See you tomorrow.

Full Metal Jacket Reach Around: Red Beans and Rice Edition

A day late, but since it's a holiday weekend, I guess it's okay that the FMJRA comes on Sunday rather than Saturday as is my custom.  I was busy poking around in Second Hand Rose yesterday and then today I've spent the entire day cleaning.  Overdue. Now, the weather chick is predicting cooler for tomorrow and I've got a pot of red beans and sausage going for this evening.  Steve has gone in search of The Horse Soldiers which was filmed around the Cane River and Oakland Plantation area and we've been wanting to watch it again ever since we went down there last month.

First, though, a sift through the blogosphere:

I have to say, this one cracks me up.  I mean, c'mon.  It's so typical of this White House.  I think this one seals the deal on the left's meme that GWB was an incompetent, illiterate boob.  Enough, already.

DaTechGuy weighs in on the left's attack of Stacy McCain's interview with Todd Palin.  Miss that one?    Stacy explains the situation here, while the original interview is here.  The bottom line is that they're using a tired, unreasonable personal slander of Stacy McCain against Todd Palin - a sort of "guilt by association" thing, except there's no guilt to begin with so...there ya go.  Left Coast Rebel also comments on the brouhaha as does Saberpoint.

I'm messing up up Pirates Cove's schedule with my tardy FMJRA and I promise to do better next week, Teach!  But he's got lots of good reads besides his round-up so check it out.

The Daley Gator reminds you that Alan Grayson is still a clod.

And Sister Toldjah makes the point that Harry Reid is almost as bad.

And for that matter, Adrienne isn't so sure about Obama, either.

Gorgeous!


And Professor Jacobson finally weighs in on the Delaware Senate primary.  I was hoping he would.

If you missed the news of Marco Rubio's father passing, you can get caught up at Ruby Slippers.

Red has the celebrity dirt today; Julia Roberts is not a nice person.

Oh I missed this today, but Pundette didn't.  An all new low.

No Sheeples Here is recruiting for Project 2996; she does such a great job at this.  Such poignant stories.

Little Miss Attila nods to the spambots.  I so hate those.  "Great post.  Thanks for posting this information!  Visit my site....."

Both Althouse and Critical Narrative are into The Times of India.

Bob Belvedere has a great post on our No Class First Couple; are they intentionally trying to demean the presidency? 

Cutest kids ever.

Mind Numbed Robot has a nifty round up when you're through with mine!

And with that, I'm off to watch movies, eat Red Beans & Rice, and enjoy an Octoberfest.  Enjoy your evening!

Take Another Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden

We were on the go all day yesterday. It started out with my trip to The Glen to see my mom.  They were all decked out for the LSU game on her floor; they staff all had on LSU shirts and Mom's nurse, Fauna, was busy taping paw prints in purple and gold on resident's doors!  Luckily I'd had the presence of mind to bring Mom a new LSU t-shirt so we had her properly dressed for the day, too.

They were having a "tailgate party" for the residents and staff in the dining room with hot dogs and such in the afternoon which sounded like fun.  Fauna showed me a picture of the cake and it had "Geaux Tigers" on it!  About that time a resident came by on her scooter saying "Go North Carolina!"  Fauna game her an evil grin and tied purple and gold balloons to her scooter.  The lady made a face, pivoted her scooter and zoomed off down the hall, balloons flying behind her.

I left mom in the hands of her favorite aide and they went out to smoke.

Then Steve and I headed to Minden where sweet Milly Rose was hanging on to my cast iron tea kettle.  I saw some new treasures and will share some with you.  As soon as we walked into the shop, the dogs, Heidi and Rosalea came running up to greet us.  Milly was having a pretty good day with a steady stream of customers.

For some reason this time I was hung up on the jewelry cases and took lots of pictures of those:

That silver cross with the green stones caught my eye and I went back to it again and again.  Milly tried to deal with me all day on it but in the end I didn't leave with it.  I'm going to have to think about that one.  It's not something I'd normally wear; I don't wear much jewelry at all, but I liked it.

Here's another display case:

And one more jewelry item; I loved this piece:

You can't tell how really pretty it is in this picture; it's silver and those colored stones just sparkle like crazy in the light.  I kept wishing I knew someone to give it to.

She also had two very old, lovely men's pocket watches (still working!)  that might be that perfect Christmas gift if you know anyone in the market for one.  I didn't photograph them, however.

There were, of course, the normal crazy oddities that caught my eye, like I just cracked up over this mean looking piggy bank:

That expression on his face is great.

And how about these happy salt and pepper shakers?

Or this busy burro; he carries salt, pepper, oil and vinegar:

We ventured up to the third floor which is like your crazy aunt's attic, and that's where you'll find shelves and shelves of old books:

Dusty bicycles:

Furniture, and steamer trunks:

It gets hot up there, so we'll wait until it gets cooler before we do too much poking around up there; I'd love to comb through all those books, and no telling what's IN them.  The first one I picked up had an old greeting card tucked in it, and someone's forgotten packet of photo negatives.

We crept back down to the second floor and my eyes stopped on this cute stained glass topped bell for a moment:

...but I left it for someone else.  Bells aren't really my thing, but there are people that collect them.  Milly had a whole box of brass bells sitting on the floor near this one.

You into keys?  There are lots of those:

The table of random silver pieces caught my eye again this time and I'm still pondering this piece; I'm just not sure how much it will clean up:

I haven't bartered with Milly on this one yet, but if I did, she'd pull out a bottle of silver polish and we'd find out right then and there how it would clean up.  Maybe next time!

How about a brass pineapple?

Or a Flapper doll?

A fan?

Or the obligatory Elvis section?

Steve has his eye on this beer stein - the one with the pretzel handle:

I'm not sure what this fellow's original purpose was, but he's cast iron and he's funny:

And since The Teenager collects nutcrackers, I have my eye on this Tin Man one:

In the end, today, I left with my tea kettle, an old iron Coca-Cola bottle opener that screws to the cabinet or wall, an Iowa collectible spoon (I don't really collect spoons but Steve is from Iowa!) and a nifty pin Milly threw in as lagniappe!  Nobody leaves Milly's without a "little something extra."

We dashed home in time to eat at Nicky's Mexican restaurant and get on over to Code 3 for the LSU game.  Gawd, I see why we're ranked 21.  They tried really hard to give it away.  Luckily the clock ran out.

Have a happy Sunday and your FMJRA will be out shortly.

Oh, and by the way, Milly's shop, should you like to visit on your own, is at 509 Main St., in Minden, Louisiana.  If you go over, tell her I sent you!  She's got a website, too, but you'd do better to just call her (318-371-9830)  if you see something you want either in this post or my earlier one.  If you're looking for something in particular, give her a call; she's probably got it.  And she will always strike you a deal!

Opening Day

Opening Day!  And there's just enough nip in the air this morning where I could almost get away with making gumbo for the game, except Steve and I are headed to Minden this afternoon to see Milly and to pick up my cast iron tea kettle she's holding for me!  I'll take some more pictures of her treasures for y'all.

Gumbo or not, my LSU flag is already out and my LSU Doodle bangle ready to go!  We have an Opening Game festivity to attend this evening and I'll be carrying my super cute LSU gold purse!  (If you live around here and want to come watch the game with us, come on down to Code 3 right by the west gate of BAFB!)  Crazy fun.

FMJRA to come later, probably tomorrow.  Happy Saturday to you.

Christine O'Donnell Blows Open the Blogosphere

The Delaware Senate race has blown open a hole in the blogosphere this morning with bloggers like Ace, Stacy, and Dan Riehl drawing lines in the sand and taking sides.

Start with Ace who has a detailed post on why he can't support Christine O'Donnell for Senate and is opting instead for RINO Mike Castle:

That is to say: We cannot win full control of the Senate without a Republican in this seat. This seat has long been one of the seats we were just assuming we would win. Because Castle has been comfortably out front for a long, long time.  This is not some longshot pick-up where it really makes little difference because we have no realistic chance anyway, so might as well swing for the fences. We have been counting this as an easy pick-up. When you read "Republicans will pick up at least 7 seats" this is number two or three on that list, after the gimme Arkansas pick-up.  And we're going to toss this away? For what?  She can't win. Period.

You need to read his whole argument. The upshot is that he'd rather have RINO Castle in that seat than a Democrat and to vote for O'Donnell in the primary is to hand the seat over to the Dems in November.

Stacy and Smitty aren't moved by Ace's argument and are still putting their money on O'Donnell as is Michelle Malkin who makes the case that Castle is a RINO who supports cap and tax; I don't think anyone disagrees with that assessment.  But, we're talking about Delaware.

At Hot Air, Allahpundit is in Ace's court, asking "What exactly would be accomplished by nominating her," seeing an easy defeat in November if she wins the primary.

I guess it depends on if you want to send a message to RINOs like Castle that true conservatives can't support your blue votes, or if your concern is all about taking back control of the Senate, even if you have to vote for a RINO who won't vote your way all the time.  I don't think anybody ever expected Scott Brown to vote like a true conservative 100% of the time, and he hasn't.

Dan Riehl can't support Ace on this one either:

As I've said in an email to a few, if someone has issues with O'Donnell, I don't think they should support her. But, helping Castle run her down is stupid, when one could just as easily have posted to help Angle, or Miller, or Rubio.

Even Mark Levin stands up for O'Donnell in an email to John McCormack of The Weekly Standard. In an interview with McCormack, O'Donnell admits to using campaign contributions to pay her rent on her townhouse.  Levin asks:

Um, John, is this really a thoughtful interview?  Where is she on the issues that I and millions of my listeners care about?  Did you not want to delve into them for some reason?  Also, who pays Castle's rent?  Well, let's see, he's been on the government payroll for how long?  I guess we, the taxpayers, pay his rent.  You can do better.  

McCormack's interview is here.

You can watch more of the online debate via Memeorandum.

In the end, I suppose Delaware voters will go for Castle; he's got a comfortable lead, and again, it IS Delaware.  That's not to say that O'Donnell's message is in anyway off base; she's got all the right conservative positions.  It comes down to the question of whether you vote for your principles or you vote for who you think can win, and that's a question the voters in Delaware will have to consider on September 14.

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