Where was This When I Needed It!

A new piece of scientific information says that leaving beds unmade discourages the proliferation of dust mites. Where was this when I was growing up!

 www.sciencealert.com/making-your-bed-each-morning-makes-it-easier-for-dust-mites-to-breed-science-finds

Open Wide

Many of you know Lisa Wipf but did you know that although she has retired from active dentistry, she has a non-profit that funds trips overseas to provide dental services in third-world countries? She is on a dental mission in Uganda right now, so prayers are always welcome that all goes well, but donations are good too. The website and address for Open Wide appear below if you would like to help this worthwhile ministry.

openwideministries.com/

The Budget Shutdown from Wonderland

Let's see if I've got this straight on the possibility of a government shutdown - the Republicans are passing a fulling-funded budget except for funds for Planned Parenthood. The President then says the government can't possibly operate with this HUGE shortfall of greenbacks, so he shuts things down. And it's the Republicans' fault? Not tracking the logic here, but then it's been the Alice in Wonderland routine for quite a while now. 

P.S. - McConnell and Boehner - you might try explaining what is going on this way instead of rolling over and playing dead. Again.

Ride the Chinese Line to Vegas?

China is partnering with a U.S. firm to build a high speed railroad line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. XpressWest, the U.S. company, has not been able to get private investors or a Federal loan to fund the project, so enter the Chinese. Supposedly, the new line when completed will offer $89 one way fares. Maybe. "On-time and on-budget" have not historically been characteristics of projects like this, but if the Chinese want to put their own greenbacks on the line with no government bailouts, fine - knock yourself out. Time will tell.

www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-vegas-la-chinese-high-speed-rail-20150917-story.html

Due Diligence: Carly Fiorina

Fiorina has done an excellent job in the primary campaign thus far and her poll numbers are beginning to show it. I have been impressed by the way she has handled herself and the last primary debate with the Republican A team reinforced that impression. It's time to do more due diligence, however, to see if she will walk the walk that she talks if elected.

Attached is a current article from Townhall and another from the conservative political site Redstate from 2010 when she ran for the U.S. Senate against Barbara Boxer in California, a race that she ultimately lost, and it is not very complimentary. In fact, looking at many of her positions, she comes across as a RINO in 2010, which was documented by the fact that John McCain and Lindsey Graham supported her and as the article says, when do they EVER support a conservative? 

The question for conservatives now is whether she has had a real change of heart or is she just masquerading as a conservative? To some extent you have to factor in that she was, after all, running in California, which is somewhat to the left of the People's Republic of China. The country as a whole is much more moderate than California. And it is very true that people can have a change of heart, as did Ronald Reagan in his journey from being a Democrat to a conservative Republican. Even as a conservative, Reagan governed fairly pragmatically, looking for opportunities to cooperate for the good of the country and only disagreeing when he had to - which is the essence of politics properly understood. But the questions need to be asked of her and about her now that she is playing in the "show." I hope she really has done a "Reagan" but it remains to be seen.

townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2015/09/19/the-conservative-case-against-carly-fiorina-n2053948/page/2

www.redstate.com/diary/Erick/2010/09/07/understanding-carly-fiorina/

The $100 Million Dollar Man!

Remember Col. Steve Austin, the $6 Million Dollar Man? The 1970s show was about an Air Force pilot who crashed and was rebuilt bionically into a superman. Apparently the U.S. is trying to do this for real in Syria.

The Obama Administration earmarked $500 million a year for training Syrian rebels who were anti-Assad into real soldiers. Now, a year later the Pentagon rolled out the fruit of their labors - 5, count 'em, 5 Super Soldiers! Let's see, that's $100M a pop. At that price, these guys better be good. Great to see another foreign policy triumph for Team Obama! Assad - your time has come!

townhall.com/columnists/jonahgoldberg/2015/09/18/syria-just-one-of-obamas-foreignpolicy-failures-n2053546

I Can't Get On-Line

Back in February, 2014 I posted a piece that the attack on a power station in California where someone shot out transformers at a PGE power substation appeared to be a dry run for terrorists. This has now been confirmed by both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and a SEAL team that looked at the methods used. 

Did you know that this last Monday, though, someone also got into a vault holding fiber optic cables that are part of the central trunk for the national internet system and severed them? Is it a coincidence that this happened just after Numb Nuts of the Norks rattled his sabers again? Same question as before: Got some emergency food and other supplies stored?

www.wnd.com/2015/09/expert-san-fran-cable-cutting-possible-terror-dry-run/

Attention Scum, You Loot We Shoot.

Sign in California town hit by fires. Can't say they weren't warned.

 www.breitbart.com/california/2015/09/16/fire-ravaged-town-warns-loot-shoot/

Energy: What Works; What Don't

Isaac Orr tells us the answer in a succinct piece in Townhall this morning:

" Germany and the United States are embarking on two drastically different energy policies, and these countries are reaping dramatically different results. In Germany, the government devised a top-down plan called Energiewende, a term meaning “turn” or “revolution,” intended to make Germany the renewable-energy center of the world. The United States has experienced its own energy revolution thanks to hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking,” which has transformed our nation into the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world in spite of, not because of, the federal government.

Both these “revolutions” were supposed to result in growing economies, lower energy prices, and lower carbon-dioxide emissions, but only one has actually achieved these lofty goals. Surprise! It’s not the top-down, big-government policy."

For example, German consumers are paying on average $355/year more than 5 years ago, while Americans are paying $181-$432/year less due to decreases in the cost of natural gas due to vastly increased supply. In addition, Americans are also saving an average of $675/year from lower gasoline prices because the U.S. is also increasing the oil supply domestically at a rapid rate. And a bonus is that U.S. carbon emissions fell due to cleaner-burning natural gas while Germany's CO2 totals went up. Not bad, not bad at all.

Perhaps for wind and other types of renewable energy, someday their prince will come, but until then, the market is doing a pretty good job of providing a good and cleaner energy supply at a lower cost than government can via fiat.

townhall.com/columnists/isaacorr/2015/09/15/german-energiewende-vs-american-fracking-a-tale-of-two-energy-revolutions-n2051956

Behind the Trump Phenomenon

If you have read this blog before, you know that I am not a Trump guy. I think I do understand, however, why he is so popular at the moment. The big "secret" - a broad cross section of people in this country have seriously had it with the political status quo and Trump is giving voice to their feelings in language that leaves no doubt. Basically, they're mad as hell and they're not going to take it any more. David Limbaugh puts it this way:

"Much of the establishment's criticism of Donald Trump comes from its failure to comprehend the reasons for his soaring popularity.

Establishment types seem untroubled by the problems facing America, so they can't understand the urgency that fathered Trump's rise. Minor adjustments to the Hindenburg's dining room menu just aren't going to get it."

I agree with Limbaugh's analysis and I agree with my fellow Americans that the ship is sinking and that we need to do things very differently ASAP. It is no coincidence that Trump, Carson and Fiorina are all outsiders and all are doing well. They all have not only sensed the angst of their fellow Americans - they share it and they want to act. Trump will wear out his welcome as time passes through his own character flaws, but whoever gives true voice to the American giant that is stirring will be the nominee and very possibly the next President of the United States. 

townhall.com/columnists/davidlimbaugh/2015/09/15/the-establishment-birthed-trump-n2052148

Chicago, Chicago, That ... Very Broke Town

Like me, Stephen Moore grew up in the Chicago area, in a time when Chicago worked. Unfortunately, that is no longer true, which he documents in this piece. 

Rahm Emmanuel, Obama's buddy and mayor of Chicago, recently went downstate to Springfield with pockets turned inside out to beg for dollars from state legislators. His city, you see, is broke - very broke. But then so is Illinois to the tune of billions in the red and for the same reason: government pensions. The Illinois budget office estimates that 1 of every 3 tax dollars is now going to pay government employee pension obligations, primarily teachers and the Illinois Supreme Court has said, "Can't touch dat!" because these are "sacred" contracts. What to do?

Why soak the rich, of course, that favorite of all Dems and Lefties! Oh wait - the rich guys are moving out of state to places likes Florida, Texas and Arizona. Data shows that in 2012 alone, based on IRS data, the out-migration of income exceeds in-migration by $2 billion. Over 10 years this is $30 BILLION of income lost to the grasping hands of Messrs. Emmanuel and his minions. Mon dieu!

Well, there's always the Feds. Who are also in the red. Big time. Rahm might want to ask Detroit how that approach worked out for them. Hmm ... not so much. 

All of which means we can expect to see a creeping Detroitization of the Windy Cindy with crime going up because of no dollars to pay for adequate police and fire, corporations and middle and upper income individuals fleeing as a consequence and a slow slide into decay as the Toddlin' Town becomes the Tottering Town swaying over the edge of the abyss. Sad, but inevitable as long as people keep voting the bums in.

townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2015/09/15/anatomy-of-a-failed-liberal-state-n2051977

Why Lindsey Graham Should Not Even be the Dogcatcher

Senator Lindsey Graham said that he thinks the U.S. should accept its fair share of Syrian refugees. Unanswered is the question: why? Perhaps send humanitarian aid to help them survive while waiting for the situation in Syria to stabilize but import a potential national security threat? I think not. So typical of Republican "leadership."

www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/09/09/lindsey-graham-us-needs-to-accept-our-fair-share-of-syrian-refugees/

Democracy Hillary Style

Breitbart reports that, "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says that she admires Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s ability to inspire people with his authoritarianism." Gender equality I guess since her former boss is making a pretty good run at autocratic leadership.

www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/09/hillary-clinton-i-admire-putins-firmness/

Riding the Curve of American "Strategy"

Since Korea, the U.S. has followed a predictable foreign intervention curve: we send in the troops to do away with bad guys who threaten the U.S. in some way and they almost clean up the mess when the the other party gets voted in and gives away all the gains. This happened in Vietnam, it happened in Iraq, and now it's about to happen in Afghanistan. 

Helmand Province has seen some very hard fighting between U.S. and NATO forces and the Taliban, but it has been relatively secure since 2010. Now a U.S. general is in Washington reporting that as allied forces draw down per Obama, the Taliban is starting a surge to take over the province which will position them to surround Kabul, a la Saigon in 1975. I can see the helicopters lifting off the rooftops now - will the last American out of Kabul turn off the lights? 

Paraphrasing Edmund Burke, when good men do nothing, evil flourishes. We either have to become inured to evil ISIS or North Korea-style and too bad for refugees and everybody else or learn how to do this more effectively and make it stick. It's a tragic waste of lives and money and our national security is imperiled in the long run the way we are - and have - done it for some time. Let's do a WWII-type victory with one of the bad guys of the world and see how that plays with the rest of the thugs. 

www.wnd.com/2015/09/general-rushes-to-white-house-to-warn-of-taliban-surge/

Demolishing the Progressive Version of Black History

Professor Walter Williams takes issue with the current Progressive narrative that what is going on today in black communities around the U.S. is the sole result of slavery. His central data-based argument: for 5 generations after the end of slavery the black community was far stronger on measurable indices than it is today. He also lays out the real culprits. Hint: guess who wants a consistent black bloc vote and has had it for a long time? (The answer starts with a "D.")

townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2015/09/09/wasnt-always-this-way-n2048956

I'm with Ben

 It's time for integrity. I am really sick of the professional politicians who have become absolutely brazen in saying one thing and doing another once elected. If nominated, Carson would be subject to political pressure on various issues as well, but I believe that he is a person of character and would "drift" far less than any of the other candidates. Trump, the current front-runner is pretty much amoral from everything he himself has said. Fiorina is an interesting possibility. The rest, well let's not go there.

Do I have reservations? Sure. Can he effectively run against the Democratic nominee and effectively govern if he wins?  Hillary? Seriously? Speaking of a character, as opposed to a person of character! He is a novice to be sure, but I believe that he will bring in qualified people of character to help him and the contrast with Obama, not to mention almost all of the rest of the candidates is so marked as to be no contest. 

This country is in deep trouble and it's going to take someone way outside the Washington Beltway with integrity and resolution to start us on the long road back. So, I'm with Ben. It's time for integrity.

Bernie the Faux-Prole

Paul Jacobs unpacks why Bernie Sanders is a phony and the darling of the non-working Left. He calls him a "faux-prole" which is French for false proletarian - because he says he is for the "working people" but in reality, socialism has long been the pretty much the exclusive domain of "intellectuals, college students, and government workers" who have made delusion an art form. He also spells out that Sanders is a demagogue in the true sense and cites chapter and verse as to why:

"Bernie Sanders is a demagogue because he attacks the rich and proposes solutions that pretend to favor the lowest socioeconomic classes. And, like most socialists, he plays, demagogically, on his constituencies’:

Emotions: Socialism has always been a philosophy of hatred of business, free markets, the rich, and private property;

Fears: The rich “buy” our elections. Now, specifically “the Kochs” (never Soros and comrades) do the buying, with Sanders’s solution being to effectively repeal the First Amendment (just one of many ominous totalitarian touches in his political vision);

Prejudices: It’s always “the rich” and “the one percent” — as if all are alike, as if there is no diversity in how fortunes are made;

Ignorance: Ask a socialist to define consumer surplus, marginal productivity, or explain the idea of mutual benefit through trade — they prove belligerently resistant to economic wisdom."

Socialism is a big con game. The few at the top are complete cynics who know that all this is crap and a subterfuge for gaining power and then calling the shots the way they want. The rest of the pack is just a bunch of useful idiots to help them get there. Real working people have figured him and his ilk out; it's only the "educated" that are continuously fooled.

http://townhall.com/columnists/pauljacob/2015/09/06/the-democrats-demagogue-n2048480

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Well, here's one you don't see all the time. A bicyclist stopped in a rural area in Idaho to take a dump and cleaned up after himself by lighting the toilet paper on fire. Unfortunately, Idaho was tinder dry and the flaming TP sparked a range fire that sent 73 acres up in smoke. Enter the BLM stage left who put out the blaze and is handing the cyclist with the errant bowels a bill for $50,000 - $75,000 for its efforts. That's some serious you-know-what!

www.kgw.com/story/news/local/wildfire/2015/09/04/man-who-started-southwest-idaho-wildfire-to-be-fined/71708196/

Defining Feckless

 Feck·less

ˈfekləs/

adjective

adjective: feckless

1. lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible.

   
   

   "a feckless mama's boy"

   
   

   synonyms:

   useless, worthless, incompetent, inept, good-for-nothing, ne'er-do-well; More lazy, idle, slothful, indolent, irresponsible, shiftless; informalno-good, no-account "the feckless bum hasn't gotten off our sofa for ten days"

(See also) Secretary of State John Kerry stated, “if we do the right job of inspecting, and Israel, and the gulf states, and we and our friends, France, Germany, Britain, China, Russia all are doing the right level of intelligence gathering, believe me, we will know what Iran is doing” on Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Really, our "friends" China and Russia? 

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/09/02/kerry-if-us-others-such-as-china-and-russia-work-properly-we-will-know-what-iran-is-doing/

The Beltway GOP Crapweasels

Now that's a new one - "The Beltway GOP Crapweasels." I like it. Credit Michelle Malkin in her hit piece today on Eric Cantor, who endorsed Jeb Bush last week. The fact that Bush trotted him out is a great illustration of the moniker and why Bush is sinking like a rock in the Presidential polls. Cantor lost a "safe" seat in the House when Virginia voters dumped him in favor of a conservative libertarian economics prof, David Brat. Malkin said his loss was because:

"BushCantor share the same smug condescension toward Americans who believe in strict immigration enforcement and putting American workers first. Cantor fecklessly lied to voters during the campaign season about his position(s). He showered his district with anti-illegal immigration flyers that fraudulently portrayed him as standing up to President Obama on amnesty. But on Capitol Hill, he championed the DREAM Act for illegal alien students, huge H-1B visa increases to quench Big Tech's appetite for cheap foreign tech workers, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce/AFL-CIO's collaboration on massive immigration expansions.

While Cantor lip-synced to the limited-government tea party message, he boogied in backrooms with his pork-barrel pals. He assailed Obama's bloated stimulus and then celebrated the high-speed rail boondoggles in his state funded by it. As a celebrated "young gun" on the right, Cantor preached fiscal responsibility, while blowing nearly $170,000 on fancy steakhouse dinners across the country in his last year in office.

Like Bush (and Gang of Eight cheerleader Sen. Marco Rubio), Cantor was the beneficiary of -- and water carrier for -- generous Silicon Valley and Big Business contributors. Cantor's biggest donors included New York financial conglomerates the Blackstone Group ($65,500) and Goldman Sachs ($26,000), and California tech company Oracle ($25,000)."

Can you say Mitch McConnnell and John Boehner and all the other Crapweasel Republicans whose only interest is themselves and "Pork-as-Usual" politics?

townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2015/09/02/eric-cantor-poster-boy-of-the-beltway-gop-crapweasels-n2046697