Optimus Prime Birthday Cake

What I've been working on all week.

Gone in sixty seconds.

Yes, It's not (really) true

Iowahawk is funny.

That said....

The inestimable Onion is brutally honest about being a parent here.

And since it seemed appropriate given my motherhood status, current stress-levels and impending future of being covered in frosting and kid-spit, I thought it a particularly accurate read.

Posting Delay

I'm about to have between 12 and 16 five year olds in my tiny home for two hours while they fill up on pinata candy and cake for my son's birthday.

Posting will be light today.

Pray for me.

Uplifting

My daughter is a Brownie, but this made me doubly proud of Girl Scouts.

Post-Partum Depression

This is truly horrific, I am deeply saddened that it happened, and I suspect part of the cause was post-partum depression.

Not an excuse, just a possible reason.

I can't imagine what would drive me to put my child in an oven and turn it on.

And it is probably a horribly perspective but I feel a lot better about my parenting skills now.

Before and After

You know how you can look at a presidential candidate and they look young and fresh. Then you look at a picture of the same person after they've served just four years as president and they look old and withered?

Well, check out the before and after-two-weeks photos over at Sundries.

Worst week, indeed.

Thin skin

Martha Zoller takes a look at Obama's skin and just how thin it is.

Apparently, all that positive press turned Obama's head. Unfortunately, unless he screws his head back on right, Obama is going to continue to make more and more media mistakes by expecting the spotlight to always be in flattering hues.

Ms. Zoller writes a good article worth a perusal.

Rot In Jail ELF

Earth Liberation Front is an evil, vile organization that uses terrorist tactics to "convince" people. There is not one thing that is good about them.

Period.

So it is with great pleasure and pure happy relish that I read about how one of theirs has been sentenced to 22 years in jail.
Rot away, ELF scum.

Hot Cup of Joe

Pajamas TV has a whole bunch of hot Joe Wurzelbacher - Yummy.

Here's his take on the so-called stimulus bill (part 4) that's wonderfully vicious.

And here's The Gallery of Joe listing his previous Pajamas TV segments.

Go Joe Go!

Catch Mitt

Mitt Romney has an excellent bit of Comentary up on CNN. Worth reading.

So Good I Copied It

Below is Rich Lowry (National Review's Editor-in-Chief) take on Obama and the so-called stimulus.

It is so good, so scathing, that I'm just copying and pasting it.

His piece stands on its own very well indeed.

‘I Won,’ He Explained
On the stimulus, when Obama says “I won,” he’s out of better arguments.
By Rich Lowry

Barack Obama, a reputed master of the persuasive art, has settled on his central argument for the stimulus bill: I won.

That Obama is reduced to this crude appeal is a symptom of the intellectual collapse of the case for his stimulus bill, a congressional spendfest untethered from its stated goal of providing a rapid “jolt” to the economy.

As far as political arguments go, “I won” has its power—provided it’s made on behalf of an agenda ratified by the American electorate. But Obama didn’t campaign on a sprawling, nearly $1 trillion new spending plan. If he had pledged in October to double federal domestic discretionary spending in a matter of weeks—including increasing the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts by a third, spending hundreds of millions more on federal buildings and throwing tens of billions on every traditional liberal priority from job training to Pell Grants—he’d have been hard-pressed to win at all.

The president should read the transcript of the third presidential debate. He claimed his program represented “a net spending cut.” He called himself “a strong proponent of pay-as-you-go. Every dollar that I’ve proposed, I’ve proposed an additional cut so that it matches.” He added, “We need to eliminate a whole host of programs that don’t work.”

Now, circumstances change, and no president can adhere to every jot and tittle from his campaign, but the “I won” argument only works if the campaign program matches the governing program. Obama himself seems confused on what exactly “I won” means.

In a meeting with congressional Republicans, he brandished “I won” as a defense of his version of tax relief. But he later used “I won” to push back against an excessive reliance on tax cuts, claiming that it had been repudiated during the campaign even though he talked every day on the trail of cutting taxes for “95 percent of working people” and never once mentioned a commitment to extreme deficit spending.

Obama has to make a case for the stimulus bill on the merits, a surpassingly difficult forensic task. In a Washington Post op-ed, Obama called for “swift, bold, and wise” action, but it’s possible to have at most two of those things at once. The current legislation is swift and bold—indeed, shameless—but not remotely wise.

The bill came out of the House with a price tag of $819 billion. It would spend more in 2011 alone than in this year, and more in 2012 and beyond than in this year. Why far-off spending priorities have to be set in a rush in the first two weeks of February 2009 is something no one can explain—except that, with all restraints off, congressional Democrats want to toss bulging sacks of cash out the door.

Obama writes that the bill “is more than a prescription for short-term spending—it’s a strategy for America’s long-term growth and opportunity.” Fine. A long-term strategy deserves long-term deliberation, the committee hearings and other processes meant to exercise a check on the heedlessness of hasty legislating in a panic.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill will have a stimulative effect in the short term but a negative one in the long term, although it stipulates that “large fiscal stimulus is rarely attempted” and its effects “are very uncertain.” The stimulus bill is basically a $1 trillion bet on an utterly unproven theory—that scattershot government spending is a magic elixir for an economy in the grips of a financial crisis.

When Barack Obama ran last year, he didn’t say he’d engage in faith-based economic policy on a grand scale. He didn’t say he’d toss aside the normal processes of governing. He didn’t say he’d quickly act to add waste to the federal budget. And he didn’t say he’d try to brush away criticism with the mere assertion of his victory. On the stimulus, when Obama says “I won,” he’s out of better arguments.

Name & Shame - Religious Discriminators

Follow this link to the see the Senators who voted for religious discrimination.

For Shame!

Lovin' Them Libertarians

The wise-acres over at Reason came up with this little ditty about the stimulus package. Personally, I think it's briliant!

Greenpeace Emissions

Another post of my husband from NRO - The Corner

The Liberal Coalition at Work

Greenpeace is backing the stimulus because it will reduce emissions. Except it won't. As Roger Pielke, Jr. explains, it will actually increase emissions, but reduce them from a hypothetical case where we didn't spend massive amounts of money on alternative energy capacity. If you're going to stimulate the economy, you're going to need energy, and if you're going to do it cost-effectively, that means fossil-fuel energy. If Greenpeace were serious about actually reducing emissions, they'd hail the recession and oppose all the stimulus except for the green energy/transportation programs, but it is now clear they are not and are just carrying water for their liberal allies.

Meanwhile, it looks like the Breakthrough Institute (unlike Camilla Cavendish in the UK Times) has realized the Administration's alternative energy promises are just smoke and mirrors. I could have told them that.

One Thing Right

From My Husband's Post on NRO - The Corner...

Mark-to-Market Suspension Monday?

The Dow is heading up, and it's not because Senatorial opposition to the stimulus is weakening. It started with the news yesterday that the Administration is on the verge of getting one huge thing right and will announce a suspension of certain mark-to-market rules on Monday. This will instantly reduce the risk for financial firms with bad assets on their books from future paper losses that could adversely affect their regulatory solvency. As we at CEI have been saying from Day One of the financial mess, there is no easier relief measure around. To its very great credit, the Obama administration appears to have realized this. Obama and Geithner actually deserve applause for this.

However, it seems likely that the significant Dow rally that will probably result will be spun otherwise, as market support for the stimulus. Ironically, the best way to stop them getting away with this spin may well be to praise them extravagantly for something they've done right.

The Obamination of a Stimulus Bill

This thing is a dreadful monstrocity.

Tom Coburn's speech detailing the waste is a must read for every American who pays taxes.

And according to DeMint, this so-called stimulus bill discriminates against students of faith.

Outrageous! Disgusting! Foul!

Rise Up! Rise Up! Contact your Senators and DEMAND they vote against this evil thing!

"The Meaning of Sarah Palin"

This longish but excellent article about Gov. Sarah Palin from Commentary Magazine was an exhilerating read. Evenhanded and honest, I have to say I agreed with about 95% of its conclusions.

One quibble I have is that I believe I am intelligent and (most likely) fall in the upper-middle class, so I was a bit perturbed that the article felt that Sarah only appealled to less educated, lower middle class people.

They did make the case that it was intellectual elitism on both the right and left that felt the most disdain for Gov. Palin and that I feel is a fair statement.

I have to say that if you are so intellectually elite that you can not appreciate the positive that is Gov. Palin, then you are pretty stupid.

Commentary Magazine, of course, put it better...

The reaction of the intellectual elite to Sarah Palin was far more provincial than Palin herself ever has been, and those who reacted so viscerally against her evinced little or no appreciation for an essential premise of democracy: that practical wisdom matters at least as much as formal education, and that leadership can emerge from utterly unexpected places. The presumption that the only road to power passes through the Ivy League and its tributaries is neither democratic nor sensible, and is, moreover, a sharp and wrongheaded break from the American tradition of citizen governance.

As Commentary goes on to say, it is the intellectual elite who believe they are helping the "little guy" while having no inclination to allow those little people access to the "levers of power".

Shame really. The American Intellectual Elite gene pool is rapidly becoming a puddle.

Got More Answers Outta Bush

So much for hope and change.

So much for transparency and ethics.

Obama's mouthpiece can't even answer - refuses to answer - simple questions about transparency and tax evasion.

Unlicensed Face of "Hope"

So the street artist that created the now (in)famous picture of Obama with the word "Hope" underneath it based the image on an AP photograph.

And AP ain't happy about it.

Personally, I always thought those "hope", "change" and "vote" posters had a whiff of fascist propaganda about them - you know, like those old Nazi Germany and Communist Russia posters.

Anyhow, what really bothers me is that it has already been added "to the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington."

Isn't it a tad early to be put in a major museum?

Senate to Stimulate Illegal Employment

According to a new study by the Center for Immigration Studies, the Senate version of the so-called stimulus bill will end up allowing up to 300,000 illegal immigrants to get jobs in the construction industry.

The Senate Stimulus bill currently being considered contains about $104 billion in new government funding for construction projects with the goal of creating jobs for millions of unemployed Americans. Unlike the House version, there is no provision in the bill to bar illegal immigrants from getting these taxpayer-funded jobs. This could result in several hundred thousand illegal immigrants receiving jobs.

* The current version of the Senate Stimulus bill (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) contains $104 billion in construction spending, including highways, schools, and public housing.
* Government estimates suggest this spending should create about 2 million new construction jobs.
* Consistent with other research, the Center Immigration Studies has previously estimated that 15 percent of construction workers are illegal immigrants.
* This means that about 300,000 of the construction jobs created by the Senate stimulus could go to illegal aliens (15 percent of 2 million).

This so-called stimulus bill should be fought tooth and nail by all those who want Americans to get jobs.

What My CCD Teach Sent Me

A long-time family friend sent me the email below.

Thirty odd years ago, this woman was my Catholic Catchicism (CCD) teacher. She's my youngest sister's Godmother and a close friend of my mother's.

I found this email funny enough to post both for its content and its source. Who says Catholics don't have a sense of humer?!?

WARNING - This does contain "language" and for that I apologize profusely.

For some time many of us have wondered just who is Jack Schitt? We find ourselves at a loss when someone says, 'You don't know Jack Schitt!'

Well, thanks to my genealogy efforts, you can now respond in an intellectual way.

Jack Schitt is the only son of Awe Schitt. Awe Schitt, the fertilizer magnate, married O. Schitt, the owner of Needeep N. Schitt, Inc. They had one son, Jack.

In turn, Jack Schitt married Noe Schitt. The deeply religious couple produced six children: Holie Schitt, Giva Schitt, Fulla Schitt, Bull Schitt, and the twins Deep Schitt and Dip Schitt.

Against her parents' objections, Deep Schitt married Dumb Schitt, a high school dropout. After being married 15 years, Jack and Noe Schitt divorced.

Noe Schitt later married Ted Sherlock, and because her kids were living with them, she wanted to keep her previous name.

She was then known as Noe Schitt Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Dip Schitt married Loda Schitt, and they produced a son with a rather nervous disposition named Chicken Schitt.

Two of the other six children, Fulla Schitt and Giva Schitt, were inseparable throughout childhood and subsequently married the Happens brothers in a dual ceremony. The wedding announcement in the newspaper announced the Schitt-Happens nuptials. The Schitt-Happens children were Dawg, Byrd, and Horse.

Bull Schitt, the prodigal son, left home to tour the world. He recently returned from Italy with his new Italian bride, Pisa Schitt.

Now when someone says, 'You don't know Jack Schitt,' you can correct them.

Sincerely,
Crock O. Schitt

Yup, that's from the very nice lady who taught me all I know about God.

1040 Tax Return For Democrats Only

Visit this website and see the special Democrats-only 1040 Tax Return.

Remember it's all the details.

More Bacon Please

http://bacolicio.us/

Copy the above and paste it in front of any URL for a bacon-licious website.

For example see here.

Thank you Jonah, may I have another?

Don't Say We Didn't Warn You

My husband's Post on NRO - The Corner

Regulate First, Think Later . . . or Never
Quin Hilyer has a good column in the Examiner today on the subject of the ludicrously over-reaching Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. This little-noticed piece of legislation could have significant effects on a wide variety of small businesses:

Antiques dealers, toymakers, electronics retailers, even book manufacturers and diaper makers all are agitated, and in many cases confused, about the new law that is scheduled to take effect Feb. 10. As usual, only the plaintiffs’ attorneys are rubbing their hands in glee.

Last August, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which mandates that all products for children ages 12 and under be tested for lead and phthalates (a chemical in many plastics), and that no such products be sold with lead contents higher than 600 parts per million. (Ingested lead, of course, can cause serious health problems, including learning disabilities in children.)

The sales ban applies retroactively, too: Even if the items in question were made 100 years ago, The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has advised that a second-hand store could be subject to lawsuits or even “criminal penalties” for selling them.

Even antique lead soldiers sold as collectibles for display, rather than as play toys, could conceivably trigger punishment.

The CPSC has reacted to criticism by announcing a stay in testing requirements for a year, but Quin explains why that actually offers no relief.

I wrote about this a while back on OpenMarket (as did Hans Bader here), while Walter Olson has been all over the subject on Overlawyered. I can't think of a more accessible example of the unintended consequences of regulation.

Emulating Adults

A couple of days ago, I was watching a TV program that featured a segment from what must have been the 1950s, a school documentary on how to throw a party.

It showed teenage girls discussing who to invite, party games to play, and how to behave in a well-mannered way. The party was hilariously dull and droll, with etiquette interruptions by the voice over.

And that's what shook me up. These 1950s teenagers were shown wearing nice dresses and suits. They played their games and ate their party food as well-mannered young adults. I imagine that the teenagers were shown this video at school in order to teach them good manners and non-venal behavior during boy/girl social mixing.

How accurate this was to real life in the 1950s is up for debate. The complete lack of early rock-n-roll or any music is a good indication that this "party" may not have completely been the norm.

But it was the ideal.

These kids were depicted emulating what was considered appropriate adult behavior. This is what the Baby Boomers revolted against, claiming decency was oppression.

Now, two generations later the closest thing one has to a video showing teens how to throw a party is some ghastly booty-call of a video with half-naked girls simulating fornication.

Thanks Baby Boomers. Thanks a effing lot.

I'm stuck raising my two children in the wreckage of your bad behavior, your inability to behave like a grown ups. You tore down the ideal because you were too lazy and spoiled to live up to it and now your children and your grandchildren are suffering.

My husband and I try to behave like the adult role models all parents should be (we fail at times, we are human) in the hopes that our children will emulate adults rather than overgrown and aging boomers. It's hard going but worth it if we can preserve our children's characters. For as Edmund Burke once said, "A loosening of morals leads to a hardening of hearts."

FEMA's Latest Failure

Democrats are saying FEMA is doing a terrific job dealing eith the midwest freeze, while people actually suffering are wondering what the heck FEMA are doing.

Thousands are still without power and have not seen a single FEMA person on the ground. The Kentucky Governor Beshear waited two days before asking for FEMA help and Obama signed the authorization hours later.

And yet...

Brocton Oglesby, director of emergency management in Hopkins County, said he has seen virtually no contribution from FEMA in the county, where more than half of the 27,000 homes remained without electricity.

"They need to be here — at least a presence, a liaison to work with us, to start feeding information and gearing up for the next stage," Oglesby said. "That's where they're going to be needed the most."

The article just goes on and on.

I'm sure FEMA and all the other Emergency Management personal are doing their best and my prayers are with them all. But where is the media outrage? While not quite Katrina level, this is storm has impacted a huge swath of America and Americans are dying.

Why so quiet MSNBC, CNN et al? Where is your god now?

MissPerceptions

Another Obama misperception is that Michelle Obama is actually happy to be a mom.

She's not. Supermarket tabloids claim she's "keeps it real" however she also has a personal chef.

Now she's embarking on a "listening tour" of the federal government. Shades of Clintonian Healthcare!

Michelle Obama is a scary broad, just read her college thesis paper from Princeton. Oh, and by the way, why haven't Columbia and Harvard released Obama's papers?

Those who voted for Obama did not vote for his wife (necessarily) and no First Lady should meddle in government unless she has also been elected to a defined position.

New Deal Was A No Deal

The Wall Street Journal has a fine article about how the "New Deal" did not pull us out of the Great Depression but rather kept us in it by Economics Professors Cole of the University of Pennsylvania and Professor Ohanian of UCLA.

The main lesson we have learned from the New Deal is that wholesale government intervention can -- and does -- deliver the most unintended of consequences. This was true in the 1930s, when artificially high wages and prices kept us depressed for more than a decade, it was true in the 1970s when price controls were used to combat inflation but just produced shortages. It is true today, when poorly designed regulation produced a banking system that took on too much risk.

Congress Gives Itself $93,000 Each in Petty Cash

Shelter California

Victor Davis Hanson explains why liberal/socialist California has gone from Hotel California to Homeless Shelter California.

Always a good read.

Rendition

Over at RedState, Moe Lane is getting a lot off his chest about Obama and rendition and "I told you so".

Five Stars for really satisfying rant!

Leaving them Frozen

Steve Gill has a piece over at Pajamas Media about the disturbing lack of action on Obama's part towards the Tennesse/Kentucky tragedy.

Leaving people to freeze to death is vile. Obama should be ashamed.

But the real villian is the media for not even mentioning that 42 people have died, thousands are freezing, and potable water is in short supply. This should be a national tragedy. Instead not a peep from the news organizatons.

SHAME! SHAME! INHUMAN SHAME!

Death Toll UPDATE Here

American Worker Ad

Mark Krikorian does hero's work over at Center for Immigration Studies. He offers this ad as a reminder of what's at stake during this recession.

Liberate to Stimulate

The article below is by my husband and originally posted on NRO - The Corner

The Financial Times used to be the cleverest newspaper in Britain. Then it went global and its quality dropped significantly. There's a great example in today's editorials, where the pink paper argues that, because there is so little spending in the borrow-and-spend bill that would actually, you know, stimulate, it would be a crime for Republicans to delay it.

Meanwhile, over at Bloomberg, Kevin Hassett spells out exactly how much the Act will cost taxpayers when the bill becomes due. He has a nice analogy setting out what the government would force you to buy, depending on your tax bracket, with the proviso that the government would then force you to give it away.

So what should we do? There's an inkling in the Washington Times today, from, of all people, George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson, and Gray Davis. They point out that "shovel-ready" projects are just maintenance work, because infrastructure projects are bogged down in environmental regulations. They don't quite get to the conclusion, so let me say it for them: if you want to build infrastructure sharpish, you're going to have to set aside those environmental regulations by law. Any "stimulus" bill that doesn't include relief from the provisions of the National Environmental Protection Act, for instance, isn't going to get any infrastructure project going any time soon.

So if you want to stimulate, you're going to have to liberate. Similar arguments can be made as regards Davis-Bacon and 13C. There are a bunch of other such ideas, which will also get the economy moving by getting government out of the way. For example, finally suspending mark-to-market accounting properly, which will be a huge boon to the banks. Or getting rid of the burdens of SarbOx and other ridiculous and ineffectual regulations on small businesses. Antitrust reform would help, too. And you could even think about finally getting rid of the Corporate Income Tax, a hold-over from the days when income tax itself was unconstitutional, and which, at least before the 2005 reforms, probably cost more to collect than it raised in income.

If you want hope and change, rather than the same old pork barrel policies, that's the way to go: liberate to stimulate (it'll catch on).

Sarah Speaks

Gov. Palin has an article in The StarTribune making a VERY strong case for drilling in ANWAR. She is absolutely correct and if the current administration does not drill, then it is dooming us to expensive energy for decades to come.

Steele Chair

Micheal Steele is the RNC Chairman now and while my first choice was Ken Blackwell, this Forbes profile of him seems to indicate that Mr. Steele will be a force for good in the revival of conservativism.

I'm still feeling a little sulky but I am happy to support the Chairman because he's got a lot of work to do.

A Brilliant Idea

India is attempting to develop a $10 laptop in order to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.

This is a brilliant idea - one that is bound to have profound impact on our global society. The more people have access to computers and the Internet, the more ideas can enter the marketplace. The more ideas, the more opportunities to develop the good ideas.

An American attempted this before and met resistance from Intel chip maker.

It comes as an answer to the One Laptop per Child project (OLPC) led by Nicholas Negraponte, the American scientist, which set out to produce a computer for $100. The US venture ran into problems when large companies including Intel, the biggest chip manufacturer, refused to co-operate.

Hopefully, Intel will regret it's intransigence and change their mind because this could be an amazing step forward for the human race.

This Doesn't Bode Well

"Discrete talks" usually means "secret negotiations" - and yes, I know it is common.

But why is Obama talking to Syria and Iran in the first place and for the past few months? He knows Americans don't want to negotiate with terrorists, so he does it behind our backs until he can announce a "done deal".

Given the patterns of behavior from this man, I suspect Obama is going to make Nixon look like a Boy Scout.

Refinancing Sleaze is Still Sleaze

Sen. Dodd has yet to reveal exactly what his sweetheart mortgage deals with Countrywide were - despite promising over 6 months ago.

Now he is announcing he will refinance them with a new company selected by a third party.

Who cares? He got a sleazy "Friends of Angelo" mortgage from Countrywide and now he's trying to "launder" his mortgages rather than fess up.

Sleazy behavior never comes clean.

Ghastly Green

I think I'd prefer the bulletproof backpacks to reusable menstrual pads.

UGH!

They are called "Moonpads" (how Wicca) and are made of 100% organic cotton.

Now I don't know about you but there is not a single thing I can think of that is actually positive about these. Reusable means you have to wash them wasting water and energy. Plus organic cotton is one of the more wasteful organic products to grow in terms of land use, water use, and productivity.

What a revolting scam this is. Thank goodness, it is based out of Australia but apparently there is a contest to win them if you want.

More Reasons to Fight FOCA

Aborted babies born alive left to die in Florida clinic.

Gianna Jensen on Hannity and Colmes

Why Parent's Need To Be Better Parents

Bullet Proof Backpacks are for sale at the BulletBlocker website - you can even build your own bullet proof backpack.

That there is a market for these items is both upsetting and unsurprising. To me, it says we need parents to do a better job raising their children so guns in school are no longer possible.

If you are concerned about your child, however, BulletBlocker is running a sweepstakes where you could win a bulletproof vest and more.

Yikes!

Now They Want Your Children

The totalitarian liberal environmentalists have a long history of wanting "population control" - think China's murderous regime.

The Sierra Club has long endorsed population control and early in its history eugenics as a way to keep the Earth uninfected by humans.

Now a new joker named Jonathon Porritt of Britian's Green Party has emerged saying we should only have two children (at least that's double the one child allowed Chinese rule).

Of course, what will Porritt do if a happily married couple decides to have more than two children? He doesn't say. But since liberal socialists/progressives have gone down this path before, we can, historically speaking, predict that - at best, this family-planning will involved fines and tax increases against families with more than two children. Or at worst, forced sterilization.

I'm not kidding folks, they did this in America under FDR, you can look it up.

Now They Want Your

R.D.S. is the New B.D.S.

Obama attacks Rush Limbaugh in a sad attempt to push republicans to vote for his abomination of a stimulus package. That backfires and unveils yet a new derangement syndrome for liberals - "Rush Derangement Syndrome".

The ever excellent Michelle Malkin when not having hot chocolate with her whipped cream (recent twitter post) interviewed Mr. Limbaugh and has posted a really strong piece at her website and The New York Post.

Peter Hitchens Gets Fisked But Good

By a great British conservative named Iain Dale.

Peter Hitchens decides to say some really awful things and Iain Dale takes him to school. If you enjoy a good fisking, then this is for you - enjoy!