Brutally Honest

Now What?

(by guest blogger Morgan K. Freeberg)

That's the question all reality-attached Americans are asking themselves as of last night, sometime around nine Pacific as the election was called for President Obama's re-election. It's a big question in that context, but I mean it in another. I mean it as a pointed inquiry, to be directed toward Obama's slobbering toadies. Quoting myself, in some personal correspondence:

Okay, we've kept the eeeeevil Mormon out of the White House; the Bush tax cuts are going away and employers have to worry about ObamaCare before they hire anybody, which means they won't be hiring anybody until they're absolutely backed into a corner. But the top-dog is a likable guy, or is rumored to be, although He's a snob, this much seems provable, has never held a real job, seems to only be going through the motions of building anything useful while He's destroying entire industries everywhere you look...He can't be told a damn thing, and apparently is rather proud of this. Now what?

It's an important question, America needs and deserves an answer to it every place it applies, and it hasn't been getting asked enough. The platform of Obama, and the democrats, has been replete with the phrase "and that should work out just great," in some annotation placed immediately behind the huge bubble taking up most of the chalkboard, marked "some miracle occurs here."

Make sure Warren Buffett pays as high a tax rate as his secretary -- meaning that the capital gains tax bite is always equal to or higher than federal withholding, on a per-dollar basis -- and that should somehow work well. In other words, level the playing field, even though the federal budget isn't balanced, not even close to being balanced, doesn't even exist and that should work well.

Tax the millionaires and billionaires so they "pay their fair share." We're a bit starved for details as to what exactly that means, over the longer term, other than "more." And that should somehow work well.

Spend a trillion dollars more out of the treasury than it can take in, just don't worry about the budget deficit for that year or any other, and that should work well.

Pay out hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus funds to provide maintenance jobs, jobs which are upkeep and are not supposed to actually create new assets, primarily (temporary) road construction work & teaching. Ignore the plain and simple fact that there must be a resulting and counterbalancing lack of jobs existing wherever this money was siphoned away, we'll never find out about what those jobs would've been...but the road construction guy gets to work. Temporarily. And that should work well.

Tear up the roads all over the country in this misguided massive road construction frenzy. All at the same time, so it takes half again as long to transport anything anywhere. And that should work well.

Keep that guy who said that idiotic thing, out of the Senate...so that the Senate is made up entirely of people who say soothing, sensible, wise things (gigglesnort). And that should work well.

Keep the oil in the ground. Sink taxpayer money into "green" energy which, even if it works perfectly, costs several times more than petroleum on a per-joule basis and will for the next century or so, perhaps forever. If everything works perfectly. And that should work well.

When the green energy companies soak up the taxpayer money and then go bankrupt, ignore it. That should work well.

Why, you even see it in their debating strategies. Vice President Biden showed how it's done: Just cackle and sneer at everything like a petulant child, and that should work well.

Obama's supporters, faced with anything that is glaringly wrong with their strategies and can be expressed in simple and obvious terms: For example, "Businesses are not likely to hire more people if it is more expensive to hire them," or "If the economy is to improve, some people are going to have to get rich, and Obama seems to have a problem with that" -- reply with the pablum that this is complicated stuff, and we need to come together to make it work. If those things are really true, then as we come together to make it work for the sake of the country, we owe it to the country to go back to that huge blank bubble marked only with "a miracle occurs here" and clarify things a bit in that bubble. We owe it to the country to stop relying on "and that should work well" and start filling in an answer to the question that cries out to us, "How, exactly?"

And the people like me who saw the President for what He really is, back to the first day, don't need to worry about answering it. Speaking just for myself, I think I know the answer and it sickens me. This is, as I noted, a question for the President's supporters. They need to provide some working, credible details.

In the case of many of them, probably for the very first time in their lives.

Update: And this is not doing much to answer my question...

Cross-posted at House of Eratosthenes.

In my own words

By guest blogger Locutisprime

American History X. America's Political Epitaph 2012

In all truth, last night's election wasn't even close. It really never was. Regardless of what the popular vote was going to be, the leftist in America already knew they had it in the bag when it came to the electoral vote. Their minions in American media had already been preparing the ground to soften the blow two weeks in advance, which was really funny when you consider it.

Here were the very same people who twelve years ago were writing like vampires exposed to sunlight in the aftermath of George Bush's victory. Here were the very same people who have done everything in their power to eliminate the electoral system, state by stare, in the twelve years since their stinging loss to Bush.

Yet here they were last night basking in the glory of America's unique form of representative government and they were ecstatic once again singly because the result had ended in their favor.  Trust in the fact and the reality that had the result been the opposite, America would be burning this morning. There would  wide spread terror and looting in the streets perpetrated by the segments of our society whose only understanding of democracy is when they win and when they get what 'they' want., 

There will be no burning or terror or looting across America this morning, because the great messiah of the unwashed left has prevailed. They are basking in their victory and in the knowledge that this president now has full authority to conquer this nation via his  plans of socialism and class warfare. Watch for the cries for more government and more manna from Washington. Meanwhile, the leftist and the socialist embedded throughout  this administration will set about to further criminalize success as they seek to take what they have never been able to acquire of their own ability and re-distribute it to their favored followers.

Yes, this is the morning after and while the pundits and the soothsayers will spend the next few weeks trying to put a face of understanding on what has taken place in America, the reality will remain. America's epitaph was written last night and our eulogy will soon follow.

There is more at my blog The Borg Conspiracy

“This isn’t your father’s America”

Guest posted by tim, The Godless Heathen

A couple videos from Gateway Pundit:

Dick Morris told FOX and Friends this morning, “We are now in a turnout model that is totally different from what we’ve ever had… This isn’t your father’s America.”

For me his most poignant comment was this -

“If this candidate in this economy against this opponent couldn’t win an election with this electorate, nobody ever can”.

Also, Bill O'Reilly explains that “It’s Not a Traditional America Anymore. People want stuff. They want things. And who is going to give them things? President Obama. He knows it and he ran on it. Whereby twenty years ago President Obama would be roundly defeated by an establishment candidate like Mitt Romney."

Finally, Michelle Malkin reminds of what we should keep in mind:

Once again, we have our work cut out for us. We lost this election, but we still live in the greatest country on the planet and we still have many ways to fight for and defend it.

My counsel to you to(day): Please, do not be bitter. Do not fall prey to the Beltway blame game. Do not get mired in small things. Do not become vengeful creatures like our political opponents who voted out of spite instead of love of country.

We still have boundless blessings to count — and to secure.

I remain a proud, unrepentant believer in the American Dream. And I know you do, too. Freedom will endure because we will keep fighting for it. We can’t afford not to, friends.

Michael Bloomberg; idiot extraordinaire

Guest posted by tim, The Godless Heathen

Hot Air:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been on the receiving end of a firestorm of criticism lately, particularly for his ham handed handling of the Hurricane Sandy recovery. But this story is almost too stupid to check.

Mayor Bloomberg has snubbed Borough President Markowitz’s impassioned plea to bring the National Guard to Hurricane Sandy-scarred Brooklyn — arguing that approving the Beep’s request would be a waste of federal manpower and turn the borough into a police state.

“We don’t need it,” Mayor Bloomberg said on Wednesday during a press update on the city’s ongoing Hurricane Sandy cleanup. “The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns.”

I’m not sure, but I think we’re witnessing the complete implosion of somebody who was once considered a pretty influential politician on the rise. Yes, Bloomberg doesn’t much care for the Second Amendment and doesn’t want people to have guns. We get it. But we’re talking about the National Guard here. Has this guy completely lost his mind?

This is a time when leaders up and down the east coast are loudly singing the praises of the National Guard for their rapid deployment and efficient rescue, recovery and security work. It’s also a time when people out on Staten Island are hanging on by a thread, with looting and violence being a serious threat on top of the hurricane’s destruction. Who in their right mind even suggests that Guardsmen carrying their weapons is an issue at a time like this? I understand wanting to express your support of and confidence in the police department and the firefighters, but even some of the finest first responders in the nation are completely swamped by the magnitude of this disaster. They could use the help and the Guard stands ready to provide it.

The rest. 

Common sense? Forget about it.

Guest posted by tim, The Godless Heathen

Non union utility workers from Alabama were reportedly told by their counter parts in storm ravaged New Jersey that their services weren’t welcomed.

Gateway Pundit:

WAFF TV Hunstville, AL reported:

The hurricane-ravaged east coast has been receiving north Alabama help, but crews from Huntsville Utilities learned they’ll be doing work in Long Island, New York instead of in New Jersey.

Crews from Huntsville, as well as Decatur Utilities and Joe Wheeler out of Trinity headed up there this week, but Derrick Moore, one of the Decatur workers, said they were told by crews in New Jersey that they can’t do any work there since they’re not union employees.

The crews that are in Roanoke, Virginia say they are just watching and waiting even though they originally received a call asking for help from Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

The crews were told to stand down. In fact, Moore said the crew from Trinity is already headed back home.

Speaking of asinine…

NYC Mayor Bloomberg diverts food & generators from devastated Staten Island to NYC Marathon.

Breitbart -  

Fresh off his "climate disruption"-driven endorsement of President Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has chosen to divert critical food supplies and power generators from desperate residents of Staten Island to Sunday's New York City Marathon. Gothamist reports:

[T]hose urging the city to halt the run believe that the thousands of Marathon volunteers could direct their efforts towards post-Sandy relief and cleanup, "and they also argue that the event will divert thousands of police from important hurricane-related duties." But despite petitions circulating, work started up again yesterday on the Marathon route.

A tipster, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us there were lots of workers in and out of the park today, who had "started before the storm and then came back starting yesterday." Trailers are lined up from around 71st to 66th Streets on Central Park West, a food truck was set up today, and "generators have been sitting there at least a week." The tents that were taken down prior to the storm have also been set back up, and there is a stage set up near 73rd Street.

Considering all the volunteer help and NYPD attention that's already being diverted to the Marathon, the added sight of generators and food being channeled to the event is probably going to strike some New Yorkers as a little misplaced—we're thinking of the ones who are currently lined up waiting for the National Guard to ration out MREs and bottles of water.

Staten Island residents are frantically calling for help, ABC News reported on Thursday:

The residents of Staten Island are pleading for help from elected officials, begging for gasoline, food and clothing three days after Sandy slammed the New York City borough.

(…)

Staten Island was one of the hardest-hit communities in New York City. More than 80,000 residents are still without power. Many are homeless, and at least 19 people died on Staten Island because of the storm.

Staten Island Borough President Jim Molinaro blasted Mayor Bloomberg's decision to divert needed supplies from Staten Island to this Sunday's New York City marathon:

Molinaro urged New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Wednesday to cancel Sunday’s New York City Marathon. The race’s staging area is on Staten Island and Molinaro said it would be “crazy, asinine,” to have the race after what has happened.

“My God. What we have here is terrible, a disaster,” Molinaro said Wednesday. “If they want to race, let them race with themselves. This is no time for a parade. A marathon is a parade. Now is the time to put your shoulder to the wheel. If they want to prepare for something, let them prepare for the election, not a marathon.”

Bloomberg will tell you what to eat, what to drink, doesn’t want you to have guns (except his bodyguards), air conditioning is evil (except for him) and when you will get help. Remember, he knows what’s good for you. So shut it.

Forward!?!

Guest posted by tim, The Godless Heathen

Perusing the interwebs in search of something, anything besides the same ole, same ole…I came up with something you good folks can share with that special friend, relative, coworker, neighbor, …anyone who still doesn’t get it as to why we need to get rid of Obama and his band of dunderheads. And what we’ve gotten from the man who repeatedly has proclaimed that he’s “laser focused” on the economy.

It’s “37 Frightening Facts About Our Economy”, coming via someplace called ETF Daily News, found on the Survivalist Blog, over on the blogroll.

A few of the more frightening facts -

1. One recent survey discovered that 40 percent of all Americans have $500 or less in savings.

6. Median household income has fallen for four years in a row. Overall, it has declined by more than $4000 over the past four years.

9. In the United States today, 77 percent of all Americans are living to paycheck to paycheck at least some of the time.

13. Today, about one out of every four workers in the United States brings home wages that are at or below the federal poverty level.

21. According to one recent survey, approximately 10 percent of all employers in the United States plan to drop health coverage when key provisions of the new health care law kick in less than two years from now.

27. Right now, approximately 25 million American adults are living at home with their parents.

33. In the United States today, somewhere around 100 million Americans are considered to be either “poor” or “near poor”.

There’s more here , with links for all of them. Plus a little story at the end that will really make you think.

Any of those sound familiar? Know somebody in those categories? Surprised, shocked or saddened?

Share this list, open some eyes or even change a vote.

Is you is? Or is you ain't?

Posted by guest blogger Locutisprime.

I guess that depends on what your definition of is...is. Maybe Bill can help her clarify her intentions. Personally, I hope Mitt Romney settles the question permanently.

Hillary Clinton suggests she could stay at State

Posted by Rachel Weiner on October 25, 2012 at 8:56 am

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton answers a reporter’s question on Libya, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. (Susan Walsh — Associated Press)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she will serve only one term. But in a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, she suggested it was possible — if “unlikely” — that she would stay in the post a bit longer.

“A lot of people have talked to me about staying,” Mrs. Clinton said, declining to be more specific. When asked if current events will force her departure date to slip, she said it was “unlikely,” but for the first time left open that possibility for the short term.

One of the most popular and respected members of the Obama administration, Clinton faces the possibility that her legacy will be marred by the attacks in Benghazi and questions about diplomatic security. She has taken full responsibility for any security lapses and defended the administration’s sometimes confusing accounts of what happened, saying, “Everyone who spoke tried to give the information they had.”

Should Andrew Sullivan be put on suicide watch?

I'm thinking so:

The Pew poll is devastating, just devastating. Before the debate, Obama had a 51 - 43 lead; now, Romney has a 49 - 45 lead. That's a simply unprecedented reversal for a candidate in October. Before Obama had leads on every policy issue and personal characteristic; now Romney leads in almost all of them. Obama's performance gave Romney a 12 point swing! I repeat: a 12 point swing.

Romney's favorables are above Obama's now. Yes, you read that right. Romney's favorables are higher than Obama's right now. That gender gap that was Obama's firewall? Over in one night:

Currently, women are evenly divided (47% Obama, 47% Romney). Last month, Obama led Romney by 18 points (56% to 38%) among women likely voters.

Seriously: has that kind of swing ever happened this late in a campaign? Has any candidate lost 18 points among women voters in one night ever? And we are told that when Obama left the stage that night, he was feeling good. That's terrifying. On every single issue, Obama has instantly plummeted into near-oblivion. He still has some personal advantages over Romney - even though they are all much diminished. Obama still has an edge on Medicare, scores much higher on relating to ordinary people, is ahead on foreign policy, and on being moderate, consistent and honest (only 14 percent of swing voters believe Romney is honest). 

...

A sitting president does not recover from being obliterated on substance, style and likability in the first debate and get much of a chance to come back. He has, at a critical moment, deeply depressed his base and his supporters and independents are flocking to Romney in droves.

Sharp objects should be removed from the man's proximity.

And I'm trying really hard not to enjoy his post.

Really hard.

But failing.

"Feminist progress right now largely depends on the existence of the hookup culture"

I can officially say now that I'm completely out of touch with feminist culture... and I do mean completely.

The last time I came across the name Hanna Rosin was when I tripped over a piece she'd written blaming Christianity for the economic woes the country was in, and this back in November of 2009.

So given that as background, I guess we can't be too surprised by her latest piece of deductive reasoning:

America has unseated the Scandinavian countries for the title of Easiest Lay. We are, in the world’s estimation, a nation of prostitutes. And not even prostitutes with hearts of gold.

Is that so bad? Or is there, maybe, a different way to analyze the scene that had just unfolded? Admittedly, what the Argentinean and I had just witnessed fills the nightmares of those who lament the evil hookup culture: ubiquitous porn, young women so inured to ubiquitous porn that they don’t bother to protest, young women behaving exactly like frat boys, and no one guarding the virtues of honor, chivalry, or even lasting love. It’s a sexual culture lamented by, among others, Caitlin Flanagan, in the pages of this magazine as well as in her nostalgia-­drenched new book, Girl Land. Like many other critics, Flanagan pines for an earlier time, when fathers protected “innocent” girls from “punks” and predators, and when girls understood it was their role to also protect themselves.

Girl Land, like so much writing about young women and sexuality, concentrates on what has been lost. The central argument holds that women have effectively been duped by a sexual revolution that persuaded them to trade away the protections of (and from) young men. In return, they were left even more vulnerable and exploited than before. Sexual liberation, goes the argument, primarily liberated men—to act as cads, using women for their own pleasures and taking no responsibility for the emotional wreckage that their behavior created. The men hold all the cards, and the women put up with it because now it’s too late to zip it back up, so they don’t have a choice.

But this analysis downplays the unbelievable gains women have lately made, and, more important, it forgets how much those gains depend on sexual liberation. Single young women in their sexual prime—that is, their 20s and early 30s, the same age as the women at the business-­school party—are for the first time in history more success­ful, on average, than the single young men around them. They are more likely to have a college degree and, in aggregate, they make more money. What makes this remarkable development possible is not just the pill or legal abortion but the whole new landscape of sexual freedom—the ability to delay marriage and have temporary relationships that don’t derail education or career. To put it crudely, feminist progress right now largely depends on the existence of the hookup culture. And to a surprising degree, it is women—not men—who are perpetuating the culture, especially in school, cannily manipulating it to make space for their success, always keeping their own ends in mind. For college girls these days, an overly serious suitor fills the same role an accidental pregnancy did in the 19th century: a danger to be avoided at all costs, lest it get in the way of a promising future.

I honestly don't know if this sort of thinking best represents typical feminist thought or not but supposing that it does, can there be little doubt as to the cultural divide that separates this country? And can we understand a little better why Sandra Fluke is seen to be a leading spokeswoman for progressive women today?

I envy not any father of a young lady on her way to college.  My heart would break to think that a daughter of mine would buy into any part of Rosin's twaddle.

As an uncle to six beautiful nieces, all of an age to make their own decisions as to how to live and as to who they are becoming, I hope and pray they see Rosin's piece for what it truly is.

A delusional discourse on depravity.

[Image Source]

Useful idiots

It's harsh, I know.

I should be more charitable, I know.

But these people... don't know... squat... about what they're protesting about.

Squat.

The ignorance is thick.  And the Democrats are taking advantage of that ignorance.

Useful idiots.  Beyond doubt.

It begins with foul language so you might want to shield your children's ears or use your ear buds.