Die Happy

The original Mai Tai is nothing like what you are served all over the Hawaiian islands. The only place I've found a REAL Mai Tai is at a little neighborhood spot on the eastern side of Oahu, near Kailua beach, called Buzz's. They make a KILLER Mai Tai. They even warn you that "it's not like typical Mai Tai's. There is no fruit juice in ours."

I said, "Bring me two!"

Unfortunately, on Maui I've had to put up with the orange/pineapple juice concoctions that pass for Mai Tais everywhere. Not bad. Just not great.

Some history of the drink can be found here.

RECIPE

• 1 oz amber Martinique rum
• 1 oz dark Jamaican rum
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz orgeat syrup
• 1/2 oz of Cointreau
• garnish with mint (a lime if you like)

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, except the garnish. Shake and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with fresh mint and a lime if you fancy that. You can also float some dark rum on top of the cocktail.

Dolphins like a good Mai Tai, too. That's why they are always smiling!
Little known fact.

Best Halloween Costume EVAH! UPDATED WITH HONORABLE MENTION!

Some years ago, when my son was in high school and Team America was a fairly recent movie, he decided to "be" Gary. Dark pancake makeup, a black stuffed toy with fake fur destroyed for eyebrows and beard, a big bath towel...and it was UNCANNY!

The funniest part of the whole costume was that, other than the kids who instantly got it, the adults around this sleepy little red-neck infested hamlet did NOT. One guy almost punched my son for dressing up like a terrorist! THAT would not have been funny.

Luckily he escaped after struggling to explain that he was making fun of the terrorists...that it was from a movie...but it was a close call.

 "Aaaaah....derka, derka, derka!"

*****UPDATED!*******

This is the best. My only question. Did he glue his feet to the plastic platform so that he had to walk like the army men in Toy Story? That would be AWESOME!

Happy Halloween!

To all the future Republicans in the world.

Because redistribution is SCARY!

HAHAHAA! Missed Me!

Not YOU, kittens! The shark! The SHARK missed me!  

AND the tsunami.

And the tornado we drove through to get to where the shark and the tsunami awaited us.

View of the storm from our car as we drove to the airport.

 
AND Hurricane Sandy missed my 16 year old daughter who was supposed to be in Washington DC on Monday.

I can't tell whether it's the End Of The World, or just the end of MY world! HAHAHA! And, honestly, the distinction seems a fine point, from my perspective. I'm sure it matters to the rest of you, though.

HOL-EE CRAP! If Romney wasn't leading in the polls right now, I really would be going through cupboards collecting old bottles of half-finished pharmaceuticals and stocking up on Scotch.

I tease. Sort of.

Here's the scariest thing: I have definitely used up all my luck. In one trip. And I expected to have a long life still ahead of me. Looks like that may be a pipe dream at this point.

Another thing. And this IS important. Since I've used up all my luck, I don't think I can single-handedly deliver Romney with my double-hex Yoda voodoo dance, like I intended. So you all will have to step up.

Promise?

Okay..okay...okay...if you can't do the double-hex Yoda voodoo dance, it looks like God's got it covered. There's the White Horse Prophecy. And you know what they call white horses with bayonets...

Unicorns.

Maybe my luck is changing!

I'm back up on top of the world!

I feel a "President Romney" coming on....!

Story Time

This is my last post before heading off on vacation. I just wanted to leave you with a lovely little children's story. Strong Bad celebrates diversity.

Ladies and gentlemen...I give you.....

Here today...gone to Maui

The hubby and I are off to Maui tomorrow, so my postings will be nonexistent for the next 8 days. I would apologize except that no one truly gives a you-know-what. There are so many fabulous writers and blogs out there, y'all be fine without me.

Take care.

I'm going to be swimming with turtles. I do love these creatures.

I snapped this from our boat last year. 

Ke Akua pu a hui hou!

I know it sounds terribly bitchy of me to complain, but I will miss the last presidential debate since we'll be flying at that time. I missed the Ryan/Biden debate because I was on a plane from Portland to Sacramento. How lucky can one person get? Only four debates, and I miss two of them.

I'm special. And not in a good way.

Dead Simple

This advice is particularly easy for me to give. Dead simple.

If you knew me, you'd agree.

"He didn't care. He just brushed it off his shoulders...That's leadership right there."

If you can make it through this entire video without wanting to smash your computer to smithereens, I do not understand you. Of course, for those of you who actually did smash your computer to smithereens, I don't understand you either. HAHA! A little self-control, kittens, even -- especially --  in the face of stupidity of this caliber.

What I am struck by throughout this video is the sweet, smiling, open and eager faces of these young people. They seem genuinely caring. But youthful eagerness coupled with the extraordinary ignorance shown in this video is a potent concoction and is more than troubling - it is damning and conclusive evidence that our universities and our media are so lop-sided in their teaching and portrayal of our political landscape that these kids are frankly being brainwashed.

There is no other explanation.

I'll bet every one of them knows Ann Romney owns an expensive horse.

Not Optimal

Examples of things that were "not optimal."

LIBYAN FOREIGN POLICY

"NOT OPTIMAL"

ISLAMIC HISTORY OF CONQUEST

"NOT OPTIMAL"

CONSTITUTIONAL ABUSE

"NOT OPTIMAL"

AMERICAN SYMBOLS

 "NOT OPTIMAL"

ANNIVERSARY NIGHT

 "NOT OPTIMAL"

SPELLING BEE

"NOT OPTIMAL"

TORTURE AND MURDER OF US DIPLOMATS

REALLY REALLY "NOT OPTIMAL"

Okay, now I am officially creeped out

This starts pretty well and the concept of shadow dancing is cool. But then at around 00:48, the big hand turns one of the dancers into a "dog" and things get weird because the dog looks more like a creature with a strangely deformed calf head on a woman's body than a dog. From that moment on I had visions of The Island of Doctor Moreau as I watched it.

Once that image got into my little pea-brain it was all over. I just kept seeing a weirdly deformed and super creepy half-calf, low-fat vente latte dancing around. I just KNEW if the lights had come up and the dancers could be seen, they would look like this:

So, as I said, I am now officially creeped out.

If you are now too...I'm sorry.

If you're not...what is the matter with you?

When Dreams Come True

Other women dream of jewelry or perhaps couture clothing. I dream of arenas and barns.

Once, while driving through the country, a friend pointed out a particularly sad, dilapidated trailer parked on a lovely piece of property. It was late fall and the skies were heavy with a threatening storm. "Holy crap! Someone lives there. It doesn't look like it could withstand a garden hose, much less a storm. How awful!"

I, however, squealed and pointed at the gorgeous, fabulous, mouth-watering new barn on the property. "That's where they live! Are you kidding? They're in there - no doubt. With their horses! Isn't it AMAZING?"

And it was. Giant, gabled, glorious. Set well back from the road, it commanded attention amid fields that stretched out with the promise of luscious space for horses to gallop. "Who wouldn't live there?" I asked. My friend looked at me like I'd lost my mind. Apparently she wouldn't.

"They just built the barn first. Anyone with horses would do that. Now they will live there while they build their house. It's obvious."

My friend rolled her eyes to convey a wealth of information. "You horse people."

Yeah. Horse people.

So now my dream is becoming reality.

Behold!!! My new arena! Or the beginning of it, anyway.

Yes, kittens. After years and years and years of owning horses and boarding them at show barns and stables, we are finally developing our property into a little horse property.

Complete with road to the arena, since it is located on the backside of our property.

Isn't it pretty? I even love the road!

The guys worked all day yesterday and are coming back today to finish. I love these guys. I really, really do.

More pictures later. They did an amazing job and it was almost entirely finished in one day. Like carving David out of a block of marble. Artists!!

I'm a giggly as a schoolgirl.

Fat boy will finally be able to come home. Of course home is the slums compared to where he lives now, but  I am counting on his love for me to make up the difference. Okay, yeah, he's going to be pissed to move here, but he'll get over it because he's a horse and he doesn't get a vote on the matter.

HAHA!

The Great Debate Strategy

Lifted without shame or regret from A Train Wreck in Maxwell. KurtP always has the best photos for his header.

To be fair, Crowley is plenty big enough to hide behind, so this was an excellent strategy. Way better than showing up unprepared and so last minute that the altitude made him catatonic or something. And it isn't as if Obama isn't used to hiding behind women. There's Hillary, Valerie Jarrett, Michelle. Everyone of them could beat the living tar out of him and not break a nail.

How About We Try Electing a REAL President?

We tried going with the cool kid, but that didn't work. 

—23 Million Unemployed or Underemployed
—47 Million on Food Stamps
—5.5 Million Homes in Crisis/Foreclosure
—$4500 Drop in Household Income
—$5.5 Trillion of New Debt
—$716 Billion in Medicare Cuts
—$2.6 Trillion for Obamacare
—$1.9 Trillion in New Taxes in Obama’s Budget
—100% Increase in Gas Prices 

How about we try electing a real grownup, with a lifetime of real success to be a real president? What's the worst that could happen?

Because Everyone Deserves Pizza

Now we have restaurants advertising for food stamp customers. Well, hot diggity dog! Let's just act like those 47 million little consumers are A-okay...we have a table waiting for you right here, sir....

Hard times are not pleasant for anyone. But the more we attempt to remove any stigma for having to rely on welfare to get along, the easier it will be for people to become comfortable there. This may seem uncaring, but the facts show that removing shame from charity simply increases the numbers of people willing to accept charity...and be content to remain there long past its initial necessity. Especially with public monies, because with welfare there is no one "there", no one to answer to, no one to be grateful to, no one to feel obligated to for any generosity. It is surprisingly easy to begin feeling "entitled" in an environment where there is no sense that you owe anyone for what you are receiving.

Shame can be a healthy thing in a society. It can be instrumental in setting the limits of acceptable behavior. Without shame, people find it difficult to impossible to maintain a willingness to make personal sacrifices and keep fighting to regain their independence.

No amount of blubbering is going to change that fact.

When your best just isn't good enough

I think we can safely assume that no amount of government funding would have helped this woman make the Olympics.

But I'm betting she's going to need Obamacare.

"Were there any highlights for you?" "Oh, there were so many I can't even tell you."

You couldn't tell us if you tried, Champ. Oh...go ahead. Try.


The smartest guy they interviewed didn't know who was even running for president. I honestly had no idea how deep the gold mine of stupidity would go when I started this blog.

We're doomed, kittens. Doomed, I tell you.

If you want to have sex on a restaurant table, just be sure to pay your bill before leaving

Tom Murphy told officers that he approached the couple early Monday evening and told them to stop. But the man, identified by cops as Jeremie Calo, responded, "She can't get up at this time." Calo, 32, was referring to his companion Tiffani Lynn Barganier. 

Murphy told police that he directed Calo to "Compose yourself, pay your tab or I'll call the police." Calo, however, signed his check "NO" and then scuffled with a restaurant employee when he tried to leave without paying.

Murphy and the worker restrained Calo until the arrival of cops, who arrested Calo for defrauding an innkeeper.

The world is going to hell in a handbasket, but hell is either a VERY long way or we are dawdling. Twenty years ago, when I worked for a major international airline, we had an incident on a flight from Hong Kong where a flight attendant was providing extraordinary customer service to a first class passenger on the floor behind the last row of seats, just in front of the galley. Despite obvious and frequent sounds of enjoyment rattling the cabin for sometime, the other crew members only saw fit to interrupt when they began readying the cabin for landing. Apparently the flight attendant was not inclined to prepare for landing as she was taking off at the time.

At least the first class passenger had already paid for his ticket, and the drinks were free. So no arrests were made.

VOTE FOR FREEDOM!

With last night's debate being called a draw, it's time to jettison BOTH candidates and vote for COOKIES!

This November vote for COOKIES! Vote for FREEOM! Vote for COOKIE MUNCHER!

It's a vote for everyone. When you're talking cookies there is no 1% or 99% or 47%. There is only 100%.

It's a Draw

The media are rallying around their boy and declaring it a draw. Of course all Obama had to do last night was not start crying for the water boys in the media to make this declaration. The first debate was such a complete surprise for everyone in the media that they were caught -- on film -- reacting (dare I say it?) honestly. Last night was the expected show of determined, yet undoubtedly white-knuckled, support for the president. Prayers were being whispered in newsrooms all across the country. "Please, dear God, don't let him screw this up so badly that we can't save it for him."

There are no atheists in foxholes. And last night was war on the frontline.

But I kept thinking about this cartoon.

"eeeeeeeeaaaahhh....shaddup!"

While Romney did miss a few obvious openings to what could have been devastating attacks, most notably the Benghazi coverup/screwup, he consistently made his points on the economy and his vision, while Obama just shook his widdle fists and made threats. If we, as the audience, didn't know that Obama was already president, it would have been difficult to glean who was the incumbent and who was the challenger. Obama talked about what he would do if elected, he talked about what Clinton did, he threatened us with what Romney might do, but he never talked about what he HAS DONE.

I kept thinking about this, too.

This debate can only be described as a draw in that it was not as brutally decisive as the first. And the polls over the next few days may well indicate that to the American people it was a win for Romney. There is only so much the media can do when their boy is without his teleprompter. Even the hefty Candy Crowley couldn't pull him completely over the finish line. She did her best, dragging him away from the Benghazi debacle, but it left her panting and uncomfortable -- and exposed. 

The brilliant Victor Davis Hanson agrees with me. 

A DRAW, OR BETTER THAN A DRAW?

I think the debate was a draw, and so Romney’s ascendance may well continue. Obama did better than in Denver and will energize his base by his competitiveness, but not better to the degree that he arrests Romney’s momentum or wins back independents. Next-day reflection, fact-checking, and selecta-quotes, as in the case of the VP debate, may well favor the Republican. Romney did well despite once again being given less talk time, an inept moderator, and a silly town-hall forum. 

The biggest losers? The pathetic staged town-hall format: The questions are preselected and the questioners not spontaneous and often clumsy. They seemed unenthusiastic and their presence impeded a fuller exchange of views 

Ms. Crowley was out of bounds by selectively attempting to offer real-time fact-checking — endorsed by Obama (“Say that a little louder, Candy!”) — and fact-checking, no less, that was not quite factual. Nemesis struck when, in the middle of her clumsy attempts to offer a lifeline to a stumbling Obama on Libya, she had a deer-in-the-headlights look and an exasperated stutter, almost as if to say, “Why am I giving myself away?” 

Final verdict: Again, I think polls and post-debate focus and reflection will suggest Romney did better than the immediate consensus of a draw. (emphasis mine.)

Dumbest Thing Ever Said In The History Of The World - CONSTANTLY UPDATED!!

Obama just said the stupidest thing ever in the history of the world. He actually said the reason gas was $1.87 a gallon when he took office was that the economy was on the verge of collapse!

uhhhh?????

Maybe Paul Krugman could explain that one to me.

OOPSIE! More stupidity!!!

Obama just said that he cut taxes to small businesses 18 times.  No you dint. I own a small business. I call bullshit.

MORE STUPID!

If the wealthy just pay a little bit more, we could all live happily ever after. Just a little bit more will close a trillion dollar annual shortfall.  Yeah. Right. Paging Paul Krugman. Mr. Krugman, you have a call on line one.

MORE STUPID!!!

Holy effing shit.

Obama is going with the 5 trillion dollar Romney tax cut which has been completely demolished as a lie over the last two weeks...but WAIT! he's doubling down, saying it will be closer to 8 trillion dollars.

FATAL STUPID! (Or it should be.)

Obama is outraged that businesses are allowed to set their own wages. HOW DARE THEY!?!?!

VOTER STUPID. ARRRGGGHH!

Undecided voter asks why Romney reminds her so much of George Bush. Is he Bush? How can he prove he isn't Bush? You're really Bush...aren't you? (Undecided my ass.)

A Halloween Costume Suggestion

For all you guys....

One a**hole in the back row of a Romney rally

A superb rant from Charlie Martin over at The PJ Tatler:

So today’s little furor is some ass at a Romney rally who worked his way around, right in front of the press, and showed off a pretty obviously racist shirt. Now, as Stacy McCain has pointed out, there’s good reason to think the was a troll, a false-flag operation. We’ve been seeing them, organized and disorganized, since the first Tea Party demonstrations — remember “Crash the Tea Party“? 

But you know what? Forget that. I’m tired of idiots trying to make one asshole in the back row of a Romney rally the issue. You want to talk racism? Well, let’s talk about this: 

• It was Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Democrat, who founded the Ku Klux Klan.
• Woodrow Wilson segregated Federal Buildings and jobs after 50 years of integration under largely Republican administrations.
• It was the Democrat Party in the South that instituted Jim Crow Laws.
• It was the Democrat Party in the South that instituted “separate but equal”.
• It was the Democrat Party in the South that supported the Ku Klux Klan.
• It was George Wallace and the Democrat Party in the South that said “Segregation Forever”.
• It was Orval Faubus and the Democrat Party that wanted the Arkansas National Guard to enforce segregation, and Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican President, that sent the 101st Airborne to integrate the schools.
• It was Bull Connor, a member of the Democrat National Committee, who turned the hoses on the marchers in Birmingham, and it was the Republicans who made up the majority that passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, over the filibuster of such Democrat paragons as William Fulbright and Al Gore Sr. — and Grand Kleagle Byrd.

There's more. It's all good. 

Let's just tell the truth about the difference between Republicans and Democrats, shall we?

Republicans are accused of racism because we don't believe in the soft bigotry of low expectations. We truly believe that every man IS equal before the law and among his fellow men and therefore deserves to stand on his own two feet. Of course, there are exceptions, like when some rapacious doctor cuts off both your feet for profit...

...then society must step in and provide for you. 

Democrats believe that many, many, many people (actually virtually anyone who is not a politician) are simply incapable of providing for themselves -- NO. MATTER. WHAT. -- and that to suggest otherwise is to be heartless and dispassionate and RAAAAAACIST!

Simple, really. 

But Republicans are too stupid to figure it out.

The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

Apparently now Obama is hoping you will afford him the courtesy of kindly lowering your expectations when considering his performance as president for the last four years.

Good LORD! His ad admits that he was in over his head. Apparently the presidency was "above

his pay grade." So let's give him four more years, shall we? Maybe he's over the learning curve.

This, it must be stressed, is not because he wasn't up to the task. Oh no, kittens. This is a man capable of lowering the oceans and healing the planet, and if his Herculean deeds had been confined to just THOSE tasks, he would have done them...no sweat. But, instead, he was faced with an economic slump and a number of "hot spots" around the world that required tactful diplomacy. Admittedly these were events unparalleled in the history of the world. No president -- EVER -- had been faced with handling an economy or dealing with aggressive foreign governments.

EVER.

Shut up.

Racist.

Four more years. Yeah, that'll work.

Radical Christianity is as threatening as radical Islam.

I, personally, am terrified every time the "radical" church ladies leave a Watchtower pamphlet at my door. They are planning to kill me, I just know it.

What isn't funny is that people as stupid as Rosie O'Donnell have a platform like The View on which to spout such nonsense and the audience (stupid squared) applaud. You can almost feel their congratulatory self-righteousness. I wouldn't be surprised if they shared satisfied glances among themselves as they furiously clapped their approval of such hideous stupidity, thinking themselves so very, very clever and intelligent and tolerant.

But while they smack their little hands together in support of equating "radical" Christianity with radical Islam, there are real women who know the difference. Because it kills them.

Canada: Mother has throat slit to spine for wanting kids raised as Westerners

Throat slashed to her spine... 

Wife and mother Randjida Khairi wanted her children to be essentially raised like all the other children in her adopted nation of Canada. 

But for taking a stand contrary to her staunchly Islamic and Afghanistan-born husband, Peer Khairi, Randjida was found by Canadian police with her throat slashed wide-open, as well as her neck muscles, esophagus and voice box slashed open to the spine. 

Unable to raise her head or scream for help, the victim slowly suffocated in her own blood. 

According to testimony, "a process a pathologist would later determine took between five and 10 minutes."

Yes, kittens. Radical Christianity is as dangerous as radical Islam. Rosie O'Donnell said so.

Not on your life.

A Tale of Two Cities

When discussing a controversial story, it is frequently necessary to remember that there are two sides to consider. In the fast-paced complexity of everyday life, this "two sides" principle can remind us that things are often more complicated than they at first appear and that the truth may be somewhat elusive. However in politics, this "two sides" principle can be applied in all circumstances to instantly reduce any potentially complex issue to the straightforward simplicity of the "good side belongs to the Democrat" and the "bad side belongs to the Republican." Always.

This concept is remarkably easy to apply. Allow me to demonstrate.

A Tale of Two Cities.

Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney came from a background of privilege. Both men enjoyed an Ivy League education and the advantages of association and opportunity these educations afforded them. Both men have made millions. But one is clearly "good"; the other clearly "bad."

Can you guess which is which?

When Obama was in his righteous youth and having difficulty paying off his student loans because of his otherworldly commitment to those without, he nevertheless found it impossible to actually LIVE in the poverty-stricken Chicago neighborhoods that he was so dedicated to fighting for, instead choosing to commute a considerable distance every day to live in the swank Chicago suburb of Hyde Park. 

This was not because he didn't care. He did. He's a Democrat.

When Mitt and Ann Romney were raising their family and building a business, they choose to live in Belmont Hills, MA., a nice neighborhood "where the residences are large and the yards spacious." So not only was Romney not fighting for the poor, he wasn't living among them! 

This was because he didn't care. At all. He's a Republican.

Do you see the difference between these two men? The difference is not where they went to school, their background, accomplishments, character or beliefs. The only difference necessary to determine whether someone is a good or bad person is whether they are a Democrat or a Republican. One dedicated a year or two of his life fighting for people he wouldn't live anywhere near in order to opportunistically launch a political career, while the other spent decades taking risks and building businesses that actually gave jobs to those lower and middle-class people. 

Clearly Romney chose not to live among the poor because he is elitist and privileged, while Obama chose not to live among the poor because he is just that wonderful. 

Now if this doesn't make any sense to you, and just trying to understand it makes you feel like this:

then you must be a Republican. And you don't care either, so I'm glad you just got hit in the head with a basketball.

Mean old Republican.

Oh, and you're obviously raaaaaaacist, too.

Republican is code for racist.

UPDATED!

Another example of how distant and unfeeling Romney is. The man simply doesn't understand real people at all.

He's not like us. He's a Republican.

Need I say more?

H/T: DOUBLEPLUSUNDEAD

It's like being a Democrat!

It's Sunday and the sermon for today is, "How to Have Sex" by Andrew Klavan.

"What?" you ask with open-mouthed shock at the indelicacy of that title. "How can THAT be a Sunday sermon?"

Well, first because it happens to be Sunday and I want to post this. But second, and most important, sex is one of the most defining and important aspects of determining the shared moral values of society. So we all need a lecture about it once in a while. There are very few experiences in life that are virtually universal, that are as potentially powerful, and that have as many life-changing (both beginning and ending) consequences as sex. Try as we might, it is impossible to remove the moral component from sex. Can't be done. Sex is either moral or immoral; it is never neutral.

This video by Klavan was made three years ago, but it is more relevant now than ever. The recent Democratic National Convention put sex front and center with its WAR ON WOMEN campaign slogan. 30-something co-eds from prestigious universities pounded the podium and paraded before us all their right to have sex promiscuously and without consequence. Anything less constituted WAR!

But, as Mr. Klavan points out, there is no such thing as sex without consequence. To pretend  otherwise leaves people broken, damaged and destroyed -- it's like being a Democrat!

God lives in the details.

"God lives in the details" is a saying in the design industry. It reminds you to look beyond the big swath of color and form and pay attention to how something will actually work. This is a perfect example of not doing that.

One man, making a difference.

Not sure what that difference IS, but he is making it.

"Boo! BOOOOOO! Boo bad."

Never let anyone tell you that one voice isn't powerful. HAHAHAHAHA!

H/T: Fetch My Flying Monkeys

A Pictorial Essay of the Vice-Presidential Debate

ALWAYS  BE  BATMAN

The Catastrophe

The Obama Debate Disaster

"The worst thing that ever happened anywhere."

Like the Arab-Israel Conflict. Yeah, that bad.
Known in Arabic as al-Nakba (Arabic: النكبة‎, "The Catastrophe") 

The doggie bites back.

Few experiences in life are more unsettling than to see your deepest beliefs shaken like a Rottie with a Beanie Baby between its teeth. Immediately one is struck by how insubstantial and vulnerable our beliefs can be: how effortlessly reduced to bits of fluff and sprinkled velour when they impact reality and are shredded as lies. The realization brings the catastrophic, crashing question: what NOW?

Yes, kittens, what now?

Watching Obama's performance on Tuesday night has understandably sent out seismic waves of shock and existential despair through the liberal community. For people who invest not just their intellectual principles, but their MORAL CHARACTER in politics, discovering that your man is truly not just an empty suit, but an empty chair, has to be one of the most epiphanous experiences possible.

So what now? There is no "what now." Sorry.

The very question, "what now?" is predicated on the notion (I love using that word. It's Obama's favorite.) that there is a possible response to the event that allows you to maintain your original assumptions. "What now?" assumes that there is still a way to save your man, your beliefs, your own moral character, your view of the world and its possible future.

There isn't.

Obama is an empty chair because his ideas are empty. Leftist ideas are not just wrong - they are false. They are lies. History has allowed it to fall to the hapless Obama to show the world just how empty and devoid of intellectual substance leftist ideas really are. Until now, the ideas of leftism -- at least in this country -- had had the bountiful good fortune of the world's most robust economy on which to parasitically posture their moral superiority. All the promises of utopian egalitarianism seemed rather harmless amid the rough and tumble vibrancy of a country that had set men free of the demands that one's uniqueness be subordinated to another's equality.

Okay. Lets. Shall we?

Not likely to be a Tea Partier.

The left loves to insist that they "celebrate diversity". It's a central tenet to their moral view of tolerance and acceptance. But the honest celebration of diversity creates something anathema to the left. Economic inequality. So the left does not celebrate TRUE diversity. The left celebrates individual deviancy. 

The left defiantly holds up a mirror to the values of the right. The right embraces moral and cultural unity to foster an environment in which individuals can pursue their individual dreams without society descending into dysfunction and dependency. The left, in contrast, defies and destroys cultural unity, allowing people to engage in behaviors that are destructive, dysfunctional, idiosyncratic, and which often result in economic and emotional dependency. 

The right celebrates cultural unity and economic diversity. The left celebrates economic unity and cultural diversity. The lefts' view of the world is not just backwards, it's upside down as well. In order to believe in leftism, one must first believe that the business of life is not business, that cultural activity and economic activity are unrelated. To the left, life is not production and creation, but indulgence and immediacy. In their world the need to produce is recrafted into servitude and slavery; the idea of PROFIT, the excess of production, becomes synonymous with greed and brutal, immoral self-interest. This belief forces one to be in conflict not only with the "business" of business, but with the business of life itself.

It is not really a surprise, then, that when faced with a man like Romney, who understands what you create is a measure of who you are, Obama looked like an empty chair. A leftist discussing economic policy with a businessman is in dangerous territory to begin with, but a leftist with no demonstrable understanding, appreciation or RESPECT for the individual diversity of free people acting in their own self-interest is reduced to posturing and petulant smirks. Obama's contempt on that stage was not just for Romney or his tax plan. It was for America and freedom. Obama's lack of answers was not because he is stupid, it was because his ideas are stupid. Obama, like all those on the left, does not believe in creation. He believes in redistribution. He does not believe in production; he believes in confiscation. This is to believe in nothing. Theft is an empty promise.

What we saw on stage Wednesday was simply the absolute truth of what leftism is. It is an empty chair.

UPDATED!

Wow. I took all this time writing this crap and Roger L. Simon said pretty much the same thing, only better.

I should just quit. I ain't getting paid anyway.  HAHA!

Definition of Insanity

Who you gonna believe?

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." -- Albert Einstein

I beg to differ. That is the definition of stubbornness.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results because the voices in your head tell you to.

STOP THE HORROR! STOP THE FUNDING!

For the love of all that is holy, we must stop the funding of Sesame Street now! As we move ever more perilously to the precipice of Western European style socialism, it is imperative that we understand the dangers inherent in the system!

See what is possible with children's programming when you leave it to the state? This is from France, for crying out loud. The French!!

Oh, the HORRORS!

Kill Big Bird now. While there is still time.

END THE FUNDING! SESAME STREET IS RACIST!

NSFW!

The whole show is FILLED with racial code.

How can we possibly justify continued funding for this kind of racially divisive and stereotypical broadcasting? What are we teaching our children?

Occupy Sesame Street

When The Love Affair is Over

The digs about all your previously charming little personal habits start in...with a sharp shovel...to the skull.

I suspect Obama didn't spend it on women. Just saying....

My Favorite View In The Whole World

Sitting on top of a horse. Ann Romney and I both hate poor people. We own horses, doncha know.

A Rye Affair

I love to cook. It is one of those activities that feeds every part of you, nourishing the senses, calming the soul, and providing the elemental needs for pleasure and life itself. Few other activities can be counted on to engage the mind and body so fully and create an environment in which to share that experience with others. There is the possibility of ritual in every meal; an opportunity to explore the connection between us and the earth that sustains us.

The videos from Kitchen Vignettes always have this extended sense of engagement. From growing the food, to its preparation and enjoyment, we are beautifully moved through a process which reconnects us to the world around us.

Of course, in my world, everyone asks, "Is there blood in this?" before they eat...as in YOUR blood? I'm a little scary with knives.

Voter ID Will Always be RACIST - UPDATE! ANSWERABLE TO NO ONE

There is no amount of evidence nor number or quality of facts that will change the idea in the liberal mind that voter ID is deliberately and intentionally racist. Why? Because voter ID removes the element of corruption from the voting process, an element that serves Democrats both ways.

If the Democrat loses, he/she can claim voter fraud on the part of the Republican "machine", and not only will people believe it because it has been raised as an issue so often, but it gives them the excuse to demand as many recounts as it takes to find the necessary votes to overturn the election. If the Democrat wins, well, then he wins. Fair and square. The system works and all the Republicans' conspiracy theories about voter fraud are baseless. Game over.

If there is one thing all Democrats embrace, it is corruption. How much corruption they can "tolerate" from their own side is seen as a measure of how open-minded and inclusive they are. Corruption from the right, though, just proves how hypocritical and dangerous conservatives are. Makes perfect sense.

Bill Whittle narrates this video about the problem. The upshot? There's trouble in River City, kittens.

My take always has been that if this election gets to a point where it seriously looks like Obama might lose, the efforts to implement MASSIVE voter fraud will be unprecedented. They all know that if they cheat enough to get caught, but not enough to win, then they are in jail. If they cheat at all, they will need to cheat enough to win so that it doesn't matter whether anyone knows it or proves it.

As a nation we aren't going to pull down the entire system because of a rigged election. And if we don't win the Congress, there could be no real movement to bring anyone to justice, anyway.

So they have to cheat and cheat BIG. 

I think it's going to get really interesting really fast. Hang onto your hats, kittens.

*********UPDATE!*********

This is exactly what I was hinting at. Obama and the Democrats MUST win this election - at all costs. If they do, the game is over. If they don't, they start over. The Tea Party will be energized and the tide may have swung away from them. So they will cheat. Cheat HARD and cheat BIG. And that is not the title of a porn film.

Obama, Dems Almost Answerable to No One

Obama already doesn’t answer to the mainstream press — and they’re fine with that which is why they never ask him directly challenging questions, or even simple ones like, “can we see your college transcripts?” 

I mean, that’s an easy one. And the follow up is easy, too: “why not?” 

Another easy-peasy: “define ‘transparency’”. 

So, forget the press. Obama does not answer to them and never will, because the press doesn’t even want that. They’ve worked very hard building their narrative and they don’t want it mussed with. 

Obama barely answers to congress. His own wife admits that he’s “done a phenomenal job” making end-runs around legislation (96 Executive Orders and counting) and his administration co-operates as little with congressional inquiries (or with congress, itself) aspossible, while the press either plays it down or simply ignores it, for them.

Like I said, things are going to get really, really interesting.

I can't even balance my checkbook after a beer.

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Obama Losing the Youth Vote

Young people are stupid. But they are also singularly motivated by their personal point of view. They have yet to develop the rarefied altruism so carefully practiced in high school and college. They still get that you belong to yourself.

You have to wait for them to get a little older so that they give up those foolish notions. Parenting is so hard. So is lying about how the world works. It takes a village..and a school system...and a media...and a political class to get it done.

Money Scandal

I'm too tired and too stupid to do much more than just link to this. But I seem to remember whispers of HUGE HUGE HUGE scandals in money laundering and loss of tracking and potentially millions of small foreign donations last time and no one gave a rat's ass.

Hope this time someone actually makes a story of this.

Pretty freaking arrogant of him to do it again. But we are talking Obama here.......

Report: National magazine preparing “blockbuster” scandal story on Obama campaign donations

If the term “Doodad Pro” means anything to you, none of this will come as a surprise.

President Obama reelection campaign, rattled by his Wednesday night debate performance, could be in for even worse news. According to knowlegable sources, a national magazine and a national web site are preparing a blockbuster donor scandal story.

Sources told Secrets that the Obama campaign has been trying to block the story. But a key source said it plans to publish the story Friday or, more likely, Monday.

According to the sources, a taxpayer watchdog group conducted a nine-month investigation into presidential and congressional fundraising and has uncovered thousands of cases of credit card solicitations and donations to Obama and Capitol Hill, allegedly from unsecure accounts, and many from overseas. That might be a violation of federal election laws.

I'd like to think information like this has him peeing down his leg. I wonder what it must be like to spend your whole life believing that you don't have to follow the rules, that the rules follow you, and then learning -- in front of the entire world -- that it doesn't always work that way.

Sort of like Saddam when they dragged him out of the spidey hole.

Nice.