From Euripides

The Snarky Files. Snarky means several things. I prefer the definition of "sharply critical." Here's my take on some news stories this past week. No real news here, just snark.

Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated. I haven't had the time to blog much or offer my snarky commentary because, even though I'm an elite, privileged, white male, I have had to take on another job to make ends meet. It's always about greed....

Halleluja!

The Fort Hood shooting is a terrible tragedy. While Nidal Malik Hasan's motives may never be known (other than he was a complete whack job) the leftist media has, once again, demonstrated its duplicity in glossing over Hasan's religious ties:

If the Fort Hood shooter had been a Catholic chaplain, what would the news media say about him? Of course the media would condemn him, his religion, and probably the entirety of Western civilization for religious violence.

Yet, Hasan's religion, observed reports that he shouted "Allahu Akbar!" before shooting (AP), and other activities point to Muslim terrorism.

Yes Hasan's beliefs and motives will be investigated. But can the duplicitous media please stop its inability to separate Christianity from violence yet bend over backwards not to state the obvious about certain acts of Muslims?

The real losers will be the staff at Fort Hood, who somehow were supposed to divine Hasan's motives, stop Hasan from terrorist acts, yet ignore his growing Islamism. They'll be ferreted out to take the blame for Hasan's murders.

Health-careless

Last Saturday night, Nancy Pelosi and US House Democrats decided they had enough votes to force through the travesty of a health-care bill. With five votes to spare, the House passed their version of health-care. (Such a decisive victory!) House Democrats cheered. Nancy gloated, then cried like a bad parody of a televangelist. It was a touching and passionate moment in history.

A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi likened the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later. "Oh, what a night!" she proclaimed at the beginning of a press conference held after the vote. (Huffington Post)

Let me be clear on this. Government, of any kind, never has, and never will, make problems better though more government programs and interference. With government, it is all about keeping and controlling the power. With government, it is all about keeping and controlling money. We simply cannot afford to trust government, which has a vested self-interest to retain all power, to reform a system that is has no vested self-interest in preserving.

The left has successfully misdirected the debate on health-care, away from the huge and unwieldy monster that is our central government, to the red herring of the evil corporate empire and insurance agencies. (Who, let it be said, paid big bucks to Democrats.) Let me also be clear on this. Corporations, without government interference, must conform to the market or go extinct. With government interference, corporations can act like government agencies, outside of market pressures, and keep and maintain power. (Think ACORN!) The idea of corporate greed is a red herring, implanted as an excuse to ignore government greed.

Personally, I'll put my money on the market and corporate greed over the leviathan of government any day.

Heartless

The left will use all means necessary to vilify anyone who doesn't agree with their political agenda. Here's a sample from former president Bill Clinton, speaking about those who oppose government health-care:

Clinton argued that even “the most cold-hearted person” ought to support health care reform simply from an economic standpoint. (Politico)

Notice the back-handed slap in the face to those opposed to health-care. Are health-care supporters the only warm-hearted people in the US? Apparently.

Also from Clinton:

"The reason the tea-baggers are so inflamed is because we are winning." (Politico)

This is true, if by winning, Clinton means that the central government has now grown into an ugly dragon of a beast that seeks to control all aspects of our daily lives with no regard to the liberties and freedoms enjoyed in the past under the US Constitution. Bill Clinton and I are in agreement here. (Notice how the left has succeeded in renaming the Tea Party movement to tea-baggers?) (Notice how the left only validates leftist protests?) (Notice how skillfully I use parentheses in order to point up my snark?)

Looking Ahead

Great Britain is a great model of what America should not do. Under Britain's Climate Change Act (what we in the US call Cap and Trade), the head of Britain's Environment Agency wants all citizens to have a "carbon allowance." This would track the "carbon" use of every British citizen and penalize those who use more than their allotted amount of gas or electricity.

Of course, according to the head of the Environment Agency, Lord Smith, this sort of thing won't affect the common people, just the rich:

"A lot of people who cycle will get money back. It will probably only be bankers and those with extravagant lifestyles who would lose out." (Telegraph)

Ah yes, all the world's troubles can (probably) be traced back to bankers, corporate greed, the rich, the wealthy, the well-to-do, the extravagant, or at least those who work for a living.

Is this idea a portent of the future of the US? Are we to ration out energy at the Orwellian behest of our Great and Glorious Government? Or could we, perhaps, stop biting ourselves in the butt and drill in ANWAR, build nuclear plants, build giganormous solar arrays in California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, or build wind arrays off the Massachusetts coast?

Nah. The environmentalists won't let us.

Or do you all relish the idea of riding "cycles" to work every day? (Harley's don't qualify.)

Meanwhile, on the home front, Congress gets ever closer to imposing Cap and Trade.

A controversial climate change bill cleared its first hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, allowing President Barack Obama to tout progress in the run-up to next month's global warming talks in Copenhagen. (Reuters)

Will the US survive this spate of legislation? Hardly. The Chinese must be chomping at the bit to take over the world once Western governments all destroy themselves through such legislation. The good news is, then those of us who survive without electricity can blame the Chinese for global climate change.

Free Press

Some of you may have seen this from several weeks back. It bears repeating.

President Obama's presidential campaign focused on "making" the news media cover certain issues while rarely communicating anything to the press unless it was "controlled," White House Communications Director Anita Dunn disclosed to the Dominican government at a videotaped conference. (World Net Daily)

Whether the government controls the press, or the press reports only what it wants the people to see, it works out the same. The press is no longer free.

Here are a collection of news stories for those of you who still have a moral conscience to keep you up and worrying at night.

Softball or Softhead?

First is this softball statement (the softball being Nicole Kidman's head):

"Nicole Kidman conceded Wednesday that Hollywood has probably contributed to violence against women by portraying them as weak sex objects." (AP)

Gee. Ya think? Could Hollywood be contributing to other kinds of violence as well? Nicole won't go that far....

Cool Obama Songs

Big Hollywood thoughtfully collected eleven videos of children, in schools, singing praises to our Lord and Savior President Obama. While most of the videos have been removed from YouTube (I wonder why?) John Nolte at Big Hollywood did transcribe these gems for us.

Here's a selection from my favorite, "No One’s as Irish as Barack Obama":

O’Leary, O’Reilly, O’Hare and O’Hara

There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama

You don’t believe me, I hear you say

But Barack’s as Irish, as was JFK

His granddaddy’s daddy came from Moneygall

A small Irish village, well known to you all

He’s in the white house, He took a chance

Now let’s see Barack do Riverdance

Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama

There’s no one as Irish As Barack O’Bama

I think the reason Bush didn't succeed as president wasn't because the media drove him into the dirt to the point that conventional wisdom believes he was the worst president ever (that honor goes to James Buchanan, well, and Franklin Roosevelt deserves the nod for starting the nanny-state). The reason Bush didn't succeed was because he didn't have a really cool theme song like Obama does.

Listing Prostitution

Craigslist got taken to court in Illinois over allowing ads for prostitutes. A federal court struck down the suit against Craigslist (NBC) allowing them to keep their "erotic services" category.

We'll defend free speech to allow prostitution, but not to allow the Ten Commandments displayed at a courthouse? Ya gotta love the left for its creativity. And we must protect erotic services in this country at all costs!

Private Affairs

Wilton, California apparently held a gay rodeo. Apparently, one of the rodeo activities was a "Best Buns" contest. Apparently the "Best Buns" contest was held in the public view.

"They had more than best buns: They had everything out there naked, and you can see it plain as day," longtime Wilton resident Monty Stanley said. "What I witnessed there and what you saw on that camera is not different than pornography." (KCRA.com)

It's difficult to take gay rights activists seriously as they argue for right to privacy, when such activities point to anything "butt" a concern for privacy.

Public Matters

A manager at a store in Boston says he was fired for telling a colleague her same sex marriage was wrong.

[Peter] Vadala claims the woman, whom he declined to identify, mentioned four times that she had married her partner....

"I found it offensive that she repeatedly brought it up," Vadala said.

The woman, according to Vadala, then said, "Human resources, buddy — keep your opinions to yourself," before exiting the store. (Fox News)

Vadala was fired two days later for "harassment."

Anyone who says that legalizing same sex marriage is a private matter, that it doesn't affect you or me, needs to take a long, hard look at this story.

What bothers me most about Vadala's story is the idea that free speech is not a two way enterprise with leftists. Speaking out in favor of personal, religious beliefs, speaking out against same sex marriage, speaking out against homosexual sex, all these are now unacceptable according to the new morality.

Question

How is it that the liberal left can take the moral high ground when they don't believe in moral absolutes?

I happened to watch the vote from the US House of Representatives last Saturday night and Twittered a live feed as the vote took place. Here are some random thoughts about nationalized healthcare / insurance reform / socialized medicine / whatever-the-heck that House bill was supposed to be.

The bill's projected costs are supposed to be $1.2 trillion dollars over the next ten years. Why aren't more people worried about that figure? Have we become so complacent with government spending that we've forgotten what an astronomical amount of money that is to spend?

Does anyone - anyone at all - really believe that this bill won't have a cost overrun at least five to ten times the projected amount?

Over the next few months, now that the bill passed in the House, we'll begin to discover thousands upon thousands of pork projects hidden in the bill, most of which will have absolutely nothing to do with health care.

Does anyone believe that government only serves the altruistic purposes of the people of the United States rather than serving the special interests of the highest bidder? The answer is yes, and apparently one has to be a convert of liberal doctrine to buy into this otherwise obvious lie. Other liberals reject this lie, yet convince themselves that it doesn't matter because socialized healthcare is the only way to "solve the mess."

Are we so naive that we don't see the dangers in an ever-growing, ever more controlling government?

How long can we sustain out of control spending and taxing before our country collapses or gets bought up by China? Does anyone really believe that we will suffer no serious consequences from such government interference?

Have so many Americans become such shallow thinkers to believe that Marxist ideals really work? What kind of Utopian world do you think we'll have with such a forced redistribution of wealth? I can think of several examples such as the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela.... Are we naive enough to believe that such power cannot rise up, even in the US, and create another absolutist state?

How can we believe such axioms as: "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely," yet we see no duplicity when we hand power over to our government in the hopes that it will provide a safe and easy life for everyone?

How come the only people who Tweeted me back to complain of my views, all complained about George W. Bush as a response? I didn't really think that Bush Derangement Syndrome existed until the other night. Now, however, I am a believer.

Why would anyone argue that because George W. Bush started a war, that I should accept socialized healthcare? I received a dozen such responses from various Tweets. What on earth does Bush have to do with this bloated, expensive, dangerous piece of legislation? Do people really believe Bush single-handedly destroyed the healthcare industry in the US? The disconnect astounds me.

Why is it that when government steps in and screws something up, liberals think that the only solution is to have government step in and "fix" it? Government has been mucking with healthcare for decades and now we believe Nancy Pelosi can fix it?

Did anyone else get just a little sick by Nancy Pelosi's gloating outburst, declaring the healthcare bill officially passed? After she broke into tears, I was reminded of Tammy Fay Baker's fakery from her good-old televangelism days.

Is anyone else worried that the current Congress is willing to spend more money in one year, than just about all other Congresses in our history have spent combined? Don't forget the Cap and Trade bill is still wandering around the Senate....

How do people elect Representatives like Alan Grayson and keep a straight face? His ignorant and vile accusations during the vote sounded like a bad parody of Howard Beale on Network. I know, I know - it's because he feels such sympathy for those who couldn't afford healthcare. He's such a sensitive guy.

Does anyone in the US government seriously value the limits of the Constitution anymore? Can we seriously hold up this healthcare bill to the Constitution and find some mandate for such government control and spending? Of course we can't. Does this mean, however, that we should give up trying?

From Euripides

There you stand, in an elevator or in line at the post office, when a liberal decides to strike up a conversation with you. During the conversation, you hear some familiar words that refer to ideas like rights and freedom, but in context, they don't seem to make any sense to you. Never fear! I've compiled for you, gentle conservative, a list of the most frequently used terms in liberalspeak with their definitions. Learn these few terms and you will be on the path to understanding what your liberal friends are talking about.

I hope you find this list useful and a means of coming to greater understanding of the liberal left.

Abortion: The absolutely fundamental right of every women to choose. This right is the only one guaranteeing equality of the sexes and must be preserved at all costs. See Rights.

ACORN: A poor, benighted charitable agency that got mercilessly attacked by right wing nut jobs.

Anti-American: Anyone who doesn't agree with the current liberalized system of government. This includes anyone who agrees with capitalism, limited government and many democratic principles. See Mob.

Barack Obama: The only president who has ever had the capacity to selflessly change America into a Utopian state. If Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and the mob would only leave him alone, he could finally work out the solution to governmental perfection. See Glenn Beck. See Rush Limbaugh. See Mob.

Bible: An ancient document that has absolutely no connection with modern reality, especially morals and legal codes. See Religion.

Bill of Rights: An unknown and forgotten list of ideas which have no relationship to the modern vision of rights and freedoms. The Bill of Rights only gets in the way of such things as denegrating religion, gun control, and creating a statist federal government. The Bill of Rights, like other ancient documents such as the Bible, no longer serve any useful purpose. See Bible. See Constitution. See Rights.

Birthers: Uneducated idiots who will stop at nothing to attack Barack Obama. See Barack Obama.

Climate Change: The idea that if you rename something and broaden its definition to be all inclusive, despite any relation to reality, you can still tax it. See Global Warming. See Taxes.

Constitution: An old and outdated document that might have been good for something except for the enshrined dogmas of a past generation. It now has little relevance to a modern, sophisticated way of governing. See Rights.

Entitlements: See Rights.

Equality: The idea that individual rights must be suppressed and submit to the group mind. Anyone who disagrees with the correct group is considered anti-American or racist. See Anti-American. See Racist.

Fairness Doctrine: The idea that some media have an unfair advantage over other media because it is Anti-American. See Anti-American. See Glenn Beck. See Rush Limbaugh.

Feminist: Anyone who agrees that abortion is the absolutely fundamental right of every women to choose. Anyone, including women in power, who do not subscribe to absolute fundamental right of abortion are not considered feminists. See Abortion.

Fox News: A radical, right-wing media outlet, no better than the worst, hack blogging. No one worth knowing actually watches Fox, and those who do drink deeply of the Fox Kool-Aid. See Free Press. See News.

Freedom: The right to do what liberals want, when and where they want, with no regard to the rights of others, even to disagree. See Free Speech.

Free Press: The government subsidizing of media such as the New York Times or MSNBC, but not such media as Fox News. See Anti-American. See Fox News. See News.

Free Speech: The right, guaranteed by the Constitution, to intimidate anyone who disagrees with liberal doctrine. See Bill of Rights. See Politically Correct.

Gays: A group of people who self-identify according sexual preference, who only want to be treated as equals and to have their rights. See Equality. See LGBTQQ. See Marriage. See Rights.

Glenn Beck: Satan or the Great Evil One. See Anti-American. See Fairness Doctrine. See Rush Limbaugh.

Global Warming: The idea that a good crisis is worth all the taxes in the world. See Climate Change.  See Taxes.

Government: The only institution that can properly run a modern state. The more government, the better. Despite fear mongers, the American government can never turn against its people as long as liberals are in charge.

Greed: A human vice that occurs when they form corporations, but not, for example, when they are elected as a liberal to government office. Corporate owners are always greedy. Liberal politicians are always altruistic, working for the good of all people.

Hate Crimes: The idea that crimes committed against individuals of protected classes are more heinous than the same crimes committed against conservatives.

Healthcare: The government regulation and control of health-related industries such as insurance companies. See Government. See Greed.

 LGBTQQ: A community of gays and others who self-identify as protected class citizens to gain equality and rights. See Equality. See Gays. See Protected Class. See Rights.

Marriage: The union of any two people for the purposes of gaining equal rights and protected class status.  See Equality. See Gay. See Protected Class. See Rights.

Mob: Anyone who disagrees with modern liberalism and dares to speak up in a public forum. Most recently applied to those who spoke against healthcare. See Healthcare. See Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

News: Anything said or implied by any news media except Fox News. For example, Balloon Boy and the death of Michael Jackson were news. The downfall of ACORN was not. See ACORN. See Fox News. See Free Press.

Politically Correct: A misnomer from the vast right wing conspiracy to discredit the only, true way for all Americans to think. See Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

Protected Class: The concept that some people are born more equal under the law than others, because they believe in liberal doctrine and self-identify with a liberal group. See Equality.

Racism: Attacks on anyone who identifies with any special interest group or liberal belief, regardless of race, considered properly in favor with liberal doctrine. See Anti-American.

Religion: The freedom to believe in some sky-daddy, as long as such belief never enters into the public arena in any way, shape or form, since the Constitution guarantees a separation of church and state. See Bill of Rights. See Freedom.

Rich: A class of citizens who represent one of the major barriers to developing a Utopian society. This class must be taxed into extinction, unless, of course, the individuals adhere to liberal doctrine.

Rights: Any thought or action liberals deem appropriate to a shifting society, with no regard to Constitutional enumeration, or public opinion. Also, any number of government mandated expenses or entitlements. Recognition of such entitlements as rights is central to liberal doctrine. See Constitution.

Rush Limbaugh: Satan or the Great Evil One. See Anti-American. See Fairness Doctrine. See Glenn Beck.

Sensitivity Training: The idea that, if caught early enough, conservatives can be turned into liberals or at least to discover the homosexual hiding within.

Separation of Church and State: The enlightened interpretation of the outdated 1st Amendment to the Constitution. See Bill of Rights. See Constitution.

Sex Education: When taught in schools, this is only possible means for children to learn how to properly use condoms in the belief that there is such a thing as safe sex. Before sex education, all children were at the mercy of their parents to pass along incorrect sexual mores and attitudes. See Marriage.

Tax: Redistribution of wealth. A means of controlling corporate greed and the rich. See Greed. See Rich.

The One: See Barack Obama.

Vast Right Wing Conspiracy: A group of people who, if properly educated and who would give up religion, would become liberals. See Religion.