Happy New Year

This may be my last post for 2011.  I will be out of town until Tuesday and may not have internet access.

I am looking forward to 2012.  With any luck, that will be the last year of the Obama presidency.  Let's all work hard to support the Republican candidate, whoever he or she turns out to be.  None of them are perfect, but as of this moment, I prefer Newt to Mitt.

So...have a safe and Happy New Year, and may 2012 bring us all greater opportunities and happiness.

The Obamagasm Award

The Obamessiah

Media Research Center has announced the Obamagasm Award for 2011 goes to Stephen Marche of Esquire Magazine.  Marche's paean to Barack Obama includes this:

...can we just take a month or two to contemplate him the way we might contemplate a painting by Vermeer or a guitar lick by the early-seventies Rolling Stones or a Peyton Manning pass or any other astounding, ecstatic human achievement? Because twenty years from now, we’re going to look back on this time as a glorious idyll in American politics, with a confident, intelligent, fascinating president riding the surge of his prodigious talents from triumph to triumph....

I would rewrite this essay a bit:

...can we just take a month or two to contemplate him the way we might contemplate a Flea Market painting of Elvis on black velvet, the early singing skills of Milli Vanilli,  a Jamarcus Russell [intercepted] pass, or any other mundane, over-hyped, pie-in-the-sky mediocrity?  Because twenty years from now, we're going to look back on this time as a raging insanity in American politics, with a conceited, naive and arrogant punk of a president, riding the surge of his own ignorance from one political disaster to the next...

Read the whole thing here, and then throw up.  Hat tip:  No Pasaran.

Why Islamophobia? Robert Spencer Answers Muslim Filmmaker

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch was asked by a Muslim filmmaker for an interview.  It seems one Dean Obeidallah is making a film about "Islamophobia," no doubt along the lines that fear of Islam is unfair, irrational and bigoted.  "Islamophobia," of course, is an invented term used to shame critics into silence about the murderous, violent and intolerant nature of Islam.

Spencer asked Obeidallah to answer several questions as a prelude to an interview.  Obeidallah did not answer them.  The best of these is item number 1, in which Spencer asks:

True or false: No comedy show, no matter how clever or winning, is going to eradicate the suspicion that many Americans have of Muslims. This is because Americans are concerned about Islam not because of the work of greasy Islamophobes, but because of Naser Abdo, the would-be second Fort Hood jihad mass murderer; and Khalid Aldawsari, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Lubbock, Texas; and Muhammad Hussain, the would-be jihad bomber in Baltimore; and Mohamed Mohamud, the would-be jihad bomber in Portland; and Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square jihad mass-murderer; and Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the Arkansas military recruiting station jihad murderer; and Naveed Haq, the jihad mass murderer at the Jewish Community Center in Seattle; and Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, who hatched a jihad plot to blow up a Manhattan synagogue; and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be Christmas airplane jihad bomber; and many others like them who have plotted and/or committed mass murder in the name of Islam and motivated by its texts and teachings -- all in the U.S. in the last couple of years.

And this doesn't even mention Major Nidal Hassan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas a couple of years ago, acting on behalf of his religion -- Islam.

Read the whole thing here.   By the way, I am currently reading Spencer's book "The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran."  It is an informative book on how the Koran was created and what it contains.  You can read the Koran itself, but this is a difficult task, since the Koran is arranged in a chaotic, non-sequential manner, repeats itself many times, and often provides little or no context for its subject matter.  (You must refer to the Hadith to obtain the context and supporting facts, and Spencer quotes from the Hadith when necessary to remove ambiguity.)

Special Academy Award Issued to North Korean Mourners for Great Acting

"Oh Boo Hoo Hoo Hoo!"  How was that?

Maggie over at Maggie's Notebook noticed something that I also noticed:  the wailing, gesticulating mourners at Kim Jong Il's funeral were decidedly dry-eyed.  With all that moaning, bawling and crying, there were no tears. The mourners, knowing what was good for them, put on quite an act for Dear Leader's funeral.

Just Out of Camera Range

We suspect that Hollywood will issue a special Oscar for these amazing put-ons.  Acting!

Meanwhile, singing was heard throughout the land:  "The Witch is dead, the Witch is dead, the wicked Witch is dead!"  The Lollipop Guild is expected to make a public announcement shortly.

I Want to Make a YouTube Video

Curmudgeon over at Political Clown Parade has made a video reflecting on the events of 2011.  It's the first video she's made in quite some time, posted to her YouTube account "Definite Opinion."  It's pretty good, view it here.

I like viewing her Photoshops and she's actually a pretty good writer when she has a mind to be -- and lately, she has a mind to be.  She has sometimes made YouTube videos that are worthwhile to watch, and I am  inspired to make some videos too.  I know how to do it, that's not the hard part.  The hard part is figuring out what I want to present, what images or video clips to include, what background music to use.  I'll give it some thought.  Suggestions are welcome.

As Kim Jung Mentally Il Is Laid To Rest...the Haunting Sound of "Taps," Played on a Kazoo

Kim Jung Mentally Il has been laid to rest.  The North Koreans are so poor that Il's casket was wheeled to the cemetery on a used skateboard...propelled along by the deft footwork of the New Dear Leader, Kim Jung Ungh!.

People were pointing out that the hearst was a 1976 Lincoln Continental, but that's not true.  It was a blown up picture of a 1976 Lincoln Continental, taped on to the camera-view side of the skateboard.  The photo was ordered from Office Max and flown in by carrier pigeon, which was promptly shot down by anti-aircraft fire and eaten.

However, it's true that North Korea has achieved much.  They have arrived at that position in the world so fervently hoped for by our own Dear Leader, Kim Jung Barack Obama.  No other country in the world feels inferior to North Korea, nor do they envy it's super-power status; and no one can claim that Evil Capitalists are exploiting the other 99% with products, services, technology, jobs or any kind of standard-of-living.  As for #OccupyNorthKorea, the people there who are living in tents, squalor, filth and poverty are called "the upper class."

Kim Jung Mentally Il's funeral was ended with the plaintive sound of taps.  Since the North Koreans can't afford a bugle, a lady with a kazoo was used instead.

Kim Jung Mentally Il's corpse was then taken to the processing plant where it was turned into Soylent Green.

Meanwhile, the North Korean military (which is everyone in the country, apparently) turned out to fake great expressions of grief, with loud wailing and bawling, but...no tears.  I wonder how many were secretly thinking:  Thank God the bastard's dead.

See for yourself:

Blog Whoring and Me-Too Blogging

Dan Riehl has a worthwhile post this morning on "Iconoclastic Bloggers."  He defines an iconoclast as a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions.  I like that.

I like even more what he said about blogger cliques and groups:

"Still, cliques and groups around certain larger blogs have grown up, along with the professional sites and aspects of it."

A light went on in my head.  Dan had described a phenomenon that annoys the hell out of me, though I hadn't fully verbalized or defined it.  Cliques!  I have simply referred to the phenomenon as "Me-Too Blogging."

"Me-too" blogging is where one assumes a role in the king blogger's court and begs for links and attention and indulges in throw-me-a-bone bootlicking. "Me-too" bloggers are beholden to bigger bloggers for traffic they haven't actually earned, and so compromise their principles and honesty in order to retain their benefactor's good graces. Some people have called this "blog-whoring," and the description is apt.  It means you must defend your benefactor, even when he or she is wrong or has done something unethical.

Also, Clique-Blogging is a form of group-think.  Riehl also pointed out:

Group-think is the enemy of freedom and I detest it, in its various forms.

Me-Too Blogging is compromised blogging.  Don't do it.

The Shallowness of Atheism

I really don't care what anyone believes about God, as long as they believe it peacefully and do not attempt to impose their beliefs on me through coercive means.  "Coercive means," for purposes of this discussion, include using Congress and the courts to subvert the First Amendment.

Atheists, however, are particularly annoying in their religious beliefs.  Yes, atheism is a form of religion, as it is believed on faith -- a negative kind of faith, but faith nonetheless.  To know whether God exists, one would have to be God himself.  Man's comparatively minuscule intellect is insufficient to answer the question.    Therefore, many of us believe, on faith, that there is a higher power and a higher purpose to our existence.

Atheists, on the other hand, insist that God does not exist, that God is a myth and religion a delusion.  They are actually rather impatient, even intolerant with those who disagree.  After all, the question is entirely clear to them, and they assume that their personal clarity on the issue should be shared by all.  In this regard, they are no different from any fanatical sect who insists that theirs represents THE ONE TRUE RELIGION, that all other religions are doomed to fail and only they are possessed of God's grace, acceptance and enlightenment.

I recently saw a video by the atheist Pat Condell, whose anti-Islam rants I love, haughtily insist that "there is no God."  He knows.  His is "the one true religion."

Atheism is similar to color blindness, and atheists are like color-blind fanatics insisting that green, red, blue and yellow do not exist, and that those who see them are delusional.  Atheists are entitled to their beliefs, but I wish they would stop wearing their religion on their sleeve and trying to push it off on everyone else.

Tim Tebow Terrorizes Secularists and Atheists

As Timothy Gordon points out in American Thinker today, the left is becoming increasingly intolerant towards any public religious expression.  For that reason, Tim Tebow, quarterback for the Denver Broncos, is becoming a hated figure.  Tebow likes to silently pray in the end zone after touchdowns, by dropping to one knee and giving thanks.  Gordon writes:

Tebow's straightforward and unapologetic Christianity has been received by NFL mensae magnae (contradiction in terms?) as a type of threat.

And what is the liberal/secularist plan?  To eventually make religion disappear:

That is, when sec-progs start out declaring that they aim merely to set a plain whereupon all religions can fairly "coexist," they really contemplate an end-game where religions fade permanently out of view. Have a look at the emergent history of the jurisprudence: "No federal religion" became "no state religions"; this became "no government entanglement with religion"; this became "no governmental support for religion"; this became "no governmental mention of religion"; this led to the phase that the Tebow debacle currently evinces: "no popular mention of religion in any public sphere, including private affairs which get viewed on TV." One can easily imagine the last few steps in this phenomenology of disappearance.

I noticed this on Jay Leno last week, when Denver finally lost their second game of the season.  When Leno announced the loss, his liberal Los Angeles audience broke into applause...not because they dislike the Broncos, but because they dislike practicing Christians.

Ron Paul's Extreme Isolationism Disqualifies Him To Be President

Eric Dondero, a former Ron Paul staffer, has set the record straight on many facts about his former boss.  Dondero, writing at Right Wing News, states the following are true:
1.  Ron Paul is neither racist nor anti-Semitic.  Further, he is not homophobic.
2.  Ron Paul is a strong isolationist.  He was vehemently opposed to any US military response to the 9/11 attack.  He believes the United States should not have fought the Nazis in World War II.
3.  Ron Paul dislikes Israel because of Paul's extreme isolationism, and our alliance with Israel prevents us from being more isolationist.  (I am paraphrasing here.)
4.  Ron Paul supports the so-called Palestinians and wants the entire state of Israel given over to them.

Dondero sums it up:

On one other matter, I’d like to express in the strongest terms possible, that the liberal media are focusing in on entirely the wrong aspects regarding controversies on Ron Paul.

It’s his foreign policy that’s the problem; not so much some stupid and whacky things on race and gays he may have said or written in the past.

Ron Paul is most assuredly an isolationist. He denies this charge vociferously. But I can tell you straight out, I had countless arguments/discussions with him over his personal views. For example, he strenuously does not believe the United States had any business getting involved in fighting Hitler in WWII. He expressed to me countless times, that “saving the Jews,” was absolutely none of our business. When pressed, he often times brings up conspiracy theories like FDR knew about the attacks of Pearl Harbor weeks before hand, or that WWII was just “blowback,” for Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy errors, and such.

Dondero confirms what I have written in previous posts:  Ron Paul is not a racist and the charges of "racism" are just unethical propaganda by some on the right.  Ron Paul is, however, an enemy of Israel and an extreme isolationist.  I fear that his isolationism would provide no deterrence whatsoever to the radical Muslims who would attack us.  If Ron Paul were president, Iran would feel quite safe in launching a nuclear attack on Israel.  For these reasons, I could never vote for Ron Paul, nor would I recommend him to anyone.

Hat tip:  Pirate's Cove