Monica Crowley has found a useful analogy to explain just how out of touch congressional democrat leadership has become on the health care debate.  What’s the analogy, you ask:  Marie Antoinette (portrayed beautifully by Kirsten Dunst in her recent film) and the French Revolution.  Now, you may laugh, but I think in a limited sense, this analogy helps one understand not only the enormity of Washington’s foe-paw, but also the level to which the American public is angry… and we are REALLY ANGRY.  Here is just a snipped from Monica’s article:

Democrats’ “Let Them Eat Cake” Moment No. 1: This week, Mrs. Pelosi and her deputy, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, wrote an op-ed in which they called everyone who opposes their plan for socialized medicine “un-American.”…

Earth to Democrats: Displaying contempt for the American people when you are being paid by those people to serve their interests is generally not a good political move.

Democrats’ “Let Them Eat Cake” Moment No. 2: This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the deficit grew by $181 billion in July alone, to $1.3 trillion. The massive spending, bailouts and collapsing tax receipts (individual tax receipts fell by 22 percent and corporate tax receipts fell by a staggering 57 percent) have led Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to ask Congress to raise the $12.1 trillion debt limit, so the government can spend and borrow even more.

If you were rational, you would see in these numbers an impetus to restrain spending. But among Democrats, such rationality doesn’t exist….

Democrats’ “Let Them Eat Cake” Moment No. 3: Mrs. Pelosi and her gang used the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill to sneak in funding for three luxury jets for their personal transport. Total projected cost to you: hundreds of millions. These are the same people who profess a love of the environment, a desire to minimize America’s carbon footprint, and concern about spending.

To put Marie Antoinette’s phrase in a more popular vernacular, it might sound something like this:

“let them pop a pain pill”.

Get paid a dollar or… have sex.  Damn, that’s a tough one.

GREENSBORO — A buck-a-day — that’s the incentive being offered to young girls to keep them from getting pregnant.

The group College-Bound Sisters was founded at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro by Hazel Brown, a maternity nurse who thought too many teens were having babies.

Brown said she hopes the program, which pays $1 each day to 12-to-18-year-old girls, will keep them from getting pregnant. In addition to remaining pregnancy-free, the girls must also attend weekly meetings.

The program is funded by a four-year grant from the state.

“Our three goals are that they avoid pregnancy, graduate from high school and enroll in college,” Brown said.

Under the program, $7 is deposited into an interest-bearing college fund that the girls can collect once they graduate high school.

Program director Laurie Smith said those aspirations are more achievable because of the incentives the program provides and the friendships it helps create.

Smith said nearly 100 percent of the girls who finish the program have gone on to graduate college.

If a girl drops out or gets pregnant, her money is divided among the other girls still in the program.

Something tells me this program needs a bit more in the incentive area…

via Program Pays Girls $1 Per Day To Not Get Pregnant – Health News Story – WXII The Triad.

Courtesy of the brilliant Charles Krauthammer

Well, as we heard today, she has a great American story.

And — but there is someone else here, as we just heard, who also has a great American story, and that is Frank Ricci, who is the fireman who sued because he took a promotional test, he and others, and was denied the promotion simply because of his race.

And that’s a case that came to the second circuit court, and Judge Sotomayor summarily dismissed it.

Now, that is important because it tells us a lot about her judicial philosophy. And the fact that, as we heard Judge Jose Contrera, on her court, also a Clinton appointee, was upset by her dismissal of this, and not even being willing to recognize the serious constitutional issues, that tells us that she really is a believer in the racial spoils system.

She is a person who said in a speech that she would hope that a wise Latina woman would come to better conclusions as a judge than a white male.

I mean, imagine if you heard someone say the reverse. He would be run out of town as a racist and a sexist.

And it reflects the president’s idea of empathy in the judicial choice, meaning a person who cares about the standing of a defendant or a plaintiff in a case, meaning if he is rich or poor, black or white, advantaged or not, which should not be something a judge takes into consideration.

via Krauthammer’s Take – NRO Staff – The Corner on National Review Online.

The Royal Tenenbaums

This scene is definitely in my top 10 favorite movie scenes of all time (the ‘needle in the hay‘ scene in this same movie also probably makes the cut–as does the ‘green line‘ scene–speaking of which, this might be the most beautiful thing I have heard in a long time). Maybe it’s Gwyneth Paltrow… but whatever it is… The one person we’ve always wanted… is the one person we just can’t have. The more I think about it… the more this movie reminds me of one of Shakespeare’s tragedy’s… it hits me on so many fundamental levels.

this may be Bush’s best photo op… EVER!

As I was researching a previous post, I came across a number of interesting blog posts and interviews I found quite interesting. In particular, I wanted to bring your attention to a great interview with my favorite liberal feminist, Naomi Wolf, author of the infamous “a room of ones own” (and the subject of possibly the best television prank in the last year). She is promoting her new book “The End of America” –a book that lays out the ‘Ten Steps to Closing Down an Open Society’ and “exposes” the ways in which America is mirroring the closed societies of history.

Allow me to begin this discussion by first complimenting Ms. Wolf. First, she just looked great during that interview. I was all about that red thing she was wearing (but I digress!). In all seriousness, I think this book is a valuable addition to the discussion and brings an important (albeit selective) historical context to modern politics. At the risk of cliche, I would remind you that those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. By reminding us of the evils of history Ms Wolf is, shockingly enough, being helpful… and I wish to encourage this kind of behavior.

This being said, I think it is fair to say that Ms Wolf’s conclusions are lacking… in any number of ways. It isn’t that she is always wrong, but that her foundational history is in many cases only loosely connected with modern practice. She begins with an assumption of guilt (primarily with the Bush administration… many times implying he is a ‘wannabe’ despot), finds similar parallels to dictators with completely different motivations and purposes, and then imputes those motives to Bush because factual circumstances were the same. Although a stretch, in some cases I found myself thinking that if two people washed their laundry, that would be enough for her to draw a comparison. I am, of course, exaggerating; but I do so to point out that to end one’s analysis at factual similarities without further analysis can lead to very irrational conclusions.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Spitzer sex scandal has received alot of press coverage the past week; After all, what self-respecting reporter when offered the scoop of a 32 22 yr. old bombshell babe servicing a powerful, married Political figure would even dream of exercising restraint.

Ya… I couldn’t think of any either.

In all seriousness, I did have a few thoughts to share on the issue. First, Alan Dershowitz (a harvard law professor of whom I have previously referenced on this blog) came out in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal and very nearly defended Spitzer.

Generally, wise and intelligent prosecutors use their discretion properly–to target organized crime, terrorism, financial predation, exploitation of children and the like. But the very existence of these selectively enforced statutes poses grave dangers of abuse. They lie around like loaded guns waiting to be used against the enemies of politically motivated investigators, prosecutors and politicians.

If this is what “wise and intelligent” prosecutors do… one can only think what Dershowitz thinks about the prosecutors in this case. He certainly has a valid point: overly-broad criminal statutes can be used for ill by partisan political figures. This isn’t to say that Spitzer shouldn’t have been held to the same standards as anyone else, or that he is above the law–but it is never right to selectively apply criminal statutes… these should be applied equally to all people.

One other person who came to mind as I reflected on this story was Jean Baudrillard, a french philosopher about whom I have written extensively about. In his book, America, he examines the media fascination and the cultural response Americans have to such events. I’ve re-read the book in its entirety and cannot find the exact quote I wanted… but here are a few relevant portions:

The fact is that a certain banality, a certain vulgarity which seem unacceptable to us in Europe seem more than acceptable — even fascinating — to us here. All our modern governments owe a kind of political meta-stability to the regulation of public opinion by advertising. Mistkes, scandals, and failures no longer signal catastrophe. The crutial think is that they be made credible, and that the public be made aware of the efforts being expended in that direction.

No one keeps count of the mistakes made by the world’s political leaders any more, mistakes which, in days gone by, would have brought about their downfall… The people no longer take pride in their leaders and the leaders no longer pride themselves on their decisions….

Everything has to be made public: what are you worth, what you earn, how you live – there is no place here for interplay of a subtler nature.

What I couldn’t find was Baudrillard’s amazement with the American media’s fascination with scandals (particularly of the sexual nature). He notices that while Americans insist on absolute transparency; the French handle scandals very differently… hiding events under layers of Bourgeois norms and phony appearances. One wonders which is the better alternative.

P.S. – turns out you can become a “fan” of Ashley Dupré on Facebook. Who knew?!

P.S.2 – check out her solo music debut on her myspace page. Not really my style… but… it’s a start.

Sigh… I’m a sucker for those Russian babes… 

Ron Paul Girl – The top video clips of the week are here

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joanga 87
by learningismagical.

Haven’t done a babe post for a while… usually they are just random posts when I happen to see an interesting thumbnail show up in my flickr photo stream… and this one is no different.?Ǭ† I’ve been thinking about the purpose of posting these every few weeks and am convinced it is a plus for this blog.?Ǭ† Otherwise I might come across as an un-feeling, cold conservative machine.?Ǭ† These posts help to show my soft heart and appreciation for beauty.?Ǭ† Anyway, I couldn’t help but notice the … form… that this image captures. It has a sense of symmetry, balance, and evokes a certain degree of emotion — a peace, tranquility, and in some ways, sorrow.?Ǭ† Check out the rest of the album. Enjoy!

these sections are by far the most popular, according to my regular readers. So, to meet the un-ending demand for such lowbrow content, I’ve decided to post another entry in this category. I happened to see this pop up in the “other people’s” photo stream on the flickr homepage and checked out the whole album, which is very good. The shape of the lips, the expression generally, and the eyes looking off camera make for a great portrait.

I also happen to be an amateur artist and especially like doing black/white pencil sketches of faces, so you can check out my replication of this image as well. (DRAWING LINK)