What would the earth look like with rings?

Like this maybe?

Is Obama irresponsible and unpatriotic?

He's run up twice the debt in three years and two months than Bush did in eight years, but let him define it for you.




And he had a lot of accomplices along the way from both parties.

The Hobbit Movie video update

Here is #6 in the series of Hobbit Movie production videos.

Today's quote

"We never really learn how to grow up, just how to act in public". Daniel Dowling

Today's funny

That's why we build less and it costs more.

Today's quote

“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.” – Ayn Rand

Today's quote

'The powers of the legislature are defined and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the Constitution is written."

—Chief Justice John Marshall

Another reason why the Brits are circling the drain.

Listen to this BBC twit spout a bunch of gobbledy goop about why the idiots in London are doing their best to tear down the city. The police are impotent and it's a crime for you to defend your own property. A once great empire is dying, not with a bang, but with a whimper. So very sad.

Video here.

When the bill comes due

Worlds largest fungus found in China

Only because they haven't looked in D.C. yet. Story here.

Today's quote

"You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts".

Today's photo

National Cemetery in Minneapolis.

Old joke - new implication

There's an old Soviet joke. An old man has been standing in line for bread for eight hours. His feet hurt, his back hurts, and he is faint from hunger. Finally, finally the door opens and the baker comes out. He starts to salivate. He fingers the rubles in his pocket.

"Comrades, go home," says the baker. "There is no flour to make bread today."

Something in the old man snaps. He has been waiting in these lines for decades, and he has had enough. "This is ridiculous!" he shouts. "I fought in the Great Patriotic War! I worked for forty years in the factory! Now you make me wait in line for eight hours when there's no flour? You didn't know this eight hours ago? I spit on you, and I spit on the regime!" And he spits in front of the baker.

A man steps out of line behind him. "Careful, comrade. You know how it would have been in the old days if you had said these things." With his thumb and forefinger, he mimes a gun being fired at the temple.

Defeated, the man steps out of line and trudges home with everyone else. He goes into his apartment and sits down at the table. His wife walks in just as he pours the last of his vodka into a glass, and drinks it down in one gulp.

"Sergei, what's wrong?!" she cries, seeing the look on his face. "Don't tell me they're out of bread!"

"It's worse than that. Much worse." he says heavily.

"What could be worse?"

"They're out of bullets.

One more reason to like Texas

They hold murderer's accountable.

Hoo boy!

The people who voted for this tool should ask for their money back. All I can say is wow!

Today' quote

“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money". Alexis de Toqueville

Restaurant review - Market Broiler

Marilyn and I decided to try the new Market Broiler seafood place here in town and we were less than wowed.

The service was adequate, but am I the only one who is tired of being greeted by a seventeen year old at the reception desk with, "hi guys, how are you doing tonight?". Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon, but I prefer to be addressed in a little more respectful language than that.

The waitress was dutifully efficient, but I get the feeling all of the wait staffs at these chain restaurants have been cloned and then indoctrinated. I almost feel like they are reading a script sometimes. I'm sure they are much more clever when posting to Facebook or IMing their friends, so why not try a little of that same spontaneity with the customers?

To the food. We were given a nice loaf of hot, crusty French bread to start out, which in hindsight would turn out to be the highlight of the meal. Marilyn ordered the Thursday special which was a combo of shrimp, salmon & red snapper. The shrimp and salmon were overcooked and over salted, but the snapper was good. The plate came with steamed vegetables and rice pilaf, both of which were of average quality.

I ordered a Caesar salad and the crab Alfredo. The Caesar salad was just o.k. with croutons that looked and tasted like they had been scooped out of a sack, however Market Broiler has come up with a new twist on the Caesar salad by adding fresh basil. Suggestion for Market Broiler, don't mess with a classic unless you warn people on the menu first. The addition of the basil and the use of bottled dressing of some kind eliminated any wow factor. No fresh ground pepper was offered by the staff.

The crab Alfredo was o.k. from the standpoint that the noodles were done perfectly (although from a box), however the sauce was thin and actually pooled at the bottom of the bowl. The crab meat was soggy and stringy and over salted. A languid piece of garlic bread was included, but had spent too much time in the warming drawer to have retained any of its original luster. All and all a very forgettable dish.

Marilyn had ice tea and I had a glass of Sauvingon Blanc which were both fine. A quick word on wine prices at these chain restaurants, they are outrageous. $7.50 for 3 1/2 ounces of wine will not bring customers back to your establishment (at least not to drink wine). California Pizza Kitchen is especially guilty when it comes to high wine prices. They are pouring from bottles that average around $12.00 each (retail), they can afford to be a little more generous.

All in all I would rate our experience at Market Broiler as disappointing. Marilyn and I both love seafood, but we would have been much better off going to our locally owned fish place instead of to a run of the mill, assembly line style eatery. Out of five stars I would give Market Broiler a two.

And you thought it was going to end with tobacco

Via the Daily Caller:

The federal government has a growing interest in the eating habits of Americans for the same reason it has an interest in tobacco consumption, said Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The reason is money, because three-quarters of medical-spending is driven by chronic diseases, such as obesity and tobacco-related diseases, she said.

Welcome to the Orwellian world of the left where your health and welfare are not only the concern of the Federal government, but their overriding duty. To think that you could expect to get "free" healthcare without strings attached was just an illusion my friends.

So what will this eventually lead to? I can see things like:

You're a smoker. Sorry no lung cancer treatment for you. You did this to yourself.
Overweight. Uh oh can't treat your diabetes until you drop some of that poundage.
Bad knee. Too bad, but you're the one who chose to play a dangerous sport like tennis.
Heart disease? Exactly how many Big Macs did you consume during your life?
Alzheimer's? Well at least you won't know that we're not treating you.

Enjoy your free health care. Oh and don't be surprised if Peolosi, Reid, Obama and Sebelius have a slightly different plan than you do. You see government provided health care is for the little people.

Too bad his parents hadn't followed this advice

From the Daily Caller:

In an appearance Monday in New York City former Vice President Al Gore, prominently known for his climate change activism, took on the subject of population size and the role of society in controlling it to reduce pollution.

“One of the things we could do about it is to change the technology to put out less of this pollution, to stabilize the population, and one of the principle ways of doing that is to empower and educate girls and women,” Gore said. “You have to have ubiquitous availability of fertility management so women can choose how many children have, the spacing of the children.

Is there anything this bloated gasbag isn't an expert on?

His masseuse was unavailable for comment.

Update: I forgot, Al has four kids.

I'm betting you won't see this article in the next issue of "Modern Bride"

Today's political funny

H/T: C & S

Today's quote

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats". H. L. Mencken

Peace in the middle east

There. Will. Never. Be. Any!

Anyone foolish enough to think that the Palestinians (and Arabs at large) will ever accept anything less than complete annihilation of Israel does not understand the 7th century Muslim mindset that still fuels the Arabs rage.

The existence of a Jewish state is incompatible with the teachings of the Koran.

End of negotiations.

Socialism as the natural state of man

Yes I said it, most human beings want someone else to take care of them. Because in essence most people are lazy and will take the least path of resistance to survive. That is why when the necessity of rolling back or eliminating programs like Social Security, Medicare, food stamps or a myriad of other Federal, State or local programs is discussed there is a hue and cry that would make the noise at a rock concert sound like a whisper.

I do believe that work is good for people. It engenders a feeling of self worth and accomplishment that is necessary for the soul. However, humans are weak, and when they fall for the siren song of "free" money, services or programs they start the descent into mental and physical lethargy and degradation.

For even though we accept these "gifts" from the government, the ensnaring strings that come attached to them will slowly squeeze the self respect and any sense of humanity from our souls.

What's happening now in Greece is just a microcosm of what is to become of America if we continue down the unsustainable path of spending more that we make. Taxing the rich won't solve the problem and ending subsidies to oil companies or abolishing corporate welfare won't do the trick either, as these as tiny potatoes in a very large sack. If a solution sounds painless and simple it probably has no merit.

So in the end we are left with painful choices. We either stop the insatiable gravy train that has been set in motion or it will eventually stop us. Because if the United States goes broke there won't be any one left to bail us out. The consequence of such inaction is too terrible to contemplate.

Today's quote

Once a significant proportion of your population survive off of the money and property of those who actually produce, then collapse is probably inevitable.

The liberal mindset

Liberals are a knowing lot. They are completely self assured when dictating what kind of car you should drive, how much fat, salt and sugar you consume, preaching on the evils of tobacco (while quietly ignoring the use of pot) and pontificating on and attempting to regulate just about every facet of your life.

For you see, the great unwashed prolateriat needs an enlightened elite to guide them for which role liberals feel a unique qualification. Where does this smug self conceit emanate from? By and large I would say from an innate sense of inadequacy or conversely by an inflated sense of self worth. Contradictory you say? No, just different paths to the same end.

Liberals are not risk takers, instead they feed off of those who take risks and become successful demonizing them for their (in the liberal mindset) rapacity and servitude to capitalism. So the successful entrepreneur is equated with the Corsair with their wealth being ill-gotten and thus subject to the avaricious maw of the government. This is because liberals believe in doling out pieces of the economic pie in as equal slices as possible (by their calculation of course), for to them the pie is always a finite quantity, they never consider that the pie can expand.

Liberalism is the consequence of our school systems failure to teach basic math. Only in the Lefts fantasy land is governments confiscation of capital, and its redistrabution, understood as a good thing. Like the president said, "at some point you've made enough money". Although I've never heard him quantify how much is "enough". He certainly doesn't have a problem taking money from Wall Street "fat cats" to fund his elections.

In the end it will come down to the old maxim that "what can’t last, won't". Either through a peaceful transition of power from a tax and spend ideology to a more conservative pay as you go model (one that has yet to be adequately tried), or by a calamitous economic meltdown, the scales will be balanced whether we like it or not.

What can't last, won't.

Finally some kind of plan

We can't keep spending trillions that we don't have. The balls in your court Mr. President.

My apology to the younger generations

It has become increasingly obvious to me that my generation of spoiled baby boomers are not only making the current economic situation worse, but are responsible for it's genesis and expansion. Every day this country borrows billions of dollars to feed the insatiable maw of a federal government that is out of control. How the offspring of "The Greatest Generation" became the most self indulgent, narcissistic, whiney and selfish generation is beyond me, but I don't blame my parents.

I'm sorry that my generation has encumbered todays youth with the bill for our profligacy.

I'm sorry that we do not have the collective guts to face the problems of overgenerous and run away entitlements and government spending.

I'm sorry that we have saddled each and every person in this country with over $40,000 in debt that they are responsible for through our greed and lack of fiscal courage.

I apologize for not standing up more stridently against the largesse granted to our public employee unions which will surely bankrupt many cities, counties and states before all is said and done, and I condemn those union employees for conspiring to take from the taxpayers what we don't have for ourselves.

I'm sorry for electing politicians who are incapable of understanding basic math, or worse, who do understand it and made politically expedient decisions no matter what the cost.

I'm sorry for my generations experimentation with soft socialism when we had ample evidence from our European neighbors that it was economically unsustainable and eventually boded catastrophe for our economy.

I'm sorry that many in my generation forgot the importance of hard work, sacrifice, thrift and the entrepreneurial spirit that made this country the greatest place to live in the world. Instead we have substituted a sense of entitlement, greed, dependence on the government and the robbery from future generations to support our indigence and perceived self importance.

I'm sorry that the "enlightened" children of the 60's have burdened you with political correctness, failing primary schools, intolerant and insular universities, public institutions who think the public exists to serve them through confiscation of their hard earned money through onerous taxation, governmental agencies who act outside their mandates based on ideology instead of their specified charters and a judiciary where many of it's members believe the constitution is a "living" and "malleable" document that they are allowed to interpret in any way to fit their ideological tendencies irregardless of the founders enumerated intentions.

I'm not asking for forgiveness because I don't believe it is deserved. Instead I'm asking that the generations behind us have the courage to finally say "no" and to show the intestinal fortitude and common sense that my generation have lacked. Someone has to be the adult.

We are so screwed

From the WSJ:

The U.S. government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development.

These are a few of the findings in a massive study of overlapping and duplicative programs that cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The agency found 82 federal programs to improve teacher quality; 80 to help disadvantaged people with transportation; 47 for job training and employment; and 56 to help people understand finances, according to a draft of the report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of feeding the beast.

Why there are no more dinosaurs

H/T: The Keegmeister

Substance over fluff