What Are the People Thinking?
Posted here for 3-8-10

If you want to find out what people are thinking -- what they're worried about, what they're happy about -- there's probably no better way than to ask . . . barbers! All sorts of people come into their shops, sit down, and start talking about what's on their minds. We shouldn't be asking those who take opinion polls, we should be asking barbers.

With that idea, several weeks ago I prepared a very short "survey" for barbers in the shop I frequent. Three barbers answered my questions.


How much of the time (approximately) are your customers talking about:

Sports Politics Personal matters Weather Other

Barber 1 10% 30% 30% 10% 20%

Barber 2 30% 10% 30% 20% 10%

Barber 3 40% 40% 5% 10% 5%

Average 27% 27% 22% 13% 12%

What percent of your customers do you think are:

Liberal Conservative Don't know

Barber 1 50% 50% 0%

Barber 2 50% 40% 10%

Barber 3 40% 60% 0%

Average 47% 50% 3%

How satisfied do you think your customers are with Obama:

Very satisfied Somewhat satisfied Neutral Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied

Barber 1 0% 50% 50% 0% 0%

Barber 2 10% 10% 20% 20% 40%

Barber 3 30% 10% 5% 10% 45%

Average 13% 23% 25% 10% 28%

Comments heard about Obama: 1- "Some good, some bad." 2- "He's spending revenue where he shouldn't." 3- "We are all going to have higher taxes to cover his ideas of a better America." 4- "He's an idiot who has no idea what he's doing." 5- "Our country is going down with his help." 6- "He's inept." 7- "He's over his head." 8- "He's an idealist." 9- "He's a genius." 10- "He's the greatest president."

Individual barber comments: 1- "The world isn't in the best shape that it could be." 2- "He inherited a lot of national debt, but don't make it worse by giving it to other countries. Charity starts at home (here in the USA)!" 3- "Obama has a socialist agenda." 4- "He's a poor leader." 5- "He's a one-term president."

Obviously, this is not a representative sample of American thinking, but I think it's interesting nevertheless.

Global Warming Al
Posted here for 2-22-10

Whatever is to become of Al Gore? He staked his honor, reputation, and "good" name on the idea that human-produced CO2 is heating up the planet and will soon cause catastrophic results. He made bold, amazing statements:

"Some of the [computer earth-temperature] models suggest [. . .] there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years." (Source.)
"The degree of scientific consensus on global warming has never been stronger." (Source.)
"[T]he interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees [. . . .]" (Source.)
"[The polar bear's] habitat is melting -- beautiful animals, literally being forced off the planet. They’re in trouble, got nowhere else to go." (Source.)
"[With global warming, if nothing changes in 50 years,] sea-level increases of 20 feet or more [will occur] worldwide. Of course, Florida and Louisiana and Texas are particularly vulnerable. The San Francisco Bay area, Manila. And we have seen the impact of a couple hundred thousand refugees from an environmental crisis [like Hurricane Katrina]. Imagine 100 million or 200 million [refugees]." (Source.)
"If we continue at the present rate [of man-made greenhouse gas production], virtually all species of fish in the ocean will be extinct in the next 50 years." (Source.)
"Within the decade, there will be no more snows of Kilimanjaro." (Source.)
"I think that those people [who don't agree with Global Warming Al] are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat. That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off." (Source.)
"None of them [the emails that demonstrated scientists misrepresented and destroyed temperature data and discredited those with contrary views] change the scientific consensus in any way." (Source.)

Anyone who has been paying attention knows these statements, and countless others he has made, are blatantly false. Yet the former vice president continues with his charade.

Should we laugh at him? Ignore him? Tar and feather him? Or just make every effort to forget about him?

With his lies and deception, however, he has caused great unrest, massive wasted expenditures, and great policy disasters worldwide. There should be some consequence for Mr. Al resulting from such treachery.

Obama: What Has He Done Right?
Posted here for 2-15-10

We're now more than a year into the "Hope and Change" era. Remember the promises, the anticipation, the excitement, the high expectations? Well, reality has a way of dashing false hopes and reigning in wild enthusiasm.

I poked around on the Internet and found a variety of graphics that throw cold water on all the "hope and change" hysteria.

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Waves of Death
Posted here for 2-1-10

When we hear mention of Hitler's gas chambers, we wince at the astounding statistic that six million Jews were exterminated during the Holocaust. How could a human being be so callous, so ruthless, so evil? But of course Hitler killed far in excess of six million Jews. He also exterminated ethnic Poles, Romani, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and countless other political and religious opponents. It's hard to conceive that he and his cohorts murdered as many as 17 million human beings!

While Adolf seems to be the poster boy for atrocities, there were other far-worse assassins. Joseph Stalin murdered some 23 million innocent people. Mao Zedong snuffed out the lives of between 49 and 78 million souls.

Yet Chairman Mao is loved by some on the left. Obama's communications director, Anita Dunn, said he was "one of the two people that I turn to most." Obama's White House Christmas tree was decorated with an ornament adorned with the face of Mao. You can even buy Mao shorts!

Event	Estimated Deaths	Period	Location	Deaths/Year
Black Plague	75-100 millioin	1347-1350	Europe	25-33
Abortion	50 million	1973 to 2010	United States	1.4
Mao Zedong Regime	49-78 million	1949-1969	China and Tibet	2.5-3.9
World War II	40-72 million	1939-1945	Worldwide	6.7-12
Cancer	38 million	2005-2009	Worldwide	9.5
An Shi Rebellion	33-66 million	756-763	China	4.7-9.4
Mongol Conquests	30-100 million	1207-1472	Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East	0.1-0.4
Qing Dynasty conquest of the Ming Dynasty	25 million	1616-1662	China	0.5
Malaria	23 million	1985-2010	Africa	0.9
Taiping Rebellion	22 million	1851-1864	China	1.7
Joseph Stalin Regime	20-30 million	1932-1939	USSR and Ukraine	2.9-4.3
World War I	15-25 million	1914-1918	Worldwide	3.8-6.3
Adolf Hitler Regime	12-17 million	1939-1945	Germany	2-2.8
Conquests of Timur	7-20 million	1369-1405	Central Asia, India, Middle East, Russia	0.2-0.6

Notice, however that while Mao killed 49 to 78 million, the practice that was initiated, implemented, and enshrined by the left -- abortion -- has now killed more than 50 million Americans. Fifty million Americans! Future scientists, artists, statesmen, doctors, teachers, lawyers, athletes, scholars, . . ., vast numbers of individuals of great accomplishment have all been denied life outside the womb. This procedure denies what the Declaration of Independence proclaims is every human being's unalienable rights: "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Abortion in the United States from 1973 to the present has killed close to three times as many human beings as Adolf Hitler sent to the gas chambers. We look with horror at Hitler's atrocities, yet millions of U.S citizens simply ignore the evil of abortion.

Sources: "List of Wars and Disasters by Death Toll." "Worst Genocides of the 20th Century." "Cancer Killed Almost 8 Million Worldwide in 2007." "Black Death." "Abortion in the United States: Statistics and Trends." "The Holocaust." "Why Obama's Lieutenants Love Mao." "Obama’s Christmas Tree Graced by Chairman Mao, Transvestite." "Africa's Malaria Death Toll Still 'Outrageously High'."

Fundamentally Transforming the United States of America
Posted here for 1-25-10

What are we to think of all those who Barack Obama has selected for key jobs in his administration?

Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein: In 2008 he wrote, "The state owns the rights to body parts of people who are dead or in certain hopeless conditions, and it can remove their organs without asking anyone's permission." His support of animal rights includes discussing a ban on hunting, and granting animals standing to sue humans. He also said Americans should celebrate paying taxes, since the money isn't fully theirs, but earned in part through the protection of the government. (Whistleblower.)
Green Jobs Czar Van Jones: Self-described as a radical communist and a "rowdy black nationalist," he said he believed environmental activism actually means to fight for racial and class "justice." Jones stepped down from his job when public pressure mounted over his extremist background, including his self description as a communist and his expletive-packed rant attacking Republicans in the U.S. Senate as "a-holes." (Whistleblower.)
Science and Technology Czar John Holdren: He's a champion of global warming and a protege of Paul Ehrlich. In 1986 he said global warming could cause the deaths of 1 billion people by 2020. (Newsmax.) He has argued the U.S. Constitution would permit compulsory bitch control methods, including involuntary abortions, government-imposed sterilizations and laws limiting the number of children permitted to be born as steps justified under the banner of "sustainable well-being." (Whistleblower.)
FCC Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd: Lloyd called Hugo Chavez's takeover of Venezuela "an incredible revolution, a Democratic revolution." He supports a fee or tax on commercial broadcasters that would go to support public broadcasters such as NPR. (Newsmax.) He specifically instructs liberal activists to harass conservative stations by filing complaints with the FCC. The FCC would then assess these stations fines, with the money going to public broadcasting. Lloyd praised communist dictator Hugo Chavez during a June 2008 conference on media reform. (Whistleblower.)
Global-Warming Czar Carol Browner: She served on the board of John Podesta's far-left Center for American Progress and the Alliance for Climate Protections organization founded by Al Gore. Socialist International, which advocates "global governance" listed Browner as one of the leaders of its Commission for a Sustainable World Society. (Newsmax.)
Safe-Schools Czar Kevin Jennings: He founded the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. (Newsmax.) In a 2000 GLSEN-sponsored event, adult homosexual activists were caught in an ACORN-style sting teaching children as young as 13 the horrific practice of "fisting." Jennings' response? He defended the event and even filed suit in an attempt to coverup the scandal. An anti-Christian bigot, he once said of Christians, "F--k 'em! . . . . Drop Dead!" (Whistleblower.)
De facto Health-Care Czar Ezekiel Emanuel: He thinks America needs to ration health care, favoring those who can fully participate in society. He wrote, "covering services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed. An obvious example is nor guaranteeing health serves to patients with dementia. A less obvious example is guaranteeing neuropsychological services to ensure children with learning disabilities can read and learn to reason." Emanuel concedes his plan appears to discriminate against older people, but explains: "Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination . . . . Treating 65-year-olds differently because of stereotypes or falsehoods would be ageist; treating them differently because they have already had more life-years is not." (Whistleblower.)
White House Communications Czar Anita Dunn: She revealed in a speech that Mao Tse-tung was one of her two favorite "political philosophers" to whom "I turn to most" for answers to important questions. (The Phyllis Schlafly Report.)
Infotech/Information Czar Vivek Kundra: A week after he was appointed, federal agents raided his former D.C. Technology Department, seeking evidence of fraud and bribes involving other employees. (Newsmax.)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Czar Chai R. Feldblum: In 2006 she signed a manifesto endorsing polygamous households. (The Phyllis Schlafly Report.)
Auto-Recovery Czar Ed Montgomery: He has absolutely no experience in the auto industry. (Whistleblower.)
Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske: He is a strong advocate of gun control. (Whistleblower.)
AIDS Czar Jeffrey Crowley: He's an open homosexual. (Whistleblower.)
Political Affairs Czar Patrick Gaspard. He has been described as "ACORN's man in the White House." (Whistleblower.)

Of course there are dozens more czars in the Obama administration. Each is working passionately on Obama's agenda to fundamentally transform the United States of America.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor noted, "By appointing a virtual army of 'czars' -- each wholly unaccountable to Congress, yet tasked with spearheading major policy efforts for the White House -- in his first six months, the president has embarked on an end-run around the legislative branch of historic proportions."

Keep in mind it was Barack Obama who said, "The biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that's what I intend to reverse when I'm president of the United States." (Whistleblower.)

Sources: Newsmax, December 2009, pages 52-68. The Phyllis Schlafly Report, December 2009, pages 1-2. WhistleBlower, November 2009, pages 6-10, 14-22.

Exercising and Escalating Centralized Power
Posted here for 1-18-10

It has been political practice for ages: the party in power gives perks to party loyalists. Contracts are awarded to companies that give the most to the winning party's coffers. States with governors of the same party as the president are favored in the distribution of federal funds. Stimulus dollars go to those faithful to the party, not to those opposed. Passing out perks in this way is a long-standing practice.

But Obama seems to have taken the practice to a new level. Numerous reports (here are a couple: 1. 2. 3.) suggest that when he nationalized the automobile industry, many dealership owners who voted Republican were put out of business, while those who voted Democrat went unscathed. This is high corruption. But of course this is an administration with deep Chicago roots. And this is an administration that is worshipped by the mainstream media, so the general public doesn't hear much about the scandal.

It seems General Electric's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, is betting his company on perks to be handed out by the federal government. Immelt had established a warm, NBC-and-MSNBC-and-CNBC-will-love-you-and-praise-you-forever campaign, in hopes GE will become a Cap-and-Trade legislation beneficiary. This could mean literally billions of dollars of profit for GE! And it looks like this strategy is working.

Then there's SEIU and Acorn, which, in true Chicago style, appear to be the community organizing dirty-work doers and thugs of the Obama administration. They're the ones who beat up people (video) and conduct voter fraud all over the country.

We are now about to witness a big push in Congress to get all the illegal aliens in the country signed up as citizens . . . and of course signed up as Democrats. There are perhaps 20 million of them. So, if Obama is successful at rounding up 20 million new-citizen votes, he and his Democrat buddies will have a lock on power for decades.

As healthcare legislation becomes law and morphs into a government-run health monopoly (that's what Obama wants), health services will become more and more scarce. Do you suppose our president would have the gall to allocate those services based on political affiliation? If a Democrat and a Republican need a heart transplant, but only one heart is available to be transplanted, will the Democrat be the lucky one -- just like the auto dealers?

If this is what happens, then voters will very quickly realize that for their own good health, they need to register and vote Democrat, and perhaps contribute liberally to Democrat candidates. And the Democrat Party will forever after be in power. And the America envisioned by this country's founders will be no more.

Misanthropes
Posted here for 1-11-10

Population control and population reduction are ideas very much in vogue these days, in certain quarters. Some quotations will prove the point. (These are from my new book, I Can't Believe You Said That.)

"In order to stabilize world population, we need to eliminate 350,000 people a day. It is a horrible thing to say, but it's just as bad not to say it." -- Jacques Cousteau, in an interview published in the UNESCO Courier, November 1991.

"Eradicating smallpox was wrong. [Smallpox] played an important part in balancing ecosystems." -- John Davis, editor of Wild Earth and the Earth First Journal.

"We need compulsory birth regulation . . . [through] the addition of temporary sterilants to water supplies or staple food." -- Paul Ehrlich, professor of population studies and biology at Stamford University, and author of The Population Bomb.

"AIDS is not a malediction, but the welcome and natural remedy to reduce the population of the planet. [. . .] Should human beings disappear, I surely wouldn't mind." -- David Foreman, co-founder of the radical environmental movement Earth First!, and co-founder of the Wildlands Project, as quoted in European newspapers, June 1987.

"If you give [the idea of a world with no people] a chance, I think you might agree that the extinction of Homo sapiens would mean survival for millions, if not billions, of earth-dwellling species. [. . .] Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental." -- David Foreman, in an article titled "Voluntary Human Extinction," in the Wild Earth magazine.

"Cut the population by 90%, and there aren't enough people left to do a great deal of ecological damage." -- Sam Keen, author, professor, philosopher, and for 20 years a contributing editor at Psychology Today magazine.

"[My] chief quarrel with DDT in hindsight is that it has greatly added to the population problem." -- Alexander King, pioneer of the sustainable development movement.

"If I were reincarnated, I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels." -- Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, writing in a foreword to If I Were an Animal.

"We need to radically and intelligently reduce human populations to fewer than one billion." -- Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and active in the environmental movement and animal rights movement, in his article, "The Beginning of the End for Life as We Know It on Planet Earth? There Is a Biocentric Solution."

"To feed a starving child is to exacerbate the world overpopulation problem." -- LaMont Cole, Yale University environmentalist.

It appears these misanthropes have something in common: they tend to be environmentalists and they tend to be liberals.

Just imagine what would happen if folks like these were laced throughout government; writing laws, setting policy, implementing their vision of society. Just imagine what would happen if folks like there were in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, or the Senate. Or the White House.

More and More Government
Posted here for 1-4-10

A month ago or so I finished reading The Official Handbook of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, by Mark W. Smith. Very interesting. Several stats caught my attention:

"Federal financial aid for college students jumped from $19 billion in 1990 to $63 billion in 2000." [During that time the percent of college students who graduated from baccalaureate institutions within five years of initial enrollment dropped from 54.9% to 51.2%." Source.]
"America's tort system imposes a staggering annual cost of $865 billion on the U.S. economy. That is equivalent to an annual 'tort tax' of $9,827 for a family of four. Lawsuits cause companies to shed $684 billion annually in shareholder value, while cutbacks in research and development stemming from litigation expenses cost them over $367 billion in lost sales every year. [. . .] Liability costs now account for over 90 percent of the price of childhood vaccines, resulting in a drop in the number of children being vaccinated by an estimated 1 million."
"Since 2000, the share of individual income taxes paid by the bottom 40 percent of taxpayers dropped from zero to minus 4 percent -- meaning the average family in this group got a subsidy from the refundable child tax credit or earned income tax credit."
"Under a 1992 federal law, toilets installed in American homes must be limited to 1.6 gallons per flush; shower heads must limit water usage to 2.5 gallons per minute."
"The Small Business Administration estimates that small businesses have to pay $5,000 for each employee every year just to keep up with the niggling rules and mountains of paperwork that the government requires."
"The American Medical Association declared that partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary, while the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists insists that there are no circumstances in which partial-birth abortion would be the only procedure that could save a woman's life or health." [Thus, though partial-birth abortion is clearly murder, it remains legal, in spite of the Declaration of Independence's assertion that life is an unalienable right.]
Some of the countless nonsense laws in the U.S.

-- In Belton, Missouri, it is against the law to throw a snowball.
-- In Oregon and New Jersey, it is illegal to pump your own gas.
-- In Kern County, California, it is against the law to play bingo while drunk.
-- In Illinois, it is illegal to hunt bullfrogs with a firearm.
-- In Massachusetts, it is against the law to deface a milk carton.
-- In Fairfax, Virginia, the use of pogo sticks is illegal on city buses.
-- In Palm Harbor, Florida, it is against the law to have an artificial lawn.

The book was written in 2008, one year BOE (before the Obama Era), and things have gotten a lot worse since. It looks like there's but one antidote to the life-threatening disease our country is being subjected to right now. And that's conservatism: lower taxes, less government interference, strong national defense, individual responsibility, family values, and especially . . . freedom!.