79th Annual Academy Awards

As I type, it's still going on, but the best part has already happened; Jennifer Hudson won the award for Best Supporting Actress.

As for the rest, who really cares? Alan Arkin? Happy Feet?

Best joke: Algore feigning self-importance.

UPDATE - Most exquisite moment of Hollywood pretentiousness: camera cut to Stephen Spielberg and Kate Capshaw (among others) pretending to understand what Ennio Morricone was saying in ITALIAN!!! Oh, it was beautiful!

Sam Johnson tells it like it is

How on earth could any Defeat-ocrat compare to this man?

But they have no shame, so they'll try.

Money quote:

The pain inflicted by your country’s indifference is tenfold that inflicted by your ruthless captors.

This great American speaks, unfortunately, from experience.

The left hand and the other left hand say "yes" to tax cuts through gritted teeth

A $1.8 billion tax cut package passed in the Defeat-ocrat-controlled House of Representatives yesterday by a vote of 360-45.

Yes, you read that sentence correctly. The House of Representatives, which is controlled by Cut-and-Run-ocrats, and led by Bug Eyes Pelosi, overwhelmingly passed a measure to provide one billion, eight hundred million dollars in tax cuts over the next ten years.

But Mr. Light Bulb, how can this be?

Well, it all has to do with the wisdom of our Founding Fathers and their creation of the most incredible, human-inspired document the world has ever seen, the Constitution of the United States. They foresaw a time when our country, having grown in size and population, would need some sort of sanity check for ill-considered ideas that the population-and-short-term-of-service-based lower house of our national legislature would propose. That sanity check would be to force them to agree with the state-and-long-term-of-service-based upper house before a bill is enrolled and sent to the chief executive for his signature and passage into law.

Huh?

The House of Representatives and the Senate have to agree on the bill before they can send it to the President.

Oh. And...

And the Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, are doing their job well.

The House vote displayed the influence the Senate's Republican minority can have on congressional legislation. House Democrats had demanded a minimum wage bill without any tax provisions. Senate Democrats insisted that without some tax relief, the minimum wage would lose necessary Republican backing.

You Defeat-ocrats want an unemployment-increasing minimum wage hike? Fine. You're not going to get it without some compromise. Of course, the House and Senate still have a ways to go before the President sees this.

Passage of a wage hike for the lowest-paid workers now depends on how quickly the House and Senate work out differences between their tax packages. The Senate tax breaks - worth $8.3 billion - are more than four times bigger than the ones passed in the House.

God bless you, James Madison.

House votes for defeat in Iraq

In a display of forceful cowardice, the House of Representatives voted to reject...

...President Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq on Friday, opening an epic confrontation between Congress and commander in chief over an unpopular war that has taken the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. troops.

The vote on the nonbinding measure was 246-182.

Click here to see how your Representative voted. Thankfully, I live in the seventh congressional district of Texas, the district previously represented by Bill Archer and George H. W. Bush and now represented by John Culberson. Here's what John had to say about today's vote:

The vote today is very simple. Will America give up and walk away from the fight to preserve American civilization?

The people of Houston’s District Seven are immensely proud of the men and women of our armed forces, and we want our soldiers and our commander-in-chief to know that we will always support them, and to know that we will do our best to protect them, especially in a time of war.

We thank our armed forces for keeping us safe and free from another terrorist attack for the 1,985 days since 9/11.

On behalf of the people of Houston’s District Seven, I will vote no on this resolution and tell our enemies and our friends that Americans will never quit, and Americans will never surrender in the fight to preserve, protect, and defend American freedom.

That's my congressman.

Rudy is running!

He's in. The one candidate whom the terrorists fear is Rudy Giuliani.

"I think I can make a difference. I believe that the country needs leadership," Giuliani said on CNN when asked what led him to purse the top political job in the United States.

Finally we have a real candidate in the race.

Now, I know some of you will not like Rudy. Some of you are concerned that he's not conservative enough. And I agree with you. He's not.

But he's all we've got. McCain, absolutely no way. Romney, not enough tough experience. Brownback, Tancredo, etc, good men but just representatives, not chiefs. (To be sure, none of the democrats can even be considered with these guys.) But Rudy has real world experience—no one can deny that. And the enemy will know we mean business with him as our President.

Happy Valentines Day

For Mrs. Light Bulb, My Beautiful One, on St. Valentine's Day.

Walk with me.
Hold my hand.
Know that you are the only one for me.

Share my dreams.
Know my fears.
Be the nearest person in my life.

Your exotic eyes transfix me.
Your touch quickens my heart beat.
For you, my God-given treasure, are mine.

A sampling of Hillary logic (yes, an oxymoron)

Here's the junior Senator from New York on school vounchers.

Wow. Anybody able to locate the "Church of the White Supremacists" in the phone book? What about the "Church of the Jihad"?

Anyway, it's yet another lesson in who these people are. They abhor us making our own choices. We can use our own tax dollars to educate our children, just as long as THEY approve of it.

But, Mr. Light Bulb, what if the people make the wrong choice?

It's called freedom. Deal with it.

Global Warming/Cooling/Whatever - No one can know with certainty

Go read this article at the American Thinker. I won't even quote it. You need to go read it. It's very well written and reasoned.

O.K.

Having read that, you now are responsible. When anyone says to you that "Global Warming" or "Global Cooling" or "Global ANYTHING" is causing anything, you are responsible for telling them that they are completely and utterly wrong. There's absolutely no way they can know for certain that anything causes anything on a global scale. And it has nothing at all to do with environmental science, but everything to do with probability theory.

I thought he said he wasn't going to run

At least that's what he said here...

Yep, he was pretty clear.

Barak Obama is running for President!!!

Can you believe it? I'm so excited! Barak Obama has officially declared himself a candidate for the Presidency!

"We can build a more hopeful America," Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery. "And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States."

I am so thrilled that he's running. After all, he has had the audacity to hope for something. And no one's ever done that before. And he's led such an interesting life so far. I don't really know what it is that's interesting about him, but all the talking heads on TV say his life is interesting, so it must be. And he has such experience. I mean, he's been a United States Senator for two whole years! Oh, and Joe Biden says he's clean!

Wait a minute . . .

What am I missing?

Reagan still driving the Soviets out of Poland

I told you back in September about how a statue of Reagan will be erected in Warsaw. Seems like The Gipper is on a course to be standing everywhere in Poland.

Opponents of Poland's former communist regime reportedly want to pay a posthumous homage to US President Ronald Reagan by erecting his statue in the place of a Soviet-era monument.

In an open letter to the mayor of the southwestern city of Katowice, the former anti-regime activists said that the staunchly anti-communist Reagan had been a "symbol of liberty," the Polish news agency PAP reported.

Rick Perry fancies himself a King decreeing benevolence, but is in fact a purveyor of nanny state policies, a usurper of democracy, and a moron

Have you seen this man?


He is Rick Perry, Governor of the great state of Texas, and he has a terrific head of hair.

NOTE: Were my mother still alive, she would need to stop reading at this point, for (like many of your mothers) she told me that if I could not say something nice about someone I should not say anything at all. And my niceness has now ended.

Last week, after our state's legislature had adjourned for the weekend, our Governor issued an Executive Order...

...directing the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to adopt rules requiring all girls age 11 and 12 to receive the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine prior to entering sixth grade, effective September 2008.

Perhaps he thought it would not be noticed on Super Bowl weekend. Perhaps he thought everyone would instantly agree with him and his benevolence. He thought wrong.

You see, many people in the great state of Texas, both Republican AND Democrat, are independently minded, which is to say that we want as little interference by our government as possible. It's one of the reasons that our state legislature meets only once every two years. The less time they are in session, the less damage they can do and the fewer rights they can take away from us. This attitude stems from, among other things, our state's history, first as an independent republic and then as the 28th state. Had the founding fathers of Texas been spineless lemmings, Texas would not be.

And when our Governor acts in a way reminiscent of the monarchs of whom our nation fought to be free, well . . . you might say that it gets folks attention. In a bad way.

a purveyor of nanny state policies
Texans do not want their governor telling them how they have to live their lives. And we certainly don't want him telling us that our daughters need a vaccine against a sexually transmitted disease when they are 11 years old. This reeks of HillaryCare. And it reeks of a liberal nanny state, where you are no longer responsible for your actions, but instead need the government to care for you and make important decisions for you.

a usurper of democracy
Rick Perry ordered Texans to get this vaccine after the legislature had retired for the weekend. Without the possibility of discussion among our elected representatives, our Governor arbitrarily decided to make law. What event necessitated your action here? Did HPV cases suddenly become an epidemic that hasn't been reported anywhere? For the record, Rick, you don't do this in Texas. Already, members of the legislature are moving to nullify your actions. And my own state senator had this to say:

“The Governor owes it to the Legislature and to the public as to why these emergency actions are justified. Governor, is HPV the new black plague? If not, then we should respect the elected representative process. Let us debate these issues in public as it was intended.”

a moron
Sorry to be crass here, but I just gotta say it. Purposefully trying to circumvent the legislature. Issuing an order in a state known for the independent mindedness of its citizens. And digging in your heels on the issue even when everyone else tells you you're wrong.

By the way, here are a few things I found out about Gardasil, the vaccine in question:

1. The vaccine only decreases your chances of getting cervical cancer, it doesn’t eliminate the risk.
2. Even without the vaccine, the number of cervical cancer cases is trending downward and has been for years.
3. Gardasil is one of the most expensive vaccines ever.
4. Merck will not be liable if Gardasil turns out to be harmful some time in the future.
5. There have been no long-term studies done on the effect of the vaccine after 5-10 or more years, and testing on young girls has been extremely limited.
6. It is unknown how long the immunity provided by Gardasil actually lasts.
7. The studies done on Gardasil were not set up to investigate whether the vaccine itself has the potential to cause cancer.
8. Gardasil is one of many vaccines containing aluminum, and there is increasing evidence suggesting that aluminum-based vaccines can have harmful effects.
9. Gardasil is only for women.

Finally, here's the opening two paragraphs of a press release from the National Vaccine Information Center concerning Gardasil.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the nation's leading vaccine safety and informed consent advocacy organization, is urging state legislatures to investigate the safety and cost of mandating Merck's HPV vaccine (GARDASIL) for all pre-adolescent girls before introducing legislation amending state vaccine laws. In an analysis of reports made to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since the CDC's July 2006 universal use recommendation for all young girls, NVIC found reports of loss of consciousness, seizures, joint pain and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. In a separate evaluation of costs for young girls being vaccinated in private pediatrician offices, NVIC discovered that parents living in the Washington, D.C. area will be paying between $500 and $900 to have their daughters receive three doses of GARDASIL.

"GARDASIL safety appears to have been studied in fewer than 2,000 girls aged 9 to 15 years and it is unclear how long they were followed up. [1] VAERS is now receiving reports of loss of consciousness, seizures, arthritis and other neurological problems in young girls who have received the shot," said NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher. "At the same time, parents who take their daughters to private pediatricians are going to be shocked to find that they will be paying two to three times the widely publicized $360 cost for the three-dose series. The cost is going to break the pocketbooks of parents and break the banks of both insurance companies and taxpayers, when the reality is that almost all cases of HPV-associated cervical cancer can be prevented with annual pap screening of girls who are sexually active." [emphasis mime]

Next time you see this man, don't think "King." Think "moron."

Happy Birthday President Reagan

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."

There's one secret the drive-by media keeps really well

And that's our nation's economy. By any measure, we are living in a very prosperous time and experiencing a healthy national economy. Much of this is due to the enactment by Congress of President Bush's tax cuts. Check out the graph below:


It comes from the President's State of the Economy Overview. Did you know that 7.2 million jobs have been created since 2003? You certainly wouldn't know it if you listed to the drive-by media. I urge you to download and read the entire report.

From President Bush's most recent State of the Union address:

A future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy – and that is what we have. … This economy is on the move, and our job is to keep it that way, not with more government, but with more enterprise...

Via John Hinderaker at the Power Line

The left hand still isn't talking to the other left hand

I told you last week about how the Senate wasn't going to pass a straight minimum wage increase like the House did. Sure enough, they passed a minimum wage increase tied to tax cuts for small businesses. And folks in the House are none too pleased.

At issue are tax breaks, worth $8.3 billion over 10 years, that the Senate included in its bill to help small businesses offset the cost of paying higher wages. The Senate bill passed Thursday by an overwhelming 94-3 vote. A House bill that breezed through last month contained no tax cuts.

How the conflict is resolved remains unclear, though party leaders in the House and Senate said they were certain the minimum wage would ultimately become law.

Senate Democrats say they need the tax cuts to win Republican support to overcome procedural blocks against the legislation. It takes 60 votes in the 100-member Senate to cut off debate on legislation. There are 49 Republicans in the Senate.

House Democrats on Friday continued to hold out for a "clean" bill without tax breaks and urged Senate Democrats to challenge Republicans to vote against a wage-only bill.

"We believe that this bill ought to move on its own merits and be sent to the president," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said. "We're hopeful that that will happen."

Hoyer said he was not "drawing a line in the sand" but said the minimum wage and the tax breaks "don't necessarily need to be attached."

Hey, Representative Hoyer, don't attach them. Go ahead and draw that line the in sand. In fact, just move ahead without any tax breaks at all. Please. That way, we'll avoid this minimum wage increase stupidity, and the unemployment rate will remain low.

Hillary is discovering that she's not "the Annointed One"

Yesterday, the junior senator from New York heard an ear full of applause . . . for Barak Obama.

“But whether you were for or against it, we all have an obligation to come up with the best plan to bring our troops home.” He was greeted with whoops of “Love Ya!”.

Mrs Clinton, by contrast, struggled to win over her audience. Reminding it that she recently proposed capping troop levels, some in the crowd shouted out: “What about bringing them home?” Mrs Clinton persevered. “If I’d been president in October 2002 I would not have started this war,” she said. “And if we haven’t ended this war in Congress by January 2009, as President I will!” A carefully choreographed standing ovation by a block Clinton supporters followed, but at least two thirds of those in the Washington Hilton remained seated. [emphasis mine]

Senator Obama, you had better make sure your bodyguards are paid well.

UPDATE - Engram at Back Talk has a wonderful take on the substance of this story.