Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Leader of the Choom Gang
George Bush could do no right.
Barack can do no wrong.
So let the Prez relax so he
Can suckle on his bong.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Leader of the Choom Gang
Barack can do no wrong.
So let the Prez relax so he
Can suckle on his bong.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Leader of the Choom Gang
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Next Year in Jerusalem
[I]ndependent [cleric] Safwat el-Hegazi, added a radical flavour to Morsy's early campaign, taking to the stage at his events to call for a Muslim super-state across the Middle East with Jerusalem as its capital - a direct challenge to Israel with whom Mubarak maintained a 33-year-old peace treaty.Link
The idea gives new meaning to the phrase "next year in Jerusalem."
I thought Israel's sin was failure to recognize the right of self determination of the "Palestinian people." Apparently the "Palestinian people's" right of self determination is negotiable when other Arabs challenge it. Just as is the self-determination right of Falkland Islanders when the Argentinians challenge it. It's starting to look as though the whole "self-determination" meme is just a scam with which to browbeat whoever is perceived to be "the man."
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Cynthia and the Colonel: Finger Lickin' Inanity
Cynthia McKinney (Kook, Georgia) went on Libyan Radio to support Muammar Qaddafi and criticize the United States. Lord have mercy.
Cindy McKinney spoke on the air.
She said that Qaddafi is really quite fair.
With tin foil and duct tape
Festooned on her head,
Her brain is a place
Where no thought’s ever tread.
If you peer through her ears,
I think that you might
Confirm all our fears that
You’ll see ample light.
Get along Cindy, get along home.
Your drivel’s good only for enriching loam.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Cindy McKinney spoke on the air.
She said that Qaddafi is really quite fair.
With tin foil and duct tape
Festooned on her head,
Her brain is a place
Where no thought’s ever tread.
If you peer through her ears,
I think that you might
Confirm all our fears that
You’ll see ample light.
Get along Cindy, get along home.
Your drivel’s good only for enriching loam.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Congress, doggerel, foreign policy, jihad
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Declaration of War
By passing Obamacare despite overwhelming public opposition, Congressional Democrats declared war on the American people. As Dan Rostenkowski was chased through the streets of Chicago, may Congressional Democrats be chased through every street in every city in America from now until November when they are returned to live among us proletariat.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Obamacare
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Credit Default Swaps
Professor Bainbridge offers a good discussion of credit default swaps at the link.
If you are confused by the whole issue:
A "covered" swap would be:
A borrows $100 from B.
B pays C an agreed amount in exchange for C's promise to pay B $100 if A defaults.
In effect, the amount B pays to C is credit insurance. If this is illegal, then what FNMA and FHLMC do should be illegal. Even credit life insurance would be questionable in that it covers one possible reason for A's default..
A "naked" swap would be:
A borrows $100 from B.
C pays D an agreed amount in exchange for D's promise to pay C $100 if A defaults.
In effect, C has placed a side bet with D.
The "agreed amounts" clearly reflect the market's perception of A's creditworthiness, but either one of these makes A more likely to default . . . how exactly?
The credit default swap market doesn't make Greece more likely to default, but it makes it painfully clear the market thinks there's a big risk of default. Attacking credit default swaps is akin to shooting the messenger.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
If you are confused by the whole issue:
A "covered" swap would be:
A borrows $100 from B.
B pays C an agreed amount in exchange for C's promise to pay B $100 if A defaults.
In effect, the amount B pays to C is credit insurance. If this is illegal, then what FNMA and FHLMC do should be illegal. Even credit life insurance would be questionable in that it covers one possible reason for A's default..
A "naked" swap would be:
A borrows $100 from B.
C pays D an agreed amount in exchange for D's promise to pay C $100 if A defaults.
In effect, C has placed a side bet with D.
The "agreed amounts" clearly reflect the market's perception of A's creditworthiness, but either one of these makes A more likely to default . . . how exactly?
The credit default swap market doesn't make Greece more likely to default, but it makes it painfully clear the market thinks there's a big risk of default. Attacking credit default swaps is akin to shooting the messenger.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
If you are the author of this article, do you put it on our curriculum vitae?
Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger and the Law
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Honoring O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman, and RuPaul for Black History Month?
How could such people be named in the same context as Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, Thurgood Marshall, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, and so many others whose names do not immediately come to me? What are the values of anyone who could consider putting O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman, and RuPaul in such company?
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
How Did They Find Me With That Search Query?
Because my traffic is ridiculously low, I sometimes check to see how people find me. Here's a search query that led someone here:
"before the 60's, wildebeests were infected by a disease"
I can't imagine how that led to me. For the record, I know nothing about wildebeest diseases.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
"before the 60's, wildebeests were infected by a disease"
I can't imagine how that led to me. For the record, I know nothing about wildebeest diseases.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Miscellaneous
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Let's Hope This is the Lesson Democrats Take Away From Brown's Election
Paul Mirengoff at Powerline reports at least one Democrat's take on Scott Brown's upset of Coakley in Massachusetts is that it is George Bush's fault. If only we could be so lucky that the Democrats as a whole buy into and act on that explanation.
Democrats thought they were blessed by the sun,
But Republican Brown came up and won.
The Dem’s fell soundly right on their tush,
And quickly began to blame it on Bush,
But try as they might, they're not having fun.
The number to know is now forty-one.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Democrats thought they were blessed by the sun,
But Republican Brown came up and won.
The Dem’s fell soundly right on their tush,
And quickly began to blame it on Bush,
But try as they might, they're not having fun.
The number to know is now forty-one.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Congress, cultural divide
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Due Regard for the Role of the Press
Regarding the brouhaha over Martha Coakley aide Michael Meehan knocking a reporter to the ground for having the temerity to ask questions Coakley would rather not answer . . .
Michael Meehan acts the thug,
He says he's sorry, with a shrug.
Perhaps he then will give a hug,
To sweep his violence 'neath the rug
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Michael Meehan acts the thug,
He says he's sorry, with a shrug.
Perhaps he then will give a hug,
To sweep his violence 'neath the rug
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: dissent, doggerel, Miscellaneous
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
I don't usually recommend books, movies, or the like, but I'm making an exception. My wife and I have been watching episodes of the HBO series "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency." We have been getting them from Netflix.
The stories are based on a series of books by Alexander McCall Smith and are set in Gabarone, Botswana. The mystery aspects of the plot are thin, but that is more than compensated for by the interaction of the characters and the view of life inside Botswana. It is the view of Botswanan life that draws me the most. I have thoroughly enjoyed these stories and recommend them to others.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
The stories are based on a series of books by Alexander McCall Smith and are set in Gabarone, Botswana. The mystery aspects of the plot are thin, but that is more than compensated for by the interaction of the characters and the view of life inside Botswana. It is the view of Botswanan life that draws me the most. I have thoroughly enjoyed these stories and recommend them to others.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Miscellaneous
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: An Open Letter to Jane Hamsher
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: An Open Letter to Jane Hamsher
Professor William Jacobson is a righty blogger and a vocal opponent of Obamacare. Jane Hamsher is a lefty blogger who also opposes Obamacare, though not necessarily for the same reasons as Jacobson. Jacobson offers Hamsher a proposition:
Bill made Jane an offer
To help get what she wants.
If she accepts his proffer,
She’ll suffer Lefty taunts.
So which is more important,
She’s got to make the call,
Good left-wing deportment
Or winning in the brawl?
Obamacare is noxious.
We need it to be stopped.
It should not make her bilious
To work to get it chopped.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Professor William Jacobson is a righty blogger and a vocal opponent of Obamacare. Jane Hamsher is a lefty blogger who also opposes Obamacare, though not necessarily for the same reasons as Jacobson. Jacobson offers Hamsher a proposition:
I want the Senate bill killed for my reasons, and you for yours. Now is your chance to kill the bill by helping elect Scott Brown [a Massachusetts Republican Senatorial candidate who, if elected, would deny Reid his 60 votes].The problem for Hamsher is this would require her to elevate opposition to Obamacare over loyalty to the Democrats.
Bill made Jane an offer
To help get what she wants.
If she accepts his proffer,
She’ll suffer Lefty taunts.
So which is more important,
She’s got to make the call,
Good left-wing deportment
Or winning in the brawl?
Obamacare is noxious.
We need it to be stopped.
It should not make her bilious
To work to get it chopped.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Obamacare
Continuing Health Care Secrecy
C-Span has asked to televise the House and Senate Conference intended to reconcile the health care bills. But allowing that would interfere with Nancy Pelosi's plan to keep the public ignorant until it's too late.
Nancy Pelosi,
Ever the goat, she,
Plans to pass health care in secret.
Though C-Span complained,
Spotlighting her train,
A secret Pelosi will keep it.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Nancy Pelosi,
Ever the goat, she,
Plans to pass health care in secret.
Though C-Span complained,
Spotlighting her train,
A secret Pelosi will keep it.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Congress, Nancy Pelosi, Obamacare
Saturday, January 02, 2010
If (only) . . .
I suffer no illusion anything I write can hold a candle to Rudyard Kipling, but I do admire his skill.
If you can tell all comers what they each desire to hear
And get each one of them to cheer;
If you can defer their understanding they’ve been had,
Their seeing you clearly as a cad;
If you can lie without being seen to be a liar,
With no one knowing that your pants have caught on fire;
If you can promise things no sentient being could believe,
And contain the damage when the marks begin to seethe;
If you can crush the economy with regulations that you weal,
And pretend that reality is not real;
If you can shelter cronies and hammer down your critics,
While making bland pronouncements sans specifics;
If you can claim your predecessor was a cowboy,
Who dealt with foreign leaders as a plow boy,
But bow to leaders from Riyadh to Yokohama,
You, my son, can surely be Obama.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
If you can tell all comers what they each desire to hear
And get each one of them to cheer;
If you can defer their understanding they’ve been had,
Their seeing you clearly as a cad;
If you can lie without being seen to be a liar,
With no one knowing that your pants have caught on fire;
If you can promise things no sentient being could believe,
And contain the damage when the marks begin to seethe;
If you can crush the economy with regulations that you weal,
And pretend that reality is not real;
If you can shelter cronies and hammer down your critics,
While making bland pronouncements sans specifics;
If you can claim your predecessor was a cowboy,
Who dealt with foreign leaders as a plow boy,
But bow to leaders from Riyadh to Yokohama,
You, my son, can surely be Obama.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama
Friday, December 25, 2009
Something I Was Never Clear On , , ,
The difference, if any, between reindeer and caribou.
Characterizing the more detailed explanation at the link, reindeer and caribou are the same species. In America, we call the wild ones caribou and the domesticated ones reindeer. In Europe, they don't use the term "caribou" and refer only to wild and domesticated reindeer. The domesticated creatures have some differences from the wild ones, no doubt as most domesticated animals are different from their wild antecedents, and are regarded as a separate subspecies.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Characterizing the more detailed explanation at the link, reindeer and caribou are the same species. In America, we call the wild ones caribou and the domesticated ones reindeer. In Europe, they don't use the term "caribou" and refer only to wild and domesticated reindeer. The domesticated creatures have some differences from the wild ones, no doubt as most domesticated animals are different from their wild antecedents, and are regarded as a separate subspecies.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The Senate Has Passed Obamacare . . .
And Obama's Christmas present to the American people is the theft of their freedom. I'd prefer the Grinch, who stole only Christmas.
Most Americans
Out in America
Liked freedom a lot.
But Obama,
Who liked to rule over Americans,
Did not.
Obama hated freedom, the American ideal.
We all may wonder why, but he did it with great zeal.
Perhaps it was because he always tilted left,
And in using thuggish tactics, was unusually deft.
Another reason is the man wants to have more power,
That when he treads we common folk should bow and quake and cower.
But
Whatever his motives,
Thuggishness or power,
When thinking of our freedom, Obama would just glower.
Obama thought,
And thought and thought,
And came up with a plan.
He'd pretend to give us all a gift,
Which would give his power grab some lift.
Yes, he can!
He told the people healthcare was their right,
And he could give it to them all; he has the might.
He didn't tell them what it cost,
Or in the end what they'd have lost.
He promised them that, in his care, they'd all be fine
With the right to wait in line.
But
You bought the hope, so heave a sigh
And look Obama in the eye, and buck up now and don't you cry,
For he'll decide just when you die.
Your right to life has gone bye-bye.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Most Americans
Out in America
Liked freedom a lot.
But Obama,
Who liked to rule over Americans,
Did not.
Obama hated freedom, the American ideal.
We all may wonder why, but he did it with great zeal.
Perhaps it was because he always tilted left,
And in using thuggish tactics, was unusually deft.
Another reason is the man wants to have more power,
That when he treads we common folk should bow and quake and cower.
But
Whatever his motives,
Thuggishness or power,
When thinking of our freedom, Obama would just glower.
Obama thought,
And thought and thought,
And came up with a plan.
He'd pretend to give us all a gift,
Which would give his power grab some lift.
Yes, he can!
He told the people healthcare was their right,
And he could give it to them all; he has the might.
He didn't tell them what it cost,
Or in the end what they'd have lost.
He promised them that, in his care, they'd all be fine
With the right to wait in line.
But
You bought the hope, so heave a sigh
And look Obama in the eye, and buck up now and don't you cry,
For he'll decide just when you die.
Your right to life has gone bye-bye.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Congress, doggerel, Obamacare
Ant Street Inn, Brenham, Texas
My wife and I recently stayed in the Ant Street Inn in Brenham, Texas. I have no stake in or other connection to the place, but it's delightful and I recommend it strongly. Located in the old downtown area, which has been nicely preserved, the inn is a cross between a bed and breakfast and a small boutique hotel.
If you need to spend the night in Brenham and are looking for something other than a crash pad, the Ant Street Inn is the place. If you live within a radius such that you can get away for the weekend to stay there, you won't be disappointed. We certainly plan to go back.
If you need to clinch the deal, they even offer free ice cream. This being Brenham, of course it's Blue Bell.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
If you need to spend the night in Brenham and are looking for something other than a crash pad, the Ant Street Inn is the place. If you live within a radius such that you can get away for the weekend to stay there, you won't be disappointed. We certainly plan to go back.
If you need to clinch the deal, they even offer free ice cream. This being Brenham, of course it's Blue Bell.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Miscellaneous, Texas
Friday, December 18, 2009
Robert Mugabe Has to Key to Cutting Carbon Emissions
Robert Mugabe has addressed the Copenhagen climate conference. Instapundit notes:
Robert Mugabe,
The Left’s kemo sabe,
Cut back Zimbabwe’s emissions,
Impoverishing people,
Who starve by the street full.
Old Robert’s immune from contrition.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
If every leader did to his country what Mugabe has done, carbon emissions would drop dramatically . . . .I'd never looked at it that way, but in hindsight, it's obvious. If most of your population is reduced to grubbing through landfills to look for food, your carbon emissions go down. Al Gore wouldn't see a problem with the trade off.
Robert Mugabe,
The Left’s kemo sabe,
Cut back Zimbabwe’s emissions,
Impoverishing people,
Who starve by the street full.
Old Robert’s immune from contrition.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, global warming
Why the Frenetic Push for Obamacare?
Come running, running,
Reid is so cunning,
He wants to take over health care.
If we’ll just suckle the federal teat,
Republicans won’t have a prayer.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Reid is so cunning,
He wants to take over health care.
If we’ll just suckle the federal teat,
Republicans won’t have a prayer.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Harry Wants Santa to Bring Death Panels
According to My Way news:
You better watch out
Just keep a sharp eye.
Now don’t you doubt;
I would not lie.
Harry Reid is planning a vote.
He’s making a list
Of who’s a holdout.
He’s gonna use every ounce of his clout.
Harry Reid is planning a vote.
He’ll chase them down the hallways
And chase them down the street.
He knows just what to bribe them with,
And the man ain’t one bit meek.
Oh, you better watch out.
Just keep a sharp eye.
And don’t you doubt;
I would not lie.
Harry Reid is planning a vote.
Yes, Harry Reid is planning a vote.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Senate leaders working round the clock trying to finalize their 10-year, nearly $1 trillion bill in time for a final vote on Christmas Eve.Final vote on Christmas Eve. This is shaping up to be the worst Christmas in my memory.
You better watch out
Just keep a sharp eye.
Now don’t you doubt;
I would not lie.
Harry Reid is planning a vote.
He’s making a list
Of who’s a holdout.
He’s gonna use every ounce of his clout.
Harry Reid is planning a vote.
He’ll chase them down the hallways
And chase them down the street.
He knows just what to bribe them with,
And the man ain’t one bit meek.
Oh, you better watch out.
Just keep a sharp eye.
And don’t you doubt;
I would not lie.
Harry Reid is planning a vote.
Yes, Harry Reid is planning a vote.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Congress, doggerel, Obamacare
Secret Text of Pending Legislation
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell alleges that Majority Leader Harry Reid is keeping the text of the latest Obamacare version secret while he tries to round up votes. From this we must conclude that the actual text of the bill is not germane to the "yes" vote of those whose votes Reid is able to get. Sheesh!
Voting on bills that haven’t been read
Just recently caused a kerfuffle.
We all laughed in scorn at what they all said,
At the tap dancers doing a shuffle.
But the text of Obamacare’s being kept secret;
Not even the staff gets to read it,
While Senator Harry stalks like an egret;
He’s got to get votes or concede it.
This pulls back the curtain on raw calculation,
The terms of the bill do not matter.
The merits be damned is the clear implication,
Remaining illusions just shatter.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Voting on bills that haven’t been read
Just recently caused a kerfuffle.
We all laughed in scorn at what they all said,
At the tap dancers doing a shuffle.
But the text of Obamacare’s being kept secret;
Not even the staff gets to read it,
While Senator Harry stalks like an egret;
He’s got to get votes or concede it.
This pulls back the curtain on raw calculation,
The terms of the bill do not matter.
The merits be damned is the clear implication,
Remaining illusions just shatter.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Congress, doggerel, Obamacare
Monday, December 07, 2009
An Explanation for What I Have Perceived as a Cultural Divide
Steven Den Beste writes of the difference between materialism and teleology. As I understand the point, teleologists support pacifism and socialism because they are beautiful ideas and it would be so nice if they worked. Materialists, such as myself, believe in free markets and peace through strength, because experience says they produce superior results.
Read the whole thing for a better explanation. The dichotomy addresses what I have observed and puzzled over in our society and offers a more detailed and persuasive explanation than anything I have come up with.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Read the whole thing for a better explanation. The dichotomy addresses what I have observed and puzzled over in our society and offers a more detailed and persuasive explanation than anything I have come up with.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: cultural divide
Sunday, December 06, 2009
For the Love of Gaia, For the Love of Money---It's All so Confusing
Bill Whittle blogs about a poorly remember part of the same speech in which Eisenhower warned about the military-industrial complex. Ike was concerned about both the corrupting effect of federal money on scientific research and the risk that the federal funding mechanisms could become captive to research interests.
They say the earth is warming and the climate we are harming,
All manner of more evil deeds we just keep on performing.
If they want a research grant, they surely must repeat the chant,
To keep the money flowing, key is that they don’t recant.
Of cataclysm they're the prophet, and they know they cannot stop it,
Yes, there is no god but Gaia, and researchers nicely profit.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.Climaquiddick may be the most dramatic example of the latter ever to hit the public consciousness. And so, along the lines of an earlier post, I post this bit of doggerel:
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
They say the earth is warming and the climate we are harming,
All manner of more evil deeds we just keep on performing.
If they want a research grant, they surely must repeat the chant,
To keep the money flowing, key is that they don’t recant.
Of cataclysm they're the prophet, and they know they cannot stop it,
Yes, there is no god but Gaia, and researchers nicely profit.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, global warming
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Whipping the Whistleblower
Senator Barbara Boxer (D. Cuckoo Land) has let it be known that, in her view, the person revealing the Climaquiddick fraud should be prosecuted. It is possible that release of the data was a crime, and I don't regard criminal activity lightly. But ask yourself which is worse: perpetrating a fraud on the public or revealing the fraud. Boxer was apparently happy enough with the fraud that she wants to go after the person disclosing it.
The stories we heard were greatly alarming,
Stories of dangerous global warming.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
The stories we heard were greatly alarming,
Stories of dangerous global warming.
Now hackers reveal that some of it’s fraud,
An attempt by the left to sack and maraud.
Which, you might ask, appears the worst crime:
Lying about the state of the clime
Or letting the public discover the truth?
Should we go after the ingenious sleuth?
Boxer believes you can’t handle the truth,
Boxer believes you can’t handle the truth,
That showing the fraud was oh so uncouth.
She would prefer that we stayed deceived.
Now that we’re not, the senator’s peeved.To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, global warming
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Watermelons Want Your Iced Water
Roger Pielke reports on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change head Rajendra Pachauri proclaiming on reducing consumption on the West:
The greenies begrudge the ice in your water,
Because of their fear the world’s getting hotter.
They want you cut back; your consumption’s excessive,
And they cannot see that they’re highly obsessive.
Their focus on detail is what’s so alarming.
They’ll make you live on subsistence farming.
Prosperity hinders collectivist visions,
And their plan for you is abject submission.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Hotel guests should have their electricity monitored; hefty aviation taxes should be introduced to deter people from flying; and iced water in restaurants should be curtailed . . . .With busybodies such as he running our lives, what could go wrong?
The greenies begrudge the ice in your water,
Because of their fear the world’s getting hotter.
They want you cut back; your consumption’s excessive,
And they cannot see that they’re highly obsessive.
Their focus on detail is what’s so alarming.
They’ll make you live on subsistence farming.
Prosperity hinders collectivist visions,
And their plan for you is abject submission.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, global warming
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Joe Lieberman a Traitor?
MadKane has a post calling Joe Lieberman a traitor to the Democratic Party for his opposition to the so-called public-option part of Obamacare. Her characterization misses an important fact: Lieberman isn't a Democrat anymore. The voters of Connecticut denied him the Democratic nomination. In effect, the Democratic Party kicked him out. How can you be a traitor to an organization that you not only no longer belong to, but one that kicked you out?
According to Madeleine Kane,
Lieberman’s a traitor profane,
But the Dems kicked him out,
And now they just pout
That his seat the man still retained.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
According to Madeleine Kane,
Lieberman’s a traitor profane,
But the Dems kicked him out,
And now they just pout
That his seat the man still retained.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Congress, doggerel, Obamacare
Private Contracts Justifying Statutory Breaches?
My eye caught this sentence in an article on Climaquiddick:
I have often had opposing parties attempt to insert confidentiality clauses into contracts with public entities. Under Texas law, their choice is to acquiesce in legally mandated disclosure or walk away from the deal. Brits like to sneer at wild and wooly Americans, especially Texans. Could it be that their law is less comprehensive than ours?
The law requires that they make full disclosure.
Their bobbling and weaving are acts of a poseur.
They hide behind contracts to keep their stuff private,
But that’s a diversion, a way just to jive us.
When law provides that your data is public,
Contrary contracts don’t let you snub it.
Assassins with contracts still are just killers.
Crime is not lessened by crooks getting shriller.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
In a statement welcomed by climate change sceptics, the university said it would make all the data accessible as soon as possible, once its Climatic Research Unit (CRU) had negotiated its release from a range of non-publication agreements.I must disclaim any knowledge of British law, but I have some experience with Texas public information laws. This sounds ridiculous to me. Surely British law does not permit an entity otherwise subject to public disclosure requirements to evade the requirements by private contract. Otherwise public entities could, and no doubt would, evade public disclosure entirely.
I have often had opposing parties attempt to insert confidentiality clauses into contracts with public entities. Under Texas law, their choice is to acquiesce in legally mandated disclosure or walk away from the deal. Brits like to sneer at wild and wooly Americans, especially Texans. Could it be that their law is less comprehensive than ours?
The law requires that they make full disclosure.
Their bobbling and weaving are acts of a poseur.
They hide behind contracts to keep their stuff private,
But that’s a diversion, a way just to jive us.
When law provides that your data is public,
Contrary contracts don’t let you snub it.
Assassins with contracts still are just killers.
Crime is not lessened by crooks getting shriller.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, global warming
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Jihad and War on Terror
Until recently one of my labels for posts was "war on terror." Reading leftist criticism of the war brought back to mind my earlier view that the phrase "war on terror" was probably chosen by the Bush administration for political reasons and was calculated to obscure what is really happening. What we are really doing is resisting an anti-western jihad by some elements of the Muslim world. For that reason, I shifted the label to "jihad."
I do not mean to criticize the Bush administration for the circumlocution. The government must balance many concerns. Calling resistance to jihad what it actually is may alienate potential allies in the Muslim world. At least the possibility seems logical, so I am willing to give Bush a pass for obfuscating what may be in the interests of the U.S. to obfuscate at least some of the time.
But I'm not the government and have no need to mince words. I believe calling things what they really are contributes to clarity of thought. Hence the "jihad" label.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
I do not mean to criticize the Bush administration for the circumlocution. The government must balance many concerns. Calling resistance to jihad what it actually is may alienate potential allies in the Muslim world. At least the possibility seems logical, so I am willing to give Bush a pass for obfuscating what may be in the interests of the U.S. to obfuscate at least some of the time.
But I'm not the government and have no need to mince words. I believe calling things what they really are contributes to clarity of thought. Hence the "jihad" label.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: jihad
More on Climate Oil Salesmen
What has been dubbed "Climategate" continues to churn and has been the occasion to use the term "watermelon". Referring to people for whom environmentalism is a tool by which to put into effect leftist policy prescriptions, the term means green on the outside but red on the inside.
Their data are terribly flawed.
It all just might be a fraud.
They're just watermelons,
Perhaps even felons,
But their chutzpah we've got to applaud.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Their data are terribly flawed.
It all just might be a fraud.
They're just watermelons,
Perhaps even felons,
But their chutzpah we've got to applaud.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, global warming
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Climate Oil Salesmen
The hacked documents from East Anglia's Climate Research Unit increasingly make it appear that the anthropogenic warming advocates so intensely believed in their conclusions they felt justified in manufacturing data and suppressing contrary views. That is despicable, especially given how devastating some of their prescriptions could be.
The climate oil salesmen have fudged up their numbers,
But tell us we all should continue our slumbers.
Twas hardly discreet
To connive and to cheat.
They must think we're a bunch of cucumbers.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
The climate oil salesmen have fudged up their numbers,
But tell us we all should continue our slumbers.
Twas hardly discreet
To connive and to cheat.
They must think we're a bunch of cucumbers.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, global warming
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
$6.4 Billion Allocated to Fictitious Congressional Districts
Watchdog.org reports that stimulus money went to 440 fictitious congressional districts, districts that do not exist. You would think that someone trying to hide graft would do a better job that that, but apparently you would be wrong.
At least $6.4 billion taxpayer dollars seems likely to have been stolen. I say "at least," because why would one assume that money was spent as advertised just because some staffer found a real congressional district number to peg it to?
The stimulus bucks would give us a boost;
That was the pitch we were sold,
But the grifters and con men quickly were loosed,
And now we find we were rolled.
Our money was sent to fictional places,
Districts that do not exist.
The usual suspects were off to the races,
And government graft still persists.
Our money now lines some rent seekers’ pockets,
And Congressmens’ probably too.
It’s lost in the ether just like a rocket,
And no one’s around we can sue.
Now here’s just one reason among many others
Why government needs to stand down.
It’s not looking after us as would our mothers;
If you believe that you’re beclowned.
It spends like a sailor with one night ashore;
It’s wastefulness always expands.
There’s never enough; it always needs more.
We’re left in the worst of all hands.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
At least $6.4 billion taxpayer dollars seems likely to have been stolen. I say "at least," because why would one assume that money was spent as advertised just because some staffer found a real congressional district number to peg it to?
The stimulus bucks would give us a boost;
That was the pitch we were sold,
But the grifters and con men quickly were loosed,
And now we find we were rolled.
Our money was sent to fictional places,
Districts that do not exist.
The usual suspects were off to the races,
And government graft still persists.
Our money now lines some rent seekers’ pockets,
And Congressmens’ probably too.
It’s lost in the ether just like a rocket,
And no one’s around we can sue.
Now here’s just one reason among many others
Why government needs to stand down.
It’s not looking after us as would our mothers;
If you believe that you’re beclowned.
It spends like a sailor with one night ashore;
It’s wastefulness always expands.
There’s never enough; it always needs more.
We’re left in the worst of all hands.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Congress, doggerel, taxation, Tea Party
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Muslims in America
In the linked article, Mark Steyn rightly decries the unwillingness of many in the media and elsewhere to confront Islam's role in the murders perpetrated by U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan. That is a serious problem that, if we are to survive the Jihad being waged against us, we must overcome. Still while honestly confronting the threat radical Islam poses to our way of life, we must not regard all Muslims as enemies.
Western European countries have serious problems with their Muslim-immigrant populations. One reason is that. no matter what a Turk does, he can never be truly German, and no matter what an Algerian does, he can never be truly French.
Anyone can be an American. All you have to do is voluntarily integrate yourself into our culture and adopt our mores. I know that assimilation is anathema to the multi-culti crowd, but assimilation is how this country works. Assimilation isn't a question of whether you worship at a church or synagogue instead of a mosque. It's a question of accepting American ideals.
Nidal Malik Hasan was not assimilated and apparently did not want to be assimilated, even though he was born here. I am personally acquainted with Muslims who are well assimilated even though they were born elsewhere.
We must welcome all who want to be Americans, while still guarding against those who secretly harbor grievances against us or who, for religious reasons, feel compelled to bring us into dar al Islam. It will be difficult to be continuously vigilant of extremists while treating others fairly, but we must nevertheless do so.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Western European countries have serious problems with their Muslim-immigrant populations. One reason is that. no matter what a Turk does, he can never be truly German, and no matter what an Algerian does, he can never be truly French.
Anyone can be an American. All you have to do is voluntarily integrate yourself into our culture and adopt our mores. I know that assimilation is anathema to the multi-culti crowd, but assimilation is how this country works. Assimilation isn't a question of whether you worship at a church or synagogue instead of a mosque. It's a question of accepting American ideals.
Nidal Malik Hasan was not assimilated and apparently did not want to be assimilated, even though he was born here. I am personally acquainted with Muslims who are well assimilated even though they were born elsewhere.
We must welcome all who want to be Americans, while still guarding against those who secretly harbor grievances against us or who, for religious reasons, feel compelled to bring us into dar al Islam. It will be difficult to be continuously vigilant of extremists while treating others fairly, but we must nevertheless do so.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: jihad
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Senator Burris: "Nobody Told me There Would be a Quiz"
CNS News reports:
Caligula sent a horse to the Senate,
But let’s give the monster a pass.
Burris doesn’t know the Constitution,
So Illinois sent a horse’s ass.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
When asked by CNSNews.com what specific part of the Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals must purchase health insurance, Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) pointed to the part of the Constitution that he says authorizes the federal government "to provide for the health, welfare and the defense of the country." In fact, the word "health" appears nowhere in the Constitution.I wager Burris never before considered the constitutional foundation of Obamacare. It was enough for him that Democrats want the bill enacted.
Caligula sent a horse to the Senate,
But let’s give the monster a pass.
Burris doesn’t know the Constitution,
So Illinois sent a horse’s ass.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Congress, doggerel, Obamacare
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Terrorists, Bears, and Schadenfreude
The BBC reports:
If you’re a terrorist in Kashmir,
There’s one more thing for you to fear.
If you are hiding in a cave,
Averting danger's what you crave,
You’d better check on if you share
Your hideaway with a bear.
Rockets just might get you good,
And worry of them you clearly should.
Sharpshooting snipers are a danger,
But some risks are even stranger.
If you are careless, I’ve a hunch
That you might be what is for lunch
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered KashmirAn inspiration for doggerel if there ever was one:
If you’re a terrorist in Kashmir,
There’s one more thing for you to fear.
If you are hiding in a cave,
Averting danger's what you crave,
You’d better check on if you share
Your hideaway with a bear.
Rockets just might get you good,
And worry of them you clearly should.
Sharpshooting snipers are a danger,
But some risks are even stranger.
If you are careless, I’ve a hunch
That you might be what is for lunch
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
It's All Just Bush's Fault
Charles Krauthammer's October 30 column discusses Obama's propensity, even this far into his administration, to blame all problems on George Bush. In so doing, he compare's Barack's behavior to an old Soviet joke. The joke presupposes that, as he lies on his death bed, Stalin calls in Nikita Khrushchev, who succeeded him:
Unemployment’s through the roof.
They’re emptying out the vault,
But poor Obama stands aloof.
It’s Georgie Dubya’s fault.
The stimulus has blown the budget
And could lead to default.
Now poor Barack will have to fudge it.
It’s Georgie Dubya’s fault.
Afghanistan has gone to Hell,
Pull out or now assault?
How can Obama even tell?
It’s Georgie Dubya’s fault.
Obamacare will kill us quick
And government exalt,
And if you find that you get sick,
It’s Georgie Dubya’s fault.
Cap and trade will stultify
And make some go John Galt.
Let’s be just a teensy sly,
And say it’s Dubya’s fault.
The Left feels wounds from Dubya still,
So let’s get out some salt,
And rub it in their wounds until
They say it’s Dubya’s fault.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
"Niki, I'm dying. Don't have much to leave you. Just three envelopes. Open them, one at a time, when you get into big trouble."Wouldn't you know that elicited some doggerel from me:
A few years later, first crisis. Khrushchev opens envelope 1: "Blame everything on me. Uncle Joe."
A few years later, a really big crisis. Opens envelope 2: "Blame everything on me. Again. Good luck, Uncle Joe."
Third crisis. Opens envelope 3: "Prepare three envelopes."
Unemployment’s through the roof.
They’re emptying out the vault,
But poor Obama stands aloof.
It’s Georgie Dubya’s fault.
The stimulus has blown the budget
And could lead to default.
Now poor Barack will have to fudge it.
It’s Georgie Dubya’s fault.
Afghanistan has gone to Hell,
Pull out or now assault?
How can Obama even tell?
It’s Georgie Dubya’s fault.
Obamacare will kill us quick
And government exalt,
And if you find that you get sick,
It’s Georgie Dubya’s fault.
Cap and trade will stultify
And make some go John Galt.
Let’s be just a teensy sly,
And say it’s Dubya’s fault.
The Left feels wounds from Dubya still,
So let’s get out some salt,
And rub it in their wounds until
They say it’s Dubya’s fault.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Obama's Promise and his Reality
The American Digest has a parody of the Yorick scene from Hamlet. Called Obamlet, the parody puts Obama in the role of Hamlet anguishing over how to proceed in Afghanistan. It is well done and on point, but beyond how to proceed in Afghanistan, the parody's point is symptomatic of how the Obama administration has failed to live up to what supporters projected onto Obama in the election.
Obama’s election some thought was auspicious.
The policy changes they thought quite delicious,
But now it’s in doubt
How things’ll pan out.
His promise now seems meretricious.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Obama’s election some thought was auspicious.
The policy changes they thought quite delicious,
But now it’s in doubt
How things’ll pan out.
His promise now seems meretricious.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Dejah Thoris Calling for John Carter
Eugene Volokh reports on a Canadian suit in which the plaintiff, a Rene Joly, alleges that he is a Martian and that others, including those sinister Americans, are conspiring to prevent him from proving it. The judge, however, explores the relevant law and finds that, to have standing in his court, one must be either a corporation or a human being. Since a Martian is neither, the plaintiff gets poured out. Who says there's no justice in the trial courts?
Joly alleges that he is from Mars,
And blames us Americans for psychic scars,
But the ruling says Martians will always lack standing.
Beware all you aliens, you better start banding
And working together so you still can sue
And keep on enjoying an earthly mileu.
Martian equality is now our new cry.
Rouse up your brothers; you must not be shy.
Illegal aliens are common, I know,
But here’s a new twist, you’ll see that it’s so.
Go look in the mirror to pose and to preen,
For unlike most aliens, like Kermit, you’re green.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Joly alleges that he is from Mars,
And blames us Americans for psychic scars,
But the ruling says Martians will always lack standing.
Beware all you aliens, you better start banding
And working together so you still can sue
And keep on enjoying an earthly mileu.
Martian equality is now our new cry.
Rouse up your brothers; you must not be shy.
Illegal aliens are common, I know,
But here’s a new twist, you’ll see that it’s so.
Go look in the mirror to pose and to preen,
For unlike most aliens, like Kermit, you’re green.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, Miscellaneous
Disingenuous Testimony Regarding Canadian Human Rights Commissions
"Scary Fundamentalist" reports on testimony by Jennifer Lynch about Canadian Human Rights commissions. Canada's experience with these censors is a warning of what will happen to us if we drink too much multi-culti Koolaid. Though I gather the hearing did not go well for Ms. Lynch, it apparently went better for her than she deserved.
What caught my eye was that "Scary Fundamentalist" included doggerel in the post, so here's some doggerel not by me:
There once was a Justice Committee,
Where Lynch went to plead for pity,
With faux grin displayed,
The members waylaid,
Time’s up and she’s still sitting pretty.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
What caught my eye was that "Scary Fundamentalist" included doggerel in the post, so here's some doggerel not by me:
There once was a Justice Committee,
Where Lynch went to plead for pity,
With faux grin displayed,
The members waylaid,
Time’s up and she’s still sitting pretty.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: cultural divide, doggerel
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Ortega Succeeds Where Zelaya, so far, Has Failed
The Wall Street Journal reports that Daniel Ortega, unsurprisingly, has made an end run around Nicaragua's constitutional term limits. He will now no doubt become president for life or as long as he can possibly hold on. Nicaragua returns to jail without passing go or collecting anything resembling freedom. This is the same fate the Obama administration is trying to foist on Honduras.
Ortega’s now stolen Nicaragua,
In a move that was tried by Zelaya.
He’s leader for life,
Despite all the strife,
And that’s how they cut the papaya.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Ortega’s now stolen Nicaragua,
In a move that was tried by Zelaya.
He’s leader for life,
Despite all the strife,
And that’s how they cut the papaya.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel, foreign policy
Sunday, October 25, 2009
White House War Against Fox News
The Obama White House's Nixonian war against Fox News is much to be regretted in a country where political speech is supposed to be unsuppressed. But Obama comes naturally to the impetus to suppress things he does not like.
With rules that are used in Chicago,
Like Bolsheviks chasing Zhivago,
When you’re on the run,
They pull out the gun.
Barack, he learned well and evolved so.
10/26/09 Update:
A reader emailed me the following:
With the pattern that I see.
But my heart o’er that won’t bleed.
I’m delighted someone reads.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
With rules that are used in Chicago,
Like Bolsheviks chasing Zhivago,
When you’re on the run,
They pull out the gun.
Barack, he learned well and evolved so.
10/26/09 Update:
A reader emailed me the following:
Dude, you talk real nice, but considering how short it is, you sure do leave a massive load of easily-debunked pus in this fevered wound of a blog entry. I guess my first question would have to be what your definition of "a war on Fox News" is.The guy who wrote this disagrees.
The White House hasn't denied any of their reporters credentials, and hasn't tried to take Fox off the air. They just don't feel like sitting down and having to deflect massively spun questions, distortions and half-truths from what they've rightly described as the propaganda wing of the GOP.
("Nixonian"? Look up Roger Ailes' background sometime.)
This "war" is entirely in the drug-addled mind of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. The White House's "attacks" are to merely say "nope - don't want to be interviewed by you." The remainder of their input is to explain this reasonable policy, when asked. It's Fox making the actual attacks.
So, how is this a war? I'm just curious.
Oh, and “Nixonian”?
It was Ailes whose guns were all large-bore,
And he used to give newspapers what-for.
Just because all his tricks
Were to calm Tricky Dick’s
Paranoia doesn’t make him a man-whore
With the pattern that I see.
But my heart o’er that won’t bleed.
I’m delighted someone reads.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel
Friday, October 23, 2009
Danish Cartoon About Mohammed
This cartoon used to appear on this site, and I still get a lot of people looking for it.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: jihad
Abrogating Contracts by Executive Fiat
The blogosphere is replete with comment on Obama's abrogating compensation agreements at firms receiving TARP money. Professor Bainbridge has a cogent post that includes this point:
Abrogating contracts is Barack Obama’s plan.
Cutting back excessive pay, he sticks it to the man.
Why should Obama care that contracts aren’t enforced?
He blows away your vested rights, not feeling your remorse.
Contracts were the settled way we planned into the future.
The recent abrogations leave a rift without a suture.
Undermining confidence, Obama's biggest feature.
Trust in government alone, now, that’s the message from our teacher.
If he can cut back pay because he thinks its way too high,
He can change the price on all the things that you have gone to buy.
If you’re the one who sells things, then you have no way to know
If Obama will just change the price and tell you where to go.
When you can’t rely on business terms of all the deals you’ve made,
You cannot know if you can keep the sums that you’ve been paid.
You’re left to plead your case to distant bureaucrats,
Officious functionaries knowing less than mewling cats.
Success will not depend upon your marketplace acumen.
You’ll need to cultivate a set of skills that don’t like excess lumens.
Who you know and who you stroke, to whom you give out favors,
These are things that now will set the outcome of your labors.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
The bottom line thus is that Obama is having his minion coerce TARP executives and employees into ripping up contracts Obama doesn't like so as to assuage the populist public. In doing so, Obama and his appropriately entitled "czar" are exhibiting a basic lack of respect for the rule of law.Despite the wailing of the left-wing Cassandras at the time, Bush was never the threat to the rule of law that Obama is.
Abrogating contracts is Barack Obama’s plan.
Cutting back excessive pay, he sticks it to the man.
Why should Obama care that contracts aren’t enforced?
He blows away your vested rights, not feeling your remorse.
Contracts were the settled way we planned into the future.
The recent abrogations leave a rift without a suture.
Undermining confidence, Obama's biggest feature.
Trust in government alone, now, that’s the message from our teacher.
If he can cut back pay because he thinks its way too high,
He can change the price on all the things that you have gone to buy.
If you’re the one who sells things, then you have no way to know
If Obama will just change the price and tell you where to go.
When you can’t rely on business terms of all the deals you’ve made,
You cannot know if you can keep the sums that you’ve been paid.
You’re left to plead your case to distant bureaucrats,
Officious functionaries knowing less than mewling cats.
Success will not depend upon your marketplace acumen.
You’ll need to cultivate a set of skills that don’t like excess lumens.
Who you know and who you stroke, to whom you give out favors,
These are things that now will set the outcome of your labors.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Of Mass Murderers and Philosophers
Ricketyclick on White House Communication Director Anita Dunn:
What can you do but say wow?
A murderous old brute,
The thug sure could shoot.
His insights, they ended with pow!
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Mao Tse Tung, ladies and gentlemen. Seventy million dead, one of the oldest, richest cultures on Earth burned to the ground and replaced by gray concrete and black pajamas, the worst genocide in all history, and the architect of this chaos is the “favorite philosopher” of the woman who sits with the President of the United States and passes His Holy Words to you unwashed proletarian masses and your children.Dunn’s favorite philosopher’s old Mao!
What can you do but say wow?
A murderous old brute,
The thug sure could shoot.
His insights, they ended with pow!
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: cultural divide, doggerel
Monday, October 19, 2009
Trade Your Cadillac in for a Yugo, Even-Steven
Politico reports on the Senate health care bill's proposed tax on so-called Cadillac plans:
From private health care we must be reprieved.
I’ve always assumed they mean to imply
Public health care beats what we can buy.
It’s high-end health plans they now want to tax,
But not for the things that plans like that lack.
It’s high-end health plans they want to reduce;
It’s high-end health plans they deem an abuse.
With high end health plans the bar is too high;
Public health plans can’t reach for the sky.
Tear down the good things the people now have;
The poor public option will seem like a salve.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
The tax is designed to pay for reform and lower costs by making the so-called Cadillac plans less attractive for insurers to offer.The Democrats tell us that we must believe
From private health care we must be reprieved.
I’ve always assumed they mean to imply
Public health care beats what we can buy.
It’s high-end health plans they now want to tax,
But not for the things that plans like that lack.
It’s high-end health plans they want to reduce;
It’s high-end health plans they deem an abuse.
With high end health plans the bar is too high;
Public health plans can’t reach for the sky.
Tear down the good things the people now have;
The poor public option will seem like a salve.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Higgs Bosons and Legislative Bozos
The New York Times reports:
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
A pair of otherwise distinguished physicists have suggested that the hypothesized Higgs boson, which physicists hope to produce with the collider, might be so abhorrent to nature that its creation would ripple backward through time and stop the collider before it could make one, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.The article goes on the suggest:
This malign influence from the future, they argue, could explain why the United States Superconducting Supercollider, also designed to find the Higgs, was canceled in 1993 after billions of dollars had already been spent, an event so unlikely that Dr. Nielsen calls it an “anti-miracle.”I am utterly innocent of advanced physics, but I am skeptical of this explanation of the fate of the U.S. supercollider. To explain what happened, all one need suppose is legislative incompetence, a far less exotic explanation than that the Higgs boson is altering the past. Occam's Razor.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Miscellaneous
Monday, October 12, 2009
Barack of the Khyber Rifles
Yahoo News reports:
The war in Iraq, Dems often did knock
It strayed from the war in the ‘stan.
“The Afghani war we prize more by far,”
The Democrats cried to a man.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
The votes were collected, Barack was elected,
The war in the ‘stan’s getting harder.
Now the Dems aren’t so sure of Afghanistan’s cure,
Or of guarding the Pakistan border.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
“We don’t need to win” is now the new spin,
They’re selling us, oh, such a sleek horse.
Their idea’s so neat, let’s go for defeat,
Embrace being bin Laden’s weak horse.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
Talk of the Taliban there in Afghanistan,
Clearly a salesman’s slick pitch.
Feared weak after ’Nam, they posed like Van Damme.
Naught but a bait and a switch.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
From old talking points, they’re now out of joint;
Their prior positions are trifles.
Barack is the man who adds to the plan
Charisma and charm by the eyefuls.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
Hail, hail, hail, hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Saying the U.S. mission in Afghanistan is in "serious jeopardy," the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says more troops are needed to combat an increasingly potent Taliban.That's Dianne Feinstein talking. Similar stories of Democrat waffling on Afghanistan abound. What to do is ultimately in the President's hands. To quote Stevie Wonder, heaven help us all.
The war in Iraq, Dems often did knock
It strayed from the war in the ‘stan.
“The Afghani war we prize more by far,”
The Democrats cried to a man.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
The votes were collected, Barack was elected,
The war in the ‘stan’s getting harder.
Now the Dems aren’t so sure of Afghanistan’s cure,
Or of guarding the Pakistan border.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
“We don’t need to win” is now the new spin,
They’re selling us, oh, such a sleek horse.
Their idea’s so neat, let’s go for defeat,
Embrace being bin Laden’s weak horse.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
Talk of the Taliban there in Afghanistan,
Clearly a salesman’s slick pitch.
Feared weak after ’Nam, they posed like Van Damme.
Naught but a bait and a switch.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
From old talking points, they’re now out of joint;
Their prior positions are trifles.
Barack is the man who adds to the plan
Charisma and charm by the eyefuls.
Hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
Hail, hail, hail, hail to Barack of the Khyber Rifles.
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Friday, October 09, 2009
Peace Plan for Afghanistan
I was searching for other political doggerel sites and was disappointed in how little I found. Then I ran across a site with the linked poem. Here's a excerpt:
Send Clowns without Borders into the 'stan?
That by golly's a Hell of a plan.
They'll tell the Talib to lay down their guns.
"Let's twist up balloons and have some real fun."
Incredulous Taliban, standing dumbstruck,
May take a whole minute to run full amok.
Let's warn all the clowns to take a quick chill:
They best had not go without making a will.
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send Clowns without BordersWhat do you suppose the Taliban, never mind al Qaeda, would do to Clowns without Borders or people handing out musical instruments? Has this person ever seen "The Kite Runner"? Read the whole poem for full effect.
into the cities and mountains
hand out lutes and fiddles, harps and drums.
Soldiers, fresh from Boot Camp of the Arts,
would distribute cameras and watercolors
Send Clowns without Borders into the 'stan?
That by golly's a Hell of a plan.
They'll tell the Talib to lay down their guns.
"Let's twist up balloons and have some real fun."
Incredulous Taliban, standing dumbstruck,
May take a whole minute to run full amok.
Let's warn all the clowns to take a quick chill:
They best had not go without making a will.
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Labels: cultural divide, doggerel, jihad
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Carnival of the Vanities
This week's Carnival of the Vanities is up.
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Wednesday, October 07, 2009
What's a Little Tax Fraud Among Friends?
Breitbart reports:
Feared he might dangle.
For cheating on taxes and such,
But along came the House,
Which forgave the louse
And saved him for being in dutch.
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House Republicans have failed for a third time to oust Rep. Charles Rangel as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.Poor Charlie Rangel
Feared he might dangle.
For cheating on taxes and such,
But along came the House,
Which forgave the louse
And saved him for being in dutch.
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Shut up and Salute!
There was a time when the mainstream media would have had us believe it was a major failing of George Bush that he did not follow the advice of certain generals whose advice the liberals agreed with. Apparently Eugene Robinson, no doubt among others, does not agree with the advice of General McChrystal.
Bush had a problem with the war in Iraq,
But Bush is long gone; the Pres is Barack.
“Listen to generals,” George Bush was then told,
For some generals lined up with liberal scolds.
Afghanistan’s where the troubles are now,
And listening to generals puts you out on a bough.
You don’t need to listen if you don’t want to hear.
We can’t let the facts with our plans interfere.
Obama is weighing the options, transfixed,
On which course of action best helps politics.
Now General McChrystal, he asks for more troops.
Why won’t the warmonger shut up and salute?
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Bush had a problem with the war in Iraq,
But Bush is long gone; the Pres is Barack.
“Listen to generals,” George Bush was then told,
For some generals lined up with liberal scolds.
Afghanistan’s where the troubles are now,
And listening to generals puts you out on a bough.
You don’t need to listen if you don’t want to hear.
We can’t let the facts with our plans interfere.
Obama is weighing the options, transfixed,
On which course of action best helps politics.
Now General McChrystal, he asks for more troops.
Why won’t the warmonger shut up and salute?
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Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel, jihad
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Garofalo and Hateful Nonsense
JammieWearingFool links to a video in which Janeane Garofalo vehemently accuses all Obama opponents of racism. Lord have mercy.
Janeane Garofalo spews her slurs;
Republicans are, she says, just curs.
Opposing Obama has got to be racist:
She can’t imagine another basis.
The limits of Janie’s imagination
Suggest a lot more, in my estimation,
Of Janie, herself, and how she thinks
Than suggesting Republican-hate group links.
Political control of the economy’s at stake,
And liberals want to cut up the cake.
Conservatives think that will make us much poorer
And fear the liberals will put up a fuhrer.
Janeane’s apparently not even able
To comprehend what we see on the table:
The total remaking of American life,
Fostering envy and fomenting strife.
Though Janie sure shows lack of insight,
It's not that she is not very bright.
Instead I think she’s so blinded by hate,
That all she can do is erupt and berate.
This sort of invective comes often, of course,
Given what passes for public discourse.
I sometimes wonder how mankind’s survived,
With serious debate so greatly contrived.
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Janeane Garofalo spews her slurs;
Republicans are, she says, just curs.
Opposing Obama has got to be racist:
She can’t imagine another basis.
The limits of Janie’s imagination
Suggest a lot more, in my estimation,
Of Janie, herself, and how she thinks
Than suggesting Republican-hate group links.
Political control of the economy’s at stake,
And liberals want to cut up the cake.
Conservatives think that will make us much poorer
And fear the liberals will put up a fuhrer.
Janeane’s apparently not even able
To comprehend what we see on the table:
The total remaking of American life,
Fostering envy and fomenting strife.
Though Janie sure shows lack of insight,
It's not that she is not very bright.
Instead I think she’s so blinded by hate,
That all she can do is erupt and berate.
This sort of invective comes often, of course,
Given what passes for public discourse.
I sometimes wonder how mankind’s survived,
With serious debate so greatly contrived.
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Labels: cultural divide, doggerel
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Marcus was a Little Lamb
John Birmingham of the Brisbane Times reports on an Australian school teaching children about animal husbandry. Among the animals was a lamb named Marcus. At some point, the kids voted to send Marcus to the slaughter house, and the animal rights-types came forth with predictable laments.
The doggerel potential was too obvious to pass up:
Marcus was a little lamb.
He lived at school, you know.
The kids thought he’d be good to eat.
The greenies all said “No!”
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The doggerel potential was too obvious to pass up:
Marcus was a little lamb.
He lived at school, you know.
The kids thought he’d be good to eat.
The greenies all said “No!”
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Labels: cultural divide, doggerel, Miscellaneous
Monday, September 28, 2009
William Safire, Rest in Peace
William Safire is dead at 79 of pancreatic cancer. I was particularly fond of his "On Language" columns.
Rest in peace.
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Rest in peace.
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Labels: Miscellaneous
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Carnival of the Vanities
Andrew Ian Dodge hosts Carnival of the Vanities.
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Saturday, September 26, 2009
Nanny Bloomberg
Of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Slate's Jacob Weiss reports:
Oh Nanny boy, the Coca-Cola’s calling,
From store to store and down 5th Avenue.
Tobacco’s gone, your nanny drive is stalling.
Go after Cokes and then find something new.
You must not stop, we need you as Big Brother
Without you, I'd know not what to do,
For at times our thoughts might turn to burgers.
Oh Nanny boy, oh Nanny boy, you so and so.
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By 2012, the mayor hopes "to lower the proportion of adults who drink one or more sugar-sweetened beverages each day by 20 percent."Not satisfied with being mayor Bloomberg wants to be our mother.
Oh Nanny boy, the Coca-Cola’s calling,
From store to store and down 5th Avenue.
Tobacco’s gone, your nanny drive is stalling.
Go after Cokes and then find something new.
You must not stop, we need you as Big Brother
Without you, I'd know not what to do,
For at times our thoughts might turn to burgers.
Oh Nanny boy, oh Nanny boy, you so and so.
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Labels: cultural divide, doggerel, nanny state
Marching Forward into the (Not so Good) Old Times
Politico reports:
Obama would surely respond with derision,
But when the thought is expressed with concision,
And when, on the murk, the sun has risen,
Obama's imposing a debtor's prison.
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Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.So not to put too fine a point on it:
Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty . . . .
Obama would surely respond with derision,
But when the thought is expressed with concision,
And when, on the murk, the sun has risen,
Obama's imposing a debtor's prison.
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Friday, September 25, 2009
To the Commenter Who Called me an Imbecile
Is it just Obama men
Attracted to ad hominem?
I’m not sure; I have my doubts.
Perhaps we’re all a bunch of louts.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Attracted to ad hominem?
I’m not sure; I have my doubts.
Perhaps we’re all a bunch of louts.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: cultural divide, doggerel
Obamacare Will Be Just as Good as Medicare
We're told that Medicare is great, and Obamacare will be just as great. But we know Medicare is stretched thin and will have to reduce costs. And Medicare covers only a small, albeit increasing, percentage of the population. When you drag in all the population, what is stretched thin will break.
The Democrats say Obamacare’s good,
For Medicare works just as it should.
Now Medicare starts at sixty-five,
A small percentage of who’s still alive.
A lot more people are paying in
Than are taking out benefits at the end.
But even with such a favorable ratio,
It’s not all rosey, though some may say so.
Medicare cuts what doctors are paid,
So doctors are cutting their Medicare trade,
But cutting what doctor’s are paid’s not enough.
What happens next is going to be rough.
The President says he’s going to cut waste.
Why drag you in first; why all the haste?
He’s got to pare back that which is covered.
He wants you locked in, before that’s discovered.
There may be treatments you think that you need,
But you will be told to diminish your greed.
When society needs to cut down on cost,
It’ll just be too bad that a few lives are lost.
Obamacare means, I tell you no lies,
That government sets who lives and who dies.
That can’t coexist with American freedom.
Madison and Jefferson! Go tell them we need them!
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
The Democrats say Obamacare’s good,
For Medicare works just as it should.
Now Medicare starts at sixty-five,
A small percentage of who’s still alive.
A lot more people are paying in
Than are taking out benefits at the end.
But even with such a favorable ratio,
It’s not all rosey, though some may say so.
Medicare cuts what doctors are paid,
So doctors are cutting their Medicare trade,
But cutting what doctor’s are paid’s not enough.
What happens next is going to be rough.
The President says he’s going to cut waste.
Why drag you in first; why all the haste?
He’s got to pare back that which is covered.
He wants you locked in, before that’s discovered.
There may be treatments you think that you need,
But you will be told to diminish your greed.
When society needs to cut down on cost,
It’ll just be too bad that a few lives are lost.
Obamacare means, I tell you no lies,
That government sets who lives and who dies.
That can’t coexist with American freedom.
Madison and Jefferson! Go tell them we need them!
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Down Like a Dog on the Highway, With a Government Boot at Your Throat
David Henderson reports: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is squelching the speech of insurance companies expressing concerns about Obamacare to their insureds. Many a liberal acquaintance were dismayed at George Bush's civil liberties shortcomings, but I don't recall a single incident of the Bush administration trying to silence its critics.
Being who I am, I provide some doggerel. What came to my mind was Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman, perhaps appropriate since we are being robbed not only of our money but also of our freedom.
Obamacare critics cry out; they desperately want to be heard.
They post their views on blogs and such, getting out the word.
The media ignore them studiously, hoping they’ll all go away,
And HHS comes censoring, censoring, censoring,
And HHS comes censoring,
Denying the critics their say.
Critics, it says, are misleading, confusing the proletariat.
Keep all the critics quiet, its says, round them up with a lariat.
It sends out threatening letters, abusing its government power
And the HHS is threatening, threatening, threatening,
And the HHS is threatening;
Beware the government’s glower
We’ve got to resist the thuggishness, asserting our right to be free.
They’re taking away all our freedoms, away from you and from me.
Recall that this is America; preserve its ideals when you vote,
Or they’ll drag you down into serfdom,
Down like a dog into serfdom,
With a government boot at your throat.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Being who I am, I provide some doggerel. What came to my mind was Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman, perhaps appropriate since we are being robbed not only of our money but also of our freedom.
Obamacare critics cry out; they desperately want to be heard.
They post their views on blogs and such, getting out the word.
The media ignore them studiously, hoping they’ll all go away,
And HHS comes censoring, censoring, censoring,
And HHS comes censoring,
Denying the critics their say.
Critics, it says, are misleading, confusing the proletariat.
Keep all the critics quiet, its says, round them up with a lariat.
It sends out threatening letters, abusing its government power
And the HHS is threatening, threatening, threatening,
And the HHS is threatening;
Beware the government’s glower
We’ve got to resist the thuggishness, asserting our right to be free.
They’re taking away all our freedoms, away from you and from me.
Recall that this is America; preserve its ideals when you vote,
Or they’ll drag you down into serfdom,
Down like a dog into serfdom,
With a government boot at your throat.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: cultural divide, doggerel, Obamacare
Senator Hutchison Wants to be Gov
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is making progress in her attempt to wrest the GOP gubernatorial from Rick Perry. I do not particularly support Rick Perry, though neither do I particularly oppose him. He hasn't screwed things up too badly.
Kay Bailey is another story altogether. She has been resistant to earmark reform , an issue contributing to Republican defeats at the federal level. For that reason alone, she deserves to lose.
Senator Hutchison wants to be gov,
But when asked about earmarks, she gave us a shove.
No matter however she gives it a spin,
I'll not trust Hutchison ever again.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Kay Bailey is another story altogether. She has been resistant to earmark reform , an issue contributing to Republican defeats at the federal level. For that reason alone, she deserves to lose.
Senator Hutchison wants to be gov,
But when asked about earmarks, she gave us a shove.
No matter however she gives it a spin,
I'll not trust Hutchison ever again.
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Labels: doggerel, gubernatorial race, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas
Sunday, September 20, 2009
You Know How to Whistle Don't You?
Josh Marshall reports: Lauren Bacall and Shimon Peres are first cousins. Maybe Shimon could get me her autograph.
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Labels: Miscellaneous
Friday, September 18, 2009
Stuffing Papers Down Your Pants XII
In an article on Pajamas Media, Annie Jacobsen offers a possible explanation for the papers Sandy Berger was stuffing down his pants way back in 2004. It appears the Clinton administration may have tried to assassinate Osama Bin Laden well before 9/11.
If only they had succeeded . . .
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If only they had succeeded . . .
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Labels: Papers in Your Pants
Nancy Has a Cry
Regarding Nancy Pelosi's tearful bemoaning of opposition to the Democratic agenda, Ann Althouse observes:
Poor, poor, Nan,
Poor, poor little thing,
Rich was her acting,
She stood right there and cried.
Poor, poor, Nan,
Poor, poor was the show,
Rich that we all know,
She thought she’d try to cry.
Poor Nancy heave a sigh.
Up there’s our speaker,
Trying something new.
She sure looks weaker;
She runs a zoo.
She was an ogre,
Til she pulled this.
Goodbye to all that
We’ll never miss.
Bye bye, Nan,
Bye bye surliness,
Hello girliness,
She stood right there and cried,
Bye bye, Nan, you cried.
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And I hope you will take responsibility for this embarrassing display. You haven't done your job and now you are crying in public — you, the first female Speaker of the House. Crying. Pretending to be afraid of violence when the talk that troubles you so hasn't even included threats of violence.My expectations of Nancy Pelosi are so low, I had not looked at it that way, but Ann has a point. So of course I composed some doggerel. For whatever reason, the Everly Brothers' "Bye, Bye Love" came to mind:
Poor, poor, Nan,
Poor, poor little thing,
Rich was her acting,
She stood right there and cried.
Poor, poor, Nan,
Poor, poor was the show,
Rich that we all know,
She thought she’d try to cry.
Poor Nancy heave a sigh.
Up there’s our speaker,
Trying something new.
She sure looks weaker;
She runs a zoo.
She was an ogre,
Til she pulled this.
Goodbye to all that
We’ll never miss.
Bye bye, Nan,
Bye bye surliness,
Hello girliness,
She stood right there and cried,
Bye bye, Nan, you cried.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, Nancy Pelosi, town halls
Diluting the Sting of Racism Charges
MSNBC (yes, really, I had to look twice) carries an AP analysis (yes, AP, really) decrying profligate charges of racism.
Our society is not free of genuine racism, though mercifully racism is less common than it used to be. We should not relent in rooting out genuine racism, but in so doing, we should not use the term loosely.
Labeling opposition to Barack Obama's policy proposals as necessarily racist is an abuse of the term, because it unfairly libels innocent people with a vile charge. But worse than that abuse, doing so leads to resentment of charges of racism and to taking the charges less seriously. That result is counter-productive of eliminating racism.
Once upon a time calling someone a Communist was a serious slur in the eyes of almost all Americans. At least partly because of the excesses of the McCarthy era, the charge lost its sting in many quarters and some now regard the charge itself as antiquated even when it fits, as in the case of Hugo Chaves.
We must all hope that a consequence of Barack Obama's presidency is not to lessen the sting of a racism charge. That is not the direction in which our society needs to go. Those throwing the charge around need to bear that in mind.
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Our society is not free of genuine racism, though mercifully racism is less common than it used to be. We should not relent in rooting out genuine racism, but in so doing, we should not use the term loosely.
Labeling opposition to Barack Obama's policy proposals as necessarily racist is an abuse of the term, because it unfairly libels innocent people with a vile charge. But worse than that abuse, doing so leads to resentment of charges of racism and to taking the charges less seriously. That result is counter-productive of eliminating racism.
Once upon a time calling someone a Communist was a serious slur in the eyes of almost all Americans. At least partly because of the excesses of the McCarthy era, the charge lost its sting in many quarters and some now regard the charge itself as antiquated even when it fits, as in the case of Hugo Chaves.
We must all hope that a consequence of Barack Obama's presidency is not to lessen the sting of a racism charge. That is not the direction in which our society needs to go. Those throwing the charge around need to bear that in mind.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama, cultural divide
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Acorn Didn't Know it Sat on a Wall
Acorn the org has been known to all.
Acorn the org had a great fall,
And all the spin doctors and all Barack’s men
Couldn’t put Acorn back together again.
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Acorn the org had a great fall,
And all the spin doctors and all Barack’s men
Couldn’t put Acorn back together again.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Acorn, Barack Obama, doggerel
No Missile Defense for Eastern Europe
Dubya Bush thought it made sense
To give Eastern Europe missile defense.
Barack Obama says au contraire,
With Eastern Europe he will not share.
We used to fear proliferation,
Because it could lead to conflagration.
Our defense we said we’d share,
If from the bomb you would forbear.
The message now is loud and clear:
If you’re a target and danger's near,
America won’t protect you pukes.
You'd better get your own damn nukes.
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To give Eastern Europe missile defense.
Barack Obama says au contraire,
With Eastern Europe he will not share.
We used to fear proliferation,
Because it could lead to conflagration.
Our defense we said we’d share,
If from the bomb you would forbear.
The message now is loud and clear:
If you’re a target and danger's near,
America won’t protect you pukes.
You'd better get your own damn nukes.
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Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel, foreign policy
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Politico Claims the Word "Politico" as a Trademark
Dan Reihl reports that Politico is throwing its weight around against small sites using the word "politico" in their names. But "politico" is a word and therefore a poor mark. Sheesh!
Politico is a site on the web.
It’s also a word used without ebb,
But the site now claims its rights are exclusive,
Though the reasoning seems entirely elusive.
If you want a mark that can be protected,
You really ought to have quickly rejected
A word that appears in common use,
Or else your claims seem an abuse.
Politico ought to retract and then chill,
Though what are the odds, you think, that it will?
Let’s hope Politico will change the decision
That has caused it’s claims to suffer derision.
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Politico is a site on the web.
It’s also a word used without ebb,
But the site now claims its rights are exclusive,
Though the reasoning seems entirely elusive.
If you want a mark that can be protected,
You really ought to have quickly rejected
A word that appears in common use,
Or else your claims seem an abuse.
Politico ought to retract and then chill,
Though what are the odds, you think, that it will?
Let’s hope Politico will change the decision
That has caused it’s claims to suffer derision.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel
MadKane and I Don't Agree on Much . . .
But I do agree with her criticism of Amazon for surreptitiously removing material from customers' Kindles. Refunding their money is not good enough. It was a breach of trust.
I have had two Kindles, and I loved them, but I don't have one now. Just before the one-year warranty expired, I tripped on steps while carrying my Kindle. I threw my hands out to catch myself, and the Kindle went flying. It no longer worked, so I called Amazon about repairs. Kindles apparently cannot be repaired, and the warranty did not cover customer "abuse," but they did sell me a second Kindle at half price.
I was reasonably satisfied with that until a few months later when the second Kindle inexplicably stopped working. I called Amazon, but the message was tough cookies. My original one-year warranty had expired. If I wanted a new Kindle, it would be full price.
So now I am Kindle-less and peeved.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
I have had two Kindles, and I loved them, but I don't have one now. Just before the one-year warranty expired, I tripped on steps while carrying my Kindle. I threw my hands out to catch myself, and the Kindle went flying. It no longer worked, so I called Amazon about repairs. Kindles apparently cannot be repaired, and the warranty did not cover customer "abuse," but they did sell me a second Kindle at half price.
I was reasonably satisfied with that until a few months later when the second Kindle inexplicably stopped working. I called Amazon, but the message was tough cookies. My original one-year warranty had expired. If I wanted a new Kindle, it would be full price.
So now I am Kindle-less and peeved.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Kindle
Monday, September 14, 2009
Obama's Secret Plan to Fix Social Security
Many have warned to no avail
That social security's doomed to fail,
But stop despairing; lift the pall.
Obamacare will save us all.
You may think that Obamacare
And social security aren't a pair,
But Obamacare's to preserve your health,
So marvel here at Obama’s stealth.
Social security, you get when you’re old,
When Obamacare cuts back what's doled.
For social security, now don’t be dejected.
You just won’t live long while you collect it.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
That social security's doomed to fail,
But stop despairing; lift the pall.
Obamacare will save us all.
You may think that Obamacare
And social security aren't a pair,
But Obamacare's to preserve your health,
So marvel here at Obama’s stealth.
Social security, you get when you’re old,
When Obamacare cuts back what's doled.
For social security, now don’t be dejected.
You just won’t live long while you collect it.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: doggerel, Obamacare, social security
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Ask Sitting Bull How it Worked Out
Negative rights and positive rights are the dividing line.
Obama promises positive rights, offering things so fine.
He’ll give us all our health care and all our hearts desire,
If, in return, we’ll close our eyes and step into the fire,
For when the government gives us things, they’re not spun from thin air.
No, others must produce those things, and Barack will make them share.
There’s a word for when another takes the things that we produce,
And applies them to the taker’s thoughts of what’s a better use.
Conscripting labor from another is the vilest form of knavery.
We’ll find our labor has become nothing more than slavery.
If we don’t own what we produce, we own almost nothing.
We have just what they leave us with. Do not believe their puffing.
Negative rights are things that the government must not do,
Ways in which it’s not allowed to interfere with you.
Freedom of speech and of petition, such things they cannot stop,
If we insist on being free; we’ll know just what we’ve got,
But when they pass out goodies by taking things from others,
What we get was necessarily taken from our brothers.
Now if you think they’ll take from them, but not take things from you,
I’ve got a bridge to sell you, pal, a deal you’ll come to rue.
They see the proletariat as the class where we belong.
Trading freedom for state care is just a siren song.
If you are tempted to believe the state’s care will be great,
Ask Sitting Bull how it worked out; what was his people’s fate?
We can all be citizens, free and independent,
Or we can be just vassals, on the state dependent.
Freedom is quite costly, and it’s often very hard,
But you must throw it all away to choose to be a ward.
I know not what all may choose, freedom or dependence.
But as for me our negative rights are all that can defend us.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Obama promises positive rights, offering things so fine.
He’ll give us all our health care and all our hearts desire,
If, in return, we’ll close our eyes and step into the fire,
For when the government gives us things, they’re not spun from thin air.
No, others must produce those things, and Barack will make them share.
There’s a word for when another takes the things that we produce,
And applies them to the taker’s thoughts of what’s a better use.
Conscripting labor from another is the vilest form of knavery.
We’ll find our labor has become nothing more than slavery.
If we don’t own what we produce, we own almost nothing.
We have just what they leave us with. Do not believe their puffing.
Negative rights are things that the government must not do,
Ways in which it’s not allowed to interfere with you.
Freedom of speech and of petition, such things they cannot stop,
If we insist on being free; we’ll know just what we’ve got,
But when they pass out goodies by taking things from others,
What we get was necessarily taken from our brothers.
Now if you think they’ll take from them, but not take things from you,
I’ve got a bridge to sell you, pal, a deal you’ll come to rue.
They see the proletariat as the class where we belong.
Trading freedom for state care is just a siren song.
If you are tempted to believe the state’s care will be great,
Ask Sitting Bull how it worked out; what was his people’s fate?
We can all be citizens, free and independent,
Or we can be just vassals, on the state dependent.
Freedom is quite costly, and it’s often very hard,
But you must throw it all away to choose to be a ward.
I know not what all may choose, freedom or dependence.
But as for me our negative rights are all that can defend us.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel, Obamacare
Friday, September 11, 2009
Barack as Caudillo
Barack has got plans for you and for me,
But they’re not embraced by the bourgeoisie.
His spending and taxes will soon fill the bill.
Stagflation will pauper us, leave us with nil.
Just like in the song called "Government Cheese",
When we’re all beggars, we’re easily pleased.
A banana republic is how it will end,
With Barack as caudillo, an endless downtrend.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
But they’re not embraced by the bourgeoisie.
His spending and taxes will soon fill the bill.
Stagflation will pauper us, leave us with nil.
Just like in the song called "Government Cheese",
When we’re all beggars, we’re easily pleased.
A banana republic is how it will end,
With Barack as caudillo, an endless downtrend.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel, Obamacare
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Jack Be Nimble on Obamacare
Barack is nimble and he's quick.
He'll give you care when you are sick,
Unless, of course the cost's too high,
Which is when he'll let you die.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
He'll give you care when you are sick,
Unless, of course the cost's too high,
Which is when he'll let you die.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama, doggerel, Obamacare
Friday, September 04, 2009
The Zimbabwe Option
Power Line points to a Jeffrey Roger Hummel article discussing our future.
According to the article, we have three options:
1. We can try to get off cheap on repaying treasury securities through comparatively modest inflation.
2. We can default on treasury securities.
or
3. We can adopt the Zimbabwe option, repudiating the national debt indirectly through hyper inflation.
Mr Hummel is optimistic enough to believe the political class would avoid option 3 and does not believe option 1 will work. That leaves us with option 2. I don't know whether option 1 would work, but Mr. Hummel offers plausible reasons why not.
No option is good. Option 1 would severely damage the American economy. Option 2 would put an end to America as we know it, dramatically reducing our standard of living. Option 3 would leave us streaming into Mexico, looking for something to eat. My seat-of-the-pants guess is something in between 2 and 3.
Oh frabjous day. Obama is The One.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
According to the article, we have three options:
1. We can try to get off cheap on repaying treasury securities through comparatively modest inflation.
2. We can default on treasury securities.
or
3. We can adopt the Zimbabwe option, repudiating the national debt indirectly through hyper inflation.
Mr Hummel is optimistic enough to believe the political class would avoid option 3 and does not believe option 1 will work. That leaves us with option 2. I don't know whether option 1 would work, but Mr. Hummel offers plausible reasons why not.
No option is good. Option 1 would severely damage the American economy. Option 2 would put an end to America as we know it, dramatically reducing our standard of living. Option 3 would leave us streaming into Mexico, looking for something to eat. My seat-of-the-pants guess is something in between 2 and 3.
Oh frabjous day. Obama is The One.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Barack Obama
Thursday, September 03, 2009
The Role of the IRS in Obamacare
[I]f the plan envisioned by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats is enacted, the primary federal bureaucracy responsible for implementing and enforcing national health care will be an old and familiar one: the Internal Revenue Service.Giving a new perspective on the use of the word "internal" in the Internal Revenue Service.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: Obamacare
Coinage of the Day
Daniel Henninger gets it with the term "lumpen bureaucratariat," as in:
In short, the lumpen electorate works, and the lumpen bureaucratariat spends. They get away with it because they have perfected the illusion that no human hand causes these commitments. The payroll tax just happens. Entitlements are "off-budget," presumably in the hands of God. This is government without the responsibility of governance.To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
Labels: quote of the day, Tea Party
