Random Thoughts for February, 2013
Robert A. Hall
Apparently the last service to their country performed by the four dead Americans in Benghazi
Obama says in 2013, "The time is now" for immigration reform. How come it wasn't the time when he had strong Democrat majorities in the House and Senate in 2009-2010? How come it wasn’t time for gun control when his party controlled both branches? Maybe he prefers to lose and have these issues for Democrats to run on?
It’s hard to see how Israel survives, for one of the same reasons it’s hard to see how the US Israel Mexico and Central America are growing rapidly, now number about half the population of the US America
The Mexican narco-gangs have become a military rather than a police problem, because they are armed with military heavy weapons and use military tactics, which police can’t handle. Here’s my suggestion for foreign aid for Mexico US , legal or illegal, into paramilitary units, train them with American troops, pay them American military wages and benefits and lend them to Mexico Mexico
As long as Hollywood
There is no greater hypocrisy than Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, David Gregory and other elitist progressives sending their kids to schools protected by armed guards, but saying the NRA is crazy for suggesting your kids should have the same protection theirs do. It takes a truly heartless and cynical politician to say that you shouldn't have a gun to protect your family and that your kids' school shouldn't have armed guards, while his family is safely surrounded by armed guards and his kids' private school is well protected as well. It’s like Obama sending his kids to private school, but saying, at the behest of the teachers unions, poor black families shouldn't have the same right.
The things that make me happiest aren't things.
It was nice in his second inaugural address of President Obama to let us know that, after four years, with the official unemployment rate exactly the same as for his first inaugural, that the economic recovery has started. Of course, if you look at how the workforce has shrunk in those four years, the real unemployment rate has soared, so those folks may not be comforted.
Obama says if we can save even one child, it’s worth banning guns. The same argument, of course, applies to banning cars, bikes, skateboards, hammers, knives, baseball bats and balls…and abortion
The media has been a lot more interested in fake girlfriends and possible lip-synching by a singer than the cover-up of a terrorist attack in Benghazi
Conservatives worried about Obama’s leftist cabinet appointees should remember that as long as we are stuck with Obama, the cabinet hardly matters.
Blacks make up 13% of the population, but have 40% of the abortions. I guess Margaret Sanger's goal in founding Planned Parenthood of keeping more of what she called "the unfit" from being born is Mission Accomplished.
I don’t think you can fairly call Obama a liberal. He’d have to move sharply to the right to qualify.
A newspaper listed the addresses of legal gun owners in its area. Made it easy for thugs wanting to steal guns. Or thieves wanting to break into homes where there were no guns. Great idea, either way.
If it’s racist not to give illegal immigrants drivers’ licenses, then it’s racist not to give them gun licenses.
How can you do a gun background check on a black or Hispanic person if you don’t know who they are? And we know from the Voter ID issue they can’t get photo IDs and asking for one is racist.
The media hated Bush, so the screwed up federal response to Hurricane Katarina was pinned on him with the public. But the media love Obama, so the screwed up federal response to Hurricane Sandy, the screwed up Fast and Furious gun program that resulted in hundreds of dead Mexicans and a couple of dead Americans, or the screwed up situation in Benghazi that resulted in four dead Americans are all ignored. If they cannot be ignored, they are pinned on low level bureaucrats. Things would be different with a fair, neutral press, but things would be different with a lot of better things. True cliché: “Freedom of the press belongs to he who owns one.”
I suspect that to be elected President in this modern age, you must be a demagogue. And it follows that the more plausible and persuasive demagogue is the most likely to win. But it helps, of course, if the media pronounces your demagoguery to be received wisdom.
To have "central economic planning," you must have the power to force people to do things they don't want to do voluntarily. That requires the power and willingness to use confiscation of property by force, imprisonment and violence including murder. And that is the history of central planning.
Liberal Dreams: Declare the Founding Fathers a "hate group."
Suggested sign for men's room hot air dryers: "Rub hands vigorously under air flow, then wipe on jeans."
Britney's new Teddy Bear puppy, Caramel, at 14-weeks-old, often prances purposefully around the house, head and tail high, a toy clutched in his mouth, looking like he's on an important mission. It reminds me of a middle manager or a SNCO with a clipboard. But when I came in wearing a long overcoat and fuzzy hat, he charged me, barking loudly, ready to attack to defend Bonnie, all seven pounds of him. Credit for heart.
Duty is the highest expression of love.
Only thing worse than a loud, ignorant know-it-all is a loud, ignorant know-it-all that circumstances beyond your control force you to frequently interact politely with.
There's no such thing as, "One beer too many." It's always at least three too many.
Isn't it time we had a national conversation about eliminating the inane practice of dumping Gatorade on winning coaches?
Sure, most car owners are responsible people who use them safely. But we will never eliminate the carnage of 40,000 highway deaths every year until assault cars are banned for everyone.
One of the annoying things about Twitter, which I check in the rare moments that I have time, is how people obsess over how many followers they have. I don’t care, folks. Now, how many page views my blog has had—that’s different!
The public is in favor of spending cuts in the abstract, but against any particular ones that impact them. Thus government grows until it collapses of its own weight.
If computers are so smart, how come they keep screwing me up because my one-finger typing is too fast for the programs to respond?
When I return a call and the receptionist says, “May I tell him why you’re calling?” I’m always tempted to say, “Yeah. I’m his bookie and he’s late on his payment, which ain’t healthy.” I haven’t. Yet. So I say, “Beats me. He called me.”
Leadership isn’t about charisma. Leadership is about character.
Al Gore is among those who said that the more fortunate like him needed to pay “their fair share” and taxes needed to go up. Since he tried to get the deal for selling his Current TV to TNN (The Terrorist News Network) for $100M in carbon-spewing oil money done before tax rates went up on January 1, apparently he doesn’t think the new tax rates are his “fair share.”
Liberals will never think “the rich” are paying their “fair share,” even if they take every penny to buy votes with.
I think my wife keeps me around because I can always make her laugh. And it doesn’t hurt that I’m a fair cook, too.
Obama promised to raise taxes only on the rich. On January 1, my taxes went up. Turns out I’m rich. Who knew?
The justification politicians use to sell a program are very often not the real reason for the program. The lottery was sold to the public in Massachusetts
Recipes are guidelines, not laws.
Being for limited government does not mean you are against all government, as Progressives like to pretend, though they know it is a lie.
I told a Progressive the world was going to pot. He said, “Cool.” Bad choice of words, I guess.
I may have said before that I think achieving perfection, or even defining it, is impossible. But constant improvement is open to almost every individual and every organization.
The person in charge doesn't have to know how to do everything, but he or she needs to know that everything is being done.
Politicians who say they have decided to retire to "spend more time with the family," usually mean they think they are going to lose the next election. Or be indicted.
Never mind your earth-shaking miracles. The truly religious person sees God's hand in butterflies and puppies and little girls.
The person who accepts credit for the efforts of others, or who fails to share credit generously with the team that helped create the success, cannot be trusted in other ways. You might want to write this down.
Even moderately successful people will attract a host of parasites who hope to attach themselves to your bank account, in large or small ways. Some of them will be relatives, who are the most dangerous.
Whenever I use a coffee pot at home or the office, I have trouble with it spilling when I pour. I notice the coffee pots in restaurants have wide spouts and no problems with dribbling. Is it too much to ask the manufacturers to do the same for home appliances?
First they came for the rich, and I wasn’t rich, so I said nothing. But the next time they came, suddenly I was “rich”….
Some bureaucrats feel their job is to use every possible rule and avenue to make the customer miserable. I was trying to register on a government website. It asked a long series of “challenge” questions, like “What was the name of your first stuffed animal?” And, “What was the name of the first girl or boy you kissed?” And, “What was the name of your first pet?” Who the hell knows now? Then, after 45 minutes of trying, it told me it couldn’t register me now, to come back later.
If anyone in a prominent position, as General Stanley McChrystal was, thinks about trusting a reporter, my advice is to take your career and future to Vegas and put it all on red. Better odds there of coming out okay.
Military Radio Communications Pro Tip. “Over” means, “I’m done talking and waiting for you to respond.” “Out” means, “We are finished and I’m signing off the air, do not respond.” So “Over and Out” is gibberish, and reveals you as a wannabe who watches too much Hollywood
A sure sign of a low-information, ignorant voter is one who gets their political or historical information from Hollywood movies.
I received a survey from the ACLU. I would have filled it out, but it had my name printed on the top of the response sheet. I wasn’t sure I wanted them to have my name with my responses, so I just mailed back the empty Business Reply envelope at their expense.
Whenever something bad happens—a shooting, storm, etc.—there is a terrible cry for politicians to “do something.” The media feeds the frenzy and the politicians respond. I discovered when I was a senator that a legislative body can be stampeded like a herd of cows, with a few cowboys waving their hats and shooting into the air. Usually what the do under pressure for immediate action is ineffective. And it’s often counter productive. The great lesson of life is that many times, doing nothing is the right thing to do. But it’s often very hard.
I’m not a fussy eater. Any meal where I’m not served liver and onions or C-ration ham and limas is pretty much fine with me.
If you get involved with federal agencies, they will send you reams of printed materials you have no time to read or understand. They also require financial institutions and healthcare institutions to do the same. I suspect the printers lobby….
I know you learned to type on a typewriter. It is no longer necessary to double space after a sentence. Modern word processing programs automatically put extra space after a period. Double spacing puts what printers call “rivers of white” running through your copy, especially if it gets typeset for publication. I have spoken.
In two years. Obama will be claiming that 9/11 happened because George Bush allowed someone to make a movie trailer critical of Islam.
We recently had an amber alert in the Chicago
When you are dealing with a big company, there are often the appearance of "deals," but they are usually just disguised ways to nail your wallet.
One of life's small pleasures is re-reading something you wrote years ago and concluding it's really not half bad.
I've been meaning to join the procrastinators clubs for several years now....
I'm always amazed that stores and other businesses sell shirts and hats with their logo and name on them. Shouldn't they be paying you to advertise their business?
The story of getting older: So many women, so little testosterone.
My wife was filling out a form. I asked about it. "I'm buying a couple of magazines so my cousin's grandson can win a tee-shirt." "It would be cheaper to buy him a tee-shirt," I suggested. Apparently that was not the right solution.
I heard the White House has rejected an on-line petition to build a Star Wars Death Star at a cost of $850 Quadrillion. The petitioners’ mistake was in not calling it an “economic stimulus” and specifying it had to be built with union labor.
I use a Neti pot twice a day, with ½ teaspoon of salt and distilled water, warmed for 25 seconds in the microwave. It sounds a lot worse to use than it is. In the last eight years or so, I’ve had one, small cold, in my chest only, not nose, that didn’t last long.
Passing black kids in school who don’t do the work, or pass the tests, is the worst kind of racism, not because it discriminates by race against other students, though it does, but because it leaves the black students ill equipped to deal with life or make a living. But maybe keeping them dependent on the government is the idea.
If you daughter said that she had narrowed her career choices to journalist or prostitute, which would you recommend?
It takes a moral person to vote against their short term self-interests for the good of the society and future generations. We have fewer moral voters every election.
A friend of mine is from Italy
I had an uncle by marriage who ran a “salvage yard” business. He liked me because I’d trade him stuff, say an old toy fire truck for a WWI helmet. (Even at nine I was a bargain hunter.) One day he came in and told his wife he was going to take a nap before dinner. In the living room, he found the dog was sleeping on the couch. He laid down on the floor so as not to disturb the pooch. He died there in his sleep. Not a bad way to go, showing consideration for the family pet.
Steve Jobs last words were reportedly, “Oh, wow, oh, wow, oh, wow.” I have a bad feeling mine will be, ‘Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit.”
With the American birthrate now below the replacement level of 2.1 live births per woman, the collapsing demographics are a huge threat to the future of the Republic. But with all the other forces, from debt, to Islamists, to illegal colonizers, to China, all grinding down the prospects for future freedom and prosperity, it’s hard to blame folks for not wanting to bring children into the mess.
Liberalism is a blissfully theoretical philosophy unrestrained by the practical, unresponsive to the rational, un-phased by the negative results, and unmoved by the suffering of the guinea pigs.
If increased deficits were scientifically correlated with global warming, liberals would lose interest in climate change as an issue.
I’m not sure if there is a hell, but if there is, I’m pretty sure I know who a lot of the residents are.
Liberals: Rarely right but always completely convinced.
Believers hope to live for God. Fundamentalists hope to die for God. Fanatics hope to murder for God.
If you send me $5, by return mail I’ll tell you where you can spot a really gullible person, first thing every morning. Guaranteed.
If you think “Islamophobia” is a real problem, ask yourself how many Muslims are killed every week by non-Muslims because of their religious beliefs. Then ask yourself how many Muslims and Infidels are killed in the same period by Muslims for their religious beliefs.
War may be glorious, but actually being on the receiving end of incoming fire kinda sucks.
Obama had no problem coming up with a list of guns to ban. He just asked Eric Holder for a list of the guns the DOJ supplied to Mexican Drug Cartels. Proven dangerous.
I don’t think owning a gun will help me survive the coming chaos. Given my age and health, I have zero chance. I think it might give me a chance to go out well, stinging the looting bastards.
When I was in high school, my Grandmother let me use an antique bureau for my clothes. It is supposed to have come from the ship of a distant relative, a Captain Hawley (I have his Vermont
Banning so-called assault rifles and large capacity magazines won’t matter at all. Obama-the-master-gun-seller has sold so many in the last four years that not only are there millions out there, but they will be back ordered until the next administration, so hard to buy anyway.
If you lose weight, and reach your goal, you must still get on the scale every morning to monitor where you are. I went from 225 to 173 pounds back around 2001, and by March of 2012 I was back to 225. If I ate and drank everything I’d like to, I think I could get to 275. By December, 2012, I was under 170 again, but I hope this time I learned the lesson.
I believe in the eight-glasses-of-water-a-day rule, as long as you put some Scotch in it to kill the germs…
When you’ve lived in a hole in the ground that you shared with rats, ate your meals out of cans and were lucky if you had a way to warm them, shaved in a helmet, rarely changed clothes or took showers, had a cutoff 55-gallen drum for a privy, wonder if someone was going to try to kill you that night, and considered yourself far more fortunate than most of the guys you knew who had it worse, it tends to stay with you. I think that’s why I’m pretty grounded, content with and grateful for what I have, and unlikely to become an elitist even if I came into great wealth.
If you believe that politicians and lobbyists always want to win on an issue, you are naïve. Losing on a hot button issue like gun control or abortion means it will be there next year to generate dollars and votes for the true believers.
When people send me blog items from “anonymous sources” or “insiders,” I’m very skeptical of using them. They might be true from whistle blowers afraid of retaliation. But they are as likely to be made up to damage someone on the other side of the issue.
People keep pestering me to buy life insurance, but aren’t all that interested when they find out I have pulmonary fibrosis. And I love the TV commercial that promises life insurance without any health questions “for only $9.95 per unit a month.” Guess a “unit” is pretty small if you are 66. Otherwise, they’d say what it is.
If “gun free zones” work, couldn’t we improve the government by declaring Washington , DC
The Bears didn’t interview me for the head coach job and Obama passed me over for chief of staff. What’s a guy gotta do to get ahead around here?
The Chicago
Now that Lance Armstrong has been fully revealed as a lair, will Obama start wearing a “Livestrong” bracelet in solidarity?
While we are at it, let’s declare Mexico and the Middle East to be “gun free zones,” and save a lot of trouble.
You think if reporters were going to talk about guns, they’d take the time to learn the difference between an automatic and a semi-automatic, between a magazine and a clip and even between a revolver and a semi-automatic hand gun. But you’d think a lot of reasonable things that are not true.
Maybe “Fast and Furious” was just Obama’s way of keeping us safe by sending those evil guns to Mexico
I’ve read that the original gun control effort in the US
I’m hoping Al “Jazeera” Gore uses his newly-increased wealth to buy part ownership of the NY Times. Perhaps going partners with Michael Moore. That should put them under, finally.
“Guns don’t keep kids safe, but just in case, mine are surrounded by armed guards,” say Elitist Liberals everywhere.
I read an article that said, “If you are planning to retire, think carefully about how you will fill your days.” Given the economy, I’m more worried about filling my belly than filling my days, if I have to retire.
When someone uses the argument that, “Doing X is no worse than doing Y,” you know that doing X isn’t good.
The media guarantees more mass murders like Newtown
Right now, the Media is swooning over Chris Christie. But if he should be the GOP nominee in 2016, they will eviscerate him. See McCain, John for an example.
Let’s see, the Newtown
I’m depressed. I just found out that Lennay Kekua was cheating on me.
How long until excessive flatulence qualifies a guy for government disability? (And if it already does, maybe it’s best if you don’t tell me.)
Few things are as gratifying as discovering that things have not gone well at a position you left, and that people who were delighted when you moved on now wish you had stayed.
People ask, “Why does anyone need an AR-15?” You don't have to prove a need to exercise a constitutional right. You don't have to prove you need freedom of speech or freedom of the press or freedom of religion to enjoy them.
Liberals upset with the drone campaign should recall they voted for a guy with “bomb” in his name.
People who say, “Everything works out for the best” haven’t been paying attention.
Thanks to my need for weight control, my idea of “binge drinking” is now one beer.
The worst part of Obama being reelected is that George Bush will now have four more years of screwing everything up.
The media reports Progressive lies as truth and Conservative truth as lies. This is a major factor in the Coming Collapse of the Republic.
I don’t belong to any hate group, but the way things are going, I’d like to review the membership requirements. (Though Progressives consider any disagreement with them as deranged hatred, of course.)
You can’t use “retarded” as a slur anymore. It’s even politically incorrect to say the word, which is why the Association for Retarded Citizens became ARC—and don’t ask what that stands for. But you can call someone “clinically feeble-minded” with no blowback. Except, perhaps, a punch in the mouth from the target of your ire.
In our elections, we worry about “hanging chads.” In most countries, the worry is hanging people.
If we allow women in combat, will Manti T'eo's girlfriend be drafted?
Often it’s not what was said, but who said it.
It wasn't worrisome that a person of my limited ability, accomplishments and intellect could get elected to the Massachusetts Senate at age 26. What was a concern was when I discovered I was one of the brighter, more competent Senators.
To paraphrase Ben Franklin, we better all stick together or they will surely stick it to us individually.
People trying to sell you a product, service or political position, from used cars to candidates, will often stretch the truth. You might want to write that down. Let the buyer beware.
When you have too much too do, the only solution is to start doing and keep doing until there's nothing left to do.
I've always shopped at stores like Goodwill. People used to think I was cheap. Now they think I'm environmentally friendly. Nice change.
Obama isn't anti-gun. He likes having people with guns guard his family. Just not yours.
You can’t believe something until the government denies it.
I don’t regret much, but the time out of my life I’ve spent in meetings wasn’t as useful as reading, sleeping, etc.
Few things guarantee an unhappy life like lack of character and lack of courage.
So Jane Fonda is going to play Nancy Reagan in a movie. What’s next? Bill Clinton as the Virgin Mary?
Always loved that old Beetles song: "When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, Speaking words of wisdom, Have a whisky, maybe three." Well, that's how it worked for me, anyway.
Obama flew to Las Vegas
In the old days, they called it alchemy. Now it’s Keynesian Economics. Same scam.
It was lucky none of the Jews in Germany Germany , you will recall, was considered the most civilized and advanced country in Europe .
If Obama enforces any new guns laws the way he enforces immigration law—or current gun laws for that matter—gun owners have nothing to worry about.
How to tell an adult: Adults clean up after themselves.
People keep calling for compromise and bipartisanship. But why won’t the NRA compromise on even the most reasonable restriction on guns? Because they know that the people who hate guns want to outlaw private ownership and will be back with a new bill next year. Why won’t the Pro-Choice people compromise on even the most reasonable restriction on abortion? Because they know the strong Pro-Life people want to outlaw all abortions and will be back with a new bill next year. In a financial deal, you can compromise, because that ends the negotiations. In a political issue like these, a compromise never holds. It just moves the ball towards the goal line for the other team.
The GOP would have to nominate Joe Stalin for public office to get a kind word from anyone in the mainstream media.
I’ll bet you know more about a football player’s fake girlfriend or the bumbling words about abortion of a couple of GOP senate candidates than you do about the allegations that a Democrat senator was having sex with underage prostitutes. Selective agenda-reporting is destroying our democracy.
*****
For a free PDF of the book, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com.
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