Books, movies, politics, and whatever I want

Archive for April, 2009

Why the Churchill bust had to go.

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Leslie Bates posted a very likely explanation over at E-Ramblings.

Ten Top Reasons to scrap the Tax Code

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

Freedomworks.com sums it up nicely.

Adam Smith famously noted in the Wealth of Nations that complex tax codes are “more burdensome to the people than they are beneficial to the sovereign.” Our tax code is broken. It’s unfair, complex, inhibits saving, investment and job creation, imposes a heavy burden on families, and undermines the integrity of the democratic process. We should scrap it and rebuild a simple, low, flat, fair, and honest tax code.

Here is the list:
1. THE CODE IS TOO COMPLEX.
2. THE CODE IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION.
3. THE IRS IS TOO BIG.
4. THE CODE CORRUPTS THE CULTURE IN WASHINGTON. DC.
5. THE CODE TAXES SOME INCOME TWO OR MORE TIMES.
6. CONGRESS USES THE TAX CODE TO LEGISLATE MORALITY.
7. HIGH MARGINAL TAX RATES PENALIZE SUCCESS.
8. COMPLYING WITH THE CODE COSTS AMERICANS BILLIONS.
9. THE CODE DRIVES POLITICAL DONATIONS
10. LAWS SHOULD REST ON PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE.

Stop by and read the whole thing.

Another poison threat from Communist China

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

Fox News reports that 500 million pounds of poisonous drywall was shipped to the United States from Communist China during a four-year period of booming home construction.

Materials from Communist China made with poisonous materials is not a new story. There are times when it’s best not to go with the lowest bidder.

“Hope & Change” does not include tolerance.

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

It seems that tolerance, as well as diversity, is not included in the set of “Hope & Change.”

Since Arizona State University made the rational and well thought out decision not grant our Dear Leader an honorary degree because of his overall lack of experience in just about anything, the radical extremist far left that makes up the most rabid of Team Lightbringer’s supporters have reacted true to form.

ASU dared to defy their leftist deity, so they want the heretics burned. I’m not kidding. There have been actual death threats from the “open minded and tolerant” left.

Laurie Chassin co-chairs the ASU Honorary Degree Committee along with Christine Wilkinson, but she is on sabbatical this year and is not involved in this year’s evaluations. According to a source within the administration, she reportedly received death threats after this story hit national news on Thursday. An ASU spokesperson said they started receiving hate-email within minutes after the story was published on Huffington Post.

The President’s friend and advisor, the terrorist William Ayers should be proud.

Friday B-Movie Pick Pick: Cat People

Friday, April 10th, 2009

Cat People

The 1982 film noir classic, complete with David Bowie doing the title song. A great cast including Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, and Annette O’Toole (That’s Superboy’s mom for you Smallville fans). This is a remake of the 1942 original (which I admit to not having seen yet), with plenty of casual nudity by Kinski & O’Toole and more than its fair share of gore. That includes a scene involving Ed Begley Jr.. Don’t worry, it’s one of the gore scenes, not one of the casual nudity scenes.

The Friday B-Movie Archive.

Political Books

Friday, April 10th, 2009

A short list of what you should be reading.

The Constitution of the United States of America

Liberal Fascism by David Goldberg

Atlas Shrugged By Ayn Rand

The New Thought Police: Inside the Left’s Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds by Tammy Bruce and Laura C. Schlessinger

The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World

Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin

Another diplomatic failure from Team Lightbringer

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

The Washington Times reports that the Vatican has “rejected at least three of President Obama’s candidates to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See” because of their pro-abortion stances.

If our Dear Leader hopes to meet Pope Benedict XVI in July, he should have a ambassador in place first. I’m sure the White House would never dream of sending a staunch anti-Communist to meet with the Communist Dictators of Cuba, so this must be some sort of logistical issue. It is likely that in the highly diverse and tolerant liberal democrat administration, there isn’t one person of significant rank (and for an ambassador, that includes anyone who donated a big pile of money during the campaign) who supports the Pro-Life agenda.

HT to The Other McCain

Update: Team Obama continues its foreign policy record of Epic Fail by attempting to make one of his campaign supporters, who is also strongly pro-abortion, to the post of Ambassador to the Vatican. In this case, it’s Princess Caroline of the democrat political Kennedy dynasty. Does the President also plan on attempting to give the Pope a wedgie when they meet?

Of course, the Vatican has rejected this attempt as well. Bill Clinton was experienced and smart enough not to drop the ball on a simple diplomatic appointment like this one. He picked the former Mayor of Boston, democrat and a more observant Roman Catholic than Princess Caroline, whom the Vatican had no problems accepting as the Ambassador of the United States of America.

It seems that a simple task of finding a Pro-Life democrat to appoint to this post is beyond the skill set of Team Lightbringer. The other explanation I put forward may be true. It’s not a simple task, because the “highly diverse and tolerant liberal democrat administration” of our Dear Leader doesn’t include a single democrat who supports a Pro-Life agenda and nobody in their circle of friends/co-workers is a democrat who supports a Pro-Life agenda.

So much for that “big tent” diversity thing. It appears that this simple level of diversity is not part of “Hope & Change.”

The lefts continuing attack on free speech

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Roger Simon reports that ACORN and agents of the far left extremist Huffington Post are “planning to infiltrate the Tea Parties” organized by American citizens who disagree with the out of control and reckless spending by the President and congressional democrats.

This is another example of the lefts war on the First Amendment when the basic human right of free speech being exercised doesn’t agree with their extremist views.

Tax Day Tea Party Signs

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Two sources of images for Tax Day Tea Party signs, MarshBaby & Simon Jester.

For those of you who are not SciFi fans, Simon Jester is reference to Robert Heinlein’s classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which was the Monday Book pick on January 26, 2009.

2018 update: Both the sites referenced are no longer valid.

I Question the numbers

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

The city of Detroit, Michigan has more registered voters than residents over the age of 18.

Detroit election officials confirmed Monday what an analysis of census and population records shows: The city has more registered voters than it has residents over the voting age of 18.

He estimates that Detroit’s population is about 853,000, which includes 603,000 people over 18 — 30,000 fewer than the city reported as its total of registered voters.

“Even if you had 100% voter registration, which we know we don’t have, you could not have numbers that high,” he said. “Nationally, 67.6% of Americans are registered to vote. For African Americans, it’s 60.9%.”

No surprise, but the voting record in Detroit trends about 95% democrat. This is smelling like ACORN corruption.