Yes friends, your tax dollars are hard at work while your government employees are taking the day off to celebrate the accomplishments of our most distinguished citizens.
Who could forget James Abraham Garfield of Ohio, President of the USA from 1881 to 1881? Or William Henry Harrison of Virginia, President of the USA from 1841 to 1841? The great and glorious Chester Alan Arthur of Vermont, President of the USA from 1881 to 1885, or the stellar Benjamin Harrison of Ohio, President of the USA from 1889 to 1893, and (my personal favorite) Millard Fillmore of New York, President of the USA from 1850 to 1853.
We've all played that game where you walk away from a conversation, debate or argument and only later think of exactly what you should have said. At this point of the game you slap yourself on the forehead, and it's over. It's not a very satisfying game. The more satisfying game is to imagine what you or somebody else SHOULD say, at some future time. That game is better when you can imagine your words in the mouth of some important figure, and better still when you can imagine them quoting some other famous line from your script. The game is a delight up until the person actually says what they wanted to say (and never, it seems, what YOU thought they should say) but then you get to imagine THEM smacking themselves in the forehead, for realizing they should have said what you wrote for them.
So here is today's game play. Imagine Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, addressing the Senate on Monday, and in particular Harry Reid (aka Dingy Harry). "Mr. Majority Leader, you have started this debate on health care reform by way of 60 votes, all Democrats. We Republicans cannot stop you from anything that Democrats all agree on, so I say this to you: Go ahead, make my day. When you lose the next election, and you will, we Republicans are simply going to repeal this sham, this abomination masquerading as reform, and you will have lost your seats to accomplish nothing. So you have to ask yourself, do I feel lucky? Well, do you?" Your turn.
Reason TV kicks off its Ayn Rand retrospective this week with a look at how suddenly relevant the philosopher and novelist has become. A-list Hollywood stars want to make a movie from Atlas Shrugged, and suddenly “going Galt” has become a popular catchphrase for producer strikes. Who would have guessed that the era of Hope and Change would have produced Rand as a counter-cultural phenomenon?
Well, perhaps Rand herself would have foreseen it — and in fact she did, in Atlas Shrugged:
Today is the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, who died on August 16, 1977. Elvis died of a life of excess and drug abuse at the absurdly young age of 42. He had been a superstar for more than 20 years by the time he died, entombed in his own celebrity.
When Elvis, Scotty and Bill found their way to the heart of American music with their recording of "That's Alright, Mama," they (and Sun Records owner/producer Sam Phillips) knew they had done something special. Elvis found the heart of America -- the place where country, blues, and gospel meet -- many times over in his music. Indeed, after his artistic decline in the '60s, he willed himself to a second period of creative accomplishment at the end of the '60s and early '70s. Am I wrong in thinking that listening closely to the music all by itself can make us love our country more?
Just received it in the mail. It’s the mustiest-smelling used book I’ve ever purchased. Nasty. Could be a sign.
Ecoscience is definitely not my idea of a fun read, but I know that I have to at least double-check Zombie Post’s facts on Obama’s new ‘Science Czar’, John Holdren. Not that I don’t trust Zombie Post, but…well…I don’t trust too much, anymore. Gotta see it for myself, if you know what I mean.
If what was posted at ZP is indeed accurate, we can add Holdren to the list of extremely scary people in Obama’s cabinet (if not the scariest).
The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and religious liberties is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the Source from which they flow.
Our faith teaches us that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, Who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial and Who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps.
As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him.
God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?... Without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.
Arlen Specter went a bit too far after being asked to justify his party switch yesterday. Specter told Face the Nation that had the GOP listened to him and spent billions more dollars in the “war on cancer,” Jack Kemp would still be alive:
Robert Stacy McCain has put a fun-looking post together on the American Spectator Blog. It's titled "Describe the Democratic Party in 20 Words or Less". To get things started, here's what I put together:
The Democratic Party: Where allegations equal proof, emotions equal thoughtfulness, extremism equals mainstream thought and capitalism is hated.
That's nineteen words and it's right on the money. Id double dog dare anyone to put a better description of the Democratic Party than that.
Put your descriptions in the comments section, which I'll monitor the next 48 hrs. I'll decide the winner Monday night at 6:00 pm CDT.
Today is of course the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of America's greatest president, Abraham Lincoln. As a politician and as president, Lincoln was a profound student of the Constitution and constitutional history. Perhaps most important, Lincoln was America's indispensable teacher of the moral ground of political freedom at the exact moment when the country was on the threshold of abandoning what he called its "ancient faith" that all men are created equal.
Our friends at the Claremont Institute take their bearings from the political thought of the American founding as understood preeminently by Abraham Lincoln. On their home page (linked above), they have posted links to some of the great essays exploring Lincoln's life and works that are available in their archives.
"I made it very clear when I was re-elected leader that the marginalization of members based on how they voted on an override or anything else was over." —Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall), newly re-elected House Minority Leader (Source) [Ed. emphasis mine ]
Let's have the Republican caucus stand for nothing again. Let's have the Republican caucus work against its own base, again! Brilliant!!!!!!!!!! The 2008 election was the perfect case of running RINOs as the perfect solution to the Republican message problem.
With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.
—President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address (1961)
