My only quibble with dear Stacy in his delightful rant is that for any religious or political movement there are real idealists, but the problem is that they are controlled by the swindlers and do nothing about their buying promises of liberty while taking delivery of slavery:
The problem is not merely that Democrats are a bunch of cheap swindlers who cash in by pretending to believe in lofty humanitarian ideals. Rather, the problem is that their “lofty humanitarian ideals” are a one-way ticket to totalitarianism.
We should thank God the Democrats are corrupt, I say, because the radical utopian dreams they promise their dimwitted followers are dangerous, and could only be achieved through a regime of brutal coercion enforced by a ruthless army of unflinching goons.
You know — like the Transportation Security Administration.
But Stacy provides this ray of hope:
Becoming a conservative doesn’t mean you have to quit hating Republicans.
In fact, looking around the blogosphere — or listening to Mark Levin on the radio — the past few days, I’d dare say nobody hates Republicans right now more than conservatives do.
Mom, Dad, there’s something we have to talk about. I’ve been wanting to tell you this for some time, and I want you to know that while I’m fully aware this might be difficult for you to hear, remember, I am still your son, and I love you very much: Mom, Dad, I’m gay, and so help me God, I am stronger than the both of you, and I won’t hesitate to beat you back to the Stone Age if you give me any shit about this.
I completely endorse this approach to coming out, by the way, or for that matter, to being lesbian or gay. And the kettlebells he mentions — I’ve been working out, and will definitely have to look into them.
The ACU recently informed GOProud’s founders Jimmy LaSalvia and Christopher Barron that GOProud is not invited to participate in CPAC 2012. Jeremy Hooper writes at Good As You:
On policy, I disagree with them most always. But as long as there is a Republican party (/conservative wing of it) of which they want to be part, they shouldn’t be denied in any way on the basis of their sexual orientation/gender identity/expression. As long as there is a conservative political conference that they care to support, they shouldn’t be shut out solely because of who they are as people. And as long as groups like Focus on the Family keep bullying like this… [click to Good As You for the audio clip] … I will absolutely go to the mat for GOProud.
These are the first words of support for GOProud that I’ve read on a Leftist gay blog. I hope it is a harbinger of a greater willingness by Leftist gays to be open to ideological diversity and engage in conversation with conservative lesbians and gays. Leftist lesbian and gay equality activists have no idea that they need to listen to conservative lesbians and gays in order to make the arguments for gay equality that conservatives find persuasive.
I just noticed for the first time that Conservatives4Palin has a series entitled, “The 25 most unlikely Palin fans,” with Kevin DuJan of HillBuzz being profiled today as number 7. I don’t know why I can’t get anyone from Conservatives4Palin to answer my e-mails, although it’s been a year since I last tried — perhaps everyone was very busy back then. I would certainly love to open a line a communication with them since Gov. Palin is the candidate I support for the Republican nomination. I hope that if I didn’t make the cut for the top 25 that the list gets expanded to include me and made my case as follows in a comment:
I am a staunch supporter of Gov. Palin and I hope that your list of “Most Unlikely Palin Fans” is expanded to include me and my blog, A Conservative Lesbian.
I’ve also been taking time off from my blog for my health, so I have not been very active since November. But please keep me on your radar since I’m working on my health and finances this year so that I will have a strong foundation for our fight in 2012 for the future of America.
I became a fan of Gov. Palin’s the moment she had the majesty of soul to thank Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro in her first moments on the national stage. I think Gov. Palin is the right person to be America’s next president because she always speaks and works to bring out the highest and best in everyone. And Gov. Palin understands liberty.
I have to admit that I have been reserved in expressing my emotions about Gov. Palin as effusively as Kevin does. The presence of lesbians and gays as conservatives in the conservative movement is so new, I have been concerned that any positive feelings I would express would be interpreted as a sexual attraction. Certainly Gov. Palin is a very beautiful woman, but that is not why I love, respect and admire her. She reminds me of the greatest leader I’ve ever known, my own late life partner of over 20 years, who gave me her secret of leadership: when you want people to do something, ask yourself, “What would make them want to do it?” It looks to me that Gov. Palin has the same philosophy of leadership and goes about it the same way — putting her attention on the greatness in us all and calling it into manifestation. Gov. Palin’s ability to inspire people to positive action and her executive skills make her the only prospective candidate who can restore America’s greatness as president. That is why I support her.
Dear Peter Ingemi, whom I consider a friend, is Datechguy and has been hit with a series of unexpected expenses. He only needs about 160 more people who can donate $10 each to meet his goal so he can pay his mortgage. Please check out his blog and help if you can — send love and affirmative prayer if you can’t send money. They help, too.
Thanks to Ace, I just finished reading dear Richard Miniter’s explanation at Forbes.com of “Why the Democratic Party is doomed,” and I recommend reading the whole thing, whether or not his headline fills you with hope or despair. It was transformational for me because it was the first time I saw the Democrats as a coalition of economic groups rather than social groups (or, to conservatives, identity grievance groups). It’s an extremely insightful and handy overview.
BTW, I’m not sure I would ever have seen the distinction between the economic and social groups among the Democrats if I hadn’t gotten used to Republicans making distinctions between fiscal and social conservatives.
Two points that dear Richard makes particularly amuse me. The first is the degree to which the Democrats’ war on free enterprise via the Cerberus of over-regulation, over-taxation and unsustainable union benefits is now biting them in the ass (boldfacing mine):
This crisis comes at a very bad time for Democrats. Their coalition is either dying off or going broke.
Unions. Private sector union membership has declined from 52% of the American workforce in the 1950s to 7% today. As large-scale manufacturing and the Fortune 500 shed jobs, the prospect for increasing unionization rates diminishes. There is no likely scenario in which private-sector unions grow by a significant amount; indeed they will likely continue their slow, steady march into the mists of history.
Who could have predicted that driving good manufacturing jobs out of America would be bad for the very unions that donated to the party that sent their jobs overseas? Besides conservatives, I mean.
The second point is pure ROFLMAO because, for some reason, hardcore, ahem, entrepreneurs really like free enterprise and won’t donate to the party that wants to kill it (boldfacing mine):
Porn Industry. Usually overlooked by analysts, this lucrative industry is a small but important source of campaign cash for Democrats. But the Internet is gutting it. XXX theatres, a fixture of the 1970s are long gone, and the DVD side of the business is dying too. As a 2009 Conde Nast Portfolio magazine article shows, YouPorn.com and other porn sites now offer hours of video content online for free, squeezing Larry Flint’s Hustler, Hugh Hefner’s Playboy and their many print rivals. The underground cultural force of these publications is shrinking with their revenues. While porn is here to stay, the Internet has empowered anyone to put up a website and collect revenue from ads or pay-per-view — underpricing the Goliaths that write campaign checks. As for Democrats, organizing tens of thousands of small-business porn stars will prove a difficult and low-margin proposition.
In contrast I think these entrepreneurs would fit right into the big tent of the Tea Party and conservativism. What do you think their booth at CPAC will look like?
P.S.
Alternatively, what do you think planned economy porn will look like?
The U.S. Air Force is in the market for an aircraft that can be used for light attack and armed reconnaissance (LAAR) missions. It also will be used to provide training to foreign military allies so they can provide their own defense. Very soon the Department of Defense will decide whether to award the contract to Hawker-Beechcraft, an American company with a manufacturing plant in Wichita, Kansas, or to Embraer, a Brazilian company, which has rented a hangar in Florida. The two competing models of airplane are Hawker-Beechcraft’s AT-6 and Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano. This video compares their respective facilities:
Summary of the video: If DoD awards Hawker-Beechcraft the contract, it will create or sustain 1,400 jobs in the U.S. at a company that has an established manufacturing plant and will create orders for suppliers in 18 states. If Embraer wins the contract, it will employ 50 people in the U.S. who will assemble their aircraft in a rented hangar, which, call me crazy, is a proposal that has “we’re just not that into you” written all over it.
Whenever I think of all the manufacturing jobs being driven out of the U.S. by taxes, regulations and “watermelon” environmentalism (green on the outside, socialist red on the inside — i.e., environmentalism as a mask for ways to destroy free enterprise, aka capitalism), I think of the scene at the beginning of “Gone with the Wind” at the picnic after everyone learns the Yankees South Carolinians have fired on Fort Sumter and war is imminent. Rhett Butler watches the men boast of how quickly they will defeat the Yankees and when one notes that Butler has visited the North and asks his opinion, Butler replies as follows (boldfacing mine):
RHETT BUTLER : I think it’s hard winning a war with words, gentlemen.
CHARLES: What do you mean, sir?
RHETT: I mean, Mr. Hamilton, there’s not a cannon factory in the whole South.
MAN: What difference does that make, sir, to a gentleman?
RHETT: I’m afraid it’s going to make a great deal of difference to a great many gentlemen, sir.
CHARLES: Are you hinting, Mr. Butler, that the Yankees can lick us?
RHETT: No, I’m not hinting. I’m saying very plainly that the Yankees are better equipped than we. They’ve got factories, shipyards, coal mines … and a fleet to bottle up our harbors and starve us to death. All we’ve got is cotton, and slaves and … arrogance.
If ever there were an industry in which we MUST buy American, it has to be the defense industry. Each nation looks after its own self-interest. Putting American defense in the hands of another nation at the very least gives it enormous leverage in bargaining with the U.S. for anything it wants and at the worst gives it the power to refuse to deliver when it doesn’t get its way. Embraer is not only subsidized by the Brazilian government, the Brazilian government owns 40 percent of it and has the following powers over Embraer’s policies according to a May 2011 report from the Hudson Institute (boldfacing mine):
Creation and/or alteration of military programs, whether or not involving the Federative Republic of Brazil
Development of third parties´ skills in technology for military programs
Interruption of the supply of maintenance and replacement parts for military aircraft
Transfer of the equity control of the company.
What else could go wrong? Also according to the Hudson Institute report, Brazil has considerable anti-American sentiment and its major exports compete directly with American exports. The ability to cut off the supply of parts and maintenance for an American military aircraft would give Brazil considerable leverage in future trade agreements.
Then there’s the detail that Embraer’s Super Tucano cannot be piloted by approximately 18 percent of military males and 81 percent of military females because it is built to standards that do not allow them to eject safely. However, the Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 would allow for warfighters with weights as low as 103 pounds and as high as 245 pounds to fly the aircraft safely — which amounts to approximately 95% of the combined male and female potential pilot population. See Jenn Q. Public for the stories of four female Afghan pilots who would be grounded due to their size if the Super Tucano were chosen over the Hawker Beechcraft AT-6.
Update: The screen capture is from National Review Online’s home page from Thursday, July 14, 2011, and does not have its own link, so I linked the story.
Here’s what Prof. Althouse wrote that set dear Stacy off — and gave me a big enough shot of adrenalin that I’m up past my bedtime writing about it, too:
This is how people* got hooked into voting for Obama in the first place! Plouffe and company massaged people into the place where they had a feeling about Obama. Hope. Change. Yes We Can.
[snip]
*Not me. I voted for Obama, but I coolly observed all this emotionalism, soberly examined the 2 major party candidates, and made a rational choice.
Oh, for heaven’s sake! I pity the fool who didn’t have Obama’s measure from the moment the preaching and character of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright were revealed along with the fact that Obama spent 20 years attending his church and had Rev. Wright perform his marriage and baptise his children AND the fact that as soon as he was no longer useful Obama threw him under the bus. That one episode epitomizes Obama in all his sociopathy. I was a lifelong Democrat and liberal and I still figured it out. By the time John McCain chose Gov. Palin as his running mate, I was ready to vote for him. By October I had finally pierced the liberal media’s veil over fiscal conservativism and in December — just as Stacy predicted — I registered as a Republican.
Stacy’s shellacking of Prof. Althouse is apt and richly deserved. I only have one thing to add. Here is the point Prof. Althouse was making:
You can savage Plouffe all you want for his seemingly stupid remark, but don’t miss the opportunity to see what he revealed about the theory of the reelect Obama campaign [that David Plouffe will shape Obama’s message to create the feeling in voters that Obama cares about them and makes his decisions based on them personally, no matter who they are].
OK, yes, the Obama campaign will try to evoke feelings — all smart campaigns do. But it appears to me that Obama’s sociopathy is still in a blind spot for Prof. Althouse. What Obama will do, shamelesssly, is tell any audience he’s facing whatever they want to hear, regardless of whether that is the opposite of what he just told another audience. The only reason Obama says anything is to get what he wants without any intention of keeping his promises. This is his lifelong pattern. That is what you need to know about the theory of the re-elect Obama campaign. And if Obama wants to make this election about the decisions he’s made and how they affect American families — yippee! Game on!
… is the minimum tip in all circumstances unless the server deliberately sets you on fire. If the fire is accidental, then the tip is still 20 percent.
What? I was schooled on tipping by girlfriends in college who were waitresses.
