Let's be clear: Sarah Palin did quit & will have huge problems ever overcoming that politically. But the Left's "quitter, quitter, quitter" drumbeat..

http://davidnyc.dailykos.com/

...simply touches upon again for me something that I commented upon a few days ago: This poor lady, even though she's a conservative ideologue (hell, she's my "Deranged Right-Winger of the Day" today) and was ill-equipped and ill-prepared for the national spotlight which was thrust upon her (and yes, which she accepted), has been probably the biggest target of leftist HATE (yes, absolute, unadulterated HATRED), inappropriateness, and mean-spiritedness that I have ever witnessed in my almost four decades on this planet. So you just keep pounding away, pathetic far left, on a lady who is no longer a serious player on the national political stage, and keep pounding away on her family and children as you like to do, and in the meantime I will just keep pounding on you slimes for being the hateful, almost sub-human creatures that you are. And if you have a problem with those sentiments, go **** yourselves (yeah, I've been looking for a good spot to bring back my catch-phrase!).

Here it comes!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=ajQbZ.WrAVwQ

I suspected that Biden's so-called "admission" Sunday that the White House previously "misread" the seriousness of the economic recession really wasn't much of an admission at all, but rather possibly an intentional opening salvo in trying to build momentum towards a second economic "stimulus" bill (on which there have been small rumblings in recent weeks). And guess what? It looks like it's already starting. Today one of His Majesty's advisers, Laura Tyson, said that the U.S. should consider drafting a second "stimulus" package. She actually claims that the $787 billion approved the first time around in February was "a bit too small." Well, maybe she does have a point there. After all, I can only imagine all the nice, new, greasy pork barrel projects that the dems have been able to identify in the intervening 4.5 months. I would assume that Pelosi & Reid already have the keyboards (and calculators) going on a new bill. Stay tuned...

Today's Russian deal will make our warfare in Afghanistan more fuel efficient.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/06/u-s-russia-reach-deal-on-afghanistan/

"The new transit routes [through Russia as a result of the deal] will allow the U.S. military to resupply international forces more quickly, saving up to $133 million a year in fuel and other transportation costs, the White House said."

I guess that's the most important thing, after all. I have to say, the lunacy and hypocrisy of the American left on Afghanistan is frightening. Suddenly, once a liberal dem is president, it's OK for a sitting president to wage warfare abroad without any clearly articulated plan for what the hell we're doing there and why we keep ratcheting up troop levels. Nope, apparently as long as the war we fight is a "energy efficient" as possible, it's OK by most of the left. H-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e-s.

Sarah Palin resigns as Alaska governor. Who cares?

I don't live in Alaska, do you? The almost wall-to-wall media coverage of Palin's resignation this weekend just illustrates how Palin is much more of a celebrity and circus act than serious politician -- as if her previous words, demeanor and actions weren't already sufficient evidence of the same. My views on Palin, I think, have always been fairly clear: I generally like her on a personal level, and she is hot. But even apart from her being a right wing ideologue (which I have no place for), I don't think she has what it takes to be president. I just don't see it. However, I would like to thank Palin for something. With the possible exception of "W!", there is no person in this country rising to the level of Palin in terms of being the incessant drumbeat target of far left hate, disdain and mean-spiritedness. Just by being you, Sarah, you help to remind me on a regular basis just how nutty and hateful the far left loons really are.

Happy Independence Day to All! Even you libs and conservatives!

And on this wonderful day of Independence, be sure to make a point in the near future to visit The Wounded Warrior Project website. There are many ways to get involved in this charitable organization that supports our wounded troops. One simple way is to download their small tool bar, which makes a small contribution to the Project for every internet search you do using the tool bar. I use it for all my searches. After all, Mr. T commands it (see below in the right sidebar). Happy Independence Day -- Bang, Bang!

On this Eve of Independence Day, a thought: "Elephants & Asses are destroying the masses."

No, that's not a quote of mine (I wish it was), but rather a bumper sticker that I saw today. Anecdotal, yes, but also illustrative of a larger point: We Independent Ragers are out here, and dems and repubs are definitely not entertaining us. We just need more of us to speak out -- loud and proud. As that happens, you'll see more of us grouping together into collective efforts to try to bring change (any change) to the rotten, hollow, corrupted, extreme-slanted political system that we currently have. And some day soon, I believe, these two B.S. extremist parties are gonna have to start paying just a bit of attention.

OK, enough Majesty posts already. The one question this weekend: Will we see a North Korean missile launch on July 4 (or otherwise) towards Hawaii?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529808,00.html

I'm putting the likelihood at about 45%. But regardless, I sure as hell hope not. Such an act of provocation (even from a non-nuclear missile that likely would get nowhere near Hawaii) threatens only to be a potential first step down a very dangerous road. I think that regardless of our political persuasions, we can probably agree on that.

Unemployment rate hits 9.5% -- the worst we've seen since 1983.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_economy

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2009/07/02/unemployment-reaches-95-percent-highest-in-26-years.html

Tell me, Your Majesty: Care to retract your Bush-esque "Mission Accomplished"-type rhetoric from yesterday? (Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it.)

His Majesty declares, decrees and ordains this day that the Stimulus Bill has "done it's job". Say it with me...

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/07/01/live-blogging-obamas-town-hall-meeting-on-health-care/ (see the 2:04 p.m. entry)

Gallup: "More Americans see Democratic party as too liberal." -- Largest percentage since the 1994 midterm elections.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/121307/More-Americans-See-Democratic-Party-Too-Liberal.aspx?version=print

This item is well-summarized in its first sentence: "A Gallup Poll finds a statistically significant increase since last year in the percentage of Americans who describe the Democratic Party's views as being 'too liberal,' from 39% to 46%. This is the largest percentage saying so since November 1994, after the party's losses in that year's midterm elections."

It's good to see that at least some folks are finally starting to wake up and get it. The dems are a party that was already too liberal for my tastes in the 1990's, and they have completely gone off the deep end during the Internet Age and in the years that have followed 9-11. During that period, the term "liberal" for me has gone beyond the simple left-wing ideology and has become also synonymous with hatefulness, bitterness and mean-spiritedness -- which is a bit of a problem since these are the people who control the democratic party. In a nutshell, this definitely ain't the democratic party that my grandparents grew up with in the 1940's and 50's, nor even the one that I grew up with in the 1980's.

As a final note, I do hope that the same 46% of Americans who view the dems as too liberal also understand that the repubs have the very same problem -- complete domination and control by the conservatives. Dems and repubs: Two peas in the same extremist pod, as I like to say.

His Majesty's poll is definitely not risin'.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

According to Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, only 31% of voters strongly approve of Majesty's job performance -- the lowest level that Rasmussen has yet recorded for His Majesty. With 33% of voters strongly disapproving of his job performance, Majesty's Presidential Approval Index rating (i.e., the 31% minus the 33%) is now Minus 2 -- a level it has only reached once previously. In fairness, Majesty's "total approve" number (i.e. the total of the strongly approve and somewhat approve numbers) is currently at 54%, which is close to where it's been for much of the month. But given the recent jump we've seen in Majesty's disapproval rating amongst us Independents, it can't be welcome news today to see the 31% figure, nor another Minus 2. In the meantime, I'll be independently monitoring...

Here are the facts as we know them tonight.

I begin with crediting His Majesty for our current pullback in Iraq. About time. And if a slimey old coot Neo-Con like Dick Cheney is against it, methinks Majesty is doing something very right there. But the rest of what I have to say is not so complimentary:

Flashback to September 2008, the campaign trail, Dover New Hampshire: His Majesty looks all of us straight in the eye and pledges that no middle class American family with an income of less than $250,000 (me included) will see any form of tax increase. And what have we instead seen in the months since Majesty was coronated?

1. Statements by the Administration (Axelrod) on ABC last Sunday morning that Majesty will not for one second "rule out" the prospect of supporting a health care tax hike in the soon to-be-battled health care reform bill debate, i.e. the taxing of middle class Americans' employee health care benefits. Strange they wouldn't "rule out" such a new tax out given Majesty's campaign pledge. And the most disingenuous aspect to this: Majesty's campaign spent myriad campaign funds on nationwide attack ads villifying John McCain for advocating the very same thing in terms of taxing employee benefits. McCain was wrong, but apparently Majesty was right then, and is now right again advocating the precise opposite position to which he spewed his venom at McCain during the campaign.

2. The increased tobacco tax advocated by Majesty and now passed into law, which is completely regressive in nature, hammering lower income folks very disproportionely, in order to pay for an extension of the children's health care program (yes, an inherently funding-worthy pursuit on its face, but there are other ways to fund things besides hammering lower income folks with huge new taxes during the worst economic downturn we've seen since the early 80's or perhaps earlier (which dems in recent months have loved to take advantage of at every turn, when it serves their purposes, in terms of passing massive new ultra-liberal pieces of legislation with narry an ounce of debate or any federal lawmaker typically being given the chance to even read the legislation before a vote is forced upon it)).

3. The massive "cap-and-trade" bill which just passed the House in the evening hours Friday despite 300 new pages of complex statutory jargon only being added to the bill that morning by ultra-liberal freak Henry Waxman. The Wall Street Journal called this bill the single largest tax hike in American history, hitting the middle class and all Americans significantly hard, which I'm afraid is the truth. The dems have tried to defend it in their typical spin-and-chicken$hit manner by claiming it's "technically" not a new tax since even though all Americans will see a big increase in their regular energy bills from ulility companies, such increase will not be collected "directly" by the federal government, but rather by the ultility companies themselves as they pass-through their heightened costs (resulting from the bill) to all of us consumers. Say what, dems? Sounds like a huge new tax on us regular folks, if you ask me.

So now let's get down to brass tacks (I love that phrase). Let's talk turkey (love that one too): His Majesty made a solemn pledge to us during the campaign -- a promise that he has been willing, and apparently continues to be willing, to break whenever he feels like it. Now, am I going to say that he was lying to us when made that devout pledge? Hell no. I think he believed it at the time. But for him to now go around disregarding that very simple promise, right and left, is to me a sign that Majesty is very little different from basically every president I've seen during my lifetime -- campaign promises are meant to be broken, and prior words mean absolutely nothing. Hardly "Change We Can Believe In."

His Majesty says Honduras coup was "illegal" and Zelaya remains the president.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D994HRB00&show_article=1

So much for restraint.

It's Revolution in Honduras. And Hugo, the Castros, and Obama are all starting to weigh in.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/28/honduras.president.arrested/index.html

I realize how much I like to beat the drum (i.e. truth) of how our two US extremes control our two B.S. political parties, but please realize also that when I say "extremes", I'm fully cognizant of the fact that there are much more extreme places that politics and hate can take human beings than even the venom we see on a daily basis from our US far left and far right. And we see that playing out in Central and South America on an ongoing basis basically into perpetuity. In those regions, it seems like it's always some VERY far left socialist or communist group or power competing against some VERY far right totalitarian group or power in one country or another. And it appears we're seeing just such a struggle play out yet again right now in Honduras, at least based on the limited material I've been able to read on the situation tonight. Too often in the last several decades, I believe the mistake of our executive branch has been to so quickly takes sides in these battles between REAL extremists. Much too often during the Nixon and Reagan years, in particular, we would routinely and unthinkingly side with any extremist right wing power or regime that we could (no matter how authoritarian or barbaric they were) out of the mantra of the Cold War and the Policy of Containment. And we made some real mistakes in many of those endeavors (e.g., check out sometime the book or the movie, "Missing"). Which is why I call on President Obama (on a serious issue like this, I am not going use my usual silly catch-phrase moniker, "Majesty") to exhibit some of the wise restraint he showed towards the Iranian situation, and not to rush to take sides in the Honduras situation. In case the folks reading this blog haven't noticed (and I know some of you are reading, even if you won't admit it!), I despise the Neo-Cons -- the great Neo-Con experiment of the "W!" days is OVER -- and I want to see a whole lot of restraint from our executive branch in terms of meddling in the affair of other sovereign nations. That means not invading or getting the CIA involved in sovereign nations unless we have one HELL of a good reason for doing so (we did not in Iraq), and it means using common sense, reasonableness, and restraint when it comes to our rhetoric about firestorm situations in other countries. So far, this is one isolated area on which Obama gets a generally passing grade from me (although I'm still waiting to hear what the heck our plan actually IS in Afghanistan), and I look forward to hopefully continuing to generally agree with him in this realm (because I gotta tell ya, it gives me no pleasure or delight that a majority of my posts have so far been critical -- as opposed to agreeing -- with a sitting President). But I will just continue to do my best to call each issue like I see it. (Sorry for the long rambling post, but you'll get that from me sometimes! ;) ).

As angry as His Majesty has made me by forcing yet another piece of massive ultra-liberal legislation down our throats w/o debate or anyone reading it

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090627/D9930GJ80.html

...I still would like to take up defending His Majesty tonight against the continuing verbal assault he's receiving from Iranian President Mahmoud ("Mama") Ahmadinejad. Hey Mama, why don't you unequivocally, officially go **** yourself -- that is, if you can bear to tear yourself away from murdering your own citizens who have the gall to disagree with you. Let me tell you something, Mama, you are a flunkie, a lackey, a sidekick, a mascot to the Supreme Leader. And all of us in America know it. You're about as powerful as a rat in a cancer research center. You're about as dangerous as a dead tick in an Alabama $hithouse. As much as some in our American far right might like to incessantly build you up as the second coming of Hitler or Stalin or something, to me and most knowledgeable Americans, you're just our Mama -- and you also make a very dreadful looking mascot, by the way. Trim the beard, dude.

Cap-and-trade bill ram-rodded right down our throats by the far left powers-that-be in the House.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24232.html

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there's something ROTTEN in Denmark when this bill gets expanded by 300 pages (by ultra-liberal freak Henry Waxman) early in the morning of the same day when the dems are dead-set on forcing the House to vote on it. Those were 300 pages that were never read by virtually any of the 219 representatives who voted to approve this bill. Why the big rush? Why did this bill absolutely have to be voted on today (with 300 last-minute additional pages), despite most members of the House not reading it? I think it's pretty obvious: To fast track another piece of ultra-liberal legislation while His Majesty's slipping approval ratings will still allow these kinds of shenanigans to occur in Pelosi's chamber. Today the Wall Street Journal called this bill the single largest tax increase in US history, and it appears to me that WSJ is exactly right. I guess something has to pay for all the bailouts and the "stimulus" bill, right? And here's another thing: The completely disingenuous statements coming out of the mouths of some of these so-called "moderate" democrats tonight. For example: "I'm in a tough spot voting against this bill," said Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.). AS IF he would have ever voted against it if Pelosi and the radical left powerbrokers who control the House would have ordered him to vote for it. I mean, $hit, he was one of the lucky ones that Pelosi allowed to vote against it since the dems had the votes to pass it. "Tough spot" my ass. And I loved the following sentence from the above-linked story: "Many of those moderate Democrats, like freshman Rep. Bobby Bright of Alabama, also waited until the end of the roll call to cast votes against the package." In other words -- the same thing I was talking about just above: These so-called "moderate" dems were very ready to vote for the bill if necessary to pass it, and only voted against it because it was not necessary for them to support it. My God, people, I've ranted and raved for 3 months now about the slimey way that these two parties conduct themselves in the halls of power of this country on a daily basis. You won't see a better example than what we witnessed today. And you vote for people in either one of these 2 B.S. parties, why precisely? For the record: I do not, and won't start any time soon. I'm not represented by anyone from these two parties, but I'm gonna keep running my big mouth until someone listens. That's a guar-an-damn-tee.

Postscript: Yeah, I'm a bit riled up tonight and it may well be a moot point (maybe) since this unread 1200-page piece of legislation will face a whole lot tougher road in the Senate than in the House. But regardless, this was some slimey politics that we saw today, and I felt compelled to speak my mind on it.

Left-wing blogosphere up in arms about Slimebaugh blaming Obama for Sanford's recent behavior. The utter disingenuousness of the far left is comical.

http://chattahbox.com/us/2009/06/26/rush-limbaugh-its-obamas-fault-that-gov-sanford-cheated-on-wife/

These are the same nuts who blamed "W!" for every calamity, domestic and abroad, for 8 years. My personal favorite: Blaming "W!" for causing Hurricane Katrina to occur. Now, is it outrageous for Slimebaugh to blame Obama's economic policies for causing Sanford's bad behavior? Of course it is. That's Slimebaugh being Slimebaugh. He blamed Clinton for everything under the sun during Clinton's 8 years. Now down to brass tacks: This is just another illustration of what I mean when I say the two B.S. extremes that control our two parties are little more than two peas in the same demented pod. Each loves to rant and rave when the other extreme engages in the same kinds of slimey behavior that the first extreme itself routinely employs. Nothing ever changes with these guys. Their world views are intellectually dishonest to the last. It's in my mind not only enjoyable, but indeed a necessity, to be Independent of these goofs. And the "blame" for that lies with no one other than themselves.

Hey media nationwide: TMZ kicked your ass yesterday.

As a person who has occasionally watched bits and pieces of TMZ's daily television show, I have to say that I have never thought very highly of TMZ. Chasing around celebrities and trying to annoy them with silly stupid questions, I suppose, really isn't my cup of tea. But I digress, because I also have to say that I was thoroughly impressed yesterday with TMZ. Not only was TMZ the first to report Michael Jackson's death, but it was well over an hour later before any other media outlet was able to confirm the death and report it as fact themselves. In the Internet era, such lag time between the first reporter and the second is virtually unheard of (sorry Jeeves to end a sentence on a preposition). In fact, I can't recall seeing anything quite like that before. You know what that means? TMZ was all over the story and had sources and information that other media outlets did not (or least did not until well over an hour later) -- a most impressive feat with respect to a story that was very sudden and fast-moving. TMZ should consider branching out in the mainstream national news and political arena, because they might just be able to show the advocates who lurk there a thing or two about real journalism.

They were a couple of bona fide pop culture icons.

Both were particularly memorable and meaningful to us members of Generation X. Rest in peace.

I would offer comment on His Majesty's ABC-sponsored health care infomercial last night...

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/06/abcs-white-house-special-struggled-for-viewers.html

But I didn't happen to catch it. And apparently I wasn't the only one (see above link). But I suppose this does take some wind out of the sails of the repubs who were complaining about this event (I complained about it as well in this space). After all, how can you rant and rave too much about a program that nobody watched?

Stick a fork in him, he's done.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/25/sanford-took-taxpayer-funded-trip-to-argentina-last-june-2/

It appears that a trip by Sanford to Argentina last year was taxpayer funded. With that, combined with the lies he was having his staff put out to the public about his recent whereabouts, I see no way this guy survives much longer without resigning his governorship. Heck, he should resign. If he somehow survives this stuff, it will be one of the better Houdini acts that I've seen.

O'Reilly & Barney Frank tonight. I have to say, that was some high entertainment!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

To use a phrase I'm fond of, these are two peas in the same pod -- pompous, angry blowhards, and that's what makes it so entertaining the two times they've gotten together on O'Reilly's show. I was literally rolling on the floor at several of their exchanges, because you simply have a combustible firekeg any time you get two people like this together. I view them both as basically cartoon characters more than anything else, which is why tonight was so much fun. As for Frank, I could not disagree more with virtually everything that comes out of his mouth from his blinded ultra-liberal perspective, but I have to say (and may some force from on high strike me down in my tracks for saying this) that I kind of like him a tiny bit more every time I see him in these kinds of situations -- the utter rambunctiousness and pomposity of this individual is something I must admit to having a bit of respect for (sorry Jeeves for ending a sentence on a preposition). Bottom line: Frank would make a great professional wrestling manager. He's totally spot on for that role. Don't care for him too much as a politician, but I think that maybe he's missing his true calling. And one final observation, which I will make in the form of a bit of advice to Frank: Get some semblance of a sence of humor, dude (at least if you want to remain in the realm of politics, as opposed to being a pro wrestling manager who must maintain kayfabe most of the time). As for sense of humor, you have none. As for self-deprication, you have none. That's about the only difference between you and O'Reilly -- he has a tiny bit of a sense of humor, and can self-depricate now and then. But Frank, I must say, I did see you ALMOST crack a tiny smile at the end of the O'Reilly segment. You should roll with that a little more. We could all use to smile just a bit more than we do.

U-S-A! U-S-A!

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-us-spain-soccer25-2009jun25,0,1539616.story

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528977,00.html

USA 2, Spain nil.

They traipsed around town buck naked because they just wanted to have a positive effect on global warming.

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/is-nudism-a-green-vacation/

No. That hasn't really occurred yet. Just speculation on my part as to where a story like this one might lead ("living in the buff has 'a positive effect on global warming, climate change and society'").