I'm not good enough to know if this is Photoshopped; I want to believe that it is not.

There are very many things that I don't understand but chief among them is the idea that grabbing guns will make us safer when it will only disarm the law-abiding. Or make criminals of the formerly law-abiding, who wish to exercise their Second-Amendment rights. First against thieves and muggers but more important to me is the idea that our government know that we can shoot back if we have to. Our Founding Fathers understood perfectly well the idea of shooting at oppressive governments.

It is illegal in Florida for rental cars to have signage proclaiming them rental cars; the carjackers know that drivers of rental cars are unarmed because they took airplane flights. This cut down on the murder rate. A town in Georgia required all households to have a gun, and the breaking and entering decreased. Criminals are expert assessors of risk and they decided to risk unarmed places.

I once saw a criminal in prison being asked if he wanted gun control. He smiled and was all for it. "Sure. That way we know they aren't armed."

But it is a matter of faith to some people that disarming will make them safer. I wonder if they channel Neville Chamberlain.

One of my greatest hopes, however, is that Congress pass a massive gun-grabbing bill requiring every gun to be turned in. This might make Texas secede.

The Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Prize for Chemistry shall be awarded to Jane D. Stumpbucket for her outstanding efforts to strengthen the process of making caramel apples. Dr. Stumpbucket displayed extraordinary efforts in her attempts to revive the flagging cottage industry of wrapping apples in sheets of caramel. The carmel-apple industry had been on a decline worldwide owing to indifference until Dr. Stumpbucket's rigorous work redefined it and reinvigorated it, giving hope to countless crafters and cooks worldwide.

My idea, and it is my idea, is that you first insert a stick into the apple, from the stem end. Not the bottom, but the stem end. If the stem is more than 2 cm long, remove the stem with a paring knife, making sure that you have a knife-proof glove on your left hand. That is if you are right handed. If you are left handed, put the knife-proof glove on your right hand. I will not be responsible if you put the knife-proof glove on the hand holding the knife.

Grasping the apple firmly in your left hand, if you are right handed, insert a stick with a rectangular cross section exactly 4 cm straight into the apple. Some people have used round sticks but this allows the apple to turn on the stick while you apply the caramel wrap.

Very short, only 18 seconds. Notice his His O'liness is snubbed. Ah. The Obama charm seems to work only on the legacy media in America.

Any school child knows that weakness is met with contempt and scorn, yet Obama doesn't seem to know this. His privileged upbringing, and lack of real challenges, and his teflon charm have insulated him from failure. And his failure is America's failure.

Even I, who have nothing but contempt for this empty suit, felt a twinge of compassion for him. But I'm quite sure that in fifteen seconds he'd worked it all around that it hadn't happened. Perhaps everyone on the receiving line had a sore hand, capable of only one handshake that day.

These days it seems almost futile to seethe with dire warnings about how we're all going to hell--especially when infinitely smarter people, and better writers, like Mark Steyn and Thomas Sowell do it so much better.

So it's fun to pass on things. This is supposedly something that really appeared on Craig's List. I don't know if it's true but it's funny nonetheless:
I was the guy wearing the black Burberry jacket that you demanded that I hand over, shortly after you pulled the knife on me and my girlfriend, threatening our lives. You also asked for my girlfriend's purse and earrings. I can only hope that you somehow come across this rather important message.

First, I'd like to apologize for your embarrassment; I didn't expect you to actually crap in your pants when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket. The evening was not that cold, and I was wearing the jacket for a reason. My girlfriend had just bought me that Kim ber Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol for my birthday, and we had picked up a shoulder holster for it that very evening. Obviously you agree that it is a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head ... isn't it?!

I know it probably wasn't fun walking back to wherever you'd come from with that brown sludge in your pants. I'm sure it was even worse walking bare-footed since I made you leave your shoes, cell phone, and wallet with me. [That prevented you from calling or running to your buddies to come help mug us again].

After I called your mother, or "Momma" as you had her listed in your cell, I explained the entire episode of what you'd done. Then I went and filled up my gas tank as well as those of four other people in the gas station, -- on your credit card. The guy with the big motor home took 150 gallons and was extremely grateful!

I gave your shoes to a homeless guy outside Vinnie Van Go Go's, along with all the cash in your wallet. [That made his day!]

I then threw your wallet into the big pink "pimp mobile" that was parked at the curb ... after I broke the windshield and side window and keyed the entire driver's side of the car..

Later, I called a bunch of phone sex numbers from your cell phone. Ma Bell just now shut down the line, although I only used the phone for a little over a day now, so what 's going on with that? Earlier, I managed to get in two threatening phone calls to the DA's office and one to the FBI, while mentioning President Obama as my possible target.

The FBI guy seemed really intense and we had a nice long chat (I guess while he traced your number etc.).

In a way, perhaps I should apologize for not killing you ... but I feel this type of retribution is a far more appropriate punishment for your threatened crime. I wish you well as you try to sort through some of these rather immediate pressing issues, and can only hope that you have the opportunity to reflect upon, and perhaps reconsider, the career path you've chosen to pursue in life. Remember, next time you might not be so lucky. Have a good day!
Thoughtfully yours,
Alex

I have read that Mr. Obama has given speeches totaling more than a half a million words.

How odd that I didn't want to hear a single one of them.

The Odessa City Council has been working on this type of arrangement for months. A couple of weeks ago they approved the guidelines, and this week, they pulled the trigger on a $5.1 million dollar deal with the developer.

The Odessa City Council is using what is known as a Chapter 380 economic development program to incent retail development. From the stories, this seems to be a reverse sales tax agreement. Basically, the the developer does all the infrastructure work and then their share of the local sales tax collections, and maybe even other sales tax funds are then refunded to the developer on some schedule until the grant amount is reached. I doubt the City of Odessa will make the entire agreement available on the internet (leaving us to rely on media reports), however, this agreement will eventually become available through the Comptroller's Office, so eventually everyone can learn the small details the media leaves out (like Midland's Cingular deal).

I hope the City had the Comptroller's Office run a Sales Tax Area Report on a similar development in Midland to track the sales tax revenue of that development. If they did, I wonder if they trimmed the figures from Midland to account for duplicate stores now opening in Odessa? I also wonder if they considered lost revenue from existing Odessa businesses?

I guess the next question is when does the 100 new jobs kick in and how do they track that? Are those positions full-time with benefits and a minimum salary, or can the multitude of minimum wage part time workers meet that requirement?

I wonder if folks contemplating a run for City Council are printing "Incented a Strip Mall with Taxpayer Money" fliers to describe their opponents?

One year ago, it was clear to most observers that B.H. Obama was going to win the election which was to be held one week hence. Republican voter intimidation and Democrat voter fraud were rampant. No investigation that merited the name had been done on the background of the leading candidate, at least by the legacy media. The choice was between a weak, left-leaning yet very experienced, war veteran Republican and an unknown, but standing-in-the-center-during-the-campaign, Democrat.

Little did we know what the choice was really about: the existance of the United States.

Little did we know that the president's appointees would be the cream of the radical, socialist world with their own bent on fascism.

Nothing is more consistent with his lifelong patterns than putting such people in government - people who reject American values, resent Americans in general and successful Americans in particular, and resent America's influence in the world.

This is Thomas Sowell on the dismantling of America. Read it all here.

Whether enough people will wake up in time to keep America from being dismantled, piece by piece, is another question - and the biggest question for this generation.

It is a question that is keeping me up at night. You?

From the Onion News Network:

Yes, the man is that full of himself. At what point does satire become reportage?

I've been having some fun imagining President Zero's Twitter feed. If something comes of it I may post it here.

A friend induced me to listen to America Left on XM. "Why?" I asked.

"Know what the enemy is doing."

I did. There is a host named Mike M. who was moaning last night about climate change, and how 20% fewer Americans thought that there was climate change than thought it two year ago. He was shocked at the apostasy from his religious belief. Notice how global warming has become climate change, but the cure is still the same: draconian governmental interference, and massive statism. Perhaps the weasel words used to describe it twigged people to the essential lie.

And even worse, he whinged, only 36% of people believe it's anthropogenic. That's not a word in his ken, but that's what he meant. To the left, mankind, or at least American mankind, is responsible for everything.

In other words, we don't know whether it's getting warmer or colder but we believe, as a matter of faith, that things are changing and therefore we Must Do Something About It. Notice the self-importance here. They can't even define a problem and yet want to take action. Like a fat chihuahua barking in a pensioner's house.

The cure that we have had presented to us by His O'liness and all the happy little statists in Washington is Cap and Trade, which would be quite costly and have virtually no effect whatsoever, on Global Warming, er, Climate Change but would ruin our economy. Which may be the point, but that's for another day. But still it must be tried because, all together now, We Must Do Something. The tocsin of the self-important. Although it is not in the Hippocratic oath, "First, do no harm," sounds to me to be entirely reasonable as a working philosophy. But then if you're a happy little interfering leftist, that doesn't give you enough room for self-expression. These people do not exist alone in a room.

Saying that Cap and Trade is good for Climate Change, when we don't know what it is, if it is, especially since we've been cooling for a decade, is like a doctor telling a patient, "You're either diabetic or hypoglycemic, and we don't know which. But you're going to get insulin and it's going to cost you half your paycheck and don't become an insulin denier. Because that's heretical."

I know, we're supposed to be past the time for poking fun at Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, but this one is too good. This is Steven Crowder, an intelligent young man who has made quite a few videos lampooning the left:

Crowder also made a video about socialized medicine. It's 20 minutes long but a nice exposé of the canard that things will just get better if we let the government do it and take profit out of the equation.

Utter rubbish of course; if you want a package there the next day, to you use FedEx or the USPS? Which one makes a profit? Profits are the only thing which insure good service.

If you can't fire some company and go somewhere else, then the people at that organization know it and the only way that you get good service is by the individual decency of someone that you might run into there. Whereas in private enterprise, fear of unemployment is a powerful stimulator toward good service.

I have not read Ayatollah Khomeini's book but am told that he wrote that if you have sex with an animal, you can sell it for meat in a neighboring village, but you can't eat it yourself. I guess that would be a conflict of interest.

Here's the exact quote:

A man can have sex with animals such as sheeps, cows, camels and such. However he should kill the animal after he has his orgasm. He should not sell the meat to the people in his own village, however selling the meat to the next door village should be fine.
From Khomeini's book,

"Tahrirolvasyleh", fourth volume, Darol Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990

Jim Hoft here tells us that His O'liness can't be bothered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union.

President Obama has reportedly informed the German government that he will not travel to Berlin on November 9 to participate in the 20th-anniversary celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is an unfortunate decision on multiple counts.

First, it is another slight to another European ally -- one that is going all-out to celebrate the event. The invitation to Obama was extended personally by Chancellor Angela Merkel last June.

Second, it is a failure to correct the historical misstatement of his citizen-of-the-world address last year in Berlin, when he credited the fall of the wall to the "world standing as one" and failed even to mention the names of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

Third, it is an embarrassment for the United States not to be represented at the highest level for the commemoration of an event of this magnitude. As Matt Welch writes in the November issue of Reason magazine, November 1989 was "the most liberating month of arguably the most liberating year in human history" -- the end of the Soviet Union and communism in Europe and a 50-year Cold War that was a worldwide ideological battle. It was battle led by America.

Fourth, it is an opportunity for Obama to give a speech in which he does not apologize for his country but celebrates the triumph of freedom that has been the driving force of American history from its beginning through his own election

I would post this

under Shepherd's article of October 17 but I'm not smart enough to put some things into comments.

I heard that there were over 100 demonstrations against the legacy media all over America but of course you won't find it on the legacy media.

Is it any wonder that journalists are despised as much as they are?*

Notice the crowd in this video. These are normal people, not some wild-eyed radicals. When the left has a march, they target businesses to damage. I will bet you that there was no property damage done to any of these businesses and that they pitched their trash in bins. Compare the pictures of the Washington Mall after the Ascension of Barry O to the same mall after the 9/12 Tea Party. The first was trashed; the second immaculate.

Once a friend and I went to Austin to run and play; checking out I joked with the desk clerk. "Did you have a Democratic convention here?"

He looked shocked. "Yes, we did. How did you know?"

"The light bulbs were missing from the table lamps." True story.

Why is it that the media is more comfortable with looters than with orderly people? Why is it that the media, which bangs the drum incessantly for green policies, including recycling, doesn't care that leftist mobs always leave huge amounts of debris?

Oh. That's right. There is a consanguinity of opinion of course, but as I've said before: the media, the left, will trash anything which won't hit them back.

-------
*I except the local journalists, who actually are engaged with the concerns of the community rather than their own left-liberal ideas.

The answer is, of course, Fox. One Sunday Obama made all the talk shows, except Fox. He is trying to destroy Fox News because they alone ask him questions.

More and more he reminds me of Dear Leader. But he is better looking.

I have no particular love for the doublespeak of politicians. I recall the Democrats, and the Legacy Media, which are pretty much one and the same thing, talking about "revenue enhancements" meaning tax increases. And what phrase is more dishonest than "affirmative action"?

But Barry Obama has taken us to new heights, which is to be expected, because he's all talk. Today on television his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, the most frightening man on the planet, except possibly his brother Ezekiel, who is planning to kill, sorry, ration health care to, old people said that Obama won't send troops to Afghanistan until he believes that there is a good government there.

We can be very glad that prior, and infinitely better, presidents didn't feel that way about, oh, Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, and Germany.

Obama is a man so weak that he cannot make a decision and who will sic his dogs on anyone, like Fox News, who dares to challenge whatever fiction that he's spreading today. I never before understood the venality of "kill the messenger."

Bob Maistros has given us an Obama glossary. Some of the more entertaining ones, if you enjoy gallows humor, are

Engagement - a combination of unilateral concessions and America-bashing abroad.

Nothing (as in "nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have") - everything.
Irresponsible (as in "irresponsible behavior") - constitutionally protected.

Choice - the opportunity to select big government.

The ones which amuse the most are

Misinformation - facts, when presented by our opponents.

Fact (as in, "these are the facts" or "to state a fact") - my opinion.

Honest debate - agreeing with me.

In particular the last one. We have a president who has never accomplished anything except looking good, and who was given a Nobel Peace Prize for that. He doesn't have the cojones to stand up to anyone who might fight back. He has never been tested, not even on the campaign trail. And all he does is talk. There's nothing to him except the veneer and his voice.

Ayn Rand in The Fountainhead said that most people thought that the devil would a strong and with a sword but instead he's small, many, smutty and small. Again she was prescient.

But who's counting?

I guess I am. But then I have time to given my lack of valiant striving as a doer of deeds. Which, as you know, mars your face with dust and sweat and blood. Or so I am told.

Dell proves high cost of tax giveaways.

Remember Winston-Salem.

That should be the new rallying cry every time a politician starts talking about the need for tax breaks or other incentives to lure jobs.

This month, Round Rock-based Dell announced plans to close its factory in the North Carolina city by January, less than five years after it opened. In the process, it's eliminating about 900 jobs as it cuts costs by shifting manufacturing overseas.

In wooing the plant, North Carolina officials offered Dell more than $240 million in tax breaks over 15 years, touting the possibility that the plant could someday employ 8,000.

Instead, the soon-to-be-shuttered factory stands as a monument to the dangers of overzealous economic development, when local governments give away revenue in exchange for the long-term promises of jobs that can't be kept.

"This is just another example of the risk that a state and local government is taking when it gives a tax break," said Bernard Weinstein, an economist at Southern Methodist University and a longtime critic of such tax abatement programs. "It makes no sense in economics, but I do understand the politics. Politicians want to be seen as delivering jobs to their communities."

I guess we can place Professor Weinstein's name on the list of folks never to be brought in by the ED poobahs to "educate" us all on local economic development issues and philosophy in lieu of scheduling Ray Perryman for 2,341st time.

Can one be unsurprised yet incredulous? I am not surprised to find that BHO has (another!) card carrying communist as an aide. I am not surprised to learn that said aide has a big mouth: she is the (a?) White House Communications Director. But I am incredulous that said aide is stupid enough to use her big mouth to promote her love of the greatest mass murderer in the 20th Century (...in history? I think so.) to SCHOOL CHILDREN!

The Obama/Dunn/Beck affair:

The first "political philosopher" Dunn is praising was a tyrannical dictator who imprisoned, tortured, and killed millions of his own people. In fact, it is estimated that the Chinese Communists - led, inspired, and controlled by Mao - have killed 65 million Chinese citizens since 1949 through the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the Gulag system of slave-labor prisons (the "Laogai" system) that Mao implemented.

More here, here and here.

But let's stick with the Fenby figure: He killed 40-70 million Chinamen. Whoops, can you say "Chinamen" or is that racist? Oh, and sexist. So hard keeping up with the Sensitivity Police in this pansified political culture, isn't it? But you can kill 40-70 million Chinamen and that's fine and dandy: You'll be cited as an inspiration by the White House to an audience of high-school students. You can be anything you want to be! Look at Mao: He wanted to be a mass murderer, and he lived his dream! You can too!

God Bless Glenn Beck and Mark Steyn and others in our media that have exposed this travesty.

Victor Davis Hanson with a typically even-handed description of the ongoing crisis of our "leadership:" the vacuum in the White House. Which vacuum is purely a result of the vacuum of the ideas and ideology of Our President and those who surround him.

Abroad, there is the same commonsense intuition that something about the president's talk does not quite seem right. One or two apologies might convey magnanimity; three or more reveal obsequiousness. Apologizing to a cranky neighbor for mowing on a Sunday morning is wise; apologizing to the entire block for an array of past sins does not just ensure ridicule, but could prove downright dangerous.

This is the least strong of the points Hanson makes, but it was the only one that made me smile. But it was a weak smile. Read the whole thing.

Three years after the Texas Enterprise Fund Grant, and Midland Development Corporation Grant, there is a press release today from Trace Engines that they have received their FAA Production Certificate.

This isn't the first press release in the last three years that seemed to indicate that Trace Engines was fully licensed to sell engines.

I guess my only question now is: "Are we there yet?"

This is Achmed the Dead Terrorist, a creation of Jeff Dunham, the ventriloquist. Who doesn't make me want to hurl. These are not his cracks but I found them funny enough to pass on:

You may be Taliban if

1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer.

2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.

3. You have more wives than teeth.

4. You wipe your butt with your bare hand, but consider bacon "unclean."

5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.

6. You can't think of anyone you haven't declared Jihad against.

7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing.

8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.

9. You have nothing against women and think every man should own at least one.

10. You hate the Great Satan but don't mind taking advantage of its high tech and medicine.

Since the Republican Party is increasingly composed of RINOs--Republican in Name Only--I see more and more people from Reason, the objectivist news magazine, have been interviewed. And I find them refreshing. They have a video below.

His O'liness's Nobel is of course risible, and the awarding of it makes the entire Nobel process risible. Even comics are noticing that the Nobel committee, which awarded the prize in Norway, is worthy of mockery.

So let's have fun.

I woke up today and rose from my bed. I'm expecting my Nobel Prize.

I drove to my father's house for Sunday luncheon, an excellent if untraditional lasagna and I didn't have an accident. I'm expecting my Nobel Prize.

But all of this is nothing compared to our Doormat-in-Chief.

AP grants us

Major League Baseball made a major announcement today. Barack Obama's spectacular first pitch at July's St. Louis Cardinals game has earned him this year's Cy Young Award. The President said that he was humbled by the honor.

The President said he is going to proudly display the Cy Young between the Tony Award he received for "Best Applauding by an Audience Member" while attending "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway and his Oscar for "Best DVD Rental Choice By A World Leader" for his Netflix selection of "Seven Pounds" featuring Will Smith.

The president also commented he was excited for the upcoming Grammy Awards. "I really like my chances this year"! I have some great stuff on my Ipod, bellowed an enthusiastic Barack.

Now that we know the value of the Nobel Peace Prize we can expect to see them hawked, especially after midnight. Vince, Billy Mays, and Andrew Sullivan will inform us of what's important.

Albert Einstein gave his Nobel prize money to his wife. What will Barry 0 do with his?

From the emetic noises, I'm sure that all of you have heard that Barack Hussein Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize. All this for our Chief Rhetorician's booming about living in a world without nuclear weapons. Despite the fact that the only time that nuclear weapons were used it is estimated that they saved two million Japanese lives. Not to mention American ones, which are of more import to me. But I'm not surprised by any posturing that His O'liness does; I have yet to see that there is more to him than that.

Even Time knows that this is absurd. The first couple of paragraphs of the article are true, but then it degenerates into the usual Time balderdash and the last paragraph is nearly as irritating at Obama's prize. But they do make the valid point that Carter, Gore and now Obama got the Nobel just for not being George W. Bush and the also-valid point that the Nobel prize is damaging itself. After this string of prize-winners, it is fair to say that the Nobel peace prize is no honor, and its only virtue is the money that comes with it. Consider it a lottery instead of an award.

While Obama was prating about this he was sitting on the information that the Iranians had another site for refining weapon-grade uranium in Qom. Had he revealed that, he could perhaps have done something about a hostile nation actually getting nuclear weapons. But instead he bleats about how he can see a world without nuclear weapons. Only people as silly as the Nobel committee wouldn't get that. Or as vindictive as the Nobel committee that they will spite themselves and lessen the luster of their prize.

One of the things that I've noticed about the left is their cowardice. They posture and preen but are careful, very careful, never to say anything bad to someone who might fight back. They trash Christians, because they know that Christians will turn the other cheek, except left-wing Christians, like the Archbishop of Canterbury, who are up to their elbows damaging Christianity themselves. They're comrades in arms and so they get a free pass.

But will the left criticize someone who might fight back? No. They say we must "understand" Muslims who mean to kill us and do it when possible. And the reason that they say that is because they know that the Muslims will fight back. The left riots and breaks shop windows, lawlessly, and then snivels that they are being mistreated by the law. They take refuge in legalisms, because they are safe, instead of taking action which will solve the problem.

And so Barry O., our Doormat-in-Chief, that creature of academia and community organizing (read fraud) gets the Nobel Peace Prize. And he hasn't been president for a whole year. And without doing anything except apologizing for America, spending huge amounts of money, promoting statist pseudo-solutions worse than the disease, but mostly making love to the camera. Because he's a man so in love with his own voice that he, even more than Bill Clinton, believes his own bullshit.

This is based on a documentary I saw: according to it the Swedes were once a warlike people, until Peter the Great put an end to it, and then they turned in on themselves. Now instead of Vikings sacking Rome Swedes decorate the very people most damaging to America and ultimately to themselves.

Who is the bigger fool?

In the Vision 2020 Planning Process, each of the committees were instructed to "Dream Big" and not let any limitation interfere with any vision a citizen may have for Midland. Well, it seems there is one limitation a number of Committee's decided to acknowledge, and for those of us in the Community who are concerned with conserving "the green", that was O.K. to ignore, but apparently not "the blue."

Water, and water issues, were the overwhelming items mentioned in the various Vision 2020 draft action plans published in past Sunday's paper. Water, and its supply was mentioned time and time again as a resource to be conserved and used wisely.

Too bad you can't replace Water with Taxpayer Money in my previous paragraph, then we would really be getting somewhere:

Tax payer money and taxing issues, were the overwhelming items mentioned in the various Vision 2020 draft action plans published in past Sunday's paper. Taxpayer money, and its supply was mentioned time and time again as a resource to be conserved and used wisely.

If projects which might be considered "water wasting" were obviously culled from the draft ideas, why weren't "tax dollar wasting"? Maybe it is time to change that famous quote:

"Taxpayer Money is for Spending; Water is for fighting over."

Capital is a resource, just like water, to have a vision plan that considers the limitation of one resource while ignoring the limitations of another is hypocritical. To be credible, these committees should at least make an attempt to acknowledge the fiscal limitations and propose viable methods of finance beyond OPM.

As for the different water ideas in the Vision 2020 draft document, I have a lot of comments about them, mainly, that they are already being addressed (or achieved in some cases), and those plans extend well past the 2020 horizon to 2025 and beyond, though it appears that most people on the committees did very little research into the depth of water resource planning that has been going on for decades in the City and State.

That's another post altogether.

A side-splitting video lampooning Obamacare:

I got this from Roger Kimball, a very bright man, who created, or passed on my favorite new trope: the Legacy Media. A wonderful article by him is here.

UPDATE: Sorry, Walsingham; didn't mean to step on your post. I was writing while you were posting.

From CNN's Political Ticker:

President Obama is turning to a handful of Hollywood stars to judge a contest that asks grassroots supporters to create a television commercial promoting health care reform.

Musician Will.I.Am, actor John Cho, actress Rosario Dawson, actor Dulé Hill, "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, actor Brandon Routh, actress Kate Walsh and actress Olivia Wilde will join Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, DNC Executive Director Jen O'Malley Dillon, Rep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe and volunteers in helping to pick the 30-second commercial that will air nationally, a DNC official tells CNN.

Aren't celebrities by definition supposed to be people you have heard of?

Washington Post Style Editor Tom Shales in reference to Roman Polanski:

....but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old.

Wow.

Just....wow. That's some....style you've got going on there, WaPo.

And if you think this sorry excuse for a human being is some sort of an outlier as far as this country's entertainment taste-makers then you would be wrong.

But since Mr. Shales' politics are of the "correct" variety, the most we will see as far as a walk-back of this comment will be an insincere non-apology apology.

From Thomas Sowell, more insight into how things really work is contained in this one paragraph that seems to be possesed by the entire Obama Administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress:

After political crusades for "affordable housing" ended up ruining the housing market and much of the economy with it, many of the same politicians are now carrying on a crusade for "affordable health care." But what you can afford has absolutely nothing to do with the cost of producing anything. Refusing to pay those costs means that you are just not going to continue getting the same quantity and quality-- regardless of what any politician says or how well he says it.

"What you can afford has absolutely nothing to do with the cost of producing anything."

So simple and so right.

This from The Black Sphere.

I recall when we saw white, privileged children singing paeans to Barack Obama and thought how creepy it was. This doesn't happen in America, does it? Singing praises to some secular redeemer? I thought that we fought a war two centuries ago to establish a democracy.

"Come! Lead us!" Thus spake the NFIB and the AARP in a revolting display of toad-eating.

Well, with rich, privileged liberals, there is nothing wrong with the analosculation of a strong man but then rich, privileged liberals have never seen a problem with the implicit self-abasement. It absolves them of thinking, guilt, and truly moral behavior.

Buy your house, your car, your maid, your gardener, your help and your morality.

There are times that I wonder if they pay people to beat them with real whips.

A customer goes into an adult toy store and asks for an inflatable doll.

Sales Clerk: "Male or female?"

Customer: "Female."

Sales Clerk: "Black or white?"

Customer: "White."

Sales Clerk: "Christian or Muslim?"

Customer: "What difference does religion make?"

Sales Clerk: "The Muslim doll blows itself up."

There is a movement afoot to place a tax on soda and other sugary drinks and only a mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging, Palin-loving, tea-partying Red-Stater would be stupid or hateful enough to think that this proposal is just another way for the government to take more of your money.

No, sirree! This about trying to reduce the high level of obesity in this country. So it is about compassion for the obese and this is a way to help them escape from their plight.

But lacking the nuance gene that all good progressives have I am still unclear on why skinny people who drink soda must pony up this tax. If it really isn't about the money, I mean.

So why don't we just tax obesity?

You know, set up a government "Fat Panel" that will determine whether you are or are not obese based upon your height, weight, age, activity level, etc., and if you are determined to be "obese" as per the government then you pay the tax on soda. And if you are not obese, you don't have to pay the tax.

That way the group that we are purportedly focusing all of our unbelievable compassion on are directly targeted by the tax that was instituted solely for their benefit.

Right?

I mean, if it's not about the money.

Reason, the Objectivist website, is increasingly appearing on the legacy media to defend conservative positions. Possibly because so many of the Republicans in Congress are actually RINOs.

This Nanny of the Month is the Alabama Supreme Court upholding a law which outlaws sex toys--anything which would stimulate human genitalia.

Whether you love something, hate it, or have never thought about it, chances are some nanny wants to ban it.

Pit bulls, horse carriages, fireplaces, chewing tobacco, chickens, shark tours, big snakes--they were all on someone's hit list in September 2009.

Same for smoking in parks, selling homemade pie at farmers markets, and getting tattoos. Busybodies took aim at all those things, but there's only one Nanny of the Month for September 2009...

I suppose that this means that no Democrat could travel through Alabama with a copy of the Stimulus Bill.

In the October 4, 2009, Sunday edition of the Midland Reporter Telegram will be the most important document regarding the development of this City for the next decade, the Vision 2020 Committee Report (for public comment).

For those of us who have been watching the Community for some time, the most famous line muttered by every booster to squelch debate about the amount of OPM being spent on a project is "it is part of the City's (insert Plan de jour here)."

These plans have had all kinds of names: Objectives Midland, Midland Vision 2000, and each spawned other studies and plans paid for with tax dollars, like MAAP, Midland Downtown Plan, Centennial Plan, City Plan, etc. In short, these "Community Vision" plans have laid the groundwork for some of the most memorable projects in Midland's history.

For better, or for worse, these plans become the touchstone for every grand scheme in the Community. If a project makes it into the plan, it must be worthy, because it is in the plan. Never mind these plans are often created by the same old crowd with love and support from the Chamber of Commerce.

For those skeptics who think these plans aren't that powerful, I give you their own list of Major projects, proudly proclaimed in various reports, that they say are directly related to the efforts of those who participated in these various planning groups:

EZ-Rider, Scharbauer Sports Complex (4B Tax), Airport Terminal Project, Centennial Plaza, Downtown Midland, Midland College Expansion, Midland Development Corporation (4A Tax), Midland Skate Park, Hospital Expansion, MISD Expansion, Midland Expo Building (Horseshoe), Performing Arts Center, De Zavala Elementary School, the MC Nursing Program, and lots more that haven't been realized (like a convention center).

I urge everyone who is concerned about the future of the City of Midland to carefully read this "Community Report" and make as many comments about its content as possible. Normally, I would suggest you head over to their website (http://www.midlandvision2020.com), or check out their fourms to submit your thoughts, but their site hasn't had a shred of activity since June 29, and any planning organization that can't take 15 minutes to scan copies of their old Vision Plans and put them up in the "History" section of their website, as promised on the homepage since the January 2009 Launch, is pretty much useless.

So, do what you can, maybe the feature in the MRT will give guidance.

As a warning to all who would ignore this planning process, comments like this from the Vision 2020 Forum may very well wind up being a priority goal:

We have fantastic boulevards, such as "A" Street, Wadley Avenue, and Big Spring Street, with expansive stretches of asphalt that the city could turn into useful light rail systems with lush greenery in the median. That schemata could help beautify the city as well as alleviate numerous problems that have begun affecting our community such as urban sprawl and obesity.

Hey, it's only OPM, why not look into this in a couple of years?

Having garnered the least number of votes in the first round Chicago has been eliminated from consideration for the 2016 Olympics.

I blame Bush.

From the DrudgeReport today.

The comments are open as to which parking garage will be open first:

1) Midland Memorial's 5 story garage, which was approved in September 2009.

2) Basic Energy's MDC Funded garage which was funded in May of 2009.

It is an article of faith in the Church of Economic Development that any project undertaken by a local Chamber or Development Corporation is an outstanding success the very second the funds are approved to subsidize it.

Hence the Texas Economic Development Corporation's decision to present its top award to the Midland Development Corporation for its revitalization of the downtown district.

Listed as the elements that made up the MDC's submission for consideration of the award:

1. the "LiveMidlandTexas.com" campaign to raise awareness of the benefits and features of downtown, while providing a central platform for news, events and other opportunities downtown.
2. The Basic Energy Corporate headquarters mixed-use redevelopment project and the retention of downtown employees were also highlighted in the submission.
3. MDC's active role in bridging the City of Midland and the TIRZ for the $1.8 million dollar makeover of Centennial Plaza.
4. The MDC's involvement in Josh Hopkins's endeavor, "The Lofts on Main."

So what are the criteria used to determine CEDA winners? I'm glad you asked.

The criteria used to determine the CEDA recipients include innovativeness, measurable objectives, and ancillary benefits to the community.

Measurable objectives, you say?

But wait a minute. With the exception of the LiveMidlandTexas.com website, none of the other main elements listed in the awards submission are even finished yet. The Basic Energy mixed-use redevelopment has yet to open it's door nor has it turned a shovel on the parking garage that the MDC subsidized.

The $1.8 million dollar makeover of Centenial Plaza has not been completed nor has "The Lofts on Main" project.

The "measurable objectives" in this case have nothing at all to do with returns on the taxpayer funds used to subsidize all of these projects or activities. Indeed, it cannot. The projects have not even been completed so there can be no measurable returns.

Which brings us back to the original point: Any project the High Priests of Economic Development undertake is inherently a success and will always bring a positive return on investment.

For the uninitiated, local economic development projects don't "always bring a positive return on investment" so much as (because the decision makers are not spending their own money and are long gone by the time actual results are available, hence, there is absolutely zero penalty for failure.) they never bring a negative return. Which is just as good. Case in point: Would those that voted to use our money to build this incredibly important weapon in Midland's ED arsenal ever actually use their own money to build it?

Which is why it isn't necessary to wait until any of these projects actually begin operations, much less develop a track record, before awarding such a prize.

The only question now is how many defenders of these projects grind their teeth and yell at the televsion set when President Obama uses the exact same methodology to defend "stimulus" spending.

Indeed, apart from geographical location, what exactly is the difference between local economic development projects and President Obama's economic stimulus projects?

Anybody out there want to take a shot at this?