Paul Harvey, RIP

It was reported minutes ago that broadcast pioneer Paul Harvey has joined his beloved wife, who passed away less than a year ago. Like my maternal grandparents, they were together an amazing nearly seven decades.

I vividly remember, as a small child in Logansport, Indiana, riding in my paternal grandparents' car, and hearing his resonant voice delivering the news. even before I paid much attention to what the news was.

He will be missed.

RIP.

H/T to Drudge.

Time To Take Up Arms?

Let's see if I've got this right: you overpay your taxes, timely file for a refund of the overpayment, and the State tells you that you can't have your money back?!?!?

Well, that seems to be what's happening in Kansas.

Somebody please explain to me how this doesn't justify taking up arms against tyrannical government.

More "Change We Can Believe In"?

It seems that President Barry's Justice Department is defending Bush Administration secrets:

Despite President Barack Obama's vow to open government more than ever, the Justice Department is defending Bush administration decisions to keep secret many documents about domestic wiretapping, data collection on travelers and U.S. citizens, and interrogation of suspected terrorists.

I suspect that President Barry got quite a splash of cold water in his face when he went from carping Democrat nominee to "President-elect" and, as a result, will adopt and pursue many of the same anti-terrorism policies of his predecessor.

And I'm delighted that even the sanctimonious boobs elevated to positions of responsibility by the mediocrity who is President Barry have recognized the effectiveness and importance of the strategies pursued by the former President.

But "change we can believe in"? Change in which I would believe would be if President Barry issued an apology to former President Bush for his sanctimonious and ill-informed attacks.

Of course, the nice thing about having a cult of personality is not having to tolerate demands for such honorable behavior.

A Little Too Close To Truth

On Inauguration Day, the line that ran through my head was a variation of the line from the Beatle's tune, "Eleanor Rigby": "Oh, look at all the pathetic sheeple...."

Now, there's a YouTube that captures that pathos of the Obamorons, a parody of this video:



Wish I'd thought of it, and had the talent to pull it off. Alas, I must simply settle for linking to it.

H/T to Doug Mataconis.

The Wrong Title

"Blue Commonwealth" is flacking for what newly-minted Fifth District Democrat Congressman Tom Perriello is calling his "Road to Recovery" campaign... er, "constituent meeting" tour.

With the policies that he's endorsing, of course, it's more appropriately categorized as the "Road to Serfdom" tour.

The Far Left Meme On Gregg's Withdrawal

Apparently, President Barry's Administration is quite embarrassed by Senator Judd Gregg's (R-NH) withdrawal from consideration for Secretary of Commerce. Apparently, Senator Gregg determined upon further reflection that he could not serve in an Administration with which he has serious and fundamental disagreements.

Now, I thought it a mistake for Gregg to agree to serve in this capacity. From what I know of Gregg, he is a fairly Conservative Senator, and service in a manifestly far-Left Administration would create inevitable conflicts.

But of course, some on the far Left is in high dudgeon over Gregg's decision. They dismiss it as mere "political games." I wonder what they were saying about those partisan, obstructionist Democrats who opposed the President's policies in 2001? Well, I don't really wonder.

So this is apparently the treatment of fundamental policy differences in this childishly-conceived "post-partisan" era: dismiss them as "obstructionist" (damn those obstructionist parties in the 1934 Reichstag!); belittle them; and declare anyone in disagreement with the new Administration somehow "unAmerican."

Sieg Heil!

Local Judge Set For Elevation

According to the Virginia Lawyers Weekly, Prince William County/Manassas/Manassas Park Circuit Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr., is in the mix for appointment to the Virginia Court of Appeals, the Commonwealth's intermediate appellate court.

If elected, Judge Alston --- the Circuit's President Judge --- would be the second Prince William jurist elevated to Court in recent years. Virginia Supreme Court Justice LeRoy F. Millette, Jr., was elevated to the Virginia Court of Appeals before being tapped for the Virginia Supreme Court.

Judge Alston grew up in Dale City, and is highly regarded for his abilities on the softball field.

Delegate Jackson Miller, Republican from Manassas, has apparently been championing Judge Alston's appointment.

UPDATE: Demonstrating uncharacteristic wisdom, the legislature has, in fact, selected Judge Alston for elevation.

Virginia Democrats Promote Perversion Rather Than Doing What's Right

With unemployment numbers hitting an unexpected high and much of the country's attention focused on the negotiations surrounding the economic recovery package, you would think that our state legislators would want to promote job growth and economic development. Nonetheless, it appears as though the Democrats in the House of Delegates have decided to place more importance on their extreme left-wing agenda rather than promoting the interests of Virginia residents.

House Democrats in a General Laws subcommittee voted Wednesday to promote perversion by supporting Del. Adam Ebbin’s HB2385, which would require public employers to provide special protections to sexual deviants. A majority of the House Democratic Caucus co-patroned the bill.

H/T to Blue Commonwealth. 'Cept our friends over at Blue Commonwealth are a little slow on the uptake, and reported as "last night" something happening four days before.

Here's A Shocker!

Apparently, the woman who had octuplets last week, impregnated through via in-vitro fertilization, had her six previous children also through in-vitro fertilization. In short, only a man, a plastic cup, a freezer, and a turkey baster were involved in the conceptions of the children of this single woman.

It will come as no surprise to learn that this woman spent some quality time as a guest in one of California's state mental hospitals.

Let's Play The Moonbat Match Game!

It's time once again for that perennial favorite .... the Moonbat Match Game!

You know how to play, boys and girls. Just substitute your favorite target for paternalism ... er, protection from eeeeevil!, and replace whatever it is the far Left is up to with your solution.

Today's contestant: The Green Miles!

Here's the phrase of the day:

"All Virginia workers deserve protection from the health effects of secondhand smoke, not just ones who work in bars and restaurants."

Here's how you plan: just replace the bold-faced words with parallels, like this:

All [American citizens] deserve protection from the [evils of the nanny state], not just those who [live in "Red" states].

Or:

All [babies] deserve protection from [abortion], not just those who[se mothers are pro-life].

Go ahead, you can play, too!

Heh

Heard perhaps the best line on President Barry's speech last night to the Democrat congressional retreat from WMAL's Chris Plante, something to the effect that:

"He went after the Republicans hammer and sickle."

Wish I'd thought of it first.

Barry And The Politics Of Tokenism

Well, it seems that Senator Judd Gregg's appointment as Secretary of Commerce was merely the Sock-Puppet's exercise in tokenism.

According to Congressional Quarterly:

The director of the Census Bureau will report directly to the White House and not the secretary of Commerce, according to a senior White House official.

The decision came after black and Hispanic leaders raised questions about Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg ’s commitment to funding the census.

The normal procedure is for the director of the Census Bureau to report to the Secretary of Commerce.

Here's what one Lefty group was reported as saying about the appointment:

"Secretary of Commerce-designate Judd Gregg ’s record raises serious questions about his willingness to ensure that the 2010 census produces the most accurate possible count of the nation’s population,” the National Association of Latino Elected Officials said in a release on Tuesday, the day Gregg was named to the post. “Policymakers and planners at all levels of government rely on these data to make important decisions about their services, such as the number of teachers that will be needed in their classrooms, the best places to build new roads, or the best way to provide job training.”

Of course, the notion that "Policymakers and planners at all levels of government rely on these data to make important decisions about their services, such as the number of teachers that will be needed in their classrooms, the best places to build new roads, or the best way to provide job training," is the false premise upon which this group proceeds.

The census has only one purpose: apportionment for purposes of congressional representation. Any other function served is, in fact, extra-, and therefore un-, constitutional.

No wonder the far Lefties want the Census out of the hands of a Republican. Now, to be sure, it isn't like the modern GOP will treat it as the limiting charter of government that it is. However, there's at least a fair to middlin' chance that someone who calls himself a Republican has at least read the document.

He Probably Won't Even Miss Them

Just yesterday, I was invited to join a new friend at the Palm in Tysons for a light lunch and a cigar.

So much for that.

Virginia's Republican House Speaker Bill Howell announces that he's reached a "compromise" regarding a restaurant smoking ban. According to his press release:

The legislation would prohibit smoking in restaurants throughout Virginia, allowing several exceptions. The exceptions include restaurants with a designated smoking room that is physically separated and independently ventilated from non-smoking dining areas, any permanent outdoor patio area of a restaurant, any portion of a restaurant that is used exclusively for private functions, any private club as well as street-side “hotdog” stands and other mobile points of food service.

Tell me: how does telling businessmen how to best serve their customers constitute a "compromise"? For this we elected Republicans?

If only Republicans and Democrats were as interested in regulating the conduct of people who leech off of the rest of us as they are in regulating tax producers, the law-abiding, and users of legal products.

Perhaps our estimable Speaker will miss his testicles. Of course, that presumes that he ever had any, a fact not in evidence.

Utterly Fascinating

With all of the tax-dodgers put into President Barry's Cabinet, the thought occurs to me that recent political history, i.e., the politicization of policy differences, has caused a few recent GOP Presidents to issue presidential pardons to high Administration officials.

President Barry has the first Cabinet whose tax-dodging members are in need of presidential pardons before they take office.

A Real Loss

After all, given the standards of the Obamorons (Tim Geithner at Treasury; Thomas "Puff" Daschle at HHS), it's abundantly clear that Leona "Taxes-Are-For-Little-People" Helmsley was a woman ahead of her time.

It's really too bad that she isn't with us.

My guess is that she'd have been up for a post in Barry's cabinet.