Ruminations From the Void

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.

• Rhianna sings at a country music awards show.
• Russell Brand has seemingly become mainstream here in America.
• The University of Missouri apparently picked their new head coach by pulling a name out of hat, but no one remembers putting the name Frank Haith into the hat.
• A NYU group celebrates Stalin on April 1st, but they were, ironically, very sincere.
• Despite his seeming disinterest in the job, Obama has decided to run for re-election anyway.
• The Horizon League's Butler University Bulldogs will make back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
• The temperature hit 90 degrees yesterday, but will drop back to the 30's tonight.

Every single item on that list can be traced back to Global Climate Change - just ask Al Gore.

>>  Speaking of the NCAA Tournament, did anyone notice this guy attending the Final Four in Houston Saturday night.



Dear Mohammed, I am blending in well with the infidels.

We're watching the games and they flash across the UConn student section during the pregame announcements and this guy caught my eye.  Aside from the collegiate gear, he had such a stereotypical Mideast Jihadi look, while surrounded by a sea of lily-white northeasterners, that is was hard not to notice him.

 

I'm guessing he probably got a little extra attention upon entering the stadium.  I attended the Final Four in Atlanta a few years back and they took great care inspecting us on the way in.  But keep in mind, that he appears to be a student dressed in full UConn gear sitting with a seat in the Student section, so maybe they took it a little easy on him.  Of course, in today's politically correct world, they might not have even gave him a second glance.  I can't say that would make me feel any better.

>>  Freshman Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is causing trouble for the Democrat leadership in the Senate.  On Wednesday, he attached an amendment to a bill that condemns the President's Libya policy by having the Senate adopt the Senator Obama's words, "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." as the 'sense of the Senate'.

Still, during a testy floor exchange Wednesday with Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), the Kentucky freshman argued that his amendment deserves a vote, and fast. “In Afghanistan and Iraq, with all the complaints from many people on these wars that we were involved in, President Bush did come and ask for the authorization of force,” he said. “We’ve had two to three weeks of this issue. They had time to go to the U.N. They had time to go to the Arab League. They had time to go to everyone. I think you should be insulted the way I am insulted they never came to Congress.”

Durbin fired back that Bush, by coming to Congress, actually “broke precedent.” Paul looked on, bemused.  [h/t NRO's Corner]

I'm not sure how a flustered Durbin says that Bush broke precedent by following the constitution.  Well, unless he thinks that Clinton's failure to come to Congress created a new precedent.

Harry Reid seemingly had no interest in having his members forced to vote on this amendment, so he adjourned until Monday without scheduling a vote.  I guess we'll see what he does today.

>>  As I said above, the President has officially announced his re-election campaign.  Can't say I'm too happy about this. 

• Spending under Obama has nearly doubled (up 84%)
• He has tripled the annual deficit from $455 billion under President Bush to $1.6 trillion this year.
• Unemployment has jumped above and beyond even the White House's projections of what would happen without a stimulus package in 2009.
• The Obamacare legislation increases costs, raises taxes, decreases competition and harms research and innovation.  It's so bad that states are lining up to receive waivers from it's provisions as Maine has already done.  Over a thousand companies have received waivers.
• New regulations and policies have aided Big Business and Big Labor to the harm of small businesses and competition.
• Foreign policy has been consistently inconsistent, his first instincts tend to be wrong so he often tries to wait out the important issues that affect our nation, which means when he does speak and act, it's usually too little and too late.
• His current Energy policy includes increased costs & decreased supply, hurting job creation and pushing more businesses to send jobs overseas.
• He likes to say one thing, but his actions do another.  He says he's for more oil drilling and nuclear power, but no action.  He wants to cut the deficit, but raises it instead.  He wants to lower spending, but raises it instead.  He wants to lower corporate taxes, but no has no proposal.  He wants to follow science, yet ignores science.  He's personally against gay marriage, but suddenly finds it unconstitutional.  He gives a speech outlining how we will cut oil imports after returning from a trade mission where he agreed to import oil from Brazil. (I won't complain about the contradictions between his words and actions as to our homeland defense since I'm fine with those)

>>  On a related note, I don't have any idea who will be the Republican candidate against him.  Michelle Bachman raised more money than Mitt Romney in the first quarter, but neither one of them can win.  Michelle is not the idiot the press makes her out to be, but I can't see her as Presidential material at present.  Myself, I'd prefer one of the Indiana guys, Mitch Daniels or Mike Pence, but neither are running.

I do like Godfather's Pizza, so I'll be giving Herman Cain, the former CEO of the pizza chain, a good look.  Is that a good way to pick a candidate?  No, but neither was using one good speech, which worked for Barack Obama.  At least we know Cain has some executive experience, which we are definitely lacking at the moment.

>>  Pastor Terry Jones finally does the stupid deed of burning the Koran.  It was stupid, dumb, idiotic, unecessary and unproductive, but is it worse than burning an American flag?  No and of course, we Americans don't flip out no matter who is holding the match when that happens.  While the twin towers were still smoldering, we saw clips of our flag burning all across the Mid East. 

So, no, Jones isn't to blame for the needless deaths caused by his actions.  At least not anymore than the press who happily reported the news and made the actions known to the murderous thugs.  Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is way off base when he talks of the need to limit free speech on this issue. 

I'm not much on the rape defense that she had it coming, so I don't want to hear anyone try to say that a group that commits murder on one continent, because some random person commits an act of political speech on another continent is somehow justified in their actions. 

That just doesn't fly with me.  But that doesn't mean that the parents of our overseas troops aren't justified in walking up to Jones and punching him in the nose.

>>  Negotiations between the Senate Democrats and House Republicans on a 2011 budget continue.  The House has sought $62 billion in spending cuts and the Senate has agreed to as much as $33 billion if some reports are to be believed.  The last time spending has been cut from year to year was during the Clinton presidency under a Republican led Congress.  We can raise the question of taxes during a Presidential election, but we all must understand that the real issues of our budget are decided in Congress.

Take a look at budget deficits over the past few decades and you will see a better correlation by the party leading Congress than which party holds the White House.  In good times and bad, Congressional Democrats never ask whether we need to spend the money; they just ask how much more (excluding defense of course).

>>  Tonight I am pulling for Butler as any proper conservative should.  Seeing the underdog rise up and conquer the evil Power (BCS) Conferences is the epitome of what we want to see take place in our economy.

Conservatives want small businesses to succeed against Big Business.  But that only works on a level playing field.  Just like the NCAA committee often give spots in the tournament to questionable BCS conference schools while overlooking many deserving mid-major squads, Washington regulations inhibit competition from small business by favoring the Bigs.

Remember, small businesses create lots of jobs on their way up the ladder until they become big and achieve market saturation.  After that, they maximize profits by cutting jobs and downsizing.  Then they lobby Washigton to protect them from competition. 

Sounds pretty much like the BCS/NCAA to me.

Enjoy the game tonight.  Plenty of food at my house, so come on by...