Spitting On Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin, buffoon-cum-laude, recently stated his desire to run for public office. The poor dear got his little feelings hurt when CNN’s Jack Cafferty said of him, "Baldwin's credentials are questionable... but Franken is no slouch. He's Harvard educated."

Baldwin fired back, “I was sorry to watch, live on CNN, Edward R. Murrow and Emmy Award-winning broadcaster and all around "Man of the People" Jack Cafferty spit on me on his broadcast today.”

“So Franken fits the mold for Cafferty because he went to Harvard? What other schools does Cafferty approve of as breeding grounds for office holders in America? What other professions does Cafferty believe should be excluded from holding office?”

His ire continued with, “Heck, I only have a BFA in drama from NYU. Perhaps New York University should print on its undergraduate drama degrees "Warning: the bestowing of this degree precludes you from seeking any public office per Jack Cafferty of CNN."

But here’s the money quote: “I would like to make a deal with Cafferty. Jack, you don't tell people that a career in the performing arts disqualifies them from seeking elected office, and I won't say publicly that your being convicted of leaving the scene of an accident in which you struck a cyclist and then ran two red lights while you were pursued by the police and were subsequently ordered to serve 70 hours of community service back in May of 2003 disqualifies you from posing as a "Man of the People" on a major cable news network.”

Talk about class. This guy oozes it. And then one is reminded of his April 2007 voicemail in which he could be heard shouting at his eleven-year-old daughter threatening to “straighten her out” and calling her a “rude little pig.” You’ve got my vote buddy!

Audio of the voicemail is embedded here. WARNING: NSFW

Via Memeorandum
Via Politico
Via The Huffington Post

Has Michelle Seen These Pictures?

Sarko’s pose is priceless. Barry’s boner leg. No wonder this photo is all over the intertoobs. And then there’s another photo posted on the official G8 website. Stay classy Barry. Michelle must be so proud. No wonder she’s carrying a $6000 purse.

There’s Nothing That We Would Have Done Differently. Nothing?

Margaret Sanger Could Not Be Reached For Comment

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seems to have made a stunning admission in favor of cleansing America of unwanted populations by aborting them. In an interview with the New York Times, the judge said that Medicaid should cover abortions, and that she had originally expected that Roe v. Wade would facilitate such coverage in order to control the population of groups "that we don't want to have too many of."

Justice Ginsburg's remarks appear to align her expectations for abortion with those of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, and other prominent members of the 20th century's eugenics movement (The eugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries sought to "improve" the human species and preserve racial "purity" through planned human breeding.) Sanger and her eugenicist peers advocated the systematic use of contraception, sterilization, and abortion to reduce the numbers of poor, black, immigrant and disabled populations. Margaret Sanger could not be reached for comment on this story.

Via LifeSiteNews.com
Via Bizzy Blog
Via The Astute Bloggers
Via Hot Air

Michael Moore: The Definition Of A Plumber’s Crack

The inaugural attack from Fearless Reader’s left flank began in earnest yesterday, as two unswerving liberal forces openly compared Fearless Reader’s plan for escalating the war in Afghanistan to Bush's fiasco in Iraq.

Head lesbian Kool-Aid drinker Rachel Madcow put together an Obama-Bush mashup on a recent show, playing the POTUS/TOTUS speech announcing Dear Leader’s [I refer here to Fearless Reader’s] Afghanistan plan next to clips of Bush talking about Iraq, and pointing out the eerie similarities. Madcow hesitantly defended Dear Leader—or at least seemed like she was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt—but it was unambiguously a shot across the bow of the SS Hopenchange.

In olden days kings had court jesters. In modern times, the Democrats have Michael Moore.

Moore is a self-righteous, factually deficient, greedy capitalist who models his movies after politicians. If he really believed the twaddle he spews in his "documentaries" he would use all the profits he garners to help alleviate the problems he identifies.

Michael Moore's opting to spoof romantic conventions in titling his upcoming documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story," which addresses the causes of the global economic meltdown.

"It will be the perfect date movie," Moore said in an announcement Wednesday. "It's got it all—lust, passion, romance and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day. It's a forbidden love, one that dare not speak its name. Heck, let's just say it: It's capitalism."

The White House and the Looney Left vehemently contend that Barry isn’t intimidated by cable chatter, so he's not “likely” to pay Madcow much attention but, the corpulent-pustule-three-toed sloth is another matter altogether.

Via Memeorandum
Via Raw Story
Via Gawker
Via Variety

Let Them Eat Cake

From Fearless Reader on June 1, 2009, “I know you've already seen more than your fair share of hard times. I will not pretend the hard times are over. Difficult days lie ahead. More jobs will be lost. More plants will close. More dealerships will shut their doors, and so will many parts suppliers.”

“But I want you to know that what you're doing is making a sacrifice for the next generation—a sacrifice you may not have chose to make, but a sacrifice you were nevertheless called to make so that your children and all of our children can grow up in an America that still makes things; that still builds cars; that still strives for a better future.”

Politico reports: President Barack Obama and his family plan to vacation next month on Martha's Vineyard, Democratic sources said. The trip has long been rumored on the island, where federal agents were reported to be checking out property last spring.

The plan puts the Obamas in one of America's most diverse resort areas. The enclave of Oak Bluffs has long been a favorite vacation spot for the nation's African-American elite.

Read about “Black and White on Martha’s Vineyard” here and remember your history lessons about Barie Obaminette, er, Marie Antoinette. Her cry of, "Let them eat cake!" was the straw that broke the camel's back during the French Revolution. The Queen of France was informed that her subjects were starving because they had no bread. Being so pampered and out of touch with the reality of life for the poor she responded, "Let them eat cake."

Hat Tip Ace of Spades HQ

Getting To The Heart Of Fearless Reader’s Economic Woes

Kevin Hassett, writing for Bloomberg.com cracked me up when he posited the following line: “Last week, we discovered that the state of California will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” If that’s not a money quote, then nothing is.

And then there’s this from “Plugs” Biden, "The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy." Welcome to Camp Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

Hassett shares with his readers this, “The federal picture is so bleak because the Obama administration is the most fiscally irresponsible in the history of the U.S. I would imagine that he would be the intergalactic champion as well, if we could gather the data on deficits on other worlds. Obama has taken George W. Bush’s inattention to deficits and elevated it to an art form.”

“The Obama administration has no shame, and is willing to abandon reason altogether to achieve its short-term political goals. Ronald Reagan ran up big deficits in part because he believed that his tax cuts would produce economic growth, and ultimately pay for themselves. He may well have been excessively optimistic about the merits of tax cuts, but at least he had a story.”

“Obama has no story. Nobody believes that his unprecedented expansion of the welfare state will lead to enough economic growth. Nobody believes that it will pay for itself. Everyone understands that higher spending today begets higher spending tomorrow. That means that his economic strategy simply doesn’t add up.”

He continues the discussion with his thoughts on character deficit, going off a cliff and the tax bite. Read the whole thing here.

The end of an era is 2013. Meanwhile, perhaps Dear Leader can make a few burger runs for the good people of California. I’m just sayin’…

Via Bloomberg.com
Via Memeorandum
Via Pundit & Pundette
Via Wake Up America
Via Say Anything
Via Don Surber

We The Common Trash

Michael Shaw, publisher of the visual politics blog, BAGnewsNotes, posted an article at The Huffington Post entitled, “Reading The Pictures: Palin Proud To Be Trash”.

Mr. Shaw’s bio indicates he is a clinical psychologist—an analyst of visual journalism—an interpreter of political images. “My clinical training,” he says, “involves the psychology of character and the presentation of everyday self. My research has dealt primarily with symbolic expression, the process of visual narrative, and the psychological function of metaphor.”

Our “semiotic analyst” theorizes that a photograph taken of Sarah Palin on July 21, 2004 modeling a “Proud to be Valley Trash” t-shirt in some way reveals an attitude in which she's defeated the press and can freely Facebook and speak obliquely with and to her equally angry and alienated true constituency.

The photo, it should be noted, was donned by Palin in response to Ted Stevens’ son, State Senator Ben Stevens, who insultingly said people living in the Mat-Su Borough are “just Valley trash”. Valley Trash is an Alaska-style recycling website.

Mr. Shaw’s bio at HuffPo capitalized his “title”. I have chosen to leave it uncapitalized in this article because I find that many psychologists have an exaggerated sense of self-importance and, frankly, I doubt the poor bastard is capable of parking a bicycle straight.

Hey Mikey, do me a favor, interpret the Photoshop™ above. I hope there is someone out there who will take this graphic and make a boatload of t-shirts for the National Taxpayer March on DC on September 12th. We the common trash love Sarah Palin. You say, “…she’s positioned herself to reconnect, with the same invective, to the haters and fanatics she was inciting during the campaign.”

We the common trash are not haters. We love our freedom and we are not ashamed of America. Fanatics. Yes, we are! Fanatics about smaller government, fewer taxes, honesty in our public officials and an open, transparent Obama Administration.

I’m thumbing my nose at your farcical analysis and your absurd pomposity. Yours and everyone else’s on the right AND left.

Honest Scrap Award

I got tagged with this "Honest Scrap" Award from Professor Donald Douglas of American Power and I have chosen to pass this award on to ten other “Honest Scrappers”. In addition, the honoree is required to share ten HONEST things about him/her.

The kindly professor named yours truly along with these fine blogs: Blazing Cat Fur, Clueless Emma, Cold Fury, Dave's Notepad, Dave's World, Grandpa John, Fishersville Mike, Piece of Work in Progress and Pundit & Pundette.

Grandpa John bestowed the award on these prestigious pundits: And So it Goes in Shreveport, Paco Enterprises, Pundit & Pundette [Grandpa acknowledges that P&P had already won the “Scrappy” but insists they need two, one for Pundit and one for Pundette], The Blog Prof, The Daley Gator, The Return of Scipio and The TrogloPundit.

I always say, "Pluritas non est ponenda sine necessitate," so I will dispense with the ten honest things. Herewith, my acceptance speech.

No Sheeples Here! Acceptance Speech For The Stupendous Animal Costume Design Honest Scrap Award:

Thank you! Thank you! I can hardly conjugate verbs. I feel so lucky! And this award—it's so rusty! Oh, thank you again! I just want everyone to read in the tabloids that even in my wildest fits of self-loathing, I never would have imagined that this could ever validate my mediocrity. I felt, like the Jamaican Bobsled Team, that I didn’t have a chance of winning. And to the other brilliant nominees, I want each of you to know how totally wonderful your right-click-left-click makes me feel right now.

You know when they first told me I was nominated, I just had to take a minute and obsess about how great my fans have been. I guess it all just makes me feel kind of warm and fuzzy. When I decided to become a blogger my friends said, “Wonderful. Just have a back-up profession like welding.”

You know, there are so many fawning trolls to thank! First off though, I want to pay off the glorified members of the Academy, who looked deep within their lint-encrusted navels before giving me this fantastic award! Also, I want to thank Robert Stacy McCain, for being such a powerful force in my blog. And to the people under the stairs, who taught me to take life by the fifth of bourbon. And finally, to all the sycophantic talking heads at CNN, MSNBC, ABC and NBC—I couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you America and good night! Can I have my champagne now?

I hereby bestow the “Honest Scrap Award” to:

At The Point Of A Gun
Athens Runaway
Common Cents
Political Pistachio
Saber Point
The Rude News
The Skepticrats
Three Beers Later
Track-A-‘Crat

Godspeed Sarah

Ambrose Bierce once said, “A sweater is a garment worn by a child when its mother is feeling chilly.”

When Sarah Palin stepped onto that stage in Dayton, Ohio on August 29, 2008, as John McCain announced that she would be his running mate, she gave freedom-loving, patriotic men and women all across this great land an American flag to wave.

Within moments, Sarah Palin made an explicit appeal to the disappointed supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by praising not only Mrs. Clinton but also the only other woman in American history who has been on a presidential ticket, Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale’s Democratic running mate in 1984.

“Hillary left eighteen million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America, but it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all,” said Palin to the huge applause of the 15,000 gathered in that basketball arena.

On the day before Americans celebrate Independence Day, Sarah Palin announced that she would not seek re-election as governor of the Great State of State of Alaska and took the world by surprise a second time.

This time, however, we need to give Sarah our sweater. She has felt the “chill” of the demonic left who have waged a battle against her wholesome marriage, her frontier spirit, her love of America and her most precious son, Trig. Throughout it all she has carried herself with dignity and grace.

Pundits on the right and left have speculated on Palin’s future following her stunning announcement and have doomed her to failure. I contend that she is hardly fated to failure. She has an exceptionally conventional home life in which she is happy and stable and very much loved. So many do not know and never will know such a life.

Palin said in her announcement, “There is such a need to build up and fight for our state and our country. I choose to fight for it and I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and life. I'll work for and campaign for those proud to be American and those who are inspired by our ideals and won't deride them.”

She also made it clear that her children had endured the relentless mockery of their baby brother Trig. She said that children often set priorities right—that time is precious and that what the world needed was more “Trigs”, not fewer.

Palin’s son, Track, is serving in the Diyala Province in Iraq and she recently visited wounded troops in Kosovo and Landstuhl. She reminded us that they have sacrificed themselves in war for our freedom and security. She said, “They’re bold, they don’t give up, they take a stand and know that life is short so they choose not to waste time. They choose to be productive and to serve something greater than self and to build up their families, their states and our country.”

American politics has descended into the bowels of the Roman Coliseum. It has become little more than a blood sport game of public crucifixions—a “damnatio ad bestia”.

Whatever path Sarah Palin takes, I wish her Godspeed and heartfelt thanks for her love of country and her brief reawakening, in those who would listen, of pride in our great Nation.

Via Fausta’s Blog
Via Joy McCann/pajamasmedia.com
Via The Other McCain
Via Riehl World View

Full Metal Jacket Reach-Around: Fourth Of July Edition

"If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained we must fight!" —Patrick Henry

Welcome to the Full Metal Jacket Reach-Around that celebrates the work of fellow bloggers, their fervent conservative values and their love of our great nation.

Our learned lecturer, Professor Douglas of American Power, picked up the Memeorandum thread I garnered dealing with Obama’s Pressitutes and even used my Photoshop™ of Fearless Reader—Snake Oil Salesman. Thanks for the shout-out sir.

Pat, of And So It Goes In Shreveport, let’s us in on an unusual tidbit: It's not unusual to have the cow paired with something else; a butter cow that is. And thanks, too, to Pat who linked to my thread as well.

Now, that’s what I call delicious [me being braggadocios here] Rule 1 and Rule 2 linky-love. I can honestly say, it is by far nicer to be the linkee rather than the linker on the Intertoobs. As Robert Stacy McCain so gleefully reminds us, “Hit is hits.”

Dave C has an article that is better tasting and less filling.

Jesse, of Athens Runaway, remembers what liberals have said and posits that liberalism really IS a mental disorder.

Common Cents congratulates the residents of Lake Wobegon, the dead voters that is, on their new senator.

Cyclops Guy, I call Jamie that, over at Eye of Polyphemus seems to imply that Joe Jackson is adding to his “Father of the Year” award accolades.

Fausta, God love her, has a piece [no pun intended] on how French President Nicholas Sarkozy hired a trainer to improve his love-making prowess. [Okay, yes, I did intend to make a pun.]

Fishersville Mike wants you to break out the world’s smallest violin for someone who least deserves your sympathy.

When your blog is named Five Feet of Fury something damn well ought to bring a smile to your face.

The Canadian past and America’s present come together in “The Clip of the Day” at Founding Bloggers.

I can’t believe the vapid insensitivity of Steve Burri over at Grandpa John’s. The man has wantonly insulted a luminary comedian, musician and basketball star. How could you be so heartless Steve?

Infidel Bloggers has some not so dumb questions.

Even though Robert Stacy McCain originally posed the question, “How Bad Do I Suck?”, I have to ask myself why Insty won’t link to me. I did, after all, get my very own Memeorandum thread. No matter, I will be the better blogger and link to Insty anyway because he has a little sumpin’ sumpin’ on “watering the plants” at Fearless Reader’s latest town hall.

What do you get when you cross Air America with the United States Senate? Stuart Frankensmalleystein. I made that name up but the Left Coast Rebel has all the poop on the sixtieth senator. Have a look have-a-lookers.

J-Som, the kindly liberal over at Liberal Rapture, has started a series called “30 Days, 30 Deceptions” on how Dear Leader [I refer here to Fearless Reader] has elevated the Bamboozle to heights rarely seen in American politics. You really should stay tuned for all thirty entries.

Little Miss Attila shares some things for which she is thankful.

Moe Lane gives us some feng-shui tips.

Paco keenly points to a rounding error by Dear Leader [I refer here to Fearless Reader].

Dan Collins carries no brief against lawyers, per se.

William Teach offers us a lesson on Trig Twooferism.

Save your bananas for your cereal. Pundit & Pundette brings us “From Chimps to Chumps.”

We all know that Dear Leader is nothing more than an errand boy sent by grocery clerks and Red State asks if George Soros is getting his money’s worth.

Dan Riehl tags the SPLC as terrorists.

Is Maobama a fundamentalist faith healer? Stogie at Saber Point has a strong opinion on that subject.

The Astute Bloggers shrewdly direct us to a perspicacious piece on the failure of Obamanomics.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot—heteronormativity? Gator’s got the goods.

Robert Stacy McCain is making his way to the Third Annual Camp FUBAR Fourth of July Fireworks & BBQ Blowout on the shores of Alabama's beautiful Lake Weiss and Porch Manqué Smitty has the helm over at The Other McCain. He’s posted articles on the latest GOP ad, Charles Krauthammer’s take on Sarah Palin and the Guv of Luv’s betrayed wife, Jenny.

The Rude Dog has forsaken his kibbles for a picture of the HOT Sarah Palin. I hope we don’t have to turn the hose on him.

The Radio Patriot shares a story about “the lone protester.”

The “Deucinator”, of Skepticrats fame, posited this. “When it comes to choosing which women play on Centre Court [at Wimbledon], good looks count for more than big shots.”

Jimmie, at The Sundries Shack, clears the air on a nasty rumor that Henry Waxman (D-CA), a known mouldywarp (Talpidae family, order Soricomorpha, genus Condylura) suffered an acute attack of conscience.

What is it that has plagued man since the dawn of time? The TrogloPundit, caveman-extraordinaire, proudly hails the newest vehicle in beer worship.

Continuing the prehistoric meme, the blogprof, presents Tyrannosaurus Debt. Check it out check-it-outters.

Speaking of beer—Three Beers Later informs us that John Conyers (D-MI) experiences some rectal discomfort.

Trac-A-‘Crat includes a picture of a big, fat bigot getting some R&R.

Velociman admits to being a bit of an attention seeker. He’s having a Howard Beale moment over at Velociworld. Go show him some clicky-love. We don’t want him going nookleer on our asses.

¡No Pasaràn! demands a simple answer to a simple question.

“May the sun, in its course, visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!”—Daniel Webster

Please enjoy the two videos I’ve embedded here. The first is a clip from “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and the second may be a bit obscure to younger readers. It’s Kate Smith, the lady who made Irving Berlin’s God Bless America famous.

Enjoy your Fourth and thanks for stopping by No Sheeples Here! Your readership is greatly valued. God bless you and yours and God bless America!

UPDATE: Washington Post Has Become Obama’s Lewinsky

At 1:04PM today, The Washington Post trotted out Howard Kurtz to do damage control in an attempt to extinguish the firestorm that by 10:25AM was blazing its way through the internet.

Chief Executive of Washington Post Media, Katherine Weymouth, compelled by the outrage that the Washington Post was now becoming “curb crawlers”, feigned “disappointment” that fliers had found their way into the hands of a health care lobbyist who felt it was a “conflict of interest” to charge for access to “health care reporting and editorial staff”.

This is the news publishing organization that brought down the corrupt Nixon Administration. How the mighty have fallen; to charge upwards of $250,000 for access to another corrupt administration and, in so doing, becomes itself corrupt.

"This should never have happened. The fliers got out and weren't vetted. They didn't represent at all what we were attempting to do. We're not going to do any dinners that would impugn the integrity of the newsroom," said Weymouth. You’ll excuse the American people if we aren’t deluded by your betrayal and fraud.

To bolster the ersatz apology, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said he was “appalled”.

"It suggests that access to Washington Post journalists was available for purchase," Brauchli said. The proposal "promises we would suspend our usual skeptical questioning because it appears to offer, in exchange for sponsorships, the good name of The Washington Post."

Skeptical questioning? Give me a break. Vladimir Lenin once said, “The press should be not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the masses.” I’d say the Post is well on its way to becoming a propagandist. It certainly has exposed itself as Obama’s Lewinsky.

The Post Co. lost $19.5 million in the first quarter and just completed its fourth round of early-retirement buyouts in several years, prompting Weymouth to resort to ‘curb crawling” for new sources of revenue.

Via Memeorandum
Via Michelle Malkin
Via Michael Calderone’s Blog
Via Politico

The Pressitutes: Obama’s Lewinsky

President Barack Obama wanted to put a human face on his plans to overhaul health care, and a Virginia supporter did just that at a town hall meeting [campaign stop] on Wednesday. Fighting back wantonly staged tears, Debby Smith, 53, told Obama of her kidney cancer and her inability to obtain health insurance or hold a job.

Smith, or “Exhibit A” as Fearless Reader called her, is from Appalachia, VA, and a volunteer for Organizing for America, Fearless Reader’s political operation within the Democratic National Committee. She obtained her ticket through the White House.

The snake oil salesman answered questions from a member of the Service Employees International Union and a member of Health Care For America Now. The audience was stacked and the questions were pre-selected. The political sham made for good television but in no way informed the public about socialized medicine.

The pageant of subterfuge at the town hall meeting was exposed by Helen Thomas who has covered the White House during every presidency since John F. Kennedy.

Following a testy exchange during a briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas told CNSNews.com that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press.

“I'm amazed. I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency and—” “It's shocking. It's really shocking.” “It's a pattern. It's a pattern of controlling the press.” “Your formal engagements are pre-packaged.”

And now this:

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off the record, non-confrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper's own reporters and editors.
The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health-care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it's a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its "health care reporting and editorial staff."

UPDATE: To view the WaPo flyer click here.

Via Michelle Malkin
Via Patterico’s Pontifications
Via CNSNews.com
Via Washington Monthly
Via Memeorandum

Sarah Palin: I’d Win

[If only all political races could be settled with a simple cross-country run.]

From an interview in runnersworld.com:

Is running nonpartisan?

Oh, thank God, it's nonpartisan. It doesn't matter your background, your demographics, your race, your political affiliation—it's such a uniting, healthy, fun, awesome activity. It cracks me up going to some running event and seeing some dude who campaigned so hard against me, or a lady who's been blogging some mean comments about me. But we're all there together and we're smiling and we're having a good time because we're going to do something healthy and active. We need more of that. That's what sports are able to do. It's a wonderful kind of diversion from the divisiveness that is politics or that is life. And my parents, they've got so many friends from so many different political bents because of all their years participating in races and organizing races. I was lucky enough to have been brought up in that atmosphere where I see the value in that.

Our president, I’m told, is a runner. Would you ever run with him?

I would, absolutely. I would and people have asked if I'd ever challenge him to one-on-one because we both love basketball. But look, he towers over me and I wouldn't be complaining about an unfair advantage there, but maybe I'd do better playing H-O-R-S-E with him than one-on-one.

What about in a race? Could you beat the president?

I betcha I'd have more endurance. My one claim to fame in my own little internal running circle is a sub-four marathon. It wasn't necessarily a good running time, but it proves I have the endurance within me to at least gut it out and that is something. If you ever talk to my old coaches, they'd tell you, too. What I lacked in physical strength or skill I made up for in determination and endurance. So if it were a long race that required a lot of endurance, I’d win.

In Alaska or D.C.?

I'd like him to come to Alaska so he can see the beauty of this 49th state.

[No matter where Sarah Palin goes, she’s the only one in the room with balls.]

Hat Tip The Rude News

An “Everyman”, Karl Malden, Dead At 97

Karl Malden, one of Hollywood's most versatile and reliable character actors, played everything from priests, detectives and generals to heavies and song-and-dance men over the course of his five-decade film career which began in the late 1940s.

No matter the character, no matter the genre, it was hard to miss the zest and brilliance with which Karl Malden delivered his performances. In a career that spanned across radio, theater, film and television, Malden did more than give life to his characters he gave them meaning. There was an unmistakable quality about a scene when Malden stepped into it. Films like Birdman of Alcatraz with Burt Lancaster, The Cincinnati Kid with Edward G. Robinson and Patton with George C. Scott, were all the more enjoyable because Karl Malden was in them.

Born Mladen Sekulovich on March 22, 1912 in Chicago to Serbian immigrants, Karl Malden worked in the steel mills of Gary, Indiana where he was raised. The Great Depression caused him to miss out on a college basketball scholarship. “We were manufacturing train and streetcar wheels,” says Malden. “I worked in the open hearth. It’s a dangerous job and you did it carefully. The sparks would fly and there was hot metal going all over the place, like molten lava. It was hell. I worked there for three years after high school and I knew I couldn’t do that for the rest of my life. I had to get out of there.”

Get out of there he did. The one-time altar boy and church choir singer had aspirations to one day play on a bigger stage to a bigger audience. In September of 1934, against the wishes of his father, the young Malden headed for Chicago where he was granted a scholarship at the Goodman Theater. There he would meet and act with Mona Greenberg, who would become his wife for life. Their marriage was the longest matrimonial union in Hollywood history next to Bob and Dolores Hope’s 69-year marriage.

“Everybody always looks at my face and asks me how I became an actor,” Malden said. “I knew I wasn’t handsome, so I figured I better work hard and know my business well.”

Karl Malden won an Oscar playing his Broadway-originated role as Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire". He also starred in the 1970s TV series "The Streets of San Francisco" and was the longtime American Express traveler's-check spokesman, warning travelers “Don’t leave home without it.”

In a movie career that flourished in the 1950s and '60s, Malden played a variety of roles in more than 50 films, including the sympathetic priest in "On the Waterfront," the resentful husband in "Baby Doll," the warden in "Birdman of Alcatraz," the outlaw-turned-sheriff in "One-Eyed Jacks," the pioneer patriarch in "How the West Was Won," Madame Rose's suitor in "Gypsy," the card dealer in "The Cincinnati Kid" and General Omar Bradley in “Patton.”

His varied performances established Malden, former Times film critic Charles Champlin once wrote, "as an Everyman, but one whose range moved easily up and down the levels of society and the IQ scale, from heroes to heavies and ordinary, decent guys just trying to get along.”

Rest in peace you big lug. You will be missed.

Picked Off One By One

Neil Bartofsky. Gerald Walpin. Fred Weiderhold. One by one they’ve been picked off. Three Inspectors General gone in three weeks and the burning question is WHY? The incidents call into question the independence of the entire Inspectors General system put in place by Congress. Their sole purpose is to act as watchdogs over government’s spending of our tax dollars.

The concentration of power in a few hands allows men with the mentality of gangsters to gain control. Barack Obama, David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, et al. were, after all, denizens of Al Capone’s Chicagoland. I’m just saying…

Via Robert Stacy McCain, from NTCNews, SPECIAL REPORT: Obama vs. the Watchdogs:

Grassley Pushing Probe Of Inspectors General Firings
AMTRAK Systematically Violated Law, Senator Says
94-Page Report (PDF)
Biden Connection
Amtrak VP Is Lobbyist
The ‘Domino Theory’ in the IG Scandal

Via The Other McCain
Via American Spectator
Via Riehl World View
Via NTC News
Via Memeorandum
Via Instapundit
Via American Thinker

Eight Knives

When Richard McEnroe of Three Beers Later posted a comment here, he left a link that inspired me to create a graphic in keeping with the title of his article, “Eight Knives, One Nation’s Back, No Waiting…”

On Saturday, our nation will celebrate Independence Day, the Fourth of July, the day our Founding Fathers declared an end to the tyranny of King George and the British Empire.

This past Friday, amid the news of three celebrity deaths and a governor who went AWOL, eight Republicans In Name Only plunged their steely knives into the backs of the American people.

Blogs all across the internet have chimed in on The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, better known as the monstrosity from hell that will destroy the American economy.

The time has come to stop standing idly by while members of Congress march in lockstep with the socialist agenda of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Fearless Reader. A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.

If we cannot see that then we are doomed to join the Roman Empire in the dust bin of history. What else must we witness from the sidelines before we take up the gauntlet and stop these thieves? What will you do without your freedom?

“The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.”—Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Via Three Beers Later

Via The Other McCain

Can We Please Move On Now?

I really wish the media weren’t making such a big deal of Jackson’s death. Other more vital stories like Iran, health care, and the continuing power grabs of the Obama Administration are given short shrift. But covering Jackson means a big audience so one can hardly fault the media for trying to cash in. They’d be crazy not to milk the story for all its worth.

In 100 years, will historians be amazed at the popularity of people like Jackson? Hopefully by then, we will have outgrown our compulsion to place these people on a mountaintop and all but worship their every move.

Via Right Wing Nut House

Never Have So Few Stolen So Much From So Many To Achieve So Little

From The Other McCain:

It has become increasingly obvious of late that some Republicans have been in Washington too long. None of the eight GOP House members who voted for Waxman-Markey will be re-elected. They will either retire from the House, be defeated in next year's Republican primaries, or suffer well-deserved defeat on November 2, 2010. Therefore, every penny that the NRCC spends to support the re-election of the Waxman-Markey Eight is wasted money that could be used more effectively to support Republican challengers.

The NRCC must announce a policy of non-support for the Waxman-Markey Eight, or else NRCC fund-raising letters will go directly into the garbage cans of every previous grassroots GOP donor who is tired of seeing his contributions wasted to support nominal "Republicans" that repeatedly betray party principles… Read the entire letter here.

From Gateway Pundit:

Barack Obama admitted last year, "Under my plan of a cap and trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." (Video) Obama also promised last year that cap and trade would bankrupt the coal industry. (Video)

From American Spectator:

According to the Sunlight Foundation, on June 19, when the bill was placed on the House calendar, it was 964 pages. By Monday, when it was submitted to the House Rules Committee, it was 1,201 pages. Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) has noted that the bill bypassed key committees, and none other than Rep. Charles Dingell (D-Mich.) has described it as a "huge tax."

Given this situation, the hurry to ram through the "massive job-killer" can only be compared to lemmings rushing toward a cliff.

From Commentary Magazine:

Republicans, encouraged by a stem-winder from Eric Cantor, voted overwhelmingly but not unanimously against the bill, declaring it to be madness to vote for a huge tax, job-killing bill in a recession. Democrats lost a stunning forty-four votes from their side — members who simply didn’t want to face the music back home. (The Democrats had to go so far as to fetch Patrick Kennedy, who had been out for rehab, and John Lewis, who had heart surgery, and delay the resignation of Ellen Tauscher, who is heading to the State Department.)

From Liberty’s Life Line:

So if the case for controlling CO2 emissions is gaining skeptics, what would a reasonable person do? They would probably pause and listen to see if they should alter their position based on this new information. What do the statists do? Double their efforts to jam this gargantuan tax bill through Congress, again without reading it because it’s too big, before the American people find out just how monumentally stupid it is.

Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, and Ed Markey are the lead lemmings jumping into the sea and expecting all of us to follow. You see, if they can slam this thing in they will have enormously increased their power and make it very difficult to unwind this monstrosity. Their disdain for what is right for this country and what is best for the American people is truly astounding. Their arrogance and sense of empowerment knows no limits.

From Patterico’s Pontifications:

There were 168 Republicans and 44 Democrats who voted No, and 8 Republicans who voted Yes: Reps. Mary Bono Mack (CA), Mike Castle (DE), Steven Kirk (IL), John McHugh (NY), Leonard Lance (NJ), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), Dave Reichert (WA), and Chris Smith (NJ).

Oklahoma Senator Inhofe claims the Senate will kill the bill.

From Maggie’s Notebook:

After Rep. Henry Waxman introduced a 300-page amendment at 3:09 a.m. the day of the vote, Waxman attempted to shame Rep. John Boehner for taking some time to talk about "the most profound piece of legislation to come to this floor in 100 years," while allowing only a "whopping 5 hours" of debate. Boehner accuses Waxman of have the "audacity" to drop the amendment only hours before the vote, and asks, doesn't he [Waxman] think the voters expect Congress to understand what's in the Bill before we vote on it?

From Athens Runaway:

If you'll remember, then-Senator Obama begrudgingly admitted that his plan would cause utility rates would necessarily skyrocket." Hey, a politician who's not lying. Whaddayaknow.Oh, by the way, the EPA admitted in a secret memo that carbon limits would hurt the economy, and the CBO gave a ballpark cost for Waxman-Markey of $161 billion (as in $161,000,000,000 by 2020, and that number will go up by a factor of about 5 in 2035. Econocide on a grand scale. At least it's for the kids and polar bears, ya know?

From Power Line:

Through a series of parliamentary inquiries, the Republicans learned that the 300-plus page managers' amendment, added to the bill last night in the House Rules Committee, has not even been been integrated with the official copy of the 1,090-page bill at the House Clerk's desk, let alone in any other location. The two documents are side-by-side at the desk as the clerk reads through the instructions in the 300 page document for altering the 1,090 page document.

My Girlhood Fantasies Were Filled With Lex Barker

This week’s shameless obedience to Rule 5 is dedicated to Lex Barker.

Lex Barker was best known for playing Tarzan of the Apes. Disowned by his family for his choice of an acting career, he worked in a steel mill and studied engineering at night. In February 1941, nearly a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Barker left his fledgling acting career and enlisted in the Army. He rose to the rank of major during World War II and was wounded while fighting in Sicily.

Barker recuperated at a military hospital back in the States. Following his discharge from the Army, he traveled to Los Angeles. Within a short time, he landed a small role in his first film, Doll Face (1945). A string of small roles followed, the best of which was as Emmett Dalton in the Western Return of the Bad Men (1948). The next year, Barker found the role that would bring him fame.

In Tarzan's Magic Fountain, Barker became the tenth official Tarzan of the movies. His blond, handsome and intelligent appearance, as well as his athletic 6'4" frame, helped make him popular in the role Johnny Weissmuller had made his own for sixteen years. Barker made only five Tarzan films, but he remains one of the actors best known for the role.

In the early days of television, Saturday and Sunday afternoons were filled with B-Grade movies of Tarzan and Hercules and wildly popular sci-fi flicks. I remember a spirited debate I had with my father about which actor made the best Tarzan. I had a serious crush on Lex Barker while Dad thought Buster Crabbe was better than Johnny Weissmuller. Mom took sides with me agreeing that Lex was the better jungle hero.

His stardom as Tarzan led him to a variety of heroic roles in other films, primarily Westerns, and one interesting part in a World War II film, Away All Boats (1956).

In 1957, as he found it harder to find work in American films, Barker moved to Europe where he found popularity and starred in over forty European films. In Italy he also had a short but compelling role as Anita Ekberg's fiancé in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita. But it was Germany where he would have his greatest success.

He married five times. His first marriage was to Constanze Thurlow and lasted eight years. He then married Arlene Dahl. Lana Turner was wife number three. His fourth marriage ended with the death of Irene Labhardt. His fifth and final marriage to Maria Del Carmen “Tita” Cervera ended with his death just three days before his fifty-fourth birthday from a sudden heart attack while walking down a street in New York City to meet his fiancée, actress Karen Kondazian.

Barker certainly had what it took to be Tarzan. He was tall and athletic without being muscle-bound and handsome without being just another poster boy. To this day, I still remember the loincloth, the blonde locks of hair and that most beautiful chest. The stuff of a young girl’s fantasies.