reddit Gallery CLVIII

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Mt. Roraima, Venezuela

London at Dusk

Inside a Raw Opal

Bat-eared Foxes

Tom Toms

News Flash

After his antisemitic reference to Israel becoming an apartheid state, Secretary of State John Kerry (see: NY Times Story)  has been sanctioned by the Trilateral Commission.  He has been fined 2.5 million bottles of ketchup and told that he must sell the State Department.

Eye of a Needle

Pope Francis would like to remedy all the social evils of the world … starting with wealth inequality … see: Truth Revolt Story. And this has delighted President Obama who also fervently believes “to each according to his need.” Ever since the time of Jesus, Christians have echoed this mantra … chuck-a-block full of romantic agony. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” sayeth Christ (Matthew 19:24 … see: The Bible Hub).

So is the Catholic Church donating all of its hoarded finery to remedy these wealth inequalities? No. Is President Obama impoverishing himself and his family to stand as an example to the rest of the world? No. Somehow, owning wealth can be forgiven if one does one’s hypocritical best to conscript others into obeying Christ’s teachings on this matter.

Yes, one must concede that using more of the world’s resources than one’s “rightful share” has, within it, a certain tinge of evil. But then again, envy is as wicked a deadly sin as greed … particularly when it is preached as being saintly.

High Dudgeon

This nation’s media and our black leadership have their panties twisted in a bunch about the racists comments of the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy (see:The Guardian Story.) and Donald Sterling, owner of the LA Clippers basketball team (see: Forbes Story.) Such naive and inappropriate utterances do deserve condemnation, but, for once, I would love to see the same media treatment of the equally offensive comments made by the likes of Louis Farrakhan, Jessie, Jackson, Bill Clinton, Al Sharpton, Harry Reid, Eric Holder, Jay-Z and Jeremiah Wright. I’m sure with a little thought or Goggling dear reader you can recall of what I write.

Such a narrative has always seemed to me to be strangely disproportionate when prominent blacks say offensive things. The media subtext usually reduces itself to “boys will be boys” and, with a wink and a nod, their mild discomfort never lasts more than one news cycle. And, even weirder, very often those actually condemning such hypocrisy receive the brunt of the media’s tsk-tsking. (And I am reasonably certain that many of you have already classified me as a racist for pointing out this gross disparity.) 

Very strange and diabolical indeed!

Sanctions

President Obama has announced a new round of rigorous sanctions against the Russian Federation for its interference in the Ukraine. Even though somewhat vague, this list I am sure includes at the very least the following conscriptions:

-        The West will no longer permit the publication of any bare-chested Putin pictures.

-        Stoli vodka can no longer be sold in any flavored form inside Washington, DC.

-        Russian oligarchs cannot withdraw more than $1 billion per day from U.S. banks.

-        The U.S. intends to boycott the next Russian Winter Olympics, whenever that is.

-        Michelle Obama will no longer accompany Barack to any meetings in Russia.

-        Russian Sevruga caviar can now only be served at the White House.

-        The LA Clippers must play all their 2015 games in Moscow.

That’ll teach them.

Milestone

I have been writing this blog for about seven years and, two days ago, marked its 100,000 views. I realize that some blogs get 100,000 views in a much shorter time period, but nevertheless, kind readers, I am thrilled that you have endorsed my silliness to even this extent. Thank you!

Regurgitation

I just finished reading two interesting news articles about Hillary Clinton:

1) How she is turning to religious faith to help her transcend politics … see: Associated Press Story

2) How she is extremely sorry for how the Benghazi crisis was handled on her watch at the State Department … see: Fox News Story

Please note that both of these self-serving confessions were given during speeches for which, I am certain, Hillary received six-figure fees.

I think I just threw up in my mouth.

Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour

Back in the day there was a radio program called “Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour” … kind of like these new televised talent-search programs such as Star Search, American Idol and America's Got Talent. … only not so contrived.  Back then, there were true amateurs striving for their big break … and a few actually got one … such as Gladys Knight, Ann Margaret and Pat Boone.

Of late I can think of no better analog to the U.S. foreign policy than another “amateur hour.” We appear fumbling and directionless. Russia’s Putin is running circles around our hapless State Department and our feckless Secretary of State, John Kerry. We are sending oodles of mixed signals as to how we plan to deal with the world’s crises … the Israeli/Palestinian [lack of] peace process, the threat of an Ukrainian invasion by Russia, China’s expansionist designs, and our finger-in-the-wind dealings with Syria and Iran. It honestly appears that we are making things up as we go along.

I wish that President Obama’s Teleprompter could, for once, tell the world, in just a few clear sentences, what exactly our foreign policy is. Can the evil-doers of the world have their way with us without any real consequences? Are there limits to our possible responses to the mischief these bad actors are engaged in? Are we at all interested in improving circumstances around the world? Does our nuclear deterrent mean anything anymore? Why are we so hell-bent on leading from [our] behind?

Perhaps we might call our current foreign policy “lazy fare?” And just where are the grown-ups, such as Dick Cheney and Jim Baker, now that we really need them?

Auntie

Zeituni Onyango, President Obama’s aunt died recently in Boston. As a 14-year illegal immigrant from Kenya, she was an ungrateful recipient of much American public assistance … including (at least) public housing, welfare, special medical care, and disability payments … none, of which was she entitled to by law. To read the details of her abuse please read: Michelle Malkin Article. 

And to experience the degree of Auntie Zeituni ingratitude, please watch this 2010 interview ... see:: YouTube Video. Grrr … Much as I have often been sympathetic to such interlopers, Auntie Zeituni could nevertheless find a way to cause me to harden my heart.

Perhaps we can petition Kenya for some recompense? Nah!

The Warm Fuzzies

Somehow when this country seems to be doing the right thing, I get the warm fuzzies.  That is, I sense that this or that move is going to make things better … be it domestically or internationally. For some reason, the actions of the Obama administration seldom reward me with this cozy feeling. It is more often a forehead-slapping, “Oh no!” … such as with its recent Keystone Pipeline can-kicking. Or, giving up control of the Internet … ouch! Or, deploying snipers in Nevada … cringe! Or, allowing Iran six more months of plutonium production … groan!

Actually our recent moving of U.S. troops into Poland came close to producing some comfort for me … until I heard the number … 150! I sincerely doubt that this small of a military contingent will keep Russia’s Putin up at night … nor stop any designs he might have on Eastern Europe. In fact, this namby-pamby number may well tell him more about Obama’s intentions … or lack thereof … than the act itself.

And I would love to understand what this administration hopes to get out of its current far-east excursion … other than dining on the best sushi in the world. Yes, I hear the words “better trade” and “reassure allies,” but I don’t really feel that this trip can have any consequences other than the “Hillary effect” …  getting on and off an airplane as a pretend pretext to “doing something.” The mere fact that there are virtually no headlines coming out of this trip tells me how vacuous it really is.

And so, dear reader, this country is sleep-walking through one crisis after another without, it seems, any overarching strategy or design. Fuzzy thinking doesn’t tend to give me the warm fuzzies.

reddit Gallery CLVII

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Fire in the Sky

Edgar Allan Poe

Ladybug w/ Dandelion Seed

The Wave, Arizona

Genghis Kahn Memorial, Mongolia

Monkey Puzzle

Man has devised a clever way to capture small primates. It is called a monkey puzzle … basically a woven web or hollowed-out coconut which is attached to a sturdy post and, inside, it contains some sort of a goodie. When a monkey reaches in to get this bait, it can’t withdraw its paw without letting go of the prize … which it won’t do … therefore it was captured by its own greed.

There is a seduction analogous to this for us humans, a supposedly higher-level of primates. It’s called public welfare. Once we have our grimy paws on this government give-away, we won’t give it up … even if it means our effective enslavement. The Obama administration is counting on this primate tropism in the American public when it comes to moving health-care insurance (Obamacare) into the hollowed-out coconut. It firmly believes that the Republicans can’t or won’t roll back this offensive piece of liberal largess once they reacquire the reins of power. They might be right.

But there is an even bigger irony to this monkey puzzle theme.  And that is that the politicians themselves are enslaved by this welfare gambit.  They must keep making these public handouts bigger and bigger in order to convince the voters to let them keep their public sinecures with re-election.

So you see, we greedy voters are not the only monkeys, it’s those baboons in Washington too who also can’t let go of a good thing ... even though it might cost them their country.

reddit Gallery CLVI

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Frank Gehry - Idiot Architect

Liberty

Coal Miner

1957 Jaguar

Catherine Meets a Maori

Happy Easter

In a brilliant public relations move, Representative Nancy Pelosi chose to emulate Pope Francis and Jesus Christ by humbling herself and washing the feet of an immigrant ... see: Washington Times Story. Now, I can't help but secretly wonder if she is planning to take this pre-Easter act of Jesus's contrition all the way to the California equivalent of the Calvary hill?

Nah! ... can't be.

reddit Gallery CLV

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Tree Camping in California

Frozen Venice Canals

Wow!

Vine Snake

Saki Barrels

Juxtaposition LI

Senator Harry Reid

Cockroach

Senator Reid just called Clive Bundy's supporters "domestic terrorists" ... see:Politico Story. Apparently crossing Dirty Harry's son (who, with the Chinese, had designs on the land on which rancher Bundy was grazing his cattle) brings out the best in this scurrying Blattodea ... see: Newsmax Story.

Just how evil can a public figure be?

Tattoos Next?

Some Russians in part of the Eastern Ukraine are now coercing Jews in this area to register, pay a fee and itemize all of their assets. If these Jews don’t, then they are told that they will lose their Ukrainian citizenship and even worse … see: Powerline Blog Item. Wow! We’ve all been on this ant-semitic merry-go-round before. Let me off!!

IRS

Our tax collection agency, the IRS, has been turned into a slimy political tool, the Indefensible Repressive Scumbags, by the Obama administration.  I clearly am risking a tax audit by this pond-scum of a government agency for calling it out … but I feel that it is way out of control and I, nay we all, need to speak up. Yes, its repressive actions toward the Tea Party and other patriotic organizations surrounding their applications for 501-c-4 status before the last presidential election was outrageous and blatantly illegal. The probable instigator of these actions, Lois Lerner, needs to be severely punished by Congress and the Justice Department (ha ha!). And we clearly should find out who gave her her marching orders.

Additional IRS’s scumbag actions center on its treatment of Ben Carson, a black doctor and former Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Last year at the National Prayer Breakfast, with President Obama in attendance, he gave his recommendations for how to fix out nation’s health-care system. Please take the few moments to view Dr. Carson's studied, stand-up and sage recommendations here: YouTube Video.

This truth-telling apparently embarrassed our fearless leader and, as a result, Dr. Carson was called by the White House demanding he apologize … which he rightfully didn’t do. Therefore, this administration’s jack-booted mob siced the IRS dogs on him, his family and his friends. Read the details here: Washington Examiner Story. This is not only indefensible behavior; it is the worst kind of government heavy-handed repression. I never would have believed that a federal institution could be so corrupted as to stoop to such scandalous criminal behavior as have been exhibited by the IRS over the last three years. Using the IRS for political retribution is all very frightening.

I shudder to think of what this crooked agency and the Obama administration are capable of if they feel push-back for the types of actions that we have seen. But, you know what? … if we all don’t push-back, things are guaranteed to get even worse!

I’ll let you kind readers all know when my tax audit notice arrives.

reddit Gallery CLIV

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Last Surviving Roman Shield

Woman in Blue

Blood Moon

Tiny Toolbox

Great Blue Hole in Belize

Power of the Purse

Desperate to counter the profoundly negative effects of Obamacare on this year’s upcoming Congressional elections, the Obama administration is attempting to bribe as many voters as possible.  This includes trying to extending unemployment benefits, forgiving the penalties for neglecting to sign up for Obamacare, expanding the food stamps program (see: CNS News Story), (over)using the canard “equal pay for equal work (for women)” and now abandoning attempts to collect hundreds of million of dollars of past Social Security overpayments … see: CNBC Story.

As long as President Obama has the power of the purse … and can capture two minutes of every nightly TV news broadcast with these saccharine promises, it will be a more difficult for the Republicans to make significant headway in this November’s elections. The term “buying votes” really does have meaning … and the Democrats seem to know most of the old tricks.  Alexis de Tocqueville famously said that “the American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” He clearly neglected to include the President in this insight.

But stay tuned … over the next six months I am certain that this administration will discover and propound even more voter bribes. Watch and wait.

Language

Retail stores are going to school on our political establishment. They have learned that language or even just words can be used to influence the masses. Recently I received a brochure from Kohl’s that listed “performance tops” for $19.99 whereas its T-shirts were listed for $9.99. Essentially the same garment, Kohl’s has found a way with words to extract another $10 from its gullible customers.

Of course politicians learned this legerdemain a long long time ago. The “Affordable Care Act” (Obamacare) is anything but affordable. The only adjective that the Democrats seem to use is “extreme” or their noun is “extremists.” A number of years ago Republicans realized that “liberal” was a political killer and it was used to help defeat Dukakis’s presidential hopes. Rifles magically become “assault weapons.” When “global warming” started to lose its ability to sway, it was morphed into “climate change” … which was harder to debate. Such words are opinion-panel tested to a fair-thee-well and then disseminated to their apparatchiks to drum into the American psyche. The sad truth is that it works … facts be damned.

I have often opined on this subject under the term “Orwellian” … see: Red Flags, More Newspeak and Weasel Words. Once one’s ears are attuned to this political ruse, one cannot watch or hear a newscast or read a media message (mine included) without being bombarded with such subliminal syllabic slyness. “Illegal immigrants” become “undocumented workers.” (What happens if they are not working?) A terrorists attack at Fort Hood becomes “workplace violence.” Attempts to stop voter fraud becomes “voter suppression.” The Tea Party is besmirched (even by our President) with the smirked slur “tea baggers.” I sometimes wonder if Noam Chomsky is not on the Democrat payroll?

All I ask of you, dear reader, is please learn to filter out and ignore such blather.

reddit Gallery CLIII

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Back When There Was No FDA

Zumwalt-class Destroyer

Namib Desert Meets the Sea

Not So Smart Car

Russian Bear Dog

Act of Love

Former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, has created a bit of a huff and puff with his comments about those immigrants who come to this country illegally because they want to do well by their families. As per Bush, their breaking of the immigration laws of the United States is actually done as an “act of love,” an obviously unwise generalization … see: Breitbart Commentary.

Of course, in many instances … who knows the exact percentage … he is correct. But there are also many other nefarious reasons why our porous borders are breached by those who are less family-affectionate … the sex trade, drug smuggling, gang member recruiting, terrorist activities, those looking for our government’s handouts, those escaping criminal prosecutions at home, etc. The trouble is that there is no filtering process on this illegal immigrant influx to try to exclude such undesirables.

And even if 100% of these illegal immigrants were acting out of familial love, there still is the problem of America eventually becoming overrun with everyone in the world who is devoted to one’s own … there must be billions of them. The United States cannot possibly absorb all such caring people without imploding. Therefore, Jeb Bush has crawled out on an emotional limb which is easily pruned with simple logic.

Blanket amnesty cannot be the solution to the years of lax enforcement of our immigration laws … even if it is well-intentioned. This issue is now so thoroughly wrapped up in political motivations that it cannot be solved by naive utterances by would-be presidential candidates … of any party. I believe that the American people, in general, understand the conundrum we face … and such simple answers will not suffice.

I have previously offered my thoughts on this issue … see: Carrying Water in a Sieve. I believe that any real solution to this problem needs to stop the bleeding by strict enforcement of our existing immigration laws … including exporting of criminals and  those who overstay their visas … tighter inspection of amnesty claims … and an unbreachable barrier on our southern border. If this were done, maybe in twenty or thirty years this national problem would naturally dissipate ... without the granting of impassioned amnesty.

And I firmly believe that politicians who claim that they will enforce our immigration laws and then don’t ... are not acting out of love of country or compassion for those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” They (yes, you know their names) are craven and self-serving.

Taxing Issue

Apropos to the upcoming April 15^th tax filing deadline, President Obama and his wife, Michelle, have disclosed their 2013 tax returns.  They paid a total of $98 thousand in federal taxes on an income of $482 thousand (a tax rate of 20.4%). Their refund totaled a little north of $19 thousand which they applied to this year’s estimated taxes … see: CBS Story .  They also generously gave $59 thousand to various charities.

All well and good. However, the fundamental issue that I have with this disclosure is … what about the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars of benefits-in-kind that this duo receives from the U.S, taxpayers when they and their extended family and guests indulge themselves with their many globe-trotting vacations ... that are not part of official business.  This includes Air Force One and Marine One travel, the most luxurious hotel accommodations, five-star dining … and all the many other accouterments that they feel that they deserve … see: China Blossom for just the first quarter of 2014’s junkets. 

I realize that the first family receives a $100 thousand tax-free travel reimbursement as part of the President’s benefit package … but this is but a drop in the bucket relative to what they obviously palm off on us taxpayers. Where is this full-disclosure accounting for these sums?

I do believe that President Obama must have a friend at the Internal Revenue Service.