reddit Gallery CLXXXI - Cars

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

1925 Royles Royce Phantom

Jaguar D-Type XK SS 5

Lamborghini Veneno

1992 Shark Roadster

1948 Custom Cadillac Sedanette

Useful Idiots

I just witnessed on television this morning multiple demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court by legions of mostly young yahoos who were chanting against Hobby Lobby and their contention that it should be forced, under Obamacare, to pay for certain types of contraceptives. These useful idiots with their banners and mantras were conveniently ignoring a number of distinctions in this case which would undermine their mindless inanity:

1)     Hobby Lobby indicated in its arguments in front of the SCOTUS that the “contraceptives” that it objected to being forced to pay for are those which are essentially drug-induced abortions.

2)     Hobby Lobby strongly believes that it is its social responsibility to provide regular health insurance for its employees … but not for abortions. (By the way there are existing laws on the books … again ignored by the Obama administration … that taxpayers should not be forced to pay for abortions.)

3)      Hobby Lobby is a privately-held company which gives it much more standing in such moral-based issues. It does not have public stockholders and is fully owned by a religious family who holds strongly to the notion that abortion is infanticide.

4)     Hobby Lobby’s employees, if any of them object to this company’s policy, can either buy their own inexpensive contraceptives (or visit the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic for freebies) or are able to seek employment elsewhere. Even that uber-liberal, Donny Deutsch, made this very point on Morning Joe this morning.

Fortunately, these Obamacare issues are not decided in the public square … and the Supreme Court found for Hobby Lobby today … see: ABC News Story . I fully expect President Obama very soon to follow with a fusillade of snide comments directed to the conservatives on the Court … all to the cheers and stomping of these very same useful idiots.

Afterward: I can't help but believe that the Democrats are secretly happy with this SCOTUS decision. It easily reinforces their demagogy that the Republicans are waging a war on women ... and that many of these demonstrating useful idiots will vote for anyone with a "D" after their name in November. Such is the politics of these pimple people ...

What’s in a Name?

(I know I am going to be vilified for this post ... my wife has already expressed her strong disapproval. But I have decided to go with the excuse that the devil made me do it.)

Still smell as sweet?

Two scenarios:

1)     A female jogger is passing some bushes on her early morning constitutional. Out from behind this copse steps a burly male miscreant with a sharp knife, who quickly grabs this woman by the hair and, putting the knife to her throat, tells her not to scream or he will kill her. He then proceeds to pull her behind the bushes and slices off her jogging shorts and sports bra, severely cutting her in the process. Then, forcing her arms behind her back, for the next half hour, he fornicates with her … leaving her bloody and terrified. This attacker is later identified by the victim in a police line-up.

2)     A female college student asks a history-class male colleague out for coffee. They have a great mind-melding conversation which lasts well into the evening. Coffee leads to cocktails and some Buffalo wings. Then the male suggests that he has some great Pinot Noir back in his dorm room which is enthusiastically agreed on. After two bottles of same, this male retrieves some porn on his computer which they both find quite compelling. After some heavy petting and kissing, they both groggily undress and climb into bed … and, without getting her explicit permission; the male has his way with his classmate … after which they both fall asleep. But in the morning the female member of this tryst, not remembering all the details of the night before, has a bad case of remorse. Two weeks later she files charges against this classmate.

The legal charges in both instances are the same … rape … and the legal punishment and social ostracizing for each male, if found guilty in a court of law, can also be essentially the same. Unfortunately when society uses words to embrace broader circumstances … they are then corrupted and their true meaning can disappear.

To my mind this new notion of “rape” is a false and prejudicial equivalence … driven by the militant feminists. Are we all nuts? Can we as a society not differentiate between these two circumstances? To paraphrase Mark Twain when he commented about how to describe things … choosing the right word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

Afterward: Life imitates art ... see: Roanoke News.

Abhorring a Vacuum

It is not just nature that abhors a vacuum, it is also politics. The Democrats, led by our imperial president, Barack Obama, the Senate’s czar, Harry Reid, and that plastic-surgery experiment, Nancy Pelosi, have so alienated such large swaths of the American voting public that there is a clear danger that charlatans and miscreants, claiming to be conservative Republicans, might actually get elected to Congress this fall. A case in point is Jordan Haskins from Michigan who quite recently was arrested four times for vehicle break-ins and trespassing … yet is running for office as a Republican ...  see: The Conversation.

I’m reasonably certain that this type of candidate scenario will be repeated many times across our nation this coming November and a few undeserving Republicans will even get elected. God knows this unhappy accident occurred far too many times for Democrat poltroons in 2008.

reddit Gallery CLXXX - Gay Pride

Bridge

Chinese Mountains

Nudes

Minerals

Waffle

Rich vs. Super Rich

Hillary Clinton has dug herself into a public-relations hole with her statements about not being wealthy. And she then doubled down by saying that she and Bill were not "rich" because they pay an ordinary income tax rate ... a snide reference to Mitt Romney who mostly pays a capital gains rate.  The Clinton's easily qualify as being rich ... or in the 1% club. Hillary was surely confusing being rich with being super rich. And when these two were in the White House or in the State Department they certainly lived like they were super rich ... possibly this is one reason that they want these circumstance back

The world knows that the Clinton's are easily plutocrats with their large government stipends, secret service protection, two mansions, their multi-million dollar book advances and their six-figure speaking fees. One might also include daughter Chelsea in this category ... she who lives in a $10.3 million apartment and earns $600,000 per year for very little productive work ... see: National Review Story. And add to all of this Clinton wealth, the mega-million dollar (mostly Arab-funded) Clinton Foundation which is a bottom-less honey pot for this family and their large posse of hanger-ons.

But the question does pose itself ... what does being super rich really mean. That old saw that you are not rich if you have to ask the price of anything ... doesn't cut it anymore. So I have constructed what I think would be a newer and better set of tests to determine if one is truly a member of the 1% of 1%-ers ... or super rich.

- If you never wear the same clothes twice
- If your butler has a butler
- If you no longer go to St Barth's because of all the hoi polloi
- If you live off of the interest on your interest
- If you buy a sports team just so you can get the best seats
- If you promise not the bequeath anything to your children
- If you call for higher taxes on the wealthy
- If Warren Buffet asks you to lunch
- If your chauffeur drives his own Maserati
- If your yacht has its own helicopter
- If there are rooms in your mansions that you have never visited

Although they are now only rich, I have no doubt that the Clinton's are well on their way to being super rich and, if they reside once more at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they will make our current lush-loving residents there look like pikers.

Sneakers

A friend suggested on a Skype call the other day that the Obama administration is issuing sneakers to the some 300 or so troops that are being sent to Iraq. This is so that Obama can keep his pledge that he will not be putting "boots on the ground" there.

Bada bing!

reddit Gallery CLXXIX - Pulchritude

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Lock Step

World Cups

Transfixed

Oh!

Natalie Dormers

A Message

to President Obama regarding Iraq (and many places/things, both domestic and international) ...

You broke it ... you fix it. (after Colin Powell)

Affordable Care Facts

We are finally starting to get some cold hard facts behind the Affordable Care Act and the “healthcare.gov” website … according to CNN Money:

Some 87% of the 5.4 million people who have signed up through healthcare.gov, which handled enrollment for 36 states, qualified for subsidies. The department is still gathering data for the 14 states and District of Columbia that ran their own exchanges, which attracted roughly another 2.6 million sign-ups.

This means that 4.7 million of “healthcare.gov” enrollees are getting subsidies. The average monthly subsidy provided to these 4.7 million enrollees is $264 ... versus the average premium that they paid after subsidy being $82. This means that just this partial piece of Obamacare is going to cost the American taxpayer $1.24 billion per month in the first year. And you might be shocked at how one qualifies for this largess (again from CNN Money):

Anyone earning up to 400% of the poverty line -- up to $45,960 for an individual and $94,200 for a family of four -- was eligible for a subsidy. The subsidies were pegged to the cost of the second-cheapest silver plan in one's area. People could choose from four coverage tiers ranging from the cheapest, bronze, to the most expensive, platinum.

Shhh! Don’t let this all get out … otherwise these Obamacare percentages are going to skyrocket … particularly after this fall’s elections when the employer mandates kick in … and tens of millions of employees lose their healthcare insurance. Even before this happens the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the total cost of the Affordable Care Act subsidies this year will total $12 billion … see: CNN Money. Now we finally understand the logic behind the naming of this piece of wealth-distribution legislation.

It will be “affordable” to everyone but the U.S. taxpayer.

reddit Gallery CLXIII - Morphs

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Flower Panna Cotta

Dancing Girl Orchids

Flying Duck Orchids

Penguin-back Caterpillar

Desert Tree (Dry River)

Death Trains

One has to ask oneself how is it that thousands of children can hop on top of freight trains out of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador and then travel at least a thousands miles across Mexico to get to the southern border of the United States ... then to be welcomed by the Obama administration ... so that they can be used as pawns in the illegal-immigrant amnesty battle (Dream Act) in Congress ... see: Breitbart Story? And I have many other questions:

- What has been the impetus for this mass immigration ... has the United States government instigated, in any way, this dangerous trek? If so, exactly how?

- How many children have died or been injured on these Death Trains?

- Is this the price in human suffering that Obama is willing to pay to get his legislative way?

- Mexico has long been known as being very tough on people crossing its own southern border ... what has now changed this rigorous enforcement stance?

- Can't Mexico see all these children riding on top of these freight trains ... and now choose to look the other way?

- If so, why? And has the U.S. played a part in this change of this Mexican enforcement attitude?

- How do those children survive this arduous journey? Who gives them food, clothing, shelter, money and health care?

- Why are the media and those from Congress being excluded from interviewing these children ... what is there to hide?

- Exactly what are the statistics associated with this mass immigration? Exactly how many? Where are their parents? What is this all costing U.S taxpayers? Are any of these children being sent back? Exactly where are they being settled?

- Are there any real health epidemic threats arising out of all this mass unscreened immigration?

I fully expect that these questions will be answered sometime in the next few centuries ...

By Hook or by Hockey Stick

It now seem that, in the United States at least, global cooling data has been transmogrified by our crazed scientists at NOAA ... into global warming data. The U.S. has actually been cooling since the 1930's, the hottest decade on record, whereas the real data has been cooked (if you will excuse the expression) to show just the opposite ... see: UK Telegraph Story.

For "scientists" to be so unscientific, to me, is astounding. But it's not like such silliness hasn't happened before ... just ask Galileo ... and Einstein ... and many others. But, given the ongoing economic cost of this particular dastardly duplicity, me thinks some punishment should be exacted from these charlatan scientists and those snot-nosed politicians who are in bed with them. Perhaps we could put them in stockades and shoot hockey pucks at them?

Blood Feud

Author Joe Klein’s methodology is to take a premise, then construct a third person fictional narrative around this premise and pass it off as the God’s truth. This he did in his roman a clef novel, “Primary Colors,” purporting to tell the inside skinny on Bill Clinton’s first campaign for president. Such is also the case in his newest book, “Blood Feud, Yada, Yada, Yada,” the supposed inside scoop on the boiling hatred that exists between the Clintons and the Obamas. It is actually fascinating reading until you realize that there is no way he could have been a fly on the wall to as many meetings, private conversations, and even inner thoughts as it appears in this book. And, if he got this information second- or third-hand, it clearly would be fraught with the hidden agendas of the relating parties … and, Allah knows, such parties are nothing but hidden agendas.

But before we go on, you should first read an excerpt from this book … see: New York Post Story. So what do you think? Is this what actually happened … or is this narrative constructed to a purpose? I personally believe that Klein is a groupie for the Clintons and this book is an attempt to put daylight between Hillary and Barack … seeing that Obama’s presidency is effectively the last sullied eddy of a flushed toilet. Perhaps he has gotten some semaphores from the Clinton posse, but I somehow doubt that he has the equivalent sources inside the White House. If one views the portrait he paints of the President and the First Lady, I sincerely question that he would somehow have been privy to their private utterances.

But I am also thinking that Hillary would have done better to have used Joe Klein as her ghost writer for “Hard Choices” since he writes better and seems to enjoy anonymity … see: His Wikipedia Entry.

Afterward: Joe Klein may not be a shill for Hillary's 2016 campaign after all ... see: Flashtek Story. I guess, in the end, its all about book sales ...

Carny

At old-time carnivals there was always a spiel mister who, waving his bamboo cane, huckstered rubes into the various sideshows full of geeks, freaks and flabby female ecdysiasts … or one who offered you a chance to beat an unbeatable tent game. Such was called a “carny” … short for carnival worker. Yesterday was Jay Carney’s last day as the White House Press Secretary … kinda like the modern-day equivalent of a carny … the head spinner of administration misdirections. This Carney carny however did not wave a cane nor stand in front of a sucker’s game. But then again?

Jay Carney … or the “common streetwalker” as I liked to call him … grew into this job … learning to lie with aplomb. He benefited from a complacent and lackluster press corps (corpse?) who were led around by the nose … even asked to submit questions in advance … see: Pantomime. The most recent whopper this carny ask us to believe was that that IRS tyrant, Lois Lerner, had never contacted the White House by e-mail … see: Michelle Malkin Squib. This is despite the fact that there were 155 White House meetings between Lois Lerner’s boss and Obama’s henchmen … see: Daily Caller Story. Pleeease …

One Fox News wag opined that Carney was not paid enough to do all these tap dances around Obama’s malfeasances … but I think he was being overpaid. Now we can expect to see Carney slip back into the media in some fashion or another … moving between news-making and news-faking.

reddit Gallery CLXXII

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Large Marine Engine

Cat and Mouse

Eye in the Sky

Bugatti -- Now and Then

New York City -- 1873

Redskins

For the second time the U.S. Patent Office has canceled the trademark for the Washington Redskins saying it is “disparaging to Native Americans” … see: Sports Illustrated Story. The previous time this decision was reversed in the courts ... see: Bleacher Report. But exactly how many of our Indian friends are "offended" is unclear. Is one enough? One hundred? This battle is not over, but if the Redskin’s owner, Dan Snyder, does eventually buckle to our Washington PC police, may I suggest that he change the name to the Washington “Transgenders," or  the “Statists," the “Muslim Brotherhood” or even the "Ruddy First People" That way he would surely be safe from further opprobrium from these Obama jackboots.

At some point we should all look back and contemplate how truly repressive our current administration has become. Does our Constitution mean nothing to them? And, most sadly, how few voices are crying out ...

Afterward: My son has suggested that the Redskin's owner change his team's name to the Washington Elizabeth Warrens ... in order to stay in the genre. Not bad ...

Bug Out

Our dimwitted Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel testified to the Senate Appropriations Committee today (see: Army Times Story) that the United Stated "phased out" our presence in Iraq under Obama ... leaving no forces behind ... as it now appears that we could have and should have. This obvious political decision ... like so many other seat-of-the-pants miscues from our fearless leader ... is biting him (and us) in the butt ...  as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is quickly undoing most our victories there.

In the TV series "MASH" there was a term for the quick withdrawal (or retreat) of our troops in a Korean theater ... it was called a "bug out" ...  a term I think that Chuckie Baby might better have used today.

Weltanschauung

It’s very satisfying to read from someone who has a world view very similar to one’s own, I only wish I had the life-experience and composition skills to write such a gruesome near-obituary of the Western World. Buck up and please read the following: The Diplomad Blog ... and what part(s) next follow on this blog as I expect it (them) to be equally chilling. Wouldn’t it be nice if this chap could motivate a few million voters to take a detour from our banal modern culture and to try to reverse things.

As any reader of this blog knows, I’m already carrying the flag.

Space Shot

Rosie

“I think we restored America’s leadership at a time when it was in quite dire straights.” – a Hillary Clinton quote in her recent ghosted book “Hard Choices” …  expressing her thoughts about her time at the State Department ... and how she and President Obama re-established America’s primacy on the world stage … see: Breitbart Story.

Yes, and she once was the model for Rosie on the outer-space TV cartoon series “The Jetsons.”

reddit Gallery CLXXI

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Hot Air Balloons in Cappadocia, Turkey

Moroccan Sink

Smallest McDonalds

North America vs. Saturn

Tree Bark Opal

The Rooster Crowing

The 2008 recession, that Obama inherited, cut 8.7 million jobs out of the U.S. economy … and now, just after 4 ½ years in office, this administration can crow about returning this same number to the job market … see: CNN Story. This is obviously good news … but there are three clouds to this silver lining:

-        During this same period the population of this country has grown by 11.7 million. For employment levels to be equivalent on a percentage basis to what they were in 2008, our economy would have to have grown jobs by an additional 7 million (see previous link).

-        It is estimated that, of the 8.7 million new jobs created under Obama, almost one million of them are on a part-time or contract basis (see: Sun Times Story). This typically means no health-care, no bonuses, and few of the many other perks afforded to full-time employees. One reason for this plethora of part-timers obviously has to be Obamacare.

-        Average weekly earnings of our working population has stagnated over this same 4 ½ years … growing less than 2% per year since Obama’s inauguration … whereas median earnings have grown at almost 3% … see: Social Securit Administration Numbers. This of course is a function of the level of part-time and contract employment … but it also highlights the growing inequality of incomes within our economy. This is something that Obama decries but does not seem to be able to do anything to correct.

So when you see the Barack rooster crowing about his record on job growth, you can now, being in the know, quietly smile to yourself … or, like myself, shout at the TV.

Orchestration

To me this is all too suspicious. The influx of Central-American children crossing illegally into the United States has doubled since last year causing a humanitarian crisis in our southwest… see: Financial Times Story. This tidal wave of minors will cost American taxpayers over two billion dollars and, because they are “children,” put more media pressure on Congress to do something about immigration reform.

How convenient … just when Senator Upchuck Schumer is putting on a full court press to pass his immigration-reform legislation before August.

I can not imagine that this is an accident … this influx of so many unaccompanied children who have traveled thousands of miles through Mexico and found their way into our country. This takes money and planning. And apparently the Obama administration is pulling out all stops to compound this problem by enlisting lawyers to help them stay in this country … see: New York Times Story.

This smells to me of an orchestrated attempt to coerce opponents of the “Dream Act” into submission ... using these children as all-suffering pawns. One might even call it a shakedown.

If it can be determined that the Obama-istas are in anyway behind the funding and logistics of this tidal wave of young illegal immigrants, then, once again, they are overtly working against the established laws passed by Congress. If this would not be subversive anarchy, then we need better words for it.

Afterward: A Texas judge has said that "the government has simply chosen not to enforce the United States border security laws" ... see: CBS Story.

reddit Gallery CLXX

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

1924 Joy Ride

African Farm

Human vs. Dolphin Brain

Megalodon Tooth Stuck in a Whale Vertebrae

Human Industriousness