Nonsensible Shoes

Bill Whittle admits that conservatives suck

2012-02-24T08:57:00.002-05:00

Bill Whittle's eloquent explanation of why conservatives suck. You'll be surprised.

Watch and learn.

For Black Voters - the most important political video EVER.

2012-02-24T08:40:00.002-05:00

In my last post I shared Allen West's floor speech in Congress about Black History Month and I asked with the real history being what it was, why are African Americans overwhelmingly supporting Democrats?

Zo' explains it better than I ever could.

Allen West on Black History Month

2012-02-24T08:30:00.003-05:00

February is black history month in America. I haven't paid much attention to it, but I don't really want to ignore it because a lot of the history has suffered revisionism over the years by Democrats. Congressman Allen West helps set the record straight.

With such a history, how on earth can Republicans not be the party of African Americans?

Ann Coulter calls us morons.

2012-02-23T20:11:00.003-05:00

What happened to Ann Coulter? Her man crush on Mitt Romney has led her off the deep end. In an effort to convince Republican voters that Mitt Romney is the guy to vote for, she's decided that the best way to convince the unconvinced is to insult them.

...if reducing contraception use, lobbying for Freddie Mac and promoting huge government programs such as moon colonies and No Child Left Behind are the best ways to create jobs, then it could be true that Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are our strongest candidates in a general election.

Of course, it might also be true that dousing yourself in fairy dust does not guarantee that you will find the perfect mate and get the perfect job.

We're being asked to hand Obama another four years in the White House in order to "send a message." To whom? And what message? That we're morons? Message received!

Nice. Thanks for the convincing Ann, I'm ready to support Mitt Romney now. Here's a hint Ann, if you want to convince conservatives to support the establishment liberal Republican Romney, your best possible course of action is to shut up.

US apologize for Koran burning. Muslim response? Kill.

2012-02-23T19:45:00.002-05:00

Briefly, the United States accidentally burned some Korans. The military apologized. President Obama, predictably, apologized. Then this:

Two American troops were gunned down by a man wearing an Afghan uniform in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Mohammad Hassan, a local Afghan leader in Nangarhar province, says the shooting occurred outside an American base in the province during a riot against the Koran burnings. He says the gunman was an Afghan soldier.

The shooting is the latest in a rising number of attacks on NATO troops by Afghan police and soldiers or militants dressed in their uniforms.

The obvious question: When is Afghanistan going to apologize for the killing of those Americans? They won't. It turns out I wasn't the only one asking this question. Sarah Palin replied with the obvious question and Newt Gingrich adds the obvious conclusion:

“It is an outrage that President Obama is the one apologizing to Afghan President Karzai on the same day two American troops were murdered and four others injured by an Afghan soldier. It is Hamid Karzai who owes the American people an apology, not the other way around.”

Gingrich added, “This destructive double standard whereby the United States and its democratic allies refuse to hold accountable leaders who tolerate systematic violence and oppression in their borders must come to an end.”

BAM!

No word from Mitt Romney.

Post Debate Thoughts

2012-02-22T22:27:00.005-05:00

Next debate: Bean bag chairs.

Unorganized, here's a stream-of-consciousness series of thoughts on the final GOP debate before Super Tuesday.

The audience in every Romney - Santorum exchange early on seemed to be members of Mitt Romney's immediate family. Those tense exchanges made Santorum look underwhelming and made Romney look arrogant and unfriendly. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul probably benefited by staying out of the way and letting that train wreck happen on its own. But when they spoke later on both Gingrich and Paul came across well. Gingrich was the most statesmanlike. He also had some clear and well-spoken points. He won the debate, but he did not dominate. He just did well, while Santorum and Romney came across poorly.

Stossel makes it simple

2012-02-22T19:59:00.004-05:00

Tired of trying to explain the budget situation to your liberal friends? John Stossel explains it in relatable, simple terms. Via Townhall:

Imagine this family budget:

Last year, you earned $24,700. But you spent $37,900, incurring $13,300 in debt, and you were already $153,500 in debt.

So you say, "I promise I'll spend $300 less this year!"

Anyone can see that your cutback is pathetic and that you need to spend much less.

Yet if you add eight zeroes, that's America's budget.

Go read the whole thing. He talks about the hard choices that need to be made, the same point myself and others have been making for years.

CNN Debate tonight - do or die?

2012-02-22T18:46:00.003-05:00

Tonight's debate is especially important for each candidate as it could shape the next portion of the race, including Super Tuesday. It's the last debate before that delegate deluge. For Mitt Romney, it's his chance to re-emerge in Arizona and Michigan. If he loses in Michigan, by many accounts, the establishment will bail on him. That sounds like mission critical stuff if it is true. For Rick Santorum, attacks have been dredged, or Drudged up against him that makes this debate important for him to establish his credibility and electability. And for Newt Gingrich, this may be his last chance to mount a last surge with a strong, positive debate performance. For Ron Paul - this may be a rare chance to come across better on foreign relations, which is where he most lacks credibility with the Republican mainstream.

The debate may have higher ratings than previous debates I suspect, because of partisan interest and because with growing news coverage of the Republican contests, more people will be tuning in for the first time. That makes this debate all the more critical. Sadly, given the high expectations and the pressure to perform, I suspect 2 if not 3 of the contenders to falter. Ron Paul, with the least pressure to exceed expectations, has the best chance of performing well, depending on the lines of questioning. We shall see. It should be lively.

2012 - Putting Obama on defense

2012-02-21T21:26:00.003-05:00

Right.

The way to win an election, no matter who the GOP nominee turns out to be, is to not let the Obama campaign make this election cycle about the Republican candidate or allow the president to get traction on the notion that the recovery is underway finally and that Bush left a much worse mess than he realized. If the election becomes about the Republican nominee, Obama will win. If the president can make the case that the recovery is now kicking in (remember Recovery Summer in 2009 2010 2011?), then people will start to think that it took too long but the president was right, so we should now stay the course.

Drudge: Déjà vu all over again

2012-02-20T18:18:00.001-05:00

Remember when Newt Gingrich was peaking in the polls and a panicked establishment threw everything they could at Newt to make sure Mitt Romney was the winner of the Republican nomination for president? Do you recall Matt Drudge, long a conservative news source being preeminent among Gingrich's attackers? No? Below is a quick reminder of what happened to Gingrich, because it's started to happen again to Rick Santorum.

Drudge: Casting any and all contenders in an unfriendly light. This time, Santorum.

Americans should have known Obama was not ready

2012-02-20T11:41:00.003-05:00

Fail.

History is replete with people who came into power or wealth and were unprepared for it, leading to significant negative consequences. When someone is unprepared for such a profound paradigm shift, they are ill-equipped to handle the responsibility or the dangers that come with the new situation. President Obama is a prime example - he was snot equipped to answer that 3 a.m. phone call Hillary Clinton said he could not handle. He was not equipped to handle the economic crisis he faced. He was not equipped to handle the details of a 2200 page health care bill and that is becoming clearer with every passing day. He was not ready to be president. Americans should have known, but history and current events apparently did not provide enough lessons for voters prior to his election.

Often times, aspirations far outstrip qualifications. While you can argue that experience doesn't matter, it does. Preparedness comes from experience. Here are some examples of people not ready for prime time and the unfortunate consequences that ensued.

Krugman tells half a story

2012-02-20T09:54:00.002-05:00

The Krugman answer.

Paul Krugman, economist, propagandist, and Keynesian ideologue looks to Europe and sees a failure of countries' attempts at austerity in helping their economies - as if the problem was one that could be solved overnight. The same liberal logic used to defend president Obama - the recovery will take time - doesn't get applied when Krugman looks at the success or failure of solutions that don't fit his world view.

Specifically, in early 2010 austerity economics — the insistence that governments should slash spending even in the face of high unemployment — became all the rage in European capitals. The doctrine asserted that the direct negative effects of spending cuts on employment would be offset by changes in “confidence,” that savage spending cuts would lead to a surge in consumer and business spending, while nations failing to make such cuts would see capital flight and soaring interest rates. If this sounds to you like something Herbert Hoover might have said, you’re right: It does and he did.

Now the results are in — and they’re exactly what three generations’ worth of economic analysis and all the lessons of history should have told you would happen. The confidence fairy has failed to show up: none of the countries slashing spending have seen the predicted private-sector surge. Instead, the depressing effects of fiscal austerity have been reinforced by falling private spending.

Furthermore, bond markets keep refusing to cooperate. Even austerity’s star pupils, countries that, like Portugal and Ireland, have done everything that was demanded of them, still face sky-high borrowing costs. Why? Because spending cuts have deeply depressed their economies, undermining their tax bases to such an extent that the ratio of debt to G.D.P., the standard indicator of fiscal progress, is getting worse rather than better.

(emphasis added)

The interesting point is that austerity measures don't produce results overnight, just as president Obama said there were scores of shovel-ready projects that would lift the country out of recession almost immediately turned out to be pure fantasy, it is fantasy to suggest that austerity, during a downturn would provide nothing but roses is a false claim. Nobody suggested it would.

As for the lessons of history, in the early 1980s the deep economic recession under Reagan was deepened by the high interest rate policy which was designed to deepen the pain but significantly shorten the period of pain. Krugman has not learned the real lessons of history - that long term solutions are not the best short term solutions. Looking at the austerity measures taken in Europe in countries that had previously been on unsustainable paths, the long term is set up far better than additional stimulus efforts would have provided. The point is - the results are not in this has just started. True, it's painful, that's what happens withdrawal symptoms of an addiction. But give it 10 years and you'll see an entirely different set of circumstances.

The sad part of the proof will be this - if Krugman gets his way and Obama gets re-elected, the matter of proving the effectiveness of austerity measures will be easier because the United States will become the control group for the European austerity experiment. Spendthrift American government will end up being the cautionary tale Austrian school economists teach to a new generation of European economic students.

Blog outage today

2012-02-19T22:07:00.003-05:00

Today I was travelling and I tried to take a look at my blog via my mobile device. I got a 404 error. As it turns out so did a number of other people I know. It seemed like my blog had lost its DNS identity. Then later in the afternoon, the blog came back to life. I don't know what happened but it sure caused me a panic when it was out.

My blog, despite having it's own domain name, is still hosted at blogger, since it is a blog. In any case Blogger and Google were the recipients of some colorful language this afternoon before mysteriously righting themselves and my blog.

Odd, frustrating, but ultimately my blog is still alive. If you thought I disappeared today, I haven't. As to what happened, I have no clue.

Dictator Watch - World War Iran edition

2012-02-19T09:52:00.003-05:00

Iran is trending towards being a danger spot for a breakout of hostilities very quickly, and it looks like there is the potential for it to drag everyone into something of a broader conflict. France is being affected, Israel is widely seen as a future Iranian target, and meanwhile Russia and China are likely to back Iran in any conflicts as they did with Syria, an Iranian ally.

While Britain is worried that there could be an escalation of tensions with Iran, Iran is stopping oil to the U.K. and France:

"Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped ... we will sell our oil to new customers," spokesman Alireza Nikzad was quoted as saying by the ministry of petroleum website.

Meanwhile reports are that they are on the brink of a nuclear capabilities jump in their peaceful purposes nuclear facilities built in bunkers deep underground.

Iran is poised to greatly expand uranium enrichment at a fortified underground bunker to a point that would boost how quickly it could make nuclear warheads, diplomats tell The Associated Press. They said Tehran has put finishing touches for the installation of thousands of new-generation centrifuges at the cavernous facility -- machines that can produce enriched uranium much more quickly and efficiently than its present machines.

While saying that the electrical circuitry, piping and supporting equipment for the new centrifuges was now in place, the diplomats emphasized that Tehran had not started installing the new machines at its Fordo facility and could not say whether it was planning to.

Still, the senior diplomats -- who asked for anonymity because their information was privileged -- suggested that Tehran would have little reason to prepare the ground for the better centrifuges unless it planned to operate them. They spoke in recent interviews -- the last one Saturday.

The United States is not so naive as to be standing by - at least diplomatically. When the time comes the Obama administration may be reticent to help out Israel, but at least they are talking;

JERUSALEM — President Barack Obama’s national security adviser huddled with Israeli leaders on Sunday to discuss Iran’s nuclear program following growing speculation that Israel is planning military action against Tehran.

Tom Donilon was to meet with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak before leaving on Monday.

While the White House seems on the surface, worried about Israel's possible actions, with Iraq and Afghanistan slowing or slowed to a halt, and a president with precious little to trade on for re-election, perhaps the president sees Iran as a way to build on his tough guy image which he didn't really even earn when the navy seals got Bin Laden.

I'm not one for conspiracies, and I don't believe it's the case, but it almost seems as if the die has been cast for a regional conflict to grow into something far more substantial and global in nature. If China and the United States end up on opposite sides of a military conflict, even if by proxy, there will be trade and balance of payment implications that should have both countries very concerned, in addition to the potential damages of the hostilities themselves. That's something that should have everyone worried right now.

Democrat Math: More benefits + more condoms = ?

2012-02-18T15:47:00.002-05:00

Some of the obvious dichotomy of liberal Democrat math escapes me entirely. If you can explain how this is supposed to work, please enlighten me:

More health care, more social security and more welfare = more cost to tax contributors

More free contraception = less children.

Less children + aging population = fewer people supporting those requiring support.

Fewer people supporting those requiring support + more cost = unsustainable and growing burden + more national debt

You can't increase the welfare state while encouraging, or forcing contraception. Liberals are at odds with themselves and they either don't see it or don't care to reconcile the two issues.

Interminably frustrating.

Seriously, if anyone knows of some secret liberal plan to make all this work, please enlighten us conservative Luddites because we clearly are not the math geniuses that you are.

I figured out how to make solar panels work.

2012-02-18T14:15:00.003-05:00

Get them to run on oil.

</end sarcasm>

Birthday, links and that's about it.

2012-02-18T13:47:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday to me.

It's my birthday today, and I'll be busy with family instead of posting thoughts on the American political and economic landscape. So, for your Saturday reading pleasure, check out these great pieces:

US Geological Survey: Bakken Black or Man, do we ever have some oil in America!

Verum Serum: Occupy fundraiser leads to vandalism spree.

Conservatives 4 Congress: Romney, earmarks and the Olympics.

Legal Insurrection: Raising the specter of another Bush candidacy?

Scottcarp Dream: An endorsement from battleground Ohio

Gateway Pundit: Obama wrong again on jobs - Caterpillar edition

Chicks on the Right: Maxine Waters demonizing the right - literally.

Michelle Malkin: More sneaky news releases on the Obama Solyndra scandal.

Right Wing News: How to talk on the radio (in case your blog ever gets you mildly famous)

Sean Trende: The dangers of a brokered GOP convention.

Jay Cost: The Continental Divide for the GOP

Race for Justice: Not the separation of Church and State. It's separation of Church and people

Eccentric/Conservative: Sloganized, simple but accurate and memorable.

All American Blogger: No more guns to Mexico please...

The Republican Mother: At last, a Star Trek metaphor. Tholian Web of regulation.

Mind Numbed Robot: About That Obamacare Attack on Religious Liberty – aka The Birth Control/Abortion Pill Mandate…

Gonzalo Lira: Inflationary undertow prior to the inflationary wave

King Shamus: Obama, for real, totally has a plan on spending.

Saturday Learning Series - Game Theory 7 (shopping)

2012-02-18T10:13:00.000-05:00

This is a continuation of the Yale lecture series on Game Theory, an economic proposition that has a myriad of other applications to it as well. In this lecture, Ben Polak discusses shopping, standing and voting..

The right tactical move but bad strategy

2012-02-17T20:43:00.004-05:00

Different time frame, but same principal.

Mitt Romney backed out of the CNN debate just prior to Super Tuesday (which is on March 6th). He was followed by Ron Paul and Rick Santorum in a move clearly designed not to let Newt Gingrich back into the race just prior to a mass of delegates being allocated by voters.

Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum decided to skip the March 1 debate that was to be co-hosted by CNN and the Georgia and Ohio state Republican parties, their campaigns confirmed Thursday.

CNN decided to cancel the debate after being left with a single confirmation, Newt Gingrich, who would have been left to square off solo with moderator John King. Gingrich’s camp is unlikely to be happy with the turn of events as the former House speaker has used the nationally televised spectacles to savage the media and twice revive his lagging campaign.

It was the right tactical move for that objective. After all, Newt clearly has the best debate skill of the bunch. But for at least two of the candidates, it was the wrong strategic objective.

New Link Page added

2012-02-17T00:11:00.002-05:00

If you have read any of the Saturday Learning Series posts - quality learning videos from around the web - you'll know there have been a lot of them over the years and they can be difficult to find. But I've saved you the trouble of searching. You can find links to every Saturday Learning series post, right here.

If you aren't familiar with those posts, give the page a look. There are some fantastic lectures and series there.

I've said it before - Milton Friedman, genius.

2012-02-16T21:23:00.002-05:00

A while back I included Milton Friedman's series on capitalism as part of my Saturday Learning Series posts. The man was a genius. I've read some of his work and it is truly inspiring, and it's been too long since I've posted some of his thoughts. Here are two videos of the man discussing capitalism and society. The first one is him discussing the Inheritence Tax and the redistribution of wealth. Similarly, the second is him discussing the myth that the government has benefited the poor at the expense of the rich and the reality of the fact that the government robs from both the rich and poor to give to the middle class.

Take a look back at his Free To Choose series for sensible economic reason.

Romney, Santorum torpedo Gingrich

2012-02-16T18:08:00.001-05:00

More debates? No. Did I mention I don't care about the very rich or poor?

How do you ensure that Newt Gingrich can't compete and won't see another surge in voter support? Easy - take away his greatest advantage - debates.

CNN canceled its March 1 Republican presidential debate on Thursday after three of four candidates declined to participate, citing busy campaign schedules leading to Super Tuesday on March 6.

"Mitt Romney and Ron Paul told the Georgia Republican Party, Ohio Republican Party, and CNN Thursday that they will not participate in the March 1 Republican presidential primary debate," CNN said in a statement. "Without full participation of all four candidates, CNN will not move forward with the Super Tuesday debate."

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum also said he would not participate, leaving only former House Speaker Newt Gingrich committed to attending.

Sean Penn - socialist toolbag or just always wrong?

2012-02-15T21:12:00.002-05:00

That was my skull!

Sean Penn has decided to take on England. Clearly, he has yet to tackle reason.

Sean Penn is accusing British media of pushing for war instead of diplomacy to resolve the United Kingdom's dispute with Argentina over the islands both countries claim in the far South Atlantic.

The Oscar-winning actor said British journalists had twisted his comments the day before in support of Argentina's push for a U.N.-sponsored negotiated settlement to the sovereignty dispute.

"Good journalism saves the world. Bad journalism destroys it," Penn said.

London's conservative Daily Mail called the statement "an ugly attack on the press" by a "left-wing U.S. actor" in its Wednesday editions and quoted a member of parliament, Patrick Mercer, as calling Penn's comment "moronic."

Do your homework Sean - Argentina was the aggressor in the Falklands War. They were the ones with imperial ambitions, not England. But facts don't matter to Penn.

"My oh my, aren't people sensitive to the word 'colonialism,' particularly those who implement colonialism," Penn said Tuesday night. He then doubled down on his criticism of Britain's actions leading up to the 30th anniversary of Argentina's failed 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands, a British territory that Argentines claim as the Malvinas. More than 900 people were killed in the war.

Britain says it will never negotiate with Argentina as long as the Falklanders want to be British. It has sent Prince William on a six-week air force mission to the islands, along with its most powerful destroyer, the HMS Dauntless. The British government also hasn't denied reports that it sent a nuclear submarine, possibly with nuclear missiles, to the disputed southern seas.

emphasis added.

England is not wrong Sean, you are.

Celebrities capture candidates qualities succinctly

2012-02-15T21:00:00.003-05:00

Not like this.

Celebrities can be pretty vacuous, but there actually a number of them who have supported and do support conservative candidates, sometimes quite surprisingly. What's more surprising is that sometimes left or right, they nail it in describing the candidates.

Now, I'm not talking Alec Baldwin or Sean Penn here. Sure, they get the most attention because of their outlandish opinions, but they aren't the ones who are capturing the essence of the candidates.

Here are a few examples.

OMG, Obama must be stopped!

2012-02-14T20:36:00.001-05:00

Dear America,

Please, please, PLEASE do not re-elect this president guy. He's talking about unilateral disarmament now. He's talking about massive military cuts and ceding international preeminence to China. Thank God his budget is D.O.A. Nevertheless, his agenda has been, continues to be and will continue to be - if allowed - damaging to the United States of America.

Whether it is deliberate or not no longer matters. Damage has been done and it will only get worse. With Jimmy Carter the United States proved it could rebound very successfully from four years of a bad president. Given the incremental level of danger, there is no reason for the United States to test itself with eight years of a bad president. President Obama has enacted radical, expensive and unsustainable legislation. He has bought the country controlling interest in General Motors. He has enacted regulation that is burdensome and unwieldy for business. He has hamstrung the energy sector by blocking oil and natural gas development at every possible turn while simultaneously enabling unsustainable solar power companies like the now bankrupt Solyndra.

He has bowed to foreign leaders with whom the United States is not the greatest of allies, while disrespecting the Queen of England, undercutting Israel and forcing it's closest neighbor and ally Canada to sell it's oil to China instead of working with them to bring the oil to American refineries.

He has forced religious organizations like Catholic hospitals to provide contraception coverage to it's employees, regardless of the fact that such mandates are not Constitutional and trample upon the religious freedom of those organizations. Purposeful? Who cares if it is or not. It is dangerous to America and anathema to its liberty. You still believe in liberty, don't you America? This sort of decisioning is contrary to the first amendment. That the president has backed off in a supposed compromise is not only insufficient, it is beside the point. The real concern is that the president, a supposed constitutional scholar, would not take that sort of implication into consideration is deeply disconcerting.

It no longer even matters who the Republican nominee for president turns out to be. At this point, what is urgently needed is to stop travelling in the direction the country is still moving. Yes, it would be better to find a presidential nominee to reverse the country from travelling towards the economic cliff and the collapse of liberty. But even finding someone who will stop the progress is better than nothing.

It may sound alarmist, but the risk is simply to great to give Obama another four years. Without the worry of another re-election, the president would be unfettered to push forward an even more radical agenda.

DO NOT RE-ELECT PRESIDENT OBAMA America. You cannot afford his destruction of the foundations of a once great nation to continue. The country may not survive.

I'll make you a deal - vote him out, and I won't ask "What were you thinking?"

Dean_L