Spotted...

In the past day, I have spotted on I-80 two bumper stickers featuring our current President while I was both going to, and coming home from, work. One made me laugh, and the other gave me an incredulous shake of the head.

The first was on a big Dodge HEMI-type pickup. The left-hand side of the sticker showed a photo of Obama with his chin sticking up in the air in one of his classic Mussolini poses. Next to the photo, the sticker said DOES THIS ASS MAKE MY TRUCK LOOK BIG?

I love it!

The next sticker I saw was on the back of a Toyota Highlander. This one also featured a photo of Obama, only the photo was as flattering as possible. Next to the photo, the sticker said GIVE HOPE A CHANCE.

Good Lord, talk about a hopeless true believer. I think we have given Caesar Obummus more than enough of chance already, don't you?

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

Thank God no one will have to read that horrible prayer anymore

I found out tonight about the story of Jessica Ahlquist, a busybody high schooler in Rhode Island who decided to impose her atheist beliefs on her fellow students at Cranston High School West.

For years, Cranston High had a banner hanging in the school that featured a prayer that students were free to look at (or not). After I read what was written on that banner, I guess it's a good thing that Jessica decided to wage her personal jihad on this banner and save her fellow students from its evil and corrupting influence. Witness now the text of the prayer that offended young Jessica so much that she convinced a U.S. District Judge into ordering it removed. You might want to tell your kids to leave the room if you plan on reading it out loud:

Our Heavenly Father,

Grant us each day the desire to do our best. To grow mentally and morally, as well as physically. To be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers. To be honest with ourselves, as well as with others. Help us to be good sports, and smile when we lose, as well as when we win. Teach us the value of true friendship. Help us always to conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston High School West.

Amen

Whew! Thank God that Jessica came along when she did. Who knows what kind of violence and mayhem that prayer might have caused her fellow students to commit.

On second thought, don't thank God for anything - Jessica might get offended.

This whole sad situation reminds me of one of my favorite verses from the Bible (Isaiah 5:20), which more and more shows Isaiah for the prophet he was:

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

Woe unto you Jessica Ahlquist. You have declared this good and beautiful prayer to be evil, and even worse, you convinced a federal judge (Reagan appointee, unfortunately) into shoving your beliefs down everyone else's throats by having the prayer banner removed.

And our country continues to circle the drain.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

The Debates: What the hell is the Republican Party thinking?

In the days leading up to the New Hampshire Primary, I found out that a Republican debate would be moderated by ABC News talking head George Stephanopoulos. It is bad enough that a Republican debate would yet again be moderated by a news-critter who is on the other side of the political spectrum from the Republican candidates, but what made it that much worse was that George Stephanopoulos was no ordinary news-critter; he was President Bill Clinton's communications director and chief spinmeister. Not surprisingly, his political partisanship came through loud and clear during the debate. At one point, he was even booed by the audience.

Media Research Center's Brent Bozell has much more to say about the idiocy of the Republican Party, and its willingness to agree to have hostile leftists moderate their debates.

Bozell begins his piece with some rather poignant questions:

"Who in the GOP in his or her right mind invites a historically shameless Democratic spin controller like Stephanopoulos to "moderate" a primary debate like this — ever...?"

"Why must the Republicans keep handing over their debate stage in the primary season to the people who desperately want them all to bumble, stumble and fall on their faces on national TV?"

Read the rest here.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

How bad is our debt problem? Watch and laugh (and cry)

Imagine a household budget composed of the following numbers:

Total Household Debt: $140,000

Household Income: $21,700

Household Spending: $38,200

Annual Household Deficit: $16,500

Amount of Spending Cut: $380

Doesn't work, does it? But just add a whole crap-load of zeroes to these figures, and you have the budget numbers for the United States of America. Taking away all of those zeroes really makes it all seem so painfully clear, does it not? For further perspective that tragically illustrates the impossibility of this situation, watch this humorous video of a man with this household budget going to his local bank to see about raising his debt limit:



Don't you feel for the poor kid? Mine are in the same boat. Oh, and keep in mind that this video is already out of date. That household debt is now over $150,000! Oh, you didn't know that our national debt has now topped $15,000,000,000,000?

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

Just like a movie... complete with techno-assassins and bumbling, wishy-washy U.S. bureaucrats

Imagine this scene being in a movie:

An Iranian university professor who is involved in Iran's nuclear program is driving down a Tehran street. All of a sudden, two men on a motorcycle pull up alongside the professor's car, attach a magnetic bomb to the door of the car, and then speed away. Seconds later, the bomb explodes, killing the professor. And talk about a personal hit: the bomb is just powerful enough, and is shaped in a way to only kill the intended target - the other two occupants in the professor's car are left with non-life-threatening injuries.

Forget movies; what I just described really happened earlier today. When I read the article, I could totally picture the whole scene in my mind as it would play out in a movie, but believe me when I say that I realize that this isn't a movie, and a man died for real. On the other hand, this man was apparently helping to realize the nuclear dreams that the mullahs of Iran have had for quite some time. Or for all we know, this poor sap was balking at helping the mullahs, and they had him killed as an example to the other Iranian nuclear scientists.

Either way, that doesn't change the limp response from a spokesman from the Obama administration about the incident:

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the U.S. "had absolutely nothing to do" with Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan's death and the U.S. condemns "all acts of violence, including acts of violence like what is being reported today."

OK, denying U.S. involvement in, and condemning this particular assassination is one thing, but for the Obama spokesmouth to say that the U.S. "condemns all acts of violence" is a bit of a stretch, wouldn't you say?

Killing Osama bin Laden would be a considered an act of violence, would it not? A Navy SEAL sniper taking off the head of a Somali pirate is an act of violence, is it not? Our continued operations in Afghanistan, where we kill Taliban members all the time, is an act of violence, is it not? How about Obama's Justice Department allowing guns to be taken into Mexico to be used in the murders of over 300 Mexican citizens and 2 U.S. law enforcement agents? Does that qualify as an act of violence?

I swear, Obama and his minions never miss an opportunity to make asses of themselves. If only the lamestream news media would actually report it.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

And I went to high school because...?

I have never been a big fan of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). As usual, it was seemingly passed by Congress and signed by President George H.W. Bush with seemingly the best of intentions. But as laws like this often demonstrate, the unintended consequences of legislation is an afterthought, or is not considered at all.

Very quickly, the ADA was used by ambulance-chasing lawyers to extort and shake down businesses that had the slightest violations of the law - whether it be a bathroom sink that was a few inches too high, or a step that blocked wheelchair access to an insignificant section of the establishment. Not to mention the fact that while the ADA was meant to stop workplace discrimination against handicapped employees, all the law did was to unintentionally encourage employers to not hire handicapped workers to begin with.

Now we have a new reason to despise the ADA. Apparently, the law is being violated when an employer requires a high school diploma. I will give you a link to a newspaper article about the particulars, but you really need to read the wording of the actual policy letter posted on the website of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This is freedom and prosperity-snuffing bureaucracy at its finest:

Under the ADA, a qualification standard, test, or other selection criterion, such as a high school diploma requirement, that screens out an individual or a class of individuals on the basis of a disability must be job related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity. A qualification standard is job related and consistent with business necessity if it accurately measures the ability to perform the job’s essential functions (i.e. its fundamental duties). Even where a challenged qualification standard, test, or other selection criterion is job related and consistent with business necessity, if it screens out an individual on the basis of disability, an employer must also demonstrate that the standard or criterion cannot be met, and the job cannot be performed, with a reasonable accommodation. See 42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(6); 29 C.F.R. §§ 1630.10, 1630.15(b) and (c); 29 C.F.R. pt. 1630, app §§ 1630.10, 1630.15(b) and (c).

Thus, if an employer adopts a high school diploma requirement for a job, and that requirement “screens out” an individual who is unable to graduate because of a learning disability that meets the ADA’s definition of “disability,” the employer may not apply the standard unless it can demonstrate that the diploma requirement is job related and consistent with business necessity. The employer will not be able to make this showing, for example, if the functions in question can easily be performed by someone who does not have a diploma.

So, the high school diploma requirement is only a violation of the ADA if the requirement has nothing to do with the job duties. Right? Oh, wait, the letter goes on:

Even if the diploma requirement is job related and consistent with business necessity, the employer may still have to determine whether a particular applicant whose learning disability prevents him from meeting it can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without a reasonable accommodation. It may do so, for example, by considering relevant work history and/or by allowing the applicant to demonstrate an ability to do the job’s essential functions during the application process. If the individual can perform the job’s essential functions, with or without a reasonable accommodation, despite the inability to meet the standard, the employer may not use the high school diploma requirement to exclude the applicant. However, the employer is not required to prefer the applicant with a learning disability over other applicants who are better qualified. [Yeah, right!]

The EEOC lawyer takes his time with the legalese, but he finally gets around to essentially saying that if the job applicant had some sort of learning disability in high school, you can't require a diploma from him whether it is related to the job or not.

Oh, but worry not! The letter ends with this meaningless statement:

We hope this information is helpful. This letter is an informal discussion of the issues you raised and should not be considered an official opinion of the EEOC.

Sincerely,

/s/

Aaron Konopasky
Attorney Advisor
ADA/GINA Policy Division

It may not be an official opinion of the EEOC, but I think we are versed well enough with our Imperial Federal Government that when they "suggest" that you do something, you damned well better do it. For example, the government still insists that we pay our income taxes voluntarily. Hmmm... just watch what will happen to you if you volunteer not to pay them.

In the meantime, a proclamation like this from the EEOC is like chum for those sharks with law degrees who see a whole new lawsuit industry popping up that is just waiting to be exploited.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

A lesson on how to handle the lamestream media

I don't support Rick Perry for the Republican presidential nomination, but I must give kudos to his handling of leftist tool Mike Allen of Politico.com.

Politico is rather notorious for using unnamed sources to carry a spurious story forward (see Cain, Herman), but when Allen tried this tactic on Perry, the Texas governor wasn't having it. Watch and learn, kids:



Whenever a reporter uses the term, "some say," be very wary.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson