Author Archive

While the dems are away…

Posted: February 21, 2011 by datechguy in politics
Tags: , , , , ,

Little Miss Attila points out one thing that the dems in Wisconsin have forgotten:

Just remember: every day that you aren’t there, the Repubs are taking votes.

Hold on there, I thought there wasn’t a quorum? Not so fast:

Bringing up hot-button legislation while the Democrats are gone is another arrow in Walker’s quiver. Though the Wisconsin constitution requires three-fifths of the senate to be present to pass fiscal legislation, a simple majority of 17 members constitutes a quorum for other bills in the 33-seat state senate. So the 19 GOP senators who remain in Madison can pass any number of bills while their Democratic colleagues are on the lam, and Republicans are a majority in the assembly, too. “They can hold off, but there is a whole legislative agenda that Republicans in the senate and assembly can start acting on that only requires simple majorities,” Walker warns.“If they want to do their jobs, and have a say, they better show up.”

Just think of all the GOP friendly legislation that can be passed while they are gone!

Hey maybe it is a good time to make a new redistricting plan for the state? Just think of all the culture war victories we can have in Wisconsin with nary a vote against.
Is Wisconsin a right to work state? If it isn’t it can be really fast.

Want to require ultrasounds before Abortion? Let’s go for it.

Open up heathcare over state lines and maybe tort reform? Now’s the time to do it.

English as the official language of the state? Go for it.

Tougher sanctions on illegal immigration? Come on down!

Gun laws? Lets get concealed carry passed!

It will be like 1862-1865 in Congress, democrats were gone and republicans can go wild.

When will we have a chance like this again? Let’s go for it!

The Democrats in a Wisconsin mine field

Posted: February 21, 2011 by datechguy in economy, internet/free speech, opinion/news, politics
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Our democratic friends and the media are stepping on so many land minds these days its hard to count them all, but a few things instantly come to mind:

Boom! We all love school in July

Every day that the Wisconsin teachers choose to take off is a day that parents around the state have to find sitters for theirs kids. Parents all around the nation relate and understand this. One of the things people are also forgetting is that an awful lot of school was missed this year already due to wild weather. Every day the teachers take off is a day those kids will be in school in July, again something parents nationwide can relate to

Boom!: Walker itis or take two protests and call me in the morning:

Every time we hear people talking about budget cuts in any state we hear the words “waste and fraud”, “waste and fraud”. Well now on camera we have Wisconsin doctors giving phony sick notes so Teachers can collect taxpayer money while protesting. Again this is something every single person nationwide can understand. Let’s forget the dishonesty, violation of medical ethics , the great potential lawsuits and liability suits that are going to come from this and the sheer audacity of the act and consider one other thing. This is a political protest and the doctors are giving out notes based not on medical necessity but on their political beliefs.. The federal government last year passed over the objections of the voting public a national healthcare law “Obamacare”. One of the many objections to this law has been the possibility “political” decisions in medicine, well there it is for all to see. I wonder will the same people who have no problem with the doctor notes due to “stress” will be all in favor of giving notes on April 15th (a Friday) for Tea Party folk to protest nationwide?

Boom! Walker Reagan and Unions:

We have seen an awful lot on the 100th anniversary of the Birth of Ronald Reagan, a poll just out showed him picked as the greatest president of all time (I disagree, but that’s another post). The Reagan halography has been all over and one thing that has been reported on a lot was his confrontation with the Air Traffic Controller unions. You might remember that the media was uniformly against him in this (and almost everything) but it was a turning point. Now not two weeks after all of this pomp was on TV we have Scott Walker standing his ground against both. If you think that bloggers and viewers are not making the connection, you are wrong.

Boom! Hide and seek:

The Wisconsin Senate’s ride has continued all the way to Chicago (talk about the symbolism for the White House) and it has led to milk cartons and jokes. Forgetting the long-term damage it will do to any agenda they have and the Badger14 blog reports become more arrogant and their attempts to become sympathetic for abandoning their jobs are just not washing.

Boom! Remember that Civility thing?

Was it not even two months ago when the key word was civility? That we had to watch what we were saying and show respect? Well now that the “target” is a republican governor that is out the window. On Morning Joe today you have Mika twisting like a pretzel saying yes some signs are bad both others make a point. Suddenly the fierce moral imperative of civil discourse that we were drilled with for weeks is not longer such an imperative. Coming so soon after the stern media lectures it didn’t give people a chance to forget and speaking of signs…

Boom! Dictator Dictator who is a dictator?

One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that people who have actually lived under a real dictatorship tend to be more conservative. Our friends on the left in Wisconsin have been throwing the dictator card out pretty freely.

Phil Hands for the Wisconsin state Journal via Disrupt the narrative

Today on Big Government we have a fellow of the left saying he would like Castro or Che rather than Walker (the better to shoot or imprison those who disagree with him I guess). It’s reached a point where the target is so big even cartoonists of the left are unable to miss it as illustrated. The cartoonist, Hands is a man of the left but the assertion that Walker is too much for him. As he put it:

I’m sorry, but Walker is not a despot or a dictator. He, and the rest of the republican clowns serving at the State Capital were elected, by a wide margin, by the people of Wisconsin. I find it ironic that the same day that thousands of people skipped work to rail against our “undemocratic” leader, fewer than a quarter of the registered voters in Madison bothered to vote in an actual election.

Personally I find it insulting to see people who are making 100k in wages plus benefits claiming to be under a dictator’s thumb when people living off of dollars a day are actually being shot by real dictators at the same time.

All of these have in common the fact that this can be easily understood by the general public. This is the critical distinction. Each of these things put democrats in a bad light, are supported by video and can’t be defended easily. On twitter It has been a struggle for people of the left who reflexively support these guys to do so. The hems and the haws have been very informative.

While some members of the GOP are getting wobbilly, I say man up. The reason why the left and the unions are screaming so loud is because they are losing both the argument and the visuals: as Powerline puts it:

I agree with Roger that this is a watershed moment. I think it is George Will who supplies the appropriate term for what we are seeing: “reactionary liberalism.” The petulant public employee unions and their associated goons swarming the Wisconsin capitol remind me of nothing so much as George Wallace blocking the schoolhouse door against integration, or the scenes, played out on national television in the early 1960s, of Democratic politicians whipping up mobs and setting dogs on civil rights marchers in the South. It was a clear sign the old order, also dedicated to preserving illegitimate privilege, was collapsing.

These protests aren’t a sign of strength, they are signs of weakness as the union bosses can’t quietly slip in the goodies they want. Or as even EJ Dionne acknowledges (and deplores) the Tea Party is winning.

I repeat the words of Sheridan: Ride Right through them, they’re demoralized as hell.

Update: I’m live at 5 for the first time! I’ll not let my new found fame change me.

It has taken me forever to get to this CPAC roundup…

Posted: February 21, 2011 by datechguy in special events
Tags: , ,

…because things have been so busy so lets just throw out the thoughts.

Considering how big the Boycott news was before the conference it wasn’t that big a deal inside.

If I go next year I’ve got to find a closer hotel (or maybe Smitty be home and have space).

Considering the voting patterns of the last 80 years how significant is the fact that two of the most popular speakers at CPAC were black conservatives (Cain and West).

However it must be noted that unlike last year when the entire hotel was glued to their sets during Beck’s Speech, outside the hall plenty of people where ignoring West’s.

Anyone who touts the straw poll results from CPAC has an agenda.

There is no subject so boring nor advocate so disliked that they can’t draw a crowd by offering free food and booze.

I can’t see why a person will pay $15 dollars for a few chicken fingers when there is a McDonalds at the bottom of the hill.

Nor do I think it is wise to imbibe an excessive amount when in the company of a large group of people who write for a living or as a hobby.

CPAC always provides an abundance of rather incredible looking women dressed(?) to be noticed.

The security guys at the conference are very under-appreciated.

As is the staff.

One of the things that confused me the most was the undercurrent of pessimism in the place concerning 2012. In Jan 2010 we won a single senate seat in Massachusetts and all were energized, just three months before we won the house with historic margins and yet everyone seemed down. It makes no sense to me.

I highly recommend sitting next to Midnight Blue while blogging for days. It’s good for your karma.

6 months ago I talked to a young lady who was unhappy over a personal situation. I was very pleased to see her with a young man I know and approve of. It was one of the highlights of CPAC for me.

I seemed to encounter an inordinate number of inebriates this year,

I also spent more on Taxi’s that week than I have in my lifetime.

Steve of No Runny Eggs is a great person to have around.

I was disappointed that Captain Ed’s wife didn’t make it this year, she is a treasure.

I was pleased to see Susanna Fleetwood and her fine husband again…

and Katy with hers

and Dana Loesch with hers.

Nice Deb has an excuse with 6 kids in the house somebody has to be home.

Am I the only man in the conservative movement who doesn’t find Ann Coulter the least bit attractive?

Of course that doesn’t make her any less brilliant.

Tim Pawlenty bores me.

Herman Cain does not.

Nor does Dale Peterson….

Or Haley Barbour.

Ron Paul is the MSNBC of CPAC, he shows that you can make a good living off of a niche market.

He’s still right on domestic spending…

…and abortion.

And he is a more serious candidate than Donald Trump, of course that’s not saying much.

Donald Trump’s speech at CPAC was not as good as everyone is painting it, he just said aloud what every sane person already knew about Ron Paul.

I’ve never seen a person so giving of his time to his fans as Andrew Breitbart.

I think I spent less time with Stacy McCain at this event than I ever have at any such event.

I miss Smitty.

Didn’t get a chance to meet Wombat although saw him briefly.

It was very funny and ironic to have the makers of the film Atlas Shrugs suggest that they were looking for free promotion rather than paid (ie ad for my show). After all a free lunch is what the book is all about isn’t it.

And no I haven’t read it, will likely miss the movie too.

If there is anything more pleasant at CPAC than sitting for an hour talking to Little Miss Attila I’m not aware of it.

It was also fun to see the sheer joy of meeting people who were at CPAC for the first time.

The room that the MSM gets at CPAC really stinks, particularly compared to us bloggers.

But CPAC could give them the Platinum treatment and they still would not treat us conservatives nice

CPAC is much more manageable the 2nd time around.

I’m still pissed at the DJ at the freedom works party for not playing the songs I wanted to dance to.

I bet they would have played them at Breitbart’s party.

I only saw Cynthia Yockey for a moment, that’s a shame.

The lack of Val Prieto and Cheryl Prater was CPAC loss.

The Cannoli went over VERY well this year.

I think a lot of people at CPAC are there to try to cover a “gotcha” moment.

And Chris Barron’s decision to call Cleta Mitchell a bigot was one of them.

Speaking of which I had only three unpleasant experiences at CPAC, one was a fellow who had similar words for me for my opposition to Gay marriage. It was interesting to see my words twisted in that fashion.

In contrast a very pleasant experience was seeing Corinna Conn again

I think that CPAC should just sanction Pam Geller’s events and be done with it. The idea that they are “unofficial” is simply nonsense.

The Swag bags were pretty thin compared to last year.

I think Roxeanne would enjoy CPAC, I also think she would slap an awful lot of faces there.

I don’t see Sarah Palin coming to CPAC next year either.

You can learn more about a pol in an hour of smoozing than in a week of speeches.

Last year I focused on the attendees, this year I focused on the vendors, Maybe next year I’ll spend my time among the authors…

…If I can afford it that is.

CPAC’s come and go but the google group is forever.

Update: the Loud Talker puts up his list too.

Hey you know that revolution that the Wisconsin folk are cheering…

Posted: February 21, 2011 by datechguy in middle east
Tags: , , , ,

…here are a few related stories:

A second female reporter on being luckier than Lara Logan

It comes down to luck. Sheer luck. And when it runs dry, that’s it. I don’t know the details of what happened to Lara Logan at the square. I can imagine it all too well, though. And when I heard the news on Tuesday I was heartsick: My God. That could’ve been me.

I’d rather be lucky than smart. And unfortunately there is a third not so lucky:

Now I can say what I have only told a few friends since my return: That I too was subjected to several sexual harassment attacks at the scene.

Although they cannot be compared to the trauma Lara suffered, they were deeply upsetting.

Meanwhile more details have come out about the Logan story and they are not pretty as Howard Kurtz explains:

“We were detained by the Egyptian army,” Logan told Esquire. “Arrested, detained, and interrogated. Blindfolded, handcuffed, taken at gunpoint, our driver beaten. It’s the regime that arrested us. They arrested [our producer] just outside of his hotel, and they took him off the road at gunpoint, threw him against the wall, handcuffed him, blindfolded him. Took him into custody like that.”

There was more: “They blindfolded me, but they said if I didn’t take it off they wouldn’t tie my hands. They kept us in stress positions—they wouldn’t let me put my head down. It was all through the night. We were pretty exhausted… We were accused of being Israeli spies. We were accused of being agents. We were accused of everything.” In the process, Logan said, she became “violently, violently ill.” The army eventually released Logan and the crew.

Kurtz also underscores something that has been said by others:

the sexual assault and beating that Logan endured underscores that the Middle East remains a particularly dangerous place for women.

I await the denunciation of Kurtz as a right wing misogynist.

Democracy means choices:

Well, no political action has been taken. But even some Egyptian secular liberals are eager to do away with the historic 1978 treaty, which was the foundation for peace between Egypt and Israel — hence the U.S.’s alliance with Egypt — and which was the pretext for Anwar El Sadat’s assassination by Egyptian Islamists. As HotAir notes, Ayman Nour, a liberal Egyptian leader, was recently quoted as saying, “In practice, the Camp David accords have come to an end.”

Part of that deal was the return of the Sinai to Egypt, I’m sure the Israeli will be happy to take it back off their hands. And there are some bad signs for the future:

Now that Mubarek is gone, the western media mostly has moved on to the next revolution, secure in the perception that Egypt is moving in the right direction.

But that is a false comfort. As I posted yesterday, over a million Egyptians turned out in Tahrir Square last Friday to cheer the vile anti-Semitic Sunni cleric Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who had been exiled by Mubarek, and who espouses the fundamentalist Islamic view that Jews must live as Dhimmis under Islamic control.

And guess what faces are being hidden and which ones are coming out in the open:

Ironically, reports indicate that some of that happened on the very stage from which Qaradawi spoke. Wael Ghonim, the young Google executive credited with helping ignite the popular uprising, was blocked from getting on stage by Qaradawi’s guards. According to a news report, “Ghonim left the square with his face hidden by an Egyptian flag.”

As the IPT reported Thursday, there are increasing signs that the Muslim Brotherhood, which deliberately maintained a low profile during the three-week street protests, is flexing its muscles as Egypt tries to build a new government. It is well represented on a committee charged with recommending changes the country’s constitution and has announced plans to form a political party to run for parliamentary seats.

Meanwhile the Egyptian military has been…active:

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the minister of defense and military production who now leads the council of officers ruling Egypt, has been a strong advocate of government control of prices and production. He has consistently opposed steps to open up the economy, according to diplomatic cables made public by WikiLeaks.

And already there are signs that the military is purging from the cabinet and ruling party advocates of market-oriented economic changes, like selling off state-owned companies and reducing barriers to trade.

Ah socialism, no wonder Wisconsin demonstrators and democrats are waving Egyptian flags.

Let the record show BTW that every single American Egyptian I’ve talked to this month backs the military in Egypt and trusts them more than any other Egyptian institution.

That isn’t surprising as they have been a big contrast to the actions of the military in places like Libya

Brutal totalitarianism on full display as the citizens of Libya rise up to protest against the 41 year reign of Muammar Qaddafi. 25 people were reportedly killed today during protests.

and those 25 were just a start.

And Bahrain:

This video shows a group of Bahrainian protesters marching in the street when all of a sudden you hear gun fire coming from what sounds like multiple people opening fire on the crowd.

and Iran:

Iranian protesters called for the execution of opposition leaders today after Friday prayers.

But not to worry he is under house arrest so I’m sure they can’t get to him, can they?

And in China:

Several top Chinese rights activists have disappeared into police custody as a web campaign urged angry citizens to mark the Middle East’s “Jasmine Revolution” with protests, campaigners said Sunday.

Up to 15 leading Chinese rights lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday amid a nationwide police mobilisation, according to activists, while the government appeared to censor Internet postings calling for the demonstrations.

Anybody who thinks non cancer ridden dictator types are going to give up their wealth and privileges without a fight are deluding themselves. Also note that it’s not a coincidence that the US trained and supplied Egyptian army alone did not fire on their own people.

Older Entries
Newer Entries