Praising Dear Leader

You've seen the video, right?

The one where the teacher leads the students in the chants about Obama?

No, not that one. Or that one. Or that other one. This is a newer one.

Starts off positive, with students talking about overcoming adversity. But, about 1:11 into it, it takes an ugly turn.


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Tip: Gateway Pundit < P/Oed Patriot

You shouldn't get all worked up over it, though. It's not the first time children have sung songs to their Dear Leader.

Greene explained

The best explanation I've seen for Greene's victory in South Carolina.


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Maybe the Democrats are right; he is a plant. Just like that other Black nobody that won back in 2008.

Flag Day ... and then some

On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the United States flag. We now know this day as Flag Day.

Our country's flag has flown proudly since Revolutionary War. During this country's expansion across the continent, the flag flew. As the nation was torn apart by a civil war less than 90 years after its founding, the flag flew. During this country's defense of liberty in the two world wars, the flag flew. When man broke free of the earth and landed on the moon, the flag flew. When the rebuilding began after Islamic terrorists attacked this nation, the flag flew. When the people of Iraq were released from over 20 years of Saddam Hussein's oppression, the flag flew. And, despite those without our own country that seek to bring this country down, the flag still flies.

Traditionally, the president issues a proclamation observing Flag Day, although the current occupant of the White House hasn't seen fit to do that this year; the last Flag Day proclamation on the White House's Website is from 2008.

Despite the lack of recognition by the White House, we're encouraging you to show proper respect and allegiance to the flag of the United States, in accordance with the proper rules of etiquette.

The flag represents this great nation. Fly it proudly.

Oh, yes, one other thing. Two years before the flag was adopted, the Continental Army, forerunner of today's United States Army, was formed. That means today is the 235th birthday of the Army. If you see a soldier today, thank him. If you know a former soldier, thank him. I know he'd appreciate it.

Twilight of the gods

I watched "Twilight" the other night. No, really, I did.

But, it's not quite what you think.

Yes, I'm talking about the movie with the whiney, sparkly vampires. But then again, I'm not.

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Bought Twilight a while back. Wife loved the books, so we got the movie. Got it, not only on DVD, but also on Video on Demand for the TiVo, so she can watch it without having to walk over to the DVD player.

But, I took the DVD, and ripped it with Handbrake. (I only use this to copy movies to TiVo, not for any illegal purposes.)

Then, I bought the RiffTrax commentary.

Then I opened iMovie (yes, I have a Mac) and mixed the RiffTrax audio on top of the movie soundtrack.

Then, I exported the combined movie and copied it over to the TiVo.

Yes, that's an awful lot of trouble to go through. But I can back it up and replay any part and it all stays in sync. So it's worth it to me.

So, after doing all that, I watched teh Twilight.

It was funny. Really, really funny.

I've already put together New Moon and the RiffTrax commentary. That'll put me right back in the doghouse.

And, I'm looking forward to watching my favorite movie of all time. Yes, I'm talking about Casablanca. I can hardly wait to listen to them riff that.

Those RiffTrax guys are gods! They ought to have a TV show or something.

It's not the incumbency, it's the liberalism

All the news stories have been talking about the "anti-incumbent mood" of the electorate.

I never believed it for a second. Most of the incumbents, Republicans and Democrats, that have lost their seats this primary season have been beaten by challengers that are to their right; that is, more conservative.

Blanche Lincoln's win in the Arkansas Democratic Senate primary is an example of what I'm talking about.

All the "experts" were saying that Lincoln was toast, that she was going to loose to Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter. Well, Lincoln up and won.

Now, watch the news heads say that the "anti-incumbent mood" is calming, or skipped a state, or some other excuse. I maintain that the anti-incumbent mood was never there; it is an anti-left, anti-big government mood.

Halter had support of George Soros and manyliberal (they call themselves "progressive," but they're just liberal) groups.

Look at Lincoln's win in the Arkansas primary. She was the more conservative of the two. Maybe least liberal would be the better way of saying it.

Now, in races where there was no incumbent, either due to retirement or races in the opposition party, the more conservative has not always won. But the winner was relatively conservative; that is, conservative by standards of that state, and speaking against runaway spending.

Tea party candidates have done well. And the tea party is, by and large, anti-liberal and anti-big government.

So, some talking heads will continue to be surprised. Because they've decided it's incumbency. It's not. It's the liberalism.

And it's more important to get rid of the liberals than it is to get rid of the incumbents.

The Perfect Game

Yes, it happened nearly a week ago, but there's an aspect of the blown call on the perfect game that I haven't heard mentioned.

Maybe I haven't been paying attention. Or maybe I have but just missed it. But what James A. Joyce (the umpire, not the author/poet) did was inexcusable.

No, not the blown call. That happens. It's not a good thing, but it's excusable: he's human.

The call, according to the rules, should stand, according to the Rules of Baseball, Rule 9.02 (a):

Any umpire’s decision which involves judgment, such as, but not limited to, whether a batted ball is fair or foul, whether a pitch is a strike or a ball, or whether a runner is safe or out, is final. No player, manager, coach or substitute shall object to any such judgment decisions.

Rule 9.02 (c) says, in part:

No umpire shall criticize, seek to reverse or interfere with another umpire’s decision unless asked to do so by the umpire making it.

But there's another rule that could have come into play that could have fixed it. At the conclusion of Rule 9.05, there is a section called "General Instructions To Umpires" that says, in part:

Each umpire team should work out a simple set of signals, so the proper umpire can always right a manifestly wrong decision when convinced he has made an error. If sure you got the play correctly, do not be stampeded by players' appeals to "ask the other man." If not sure, ask one of your associates. Do not carry this to extremes, be alert and get your own plays. But remember! The first requisite is to get decisions correctly. If in doubt don’t hesitate to consult your associate. Umpire dignity is important but never as important as "being right."

And that's where Joyce screwed up. He was willing, after the fact, to admit his mistake. And that's the right thing. But the really right thing would have been to have followed the General Instructions that allowed for signals between the crew to allow for getting a blown call right.

Unless they did that, and the others signaled that he got the call right. If so, the other umps are chicken-sh*t for not stepping up and taking the heat with Joyce. But I suspect that no signals were exchanged, and that Joyce simply compounded his error with another error.

It's a shame that Armando Galarraga won't be credited with a perfect game. He did everything he was supposed to do. The other players did everything they were supposed to do. The umpire blew the call. But he's human, and that's forgivable.

But this whole controversy could have been avoided if the umpires in the game had simply taken the General Instructions To Umpires seriously.

In defense of Helen Thomas

Just kidding. There's no defense for the likes of her.

I wonder if the left will now agree that, when the Bush administration moved her off the front row, it was a good idea. But it wasn't. She should have been moved out of the room years ago.

The downside of all this is that others in the news media now know that letting people know how they really feel about topics can cost them their job.

Which means that the other anti-Semites that are reporting what passes for news will stay on the job, continuing to skew the news to the left.

We don't need more Helen Thomases on the news beat. We just need to know about the rest of the Helen Thomases that are already there.