Quick Takes, May 26, 2011

ITEM: Is This Cool or What? Department: From the Wall Street Journal (here) comes the story of a man mostly paralyzed from the waist down, who, with an electrostimulation device implanted along the spine, and intensive therapy, is now able to stand and has substantially improved feeling and muscular response in his lower body. It’s not a complete cure, but it’s amazing progress that offers hope for many others. Only in America--for now.

ITEM: Well, those merry leftists in San Francisco are up to it again! They’ve approved a new ballot initiative for the next election on an issue of overwhelming public concern and importance: A ban on circumcision for infants. No, this is not a parody; they actually mean it. The group backing the measure calls if the “San Francisco Male Genital Mutilation Bill.” May I suggest an alternate title: “The San Francisco Rationality Obliteration and Lunatic Nanny State Intrusion Bill.” San Francisco’s Jewish community is not amused and would like to cut those proposing the bill off short. Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. Go here for the truncated story. Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. No need to get snippish! Sorry…I’ve got to cut that out! Sorry...

ITEM: But He’s Not Really That Bad Of An Utterly Depraved, Murderous, Genocidal Terrorist! Department. From the good folks at Hot Air (here) we learn that the Holder Justice Department is apparently showing signs of prosecuting another terrorist—one Ali Musa Daqduq—in civilian courts, so much so that five Senators including Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have sent Holder a letter demanding answers and demanding that he be prosecuted at Gitmo under a military commission. The Senators observe that he trained Iraqis in the use of IEDS and executed five US soldiers in Iraq. Holder supporters have their usual, inane ideas. Read the whole thing.

ITEM: So, they’re poisonous, if they break require an EPA Superfund cleanup, cause cancer, cost too much and explode in flames too? I’ll take 100! I speak, of course, about Compact Florescent Light bulbs, or CFLs, the magic green technology our Congressional masters have decided must replace cheap, safe incandescent light bulbs. Visit the American Thinker (here) for the story about just how dangerous these greenie wonders actually are. If you’re not aware of the very real dangers of CFLs, this article will certainly be an eye-opener.

ITEM: What to make of Mr. Obama’s bizarre anti-Israel speech of the past week, and his rapid backpedaling at the AIPAC conference (and thereafter) where he claimed to have been misquoted and declared himself a firm and unshakeable defender of Israel? It’s pretty simple, really.

The problem--for Mr. Obama--is that he was accurately quoted. Mr. Obama’s default position is to attack America and her allies and to fawn over and kowtow to her enemies. When political reality dictates that he do something about some foreign crisis, he gives a teleprompter reading and maybe threatens sanctions. And when they don’t work and the despot of the week hacks another spitwad into America’s eye, he threatens even more meaningful sanctions and gives another TP reading.

Mr. Obama is no friend of Israel, and the Israelis, made practical by facing obliteration on a daily basis, know it. However, Mr. Obama wants the campaign donations and votes of American Jews, who, considering they are Jewish, have remarkably short memories. His problem, and America’s, is that he doesn’t like America and doesn’t represent American’s interests, only what he perceives his interests to be at a given moment. His rhetoric is among the cheapest substances on the planet, action in support of American interests and those of our allies, rare.

Oh yes, he’s no fonder of Israel or American Jews either, but he does like their money and votes enough to pretend to like and support them.

Go here to read Scott Hinderaker’s take on the sordid mess at Powerline.

ITEM: Speaking Of Libya...: So what’s going on over there anyway? Has Libya dropped off the planet? Mr. Obama didn’t spend any real time on Libya during his second world-changing, historic, make-the-Muslims-like-him speech, and we’re more or less at war with Libya, or at least engaged in a kinetic military action, or whatever the latest Obamite euphemism for war is at the moment. So what’s going on? Go here for an article by Nick Gillespie at Reason that fills in at least a few of the many blanks.

ITEM: Go here for an interesting article about a Pima County Sheriff’s SWAT team shooting a former Marine, who served two tours in the War on Terror, 60 times (out of 71 rounds fired) during a drug raid on his home that turned up not so much as a marijuana seed. Among the features was the claim that the Marine shot first, later retracted by the police. Oh yes, they also kept paramedics waiting for more than an hour until the former Marine was dead.

If there is a genuine, imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death, officers may shoot as many times as necessary to end the threat, but 71 rounds, inside a house, apparently in a hallway, at very close range? This sounds like two or three cops with automatic weapons engaging in panicky “me too” shooting and more or less emptying their magazines. It’s amazing anyone in the neighborhood survived. The Marine’s wife and two small children were hiding in a closet, at the Marine's insistence, during the artillery barrage. This one, at least on the surface, seems very, very smelly.

Be sure to read Bob’s article on the shooting at Pajamas Media (here) too.

ITEM: How Dare Those Provincial Americans Arrest An Important Frenchman! Yeah, well, get over it. Mark Steyn (here) wittily--as always--sizes up the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn for the alleged rape of a maid at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan.

ITEM. So. Unless we’re actually dead--or at least in some sort of post-life state--and experiencing a group delusion of living, the world did not, in fact, end as predicted over the weekend. Freedom of religion, gentle readers, is a wonderful, though sometimes bizarre, thing, isn’t it. Discuss.

UPDATE: Ooops! May 21 wasn’t actually Judgment Day, according to doomsday minister Harold Camping, but was instead a sort of “spiritual judgment day.” The real end of times will be October 21, so there is still time to rent those videos you’ve always been wanting to see, wash the dog, finish your pushups, and perhaps even paint the chicken coop. Go here for the spiritual lowdown.

ITEM: They Did WHAT?! Department: Go here to Fox News for a GAO report that reveals that at least 3700 government contractors and nonprofits received more than $24 billion (billion with a “B”) from the Obama stimulus. You remember the whole “spending equals stimulus” thing? C’mon, you remember! The nearly trillion dollar spending spree during Mr. Obama’s first year in office that turned the economy around? Summer of Recovery? Happy days are here again? Yeah. Neither do I. But that’s not the best part, not at all! The best part is that those 3700 lucky and much enriched entities simultaneously owned 757 million in back taxes! If I cheat on my taxes, can I get more than I owe for free from the government too? By all means, read the whole thing, but take your blood pressure meds first.

ITEM: It is becoming apparent that British newshounds are often writing far more insightful analyses of American politics and politicians than their American brethren and sisteren (OK, OK, I know that’s not a proper word. Can’t an author have a little fun with the language? I mean, if Shakespeare could make up words, why can’t I? Sheesh!). Such is the case with a fine article by Gary Younge at the Guardian (here). Younge coins a new term--Obamaphilia--to illustrate the drooling fealty of some Euro-weenies to Mr. Obama. I dunno. Sounds like a particularly nasty and debilitating disease that shouldn't be mentioned in polite company to me:

Doctor: I think you’d better sit down Mr. Snerdly.

Snerdly: Sit down? What it is?

Doctor: That’s where you plant your posterior in a chair, but that’s not important now. I’m afraid you have...Obamaphilia!

Snerdly: Oh no! Obamaphilia? Not Obamaphilia!

Doctor: I’m afraid so Mr. Snerdly, and it’s stage three...

Snerdly: Stage three? Stage three?! What can I do?

Doctor: Avoid even the mention of the name “Barack Obama”...uh-oh...

Snerdly: (Begins drooling uncontrollably and falls into a rapturous coma, mutters as he sinks to the floor) MM--MM—MM, Barack Hussein O-ba…

Doctor: Nurse! Code blue! Bring me adrenaline and a bucket and mop!

ITEM: Remember when Bill Clinton, post-presidency, went on the lecture circuit, sucking up money like a Dyson vacuum sucks dust bunnies? Remember how the media went berserk, accusing him of hypocrisy and greed? Yeah. I don’t remember that either. So why is the Lamestream Media now going after George W. Bush for speech making, accusing him of being a hypocrite for claiming to keep a low profile even while admitting that his speeches are behind closed doors and not open to the general public or press? Isn’t that keeping a low profile? Can you say “liberal bias” children? I knew that you could! Visit Rob at PacNRighty (here) for the story and commentary.

ITEM: So, How’s That Socialism Workin’ Out For Ya? Spain’s nearly decade-long experiment in socialism continues to be a disaster in every possible way. Its green jobs program killed at least two jobs for every job it created, and now, the bill for socialistic excess is coming due. Read Michelle Malkin (here) for the cautionary tale. Of course our own socialists in the White House won’t learn anything from it. Socialists always believe that they alone can perfect socialism where everyone else has failed. Margaret Thatcher was right: “The trouble with Socialism is that you always run out of other people’s money.”

ITEM: For those who aren’t familiar with the Jerusalem Post’s Caroline Glick, let this article (here) be your introduction. For insightful analysis into what’s actually happening in the Middle East and in America’s relationship to Israel, there is none better.

ITEM: Let’s see: the law requires that Congress produce an annual budget, but the Dems haven’t done one in 755 days…no problem!
“There’s no need to have a Democratic budget, in my opinion. It would be foolish for us to do a budget at this stage,” said Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid (D-Nevada). But of course! Why reveal the depth of your economic depravity? Go here for the entire story. Be sure you’re sitting down as you read it. Secure all breakable items within easy reach. Ear muffs for the kids. Probably wouldn’t hurt to put them on the dog too.

ITEM: Louis Renault Award of the Week: The Louis Renault Award, mass shooter division, goes to Gerald Loughner, the vermin who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others in Tucson on January 8 killing six. I was shocked, shocked! to learn from Fox News (here) that Loughner was found mentally incompetent to stand trial. It is entirely possible that Loughner will never face justice for his alleged crime. It is also entirely possible that he could, eventually, be released. Words fail…

ITEM: Michael Barone is one of America’s premier political analysts, and by this, I don’t mean he’s a network talking head. When Barone speaks, it’s always wise to listen carefully. Go here to read Barone’s latest article on how the Obama Administration has abandoned the rule of law to reward political cronies. While you do, take deep, regular breaths…

ITEM: God Annoy The Queen! Department: Normally, I wouldn’t bother to bring something like this to your attention. After all, everybody makes mistakes. But Mr. Obama’s record of insulting the British in every possible way has, as they say in court, opened the door. Go here to see how Mr. Obama blew a toast to the Queen and didn't have the good sense to just shut up until it was the proper time. Think this sounds petty? Presidents of the United States have protocol people to ensure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen. Does Mr. Obama simply not listen to them, or has he dismissed them all, considering his intellect to be incompatible with advice from lower beings? Remember gentle readers, he’s ostensibly representing you, except he really doesn’t represent America, does he? Discuss.

ITEM: The women who is to be the head of Mr. Obama’s newly conceived (deceived?) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (she’s a current White House Advisor), Elizabeth Warren, appeared before a House hearing recently, and demonstrated her Obama-like temperament and abiding respect for the co-equal branch of the government by demanding that the Committee before which she was appearing limit her appearance to only one hour. According to Ms. Warren, she had important meetings to attend. Well, of course! I mean, if she had meetings, why, that’s much more important that answering questions from the Congress of the United States. Go here for the story. Hope. Change. Lunatic self—importance and delusion.

ITEM: Good News/Bad News Department: From Fox (here) comes the news that researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have found seventeen previously unknown pyramids and thousands of tombs and settlements in Egypt using space-based infrared scanning. The bad news? When the Muslim Brotherhood takes over, any involvement with infidels and Egypt’s pre-Muslim history may vanish, and if the experience of Afghanistan is any indicator, even the destruction of Egypt’s most famous monuments is a possibility.

ITEM: On Shelter Island, Long Island, NY a funeral took place for US Army 1st Lt. Joseph Theinert, killed in Afghanistan. The American Legion raised $8000 to line the funeral route with American flags. So far so good. Where things went wrong---you knew that was coming, didn’t you?—was when someone from the state utility, the Long Island Power Authority, saw a newspaper article about the funeral and realized that the flags were flown from utility poles and that a state law allowed them to charge $5.00 per pole for the privilege of flying the flag. A bill quickly followed. Shelter Island Councilman Peter Reich said “Getting that money out of us is going to be like getting blood out of a stone.” Good for them. What’s wrong with those people? Go here for the story.

ITEM: Louis Renault Award, Little Watched Broadcast Division: I was shocked, shocked! to learn though Hot Air (here) that Ed Schultz of MSNBC, on the air, called popular conservative radio host and pundit Laura Ingraham a “slut.” Schultz has apparently agreed to a one week unpaid suspension. First class temperament and decorum, these Leftists. In truth, that’s what I found really shocking, that MSNBC would pretend to have broadcast standards. The brilliant and classy Laura Ingraham had the last, best, shot, however:

“I was surprised to learn that Ed Schultz actually hosted a radio show. Is it only available online?”

And on that deliciously witty bit of accurate return fire, I must bid you all a fond farewell for this week, and look forward to seeing you again next Thursday!