Friday, April 29, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/29

Isaiah Berlin once used the analogy of the Hedgehog and the Fox to describe how people think. Dana Milbank attempted to make the case that Obama is a Fox who has thought himself into indecision. Let me offer a different possibility: Obama is a Lemming (I am basing this on my extensive research via Wikipedia). Group thinker without a real source of thought, the whole mass of Obama, his administration, and his supporters bounce from idea to idea without much logic and hope whatever they do will stick.

Think about this: one of the psychologists quoted by Milbank calls Obama "a brilliant social and political analyst." What, exactly, has the President done to deserve being called brilliant? He won the 2008 election, sure, but any Democrat with a pulse could have achieved that.

Milbank apparently went to the same school Detective Greenly attended.
Link

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/28

Look, I don't buy into much of what Democrats say, mostly because I think they lack any real principles other than "punish anyone who does better than you" and "stand up for dictators at every chance."

Jimmy Carter's recent trip to North Korea does not dispel that in my mind. Once upon a time, people thought this idiot should be President. I have an odd feeling 30 years from now many will be saying the same of our current idiot President. Link

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/27

If we are very, very lucky, Obama just knocked Trump out of the 2012 contest. Kind of like Vader killing Obi Wan, if Obi Wan was some incompetent jackass who was better off dead.

Hoping very hard that Trump does not have force powers or become a ghost. It would be nice if he would just go away. I've barely even mentioned the birth certificate issue (on the rare occasions I have, I did so to say it was stupid), so I am glad to see it come to an end. The only real mystery is why the most transparent administration in history waited over two years to put this issue to rest.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/26

I could not care less about the royal wedding in the United Kingdom. Maybe back in the day when marriages of this level were conducted for political purposes, but not now. Some random schmuck who was born high in line for the British throne is getting married to some random chick from the burbs. 2 billion (yes, b as in boy) are expected to watch this? Further proof that 2 billion people could be making better use of their time. I tend to think of that monarchy as a relic. Burke may dislike this thought; I couldn't say for sure, which means this is a good time to go reread Burke. Which is what I will do, rather than watch a dull wedding. Anyway, the British monarchy is certainly not as vital as the French monarchy was back in the 1790's. Maybe it is an issue of pride, but I hear that really isn't the case anymore, either. Seems like Britain is doing its very best to destroy any sense of national identity. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, I leave for another day.

Monday, April 25, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/25

Remember when Iraq War opponents said we need to keep our eye on the ball in Afghanistan? Swing and a miss, I suppose.

Here's what I had to say about that argument back in September. Still seems pretty valid to me.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/23

This is taking Earth Day a little too far, in my ever so humble opinion.

And the President got mad at the Pentagon for not creating an impossible military plan. How dare the military impose "reality" on the President's political ambitions! When the President orders the generals to deploy the Hellfire missile crapping flying unicorns, the generals need to do it, no questions asked. The money quote:
The White House thought the Pentagon was disrespecting the president by refusing to propose a politically acceptable action plan, while the Pentagon became furious that White House officials didn't "seem to understand what military force can and cannot do,'' the official said.
Too bad nobody pointed out Obama's lack of military experience and knowledge during the 2008 election.

Friday, April 22, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/22

I'm pretty certain you should be required to know the words to Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" before you become an American citizen.
OR, I'm freaked by the fact that my students do not know who Simon and Garfunkel are and that kind of makes me feel old. But probably the former. Yeah, definitely the former.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/21

I'm pretty sure I haven't said anything, anywhere, about the birther controversy. The plurality of Republicans apparently think he was born outside of the United States. Really, I don't think it is a salient issue for most people and not one Republicans should bother with. On the odd chance that definitive proof came out that Obama's term in office violates Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution's natural born citizenry clause, God help us. Everything Obama signed over the last two years would be null and void, which is rather difficult to do for dead soldiers in Afghanistan or money spent on bombs already dropped in Libya. Politics has no mulligans.

It may be time to remove that clause anyway. I don't know where he was born and frankly I don't think it matters much except for the fact that it is a part of the Constitution and we can't just pick and choose parts of the Constitution to follow as a nation without actually repealing them.

Hmm, this wasn't really snarky. I'll work on that for tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/20

The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration asked S&P not to give a "negative" outlook report on federal debt. Kind of sucks when other people won't go along with your rosy predictions, huh?

What frustrates me is that people will not do a thing about it until the crisis hits hard, at which point it will be too late to do anything about it. Not that they would do much but complain about it anyway, usually with faulty economics and politics (fields that they never studied in the first place). I would like to say it isn't a systemic problem in democracies, but the overwhelming evidence seems to be otherwise.

Oh well, pass the dutchie on the right hand side.

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/18

The Wall Street Journal reports that the top 10% richest Americans do not make enough income to pay the Federal budget. That means, if you took every dime they made, you would still have to run up debt or tax the middle class. This does not include state, local, school budgets, or pensions.

And, on what is certainly a completely unrelated note, the S&P is threatening to cut the credit rating of the United States.


As I see it, this leaves us with three options:
  1. Cut spending. No Democrat or liberal who believes government spending is in and of itself a morally good thing will allow this. Neither will constituents of whatever programs actually face cuts.
  2. Increase taxes on the middle class. Again, politically impossible.
  3. Increase debt, risking a credit cut and possible instability in the world economy. Hard to tie this to any vote a Congressman might make; politically, it is the safest bet, even if it risks the greatest possible damage. Link
Guess which one we will be going with?

Friday, April 15, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/15

Donald Trump calls Barack Obama the worst President in history.

Um, no. James Buchanan wins that competition. Despite this idiocy, I would still rather have the Donald be President over President pseudo-Ayers. But seeing that these may very well be the two choices in November of 2012, it may be time to turn off the lights on this democracy thing. Link

Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/14

"Their [Republican] vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America."

~President Obama

Um, no. We would like to maintain the social compact established by the Constitution; what we would like to end is the racketeering scheme run from Washington.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/13

The President's deficit reduction plan consists of two important elements:

  1. Punish successful people.
  2. Push any unpopular cuts past the 2012 election, when it won't hurt Obama.
In the short term, spend even more! It's almost like the President isn't serious or something.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/12

"The longer the stalemate exists with us as Qaddafi's active enemies, the longer he has to strike back at us via unconventional warfare or terrorism. "

~Me, Musings on the Obama Doctrine, 3/29/11

"Libya's former ambassador to the U.S. on Monday warned Col. Moammar Gadhafi will plot terrorist attacks against the United States if he is allowed to remain in power."

~The Hill, today.

As I was saying...

Monday, April 11, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/11

Palestinian terrorists attack a school bus with an anti tank weapon. Oddly enough, no cries from the international community about "disproportionate use of force." I guess if using anti tank weapons against school children is proportionate, anything probably is, meaning that bit of just war theory is bunk. Link

Friday, April 8, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/8

It looks like we are heading for a government shutdown. The budget was due in September of 2010. Oddly enough, despite having control of all sectors of the government required to pass a budget, the Democrats opted not to. It may have had something to do with the $1,600,000,000,000.00 in debt they were going to put us in and how badly that would play in the November elections (Democrats got whooped anyway).

And oh, that election was largely predicated on the ridiculous amount of government spending and the taxpayers' desire to see that reduced. Clearly, the Republicans, those who did not stop a budget from being passed in 2010 and who are respecting the wishes of the November election, are responsible for this government shutdown! Nobody could possibly assume the party with the power to pass the budget when it was due and who refuses to cut any spending, despite the wishes of the people, is responsible.

Odd how that September due date isn't being reported in the media. I wonder why.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/7

U.S. general now saying Libya is a stalemate. Know who predicted that? This guy.

Wish I could brag more about that, but it is sort of like predicting the sun will rise tomorrow. Kind of obvious to everyone who wasn't the President or his supporters. I've been busting on the stupid "exit strategy" that Iraq War opponents used to demand, but in all seriousness it would be nice if we had some sort of goal to be achieved other than constant, indefinite war in a Middle East nation. Bush picked a stable democracy free of a terrorist supporting madman. Say what you want about the feasibility or morality of fighting for it, at least it was a positive outcome. Creating a civil war is not generally a positive outcome. Link

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/6

Does anyone have even the remotest idea as to what the situation in Libya is, in particular concerning N.A.T.O.'s goals? Still waiting on that exit strategy; as I learned repeatedly from protesters of that war, no military action can be just without an exit strategy.

So, someone man up and show me the exit strategy. Now.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/5

What do assisted suicide, Ponzi schemes, motivational speakers, and the man who created the Backstreet boys and 'N Sync have to do with each other? This.

Assisted suicide should not be illegal. That's all I've got to say about that. For now.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/2

I was going to post this yesterday, but it is so unthinkable that nobody would believe it wasn't an April Fool's Day joke.

A bipartisan budget that slashes spending 2% and is on time in New York?! I might vote for the Democrat governor in the next election?

I wish that Washington was run like Albany?

Where the hell am I, the Twilight Zone?

Friday, April 1, 2011

The Daily Snark 4/1

Since when was any book worth killing people over? A little less riots over stupid crap like this, a little more building roads and installing running water might do these people some good.

Also, Terry Jones killed nobody and did not call for violence. He has zero responsibility for this.