Texas Vs. California: Thanksgiving Week Edition

November 19th, 2012

Another quick update on the respective fates of our nation’s two biggest states:

  • In case you didn’t notice, California Democrats now have a super-majority in the legislature, which means they can raise taxes to their heart’s content. That should only heighten the difference between California’s Blue State model and Texas’ Red State model.
  • California spends far more money on its welfare state that Texas, but has greater income inequality.
  • The election California voters helped accelerate the state’s economic decline.
  • America is becoming California…and California is becoming Greece.
  • The California city of Atwater backs away from bankruptcy after winning concessions from unions.
  • Texas added 36,600 total nonfarm jobs in October, dropping unemployment down to 6.6%.
  • Your Top Stories, All Mashed Together

    November 16th, 2012

    To much going on. Here’s a sampler:

    First up, Unions kill Hostess. By calling a strike against a company that was already in bankruptcy, against the advice of the Teamsters, who had already taken a look at the Hostess books, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union ensured that instead of a 6% pay cut, unionized workers would take a 100% pay cut. Way to go, unions!

    Israel still seems to be gearing up for a ground offensive in Gaza. And by firing rockets at Tel Aviv, Hamas pretty much guarantees that the only faction in Israeli politics urging restraint will retink their position. “I get a lot less liberal when you want to kill me.”

    Lefties are trying to boycott Papa Johns for daring to lay people off because of ObamaCare. “If this is anything like the Chick-fil-A buycott, and you want Papa John’s for dinner, you’d better get your order in now.” It’s amazing that any business in America ever has to declare bankruptcy, given there are so many liberals around who can tell them exactly how much profit they “need”…

    Former general and former CIA head David Petraeus testifies on Benghazi. He says his report said the attack was launched by al Qaeda, but higher-ups in the Obama Administration deleted the reference. The more we hear about Benghazi, the more it appears that Fox News was right.

    Considerations for an Israeli Ground Assault on Gaza

    November 15th, 2012

    Stratfor considers the implications of an Israeli ground assault on Gaza, concluding that it would look an awful lot like Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s 2008-2009 incursion into Gaza.

    The biggest difference is that that back then, Egypt wasn’t run by Islamist assclowns.

    This also gives me a chance to link to this totally off the hook article on Israel’s urban warfare tactics in Nablus in 2002. As far as I know, it’s the only useful application of French postmodern literary theory in the history of mankind…

    Israel Pounds Hamas

    November 14th, 2012

    Today Israel launched strikes at multiple Hamas targets in Gaza, including one that took out Hamas military commander Ahmed Al-Jabari. This follows a weekend in which Hamas launched more than a hundred terror rockets into Israel.

    Russia Today provides video of that particular strike:

    Yeah, that’s going to ruin your whole day.

    In retaliation, Hamas fired off 13 more rockets at Israel…all of which were intercepted.

    There’s at least some indications that Israel is about to launch a major ground offensive into Gaza.

    Stay tuned…

    Missing Link Between the Benghazi Scandal and the Petraeus Sex Scandal

    November 13th, 2012

    If, as resigned CIA Director David Petraeus’ mistress Paula Broadwell mentions in the clip below, the attack on the Benghazi consulate was an attempt to free prisoners being held for interrogation, then it adds a new dimension to the scandal, as explained by Charles Krauthammer.

    If the interrogation story is true, there are at least four interlocking scandals here:

    1. The Obama Administration standing by watching while an American consulate was under attack for seven hours without lifting a finger to help as four Americans died.
    2. That same Administration lying about the cause of the attack to both congress and the American public.
    3. The same Administration has known about the CIA director being compromised by an extramarital affair since at least summer and did nothing about it for fear of jeopardizing Obama’s reelection campaign. The only other explanation is that everyone in the intelligence community is manifestly incompetent. (“Hey, should I tell Obama his CIA director is having an affair? Nah. He’s got that golf swing to worry about.”)
    4. Either the intelligence community, or else the Obama Administration itself, has been ignoring Executive Order 13491, issued January 22, 2009, which states (in part) “The CIA shall close as expeditiously as possible any detention facilities that it currently operates and shall not operate any such detention facility in the future.”
    5. I think the Administration standing by for seven hours while four Americans died without lifting a finger to help them is still the biggest scandal. Guess I’m just old-fashioned that way. Sadly, I get the impression that the last point is the one the Obama Administration was trying hardest to cover up.

      But all deserve investigation.

    Sexy Girls (With Bad Judgment), Sexy Guns

    November 12th, 2012

    So it turns out that Paula Broadwell, purported mistress of (now) former CIA director David Petraeus, used to moonlight as a machine gun model:

    While not my favorite of the genre, who doesn’t like a woman who can handle a firearm? (Though she’s more in the “wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers” than “jaw-dropping gorgeous” category; then again, this seems sadly common in today’s Democratic sex scandals.)

    As for the video itself? Whenever a gun manufacturer starts talking about “revolutionary” designs, I start rolling my eyes. It’s an obvious PR/grant bait reel, and should be viewed as such.

    Warning: Graphic Content

    November 10th, 2012

    I know I’m lazy and all, but I’m beginning to think that I should change the look of this blog off the WordPress default. I’m been putting this off mainly because my skills lie in the realm of words rather than graphics, but I think I’m going to bite the bullet.

    I’m going to experiment with a few themes to get started, so don’t be shocked if things look weird every now and then.

    The Best of Ronald Reagan

    November 8th, 2012

    It’s been a rough week for conservatives, so by way of some cheering up, here’s the best of Ronald Reagan, so you can remember what a real president sounds like.

    Warning: Sound gets a little sappy and out-of-hand.

    Bright Spots

    November 7th, 2012

    Well, that could have gone better.

    As an effort at alleviating depression among the vast right wing conspiracy, here are a few glimmers of hope amidst the dismal news:

  • Republicans kept the House.
  • Ted Cruz won. And here’s his victory speech:

  • Democrats picked up senate seats, but they still don’t have a filibuster-proof majority.
  • Randy Weber won.
  • Republicans hold as many statewide offices in Texas as they did before, i.e. all of them.
  • Republicans won all four seats on the Third Court of Appeals.
  • Donna Campbell won.
  • Tony Dale won.
  • In the real-life 2012 version of Atlas Shrugged, Texas has taken the place of Colorado, i.e. the redoubt of a dynamic economy, freedom and limited government in a country grown ever-more statist. Thankfully, it’s not the only one, and red states are still outperforming blue states by a good measure. A narrow Obama victory can’t change that. We’ve got to keep on fighting the good fight.

    We lost the battle. The war goes on.

    LiveBlogging/LiveTweeting the Election

    November 6th, 2012

    Congratulations to Ted Cruz and Tony Dale on well-deserved victories!

    And on that bit of good news, off to sleep…


    Weber beats Lampson in CD14.


    Obama 303, Romney 203, Florida and Alaska undecided. And Obama is edging Romney in the popular vote as well, but not by much.


    Fox calls election for Obama. Still not sure I trust the Wisconsin call. It looks like Romney may very well win the popular vote. Even so, I still don’t believe in abolishing the electoral college.


    Fox calls Ohio for Obama. That may be all she wrote.


    All annoying local news now.


    PBS calls Iowa for Obama.


    Obama still up .5% in Florida with 94% of the vote in.


    Florida, Florida, Florida.


    Any way this turns out, this is 1% difference election.


    No, Romney playing the bio film at the GOP convention wouldn’t have made any difference.


    AP RACE CALL: Romney wins North Carolina.


    Maybe we should have nominated #Hypnotoad.


    David Brooks (click) Elizabeth Warren (click) Crowd interview (click) Grrrrr


    Whether Obama wins or not, GOP house should refuse to pass a debt limit increase, and force government to live within it’s means.


    Hit my tweet limit!


    [Swing state name here] Too close to call. Repeat as necessary.


    Looks like it’s going to be a long night before this thing is decided.


    7:23 Romney up in VA, FL too close to call, but Panhandle polls close late, and that’s Romney territory.


    Everything in the battleground states is too close to call.


    6:50 PM
    ROMNEY: Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, South Carolina
    OBAMA:Vermont


    #ElectionNightSurprises: Fox News calls race for Obama, ABC for Romney, CBS for Gary Johnson, CNN for Jill Stein, and MSNBC for the reanimated corpse of Howard Taft


    Please note that I will be live-blogging and live-tweeting the election tonight as the returns roll in starting around 7 PM CST. Judging from my live-tweeting of the debates, there’s a good chance I’ll “exceed the tweet limit”, so you’ll want to check both places for pithy insight and wily snark.