The Speaker of the House Initiative

Let's have some fun with this new Congress, shall we?

I'm proposing the Speaker of the House Initiative.

It goes like this: some enterprising individual declares his or her intent to become Speaker of the House. Since this position doesn't need to be filled by a sitting representative, anyone can apply. This person creates all the necessary social media outlets to stay connected and releases ideas for legislation he or she would propose as Speaker.

This person could also propose alternatives to current procedures and legislation.

At the end of, oh, say, one year, ask for a vote in the House. If nothing else, it would make the legislative process a bit more interesting.

Another Video You Should See

There may be hope yet for America's young'uns.

Elly Maye gives us her Top Ten Reasons She's Not a Democrat.

We have term limits. They're popularly known as elections. The best way to get some new blood in Washington is to vote for someone different. If your Congresscritter has been up there too long, vote him or her out.

Power corrupts.

New Cosmic Musical Note - B flat (-57 Octaves)

Ace of Spades HQ had this link in the sidebar about the Chandra X-Ray Observatory studies of the Perseus Cluster, but with a different title. When I started reading it, the musical aspect jumped out at me.

These sound waves are thought to have been produced by explosive events occurring around a supermassive black hole (bright white spot) in Perseus A, the huge galaxy at the center of the cluster. The pitch of the sound waves translates into the note of B flat, 57 octaves below middle-C. This frequency is over a million billion times deeper than the limits of human hearing, so the sound is much too deep to be heard.

 B flat to the minus 57th octave? We're gonna need a bigger bass, um, something or other...

Heavy Metal Rockers

No, not those kinds of rockers, these kind. You know, the ones old rockers now use.

Heavy Metal Kids - by Todd Rundgren.

Not that Todd's old or anything, but he did just celebrate his 65th birthday and is still kicking ass. Mick Jagger is a grandpa and Eric Clapton will be turning 70 here real soon. Stevie Ray Vaughan would've turned 60 this year.

h/t to Instapundit

R. I. P. Johnny Winter

Blues guitar legend Johnny Winter passed away Wednesday night Switzerland while on tour. He was 70 years old.

A buddy of mine is his drummer on this tour.

Play on, Johnny, you will be missed.

"If I Were Ted Cruz..."

This is just way too good not to pass along.

From American Digest.org and the Moron Horde over at Ace of Spades HQ: If I were Ted Cruz.

 

 

Be sure to read the comments at the link. This would also provide a ready pool of conservative talent from which to draw for years to come.

 

Ted Cruz, if you're reading this...

Just a Reminder...

...of what gas prices once were.

h/t The Political Commentator

Happy Independence Day

Here's another video y'all should see. It's Ronald Reagan's 1986 Independence Day speech.

Enjoy.

Another Video You Should See

Wow. American Life really sucks these days. The economy's in the crapper, money's hard to come by and those we elect to do our bidding in Washington could care less about us as long as they have their power and money.

*Sigh*

But before you draw a warm bath and get out the razor blade, listen to Bill Whittle's latest offering: Get to Work. I may have to watch this first thing every day.

On a partially related note, I have some friends who are decidedly Democrat who occasionally post something from some loopy leftard sites on my Facebook page. Since I consider myself fairly well read on current events, it's not hard to refute them. As since I like having friends, I never rebuff them directly, but do rebuff the outrageous articles they post from places like Media Matters for America, Mother Jones and the like.

It has become great sport for me. I hope all 16 of you have a similar pastime.

h/t to Bad Blue and Gates of Vienna

Bill Whittle on Lost in Space, Heroes and Manhood

Whilst perusing the Intarwebz this morning, I ran across this most excellent video by Bill Whittle over at Instapundit. It's well worth your time, especially if you're a young whippersnapper who was not fortunate enough to see this show when it first came on the telly.

There are many great points made, enjoy...

Kindly do not confuse the original with the movie remake of LiS from the '90's where Ms. Robinson is the bitch queen who treats all the men on the spaceship like little boys. The best part of that flick was the great Gary Oldman's portrayal of Dr. Smith, who really does turn into a monster.

I still wonder why they didn't push him out of the airlock when they had the chance.

Minnesota's Repeal of Useless Laws Is a Model for Washington

This news should make your Monday more enjoyable:


Minnesota "unsession" dumps 1175 obsolete, silly laws. (This link looks hinky in my browser)


Although it was done at the state level, it shows that out there, somewhere, lies common sense.

We could use more of this. A lot more.

(h/t to Instapundit)

Crimson Tide Win Back-to-Back National Championships...

...in golf.

Golf?

OK, I'll take that. After the disastrous end to last season's Iron Bowl, this helps soften the blow of the loss to Auburn.

Roll Tide!

We've Been Visited by Aliens, Know How I Know?

They haven't come back.

So while we wait, there's this cloud.

I think Pixy forgot to feed Ace's hungry, hungry computer hamsters today. If any Morons came over here looking for info, I got nuthin'.

UPDATE! Ewok found here.

Todd Rundgren - Todd.

Or some Renaissance.

Be sure to visit the archives.

That is all.

Everything You Need to Know About Income Inequality in One Handy-Dandy Chart

This is stolen, shamelessly, from Ace of Spades HQ.

This One Chart Explains Everything You Need to Know About Income Inequality, courtesy of freebeacon.com.

As for the entire premise of "income inequality," whomever is in charge of this, please make my income equal to that of Bill Gates.

Thank you.

Oh, and while we're talking about that "money" thingy, from Instapundit comes this link: Jobs: the best way to fight poverty. Well, duh. Everybody know that except everybody in Washington.

We're Being Regulated to Death

Somewhere out there is a postulate that states, "More government equals less freedom." And if there isn't one there should be, because that's one of the unwritten rules of life.

Here's another one: the way our form of government is constructed, we're free to do as we please unless and until there's a law against something. This is why no one needs a busy Congress, for if they're busy writing laws, they're busy making sure we're all less free.

Now that I've established The Backwards Political Postulate, here's a story you won't like if you love your freedom, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal: Regulator Without Peer.

Congress may be mired in gridlock, but the federal bureaucracy is busier than ever. In 2013 the Federal Register contained 3,659 "final" rules, which means they now must be obeyed, and 2,594 proposed rules on their way to becoming orders from political headquarters.

 If you wonder why our economy is in the shitter, wonder no more. We'll never see a robust economy again until we start electing people who will dedicate their lives to reducing the size, expense, and intrusiveness of the federal government.

Making Sense of the Bundy/BLM Standoff

I paid close attention to the standoff at the Nevada ranch of Cliven Bundy. I listened to both sides and tried my best to figure out the chain of events that led to thousands of ordinary Americans standing up to the armed paramilitary BLM agents.

I may have found someone who has a balanced view of the issue, over at Powerline blog. John Hinderaker has this most excellent post: Why You Should Be Sympathetic Toward Cliven Bundy.

A sample...

Over the last two or three decades, the Bureau has squeezed the ranchers in southern Nevada by limiting the acres on which their cattle can graze, reducing the number of cattle that can be on federal land, and charging grazing fees for the ever-diminishing privilege. The effect of these restrictions has been to drive the ranchers out of business. Formerly, there were dozens of ranches in the area where Bundy operates. Now, his ranch is the only one. When Bundy refused to pay grazing fees beginning in around 1993, he said something to the effect of, they are supposed to be charging me a fee for managing the land and all they are doing is trying to manage me out of business. Why should I pay them for that?

It gets better. As Instapundit says, read the whole thing.

At the time of this writing, there are rumors that the heavily armed BLM agents will attempt a raid on the Bundy Ranch.

$1000 Worth of Digital Fascism from Mozilla

Mozilla, the company that makes the web browser Firefox, committed the only unforgivable sin progressives have – it hired someone who didn’t toe the progressive line to be its CEO. Uniformity of thought is the new black, and a straying from that plantation lands you on the new blacklist. That’s where Brendan Eich finds himself now for daring to stray from the progressives’ plantation on gay marriage.

 

How did Eich stray? Did he take to the streets, shout from the mountaintop, or even take an active role in a campaign? No, he wrote a check, for all of $1,000, to support the campaign in favor of California’s Proposition 8 – the gay marriage ban which was supported overwhelmingly by voters. Not to have gays rounded up and killed or put in camps (those are progressive traits), or even to have homosexuality outlawed, but simply to not change the definition of marriage to fit the political flavor of the moment.

*sigh* I miss the old days when we didn't have to explain sex to children...

Or Progressivism.

Eich’s donation in support of Prop 8 was confidential, by law. The only reason it is known, why any of the donations are known, is the Internal Revenue Service illegally leaked the donor list to a gay rights group who posted it online. Someone in government broke the law and gave what amounts to a “hit list” to progressive foot soldiers who have been targeting donors for their personal beliefs.

 

In this case it was gay groups, but these tactics are a favorite of progressives. Under communism people who didn’t embrace their agenda were purged, under fascism the nonconformists were sent to re-education/work camps, or killed. Progressives can’t simply murder or imprison people who flee their thought plantation, though they’d like to, so they try to ruin them in the meantime.

As we can see from the despicable actions against Eich, Progressives have no love of freedom. Seriously, if you don't like it here, just fucking leave. It's a big wide world out there with plenty of restrictions placed on everybody. Some of us enjoy our country the way it was and don't want it changed.

Charles Koch Explains Charles Koch

Charles Koch (whom Harry Reid checks under his bed for every night) has a message about the natural progression of big government...

More than 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson warned that this could happen. "The natural progress of things," Jefferson wrote, "is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." He knew that no government could possibly run citizens' lives for the better. The more government tries to control, the greater the disaster, as shown by the current health-care debacle. Collectivists (those who stand for government control of the means of production and how people live their lives) promise heaven but deliver hell. For them, the promised end justifies the means.

I really wish someone would ask Harry Reid about George Soros and his support of various radical, far-left organizations here in America.

When Will The GOP Start Courting American Voters?

Occasionally, I'll conduct a thought experiment. I'll think to myself, "Self, what would America look like if we had representatives in Washington who represented our interests?" And by "our," I mean the many who feel disenfranchised and ignored by the current state of politics.

We'd have the Constitution as our foundation. We'd have a federal government that was small, inexpensive and unobtrusive. We'd have a robust economy with a diversity of opportunity for all. We'd have a flat tax of 10%. We'd have schools that taught real-world skills like reading, writing and arithmetic.

We'd have a strong military and strong national borders. We'd have unity, a common heritage and some respect for our history. We'd recognize our enemies as enemies and treat them as such.

Pretty much the exact opposite of what we have now.

I see where Jeb Bush is being propped up as the GOP presidential candidate for 2016, primarily to woo Hispanic voters.

If the GOP wants to win, they might consider courting Americans.

How to End the Obama Recession in One Easy Video Lesson

Wouldst that everyone in Congress understood free-market economics as well as this fellow.

I Like the Way This Cruz Fellow Thinks

Here's Senator Ted Cruz's response to the State of the Union speech.

I couldn't have stated it better myself. It's almost as if Senator Cruz reads this little blog.

Take the RNC Presidential Straw Poll

Here's your chance to help guide the Republican National Committee's presidential pick for 2016.


RNC Presidential Straw Poll.


You can pick three candidates from  the list or one write-in.


I hope America is finally ready to reject the far-left, Progressive, big-government rule that's given us this horrible economy, high unemployment, rampant inflation, unconstitutional (and therefore illegal) domestic spying on innocent citizens, and endless scandals.

I hope for change, the positive type of change this time.

Just a Thought About "Income Inequality"

I hear there's a new Leftist/Socialist/Progressive/Democrat slogan to try to take our minds off  the terrible economy. Apparently, our incomes aren't all equal, although I can't seem to recall when they ever were.


Well, if you insist, please make my income equal to Bill Gates'.

Thank you.