COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us

This memorial is in or adjacent to Occupy Portland camp site. The names are those of Oregon soldiers who were killed in the service of their country in the First World War. Here is what the protesters of Occupy Portland did.


The photo was taken on the morning of the 13th of October.

Don't you dare question their patriotism!

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: culture, liberals, Occupy Wall Street, protesters, The Left

No, really.

Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."

Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.

More ...

I was not surprised to learn that the VA panel of experts that sought to update "Your Life, Your Choices" between 2007-2008 did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. And as you might guess, only one organization was listed in the new version as a resource on advance directives: the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically known as "Compassion and Choices").

This hurry-up-and-die message is clear and unconscionable. Worse, a July 2009 VA directive instructs its primary care physicians to raise advance care planning with all VA patients and to refer them to "Your Life, Your Choices." Not just those of advanced age and debilitated condition—all patients. America's 24 million veterans deserve better.

Thanks to the Sainted General Shinseki.

Don't worry. The Democrat leadership in Congress is hard at work on a plan to include veterans in the Cash for Clunkers program.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: culture, disabilities, health care, soldiers' issues, The Sainted General Shinseki, VA, veterans

DEAD!

Labels: culture, health care, Obama

...Because Les Paul has left the studio.



A thousand times more influential than Michael Jackson could ever be, and he won't get one one thousanth the media coverage on his passing.

Rest ye well, sir. And thanks for billions of musical memories from

millions

of musicians you touched.

Labels: Arts, culture, guitar, in memoriam, Music, music business, recording

According to an oh-so-unscientific Facebook poll, 93% of respondents say YES!!!

I say, BE CAREFUL!!!!!

This is an issue where conservatives should tread carefully. It's very easy to paint yourself into a corner here. For example, are we prepared to let children of casual pot-smokers starve because mom lit up a joint a week ago?

No?

Are we then willing to throw these kids into the foster system the moment mom shows up hot on a piss test to collect her food stamps benefits? Maybe for crack or cocaine, sure. But marijuana? Is breaking up the family ALWAYS going to be the best thing for the children?

No?

Then any conservative - or anyone else for that matter, who votes YES on this poll ought to be ready to give an answer: What are we going to do with food-stamp dependent children of casual pot users?

For drug users with no children? Hell with 'em. But for the ones with? Beware the law of unintended consequences.

Yes, I realize you need to pass a drug test to get a lot of jobs. But if I tested hot on a drug test, my prospective private-sector employer is just gong to deny me the job. Not break up my family.

Go VERY slowly here... and don't let politicians or anyone else demagogue this issue.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: children, Crime, culture, drugs, law

Haven't seen a talking plant like this since Steve Martin starred in Little Shop of Horrors.

Labels: culture, health care, The Left

Obama, Chicago machine thug that he is, doesn't want the opposition to be doing a lot of talking.

Yeah, he want us to shut up.

Here's my response:



Tiochfaidh ar la!!!!

Jason

Labels: culture, health care, Ireland, Obama

There seems to be a mini insurrection at the SEIU's website, as a number of member workers write in objecting to the bald-faced lie being progated by the union leadership that it was a union member and reverend from a local church who was attacked.

As a former member of SEIU, I am embarrassed and ashamed to see events like this. Clearly, it was people in SEIU T-shirts who attacked this man, who was doing nothing more than exercising his 1st amendment rights. Having participated in SEIU events, I was aware of the practice of 'importing' professional protesters, to give the union an appearance of strength. I never agreed with those tactics, and I certainly disagree with the methods employed by SEIU at the St. Louis County Town Hall Meeting.

Someday, maybe Americans will wake up and realize how you guys prey on honest, hard working people in order for you to profit personally from their efforts. I hope so. I did and am, therefore, a 'former' member. I'll most certainly never again be a 'member', and never want to be associated with any organization so intent on suppressing the constitutional rights of individuals, for the good of the Union bigwigs.

SEIU members should settle for nothing less than the removal of union leadership. It's the only way for this corrupt body to get its honor back at this point.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: culture, health care, labor, Obama, SEIU

The Service Employees International Union has, amazingly, released a statement claiming that their thugs didn't attack a tea-party-style protester, but it was the tea-party protesters who attacked them!

St. Louis - Today, the SEIU Missouri State Council released the statement of Executive Director Brandon Davis:

"Last night, in St. Louis, a Reverend and SEIU member was assaulted at a town hall dedicated to discussing our national healthcare crisis. The incident, along with a town hall in Tampa, Florida, has been all over the radio and cable news shows. GOP operatives are rushing to paint it as SEIU thug violence. That couldn't be further from the truth.

"In fact, the Reverend, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter, and others who attended in hopes of a peaceful dialogue about our nation's healthcare crisis, endured the latest attempt by right-wing fringe groups to hijack the democratic process through violence if necessary. Last night, the Teabaggers' violent tactics broke and dislocated the shoulder of the Reverend.

Most tellingly, the SEIU has already produced a video attacking what their juvenile press office refers to as 'teabaggers.'

Watcb tbe vid at the Michelle Malkin link. Watch the end closely. It shows an SEIU member on the ground. The audio continues, though, with a witness yelling "you attacked him" after the video fades to black.

Why?

What are they trying to conceal?

"You attacked him for no reason!"
"He attacked America!"

Here's an idea:

You could cease patronizing SEIU establishments, but that signal is pretty indirect and tough to do in some areas. If you must visit an SEIU establishment, don't tip SEIU employees. Instead, hand them a note telling them exactly why you're not tipping them, and what union leadership has to do to restore them in good graces: retract this press release, apologize to Kenneth Gladney, and cease sending goons to intimidate Americans.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: culture, health care, labor, law, public relations

In order to more fully portray the vileness of the assault on democracy being propogated by Nancy Pelosi and the White House communications office, I'm going to discuss it in the context of this great Norman Rockwell painting, Freedom of Speech.




The painting depicts a 1940s version of Everyman: a working man, by his tidy but informal presentation, and the lean strength of his frame. He could well be a farmer - Rockwell frequently portrayed Middle America in his art. Note the wear and tear on his hands - aged well beyond his face. The figure has a bill or program or agenda in his pocket, and is looked up to and apparently admired by the citizens - citizens - surrounding him, young and old alike.

The painting, for those who may not be aware, was one in a touching series of paintings depicting the Four Freedoms as constructed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want, and Freedom of Worship were the others.

Now, when you or I see this painting, we see an admirable figure, a leader, a great American. We see a citizen speaking his mind, an American posessed of the God-given, inalienable right to freedom of expression. We see discourse and debate. We see what America is all about.

The modern Libtard, represented by Nancy Pelosi and the White House Press office, sees a manufactured mob.

This is pure poison. Pelosi and her enablers have simply declared rhetorical war not just on the Republican party, but on the electorate itself.

Their attitude is nothing short of a big 'F***k You' to the American people. I cannot overstate how vile and dangerous modern libtards are. They need to be opposed at every turn. They need to be made to feel the heat until they see the light, or driven from office. They are bigger enemies of America than McCarthy could ever dream of being. For all his faults, at least McCarthy loved his country and the things that made it great.

You and I look at this painting and see America.

Pelosi and Obama see a threat.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Arts, culture, health care, Obama, Pelosi, Politics, Rockwell, The Left

This one with a South Florida connection: A Navy commander has filed a complaint with the Miami Herald over reporter Carol Rosenberg's offensive and degrading behavior and questioning.



Full complaint here.

I don't know if he would have much standing, since they don't have the same employers. And I don't like the precedent of government officials suing newspapers for allowing their reporters to create a hostile work environment. Still, if she is interfering with the AP photographer's work, and publicly inferring that the Navy officer is gay - knowing that if the reputation stuck, he would lose his career, Rosenberg comes extremely close to committing a couple of torts.

If these reports are true - and there are apparently lots of witnesses, Rosenberg is sullying the Miami Herald brand. Her reporting is not to be trusted. She seems to have come unglued. She should be fired. It's not like there aren't good, underemployed journalists out there to replace her with.

Way to cultivate your sources, moron!

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: culture, journalism, law, Miami Herald, Navy, Sex, stupid, The media

Do straight women make the best lesbian porn?

Labels: culture, Gay/Lesbian issues, Paglia, Sex

From the A.P.

BEAUMONT — Relatives of a slain sailor are calling the 29-year-old’s death a hate crime.
Rose Roy of Beaumont said her nephew, Navy Seaman August Provost III, had complained a year before about being harassed for being gay.
Roy said she advised Provost to report and document the incidents, but she said the military did little to help.
“He went to the Navy to serve and protect,” she said in an interview with Beaumont’s KFDM News, “he didn’t get protected at all.”
Roy told The Associated Press that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy discouraged her nephew from asking for help.

What did I tell you? What the fuck did I tell you five years ago? Yeah, I called it. And for calling it exactly like it was, I got accused, at the time, of penning "homophobic rant."*

At any rate, the conclusion that the DADT policy is to blame is utter hogwash. That's not the military's policy that discouraged her nephew from asking for help. It is the UCMJ, which is the law of the land. The military has zero choice in the matter, and absent a change in the law, approved by Congress, Provost would have been in the exact same predicament had DADT never been enacted.

I get pretty tired of dumbass reporters getting led around by their noses.

The 29-year-old Houston native was found dead Tuesday at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. Roy said the family was told that Provost was shot three times, had his hands and feet bound, his mouth gagged, and body burned.

Just terrible. But that problem is a hell of a lot bigger than DADT. Indeed, had the military still had a blanket ban on gays serving, August Provost would probably still be alive today.

Democratic Rep. Bob Filner of San Diego said Thursday he wants a Defense Department investigation into the death, after leaders of the city’s gay community asked him to intervene.
Investigators have called the sailor’s death a random act unrelated to his sexuality and have taken a “person of interest” into custody. Inside sources describe possible suspects as a construction worker, a police officer, a cowboy, and an Indian chief. No charges have been filed.

I'm taking some liberties with the last part.

Incidentally, although the Navy Department has long had a 'witch-hunt' culture, to my eye, there is no reason why a commander needs to take a complaint over sexual harrassment as an admission of homosexuality, leading to a discharge. It is entirely possible to investigate the harrassment without looking into homosexual conduct itself.

I haven't been directly confronted with the issue. I've had troops who I'm reasonably sure were gay, but I didn't care, had no reason to look into it, had other things to worry about, and it wasn't a problem in the unit. I suppose had I heard the first rumblings of any kind of harrassment problem, I could have let the word out through my First Sergeant that I would not condone or permit a hostile work environment for ANY reason, and that furthermore I would consider any male on male harrassment of any soldier on the basis of homosexuality to be a tacet admission of homosexual interest on the part of the harrasser, and simply proceed with discharge papers.

**See also this reaction by Bill Cameron

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Army, culture, gays, law, Politics, soldiers' issues, The media, UCMJ

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

To quote a line from Animal House: "You fucked up! You trusted me!"

Labels: culture, gays, Obama, Politics

From the wonderful Cynthia Yockey:

I did not watch the TV sitcom Happy Days very often, but one of the shows made a lasting impression on me. It encapsulates why all of us who are outraged at David Letterman’s vile rape jokes about 14-year-old Willow Palin and his unfunny, degrading remarks about her mother, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, must get this bully fired from his show on CBS.

As you may know, Happy Days was about the high school days of an all-American, clean-cut boy, Richie Cunningham, his family and clean-cut friends, and his family’s tenant, the motorcycle-riding, womanizing, leather-jacketed drop-out known as The Fonz, or Fonzi.

Well, in one show some bullies have been harassing Richie, so The Fonz meets him at the soda shop to teach him his technique for intimidating other tough guys out of beating him up. The Fonz demonstrates his technique by looking his opponents in the eye, getting angry and red in the face, and then furiously tearing off his jacket and throwing it down on the ground in order to prepare for the fight. At that point, his opponents look frightened and hurry away.

So, just as Richie is confronting his own tormentors and angrily taking off his letterman’s jacket, he and Fonzi note that the tormentors are unimpressed and stand their ground. Fonzi is startled by a flash of realization and pulls Richie aside and says, “I just remembered! For this to work, you must have once hit someone.”

Well, getting David Letterman fired is our version of scaring off future bullies by having once hit someone.

I agree.

I'm not one to want to destroy a career over a one-off joke. But I'm getting awfully tired of the libtards getting away with murder, and this idea that prominent libtards get into their heads that there is no accountability or consequence for their vilest public statements.

Letterman will be ok. He can go to cable TV, like Larry Shandling, or something. He's made his money. He'll be fine. And the Late Night show will be much, much better with almost anyone else in there. Letterman was never that funny to me.

Take him down.

Funny, because the other day on Althouse's blog, I commented that if I were Willow's dad, I would have publicly challenged Letterman to a duel. Then again, I'm old-fashioned that way.

It would have been hilarious watching Letterman weasel out of that one.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Arts, culture, International relations, Palin, Palin's Vagina, Television

Opie Cunningham, AKA Ron Howard, who's been making sappy movies for years," wants the U.S. to give up the struggle for freedom and liberty.

“at a certain point I don't think we'll be so consumed with being the pre-eminent super-power and, you know, driven by sort of militarism and this need to export, you know, democracy.”

Used to be Democrats were Americans.

Here's my response:



And here:



In other words, go fuck yourself, Opie. How dare you, after all this country and its freedoms has given you?

On the other hand, I thought parts of this were actually funny.

David Bellavia, however, was right to call Maher on it.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Bill Maher, culture, Hollywood, movies, Ron Howard, the Arts

The great John Hartford.



The Force was strong with this one.

Labels: Arts, culture, fiddle blogging, fiddles

Don't you think?

Labels: Abortion, culture

...and I did not speak out, for I was not into granny porn.

Labels: culture, law, Sex, stupid

Apparently, some have noted that Obama is the first President to snub the Salute to Heros Inaugural Ball since its inception.

I guess those guys just aren't on the President's radar.

I had noticed this last week, but I wasn't sure about the sourcing for the claim that every single president since Ike had honored these heroes with his presence during the inaugural balls. I'm still not sure, but if true, it's quite a gaffe. (I shouldn't be surprised, though, after Landstuhl.)


UPDATE: Convinced.

UPDATE II: See also this:

"By tradition," Cheney told the heroes, "this is always the first event the president and vice president visit before we begin the round of inaugural balls, and that's for a very good reason."

It's "because of the enormous obligation and debt that we have to all of you who served in the U.S. military, veterans as well as the Medal of Honor recipients who are here tonight. On behalf of Lynne and myself, letme thank you for what you've done for all of us."

Bush echoed Cheney's support for the tradition. "It's right that it be that way," the president said. "It makes good sense to start here."

"The inaugural balls are a reflection of the wonderful freedoms we have in America — the free transfer of power that took place today," he noted. "This is a free land, however, it would not have been free necessarily withoutthe sacrifice of the men and women who have worn our uniform."

On a more positive note, although apparently recipients of the Medal of Honor didn't make the cut, Obama did manage to carve out some time with Mary J. Blige, Sting, and Shakira.

I predict we're going to have staff screwups galore that will make Bill Clinton's first year in office seem like a model of efficiency and competence, until they finally get some adult supervision in there. I don't think David Gergen will be riding to the rescue this time, though.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: culture, Obama, Politics, veterans