The Nigh Seen Creeder

Until I read 'bout it in the January 31 Nashville Today [no Web site], I was unaware that U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper had thrown his no-upper-lip weight behind B. Hussein Obama' presidential campaign. Can't say I'm surprised.

In 1993, Jim Cooper was a "managed care" proponent who did a fair amount of cheerleading for Bill and Hillary Clinton's abortive national health care scheme. The Clintons returned the favor by cheerleading for Jim Cooper during his 1994 campaign for U.S. Senate. Cooper got his ass handed to him in '94 - by one Fred Dalton Thompson - in large part because he'd carried water for Bill and Hillary Clinton's national health care scheme. (I'm sure he ain't forgot 'bout that.)

When Jim Cooper was a Shelbyville-based Congressman, Tennessee political scuttlebutters told us he was a moderate to moderately conservative Democrat. His voting record during that time, for the most part, confirmed such. When Cooper returned to Congress representing a "metropolitan" district, in 2003, his voting record shifted accordingly. Now, only a fool would call him a "moderate" or a "moderate to conservative" Democrat.

Thus, it ain't no shock to me that Jim Coop' is supportin' B. Hussein Obama. Obama is a certified liberal who's doing all he can to garner favor with other certified liberals -- or former moderates currently representing liberal districts. Coop' signed up and I'm sure he thinks he's being damn-principled by doing so.

The folks in and 'round Bedford County would probably kick Jim Cooper in the ass if presented with an opportunity to do so. He should think long and hard about that ...

Seven months ago, I pegged B. Hussein Obama - with a fair amount of proof - "The Most Liberal Member of Congress." Don't look like I'll be eating crow any time soon:

"Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was the most liberal senator in 2007, according to National Journal's 27th annual vote ratings. The insurgent presidential candidate shifted further to the left last year in the run-up to the primaries."

Click here to see more 'bout Obama the Left-Wing Hack.

John Edwards announced today that he is "suspending" his presidential campaign. You'd think real man would bite the bullet and say he's "ending" his campaign or dropping out. Wait. Real man? John Edwards?

By popular request, here's a portion of the "John Edwards: Oh, so pretty" post that appeared on the Nigh Seen Creeder a couple o' months ago:

John Edwards is the quintessential Emasculated Male. While I'm not certain as to the size of Edwards' cojones, I think he thinks he has a brass pair the size of basketballs. I mean, the man didn't run for re-election to the U.S. Senate because several polls indicated that he'd lose, badly, to whomever the Republicans nominated; he got his ass dusted by Dick Cheney during the '04 V.P. debate; and he couldn't deliver his home state for the Kerry-Edwards ticket. If the folks in his own state didn't want his dumb ass in any elected office, why should Americans, as a whole, want the dumbass as their president?!

That said, here's how I envision an afternoon at the Edwards Estate ...

Elizabeth Edwards: Hey, John, I'm baking a big meatloaf for dinner! I think I'll whip up some mashed potatoes, too.
John Edwards: Baby, you know red meat upsets my stomach. I think I'll just have some cottage cheese and peaches -- maybe some brown rice.
EE: John, you're so picky! I guess I'll give the meatloaf to that little brown fellow who trims the hedges. What's his name? Geor-gee?
JE: Hor-hay, 'Lizbeth, Hor-hay! He may have brown skin, and he may get his hair cut at a barber shop, but that doesn't mean that he's not a part of these two great Americas! (Murmurs: Well, one's not so great, what, with all the shoppin' at Wal-Mart, living in tract homes, and wearing off-the-rack clothes.)
EE: Oh, I almost forgot ... I got us tickets to the Hurricanes game Thursday night. Right behind the bench!
JE: Hockey?! Blech! All that fighting and hitting. No ... thank ... you. Besides, you know I have my scrapbooking group on Thursdays. This is my week to bring the cucumber sandwiches!
EE: I'll ask Geor-gee, er, Hor-hay, if he'd like to join me. Big strapping man like that must love hockey.
JE: Hush, Honey, Oprah's coming on! George Clooney's her guest! (Murmurs: God, he has great hair.)

What is it they say 'bout many a truth being said in jest ...?!

In case you haven't heard, John McCain won yesterday's Florida GOP primary:

"Sen. John McCain won a breakthrough triumph in the Florida primary Tuesday night, seizing the upper hand in the Republican presidential race ahead of next week's coast-to-coast contests and lining up a quick endorsement from soon-to-be dropout Rudy Giuliani."

While the Republican race is far from over, McCain is certainly in the driver's seat at this point. If McCain wins California next week, and if Huckabee wins a couple of Southern states (which seems very likely at this point), he will have a firm lead in the delegate count. He'll also have big mo' as the race turns toward McCain-friendly states like Washington, Wisconsin, Maryland and Virginia.

That said, Republicans should be praying - hard - for Hillary to win the Democratic nomination. Imagine the 71-year-old McCain running against the 40-something B. Hussein Obama. As much as Obama and his minions decry "personal" politics, they will begin casting the election as a race between two generations: the yesterday McCain and the tomorrow Obama. And don't think the Obama-ramas won't churn out tons of television ads and campaign materials featuring unflattering pictures of McCain that make him look even older than 71.

Rich Galen says if Hillary and B. Hussein want to keep beating each other on the issue of race, Republicans should do nothing to discourage them:

"I am not be in favor of using race as an issue in politics. But if Hillary and Barack want to use race as an issue (as they did in South Carolina) then that works to the benefit of the GOP because African-Americans are such an important part of the Democratic coalition.

"If Black Democrats are largely Barack supporters and White Democrats are largely Hillary backers then this can only devolve to the benefit of the Republican nominee - whomever that turns out to be.

"This is because the longer the Democratic nomination fight goes on the less likely it is that there will be a reconciliation. And if Hillary and Barack continue to split the primary states, then the fight might go all the way to the floor of the Democratic Convention in August.

"Even more. If the nomination fight becomes one which is between Democratic Whites and Democratic Blacks it is almost impossible to believe that they will come together in time to defeat whomever the Republicans nominate." [Emphasis mine]

Suddenly, my life makes sense again. The New Kids on the Block will be re-uniting soon! To wit:

"New Kids On The Block maybe be old kids now but they're planning a comeback!

"The band's Web site, www.nkotb.com, which had been dormant, is now back up and running in anticipation of the official announcement, which the source says will be made in the next few weeks.

"The site currently features a television graphic with a fuzzy, flickering photos of NKOTB in their heyday, and a link inviting fans to sign up for info."

I'm gonna have to dig out my old Starter jacket and stone-washed jeans. I'll need a good rat tail, too. I can only hope that I can get a couple of days off to camp out for NKOTB tix. If I can't be on the front row when the boys hit the stage, I will freakin' just die!

State Rep. Mike Turner appeared before a House Budget subcommittee last week to urge passage of the Pay Equity in the Workplace Act. (This is the second time around for Turner and his pay equity legislation, which failed in committee last year.) This is what Big Mike told the subcommittee:

"[T]he national average, women make about 73 cents to a dollar for a man for similar type work."

Last year, Big Mike said women make 76 cents for every dollar a man earns. So, which is it? If I'd been sitting on the Budget subcommittee, that would've been my first question for Big Mike, followed by:

Can you name a single company, corporation, business, firm, enterprise, manufacturing concern, etc. in Tennessee that pays all of its female employees - who have the same education, experience, skills and work habits - a quarter less per hour, on average, to do the same job as their male counterparts?

If it's possible to cut one's labor costs by 25 percent by simply hiring females to do the same job as males, why don't more businesses have workforces comprised entirely of women?

Unfortunately for Big Mike Turner, the Heritage Foundation put a bullet in the belly of the women-don't-get-their-fair-share canard many, many moons ago. Next time he goes braying 'bout gals not gettin' there's, the following needs to be brung out:

"Because the typical woman earns 73 percent of what the typical man earns, [left-wingers] claim that employers are discriminating against women. To fix the problem, [left-wingers] propose the federal government slap heavy fines on offending businesses and make it easier for lawyers to sue them. ...

"There are [several] fundamental problems with [the left-wingers'] approach -- mistakes that illustrate why their plan has nothing to do with 'equal pay for equal work' and why it could actually wreak havoc with the American economy.

"First, [left-wingers are] misinterpreting the data on wages. Male workers and female workers cannot be compared so easily. Men choose higher-paying professions. They have more education, and they tend to be more experienced. Most importantly, they also work more.

"In her recent book, lawyer-turned-journalist Laura Ingraham explains: 'Men take time-outs from employment for less than 2 percent of their working lives, compared to 15 percent for the average working woman. If you suspend and restart your career a lot, you're just not going to have the same pay vector, whether you're a man or a woman. Even full-time women workers typically put in eight to 10 hours a week less than men do.'"

"Second, [left-wingers assume] business owners are so determined to discriminate that they are willing to deliberately sacrifice profits by hiring higher-paid men when they could hire equally capable women for less cost. This is a rather novel theory, particularly coming from [those] who often accuse private businesses of being greedy and profit-driven.

"But, for the sake of argument, let's assume [they're] right: Employers are engaged in a silent conspiracy to forego profits by discriminating. For this bizarre scheme to work, investors have to be in on the plot as well. After all, if there is systematic discrimination, new companies could be started that would undercut existing firms by hiring women to produce the same goods and services for lower cost -- and they would have to be stopped to keep the system working.

"Needless to say, this conspiracy theory is preposterous. Yes, some employers do discriminate in their hiring, and they certainly deserve our scorn, but there's no evidence of an economy-wide plot to oppress female workers." [Emphasis mine]

FOX has rejected a GoDaddy.com ad in which comely auto-racer Danica Patrick and an animated beaver are featured. To wit:

"The rejected ad, titled 'Exposure' features auto racer and Go Daddy spokeswoman Danica Patrick and an animated version of a beaver.

"The ad, which was showed exclusively to The Arizona Republic Wednesday, shows supermodels with short skirts and furry creatures emerging from vehicles, followed by Patrick declaring in part, 'Go Daddy gives me all the exposure I need.'"

I'll borrow a line from Cliff Clavin and ask: What's up with that?!

Here's the latest over at A Man's Gotta Eat:

Yankee beer, go home!
An apple a day ... will cost you more
Finding Comfort when cold winds blow
Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Stewed O-kree w/sausage (sounds good to me)

Despite having been thoroughly discredited years ago, Keynesianism rears its head every so often to wreak havoc on the nation's body economic.

Practically each and every Democrat in the U.S. Congress is a card-carrying Keynesian; and each and every one of them has nothing but good things to say about Keynes' demand-side economic theories. Thus, when the economy starts slowin', Democrats trot out pump-priming schemes like tax "rebates" and targeted tax cuts.

In 2001, Democrats proposed tax rebates in response to that year's recession -- a recession they'd denied even existed as St. Bill Clinton was turning over the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The tax rebates did nothing to counter the recession, and economic growth remained slow until President Bush and Congressional Republicans enacted supply-side cuts in marginal tax rates. Allow this chart to demonstrate:


A growing band of economists, pundits and politicians seemed determined to talk the economy down until it records negative growth this year. As a sort of pre-emptive strike against the 2008 recession, Democrats have proposed various tax rebates (including rebates to folks who pay no federal income taxes). Not wanting to look uncaring, Republicans unfortunately have joined the tax rebate bandwagon ... just like they did in 2001.

For the past two weeks, the Wall Street Journal has done an amazing job destroying the canard that tax rebates spur economic growth. Today's lead editorial, "Re-Election Stimulus," does some damn fine canard-bustin', and then some :

"As for the economics, oh my. The most this temporary tax cut will do is goose consumer spending for a quarter or two this year. Since the IRS is saying it won't be able to cut the checks until midyear, any recession might well be over, if it even begins. The money to pay for these rebates has to come from somewhere, which means from other taxpayers or from bondholders who lend money to the Treasury. Either way, Congress and the White House are taking money from someone to pass out to someone else. The income effects are thus a wash, as the economists put it, while the substitution effects (higher taxes on the best income producers to finance consumption among the lowest) are negative."

Don't expect Washington lawmakers to pay attention to voices of reason like the Wall Street Journal's editorial page. Indeed, facts and logic are the first things tossed out of the window when elections are close at hand. You see, whenever times get tough, Washington pols have an all-consuming need to be seen as doing something. Even if the something actually accomplishes nothing.

U.S. Rep. Dennis "Elephant Ears" Kucinich announced today that he's abandoning his long-shot presidential bid. Well, he didn't exactly say he was abandoning his bid. (Nor did he say he was suspending his campaign or dropping out of the race.) This's what he said:

"'I will be announcing that I'm transitioning out of the presidential campaign,' Kucinich said. 'I'm making that announcement tomorrow about a new direction.'"

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Kucinich used kooky talk (apologies to Mr. Jimmy) during his drop-out speech. Hell, he's been using kooky talk for years. Like this:

"Spirit merges with matter to sanctify the universe. Matter transcends to return to spirit. The interchangeability of matter and spirit means the starlit magic of the outermost life of our universe becomes the soul-light magic of the innermost life of our self."

That bit of wisdom was uncorked by Kucinich during his 2004 presidential campaign. My original critique of that musing is still true today: Don't that sound like something that one would expect to read in a Natural Law Party or Church of Scientology brochure? And see what I meant 'bout kooky talk?!

Now, lest anyone think that I can't find something nice to say 'bout one Dennis Kucinich, check this out:


Dennis Kucinich has one fine attribute -- and that's his wife's many fine attributes! Mrs. Kucinich is one purty left-wing nutbucket. And she has red hair, to boot. I've always had a thing for red-headed gals ... even of the nutbucket variety.

From the "I couldn't make this **** up if I tried" department:

The 1st Traveler's Choice Internet Cookbook has compiled a list of "favorite" recipes from current and former Members of Congress. Idaho Senator Larry Craig - you remember him, right? - says his favorite thing to, um, eat is Super Tuber.

A Super Tuber, according to Sen. Craig, is a potato with a hot dog shoved through its center:

"Wash and dry potato. Rub with shortening or butter. With an apple corer or small knife, core out the potato center (end to end). Push hot dog through the center. Bake until potato is cooked through."

[Insert cylindrical-object-being-shoved-into-something-in-which-it's-not-usually-found joke here.]

"[B. Hussein Obama] nonetheless seems to be awakening slowly to what everyone else already knows about the Clintons, which is that they will say and do whatever they "gotta" say or do to win. Listen closely to Mr. Obama, and you can almost hear the echoes of Bob Dole at the end of the 1996 campaign asking, 'Where's the outrage?'"

-- Wall Street Journal editorial

Michelle Malkin - who not only tickles me intellectually, and but could also tickle me in other ways if'n she ever took a notion - has John McCain pegged:

"But how can McCain cure citizens' distrust when his own credibility on the issue remains fatally damaged? He doesn't believe his own election-year spin. And he knows we know it. This is cynicism on steroids with a speedball chaser.

"Not all of us have forgotten how the short-fused Arizona senator cursed good-faith opponents in his own party ('F**k you!' and 'Chickensh*t' were the choice words he had for Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn during a spat over enforcement provisions). Not all of us have forgotten that he voted against barring felons from receiving amnesty benefits under his plan. Not all of us have forgotten the underhanded, debate-sabotaging manner in which McCain/Kennedy/Lindsey Graham/Harry Reid conspired to ram their package down voters' throats.

"His admission of the shamnesty failure is grudging and bitter. While he now tells conservative voters what they want to hear about the need to build the southern border fence, he takes a contemptuous tone toward physical barriers when talking to businessmen. 'By the way, I think the fence is least effective,' he told executives in Milwaukee, according to a recent Vanity Fair profile. 'But I'll build the goddamned fence if they want it.' Straight talk? Try hate talk.

"For all his supposed newfound enlightenment about what most Americans want -- protection against invasion, commitment to the rule of law, meaningful employer sanctions, an end to sanctuary cities, enforcement-by-attrition plus deportation reform, and an end to special illegal alien benefits that invite more law-breaking -- The Maverick remains a Geraldo Rivera Republican. Like the ethnocentric cable TV host who can't string a sentence about immigration together without drowning in demagoguery, McCain naturally resorts to open-borders platitudes when pressed for enforcement specifics."

Read the rest here.

Fox News reporter Carl Cameron said this morning that Fred Thompson was angling "for the number two slot all along." If there's even the slightest bit o' truth to that ...

Given his piss-poor presidential performance (say that ten times really fast), will Fred be given any vice-presidential consideration by Romney, Huckabee, McCain, etc.?

Fred '08, RIP.

I had several close and casual friends who badgered the you-know-what out of me to dump Mitt Romney in favor of Fred Thompson. I was told that Fred was tanned, rested, and ready to mount a spirited campaign which would take him all the way to the White House. Fred's campaign was anything but spirited, and he deservedly never came close to winning any Republican primary or caucus.

Just like Wesley Clark in 2004, Fred was more attractive as a non-candidate than as a real candidate. During the interminable weeks that Fred was flirting with running, his supporters hyped him as a Great Conservative Hope who would inspire and motivate Republican voters in a way not seen since Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign. Well, that sure as hell didn't happen.

Two weeks ago, Fred chastised the journalists who've been covering the 2008 campaign for lacking "fire in the belly.” I found Fred's reporter-dissing to be especially laughable given that at no time prior to his quip had he appeared to be either motivated or inspired to be president. I'll bet those reporters are havin' themselves a good laugh now.

All that said, I wonder if any of the Tennessee turncoats who abandoned Romney last year - see Blackburn, Marsha and Duncan, Jimmy - will return to the fold? Given their profound lack of political judgement, will Mitt even want 'em back?

B. Hussein Obama challenged Bill Clinton's truthfulness Monday "in a deepening feud with the husband of Obama's Democratic presidential rival." Thanks, B. Hussein for that keen observation!

You know, saying Bill Clinton is untruthful is like saying water is wet ... cotton is white ... spoiled milk is stinky ... moonshine is high in alcohol ... Iran's mullahs are serious about their religion ... Whoopi Goldberg is unattractive ... Tom Cruise is nuckin' futs ...

This little game could go on for days.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' ... I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ... And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hamp-shire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring."

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

From the Federalist.com:

Most quoted from Martin King's "I Have a Dream" speech is, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Yet today, Jesse Jackson (King's chief aide during those tumultuous civil rights protests) and virtually every other black leader advocate for programs and policies that judge by skin color alone, regardless of character.

Irrespective of one's conclusion about Martin King's proper place in history (given what we know about his personal character lapses, including marital infidelity, his association with known Communists, questions about the originality of his doctoral dissertation, and the violation of his message by those who succeeded him), the two texts cited below - from The Federalist Historic Documents section - are well worth reading -- for each of them proclaim truth.

"I Have a Dream"

"Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Friends o' B. Hussein Obama can groove 'n' dance in homage to their man in Nashville tomorrow:



I won't be in attendance, sorry.

I'm going to be at a house party at which the pro-Hillary Mistress Lip-Bitin' Blues Band will be playin'. Then I'm goin' to an after-hours club featuring the John Edwards Has No Dandruff (jazz) Trio.

Here's some new stuff to check out over at A Man's Gotta Eat:

Joltin' Django ♥ Cincinnati Chile
"Get me ..!"
Mary B's sounds good to me!
Praise be to onions
Good ol' poor folks' food

Vegetarians and vegans who eschew meat 'cause they can't bear the thought of innocent cows, chickens, fish, lobsters, etc. dying on their behalf would do well to consider the following, penned by Mr. Rich Latimer of Falmough, Mass., which was published in the January 7, 2008, New Yorker magazine:

"Bill Buford writes that nobody has a persuasive rejoinder to the vegan belief that sentient, warm-blooded creatures shouldn't be sacrificed for our sustenance ('Books,' Dec. 3rd). But if that's your ethic you should seriously consider fasting. Countless millions of wee furry beasties, mice, moles, and voles, as well as ground-nesting birds, are killed outright or die off from habitat destruction annually, when vast acreages are tilled by huge, mindless machines to grow 'ethical' grains and vegetables. More are killed during the growing season by rodenticide grain baits, including zinc phosphate. Small mammals and birds are killed by machinery again at harvest time, and even more are killed by pest-control practices in granaries and processing plants before the vegetables go to market. There's no such thing as a guilt-free lunch." [Emphasis mine]

Just six shorts months ago, Tenn. Democratic Party chief Gray Sasser was crowing that Senator Lamar Alexander would not be re-elected in 2008:

"I firmly believe that Sen. Alexander is beatable in 2008. Tennesseans, like the rest of America, are ready for a change and are disappointed that Sen. Alexander continues to back the failed policies of George Bush and Karl Rove, voting with the Bush administration more than 90 percent of the time."

Not only has the state Democratic Party been unable to find anyone misguided enough to put his/her name on the November ballot opposite Sen. Alexander, Mr. Sasser must surely be disappointed at the number of prominent Democrats who've stepped forward to endorse Alexander's re-election effort, such as:

* Franklin Haney, Chattanooga-based businessman
* State Sen. Douglas Henry of Nashville
* Memphis City Mayor Dr.Willie W. Herenton
* Frances Hooks of Memphis, who has served as assistant, secretary and adviser to her spouse, Dr. Benjamin Hooks, former Executive Director of the NAACP
* Dr. Joe Johnson, former President of the University of Tennessee
* Johnny Majors, former head coach at the University of Tennessee
* Carl Moore, businessman and former State Senator from the Tri-Cities.
* Wesley Cornelius McClure, President of Lane College in Jackson
* Clayton McWhorter, Nashville-based businessman
* James Pratt of Nashville, who was Communications Director for former U. S. Sen. Jim Sasser
* Clinton Mayor Wimp Shoopman
* Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton Jr.
* Emily Wiseman of Nashville, former Executive Director of the Tennessee Commission on Aging

You can see more Democrats who're for Alexander here.

Ms. Brittney Gilbert, like, so does not like Mitt Romney:

"Mitt Romney is super scary. I mean, he makes Hillary Clinton seem almost human. I saw some clips of him on last night’s newscast and I got the fear. If that is not a robot under malleable synthetic flesh and hair, then I’m Vicki from Small Wonder. Forget the fact that this fucker strapped his dog to the roof his car for the length of several states. Forget the fact that he flips positions more than Jenna Jameson. This guy is creepy right on the surface. After just a few seconds of his answer about his favorite book ('I’d have to go with something like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.'), I changed the channel and threw the remote across the room in horror."

This was my reply to Ms. Gilbert's unlearned rant:

Lemme tell you, Brittney: You ain't provin' yourself to be no astute observer of politics if you have to analogize with obscure, über-crappy 1980s syndicated "comedies" to prove a political point.

Here's your homework assignment: Read Mitt's Turnaround, Hugh Hewitt's A Mormon in the White House?, and familiarize yourself with details of Romney's term as the Governor of Massachusetts. Then tell us what you dislike about Mitt Romney ... and leave the Mitt "gives me the hebbie-jeebies [sic], "Mitt Romney is super scary" horsecrap in the pasture where it belongs.

Dr. Phil is the target of a complaint filed with the California Board of Psychology. When Dr. Phil attempted to counsel singer/professional trainwreck Britney Spears earlier this month, he was technically practicing without a license, which is a felony in the Golden State. TMZ reports:

"We've learned the person who filed the complaint is a psychologist. Dr. Phil has never been licensed to practice in California, and he retired his Texas license in 2006.

"The psychologist who filed the complaint also alleges Dr. Phil violated HIPAA laws by 'discussing or divulging a patient's medical condition ... with the media,' in reference to a press release issued by Dr. Phil."

The psychologist has also started a petition to have Dr. Phil removed from the air. If he/she succeeds, then perhaps something positive will've come from the whole Britney-Spears-wacked-out-in-the-hospital debacle after all.

(And let's not forget who's responsible for foisting Dr. Phil on the American public: Oprah Winfrey, aka Barack Obama With A Vajay-jay. That's another reason right there for me to dislike Ms. Winfrey.)

Don't you just love it when cute celebrities treat us to steaming bowls of vegetarian stupidity? Like this little nugget from country caterwaulerer/American Idoler Carrie Underwood:

"There was a traumatic incident that made me stop eating beef. ... And it hit me that these cute little animals that were running around playing would become someone’s dinner. Eating them made me feel guilty."

My grandfather raised cattle for more than 50 years. (He was walking across a pasture he was leasing when, at 79 years of age, he dropped dead of a heart attack.) Until I was 15-years-old, I spent a good portion of my summers workin' on my grandparents' farm. I can tell you for a fact that the only time a cow is cute is when it's still supping from a nipple bucket. 'Bout the third or fourth time I had to hose cow crap off of my shoes is when I came to the astute conclusion that cows ain't cute or funny, or good for anything besides giving us steaks to eat and whole milk to drink.

Methinks the lack of protein in Ms. Underwood's diet has made her a blathering idiot. I'm afraid the same can be said of most vegetarians, indeed.

There are a lot of derisive things one can say about Democrats. The fact that 99 percent of 'em are totally ignorant 'bout basic economics is perhaps the most spot-on.

As Democrats in Congress and the Dems' presidential candidates crawl over one another to see who can propose the biggest tax rebate (in the name of stimulating the economy, you know), Brian M. Riedl tells the Democrats what the don't know, and probably don't have the intellectual capacity to understand:

"With slower economic growth raising fears of a recession, Washington is abuzz with talk of economic stimulus plans. ... [C]ongressional leaders [i.e., Democrats] are discussing a proposal centered around tax rebates.

"Tax rebates, however, don't stimulate the economy. Cutting tax rates does."

In case you haven't heard, Mitt Romney won yesterday's Michigan GOP primary:

"Mitt Romney's resounding victory in Michigan last night has thrown the Blathering Class deep to their Pinot Noirs and Grigios looking for truth and guidance. The firm convictions and strong hunches which were held by the National Punditry as recently as New Year's Eve are now scattered like a child's box of crayons on the playroom." floor."

The Blathering Class needs to keep this in mind as the GOP campaign turns toward South Carolina: so long as Mitt Romney leads the delegate count, he is the front runner. Here's where the candidates stand today ...

Romney, 52 delegates
Huckabee, 22
McCain, 15
Thompson, 6
Paul, 2
Giuliani, 1

UPDATE:

GOPUSA says the Republicans won't be able to crown a presidential nominee any time soon:

"One thing about the Republican presidential race is certain -- the nomination won't be by acclamation.

"The fight for the party nod isn't likely to end until well into February -- or even beyond -- as Mitt Romney, John McCain and Mike Huckabee have divvied up the early states, and no clear front-runner with a burst of momentum has emerged. South Carolina is next up on Saturday.

"The battle between the top-tier candidates 'is going to be like the Bataan Death March,' said Ron Kaufman, a top adviser to Romney."

I couldn't agree more, Mr. Kaufman.

In a letter published in the current Nashville Scene, a Mr. Jeffrey Pitcher not only questioned Tennessean columnist/cancer survivor Tim Chavez's grammatical skills, he referred to Mr. Chavez as a "rightist wing-nut."

I'm not sure the Tennessean even employs proof-readers, so it's unfair to call out any of the writers employed there for spelling and/or grammatical errors. Indeed, just check out the following blurb from a recent Joe Biddle column in which he discussed several new coaches hired by University of Tennessee head football coach Phil Fulmer:

"This is the first time Fulmer has gone outside the extended UT family to make these many wide-ranging changes on his staff. It should serve to inject some new blood and ideas to the program.

"From first impression, these have all be solid hires." [Emphasis mine]

I could easily take Mr. Biddle to task for his unprofessional use of Ebonics. However, I know Joe Biddle, and I know he would never, ever commit such a grammatical faux pas. I feel confident to say that any grammatical sins committed by Mr. Chavez are equally suspect.

As for Mr. Pitcher's calling Chavez a "wing-nut," I dispatched this e-mail to Pitcher late last week:

Sir:

If Tim Chavez is a "rightist wing-nut," what does that make you? Wait, I know: you're a statist spewer of left-wing shipdittery. So there.

Cordially,

Joltin' Django
Nashville, Tennnessee

I'm still waiting for a reply.

Peter Lawler says if he were a citizen of Michigan, he would vote for Romney today:

"I certainly am rooting for him to win there at this moment. He’s run a decent and serious campaign and would be a good president. So he deserves one significant gold to go with his silvers. Not only that, there’s the real risk that McCain momentum might morph into buyer’s remorse for Republicans.

"We, at least, need time to absorb Steve Hayward’s thought that McCain would be the weakest Republican nominee. I, for one, have been moved by those who’ve reminded us that John’s domestic record has largely been partnering with Democratic senators to pass really bad bills. (McCain-Feingold is just one example.) Recall the old joke told by the old conservative Stan Evans: The Republicans are the stupid party and the Democrats are the evil party. Sometimes they work together to do something that’s both stupid and evil. The point of the dumb joke concerns how McCain would work with a heavily Democratic Congress. ...

"Huck, so far, has not had much success reaching out beyond his evangelical base. I’m not wasting my time with Fred unless he pulls off the miracle of winning in South Carolina. So we may well be sorry if Michigan causes us not to have Romney to kick around any more.

"Mitt, as I’ve said before, has had trouble displaying his manly character on the campaign trail. He doesn’t have a cool nickname like John 'the Warrior' (or 'the Pilot') McCain. 0r 'Preacher' Huckabee. We need to give this some thought. "The Technocrat" or 'the Expert' won’t work."

"[T]he idea that Hillary is a very accomplished person because she was a star at Yale Law School, got involved in a few minor Washington issues, and had a decent career at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock before becoming a full-time presidential spouse just doesn’t hold water. ... [H]er standing as a national political figure is derived solely from her marriage, and from nothing else. No man with that kind of personal biography would be considered electable." [Emphasis mine]

-- Anne Applebaum

A couple of months ago, a short piece ran in Esquire magazine in which pugilism was endorsed as a means to rectify certain public disputes. Mr. Satu Rautaharju, who hails from New York City, wrote to Esquire to endorse the pro-fisticuffs column:

"Having recently punched out three different jerks within the same week (I had never hit anyone before in my whole life), I completely agree that we should bring back the idea of immediate physical vengeance. I would rather not have to hurt anyone, but more often than not, people ask for it. Taking matters into your own hands - or the Mafia's, if you have a connection there - is the best bet. Prosecution for being a jerk/asshole/arrogant motherf****r takes too long and is ineffective."

Amen, Mr. Rautaharju!

It has long been my opinion that people would be less inclined to do stupid things if, in the back of their minds, severe ass-beatings for stupid behavior were socially accepted. I mean, honestly, do you really think the fools at PETA would send their limp-wristed, pasty-skinned, and skinny-arsed minions to block sidewalks in anti-fur demonstrations, or stand atop KFC restaurants accosting patrons, if they started getting their asses whipped whilst doing so?

An article which appeared in yesterday's Tennessean says some of NASCAR's shine has worn off:

"[S]eason-long TV ratings for the Sunday cup races, the most important in the sport, dropped 18 percent in 2007 from their record-high year of 2005, according to the Fox network, which shares the 10-month season of NASCAR broadcasts with ABC/ESPN and TNT.

"'It is in a lull, and clearly the sexiness of the sport from a marketer's standpoint is not as great as it has been,' said Brian Evans, director of client relations for Atlanta-based Verve Sponsorship Group, which matches corporate sponsors with racing teams.

"Those close to NASCAR acknowledge the problems, but say it wouldn't be an easy fix.

"'I think it might be in a little more than a lull,' said Darrell Waltrip, a three-time Winston Cup champion and current NASCAR analyst for Fox television who lives in Franklin."

Gee, a "sport" that basically involves guys driving fast and turning left isn't drawin' folks in like it used to? What a freakin' shock ...

Larry Kudlow says, at long last, "supply-side policy prescriptions are top of mind" for the GOP's presidential candidates. Funny, but that's exactly what I told 'em to do:

"In times of slow economic growth, the government should focus its fiscal policy on removing barriers to investment. That's precisely what President Bush and the Republican Congress did in 2003 when they passed bold measures to reduce taxation. The Bush/GOP fiscal package to eliminate the double-taxation of corporate dividends and his slashing of marginal tax rates was a good start. However, accelerating depreciation schedules, lessening the tax burden on businesses, and slashing marginal tax rates again would help even more as the economy shows signs of significant slowing.

"American consumers, who are becoming increasingly skittish due to high energy prices and the home mortgage mess, have been signaling for months that the current mix of investment is not generating what they want. Thus, financial and human capital must be redirected to new uses. This redirection will happen more rapidly if President Bush and Republicans ignore the new dance of the crackpots happening in the current Democratic presidential field and push hard for additional supply-side stimulus in the economy."

Light blogging this weekend 'cause I had family in town. Good stuff comin' tomorrow. In the meantime, check out the latest from A Man's Gotta Eat:

Good ol' poor folks' food
Fan-mail Friday
God Bless "Aint Caroline"
Raise a drink to the kudzu plant
Meatloaf Monday

In the months leading up to the 1936 elections, Franklin Roosevelt and his Democratic allies in Congrss enacted new spending programs to create an artificial inflationary spurt in the economy. FDR was re-elected in a landslide; however, his left-wing economic plan pushed the U.S. into a painful recession in 1937-38. In his masterwork, The Roosevelt Myth, John T. Flynn dubs the machinations of Roosevelt and his cronies as "the dance of the crackpots."

We're now witnessing a new dance of the crackpots. The Democrats who're currently running for president have been offering increasingly silly and outdated proposals to stimulate economic growth. According to the Dems, we must - must! - do something to "stimulate demand." Their demand-stimulating ideas are basically warmed-over Keynesian claptrap that FDR's crackpots offered up sixty-five years ago. Unlike the present-day Keynesians in the Democrat Party, to borrow a line from Flynn, Roosevelt's crackpots had the excuse that most of their schemes had yet to be proven false.

Contrary to the crackpot theories of the neo-Keynesians, slow economic growth does not signify "too much supply and not enough demand." It signifies a mismatch between what companies are producing and what customers want. I'm sure there was excess supply in the candle industry when electric lighting became readily available. The answer to excess capacity in candle manufacturing was not for the government to stimulate demand for candles. It was to allow industry to make needed investments in the industries that were replacing wax and wick.

In times of slow economic growth, the government should focus its fiscal policy on removing barriers to investment. That's precisely what President Bush and the Republican Congress did in 2003 when they passed bold measures to reduce taxation. The Bush/GOP fiscal package to eliminate the double-taxation of corporate dividends and his slashing of marginal tax rates was a good start. However, accelerating depreciation schedules, lessening the tax burden on businesses, and slashing marginal tax rates again would help even more as the economy shows signs of significant slowing.

American consumers, who are becoming increasingly skittish due to high energy prices and the home mortgage mess, have been signaling for months that the current mix of investment is not generating what they want. Thus, financial and human capital must be redirected to new uses. This redirection will happen more rapidly if President Bush and Republicans ignore the new dance of the crackpots happening in the current Democratic presidential field and push hard for additional supply-side stimulus in the economy.

I've been saying for months that Sen. Barack Obama, aka Oprah With A Penis, is a liberal empty suit. Karl Rove agrees:

"Former President Bill Clinton hit a nerve by drawing attention to Mr. Obama's conflicting statements on Iraq. There's more -- and more powerful -- material available. Mr. Obama has failed to rise to leadership on a single major issue in the Senate. In the Illinois legislature, he had a habit of ducking major issues, voting 'present' on bills important to many Democratic interest groups, like abortion-rights and gun-control advocates. He is often lazy, given to misstatements and exaggerations and, when he doesn't know the answer, too ready to try to bluff his way through.

"For someone who talks about a new, positive style of politics and pledges to be true to his word, Mr. Obama too often practices the old style of politics, saying one thing and doing another. He won't escape criticism on all this easily."

The Mexican government pisses and moans each and every time the United States Congress simply considers new laws to reduce the number of individuals entering America illegally. Proving that it is nothing if not hypocritical, the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Migración (National Migration Institute) has announced that it will soon introduce an electronic registration for foreigners entering the country through the southern border to curb illegal immigration:

"In a communique, the INM ... said Biochip implants would be used to control the entry of workers and visitors from Belize and Guatemala from March 2008, Spanish news agency EFE reported Friday.

"The implant will replace the currently used local pass, which can be easily modified.

"The biochip ID will allow total electronic registration of entries and departures, officials said.

"The INM said a migration form for local visitors will be issued to residents of regions near the border with Guatemala, while the migration form for border workers will benefit workers in the area bordering Belize and Guatemala.

"In 2006, Mexico nabbed 200,000 people trying to enter illegally through the southern border, according to INM figures."

Here's a Politics 101 newsflash for the half-dozen anti-Romney folks who e-mailed me following Sen. John Mcain's New Hampshire primary victory:

Huckabee/McCain/Thompson will need 1,200+ confirmed delegates going into the 2008 Republican National Convention in order to become the GOP nominee.

Is Huck or Mac or Fred in the GOP-delegate driver's seat? Uh, nope. Who IS leading the Republican delegate-count? Why, none other than Gov. Mitt Romney:

Romney, 30 delegates
Huckabee, 21
McCain, 10
Thompson, 6
Paul, 2
Giuliani, 1

I've found another reason to dislike Mike Huckabee. He's a praise service guy:

"A pastor from Texas was scheduled to deliver the sermon Sunday at a church [in Windham, NH] called the Crossing.

"But instead this small evangelical congregation heard from a different special guest: Baptist minister and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. ...

"The former Arkansas governor said he was comfortable at the Crossing because it is similar to the Church at Rock Creek in Little Rock, which he attends regularly. The former head of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention prefers 'contemporary' services, an aide said, and often attends services that are not explicitly Baptist.

"At the Crossing, like at Huckabee's Arkansas church, a band with guitar players leads the singing, and the words of the songs appeared on a projector rather than in hymnals. In contrast, however, this relatively new congregation does not own a building -- there is a large sanctuary at his Arkansas church -- so more than 200 people sat in folding chairs in the large cafeteria, with the lunch tables used during the school week stacked against the wall."

Talkin' 'bout the New Hampshire Primary, here's what I said on Monday:

"When we wake up on Wednesday, neither the Democrat nor the Republican fat lady will've come anywhere close to singin'. Bank it. (Apologies to George Plaster.)"

To say that I was 100 percent correct is an understatement.

As the campaign moves toward Michigan, South Carolina, and Super-Duper Tuesday, Rich Galen, who is a paid consultant to Fred Thompson, gives us this excellent take:

"Having five more-or-less viable candidates as the process proceeds is, no matter how counterintuitive it sounds, good for party unity. If I am a fan of Fred Thompson (for whom I am a paid consultant) and my guy doesn’t make it out of South Carolina I will still have three or four other choices.

"As the process continues and the field winnows, there is a feeling that my candidate had a fair shot and I’ll get in behind the eventual nominee.

"The danger for the Democrats is this: When there are only two major contenders and they both stay in the race for a long time, support for each sets in and hardens into a very, very difficult bloc to crack apart.

"The 1976 Reagan and Ford factions on the GOP side have never reconciled. If you were in Iowa last week, you would still have seen evidence of the rift between the Ford moderates and the Reagan conservatives like geologic scars on the political landscape.

"If Hillary and Barack continue to whack each other through the February 5th Über-Tuesday primaries, past March 4 and into the Summer, the Democrats will have a very difficult time reconciling in time for next November’s Presidential election.

"They will hoot and cheer for the nominee at their convention in Colorado, but for slightly less than half of the delegates, their hearts won’t really be in it."

GOPUSA says it's time to change the presidential nomination process (I couldn't agree more):

"Over the years, there have been attempts by some members of the Republican National Committee to change the process by which the GOP presidential nominee is determined. Years ago, there was talk of "smoke filled rooms" at the national convention in which deals would be hashed out to determine a nominee. As the years went on, the state primary/caucus elections become more powerful, and the nominee was determined long before the convention.

"The change from 'smoke filled rooms' to putting the power in the hands of the voters was a good thing. However, a new set of dynamics has been created which hurts the process and again requires changes. States at the end of the primary schedule were becoming irrelevant. So, more and more states began "front loading" the primaries -- moving them up in the schedule. As more and more states have their primaries earlier and earlier, the race for the nomination becomes a defacto national election instead of a state by state contest as it should be.

With so many primary elections and caucuses up front, only candidates with serious reserves of cash or media attention can compete. There is no time to build momentum and use that momentum to help generate new funds. ...

"[T]hirty-four states plus the District of Columbia ... will hold their elections before March.

"In addition to eliminating 'front loading,' something should also be done to reduce the artificially inflated importance of the results in Iowa and New Hampshire. These two states often spell doom for a candidate who doesn't get off to a fast start, yet these two states provide only a small fraction of the delegates needed to secure the nomination. No candidate's bid for the presidency should be determined by how he or she finished in one state, yet that's exactly what we see now from the media. They pronounce gloom and doom or anoint an heir apparent after one or two contests. That is not fair and not right."

Read the rest here.

"Mariah Carey wants a Stephen Hawking-type voice machine so she can talk like a robot to people," the Blemish reports.

"Currently, the singer has to communicate through writing when resting her voice before a concert. The voice box type thing would make her life much easier. The superstar says,

"'Before a big show I’m not allowed to speak for two days. It’s boring writing notes. I need Stephen Hawking’s voice machine so I think and it comes out in a robot voice.'"

I think Ms. Carey's on to something. I can't tell you how much I hate walking from my car to the front door of the liquor store. I need me a conveyance of some sort. Perhaps I'll get a wheelchair ... just like the one Stephen Hawking uses!

According to a poll released late yesterday by 7NEWS/Suffolk University, today's New Hampshire Primary will be close. To wit:

"In the Democratic Primary, Obama (35 percent) leads Clinton (34 percent), John Edwards (15 percent) and Bill Richardson (3 percent). Eleven percent were undecided. ...

"In the Republican Primary, the 7NEWS/Suffolk University poll also shows the margin remains the same as it has for the past three days, essentially a dead heat. Mitt Romney (30 percent) led John McCain (27 percent), followed by Rudy Giuliani (10 percent), Mike Huckabee (9 percent) Ron Paul (8 percent), and Fred Thompson (2 percent). Thirteen percent were undecided."

My prediction: Those who say Obama and McCain will win running-away victories in New Hampshire don't know ... nothing. Indeed, a close vote in Obama's favor will embolden Hillary to fight in states like Florida and California; and a close vote in McCain's favor will embolden Romney to go all-in in South Carolina and (especially) Michigan.

When we wake up on Wednesday, neither the Democrat nor the Republican fat lady will've come anywhere close to singin'. Bank it. (Apologies to George Plaster.)

Peter Wehner says stick a fork in the Clinton Era, it's done:

"The Obama wave, which has been building for months, reached the proportions of a tidal wave after Iowa. It is now about to submerge, sink, and drown the Clinton campaign, and with it, the Clinton era will come, finally, to a close.

"The Clinton years lasted from 1992 to 2007. In the early days of January 2008, a young, graceful senator from Illinois, liberal and likeable, with only a few years of experience in the U.S. Senate, stood up to Hillary and Bill Clinton and the vaunted Clinton machine and ran rings around all of them. Every effort to try to derail Obama came back to hurt them. ...

"There are many things to say about the deeper meaning of this moment and what its passing will signify. Suffice it to say that it will be good, very good, for us to say farewell to the couple that brought you Carville, Begala, Blumenthal, and Ickes; the 'war room,' the use of private investigators, and attacks on women like Dolly Kyle Browning, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, and Kathleen Willey; impeachment for perjurious, false and misleading testimony to a grand jury; contempt of court findings; the promiscuous smearing of those whom they viewed as threat to their power; the charges of a 'vast right-wing conspiracy' and assurances that “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”; and so much more."

It says something about the current state of the Democratic Party when they find themselves to the left of European socialists on taxes:

"Socialist Party Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero [of Spain] pledged in December that if re-elected, 'One of the first decisions I would take is to eliminate the wealth tax [up to 2.5%],' which he says is one of the highest in Europe and 'punishes savings.' Mr. Zapatero is no conservative. But he's joining the European march down the Laffer Curve on taxes, having already phased in reductions in Spain's corporate tax rate to 30% from 35% and its personal income tax rate to 43% from 45%.

"Like France and Germany, Spain is cutting rates because of the tax competition from their European Union neighbors such as Ireland and East Europe. There are now at least 11 nations formerly behind the Iron Curtain with flat rate taxes of 25% or lower. On January 1, a new flat tax of 10% became law in Bulgaria, replacing its progressive rate structure and as far as we know the lowest such rate in the world. The newly elected Polish parliament is also planning to cut taxes. ...

"It's getting lonelier all the time at the top for America, which with a corporate tax rate of 35% is one of the few developed nations left with a rate of more than 30%. Economist Dan Mitchell tracks these trends for the Cato Institute, and he finds that 26 developed nations have cut either personal or corporate income tax rates since 2005. ...

"Some of these tax-cutting nations -- such as Estonia, Ireland, Russia, and Spain -- have seen revenues rise even as rates have fallen. This is what turns socialists into supply-siders in Spain, if regrettably not in the U.S."

Gov. Mitt Romney won today's caucus! Okay, so it was the Wyoming Caucus. Still means that Romney has as many "primary" wins as Mr. Flavor of the Day, Mike Hucksterbee. To wit:

"Mitt Romney captured his first win of the Republican presidential race, gaining most of Wyoming's delegates at stake in GOP caucuses on Saturday.

"The former Massachusetts governor won six of the first eight delegates to be selected. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one apiece, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney."

Thanks to Creeder Reader GOP Operative for sending a link to this Pat Buchanan opinion piece 'bout global warming. I very much wanted to post a link to it a few months back when it appeared in the American Conservative magazine. However, it was only available in the print edition, and I very much did not want to type the damn thing -- even if doing so would help prove a very important point!

Anywho, here's an excerpt from Buchanan's withering critique of the ongoing hysteria over so-called global warming

"Put me down as a disbeliever.

"Like the panics of bygone eras, this one has the aspect of yet another re-enactment of the Big Con. The huckster arrives in town, tells all the rubes that disaster impends for them and their families, but says there may be one last chance they can be saved – but it will take a lot of money. And the folks should go about collecting it, right now.

"This, it seems to me, is what the global-warming scare and scam are all about – frightening Americans into transferring sovereignty, power and wealth to a global political elite that claims it alone understands the crisis and it alone can save us from impending disaster.

"Under the Kyoto Protocol, from which China and India were exempt, the United States was to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels, which could not be done without inducing a new Depression and reducing the standard of living of the American people. So, we ignored Kyoto – and how have we suffered? The Europeans who signed on also largely ignored it. How have they suffered?

"We are told global warming was responsible for the hurricane summer of Katrina and Rita that devastated Texas, Mississippi and New Orleans. Yet Dr. William Gray, perhaps the nation’s foremost expert on hurricanes, says he and his most experienced colleagues believe humans have little impact on global warming and global warming cannot explain the frequency or ferocity of hurricanes. After all, we had more hurricanes in the first half of the 20th century than in the last 50 years, as global warming was taking place.

"'We’re brainwashing our children,' says Gray. 'They’re going to the Gore movie (An Inconvenient Truth) and being fed all this. It’s ridiculous. … We’ll look back on all of this in 10 or 15 years and realize how foolish it was.'

"Gray does concede that for a scholar to question global warming can put his next federal grant in mortal peril.

"While modest warming has taken place, there is no conclusive evidence human beings are responsible, no conclusive evidence Earth’s temperature is rising dangerously or will reach intolerable levels and no conclusive evidence that warming will do more harm than good.

"The glaciers may be receding, but the polar bear population is growing, alarmingly in some Canadian Indian villages. Though more people on our planet of 6 billion may die of heat, estimates are that many more may be spared death from the cold. The Arctic ice cap may be shrinking, but that may mean year-round passage through northern Canadian waters from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the immense resources of the Arctic made more accessible to man. Why else did Vladimir Putin’s boys make their dash to claim the pole?

"The mammoth government we have today is a result of politicians rushing to solve 'crises' by creating and empowering new federal agencies.

"Whether it’s hunger, poverty or homelessness, in the end, the poor are always with us, but now we have something else always with us: scores of thousands of federal bureaucrats and armies of academics to study the problem and assess the progress, with all their pay and benefits provided by our tax dollars.

"Cal Coolidge said that when you see 10 troubles coming up the road toward you, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing, because nine of them will fall into the ditch before they get to you. And so it will be with global warming, if we don’t sell out America to the hucksters who would save us."

New stuff at A Man's Gotta Eat:

So, how is this sausage called "Georgia Boy?"
"'Tis a remorseless eating machine ..."
Fadó à go-go
Sauce it up and work it like a rib
How much do I love hot sauce? Let me count the ways ...

According to Rich Galen, nobody had "predicted what actually happened last night at the Iowa Caucuses." Galen, of course, is 100 percent correct. I damn sure didn't see Huckabee and Obama winning. Historically, Iowa's caucuses have been all about organization: who can identify their supporters and get them to their polling, er, caucus places. John Edwards and Mitt Romney had been organizing and campaigning in Iowa for the better part of two years. I assumed - wrongly - that the two-year efforts of the Edwards and Romney campaigns would pay off in the form of an Iowa victory.

As far as Mike Huckabee is concerned, I tend to agree with the Club for Growth:

"The Club for Growth PAC urges New Hampshire voters to reject Mike Huckabee and his big-government policies next Tuesday. Republican voters should nominate a leader who will return the Party to the principles of economic conservatism, not an economic liberal who wants to be the John Edwards of the Republican Party.”

"Mike Huckabee has a proven track record of increasing taxes and spending as governor of Arkansas, opposes school choice, engages in protectionist and class-warfare rhetoric, and wants to impose a slew of new government regulations. New Hampshire has long been a state that appreciates economic freedom and limited government. Mike Huckabee does not represent those values."

As for Obama, I think if he wins the New Hampshire primary, his campaign will be a juggernaut that HillaryRodham (Clinton) and John Edwards may find impossible to stop.

That said, I'll be honest and state for the record that the prospect of an Obama nomination scares the hell outta me. Why? Well, he is the candidate the GOP will find hardest to beat. Indeed, he's the only candidate in the race who'll be able to run a campaign, from start to finish, on a platform of platitudes and feel-good Oprahisms. Think about it: how many people have you heard say that they're for Obama because of legislation he introduced in Senate or some policy position he's taken? None, right?

Obama has spent the last 12 months mouthing vague references to "hope" and "change," while cagily dodging questions on specifics, and the media has abetted him at every turn. Furthermore, no one - and I mean no one - has asked him about his left-wing voting record; and if the GOP tries to make an issue of Obama the Liberal, he and his surrogates will play victim by decrying partisanship and dirty politics. And, again, the media will play along.

What really scares me about Obama, though, is that I see in him shades of Jimmy Carter. Carter was an undistinguished one-term Governor of Georgia; Obama has served half of one term in the U.S. Senate, and he hasn't distinguished himself as a legislator in any way. Carter was prone to moralizing and bouts of self-righteousness; Obama ... well, just pay close attention to an Obama speech (or read one of his wretched books); Carter's failed foreign policies were the result of a great deal of naivete; Obama plans to protect America's interests abroad by holding gab-fests with every tin pot dictator on the planet. Carter played down his liberal past by talking endlessly about his religious faith; Obama has played down his liberal past by talking endlessly about his religious faith.

Obama could very well be the next president of the United States. He'll no doubt enjoy a six or eight-month honeymoon period; however, it won't take long for him demonstrate that he's in over his head. The presidency ain't the place for on-the-job training. I fear that when Americans figure that one out, it'll be too late. Way too late.

I'm horrible at predictions -- ask anyone who's ever participated in a fantasy sports league avec moi. That said, and for what it's worth, here's how I see tonight's Iowa Cauci (apologies to Rush Limbaugh) goin' down:

Democrats: John Edwards, B. Hussein Obama, Hillary, Bill Richardson ...

GOP: Mitt Romney, Mike Hucksterbee, Fred Thompson, Rudy, John McCain ...

Tomorrow, I'll either crow, or eat crow ... we'll see.

Bobby Eberle says that hope is not yet lost for the GOP in '08:

"There is definitely hope for Republicans in 2008. If Republican leaders stick to conservative principles, you can bet that party identification will continue to rise. But there are many roadblocks and potential pitfalls along the way. We have to get through the primary election cycle and rally around the nominee. Any splintering or talk of a third-party or independent run by a Republican will mean that the Democrats will win the White House. Legislatively, we must push for smaller government, lower taxes, and secure borders. Show real results in those areas, and we can win.

"Yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It's either daylight in the realization that Republican leaders have seen the error of their ways from 2006 or it's another train heading in our direction. My hope is that it's the former, with conservative principles guiding the way."

If the GOP, from the presidential nominee on down to the lowliest not-a-chance congressional candidate, cannot find a way to "nationalize" the '08 election around the GOP's strengths -- i.e., staying on the offensive against Islamic extremism, enacting sane immigration reform (including building the you-know-whatin' U.S.-Mexico fence), and keeping taxes from reverting to Jimmy Carter-era levels -- Election Night is gonna be a long, long night, indeed. And the only thing Republicans will be hopin' for is to hang on to enough U.S. Senators to maintain a filibuster ... in which case the irony will be delicious.

A "fifth-tier" English soccer club is set to become the first pro sports team which will be generally managed, if you will, by an online community:

"The question of who's the boss of England's small Ebbsfleet United soccer team is about to get interesting. If all goes as expected, the answer will soon be 26,000 people with Internet connections.

"This month, via a Web site called myfootballclub.co.uk, those soccer fans are slated to take control of the minor-league team in southeast England. Members of the group, including some 1,500 people in the U.S., built up their takeover offer by each pledging $70.50. If the deal goes through as expected, a professional soccer team will be run by an online community for the first time in the history of the sport."

I'm gonna make a prediction:

It is just a matter of time before an independent baseball team in America tries the run-by-the-Internet approach to gin up interest and support. Mark my words ...

Here's a picture, which comes courtesy of the guys at RedState.com, that was taken in Iowa recently:

This past Monday - New Year's Eve - I found myself in the customer service department at the Wal-Mart Super Center on Cobb Parkway in Marietta, Georgia. You see, I was staying at the home of my Drivin N Cryin concert-attending buddy's brother in Marietta. We three went to Wal-Mart prior to departing for downtown Atlanta to pick up some pre-DNC show, ahem, refreshments. Since we had plenty of time to spare, my bud's bro decided to exchange a DVD he'd received for Christmas.

There were only three people standing in the return line (!); so, my companions and I stood there shooting the you-know-what as the line slowly moved. All of a sudden, a very heavyset woman came stomping into the customer service area toting a not-so-new microwave oven.

A Wal-Mart employee who was standing near the return line asked Microwave Lady, "Where's the box?" "In my stor'ge buildin' in Tennessee," said Microwave Lady as her face squinched into a scowl.

"Do you have a receipt?" the Wal-Mart employee asked. Microwave Lady, who was obviously still offended by the box question, answered the query thusly: "It woulda taken me 2 hours to get it out and it's full of dishes."

"Do you have a receipt?" Microwave Lady was asked again. "No, I don't! I've never needed one before!"

The Wal-Mart employee, showing more restraint than I would've ever been able to demonstrate, kindly told Microwave Lady that a box or a receipt was required before an exchange could be executed.

"Goddammit, I guess I'll just buy a new one!" Microwave Lady shouted as she deposited her microwave in a shopping cart packed with returns. As she stomped out of the customer service area, she added an additional "Goddammit!" (Apparently, two blasphemes're better than one.)

Not one minute had passed before Microwave Lady returned. She retrieved her microwave and shouted, "I'll take the [inaudible] to the Wal-Mart in Chattanooga!" Then she left for good.

I'd never, ever been as proud to be from Tennessee as I was at that moment.

Reckon the folks in Chattanooga gave her a new microwave?

Over at PoliticalInsider.com, Dan Conley makes some predictions about the Iowa caucus. The anonymous feller/gal who told us to "get stuck in John Edwards" ain't gonna like this'n:

"Iowa won't matter. Okay, it has to matter somewhat given all the stakes, it will knock out at least half the field. But I predict that the winner of Iowa will lose New Hampshire five days later and will suffer Dick Gephardt's 1988 fate.

"The order ... Edwards, Obama, Clinton, Richardson, Biden, Dodd, Kucinich. And it will be the last state John Edwards ever carries."