Applied Indifference

I know that stupid knows no bounds on the Internet, especially in Youtube comments.  But this is a special class of myopia.  Watch this video, then read some of the comments.

The first thing you notice is that people will actually slap down some of the stupid, but it keeps popping up like a petulant child.

The stupid in this case is that all military personnel are murderers and that if they just didn’t sign up, there would be no more wars.  Oh, and “defending your country” doesn’t involve taking the fight to the enemy.

Let’s follow that last one to its logical conclusion, because in the context of WWII, Pat Buchanan has stated that we shouldn’t have been involved in Europe because Germany didn’t attack us.  Were it not for our involvement, Hitler would have won. You cannot convince me that the world would be a better place if that had happened.

So if you’re going to have stupid opinions, can you at least do the rest of us a favor and think through the implications beyond the first move?

As I keep saying, nobody plays chess any more. Can’t think more than one move into the future.

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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Hi there.  Long time no bitch.

Here are some lessons (from my perspective) for the political class to take from this election.  It was the bloodbath that everyone expected, and for some of the reasons that the pundits expressed; namely distaste at the rate of growth of government, and disgust at the attitude of the political class toward the rest of the nation.

But there are a few others that I see that I haven’t heard any pundits elaborate on (yet).

Number one: Lying about your core beliefs during the campaign is fatal in the Internet age.  We saw a wave of so-called “Blue Dog” Democrats swept into power in 2006 and 2008.  These politicians ran to the right of their Republican counterparts on fiscal matters.  Then, when it mattered the most, these Blue Dogs got right in line and voted with Nancy Pelosi to expand government.  In 2010, they got slaughtered.

Number two: Insulting your constituents is rarely a good idea.  Outright defying them is worse.  When your constituents are telling you to vote against something by a two to one margin, you don’t vote FOR it and then call them names and imply that they aren’t bright enough to understand the legislation.  People tend to recoil at being called stupid.  Democrats that voted for the Health Care debacle got slaughtered whether they ran on it or not.  In most cases, these were the same Democrats as group one.

Number three: Nothing is inevitable.  Barney Frank had to campaign to defend his seat – something he’s never had to do before.

There has been a sea change in America.  This is a majority center-right nation.  Until now, the bulk of us were too busy working, building our businesses and communities, and caring for our families to be much bothered with politics.  As long as the government left us alone, we were fine.  Government is now SO intrusive that we are no longer fine.  The Tea Parties were not a one-off thing.  Nor were they motivated by race or religion.  They were a warning: shrink the government, and shrink it now.

The message to the Democrats: It’ll be a cold day in hell before you wield power in this country again.

To the Republicans?  I think Marco Rubio said it best: This is the very last chance for the Republican party.  Screw it up this time, and you’re done.

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

There comes a point where one stupid thing after another leads one to conclude that we’re looking at malicious intent.  Third time is enemy action and all that.

After getting slapped down by two courts, the Obama administration has threatened Gulf-based rigs with a new moratorium if they try to drill.  So they’re packing up and leaving.

Regime Uncertainty abounds.  Businesses are hoarding cash for fear of the next Big Thing.  Consumer spending is off a cliff because nobody knows if they’re going to have income.  And the only reason unemployment is down is because they don’t count people who’ve given up looking.

If we don’t purge our governments (local, state, and federal) of the disease that is progressivism, and soon, we may find out what it’s like to live in a failed state.

Can someone please find some intelligent grown-ups who have been in the real world to run for office and clean things up?  Please?

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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Where ‘X’ equals the political hot potato of the day.

It’s because I’m so disgusted and worn out that I just don’t have anything to say any more.  I had very low expectations for this President.  He’s completely failed to meet even those.  I expected worse than Carter, but this is fucking ridiculous.

The only saving grace on the horizon is that the Democrats have set themselves up for a political bloodbath come November.  I don’t think Pelosi understands just how much her gambit is going to fuck her.  She’s the one who engineered the Democratic takeover through blatant fraud — by having “moderate” democrats win in swing states, and then forcing them to the left.  And now all those “moderates” are going to lose their seats.  For her.

Maybe we can get some of these disasters repealed and prevent the government from defaulting.

But I’m not gonna hold my breath.

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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That’s what you hear coming from the interim election to replace Senator Edward Kennedy in Massachusetts.

The progressive socialists thought that Obama’s election was a mandate for full-bore socialism in America.

They were wrong.

November’s gonna be a bad time to be a Democrat.

Tags: Politics by Brian Corbino
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There’s only one way to stop the government from taking over the entire medical services industry at this point, and that’s to get the greedy craven little cowards in the Senate to blow the thing up in order to protect their phony baloney jobs.

I’ve tried calling Senator Lieberman’s office this morning, but I’m more likely to get through to Rush on Open Line Friday than I am to get through to his office.  Ditto Senator Dodd.  So I’m sending them both a polite e-mail demanding that they withhold their cloture votes unless Connecticut gets the same deal Nebraska got.

If enough states do that, then they either cave in and blow the budget up (although they can strip the Medicaid funds out later, which they’re certain to do to Nelson), or they can kill the deal with Nelson and lose his cloture vote.  Either way, this abomination goes down in flames and America wins.

I encourage you to write your senators today and let them know you won’t stand for just one state getting a free ride on Medicaid.  We’ll either get the bill killed, or force the federal government into receivership.  Either way, they won’t be able to bother us much any more.

Tags: Politics, Society by Brian Corbino
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is it really a federal problem?

I’d like to know just how many lives are being saved and at what cost with these ads warning people about seat belts and drunk driving – and their associated check points.

Specifically, I want to know the marginal cost to save one life versus the marginal cost in lost liberty from enduring East German-style checkpoints.

Because it’s gotta be way more than they intend to spend per person on this new health-care abortion.

Tags: Politics, Society by Brian Corbino
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h/t Limbaugh – from IBD, save the planet by encouraging fewer babies?

Madness!

I hear things like this, and I want to have four or five kids and a 5,000 square foot house just to spite the eco-weenies.

update: And lit entirely with 150W incandescent light bulbs.

Tags: Life, Politics, Randomness, Society by Brian Corbino
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Google puts up their little “doodles” to commemorate what they consider to be appropriate holidays.  It was quite surprising that they finally decided to acknowledge Memorial Day this year.

But the eighth anniversary of the worst attack on American soil?  Not a fucking thing.

So, I’m going to be using Bing and Ask from now on.  Google is dead to me.

Tags: Politics, Randomness, Society by Brian Corbino
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News: They use the phone company as their strap-on.

My phone bill should be pretty simple. $77.49 a month for everything. It’s not.

Not including itemized calls, there’s one line of actual services. One line is some service credit. The last seven lines? Fees and taxes.

The bottom line just went up by $2.61 a month. $2.00 of that was actual service fee increase. The other $0.61? Surcharges and sales taxes. Something called the “Universal Service Fund”. And guess what? The state sales taxes go up too, because they are charging you sales tax ON TAXES AND FEES!

By the time you add up all the fees and taxes, they comprise more than 15% of the total check I write to the phone company.   And these fees go up every quarter.

For the greater good, no doubt.

Tags: Politics, Randomness, Society by Brian Corbino
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