29th April 2015, 01:14 pm
Commentator and fellow Watcher’s Council member Don Surber has released his new book, “Exceptional Americans.” The book tells the stories of 50 Americans who aren’t very well known but left their marks on our nation. Definitely inspirational and worthy of adding to your Summer reading list.
29th April 2015, 01:09 pm
Council Submissions
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- The Noisy Room – Loretta “I Refuse To Answer” Lynch Confirmed As Attorney General After Republican Betrayal
- The Right Planet – The Rightful Remedy: Nullification
- Don Surber – Polygamy makes more sense than gay marriage
- Bookworm Room – Musings about the Leftist Man-God and his unshakeable belief in his infallibility
- Joshuapundit-GOP Senate Informs Obama He Can Get Away With Whatever He Wants
- GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – World War 0
- VA Right! - Obama Blames the Thugs in Baltimore? Here’s Why
- Rhymes With Right – Seabrook Charter Amendment Election
- The Glittering Eye -Chasing Rainbows
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The Razor – Customer Satisfaction and Medical Care
- Nice Deb – Baltimore City Councilman Explains Lack of Police Response, Last Night: “We Asked Them To Back Off”
- The Independent Sentinel – Sheriff Clarke – “Social Order in Baltimore Is Totally Collapsed, These Cops Were Led Into Slaughter”
- Ask Marion – Earth Day 2015 – 45th Anniversary… Looking Back
Honorable Mentions
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- The Astute Bloggers – ONLY IN THE TWISTED MINDS OF LEFTISTS
- David Gerstman/Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – Israel Establishes Red Lines for Iran and Hezbollah
- The Pirate’s Cove – As Baltimore Burns, Salon Says Police Morale Can Wait
- The People’s Cube – People’s Official Rand Paul Denouncement Thread
Non-Council Submissions
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- Christoph Reuter/Der Spiegel Online International – The Terror Strategist: Secret Files Reveal the Structure of Islamic State submitted by The Noisy Room
- Politically Short – Cultural Marxism submitted by The Right Planet
- Andrew Malcolm/Investors.Com – Seeking Latino votes, a sincere Hillary Clinton orders a burrito submitted by Don Surber
- Victor Davis Hanson/PJ Media-The Fall Of The House Of Clinton submitted by Bookworm Room
- James Holmes/Real Cear Defense – J.R.R. Tolkien’s Teachings on Strategy submitted by Joshuapundit
- Jackson Diehl/WAPO – Fulfilling the Arab Spring submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Daily Caller – Report: Baltimore Gang Members Unite To Protect Black-Owned Businesses, Direct Looters Towards Chinese- And Arab-Owned Storessubmitted by VA Right!
- Sierra Marlee/Right Wing News – Rev. Graham to Students Who Called for ‘American Sniper’ Cancellation: If You Can’t Support our Military, Move to a Muslim Country submitted by Rhymes with Right
- In Due Course – Response To Tabarrok submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Reason.Com –Hillary Clinton’s Double Standard on ‘Unaccountable Money’ submitted by The Razor
- The Daily Caller -INSIDE THE RIOTS: Violence, Fire And Robbery As Crooks Attack Reporters submitted by Nice Deb
- Max Boot/Commentary – Can Iran Do Whatever It Wants? submitted by The Watcher
- Megan McArdle/Bloomberg – Accused Gets His Say in Columbia Rape Case submitted by The Watcher
- The Other McCain – Anarchy In Baltimore submitted by The Watcher
28th April 2015, 07:47 pm
A recent local news article ranked area hospitals using a customer satisfaction survey and found the smallest hospitals ranked at the top and the largest regional hospital at the bottom. Based on the newspaper article you would think that in an emergency you should head to the smaller hospital. Unfortunately the article ignored a simple fact about customer satisfaction and good medical care: they have nothing in common.
Well that’s not completely true. A 2012 JAMA study looked at patient satisfaction and found higher patient satisfaction “was associated with less emergency department use but with greater inpatient use, higher overall health care and prescription drug expenditures, and increased mortality.” So making your patients happy may be lethal.
The hospital ranked highest happens to be the area’s largest employer, and the second highest hospital, the second largest employer. In rural communities if you don’t work at one of these hospitals chances are you know somebody who does. This fact alone could explain the high satisfaction scores.
But when you’ve been in a motorcycle accident or are having chest pain are you going to the hospital for a social outing? Numerous studies find larger hospitals have better outcomes than smaller ones. This is one reason why, when I was thrown from a dirt bike into the hard red clay last November I skipped the local hospital ranked highest in customer satisfaction and went straight to the large hospital ranked at the bottom. In metrics that matter such as positive outcomes and quality of care that hospital ranks as one of the state’s best, so it was worth driving the distance in extreme pain.
As large health care systems take over small independent hospitals and practices, many of the same tools and metrics used by corporations to judge how they are doing will be applied to medicine. A satisfaction survey makes sense if you are staying at a hotel or have made an online purchase. But when you are sick or injured all that matters is the competence of the staff treating you, and that is something that will not be captured in a customer satisfaction survey.
24th April 2015, 01:08 pm
Council Winners
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- *First place with 3 2/3 votes!–Joshuapundit-How To Make Millions Off ‘Public Service’ -The Corrupt Clinton Cash Machine
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes –The Noisy Room – ISIS In Mexico, Means ISIS Is Here In The United States
- Third place with 1 1/3 votes –Bookworm Room – Yeah, yeah! I went AWOL again, but I still have energy to insult Hillary voters
- Fourth place with 1 vote –The Right Planet – Looking Under the Hood of an Article V Convention, Part I
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote –Nice Deb – Rush Limbaugh Names And Shames Perps In Wisconsin John Doe Scandal (Audio)
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote –VA Right! - All Republican Hanover BOS Unlikely After November 2015 Election
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote –Rhymes With Right – What Is The Purpose Of Free Speech?
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote –The Glittering Eye -The End Of The Dream
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote –The Razor – What My Taxes Could Buy
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote –Don Surber – Thomas Jennings, invented dry cleaning
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote –GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – The Doolittle Raid
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote – Ask Marion – Earth Day 2015 – 45th Anniversary… Looking Back
Non-Council Winners
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- First place with 3 1/3 votes! –David French/National Review - Wisconsin’s Shame: ‘I Thought It Was a Home Invasion submitted by Nice Deb
- Second place with 2 votes –Myron Magnet/City Journal – Free Speech In Peril submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Third place with 1 2/3 votes –Tablet/Lee Smith-Inside Obama’s Meeting With Jewish Leaders submitted by Bookworm Room
- Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes –According To Hoyt – Take Your Nose Off My Fist submitted by Rhymes with Right
- Fifth place with 1 vote –IHS Janes 360 – Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State’s attempts at cutting Damascus-Homs highway would threaten Assad’s control of Syria submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote -Patti Davis –John Hinckley submitted by The Razor
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote -Frontpage Mag –Obama Accomplishment: Africans Being Doused w/Gasoline and Set on Fire in Libya submitted by The Independent Sentinel
- Sixth place with 1/3 vote -Publius-Huldah’s Blog – Article V submitted by The Right Planet
- Sixth place with 1/3 vote -wolf Howling – Wolf Bytes – The Hillary Follies submitted by The Watcher
- Sixth place with 1/3 vote – The Hollywood Reporter – The Introspective Roger Ailes (Interview) submitted by The Watcher
- Sixth place with 1/3 vote -Breitbart – Scott Walker Lays Out Pro American Worker Stance on Immigration submitted by Joshuapundit
22nd April 2015, 01:05 pm
Council Submissions
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- The Noisy Room – ISIS In Mexico, Means ISIS Is Here In The United States
- GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – The Doolittle Raid
- Joshuapundit-How To Make Millions Off ‘Public Service’ -The Corrupt Clinton Cash Machine
- The Right Planet – Looking Under the Hood of an Article V Convention, Part I
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The Razor – What My Taxes Could Buy
- Don Surber – Thomas Jennings, invented dry cleaning
- Rhymes With Right – What Is The Purpose Of Free Speech?
- The Independent Sentinel – Obama’s Vision for Patriot’s Day Is of a Different Type of Revolution
- The Glittering Eye -The End Of The Dream
- VA Right! - All Republican Hanover BOS Unlikely After November 2015 Election
- Nice Deb – Rush Limbaugh Names And Shames Perps In Wisconsin John Doe Scandal (Audio)
- Bookworm Room – Yeah, yeah! I went AWOL again, but I still have energy to insult Hillary voters
- Ask Marion – Earth Day 2015 – 45th Anniversary… Looking Back
Honorable Mentions
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- Seraphic Secret – Holocaust Memorial Day: Death March to Dachau
- Neo-Neocon – How Lois Lerner evaded charges
- The Pirate’s Cove – Team Rubio: Amnesty Before Border Security
- Doug Ross – THIS IS A PICTURE OF JUDGE BARBARA KLUKA: Make Her Name a Household Word
Non-Council Submissions
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- Pedro Gonzales/American Thinker –Which Republican presidential candidates support amnesty? submitted by The Noisy Room
- IHS Janes 360 – Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State’s attempts at cutting Damascus-Homs highway would threaten Assad’s control of Syria submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Breitbart – Scott Walker Lays Out Pro American Worker Stance on Immigration submitted by Joshuapundit
- Publius-Huldah’s Blog – Article V submitted by The Right Planet
- Patti Davis –John Hinckley submitted by The Razor
- The Other McCain – Mansplaining and Femsplaining submitted by Don Surber
- According To Hoyt – Take Your Nose Off My Fist submitted by Rhymes with Right
- Frontpage Mag –Obama Accomplishment: Africans Being Doused w/Gasoline and Set on Fire in Libya submitted by The Independent Sentinel
- Myron Magnet/City Journal – Free Speech In Peril submitted by The Glittering Eye
- FOX News – Muslim family says daughter left Alabama home to join ISIS submitted by VA Right!
- David French/National Review - Wisconsin’s Shame: ‘I Thought It Was a Home Invasion submitted by Nice Deb
- Tablet/Lee Smith-Inside Obama’s Meeting With Jewish Leaders submitted by Bookworm Room
- Convention of States Project -Sarah Palin: Debunking the myths of a Convention of States submitted by Ask Marion
- The Hollywood Reporter – The Introspective Roger Ailes (Interview) submitted by The Watcher
- wolf Howling – Wolf Bytes – The Hillary Follies submitted by The Watcher
21st April 2015, 05:30 pm
In a previous post I lamented the total my family paid in state and federal income taxes last year and suggested that with that money I could have hired my own public servant. Extending that idea some I decided to search USAJobs to find out which civil servant that money would get me. Here are some of the positions whose pay grade fell within the total my family paid. Note that this cost does not factor in fringe benefits which for federal employees are borderline ridiculous to those of us who never worked outside of the private sector where even the coffee isn’t free these days. But since that’s tough to calculate and would overcomplicate this simple blog post, I’ll assume the cost of intangibles like fringe benefits is not more than 20% of salary. We are also not wealthy so a high level civil servant like a secretary of state is out of the question. Even Hillary’s speaking fee would take several years worth of taxes to pay.
So what would our taxes buy us if the IRS decided to let us hire directly*?
1. Security Guard - I’ve never understood why you pay a guy so poorly to protect you and your stuff. Either pay him well so that he’ll take a bullet or don’t hire one at all and go with a security system, a well stocked gun safe or both. While I like the idea of having my own private security guard even a well paid one we could really use the help in other areas.
2. Wildlife Biologist – Cool! I’ve always wanted one of these. In fact I was one (sort of) in a previous life and have a lot of respect for those who choose this profession. There’s lots of wildlife on our property and I’m interested in getting more. The other day I took the dogs out for a run in the upper field and heard a bobcat in the nearby woods. The dogs took off after the howl but the cat was too fast for them and called again far enough away that the dogs went back to sniffing each other’s pee. Several species of snakes, birds and other critters call our property home, and I’m sure we could keep him/her busy. While it’s cool to have one on staff, there are other pressing needs. Still let’s not rule this job out just yet.
3. Aircraft mechanic – Let’s rule this one out right now. Although I do plan on getting my pilot’s license before I shuffle off this mortal coil I could really use a lawnmower mechanic more than an aircraft mechanic at this juncture.
4. Foreign Service Employee – I wanted to be one of these so bad at one time but Life got in the way – most likely for the best because my deep debilitating shyness often manifests as arrogance, likely why I washed out of the interview process. Still with our taxes I could afford to hire my own diplomat. I could probably also send him or her to Switzerland to intervene in the Iran negotiations by shouting Persian insults at the Iranian negotiating team. “A mouse should eat you!” That would make the New York Times front page.
5. IT Specialist – You’re hired! There’s nothing worse for a computer professional than troubleshooting your own gear when you don’t feel like it. I need an Apple Support tech just to handle the Wife’s Apple products, and one with networking skills could rewire my home network so that I didn’t need 3 hotspots just to cover my 2,000 square foot house.
Unfortunately the IRS won’t let us hire directly, but I recommend everyone look at their total income tax bill – not just the refund. You might be surprised at how much you pay. I’ll also admit that I’m a bit jealous over the pay and perks of civil servants. Until recently I didn’t even have the benefit of paid time off, so the idea of working one day as a substitute teacher and getting a $30k/year pension for life does inspire a hint of jealousy, but even more outrage.
———
- Before someone goes all freaky the above is satire. All taxes were paid and no public servants were harmed in the making of this essay. Satire used to be allowed in our society but over the past decades I’ve watched our freedom of speech get nibbled away by mice first on the Right during the Reagan administration then on the Left during the Clinton and Obama years. If you think I’m making this up watch a movie from the 1970s. The language is shocking and would never make it on screen today which is perhaps why comedy is dying in our country. Yes it is dying. Nothing made this century comes close to the humor of Blazing Saddles or Airplane! let alone earlier classics like The Pink Panther and A Night at the Opera.
17th April 2015, 01:05 pm
Council Winners
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- *First place with 2 2/3 votes!–A Change In The Weather – Looking At The Current GOP Field
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes –The Noisy Room – Obama Strangles the Monroe Doctrine and Embraces Latin Dictatorships, Communists and Fascists
- Third place with 2 votes –Don Surber – Chelsea Called Secret Service Pigs?
- Fourth place t with 1 vote –The Independent Sentinel – U.N.-Led EPA Condemns Congress for Interfering With Their Fiats
- Fourth place t with 1 vote –The Right Planet – RFRA Madness!
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote –Bookworm Room – Are members of our military the most romantic people in America?
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote –Ask Marion – GOP Has Great Hopefuls…Needs Strategy
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote –The Glittering Eye -Our Lousy Tax System
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote –Nice Deb – Daaaang: Dems and Repubs Strike Deal to Ensure Congressional Role in Iran Deal
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote –VA Right! - If Presidential Candidates were Hairstyles Hillary Would Be a Mullet
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote –The Razor – Gay Married Couples Subject to the Marriage Penalty
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote –Rhymes With Right – Effort To Censor Pro-Military, Pro-American Film Nearly Succeeds At Michigan
Non-Council Winners
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- First place with 2 1/3 votes! –Mark Steyn –Treason and Corruption submitted by The Noisy Room
- Second place with 2 votes –Powerline – The Crusades Haven’t Been In The News Lately submitted by The Watcher
- Third place with 1 1/3 votes – Alan Caruba/Warning Signs – Only Fools Trust Obama or the Iranians submitted by The Right Planet
- Fourth place t with 1 vote –The National Review Editors – Marco Rubio Has the Right Ideas, and More submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Fourth place t with 1 vote –Andrew McCarthy – Obama’s Iran ‘Framework’ Is a Chimera submitted by Joshuapundit
- Fourth place t with 1 vote –Judicial Watch – SIS Camp a Few Miles from Texas, Mexican Authorities Confirmsubmitted byVA Right!
- Fourth place t with 1 vote –Austin Bay – Obama’s Iran Understanding: The Verifiable Facts submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Fourth place t with 1 vote –Maureen Mullarkey/First Things – RFRA And My Wedding Ring submitted by Rhymes with Right
- Fifth place with 2/3 vote –Mitch Ginsburg/Times of Israel-How I learned to stop loving Obama and worry about the bomb submitted by Bookworm Room
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote –Andrew Malcolm – Rubio: ‘We must change the decisions we are making by changing the people making them’ submitted by Don Surber
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote –Brett Stephens/WSJ – Hillary and the Liberal Way of Lying submitted by The Watcher
15th April 2015, 02:17 pm
Today is April 15th and for American citizens around the world it is the annual day of reckoning when all federal, state and local income taxes for the previous year are due. For conservatives and libertarians it is a day to despise but for liberals it is a day to celebrate. 49% of Americans do not pay any income taxes and benefit in many ways from the taxes paid from the 51% percent, so how you feel about today depends on whether or not you pay income tax.
My family is one of the 51% who does pay income taxes. I know exactly how much we pay and we pay a lot. How much is that? Well without going into too much detail we pay enough to employ our very own government worker, one of America’s 22 million government employees. It would be nice if we could buy him outright. My grass needs cutting, some of the dogs baths and there’s always trees to fell in the forest. It would be great to have someone clean house or cook, activities that I usually end up doing after work.
I know I’m not the first to realize this, but if you don’t pay taxes why should you be allowed to vote? Shouldn’t those who actually have skin in the game by paying taxes elect those who create tax laws? We had a revolution with a slogan of “No taxation without representation,” perhaps the new slogan should be “No Representation Without Taxation.”
For more info on that idea check out this Forbes piece, worth it for the Benjamin Franklin quote you won’t see on a Toyota Prius anytime soon.
15th April 2015, 01:04 pm
Council Submissions
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- The Noisy Room – Obama Strangles the Monroe Doctrine and Embraces Latin Dictatorships, Communists and Fascists
- GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Touchy Turkey
- Joshuapundit-A Change In The Weather – Looking At The Current GOP Field
- The Right Planet – RFRA Madness!
- Bookworm Room – Are members of our military the most romantic people in America?
- VA Right! - If Presidential Candidates were Hairstyles Hillary Would Be a Mullet
- The Independent Sentinel – U.N.-Led EPA Condemns Congress for Interfering With Their Fiats
- The Glittering Eye -Our Lousy Tax System
- Nice Deb – Daaaang: Dems and Repubs Strike Deal to Ensure Congressional Role in Iran Deal
- Rhymes With Right – Effort To Censor Pro-Military, Pro-American Film Nearly Succeeds At Michigan
-
The Razor – Gay Married Couples Subject to the Marriage Penalty
- Ask Marion – GOP Has Great Hopefuls…Needs Strategy
- Don Surber – Chelsea Called Secret Service Pigs?
Honorable Mentions
-
- Simply Jews – Why Israel’s a magnet for foreign journalists
- Gates Of Vienna – The Senate Stands up to Obama on Iran
- Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – The Obama Administration’s Nonproliferation Hypocrisy
Non-Council Submissions
-
- Mark Steyn –Treason and Corruption submitted by The Noisy Room
- The National Review Editors – Marco Rubio Has the Right Ideas, and More submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Andrew McCarthy – Obama’s Iran ‘Framework’ Is a Chimera submitted by Joshuapundit
- Alan Caruba/Warning Signs – Only Fools Trust Obama or the Iranians submitted by The Right Planet
- Mitch Ginsburg/Times of Israel-How I learned to stop loving Obama and worry about the bomb submitted by Bookworm Room
- Judicial Watch – SIS Camp a Few Miles from Texas, Mexican Authorities Confirmsubmitted byVA Right!
- Daniel Greenfield/ FrontPage Mag –Judge accuses little girl of racism for fearing black men after armed robbery submitted by The Independent Sentinel
- Austin Bay – Obama’s Iran Understanding: The Verifiable Facts submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Jack Cashill/American Thinker -Hasn’t Al Sharpton Heard of Waco? submitted by Nice Deb
- Maureen Mullarkey/First Things – RFRA And My Wedding Ring submitted by Rhymes with Right
- Reason.Com –What Does Hillary Clinton Stand For? submitted by The Razor
- Brad Heath/USA Today -U.S. Secretly Tracked Billions of Calls for Decades submitted by Ask Marion
- Andrew Malcolm – Rubio: ‘We must change the decisions we are making by changing the people making them’ submitted by Don Surber
- Powerline – The Crusades Haven’t Been In The News Lately submitted by The Watcher
- Brett Stephens/WSJ – Hillary and the Liberal Way of Lying submitted by The Watcher
13th April 2015, 02:38 pm
Having just finished filing the taxes for this family unit I got to wondering how gay married couples are handling the federal marriage penalty tax. For those who aren’t familiar, the marriage penalty is a tax on those who work, make roughly the same amount of money, and are married. Since the Feds now recognize gay marriage, this means that many gay professionals who get married now find themselves subjected to the same marriage tax that their straight friends are.
USA Today has a good breakdown on the Marriage Penalty for those who aren’t familiar with it. It notes, “For a single filer, this bracket ends at an income of $89,350. If you simply doubled that number to get the top amount for joint filers, you’d see $178,700. But, unfortunately, that’s not how it works. For 2014, the 25 percent tax bracket ends at $148,850 for married couples filing jointly. Thus, they find themselves penalized for their combined income.”
I’m not sure what the history of the Marriage Penalty is, whether it was an unintended side effect as more women joined the work force or whether it was intentional. Either way one thing’s for sure: the Feds are hooked on the Marriage Penalty income and won’t be changing it anytime soon. So to all those gay DINK couples, hope the fight was worth it.
10th April 2015, 01:03 pm
Council Winners
-
- *First place with 3 votes!–Joshuapundit-Munich II
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Bookworm Room – We’ve raised the “sheeple generation,” because today’s kids wouldn’t dream of questioning authority
- Third place t with 1 1/3 votes –The Razor – Iran Nuke Talks 2015
- Third place t with 1 1/3 votes –The Right Planet – The Clenched Fist—Revisiting Golitsyn’s Predictions
- Fourth place t with 2/3 votes –Don Surber – What they are not saying about Angie’s List boycotting Indiana
- Fourth place t with 2/3 votes –The Noisy Room – Russia – Heating Up The Cold War On The Road To World War III
- Fourth place t with 2/3 votes –Nice Deb – Video: Obama Slams “Less than Loving” Christians As Christian Genocide Continues Throughout the World
- Fourth place t with 2/3 votes –VA Right! - VA-12 Senate Race: The ‘Stolle Follies’
- Fifth place with 1/3 vote –The Independent Sentinel – Terrorist Advocate, NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito Moves Ahead With Illegal Immigration
Non-Council Winners
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- First place with 2 1/3 votes! –Mark Steyn –Let Them Bake Cake submitted by The Noisy Room
- Second place with 1 2/3 votes – Matt Continetti/ Free Beacon – Benghazi, Bergdahl, and the Bomb submitted by The Watcher
- Third place t with 1 1/3 votes –Sultan Knish –The culture War We’re In submitted by The Independent Sentinel
- Third place t with 1 1/3 votes –Victor Davis Hanson – The Drought: California Apocalypto submitted by The Watcher
- Fourth place with 1 vote –Elliott Abrams – ‘Messing’ with Israel submitted by Joshuapundit
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote – Real Clear Defense – How Iran Would Go to War against America submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote -Jay Caruso/Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – 5 Ways Rand Paul Will Shake Up the GOP Primary submitted by Don Surber
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote -Naomi Schaefer/New York Post-Facts matter: Left sticks to ‘narratives,’ evidence be damned submitted by Bookworm Room
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote -Daniel Pipes -Decoding The Obama Doctrine submitted by Nice Deb
- Fifth place t with 2/3 vote -Adam Silverman/Sic Semper Tyrannis – A Few Additional Thoughts on the Saudi/Gulf Cooperation Council Intervention in Yemen submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote -Politically Short – America’s 5th Column submitted by The Right Planet
- Sixth place t with 1/3 vote -Patterico’s Pontifications – Yes, Sally Kohn, Laws Are Coercive submitted by Rhymes with Right
7th April 2015, 03:02 pm
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wants America to discuss race, not his paycheck I guess since he makes over a 1,100 the average hourly wage of his employees. Prince Charles records an appeal to Brits asking them to turn off the lights to help cut greenhouse gas emissions, then hours later takes an 80 mile helicopter trip that pollutes the atmosphere with over a ton of CO2 instead of taking a car that would have emitted a twentieth of that. Apple CEO Tim Cook likens Indiana’s religious protection laws to the Jim Crow laws that kept the races separate a half century ago, then continues to do business in China, Russia and the Arab world where gays are subjected to official state-sanctioned discrimination.
Starbucks CEO Schultz: How about hiring some African-Americans to your board and beefing up the number of women? Think of it as a cost saving measure since both women and minorities tend to earn less than equivalent white guys. And since you are so keen on progressive causes, how about setting the floor for your staff at $15/hr, an effort you not-so-progressively fought? Maybe then you wouldn’t have to not-so-progressively bust their barista union.
Prince Chuck – Helicopters are cool, especially when piloted by guys with British accents, so I can understand your desire to use one. Heck, I would if I could afford it, but then again I’m not a priest in the Church of Global Warming like you are. Now I know you’ve purchased carbon offsets but the average bloke can’t afford the expense of those indulgences, so he has to sit in the dark or suffer lukewarm tea if he wants to remain a member of the faith. If you truly believed in what you preached you’d stay put in Buckingham Palace waiting for mummy to keel over and using telepresence technology to attend all the enviro-weenie forums you champion. Perhaps you’d even forgo the palace and rent a cozy flat somewhere where you and Camilla could have tiny carbon footprints together.
Apple CEO Tim Cook – How can a gay man live with the knowledge that your firm regularly does business with regimes who oppress gays in their countries? How can you sleep at night when the employees of the companies that make your gear throw themselves off buildings if they can’t tolerate the slave-like pay and working conditions? Doesn’t the cognitive dissonance of championing leftist causes while benefiting from the suffering of your global workforce ever get to you? You have the chutzpa to attack a state where women can drive, and where gays don’t have to worry about being hung or re-educated.
It seems only fair that we hold these rich and powerful men to their own standards. The stupidity is going to keep on coming until we force those who demand one thing from a group of people “the public”, “Indianans” or “Americans” while refusing to hold themselves to the same standards.
