DEMOCRACY VS. LIBERTY

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote! — Ben Franklin

Found in the comments to this post.

AMERICA IS OBAMA U

President Obama thinks America is a university and that he is our campus president.

Victor Davis Hansen is at his best:

It is the role of the university, from a proper distance, to help [the unwashed masses] by making sophisticated, selfless decisions on health care and the environment that the unwashed cannot grasp are really in their own interest — deluded as they are by Wal-Mart consumerism, Elmer Gantry evangelicalism, and Sarah Palin momism. The tragic burden of an academic is to help the oppressed, but blind, majority.

Read the complete article.

NAVIGATING POLITICS

I wish I had said this:

It's becoming so simple to find the right path through the political mine-field -- If the Democrats are in favor, I'm against it. If the news media says it, I doubt it. If a politician says its critically important, I know it's pork.

But I didn’t, so I’ll have to give credit where credit is due.

YOU ARE ALL MORONS

Another email that's gone viral around the internet. I've edited it to fit within a blog post.

Dear members of the Legislature:

It is now official: You are all morons.

The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right. It is broke. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right. It is broke. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right. It is broke. The War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right. One trillion dollars of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get them right; they're broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - you have had 39 years to get it right. It is broke.

Trillions of dollars in the massive political payoff called the TARP bill of 2009 show no sign of working.

And finally to set a new record: "Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009! It took good dependable cars (that were the best some people could afford), replaced them with high priced, and mostly Japanese models, so a good percentage of he profits from the sales went out of the country.

So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record proving that the "services" you shove down our throats are failing faster and faster, you want Americans to believe you can be trusted with a government-run health care system? 15% of our economy? Are you crazy?

Truly, the inmates are running the asylum!

It's a fair point. Every one of the programs mentioned started with good intentions; every one - with the possible exception of the Postal Service - failed to live up to expectations. So if one agrees with the quotation often misattributed to Ben Franklin, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results," it follows that the inmates are indeed running the asylum.

PRESIDENTIAL POLLS

Instapundit put up a reader preference poll of possible Republican presidential candidates for 2012. The results: Palin, 32%; Petraeus and Romney, 15%; Pawlenty, 10%, Jindal, 9% as of 11 pm on the 24th. All other candidates in Reynolds’ poll came in at 5% or less.

Given Glenn’s readership, I expected significant Palin support, but I didn’t expect such miniscule support for Huckabee -- a surprise 2%.

[Added Note] Hot Air has just published a PPP (Public Policy Polling) presidential preference poll. Different polling population, obviously, and in it, Huckabee does quite well, equalling Sarah Palin in popularity.

What’s happening with Huck?

[Update] Instapundit has a new poll up. Results as of 4:40 pm on 9/25: Palin, 37%; Romney, 15%; Petraeus, 13%; Jindal, 7%; and Huckabee still hovering at under 2%.

FROM MY EMAIL

Another of the emails that regularly come around:

Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the Department of Energy during the Carter Administration?

Anybody? ... No? ... Didn't think so. Bottom line .. we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency ... the reason for which no one can remember.

It was very simple and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate. The Department of Energy was instituted on August 4, 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

And now it’s 2008, 31 years later, and the budget for this necessary department is $23 billion a year. It has 6,000 federal employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees and look at the job it has done!

This is where you slap your forehead and say “What was I thinking?” And now we are going to turn the banking system, auto industry, and health care over to them?

Another example of an unintended but easily foreseeable consequence of a "good idea."

MR. OBAMA GOES TO TURTLE BAY

Our president has now spoken at the United Nations. Quick synopsis:

Ok, I came in, dissed Bush, offered hope and change, and deigned to sacrifice myself, the smartest you’ll ever meet, for you, the world. So now we aren’t Bush’s America, but Obama’s America, and therefore I expect you to reciprocate in kind — since you only have one last chance to get a divine American president of my caliber.

Victor Davis Hanson observes: “Obama tragically does not understand that America made him — he does not make America.”

More proof that America made a mistake electing him.

THE PROMISE OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Just tune in to the local radio station ....

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT

From The Buckets cartoon (9/25/09) by Scott Stantis.

Granddad: "I remember thinking we could trust politicians to do what's best for us."

Dad: "I remember thinking that some politicians might not be lying sometimes."

Son: "I'm thinking that if a lobbyist paid 'em to, there isn't one who wouldn't kick a nun in public ... then write a book and blame 'the system'."

My thoughts, too. In terms of attitude, I went from Granddad to Dad during the Watergate years; and from Dad to Son following the 2008 presidential election.

Is it possible to get more cynical?

START THE DAY WITH A SMILE

How to start each day with a positive outlook.

1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it ‘Barack Obama’.
3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.
4. Empty the Recycle Bin.
5. Your PC will ask you: ‘Do you really want to get rid of ‘Barack Obama?’
6. Firmly click ‘Yes.’
7. Feel better?
GOOD!
Tomorrow we’ll do Nancy Pelosi…

Via Don Surber. Thanks for the laugh!

FAMOUS [NEA] ARTISTS SCHOOL

Does anyone remember the “Famous Artists School” advertisements? They were very popular in my youth, often found in comic books and on matchbook covers.

Well, they’re back!

Via Instapundit.

OBAMA WORSHIP

Children are captured in an online video singing songs that overflow with campaign slogans and praise for "Barack Hussein Obama."



The video was apparently made at a New Jersey elementary school. The news report is unclear exactly when it was made and when it was posted on You Tube.

What’s next -- Obama’s visage omnipresent in every public building?