IN THE "YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME" COLUMN

Couple ordered to stop holding bible study at home without permit:

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a Bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County.

Some California bureaucrat has a little too much time on his hands.

BUT - with California fiscally bankrupt, perhaps a little "pruning" of the bureaucracy is in order.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA

These were taken at the fireworks show in Old Town Manassas Virginia. The Manassas fireworks show is always better than the show on the Mall in Washington DC -- and has the side benefit of our being able to see the Manassas Park fireworks show simultaneously on the horizon.











And now, the video ....

TWO TEA PARTY VIDEOS

"It's not about the money." Here's a young man who gets it.



If the next generation is at all like these two young men, America will do just fine.



These video clips were taken during the audience participation period at the Manassas Tea Party on July 4.

[Update] More tea party news here.

MANASSAS INDEPENDENCE DAY TEA PARTY

Here are some photos from the local tea party on Independence Day. It was held at the Prince William County administration building, about midway between Manassas and Woodbridge in Virginia

Attendance was about 500; my estimate based on the number of cars in the nearby parking lots. There were about a dozen speakers, equally divided between scheduled and walk-up. As one might expect, cap-and-tax and Obamacare were the two most-discussed issues; somewhat unexpected (to me) was the cheering of an advocate of repealing the 16th Amendment (income tax). Is the Fair tax making a comeback?

There was a decent sprinkling of local politicians, mostly Republican and mostly listening. No campaign speeches to speak of, although there were a number of oblique references to getting rid of the current crop of incumbents.

Most surprising, to me at least, was the call for continuing tea parties - for here, on September 12, the day after 9/11, and on December 16, the anniversary of the original Boston tea party.

Here are the pictures.


It should be "You're" but the sentiment was well received.


Obviously the "cap-and-trade" (Waxman-Markey climate change) bill isn't sitting too well with tea party enthusiasts. If it carries, I predict there will be some (many?) congresscritters looking for real jobs in 2011.


Listening to the speakers - the oak trees were fine spots to sit and listen.


"Socialism isn't cool" - a prepared sign. Americans for Prosperity is testing out a branding effort. It might work.


By one estimate, 30-40% of the passers-by honked or waved approval of the protest.


A common sentiment throughout.


"It's not like you earned it."





















Or live for free in the Obama Nation?


I suppose global warming will be good when we're all living outside or in tents next winter.





















Yes.





















Instapundit would be proud of this one.


Chapter 13. That's where we're headed, I'm afraid.

Some final thoughts. First, the protestors were almost exclusively middle-class; not rich, not poor. Largely white, but with a smattering of minorities represented. Second, the protestors were extremely well-behaved. There was no police presence - none - at the tea party. And finally, the protest area was immaculate when we left. Even the trash bins were removed to the dumpsters before everyone departed.

INSANITY REDUX

[F]or the second time in a year, a relief boat carrying former Georgia Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has been seized by Israeli forces off the coast of Gaza. McKinney is a longtime activist for the Palestinian cause, and was last year's Green Party candidate for president. She has been detained with 20 others.

The only sad thing about this news is that the Israelis probably won't keep her in custody.

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2009

Happy Independence Day, America!

Thanks to GoDaddy.com for the video.

FROM THE “I WISH I HAD MY CAMERA” DEPARTMENT

Leaving my office last week, I walked through the parking garage past the stairwell leading to the other garage levels and saw something I hadn’t noticed before: the stairwell landing has a skidproof wheelchair ramp leading up to the stairwell (there arefour stairwells; each has a wheelchair ramp on the landing of each garage-level floor; none has anything beyond a stair).

Going down, at least, it may be a bumpy ride, but it’ll be a smooth exit (if you make the turn at the landing).

And then driving home, one of the little Smart Cars passed me on the freeway – with a wind-up key on the back hatch! Here’s a photo I found on the internet.



I wonder how many turns of the key it takes to go 30 miles ....

A THOUGHT ON SARAH PALIN

I just watched former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee comment on the Palin resignation.

How about Huckabee/Palin 2012 followed by Palin in 2020? I'd be 73 to vote in that election, but it's one I'd hang around for.

[Update] Oops, math error - I'll be 75, not 73, but I'll still hang around.

FOURTH OF JULY FIREWORKS - TWO VIEWS

From the Left:

[T]he National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) has co-founded an Alliance to Stop Consumer Fireworks. NFPA president Jim Shannon says, "Each year, nearly 10,000 people are treated in U.S. emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries, and many of these injuries go hand-in-hand with Fourth of July celebrations" ... Suggested instead, "attending public fireworks displays put on by 'trained professionals'."

From the Right:

States such as New Jersey that have adopted more stringent regulations or bans haven't seen significant drops in the number of fireworks-related deaths, in part because there were few such deaths to begin with. During the last three years, states with bans actually had a higher fireworks-related death rate (.018 per million people) than states without restrictions (.014 per million).

Government can protect people from only so much, and if we banned all the products that caused more deaths and injuries than fireworks, there would be virtually nothing left to use. The freedom we celebrate on the Fourth of July doesn't mean much if we criminalize even the tiny risks associated with fireworks.

I lean toward Instapundit's view:

I say, do it yourself if you want, just be smart. 'Leave it to the trained professionals' is one of the cancerous mantras of our age, and there’s a big difference between setting off your own fireworks and sitting passively while others do it for you — the difference, if I may say so, between having sex and watching porn. And, in both cases, the presence of a degree of risk is part of the difference.

Reynolds is absolutely correct on the "leave it to professionals" comment; if government can ban any activity on the basis of some perceived risk, then what is left of freedom?

PALIN QUITS

Fox News: "Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shocked the political word Friday by announcing that she will step down at the end of the month and transfer power to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell."

I wish her well.

[Update] More from Instapundit.

FOURTH OF JULY TEA PARTIES

Find a tea party in your area here. Here are some I'll be following:

Austin, TX at the State Capitol from 2-6 pm
Bastrop, TX at the County Courthouse Gazebo from 12 noon-2 pm
Clear Lake, TX at the Clear Lake Courthouse from 11 am-2:30 pm
Dallas, TX at South Park Ranch from 2 pm-midnight
Woodbridge, VA at the County Courthouse from 1-4 pm
Washington, DC at the Capitol Building from 9:30 am-2:30 pm

I'll be going to the one in Woodbridge since I'm hoping that one in my congresscritter's back yard will have more impact than the one in DC. Only time will tell.

If you attend one in your neck of the woods, pictures and links will be cheerfully accepted.

THE WA$HINGTON PO$T

The Washington Post is having a fire sale.



Any doubts that the MSM is part-and-parcel of the Obama administration?

OH, GREAT!

Another tax cheat has been elected to the Senate.

Glenn Reynolds on Al Franken: "Caligula sent a horse to the Senate. Minnesota is just sending part of the horse."

Seems right to me.

BE SCARED - LOU PRITCHETT IS

This letter is real. I'd seen it around the internet before, and not worried too much, figuring that the Congress would control Obama's worst instincts. But with the House passing cap-and-trade (with some Republican support!), I'm feeling Pritchett's pain.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

Here's a transcript of Pritchett's interview with Neil Cavuto.

OBAMA IS AN EXCEDRIN HEADACHE

From Don Surber: President Obama’s administration is weighing restrictions on buying Tylenol, Excedrin and other over-the-counter medications.

Surber commenter Sacred Trust: "Americans are obviously too dumb to understand how to take medicine by ourselves."

And that’s why we must have ObamaCare - we're too damn dumb to take care of ourselves.

FROM THE EMAIL

The Obama administration in a nutshell:

A woman in a hot-air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

"She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican." "I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help
to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be an Obama Democrat."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going.. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."

AN INTRODUCTION TO OBAMACARE

This just came in the mail from my health insurance company.

Welcome to the ConditionCare program ...

I don’t recall asking to join ...

You have been identified as a possible participant for the Arthritis, Hyperlipidemia, Hip Replacement, Hypertension, Knee Replacement, Metabolic Syndrome, Obesity, Osteoporosis program(s).

And how was I identified? Perhaps through the electronic medical records submitted from my doctor(s), hmm?

The program(s) provide:

The enclosed educational booklet(s) with helpful self-care tips and resource listings.

Access to a professional help line providing consultation with registered nurses with special training 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any health concern related to your condition(s).

Your participation in the ConditionCare program is an important step in managing your condition(s).

And if I choose not to participate? When will participation become mandatory?

My response:

Please delete me immediately from your “ConditionCare” program .... All I ask [is that you] honor the insurance contract and pay the benefits authorized on time. Nothing more.

The next time you have a strong urge to provide unwanted advice, I suggest you immediately take a cold shower until the feeling passes.

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go out and have another cigarette (to help pay for SCHIP) and put extra salt on my french fries.

Anyone who believes the insurance company sent this out of concern for my health as opposed to concern for their bottom line is a fool or liar – or both.

And anyone who believes ObamaCare won’t be mandatory “ConditionCare” is the same.

A CASE FOR TORT REFORM

This is from Wednesday’s morning edition of the Washington Times.

Metro officials are bracing for tens of millions of dollars in lawsuits likely to be filed against the cash-strapped transit system by those injured in Monday's crash and the families of the deceased.

Nobody yet knows who - if anyone - is at fault in the train wreck. But injury lawyers and Metro officials say the lawsuits against the agency are a sure thing.

The Metro train wreck on Washington DC’s Red Line occurred Monday afternoon. The NTSB accident investigators are barely on-scene, there is no firm indication of a cause, and lawsuits are already being prepared. What really offends, however is this:

The litigation likely will come not only from the more than 70 injured and the families of the nine dead in the train pileup, but also from many of the other passengers on the subway cars who were frightened or otherwise traumatized."

Lawsuits from passengers who “were frightned or ... traumatized.” Trying to make a quick buck at my expense is more like the truth.

Andrew Bederman, a prominent local plaintiff's lawyer with offices in Silver Spring, said he anticipates many of his colleagues are out trying to round up clients among the crash victims .... He said he had already taken on two clients with less-severe injuries from the crash (emphasis added).

It is illegal in the District for lawyers to solicit clients by such means as tracking down accident victims or trolling emergency rooms. However, Mr. Bederman said lawyers can pay to have their firms prominently displayed on Google when keywords like "train" or "crash" are searched.

Two words: tort reform.

Oh, hell. Add one more word: disgusting.

UNION LOAFER

Via email, an Abbott and Costello skit reminiscent of their classic Who's on First? skit that leaves me rolling on the floor laughing to this day.



"You can't be a loafer unless you join the union." That strikes me as a perfect metaphor for the Obama administration.

FATHER'S DAY

Carmen's right. Thanks to Scott Stantis at Prickly City.

[Update] Here's the proof - the very best (Grand)Father's Day card ever. Well, until next year, when I'll get two.