Perry Surging:

Even the Clouds are Racist: How can anyone take MSNBC seriously? Ed Schultz took to the airwaves claiming that Rick Perry was making veiled racist remarks about President Obama by saying there’s a “black cloud hanging over America.” Schultz edited the video in the worst possible way, but it’s still clear that Perry is talking about the national debt and not the President.

Killer TV: Watching TV can lead to a shorter life.  At least that’s what researchers say. One hour of TV can shorten the average lifespan by 22 minutes. I am always leery of studies like this because I’m not convinced it’s accurate. How long before those in favor of the nanny state start advocating for the abolition of TV?

Let the Distancing Begin:

We Don’t Need No Stinking Empirical Facts: The brilliant Thomas Sowell has a great article up at Townhall entitled “Politics Versus Reality.” Sowell discusses the ever increasing problem or uninformed political discourse. How do you debate an opponent that wishes to remain willfully ignorant?

The same preference for talking points, and the same lack of interest in digging into the facts about realities, prevails today in discussions of whether to have a government-controlled medical system.

Since there are various countries, such as Canada and Britain, that have the kind of government-controlled medical systems that some Americans advocate, you might think that there would be great interest in the quality of medical care in these countries.

The data are readily available as to how many weeks or months people have to wait to see a primary care physician in such countries, and how many additional weeks or months they have to wait after they are referred to a surgeon or other specialist. There are data on how often their governments allow patients to receive the latest pharmaceutical drugs, as compared to how often Americans use such advanced medications.

But supporters of government medical care show virtually no interest in such realities. Their big talking point is that the life expectancy in the United States is not as long as in those other countries. End of discussion, as far as they are concerned.

When it comes to health care liberals are brain-dead. Their arguments are tired cliches. It’s almost impossible to break through the misinformation. Heath care as an entitlement is a religion and the libertarian position is the infidel.

Casey Anthony: I haven’t kept up with this story and I can’t even muster up a reason why anyone should care. Apparently a jury of her peers acquitted her. That’s all I need to know. Now FOX News can get back to covering something that’s actually important.

Government Intervention: The shocking conclusion from CNN is that the housing market won’t recover until it hits bottom. Of course it won’t reach bottom as long as the Federal Government keeps intervening in the market.

Huntsman Who?

Bashing Rick Perry: One canidate getting people excited is Governor Rick Perry, who appears to be getting closer to running. Conservatives aren’t the only ones who are excited about the Texas governor. The deranged left is in a tizzy about Rick Perry. Over the past week Twitter is alive with Perry bashers. Here are a couple of my favorites from today…

Rick Perry is on 'the worst governors list'. Do we need a smiling ass hole like him in there making another George Bush mess? #p2

June 15, 2011 1:48 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@liberalkitty

Kitty

If the Bush years were a mess what do we have now? By almost any conceivable measure the average American’s life is worse today than it was four years ago. Obama has no plan to make things better and if his polices aren’t reversed things are going to get worse.

Texas Gov Rick Perry seriously needs a bitch slapping. #happytovolunteer

June 15, 2011 5:54 pm via Twitter for Windows PhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@angelagim

Angela Gimlin

What goes through a person’s mind to write something like that? What has Rick Perry done that’s so evil? It seems that many on the deranged left live in some kind of parallel universe. I don’t think they realize they’re on the political fringe. I think I blame Jon Stewart, but Bill Maher is a more likely candidate. Here’s the thing, and while I understand this is a blanket statement, it’s generally true… Liberals who rant via Twitter and the blogs tend to go a bit overboard in their rhetoric. Not only is Palin’s approach to public policy wrong, but she’s a bitch, or worse. Rick Perry has a different ideology so he’s evil. What if we here at The Daily Plunge wrote about Obama like the deranged left does about Palin, Perry,  et al? Hmmmm… Maybe Club Soda will take a deranged left post and substitute “Obama” for “Palin”. This should be interesting.

Fake Moderate: Jon Stewart is a brilliant comedian, but he’s liberal. He’s very liberal and The Daily Show went from being a pop culture show and turned into a liberal mouthpiece under his stewardship. There’s nothing wrong with that and there’s an audience for it. I don’t have a problem with the market at work; however, Jon Stewart likes to pretend he’s a moderate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdW4geJ-lik

It’s obvious that Stewart isn’t a moderate, but I’m not sure that liberals who watch the show realize they’re outside the political mainstream. They want to believe it’s true so it is. If you disagree with their point of view you’re either a racist, misogynist, or a homophobe. Or if you title your blog “Plunging Towards Gomorrah” you’re a homophobe. I guess it all makes sense if you’re crazy.

You better pay your students loans or the Department of Education is sending in the boots.

Jonah Goldberg saves me the time by burying Friedman in his shallow pool of pop intellectualism.

Much of the scarcity of resources we have in the United States isn’t the result of actual physical scarcity. It’s the result of man-made scarcity. Fossil fuels aren’t really so scarce in absolute terms, but in legal terms. That may not be the case in some parts of the developing world. But his column is aimed at people in America who irresponsibly want to live as lavishly as Tom Friedman.

I must admit that Tom Friedman annoys me. There are plenty of shallow thinkers in the world, but none are taken quite as seriously as this clown.

Government Intervention: For some odd reason the Senate voted to let the Federal Reserve curb the fees that stores pay financial institutions when a customer swipes a debit card. The most startling question I have is why the government is getting involved in this situation. That amount of government regulation in every facet of our lives is maddening. The banks will just pass the cost on to us through some other mechanism, and if they can’t they’ll go bankrupt. If the banks go bankrupt then the government will just bail them out. What a country!

The Liberal Loving Press: Rep. Anthony Weiner has been in the news lately, but you wouldn’t really know if you read Newsweek or Time. The two liberal trade rags dedicated covers and page after page of analysis to Rep. Mark Foley’s indiscretions a few years ago. However, news about Democrats just isn’t quite as sexy for liberal journalists. Can there be any doubt the mainstream press is biased?

The Department of Education or Secret Police: First off all, the Department of Education is a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars and it should be abolished immediately. In its 30-year existence there hasn’t been a substantial improvement in public education in the United States. What are we funding? Oh yeah, SWAT teams.

The resident, Kenneth Wright, does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe why what he thought was a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 in the morning. “I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers,” Wright said. As Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts, he said the officers barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.

What is the Wright family crime? Apparently Mrs. Wright hasn’t paid her student loans. Let me get this straight: we’re living in the bailout age where people walk away from their homes and cars, banks and automakers are collecting cash from the government, and the Department of Education is sending SWAT teams in to arrest people for defunct student loans?

There has to be some missing information in this case, but it’s going to take a lot to convince me this was a necessary act of police force. I imagine there will be plenty of outrage about this act by the Department of Education; however, there needs to be serious talk about eliminating this cabinet level department.

Please Don’t Panic:

A new national alert system is set to begin in New York City that will alert the public to emergencies via cell phones. It’s called the Personal Localized Alert Network or PLAN. Presidential and local emergency messages as well as Amber Alerts would appear on cell phones equipped with special chips and software.

Ah yes, I can see it now. Can you just image the chaos if the government sends a mass text to everyone riding the subway in New York? It would be a huge panic scene. I’m very interested to see how this works. Right now it seems like a good way to start a stampede. Why not just send a mass text to the entire nation that says “FIRE! RUN LIKE HELL!!” This clip below from Seinfeld is how I imagine the system working

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueh_1PeJhaQ

Allies? It’s bad enough that Pakistan has nukes and that the nation is full of Islamic fundamentalists. Now they’re thinking about cooperating with the Chinese on the downed helicopter we left after the Osama Bin Laden raid. Apparently the United States’ helicopters are equipped with some kind  of anti-detection technology. Obviously China is interested in getting their hands on the technology.

I’m confused as to what the United States policy is on Pakistan. They didn’t help us find Osama Bin Laden after 10 years and we had to invade their nation to take him out without authorization. The U.S. was afraid that someone in the Pakistan government would tip Osama before we got there. It’s been a bad PR week for Pakistan. Handing over this helicopter to the Chinese isn’t going to help things.

RomneyCare/ObamaCare 2012: Mitt Romney is set to give a speech tomorrow on the issue of health care. Romney hasn’t backed down from the health care reform he passed in Massachusetts while he was governor. Going into 2012 this is a huge problem for Romney because RomneyCare looks a lot like ObamaCare. Plus, RomneyCare is having all kind of problems in Massachusetts (shocking).

It doesn’t appear as though Romney is going to back away from his legislative failure. In other words, his candidacy is dead on arrival. President Obama’s most significant legislative achievement is a dismal failure and a dramatic overreach by the federal government. If it’s not overturned by the courts voters are going to going to have it abolished. I’m not sure how Romney can dance around this problem.

Religion of Peace News: Mark Steyn over at The Corner points out the absurdity of the mainstream press when it comes to covering crimes by Islamic extremists.

A 28-year old Yemeni man boards a flight to San Francisco in Chicago, and shortly before landing charges the cockpit while shouting “Allahu Akbar!” Authorities say they “do not yet have a motive.”

By the way, this is from the evil FOX News network. It should be pointed out that when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was tragically shot a few months ago the press had no problem attaching Sarah Palin to the story. When Jared Lee Loughner started shooting he didn’t yell “you betcha” or “for Palin.” Over the last twenty years the list of attacks that started with “Allahu Akbar!” are too numerous to mention, but the press can’t speculate on a motive unless it’s Sarah Palin.

‘Everyone’s God and if we don’t wake up to that there’s going to be no weather because our polar caps are melting because we’re doing bad things to the atmosphere.

‘If we don’t change that as rapidly as I’m speaking to you now, if we don’t put the green back on the planet and put the trees back that we’ve butchered, if we don’t go to war against the problem…’

Who is this you ask? Al Gore? Matt Damon? Some random Hipster Dufus? It’s none other than Charles Manson. Not only is he a psychotic serial killer (Tom Harkin), he’s also a climate change alarmist. That sounds just about right.

Economics 101: It looks like Jesse Jackson Jr. has solved the problem behind the nation’s unemployment issues. It’s technological progress. More specifically, Apple’s iPad is probably responsible for the loss of thousands of American jobs. Unfortunately, Jackson hasn’t lost his job since the iPad debuted last year.

Hypocrisy Thy Name is Obama: There’s not much doubt that it’s been three years of amateurism from the White House. The President lacks the leadership and experience to be President of the United States. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says Obama never said he was opposed to signing statements in all cases. Of course this is a fabrication. Just add it to the list of things the left doesn’t care about anymore.

“[T]he cuts that actually will make it into law are far tamer, including cuts to earmarks, unspent census money, leftover federal construction funding, and $2.5 billion from the most recent renewal of highway programs that can’t be spent because of restrictions set by other legislation.”

Hot Air has all the details, but I warn you… If you’re depressed about the current fiscal mess news like this isn’t going to make you feel any better. Keep in mind, Democrats are still angry that these cuts are too extreme.

The End is Trump: Some polls are showing that Trump is outpolling people like Huckabee and Romney. This says less about Trump and more about the current GOP field. No sweat though… if Trump doesn’t get the GOP nomination he’ll run as an independent. Is it too late for Charlie Crist to get in the race?

We’re on the Road to Nowhere: You really can’t make this stuff up. During Charlie Crist’s nonsensical run for Senate in Florida his campaign used Talking Heads’ song Road to Nowhere without the permission of David Byrne. Well, it’s all settled now. Part of the settlement is this glorious apology by Crist posted on YouTube for the win!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4k13LmlcUE

How awesome is that that Crist used the song Road to Nowhere? Is there any better song that represents his political prospects?

A Hard Day’s Night:

He Should Have Blamed Bush: At a Comerica Bank in Naples, Fla., a crazy person named Phil Nguyen intentionally crashed his car into the bank. His reasoning?

Nguyen believed the CIA did this by giving clients at the Naples Grande Beach Resort radiation guns, the report said. He also told police he thought he would die shortly thereafter.

Not so much. The correct answer we were looking for is… President Bush, who is to blame for everything.

As the World’s Climate Changes: The greatest thing about the unproven theory of man-made global warming is that no matter how the climate changes it’s because of CO2. Lately, the world has been experiencing colder winters and no alarming change in worldwide temperatures. What could possibly be causing nothing to happen? You guessed it, global warming.

Climate change could lead to colder winters in northern regions, according to a study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research on Tuesday.

Vladimir Petoukhov, lead author of the study, said a shrinking of sea ice in the eastern Arctic causes some regional warming of lower air levels and may lead to anomalies in atmospheric airstreams, triggering an overall cooling of the northern continents.

I think it’s the other way around. Change occurs after something changes, not before. Or maybe the Earth has always changed? Is that possible? Is there anything global warming cannot do? It heats, it cools, it rains, it droughts, it doesn’t happen and it happens all at the same time.

Rape Rape: Here’s a video of Whoppi Goldberg explaining her sanctimonious walk-out on The View when Bill O’Reilly happened to point out the 9/11 terrorists were Muslim. This is typical of the intolerant Hollywood left. It seems perfectly reasonable for TV shows to cast all pro-life supporters as insane clinic bombers. There seems to be no outrage at the stereotypical typecasting that all Catholic priests are molesters. Even my new favorite show, The Walking Dead, has a stereotypical Redneck racist and there’s no harm done. It’s hilarious to me that someone like Goldberg who thinks raping a 13 year old girl is no big deal is outraged by a meaningless remark by Bill O’Reilly. I mean, really?

No Joy in Mudville? Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

Today I’m writing from the Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. My wife’s surgery went well this morning and she’s resting in the ICU. There’s still a long way to go on this journey, but this is one step in the right direction. Now it’s time to flush…

Philosopher King: The Philosophical Left is simply too smart for its own good. Obama’s presidency is far from over, but typically that caveat is used to stop people from being too critical of the administration. When Jonah Goldberg isn’t linking to The Daily Plunge he writes for The National Review. He points out the beyond self-parody musings of James T. Kloppenberg, who insists that President Obama has embraced open-minded experimentation and continued debate. Huh? We’re all shocked. So is Jonah Goldberg…

I just wonder where that Barack Obama has been for the last 20-odd months, because the guy in the Oval Office has been talking endlessly about how the “time for debate is over,” how he doesn’t want to hear from his opponents, whom he now calls “our enemies,” how he got all of his policies right, how any statement of disagreement is merely a “talking point,” or perhaps the irritable mental gesture of Americans who are so frightened they cling to their boomsticks and sky god, or simply reject “facts and science.”

Anyone who wants to insist that Obama has been “open to debate” or ideas outside the liberal mainstream is living in an alternate reality. As far as Kloppenberg is concerned he’s living in an alternate philosophy. I always find it fascinating when seemingly intelligent people make ridiculous arguments. Mankind is just as ignorant and full of itself as it was 600 years ago. People will believe anything if the argument is convincing enough.

The State of Political Discourse: Tolerance on the left is in short supply. It’s one thing to disagree, but now everyone to the right of Joseph Lieberman is an enemy of the state. It’s okay to make fun of Christians, Jesus, and any politician, but it’s beyond the pale to point out the the terrorists of 9/11 were Muslim. However, it’s perfectly fine to mention that a Rand Paul supporter attacked someone. Here’s a question for debate… What’s more of an isolated incident? Muslim extremism or Tea Party extremism?

Joy Behar stormed off the set of The View when Bill O’Rielly mentioned the religion of the 9/11 terrorists. However, the respected Behar called Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle a bitch for sending her flowers. Angle’s crime is wanting to enforce the United States immigration laws. Most Americans would respect this point of view, but today’s left has no room for disagreement. You know things are bad when the President of the United States is urging ethnic groups to punish enemies. President Bush is looking more and more like a pushover every day Obama is in office.

The place where the Republic goes to die.

Sink, Sinking, Sunk: Florida governor hopeful Alex Sink’s claims that she was unaware her adviser was sneaking in helpful hints during the debates has backfired. Any time CNN says a Democrat has lied the writing is on the wall. Getting caught cheating during a debate is a disaster for any campaign, but for this to happen the week before the election might be a back breaker.

Follow the Money: According to the talking points of “progressives” and the White House the Democrats are simply victims of a money game. If they were to be believed the Democrats are getting outspent by the rich Republicans and their ties to the evil Chamber of Commerce. The poor Democrats and their third-party contributers have outspent their “enemies” by almost $200 million. Yet, the Vice President continues to insist there’s some kind of evil corporation conspiracy to blame for the GOP surge. Why are Democrats making up demons to chase? It’s because their legislative record over the past two years is a disaster. Now that ObamaCare has passed what else is left for a party to give away?

The Rise of the Machines: For years Democrats have complained about voter machines. My district removed touchscreen voting machines after a scare campaign by Democrats. In Nevada, the voting machine technicians are members of a union that donate primarily to Democrats.

Now there’s absolutely no independently verified evidence of chicanery with the voting machines (yet), but it is worth noting that the voting machine technicians in Clark County are members of the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU spent $63 million in elections in 2008 and is planning on spending $44 million more this election cycle — nearly all of that on Democrats. White House political director Patrick Gaspard is formerly the SEIU’s top lobbyist, and former SEIU president Andy Stern was the most frequent visitor to the White House last year.

Just in Nevada, the SEIU has given a lot to groups that are heavily vested in the state — in just one prominent example, the SEIU gave $500,000 to the Patriot Majority PAC, which has spent $1.3 million against Reid’s opponent Sharron Angle. They’ve and have dropped large sums directly on candidates:

NV-3	Joe Heck (R)	Oppose	$140,000.00
NV-3	Dina Titus (D)	Support	$344,984.00
NV-Senate	Sharron E. Angle (R)	Oppose	$225,000.00

I’m not suggesting there’s some kind of elaborate conspiracy going on here. It’s most likely just one of those coincidences. However, it’s far more likely that some SEIU thugs will rig machines at the local level than the loony theory that Bush and the military industrial complex fixed machines all over the United States.

The War on Terror has Ended: Apparently no one told the American people, but al-Qaeda is no longer a threat to the United States, at least according to esteemed “representative” Betty McCollum. So break out the banners, the ticker tape and the beer! It’s V-AQ Day!