Still waiting for my corporate paymasters to come through with the good stuff. Rich people, send your cashier's checks, Krugerrands, or S&H Green Stamps to me, c/o The Stately Manor.
Speaking of "loaded" (Fargo-speak for "wealthy"), Facebook inventor Mark Zuckerberg has decided to eat only what he kills. Your Squire will settle for eating what he kills if it is asparagus. The indentured servants here at the Experimental Work Farm are harvesting the Blaska crop daily; the Squire is sharing with his neighbors. C'mon over, Miss Emily, Craver Jack, Jason, and Citizen Dave, it's Aspo-grass Fest at The Stately Manor!
A bet on stupid
Our liberal acquaintances (for they ARE ...) are placing a cynical wager. They are betting the farm that the American people are stupid and thus, easily cowed.
They're wagering that citizens are "restive, frightened and easily manipulated," as Capital Times columnist Bill Berry called them.
They have found the winning formula: scare grandma and the kids like frightened lemmings while they drive the entitlement bandwagon over the cliff. Why, the proof is the victory of Democrat Kathy Hochhul in an historically Republican western New York congressional district Tuesday, isn't it?
True, the winner only garnered 47 percent of the vote and a tea party candidate siphoned 9 percent of the vote from the Republican.
But it's enough to send Democrats' hearts a fluttering. At long last, they have a winning message! Even the NY Times' Gail Collins, no one's conservative, parodies the Dem message:
There is no escaping our fate. We are going to spend the next 17 months hearing about how the Republicans want to kill off Medicare. By 2012, the current video on the Web showing a guy who resembles Representative Paul Ryan pushing an old woman off a cliff will look like a Teletubbies skit. By the fall, there will be ads showing the Republicans hacking their way through rows of bedridden seniors with scimitars.
I think it's a bad bet. America is no longer a nation of illiterate immigrants. This ain't the 1930s. We live in an on-line world in which many citizens manage their own individual retirement accounts. They know how the marketplace works and how wealth is created. (O.K., not so much in Madison.) What's more, individual choice continues to be a winner and suspicion of government ("we're here to help you") remains strong.
The proof is the rise of the tea party -- not so much over social issues like guns and abortion but over the unsustainable national debt -- an esoteric issue if ever there was one.
Heads buried in the sand
One reads Fighting Ed's blog or John Nichols and is left in the waiting room for something approaching an argument, a rationale instead of invective. Democrats on the U.S. Senate floor were doing the macarena. Politico reports:
Typical was Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) who castigated the House Republican plan for ending Medicare "as we know it" and threatening to double the out-of-pocket costs for New Hampshire seniors in the future. But minutes later she joined in voting against Obama plan, saying that it fell short of making the reforms needed to address the nation's fiscal problems. Indeed, the vote on the president's plan turned into a rout, with neither Republicans nor Democrats voting in favor of taking it up.
How typical of liberal "solutions" is it that President Obama's Medicare fix would be filtered through a panel of 16 unelected bureaucrats. No sir, can't trust the people with their own futures. Must appoint experts. And by so enfeebling the populace we are left to wonder why people become ever more dependent on government. But isn't that the essence of Progressivism? Everyone is a victim!
Mona Charen dissects the Democrats plan in National Review Online.
Instead of using scare tactics and demagoguery, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan is the only one talking seriously about reforming Medicare. Instead of banging plastic buckets and blowing your vuvuzelas, you owe it to yourself and future generations to give Paul Ryan a hearing:
The WI State Journal is correct:
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi railed against Ryan's plan to make Medicare solvent at a senior center in Waunakee on Thursday. But siding with the status quo isn't a solution. If you don't lower costs, you have to hike taxes.
Today's chuckle
(Gracias Duane)
A driver sees a sign in front of a house: "Talking Dog For Sale."
He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.
The guy goes into the backyard and sees a sad-eyed Basset hound sitting there.
"You talk?" he asks.
"Yep," the hound replies.
After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says: "So, what's your story?"
The hound looks up and says:
"Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government so I told the CIA. In no time, they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping."
"I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running but the jetting around really tired me out and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals."
"I got married, had a mess of puppies and now I'm just retired."
The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.
"Ten dollars," the guy says.
"Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?"
"Because he's a Democrat and a liar. He never did any of that stuff!"
Today's encomium
"Substanceless douch(e)baguery." -- Magic Moose 3-10-11.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Hey kids! See you at the one and only Bratfest on Willow Island! Got some shooting lined up with the Divine Miss Vicki, including dear old dad's WW2 Army-issue Springfield 30-06 in memory of the vets. Will get the grill going in Monday's expected 85-degree temperatures. Sum-sum-sum-sum, sum-mer-ER-er-time!