Author: Bonfire of the Absurdities

Vaclev Havel, friend of liberty, RIP. Vaclav Havel, the writer and dissident whose eloquent dissections of Communist rule helped to destroy it in revolutions that brought down the Berlin Wall and swept Havel himself into power, died on Sunday. He was 75. “Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate.”

A Democrat reaches across the aisle on Medicare: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) & Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) have proposed a reform program. Proposal would introduce a “premium-support” system that would allow Medicare recipients to choose between the current program and a Medicare-approved private plan. And you will be shocked to hear Obama is against it.

Despite criticism and tripling of costs, Obama admin “not going to flinch” on support for CA bullet train. “It is clear that high-speed rail is not about jobs,” Rep David Nunes (R-CA) said at a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing. “It is about corruption, public deception and bureaucratic experimentation.” He says that like those are bad things.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels said he planned to issue a ruling in the coming days declaring that Iran shares in the responsibility for the 9/11 terror attacks. Iranian intelligence agents “actively took part in developing a set of terrorist contingency plans.” Iran allowed “hijackers invisible passage to and from Afghanistan — without stamping their passports” enabling them to get US visas. Iran in cahoots with George W. Bush? This is gonna make some heads explode.

Heavy metal is back: the best cities for manufacturing. Rumors of the death of US manufacturing have been greatly exaggerated. Driving the upswing is a US energy revolution and better cost competitiveness compared with Asia. Concerns about the lack of intellectual property rights in China are also contributing. There are jobs but they are skilled jobs – there’s no shortage of English or art majors.

Congressmen can’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ in mail… if they want the mailing paid for with tax dollars. The congressional franking commission (not Barney, the bureaucrats who decide if mail can be paid for with tax dollars) has told members no holiday greetings, including “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year” are permitted. They can say “have a happy new year”, referencing the time period of a new year, but not the holiday. Senate franking regulations do allow Merry Christmas! We haven’t checked it out, but we imagine all of them can say BOHICA.

NY Times CEO exiting at year end – no explanation, no successor named. The explanation is she’s running a dying business and nobody’s figured out how to monetize “journalistic content” profitably yet. But don’t cry for her, Argentina, she’s floating to earth on one of those golden parachutes that the NYT would be blistering if some other company paid it out to a failed CEO – not to mention the Times’ occupado pals.

Dem Senator who blasted MF Corzine at hearing was snubbed for campaign $$$. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) rightfully blasted MF Corzine at the hearing: “This isn’t the Dark Ages,” she lectured. “MF Global didn’t keep their books with feather quills and dusty ledgers.” Now, MF’s cronies are trying to mitigate criticism from a fellow Dem by accusing her of seeking revenge. Well MF, that may be true but you’re the one who lost the money, ain’t you?

Obama’s Watergate – Officials cover up culpability for gun smuggling and murder. Nobody died at Nixon’s Watergate. Holder lied, people died. Quite a few, in fact.

The EU has ruled that prunes do not have a laxative effect and producers cannot say that they do. “European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) experts said there was ‘insufficient’ evidence of a link between the dried plums and normal bowel function after looking at three studies of prune consumption.” Don’t laugh – laxitives are dangerous to bureaucrats with schit for brains.

MF Corzine served with lawsuit. CNBC’s Kayla Tausche said the suit is on behalf of a customer who had a $95 million MF Global account, filed in the Southern District of New York. Corzine served “the people” for years and now one of them is returning the favor.

Europe in Purgatory. Robert Samuelson: “…it’s obvious that adopting the euro was a colossal blunder. It may rank as Europe’s worst policy mistake since World War II. The virtues of the common currency – it reduced transaction costs and the uncertainty of fluctuating exchange rates among national monies – were temporary. Its vices seem permanent…” The single currency is a financial roach motel for Europe – they got in and now they can’t get out without great damage to themselves… and us.

Accused of corruption, Democratic state rep. uses slur to demean GOP governor. State Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton (D), the subject of TV investigative report alleging corruption, attacked state Rep. Nora Espinoza (R) as the source, accusing her of “carrying the Mexican’s water”, an allusion to New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R). Gosh, if the governor were a Democrat or the accused were a white guy, that kind of talk would be raaaaaacist!

“I have seen apparent proof that the US (DOJ) Criminal Division, is working with UK police to pursue the leaker of the 2009 and 2011 Climategate emails.” Attorney Christopher Horner says DOJ sent a search-and-seizure letter to the host of three climate-change skeptic blogs. Sure, it’s criminal to unsettle settled science, especially when so many Obamunist cronies are making $$$ on it.

Tests show Obama crony LightSquared’s wireless internet interferes with flight safety systems as well as GPS. Well, no problem, bitter clingers will just have to get new GPS receivers and airlines can only fly near mountains pilots can see. Hey, what’s more important – one of Obama’s pals making billions broadband wireless internet for everyone or airliners not flying into moutains?

Central planning at work: China’s deserted fake Disneyland. Construction stopped a decade ago and the farmers who once worked the land are starting to reclaim it. Building ghost cities and such gooses Chinese economic figures but is a massive waste of money and resources. Yet, useful idiots like Tom Friedman and Andy Stern think this is the way to go. Sure, if the destination is hell.

My time at Walmart: college student’s summer job reveals welfare fraud and abuse. Welfare recipients with iPhones. Recipients buying booze, toys and supplies for his hot dog stand with EBT cards. And this gem: “Governor Michael Dukakis’ signature was on his welfare card. Dukakis’ last gubernatorial term ended in January of 1991. I was born in June of 1991. The man had been on welfare my entire life.” And probably Dukakis’s entire life as well.

Time’s “Person of the Year” – The Protestor. Trying hard to catch up to Newsweak (sic) in the dash to the trash.

Ma’am Boxer: “poison pill” in GOP payroll tax bill “will kill 8,100” people for Christmas. We know what you’re thinking, but just because her hand is brown, that doesn’t mean she pulled this out of her butt… she coulda pulled it out of someone else’s butt. The more panic they feel, the more hysterical their rhetoric gets.

The class warfare we need: the people who deserve our enmity are society’s predators and parasites, who span all rungs of the income ladder. Most of the “rich” are rich because they produce things that entertain us, make us more productive, save us money, or save us time. They’re “rich” because they earned it and they do not deserve to be targets in the class war. Hey, any opinions as to which class Obama belongs in?

Milk Street Cafe, the restaurant whose business dried up in the face of the Occupy Wall Street barricades, is shutting down. 70 more jobs lost on top of the 21 laid off in October. Parasites eventually kill the host. Obama and the Democrats “sypathize” with the protestors but the 91 folks who lost their jobs? Maybe they can all become community organizers like Barry.

Dramatic footage of a polar bear tending her newborn cubs in the flagship BBC show “Frozen Planet” was filmed in a Dutch zoo using fake snow. But viewers were led to believe the scene had been captured by BBC cameramen inside an underground cave in the Arctic wilderness. The media – bringing you the world as it exists in the director’s mind.

Islamic governments angle for speech curbs in the US. “The State Department began a three-day, closed-door meeting Monday to talk about U.S. free speech rules with representatives from numerous Islamic governments that have lobbied for 12 years to end U.S. citizens’ ability to speak freely about Islam’s history and obligations.” Yeah, forget the First amendment – the Commerce Clause gives ’em the power ’cause we buy oil from the Islamofascists, ya see.

“I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln,” Obama told Steve Kroft. Anyone wanna bet that if Barack Obama were captain of the Titanic, he’d have called hitting the iceberg and sinking the damn ship an “accomplishment”?

NY Times: Eurosceptics are a “bunch of insular snobs who seem to have a hard time restraining their inner-fascist.” The fish-wrap of record decides the UK’s demurral from being pushed around by unelected continental technocrats is somehow anti-democratic and fascistic. Well, the Times oughta know – they’ve never been able to restrain their inner-fascist. Not that they actually try or anything.