New old meme: Palinistas are crazy idiots!!!!

How do they hate Sarah?  Let me count the ways.  Let's see, I've in the past commented on people falsely characterizing her as an extremist, insulting her daughter and her son, and, of course, calling her every possible synonym for "idiot" (and, occasionally, much worse).  We can't forget the blaming her for violence having nothing to do with her, either.

And we've even heard the "Palinistas are idiots for liking her" arguments before, sometimes (at least for me) from people once considered friends.

But now the seemingly chic thing to do online--on Twitter or wherever--is for the "Palinistas are idiots" assertion to come, not from the Obama supporters, which would be expected, but from fellow conservatives.  A lot of these such tweets swapped "idiots" for "crazy", which does not appear to be much of an improvement.  Typical of this are tweets such as the following, both of which occurred during a very quick period during which it appeared that Governor Palin had cancelled a proposed speech on Saturday:

@jeffemanuel: @gabrielmalor @allahpundit Palin and her faction have reminded me more and more of high school girls. This doesn't help.

@gabrielmalor Palin die-hards are already blaming this SNAFU on *anyone but Palin* before we even know what really happened. #allyouneedtoknow

 

There are others who appear to take great joy in painting all Palinistas with this broad brush as well.  None of these people who have recently taken up this type of argument ever respond when I try to point out that not all Palinistas are unreasonable, crazy, stupid, or whatever.*

And yes, I do know that some supporters of Sarah Palin do have an unfortunate tendency to snipe at anyone who says anything bad about her.  Some do insult the intelligence of others who question anything of Sarah Palin.  It's sad that I have to say this, but you Palinistas who do this type of thing:  YOU AREN'T HELPING.  No, it's not fair that Sarah Palin is called out for things that aren't even true, or things about which, if we were talking about anyone else--Democrat or Republican--no one would care, but in case you've forgotten, Sarah Palin is more than capable of defending herself.

 

But regardless of these supporters' behavior, the people who have taken to insulting all Palin supporters in the fashion mentioned above are out of line.  It's like it's a new game:  "Bait a Palinista".  Step one:  say something insulting about Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin's supporters, or both.  Step two:  Wait for one Palinista to respond.  If response isn't sufficiently insulting, keep needling at Palinista until Palinista lashes out.  Step three:  Retweet Palinista's response, then state that your point that Palinistas are idiots are crazy/stupid has been proven.

It's enough to make me begin to understand why some supporters of Hillary Clinton in 2008 formed the PUMA movement.  (Like Hillary's supporters, it certainly appears that Sarah's supporters are being brushed aside.)  

 

So some of y'all think Sarah Palin is unelectable?  Fine.  Give me a reason to support someone else instead.  But cut the insulting out.  It doesn't make me want to support you in, well, anything.  (And yes, these same suggestions apply to someone attempting to convince people to support Governor Palin.)

* There is one person I know who, when I challenged him regarding his characterization of Palinistas, did respond, but this person has been gleefully posting anything to make Governor Palin look bad long before the current group of people adopted the new trend of baiting Palin's supporters.

Why I don't trust government at pretty much any level: Part 3

Okay, I am going to state at the outset that there might be some backstory to this with which I am not familiar.  I hope that's true.  If not, this is totally ridiculous:  a mom may be breaking the law by letting her daughter ride her bicycle to school.  Really?

And it gets better from there:

Major Verran of the police department returned Ms Tryon's call.  She said he told me, "He had spoke with the District Attorney's office who advised that until the officer can speak with Child Protective Services that if I allow my daughter to ride/walk to school I will be breaking the law and treated accordingly. 

Give me a break.

Best comment I saw (caveat:  I didn't read them all):  "I think my whole childhood would now be considered illegal."

Jedediah Bila: "What pundits should be talking about when it comes to Palin"

As regular readers of this blog (of which I have none) may know, I have become quite the fan of the writings of one Jedediah Bila in recent months.  (I most recently said as much here.)  Ms. Bila, as seen on her site, has written a quite interesting book, which I intend to review at some point in the future when I learn that crucial skill of time management.  (After thirtysomething years, it's not looking terribly likely, but I'm still holding out hope.*)  Among the reasons that I enjoy her writing, as anyone familiar with both of us would know, is that we both are in substantial agreement with Sarah Palin with regard to policy.

So with that said, it comes as no surprise to see Ms. Bila leading the way in trying to steer bunches of misguided pundits toward some proper Palin-related talking points.  This is necessary, of course, because, as Ms. Bila states in her latest column at the Daily Caller:

While some pundits are busy calling Sarah Palin thin-skinned, claiming that there is “no space for her” in the 2012 race and incessantly speculating about her potential announcement date, some of us are sitting by laughing, sufficiently amused by typical establishment tactics that have grown tired, old and frankly a little boring.

One of the problems with this approach to Governor Palin is that these pundits are forgetting the fairly impressive record that she put together when she was governor.  So, as a helpful reminder for these pundits, Ms. Bila has compiled a nice list of ten accomplishments from the Palin administration in Alaska, ten accomplishments that these pundits, seemingly, have either forgotten or never bothered to learn in the first place.  Here's a taste:

1. As governor in 2007, Palin was responsible for the largest veto totals in state history, while investing $1 billion in forward-funding education and fulfilling public safety and infrastructure necessities.

For the rest, you'll need to check out Ms. Bila's column.  It's definitely worth a read, just as Governor Palin is worth a second look.

* It's true that I still hold out hope; it's not as true that I am actively, you know, doing something about the problem.

Snowed In hits the big time!

I knew all my posting and tweeting of important salient points would pay off for me.

Oh, wait.  It was a timely piece of snark.  About an earthquake.  There's gotta be something wrong with that. 

Oh, well, in any case, I made Washington Post's Top 17 Earthquake Tweets.  As the author of the piece, Dylan Matthews, says:

As you’re probably aware, D.C. was rocked by a 5.9 earthquake: just serious enough that many evacuated buildings, but not serious enough to keep people from cracking jokes about it on Twitter. Here are some of the better ones:

My tweet, by the way, was as follows:

@snowed_in: “Breaking: Carole King feels the earth move under her feet.”

Check out the rest of them.  And pray that everyone affected by the quake is okay.

"Big Talker" quiets; True Oldies moves

I discovered on my drive home what many other Austinites discovered earlier today.  I was flipping around the FM dial (the family beater does not have an auxiliary port or a working cassette player at present) and was surprised to hear music coming from my radio at 98.9 FM, which, until recently, was KXBT, the "Big Talker".  Given that I heard the voice of Scott Shannon, and that the local traffic and weather reports referred to the station as "98.9, Austin's Greatest Hits", it didn't take long for me to figure out that the music of the True Oldies Channel, previously found on 92.5, has moved to 98.9.  (The station is still simulcast on 92.5, for the moment, for the benefit of the many, many people who hit my blog searching for some combination of "92.5", "austin", and "oldies".)

The 98.9 The Big Talker Facebook page (a short-lived page, I fear), I discovered, had one final announcement:

Hey, it's Jeff Wolf...the Program Director for what was 98.9 The Big Talker since the very beginning in November 2009. Despite our hard work to bring you more stimulating talk, our audience did not grow as quickly as we hoped it would. Please continue to follow Sean Rima on facebook; you never know what else is on the horizon. I've learned so much from you and thank you for listening to us. Until we meet again...please enjoy the music.

There are a lot of unhappy comments on that post, but the numbers don't lie.  A quick look at Austin's ratings shows that KXBT-FM could barely eke out a 1.0 rating for July, putting it behind pretty much every other full-power FM radio station in town.  What will happen to fairly well-known hosts previously featured on KXBT, such as Glenn Beck and Dave Ramsey, is yet to be seen.

As for the future of 92.5, Radio-Info reports that station owner BMP has a new format planned for that frequency, which is not as strong as the 98.9 frequency.  But given the better frequency at its new home, this should be a good move for the profitable oldies format.

A quick update:  RadioInsight reports that the new format for 92.5, starting after Labor Day, will be the ESPN Deportes format currently heard on 1260 KWNX.  KWNX will then simulcast 104.9 the Horn.

Update 8/16/11:  As expected, the 98.9 Facebook page was shut down.  That link will now take you to the main Facebook page.

Requiem for a Dog

The variety of meals available on South Lamar has shrunk just a little, in a disappointing and rather permanent way.  Dog Almighty, voted "Best Dog" by Austin Chronicle readers not two years ago, has closed its doors.

Or, rather, it has had its doors closed for them.

During a quick trip to Subway this afternoon, I happened to notice that the typical lights of Dog Almighty were not on.  I walked the few extra feet to have a look and discovered a note from the landlord, dated yesterday, stating that the doors were not to be unlocked except with approval of said landlord.  Thus, with a quick changing of the locks, the landlord has sent what appeared to be a fairly popular and well-loved restaurant to doggie heaven.

I, for one, will miss quite a few things about Dog Almighty, while definitely not missing others.  For instance, I will certainly not miss the incredible delays between ordering food and actually receiving it; the delays ranged anywhere from 30 to over 60 minutes (though, to be fair, the day I waited over 60 minutes was the day right after they had released a Groupon, making the lunch crowd that day far bigger than usual).  I also won't miss the incredibly small capacity of the dining area (along with the even smaller capacity of the waiting area for my 30-minute delay).  But I'll miss being able to call in my order and pick it up without that delay (if I timed it right), though Dog Almighty's new neighbor, Torchy's, has given me that option as well.  And I will definitely miss getting a Classic on wheat with tater tots, as that was the best hot dog meal I have ever gotten from a restaurant. 

So, Godspeed, Dog Almighty.  You will be missed.  And here's hoping that your suite might be filled soon with a similarly tasty establishment.

Central Health drops tax-funded abortions

In a story a year and a half in coming, Central Health (that would be the former Travis County Healthcare District) reversed an earlier decision to fund abortions for low-income women from their tax base.  Per the Austin American-Statesman:

The move comes in response to a new state law that cuts off state funding to a hospital district that uses tax money to pay for abortions. The board included an exception in case of a medical emergency as defined by the new law.

The money budgeted for abortions (still $450,000) will now be redirected toward other women's services that don't involve killing babies.

The Palin Plan for the financial crisis

Sarah Palin's most recent Facebook post, "Conquering the Storm", directly addresses the financial mess in which our country currently finds itself.  Since no plan was to be found in President Obama's "we're still a AAA country" lecture yesterday, I'll start with a short excerpt from Governor Palin's plan, which is near the end of her post:

We need to get this economy moving again, and the real stimulus we’ve been waiting for is domestic energy development. We must reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil by responsibly developing natural resources here. This will provide good paying jobs, reduce our trade deficit, increase federal and state revenue, ensure environmental standards, and actually stimulate our economy without incurring any debt. That’s real stimulus!

There's more to it, and I'm gonna encourage you, gentle reader, to go over to Gov. Palin's full post and read it yourself.

But what of those readers who believe, as some of my friends on both sides of the aisle do, that Sarah Palin has no knowledge about pretty much anything (though certainly some on the other side don't believe this)?  For those people, the governor addresses her qualification to speak on this issue:  she warned that this exact situation would come months ago:

Back in December 2010, I wrote: “If the European debt crisis teaches us anything, it’s that tomorrow always comes. Sooner or later, the markets will expect us to settle the bill for the enormous Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending binge. We’ve already been warned by the credit ratings agency Moody’s that unless we get serious about reducing our deficit, we may face a downgrade of our credit rating.” And again in January, in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address I wrote: “With credit ratings agency Moody’s warning us that the federal government must reverse the rapid growth of national debt or face losing our triple-A rating, keep in mind that a nation doesn’t look so ‘great’ when its credit rating is in tatters.”

There is much, much more to Gov. Palin's post.  Check it out.  And hopefully you will realize that her ideas are indeed worthy of consideration.

(Hat tip:  HotAir.com, "Palin knocks it out of the park", which sums up my feeling on the matter)

A questionable, but arguably true, headline

Now, I would never write this headline (as seen over at The Other McCain), but, really, it pretty much sums up how I feel about this situation:

Some Skank Gets Naked In Playboy, Disses Bristol Palin

Now, perhaps I'm biased, given my unwillingness even to mention certain parties mentioned in the story linked over there, but I cannot trust the family of Tripp's father.  Part of my distrust of them is because I have just finished Bristol's book (which I will also be reviewing soon, I hope), and between that and what else I have seen of Bristol, I tend to believe what she is saying about her interactions with that other family.  And really, do you really inspire people to believe you by shedding all your clothes for a soft porn magazine?

Only in America

On my way to work this morning, I happened to notice a bumper sticker on the car next to me.  And what did said bumper sticker say?

"My dad can eat more than your dad."

Now there's something to which I, as a dad, should aspire!  I only wonder if the next bumper sticker in this series might read "my dad has had more coronary bypasses than your dad".

(Oh, and whatever restaurant was being advertised by this gem was unreadable, making this sticker doubly useless.)

What do Manhattan liberals think of Sarah Palin?

If I haven't already said so, I have grown to enjoy Jedediah Bila's writing over the last year, or however long it's been since I was first introduced to her punditry.  Ms. Bila can truly turn a phrase, which is probably why she's an up-and-coming pundit, whereas I'm a seventh-rate blogger.  But I digress.

Ms. Bila, like me, is a fan of one Sarah Palin, which deeply colors her interactions with other people in the greater Manhattan area, where she lives.  (She wrote a whole book about such experiences, Outnumbered: Chronicles of a Manhattan Conservative, which I intend to review if I ever finish the thing.)  Anyway, she was at a cocktail party on the Upper East Side and overheard many of the left-leaning attendees talking about Governor Palin, who, it had been announced that day, would be headlining a tea party rally in Iowa on September 3.

And what kind of sentiments were expressed about Gov. Palin?  Well, for starters, as per Ms. Bila:

5. SHE’S SCARY BECAUSE SHE’LL ACTUALLY DO WHAT SHE SAYS. That’s right, folks. They know she’s the real deal. They know that if she says it, she means it. And that scares the living daylights out of them.

No, I'm not including the whole list.  If you want to see the rest, as they say, read the whole thing.

But I will say that it is very telling that these Manhattan liberals seem to think more of the potential of Sarah Palin than a lot of Washington Republicans do.  I guess we'll see who's right in the coming months.

Disclaimer:  I do indeed get paid an incredibly small pittance if you happen to purchase through Amazon.com links on this blog.

Palin explains why Tea Partiers aren't terrorists

When you think of the word "terrorist", which image comes to mind?

Well, apparently, if you're the vice-president, and definitely if you are one of at least four editorial writers for the New York Times, this is representative of the image that comes to your mind:

(Sarah Palin on Hannity, courtesy Fox News Channel, used under Fair Use)

I was all ready to write some sort of response to remarks allegedly made by Joe Biden that Tea Partiers acted like terrorists, as well as to multiple NYT editorials (none of which I care to link) referring to Tea Partiers similarly or using terms like "waging jihad", but thanks to my all-too-typical delays in writing, I was beaten to the punch by Sarah Palin.  And it's just as well, really, since Governor Palin put it much better than I could, unloading on the administration for its skewed perception of what constitutes terrorism.  As she put it on Fox News Channel's Hannity last night:  

If we were really domestic terrorists, shoot, President Obama would be wanting to pal around with us, wouldn’t he? I mean he didn’t have a problem with palling around with Bill Ayers back in the day when he kicked off his political career in Bill Ayers' apartment, and shaking hands with Chavez, and saying he doesn’t need any preconditions with meeting dictators, or wanting to read US Miranda rights to alleged suspected foreign terrorists. No, if we were real domestic terrorists, I think President Obama wouldn’t have a problem with us. 

I can hear some of my acquaintances on the other side already screaming that Gov. Palin's statement was out of line, that she shouldn't say those kinds of things about our president.  But when multiple eyewitnesses are saying that his vice-president is saying the exact same kind of things about us (I don't know about you, but I have never hung around with an admitted domestic terrorist, by which I mean a real terrorist, not someone who uses governmental procedure to shape a debt-ceiling bill), I see no reason for her not to unload with both barrels on this administration.  Somebody needed to do it.

The above transcript was courtesy The Right Scoop, who wanted readers to "be surprised" by the second part of her interview.  I, however, thought this portion of part two needed to be highlighted:

[t]hat's why I'm an optimist heading into this next election cycle.  I believe that the Tea Party patriots really have been strengthened, and evidence of that is the vitriol which you see targeted towards these Tea Party patriots who just want a sound fiscal policy adopted in our nation, so we will not become a bankrupt nation.  And, now more than ever, the Tea Party patriots have got to be energized. They cannot be numb and calloused and depressed about some of the "two steps forward, three steps back" that we saw happening in the last couple of days with the debt ceiling increase. They need, now more than ever, to really be united.  Work extremely hard to get the right candidates in there, despite the boot on the neck that many of us feel that government is trying to do to us, and those on both sides of the aisle who kind of run the political machines, that boot on the neck trying to take us down and keep us down.  No, now isn't the time to retreat, but it's the time to be united, to move forward, very very powerful grassroots movement, I believe, that will grow even more in these coming months as the election approaches.

I think Governor Palin is setting herself up very nicely, not necessarily to lead the entire Tea Party movement (according to some who only think they have a clue, the Koch brothers already hold that position, and doggone it, I'm still waiting for my check, y'all!),  but certainly to be a strong guiding force.  She isn't afraid to take a controversial stand, as she certainly did with regard to the debt ceiling debate, and she issued a fairly sharp rebuke to Mitt Romney last night for not articulating any position until the deal had been struck.  Gov. Romney's approach to this debate seems to match the typical "finger in the wind" take on an issue by which most politicians live.  Gov. Palin represents a breath of fresh air compared to that approach.

Check out the entire interview (parts one and two) here: