Dave Ramsey on the President's jobs plan

Radio host Dave Ramsey, who has been mentioned on this blog at least once before, appeared this week on CBS's "The Early Show" to talk about President Obama's jobs plan (incorrectly referred to in this interview as "The American Jobs Act", though that title has now been taken by a quite different bill*).  The video, helpfully enough, appears here:



You can also access the same video at CBS News's webpage here.

Mr. Ramsey, while not saying anything disparaging about President Obama, gives what can only be described as a backhanded compliment by saying "I think the President's a great orator."  I translate that, basically, to "he talks a good game," and I would say he definitely does that.  But Mr. Ramsey, in a very unsurprising turn (for those who know him), doesn't really care for the jobs plan itself.

Some of my favorite quotes from Mr. Ramsey:

• "I resist the tax code telling me how to behave." 
• "A $4000 tax credit is not gonna cause me to hire people that I gotta pay for the next five or ten years."
• "Government's role is...to push the taxes back from the edges...so that, as the owner of the business, I have more money; then I can hire people."

As usual, I think Dave Ramsey is spot on.  Watch the video and see what you think.

* It should be obvious even to the occasional reader of this blog which of the "American Jobs Acts" I prefer.

The mysterious departure of Rhonda Lee

In what I believe is a first, I have been alerted to a change in Austin's news media by checking out the searches that led people to my blog.  Today people have been visiting my blog looking for information on KXAN weekend morning meteorologist Rhonda Lee (mentioned on my blog when she joined KXAN about a year and three months ago).  Apparently, according to her Facebook page, she has been gone for a few weeks now.

KXAN's webpage was not a great help in this area, except that their news team page has already been scrubbed of any mention of Ms. Lee.  (Her blog on KXAN's site is still intact as of this writing, though.)

The biggest help is that of Ms. Lee's LinkedIn page, which indicates that Ms. Lee is now working for News 12 Networks, a conglomeration of regional news channels in the New York City area (similar to Austin's YNN), which would explain why she is no longer at KXAN.  Strangely, though, that page says that she has been working there since 2009 (and yet correctly shows KXAN as a past employer); this blogger indicates that she left News 12 to come to KXAN last year.  Ms. Lee simply states on the aforementioned Facebook page that she is "taking a little break right now".  Curiouser and curiouser...

In any case, this seems like a rather abrupt departure by Ms. Lee.  I certainly could not find anything on KXAN's page to show any sort of goodbye for her, as rival station KVUE has done for people such as Meghan Danahey and Olga Campos (about whom I did not write because of timeliness concerns at the time).  In any case, best wishes to Ms. Lee, wherever she is.

Update Dec 2012:  I no longer really write about local news personalities (see here for why), but as I still get hits on this post by people looking for Ms. Lee:  she apparently ended up at KTBS-TV in Shreveport, but she was fired by the station this month, apparently for responding to racist comments (directed at her) on the station's Facebook page.  This page has a video interview Ms. Lee did this week about her situation.

And again, best wishes to Ms. Lee, wherever she ends up this time.

Now this is a nice ad

I haven't done much in quite a while with my old label "your ad is lousy", which highlights exactly what you think it does.  I expect, given that there's a presidential election next year, that I might have more material for that label soon enough, but today, I thought I would highlight a fairly good online commercial from the Perry campaign.

And, since the Perry campaign (based on hearsay) is foundering after last night's debate, I had better post this before it's too late.

Enjoy:

Coming soon

My regular readers (of whom I believe I presently have as many as ten) might be wondering why I have not updated in the past week, especially given the explosion in the blogosphere/twittersphere that started from a certain Daily Caller article about someone who would exemplify my recurring label "useless celebrity", who commented recently about one of the recent salacious rumors from the recent book by a punk author (as mentioned in my last post) about Sarah Palin.

This post is not going to address that.

No, this post is here to reassure my loyal readers (including, as always, the father of the originator of this blog) that I intend to blog about several things in the near future, such as:

• Dave Ramsey's recent comments about the president's jobs bill
• Reviews of books by Bristol Palin and Jedediah Bila
• Further discussion on the two types of Palin supporters (which builds on a topic started here and continued here) 
• And possibly some belabored primal scream of a post about the stupidity that came out of the article mentioned in the first paragraph. 
• Heck, maybe I'll get really adventurous and throw in a unfairly forgotten song.

As can be seen, particularly with regard to the fact that Ms. Palin and Ms. Bila's books were released months ago, the timeliness of posts on this blog is questionable at best.  (I do have a day job, after all.)  Those who want more timely opinions are more than welcome to check me out on Twitter and Facebook.

As for me, as this post has taken about 4x as much time as I intended to put into it (which fits so well with the label on this post), I'm going to put this day (and myself) to bed.  Good night, all.

The patience of Todd Palin

Over the last three years, Todd Palin has seen his wife and family subjected to some of the most vicious filth I have ever seen in modern politics.

He's seen the punk kid who cheated on his daughter every chance he could doing some of the worst lying in the history of untruth (and by worst, I mean that this person--who, you will remember, is no longer to be named in this blog--is a flat-out bad liar...he can't even keep his story straight from one interview to the next) and yet being lauded by people like, well, pretty much every anti-Sarah blog, as well as distinguished celebrities like Tyra Banks and Kathy Griffin.

And now he's seen a guy who has had an axe to grind with Sarah Palin for years come out with, surprise of surprises, a smear job of a book containing all sorts of salacious rumors, some of which have been raised, and dismissed, before.  This is a guy, mind you, who went so far as to move into the house next to the Palins in order to spy on them.  Seriously, there's no other reason to move in next door unless you're wanting to try to obtain some material surreptitiously.

If I were the husband of someone who had been targeted like this, I'd be furious.  (Thankfully, Mrs. Snowed is not subjected to anything like this, as she has chosen to remain out of the public eye.)  But Todd Palin has, at least on the record, remained quite diplomatic, not calling the author of this book some of the names that he almost deserves to be called, but instead issuing the following statement giving this author all the attention, and then some, that he ought to receive for publishing this garbage.

“This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us to satisfy his creepy obsession with my wife. His book is full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears. Even The New York Times called this book ‘dated, petty,’ and [said] that it ‘chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip.’”
– Todd Palin

(statement courtesy Conservatives 4 Palin via Stacy McCain)

Stacy McCain, as per the same article, has spoken with Todd Palin about the punk kid, suggesting to Mr. Palin that the kid needed some sort of retribution.  He feels the same way about this author (maybe I should just call him "the punk author" to stay consistent with regard to these ankle-biters tormenting the Palins).  And he calls all Palinistas to help:

So I’m asking readers to go make a $25 donation to SarahPAC to help defray Todd’s legal expenses when he shows up at McGinniss’s first book signing and pounds that scurvy worm into a bloody pulp.

Now, this blog would never advocate violence in that way, but given that, as I believe, Todd's wife is about to enter the presidential race, perhaps a large influx of donations in response to this punk author's hack job would send a message of some sort to somebody, so I encourage those who are tired of the same old rumor-mongering and hate directed toward Sarah Palin to visit the page linked in Stacy's quote (and also right here!) and add your voice to those condemning the last three years' worth of behavior toward the Palin family.

And send a few good thoughts and prayers Todd's way, that his patience may persist in the face of all that continued attacks.

p.s.  Stacy McCain has more about the punk author.  Having now read these posts, I feel that the term "punk author" is dead-on accurate.

A call for patience

Apparently the Palin hatred about which I wrote last week was just the tip of the iceberg.  In the past two days, there have been too many people to count, all of whom have felt the need to make some sort of statement to the effect that Sarah Palin must declare her candidacy for president (or not) on their schedule, rather than hers.  And this has sparked a lot of screaming (as it were, given that this is mostly on Twitter and other online places) from Palin's fans...which, of course, is used by those sniping at Governor Palin to write her off.  Thus continues the endless cycle.

Most notable in the recent sniping have been RedState's Erick Erickson, who, in a post titled, simply, "Enough", repeated the same old lines we've been hearing for at least a week:

Sarah Palin is a great person. She’s a great fighter. She draws in awesome attention and rallies a crowd. She has some terrific and loyal supporters I don’t want to lump in with the loud voices largely now disconnected from political reality. Ron Paul is the same way. But at some point, Sarah Palin has to take some responsibility for her supporters as Ron Paul must for his. Palin’s dragging out the tease on her decision has compounded the problem and we’ve reached a breaking point.

I'll give Mr. Erickson credit for at least pointing out that not all Palinistas are crazy; as I said last week, some are all too eager to lump us all together in the crazy train.  With that said, though, we've heard the rest of that paragraph all too many times before.

Mr. Erickson was inspired to post this (and many, many more paragraphs which will not be quoted here, including one likening moving on from Palin to leaving a cult) by an appearance on Fox News the other night by Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter.  William Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection has that video, about which I will not say much more except to point out that Ms. Coulter pretty much said the same thing as Mr. Erickson:  that Sarah Palin has to decide now or else, and also, her supporters are jerks who are killing her image.  Mr. Jacobson fired back at the snipers:

So yes, I do take it personally when conservatives lash out at Palin not because of her policy positions or what she’s done or not done in her career, but with personal invective.

It’s not religion, its a cold hard understanding of what is to come, and how those who call Palin a diva or a tease or any of the other names coming from media conservatives do damage to us all.  Palin is simply the test case for how the Republican nominee, whoever that person may be, will be treated, and we pile on her at our own peril.

I won't go into other people's posts basically calling Governor Palin a diva, an attention whore, or whatever.  Life's too short, honestly, as is my patience with this kind of talk.  I also won't go into the further Palinista response of "go to hell" for those who want the governor to go away.  While I feel that telling Governor Palin to go away is not helpful, I also don't feel it is helpful to lash out at those who talk that way.

I also don't want to say much more about those who cannot tolerate any criticism whatsoever of Sarah Palin.  I've already said that this viewpoint is not helpful.  Now, though, I wonder if there is more to this don't-you-dare-say-anything-about-our-Sarah faction than I thought.  Since last week's post (which I've already linked twice, so scroll up), I've been blocked on Twitter by at least two intense Palinistas, one of whom is somewhat well-known internet radio host Tammy Bruce.  How in the world is that helping?


(Incidentally, I had intended to link a Tammy Bruce clip refuting (or refudiating, as it were) Ms. Ingraham and Ms. Coulter, but for some reason, I no longer feel the desire to do so.)

Perhaps the best response to the people sniping at Sarah Palin was by John Hayward at Human Events, as linked by Josh Painter at Texans for Sarah Palin:

Maybe Palin won’t run, and never seriously planned to.  Maybe she will, but she’s taking a long time to make her announcement.  She always said she wanted to see if there’s another candidate she could support.  Tonight [note:  this was obviously written yesterday] will be the first big debate appearance of Rick Perry, the last big name to join the race.  He had a pretty spectacular campaign launch.  Is it so unreasonable for Palin to wait a bit longer and see how he fares, once his campaign reaches orbit?  If she’s a non-factor, why are so many people – pro and con – being so unreasonable about her?

If Palin doesn't run, the vast majority of her supporters will look to the other candidates.  If those candidates think they've been left with insufficient time to rally voters to their cause, because Palin waited a few extra months to announce she wouldn't enter the race, then Sarah Palin isn't the one who has a problem worthy of serious criticism.

Regardless of how one feels about Sarah Palin's timeline or her potential candidacy, as Mr. Hayward points out, she has been a major voice in the political narrative.  And that's very true:  honestly, Sarah Palin has done as much to advance conservative objectives (Tea Party objectives, in many cases) as anyone has with her public statements.

So why don't we all--Palin fans or not--step back, take a few deep breaths, and remember what is important?  Here's a hint:  it's not winning an argument on the internet.

What's important again?

I wanted to finish up a few half-completed posts during the holiday, but ever since I saw how bad the wildfires all over the central Texas area have been, I really haven't been in the mood.

I know one firefighter taking on the Spicewood/Pedernales fire who was on the job for four days straight until he got four hours of sleep today.  I know his wife, who has had to learn to deal with his being gone for days at a time.  I know at least one family who is out of their home in Steiner Ranch right now and is waiting at least until tomorrow to get back into their house.

And when I see that, when I see those people--real people affected by this touch of hell--other topics just don't seem as important right this second.  Not that I don't believe that some of the topics about which I write are not important (though I'm sure not all of them are), but this is more important.  If you are reading this and are not in the central Texas area, it's really bad.  If you can do so, please help.  The Red Cross is a good place to start if you want to help.  And if you can't help, or even if you can, please pray.

Palin's Tea Party Rally speech...and a warning

I don't know about anyone else, but to me, Sarah Palin's speech at the Tea Party Rally today sure made it seem as if she is going to be a presidential candidate before too long.  It was a great speech, taking aim at the "permanent political class" on both sides of the aisle (because we all know that neither side has a monopoly on people whose first priority is to stay in power), and it laid out a great plan for helping to move America forward.  (That sounds like a good name for an organization...one that I didn't actually remember until I typed those words, but still...)

The full speech (with thanks to The Right Scoop and Conservatives 4 Palin for pointing me in the right direction) can be found right here.  It's just over 40 minutes, but well worth watching.



I'd include some of the best quotes from the speech, but, as usual, Jedediah Bila has beaten me to it.  A sampling of her picks are as follows:

“What brought us together is a love of country and we see that America is hurting. We’re not willing to just sit back and watch her demise through some fundamental transformation … we’re here to begin the restoration of the country that we love. We’re here because America is at a tipping point.”

“Politicians are so focused on the symptoms and not the disease … so this is why we must remember that the challenge is not simply to replace Obama in 2012, but the challenge is who or what we will replace him with.”

“My plan is a bona-fide pro-working man’s plan and it deals in reality … My plan is about empowerment, empowerment of our states, empowerment of our entrepreneurs … empowerment of you, our hard-working individuals.

“Real hope is in you. It’s not that hopey-changey stuff that we heard about in 2008 … Real hope comes from realizing that ‘we the people’ can make the difference.”

I ended with that last quote on purpose.  What Ms. Bila snipped from that quote was the sentence just before, which stated that real hope should not be in any one person (at least in the political word...my hope is indeed in one Person, which is good because I'm a bit of a screw-up on my own).  I warned years ago about people forming a cult of personality around President Obama or Governor Palin.  As I said then, the policies are the important thing, not the person.  And, as we've seen (and as I recently pointed out), the true believers react very negatively when their object is belittled in any way.  That isn't standing up for a policy, that's standing up for a person.

But with that said, there now seems to be an Anti-Palin cult of personality as well (or would that be a cult of anti-personality?), in which the members react negatively when their object is praised.  (Yes, there's one of those for President Obama as well...you've seen it, I'm sure.)

So my advice (which I am mostly offering to myself, since I'll forget this within 48 hours, most likely) is not to be a member in such a cult, and not to engage someone who is obviously a member of an anti-cult.  Let them stew in their overly intense emotions, and you work toward bringing about the change you want to see in this country.  If someone running for anything shares your views (as, for example, Sarah Palin seems to share mine), then work with them.  But don't focus on a person too much, to the detriment of the country.