The Obamidas Touch

Ann Coulter, on Obama's bad hair day on Tuesday:

Just two days before the election, Obama was at a rally in New Jersey assuring voters that Corzine was "one of the best partners I have in the White House. We work together. ... Jon Corzine helped get this done."

Except the problem is that voting for Obama a year ago was a fashion statement, much like it was once a fad to buy Beanie Babies, pet rocks and Cabbage Patch Kids. But instead of ending up with a ridiculous dust-collector at the bottom of your closet, the Obama fad leaves you with higher taxes, a reduced retirement fund, no job and a one-year wait for an MRI.

Read the rest here.

Associated Press article on Gov. Grinch's change of heart on state Christmas tree

Here is Joe Biesk's story from the AP on Gov. Beshear's foxhole conversion on the state Christmas Tree. It is truly a wonder just how out of touch the Beshear administration is with what Kentuckians believe. In what political parallel universe is it a good idea to change the name of the state Christmas tree to the state "Holiday tree" in a state as conservative as Kentucky?

But not only are their ideas bad in their inception, these people are also just slow on the uptake.

Last week, the Governor and his advisors unapologetically defended the idea of his "Holiday Tree." It took them an entire week to realize what a truly astounding political blunder they had made.

It started when the Associated Press story about the decision got wide play all over the state, as well as around the country. Then a Facebook group formed that, as of this writing, has over 15,000 members.

“For Gov. Beshear, it is a Christmas tree. Period. The end,” [Kerri] Richardson said. “That first request from the Finance Cabinet didn't reflect that, but the governor speaks for himself. He's calling it a Christmas tree. That's what it is.”

No, Kerri, it's not the end. In fact, it may be just the beginning. Despite the Governor's new attitude, the Facebook group is still growing. In one utterly ridiculous decision, the Governor created a whole new body of opposition. Amazing.

These are 15,000 people that could be tapped the next time the Governor makes a bad decision--like running for reelection.

And then there's our favorite "ethicist": Paul Simmons. Simmons was the ethics professor at Southern Seminary in the days before Al Mohler cleaned the seminary's Aegean stables. They used to trot him out every time the issue of abortion flared up so he could explain the ethical justification for killing unborn babies. Now, Simmons, who works for James Ramsey over at U of L, is being trotted out to explain why Christmas trees should be called something else.

Here is Simmons from an earlier story:

Using the term “holiday tree” typically is intended to avoid offending people who are not Christian, said Paul Simmons, an ethics professor at the University of Louisville.

Maybe Simmons could tell us precisely who was offended by the state Christmas tree. Then we could compare it to the 15,000 members of the Facebook group.

And he said “holiday tree” is the more fitting description, considering that the tradition started among pagans and was later blended into the Christian celebration of Christmas.

Hmmm. So why is this a reason to call it a "Holiday tree"? Is there a buildup of pagans in Frankfort? It would explain a few things.

Answers for a confused Jake

Jake, over at Page One Kentucky, takes Yours Truly to task for making wry comments about Gov. Grinch, who decided the other day to replace the state Christmas Tree with a "Holiday Tree." Jake, who apparently sides with the Grinch on this one, asks:

Where are these alleged Christians when health services are cut? Where are these alleged Christians when education is cut? Where are these alleged Christians when the homeless are turned away? Where are these alleged Christians when rivers are being poisoned?

Let's see. Where do we start?

"Where are these alleged Christians when health services are cut?" Um, well, we might find them still writing charitable donation checks from their continually decreasing disposable income which is shrinking because the government is taking an in increasing share of it back to Washington where, after government bureaucrats take their percentage and then send it back here where they don't do as good a job as churches would have done it, they send it back here.

"Where are these alleged Christians when education is cut?" Let's see, how about continuing to pay for it even though many of them are sending their own kids to real schools and having to pay for that too?

"Where are these alleged Christians when the homeless are turned away?" Turned away from where? Church Homeless Shelters, at the order of government officials, like in New York City?

"Where are these alleged Christians when rivers are being poisoned?" How about condemning it on our blog when it happens?

And what, may we ask, is Jake doing about these things?

Grinch Alert: Governor Grinch returns state Christmas tree

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear's heart has grown three sizes today. He has returned to Whoville and brought the state Christmas tree. Given the public outcry, it shouldn't surprise us in the least. Maybe we can even get him to carve the roast beast.

Is Global Warming a religion?

I've said it before: Religion abhors a vacuum. In other words, when people lose their real religion, they inevitably end up replacing it with a convenient secular substitute. As if in proof of this thesis, a British course has now given belief in Global Warming the same legal status as religious belief (at least as far as employment discrimination law).

Don't say we didn't tell you it was coming.

Grinch Alert: Mob of angry Whos on Facebook want their Christmas tree back

All the Whos down in Whoville, the tall and the small, are as mad as, ... well, heck (In case you didn't know it, that's as mad as Whos ever get). Anyway, they're not going to take it any more. They are fed up with Gov. Grinch making off with their Christmas tree and replacing it with a "Holiday Tree."

A growing mob is forming over at Facebook calling on Kentucky's Grinch-in-Chief to return the tree or, ... or, ... or they're going to do whatever it is Whos do when they get angry.

There are now over 13,000 members of the Facebook group.

You see, last week, the Governor, dressed up as Santa Claus, crept into town under the cover of political darkness, slithered down the chimney, and decided to shove the state Christmas tree up through the fireplace.

But as he did this, he heard something, and it wasn't the coo of a dove.

Instead, it was Roger Alford, a reporter at the Whoville bureau of the Associated Press, who had just gotten a press release from the Kentucky Finance Cabinet seeking donations for a state "Holiday Tree," and he caught the Governor red-handed.

"Santy Claus, why?" asked Alford, objectively getting out his notepad and taking the pencil from behind his ear, "Why are you taking the state Christmas tree? Why?"

But the Governor was sly and the Governor was slick. He sent for a spokesperson and he sent for her quick. The aid, Cindy Lanham, explained that "the holiday tree reference is meant to be inclusive of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's."

Okay. Why not just throw in Easter, Columbus Day, Presidents Day, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? And don't forget Groundhog Day, and the much neglected Friendship Day. We could even include St. Patrick's Day. After all, the tree is green.

The chief problem, apparently, was that the Christmas tree could only be appreciated by people who actually celebrate Christmas, and not by people who don't.

Why the Governor thinks this is a problem is unclear. Have there been complaints about the state Christmas tree? Is there some problem with a baby in a manger bringing peace on earth and good will toward men?

The idea behind "Diversity" is that no one can do anything they want to unless no one else is offended. The only way to avoid this, of course, is to make everyone and everything the same.

That's why they call it "Diversity."

In fact, the liberals have somehow failed to notice that every time they try not to offend people, it just makes them mad. The Governor apparently hasn't noticed this.

It could be his head is not screwed on just right. It could be perhaps that his shoes are too tight. But some think that the most likely reason of all may be that the Governor's political judgment is two sizes too small.

In any case, they were going to take the tree back to the workshop. "We'll take it up there," they said, gesturing toward the Division of Forestry, "and we'll bring it back here."

So they patted Alford on the head, and sent him back to the media office on the 2nd floor of the Capitol building, at which point, the Governor went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up. The last thing he left was the log on the fire.

Apparently, the Governor really thought this act would be appreciated. So he put his hand to his ear. And he did hear a sound rising over the bluegrass. It started in low, then it started to grow...

The problem is it was sound of over 13,000 people on the "Save the Christmas Tree" Facebook page wanting their Christmas tree back. In fact, the thing has now blown up into a major public relations headache for state Grinch officials. They puzzled over it three hours till their puzzler was sore.

Alford's story has now spread far and wide, and has even been carried by national news organizations like Forbes and USA Today.

More and more people are finding out now that no Christmas is coming in the Commonwealth. They're just waking up, and I know just what they'll do. Their mouths will hang open a minute or two, then the Governor's public relations people will all cry Boo-Hoo!

Other people have tried to stop Christmas from coming, but it came just the same. It will come without ribbons. It will come without tags. It will come without packages, boxes, or bags. It will even come without a tree.

In fact, the only thing really in danger is the reputation of a few state politicians. If they're not careful, the roast beast won't be the only thing that gets carved up this Christmas.

On Miscounting

Well, you certainly can't accuse the National Center for Science Education's Josh Rosenau of favoring any particular fallacy. Having shown some proficiency in guilt by association argumentation, and then diversifying into the fallacy of excluded middle and the ad hominem fallacy (perhaps his favorite), he is now inventing mathematical fallacies heretofore unknown.

Mathematics? Surely he will perform better in this field than he has in the other matters linked to above. He is after all, a scientist--or at least a scientist with training wheels on, in contrast to yours truly, whose last formal encounter with mathematics was college calculus, taken only under threat of not completing the university general education requirements.

But, alas, even mathematics seems to pose a challenge for our overexcitable science grad student.

I had pointed to the letter signed by 162 members of the American Physical Society, including one Nobel Prize winner and 12 members of the National Academies, contesting an official letter sent by APS leaders that we must pass legislation that will have devastating effects on our economy to prevent the End of the World as We Know It.

Here is Rosenau's response, from his post "On Counting":

Alas for Cothran, the APS has 47,189 members, so the dissent of 162 hardly undermines a claim of consensus.

Trouble is that's 162 more members that have gone individually on record in support of the organization's official stance. Rosenau apparently didn't note this paragraph in the letter from the dissenting APS members:

We know of no evidence that any of the “leaders” of the scientific community who signed the letter to you ever asked their membership for their opinions, before claiming to represent them on this important matter.

So we have 47,189 members whose positions are unknown and 162 members, some prominent, who are on record. In other words, the fact that there are 47,189 members doesn't mean anything, since we don't know where they stand.

But it doesn't matter. The End is Near. Just keep repeating it.

The Egyptian Gold: Why we read the pagans

From my "Letter from the Editor" in the upcoming issue of the Classical Teacher magazine:

Moses had stood before Pharaoh more than once asking him to let his people go, and plague upon plague had been brought against the Egyptians as a result of Pharaoh's refusal. There were plagues of blood, frogs, and gnats; of wild animals, pestilence, and boils; and of hail, locusts, and darkness. Then the final stroke: "Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharaoh and Egypt, and after that he shall let you go and thrust you out."

And this He did. When God was through with the Egyptians, they wanted nothing more than that their land be rid of the Hebrews and their God, Who had visited such calamity upon them: "And the Egyptians pressed the people to go forth out of the land speedily, saying: We shall all die."

It is here that something strange happens:

And the children of Israel did as Moses had commanded: and they asked of the Egyptians vessels of silver and gold, and very much raiment. And the Lord gave favour to the people in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them: and they stripped the Egyptians.¹

On their way out of Egypt, the people showered the Hebrews with their gold and precious things. What happened to these things? Yes, the Hebrews lapsed into their Egyptian habits and made for themselves a golden calf, but, under the leadership of Moses, they used these things to fashion the articles of the Tabernacle. They took the things used for the worship of idols and turned them to the worship of the one true God.

Many hundreds of years later, in a different time and place, St. Augustine saw an important lesson in this story. Just as, by the command of God, the Hebrews despoiled the Egyptians of their treasures and turned them to the service of God, Augustine said, so we are commanded to take the intellectual treasures of the heathen and turn them to better use:

In the same way all branches of heathen learning have not only false and superstitious fancies and heavy burdens of unnecessary toil, which every one of us ... ought to abhor and avoid; but they contain also liberal instruction which is better adapted to the use of the truth, and some most excellent precepts of morality; and some truths in regard even to the worship of the One God are found among them. Now these are, so to speak, their gold and silver, which they did not create themselves, but dug out of the mines of God's providence which are everywhere scattered abroad, and are perversely and unlawfully prostituting to the worship of devils.²

Some people ask why we should read the pagans. If we are to separate ourselves from the world, shouldn't we do away with worldly things? But Augustine asks us to consider whether the learning of the ancients is, in itself, a worldly thing. If it is true, can it have its origin in anything but God? The treasures of the Egyptians are not Egyptian treasures, he says, for they are "dug out of the mines of God's providence." If this is so, then we are not only allowed to use them, but obliged to take them and put them into the service of the good.

If those who are called philosophers ... have said aught that is true and in harmony with our faith, we are not only not to shrink from it, but to claim it for our own use from those who have unlawful possession of it.

As we look around us, we realize that we are in much the same position as Augustine, who died as Rome was falling to the barbarians. As the empire of Rome cane apart, its treasures fell into the lap of the Church, which preserved them through the Dark Ages for use in a better time.

We are witness to a new barbarism that works to destroy our culture through the very institutions of learning that were founded to pass it on. Our nation’s schools, which once took it as their mission to pass on Western civilization, are now as enthusiastic in wanting to rid themselves of their treasures as were the Egyptians. And once again the Church is in the position of preserving the Egyptian gold.

The Church, in fact, is the only institution with either the ability or the inclination to do this. "It is only Christian men," said Chesterton , who "guard even heathen things."<sup>3

1</sup>Exodus 12: 35-36
²St. Augustin, On Christian Doctrine, Ch. 40
³G. K. Chesterton

Some Consensus, say 162 members of American Physical Society

162 members and fellows of the American Physical Society beg to differ with their organization's official position declaring that the Sky is Falling:

You have recently received a letter from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), purporting to convey a “consensus” of the scientific community that immediate and drastic action is needed to avert a climatic catastrophe.

We do not seek to make the scientific arguments here (we did that in an earlier letter, sent a couple of months ago), but simply to note that the claim of consensus is fake, designed to stampede you into actions that will cripple our economy, and which you will regret for many years. There is no consensus, and even if there were, consensus is not the test of scientific validity. Theories that disagree with the facts are wrong, consensus or no.

We know of no evidence that any of the “leaders” of the scientific community who signed the letter to you ever asked their memberships for their opinions, before claiming to represent them on this important matter ...

Read the rest here.

You're a Mean One, Gov. Grinch

Would it be a small problem, or maybe a large,
If the Whos, by mistake, had the Grinch put in charge?
What if, without knowing, the wrong man was selected?
What if the Grinch, in disguise, was elected?
To some, such a thing might seem rather unlucky,
But they’re asking this question in Frankfort, Kentucky.

In the city of Frankfort, the Capitol town,
They’re trying to take the state’s Christmas tree down.
To be more precise, the tree’s being replaced
By something much more to ACLU taste.
The change can be traced to some government types
Who don’t want to hear people’s groans or their gripes.

Among these, it’s said, is a high public official
Who thinks Christmas trees are too prejudicial.
To have one, he thinks, would be much too offensive.
A Christmas tree might make some people defensive.
The man who is lacking in Yuletide good cheer
Is none other than Gov. Stephen Beshear.

He’s made up his mind; he’s not going to change it.
He’s not taking calls, so don’t try to arrange it.
In fact, he’s already made his public decisions
About the traditional state Christmas provisions,
In a pronouncement that could have come straight from Mt. Crumpit
He told all the Whos down in Whoville to lump it.

From the governor’s office, where fingers were drumming
He announced, “I must prevent Christmas from coming!”
He said in a strong-throated country drawl,
“The best way to do Christmas is not to do it at all.”
And the way he will do this, he said with a frown,
“Is to put some things up and to take some things down.”

“Instead of the state decking halls for the season,
Why not give the whole Christmas time thing a new reason?
Take the pop guns, the skates, the drums, and the bicycles,
The stockings, the popcorn, the plums, and the tricycles...
What if, instead of the Whos’ having a feast,
We took the Who pudding, and took the roast beast …

“And used them for something a lot more inclusive,
Something less troublesome, and much less obtrusive.
What if, instead of the Yule celebration,
We did something else that is sweeping the nation?
Instead of observing what Christmas is for,
Let’s shove the traditions right out the front door?

“Angels and shepherds and babies and mangers,
The whole Christmas thing is filled up with dangers
There must be no trace of nativity scenes
Or Linus explaining just what the day means.
Mary, and Joseph, and ‘no room in the inn,’”
Said Gov. Grinch—or maybe his twin,

“Let’s have a holiday not so exclusive,
One the ACLU lawyers won’t find so abusive.
In order to avoid any Whos being offended,
We must see that the whole Christmas thing is upended.
The best thing to do, we’re sure all will agree,
Is to put up a newfangled ‘Holiday Tree.’”

In case it was said with too little directness
He’s making the case for politi-correctness.
There’s Hanukah, Kwanzaa, and Thanksgiving day,
Let’s lump them together so we can hear people say:
“Umoja!" “Shalom!” and "Kujichagulia!"
Anything, as long as it’s not, “Halleluia!”

The real Grinch, just in case some have forgot,
Learned a valuable lesson, and learned it a lot.
His heart, which to start was two-sizes too small,
Got bigger and did so in no time at all.
The lesson is one we can’t help but to mention:
It’s well worth the Governor’s Grinchy attention.

His cave now stands vacant, there’s nobody in it.
But the Grinch’s old home could be filled in a minute.
It was put on the market, but never was sold
It still has his furniture, food, and some mold.
But it’s perfect for those whose Grinchified missions
Have made them into out-of-work politicians.

Throwing good money after bad: Obama bails out GMAC again

The Central Committee of the Obama Revolution has announced that it is bailing out GMAC for the third time. Funny how all those people who have preached to us for years about the evils of corporate welfare are out in force defending the Obama administration's decision.

Oh, and then there's all that rhetoric about Republicans being the part of big corporations. Yet the only businesses getting bailouts are the big ones. The little guys are bing hung out to dry.

It Came from Washington: Obama's money back guarantee on health care

Ann Coulter on Obama the snake oil salesman:

The most important fact about the "opt out" scheme allegedly allowing states to decline government health insurance is that a state can't "opt out" of paying for it. All 50 states will pay for it. A state legislature can only opt out of allowing its own citizens to receive the benefits of a federal program they're paying for.

It's like a movie theater offering a "money back guarantee" and then explaining, you don't get your money back, but you don't have to stay and watch the movie if you don't like it. That's not what most people are thinking when they hear the words "opt out." The term more likely to come to mind is "scam."

Read the rest here.