Favorite Quotes

I needed a place to keep my favorite quotes. What better place than here? So here we go (in no particular order)...

1. "Marge, it takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen." Homer Simpson
2. "Greed is good." Gordon Gecko, Wall Street
3. "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." John Adams
4. "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln
5. "Evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb." Dark Helmet, Spaceballs
6. "I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me Superman." Homer Simpson
7. "My Homer is not a communist. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but he is not a porn star." Grandpa Simpson
8. Business man: "I'll have a Samual Jackson" Samual Jackson: "Good motherf**king choice, motherf**ker! Samuel Jackson! Made painstakingly by me, Samuel L. Jackson! It'll get ya drunk! You'll be f**king fat girls in no time! You might even fight a n**ga or two! Mmmm-mmm, b*tch! How's it taste, motherf**ker?!" Chappelle Show

9.  "Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and curse the Marines; you have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago 's death, while tragic, probably saved lives and that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use then as the backbone of a life trying to defend something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you," and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest that you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to."  Col. Jessup, A Few Good Men

More to come...

A trillion dollar debacle

“Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Translation: We’re going to ram $1 trillion of new spending down America’s throat under the guise of a “stimulus” bill that benefits a laundry list of Democratic special interests while we have the opportunity and before America knows they’re buying. It’s time to pay the piper.

Reality: The only “stimulus” this will provide is strengthening the possibility of permanent Democratic party power, burdening future generations with debt, inflation, and stagnation. Such a huge shift of our national GDP from the private sector to the government will crowd out people’s and business’s ability to borrow, thus slowing recovery. Every special interest in the world will descend upon Washington for a piece of the pie. The federal government will be the ultimate distributor of scarce resources. Politicians will decide who wins and loses based on who can help keep them in power. It’s going to be a disaster.

Even more frustrating is that the Republicans’ beef with the socialism bill seems to be that they were not included in its construction and therefore not able to write in goodies for their special interest supporters. It’s the “you didn’t play fair” defense instead of in defense of market-oriented principles. If it's defeated, I guess I should just be satisfied that with the endgame rather than the tactics.

Perception Is Reality

There’s a trend in political commentary that brands bills or events to the person in charge at the time. It’s not the “tax cuts of 2001 passed under Bush;” it’s the “Bush tax cuts.” It’s not the “welfare reform passed under Clinton;” it’s the “Clinton welfare reform.” Branding is important because in politics, perception matters. For example, welfare reform was strongly opposed by Clinton before he signed the ‘The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996’ after Dick Morris, a Clinton advisor, persuaded him that not signing the bill would cost Democrats more seats in the mid-term elections and after he vetoed two previous versions of the bill. Clinton now receives credit for the bill’s success despite his previous objections.

Consider the economic turmoil we now face. Despite incompetence on both sides of the aisle, Bush in particular and Republicans in general have been blamed for recent economic hardships in the court of public opinion. It’s been called the “Bush recession,” or the more draconian “Bush depression.” The main stream media continue to drive this home with little analysis but plenty of blame. With a recent Zogby poll showing that over 60% of Obama voters believe Republicans control Congress, it’s no wonder Democrats were hurled into the Presidency and strengthened its hold in the Legislative Branch.

I suspect the economy will continue to sputter in the near future based on Obama’s policy initiatives. Obama will receive a grace period of perhaps a year. The media’s love affair with him will buy a grace period longer than any conservative would be afforded. He will continue (wisely) to blame problems on Bush, but this can’t last forever. Democrats are better at framing the debate partially because they have the mainstream media to trumpet their message. Conservative leadership must become better branders and find effective ways to get their message out if they wish to regain power. In politics, perception is reality.