Archive for December, 2010

David Karki

Democrats suffer the largest mid-term defeat in modern American political history, have an all-time record-low approval rating of 13%, and they respond to that by ramming through everything that caused that loss and rating in a despicable lame-duck session.

With Republicans set to have the House majority, President Obama responds by ordering executive branch alphabet soup agencies to unilaterally force down America’s throat via regulation every freedom-crushing policy he now will never get through Congress. From tyrannical EPA regulations to the resurrection of Obamacare “death panels”, personal liberty is under assault by our own federal government and top elected officials as never before.

And if they had it to do over again, President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid proudly boast that they wouldn’t change a thing, so convinced are they that the leftist ends justify any unconstitutional and fascist means, and that it was well worth it to lose short-term office in order to gain long-term authoritarian power.

How much longer will it take for us to wake up and realize that the Democrats are a relentless, vicious enemy that will stop at nothing to win? That King George III in 1776 had nothing on these thugs? That they cannot be reasoned with, or bargained with, don’t feel a hint of remorse or pity, and are egotistically incapable of shedding their leftist delusions and accepting reality? Read the rest of this entry »

Jill Ciminillo

I’d like to think the hatchback craze has finally started to catch on in the US. And when you have vehicles like the 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX 5-door, how could it not?

What an interesting, fast, attractive, functional and fun vehicle. The compact bullet shape is perfect for city driving, and the 265-horsepower, 2.5-liter turbocharged Boxer engine is pure glee.

This is exactly the kind of car I could own living in Chicago. The compact size and I-mean-business hood scoop had me at hello. The peppy engine power and smooth 5-speed manual transmission got me shortly thereafter.

My first foray onto the highway had me smiling with delight at the quick on-ramp acceleration. And the tight steering and stiff suspension had me weaving in and out of traffic like a race car driver. The ride and handling was all sport and not an iota of cheap.

Which is nice considering the base price of the WRX is $26,220 with destination. And that includes the standard all-wheel drive (AWD), steering wheel audio controls, Bluetooth connectivity, iPod integration and Sirius Satellite Radio. Personally, that’s all I’d need in a car.

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Bob Maistros

Well.  Yesterday I was merely a Neanderthal and a bigot.  Today I’m also a strawman taking punches for my North Star pen pal Dacia Nichol.  Always happy to help, amiga.

The problem is that the strawmen at which Dacia is actually flailing are all of her own construction.  For example, the curious notion that I – a person definitively of the male persuasion – would imagine that we guys can only act like Neanderthals.

What America really wants.

I happen to think very highly of my own sex.  After all, with fellas at the helm, America tossed out the Brits; drafted the Declaration and the Constitution; built a country coast-to-coast; invented the light bulb, the telephone, the phonograph, the automobile, the electrical grid, motion pictures, nuclear power, transistors, semiconductors, computers and the Internet; won a mess of wars, including two big ones; pretty much grew the biggest, baddest economic machine the world has ever seen; and, for the most part, safeguarded America’s freedom not just from enemies abroad but also from rapacious and interfering government.

Oh, and by the way:  along the line, many if not most of us turned out to be pretty good, reliable husbands and fathers.

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Dan Calabrese

Recalling the oh-so-important debates of 10 years ago, I suppose we can all agree now that the first decade of the 21st Century is over – or will be at midnight tonight. If you think it ended a year ago, OK by me. If you think it’s in its final hours, enjoy!

Seen any of this? Me neither.

The quickness or slowness of time passing usually has to do with frame of reference. I wrote on The Michigan View this morning that it seems like Jennifer Granholm has been governor of Michigan for 80 years, perhaps because she was such a terrible governor that she makes me feel older than I already am.

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Dan Calabrese

It’s confusing. It was written a long time ago.

Seriously, how did this guy get to be a columnist? Have you ever read his columns? They were never very good to begin with, and as Moe Tkacick points out in the Washington City Paper, he has quickly devolved into little more than a predictable, mini-David Broder spewing Washington’s conventional wisdom of the day.

It doesn’t bother me if you want to have a 2o-something columnist, but presumably you would take on a columnist like this in order to get a perspective that’s actually thoughtful, interesting and different. Sort of like we have here with Dacia Nichol.

But what the hell do you get from Ezra Klein? He doesn’t say anything you won’t hear from E.J. Dionne, Eugene Robinson or a whole host of other Washington lifers, and on top of that, he’s dumb. The Constitution is “confusing”?

Maybe to you, Ezra. Because you’re dumb. For God’s sakes.

Dacia Nichol

I was going to have to recap all the ”femi-nazi” rebuttals from yesterday for my piece today before arguing my defense, but it seems my colleague Bob Maistros has done me a big favor. In place of a straw man, I have a real live one to take my throwback punches! Thanks, Bob. You’re the best.

Man creates dinosaur. Dinosaur eats Bob. Dacia rules the world.

Bob, along with most of the men I spoke with yesterday, seems to think I’m arguing that women can’t achieve the same things as men by acting like men. This was not my point. Women can embody those qualities if they must, and they have achieved much success doing so. It’s just that the sacrifices that they’ve had to make to do so have seemingly evolved into the very problems that Bob has pointed to as a result of all these social changes: Women in the work force has led to the breakdown of the traditional family and has dooming consequences for “society, the economy, and public health.”

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Brett Noel

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Bob Maistros

You know, I’m left scratching my rather desolate Neanderthal pate after reading Dacia Nichol’s call for a “Neo-Con Feminism.” What exactly does my talented young North Star National colleague want that isn’t already being served up on a silver platter?

Dacia seems to desire fuller participation by women in the economy.  Granted.

Your future boss.

To start with, women of Dacia’s generation now make up nearly 60 percent of college enrollments.  It’s been estimated that at the current rate, the last male will graduate from an American college in 2067.

If our universities – and grad schools – increasingly churn out female graduates, what are the prospects for women in the economy?  Bright.  Women of Dacia’s generation are already earning more than their male counterparts, and unemployment in the current “he-cession” has fallen almost entirely on men.

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Bob Maistros

Wrack the bowels with violent purges, fa la la la la, la la la la
‘Tis the age to scope for scourges, fa la la la la, la la la la
Don we now backless apparel, fa la la, la la la, la la la
Heck with dignity, you’re sterile, fa la la la la, la la la la.

We're from the healthcare system, and we're here to help.

Writhe around in kidney stone mirth, fa la la la la, la la la la
Hear again, “It’s just like childbirth,” fa la la la la, la la la la
Back to ER Christmas morning, fa la la, la la la, la la la
An obstruction’s now aborning, fa la la la la, la la la la.

Back to OR for more scoping, fa la la la la, la la la la
Different opening, lots more coping, fa la la la la, la la la la
Stent goes in with lots of mangling, fa la la, la la la, la la la
Wire from an appendage dangling, fa la la la la, la la la la.

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Dacia Nichol

I have a confession to make. I am overcoming a bout of feminist flu. Yes, I tried kicking it with every capitalist, “man up” vitamin mixture I could think of, but in the end it took some good old-fashioned rest to recover from it. The culprit? My political theory class, which forced me to do some research on women’s rights thinkers from back “in the day”. Apparently, Victoria Woodhull is contagious.

No.

Now that I’m back in a more stable state of mind (and I say “stable” because nothing kicks writer’s block into gear more than ideological confusion), I’d like to reflect on my experience as it relates to the progress of capitalism.

First of all, I’ve concluded that feminism and capitalism are complimentary bedfellows. I’m still not sold on forced diversity quotas or equal pay legislation, but I do see where the two forces help one another.

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