Conservative Donnybrook

I saw this story on one of the news channels the other day and thought of LTG. We have had a number of sparring bouts over the role of parents versus the role the of the State. This story is interesting because the State is recognizing the rights of the parent (and every right carries with it a corresponding duty) to provide for his child’s education. Unfortunately for Mr. Gegner, he was found in dereliction of his duty to educate his daughter when she failed the mathematics section of her General Education Development exam. Mr. Gegner was charged with “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” after the court had ordered him to see that his daughter passed the exam. She had a previous history of truancy.

If, as LTG likes to point out, a child’s education is entirely within the purview of the parents, isn’t this an appropriate ruling? With the right, comes the responsibility. Of course, the flipside is: If the onus were on the State to educate the child, would then the delinquency of this minor fall upon her public school teachers? As tempting as it is for me to endorse that outcome, I find both results absurd. After all, the world needs ditch diggers too.

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In the finale of a weeklong homage to Mother’s Day, Code Pink has asked women to appear at an anti-military rally in Berkeley prepared to cast spells, do rituals, and impart wisdom in order to end war. Friday will be “Witches, clowns and sirens day.”

Reportedly, harpies, shrews and harridans are feeling left out. Phone calls to the National Organization for Women asking for a reaction to being left out of Code Pink’s Friday rally have been unreturned.

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A few weeks ago, House Resolution 5800 was introduced on the House floor by its sole sponsor Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa). The bill would amend the tax code by inserting a tax on windfall profits on oil and natural gas companies. What constitutes windfall profits? Well, that would be decided by the newly formed Reasonable Profits Board - a board of three persons, appointed by the president, whose job it would be to determine when a company has surpassed a reasonable level of profits and has entered windfall territory.

For the legions of Conservative Donnybrook readers in Pennsylvania, we would simply remind you that Paul Kanjorski is up for reelection this year. Don’t send this guy back to Washington.

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Make that “Feeways.”  The MTA in Los Angeles has voted to take make several lanes on our local freeways toll lanes.  While this is not new to many parts of the nation, we here in southern California cherish our freeway system.  We already pay tax on gasoline to fund freeway improvements and maintenance.  Toll lanes will simply increase traffic in the non-toll lanes (while they still exist) and give higher income drivers the benefit of a quicker commute at the expense of the middle and lower classes.

Please, write Mayor Villaraigosa and let him know that this is a horrible plan and should not be implemented. 

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa 
200 North Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Fax at (213) 978-0655

mayor@lacity.org

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After reading Karl’s rhythmically challenged comments on “Kiddie Cocktails” I nominate him for number one on this list!  Move over Rob Van Winkle!

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Scientists at the University of Western Ontario have discovered that fat makes us - well - fat.  How? 

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is an appetite-stimulating hormone produced by our brains, which is responsible for a lot of our drive to eat. Scientists had previously thought that overweight people simply had more NPY flowing from their heads than they needed. As it turns out, the UWO study found that not only do our brains produce NPY, but our abdominal fat makes it as well.

A vicious cycle, indeed.

Next thing you know, they’ll say thinking turns your brain to mush.

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A Yale art student has taken to “artificially inseminat[ing] herself ‘as often as possible’ while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages” in an effort to “spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body.”  I have a feeling Ms. Shvarts might be undermining her own agenda here, as sacreligious ”artwork” like this tends to spur the most ardent of pro-lifers to take a collective step back.

HT to Douthat who, like me, expresses skepticism as to the authenticity of this postmodern filth.

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Perhaps I have grown overly cynical, but I saw this Fox News report and my first thought was, “Well, sure, lower the drinking age, and you’ll increase the tax base.” Especially if, as awb writes, states increase the alcohol tax significantly.

Apparently, seven states are considering lowering the drinking age to 18. Kentucky, Wisconsin, and South Carolina would lower the drinking age for persons in the military. I really have no problem with this idea, especially if the drinking is confined to military installations. If we can ask these young men and women to fight and possibly die for their country, they should be able to purchase a beer. If you have an M-16, you should be able to have a Budweiser. Nonetheless, they would probably have a bit of a legal battle on their hands if they were to pass legislation, which on its face, discriminates against others in the same age group based upon their military service. South Dakota, Missouri, Vermont and Minnesota, sidestep this problem by lowering the drinking age for all children.

I suppose its a sign that I’m too old (you can’t trust me; I’m over thirty), but I hate to think of what would happen to the music at my favorite watering holes if youngsters were allowed to control the jukebox. For that reason, I oppose extending drinking privileges to children.

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Here’s a useful reminder that the ubiquitous “medical” advice that we all need to drink eight glasses of water a day to maintain health is basically an urban legend, despite what you may have heard on the Today Show or somesuch. So if you’re still force-feeding yourself Aquafina all day long you can stop, and just return to the timeless wisdom of our ancestors: drink when you’re thirsty! Via Futurepundit.

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Good news for cheeseburger lovers. A new study conducted in Japan concludes that people with low levels of LDL cholesterol (the so-called “bad cholesterol”) are more likely to die than those who have high LDL levels. In the end, as Willmoore has pointed out before, science is an evolving art.

Feel free to order the double, the triple, or throw caution to the wind and double the triple with cheese. Might as well get bacon on that. Special sauce? You bet! Oooh, and chili cheese tater tots.

In short, it appears the fast food restaurants are our friends. They only want us to be healthy and long-lived. After all, it’s good business.

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I am an unemployed attorney. The glory that was student loan money has long since dried up and as I look for proper attorney work I have been forced to live off the graces of my parents. I have been searching long and hard, with no success, for a stop-gap job to make a little money with while the real job hunt continues.

I thought that things might have changed when I went to the post office today to mail more resumes out. Posted on the wall was a job for “temporary rural carrier.” For anyone who knows me, they would know that this is the perfect temporary job for me (other than maybe a groundskeeper) and hell, it paid $13 an hour. I figured I could tear around back country roads like the Duke Boys, blasting the Allman Brothers and delivering the mail. So I asked one of the postal workers for the application. Much to my surprised he returned with a twenty page behemoth of an application. For a TEMPORARY mail carrying job. I figured by the time I actually made it through interviews and got the job it would be time to collect social security. Needless to say the application has found the bottom of my trash can and the back country dream is dead for now.

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WASHINGTON, DC—As you may have heard, there were protests here today to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. I, your intrepid reporter from the Conservative Donnybrook Washington Bureau, humbly bring the story to you.

My reporting activities began this morning, as I was walking through McPherson Square on the way to work. Some people with oddly-colored hair were milling around. One guy was wearing a polar bear costume. There were no more than a couple dozen protestors around. I continued up Vermont Avenue alongside 20-odd folks who were carrying a large prop that I didn’t bother to look at, and one of them shouted, “Wake up, America!”   Continue Reading »

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NPR correspondent Richard Harris tells the story of how the warmth of global warming has gone into hiding.  Research buoys spread across the oceans have reported a slight decrease in ocean temperatures since they were first deployed in 2003.  “The heat has gone even deeper into the ocean,” reports Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.  “It’s probably going back out into space” he also theorizes. 

Well, Doc, which is it?  Do you think that it just may be possible that there is no warming trend?  After all, this is what the objective scientific instruments suggest.  But why believe them, they probably have an agenda unlike Al Gore and the rest of the global temperature saviors!

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800 dogs, mostly Chihuahuas, were found inside a Tucson, Arizona’s triple-wide trailer home on Wednesday.  As if the mega pack was not enough, over 80 exotic birds were also discovered.

The majority of the animals are in decent health but, as could be expected, the home was in shambles.  Feces and urine covered the trailer and many animals were forced to stand side by side in a single cage.  The animals were seized by the Pima county sheriff and given to the Tucson Humane Society to further adoptions.

800 is a ghastly number for a large ranch.  800 dogs and over 80 birds in a trailer of any width is simply mind boggling.  This is not one I will forget anytime soon!

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Miami-Dade/Broward Counties have, since the 2000 hanging-chad/butterfly-ballot-is-too-hard-to-figure-out debacle, held the dubious distinction of being peopled with the stupidest Americans in the nation. Not so today. Today, Miami-Dade/Broward has been rudely shoved to one side as the people of Marion County, Indiana have asserted their claim on that honor.

You see, when Julia Carson died, there was finally a chance that we - it’s true, I am a resident of Indiana’s 7th District and am therefore a member of the rabble that just demonstrated its profound and unmatched stupidity - we finally had a chance to elect someone who would not be a horrible embarrassment to the entire district. So who were our options? A pro-gay marriage “Republican” and Julia Carson’s grandson, Andre Carson.

Not the grandson who tortured and killed two men on Indianapolis’ west side because they were gay. A different one.

No, this is the one that Louis Farrakhan and Barack Obama think is so swell. Of course, Obama was quick to call and congratulate the newest uncommitted Superdelegate.

But, you say, maybe he will be an improvement over the old lady. Maybe he is not as stupid as she was. It would be nice to think that, but he graduated second to last in his police academy class. Maybe he’ll miss even more votes than she did - the one thing I liked about Julia…not a chance.

Indianapolis has been in the grip of the Carson Democratic machine since 1996. When Bart Peterson allowed the police to enforce the law in Carson’s neighborhood by shutting down an illegal pea shake house, he was promptly ousted from office. And now we elect her grandson. We must like crime in our neighborhoods that the police are not allowed to address.

So those of us who still have two brain cells to rub together are forced to wait until reapportionment and hope that Indiana’s 7th district is split into several districts that are more competitive.

Hey, at least, the terrorist organization, HAMAS CAIR, is pleased with Carson’s big win.

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A Kentucky state representative has introduced a bill that would, get this, outlaw anonymous posting to Web sites. Commenters (and, I guess, blog co-authors) would be required to register their full name, e-mail address, and street address with the site, and the site owner would be held liable if they fail to do so. But Karl, don’t panic, man, I don’t think this one is going to make it to the Governor’s desk.

This is so stupid that one suspects that Representative Tim Couch must be so out of touch that his experience with the Internet is limited to making his secretary print out the e-mail Joke of the Day for him each morning. I’m sure he’s getting a lot of flack for this but I think I know where he’s coming from. Tim Couch, I, too, dream of a day when we can find a way to imprison everyone who is posting those lolcat things. But this isn’t the way to go about it.

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I read this earlier today. Certainly made me rethink my three years in law school.

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The words “Glory be to God in the highest” has taken on a whole new meaning to one Israeli professor.  Mr. Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, published a report espousing his belief that Moses was high on drugs when he ascended Mount Sinai and laid his bloodshot dilated eyes on the burning bush.

What would make a university professor believe that a founder of Israel was a narco-lunatic: Brazilians.  That’s right; Brazilians hold the bag, so to speak.  According to Shanon, Brazilians have used hallucinogenic drugs to simulate religious experiences for generations.  In particular, the ayahuasca plant is used to “see sounds,” a phenomena Shanon himself admits to experiencing.  The problem with Benny’s assumption is that Ayahuasca does not grow in the Middle East.  Shanon hits back that the bark from the Acacia tree can be used to brew up a similar narcotic.  The Acacia tree is grown throughout the region Moses spent his 40 day trip in.

In the end we have the ranting of a burned out hippy “professor” concerning how people get high.  He then equates his own magic carpet ride with the fact that Moses could not have experienced a “supernatural cosmic event.”  The result, as Shanon sees it, is that Moses must have been high.  After all, Shanon was!

And to think, I believed that useless educators were a product of America.  It seems they can be found all over the map…well, anywhere psychedelics are found anyway.  

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I have two things to say about this.

First, any subject that would volunteer for a study that required them to drink wine from a straw is probably suspect in the palate discernment department. Any of my friends who are especially good at wine tasting (not me - I much more of a beer and Irish whiskey sort of guy) would tell you that much of the tasting experience is done through the aroma and feel of a wine. It is unlikely that you get much of the bouquet when slurping wine through a straw.

Second, if someone tells you to drink wine through a straw AND you accept AND the only other information they give you is the price of the wine, don’t you think you might catch on to what they’re doing? Besides the simple fact that all wine does, in fact, taste the same to me (good), I think given the setup described above, I’m liable to tell whoever is running the study just about anything out of pure cussedness and contempt for those sorts of studies.

On the other hand, if we ever charge for content from this blog, we’ll charge A LOT!

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Mr. Cubbedge has been (very) subtly goading us into taking up this story. For instance, he has posted on his website that “Conservative Donnybrook picks up the story” and has posted comments on this website about the story in unrelated topics. We only wish he’d come out and say that he thinks we should write about this issue instead of beating around the bush so much. In the face of all this indirect pressure, what can I do?

Let me say a few words about the sudden rash of “conservatives” advocating for Obama.

Just to catch everyone up on the story:

Doug Kmiec wrote the following piece for Slate.
Deal Hudson found it less than impressive.
Kmiec shot back with this retort. (Notice the insinuation that bloggers are not regular, butts-in-the-pews churchgoers who pray on a regular basis).

And then the piling on began…

Cubbedge…
Ramesh…
Kmiec answered Ramesh, but not Cubbedge (What’s up with that, Will?). Continue Reading »

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