How to spend money

1. You spend your money on yourself. You're motivated to get the thing you want most at the best price. This is the way middle-aged men haggle with Porsche dealers.
2. You spend your money on other people. You still want a bargain, but you're less interested in pleasing the recipient of your largesse. This is why children get underwear at Christmas.
3. You spend other people's money on yourself. You get what you want but price no longer matters. The second wives who ride around with the middle-aged men in the Porsches do this kind of spending at Neiman Marcus.
4. You spend other people's money on other people. And in this case, who gives a shit?

P.J. O'Rourke

hmmm ... who's hiring right now?

Haven't heard a word about new doctors, new nurses, new clinics, new hospitals or more importantly, new Med Schools. Did hear, however, that the IRS is hiring. I wonder why? Click on the following if you want to see a Dem Representative NOT give an answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O6Jk7icfMw&feature=player_embedded

Benishek for Congress

Following is the text from a fax that I just sent to Congressman Stupak along with a copy of the $25.00 donation I made to Benishek for Congress:

Dear Congressman Stupak:

I attempted to send you an email last week thanking you for your principled stand for life and against President Obama's destructive healthcare bill.

Unfortunately, since I do not reside in your district, the email didn't go through.

Much has changed since last week. I am enclosing a copy of the donation I made to Benishek for Congress. Due the economy times are tough, but I wanted to let you know that this donation to Mr. Benishek is the first of many. I will continue to make a weekly donation to his campaign and do whatever I can to help him defeat you.

If I was still a Democrat my disappointment in you would know no bounds. As I changed my party 10 years ago, you leave me disgusted in my former party and satisfied with my decision to re-register as a Republican.

Sincerely,

Anne (Flanagan) Yenny

Monrovia CA

Tattered Liberty

BRILLIANT article by Mark Steyn. Read about the true cost to America of Obamacare:

http://article.nationalreview.com/428996/tattered-liberty/mark-steyn

Event at the Ronald Reagan Library

I had the pleasure of attending a book signing over the weekend at the Ronald Reagan library. Gary Sinese was there and graciously agreed to a picture but only if I promised to quit calling him "Mr. Sinese" and call him Gary instead. What a gentleman.

Who will deliver the love letters?

Charles Krauthammer talking about closing the Post Office. As he notes earlier, talk "privatization" and "business model" all you like, but the Post Office has a mandate that no private company every will: to deliver mail to everywhere in the U.S., no matter how remote. And I thought this was lovely:

[As for] the hard-hearted younger generation — well, if you ever got a sweet-smelling love letter at 17, you'd feel otherwise. Of course, I never did, but somebody did.

Well, well, well ...

"And yet it has to be said and it should be understood — now, almost seven hellish years later — that something that looks mighty like democracy is emerging in Iraq. And while it may not be a beacon of inspiration to the region, it most certainly is a watershed event that could come to represent a whole new era in the history of the massively undemocratic Middle East."

Above from this week's Newsweek. Wonder if there will be any quotes from leaders who in the past declared the war lost? Ahh ... you know what they say: being on the left means never having to say you're sorry.

Billy, Uncle Harry, Harry

Me, Uncle Harry & Pat

Pat and Uncle Harry

Three great pics

Dad and me at Joe's 40th BD, Uncle Harry and me at his 90th BD party, Pat and Uncle Harry at same.

Edinburgh

Pat standing at Edinburgh Castle with the city in the background.

Gays in the military

As you all know, I just lost my dad last November; he and I spent more time in heated debate than any other activity (and we both loved it). In the 90's when Clinton was President we got in a huge argument about gays in the military (I was probably pro, he was probably against, but who knows?). Finally, I said: Look, Dad. Neither one of us is gay; neither is in the military, neither one of us knows what we're talking about, so let's drop it.

To which my JY, for years a quiet observer of our debates said: Since when does knowing what your talking about make a difference to either one of you?

Fast forward 15 years. I have a son in the military. To the current debate I would say: Leave it up to the military. They know best and only they should have a voice in the decision because they have to live with the consequences. But after the Ft Hood debacle and military's mishandling, I no longer have the confidence that they have the common sense to make the correct decision. Apparently they are as PC and foolish as the average politician.

Published on National Review Online!!!:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2I5OGQ3YzllM2JjMTAxZmY1YzZmNTA3ODJlNDYwMGM=

Army Navy Game 2009

For the life of me, I can't resize so you can see the full screen (above is cutting off approximately one inch on the right). Double click and you'll go directly to YouTube where you can see everything.

horrifying statistic

"The United States had 2.3 state and local government employees per 100 citizens in 1946 and has 6.5 state and local government employees per 100 citizens now. In 1947, Hodges writes, 78 percent of the national income went to the private sector, 16 percent to the federal sector, and 6 percent to the state and local government sector. Now 54 percent of the economy is private, 28 percent goes to the feds, and 18 percent goes to state and local governments. The trend lines are ominous"

from http://corner.nationalreview.com/

"There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as "caring" and "sensitive" because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he's willing to try to do good with other people's money. Well, who isn't? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he'll do good with his own money -- if a gun is held to his head."

— P.J. O'Rourke

Stand, Men of the West

I am feeling giddy over Scott Brown's win in MASS and nostalgic for GWB, who left office one year ago today. Whenever I hear this, I think of him. And whenever I hear anyone criticize Israel, I think of it again:

“A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!”

(thanks, Richard, for the audio link)

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechreturnoftheking.html

More P.J.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGS82XCCwLA&feature=related

NOBODY SAYS IT BETTER THAN P.J.

PLEASE. I promise you, this is the best 1/2 hour you can spend:

http://taxingtennessee.blogspot.com/2009/12/extraordinary-speech-by-pj-orourke.html

climategate / Warmers

"I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives." Tolstoy

What I will NEVER understand is the enthusiasm people have for doom and gloom and disaster. I've lived through predictions of global cooling, overpopulation, wides-spread famine by the end of the 20th century, DDT ... and none of them panned out.

So why did the same people believe the same people and jump on the MMGW bandwagon? Man-made global warming has been nothing but a multi-billion dollar high school science project. And any of my kids' science teachers would have flunked Al Gore.

Three words, Al: SHOW YOUR WORK