Clipping blog

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• Clearing the Browser Tabs – State of the Tuesday Edition
• Democrats at the State of the Union: Republicans, You are Our Density
• The Revolution Will Not Be Shown on Your In-Flight Movie

Clearing the Browser Tabs – State of the Tuesday Edition Posted: 25 Jan 2011 03:10 AM PST If you didn’t read my post on tonight’s State of the Union address, please take a moment and do so. It’s a little bit funny and a little bit snarky and I think you’ll like it. Also, there’s a link to a RedState post by Caleb Howe that makes my attempt at snarky humor look as unfunny as a clown funeral. And now, links! There’s a School Choice Week? Heck, sign me up! Behold your new Revolution Hottie. To Big Government totalitarians, nothing belongs to you, not even your own body. By all means, pro-choice folks, keep writing apologies for the monstrous Kermit Gosnell. Why did conservatives cheer Ricky Gervais’ flame-tastic takedown of the Hollywood elite at the Golden Globes? It’s not hard to figure out. It’s good to see that the Vatican not only understands social media, but that it also understands how important a part social media is beginning to play in our societies. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The universe is absolutely stunning. But if you prefer a map to more distant fictional worlds where Cylons are a menace, this will surely please you.

Democrats at the State of the Union: Republicans, You are Our Density Posted: 24 Jan 2011 09:53 PM PST 2011 may go down as the year the State of the Union completed its transformation from a stately and sober governmental ceremony to a full-blown three-ring circus. Actually, that’s not fair to circuses, which are usually tightly-managed professional productions whose sole purpose is to delight and amaze the audience. This year’s address is likely to be none of those things. We’re far more likely to see ninety minutes of desperation and tears as the President tries with all his might to put on a new Centrist suit in an attempt to convince us that, despite the past two years, he’s a lot more like Ronald Reagan than FDR or LBJ. But he’s looked like the very model of political cleverness compares to his fellow Democrats in Congress who are so desperate not to be seen with each other that they might as well all show up tomorrow night in fedoras and Groucho glasses. Their latest brilliant idea is to turn the State of the Union into the Enchantment by the Sea dance from Back to the Future with each of them in the role of George McFly desperately trying to win the affections of the lovely and unapproachable electorate (played by Lea Thompson, of course). I’m serious. Member of Congress have been pairing up like high school seniors a month before the prom because…well…now here’s where I’m hazy. Senator Udall, a Democrat from Utah Colorado, decided that the violent rhetoric was getting out of hand because a crazy guy whose politics came from a distant star system called Looney Tooneus IV decided to take out a grudge he had against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords by shooting her and a bunch of other people around her. Udall had no actual evidence that violent rhetoric has anything to do with it and indeed all the evidence proved that it did not, but these days the left doesn’t need evidence to blame stuff on crazy right-wingers. They kind of keep this “violent rhetoric” narrative warmed up and on five-minute standby. Udall’s idea was that it was violently rhetorical and cruelly divisive to have Democrats sit on one side of the aisle and Republicans on the other. Never mind that we’ve had that seating arrangement for a very long time with causing hordes of crazed right-wingers launching an orgy of violence against the meek and lowly left. We also shouldn’t consider that the traditional arrangement would show the true impact of last November’s elections once America could see how badly Democrats are outnumbered in Congress. No, we needed a new arrangement, so he sent around a letter asking members of Congress to find themselves a prom date seating buddy to show bipartisanship and so that Democrats could share their sode pops and popcorn with someone nice. So now we have member of Congress acting like they’ve joined some perverse new online dating service, complete with turn-ons and turn-offs. We’ve managed to enter a silly new season of national politics where the only things that can save us are Marty McFly and a wicked guitar solo. I only have two questions, really. First, will the Democrats have to wear the wrist corsages? And how drunk all of us will get playing the SotU drinking game? CORRECTION: No, Mark Udall is not from Utah, but Colorado. Thanks, PerlStalker!

The Revolution Will Not Be Shown on Your In-Flight Movie Posted: 24 Jan 2011 04:50 PM PST Why, I ask again, would anyone in their right mind want to fly a commercial airline? Two things to know about me:  1) I’m fairly cheap about air travel.  I hate the idea of paying to sit at the pointy end of the plane (other people, though, are welcome to pay for me; and in the case of speeches, etc. they’re actually obligated to…) and I can fold myself up into an aisle seat in coach without too much trouble.  And 2) I’ve always assumed that air travel taxes and fees are high, but that some law of physics commanded that they could never be higher than the cost of the ticket itself. I was wrong.  Checking out flights on kayak.com to London and back next month, I was directed to Orbitz.com where I came across this odd bit of economic distortion.  Cost of ticket: $270.00.  Taxes and fees: $441.00. What follows is a small mountain of government and “other authority” fees and charges that, if I didn’t know better, were designed to drive people away from flying and to the far more dangerous highways. Why do we accept “U.S. or International Departure and Arrival Charges” that can almost double the price of a ticket, especially when those charges tell us nothing about who will get out money and for what purpose? The abuse can’t go on much longer without a serious revolution. If you’re not getting felt-up by a TSA agent, crammed into a seat far too small for be comfortable for anyone but a Chinese Olympic Gymnast, or held captive in a stuffy tin can for hours for reasons you will never know, you’re being gouged for every single penny in your pocket. That’s not flying, folks. That’s a frat hazing and, at some point, it’s going to have to stop. We can begin by prying the hand of Big Momma Government out of our pockets when we pony up for a ticket.

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