Revolution(s)

FoxNews:

A bloc of pro-life Democrats turned out to be the linchpin to passage of the Senate's massive health insurance overhaul Sunday night, as President Obama cemented a 219-212 victory with a pledge to issue an executive order "clarifying" abortion language in the Senate bill.

Dems will be Dems.

Two competing interests in today's historic vote on government-run health care: The Tyranny Revolutionaries and their useful idiots, and those Freedom-Loving Revolutionaries that will not go down without a fight.

We offer a heartfelt Ushanka Tip to the latter, and a big fat Ushanka middle finger to the former.

We finished Solzhenitsyn's In The First Circle today. Here was a discussion between two prisoners on page 667 that we found earily relevent to today's vote for tyranny. Of course, they are two Russians who share the common Gulag dream of the US coming to rescue them.

"You have to understand that the more prosperous, the more free and easy life becomes in the West, the less ready Western man is to fight for fools who have allowed themselves to be oppressed. And they are right; they haven't opened their own gates to the robber band. We have deserved our regime and leaders; we got ourselves into this mess, and we must get ourselves out of it."
"Their turn will come."
"Of course their turn will come. There is a destructive force in prosperity. To prolong it for a year, a day, a man will sacrifice not only all that belongs to others but all that is sacred. He will defy the dictates of common prudence.

About 30,000 rallied yesterday in DC against government healthcare. Here is a pic lifted from Nice Deb's site:

Not one mass-produced sign. Not one union-provided bus. Not one liberal progressive communist in sight.

Mark Steyn at NRO discusses today's vote in his article, Welcome to Deemocracy:

Obamacare will result in the creation of at least 16,500 new jobs. Doctors? Nurses? Ha! Dream on, suckers. That’s 16,500 new IRS agents, who’ll be needed to check whether you — yes, you, Mr. and Mrs. Hopendope of 27 Hopeychangey Gardens — are in compliance with the 15 tax increases and dozens of new federal mandates the Deemocrats are about to “deem” into existence. This will be the biggest expansion of the IRS since World War II — and that’s change you can believe in. This is what “health” “care” “reform” boils down to: fewer doctors, longer wait times, but more bureaucrats.

May we suggest the Democrat Party change their name to: The Party (P). It would be worse than the vote today to continue to ignore the communist inspirations of the DNC. For the three people out there that still doubt us, watch this clip of Senator Brown (P-OH) found at NewZeal:



Unfortunately, we concur with IOTW's Mr. Pinko, and appreciate the kind words about our hat:

Wait ’til November?

I don’t want to hear all this crap about wait until November, etc… What’s going to happen in November? A bunch of Republicans are going to get voted in. And they are NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING!
This law will NEVER be REPEALED! And despite the bitching, moaning and anger, the majority of Americans are just going to go along with the Socialist program like the asshole sheep that we are.

I will now wear a big fur hat (courtesy of Ushanka) and call everyone comrade. Can’t wait to see the looks I get in the Post Office tomorrow.

Mr. Pinko, you'll notice that the hat keeps your ears warm as you wait in line at the USPS. That benefit is transferrable (no pre-conditions) to lines for an MRI, bread or a job too. A good comrade gets every little bit of use out of his few possessions!

Thursday Afternoon Cigar

A good book and a good cigar: Solzhenitsyn's In The First Circle and an El Rey Del Mundo.

Page 339: Part of an argument between two political prisoners. One, Nerzhin is a devout communist despite his predicament, and the other is Rubin.

We join the conversation with Rubin speaking first:

"Listen, whose marvelous lines were those I heard a little while ago, about the two Alyoshas?"
"Things were different then, before I'd learned to discriminate, before my ideals were clearly defined. In those days...it was still possible..."
"And now you see your ideal clearly in the shape of the Gulag?"
"No! In the shape of the ethical ideals of socialism! Capitalism has none, just greed for profit!"
"Listen!" By now Nerzhin was wedging his shoulders into the fork of the tree, preparing himself for a long discussion. "Could you kindly explain these socialist ideals you talk about? They're nowhere to be seen at present. All right, maybe somebody's botched the experiment, but when and where can we expect to see them; what do they amount to? Eh? Socialism, of whatever variety, is a sort of caricature of the Gospel message. Socialism promises only equality and a full belly, and that only by means of coercion."
"Isn't that enough? has any society in history ever had as much?"
"You'll find equality and full bellies in any good pigsty! What a tremendous favor they've bestowed on us! Equality and plenty! Give us a moral society!"
"We will! Just don't make difficulties! Don't get in the way!"

The freedom-loving Soviet prisoners had one thing that we don't have today: prison walls to keep their ideological opponents from running away from the debate.

Just go to Daily Kos if you want to read more about equality and full bellies.

Or to the Democrat's website.

Or the Communist Party of the USA.

They all say the same thing.

Cheerleaders

The useful idiots in our mainstream media exist in the name of liberalism. Our home page, now with 1866 biased headlines, is more than enough proof of their leftist ideals. Some of the headlines are intended, while others - likely most - are accidental. They just don't see anything wrong with headlines like these most recent five:

Why the Democrats Need to Hang Tough on Fincancial Reform - Time
Coffee Party answers Tea Party - CNN
Behind the GOP 'Commitment to America' - Newsweek
Catholic hospitals support health care bill - AP
Tea Party Avoids Divisive Social Issues - NYT

But sometime the MSM serves a greater purpose. To be a beacon of hope to their few, like-minded readers. Those readers have been under a lot of stress in recent days over the stalled government takeover of health care.

They see their president shelve any/all campaign promises of transparency, C-SPAN coverage, bi-partisanship, no death-panels and no taxpayer-paid abortions in his latest push to get the legislation passed. The votes have been short since last summer, even when the Senate was filibuster proof with 60 votes and the House flush with heart-bleeding bed-wetting liberals.

For the liberal progressive communist now laying in the dark in a fetal position with only MSNBC for a light source, some good news is needed. Even manufactured news.

In this dark void of despair enters MSM cheerleader: The Los Angeles Times:

This headline from today would be newsworthy --- if it ran one or two months after the May 31, 2009 murder of Dr. Tiller.

But why run such an article almost a year later?

If demand for late-term abortions went unanswered after the Tiller murder, you'd think we'd have had 10 months of news to that effect.

Have we been inundated with 'recent and unexpected spike in deaths during child labor' stories? That is the reason for the procedure. Right?

Or, now follow us on this point... is the MSM stepping in to offer a ray of sunshine on these otherwise gloomy days? Even the most loyal leftist is disheartened when Pelosi announces for the 180th day in a row that she 'has the votes'. These are tough times. Even for the few that still have jobs.

Our gut says the Los Angeles Times is cheerleading with the happy story of infanticide to cheer up the otherwise depressed base.

What does your gut tell you?

Government Education: The True Costs

Exposed, by The Cato Institute:

To put public school spending in perspective, we compare it to estimated total expenditures in local private schools. We find that, in the areas studied, public schools are spending 93 percent more than the estimated median private school.

So we should conclude, having ourselves attended government schools, that we are 93% smarter than our private school counterparts? That we have 93% more opportunities?

If not, then we can agree there is waste? Right?

Read their full report - here.

U/T: Instapundit

Sleeping Dogs Eventually Wake Up

Found an old clip from Kids in the Hall. Great stuff!

Am I the only one who gets it?

Communism never dies. Communism is a cancer. A cancer sleeping. Awaiting the moment to devour our freedom. To devour democracy.

This has been a test of the Ushanka.us public service system....

Big Fur Hat

Our hat is currently the prize at iOwnTheWorld's current caption contest. Be sure to click over and enter your caption!

Our thanks to the entire team there for partnering in this historic venture.

A quick look through Ushanka.us will show us to be their #1 Fan. Incredible artwork - incredible creativity - an incredible match for our sexy hat!

UPDATE Saturday 7am: 490 comments in less than 24 hours! The Big Fur Hat himself comments:

The chances of winning this hat are about the same as Powerball right now…
But, it is a hilarious thread. I’m extremely impressed.

We are too!

UPDATE Sunday 9:20pm:745 comments so far. UncleAl:

This contest has been memorably engaging and entertaining. Something like this periodically would be wonderful, but it may not be easy coming up with ideas, judges, and prizes this good.

I know – we could have a contest contest! (-:

Way ahead of you, UncleAl. Keep an eye out for our next Commie Obama Cuss Jar contest!

UPDATE Monday 5pm:The winner has been announced:

ScratchNSniff: Husseinfeld – It’s the presidency about nothing. Starring B. Obama, J. Biden, M. Obama and a whole cast of losers.

Classic.

We'll wait for that in DVD, assuming DVD players are still allowed in our glorious future.

Probably the best blog contest, evvvaaarrr. Thanks IOTW - it was an honor.

Should we offer a hat to DailyKos for a similar contest? Maybe for the best excuse why Obama is failing so bad. Some ideas to 'prime the pump', so to speak:

It's Bush's Fault.

Or, It's Bush and Cheney's Fault.

Or, It's the fault of those weak-knee'd Democrat members of Congress.

Or...

UPDATE 3.21:

Scratch and Sniff sent us a hat picture!

Tuesday Afternoon Cigar

Yesterday's score: Karl 1, Santa Damiana 0.

Amazon Shruggs

WSJ March 9: Amazon Hits Back at Colorado Web Sales Tax.

Incorrectly - on page B4.

Amazon.com Inc. pulled the plug on its marketing affiliates in Colorado after the state enacted a law that imposes new sales-tax regulations on online retailers.

Read the book, and buried news stories like this will jump out at you. Don't read the book, and you get to act surprised.

An enthusiastic Ushanka Tip to Amazon!

Sunday Afternoon Cigar

We burned our fingers on another Rocky Patel Sun Grown this afternoon as the mercury exceeded 55 degrees for the first time in ages here in Ohio.

We are reading In The First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Fiction, he writes from Stalin's perspective about the burdens on inheriting one's predecessor's problems (P. 103-4).

Lenin in his irresponsible way had muddled matters, recklessly littering the place with promises, which had since become a crippling burden to his successor, to Stalin. "Any cook must be able to administer the state," but how had Lenin pictured this in concrete terms? Did he mean that the cook, instead of cooking on Fridays, would take her seat on the oblast executive committee? A cook was a cook; her job was to prepare dinner. Governing people was a rare skill, a task that could be entrusted only to special cadres, cadres specially selected, trained, and tempered, highly disciplined. Management of the cadres themselves must rest in a single pair of hands, the practiced hands of the Leader.

Sound familiar?

Textbook Economics & Credibility

Two items in the news today: one about someone with no standards, and one with just a little bit more...

First, NY Times editorial from Paul Krugman: Senator Bunning's Universe. We won't quote from it, but rather quote, in full, James Taranto's retort in his Best of the Web column:

Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman takes note in his New York Times column of what the calls "the incredible gap that has opened up between the parties":

Today, Democrats and Republicans live in different universes, both intellectually and morally.

"What Democrats believe," he says "is what textbook economics says":

But that's not how Republicans see it. Here's what Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, had to say when defending Mr. Bunning's position (although not joining his blockade): unemployment relief "doesn't create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work."

Krugman scoffs: "To me, that's a bizarre point of view--but then, I don't live in Mr. Kyl's universe."

What does textbook economics have to say about this question? Here is a passage from a textbook called "Macroeconomics":

Public policy designed to help workers who lose their jobs can lead to structural unemployment as an unintended side effect. . . . In other countries, particularly in Europe, benefits are more generous and last longer. The drawback to this generosity is that it reduces a worker's incentive to quickly find a new job. Generous unemployment benefits in some European countries are widely believed to be one of the main causes of "Eurosclerosis," the persistent high unemployment that affects a number of European countries.

So it turns out that what Krugman calls Sen. Kyl's "bizarre point of view" is, in fact, textbook economics. The authors of that textbook are Paul Krugman and Robin Wells. Miss Wells is also known as Mrs. Paul Krugman.

It seems Krugman himself lives in two different universes--the universe of the academic economist and the universe of the bitter partisan columnist. Or maybe this is like that episode of "Star Trek" in which crewmen from the Enterprise switched places with their counterparts from a universe in which everyone was the same, only evil.

Like Spock, the evil Krugman is the one with the beard.

You'd think a smart guy like Krugman would expect someone to find this and thus add a bit of nuance to his column. (Just like you'd expect someone with character and integrity to not even consider doing something like this).

And the second news event from today - From the Washington Post, The Fix:

New York Rep. Eric Massa [D-NY] will resign his House seat on Monday at 5 pm, he said in a statement Friday, a move that comes just days after he announced his plans to retire at the end of the year.

"A member of my staff believed I had made statements that made him feel 'uncomfortable," Massa said in the statement, posted on his House web site. He added, "There is no doubt in my mind I did use language ... that ... might make a Chief Petty Officer feel uncomfortable."

"It's not that I can fight or beat these allegations, I'm guilty." Massa said in a separate statement, to to his Washington and campaign staff, which was reported by his hometown newspaper, the Corning (N.Y.) Leader.

Pics are from the linked sources above.

Name Calling, Part 8,483

Stop calling Obama a Communist!

We posted an earlier version of Victoria playing her song, but it has since been removed. Here is the latest version, found at both iOwnTheWorld and NewZeal:

GM, or Chrysler?

Found at iOwnTheWorld:

The Hat in Sports and Rock n Roll

Found at EnglishRussia - a great site for pics from Russia on all topics.

Maybe Russia's Olympic athletes should have worn Ushankas, hmm? They may have brought home more gold.

Luckily, they are now being sent to Kolyma where they will have a 2nd chance at bringing home the gold:



U/T: Video found at AskYakutia.

O.T.P.

One Term President:



Great job. But... We sense a slight over-confidence on the right of late...

U/T: New Zeal