Taxman

Thanks to loyal reader for the tip:

Duty, Honor, Country

…Their story is known to all of you. It is the story of the American man at arms. My estimate of him was formed on the battlefields many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then, as I regard him now, as one of the world’s noblest figures; not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless.

His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give. He needs no eulogy from me, or from any other man. He has written his own history and written it in red on his enemy’s breast.

But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements.

In twenty campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation, and that invincible determination which have carved his statue in the hearts of his people.

From one end of the world to the other, he has drained deep the chalice of courage. As I listened to those songs of the glee club, in memory’s eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs on many a weary march, from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle deep through mire of shell-pocked roads; to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of God.

I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always for them: Duty, Honor, Country. Always their blood, and sweat, and tears, as they saw the way and the light.

– Douglas MacArthur, May 12, 1962

Battle Hymn of the Republic

The Student Loan Scam

A gigantic soak-the-poor scheme:

Like many middle-class families, Cortney Munna and her mother began the college selection process with a grim determination. They would do whatever they could to get Cortney into the best possible college, and they maintained a blind faith that the investment would be worth it.

Today, however, Ms. Munna, a 26-year-old graduate of New York University, has nearly $100,000 in student loan debt from her four years in college, and affording the full monthly payments would be a struggle…

Now, what did she get her degree in? Medicine? Law? Engineering? Nope, she’s got a degree in religious and women’s studies. If she managed to learn something about religion, then that is a plus – but more than likely she learned some pantheist nonsense and, at any rate, unless she was planning on joining a religious order, that bit of knowledge plus the utterly useless women’s studies garbage qualifies her for precisely nothing.

But I bet the college was selling her a dream of how much money she’d make once she got her degree.

The college made 100 grand. The banks are happy as they can charge interest and she can’t go bankrupt on the debt – they’ve got her forever. Meanwhile, she’s spent some of the most productive years of her life learning stuff she can’t use to make a living unless she’s highly connected to people who could get her a job in the education system, itself where, if she were that lucky, she could spend a career imparting the same, worthless knowledge she’s got to a succession of kids tricked in to thinking that a college degree is the be-all and end-all of existence.

Now, of course, Uncle Sam is going to be in charge of the whole show – financing on the taxpayer’s dime an endless stream of people who’s education is pointless for the advancement of the United States and its people. The colleges will grow still fatter, the favored few who get tenure will continue to pour money in to Democrat coffers and, of course, propagandize for the liberal worldview – so, for the Powers That Be, its a good thing. For everyone else, its a disaster.

College isn’t for everybody. No everybody will need college to get ahead. Not everyone can afford college. Not everyone needs to get their degree in four years. Not everyone needs to go to a prestige university. But the whole student loan system is geared towards an absurd notion that college is for everyone and they should get it done in four years and at the very best university then can possibly get in to.

What should we do? Identify those areas of expertise where we have a shortage – medicine, engineering, etc – and offer college free at the State level for any kid who can past muster on educational qualifications. Do away with student loans, completely. Tell kids who want degrees in women’s studies to pay for it on their own or don’t bother (and it’d be best if they didn’t bother). End this nightmare where rich colleges pile up money by piling up debt on kids suckered in to taking courses of no value.

Never Forget

Originally done up for Veteran’s Day, but it works, every day.

Stupid Liberalism

Geesh:

Talk about parental responsibility. The California Senate just passed a bill that could send parents to jail for up to a year if their kids — from kindergarten through eighth grade — miss too much school…

…The bill is the brainchild of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general…

The theory, such as it is, goes that since a high proportion of criminals are high school drop outs it is a matter of public safety to keep kids in school until they get a high school diploma. Such is what passes for thought in liberalism.

Never occurs to these idiots that if a child has a poor home life which is allowing him the opportunity to miss a lot of school that putting his parents in jail might not be the optimal solution. But it does allow liberals to pretend they are doing while at the same time increasing the role of the State in the family…for liberals, its a win/win.

For rationality, its a bit of a loss.

If I Die Before You Wake

A great video:

Its getting hard to do this – maybe I’m just getting more emotional these days, but I have a hard time watching the images and listening to the music without breaking up.

We can never do enough for them for all they’ve done for us.

Obama Was Against Oil Spill Clean Up Before He Was For It

This is absolutely incredible.

Three months before the massive BP oil spill erupted in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration proposed downsizing the Coast Guard national coordination center for oil spill responses, prompting its senior officers to warn that the agency’s readiness for catastrophic events would be weakened.

[...]

Accidents happen, “but what you’re seeing here is the government is not properly set up to deal with this kind of issue,” said Robbin Laird, a defense consultant who has worked on Coast Guard issues. “The idea that you would even think about getting rid of catastrophic environmental spill equipment or expertise at the Department of Homeland Security, are you kidding me?”

“Cutting a strike team is nuts,” said Stephen Flynn, a former Coast Guard commander and now president of the Center for National Policy, a Washington think tank. “Whether it’s an accident of man or an act of terrorism, it requires almost the exact same skill set to clean it up.”

When you add that to Obama’s “I Don’t Really Care About The Oil Spill” response, you have to ask yourself is this guy grossly incompetent, or just plain stupid.

Meanwhile, as we learned the top kill procedure did no t work to “plug the hole” Obama is resting easy on vacation in Chicago. After all, he can’t let a national catastrophe or Memorial Day ruin his R&R time.

HAT TIP: Rhymes With Right.

You Cut Works

Eric Cantor gives us an update:

Two weeks ago, the House Republican Economic Recovery Working Group launched YouCut, an initiative that allows people to get involved in their government like never before.

Before we launched the project, I knew that the American people were fed up with the size of government and the culture of spending that has become the norm in Washington. What I didn’t fully anticipate, however, was the level of grassroots intensity that YouCut elicited. During the first week of the project, our website averaged more than 3,000 votes cast an hour and a total of 281,000 votes cast. Since that time, the intensity surrounding the project has not dissipated.

Currently, more than 500,000 votes have been cast and 30,000 people have emailed spending reduction ideas of their own…

Have you participated? If not, go here.

The fact of the matter is that while Cantor and many other Republicans do get it and understand what is happening among the people, there are still a lot of Republicans who don’t. We are looking forward to a good year for our side – but we need to make sure that the people going to DC know we’re watching and we’re insisting upon genuine reforms.

People power is the only way to thwart the vested interests (some of them allegedly Republican) who see government as a means of personal enrichment. If we want a government we can rely on and an economy built for the middle class and the working poor, then it will take intense action on our part to get it. Don’t let up for a minute, or these people will forget why we sent them there.

Bad News on Gulf Oil Spill

The effort to plug the hole may not be working:

BP engineers failed again to plug the gushing oil well on Saturday, a technician working on the project said, representing yet another setback in a series of unsuccessful procedures the company has tried a mile under the sea to stem the flow spreading into the Gulf of Mexico…

…The technician working on the project said Saturday pumping has again been halted and a review of the data so far is under way. “Right now, I would not be optimistic,” the technician, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the effort…

Maybe there is no way to plug a hole 5,000 feet under water? I just don’t know – it is so very sad, especially for all the people along the Gulf coast who’s way of life is threatened.

So much, by the way, for Obama’s absurd photo-op trip to the Gulf with its bussed-in extras to make it look like things are being done to help.