The Return of the Right Wing

A moment of silence, please, for those affected by the tragic collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.

Note, however, that it only took about a day for someone to blame George W. Bush for the bridge collapse. They claimed that if Bush had only cooperated with Democrats on raising the budget for US infrastructure, the bridge collapse would never have happened.

Anyway, on with the show… I’d like to say I’m kicked back right now, enjoying life and all… but I keep hearing too much coming from the mouths of the candidates.

CNN, in conjunction with YouTube, created a debate for the Democratic candidates in which YouTubers would submit video questions. During this debate one Democrat said that we should have U.S. ground troops in Darfur, to which Hillary Clinton strongly stated that we cannot put troops in Darfur because our forces are already stretched thin in Iraq and our troops are losing the war in Afghanistan to bin Laden and Al Qaeda. I figured we would hear more on the news if we were actually losing, but then again, Clinton is merely the poster child of the current far-left mindset. According to her view, we are losing the war, the economy is in horrible shape (although the Dow (a leading indicator of economic strength) is still rocking around RECORD levels), the rest of the world thinks we are awful people, and we are not fulfilling our obligation to global governance.

And therein lies the problem.

Clinton, like many liberals, isn’t looking to return governmental power to the people, as was originally intended, but would rather take government to an even more powerful level. In order to keep the federal government powerful it is necessary to keep state governments weak. Step one in keeping the states weak; no longer allow state governments to be represented in Washington. This was accomplished by the seventeenth amendment. The populace now elects representatives and senators. Before amendment 17, the state governments elected the senators, so you had the people represented in the House and the states represented in the Senate. Now the states have no representations whatsoever.

I like the idea I heard on the Neal Boortz show recently. As most of you know, I’m pretty solid in my Libertarian leanings. Boortz was talking to newly elected congressman Ron Broun (R-Ga). He asked Rep. Broun what the likelihood was for the creation of a Tenth Amendment commission, to undertake a one or two year study of ways to return from the federal government the powers granted to the states. Broun laughed it off, but the idea is solid.

The Tenth Amendment grants any powers not explicitly given to the federal government to the state governments. The founding fathers intended for the power to spread roughly as so: state governments would have 80%-90% of the power, the federal government would have 10% - 20% of the power. Naturally, the federal strength would increase in times of war. Currently, you can basically reverse those figures.

Another question in the debate dealt with minimum wage. John Edwards vocally supported raising minimum wage to $9.10 per hour by 2012. This is all well and good, so long as you consider that raising the salary of workers means that the cost of products and services rendered by the employers will also go up in order to maintain a profit, which business in the United States are essentially legally obligated to do. The logistics don’t work. The better option for allowing American laborers to have more money is to repeal the plans set in motion under FDR. End federal withholding, repeal the income tax (preferably through means of the Fair Tax), reestablish the middle of April as the date taxes are paid, allow workers to opt out of Social Security, and rework the current tax system on corporations, creating a tax haven in the country and eliminating the need for businesses to outsource. The key part of this plan is for the politicians in Washington to get their filthy hands out of our pockets.

Global Governance. John Kerry spouted this type of terminology during the 2004 campaign, saying that our excursion into Iraq needed to pass the global test. Apparently, the United States is supposed to bow to the United Nations, as corrupt and backward an organization as has ever existed. Much like Homer Simpson putting Corn Flakes and milk in a bowl and somehow making fire, the UN has been an epic failure. The UN issued resolution after resolution against Saddam Hussein, but he did nothing until George Bush told him he only had three days to get out. Granted I don’t support how the war in Iraq has gone since, but the initial push, those three weeks when we first went in to when we deposed Saddam, were the most successful military campaign ever launched by this nation.

I still wish that Colin Powell had been nominated as our UN Ambassador. It would’ve been nice to see him walk in to the General Assembly, pick up the United States name plate, slide it into his shirt pocket, and say, “Britain, Israel, you guys want to come with us? We’re out.” And walk away.

The Crazy, volume 2, issue 1

The Pope recently issued a few statements about anyone not Catholic. Apparently, anyone not connected to the Catholic Church is not a member of a real church, because their church cannot be linked to an apostle. Also, non-Catholics are not really all that Christian because we actually question the infallibility of the Pope. I guess we’re taking that Bible verse that says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God a little too far in regards to his holy hatter.

Fourth-Grade Energy Policy

I'm browsing the web and I see that Drudge has put up a link leading to this story from the Portland (Maine) Press Herald. Apparently a group of fourth-graders have stumbled upon the true secret of the impending destructions from global warming.

Now, as most of you know, I'm kinda skeptical. Not necessarily on Global Warming itself, because data indicate that temperatures are on the rise (albeit slightly). I'm skeptical of the cause. The argument that man-made CO2 is the culprit doesn't really hold up when the science shows that CO2 levels rise after the temp goes up. I know that the sun is warmer now than it was a few years back. It goes through these cycles, naturally.

Al Gore likes to show you graphs with only the science he wants you to know. Global warming activists will tell you that the science is in and the debate is over. I know I'm an English major, but can you really say that a scientific debate is ever over? Isn't that the whole point of science, to debate issues facing us?

Anyway, back to these fourth-grade meterologists... Here is a statement that appears in the Portland Press Herald: "We want everyone to help curb Global warming. It truly means that the Earth is getting warmer. The ocean is warming at such an alarming rate that the continents are in danger. " The continents are in danger? How can a statement like that be taken credibly? The continents? Millions of square miles of dry land, most of it a couple of hundred feet or more above (current) sea level. Now it's all in danger?

I'm happy to have followed the news on the global warming issue this year. GW demonstrations were snowed out in DC. Denver has noted the 9 of its 12 warmest years on record happened before 1955, way before the global warming scare. It's snowing in Sweden today. Nice.

Free Agent Frenzy

I’m a hockey nut; I love every facet of the sport, from the game itself to the inner working of the front office. Also there is a feeling of power when you can pronounce a player’s name and no one else can, but we’ll skip over that.

So the season is over, congrats to the Anaheim Ducks on bring the state of California its first ever Stanley Cup, that’s right, not even Wayne “Great One” Gretzky won a cup when he played for the Kings. The big shock from the Stanley Cup Final, of course, is the fact that Samuel Pahlsson didn’t win the Conn Smythe, or Playoff MVP, award, Scott Niedermayer took home the honor. The regular season awards will be handed out on June 14, but I thought I’d play a little puck prognostication and try predicting the winners:

Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP): Sidney Crosby, PIT
Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year): Evgeni Malkin, PIT
Vezina Trophy (Goalie): Roberto Luongo, VAN
Adams Trophy (Coach): Michel Therrien, PIT
Norris Trophy (Defenseman): Nicklas Lidstrom, DET
Frank Selke Trophy (defensive forward): Samuel Pahlsson, ANA

Free Agent season starts on the first of July. I said before that I’d like to see Daniel Briere come to Atlanta, but I know that Briere will want a lot of money from whoever he signs with.
Chris Drury would be a great fit in the Thrashers organization. He would add grit and stamina to what has been a finesse team. Drury will probably want $4.5 to $5.5 million a year over three years, something in that ballpark. That means that Atlanta will have to make some changes. We’ve already heard that Tkachuk will not be getting an offer from the Thrashers, so that opens up some money. Defenseman Andy Sutton is also likely gone, a salary cap casualty, but a necessary loss. Atlanta has two good, young defensemen in the minors: Boris Valabik and Mark Popovic. Sutton’s departure would give Atlanta more cap room to lure Drury in.

The possible downside to this is the likely departure of Slava Kozlov. Kozlov is a master of the shootout, and the fact is after him, Atlanta has no one close to his skill in the contest. Losing Kozlov would hurt, not help the Thrashers at this point.

Grubbs pointed out another option yesterday, which I’ve mulled over. Sign Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year deal with a club option for a second year and a no-trade clause. Stick him on the same line as either Kovalchuk or Hossa, and then other teams would be less likely to take cheap shots at our superstars. I mean, Bertuzzi almost killed a guy one time. Another Grubbsian thought was Ladislav Nagy, a younger player with good speed and a nice upside. Nagy has played in relative obscurity for a while, but in the right scheme, he could flourish.

I like the idea of raiding Minnesota and bringing Wes Walz to Atlanta. Walz is a solid puck handler with good speed and a great sense of the game. He plays well in both zones, a rarity in these days. Walz would be a good line-mate for Kovalchuk, who sometimes struggles with puck-handling.

Elite Eight

Sunday night marked the end of one of TV’s most acclaimed, and over-analyzed, series ever, The Sopranos. I was never a big fan of the show, but my Dad watched it and I watched a few episodes with him, including the series finale. The way the show ended has drawn the ire of fans worldwide. Is Tony dead? Is he alive and facing indictment? Does he merely have heartburn from those greasy onion rings?
It got me to thinking: what are the best TV finales ever? I’m thinking season or series, which ones take the cake? So, in true Right Wing fashion, I’m coming up with a list. These are my eight favorite season or series finale episodes.

Blake’s Elite Eight Season or Series Finales

8. Family Guy, season 5 finale. Peter asks Death to send him back to 1984 so he can be 18 again. Of course, this timeline contradicts previous statements made in the series, such as Peter winning a trophy in 1965 (Covered in the Most Ticks) and Peter and Lois actually meeting as older teenagers in the 1970s, but the hilarity that ensues more than makes up for the mistake. Peter’s night in 1984 changes the future so that he is married to Molly Ringwald, Lois marries Quagmire, Al Gore is President, and Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney accidentally shoots Justice Scalia, the bullet goes through him and kills Carl Rove and Tucker Carlson. The final scene, at the country club dance, ties together so many jokes from the series that it creates a fitting end to the season.

7. Angel, series finale. I watched Angel, get over it. It was better than Buffy. The series ended rather abruptly, canceled after five seasons, but the end gave us a good hour’s worth of TV. Angel rallies his troops against the forces of evil, and at the end he stands in a dark alley, in the rain, staring down the thousands of demons that are coming to attack. A dragon flies overhead, spouting fire. Angel’s last words, “I want to slay the dragon.”

6. Lost, season 1 finale. I didn’t watch this show at first, now its one of my favorites. The survivors of Oceanic flight 815 band together to ward off the deadly “Others,” only to never be attacked. Instead, the men that left on the raft are attacked, and Walt, the boy, is taken by the “Others”. Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Locke (who, by the way, is the greatest character ever) retrieve some dynamite and blow open the hatch. Hurley’s numbers, 4 8 15 16 23 42, come back to haunt everyone, and the inside of the hatch is marked “QUARANTINE.” Great stuff.

5. M*A*S*H, season 3 finale. “Lt. Col. Henry Blake’s plane… was shot down… over the Sea of Japan. It spun in… there were no survivors.” That line, spoken by lowly Radar signaled the end of the best three year run of this show. Many viewers claim that those words mark the precise moment that M*A*S*H jumped the shark. I disagree. If you ever see this episode, pay attention to Radar’s face, you’ll cry.

4. Futurama, season 4 (series?) finale. Since season 4 ended, Futurama has been off the air, but rumors persist about an upcoming return to network TV, possibly on Comedy Central. This episode, in which Fry bests the Robot Devil in a game of chance, thereby winning his hands, is hilariously funny, if only for the final sequence, the opera, where everyone bursts into spontaneous song. The final images give the viewer hope for Fry and Leela, but the payoff didn’t really come for this series, and it deserved a better fate.

3. Serenity, (motion picture, series finale for Firefly). What? You’ve never seen Firefly? What are you waiting for? This is one of the best shows ever made, and Fox saw fit to cancel it after less than one season. Their reason? They had better shows to bring you, like American Idol, The O.C., and Insert Reality Show Title Here. If Futurama was deserving of a better fate, then Firefly certainly was. Joss Whedon’s best show is also the shortest-lived. Thus Serenity came to the big screen, successfully capping off a great series.

2. Stargate SG-1, season 8 finale. There is a five-episode stretch here (Reckoning I, Reckoning II, Threads, Moebius I, Moebius II) that, had the series ended here, would’ve earned the number one spot on this list. I’m planning a big Stargate dissertation in the coming weeks, since SG-1 is scheduled for a series finale on June 22. Season 8 was fantastic, and these episodes prove why. An impending Replicator attack is thwarted by Daniel Jackson, Baal, and the Tok’ra (Reckoning I & II). Jackson becomes half-ascended (in Threads) and struggles with whether to ascend once again. SG-1 finally located a ZPM (Moebius I & II) but must go back 5000 years in time to retrieve it. The alternate timeline stuff is great. If you’ve never seen these episodes, find a way to watch them. I have it on DVD if you want to borrow it. If any other show had this sort of episode run at the end of a season, I’d quit while I was ahead, anything that you could do after this would never equal it.

1. M*A*S*H, series finale. Quite possibly the greatest show ever and the series finale garnered the highest viewership total ever. If you’ve seen this episode, you’ll understand why. “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” could’ve been a movie. The gang goes on a bit of a vacation, relaxing away from camp. As they return to the 4077, their bus falls under enemy attack. Hawkeye is seen to have gone crazy after ordering a woman to silence her chicken after their bus comes under enemy attack. The chicken though is a figment of Hawkeye’s imagination, made to compensate for his guilt in ordering the woman to silence her baby, which she does by killing it. The Korean War comes to an end and everyone leaves the four-oh-double-seven in various ways most of the unit in a convoy, Col. Potter on his horse, BJ on the motorcycle, and Hawkeye in a chopper. (Nitpickers argue that this should never have happened, an army unit would ship out in the same convoy for processing and the like), and as Hawkeye leaves in said chopper he sees that BJ has spelled out in white rocks “GOODBYE.”

Geekocity Breakdown

NOTE: The integrity of this blog has come into question. A co-worker, in a joking manner, was able to access my pre-written draft (something I rarely do, and now I see why) and hide a few choice words. I think I caught all of them, but if I did miss some, please don't be offended.

A few months back I started a series called the Best Video Games I Ever Owned. Well, I left that series behind, and since proper payoff was never given, I’m super-sizing this entry of The Right Wing to cover my Top Ten favorite games. I’ll give you a quick list, mainly the systems that I have personally owned, and my favorite game from each, and then my Top Ten, so there will be some repetition, and favorite games from a certain system may not crack the top ten. It will quickly become apparent that I’m a Nintendo loyalist.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES): Super Mario Bros. 3
Nintendo Gameboy: Tetris
Nintendo 64: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Nintendo Gamecube: Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
Nintendo Gameboy Advance: Metroid Fusion
Nintendo Wii: (tie) Super Paper Mario, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Top Ten
10. Super Mario World 2 (GBA), this is a re-issue of the SNES classic, which makes it altogether new to me, as I never had a Super Nintendo. The game play is on par with Super Mario Bros. 3, and the map is extensive. What seems like a normal level in a Mario game can have up to three different endings, each leading you on a different path on the game map. Bowser is still doing his thing, but some villains never get old.
9. Mario Golf (GBA), quite possibly the most addictive game I’ve ever played. I don’t really even like golf, and I can’t get enough of this game. All you do is play golf, and I think that is what makes the game so great.
8. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), I know this seems low for a Zelda game, but that is only because of its relative newness. Twilight Princess is quite possibly the most beautiful game I’ve ever played. The map is one of the largest in Zelda history, which is not always a good thing, because large maps can kill a game, but in this case, it fits. The game is intense enough to require more than one time playing. I haven’t beaten the game yet, and I’ve already played more than 36 hours.
7. Metroid Fusion (GBA), large environments and fierce enemies have been the Metroid standard. Fusion lives up to this, and more. Samus Aran returns in a new form, having been beaten by the X and reduced to a near-powerless state. A quick rush to regain abilities leads Samus up to a series of battles with progressively more difficult enemies.
6. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES), possibly the greatest pure Mario game ever. Bowser is at it again, kidnapping the princess. Thankfully, in this version, you don’t get the pitiful “Sorry, but our princess is in another castle” line after every boss. Instead, each boss is actually a child of Bowser, so you get the perverse pleasure a snuffing out a man’s family before you reach the man himself, very morbid. Instead of the good-old hammer-throwin’, fire-breathin’ Bowser, this Bowser tries to kill you by pretending that you are a trampoline, only, in classic villain style, his trampoline is made of brick, and placed rather precariously over a bottomless pit. Hooray, bad guys!
5. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC). I never thought I would like a game called Paper Mario, but TTYD made me a believer in the franchise. Mario is called away to Rogueport in a game-style far different from any Mario game I had ever played. Mario travels from level to level, collecting power, attacks, and game-changing badges as he goes. He also collects friends who fight alongside him in a turn-based fighting system. Again, the map is so interactive that even the simplest searches will reveal new paths and items.
4. Madden 2005 (GC), sports games are not often ranked among favorites and people have their reasons. I like this one because I’m a football fan. Like most sports games, players quickly become so proficient that their stats seem embellished. When last I played I was in a franchise run with the Atlanta Falcons. I haven’t lost a game in three seasons, and scoring under 67 points in a game was hurting my average.
3. Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (GC), this is the console version. There’s no sound on Earth comparable to the ping of a round from an M1 Garand knocking off a German helmet. I hear the PC version is far better, but my computer would probably die if I tried to run the game on it. The console version, on the Gamecube, is fantastic. Each map is incredibly detailed, expansive, and almost totally playable, like most games, there are sections that are unreachable, but that does not detract from game value. If there is one negative thing about COD2, it’s the cinema sequences. At any point in the game when a cinematic starts, you can bet that one of your fellow soldiers is about to go tango uniform. Robert is probably still upset that I beat Normandy and The Dragon’s Teeth without dying on my first try.
2. EA Sports NHL 2004 (GC), I like sports games. NHL 2004 is one of my favorites. The gameplay is easy; the controls are not too difficult. Options like automatic line change and auto-aim make the game easier, if you like that sort of thing. Dealing with the CPU in contract negotiations and trades is one of the more interesting facets of this game. Not only can you play the NHL, but you also have three different European leagues to choose from. Or, you can do what I did and create your own franchise. The most fun you’ll have is watching the records fall. My custom character broke Gretzky’s single-season goal record by scoring 153 goals (Grubbs, you’ll like this game).
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), this game stands as my all-time favorite, and if you’ve played it, you know why. Excellent game play, fantastic story, familiar characters and villains, OOT has it all. At the time of its release, the game map for OOT was one of the largest ever designed, although it is dwarfed by current game maps, it is important to remember that OOT is nearly ten years old, eons in the technology field. The worst thing about this game is the lack of the original Zelda theme.
The Master Quest, a different version released at first in Japan, and then as a promotion in the States, offers a slightly different, more difficult version of the game.

Honorable Mentions:
NES: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marble Madness, Mario Bros. 2
N64: Super Mario 64, Triple Play 1998, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
GC: NHL 2005, NHL 2003, Super Mario Sunshine, Call of Duty: Finest Hour
GBA: Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Oracle of Seasons, Super Mario World(Mario Bros. 2)
Wii: Rayman: Raving Rabbids

Once more for the home team: an unfinished thought

Sometimes The Right Wing takes a very light-hearted point of view of the events occurring around us. Sometimes, we don’t. Lately, we’ve been very political here, and for good reason. I’m hearing endless debate out of Washington. The Congressional Democrats are investigating anything that they can get their hands on, something they promised us they wouldn’t do. For over six years the Bush Administration and Congress has spent more money than almost any Congress ever, possibly more, I don’t have the figures. This expressly goes against everything that the conservative movement stands for. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi want to tell our enemies when the exact date that we are going to stop fighting in Iraq, George Bush still isn’t sure we’ll ever stop fighting in Iraq. Reid went so far as to call the war lost. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t say who we lost to.

Is the war lost? No. Emphatically No! Can we lose it? Yeah, we can. Can we win it? Absolutely. The biggest problem facing the way this war is viewed in the public is the fact that Americans want everything solved quickly. If CSI can solve a murder in one hour, then why haven’t we won a war that’s lasted four years? That’s the mindset.

But what about WMDs? Bush sent us to war saying that Saddam had WMDs and we found none, zip, zilch, zero… Okay, save your breath. Dennis Miller stated the other day that, had we actually found WMDs in Iraq, more Americans would probably be dead now. Instead of thinking it’s a good thing that none were found, we’re all upset. I’m glad there were no WMD there. I know that it makes us look a bit foolish, but I’d rather live looking like a fool, then die seriously.
“But Bush lied about it all, he said things that weren’t true, he…” Get over this line. You’ve used the same argument for the last four years. We get it. I’m struggling to see how Bush can be the idiot that so many liberals claim he is, but yet he can mastermind such evil. George Bush is apparently so stupid that he can’t even speak in coherent sentences, yet he was able to steal two elections. According to certain factions on the left, Bush is a stuttering imbecile who can barely feed himself, and somehow he managed to destroy the levees in New Orleans. He obviously knows nothing of foreign or domestic policy, yet he, along with Cheney and Rove, brought down the World Trade Center. Go ahead, far left, keep talking, it amuses me.

A few nights ago at the Republican Presidential Candidates Debate, Ron Paul essentially stated that US foreign policy was the chief cause of 9/11. I’m not taking any party lines here, and I’m sure that our foreign policy played some role in the attacks, but I don’t believe it was the chief cause. Later on, Republican Tom Tancredo called Paul a true Libertarian. That statement deserves clarification. Ron Paul is not a true Libertarian. He isn’t even representative of the Libertarian Party. Libertarians understand the threat Islamic fundamentalism is to our way of life. We don’t hate Muslims, and we sure don’t blame America first, as Paul was willing to do. Libertarians stand strongly for many issues. I don’t even agree wholeheartedly with the Libertarian Party, but that doesn’t sway my support of them.

So yeah, I feel justified in this political swing, and it doesn’t end there. We going political one more time, and this time I’m taking no prisoners. There are some that I agree with, and some I don’t.

I was surfing through the channels the other night and I cam across Newt Gingrich making an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor. Now, I’m no fan of Bill O’Reilly, which was good, because Michelle Malkin was hosting the show for him, but something Newt said caught my attention. I’m going to paraphrase, as I’ve not yet found the transcript for the show, but Newt said something to the effect of the people in this country being ready to throw out the Republicans and the Democrats, sparking a new grassroots revolution. In olden times language like that would earn you an appointment with the hangman’s noose. Now, thankfully, it’s welcome.

We’ve known for years that a revolution was coming. I felt that it would be a taxpayer revolution, and darned if it doesn’t look like it will be. The Fair Tax, a twenty-some-odd year old plan, is finally gathering steam. Libertarians have been behind the idea for years, now some Republicans, and even some Democrats are jumping on board. I’d like it tell you all about it, but there isn’t time right now. Go to fairtax.org to learn more.

Point 9973: Heard on Fox News' Half Hour News Hour: The INS and the federal government are investigating Michael Moore’s trip to Cuba and subsequent return, not because he didn’t have a visa, but because 187 Cubans floated to American clinging to him.

The Right Wing goes very political

I have stated before, and will now say again, that something needs to be done concerning our current system of government. I laid out a plan a few weeks back, and I've since revised that plan (listen to me, I sound like John Kerry... "I have a plan." I promise, I'll never start a sentence with the phrase "When I was in Vietnam."

The Plan:
1. Get rid of everyone in Washington. Now, I'm not advocating killing these people, but they all need to be removed from power. We thankfully have a system in this country where a person can be stripped of power without having to be shot, stabbed, hung, drawn, or quartered. It's called voting. The last presidential election witnessed the most votes ever cast in an election in this nation's history, we should make good on that fact. I came across this notion the other day, after watching a speech by President Bush, and it hit me, "We've got to get rid of all of them. That's the only way to make progress."

2. Now that the old guard has been taken out of power, we repeal that pesky 17th Amendment. This little ditty allows for the common voting populace to elect Senators. "But why should we get rid of that? We should elect Senators, right?" No. Plain and simple: NO. The nation is set up as a group of states. The government is set up as a representative body of those states. The House of Representatives is built to, and I know this will shock you, Represent the people. The Senate is a body designed to represent the state governments. By allowing the people to elect both the House members and the Senators, the State governments are left with no representation in Washington. By putting the power to elect Senators back in the hands of State Legislators, we return to the balance of power that our Founding Fathers strove for.

3. Term Limits. I stated that corruption in Washington is spawned by seniority in government, and I stand by that. Therefore, by limiting terms, we limit corruption. Everyone, from the President to the janitor in the Rotunda, serves ONE six-year term. That's it. After six years, you leave Washington, never to return.

4. Elections. Electing of officials would be held every two years, at which time one-third of the government. Election Day is a topic of great debate. If we leave election day on a Tuesday, then it should truly be Tuesday, the polls should be open 24-hours on that day. More time means more people have the opportunity to vote. If not, we could move election day to a Saturday. That would work as well.

5. Special Interest Groups. There are none. Anything remotely resembling a special interest group would be kept out of Washington, by means of court-issues restraining orders if necessary.

6. Campaign Finance. If a job pays $400,000 for the entire term, then the candidate can only spend $399,999.99 on his or her campaign. It's utterly ridiculous for candidates to spend millions of dollars trying to win a job that will only pay them a few hundred thousand dollars. The fact that we allow such idiocy to flourish tells you that kickbacks are rolling in all along the line.

That's the skeleton of the plan. Everyone that I've spoken to says that it's great, or that they agree, meaning that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

By the way, Drudge posted an article yesterday saying that Congress's approval rating was at 29% while Bush's approval rating was at 33%. Which of those numbers do you think you'll hear in the news?

scooters, vacation, fall

Those three words appear at the bottom of my screen. Blogger wants me to add labels. Apparently my three readers... wait, Sanjay is telling me that I gained a new reader about two weeks ago, so, my four readers are having trouble finding my blog.

There has been a lot of discussion lately about many different things. Well, I'm here to say that I have no comment.

Good night, and my God bless.

Simple

Hillary Clinton has said that she voted to authorize the Iraq war based on the intelligence available to her at the time. Amazingly, this is the same reason that George W. Bush decided to push for the war.

The difference is, Hillary gets a pass because of it. Bush, according to certain sources, should be drawn and quartered for doing the same thing.

Simple.

Unwarranted Rebuttal

The title here is intentionally off topic, as this post is neither unwarranted, nor a rebuttal, but is instead an agreement. Today, Robert over at Skewed put up a post saying that the electoral process in this country has come down to choosing the least crappy guy for the job. As much as I hate to say it, that's really the case.

On one hand you have a bunch of GOP apologists running around and saying that the administration is 100% right, 100% of the time. On the other hand, you have a bunch of left-wingers running about saying that every single member of the administration (even the White House janitor) should be brought up for investigation. And on the third hand of the genetic mutant you have a group of people like Robert and myself who really don't care. Honestly, if we cared any less, we just might die.

I think sometimes that the best thing we can do is replace everyone in DC and start over. The Declaration says we can do, in fact, we have an obligation to do it. But we'd rather listen to the talking heads telling us who is right and why.

We'd rather tolerate the endless investigations that the Democrat controlled congress is launching. Let's see... figure out the war without cluing the enemy into our plan? That's a good thing to work on. Stabilizing a fluctuating economy by equally distributing the tax burden and taking the weight of the low-lifes who aren't even trying off the backs of those who are? Another good idea. Investigate Cheney because he looks like a ticked off schnauzer? Not so great of an idea, but let's do it anyway. Scream and shout that we're going to impeach Bush? Not so hot, but it gets us camera time. Complain that an entire portion of the tax-paying demographic, a group who is carrying roughly 3% of the burden, yet constitutes roughly 45% of wage earners, is far too burdened by the current tax system, but that the wealthiest 1%, those already carrying over 20% of the tax burden, aren't paying enough? Bad idea, but it gets people to vote for us. (those figures are real, look it up, 45-50% of wage earners in this country carry only 3.6% of the tax burden, my numbers might be a bit off, but you get my meaning).

Topics like this make me glad to be a Libertarian.

Robert, we need to find the most qualified people for the jobs. Unfortunately, the most qualified people are usually the quietest, and therefore kinda hard to find...

Tjmohsl Bedguhtu

I'll let you figure out the title. (Hint: it's a word game.) So a game: first one to tell me what the title means wins... uh... well, they get a free lesson from Rennie on how to do that triple-half-nelson, egg-beating exercise thing...

1. The Thrashers season is over. I'm not as sad as I thought I would be. We made the playoffs, but we got swept by the rangers. I'm okay with that. Now comes the fun of the off-season. What moves will Don Waddell make in order to keep this team on the rise? What would I like to see? Simple, Daniel Briere in a Thrashers sweater. I know it won't be easy to pull off, but there's always hope.

2. Prediction time.

Stanley Cup Finals: Anaheim over Buffalo in seven games.

NBA Finals: Phoenix over Chicago in six games.

3. Staying with sports for a moment, the Atlanta Braves continue their amazing start. They lead the division and currently have an 11-5 record, one of the best in the league. The amazing thing to me is that ESPN, in the MLB power rankings, continues to say that the Mets are better. So far, head to head, Atlanta has beaten the Mets three out of four games. Go figure...

4. Sanjay has been in a foul mood lately. He tried out for the last American Idol, and he thinks he actually would have made the show, but because of a filing error, the show allowed Sanjaya in and kept Sanjay out. Now Sanjay is very unhappy about the whole ordeal.

5. A note to all the rednecks out there who like to go muddin'. If you feel the need to drive your truck through a mudhole to feel more like a man, then at least have the common decency to wipe off your lights and mirrors when you finish, especially those lights on the back end of your vehicle, I hear they come in quite handy when stopping or making a turn.

6. Democrat Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (NV) made the most promising statement to come out of Washington in years. Reid found some facetime on the airwaves and stated, matter-of-factly, that the Iraq war was 'lost.' I'm sure, Mr. Reid, that our troops are very appreciative of your statement. I'm waiting on Reid and Kerry to team up with the Dixie chicks and make an album. The music videos could star Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Charlie Sheen.

I don't mind people having an opinion, in fact, that's what makes this country so great. It's when people complain that a man the graduate from Harvard is stupid that it begins to grate me. I'm not exactly the big W support lately, but I still think it's better we had him in office than either Kerry or Gore.

7. Last but definitely not least: Say a prayer for the VaTech families.

Shoot-out

Alright, guys, quick hit, cause I'm running low on time.

Will someone please explain to me why so many people are angry that Bush fired 7 US Attorneys, yet it wasn't that big of a deal when Clinton fired 93 in 1993?

Just askin'.

Why we're falling apart...

Most of you, my three readers, know me. You know I'm fairly easy to get along with. You usually know my political leanings (Libertarian). Funny thing, if you poll most people and ask them questions without revealing what party platforms those questions ceom from, roughly 90% of Americans turn out to be Libertarian, but we've all been forced into this two-party system where you're either Republican or Democrat and if you aren't then you get no face time on TV.

Well, I tuned in to drudgereport.com today and I saw that "Scooter" Libby has been found guilty of a crime he supposedly committed during the trial of another crime for which he was accused and which wasn't even really a crime. Long story, don't want to go in to it, mainly because its not the point of this entry. My first thought when I read that was, "Gee, the people at democraticundreground.com must be having a fit right now." So I surfed over to their site and, sure enough, the Libby verdict is leading all discussion. But something caught my eye as I scrolled down the page. I had forgotten this little number DU like to pull. It's an article called "Top Ten Conservative Idiots." Ann Coulter currently sits at number one, and the Bush Administration as a whole currently holds three of the top ten spots. The Pentagon is a number five.

Then I googled the top ten liberal idiots and found multiple hits to multiple sites. How exactly are we to forge ahead as a nation if we're so busy calling each other names on the internet? DU even names a Tennessee organization as an idiot because they pointed out that Al Gore's home uses more electricity in a month than the average American household uses in a year. Apparently revealing a fact that goes against Al Gore make you an idea, no more how true, pertinent, or even revealing that fact might be.

And then it hit me, this is why we're falling apart. After the 2004 elections, a map painting the northeast, the west coast, and a portion of the midwest along with the Candanian provinces as "The United States of Canada" appeared. The rest of the US was labelled "Jesusland."

Its almost funny except that its not. I remember seeing a film about the '04 election centered on a liberal talk radio station. One of the workers was watching TV coverage of the results and as more and more states appeared "red" she began crying. One of her colleagues consoled her by saying "Look, they're in the middle of the country, there's no food there." As if the prevalence of an industrialized economy in an agricultural area was a determining factor in intelligence concerning elected officals. Another thing is the preoccupation with Jesus, and the subsequent hatred thereof. At what point did we decide that the opinion of the people who believe in Jesus should be valued less than the opinion of a secular progressive like Janeane Garofalo or Bill Maher?

The right side of the aisle doesn't fare much better, but the double standard certainly doesn't help them either, and please don't act like the media doesn't hold Republicans to account more often than Democrats. Honestly, how much coverage did you see ofLouisiana democrat William "Coldcash" Jefferson, and the scandal he created by hiding $90,000 in tin foil in his freezer? Yeah, that story dropped off fairly quickly...

So here's my proposition: The corruption in Washington has grown far out of control. The best way to limit and eventually decrease said corruption is to create a clean slate. In order to create a clean slate, we must first limit all elected terms. If the President can serve a max of two terms, then every single elected official should only be allowed to serve two terms. So much of the corruption is linked to seniority, and by removing seniority, you remove links to said corruption.

Next, campaign funding. I say if a job pays $400,000 for four years, then at most a candidate should be allowed to spend $399,999.99. One penny less than what the job would pay. I don't see the sense in spending millions upon millions of dollars to make $441,000 annually.

Third on the agenda is special interest groups. Gone. Eliminated. You want to decrease corruption you forbid the teacher's union, any worker's unions, and any other special interest groups from doing anything in Washington.

Lastly, the repellation of the 17th Amendment. This amendment to the Constitution allows senators to be popularly elected, when they were formally elected by the state governments. Now, the states have no representation in Washington. The system was designed to represent the people in the House of Representatives, and the states in the Senate. Not now. By repealing this amendment, we limit the scope and authority of the federal government back to the levels the founding fathers desired it to be, with exceptions for times of war.

I hope that works, I really do. Otherwise, this nation is shot in a few short years. Go boldly, and my God bless.

Smiling Frog

Couldn't Resist. Even frogs have better dental care than the British.

I'm thinking about making this guy a mascot for the Right Wing.

Short Shift... that's a hockey term...

I sit here today berated by illness and injury. My knee still hurts, only not nearly as bad as it once did, but now I'm sick. I can't stop coughing, sneezing, etc. Everytime I cough, my entire body hurts. If that's ever happened to you, you know it's not fun. I'm at my friends apartment at the moment, because I still have 2 hours until my next class. I'm here today for the short shift that follows...

The American Media: The NEW Roman Spectator

I call the American media the new Roman spectator because they are seemingly out for blood everytime they put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard. They don't care if the blood is American, British, Iraqi, etc. Doesn't matter if it came from a soldier defending freedom, or from an Islamic insurgent trying to wrest back the freedoms being given by those soldiers. Although, the American media is more likely to put the story on the front page of the paper, or in the first eleven minutes of the news broadcast if Americans died in whatever attacks.

Just watch the coverage of Iraq and, occassionally, Afghanistan. It seems highly unlikely to me that our soldiers could've been in Iraq for over three years and still only bad things happen. I actually heard a reporter the other day, and it pains me that I can't remember the channel, bring up Abu Ghraib again. I thought we were past that, but in the media we aren't.

I know that I'm going to tick off my left-leaning counterparts when I say this, but the mainstream news media in this country has a horrible record concerning President Bush. If the story makes him look bad, run it on the front page three times. If a story makes Bush look good, hide it as far back as possible, or don't print it at all.

Once again, I direct your attention to Abu Ghraib. What's the point of bringing that up? What victory does that gain anyone? Do I like what happened there? No. But I'll say this, if putting underwear on our enemy's head gets our enemy to tell us where his West-hating friends are hiding and what they're planning, I'll gladly donate some boxers to the effort.

But that's your assignment, kids. Watch the news, if you can stomach it, and see what I mean.

P.S.: Keith Olberrmann, get over it. Your show does about1/20 the ratings of Bill O'Reilly. You really make MSNBC look good by coming out and slamming their competitor that's constantly beating the crap out of you.

P.P.S.: Rennie, on your playground fight, you left out the part about how the kid before George had an official playground policy to remove Ahmed from the sandbox, and George only made good on it.

This Week in the Crazy, Vol. II

Short post this time, kiddos. I've got some time between classes, and I did promise this to you.

Best Game Ever!

I made the statement, which I still stand by today, that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the greatest Nintendo game ever.

For those of you who had the fancy Playstations, you don't know what you missed. Ocarina held everything a gamer could want. Engaging storyline, familiar characters, new weapons, tasks and puzzles, and the return of everyone's favorite enemy, Ganondorf.

When I first opened up Ocarina of Time, circa Christmas 1998, I sat down hoping for a good game. What I got was a great gaming experience that still stands in my memory. I recall climbing the steps to reach the epic final battle. I think back on the first time I beat one of the major temples. You have to know, before this time I wasn't a big Zelda fan. This game single-handedly won me over.

Sure, the game was only one player, and in a world of online gaming, a single player game is almost rowned upon. But not the Zelda series. Shigeru Miyamoto brought everyone an incredible series, and, depending upon the success of Wii's Twilight Princess, this game stand as the current crown jewel of the Zelda franchise.

Political Oddity of the Week

Just this...

She could be our next President. If you have any private property you want to hang on to, well, hide it now...

And if you like a Socialist America, well, here's your candidate.

Where's Ross Perot when you need him?

Still Torn, only Less Cutting Required

Okay, so I had my follow-up appointment with Dr. Greenwood today. I've been dealing with knee problems for nearly a month now, and I had an MRI last week.

I got good news today. My meniscus isn't torn. It isn't even the problem. The injury I sustained shows the same symptoms as a torn meniscus, but is actually a torn and partially dislocated patella tendon. For those of you at home, the patella tendon connects the kneecap to the quadricep muscle, the front part of your thigh.

Now, I may have to have surgery later, that's still not out of the question. But for now I begin a 4 to 16 week physical therapy stint during which I'll likely be grumpy and rather mean-spirited, but also far more tired than usual.

Enjoy me for the next 1 to 4 months.

This Week in the Crazy

Hello, all. Sanjay here, leading off what will hopefully become at least a bi-monthly article here at The Right Wing. We're calling it "This Week in the Crazy." Blake has entrusted me with the following segment:

Commercial Stupidity and the Following Outrage

I'm sitting here in the office, web-surfing and pulling together tidbits of knowledge for the next blog entry when I come across this.

I watched the Super Bowl. I found the commercials to be a bit lackluster. My favorites were the Blockbuster ad about using a "mouse," and the Chevy commercial where the assembly line machine is having a dream. Good stuff.

This Snickers commercial did not offend me. I actually thought it was funny. Hey, it could have been much, much worse. Now, though, Mars, Inc., the maker of Snickers, is apparently pulling the spot because they received a complaint. Here's where I draw the line. I don't care if you're pro-gay, or totally homophobic. It's a commercial.

If the commercial offends you, then change the channel, it's not like you don't have 185 more options out there. I hear that the dish actually has over a thousand channels. Just because something offends you doesn't mean we all have to lose it. You have control, exercise it.

Blake, take over, I'm ticked,

The Best Video Game On Every System Blake Has Ever Owned

NES: Super Mario Brothers 3. This game had it all.

The plot was just crazy, man! Bowser's up to his old tricks, trying to take over the world and all, but now you don't just fight Bowser, but you have to fight his kids and recover magic wands to restore kings to their original forms.

You fight, in typical Japanese video game/animation style, in wooden ships that can fly thanks to a single, solitary propeller.

This is one of, if not the, highest selling games of all time. I'm proud to have owned it, and even happier to have it for the GameBoy Advance.

Tune in next time for the Nintendo 64 game:
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time... quite possibly the best video game ever made.

The Politics of International Terrorism and the American Response

For those of you unconcerned with political matters, feel free to stop reading. This little segment deals with a growing problem in America today. It seems to me, your humble blogger, that many Americans graduated Class of 1939, from the Neville Chamberlain, Peace in our Time University. (thanks ajc.com The Vent)

A vast number of the vocal American political class and the voting public seem to think that if we just ignore Islamic fundamentalism, then it will simply disappear. This same line of thought appeared during the build-up to WWII. Hitler was appeased by a large number of European leaders, in hopes that he would be satisfied with just a bit. But their ignorance allowed the problem to reach its climax, and global conflict ensued.

Now, in the face of a similar enemy, the belief that appeasement will work has once again reared its ugly head. Remember, the Islamic extremists who brought about the destruction on 9-11-2001 were very patient. They first tried to destroy the building in 1993, but they failed. Eight years later, they left a crater in New York City. They hit the Pentagon, and were thankfully thwarted on a fourth plane.

It's now been five years since that day. The Pentagon still stands. I wouldn't be surprised if they return for it. But that's apparently what it's gonna take to wake people up in this country. Our enemy is willing to wait for generations to gain what they want. The American public isn't willing to wait three years. Our enemy waited eight years before returning to a target and finishing the job. The American public is upset that we've been in Iraq and Afghanistan for over four years. See the difference.

I'm leaving this one for you, the reader to investigate, but from what I understand, there is, or has been, a case in Saudi Arabia where a woman is awaiting trial, and likely execution, because she fought back against being raped. This is the great enemy of our time, but if the fight takes too long, or if it interferes with our nightly TV schedule, the American public isn't sure the fight is worth it.

If you don't like it, do something about it.

Groundhog Day, right?

Robert, before you get mad, I'm not stealing your groundhog day idea, buddy. Just adding a nice touch that you left out.


When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.

There is no way this winter is *ever* going to end as long as that groundhog keeps seeing his shadow. I don't see any way out of it. He's got to be stopped. And I have to stop him.

France becomes an even bigger jerk... film at 11.

So I'm checking out some of my favorite news sites today and I come across the little diddy on drudgereport.com:

Chirac: U.S. Could Face Euro Carbon Tax

Apparently, French presi-weasel Jacques Chirac was able to find an opening on his schedule somewhere between the 3 p.m. Hide Head in Sand and the 5 p.m. Hide Head in Sand to step up to whatever microphone was around and claim that, with the full support of the European Union, a tax would be brought against the United States if we did not sign both the Kyoto agreement and the subsequent agreement that takes effect in 2012, when the first Kyoto treaty expires.

For those of my readers unfamiliar with the Kyoto agreement, it is a United Nations backed plan to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Sounds good, right? Global Warming being the big evil that it is. Well, there are a few hitches in this thing. First, the Kyoto agreement is ratified by two nations that are not even subject to the agreement, China and India. These nations happen to be developing industrialy, and as such are emitting a vast amount of CO2. Secondly, the US and Australia refuse to sign the agreement because of a two-fold argument. A) The Kyoto Agreement is viewed as a restriction on industrialized capitalist economies. B) The possible machinations of the United Nations in an attempt to distrubute income globally.

Jacques Chirac sees things a bit differently. Don't get me wrong, Chirac is far from being the most enviro-friendly European leader. But he claims that he will have the full backing of the EU to pursue taxation on American goods.

Lawyers are beginning to join the fray, questioning the legality of such a tax. Chirac, though, is unworried. “A carbon tax is inevitable,” Mr. Chirac said, in a quote found in the NY Times. “If it is European, and I believe it will be European, then it will all the same have a certain influence because it means that all the countries that do not accept the minimum obligations will be obliged to pay.”

You know, the more I think about this, the more a history lesson comes to mind. Seems to me the last time the United States were taxed without having governmental representation, a little island nation in Europe lost bunches o' land. Last I checked, the name United States of America isn't on the European Union roll call.

Makes you glad to live on this side of the pond, eh?