Rule 5 Friday: Wonderful World edition

It’s a slow Friday, news-wise, which is sometimes a signal that it’s time to sit back and contemplate the good and beautiful in this world, those that make life worth living.

Such as Kate Upton in a black bikini:

As the great Louis Armstrong said, “What a wonderful world!”

Happy Friday, folks!

Related: Rule 5 explained.

Happy New Year from Public Secrets

It was a heckuva party last night, wasn’t it?

Happy New Year, folks. May 2013 bring you all you could desire.

Merry Christmas, one and all

Santa and I wish you a very happy day.

(Normal service resumes tomorrow.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

No blogging today, folks. Enjoy the holiday.

Sunday Links Fiesta, debate-skipping edition

I still can’t bring myself to watch the Republican debates: the quiz-show format, the never-ending quest for the gotcha moment or highlight soundbite, and (usually) liberal MSM hacks asking questions of conservative Republicans. (And on that last, I say “WTF??”)

Thank God there’s NFL football on.

But there are also good articles to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Here are a few I want to commend to your attention:

Debt-Watch: Senator (and future president) Marco Rubio has had enough with debt ceiling increases and wrote a scathing letter to President Obama to announce his opposition to another increase. Key phrase: “…the first three years of your presidency have been a profile in leadership failure.” Ouch!

Operation Fast & Furious: Three key ATF officials have been reassigned pending the DoJ Inspector General’s report. More scapegoats to protect Eric Holder and President Obama?

High-Speed Railroad-mania: For some reason, the statist Left are obsessed with high-speed railroads. (I suspect it’s a control-thing for them.) China’s vaunted program has been mired in scandal, while California’s proposed high-speed boondoggle has neared $100 billion in projected costs. So, what does the supposedly conservative (and definitely broke) government of the UK propose to do? Build their own high-speed railroad! James Delingpole calls it Britain’s “latest suicidal gesture.”

American Decline-Watch: President Obama announced massive cuts in military spending and active forces. The President says this will make American forces leaner and more efficient, while meeting our defense needs. Analyst Max Boot say these cuts put America on a “suicidal trajectory.” I agree with Max. For a reminder that American decline is a deliberate choice by Obama and his allies, have a look at Charles Krauthammer’s brilliant “decline is a choice.”

ObamaCare: The Supreme Court will be holding hearings on the constitutionality of ObamaCare soon. In preparation, Mario Loyola and other conservative-libertarian scholars have filed a brief explaining why not only should the individual mandate be struck down, but other key provisions, too.

Candidates-Watch: I’ve announced my support for Governor Perry for president, but other candidates are worth looking at, too. Fred Barnes argues that Governor Romney is more conservative than we think. I’m not wholly convinced, but thought there was enough here to chew over to make it worth passing along. Meanwhile, at Conservative Commune, a conservative, pro-life, Catholic woman makes the case against Rick Santorum.

Liberal Fascism-Watch: Call it “statism,” “the Chicago Way,” the “thugocracy,” whatever, President Obama is showing an arrogance and disregard for constitutional government that I have never seen in my lifetime. (In fact, I suspect this is what a Huey Long presidency would have looked like). At City Journal, Fred Siegel and Joel Kotkin write about “The New Authoritarianism.” It’s alarmist, but rightfully so. Meanwhile, former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy takes Obama and the Democrats to the woodshed for violating the constitutional order and the Republicans for doing nothing to stop it.

Birthday-Watch: It was Kim Jong-Un’s birthday this weekend, though it’s a state secret as to just which day it is. The Telegraph has video of the latest Dear Leader celebrating by doing his best Michael Dukakis impression and driving a tank. Really, these NoKo propaganda videos are almost an entertainment genre themselves. My favorite is the happy soldiers jumping up and down for joy at the little Un’s visit.

Finally, food: After all those annoying or depressing articles, doesn’t some comfort food sound good? And what’s a better side dish for breakfast than potatoes? You’ll love these “Perfect Breakfast Potatoes,” from Crepes of Wrath.

Hey, I’m not all-politics, all the time, y’know!

(Crossposted at Sister Toldjah)

Merry Christmas, one and all

Santa and I wish you a very happy day.

(Normal service resumes tomorrow.)

It’s 11:11:11 on 11/11/11

A bit of time geekery, for no reason other than I’m a geek.

Another geek, Obi’s Sister, points out that 111111 (today’s date) in binary converts to 63 in Base 10.

Like I said: geeks. I bet she can tell you all about her D&D character, too.

PS: Want to hear about mine?

PPS: And, by the way and in all seriousness, it’s also Veteran’s Day. If you see a vet, be sure to thank him or her, and keep the significance of the day in mind.

Sunday morning errands

I’m out until the afternoon — why is it a “day of rest” can be so hectic? 

But, if you’re in the mood for good content, have a look at some of the fine sites in the sidebar on the right.

Busy morning…

Normal posting resumes later today.

Independence Day link-a-palooza

None voted "present" here

Happy Independence Day! While you’re enjoying cookouts and fireworks, here are some links I think you’ll find of interest:

The Basics:

The Fourth of July commemorates the publication of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Take a moment to read what is, in essence, our vision statement. And while the 4th isn’t specifically about the Constitution, a refresher-reading of our nation’s operator’s manual is never out of order. (Unless you’re a progressive Democrat in Congress, but that’s another story.)

Further Reading:

The 4th of July isn’t just our Independence Day, but it was also the day of freedom for the Israeli hostages held at Entebbe Airport, Uganda. Today is the 35th anniversary of that amazing operation.

Some of the lesser-known Founders, signers of the Declaration, are finally getting the recognition they deserve.

We’re at war with Muslims who’ve chosen to wage jihad against us. Robert Spencer compares what we defend to what we defend against.

We’ve all heard of the Declaration of Independence. But, let’s face it, folks: it’s old and probably too hard for some to understand. Thankfully, Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute has the lowdown on its replacement, perfect for the modern age: The Declaration of Dependence.

At Big Peace, a Cuban refugee says thank you to America.

The Republic is in danger, and the Fourth of July is its source! According to a Harvard study, patriotic events like Independence Day parades create more Republicans. The horror…

(Actually, it probably is horrifying in Harvard.)

Finally, and speaking of Republicans, here’s a transcript of an essay Ronald Reagan wrote on the eve of his first Independence Day as president: What July Fourth Means to Me. He was truly special.

Enjoy the holiday, folks!

UPDATE: One last link. At Blood of Prokopius, Father Dave, an Orthodox priest with an interest in roleplaying games and religion, looks at the Declaration of Independence from a Christian perspective.

(Crossposted at Sister Toldjah)

Test

Just testing Windows Live Writer 2011, which I just discovered on the new Public Secrets Hamster-Powered Supercomputer. This is a picture, centered: This is a table (it would be neat if I could finally do tables in WP):

A	B	C
D	E	F
G	H	I

Won’t bother with the smileys. The Microsoft selection is still El Stinko.

UPDATE: Hmm… It’s much improved over prior versions, but I may only use it when I need tables. For one, it posts thumbnails of all images, whereas I may want to use a larger size. Hence, I’d need to manually edit. Second, it still has that bad Microsoft habit of throwing unnecessary HTML code into a post, something that’s always bugged me.

Oh well.

Happy New Year and Blog Holiday

It was a heckuva party last night, wasn't it?

Happy New Year, folks. May 2011 bring you all you could desire.

Normal service resumes tomorrow.

Merry Christmas, one and all

Santa and I wish you a very happy day.

A vote for Sister Toldjah is a vote for America

Vote early, vote often

To paraphrase the old typing exercise, “Now is the time for all good readers to come to the aid of their blog.” Gay Patriot (a great site, highly recommended) is holding their annual vote for Grande Conservative Blogress Diva for 2011, and my blog-buddy Sister Toldjah is one of the nominees!

The short list includes such worthies as Michelle Malkin, Fausta, and Tammy Bruce, but we know there can be only one*.

You can vote once daily through December 31st, so get cracking. I want to be able to wake up New Year’s Day and say “Toldjah so!” to the rest.

*(Fortunately, this does not require a duel to the death atop Silvercup Studios.)

A day of rest – I think

Sorry for the lack of posts today, folks, but I was out doing errands and only just returned. And soon Sunday Night Football starts so….

Normal service will resume tomorrow.

Meanwhile, try some of the fine sites listed in the sidebar on the right. Lot’s of good reading there.

Miss me yet?

Sorry for the lack of entries, today. A dental appointment this morning and then a hectic day at work have kept me from what’s truly important: providing you with twisted propaganda.

Normal service will resume tomorrow. Meanwhile, check out some of the sites in the right sidebar or, better still, have a look at this entry by my blog-buddy Sister Toldjah about how the NRCC can’t be arsed to help one of its winning candidates fight off a Democratic attempt to steal the election*. Jerks.

*Because, if it’s close, Democrats can’t resist a bit of cheating.

Detour

Greetings visitors from The Anchoress‘ blog! The link you clicked brings you to the main page. The post she’s referring to is here. Enjoy!

(And thanks for the link, Elizabeth!)

*Tap* *Tap* Is this thing on?

It looks like we have reliable communications restored here at Public Secrets Global HQ; the Time-Warner tech has been here and, after “only” a five-day wait, it took him all of 20 minutes to fix the problem – a failing modem.

At least my lack-of-Internet shakes have stopped. 

Bloggus Interruptus

Sorry for the light to nonexistent posting today. The Internet connection at Public Secrets Global HQ has been mostly dead as a parrot and may go down again at any moment. Normal posting will resume tomorrow after Time-Warner fixes the problem and finally after five days restores the service I’m paying them a lot of money for…

Busy day today

Today’s a hectic day at the secret-identity job, so posting will be minimal until much later. In the meantime, how about checking out some of the fine sites listed in the sidebar?