I never regret not watching CNN. Their New Years Eve show is no exception. Kathy Griffen screeched profanities at hecklers while Anderson Cooper looked amused.

“Screw you,” she told the heckler. “Why don’t you get a job, buddy? You know what? I don’t go to your job and knock the d- - - out of your mouth.”  Read more.

That’s one classy lady. No wonder she’s on the D-list.

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie’s Notebook

Do you support Israel’s right to exist? Assuming that your answer is probably “yes,” how do you feel about Israel’s “occupation” of the Gaza Strip? Perhaps your answer is “everything would be much easier if Israel were not an “occupier,” but still…you support Israel’s right to exist.

Are you a bit queasy about Israel’s “disproportionate response” to Palestinian aggressions; aggressions which include years of firing thousands of rockets and mortars into Israeli border towns? You probably acknowledge that Hamas should not be digging tunnels under the border into Israel…kidnapping Israeli soldiers, secreting arms through those tunnels from Egypt and Iran… to use on Israel, but still…Israel has a fearsome military, and after all, Gaza is a terribly poor area, filled to bursting with refugees existing for years in loathsome refugee camps - and don’t forget that Gaza is historically Palestinian - you might say. You support Israel’s right to exist, but still…it would be so much easier if the poor and oppressed of Palestine were not the victims of Israeli military. Read the rest of this entry »

Short Term Employee Wanted:

Position: US Senator from New York

Qualifications: Must have star power and a name like Clinton or Cuomo. Willingness to retire in January 2010 is a must.

Skill Set: Candidate must have proven bloviating abilites. Experience at triangulation is a plus, as is truth twisting. Candidate must also promise to support the 2010 campaign of New York’s unelected governor.

Benefits: Full salary no matter how dismal the performance. Retirement benefits better than even the UAW offers along with full medical coverage for life.

Application: Apply in person at the New York governor’s mansion.

This position is only open to New York residents, however, Delaware has a similar opening.

Update: New York Governor David Paterson is no longer accepting applications for this position. Coronation of the lady Caroline Kennedy is expected.

Not everyone believes the economy’s going to get better in 2009. Noriel Roubini thinks we’re in for a prolonged recession. 2008 could end up looking like a good year. Shudder!

Move over Paris, there’s a new celebrity in town. Barack Obama’s the biggest celebrity in the world and the tabloids love him. We can expect more swooning and drooling from the media in 2009.

Don’t expect the media to suddenly become honest or unbiased in 2009. They’ll continue their slanted reporting of the Israel/Hamas conflict and Barack Obama will continue with his free pass from the media. There’s no doubt Cuba’s fifty years of oppression and tyranny will be overlooked while myths and outright lies will make the news.

Newspapers will jump aboard the bailout bandwagon. How can Obama and the Dems not fork over our money to them after all the free advertising?

Cheers!

Dan Maffei “As long as we bring a new direction, even if we don’t accomplish everything at once” the change-hungry masses will be satisfied.

He didn’t specify what direction he and his fellow Democrats plan to take us, but he’s previously mentioned a need to get back to Keynesian economics. That’s not exactly reassuring. This change in direction may well lead to the road to serfdom.

There’s not a single tax liberals don’t like. Now that Americans are finally enjoying a little relief at the gas pump, Thomas Friedman believes, naturally, that Barack Obama should increase federal taxes on gasoline.

How many times do we have to see this play before we admit that it always ends the same way?

Which play? The one where gasoline prices go up, pressure rises for more fuel-efficient cars, then gasoline prices fall and the pressure for low-mileage vehicles vanishes, consumers stop buying those cars, the oil producers celebrate, we remain addicted to oil and prices gradually go up again, petro-dictators get rich, we lose. I’ve already seen this play three times in my life. Trust me: It always ends the same way - badly.

So I could only cringe when reading this article from CNNMoney.com on Dec. 22: “After nearly a year of flagging sales, low gas prices and fat incentives are re-igniting America’s taste for big vehicles. Trucks and SUVs will outsell cars in December … something that hasn’t happened since February. Meanwhile, the forecast finds that sales of hybrid vehicles are expected to be way down.”

Have a nice day. It’s morning again - in Saudi Arabia. Read the rest of the whiny rant.

Like Mr. Friedman, I dislike enriching America’s enemies. But I do like my SUV and my husband likes his truck. Trucks and SUV’s are popular and profitable for the auto makers. Americans like big, safe vehicles. We like big, powerful engines. We don’t like little death-traps on wheels.

Rather than sensible proposals, like allowing drilling and exploration here at home, liberals want to direct behavoir through taxation. Mr. Friedman whined because he doesn’t think Barack Obama will impose this new tax on the American people. I’m not so sure, as I remember Mr. Obama saying he’d like to see the price of gas increase. He only wanted it to happen slowly, so the sheep, I mean voters, wouldn’t notice.

The middle of the video is looking really good to me right now. Brrr!

Dear Readers,

Thanks for your comments and input, tips emailed to me and for coming back! I wish you a safe, happy and healthy New Year!

Labor unions gave nearly half a billion dollars to Democrats to give them complete control of the federal government. They certainly expect something in return. It isn’t the squeakiest wheel anymore, it’s the deepest pockets and the unions have deep pockets and Democrats know it.

I have to wonder if union members are happy knowing their hard earned dues are being funnelled to Democrat candidates? Do they get a secret ballot to vote on where their union dues are spent? Ha! Just kidding! Not that they shouldn’t have a say, but I really doubt they do.

Workers should have the right to a secret ballot when deciding whether to unionize or not. How would you like a thug showing up at your door, saying you had to sign a card right there in front of him? Sounds intimidating, doesn’t it? If they do that to enough workers, voila! You’re in a union with someone else taking a chunk out of your check.

Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, argues that the entitlement mentality taking over our great nation could destroy our economy. I tend to agree. Read the rest of this entry »

The Wall Street Journal was on the kitchen island and my seven year old noticed a picture of Sponge Bob on the front page of the Marketplace section. The headline was “SpongeBob Weeps Over Cable Spat”. It looks like Nickelodeon, along with quite a few other channels, will be dumped by Time Warner while we’re all ringing in the new year.

My seven year old proceeded to read about it and informed my four year old of the news. A few minutes later he ran to me crying, telling me there won’t be any more SpongeBob on TV.

I’d be more than happy to pay an extra quarter a month so my little guy can watch SpongeBob on television a few days a week. During this holiday season, instead of making spirits bright Time Warner is making children cry.

Bah Humbug!

1/1/09 Update: The clock struck 12 and Nick stayed on so all is good for the kids. A last minute deal between Time Warner and Viacom kept SpongeBob alive for Time Warner customers.

A liberal pundit was on TV earlier arguing that the free market is dead and we’re going to see government take over of more and more sectors of our economy. He said it’s what the people want and he knows we want this because Americans voted for Barack Obama.

The problem with his theory is that most people didn’t know what they were voting for, other than hope and change.

Barack Obama has promised an overhaul of the US health care system. Unfortunately, this will lead to rationing of care and huge federal debt to be paid for by our children and grandchildren. I’m sure that isn’t what people voted for.

Sure, Americans want the best medical care at the lowest possible price. But Americans also tend to be unrealistic and willing to believe promises that can’t be kept. As Thomas Sowell pointed out, politicians are good at promising the impossible. Delivery is another story.

Just look at the economy. We’re in a recession. Many economists believe recessions, in the long run, are necessary.  We can’t live in an overinflated bubble forever, especially when the bubble grew out of control due to government interference in the economy. Bubbles burst. The economy is cyclical, it has its ups and its downs. Corrections are part of the natural cycle.  But that’s not the sort of thing the people want to hear.

So we get politicians promising to print money to create jobs and save the economy. They promise to give us things that are expensive, like health care and a monthly check. So what if we already do that for retirees, the disabled and the impoverished. They aren’t going to get votes by promising to continue an existing entitlement. That wouldn’t win over any new voters.

What they fail to tell the people is that the money they spend has to come from somewhere. They can’t keep printing money and raising taxes without serious economic consequences. But those inconvenient little truths don’t fit the hope and change narrative.

Sooner or later the people will figure out what they voted for. And they aren’t going to like it. Thankfully, like the economy, politics is cyclical. Let’s hope this political cycle is a short one.

In case you missed Blago’s press conference this afternoon, you know…when he named Roland Burris as Barack Obama’s replacement in the US Senate. It seems race baiting is all the rage these days.

It’s the time of year when people like to focus on the positive. Things aren’t all bad!

Although politicians are behind the 8 ball on the issue, it looks like 2008 was the year Global Warming was Disproved. Isn’t that great news? We’re not all going to fry!

We may be in for a few rough years, but Americans are resilient. We’ve survived all the (failed) socialist programs brought to us by the political class. We’ll survive this, too.

If you simply need a good chuckle, Burt Prelutsky provides it with Wit And Wisdom Through The Ages. My favorite was G. Gordon Liddy describing a liberal as “someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.”

I hope you can find a silver lining and have a happy, safe and healthy New Year!

A new poll shows that 60% of New Yorkers are opposed to Governor Paterson’s proposed obesity tax on sugary sodas. That would be good news, but New Yorkers are fickle when it comes to tax hikes.

Many New Yorkers are elated that the governor is considering a tax increase on the wealthy. They’re even rejoicing. The Working Families party believes “It’s economically and morally sound to require wealthy New Yorkers to pay more in order to prevent even deeper cuts to schoolchildren, the elderly and the disabled.”

It’s too bad the Post Standard didn’t include comments from anyone who finds increasing taxes on one person to pay for benefits of another person is economically and morally unsound.

But neither proposal may be necessary because Senator Chuck Schumer has come to the rescue! He came to Albany today promising $18 billion in pork for New York from Obama’s planned stimulus package. These liberal Democrats are so generous with other people’s money!

I’m sure all of you who live in states with sound budgets and controlled spending are thrilled to be part of a union where you have the privlege of paying for states like mine, with no fiscal discipline. But at least we New Yorkers can say California’s worse.