Archive for January, 2011

Bob Maistros

“We have some work to do in Egypt in terms of our relationships with the Hebrews.”  Pharoah Ramsses, speech at the dedication of the Pyramids, ca. 1600 BC.

“Here in the Hunnic Empire, we still need to tweak our associations with the Romans.”  Attila, State of the Empire Address, 450.

"Human rights? Hu, me?"

“We have a ways to go in Mongolia in terms of our treatment of conquered peoples.”  Genghis Khan, proclamation, 1200.

“We might have to make some adjustments in Spain in terms of our dealings with heretics.”  Torquemada, ecclesiastical conference, 1492.

“We in England may have to take a second look at our policies in terms of taxation of the colonists.”  King George III, address to Parliament, 1775.

“It may be that we in France need to widen our confectionary choices for the peasantry.”  Marie Antoinette, royal audience, 1791.

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David Karki

Many columns have been written and much airtime consumed trying to figure out why Sarah Palin drives liberals so bat-bleep crazy. From a purely strategic standpoint, their unhinged anger makes absolutely no sense at all.

If Palin would make that awful a presidential candidate – to say nothing of a president, in the left’s eyes – then wouldn’t they want to saddle the Republican Party with her as their 2012 nominee? Or, if the establishment GOP refuses to go along, create the perfect wedge with which to permanently separate them from the conservative Tea Party base?

Driving them bat-bleep crazy.

With the opposition thus divided, President Obama could cruise to re-election. Either way, if the left is correct about Palin, then they’d stand to benefit greatly by ensuring she gets the nomination.

Moreover, the Democrats need to change the dynamic of the 2012 elections. They are coming off the biggest mid-term drubbing in modern American political history, which is usually very ominous for the re-electoral chances of the incumbent president under whom it occurred.

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Dan Calabrese

I’m sure brand new Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley knew what he was asking for when he decided to say this as part of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day address to the state:

“There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit. ‘But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have, and like you have if you’re a Christian and if you’re saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes?

Christianity 101.

“It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister. Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.”

Of course he knew. He had to. When he said this, the media went nuts.

The headlines write themselves in a situation like this, and CBS News pretty much summed it up with theirs: “Alabama Governor: Only Christians are my brothers”

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Jill Ciminillo

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.–As I was sitting through the media presentation for the all-new 2011 Lexus CT 200h, I had a distinct feeling of deja vu.

Lexus said they were targeting younger buyers and rattled off phrases like “early adapters,” “tech savvy” and “socially connected.” They identified this demographic as people who are interested in “self discovery” and “personalization.” Thus traditional marketing and traditional options don’t quite jibe with this vehicle.

Where in the world have I heard this before? Oh! I know! About 7 years ago in a similar press review for the launch of an all-new brand: Scion.

2011 Lexus CT 200h

Granted, I get that the demographic they’re targeting with the CT is exactly the same as the target for the initial Scion. But I have to admit my brain is having a hard time making the leap from a Gen Yer, who 5 years ago wanted a car that cost under $20K to a Gen Yer who now makes more than $100K and wants a car that costs more than $30K.

Man, am I in the wrong profession.

I’m also having a problem with the idea that someone would go from a Scion directly to a Lexus.

But perhaps that’s just me?

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Bob Maistros

News flash:  President Barack Obama signs an executive order calling for a review of regulations on business, complete with a splashy op-ed in the Wall Street Journal admitting the existence of “unreasonable burdens on business – burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs” and promising to restore “balance.”  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor complains that the President stole the idea from him.

Bedfellows?

(to the tune of “Fascination,” with apologies to F.D. Marchetti and Dick Manning)

It’s triangulation
They say
That’s my path to victory
Next Election Day
Call on Bubba’s heft
Distance from the left
Go on with O’Reilly on Super Bowl Sunday.

Start with elongation –
Tax cuts.
Look just like a centrist
When moveon goes nuts.
Watch approval ratings
Beginning to climb
Triangulation’s so sublime.

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Brett Noel

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Large version for newspaper publication.

Greyscale version for newspaper publication.

Dan Calabrese

My 10-year-old son loves history, and is particularly interested in the fall of communism. He loves to get on YouTube and watch videos of the news reports in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell, and the people danced in the streets celebrating the demise of their communist overlords. One of the things I remember as so stunning about those events was how quickly they happened. Regimes who had held iron-fisted control for years suddenly fell like dominoes within weeks, and it became clearer than ever that their subjects had never supported them, and never wanted them there.

Tumbling down.

I wonder if we are getting close to a fall-of-the-Berlin-Wall type event where the mainstream media are concerned. The MSM’s dishonest and poorly written accounts of recent events has been so abysmal, and so clearly disconnected from the thinking of the rest of the country, you have to wonder if institutions who are also struggling with such antiquated business models can hope to enjoy support from anyone when they most desperately need it.

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Bob Maistros

Well, my North Star colleague Dacia is back to her “battle-of-the-sexes” shtick again.  But hey, thanks for bringing to my attention the mind-boggingly stupid recommendation to allow women officially into combat roles.

Dacia, I’m darned impressed with your 23-minute three mile.  I’m pretty close to back to that pace – at 55 – now that I’m recovering from my third operation in the last year.  But then, in my late 40s, I was running somewhere over 17 for three.  Back when I was four years older than you, I was around 16.  Plus I’m guessing that I too can still bench your weight – probably

Call me when the Chinese get here.

for 5-10 reps or so.

My point isn’t to brag.  It’s to underscore that the physical differences between men and women – just one of the many issues involved in determining “the weaker sex’s” fitness for combat – aren’t just large.  They are insuperable – no matter how much training women do.

But fitness for combat – and the military’s ability to carry out its mission of keeping us safe – are not the issue and never were in this debate.  The issue is “diversity.”  (Not coincidentally, the recommending panel is the Military Leadership Diversity Committee.)  And nothing will be allowed to stand in the way of that goal.

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Herman Cain

Last week I announced the formation of my Presidential Exploratory Committee. That’s right! I am formally testing the waters for a run for the presidency of the United States of America. We want to measure how much voter support and financial support we can generate in helping to make a final decision.

One goal. To win.

Of course some people think I have lost my normally rational mind, while others are excited about the possibility of a problem-solver in the White House instead of another politician. Some others have expressed doubts that I even have a chance, but I have been to that rodeo before and succeeded against the odds. In fact, that’s been the story of my career.

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Dacia Nichol

Oh my, it seems I may get my wish sooner than expected. A military advisory panel is ready to issue a recommendation that female troops be allowed and placed into combat units, something that is currently either prohibited by law or prohibited by Department of Defense policy.

You know she can.

Yeah yeah, go ahead and spit your fire about “diversity” and “career promotion” overtaking the effectiveness of our military, but consider this first: Women in combat is nothing new. It has happened in every war that every country or empire has been involved in. Granted, women resorted to dressing and acting like men so they could do what was considered to be a man’s job in most of them, and therefore many will never be acknowledged for having served in such a capacity for that reason.

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