The Wall Street Journal: Holman Jenkins: The Shutdown GOP Victories?

Source:Wall Street Journal- U.S. Speaker of The House John Boehner (Republican, Ohio)

Source:The FreeState

Business World columnist Holman Jenkins on how Republicans can negotiate their way to serious reform—little by little." 

From The Wall Street Journal

Only Libertarians or Anarchists think shutting down the government and not opening up is a good thing. Because they obviously tend not to like government or be in favor of government and tend to see most of what government does as some violation of their freedom and constitutional rights. Especially as it relates to taxes. And shutting down government seems to be a good thing for them. 

But for the rest of the country, who not only pays for and consumes public services, shutting down the government especially over one issue like the Affordable Care Act, looks crazy. And House Republicans and their allies in the Senate are going to pay for it.

What House Republicans haven’t figured out that is that even though we do have a divided government, they have the smaller portion. 

Imagine sharing a pie with someone and you only get 1/3 of the pie and the person you’re sharing the pie gets the other two-thirds. And the person with bigger portion says: "We’re sharing this pie equally." I would say something like: "Who you think you’re fooling? Your portion is obviously much bigger than mine." 

Republicans won back the House of Representatives in 2010, but that is the only thing they won. The lower chamber in Congress, with the Democrats still controlling the upper chamber the Senate. With a bigger majority in the Senate today than they had in the 112th Congress.

When the party that has the bigger portion of government that has a lot more power in the executive and the Senate, makes it clear that they’re not going to let you eliminate their biggest accomplishment at least since Medicare in 1965 and they have the power to stop you, you need to take that seriously. Especially when you’re responsible for funding the U.S. Government. 

The appropriations and budget process starts in the House after the President submits his budget. The House is required to pass these bills. And when you attach something like a repeal or defunding of ObamaCare to the budget that you know the Senate won’t pass and the President won’t sign, you create major political problems for yourself.

What House Republicans need to learn, especially their GOP Leadership, is that they simply don’t have the power to do what they want to do. They won’t have that power in 2015 either, even if they win back the Senate and hold onto the House, or add to their majority. 

Eliminating the Affordable Care Act is simply a non-starter with Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration. Just like an across the board tax increase would be a non-starter with Congressional Republicans. 

So what House Republicans need to do is fund the government and get an agreement with Senate Democrats and the President to do that. Which includes funding ObamaCare. And if they have a Republican Congress and Republican President in 2017, then they could repeal ObamaCare, but not now.

Uncommon Knowledge With Peter Robinson: John Micheltwait & Clark Judge: ‘The Conservative Ascendancy’

Source:Hoover Institution- author John Micheltwait.

Source:The FreeState 

“A half-century ago, the ideology of the American political establishment was liberal—the New Deal was still new and big government was getting bigger. Today, after a political revolution that began with Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, it may be argued that conservativism has become the dominant ideological force in American politics. But what does conservativism mean today? And if it is ascendant, how long can it remain so? Peter Robinson speaks with Clark S. Judge and John Micklethwait.” 

From Hoover Institution 

If you are going to use political labels, you need to use them correctly. I know I'm stubborn on this, but I hate hearing about how conservative someone is who bases if not their entire political ideology, on their fundamentalists views on religion and culture, as well as race and ethnicity and women's place in the world. 

I hate hearing about how liberal someone is, who believes there's no such thing as high taxes, regardless of how high they are and that there's basically nothing that government can't do for people and that masculinity is dangerous, European-Americans are essentially bad people, etc. 

What you get in this debate from the so-called Conservatives here, is that conservative is right and that liberal is left. That conservative represents America in America and liberal represents Britain and Europe in America ideologically. When the fact is, Conservatives and Liberals (at least in the classical, if not real sense) have a lot in common ideologically. They are both considered center-right in Europe and probably the rest of the developed world, at least outside of America. 

I agree with Perter Robinson, John Micheltwait, and Clark Judge, that America is essentially a center-right country. But you need to know what center-right is: 

Americans tend to believe in both personal and economic freedom, meaning property rights. 

Americans tend to love the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and all the individual rights that come with it, al those values being liberal values, like free speech, the right to self-defense, right to privacy, checks and balances, free press, property rights, federalism, equal rights, equal justice, etc. 

The reason why I say that Liberals and Conservatives aren't left and right, but both center-right, because they believe in the same constitutional and ideological values, at least when you look at what liberal and conservative is in the classical sense, which is the real sense with me. Liberal vs Conservative, is not hippie versus redneck, but instead Liberals tend to believe in progress and Conservatives tend to be a lot more methodical, before they decide to move forward.

Dave Warner: ‘A Moment With Pam Oliver (2006)

Source:Dave Warner- an excellent rear view of FOX Sports NFL reporter Pam Oliver.

Source:The Daily Post

“Dave from Dave’s Football Blog finds Fox Sports’ Pam Oliver in Charlotte for the Carolina Panthers v. New Orleans Saints game. Part 4 in a series.”

From Dave Warner  

“A Moment With Pam Oliver:” hum, maybe it was only a moment, because the guys shooting the video kept yelling out her name and how much they like her. Which might be why she moved away instead of having guys gawk at her indefinitely, as if she’s a professional model. And even though she definitely attractive enough to be a professional model, a supermodel even, that is not why she was at this event.

Source:Dave Warner- Fox Sports reporter Pam Oliver.

Pam Oliver was at this game to cover that event for Fox Sports, which she does a great job doing, which I’ll get into later. Something to think about especially for young men and have a tendency to freak out when they see a sexy woman, which Pam certainly is wearing tight outfits.

Speaking of Pam Oliver, not a fan of Fox, especially Fox News and not much of a fan of Fox Sports either other than their NFL coverage which tends to be pretty good. Their studio show and their number one announcing team with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and yes Pam Oliver who their number one sideline reporter.

But I love Pam Oliver personally and physically. She does a great job for them and looks great doing it and is the best looking woman at Fox Sports and I believe their best reporter. And one of those reasons is because players and coaches want to talk to her. She asks tough questions, but she’s fair in doing that and is also great to look at. And you can talk to her without getting in trouble from your girlfriend of wife, because she’s a sideline reporter and not a fan or groupie or something.

NFL Films: 1981 New York Jets

Source:NFL Films- with a look at the 1981 New York Jets.

Source:The Daily Post 

“1981 New York Jets Team Season Highlights “Talk Of The Town”

From Sports Odyssey

Robert Altman: Nashville (1975)

Source:FURY- Hollywood Goddess Karen Black, singing in Nashville.

Source:The Daily Post

"Ce film raconte le destin de 24 personnages, issus de milieu musicaux ou politiques, qui vont se croiser dans la ville du disque et de la country, Nashville, Tennessee, au cours de cinq jours d'été au cœur des années 70." 

From FURY

"In 1975, Robert Altman debuted the crown jewel of his career: a gutsy, broad-scale cinematic portrait of a divided America set within the Country Music Capital of the World. Today, it might just be the greatest American film of all time. 

Source:Tribecafilm- The cast of Robert Altman's Nashville.

From Tribecafilm

The 1970s, really as a whole was one of the most divisive times for American politics. It was when whoever was left that actually trusted the U.S. Government to do the right thing and even tell them the truth, had ended.

You had the Vietnam War in the mid and late 1960s with President Lyndon Johnson. You had President Richard Nixon, who was stuck between wanting to get America the hell out of Vietnam and yet not actually be seen as losing the war. Sort of like a person stuck between wanting to kill someone and marrying them.

And then you had Watergate, with that, plus the other scandals of the Nixon White House, led the House of Representatives to vote for impeachment of President Nixon.

Without Vietnam and Watergate, Jimmy Carter remains a peanut brain, I mean peanut farmer from Georgia, who probably runs for and wins reelection as Governor of Georgia. America, especially after President Gerry Ford, who just happened to be President Nixon’s Vice President and personal friend, pardons Richard Nixon for his involvement in the Watergate coverup and all other crimes that President Nixon was involved in as President of the United States.

Congressional Democrats, in 1974, don’t win landslides in the House and Senate, because suddenly it just occurs to Americans that Republicans are devils and Democrats are saints. Democrats, won the 1974 Congressional mid-terms, because they weren’t Republicans.

There was this feeling in the America in the mid-1970s, especially as President Nixon resigns and gets the bailout of a lifetime and is pardoned by his Vice President, that the country was way off. Way off like a 747 yet without radar flying in the clouds in the Caribbean, with both pilots and the navigator, high, drunk and blind, all at the same time. And that it was time for America to get back on course and try something else. Try something that wasn’t a Democrat, or a Republican. Or at the very least not a Washington Democrat, or Republican. And I believe Nashville reflects those feelings of the country.

As far as this movie, it looks to me anyway like a two-hour forty-minute country music concert. Which would have been fine with me, if I were a country music fan. And it didn’t snow in Minnesota in January. Good luck seeing either. With some politics mixed in from time to time.

James Miller Center: President Gerald Ford: Address on Energy Policy (1975)

Source:James Miller Center- President Gerald R. Ford (Republican, Michigan) speaking about energy policy in 1975.

Source:The FreeState

"President Gerald Ford proposes ways to address the growing energy crises, and criticizes the Democratic-led Congress for refusing to let him move on energy reform.

May 27th, 1975" 

From the James Miller Center

"Gerald Ford

May 27, 1975

Source National Archives

President Ford addresses the American people to discuss his efforts to pass an energy policy bill. He points to a lack of cooperation by Congress to enact any legislation to make the United States less dependent on foreign oil, conserve energy, and increase domestic production. The President and Congres eventually reach an agreement in December 1975 with the passage of the Omnibus Energy Bill." 

From the James Miller Center

President Ford, showing a lot of leadership in 1975, taking on energy policy and even energy independence, figuring out that the energy shortages of the early and mid 1970s were bad for the economy as a whole. Not just energy production, as well as our foreign policy having to rely on other countries that aren’t very dependable, to provide a huge superpower with energy. And that if America could produce more energy on our own, it would benefit both our economy as well as foreign policy. 

The Great Deflation, is how you could sum up the American economy in the 1970s. Part of that having to do with the fact that even though America has about the most natural resources in the world, perhaps only Russia, has the ability to produce more energy for their own country than America and yet we were dependent on other countries for our energy supply. Because we haven’t up until lately, the last few years, done a very good job of developing all of our energy industries. Oil, gas, natural gas, nuclear, solar and wind. 

We produce all of these resources and have the ability to be leaders in all of these resources in the world and become energy independent. But haven’t done a very good job of moving these energy resources along.

Movieman Trailers: Escape From Alcatraz (1979) Starring Clint Eastwood

Source:Movieman Trailers- Clint Eastwood's Escape From Alcatraz.

Source:The Daily Post

“Escape from Alcatraz Trailer [HQ] No Copyright Infringement Intended.”

From Movieman Trailers 

If I had to put a short list, top 5-10 Clint Eastwood movies of all-time, (which are all great movies, by the way) Alcatraz would be on that list. Probably somewhere between 6-10, with Heartbreak Ridge and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot being at the top.

Escape From Alcatraz is of course about the 1962 escape of this famous prison by Frank Morris and two other career criminals that apparently no other prison in the country could hold. John Anglin and Clarence Anglin being the other two inmates. The movie shows how the inmates got out. The question did they survive and make it to San Francisco, or another island.

This movie also give viewers another look at Clint Eastwood who generally plays a no-nonsense, tough guy, who enforces the law and even uses controversial means to do that, but always gets the bad guy. In Alcatraz, he’s not only a bad guy, but he’s the chief bad guy that other bad guys look up to. He plays a criminal genius at least as far as IQ and intelligence in Frank Morris, who figures out how to escape from Alcatraz. And also happens to be friends in prison with two other men who are also experts in making prison escapes, the Anglin brothers.

Escape From Alcatraz not only shows you how these three inmates escaped from prison, but also gives you an inside look of what life inside of Alcatraz was for inmates and staff. How deadly boring it simply could be, unless you had a job as an inmate and how much time the inmates spent by themselves in individual cells. And what tactics, measures and extremes even the staff at Alcatraz would go to, to keep the prison secure. Like locking up inmates in solitary when they get into fights, but locking up in a completely dark dungeon twenty-four hours a day. And is very interesting and great movie.