Amen

I love Patriot Art

MSNBC Confesses, "Maybe The Media Is Bias..."

About time.

"But with polls showing the public losing faith in the ability of journalists to give the news straight up, some major newspapers and TV networks are clamping down. They now prohibit all political activity — aside from voting — no matter whether the journalist covers baseball or proofreads the obituaries. The Times in 2003 banned all donations, with editors scouring the FEC records regularly to watch for in-house donors. In 2005, The Chicago Tribune made its policy absolute. CBS did the same last fall. And The Atlantic Monthly, where a senior editor gave $500 to the Democratic Party in 2004, says it is considering banning all donations. After MSNBC.com contacted Salon.com about donations by a reporter and a former executive editor, this week Salon banned donations for all its staff.
What changed? First came the conservative outcry labeling the mainstream media as carrying a liberal bias. The growth of talk radio and cable slugfests gave voice to that claim. The Iraq war fueled distrust of the press from both sides. Finally, it became easier for the blogging public to look up the donors.
...The pattern of donations, with nearly nine out of 10 giving to Democratic candidates and causes, appears to confirm a leftward tilt in newsrooms — at least among the donors, who are a tiny fraction of the roughly 100,000 staffers in newsrooms across the nation."

But of course, we already knew that, as well as the people at UCLA.

"Our results show a strong liberal bias. All of the news outlets except Fox News’ Special Report and the Washington Times received a score to the left of the average member of Congress. And a few outlets, including the New York Times and CBS Evening News, were closer to the average Democrat in Congress than the center. These findings refer strictly to the news stories of the outlets. That is, we omitted editorials, book reviews, and letters to the editor from our sample." - A Measure of Media Bias, UCLA, 2004

The President Unveils New Weapon in War on Terror

The Get Stewed Newsmonger News Hounds have been at it again. With all this talk about how the Iraq war is "Lost", I instructed the News Mongers thusly:

*** Telegram ***
From Stew Magoo
To The News Monger News Crew

The War on Terror seems to be going really badly stop
Find out what is really going on stop
Determine secret plan of President Bush stop

And they did!

Top Secret Newsmonger News Story

President Bush has proven his wily ways yet again. Surrounding himself with an air of indifference to the public sentiment on the Iraq war has emboldened his detractors in their criticism. But it turns out that the Bush camp was merely lulling the terrorists into complacency to secretly unveil a new weapon. The head squish.

The President unveiling the devastating Head Squish during a press conference.

But wait! There's more!!!

Dick eschews the use of his shotgun to take aim at a surly New York War Protester.












Condi Rice also gets in on the fun. Here she is seen squishing the head of Dick Durbin (Dick not shown).











This is a rare shot from a laser guided Head Squish.












The results of the head squish can be severe. Here the skull crushing action can be clearly seen. The metal implement in the foreground is a suction drill to remove the brain from a typical liberal and/or moonbat.















Notice the whining and crying of this war protester after W looks over his shoulder and throws a casual Head Squish at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naturally the Head Squish was patented by John Bolton after having to deal with the UN for so long.

















Crossposted from Get Stewed

Happy Fun Blogging

From an email

Here's a highly humorous (unless you're a liberal bedwetting moonbat) idea:

On your computar's desktop create a file called Hillary Clinton
Then, drag it to the Recycle Bin and release it
Then, with an evil grin, open the Recycle Bin and

(with fanfare)

Select the file named Hillary Clinton and choose delete

Your computer will ask you if you want to get rid of Hillary Clinton

Next week, instructions on handling Nancy Pelosi will be published*.

*If you're a linux user results may vary

And now to put Don Imus to sled

I mean bed

Courtesy of Jer the quite talented artist at www.nyquil.org

Lisa De Pasquale Not Fooled By Wonkette

Cox became a media darling for her raunchy writing and contempt for conservatives, especially conservative women. In 2004, MTV brought her on as a special correspondent during the Democratic National Convention. Her 2006 novel, Dog Days, sold a dismal 5,000 copies according to Nielson’s Bookscan, despite two New York Times reviews, as well as profiles and reviews in The Washington Post, USA Today, People and The Village Voice. Six months after her book bombed, Time magazine then hired her to be their Washington editor. Liberals love to reward failure, be it with our tax dollars or their leaders.

There’s another double standard that’s not being discussed. Cox (and the current Wonkette bloggers) never hesitate to make crude, politically and factually incorrect comments about women. If she (or any woman) would have said “nappy-headed hos” it would be called catty not racist. Or gossipy instead of sexist.

Conservative women like Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Katherine Harris and Michele Bachman have been insulted in the same vein by Wonkette. A picture of Ann Coulter speaking is captioned on Wonkette.com, “Nothin’ but Diet Coke, nicotine, and blow in her system.” A Wonkette “operative” asks if Michelle Malkin will be doing a sexual trick on her videoblog. Katherine Harris’s physical attributes (her “eyes” as Imus calls them) are discussed and she is called a “street whore.”

On the President, Wonkette writes, “We didn't accuse George Bush of being gay because he holds his hand in a ‘nelly way.’ We accused him of being gay because he likes ****.” And I’m supposed to believe this woman blushed when a couple old guys complimented her looks? Even Cox’s personal blog, anamariecox.com is peppered with the same sort of language. I don’t pretend to be offended by Wonkette because it’s convenient for this article. Cox shouldn’t pretend to be offended by the same language and “locker-room misogyny” that brought her into the elite media’s inner circle.

Don Imus’s critics complained that his supporters, including CBS and MSNBC up until a week ago, enabled his foulmouthed behavior because he brought in listeners and commercial dollars. The foulmouthed Ana Marie Cox doesn’t sell books and probably hasn’t sold any additional Time subscriptions. What does that say about her enablers?

Ouch. (Emphasis mine)

Michelle Malkin - The John Doe Manifesto

Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/ Planner/ Funder/ Enabler/ Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy. And I am yours.
I am John Doe.
I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift.
I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss.
I am John Doe.
I will never forget the example of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.
I will never forget the passengers and crew members who tackled al Qaeda shoe-bomber Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63 before he had a chance to blow up the plane over the Atlantic Ocean.
I will never forget the alertness of actor James Woods, who notified a stewardess that several Arab men sitting in his first-class cabin on an August 2001 flight were behaving strangely. The men turned out to be 9/11 hijackers on a test run.
I will act when homeland security officials ask me to "report suspicious activity."
I will embrace my local police department's admonition: "If you see something, say something."
I am John Doe.
I will protest your Jew-hating, America-bashing "scholars."
I will petition against your hate-mongering mosque leaders.
I will raise my voice against your subjugation of women and religious minorities.
I will challenge your attempts to indoctrinate my children in our schools.
I will combat your violent propaganda on the Internet.
I am John Doe.
I will support law enforcement initiatives to spy on your operatives, cut off your funding and disrupt your murderous conspiracies.
I will oppose all attempts to undermine our borders and immigration laws.
I will resist the imposition of sharia principles and sharia law in my taxi cab, my restaurant, my community pool, the halls of Congress, our national monuments, the radio and television airwaves, and all public spaces.
I will not be censored in the name of tolerance.
I will not be cowed by your Beltway lobbying groups in moderates' clothing. I will not cringe when you shriek about "profiling" or "Islamophobia."
I will put my family's safety above sensitivity. I will put my country above multiculturalism.
I will not submit to your will. I will not be intimidated.
I am John Doe.

Amen.

Button courtesy of Frankly Opinionated

Laziness At It's Worst

You wonder why Americans are the most over weight people in the world, and companies like this in Cookeville make you realize it in a heartbeat.

Food of Your Mood, "We go so you don't have to."

You tell these people what carry-out you want from what restaurant, and they will call the restaurant, order it, then pick it up and bring it to you, for a charge of around $3-$5 extra. It's for the local Cookeville Area where I go to school.

Now I can see how this would be a benefit for people who either do not have a car, or are unable to drive because of other reasons. But seriously, how lazy do you have to be to have some one else order the food, then pick it up and bring it to you. Can you not take the effort to drive there and get it yourself?

What Is Carbon Offset?

Aside from a scam? Nothing more than buying a tree in return for your ability to still emit massive amounts of CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere. Read this "Carbon Exchange" sale on Ebay.

CARBON EXCHANGE (Carbon Offsett) - Help stop global warming, we have a 200+ acre property on the pacific coast north of San Francisco California. For every customer who sends $50 we will plant a baby redwood tree in their name. Each year you send an additional $50 to assure that the tree grows and is taken care off properly, we have been planting redwood trees for many years.

We will continue to maintain the property and preserve it for future generations to assure the health and longevity of our children, and our childrens children for many generations to come.

The earth is our gift but it does not come without a price. We could develope our property into a Discount super store, or a Lumber mill but we choose to take the option of environmental preservation and offer to our fellow Americans the opportunity to give something back to the land which has given so much to us. Each year you will recieve a newsletter (Written on recycled paper) explaining the state of our venture and how you can continue your support. Let's do something positive for our children and stop the destruction of our enviorment today. Together we can make this country the world leader in enviormental preservation.

In addition to the the planting of new trees we have set aside a small portion of our property to be developed into an Eco-Friendly Resort with Cabins, RV sites, and other outdoor amenities. We would like to have each donor visit us and participate in one of the most amazing places to visit on the planet. Black sand beaches, Horse back rides, hikes to the Worlds Tallest Tree, and excellent eating establishments are just a few of the things to do in this area. In addition our property is home to one of North Americas largest Rosevelt Elk herds, an Ancient Indian commerce site, as well as a historical Little Red School House which houses our Native American Artifact collection.

The black and white pics below show the damage our previous generations inflicted on much of the northwest, presumebly they did not know the future effects of clear cutting our forest lands, but now we have a chance. Let us fix the mistakes of the past and build a positive future where trees are allowed to grow and provide clean air forever. Help us reverse the mistakes of the past today.

We extend a invitation to each of our donors to come and visit us and see their trees first hand, imagine the joy you can experience bringing the grandparents and the kids to see your trees growing and producing the clean air we so desperately need. You have seen the news, and no matter what the political arguments planting trees can only be a positive thing. We have made a commitment to use a valuable property for the purpose of a better world, please join us and become a contributer today.

Yes, this is just one (of many) scam for a person in California to attempt to make an easy bit of money off of ignorant wealthy environmentalists. Granted it's better than threatening to burn a tree unless a $10 ransom is paid, but there is still a flaw in the idea of "Carbon Offsets."

As Christopher Horner stated on Fox News last night, "Buying carbon offsets is like a glutton telling an average person to starve in order to offset his gluttony. The fact is still that the glutton is still a glutton." Not to mention the fact that in a tree's lifetime of 80 years, it will remove about 1100kg of CO2 from the air, replacing it with Oxygen. That's a lot. Per year, that's about 11 kg of CO2. That's not so much, considering that the average person emits over 19,800 kg CO2 per year. That's 1800 trees to be "Carbon neutral" if you actually use the average consumption, and not 20 times the average person. Those 18oo trees spaced 30 feet apart takes up 1.62 million square feet, or 37 acres, per person. Oh and did I mention at $25 per tree per year that's $45,000 per year?

So you're spending $45,000 per year to offset being a glutton? Why not just change your lifestyle to reduce emissions?

Why I Love Dave Ramsey

I told you about Dave Ramsey on GOPAC and the blessing that Magotteaux gave me and all the other employees who took the class, with Financial Peace University. Well, here's a preview of some of the information in the class.




Watch this video, or if you have dial-up, I'll give you a synopsis:

Ben saves 2,000 per year from the time he is 19, until he is 26 years old in a mutual fund that gives a modest 12% annual return, and then stops. Arthur begins saving at 27 and never stops until he retires. At the age of 65, Ben has retired with $2,288,990 off of a mere $16,000 of earned income. Arthur retires with $1,532,160 after saving $78,000, and he will NEVER catch up.

In the words of Dave:
"The point of this chart is not that you should have started, it's that YOU'D BETTER START!"

While we're waiting on the results of the caption contest

Saw this picture over at some toasty place. File this under if it's not true, it should be.

Global Warming Alarmists Defend The Sun

It's the object that determines the temperature of the Earth, and when scientists notice that Mars, Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune's moon Triton are warming up along with the Earth, Global Warming Alarmists are the first to say it's NOT the sun's fault. It's those damn carbon emissions!!!

Brian Macdonald has a good explanation of how man is responsible for the warming on Mars:

Data received from the Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions have disclosed that both ice caps on the Martian poles have been shrinking for at least three consecutive years. A report from National Geographic states "simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural — and not a human-induced — cause." Hmmm, that brings up some questions.

It's claimed that global warming is caused by human-induced pollution, especially exhaust from automobiles. But planet Earth is much closer to the sun, so how do we, er, scientists and other assorted global warming advocates explain the shrinking ice caps on Mars?

Well, there's two vehicles on Mars right now, a pair of diabolical NASA SUVs that are spewing more carbons out of their tailpipes than Al Gore spends to cover up his home heating bills. I bet there's a redneck at the wheel of each, just tossing beer cans out on that lovely Martian dirt while listening to Toby Keith albums.

And the sun is not involved in any of this, or so Gore and company want you to believe.

Not only that, but Live Science has some misleading information on "affects of global warming," citing the number one affect being an increased risk of forest fires. They claim that global warming has caused an increase of fires in the past decade. However, the actual cause to that is environmental regulations which excessively prevented forests from being logged, allowing a build-up of dead trees waiting to be burnt.

Stupid 9/11 Truthers...

I originally posted this at GOPAC, but figured it could do some good here as well.

I occasionally go to the page Lies.com due to graphical analysis of the Iraq War with Vietnam. The Iraq War has now entered the same part of the graph where Vietnam gets ugly, and yet, Iraq is still at a stable number roughly about 100 per month. Is 100 soldiers per month upsetting, yes. Everyone would love to see 0 per month, but in the words of Bush, "It's not the fight we wanted, but it's the fight we're in."

But what caught my eyes was the comment of some idiot truther, who after seeing the smoke and mirrors of Dylan Avery took it hook line and sinker. Here's the post:

Iraq is far worse than Vietnam..because Iraq is the start of a global positioning in the world by this administration.
I am sick and tired of all these idiots that swallow the rhetoric passed out by the leashed mass media with their cute keywords ,spat out every five seconds so brain dead flag waving morons can reiterate them with an assumed air of authority …”cut and run” “fight them over there so we dont fight them over here ” “war on terror”…Its like training chimps.
Look into the events of 911..read ..listen ..and question ..most of all question…
Why when every major media outlet going stuck a mic under someones face when they were covered in dust and interviewed them and they said “I heard an explosion below me on the 7th floor ” or I heard a large explosion in the basement ” or a fire chief says I saw huge explosion damage in the basement with the marble wall blown off…were these interviews buried ..never to be shown again by the likes of cnn or fox or abc??? why were over 500 radio messages between firefighters or police or emts and their control stations held by the government under national security ???and when some were released recently under great pressure they too contained NUMEROUS reports of explosions going off that had nothing to do with the planes?
Why did the buildings fall at freefall speed ( scientifically proven ) when it would be scientifically impossible to do so if it encountered resistance at every level on the way down ( science proves the only way is if the base and key points all the way up were demolished in unison)??
Why is this the only steel structure in history to fall as a result of fire?despite the fact that a firefighter having got to the floor where the plane hit , called his control and said it was managable?
Why did WT7 fall when it wasnt even hit by a plane?
Why has traces of thermite been found on supporting beams at the base?
The numerous helicoter footage from news crews show a 15-20 ft hole initially at the Pentagon ( before firefighters pulled the facade down later )
A Boeing 757 has a 112 ft wingsan with two 6 ton engines made of titanium and steel 60 feet apart from each other .
How does two 6 ton engines 60 feet apart hit a building at 500mph and not make a dent on the wall or windows yet somehow slip into a 20 ft hole?????
How does a whole plane melt into nothing ( the official government suggestion) when steel and titanium will melt at 2600f and a carbon based fire could only reach 1300f maximum under ideal circumstances ( not this one either)..These are scientifically proven facts.
This is not fantasy ladies and gents …This is what your government wants you to believe unquestioningly.
The threat to this country was manufactured by a government who wanted a conflict with the middle east for oil and global expansion .This war will expand .
Your government has been complicit in the worst mass murder this country has ever witnessed and you sit back and argue the pros and cons of a war strategy.
History will condemn this time as one of the all time shameful episodes in human endeavours second only to the holocaust.
Read and question…smoke and mirrors

And of course, I HAVE to give my rebuttal:
People hearing blasts below their feet - Truthers base this mostly on seismic data which shows large spikes when the buildings hit the ground, but htey mostly ignore the increasing magnitude of the spikes before hand, caused by the fact that an increasing portion of the building is falling on itself as time goes, until finally hitting the ground. As for the people, when you are in a building, when a large vibration shakes the building it litterally shakes the WHOLE building, including the floor. If you are in the building, those vibrations actually travel down the supports of the building faster than the sound actually travels through the air. Therefore the sound of the crash actually sounds like it is from within the building before the sound outside the building reaches your ears. The difference is very great. The speed of sound in air is approximately 760 MPH, but it is over 12,200 MPH through the steel. So over 1000 feet, what you can feel shaking the building, and hear from those vibrations is almost instantly, then you hear the actual BOOM approximately 1 second later, giving the impression that something exploded below you. GOPAC - 1, Truther - 0

Buildings fall at freefall - I'm not even going to talk about this crap. Look here, and notice that the building has not caught up to the FREE-FALLING debris next to the building. GOPAC - 2 Truther - 0

The only steel structure to fall due to fire - OK, here's the scoop. There's a MAJOR structural difference between the WTC and normal sky scrapers. Normal scrapers are built like the Empire State building. They are a massive set of steel beams stacked in a slab shape one on top of each other in dimensions of say, 30' wide, by 30' long by 11 feet tall. The World Trade center was VERY different. ALL of the main, load bearing beams were on the OUTSIDE frame of the building, leaving the inside of the building very open for office space. The inside floors were nothing more than 1 1/2 inch steel tubing arranged in a triangular truss shape. It is a light-weight and strong configuration...when it's not heated. Steel loses over half of it's strength at only 1100 F, and has only 10% of its strength by the time it gets to 1800 F. The jet fuel was estimated at burning between 800 and 1500 F. Think about this for a second, a 757 crashes into the building and takes out a 3 floor section of the main load bearing beams, then sets a fire to those floors. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. USA Today has a VERY nice flash animation of the explination. GOPAC -3, Truther - 0

Why did WTC7 collapse of fire? - Umm...I don't know...maybe burning debris? GOPAC - 4 Truther - 0

What about the engines at the pentagon? - Notice there are multiple holes in this picture. There's one about 2/3 to the top on the left side, the next is 1/3 of the way from the bottom a little farther right, then the last is at the bottom, about 1/4 of the way over to the right. I wonder. Could those be the fuselage and engines? Truther-boy claims that the engines are a full 60 feet apart, however a look at the boeing page shows that based on the wheel base, the dimension is actually more about 48 feet apart. On top of that the body of the plane is 12' 4" wide, so that leaves all of 18 feet from the edge of the fuselage to the center of the engine, not including the width of the engines closing the gap further. There aren't many usable images in this contradiction, but not many is better than none. And this picture clearly shows where the left engine impacted away from the collapse. GOPAC - 5, Truther - 0

How does a plane melt into nothing? - Umm...genius, you answered your own question when you talked about the engines hitting at 550 miles per hour. Let's see, an aluminum framed plane hits a concrete and steel building at 550 miles per hour. Who's gonna win that battle? Evidence of the plane is all over the place, but I guess they just missed it. GOPAC - 6, Truther - 0

Looks like you've been beat.

Caption Contest: An Inconvenient Oscar Edition

Leave your captions in the comments. Photoshops are also accepted. Winners will be announced eventually.

Don't forget to mosey on over to Conservathink if you get the chance.

Funny stuff there soon!

******************************

UPDATE 3/2/07:

Hi, gang! Mr. Right here. Hope you are enjoying Damian G's caption contests in my prolonged absence. Be certain to check out another caption contest while you are at it, hosted by The Right Place's GOP And College at his own blog, featuring "W" and a ball that wouldn't bounce! I shall return someday when my internet connection does not take 1/2 hour to load a page! Meanwhile, God bless you all.

p.s., Remember what we all learned from Sesame Street: Oscar loves trash and belongs in a garbage can!

Caption Contest: Not A Negative Nancy Edition - WINNERS

First off, sorry about my weird rule about submitting to both this blog and mine. The contest was originally supposed to be just on my blog, but Mr. Right gave me the okay to do one on his. All entries, regardless of where they submitted, were considered.

And so, without further Apu...

Here are the Honourable Mentions!

"The Portrait of Nancy Pelosi."

"Remind me to switch plastic surgeons...I feel like my face is going to split." - Pam

"Nancy experiences a huge headrush while thinking about all the money and guns she is going to take from her subjects..." - jimmyb

"Terrorism? Ha! I don't see any terrorism!" - Uber

"After getting plenty of fiber in her diet, Nancy Pelosi drops a load at the feet of House Republican Whip Roy Blunt."

"Try as she might, Nancy Pelosi is always unable to imagine herself as being liked by all." - Carl

Here are the top five winners:

#5: "Suddenly Nancy rips off a world class and noxious gas bomb yelling, "THAT'S TERRORISM"!" - Stew

#4: "As seen in this photo, Nancy Pelosi experiences an orgasm each and every time the word "redeployment" is mentioned." - Carl

#3: "When singing to the troops, Nancy Pelosi's attempt to hit that high note in the song "Loving you" made even a deaf dog howl in pain." - GOP and College

#2: - Cowboy Blob

And now, drum roll please... The number one entry!!!

#1: "Nancy Pelosi auditions for the part of Mrs. Ida Lowry in the remake of the 1985 movie Brazil." - Pam

Brava! Brava!

Encore! Encore!

I will have up a new contest soon, only at In the Right Place!

Caption Contest: Not A Negative Nancy Edition

Leave your captions in the comments. Photoshops are also accepted. Winners will be announced eventually.

Please also leave captions on my blog. It's a reciprocal contest of sorts.

Mr. Right told me via e-mail that once he gets a non-craptastic computer and ditches dial-up, he will do the contests again. Until then, y'all are stuck with me, so choke on that!

Some Great Posts From Around The Sphere!

While it is true that I have been very lax in my blogging of late, there is still some great stuff out there to be read!

If you have missed any of this, be certain to check it out...

Our own GOP and College, who has been busy giving us a great lesson in economics here of late, has a provocative idea in a post at his own blog about how to win in Iraq that is a must read:

The Real Problem In Iraq

Aaron at Lifelike Pundits updates everyone on the latest Democrat dirty trick which features Alcee Hastings in a prominent role:

Democrats Give Sex Slaves the Finger in Quest to Attack America

And just for laughs, check out Islamic Rage Boy of The Nose On Your Face fame in a brand new video:

Islamic Rage Boy Plays The Tel Aviv Sheraton

More Economic Reporting By GOPAC

It's very funny to see the people like John Kerry and other liberals trying to state that an economy with high taxes and intrusive government is a good thing. They use Europe as a model of excellence saying that it is the way to go. But do we really want to do that? The Swedish company Timbro did a study that compared the United states to the entire European Union, and the results are not what Euro loving economists would like you to see.

Big point #1 - The lowest 25% of income earners in United States are FAR wealthier than the average European.
The study shows that 73% of Americans who made below $25,000 in 1999 owned their own car. 97% owned a color TV, with 55% owning more than one. Take for example housing; 46% owned their own home. You might say that the house is probably pretty small, but the average house for those 46% of people making $25,000 or less is 1,200 square feet. Compare that to the entire European average of 975 square feet. There is actually only one country that can beat the average "poor American's" home, Luxembourg. Their average home size is about 1,350 square feet. However that is still a far cry from the 1,800 square foot average for the overall average American home.

Big point #2 - European Countries will likely NEVER catch the United States unless something dramatic is done.
The study shows that even if the United States economy remained absolutely stagnant, it would take most European countries over 10 years to catch up to the United States if their growth remained the same. There was only one country that would have caught up to the United States in less than 8 years, but more on that later.
Unfortunately, over the past 30 years, the United States has nearly doubled their economy per person in the past 30 years. Only Germany has kept a reasonable pace, but they are still about 5% below the United States per person GDP.

Big Point #3 - A person in the United States buy more than a person in Europe.
In fact the average American spends about 77% more than the average European. The only country who comes close is again Luxembourg However this is misleading since it takes into affect per person GDP. Luxembourg has a very high GDP per person since most of their work force comes from people who live outside the country. Even with the skewed scale, Americans are able to spend almost $5,000 more per year than them, and almost $10,000 more than in any other European country.

Why is this? - The United states has a more free market than the European Markets.
European countries have policies which have high taxation, and strict laws preventing companies from firing unproductive workers. This makes companies more reluctant to hire people, as well as make it difficult for people to become entrepreneurs. Companies are very difficult to start up, and no one wants to deal with it.
Not only that but taxes for the American income earner are the lowest of all people surveyed. Americans have much more money left after the government takes it away in taxes. This allowed for more consumption spending, which helps the businesses that sell the products.

Big Point #4 - There is one exception to the European Mire
There is one country who is defying the European lackluster performance, and I'm betting you would have never thought of it if you didn't know: Ireland. Yes, the Irish have taken notes from America and discovered the key to long term economic gains; Economic Freedom. Ireland was listed in 2004 as being the 4th most free market in the world, and their economic growth has shown. In 1987 Ireland had the lowest per capita GDP of all the EU countries. However in the following years Ireland's government sliced taxes, and opened up the market to more freedoms. Growth flowed from the economy at a fire hydrant rate. From 1990 to 1995 the economy grew at a rate of over 5% per year, and from 1995 to 2000, the economy averaged over 9% growth per year! The key to this is exponential growth. It's calculated the same way as interest in an account. You start off with 100, the next year you have 109, the next you have 119, the next 130, then 141, and so on. From the year 1990 to 2000 the economy grew 96%.

Lower taxes, and less government intrusion left the people more options, and made it easier to succeed. People were starting new businesses everyday, and the economy skyrocketed from being worst to first.

Ireland's recent economic storywould be one which emphasises the role of low taxation in promoting economic activity. Low corperate taxes are vital if a region is to encourage foreign direct investment. Aside from the 10% corperation tax rate there have been substantial reductions in tax rates between 1985 and 1998. The top rate of income tax has come down from 65% to 46%, capital gains tax has been reduced from 60% to 20% and capital aquisitions tax from 55% to 40%. Well targeted tax breaks can generate worthwhile employment generating activity. - European University Institute

Recently Ireland's growth has declined, reason; the government has decided that they want more regulation. This has begun to peak the "Celtic Tiger."

Need further proof that big government is bad for the economy? Compare this map of the 2007 Index of Economic Freedom, to the rank of world economies. Note that every one of the most free economies are among the top per capita economies (5th, 8th, 13th and 17th, again, note Luxembourg's $80k/C is heavily skewed). Of the countries who are 70-80% free, they hold 12 of the remaining 16 spots in the top 20. Only Qatar, France, Germany, and Italy were among the 60-70% free class to break the top 20, and they ranked 7th, 18th 19th and 20th. Qatar was the 7th, but like Luxembourg, their numbers may have been skewed to the high range due to workers living outside the country.
As far as I could see, the highest ranked 50-60% country is Poland at $7,946/C. Compare that to the United State's $42,000/C, and it only goes downhill from there.

They make it seem like Europe is such a great model, but in actuality,
"It is better being poor in a rich country than in a poor one."

Economic Freedom: The key to economic success.

Cross Posted At: GOP and College

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Another Reason To Not Raise Minimum Wage, Continued
Another Reason To Not Raise Minimum Wage

The First Annual Jimmah Awards!

Our good friend Pam over at Blogmeister USA has launched THE FIRST ANNUAL JIMMAH AWARDS in honor of our favorite worst ex-President ever!

She is taking nominations through Friday, February 23rd in the following categories:

1. Worst anti-Semite
2. Worst American anti-American
3. Worst Foreign anti-American
4. Biggest Hypocrite
5. Most Willing to Ignore Reality
6. Most Willing to Embrace Dhimmitude
7. Lifetime Achievement in Moonbattery

So, click on over and join in the fun!

"Rex Grossman Deserves To Be The MVP"

"After All, he was the best player for the Colts" - My Roommate

I almost feel bad for the guy. He only had 165 yards passing, was picked off twice, fumbled the snap twice, with one being turned over to the Colts, and was sacked "once." I say "once" because the play after he was really sacked, he fumbled the snap, then fell on the ball 11 yards back. The play was counted as a 0 yard run with a fumble, recovered by Grossman 11 yards back.

The Bears were just like the Ohio State Buckeyes in the fact that they ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, but then after that, they played a lack-luster game, and lost. The only difference between the Gators and the Colts was the fact that the Gators ripped 44 points into the Buckeyes, and the Colts managed 29.


Here's a good analysis of the two teams I saw:

"Nice friggin' D! When two teams combine to score 30 points at the half in a wind-swept downpour, there's something seriously wrong. Only my underwear has more holes than these two combined defenses." - Wyatt

Also something that was pointed out to me was the fact that after he threw his interception, Manning added a noticeable "umph" to his passes. Rex however did not adapt, and hence hung up a floater for the key 4th quarter pick that sealed the game.

So, Mr. Right might kill me for this, but...Looks like Chicago choked again.


Congrats to Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, Joseph Addai, and all of the Colts on winning Super Bowl XLI