Column Of The Day: Cal Thomas; Reagan Statue Unveiled In Rotunda

Even his statue would be a better President than Obama...

From Townhall.com

By Cal Thomas

A statue of Ronald Reagan was unveiled last week in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda at a time when many Republicans, and even some conservatives, think Reagan’s ideas are passe. Before moving on, Republicans, and those conservatives who don’t want to “live in the past,” should be asked what better ideas they have to offer.

As the Obama administration and congressional Democrats move quickly with their new power to grab even more power and to build larger, more intrusive and costlier government, they — and we — should consider Reagan’s thoughts on the “Power of the individual, rather than government power and peace through strength to keep us free.” And, “Man is not free unless government is limited.” And, “concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.”

As government acquires the auto industry and seeks to own health care; as it plans to take more money from the productive in order to subsidize the unproductive or less productive; as government evolves from nanny to a cruel and abusive guardian that will rob the individual of incentive and punish those who manage to succeed with crippling regulations and higher taxes, where are the champions of liberty and personal responsibility?

Instead of stories many of us heard as children about people who grew up in difficult circumstances — alcoholic mother, abusive father, racial discrimination, physical handicaps — and rose to self-sufficiency, even prosperity, we get messages that say you can’t do it on your own and you will never amount to anything unless you place your faith in government.

“You can do it,” parents tell their children as they urge them to higher levels of achievement. This sentiment used to be found in popular culture, including feel-good films that inspired people to achieve their ideals. Now we punish the successful and make the pursuit of success more difficult because of strangulating government.

Why must government “fix” health care?  Since government does few things well, why aren’t better minds than politicians leading the way? We know what works. It isn’t collectivism and government bureaucrats telling us what type of health care they will allow us to have, it is individuals employing innovation that will bring transformation.

Individuals like the late statistician W. Edwards Deming who developed his System of Profound Knowledge and his 14 Points for Management guidelines, using principles known as “systems thinking,” and used them as a consultant to Japanese industry to help several Japanese manufacturers create more efficient workplaces, higher profits and increased productivity. (Visit http://www.managementwisdom.com/goodnews.html for an excerpt from a television documentary that spells out how health care can be fixed, starting with hospitals, not government.)

Why aren’t more people raising the profile of these proven solutions, which have cut costs and improve d patient care at hospitals that have implemented them?  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–Here is Ronald Reagan defending the free market in a speech he gave at Hillsdale College before he was president back in 1977.

Video Of The Day: Walter Williams; Windfall Profits

Today’s Birthday Biography: Les Paul, Guitarist/Inventor

From Wikipedia

Les Paul

Les Paul (born Lester William Polfuss on June 9, 1915) is an American jazz guitarist and inventor. He is a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which “made the sound of rock and roll possible.” His many recording innovations include overdubbing, delay effects such as “sound on sound” and tape delay, phasing effects, and multitrack recording.

Biography

He was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin to George and Evelyn Polsfuss. The family name was first simplified by his mother to Polfuss before he took his stage name of Les Paul. He also used the nickname “Red Hot Red”.

Paul first became interested in music at the age of eight, when he began playing the harmonica. After an attempt at learning to play the banjo, he began to play the guitar. By 13, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist. At the age of 17, Paul played with Rube Tronson’s Texas Cowboys, and soon after he dropped out of high school to join Wolverton’s Radio Band in St. Louis, Missouri on KMOX.

In the 1930s, Paul worked in Chicago in radio, where he performed jazz music. Paul’s first two records were released in 1936. One was credited to Rhubarb Red, Paul’s hillbilly alter ego, and the other was as an accompanist for blues artist Georgia White.

In January 1948, Paul was injured in a near-fatal automobile accident in Oklahoma, which shattered his right arm and elbow. Doctors told Paul that there was no way for them to rebuild his elbow in a way that would let him regain movement, and that his arm would remain in whatever position they placed it in permanently. Paul then instructed the surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.

“The Log”

Paul was dissatisfied with the acoustic guitars that were sold in the mid 1930s and began experimenting with a few designs for an electric model on his own. Famously, he created “The Log,” which was nothing more than a length of common 4″ x 4″ lumber with bridge, guitar neck, and pickup attached. For the sake of appearance, he attached the body of an Epiphone hollow-body guitar, sawn lengthwise with The Log in the middle. This solved his two main problems: feedback, as the acoustic body no longer resonated with the amplified sound, and sustain, as the energy of the strings was not dissipated in generating sound through the guitar body.

The Les Paul Trio

In 1938, Paul moved to New York as part of a trio that included Jim Atkins (older half-brother of guitarist Chet Atkins) and bassist/percussionist Ernie Newton. They landed a featured spot with Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians radio show. Paul moved to Hollywood in 1943, where he formed a new trio. As a last-minute replacement for Oscar Moore, Paul played with Nat King Cole and other artists in the inaugural Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in Los Angeles on July 2, 1944. Also that year, Paul’s trio appeared on Bing Crosby’s radio show. Crosby went on to sponsor Paul’s recording experiments. The two also recorded together several times, including a 1945 number one hit, “It’s Been A Long, Long Time.” In addition to backing Crosby and artists like The Andrews Sisters, Paul’s trio also recorded a few albums of their own on the Decca label in the late 1940s.  (Read more.)

It’s Time Republicans Move Newt Gingrich Out And Find Some Bold Young Conservative Leaders

June 9 (Bloomberg) — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said President Barack Obama’s plan to fix the economy through stimulus spending and government intervention to boost companies like General Motors Corp. has “already failed.”

B.S.–Hey Newt, I thought you said we should be rooting for the President to succeed?

Gingrich was the keynote speaker at a fund-raising dinner for the Republican House and Senate campaign committees, filling a role President George W. Bush had served for the past eight years.

“Bureaucrats managing companies does not work, politicians dominating the economy does not work,” Gingrich told about 2,000 Republicans who attended the event at the Washington Convention Center last night.

Some Republican leaders hailed Gingrich, the leader of the 1994 “Republican Revolution,” as a de facto head of the party at a time when Republicans are looking for ideas to lead them back to the majority.

In introducing Gingrich, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin called him the “architect of the last reform movement” and “the man of ideas.”

The Newt of 1994 is long gone

Gingrich was preceded by a series of Republican leaders who also took aim at Democrats and the government bailout of Detroit-based GM, New York-based American International Group Inc. and other companies.

Congress in February passed a $787 billion stimulus measure that Republican lawmakers have criticized, saying it hasn’t lived up to administration promises.

Obama said yesterday there are signs the economy may be headed toward a recovery. “We’re seeing a reduction in the fear that gripped the market just a few months ago,” he said at the White House.

‘Radical Agenda’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Obama has a “radical agenda.” Republicans have “watched them take over banks, insurance companies, auto companies,” he said, “and now they want to take over your health care.”  (Read more.)

B.S. Report–Once upon a time, Gingrich was the toast of conservatives.  Not anymore.  He’s been playing both sides of the fence for so many years that I’m not sure even he knows where he stands.

Just Sunday he said in an interview that it is irresponsible for Republicans (meaning Rush Limbaugh) to hope that Barack Obama fails.  He said we should all hope the President succeeds.

Well I don’t and nobody who loves capitalism, free enterprise, individual responsibility, private property, and the traditions of the America at our Founding should hope that the President is successful.

Newt is kissing up to the left when he says this–at least I always thought he was.  Maybe he’s delusional and still has dreams of a political future.  But he knows damn well what Limbaugh meant.  The statement simply means that if Obama’s radical agenda is enacted than America is worse off because of it.  Why should we want that?

Newt also just made an ad with Nancy Pelosi urging Americans to get behind a “global warming” bill.  He’s obviously lost his mind and it’s time to move him off the stage.  Lets get some young conservative blood in there that will fight for conservative principles instead of buckling under to the worst people and ideas of the left.

Today’s Birthdays: June 9th

From Those Were The Days (In Part)

1672 – Peter the Great (Peter Alekseyevich)
Piotr Alekseevich Romanov) (Peter I: Russian Czar [1682-1721], Emperor of Russia [1721-1725]; died Feb 8, 1725; note: these dates are based on the Gregorian calendar — see May 30 for Julian calendar dates

1781 – George Stephenson
inventor: developer of steam locomotive; died Aug 12, 1848

1791 – John Howard Payne
composer, lyricist: The Maid of Milan, Home Sweet Home; died Apr 9, 1852

1865 – Carl Nielsen
composer: Maskarade; conductor: Danish Royal Opera [1908-1914]; director: Royal Conservatory [Copenhagen, 1915]; died Oct 3, 1931

1891 – Cole (Albert) Porter
composer & lyricist: Broadway shows: Anything Goes, Kiss Me Kate, Can Can, Silk Stockings; songwriter: I’m in Love Again, Let’s Do It, You Do Something to Me, It’s De-Lovely, Night and Day, Don’t Fence Me In, What is This Thing Called Love, Love for Sale, I Get a Kick Out of You, Just One of Those Things, Begin the Beguine, I Love Paris, In the Still of the Night, True Love

1900 – Fred Waring
choirmaster & bandleader: group: The Pennsylvanians: The Whiffenpoof Song; invented Waring blender; died July 29, 1984

1915 – Les Paul (Polfus)
Grammy Award-winning guitarist: Chester & Lester [w/Chet Atkins – 1976], Trustees Award [1982]; w/Mary Ford: Vaya Con Dios, How High the Moon, Hummingbird, Sittin’ on Top of the World; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer [1988]

1916 – Robert McNamara
U.S. Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy & Johnson administrations; president of World Bank

1922 – George Axelrod
playwright: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Bus Stop, The Seven Year Itch, The Manchurian Candidate; died June 21, 2003

1926 – Mona Freeman
actress: National Velvet, Black Beauty, Dear Ruth, Battle Cry

1926 – Roy Smalley
baseball: shortstop: Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Braves, Philadelphia Phillies

1930 – Marvin Kalb
journalist: NBC News, Meet the Press; Executive Director: Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy

1931 – Jackie Mason (Jacob Moshe Maza)
comedian: Chicken Soup, The World According to Me, The Jerk, Caddyshack 2, History of the World: Part 1; ordained rabbi

1931 – Joe Santos (Minieri)
actor: The Rockford Files, The Panic in Needle Park, Shamus, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Blue Thunder, The Last Boy Scout, Sinatra, Trial by Jury

1931 – Bill (William Charles) Virdon
baseball: SL Cardinals [Rookie of the Year: 1955], Pittsburgh Pirates [World Series: 1960]

1934 – Jackie Wilson
singer: Lonely Teardrops, Night, Alone at Last, [Your Love Keeps Lifting Me] Higher and Higher, Baby Workout, For Your Precious Love, Chain Gang; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [1987]; died Jan 21, 1984

1935 – Diana Van der Vlis
actress: X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, The Incident, The Girl in Black Stockings, Ryan’s Hope; died Oct 22, 2001

1939 – David Hobbs
auto racer, broadcaster, actor: Stroker Ace, Emerald City, Emmerdale Farm

1939 – Dick Vitale
sportscaster: basketball analyst: ABC, ESPN; author: Time Out, Baby!, Campus Chaos – Why the Game I Love is Breaking My Heart; columnist: USA TODAY

1941 – Billy Hatton
musician: bass: group: The Fourmost: Hello Little Girl, I’m in Love, A Little Loving

1941 – Jon Lord
musician: keyboards: groups: Artwoods, Flowerpot Men, Deep Purple: Black Night, Strange Kind of Woman, Fireball, Smoke on the Water

1950 – Trevor Bolder
musician: bass: groups: Spiders from Mars, Uriah Heep: LP: Equator

1951 – Dave (David Gene) Parker
baseball: Pittsburgh Pirates [Baseball Writer’s Award: 1978/all-star: 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981/World Series: 1979], Cincinnati Reds [all-star: 1985, 1986/World Series: 1988, 1989], Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers [all-star: 1990], California Angels, Toronto Blue Jays

1961 – Michael J. Fox
actor: Back to the Future, The Secret of My Success, Bright Lights Big City, Doc Hollywood, Greedy, For Love or Money, Family Ties; voice of bulldog puppy in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

1963 – Johnny Depp (John Christopher Depp III)
actor: : Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Arizona Dreams, Nick of Time, Dead Man, Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, Don Juan DeMarco, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Edward Scissorhands, Platoon, A Nightmare on Elm Street, 21 Jump Street, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

1964 – Gloria Reuben
actress: ER, Timecop, Shaft [2000]

1964 – Wayman Tisdale
basketball: Olympic Gold medalist [1984], Univ of Oklahoma [all-American], Phoenix Suns; jazz musician: bass guitar: group: LPs: Power Forward, In the Zone, Decisions Died 2009

1981 – Natalie Portman
actress: Mars Attacks!, The Prince of Egypt, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

Quote Of The Day: James Madison; Education

A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both.  Knowledge will forever govern ignorance:  And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

–James Madison, letter to W. T. Barry, August 4th, 1822

Today In History: June 9th

From Those Were The Days (In Part)

1790 – The first copyright for a book was given to The Philadelphia Spelling Book. We checked and found that spelling in the City of Brotherly Love is pretty much the same as it is in most other places — only the accent is a bit different…

1890 – Oh Promise Me was sung by Jessie Bartlett Davis in the premiere of the operetta, Robin Hood, which opened at the Grand Opera House in Chicago, IL.

1899 – James J. Jeffries punched Bob ‘Ruby Robert’ Fitzsimmons into the next county via an 11th-round knockout at Coney Island, NY. Jeffries became heavyweight boxing champ as a result.

1924 – Jelly-Roll Blues was recorded by blues great Jelly Roll Morton and his band for Gennett Records.

1943 – The U.S. Congress authorized legislation giving the green light to a withholding tax on payrolls — the pay-it-as-you-make-it income tax.

1946 – Mel Ott of the NY Giants became the first manager to receive this dubious honor: Ott was ejected from both games of a doubleheader!

1959 – The first Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarine was launched at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, New Hampshire. The USS George Washington (SSBN 598) was christened this day and served proudly until January 24, 1985. In November 1960, the George Washington became the first FBM sub to deploy on an operational patrol (with Polaris missiles on board and ready to fire).

1962 – A decade after making his first hit song, Because of You, singer Tony Bennett debuted in concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

1965 – Frenchman Michel Jazy ran the mile in 3 minutes, 53.6 seconds to break the 1964 record set by Peter Snell.

1970 – Bob Dylan received an honorary Doctorate in Music from Princeton University. Corretta Scott King (Doctor of Humanities) and Walter Lippman (Doctor of Laws) also received honorary degrees. Dylan wrote the song “Day of the Locust” about the event (it was the year the locusts invaded).

1973 – The first Triple Crown winner in 25 years of horse racing won the Belmont Stakes in New York. The thoroughbred that clinched horse racing’s most prestigious honor was Secretariat.

1975 – Tony Orlando and Dawn received a gold record for their hit song, He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You). The million-seller was number one for three weeks (May 3-17, 1975) and one of five million-sellers for the trio. (He Don’t Love You was originally a hit for Jerry Butler in 1960.)

1978 – Larry Holmes beat up Ken Norton to claim the heavyweight boxing title in a 15-round decision in Las Vegas, Nevada.

1980 – Comedian Richard Pryor was rushed to the hospital after suffering third-degree burns over most of his upper body. Pryor was nearly killed in an explosion while he was freebasing cocaine. Pryor was seen, ablaze, running down the street from his house before he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. He was hospitalized for more than two months following the debacle.

1985 – The Los Angeles Lakers edged the Boston Celtics, 111-100, to win their first National Basketball Association title in nine tries over the Celtics. The Lakers had been shut out of a championship series since 1959 when they were based in Minneapolis. The MVP of the winning Lakers was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

1992 – Entertainer Ben Vereen was critically injured when he was struck by a van while walking along the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, California. The driver, producer/composer David Foster, was not charged. Some hours earlier, Vereen had run into a tree while driving his own car. He blames that mishap for the later accident. He said, “I had hit my head on the steering wheel but felt fine. Later that evening as I was walking in Malibu, I had [a] stroke as a result of that accident.” Vereen says he then stumbled into the roadway and was hit by the van. Talk about having a lousy day…

1996 – Linux v2.0 was released. 2.0 was a significant improvement over the earlier versions of the operating system that some experts say will become a competitor for MS Windows. Several ‘flavors’ of Linux have been developed as many in the computing world look for ways to wriggle free from the clutches of “Micro$oft” and its wealthy creator, Bill Gates.

Linux Mascot

Actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Given Special Badge By The FBI

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Efrem Zimbalist Jr. finally got his badge.

The actor who portrayed cool and canny Inspector Lewis Erskine on the TV series “The F.B.I.” was named an honorary special agent Monday—the FBI’s highest civilian honor.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is honored by FBI Director Robert Mueller.

The 91-year-old actor was presented with the badge by FBI Director Robert Mueller. He praised Zimbalist as an icon who inspired a generation of FBI agents.

Zimbalist said he was humbled and called the agency America’s “guardian.”

The show ran on ABC from 1965 to 1974.

B.S. Report–Yes, hardly the most important story in the world…but I used to watch the show when I was a kid.  I even bumped into Mr. Zimbalist a few times over the years.

What I always remembered about the show was the opening music and then the announcer would say:  “The FBI, A Quinn Martin Production.”  I think for part of the run they also used to say: “In Color.” It was the “In Color” part that I liked because they were boasting that they filmed the show in color.

They obviously weren’t making that announcement to my family because I think we were still watching the show on an old black and white set.  Here’s something you youngsters reading this won’t be able to relate to.  We usually had a small vice-grips  handy to change the channel–that is, after you got up off your butt and walked over to the TV.

“Mock Hanging” In Class A Little Too Realistic…Student Falls With Noose Around His Neck

CANBERRA (Reuters) – A student who fell with a noose around his neck during a mock class hanging that was arranged by teachers has enraged Australian authorities.

A noose can lead to all kinds of problems...

The high school student fell from a table while fellow students, under the supervision of a teacher, were photographing a staged hanging as part of an English class project.

“It beggars belief that such an incident could take place,” Queensland state Education Minister Geoff Wilson told local radio on Wednesday.

“I’m a parent. The last thing I’ve ever wanted any of my children to do is put a rope around their neck,” Wilson said.

Students and teachers rushed to the boy and cut the rope when he fell, Education Queensland Assistant Director-General Lyn McKenzie said, although local newspapers said the boy turned blue before he was freed.

The student was allowed to go home with his mother after being examined by paramedics, while authorities launched an investigation into how the incident occurred.

B.S. Report–This happened in Australia but it just as well could have happened here in the States.  It seems that Australia’s schools, just like ours,  also don’t like to spend much time teaching regular subjects.

What class was this for:  Introductory Suicide?

Obama Changes His Tune…We’re Back In A Deep Recession

WASHINGTON (AP) – Eager to show action on the ailing economy, President Barack Obama promised Monday to speed federal money into hundreds of public works projects this summer, vowing that 600,000 jobs will be created or saved.

Surrounded by his Cabinet, Obama emphasized what has become a dominant issue of public concern—an economy that keeps bleeding jobs—on the day after returning from a week of diplomacy and sightseeing in the Middle East and Europe.

He concentrated in his remarks on the billions of dollars from a taxpayer-funded plan that will be disbursed this summer, although much what he was described was already in the works, spurring new debate about just how much the $787 billion stimulus plan is helping so far.

“We’ve done more than ever, faster than ever, more responsibility than ever, to get the gears of the economy moving again,” Obama said.

Based on the work done across a broad spectrum of federal agencies during the first 100 days of the administration, Obama said, “we’re in a position to really accelerate.”

The jobs cover an array of public works ranging from parks and wastewater projects to improvements at military facilities, airports and veteran medical centers.

The ramp-up is not surprising; the administration had always viewed the summer as a peak for stimulus spending, as better weather permits more public works construction and federal agencies had processed requests. The event allowed Obama to remind the nation, on his own terms, that help is on the way.

Republicans remain critical of the stimulus spending, slamming it as a big government program that ultimately will do little for recovery. With only a fraction of the federal money actually spent thus far, it’s premature to give the stimulus plan credit for economic trends, many congressional Republicans say.

The government reported last week that the number of unemployed continues to rise; the unemployment rate now sits at 9.4 percent, the highest in more than 25 years. Hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to lose jobs each month, although fewer jobs were lost last month than expected.

Obama called the smaller-than-expected slashing of jobs a sign that the economy was moving in the right direction. But he cautioned bluntly that “we’re still in the middle of a very deep recession” and that “it’s going to take a considerable amount of time for us to pull out of.”

The president said he understands the hardships of people who have lost jobs, homes and financial stability.

B.S. Report–With all due respect to the President, it’s not important what he says.  Nobody really cares.  What they obviously care about is “how” he says what he says.  Because if they were listening to him they would have heard him make all sorts of contradictory statements during his short time in office.

First we needed to act because our entire economy was on the verge of collapse.  It wasn’t–we were in a fairly deep recession (and still are-made worse by the President’s own economic policies).  Second, he said in a fund-raising speech in Los Angeles, just after his 100 day “victory” tour, that we’re making progress and that he feels things were improving.

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that he believed the economy had bottomed out and we could be about ready to start a recovery phase.

But today, the President said that the economy is not responding as well as he’d like and he wants to accelerate the economic “stimulus” i.e., the money to get some of those “make-work” projects going.

The point is–the guy doesn’t have any idea what he’s talking about.  No one knows exactly when the economy will recover.  But we have a good idea that our President is particularly clueless on the matter and is an economic illiterate.

The President also has a disturbing habit of telling us how many jobs he’s saved (this time 150,000)–an impossible to verify number that he always says with such certainty.