Combat! - Page 312 of 406 - A blog by Dan Brooks

Spam blocker mailbag

By Dan Brooks in Public Discourse June 23, 2011 6 Comments

Here at Combat! blog, we pride ourselves on the quality of our Comments section. Pound for pound, critical thought for critical thought, Combat! commenters are not only physically attractive but mentally acute. I attribute it to either the strength of our public school system or Aksimet, the WordPress plugin that blocks the literally dozens of spam comments made on each post every day. Occasionally, Aksimet will mistake one of you fine people for a Russian Viagra robot, which means I periodically go through the spam folder to check for comments from actual humans. This morning, I realized that my policy of only approving comments from sentient beings is totally bigoted, so I thought I’d take a moment to answer some questions from those members of the Combat! audience who can perform 1.7 billion operations per second. I call it Spam Blocker Mailbag, and it begins…now!

S. 782 offers terrifying glimpse of how a bill becomes a law

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government June 22, 2011 3 Comments

"Would it kill you to bring two sandwiches? Is this so much?"

Yesterday, the US Senate voted on S. 782, a bill to reauthorize and fund the Economic Development Administration. The EDA has been around for forty years and commands a paltry $300 million budget, but S. 782 died in a 49-51 vote due to what The Hill calls “100 mostly nongermane amendments offered by Republicans and Democrats.” What was supposed to be an innocuous or even benign “jobs bill”—and those scare quotes should be taken as extremely frightened—sunk under an accumulation of proposed additions, including amendments to suspend Obamacare, repeal last year’s financial regulatory reforms, block the Department of the Interior from declaring the prairie chicken an endangered species, and abolish the Economic Development Administration. Jim DeMint proposed that last one, and I don’t imagine he did it with a straight face. After much debate and a speech about the importance of Rhode Island’s Gaspee Days, S. 782 died a lugubrious death. It was a hard outcome for the bill’s sponsor, Barbara Boxer (D–CA,) who just that morning opined that “this is a moment we can show we do what we say we are going to do. I am hopeful this bill doesn’t die today.”

Hey, check out what it’s legal to do now

By Dan Brooks in Public Discourse June 21, 2011 8 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ3B8WvVjL4

That masterpiece of American democracy was created by Turn Right USA with the help of “filmmaker” Ladd Ehlinger, Jr, perhaps best known for producing Dale “Get Away From That!” Peterson’s Alabama Ag commissioner ad in 2010. You can tell it’s a Ladd because there’s a gun in it. The subject of this advertisement—probably “object” is the more appropriate word—is Janice Hahn, a Los Angeles City Council member currently running for Congress. In 2008, an LA Fox affiliate ran an investigative piece about the city’s use of “gang intervention specialists”—former gang members who served as liaisons among police, community organizations and gangs—that accused Hahn of paying gang members and pulling strings to get them out of jail. You should probably know that it turns out that didn’t actually happen. Also, the rappers featured in this video are called the Splack Pack, in case you want to book them for your daughter’s bat mitzvah.

McCain connects AZ wildfires to illegal immigrants

By Dan Brooks in Just Sayin' Stuff June 20, 2011 1 Comment

Photoshop is the lowest form of wit.

Arizona senator and former Republican presidential candidate John McCain—who, incidentally, doesn’t have any particular plans for 2012—remarked Saturday that a portion of the Arizona wildfires were started by immigrants. “There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally,” McCain said at a press conference. “The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border.” As of press time, McCain has not provided said evidence to the public, nor has he described what its substance may be. But the important thing is that we used to start our own fires in this country, and being an arsonist/bolt of lightning used to mean something, but now—thanks to immigrants—decent, hard-working Americans have to sit home taskless, drinking their wives’ unsold beer and staring at their oddly deathless boobs. No word yet from McCain on who’s been poisoning wells.

Friday links! Alternative to what? edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links June 17, 2011 4 Comments

Now that our country has replaced its constitutionally-prescribed government with a liberal/socialist totalitarian state headed by a foreign Muslim, the Republican Party faces a tough choice. They can suffer the social ostracism, media persecution and periodic witch hunts that come with going their own way and standing on principle, or they can, you know, retire to one of their summer homes. The life of the rebel is not easy. In an America gripped by radical liberal social engineering, a few proud dissidents will hold their heads above the crowd, but many more will be cut down. Those who survive live as hunted animals, lapped at by a tide of conformity that has dragged this country further from its founding principles than ever in history. Frankly, the whole thing is sexy as hell. Like a less rapey Ayn Rand novel, the rebels who stand for conservatism move through a dystopia of groupthink and wealth redistribution. This Friday, we consider their habitat—a place we once dared call America.