Baserunner

Pineville, WV

Actions of Progressives

PC bureaucrats making themselves look really stupid American Thinker, by Thomas Lifson Nothing makes me laugh harder than a dimwitted race grievance industry bureaucrat fired up on diversity rhetoric attempting to outwit the general public by making up phony evidence of inclusiveness, and failing miserably. I do believe it has something to do with the self-righteousness of the kind of people who are diversity industry functionaries. Need's Repeated: A dimwitted race grievance industry bureaucrat fired up on diversity rhetoric attempting to outwit the general public by making up phony evidence of inclusiveness, and failing miserably.  (Yesterday | post #31)

Pineville, WV

Actions of Progressives

The Democrats are in a box of their own making and Harry Reid is making a complete mess of this, which is a good thing for the rest of us. They are convinced that if they don't hand over government run health care to their moonbat liberal base that they will be punished in the midterm elections. If they do pass it, the rage that will be unleased by 60% of the country will make the history books. Not a good place to be if you are a political ho.  (Yesterday | post #30)

Pineville, WV

Actions of Progressives

The Congress, by the Constitution can oveeride the Supreme Court, But all that would be necessary is for one Congress Person to publicly state on the Floor or in writing to the effect that the Supreme Court should review this decision, and that would be the end of it. Know what you are talking about or, whatever you think is the kindest way to end this sentence.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #26)

Pineville, WV

Actions of Progressives

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-control led Senate on Saturday cleared away a Republican filibuster of a huge end-of-year spending bill that rewards most federal agencies with generous budget boosts. The $1.1 trillion measure combines much of the year's unfinished budget work — only a $626 billion Pentagon spending measure would remain — into a 1,000-plus-page spending bill that would give the Education Department, the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and others increases far exceeding inflation. The 60-34 vote met the minimum threshold to end the GOP filibuster. A final vote was set for Sunday afternoon to send the measure to President Barack Obama. Democrats held the vote open for an hour to accommodate Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, an Orthodox Jew who walked more than three miles to the Capitol to vote on the Sabbath after attending services at his synagogue in the city's Georgetown neighbor Lieberman wore a black wool overcoat and brilliant orange scarf — as well as a wide grin — as he provided the crucial 60th vote. The measure combines $447 billion in operating budgets with about $650 billion in mandatory payments for federal benefit programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. It wraps together six individual spending bills and also contains more than 5,000 back-home projects sought by lawmakers in both parties. The measure provides spending increases averaging about 10 percent to programs under immediate control of Congress, blending increases for veterans' programs, NASA and the FBI with a pay raise for federal workers and help for car dealers. Remember this for the next Elections.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #25)

Pineville, WV

Great Americans

Another icon of the Fifties. Gene Barry Actor Gene Barry starred in the original version of the sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds (1953) and had a cameo in the 2005 remake, but he enjoyed his greatest success as the suave, wealthy heroes of several television series, including Bat Masterson (1958-61) and Burke’s Law (1963-65). Lou Grade, who had enjoyed transatlantic success with several recent series, brought him to Britain to add some American firepower to The Adventurer (1972-73). Barry’s screen image seemed well suited to Grade’s light-hearted mix of action, fantasy and glamour, but Barry’s “starry” attitude antagonised British cast and crew and the series proved disappointing. Back in the US, Barry drifted into guest roles, though latterly he proved he had learnt to laugh at himself as the gay nightclub owner in the original 1983 Broadway production of La Cage aux Folles, winning glowing reviews. The son of a jeweller, he was born Eugene Klass in New York in 1919. He showed early musical promise, studied violin and won a singing scholarship to a specialist musical school. He began singing on radio and stage and appeared on Broadway in Rosalinda in 1942 and The Merry Widow the following year, having renamed himself Gene Barry, after John Barrymore. About this time he met his future wife, Betty, an actress who would later appear with him in supporting roles in Bat Masterson and Burke’s Law. They were married in 1944 and remained so until her death in 2003. Barry continued to appear in musicals into the 1950s when he began to get work in television. He starred in a 1950 NBC production of Die Fledermaus, narrated by Ethel Barrymore, John’s sister, and he co-starred in the romantic comedy The Girls of Pleasure Island (1953). Science-fiction was enjoying a revival in the early 1950s, fuelled by renewed interest in space travel and also by increasing paranoia about military technology and the possibility of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, with aliens standing in for the Russians in several films. The producer George Pal sparked the revival and made sci-fi respectable with Destination Moon (1950) and he was again at the helm on The War of the Worlds, an adaptation and update of the H. G. Wells novel, with the action relocated from southern England to southern California. Barry played the starring role of Dr Clayton Forrester, a top physicist who just happens to be on a fishing holiday when a meteor lands near by. It turns out to be a Martian invasion craft and Forrester flees with a local girl, Sylvia (Ann Robinson). This was scary stuff for the 1950s, with the emphasis on the deadly, impersonal technology — war machines and killer rays — and the Martians themselves remaining unseen for much of the time. It won an Oscar for special effects. Barry went on to act in a diverse range of films, including musicals. He appeared with Clark Gable in Soldier of Fortune (1955) and had a recurring role as a PE teacher and love interest in the Eve Arden sitcom Our Miss Brooks (1955-56). At this time he was approached to play Bat Masterson, a real-life gambler, gunfighter and lawman, who rubbed shoulders with Wyatt Earp, entered the newspaper business and lived into the 1920s.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #56)

Pineville, WV

Great Americans

Another Great one from the Fifties passes on: Bob Keane, Bandleader and Record Producer Bob Keane was one of a now vanishing breed of musical mavericks who helped to shape the future of American popular music during the 1950s and 1960s. As a partner in a small, independent record label on the West Coast he gave Sam Cooke his first pop hit, and later, as the head of his own label, he was among the first to release records by David Gates (who would later find fame in the group Bread), Bruce Johnston (who would join the Beach Boys), and Barry White. But it was with a young 17-year-old called Ritchie Valens that he was to achieve his biggest success. Valens enjoyed rock’n’roll hits with La Bamba and Donna before dying in the 1959 plane crash in which Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper also perished. Keane was born Robert Kuhn in 1922, in Manhattan Beach, California, to a family who had moved there from New York. He was attracted to jazz in his teens, took up the clarinet and then formed his own big band at the age of 17. News of this teenage phenomenon soon spread and he was signed to MCA records as “the world’s youngest bandleader”. When the Second World War broke out he trained as a pilot with the US Air Force and took up his bandleading career once he had been demobbed. He forged a close relationship with fellow clarinettist and bandleader Artie Shaw and, in an arrangement with Shaw, fronted the band on several occasions. He also hosted a music talent shown on CBS television. In 1955 he went into a partnership with a Greek aircraft parts manufacturer and jazz buff, John Siamas, to form the Keen label. The label struck lucky almost immediately when Sam Cooke, a former gospel singer, was seeking to record his first pop single. He signed to Keen and Cooke’s version of Summertime was released. But it was the record’s B-side, a lilting ballad called You Send Me, that became the No 1 hit. Soon afterwards, Keane and Siamas fell out and Keane formed his own label, Del-Fi. Recording conditions were at first primitive. The studio was a storage room in Keane’s house, before the company found a home above a bank in Hollywood. But the label had a local hit with a cocktail pianist, Henri Rose, and another with a vocalist, Jackie Burns. Looking around for fresh talent Keane was alerted by the printer who produced his record labels to Richard Valenzuela, a member of Chicano High School band called the Silhouettes. When they performed at a concert near the San Fernando Valley he went to see them and was immediately impressed by “this Latino kid doing just a few riffs and a couple of songs”. He signed him up, shortened his name to Valens and was rewarded with such hits as Come on Let’s Go, Donna and La Bamba. Keane was shaken by Valens’s untimely death only eight months later, but carried on with a fresh roster of talent including Ron Holden, Chan Romero, the Addrissi Brothers and Little Caesar and the Romans.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #55)

Pineville, WV

Obama'a chance

Is Obama finding humility? Ray Matthews When Barack Obama swept America last year with his well oiled political machine, America was at its dumbest - or at least appeared to be. By electing a president without the necessary experience and without the proper vetting by the people, the mess that we created and we are now dealing with was an inevitable result. Now one year after the brouhaha and the novelty Americans experienced putting a charismatic black man in place as the leader of the free world, we are beginning to see our mistake. NOT that he was charismatic or black - but that he was inexperienced. As Obama stood before the Oslo crew that gave him the most undeserved peace prize in history, he lacked the luster of the man who campaigned with such grandeur and finesse, and he sounded more like his predecessor than himself. From his famous "We won" comment at the beginning of his presidency -- to this in Oslo: "Norway is committed to continuing our military and civilian efforts in Afghanistan. And I am pleased to announce that Norway will increase its financial contribution to the Afghan national army and police, to a total of 110 million U.S. dollars for the period 2010 to 2014. We must enable Afghans to take responsibility for their own security." And this: "If I'm successful in those tasks, then hopefully some of the criticism will subside, but that's not really my concern. And if I'm not successful, then all the praise and the awards in the world won't disguise that fact," Well, I'll give him some credit. That's not bad for our Narcissist in Chief. That last line almost reaches a level that could be interpreted as humility. I doubt it, he is tring to pull a Clinton. Hold on a bit, and see if the Glutz in the Congress passes or not first.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #5)

Pineville, WV

Disdainful Acts of Progressive Liberals

There is a certain poetic justice here. The Dems and some pollsters think the Republicans scored big in 1994 because the Dems failed to pass Hillarycare. Now, the Dems are facing a 2010 election debacle because they almost succeeded in passing Obamacare. History can and should repeat itself.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #49)

Pineville, WV

Disdainful Acts of Progressive Liberals

This has to be the largest farce ever played on American citizens. These two groups fight and trade us like baseball cards, yet they don't have the brass ones to stand up and tell the American people By the way, we excluded ourselves, federal employees and unions. How many remember Obama saying last year Every American should have healthcare as good as Congress ? How many remember after the election him gloating and saying to the camera he had excellent coverage ? Want change ? Want hope ? Want reform ? Re-elect no one. The 2010 election is not that far away, start picking your candidates now, and remember to vote the right way in your Primaries.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #48)

Pineville, WV

Disdainful Acts of Progressive Liberals

From Awful to Worse Weekly Standard, by James C. Capretta and Yuval Levin The Obama administration and congressional Democrats long ago gave up any pretense of working to rationally reform American health care. The exercise now underway in the Senate is a mad dash to get to 60 votes, and nothing more. That's why some Democratic senators who had no idea exactly what is in the "breakthrough deal" announced by majority leader Harry Reid last week immediately hailed it as a milestone.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #47)

Pineville, WV

Conservatives Coming UP

GOP hopefuls get litmus test in Tarrant, Collin, Denton counties Dallas Morning News, by Gromer Jeffers Jr. Republicans filing to run in the March primaries in several local counties are being asked to take a party-platform purity quiz. Republican parties in Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties are supplying the 10-question form, with items taken from the Texas Republican Party platform. The candidates can either answer the questions as they file or return the forms to the local party. And while the test is optional, the answers are kept by party leaders. Doing it right in Texas.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #44)

Pineville, WV

Actions of Progressives

This utterence is so stupid and incorrect, to even warrant a reply.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #23)

Pineville, WV

All the "Intelligent and Educated" Answer or Opinion

The Grand Geyser was the highest, you were right, it erupts sparadic and irregular. Cyrus McCormick's Reaper was invented in 1831, in Virginia.  (Saturday Dec 12 | post #62)