From Pundit Press:

Can someone please tell me what world we live in when we cannot erect our own American flag because it might upset some people?

In the town of Orcutt, California, thousands of dollars in donations have been gathered to create a monument to fallen soldiers and the branches of our military.  The memorial would go between “a highway exit and a park-and-ride lot;” a pole would rise out of the center and display the American flag.

The California Department of Transportation was okay with the plan… that is, until it was revealed that our nation’s flag would be flying.  When CalTrans heard, they stymied the effort, declaring the display of an American flag an “impermissible act of “public expression.””

The panel that ruled that the American flag could not be displayed demanded “viewpoint neutrality” at the monument.  In other words, they declared it illegal to solely fly the US flag, stating that other flags must also have the right to be flown at the memorial, be it “the British flag, the Nazi flag, or the Jolly Rogers.”

In response to concerns, CalTrans wrote:

To answer your question regarding the court’s decision in Brown v. California Department of Transportation pertaining to flying the American Flag in the State right of way, it was established that, “The display of the United States flag constituted expressive activity, within the meaning of the First Amendment.”

The concern that we have in this situation is that, whether a flag hanging on a bridge [not OTORA’s proposal], or a monument placed within a park and ride lot [the proposal], we would be placed in a position of having to permit all forms of expression as encroachments in the right of way if we were to allow yours. As such, the department has determined that the state highway system is not a forum for public expression except as expressly allowed.

And do you want any more proof that CalTrans has no idea what it is doing?  More from the Weekly Standard:

Last summer, a few days before the Fourth of July, CalTrans painted over a 35-foot American flag mural on a hillside in the East Bay, several hours north of Orcutt, which had been completed in the wake of the terrorist attacks. CalTrans painted over the mural with gray paint.

This is perhaps one of the best examples of how the Democrats helped ruin the economy after winning the 2006 elections. Times were good and unemployment was under 5% but all of that new regulation and spending has really, really hurt us.

Under the Democrats, unemployment started to balloon.  It stated to climb, rising past 4.5%, past 5%, past 6%, and past 6.5%, all the way to 8.5% by the time they had been in office for just two years.  By then, President Obama had been inaugurated, and unemployment continued to rise as spending increased.  This chart explains, in depth, the bills Democrats passed, and the effects they had from November 2006-March 2010 (click for a sharper, bigger image):

Original article:

http://jumpinginpools.blogspot.com/2010/08/proof-that-democrats-are-at-fault-for.html

I Knew It! People Who Watch Jon Stewart are Idiots!

Well, it’s something that’s been on my mind for years, but I’m so glad to see it actually confirmed in a newspaper. From the New York Times we find out that Jon Stewart fans are a bunch of egotistical self-righteous buffoons… or at least one-fifth of them.

According to ‘secret media research’ done by the geniuses at Comedy Central, at least twenty percent of all of the viewers of The Daily Show or the Colbert Report believe that people think they’re cool for doing so. (We’ll leave Stephen Colbert out of this because he’s actually funny.)

That’s right, they think that other people think they’re cool for not actually doing anything but sitting there, mouths agape. There’s a clinical term for this: college douchebags.

And you know what else drives up the Daily Show’s ratings? The fact that it’s seen as cool to watch the show, even though it’s not funny. True, many college students and pseudo-hippies don’t get the material, but if they laugh hard they can belong to something. Besides, they can be persuaded to vote– even though they’re clueless. You know, the best type of voters.

The problem is that many if not most of these viewers then do not watch any actual news because they’ve already ‘been informed’ by twenty seconds of a CNN clip that Stewart followed with a frowny face. They believe that since they’re now endowed with almighty suave from watching Comedy Central, they can go up to people and shout at them if they don’t choke down the Democratic line.

The study asked… ultimately, how important the shows and hosts are in their lives. Seriously, if a stiff like Jon Stewart is that important in your life, you should join a cult.

http://jumpinginpools.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-knew-it-people-who-watch-jon-stewart.html

Obama Health Plan Includes Controversial “Fetal Reprocessing”

Doctors Laud Proviso in Health Care Bill
Jamie Bullock
August 12, 2009

Washington is abuzz with the newest attempt at bringing affordable, quality health care to America’s working families. President Obama, supported by the American Medical Association, has spearheaded an effort to give more American families coverage while making sure that existing coverage is not reduced.

Included in this legislation are many portions which have been cheered by the AARP, the AMA, and many in Congress. These include a public insurance option, electronic records, and private insurance reform. However, many doctors and hospitals have fully backed a clause regarding so-called “fetal reprocessing”.

The health care bill presented to the House of Representatives offers $3 billion in direct tax benefits, as well as $1.2 billion in other incentives for this service. It is widely accepted as one of the greatest boons for modern medicine, both financially and scientifically.

Phillip Kimball, MD, who is an orthopedic surgeon at the Princeton Medical Center, helped advise Congressional leaders on the legislation.

“Basically, fetal reprocessing allows fetuses which either were terminated in miscarriages or abortions to be utilized for cutting-edge research. These include the use of stem cells, fetal organs, and especially brain matter.”

While there was a large controversy regarding stem cells, Dr. Kimball states that these are not the focus. Instead, the most medically valuable portion of the prenatal infant is brain matter.

“The infant brain is incredibly tactile.” Dr. Kimball stated to a group of New Jersey doctors, “By using many of the neurons in our testing, we can understand synapse connectivity and nervous expansion in a way which the adult brain cannot allow us.” Dr. Kimball also stated that fetal brain matter could be integral to curing disorders such as cerebral palsy and mental retardation within a decade.

Fetal reprocessing has largely been illegal, due to the fact that most samples would have to be derived from aborted fetuses. As of today, this is illegal under most circumstances. However, the health care reform legislation will promote the idea of abortions as an option for birth control. In turn, this would give hospitals additional fetuses which could be a financial boon for the medical industry.

Many in the pro-life lobby are skeptical of this new health care proviso. However, Dr. Kimball is not one of them. “I think that it’s ridiculous to hold up scientific progress for some small extremist group’s opinion.”

With passage in the House looking increasingly likely after meetings with conservative Democrats, President Obama’s agenda appears stronger.

http://righthandedpitcher.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-is-fetal-reprocessing.html

Obama “Genetically Superior” Say Scientists

Rafael Volquez, PhD
Cambridge, MA
Harvard Review of Science

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have broken new ground with a controversial claim. During research conducted since October 2007, they have found that the new President of the United States, Barack Obama has certain traits which make him “genetically and mentally superior to the average person.”

Such research included genome sequencing and the examination of portions of the President’s brain matter. During this research, which was okayed by the President’s family, the researchers began to discover some particular things.

“We went into the research trying to find genetic predispositions to cancer or Alzheimer’s.” states Tony Kawazaki, head of the Human Genome Department. “Instead what we started to find were strange traits that seemed a little incredulous.”

Read the rest on the home site.

[just so everyone knows, this is supposed to be satire. Closed. --streiff]

Jumping in Pools is beginning a weekly feature in which our resident sexpert Joe C. picks his hot babe of the week and tells us why. We’re going to post one every Friday and at the end of the season, pick a babe of the season.

This week’s pick:
Nancy Pelosi
Representing scenic San Francisco, this A-class babe is one for the record books. Strong, intelligent, and dead sexy, she became the first female speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007. Wearing low-cut blouses to House hearings, she turns heads across the aisle.

Originally posted at Jumping in Pools.
She’s a big supporter of President Obama, who must really enjoy talking to her, especially if he’s standing behind a podium (if you know what I mean, wink, what?) She is the perfect girl next door, except she’s like 70. Oh well, I’ll take all types, I guess.
Hot grandma.
Joe’s Babe Score: 8.0/10 Joe Thumbs Up
And check out our next babe!

President Obama moved swiftly to close the detention prison in Guantanamo Bay, and has frozen the trials of terrorism suspects. Apparently bowing to world pressure, the President believes that transferring, and perhaps freeing the suspects will bring a safer world. Well, there’s already proof that this is not the case.

An al Qaeda operative freed from Guantanamo Bay not only rejoined terrorism, but is a major leader.

Posted originally at Jumping in Pools. Visit if you dare.

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.

Al Shihri is the second in command of the al Qaeda network in Yemen. Yemen is not only near the Horn of Africa, but it borders Saudi Arabia and is a training ground for Wahabbism.

So President Obama, take your decisions heavily. Lives depend on this, not just international approval.

President Barack Obama’s first full day of office begins today. Whether we thought he was the right pick for the job, we need to put our country first. We need to make sure that he has the respect of the American people. While we may not like some of the things he’s said or done, he has not soiled the office of the President. Thusly, we need to make sure that he has the opportunity to do a good job and make us proud.

Originally posted at Jumping in Pools.

He needs our compassion, as he is taking the most difficult job in the world. He will be faced with decisions that could kill thousands, and needs to know that we will not badger him for no reason. Even if he is a great President, there will be times that we will disagree with him. We can’t let little things get in the way.

This nation will face hard times over the next four years. Foreign crises and the economy could cause havoc. This is why the new President needs to focus and do his best. He can’t have griping on his mind. We’ve seen the effects of unnecessary assholery. We can’t suffer it again. The Republicans did it in the 1990s, when President Clinton should have been focusing on Iraq and bin Laden. Instead, he was mired in impeachment hearings. President Bush was called every name under the book, mainly by those who would believe their IQs so grand that they could decode the genome, while they could not even get through three semesters at college.

So we need to be civil, if nothing else. Even if you believe that President Obama doesn’t deserve it, America does.

Before the next President is even sworn in, the Democrats are already pushing the limits of their power. For example, they are rewriting House rules…

Originally posted at Jumping in Pools.

Gone are term limits for committee chairmen, a big comeback for seniority over merit. Cost containment measures on Medicare, one of the fastest growing programs, are simply suspended for this Congress.

Tax increases now will be easier to pass, because opponents will not be allowed to offer a simple motion to strike any increase without making up for the “lost revenue.” In addition, tax cuts are made more difficult, because they cannot be offset with spending cuts. The new rules will mean that the only way to push for a tax cut will be to propose a tax increase elsewhere.

That didn’t take long, did it? Not only that, but they are attempting to reduce the power of the already small Republican minority.

Know it or not, but George W. Bush may be the friendliest president to the environment we’ve ever had. Yes, he didn’t sign the Kyoto Protocol, but my statement still stands.

Originally posted at Jumping in Pools.

Why? Well, Texas is the number one state in the Union as far as wind energy is concerned. This is because Governor Bush actively pushed for wind turbines throughout the state, even giving lucrative tax credits before it became en vogue.

Bush also has reversed an almost 30 year-old statute, so that homeowners can receive credit for installing solar panels on their houses. He has also asked Congress for billions of dollars to fund alternative energy.

President Bush has also signed into law the preservation of the largest wildlife preserve in United States history. And recently, he has established another large zone for ecological conservation.

“The monuments will prohibit resource destruction or extraction, waste dumping and commercial fishing,” President Bush said.
President Bush says the goal is to keep these delicate ecosystems intact, while gradually opening them up to scientific research and recreation.

“For sea birds and marine life, they will be sanctuaries to grow and thrive. For scientists, they will be places to expand the frontiers of discovery. And for the American people they will be places that honor our duty to be good stewards of the Almighty’s creation,” he said.

…

The three new marine monuments together equal an area roughly the size of Spain and are made up islands, reefs, atolls and underwater mountain ranges that are home to countless species.

Good for President Bush, credit or no.

Originally posted at http://jumpinginpools.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-like-dick-cheney.html

I know that everyone has a lot of fun making fun of Dick Cheney. But maybe that just means he’s cool. I mean, if a guy is a popular target for dumb college kids and entitled hippies, then maybe he’s not that bad of a guy.

I wasn’t a fan of the man until 2004, when he bucked party Orthodoxy and declared his support for gay marriage. This was a neat little thing that endeared me to him. He’s a shrewd, intelligent politician who is able to accomplish things and wasn’t a bad Secretary of Defense.

The worst thing he did as VP was get hammered and shoot his best friend in the face. I mean, if I had a quarter for every time that happened. He was surprisingly open and unapologetic about his role in U.S. policy and was just an interesting guy.

So, Dick, I guess you did a good job, I guess.

Visit Jumping in Pools.

Posted by Tim K.

Originally posted at http://jumpinginpools.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-finish-it.html

I am perhaps the most pro-Israeli person I know, and I am not Jewish, I am a Christian Conservative, and this is the land of Israel. Hamas is a band of ruthless terrorists who like other Arab leaders want the destruction of Israel to come about, a two state plan will never work, a three state plan (as UN ambassador Bolton has suggested) will never work, only a one state plan – the entire gaza strip & west bank in the rightful hands of the owner, Israel will work.

The invaders have overstayed their welcome, they refuse to call Israel a nation, they refuse to have peace, because they are hellbent on Israel being no longer, I hope Israel will just decide to take over their entire region and give all of the invaders to the U.N. and all of the Euro nations that push for “peace”, you want peace? THEN YOU TAKE THEM!

Everytime Israel does anything to defend themselves, the waves of Anti-Semite ravagings by the Liberal left just flood around the world.

I support Israel, they need to take their land back.

GO ISRAEL!

By Tim K.

Originally posted at Jumping in Pools.

Its been ongoing for years, the Democrats have been attacking the Constitution at almost every aspect possible, gun rights, freedom of religion, state rights, 8th amendment, etc. etc. etc. But this time a little known Congresswoman from California is suggestion that we bring back the “fairness doctrine” which is in short a “censorship doctrine” that would force talk radio to showcase both viewpoints, hitting Conservative radio hard, and perhaps destroying talk radio alltogether (remember Liberal talk radio has been tried several times, and failed miserbly).
But, she also wants to attack freedom of speech on television!

Stories :

http://sfppc.blogspot.com/2008/12/rep-eshoo-to-push-for-fairness-doctrine.html
http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2008/12/17/rep-anna-eshoo-d-d-d-ca-14-is-an-idiot/
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=84278

My personal view is this :

Newspapers, television, movies, pretty much everything has a leftist slant in it, in which Republicans are constantly attacked, Democrats are praised, and the Constitution means nothing. Talk radio & the Internet are the true bastions of Conservatism, and if they attack one they will attack the other, as one that loves the Constitution this is wrong, illegal, Un-american, and un-Constitutional.

Hopefully enough email her, or else…….there goes freedom.

I was reading an article on World Threats about President-Elect Barack Obama impressing the intelligence community due to him being a ‘quick study’ and interested in topics at hand. This got me interested in how the reports come out.

From: Langley, VA
To: Quantico, VA
DECLASSIFIED

Intelligence Briefing– December 21, 2008
President-Elect Obama

The first briefing of the day was about the situation in the Middle East. After a two-hour lecture on the status of the Shi’ite-Sunni fracture points, Mr. Obama clearly stated: “I heard of Iraq– that’s where the Arabs live.”

After this briefing was a slideshow on the status of oil exports in the near future. The intelligence presented was in clear opposition to the President-Elect’s five-year-plan to run cars on “hope.”

The final presentation on Iran’s nuclear program was cut short as the President-Elect demanded chicken noodle soup and for his grilled cheese sandwich to be cut diagonally, not horizontally. “I, uh, want my soup to be, uh, Campbells!” he was reported to have shrieked.

Next week Mr. Obama will be administered a sixth-grade geography tests. Real progress has been made, as now he identifies Russia by its name and not as “the big purple place.” In addition, he can now name three countries in Europe.

While these incidences may seem poor for a Senator-to-President, they lag compared to past events. For example, when President Bush ordered strikes on “Islamstan.” Another example is when President Carter demanded that the United States not support the Shah of Iran because he was “ugly.”

At least five more years of these briefings will be required before President Obama achieves high-school level competency in basic geography and recent world history. And, no, to answer his question, he doesn’t get points for being popular.

originally posted at Jumping in Pools.