… then wait until they get a hold of Adam Kinzinger. He’s an officer in the Air Force Reserves, and is a hero on and off the battlefield. Check out his bio:
In 2003, Adam joined the United States Air Force. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in November 2003 and later awarded his pilot wings. Captain Kinzinger has served in the Air Force Special Ops, Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, and Air National Guard.
Captain Kinzinger has been recognized for his efforts both in an out of uniform. In 2007, he received the United States Air Force Airman’s Medal for saving the life of a young woman who was violently attacked. Despite the likelihood that he too would be stabbed, Adam wrestled the knife away from the attacker and pinned him to the ground until the police arrived. He was also awarded the National Guard’s Valley Forge Cross for Heroism and was selected as the Southeastern Wisconsin American Red Cross Hero of the Year.
He’s done five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s also done missions on the southern border in the war on drugs. He’s a fiscal conservative who believes in free-market capitalism and small government. He’s advocating a freeze on all non-defense spending immediately. He’s also pro-life and a member of the NRA.
Oh, and here’s what he looks like:
Scott who? I’m pretty sure everyone’s going to be forgetting about that Cosmo spread once they start salivating over this guy.
He’s trying to defeat Debbie Halvorson. He’s also trying to raise $11k by February 10th, a very achievable goal. Maybe we can all help him out by throwing a few bucks in? Every last little bit counts, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who would like to see Captain Kinzinger take Halvorson’s place in the House.
Cross-posted at The Green Room.
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...OK, so all of us already know that Obama quite possibly could be the most arrogant, narcissistic president this country has ever had. Last night, at the DNC fundraiser in Washington, Obama decided the time was right to eulogize one of the people who worked on his campaign, a woman who died of breast cancer. Obama couldn’t take the time to remember what her name was, but her sure did make sure to point out that she wanted to be buried in an Obama t-shirt.
I got a letter — I got a note today from one of my staff — they forwarded it to me — from a woman in St. Louis who had been part of our campaign, very active, who had passed away from breast cancer. She didn’t have insurance. She couldn’t afford it, so she had put off having the kind of exams that she needed. And she had fought a tough battle for four years. All through the campaign she was fighting it, but finally she succumbed to it. And she insisted she’s going to be buried in an Obama t-shirt.
Even the people in attendance were taken aback — you can tell by the fact that they laughed. Obama, meanwhile, was dead serious. He actually seemed insulted by the laughter! Watch the expression on his face as people start laughing, you’ll see what I mean. (Skip ahead to about 8:25 to see the clip.)
So, he couldn’t even take the time to ask his staffers to find out what the woman’s name was, but he can exploit her life for health care. Heck, why not, they did it for Teddy Kennedy. But at least Kennedy was a politician and a public figure. This is just some poor, nameless woman. I even question the bit about the Obama t-shirt. I wonder if that’s actually true, or if Obama just exaggerated to make the story all about him. I guess there’s no way of knowing for sure. The end point is still the same regardless, though.
Obama is a self-serving tool. He’s the guy who is that annoying acquaintance, the one you really hate but put up with for whatever reason — he’s a friend of a friend, he works with you, whatever. And the annoying acquaintance is that guy, the one that always has to make everything about him, and he’s a one-upper, too. You say you went skiing in Colorado, he’ll tell you that his parents own a ski lodge there. You say that you’re going to get a bonus, he’ll tell you that he’s getting a promotion and a pay raise. If you talk about, say, Haiti, he always will find a way to make it about him — he has a friend who was doing missionary work there, or he knows someone who is Haitian. It doesn’t matter the circumstances, but the situation is always twisted around to make be all about him. (I know you all know exactly which person I’m talking about.) It’s annoying enough when this is that acquaintance you have to suck it up around. When this guy has become our president, it ceases to be just annoying. It’s greatly worrying.
And here’s one more question: if this woman worked on his campaign staff, why was health insurance made available for her? At the very least, if Obama cares so much about all the Americans supposedly dying from a lack of health insurance, why didn’t he get it for her once it became known she had cancer? With Obama, it’s all about rights for me but not for thee.
Cross-posted at Stop the ACLU and Smart Girl Nation.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...I’ll probably have more from Sarah Palin’s speech at the Tea Party Convention this weekend, but for now, just enjoy this clip. I can’t really add anything because everything she said was simply perfect.
Hat Tip: Hot Air.
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...A lot of you probably have plans to watch the Super Bowl this Sunday. Maybe you’re going to be having a Super Bowl party, maybe you’re going to to watch it at a sports bar. If you are, make sure you pay real close attention during the commercials. Your tax dollars paid for one of them.
Taxpayers might want to pay close attention to this Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast or they’ll miss Uncle Sam’s 30-second, $2.5-million reminder to stand up and be counted.
That’s what the Census Bureau paid CBS to get their message notched somewhere between a National Lampoon reprisal, a weird dude with big glasses, a beer-can house and men without pants.
And, that’s just a fraction of what the bureau plans to spend this year to get Americans to answer a simple, 10-question survey.
The bureau is spending $133 million between January and May — or, more than $13 million for each of 10 questions, one of which reads: What is your telephone number? — to publicize the national head-count. Part of that effort is the Super Bowl ad, which Kendall Johnson, a spokeswoman for the bureau, confirmed Wednesday to FoxNews.com cost $2.5 million to air. The ad, produced by actor and director Christopher Guest, also will appear in other media, Johnson said.
It’s insane that the government is spending so much money on a freaking public service announcement. Obama has already quadrupled the deficit. Unemployment is out of control. The economy is showing no signs of improving. Yet Obama still found it necessary to spend $2.5 million on a 30 second ad? It’s as if this ad sums up the entire problem with the Obama presidency. To them, what’s another few million dollars? It’s as if Marie Antoinette has been reincarnated into our new president, who is just as clueless as she was. Why on earth do we need a $2.5 million commercial for the census during the Super Bowl? To put this into perspective, even Pepsi isn’t buying any ad spots during the game. Pepsi decided not to buy any because… it was too expensive. We’re spending more and more money on more and more crap that doesn’t even matter. There’s no reason to have an ad for the census during the Super Bowl, none whatsoever.
Oh, and check out this interesting little nugget about the census:
Every U.S. household, including those occupied by non-citizens and illegal immigrants, must be counted.
Including illegal immigrants. Way to go, Obama. You’ve turned something that’s fairly routine into another FUBAR mess.
Cross-posted at Smart Girl Nation and Stop the ACLU.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...When Bush mispronounced nuclear, the left went bananas. It became someone he was bashed for non-stop. Obama’s misspoken plenty of times, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so offended — and I’m not even in the military.
Remember, this is a man who graduated from Harvard and is a Constitutional scholar. But he can’t figure out how to pronounce corpsman? Is he going to be calling it the Marine Corpse next? This is a huge insult to the military. Huge. Does he really need the teleprompter to tell him how to pronounce corpsman?
The man is pathetic.
(7 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5) Loading ...Good ‘ole Joe Biden. He’s always good for a laugh.
At Scott Brown’s swearing in ceremony, which took place about an hour and a half ago, Joe Biden made a rather interesting remark. After the oath was taken, Biden and Brown had some friendly chatting going on… during which Joe Biden said to Brown, “I’d like to talk to you about your daughters!” Wonder if this just might have been a reference to when Scott Brown notoriously told a national TV audience that his daughters were available.
Good ‘ole Joe Biden… always good for a laugh. I’m curious: does Joe Biden actually have any kind of filter between his brain and his mouth? My guess would be no.
Cross-posted at the Green Room.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Last night, blogger Jim Treacher was in a hit-and-run accident, leaving his left knee broken. He recapped what happened here:
Sometime between 7 and 7:30, not long after I got home from work, I walked to the CVS on 22nd and M to get some bread, milk, and a SmartTrip card. I was right across the street from the CVS, and I waited for the crosswalk light to tell me to go before I crossed. I had plenty of time left, according to the countdown clock. I was more than halfway there when a black SUV made an illegal left turn and hit me head-on. I absolutely had the right of way. I yelled something like, “Are you really doing this?” as it hit me before I could move. I landed on my face on the street and smashed my glasses and scraped my hand and immediately I knew something was wrong with my left knee. I lay there screaming and cursing for I don’t know how long, and a crowd of people gathered and told me to hold still. I was sprawled out right next to the yellow line as traffic went by. I gave one guy standing over me the number to the Daily Caller offices and he told them what happened. There’s a firehouse right across the street, so the paramedics were there in just a couple of minutes. They took me to Georgetown Hospital, where I was soon joined by my friends and co-workers Moira Bagley, Tucker Carlson, Neil Patel, and Laura Baños. All of whom I love. Unironically. I was x-rayed and CAT-scanned and given pain medication and told that my knee was broken. I almost passed out twice from the pain. They immobilized it, but if I tried to move it and didn’t get it exactly right, my whole leg tried to close up like a fist and I couldn’t get away from the pain. I’m typing this on Neil’s laptop on my chest on his fold-out bed in his basement and trying to move as little as possible. Now that I’ve written this out, maybe I can sleep. Sorry for the sloppiness, but I just wanted to get it out while it’s fresh in my mind.
One last thing: I’m told by multiple people that the SUV that hit me was Secret Service. If this is true, I want to know why that happened. I was crossing legally, and they just left me there. At the very least, I want an apology. What happened to me was wrong.
It sounds absolutely terrifying, but at least Jim was not more seriously injured. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Scott Brown had initially scheduled his certification for February 11th. He’s now asked that it be moved up, and he’ll be seated in the Senate today.
U.S. Senator-elect Scott Brown, a Republican who won the seat held by late Edward M. Kennedy, will be certified today as winner of the Jan. 19 election so he can be sworn in later in the day.
Brown had been scheduled to be sworn in next week. His lawyer sent a letter to Massachusetts officials saying he wanted the election results to be certified “without delay” so he could enter the Senate today. When Brown takes his seat, he will end Senate Democrats’ 60-seat supermajority that has allowed them to overcome Republican stalling tactics on legislation.
“While Senator-elect Brown had tentatively planned to be sworn into office on Feb. 11, he has been advised that there are a number of votes scheduled prior to that date,” wrote his attorney, Daniel Winslow. “For that reason, he wants certification to occur immediately.”
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s spokesman, Kyle Sullivan, said in a statement that officials will certify the election results this morning.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said Reid would be willing to comply with Brown’s wishes to move up his swearing-in ceremony.
“Once we have his certificate, there is no reason why he can’t be sworn in,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid.
And so, the Democrat super-majority will end as Brown will become the 41st vote in the Senate. This is causing Democrats to completely panic, for inexplicable reasons. All they need to pass health care is one Republican to lean their way (Olympia Snowe, anyone?) and they have their filibuster-proof vote again. Apparently, the Democrats in the Senate are so worthless that they can only get anything accomplished if they have a 60-vote majority. And even with that, they still have had a hard time getting legislation passed. It’s pretty pathetic.
Once he gets seated, we can begin to see what kind of fiscal conservative he really is. Right now, he’s the savior of the party, and unfortunately, when someone is put up on a pedestal like that they’re bound to fall eventually. Consider that he’s keeping some of Ted Kennedy’s staff on. Maybe it’ll be illegal immigration, maybe it’ll be something related to abortion, but I get the feeling that Scott Brown is bound to disappoint some people.
Cross-posted at the Green Room.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Whoever came up with the idea for this ad should be fired from Carly Fiorina’s staff, immediately. Watch and you’ll see why. She targets Tom Campbell, lecturing him about not being a true fiscal conservative. You see images of him interspersed with shots of sheep and pigs. It starts getting creepy with the increasingly hysterical-sounding voiceover… and then reaches its peak at the crazy demon sheep.
Yes. Someone had the bright idea to make a political ad featuring a guy in a sheep costume with red demon eyes.
There really are no words for it. Just watch it, and you’ll know what I mean.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...I’ll admit it: I’m a complete sucker for romantic comedies and shallow chick flicks. I don’t buy the plots or the cheesy romance, but if I’m in the mood for some escapist, feel-good entertainment, I’m all about a chick flick.
That being said, I completely agreed with the premise of this article, which claims that romantic comedies are ruining relationships for women.
I know too many women who watch way too many romantic comedies. If that wasn’t bad enough, they drag their boyfriend’s into their addiction and then point out the things that the goofy boyfriend on the screen is doing right.
Unfortunately, women seem to be missing the big picture. No one ever farts in the romantic comedies. No. In fact, no one ever goes to the bathroom. Or eats for that matter.
But that’s not why romantic comedies are completely unrealistic; this is why.
The article then, in my opinion, veers off course. According to the author, couples in romantic comedies sleep in each other’s arms and kiss in the morning right when they wake up, and this is something that “real couples” never do. The author also mentions how no one farts in movies and “no one has to clean up the mess”. Well, real couples certainly don’t kiss right when they wake up every morning, but sometimes they do. They don’t cuddle every night, but some nights they do. Relationships are never absolutes. As for farting and cleaning up messes… well, who wants to watch that in a movie? You’re right in the middle of a steamy sex scene, and then George Clooney rips one. Wow, how romantic. Megan Fox dusting and vacuuming… that’s what every guy wants to see. That stuff happens in real life sometimes. Real people get zits and gain weight, too, but you never see celebrities with pimples or love handles, do you? It’s unrealistic to expect movies to be completely realistic. You just have to accept that, to an extent, a movie is going to be glossed over to be prettier, sexier, more romantic.
There was one point, though, that was dead on: the idea in romance movies that people will do anything, absolutely anything, for love. And this is where romantic movies start ruining things for women, and for men. Women are fed this pretty picture of how men are supposed to act. In movies, if a man realizes that he’s in love with his female best friend or an ex, for example, he’ll make some grand gesture to prove his love to her. Maybe he’s already got his dream girl and wants to propose. Whatever the case, he wins her heart with style. Roses, candles, jewelry, great food, mood music… he pulls out all the stops. Real men? Not so much. Men can be plenty romantic, but it’s just not practical for a man to fly across the country to tell his ex-girlfriend that he still loves her. Likewise, if a woman realizes that her ex is the man of her dreams, she’ll similarly make some grand gesture. Regardless of who the initiating party is, the receiver of the romance is always blown away. Everything is automatically forgiven, simply because he or she made a grand gesture to prove their love.
And this brings me to my next point. In movies, couples have a pretty simple equation to get to happily ever after. They meet. They fall in love. An obstacle is placed in their path. They temporarily break up. One of them realizes how idiotic they are and makes the grand gesture. The couple falls back in love. They live happily ever after. The end. Movies present such a simplified version of what real love and relationships are. Once you get over one obstacle, or make up after one big fight, things aren’t going to be hunky-dory forever. The problem is, more and more people are falling into the trap of believing this. Movies constantly give you this idea that, if you aren’t happy, it’s not meant to be. If you fight, the relationship is doomed. And real people are starting to buy into it. Many, many people get married expecting this blissful honeymoon phase that our popular culture presents as real, passionate love to last forever. It won’t. It never does. These people then feel disappointed and let down. The woman goes and sees some romantic comedy where the boyfriend or husband is kind, sensitive, intelligent, and charming. He does all of these insane things to keep the woman happy… heck, he’s basically a doormat to her alpha female. They then go home feeling even more angry and let down. Why doesn’t my husband treat me that way?, they wonder. Real love, and real relationships, they take work. Hard work. The honeymoon phase is all that’s presented to you in a movie, and we’re led to believe that it’s what real love is. If you aren’t happy, it’s not working. If you don’t feel passion, it’s not going to last. You deserve passion and romance every day for the rest of your life. Women are never told that this is, quite frankly, never going to happen. Passion at the beginning of the relationship is a wonderful thing. It fades, though. The honeymoon phase dies out and reality sets in. This shouldn’t be a negative, of course. Real, true, deep love is much more meaningful and wonderful than the superficial crap marketed to women in movie theatres. But women unfortunately expect the honeymoon phase to last forever. They want to be wooed forever. That’s what the men in the movies do. They’re always romantic. They’re always caring. And women do next to nothing for their men. They just get to be their wonderful selves, and men fall all over themselves to keep their girl happy.
Now, in all of this, men really get screwed. Women are coming to expect that men must be perfect. How many times do we read news stories about whiny single women complaining about how hard it is to find a man who measures up to their standards? It’s a constant complaint. Women expect men to be perfect, and so whenever they get into a relationship with an actual man, he inevitably lets them down through no fault of his own. He may be funny and intelligent and good-looking. But his job isn’t as good as hers, or maybe he isn’t romantic enough, or perhaps he expects to be the alpha in the relationship. Horror of horrors: maybe he does do a lot of nice things for his woman, but — gulp — he expects her to do nice things for him, too. Women aren’t the only ones who have needs in relationships, yet they seem to believe that these days. Men exist solely to fill the voids they feel in their lives. And why shouldn’t women believe that? They’ve been conditioned to think that the right man will do anything for her, if he really loves her. It’s never asked, ever, if women would be willing to do anything for the right man. Not in movies, not in books, not in women’s magazines.
All of this adds up to disaster in the real world. There was a study done in the UK on this very subject a few years ago. Surprise, surprise: rom-com fans don’t communicate well, have unrealistic expectations, and have a warped sense of a “perfect” relationship.
It’s not to say that all of this isn’t entertaining, or that there aren’t any good ideas for someone to pick up on for their relationship. But women have incorporated the relationships from romantic movies into their actual lives, and it isn’t working out. Persevering through the bad times? It’s easier to just get a divorce. Go through a few months where you fight all the time? Must not be meant to be. Couples need to learn how to communicate, that hard times are normal, and that true love emerges when you persevere through those tough times. Real relationships require time and energy, something that Hollywood does not often promote. And sure, chick flicks are just escapist fantasies, but what alternatives are there? What Hollywood movie presents a realistic movie about love and marriage? The only one I can think of is Fireproof, and that could hardly be called a Hollywood movie.
Most people are smart enough to realize that there is no such thing as a perfect relationship, complete with happily ever after. A good number of people, particularly women, still expect to get their fairy tale. And until those people stop living in fantasy and start living in reality, they’re going to continue setting themselves up for disappointment and failure.
Cross-posted at the Green Room.
(6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5) Loading ...
