Riehl World View

Jedediah Bila: "Elitism is what's eating away at our country"

Like many of her admirers, we first came upon leg-chair lovely Jedediah Bila early one morning in the "take-no-prisoners" parry and thrust of Greg Gutfeld's "Red Eye" on Fox.

By Sissy Willis of sisu

"I always have thought that elitism — on the left and the right — is what's eating away at our country," writes "Hot Conservative American" columnist and commentator Jedediah Bila in her new book, Outnumbered: Chronicles of a Manhattan Conservative, an album of anecdotal moments in the making of a "conservative girl with a twist" …

Read full post here.

The Royal Wedding: It's the optics, stupid

 

 "The guys in the office are pretty stoked about the Aston Martin the Royal couple just drove around in," twittered CNN Showbiz Tonight reporter Brittany Kaplan a couple of minutes ago as the newly minted Duke and Duchess of Cambridge motored off from the first royal wedding reception to Clarence house with Prince William at the wheel, the getaway car bedecked with ribbons and trailing balloons. "He's making one of the points they wanted to make," added another CNN commentor on the scene near Buckingham Palace: Amidst all the glamor, "he wants to feel freer, in charge, trying to create a sense of normalcy." A "People's Princess" kind of thing, but with decorum. (AP Photo)

By Sissy Willis of sisu

"Most Worthless Breaking News Alert Ever?' headlined Steve L. Taylor at Outside the Beltway, signaling fellow members of the Fuddy-Duddy community that for discerning fellows like himself, the pageantry and romance of Wills's and Kate's royal wedding that had filled the airwaves and swelled hearts and tear ducts around the world — an estimated two billion watched — early morning (ET) were a trivial distraction from more important matters. Like Stacy McCain's little Princess, we ourselves were enraptured, but Taylor and a lot of opinionators out there in the twittersphere, blogosphere and on TV — yes you, Shepard Smith — missed the story: It's the optics, stupid.

Read full post here.

"It's official. I must now hate the Paul Ryan budget. David Brooks is in luv with it"

"I asked the Congressional Budget Office to model the economy going forward" explains Rep Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, in "The Path to Prosperity: America's two futures, visualized." 

By Sissy Willis of sisu

You've read and committed to memory Paul Ryan's Wall Street Journal op ed. Now watch the video and help spread the word.

"So they have these computer programs that simulate the U.S. economy. The computer program crashes in 2027 because it can't conceive of any way in which the economy can continue because of this massive burden of debt."

Best comment so far comes from Erick Erickson this morning on Twitter. Be sure to check out his own analysis, "Paul Ryan is Not Jesus, But His Path To Prosperity Gospel is Really Good." Here's that tweet:

It's official. I must now hate the Paul Ryan budget. David Brooks is in luv with it.

Read full post here.

Good Grief, I Still Use The Phone

h/t Instapundit to Ann Althouse - Yes, I've noticed this trend where people increasingly don't talk on the phone. I'm cell only for the last couple of years. When I don't want to stop to have to take a call, I turn it off - or push it to voice-mail. But I enjoy talking on the phone when I can and have the time.

It's incredibly more rich than email, or texting - both of which I also do. Not only are people getting silly about it, this NYT's article is so pathetically self-centered, I couldn't imagine wanting to talk to this person. What could they possibly have to say that wasn't about them? Phone calls can come at a bad time. When they do, I either don't take them, or briefly explain. But to the extent one views them as "rude" when from friends or associates, as opposed to salespeople, what you may be gauging is how pre-occupied you are with yourself. 

“I remember when I was growing up, the rule was, ‘Don’t call anyone after 10 p.m.,’ ” Mr. Adler said. “Now the rule is, ‘Don’t call anyone. Ever.’ ”

Phone calls are rude. Intrusive. Awkward. “Thank you for noticing something that millions of people have failed to notice since the invention of the telephone until just now,” Judith Martin, a k a Miss Manners, said by way of opening our phone conversation. “I’ve been hammering away at this for decades. The telephone has a very rude propensity to interrupt people.”

Though the beast has been somewhat tamed by voice mail and caller ID, the phone caller still insists, Ms. Martin explained, “that we should drop whatever we’re doing and listen to me.”

Even at work, where people once managed to look busy by wearing a headset or constantly parrying calls back and forth via a harried assistant, the offices are silent. The reasons are multifold. Nobody has assistants anymore to handle telecommunications. And in today’s nearly door-free workplaces, unless everyone is on the phone, calls are disruptive and, in a tight warren of cubicles, distressingly public. Does anyone want to hear me detail to the dentist the havoc six-year molars have wreaked on my daughter?

Gay Vultures Forced To Man Up

Gay Griffon vultures Guido and Detlef have now been separated by several hundred miles. If nothing else, perhaps it will put an end to the terrible bullying they had to endure, as those hating het vultures were obviously targeting their twigs out of spite.

Both birds are predatory males, but seemed to enjoy one another's company more than that of any female. They spent their days grooming one another with their beaks and fortifying their nest -- though other vultures occasionally stole their building materials, as if to spite them.

Additionally, at same link, in gay penguin news, apparently when Harry met Pepper and adopted, they weren't figuring on that het home wrecking biatch, Linda, happening along. How people write news like this with a straight face is beyond me. Just shoot me now and make it stop! Please! I think the planet would be better off if the cockroaches take it all back one day!

German Zoo Forces Gay Vultures to Mate With Females

(Nov. 26) -- German zookeepers are forcing two male vultures who prefer nesting together to mate with females, sparking outrage from gay rights activists who accuse the zoo of discriminating against birds of a different feather.

Two gay male penguins, Harry and Pepper, started living together at the San Francisco Zoo in 2003, and five years later adopted, incubated and hatched an egg abandoned by a female penguin, Time magazine reported. But their romance didn't last. Last year, Harry left Pepper for a recently widowed female, Linda.

When Women Attack In Packs

Thank God Lisa Murkowskis don't run in packs, there'd be no Polar Bears left in Alaska at all!

The Dark Side of Female Friendship

"My life's greatest sorrow stems from my inability to feel close to other women. At 41, I've cautiously cultivated a few cherished female friendships. But generally I feel a kind of skittish distrust and discomfort when dealing with most women, particularly women in packs."

Italy: Mother Told Of 15 Year-Old Daughter's Murder On Live TV

Decadence:

An Italian mother whose 15-year-old daughter has been missing for weeks was told during a live TV show that her child was allegedly killed by the girl's uncle.

Concetta Serrano was participating in a show that focuses on missing people when the anchor told her late Wednesday her brother-in-law had confessed to have allegedly murdered Sarah Scazzi.

The Italian news agencies broke the story of the alleged confession while the show was being broadcast live from inside the uncle's house in the southern Italian town of Avetrana, where Scazzi disappeared on Aug. 26.

Irony: NYTs - Why Won't 20-Somethings Grow Up?

This, from the New York Times, chief pamphleteer for the nanny state and part and parcel of the, when in doubt, pamper cultural mindset. Really? Clue New York Times, if the 20-somethings of yesterday and today grew up, you would have even fewer readers than you are barely hanging onto today. Grow up, yourself, silly!

What Is It About 20-Somethings?

Why are so many people in their 20s taking so long to grow up?

This question pops up everywhere, underlying concerns about “failure to launch” and “boomerang kids.” Two new sitcoms feature grown children moving back in with their parents — “$#*! My Dad Says,” starring William Shatner as a divorced curmudgeon whose 20-something son can’t make it on his own as a blogger, and “Big Lake,” in which a financial whiz kid loses his Wall Street job and moves back home to rural Pennsylvania. A cover of The New Yorker last spring picked up on the zeitgeist: a young man hangs up his new Ph.D. in his boyhood bedroom, the cardboard box at his feet signaling his plans to move back home now that he’s officially overqualified for a job. In the doorway stand his parents, their expressions a mix of resignation, worry, annoyance and perplexity: how exactly did this happen?

10th Circuit: Crosses For Fallen Patrol Officers Unconstitutional

Thank you, American Atheists, Inc. You petty little tyrants seem to have gotten your way, at least for now. How utterly ridiculous, especially as I am sure an alternate symbol would be used for those of a different faith if desired. They won't stop until they eradicate religion entirely.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has ruled that crosses erected to memorialize fallen Utah Highway Patrol officers are unconstitutional.  There are currently 14 of the 12 foot, steal crosses on public land throughout the Beehive state.

American Atheists Inc., successfully argued that because crosses are a Christian symbol, they violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  That these white crosses, which are on public land, with official Utah Highway Patrol logos, give the impression that the government is showing preference to one religion over another.  In its ruling, the 10th Circuit states "…these memorials have the impermissible effect of conveying to the reasonable observer the message that the state prefers or otherwise endorses a certain religion."

Updated: Obama Irks LA At Rush Hour

Update: It was a friendly crowd!! Indeed.

A report via the LA Times. AT least one Right-side blogger was particularly displeased.

He also alienated some Angelenos, at least temporarily, as his motorcade mangled evening traffic en route from the Beverly Hilton to the Hancock Park home of producer John Wells, whose credits include "West Wing," "ER" and "Southland."

Onlookers lined Olympic Boulevard, snapping cellphone photos. One person held a small sign declaring, "We need jobs."