Posted here for 8-23-10

"If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit."
. . . -- Patrick J. Buchanan.

Source: "The War Over America's Past," by Patrick J. Buchanan, Whistleblower magazine, July 2010, page 29. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

Posted here for 8-9-10

"There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over."
. . . -- Newt Gingrich, commenting on the proposed "Cordoba House" Mosque at Ground Zero.

Source: An email, dated 7-25-10. Thanks, Frank.

Posted here for 7-26-10

"American history is full of stories of sacrifice and heroism in the name of preserving freedom. They were called patriots and they didn't sacrifice to build the power of government, or to enrich the pockets of a select power elite or to promote one group over another. They did it so they could live their lives in peace, unencumbered and left alone. Today, our young people are taught in government classrooms that these ideals are old fashioned, quaint and, in many cases just plain wrong. Patriotism is racism, we're told by modern scholars. Property ownership is selfish. Children are taught that our free society is the root of the Earth's destruction and must be dismantled through a tightly controlled, organized global village. The Constitution, say the scholars, is a living document, changeable with a whim. The Declaration of Independence, which Dolly Madison risked everything to save, is just a 'war document from the Revolution.' Nothing more."
. . . -- Tom DeWeese, editor of The DeWeese Report.

Source: "Patriots vs. Politician," The DeWeese Report, December 2007, page 4, published by the American Policy Center, 13873 Park Center Road, #316, Herndon, Virginia 20171. Phone: 703-925-0881. Fax: 703-925-0991. E-mail. Website.

Posted here for 7-26-10

"[Y]ou have to understand that there were more self-declared communists on the Harvard faculty that there were Republicans. Every single idea this president [Obama] has proposed in the nine months he's been in office has been orthodox wisdom in the Harvard faculty lounge. The communists on the Harvard faculty are generally not malevolent; they generally were raised in privilege, have never worked very hard in their lives, don't understand where jobs and opportunity come from. If you asked the Harvard faculty to vote on whether this nation should become a socialist nation, 80 percent of the faculty would vote yes and 10 percent would think that was too conservative."
. . . -- Ted Cruz, Texas attorney, in an interview with Marvin Olasky. The interview appeared in the November 7, 2009 issues of
World magazine. (Cruz is a candidate for state attorney general in Texas.)

Source: "Harvard & the Homeland," by Malcolm A. Kline, CampusReport, April 2010, page 2. Address: Accuracy in Academia, 4455 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 330, Washington, DC 20008. Phone: 800-787-0429, extension 104. E-mail. Website.

Posted here for 7-12-10

"If you begin to look at the connection between slavery, Darwin, eugenics and abortion, you begin to appreciate the fact that this [the Freedom of Choice Act] is the logical step in the final chapter of this march toward genocide. All of this has started to stem around the fundamental thought that African-Americans were less than human, objects to be manipulated, subjects to be used. This is, in my view, most noted in the works of Margaret Sanger. She introduced to youths the notion of abortion as a way of purifying what she considered to be the human race and to rid it of inferiors. In this case she regarded African-Americans as being inferior. And if you don't study the history of slavery and Darwinian theory, eugenics and abortion, then you're doing a disservice to the stain that all of these developments had on American culture."
. . . -- Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, senior fellow and national spokesman for the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU).

Source: "The Facts about the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA)," by Connie Hair, Human Events, July 27, 2009, page S3. Address: 1 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001. Phone: 202-216-0600. Website.

Posted here for 6-21-10

"What is arrogant beyond measure is for the bureaucrat heading IPCC to try to silence genuine scientists who have studied a pressing public issue [climate change] and published their objective scientific findings."
. . . -- James M. Taylor, Senior Fellow for environment policy at The Heartland Institute, in his article titled "India Scientists Get Cold Blast."

Source: The Heartlander, January-February 2010, page 22. Address: The Heartland Institute, 19 South LaSalle Street, Suite 903, Chicago, Illinois 60603. Phone: 312-377-4000. Fax: 312-377-5000. E-mail. Website.

Posted here for 6-7-10


86-year Old Lady's Letter to Her Bank

This is reportedly an actual letter that was sent to a bank by an 86 year old woman. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the New York Times.


Dear Sir:

I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it.

I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years.

You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally answer your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.

From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person.

My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.

Be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.

Please find attached an Application Contact which I require your chosen employee to complete.

I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.

Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.

In due course, at MY convenience, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me.

I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service.

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further.

When you call me, press buttons as follows:

IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIALING, PRESS THE STAR (*) BUTTON FOR ENGLISH

#1 To make an appointment to see me.
#2 To query a missing payment.
#3 To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
#4 To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
#5 To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
#6 To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
#7 To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. This password will be communicated to you at a later date to that Authorized Contact mentioned earlier.
#8 To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7.
#9 To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service.
#10 This is a second reminder to press* for English.

While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year?

Your Humble Client

And remember: Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off.
. . . -- An unnamed 86-year-old lady.

Source: From an e-mail dated 5-25-10. Thanks, Jim.

Posted here for 5-24-10



Source: From a recent email. Date and sender not recorded.

Posted here for 5-10-10

"President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have failed at healthcare because they fundamentally don't believe in markets, incentives, and the power of hundreds of millions of people to make smart choices about their health. It's just not in the Democratic leaders' DNA."
. . . -- Former Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Frist, a surgeon, claiming his criticism of the Democrat's plan 'is not rocket science.'

Source: "Here's Why the Democrats' Healthcare Proposal Failed," The New American March 15, 2010, page 9. Address: PO Box 8040, Appleton, Wisconsin, 54912. Phone: 920-749-3784. Fax: 920-749-3785. Website.

Posted here for 4-26-10

"One of the surprising privileges of intellectuals is that they are free to be scandalously asinine without harming their reputation."
. . . -- Eric Hoffer, as quoted by Thomas Sowell in his book, Intellectuals and Society.

Source: From an e-mail dated 4-10-10. Thanks, Kenneth.

Posted here for 4-12-10

"The current danger to America is not (primarily) Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."
. . . -- Author not known.

Source: From an e-mail dated 3-28-10. Thanks, Frank.

Posted here for 3-29-10

"The evidence strongly suggests that researchers colluded to prove the global warming 'consensus' by rigging, burying, and destroying data that ran counter to their political agenda."
. . . -- Investor's Business Daily.

Source: The American Sentinel, March 2010, page 3. Address: American Lantern Press, Incorporated, 101 Washington Street, Falmouth, Virginia 22405. Phone: 540-371-1807. E-mail.

Posted here for 3-22-10

"Fully one-quarter of the space on this year’s [census] form is taken up with questions of race and ethnicity, which are clearly illegitimate and none of the government’s business (despite the New York Times’ assurances to the contrary on today’s [March 9, 2010] editorial page). So until we succeed in building the needed wall of separation between race and state, I have a proposal. Question 9 on the census form asks 'What is Person 1’s race?' (and so on, for other members of the household). My initial impulse was simply to misidentify my race so as to throw a monkey wrench into the statistics; I had fun doing this on the personal-information form my college required every semester, where I was a Puerto Rican Muslim one semester, and a Samoan Buddhist the next. But lying in this constitutionally-mandated process is wrong. Really — don’t do it. Instead, we should answer Question 9 by checking the last option -- 'Some other race' -- and writing in 'American.' It’s a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection of unconstitutional racial classification schemes. In fact, 'American' was the plurality ancestry selection for respondents to the 2000 census in four states and several hundred counties. So remember: Question 9 -- 'Some other race' -- 'American.' Pass it on."
. . . -- Michelle Malkin.

Source: Michelle Malkin's website.

Posted here for 3-15-10

"No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems of which getting elected and re-elected are No. 1 and No.2. Whatever is No.3 is far behind."
. . . -- Thomas Sowell.

Source: "How Politicians 'Solve' Problems," by Thomas Sowell, Whistleblower magazine, January 2010, page 40. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

Posted here for 3-8-10

""There has been an unrelenting quarter century of one-sided indoctrination of the Western world by the media and by various scientists and governments concerning a coming carbon dioxide . . . induced global warming disaster. These warming scenarios have been orchestrated by a combination of environmentalists, vested interest scientists wanting larger federal grants and publicity, the media which profits from doomsday scenario reporting, governmental bureaucrats who want more power over our lives, and socialists who want to level-out global living standards. These many alarmist groups appear to have little concern over whether their global warming prognostications are accurate, however. And they most certainly are not. [. . .] I am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people."
. . . -- William Gray, Colorado State University. He pioneered the science of forecasting hurricanes, and he has served as weather forecaster for the U.S. Air Force. He is emeritus professor of atmospheric science at CSU and heads the school's Department of Atmospheric Sciences Tropical Meteorology Project.

Source: "Famous Weather Scientist: Cllimategate 'Tip of Iceberg'," by Bob Unruh, Whistleblower magazine, January 2010, page 21. Address: PO Box 2450, Fair Oaks, California 95628. Phone: 916-852-6300. Fax: 916-852-6302. Website.

Posted here for 2-22-10

"Why not?"
. . . -- A National Science Foundation official, when confronted by investigators about whether he took a taxpayer-funded trip to facilitate a liaison with a woman.

Source: "Taxpayers' Bucks Spent on Trysts, Golf, Skiing," by Jim McElhatton, The Washington Times National Weekly Edition, January 25, 2010, page 10. Address: 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002. E-mail. Website.

Posted here for 2-15-10

"I want you people to organize and keep on organizing until you are able to overthrow the [. . . ] rotten, capitalistic government of this country."
. . . -- Leon Trotsky.

Source: "A Pathetic End for a Founder of the World Revolution," by Joseph C. Goulden, The Washington Times National Weekly Edition, January 4, 2010, page 28. Address: 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002. E-mail. Website.

Posted here for 2-1-10

"While in China, President Obama gave a speech. He said, 'Open criticism makes democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because its forces me to hear opinions I don't want to hear.' Then he went back to trashing Fox News."
. . . -- Jay Leno, on his TV show.

Source: "Quote of the Week," Human Events, November 23, 2009, page 1. Address: 1 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001. Phone: 202-216-0600. Website.

Posted here for 1-25-10

"Frankly, I don't know what it is about California, but we seem to have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office. I'm not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine, even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to Washington, we're number one. There's no getting around the fact that the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when the curtain went up on 'Macbeth'. The three of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of speech. You don't know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or simply marvel at their ability to form words."
. . . -- Columnist Burt Prelutsky.

Source: From an email dated 1-12-10. Thanks, FS.

Posted here for 1-18-10

"We are on the cusp of the most volatile and most dynamic political moment in our lifetime. The surging forces, I think, are now clearly discernible. What is not discernible is how they will be manifested, for the outcome itself remains to be determined. The issue, indeed, is this nation's future. [. . .] [I]t is in genuine doubt. It is a moment potentially of fantastic renewal -- a national restoration; but it is also potentially [a] dark and even dangerous, destructive moment that could seal the descent of the last, best hope of mankind."
. . . -- Pat Caddell, Democrat, liberal, who worked for Democratic presidential candidates George McGovern in 1972, Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980, Gary Hart in 1984, Joe Biden in 1988, and Jerry Brown in 1992.

Source: Written in a letter to Glenn Beck, as quoted on the Glenn Beck TV show, January 11, 2010.

Posted here for 1-11-10

"I quit when medicine was placed under State control, some years ago. Do you know what it takes to perform a brain operation? Do you know the kind of skill it demands, and the years of passionate, merciless, excruciating devotion that go to acquire that skill? That was what I would not place at the disposal of men whose sole qualification to rule me was their capacity to spout the fraudulent generalities that got them elected to the privilege of enforcing their wishes at the point of a gun. I would not let them dictate the purpose for which my years of study had been spent, or the conditions of my work, or my choice of patients, or the amount of my reward. I observed that in all the discussions that preceded the enslavement of medicine, men discussed everything -- except the desires of the doctors. Men considered only the 'welfare' of the patients, with no thought for those who were to provide it. That a doctor should have any right, desire or choice in the matter was regarded as irrelevant selfishness; his is not to choose, they said, only 'to serve.' That a man who's willing to work under compulsion is too dangerous a brute to entrust with a job in the stockyards -- never occurred to those who proposed to help the sick by making life impossible for the healthy. I have often wondered at the smugness with which people assert their right to enslave me, to control my work, to force my will, to violate my conscience, to stifle my mind -- yet what is it that they expect to depend on, when they lie on an operating table under my hands? Their moral code has taught them to believe that it is safe to rely on the virtue of their victims. Well, that is the virtue I have withdrawn. Let them discover the kind of doctors that their system will now produce. Let them discover, in their operating rooms and hospital wards, that it is not safe to place their lives in the hands of a man whose life they have throttled. It is not safe, if he is the sort of a man who resents it -- and still less safe, if he is the sort who doesn't."
. . . -- Dr. Hendricks, in Ayn Rand's book, Atlas Shrugged.

Source: From an email dated 1-3-10. Thanks FS.

Posted here for 1-4-10

"It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth -- and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts. ... Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not . . . ?"
. . . -- Patrick Henry.

Source: The History Place.