Conservative Rumblings

Has Mayor Micheal Bloomberg made a little jaunt across the country? Unfortunately not; another nanny government city council is to blame for this ridiculous plan.

The one-year moratorium, proposed by Councilwoman Jan Perry, is aimed at attracting restaurants serving healthier fare to the area, where a study found 30% of children are obese.

A law that would bar fast-food restaurants from opening in South Los Angeles for at least a year sailed through the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday.

The council approved the fast-food moratorium unanimously, despite complaints from representatives of McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr. and other companies, who said they were being unfairly targeted.

So now we’re not just attacking what is in the foods, but we are physically taking the choice away from people (basically a ‘government-knows-best’ strategy).

We are citizens in a supposedly free country, governed by a Constitution and a Bill of Rights that say a citizen cannot “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

What if my life, my happiness, involves eating grotesque and grease-filled fast-food sandwiches? (it does, for the record). What right does the government have to tell me what I can or cannot eat? They have absolutely no right to do it. In this case, they are forcing people that want this food to go somewhere else, causing inconveniences in order to get a convenience food.

This is the beginning of food zoning. Governments now think that they can withhold food from adults simply because THEY decide it is unhealthy.

The government (be it local or Federal) needs to get it through their thick heads that we can make decisions for ourselves. We don’t want the government sanitizing our life and ‘protecting us from ourselves.’

This is a wholly unacceptable situation. People need to take responsibility for their actions; it’s not the government’s fault or their responsibility that people are fat. If parents don’t want to their kids getting fat off of McDonalds every day, then get control of your kids and don’t let them eat it! That’s not a hard concept to wrap your brain around! But no, but no…we can’t do that. We need laws and zoning requirements and moratoriums on new fast-food restaurants in order to fight this fat issue.

Now, to be fair, I don’t actually think that fast food restaurants are to blame for much of this. Rather, the sedentary lifestyle adopted by today’s kids is what is hurting that situation more. This again stems back to their parents. When I was a kid, I didn’t get a video game system until I was 12, and then I could only play for one hour a day and only AFTER I had finished my chores, my schoolwork and spent time outside.

That sort of regulation by parents is now unheard of. But, pointing the ray of blame back at themselves is too painful, so they wave their arms at the Burger King out the window and demand that the nanny government step in and help make their kids un-fat.

Unfortunately, the nanny government in Los Angeles is now listening.

Wow.

“I’m trying to save the planet. … I will not have this debate trivialized by their excuse for their failed policy,” Pelosi said. “When you win the election, you win the majority, and what is the power of the speaker? To set the agenda, the power of recognition, and I am not giving the gavel away to anyone.”

So basically…she wants her power, she wants her recognition, and does she ever want her gavel. I’m beginning to think that that was her only goal in life. Her 9% approval rating do-nothing Congress hasn’t accomplished a thing, and she doesn’t seem too cut up about it.

Does she want to fix gas prices or end the War in Iraq? Apparently not, because despite promising to do just that when her idiots took control of Congress (after other idiots voted for them in 2006), she has made no effort to do so.

She’s too busy saving the planet, of course, to pass legislation.

I know, weak pun. After watching President Bush sign in a socialist-style bailout of a bunch of crooked mortgage companies, I’m not feeling very inspired.

I’m going to admit it. I took the hype. Cuil sounded really, really, well, cool, and I wanted to see someone belly up to the bar and throw back a couple of shots with Google without passing out immediately like every other challenger has.

Now Cuil, which was billed in one of the largest media buildups in the history of search engines as a potential adversary of Google, is failing miserably.

Now, to be fair, I understand that this is a new technology and bound to have flaws. But the company brought this on themselves. They strutted around, bragging about everything their engine could do, and they built up an absolutely and impossibly huge expectation. If they had not created such anticipation, they would not have been in as much trouble as it has brought them. Basically, they needed to put their money where their mouth was, and we found out that their money, ala “Kingpin,” was a twenty wrapped around Monopoly money.

I blogged on Monday about the engine, saying that it had promise and that the talent behind it meant that at least they would not embarrass themselves. Unfortunately, they have.

Two days after “launch” and the engine is still completely unusable. The results make no sense; I searched, again, for “ian essling” (with no quotes). It told me I had over 1700 results, but then would only show me two pages worth of results, all of them save one utterly irrelevant.

Cuil was not ready to be unveiled. Never should a piece of software, whether it is an operating system (Vista), a search engine or even a game (everything ever made by EA) be released to the public before it actually works properly.

You would think this is common sense. But no, apparently it is not anymore. Cuil is an embarrassment. It could have been something. Instead, it may be a footnote. Even if it eventually gets online and starts to work the way it was promised to do, many people will never even give it a second chance.

Cuil’s people need to fix it and fix it quick, and then start the long and arduous climb up the “regaining brand integrity” mountain. Good luck with that.

Several Ex-Google engineers have banded together to create a new search engine to challenge Google.

Cuil’s creators claim that their engine will index more sites than Google. Since the site has only been online for a few hours, it’s something to keep our eyes on, but I have to say I am impressed by the layout of the site at this point. It’s very much like browsing a newspaper website or something of the like. Whether that design is really the next generation of search results listings remains to be seen.

I think they still have some algorithm problems, of course; they claim that their site will focus more on content and less on the link-building and ‘popularity contests’ that drives rankings on Google.

However, whatever they are doing isn’t quite right just yet. If you run a search for “ian essling,” my website isn’t even on the first page. Maybe I’m biased, but I tend to think that ianessling.com should be the first result for “ian essling.”

Google right now is the #1 online company, hands down. Within the next ten years, I really expect them to launch a full-scale attack on Microsoft for the title of #1 software company. Cuil is fighting a battle that is beyond uphill; they have the talent to backup their endeavor and not completely embarrass themselves, but they most likely will not be able to stand toe-to-toe with Google any time soon. What they are doing is more important than that, though.

With Google now firmly entrenched at the top of the heap, Cuil, hopefully, will exist to challenge them, just as Google has begun to challenge Microsoft. Why else would the latter be trying to completely revamp their online business model? Just like political parties left in power too long, when a company is left on the top, with no challengers, for too long, they get fat and lazy and make things like Windows Vista. Here’s hoping people like Cuil can save Google from the same fate.

You would think that now that we are clearly winning the War in Iraq that the media should be reporting our success. After all, they’ve spent the last five years singing the defeat of the United States and it would only be fair for unbiased, professional representatives of the mainstream media should at least try to cover both sides.

Of course, since we have a lunatic fringe collection of neo-socialists bent on the destruction of America spoon feeding us ’spin’ every night, they are running from Iraq as fast as possible now that the surge is working.

Newsbusters has the full story:

The number of embedded reporters in Iraq has plummeted 74 percent over the past nine months, from 219 in September 2007 to a low of 58 in June, as U.S. troop casualties have plunged, according to Department Of Defense data analysis by CNSNews.com Staff Writer Kevin Mooney. U.S. casualties were down 84 percent in May and 75 percent in June from year-ago numbers, for example.

Amazing. US casualties drop, and suddenly the MSM has nothing to say about Iraq. How utterly unsurprising. These jackals in the MSM need to shed the sheep’s clothing and just admit to the American people what they are. They’re not out there to inform the public or serve the public good. They are sneakly little socialist spin doctors out to make sure everyone in America hates themselves and their country just as much as the reporters and editors do.

As columnist Paul Greenberg puts it, “For much of the American media, good news is no news.”

Classic.

It warms my heart that crazy campaign commercial season is upon us.

Bobby Jindal, current governor of Louisiana and official ‘potential running mate of John McCain’ according to the media, has announced that he will not accept a VP nod from the Shamnesty King.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday he will not run for vice president on the GOP ticket, making him among a growing number of those pulling themselves out of the race.

Smart move by Jindal and a loss for McCain. I think Jindal could eventually make a good VP, because he is a relatively solid conservative and has shown some skill in handling Louisiana’s messes. Now, however, is not the right time. Whether McCain wins or not, the moderate wing of the Republican Party is quickly running out its welcome. Jindal would be committing career suicide to sign on with McCain as a relative unknown. Now, if a conservative like Romney were his VP, it wouldn’t hurt the latter much, because everyone knows his name and knows where he stands.

Jindal cannot afford to let his big public name recognition event be running as the VP to the Republican politician who is most hated by his own party.

McCain, I think, was looking for a lot of things with Jindal. First, Jindal is a young guy (half McCain’s age) who would bring some Obama-esque rockstar atmosphere to the party. Also, let’s face it folks, he is a minority. That’s something you can bet McCain’s camp was simply salivating over, but sorry for them, they are not going to get it.

One huge reason why this pairing would never have been completely viable and why many people would have looked at this with suspicion is the huge gulf (no pun intended) separating the two candidates on illegal immigration.

Observe:

John McCain On the Issues
Rated 18% by USBC, indicating an open-border stance.
(Dec 2006)

Bobby Jindal On the Issues
Rated 100% by USBC, indicating a sealed-border stance.
(Dec 2006)

There is not much agreement there, folks. Jindal needs to spend a few more years cleaning up Louisiana, and then come back when a real conservative is running, hop aboard and make his noise then.

I think Jindal has promise; hopefully we’ll be hearing his name again more in the future.

For conservatives, the last couple years have been very difficult. We have watched the Republican Party shift further and further to the left, and we have watched conservatism become a forbidden term. Every politician is shifting into the ‘moderate’ (read: weak) realm as they are living under the false impression that American voters want moderates. We don’t. The moderate shift lost them the 2006 elections and will lose them the 2008 elections as well. When will the GOP wrap their minds around the principles under which they were founded? I’m not sure, but maybe some of them should check out the blogosphere and see what conservatives are writing about.

The Crazy Kook has a great article up about modern conservatism, What Defines a True Conservative?

Some highlights:

Often down played, fear mongered, and even cast as enemies to the state by the media, Conservative Libertarianism offers the only real choice in our one party Republicrat/Democran broken system.

You’re darn right it does. It is ironic that Kook posted this today, because I have an article in progress right now, coming out next week, that explains my position on the 2008 election and my political ideology (because I often feel that being called a “Republican” is not always right, based on where the party has gone. Hint: “conservative libertarianism” is pretty spot on).

Therefore, the true Conservative has an abject responsibility to not only defend his own God given rights from the tyranny of others but also to defend the rights and liberties of his or her brothers and sisters. Therefore, to tread on the rights and liberties of others or to act immorally is antithetical to the core principles of true Conservatism.

One of the best paragraphs I’ve ever seen written about conservatism.

The people must take their government back. True Conservatives have been saying this for years, and people are finally waking up. All over the United States, regular people are running for public office, people that truly do not want to be Senators are stepping up because they realize it is their duty to take their country back. It is not a, “love it or leave it,” situation, it is change it or lose it, and I, for one, am stepping up.

Exactly! The selection of McCain to “lead the Republican Party” is an affront to every conservative in the country and an abomination. It is a microcosm of the swillhole the entire party is dragging themselves into. We need more people like this to stand up and say that we are conservatives…real conservatives, and we are not going to settle for partyline voting, or voting for the “lesser evil.”

To be fair, I don’t agree with every single thing in the article, but overall it is a very good analysis of where conservatism is at versus where it should be and I highly recommend a good solid read of it.

They are working hard to shut down grassroots supporters on Cafepress.

The Republican National Committee is threatening to sue CafePress for hosting an online venue for vendors to hawk GOP-related regalia like T-shirts, stickers and portrayals of elephants.

That sounds mildly legitimate; after all, who wants the Republican elephant being misused and used against Republicans…however…

CafePress attorney Paul Alan Levy, of Public Citizen, noted Thursday that some uses of the party’s trademarks are critical of the GOP, but many are not.

“The majority of the images over which the RNC has threatened to sue reflect positive opinions about Republicans,” he said. “Several designs simply put the elephant logo on a T-shirt, so that the wearer can walk around bragging about his or her adherence to Republicanism.”

So let’s get this straight: we have an embattled Republican party that is struggling to hold onto their core supporters, much less get new ones, and they are wasting time going after copyright infringement on CafePress? On top of the resources being wasted, who gives a flying frick about a couple of misused GOP trademarks when they are being used to support you?

This is just another perfect example of how out of touch the RNC is. They should be smart enough to realize that taking down their trademarked logos from CafePress is a lot like gun control; the good people are now not going to have access to it, but the criminals (in this case, the anti-GOP people), will still get their hands on the logos and still push anti-Republican paraphernalia.

Who, exactly, is the RNC helping here?

In a town hall meeting Thursday in Kansas City, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said that his Democratic opponent had the “most extreme” record in the Senate.
Later, McCain was asked by the Kansas City Star if he thought Obama was an extremist. He replied: “His voting record … is more to the left than the announced socialist in the U.S. Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont.” Sanders describes himself as a “democratic socialist” but he ran, and won, as an independent candidate in the 2006 Vermont Senate race with a 33-point margin of victory.

Might? He MIGHT be a socialist? So much for the ‘Straight Talk Express.’ Of course Obama is a socialist. We are talking about the tool who was the most liberal senator in 2007.

He wants universal healthcare, complete and utter anti-capitalism and an appeasement foreign policy. Voila, socialist.

So, if we already know Obama is a socialist…what is the point of McCain mentioning it? Simple: it is designed to make us ignore the fact that McShamnesty has a lifetime ACU rating of only 83, and in 2006, his rating was a paltry 65.

Yes, Obama is a socialist. Yes, that is a bad thing. But this is a known fact. ‘Maverick’ McCain, the false conservative and tree-hugger in sheep’s clothing, is hiding his own insanity beyond Obama’s terrible veil of socialism. It’s a good try by McCain to divert the attention from his clandestine liberal ways, but hopefully not a successful one.

Rank and file Republicans need to wake up and find their voices and let the RNC know that McCain is not what we want the GOP to become, or within a few years, the transformation of America’s political parties will be complete, as the Democrats will be Socialists and the Republicans will be Democrats.

When that day dawns, ladies and gentlemen, God help us all.