This opinion piece is from Ross Douthat in the NYT from Sunday regarding HHS’s mandate regarding contraception: A parish would be exempt from the mandate, in other words, but a Catholic hospital would not. Ponder that for a moment. In … Continue reading →
This is a bit of a non-news-item, but it is worth mentioning. Art Laffer, supply-side economist, Reagan Administration economic adviser, and all-around great guy wrote an article in the WSJ endorsing Newt Gingrich’s tax plan. Dr. Laffer is an economist, … Continue reading →
In other news…the Susan G. Komen foundation, a major fundraiser for breast cancer prevention, treatment, and research has pulled grants from Planned Parenthood. They were providing $600,000 to the nation’s largest abortion provider. The official reason for this is that … Continue reading →
The First Law of Thermodynamics states roughly that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be changed in form. This is, as proponents of Anthropogenic Global Warming are wont to say, settled science. And, as these self-same acolytes … Continue reading →
Remember boxing great Cassius Clay? Dr. J. does. He often used a technique called the ‘Rope-a-Dope’ where he was able to sustain blow after blow from his opponent, and when his opponent was sufficiently worn out, Mr. Clay would kick … Continue reading →
This appears in the February 6, 2012, National Review, in the little box inset in “This Week.” Thought it would be worth your while. Conservatism is a distant cousin of cynicism. The traditional conservative believes that man is fallen, sinful, … Continue reading →
The Obama Administration’s HHS mandate issue is growing. Leaders from not only the U.S. Catholic Church, but also several Protestant churches, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (a/k/a Mormons) and some Jewish organizations are beginning to discuss forming … Continue reading →
Dr. J. was saddened to hear about the death of Soul Train creator Don Cornelius this morning by what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Dr. J., as a youth, always felt that Mr. Cornelius was a cool cat. If … Continue reading →
MC is dying to learn more about tax subsidies. Thanks for the amplification, but I’m still not getting it. The government is still picking winners and losers, and in this case the winner is the film industry. The short-term benefit … Continue reading →
MC has recently returned from the Antarctic, where he tells weird tales of finding a ruined city of giants, with enormous penguins, strange carvings on the wall hinting at terrible events in our ancient past, as well as a Caribou … Continue reading →
‘Puter’s no economist, thank goodness. It’s not called the dismal science for nothing, and ‘Puter has enough dismal-ness to deal with in the maw of Upstate’s wintery, dead gray. And, to be fair to real science, economics like many other … Continue reading →
Amazed writes in: re: Your post of 1/29/12 about seeing Real Steel. Answer: You’re welcome. My share of the $18.3 million dollar subsidy the gazillionaire producers got in taxpayer money for filming Real Steel for 2 weeks in my old … Continue reading →
Wow. As people (but not the media) start to go through the latest released information (and there is a lot) on Fast and Furious, the reality is becoming clear: Eric Holder is doomed as Attorney General. Not only has the … Continue reading →
GorT got two messages over the weekend, I was having too much fun to work on them until today so here we go. First up is from operative KH: Estimable GorTechie, The only way I would go along with point … Continue reading →
The Czar hopes he is right about this. But this weird story about 14 girls and 1 boy in LeRoy, New York, who have developed nervous tics and so-called verbal outbursts. The kids&146;s parents have engaged Erin Brockovich to investigate … Continue reading →
GorT and family attended the Saturday 5:30 Mass yesterday since today is jam packed with various kids events. At the end of the Mass (GorT only remembered two of the four “et cum spiritu tuo” responses), the priest asked the … Continue reading →
An Arizona legislator introduced a bill this week attempting to get the state to allow public high schools to offer an elective class on GASP! the Bible. The idea behind the bill is that the misguided mindset behind banning the … Continue reading →
The Czar had heard good things about Dreamworks’ Real Steel, and was more than okay with the kids renting it this weekend. You probably heard too that it was better than it looked. Wow. This was, seriously, one of the … Continue reading →
A failing or flailing economy is a powerful thing for a candidate to use against an incumbent opponent. Remember, “It’s the Economy, Stupid” ? Or jump back just a few years and look at the “Hope and Change” campaign and … Continue reading →
Gentle Readers, Dr. J. and Mrs. Dr. J. were having their morning at 0:Dark:45 yesterday morning, enjoying a little Fox and Friends before waking the Lil Resident and Lil Med Student for classes at the New Atlantis Jedi Academy. Rick … Continue reading →
ABC News is terrified to report… deep breath… Romney Failed to Disclose Swiss Bank Account Income!!!!!!!11!!!$!!!ELEVENTY!!!! !!1 !! The horror, the horror. Allow the Czar to summarize this horrible, horrible story, paragraph by paragraph. You might want to cushion yourselves … Continue reading →
From realpolitics.com “On Tuesday at the State of the Union, I laid out my vision for how we move forward,” President Obama said at a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I laid out a blueprint for an economy that’s … Continue reading →
It will be interesting to see followup polls from the debate. Romney definitely put himself ahead of Gingrich. But did Santorum lift himself higher than Gingrich as well? The Czar is not making a prediction, but advises you not be … Continue reading →
Wow, thank goodness for audience participation. CNN allowed the crowd to jump in, and it was awesome when (a) Ron Paul led them in a call-response with “Bicycle Built For Two,” and (b) Rick Santorum had them conjugate amō, amās, … Continue reading →
As all 4.3 billion readers of this site and all two of ‘Puter’s fans have surely noticed, ‘Puter’s been absent of late, except for the odd Twitter posting. ‘Puter’s been working on negotiating, papering and closing the sale of a … Continue reading →
When you have readers such as the ones we have, it does make our work a bit easier. Operative BG writes in with the following after toweling off having been slimed by the slippery lies: Last year, President Obama spoke … Continue reading →
Your Czarness, Greetings from your Bongburgher. I have a contact on Capitol Hill which has provided me with an early draft of the President’s SOTU. I submit it to you via passenger pigeon as part of the historical record. It … Continue reading →
Arizona governor Jan Brewer, whom the media will remind you is a Republican governor, had an interesting thing happen to her on the way to the airport. She went to the airport to meet the President, who was arriving on … Continue reading →
As the Czar predicted (some might say begged for), emails have been flooding in (some might say two arrived) about the Czar’s tribute to Kolchak: The Night Stalker television series. ScottO, the @AgStateSense, writes in: O Great and All-Knowing Czar, … Continue reading →
Operative ME writes in regarding Dr. J.’s post on the new HHS policies yesterday. Dear Dr. J., Excellent post on Catholicism, conscience and contraception. When I first heard of Secretary Sibelius’s proposal to bring to deny religious-affiliated organizations such as … Continue reading →
Chanticleer — Ave Maria/Angelus (Franz Biebl, arr.) Robert Preston — Marian the Librarian Lyle Lovett — Penguins (Sorry, no embedding the last one. Worth the click through, though…) Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Great bit by the RNC – amazing, one would think that the President hasn’t moved anything forward in the last year (and in some examples two years). Oh wait…. Hat tip to Jonathan Last. Good stuff! GorTGorT is an eight-foot-tall … Continue reading →
Dr. J. would like to thank Victor David Hanson for his brutally honest appraisal of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union Address. Dr. J. avoided the actual address because the President’s speeches make his diastolic blood pressure shoot through the … Continue reading →
Dr. J. is beating a dead horse here, but he is utterly offended by the efforts the President has made (and successfully he might at) at undermining religious freedom when it disagrees with his world view. Dr. J. is specifically … Continue reading →
Your Mandarin watched a portion of President Obama’s State of the Union address. One portion of the address that struck your Mandarin as disturbing was when the President, after stating that he wanted Congress to put a bill on his … Continue reading →
The Chicago Sun-Times announced this week that after seven decades, it will discontinue endorsements of candidates because, well, the whole thing is a bit silly. The editors have some good arguments: in the age of the Internet, we know more … Continue reading →
Well, the Czar found a superb way to waste an entire evening, which did not involve being further demoralized by the Black Hawks at all. The Czar’s television set is wired to the Internet. Dunno why, really, but every so … Continue reading →
For those who didn’t get the memo. Mr. Romney is crazy rich. He is worth around $200 million, earning $21.7 million dollars last year. He paid $3 million in taxes and gave almost $3 million away to charitable causes. Most … Continue reading →
According to the IRS, just over 98,000 civilian federal employees are delinquent on their federal taxes (this number does not represent any who are on a repayment plan) as of September 2010. The grand total owed is over $1.03 Billion. … Continue reading →
No, not that kind of heart plug. Operative R2DT writes in on thermal printer paper: Dear Dr. J., Ok, I admit it. The subject was just to get your attention, but it is related to the purpose of the email. … Continue reading →
Operative CN writes in with a quip so great the Czar laughed at its brilliance! Regarding your recent article, “Isn’t There Anything Bad We Can Find In This?”, here’s the headline as would be reported by gun control groups: “Teen … Continue reading →
Dr. J. received this missive from the Holy Roman Emperor, aka Operative HRE, via Papal bull. Seriously, it was a bull with one of them bunny ear hats. He writes: Dear Dr. Jay, I read your entry, and I really … Continue reading →
Boring. None of the fire, really, of the weekend debate, but…eh, okay. So Mitt Romney is trying to be a little more tough guy, huh? Didn’t work, and he made Newt Gingrich look confident. Santorum seemed tired and irritable again, … Continue reading →
O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world! That has such people in it! Tempest Act V, Scene i This post was inspired, in part by an email sent by Operative … Continue reading →
The Czar has already received questions about an extraordinary claim that there are signs of life on Venus. Specifically, a Russian scientist says he has photographic evidence of a disk, a black “flap,” and a scorpion-like creature. The scientist is … Continue reading →
In the past several months, we’ve all heard about the Occupy Wall Street and the complaints of some of the OWS movement about the “obscene profits” made by Wall Street firms. How about this news: Apple earned $400,000 in profit … Continue reading →
Ambisinistral, who incidentally is a great dancer, is heading up an interesting project in which he places leftists in Skinner boxes individual fully-enclosed wooden terraria. He takes a moment to write the Czar about a comment we made. “Rick Santorum … Continue reading →
Mandy’s subconscious mind-control ray is now firing on all pistons, as you can see by this small field test on Garry B. Trudeau, the author or Doonesbury: Hello Kitty today, GOP talking points tomorrow…muah…ha…ha…ha… Dr. J.
Continue reading →Seems two teenage thugs tried to commit a violent robbery of a Spartanburg, SC, Waffle House. Except a customer, packing heat, shot and killed one of the bandits as they were about to fire their weapon. The other bad guy … Continue reading →
Polls have been showing Newt Gingrich was going to do well in South Carolina, so the Czar is bemused by all the pseudo-surprised commentary about his victory there. In all respects, this might very well be Newt’s personal best; he … Continue reading →
Your second screed in a row from JAB and the kindly folks at the Doublewide, who seem to spend a lot of time chucking pebbles at cans set up on fences and luaghing to themselves: Your Czarness: What–you’ve watched another … Continue reading →
JAB writes in from the Double-wide: Dear Mr. Dr. J: re: “Safe is good (i.e. no protruding glass or rusty nails)…” Why no rusty nails? Experience is a great teacher, isn’t it? And besides, the young’uns these days are vaccinated … Continue reading →
Dr J. provides some good speculation as to Mitt Romney’s reluctance to release his tax forms. There could be another reason that most people, in media and even the politicians, do not realize: Mitt Romney probably has a tax form … Continue reading →
Gentle Readers, There is much ado about nothing regarding Mr. Romney’s as yet and soon to be released tax returns. And, when Dr. J. says soon, he means before Mr. Kerry’s military records and President Obama’s college transcripts and medical … Continue reading →
Well, if you’re a person capable of reading a sentence and making it all the way to the end without forgetting what it was about, you can learn some things about our President. And if this describes his supporters, which … Continue reading →
Ai-yi-yi. Yi-yi-yi-yi. Despite some tweets we saw that spoke of boredom, the Czar thought tonight’s debate was killer. Darn nearly so, too. First question was to Newt Gingrich about his ex-wife’s ABC News interview, and Gingrich blasted the moderator and … Continue reading →
We’ve been a bit remiss talking about the big SOPA swirl over the last few days. So let me give you the short summary and then a bit more of a detailed explanation: Summary: Congressmen do stupid stuff. Always have … Continue reading →
Well, Rick Perry is out. Actually, he has been out for some time, but evidently our post yesterday convinced him to take this seriously. We can certainly understand him not endorsing Mitt Romney: the two governors are fundamentally opposed on … Continue reading →
These are the exact conversations the Czar has with his little Sally. The Czar of MuscovyБожію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was … Continue reading →
This evening’s Club Gormogon show features a lineup in tribute to our hipster-con ninjababe, Great Grace (and the great, graceful, lower-profile KRS). Enjoy the folky-rocky-bluegrassy goodness. Old Hundred — Midwest Girl The Avett Bros. — Kick Drum Heart, Live (15 … Continue reading →
This article is at the intersection of Education & Health, and on the kids side of town, so you knew Dr. J. was going to have to comment on it. Published in the journal Pediatrics about two weeks ago, it … Continue reading →
‘Puter has been remiss in posting lately. There are a couple of reasons. First, ‘Puter has been lights-out crazy at work. ‘Puter’s in the financial industry, concentrating in the secondary market for sub-performing and non-performing secured commercial debt. Think Bain … Continue reading →
The Volgi’s opinion remains unchanged, though Santorum’s been better of late. To repeat: Willard Mittens Romney—Brittle weasel. Newton Weltgeist Gingrich—Grandiose flake. Rico Suave Perry—Inarticulate and parochial. Michelle Crazy Eyes Bachmann—Periodically comes off insane. Dr. Strangeron Paul—Periodically comes off sane. Rickroll … Continue reading →
To: The Czar From: Dr. J. Re: The Czar is not one of those high-school-spent-in-the-locker types like Dr. J, and generally loathes science fiction… Dear The Czar: Dr. J. will have you know he was considered quite cool in high … Continue reading →
The Czar has had a couple of requests over the last few months to skewer the Republican candidates to the same degree he has President Obama. Fair enough, although enough cumulative pixels have been spent here doing just that. So … Continue reading →
The Czar is not one of those high-school-spent-in-the-locker types like Dr. J, and generally loathes science fiction—but he owns up that he has seen a pretty good portion of Star Trek from 1966-1995 or whatever. The Czar avoided the later … Continue reading →
Dr. J. was inspired by Kevin Williamson’s Friday column at National Review Online. He posits that Republicans are divided into two camps. Those that believe that Obama is incompetent, and those that believe that he is evil. It his his … Continue reading →
MC writes in a binary palindromes sometimes, with a letter starting 0101 but tending in 1010. Very clever. And not only did Lincoln know someone named Kennedy, but Lincoln knew a Hanks, while Kennedy was known to sneeze into a … Continue reading →
The Czar was interested to learn that tonight was the GOP’s sixteenth presidential debate. Yikes. Anyhow, the five remaining candidates generally did well. Santorum, Gingrich, and Perry were strong, forceful, and explicit in their views. Romney seemed a little faltering … Continue reading →
Hey, a couple of weeks ago, did you see this poll going around that shows how much Americans hate the rich? Huffington Post writes “Most Americans Think Income Inequality Is A Big Problem,” according to a poll conducted by The … Continue reading →
Former Senator and Presidential Candiate John Edwards has successfully petitioned Federal Court for a two month delay his case because he states that he has a life-threatening heart condition that will require surgery in a month.First and foremost, Dr. J. … Continue reading →
Dr. J. received this missive from Operative D.F. via subspace carrierwave: Good post today on the Lil Med Student’s interest in mythology. Here on Q’onos, my little warrior has gone crazy for the Rick Riordan books featuring Greek mythology. He’s totally … Continue reading →
It should be noted that it’s believed our cetacean friends have a collateral relation that still walks on land: the hippo. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Secret Gormogon Operative ERC, who hasn’t written in for a while, sent the Czar a single letter: a lower-case b. This of course translates to: Your Czarness: I am well aware that the the vestigial legs of whales and other … Continue reading →
Logically-minded people all over the UK are celebrating a rare (for the Brits) victory. The government has largely decided that schools there will teach evolutionary theory, and that creationist new-agery will not. Further, any school that does promote creationist thinking … Continue reading →
Today is Wikipedia’s eleventh birthday. It has come a long way—the Czar remembers when it had about fifty things on it. And all were about Micronauts. Here we are, all these years later, and Wikipedia now has almost four million … Continue reading →
Guard, protect, and cherish your land, for there is no afterlife for a place that started out as heaven. —Charlie Russel, artist Let us imagine that everything goes swimmingly well this November, and that we receive a GOP Senate, the … Continue reading →
The Czar hates celebrities. He does not understand why people are so fascinated by people demonstrably dumber than they are. Or why we spend so much time talking about them. And he certainly does not understand this whole Kardashian sister … Continue reading →
You may recall the Lil Medstudent and Dr. J. were reading Norse mythology this summer. Ragnarokk ended the tale of the Norse Gods with a neat little bow. He insisted on seeing the picture of Odin riding into Fenris’s mouth … Continue reading →
Wow, Newt is getting a little worried. Check out this ad hitting the blogs in South Carolina. Morning, South Carolina! I’m Newt Gingrich, and I am outraged to learn some of my fellow candidates don’t want to speak so that … Continue reading →
So Newt is running an ad making fun of Mitt’s speaking French, eh? The Volgi carries no water for Willard Mittens Romney, of course, but Newter, please. Confucius happens to have a copy of Newt’s dissertation, Belgian Educational Policy in … Continue reading →
Dr. J.’s posts regarding games captured the imaginations of some of our readers (and writers). Our first letter comes from the ever so kind Operative JS: Dear doctor doctor I’ve got a bad case of hemorrhaging you, I, too, enjoy … Continue reading →
So the buzz is starting about Warren Buffett’s latest issuance: he’ll match any donation towards the national debt made by a Republican in Congress and he’ll go 3-to-1 with Sen. McConnell. Think about that for a moment as it should … Continue reading →
GorT loves him some email. So here is a great one penned by Operative ME, who is completely in the bag for the Gormogons. Dammit, that pun chip is going haywire, maybe the Mandarin can give it a swift kick. … Continue reading →
The Czar remembers things. He remembers the Mark Fiorino case, in which Fiorino strapped on a .40 Glock, as fully allowed by Pennsylvania law, and walked by two Philadelphia police officers. Officers immediately ordered him to surrender the weapon, and … Continue reading →
As GorT was reading the Czar’s post from this morning, it reminded him of a few tidbits that came across the optical interface this morning: Harry Belafonte (seriously, his best work is his Muppet show episode) is the latest in … Continue reading →
In an homage to our !!!1!E1@VENtY!1!!1!! screaming friends on the left, Dr. J. drafts the above headline. Mrs. Dr. J. is a wonderful and charitable woman. Recently, a new charity came on her radar. The name of the organization was … Continue reading →
Debate exists whether Democrats want Romney to run against Obama because Obama would beat him, or whether the polls are right that Romney would eke out a victory over Obama. A lot of very pro-Obama supporters are suddenly coming out … Continue reading →
I think a potential difference, in general, between liberals and conservatives, particularly with regards to the fiscal aspects of government-led programs, is the scope of impact analysis. I tend to believe that liberals remain short-sighted on most of these and … Continue reading →
Dr. J. was glad to see that his post from yesterday resonated with somebody. Operative KH sent us this missive via Ouija board: Good evening, Doctor, Your board game post struck a chord with me. My late father taught me … Continue reading →
BG lined up atoms, using incredible amounts of energy to get them into an Arial font, to spell out the following message: You state, “Obama is adamantly opposed to gay marriage. Where are his questioners?” What do you base that … Continue reading →
One of the big things that Americans walked away with after this weekend’s debates was that the news media is completely moronic. Newt Gingrich finally called them on it, and moderator Diane Sawyer was embarrassed enough to immediately change the … Continue reading →
Gentle readers, two news items have come up which have made it clear to Dr. J. that an eccumenical rift has come to exist between the prototypic Gen-X nerd (Ret.) and the Millennial offshoot. The first item comes to us … Continue reading →
A quick followup to the brilliant essay by Dr. J on how well a person can eat for $22 per week. This is the first case the Czar knows of where someone documented these findings; however, the Czar has reason … Continue reading →
The Lil Resident’s Sunday School Teacher (LRSST or Laurist) is a medical student at New Atlantis Ivory Tower Medical School (NAITMS). As is Dr. J.’s wont, he likes to keep tabs on what Laurist is learning in school. Usually, Laurist … Continue reading →
DT writes us: Hoopy Frood and Generally Towel-Bearing Fuzzy Czar, As you know, some of our “representatives” are passing around a bill that would do some pretty bad things to the Internet and freedom of expression as a whole. It’s … Continue reading →
Well, the GOP surprised everybody by having another debate this evening. Is there one tomorrow morning, too? The Czar has lost track. Further, the Czar was going to skip this one tonight because he had stuff to do. But the … Continue reading →
