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David McElroy

making sense of a dysfunctional culture

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GOP hypocrisy: It’s only ‘pork’ when federal spending is in other districts

By David McElroy · November 2, 2011

Republicans in Congress talk big about cutting spending. They rail against the ridiculous pork that they’re going to cut from the budget. But when it’s time to put their words into action, these budget hawks become gentle as doves. The spending never stops.

It happened again Tuesday. Republicans in the U.S. Senate had a chance to show they were serious about cutting spending — in at least a small way. Tad DeHaven of the Cato Institute points out that 32 Republican senators voted against cutting $1 billion in rural development subsidies. (If you’re in the United States, check here to see how your senators voted. Both of the chicken hawks from my state voted against the cuts.)

So if Republicans won’t even cut some money out of the budget that includes the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center, what cuts are they willing to make? It’s time to be painfully blunt. Republicans are only willing to cut things that don’t touch most of their constituents. Democrats are only willing to cut things that don’t touch most of their constituents. In other words, everybody is interested in keeping interest groups happy. Hardly anybody really cares about fixing the budget and the debt.

(If you’d like to know what those rural development subsides are used for, Cato had a great paper a couple of years ago that explains it nicely.)

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If they steal from taxpayers long enough, shoplifting seems normal

By David McElroy · November 1, 2011

As a California state assemblywoman, Mary Hayashi is accustomed to taking things from people and companies because she wants to. She apparently just forgot that she had to get the rest of the Legislature to approve of the theft before she did it.

The Castro Valley Democrat came into a San Francisco Neiman Marcus store with two shopping bags, one from Neiman Marcus and one from another store. She picked up $2,500 worth of merchandise and left the store — passing multiple checkout registers along the way. Store security watched and recorded on video — and then confronted her after she left the store. San Francisco police arrested Hayashi and she’s charged with felony grand theft.

A spokeswoman for Hayashi says it’s all just a misunderstanding, of course. She said Hayashi was talking on her cell phone and simply left the store “without really thinking about it.”

Hayashi is part of an institution whose members simply take what they want from others and give those things to pretty much anyone they want. It’s an institution that believes it has the moral right to control people’s lives and take their property without compensation. My experience with politicians who have that kind of power get pretty arrogant about what they can have when they want it. My suspicion is that she thought she was entitled to the “five-finger discount.”

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Barack Obama’s effort to imitate FDR’s ’36 campaign full of danger

By David McElroy · November 1, 2011

Barack Obama acts as though he believes he’s auditioning for a role as Franklin Roosevelt during the 1936 campaign. Given the high degree of economic ignorance in the country today, it’s not surprising that people don’t know to be scared of repeating this ugly history.

Think about this scenario. A Democratic president is finishing his first term. He inherited a serious economic downturn that he blames on his Republican predecessor. In his first four years, he’s gotten sweeping social legislation passed that will radically affect the lives of Americans and major sectors of the economy. This legislation extended federal power in unprecedented ways. Republicans vowed that they shared the same goals, but didn’t want to go as far and wanted to roll back some of the programs. The economy isn’t turning around fast enough, so the president wants to raise taxes on “the rich” to pay for his programs to create jobs, which he claims are ending the economic downturn.

So which did I just describe? FDR in ’36? Or Obama in ’12? The answer, of course, is that it’s both. The parallels between the 1936 election and the 2012 election are a bit scary if you think about them.

Listen to a Roosevelt campaign speech from the days leading up to the November 1936 election. This link will play audio of a speech in Massachusetts in late October 1936. (It’s the link on the left side of the page.) Roosevelt talked of “fairness” in taxation, in much the same ways that Obama does today. FDR engaged in the same kind of class warfare to win re-election that Obama is trying to play today.

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This was the sunset I saw from the parking lot out This was the sunset I saw from the parking lot outside of the Walmart near my house just after the sun went down Friday evening.
This little parody was inspired by my trip to buy This little parody was inspired by my trip to buy gas a little while ago. Even at a no-name brand, the price was $4.09. If I remember correctly, it was $2.29 a gallon at the same station on the day the war started. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of winning. 🤣
For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, check out the sponsor of one of my upcoming YouTube video episodes. 🙃 #parody #threestooges
Have you felt as though you’re living through Grou Have you felt as though you’re living through Groundhog Day lately? Me, too. Here’s a quick-and-dirty political satire I made this evening for fun and stress relief.
About three minutes before sunrise, vibrant color About three minutes before sunrise, vibrant color is poking through the skies to the east of my back yard.
The lights and color might have been more spectacu The lights and color might have been more spectacular a couple of minutes before this, but this was the best view I had of the Monday afternoon sunset from a bridge over I-20 in Moody, Ala.
I just remembered this shot I got a couple of hour I just remembered this shot I got a couple of hours ago of the fading sunset while I was in the Publix parking lot on the way home. If you suddenly find yourself craving Arby’s or Wendy’s, blame the giant icons in the sky, not me. 😃 (BTW, this was with the iPhone’s 8X telephoto lens.) #nature #naturephotography #sunset #birmingham #alabama
I had just pulled into a parking lot Friday night I had just pulled into a parking lot Friday night and was watching traffic through the distortion of the gently falling rain on my car window when I realized that the abstract view I had matched the way I was feeling tonight, so I turned it into a brief abstract video to match my mood.
Get ready for the next great animated Christmas cl Get ready for the next great animated Christmas classic, featuring singing and dancing and danger from Alex, Oliver and Sam. Coming soon to a theater near you. (The funniest part is that if I cared about this as anything more than a Christmas joke, it strikes me as something that could be profitable with the right story development and the right animators.)
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If you need cheap transportation — and you’re a ca If you need cheap transportation — and you’re a cat — come see King Cashpaw for the purr-fect deal. #parody #satire
I’m working on my MacBook in the bedroom Tuesday a I’m working on my MacBook in the bedroom Tuesday afternoon and Sam decided he’d spend a few minutes with me. He started by using me as a giant observation tower and then ended up rolling around on his back in my arms. He’s come a long way since I met him as a feral boy almost two years ago.
Sam just alerted us to the possible danger from th Sam just alerted us to the possible danger from the mail delivery vehicle being on our street. Nothing ever threatens us when Sam is on Neighborhood Watch.
When I got home from a walk just now, Alex wanted When I got home from a walk just now, Alex wanted some lap time, so he’s been in my arms purring for a few minutes now. He seems to be getting sleepy, though, so I suspect his little purr box will be running down soon.
Have you ever wondered what cats do when you’re no Have you ever wondered what cats do when you’re not home? What might they be hiding from you? Welcome to the secret neighborhood Cat Rave on Thomas Avenue. Just don’t let the humans know about it.
At 1:30 in the morning, Oliver has apparently foun At 1:30 in the morning, Oliver has apparently found the only bird who’s active in the neighborhood — and he is determined to keep a close eye on this fellow right outside this office window. If Oliver were an outdoor cat, this bird would be a goner.
I ran into this skittish bunny in the alley behind I ran into this skittish bunny in the alley behind a house that I’m trying to sell. I wonder if I should say that he comes with the house. 😺
From the CritterCam: I just heard unidentified sou From the CritterCam: I just heard unidentified sounds coming from the office just after 5 a.m., so I checked the camera to see what it showed. What I found appears to show Oliver, left, and Alex in the middle of aggressive play that happened to wander in front of the lens briefly. I have no idea what this was all about. 😺
I’m trying to work at my desk Friday morning, but I’m trying to work at my desk Friday morning, but Oliver and Alex seem to think the desk is for napping, not for working.
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Here’s the latest of my ridiculous parody shorts. It crossed my mind Tuesday to wonder what a slick and fast-talking car dealer might do right now to try to turn the high price of gasoline to his advantage. So I conceived of a fat and lovable character who tried to sell cars that don’t use any fuel — and then I started wondering if it would be funnier if all the characters were felines. Designing the King Cashpaw character took about four hours, but the rest took only another four hours, so this was a relatively quick piece that virtually wrote itself. I know it’s almost impossible for these parody videos to find a larger audience, but at least they amuse me — and there are 19 of them on my YouTube page now. The first few were very limited, but they’re getting more complex.

The Republican Party is dead. It still exists in name, of course, but it’s nothing but a shell. All that’s left are idiots and stooges and con men of the MAGA party. When Donald Trump is gone — which won’t be long — those populist idiots and pragmatic fools will have no one to follow. Democrats will thrive. They will take more power than ever and they will push the federal government further to the radical far left than ever. When that happens, don’t just blame Trump if you’re a conservative. Blame every person who has claimed to be a conservative and has given up on principles, character and everything else that Republicans once claimed to stand for. As someone who worked as a GOP political consultant for many years, this is disgusting and disturbing to me. Those who have enabled Trump to have almost unchecked power are going to be shocked when they see what they will unleash in the long run. It’s been plain all along what this narcissistic con man is. It’s your fault that you chose to pretend not to see what he really is.

We are ruled by the dumbest and most incompetent people among us — and we have a system which allows stupid and irresponsible people to force the costs of their idiocy onto smarter and wiser people. Can we get away with that? Yes, for quite some time. But we eventually reach a point at which the dumbest of the dumb — who are habitual liars and mentally ill fools — lead us to the disasters and destruction that some of us have seen coming for years. We are approaching that point. And yet most of the idiots around us still wave their rhetorical banners of support for the evil people who are leading us to ruin — and all of them point their fingers at someone else, never noticing that their own enthusiastic support of evil is to blame. When things finally fall apart, blame yourself for your blindness to the evil, not whoever happens to be in power when it happens.

I’ve been making some changes to the site lately and there are more changes coming in the days ahead, so don’t be surprised if you some small differences. This is not a wholesale redesign, but rather the addition of some features. Since they’re smarter than I am, I’ve put Oliver and Alex in charge of the technical work, which you can see in this action photo from the control room of our media complex. I recently added a series of landing pages for readers who randomly discover the site from an Internet search. I’ve also changed the YouTube link at the top of the page to go to the new YouTube channel for video essays that reflect things I’ve already published here. (Here’s a little bit about both of the YouTube channels I’m working on.) In addition, I’m trying to move away from using Instagram, so I’m experimenting with photo plug-ins that will eventually allow me to host the pictures — cats, dogs, sunsets, whatever — that I often take. So don’t be surprised to see more changes. Thanks for your patience. Let’s hope Alex and Oliver know what they’re doing.

I have no use for the theocratic and repressive government of Iran. The people who run the country are cruel at best and evil at worst. The Iranian people deserve freedom. But I have no personal quarrel with anybody in Iran. While I’m not thrilled about a future Iranian government having nuclear weapons, I’m just as concerned about nukes in the hands of politicians in Israel, Pakistan, India, China and Russia. I’m not even thrilled with the U.S., Britain and France having them, either, because I don’t trust any politicians to be responsible with such terrible weapons. All I can say with certainty is that American taxpayers have no business attacking Iran, especially since we’re being forced to pay for this attack in order to benefit the politicians of Israel — and nobody else. If Middle Eastern countries want to fight among themselves, that’s none of my business. It’s not the business of the U.S. government, either. I have no quarrel with anybody in Iran — and having the government which claims to represent me launch an unprovoked attack against a sovereign country will only make all Americans less safe in the near future. This attack is poorly conceived and morally unjustified. Remember that when the Iranians launch attacks that we will then condemn as “terrorism.” What the U.S. is doing right now looks like terrorism to me. And let’s not forget that the attack is the latest in a long line of unconstitutional wars by various U.S. presidents — who have no legal power to declare war on their own, according to the U.S. Constitution.

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