Good next day AM, folks!
No Facebooking today . . .
Word Watch
Double down: I have heard this used on the radio and seen it in print, meaning to emphasize, or persevere, or bring up again, as in "Reid doubles down on Romney returns," or "Romney doubles down on Obama economy." No doubt some talking head came up with this silly phrase and then the rest of the unoriginal media started using it. Time to send it back to the Blackjack tables whence it originated.
Overflow crowds
ReplyDeleteThe Journal got the Chick-fil-A story in the Aug. 2 paper wrong ("Chick-fil-A supporters flock to fill chain's restaurants"). The restaurants didn't just have "larger-than-normal crowds" on Wednesday. They had knock-it-out-of-the-ballpark crowds all day, and not just at lunch.
I visited three stores: Kernersville, Hanes Mall Boulevard and Hanes Mill Road. Parking lots overflowed; patrons parked in adjacent lots to walk over. More than 50 people waited inside to order. The drive-through line at Hanes Mall Boulevard was doubled to two lanes, hours after the lunch rush; an employee went car-to-car taking orders.
Not all Americans support gay rights. Not all Americans support President Obama. Not all Americans support our nation's steady decline into the abyss of moral depravity.
As one patron in line remarked on Wednesday, "I just hope all these people get out to vote."
KIMBERLY J. JOHNSON
Kernersville
The story as reported by the Journal included descriptions of lunchtime traffic at the restaurants and a quote from a manager saying traffic was up 50 percent over normal for lunch. Chick-fil-A routinely takes orders for cars waiting in line. In a follow-up call to the Chick-fil-A headquarters this week, the Journal was told that no numbers for traffic for Wednesday's dining would be released but that the response was "unprecedented." — Journal Managing Editor Carol Hanner.
"Supporting a cause"
DeleteIn reference to your July 29 story "Grass roots grew quickly," nothing bugs me more than a group of "NIMBY" (not in my back yard) who are ignorant of the facts and hypocrites.
My entire work career involved the development of systems, equipment and technology for energy development. My most recent employer was the Halliburton Co., world leader in safe fracking. I'm sure that these same people who object to fracking live in air-conditioned homes and would scream bloody murder if they could not buy motor fuel for their vehicles.
If they want a cause to support, how about the reprocessing of nuclear power-plant fuel, like the rest of the free world does? We have no coherent policy concerning the storage of spent rods or incentive to reprocess.
Before running off on emotion and sound bites from the media, they should learn about the real facts concerning energy development. Their logic would take us back to candles and whale oil.
DONALD WOLFE
Kernersville
"Joke of the day"
"A moment of insanity." Now, that's one for the Book of Ridiculous Pleas. Yet it was good enough for Forsyth Superior Court Judge Edwin Wilson ("Father pleads guilty in abuse," Aug. 2).
Did he say or think, "Oh, you poor boy. You were forced to listen to the cries of that little baby"? But it was good enough for Judge Wilson to give Barrett Johnson a six-month jail sentence and a suspended sentence — which means that if Johnson "breaks the law" he would have to serve more time.
So our Judge Wilson joins the ranks of our other "super-liberal" judges who have a warped opinion of the value of a victim's life. We certainly need a review of this one.
ARTHUR J. GORMLEY
Winston-Salem
Wilson sentenced Johnson to a suspended sentence of 20 months to 33 months in prison. He gave Johnson an active six-month jail sentence and ordered him on probation for three years. Johnson must take anger-management and parenting classes. — the editor.
"Finish the Thought"
DeleteSaturday, we asked readers to complete the sentence: "North Carolina has tilted toward the right because ..."
"... citizens are waking up to the disastrous agenda of the left."
DEB PHILLIPS
* * * * *
"… we are tired of living under 'people of the government, by the government for the government.' It just doesn't work."
WES PATTERSON
* * * * *
"… U.S. citizens are tired of the liberal news media spinning President Obama's lies. He has told us the economy is fine (maybe in his make-believe world)."
JAMES P. SELIGMAN
* * * * *
"… the Republican Party, which itself has run off the right side of the road through the woods and is now stuck in a swamp of anti-intellectual narrow-mindedness, has convinced a lot of middle-class and poor white males to vote against their own self-interest.
"They exploit these people's unfounded pride that America is the absolute best at everything and can learn nothing new or better from anyone. The rich also take advantage of their insecurities and their fear of people who don't look or act exactly like them and of change in general. Basically, they have been molded into pseudo patriots.
"I guess being a puppet is OK as long as the puppeteer looks and talks like you and the strings feel soooo comfortable."
LARRY J. SANDERS
* * * * *
"… politics is like NASCAR; if you keep going left all the time you eventually wind up against the wall and in a pit."
HAROLD DYSON
* * * * *
Delete"The South has always been conservative. During the turmoil of integration, the conventional wisdom was that the Democratic Party protected the status quo. The Republicans were seen as interlopers trying to force unwelcome change.
"After segregation was reduced, if not eliminated, the LBJ Democrats built the Great Society — the welfare state. The Southerners found themselves abandoned by their party.
"The pendulum swung from Jim Crow to welfare. The 'new' Democratic Party disparaged religion, promoted alternate lifestyles, was anti-military, etc. Hence the Reagan Democrats. The South gave up segregation, the Democrats gave up the South and its core beliefs."
KEN HOGLUND
* * * * *
"… of a combination of moderate and progressive voter apathy as well as the Supreme Court's approval of Citizens United in the 2010 election. Because of the Citizens United ruling, Art Pope and his wealthy cronies were allowed to craft and purchase the N.C. legislative majority for Republicans, ensuring Republican control of both houses. Unless sensible voters cast their votes in November, our beloved state will continue its demise for years to come."
ANNE GRIFFIS WILSON
LTE #1: This letter writer sounds alot like she's gloating. I doubt she realizes that the CFA 'buycott' was less about freedom of speech (and ALOT less about religion) and more about freedom of speech that SHE AGREED ON.
ReplyDeleteTo Deb Phillips: no agenda, just ideologies. Incorrect buzz word use.
To Wes Patterson's ' . . . of the government': ... except when it comes to women's reproductive choices, civil unions, voter ID, ect.
To James Seligman: When 'U.S. citizens are tired of the liberal news media', they turn the channel to Faux News and stop reading the Winston Salem Journal.
To Larry J. Sanders: I agree. (Right about now I'm hearing the Might is Right League saying 'OF COURSE she agrees' in unison.)
To Harold Dyson: Love the NASCAR analogy.
To Ken Hoglund: R-i-i-i-i-g-h-t.
To Anne Griffis Wilson: It's interesting that for a group that claims to resist government intrusion, the Right has absolutely NO issue on this particular SC ruling.
Ms. Johnson:
ReplyDeleteThanks for your letter to the Journal. Your position about how the Journal puts a liberal spin on every story has been made known to the Journal over and over. However, it seems determined to ride the liberal ship down to the ocean floor.
It's not surprising though, even in the face of ideological failure, liberals seldom give up. It's not in their DNA to admit they're wrong. One only has to puruse the annals of this forum to see that.
Thankfully no "doubledown" on chicken letters. Just one. Very many more and we can forget about "why did the chicken cross the road?" Blackjack tables ie: the place where I automatically remove my shirt and wallet and just hand 'em over to the "house".
ReplyDeleteThe chicken crossed the road for fowl purposes.
Delete:))
DeletePeople are heeding Chick-fil-A's advice: Eat mo Chick. And it's giving liberals a stomach ache.
DeleteChickens are getting killed and eaten, yet it's liberals that are doing all the squawking.
DeleteTwo lesbian Dallas police officers start squawking when a heterosexual male co-worker brings a Chick-fil-A sandwich to work. The male gets transferred, yet nothing happens to the hate mongering BDs?
Deletehttp://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/08/08/dpd-sgt-left-holding-bag-over-chick-fil-a-sandwich/
Some 24,000 tax 'refund' checks were mailed to one address in Atlanta to ident tax filers (according to an IRS tax supervisior on FoxNews/Greta last night). What a surprise that the illegal immigrants who broke the law to get here and are now continuing to break it? Why didn't the IRS catch this abomination before all that money was sent out?
ReplyDeleteRemember how Rush and LaSombra always defended illegal immigrants? Here's an article about how illegals are not only not 'paying their fair-share', but rather, it outlines why they are stealing more than what they pay in.
Note: Ident tax filers are typically issued to illegal immigrants that do not have the ability to acquire a 'legal' social security number that wish to file.
http://cis.org/child-tax-credits-2011
Supporting a cause. NIMBY is the way of the world. We have problems with energy developement because we have a useless Dept of Energy...or lack of energy. Fracking is new to the public compared to other things. It can probably be done safely and easily in some locations, possibly done in other locations and never done in plenty of locations. All depends. Instead of worrying over uranium, maybe it is time to resurrect the processing of thorium from back in the 1950s and 1960s. In stead of considering thorium only for weapons use, why not energy use?
ReplyDeleteIndia has been cautiously developing a thorium energy program for about 60 years. I believe their first fast breeder reactors are scheduled to go online next year. We'll see how it works.
DeleteThat is interesting and I didn't know about them. With their recent blackout problems, maybe this will help them.
DeleteJoke of the day. Confidence in the legal system is lost bit by bit, not all at once.
ReplyDelete"North Carolina has tilted toward the right because ..." America is a center right nation and we are right in good company.
ReplyDeleteYou've brought up an interesting observation WW. I've noticed that the Journal no longer 'cleans' up LTEs, like they did years ago.
DeleteYes, the media has became a flock of parrots, eager to take up any "new" phrase as soon as they hear it.
ReplyDeleteThe PR flack that introduced the term "layoff" must have been astonished when the press swallowed his little deception whole. It's been a long time since anybody got fired.
As to "doubling down"...I learned to play blackjack from a very smart man, who taught me that after counting cards, doubling down is your most powerful weapon. Card counting has become nearly impossible since the casinos started using eight deck shoes, and if they catch you doing it you will get banned, so the double down is your best bet, but only if you know what you're doing.
In a legitimate casino, the built in house edge in blackjack is .55%, so for every $100 you bet, the house keeps 55¢ and returns $99.45 to you...talk about getting nickeled and dimed to death. Doubling down alone can actually increase the house's edge, but if you double down after splitting and only when the dealer's up card is a 2-6, and following a few other simple rules, you can actually reduce the edge to near zero.
I like WW's idea, but just give them the cash from your wallet and be sure that you have another shirt on hand, because the plan is to find a nice quiet bar nearby and have a few drinks. But they won't let you in without a shirt and you'll need your credit cards to pay for the drinks.
Believe it or not, this is much less expensive than playing blackjack and at least you get something for your money.
Zimmerman will seek 'Stand your Ground Hearing'.
ReplyDeleteHe's already given a ton of statements, what's one more?
Hopefully all these racists, that want Zimmerman convicted of something, will shut up and listen to the evidence for a change.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-08-09/george-zimmerman-stand-your-ground-hearing/56902448/1
The best thing about CFA day is that you let Zimmerman rest awhile. Please go get another sandwich out of your freezer and let the man have his day in court.
DeleteI find it amusing that anyone would keep third rate chicken sandwiches in their freezer when we have so many restaurants that serve excellent real chicken that isn't fast cooked under pressure.
DeleteTo each his own.
I am too lazy to bake my own chicken, so I often buy one of Harris Teeter's fresh baked chickens off the little carousel near the main entrance. Not my grandmother's, but still light years better than any fast food...add some really good bread from Camino Bakery and fresh lettuce from the Farmer's Market and you've got a chicken sandwich that is beyond the imagination of the masses.
Go to B&L rotisserie in Knollwood. Their chicken is awesome.
Delete"on"
DeleteSecond that. As good as available around here.
Delete"on"
DeleteI'll check it out when I finish the ones from Chick-fil-A.
DeleteI've got 8 left. I munched one up for lunch.
Pre-Cathy, I ordered a CfA chicken strip salad to go, took it to work and put in fridge for my lunch about 4h later. The cold strips were inedible. I shot 'em in the microwave, so that they were marginally tolerable, but I hope the dumpster downstairs is rat accessible, so that someone got some use out of the strips.
DeleteHa, ha! One man's trash is another rat's treasure.
DeleteRats like things that we do not. As do cockroaches. That is one reason that someday, when we have long gone extinct, they will rule the world.
Actually, cockroaches' prevalence in northern latitudes is a product of central heating. They are tropical bugs, would recede toward the Equator if we disappeared. Rats are hardier, but without us to feed them, their numbers would diminish.
DeleteYou know, in the past when somebody pointed out that something was inaccurate campaigns either pulled the ad - they were embarrassed," Romney said on Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" radio show. "Today, they just blast ahead."
ReplyDelete_________________
Come on Mitt, times have changed. Remember, Monica didn't even take the dress to the dry cleaners. It's a dirty political world!
Good afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: Ms. Johnson must have a lot of time on her hands to spend a day visiting various CFA stores in the area. "Not all Americans support gay rights" - No one expects any POTUS to ever have 100% support and the definition of "moral depravity" is in the eye of the beholder, but civil rights belong to everyone regardless of who or what they are. Being opposed to a group of people having rights simply because of a shared characteristic is the definition of bigotry.
LTE 2: Interesting perspective from an energy insider. Good point about reprocessing nuclear fuel. While fracking appears to be a somewhat clean method of extraction, no system is accident-proof. NIMBY's may be "ignorant of the facts and hypocrites", but they are the ones who have to deal with the consequences should something go wrong.
LTE 3: Another Monday morning judge. If you want to be a judge, go to law school.
Finish the thought: Mr. Hoglund is correct that the South has always been conservative, however NC, perhaps due to its strong backing of higher education has always been on a more moderate side. NC was the last state to join the Confederacy and that was more due to wanting to avoid being surrounded on all sides when the inevitable war broke out. The Research Triangle Area was amongst the earliest in the South to adopt integration of its schools, restaurants, churches and sports teams. NC has produced the likes of Jesse Helms and Virginia Foxx, but it has also produced Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt. NC went R in the last election due to the economy and in response to the health care bill. With NC's economy still struggling, they may very well go back to D in November. NC voters tend to be fickle.
"Being opposed to a group of people having rights simply because of a shared characteristic is the definition of bigotry."
Deletedotnet
__________
Precisely, that's why I contend that gay and lesbian activists are bigoted toward Christians.
I hope the Southern Poverty Center has added these Gay and Lesbian Groups, that routinely go after Christians, to their list of 600 or so hate groups.
DeleteThey need to be closely monitored.
Is there no limit? Apparently not!
ReplyDeleteHere's Sandra Fluke, you remember her. She's the Georgetown law student that didn't have enough money to buy her own contraception.
In a continuing theme by the Obama campaign, she tells another huge lie. That is: That Romney wants to take all reproductive rights away from women.
She tells it so much better than I. Take a gander at her ridiculous presentation.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1777346963001/can-sandra-fluke-help-obama-win-the-female-vote/?playlist_id=87485
Obama holds 7 point lead over Romney according to CNN.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you believe that, I've got a bathroom to sell you in the Winston Salem bus station.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/09/cnn-poll-obama-holds-7-point-lead-over-romney/?hpt=hp_t1
And that left-wing outfit Fox has Obama up by nine.
Delete:p
Not with 'likely' voters. Come on Arthur. Don't get like Rush.
DeleteNothing like a national poll to get the ignorati's and dunce's little hearts tripping wildly.
ReplyDeleteLatest polls, in order, since 7/17:
FOX News Obama up 4
NBC/Wall St. Journal Obama up 6
Pew Research Obama up 10
Democracy Corps Obama up 4
Reuters/Ipsos Obama up 7
Gallup Tracking Obama up 2
Rasmussen Tracking Romney up 4
CNN/Opinion Research Obama up 7
FOX News Obama up by 9
If you were running for middle school class jackass and your name happened to be Obama, this would give you some encouragement. Of course, none of this has any meaning at all, since the President is not elected by popular vote, but by the electoral vote, which works state by state.
Five Presidents, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and George W. Bush have lost the popular vote and gone on to the White House.
Adams and Andrew Jackson tied in the electoral vote in 1824, so, as prescribed by the Constitution, the election was decided in the House of Representatives. In the most bizarre election ever, Lincoln won only 40% of the popular vote in 1860, a near landslide defeat, but won 60% of the electoral vote, a near landslide victory. In 2000, George W. Bush lost by the biggest margin in modern times, over half a million votes, yet won by a 5-4 vote of the US Supreme Court. This was the only election ever decided by a process outside the Constitutional provisions, with disastrous results. Just imagine where we might be today if the Supremes had done the right thing and kept their noses out of it. Could Al Gore, certainly not my choice, have possibly done worse than the Bushites? Ha, ha!
(to be continued)
(continued)
DeleteThe Little Fuerher, Karl von Rove, announced his magic electoral map several months ago. The idea was to show Obama with a sure win, then show that lead quickly eroding to dampen the spirits of the Democrats. Unfortunately, von Rove outsmarted himself by announcing his rules for change in advance. Those changes have not come about, so even von Rove's lying little mouth…and it is little, and petulant to boot…must now tell the truth. His current map shows the President with 280 electoral votes, more than enough for victory.
The Huffington Post's electoral map has shown the President with an almost certain win from day one. Those fools who believe in the great liberal press conspiracy have consistently poo-pooed the Huff Post map as just another example of their hysterical beliefs. But the fact is that if the election were held tomorrow, it would almost certainly reflect the Huff Post poll quite accurately.
Real Clear Politics is a non-partisan information service. Instead of relying on this poll or that poll, they have relied upon an average of all polls, a conservative approach that is probably the most accurate of all. A year ago, they had the President just a few electoral votes shy of victory. But as Mitt Romney became the clear GOP nominee, the numbers began working in reverse and the President's lead began to shrink, until he had only 221 electoral votes, just 30 or so ahead of Romney.
But in the last couple of months, as voters have learned more about Romney, that trend has reversed. The RCP map now shows the President leading Romney 247-191, with 100 "Toss Up" votes still out in 8 states. The latest polls show the President leading in 6 of those 8 states, including Florida, Ohio and Virginia, and less than a percentage point behind in the other 2. He needs only 23 votes to win, so if he takes Ohio and any other state, he is reelected.
But guess what…none of that means much either. We will not really know who has won the Presidency until November.
In the meantime, think about this, the two states that are not connected by land to the lower 48. Right from the start, the Republican candidate, even if it had been the laughable Michelle Bachmann, was guaranteed Alaska's 3 electoral votes. They would vote for my former pet goat as long as he had an "R" next to his name. And Hawaii, 4 votes, was solidly in the Democratic camp, even if John Edwards ran on the "Be a lowlife and cheat on your wife and then lie about it" ticket.
The question is, where would you rather live? Me too.
Would your goat consider a third-party run?
DeletePersonally, I think Nate Silver is the best. He has the president at a 73% chance of re-elect.
Deletehttp://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
Excusez-moi...72.5. Rounded up in my enthusiasm.
DeleteFOX News Obama up 4
DeleteFOX News Obama up by 9
Rush was obviously in a rush again. Who knows what the figures were when he 'attempts' to quote something?
Rush is a lot like Obama. You count on at least one screw-up a day coming from him.
DeleteAny bets on if N.C. goes Romney? I think with Obama's little gay issue, that put the check beside of Romney's name.
DeleteSorry, Stab, but my goat has long since ascended to goat heaven, which, as far as I can tell, is characterized by large patches of scrub, briars and other indiscriminate undergrowth along with a complete absence of humans.
DeleteEven if he were still with us, I am afraid that running was not his forte...a goat never runs when walking will do...and this particular goat often favored laying on his back with feet extended skyward, especially if some human could be found to scratch his belly.
If pressured to run, I can imagine him echoing General Sherman "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected."
The idea of service would be a violation of the Goat Code. No self respecting goat serves anyone other than himself. He is always quite willing to accept the admiration and affection of his owner and any nanny goats that might be about, but service other than to the nearest briar patch is an unknown concept in goatdom.
My, my, I see that the Dunce simply cannot restrain himself from butting into other people's conversations, no matter how beyond his capabilities those conversations might be.
ReplyDeleteAs stated, the polls are "in order since 7/17", which means that the first one was released by FOX on July 17, 2012, which showed the President with a 4 point lead. And then, a second FOX poll was released today, showing the President with a 9 point lead.
This would be easily understood even by the jackass of the eighth grade class, but apparently is a complete mystery to the Dunce of that same class.
Poor thing.