(PHOTO) Hugo Chavez's Daughter Scores U.S. Dollars

By the Left Coast Rebel

Drudge has a link up at the Daily Mail, "Daddy won't be pleased... Hugo Chávez's daughter sparks outrage in Venezuela after posting picture with U.S. dollar bills."

The report claims that native Venezuelans under the totalitarian thumb of Hugo Chavez are "seething" that his 14-year-old daughter Rosines had access to American dollars and was flaunting her stash on the 'net:

If anything I find it fascinating that the teenage daughter of a brutal communist despot is fascinated with what is still perceived as the symbol of freedom and capitalism across the world -- the American dollar (I see there's some 2-dollar bills in there, kind of strange).

Scrolling through the comments, I caught this from a Daily Mail reader:

In 2009, I visited former Soviet/Eastern Bloc countries. I did not realise it was possible to visit old KGB headquarters (now terror museums) and if I learnt nothing new (e.g. torture chambers, execution rooms), the experiences were upsetting and, of course, testimony to what happened under communism; as were the views of locals who told of how they queued for everything whilst the communist elite lived well. So, it was pleasant to relax and visit the churches of Tallin (Estonia) where I fell into conversation with an exiled Venezuelan. After I'd expressed concerns re: Chavez (he'd just tried to change the constitution to allow him indefinite re-election), she replied, and I quote from my diary, 'We, the young people, voted him in. Yes, change was vital, but, what have we done? He thinks he is Fidel and we live in a police state that tolerates no opposition'. A privileged elite + fear? As someone once said, 'Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it'.

Fascinating words of wisdom. Why is it that young people fall for statist pipe-dreams that turn entire nations into prison camps? For some reason, young people gravitate to the utopian ideals that socialism, communism, progressivism and statism of all stripes represent (or are sold to the masses as representing). Think about it: much of the pain we are feeling in this nation has taken hold due in a large part to the fact that young people fell for socialism-lite in America -- Hope and Change.

The problem with collectivism is that the downside -- the cause and effect of loss of individual freedom -- is never considered as the certain part of the equation that it is.

Video: Ron Paul IS Electable

By: Wesley Messamore

Like him or not, Ron Paul is electable. The facts prove it:



Full text version, including links to substantiating sources here.

"First of All, I Don't Put People on Food Stamps, People Become Eligible for Food Stamps"

By the Left Coast Rebel

-- Another JFK-esque moment from President Barack Obama, January 26, 2011 to Dianne Sawyer of "ABC World News"

Directly after the quote above (video here), Obama doubles down on the Blame-Bush doctrine:

"...second of all, the initial expansion of food stamp eligibility happened under my republican predecessor, not under me."

Sure it did but to what degree?:

Image hat-tip DailyJobsUpdate.com

It is true that food stamp participation was elevated during the final years of the Bush administration but this chart shows Obama's stimulus's parabolic rise since His inauguration (Jan 2009):

I guess we can consider ourselves kind of lucky since the number look to be leveling off at the mid-40-million mark. Obama can always point out that at least 50 million Americans aren't on food stamps. It could be worse.

Upside to Food Stamp Nation: Maybe we can trade in our soon-to-be worthless dollars for a fistful of these:

Hat-tip The Union News.

Also read:

At The Enterprise Blog, "The Economic Chart that may Doom the Obama Presidency"

Tad DeHaven at the Cato Institute: "Food Stamp Price Tag Rising"

Updated: Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge shows that food stamp numbers are not plateauing as indicated above.

(PHOTO) Governor Jan Brewer's Letter to Obama; Transcript of Brewer Letter

By the Left Coast Rebel

Obama told ABC News that the "encounter" between him and Jan Brewer on the tarmac in Phoenix, Arizona has been "blown out of proportion." Nevertheless, imaginations are still soaring over the exchange two day ago primarily because of this photo.

I think the only thing out of proportion is Obama's inestimably voluminous patriarchal razor-thin ego.

Governor Jan Brewer just released the letter that she handed Teh Won on the tarmac:

Click to embiggen.

Transcript of Jan Brewer's letter:

Dear Mr. President,

Welcome to Arizona! You've arrived in a state at the forefront of America's recovery -- and her future. We were at the brink. We were at the bottom of the list in job creation. Today, we have a balanced budget and we're in the top 10 for job creation. I'm proud of that hard-won recovery -- the result of many tough decisions, courage and perseverance. My hope is while you are here you will have a chance to see our tremendous results first hand. We both love the great country, but we fundamentally disagree on how to best make America grow and prosper once again. I'd love an opportunity to share with you how we've been able to turn Arizona around with hard choices that turned out to be the right ones. And, of course, my offer to visit the border -- and buy lunch -- still stands!

With respect,

Jan

Did you know that sales for Governor Jan Brewer's book, "Scorpions for Breakfast" have skyrocketed on Amazon.com from a 311,472 to numero 14?

At least someone is making a little money from Obama's free-market-destroying, multidunously-flapping anti-capitalist lips.

Gordon Hodson: Conservatives Are Innately Inferior...

...but we shouldn’t stigmatize these racists, because they were born that way -- right?

Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes: Lower Cognitive Ability Predicts Greater Prejudice Through Right-Wing Ideology...

...lower cognitive ability predicts greater prejudice, an effect mediated through the endorsement of right-wing ideologies ... we found that lower general intelligence (g) in childhood predicts greater racism in adulthood, and this effect was largely mediated via conservative ideology. A secondary analysis of a U.S. data set confirmed a predictive effect of poor abstract-reasoning skills on antihomosexual prejudice.

Gordon Hodson, Michael A Busseri, Brock University*

Few will have the opportunity to scrutinize Hodson's report because the deficiencies of this poorly-designed retrospective study are hidden behind a paywall, but politically charged "science" should always be viewed with skepticism.

Ironically, the science of intelligence is usually an anathema to progressive intellectuals. (Perhaps this is true because the heritability of intelligence poses a threat to the politics of radical egalitarianism).

But I digress.

Celebrated progressive scientists have insisted that it’s racist or stupid to take seriously the mountains of data that show differences in IQ between human populations, and they believe that "general intelligence" is not a valid concept. But IQ research suddenly becomes valid when it's construed to tell progressives something they want to hear about racism, giving them justification for bigoted attitudes against conservatives.

The mind-warping hypocrisy and willful ignorance is astonishing.

"Some of his best friends are conservative."

Gordon Hodson

Phone: (905)688-5550 ext.5127

e-mail: ghodson@brocku.ca

*Emphasis added

Update: James Taranto sums it up very well...

So IQ tests are racist, except when they're used to "prove" that people with "socially conservative ideologies" are racist and intellectually inferior.