Thanks to friends and fellow conservative bloggers for their help

It is past time to give some recognition to two fellow bloggers for helping me learn the ropes at blogging. All the features that make the blog as attractive as it is comes from the counsel given by me Ron Barbour at The Freedom Fighter's Journal . Ronbo taught me how to insert videos along with other technical tricks that make the blog more pleasing to the eye.

Ron has been a fountain of support for the Tunnel Wall and I am grateful for his friendship.
Here is a recent post by Ronbo about Judge Robert Bork that I regret was not seen by Ted Kennedy.

Another mentor is Alan Caruba, a prolific writer at Warning Signs . Alan has advised  me at times on the business side of blogging and the hazards of wrong decisions, keeping me out of much trouble, I'm sure.
(Forgive the cut off photo as it was the only jpg I could work with and that is how it was originally. Alan deserved much better than this, I know.)
Here is Mr. Caruba's most recent work at Warning Signs. I trust you will all find it as readable as I have. Especially cogent are Mr. Caruba's essays on the global warming hoax, such as Shouting from the Rooftops , which should be assigned reading for students.

Thank you both, gentlemen. The Tunnel Dweller.

The Gloater-in-Chief

American Thinker  "Yesterday I watched the President of the United States once again disgrace his office with a partisan speech disguised as a news conference, attacking the Republican Party even as his minions are negotiating with it."
....

"If you don't believe me, force yourself to sit to actually read what your fellow legislators say about you. Force yourself to sit through an evening of MSNBC. They despise you. Even worse, they have no respect for you. The President treats you like pond scum. Force him to wipe that sneer off his face. It is time you start respecting yourself."

Big Government; King Obama the Irrelevant   "The "fiscal cliff" fiasco has made it clear that President Barack Obama is entirely irrelevant to the everyday task of governing. He is not interested in it, and he is not good at it. He is great at campaigning and terrible at leading. He is essentially a symbol, a political celebrity who could be re-elected forever because people seem to like what they think he stands for, and what he tells them he stands against. But he does nothing positive for the country."

White House Brags Obama Forced Republicans To Break Their No Tax Pledge…

"WH tells colleague Ed Henry Obama broke R's tax pledge. Calls it "1 of the most consequential policy achievements of the last couple decades." With his trophy audience behind him.

More on this:
Obama’s Gloating and Attacks Leaves GOP Angry and Confused   "He’s a uniter. Obama’s ripped Republicans during his “fiscal cliff” speech today for not agreeing to raise taxes. He praised himself for his “responsible” approach. At one point in his speech he bragged about how he got Republicans to agree to raise taxes on wealthy Americans."

Beware Obamacare’s Looming Conscience Cliff

Be sure to shop at Hobby Lobby

Heritage  "The fiscal cliff isn’t the only abyss that the Obama Administration and Congress have created for individuals and employers. The Obamacare mandate that forces employers to provide and pay for coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization has created a cavernous void for religious liberty that will threaten the existence of many businesses in the new year.
"On January 1, religious business owners whose employee health plans renew at the beginning of the year will face the impossible decision to either violate their deeply held beliefs by complying with the mandate or jump over Obamacare’s conscience cliff and face ruinous fines.
"Among those employers peering over the Obamacare ledge is Hobby Lobby. "

Tax Hikes to Start the New Year

Heritage  "While you were sleeping—or ringing in 2013—the Senate voted to raise taxes.
"After missing the midnight deadline, Congress and the President have technically sent the nation over the fiscal cliff, meaning higher tax rates are already in effect for all income tax brackets. But the Senate’s deal, brokered by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) and Vice President Joe Biden, would target the tax increases on those making more than $250,000.

"The Senate voted 89-8 to limit deductions for taxpayers making more than $250,000, which would raise their taxes, and to hike tax rates for those making more than $400,000."

Who were those eight Senators and why did they vote against the deal?

Strange bedfellows: Tom Harkin, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio all voting the same? Hmmmm
Rubio Slams Deal: ‘I Just Couldn’t Vote for It’

Here is the roll call of voting Who said what? By the way, this was the name of the measure:

Measure Number: H.R. 8 (Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012 )

Measure Title: An act entitled the "American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012".
From Politico;The eight senators who voted 'no'

We Have Officially Gone Over the Sanity Cliff

"Maybe the Mayans were right and we’re all too apathetic to notice that the world really has come to an end.

"We are no longer facing the fiscal cliff…We’ve officially gone over it, for now. Today, maybe tomorrow or perhaps later in the week, the House will attempt something only seen previously in cartoons…Hanging in mid-air, turning around and trying to run back to safety before gravity sets in."  Craig Andresen

I never expected to read this dept: Did Obama Cave to Republicans Again?

"I think the president made a huge mistake by negotiating over what he'd previously said was non-negotiable (namely, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts on income over $250,000). Then the White House compounded that mistake by sending Biden to 'close' the deal when Harry Reid appeared to give up on it. As a practical matter, this signaled to Republicans that the White House wouldn't walk away from the bargaining table, allowing the GOP to keep extracting concessions into the absolute final hours before the deadline."

But on the other hand: Obama's idea of 'compromise'  "What was McConnell thinking?

"The fiscal cliff deal passed by the Senate contains $1 in spending cuts for every $41 in tax hikes."

Al Qaeda Offers Bounties for Deaths of US Ambassador and US Soldiers

Fox News  "Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen is offering a bounty of gold worth $160,000 to anyone who kills Gerald M. Feierstein, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen.
"According to the Associated Press, the group announced that it will pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country.
...".The bounties were set to "inspire and encourage our Muslim nation for jihad," the Al Qaeda statement said, according to the AP."

My Favorite Marxists

Aaron Goldstein

"Although The Marx Brothers largely took an anarchistic approach to their brand of humor, it nevertheless retains both a sense of timelessness and reassurance. I am confident that a thousand years from now people will still be laughing at Groucho’s wisecracks, Chico’s puns, and Harpo’s facial expressions."
...."In 2013, aside from our individual trials and tribulations, we have the beginning of President Obama’s second term to look forward to or, more accurately, to dread. As Groucho’s Rufus T. Firefly sang upon assuming the presidency of Freedonia in Duck Soup, “If you think this country’s bad off now, just wait till I get through with it!”
"It’s going to be a long four years. They can take away the Constitution and they can take away our guns. But they can’t take away the laughter."   Hat tip to Christy Waters on Facebook

While a patient in the Camp Lejeune hospital, a staff sergeant in a nearby bed was doubled up with laughter that went on and on. I asked him what was so funny and he said "Nothing! This pain is killing me!'
Naturally I asked him why he was laughing and he said ,"This is the way I cry!"
With that in mind, let me wish you a happy new year and thank you for your readership.
The Tunnel Dweller.

Post-Mortem; This lady really nails it!

Laura Hollis  "I truly believe that most Americans who voted for Obama have no idea what they are in for. Most simply believe him when he says that all he really wants is for the rich to pay “a little bit more.” So reasonable! Who could argue with that except a greedy racist?
....
"For the past four years – but certainly within the past campaign season – we have tried to warn Americans. Too many refuse to listen, even when all of the events that have transpired during Obama’s presidency – unemployment, economic stagnation, skyrocketing prices, the depression of the dollar, the collapse of foreign policy, Benghazi,  hopelessly inept responses to natural disasters – can be tied directly to Obama’s statist philosophies, and his decisions.
"....I see the country I love headed toward its own “rock bottom,” and I cannot seem to reach those who are taking it there."
Some of Laura Hollis' points that she covers much more in depth at the link:
1. We are outnumbered
2. It wasn’t the candidate(s)
3. It’s the culture, stupid. More on this:

"We abdicated control of the culture – starting back in the 1960s. And now our largest primary social institutions – education, the media, Hollywood (entertainment) have become really nothing more than an assembly line for cranking out reliable little Leftists. Furthermore, we have allowed the government to undermine the institutions that instill good character – marriage, the family, communities, schools, our churches. So, here we are, at least two full generations later – we are reaping what we have sown. It took nearly fifty years to get here; it will take another fifty years to get back. But it starts with the determination to reclaim education, the media, and the entertainment business. If we fail to do that, we can kiss every election goodbye from here on out. And much more.

4. America has become a nation of adolescents
5. Yes, there is apparently a Vagina Vote
6. It’s not about giving up on “social issues”
7. Obama does not have a mandate. And he does not need one.
8. The CorruptMedia is the enemy
9. Small business and entrepreneurs will be hurt the worst
10. America is more polarized than ever; and this time it’s personal

This Daily Kos writer read her article and responded with these points which you can use for comparison. For more enlightenment, watch this video we posted yesterday. Then tell me who you want running America more, Romney or the choice of this Kos writer and these people in the video.

Credentials: Laura Hollis is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. She was previously a Director at Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and an Associate Director and Clinical Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School with an undergraduate degree from Notre Dame.   Hat tip to Val Brose; Santa Maria, CA

http://obamacartoon.blogspot.com/2012/07/useful-idiots-obama-supporters.html

NBC News’ Top Science Reporter: Something Fishy About Hillary Clinton Claiming She’s Being Treated For Blood Clots Related To Earlier Concussion…

Weasel Zippers  "The problem: Clinton’s office is saying she’s being treated with blood thinners and the clots are related to her supposed concussion, but blood clots from concussions can not be treated with blood thinners. Hmmmm."

Quoting Politico:

“All we have is a statement from her office. The hospital isn’t saying anything and the statement from her [office] says that she had this blood clot that stemmed from the concussion and she’s being treated with blood-thinning drugs,” Bazell continued. “The problem is that usually when blood clots come from concussions, they can’t be treated with blood [thinners.] So either it’s not really related to the concussion and she’s got a blood clot in her leg or something, or there’s something else going on that we’re not being told. And right now, we’re just sort of seeking that clarification and hoping for the best as she’s being observed.”

Fiscal Cliff; Deal or NO deal? Let the blame game begin!

Late news that may supercede the links following the others in this post:  A ‘fiscal cliff’ deal is near: Here are the details   "On the spending side, the Democrats’ headline concession will be accepting chained-CPI, which is to say, accepting a cut to Social Security benefits. Beyond that, the negotiators will agree to targets for spending cuts. Expect the final number here, too, to be in the neighborhood of $1 trillion, but also expect it to lack many specifics. Whether the cuts come from Medicare or Medicaid, whether they include raising the Medicare age, and many of the other contentious issues in the talks will be left up to Congress."

WaPo; As ‘fiscal cliff’ looms, Republicans have no political incentive to make deal with Obama
"Yes, Obama won the election and did so quite convincingly. And, no, he doesn’t ever have to worry again about being reelected, which should, in theory, embolden him. But he is the only person involved in the fiscal cliff talks who has that luxury. Everyone else needs to keep one eye (at least) on their next race.
"That mentality means that for the vast majority of Republicans in Congress, a deal is more dangerous than no deal. A deal creates the possibility of a primary challenge from their ideological right in districts and even states that, by and large, went heavily against Obama in November. No deal means they might — with the emphasis on “might” — face some blow back from constituents who want them to get something done for the good of the country and put the partisanship and politics aside.

Rick Moran; GOP sets record for quickest surrender in history  "In a matter of hours, Republicans went from standing for entitlement reform - however small - to caving in to the Democrats. This, despite the fact that Obama himself supported the idea of chained CPI earlier.
"These guys couldn't negotiate their kids' allowance, much less a deal on taxes and spending." Via Lucianne

 

What do the pundits mean when they refer to politics as "Kabuki Theater"?

After posting the Ramirez cartoon in the post above, I began wondering about this term that one hears often.

From Slate; It's Time To Retire Kabuki; The word doesn't mean what pundits think it does.
"Judging from op-ed pages and talk radio, American pundits know a lot about Kabuki, the 400-year-old Japanese stage tradition with the Lady Gaga get-ups. Health care reform recently brought Kabuki to mind for both Rush Limbaugh—"what you have here is 'Kabuki theater' "—and New York Times columnist Frank Rich: "[I]f I were to place an incautious bet on which political event will prove the most significant of February 2010, I wouldn't choose the kabuki health care summit." For The New Yorker's George Packer, all the capital's a Far Eastern stage, and all its men and women merely players. "I looked for answers outside the Kabuki theatre of Washington personalities." "

In other words, pundits do not know what the term means, they just know using it makes them sound well-educated. Kind of like throwing in an occasional French or Latin word .
 Et tu, Mr. Krauthammer?

Media Blackout: Air Force General Blows Whistle on Obama

General William Shelton, the
commanding officer of U.S. Air
 Force’s  space command

Examiner.com   “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
“If an Air Force general blows the whistle on the Obama White House, does anyone in the media hear the corruption?
...."According to a source familiar with the Lightsquared probe, many officers at the Pentagon are highly suspicious of the President, the White House staff and even Obama's appointees at the Defense Department."
...." "First of all, we know what motivates politicians and big business. In the middle you have a career officer who is a four-star general. Whom would you believe? What's in it for General Shelton to make up stories?" Baker asks.
" "Let's hope General Shelton sticks to his guns and that more Pentagon and Justice Department officials decide enough is enough from this administration," Baker added."  Hat tip to The Right Planet

Victor Davis Hanson; An Anatomy of a Most Peculiar Institution

  PJ Media   A Campus-full of Contradictions

"Almost everything about the modern university is a paradox. It has become a sort of industry gone rogue that embraces practices that a Wal-Mart or Halliburton would never get away with. It is exempt from scrutiny in the fashion that the Left ceased talking about renditions or Guantanamo Bay once Barack Obama was elected, or a Code Pink goes after a NRA official in the way it would never disrupt a hearing on Fast and Furious. In other words, the university is one of the great foundations of the Left, and so is immune from the sort of criticism that otherwise is daily leveled against other institutions.

"So let’s take a 10-minute stroll through the campus and learn why costs soar even as students are ever more poorly educated."

Mr. Hanson expounds on each of these next subjects:

The Curriculum:  Many subjects "tend to foster the two most regrettable traits in a young mind — ignorance of the uninformed combined with the arrogance of the zealot."

...."Is there a provost or a dean in America that can say to faculty, “That is not a real course, and so won’t be taught at our real university”? Does the shop foreman let the welder choose his own project?"

Tenure:  ..."How odd that tenure ensured a monolithic faculty, as well as undesirable traits in matters of work habits and comportment."....

Part-time Exploitation: ...."Does Safeway have one check-out clerk that makes $40,000 and another who earns $20,000 in side-by-side aisles, each about the same age, with the same education, experience, and amount of time on the job — the part-time clerk with a solid record while the “tenured” Safeway clerk is a no better employee?"....

Student Loans: ...."and thus they cynically avoid Professor X’s path-breaking class on transgendered renaissance females. "

The Value of a BA Degree:  ..."I am reluctant to make the argument for the humanities on the basis of financial planning, but then the humanities are not quite the humanities of 50 years ago."


Diversity:..."There is no diversity of thought on the vast majority of university campuses. The classes, the administration, the campus culture, the professors — all accept the man-made destructive heating of the planet, the rape of the environment, the toxicity of free market-capitalism, the racist-sexist-homophobic narrative of the U.S. past, the need for unquestioned abortion on demand, gay marriage, legalization of drugs, etc."...
Then Mr. Hanson sums it up thus:

When we read of the world’s great centers of learning, American — and Californian — universities are always at the top: Caltech, Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, etc. But almost always, on closer examination, this is because of our superior medical schools, business schools, engineering schools, and science and math departments. The liberal arts have piggybacked on the reputation of American professionalism and science, and therefore have not come under the scrutiny that they so richly deserve.

NRO: The Professors; David Horowitz writes up the faculty. 

"Lopez:  Who should be a household name but isn't?

Horowitz:  Professors Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, leaders of the WeatherUnderground; convicted torturer and inventor of Kwanzaa, Professor Malauna Karenga; and oh so many others.
Lopez:  What's your goal in naming names?
Horowitz:  I don't "name names," as I am accused of doing by my leftwing antagonists, nor is The Professors a "list." It is a 450-page book and 112,000-word text. More than 100 professors are profiled not by way of identifying 101 individuals but by way of providing a collective profile of a radical cohort on university faculties that has corrupted higher education from coast to coast."
                                                                                     Amazon photo at right.

Low-information Obama voters

All of the above produces all of this:  "College students chant for ‘Karl Marx’ free Obama Phones, “gay rights” abortion and ‘socialism’ in front of White House at Obama"

"Thousands of college students from across Washington D.C. spontaneously gathered in front of the White House to celebrate President Obama’s reelection.

"Those students were among thousands from colleges across Washington, D.C. who spontaneously gathered in front of fences around the north lawn of the White House to celebrate President Obama’s election victory."

Much more on this at We The People, if you have the stomach for it. Language advisory.