Keeper of the Clown Bell

Death, taxes and the Kardashians are three inescapable realities of this mortal coil. To deal with the first (Death) we turn to God. To deal with the second (taxes) we turn to politics. To deal with the third (Kardashians) we turn to the KOTCB blog. When it comes to taxes a little history is in order and in my view For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization by Charles Adams is required reading. Too lazy to read the book then here's the short form published in the NYTimes in 1992 (23 years ago!!!) which says in part: If taxation sustains civilized society, it also represents a potential danger to civilization, Mr. Adams believes. "When we tax," Mr. Adams says, "we are dealing with fire, and without proper controls and care, we can easily burn down everything we have built." Income creates jobs, he argues. When the state takes away income from an enterprising man or woman, it takes away his or her capacity to generate employment and w...

With the Democratic presidential race in turmoil what could be better for a prospective nominee than a ringing endorsement from a idolater who's certifiably insane . When the Vicar of Christ is on your team all things are possible - even a Biden presidency. Like any politician the Pope loves to talk about big ticket issues that can never be resolved and avoid thorny issues that he actually has the ability to do something about but for which he lacks the will to act. Perhaps if he stopped praying about income inequality and climate change and started praying to God Almighty for courage and willingness to face the future, instead of the past, that would change. While in the USA he admonished the nation to : end "hostility" toward immigrants end homelessness address climate change stop the "boundless thirst" for wealth and power emphasize the plurality of faith ask Congress and world leaders at the U.N. to do more lunch with the homeless communicat...

Taking off the mask From time to time someone will ask me, "Mr. White Chocolate, if you could change three things about the Federal Government to make it better, more honest and representative what would they be?" Expecting, I suppose that I'll say something like, abolish the IRS and Social Security numbers, form local militias in each community and disband the police force, or abolishing television and radio broadcasting - all of which are great ideas, but impractical and difficult to implement. John Boehner can tell you that securing votes for these "outside the box" projects is really hard in the US House of Representatives and even simple stuff like repealing Obamacare or stopping an Executive Order making illegal immigrants "legal" is damn near impossible - not just because Democrats won't do it, but because Republicans won't sign on either. But I do have an answer to the question and here are my top 3 changes - I think they're al...

Like most Argentinians, the Pope sounds like a special needs child when he attempts to speak English and, Trumps admonitions aside, he should probably deliver his sermons in Spanish. That way Marco Rubio and Luis Gutierrez (and 4 of my children all fluent in español) would be able to understand him, but most Americans would not. Yesterday he mumbled praise for Abe Lincoln , MLK and uber-Catholic Dorothy Day, but said not a word about the woman's saint maker, Forster Batterham a committed man of the left who's pig headed ideological stubbornness pushed Dorothy into the arms of Jesus Christ (or someone slightly resembling him) and the rest is herstory, as they say. A happy couple Forster who? [no Wikipedia entry] Forster Batterham was Dorothy Day's TRUE LOVE and like so many women, especially boho artist types, she found herself socializing with Greenwich Village continental loving socialists and, unfortunately for her, fell in love with one. Part of the tale is ...

The Ka’aba is the first house. Originally built by Adam after he and his lady friend got kicked out of Eden. Since that time it has been a spiritual center and holy place for the world and for the past millennium and a half it's been the the center of Islamic faith. There's a lot of mystery about this building in the western world because over the past few centuries infidels have not allowed to go near it (unclean and all that) but the World Wide Web brings Mecca a little closer every day. And I learn a lot, like this fun fact: "It's not supposed to be a cube shape Yes, ladies and gentleman… the most famous cube in the world actually started out shaped as a rectangle. I'll give you a moment to pick your jaws off the floor. Right, where were we? Oh yeah, the Kaaba was never meant to be a cube. The original dimensions of The House included the semi-circular area known as the Hijr Ismail ." Interesting. Turns out that Muhammad made some "improve...

"We have so much that binds us together, and so little that separates us." Bishop Gene Robinson has provided comic relief to Episcopalians for decades and his latest stunt, penning an open letter to the Catholic Pope , surely ranks as one of the funniest pranks this "marginalized" buffoon has ever pulled off. And that list is looooong. Starting with his given name, Vicky, this dud(ess) has been an enema, oops, enigma his entire life. His first marriage which, even though he thought he might be homosexual at the time, he went ahead with anyway showed feckless cowardice. Then his Herculean feat of fornication with a woman (his wife at the time) and impregnating her TWICE produced two daughters. Then, post childbirth, having second thoughts and deciding he IS a homosexual after all and explaining that to all his close friends (which must have provided many evenings of laughter for his neighbors on cold New Hampshire nights) he divorced his wife of 14 years. Then, ...

September is Suicide Prevention Month In a Nutshell Europe and the Western World are xenophobic rich cowards behind fences - or at least that's how the proper Englishman doing the voice over and  Kurzgesagt.org see the situation. And I hear their argument - They think 4 million+ Syrian refugees emigrating to Europe is no big deal, well actually they're more enthusiastic and claim that it's all upside for the volk if only they'd get their minds right. It's not surprising that "a team of designers, journalists and musicians who want to make science look beautiful" should be so star-eyed and blissfully oblivious to the realities of bumping the Islamic population of Europe from 4% to 5% in less than one year. I don't know if there's a Hundredth Monkey Effect at play here, but I know that %5 of a population in any democracy is a tipping point that can cause incalculable trouble for that other 95% of the citizens. That's why the Syrian r...

Gov. Scott W. takes a powder . This is sad news for cheeseheads at the RNC and Badgers everywhere, but Trump's picking them off one-by-one and growing his circle - he's set his sights on Carley and she'll probably be his next victim. Now 2 of the "best" GOP Governors are out of the game an I don't think there's another Republican Governor who can capture the center so eventually they'll all be gone... There supporters will be left squirming on the floor looking for someone to support, but who will that be? Kasich? Not if Leon H. Wolf has any say in the matter (and he hates Trump).

Not Mad As Hell, Just Dead Nelson Chaney: All I know is that this violates every canon of respectable broadcasting. Frank Hackett: We're not a respectable network. We're a whorehouse network, and we have to take whatever we can get. Nelson Chaney: Well, I don't want any part of it. I don't fancy myself the president of a whorehouse. Frank Hackett: That's very commendable of you, Nelson. Now sit down. Your indignation is duly noted; you can always resign tomorrow. Dan Henninger bears a passing resemblance to Wesley Addy, the actor who portrayed Nelson Chaney in the film Network and last week he channeled the fictional television executive when writing his weekly column for the WSJ - the title of last weeks dispatch: The Joy of Madness . I hesitate to keep banging this drum on the KOTCB blog but the "conservative" pundit psychological collapse is so entertaining and informative that I just have to dive in one more time - especially since Henninger ha...

The US press is abuzz over The Donald's hostile takeover of the GOP and how unorthodox his methods and ideology are, but they see almost nothing unusual in a clown like Bernie Sanders usurping the anointed Democrat front runner . Doesn't it seem ODD that a candidate who isn't even a Democrat should be winning the Democrat primary by lionizing a "Democratic Socialism" based on the Nordic Model . The way journalists see it is that Donald Tump is an unrealistic, bombastic showman light on substance (or worse) but Bernie Sanders is an imaginative, rhapsodic advocate who's "heart is in the right place". Few are the reporters who actually question this warmed over hairy matzo ball's prescriptions for reigniting the New Deal fires and leading this country to economic and social collapse. The GOP commentariat and punditocracy are screaming at the heavens with indignation over a Trump candidacy, but the Democrat opinion makers (i.e. 95% of all working ...

Thunder from Peekskill  HUGH HEWITT, TALK RADIO HOST: Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field?GEORGE PATAKI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... HEWITT: Governor... PATAKI: -- for the Republican nominee... HEWITT: -- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... PATAKI: He's not going to be the nominee. HEWITT: -- will you support him? PATAKI: He's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump...

When Steve Jobs announced the iPhone at his Apple Corp. keynote in 2007 I wonder if he imagined the world that has emerged in the ensuing eight years (8 YEAR!!!) where people can carry their life in the palm of their hand. "So, let’s go ahead and turn it on. This is the size of it. It fits beautifully in the palm of your hand. So, an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator." And this is what he hath wrought: Now that the American Telephone and Telegraph Company has acquired DirectTV you can watch TV everywhere - in a rickshaw, on a horse and even at the opera. Just wonderful, but this new world is also making people incredibly stupid for how else can you explain disclaimers like this one. I know TV is great, but don't try this Dramatization. Do not attempt.

According to Leon H. Wolf over at RedState.com it wasn't supposed to happen this way: This was supposed to be a nomination contest where Scott Walker could talk about the best ways to combat liberalism structurally, Bobby Jindal could talk about education reform, Rick Perry could talk about border security , Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) could inspire our optimism in America, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) could expose the rottenness in DC, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was supposed to advance a burgeoning new wave of libertarian ideals. And also Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Kasich would be there, for some reason.  Instead, we are talking about whether Donald Trump really said Megyn Kelly was on her period and whether he’s right about Carly Fiorina’s looks. Every conversation that’s occurring right now is about Trump and none of it has anything to do with policy (foreign or domestic), or competence, or leadership. And that's exactly what Rick Perry WAS going to do - talk. Now he...

From my Journal 14 years ago

Is there nothing left in this world that can safely be considered un-Green? Even a grout cleaning service advertises its "green cleaning solutions" to a somnambulant herd of consumers obsessed with cleanliness and fearful of mold. We're talking about cleaning grout here - not lawn care or light bulbs or bubble bath. So I asked to see some of the green solutions, as advertised, and sure enough you can hire these guys to come to your house and power wash your bathroom tile and grout with soap suds. Does it work? Not as well as the chemicals do, but you might feel better about yourself for having taken the green path of least resistance. I guess if the US Military can go green then anybody can but I long for the pre-Green days of my youth when no one even thought of discussing environmentally conscious grout cleaning techniques. I'm not sure it was a simpler time, but it was a heck of a lot more honest and fun - now they want us to count every kilowatt, drive with the...

Millions of affluent  people love tennis and it's very, very lucrative for participants, organizers and advertisers, but for the life of me (aside from the money) I can't understand their passion for the game. And I'm old enough to have attended an exhibition match between  Rod Laver and Björn Borg at the tennis hall of fame in the 1980's so I think I've seen the best that the sport has to offer. There was still a remnant of gentlemanly conduct, proper dress (whites) and a grass court giving the impression that two human beings were competing for fun. Those days are gone - they were gone then, but the illusion was still hanging in the air like the fluff from a white tennis ball after being crushed by the famous Laver serve - long gone. Not a game of Kings, nor Serena By tennis, I mean lawn tennis, not jeu de paume (commonly called Real Tennis ) which is a brilliant game of athleticism, strategy and cunning and, though commonly attributed as the precursor to ...

NPR thinks there are  5 Things You Should Know About Lincoln Chafee  but there's one "thing" mysteriously left off the list -  the biggest little hobgoblin in the union  is  a true blue 1%er  from the old school. Conan wants to get him to 1% - He's already there ginger man, and there he will remain. Oh, he switched parties from GOP to Dem - how interesting. I wonder what his motivations were for doing that? No doubt the Iraq war was the primary driver in his decision, right? Wrong.

I was enjoying a delicious egg, cheese and bacon breakfast sandwich (home made) Sunday morning when who should appear on the TV screen but Colin Powell for his semi-annual colonoscopy lovingly administered by the goateed Chuck Todd . Topic: Iran Nuclear Deal and as you'd expect the General was for it with the caveat that "it's a pretty good deal" which we can back out of if we don't like the way it's playing out because he doesn't trust the Iranians anyway. That said, why should the Iranians even consider "complying with the outline of the deal"? It's simple and here's how the A-Team diplomat would explain it to the Supreme Leader: "If I was talking to the Iranians at a senior level, I would say, "What do you think you're getting with these investment you've made in this all of these years? You think that you could actually use these without having the entire world condemn you the next day for being the only nation...

The "conservative" pundit puddle grows larger with yesterdays weekly missive from Jonah Goldberg - creator of National Review Online , son of the provocative Lucianne , author of some fine books (especially Liberal Fascism ) and generally affable, if goofy, champion of the right. Yesterday he sent some large percentage (30?, 50?, 70?) of his readers a letter telling them, in effect, that he's heard just about all he can take of their crap, they are unworthy of his preaching and he's going down to Joppa and leave this sinful land for good. Here's his opening statement: "Well, if this is the conservative movement now, I guess you’re going to have to count me out." Q. Why? A. Trump "The people" have disappointed him. Not the people that conservatives laugh and shake their heads at  (i.e. liberal morons) but " his people" , you know, fellow traveling conservatives. Then he goes deep into Trump hate - the usual stuff like Trumps ...

I was scrolling through my email to scan any news about Jim Harbaugh and the Mighty Michigan Wolverines as tomorrow nights game against Utah fast approaches when I came across this alert from the WSJ:  Five Chinese Navy Ships Are Operating in Bering Sea Off Alaska Coast . And the thought crossed my mind, wouldn't it be funny if the Chinese invaded and occupied Alaska while the President is " paring his bucket list " Running Wild With Bear Grylls? To quote The One: “Beats being in the office.” And it would beat GWB's reading children's books while the twin towers burned by an Alaskan mile. Just as a sign of disrespect it's pretty bald faced and provocative so here's hoping the ChiComs don't pull the trigger and Red Dawn Wasilla. If they do I'll be rooting for a different gang of Wolverines to take matters into their own hands and send the yellow hoard back where they came from. Zero Hedge sees it for what it is .

0 has traveled to Sarah Palin's back yard to yak it up about "climate change" and while packing his bags he decided to change the name of Mt. McKinley (Americas tallest mountain) - no biggie. Just another day in the transformation and what did that old guy McKinley do anyway ? - so 19th Century. When he landed in Alaska the teleprompter was waiting : “The time to heed the critics and the cynics and the deniers is past,” he told delegates to an international conference on climate change in the Arctic. “The time to plead ignorance is surely past. Those who want to ignore the science, they are increasingly alone, they are on their own shrinking island .” Hay, that sounds familiar . You might say that I've been hearing that speech my entire life. He goes on, “If we do nothing, temperatures in Alaska are projected to rise between 6 and 12 degrees by the end of the century." So by 2100 the average high temp in Alaska  in September will be 67 degrees - that sound...