A Cult of Personality

is what we've got here folks, plain and simple. From everyone's favorite web encylopedia:

A cult of personality or personality cult arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships.

A cult of personality is similar to general hero worship, except that it is created specifically for political leaders.

Tell me that's not what we have going on in these United States of America.

I got to listen to the welcoming presentation for Hillary Clinton, Madame Secretary of State, this morning while I was stuck in traffic on my way to work. Frankly, I nearly vomited listening to the happy little drones welcoming in the new Queen. A bit of searching (not much, really) and I was able to find the complete video of the entire sordid affair.



Kindly note the rock star groupies that await the new Secretary from the start of the video to about 3:45 in. Dignified, indeed.

At 4:50 on the video, I am shocked to learn that the State Department is busy combating terrorism (great!), poverty (well, OK, someone's gotta do it I suppose), climate change (WHAT? The Department of State is busy combatting an unproven THEORY? WHAT?) and HIV/AIDS (crikey). That's right folks - the Department of State is hard at work combating the evil that is..... global warming. Is that disgusting, or is it just me? To hell with combating dictatorships across the world. To hell with fighting radical islam - a religion that abuses it's women and maintains control through intimidation and execution. To hell with stopping the flow of illegal immigrants flooding across our borders. No sir, Skippy!! We're fighting global warming!!

If you can make it through the rest of the video, you'll notice something that's missing. And frankly, I didn't notice it myself till about 7:10 in the video. At that point, the camera pans through and over the crowd of admirers (quite large, actually) and the viewer gets a glimpse of an impressive lobby, with flags from around the world proudly on display. And then it hit me.

At no point in the video do you see an American flag. Anywhere. Not on the make shift stage Madame Secretary is standing on. Not in the lobby or atrium. Not in front of the building when Madame Secretary steps out of her Caddy. It struck me as quite odd, actually. Now, I'm not saying that there was not an American flag to be found in the building. I'd really like to think that there is. But from what I saw on the video feed, no American flag.

Madame Secretary herself goes on to state:

And as you probably already know, we are expecting the President and the Vice President to be here in the State Department this afternoon. (Applause.)

Cult of Personality, indeed. Hero worship anyone? Now everyone behave, or you'll get sent to the Principal's office!

Among the many conversations that I've had with the President and with the Vice President, over years, but certainly much more astutely and in a concentrated way in the last weeks, we want to send a clear and unequivocal message: This is a team, and you are the members of that team.... We are not any longer going to tolerate the kind of divisiveness that has paralyzed and undermined our ability to get things done for America.

Now, I'm sure that Madame Secretary is not referring to her own ability to sow discord and divisiveness, right? She was a stalwart supporter of the last President, all on the same team, right? I'm sure she would never say that she and her party and their allies in the media would ever sow, what was it she said, this kind of divisiveness?

Frankly, only 2 days in to this obomination of a Presidency and I'm disgusted already. I gotta find some of that purple cool aide they're drinking at State because at this rate, my head will truly explode before the mid term elections.

You can find the entire text of Madame Secretary's speech, as well as the embedded video above here.

Barack and Michelle Obama do WHAT together?

T.M.I.

He's at it already

Obama has post his "Urban Policy" to the White House web site. Scroll on down to Crime and Law Enforcement.

Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.

It was nice while it lasted.

New police chief's head left at station

I hear there's a job opening in Ciudad Juarez. Aye, Chihuahua, indeed.

The city, which lies just across the border from El Paso, Texas, in the state of Chihuahua, has one of the highest homicide rates in Mexico. El Universal reported that Martin Castro Martinez was one of 15 people killed execution-style in 24 hours.

I read this week that Mexico is one of the countries that our military believes is poised for collapse. The drug cartels have pretty much taken over in many areas of Mexico, and gangs are striking with impunity against their rivals, including the military and police.

That's not good.

We are poor

little lambs. Who have lost... our way. Baaaaa baaaaa baaaaa.

Abandoning any pretense of balance, MSNBC's Inauguration coverage will be quad-anchored by four left-wingers: the network's three night time hosts -- Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow -- plus regular analyst Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post. has finaPlugging the team at the end of the 7 PM EST Hardball on Monday night, Matthews trumpeted how "this is one of the great opportunities in journalism to cover history in the face" and declared "it's going to be the honor of our lifetimes."

Is there anything President-elect Barack Obama's very aura cannot make better? Apparently, he has eliminated road rage -- and even honking. ABC's David Muir, over video of stuck traffic followed by the sound of singing, in a Monday World News story on the crowds coming to Washington, DC: "So many of the streets are closed those that are open are clogged. But there were no car horns, no shouting. Instead, the San Francisco Boys and Girls choruses practicing for their Inaugural moment on the steps of the Capitol."

On Monday's Good Morning America, co-host Robin Roberts chose to tout only Democratic politicians in a piece honoring the civil rights movement and those "warriors" who made Barack Obama's election as president possible. Not a single Republican was mentioned or featured in the segment. Roberts began by announcing, "And on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we thought it would be appropriate to look back at all the warriors, black and white, who made this moment where we are today possible." All the warriors? The piece went on to feature clips from eight Democratic politicians: Harry Truman, Hubert Humphrey, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, Barbara Jordan and Barack Obama, in addition to a number of non-political civil rights pioneers. Republican Abraham Lincoln went unmentioned, so did New York Governor Thomas Dewey who signed one of the nation's earliest civil rights laws in 1944 and President Ronald Reagan who made Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday in 1983.

There's more here.

Big John

Kudos to Senator Cornyn. He's fighting the rising tide of the Obama machine.

The confirmation of Hillary Rodham Clinton to be secretary of state will be held up for at least a day due to the objection of a single senator. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he wanted "a full and open debate and an up-or-down vote on Sen. Clinton's nomination.

While I'm sure Clinton will get the nod from the Senate eventually, it's nice to see that there's at least one Senator out there with the cojones to stand up to Obama and those that blindy support him - including a multitude of Republican Senators who are afraid of their own shadow.

On the first day of what's going to be a very, very long 4 years; Cornyn has made me proud to be a Texan.

The Obama Love-in continues....

While reading this article, titled Americans giving Obama extraordinary support: polls and trying hard not to throw up all over my keyboard, this little play on words caught my attention:

Of those surveyed, 79 percent were optimistic about the next four years under Obama, the highest level of goodwill attained by any of the past five incoming presidents.

Followed by:

Most Americans told The Times that they did not expect real progress in improving the economy, reforming the health care system or ending the war in Iraq -- three of the central promises of the Obama campaign for at least two years.

So, 79 percent of "us" are optimistic about his 1st term, but most of us don't think Obama is going to deliver on 3 of his "central promises"? Sorry, but that doesn't sound like extraordinary support. But maybe that's just me.

STI to make ARs

I need another AR like I need a hole in the head but then again....