Please Take Advantage of the Chambermaid

If there's one thing we need more of during the narcissistic Obama administration, it's laughs. This short article from the Telegraph exposing poorly translated signs provides just that. Although frankly, I know a few restaurants and American establishments that could do some good by posting the above warning. Click on the link below for more examples of head-scratching signs in non-English speaking countries.

CLUMSY TRANSLATIONS ABROAD LEAVE BRITS CONFUSED

Obama Avoids Controversy in Speech to Kids, Comes Up Short in Bid for Student Council

Barack Obama gave a well-received speech to students at Grover Cleveland Middle School on Tuesday, but it wasn't enough to beat out Brooke Taylor and William Tyler for student council president. The speech, which was televised to the student body over the internet, started out strong, but ended up trite and cliched, filled with tedious advice most students have heard a thousand times from their teachers, counselors, and principals.

"I used to think the president was cool," said Katy Wilson, a seventh grade volleyball player. "But to hear him say the same things my dad always says, or Mr. Kribble, the earth science teacher, it was lame."

Eighth grader Jonathan Berg also felt the speech missed it's mark. "I'm third chair debate. I have a blog. I volunteer. It's like he thought he was talking to a bunch of fifth graders. I really wish he would have gotten into the details of his health care bill, but I guess some people were afraid of an actual discourse on the issues facing America."

A final tally of ballots showed Obama coming in third with 56 votes, which some students agreed wasn't bad for someone new to the school. Meanwhile, Brooke Taylor presented a short cheer for her speech, using the letters of her name to spell out ideas for improving the cafeteria. More importantly, she bought Jamba Juice for everyone. All-district hurdler William Tyler performed a clever rap, which was considered to be the best of the three speeches.

It was Obama's first election loss since 2002, and he was unavailable for comment. It won't affect his current job as President of the United States, however, which he will be allowed to keep for now. The 48 year old president attempted to mix humor and personal anecdotes in an effort to keep the message fresh, but most students were texting under their desks a few minutes after he started talking. The full text of his remarks can be seen here.

A quick look at teen and tween tweets during the hour of the speech revealed everything from uninspired boredom to ridicule. Some examples included:

"I'm so sure he has an xbox. yeah, right, he's so cool he wears mom jeans."

"Wish my parents were uptight enuf to hold me out of school today. Could be watchn the CW right now."

"Can't think of a worse way to spnd 3rd period. Except maybe smelling Jimmy Huang's body odor."

"Y is he talking about "personal responsibility" when he blames EVERYTHING on Bush?"

A runoff between Taylor and Tyler is scheduled for Thursday, but the campaigns have been warned not to bribe voters with free goodies this time. That's also a lesson President Obama could learn, at least according to Principal McDougal. "Is it just me or has he been promising everyone free health care for the past eight months?"

Have I Mentioned How Much Pundit & Pundette Rocks?

We've only been doing this a short while, and it will clearly take some time for our insightful commentary, conservative perspective, wit, charm, and Bruce Bowen inspired defense to catch on throughout the blogosphere. In many ways we are like a greenhorn on the Discovery reality show, Deadliest Catch. We know we've got the skills, but do we have the tireless dedication? Seasoned veterans have seen dozens of conservative blogs come and go. They want to make sure we are committed before they jump on the bandwagon or backlink us or add us to the greenroom at Hot Air. Maybe they can add us to the greenhornroom. Whatever. I'll pay my dues. You can haze me. Just no photos please.

I am happy to report, however, that a permanent link to facetwitch has been added for us over at Pundit & Pundette. This is one of my favorite sites, and no, I'm not just saying that. If you haven't been to P&P, I highly recommend it. It's one of the best conservative blogs with intelligent posts, great research, and an appreciation for all things Mark Steyn. I read it daily, which is more often than I post, but keep in mind that this is my second job and my first job is owning a retail store. I'm not making excuses. It just takes me longer to string a few meaningful sentences together.

Other blogs I check daily and recommend (besides the fabulous Pundit & Pundette) are Michelle Malkin, Neo-neocon, The Other McCain, Instapundit, Gateway Pundit, Iowahawk, Charlie Foxtrot, Powerline, Moonbattery, and JammieWearingFool. So if you are checking backtracks or blog rolls or googling yourself at any of these blogs, take note of little humble me, ambitious greenhorn on the boat we call facetwitch. We'd appreciate any love you could send our way.

Happy Labor Day, Goodbye American Jobs

The graph above is courtesy of Innocent Bystanders. It shows Obama's projections back in February for unemployment with or without a stimulus. As you can see by the data, we are way worse than any of his economic team predicted. The stimulus, which has rolled out too slowly and only stimulated government and special interests at the expense of the private sector, has been perhaps the biggest boondoggle in American history. It is an overwhelming failure, costing us (when figured with interest and lost GDP) more than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has undoubtedly hurt the economy and hindered job creation.

As President Obama tries to control the economy by regulating markets, restricting profits, taking over private companies, attacking entrepreneurs and corporate executives, and replacing free enterprise with central planning by government bureaucrats, investors continue to pull their money out of the American marketplace. Banks, for the most part, still aren't lending.

We are seeing a nation gripped by fear, not fear of success, but fear they will be punished for their success by this administration. This fear is not just based on comments made by Obama and Pelosi demonizing profits. It is a fear that success will be regulated, that the fruits of private endeavors will be confiscated by out-of-control government expansion, and that the risk won't be worth the reward. Great ideas are left on the drawing board, capital risks are avoided, and this nation's potential, the greatest potential of any nation on earth, is left untapped. This is a crisis of confidence. The American Dream in on life support, and President Obama is sending his end-of-life counselors to talk us into pulling the plug on capitalism.

In order to create jobs, the American economy has to be free from the restraints and restrictions that statists like Obama are obsessed with controlling. Free markets have to be encouraged, not controlled. The incentive for profit has to be greater than the risks and liability involved in starting a new business. I wrote about this previously in an essay called America's Spiritual Drought. We must renew our spirit, a spirit to the founding principles of this nation, to liberty, and to free enterprise. It is this commitment to Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that has allowed the best and brightest ideas to rise to the top. It has improved all of our lives in ways that other societies, people, and cultures can only dream about. It's called American Exceptionalism, something Obama clearly doesn't understand as evidenced by this quote:

“I believe in American Exceptionalism, just as I suspect the Brits believe in British Exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek Exceptionalism.”

Can someone please tell the Ivy-league educated president that American Exceptionalism isn't the same thing as American patriotism, because that's what he described. If there's one thing I've learned from this fiasco of a presidency, I'm not sending my kids to Columbia or Harvard.

The Obama administration has lost all credibility. They have failed at renewing America's spirit. For a campaign about hope, they certainly have left a lot of us hopeless, as jobs shrink and family businesses close. I'm sure they will claim that the economy would be even worse if not for their stimulus. But it's not true, and there's a way to verify it. Take a look at this graph of several nation's GDP over the past two years. You'll notice that the economies of countries that did not pass huge government spending bills during the downturn are growing, while the U.S. and Britain, who both passed a stimulus, continue to be mired in recessions with increased deficits and poor job markets. In other words, America is lagging the global recovery.

Now economists are saying that it will be years before we see a substantial improvement in GDP and unemployment is expected to hit 10% by December. If Congress passes Obamacare and the proposed cap-and-trade legislation, I'm predicting that number will get as high as 14% in the next few years. Welcome to the Democrat-created depression, a lost decade of opportunity for American families.

Hat tip: Powerline

Breaking: Van Thrown Under Bus, Resigns After Pressure From Glenn Beck and Conservative Blogs

Communist Leaves Post, Removed From Power: That's a headline you used to wake up and see and think, "good, some third world country is finally getting their act together." Sadly, today it is a headline that describes the United States. The president's green jobs "czar", an exposed Communist, Marxist, environmental extremist, and 9/11 truther, has resigned under pressure from... well, not the mainstream media. The next word the New York Times writes about it will be their first. Better prepare for the Fairness Doctrine. This is the exact kind of information that the "most transparent administration ever" wishes it could hide from the public.

"Red" Van Jones has gone quietly into the good night. On a holiday weekend. Shhhhh.

NBC REPORTS:

President Obama's environmental adviser Van Jones resigned from his post late Saturday evening after he came under fire for a series of inflammatory statements he made about Republicans, the White House said early Sunday morning.

Jones, Obama's green jobs "czar," was caught on tape in an expletive-packed rant, directly attacking Republicans in the Senate who he said abused their majority position in the past to push legislation through. He told Politico after the statements were released that the comments were "inappropriate" and "offensive."

No word if their sister station, MSNDNC, has added him to their primetime line-up of talk shows yet. He'd fit nicely between Matthews and Olbermann, don't you think? I'm sure Bill Maher will have him as a guest soon enough so he can play the victim. "It was a racist witch hunt led by redneck teabaggers!" Unlike the witch hunts based on rumors and innuendo which liberals usually prefer (see Sarah Palin).

Oddly enough, no major media outlets took the lead on this story or even reported it until now. It was all the work of conservative bloggers and Glenn Beck. Yes, that Glenn Beck. The one Van Jones tried to silence by leading a boycott of his advertisers. Guess we know who won that round. But I would like to give credit to Color for Change for helping change Washington by removing a radical from the White House, however unintentional. Think a beer summit with Van Jones, Obama, and Glenn Beck is out of the question? That's too bad, because Beck could drink Beck's. And Van Jones could drink sour milk.

How many radicals does Obama have to distance himself from before the people start to question his ideas for the nation? Rev. Wright was an isolated incident. Bill Ayers was an isolated incident. Henry Gates was an isolated incident. When are we allowed to call it a pattern? And as Pundit & Pundette asks, how does someone like this even get White House security clearance? Makes you wonder what it takes to get rejected. A body under the floorboards?

Gateway Pundit has the best and worst of the Van Jones' Diaries. It's certainly worth a look to appreciate just how far out of the mainstream his beliefs were. Of course, the biggest problem with czars is they have executive authority without Congressional oversight. If they had to be confirmed by the Senate, as the president's cabinet does, we would have learned of this a long time ago.

Exit question: Think the POTUS will bring up green jobs during his school speech on Tuesday? If so, he might want to speak to the movement's Marxist origins, and why he selected Van Jones to be in charge of it. Aren't hammers and sickles pretty? I can see the kiddos coloring some now.

Hat tip: Hot air, The Other McCain

All Quiet on the War Protest Front

It took a story about a private security firm's fraternity-style hazing at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for progressives to take notice of Afghanistan again. And only because they thought they were looking at Pride Day photos worth sharing at their next diversity awareness symposium. Once they realized what they were actually viewing, of course, they were shocked, shocked! Richie Maddow would lead with the story that evening. But otherwise, who would even know there was a war going on?

This summer has marked the deadliest three month stretch since the conflict in Afghanistan began and the worst year so far for coalition forces. This year, U.S. and NATO forces have lost a total of 297 soldiers. That's more than the entire number killed in all of 2008 and we still have four months to go. August alone saw 47 Americans die in combat, and that followed a July where 44 Americans sacrificed their lives fighting the war on terror. Whoops, sorry, I mean the overseas contingency operation, as Obama and the White House have decided to rename it. That certainly sounds like a cause worth fighting for.

As you can imagine, given the failing surge and rising death tolls, the anti-war protesters are all over this story. Huge demonstrations have broken out... Wait. What? They haven't? The streets should be filled with protesters, you know, the same ones that spent the last eight years calling the president a baby killer and war criminal. What's changed? Besides the R becoming a D next to the president's name?

Perhaps these war protests don't pay as well as the town hall protests protesting those Americans who dare speak out against the president on health care; the ones organized by Axelrod, ACORN, and the SEIU. Or as I like to call the bussed-in union astroturfers, uneasy riders.

I'm no anti-war expert, but the loss of almost 100 soldiers in 60 days seems alarming and certainly newsworthy, yet the media coverage has been scarce to say the least. I can't find an anti-war protester anywhere. Not a one. Okay, that's not exactly true. I did find one:

While the first family was out enjoying an island bike ride, Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist, was peddling complaints about President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Like she has since her son, Casey, was killed in Iraq in 2004, Sheehan is using the backdrop of a presidential vacation to make her pitch for peace. It's an effective way to get her anti-war protests attention, she said. "The only change in foreign policy has been a change for the worse," she said, wearing a pink T-shirt with a peace symbol and the words, "Peace. Love. Vineyard."

In case you missed the coverage of this protest, you're not alone. The mainstream media ignored it completely. And that pink peace t-shirt sounds downright vintage, doesn't it? It's so 2006. Yes, Martha's Vineyard was certainly quiet compared to Crawford, Texas. Cindy Sheehan has been abandoned by the very liberal activists and blogs that used to champion her cause before their Democratic candidate took over the White House and increased our troop presence in Afghanistan. Something Cindy might call "a surge."

I had to dig a while before I even found this article, in the Cape Cod Times of all places. It was only three paragraphs long and they even had to write a descriptor for readers who might have been in a coma for the past four years - Cindy Sheehan, anti-war activist. Isn't that like writing Big Bird, Sesame Street puppet? Or Bill Maher, pothead douchebag? Imagine if the only coverage Sheehan got protesting Bush showed up in the Crawford Ranch Report. Of course, we all remember what the coverage of her anti-Bush protest really looked like:

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Sheehan once attracted so much attention that media chasers like Al Sharpton would have skipped their mother's funeral to grandstand by her side. Now she can't even attract Al Roker. From falling all over themselves to tell her story to simply falling away, even Cindy Sheehan admits she was used by the Democrats and kos kids, as Byron York reported last week. Remember when she got arrested for refusing to cover up an anti-war t-shirt in the House gallery? Those were the days. Now she couldn't get arrested if she tried.

Isn't it interesting that the mainstream media has no interest in war protests now that Democrats are running the war? Isn't it interesting that the Left isn't preoccupied with war horror stories or painting soldiers as victims? Turns out all those protesters weren't that anti-war after all. They just suffered from Republican Derangement Syndrome. I'd bet everything I own they'd still be out there demanding a troop withdraw if John McCain had won the election. It's a partisan sickness. But since Barack won, they've moved on, as has MoveOn.org, the left wing organization who once felt compelled to run this ad in the New York Times attacking the general in charge of our troops:

That was exactly two years ago. The month that ad ran, we lost 64 American soldiers in Iraq. Last month, we lost 47 in Afghanistan. Am I to understand that 17 lives are all that separate concerned, full-page, liberal hysteria and ho-hum, don't-sweat-it complacency? I spent an hour on Newsweek's website yesterday, and I couldn't find one story about Afghanistan on the main page. Health care? Check. 2010 election? Check. CEO pay? Check. Michelle Obama's fashion? Check. Michael Jackson? Check. Fallen soldiers? Nope. Cue the crickets.

Can this really be the same Newsweek who published this issue of letters and diaries from dead soldiers, which some left wing media worshippers called "the best issue in 75 years?"

I hate to sound cynical, but why are our soldiers suddenly being ignored? It certainly appears that a soldier's life has more value to the mainstream media when a Republican is the one sending them into combat. Their lives and sacrifice only seem to get publicized when Democrats can use them to further their own cause. A dead soldier that offers no political opportunity to the Left apparently isn't a dead soldier at all. Nothing to see here. Now who's that Mark Sanford sleeping with, because that's front page material.

Of course, if you want to point out hypocrisy, look to the top of the ticket. Senator Obama voted to cut-and-run from Iraq and to cut off funding the troops. It was a focal point of his presidential campaign. Now that he's actually in charge, he acts as if he has no say in the matter. It's like Barack is back in the Illinois Senate voting "present" again. He could cut-and-run tomorrow if he really felt that passionately about it. As Bush would say to Obama, "You're the decider."

I'm certainly glad he hasn't pulled out, and it's one place I'll give President Obama credit. I'm glad he broke that campaign promise. But did he really break it, or he is just tying our soldier's hands behind their backs and waiting for things to get bad enough to shrug his shoulders and start withdrawing troops? After all, he didn't start the war. So don't expect him to hold himself responsible for whatever happens. I bet we'll hear that nugget of spin a thousand times before the next election, even though the changes he's made to the rules of engagement have made our task that much more difficult and put more of our troops in harm's way.

We're not winning in Afghanistan and Barack Obama is the commander-in-chief. Where's the outrage? Where are the tough questions and profiles in courage? If a soldier falls in battle under a Democratic president, does anybody hear?

Weekend Rain? More Austin Drought Photos, Bull Creek & Deep Eddy Pool Drying Up

Water restrictions continue for Austin residents. We are still in phase two with restaurant patrons being required to ask for water before it can be served. Otherwise, waiters and bartenders can be fined $400. I like the restriction given the circumstances, but I'm not so big on the fines. How about cutting the working folks some slack? Haven't heard of the city handing any out though, so I won't make a big a deal of it. We'd be better off going after the top ten percent of water users in the city and encouraging them to conserve. Maybe provide incentives.

The good news is we got some rain this evening. It completely knocked out power at my store and there was even a little hail. Very violent winds with gusts measured as high as 50 mph. Between 2 to 3 inches fell in some parts of the city, though very little downtown, and there may be more on the way tomorrow. Meanwhile, our beloved, spring-fed Deep Eddy pool is drying up, so we need it badly.

Deep Eddy Pool’s wells are running dry, and the city said Friday the pool could dry up soon.

When the city replaced what they thought was, a failing pump last week, they realized the pump wasn’t broken— the well that feeds the shallow end of the pool was bone dry.

Two wells feed Deep Eddy Pool, the city said. The well at the shallow end has dried up. The well that feeds the deep end of the pool is at risk of drying up, according to experts. Both are victims of the ongoing drought in the region.

I figured now is as good a time as any to post these photos I took of the Bull Creek water crossing, where the road has always been covered by the creek since I moved here. It often floods, closing the road completely and threatening nearby houses. Lately, it's been so dry that road crews have been able to work on what's usually under water. A picture's worth a thousand words. See previously posted drought photos here.

America's Spiritual Drought

After almost 70 days of 100 degree temperatures this summer with no substantial rain, Austin finds itself in a serious drought. Lake Travis has been reduced to a river running through a canyon and nearby creeks and springs that are always full of water have completely dried up. The soil is hard, barren, and cracked. It needs nourishment. But this is nothing compared to the spiritual drought our nation currently faces.

The American Dream is dying. It is being strangled and constrained by Big Government. And if we don't renew our commitment to the founding values that gave birth to this nation and 240 years of unbridled prosperity, we risk destroying it. A fertile economy needs fertile soil. That soil requires liberty and liberty requires opportunity, the opportunity for Americans to succeed or fail on the merits of their ideas. It requires private capital pouring into free markets instead of being seized and managed by the state. It requires limited government that is more accountable to the people (think globally, govern locally) and works for the people's best interests, not the best interests of bureaucrats and the politically elite.

Our forefathers didn't come here because America was the land of tranquil servitude, they didn't come here for the entitlements or welfare or union jobs or because America guaranteed success. No, they risked everything, including their lives, to sail to a foreign land that offered nothing but hard, rugged work and sacrifice. But it offered something else, something greater than personal profit. It offered independence and opportunity, a place where they could speak freely and worship freely, where they could escape the overbearing taxation and authoritarian rule of European monarchies. It offered a chance to start their own enterprises and dream bigger dreams than anyone ever imagined. These brave men and women risked everything for a promise. That promise was a better life for their families and their grandchildren and their grandchildren's children. In that, they succeeded.

Over the past decade, but especially over the past two years, we've done everything imaginable to wreck that promise and spit on their hard work. We've gone from a nation that celebrated the independent spirit to a nation that seeks to make more families than ever dependent on government. We've gone from a nation that did a poor job of overseeing certain aspects of the financial market, to a country bent on overregulating and intruding in everything; from the life-saving treatments doctors can offer their patients to the pay of private sector employees, from subsidizing inefficient energy to injecting cash into failing companies.

The path our current leaders have laid out for us is fraught with peril. It goes against the exact principles that America was founded on. A blip in our economy has been turned into a crisis of political opportunity for those who wish to change this nation forever (as White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel said, "Never let a crisis go to waste.") Rather than adjust for the terrain and steer the ship gently forward, they wish to change our course completely. They see a large, centrally planned government as the solution to all our problems, but the exact opposite is true. Big Government is the problem, and it is making our economy and our way of life progressively worse.

When a large, centrally planned government picks winners and losers, the only winners are special interests and lobbyists. When a large, centrally planned government attempts to control and ration resources, it rations and controls prosperity. When a large, centrally planned government prohibits risks, it stifles entrepreneurship. And when a large, centrally planned government tries to ensure not equal opportunity for all, but instead an equal outcome for every individual regardless of their decisions, it tramples on personal liberties.

The hopes and dreams of Americans don't rest in the hands of bureaucrats. The American Dream doesn't rely on the creation of a new czar or government agency. The American Dream rests in the freedom of the individual and the hands of the people. We got to where we are today because of these values, not despite them, and we did it without the interference of a huge, overbearing nanny state. America isn't great because of our government or because our government knows best. America is great, because we, the people, are the government.

Never in my lifetime has the government ignored the will of the people as much as it does today. Never in my lifetime has the leadership in Washington attempted to confiscate and control as much private wealth as this government has attempted to take over. Never in my lifetime has a president organized his own army of protesters to demonstrate against those who protest his policies. During this unspeakable process, I have watched the economy tank, businesses close, and investors and consumers pull their money out of the suddenly not-so-free markets. As a small business owner, I now face the difficult decision of closing my shop or trying to salvage something out of this wretched and hostile business environment.

The American economy can't recover until the American spirit recovers. The American spirit can't recover until we dare to dream again, to imagine the impossible. To imagine the impossible, we must remove the constraints that we constantly place on the individual and the entrepreneur. We must not just protect our freedoms, we must encourage them to flourish.

We must stop enabling an obese and unfettered government to take resources away from hard-working families and communities. We must stop collecting the high taxes that we confiscate from our most successful people and businesses, for these are often the same people that have the resources to bet on visionary ideas and invest in research and development. This is a nation that put a man on the moon and invented the airplane and the computer. These are amazing accomplishments that were once considered impossible, spurred by visionaries encouraged to take risks. Where are the dreamers that can spur this innovation tomorrow?

Today, the dreamers are hindered by an ideology that is more concerned with restricting and taking from successful enterprises than encouraging new ones. They are hampered by a bureaucracy that rewards dependency. The poison that keeps our spirit barren and our economic soil from being fertile is called progressivism. It is the most tempting, most abused, and misguided ideology in the world.

Progressivism preys on the human heart. It takes the compassion we feel for those less fortunate than ourselves and uses it against us, not by encouraging us to give but instead by encouraging us to take. It teaches people to covet, to not be generous with the fruits of their own labor, but to start counting and redistributing other people's wealth. As a result, an economy of abundance is turned into a nation of hoarders. People hang on to their possessions more dearly. They become greedy and the state becomes even greedier. After all, the state has been granted license to steal.

Progressivism encourages man to play God. It is an ideology that seeps in where spiritual fulfillment is weakest. It usurps religion and grants man the power to experiment socially with the lives of fellow human beings in order to "fix" perceived injustices. It removes choices, both moral and personal, along with their consequences, from the person. The state institution will see you through now. It steps on the rights of the individual in the name of the greater good. If one man's rights can be threatened, any man's rights can be threatened, and as a result no one's rights are protected except for tyrants.

It is this ideology that Barack Obama and the far left have chosen to inject into the bloodstream of our nation. Not because they mean harm, but because the chance to play God is too seductive. The road to hell is always paved with good intentions. That is why progressivism is the most dangerous type of tyranny that exists. It is as far from our founding documents and the Declaration of Independence as you can imagine. It hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried, and it will divide our nation. It will destroy the spirited work ethic that we hold so valuable. Even Democrats such as Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt warned against it's unintended consequences. "Continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber... a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit."

That was in 1935. Today, we find ourselves much further down the slippery slope of government dependence. After years of social engineering and endless entitlement programs, we are much closer to economic bankruptcy and moral disintegration than ever. We are in the midst of a huge spiritual drought. If ever there was a time to renew and restore our faith in free enterprise, fiscal responsibility, limited government, independence, and God, that time is now. Let freedom ring.