Author: Jane Chastain

The Kitchen Gestapo

The verdict is in:  Michelle Obama’s school lunch program is about as popular and cost-effective as her husband’s “unAffordable Care Act”  and much more wasteful.

Doubtful?  Just look in the garbage cans at your local public school cafeteria.  A new report from the General Accounting Office confirms that the new standards for the school lunch championed by the first lady have not only been a nightmare for officials responsible for planning the menus and sourcing the food, but they have resulted in higher costs and much more waste.

In short:  students won’t eat the food.  Contrary to the popular belief perpetrated by liberals promoting the nanny state, hunger is not a problem in the United States.  Those who have spent time in third world countries where it is will tell you that hungry children will eat anything that is put before them. Continue reading “The Kitchen Gestapo” →

Bundy, Sterling and Kerry: A Trio of Fools

Over this past week, the news has been dominated by a series of inappropriate, racist remarks.

First, there was Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who had achieved near rock star status by standing up to the feds over burdensome grazing fees.  After drawing support from militia groups to the halls of Congress, the rancher was overcome with his new-found popularity and sense of self-importance.  When he held a press conference and suggested that black Americans were better off as slaves than under our present welfare system, his supporters fled like cockroaches exposed to the light.

Then, along came Donald Sterling, the cavorting owner of the Los Angeles Clippers who was caught on tape, allegedly asking a girlfriend not to bring blacks to the games or post pictures with them on Facebook.  Sterling was quickly condemned by President Barack Obama and Clipper sponsors begin pulling their ads.

Bundy (once) was enjoying his five minutes of fame and in the process showed his prejudice.  He rightfully suffered public scorn and his cause (too much federal control over too much public land) regrettably is lost.

Sterling, who is no angel, may or may not be guilty of his alleged crime but he has been banished from the NBA and has been ordered to sell his team.

Put it in perspective:  These are simply two old codgers caught in a time warp.  No matter how hard we try, we never will eliminate the last racist or sexist thought.  It is impossible.   Continue reading “Bundy, Sterling and Kerry: A Trio of Fools” →

The Yellow Dog Voter

There is a saying that originated in the southeastern portion of the United States that explains why this country is in decline:  “I’d vote for a yellow dog if he (or she) was a Democrat.”  The meaning is simple; no Republican is going to get my vote.  No way.  No how!

As the Democratic Party began moving left, away from the principles that were embraced by religious conservatives in the south, a blue dog coalition of more moderate Democrats was formed.  Although this group of lawmakers has attempted to show independence from its liberal leaders, the blue dogs essentially have been swimming upstream.

Unfortunately, Democrats don’t have a monopoly on the “yellow dog” intractable kind of voter.  If the truth be known, most voters have never read their party’s platform or know the issues that define it.  They blindly adopt the party label of their parents or have accepted a slogan or sound bite as absolute truth. Continue reading “The Yellow Dog Voter” →

Blood Moons, Death and Taxes

It may just be a coincidence that the first of the tetrad of blood moons  — four total solar eclipses that will occur every six months for the next eighteen —  fell on Passover, April 15, and those that follow also fall on major Jewish holy days.  Nevertheless, it has our attention.

A tetrad of blood moons is a rare phenomenon which has occurred only eight times in the last 2000 years.  These tetrads often occur around significant world-changing events.    A tetrad of blood moons occurred around Jewish holy days in A.D. 32 and 33 when Jesus was crucified.  The last tetrad occurred in 1967 during the Six-Day War. Continue reading “Blood Moons, Death and Taxes” →

The IPCC’s Global Warming Baloney and Noah (A new wave of Hot Air)

Call me a skeptic, but isn’t it a coincidence that the latest fear mongering report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change came out on the heels of the world-wide premiere of Noah, Hollywood’s latest big-budget disaster movie?

The former was produced by a group of UN hack scientists who all make a living off government grants, either directly or indirectly.  The latter was directed by Darren Aronofsky, an atheist who turned the biblical account of the flood brought about by God because of widespread immorality into a movie about man’s degradation of the environment.

The message in both this report and the movie is that “It’s not nice to mess with Mother Nature.”  The implication in the film is that man’s sin was disrespecting the planet and the movie gives us a taste of what is in store if we don’t shape up.   Continue reading “The IPCC’s Global Warming Baloney and Noah (A new wave of Hot Air)” →

The Hot and Cold War

Russia’s President Vladimer Putin is hot, red hot.

United States’ president Brack Obama is cold, stone cold.

After Russia’s takeover of Crimea, Putin is more popular than ever in the motherland.  After Obama’s capitulation, his poll numbers are at an all-time low.

The buff, bare-chested Putin, a former martial arts master and K.G.B. colonel, has attained rock-star status. Meanwhile, his lanky American counterpart, the former community organizer and pick-up basketball player, looks weak and strangely out of place in a world where the strong survive and the weak get trampled.

If this were bowling, Putin just had a 300 game, while his opponent rolled nothing but gutter balls.  If it were baseball, Putin pitched a perfect game while Obama struck out.   Continue reading “The Hot and Cold War” →

McConnell’s Ill-Timed “Fighting Words”

One thing coaches fear is a player with a loose tongue.  He may say something derogatory about an opposing team that can be used to gin up the opposition on the eve of a big game.  Over the years, these “fighting words” have inspired many weaker teams to prevail over stronger, cocky opponents.

Feeling his oats after a brief appearance before the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) committed such a faux pas during an interview with The New York Times which was published Saturday.

McConnell and two other Republican senators with questionable conservative credentials are facing strong Tea Party-backed challengers in their primaries this year. McConnell simply could not hide his disdain.  “I think we are going to crush them everywhere,” he told the Times.  “I don’t think they are going to have a single nominee anywhere in the country.”    Continue reading “McConnell’s Ill-Timed “Fighting Words”” →

The Bullies Won in Arizona (and are on their way to your state)

Nobody likes a bully.  In the movies, we cheer as the bullies are defeated but in real life we often give into them simply because no one likes to be bullied.   We take the road of least resistance, even when it means giving up important, even sacred ground.

Such was the case in Arizona when Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a most reasonable bill updating the state’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act”  to clarify two ambiguities in the state’s law which was modeled after the federal REFRA signed by Bill Clinton.   Specifically, this new version made it clear that one’s “free exercise of religion” does not stop when you run a business.  And that this “free exercise” not only protects you against the government but civil legal action as well.

Recently, business owners have been forced to go to great expense to defend their right to operate in a way that will not compromise the moral values they hold dear.  The lawsuits brought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Woods against Obamacare’s birth control mandate are two of the most visible.   The U.S. Supreme Court will decide these cases next summer.

Ready or not, this issue is headed your way.   Continue reading “The Bullies Won in Arizona (and are on their way to your state)” →

Republicans more Fun than Democrats

In a recent New York magazine interview, Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels revealed an interesting fact that gives us some insight as to why late night TV hosts are more likely to demean Republicans than Democrats.  “Republicans are easier for us than Democrats,” said Michaels.  “Democrats tend to take it personally; Republicans think it’s funny.”

In other words, Democrats have no sense of humor.  They take themselves much too seriously while Republicans can laugh at themselves. Continue reading “Republicans more Fun than Democrats” →