Remember Chris Christie, the Republican who defeated Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey last year? Well, here’s his address to a joint session of the New Jersey legislature about the budget crisis there. I can’t embed the video, so you’ll have to go over and watch it. I have to agree with Hunter Baker’s assessment (hat tip to him for the link to the speech) that this speech is “one of the most astounding speeches and demonstrations of leadership I have ever seen.” It really is worth the time to watch because it represents everything that we’re not seeing out of the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress with regards to fiscal honesty and responsibility.

To give you an idea of the magnitude of the problem in New Jersey, the annual state budget is currently around $17 billion. However, New Jersey has $90 billion in unfunded pension and medical benefit costs. Gov. Christie points out that New Jersey would have to spend $7 billion every year going forward — nearly half of its annual budget — to make those unfunded pension and medical costs good.  ..bruce..

You knew this was coming — at least, that was one of my first thoughts upon seeing the original “Demon Sheep” ad. However, much to my delight, they used a different sequence from “Downfall” than you usually see. Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit. ..bruce w..

This is a long (too long) political ad dealing with the California Senate race. But just hang in there until 2:20 or so, and you will witness something truly priceless. Initial hat tip to Ace of Spades, but you’re going to be stumbling across this thing all over the net for the next few days. Just remember two words: demon sheep.

Oh, and get the t-shirt before it sells out (or gets a DMCA take-down notice).

UPDATE

The Chuck DeVore campaign people (he’s the 3rd Republican candidate in this race), recognizing a golden opportunity when they see it, have jumped in with both feet. Heh.  ..bruce..

[Welcome to all and sundry coming over from Ace of Spades.]

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Web daily mailing comes this posting from the DOJ Civil Rights Division for a Voting Section trial attorney:

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Applicants must possess a J.D. degree, be an active member of the bar in good standing (any jurisdiction), and have a minimum of three (3) years post-J.D. experience. Applicants must have substantial litigation experience, such as handling discovery, litigation strategy, motions practice, brief writing, interviewing witnesses, taking and defending depositions, trial preparation, trial practice, and negotiations. Applicants must have excellent interpersonal skills, be mature and self sufficient, communicate effectively orally and in writing, and possess excellent professional judgment.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

In addition, the following qualifications are preferred: (1) substantive knowledge of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and other statutes enforced by the section; (2) familiarity with the various analytical approaches utilized to review voting changes under Section 5 of the VRA; (3) experience investigating and/or litigating voting rights or civil rights cases; (4) federal judicial experience; (5) experience serving as the lead attorney in federal court cases; (6) familiarity with statistical methodologies used in civil rights cases; (6) and fluency in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, or vietnamese languages.

Sounds pretty stringent. But then a few paragraphs down is this (emphasis mine):

The Civil Rights Division encourages qualified applicants with targeted disabilities to apply. Targeted disabilities are deafness, blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralysis, convulsive disorder, mental retardation, mental illness, severe distortion of limbs and/or spine. Applicants who meet the qualification requirements and are able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation are encouraged to identify targeted disabilities in response to the questions in the Avue application system seeking that information. For additional information for applicants with targeted disabilities, please contact the Civil Rights Division’s Disability Program Manager, Diane Petrie, at (202) 514-3934; see also http://www.jan.wvu.edu/LEAD/index.htm and http://www.opm.gov/disability/PeopleWithDisabilities.asp.

Isn’t there an inherent conflict between the required and preferred qualifications and those targeted disabilities? Then again, perhaps not in the current DOJ. ..bruce w..

[Here are two other recent ASIP posts you may want to check out: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Obama as Zaphod Beeblebrox.]

A wonderful video with a big hat tip to Gerard Van der Leun over at American Digest.  ..bruce w..

In the fall of 2008, in a political discussion with a friend, she asked if I was worried about Obama being elected. I said no, for various reasons. First, I felt (wrongly, in retrospect) that Obama, like Bill Clinton, would largely govern from the center. Second, I had (and have) a lot of trust in the resiliency of American society and government. And third, I explained, I believe in the syrup-of-ipecac theory. “Ipecac?”, my friend replied. Yes — the stuff you take to induce vomiting in cases of poisoning. It is my observation that when leaders and legislators push too far in one direction, particularly the wrong direction, the public revolts, throwing up all they’ve been asked to swallow.

Well, it’s started. Between Scott Brown winning the Massachusetts race, Air America filing for bankruptcy, and the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs. the FEC, America has been collectively bent over their toilet bowls this week, throwing up what the Left has been feeding them (or stuffing down their throats, like geese being force-fed for fois gras) for the last several years.

It remains to be seen if this week’s events are just a passing queasiness or merely the prelude to a massive technicolor yawn into the porcelain throne this coming fall.  ..bruce w..

Best $200 I ever spent. I’m going to be smiling for days.

Contrary to a lot of the spin coming out of the Left, here’s what Rasmussen found:

In the end, Brown pulled off the upset in large part because he won unaffiliated voters by a 73% to 25% margin. The senator-elect also picked up 23% of the vote from Democrats. [Our polling shows that 53% of voters in Massachusetts are Democrats, 21% Republican and 26% not affiliated with either party.]

Coakley also barely carried a usually reliable Democratic constituency. Union workers went for her by just six points, 52% to 46%.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters in the state say health care was the most important factor in their voting decision. Brown made it clear in the closing days of the campaign that he intended to go to Washington to vote against the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats.

Twenty-five percent (25%) of Massachusetts voters say the economy was most important.

Forty-seven percent (47%) favor the health care legislation before Congress while 51% oppose it. However, the intensity was clearly with those who are opposed. Just 25% of voters in Massachusetts Strongly Favor the plan while 41% Strongly Oppose it.

Fifty percent (50%) say it would be better to pass no health care legislation at all rather than passing the bill before Congress.

And as a reminder: “No, they’re not going to see this coming.”

2010 is shaping up to be a very interesting year.  ..bruce w..

Dana Loesch over at Big Government has a great roundup of the most underreported stories of 2009. Anyone reading this blog is probably familiar with most of the ten (10) stories she lists. Those who rely upon traditional network news (i.e., anything other than Fox) or newspapers are unlikely to be aware of any of them, except in the most passing and dismissive sense. Go read the whole thing — but first, try to guess what they are. ..bruce w..

If you’re not aware, the title of this post is how members of the United States Senate refer to themselves and their institution. I’d like to see any one of those 60 Democrats say that with a straight face anymore.  ..bruce w..

A big hat tip to Andrew Malcom over at Top of the Ticket (one of the best political blogs on the web) for posting this video.  ..bruce w..