Quick Hits: Volume LX

- In this Presidential election cycle, there are no shortage of serious issues to discuss/debate.

• Our country is currently running $1 trillion deficits annually, with the National Debt now a staggering $16 trillion.
• The September jobs report just released showed a second consecutive month of the U-6 unemployment rate at an abysmal 14.7%. 
• In addition to the awful scene at our consulate in Benghazi, Libya last month, the Middle East looks continually unstable with rising tensions between Syria and Turkey.

With those scenarios a mere snapshot of the myriad issues facing this country, where does President Barack Obama and his minions choose to direct their focus? Yep, you guessed it. Big Bird.

Apparently the leftists are in an uproar over GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney declaring the following in last week's debate:

What things would I cut from spending? Well, first of all, I will eliminate all programs by this test, if they don't pass it: Is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? And if not, I'll get rid of it. Obamacare's on my list.

I'm sorry, Jim (Lehrer of PBS - ed.), I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I'm going to stop other things. I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too. But I'm not going to -- I'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for.

Leave it the indomitable Mark Steyn to put this whole saga in to perspective.

Mitt's decision to strap Big Bird to the roof of his station wagon and drive him to Canada has prompted two counter-arguments from Democrats: 1) half a billion dollars is a mere rounding error in the great sucking maw of the federal budget, so why bother? 2) everybody loves Sesame Street, so Mitt is making a catastrophic strategic error. On the latter point, whether or not everybody loves Sesame Street, everybody has seen it, and every American under 50 has been weaned on it. So far this century it's sold nigh on a billion bucks' worth of merchandising sales (that's popular toys such as the Subsidize-Me-Elmo doll). If Sesame Street is not commercially viable, then nothing is, and we should just cut to the chase and bail out everything.

Conversely, if this supposed "public" broadcasting brand is capable on standing on its own, then so should it. As for the rest of PBS's output – the eternal replays of the Peter, Paul & Mary reunion concert, twee Brit sitcoms, Lawrence Welk reruns and therapeutic infomercials – whatever their charms, it is difficult to see why the Brokest Nation in History should be borrowing money from the Chinese Politburo to pay for it. A system by which a Communist Party official in Beijing enriches British comedy producers by charging it to American taxpayers with interest is not the most obvious economic model. Yet, as Obama would say, the government did build that.

Is it that big of a surprise that Obama and his ilk look to keep people looking at life through a Sesame Street prism? After all, these are the same folks essentially encouraging young people to live at home until age 26.


- My Minnesota Vikings are 4-1 and tied for first place atop the NFC North Division.

Just typing that sentence leaves me utterly stupefied.

I had my favorite NFL club winning five, maybe six games the entire season. Barring an epic collapse, they will exceed my expectations. With the nice start, does this mean the Vikings are playoff bound? Eh, I'm not quite ready to make that proclamation. While their defensive unit (which, in my opinion, was the biggest concern coming in to the season) has more than held their own thus far, they have very little depth. A significant injury to, say, a Jared Allen, Chad Greenway, Harrison Smith or Chris Cook would present a very difficult (if not untenable) situation.

On the offensive side of the ball, you take away Percy Harvin and the Vikes would be fortunate to eclipse 300 yards of total offense per game. While I believe QB Christian Ponder is progressing fine, he doesn't seem to take a lot of shots down the field (not that the Vikings have a lot of receivers who can gain separation from defenders). Whether that's due to the game plan of Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave or Ponder himself checking down too quickly is open for speculation.

Whatever the case, I'm just going to enjoy this implausible start for as long as possible. Oh, and I'm trying not to even think about the final six regular season games when the Vikings schedule is as follows: at CHI, at GB, vs CHI, at STL, at HOU, vs GB.

Yikes!


- The 56 Club, an organization founded in the spirit of the 56 very courageous signers of our magnificent Declaration of Independence, will be convening their annual Fall Cruise this Sunday, October 14 aboard the Majestic Star. My radio station, AM 1280 The Patriot, will be sponsoring this event with the Northern Alliance Radio Network's own Ed Morrissey as M.C. and yours truly conducting my Sunday broadcast live from 1:00 pm until 3:00 CT. And did I mention a very special guest speaker to help us "Celebrate America?"

Here's some more good news: There are still tickets available for this event, which includes a cruise around the scenic St. Croix River Valley, great food, door prizes, a cash bar and, best of all, association with great Americans!

For more information on how you can partake in the festivities, click this link.

Hope to see you there!

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