2016

The Beer:  Bad Santa is aging before bottling.

The Bicycle:  I plan to get up on the trainer pretty soon here.  I want to be ready for next year's riding season.

The VRWC:  

I saw D'Souza's documentary last night.  His presentation I did not consider "Obama-bashing", but rather a look at the research and conclusions through the eyes of a man who had grown up in the Third World with an eye to defining the current President.

There were too many holes in the "marxist", "muslim", "Soros-puppet" memes. But if you look at it from the viewpoint of anti-neo-colonialism, everything makes sense. For example, now the "99%" stuff makes sense, because on a global scale, wealth is largely divided up that way. The seemingly inconceivable regulations and executive orders that, to anyone with half a brain will only make our lives worse now come closely into focus such that every detail is abundantly clear.  The ill-gotten gains of the neo-colonialist United States has brought undeserved wealth which must be repatriated to the rightful owners (i.e. those countries from which it was "stolen").  The love for the United Nations which will make all things right for the Third World by repatriating that wealth through schemes like Kyoto, Rio and Copenhagen now makes complete sense.  The gutting of the military and his hatred for them is also now understandable for they are the instrument of that oppression and theft.  And think about this for a minute: The reason Democrats flock to him is because they ALSO believe the United States is a colonizing power. "No Blood for Oil".

The fact is that the United States has never permanently colonized and subjugated a conquered foe. If the opposite were true, the US would have cheap oil, no shortages of other minerals and we would all be living like kings.  This neo-colonialist fantasy that the Left has is just that.  They know better, but in their incessant drive to make everything and everyone "equal", they have to believe the fantasy.  There can be no other answer to them because "you didn't build this".  The only way anyone gets ahead is by "exploiting" others.  Therefore, the only way the United States became such as it is is through exploiting other countries.

Of course, none of this is true.  The United States admittedly has done some things at the expense of other countries (Banana Republics come to mind), but they were minor and short-lived.  The United States has become a wealthy country, as has its citizens through trade, innovation and development.  Were it different, the Marsall Plan would not have been developed.  We would have continued to occupy the conquered following WWII and helped ourselves to their resources.  But instead, they were rebuilt with our money to provide us with trading partners.

The United States is the "good" in the world.