Whether you hunt lions, Grizzlies, or men, there is a moment that defines the hunt; a mere split second can mean the difference between success or cataclysmic failure.

I was recently lion hunting in Colorado, it was a beautiful day in the mountains: the sun was bright, there was a few inches of fresh lightly packed snow, and the temperatures were in the twenties; of course, the temperature dropped with increases in elevation.

The snow was perfect for reading sign and there were plenty of Mountain Lions on the mountain, but the fresh tracks were from cats that were too small; still, it was a pleasure to see that the main predator of Colorado was thriving and that there would be excellent hunting in the future. The big cats were hanging out somewhere else, and more specifically the mature males with the brown patch on their rump were probably checking out the real cougars for liaisons of a more delicate nature; for it would soon be the season for lion humpy-rumpy if memory serves correctly. I think back to the time, many years ago, when an amorous cougar thought I looked pretty sexy in the moonlight, with a big boar beaver strapped to my back and walking on thin rotten ice over a wild river in flood; but that’s the kind of hunting story my fellow hunters like to hear at night around the fire after a couple shots of rye.

We were hunting in perfect conditions, and we were seeing many tracks, but none were worthy of a spirited chase by the hounds. Only the large tom lion is considered fair game, and they were either hiding or having a convention somewhere else in the mountains; this is why they call it hunting, and it is the mark of an amateur to become frustrated and not enjoy the beauty of the day and the mountains.

During the same period in Idaho, a similar scene was taking place, but on this trip the hounds man had a hunter who wanted to kill a cat with a bow. The bow is a primitive weapon and a legitimate weapon; it has been used effectively by hunters for several thousand years. I have nothing against bow hunting; I have enjoyed bow hunting and may yet hunt, once again, with a bow in the future, but hunting with a bow requires familiarity and practice to be competent. Primitive man depended on the bow to avoid starvation. We are no longer faced with such a demanding lifestyle, but hunters have a responsibility to provide a clean death and not to endanger himself or others with unwarranted danger because of his unfamiliarity with the bow.

On this particular hunt, as related to me by a rancher friend from Idaho, who has a friend with a pack of hounds, who makes a business of guiding lion hunters. His hunter waited until the hounds had a large lion treed before stringing his bow and notching an arrow to take aim. Normally, a cat will stay in the tree and not challenge a pack of five hounds, but depending on predictable behavior from wild animals is like trying to predict human behavior.

This cat jumped into the pack of hounds, while our hunter was still preparing his bow for the climax of the hunt, the cat killed four of the five hounds in the length of time an arrow would have needed to reach the cat. The huntsman’s best hound quit the melee and opted for the old parable of discretion being the better part of valor, before having his carotid ripped open. Then the cat quit the scene of carnage, and our hunter was still struggling to string his bow.

When people have asked me about the dangers of Grizzly hunting, I tell them it’s not as dangerous as you might think, but you just need to realize, some days you kill the bear and on other days, the bear kills you.

It would be funny, except it is closer to the truth than you may realize. We Conservatives are now engaged in a presidential primary; a primary that is as interesting and as dangerous as lion or bear hunting. We have the media and our Republican Elites trying to select our candidate without us and if we take too long to string our bows and notch our arrows or opinions, they may select our candidate without our input and we will have essentially been killed, for all practical purposes.

al-Silm (i.e. “Islam”) means “surrender”

To: NATIONAL AND RELIGION EDITORS

Blog contained threats of violence like ‘I want [Muslim] blood on my hands’

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced today that an anti-Muslim Internet hate site that contained a number of threats of violence targeting mosques, including the comment “I want [Muslim] blood on my hands,” has been taken down by its hosting company.

CAIR said visitors to “Bare Naked Islam,” hosted by WordPress.com, now see the message: “barenakedislam.wordpress.com is no longer available. This blog has been archived or suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service.”

[NOTE: "Bare Naked Islam" was one of the major promoters of the campaign to pressure Lowe's to drops its ads from TLC's "All-American Muslim."]

Last month, CAIR called on the FBI to investigate the threats of violence targeting mosques posted on the blog and urged WordPress.com to remove it for violating the hosting company’s terms of service (TOS), which prohibit blogs that “contain threats or incite violence towards individuals or entities.” Articles and comments posted on “Bare Naked Islam” urged attacks on and desecration of American and European mosques.

via Jim Hoft

Glenn Reynolds:

“Shame on WordPress for giving in”

and he points out CAIR’s connections to terrorism.

Shame on WordPress indeed. The Religion of Perpetual Umbrage chips away at the Constitution of the United States with the cooperation of its victims. This also appears to be part of a larger effort to take on Lowe’s for dropping its TLC sponsorship.

Even though CAIR has a history of fabricating hate crimes one can expect the Hamas-linked organization to continue its efforts to Islamify the United States. It’s next most recent achievement is to force the JROTC to allow the wearing of Islamic headwear while in uniform . Meanwhile we kuffar still are threatened with incarceration for using the words “join in prayer,” “bow their heads,” “amen,” and “prayer,” “invocation” and “benediction” during school events.

Expect more of this in the future.

Keep an eye out for the following Obama pet poodles:

Ezra Klein, Greg Sargent,Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Frank Bruni, Arianna Huffington, Josh Marshall, Faiz Shakir and Joy Reid.

They were summoned to the White House and they were given their marching orders.

Make everything about racism.

An all-star list of progressive and liberal media folks came to the White House today to chat with President Obama over coffee in the Roosevelt Room.

The group chatted with the president about economic messaging, his agenda for 2012, the various campaign arguments against different GOP candidates, the desire among some Democrats for him to highlight his foreign policy accomplishments, fighting corporate influence and the “crappiness” of the Senate filibuster , as one attendee put it.

Those there included the Washington Post‘s Ezra Klein and Greg Sargent, MSNBC anchors Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow, and Chris Hayes, the Nation’s editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel, the New York Times‘ Frank Bruni, and stars of the interwebs Arianna Huffington, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, Faiz Shakir of ThinkProgress and Joy Reid of The Reid Report.

Back in May I wrote that the 2012 election would have a racism theme dominating it and it’s here in full force. Not stopping for even a cup coffee following the meeting, Josh Marshall sprang into action.

Donald Trump may have left the Republican Party, but he’s staying put in his role as the right’s racial conspiracy theorist-in-chief. On Wednesday, Trump tweeted his endorsement of the latest bit of holiday cheer from the extremist ant-Obama right. As the story goes on more than one conservative blog this week, Obama declined to offer an official statement marking Christmas, but made sure to get one out celebrating Kwanzaa.

This tale is as blatantly racial as it is demonstrably false, and it comes in the grand tradition of accusing Obama of supporting Ramadan over Easter and the old Trump favorite that Obama got into the Ivy League because he’s not white, not because he’s smart.

TPM, via WZ

Marshall joins the dutiful left wing Obama zombie parade already at work. Racism has already reared its ugly head at vanden Heuvel’s Nation, Sargent’s Plum Line, and Klein Wonkblog.

That they are Obama’s pet poodles is all well and good but no one ever ought to insult them by associating the word “journalist” with any of them.

That would be wrong. They’re poodles.

As many of our long-time readers know ChrisG, a former author at Flopping Aces, took his own life in 2009 while suffering from PTSD.

To honor Chris his wife, Shannon Galloway, is walking in the “Out of the Darkness Community Walks to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention” in her local area. She placed a modest amount of $200 dollars as her goal to reach in the fundraiser on behalf of Chris. I’m hoping we can far surpass that. As of this writing she is only $80 dollars short. If you have the time and a few nickles, please consider donating for a great cause, and for Chris.

The description of the organization:

In the United States, a person dies by suicide every 15 minutes, claiming more than 34,000 lives each year. It is estimated that an attempt is made every minute; with close to one million people attempting suicide annually. With your participation, you will not just be walking, and your donors will not just be writing a check – you will be helping to save lives.

By walking in the Out of the Darkness Community Walks to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), you will be walking with thousands of people nationwide to raise money for AFSP’s vital research and education programs to prevent suicide and save lives, increase national awareness about depression and suicide, advocate for mental health issues, and assist survivors of suicide loss.
WHY WE WALK

WALK TO HONOR A LOVED ONE Many walk in memory of a loved one lost to suicide. AFSP provides opportunities for survivors of suicide loss to connect with each other and get involved through a wide variety of educational, outreach, awareness, advocacy and fundraising programs. Each walk site has its own unique remembrance activity in which you can participate to honor a loved one.

WALK TO SUPPORT THE CAUSE Those who have struggled personally with mental illness or suicide, those who come to support a friend or family member, those who are passionate about mental health education and advocacy also participate in the Out of the Darkness Community Walks.

WALK TO RAISE AWARENESS AFSP funds research aimed at improving our understanding of suicide and ways to prevent it as well as educational activities to increase awareness about prevention, warning signs and the psychiatric illnesses that can lead to suicide. People need to be aware of this public health issue.

Please consider donation to Shannon and Chris here.

These are the tools of influential communication.

In order to secure my rightful place as King of the Fobbits, I decided to get m’self a college edumacation during this deployment. Classes don’t start until around 2000, so it doesn’t affect work – so far.

Going to college in a combat zone is a unique situation. So far, classes have been interrupted by two rocket attacks, multiple power outages, and construction of bunkers.

Now tell me how many college students have THAT kind of excitement during their classes back in the states?! Of course, the books aren’t any cheaper over here. I still had to pay over $200 for the two books I needed for my classes. I’m taking Advanced Technical Writing and Intro to Business Management through the University of Maryland University College, if you’re wondering. Maybe it’ll help me write better blogs!

There is an old proverb in the country that is used to describe a man who wastes time and can’t get any thing done. It is said, “He runs around like a man in a silo looking for a corner to piss in.” Our president often reminds me of such a man; although it can be argued he flaunts our traditional system by making the EPA regulations into his own form of tyranny.

President Obama has just sent an email to his supporters, a group growing smaller and consequently requiring less cyber ink with the passage of time.

Obama claims to have a plan to get America back to work and he is asking for a joint session of congress to explain the plan.

He explains that it is ultimately up to congress to implement his plan and do what they were elected to do; apparently, in his opinion they were elected to be his rubber stamp.

Friend –

Today I asked for a joint session of Congress where I will lay out a clear plan to get Americans back to work.

Next week, I will deliver the details of the plan and call on lawmakers to pass it. Whether they will do the job they were elected to do is ultimately up to them.

But both you and I can pressure them to do the right thing. We can send the message that the American people are playing by the rules and meeting their responsibilities—and it’s time for our leaders in Congress to meet theirs. And we must hold them accountable if they don’t.

So I’m asking you to stand with me in calling on Congress to step up and take action on jobs:

http://my.barackobama.com/Time-To-Act

No matter how things go in the weeks and months ahead, this will be an important challenge for our organization.

It’s been a long time since Congress was focused on what the American people need them to be focused on. I know that you’re frustrated by that. I am, too. That’s why I’m putting forward a set of bipartisan proposals to help grow the economy and create jobs—that means strengthening our small businesses, giving needed breaks to middle-class families, while taking responsible steps to bring down our deficit. I’m asking lawmakers to look past short-term politics and take action on that plan. But we’ve got to do this together.

I will deliver this message to Congress next week, but I’m asking you to stand alongside me today:

http://my.barackobama.com/Time-To-Act

More to come,

Barack

I am sure the witless hordes are waiting breathlessly for marching orders from Dear Reader and I am sure they are impressed with the personal message that was written by one of his erudite saps he keeps around for the trivial and mundane tasks, like writing a note that people can read and understand.

He is on the ropes. He wasted two years with a health care plan that is a debacle and will hopefully be rewritten or thrown down the outhouse hole, and while he tied his useless and fiscally ruinous dream around the neck of the American public, he ignored the job crisis. Now he takes a public relations nightmare of an elitist vacation in a $50,000 a week resort, expecting America to pick up the tab and with total arrogance he and his wife fly out on separate jets spaced three hours apart, but in all fairness, he was concentrating on a plan to put America to work and his golf game. After giving our Affirmative Action President the benefit of the doubt for two years, it is time to unload on this dilettante who lives the life of luxury while unemployment edges closer to double digits.

He is blaming congress for his own inability to do something constructive, after he had control of both houses for two years.

He can run in circles for the next 14 months, but there are no magic corners in that silo of stupidity and arrogance.

Barack Obama has made an enormous error and squandered a magnificent opportunity. And perhaps we ought to be grateful.

As has been pointed out here frequently, Obama thinks of no one more highly than himself. Skook has referred to Obama as the Narcissist in Chief. Searching for “Obama ego” yields 17 million hits, such as:

Obama’s swelling ego

The ego factor: Can Barack Obama change?

And this one

Ego, Obama’s Achilles’ Heel

And, politically, Obama’s ego could prove to be exactly that.

As has been observed, Barack Obama, who never misses a chance to blame George Bush for everything, could not share with George Bush any of the credit for putting an end to Osama Bin Laden. Obama’s ego would not allow it.

And there is the lost opportunity for Obama.

Had Obama shown an ounce of grace, he could virtually have guaranteed his re-election. Had he extended to Bush the courtesy and kindness of sharing this triumph Obama would have magnified himself as a statesman. He would have made himself- and it’s difficult for me to say this- admirable. All the rancor that currently flows around this event would have been dampened thoroughly, and some of us might have fewer posts to write.

It would have been Obama’s “Shock and Awe.”

Condoleeza Rice is right. Both Presidents deserve credit. But Obama has once more shown himself to be a small, petty, egotistical and egocentric man. He has squandered what could have been the greatest of triumphs- not just of Bin Laden, but over his critics.

This could prove to be the greatest of Obama failures.

“Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur” the world wishes to be deceived, so let it be deceived.

President Obama was incredulous that the protest at a San Francisco Fund Raiser was filmed by a media person; after all, he controls and directs media, academia, the unions, and Democrats. To break this code is an invitation to bring on the wrath of Obama or to be disallowed or banished from participation in the Obamanation. Liberals and Progressives cower at the thought of being forsaken by the Obama, yet one and her employer dared to stand against the power of Obama, they invoked the First Amendment and called him liar.

In the Greek Myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Jason had no pretensions that he controlled the dragon. He knew the dragon was dangerous and unpredictable. A mistake could cost him his life, but he had courage and he believed in himself, but his beliefs were based on past performances and not on the fawning of sycophants from the media, academia, his administration, and his entitlement classes who consider him god of all handouts. The false courage and conviction of an arrogant Narcissist hardly compares to the confidence of a man who has already accomplished heroic feats and is a true leader of men.

Jason had only to wait one more day to gain the Golden Fleece, but Medea the king’s daughter entered the camp of the Argonaughts to warn them that her father planned to set upon them in the morning with an overwhelming force and destroy them. She offered to guide Jason to the Golden Fleece that he had rightfully earned by completing the tasks given him.

His men prepared their ship, the Argo, for a quick departure; while, Jason and Medea left to retrieve the Golden Fleece. They had to charm the fire and poison breathing dragon to secure the fleece, but Medea was confident she could charm the monster. Using a soft, low chant she sang to the monster and when she was close enough she sprinkled a mixture of honey and herbs into his eyes. The dragon fell into a deep slumber and Jason stepped over him to collect the Golden Fleece from where it hung on a tree and he turned for home.

Medea grabbed him and cried,

Well for thee that canst speed homeward to friends and honor! But woe is me, poor maiden, whom father will slay when he knows how I helped the stranger against him.

Jason: Fly with me Medea, as my bride, without whose aid I might have gone back dishonored. Thus I shall bear home with two treasures for one, and be most envied among the sons of Greece. Speak, wilt thou share my fortune?

In the myth of Jason, Medea and Jason went back to his home to live out their lives in nuptial nirvana.

Obama has given the reporter the same promise in a metaphorical sense: “If you want to share in the glory of Obamanation, you must not buck my system. The rules of journalism state that thou shalt not be so foolish as to publish damaging video material so close to an election.

The magic potion doesn’t work for everyone.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In a pants-on-fire moment, the White House press office today denied anyone there had issued threats to remove Carla Marinucci and possibly other Hearst reporters from the press pool covering the President in the Bay Area.

Chronicle editor Ward Bushee called the press office on its fib:
Sadly, we expected the White House to respond in this manner based on our experiences yesterday. It is not a truthful response. It follows a day of off-the-record exchanges with key people in the White House communications office who told us they would remove our reporter, then threatened retaliation to Chronicle and Hearst reporters if we reported on the ban, and then recanted to say our reporter might not be removed after all.

The Chronicle’s report is accurate.

If the White House has indeed decided not to ban our reporter, we would like an on-the-record notice that she will remain the San Francisco print pool reporter.

I was on some of those calls and can confirm Ward’s statement.

Messy ball now firmly in White House court.

The media loving Obama, who likes to appear as a savvy cosmopolitan man about town is showing his thuggish genetics wedded with a generous serving of hypocrisy and a willingness to lie over the most minor issues, all in the interests of gaining political advantage over the most trivial details.

The reporter went against White House instructions and filmed the impromptu event and the White House is in a snit; however, if there had been an assassination attempt, would the White House instruct everyone to use their flip phones because conditions had changed.

Obama tried to smooth over the damage without a teleprompter; as usual, he sounded like an even bigger jerk than if he would have let it dissolve away.

“The main reason we wanted to do this is, first of all, because more and more people, especially young people, are getting their information through different media. And historically, part of what makes for a healthy democracy, what is good politics, is when you’ve got citizens who are informed, who are engaged.”

This is the leader of the Free world explaining why he needs Chavez control over the media. The president or at least his staff were able to run a large part of their campaign using digital media and captured the young demographic, who felt they had a president who actually cared about them. Two years later and with crippling unemployment for young people, they are realizing he cares about their votes and other than that they can drop dead until he needs them again.

It’s obvious he regards this media as his own personal media and it is not to be polluted with damaging or embarrassing videos. Unfortunately, that First Amendment prevents him from usurping all the electronic media for favorable views of him and his campaign.

So sorry, Mr Obama, you ain’t seen nothing yet. You may be bosom buddies with the owners of Facebook and twitter, but the word is out and Americans are more than willing to usurp precious time and material on those medias and use them against you. While you have surrounded yourself with incompetent dolts, a fact that is patently obvious to people who appreciate intellect and wit, we have been sharpening our cyber weapons and preparing for this battle ahead. You will not be engaged in a battle of wits against a man who can’t use a computer; let me assure you, we will come loaded with more than mindless dolts chanting inane slogans. The games are about to begin and may the Socialist lose and be humiliated.

With soaring fuel prices, ever increasing inflation, the world’s rejection of our dollar as its standard, record unemployment, America’s continued reliance on foreign energy when we could be exporting energy, and the loss of America’s credit rating, there are opportunities to score major political points with the American public, people who are staggering from the economic failure and effects of the Obama policies, while we wait hopelessly for Obama’s mythical Green Energy policies to rescue us from unemployment and welfare dependency.

With this amazing opportunity to destroy the Obama Myth, a result of its own ineptness and amateurish failings, our speaker, in a style that reflects the withdrawn and genteel style of our last failed presidential candidate, tiptoes through the tulips rather than running roughshod over broken glass to illustrate the mistakes and failures that Obama continues to inflict on this country; the least among them, is presidential and czar usurpation of power and control that is destroying Constitutional reliance. Democrats would be on a screaming rampage if the situation was reversed and every lucid American would be aware of the failures and impending doom, but in diplomatic fashion, typical of so many lost opportunities to seize the initiative, Boehner whines that Obama needs to get serious about reducing the deficit, by saying President Obama needs to “grow up” in talks over deficit reduction.

In a recent interview, in an uncharacteristic attack on the presidency, he was actually quoted as admitting that he personally trusts the president, but believes he isn’t being honest about Medicare, deficit reduction and taxes.

Boehner speaks out on the bipartisan deficit commission, a panel selected by Obama and ignored by Obama, regarding the controversial report’s recommendation of tax reform, hard spending cuts and reformation of Medicare and Social Security.

“While I didn’t agree with everything they did, there was a lot in their proposal that was worth of consideration. And what did the president do? He took exactly none of his own deficit reduction commission’s ideas. Not one. Come on! It’s time to grow up and get serious about the problems that face our country,”

Reiterating his trust in the president and his willingness to negotiate with him on resolution of the budget, he continued to stress Obama’s strengths like an Axlerod plant at a town hall meeting.

“I get along with him fine,” he said. “I wouldn’t say we’re close friends, but it’s — we’re polite. We get along fine. We look each other in the eye and we’re straight and honest with each other.”

Sounding like a naive gullible rube, Boehner continues to campaign for Obama.

“You know, I met with him, along with the other leaders — before he gave that speech that day. And we had a real honest conversation about raising taxes,” Boehner said.

“And both Senator [Mitch] McConnell and I made it clear to the president we’re not raising taxes. And he seemed to understand that we weren’t going to raise taxes,” he said. “We debated about how we were going to move forward in terms of the kind of changes we’re going to make. And it was a serious conversation.

“Then the president goes out that same afternoon and gives this partisan, political campaign speech — that — frankly, I was — I can’t tell you how disappointed I was in the president in not being honest with the American people about the big problems that we face,” he said. “And the fact that it’s time to own up, fess up and quit whistling past the graveyard.”

Hard hitting opposition?

Boehner conceded that Americans want to tax the rich, but like pouring skim milk into strong coffee; he countered, it would be unfair and hurt the economy. He maintained that Republicans had the Ryan Plan, he took issue with the Democrat claim that it would end Medicare as we know it. The same plan that the president, Boehner’s bosom buddy and confidant, attacked so viciously in his speech, along with other assorted pit bulls of Liberalism. Boehner maintains that the proposed changes will only affect people under 55 years of age and that the changes are similar to Obama’s changes in his own health care bill, passed last year. Now he is really getting tough.

“It’s the old adage that legislators talk about. ‘Don’t tax me, don’t tax me. But tax the man behind the tree,’” he said.

if you want to win this fight and save our country from being overwhelmed in Obama’s plans for International Socialism and third world status for America, you should be willing to fight like your life depends on it and not dance around the problems like a Sunday School teacher. These are more serious issues than the subject of benedictions and church schedules. Socialists and Progressives play for keeps and they want to destroy us. It is time to fight for our freedom and realize that this election either means we wear the yoke of Socialist slavery or keep our Freedom as written by our Constitution and founding fathers.

The truth is we need the metaphorical throat cutter who is willing to expose Obama’s weaknesses and failures: complimenting him is a serious error that only allows the myth to be perpetuated for another day.

Well….CJ ruined the surprise for me. But even though the surprise is ruined I would like to welcome CJ as an author of Flopping Aces. He says we are scrapping the bottom of the barrel, I couldn’t disagree with him more. Getting a active member of our armed forces to take the time to write his thoughts out in a post for all of us read is anything but.

Anyways…I welcome you CJ into the FA family, and pray for you safe return from Afghanistan.

A brand new Flopping Aces icon will be coming your way soon.

Originally posted March 13th

UPDATE

The FA icon is done…what do ya think?