From Rightwing News

Sean Penn is a bona fide useful idiot, we all know. He doesn’t have two synapses to rub together, it is obvious. Unfortunately, though, his every utterance is reported widely by the star-struck media no matter how stupid he is. Lately his foolishness has turned toward supporting one of the worst dictators in the world,…

Sean Penn is a bona fide useful idiot, we all know. He doesn’t have two synapses to rub together, it is obvious. Unfortunately, though, his every utterance is reported widely by the star-struck media no matter how stupid he is. Lately his foolishness has turned toward supporting one of the worst dictators in the world, Hugo Chavez. While sentient people understand that Penn is a grad “A” moron, the fact that he has such a public platform his blather does need to be countered effectively.

In pursuit of countering a useful Hollyweird idiot, a level-headed celebrity actress has come forward to slap down this infant tyro, Penn. Actress Maria Conchita Alonso has penned an open letter to the king of idiots and it’s a good one.

Dear Sean, WHY?

Even though I have great respect for your artistic talent, I was appalled by a recent television interview where you vigorously showed support for the regime of Hugo Chavez. Therefore, I’ve decided to set the record straight for you regarding the Chavez regime, supporting my case based not only on my political ideologies, but on proven facts you choose to ignore. Otherwise, I believe your position would be different.

Being born in Cuba, a country where freedom of speech is non-existent, it’s startling to observe how Venezuela, where I was happily raised, is fast becoming Cuba’s mirror image: Dismantling of fundamental democratic rights deserved by its people and citizens of the world.

For example, you said that all Chavez-winning elections in Venezuela were “transparent.”

Then WHY didn’t the government allow a manual recount of the votes and computer information when doubt set in? After all, how do you explain how these votes that were strongly favoring the opposition mysteriously reflected the opposite results the morning after, thus permitting Chavez to continue on? On what are you basing your conclusions? I strongly recommend that you read a report by the U.S. State Department written in 2009 entitled “The Fraudulent Elections in Venezuela”.
(more…)

from Red Maryland

–Richard E. Vatz

Never, in retrospect, has murder been so unsurprising.

According to those present, Amy Bishop, a bitter, tenure-denied faculty member at The University of Alabama at Huntsville, sat quietly through a faculty meeting, took out a gun after about an hour and began to execute her colleagues, one-by-one. When a colleague, who had on earlier occasion offered Bishop help in her tenure battle, grabbed her to stop the mass murdering, Professor Bishop pointed the gun at the colleague, but it jammed, a stroke of good luck in an otherwise ugly, luckless scene.

Amy Bishop may plead insanity – why not? The mystifying and thoroughly invalid plea (see volumes by psychiatrist Thomas Szasz and endless articles by Jeffrey Schaler and this writer) is part of Americana and is unquestioned as a legitimate concept, although not its specific use, by most citizens.

The plea and its brother – not criminally responsible – stem from theoretical notions that some people, when they kill, lack the capacity to formulate criminal intent.

There is no evidence that anyone who illegally kills someone intentionally lacks criminal intent. How would that be measured outside of mystifying arbitrary interpretation by professionals legally enfranchised to do so, like psychologists and psychiatrists?

Irrespective of your feelings regarding people’s lacking the volition to murder, Amy Bishop did not. She was a miserable human being – miserable to neighbors, kids, colleagues and others – throughout her life. She killed her 18-year-old brother after an argument in 1986 and tried to escape, using a shotgun to try to commandeer a car from a Ford dealership. Why wasn’t she charged in 1986? No one knows, but her mother testified that it was an accident.

In 1993 she was a major suspect in the attempted murder of a Harvard Medical School professor who upset Bishop due to a negative evaluation.

In the current killings Professor Bishop was reputedly outraged at not receiving tenure. Tenure decisions often involve more than just a cold, empirical analysis of scholarship, teaching and service; they involve interpretation throughout, and such evaluation in all but the most patently worthy cases is an art, not a science. But part of tenure evaluation at many colleges and universities is collegiality, which, however sterilely defined in university documents, means “Are your colleagues willing to spend an academic lifetime with you.”
(more…)

from Flopping Aces

We never saw this kind of violence at the Tea Parties or Town Halls!

Glenn Beck compares the violence at Copenhagen to Nancy Pelosi’s tearful concern over “rhetoric” from the Tea Partiers! This is sure to send the Beck haters into fits!

Will the climate hoaxers be held accountable for inspiring this kind of violence? Yeah, sure!

also:

The Dems’ Secret Weapon

submitted by Laryn

Sudden Victory: People in the know in Washington appear to have already considered and dismissed the “ping pong” option–the possibility that if the Senate finally passes a compromise health care bill, Pelosi’s House might simply vote “yes” on the exact same bill, avoiding the need for a “conference” to reconcile the House and Senate versions and instead sending the bill directly to the President for his signature. But from outside Washington, out here in the real America, this “ratification” route still looks awfully appealing–especially this week.

The conventional arguments against ratification are certainly powerful: “It would require House Democrats to shelve all of their ideas about health care and remove themselves from the process …” They couldn’t stick in pet amendments. They’d lose the valuable posturing and Kabuki opportunities that would be presented if they could go on record voting for a House bill that then didn’t actually become law. (Senators would lose some of this flexibility too–they’d be stuck with whatever they voted for the first time, with no chance to pretend to be for something that then got dropped in conference.**)

But this isn’t a conventional circumstance. This is a once in a lifetime chance for Democrats to guarantee health care for every citizen. Do the Dems want to coax a bill out of the Senate and then go through the same wrenching Lieberman/Nelson/Snowe drama again for the cloture vote on the House/Senate conference version? Why would they think there’s any chance of getting it through a second time if the conference moves it to the “left”? (Recalcitrant Senate moderates would have built-in cover–they could say “I voted for a health care bill. I’m for reform. But what came back from the negotiation with the House was unacceptable.”)

What if it’s either “pass the Senate bill” or “pass nothing”? Are Pelosi and the Democrats really going to say “nothing”?*** Hard to believe. Certainly the “ratification” option seems much more credible than the convoluted “reconciliation” option heavily discussed on the left a couple of month ago. All the House Dems have to do is do it! (They still have party discipline on that side of the Capitol, no?) It’s instant gratification. Pass the Senate Bill intact, word-for-word–wouldn’t take long–and instantly they’ve won. Game over. a) Dems will have delivered. b) Obama’s presidency will be pronounced a historic success.. …

Then Democrats in both houses could, at their leisure, consider a second mop-up bill to modify what they’d just done–happily milking lobbyists for everything they’ve got for months, even years. But the default, the baseline, would be victory.

**–Of course, if this is the Democrats’ strategy, they would be well-advised to pretend that it isn’t, lest Senators realize that the bill they are voting for now is the one they are going to be stuck with (and for that reason get cold feet). And, sure enough, Pelosi is batting the idea down! It’s all going according to plan.

***–Mandatory welfare reference point: I remember back in 1994, the idea of turning the welfare entitlement into a “block grant” was an obvious “non-starter” for many anti-welfare Democrats, who had a subtler form of reform in mind. But when the choice came down to “block grants or nothing,” half the Democrats voted for the non-starter. 11:17 P.M.-
Democrats contemplating just passing the Senate HCR bill?

(more…)

Michael Savage has been dropped from a station in his hometown of San Francisco. As the Bible says, a prophet is without honor in his own land. It is claimed the move was made because the station wanted to go in a different philosophical direction with more contemporary content. In other words, the station managers were actually hoping to propagate leftwing debauchery.

Because they don’t want to listen to Glenn Beck, a group of Michigan leftists believes no one else should be allowed to either. From the story, one gets the impression that the group of rabblerousers aren’t even members of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce who invited Beck. Does the Chamber of Commerce go and protest whatever leftwing dregs address the socialist conclaves? Did conservatives rampage outside this annual event when serpent man James Carville addressed the event in years past?

Socialistic anti-White bigot Cornel West is scheduled to address a prominent environmentalist conference in Washington. Pluralists will yammer that this organization should have the liberty to invite anyone they want to address their convention. Quite true. However, I am not among these tolerancemongers who are picketing the Michigan Chamber of Commerce for daring to invite Glenn Beck. It must be remembered that, unlike those at 9/12 rallies and Tea Parties, leftists usually destroy property at their protests.

A Maryland restaurateur apparently thinks mass murder is a cutesy laughing matter since he has named his eatery Rhode Island Reds and given it a Bolshevist theme. Does he realize that small business owners like him were lined up against the wall and shot where Communists seized power? If it’s O.K. to have an eatery with Communistic decor, maybe we should also open one with a NAZI motif. Better yet, maybe we can have one where patrons are served by waiters wearing Klan robes. Why not? Marxists around the world are guilty of shedding as much and perhaps even more blood than the adherents of fascistic racialism.
(more…)

This is the video by rep Pence.

This is very disturbing, very disturbing.

This is a long e-mail, but you need to read some of this stuff. Click on the video and that will keep you going. It is really critical and it shows what is being uncovered in the underhanded methods of our current president and congress. The dems are keeping so many balls in the air that the average American can’t keep up with them. It is like trying to watch all the balls a juggler is juggling. If you are not used to it, it seems confusing, but the juggler knows right where the balls are located! Add this tax on top of everything else and know it is being quietly slid under the radar. And watch the video that gave 108 billion to the UN IMF on the emergency war funding bill – on the backs of our soldiers!

There is a new bill in the House (H.R.2639) which is a copy of Obama’s previous bill S2433 and this bill will keep rearing its head until the thing is passed. The democratic sponsors change, but the intent is the same. To subjugate the US sovereignty to the UN and to allow direct taxing of the American people by the UN.

House Bill 2639 (5/19/09):
To require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.

This bill was introduced by democratic rep Adam Smith from Washington State since Obama is president. Obamas 2008 bill was S2433 but it didn’t pass because there was not democrat control of the houses. The current bill has four other democrat co-sponsors and is currently in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The bill is listed on this site, but you should look at full text and Library of Congress site “Thomas” for full text.
Full Text: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2639
(more…)

From Red Maryland

–Richard E. Vatz

It is the second most horrible nightmare – just after the obscenity of mass murder itself — of everyone who distrusts weak and flabby criminal justice systems: the unqualified releasing of a mass murderer. That murderer was Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the 1988 bombing and murder of 259 airplane passengers, whose provocation was to be flying on Pan Am Flight 103, and 11 innocents on the ground, whose provocation was equally absent.

Scottish authorities have released this loathsome monster, a former secret service agent of Libya, on grounds of “compassion.” Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, the man who decided to free Megrahi, said, according to The Washington Post, that the principle of “humanity” dictated his action and that “our belief dictates that justice be served but mercy be shown.”

Is this a “gallows humor” play on Gilbert and Sullivan’s pirates (in “Pirates of Penzance”) who release their prey if they are orphans? At least in that fictive operetta it is good people who are spared through a self-defeating and irrelevant criterion.

Let’s look at the principle of “mercy” invoked here. Say the mass murderer had been sentenced to death but had contracted a terminal illness. Should the criminal be released because the “death sentence” of the Lord has superseded the “death sentence” by the court, or as MacAskill said referring to the murderer’s allegedly terminal cancer, that al-Megrahi “now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power?” Is MacAskill saying that this vicious killer deserves mercy from a natural death?

Which brings us to the public reaction of the “I feel your pain” Clintonian and Obaman Democrats. President Barack Obama is widely quoted as calling the Scottish clemency a “mistake.” He also said to the Pan Am victims’ families in a radio interview regarding Megrahi’s clemency that “we don’t think this was appropriate.”

Would President Obama argue so softly that releases of ill 9/11 plotters and conspirators were “errors in judgment and not constitutive of condign punishment?” Stephanie Bernstein, whose husband was killed in the bombing, claims the Obama Administration simply didn’t do what it could to keep Megrahi incarcerated.

For the victims and families and loved ones of this outrage, to characterize Obama’s weak rhetoric as “insufficient” is insufficient. Rosemary Mild, horrified mother of Lockerbie murder victim Miriam Wolfe, said she was “incredibly angry” and that it is being ignored that whole families and babies were killed.

USA Today lists some other reactions of the victims’ families: Frank Duggan, a Washington lawyer who heads the family group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 said “This is an outrage…I don’t care if he’s within three minutes of dying; send him to a hospital in Scotland, but don’t send him home [ where] he will be considered a hero. That will just tear the guts out of us.”
(more…)

Protesters want UC Berkeley law professor fired

By TERENCE CHEA,

BERKELEY, Calif. – Anti-war activists protested Monday at the University of California, Berkeley to call for the firing of a law professor who co-wrote legal memos that critics say were used to justify the torture of suspected terrorists.

Campus police arrested at least four people who refused to leave the university’s law school building.

The demonstrators said John Yoo should be dismissed, disbarred and prosecuted for war crimes for his work as a Bush administration attorney from 2001 to 2003, when he helped craft legal theories for waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques.

Shouting “war criminal,” the protesters confronted Yoo as he entered a lecture hall on the first day of class at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, where the tenured professor is teaching a civil law course this semester.

Yoo mostly ignored the demonstrators and waited for police to remove them from the classroom before he began teaching. Several officers then stood outside the lecture hall to prevent protesters and journalists from entering.

Demonstrators also staged a mock arrest of Yoo. Some dressed in black hoods and orange prisoner suits similar to ones seen in infamous photos of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, which was closed in 2006 following reports of detainee abuse.
(more…)

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Gotta love this:

Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, “facts are stubborn things.”

Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to “uncover” the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.

~~~

Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag at whitehouse.gov

Recall how the left went bats&%t crazy over the Bush administration big brother. Now Obama wants you to send them information about anyone sending emails that disagree with his socialism.

It’s all a-ok now tho eh?

Think this kind of thing would of went over well with the left a few years ago?

There is a lot of disinformation about the war in Iraq out there, spanning from casualties to oil conspiracies. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about Iraq that seems fishy, send it to flag at whitehouse.gov.

Nope….don’t think it would.

Hell, who was it who said this?

“I’m sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and disagree with this administration, somehow you’re not patriotic. We need to stand up and say we’re Americans, and we have the right to debate and disagree with any administration.”

Care to guess? Google it….

As far as the facts….they can in fact be stubborn things but we have Obama’s own words…not taken out of context, not spliced and diced. Quotes where he envisions the elimination of employer coverage and his desire for a single payer socialist system:

“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”

Nope…no way to misconstrue that.

And then we have yahoo’s like Dick Durbin saying that a lot of calls to the White House proves nothing except that their switchboard is small and complaining that the opposition to the health care bill is just the insurance companies busing people in:

All this Chicago style strong-arming isn’t scaring people tho.

Doesn’t mean Obama and company won’t continue in their Chicago ways, but it does mean we need to stay vigilant in calling the tactics for what they are.

also:

Obama Admin: Your Babies Are Killing The Planet

Forget about the birthers, and the nutty claims that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

More and more, we are hearing from people who might best be described as anti-birthers. Their claims have nothing to do with long- versus short-form Hawaiian birth certificates. Instead, they advance a simple proposition: that the birth of each additional American child is a kind of calamity for the environment.

The most recent example of anti-birth thinking comes from Paul Murtaugh and Michael Schlax of Oregon State University. In a study called “Reproduction and the carbon legacies of individuals,” they suggest that if you truly care about the environment, it’s not enough to trade your SUV for a Prius, use the right lightbulbs, or limit your lawn to organic fertilizers. To the contrary, you need to start thinking about something way more important: i.e., having one less child.

The “basic premise,” the study reports, is that “a person is responsible for emissions of his descendents.”

Yes, that’s right…they’ll pay for an abortion to kill a baby, and they’ll pay for cancer patients to kill themselves instead of getting chemotherapy, and that’s how the Obama Admin plans on saving the planet and the economy: less Americans=less cost (more…)

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Left wing fascists failed to shut her up!

The old saying “you have a right to your opinion” only applies when you agree with left wing activists. But fortunately Donald Trump, who owns the Miss America Pageant, refused to knuckle under to the smear campaign against Miss California after she spoke her mind on a controversial topic. He has allowed her to keep her crown.

In a brief emotional statement Miss California describes the larger issue of freedom that is at stake:

Miss CA: “I was punished for exercising my free speech; this should not happen in America.”

Also:

Pelosi About To Investigated Over The Interrogation Methods Used On Those Responsible For 9/11

Funny funny funny stuff here. Nancy Pelosi is going to be investigated about what she knew and when she knew it over the completely legal interrogation method used in 2002 on three al-Qaeda members responsible for 9/11:

The House majority leader reluctantly agreed Tuesday that congressional hearings should investigate Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s assertion that she wasn’t informed, more than six years ago, that harsh interrogation methods were used on an Al-Qaeda leader.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called Republican challenges to Pelosi’s assertion a diversion from the real question of whether the Bush administration tortured terrorist suspects. Nonetheless, he acknowledged the controversy should be resolved.

Democrats will hold a series of hearings on Justice Department memos released last month that justified rough tactics against detainees, including waterboarding — simulated drowning — and sleep deprivation. (more…)

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Think all you need is your passport for a visit to Britain? Think again… check your political views at the customs gate, please.

Stunning story by AP’s Beverley Rouse appeared in the UK’s Independent today. Apparently, Britain’s Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has released the names of 16 people banned from entering the country so others could better understand what sort of behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate.

On the list were jihad preaching clerics, two members of a Russian skinhead gange who committed 20 murders, a KKK grand wizard and neo-Nazi… plus Muslim activist Abdul Ali Musa (previously Clarence Reams), murderer and Hezbollah terrorist Samir Al Quntar and Kashmiri terror group leader Nasr Javed.

Sharing that spot of “shame” was Michael Savage and anti-gay protesters, American Baptist pastor Fred Waldron Phelps Snr and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper.

“Coming to this country is a privilege. If you can’t live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what’s more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded.

“We are publishing the names of 16 of those that we have excluded since October. We are telling people who they are and why it is we don’t want them in this country.”

~~~

“If people have so clearly overstepped the mark in terms of the way not just that they are talking but the sort of attitudes that they are expressing to the extent that we think that this is likely to cause or have the potential to cause violence or inter-community tension in this country, then actually I think the right thing is not to let them into the country in the first place. Not to open the stable door then try to close it later,” Ms Smith said.

“It’s a privilege to come to this country. There are certain behaviours that mean you forfeit that privilege.”

Discussing specifically Michael Savage, Ms. Smith said:

“This is someone who has fallen into the category of fomenting hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way that it is actually likely to cause inter-community tension or even violence if that person were allowed into the country.”

ahhh… the slippery slope syndrome. The attempt to straddle the line between free speech, and incitement to hate. And now, if the country’s Home Secretary doesn’t like what you say, you’d better alter your travel pans. Since October, under the nanny control of Ms. Smith, “the list” has grown from an average of two names added monthly to five.

Truly sad to see what was once a major force in the world reduced to oppression in the name of political correctness. Parallel Shariah court systems, 50% taxes, oppressive gun laws, and now subject to the thought police just to visit the dang place…

Keep this up and more will be leaving than coming in anyway…

also:

Politically correct Reuters edits out Taliban using civilian shields

Yesterday I clicked on a news link about the ever ongoing Taliban encroachment in Pakistan. Leaving aside any commentary about that at the moment, I’m going to instead address Reuters and their politically correct reporting… or perhaps fear to tell the truth.

Lemme ‘splain.

The article original was titled “”Residents flee Pakistan’s Swat as truce collapses” by Junaid Khan, and was appearing via a Lucianne link thru the Yahoo news site time-stamped May 5th, 8:17AM eastern time.

About halfway in was a subtitle labled “Civilian Shield”, and the opening two paragraphs following:

“CIVILIAN SHIELD”

The military said in a statement security forces had beaten back an attack on the camp but a senior military official in the region said an operation might be launched to rescue 46 paramilitary soldiers besieged there.

“We’re acting with restraint because they’re using civilians as a shield but we’ll go after them if the situation gets worse,” said the military official, who declined to be identified.

Pakistani stocks ended up but off the day’s highs as investors remained cautious amid mounting expectation the military would step up its operations against the militants.

…. snip….

Since Yahoo and Google news sites have a tendency to result in broken links in a short period of time, I went for an alternative site that was apt to keep it longer.

So I went to the Reuter’s site and retrieved their version, time-stamped May 5th, 5:26PM EDT.

(more…)

By Barry Rubin

Congratulations, the conflict is over! Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn’t a radical, aggressive Islamist and Holocaust denier but a peacenik! Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is against war and terrorism!

How do we know this? They told us?

Well, no, they didn’t actually tell us. What happened is that they told us they would go on being radical, aggressive, and terrorism-sponsoring. They just did it in a way that a lot of people engaged in wishful thinking-and who fervently believe that no one could actually be radical or luxuriate in political violence-heard something different.

Case Number 1: Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an interview to George Stephanopoulos of ABC. He knew what he was saying but others want to insist on refusing to understand him.

First the relevant exchange:

STEPHANOPOULOS: If the Palestinian people negotiate an agreement with Israel and the Palestinian people vote and support that agreement, a two state solution, will Iran support it?

AHMADINEJAD: Nobody should interfere, allow the Palestinian people to decide for themselves. Whatever they decide….

STEPHANOPOULOS: If they choose a two state solution with Israel, that’s fine.

AHMADINEJAD: Well, what we are saying is that you and us should not determine the course of things beforehand. Allow the Palestinian people to make their own decisions.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But if they choose a two state solution, if they choose to recognize Israel’s existence, Iran will as well?

AHMADINEJAD; Let me approach this from another perspective. If the Palestinians decide that the Zionist regime needs to leave all Palestinian lands, would the American administration accept their decision? Will they accept this Palestinian point of view?

STEPHANOPOULOS: I’ll ask them. But I’m asking you if Palestinians accept the existence of Israel, would Iran support that?….

STEPHANOPOULOS: If the Palestinians sign an agreement with Israel, will Iran support it?

AHMADINEJAD: Whatever decision they take is fine with us. We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that. We think that this is the right of the Palestinian people, however we fully expect other states to do so as well.

And how did the Israeli online service of Yediot Aharnot newspaper, YNet News, play this? Here’s the headline: “”Ahmadinejad ‘fine’ with two-state solution.”

Well, not exactly. He refused to say that. All Ahmadinejad said was that he would support what the Palestinian people decided. What does that mean?

First, he personally believes that they would never accept a two-state solution so there’s nothing to worry about in that respect.

Second, of course, he knows that Hamas would never agree to such a thing and Hamas already controls how people vote in the Gaza Strip. One might presume that if a referendum was held there, the vote would be “100 percent” against a two-state solution. In addition, Hamas and others opposing a two-state solution would get between 30 and 70 percent of votes in the West Bank. A lot of Fatah supporters would also vote against it. The exact numbers aren’t important because whether the number is the higher or lower figure such a proposition would always be defeated.

Third, any two-state solution would only be made by Fatah. Iran supports Hamas. If Fatah and the Palestinian Authority were to make a deal with Israel, Tehran would still back Hamas in overthrowing that government, using the deal to portray its rival as treasonous. Once Hamas took over the state of Palestine, it would tear up all the agreements and invite in the Iranian military.

So in effect Ahmadinejad just said that he would never accept a two-state solution but why put that in clear words when the dumb Westerners can be left to interpret it as they wish.

But Ahmadinejad also put a little bomb in the interview which no one seems to notice. Let me repeat one of his answers: (more…)

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Chavez is slowly transforming Venezuela into a dictatorship and imprisoning his people. So what does Obama do? He shakes his hand!

U.S. President Barack Obama greets his Venezuela counterpart Hugo Chavez as Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez (L) looks on before the opening ceremony of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain April 17, 2009.

At least Obama didn’t bow! I wonder what other dictators will think of this?

Also:

Documentarian Critical of Obama and Media Arrested for Asking Questions

The U.S. is looking more like Venezuela every day!

Documentary filmmaker John Ziegler, who blew the lid on how ill-informed Obama voters were and whose current film Media Malpractice describes describes how the “news” media helped Obama and targeted Sarah Palin, was arrested and manhandled by security personnel outside an event honoring journalistic excellence at the University of Southern California.

This is what you can expect if you dare to ask questions in the age of Obama:

Link:

Meanwhile, perhaps readers will recall that three years ago security personnel at the University of California at Santa Cruz were unable to prevent an angry violent mob of anti-war protesters from forcing military recruiters off campus despite the fact that university officials knew about the threat well in advance.

The lesson here is that liberal academics view free speech for conservatives and military recruiters as a greater threat than the mobs of radicals who routinely act in ways that deny others the full exercise of their constitutional rights.

Finally:

Janeane Garofalo: Hypocrite Extraordinaire

What do you call someone who would go against every belief system they have for money and fame? One word….take a guess?

For example, we have someone like Janeane Garofalo playing a part in the TV show 24 (a favorite of mine) which is quite conservative….while later she goes on TV decrying the fact that people dare to protest against our government….a government she NOW believes in.

And what do you know, in 2003 she was very firm in her belief that one should be proud of protesting against a government you don’t believe in: (h/t Redstate)

A liberal hypocrite…..shocking!

Or maybe she is just trying to relieve her jaw problem.

UPDATE

Lou Dobbs unloads a few barrels on the wench also:

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

the Department of Homeland Security (the Motherland, sic) has put out a nine page report to the police that lists all the ‘right wing radicals’ whom poise a threat to the country today. “A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines “rightwing extremism in the United States” as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority. “It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,” the warning says.

As I understand it, the report basically starts on supposedly the ‘far right’, lists everything in existence nearing the ‘center’ and lists everything to the left of center as acceptable radicalism. Likely this report is going to become a classic and anyone who feels they have an affinity for Washington, Jefferson, Madison, to Reagan and so forth will be insulted should they not appear on subsequent lists naming the potential malefactors that have to be ‘kept an eye on.’

According to the report, we need to keep a close watch on returning veterans since “Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to right-wing extremists,” it says. I guess those veterans who were lucky enough to make it back home have to be labeled something sinister to keep them from getting all those wonderful military benefits they are entitled to. Chris Dodd is obviously jealous that their benefits may eat into his retirement, so the less drain there, the more to go around. “DHS/I&A is concerned that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize veterans in order to boost their violent capacities.”

The report also mentions “‘end times’ prophecies could motivate extremist individuals and groups to stockpile food, ammunition and weapons. These teachings also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist individuals and groups in the past, such as the violent Christian Identity organizations and extremist members of the militia movement.” Oh my, as a member of the Georgia Right to Life and a student of ‘end times’ prophecy, I guess I fit the bill.
The report also warned law enforcement agencies to watch for suspicious individuals who may have bumper stickers for third-party political candidates such as Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin. That’s right since any candidate having different ideas than the mirror image republican-democrats is a radical and anyone who gives them the time of day likely is a raving lunatic with a hoard of AK-47’s and other assorted specimens and ammo in their fallout shelter.

The White House has distanced itself from the analysis. When asked for comment on its contents, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said, “The President is focused not on politics but rather taking the steps necessary to protect all Americans from the threat of violence and terrorism regardless of its origins. He also believes those who serve represent the best of this country, and he will continue to ensure that our veterans receive the respect and benefits they have earned.” Of course, exactly as it distanced itself from the Somalia pirates until they could generate maximum positive publicity from it. Obama distances himself from Everything until he determines if it can be spun to the positive. Everyone loves Obama, to 88% of Democrats , he is still the messiah, and I simply cannot see how 28% of those who call themselves Republicans believe he rose from the dead this past Sunday and now sits on the right hand of the Father.
Give it a little more time, folks and this One World consortium will come to reality. The only question will be who wins the jockeying for Big Kahuna.

Also:

President Bush’s Brother Accused in Sexual Assault

Got your attention didn’t I? Change “Bush” above to “Obama” and read on:

Obama brother accused of UK sex assault

Samson denied British visa after incident with teen girl in BerkshireBy Gloria De Piero
News of the World
April 11, 2009

AMERICAN president Barack Obama’s half brother was REFUSED a visa to enter the UK after being accused of an attempted sex attack on a young girl in Berkshire.

The News of the World can reveal that Kenya-based Samson Obama tried to get into Britain on his way to Washington for his family’s big day, the historic inauguration in January.

But eagle-eyed immigration officials at East Midlands Airport, using the latest biometric tests, discovered he was linked to an incident here last November. The hi-tech database revealed that Samson – who manages a mobile phone shop just outside Nairobi – was the same man arrested by British police after he approached a group of young girls, including a 13 year-old, and allegedly tried to sexually assault one of them.

Imagine the world wide media firestorm this would be if my headline above were correct. And have you heard one comment from any women’s rights group raising the volume of this issue?

Here’s audio of the only commentary I could find from the usual grievance mongers:

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

You wanna feel nauseous? Check out this video of the many ignorant celebrities who have over the last 8 years done whatever they could to tear down our President, stand in his way of making any progress to protect this country and its future, and insulted him at every chance. What do they say in this video now?

I pledge to be a servant to our President

Funny, isn’t the President a servant of the people? Not the other way around?

Among the celebrities we have Eva Mendez, Cameron Diaz, Demi Moore, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Eva Longoria Parker, Lucy Liu, Alyssa Milano, Ashton Kutcher, Robin Wright Penn, Marisa Tomei and Michael Strahan all appearing and making fools of themselves showing pure obedience to the one.

What hypocrisy.

The whole video is embarrassing but in the final moment when the image pulls out and eveyone of these nimrods is a part of the Obama portrait…then it became downright creepy. You just can’t describe this cult of personality any other way other then creepy and scary.

Michael Strahan said the only thing that should be spoken many many times from other blacks “I pledge to consider myself a American instead of a African American.” Funny how he only said this AFTER Obama is elected. Should of been said a decade ago.

Andrew Breitbart:

Missing are pledges not to kiss the ring of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and other pledged enemies of America. Nor are there pledges not to make movies that glorify these tyrants. Nor are there pledges to take seriously that we are at war, will continue to be at war under President Obama and that our precious and under-appreciated military is fighting an avowed and evil enemy — so that, among other things, Hollywood can continue to make decadent crap that actually motivates our enemy to fight us harder!

What he said.

Also:

Obama Administration Makes “Last 8 Years” Official Scapegoat for the Next Four Years

If perhaps you thought President Elect Obama’s slap at President Bush after the President delivered his gracious farewell address and all he has done to praise Obama and smooth the transition was an off the cuff remark, you would be wrong.

Count how many times incoming White House Chief of Staff and Illinois Governor Blagojevitch buddy Rahm Emanuel used the phrase “the last eight years” during his appearance Sunday on Meet the Press. Four times. He slipped up once by saying that the deficit problem he was complaining about started ten years ago, but quickly corrected himself as he recalled that he was part of the Clinton Administration which was in power then.

Obama has already taken the dubious $700 billion financial bailout President Bush proposed and come up with an even more dubious $825 billion+ plan of his own. And yet, when his monstrously excessive plan doesn’t achieve results he is going to blame it on Bush?

I’m not surprised Obama is adopting this strategy. It’s been a key element in the campaign waged by Senate and House Democrats who were directly responsible for squashing Bush Administration plans to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But that didn’t stop them from blaming the financial meltdown that resulted from their actions on President Bush.

Meanwhile, we all know that like his father, President Bush won’t be criticizing Obama after he leaves office. Sadly, such examples of class and dignity will be a wasted Obama.

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

NATO’s vital supply link through the Northwest Frontier Province has been shut down as the Pakistani military launched an operation to clear the Taliban from the area. “Supplies to NATO forces have temporarily been suspended,” Tariq Hayat Khan, the Khyber agency’s political agent, told reporters. The main road between Peshawar has been closed as the military launched attacks using “artillery, tanks and, helicopter gunships,” link.

I blame Bush for this, but I HOPE that Pres. Obama can CHANGE things by using (his words) “the same [Bush] policy” in re to Pakistan.

SO, Obama supporters: What should President Obama do when he takes office? Should he continue the Bush policy towards Pakistan like he promised, or something different? Also, how’s he gonna supply his soldiers in Afghanistan (very important to Flopping Aces writers and many readers as this literally hits home)?

Also;

Democrats Split, Confused, and Dazed Over Israeli Counterattacks on Hamas

Ok, get your scorecards ready, and try to determine WHERE the Democratic Party, America’s Congressional leaders, America’s incoming President, and his administration stand on this issue.

Pres-elect Obama (long labeled as indecisive by his detractors) has not commented on Israel’s counterattacks against Hamas in Gaza. Before being elected he was both an advocate of peace and a supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself. The rocket attacks that preceded Israel’s counterattack have been going on since 2002, and talks have never prevented them.

Senator Clinton (D) (Obama’s pick for Secretary of State) backs Israel’s counterattacks and dismissed diplomatic talks with Hamas.

“negotiating with Hamas is unacceptable for the United States.”

Fmr CENTCOM commander and failed Mideast envoy, Gen. Anthony Zinni thinks she’s wrong, and he says Obama’s Admin should start talks asap.

“The old way of using envoys and summits and us putting plans on the table — that has never worked. I think we need a fresh start, more involved, a greater presence on the ground and a commitment to do it throughout the term of an administration,” Zinni said.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) blames Israel for the violence, ignores Hamas’ thousands of rocket attacks, and calls for a U.N. investigation.

“All this was, and is, disproportionate, indiscriminate mass violence in violation of international law,” Kucinich said in a statement. “Israel is not exempt from international law and must be held accountable.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) does recognize the thousands of Hamas rockets that have been launched into civilian areas in Israel, and thus does not blame Israel.

Pelosi and other Democrats have refrained from criticizing Israel’s government, which has responded to the Hamas attacks with a rocket assault on Gaza. “Peace between Israelis and Palestinians cannot result from daily barrages of rocket and mortar fire from Hamas-controlled Gaza,” Pelosi said in a statement posted on the Speaker’s website on Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) agrees that the onus for the past 4 days of violence rests w Hamas-NOT Israel.

Reid said he “strongly” supported Israel’s right to defend its citizens from the Hamas rocket attacks and to restore its security. He also blamed Hamas for any humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. “Hamas’s failure to stop these attacks only exacerbates the humanitarian situation for the residents of Gaza and undermines efforts to attain peace and security in the region.”

Rep. Howard Berman (D) (chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee) also blames Hamas-not Israel.

“The loss of innocent life is a terrible tragedy, and the blame for that tragedy lies with Hamas.”

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) also blames Hamas.

“Hamas is abusing the people of Gaza by using their homes as a base for terror operations,” he said. “The world should no longer tolerate a terrorist government in the Gaza Strip.”

Former Congresswoman and renown police slapper, Cynthia McKinney (D) took a different approach. She loaded up a yacht w supplies and tried to help out the Palestinians. Unfortunately for her and her friends, the boat was stopped by the Israelis.

4 days into the Israeli air campaign+blockade, and President-elect Obama STILL hasn’t made a comment in support of Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas’ rocket attacks, in favor of talking with the political arm of the terrorist group, or in against Israel and in support of a U.N. investigation into Israel’s alleged violation of international law and genocidal war. Foreign affairs legend, Vice President-elect Joe Biden (D), has also been silent on the matter (though with his tendency to gaffe, this might have saved lives).

He hasn’t even voted PRESENT. The Democrats’ Congress is clearly split. Policy advisors and leaders are confused as to whether or not to even talk w Hamas, and President-elect himself is apparently dazed and unable to lead or even make a statement while on vacation.

Apparently THIS is leadership.
THIS, is the 21st Century Democratic Party

Finally:

Not So Smart Opposition to Israel’s Self-Defense Strikes

Ya know…it never ceases to amaze me. Maybe these people aren’t getting enough fluoride in their water (see also Dr Strangelove). I just don’t know. After months of having their civilian populations targeted by Hamas rocket attacks, Israel struck back at Hamas targets with precision air strikes aimed at minimizing civilian casualties (the opposite of Hamas’ strategy). In response to Israel’s strikes, morons took to the streets and to the seas demanding that Israel stop their attacks and let Hamas continue attacking civilians by extension. Clearly the onus for this war rests w Israel for responding so belligerently to Hamas’ attacks on civilians.

Some have argued that the response was “disproportionate,” and they do have a point because…it is. If Israel’s response were proportionate, it would target civilians rather than Hamas’ infrastructure, but I’m not an advocate of randomly launching rockets into populated Palestinian areas, and no one should be imo.

Others-like failed Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, decided to try and take their yacht to the shores of the war zone. What’re these people thinking? How’s that thought process go? “That war looks bad. Maybe if I go there myself I can peacefully raise enough alarm and bring good, sound, common sense, and there will be peace, love happiness, cotton candy clouds, rivers of chocolate, and groves of gumdrop trees’

For God’s sake…what ARE these people thinking?

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

It seem to me some people are still not satisfied with merely the political defeat of the General Election. Some unknown party decided to send a message.

Although no-one is taking credit for this and there is nothing to prove this was a politically-motivated act. It’s too coincidental IMO opinion to ignore outright. Is it also a coincidence that this occurs so soon after the arrest of Chicago Governor “Hot Rod” R. Blagojevich and the implications of potential links to the Obama Administration? Was this a random act, intended as a warning to Sarah not to run in 2012, or to Conservatives in general to “back off on their scrutiny or else”?

Attempts to burn churches to try to cast fear in the hearts of the religious of our society through such heinous acts committed by the truely dispicable are an unfortunate part of world history. Kinda’ brings to mind the old Chicago Politics of “setting an example to others” from the “Bootleg Era”, or the reactions in the Southern Democrat controlled south during to the Civil Rights Movement, and similar acts against Judeau-christianity in socialist nations; As in the attempted censure and oppression of three young children in Portugal when their visions of the Lady of Fatima became known to the ruling Socialist Party.

What must infuriate the perpetrators is; their meaningless acts of terror never works out the way they wish. The faithful do not loose heart or give up their faith in disgust. It merely serves to bring them together in mutual support and they just find someplace else to worship while rebuilding takes place. As with 9-11, they regroup and go on.

(CNN) — A “suspicious” fire devastated the church attended by Alaska Gov. and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Friday night in her hometown of Wasilla, the church’s minister said.

“We have no idea what caused it,” the Rev. Larry Kroon of the Wasilla Bible Church said Saturday, adding that investigators were considering arson and other possible causes.

A ladies’ craft group was in the building when the fire broke out, but they got out safely, Kroon said.

“No one was hurt,” he said.

Central Mat-Su Fire Department Chief James Steele said the department was “treating it as suspicious and as potential arson at this point” but did not elaborate, The Anchorage Daily News reported.

The newspaper said Palin released a statement after the fire in which she said she stopped by the church Saturday morning and offered an apology to the assistant pastor “if the incident is in any way connected to the undeserved negative attention the church has received since she became a vice presidential candidate.”

Steele said that as many as 40 firefighters from his and neighboring departments fought the blaze, which started about 9:40 p.m. Friday (1:40 a.m. ET Saturday).

Steele said that as many as 40 firefighters from his and neighboring departments fought the blaze, which started about 9:40 p.m. Friday (1:40 a.m. ET Saturday).

Firefighters were on the scene dealing with hot spots until about 5 a.m. Saturday, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The metal church building, which normally accommodates Sunday congregations of up to 1,000 people, was heavily damaged by flames and smoke, Kroon said.

“The fire investigators and insurance people are there now. There’s definitely a lot of damage. I’ve heard the figure of $1 million, but I don’t know for sure,” he said.

Kroon said he was not at the church when the fire broke out and would not discuss what any of the church members who were there had reported to him.

He would not specify how many people were in the building at the time of the blaze.

“They were all adults, and they all got out. We’re trying not to talk about specifics while investigators are still working on finding out what happened.”

Here’s a portion of another story on it from AP:

Palin, who was not at the church at the time of the fire, stopped by Saturday. According to McAllister, Palin told an assistant pastor she was sorry if the fire was connected to the “undeserved negative attention” the church has received since she became the vice presidential candidate Aug. 29.

Worshippers acknowledged the possible Palin connection with the fire, but more in a “gee, maybe” sort of way, said Rob Tracy, who shuttled people to the school for services. But people are speculating about other motives.

The reports in these two stories claim that there were only adults inside the building when the fire was started. The Huffington Post reports there were children inside:

Damage to the Wasilla Bible Church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said Saturday. No one was injured in the fire, which was set Friday night while a handful of people, including two children, were inside, according to Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele.

Also:

MSM Defending Blago and Obama Over Corruption Charges

The bias in our media towards Obama continues to grow. We need no more proof of this fact then watching them report on the Blago scandal. Recall Tom Delay and the outrage, the utter outrage, by the MSM upon learning of the charges that he took corporate money and spent them on a campaign to get Republican control of the Texas Legislature. A great example of that outrage comes from this article in the WSJ:

Whether Mr. DeLay violated the small print of House Ethics or campaign-finance rules is thus largely beside the point. His real fault lies in betraying the broader set of principles that brought him into office, and which, if he continues as before, sooner or later will sweep him out.

And Accuracy In Media does a great job showing the outrage from other outfits.

But now that cohorts of Obama are in the crosshairs its no big deal. Here is Jim Lehrer last Friday:

JIM LEHRER: Well, what about the point, though, that a lot of people are making, Mark, that the only thing Blagojevich did that’s different than the normal course of human events is that he was gross about it and he said it — he didn’t say it publicly, but he said it — there’s trading that goes on all the time over Senate — the appointment of senator — of empty Senate seats.

MARK SHIELDS: There are.

JIM LEHRER: What’s the big deal here?

~~~

JIM LEHRER: But you don’t — but that’s what I’m actually essentially asking here, is that — is that he just went over the line of something that is the way you do business.

What happened to those principles now?

Here is David Gregory and pals talking about how this is all just normal stuff going on…whats the big deal?

MARY MITCHELL, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Reality check. Pay to play, everybody knows it. Even, not just in politics. Office politics. Pay to play. You know, if you know the boss, and you need something from the boss, he is going to look around and find the person who is going to do him the most good. He’s not going to hire, put somebody in a place of power that isn’t doing him any good. That’s the world. That’s how the world works. But, there is a line. You got to know how to play the game. And Blagojevich, Governor Blagojevich was tacky in playing the game. That’s what people are upset about. They are embarrassed that this man had the nerve to get caught on the wiretap using foul language, actually giving voice to, you know, the wink and nod thing. He didn’t just wink and nod, he actually tried to shake people down according to the wiretaps.

~~~

GREGORY: The president-elect said this is the far side of the business approach to politics which is a nice, euphemistic way to put this. But Chuck this is part of entrenched politics here in Washington, something that Obama is going to confront.

~~~

GREGORY: And none of this is illegal by the way. Even to raise it as an example. Nothing wrong with it. It’s part of the system.

Nope, putting a Senate seat up for sale to benefit yourself isn’t illegal….not at all.

Sheesh.

Times have changed since that cesspoll of corruption needed to be cleaned out in 2006 eh? Now, we all should just overlook the corruption since its Democrats involved.

Finally:

Fed’s Lose Half Their Case Against Blago Due To MSM
While no fan of Fitzgerald, the fact that the MSM would pull this stunt surprising me not:

Conventional wisdom holds that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ordered the FBI to arrest Rod Blagojevich before sunrise Tuesday in order to stop a crime from being committed. That would have been the sale of the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Members of Fitzgerald’s team are livid the scheme didn’t advance, at least for a little longer, according to some people close to Fitzgerald’s office. Why? Because had the plot unfolded, they might have had an opportunity most feds can only dream of: A chance to catch the sale of a Senate seat on tape, including the sellers and the buyers.

The precise timing of Tuesday’s dramatic, pre-dawn arrest was not dictated by Fitzgerald, nor was it dictated by the pace of Blagojevich’s alleged “crime spree.” It was dictated by the Chicago Tribune, according to people close to the investigation and a careful reading of the FBI’s affidavit in the case.

At Fitzgerald’s request, the paper had been holding back a story since October detailing how a confidante of Blagojevich was cooperating with his office. (more…)

by Laryn

Plenty of food for thought in these essays by some of my favorites, so let’s begin….

THE MEDIA WON

They created Obama. They could have destroyed him in a minute if they had wanted to. Instead they promoted him, covered for him and used anything they could to discredit his opponents.

What lies ahead

One really has to ask the obvious question: If Obama’s economic policies work so well, why isn’t Detroit a paradise? In 1950, America produced 51% of the GNP for the entire world. Of that production, roughly 70% took place in the eight states surrounding the Great Lakes: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.

The productive capability of this small area of earth staggers the imagination. Virtually everything that rebuilt the industrial bases of Europe and Japan came from those eight states. Cars, planes, electronics, machine tools, consumer goods, generators, concrete – any conceivable item manufactured by industrial humanity poured out this tiny region and enriched the world. The region shone with widespread prosperity. People migrated from the South and West to work in these Herculean engines of industry. The wealth, power and economic dominance of the region at the time cannot be overstated. Nothing like it has existed in human history.

Yet, a mere 30 years later, by 1980, we called that area the “rustbelt” and it became synonymous with joblessness, collapsing cities, high crime, failing schools and general hopelessness.

What the hell happened? Obama happened. Of course, not Obama personally but rather the same ideas that Obama espouses. What those ideas did to the Great Lakes states, they can do to the entire country. What did they do wrong?

First, unions: Without any serious economic competition, unions could force virtually any salary, benefits and pensions they wished from manufactures. Worse, however, they could set work rules and conditions, effectively dictating the organization of a business and what technology, processes and methods it used. Since increasing productivity, by definition, means doing more work with fewer people, unions froze companies into the methods used in the mid-1950s and refused to let them adapt. Companies rode high for over 15 years, but by the late ’60s they faced increasing competition and needed to change and adapt. The unions blocked this.

In the end, however, strong widespread unions turned out for workers to be merely a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Unions got workers in factories better wages, but the people who built the workers’ houses, cars, consumer goods and stocked their groceries also had strong unions and the price of everything went up. Strong public-sector unions kept taxes high and public productivity low, so workers’ taxes went up. By the time they paid all the increased cost of union labor in everything they consumed, the unions gave them little if any real increases in income.

Second, invasive government: People who grew up during the New Deal and WWII believed that government could solve almost any problem, and they supported high taxes so that government could fix society. Unfortunately, the supposed benefits of an expansive state, good schools, solid public infrastructure, low crime, etc. failed to materialize while zoning and land-use restrictions drove up housing cost and taxes and crime destroyed small businesses. Strong public-sector unions blocked tax cuts and reforms that could have saved them.

By the early ’70s the states that once served as the industrial engine for the entire planet began to fall apart. Then came double-digit inflation and the energy crisis (both caused by leftist policies). By 1980, the industrial heartland of America lay in virtual ruins. People called it the “rustbelt” in analogy to the “dustbowl” of the Great Depressions. Even today, nearly 30 years later, the region lags behind the rest of the country in job creation and is steadily losing population to internal migration.

It can happen just that fast. A worker who entered the factories in 1950 at the age of 25 saw 20 good years before things looked bad. At 45 he saw repeated layoffs, and by 55 he was out of a job and his children had little hope of finding one.

Obama clearly plans to try to extend the rustbelt model to the rest of the country. “Card check” will let unions use intimidation to control workers. High taxes on capital gains will slow investment. Environmental regulation will starve workplaces of electricity and mandate inefficient modes of production. Great new bureaucracies will arise to restrain the freedom and creativity of the people.

Obama has no concept of business as a creative and experimental endeavor. On some deep unconscious level, he assumes that material wealth is something akin to a natural phenomenon for which no group of humans can take credit. Therefore, he sees distribution as the only serious economic issue and ignores how politics interferes with the actual process of wealth creation. We may soon be living in a repeat of ’70s and looking back at the years 1984-2007 as a golden era.

And:

It is I think fitting that the first gloating leftist response Radarsite received this morning was from the infamous but woefully inconsequential Raoul, who again quite fittingly, is neither male nor American. Normally Raoul would be automatically deleted, but not today. Today I want her message to be read by all those who may still have doubts about the despicable nature of our enemies. As you can see it is addressed to both me and to my good friend and colleague Snooper personally. She believes, quite rightly, that we are her most determined enemies.

I’m sending this via email because it’s obvious that most of you conduct your love chats here instead of out in the open where the light shines. The election is over (thank God!) and our citizens have spoken in volumes by the way they voted. Your time is now over – after 28 years or more if we count the destruction Reagan did to our middle class.

The god with a small ‘g’ that you pretend to follow doesn’t exist. The real God never had any interest in politics or countries or bestowing special blessings to any one country as most of you, especially Roger, believe. John 3:16 begins by saying ‘for God so loved the WORLD’. That’s the entire world and not just the white anglo saxon part of it in America.

You people are an embodiment of pure evil. I know this probably shocks you just like the Nazis were surprised at the hatred expressed towards their deeds but I can’t say it any other way. God, country, and flag have always been the ingredients of despots living in fear and hate. You feed off of hate. You require hate in order to justify your own pitiful lives. Your blogs speak for themselves along with everything you’ve written concerning President-Elect Obama, Muslims, victims of our torture techniques, the illegal invasion of Iraq, victims of the Katrina flood, et. al.
(more…)

Crossposted from Red Maryland

We all know that liberalism is about feelings and conservatism is about ideas. The rule of law is a set of ideas (and ideals) which separate us, not only from the animals, but from third world countries as well. Sadly, liberals don’t believe that the rule of law should apply (unless it’s somehow to their advantage.

Our friend Eric Leudtke, over at Free State Politics, believes that the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois (that’s Barack Obama’s motherland of Chicago for those who failed geography) is a hero. Why? It seems that the good Sheriff has failed to do his sworn duty by refusing to carry out any more evictions until the Illinoise legislature changes the law to prevent renters from being evicted because the properties were foreclosed on.

Is the Sheriff’s sentiment admirable? Perhaps. Is his method of implementing change right? Absolutely not.

I am sure that we all feel for these folks who may lose their homes through no fault of their own. The current law in Illinois may be bad. (I don’t know since I am neither an attorney nor an Illinois resident.) However I do know that allowing elected officials, particularly elected officials with guns, to ignore the law because they feel it is unjust is dangerous.

If the good Sheriff, Thomas J. Dart, is true to his beliefs, then perhaps he is willing to go to jail to prevent further injustice. However, I doubt that is the case. Unlike the 1960′s, today’s liberal believes that there should be no consequences for civil disobedience. There is also little chance of an Illinois state judge ordering the incarceration of Dart for contempt (every eviction order is a court order).

Dart makes a persuasive argument as to why many of these eviction orders are bad. As a sworn officer, Dart has a remedy. Go to court and ask a judge to vacate the orders. He’s not doing that. Instead he is taking the law into his own hands – a leftist form of vigilantism. (more…)

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Greenland not melting after all!

So Much For Flooded Cities: Greenland Ice Loss Not Increasing
Michael Asher
Daily Tech
July 4, 2008

Longest-term study yet of the continent says nothing to fear.

For global warming activists, Greenland is the most potent weapon of fear in their arsenal. With Antarctica cooling, and the floating ice at the North Pole incapable of affecting sea levels, Greenland alone can contribute the vast amounts of melted ice capable of flooding cities. Greenland — which began gradually melting at the end of the last ice age some 20,000 years ago — continues to slowly shed ice today.
The only problem? It’s melting far too slowly. At its current rate, Greenland will take thousands of years to significantly affect sea level.

a new study has concluded that Greenland’s rate of melting is not accelerating, and in fact may actually be decreasing when viewed over a longer timescale. The study, which used 17 years of satellite measurements [as compared to phony science using flawed computer models] to reach its conclusions, determined the overall yearly movement of ice to the sea is not increasing, and is actually decreasing in some places.

The researchers noted the speedup observed by past studies was strictly a short-term transient phenomena, occurring primarily in the summer months.

The study, which is appearing in the Friday edition of the journal Science, was led by Dutch Researcher Roderik S.W. van de Wal, of the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research of the University of Utrecht.

Claiming losses in coastal property values, a group of Spanish homeowners and investors last month threatened Greenpeace with legal action over exaggerated claims of sea level rise.

The great global warming swindle (video here) may turn out to be the most massive fraud of all times. And if we had trial lawyers on our side, we could all join the lawsuit to recover damages for being forced to buy lightbulbs, cars, clotheswashers, houses, etc. to address a problem which DOES NOT EXIST!

also:

Do “Peace” Protesters Value Their U.S. Citizenship?

Would they be willing to take the same oath as new citizens whose ceremony they disrupted?

This is a follow-on to the piece earlier where we described how “peace” protesters disrupted the swearing in ceremony for naturalized citizens led by President Bush at Thomas Jefferson’s home Monticello on July 4th.

Petitioners take the Oath of Citizenship at Monticello’s 46th Annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony Friday, July 4. 2008, in Charlottesville, VA. White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian

On that day, new citizens raised their right hand and repeated the following oath administered by the President of the United States:

Oath of Allegiance

“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”

One wonders whether the “peace” protesters who disrupted this solemn ceremony, a high point in the lives of our new citizens, would join them in taking the same oath?
(more…)

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Dems to Bush: Drop Dead!

As U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne looks on, President George W. Bush delivers a statement on energy Wednesday, June 18, 2008, in the Rose Garden of the White House. Calling on Congress to expand domestic oil production, the President said, “For many Americans, there is no more pressing concern than the price of gasoline. Truckers and farmers and small business owners have been hit especially hard. Every American who drives to work, purchases food, or ships a product has felt the effect. And families across our country are looking to Washington for a response.” White House photo by Luke Sharrett

President Bush Discusses Energy
White House Transcript
June 18, 2008

…In the long run, the solution is to reduce demand for oil by promoting alternative energy technologies. My administration has worked with Congress to invest in gas-saving technologies like advanced batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. We’ve mandated a large expansion in the use of alternative fuels. We’ve raised fuel efficiency standards to ambitious new levels. With all these steps, we are bringing America closer to the day when we can end our addiction to oil, which will allow us to become better stewards of the environment.

In the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil. And that means we need to increase supply, especially here at home. So my administration has repeatedly called on Congress to expand domestic oil production. Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal — and now Americans are paying the price at the pump for this obstruction. Congress must face a hard reality: Unless Members are willing to accept gas prices at today’s painful levels — or even higher — our nation must produce more oil. And we must start now. So this morning, I ask Democratic Congressional leaders to move forward with four steps to expand American oil and gasoline production.

First, we should expand American oil production by increasing access to the Outer Continental Shelf, or OCS. Experts believe that the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil. That would be enough to match America’s current oil production for almost ten years. The problem is that Congress has restricted access to key parts of the OCS since the early 1980s. Since then, advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills. With these advances — and a dramatic increase in oil prices — congressional restrictions on OCS exploration have become outdated and counterproductive.
…
Second, we should expand oil production by tapping into the extraordinary potential of oil shale. Oil shale is a type of rock that can produce oil when exposed to heat or other process[es]. In one major deposit — the Green River Basin of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming — there lies the equivalent of about 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil. That’s more than three times larger than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. And it can be fully recovered — and if it can be fully recovered it would be equal to more than a century’s worth of currently projected oil imports.
…
Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress are standing in the way of further development. In last year’s omnibus spending bill, Democratic leaders inserted a provision blocking oil shale leasing on federal lands. That provision can be taken out as easily as it was slipped in — and Congress should do so immediately.

Third, we should expand American oil production by permitting exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR. When ANWR was created in 1980, Congress specifically reserved a portion for energy development. In 1995, Congress passed legislation allowing oil production in this small fraction of ANWR’s 19 million acres. With a drilling footprint of less than 2,000 acres — less than one-tenth of 1 percent of this distant Alaskan terrain — America could produce an estimated 10 billion barrels of oil. That is roughly the equivalent of two decades of imported oil from Saudi Arabia. Yet my predecessor vetoed this bill.

In the years since, the price of oil has increased seven-fold, and the price of American gasoline has more than tripled. Meanwhile, scientists have developed innovative techniques to reach ANWR’s oil with virtually no impact on the land or local wildlife. I urge members of Congress to allow this remote region to bring enormous benefits to the American people.

And finally, we need to expand and enhance our refining capacity. Refineries are the critical link between crude oil and the gasoline and diesel fuel that drivers put in their tanks. With recent changes in the makeup of our fuel supply, upgrades in our refining capacity are urgently needed. Yet it has been nearly 30 years since our nation built a new refinery, and lawsuits and red tape have made it extremely costly to expand or modify existing refineries. The result is that America now imports millions of barrels of fully-refined gasoline from abroad. This imposes needless costs on American consumers. It deprives American workers of good jobs. And it needs to change.
…
I know the Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past. Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions. If congressional leaders leave for the 4th of July recess without taking action, they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act. And Americans will rightly ask how high oil — how high gas prices have to rise before the Democratic-controlled Congress will do something about it.

Democrats to America: Pay More for Gas, We Don’t Care!

The response from Democrats was typical. They trashed the President’s ideas and then went on to spin away the benefits of drilling. The latest canard in their quiver is that we have already leased 68 million acres of offshore sites and the oil companies are not drilling there.

Well, guess what? That’s because the oil companies haven’t found any oil on those leased acres. One would think that companies earning tens of billions in profit would be only too happy to add more to their bank account if they found the oil.

If you don’t think that the congressional ban on offshore drilling has had much impact compare this chart from the Institute for Energy Research showing how the 1982 law impacted oil exploration with this table from the Energy Information Administration (U.S. Dept. of Energy) which shows a sharp decline in U.S. crude oil production.

Democrats response to President Bush’s call for new refineries was typical of the neosocialist approach they bravely trumpet these days. Some Congressional Dems went so far as to call for the nationalization of oil refineries. Does anyone really believe that our energy problems will be solved by a government takeover of refineries?

Newt’s New Ad
The battle over high gas prices will be a key part of the political debate this year. Newt Gingrich and his American Solutions outfit is at the forefront with their latest ad:

also:

Hang President Bush! But Don’t Mention Obama’s Past Relationships

Isn’t it illegal to threaten the life of the president?

I mentioned the Massachusetts School of Law and its co-founder and dean, Lawrence Velvel, planning a roundtable meeting to plan the prosecution of President Bush (and others in his administration) with the meeting to be held in September with the ACLU, National Lawyers Guild and Center for Constitutional Rights (communist all) earlier in my news roundup. I knew these nuts existed but the DailyKos minion has provided some interesting comments, some even giggling at the thought of our President dangling at the end of a rope. (more…)