Wednesday, April 29, 2009

A Godsend - Prager University - Watch This YouTube Video

(Click on the title above). Also go to townhall.com to find Dennis Prager's columns and his radio show. Dennis Prager is a brilliant man. As someone who has listened to his radio program for years, I can attest that the moniker "Prager University" is not an empty conceit. I have learned so much more from this man than I ever learned in my years of formal education, including my elite eastern university.

The Obama First 100 Days - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good -

Pres. Obama has wisely walked away from the demagoguery of Candidate Obama on the subject of Iraq. This administration has thus far taken a principled and intelligent course in handling Iraq (they've stayed the course on George Bush's successful strategy, frnakly).

Pres. Obama empowered the Navy to take out the Somali pirates.

Geithner and Bernake's efforts to free up liquidity in world credit markets have thus far forestalled a catastrophe. We could and should argue with their methods, but applaud them for taking decisive action, and give them the benefit of the doubt that their actions were, on the whole, for the better.

The Bad

Nearly tripling the federal deficit, after Candidate Obama berated Pres. Bush for his deficits. Setting up our children and grandchildren to pay the bills for this administration's profligate spending. Dishonestly passing off massive liberal spending programs as "stimulus."

Projecting weakness all over the globe - offering to trade away missile defenses in Europe, bowing and scraping to Ahmedinejad, ignoring North Korea's provocative missile launch (on the same day as the President's no-nuke "I have a dream" speech), apologizing to and cow-towing with Latin thug dictators in Trinidad and Tobago, de-funding key missile defense programs, cutting major weapons systems, failing to spend any stimulus on Defense, in fact cutting Defense spending (under the cover of an accounting ruse with respect to how the current war is paid for)...

The Ugly

The President has shown a consistent pattern of walking away from opportunites to lead his party and moderate the influence of the left-wing crazies in their midst. For what it's worth, it remains to be seen if this is because he himself is a left wing crazy, or just because he lacks the the resolve to oppose them.

Pandering to the MoveOn crowd's blood vengeance by opening the door to politically motivated prosecutions of Bush administration officials who developed and implemented our post 9/11 interrogation policies. For political reasons, risking taking our nation down the Third World path to truth commissions and political prisoners. Undermining our ability to deal with similar threats to our homeland security in the future by disclosing in detail our past tactics. Endangering the lives of our brave personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan by supplying our enemies with grist for their propaganda mills.

Deferring to Nancy Pelosi and company in driving our fiscal policy. Blithely signing a budget bill with 9000 earmarks. Claiming to be post-partisan, while passively watching the Congressional democrats walk all over the budget process and resorting to extraordinary measures to deny the Republicans a say in major policy decisions, like re-making our health care system or potentially imposing a $650B carbon tax on our already struggling economy.

The Bottom Line

I am not "hope"-ful. So far, Pres. Obama seems to care first and foremost about his image and popularity. Domestically, he is either a leftist ideologue or one of the most cynical political players the White House has ever seen. Or both. On foreign policy, he is hopelessly naive and frankly, anti-American in his outlook. He doesn't seem, however, to be beyond help on foreign affairs. His ideas seem more fluid, and the influence of the left less potent than in domestic policy (yes, the "torture memos were released to placate the leftists, but I think President Obama mistakenly thought he could throw them a bone without opening Pandora's box). At least on the foreign policy front, I see the possibility that he could learn from his early failures and go on to be a decent foreign policy president. I don't see anything short of Democratic electoral defeat setting us back on a rational footing on the domestic front.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Good Riddance!

U.S. Senator Switches Parties - WSJ.com:
"By JONATHAN WEISMAN and GREG HITT

WASHINGTON -- Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter said Tuesday he is switching parties, almost certainly giving President Barack Obama and the Democrats the ability to build a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate."
I feel cleaner already. I predict he loses his bid for reelection. This will actually put more pressure on Democrat senators in red and purple states to vote the right way.

The First 100 Days From a Foreign Point of View

Mark Steyn: Who will lead the 'post-American era'? | world, american, obama, exceptionalism, post - Opinion - OCRegister.com:
"Since January, President Obama and his team have schmoozed, ineffectively, American enemies over allies in almost every corner of the globe. If you're, say, India, following Obama's apology tour even as you watch the Taliban advancing on those Pakistani nukes, would you want to bet the future on American resolve? In Delhi, in Tokyo, in Prague, in Tel Aviv, in Bogota, they've looked at these first 100 days and drawn their own conclusions."
Foreign governments have been sizing up the Obama administration's first 100 days. They haven't brought a lot of "hope" to beleaguered democracies around the world.

Don't Expect To Hear This on Good Morning America!

EDITORIAL: Barack's in the basement - Washington Times:
"President Obama's media cheerleaders are hailing how loved he is. But at the 100-day mark of his presidency, Mr. Obama is the second-least-popular president in 40 years."
Don't let the MSM fool you. Obama is in a race to pass his agenda before his negatives catch up with him, and even the toadies at CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN can''t provide him cover any longer.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Obama team reverses union transparency - Washington Times

Obama team reverses union transparency - Washington Times:
"The Obama administration, which has boasted about its efforts to make government more transparent, is rolling back rules requiring labor unions and their leaders to report information about their finances and compensation."
I kid you not, last night, I came across the following WSJ article while looking for info on how much money the teacher unions spent buying off the Democrat party in the 2008 elections:

If we told you that an organization gave away more than $65 million last year to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Amnesty International, AIDS Walk Washington and dozens of other such advocacy groups, you'd probably assume we were describing a liberal philanthropy. In fact, those expenditures have all turned up on the financial disclosure report of the National Education Association, the country's largest teachers union.

Under new federal rules pushed through by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, large unions must now disclose in much more detail how they spend members' dues money. Big Labor fought hard (if unsuccessfully) against the new accountability standards, and even a cursory glance at the NEA's recent filings--the first under the new rules--helps explain why. They expose the union as a honey pot for left-wing political causes that have nothing to do with teachers, much less students.

I decided not to use it, because it was about contributions to other leftist organizations, not the Dem party, and also it is a few years old. But I thought to myself, I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP, "it won't be long before I read about these transparency rules for unions going away..."

Seems to me since we are bailing out teacher jobs, and police jobs, and fireman jobs, and autoworker jobs that we should all know exactly how much every union official makes, and be able to cap their earnings, shouldn't we?

National Health Care With 51 Votes - WSJ.com

National Health Care With 51 Votes - WSJ.com:
"Late last week President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders agreed to use 'budget reconciliation' if necessary to jam a massive health-care bill through Congress... this decision is a deeply troublesome attempt to circumvent the normal and customary workings of American democracy...It's a radical departure from congressional precedent, in which budget rules have been designed and used to reduce deficits, not expand the size of government. And it promises bitter divisiveness under an administration that has made repeated promises to reach across the partisan divide."
Make sure your congressional delegation knows how much you oppose this unprecedented expansion of government, being shoved down our throats without even regard for the budgetary rules of Congress. Ask your liberal friends how they plan to pay for it.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

This Foreign Policy Team Needs Adult Supervision

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- The War On Terror Just Won't Go Away:
"how can we defeat them if we're on the verge of revealing dozens of photographs that purport to show U.S. military personnel mistreating captives in Afghanistan?

Surely, that will inflame Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan, making the job of our military now engaged in a life-or-death struggle for Afghanistan with the Taliban all the more difficult.

It will end up costing American lives. And for what? To score a few cheap political points against former President Bush's policy of pursuing terrorists to the hilt?

The problem is, the only reason Pakistan's government made a deal with the Taliban in the first place is, frankly, it doubts the bona fides of the Obama administration when it comes to fighting terrorism."


The same Islamic extremists we are fighting in Afghanistan edge closer every day to toppling a nuclear state in Pakistan, and we are going to assist them by supplying them photographs for their propaganda and recruiting, and by diverting the attention of our government from this imminent danger to focus on a partisan witch hunt over past policy disagreements. This administration is reckless.

Need MORE Proof the Left Doesn't Care About Educating Poor Kids?

Teach for (Some of) America - WSJ.com:
"This is a tragic lost opportunity. Teach for America picks up the $20,000 tab for the recruitment and training of each teacher, which saves public money. More important, the program feeds high-energy, high-IQ talent into a teaching profession that desperately needs it. Unions claim the recent grads lack the proper experience and commitment to a teaching career. But the Urban Institute has studied the program and found that 'TFA status more than offsets any experience effects. Disadvantaged secondary students would be better off with TFA teachers, especially in math and science, than with fully licensed in-field teachers with three or more years of experience.'"
The big government folks love to demagogue on education and pass bills to shovel more money into existing failed school systems. Ask them, however, to cross their big contributors, the teacher unions, by supporting successful voucher programs, and they run for cover. This story is even more breathtaking however. Their cynicism extends so far as to be willing to impede the flow of idealistic Ivy League-trained recruits into underperforming public school systems. They can't bear the prospect of having to compete with young teachers with energy, brains, and a desire to put students first.

Presidential Poison - WSJ.com

Presidential Poison - WSJ.com: "Mark down the date. Tuesday, April 21, 2009, is the moment that any chance of a new era of bipartisan respect in Washington ended. By inviting the prosecution of Bush officials for their antiterror legal advice, President Obama has injected a poison into our politics that he and the country will live to regret."

The Old "Public Option" Switcheroo

Judd Gregg: 'Elections Have Consequences' - WSJ.com:
"The Democrats, he [Judd Gregg] says, pulled the same public-private switcheroo before with student loans for college. Back in the late 1990s, 'there was a huge debate in the committee . . . between myself and [Senator Ted] Kennedy over a private plan versus a public plan.' In the end, they compromised -- the government would offer loans directly to students, but that program would have to compete with private-sector lenders. 'And the agreement was very formal, and the record shows this very clearly. We agreed to level the playing field, put both plans on the playing field at an equal status and see who won. Well, private plans won. Big time.'

Given the choice, most borrowers went to the private sector for their loans. But the Democrats who wanted to nationalize the student-loan market did not take defeat in the marketplace gracefully. 'They didn't like that,' Mr. Gregg says. 'So ever since then they've tilted the playing field back and now they're going to wipe out the private plans in their budget.'

When it comes to health insurance, Mr. Gregg expects more of the same. 'That's the scenario that you're going to see if you have a public plan for insurance that competes with the private plans. That's the game plan' -- call it competition at first, but tighten the screws until the private insurers leave the market or get forced out.


A great past illustration of how these apparently "modest" efforts to give taxpayers a "choice" are really just step one in the inevitable march to government control of yet another sector of the free market economy.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Keeping Repeating the Big Lies to a Lap Dog Press Corps and EventuallyThey Turn to Accepted Truth

Charles Krauthammer - Barack Obama's 'New Foundation' - a Sting in Four Parts - washingtonpost.com:
"The Whopper: The boast that he had 'identified $2 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade.' It takes audacity to repeat this after it had been so widely exposed as transparently phony. Most of this $2 trillion is conjured up by refraining from spending $180 billion a year for 10 more years of surges in Iraq. Hell, why not make the 'deficit reductions' $10 trillion -- the extra $8 trillion coming from refraining from repeating the $787 billion stimulus package annually through 2019."


If you need any more evidence that the media are in the tank for Pres. Obama, the fact that these ridiculous claims are not met by derision in the press corps is all you need.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Torture Memos - A Source of Pride

The Case for the ‘Torture Memos’ by Rich Lowry on National Review Online:
"The debate over the just-released Justice Department memorandums on interrogation techniques ended as soon as they were dubbed the “torture memos.” Forevermore, they will be remembered as the legal lowlights of a “dark and painful chapter in our history,” as Pres. Barack Obama put it.

Rightly considered, the memos should be a source of pride. They represent a nation of laws struggling to defend itself against a savage, lawless enemy while adhering to its legal commitments and norms. Most societies throughout human history wouldn’t have bothered."


Last torture post for a while, I hope. Read this important piece. The politics that Pres. Obama is playing with this issue belies his claims to be a uniter and non-partisan figure. But we already knew that. History will judge what he and his leftist cronies are doing now to have been far more contemptible than anything done by the Bush administration.

God bless all of those involved in these interrogations for caring enough to carefully consider and make the tough decisions, and do what they deemed necessary to defend our nation. Let's hope this episode doesn't discourage those we rely upon today and in the future for our safety.

The Most Transparent Administration, Covering Up Effectiveness of Interrogrations

Obama muddles torture message - Josh Gerstein and Mike Allen - POLITICO.com:
"President Barack Obama’s attempt to project legal and moral clarity on coercive CIA interrogation methods has instead done the opposite — creating confusion and political vulnerability over an issue that has inflamed both the left and right.

In the most recent instance, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair acknowledged in a memo to the intelligence community that Bush-era interrogation practices yielded had 'high-value information,” then omitted that admission from a public version of his assessment.

That leaves a top Obama administration official appearing to validate claims by former Vice President Dick Cheney that waterboarding and other techniques the White House regards as torture were effective in preventing terrorist attacks. And the press release created the impression the administration was trying to suppress this conclusion."
Contemptible.

Wash Post Says Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002

Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002: "In Meetings, Spy Panels' Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say

By Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 9, 2007; A01

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk."

They are Shocked, Just Shocked, To Hear That KSM Was Waterboarded!

Top legislators knew of interrogations - Washington Times:
"The CIA briefed top Democrats and Republicans on the congressional intelligence committees more than 30 times about enhanced interrogation techniques, according to intelligence sources who said the lawmakers tacitly approved the techniques that some Democrats in Congress now say should land Bush administration officials in jail."...

Those who were briefed included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and Rep. Jane Harman of California, all Democrats, and Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama and Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, all Republicans.


This is probably the biggest reason the President will only go so far in placating MoveOn.org.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Texans - Write Your State Rep!

The Texas Senate has voted to accept the $555M in federal stimulus money for unemployment. This is the $555M that Governor Perry has vowed to veto on the grounds that taking these funds will commit Texas to future unfunded expenditures which will force the state to raise taxes.

The bill goes now to the House, where it is currently expected to pass. Write your representative to urge them to oppose this violation of our sovereignty. Here's my email to my rep:

I am writing to urge you to oppose the acceptance of $555M in federal stimulus aid for unemployment benefits. The reason for my opposition is that the stipulations that go along with the money require Texas to expand state programs indefinitely into the future, with no promise of continued federal funding. The federal government has no business dictating to TX what to do with OUR money - we did send it to Washington, after all. We have a right to live within our means.

You, I presume, took an oath of office to uphold the constitution and sovereignty of the State of Texas. That oath trumps any personal devotion to your party or to the President. Do your duty. Stand up for Texas.
Thank You
Also, it looks like the bill will pass the House. Governor Perry is expected to veto it, and his veto is expected to be upheld. Please write to the Governor to support him in this controversy.

What Do These Cities Have in Common?

Notes from the Lege: "Forbes Magazine ranks Austin as the “Best Big Cities For Jobs” in it’s recent issue. In fact all of the top 5 cities in this category are from Texas.

1. Austin
2. Houston
3. San Antonio
4. Fort Worth/Arlington
5. Dallas/Plano"

Despite our horrible schools, terrible health care system, low taxes, big carbon footprint, and offshore drilling, somehow Texas' economy comes out on top, again and again. Just think how great Texas' economy will be after we start to benefit from the President's many "investments" in economic growth!

Insulting the Intelligence of the American People - .0028% !!!

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Fiscal Nanosurgery:
"When President Obama directed his Cabinet to cut $100 million out of the budget, it looked at first like a misprint. That's barely enough to count as a rounding error.

Indeed, the only hard part about meeting the president's goal will be finding programs small enough to fit under that bar. In making the announcement, Obama talked about earning the public's trust on spending. Apparently, he thinks people put a low value on trust.

Measured against the $3.6 trillion budget Obama issued weeks ago, the cuts amount to 0.0028%."
The President thinks you're stupid enough to take this seriously.

Thought police muscle up in Britain | This is No Joke!

Thought police muscle up in Britain | The Australian:
"In September 2006, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, Codie Stott, asked a teacher if she could sit with another group to do a science project as all the girls with her spoke only Urdu. The teacher's first response, according to Stott, was to scream at her: 'It's racist, you're going to get done by the police!' Upset and terrified, the schoolgirl went outside to calm down. The teacher called the police and a few days later, presumably after officialdom had thought the matter over, she was arrested and taken to a police station, where she was fingerprinted and photographed. According to her mother, she was placed in a bare cell for 3 1/2 hours. She was questioned on suspicion of committing a racial public order offence and then released without charge."
Political correctness run horribly amok. Before you tell yourself it couldn't happen here, look at what happened to Miss California at the Miss USA pageant. She was ambushed by a gay rights activist judge, Perez Hilton, and held up to public ridicule for daring to say, in response to his question at the pageant, that she believed in the traditional definition of marriage (after asserting that she accepted the fact that others had a different point of view).

Hat tip to Mark Steyn for the article from the Australian. Listen to Dennis Prager's show yesterday and/or today for his thought on this incident and its larger social implications.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Dennis Prager Nails It!

I had some trepidation about my previous link, regarding, the President's dealings with Hugo Chavez in Trinidad and Tobago. I realized it was one of those "preaching to the choir" moments. I asserted that the President "doesn't get it" when it comes to understanding the influence of his office around the world. But I realized, that only readers "who get it" would have any capacity to empathize with my position, and the post didn't help people "get it."

Then, as I was listening to my prerecorded broadcast of The Dennis Prager Show (absolutely the best talk radio in America www.pragertopia.com), I heard Dennis utter the most elegant illustration of the point. To paraphrase him, he said, "in order to understand the impact of the President of the United States going out of his way to warmly and exuberantly embrace Hugo Chavez, imagine the impact on a Venezuelan, who each day must muster the will and the courage to carry on in his resistance to the Chavez regime. How is that freedom loving Venezuelan going to feel when he sees this video?"

Brilliant. Get it?

Lending Hugo a Hand

O'Grady: Americas Summit—Missed Opportunity - WSJ.com:
"If President Barack Obama's goal at the fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend was to be better liked by the region's dictators and left-wing populists than his predecessor George W. Bush, the White House can chalk up a win. If, on the other hand, the commander in chief sought to advance American ideals, things didn't go well."...

Mr. Obama had to know that the meeting is used by the region's politicians to rally the base back home by showing that they can put Uncle Sam in his place. Realizing this, the American president might have arrived at the Port of Spain prepared to return their volley...

[Instead] He only promised to talk some more, a strategy that will offend no one and accomplish nothing. It is a strategy that sums up, to date, Mr. Obama's foreign policy for the region.
The sad fact is that President Obama seems to have such a deficit of understanding of the import of his own office that he truly doesn't appreciate how much credence he lent to thugs like Chavez and Ortega by chumming around with them in Trinidad and Tobago. We know he's good at apologizing for us while traveling overseas. It would be nice to know if anything will ever move him to defend us.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Let's Misprepresent What's Going On In Mexico to Prop Up Our Anti-Gun Agenda at Home

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- The Guns Of Calderon:
"Ed Head, a firearms instructor in Arizona who spent 24 years with the U.S. Border Patrol, recently displayed an array of 'assault rifles' that are similar to those recovered in Mexico, but are unavailable for sale in the U.S.

'These kinds of guns — the auto versions of these guns — they are not coming from El Paso,' Head told Fox News. 'They are coming from other sources. They are brought in from Guatemala. They are brought in from places like China. They are being diverted from the military. But you don't get these guns from the U.S.'"
This canard (repeated mantra-like by the administration) that 90% of the guns used by drug criminals in Mexico comes from the US really galls me. We can have a debate on assault rifles, but stop using the crisis in Mexico to drive your misinformation campaign.

If We Pretend It Didn't Happen Maybe It Will Just Fade Away

Mark Steyn: Tea Party animals not boiling over | tea, interests, tax, boston, parties - Opinion - OCRegister.com:
"Asked about the tea parties, President Barack Obama responded that he was not aware of them. As Marie Antoinette said, 'Let them drink Lapsang Souchong.' His Imperial Majesty at Barackingham Palace having declined to acknowledge the tea parties, his courtiers at the Globe and elsewhere fell into line. Talk-show host Michael Graham spoke to one attendee at the 2009 Boston Tea Party who remarked of the press embargo: 'If Obama had been the king of England, the Globe wouldn't have covered the American Revolution.'"
Like Mark Steyn, I eagerly await the day when the Boston Globe prints its last paper. And I hope President Obama continues to dismiss the anti-big government movement.

Dereliction of Duty Pervades the Political Class

I fully expect the wrath of the Statists to descend upon Governor Rick Perry for his defense of Texas' sovereignty under the 10th Amendment. As I thought about how I would defend him from this onslaught, my first thought was, "he's upholding his oath of office." As the Governor of Texas, it falls more squarely upon Gov. Perry's shoulders than anywhere else to defend the constitutional perogatives and rights of the state of Texas. It is not within the constitutionally circumscribed powers of the federal government to dictate to the state of Texas how to spend its money.

Upholding one's oath of office has become a quaint idea of the past. I'm not sure whether that's because our politicians willfully reject their responsibilities or because they fail to comprehend them. This week's release of the "torture memos" is a great example. President Obama, in the name of mollifying his MoveOn base weakened the executive branch, weakened the concept of attorney/client privilege, and weakened our intelligence gathering capabilities all in one fell swoop. I suspect that one of the reasons that he can see his way clear to doing this is that he doesn't understand or respect the concept of checks and balances. The Left finds checks and balances inconvenient, and unnecessary as long as the right (I mean Left) people are in power.

Similarly, Congress abdicated is responsibility and perogative to control the purse strings when it handed the executive branch a $700B TARP slush fund to dole out as it sees fit (see post and link to George Will column).

State and local officials fail to do their duty when they allow the federal government coerce them into signing on to programs that will bankrupt their states and municipalities in the future.

Regardless of how much he or she may want to support a particular political agenda or outcome, every politician that takes an oath of office is obligated first and foremost to uphold that oath.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Mainstream Reporter With a Brain and Some Guts

The Weekly Standard:
"During a White House press briefing yesterday, ABC's Jake Tapper pointed out that unemployment is right about where an Obama economic adviser predicted it would be without the stimulus.

Tapper also noted that Obama had announced the 2,000th stimulus project the day before, but it turns out that this is the 2,000th planned project. Tapper asks Gibbs: How many projects have actually been started?

Gibbs will, uh, look into it: 'I can certainly look for a number."
Way to go, Jake Tapper! This exchange with Gibbs is a most effective exposé of the sham argument that the Democrat stimulus bill and massive budgets have anything to do with jumpstarting the economy in the short term.

That's Our Governor!

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Enemies Of The State:
"Among the 'anti-government' types who reject 'federal authority in favor of state or local authority' is Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He recently endorsed a Texas state House resolution affirming the state's sovereignty under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.

That resolution urges that 'all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.' This is radical stuff.

Since Texas, site of a Tea Party at the Alamo, abounds in supporters of state sovereignty who believe in things such as the right to bear arms and lower taxes, and in light of Perry's views, maybe DHS should list Texas as a state sponsor of terror. Don't forget: Texas has many military bases and a lot of returning veterans looking for jobs.

In announcing his support of HCR 50, Perry said he believes 'that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens and its interference with the affairs of our state. That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states' rights affirmed by the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.'"
Boy, am I glad to be a Texan! I am optimistic that the independent and exceptionalist attitude of Texans can prevent our state from following, lemming-like, the other 49 states into serfdom.

Show Trials to Cover Up the Big Lie

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Probe Yourselves:
"Truth is, Frank's party has been in charge since 2006. And during that time, Democrats have presided over one of the most disgraceful and least accomplished Congresses in history. This financial mess began on their watch, yet they pretend otherwise.

What better way to take the heat off yourself than by pointing accusing fingers at those most unlikable of people — Wall Street bankers? That's what the Pelosi-Pecora Commission will do."
Your tax dollars at work - conducting show trials to act as a smoke screen for the dems in Congress.

I Choose to See This Cup as Half Full

Obama Explains Memo Release Decision - The Atlantic Politics Channel:
"In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution. The men and women of our intelligence community serve courageously on the front lines of a dangerous world. Their accomplishments are unsung and their names unknown, but because of their sacrifices, every single American is safer. We must protect their identities as vigilantly as they protect our security, and we must provide them with the confidence that they can do their jobs."
The President had no business releasing these memos. He's just throwing a bone to the MoveOn crowd. It's a shame he doesn't take his responsibility to protect our nation more seriously. However, I am grateful that he at least is resisting the temptation to lead a witch hunt against the marvelous patriots who kept us safe for the past seven years.

The Mainstream Media May Fuel This Movement

The Weekly Standard:
"There were many travesties in yesterday's coverage of the nation's tea parties. There was a CNN reporter's brave attack on a father and his two-year old. There was the implication by NBC's Chuck Todd that the parties were orchestrated by the RNC, and the JournoList-approved talking point that that they were somehow 'corporate,' when a forensic look at the organizing reveals it started with a Seattle mom who had never done a political event until this February.

There was the irony of a bunch of retirees, young families, and veterans being lectured about coarsening the debate by their allegedly sophisticated, liberal intellectual betters who were simultaneously making hackneyed oral sex jokes every time they could manage. All of it betrayed a misunderstanding of the people involved in these events and a willful avoidance of the professional effort necessary to correct that misunderstanding."
I, for one, am outraged at the concerted efforts of the mainstream media to discredit yesterday's Tea Parties - over 700 simultaneous peaceful, grassroots protests across the nation by 300,000+ citizens. These brazen efforts to delegitimize conservatives who disagree with the Obama administration are likely to do the opposite, and lend momentum to the anti-big government movement.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Department of Homeland Security Considers Federalists RIght Wing Extremists

Re: Here We Go Again, Again - Mark Steyn - The Corner on National Review Online:
"Re: Here We Go Again, Again [Mark Steyn]

Jonah, Mark H., here's the bit that raised my eyebrow in that Homeland Security report:

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

Ah, right. So a predisposition toward the Tenth Amendment marks you down as a 'rightwing extremist.' Federalism is now a security threat. Likewise, being found in possession of subversive literature like that right-wing extremist Tocqueville's paean to the glories of American municipal self-government."

Frighteningly, this memo was distributed to law enforcement across the US by the Obama DHS - presumably so they know to "keep an eye on" such rightwing extremists. And George Bush was accused of trouncing constitutional rights...

Transparency? $750B of New US Foreign Aid - Without Debate or a Vote

Treasury Commits $750 Billion to the International Monetary Fund - WSJ.com:
"The upshot for U.S. taxpayers is that neither the $40 billion-plus in new SDRs nor the $100 billion for the NAB will get much democratic scrutiny. Yet they amount to a massive expansion in U.S. foreign aid. We can see why the G-20 applauded. But this is the opposite of the 'transparency' this Administration has promised, and someone on Capitol Hill should blow the whistle."
Let you congressional delegation know that you oppose this giveaway of US taxpayer dollars to foreign nations with virtually no accountability at any level.

Investments in a Mirage

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- 'Vision Thing' Of Obama May Just Be Mirage:
"The president's policies might, as he says, create high-paying 'green' or medical jobs. But if so, they will destroy old jobs elsewhere. Think about it. If you spend more for gasoline or electricity — or for health insurance premiums — then you spend less on other things, from meals out to home repair. Jobs in those sectors suffer.
The prospect is that energy and health costs may rise without creating much gain in benefits. That's not economic 'progress.' To rebate households' higher energy costs (as some suggest) with tax cuts doesn't solve the problem of squeezed incomes. Given today's huge and unsustainable budget deficits, some other tax would have to be raised or some other program cut.
And collective benefits?
What defines the 'post-material economy' is a growing willingness to sacrifice money income for psychic income — 'feeling good.' Some people may gladly pay higher energy prices if they think they're 'saving the planet' from global warming. Some may accept higher taxes if they think they're improving the health or education of the poor. Unfortunately, these psychic benefits may be based on fantasies. What if U.S. cuts in greenhouse gases are offset by Chinese increases? What if more health insurance produces only modest gains in people's health?
Obama and his allies have glossed over these questions."

Celebrate, and Continue to Resist

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Labor Reached Too Far With Card-Check Act:
"The unions' lever was strong, but not strong enough to move the world as far as they wanted. And now that it's splintering in their hands, the question is what position they'll be in when they land on the ground."
We need to figure out how to break up the unholy alliance of government employees and unions. There is no end to the damage unions can do in the public sector as government will never be allowed to go bankrupt.

From Tiny ACORNS Do Mighty Frauds Grow - the Debasing of The Census

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Counting On Illegal Aliens:
"One of those trusted organizations, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, infamous for its documented participation in vote fraud, signed on as a national partner with the Census Bureau in February. It will help recruit the 1.4 million temporary workers needed to go door to door. Acorn has helped ensure 'people' like Mary Poppins and Jive Turkey were registered to vote. We wouldn't want the census to miss them."
Hiring ACORN to work on on getting a fair and accurate count of the population is an outrage and a debasement of the entire census process. ACORN is known for a pattern of partisan and fraudulent canvassing and petitioning that renders its efforts on the census completely suspect. The American people are being made to pay for Democrat community organizing efforts, and to get a census count guaranteed to overrepresent blue states and illegal aliens.

Monday, April 13, 2009

A Short Honeymoon With Europe

America under Barack Obama is taking a long, cold look at its transatlantic relations - Telegraph:
"So long as it was those rough and ready cowboys George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld who were condemning it, Old Europe could afford to smirk – and its loathing was lapped up enthusiastically (and put to good use) by all those American liberals who saw the Bush administration as a crass international embarrassment. But now Europe has got the US president of its dreams and it has given him nothing in return for his pious declarations of global humility. So maybe, thinks mainstream America, Mr Rumsfeld was right all along about those cynical, self-serving Old World powers whose leaders seem not to understand that they have rendered themselves irrelevant by their refusal to help defend Western values militarily, and by their unsustainable economic policies which will see them marginalised in the global market place."
This opinion piece from the UK's Telegraph lays it right out. Being in the good graces of Europe has about as much value to the US as a warm mug of spit. The President has nothing to show for his Barack Obama - Being America Means Always Having to Say You're Sorry Tour of the Continent.

Iran Barely Hides Its Contempt for President's Advances

Michael Rubin Says Iran's Nuclear Negotiations Are a Game of Diplomacy Without Sincerity - WSJ.com:
"When Mr. Obama declared on April 5 that 'All countries can access peaceful nuclear energy,' the state-run daily newspaper Resalat responded with a front page headline, 'The United States capitulates to the nuclear goals of Iran.' With Washington embracing dialogue without accountability and Tehran embracing diplomacy without sincerity, it appears the Iranian government is right."

How long must we pretend the Iranians are interested in anything other than buying time to build their nuclear weapons?

Class Warfare

Ari Fleischer Says It's Bad for Our Democracy to Exempt Half the Country From Income Taxes - WSJ.com:
"A very small number of taxpayers -- the 10% of the country that makes more than $92,400 a year -- pay 72.4% of the nation's income taxes. They're the tip of the triangle that's supporting virtually everyone and everything. Their burden keeps getting heavier.

President Obama says they aren't paying their share. Question, Mr. President, can we put a number on what their "fair share" should be?

The End of Private Health Insurance - WSJ.com

The End of Private Health Insurance - WSJ.com:
"This public option will supposedly 'compete' with private alternatives. As President Obama likes to put it, those who are happy with the insurance they have now can keep it -- and if they happen to prefer the government offering, well, gee whiz, that's the free market at work. The reality is far different. Not only will the new program become the default coverage for the uninsured, but Democrats intend to game the system to precipitate -- or if need be, coerce -- an exodus to government from private insurance. Soon enough, that will be the only 'option' left."

Great compendium of facts that support my earlier post on the insidious "public option" of ObamaCare.

Obama Administration Changing the World - One Phrase At a TIme

Joe Queenan Says Obama's New War Terminology Has Started a Trend - WSJ.com:
"if the intention of the Obama administration is to tone down the confrontational rhetoric being used by our enemies, the effort is already reaping results. This week, in a pronounced shift from its usual theatrical style, the Taliban announced that it will no longer refer to its favorite method of murder as 'beheadings,' but will henceforth employ the expression 'cephalic attrition.'"

Well Done!

Snipers Kill Pirates, Save Captain - WSJ.com:
"U.S. Navy Seal sharpshooters brought a five-day hostage standoff to an abrupt end Sunday with a hail of bullets that killed three pirates holding the captain of an American-flagged cargo ship."
What a great outcome. The hero, Captain Phillips, freed by heroic Navy Seals. Three pirate scumbags killed in the process. Congratulations to Captain Phillips for his bravery in sparing his ship and crew from this ordeal. Congratulations to the US Navy for a job well done. Congratulations to our President for giving the Navy the freedom to handle the situation as they saw fit.

Perhaps the administration will take this opportunity to recognize that it is a dangerous world out there. Instead of shrinking our Navy at a time when the world is faced with ever more unstable countries and regions, and when China is aggressively building up its Navy, perhaps they will reconsider what it takes to defend US interests on the high seas. And hopefully, this incident will help neutralize the reflexive mistrust of the military too prevalent among those in the President's party.

Now it's time to start cleaning out that nest of pirate vipers in Somalia.

Anything Goes

We’re in the fast lane to polygamy - Mark Steyn - Macleans.ca:
"What’s my line on legalized polygamy? Oh, I pretty much said it all back in 2004, in a column for Ezra Levant’s Western Standard. Headline: “It’s Closer Than They Think.”

Well, a mere half-decade down the slippery slope and here we are, with the marrying kind of Bountiful, B.C., headed for the Supreme Court of Canada. Five years ago, proponents of same-sex marriage went into full you-cannot-be-serious eye-rolling mode when naysayers warned that polygamy would be next. As I wrote in that Western Standard piece:

“Gay marriage, they assure us, is the merest amendment to traditional marriage, and once we’ve done that we’ll pull up the drawbridge.”

Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, the former Supreme Court justice, remains confident the drawbridge is firmly up. “Marriage is a union of two people, period,” she said in Quebec the other day. But it used to be a union of one man and one woman, period. And, if that period got kicked down the page to accommodate a comma and a subordinate clause, why shouldn’t it get kicked again? If the sex of the participants is no longer relevant, why should the number be?"


Despite the vigorous ridicule of this argument by same-sex-marriage proponents it becomes clearer every day that when no set of values or standards is sacred, any set of values will be normalized. No one is left with a compelling argument for why his or her "line in the sand" is the one that cannot be crossed. Ultimately anything goes. And ultimately isn't far off.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The Post Partisan President

Rove: Obama Is Now a Divisive Figure - WSJ.com:
"Mr. Obama has hastened the decline of Republican support with petty attacks on his critics and predecessor. For a person who promised hope and civility in politics, Mr. Obama has shown a borderline obsessiveness in blaming Mr. Bush. Starting with his inaugural address and continuing through this week's overseas trip, the new president's jabs at Mr. Bush have been unceasing, unfair and unhelpful. They have also diminished Mr. Obama by showing him to be another conventional politician. Rather than ending 'the blame game,' he is personifying it."

Being Obama Means Always Having To Say, "I'm Sorry"

Will Islam Return Obama's 'Respect'? - WSJ.com:
"'We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect. We will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstandings, and we will seek common ground. We will be respectful, even when we do not agree. We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith. . . . Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country. I know, because I am one of them.'

This is an eloquent description of ecumenical civility. In reality, the experience of Arab Christians living now amid majority Islamic populations is often repression, arrest, imprisonment and death."
Hat Tip for the Being Obama... line. Apparently, the problem is that we in the US are not respectful of minority groups. We should learn from the Islamic states.

Does Anyone Fear Obama's US?

Barack Obama Must Respond to Threats to American Citizens by Pirates, North Korea, Iran and Spain - WSJ.com:
"the Obama Administration hasn't spoken a word in their defense. If the U.S. government won't protect American citizens from the legal anarchy of postmodern Europe, how can we expect it to protect American sailors from the premodern anarchy of Somalia, much less the tyrannies of Tehran and Pyongyang?"
Weakness invites provocations on all fronts.

Coincidence?

BBC NEWS Africa Hijacked US crew 'retake vessel':
"It is reportedly the first time in 200 years that a
US-flagged vessel has been seized by pirates."

US-flagged merchant ships aren't inherently different from a security point of view, as this attack illustrates. I wonder why this is happening for the first time in 200 years?

Monday, April 6, 2009

I Wonder How The NYT Would React If Pres Obama Said This to the UAW

For Boston Globe, an Ultimatum - WSJ.com:
"New York Times Co. has told employees at the Boston Globe it is prepared to shut down the newspaper within a month unless it gets labor concessions -- a move that reflects both the financial pressure the Times Co. is under and the depths to which its once-prized property has sunk."

How Did the President Really Do in Europe?

Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Saudi King 1, America 0:
"Well where does one begin? Obama says, in America there is a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world. …Well maybe it’s because when there was a civil war on Europe’s doorstep, in the Balkans, a genocide, it didn’t lift a finger until America led. Maybe it’s because when there was an invasion of Kuwait, it didn’t lift a finger until America led. it’s because with America spending over half a trillion a year, keeping open the sea lanes in defending the world, Europe is spending pennies on defense. It’s hard to appreciate an entity’s leading role in the world, when it’s been sucking on your teat for sixty years as Europe has, in regard to the United States parasitically! …And then he (Obama ) goes on and he calls America arrogant, dismissive and derisive, regarding Europe…….I think what he did in order to gain the adoration of the crowds… he denigrated his country, in a way that I think is disgraceful."
This is the transcript of Krauthammer on Fox News. And he managed to utter all this without even a teleprompter.

Spinning Yarns

SteynOnline - THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY:
"Needless to say, the salaried stenographers up in the press gallery were happy to take the Hopeychanger-in-Chief at his word on the facts of the case. But even more striking is how indifferent they were to the bigger question: If a schoolhouse has peeling paint and leaking ceilings, what’s the best way to fix it? Applying for federal funds and processing the building maintenance through a huge continental bureaucracy?"
There is no problem under the sun that is not best remedied by the Obama federal government.

You really should Mark Steyn's column taking apart Pres Obama's tear-jerker about a South Carolina school.

Let's Do Away With Nukes, Kumbaya

Mark Steyn: The One-Man Global Content Provider:
"'We're building a world right now in which the wealthiest nations in history from Norway to New Zealand, are incapable of defending their borders; while decrepit Third World basket cases from North Korea to Sudan, go nuclear. How long do you think that arrangement is going to last?' -- Mark Steyn"
The President's foreign policy seems to be channeling Jimmy Carter. I hope it won't be the case this time, but usually when US leaders signal this kind of weakness, it's taken by our enemies as the go-ahead to test the resolve of the US.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

The Ghost of Government Future - Part XII

David Paterson's New York Budget Fails to Deliver Fiscal Responsibility - WSJ.com:
"With revenues still eroding as the April 1 start of the 2009-10 fiscal year approached, Mr. Paterson and Democratic leaders last week agreed to a budget deal that approached the worst of all worlds. The $132 billion plan will increase state spending by at least $11 billion from 2008-09, including $6.2 billion of temporary stimulus aid that will be built into future budgetary baselines. It also calls for over $6 billion in higher taxes and fees, half again as much as Mr. Paterson's original plan. This includes $4 billion to come from an income tax hike that will raise the state's top rate by 31% and kick in at $200,000 for single filers."
Like Michigan and California, New York stands as a harbinger of things to come at the federal level. A great illustration of "how government works" when Democrats have their way.

Open, Honest, and Transparent Budgeting

Michael Boskin Says Barack Obama's Trillion-Dollar Deficit Budget Will Impede Economic Growth - WSJ.com:
"The claim to reduce the deficit by half compares this year's immense (mostly inherited) deficit to the projected fiscal year 2013 deficit, the last of his current term. While it is technically correct that the deficit would be less than half this year's engorged level, a do-nothing budget would reduce it by 84%. Compared to do-nothing, Mr. Obama's deficit is more than two and a half times larger in fiscal year 2013."

I'm starting to miss the straight-talk of Bill Clinton. This is a great column explaining all the chicanery around Pres. Obama's budget claims.

...what is not just worrisome but dangerous are the growing trillion dollar deficits in the latter years of the Obama budget. These deficits are so large for a prosperous nation in peacetime -- three times safe levels -- that they would cause the debt burden to soar toward banana republic levels.

Stop ObamaCare Now!

Congress Balks at Barack Obama's Cap and Trade Proposal - WSJ.com:
"The most important remaining fight this year is over health care. Democrats seem intent on trying to plow that monumental change through with only 50 votes, even as they negotiate to bring along some Republicans. We hope these Republicans understand that a new health-care 'public option' -- a form of Medicare for all Americans -- guarantees that the 17% of GDP represented by the health-care industry will be entirely government-run within a few years. This is precisely Mr. Obama's long-term goal, though he doesn't want to say it publicly.

If Republicans acquiesce, they will spend the rest of their days in public life raising taxes to pay for liabilities that will grow into the trillions of dollars. GOP leaders need to get out of the backrooms and start the same kind of public-education campaign on state-run health care that has helped to stall cap and tax and coercive unionization."
Obama and his team are clever - they make their healthcare plans sound so benign. But the taxpayer-supported "public option" is designed and destined to crowd out all the other "options." If your legislators are at all likely to consider this plan, you must barrage them with emails, faxes, and phone calls.

Whoopee!!!

Congress Balks at Barack Obama's Cap and Trade Proposal - WSJ.com:
"Please pass Al Gore a Valium -- and better make it a double -- because his cap-and-trade dreams just took a dive in the U.S. Senate. In a vote late Wednesday, no fewer than 26 Democrats joined all 41 Republicans to insist that any new cap and tax on carbon energy would require at least 60 votes."

Something to celebrate! Not all Democrats have a death wish. Particularly gratifying since this vote took place while the President was in Europe genuflecting before the altar of "Climate Change."

Tom Coburn Says What's So

Peggy Noonan Says Barack Obama's Domestic Policy Gains Definition - WSJ.com:
"Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, has been close with the Illinois Democrat since their Senate orientation in 2004; he's the man the president hugged after his big joint sessions speech last month. Thursday, in a column on ealClearPolitics.com, Mr. Coburn wrote, 'I believe President Obama has proposed the most significant shift toward collectivism and away from capitalism in the history of our republic. I believe his budget aspires to not merely promote economic recovery but to lay the groundwork for sweeping expansions of government authority in areas like health care, energy and even daily commerce. If handled poorly, I'm concerned this budget could turn our government into the world's largest health care provider, mortgage bank or car dealership, among other things.'"

When Bush Did It, It Was Bad

Peggy Noonan Says Barack Obama's Domestic Policy Gains Definition - WSJ.com:
"I happened to be rereading the economics section of Mr. Obama's second book, 'The Audacity of Hope,' when I read the Bloomberg story. He scores President Bush for contributing to a national debt that amounted to a $30,000 bill for each American. Those were the days!"
Obama has already piled up $42,000 debt per capita in just a couple of months. Audacity in deed.

The Same Attutide That Brought Down Detroit

AT&T, Union Face Off on Contract - WSJ.com:
The company says current health-care benefits are comparable to those at General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, which face a government-mandated restructuring and potential bankruptcy filings...
"'It's clear what those types of unsustainable costs have done to America's auto industry,' said Walt Sharp, an AT&T spokesman. 'What's needed here is fundamental change to match the changes in the industry and the marketplace.'

The union rejects the comparison to the auto industry. 'Our economy may be in a downturn, but AT&T is not,' said Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the CWA. 'We're not the auto industry.'"
So until AT&T is on the ropes, don't ask the unions to be reasonable in their demands. AT&T workers pay NOTHING currently for their health benefits, and they are unwilling to begin paying their share, as virtually all other American workers (except in Detroit) do. Imagine this scenario played out all across the economy if the Democrat pro-union policies inflicted unionization on ever more, and ever-smaller business in our economy.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Somebody Please Say, 'April Fools!'

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Somebody Please Say, 'April Fools!':
"The government's stimulus efforts, as toted up by Bloomberg.com, so far total $13.8 trillion — roughly equal to our entire GDP for one year, or $45,245 for every man, woman and child."...

Congress declares carbon dioxide, a naturally occurring gas necessary for all life, to be a poison and seeks to regulate it through a 'cap-and-trade' system — a costly tax on everyone who uses energy, at a time when the global economy is in recession."...
A great litany of just the past couple of weeks Obaminations by the Investors Business Daily editorial page, www.ibdeditorials.com. They end the piece, "Where's the Outrage?" Hearing that plaintive cry from men who have the bully pulpit of a major daily newspaper was very disturbing to me. It actually gave me a restless night. Because it made me realize that even people like the editorial writers at IBD are just like me, dazed and feeling helpless to even slow down the socialist steamroller. And that made me realize that our republican politicians, with very few exceptions, are still behaving as if it's another day at the office. As long as they do so, it lends the air of normalcy and legitimacy to what's going on. Why haven't my republican senators and respresentative called town hall meetings in their districts to bring focus on what's happening in Washington? Where's Michael Steele? He sends me solicitations for donations. He must be kidding.