August 27, 2008
ABOU BEN ADHEM.
Abou Ben Adhem, may his tribe increase
awoke one night from a deep dream of peace
and saw, within the moonlight of his room
making it rich, like a lily in bloom
An angel writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Abou Ben Adhem bold
and to the presence in his room he said
what writest thou?
The vision raised its head
and with a look of all sweet accord answered:
The names of those who love the Lord.
And is mine one?' said Abou.
Nay not so' replied the Angel.
Abou spoke more low
But cheerily still and said
I pray thee then write me as one that loves his
fellow-men.
The angel wrote and vanished.
The next night it came again with awaking light
and showed the names of whom love of God
had blessed.
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.
-James Henry Leigh
NO WILL NO WAY.
“We have kids without dads and pregnant mothers who got their husbands taken away,” said Velez’s son, Robert, youth pastor at the church. “It was like a horror story. They got handled like they were criminals.”
Criminals indeed. And the sob story about kiddies and mommies now without dad is a joke. Yep, dad is a criminal...so is mommy and the kiddies. Round ‘em all up and ship ‘em out...that way there won’t be the problem family seperation that seems to get everybody all upset.
We as a nation are just not serious about this problemn yet. This whole event was just another dog and pony show to placate those of us who have been demanding action for years now.
And the way the government goes about these “raids” is almost always the same...round up the employees and leave their families alone which is used by the open borders crowd to yank at the sympathy strings of Mr. & Mrs. America. And they do this to good effect.
The fact is, if the government was serious about this these kinds of raids would be going on weekly across the nation. WEEKLY. Yes, there is that much low hanging fruit out there.
Instead we hear about these things every three or four months. And let’s be honest, even if they deport the daddies they will be back inside of a week because the rest of the family is still here and everybody involved knows it.
This is just a game until after the election anyway. Come January the house the senate and the white house will be firmly in the camp of the open borders crowd.
I agree with Kim about the whole “nation of laws” thing...I really do. However, our elected betters (masters?) aren’t really on board with the whole concept and our friendly neighbors from the south flat out don’t care about our laws. Which leaves us where exactly? Voting??? Please, don’t make me laugh.
Voting has gotten us this crop of criminals and idiots that are running this whole train wreck who take the side of law breaking interlopers from south of the border as opposed to citizens who actually employ them...that takes balls right there.
And they do this without even a hint of fear of retribution. Even if they get voted out of office for pissing off their employers, so what...they still get their congressional retirement and many return to lobby for one special interest group or another.
A nation of laws...for most of us anyway.
The Quiet Man | 8/27/2008 04:47 PM CST | #130612
http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/tos-shared/comments/19211/
YABUT THE SKY KEEPS FALLING.
• There are countries in Europe that would love to have their unemployment rate fall to the 5.7 percent unemployment rate to which ours has risen.
Yet those who seem to want us to imitate European economic and social policies never seem to want to consider the actual consequences of those policies.
• At one time, it was said "The truth will make you free." Today, there seem to be those who think that rhetoric and hype will make you free. It might even be called the audacity of hype.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell1.asp
WHAT'S IN A NAME YOU ASK.
Luntz is the man credited with coining the expression death tax to replace the vague notion of an estate tax. He turned school vouchers into opportunity scholarships and converted offshore oil drilling into deep-sea energy exploration.
He also recognized long ago that the fight over our porous borders needed a proper label. So the author of Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear" cast aside illegal aliens and undocumented workers for more middle-of-the-road descriptor: illegal immigrants.
Luntz mentioned another word that works: consequences.
Like it or not, an influx of 135 million new Americans in the next 42 years will have plenty of consequences. No matter where everyone comes from.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/27520164.html
MY COUNTRY WILL BE GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.
Newly updated census data confirm that the United States is in the midst of unprecedented population growth. Today, we are a nation of about 305 million, and in three decades we will reach the 400-million mark.
Left undeterred, this will be the single greatest growth spurt in our history, as we expand by 135 million additional people by 2050.
I find it noteworthy that neither presidential candidate has addressed whether we're equipped to handle such rapid expansion - and I think I can explain the silence.
Try putting aside who's causing the growth, what they look like, and where they come from. Instead, imagine the population pop is being fueled by native-born American women.
Don't you think we'd be hearing concerns from environmentalists about the emissions onslaught brought on by more than 100 million more potential drivers? Wouldn't somebody express concern about our ability to educate so many new youngsters? Or treat them in emergency rooms? Or provide them with social services and police protection?
But what's really driving the population growth is significantly higher birth rates among immigrants and the continued influx of foreigners. That's where political correctness kicks in and politicians go mum, including the presidential candidates
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/27520164.html
TIME MARCHES ON AND SO DOES THE QUEEN IN WAITING.
Senator Hillary Clinton did her job in Denver. She will likely be on the campaign trail and may even find a few specifics to offer in praise of her party’s nominee. But at Obama’s convention Hillary talked about Hillary.
One cannot help but think she wants to see Obama fail so she will not have to consider the possibility of waiting eight years before she can again seek the presidency.
http://www.opinioneditorials.com/guestcontributors/jbell_20080827.html
2012.
Tom Brokaw jumped to his network's defense, saying he and others had expressed dissatisfaction with on-air comments by NBC reporters like Lee Cowan. He also agreed that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews had "gone over the line" at times in comments about Mrs. Clinton but emphasized they were "commentators" and not reporters.
Mr. Rendell wasn't mollified. "Chris Matthews loses his impartiality when he talks about the Clintons," he told the audience. At that point, moderator Judy Woodruff moved to wind up the proceedings before they could become even more heated.
Many in the audience were surprised at the extent to which Mr. Rendell was still carrying a torch for Hillary Clinton and criticizing media coverage of Barack Obama. "I thought he was a Democrat," one person next to me commented.
"Here, he is a Hillarista first," her companion commented. "Her campaign for the next presidential election begins at this convention."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121979390017374575.html?mod=opinion_journal_political_diary
PIAPS HAS SPOKEN.
The audience's reaction was such that some Democratic delegates on the floor no doubt felt much the same way that Republican delegates felt after Reagan's memorable remarks at the 1976 convention.
Many delegates left that gathering convinced they had just nominated the wrong person. They corrected that mistake four years later. No doubt some of Ms. Clinton's aides are privately hoping that some delegates leave Denver feeling the same way.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121980965640875897.html?mod=todays_columnists
YABUT HOW ABOUT PRO CHOICE VOUCHERS?
Imagine what the party's first African-American presidential nominee could do to liberate millions of low-income children of color, not to mention elevate his standing as a change agent, simply by declaring that the era of unequal education is over in America.
Mr. Obama doesn't have to, nor should he, attack or even mention the unions. Just do what he has already done (but louder): challenge his own party to change its policies to put children first, and embrace innovative solutions like longer school days and years, high-quality charter schools, and performance pay for teachers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121979655649074871.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
THE MAGIC MULATTO WILL SAY POOF ON THIS ONE.
The weak dollar and rising inflation are to blame for lagging wages, and it may yet end up eating away real incomes when the data for 2008 come out next August.
Meanwhile, the middle class is getting walloped every time they fill up the tank or buy groceries, and voters are understandably livid as prices rise and their real wages fall.
The Federal Reserve's rate-cut binge -- not to mention Washington's bailouts of the worst errors on Wall Street, and their own in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and with runaway spending and tax hikes on the horizon -- isn't yet reflected by this week's report. But it will be.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121979631879074825.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
August 26, 2008
IS HE OR IS HE NOT? ANY ONE REALLY CARE?
Even if Sen. Obama can prove his U.S. citizenship, Berg stated, citing the senator's use of a birth certificate from the state of Hawaii verified as a forgery by three independent document forensic experts, the issue of "multi-citizenship with responsibilities owed to and allegiance to other countries" remains on the table.
In the lawsuit, Berg states that Sen. Obama was born in Kenya, and not in Hawaii as the senator maintains. Before giving birth, according to the lawsuit, Obama's mother traveled to Kenya with his father but was prevented from flying back to Hawaii because of the late stage of her pregnancy, "apparently a normal restriction to avoid births during a flight."
As Sen. Obama's own paternal grandmother, half-brother and half-sister have also claimed, Berg maintains that Stanley Ann Dunham--Obama's mother--gave birth to little Barack in Kenya and subsequently flew to Hawaii to register the birth.
The Hawaiian birth certificate, Berg says, is a forgery.
In the suit, the attorney states that the birth certificate on record is a forgery, has been identified as such by three independent document forensic experts, and actually belonged to Maya Kasandra Soetoro, Sen. Obama's half-sister.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2008/08/22/msm-ignores-democrat-lawsuit-against-obama
GREEN, BROWN AND RED ARE NOW KULEFORNIA'S OFFICIAL PRIMARY COLORS.
Voters approved $42 billion in bonds two years ago, but the November ballot already has several new ones, including one to finance a high-speed rail system of dubious justification.
Schwarzenegger wants another $9.3 billion bond for water and to borrow against future state lottery profits to create a budget reserve.
Republican legislators want the state to borrow billions of dollars from local governments and/or transportation accounts to cover the current budget deficit rather than raise taxes.
California is building a debt mountain. Someday it will collapse. The only question is when.
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2008/08/26/opinion/082608c.txt
IT'S ABOUT MORE THAN A PAY GRADE.
At the Saddleback presidential forum on Aug. 16, he was asked when a baby begins to acquire human rights. Sen. Obama responded that the question was "above my pay grade."
When asked why, as an Illinois state senator, he had opposed legislation that would protect the lives of babies who had been born alive despite abortions -- legislation the U.S. Senate approved 98-0 -- he said it lacked language that had been in the federal version.
When opponents pointed out he voted against a version that indeed included such language, he accused them of "lying." When the evidence showed they were correct, he shifted again -- and has yet to provide a credible answer.
This is the man that Mr. Kmiec and the Rev. Hunter would have us believe is the hope for a more pro-life America.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121970947361771229.html?mod=todays_columnists
POWER POLITICS IN THE OTHER GEORGIA.
France took a Russia-first position at the NATO summit and, despite President Nicolas Sarkozy's strong trans-Atlantic position, brokered a cease-fire between Russia and Georgia that was very much in the Kremlin's interest.
But Mr. Sarkozy now seems to have understood that he was played. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, too, is finally giving clear support for Georgia's NATO membership as Russia's occupation of the country is in its third week.
Only a united Europe could stop Russia from cutting bilateral deals that are advantageous for individual countries but disastrous for the EU as a whole.
Only a united Europe could hold Gazprom accountable to transparency and competition rules, stopping the firm from dictating its terms and playing one EU country against the other.
The EU correctly points out that Russia needs European energy consumers just as much as Europe needs Russian energy suppliers. Moscow, though, has managed to turn this mutual dependence into one-sided leverage. It's time to reverse this trend.
Ultimately, it all comes down to political will in Western Europe -- and the longer Russian tanks remain in Georgia, the clearer it becomes that such will is lacking.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121970256946770749.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
A BLUEPRINT FOR THE MAGIC MULATTO'S MARCH TOWARD GLOBAL SOCIALISM.
To my astonishment, most CEOs in America are unaware of this planned hostile takeover of their human resources. I am retired, so this is not business for me. It's strictly personal. I care deeply about the competitiveness of American companies and our system of free enterprise.
I know that labor-union contributions are the lifeblood of many in the House and Senate. But I just cannot understand how so many in Congress are willing to sell out America for political dollars.
When the bill came up for a key vote in 2007, all Senate Democrats voted yes and only two Democrats in the House had the courage to vote no. While the bill passed the House, it failed in the Senate because the Democrats were unable to get the required 60 votes to stop a Republican filibuster.
If the Democrats have a good November, the measure could become law early next year.
Bill co-sponsor Barack Obama has said: "We will pass the Employee Free Choice Act. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. We may have to wait for the next president to sign it, but we will get this thing done."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121971114641871335.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
YABUT I THOUGHT OUR FRIENDS IN THE THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WERE GOING TO FIX THE PROBLEM.
Tens of thousands of North Koreans, having fled famine and Kim's dictatorship, now live illegally in China. But China considers them economic migrants and refuses to allow the United Nations to assist them.
Rather, Beijing's policy is to track down the refugees and repatriate them to North Korea, which throws them into prison camps or -- if they have been ideologically "polluted" by talking to South Koreans or Christians -- may execute them.
A high percentage of the North Koreans hiding in China are women, who are sold to Chinese men as brides. Many have children who are rejected by their fathers as racially impure and who are stateless under Chinese law.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121971195765671401.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
YES DOROTHY, YES THEY DO.
As a matter of sober fact, many Americans look at the junior Senator from Illinois and worry, as his Democratic Vice Presidential candidate pointed out last year, that he isn't "ready" for the job.
Does this mean that anyone who agrees with Joe Biden's previous assessment is a racist? Do Democrats really think so little of their fellow Americans?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121970808612971117.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
NATURAL GAS, DINOSAURS, AND MADAM SPEAKER AND T. BOONE PICKENS.
Ms. Pelosi appeared Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," where Tom Brokaw gently pointed out that the various Democratic alternative energy ambitions are "not going to happen overnight."
Replied Ms. Pelosi: "You can have a transition with natural gas. That, that is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels."
Later, she again said that "I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels," and that wind, solar, biofuels and "a focus on natural gas, these are the real alternatives."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121970784876071105.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
CAN YOU PUT A BROKEN EGG BACK TOGETHER AGAIN?
Even now, one gets a sense from the Clintons and some of their supporters that the nomination itself was stolen from them because Barack Obama played the race card and the media were biased in his favor.
There's great irony in that since the Clintons were masters of the former and in 1992 were elevated by the same media.
No doubt they will put on a good show of support for Mr. Obama this week, and campaign for him through the fall. They will not want to be blamed if he loses.
Even so, there is a palpable sense that they won't be surprised, or upset, if he does lose. Hillary and Bill can then set their sights on 2012.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121970767756771083.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
August 25, 2008
REMEMBER, SLICK WILLY WAS ALSO A HALF BLACK MESSIAH.
One senior Obama supporter said the Clinton associates negotiating on her behalf act like “Japanese soldiers in the South Pacific still fighting after the war is over.”
A prominent Obama backer said some of Clinton’s lieutentants negotiating with the Obama team are “bitter enders” who presume that, rather than the Clintons reconciling themselves to Obama’s victory, it is up to Obama to accommodate them.
In fact, some senior veterans of Clinton’s presidential campaign do believe this.
“He has not fully reconciled,” said one political operative close to the Clintons, “and he has not demonstrated that he accepts the Clintons and the Clinton wing of the party.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12782.html
NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. CLICK.
http://www.thelopezfamilyonline.com/play.php?first=Cart&last=Williams
He vows to "get-er done"
without no stinkin' bureaucrats.
WHITE RACIST PIGS LIKELY TO REJECT SAVIOR.
Obama will lose and we will be at fault because we are racist. Are you kidding me?
You mean it won’t be because he has virtually no experience?
You’re telling me that it won’t be because there simply isn’t enough money to give everything to everyone that is being promised?
You mean that the cause won’t be the vacuous speechifying without substance that we’ve been subjected to these many months?
You’re saying it isn’t going to be because of the Messiah’s hubris?
You want me to believe that it won’t flow from his inability to be encumbered by evidence of military success in Iraq?
You demand that all successful people should welcome incredible taxation to support the welfare masses?
None of that will be the cause? It will be because we are evil racists?
http://www.thundertales.blogspot.com/
THE MAGIC MULATTO PLAYS VIOLIN EVEN WITHOUT HAVING TAKEN LESSONS.
OK, anyone who spends any time reading Slate knows that they are slightly to the left of Mao Tse Tung, but this is too outrageous to go without comment.
From the first sentence it reads like some sort of Psalm written to glorify the deity while offering hope for an afterlife removed from this vale of tears.
It speaks of the Seventh Level of Dante’s Inferno to which we have now descended and promises pie, probably ala mode, in the sky of the next administration if only we see the light.
We must accept the Messiah as our personal and national savior and eternal damnation will be inflected on any who fail to recognize the core shortcoming of America.
We are racist. That’s it pure and disgustingly simple Slate accuses.
http://www.thundertales.blogspot.com/
AND FOR THE MOST PART THOSE FOLKS WOULD BE?
One chore at a time
Highly organized and fully developed societies - such as the one in which we live - usually have a network of rules to govern certain kinds of behavior. We call them laws.
Laws have been deemed necessary because, even though the society in which we live is organized and developed, some folks choose to operate independently, doing what they want to do, when they want to do it.
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2008/08/25/opinion/082508a.txt
THE BUCKETS GOT A HOLE IN IT.
Americans may wonder why taxpayer funds should be poured into a bucket as leaky as Latin America if the goal is curing underdevelopment.
The region needs secure contract and property rights.
If local leaders won't defend those rights, programs like Mr. Obama's $2 billion "global education fund" won't amount to a hill of frijoles.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121962333297467725.html?mod=todays_columnists
JOE BIDEN AS OBAMA'S HIT MAN?
In any number of ways, Mr. Biden does not help Mr. Obama's theme of changing Washington.
The biggest false note in Saturday's joint Obama-Biden appearance was when Mr. Obama said that Mr. Biden will help him "turn the page on the ugly partisanship of Washington."
Tell that to Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas or Ursula Meese, wife of Reagan-era Attorney General Ed Meese, whom Mr. Biden drove to tears with one of his ugly Judiciary Committee tirades.
Mr. Biden has been in the middle of some of the Beltway's most ferocious partisan warfare.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121962237199467679.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
August 24, 2008
CAN YOU RECOGNIZE THE UPPITY ONES?
McCain looks like an old torn-cat pilot that doesn't much care what he eats, and Obama tip-toes down a plane's steps as if he is in a Ralph Lauren ad.
Liberals and progressives are far more vulnerable to charges of elitism, since they are prone to the additional charge of hypocrisy.
Right-wingers, as the catastrophic election of 2006 showed, are more easily exposed as hypocrites when they preach family values and are caught in Rev. Haggard-like positions, or abuse drugs and drink.
But liberals, 'two-nations' men and women of the people, who rail against the unfairness of an uncaring system and the perniciousness of wealth and privilege, far more readily suffer charges of elitism when their populist rhetoric is contrasted to private jets, 30,000 sq ft. homes, or 11 mansions.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson082408.html
CHANGE IS WHAT YOU OUT IN YOUR POCKET.
Reply 10 - Posted by: stevestevep, 8/24/2008 9:48:20 AM
Fascinating insight that the lawyer's political arm, otherwise known as the democrats, conveniently ignore the legal arguements and judicial findings that hussein's Iraq had WMDs and supported terrorists and al-queda.
Iraq, WMs and terrorism, global warming, crime and violence, basic economics and the role of government...they say and do whatever they think will benefit them the most regardless of consequences or the truth.
Understandable their new propaganda is "Change..." they need some!
http://www.lucianne.com/threads2.asp?artnum=419677
JUST FOR SERIOUS BUSH BASHERS.
The invasion of Iraq was arguably the most justified case of military action the US has ever taken in its history, based on national defense, validated intelligence and legal authority, not to mention morality.
Articles of impeachment would have made more sense if Bush had not invaded.
That the exact opposite story is what a majority of Americans appear to believe, and a super-majority of non-Americans, is a scary thought.
The truth has been sabotaged, and not by President Bush or his allies.
http://www.lucianne.com/threads2.asp?artnum=419677
Randall Hoven's writings can be found at kulak.worldbreak.com.
Continue reading "JUST FOR SERIOUS BUSH BASHERS."
IF WISHING WAS EUROS, I'D SWAP MY TINY LITTLE, RAPIDLY DIMINISHING DOLLARS FOR SOME. BUT UNFORTUNATELY LIFE IS REAL AND THE FUNERAL PROCESSION MOVES RIGHT ALONG.
Reply 17 - Posted by: johngalt1, 8/24/2008 8:29:52 AM
Historians, mark the date of Obama’s selection of Joe Biden for his running mate on your calendars. This is the moment when Obama’s ship of hope sunk like a stone to the bottom of an ocean already littered with the wrecks of past Democratic miscalculations.
This is the moment when the rise of Democratic Party power began to slow and the Republican Party began to heal.
This is the moment when the Democratic Party began to rip itself asunder, pitting feminists against blacks, anti-war factions against Blue Dog Democrats, unionists against free trade advocates, global warming fanatics against pro-economic growth proponents, and east and left coast Europhiles against fly-over country Europhobes.
This is Democrat’s Tower of Babel moment and Obama is their Nimrod.
http://lucianne.com/threads2.asp?artnum=419666
A PAIR TO DRAW TO.
Reply 3 - Posted by: Spidey, 8/24/2008 6:03:39 AM
These two people looked like a political odd couple,if I ever saw one.The funny thing here is Obama laid his own trap by his first feckless response to the Georgia/Russia situation. It exposed just how bad he would be in a world crisis.
The first words out his mouff was get the UN involved.
So now he forced into taking an old white guy to prop up his sorry foreign policy creds.I thought the crowd at the announcement was less than enthusiatic about the pick.Should have had it indoors to make the crowd sound better.
His whole phony narrative about change and changing Washington just imploded.But hey, whoever held the libs to their convictions.
MCCAIN WAS REPORTEDLY OVERHEARD SAYING "THANK YOU JESUS."
Back in January 2006, Peggy Noonan explained the appeal of Delaware's senior senator:
As he speaks, as he goes on and on and spins his long statements, hypotheticals, and free associations--as he demonstrates yet again . . . that he is incapable of staying on the river of a thought, and is constantly lured down tributaries from which he can never quite work his way back--you can see him batting the little paddles of his mind against the weeds, trying desperately to return to the river but not remembering where it is, or where it was going.
I love him. He's human, like a garrulous uncle after a drink.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121942480772664091.html?mod=Best+of+the+Web+Today
August 23, 2008
KEY TO VICTORY OR DEFEAT? CLICK THE LINK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PetxaA42OuE
AND THAT INDEED IS INFANTICIDE.
"Senator Obama got caught in the twisting of the truth," says Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council. "His campaign was later forced to put out a clarifying statement that it was the Senator himself who was actually wrong on the facts.
He did indeed vote against a bill in the Illinois State Senate that was identical to the federal legislation that sought to protect babies who survive abortions."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121926352641257733.html?mod=opinion_journal_political_diary
ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE AND EACH POLITICIAN IN HIS TIME PLAYS MANY PARTS. RICH MAN, LAWYER, PERVERT AND THIEF.
Mr. Schwarzenegger wants to raise the sales tax by one percentage point, which in jurisdictions like Los Angeles would raise the total sales levy to 10% -- one of the highest in the nation. "It will hurt the state and hurt people on fixed incomes," Mr. Villines protests.
He and his colleagues offer their own solution. First, no new taxes in a state that already has nearly the highest income and sales tax burden in the country. Second, a "hard" budget cap that limits spending increases to the rate of inflation plus population growth. Under Governor Arnold, in contrast, the budget has grown 40% in just four years.
Mr. Villines' Republican lawmakers face a stacked deck in the Democratic liberal majority, their own GOP governor, and the California media.
Assembly Republicans walked out of a meeting with the governor earlier this week when he started talking new taxes, but Democrats desperately wanted an income tax increase, so Mr. Schwarzenegger views a sales tax hike as a down-the-middle "compromise."
This may be a war California conservatives can win for once in their tax-and-spend state. "There's a silent majority in California against yet another tax increase," Mr. Villines asserts. With gas prices, food prices, unemployment and mortgage foreclosures all rising in the Golden State, he may be right.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121944415180864821.html?mod=opinion_journal_political_diary
GEORGIA ON MY MIND IS A CLUE.
As I see it, the consequences of accepting the Russian proposition are somewhat similar to those of the undesirable side effects of the war on terror.
Russia and terrorism both target the values of Western democracies.
Terrorist organizations do that by leaving democracies with no choice but to limit individual freedoms and use military strength in order to defend communities from attacks.
Russia is trying to play the same game but on a larger scale. It is trying to force the U.S. to sacrifice a fundamental value such as supporting democracy in exchange for a short-term tactical gain.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121944985925065347.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
SEEING IS BELIEVING. DON'T TAKE MY MONEY WOULDN'T FLY IN KULEFORNIA..
He notes that even before the Enfield citizens' commission offered its recommendations, the very existence of the committee spurred the town council to reject a requested 3% increase in the school budget, and to forestall efforts to raise the property tax rate.
For next year, Enfield has already adopted zero-based budgeting.
The time is coming, says Mr. Fusco, for all Connecticut schools to "distinguish between needs and wants."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121944926645165231.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
DISSING BIG BROTHER A LITTLE BIT.
Mr. Warren's notion that you can't have "salvation by government" extends to domestic politics as well.
When it comes to gay marriage, he says, thgovernment operates
"downstream from the culture."
If you wanted to change people's ideas about sexuality, you should have been doing it through the culture, "through sports and music and entertainment."
While he notes that religious people often look to the church to help with these efforts, "secular people have to look to the government."
Indeed, what struck him most about the Aspen Institute discussions was that the people there thought "the answer to everything was a government program."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121944811327665223.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT LIVES ON EASY STREET.
Medicare automatically pays more than 95% of the bills it receives. This lack of scrutiny reduces overhead, but it makes the program highly vulnerable to abuse.
In June, a high-school dropout pleaded guilty to conning Medicare out of $105 million by submitting over 140,000 bogus claims before auditors noticed. It was the biggest health-care fraud in American history.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121944730222565137.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
August 22, 2008
YES DOROTHY IT'S REALLY TRUE. SOME OLD THINGS WILL BECOME NEW AGAIN.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Because We Can
If one needed a crash course in the realities of our dangerous world you couldn’t go far wrong with some serious study of the Russian invasion of Georgia. It very clearly demonstrates the critical difference between what we wish were so and what actually is.
We like to view the world through Obama colored glasses, seeing a panorama of highly intellectual nations arrayed in diplomatic frock coats and pince-nez sipping tea and discussing the nuances of cleaning up poverty and disease while simultaneously equalizing income not only in the US but around the globe.
It is the world of Woodrow Wilson and Neville Chamberlain displayed in broad pastel strokes.
http://www.thundertales.blogspot.com/
CHUMP CHANGE FROM THE POCKETS OF CHUMPS.
The bad blood between city officials and the White House after the Bush administration's bungled response to the Katrina disaster was set aside, at least for the moment.
"The good future is here," Mr. Bush said. "I predicted New Orleans would come back as a stronger and better city. We helped deliver $126 billion in taxpayer money."
The Associated Press
YABUT IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE?
The Democrats expected an in-the-tank liberal press to publish charts and graphs of how the “progressive” FDR Obama was better for the blue-collar-worker than the Tom Dewey Republican. Instead they got the last gasp of the 1960s spoiled-brat loudmouths, ranting and frothing how an Obama could at last reify their own narcissistic, guilt-ridden pretensions.
The amen-stable at Newsweek, for example, would not have been hired there as copy-editors in the 1960s. If Chris Matthews thinks his tingle-up-the-leg giddiness helps Obama, or Sen. Obama’s race speech is the new Gettysburg Address, he doesn’t know Bakersfield or Dayton. A Keith Olbermann rant is a veritable McCain campaign ad.
MCCAIN PRESIDENT BUT HARRY REID KING?
This explains why Congressional Democrats currently aren't moving spending bills, or energy bills, or anything. They are waiting for next year, when they hope to no longer have to deal with pesky Republicans.
This also explains the Senate's paltry judicial confirmations this Congress. They want more vacancies. With a filibuster-proof majority, Democrats could reshape the judiciary under a President Obama, or refuse to confirm any Antonin Scalia-type appointments made by a President McCain.
Party leaders feel the Senate GOP can remain an effective opposition if it holds Democrats to 55 seats.
Then again, it's a long way to November. Anything can happen. And if Congressional Democrats have their way, that "anything" will be undiluted power in Washington.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121936710710962237.html?mod=todays_columnists
NO CHARGE BABY SITTING ANOTHER HOAX?
If anything, preschool may do lasting damage to many children.
A 2005 analysis by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, found that kindergartners with 15 or more hours of preschool every week were less motivated and more aggressive in class.
Likewise, Canada's C.D. Howe Institute found a higher incidence of anxiety, hyperactivity and poor social skills among kids in Quebec after universal preschool.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121936615766562189.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
MORE THAN A KERNEL OF TRUTH.
We are at a Smithian moment, in which the temptation for the Fed to spend its last dime of credibility may prove irresistible.
Investors are already being taxed by inflation and can rationally expect that tax rate (the inflation rate) to be raised going forward. Wages are not keeping up. Main Street is being taxed to fund Wall Street excess.
Anyone who works, saves and invests is exposed to confiscation of his capital and earnings through inflation.
If the Fed maintained its independence of action and said no to the inflationary finance of Congress's profligacy, we wouldn't have reached this point.
But the Fed has forsaken that independence amid an absence of leadership.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121936581501662161.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
August 21, 2008
LESS THAN 40 PER YEAR, IT'S TIME TO STOP THE MADNESS.
Texas is the top executioner in the United States, having conducted 413 executions over the last 30 years, out of a national total of 1,119 for that period.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080821094303.qxp3xxvb&show_article=1
THE MAGIC MULATTO CAN EVEN MAKE THINGS DISAPPEAR.
So the appearance of a cover-up actually began in June.
If Ayers were the sole point of interest in seeking the Annenberg Challenge files promised to Kurtz, all "132 boxes, containing 947 file folders, a total of about 70 linear feet of material", then the Obama camp might claim it was merely guilt-by association and persuade at least some of its own partisans.
But the fact that Obama was in charge of a massive expensive project makes it indisputably a matter of proper vetting to examine his track record at delivering on promises of hope and change.
The Obama camp has already noted that it does not control the archives at UIC. All well and good, though it would be nice for the candidate to plead with the university and the mystery donor to let the sun shine on his track record.
After all, he is a new kind of politician.
But even if he doesn't, the Annenberg Challenge is slowly entering the national consciousness, and that's very bad news for Barack Obama.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/08/obamas_lost_annenberg
_years_co.html
INTO A BLACK HOLE WITHOUT A BOTTOM.
If America adopts the protectionist trade policies of Japan or China, global profits plummet. If our armed forces follow the European lead of demilitarization and inaction, rogue states advance. If we were to treat the environment as do China and India, the world would become quickly a lost cause.
If we flee Iraq and call off the war on terror, Islamic jihadists will regroup, not disband. And when the Russians attack the next democracy, they won't listen to the United Nations, the European Union or Michael Moore.
Brace yourself — we may be on our way back to an old world, where the strong do as they will, and the weak suffer as they must.
NOTHING IS NOT ALWAYS CHEAPER THAN SOMETHING.
With rare exceptions -- free-trade deals, money for the troops -- we wish the Members would spend every minute of every day passing resolutions. They'd have less time to do tangible harm.
Even we -- fated by bad career advice to write about this stuff -- haven't the foggiest idea what is in most of those 294 laws. The mayhem we know about is bad enough.
There was that "reform" that blew up the student loan market and has led to Uncle Sam being America's college lender of first resort. This will be the Fannie Mae of the future. And don't forget the mortgage bailout, which puts taxpayers on the hook for as much as $300 billion in bad home loans.
Come to think of it, we'd feel safer if the whole crowd decided not to come back at all after Labor Day. Just stay home, or, even better, spend the rest of the year traveling on Congressional junkets.
Sure, taxpayers would have to pay the airfare and hotel bills, but that's a bargain compared to what taxpayers will owe if Congress tries to solve any more problems.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121927526193858469.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
BETTER NOT MESS WITH THE BEAR.
If anything, we ought to be thinking about pulling out of NATO ourselves.
European countries already have the wealth to produce their own military defense. If they do not have the will, that is their problem.
What American officials can do is keep their mouths shut if they don't intend to back up their words.
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/08/19/
georgia_on_our_mind?page=full&comments=true
WHERE THE NEW WORLD ORDER STOPS NOBODY KNOWS.
The West has a long history of doing nothing, utilizing the United Nations, and before that the League of Nations, to create the illusion that they are doing something, when they make speeches and pass resolutions.
Neither speeches nor resolutions are going to make any difference to the Russians, to the Iranians or to any other belligerent nation. We know it, they know it and the world knows it.
Apparently Barack Obama doesn't yet know it, judging by his initial response to news of the Russian invasion of Georgia, which was to call on "both sides" to cease fire and then go to the U.N.
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/08/19/
georgia_on_our_mind
ANOTHER LIAR FOR PRESIDENT?
Alas, the abandonment of babies to suffer and die on the modern equivalent of a Spartan cliff did not require confronting evil when Obama saw it. Indeed, Obama turned a blind eye, leading the battle to defeat Illinois’ version of the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which would have treated babies living, albeit briefly, outside the womb as, well, babies.
He opposed the bill in 2003 (as he had a similar one in 2001), saying it would undermine Roe v. Wade. But even after Roe-neutral language was included — wording good enough that it won support for the federal version of the bill from abortion-rights stalwart Sen. Barbara Boxer — Obama remained unmoved.
Until this week, Obama denied that he ever took such a position. His campaign now admits that he was, in effect, lying when he said pro-lifers were lying about his record.
But simultaneously, Obama defends a position that comes dismayingly close to the layman’s understanding of infanticide while claiming any other position would require him to play God.
http://cartwilliams.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&blog_id=1
August 20, 2008
BUT THINGS WILL GET BETTER WHEN THE MAGIC MULATTO TAKES OVER.
Not With a Bang But a Whimper
No, I’m not going all T.S. Eliot on you, nor even entering Nostradamus mode to predict the apocalypse. I’m talking about the implosion ongoing in the House of Representatives.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged that America seems somewhat upset that since her party wrested control of Congress two years ago not a damn thing has been done.
Gas prices soared, the housing market crumbled, approval ratings for Congress set record lows, the damned President has somehow wrested success from the jaws of Middle-Eastern disaster, and strangely enough, America is beginning to awaken to awareness that doing nothing is not a policy.
So, she coyly suggests that if she ever decides to return to Washington and do the job she was elected to do, she might allow (get that? ALLOW!) a vote in the legislature on becoming energy independent.
She might allow limited, environmentally friendly, cautious, probably heavily regulated and definitely taxed drilling for America’s resources.
How benevolent. How politically prudent. How pathetic that it has come to this.
http://www.thundertales.blogspot.com/
ANYBODY SEEN THE JOHN?
But why did Seattle get rid of them in the first place? Because the bathrooms had become – get this – disgusting hideouts for whoring and drug use.
And herein lies the lesson: only bureaucrats are blind to what every average working joe knows. And that is, bad people don`t appreciate good things. They only make them bad.
The fact is, if you don`t want transients crapping in front of your Fuddruckers, enforce loitering laws and lock them up. The idea that decades of squalid living can be reversed by a glimpse of a warm toilet seat only reveals the profound delusions underpinning liberal social policies.
LAUGHING AT THE PAYMASTER.
ONCE UPON A TIME, NATO was A Good Thing, as a certain Household Diva is wont to proclaim. But that was then, and this is now.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was intended to defend Europe and the North Atlantic shipping lanes from The Red Menace and the Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet.
Well, now, the Red Menace (a/k/a ‘The Russian Army’/’The Valiant Red Army’) is busy subjugating the southern flank of Russia, instead of rolling west for the Bay of Biscay, and the Red Banner Northern Fleet is busy polluting Polyyarny Inlet and Murmansk harbor with leaking oil from rusting hulls.
Frontal Aviation, Long-Range Naval Aviation, and PVO-Strany aren’t a real threat any longer; only Strategic Rocket Forces are a danger, and a LOT of their ICBM force won’t fly if “they” DO push the buttons (but the ones that DO fly will neatly fry what they hit).
Meanwhile, our “friends” in the EU are busy trashing our economy, downing our political goals, and laughing at us behind their hands. All while holding their other hands out for more ‘foreign aid’ money and ‘most favored nation’ trade advantages.
It’s time to dissolve NATO. Bring our troops, those that are still stationed in Europe, home. Or let them relieve the forces in the Gulf so THEY can come home for a while. Let the EU solve the EU’s problems for a change. They don’t appreciate our help, so let’s stop giving it.
I don’t really object to our being the “free world’s” hired gun; I HIGHLY object to being their hired gun for free. We’re worthy of our hire; pay us. If they’re going ot treat us like mercenaries, then let’s insist on being compensated for our work.
The Mad Yank | 8/20/2008 11:34 AM CST | #129985
http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/tos-shared/comments/19169/
HIDE AND SEEK IS A GAME FOR KIDDIES.
Newt Gingrich has a more sanguine take: Democrats are going to have a hard time explaining why they "shut down the government to prevent oil drilling," he says.
The consensus among conservatives on Capitol Hill aligns with Mr. Gingrich. A high-stakes showdown is exactly what these Republicans believe the GOP should be seeking.
Democrats are on the run on high gas prices, and the only thing that can bail them out is a bad compromise like the bipartisan so-called "Gang of 10" proposal that calls for higher taxes, more subsidies and leaves two-thirds of the outer continental shelf oil off-limits.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121917072807553877.html?mod=opinion_journal_political_diary
BETTER DEAD THAN DYING?
In the meantime, the cost to taxpayers can only go higher -- Mr. Paulson would be unwise to assume Fannie and Freddie's current managements are doing a better job of earning their way out of trouble than a government receivership would. Just the opposite:
Management has every reason to go for broke, risking any amount of future taxpayer losses in hopes (however faint) of shareholders living to see another day.
Mr. Paulson's clear duty is to revoke these incentives before they bury us all. At this point, doing so would probably lift the entire financial sector.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121918858397254901.html?mod=todays_columnists
CONVERSION AT CONVENTION?
And in return for this de minimis drilling, the Gang wants to spend $84 billion more in subsidies for ethanol and other "alternatives," while hitting the oil industry with a $30 billion tax increase.
This proposal is a trick designed to give Democrats political cover while opening up very little new land or offshore area for drilling.
No doubt any or all of these three actions would enrage the green lobby, but politics is about choosing. In this case, the Democratic choice is between sticking with an anticarbon theology that opposes all new drilling, or siding with American consumers who want more energy supplies so they don't have to pay $4 for gas and blow their family budget to keep the lights on.
We'll soon find out whether Democrats have found religion on drilling, or if they're merely doing an election-year incantation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121918969072355001.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
August 19, 2008
A great civilization is not conquered from without
until it has
destroyed itself from within.
-Will Durant
“America’s greatness won’t fall because we fight
enemies who commit atrocities. Our greatness will
end if we tolerate the atrocities of
our own against ourselves.”
-Brian Fentiman
SOME MIGHT CALL IT BLASPHEMY.
When faced with unscripted questions, an unstructured environment and a need to spontaneously respond to policy issues the poor Messiah is left adrift. If you needed a picture to illustrate the phrase, “there is no THERE, there” he would be it.
He rambles, he stutters, he hems, haws and harrumphs. He strings together imagery and visions of sugar-plums while clearly attempting to leave no votes on the table.
Without core values and driven by incredible ambition he condescendingly attempts to circumlocute the difficult into simplistic terms which the unwashed can grasp. Not surprisingly it doesn’t work very well.
http://www.thundertales.blogspot.com/
CAUGHT WITH OPEN FLIES.
I had the television tuned into Rick Warren`s "Civil Forum," which I had assumed was like Penthouse Forum, but with muskets.
I was wrong. Instead it had our two presidential candidates facing off on faith and other matters. One such matter was evil – which may be the most defining issue not simply for this election, but like, forever. That`s because despite the existence of forces in the world bent on killing you and me, Barack prefers to see evil in Darfur and well, ourselves.
Darfur, of course, is an easy choice because no one is a fan of genocide. It`s an answer that will offend no one. But the second part of the answer reveals, that unlike McCain, Obama is a fearful relativist – too timid to point out tangible evil for fear it may make him look rigid and uncool.
See, these days, saying there is such thing as good and evil is the philosophical equivalent of shouting at the neighbor kids who just peed on your lawn.
MAYBE THE MAGIC MULATTO PLANS ON USING HIS MAGIC POWDER.
It's not about robbing from the rich to give to the poor. Robbing from the rich will do, especially if it's done in the name of fairness.
Now there are good reasons Mr. Obama is not likely to pursue the revenue side of the fairness question.
As this newspaper noted in a recent editorial, the latest data from the Internal Revenue Service does not show to Mr. Obama's advantage.
As we come to the end of the Bush administration, the top 1% of American taxpayers already pay 40% of all income taxes -- the highest level in 40 years. The top 10% of income earners pay 71% of the taxes.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121910117767951201.html?mod=todays_columnists
HOW HIGH IS HIGH? BOOM.
Milton Friedman explained that inflation was caused by too much money chasing too few goods -- a combination of bad economic models, denial and political expediency allowed it to happen.
One would think that the odds of a repeat were low, and for 20 years, after Ronald Reagan and his Fed Chairman Paul Volcker had the courage to get inflation under control with tight money and tax cuts, this was true.
Unfortunately, the lessons seem to be fading.
Today, the U.S. (and through it the world) faces its greatest threat from inflation in 30 years.
And as in the past, this threat is being met with denial and political expediency.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121910289433951323.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
August 18, 2008
YOU TOO CAN BE A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD JUST LIKE THE MAGIC MULATTO.
Mr. Collinsworth seemed either startled or impressed by such sentiment, and asked, "Is that a cool thing to say in this day and age? That you love your country, and that you're fighting for the red, white and blue? It seems sort of like a day gone by."
To which Mr. Bryant replied: "No, it's a cool thing for me to say. I feel great about it, and I'm not ashamed to say it. I mean, this is a tremendous honor."
Cynics will claim that this is merely about marketing, with Mr. Bryant hoping to use the Games to burnish his public image. On the other hand, he and his rich teammates on the basketball squad are giving up their offseason to play for nothing save possible medals. Mr. Bryant has also been an enthusiastic spectator for other U.S. Olympians, waving the Stars and Stripes at various events.
To the kind of Americans who consider themselves primarily "citizens of the world," nationalism at the Olympics is déclassé, even embarrassing. We're with Kobe.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121901828943748251.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
MONEY AND POWER FAIL TO LIGHT THE CANDLE.
Wind power has also become contentious in oh-so-green Oregon, once people realized that transmission lines would cut through forests.
Transmissions lines from a wind project on the Nevada-Idaho border are clogged because of possible effects on the greater sage grouse.
Similar melodramas are playing out in Arizona, the Dakotas, the Carolinas, Tennessee, West Virginia, northern Maine, upstate New York, and elsewhere.
In other words, the liberal push for alternatives has the look of a huge bait-and-switch.
Washington responds to the climate change panic with multibillion-dollar taxpayer subsidies for supposedly clean tech. But then when those incentives start to have an effect in the real world, the same greens who favor the subsidies say build the turbines or towers somewhere else.
The only energy sources they seem to like are the ones we don't have.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121901822110148233.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
HAS THE MAGIC MULATTO LOST HIS MAGIC?
Meanwhile, as he bids to be America's Commander in Chief, Mr. Obama isn't yet four years out of the Illinois state Senate, has never held a hearing of note of his U.S. Senate subcommittee, and had an unremarkable record as both a "community organizer" and law school lecturer.
Justice Thomas's judicial credentials compare favorably to Mr. Obama's Presidential résumé by any measure. And when it comes to rising from difficult circumstances, Justice Thomas's rural Georgian upbringing makes Mr. Obama's story look like easy street.
Even more troubling is what the Illinois Democrat's answer betrays about his political habits of mind. Asked a question he didn't expect at a rare unscripted event, the rookie candidate didn't merely say he disagreed with Justice Thomas. Instead, he instinctively reverted to the leftwing cliché that the Court's black conservative isn't up to the job while his white conservative colleagues are.
So much for civility in politics and bringing people together. And no wonder Mr. Obama's advisers have refused invitations for more such open forums, preferring to keep him in front of a teleprompter, where he won't let slip what he really believes.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121901817146948231.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
August 17, 2008
EVEN THE MAGIC MULATTO SAYS THAT EVIL EXISTS. WOW, THAT'S BIG NEWS.
Back to the 19th-century
We saw a glimpse of the back to the future world with the neo-czarist invasion of Vladimir Putin.
Russia knows the great truth about the West: it will pour a half-million people into the street to protest the United States removing a homicidal dictator to foster democracy, but not a half-dozen to object to Russia attempting to remove a democratic government to foster dictatorship.
Absolute standards of morality are passé; for the Left grandstanding about Abu Ghraib brings some sort of psychological recompense for being a blessed Westerner; objecting to Russian or Chinese behavior either is futile or gives no kick to a sense of self-loathing.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson081508.html
LET THERE BE TRUTH TOLD IN BOLD LETTERS.
The Russians understand the Thucydidean truth that ‘the strong do as they please, and the weak do as they must.’
Putin et. al., as in the case of the Russian leveling of Grozny, have sized up the world — the sanctimonious E.U., the blow-hard U.N., the self-important World Court — and in response have rephrased Stalin’s quip “How many divisions do they have?” And they are right, of course.
Old Gorby has been writing his usual post-Marxist nonsense with barely disguised glee over the resurgence of Russian pride and power. Most Western talking heads on television blather about “Bush and the neo-cons,” “We gave the Georgians the green light,” or “We went into Iraq”, in-between a sort of poorly-disguised respect for raw Russian power.
The only upside to this disaster is that Georgia was not in NATO and thus spared the alliance the humiliation of yawning while a member evoked Article V and learned its allies are out to their accustomed latte.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson081508.html
OBAMA WANTS ALL OF US TO LIFT THE BLACK FOLKS BURDEN AND SPREAD THE LOAD MORE FAIRLY.
Consider: Obama on several occasions evokes his race in a fashion other national black figures such as Colin Powell have not, whether addressing Berliners or the campaign faithful (“They’re going to try to make you afraid of me.
He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”). He talks of Pennsylvanian working classes as near Neanderthals who cling to their guns, race, and religion.
“Typical white person” sums up his grandmother. His minister Wright is an abject racist; associates like Father Pfleger are even worse. He puts the racist rap singer Ludacris in his iPod, who, returning the attention, weighs in on the campaign in sick fashion.
He and his wife evoke the nebulous “they” who raise the bar and allegedly practice racial bias. He lectured on the need for deeds when it comes to government reparations for minorities, and called for more “oppression studies” in our schools.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson081508.html
YABUT THAT'S WHY HE'S THE MAGIC MULATTO.
Barack Obama will prove the most racially–manipulative national figure we’ve seen in our lifetime. It didn’t have to be this way: we are currently watching Secretary Rice center-stage deal with the Russians and the last thing on anyone’s mind is her race; ditto Justice Thomas; and the same was true of Colin Powell.
In a strange way, the fact that Obama was not African-American, but only of half -African ancestry and largely brought up by white relatives perhaps explains his racial self-referencing and overcompensation, as he invented a politically-useful hyper-identity, from grafting the Rev. Wright-like cadences to the faux-African-American Chicago credibility.
One does not easily throw under the bus what worked in the past, so the problem for Obama is that now the stage is 300 million people, not the politics of race in Chicago: what got him here, from Rev. Wright to all the talk about “they”, must now be shed.
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson081508.html
COULD THE MAGIC MULATTO POSSIBLY BE SMARTER THAN THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT?
Reply 105 - Posted by: rocket scientist, 8/17/2008 2:27:06 PM
A hypothetical 3 AM phone call to president Obama in an uncertain future -
"Hello? The Russians just invaded the Ukraine? Hold on a minute'.... 'Hello Grandma, sorry I threw you under the bus last year, but I need some presidential advice.
My dear friend Vladimir just invaded the Ukraine. What? Invite him over to Rev. Wright's White House sermon next week about the evils of G-D America?
OK, will do! Thanks grandma!'
http://lucianne.com/threads2.asp?artnum=418090
A NAKED MAGIC MULATTO IS NOT A PRETTY THING TO SEE.
You could almost hear BO thinking "How am I gonna get around this one?" He was slow, hesitant, parsing--boring, awful! McCain was terrific.
BO has been dropping in the polls, and watch for him to slowly sink into the water he had been walking on until he is nothing but bubbles popping on the surface... each one releasing an "er" and an "um".
http://lucianne.com/threads2.asp?artnum=418090
ANY ENEMY OF THE MAGIC MULATTO IS A FRIEND OF MINE.
Reply 57 - Posted by: Arby, 8/17/2008 10:19:06 AM
I am sick and tired of the dims criticizing Justice Thomas. They say they want affirmative action; then they blast Justice Thomas for, in effect, being an affirmative action jurist.
The simple fact is that they profoundly disagree with his positions and, as always, conclude that if he disagrees with them he must be stupid.
Fauxbama tried to dodge this by saying that Scalia is not stupid, but that he would still not have appointed him. Scalia and Thomas are both intelligent; Scalia is outspoken, Thomas more low-key.
In terms of the law they are very close.
The dims' criticism of Thomas has been racist, pure and simple, and their inciting of Anita Hill was classically, stereotypically, outrageously racist. Thomas' personal integrity and dignity in the face of all this is nothing short of inspirational.
http://lucianne.com/threads2.asp?artnum=418090
DID THE FAT LADY SING YET?
Reply 54 - Posted by: doris2, 8/17/2008 10:06:30 AM
We came away from watching this forum supporting McCain more than ever. He hit it out of the ballpark last night. His handlers have to be all pumped up today.
Did anyone notice Sen Graham sitting next to Cindy. Why would a man like McCain hang around with the likes of Lindsey Graham. God forbid he chooses him as VP.
As for Barack Obama, I was embarrassed for him for showing no gravitas at all. He just is not Presidential material. You would have to know the Dems see it too.
After last night, Hillary has a good chance of winning the nomination at the convention.
http://lucianne.com/threads2.asp?artnum=418090
August 15, 2008
GREG'S DA MAN.
FRIDAY'S GREGALOGUE: NOISE
So I read today that a Los Angeles man just killed one of his neighbors for playing music too loud. The guy, named Reymondo Serrato, 58, got into a fight with the neighbor over the music, and he pulled a gun and shot him. Police Lt. Ted Matthews said the crime was "very unusual."
But is it really? As you probably know, I`m against murder. I may be going out on a limb here, but I think it`s mean to kill people. If you kill them, they`re dead. And that`s insensitive to their rights as a living person.
But there is an instance when murder can sometimes be justified – and that is, when an inconsiderate person is making too much noise.
Continue reading "GREG'S DA MAN."YEAH HOG BUT DID YOU HEAR WHAT AL GORE SAID?
Katrina was one of the greatest things that ever happened to the American left. It also killed hundreds of people and destroyed a major city. Call me crazy; on the whole, I think we sustained a net loss.
I wonder how many liberals would trade their Congressional majority for the undoing of Katrina. Let's face it. Very few. If you can hope your country loses a war, no catastrophe can reanimate your withered, vestigial empathy.
Pretty soon I'm going to have to put the graph up. You may remember it. I mean the graph of hurricane frequency versus time of year. We are nearly at the mid-point of the hurricane season. The historical graph shows that storm frequency peaks sharply in the middle of the season. We have probably seen almost 50% of this year's activity by now. After September 30th, our chances of a storm will drop off to a very comfortable near-nothing.
And the greenies will have to drink their bathwater yet again. And yes, I know they don't really bathe. B.O. and funk are good for Gaia, the big lifeless clod of dirt God gave us to subdue and enslave and deplete for our benefit and amusement.
Nuts on the left actually blamed George Bush for the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005. Look it up; they were completely serious. If he caused the storms, he also gets credit for the calm weather we're having now. Wow, Mr. President, way to stop those hurricanes.
The left concedes that you control the weather, so obviously, you are the reason our roofs aren't blowing off. And thanks for all the sunshine. My Key limes and plantains have never looked better. I'd appreciate it if you could cut the humidity on October 1st. We need a little rain for the Biscayne aquifer, but after that, we can do without the sticky nights.
There is no wave of killer hurricanes. The polar bears are not drowning, and they never were, and they never will be. Global warming is not happening, to any significant extent. And Al Gore is still a liar and an energy-wasting hypocrite.
Nice things to know, as I coast into another sunny South Florida weekend.
JUST ANOTHER FLIM-FLAM MAN CALLED JOHN.
And when Edwards was confronted with the biggest crisis of his political career, Young was there again: After the National Enquirer reported that Edwards had an affair with a video producer, Young issued a statement in December saying that he _ and not the candidate _ was the father of the woman's baby.
But given Young's unswerving devotion to Edwards _ and given Edwards' lies in initially denying he cheated on his wife _ some campaign watchers wonder whether Young, a 42-year-old married man, is taking the fall for his boss.
"Given the pattern of the thing, it's not unreasonable for people to ask" whether the child belongs to Edwards, said Gary Pearce, a longtime Democratic operative in North Carolina and a consultant to Edwards' 1998 Senate bid.
"The media and a large chunk of the public, including some of John's supporters, still question whether he's told the whole truth."
http://santamariatimes.com/articles/2008/08/15/ap/headlines/d92j08f00.txt
WHERE IS THE WONDER WORKING POWER OF THE ATOM?
Consider the Solana concentrated solar power plant, 70 miles southwest of Phoenix in McCain's home state.
It is the biggest proposed concentrating solar energy project ever. The farsighted local utility is ready to buy its power.
But because of the Senate's refusal to extend the solar tax credits, "we cannot get our bank financing," said Fred Morse, a senior adviser for the American operations of Abengoa Solar, which is building the project.
"Without the credits, the numbers don't work." Some 2,000 construction jobs are on hold.
Wait, it gets even better. Friedman fantasizes about a solution to the energy problem that "will take more than a Manhattan Project":
It will require a fundamental reshaping by government of the prices and regulations and research-and-development budgets that shape the energy market.
Without taxing fossil fuels so they become more expensive and giving subsidies to renewable fuels so they become more competitive--and changing regulations so more people and companies have an interest in energy efficiency--we will not get innovation in clean power at the scale we need.
Such a massive exercise of government control over the economy is "cost effective" only in the sense that ignorance is strength and slavery is freedom.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121872697736340877.html?mod=Best+of+the+Web+Today
BUY THE BOOK. READ THE BOOK. KNOWLEDGE CAN SET YOU FREE.
The tragedy of Iraq is that the war's architects took three years to learn the lessons that many on-the-ground military commanders had gravitated to instinctively.
During this dark period, it was only thanks to the professionalism and staying power of America's much-abused warrior class that the country was able to avoid an epic defeat in the heartland of the Arab Middle East.
Bing West's "The Strongest Tribe" deserves to be read as an authoritative testament to this historic achievement.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121876056913242759.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
NOT TO WORRY OLD EUROPE UNCLE SAM WILL BE THERE TO SAVE YOU.
"What would it take," I asked, "for Europe to stop treating Putin like a democrat? If all opposition parties are banned? Or what if they started shooting people in the street?"
The official shrugged and replied that even in such cases, there would be little the EU could do. He added: "Staying engaged will always be the best hope for the people of both Europe and Russia."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121876037443642795.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
COWARDS TOO MUST PAY THEIR DUES.
Russia refuses to take responsibility for its past oppression of numerous non-Russian "captive nations" -- among them, of course, the Georgians.
American credibility is very much at stake here. If a true friend of the United States -- an ancient country already twice annexed by Moscow in the past two centuries, a democracy that has enthusiastically reached out to NATO and the European Union, and even sent troops to fight in Iraq -- can be snuffed out without concrete action by Washington, America's friendship will quickly lose its value and America's displeasure would matter even less.
The repercussions would be felt world-wide, from the capitals of New Europe, to Jerusalem, Kabul and Baghdad.
http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB121876011005742789.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
GANGS RULE.
August 15, 2008
“New” Energy Reform: Same Old Politics
Chris Adamo
Once again, the “greater good” has been served inside the Beltway, “bipartisanship” has broken a stalemate, the rancor over energy policy has ended and, as is always the case when such milestones are achieved, conservative America has been sold out.
Somehow, Republicans never seem to figure out that when right and wrong attempt to find common ground with eachother, “right,” by design, will inevitably be the first casualty.
This latest effort involves a “Gang of Ten” U.S. Senators, five Republicans and five Democrats, who are promoting their “New Energy Reform Act of 2008.” In truth it is anything but new, and instead represents the worst manifestation of D.C. “business as usual.”
http://www.opinioneditorials.com/
guestcontributors/
cadamo_20080815.html
READ IT AND WEEP.
http://www.opinioneditorials.com/guestcontributors/
fsalvato_20080815.html
August 15, 2008
Ignoring ‘The Perfect Storm’ at Our Own Peril
Frank Salvato
The mainstream media and the presumptive nominee from the Democrat Party have done a pretty good job of steering the electorate’s attention to issues of a domestic nature. It wasn’t hard to do.
With gasoline prices hovering around four dollars a gallon, combined with the self-induced but limited financial crisis created by proprietary lenders and a healthcare system that’s being raped by grifting lawyers and robber-baron insurance companies, it is easy to understand why voters would fall prey to diversionary tactics of the political power seekers.
But we do so at the expense of the well being of our nation. We do so ignoring “the perfect storm.”
French Nobel prize winner and reformed communist Andre Gide once said, “The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.”
We in the United States, especially those who are politically aware, can identify with this phrase because our political parties have taken to questing for political power rather than the execution of good government.
While there are some elected officials who sincerely strive to serve our nation and its people, the great majority of those who inhabit the halls of government – whether at the local, state or national levels – do so to move their political agendas forward and to institute their party’s special interests.
In doing so they abdicate the duty of their positions in that they are not representing the will of their constituents.
Examples of elected officials placing politics before government are abundant. An overwhelming majority of the American public have expressed, in no uncertain terms, that they want their elected officials to, among other things:
Continue reading "READ IT AND WEEP."August 14, 2008
BAD BAD BRITS.
The British were given coalition control in the south starting in 2003.
Yet when the Iraqi military ran into trouble at the start of their operation this year, the 4,100 Brits remained in their garrison at the airport outside the city.
The Iraqis had to call in the Americans from the north for air cover and other support to help defeat radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. It was the first time the U.S. had deployed to the British-controlled region of Iraq in five years. The operation turned into a major success, with the Mahdi Army routed and the Iraq government in control.
But the British failure to act was an embarrassment, even a humiliation, and explanations have begun to emerge. All point to a failure of political leadership.
It turns out that last September the British had struck a deal with Mr. Sadr, essentially ceding him control over Basra and releasing some 120 militia regulars from custody.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121867196750438873.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
THE WAY IT WAS WAY BACK.
What kind of future does Obama want for his children?
Once an American named Harry Truman, a Democrat, drew a line in the sand in Korea, demonstrating to the world that the United States would not allow communism to roll unchecked through Southeast Asia.
Once an American named Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, declared that a group of young black students had every right to attend Little Rock High School and dispatched troops to uphold that order.
Once an American named John Kennedy, a Democrat, stated that America would “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
Once an American named Ronald Reagan, a Republican, refused to compromise with the Soviet Union, putting into motion a series of events that would not only lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union but to underline the promise of John Kennedy.
Once an American named George W. Bush, a Republican, reacted firmly and forcefully to an attack on the United States, and despite having to fight enemies both external and internal, has kept the U.S. safe from similar attacks.
Perhaps it is time Obama recognized that it is only the left, those who so embraced the Soviet Union and all it stood for, and who could never fully accept its demise, that really sees America in decline.
http://www.opinioneditorials.com/guestcontributors/dsernoffsky
_20080814.html
LATE GREAT?
A nasty little shooting war has broken out in the Republic of Georgia, a shooting war in which Russia is flexing its military muscle.
In reaction to what has transpired, Obama immediately called for action on the part of the United Nations, unaware, perhaps, that since Russia is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, and therefore can exercise veto power, there is absolutely nothing the U.N. can do.
In fact, there has never been anything that the U.N. could do, other than to give dictators and petty tyrants some sort of patina of respectability.
The real irony, however, was in what Obama said to that youngster when he was asked why he wanted to be president.“America,” Obama replied, “is no longer what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, I don’t want that future for my children.”
http://www.opinioneditorials.com/guestcontributors/dsernoffsky
_20080814.html
August 13, 2008
MAGIC MULATTO CAPTURES HEARTS AND MINDS AROUND THE WORLD.
He is in politics, and what matters politically is what wins votes right here and right now.
The kind of talk that won the votes-- and the hearts-- of the left-wing base of the Democratic Party during the primaries may not be enough to carry the day with voters in the general election. So Senator Obama has been changing his tune or, as he puts it, "refining" his message.
This was not the kind of "change" that the true believers among Obama's supporters were expecting. So there has been some wavering among the faithful and some ups and downs in the polls.
Despite an impressive political machine and a huge image makeover this year to turn a decades-long, divisive grievance-promoting activist into someone who is supposed to unite us all and lead us into the promised land of "change," little glimpses of the truth keep coming out.
The elitist sneers at people who believe in religion and who own guns, the Americans who don't speak foreign languages and the views of the "typical white person," are all like rays of light that show through the cracks in Obama's carefully crafted image.
The overwhelming votes for Obama in some virtually all-white states show that many Americans are ready to move beyond race. But Obama himself wants to have it both ways, by attributing racist notions to the McCain camp that has never made race an issue.
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/08/12/the_galbraith_effect?page=2
August 12, 2008
PONDER THAT FOR AWHILE.
"I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."
It might be pointed out to Senator Obama that if he finds a perfect country, he should be sure not to go there.
For then it will cease to be so.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/08/barack_obama_and
_defining_anti-americanism_downwards.html
NO PLACE FOR COWARDS IN RALPH PETERS ARMY.
I lack sufficiently powerful words to express my outrage over Russia's bloody cynicism in attacking a small, free people, or to castigate our media for their inane coverage - or to condemn our own government's shameful flight from responsibility.
Just as Moscow has reverted to its old habit of sending in tanks to snuff out freedom, Washington has defaulted to form by abandoning Georgia to the invasion - after encouraging Georgia to stand up to the Kremlin.
Reminds me of 1956, when we encouraged the Hungarians to defy Moscow - then abandoned them. And of 1991, when we prodded Iraq's Shia to rise up against Saddam - then abandoned them. We've called Georgia a "friend and ally." Well, honorable men and states stand by their friends and allies. We haven't.
Oh, we sure are giving those Russians a tongue-lashing. I'll bet Putin's just shaking as he faces the awesome verbal rage of Condi Rice. President Bush? He went to a basketball game.
GOT TO GET THAT REDISTRIBUTION TRAIN A ROLLIN'.
True to form, in his campaign for president, Obama advocates a dizzying array of hyper-liberal policies, including: "equal pay" laws, expanded federal leave laws, expanded "hate crime" laws, a panoply of social services for convicted criminals, increasing foreign aid spending by tens of billions of dollars with the goal of "cutting extreme poverty around the world in half by 2015" (pure utopianism paid for by the American taxpayer), requiring 25 percent of U.S. electricity come from "renewable" sources by 2025 (an impossible goal without drastically shrinking the economy), spending tens of billions of dollars on an FDR-style array of federal economic programs, further raising the minimum wage, and providing "affordable" and "comprehensive" health insurance to all Americans (aka socialized medicine).
Naturally, he proposes to pay for all these programs by raising taxes on "the wealthiest taxpayers" and imposing a "windfall profits tax" on oil companies.
http://www.americanthinker.com/
2008/08/why_barack_obama_will_not_win.html