Liberal Activist Elena Kagan Hides From Past, Disdains Congress, Sidesteps Confirmation Process

It's always a treat to hear a liberal activist campaign for office or sit for a confirmation hearing. They are inevitably unwilling to admit to what their intentions are.. that will have to wait until they are in office.

Much of the same has been occurring up on Capital Hill in the Elena Kagan confirmation hearing.

The most offensive part of the event is her denial of her role in subverting a statement of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) to make them appear to have decided in favor of partial birth abortion, when in fact they had stated they saw no reason why the procedure should ever be performed. As domestic policy aide to the Clinton administration Ms. Kagan read their statement and characterized it as being a disaster to her pro-abortion cause.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pressed Kagan about a note she wrote saying it would be "a disaster" if the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement saying there was no case in which the procedure was necessary, and about her intervention to prevent the group from doing so.

She responded that the disaster would have been if the organization's statement didn't reflect its full view that in some instances, the procedure was "medically best."

But in point of fact she re-wrote a statement and sent it to ACOG. Her revised version replaced the original, and was used as the basis for the court deciding to allow the procedure. He involvement was a little hard to conceal when the original copy of the ACOG statement showed up... written in Elena Kagan's handwriting.

"This was all done in order to present ... both to the president and to Congress the most accurate understanding of what this important organization of doctors believed," Kagan said.

Nope. It was done to obscure what the group had previously asserted, and to mischaracterize their actual position.

Later, responding to Graham, Kagan denied that she had tried to allow the broadest possible practice of the procedure, in line with her own views on abortion.

"It's not true. I had no agenda with respect to this issue," Kagan said.

Right.

Questioned by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., on guns, Kagan said she accepts a recent ruling upholding individuals' rights to possess firearms, but she would not say whether she believed there was a "fundamental right" — meaning one that applies to states as well as the federal government — to bear arms.

She would not say. That was the general theme for the festivities.

The Second Amendment is pretty clear. It was placed there as one of the promised inclusions to allow ratification of the constitution. It and the other first ten amendments are discussed at length in the Federalist Papers, and are a corner stone of the nation's founding. Collectively they are referred to as our Bill of Rights, and they constrain the powers of the Federal government and clearly place the government in the hands of the people.

You could have got more information out of one of the moai's of Easter Island than we did from one Elena Kagan.

The farce that this hearing was could not be better illustrated than by Democratic Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who was thwarted several times in his attempts to get Kagan to say whether she would recommend that the Supreme Court hear specific cases, or weigh in on standards for deciding a case. The senator wondered aloud whether there was any way short of opposing her confirmation to get a straight answer.

"It would be my hope that we could find some place between voting no and having some sort of substantive answers," Specter said, "but I don't know that it would be useful to pursue these questions any further."

How strange that it was this same Elena Kagan that called the Bork hearings a great good, for they allowed an open exchange between the potential judge and the Senators looking to confirm the selection. Apparently the openness that Judge Bork brought to the Senate chamber was a very good thing, but not anything that Elena Kagan could take a position on in respect to herself.

How very dishonest of her. Is that the caliber of character that recommends one for the United States Supreme Court?

I think not.

Biden Sick Of Smart Ass Comments From Ice Cream Manager

The attitude of this administration toward the common people of the nation isn't hard to comprehend, but lest there be any doubt, Joe Biden put it to rest with yet another gaffe, this time in a small Wisconsin ice cream shop.

Asked "What do we owe you?", the store manager replied "It's on the house" and then added half jokingly that he could call it even by cutting his taxes...

To which the nation's Vice President replied:

"Why don’t you say something nice, instead of being a smartass all the time?"

All the time?

Has Mr. Biden had quite a few run-ins with this particular ice cream shop manager? It sounds like he's just about had it. Maybe the security detail could steer him to a different ice cream vendor next time.

Seriously, Biden's known this guy all of about five seconds, and yet he feels free to characterize him as being an habitual smart ass.

Now if he was talking about me, perhaps he'd have a case. : )

It's to laugh.

Conor Friedersdorf Chides the Right

The political free-for-all that is the three ring circus of blog ace Robert Stacy McCain has from time to time had entertaining back and forths with one of the right's promising young writers, Conor Friedersdorf. Conor has raised the ire of many on the right with his forthright criticism of a number of conservative pundits and talk show personalities, the most recent of which was Mark Steyn, discussed in some detail at The Other McCain.

Dissent and differences of opinion can be good to argue and ultimately strengthen your position and your ability to defend that position. This kind of open debate occurs far more on the right than on the left, and the difference in experience shows in how arguments between the two camps play out.

What I find troubling in Conor Friedersdorf is that he has taken the past two years and attempted to advance the notion that the Right is undermined by its most vocal and forceful proponents. Who in the political sphere pushes conservatism? There may be a number of republican politicians with sound conservative credentials, but none have captured the imagination of the party or are the parties natural standard bearer. One may yet present, but the problem of a politician taking stands is you become a target, as Representative Joe Barton found out. Sarah Palin would be the exception as someone willing to take a stand, be outspoken and espouse the conservative position, and she is doing so across the nation.

The vast bulk of the conservative argument, however, is advanced by talk show personalities, who disseminate the conservative view of the world and its response to the days events. Conor would have those people change their message or be pushed to the margins. It is a position that does find him favor among the left… a conservative willing to impugn its most effective communicators. John McCain got a lot of play in the DC crowd for much the same thing, but inside the halls of power.

Since there is no voice in politics galvanizing the right, the standard bearers for conservatism are largely the conservatives in the media, chief among which would be the radio media as represented by Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Mark Levin, and perhaps Sean Hannity. For Conor to then target these individuals, be critical of them and undermine their message moves the party backward. Conor, I believe, argues that the party has been hi-jacked by these individuals, whose hyperbole ultimately make conservatism appear less reasonable and less palatable to the population as a whole.

I think he is wrong, but the guy can write.

'Persuasion' Open Thread

What did you think?

Obama Spending Spree Bill Coming Due

President Obama on controlling the debt:

"Somehow people say, why are you doing that, I'm not sure that's good politics.

I'm doing it because I said I was going to do it and I think it's the right thing to do. People should learn that lesson about me because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits and debt step-up, because I'm calling their bluff.

We'll see how much of that, how much of the political arguments that they're making right now are real and how much of it was just politics."

And there you have it, Mr. Obama planning the massive tax hikes that will kill what's left of the economy. Yes, the solution coming out of this guy's mouth will not be the kind of thing you or I would come up with when we find out that we are killing ourselves with expenditures that we do not have the income to afford. No cut backs on expenditures. No reduction in Federal programs or even reduction of the political slush funds.

Nope.

It will be the President attempting to transfer the payment for all these 'economy saving' steps of Obamonomics onto the backs of the US economy in the form of crippling tax increases. And those that oppose his reckless spending schemes will be called hypocrites for not going along with the tax burden this clown wants to lay down on us.

Well, the people are not behind this, President Oil Leak. And though you may desire to govern against the will of the people, the people will not accept you.

AL Gore Off the Reservation

Unbelievable.

The complaint against one of the globes most tiresome moralists is an eye opener. It is available in a somewhat redacted form here.

The gal is pointedly detailed, is knowledgeable about her area of study, and goes into great specificity about the interaction. No question the woman filed the complaint. No question the Portland police looked into it. The woman in question declined to proceed, understandably so (see multiple Clinton sex abuse sex-capeds), with the legal and physical threats endured, along with the general sullying of her reputation. No way she would come out a winner in this. Even if the facts she alleges occurred were proven completely correct in everything she said, how many clients would want to be a part of it?

Three years later AL and Tipper part, and no one can figure out why. Recent high profile divorces had a sexual component to the story: Edwards, Sanford and the ever ambitious Tiger Woods. But no one has an imagination capable of putting a sex angle on the AL Gore story. Suddenly, up pop rumors with Laurie David. Then a sex story in the Enquirer looks like a laugher, but no, Portland Police confirm that a complaint had indeed been filed.

And according to the highly detailed complaint, AL is overbearing, threatening, and just plain weird. Early in the massage:

While he was still face down, he suddenly asked me:

"What has become clear to you lately?"

I answered

"How much is enough"

And I elaborated on this idea a little bit, and then I asked him what he had become clear about lately himself, and he said

"Letting go of results"

Sheesh! Come on , AL, this was six years after you LOST the election. There is more to life than pretending to be president.

The evening proceeds, and by the account gets more weird and creepy with each passing minute, AL Gore vacillating between anger and belligerence when he doesn't get his way, to giggling bad boy when she attempts to reproach him. Later this hollowed out oak of a man switches tactics and pressures her to listen to Pink’s “Dear Mr. President” in the bedroom where his i-pod docking station was.

Personally, I can’t believe girl’s go for that whole ‘my i-pod docking station is in the bed-room’ thing, but AL is in with Apple, so he gives it a go, all the while she is trying to figure out how to get out without getting him hostile or excessively friendly. So here is this 2000 Presidential runner-up listening to 'Pink' to assuage his angry feelings toward the guy that beat him in the election. If Big AL had won the election, do you think you would find George Bush listening to 'Pink' go on about what a slug AL Gore was as president? Six years later?! No way.

Anyway, after the i-pod and another grope and grab session, AL is offering up a Karaoke version of "Dear Mr. President" when this gal gets fed up with the sing along, and flat out asks the guy:

"Just how long were you whacked out after the election?"

'cause I'm thinking 'You're nuts', and he goes

"Six and a half years, so far..ha, ha, ha, ha..."

And I'm thinking, 'Okay, we acknowledge that you're nuts. Now how do I get out of here?'

Wow. She walked in a big AL Gore fan and a believer in the global warming clap trap, and escapes thinking what a nut job this guy is and how could I have voted for him and placed Captain Queg’s thumb on the red button.

This man spent years telling falsehoods, scaring children and drumming up support for an environmental movement that the document dump at Hadley CRU has shown to be a manipulation and giant fraud. The most compelling aspect of AL's presentation was his call to take the moral high ground and for each of us to do the right thing. Never mind that his mansion in Tennessee burns energy like a roman candle, or that he flies around the globe without a second thought.

Well, it turns out the phrase "Never mind" applies to the whole thing.

General McChrystal Returns Home

General Stanley McChrystal was in charge and responsible for the Afghanistan theater of war, a difficult and dangerous place where men under his command were dying every week. It was the hottest war zone at the time President Obama took office, and was the theater of operations that the president had been saying for years was where we should be fighting, where we should be placing our major military efforts to confront the terrorists responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center. It was the good war, so he said. It was the right war to fight, as opposed to that bad, unwinnable war in Iraq that Senator Obama had criticized President Bush and candidate McCain over, as he did, over and over again. And yet after all this rhetoric and political grandstanding, upon winning the office of the presidency he completely ignored General McChrystal and his command in Afghanistan.

In March of 2009 President Obama had given General McChyrstal the mission to secure the population and destroy the terrorists that oppose us. McChystal generated a plan to pacify the area. The plan was geared toward killing the Taliban. To that end General McChrystal needed a significant increase in force to provide security and safety to the population areas while McChyrstal and his special ops units would go out at night to seek and kill the enemy. As the Washington Post reviewed in this article of December 2009, the general submitted his plan in August of 2009. On reviewing the plan in September, the president was frustrated by the plan's call to increase the force strength deployed. The plan's stated goal of destroying the terrorists that opposed us was thought by the president as a fools errand. Apparently he considered that to be a goal that was impossible to achieve. In answer, General McChyrstal replied that it was needed to complete his mission of destroying the terrorists forces that oppose us. Frustrated, the President stated he desired to stabilize and keep secure the Afghani government. The general had to refer the president back to his original order of March of 2009 before President Obama realized that the plan before him was directed to achieving the goals he had asked General McChyrstal to achieve.

To this plan President Obama said nothing...for months... while McChyrstal and his command continued to take casualties in a war the president clearly was not committed to fighting. Finally, after months of deliberations, months of political posturing, months of trillion dollar bailouts and private industry take overs, the President approved a plan for a surge in Afghanistan troop levels, but at only the minimum level McChyrstal thought was possible to have any chance of success.

The president supplied General McChyrstal with conflicting orders, conflicting goals, extreme delays in response, and in all this time only met with General McChrystal twice. Then the Rolling stone article came out. Suddenly General Stanley McChystal is summoned to Washington to meet with the President. Suddenly the President's war in Afghanistan was an item of interest. Suddenly the commander in chief is chapped and we're being distracted from an enormously important mission. It's ass kicking time.

No Mr. President, what you're up to isn't ass kicking. Ass kicking was what Stanley McChystal and his special ops guys were all about, going out into the dark of night to locate and kill a deadly enemy in a war that you left him and his command to fight.

Now he is stateside, and his command is the worse for it.

Conviction of Conrad Black In Question

One of America's immigrant successes, who challenged the Federal government because a free people should not live in fear of their own government and its ambitiously prosecutorial judicial branch, has recently been given a peak into the light of day.

Convicted two years ago in what was a most appalling abuse of the law, the United States Supreme Court has just ruled that the grounds on which the government made their case against Black do not apply, and are in fact rightly limited to criminal activity such as taking bribes or kickbacks.

"A United States Supreme Court ruling narrowing the definition of a statute governing public officials could affect several recent corruption cases in New Jersey."

This is good news indeed.

"The high court ruled Thursday to curtail prosecutors' use of an anti-fraud law that's frequently used in convicting politicians and corporate executives. The court has ruled that "honest services" fraud should only apply in cases where people take bribes or kickbacks."

Conrad Black's defense against our government was heroic. We can never make right what the government has made wrong.

Mark Steyn has commented on this much anticipated development:

"Nobody who sees the system close up can be sanguine about it. For a start, this would not have been a criminal case in any other advanced Western democracy. Second, the pressure the SEC and U.S. Attorney can bring to bear on almost anyone around the accused tips the scales against a fair trial (the threat of "Wells letters" to fading A-listers dependent on corporate directorships for their livelihood, etc.). Third, the combination of a jury box plus dozens of charges makes it an easy temptation for jurors to split the difference and acquit on most but convict on just enough to destroy your life."

Read the rest of Mark's comments here.

Gladiator

For whatever reason, Afghanistan Commander Stanley McChrystal granted Michael Hastings, a freelance reporter for Rolling Stone magazine, broad access to himself and his staff. For his part, Hastings repaid the complement by showing no discretion whatsoever in writing his article, placing on the record the candid comments of McChrystal and his staff, fully aware of the jeopardy his article would place the general's future in the military.

I have no idea why the general would allow such liberal access to an interviewer for Rolling Stone magazine, or why he would be so frank in front of Hastings in discussing his opinion about the civilians who are ostensibly in charge.

That being said, what the heck is Obama about? Is it time for another back room drubbing?

Mr. Obama better put away his toys. If he thinks this is the time for him to have a temper fit and stomp out of the room as he has with various other leaders, then he's got another think coming to him. This is the same Special Ops commander who was responsible for the capture of all high value targets in Iraq, including Saddam Hussien. He is the general who generated the current plan of operations in Afghanistan, the initiation of which was delayed for months while the President pondered.

The president was "angry," after he read the Rolling Stone story, calling the story "an enormous mistake in judgment. "The magnitude and graveness of this mistake are profound," Gibbs said.

In Obama's mind, an enormous mistake in judgment by a field commander is to question the President's focus and commitment to a conflict in which he has placed US troops in harms way? If so, we can see the general's point. A mistake of magnitude should be something a little more substantial then pricking the president's ample pride.

Perhaps there is an opportunity for Mr. Obama to demonstrate his own maturity. Would this not be the place for him to pull out his much ballyhooed skills in listening and respecting the opinions of others, particularly individuals from far away cultures for which he has little experience or understanding?

Asked about a passage in the story where a McChrystal aide describes the general as having been "pretty disappointed" after his first meeting with President Obama because the president "didn't seem very engaged," Gibbs said McChrystal will "have his attention tomorrow."

The vaguely veiled threat.

Barack Obama is in no way the equal of General McChyrstal in training, discipline, leadership, dedication, self-sacrifice, or commitment to the service men and women under his command.

"Gibbs just said parents of the more than 90,000 US troops in Afghanistan need to be confident that the command structure -- meaning McChrystal -- is "capable and mature enough" for this mission."

Jake Tapper feels the need to clarify for us who it is he was identifying as not being mature enough to hold a command position. Now why might that be, one wonders?

"All options are on the table," Gibbs said, though the president believes the general should be given a chance to explain himself. Gibbs declined to say whether the general's job is safe, saying the public would know more after the meeting."

Does this president of the United States not remind you of Lucius Aurelius Commodus from 'Gladiator'? A self-obscessed, lying, power crazed egomaniac that demands respect on penalty of death, but in truth has earned none?

Well, on to the pressing question of the day:

What is the president angriest about?

"We're distracting from an enormously important mission," Gibbs said.

Oh for crying out loud. This is the first time this mission ever seemed to have any importance to the president...

.... which might explain General McChystal's frame of mind.

Jon Kyl and Barack Obama Can't Both Be Telling Us The Truth

Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona spilled the beans, reporting to a North Tempe Tea Party town hall that the president said: 'The problem is, if we secure the border, then you all won’t have any reason to support ‘comprehensive immigration reform.’ In other words, they’re holding it hostage. They don’t want to secure the border unless and until it is combined with ‘comprehensive immigration reform,’” which in terms of White House parlance means a massive amnesty program to allow in all current illegal aliens. This would probably swell Democratic voter ranks by 20 to 30 million voters, further buttressing their position of power in government.

Hmm...sounds like the Obama way of doing things. But the White House has responded saying "Oh, contrare..."

“The President didn’t say that and Senator Kyl knows it," White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer told ABC News. "There are more resources dedicated toward border security today than ever before, but, as the President has made clear, truly securing the border will require a comprehensive solution to our broken immigration system."

Well, President Obama says it isn't true. President Obama says securing the southern border is a prime goal of his. President Obama says he has placed a great deal of resources toward the purpose of securng our southern boarder, so however much you can trust President Obama you can rest assured that Senator Kyle has been a big fat fibber.

Of course, looking at past experiences there was the meeting president Obama had with Jim Owen, the CEO of Caterpillar, after which the President announced that due to his stimulus plan, Caterpillar was going to re-hire laid off employees. This apparently was news to Jim Owen:

Obama has said twice in the past two days that Caterpillar CEO James Owens indicated his company would be able to rehire some of the 20,000 recently laid-off employees.

"Yesterday, Jim, the head of Caterpillar, said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off," Obama said today in Peoria.

But when asked today if the stimulus could do that, Owens said, "I think, realistically, no. The honest reality is we're probably going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again."

Oops.

As to the issue at hand, we have the White House subverting the rule of law by refusing to enforce current immigration law, and castigating the people of Arizona for having the temerity to try to address the issue themselves. But regarding Kyl, they claim an entirely different story for their purpose and motive.

The fact that we are dealing with a serial liar is correct.

The problem is, he lives in the White House.

'His Girl Friday' Open Thread

What did you think?

David Warren On The Money

President Obama has had a gay time playing BP for the villain in this modern era melodrama, hoping beyond hope to gain political leverage for the next stage of governmental expansion. In the mix came the opportunity to trash another industry, idle all off shore oil drilling(?!), and with Representative Barton shooting straight in this theater of the absurd, throwing the Republican's in the cross hairs as well. Will this man ever take his job seriously?

Thank God we have the clear commentary of Canada's David Warren to help get us through the drudgery of this administration's next set of political strong arming:

"Meanwhile, the BP executives -- who had no intention to spill oil, who are not exclusively responsible for the accident, and who have every motive to bring the quickest possible end to what is a worse nightmare for them than for anyone -- are threatened, and shaken down, as if they had acted consistently from pure malice. It is political theatre so egregious even "liberal" people in the U.S. are beginning to see through it."

I hope he's right. You can read the rest of his excellent piece here.

Noonan Misses It ... Again!

Peggy Noonan is always a pleasure to read, and I loved her treatise on Reagan When Character Was King, but since the run of the Obama she has been as penetrating in her take on events as a block of concrete.

In her latest article in the Wall Street Journal she takes on the plummeting support of this president in the wake of his recent address to the nation.

"Mr. Obama is starting to look unlucky, and–file this under Mysteries of Leadership–that is dangerous for him because Americans get nervous when they have a snakebit president. They want presidents on whom the sun shines.

It isn't Mr. Obama's fault that an oil rig blew in the Gulf and a gusher resulted."

Bad luck? Snake bit? Peggy, the man ... aghhh!

Gaffe King Rahm Emanuel Pulls Finger Out Of Nose, Points To BP Exec

Outrage follows outrage in this sordid tale of presidential overreach and abuse of power, this time with the White House's own Rahm Emanuel. Yes, the gaffe king of "don't let a crisis go to waste" fame, is trying his best to further embaress BP executive Tony Hayward:

"President Barack Obama's chief of staff says BP chief executive Tony Hayward has committed yet another in a "long line of PR gaffes" by attending a yacht race"

Give me a break. The president sat on his a$$ for six weeks letting the oil problems percolate, will still not trouble himself to seek guidance from anyone remotely capable of addressing the issues at hand, will not accept foreign assistance or waive the Jones Act, spends time fund raising and golfing, and his chief of staff thinks we care if a Brit is off sailing this weekend?

"Emanuel says the focus should stay on capping the leaking well and helping the people of the Gulf region"

Please. When has the president's team ever placed their focus on capping the leak and helping the people of the Gulf region? Well, certainly not yet anyway. They seem interested in politics as usual, which for them is to look for a crisis to inflame, shake down another private concern, strangle US industry, take action by executive fiat, piss all over the rule of law and parade around like a bunch of frat boys on a long weekend.

After that farce Waxman pulled, this is just utterly contemptible. (Why is it those two words go together so well when speaking of Mr. Emanuel?)

Hey Rahm, stop thinking of this disaster as another chance to beat up a private citizen. I don't care if he goes sailing on the weekend or goes off to fly a kite for that matter! That just isn't important, okay? Try to focus yourself on the problem at hand, not pointless pathetic political posing.

Newsweek's Isia Jasiewicz Gives Beck Short Shrift

Newsweek book reviewer Isia Jasiewicz took on the task of explaining to Newsweek's readers, such that remain, what it was that was driving the unexplainable book phenomena of Glen Beck. Her point of interest was Beck's recent focus on economist Friedrich Hayek, and his most famous work, The Road To Serfdom. After a one day discussion of the 1944 work, the book once again rose to number one on the Amazon book list and the publisher had to do an extra print run of 20,000 copies.

Ms. Jasiewicz was rather dismissive of Beck's audience, claiming the response to Hayek's work was not due to a desire to become better acquainted with the seminal economic treatise of the twentieth century, but rather was the result of Mr. Beck "employing his extraordinary talent for making anything sound sexy."

Really?

Mr. Beck:

“There’s a war for the future of this country,” Beck told viewers. “It’s being waged right now.”

Damn straight.

Though apparently Ms. Jasiewicz found this laughably implausible, I would ask her to review the course of the last eighteen months and re-consider. The times are indeed troubled, and the president is focused here at home, with an eye to re-make the nation in his own vision of centralized authority dominated by governmental cronyism. Such ego-centrism is unconscionable. The world will not wait. His relentless undermining of the nation's economy and the American spirit will extinguish the main driver of the world's best hope for freedom.

Isia, forget Beck. Give Hayek a try. You wont regret it.

Mr. Obama, Unhand This Country!

"If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.

And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man.

This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. "

Ronald Reagen, October 27th, 1964

Ronald Reagen understood the threat from within that statists like Barack Hussein Obama pose.

Let us always remember his words, and the important place in history this country plays.

Presidential Shake Down

Another major private corporation has been brought to its knees, as the giddy Jennifer Loven of the White House Press Corps reported in an AP article today.

"President Barack Obama wrested a $20 billion compensation guarantee and an apology to the nation from British oil giant BP Wednesday, announcing the company would set up a major claims fund for shrimpers, restaurateurs and others whose lives and livelihoods are being wrecked by the oil flooding into the Gulf of Mexico."

Applause broke out during a community meeting in Orange Beach, Ala., on the news. "We asked for that two weeks ago and they laughed at us," Mayor Tony Kennon said. "Thank you, President Obama, for taking a bunch of rednecks' suggestion and making it happen."

Yeah, right. They laughed at you? The president has been talking about this 20 billion love nest for some time now. He wasn't thinking about you when he was grilling the BP execs. I'm sorry to say he didn't take your suggestion, as you are suggesting Mayor Kennon, though sucking up to the president did manage to get you some face time on national media and a mention in this worthless AP piece.

"Obama had said he would "make BP pay," and the company's chairman said after four hours of intense White House negotiations that BP was ready."

What did you expect BP to say? Go screw? BP had a gun held to their head, and this bozo writing for the AP thinks its time to celebrate. Look, just read a little farther down in your own article and you'll get it:

"In yet another jab at BP, the deal was made public by Obama aides even while the much-anticipated White House confrontation was under way."

See?

"The deal also adhered to what Obama had said was his non-negotiable demand: that the fund and the claims process be administered independently from BP. It won't be a government fund, either, but will be led by the administration's "pay czar,"

Oh, great. Another pile of money under the control of another of the administrations czars. That is sure to result in an equitable distribution of funds.

By the way, I hope you are not heavily positioned in BP.

"Svanberg announced the company would not pay dividends to shareholders for the rest of the year, including one scheduled for June 21 totaling about $2.6 billion. "

I guess of all the little guys this president is working hard for, the little guys that invested or had jobs through BP are just too little.

"So far, 66,000 claims have been filed, $81 million awarded and 26,000 checks cut, said Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen."

So far, we have Coast Guard admirals reduced to reporting on claims made and pay out checks cut.

What in the world?!

Obama Accepts Responsibility for Delayed Reaction to BP Oil Spill

Not really.

No, he spent most of his time just carrying on in the same old tiresome way, more about making people pay and declaring someone other than himself to be irresponsible and reckless with the nation's future.

Meanwhile, the cheerleaders over at MSNBC were all in a tizzy. Keith Olbermann whined that nothing specific was said, while Howard Fineman felt the president did not seem like a commander-in-cheif. Chris Matthews compared the president to Jimmy Carter, and declared "I don't sense executive command." Funny, I had that same sense back when Chris was getting tingling sensations running up his leg. Dr. Krauthammer opined that Mr. Obama gave it a shot, but the story will not be his speech. And thank God that's true.

Oh, and Brazil defeated North Korea in World Cup play, 2-1.

- Glen Beck Inspires Sedition, Fears Senior Editor of Book World

Book World Senior Editor Stephen Levingston has taken the pains to review Glen Beck's new fiction, The Overton Window, for the Washington Post, and as a result has worried himself silly over the potential fall out among us common folk:

"The success of Glenn Beck's novel, "The Overton Window," will be measured not by its literary value (none), or its contribution to the thriller genre (small), or the money it rakes in (considerable), but rather by the rebelliousness it incites among anti-government extremists. If the book is found tucked into the ammo boxes of self-proclaimed patriots and recited at "tea party" assemblies, then Beck will have achieved his goal."

Mr. Beck is simply translating the ideas found in our founding documents to the times of today, an interesting exercise in my view. Strangely, Mr. Levingston illustrates Mr. Beck's point in his own paranoid response.

"Their insistence on nonviolence appears as disingenuous as anything out of the mouth of their nemesis, the insidious manipulator of reality Arthur Gardner. "There's nothing I wouldn't give up to defend my country," Molly says. "No matter how hard it might be, there's nothing that's in my power that I wouldn't do."

Of course, the country she speaks of is not a plot of land or a grove of trees, but rather is an idea about human liberty that was brought forth in this nation's founding documents. She is unwilling to give up liberty, and for that I applaud her. Mr. Levingston however thickly plods on:

"The danger of books like this is that radical readers may take the story's fiction for fact, or interpret the fiction -- which Beck encourages -- as a reflection of a reality that they must fend off by any means necessary. "The Overton Window" risks falling into the tradition of other anti-government novels such as "The Turner Diaries" by William L. Pierce"

George Orwell's 1984 comes more readily to mind. Anti-government? Not really. Pro-liberty would be how I would characterize it. I suppose by the same line of thinking Thomas Paine's Common Sense would be considered dangerous. All three books ask the reader to consider the moral superiority of individual liberty, and the insidious usurpation of liberty by the powers of the state. 1984 is a cautionary tale. Common Sense argues for government by the people and for the people, and challenges the inate sovereignty of the British crown. Are such ideas dangerous? Perhaps the books should be burned? That brings to mind another good book, Fahrenheit 451, where the state protected itself from dangerous ideas by burning the books that contained them.

Mr. Levingston, the idea of individual liberty is not dangerous to the people, but it is dangerous to the idea of an all powerful state. In our nation, founded on the moral superiority of individual liberty, and its necessary condition of limited government, freedom reigns, and will do so as long as free men and women are willing to assert their right to self government.

Your review reminds me of another Orwell book, Animal Farm, where power hungry pigs ran the place amuck. You might see yourself in there Mr. Levingston, perhaps in the role of...

....Squealer.

(Hat tip to Pundit and Pundette)

David Warren Sights Obama's Ship Of State

As challenges go, the gulf oil spill is not all that catastrophic. The safety of the nation and the nation's populace are not endangered by it, though certainly it will have an impact on the local economy. We cannot say the same for the other challenges looming on our horizon.

However, the sad truth is the event itself has demonstrated ominously that the crew manning the ship of state are an untidy bunch of land lubbers, ill trained and ill used to the ways of the seas they have been recruited to sail.

Canadian David Warren's recent article addressing the state of affairs is refreshingly forthright.

"Bush had not, as his successor has, loaded up a ship of fools consisting of academic ideologues, under no particular direction from a captain who is himself off playing golf, and partying with America's coolest people. Which is exactly what Obama was doing for weeks after April 20, when Deepwater Horizon blew up; though to be fair we should also mention the fundraisers and commencement speeches."

The kaleidoscope of errors that is the Obama Administration is staggering in and of itself, all brought to light and made brilliantly fluorescent in the reflection of the gulf oil spill.

"I don't feel sorry for them. They come, almost to a man or woman, from backgrounds of complete insulation from normal human life, and are infused with the rarefied gas of pure theory."

The rarefied gas of pure theory... that might explain the smell wafting around.

Mr. Warren is a pleasure to read. Catch the rest of his piece here.

New York Times Blunders On Into Obscurity

For years the New York Times has been the nations news paper. Stories the Times ran with were the stories that were discussed on the major networks and in newspapers across the nation. My, have times changed, never more clearly evidenced then by Timothy Egan's recent editorial Failure Is Now An Option, and no, he was not considering the possibility of a Federal bailout for his beleaguered paper.

With a seventy four percent decline in stock value over the past ten years, one would think the Times would be thinking about how to get their edge back. One would be wrong. In answer to the question "What lead to the BP oil leak in the gulf?", Mr. Egan offers the following insight:

"The reason was, BP was too big, too advanced, to fail. Plus, voluntary regulation, the oil companies claimed, was working fine. If that sounds familiar, it was the same argument heard just before the financial crisis. The derivatives and collateralized debt obligations that Wall Street used to make unprecedented profits and then nearly bring down the economy were too big, too advanced for anyone to understand."

BP is drilling in water 5,000 feet deep because the government will not allow them to drill closer. Plenty of oil is available, and the shallows are far easier to work in. They are not there because of government regulations. The other half of the analogy is equally off base. The sub prime mortgage disaster which ruined the world's economy was set off by the government forcing banks to make high risk loans to people that they knew were unlikely to be able to pay them back. That these loans were all guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created the opportunity for aggressive lending practices.

How does one prevent such a disaster? Easy. No threats from Janet Reno, no government subsidized risk, no economic collapse.

"But, in both cases, the stage was set for catastrophic failure, and, in both cases, you can pinpoint two likely causes.

First, size. In the search for end-stage oil, companies have had to go deeper and further in ever-riskier gambits to pull this gooey fossil fuel from its ancient slumber. The easy oil era is long over."

That is sheer baloney. End stage oil? If we are in end stage oil, how is it that this one leak is billowing out 25,000 barrels a day? Companies have to go deeper and ever riskier because the government forces them to. They are drilling...where? ... where we allow them to. Alright?

How can anyone get this much wrong and still be a serious journalist? These are major omissions, major miscues. Oh well, I can't continue with Mr. Egan's drivel. Suffice it to say that he claims the Supreme Court under John Roberts is to blame, and the best way to deal with this problem is to drive BP into bankruptcy.

Right.

Sorry Tim. The economy needs oil, preferably affordable oil produced by either ourselves or nations that are friendly to us. Bankruptcy for BP is not going to help anyone here.

But bankruptcy for the New York Times...now that's another story.

Liberals, Feminists Decry Surge In Female Candidates

We have all been beaten over the head with the notion that the so-called women's movement makes its home in the forward thinking, enlightened enclaves of the liberal intelligentsia of the Democrat party. This theory always became problematic when something occurred off the heroic narrative, usually a non-liberal woman rising to prominence in some position or another, in which case her accomplishment was marginalized and her character denigrated.

There have been numerous examples of women receiving short shrift and ridicule from the left, including ambassador to the U.N. Jean Kirkpatrick, Secretary of Defense Condolezza Rice, and of course the most outrageous example of leftward hypocrisy, the treatment of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who received abuse from the left, and from feminists in particular, for no reason of substance, other than the fact that she was a woman. The failure of the women's movement to acknowledge and support these women was remarkable for its hypocrisy. Thus we should not be alarmed or disturbed to find more of the same with the recent results from the primaries, as stated on Thursday's Good Morning America.

"Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown appeared on Thursday's Good Morning America to deride the mostly Republican women who won primaries on Tuesday as "wingnuts" and to sneer that they represent a "blow to feminism."

How are these women a blow to feminism? If this is how it breaks, then I gotta say to hell with feminism. I'm turning in my 'Feminist' membership card.

After Stephanopoulos recited the numerous women who won nominations on June 8, the current Daily Beast editor dismissed, "...The only trouble with this one is, it almost feels as if all these women winning are kind of a blow to feminism."

These clowns are pathetic. Do you think they realize how ridiculous they sound?

"I think it's quite interesting that the whole CEO movement out there in California. Because, here we are with all the Wall Street consternation and, yet, they're touting their credentials as major CEOs as qualifications."

Right. Being successful in business, some of these women extremely successful in business, is a dis qualifier for high government office. Knowing how to run a company, work with people, make executive decisions all disqualifies you from working with these bozos. Geez. I can see how that might be the case in the Obama administration - you'd stick out like a sore thumb - don't you think some practical know how might be helpful in government?

Well, though I myself may be bewildered and befuddled by how they come to their various conclusions, I shan’t loose much sleep over it.

Roxeanne De Luca Rips It at Haemet

I've been bumping into and reading the comments of Roxeanne De Luca for a couple of months now, more so since she did a short stint guest blogging at Bongo Bob's, and I've got to say she is a smoking hot blog babe! Catch this response from the comment section of Casy Fiano's blog, where some hapless dolt tried to denigrate the charming and gracious blog hostess:

"Cassy is the loving wife of a man who risks his life in our military, blogs about issues that matter, is a role model for young women, and engages in a profession that is rewarding to herself and does a tremendous amount of good.

But because you are a liberal man, all you can do is reduce her accomplishments, character, and values to a sneer on the way she looks and a suggestion that she needs to engage in some mentally disturbed self-loathing.

Contrary to what liberal “feminists” may have taught you, JRTG, women need not be neurotic anorexics with daddy issues in order to do some good in the world; in fact, the opposite is true."

Can this gal rip it, or what? Lazer sharp focus, no nonsense approach. Beautiful.

After the president recently revealed that after all this time, he still has not spoken with BP CEO Tony Hayward, Ms. De Luca proclaimed the event as Your Delusional Moment of the Day, taking the President to task for his general lack of engagement and tiresome posing.

"What is even more revolting is this business of acting like a pantywaist girl on the playground, rather than someone who is remotely competent to fix the largest environmental disaster in history. Adults, when faced with problems, will suck it up and deal with people that they do not personally like. Obama, when encountering something that did not go his way – which any rational human would expect to happen whilst running the free world – bitches about how he would fire Tony Hayward if he could, but lacks any plans to replace him with someone more competent"

Well, for my part it makes more sense to bitch about how I would fire B.O. if I could, and I gauran-damn-tee you that I could find a whole host of people more competent to replace him. Still, we are required to wait until 2012. Such is life.

But as to Roxeanne De Luca... she's blogalishous.

Nikki Haley Smokes GOP Primary, Looks Great Doing It

Nikki Haley overcame the GOP party and multiple attacks on her character by various GOP 'operatives' to win the Republican Primary in South Carolina with 49% of the vote, easily outdistancing Jack 'The Knotthead' Knotts and Andre 'My Dinner With' Bauer, leaving her to complete a two 'man' runoff election with second place finisher U.S. Representative Gresham Barrett, who received 21% of the vote. The runoff will be held June 22nd.

I have to tell you, of all the stupid baloney I have heard in my life, about the silliest of all occurred when GOP consultant Larry Marchant of the Bauer campaign and fellow GOP hack and blogger Will Folks attempted to derail this woman's campaign by claiming they had intimate knowledge of her.

Right. Thanks guys. Dream on.

The claims were so bizarre, so obtuse, so completely and utterly out of bounds that it resulted in the creation of a Sixth Rule by he who giveth rules for blogging, which was summed up in hilarious fashion by Bob Belvedere here. "Thou shalt not be a total douchebag." Good words to live by, all ye who are so witless as to disparage a woman's good name.

Look, where I come from it's considered boorish to be sharing made up stories of supposed conquests, and if you actually are so lucky as to gain the affections of a woman, you sure as hell don't talk yourself up on the details. These guys were unbelievably pathetic. I guess it takes all types, but sheesh! Come on South Carolina, you've got to have some better examples of manhood out there.

Econ 101 "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?"

As the nation faces major economic challenges, and chooses leaders it sees as best suited to address these issues, one wonders how well informed the public is on basic principles of economics. To answer that question, Dr. Daniel Klein professor of economics at George Mason University, teamed with Zogby researcher Zeljka Buturovic and asked eight basic economic questions of 4,835 adult respondents (all adults). They then asked the respondents to identify themselves as to political persuasion.

The participants were asked the following questions:

True or False
1) Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.
2) Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices of those services.
3) Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago.
4) Rent control leads to housing shortages.
5) A company with the largest market share is a monopoly.
6) Third World workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited.
7) Free trade leads to unemployment.
8) Minimum wage laws raise unemployment.

(See below for answer key).

Democrat respondents averaged 4.59 incorrect answers out of the eight. Republicans averaged 1.61 incorrect, and Libertarians 1.26 incorrect.

Wow.

Broken down into ideological groups that resulted in the following: Very conservative, 1.30; Libertarian, 1.38; Conservative, 1.67; Moderate, 3.67; Liberal, 4.69; Progressive/very liberal, 5.26 incorrect answers out of eight questions asked.

"On every question the left did much worse than the right. On the monopoly question, the portion of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly (31%) was more than twice that of conservatives (13%) and more than four times that of libertarians (7%). On the question about living standards, the portion of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly (61%) was more than four times that of conservatives (13%) and almost three times that of libertarians (21%)."

Hmmm.

"Adam Smith described political economy as "a branch of the science of a statesman or legislator." Governmental power joined with wrongheadedness is something terrible, but all too common. Realizing that many of our leaders and their constituents are economically unenlightened sheds light on the troubles that surround us."

Dr. Klein hails from the same school as blog favorite Walter E. Williams, who chaired the Economics department at George Mason for many years.

(Answers: T, T, T, T, F, F, F, T)

Helen Thomas Gets The Axe

Helen Thomas, who has been a liberal fixture of the White House Press Corps for over fifty years, has resigned as a journalist for Hearst Newspapers.

"But her recent call for Israel to "get the hell out of Palestine" and have its citizens return to Germany or Poland drew harsh rebukes from political leaders on the left and right."

And rightly so. It is not the first outrageous thing she has said, but perhaps the most ill considered and offensive. The problem is that her attitudes are not uncommon among the liberals in the media and in government. She was just the only person foolish enough to give them voice in a public forum.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that the comments were "offensive and reprehensible."

The board of the White House Correspondents Association also weighed in on Monday, calling Thomas' comments "indefensible" and "especially unfortunate in light of her role as a trailblazer on the White House beat."

Indeed. I can't believe I find myself in agreement with Robert Gibbs. I suppose stranger things have happened.

Jonas Calls Terrorists, Heads of State On The Carpet

As more clamor and cry for the hapless, hopeless terrorist organized 'peace protest' flotilla, a consensus of world opinion is again being formed out of sheer refusal to entertain the facts. Luckily, we still can find a voice of reason in the Western Hemisphere who is willing to speak plainly, taking risks untold in the thought controlled confines of Canada.

George Jonas has taken a look at the flotilla of fools, and found them to be duplicitous in motive and obvious in execution. That's the easy part. What he finds annoying is the thick stupidity shown by many world powers to ignore all reason and to be critical of a peaceful people who are constantly threatened and repeatedly attacked.

"When arms speak, the laws fall silent." I don't think the Romans who coined inter arma silent leges meant that the laws actually cease to speak in times of war, only that the din of arms drowns out their voices. In our days, even the sound of cannon is muffled under the indignant whining of self-righteous asses who break into brays of indignation when their bluffs are called and their actions turn out to have consequences.

Enough with the cries for "measured response". Who does the measuring? Did Daniel Pearl receive a measured response? Did the three thousand souls who were trapped in the World Trade Center have the an opportunity to call for measuring in the response they received? No?

The fact is that Israel is a Western democracy in a sea of Islamic fundamentalist and terrorist states, most of which are overtly or covertly committed to its utter destruction. It is imperative that we support our allies and defend them from moral attack. Failing in this will signal those that hate us that we are no longer willing to help defend the only friend we have in the region. Obviously only a complete and utter fool would do such a short sighted, self-defeating thing.

Meanwhile, Barrack Hussein Obama resides in the White House.

Hmmm.

Update:

Mark Steyn weighs in.

"In contrast to the general directions of Helen ("Go back to Germany and Poland") Thomas, the peace-lovers aboard the Mavi Marmara were more specific:

In response to a radio transmission by the Israeli Navy warning the Gaza flotilla that they are approaching a naval blockade, passengers of the Mavi Marmara respond, "Shut up, go back to Auschwitz" and "We're helping Arabs go against the US, don't forget 9/11".

Such amusing conversationalists."

Read the rest here.

David Warren Calls For Sanity

David Warren has long been a favorite of this blogsite. One of his latest offerings adds to the long list of well written, well reasoned postings.

Israel has few friends in the world, and it is clear that they are more and more isolated as time goes by. Her oldest and staunchest ally has been the United States, but now with a president in the White House that either doesn't understand the strategic questions involved or whose over-inflated idea of his own rhetoric and appeal cause him to have no care for Israel regardless, the end result is that Israel is placed in imminent peril.

In this instance, Mr. Warren turns his attention to the mounting troubles in the Middle East, with the recent flap over the flotilla of fools:

"It is likewise nonsense to claim that Israel is preventing "humanitarian aid" from reaching the enclave. She merely requires that goods be inspected, and war materials omitted from delivery. Israelis have endured many thousand gratuitous rocket attacks from Gaza; the requirement is eminently reasonable.

Nor had Israelis any reason to trust the word of Islamist militants who, in addition to waving pipes and chains about, were shown on Arab television chanting, "Remember Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews! The army of Muhammad is returning!" (The reference is to the Koran, and to the Muslim attack on the last Jewish oasis, and thus to the final elimination of the Jewish presence in 7th-century Arabia.)

The arguments above should have been made loudly and unambiguously by the U.S. State Department, not left to me. By being aloof when a crucial ally is under attack, the U.S. is actually encouraging Israel's enemies to pile on."

What might seem like something that should go without saying is, in the case of this administration, badly needed guidance.

Seattle Area Hero Gives Life For His Family

Whatever degree of courage we may have been blessed with, we all hope that if the need arose to protect our families we would rise to the occasion. Few of us are actually called upon to demonstrate such courage. James Sanders was one of those, and he acquitted himself as honorably as any of us could hope for.

James Sanders lived in the Pierce County community of Edgewood, Washington, with his wife and two sons, aged fourteen and ten. On April 28 he was fatally shot while defending his family from a group of thugs who had forced their way into his home in a robbery. Two of the four, a man and a woman, had arrived at his doorstep under the pretext of purchasing a diamond ring that Mr. Sanders and his wife had advertised on Craigslist. Upon being shown the ring, the man pulled a gun and forced his way in, the couple being joined by two other robbers who had been hiding nearby. Upon entering the home, they tied up Mr. Sanders and his wife, pulled the two boys from their beds and dragged them downstairs.

"I had a gun to the back of my head with a countdown - three, two - and I'm just screaming and my kids are standing there, and I'm saying, please, God, don't let them kill me, don't let them kill my kids," she said.

After working on the wife, the man moved on to striking the fourteen year old. Mr. Sanders managed to free himself and struck the attacker, only to be gunned down. James Sanders died in his wife's arms.

"I just kept saying 'honey please stay with me, stay with me, stay with us, don't go, don't go,' and he was just barely gasping for air," she said. "They took the love of my live."

The robbers fled after shooting Mr. Sanders. All four have subsequently been caught. Three of the suspects Kiyoshi A. Higashi, 22, and Joshua N. Reese, 20, both of Tacoma, along with Amanda C. Knight, 21, of Sumner, were arrested on May 1 during a traffic stop in California. The fourth suspect, Clabon Berniard, 23, turned himself in to authorities on Thursday after being sought on a nationwide arrest warrant.

Mrs. Sanders said her 14-year-old son is recovering from his injuries and both he and his 10-year-old brother miss their father.

All four suspects are charged with first-degree murder, robbery and assault.

I have been meaning to write a post for Mr. Sanders for some time. I am very glad to do so now. I am very greatly honored to mention the name James Sanders on this blog.

God rest his soul.

'Bella' Open Thread

What did you think?

Steyn Gets A Chuckle

Salon's Gabrial Winant took advantage of the awkward and drooling Jake Knotts to take a shot at the entire Republican party, and leading commenters Mark Steyn and Bill Kristol in passing, to which Mr. Steyn responding in a brief Corner post:

In Salon, Gabriel Winant riffles through the conservative wardrobe:

'This isn't to say that Mark Steyn and Bill Kristol have Klan hoods in their closets.'

But we do have matching thongs.

Far from being put out, the masterful Mr. Steyn underscores the absurdity of Gabriel Winant's argument that because a Republican gubernatorial candidate made an ass of himself and put his foot in his mouth, all Republican's are asses who smell of foot odor when they speak.

Mr. Winant concludes as follows:

"But this is the thing: There's nothing to be done. Racism lives among right-wingers, not inside them. It's the air they breathe. And without it, there wouldn't be a coherent American conservatism."

The South Carolina race is, in fact, a national embarrassment to the Republican Party, where the hopefuls for the seat of power have attempted to advance their campaigns by repeatedly accusing Nikki Haley of having illicit affairs. Two weeks ago a GOP consultant named Will Folks claimed he had had an inappropriate affair with Ms. Haley three years ago, and just two days ago a staffer (or consultant as he prefers) for Andre Bauer claimed also to have had a one night stand with Ms. Haley. Now this ass clown Knotts derides her for being of Indian descent. It's the Jerry Springer show of Republican politics. But Nikki Haley comes through this veritable deluge of dirt sounding articulate, crisp, unfazed and most certainly above the mud pit. I like her. It's hard to top Robert Stacy McCain 's response:

"Maybe Nikki Haley actually is an Insatiable Punjabi She-Devil, or maybe not. I just don’t care anymore. She needs to win this election if only because her enemies so richly deserve defeat."

Exactly.

As to Mr. Winant's elusive notion of cornering ill begot speech and attitudes into the Republican Party, I would ask who said this:

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,"

That's Joe Biden, you dolt. He's sitting in the White House with the nation's first articulate, clean black man. The left is loaded with racism and sexism, they just never get around to worrying about it. Apparently, it doesn't rise to the level of inappropriateness to deserve commentary from Gabriel Winant.

Sheesh.

(Dashing photo provided for blog fav April Gavaza)

Freedom Is A Precious Thing

One of the chief concerns of this blog is the issue of freedom, particulary as it pertains to our lives here and now in what has become an ever more controlled society. The controls are sold to the public with high sounding names: the public good, environmental protection, health and safety.

My own struggles and misfortune are not particularly noteworthy, except in what they say about our republic as a whole, and the path of ever increasing bureaucratic control that we as a people are going down. Some ask where is the harm in serving the public good or protecting the environment. The answer lies in the loss of individual freedom and the capacity for individual responsibility that each of us experience against the expanding powers of the state.

A young German ex-patriot wrote of his own similar experiences growing up in the Germany of the Weimar Republic, and the impact that came with the rise to power of the National Socialist Party of the Nazi's. From his prologue:

This is the story of a duel.

It is a duel between two very unequal adversaries: an exceedingly powerful, formidable and ruthless state, and an insignificant, unknown, private individual. The duel does not take place in the sphere of politics; the individual is by no means a politician, still less a conspirator or enemy of the state. Throughout, he finds himself very much on the defensive. He only wishes to preserve what he considers his integrity, his private life, his personal honor. These are constantly under attack by the government of the country he lives in.

The state demands that he give up his friends, abandon his lovers, renounce his beliefs and assume new, prescribed ones. He must use a new form of greeting, eat and drink in ways that he does not fancy, employ his leisure in occupations he abhors, make himself available for activities he despises, and deny his past and his individuality. For all this he must constantly express extreme enthusiasm and gratitude.

The individual is opposed to all of that, but he is ill prepared for the onslaught. He was not born a hero. He is just an ordinary man. He is nevertheless stubbornly antagonistic. So he enters into the duel - without enthusiasm, but with a quiet determination not to yield. He is , of course, much weaker than his opponent, but rather more agile. You will see him duck and weave, dodge his foe and dart back, evading crushing blows by a whisker. You will be compelled to admit, that for someone who is neither a hero nor a martyr, he manages to put up a good fight. Finally, however, you will see him compelled to abandon the struggle, or if you will, transfer it to a different plane.

The state is the German Reich, and I am the individual.

So begins his tale. Sebastian Haffner is a talented writer whose own story and insights into the human condition have much to say to us today. I highly recommend Defying Hitler, for what it said to me and what it will say to you.

Brewer Firm, Defends People of Arizona

Barrack Hussein Obama has at last finally granted an audience to Arizona governor Jan Brewer today. Ms. Brewer has been supporting the residents of her state, who have been struggling for years with a seemingly endless wave of illegal immigrants. The law passed by the state legislature and supported by 63% of Arizona residents was signed by Ms. Brewer, and is scheduled to go into effect July 29th, 2010. The law will allow law enforcement officers to make an effort to verify citizenship.

Rather than being neutral in an area that the Federal government has been decidedly ineffective in performing its duties, Mr. Obama has blasted the law as "misguided" and has intimated it would violate civil rights and lead to racial profiling.

The meeting comes as Justice Department officials consider suing the state in a bid to block the law, which makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. During a brief news conference on the White House driveway following her meeting with the president, Brewer described the meeting as "cordial," but the potential lawsuit wasn't discussed.

"That was kind of over, brushed over a little bit," she said.

When asked if she thinks the president has read the law, Brewer only smiled.

Heh.

"In a written statement, the White House said Obama reiterated his concern over the law and how it could lead to a patchwork of different state immigration regulations that would interfere with the federal government's response."

What response? There is no response. Look, we keep telling you that... and you sit there posing and posturing. Arizonians need something done, Mr. President, and we don't mean another round of round-table discussions, czars or focus groups.

"The president urged Gov. Brewer to be his partner in working in a bipartisan manner on comprehensive immigration reform to implement the type of smart, sensible, and effective solutions the American people expect and deserve from their federal government," the White House said.

What a load of bull. Be his partner? Please. Look, Barry, people tend to shy away from partnering with double talkers that look to embarrass you and misrepresent you. He sees Arizona's efforts to protect her southern border as an opportunity to berate and impugn Arizonian's. She is smart to be cautious, and would do well to keep you at a distance.

Citing scheduling issues, Obama initially declined to meet with Brewer this week while she is in Washington for a Council of Governors meeting. But as criticism grew over Obama's seeming snub, he made time on his calendar.

His classless behavior was finally picked up on by the media types? Who would have guessed?

"I feel very confident about what we've done in the past is the right thing to do," Brewer said. "We're protecting America. We need to secure our border."

Sounds right.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the best way to tackle illegal immigration is on the federal level.

That's great, Bob. How about you starting with enforcing the Federal law?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Responds

Proving that it is possible for a leader of a free society to speak clearly and intelligently, to actually address the issues at hand, honestly and openly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded thus:

"It is very clear to us that the attackers had prepared their violent action in advance. They were members of an extremist group that has supported international terrorist organizations and today support the terrorist organization called Hamas. They brought with them in advance knives, steel rods, other weapons. They chanted battle cries against the Jews. You can hear this on the tapes that have been released.

This was not a love boat. This was a hate boat. These weren’t pacifists. These weren’t peace activists. These were violent supporters of terrorism.

I think that the evidence that the lives of the Israeli seamen were in danger is crystal clear. If you’re a fair-minded observer and you look at those videos, you know this simple truth. But I regret to say that for many in the international community, no evidence is needed. Israel is guilty until proven guilty.

Once again, Israel is told that it has a right to defend itself but is condemned every time it exercises that right. Now you know that a right that you cannot exercise is meaningless. And you know that the way we exercise it – under these conditions of duress, under the rocketing of our cities, under the impending killing of our soldiers – you know that we exercise it in a way that is commensurate with any international standard. I have spoken to leading leaders of the world, and I say the same thing today to the international community: What would you do? How would you stop thousands of rockets that are destined to attack your cities, your civilians, your children? How would your soldiers behave under similar circumstances? I think in your hearts, you all know the truth.

Israel regrets the loss of life. But we will never apologize for defending ourselves. Israel has every right to prevent deadly weapons from entering into hostile territory. And Israeli soldiers have every right to defend their lives and their country.

This may sound like an impossible plea, or an impossible request, or an impossible demand, but I make it anyway: Israel should not be held to a double standard. The Jewish state has a right to defend itself just like any other state."

Well said.

With a tip of the hat to Bob Belvedere.

- Robert Leslie Hymers III Steps In It

Every now and again, we all do silly things. Certainly, I've done my share, but nothing to compare with Darwin Award Finalist Robert Leslie Hymers, III.

Apparently, out of a misguided notion of protecting his father's good name, Mr. Hymers has attempted to silence talented blog favorite Joy McCann (Little Miss Attila), who has had the courage to occasionally recount some of the sordid details of her time in the Open Door Community Church. Ms. McCann has shared some of these details in an effort to support others that may have come into the sphere of influence of this church body, and the leadership of one Robert Leslie Hymers, Jr.

The Open Door Community Church sounds a tad like Lowood School of Jane Eyre fame, with its misguided notions about chaste living and heavy emphasis on personal shaming. Here is an excerpt from their letter to Ms. McCann in December of 1977:

You have been excommunicated from the church for sexual sins that you refuse to repent of, and for continually missing church, and for denying Christ.

You have violated your enclosed covenant with God. There is only one way you can get right with God. You must come back to this church, repent, and publicly confess your sins. You cannot go to any other church and be absolved, for, even if they accept you, God will not. You must come back here to repent, even it is fifty years from now. Otherwise you can never be forgiven.

You were excommunicated by a unanimous vote of the membership of the entire church.

That's a bad start, and something not wise to draw attention to.

And what was the sexual sin of Ms. McCann that had to be discussed before the entire church body? At age fourteen she was date-raped by her 'boyfriend'.

Obviously, the Open Door Community Church under the leadership of Robert Leslie Hymers, Jr. was badly misguided in its understanding of the Christian faith. One does not have a sin to confess when one is raped, a church leadership does not discuss the sexual abuse of its young women with the church body, forgiveness is from God, and is in no way tied to any particular church body, and excommunication is a Catholic Church practice reserved for people unwilling to stop committing what that church considers to be 'mortal sins'. The theological mis-statements in this one letter alone casts the pale of cultism to the beliefs espoused by the Open Door Community Church, and being a cult of the Christian faith, it would be a most excellent church body for one to leave.

All that to say, any person with sense would leave well enough alone, and hope for it all to be forgotten.

Sadly, the hapless Mr. Hymers has taken to writing the FBI, claiming he is afraid of Joy, and further has had lawyers write to Miss McCann to request she 'cease and desist' from further writings on this sorry tale of misguided religiosity.

Pathetic.

Fortunately better writers than I have taken to defending Miss Attilla, including Bob Belvedere, Robert Stacy McCain, Cynthia Yockey, Roxeanna de Luca and Da Tech Guy, among others.

There is much to choose from by way of response, but perhaps my favorite is from Cynthia Yockey, who writes:

"And somehow this proto-lawyer did not consider the remedies available to him and his father under the laws of libel — although, dagnabbit, one of the elements of libel is that the statements have to be false — which may be why he did not take that avenue of pursuit."

That is too rich!

The linky madness has firmly put the otherwise unknown Robert Leslie Hymers, Jr. in an internet spotlight to rival any of Robert Stacy McCain's mega launch efforts! That's impressive.

Nicely done Mr. Hymers!! You are my personal favorite to be this year's winner of the coveted Darwin Award.


Update

Robert Leslie Hymers responds:

"I demand that she stop stalking my father. I demand that she stop attacking him on the Internet..."

What the...? No, really, that makes up the body of the prologue. (?!)

The bulk of the response is geared to responding to criticisms of Dr. Hymers and his church, now the Baptist Tabernacle, in which the respondents spend a great deal of time explaining that church splits are common and in no way reflect on things going awry in a fellowship of believers. Hmm. Well, yes and no. They go on to say that referring to Dr. Hymers as Mien Fuhrer is out of bounds, for Dr. Hymers has never been an anti-Semite.

Well boys, perhaps the references to Herr Hitler had to do with the excessive dictatorial style of Mien Hymers, rather than an impression of anti-semitism in his preaching? Is it possible that one just kinda slipped past ya?