Category: Opinion

Sorry Mr. Carville, But it is too late for the White House to Panic

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If someone would have written something like this —- say maybe a year and half or longer ago; I would have been all for it. However, I do believe that it is too little, too late for this Administration.  Anyone that knows anything about politics, knows that the worst thing that can happen to a politician is a bad political skid.  Sad to say this, but the Obama White House is a very bad political skid at the moment and sadly has no pea-picking clue how to get out of that skid at all.

Well, Anyhow, James Carville, seems to believe that now would be the good time to try and correct the skid, just before the political “car” is about to head for the proverbial cliff.  Mr. Carville writes:

People often ask me what advice I would give the White House about various things. Today I was mulling over election results from New York and Nevada while thinking about that very question. What should the White House do now? One word came to mind: Panic.

We are far past sending out talking points. Do not attempt to dumb it down. We cannot stand any more explanations. Have you talked to any Democratic senators lately? I have. It’s pretty damn clear they are not happy campers.

This is what I would say to President Barack Obama: The time has come to demand a plan of action that requires a complete change from the direction you are headed.

via What should the White House do? Panic! – CNN.com.

What Carville is referring to is the ever growing feeling among the Democrats that Obama is simply out of his league, as evidenced in the latest go-around with the jobs bill. Carville also gives some advice to the President:

1. Fire somebody. No — fire a lot of people. This may be news to you but this is not going well. For precedent, see Russian Army 64th division at Stalingrad. There were enough deaths at Stalingrad to make the entire tea party collectively orgasm.

Mr. President, your hinge of fate must turn. Bill Clinton fired many people in 1994 and took a lot of heat for it. Reagan fired most of his campaign staff in 1980. Republicans historically fired their own speaker, Newt Gingrich. Bush fired Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. For God’s sake, why are we still looking at the same political and economic advisers that got us into this mess? It’s not working.

Furthermore, it’s not going to work with the same team, the same strategy and the same excuses. I know economic analysts are smart — some work 17-hour days. It’s time to show them the exit. Wake up — show us you are doing something.

Well, for starters, how about Obama just fire himself? Have you seen the latest headlines on the Gun running scandal? How about the pressuring of officials to change their testimony for projects gone a muck?  Not to mention the crazy idea of Attack Watch, is not that like a Nixon enemies list? It is quite obvious that this Administration is the most corrupt Presidential administration ever; and if you do not believe that the Obama was being that Gun-running operation, you are crazy.

Carville goes on:

2.Indict people. There are certain people in American finance who haven’t been held responsible for utterly ruining the economic fabric of our country. Demand from the attorney general a clear status of the state of investigation concerning these extraordinary injustices imposed upon the American people. I know Attorney General Eric Holder is a close friend of yours, but if his explanations aren’t good, fire him too. Demand answers to why no one has been indicted.

Mr. President, people are livid. Tell people that you, too, are angry and sickened by the irresponsible actions on Wall Street that caused so much suffering. Do not accept excuses. Demand action now.

As my friend Ed Morrissey points out, was there not a time in this Country, when using the Justice Department for political purposes, was a bad thing? Is that not what the Democrats howled to the high Heavens about, when Bush was in office; further more, as someone who was a advisor to President Bill Clinton — I think Carville is the last person who needs to be talking about President and the Justice Department.

Carville goes on to say that the President is not acting like a Democrat enough, which too, is stupid on its face. I would tend to believe that many, including those on the right who would say he is acting like a Democrat just perfectly; by enacting polices that  have failed and is behind actions in the Government which are totally correct and are just now being brought out for public scrutiny.

So, while this might be some good advice, I believe it might just be a little too late for any of this sort of advice to the President. In other words; the President has dug his own damned hole and the clock is running on out his socialist experiment. Soon, the adults will have the keys back and the progressives will be run back to the rat holes of politics — where they damned well belong.

Others: Salon, The Politico, Via Meadia, Don Surber, Guardian, Outside the Beltway, Flower & Thistle, Mediaite, AMERICAN DIGEST, Pajamas Media, Naked Politics, US Politics, Hot Air, Randy’s Roundtable, americanthinker.com, Taylor Marsh, The Other McCain, Datechguy’s Blog and The Crawdad Hole —Via Memeorandum

 

Obama is losing the Jewish vote because……

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I’ll answer it after you go read this story at the WSJ… I’ll wait:

New York’s special congressional election on Tuesday was the first electoral outcome directly affected by President Obama’s Israel policy. Democrats were forced to expend enormous resources in a losing effort to defend this safe Democratic district, covering Queens and Brooklyn, that Anthony Weiner won last year by a comfortable margin.

A Public Policy Poll taken days before the election found a plurality of voters saying that Israel was “very important” in determining their votes. Among those voters, Republican candidate Robert Turner was winning by a 71-22 margin. Only 22% of Jewish voters approved of President Obama’s handling of Israel. Ed Koch, the Democrat and former New York mayor, endorsed Mr. Turner because he said he wanted to send a message to the president about his anti-Israel policies.

This is a preview of what President Obama might face in his re-election campaign with a demographic group that voted overwhelmingly for him in 2008. And it could affect the electoral map, given the battleground states—such as Florida and Pennsylvania—with significant Jewish populations. In another ominous barometer for the Obama campaign, its Jewish fund-raising has deeply eroded: One poll by McLaughlin & Associates found that of Jewish donors who donated to Mr. Obama in 2008, only 64% have already donated or plan to donate to his re-election campaign.

via Dan Senor: Why Obama Is Losing the Jewish Vote – WSJ.com.

Now as to why Obama is losing the Jewish vote. One phrase:

1967 Borders

You think that the Jewish people here in America would not hold that one against him?

You better think again!

Others: Israel Matzav, Shot in the Dark and Betsy’s Page

When accusations of Anti-Semitism go horribly wrong

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How horrible:

A half-listening student, a hypersensitive campus and the speed at which gossip travels on the Internet conspired to create a very damaging game of broken telephone for one York University professor this week.

Cameron Johnston, who has been teaching at York for more than 30 years, has been forced to respond to allegations that he made anti-Semitic remarks in a lecture on Monday afternoon after a student misunderstood his comments and began sending emails to Jewish groups and the media.

Johnston was giving his introductory lecture to Social Sciences 1140: “Self, Culture and Society,” when he explained to the nearly 500 students that the course was going to focus on texts, not opinions, and despite what they may have heard elsewhere, everyone is not entitled to their opinion.

“All Jews should be sterilized” would be an example of an unacceptable and dangerous opinion, Johnston told the students.

He didn’t notice Sarah Grunfeld storm out. Grunfeld, a 22-year-old in her final year at York, understood Johnston’s example to be his personal opinion.

She contacted Oriyah Barzilay, the president of Hasbara at York — an Israel advocacy group on campus — who then sent a press release to media and other Jewish community groups calling for Johnston to be fired.

Blogs and Facebook groups picked it up, and in a few hours the allegations spread within the city’s Jewish community, albeit mostly online.

Sensitivities around anti-Semitism are particularly heightened at York, which has a large Jewish population and a history of toxic relations between supporters and critics of Israel on campus.

“I’m terribly upset,” Johnston said Tuesday. “I’m very proud of the fact that in the history of my teaching career I’ve stood for the best values of what constitutes a meaningful human community.”

Johnston, who is Jewish, said his religion likely influenced his choice of words, why he used “this example of a completely reprehensible opinion” with historical precedent.

During the Second World War, Nazi scientists experimented with mass sterilization on Jewish prisoners in concentration camps.

“I think it’s a very good thing that people are sensitive to this kind of remark, and I think it’s a very good thing that someone would respond immediately and deal with it if they thought that they heard an anti-Semitic comment,” Johnston said. “But in this case, it’s a misreading.”

The irony for Johnston is that he was trying to teach his students that ideas have consequences.

“So I’m pretty shocked to find the consequences — what I was talking about in lecture — is that I get seen as an example of prejudice.”

Grunfeld said Tuesday she may have misunderstood the context and intent of Johnston’s remarks, but that fact is insignificant.

“The words, ‘Jews should be sterilized’ still came out of his mouth, so regardless of the context I still think that’s pretty serious.”

Grunfeld also expressed skepticism that Johnston was in fact Jewish.

Asked directly by a reporter whether she believes Johnston is lying, she was unclear.

“Whether he is or is not, no one will know,” she said. “. . . Maybe he thought because he is Jewish he can talk smack about other Jews.”

via Toronto News: Jewish prof forced to defend himself against anti-Semitism claims – thestar.com.

Stuff like this, is why I tend to be very careful about handing out accusations of Antisemitism. As someone who’s been accused of that myself; I know too well what that can do to a person. It sounds to me, however, like this chick is just looking to stir up trouble for her teacher. Maybe she did not like the class, and thought this would be a clever way to get the professor fired. You say, I am wrong? Well, let’s just say that the young people today have no limits on what they will do, if they have grudge against someone. Progressivism teaches that sort of a thing; that there are no limits to what one can do. If you think you are being offended, get the person fired.

My sympathies to the man. Hopefully this works out for the good. If I were him, I would sue the girl and her family myself.

Others: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Volokh Conspiracy and Gawker

Mixed Bag: Jobs bill to make not hiring long term unemployed illegal

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I call this one a mixed bag, for a number of reasons that I will explain after the quote and what I write might surprise you.

President Obama’s American Jobs Act, which he presented to Congress on Monday, would make it illegal for employers to run advertisements saying that they will not consider unemployed workers, or to refuse to consider or hire people because they are unemployed.

The proposed language is found in a section of the bill titled “Prohibition of Discrimination in Employment on the Basis of an Individual’s Status as Unemployed.” That section would also make it illegal for employers to request that employment agencies take into account a person’s unemployed status.

It would also allow aggrieved job-seekers to seek damages if they have been discriminated against. This provision in particular prompted Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) to argue that Obama’s proposal is aimed at creating a new, special class of people who can sue companies.

“So if you’re unemployed, and you go to apply for a job and you’re not hired for that job, see a lawyer,” Gohmert said on the House floor. “You might be able to file a claim because you got discriminated against because you’re unemployed.”

via Obama’s bill makes it illegal to discriminate against unemployed – The Hill’s Floor Action.

I see that other blogs are ballyhooing about this one; and even as someone who has been unemployed since 2005, I can see why this would be a bad idea.

First off, most unemployment cases like this, would be tossed out of court. Because unless it is a union shop, there is no guarantee of employment, ever. In other words, no employer is obligated to hire anyone, ever. As much as I know that being employed sucks and being unemployed since 2005 sucks even worse; it would be very hard to prove that some company did not hire me because of that reason. One would have to establish that an employer knowingly did not hire you, because of your extended employment. In lawyer terms, it is called “proving malice,” I believe. But, again, I am not a lawyer.

Here is why I call it a mixed bag: The only way this would be a good thing; would be if you did have definite proof that an employer was not hiring you, for being long term unemployed. However, to be, that just seems wrong. No one, who owns a business, should be obligated to hire anyone, ever.

Second of all, putting myself into the shoes of an employer; if I knew that Congress was going to pass this sort of a law or did pass it — I would be very leery of hiring anyone who had been unemployed for any length of time. In fact, if you did not have a job, when you applied, I would not bother even calling you, for fear of being sued.

Thirdly, from what I have been reading, this “jobs bill” is basically D.O.A. — the Republicans are not going to pass it. Speeches or not, the thing will die in Congress.

So, file this one under, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

If it is worth anything at all; I even told this one to my lifelong Democratic Party voting Mom, and she even said, “That’s crazy! They won’t pass that!” 😀

Others: Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool (Via Memeorandum)

 

 

 

UPDATED : Woman Detained on flight from Denver to Detroit, whines about it on her blog.

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You know, I hate to be an a-hole about this sort of a thing. But there just some things that I cannot and will not overlook.

Anyhow, some woman of Arab and Jewish decent was detained at Detroit Metro Airport on a flight from Denver. She was strip-searched and now has taken to her blog to whine about it and also use racist imagery. For the record, here is a news article about it.

She starts her blog posting:

Silly me. I thought flying on 9/11 would be easy. I figured most people would choose not to fly that day so lines would be short, planes would be lightly filled and though security might be ratcheted up, we’d all feel safer knowing we had come a long way since that dreadful Tuesday morning 10 years ago.

But then armed officers stormed my plane, threw me in handcuffs and locked me up.

At first, when I started reading the post; I actually felt sorry for the lady. You know, innocent woman being strip-searched and such. But then, as I got further in the article, I started seeing things like this:

They took him to another room, and I heard an officer tell him to remove his clothes. He was going to be searched. I could not fully grasp what was happening. I stared at the yellow walls and listened to a few officers talk about the overtime they were racking up, and I decided that I hated country music. I hated speedboats and shitty beer in coozies and fat bellies and rednecks. I thought about Abu Ghraib and the horror to which those prisoners were exposed. I thought about my dad and his prescience.  I was glad he wasn’t alive to know about what was happening to me. I thought about my kids, and what would have happened if they had been there when I got taken away. I contemplated never flying again. I thought about the incredible waste of taxpayer dollars in conducting an operation like this. I wondered what my rights were, if I had any at all. Mostly, I could not believe I was sitting in some jail cell in some cold, undisclosed building surrounded by “the authorities.”

[…]

Another female officer, this one in jeans and a t-shirt came to visit me. She introduced herself as an agent–Homeland Security. She removed my handcuffs and had me follow her to a different room down a long hall and through a few doors. As we walked, I got a glimpse of the watch-stealer, a chubby middle-aged white guy with a buzz cut. He didn’t look too different from some of the officers.

[…]

After fingerprinting me and asking me about my height/weight/place and date of birth and so on, a middle-aged white cop with a beer belly and a flat top returned me–without handcuffs–to the cell. I waited, wondering if I would be spending the night locked up. I thought about the last words my husband said to me while I was still on the plane waiting on the tarmac, “They must have found out there was a Hebshi on the plane.” We joke about this at times, that because of my ethnicity I am being scrutinized but I had no intention of putting that out to the universe and making it happen.

…and the real humdinger is this one:

I thought about Malcom X and how bravely and fastidiously he studied and wrote while he was in prison, how his solitude enabled him to transform his anger into social change and personal betterment. That’s when I decided to write this post. I needed to explain what had happened–was happening–to me. I was not going to be silent. Still, I wondered what my rights were, and though I felt violated and scared I wasn’t sure that our new laws protected me from this treatment.

There is also this….:

I wondered what my rights were, and though I felt violated and scared I wasn’t sure that our new laws protected me from this treatment. 

If this woman wants any sympathy from me, she needs to get off of the racist stereotypes of white people. If I would have penned this article, ripping on this woman, because she happens to be a Jewish/Arab half breed, I would be called every sort of names, you know, like Anti-Semitic and racist? I found that to be extremely offensive and I told her so, in some very colorful language as to that fact.

Further more, what about the people in the World Trade Center towers, who had to choose between burning alive or being crushed to death or jumping from the building and dying. You do not think those people did not feel violated and scared?

Again, I do not cheer this woman’s misfortune, but this is the era we live in; the post-911 era. Thanks to the action of a group of Arab Muslim terrorists, we now live into a era of hyper-security. If this woman wants to register a complaint; she should try registering it to Al-Qaeda, better yet, let her register a complaint to the Muslim community here in America and abroad and condemn them for not standing up and saying that they are not doing enough to stand up against radical Muslims.

I have to wonder, how much of that story was embellished or as we usually call it — made up?

Remember folks, As Debbie Schlussel says, 9/11 was a MUSLIM Job and we, the American people were the true victims, not Arabs or Muslims.  But then again, this woman sounds like a moronic liberal idiot, who always thinks directly backward of a sane, rational, human being. As Dr. Michael Savage says — Liberalism is a mental disorder. Update: Don’t believe me? Just look right here. How stupid can people be?!? 🙄

Others: The Atlantic Online, Hit & Run  Gothamist  Business Insider, The Atlantic Online and msnbc.com  — via Memeorandum

Update: It appears that my article has hit a nerve. I got one thing to say…:

You see, nobody thought of their rights. No one cared. Liberals, Muslims and Democrats thought we were the “Great Satan” and deserved it. This is why I bitched about this article.

 

Video: A PERFECT example of why I will never vote Democratic Party, ever again

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This comes via Tina over at HotAir.

A perfect example of the extremely stupid mentality of the far left and not so far left in this Country.

Video:

Tina Says:

As one commenter put it on NewsBusters, the phrase won’t die because “the lefties like those nifty chants. ‘Bush acted on bad intelligence – people died,’ just doesn’t have the catchiness of ‘Bush lied – people died.’”

Another thing Tina did not mention in her piece is this; the opposition over the Iraq War was not over concern of the Iraqi’s. The truth is, the left did not honestly give two flips about those people. The entire Anti-War movement was entirely partisan. You say, I’m wrong? — then, tell me — where are the protests now that President Obama is in office!?!?

This video above, is another reason in a litany of reasons why I will never vote Democratic Party ever again. It is because of the blatant hypocrisy of the people. I would rather someone be truthful with me, than blow smoke up my rear end, when it comes to politics and that is what the Democratic Party has done for as long as I can remember. The sick part is, they have done for years and for what? Votes. They do it to blacks, they do it to Latinos, they do it to almost everyone that wants a handout. Democrats don’t teach achievement, they teach dependence, on the Government. I want to vote for someone, who will try to cut through the B.S. — so that I can start a small business or two. Maybe get this blog registered as a business, so that I can try to get some investment capital. But you think I am going to try it now, with all this idiotic nonsense in the way, with the Obama White House? Not on your life! I’d also like to start a business related to my hobby. But, I cannot, not with things the way they are now!

Just wanted to share this one; because this one here, hit home with me as a former “Left of Center.”

Another thing too, if this genius does not know the difference between a “lie” and a “mistake,” he needs to seriously get the heck off MSNBC’s airwaves and go back to school.

 Update: Blogger Round up at Memeorandum

Rick Perry explains himself

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…and does a decent job at it too. Basically, he now says the same thing as Romney. Most likely, he is trying not to sound like Ron Paul or worse.

The first step to fixing a problem is honestly admitting there is a problem. America’s goal must be to fix Social Security by making it more financially sound and sustainable for the long term. But Americans deserve a frank and honest discussion of the dire financial challenges facing the nearly 80-year-old program.

By Alice Keeney,, AP

As I said at the Reagan Library recently, Social Security benefits for current recipients and those nearing retirement must be protected. For younger workers, we must consider reforms to make Social Security financially viable.

These are the hard facts: Social Security’s unfunded liability is calculated in the trillions of dollars. Last year, annual Social Security outlays exceeded annual revenues for the first time since 1983. The Congressional Budget Office projects that outlays will be roughly 5% greater than revenues over the next five years, worsening as more and more Baby Boomers retire

via Rick Perry: I am going to be honest with the American people – USATODAY.com.

So, head on over and read the rest of that, it makes for some good reading.

Others: CNN, National Review, Washington Monthly, The Caucus, Firedoglake, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Ballot Box, Business Insider, The Maddow Blog, Weasel Zippers, Politics, FrumForum, Swampland, Cato @ Liberty, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, JustOneMinute, Daily Kos, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Campaign 2012, The Crawdad Hole, The Page, GOP 12, The Hill, Hugh Hewitt’s TownHall Blog, Pundit & Pundette, The Daily Dish and The Lonely Conservative — and more via Memeorandum

 

T-Paw Endorses Mitt Romney

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Ed Morrissey says he did not see this one coming. But, I did. I mean, why not? One moderate squishy Republican endorses another.

Here’s the official news via The Politico:

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty endorsed Mitt Romney for president Monday, praising his onetime rival for his “leadership ability” and the “depth and scope of [his] private-sector experience.”

“I believe he’s going to be our party’s nominee,” Pawlenty said on “Fox and Friends,” predicting Romney would be a “transformational and great president.”

Less than a month after ending his own White House bid, Pawlenty was in sync with the Romney campaign’s message on everything from jobs to health care, to Social Security and Rick Perry.

Asked how he could endorse a candidate who he once mocked as the author of “Obamneycare,” Pawlenty said he’d spoken about health care with Romney and concluded: “Mitt Romney is 100 percent dedicated and committed to repealing Obamacare.”

Here is the underlying reason, I think and no, it is not a V.P. spot either:

“Gov. Romney wants to fix Social Security. He doesn’t want to abolish it or end it,” Pawlenty said. “Gov. Perry has said in the past that he thought it was ‘failed.'”

Pawlenty, who is joining the Romney campaign as a national co-chairman, said he wasn’t angling for any other job in giving Romney an early endorsement.

“I’m not going to consider being VP. I was down that path once before with John McCain,” he said. “That won’t be part of the future for me.”

Which is all great and wonderful; except for one little thing —- Romney is a habitual liar. So much so, that former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm had to call him on it once already. That is my rub with man; plus he is Mormon and I trust those people about as far as I can throw them. If you will read that link to my blog posting regarding Jennifer Granholm, you will see why I wrote what I did. The man just cannot and will not tell the truth about what he believes. He tells what he wants the people to hear. He also changes his positions with the winds of politics. You know, like a Conservative John Kerry?

Anyhow, here is Paw’s official suck up endorsement via NRO:

Great crises often produce great leaders. Unfortunately, sometimes the timing isn’t right, and neither is the leader.

Barack Obama came into office in the midst of a great economic crisis. Although hopes were high, he did not rise to the occasion. Now that the clouds of enthusiasm and excitement have parted, we see he was obviously unsuited for the task at hand.

President Obama has failed to meet America’s economic challenges.

His three years of spending, regulating, and taxing have not restarted the economy. Unemployment remains at a shocking 9.1 percent. Economic growth is hovering on the edge of a renewed recession.

Abroad, the standing of the United States appears uncertain and adrift under the failed leadership of a president who prefers chastising allies to condemning foes.

Fortunately, America may get a second chance: Mitt Romney is running for president, and I am proud to endorse him.

So, what does this do? Well, for starters; this essentially pushes John Huntsman and possibly Michelle Bachmann out of the picture. Romney now has an endorsement behind him. This also mounts a rather large moderate challenge to Rick Parry, who did say that Social Security was a “Ponzi Scheme,” which does drive off some of the older folk within the Republican Party.

As for Michelle bachmann; I do not see her as even electable. Her lack of real legislation record, her husband and her wearing her Christianity on her sleeve — all make her undesirable to people, who just want jobs and want this Country to stop spending itself into a hole. Tea Party or no Tea Party, Bachmann is just not my…well, cup of…tea.

The American people just want to get back to work and leave the soul saving to the Church — thank you very much.

Either way, this race should be very, very interesting in the next coming weeks.

Others: Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, The Lonely Conservative, Moe Lane, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Political Insider, Slate, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, Mediaite, The Crawdad Hole and Hugh Hewitt’s TownHall Blog

Interesting Reading: The Phony Right-Wing

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This is a series of articles by Author Kelleigh Nelson; who was a classmate of Hillary Clinton and a Goldwater Girl back in the day. 

I found the last one to be terribly interesting and I thought you all would enjoy reading these.


The politicization of 9/11 by the left

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You remember a few days ago, when I said I did not want to really do anything special on 9/11;  because of the politicization of 9/11 by the left and the right?

Well, here’s an example of what I am a talking about…..from the left.

This is from the AFL-CIO website and this is the AFL-CIO’s President —

Sept. 11, 2011: A Day to Commit to Activism

A Message from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

All of us will remember the horror and anguish we experienced 10 years ago. Whether we lost loved ones ourselves—family members, union brothers and sisters—or felt the shock of a society that lost nearly 3,000 people and was forever changed, we need no reminding.

Instead, I would like to reflect on doors that were opened on Sept. 11, 2001, and what has come of them in the 10 years since.

Working men and women rushed through doors to danger and became America’s everyday heroes. Firefighters, construction workers, nurses and EMTs—all kinds of professionals and volunteers—were there not just on the fateful day but some for weeks and months and even years after. And we swore we would never forget.

Doors opened within us to each other. We came together. We flew the flag. We comforted one another. In our grief, we found the best in ourselves.

What an overwhelming sense of unity we shared, all across our nation. And it was this unity that allowed us to begin healing and rebuilding. There is no time in my memory of a more proud example of what we can accomplish when we work together. Solidarity, the cornerstone of the union movement, flowed through all of us and carried us through.

But other doors opened, too—doors to hate, suspicion of “others” and self-centered greed. Our fear was twisted into something much more dangerous.

The unity that had helped us survive faded as divisiveness took root. I look around today in amazement at just how far apart our nation has become—the endless possibilities that came with our unity have all but vanished.

Just 10 years after 9/11, despite our vows, the public servants, construction workers and others who lost their lives or still suffer with the cancerous remnants of the Twin Towers haven’t just been forgotten. They’ve been vilified. The extremist small government posse has turned them into public enemy No. 1, as though teachers and firefighters, EMTs and nurses and union construction workers ruined America’s economy.

In state after state this year—with the heroism of 9/11 less than a decade behind us—politicians targeted the paychecks, benefits and basic rights of these workers in a rabid campaign to shift government support to tax breaks for the wealthy and already profitable corporations.

Wealthy CEOs, anti-government extremist front groups and frothing talk show hosts—from the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks to the Koch brothers, Karl Rove’s American Crossroads group, Americans for Prosperity, the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and the American Legislative Exchange Council—also pushed open the door to hate.

Make no mistake—setting workers against workers is a highly profitable endeavor. How many times during the vilest state attacks on public workers did we hear the question: “Other people don’t have pensions. Why should he?” Prompting that question required twisting the American psyche—which, by its founding nature, seeks to lift the common good. The appropriate question should have been, “Why doesn’t everybody have a pension?” followed by collective action for retirement security.

We’ve seen the costs of hatred in ill-thought wars, in shameful attacks on immigrants and our LGBT neighbors. We saw it in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. We saw it in the racism that has found overt and covert expression since Barack Obama began his run for office—from outright declarations of people who said out loud they would never vote for a black man to the ridiculously persistent obsession with our president’s birth certificate. Regardless of his policies or priorities, President Obama is shadowed by the drumbeat of suspicion based on his “other”-ness. And those suspicions are fed and watered constantly by forces that were threatened by his message of “hope and change.”

We’ve seen the cost of greed in the recklessness of financial institutions that created the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression and the devastating jobs crisis that persists today.

But I remember that other door that opened on 9/11—the door to our better selves, to our understanding that we are one and our values require us to care for one another.

That’s what sent 347 firefighters to their death at the Twin Towers 10 years ago. It’s also what sent firefighters to stand with teachers in Wisconsin even though Gov. Scott Walker had exempted them from his attack on public employees. It’s what moves employed people now to demand good jobs for the 26 million Americans who are looking for work. It’s what gives us the courage to take on a crumbling economy and the politicians preaching austerity and ignoring our jobs crisis—to take them on and say, “We are America. We are better than this. And we are one.”

Brothers and sisters, friends, I hope you will join me in marking this solemn anniversary by committing to redouble your activism on behalf of America’s everyday working heroes. We will rise or fall together.

If I were a relative of a 9/11 victim — I would be wanted to this self-centered asshole’s head on a platter. 😡

 

Video: Living proof that Ron Paul is a paranoid conspiracy theorist and has NO business being President of the United States

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I’m sorry, but when you start spewing this sort of ignorant stupidity; you lose all credibility with me. Especially when you say it at a serious Presidential debate.

(H/T HotAir.com)

I am just going to say this; I too have doubts about our Government and I too, do realize that there is cronyism in our Government — on both sides of the aisle. I also, with a full B.S. filter enabled, do sometimes read what the conspiracy theorists write. I do mainly read them for the entertainment value. However, I usually put no trust, value, faith or stock in the what is usually printed on those websites; mainly because those sites contain about 10% or less of truth and 90% or more of someone’s opinion or as is properly called theory.

That being said; I do not want my President to be a conspiracy theorist, who spouts this sort of ignorant stupidity, at all. The Republican Part is not; I repeat is not, the party of the Conspiracy theory. There might be some on the far, far, right that might believe in this idiotic nonsense, but most Republicans, including the one that I gave the Hat Tip to, find this sort of nonsense laughable. Let me also go on the record as say that I also am one of those who find this ignorance to be laughable as well.

I just know now that the Ron Paul bots are going to come here and call me a Neo-Con, a Zionist, a JEW (!) ( 😯 ) or a liberal.  Let me say this; save your breath and my bandwidth — both of my parents come from the south and I was born in Southwest Detroit as my About Me page does say.  If you Ron Paulians have a problem with that I say; you are free to kiss my Lilly-white, hairy, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, Independent, Fundamental, King James Bible thumping Ass. (wait! Can Christians say stuff like that?!???!? 😯 ….. I just did... 😀 )

That, my friends…. is all.

 

My Thoughts on the MSNBC/Politico Republican Debate

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For starters, I did not watch the whole thing. In fact, I was going to avoid it altogether. But, everyone else on twitter was blabbing on about it and not wanting to be left out, I flipped it on.

My impressions of what I did watch:

Rick Perry – I’m with Ace — Eh…. Weak Tea, I thought.

Bachmann – Eh…. She’s got the substance; but not the Palin hype.

Romney – Moderate alternative to Perry

Huntsman – Same deal, different suit

Herman Cain – Token Black man, out of his league really.

Ron Paul – Heh…. Well, he was Ron Paul, Nuff said.

Gingrich – Was the attack dog of the group. Give the man a damn milk-bone and some puppy chow already!  Woof! 😛

Rick Santorum – This guy, as in the previous debate; came of as a haughty, condescending, snotty nosed, preppy punk who was all to damned happy to wave his little Christianity flag and his Bible in my and everyone’s face. Further more, the look he would shoot anyone; of whom he would disagree with, was highly offensive and frankly made me want to reach through the TV and punch the jerk right square in his silly looking nose.  Rick Santorum needs to get the heck out of this race, before he further damages his career and embarrasses the Christian Right even more so, than it is now. This is a Primary contest for the Republican choice for candidate for President of the United States of America and not of the Christian Coalition. Santorum needs to go back to what he knows; which is what he was doing before he entered this primary race.

 

 

Good For Him: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Signs into law a 4 Year Limit on Welfare

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Good for Governor Rick Snyder for this! (H/T Gateway Pundit)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed into law a stricter, four-year lifetime limit on cash welfare benefits, prompting advocates for the poor to warn that tens of thousands of residents will find themselves without cash assistance on Oct. 1.

Michigan’s first-year Republican chief executive said the state will offer exemptions to the limit for those with a disability who can’t work, those who care for a disabled spouse or child and those who are 65 or older and don’t qualify for Social Security benefits or receive very low benefits.

Some recipients who are the victims of domestic violence also may be temporarily exempted.

“We are returning cash assistance to its original intent as a transitional program to help families while they work toward self-sufficiency,” Snyder said in a statement. He noted that the state still will help the poor by offering food stamps, health care coverage through Medicaid, child care and emergency services.

via Mich. governor signs 48-month welfare limit – Yahoo! News.

Before any Democrats give Governor Rick Snyder any crap over this, it looks like the previous Democratic Party Governor started the process:

Then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, signed a bill that created a four-year limit starting in 2007. But that law exempted many welfare recipients, including those whose caseworkers said they were making progress toward finding employment.

The 2010 election of Snyder and the simultaneous Republican takeover of the Michigan House gave the GOP a free hand to set its own course on public assistance.

The change gives Michigan the Midwest’s toughest welfare time limit, according to a survey by The Detroit News. It said there are five-year limits in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. Indiana has a two-year limit for adults — but none for children.

This has long been one of my pet gripes with the State of Michigan; that they tax the hell out of the working man and give that money to people, who do not even work for it. I am glad to see the Governor Granholm saw this as well and worked to do something about it. I am also glad to see Governor Snyder actually fix it where only disabled and the Elderly are kept on it and rest forced to get out and get a damn job.

For the record, I have no issue with those who are actually disabled being on Welfare and Social Security. It is just these one’s who are not handicapped and disabled being on the Government dole. Especially when that dole is coming out my tax dollars; that is what bugs me.

I know it sounds cruel; but the States and the Federal Government just cannot afford to be the nanny anymore. The Country is broke and the States are not far behind it. So, the days of living off the people, are over — finally. 🙄

 

The Classless Left: Exhibit V for Violence

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I guess the left is not just satisfied with using violent rhetoric and then having no regrets about doing so. They have now taken to creating violent video games with Tea Party , Fox News Hosts and prominent Conservatives on them.

The wild video is at MRCTV.

The story:

Have you ever fantasized about beating Bill O’Reilly to death with a crowbar or shooting up the offices of Americans for Prosperity with an Uzi? Well, the folks at StarvingEyes Advergaming apparently have and they’d like to share their latest creation with the world. The game is called “Tea Party Zombies Must Die” and, apart from abysmal game play, features several different levels where your only objective is to mercilessly slaughter everyone around you whether they are a Fox News stars or simply Americans For Prosperity employees.

[…]

UPDATE: I emailed StarvingEyes for comment on the game and it potentially bothering other clients. Jason Oda, the head of the company, responded with the following: “The game was just a personal project. I am not worried about it effecting business.”

File this one under, “What if a well-known Conservative had created something like this and put Obama’s, Bidens and other Democrats on it?”

It’s a question to ask.

 

UPDATE: Follow up part duex: White House refuses to comment on Hoffa’s threat to the G.O.P. – White House Spokesman Says, “Hoffa Speaks for Himself”

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Another follow up to the follow up to the original story.

The White House is not commenting on remarks by Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa Jr.

Heck even ABC News is noticing the reeking hypocrisy here:

Despite President Obama’s repeated claims to change the tone in Washington, the White House had no comment this afternoon after Teamsters Union leader James Hoffa, speaking at an event before President Obama, said of Tea Party activists that, come November, Democrats should “take these sons of bitches out.”

Warming up the crowd before President Obama’s Labor Day speech in Detroit this afternoon, Hoffa warned the largely union crowd that the Tea Party was waging a “war on workers.”

“We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war,” Hoffa told thousands of workers gathered for the annual event organized by the Detroit Labor Council.

“President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march…Everybody here’s got a vote…Let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong,” he concluded.

The Tea Party Express has called on President Obama to “condemn this inappropriate and uncivil rhetoric,” saying it “has no place in the public forum.”

“Jimmy Hoffa’s remarks are inexcusable and amount to a call for violence on peaceful tea party members, which include many Teamster members,” Tea Party Express chair Amy Kremer said in a written statement.

During the 2008 campaign, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., immediately rebuked talk radio host Bill Cunningham when he disparaged then-Senator Obama in his opening remarks at a McCain campaign event. In the view of many observers, Cunningham had fueled rumors that Obama was Muslim by repeatedly referring to him by his full name “Barack Hussein Obama.”

McCain immediately took responsibility and profusely apologized for Cunningham’s remarks.

Should President Obama do the same regarding Hoffa comments about the Tea Party? The president has repeatedly called for increased civility in American politics. “Only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation,” the president said in January.

“I do believe there is hope for civility. I do believe there’s hope for progress,” Obama said after last November’s midterm elections.

When ABC News is basically letting everyone know that Obama is being a hypocrite; something is dreadfully wrong. When you have lost a major network like ABC and they will not cover for you. You are in trouble.

As for Hoffa, No Regrets:

Teamsters union president James Hoffa would say it all again if he could, he told TPM Monday.

Hoffa riled up Fox News and the right wing Monday with a Labor Day speech in Detroit in which he called Republican members of Congress “sons of bitches” and said union workers are ready to “go to war” with the tea party next year and “take out” Republicans at the ballot box.

Hoffa said he’d say the exact same words all over again.

“I would because I believe it,” he said. “They’ve declared war on us. We didn’t declare war on them, they declared war on us. We’re fighting back. The question is, who started the war?”

The speech came shortly before President Obama took the stage in Detroit — and Hoffa’s remarks certainly overshadowed Obama’s on Fox. But the Teamsters chief said he was just matching fired-up conservative rhetoric when it comes to organized labor and Obama with some fired-up rhetoric of his own.

Presidential hopeful Herman Cain decried the speech as “name-calling” in an interview on Fox News shortly after Hoffa’s remarks — which were repeatedly looped on the network — but the union leader dismissed criticisms like that one as total hypocrisy.

“How is that different than Mitch McConnell saying he wants to take out Barack Obama?” Hoffa said.

Like I said in my last follow up piece:

The problem now is this, what is going to be the liberal left’s reaction and response, when some liberal thug shows up at a Tea Party protest, start harassing people; and some Conservative pulls out a gun, and shoots him dead?  Further, what is going to be the left’s reaction and response when some person, who grasp on reality is not that of a normal, sane, rational person — and he shows up at a union organized rally somewhere, with a assault rifle and starts shooting people?  What will left do then?  Will they blame Hoffa?  Will they denounce their own? No, what they will do is blame the right for editing a video and accusing the right of ginning up the rhetoric.  It is a classic Neo-Liberal, Frankfurt Institute of political correctness response.

I fully stand by that Statement above. I mean, you cannot go around calling for civil discourse and then have one of your Union cronies calling for violence; sorry, that does not work. Obama’s got a big problem on his hands and if he does not fix it, he will be totally discredited come 2012 and will lose badly.

Others: Hot Air, Washington Post, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Alternate Brain, Big Government, The Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org, BizzyBlog, Business Insider, HotAirPundit, : Breitbart.tv, Althouse, Big Government, The Gateway Pundit, No More Mister Nice Blog, Betsy’s Page, americanthinker.com, Somewhat Reasonable, Pajamas Media, Newsy, National Review, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Nice Deb, Wizbang, The Lonely Conservative and Outside the Beltway

Update: The Lonely Conservative Reports that Jay Carney has told Jack Tapper that Hoffa Speaks for himself. Good on Jack Tapper for hold that four-eyed political hack spokesman’s feet to the fire and force him to give some sort of explanation.  Which is my whole issue with this White House; just like former one, they seem to believe that they are above criticism and do not owe anyone, including those who voted for them, any sort of explanation. They’ll find out different come 2012.

Follow Up: Left claims that FOX NEWS edited Hoffa’s comments

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The problem is —- it does not matter one lousy iota.

For back story on this go here.

Now for the unedited version of the clip and yes, I do know where it is from; and you can zip it with the objections. I am getting to a point here:

Now for my explanation as to why this silly little argument of context does not matter one lousy iota.  Whether the liberal left wants to be intellectually honest about this or not —- the phrase “let’s take these sons of bitches out” is a call to violence — Period, end of discussion.

The problem now is this, what is going to be the liberal left’s reaction and response, when some liberal thug shows up at a Tea Party protest, start harassing people; and some Conservative pulls out a gun, and shoots him dead?  Further, what is going to be the left’s reaction and response when some person, who grasp on reality is not that of a normal, sane, rational person — and he shows up at a union organized rally somewhere, with a assault rifle and starts shooting people?  What will left do then?  Will they blame Hoffa?  Will they denounce their own? No, what they will do is blame the right for editing a video and accusing the right of ginning up the rhetoric.  It is a classic Neo-Liberal, Frankfurt Institute of political correctness response.

This is a classical liberal tactic; Fox News and the Conservative Blogosphere took the bait and now we have this; this sort of nonsense right here makes me want to pack in it with Blogging.  This whipping of the political arenas into virtual bloodlust for the other side is most disgusting.  Both sides do it; and it totally pisses me the hell off.  I am not a man who enjoys violence at all.  In fact, the only reason I would ever want to own a gun, is for personal protection — not to carry around with me, unless I had to.

Further, another thing that really angers me is the fact that the President of the United States will not say one damned word to denounce Hoffa’s comments at all.  It is because the Obama Administration has its nose square up the ass of the labor movement — for votes. Not that he honestly gives two flips about the actual ordinary people of the labor movement, you know the actual workers?  You see, the President, along with Hillary and Bill Clinton are what is known as internationalist Democrats.  They see American in the context of the international community, not America for the great Country she is.

So, do not expect the White House to issue any sort of denunciation of these remarks.  Because this is, what the White House wanted and the right, as they are prone to do — took the bait and ran with it.  I hope that this does not turn into a huge issue, because the Liberals need something desperately to hold against the right, as liberal policies have failed Americans and the Democrats need a cover, badly.

The best article on 9/11’s 10 year Anniversary

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Christopher Hitchens might not be a bible-thumping born again Christian. But he is under no illusion as to who attacked us 10 years ago.

Please, go and read this article; before some idiot liberal deems at offensive and orders it pulled:

The proper task of the “public intellectual” might be conceived as the responsibility to introduce complexity into the argument: the reminder that things are very infrequently as simple as they can be made to seem. But what I learned in a highly indelible manner from the events and arguments of September 2001 was this: Never, ever ignore the obvious either. To the government and most of the people of the United States, it seemed that the country on 9/11 had been attacked in a particularly odious way (air piracy used to maximize civilian casualties) by a particularly odious group (a secretive and homicidal gang: part multinational corporation, part crime family) that was sworn to a medieval cult of death, a racist hatred of Jews, a religious frenzy against Hindus, Christians, Shia Muslims, and “unbelievers,” and the restoration of a long-vanished and despotic empire.

To me, this remains the main point about al-Qaida and its surrogates. I do not believe, by stipulating it as the main point, that I try to oversimplify matters. I feel no need to show off or to think of something novel to say. Moreover, many of the attempts to introduce “complexity” into the picture strike me as half-baked obfuscations or distractions. These range from the irredeemably paranoid and contemptible efforts[MN1] to pin responsibility for the attacks onto the Bush administration or the Jews, to the sometimes wearisome but not necessarily untrue insistence that Islamic peoples have suffered oppression. (Even when formally true, the latter must simply not be used as nonsequitur special pleading for the use of random violence by self-appointed Muslims.)

Underlying these and other attempts to change the subject there was, and still is, a perverse desire to say that the 9/11 atrocities were in some way deserved, or made historically more explicable, by the many crimes of past American foreign policy. Either that, or—to recall the contemporary comments of the “Reverends” Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson—a punishment from heaven for American sinfulness. (The two ways of thinking, one of them ostensibly “left” and the other “right,” are in fact more or less identical.) That this was an assault upon our society, whatever its ostensible capitalist and militarist “targets,” was again thought too obvious a point for a clever person to make. It became increasingly obvious, though, with every successive nihilistic attack on London, Madrid, Istanbul, Baghdad, and Bali. There was always some “intellectual,” however, to argue in each case that the policy of Tony Blair, or George Bush, or the Spanish government, was the “root cause” of the broad-daylight slaughter of civilians. Responsibility, somehow, never lay squarely with the perpetrators.

via Simply evil: A decade after 9/11, it remains the best description and most essential fact about al-Qaida. – By Christopher Hitchens – Slate Magazine.

I very, very, very highly recommend you to head on over and read this article. I do not know if Christopher Hitchens makes his way on to the internet at all. But if he does, I want him to know; that I and many others like me, hold this man in high regard. I might not like Hitchens’ disdain for the divine; but his assessment of terrorism and the radical Islamists who want to force their thug religion and their reprehensible Shariah Law on us; is very much spot on.

So, head on over and read the rest of this one; it would be very much worth your time.    

Others: normblog

Is Israel on the brink of an all-out war with neighboring countries?

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It sure looks that way. (H/T Drudge)

Recent revolutions in the Arab world and the deteriorating ties with Turkey are raising the likelihood of a regional war in the Middle East, IDF Home Front Command Chief, Major General Eyal Eisenberg warned Monday.

“It looks like the Arab Spring, but it can also be a radical Islamic winter,” he said in a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

“This leads us to the conclusion that through a long-term process, the likelihood of an all-out war is increasingly growing,” the IDF general said.

“Iran has not abandoned its nuclear program. The opposite it true; it continues full steam ahead,” he said. “In Egypt, the army is collapsing under the burden of regular security operations, and this is reflected in the loss of control in the Sinai and the turning of the border with Israel into a terror border, with the possibility that Sinai will fall under the control of an Islamic entity.”

“In Lebanon, Hezbollah is growing stronger within government arms, but it has not lost its desire to harm Israel, and the ties with Turkey aren’t at their best,” Major General Eisenberg added.

Referring to what he characterized as the possibility of a “radical Islamic winter,” Major-General Eisenberg said: “This raises the likelihood of an all-out, total war, with the possibility of weapons of mass destruction being used.”

During his address, the senior IDF official revealed that new, more lethal arms surfaced in the hands of Gaza terror groups during the latest round of fighting in the area. As result of the disturbing development, Israeli civilians were instructed to adopt greater precautions, he said.

via IDF general: Likelihood of regional war growing – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Needless to say, I believe the Republicans will make this a wedge issue during the campaign. They are now, to a limited extent. But, I expect to see more of that, after the primaries. Because to many, who are Jewish; and those of us who are supporters of Israel. Obama’s attitude is basically, “I don’t give a shit” when it comes to Israel and the Jews.  For the most part, the Republicans own this issue; the notable exception being Ron Paul. Which is all you need to know about the man.

 

UPDATED: The coming 2012 battle?

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The video is over at Real Clear Politics. (H/T Drudge)

Quotable Quote:

“We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war,” Jimmy Hoffa Jr. said to a heavily union crowd.

I got a bad feeling about this coming 2012 election. It’s going to get ugly on both sides, I am afraid.

Others: Big Government, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Proof Positive, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Associated Press, Scared Monkeys, Pajamas Media, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Sipsey Street Irregulars, The Lonely Conservative and HotAirPundit

 Update: I’ve posted a follow up to this posting. Please, go check it out! Thanks. 😀

The left is not happy with President Barack Obama

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First of all, Video of his biggest and most outspoken of his supporters: (Via Real Clear Politics)

Then there is this, which comes via Polipundit:

Its time to turn our backs to President Obama.
“I am so not alone here in bright blue oregon with my disgust and utter disappointment in Obama.”

It’s Too Late – 2012 Will Mark The Final Takeover
“The 2012 elections have already been decided in favor of a neo-fascist-controlled Republican party.”

President Obama spits on his own record, on the law, and on his base …
“The President’s decision flies in the face of — spits on — this Administration’s record, the law, and every single independent review of the costs and benefits of environmental regulation.”

Discord in the House the New Deal Built
“Yes, I’ll vote for Obama when the time comes because, as I’ve said before, the alternative is worse– but that means that Obama has become a ‘lesser of two evils’ candidate and that is not something to be proud of. That is ‘status quo’ when I was promised ‘change’.”

What’s the difference between Obama and Romney?
“This isn’t snark, I actually can’t really tell anymore.”

Nixon: more liberal than Obama?
“By many measures, Nixon was more of a liberal than Obama.”

All of those posts are from TheDailyKos. Which is a liberal community Blog.

The Republican Party is gearing up to defeat President Barack Obama in 2012; something tells me, that they are not going to have to work very hard at all.

 

UPDATED – Will Wilkinson: Drug-Addled leftist?

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First of all, I have nothing personal against Donald Douglas. However, I feel this to be a bit nasty:

I saw this Will Wilkinson piece earlier and read it all: “A Libertarian’s Lament: Why Ron Paul Is an Embarrassment to the Creed.” I didn’t bother commenting on it because Wilkinson’s not worth it. He’s a drug-addled leftist, IMHO, and a pretty much typical libertarian. So, what do you know, but American Glob has picked up the slack, “In Which I Respectfully Disagree With Will Wilkinson” (via Glenn Reynolds):

via American Power: Libertarians and Democrats.

 

Firstly, let me say this; I have not always agreed with Will Wilkinson either.  Wilkinson is an uncompromising libertarian and I respect the man for that.  However, I feel that Donald Douglas is being a bit nasty here.  With this logic, I could be considered a “Drug-Addled” leftist as well.  I did smoke my share of weed back in the 1990’s when I was living a bit crazier than I do now.  Not only that, I also voted Democrat for most of my young life, that is until 2008, when I decided that the “Herd Mentality” was not going to cut it anymore.

What I am saying here is simply this; as someone who has flung my share of manure at the left in the past and at the right a few years back — having an opinion is cool and I do not dare try to stifle that at all.  However, using this sort of over-simplified logic is not only silly, it cheapens the debate and it discredits the right-wing Blogosphere.  Not only that, but Douglas is also venturing into libel territory.  I mean, it is one thing to say that Wilkinson is wrong and here is why; but it is another entirely to insinuate that the man has a drug problem and because of that, he cannot think clearly.  One is expressing your opinion; the other is making a wild accusation that could get you sued.

Again, I am not picking on Douglas, and I hope he does not get angry.  I just wish that our side, whatever stripe that they might happen to be; would use a little bit more thought into their blog postings.  I did bust Don’s chops a bit in his comment section.  I could yowl on about Douglas being a “big government” Conservative, as most Neo-Cons are, but that is not the point.  The point is, that slams like this, do nothing more our side at all.  If we are going to sling poo, sling it at the other side — not at a sublet within our own ranks.

Update: It seems that Donald Douglas is taking this personally and made it about me. He responded in the comments of his blog, linking to post defaming me. So, this discussion is over. There two columns of Conservatives; ones that I like and ones who do not like me and I do not like and do not link to. Douglas is now in that second column now. As a parting shot, no damned wonder there are people trying to get him fired from his job.

Study reported by WorldNetDaily discovers what I have known for years

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It funny when educated people pay think tanks to find things out, that we common folk know already.

The Story via WorldNetDaily:

A two-year study of graduates from Catholic, Protestant and home schools found the choice of private education, when compared to public education, had significant effects on the students’ academics, civics and faith – but not necessarily the effects one might expect.

For example, the study found, the adjusted net effect on students of private, Catholic schooling versus public schooling was to produce graduates even less likely to believe in moral absolutes, to respect the authority of the Catholic Church, to believe in the infallibily of Scripture or to condemn premarital sex.

The study also discovered, for example, that “the stereotypical picture of the highly political right-wing Protestant Christian is false,” finding that graduates of Christian schools are less engaged in politics than their peers, as measured by talking less about politics, participating less in campaigns and donating less to political causes.

“In contrast to the popular stereotypes portraying Christian schools as promoting a socially fragmented, anti-intellectual, politically radical and militantly right-winged lifestyle,” claims the survey from Cardus, a think tank focusing on North American society, “this comprehensive study reveals a very different picture of the Christian school graduate.”

How so?

“Compared to their public school, Catholic school and non-religious private school peers,” the study determined, “Protestant Christian school graduates are uniquely compliant, generous, outwardly-focused individuals who stabilize their communities by their uncommon commitment to their families, their churches and larger society. … Graduates of Christian schools donate money [to charity] significantly more than graduates of other schools, despite having lower household income. Similarly, graduates of Protestant Christian schools are more generous with their time, participating far more than their peers both in service trips for relief and development and in mission trips for evangelization.”

At first blush, someone would say that this is Joseph Farah taking a swipe at Roman Catholicism. However, there are a few interesting nuggets in here. For one, this study dispels the notion that everyone that comes through a Christian School is some sort of ultra right-wing Republican Conservative. Heck, I have known that for years. I spent a good deal of my young life in various Christian Schools; run by Baptists and Pentecostals — and I voted Democratic Party up until 2008, when I decided that I was not going to go with the herd anymore. Further more, I do not view myself as a Republican and not even remotely Ultra Right Wing. Right of Center is what I like to call myself.

Further more, this study also tells a few other things that I have known for years. One, it shows that not everyone that comes into a Christian School; is always a Christian. In fact, some of the worst kids in society, end up in Christian Schools. I know this personally, I have seen some real “winners” get tossed into Christian Schools in effort to change them. Sad, it usually did not work and the kids ended up getting kicked out and sent to Juvenile or some sort of a reform school.

It also shows that Humans are not to keen on having Christian doctrine rammed down their throat. This never really happened to me personally at the schools that I went to, when I was a kid. I accepted Christ at a very young age. So, there was no need to push the Christian bit into me. I already knew about it. But there were those in the schools who had Religion forced upon them; and some rebelled against it, when they were older and some did not. It really all depended on the person. I am very happy to report, that I was never one of the kids, who grew up with Church, Religion and such being rammed down my throat and being forced into going to Church. I went because I wanted to go. My parents were not, and still are not regular Church attendees.

Lastly, Let me say this to my small, but dedicated readership. I stand before you as a shining example of the fact, that Christian and Catholic Schools are not for people with learning disabilities. Especially those who use the ACE system. It stands for Accelerated Christian Education. I personally think it should stand for A-holes Cannot Educate.  I have mentioned in passing on here, that I have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Well, let me tell you; ADHD and ACE school do not work together at all. At least not real good. My Math, due to the ADHD is horrible. It’s getting better with age and I seem to be able to maintain my finances decently. I’ve never been overdrawn at all.  But going to the ACE school, that I went to, which turned out to be my last school — was a nightmare. Especially, when I got past the easy math. This was compounded by the fact that the teacher, who was very good — retired. Then her replacement was lousy, that caused me much problems.  Now to be clear, I do not blame my parents for any of this; my Mom and Dad did what they felt was best for me. Which was to get me out of public schools — especially those in Detroit — which were, and still are absolutely horrible.

Again, let me stress this; I believe that I turned out rather well, with the education that I did get. Some of my family members did not turn out as well. One of them ended up dead.  I did not do as well, as my Parents would have wanted, but I could have been worse, much worse, trust me.

The article at WorldNetDaily is an interesting read and I think you should check it out.  As for me, I have personally business to do and I am running late! 😯

 

OUT: Kenneth Melson, head of ATF

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The other shoe drops:

The man who led the controversial Fast and Furious anti-gun-trafficking operation will step down as the interim head of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Justice Department announced Tuesday as it named a new acting director for the agency.

Kenneth Melson, the bureau’s acting director, on Wednesday will move to the Office of Legal Policy, where he will be a senior adviser on forensic science, the department said without making reference to the failed gun-tracking operation that is alleged to have ultimately put guns into the hands of criminals. Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney in Arizona who oversaw prosecutions in that state related to the Fast and Furious operation, is also stepping down, the department said.

“Ken brings decades of experience at the department and extensive knowledge in forensic science to his new role, and I know he will be a valuable contributor on these issues,” Attorney General Eric Holder said of Melson in a statement. “As he moves into this new role, I want to thank Ken for his dedication to the department over the last three decades.”

Melson’s replacement is B. Todd Jones, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota. Jones “is a demonstrated leader who brings a wealth of experience to this position,” Holder said. “I have great confidence that he will be a strong and steady influence guiding ATF in fulfilling its mission of combating violent crime by enforcing federal criminal laws and regulations in the firearms and explosives industries.”

via Kenneth Melson, acting ATF chief, steps down – Jennifer Epstein – POLITICO.com.

This is all find and dandy; but before any declares victory on this, please know that he is not going anywhere and will still be on the payroll.

So, no, I won’t be cheering just yet. I will cheer when the investigation proves that Obama ordered the whole thing and he is convicted. But I won’t hold my breath.