Well, that’s an interesting poll result – from Roll Call:

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio led a field of potential Republican Senate candidates in Arizona with 21 percent in a poll of likely GOP primary voters last week.

Rep. Jeff Flake, who announced his candidacy for the seat of retiring Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) on Monday, finished second with 16.8 percent in the Summit Consulting Group survey. Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth took third, with 16.6 percent. He was unsuccessful in his primary challenge to Sen. John McCain last year…

“Undecided”, however, leads the field with 27.5%, so the Sheriff should hold off on the victory celebrations, if he is really planning on getting in to the race. In the end, I doubt that Arpaio is really good Senate material – just too blunt a man for that body…though it would be fun to watch.

It is a confused field right now for the GOP (even freshman Congresscritter Ben Quayle scores 6% in this poll) – the party is strong in Arizona (much stronger now after a good 2010) and everyone wants to get in to the act. It will take a while for things to settle out – meanwhile, the Arizona Democrat party is so moribund that the best they can come up with is Rep. Giffords – who, in spite of her remarkable recovery, may never be up to resuming her current office, let alone seeking a higher one.

Zero Hedge neatly encapsulates what it means:

The consensus expectation for Chinese CPI was 5.4%. Zero Hedge’s expectation based on just announced manipulated CPI data was 4.9%. Guess who was correct… In the meantime, Chinese food prices are not increasing by 5% every ten days, or over 400% annualized. Or at least, they are not doing so on rice (most likely fake) paper.

Earlier, Zero Hedge noted that China announced a change in the way China’s CPI is calculated – greatly reducing the input of food prices in to Chinese inflation. This done because of the fact that China’s food prices are increasing at an astronomical rate. China’s economy is massively overheated – made that way by a round of money printing and easy credit which would make even Ben Bernanke blush (not that he’d actually refuse to do it – he’d just blush while he did). Whatever you do, don’t believe whatever numbers you see out of China – they are walking on the knife’s edge of economic collapse and are determined to hide it…and hope that some how, some way, the global economy really does recover before the piper had to be paid.

The bad news for us is that there is no indication that Uncle Ben will refuse to send us in to this kind of inflation. There is nothing be said or done, that is, which tells us that the latest round of “quantitative easing” (ie, money printing) is the last…that when this bag of fake money runs out, Bernanke won’t just print up another one. And, so, dear Americans, we are at risk of this kind of inflation – not that it definitely will happen (in the United States, there are still plenty of downward pressures on prices), but that it is a real risk.

Maybe we really should all invest in canned goods and shotguns?

Andrew Stiles over at NRO’s The Corner gives us the main points:

…$46 trillion — total spending over the next decade.

$8.7 trillion — total new spending over the same period…

The bottom line about Obama’s “cuts” is that for each of the next ten years, the federal government will spend more than the previous year. Pardon me for pointing out the obvious – if you cut spending, it means you spend less than you did before. Obama’s budget doesn’t even cut so much as a dollar – and yet he gets up there and flat out lies to us that there will be steep cuts. This is what we get when we dare to elect politicians like Obama: he has nothing but contempt for us and presumes that we won’t notice he’s full of bull feces.

Well, maybe once upon a time Obama would have been right about that – but not any more. I think we’re wide awake now, and people are swiftly seeing through this scam of a budget proposal (even some Obama cheerleaders are noticing the stench of dishonesty). The times have changed – and we, the people, have changed. If Obama viewed this budget as the platform for his 2012 re-election effort it will prove, instead, the final nail in his political coffin.

We must slice and dice this budget – hold it up for the ridicule it deserves and explain endlessly how we’ll never get out of this mess while someone like Obama is running the show. The man can’t be trusted – he has proven himself, at last and forever, a dishonest, cretinous politician on the make with this budget. He had his chance – he could have come out with a budget which actually offered some cuts, even if they were symbolic in nature. All Obama offered us was money being moved around and then some hocus-pocus about “cuts” which are non-existent.

And now it is our turn – our turn to tell the truth, offer real cuts and win the confidence of the American people.

UPDATE: Also from NRO’s The Corner, Rep. Ryan’s reaction to Obama’s budget: “debt on arrival”.

It isn’t just “Valentine’s Day” – a day to shell out a bit for a greeting card and flowers. There really was a St. Valentine and he is the patron saint of Love, Young People and Happy Marriages.

Your tax dollars at work, or how to make $190.00 an hour as a consultant for government.

Everything manufacturing is moving to Asia. Because we’re letting it happen. And we don’t have to.

Religion of Peace Update: Christian convert in Afghanistan faces death penalty. Unless and until Islam allows freedom of religion, they’ll never be civilized.

Sherrod is suing Breitbart – We’ll see how this plays out. Keep the word “Pigford” in mind – you’ll start to hear more about it, soon.

Organizers for an MLK event boxed up a statue of George Washington so that it couldn’t be seen by participants. Not a smart move – and some wonder why regular folks are getting so angry…maybe its because of serial insults like this?

Nevada conservative activist Chuck Muth has joined GOProud’s advisory council. Muth is a long time conservative activist (full disclosure, I’ve done some writing for his Nevada News and Views website) and an excellent choice. I see this as an wonderful opportunity to bridge gaps between libertarian conservatives like GOProud and social conservatives such as myself.

King Putz and the Riddle of the Sphinxter.

From our “Death of Civilization” file – via Jammie Wearing Fool:

Sex is fine. They’re just not down with the bunga bunga.

More than 100,000 Italian women and their supporters turned out across the country to protest against Premier Silvio Berlusconi, saying his dalliances with young women humiliate the sex as a whole and degrade female dignity…

If you click on the link, you’ll see a picture of Italian women holding up signs saying, “We Like Sex, not Bunga Bunga”. What is “bunga bunga”? Not entirely sure, but it isn’t having tea with the queen. This article in The Telegraph goes a bit in to it, but its still unclear if its actual sex, or just being a geezer politician paying young floozies to hang around with him. Demonstrating the universality of civilization’s death, the demonstrations are in Italy, but the signs are in English.

Berlusconi is claiming that the demonstrations are politically motivated. No, kidding. Wonder if he figured that out all by himself or did he need a team of consultants to work it out? This scandal demonstrates a truth that conservatives in America should pay heed to – you can’t be conservative unless you are actually trying to live a moral life. Its not that people can’t fall short – we all do; but there must be a conscious effort, every day, by those who propose to lead a conservative movement to live a decent life. Berlusconi may fall from power over this – an old, successful and powerful man to be brought down because of a nauseating desire on his part to use women as tools for personal pleasure. This will not only wreck him, but also probably lay his party in ruins, thus paving the way for a leftist party or coalition of some sort to gain control of Italy. All that Berlusconi wanted to do undone because he lacked the wit to understand that morality comes before everything else.

Here in the United States we have a lot of people saying we conservatives should lighten up about sexual matters. Not be too concerned about marriage. Be ok with abortion and birth control. Don’t dare try to purge the pornography and violence from our popular culture. Get “with it”, as it were. Well, if we do that, we’ll be destroyed – we’ll eventually be led by a herd of Berlusconis who will destroy everything we’re working for. We’ve already found enough trouble in this area – we don’t need to invite even more of it in to our house.

So, no to bunga bunga – let’s have a conservative movement of strong moral courage; a movement to be proud of and a movement which will lead to victory.

From Midas Letter:

Moody’s cut the ratings of Irish banks to junk status on Friday following Dublin’s decision to defer previously agreed capital increases until after this month’s general election.

The downgrade means the unguaranteed unsecured senior bonds at Ireland’s six banks are now rated as non-investment grade, or junk…

What is happening here is that the Irish people are not having any of this – they are not, that is, about to have themselves taxed in to poverty in order to bail out banksters who made idiotic investments. Sure, the people of Ireland are partially responsible for their plight – they bought the notion of easy money and get-rich-quick. But that notion was sold to them by the banks who are now bankrupt and demanding taxpayer funds.

What effect this will have first on the Eurozone and then on the rest of the world remains to be seen. The problem is that the EU is keeping itself afloat on the perception that the financial crisis has been managed and no one will default…not Greece, not Ireland, not Portugal, not Spain, not anyone. But this perception is based upon the assumption that, in the end, the people of Europe will continue to play the part of sucker. I think that in Ireland, at least, they have decided not to be fooled any longer. Reports indicate that the center-right opposition party, Fine Gael, is pledged to ditch the bailout and is rising high in the polls, with the election scheduled for February 25th (as a side note, the party’s finance spokesman is a man named Michael Noonan – showing that we Noonans are (a) all alike and (b) continuing our centuries long plan for taking over the whole world).

As Mish points out, the best outcome here is for Ireland to go ahead with their “go to heck” to the European Union and then have a real negotiation in which everyone, not just Ireland’s taxpayers, pays the price for the economic folly. It is either that, or Ireland just flat out defaults and the bond holders lose everything – if this election goes as hoped in Ireland, then we might finally see a people taking a distinct advantage over the bankers…for once, the bankers will have to dance to someone else’s tune, and that would be a good thing.

A shot across the bow of Libertarianism, as such:

The National Board of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)—America’s oldest conservative-libertarian activist group—has, per curium, voted to purge Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) from YAF’s National Advisory Board.

YAF’s concern with Rep. Paul stems from his delusional and disturbing alliance with the fringe Anti-War movement.

“It is a sad day in American history when a one-time conservative-libertarian stalwart has fallen more out of touch with America’s needs for national security than the current feeble and appeasing administration,” said YAF’s Senior National Director Jordan Marks…

As I’ve noted before, Ron Paul’s foreign policy views are just flat wrong – we can’t live in a world without a muscular application of US power at need. The defense of the United States does not just involve the defense of our physical territory but also requires a defense of those forces which are aligned with us. The United States must strike a balance between the need to defend these interests and not getting dragged in to every conflict around the globe – Ron Paul essentially proposes that we stay out of everything. This is done on the absurd theory that the reason we are hated is for what we do, rather than what we are.

To be sure, US actions can cause enmity – or create friends – depending on the nature of the action. But the primary reason we are hated is akin to the reasons for Judaism and Christianity being hated: when you stand for self-evident truth and refuse to be swayed from it, those who live off of lies determine to destroy you. It doesn’t matter what we do, we will be attacked by evil people because evil cannot co-exist in a world with good…it must strike it down, lest good overcome it.

Lately I have had some kind things to say about Ron Paul and I still assert – and will go on asserting – that in his current position as inquisitor of the Federal Reserve, the man and the hour have met. I believe this action by YAF is probably a bit more than was necessary, but I understand why it was taken. It is to be hoped that Ron Paul and the YAF will find a way to reconcile because all of us who are opposed to the left must unite. That said, it must be made clear that the main line of conservative foreign and military policy is a robust defense of US interests around the world.

The peril of viewing the United States as a baleful force in the world is twofold – first off, it allows a person to easily fall for utter nonsense discreditable to conservatism in general. While Ron Paul has not, himself, advocated the idiocies of the “9/11 truthers”, he has failed utterly to condemn them with sufficient force. Secondly, when you take it to heart that the US – rather than America’s enemies – is responsible for the ills of the world, you go in to tacit alliance with the worst of the left. The part of the left which acts the part of traitor in the debates over foreign and defense policy.

Long ago, conservatism purged itself of the poison of the John Birch Society. This was the 1960’s version of the “9/11 truthers” – screwballs who refused to see reality and lived, instead, in a fantasy world of conspiracy theories. Ron Paul is very much old enough to remember this – and his refusal to act in accordance with wisdom has now resulted in this action by the YAF. It is to be hoped that the lesson will be taken to heart – by Ron Paul and all conservatives of a libertarian bent.

Video from C-Span:

Congressman West completely answers the arguments against conservatism – including those made by part of conservatism, Libertarianism, which is imagining a conservative movement which is ok with abortion and gay marriage. The thing won’t work unless we’re defending the Judeo-Christian civilization. If we’re not doing that then whatever else we’re doing, conservatism isn’t it.

I realize that our Libertarian friends are both feeling their oats – having developed this idea that social issues are unimportant or, at least, secondary – and, also, getting downright annoyed with all that muscular Christianity popping up here, there and everywhere. But that is just the nature of a truly conservative movement. There is room for libertarianism – in fact, it is a necessary element in conservatism to prevent Christianity from degenerating in to Puritanism, or Prohibition. But mark this fact and never forget it – libertarianism cannot survive in a non-Christian civilization and Christian civilization will not have – cannot have – gay marriage and abortion (along with a score or so other things, but those two are most important – and abortion vastly most important of all; just not so much emphasized at the moment as the pro-life view is clearly ascendant in the United States today).

We are winning this battle – America, in my view, will be preserved as the political bulwark of civilization just as the Church (in spite of relentless efforts to destroy her) remains as the spiritual bulwark. There is much for all people of good will to do – and there is a lot we can do to accommodate the peculiar notions of some (while we can’t have gay marriage, there can be provisions made for those sincere gay people who do wish to tie their fortunes to another for life). All of those who abhor the Statist left should be united – because the victory of the left is the defeat of conservatism and libertarianism.

Learn this, liberals, please – before more people get killed. From Fox News:

A Salvadoran man who was ordered deported nearly a decade ago but never left has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in a series of shootings and a knife attack in a Virginia suburb of Washington, authorities said Friday…

The laws must be enforced. All of them and all the time. If your reaction to that is “there are too many laws”, then start repealing…but if something is enacted in to law, it must be enforced at all hazard. It us unjust to do otherwise – and deadly, as well.

Our failure to secure our borders first allowed this criminal to come in, then our failure to enforce our laws once we caught him led to the deaths of innocent people. And this is just three; a drop in the bucket of blood our unjust failure at border security has caused. Literal thousands of people have been robbed, raped and murdered over just the last couple years because we don’t secure our border and enforce our laws. This is the price, liberals, of your insistence that enforcing our laws is “racism” against “undocumented workers”. You are enabling the murder of people – most of them the “undocumented workers” you claim to care so much about.

Enforce the law. Secure the border. Ensure that justice is done. That is our primary duty regarding immigration. Once that is done, we can settle down to debate what to do in the future…but first the blood must cease to flow.

Bryan Preston takes Ron Paul to task over Mubarak, Egypt and the general run of US foreign policy since the end of World War II:

During his speech at CPAC Friday, Rep. Ron Paul declared that the US “propped up” Egyptian president Mubarak and, essentially, blamed the United States for his dictatorship. I’d like to put the question to Dr. Paul, what should the United States have done during the Cold War? That is when our alliance with Egypt developed, and it developed largely in response to the threat posed by the USSR…

Preston then goes through the whole litany of a realistic US policy – Egypt controls one of the most strategic points on the globe (the Suez Canal) and was playing both sides of the street; we needed to get her on our side. By playing up to first Sadat and then Mubarak we kept the Soviets out and got an Egypt-Israeli peace treaty. Muabarak’s regime kept a lid on Islamism. All of this has the great benefit of being true – but does that also mean it was good US policy? In the end, after decades of doing this, is the US in a good position now and likely to retain that position for the future? I’d have to say, no.

Yes, dealing with the tyrants kept the USSR out and the Islamists down – but now that the USSR is gone, what advantage accrues to us for having kept it out? And by keeping the Islamists down all these years, what did we get other than the Islamists looking good in Egyptian public opinion simply because (a) they were martyred by the regime and (b) are not responsible either for the regime’s crimes, nor the crimes of other Islamsits around the world? The Islamists are at least unpopular in Iran by now – only ruthless repression keeps them in power there and they may fall at any time…but Egypt has no experience of them. Rather than dealing with communist apparatchiks in a Soviet-dominated Egypt during the Cold War, we might be dealing with an insane, messianic regime of Islamists during the War on Terrorism.

Furthermore, about that peace treaty – what did it really amount to? Egypt started war after unjust war against Israel and got soundly beaten each time. Even in their greatest effort – the Yom Kippur War – where they came within an ace of victory, they still ended up crushed. People who start wars and lose them are supposed to cede territory and pay an indemnity to the victors. Instead, Egypt was given back everything they lost in war and could never regain by fighting and rather than indemnify Israel for the wars, Egypt actually got us handing them about $60 billion over the years. And now if an Islamist regime comes to power in Egypt, we might find the peace treaty denounced and all that “aid” down the toilet. And, of course, the prospect of an actual shooting war with Israel at some point. The problem with peace treaty, ultimately, was that the provisions were dependent upon the regime in Egypt, not the interests of the Egyptian people. No regime, no peace treaty. Perhaps it would have been better if we had let the Israelis capture the whole Suez (they very nearly had at the end of Yom Kippur) and then annex it…without Suez, Egypt is as strategic as a cabbage, and thus of no concern to anyone except Egyptians.

And, finally, by backing Mubarak all these years we have built up a reservoir of distrust, if not hatred, on the part of the Egyptian people for the United States. While they suffered poverty and oppression, they saw American leaders in a steady stream coming to glad hand and speak highly of the man who was their bane. This doesn’t mean we can’t gain the trust of the Egyptian people, but it will be a long, hard road – and a road we would not have to travel if, over the past 30 years, all Egypt’s government got from us was demands for liberty. A realistic foreign policy (so called) has been a complete failure for the United States – what we need, instead, is an American foreign policy.

And this is where Ron Paul actually gets it wrong, as most Libertarians do. The United States cannot retreat from the world – we must be engaged on all levels and everywhere in order to ensure that at least some peace and freedom survive. There is simply no other nation on earth – or even group of nations – which can fill the gap if America withdraws. We must be there with our words and our might in order to provide a balance against those who would disturb the peace. Naturally, some things can be done to modify US policy – we don’t need troops in a lot of places we have them and we must be wary of using our power…but Paul and those like him would surrender the world to barbarism and tyranny and eventually force America, alone and at bay, to face a host of enemies gathered to kill the last bastion of civilization.

A balance must be struck – a balance between the need for engagement and the need to keep America free from entanglements with unsavory regimes. What has been termed a “real” US foreign policy has produced disaster. Time, then, to get a bit “unreal”. As long time readers know, I already have a set of policy proposals in place for this:

1. Freedom Trade – rather than freely trading with everyone, including our most deadly enemies (and thus building them to be ever larger threats), we should only engage in economic relations with other free nations around the world. If you’re living in liberty, you can freely trade with the United States…if you’re living in tyranny, you can’t so much as sell us a button. This will ensure we are never economically tied to enemy States, as well as helping other free people to grow in power and prosperity.

2. Build a Union of Democratic States – ditch the corrupt UN where tyrants are absurdly permitted to rub shoulders with free men, replace it with an organization of free nations who will be bound to come to the defense of any free State attacked by a tyrannical regime.

3. Prohibit the deployment of US ground forces outside the territory of the United States except under a declared state of war. No more setting US troops up as hostages to enemy foreign policy. By keeping our boots off the ground except after a declaration of war, we’ll retain our diplomatic and military freedom of action – only having to engage in a fight (other than smaller scale naval and aerial campaigns, at need) when we really feel it necessary.

A proper US foreign policy must be geared towards the way Americans are, and the ideals Americans hold. That is the reality – and a realistic US policy must be something Americans can understand and fully back regardless of how difficult it is. We are a good people, and deserve a foreign policy which reflects our intense hatred of tyranny and our firm desire for justice for all. Doing anything else just makes a mess – as we now see in Egypt.