From Life News:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie continued the strong relationship he’s developed with pro-life advocates in the northeastern state by attending and speaking at the Rally for Life at the Statehouse steps today.

New Jersey Right to Life is the sponsor of the event that received more publicity thanks in part to the governor’s appearance.

“I stand with you,” on opposing abortion, the governor told the crowd, and “with each and every one of those precious human lives.”…

So, let’s add this up: he fights corrupt unions, balances budget with spending cuts rather than tax increases, doesn’t take any nonsense from dimwitted MSMers…and to cap it all off, he’ll get right out there in his official capacity in a blue State and proclaim his pro-life principles?

We gotta draft this guy for 2012. Of course, it could be that he’s so completely fearless because he has no Presidential ambitions and if he did start really thinking that way, he’d start trimming his views…running Christie for President might ruin him.

Still, I have to say that for me its a matter of Palin or Christie or Jindal…a “not sure”, “not at all” and “not yet” set of candidates. Which all boils down to a bunch of “not fair” as far as I’m concerned….the best part of the GOP bench might sit 2012 out.

But this still heartens me – especially given the back drop of the very large pro-life march in DC on Monday which was so heavily attended by young Americans…we’re winning the war, even if the left some times still wins a battle and may even win a couple more before the end. But the end comes for the left – the time of renewed American greatness swiftly approaches.

From the PJ Tattler – 9 more Texas Democrats switch to GOP:

In what is believed to be one of the largest number of officeholders to change party affiliation in Texas, Lamar County GOP Chairman John Kruntorad and State Representative Erwin Cain announced today that 9 local elected Democrats have joined the Republican Party. This announcement follows unprecedented election gains by the GOP in 2008 and 2010 as Northeast Texans increasingly identify with the conservative platform of the Republican Party.

Those joining the Republican Party include District Attorney Gary Young; Pct. 1 County Commissioner Lawrence Mallone; Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace (JP) Don Denison; Pct. 3 JP Tim Risinger; Pct. 4 JP Ken Ruthart; Pct. 5, Place 1 JP Cindy Ruthart; Pct. 1 Constable Madaline Chance; Pct. 3 Constable Larry Cope; and Pct. 5 Constable Gene Hobbs…

Whatever they’re doing in Texas, we have to duplicate it around the country. Remember all the Democrat stories about how as America loses its white majority the GOP is doomed? Well, Texas has already lost its white majority – its 47% white, 37% hispanic and 12% black. To put it mildly, the Texas GOP is a bit more conservative than, say, the California GOP, which can’t get a hispanic to vote for it for love or money. And yet the Texas GOP is just crushing the life out of the Texas Democrat party. Clearly, Texas Republicans are showing how to do it – and it seems to be that a rigid adherence to pro-family, low tax and pro-business policies are the magical talisman.

Love it!

Attorneys for Rahm Emanuel late today asked the Illinois Supreme Court to prevent Chicago elections officials from printing ballots for the Feb. 22 mayor’s election without his name.

Emanuel’s legal team also said they will ask the state’s highest court on Tuesday to hear their appeal of a decision by an appellate court today to knock him off the ballot on the grounds he doesn’t meet residency requirements…

It is astounding that in Illinois the law would be enforced against a Democrat as regards an election – such a thing is just unheard of. The way it works it that Democrats can do whatever they please and on those rare occasions when law breaking becomes overwhelming, a few small fry are thrown to the wolves while the big boys never pay. That Rahm Emanuel – hopelessly corrupt and hip deep in Chicago politics – might actually have the law applied to him is something of a revolution in Illinois politics.

Next thing you know, Obama and his Democrats might be forced to stop raising illegal campaign funds! Foreigners might be prevented from influencing our electoral process – really, anything can happen, now.

As we head in to the crucial – as in, “this is crucial to the fate of our nation” – debate over raising the debt ceiling, this new Rasmussen Survey should be taken to heart by all Republicans:

…The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of Likely Voters prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes rather than a more active one with more services and higher taxes. This is virtually identical to last month and consistent with findings since September…

We hold the advantage in this debate. Obama will give his SOTU tomorrow and he’ll try to dangle government goodies in front of people as a means of deflect everyone away from the necessary budget cuts. Democrats and their MSM lap dogs will be on and on over the next few weeks that any cut, any where, will result in granny having to eat dog food. The whole force of the Ruling Class – including many alleged Republicans and conservatives – will be brought to bear on one issue: getting the debt limit raised without any fundamental cuts or budget reform. The hope of these people is that if they can deflect it in 2011, then by 2012 the GOP can be re-captured by the Establishment and all can go on as before. We daren’t let them do this.

Now is the time for the GOP to recapture the spirit which created the Republican party in the 1850’s. We are the party of the people – what Democrat Stephen Douglas once called the “small fisted farmers, mudsills and greasy mechanics” who simply didn’t understand the nuances of politics (back then the “nuance” had to do with protecting slavery; these days, its about protecting things like abortion, bankers and government unions…the more things change…). Here is a our great chance to recover our name and make the Republican party the party of free men, the party of the Great Republic.

So, don’t blow it – stand firm; resist all attempts to steam roller us in to going along. The people are on our side – as long as we stay on theirs.

Nothing like putting Obama and his Democrats on the spot with this:

Legislation which would permanently prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion across all federal programs is “one of our highest legislative priorities,” the new Speaker of the House has said in his introduction to the legislation.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Joe Pitts (R-Penn.) held a press conference on Jan. 20 to discuss the introduction of H.R. 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.”

Speaker Boehner said the new Republican majority is keeping its commitment to taxpayers by “ensuring their tax dollars are never used to fund abortions.”…

Obama has claimed – via that Executive Order with which he purchased Bart Stupak – that he doesn’t want federal funding for abortion. Now he’ll have his chance to stand up and be counted. No more messing around – let’s get everyone on record, prior to 2012, on how they believe on federal funding for abortion. It is a clarifying issue – it allows the public to make an informed decision. Kinda gets around any “personally opposed” nonsense. Do you, or don’t you?

The sort of thing which, if you or I tried it, would land us in jail – from MSNBC:

Concerns that the Federal Reserve could suffer losses on its massive bond holdings may have driven the central bank to adopt a little-noticed accounting change with huge implications: it makes insolvency much less likely.

The significant shift was tucked quietly into the Fed’s weekly report on its balance sheet and phrased in such technical terms that it was not even reported by financial media when originally announced on Jan. 6…

What seems to have happened is that the Federal Reserve, holding perhaps trillions in worthless assets, has decided that if anything looks bad on the Fed’s balance sheet, it actually applies to the Treasury’s balance sheet. In other words, if you go to Vegas and start losing money, just pass the losses over to the guy sitting next to you, and you come out looking good.

Of course, that other guy might not be able to pay, but that doesn’t matter…what matters is that for a little while longer, everyone around the table can pretend there is no problem, and thus continue on as if nothing is wrong.

Our peril, though, remains the same – too much debt chasing too little wealth. We’re in a pickle and there is no way out unless we very swiftly balance our budget. Of course, that would tend to make banks and other financial institutions go bankrupt as they are only kept afloat by bags of free money provided by the Federal Reserve. And so, that option isn’t really considered – there’s no upside to banksters and bureaucrats in a balanced budget. Heck, might as well make an economy which is geared towards the small and mid-sized producer of tangible goods! Where does something like Goldman Sachs fit in to such an economy? Not even worth considering…

They are juggling desperately, our Ruling Class. How long can they keep it up? I don’t know – but they can’t keep it up forever.

HAT TIP: Mish’s

My article for The European on the Tuscon tragedy and TEA Party issues.

The absurdity of Roe.

Geraldo Rivera is a Republican. A lot of people have had lots of trouble with Geraldo over the years – I never have; seems like an all right guy and a good patriot, even if he’s not right about everything.

The Tuscon aftermath as Obama’s “Mandella Moment” – but can the leopard change his spots all the way through 2012?

Egypt’s Ruling Class prepares for a revolution.

The consensus of economic experts is that we have a splendid fourth quarter of 2010…everything is great (pay no attention to rising gas and food prices) and we’re in a recovery (ignore all those banks which just announced hefty lay offs) so no sweat, at all. You can believe them, if you like…and, hey, the initial GDP numbers which come out may even be as high as the 3.5% projected for the fourth quarter. After you read those reports, ask yourself: does this economy look like its recovering?

Dear Nazi.

Kinda hard to tell which is which – from Powerline on Obama’s appointment of GE boss Jeffrey Immelt as economic adviser/czar/mafia don/what-have-you:

…GE got a taste of the good life when it got in on the bank bailout. As the Washington Post reported in a major article in mid-2009, GE had quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government’s key bank bailout programs. At the same time GE also avoided many of the restrictions faced by the big banks

The Post noted that GE did not initially qualify for the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program, under which the government guaranteed debt sold by banks: “But regulators soon loosened the eligibility requirements, in part because of behind-the-scenes appeals from GE.”

GE thus joined the big banks collectively saving billions of dollars by raising money for their operations at lower interest rates. The Post reported that GE Capital had issued nearly a quarter of the $340 billion in debt backed by the TLGP…

So, is Obama hiring his corporate pet in order to curry favor with corporate America prior to 2012 – or has corporate America put its man in charge of economic policy in order to pull Obama’s strings? In either case, what we don’t have here is an economic team headed up by anyone who cares about the poor and middle class. It also isn’t a team with the faintest concern for American manufacturing, farming and mining…it is concerned with subsidies, faddish business notions and raw, government power over the economy.

Immelt is the poster-boy for Big Corporation working hand in hand with Big Government to protect and enrich the Ruling Class at the expense of everyone else. Immelt isn’t interested in the American economy – he’s interested in people like him remaining rich and in charge of whatever economy is most profitable at the moment. We can expect from this appointment all sorts of demands to increase taxpayer funding of various corporate enterprises, new regulations to keep small and mid-sized players out of the market, more shipping of our farms, factories and mines to foreign lands, more fiat currency, more debt, more government spending…in short, more of what made everything a mess.

One must keep in mind just what sort of people rise high in large corporations – people who have a strong desire to make lots of money combined with a willingness to apple polish superiors. Immelt didn’t get where he is by being the man most suited to ensure long term profitability off of making the best products here in America…he got where he is because in years past some one already high up in the corporate food chain took a shine to him and gave him a leg up on the corporate ladder. From there it was simply a matter of being good at office politics, working out ways to squeeze another half percent profit on the quarterly balance sheet (done by letting people go, shipping facilities overseas, getting new government subsidies, that sort of thing…) while at the same time avoiding having a particular screw up assigned to his name.

What I’d really like to know is how our liberals feel about this – here’s your man, Obama, liberals and he’s put in charge of his economic policy a man deeply involved in what you call “corporate welfare”. Are you now going to wake up and realize that your liberal leaders are just snowing you?

I won’t hold my breath.

From The Daily Caller:

…(Chomsky) explained those feelings led to November’s election results, and would have serious repercussions for civilization.

“All of this combines the latest election a couple of days ago,” he continued. “You could almost interpret it a kind of a death knell for the species. There was an article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, you know – not a radical rag exactly. They’re running through the new Republicans coming to Congress and they’re worried about them.”…

I once attended a lecture given by a Dominican priest and he noted that there are areas of expertise that people have and they should be wary of straying outside them. He, a priest and educator, was fully qualified to opine on matters of philosophy and theology, but wouldnt want to stray in to physics because it wasn’t his area of expertise. So, too, should a physicist be cautious about making theological pronouncements. Noam Chomsky is a brilliant linguist but he seems to have never learned this simple lesson – don’t go in to what you don’t understand.

Unfortunately for people like Chomsky, such caution is seldom exercised. Chomsky knows very little of politics, economics or history, but he has pronounced on them for decades now. His whole training and experience is built around the rarified atmosphere of MIT – he doesn’t know how Joe Average lives; doesn’t understand how wealth is created; doesn’t understand that because he, Chomsky, is brilliant in one area it doesn’t mean that he’s brilliant in all areas…nor that someone without Chomsky’s credentials could be equally brilliant in other areas.

When we battle liberalism is it good to remember that we are fighting people who really are convinced that they are better than everyone else. Better intellectually as well as morally. To someone like Chomsky a smart and good person cannot think differently from Chomsky – and so anyone who does think different is either so stupid or wicked as to be dangerous. I, as a conservative, cannot be conservative unless I am one of those things – stupid, or wicked. If I were smart and good, I’d be a liberal, goes liberal thinking.

The crisis we face in America is because for nigh on a century we have allowed people like Chomsky to have a say in areas they have no particular ability in. A credentialed – as opposed to educated – elite has battened itself upon us and has made a complete hash out of our society. Our whole economic and political system has now been geared towards serving the needs and desires of a small, elite Ruling Class (among whose members are some ostensible Republicans and conservatives) – and the mess we have (hollowed out economy, social disintegration, etc) is the result. In order to cure our society we must put people like Chomsky in his place – to keep him as a brilliant linguist, but ensure that when it comes time to decide what level of taxation is good or what sort of regulations to put on business, he has no more say than anyone else.

The results of the “new tone” in America’s Middle East policy – from Commentary:

Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt now says he “supports” Hezbollah and the ghastly regime in Syria that murdered his father and his friend Rafik Hariri. Hezbollah’s fan boys should not kid themselves here. Jumblatt is under duress and is only saying what he must to ensure his own survival and that of his people.

Saad Hariri remains defiant, but Michael Young — the best analyst of Lebanon’s internal politics — thinks he probably won’t return as prime minister. If that’s the case, Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution is well and truly cooked. Beirut is being cleverly reconquered by Damascus and Tehran, and is rejoining, against its will, the Iran-led Resistance Bloc.

Everybody in Lebanon needs to understand something: Israel is more likely than ever to target the entire country during the next round of conflict…

All too true, I’m afraid – and what else could the Druze leaders do? If they are defiant, then Hezbollah’s thugs will exterminate them. Syria and Iran see Lebanon as their only platform for attacking Israel – the Palestinian leadership on the West Bank doesn’t want any part of a renewed war; Jordan lies at the mercy of Israeli power; Egypt has enough problems without fighting Israel. None of these will suit as a means for Iran’s leaders to attack Israel…but Hezbollah has got control of Lebanon, and Hezbollah will follow orders.

But as the article notes, if there is renewed conflict then Lebanon’s Christian population cannot be spared by Israeli forces – a renewed war means war of all Lebanon against all Israel. And as Iran continues to arm Hezbollah to the teeth, we must presume that war is envisioned at some, future date…likely right around the time Iran gets ready to test and deploy a nuclear weapon.

All of this is the result of simple, American failure. We’ve cuddled up to the tyrants in Damascus, cut the rug out from underneath the anti-Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, turned a cold shoulder to Israel and tip toed around both Iran’s nuclear program as well as their continued and extensive support of global terrorism, including that part of it which takes American lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. We’ve been so ardent to show that we’re no longer Bush’s America that we’ve essentially given away the Middle East store to our and Israel’s most deadly enemies.

Eventually this error will have to be paid for in blood – ours, Israel’s and the Moslem world’s. You can’t shake hand with tyrants; you can’t befriend those who’s whole existence is based upon a rejection of you and all you stand for. War our enemies want, and so war we must give them until they have, at long last, had enough.