Jonah Goldberg takes note of the alleged nostalgia for William F. Buckley among many people – an alleged desire, it is claimed, for a more urbane and reasonable right – and what is wrong with that picture:

…Buckley, Kristol and Neuhaus (and Reagan and Goldwater) understood and appreciated the hurly-burly of American democracy. Buckley famously insisted he’d rather be governed by 2,000 random names in the Boston phone book than the faculty of Harvard. He passionately defended Joseph McCarthy, and he admired J. Bracken Lee, the 1950s Utah governor who makes Sarah Palin look like Sandra Day O’Connor on Ambien. Oh, and he was a Rush Limbaugh dittohead. Kristol was an admirer of the Christian right and a supporter of the populist tax revolts of the 1970s. Neuhaus was a leading champion of the religious revival on the right…

I don’t think that any of us over 40 can conceive of being conservative without the influence of Bill Buckley. Back in 1980, when I first started to take a serious interest in politics, there was Buckley’s National Review and there was Buckley’s Firing Line on PBS, and that was the lion’s share of conservative media. So, Buckley was a hero of mine – the first person I came across who consistently stood against what I increasingly perceived as what is wrong with America.

But he was also of his time. And, I think, towards the end he began to misunderstand just what it was he had helped mid-wife in to American politics. Buckley was the Cold Warrior, anti-New Deal crusader – which was fine in its place, but he never made that leap past the Cold War and in to the real battles which were emerging starting around 1990. The torch, in a real sense, was passed when National Review had a cover picture of Rush Limbaugh as “Leader of the Opposition” – the torch, that is, being passed from a man who was of one time, to a man of a different time. And with different concerns confronting us, it was a necessity.

Starting in the mid-90’s it was no more about destroying liberals in the realm of ideas; Buckley and others had already done that. What was necessary was destroying liberalism in power – and for this, different leaders had to emerge. They did; they carried the ball – and now the next, logical step is being taken. In the TEA Party movement is the uprising of the people against the liberal Super-state which was always and ever the only means of conservative victory. In a very real sense, the anger shown at town halls and the tens of thousands who carry banners at TEA Party events were implicit the moment Bill Buckley wrote that he was going to stand athwart history and shout, “stop” – because you can’t really stop, eventually, something had to be done.

In later years when we write the histories of our times and erect monuments to those who led the way back to liberty, we’ll have to find a suitable monument to William F. Buckley, Jr. – some plinth near Philadelphia’s Independence Hall would be appropriate, I think, for a statue to the man who first re-awakened our fierce desire for liberty. But let us not pretend that things were some how better when he turned the lights on and went to work. They are better, now; and will continue to get better as we fulfill the promise of conservatism.

It seems that our atheist brother, Christopher Hitchens, has cancer. I recall the Pope once opined on Napoleon, “he is not, perhaps, a believer, but a time may come when his faith is restored to him”.

Pretty much expected, but still an outrage:

A federal judge overturned California’s gay-marriage ban Wednesday in a landmark case that could eventually force the U.S. Supreme Court to confront the question of whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to wed.

The ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker touched off a celebration outside the courthouse. Gay couples waved rainbow and American flags and erupted with cheers in the city that has long been a magnet for gays…

This is just liberalism determined to win, regardless. The people pass a law banning gay marriage, a judge invalidates it. The people then pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a judge invalidates it. Now it goes up further in to the courts – where this judges absurd ruling should fall on 9th and 10th amendment grounds.

Bottom line, however, is that now the gay marriage proponents are putting our backs against the wall – we must now fully press for a US constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. I don’t want to do it, but I will not tolerate a judge usurping the right of the people to decide their laws.

UPDATE: The Judge’s conclusion is a monument to liberal idiocy:

Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite- sex couples are superior to same-sex couples. Because California has no interest in discriminating against gay men and lesbians, and because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

That is sheer opinion dressed up as a legal ruling – the judge clearly is personally offended that the people of California have dared to recognize that men and women are different and that marriage and family hold a special place in society. The judge here is just mad that gay people can’t have a pretty wedding like straight people do – as if the wedding, itself, is what marriage is all about; or that people get married just for the heck of it and so everyone should be able to have a marriage in any manner they like.

We’ll have to see how this goes through the Courts – the judge may later rule that California has to start issuing marriage licenses right away, but that would be to tread on dangerous ground. Gay marriage in theory and awaiting a SC review is one thing – it actually happening and then people taking their CA licenses to other States demanding “full faith and credit” is quite another. So, the judge may hold fire – but, given his clearly irrational view, he might also be in for a dime, in for a dollar.

UPDATE II: A Conclusion Not Anchored in Reality.

UPDATE III: K-Lo over at NRO:

Actual quote from the ruling today: “Gender no longer forms an essential part of marriage.”

This is a court ruling, not an academic seminar at Berkeley.

This isn’t about equality. This is about recreating our fundamental institutions.

Yep.

This is from a CBO report (PDF):

One impact of rising debt is that increased government borrowing tends to crowd out private investment in productive capital, because the portion of people’s savings used to buy government securities is not available to fund such investment. The result is a smaller capital stock and lower output and incomes in the long run than would otherwise be the case.

The effect of debt on investment can be offset by borrowing from foreign individuals or institutions. But additional inflows of foreign capital also create the obligation for more profits and interest to flow overseas in the future. Thus, although flows of capital into a country can help maintain domestic investment, most of the gains from that additional investment do not accrue to the residents.

Which, of course, is what I’ve been pointing out – each dollar borrowed by Uncle Sam is a dollar not available for private enterprise. Thus, less money available to start or expand companies, develop new products, hire new workers. Worse than that, the money borrowed by government has to be paid back by the tax payer with interest – so, not only do we have less money now, we’ll have even less money in the future.

Added to this is the fact that by having foreigners finance a great deal of our national debt, we have become forced – in a very real sense – to turn our mining, manufacturing and farming capacity over to them in order to give them the means of earning the profits with which to finance our debt. That factory an American used to work at? Its in China now so that Uncle Sam could borrow money in order to continue to finance such things as the Department of Labor.

The ultimate solution to this is to balance our budget, pay off our debt and then forbid the United States government from issuing bonds. They are ultimately destructive of American prosperity and American liberty. Balancing the budget won’t be easy – heck, why sugar-coat it? It will be extraordinarily painful – but it must be done.

Starting with a 25% across-the-board spending cut, plus selective shut downs of agencies not tasked with national defense, law enforcement, health care and direct aid to the poor (to make it clear to you liberals – most of what is done at Energy, Labor, Education and Commerce will have to go). If that doesn’t prove enough to balance the budget, then we’ll have to go for tax increases – yes, even in a recession.

Once balanced (and thus on the path to paying off the debt), we forbid the issuance of new debt and start living within our means. We do that, and we’ll rather swiftly return to being an economic power house as debt no longer soaks up America’s wealth…and as foreigners fall all over themselves to park their money in the one global economy not at risk of default.

This will hurt. A lot. But we Americans have gone through worse times in the past and if we come together and help each other out we can do this. And, we must do this – it is get our house in order, or perish as a nation. It is really that serious.

From Rasmussen:

…A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 67% of Political Class voters believe the United States is generally heading in the right direction. However, things look a lot different to Mainstream Americans. Among these voters, 84% say the country has gotten off on the wrong track…

This is just an astounding poll result – it shows so very clearly the disconnect between rulers and ruled. With $13 trillion in federal debt, unemployment above 9%, taxes set to rise massively next year, things getting rougher in Afghanistan – just where is there an indicator of things going in the right direction? And yet, the Ruling Class thinks things are just going swell!

I think they must simply be blind to reality. This is actually ok – it means they won’t effectively counter us, and the look of shock on their faces on November 2nd will be priceless.

That is how the vote in Missouri is going (scroll down to bottom) so far against ObamaCare’s mandates.

Ah, another good day to be a Republican. Wonder how our Democrats are feeling?

Latest Sharron Angle ad:

Tell us again, Democrats, how border security is racist:

The Virginia man suspected in a drunken-driving crash that killed a Catholic nun in Prince William County this weekend is an illegal immigrant and repeat offender who was awaiting deportation and who federal immigration authorities had released pending further proceedings, police said Monday…

The man has been arrested, before. The man is supposed to be deported. So, what does our federal government do? Let him go. They let him GO!!! That is what is wrong – the failure to enforce the laws; the failure to protect the American people. Had the government done its job, then Sister Denise Mosier would still be alive – as would so many other people around the country over the years.

How many people have been murdered, raped, beaten and robbed by criminals among the ranks of the illegals? Think about it – you’ve seen the stories over the years, and how many of them had some sort of information indicating the perpetrator had prior run-ins with the law? And its not just us – the illegals, themselves, suffer from the criminal element. How many poor, foreign people have been murdered, raped, beaten and robbed by the criminals who control our border because we refuse to?

I don’t care if the wall has to cover every inch of border and if it has to be 100 feet high and electrified – whatever it takes to secure the border, must be done. Its not racist – it is basic justice; it is the basic task of government, that of protecting the innocent…and all of you out there who in any way, shape or form consider the move for border security to be racist, then the blood of the innocents is on your hands, too – because you choose to live a political lie rather than advocate for what is simply the right thing to do.

From Heritage:

Many state leaders are lobbying the Senate to extend the Medicaid bailout enacted in the February 2009 stimulus bill. While several attempts by Senate leaders to extend the bailout have failed, it will be brought to the floor again on Monday, this time bundled with additional spending on education.

Talk about throwing good money after bad.

For both Medicaid and education funding, a continued bailout would disproportionately benefit the most irresponsible states and would allow them to delay taking the steps they must to live within their means…

While bailing out Medicare seems, on the face of it, an honorable and charitable thing to do, the fact of the matter is that if you give an irresponsible State money to cover that, it frees up funds for them to continue their irresponsibility elsewhere. After all, what State legislature or governor will want to cut State funds to Medicare? So, faced between Medicare cuts and cuts to worthless pork, the States would be forced to cut the worthless pork – unless Uncle Sugar comes to the rescue.

All government budgets are bloated with things not vital to the safety and liberty of the American people. From the tiniest town council to the federal government, there are things which can be cut and the only people who would miss them are grafting politicians and special interests living off the public dime. To bail out any part of the system just perpetuates the problem.

It is time for government to live within its means – to figure out how much money they really expect to have next year, and make the budget fit that amount. We’re heading off a cliff of financial irresponsibility and we’ve only got a couple years left to pull back from it – we should start right here and right now: no bail outs for the States.

From Rasmussen:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 46% of Likely Voters would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate, while 38% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Support for Republicans held steady from last week, while support for Democrats inched up two points.

That “inch up” of two points seems to have been detected by other pollsters and is being used for comment-fodder: the story is that Democrats have stopped the bleeding and can now recover a bit. I doubt it – anything is possible, but for there to be a shift back to the Democrats there would have to be some very good news about the nation as a whole, or some very bad news about the GOP. Neither of these things have happened, so I figure that the slight rise in Democrat numbers is just a statistical blip.

Time will tell in these matters, but the longer it takes for any good news to emerge for Democrats, the less likely it is they will recover even modestly by November. Meanwhile, more people now blame Obama for the economy than blame President Bush.