In line with a comment by our brother Jeremiah:

Avoid evil practices; indeed, preach against them. Hear your bishop, that God may hear you. Work together in harmony,: struggle together, run together, suffer together, rest together, rise together, as stewards, advisors and servants of God. So be patient and gentle with one another, as God is with you.

— St. Ignatius of Antioch

But not necessarily for the reasons Obama did it:

In one of his first major decisions on trade policy, President Obama opted Friday to impose a tariff on tires from China, a move that fulfills his campaign promise to “crack down” on imports that unfairly undermine American workers but risks angering the nation’s second-largest trading partner.

The decision is intended to bolster the ailing U.S. tire industry, in which more than 5,000 jobs have been lost over the past five years as the volume of Chinese tires in the market has tripled.

It comes at a sensitive time, however. Leaders from the world’s largest economies are preparing to gather in Pittsburgh in less than two weeks to discuss more cooperation amid tensions over trade.

The tire tariff will amount to 35 percent the first year, 30 percent the second and 25 percent the third.

Although a federal trade panel had recommended higher levies — of 55, 45 and 35 percent, respectively — the decision is considered a victory for the United Steelworkers union, which filed the trade complaint.

I’d have imposed the tariff simply because we shouldn’t be trading with China – once upon a time, I was a free trader. Now I’m a Freedom Trader – free trade between all free peoples; no trade at all with tyrants who enslave their own people. What I’d like to see happen is a ten year period of adjustment where US tariffs on Chinese goods are made progressively higher until China is priced out of the US market – ditto with any other tyrannical regime, most especially those tyrannical regimes which export oil to the United States (yes, it’d be difficult – and costly – but worth it, in the long run…of course, we’d also need a President willing to exploit our own oil resources to fill part of the gap…). Why should our fine marketplace be sullied with the sweat of slaves, and the profits of beastly government thugs?

Obama, unfortunately, is doing this just to placate yet another union – in this case, the United Steelworkers. Much better if Obama had used some spendulus money to provide tax easements for tire manufacturers … and perhaps make new or expanded tire factories tax free for the next five years or so. But, still, it all works out towards what I want done…so, bravo, Mr. President.

Of an alleged suicide:

The man federal prosecutors pressured to cooperate in the corruption probe of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich died of an apparent aspirin overdose on Saturday, law enforcement sources said.

Christopher Kelly, 51, of Burr Ridge, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 10:46 a.m. An autopsy is scheduled for today, a Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman said.

OD on aspirin? I know its possible, but who in heck would think of offing himself with aspirin?

I smell a big, Chicago rat…

Have at it – I’ll post updates as I can over the events of the day. As I set this post in the schedule, I don’t know what will happen…massive expressions of defiance by free people, or a fizzle? God only knows, and so I leave it in His hands.

UPDATE: Its looks like a very good turn out: Vodkapundit gets this from Stacey McCain:

Stacy McCain just called in with a bunch more protest signs spotted on The Mall:

Congress are you foolish enough to bet against our vote in 2010?

If you’re not outraged you’re not paying taxes.

Obamanomics – our dollars, no sense, trickle up poverty.

2009 Intolerable Acts – Cap & Trade, Bailouts, Obamacare.

Stace also talked to Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) who said he feels today’s “strong turnout will make a difference. Congress will listen.”

There were also chants of “nah nah nah, hey hey hey.” Aimed at Congress, I assume…

…a Navy vet’s sign which read, “Pelosi Reid & Obama – Three Stooges and Two Boobs.”

UPDATE II: Joe Wilson takes in $750,000.00 in 48 hours…speaking bluntly apparently has its rewards. I’ll keep that in mind.

UPDATE III: Some MSM coverage – though they are, no doubt, doing their best to bury it as much as possible:

…The line of protesters completely filled Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. People were chanting “enough, enough” and “We the People.” Others yelled “You lie, you lie!” and “Pelosi has to go,” referring to California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

Some men are dressed in colonial costumes with tri-colored hats, and others were holding signs saying “Go Green Recycle Congress,” “Thank You Joe Wilson,” “Legalize The Constitution,” and “I’m Not Your ATM.”

One organizer at the event estimates that there were about 50,000 attendees at about 10 a.m., but as many as 100,000 are expected. Pennsylvania Avenue was completely blocked by demonstrators by 11 a.m.

UPDATE IV: How many are there? Seems like it might be a million…I would have been thrilled with 100,000. That this many people can gather in an entirely grass roots effort is astounding. The Revolution has begun, and God bless it.

UPDATE V: Mason Weaver quoted: “I came here because I thought you might want to hear a black man speak without a teleprompter.”

UPDATE VI: Two million?

Up to two million march to US Capitol to protest against Obama’s spending in ‘tea-party’ demonstration

Bottom line: one heck of a lot of people showed up. This movement isn’t going away.

UPDATE VII: Time lapsed video of the crowd. And it seems that our good patriots didn’t leave a mess…you know, like Obamaniacs did on January 20th. This is the largest political event since King’s March.

UPDATE VIII: How many?

Charlie Martin — a computer scientist with extensive intelligence experience — emails from his secret bunker near Boulder, CO:

I did a back-of-envelope based on the photos and reports. A pretty dense crowd is about 1.8 people per square meter, and the National Mall alone is about 125 hectares, 1.25 million square meters. So that would be 2.3 million people.

Given the report from Steve of an actual literal count of 450K early on, I think the 2 million number is *very* plausible.

Knowing Charlie like I do, I’m inclined to trust his guestimates more than most people’s “facts.

UPDATE IX: Took me by surprise, too:

…the magnitude of the rally took the authorities by surprise…

…Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation — the last arguments to which kings resort…

…Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer.

Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament.

Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope.

If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! …

They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed… Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?

Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. …millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard…

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!” — but there is no peace. …What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

Patrick Henry – March 23, 1775

Don’t forget, today is the day when we start to really put the pressure on the liberals who are out to destroy our nation. If you are within 4 hours of DC, your duty is clear – get over there and do your part.

The story:

The owners of Stella D’oro, the longtime Bronx Italian cookie and breadstick baker, said Wednesday they have sold the company – and its operations will be moving to Ohio by the end of the month.

Some 150 union and other plant workers will be out on the street.

“What are we going to do?” said a tearful Sara Rodriguez, a single mother of two who has worked as a supervisor at the Kingsbridge bakery for 11 years. “There’s nothing to do.”

Lance Inc., maker of Toastchee snacks, bought the company from Brynwood Partners, a Connecticut-based private equity firm, for an undisclosed sum.

Union workers went through a bitter strike that began last year after Brynwood, which bought Stella D’oro from Kraft Foods in 2006, demanded sharp cuts in wages and benefits.

Brynwood told the 136 members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union they’d shut down otherwise.

The strike ended in July when a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Brynwood had negotiated in bad faith with Local 50 and ordered it to pay lost wages and benefits. Brynwood then said it would have to sell the firm.

This shows how amazingly obtuse unions can be – a collapsing economy is not the time to engage in an all-or-nothing strike. Now there won’t be any wages or benefits – there will be no jobs at this firm, run by money managers who only care about quarterly profits. The new owners will set up shop, elsewhere, likely with less-expensive labor and make the same product at a higher profit. Its a win for consumers, its a win for rich people – it seems a big loss for these blue collar workers, shoved off an economic cliff by their idiot union.

What to do? The union is pledging to fight on, but I can’t see what they will actually do – are they going to try to get a court order prohibiting the shut down of the firm? I can’t see how they’ll have any success at this. On the other hand, there is much that can be done.

Now, the only thing the workers lost was an employer who wanted to pay them as little as possible – and they’ve also lost the equipment they used to make the products. But they are still the people who made the products – which, by the way, are apparently quite prized by New Yorkers as a friend of mine originally from that area asked my wife to pick up a couple packs of the cookies when she visited New York earlier this year. They can’t use that particular brand name – but they can make the very same cookies and there can be a name which will speak to what the product is…that it will be the “real thing” as opposed to the replacement stuff being made in Ohio.

What I’m saying is that these workers can start to do it on their own. Oh, they’ll need help – and if we were really trying to stimulate the economy, it is to people like them we’d give the money to…if they show willing to put their own sweat equity in to making it work. Its all about making, mining and growing things – and its all about the average folks taking charge of their own destiny. These people are not destitute – they don’t have money, but they have their skills, which are of a high order in their field. Its like taking away the stadium and equipment from the New England Patriots – they are still the Patriots and they can still play football. Get it?

These people have to stop being union workers and start being free workers – workers who take charge of their own and do it for themselves. No crawling after a union or corporate boss to pretty please give some crumbs…no: free men and women making their own wealth and then using it as they see fit. This is the grandest opportunity of their life, if they’ll only seize the moment.

HAT TIP: Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis

Typical of modern, liberal politics:

Sam Lieberman, Chairman of the Nevada Democrat Party, filed a complaint today with the FEC (which stands for Federal Election Commission, and that is actually VERY relevant to this matter as you’ll find out in the days to come) in an effort to shut down the Dump Reid PAC.

Please go here to Jon Ralston’s blog and read the complaint in its entirety. And pay particular attention to “Attachment A.”

Unfortunately, lawyers are now involved, so I have to get clearance before I can respond officially. However, let me say just a few things.

1.) This complaint is bull-$#%&.

2.) Sam Lieberman isn’t allowed to break wind without first getting permission from Harry Reid. So make no mistake, this is the Majority Leader of the United States Senate trying to shut down political speech by American citizens.

3.) Reid might win. He might actually have the law on his side on one trivial aspect of the complaint, and all we have on our side is the Constitution. Unfortunately, in this day and age that’s not enough. Just ask Susette Kelo.

Stay tuned. And keep a copy of the Reid/Lieberman complaint handy. Unless I’m forced to “lawyer up” because we don’t have the money to fight Dingy Harry in court over this, my response is gonna be a DOOZY!

Signed,

Citizen Muth

We can see Reid’s plan – silence voices speaking the truth about his actions, and work the system to try and get the most milquetoast GOPer possible to run against next year. Muth has pledged to fight hard against this, and I wish him well.

Andrew Sullivan was busted for pot, and his case is getting some odd treatment:

As one journalist commented, and I paraphrase him, Sullivan has backed the Obama stimulus, and universal health care, becoming what this man calls “a shameless publicist for the administration.” Another journalist spoke to a friend who works in the office of the U.S. Attorney, and got this response from one of the attorneys:

The judge is spot on. In fact, these sorts of misdemeanors are typically handled by 3rd yr. law students, detailees from main Justice, or the new guy on the totem pole, with no review by meaningful scrutiny by senior management. This sort of treatment is nothing short of extraordinary. All criminal charges go through screening by management, but misdemeanors don’t get attention, except to see if there’s a potential felony. This is paradigmatic of special pleading–and successful.

Finally, one journalist quipped: “As for the potential sentence: ‘The maximum penalty upon conviction of the offense is a fine of $5,000, six months imprisonment, a $25 processing fee and a $10 special assessment.’ The $25 processing fee strikes me as excessive.” I would add the $10 special assessment.

Lesson learned: if you’ll shill for the left, especially if you’re still considered by State-run media to be conservative, then you’ll find all sorts of doors opened for you. Welcome to Chicago politics, America.

Geesh:

One day after two ACORN officials in Baltimore were fired for offering to help a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute to engage in child prostitution and a series of tax crimes, another secretly shot videotape has surfaced that shows the same couple getting similar advice from ACORN officers in Washington.

The newly released videotape, shot on July 25, shows ACORN staffers explaining to the pair how they can hide the woman’s professed work — prostitution — and get a loan that will help them establish a brothel.

James O’Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as the pimp while visiting the ACORN office, accompanied by 20-year-old Hannah Giles, who posed as the prostitute. On a videotape provided to FOXNews.com, they are seen receiving guidance to establish the woman as the sole proprietor of a bogus company to mask the nature of her business.

“She’s not going to put on (the loan application) that she’s doing prostitution … she doesn’t have to,” the ACORN staffer says. “You don’t have to sit back and tell people what you do.”

And all this ACORN criminality is just what people are catching. What would we find if we appointed a special prosecutor to look in to this, rather than absurd allegations of torture by the CIA? Of course, Obama’s Administration will never agree to such an investigation – too many people high up in Obama circles will probably be caught in the net.

All we can do right now is keep the pressure on and hope that we do win a House majority next year – and then we can start airing the full truth of leftwing crime in the United States.

UPDATE: Census Bureau terminates relationship with ACORN. This is good news, but I do wonder how many ACORN crooks the Administration will still force in to the census count? Obama and his Democrats are desperate to cook the books for redistricting – un-cooked books, you see, would lead to losses in Democrat-heavy areas. Can’t have that, you know? I mean, my goodness – a fair count and we might get more Republicans in Congress!

UPDATE II: ACORN’s take? Its all racism:

We believe our country is beyond this type of attack and call on all Americans to demand that FOX stop its racist coverage.

ACORN can take this charge and shove it where the sun don’t shine – and I, for one, pledge myself to unremitting war against ACORN and its criminal enterprises.