Not only has Obama made no plans to visit  Rhode Island, but his FEMA director isn’t visiting either.

Speaking to a Democratic fundraiser in Boston, President Barack Obama corrected himself, acknowledging that the director of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), schedule to be in Orlando, would not be going to flood-ravaged Rhode Island.

“And tomorrow, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and FEMA director — FEMA Deputy Administrator Rich Serino, who is a Boston native, by the way — will be visiting Rhode Island to tour some of the hardest hit areas and make sure that we are doing everything we can,” the president told the crowd at the Democratic National Committee fundraising event in Boston

So, the FEMA director is in sunny Florida, and Obama  is, raising money for his party, I guess Rhode Island isn’t a big priority for him

A sick society has imported elements of an even sicker society – and this is what we get:

Germany’s Jewish community on Monday warned of an “alarming” rise in anti-Semitic violence by Arab and Turkish immigrants after Berlin police reported two unrelated attacks against Jews at the weekend.

“There’s an urgent need to fight the roots of anti-Semitism, especially coming from young Turks and Arabs, and to effectively counter it,” the Jewish Community in Berlin said in a statement.

“That the violence from the immigrant community is being increasingly aimed at Jews or people they assume are Jews is alarming,” it added. A sensitive issue in Germany because of its Nazi past, even relatively minor reports of anti-Semitic violence make the news.

Police reported at the weekend that two women and a man were beaten, struck on the head with beer bottles and insulted by a gang of immigrants in an underground station.

Local media reports said the three were first asked if they were Jewish. The attack started after they said yes. Police said they were searching for the assailants.

And its not like Germany is chock full of Jews these days – only about 118,000 out of a population of nearly 82 million. It takes a bit of effort for someone to find a Jew to oppress in Germany.

People have got in to the habit in some quarters of thinking that the Jews are safe – that Israel is so powerful that Jews no longer need fear for their overall safety. But here’s something to chew on – more than 80% of the world’s Jewish population lives in just two countries: the United States and Israel (split about evenly between the two nations). Such a concentration does indicate a continuing fear – and, as we can see, the fear is based upon a real threat.

A crucial test for the world is in how Jews fare. Where Jews feel safe, everyone can feel safe – where Jews are under threat, everyone is under threat. The disgusting rise of anti-Semitism – propelled by Islamism, but more and more being picked up by the political left in the West – is an indicator of the ill-health of societies. An indicator of societies which are under extreme crisis of one form or another.

The existential crisis of Europe is their moral collapse as evidenced by their looming demographic catastrophe. For Islam, it is the unwillingness of the ruling class to countenance a relaxation of political tyranny and the permitting of religious pluralism. For both, it is easier to lash out at a minority than to deal with the real issues.

Until these people face the truth and start acting accordingly, Jews will continue to be under threat – and, likely, an increasing threat. And this is why, in turn, the United States must show partiality towards Israel. Its not over religion – though some of our Evangelical brothers hold it so – but over the simple need to provide a bulwark for a people who would be otherwise exterminated.

We here in the United States pass the test – though there are some (and some in power) who would prefer we failed it. But the basic health of our society gives us the strength to stand where others fall – and gives us the hope that by our precept and example, the rest of the world will eventually follow suit.

On this day when we Christians celebrate our risen Lord, I wish to extend my best wishes to all. In the spirit of the time, I beg forgiveness for any thing I have done which caused any harm in any way – and I forgive all who may have, at times, held ungenerous opinions of me.

This is also the first anniversary of my father’s death, as well as the 42nd anniversary of the murder of Martin Luther King. Melancholy things to think about, but as both men were Christians, a time to also recall the hope both of them had for the life of the world to come. There are so many open invitations to despair in our world, it is good at times to consider those who have gone before us – and to tap in to the faith they showed, right up to the end.

God bless all of you – I wish you all happiness and a life freed from all anxiety.

Yeah, that “recovery” is just humming right along:

More Americans filed for bankruptcy protection in March than during any month since the federal personal bankruptcy law was tightened in October 2005, a new report says, a result of high unemployment and the housing crash.

Federal courts reported over 158,000 bankruptcy filings in March, or 6,900 a day, a rise of 35 percent from February, according to a report to be released on Friday by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, a data collection company known as Aacer. Filings were up 19 percent over March 2009. The previous record over the last five years was 133,000 in October.

Long term unemployment is rising and housing continues to wallow in depression. Its natural that a lot of people are just giving a heave-ho to the whole concept of debt and looking for a fresh start. I’m not filing for bankruptcy, but I am – as they put it – “de-leveraging”. I’m banking money and getting rid of debt and as long as I live, I’ll never borrow for anything other than a house. No more credit cards; no more installment loans, no more auto loans – nothing. If I can save for it and buy it, then I’ll get it – if I can’t, then I won’t.

But the poor people who are really caught in a bind – they pretty much have to file for bankruptcy. No dishonor, in my view, on that. Time to clear up the books, dump the bad assets and start all over again.

Our only problem is that our government hasn’t learned the lesson – easy money got us in to this mess, and government’s answer is to pour even more easy money in to the economy in the hopes that poison will cure disease.

A poll has some eye-openers:

Since December, The Winston Group has conducted telephone surveys of thousands of registered voters and just this week released an analysis of its findings: that 17 percent of registered voters consider themselves a part of the Tea Party movement, and that they – like voters overall – are deeply concerned about the economy and jobs as we head toward the 2010 election.

The conventional wisdom about the Tea Party has not yet settled on any one definitive portrayal of the movement, but the data tell a fascinating story – over four out of 10 self-identified Tea Party members aren’t Republican, and a third don’t consider themselves conservative. They tend to be older than the voters on the whole, tend to come from middle-income households, and are slightly more likely to be male than the overall electorate.

But what truly sets the Tea Party apart from even Republicans or conservatives broadly is its commitment to economic conservatism. Tea Party members, like voters overall, are very focused on the economy and jobs; some 36 percent say it is their top issue. Yet while only 6 percent of voters overall say that the national deficit and spending are their top issues, that number spikes to 21 percent among Tea Party members.(emphasis added)

Just in the nature of things, a lot of TEA Party activists are Republicans – but not all. Just in the nature of things, a lot of TEA Party activists are conservative – but not all. It is not what the MSM-DNC talking points want everyone to believe about it. It is truly grass-roots, and bedrock American.

What is really curious about the TEA Party movement is that they’ve turned the left’s greatest asset – the television camera – against it. The left lives on simple (even simplistic) narratives which are boosted by emotional video depictions of events. Back when the left first started to use this medium- during Vietnam – it worked like a charm, and the MSM went along with it (even helping to stage events for strongest emotional appeal on television). As long as the video message was controlled by just a few outfits in tune with the left, all was well. As soon as the new media came about, that all got wiped out.

The left desperately wants the TEA Party activists to be painted as hate-filled racists with a propensity for violence. Back in the day, they could have done that – pick out the one or two kooks in the group, highlight them and, presto!, the whole group is now kooky in the public mind. This doesn’t work when (a) there really aren’t any kooks who are genuine members of the movement and (b) there are plenty of independent video outlets to ensure any attempt at falsification is swiftly exposed (the spitting and N-word accusation would have destroyed the TEA Party even ten years ago…but it was so quickly proven false that there wasn’t time for the leftist narrative to gain traction).

But the left still wants its simplistic narrative – so even if the slanders aren’t working, they’ll at least keep up the drumbeat that its just a fringe, conservative group astro-turfed in to existence by nefarious GOP operatives. This comforts leftists – it allows them to pretend that it won’t amount to much in November.

But if the TEA Party is actually representing an increasingly broad spectrum of the American electorate – and is moving that electorate in a conservative-libertarian direction, then the left has a massive problem on its hands. It’ll be very interesting to see how all this comes out.

Have at it, boys and girls – I’ve got Easter stuff to do; I might be able to update a bit today, but it also might end up being just this.

Interesting:

They are not typical Tea Party activists: A woman who voted for President Obama and believes he’s a “phenomenal speaker.” Another who said she was a “knee-jerk, bleeding heart liberal.”

These two women are not alone.

Some Americans who say they have been sympathetic to Democratic causes in the past — some even voted for Democratic candidates — are angry with President Obama and his party. They say they are now supporting the Tea Party — a movement that champions less government, lower taxes and the defeat of Democrats even though it’s not formally aligned with the Republican Party.

Naturally, the number of Democrats in the TEA Party movement is small – but it is telling, all the same.

This is supposed to be the grand time for Democrats – holding the White House and very strong Congressional majorities, this should be the best time of a Democrat’s life. It isn’t. The promise of Obama has proven a bit hollow – while the promise of the Democrat Congress has turned in to a nightmare.

In the end, the vast majority of Democrats will fall in behind their party – but “vast majority” can mean a lot of things. The vast majority of Republicans swung in behind McCain in 2008…unfortunately, a very large number of them also stayed home, and a small percentage actually cast their votes for Obama. Its not that Democrats won’t get 90% of Democratic voters…but if the number of Democrats drops three or four million from the 2008 level, then even a 99% vote by Democrats for Democrats will be a crushing defeat.

Outside of the possible effects on November’s vote, it is encouraging to see some Democrats join the TEA Party. After all, any true American will always be wary of government power – you can want a trillion dollars spent on welfare without necessarily wanting Uncle Sam in charge of it.

The more the TEA Party diversifies, the stronger it becomes. What I saw in Searchlight last week was a large cross-section of Americans from different areas of the political spectrum, all united in their dismay over the course of government. The more of this, the better for America.

This just knocks the whole narrative in to a cocked hat:

Most of the indicted militia members accused of being anti-government extremists have active voting records, a check with area voter registration offices showed yesterday.

One is a registered Democrat, and the party affiliations of the rest could not be determined.

Jacob J. Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio, voted as a Democrat in the 2004 and 2008 primary elections. He also voted in 10 other elections since 2000. Party affiliation in Ohio is determined by which party’s ballot they requested in the most recent primary election.

Think about it: would a conservative ever think of shooting the cops? We’re the guys with all the “back the badge” bumper stickers. Stands to reason that if there’s someone out there targeting the police, it is highly unlikely to be one of us.

This will be inconvenient for liberals who are eager to conflate this militia-kook group with the TEA Party and larger conservative movement. In their narrative, we conservatives simmer on the edge of violence – our hatred of government stoked by having a black man in charge and we’re just an ace away from exploding in a violent rage.

The reality is, of course, that we don’t hate the government – we hate what some people in the government are doing and we want them to stop. We want to restore our government to its proper powers and functions. Think of it like this – a great number of us once upon a time swore an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That is all we’re really doing, now.

Screwballs don’t like the Constitution. It gets in the way. It limits the power of government, but it also prevents kooks from running roughshod over everyone in pursuit of their aims. It prohibits government idiots from taking our guns – but it also prohibits anti-government idiots from using guns to overthrow the government. Its the best of both worlds – when it is rigorously adhered to.

And that is all we want – the Constitution, rigorously adhered to.

They really have no shame:

A handful of liberal groups — but only a few dozen protesters — marched on the Republican National Committee offices Thursday to denounce the threats against members of Congress during the health care vote…

…The main message of the liberal groups was that the RNC and Republican leaders in the House and Senate should more actively target individuals engaging in violence and racism nationwide and denounce it publicly.

The groups involved are MoveOn, Color of Change and CREDO. We need not spend time on MoveOn as that group is will known for its nastiness – but what of Color of Change and CREDO?

Well, Color of Change is a Katrina “truther” outfit co-founded by Van Jones. Yes, that Van Jones – the communist Obama was forced to toss under the bus.

As for CREDO, their “final four” for “the most malevolent forces in American politics” are Fox News, TEA Party, Mitch McConnell and Blackwater.

You get the picture – the kookiest of the kook left. And here they come, demanding apologies for things which didn’t happen. It wouldn’t be bad if it was just the kook left – but they are taking their cue from the Democrat leadership (or the Democrat leadership is taking theirs from them).

A toxic brew has been made – and it was made by the Democrats because they wanted to beat President Bush in 2004 and figured that his stature had to be brought down by attacking the mainspring of his popularity – his conduct of the War on Terrorism. For the narrowest of political ends, Democrats have unleashed on the American body politic the paranoid ravings of the worst of the left.

If you go about making accusations that the NSA’s signals intelligence program is “domestic spying”. If you back up the false claims of a mountebank about his trip to Niger. If you watch Fahrenheit 9/11 and aren’t immediately disgusted by its dishonesty. If you do this sort of thing, then you’ll eventually get leftist groups marching on the RNC to complain about things which never happened – which only happened in the sick minds of leftist activists.

And now the Democrats are stuck – if they denounce these kooks, they’ll look like fools and suffer losses on the left. If they don’t denounce them, then centrist will be increasingly turned off. Caught between a rock and a hard place – and if they had just been honest, it never would have happened.

No surprise at all:

I received many emails on Friday and this weekend about the data published here showing that on average Democratic districts are getting almost twice the amount of stimulus money than Republican districts. Republican districts also received smaller awards on average. The average dollars awarded per Republican district is $260,675,663, while the average dollars awarded per Democratic district is $471,533,539.

And per capita it is $692 for Democrats, $362 for Republicans. It is the tax money of all the Americans, but Democrats view it as money to reward their own.

This is, unfortunately, all too typical of Democrats – and it goes back a long way. During WWI, President Wilson tried very hard to impound the entire war effort in favor of the Democrats. To Democrat leaders, our nation is a piggy bank for Democrats, not a shared mission.