From the Los Angeles Times:

Obama administration encouraged by steady unemployment rate

After the snow job from the government about how a couple days of bad weather would cause unemployment to look worse than it did we can now be certain that no one in the Obama Administration has the first clue (you have to lose a whole week’s pay before you’re classed as unemployed and thus show up in the stats – a “snow day” doesn’t cut it) about our economy – but just in case anyone out there still held out hope for economic rationality, we’ve not got them “encouraged” that 9.7% is still the official (with the real rate increasing to 16.8%).

BREAKING NEWS:

Well, our liberals immediately jumped to his defense and were quite angry with us for being so mean to this poor, innocent man who was only leaving office because he’s dying of cancer.

Well, not quite:

Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) will resign Monday at 5pm, a source close to the embattled incumbent tells Hotline OnCall.

Massa has been pressured by House Dems to step aside amid an ethics controversy that caused him to announce earlier this week he would not run for a second term.

Earlier this week, the House ethics committee confirmed it was looking in to allegations against Massa. Those allegations reportedly include sexual harassment of a member of the Congressman’s staff.

Massa’s decision to retire came as a surprise to both parties. While he said his decision was based on a recurrence of cancer, the ethics committee investigation made Dems push him out the door.

If his fellow Democrats are pushing him out the door then it means that this is a very serious case. A few off-color remarks would not have done this.

If you liberals will just read Caucus of Corruption you’ll understand how these things work – and you wouldn’t have fallen for the cover story.

This Democrat-run government really is starting to be like a Greek tragedy:

First-term Rep. Eric Massa announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection, saying his doctors have told him that he can’t continue to “run at 100 miles an hour.”

But several House aides told POLITICO that the House ethics committee has been informed of allegations that the New York Democrat, who is married with two children, made unwanted advances toward a junior male staffer.

A more senior staffer — Ronald Hikel, Massa’s former deputy chief of staff and legislative director — took the complaints to the ethics committee and was interviewed about them twice.

Hikel declined to comment about the situation, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) confirmed that the Democratic leadership had been informed of the allegations before the news broke.

It took the GOP more than ten years to get this caught up in hubris – its taken the Democrats less than four.

While DHS talks up the alleged dangers of us knuckle-dragging Bible-clingers going on a rampage, the real violent screwballs are running loose:

On Thursday, a “9/11 Truth” fanatic named John Patrick Bedell started shooting at the Pentagon and managed to wound two guards before they mercifully put him out of our misery.

We now know that the guy thought the government and the Bush family were behind the 9/11 attacks (or “demolitions” as he called them), and was basically frothing at the mouth with Bush hatred.

Now, I’ve been to innumerable “Truther” rallies over the last 8 years, and can say with some confidence that about 98% of folks who think 9/11 was a hoax are left-wingers, or at the very least fit in very comfortably in the left-wing milieu, since the impetus behind Truthism is to undermine the basis for Bush’s “War on Terror,” an impetus which is also a cornerstone of modern Leftist thought as well.

So far, however, I’ve noticed a deafening quietude on the left-leaning blogs about this guy’s affiliations and belief systems. Those brave enough to troll leftist comments sections have noted mumblings therein that the guy was probably a secret “teabagger,” despite all evidence to the contrary.

Along those lines of blaming the TEA Party – its already happening:

John Patrick Bedell: Did right-wing extremism lead to shooting?

Authorities have identified John Patrick Bedell as the gunman in the Pentagon shooting. He appears to have been a right-wing extremist with virulent antigovernment feelings.

The author of that ties Bedell in with that Stack character who flew his plane in to the IRS building, even though that guy’s suicide note praised Karl Marx. Two leftist screwballs go on a rampage, and the MSM seeks to blame conservatism. Why? Because liberals want it to be that only conservatives are violent.

The truth here is that by praising things like Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and not dropping like a ton of bricks on all those who claimed that Bush lied to get us in to Iraq, liberal leaders have created the stage for these acts.

If you really believe that the government had a hand in 9/11, what would you shrink from? Its time, and high time, for liberal leaders to stop this cycle of lies which they use merely to fire up the base and rake in fat campaign donations. This is becoming criminal.

I wanted to do it, but that was back when Democrats seemed invincible and it looked for a while like no GOPer would seriously challenge Harry Reid. What a difference a year makes, huh? We’ve got a lot of people who want Harry’s job. Here are the three front-runners:

Sue Lowden. A 30 year Nevada resident (and thus, by local standards, almost a native), Lowden has been a television anchorwoman, businesswoman, philanthropist and Chair of the Nevada GOP. Lowden currently leads the crowded GOP field and, in polling, would handily defeat Reid in November.

In health care, Lowden favors the common-sense approach to reform which must include such things as tort reform and insurance portability. Low taxes and spending cuts are favored over the Democrats tax-and-spend insanity. On social issues, Lowden is a pro-life Catholic and a defender of marriage. On national defense, Lowden believes that a strong military is good for America and the world.

Danny Tarkanian. College hoops fans might find that name familiar – Danny is the son of legendary UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian. A resident of Nevada for 37 years, Danny played college basketball and is an attorney, businessman and has parlayed his family name in to the Tarkanian Basketball Academy which teaches kids the values of hard work, team spirit and good sportsmanship.

Tarkanian has actually provided a list of federal budget items ripe for cutting, thus taking the normal GOP program of tax and spending cuts a big step further. Tarkanian is also a supporter of the move to audit the Federal Reserve. Pledged to tax reductions, Tarkanian also favors tort reform, portability and inter-state purchases to help bring health care costs down. Tarkanian is pro-life, strong on the 2nd Amendment and figures that immigrants should present themselves at a US Embassy rather than just waltzing across the border.

Sharron Angle. A resident of Nevada since she was 3, and spent her career in education – including running a small, K-12 Christian school – until politics started to call her in the 1990’s.

A fierce defender of constitutional principle, Angle once sued the Governor of Nevada over his attempts to unconstitutionally raise taxes without the mandated 2/3 majority in the legislature. While that case was lost – thanks to activist judges who simply ignored the law – it marked Angle out as someone to be relied upon whenever government decides to take a short cut. Concerned not so much with the nuts and bolts of what is, after all, an unconstitutional power-grab by Reid’s ObamaCare, Angle is determined to see that the laws – all of them – be enforced in accordance our deepest constitutional principles.

So, there are the top three – I in no way wish to downplay the rest of the candidates, but space only allows a certain number. Any supporters of those candidates are welcome to state their case in the comments. Given that the primary isn’t until June, there is plenty of time for a savvy person to rise – and as such happens, we’ll take a closer look. Meanwhile, any of these three fine Republicans would be massive improvement over Harry Reid – and that is the most important thing: getting rid of Reid.

A Republican dares not sin in the least, while a Democrat…

Now, I don’t know much about the specifics of the allegations leveled against outgoing Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), save that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer knew about them before Massa’s announcement yesterday. So, it seems they are pretty serious. One thing I do know–or pretty much can assume based upon reaction to past such scandals–is that should this Democrat indeed have sexually harassed a male staff member, gay groups will dismiss it, perhaps even celebrate him as some kind of victim.

Yet, if he had had a (R) after his name, well, he’d be defined as some kind of self-hating pervert.

Remember Gerry Studds, the late Massachusetts Congressman who had had in 1973, while a member of the House of Representatives, a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male page? Or Barney Frank who let his lover run a brothel out of his home while he signed off on that pimp’s parking tickets? Or Jim McGreevey? Or Kevin Jennings? They do get a bit better treatment from the gay groups than say do folks like Mark Foley.

It’s not about the behavior, it’s about the partisan affiliation.

And not just on matters sexual – on each and every thing a person can do wrong, a properly liberal person will get a pass from fellow liberals provided he makes the right noises about “social justice” or whatever claptrap it is the left is selling at the moment.

As noted above, Studds was caught abusing a young boy – and was hailed as a hero on the left because he came “out” and became an openly gay Congressman. But also think of Tom DeLay – supposed connections with someone else who broke the law and there are demands for his immediate ouster from Congress…William Jefferson, Democrat, gets caught with the bribe money in his ‘fridge and gets re-elected, without a peep from Democrats about the need to force him out.

As readers of Caucus of Corruption know, this is par for the course with Democrats. And it is why corruption is endemic to the Democrat party, at the moment. For decades the rank-and-file have given their leaders a pass no matter what they did – and so the leaders have just gotten worse and worse, confident that it won’t cost them at the polls.

This is not about Massa. He’s just one in a long line, and is ultimately trivial. What is crucial here is the need to severely punish the Democrats, as a party, for their malfeasance – to take away that which they care most about: their power. If it can be driven home that the actions of people like Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel – and Eric Massa – played a big role in costing them their majority, it will be good for the Democrats and good for America.

America needs a government which can be at least mostly relied upon to do the right thing for the people. As it stands right now, the only thing we can rely upon with our Democrats is that they’ll sell any thing to any one and to heck with the people. It is time for real change – and November is coming fast.

At Trenton, in 1776, some of Washington’s men marched barefoot in the snow. At Spotsylvania, in 1864, Lee and Grant’s men fought hand to hand, in the rain, for 18 hours. At Tarawa, in 1943, the Marines waded through neck-deep water in the face of Japanese machine guns in order to get to shore. In 1950, General Walker issued a “stand or die” order to his 8th Army in Korea – and plenty of them did die, but they also stood.

Why did these men do that? For more than two centuries American fighting men (and, these days, fighting women) have willingly gone in to the very worst places imaginable and won victories against all odds. Why?

Did they do it so that we could have a bloated Department of Veterans Affairs with a backlog of nearly 1,000,000 claims cases? Did they do it so that fat cat bankers could be bailed out by middle class taxpayers? Did they do it so that our factories could be shipped to China by a collusion of government and business short-sightedness and corruption?

Were they laying down their lives so that terrorists could get Miranda rights? For that matter, were they sacrificing so that criminals could get off on a technicality? Was their blood shed so that in academia, media and the political left their nation – and their sacrifice – could be slandered at will? Were the noblest sacrifices of youth given so that wastrels could sit around collecting government money?

No – they fought and they sacrificed so that their people, we Americans, could be free. Free not to debase ourselves or become the lazy, kept serfs of the super-State – but free to live our dreams, and work hard, and sacrifice in our own turn so that this last, best hope for Man on earth would be preserved. They died that we might live. And what have we done with their sacrifice? Think for a moment of some poor son of our land whose life blood pours out at Yorktown, Gettysburg, Normandy or Pleiku…his life is just slipping away, his family will never see him again; he is giving his all for you…have you lived up to that sacrifice? Have any of us?

This is the test we are given, the task we must perform. They gave their all for a vision of America – for the Founder’s vision. Those words written on paper in 1776 in our Declaration of Independence and in 1787 in our Constitution are what they were defending – and it is, then, up to us to ensure that those ideals are maintained and given their full life in our lives and in our government. If we will not fight for the America they died for, then we are cheating them, and we would be justly damned before history and all decent men and women if we failed in this trust.

We’ve been slack. We’ve let a lot of things slip. We’ve been too quiet – though we are now waking up. But, beware! The siren song of sleep is being spun out – there are those, still, who warn us not to be too ardent. After all, we might offend someone and you know how bad that would be…they want us quieted, again. And some of them claim to be on our side! The whole power structure of money and politics is dependent upon us betraying America, and betraying those patriots who gave their all.

We dare not do that – we must fight, and we must be willing to give our all in this cause of American liberty. If not now, when? If not us, who?

Cross Posted: Noonan for Nevada

Its just “time for a change”…after 40 years in politics:

Representative William Delahunt will not seek re-election to Congress, the seven-term Democrat will announce tomorrow, ending a nearly 40-year career in elected office and giving Republicans hope of capturing the seat, which stretches from Cape Cod to the South Shore.

“It’s got nothing to do with politics,” the Quincy Democrat said today. “Life is about change. I think it’s healthy. It’s time.”

Didn’t want to get healthy 20 years ago, huh?

The DemocRats are abandoning the sinking ship…

Anyone out there feel proud that these are fellow Americans?

Students carried out raucous rallies on college campuses nationwide Thursday in protests against deep education cuts that turned violent as demonstrators threw punches and ice chunks in Wisconsin and blocked university gates and smashed car windows in California.

At least 15 protesters were detained by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee police after as many as 150 students gathered at the student union then moved to an administrative building to deliver petitions to the school chancellor.

University spokesman Tom Luljak said campus police allowed one person inside, But when she emerged, she encouraged everyone to rush the building, he said…

A bunch of irresponsible, whining, little brats – absolutely disgusting.

Here we are, locked in the worst economy in 75 years with State and local budgets overburdened and what do our privileged children do? Go on a rampage because they might have to pay a bit more for education.

Cry me a frickin’ river, you little twits.

Guess what? Its time for you to sacrifice. Maybe you’ll have to leave college for a year or two to earn some money to complete your education. Maybe you’ll have to work hard to get ahead – and just maybe you’ll learn to be grateful for the mere fact of being an American.

Every last one of these young cretins should be expelled and never, ever allowed to set foot on campus again – fill their spots with people who will be grateful for the chance at higher education.

UPDATE: The little morons can’t even spell correctly on their protest signs. We’re supposed to spend more money on 20-something illiterates? Sorry, but if you can’t spell right by college age, I’m not ponying up for remedial education…

UPDATE II: Moe Lane also feels expulsion is the best answer.

I was thinking the other about the problem this country faces with rabid partisanship. In my opinion, the way things are now is not how the Founding Fathers envisioned things to be.

Federalist Paper #10 warned of the problems of “factions” or political parties would have in our system of representative democracy. While it was believed our government could tame them, clearly it has not.

I’ve been wondering what could be done to usher in an era of bipartisanship — genuine bipartisanship — and thought maybe one way would be to go back to the original way the President and Vice-President were elected prior to the 12th Amendment. The Founders originally had electors vote for President, and the runner up would be Vice-President. It seems to me, that the 12th Amendment is responsible for the established two-party system, and for exacerbating partisanship over the years.

So, tell me your thoughts… Should the 12th Amendment be repealed? Would it make things better for the country?

Hey, Barry, I’m sure I’m a third cousin or something to some wavering Democrat or other, can I become a judge, too?

Don’t too much stock in that Nevada TEA Party you might have heard about.

First African-American Catholic priest has cause for sainthood opened.

What Did They Fight For?

Have you checked out my latest video?

You know all those riots they have around the world? They’re always burning old tires. Where’d they get them? We’re swamped with cars and I couldn’t for the life of me put my hand on a single old tire if we suddenly needed to have a riot. In an emergency, can you use that little, fake tire you have in the trunk?