That is the question of this Wall Street Journal article:

Two decades after President George H.W. Bush abandoned his “read my lips” promise, some Republicans are chafing at their party’s stand against new taxes.

A few prominent GOP lawmakers believe they will have to raise some tax revenue if they are to bring Democrats along on a bipartisan compromise to address the U.S.’s long-term fiscal problems. Many Democrats want higher taxes to cover at least part of future budget gaps. That has led to clashes between Republican lawmakers and a Washington advocacy group, Americans for Tax Reform, the self-appointed keeper of the party’s anti-tax flame.

Grover Norquist, the group’s president, said he has “sent up a flare” against placing trust in Democrats, given how bipartisan agreements, including the one struck by then-President Bush in 1990, eventually unraveled. Those tax increases took effect as scheduled, but Democrats didn’t always deliver on promised spending cuts, Mr. Norquist said…

Which is precisely the case. Remember, we’re dealing on the other side with President Obama and Senator Reid – these two men will flat out lie through their teeth in order to get GOP cover on a tax increase designed, above all, to dispirit the GOP base in advance of 2012. They’ll promise Republicans the Moon on spending cuts if the GOP will agree to a tax increase…and then they’ll just refuse to deliver after taking the tax hike. We’re dealing with people who will relentlessly lie in order to advance their own power and wealth – so, no, we can’t make a deal which includes a tax hike.

Fight it out on spending – there is no constituency in the broader American electorate looking for a tax hike. Sure, you can find polls which say a majority supports raising taxes on this or that rich group to close the deficit…but no one will vote against you because you refused to hike taxes. It just won’t happen – not now, not ever. There is, however, a very large constituency who will murder people at the polls for refusing to cut spending…its called the GOP base, and the GOP can’t win in 2012 unless it is united and enthusiastic. The thing which is most likely to kill both unity and enthusiasm is a Rose Garden signing ceremony where a beaming Obama signs off on a bill which includes a tax hike. Spending, spending, spending – that is where the battle is, and that is where the election of 2012 will be won: on fighting government spending.

Don’t be fools – and, yes, I know that “don’t be fools” can often be translated as “don’t be a GOP Congressional leader” – don’t fall for the siren song of Big Government types who insist that any part of the problem is lack of revenue. Total federal revenues in 2011 will come in at around $2.2 trillion – we spent just a bit less than that in 2005, a mere 6 years ago, and not a year noted for budget restraint. The problem isn’t on the revenue side; it is all on the spending side. And it is high time that all GOPers learned this and stopped being such fools as to think that a tax hike worked out with Democrats will help America or the GOP.

From the Reform Party of Syria:

Thousands of Syrians protest for 3rd straight day, call on Assad to end emergency law; gov’t promises to release 15 arrested schoolchildren.

Syrian security forces killed a protester in the southern city of Deraa on Sunday, residents said, as the authorities tried to contain three days of protests demanding freedoms and the release of political prisoners.

Raed al-Kerad was shot dead in the new part of Deraa, where gunfire is still being heard, residents said. He is the fifth civilian killed by security forces since protests against Syria’s ruling elite erupted in Deraa on Friday.

Thousands of Syrians demanded an end to 48 years of emergency law on Sunday…

More civilians being killed by yet another brutal regime. What will we do? We’re launched massive air strikes on Libya for this – so, in to Syria we go?

Not exactly, because we don’t have sufficient forces to strike everywhere at the same time. Still, we have to be ready for anything. Other reports I’ve read indicate that Iran (a long-time ally of Syria) has sent some of their best goons to help murder Syrians demanding an end to the Assad regime. The whole area over there is a powder keg and the temperature is rising.

While we cannot entirely control events over there and, in the end, the people there will have to largely figure it out for themselves, the inescapable truth is that our problem – the American problem – stems from Tehran. All of the enemy forces in that area are in some degree or another backed by Iran. The Iranian government hopes to ride the wave of discontent to increased power in the middle east…our ultimate job is to ensure that wave of discontent shows up in Tehran. Getting rid of the mullahs would be a major victory in our battle with Islamism…and that is what our efforts should be directed at.

Though, of course, we could leverage a Syrian revolution in to just such a downfall in Iran…

Just a general thread where Libya and all other war issues, and issues related to the war (oil prices, global revolution, etc) can be discussed.

My view at this point is that we likely intervened about 10 days too late – too late, that is, for air power, alone, to have done the trick. Richard Fernandez over at Pajamas Media has put together an exceptionally useful map of Libya which spells it out in stark terms – for the most part, Gaddafi’s forces control the oil and water of Libya. That is, Gaddafi controls the means for Libya to make money (and thus buy supplies, civil and military) as well as the means by which Libyans can live on their own (the water supply in their desert nation). Had we moved ten days ago, then we would have gone in when the Libyan rebels controlled about half of these assets. All we’ve done at this point is rush to the aid of a liability – we could have a massive humanitarian crisis swiftly on our hands where we are responsible for feeding a couple million people while at the same time trying to use aerial bombardment to keep a rebel army in the field.

To achieve a victory in Libya – which must mean, regardless of what else transpires, the end of the Gaddafi regime – will require more force than we have apparently earmarked for Libya. It will probably require at least some ground forces…at least enough to protect Benghazi and ensure that Gaddafi’s mobile forces are not able to outflank the rebels. So far, President Obama has entirely ruled out such forces, and none of other members of the coalition seem inclined to go that far in. Perhaps France will, but we shall have to see. Meanwhile, Russia is cooking up stories that Gaddafi’s planes never left the ground and the Arab League is going wobbly on us…this is just prep work for a sell out of the Libyan people and more deals with Gaddafi if he hangs on, but it shows that support for this action will vanish rather swiftly.

Here at home, quite a lot of the far left is very upset with Obama over this – and, in truth, I don’t like the fact that he committed us to a war just on the say-so of the hopelessly corrupt United Nations. The US Congress should have been asked to authorize military force and appropriate money for the effort. If this now blows up in our faces, it will cause an acute political crisis in the United States – our executive leadership will be greatly weakened as both left and right pile on. No one in America is committed to this except President Obama and Hillary Clinton…and if its not a swift and easy victory, then those two will bear all the blame (though, naturally, Obama will seek to cast all of it on Hillary).

This was a good idea done at the wrong time and in the wrong way – but it is not irretrievable. First off, we might get lucky – we might be able to convince Gaddafi’s loyalists that it is better to turn on him and thus solve our problem. This is about a 50/50 shot…but bribes and offers of post-war power and position will have to be offered, otherwise there is no upside for anyone to turn on Gaddafi…the people backing him are those who have profited most from his regime; right now, their position is entirely tied up in keeping Gaddafi and his family in power. To turn them, we’ll need to show them that they’ll come out of it ahead of the game. Secondly, the bombing might prove so effective against Gaddafi’s forces that even the weak rebels will be able to prevail on the ground…but this might take a sustained aerial offensive including at least some close air support as the rebels advance. This puts allied forces at high risk of being hit, and dead allied soldiers and airmen will swiftly evaporate whatever support there is for the effort.

In the end, victory must be achieved. Once the guns go off – even if they go off half cocked – the requirement is victory. The political results of an American defeat – and make no mistake about it, if Gaddafi survives it is an American defeat – would be so bad that they must not be allowed. Envision a triumphant Gaddafi and an encouraged Iran, Venezuela, Syria, et al all ganging up on us in this, that and the other corner of the world as revolutions are stifled for fear that American will fail, again. We’d have to spend a decade, at least, repairing the damage…and a lot of lives would be lost, starting with a lot of innocent, Libyan lives but eventually the blood would come to our door.

As we must win, the only thing to do now is to figure out the best means of swiftly accomplishing it. I hope that President Obama and his military advisers are thinking carefully over this and will draw up contingency plans to deal with events if the bombing proves ineffective. Much is at stake here, and swift action at an early date will ensure that the problems met are relatively small and fairly easily dealt with. Delay is fatal in war, as is campaigning without a clear goal in mind – it is time for us to dig in and get serious about this business.

From MSNBC:

Gasoline prices in the United States rose 6.65 cents per gallon over a two-week period, carried by the rise in crude oil prices stemming from the turmoil in Libya, an industry analyst said.

The national average for a gallon of self-serve, regular gasoline was $3.57 on March 18, according to the Lundberg Survey of about 2,500 gas stations…

I paid $3.69 a couple days ago. A bit of commentary from Zero Hedge on this:

More bad news for America’s motorists experiencing first hand the objectivity of the Nobel peace prize award committee: all those who were expecting a decline in gasoline prices following one of the fastest jumps in history will have to defer their dreams just a little longer. As Trilby Lundberg observes: “this weekend the world has changed. Instead of seeing the end of the price rise coming up, or even a decline, we might see a resumption of the climb at the pump.” …

Remember, we’re just about to enter the annual period when gasoline prices always rise – thanks mostly to insane, government regulations. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration remains wedded to “green energy” which translates in to “you’re screwed” to the average American.

We don’t need “green energy” – we need energy. We need oil wells pumping and refineries bringing product to market. We need a crash course in oil exploration, drilling and refining. We need full steam ahead on the new generation of nuclear reactors which are vastly more efficient and safer than those which collapsed in the Japanese earthquake/tsunami. Sure, we can still advance on research in to alternatives – but, for now, we need more of what we already have. Lots more of it – and in addition to just meeting needs, it would be a huge boost to wealth creation and employment if we did this. This, if any place, is where we should put “stimulus”…government stimulus is always inefficient, but at least if we were shoveling money at energy production we’d wind up with something tangible at the end of the day.

We won’t get this – not while Obama is President. So, buckle up, Americans…it is going to be a rough ride.

Today is the anniversary of the opening offensive in Ludendorf’s attempts to win World War One for Germany in 1918. While memories of that war have all faded, the world we live in is the product of that four years in the trenches. Because of what they did – and failed to do – we live in a bent and broken world…but those men of long ago battles still call to us, and tell us that we still can retrieve the situation. That we can save civilization. So I believe, and so that war still holds my imagination – and part of what I do is to try and set right what went wrong back then. Let’s hear Winston Churchill tell us what that opening day was like:

Before I went to my bed in the ruins of Nurlu, (General) Tudor said to me: “it is certainly coming now. Trench raids this evening have identified no less than eight enemy battalions on a single half mile of front.” The night was quiet except for a rumble of artillery fire, mostly distant, and the thudding explosions of occasional aeroplane raids. I woke up in a complete silence at a few minutes past four and lay musing. Suddenly, after what seemed about half an hour, the silence was broken by six or seven very loud and heavy explosions several miles away. I thought they were our 12-inch guns, but they were probably mines. And then, exactly as a pianist runs his hands across the keyboard from treble to bass, there rose in less than one minute the most tremendous cannonade I shall ever hear. “At 4:30 am.” says Ludendorf in his account, “our barrage came down with a crash.” Far away, both to the north and to the south, the intense roar and reverberation rolled upwards towards us, while through the chinks in the carefully papered window the flame of the bombardment lit like flickering firelight my tiny cabin.

I dressed and went out. On the duckboards outside the Mess I met Tudor. “This is it,” he said. “I have ordered all our batteries to open fire. You will hear them in a minute.” But the crash of the German shells bursting on our trench lines eight thousand yards away was so overpowering that the accession to the tumult of nearly two hundred guns firing from much nearer could not even be distinguished. From the Divisional Headquarters on the high ground of Nurlu one could see the front line for many miles. It swept around us in a wide curve of red leaping flame stretching to the north far along the front of the Third Army, as well as of the Fifth Army on the south, and quite unending in either direction. There were still two hours to daylight, and the enormous explosions of the shells upon our trenches seemed almost to touch each other, with hardly an interval in space or time…The World Crisis, Volume II, pps 1,280-81

They fought in that – in that red inferno of shells and bullets and poison gas. They fought because they believed – that some of them, no doubt, believed wrong doesn’t change the sublime devotion to duty they showed. A generation was destroyed in that four years – and a civilization received a blow which it still has not recovered from. But we can. If we just recapture morality – if we, that is, just become what our ancestors were and do the right thing, we can heal ourselves, as far as humans in this life can. Remember those men – and all their like – who did give their all for a cause higher than the self. And as you go through your life, ask yourself if you have shown a measure of devotion in any way like they showed. If we do, then the world will swiftly be made a better place.

This excellent article in the Washington Post on the changing dynamics in South Carolina – the first in the South primary State, following hard on New Hampshire’s contest – has a great quote that all should lay to heart:

…Sightings of potential front-runners, such as Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, have been scarce, while most of the newcomers are only just starting to tiptoe into the state.

“These candidates, it is their job to get people excited, it is their job to get people to care,” Haley said. “We have not seen that yet in South Carolina.”

Activists and party leaders have been no more impressed.

“I’ve got problems with Romney because of Obamacare,” said activist Pat Ryan, 65, a retired nurse who lives in Charleston. “Palin is good as a thorn in the side but not presidential material. Gingrich is philosophical, learned, but I don’t know if he can carry through. Huckabee has grown on me, but he is too conciliatory. But I can’t believe that the choices out there are the only ones. There have to be some more people out there. It’s going to take time to see who comes out of the woodwork.”…

Of course this is just one person’s opinion, but I think it is a rather telling one. There is a lot of doubt out there about the whole field of candidates – my feeling (and it really is just a gut thing) is that the folks are wary. They feel burned by the GOP establishment and are not about to lend their support to the first person who asks…and they are looking for someone who will fight. Fight a lot. Fight so hard that a second term is well nigh impossible. That is the sort of person who will win the GOP nomination. It, literally, could be any of them – from Giuliani to Bachmann and everyone in between, all have this chance: to convince the GOP base that they’ll go to DC to conduct a revolution.

Hatchets will be buried and noses held – social conservatives and fiscal conservatives and libertarians will all go for whomever shows the most will to fight against the regime, the corruption of our public life, the erosion of our constitutional liberties Just as the Democrat nomination in 2008 was sure to go to the man who was most entirely unlike Bush, the GOP nomination in 2012 will go the person who is most unlike an Establishment candidate – keeping in mind that even an Establishment candidate can manage this trick if they learn it early, learn it well and convincingly state that they are with the people.

As the linked article notes, South Carolina used to be the GOP Establishments fire wall…the place where insurgent candidacies go to die. Given what happened in SC last year – a genuine revolution in politics in that State – this is no longer the case. In 2012, SC is where the Establishment will go to die. But that will not mean the end of it – while SC might winnow the field a bit, I fully expect two or three strong candidates and a couple second-tier candidates to go forward from SC. I think we’re in for a long fight, and perhaps an open convention (which would be best…yes, I know we risk a fractured party heading in to the general, but the people want to believe that their man – or woman – is one of them…having it out in floor fights in an open convention right on television would make the victor the People’s Candidate, for real).

Just get ready for it – make no bets, make no predictions. I won’t. I’m just going to sit back, watch and I’ll choose my candidate at some point.

Lethal injection drugs seized as unsafe. No, its not an article at The Onion.

Did we mention that the CBO says that Obama’s budget will pile up even more debt than originally thought? Follow up question – is anyone out there surprised?

Is this the change you voted for? As it turns out, we started the war with Libya precisely 8 years after we started the war with Iraq.

Catholics to hash it out with atheists. Should actually prove quite interesting.

New Tone Update: Firebomb thrown at pro-life demonstrator.

In Obama’s favor is the fact that Farrakhan is furious with him over Libya. If you’ve angered someone like Farrakhan you can’t be doing entirely wrong.

Teaching college kids to be tools of the Ruling Class.

Feed Your Family on $10 Billion a Day.

A comment made over at Just One Minute:

What I like about Obama

Obviously, the biggest problem with Bush was sending the military into an Arab Muslim country that hadn’t even attacked us. Among the several things that made that offensive were

* the rush to war – it was only several months after the possibility of military involvement was raised that combat operations began

* lack of United Nations sanction – only 17 relevant resolutions were ever passed before they were enforced

* lack of Congressional oversight – the President authorized the use of military force based on the flimsy pretext of a bill passed by Congress titled “Authorization of the Use of Military Force”, rather than seeking a document that had the words “declaration of war” in it; that’s every bit as bad as getting no Congressional approval at all

* obvious financial motives – clearly no one approved of the murderous dictator or sought a normal working relationship with him besides the French; at the same time, one couldn’t help but be suspicious of the fact that the population we were ostensibly protecting was located conveniently near the oil fields

* stretching our military – we were overburdened as it was, and our brave military despite its courage lacked the resources for yet another operation

* inflating our military – the only way to keep the bloodthirsty Pentagon beast fed was to give it the hordes of jobless young men who had no prospects in an economy that saw unemployment skyrocket above 4% in most states

* ignoring our generals – the decision to go to war was made by political hacks who had never worn a uniform

* inflaming the Arab Street – despite some touchy-feely talk about Islam, it was impossible for the Muslim world not to notice how the President made repeated, insistent proclamations of his Christianity, how he only ever used the military against Muslim targets, and how at the time the war started he’d kept the concentration camp at Guantanamo open for over a year

* wasting money – it was completely irresponsible to commit the military to an expensive mission when the President’s fiscal mismanagement had resulted in a budget deficit of over $150 billion in 2002

But anyway, what I really like about Obama is that he’s gone 29-3 in his bracket picks over the first two days. You have to spend a lot of time watching college basketball to be that good.

There is a gigantic absurdity in the whole business of President Obama – and it would all be just great for a laugh except for he and those who support him are diligently subverting what remains of our constitutional order. There is no honesty among them – not the slightest bit of honor or decency. They are just about personal power and wealth – how to get it, how to keep it, how to expand it. I agree with knocking off Gaddafi – but there is no way for anyone other than Joe Lieberman and a couple others on the left to justify what President Obama has done in Libya – it is a direct contradiction of everything they did regarding Bush and Iraq.

And yet Obama went right on and did it…

From CNA – and, of course, in keeping the Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger’s desire to reduce the number of “undesirable” births:

A leaked State Department cable shows the U.S. government has considered granting money to pro-abortion groups in Mexico. Critics warned that the grants would fund “radical” organizations seeking to change Mexican society and legalize abortion under the guise of combating violence against women.

The document is evidence of a “quiet yet seismic shift” in U.S. foreign aid priorities, said Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute vice president Terrence McKeegan. Large segments of foreign aid are being given to “activist groups whose main activity is to advocate for radical social changes in national laws,” he charged…

Seismic shift, indeed. In fact, of course, this is something liberals slavered after all during the Bush years. A fervent desire not just to undo Bush policy on not funding foreign abortions, but of actually using American taxpayer dollars to ensure that ever more children are murdered in the womb. Its just the liberal thing – they do have a religion, you know? Its just an anti-human religion, and abortion is their sacrament. Moloch lives.

Of course, not all liberals are quite that blood thirsty – President Obama is the father of two wonderful daughters. He can’t have thought the matter all the way through (and, indeed, may not even be fully aware of what is going on)…but devotion to pro-abortion policies is so ingrained upon the left that there is just no way for a liberal leader to really get away from it. And it will get worse all the time. These fanatics for death have already brought us abortion, euthanasia and infanticide…what is next is determining if non-terminally ill adults are worthy of continuing to live until they become expensive charges on the health care system. Just watch – they will take us there, if we let them. Once you start justifying murder, there is no bottom.

A bit of proof that your leaders words against President Bush and Iraq were the merest political double talk – quoted over at Ricochet:

The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. — Barack Obama, December 20, 2007

Keep in mind that I back the concept of assisting in the removal of Gaddafi – unfortunately, we’ve yet to have a statement from the President of what our actual goal in Libya is. But if Obama is going for a liberation of Libya, then I’m behind that 100%.

But what of you liberals? Where is the threat to the United States in the Libyan regime? Explain yourself – or go in to sustained opposition to Obama.