One would call the antics of the Democrats childish except for there is a sinister aspect of it – a thuggery which insists that no one dare change the liberal settlement. We are only to debate within, as it were, a party line – and the party line is that corrupt unions which bankroll the Democrat party must be allowed to work out backroom deals against the people.

We must win this fight because if we don’t then we’ll set the precedent that Democrat policy trumps everything, including the will of the people.

UPDATE: Big turnout for a rally to recall one of the Fleebaggers. As soon as I find a link of where you can volunteer/donate, I’ll have that up.

Jeffery Anderson over at Pajamas Media has an excellent article about just whom the GOP will need in 2012 – essentially, we’ll need our best of the best to beat Obama, but it seems that a lot of our top flight candidates are going to sit 2012 out. This worries Anderson, correctly, because he views the election of 2012 as crucial as the 1864 election. In that year, had Lincoln lost, the Union would have been permanently split – in 2012, if Obama wins then we might well see the permanent imposition of socialism in America…but the time 2016 rolls around so many people will be made dependent upon government that no small government candidate will ever win.

Which is all true, but I’m not entirely convinced that any of the top flight candidates Anderson lists (Ryan, Christie and Pence in his view – though I’m sure he’d have kind words to say about Daniels, Pawlenty and a few others) are what we need. They may end up being what we need, but only one candidate, in my view, has shown an inkling of what we really face – and even she (yes, its Sarah Palin) has yet to completely demonstrate an understanding of the gravity of the situation.

The Civil War analogy is apt, but one must add to it a bit more to fully understand the nature not just of the threat, but of our opponents. Do you remember that scene in Terminator where the soldier from the future was explaining just how inexorable the Terminator would be? Keep on going no matter what, reach down her throat and rip her heart out? That sort of thing? Well, that is the nature of the left – they will not stop. Not ever. If we beat them in 2012, they’ll just keep coming at us until we crush them completely.

What do I mean by “crush them completely”? I mean not just beating them at the polls but after we do so, going about the reform of America to the point where the left is no longer able to exercise influence on American policy. The dirty, little secret of the left is that it is largely government funded. Starting in the 1930s, the left stopped being a purely opposition movement and started moving in to government as a means of re-directing American policy in a leftist manner. From the strong regulatory and funding positions of government, the left also started to press itself upon the media and the education establishment. Here in 2011 there is a massive web of government funding and regulation which both keeps the left well funded as well as allowing it to continually influence policy even when not 1 in 10 Americans agree with the policy being advanced. In order for us to really win – in order for us to stop this leftist terminator of America – we need to clear out that web. We need to de-fund and disbar the left.

Thus far, I’ve yet to see a GOP candidate who fully understands this. Palin comes closest, but none of them have articulated a vision which would have us dismantling the government support for the American left. And make no mistake about it, once the left is excluded from government support, it will dry up and blow away – becoming no more relevant to American policy than was the Socialist Party of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas in the early 20th century. Think I’m off base here?

Just think it through for a moment – how much money does Uncle Sam allegedly spend on education? And how much of that actually goes to pay for a classroom teacher? Once you’ve subtracted that amount (which is rather tiny) from the total amount spent on “education”, you’ve now got the part which functions as a slush fund for the left. So, too, with agency after agency of the federal government…very large amounts of the money goes for things other than the stated purpose; that part of the money is going to fund the left. And this leaves off the various regulations which either empower the left without a vote or prevent non-leftists from attacking left wing bastions of power.

This is, in a very real sense, a Civil War – one side or the other will win it all and permanently impose its vision on America. If the left wins, we die out as a nation (I know they don’t see it that way, but they also, apparently, can’t see that rampant sex and violence in popular culture has a negative impact on society…if you can’t see something plain as a pike staff like that, you’re not likely to see that your whole worldview is dysfunctional). If we win, we survive and thrive. 2012 could be crucial and no matter what we must get Obama out – but until we steel ourselves to the real task, utterly destroying the left, then we are just spinning our wheels. What we need is a GOP candidate who sees this – and, so far, I haven’t seen one.

Newt Gingrich lays it out at Newsmax:

…Imagine that Governor Palin had become president. Imagine that she had announced that Roe versus Wade in her view was unconstitutional and therefore the United States government would no longer protect anyone’s right to have an abortion because she personally had decided it should be changed. The news media would have gone crazy. The New York Times would have demanded her impeachment…

I was listening a bit to Rush Limbaugh as I traveled about today – and noted with relish that he’s on the same page as I am about a shutdown – and he has it right: Obama is being lawless. The duty of the President of the United States is to enforce the laws, not decide if they are constitutional. Congress enacted DOMA, President Clinton signed it – until Congress repeals or the courts void the law, Obama must vigorously enforce every last bit of the law. He has no choice in the matter. Refusing to enforce it is a dereliction of duty…and, in my view, an impeachable offense.

This is not to say that it will happen – even if articles of impeachment were passed in the House, the Senate Democrats will never, no matter what, vote to convict Obama. It literally does not matter what Obama does – Democrats are uninterested in the law, only in their power…and they know that if it comes to punishing Obama, it would cost them power. So, nothing will happen – but that doesn’t change the fact of what Obama has done.

America is in need of deep reform – the only reason we’re at this condition is because we have allowed a criminal class of people to gain control of our nation. Criminal not just in the rank corruption of office, but in the fact that they have no awareness of, or concern for, what is it that makes America work. More than any other nation, we are a people governed by consent…but we only consent because we feel, at the end of the day, that the rules are being observed. By breaking the rules – and not just on DOMA but on a lot of issues…such as ignoring a federal judge’s ruling that ObamaCare is unconstitutional – Obama and his Democrats are cutting at the very heart of the American way of life. In order to save our nation, it now becomes a requirement to reduce government to its proper, constitutional functions.

The reason Obama and his Democrats just go ahead and do this is because it is the way they have been schooled. To them, as to all on the left, the law is whatever they want it to be at the moment. When government was smaller, this had less effect – now that government is pervasive, our lives and our liberty are at stake. Not because of some absurd leftwing or libertarian worry that Uncle Sam will listen in on a phone call, but in rock hard reality – where it matters the most; in the question of whether we’ll be ruled by laws, or by men. If Obama can set aside one law because he wants to, then he can set aside any law…and enforce any rule he likes, whether or not he has the legal authority to do so. And that puts us under tyranny – because we’ll never know what the law is until Obama decrees it.

By reducing government power we’ll essentially cut out the ability of liberals like Obama to become tin plated, little dictators. The only way we can be sure that Obama can’t decide if we’ll have this kind of health care or that kind of marriage is to take the federal government entirely out of such equations. Then, and only then, will our liberties be secure.

As expected – well, expected by you, me and everyone non-liberal out there…which means the financial “experts” and the MSM were caught flat footed. From Reuters:

The economy grew slower than initially estimated in the fourth quarter as government spending contracted more sharply and consumer spending was less robust, a government report showed on Friday.

Gross domestic product grew at annualized rate of 2.8 percent, the Commerce Department said in its second estimate, marking a downward revision from its initial 3.2 percent estimate.

Economists had expected GDP growth, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, to be revised up to a 3.3 percent pace…

What this means is that the “experts” were half a percentage point off (expected 3.3%, actual 2.8%). And here’s the really bad news – there is one more revision to go before we get the actual 4th quarter GDP number. What this means is that it could be revised even lower. I expect it will be – I know there were lots of stories of a booming Christmas shopping season, but I noted early on that they were only getting shoppers in to the stores by steep discounts and people were sticking to the “loss leaders” rather than going on shopping sprees. I fully expected 4th quarter GDP numbers to be lousy.

I don’t know what the initial 1st quarter 2011 numbers will look like when announced in April, but you can bet they’ll be pumped up as much as possible. I have little faith in any initial number put out by government agencies these days. This is primarily because of the new claims for unemployment data – each week we get a number and then the next week we get a revised number; over and over again in the past two years it has been an upward revision. If they are fudging the unemployment numbers then it is just as likely they are fudging all numbers…until the hard data arrives.

UPDATE: Seems that a lot of people are getting that sinking feeling.

From Hotline On Call:

In the battle over federal spending for the remainder of this fiscal year, nearly two-thirds of the Republican operatives surveyed in this week’s National Journal Political Insiders Poll believe that it isn’t in their party’s interest to see a government shutdown, while most Democrats feel such a confrontation could benefit them.

First off – and this goes for you Democrat insiders, as well – one salient fact about the 2011 budget fight must be remembered: it is taking place in 2011, not in 1995. Secondly, the budget fight of 1995 played little, if any, role in determining who won in 1996.

Democrats have told themselves for years that the budget shut down of 1995 allowed Bill Clinton to cruise to victory in 1996. GOPers have told themselves the same thing. Actually what got Bill Clinton re-elected in 1996 was a booming economy, signing welfare reform and having Bob Dole as his opponent. The government shut down was a lot of inside-baseball stuff which didn’t have the least effect on any American’s day to day living. But, no matter – Democrats and Republicans have both talked themselves in to believing that if it weren’t for a short government shut down in 1995, Clinton would have lost in 1996.

Lost in all of this is the fact that the GOP also won in 1996 – holding on to their House majority in consecutive elections for the first time since the 1920’s. That, in and of itself, was a stunning achievement…especially in a year when a Democrat President was being rather convincingly re-elected. If the budget battle was enough to re-elect Clinton, it should have been enough to turn out the GOP majority…at least in the House. It didn’t. So, please stop believing false narratives about what happened in 1995.

But suppose, for the sake of argument, that the 1995 shut down did act as myth claims it did – what then? Well, you still have to remember that this is 2011, not 1995. Back in 1995 you had Rush Limbaugh, a few other talk radio hosts, National Review and a couple other magazines and that was it as far as alternative media. Honestly, how many of you out there had even so much as heard fo Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Bill O’Reilly back in 1995? I know darn well you had never heard of Pajamas Media, National Review Online, Powerline, Instapundit and 10,000 other conservative and libertarian outlets back then because they didn’t exist. In other words, if we lost in 1996 because of the shut down in 1995, then we lost because the narrative was controlled by the other side…they had it in the MSM that mean, nasty and cruel Republicans were trying to starve granny while sweet, loving and kind Clinton was trying to save her. In 2011, that narrative will be tried, but it won’t work because there are enough alternate voices out there to expose it for the stupid lie that it is.

What this means, GOP Insiders, is that you’re not alone out there – no one is asking you to walk the plank. In fact, all the plank walking has already been done for you…we, the GOP base and the TEA Partiers already did it for you in 2010 and continue to do it in 2011. And if you show a bit of spine and actually do as we want, we’ll do it even more in 2012. So, seriously, grow a pair – or, if you can’t, then borrow some from a TEA Partier. Most of them have enough for two or three Insider types…even the lady TEA Partiers tend to have more testicular fortitude than Insiders…so, fret not, we’ve got plenty to go around…all you have to do is work up the gumption to just do as you’re told. We’ll do the rest.

From CNS:

The jobs created and saved by the economic stimulus law that President Barack Obama signed on Feb. 17, 2009 cost at a minimum an average of $228,055 each, according to data released yesterday by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

In a report released Wednesday—“Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from October Through December 2010”—the CBO said it now estimates the stimulus law cost a total of $821 billion, up from CBO’s original estimate that the stimulus would cost $787 billion…

Of course, that supposes that any jobs were actually created by the stimulus. More than likely we just did a money shuffle and whatever we gained in one area we lost in others – with a double loss on that in the fact that the stimulus money was all borrowed and will have to be paid back with interest. But even supposing that the number of jobs “created or saved” is real, that is a fantastically irresponsible amount of money to spend per job.

But, that was what the stimulus was really about – just an excuse for Obama and his Democrats to open up the government spigots in a way not seen since the Carter Administration. This is what Big Government liberals have been dreaming about since Reagan was elected – the chance to shovel taxpayer money at themselves in huge amounts. They hooked up their donors, their foot soldiers and themselves…billions have essentially been looted from the American people by the left since Obama took office. And keeping Obama in office is a gigantic priority because they know that if a Republican wins in 2012, the party is over…and perhaps this time for good.

What matters to our liberal Ruling Class now is merely to cash in as much as they can before someone stops them. Liberal rank and file types might dream of gay marriage or more grants for education, but the boys and girls in charge are all about grabbing heavy wads of money – as is demonstrated by “green jobs” cretins of the Obama Administration jumping ship to work in the industries which will now be subsidized by “green jobs” money.

Ah, well – what is one to do? Work for GOP victory in 2012, of course. Disaster stares us in the face, but we’ll over come it…we’ll get rid of the liberals, reform our nation and restore the world to its proper equilibrium – with the United States once again absolutely dominant in world affairs and the American economy once again out producing everyone out there. The future is grim, but America is promising…and supported by the Founders’ vision and our faith in God, nothing can stop us.

From NRO:

Earlier this week, a blogger impersonating industrialist David Koch spoke with Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who is attempting to pass a budget-repair bill. The conversation between Walker and the poseur, which was recorded, has received heavy media attention and turned the national spotlight onto the political activities of Koch Industries, a private, Wichita-based company with diverse holdings.

In interviews with National Review Online, Koch executives responded to the incident and pledged to “not stop” supporting free-enterprise initiatives, even as opponents attempt to sully the Koch name and the groups that brothers David and Charles Koch, the company’s co-owners, support. They also noted that David Koch and the governor have never met or spoken…

The Koch brothers are just the latest in a long line of leftist bogeymen – the left finds someone to hate and blame, and then goes about the process of demonization. The really amazing thing about it all is that the nefarious influence the left ascribes to the Kochs is genuinely wielded, on the left, by George Soros and his minions. Soros really does create astro-turf groups to agitate for things only a tiny minority want…and goes about slandering everyone who disagrees with the Soros worldview. The Kochs are just politically interested bazillionaires who spread the cash around to causes they like – not all of which I agree with (it seems that the Kochs are in favor of gay marriage, for instance – they seem far more libertarian than conservative).

My only word of caution here is to my fellow conservatives:

I Put no trust in princes, in mere mortals powerless to save. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth; that day all their planning comes to nothing. Happy those whose help is Jacob’s God, whose hope is in the LORD, their God… – Psalm 146:3-5

The Koch brothers have done some good work in funding important conservative and libertarian issues – but billionaires have a lot of calls on their time and anyone who has a billion dollars is, by nature, very concerned about that billion. You see, if they didn’t care about the money, they would have given it all away…or, at least enough to no longer be a billionaire. It takes a lot of effort and attention to stay that rich…and someone who is expending that kind of energy on a thing will sacrifice a lot to keep it. So, don’t think of the Kochs as something entirely on our side – come a day when they will do something which will infuriate conservatives and/or libertarians. But, meanwhile, as long as they are doing good, they deserve our support and thanks.

In this particular battle – that of the battle for fiscal sanity – the Kochs will, I believe, continue to do well by us. Other battles may go other ways. Meanwhile, there is no justification on the part of the left for the way they have insulted the Kochs. A couple of men who engage in business have done far more for America than any grafting union boss…or politician on the take from the unions. It is evidence of a growing desperation and, really, craziness on the part of the left that they have seen fit to cook up what amounts to a Stalinist show trial of the Kochs, with them found guilty regardless of the facts.

More and more I think we’ve got the left on the ropes – they are tapping the last dregs of their power in an attempt to beat us back after the liberal catastrophe of 2010. All we need to is keep up the pressure a little while longer and they’ll fold…and in this sort of fight, a couple billionaires willing to write checks is a good thing.

From Senatus:

President Obama, in a “major legal policy shift, has directed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act — the 1996 law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages — against lawsuits challenging it as unconstitutional,” the New York Times reports.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday saying that the Justice Department will now take the position in court that the act should be struck down as a violation of same-sex couples’ rights to equal protection under the law.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) issued a statement today indicating that it is her “intention to introduce legislation that will once and for all repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.”

“My own belief is that when two people love each other and enter the contract of marriage, the Federal government should honor that.

I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It was the wrong law then; it is the wrong law now; and it should be repealed.”

Will a DOMA repeal pass? It might get through the Senate, but it stands little chance of even coming to a vote in the House…and if it does, it will probably go down to crushing defeat (almost all the GOPers and a goodly portion of the Democrats voting against as they look over their shoulders towards 2012). This is just eyewash for the liberal gay groups – getting them completely on side for the 2012 election, and getting them long before the campaign heats up. You won’t hear a peep about repealing DOMA from Obama and the Democrats in 2012…by then, they’ll be back to trying to move to the center for the general election.

This will, of course, work as planned – liberal gay groups, in contrast to the conservative gay groups, are narrow minded, bigoted and easily led by the nose. They’ll lap this up and then happily shower Democrats with bags of money in 2012…as if they’ll have a chance of a DOMA repeal in 2013, even if Obama is re-elected (Democrats are almost certain to lose the Senate in 2012, regardless of what happens on the Presidential level…the only question is whether they’ll lose 5 or 15 seats).

Of course, long term, our liberals do hope to accomplish this – anything which weakens marriage and family also weakens the ability of the individual to defend himself against the government. The more atomized and dependent upon government we become, the more liberals like it. So, their war on family and marriage will continue – though it won’t be by legislation but in the courts and bureaucracies where they hope to conquer. What this means is that we must fight them hard in 2012 – and win so sweeping a victory that we are no longer just holding the line, but actually rolling back the liberal agenda.

No more than 4 months behind the curve – from CNBC:

Despite rising commodity prices and a bleak employment picture, “stagflation” remains a word not uttered in the polite company of the financial world.

But there remain only a few more tumblers to fall into place for a return to that awful word that conjures up images of the “malaise days” of the late 1970’s and early ‘80s, where rising inflation and slumping employment tamped down economic growth.

Oil’s foray Wednesday above the psychologically important $100-a-barrel line only helped stoke the historical comparisons…

It was back in October that I first wrote about the coming stagflation here on Blogs for Victory – and it was in March of 2009 where I figured that the economic policies could lead to a bout of stagflation. This isn’t news. It isn’t a surprise. It was all noted and predicted long ago – you have to be some sort of fool to think that borrowing and printing up trillions of dollars will work out well. Trouble is, utter fools are governing our economy at the moment – from the bankster boardrooms to the Federal Reserve to the US Treasury they all believe – really, no kidding – that fake money and debt lead to prosperity.

It may seem a bit silly, and perhaps it really was, but yesterday when I prayed the Rosary I actually prayed for our economy. That some how, some way, we’ll be spared the worst of what we so fully deserve – and we deserve it because, first, most of us bought the idea of debt and get-rich-quick over the decades and, secondly, because a majority of us really did vote for Obama in 2008. I’ve never been more pessimistic about our economic chances in my life time – not that it will kill us off, but that we’re really in for it. And maybe, in the end, a wiser America will emerge from it all…but, man, what a mess…and the people running the show don’t even seem to see it coming.

When do we get that new civility thingy?

UPDATE: A Dem Congresscritter urges the union thugs to “get a little bloody”…the fools simply don’t know what they’re saying. Good, grief…its like they’re playing with matches in a gasoline can…