First Abercrombie said he’d release Obama’s original birth certificate in order to finally and completely dispel the birth issue, and now he says he can’t:

A privacy law that shields birth certificates has prompted Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie to abandon efforts to dispel claims that President Barack Obama was born outside Hawaii, his office says.

State Attorney General David Louie told the governor that privacy laws bar him from disclosing an individual’s birth documentation without the person’s consent, Abercrombie spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said Friday.

“There is nothing more that Gov. Abercrombie can do within the law to produce a document,” said Dela Cruz. “Unfortunately, there are conspirators who will continue to question the citizenship of our president.”…

If someone wanted to inflame the issue, one could not have gone about it any more effectively. Is Abercrombie a complete idiot? The relevant Hawaii authorities had announced back in October of 2008 that they couldn’t release the original to third parties who have no relevant interest in the document – so, when Abercrombie said that he would do just that he must have already known that he couldn’t. And yet he went right ahead and stated he would.

Now it is re-stated that it can’t be released – and conspiracy-theory websites are probably going bonkers on this; to them, this is rock-solid, absolute proof that Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii because hiding behind regulations, after promising to do something, smacks of cover-up. If this isn’t sheer stupidity on the part of Abercrombie then the only other explanation is rope-a-dope; hope that this absurd action gets, say, a House GOPer to demand an investigation or, even better, get a 2012 GOP prospect to make the demand…and then produce the document, thus making the entire GOP look stupid.

Don’t fall for this one, GOPers – if its Abercrombie being an idiot, then just let him flame out on it; if its rope-a-dope, then don’t get roped. Obama is President and there is no upside to our cause in asking questions about where he was born.

Interesting bit of oil news – from Bloomberg:

Billionaire oilman Harold Hamm told North Dakota bankers on Thursday that government estimates of recoverable oil in the Bakken and Three Forks formations are too conservative.

Hamm, 64, chairman and chief executive officer of Continental Resources Inc., said the formations in North Dakota and Montana hold about 20 billion barrels of recoverable crude, or about five times the amount previously estimated by federal geologists. The formations also hold the natural gas equivalent of 4 billion barrels of oil, he said…

I decided to check just how big 20 billion barrels are in relation to how much oil we already know is there – according to this Wikipedia article, the US has about 21 billion barrels of proven reserves. If Hamm is right and Bakken holds 20 billion barrels, then that would add about 16 billion barrels to our proven reserves (current USGS estimates are for a bit more than 4 billion barrels in Bakken).

Its not like North Dakota was just discovered last week. Its not like the United States just got in to the oil business (in fact, we were the first country to get in to it). If we can find an extra 16 billion barrels just lying around our back yard, then are there really any limits to the amount of oil we can extract from the world? Meaning – is there any practical limit which would cause us to run out prior to a switch-over to a non-oil energy economy?

Furthermore, if this amount of oil can be found within the continental United States at this late a date, how much could possibly be found within the total United States, including offshore? Perhaps enough to make us independent of foreign oil? Or, at least enough to greatly cut down the amount of oil we import? I think so. We consume about 21 million barrels a day and produce about 8 million barrels a day – if we can increase that amount by 5 million barrels a day, we can stop importing any oil from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela…and that, in and of itself, is a worthwhile thing to do (yes, I know that oil is fungible and we really can’t stop Saudi and Venezuelan oil from winding up in the US as long as we import…but the basic idea is still the same; lower our import requirements).

Drill, baby, drill…lets see just how much oil we really have, and how much we can produce per day, and for how long…and that would also tell us how much time we have before we need to switch over.

From the AP:

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann announced Friday that he is leaving the network and has taped his last “Countdown” show.

MSNBC issued a statement that it had ended its contract with the controversial host, with no further explanation. Olbermann hosted the network’s most popular show, but his combative liberal opinions often made him a target of critics.

Olbermann did not explain why he was leaving.

“MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” the network said…

First question: since when has MSNBC ever had anything like success? Second question: why is Olbermann out?

Meanwhile, Olbermann’s viewer could not be reached for comment…

From The Hollywood Reporter:

One day after it was reported Viacom executives ordered producers to tone down its racy teen drama, the Parents Television Council has announced it’s urging the Department of Justice and U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees to open an investigation.

“In addition to the sexual content on the show involving cast members as young as 15, PTC counted 42 depictions and references to drugs and alcohol in the premiere episode,” the group wrote in a letter to the government organizations.

“It is clear that Viacom has knowingly produced material that may well be in violation of [several anti-child pornography laws],” added the PTC, which earlier called the show “the most dangerous program ever for children.”…

Where is the surprise here? All we have here is a continuation of what we’ve done for decades – a combination of corporate greed and liberal social policy coming together to further degenerate American society. For goodness sakes, people, when has there ever been an actual, popular demand for this garbage? You think a 12 year old is dreaming of the day he or she can get drunk and wind up pregnant at 15? Of course not – it takes relentless marketing to get that result…and, of course, relentless, anti-Christian, anti-human propaganda in the political sphere by liberals to make it all possible.

Children are the future – and if you can get them buying stuff at 15, you’ll keep them buying it for ages. And if you can break down their adherence to religion and morality, then you’ll have a nice, little drone for your political campaigns until the day they die. This is win/win – if you’re a liberal or a corporate boss. Not so good if you’re a human being who actually have to live among the degraded remnants of a once-great people (most of the liberals and corporate bosses who really press this stuff don’t; they live in swank, gated communities where they carefully shield themselves from the results of their work).

We can stop this – if we just stand up and do so. But we’re afraid to do anything. We’ve been propagandized, too. We’ve been told that we shouldn’t be so old fashioned; that we have no right to judge another’s actions; that it isn’t up to us to decide what is right and wrong…that last being the best twist of the propagandist’s knife because it is true; but ignores the fact that God has decided what is right and wrong, told us, and expects us to follow the rules.

What will it be, Americans? Will we defend children or will we allow Hollywood corporations to profit off their degradation? Will we clean up our pop-culture sewer, or allow liberalism to shove more people in to it?

Our choice.

From Fox News:

Three Senate Democrats say they’d be supportive of House-passed legislation that repeals the requirement for businesses to comply with a burdensome reporting provision in the new health care law.

Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Maria Cantwell of Washington and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota wrote House Speaker John Boehner Thursday, telling him the Senate would move quickly if the House passed a bill to repeal the provision that requires nearly 40 million U.S. businesses to file tax forms for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods…

A small step, to be sure, but it is part of ObamaCare – and three Senate Democrats have now signaled their willingness to repeal. The key things to remember are that 23 Democrat seats are up for election 2012, and 12 of those Democrat seats are at strong risk of loss, even if Obama rebounds and gets re-elected. The GOP needs a net gain of merely 4 to command a majority, while a 12 seat gain would put the GOP at 59 seats – and if Obama implodes and loses in 2012, then the GOP gains could be as many as 14-16 in the Senate. This is the sort of reality to sober up a lot of Democrats, especially those up in 2012 (also, it doesn’t get better for Democrats before 2016…in 2014 there are, just as in 2012, a lot of Democrats up for re-election in GOP-leaning States…product of the Democrat’s big wins in 2008; for the next four years, the Senate is the GOP’s happy political hunting ground).

Given these numbers, a lot of Democrats will seek political cover by distancing themselves from Obama and the Senate Democratic leadership – and a vote to repeal ObamaCare would be a splendid way for such Democrats to do something popular with the people while at the same time making themselves stand out as independent-minded leaders (they aren’t, of course; they are frightened rabbits…but, in politics, appearances matter and some times far more than reality). The GOP can, with a bit of cleverness, turn this desire for Democrat political survival to the advantage of the United States – using it to undo the worst aspects of Obamunism (there is a risk that such an undoing of the Obama agenda will help Obama get re-elected in 2012, just as the undoing of Clinton helped him to a second term…it is a risk we’ll have to take; America’s future is at stake and while getting rid of Obama is important, getting rid of Obamunism is much more so).

We’re in for a couple of very interesting political months, I think…

The GOP has the whip hand going in to the debt ceiling debate, according to this CBS Poll:

…So how do Americans propose to address the deficit? By cutting programs, not raising taxes. Sixty-two percent would prefer to cut programs from which they benefit, including 81 percent of Republicans. Just 29 percent want taxes raised, including 42 percent of Democrats.

Pollsters asked Americans which of three programs – the military, Medicare and Social Security – they would be willing to change to cut government spending. The military was by far the top choice, cited by 55 percent. Twenty-one percent cited Medicare, and 13 percent Social Security.

Asked specifically which of four options they would prefer to reduce military spending, the top choice (cited by 55 percent) was reducing troops in Europe and Asia. Nineteen percent wanted to eliminate weapons programs, 12 percent wanted to reduce non-combat military pay, and seven percent wanted to reduce the size of the armed forces…

This does show that military spending cuts will have to be on the table – our job, as Republicans, is to ensure that we’re really just cutting fat (and there is plenty of that in Defense, as anyone familiar with military service can tell you); we must, that is, prevent Obama and his liberals from hollowing out our military. That said, the poll does indicate that there is stomach for quite a lot of non-defense cutting – I’m rather surprised that as may as 13% prefer cuts to SS to other forms of cuts (this doesn’t mean that only 13% favor cuts, but that 13% favor making SS the first target of cuts…broadly speaking, there are probably a lot of people who are ok with the idea of SS cuts to make ends meet).

As we enter the debt ceiling debate we on the GOP side must stand firm – the Democrats will use hatred and fear to try and derail any attempt to seriously cut the budget (and, in to the bargain, help Obama towards re-election in 2012…which is really all they care about, at the moment) and we dare not flinch. The people are on our side – they know that the debt is crushing the life out of the United States and that spending must be cut. If we stand firm, we’ll not only help our nation, but we’ll help our conservative ideals…as we are able to cut without the world coming to an end we’ll gain public acceptance for further cuts, as well as public trust as the party which can be relied up on to keep its word.

Stand firm, and win it all – it really is just as simple as that.

Should amount to:

“You know, neither the United States nor the people of China benefit from the existence of business and political relations between China and the United States. All they do is prop up a horrific, anti-human Chinese government and risk World War Three as China’s military obtains high-tech weapons from us and around the world. Better to just have done with this nonsense. Given this, we’re going to impose a special, two year tax upon all wealth in the United States to pay off our debt to China and, meanwhile, we’re slapping a 200% duty on all Chinese imports to the United States.”

That would just about do it – get rid of the debt we owe China and cause them to tailspin in to complete economic collapse as they are cut off from the United States’ market and, in to the bargain, allow American manufacturing to revive as US corporations are unable to export jobs to China while still keeping a whip to the back of corporate America in the form of non-Chinese, foreign competition.

Unfortunately, what we’ve got is President Obama and his crew of globalist, we’re-managing-American-decline pinheads. Nothing in human history is quite so pathetic as this spectacle of the greatest nation in human history appearing less than the sorry, sick joke which is the People’s Republic of China. God help us through this morass of folly, and give us a President who will revive American power and put the Chinese dictators in their place.

From Pajamas Media:

It all started at the same spot where Quisling and his followers held rallies in the 1930s. Around 3,000 people filled University Square in Oslo on February 12, 2010, many of them dressed just like Muhammed himself – a long coat, baggy, ankle-high pants, and a head covering, plus full beard. In the gravest of tones, they articulated their contempt for the society that has given them so many benefits. The threat of a new September 11 on Norwegian soil, issued by Mohyeldeen Mohammed (who had studied sharia in Medina), marked the end of one era and the beginning of a new one.

It continued with the growing influence of Islam Net at Oslo University College. Over the course of only two years, the group has managed to acquire over 1,200 paying members and is now the largest Muslim student organization in the country. The only positive thing that can be said about Islam Net is that it doesn’t hide its objective: a society living under the Koran and sharia. One of these students’ ideological heroes is Zakir Naik, who preaches hate and terror and is considered so extreme that he is not permitted to enter either Britain or Canada…

Do read the whole thing as it neatly encapsulates all of Europe’s problem – a growing and increasingly radicalized Islamist population making increasingly aggressive demands upon the host population for special privileges for Islamic communities. Essentially, they are demands for a separate, Moslem entity within the European countries as preparation for the full Islamization of Europe. All of this allowed by a weak and cowardly European Ruling Class which will not confront reality.

Ultimately, the problem stems from the collapse of Christianity in Europe. Europeans thought they could get what they viewed as the good parts of Christianity – peace, freedom, prosperity – without all the “bad” parts (that bit about going to Church on Sunday and acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord along with that really tiresome bit about being decent to one another and not treating human beings as objects for sexual gratification). Turns out, they were wrong – and now Europe has no moral center – no core from which they can stand on defense or launch a counter-offensive. All they’ve got is a mush-minded bit of welfare and “why can’t you be nice?” attitude. Moslems justly hold this in contempt, and wrongly seek to destroy their hosts.

It is Europe’s choice, now – go back to Christianity and thrive, or die.

From NRO’s The Corner:

Tonight, three conservative Democrats — Reps. Dan Boren (Okla.), Mike Ross (Ark.) and Mike McIntyre (N.C.) — joined Republicans in voting to repeal Obamacare.

But 10 of their colleagues who opposed the bill back in March — Reps. Ben Chandler (Ky.), Jason Altmire (Pa.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Heath Schuler (N.C.), Larry Kissell (N.C.), Tim Holden (Pa.), John Barrow (Ga.), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Stephen Lynch (Mass.) and Dan Lipinski (Ill.) — voted against repeal.

“At least we once and for all know where they truly stand,” said Alex Cortes, chairman of DefundIt.org…

Indeed, we do – and now we’ve got even more ammunition to beat these Representatives in 2012. Our campaign that year, aside from concentrating on the abysmal failures of President Obama, should tie in the need for big Republican Congressional majorities to ensure that real reform happens.

This is the point of the repeal vote – not that we expect to obtain repeal while Obama is President, but that we show the American people we’re serious about doing their political will. Now that we’ve done it, the argument for us easily shifts to, “we need more help in DC to get the peoples’ business done”. These ten faux-moderate Democrats are the best means the GOP can use to build in our 2010 victories in the House…just as any Democrats who vote against cloture in the Senate will be our best means of getting a GOP majority there.

The ball is in our court and things are clearly moving our way – all we have to do is keep pressing the reform issue. Democrats dare not allow the reforms to pass, because any real reform means that Democrat special interests will lose money and/or power…but as they fight a rear guard action for the Ruling Class, they’ll be digging their own political grave. The next 22 months are, I think, going to be a lot of fun for Republicans on the political level.

More and more good news – from National Journal:

Tuesday’s announcement that Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., will not seek reelection—with Sen. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., following suit today—accelerates an already rapid rate of turnover in the Senate that is altering the body’s composition and its leadership.

The last two elections cycles produced about one-third of the current members of the Senate: There have been 32 new senators sworn in since 2008, which represents the fastest turnover rate since the 1978 and 1980 elections, which together added 38 new members…

Other possible retirements could be Jim Webb (D-VA); first elected in 2006, John Kyle (R-AZ); first elected in 1994, Ben Nelson (D-NE); first elected 2000, Dianne Feinstein; first elected 1992 (D-CA), Daniel Akaka; first elected 1990 (D-HI) and Richard Lugar; first elected 1976 (R-IN) – none of whom would be missed much, except for Feinstein who is probably the last adult member of the Democrat Senate caucus. Webb and Nelson will probably quit because they are almost certain losers in 2012 (this is why Lieberman and Conrad hung it up), while Lugar is already starting to feel the TEA Party heat (as is Sen. Hatch of Utah). The more of these worn out, has-been politicians we can get out, the better for America.

As a nation, we face a crisis larger than any we’ve seen since the Civil War. Not even the risks and threats of World War Two and the Cold War compare to the perils we’re now in. We’re facing national bankruptcy, a rising challenge from an increasingly aggressive China, continual threats from Islamo-fascism and a declining economy which is less and less able to provide for the American people. The political barnacles listed above have held positions of great authority and influence through this time of American decline, and they bear a large share of responsibility for it. That they, to a man and woman, probably don’t even recognize the baleful effect they have had just magnifies the reasons for getting rid of them.

Pretty much anyone who is seeking a third term should definitely face a primary challenge – and you liberals out there should make sure you do the same for your side (though I doubt you will, as you lack that independence of thought which would convince you to challenge your leadership). – if they cannot be convinced to retire. We don’t need and can’t afford the old ways of doing business. We need dynamic, new leadership which can see the problems we face while not be tied to corrupt, political deals of the past.

It is time to renew America – and a good place to start is with our politicians.