Blogs For Victory

And from the bottom of the deck – from McClatchy:

House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, on Wednesday blamed most of President Barack Obama’s political problems on racism…

…”You know, I’m 70 years old,” he said. “And I can tell you; people don’t like to deal with it, but the fact of the matter is, the president’s problems are in large measure because of the color of his skin.”…

Which is proof positive that even 70 years isn’t enough to grow an ounce of sense if you are determined to be ignorant. Though, in Clyburn’s defense, maybe his advancing age is clouding his judgment?

I don’t know about that, but what I do know is that this is just a foretaste of what is to come – the Democrats will go all in for 2012. They will leave no stone unturned and no gutter untraveled in order to re-elect President Obama. They’ve already lost the House and will almost certainly lose the Senate next year – holding on to the White House is the only way liberal Democrats can keep themselves and their cronies on the government-funded gravy train.

So, just get ready for it – and remember this the next time some liberal tells you we need a new tone in politics.

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From Zero Hedge:

“A ‘91-style meltdown is almost inevitable.” So says Alexei Moiseev, chief economist at VTB Capital, the investment-banking arm of Russia’s second-largest lender, discussing the imminent economic catastrophe that is sure to engulf Belarus following the surprise devaluation of the country’s currency by over 50%, which we announced on Monday. “Unless Belarus heeds Russia’s call for mass privatization of state assets, it is headed for “hyperinflation, massive un- and under-employment, and a shutdown of production” Moiseev concludes. Ah: “privatization” as Greece is about to learn, the lovely word that describes a fire sale of assets to one’s creditors, courtesy of a “globalized” new world order…

Belarus is a small player in both the European and global economy, but some times just a pebble starts an avalanche. We’ll see where this winds up – but all Belarus did was greatly accelerate what the Federal Reserve is doing to us: devaluing our currency so that Big Government and well-connected Crony Capitalists can keep going. There is actually a bit more honesty in Belarus’ actions than in ours – they are pretty much openly stealing the peoples’ money, while our guys are still trying to sell us on the notion that high food and fuel prices are worth it if we can can just keep insolvent banks afloat.

We need a currency no one can manipulate – a currency which can’t be devalued by government decree, nor by central bank printing. I favor a return to gold, but the fundamental thing is to have a currency with a fixed value, based upon tangible assets. It isn’t that money is important – it is that the value of what we do must be maintained. If my labor produces for me $20 in wealth today, then that $20 must be mine today, tomorrow and 50 years from now until I decide to expend it. It must not be that a central banker can flip a switch and turn my $20 of wealth in to $15.

From Bloomberg:

Orders for U.S. durable goods dropped more than forecast in April, reflecting a slump in aircraft demand and disruptions in supplies of auto parts stemming from the earthquake in Japan.

The 3.6 percent decrease in bookings for goods meant to last at least three years was the biggest since October and followed a 4.4 percent surge in March that was larger than previously estimated, a Commerce Department report showed today in Washington. Economists projected a 2.5 percent April decline, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey…

So, once again it is “unexpected”. There is a lot of blame being laid on Japan here, but as Mish points out, things are slowing down everywhere, and Japan isn’t responsible for all of that. I don’t think we can point to one thing and say, “there’s the culprit”. There are so many fundamental flaws in the global economy – with over-indebtedness leading the pack – that everything is at fault. Even the supposed good news we get spoon fed by government and MSM can often reflect an underlying bit of bad news (so, high stock prices – good news! – actually reflect rising inflationary pressures).

The global economy is conking out – and that is because the engine of economic growth is the United States (for all the talk of China rising to replace us, most people don’t realize that the per capita GDP of China isn’t even a tenth of the US…it would take about 3 billion Chinese to make up for what we do in the world; and there’s only about half that number). Because we don’t produce as much wealth as we should the rest of the world is floundering – everywhere you peek at global economic statistics you see ever more problems…housing bubbles popping, inflation wiping out wealth, energy shortages, etc, etc, etc. Until we clear the decks and get back to work, the best we can hope for is a stagnant global economy. At worst, we’ll slide right in to Depression.

From the Washington Post:

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner is mentally unfit to stand trial for the Jan. 8 rampage in Tucson that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six, citing expert testimony that Loughner is schizophrenic and shows a paranoid distrust of his own defense attorneys…

The man developed a desire to kill, obtained the means to kill, and then killed. This requires a high level of competence…his desire to do what he did is obviously insane. Loughner is crazy as a loon – in fact, anyone who sets out to kill except in self defense is entirely ’round the bend. Doesn’t matter if you’re killing for money or because the voices in your head told you to…its crazy. But that doesn’t mean you don’t know what you’re doing. Anyone incompetent to stand trial is someone who is also incompetent to kill except by accident. Naturally, none of the assembled experts are willing to apply a bit of common sense – not even to the point of thinking that maybe Loughner’s paranoid fears of his defense attorneys is something cooked up between him and his defense attorneys.

For crying out loud, we’ve got this man cold – he’s going to fry unless he can get off on a technicality. Presto!, here comes the technicality – he’s too crazy for us to kill him as punishment for his insane shooting spree. I would really like to pinpoint the time in American history when we decided to stop thinking – when we decided to accept a plausible lie rather than burden ourselves with the truth. Welcome to modern America where up is down and black is white.

From the AP:

Egypt will open its only crossing with the Gaza Strip this weekend, the Cairo military government announced Wednesday, significantly easing a four-year blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory but setting up a potential conflict with Israel.

Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency said the Rafah border crossing would be opened permanently starting Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day except Fridays and holidays…

What this means is easy access by Hamas to military hardware – they’ll be able to import the means to continue attacking Israel. This is a gigantic break with the peace treaty – a clear signal of hostility to Israel and friendship with terrorism.

The only way to solve this problem is for Israel to push the Egyptians back from the border…to reconquer part of the Sinai, in order to seal off the Gaza enclave entirely. That, to put it mildly, would be a highly risky operation. But if rockets continue to rain down on Israel from a Hamas easily supplied from Egypt, what will Israel do? Allow its people to be massacred? I don’t think so.

Reviewing the GOP loss in the NY-26 special election, Chris Chicola over at NRO’s The Corner notes that the fake “TEA Party” candidate managed to siphon votes away from the GOP by campaigning against things like NAFTA – Chicola writes:

…One of Jane Corwin’s many problems was that she did not articulate a strong free-market message to voters that might have blunted the false scare tactics of Jack Davis. Corwin failed to convey a clear response to Davis’s position that protectionism and tariffs on China would protect American jobs. In fact, tariffs on Chinese goods are nothing more than a sales tax for upstate New York. Tariffs of any kind kill American jobs, and hurt our economy. Support for free trade is the principled position that’s supported by the facts, and yet the Corwin campaign didn’t seem to be in any hurry to stand on principle. In fact, in a TV ad released by the Corwin campaign at the end of March, Corwin said she would “oppose trade agreements that just aren’t fair.”

Maybe Jane Corwin really did believe in protectionism, and that’s her right. Either way, when Republicans nominate candidates who can’t articulate and won’t stand on free-market principles, they will continue to end up with the problems they are faced with in NY-26…

For all their wonderful work, it is this sort of thing coming from our more libertarian friends which makes me grind my teeth in frustration. Its all well and good to be on and on about the benefits of free trade but the fact of the matter is that there is not a bit of free trade anywhere in the world. There never has been, never will be. Each nation seeks to take whatever advantage it can. The only nation which doesn’t fully engage in this is the United States. Take, for instance, China: what does “free trade” with China mean? Well, it means that low-quality goods made by slave labor can easily enter in to the United States to crowd out higher quality goods made not only by free Americans, but by free people around the world. Additionally, it means that any American company which can offer superior bribes to Chinese government officials can open up a sweat shop in China (there is no business done in China which does not include bribery – it is as deeply ingrained in Chinese business as it is in Russian; they call it “gift giving” and “entertainment” in China…but it is just bribes to lubricate the wheels of commerce…and whomever does it best, gets the most).

In a pure world, free trade would be the way to go – if everyone out there was playing by the same rules (no bribes, no special tax or regulatory deals, may the best business win) then having no barriers to international commerce would be in our best interest. As it is not a pure world – indeed, it is a Fallen world – then a bit of prudence in trade matters is required. We can’t just allow everyone to come in to our market in service to a theory about free trade – nor can we afford to have big trading deals with all nations; some nations are enemies actual or potential and opening our market to them merely strengthens those who may wish us harm. Trade should be as free as possible – government can never decide economic matters because government has not the competence to do so…but in between the absurdities of “free trade” and “protectionism” there is a path where wise people can tread with safety. Access to the American market for foreign nations must be in relation to America’s economic and strategic needs – understanding that our economy must be strong and our national security fully protected.

In addition to the economic and foreign policy implications of trade, there is also the purely political aspect to be understood. We lost in NY-26 because a fake TEA Party candidate managed to appeal to that constituency which is not mush-mind liberal, but also not rock-ribbed GOP. There is a large – and, I believe, growing – constituency out there which is tired of America playing the sucker in world affairs. These are the people who don’t like us pouring out billions in foreign aid when our own schools are failing. Who have no problem with using the American military to crush our enemies, but have no desire for nation-building. Who are disgusted that American military and foreign policy has to be crafted in relation to the UN, or Europe, or any other foreign power or group. These are patriotic, hard working Americans who don’t go on welfare, don’t look for a disability dodge, who serve in our military and form one of the strongest supports for small, constitutional government. And they are not about to pull the GOP lever just because – they have to be given a reason to. And in NY-26 when the GOPer weakly answered the charges against NAFTA by saying she wouldn’t support agreements that aren’t fair, it wasn’t enough to swing those voters back to the GOP. What was needed was someone with a bit of Donald Trump in them to say, “you’re not going to F-ing do that!”.

If you want the support of all the people who will fight like mad for the United States of America, then you’d better show yourself willing to fight like mad for the United States of America. If you don’t – if we GOPers don’t – then some of the fighters for America will opt for a third party even if they know it means a Democrat wins…or they’ll just stay home on election day. What all this shows is that if we want to win in 2012, we’d better get our heads out of the clouds (or out of our nether regions, in some cases) and start to lay out a fighting campaign – in Can’s magnificent phrasing, we’d better become the Defending Fathers of the United States of America.

Do we want to win in 2012? Then we’d better come up with a better response to protectionism than “free trade is great”…because all some will hear is “10% unemployment and you can’t even find a pair of shoes made in the USA is great”; and those who translate it that way may well make the difference between Obama going home in 2013, or being sworn in for a second term.

From Jim Geraghty over at NRO’s Campaign Spot:

…CNN polled New Hampshire Republicans, and found more or less what we would expect: Mitt Romney at 32 percent, Ron Paul at 9 percent, Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani at 6 percent, Sarah Palin at 5 percent, and a lot of candidates tied at 4 percent: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Mitch Daniels [who announced he wasn’t running on the last day of the poll], Jon Huntsman, and Tim Pawlenty. Another 17 percent are undecided…

Geraghty’s opinion is that Romney’s numbers reflect name recognition and that everyone else needs to brush up on that. Geraghty is usually extraordinarily perceptive on these matters, but that is just silly – Palin and Giuliani have near universal name recognition in the United States and among Republicans only someone like Cain might still be a bit of an unknown. No, this isn’t name recognition – this is support. Probably soft support as it is very early and Romney’s main strength is “acceptability”…we’ll see how he does in the rough and tumble. But, still, this is good news for him.

My main issue with Romney isn’t RomneyCare or his straying in to liberal positions while he was governor of uber-liberal Massachusetts – it is that he seems a man who wants to meet the Democrats on the level and part on the square. In other words, he wants to get along with people and work across the aisle…you know, like a respectable Republican should. The problem with this that President Bush tried to do precisely that and Democrats lacerated him for his efforts and, additionally, now is not the time to be nice. It is time for a revolution – we need to gut liberalism. We need to crush it, destroy it, discredit it and remove it from power…cut off its funds, end its special privileges and so thrust it in to outer political darkness that it can never threaten the United States, again. I don’t believe Romney is up to this task – or even realizes that is the task of the next President.

Perhaps Romney can convince me otherwise. If he does wind up with the GOP nomination, I hope he does so convince me. But until he does, he won’t get my support in the primary…of course, up against Obama he’ll have my enthusiastic support because we simply must get that dunderhead out of office. But I’d rather be enthusiastically supporting a candidate who knows what needs to be done.

From USA Today:

President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron kick off two days of diplomacy this morning by pledging to work against repressive regimes in the Middle East — by force if necessary.

In a sternly worded column in The Times of London, the two leaders liken the effort to free Arab people from authoritarianism to the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 1980s.

They liken their personal efforts to two leaders who came before them: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher…

Barry, David – you two have delusions of grandeur. I hate to break this to you, but Obama you aren’t even in the same league as Ronald Reagan and as for you, Cameron, Margaret Thatcher had more balls in her little finger than you do in your whole body. To put it mildly, ushering in Moslem Brotherhood government in the Arab world is not quite like bringing down the USSR. It is also a bit of a claim to fame to have rescued an economy from destruction – as Reagan and Thatcher did – than to have driven it towards collapse. Just sayin’.

If you two nice boys will just sit down and shut up until more competent people can replace you, we’d be very appreciative and may even allow you out in public after you leave office.

You can donate at the Red Cross, Catholic Charities, Salvation Army or any other charitable group you prefer and which is engaged in relief efforts.

Just a terrible series of disasters, and they aren’t over, yet.

From the Washington Examiner:

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose presidential campaign fizzled in 2008, is leaning toward another race for the White House, according to a close associate. New York Republican Rep. Peter King, who has known Giuliani for more than 40 years, says the former mayor “is very close to saying he’s going to run.”

“If he were to make the decision today, he would run,” says King…

Giuliani has many handicaps – not least his socially liberal views in a party dominated by social conservatives – but he also brings many strengths to the table. His strongest suit is sheer executive ability to contrast with Obama’s floundering, as well as the continued luster of is performance on 9/11.

One thing no one should do is count anyone out – either as possible nominee or as possible Presidential victor. The 2012 race is anyone’s to win – all it takes is putting together the right message and showing a willingness to batter down the walls of the Ruling Class in DC. Giuliani can do that – and may be able to do it better than most as he’s a real fighter. We’ll see how this goes.