Blogs For Victory

Well, Governor Moonbeam, Jerry Brown of California, has come out with his budget plan:

California Governor Jerry Brown’s budget will cut spending by $12.5 billion, including as much as a 10 percent pay reduction for most state employees, aides said.

The plan, which Brown is to unveil today, will also raise $12 billion by retaining tax increases due to expire and making other modifications. Some of the revenue will go to cities and counties as part of Brown’s plan to transfer spending authority from the state to local governments…

So, Brown is proposing cuts which, as Mish points out, will solve 44.6% of California’s budget problems…and that is if the cuts are real, rather than fiscal hocus pocus. And where does Brown want to get the other 55.4% of the money he needs? From the unemployed, cash-strapped people of California, who will be asked to approve higher tax levels going forward. Want to take bets on the chances of that happening?

At best, Brown has bought himself 6 to 9 months of “extend and pretend” on the California budget. At the end of that time it will transpire that the cuts weren’t as much as advertised and that revenues didn’t come in at expected levels (even if Californians agree to the extended tax hikes Brown proposes)…and so California will be right back where it is now: teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

California’s government is bloated – it spends far too much money on things which government should not be doing. Even in areas where government should have a role, California spends too much on over-paid, union labor and on un-necessary and wasteful budgetary padding. You could reduce California’s budget by 50% and as long as you didn’t cut in to what people really need – police, fire, emergency medical, primary education – no one would ever notice…except when they started to notice California’s economic boom as the burden of government is lifted.

But, Californians didn’t vote for that. They vote for Jerry Brown, an uber-liberal government hack and matched him up to a legislature firmly under the control of uber-liberal government hacks. And so rather than the real spending reductions necessary, California will get bankruptcy on the installment plan.

This didn’t take long – from Politico:

One of the fiercest gun-control advocates in Congress, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), pounced on the shooting massacre in Tucson Sunday, promising to introduce legislation as soon as Monday…

National tragedy, don’t know what happened yet, people are still clinging to life and may yet die…and here comes a Democrat, trying to work it to political advantage. All too typical, I’m afraid…and the story goes on to note that another Democrat is considering legislation which would make it illegal to use words or symbols which can be construed as threatening to a Congressman…I guess that reading of the Constitution failed to get through to some Congressional brains. Neither, I guess, did the recent Supreme Court rulings about the right to bear arms being an individual right…

Have at it, Democrats – use death and destruction for your own ends. Never let a crisis go to waste, right? But this time, Democrats, you are walking right in to your own trap.

UPDATE: Seeking political advantage and using the tragedy for fund raising. Democrat class on display…

UPDATE, by Matt Margolis: Today I received an email from a former Democrat candidate for congress, Beth Krom, who ran unsuccessfully last year in CA-48… Why I am on the list, I have no idea, but the email opened with the following:

In two short years, we’ve gone from the aspirational vision of America reflected in President Obama’s campaign to the angry, frustrated tone conveyed by the Tea Party. The tragic assault on Rep. Giffords in Tucson exposes the dangerous situation that now exists in America as a result of the highly charged anti-government rhetoric that drives political discourse today. The shooting spree was not an event, it was a wake-up call.

Yada, yada, yada. This email, sent at 11:38:19 AM EST has come after it has been revealed that the shooter was actually a left-wing pothead, and not some fanatic tea partier, as the media has tried to imply from the moment the story broke. I’m not trying to feed the fire here, but I think it is worth noting we should keep an eye out for actual candidates (not just political groups) who not only exploit the shooting for political purposes, but try to raise money off of it. I’m on a lot of email lists for candidates… this is the first one I’ve received from a candidate (albeit one who lost, but keeps her campaign list active) but I doubt it will be the last.

UPDATE: Obama in 2008: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” And yet, the left claims Sarah Palin is to blame because of a graphic?

UPDATE IV: War Room calls for political civility. No, I’m not kidding.

UPDATE V: Did the Pima County sheriff ignore the threat?

UPDATE VI: Facebook has taken it down, but Vodkapundit has the screen shot of the Kill Sarah Palin page.

UPDATE VII: If at first you don’t succeed…a Sarah Palin Should Die Facebook page…

Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air goes in to detail about the way CNN has disgraced itself over its Arizona coverage. What is most striking is the way CNN was all caution and concern when the Ft Hood massacre occurred, but leaped at the chance to slander Sarah Palin over this incident.

That is, pretty much, all there is to the MSM these days – a mere adjunct to the liberal part of the Ruling Class. This Ruling Class wants us to not be concerned with Moslems who do have a penchant for insane violence but does want us to fear the TEA Party, which is entirely non-violent. So desperate are they to advance this narrative that they are just making stuff up about connections between the Arizona shooter and conservatism.

The good news is that fewer and fewer people are paying any attention to the MSM – and fewer and fewer people are identifying themselves as Democrats, the preferred party of the MSM. Dinosaurs do go extinct, though it does some times take a while. Hopefully we’ve got no more than a few more years left of these cretins at CNN…

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds further discusses this issue as a matter of blood libel against conservatives.

J. Hanson at Catholic Phoenix discusses the judge murdered yesterday:

…He was committed to Christian truth. Or, as the person responsible for securing Judge Roll as a speaker this summer put it: “He truly passionately demonstrated truth.”

It also seems that Judge Roll passionately—and frequently—experienced Truth in the Holy Mass. One person I spoke with today described Judge Roll as a “daily communicant.” This fits with a memory I have of Judge’s Roll’s address this summer, specifically when he was discussing his appointment to the federal judiciary.

According to the story as I remember it, his family learned of the appointment when his wife answered the telephone one Saturday morning. It was the president. He asked her if he could speak to her husband. She told him that he couldn’t—John Roll was at church that morning. The president would need to call back after Mass.

Finally, I have in my notes one line that stuck out in Judge Roll’s talk this past summer. (Judge Roll probably said more noteworthy things but I’m a very bad note-taker.) He told us:

“God doesn’t bring you to a point in order to abandon you.”

We are being instructed here – even the most senseless and wicked acts are turned by God to His plan for the world. We have the freedom to choose evil, but God’s plan will not be turned from its course. A politician just doing her job, a little girl learning about life, a decent judge, a score of innocent people…all harmed by the wicked act of a depraved, pathetic young man…but his evil deed will not stand. Good will triumph…our task is to pull the lesson out of this and learn both that each day is a gift as well as doing the right thing, in each moment, is all we ever need do.

De Profundis

Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.

Let Your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication.

If You, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?

But with You is forgiveness, that You may be revered.

I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in His word.

My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels wait for the dawn.

More than sentinels wait for the dawn, let Israel wait for the Lord,

For with the Lord is kindness and with Him is plenteous redemption;

And He will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

Being a member in good standing, I guess, of Move On (well, I’m on their e mail list, at least), I got this from Move On regarding the Arizona shootings:

Dear MoveOn member,

This is a tragic day for America.

As you may have already heard, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 17 other people were shot today at an event near Tucson.

Right now, Rep. Giffords is in critical condition, and there are reports are that at least five people have been killed, including a young child of about nine years old and Justice John M. Roll, the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy. We’ve created a Facebook page where we can all post prayers and thoughts for Rep. Giffords, the other victims and their families…

I have to say, quite impressed – just an impassioned plea for people to reach out to those who have suffered loss during this tragedy. But, if you head over to the Facebook page, you’ll find that things aren’t all that good in liberal-land:

It’s Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Glenn Beck. THIS IS THEIR FAULT. They have made millions off of their hatefulness towards Democrats and liberals. Maybe we can try them all on criminal conspiracy to inspire hate crimes against people on the left side of the political spectrum. They are nothing less than evil…

…A sad day in America when horrific acts like this occur. Perhaps, politicians and certain radio media will think twice about how their rants, ravings and incendiary comments can push certain unbalanced individuals over the edge.We don’t need anymore “reload” comments from Palin either…

…This is the result of the vitriolic poison that has been going around from the right wing talking heads. Sarah Palin and her ilk and Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh have stirred up this furor to the point where it had to come to a head…

…We are supposed to be entering into a new age of change. This and what the republicans are already doing to dismember protections for the environment, to ensure more money for the rich, to further drive the economy into collapse is the wrong kind of change. This misguided and possibly demented young man has hurt us all-both those directly affected and those witness to the kind of madness wild rhetoric produces in the unbalanced…

…This is not an isolated incident, but is the result of vile provocation of the right wing rabble rousers ,Beck, Limbaugh et al…

…The right wing is not exonerated because the perpetrator is scattered politically and deranged mentally. The atmosphere of contempt that they have created (using talk radio and Faux News) has caused a camouflaging fog to descend on our nation, allowing crazies to pass armed and unchallenged among us…

…Sarah Palin with her constant “metaphors” about guns, targets, etc., makes crimes like this seem OK in the minds of unbalanced people. Will she and her Tea Party cohorts understand their responsibility for causing tragedies like this one?…

…I lay some of the blame on Sarah Palin who put out info in the Spring with Rep Giffords in the crosshairs(bullseye like)…

…Brought to us, courtesy of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, and their friends at Fox News. A tragic day for the victims and families of those who sought to practice democracy in their neighborhood. Thank you, too, Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, Heritage Foundation, the NRA, and Fox and Friends. The mad and crazy could not do it without you…

…May this horrible tragedy have an impact on such horrifying creations as Sarah Palins “targets” map, actually suggesting graphically such use of violence with guns upon political opponents…

…This senseless and violent act against Rep. Giffords and other innocent bystanders may be the catalyst that ends the mean-spirited and toxic rantings of the likes of Limbaugh, Levine, Ingraham, Savage and Hannity, who have polluted our airwaves and the minds of susceptible individuals for far too long…

…We must oppose this atmosphere of violence in this country perpetrated by political leaders and radical talk show hosts…

…The words of Sarah Palin and many others amount to hate speech and incitement to violence, and should be treated as criminal acts…

Uh, Houston, we have a problem – there is, indeed, a great deal of insanity in this nation…such as saying that Sarah Palin incites violence, while not one comment in the entire Facebook thread suggested that, just perhaps, the glorification of violence in our popular culture might play a role in these events. Of course not – the violence is glorified by Hollywood types, and so its ok…

But this is our left, people – convinced that we on the right are a bunch of blood thirsty would-be killers, just waiting to be set off by the next Rush Limbaugh show, or Palin Facebook entry. This was too widespread a type of liberal response – the talking points could not have got out this quickly. This is liberals speaking from the heart…

UPDATE: Jennifer Rubin notes

You can almost hear the disappointment from the left that he was a pothead rather than a Tea Partyer.

UPDATE II: A run down of violent rhetoric from the left…if we’re to start prosecuting people for this (as some on the left are calling), then Krugman, Kos and Klein (….the “KKK”, as it were, of the left) will have to go to jail along with Rush.

Good, Lord, it is just so sad:

The identity of the 9-year-old tragically killed in this morning’s deadly rampage is Christina Taylor Greene.

Family says she was vibrant, excited about life, and she was the “best daughter in the world.”

Born on September 11, 2001, Greene was excited about the political process, was on the student government, and went to the Giffords event today to learn more about the political process, family members say…

Born on a day of national tragedy, she has now become part of national sorrow.

God our Father,

Your power brings us to birth,

Your providence guides our lives,

and by Your command we return to dust.

Lord, those who die still live in Your presence,

their lives change but do not end.

I pray in hope for the family of Christina Taylor Greene,

her relatives and friends,

for all those who died in Arizona

and for all the dead known to You alone.

In company with Christ,

Who died and now lives,

may they rejoice in Your kingdom,

where all our tears are wiped away.

Unite us together again in one family,

to sing Your praise forever and ever.

Amen.

No more “mother” and “father” on your passport:

The words “mother” and “father” will be removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology, the State Department says.

“The words in the old form were ‘mother’ and ‘father,’” said Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services. “They are now ‘parent one’ and ‘parent two.’”…

I have a mother and a father; I don’t have “parent one” and “parent two”. Who decides, by the way, which parent is “one” and which is “two”? Its just insane – but all just part of the liberal agenda. Liberals hate the traditional family and this is just one more, small chip away from that foundation of civilization – small, in itself, but representative of a larger effort at destruction.

The House GOP should insist that “mother” and “father” be returned to the form – it will be a rollback of liberalism, and an earnest of more such to come.

A rather scary look at things by Daniel Oliver at Forbes – comparing our current situation to where we were just prior the inflationary spiral of the 1970’s:

…From 1969 to 1980 the dollar lost 96% of its value in terms of gold and 92% in terms of oil. The stock market was no safe haven: The Dow’s nominal value in 1980 was the same as in 1969, meaning it lost similar value against gold and oil.

In the current cycle, the dollar and the Dow began deflating in 1999. With gold at $1,400 and oil at $90, the dollar and the Dow have declined by nearly 80% against both. To match the 1970s, they would have to lose another 80% against gold and another 60% against oil, implying gold at $7,000 and oil over $200. Given that the current monetary abuse is far worse than in the 1960s and 1970s, these figures are conservative…

That is a big, old “yikes!” moment. I hope Oliver is wrong – but I can’t see the hole in his argument. Given the amount of printing by our Federal Reserve and central banks around the world, just how would we avoid such devaluation of our currency? Remember, this doesn’t take hyperinflation to happen – we had 14% inflation in 1980 and that was the worst year of it. All it took for that kind of price rise was, probably, an average of 7 or 8% inflation per year.

We really need to get Bernanke to turn off the presses – and Congress to balance the budget. If we don’t, then the price we pay will be very, very high…much higher than any pain a cut off of fake money would be.

Just terrible news:

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and six others died after a gunman opened fire at a public event on Saturday, the Pima County, Ariz., sheriff’s office confirms.

The 40-year-old Democrat, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting a “Congress on Your Corner” event at a Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.

At least three other people, including members of her staff, were injured. Giffords was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson…

We live in an increasingly insane world – whatever reason this murderer had, it won’t be a genuinely rational one. We’ve poisoned ourselves very badly, and if we don’t start taking the cure, we’re just going to see more and more of this lunacy.

UPDATE: Giffords is alive, a federal judge and a 9 year old child are dead.

UPDATE II: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) speaks from the heart:

My heart goes out to the family of Gabby and her staff, sadly she was savagely gunned down while performing her congressional duties. This is not how a civilized society should act. Gabby and I were classmates and my tears are flowing and my heart is broken. I extend my hand of friendship to her family and office. Please continue to keep them in your prayers.

UPDATE III: Sarah Palin offers her sympathy:

My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.

UPDATE IV: Speaker Boehner:

I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff. An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country.

UPDATE V: President Obama:

This morning, in an unspeakable tragedy, a number of Americans were shot in Tucson, Arizona, at a constituent meeting with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. And while we are continuing to receive information, we know that some have passed away, and that Representative Giffords is gravely wounded.

We do not yet have all the answers. What we do know is that such a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society. I ask all Americans to join me and Michelle in keeping Representative Giffords, the victims of this tragedy, and their families in our prayers.

UPDATE VI: Details on the shooter. Pretty much, just a nut. Some one of our modern times – a product of our social disintegration; wired to the ‘net, apparently reading all sorts of crazy things, lacking any real knowledge which would allow a rational judgment on what is read.

UPDATE VII: Showing true liberalism, Daily Kos blames Sarah Palin for the shooting. Turns out, of course, that Kos is taking an airbrush to his own website about Rep. Giffords. Nasty and dishonest…that is modern liberalism, in a nutshell.

Once again the Mt. Soledad cross is in the news:

The Mount Soledad Memorial Cross is unconstitutional because it conveys the message of “state-endorsed religion,” a federal appeals court ruled on Jan. 4.

The 29-foot cross, located in a San Diego public park near the suburb of La Jolla, was dedicated in 1954 to honor veterans of the Korean War…

The suit was brought by some twits who simply have way too much time on their hands. In a normal society, the people who brought the case would have been laughed out of court, and then tarred and feathered by normal people who have just been pushed way to far.

But, we don’t live in a normal society, we live in a liberalism-soaked society in which people seriously claim that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” means “religious symbols shall not be displayed on public land”. People who hold to this view don’t know what “Congress”, “law”, “establishment” and “religion” mean…but such people do hate the cross and are determined, as far as possible, to remove it from public sight.

It is not really all that surprising – the cross, and what it means, have been hated from the moment a few obscure Jews started claiming that a man who had been executed on one rose from the dead and was the Savior of the world. For a variety of reasons, a lot of people really got upset over that idea – and they’ve remained upset for nearly 2,000 years. It really is the crux of the whole matter – the only thing, in the end, we really argue over.

But enough really is enough – we need a Religious Liberty Restoration Amendment to the Constitution. It should say the following:

“The prohibition against Congress establishing a religion shall not be construed to deny the right of the people to erect religious symbols or exercise their religion on public property.”

Its sad that we’d have to do this, but there is simply no other way – our courts are just too shot through with liberal judges who have been trained to think in terms of “wall of separation”; we have to reverse this, and the only way to do it is to leave no means for liberals and their judges to interfere. It would be better if common sense could be applied, but liberals are opposed to common sense whenever it manifests itself…and, so, amending the Constitution is our only way to protect ourselves.