Out and About on a Monday Morning

Axelrod: You idiots are ruining the Obama Administration.

Barack Obama: imperialist running dog of capitalism. Who knew?

A bit of Hopey-Change fatigue?

J D Hayworth hits McCain on “amnesty” issue.

Student riots and the student loan scam.

Death of Civilization Watch: Gay Catholic Ex-Stripper Awaits Birth of Twins Carried by Husband’s Sister (The linked article describes the guy as “devout” in his Catholicism…I can only assume he’s early on in his return to the Church and thus needs a great deal more instruction).

A Tale of Two States

One governed by people who believe they are really good at governing, the other governed by people who would rather be out hunting of fishing – Michael Barone has an excellent article contrasting the miserably failed State of California and the stunningly successful State of Texas, here’s one of many points:

…From 2000 to 2009, the Census Bureau estimates, there has been a domestic outflow of 1,509,000 people from California — almost as many as the number of immigrants coming in. Population growth has not been above the national average and, for the first time in history, it appears that California will gain no House seats or electoral votes from the reapportionment following the 2010 census…

…Americans have been voting for Texas with their feet. From 2000 to 2009, some 848,000 people moved from other parts of the United States to Texas, about the same number as moved in from abroad. That inflow has continued in 2008-09, in which 143,000 Americans moved into Texas, more than double the number in any other state, at the same time as 98,000 were moving out of California. Texas is on the way to gain four additional House seats and electoral votes in the 2010 reapportionment…

Another point in the article is that California’s legislature meet year-round, while Texas is only burdened with such 90 days every other year. Texas is a State which has a government – California is a government which has a State.

I don’t know how California gets out of the mess – my bet is that the 1.5 million who left are of the conservative, will-work-for-money mindset. This means that those remaining are ever more likely to see government as the answer – whether its as a welfare distributor or as a path to personal riches via government employment. Meanwhile, the very rich who infect Los Angeles and San Francisco will continue to vote liberal because behind their gated communities and in their enclaves of wealth and privilege, California is still going great. There is a chance of revolution in California this year – and if Californians don’t take it, I think the Golden State is doomed.

Meanwhile, out here in Nevada one of our goals is not to become “Californicated”…naturally, our liberals are starting to say that the cure for our own budget woes is a round of tax increases…including, of course, the imposition of a State income tax. This sort of thing proves liberals are impervious to reason.

What Do They Fear?

They fear that Americans wills start farming, again, rather than allowing some of the best farm land in the world to lie fallow due to asinine concerns about a guppy.

They fear that Americans will start manufacturing again, rather than allowing Chinese to make shoddy goods for the American market.

They fear that we’ll start exploiting our own oil, gas and coal resources rather than importing oil from enemy States.

They fear that we’ll let the “zombie banks” fail rather than continue the Federal Reserve’s efforts to bail out the bankers.

They fear that American will insist upon enforcement of the Constitution rather than allowing judges and bureaucrats to make it up as they go along.

What they fear, ultimately, is Americans acting like Americans. The fear we’ll become as we were before we allowed various cretins to take hold of our nation and sell us out in order to enrich and empower those who either hate America, or hold it in contempt.

Who are “they”? They are our enemies in places like Iran and Venezuela. Rising challengers in China. Leaders of dying Europe. Shortsighted, greedy banksters and money men who are so fixated on quarterly profits they can’t see doom coming a year away. Domestic liberals – people who are, in Sowell’s phrasing, “the anointed” – who figure they know what is best for all of us.

Its not that all these disparate people and groups work consciously together, but they all do share the same, fundamental goal – to make Americans not be Americans. To make us other than the people who created the most powerful, wealthiest and most generous nation in human history. A bunch of Lilliputians who wish to appear larger by taking down that which is greater than they.

The state of the world today – from Iran’s power to China’s economic growth – has only been possible by the hamstringing of the people of the United States. The shiftless and the very wealthy have worked against the interests of those who do the work of America – and all of those who have profited off our decline are deadly afraid that we will arrest the decline, and start to revive.

America is a titan in the world – never forget that. If one puts it in to proper perspective, it was sheer impertinence for pipsqueak nations like Germany and Japan to have challenged us in the 1940’s – we crushed both of them, at the same time, without ever exhausting our resources. We were vastly more powerful in 1945 than we had been in 1940, after more than three years of continuous battle. That is the America the world – and, even, some Americans on the left – don’t want to see, again. They like a tied down America – an America which serves their interests, rather than the interests of America.

We have a chance, Americans, to revive our great nation. Starting this November, we can start to take our country back and reforge what our grandfathers knew. But, here’s the thing – it isn’t enough for us to just win an election. We will have to show the raw courage necessary to break the ties which bind us to our enemies.

We will have to say “no” to a great many things and make ourselves, temporarily, very unpopular…but the key is that once we undo what has been done, there won’t be the political power to put it back together again. Even if we lose the following election, if we’ve cleared out the rot, the American people will not suffer to have it restored.

Here is our grand chance. We must seize it with both hands.

A Strange Complaint of Racial Profiling

A bit of news from southern Nevada:

An Islamic advocacy group has filed a complaint against the Henderson Police Department on behalf of seven Muslim men detained while praying in a gasoline station parking lot in December.

The Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, announced the complaint in a press release on Friday.

The complaint says seven Muslim residents of Southern California were traveling through the Las Vegas Valley on Dec. 20 when they stopped for gasoline and food at a Rebel station in Henderson.

The apparent claim is that whomever called this in should have known it was time for evening prayers for Moslems – and, of course, that the responding police officers should have known, too. Which claims are, of course, nonsense. Not just nonsense, but idiotic nonsense.

If I were to get out of my car and start doing the Rosary in the gas station parking lot, I’d certainly expect that people would think it odd and perhaps even a bit threatening. Lets face it, some people use religion as a cloak for wicked deeds – I’m suddenly on my knees praying and if you’re not Catholic, you don’t know what I’m up to. If a police officer did not come up and ask me what I was up to and check out my background, I’d be surprised. Surprised and concerned that the cops are not being alert.

This, of course, was seven men praying in a manner only a few Americans are familiar with – it would be exceptionally odd to see and natural that official attention would be drawn to it, and that the people in question would be given the once-over. Its not like there isn’t a mosque in Henderson – from what I can tell, a rather large and well-appointed one where these men could have gone for prayers; and Henderson isn’t the biggest town in the world…wouldn’t have taken more than ten or fifteen minutes to get from where ever they were to where they needed to be.

I see three possibilities:

1. The men were just being foolish.

2. The men were testing local law enforcement to see how alert it is.

3. The men were deliberately trying to provoke an incident.

I figure foolish is the most likely – and the Henderson Police Department should kindly tell CAIR to go jump in a lake. I’ll not have us walk on egg shells for fear of offending Moslems who don’t act in accordance with normal American usage. We don’t tend to pray in gas station parking lots and anyone who does so – especially in a group – shouldn’t expect to go undisturbed. Religion is required in the public square in any healthy society, but everything has its time and place.

Iceland to Bankers, Bureaucrats: Screw You

A breath of fresh air:

With 83,478 votes counted following Saturday’s referendum in Iceland, 78,092 are votes to reject December’s Icesave law and 1,284 (1.5 percent) have voted to keep the law in force. 2,830 empty ballots were cast in protest.

What’s it all about? Here:

Icelanders overwhelmingly rejected a bill that would saddle each citizen with $16,400 of debt in protest at U.K. and Dutch demands that they cover losses triggered by the failure of a private bank, first results show.

Got that? Brit and Dutch investors put money in to the overheated Icelandic banking system a couple years back and lost everything when the inevitable crash occurred. Naturally, the desire of governments – in Iceland, Britain and Holland – was to get the taxpayers to cover the losses suffered by greedy fools.

Nothing doing, says the people of Iceland, and good for them. Mish offers some advice:

Perhaps the best thing to do is default and suffer the consequences. Even if it is not the best thing to do, that is what 93% of Icelandic voters want to do, so that is what Iceland should do.

Fitch downgraded Iceland’s debt to Junk. Moody’s and the S&P threatened to do so. Note how pathetic Moody’s and the S&P are in threatening (not doing), even after the fact. Does anyone give a rat’s (expletive deleted) about that downgrade now?

Iceland does not need help from the IMF when it will saddle every citizen with $16,400 of debt. Fools in the UK and Netherlands rushed in to Icelandic banks and the fools in the UK and Netherlands are the ones who should suffer the consequences.

It was perfectly obvious Iceland was in an unsustainable situation so the prudent thing to do would be to get the (heck) out of the way.

By defaulting on debt, Iceland will send a much needed message “Don’t do stupid things”.

We, the people of the United States, are on the hook for all $12 trillion in federal debt. We let those idiots in DC do this, and now we’re going to have to pay. What is intolerable is to have the people bail out the banks and investors who screwed up. Bankruptcy is not the worst thing which can happen – and it might teach some worthwhile lessons about those who want to make a killing rather than set up long term, prudent investments.

I congratulate the people of Iceland on the clear eyed courage.

Throwing Shoes at Obama

Remember when the liberals said that when the Iraqi kook threw his shoes at President Bush it was a sign of how little respect the world had for us because of evil, rotten, nasty Chimpy McSmirk BusHitler’s policies? Well

Scores of Islamic students staged protests outside Jakarta’s parliament and in at least three other major Indonesian cities on Friday against President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to this predominantly Muslim country.

The students carried banners branding Obama as an enemy of Islam and an imperialist in downtown Jakarta as well as in the provincial capitals Padang, Yogyakarta and Surabaya.

They also threw shoes at large pictures of Obama’s head. An Iraqi journalist was sentenced to a year in prison for throwing his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad in 2008. (emphasis added)

The lesson to be learned here is that the people who hate the United States hate the United States, no matter who is President. The President can be as firm as Bush or as soft as Obama, it doesn’t matter – because they hate us for what we are, not what we do. To you liberals, Obama might be a shining light – to our enemies he’s just another infidel imperialist pig.

Keep that in mind….

Trillion Dollar Deficits as Far as the Eye Can See

That is the average deficit projected over the next ten years:

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said President Barack Obama’s budget would lead to annual deficits averaging nearly $1 trillion for the next decade.

The estimates are for larger deficits than the budget shortfalls expected by the White House.

Annual deficits under Obama’s budget plan would be about $976 billion from 2011 through 2020, according to a CBO analysis of Obama’s plan released Friday.

The reality is, of course, that we won’t be able to do this. There isn’t ten trillion dollars for us to borrow in the world – if we try to go with Obama’s plan, we’ll have to default on our debt in just a couple years as we become unable to borrow to refinance the current debt (when you’re in deficit, you really don’t have the money to pay off the debts coming due, ya dig?). We’ll wind up like Greece, or worse.

This is the insanity of our left – with this stark fact, national bankruptcy, staring us in the face their whole focus is on spending even more. They are just completely divorced from reality.

Our chance comes in November – we can prevent this.

Obama Happy You're Out of Work!

From the Los Angeles Times:

Obama administration encouraged by steady unemployment rate

After the snow job from the government about how a couple days of bad weather would cause unemployment to look worse than it did we can now be certain that no one in the Obama Administration has the first clue (you have to lose a whole week’s pay before you’re classed as unemployed and thus show up in the stats – a “snow day” doesn’t cut it) about our economy – but just in case anyone out there still held out hope for economic rationality, we’ve not got them “encouraged” that 9.7% is still the official (with the real rate increasing to 16.8%).

House Dem to Retire Amid Allegations of Sexual Misconduct (Updated)

BREAKING NEWS:

Well, our liberals immediately jumped to his defense and were quite angry with us for being so mean to this poor, innocent man who was only leaving office because he’s dying of cancer.

Well, not quite:

Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) will resign Monday at 5pm, a source close to the embattled incumbent tells Hotline OnCall.

Massa has been pressured by House Dems to step aside amid an ethics controversy that caused him to announce earlier this week he would not run for a second term.

Earlier this week, the House ethics committee confirmed it was looking in to allegations against Massa. Those allegations reportedly include sexual harassment of a member of the Congressman’s staff.

Massa’s decision to retire came as a surprise to both parties. While he said his decision was based on a recurrence of cancer, the ethics committee investigation made Dems push him out the door.

If his fellow Democrats are pushing him out the door then it means that this is a very serious case. A few off-color remarks would not have done this.

If you liberals will just read Caucus of Corruption you’ll understand how these things work – and you wouldn’t have fallen for the cover story.

This Democrat-run government really is starting to be like a Greek tragedy:

First-term Rep. Eric Massa announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection, saying his doctors have told him that he can’t continue to “run at 100 miles an hour.”

But several House aides told POLITICO that the House ethics committee has been informed of allegations that the New York Democrat, who is married with two children, made unwanted advances toward a junior male staffer.

A more senior staffer — Ronald Hikel, Massa’s former deputy chief of staff and legislative director — took the complaints to the ethics committee and was interviewed about them twice.

Hikel declined to comment about the situation, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) confirmed that the Democratic leadership had been informed of the allegations before the news broke.

It took the GOP more than ten years to get this caught up in hubris – its taken the Democrats less than four.

Pentagon Shooter: Leftist Nutcase

While DHS talks up the alleged dangers of us knuckle-dragging Bible-clingers going on a rampage, the real violent screwballs are running loose:

On Thursday, a “9/11 Truth” fanatic named John Patrick Bedell started shooting at the Pentagon and managed to wound two guards before they mercifully put him out of our misery.

We now know that the guy thought the government and the Bush family were behind the 9/11 attacks (or “demolitions” as he called them), and was basically frothing at the mouth with Bush hatred.

Now, I’ve been to innumerable “Truther” rallies over the last 8 years, and can say with some confidence that about 98% of folks who think 9/11 was a hoax are left-wingers, or at the very least fit in very comfortably in the left-wing milieu, since the impetus behind Truthism is to undermine the basis for Bush’s “War on Terror,” an impetus which is also a cornerstone of modern Leftist thought as well.

So far, however, I’ve noticed a deafening quietude on the left-leaning blogs about this guy’s affiliations and belief systems. Those brave enough to troll leftist comments sections have noted mumblings therein that the guy was probably a secret “teabagger,” despite all evidence to the contrary.

Along those lines of blaming the TEA Party – its already happening:

John Patrick Bedell: Did right-wing extremism lead to shooting?

Authorities have identified John Patrick Bedell as the gunman in the Pentagon shooting. He appears to have been a right-wing extremist with virulent antigovernment feelings.

The author of that ties Bedell in with that Stack character who flew his plane in to the IRS building, even though that guy’s suicide note praised Karl Marx. Two leftist screwballs go on a rampage, and the MSM seeks to blame conservatism. Why? Because liberals want it to be that only conservatives are violent.

The truth here is that by praising things like Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and not dropping like a ton of bricks on all those who claimed that Bush lied to get us in to Iraq, liberal leaders have created the stage for these acts.

If you really believe that the government had a hand in 9/11, what would you shrink from? Its time, and high time, for liberal leaders to stop this cycle of lies which they use merely to fire up the base and rake in fat campaign donations. This is becoming criminal.