Conservatism Today

Want to start a Conservative Blog? Inexpensive and Professional Help Available

My friend and fellow blogger Thomas Grier of the Trunk Report is offering an inexpensive gift for anyone who wants to partake in the joys of conservative blogging.

I was thinking the other day and came to the conclusion there needs to
be more conservative blogs on the internet. I guess I can help that
along with the following offer. My company Revolution Strategies LLC
which predominantly designs/hosts larger websites is willing to do the
following.

If you want a conservative blog my company will set you up with one
for free. What I mean by free is we will help you get
www.yourblogname.com set up and get you a nice looking wordpress
template. You still have to buy the domain name ( I recommend
www.godaddy.com but there are many others ).

I will also host the blog for $5 a month ( basic hosting ), I charge
my clients $15-$500 depending on the disc space, bandwidth of the
site, and level of support. The $5 a month will give you basic hosting
which will allow more traffic than you will ever need really, unless
you approach the size of ace of spades hq, which in that case we will
have to talk again. It will also get you an email address that says
basically yourname@yourblogname.com . My host is 99.99% uptime
guaranteed.

Requirements:

•       Approved Blog must be political in nature
•       Approved Blog Name ( no nasty names )
•       Approved Blog Content ( no inappropriate content/images )

If you're interested let me know by contacting me at the below
information. Some of you already have blogs at your domain of choice
but you might friends who want to start. If you are disatisfied with
your host and want to switch we can talk about that too but this offer
might not apply, I am really just trying to help.  You can forward
this email to your friends if you would like. I only imagine to do
like 45 of these but If I get super swamped I will have to probably
cut the deal due to time restraints.

Merry Conservative Christmas,
Thomas Grier
Revolution Strategies LLC
Thomas@revolution-strategies.com

Earth has Cooled since Bush took Office

Temperatures have dropped globally since 2000; Al Gore hardest hit.

Not that it matters either way. Junk science is junk science whether it appears to be predicting something accurately or not. But this should, ahem, put the freeze on some global warming programs for awhile at least.

Meanwhile, I need to go find that ice scraper so I can clear the foot of snow off my rental car.

The most expensive secret you’re not supposed to know is that George W. Bush leaves office with the planet cooler than when he entered. This dangerous trend threatens the multi-billion dollar “global warming” industry, adding new urgency to the ritual shriek of “we must act now!” in the scramble to impose a costly regime of mandates and energy taxes.

The global warming industry’s tactics already range from comical to reprehensible. As a result of a cooling atmosphere -- which thanks to the “global cooling” panic we began measuring in 1979 -- you are distracted with irrelevant surface temperatures. This is possibly because more than 90% of our surface thermometer network is in violation of rules for locating the instruments. For example, why are so many now on asphalt parking lots, black tar roofs, airport tarmacs, and even hanging directly above barbeque grills?

Such childishness is only the tip of the iceberg of outrages employed to advance an ideological agenda. Our schools torment those whom they are charged with protecting from abuse, with night terrors among the less egregious outcomes. Their brainwashing includes hate mail campaigns to skeptics, reporting on their parents’ willingness to adopt an agenda, and even emotional breakdown requiring institutionalization.

More at the link. Can I see the hands of all those who expect the Divinity School Dropout to give his Nobel Prize back? Anyone?

Related: The Twelve Days of Global Warming

New Yorkers: Yeah We're Coming to Your City

New Yorkers flee high taxes in droves. If you want a little bada-boom-bada-bing in your neighborhood, play along.

Public-relations executive Scott Merritt and teacher Debbie Merritt struggled for 11 years in New York, barely scratching out a living and forced to live in his parents' four-bedroom home in Greenlawn, LI.

But when the family moved to Atlanta, Merritt and his wife found they were living far better on about the same income.

"We went from struggling to having a great quality of life in just a few weeks," Scott Merritt said...

Between 2000 and 2005, 40,000 New Yorkers moved to Atlanta, according to the city's Regional Commission.

"We're meeting more and more New Yorkers down here," said Merritt.

We have this same problem in Phoenix. New Yorkers have problems with rat infestations. We have problems with New Yorker infestations. Ask yourself which you'd rather have. It's gotten so I can't walk into a freaking sports bar without bumping into a dozen Rocco's and Luigi's and Gambo's and Joey's and Carmine's wearing Yankees and Mets and Giants gear.

It would be annoying, but tolerable, if all you had to deal with was the annoying sports fans and inscrutable accents. But the real problem is that half of them forget why they left New York in the first place, and immediately begin voting in liberals. You ruined your own home, made your own home un-livable. Fine, we offer you refuge. But leave your freaking liberalism behind, New Yorkers! Enough already.

This is how Arizona, formerly a glorious conservative utopia, ends up electing a liberal, Democrat governor, who then gets named as Barack Obama's head of Homeland Security despite her failure to secure our state's southern border.

We can't allow ourselves to think that high taxes in New York is a problem that only hurts New York. If this continues, soon enough Phoenix and Atlanta and Orlando will run out of room for all the Soprano's, Gambino's, Bloomberg's and Cuomo's.

Soon it will be your problem.

New York Times About to go Down Under?

Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.

6) The New York Times (NYT) has to repay $400 million in debt in the first half of 2009. It does not have the money. It plans to mortgage its headquarters, but it is uncertain what that will bring in an uncertain real estate market. The firm’s Boston Globe and regional newspaper operations lose money, so they will be hard to sell. NYT is controlled by the Sulzberger family which has super-majority voting shares. That won’t matter much when the company runs out of money. Another big media operation, perhaps News Corp (NWS) which owns The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, will come in and auction off what it can and keep the flagship New York Times newspaper and NYTimes.com website.

Party at my place when the New York Times dies. I'll even provide the beer. And the journalism. In other words, it will be business as usual.

Some other interesting ones on the list include Fannie and Freddie, AIG and Chrysler. Sirius would be news to me, I always figured Sirius would do very well once the Democratic Congress passed the Fairness Doctrine and forced Rush and Sean, etc, to pay radio.

If the New York Times fails in New York City, and nobody is there to write about it, does it still make a sound? And if so, can it please be the sound of that loser Pinch Sulzberger weeping?

Barack Obama, Dem Congress Control Future of Unions in America

President Bush's modest auto bailout, which gave the companies enough funds to survive through March, essentially left the problem to Barack Obama. After that, Obama and the Dems in Congress will take over the keys to the car.

Bill Dupray of the Patriot Room saw this as a union-buster for President Bush. I certainly hope he's right, but I'm not so optimistic on this one. Obama and his Congress will have a choice. They can bring the auto workers' unions to their knees, or they can upset the public with another massive bailout. While neither road looks great for the democratic leadership, throwing their unions under the bus would seem highly unlikely.

Obama is clearly the most-pro union President we've seen since FDR, and this version of Congress can't be far behind as Congresses go. This is why the unions refused to sign a deal that would have dramatically lowered labor benefits. They expect negotiations to go much better with Obama. They know that Obama can effectively lay the downfall of the auto companies at the Republicans' feet if Congressional Republicans refuse to agree to a bailout that would allow the industry to continue with business as usual. It is my belief that only a vocal public opposition will prevent this from taking place, and the American electorate appears more likely to support Obama, at least early on.

This will be one of the major battles of Obama's first 100+ days. As much as I try to envision a better future for the U.S. auto industry, I can't envision him effectively destroying unionization in America. Because if the UAW can't get its workers a better deal than non-union workers in the South, the UAW pretty much dies. I would pay to witness that execution, but I doubt I will get the chance.

Dreaming is free, but eventually there comes a time to wake up.

Announcement: Patriot Room 2.0 Debuts Today!

I am pleased to announce that along with running Conservatism Today, I will now be a contributing partner at the new and improved Patriot Room. Patriot Room has long been one of my favorite blogs. In fact, even before "meeting" blogger and attorney Bill Dupray, I rated this site near the top of my list of conservative blogs, and this was before the site really started to take off.

With the addition of bloggers Robert, Clyde and myself, plus some great new features for readers and bloggers alike, we expect Patriot Room to be high up the daily reading list for any conservative - nay, any patriot.

From Bill Dupray:

Monday will be a big day around these parts. Patriot Room 2.0 is on its way and we ain't just gonna be rearranging the furniture in here. We are going to transform this place into a conservative mega-site. You are still going to get your snarky, MSM-thrashing, Lib-mocking conservative take on breaking news, just like always. Only now, there will be four regular writers. Four sets of eyes watching what is going on in our country, pouncing on the perps, and yelling for you to come take a look at what we caught.

The other writers are, in no particular order, Clyde from My Aisling, Robert from Prepare to be Offended, and Scott Martin from Conservatism Today. These guys are all unapologetically conservative, patriotic, capitalist pigs. If you have been to their sites, you know that. If not, trust me on this one.

Robert, in addition being a blogger, is a top-notch software developer who has totally revamped the site while keeping much of the color scheme and general familiarity intact. He has added a ton of great new features that will allow the online conservative community to both get the goods they are looking for and to fully participate. PR version 2.0 is like 1.0 on steroids.

Some of the new features.

Reader Submissions

This is where, if you are a blogger and want to post a link to one of your posts, you can do that. Users can vote and comment on your link, and, if it gets enough votes/clicks, it will get pulled from the Reader Submissions page out to the front page of the site where it will drive even more traffic to your site. Many of you are familiar with a similar feature that Real Clear Politics used to have. They were accused of pro-Obama bias, removing certain posts, such as ones about his Birth Certificate. Sometimes links posted there just disappeared for no reason, apparently not passing the smell test of some unseen arbiter of good taste and decorum. While we reserve the right to remove any post, we are a conservative site, and if your stuff is relevant and in moderately good taste, it will stay. We want to promote other conservative blogs and keep the information and debate flowing freely.

Not only can you post your own articles on the new site (or any articles you think others would enjoy reading), you can also have us take your feed and make it available for all to see in our "Member Blogs" section. It will show everything you post - all with direct links back to your site.

Newsstand

This is a box of links to articles that we find interesting, odd, or funny, but that we did not address in one of our full posts. This is similar to Hot Air's Headlines or The Conservative Grapevine. The Newsstand will be a good source of constantly updated information and breaking news that will be an excellent resource for bloggers looking for posting topics.

Government

The Government tab links to websites of all branches of Federal and State governments. If you want to find out what Barry's first Executive Orders are after he is sworn in, you can click the Government tab in the Navigation Bar and the drop down menu will give you a White House option, with a submenu for Executive Orders and other White House related options. On the State Government menu, maybe you want to find out who is running to replace Schwarzenegger for Governor of California. You will find it there.

Perp Board

This is a list of Democrats, scoundrels, and other ne'er-do-wells who need to be watched. Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Hot-Rod Blagojevich, and others are on it now. This page will contain a list of names at the top, akin to what you might see in an FBI office with suspects' names arranged on a board - i.e. the Perp Board. Below the names will be articles about those on the list.

Hot Issues

Similar in design to the Perp Board, this is where, if offshore drilling, for example, is one of the big issues of the day, Offshore Drilling will appear in the list of Hot Issues at the top and related articles will appear below the list.

Patriots

On this page we will have a list of prominent conservative commentators, pundits, bloggers, and other influential folks on the right, along with links to their websites, so you can get their latest stuff directly from Patriot Room.

Other Stuff

So, you ask, do I have to do anything different to see the new site? Most of you won't have to do anything. The site will remain www.patriotroom.com. If you have the site Bookmarked or on your Favorites list, those will still work. The only exception will be that if you have bookmarked a particular post (rather than the site itself), you will likely have to find it again on the new site and re-save it.

Those who subscribe to our feed or comments will continue to get them, though you may get duplicates for a day as the switchover takes place.

If you are registered to post comments here, you will have to re-register on PR 2.0 - new server, new registration. Those folks who submit guest posts will be able to post links to your posts on your site. We will also consider allowing full guest posts on the front page alongside our stuff (as we do now) on a case by case basis.

We are pumped to launch PR 2.0 and think you will dig it. We launch on Monday. As with any new version of anything, there are bound to be a few bugs (though Robert has his act together pretty good on this), so if you find anything that needs fixing let us know. Feedback, good and bad, is what we are looking for. We want you to like it, link to it, and tell your friends.

I will continue to post unique content to this site, while duplicating some stuff at the Patriot Room and contributing to some other features over there. For regular readers here, the value of the new site will likely come more from the community and the other writers than from myself. I urge you to please check it out, and let us know what you think. Thanks.

Heading into the New Year - Vacation, etc.

I am leaving for Wisconsin where I will be vacationing with my family. At the same time, I am working on getting things ready for the new project I will be starting shortly, the one that I alluded to shortly after the election. So between now and January 2nd I will not be posting much. Obviously I will check in if something huge happens.

After that time, I will be back with increased vigor, posting with the regularity that I had prior to the election.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas!

Action Notice: Liberal Blogger Mugged

Mike Ganzeveld, one of the two main bloggers on the Iowa Liberal (http://iowaliberal.com) was mugged at an ATM in Fort Dodge, Iowa at the end of last month.  He wound up with a broken hand, which is healing, but worse, some serious damage to one of his eyes.  He has medical insurance which will cover most of the cost of the retinal reattachment surgery he's facing -- and he'll go blind in that eye if he doesn't have it -- but as a result of his injuries, he's out of work for the time being.

His blogging partner, Jeromy Brown, has put up the article The Fix-Mike’s-Retina Donation Post…Extravaganza! with a PayPal link in which readers can donate to help Mike with his expenses.

My friend Dana Pico of Common Sense Political Thought is asking bloggers and readers (on both the left and the right) to help if they are able and so inclined.

I have always encouraged private charity over government intervention. And I especially like to give in cases where someone needs help through no fault of their own. This is a great opportunity for conservatives who talk the talk on private charity to walk the walk, and show our generosity.

That being said, it is also an opportunity to withhold good from someone whose views you disagree with.

If you've been reading me much, I think you know what I'll be doing.

Video: Journalist Attacks President Bush with Shoes

My initial  reaction to this was to wonder why the Secret Service wasn't on this 'journalist' immediately.

As Drew at Ace of Spades noted:

Apparently the man and his family were arrested, his wife raped in front of him and then the entire family was thrown screaming into a wood chipper. Oh sorry, that's what would have happened if this brave Iraqi patriot had tried this during Saddam's reign.

No one likes to have their country invaded and patrolled by a foreign military, even if it's for a their own long term good but maybe this guy should think about why he suddenly is so courageous and who made that possible.

Meantime, no doubt many on the left are cheering this asshat. The world turned upside down my friends.

UPDATE: Gee, I wonder why this part was left out of the earlier reports:

Some Iraqi journalists stood up to apologise.

The White House said Bush ducked to avoid the first shoe, while the second narrowly missed the president.

Bush said: "Thanks for apologising on behalf of the Iraqi people. It doesn't bother me. If you want the facts, it was a size 10 shoe that he threw".

Playing down the incident, the president later added: "I don't know what the guy's cause is... I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."

This is the the second classiest way for Bush to have handled it. The classiest way? Bush pulls a dagger out of his waistband and flings directly into the guy's heart and shoe chucker is dead before he hits the ground (which incidentally is exactly how Dick Cheney would have handled it).

Hilarious Video: The Job

Brilliant take on the typical hiring undocumented workers at Home Depot scene:

 

Who says there aren't any Good Jobs Available?

I recently came across this help-wanted ad that proves there are plenty of good, high-paying jobs available. 

HELP WANTED

POSITION: Surveyor

LOCATION: Northern Coastal Alaska

SALARY: $275-$500/Hr - Tax Free (Dependent on Experience & Employment Longevity)

QUALIFICATIONS: Must be in Excellent Health, having a Strong Physique & Rugged Endurance combined with fast, nimble foot dexterity (run like hell)!

And it even included pictures showing what sort of work environment the prospective candidate could look forward to. Looks promising to me:

APPLY NOW. . . IMMEDIATE OPENINGS AVAILABLE!

H/T to Chris.

Leadership: Academic Elitism vs Principled Wisdom

President-elect Barack Obama swiftly revealed the direction his team would take, as the Washington Post noted last Sunday:

All told, of Obama's top 35 appointments so far, 22 have degrees from an Ivy League school, MIT, Stanford, the University of Chicago or one of the top British universities...

While Obama's picks have been lauded for their ethnic and ideological mix, they lack diversity in one regard: They are almost exclusively products of the nation's elite institutions and generally share a more intellectual outlook than is often the norm in government. Their erudition has already begun to set a new tone in the capital, cheering Obama's supporters and serving as a clarion call to other academics. Yale law professor Dan Kahan said several of his colleagues are for the first time considering leaving their perches for Washington...

Absent-Minded Professors

Just what America needs, huh? A bunch of pointy-headed theorists who have never accomplished anything outside of Planet Academia, rushing to Washington to tell inhabitants of the real world how we can solve all our problems.

We tried this "best and brightest" approach under Kennedy. As the article notes, that's how we got mired in Vietnam. We had our own President Egghead with Jimmy Carter. He was always the smartest man in the room, and usually the least able to decide what course of action would be best to take.

High intelligence and even higher education is not a prerequisite for leadership - it is a warning signal. More often than not, these types suffer from Absent-minded Professor Syndrome - great genius in the laboratory or the classroom, but an inability to locate their car keys and an empty place where their common sense should be.

Dangerous Geniuses

Occasionally you find a highly-intelligent, highly-educated person who is not totally incapable of completing normal tasks successfully. Someone who can shoot hoops and smoke a cigarette at the same time. Someone like Barack Obama. Their education tells them that they have all the answers. Their high intelligence tells them that they are the only person who can save America from itself. 

This is dangerous. Once this conclusion is reached (and I believe it already has been) it's all over. These people might have good intentions. They might make the trains run on time for awhile. But soon no policy, no law, no relationship becomes as important as maintaining power. Mistakes will be made, laws will be broken and ignored, preachers and grandmothers will get thrown under the bus.

This doesn't just go for liberals, either. One of my favorite theoreticians ever is Newt Gingrich, and he suffered from the same problem. For a short period of time, he accomplished great things. But his belief in his own greatness caused him to make mistakes, break rules of ethics and throw people under the bus. Until the bus made a detour and ran him over. Since he's gone back to working as a theoretician, he's been doing great things again. But he should never be President.

Wise, Principled Leadership - The Reagan Legacy

If extreme intelligence and high educational achievement are not positive character traits in leaders, what is? Wisdom, based on timeless principles of individual liberty. Reasonable intelligence mixed with common sense and love for that which is good. A high sense of personal morality.

The article notes that my political hero, Ronald Reagan, graduated from tiny Eureka College. Certainly he was an intelligent man; you don't save multiple lives as a teenage lifeguard, become a top sports announcer, become a household name as an actor, become President of an actors union, become governor of the largest state in the nation, and then become President of the United States without intelligence. Being one of the best in the world at whatever you choose to be doing at any given time takes some smarts. But his intelligence and education were not uncommon.

As President, he would nod off during meetings when advisors talked about missile throw-weights. The minutia didn't interest him. Pointy-headed academics didn't interest him. He was interested in the big picture.

He believed that insuring personal freedom was the greatest goal of government. He knew that socialist utopianism doesn't solve problems, that government planners don't solve problems, they exacerbate them. And he knew these things because he knew all about the existence of evil.

And because he knew about evil, he knew what Soviet communism was. He learned this as President of the Screen Actors Guild, when he had to carry a gun with him to cross picket lines and when he had to battle Soviet infiltrators in the film industry. And because he knew evil, he knew that the Soviet Union would someday crumble from within. He knew that if America ever applied the right types of pressure, it would crumble sooner.

The academics laughed at the "ignorant cowboy" when he said the following in June of 1982 to the British Parliament. None of the great minds with their fancy degrees knew what Reagan knew: That the Soviet Union was doomed because it was evil, if free men and women would just shine their light upon it.

We're approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political invention -- totalitarianism. Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy's enemies have refined their instruments of repression. Yet optimism is in order, because day by day democracy is proving itself to be a not-at-all-fragile flower. From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than 30 years to establish their legitimacy. But none -- not one regime -- has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root....

(t)he gift of vision, the willingness to see the future based on the experience of the past. It is this sense of history, this understanding of the past that I want to talk with you about today, for it is in remembering what we share of the past that our two nations can make common cause for the future...

History teaches the dangers of government that overreaches -- political control taking precedence over free economic growth, secret police, mindless bureaucracy, all combining to stifle individual excellence and personal freedom.

President Reagan then predicts the future:

Historians looking back at our time will note the consistent restraint and peaceful intentions of the West. They will note that it was the democracies who refused to use the threat of their nuclear monopoly in the forties and early fifties for territorial or imperial gain. Had that nuclear monopoly been in the hands of the Communist world, the map of Europe -- indeed, the world -- would look very different today... At the same time we see totalitarian forces in the world who seek subversion and conflict around the globe to further their barbarous assault on the human spirit. What, then, is our course? Must civilization perish in a hail of fiery atoms? Must freedom wither in a quiet, deadening accommodation with totalitarian evil?In an ironic sense Karl Marx was right. We are witnessing today a great revolutionary crisis, a crisis where the demands of the economic order are conflicting directly with those of the political order. But the crisis is happening not in the free, non-Marxist West, but in the home of Marxist-Leninism, the Soviet Union.

It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history by denying human freedom and human dignity to its citizens. It also is in deep economic difficulty. The rate of growth in the national product has been steadily declining since the fifties and is less than half of what it was then. The dimensions of this failure are astounding: A country which employs one-fifth of its population in agriculture is unable to feed its own people...

I have discussed on other occasions, including my address on May 9th, the elements of Western policies toward the Soviet Union to safeguard our interests and protect the peace. What I am describing now is a plan and a hope for the long term -- the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people. 

He went further in his Evil Empire speech in 1983.

So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride -- the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil...

Whittaker Chambers, the man whose own religious conversion made him a witness to one of the terrible traumas of our time, the Hiss-Chambers case, wrote that the crisis of the Western World exists to the degree in which the West is indifferent to God, the degree to which it collaborates in communism's attempt to make man stand alone without God. And then he said, for Marxism-Leninism is actually the second oldest faith, first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden with the words of temptation, "Ye shall be as gods."

The Western world can answer this challenge, he wrote, "but only provided that its faith in God and the freedom He enjoins is as great as communism's faith in Man."

I believe we shall rise to the challenge. I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written. I believe this because the source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man.

We forget what leadership based on the wisdom of conservative, small government principles looks like, because we haven't seen it on a national scale since Reagan left office. We'll need to see it again following four years of Barack Obama and his fellow academic elites.

'F-Bomb' Rahm Emmanuel Discussed Obama's Senate Seat with Blago

Video at Fox News.

So Barack Obama's Chief Potty Mouth will be scheduled to testify before a grand jury about Team Obama's dealings with the corrupt Illinois governor.

It looks like it's going to be the Clinton Era all over again. Apparently it isn't illegal to fail to report a bribe, but it certainly doesn't seem to jive with all that talk of change and transparency in government. I'm not exactly surprised.

Hawkins: Auto Bailout Dead

John Hawkins of Right Wing News reports his conversation with a Senate aide, and calls the bill dead. Hawkins has always been solid with news like this, so hopefully we have some good news here:

Anon Senate Aide: Auto bailout dead.

John Hawkins: Dead dead? What happened? =D

Anon Senate Aide: Negotiations ended, no deal.

John Hawkins: Until next year or for a day or two?

Anon Senate Aide: Until next year. Corker tried to make a deal with Dems, UAW wouldn't make concessions, so it will die on cloture vote with GOP opposing. Vitter held the line too, objecting to quick vote, forcing more debate. He was strong.

John Hawkins: This is awesome!

Shocking to see that the UAW would rather see their members jobless than make reasonable concessions that could save the industry.

More at the link above, including Hawkins noting that even if the bailout dies, President Bush may do it himself. How can President Bush do this, you ask? It's one of his lesser known evil powers, obviously,

Obama Lied; Media Hide

Payback is gonna be a sonofabitch, leftist mother-f---ers. And I mean mother-f---ers in the nicest,
Blago talking about Obama, sort of way.

After six years of these people making similar rhyming claims about President Bush (despite the facts that we did find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that President Bush clearly didn't lie, but acted based on the information he had available to him) I think it's time to remind these people what the word 'lie' means.  It means saying something that you know to be untrue. Like when Bill Clinton lied under oath, saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."

Or like when Barack Obama said, “I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening.” The fact that the media refuses to talk about it doesn't make it any less of a lie.

No contact:

Contact:

(Above) Barack Obama and Blago discuss terms of the sale of Obama's Senate seat at the National Governors Association.

Hell, dude isn't even in office yet and he's already lying about things that he is likely to be called to answer under oath. Maybe once he's in office the MSM will actually report it. Either way, you can be damn sure I'll be noting every lie Obama makes over the next four years.

Blago just Wanted the Same Treatment for his wife as Obama got for Michelle?

This makes a hell of a lot of sense to me:

Michelle Obama is "Specifically Named Individual" on Page 64 of Indictment

Barack Obama was able to get a nice perk for his wife as part of "pay for play." Why wouldn't Blago want the same for his wife Patty? She seems like a darling little thing from the quotes we've seen in the affidavit:

During the call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife can be heard in the background telling ROD BLAGOJEVICH to tell Deputy Governor A “to hold up that fucking Cubs shit. . . fuck them.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked Deputy Governor A what he thinks of his wife’s idea. Deputy Governor A stated that there is a part of what ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife said that he “agree[s] with.” Deputy Governor A told ROD BLAGOJEVICH that Tribune Owner will say that he does not have anything to do with the editorials, “but I would tell him, look, if you want to get your Cubs thing done get rid of this Tribune.” Later, ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife got on the phone and, during the continuing discussion of the critical Tribune editorials, stated that Tribune Owner can “just fire” the writers because Tribune Owner owns the Tribune. ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife stated that if Tribune Owner’s papers were hurting his business, Tribune Owner would do something about the editorial board.

David Axelrod Op-Ed - People like Blago Make the System Work

Politico notes the following from Obama's spokesman:

In a 2005 op-ed, Axelrod argued, in effect, that trading political favors – including jobs – is part of the grease that makes government work. 

He ripped Fitzgerald at the time for trying “to use the criminal code to enforce (his) vision” of “entirely remov(ing) politics from government.” 
The piece in the Chicago Tribune was prompted by Fitzgerald’s indictment of aides to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley for conspiring to give city jobs as political favors. Daley was Axelrod’s client at the time....

The democratic process is often messy,” Axelrod wrote in the op-ed. “Diverse constituencies fight fiercely for their priorities. Their elected representatives use the influence they have to meet those needs, including sometimes the exchange of favors – consideration for jobs being just one.

So this is just business as usual in Axelrod's, and Barack Obama's, world. 

I'm guessing that this mindset won't be one of those changes Barack Obama promised.

The Mainstream Media Prove again why they are Useless, and going Bankrupt

From Jim Geraghty:

In light of allegations that the governor of Illinois was ready to auction off Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, does any major media organization feel like they examined the political culture that Obama came from sufficiently? Do the New York Times, theWashington Post, the major networks, the newsweeklies, the cable networks, etc. — do they feel that they really gave their readers and viewers a good sense of how Chicago politics works, and how that place shaped Obama? 

Don't Stanley Kurtz and David Freddoso, among others, deserve an apology from their critics?

I never heard word one about Chicago politics leading up to this election. That's kind of how I knew the media fix was in. But that's a stupid question, of course they wouldn't report on the political culture of Chicago. They were too busy vetting whether or not Trig was really Sarah Palin's son.

America made a mistake in electing someone from the Chicago political culture to the highest office in the country. Was it a grave mistake? Is there any other kind? America can't handle the truth. 

Hat tip to Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. 

Son of the King of Shakedowns Says he's Shocked to Learn of Corruption in Illinois Government

Jesse Jackson Jr. is on live right now. He says this news that there would be major corruption high up in Illinois politics is shocking.

Guess he learned nothing from his Daddy.

Anyone who professes to be shocked by corruption in Illinois politics should be immediately dismissed of their job. They are either too deceitful or stupid to be in leadership.

Obama's Blago Ties

I'm not going to blame Barack Obama for the corruption in the Illinois Governor's office. But it certainly continues the disturbing pattern of the President-Elect showing extremely poor judgment when choosing his friends, associations, place of worship, and endorsements.

First, most of America yawned when it learned that Barack Obama began his political career in the living room of a terrorist. I expect a similar response to the the fact that Barack Obama gained his first experience in a statewide political campaign working on behalf of the Blagojevich. How ironic that the student would become the President, while Blago would become the auctioneer of Barack Obama's Senate seat. 

This New Yorker piece probably deserves a fresh new look. Making It   

That year, he gained his first high-level experience in a statewide campaign when he advised the victorious gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich, another politician with a funny name and a message of reform. Rahm Emanuel, a congressman from Chicago and a friend of Obama’s, told me that he, Obama, David Wilhelm, who was Blagojevich’s campaign co-chair, and another Blagojevich aide were the top strategists of Blagojevich’s victory. He and Obama “participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was running for governor,” Emanuel said. “We basically laid out the general election, Barack and I and these two.” A spokesman for Blagojevich confirmed Emanuel’s account, although David Wilhelm, who now works for Obama, said that Emanuel had overstated Obama’s role. “There was an advisory council that was inclusive of Rahm and Barack but not limited to them,” Wilhelm said, and he disputed the notion that Obama was “an architect or one of the principal strategists.”

David Axelrod, the preëminent strategist in the state, declined to work for Blagojevich. “He had been my client and I had a very good relationship with him, but I didn’t sign on to the governor’s race,” Axelrod said. “Obviously he won, but I had concerns about it. . . . I was concerned about whether he was ready for that. Not so much for the race but for governing. I was concerned about some of the folks—I was concerned about how the race was being approached.” Axelrod’s unease was warranted. Blagojevich and people close to him have been tied to a seemingly endless series of scandals. The trial of Tony Rezko revealed that Rezko used his influence in the Blagojevich administration to profit from companies seeking business with the state. There is speculation that Blagojevich will be the next governor to be indicted, and the Democratic Speaker of the Illinois House, Michael Madigan, has raised the issue of impeachment.

Part of Obama’s political success is that he has been able to exploit relationships with important yet ethically dubious figures in Illinois while still maintaining his independence.

How are we supposed to ever accept without extreme skepticism anyone who Obama endorses for anything? 

I've said this many times. Politics in general is a dirty business. But nowhere is it dirtier than in Illinois. I don't believe it to be even remotely possible for anyone to make it through the party ranks in Chicago and be even partially clean. But the people disagreed, and elected him. At a minimum, events have once again proven that Barack Obama has at best shown horrendous judgment. 

Hell, even a slimeball like David Axelrod could tell the guy was bad news. The fact that Obama couldn't tell the same or chose not to care is a pretty damning indictment of either Obama's poor judgment or obscene lust for power at all costs.

Related Post : Why Obama's Lust for Power is a Danger to America

Illinois Governor Arrested for Attempting to Sell Obama's Senate Seat

A low-point in Illinois political history. And that's saying a lot.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents for what U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald called a "staggering" level of corruption involving pay-to-play politics in Illinois' top office.

Blagojevich is accused of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy, including alleged attempts by the governor to try to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama in exchange for financial benefits for the governor and his wife. Blagojevich also is accused of obtaining campaign contributions in exchange for other official actions.

 Nothing surprises me about this story.

Prosecutors also alleged Blagojevich expressed feeling "stuck" as a sitting governor and spent a large amount of time weighing whether he should appoint himself to the vacancy--possibly to avoid impeachment and help remake his image for a potential 2016 run for the presidency. A recent Tribune poll found Blagojevich with a record low 13 percent job approval rating.

Under state law, the governor has the sole unfettered discretion to name Obama's appointment.

Prosecutors alleged Blagojevich sought appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services, secretary of the Energy Department or gain an ambassadorship in the new Obama administration, or get a lucrative job with a union in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate. An Obama spokesman had no immediate comment.

Blagojevich also was alleged to be using a favors list, made up largely of individuals and firms that have state contracts or received taxpayer benefits, from which to conduct a $2.5 million fundraising drive before year's end when a new tougher law on campaign donations, prompted by the governor's voracious fundraising, would take effect.

Even Blagojevich's recently announced $1.8 billion plan for new interchanges and "green lanes" on the Illinois Tollway was subject to corruption, prosecutors alleged. The criminal complaint alleges Blagojevich expected an unnamed highway concrete contractor to raise a half-million dollars for his campaign fund in exchange for state money for the tollway project. "If they don't perform, (expletive) 'em," Blagojevich said, according to the complaint.

Blagojevich and Harris also allegedly conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of Blagojevich in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.

This is how politics works, people. Power corrupts. And we just voted to give away more of our power to federal government. Good job, American voters.

I've been sick lately and will probably not be able to weigh in with updates. I recommend Ace of Spades and/or Patriot Room for updates and commentary. I hope to be back in action tomorrow.

UPDATE: CNN is so funny. And so in the tank. This is a fairly long article. You would think they could have found a sentence to mention what political party the Illinois Governor belongs to. 

Not so much. Notice that I also didn't mention the party, but that's different. I assume that you know, given the facts of the case: Illinois, silencing media, wanting a job in the Obama administration, etc. 

Boy George: I didn't really want to hurt him; I didn't really want to make him cry; I just wanted to find out if he borrowed my stuff; so I handcuffed him to my bed and then I beat him with a metal chain

All the sordid details here: Boy George found guilty of false imprisonment for chaining male escort

Boy George is facing jail after being convicted today of handcuffing a male escort to his bed and beating him with a metal chain as he tried to flee after a naked photo shoot. Although the singer, tried under his real name, George O’Dowd, 46, did not give evidence he told police that he had chained Norwegian Audun Carlsen to his bed in his flat in Shoreditch, East London, in April last year while he investigated alleged tampering with his computer...

After calling Mr Carlsen into his bedroom, O’Dowd and another man leapt on him, wrestled him to the floor and started beating him.

He told the court that during the attack O’Dowd was screaming “F****** whore! Now you’re going to get what you deserve”.

He said he was dragged along the floor towards the bed and a manacle was put on his right hand and attached to a hook drilled in the wall.

The second man left and O’Dowd produced a plastic box containing chains, sex toys and leather straps, Snaresbrook Crown court was told.

Mr Carlsen told the court he was then able to use the handcuffs as a tool to unscrew the hook from the wall. He ran to the door with O’Dowd pursuing him, lashing out with a metal chain.

He managed to escape and ran out on to the street in just his underwear screaming for help.

O’Dowd told police: “I asked him to come (back to my flat) because I wanted to find out if this guy had borrowed my stuff."

Whatever, you freak. You lost all credibility when you recorded this (you seriously need to see this video if you haven't already, in full):

From Barack Obama and the Department of Awful Ideas: Global Re-Distribution of Wealth

Better known as the left wing of the U.S. Congress:

Barack Obama proposed legislation titled Global Poverty Act (S. 2433) and was approved by the Committee, on which Joe Biden was on.

The bill suggests we spend .7% of our GDP - .7% of 13.8 Trillion is just under $100 billion EACH YEAR! - on helping people around the world that live on less than 1 dollar a day. Coincidentally that does not include impoverished people living in the United States....

So, not only has our president-elect expressed a strong compunction to spread the wealth across the country, but now he has taken it worldwide. Even in the best economic time, I find this somewhat offensive when we have so many people in America currently at poverty levels. Our nation is already borrowing and printing money at astronomical rates, this just really bakes the cake.

Check out the link to see what you can do about this. The author, Arkady of Indy Mind, includes the list of the five usual suspect "republicans" who have signed onto this piece of garbage. Hi Chuck, Olympia, etc.

Here's a less-awful idea that might actually help, if it were our job to fight global poverty. How about we spend this money fighting countries that refuse to enter the 18th century and democratize? Only one thing will significantly lessen the number of people in this world who live off a dollar a day or less: democracy.

OK, it's still an awful idea. But it was my first try, and I only thought about it for about 5 seconds, and it's waaaaay better than this idiotic Obama proposal. Any thoughts?

How Liberals Kill a City - California-Style

We all know about how liberals killed all the formerly-great Michigan cities through a combination of bowing to union thuggery, incorporating anti-business policies, and levying obscenely confiscatory taxes.

Our liberal friends in Vellejo, California have done them one better. From Down with the Drive-By's:

The main cause of Vallejo's financial is that they have followed the Democratic playbook to the letter. Anti-military, anti-business, anti-industry, and pro-union policies have led to Vallejo's downfall, and now, other cities across the country will be watching this town's bankruptcy proceedings very closely.

Check out the link for a great, cautionary story about the dangers of screwing with Wal-Mart. Vellejo made the mistake of preventing the Greatest Store in the History of the World from opening shop in its town. The town is now bankrupt. The town up the road, which happily accepted the Gift From God that is Wal-Mart, is booming.

One year after the opening of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in American Canyon, business is good for the retail giant according to store manager Mike Sellick.

“We’ve exceeded all our (sales) goals,” Sellick said last week.

Mayor Leon Garcia pointed to the burgeoning growth of retail in American Canyon, and associated sales tax revenue, as a big reason for the city’s financial stability.

“It’s huge,” Garcia said of the store’s economic impact. “Development of Napa Junction took off, consequently we’re on an even keel. We’re on sound footing as a result.”

RIP Vallejo libtards. 

Millions of Drunken Obama Kool-Aid Drinkers Expected to Invade Washington D.C. for Inauguration Week. Here's an idea... Let's Extend Bar-Time to 5am so they can get Absolutely Plastered on the Good Stuff

Take millions of people, already hopped-up on hallucinatory visions of hope and change. Add in lots of booze, and leave the bars open all week long, with alcohol prohibited for just two hours per day.

What could go wrong?

Hoping to tap in to an inaugural bonanza, the D.C. Council Tuesday night voted in favor of extending last call to 5 a.m. and allow bars and restaurants to serve food around the clock during inauguration week.

Millions of visitors are expected to descend on the city to celebrate Barack Obama's presidential swearing-in on Jan. 20. The council hopes to accommodate the throng by allowing licensed restaurants and taverns to serve drinks later and to keep their doors open 24 hours a day for the whole week.

Sounds perfectly reasonable.

Council member Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, who introduced the bill, said the measure will allow the city's entertainment industry to "engage fully" in inauguration week, which includes Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19.

Mr. Graham said the measure also will encourage celebrations that are safely indoors. He pointed to the boisterous revelers on election night as an example for the city to try to avoid.

"On election night there were just throngs of people who were pouring into the street, and I think people may be safer celebrating inside than be wandering the streets," he said.

Yes, I can see how this would allow people to "engage fully" in the festivities. Has anyone studied the effects of combining Obama Kool-Aid with other mind-altering drugs? No need, D.C. will soon become one big laboratory.

The Democrat council member makes a good point. People would be much safer inside than they would be wandering the streets. One question: How exactly does he intend to keep these people inside? They have to leave eventually, no? 

Now, I am against the legislation of closing times for bars to begin with. I believe it is highly discriminatory against people with odd working hours and/or sleeping habits. That being said, if ever there were a time when you want to cling to existing laws, I think this might be one of them. There must be some other reason all these Dems are behind this...

Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, a Democrat, said at a press conference on Monday that the bill would allow the city to cash in on a lot of extra revenue.

Mr. Graham agreed.

"It's not a principal factor behind the legislation, but given these economic times it is a factor," he said. "There are certainly concerns regarding city revenue, and with the inauguration there's definitely a lot to be had," he said.

Ah, yes. Money. Show a Democrat a way to gouge taxpayers to the fullest, and they'll implement it. Public safety be damned.

I suppose I could think of worse things than the idea of gathering a couple million of the biggest leftists in the country in one spot for a week, letting the booze flow like a faucet, and sitting back and watching it all play out. Of course, conservatives will end up saving the day when the National Guard gets called in.