Conservatism Today

The Obama Diaries

Brilliant, news-packed piece from my buddy Clyde at Patriot Room. Here's a tease:

I. Cannot. Stand. Biden. Stay off planes and subways? So his office issues a correction – again – and says this time he meant planes to and from Mexico. Yeah, that was real clear. What about the subway crack? Didn’t clear that piece up, did you? The man’s gotta find a hole to stay in. Maybe some foreign leaders will start dying and I can send him out of town.

Oh. Buzzing NYC. Laugh my ass off. Nobody gets it, do they? Look, upstaters are a bunch of Bible thumping, locked and loaded bigots. Rudy runs for Gov, upstate is lost. I gotta have the City, but they love the dude. So, a little reminder of who actually runs this country can’t hurt. Thwap! Yeah, I’m bad. Kinda sorry about that guy I had to toss under the bus. Seemed nice enough. Oh well, careers have to end sometime. I’ll let the FAA guy stay on, though. I think we’re related somehow. My dad’s side, obviously.

I got one thing to say about Chavez: The dude needs to bathe more often. Good book, though. I read it years ago. I may have even plagiarized it in one of my books (not the one Ayers wrote for me).

So I had a presser last night. At least that’s what they think. I just assembled the minions in front of me and said anything I wanted to... I did the deadpan look at FoxNews three times – you catch that? Just long enough so they noticed it, then I called on someone else. Criticize me, will you? There be a price to be paid, son.

Much more at the link above.

Level-Headed Veep Biden Calms Nation on Swine Flu

Sorry, I didn't meant to say "calms." I meant to say that Veep Biden inadvertently scared the bejeezus out of thousands of Americans, while providing gaffe fodder for millions more.

I would tell members of my family, and I have, that I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now. It’s not that it’s going to Mexico, in a confined aircraft when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. That’s me. I would not be, if I had another way, another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The White House slapped Biden upside the head and sent him back out to "clarify" his previous statement.

The advice he is giving family members is the same advice the administration is giving to all Americans: that they should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico. If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways. This is the advice the vice president has given family members who are traveling by commercial airline this week. As the president said just last night, every American should take the same steps you would take to prevent any other flu: Keep your hands washed; cover your mouth when you cough; stay home from work if you’re sick and keep your children home from school if they’re sick.”

So if you normally run around causing panic, cancel high school sporting events, don't go anywhere indoors except your own home, and otherwise quarantine yourself during flu season, it's business as usual.

Video: Obama's Gaffe-filled, Lying, First 100 Days

Too funny. Too true.

Rush Limbaugh's Brilliant Comments on Obama's First Hundred Days, from the Milken Institute Forum

This was just a portion of Rush Limbaugh's comments at the Milken Institute Forum. I'll post some more lines from this conference below the video. Many of his comments would have been hilarious, were they not, sadly, true. First allow Rush to set the scene:

Last night I was in Los Angeles, flew out there right after the program yesterday -- actually, Beverly Hills. Michael Milken, who is a friend of mine... runs the Prostate Cancer Foundation... Milken has this thing every year called the Milken Institute Global Forum, and he brings in people from all over the world, some of the wealthiest tycoons in the world, and it's a three-day seminar, and there are programs, speakers, panel discussions all day long. Last night was a debate, and the participants in the debate were Harold Ford, Jr. of Tennessee, and Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, and the speaker of the California assembly and myself with Ed Gillespie, who is the former chairman, Republican National Committee, and he was the assistant to George W. Bush after Karl Rove left.

On the audience:

These are the Masters of the Universe. These are some of the most achieved, some of the most accomplished financial and business people from all over the world, including here in the United States. And they've been corrupted, these Masters of the Universe. Not all of them, but many of them, I could tell by the applause I got. They don't really dig many of Obama's policies, but they love him, and they don't react well to criticism of him. It was disappointing, in a way, because there's a definite left-ward tilt in the corporate world, not just corporate America, but in the corporate world, and these are the people this man is targeting. For example, last night, one of the comments I made, I said, "Look what's happened to the hospitality business. Obama is actually urging people not to go to Las Vegas." Well, now, were there people in that room last night who own hotels in Las Vegas and somebody told me after the evening was over, somebody came and said, you know, somebody shouted "screw Las Vegas" when you said that. So here you have a room of highly achieved tycoons who have the same attitude as people who have fallen victim to class envy in the middle class or whatever.

Here are some more quotes from Rush's comments, the first comes from the video:

And the first sound bite here, the moderator had asked everybody to rate Obama's first hundred days. Harold Ford gave Obama an A-minus, Willie Brown gave Obama a straight A, and then they asked me for my grade, and this is how it started. RUSH ARCHIVE: Barely a D. (laughter and cheers) Now, look, we have been chatting backstage before we came out and it's very lively, and right now we're all friends. (laughter) LUNTZ: (snickering) RUSH ARCHIVE: But these three people are all involved in electoral politics. That's their business. And I'm not. You know, I look at these in an entirely different way. (laughter) No. Getting an audience and getting votes are two different things. I don't pander. I don't lie. I don't say things I don't believe to get an audience... I do not want the federal government and the United Auto Workers owning General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. (applause and cheers) In fact, I'm afraid if you go buy a car in the next six months you're going to automatically be registered as a Democrat. (laughter) It's going to come with an Obama hood ornament and a built-in bumper sticker that you can't remove. (laughter) And you're going to go out and all the union guys are going to be the salespeople. If you don't buy it's either your kneecaps or your signature. (laughter) I don't want the federal government owning the banks and the financial system. (applause)

Later:

RUSH: I believe that Barack Obama comes from a life experience that believes that the wealthy, the accomplished, and the achieved come by their gains in an ill-gotten way, and they need to have it taken away and redistributed. See, I believe the smallest minority in the world is the individual. And if you don't respect the individual, then you really can't say you're for minority rights. We're all different. We were all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. The Democrat Party is not supporting any of those three. They're not supporting life. They're not supporting liberty. We're losing liberty every day. Again, the audience here was 1,500 to 2,000 of the wealthiest tycoons from all over the world. In that bite you could hear, you could hear a pin drop in there, right? Because I will guarantee you, they're not hearing these kinds of things either at things like this or within even their own closed circles.

More:

RUSH: This belief, though, that somehow the rich take what they have from the middle class and the poor is just silly. Look at what President Obama has done to the hospitality business. Talk to anybody in Las Vegas. He's urging people not to go! CEOs are afraid to fly their planes 'cause they're going to be tattled on. So if you have this class envy that is so popular -- that all we're here to do in America is get even with those who have achieved -- then this administration is for you.

On AIG execs:

RUSH: These bonuses, folks, are irrelevant! It was 100-some-odd million compared to $176 billion they were given. Where did that money go? ...This business of harping on the achievers is nothing but pure political class envy that is designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of American voter, which right now more and more of them are having to be unemployed. (applause) This is about building the Democrat Party. It's not about building America. All this talk... There is not one government program of any size that has worked. We started the War on Poverty; we still got it at the same percentage. We have started the Great Society. None of these programs work, but we're not allowed to say that. We're not allowed to look at the results. We're supposed to look at the good intentions of the people who do them. This country is in debt to the point that people who have not yet been born are broke! (laughter) We have tried spending money to fix problems, and it never works. And the premises here, "What would you do different? What would you do with the TARP money?" Why do we need TARP money? (applause) "What would you do with the stimulus?" Who says government can stimulate the private sector? It cannot. Government stimulates the Democrat Party. (laughter) Nationalizing businesses, nationalizing banks is not a solution for this Democrat Party; it's the objective. And that's not what this country was founded on, and it's not what made this country great, and it's not how individuals and entrepreneurs prosper.

On the tax code:

RUSH: For Barack Obama, the purpose of the tax code is to take money away from people so that they become more dependent on government. Pure and simple. What's the proper amount of taxation? As little as possible to inspire people to work their asses off, so they will work hard and pay as much taxes as their rate requires. (applause) Ronald Reagan takes office 1980, '81. The top marginal tax rate is 70%. Total take to the Treasury, $500 billion. Eight years later, the top rate's down from 70 to 28%; the take to the Treasury is $950 billion. Look at the Bush tax cuts. They generated revenue for Washington. They also created individual liberty and freedom and entrepreneurism. That is what the Democrat Party doesn't like. The more people freed, the more people entrepreneurial, the more people who are independently achieving, the less chance you have to control them... Look, we're losing 600,000 jobs a month. They're saying it's not going to improve until we get to 10%. Would somebody tell me how an unemployed person contributes to deficit reduction? It just doesn't happen. So all of this is just... We're 180 degrees out of phase here in terms of, "What's the goal? Raise revenue to run the government. How best to do that? Turn the American people loose.

On foreign relations:

RUSH: It really pains me to see the president of the United States go around the world and apologize for this country hoping that... (applause) I know what he's trying to do. Barack Obama thinks that -- and a lot of Democrats think -- the country is unjust and immoral, has been for a long time, compounded under Bush. I know what the template is. And that if we just run around and say, "Look, we're different. We're morally superior. We're better people. We're different now. You can trust us. We're not from the old country here that was racist, sexist, bigoted, and so forth and so on," and I think all that does is convey weakness to our enemies. I think it generates laughter. I think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's insane. He's sworn to blow Israel off the map. He believes -- and his fundamentalist religious beliefs are what propel him. The idea that we can somehow change Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's attitude towards us by having talks is ridiculous.

And finally, a radio caller sums it up best:

CALLER: Yes, I was at the conference last night. My husband is there right now, and when he'd heard that you were on the panel he called and I raced up yesterday afternoon... And we were at a table of ten people. Our host and hostess, she was from Russia; he was from Budapest. And probably out of the ten of us, four were conservatives, the others were liberals... But when you were speaking, of course, the liberals at the table several times were booing, and my one Russian hostess was cheering, and I was a little bit more conservative with my clapping, because I didn't want to embarrass my husband, who is not as outgoing a conservative as I am. And she just said, "Noni, don't hold back. I was in (socialist) Russia... I wasn't able to get my feelings out, and I lived in New York and I was intimidated by liberals," and she said, "No more." So I just really enjoyed it, Rush. You did a great job.

Democrats tauntingly say that Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party. Wish it were so.

Best of the Conservative Web - Weekend of April 26

Here are some of my picks for the best, most interesting and most entertaining of the conservative web this weekend:

Ace of Spades: Great Recap with Links to Latest News on Iowa Gay Marriage Flap. which goes into effect Monday

Good info at that link. If you sense that the author is hostile to traditional marriage, it's because the author has a horse in this race. Still, very good info.

Are We Getting What We Hoped For?: I Bet You're Feeling Groovy! The AP Says So.

George Bush was in a boat in the middle of the lake, then got out to walk on the water back to shore; the next day the media reported: BUSH CAN'T SWIM!

Barack Obama, while waterskiing flips out of his skis and skims the water on his heels a few yards; the next day: OBAMA WALKS ON WATER

A silly joke, but that is precisely how the mainstream media is giving you news.

Black N' Right: I am your Warning: My Socialist Life

Excellent piece.

Hot Air: Video - Coulter and Pirro Catfight over Torture

The Minority Report: Cultural Battles Lost Despite, not because of, Reagan, Dobson

Yes, young people are more socially liberal than the general population, but they are more pro-life than baby boomers. Yes, blacks registered in record numbers to vote for the first viable black candidate, but they are more socially conservative than the general population.

Moonbattery: Funny or Die? Make it the Latter

Political Castaway: Alternative Energy is Making the Poor Poorer

So here's my idea, Mr. President.  Stop soaking the poor at the expense of the rich in the name of clean energy. 

Good piece. Linked even though it goes against my own advice.

Prairie Pundit: Taliban Hammered

We will have to wait to see if the Pakistan army sustains the attacks until the Taliban capitulates. Unfortunately, too often it has been the army that has backed down.

Good news on the global war against man made disasters. 

Right of Center Ramblings: The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, recently 'graded' the Press Corps. He gave them an 'A'. Not just an 'A', but a STRONG A.

You don't need constitutional protection to be a 'yes' man, to give fawning coverage, to avoid asking hard questions.

Since when does the White House grade the press? And since when does the press care? Good piece.

Smart Girl Politics ups the Ante on Olbermann

I'd like to up the challenge. Olbermann, I'll get waterboarded, and you can donate the proceeds to my favorite cause: Tie Keith Olbermann Down Among Mexican Pigs With Swine Flu.

But I have one condition: While I do it, you have to sit in the window of a building, strapped to a chair, while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed flies an airplane at you.

Patriot Room: Liz Cheney Destroys on "Turture"

Of course it's video. We Patriot Roomers don't write on the weekends unless we have to. But it's a good video.

Three Sources: Wind Energy "Dead as Hell" says.... T. Boone Pickens

Wind power developers have long relied on complex tax-equity financing to bring most of their projects to market, but that system, once hailed as innovative, has collapsed over the last year, leaving the wind sector flailing for the cash it needs to make generation projects a reality.

So much for the conservative-turned-liberal flavor-of-the-week.

More excellent links from this weekend at Patriot Room. You don't really think I'm gonna put them all in one place when I can get you to go to both of my sites, do you?

40 Classic Conservative Quotes

More quotes from John Hawkins of Right Wing News. Here's a teaser:

2) I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University. -- William F. Buckley

7) "The America Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." -- Alexis de Tocqueville

18) Compassion is defined not by how many people are on the government dole but by how many people no longer need government assistance. -- Rush Limbaugh

23) War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. -- John Stuart Mill

26) If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. -- Tom Paine

31) The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help. -- Ronald Reagan

40) Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence. -- George Washington

Enjoy the rest here.

Look, Kids. Grandma’s an Activist!

A reader post from "Peregrine," pictured below at the Ruidoso, New Mexico Tax Day Tea Party of April 15, 2009.

      They may come to take me away in handcuffs any day now. Who knew?

      Friends tell me I project a calm, even serene, countenance. But according to my critics my benign exterior hides a dangerous anti-social streak that must be squelched—if not by force then by derision and contempt. How did I come to this unfortunate state of being?

      A mentor often reminds me that we get into trouble when we believe a lie. Oh, the lies I’ve believed: that the majority of our elected officials in Washington were honorable representatives of their constituencies; that those officials had at least a modicum of knowledge of history and basic economics and sought to pass legislation benefiting the country rather than themselves; that logic and facts presented cogently would influence opinions; and that all government officials would at least attempt to honor their oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

      Silly me.

      All the while I was busy going to school, raising my family, working hard, and trusting in the integrity of those representing me in Washington, my country was slipping further and further from its foundation. I contributed through ignorance and complacency. During the last ten years my growing awareness of the abuses in politics has caused me to shift from concerned to terrified. For the first time in my life I participated in a political protest, enthusiastically attending the local April 15, 2009 symbolic reenactment of the 1773 Boston Tea Party, carrying an American flag and a big, boldly lettered sign advocating support of the Constitution. Was I on drugs? You bet. The doctor had to up my blood pressure meds to keep me from stroking out at the way the federal government has been doling out boatloads of cash for the past few years. It felt good to join with others from a broad cross-section of citizens who feel disenfranchised, who are frustrated by a government that is no longer of and for “we, the people,” but of and for self-serving politicians and appointees that seek to create a subservient and victimized citizenry.

      The mainstream media (MSM) coverage of the tea parties all across the country didn’t surprise me—after all, teaching media literacy was part of my career as a substance abuse preventionist. It did deepen my understanding of how the MSM functions and how it sees those who dare differ from it in opinion. Also, comments by government officials clarified how they view those that adhere to conservative values.

      One top presidential advisor branded me a mutant. Referring to us protesters, he said, “I think any time you have severe economic conditions there is always an element of disaffection that can mutate into something that’s unhealthy.”

      Okay, so now I’m an unhealthy element of society. That’s not all. According to others in the MSM, I’m a racist, bigot, part of the “lunatic fringe,” and, possibly, capable of terrorist actions. Wow! And all because I don’t believe in killing babies, in illegal immigration, in financially supporting those that would rather not work as hard as I have, or in financial reward for graft, corruption, and poor business practices. Being a Christian and believing in our Constitution and in the Judeo-Christian values on which it is based, in freedom of speech and religion, and emphatically supporting an armed citizenry for protection against a renegade government, lands me solidly in the group my critics consider highly dangerous.

      Dangerous for whom? Perhaps a government that has jettisoned the principles so carefully crafted by the founders of this country.

      It is unlikely that such events as the April 15^th protests will be squelched by force. But some of the MSM tried to minimize us by ratcheting up scorn and derision with some pubescent snickering at our ignorance of “tea bag” as a verb. What those individuals don’t understand is that there is no shame in being ignorant of deviant sexual practices and their terminology. It is, however, shameful to pass off adolescent bathroom humor as “reporting the news.”

    And no, I don’t contemplate committing any violent actions. My weapons will be spoken and written words of truth based on knowledge, facts and logic. Unless, of course, my Second Amendment rights are forcibly threatened. And then it will be “shoot, if you must, this old gray head,” but only if I run out of ammunition first.

OC to Pay $4 Million in Damages to Illegal Alien Child Molester

Have we all gone completely mad? Orange County, California has agreed to settle a lawsuit resulting in a payment of $4 million to an illegal alien child molester and his family.

County officials have agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle a lawsuit brought by an undocumented Mexican immigrant who was beaten by inmates while in custody at the Orange County jail, the man's attorney said Monday.

The settlement appears to be the largest ever paid by Orange County for an in-custody incident involving county sheriffs, according to county officials and the man's lawyer.

Fernando Ramirez, then 21, was left brain-damaged by inmates in Module A at the Orange County Central Jail in June 2006. He was jailed after a 6-year-old girl told her mother a stranger touched her over her clothes on her private parts at El Salvador Park in Santa Ana. Ramirez was charged with child molestation but eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of non-sexual battery, said his attorney, Mark Eisenberg.

But Eisenberg said the jail's classification of his client contributed to the attack because other prisoners became aware of the sexual assault allegation. Deputies in charge of monitoring the jail that night were elsewhere in the jail when the attack occurred, Eisenberg said.

Prison is a bad place full of bad people, who are capable of doing really bad things. One of the deterrents to child molesters is the way they are treated by fellow prisoners. There are ways to avoid being beaten in a California prison for molesting children, and this guy had more chances than most. 

One way he could have avoided the imprisonment would have been to not enter the United States illegally. Alternately, he might have resisted his urge to touch a six-year old girl over her clothes, on her private parts.

But then again, the idea that someone with no respect for America's immigration laws would respect our laws against child molestation or non-sexual battery is rather suspect.

Best of the Conservative Web, Earth Day Edition

"Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator..."

Happy Earth Day, a Pagan holiday like every other day, where liberals worship the creation above the Creator. Here are some of the best pieces I've seen today:

Human Events - 7 Conservative Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

The real purpose of the modern Greenie Movement is to provide a seemingly reasonable and unified excuse to persecute all the things that liberals already hate: capitalism, private property, rednecks, industry, energy, America, Texas, hunting, fishing, guns, SUVs, Genesis 1:26, suburbs, exurbs, farms, ranches, fur, meat, fossil fuels, nuclear fuels, all other fuels, white people, rich people, other people, and themselves.

This is a must-read piece. My favorite way to celebrate from the article is #2: "Build a windmill in Ted Kennedy's Yard."

American Thinker - Saving our Planet, One Guilt Trip at a Time

I considered doing penance by joining one of those urban foraging outings, where otherwise sane people look for edible castoffs in dumpsters, just like the homeless people do, to prove how much waste there is in our society. However, I held back, probably because I had gotten a whopping headache from the overpowering smell of vinegar I used to clean the house. No more Formula 409 for us!

The Minority Report - Liberal pagans sacrifice children to global warming idol

At least the fear of eternal damnation scared many of us straight, whereas the fear of SUVs, Edison’s bulb (see pictured, invented by faux Earth warmer), coal, and nuclear power scares us into Smart death-trap Cars, mercury spills, wood burning stove smog and black death from rats feasting on horse street dung.

Great piece there - check it out.

More from American Thinker - Green Up, Man! It's Freaking Earth Day!

Is this the Greenies' moment? I doubt it. Green Consciousness is truly a step-child of the counter-culture movement arisen from the ashes of hippiedom in a cloud of now nearly legal smoke. While post-modern dweebs and nerds have joined the counter-culture warriors in their quest to resume "the task of Noah, trying to save all species of life," they have lost a great deal of the power of ritual theatre that informed the earliest demonstrations in support of biodiversity, ecology and a return to noble savagery...

"The First Annual All Species Gathering and Celebration was held on the autumnal equinox in 1978 (Earth Day is celebrated on the vernal equinox) at the San Francisco Civic Center Plaza. The Bay Area pagan environmentalists attended this event dressed as their totem plants and animals, in their finest furs, feathers, scales, bark and shells, accessorized with horns, tusks, plumes, manes, tails, fins and leaves. Even dragons and unicorns showed up to warn that mythological beings are endangered by human disregard and forgetfulness."

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid:


Investors Business Daily - Save Capitalism

Buried beneath all the badgering and fear-mongering about lavish Western lifestyles is a reality that the stuck-on-green left won't talk about and the average American isn't aware of: The world, especially in developed nations, is a cleaner — and greener — place than it was when the environmental movement began.

Jammie Wearing Fool - President of Earth Celebrates Earth Day, Calls On Ted Kennedy to Stop Obstructing Nantucket Sound Wind Farms

"I realized after 78 Massachusetts lawmakers signed a petition and delivered it to my Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that those obstructing progress in the state of Massachusetts are my political benefactors," Obama said.

"As I've said before, the days of political cronyism are over and today I call on Senators Kennedy and Kerry to stop blocking progress and enter the 21st century. They are costing Massachusetts taxpayers millions with their own selfish interests and this has to stop."

Scrivener - Save the Earth. Grow the Economy. Faster! Faster!

GDP per person 125% up! Consumption of the material world 40% down! Remember this rule...

"The more advanced an economy grows, and the richer its population becomes, the less in physical resources it consumes."

Tell your environmentalist friends: to Save the Earth, grow its economies! Especially its most backward ones (but ours too). As fast as you can!

Not that they really want to. But at least you'll confirm their real goal.

Townhall - Earth Day Co-founder Loved Planet, Murdered Girlfriend

Pajamas Media - Obama's EPA Declares CO2 a Poison

You can’t even expel air anymore without ticking off our PC commissars.

Did you know you can die from drinking too much distilled water? Or from breathing too much pure oxygen? Oxidation products actually kill people — they cause a huge variety of fatal diseases. The only solution is to stop breathing.

All the molecules of life are also molecules of death. The old medicos used to say, “It’s the dose that makes the poison.”

I Hate the Media - Earth Day predictions of 1970. The reason you shouldn’t believe Earth Day predictions of 2009.

“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”

• Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist

That's my favorite from the piece. Ehrlich was always a moonbat, and the media breathlessly ran every idiotic statement he ever made.

Barack Obama's Teleprompter's Blog - Our Earth Day Agenda

We took Al Gore's call and let him talk for half an hour the other day.  That counts for something.  After the call, Big Guy dug a hole in the Rose Garden and, using wet, shredded torture memos to keep them moist, planted seeds that the Grateful Dead gave him during their recent Oval visit.

GOP Exiles - Kids Afraid the Planet Will Die

Who is teaching our children the truth? Obviously, they are not getting the messages like the one that Exile posted previously in “Solar ISN mean dips below 1.00″. Everyone needs to be willing to do the research and teach the truth!

More links at Pundit and Pundette.

Will update as I find more. Enjoy!

CIA Confirms Waterboarding Averted 9/11-Style Attack on LA

Assuming that you think America engaged in torture, which I doubt most Americans do when they've looked at the actual acts, we now have proof from the CIA of the fruit of their effort.

The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) -- including the use of waterboarding -- caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.

Before he was waterboarded, when KSM was asked about planned attacks on the United States, he ominously told his CIA interrogators, “Soon, you will know.”

According to the previously classified May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that was released by President Barack Obama last week, the thwarted attack -- which KSM called the “Second Wave”-- planned “ ‘to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into’ a building in Los Angeles.”

Next up is a much-needed public debate on whether it was worth it. Since I don't believe it was torture, I obviously am quite pleased. I imagine that if I did think it was torture, I'd still be quite pleased. How about you?

40 Conservative Economics Quotes

A great list at Right Wing News, including the following, which I print just so that I have it someplace on my blog, as I am often looking for it:

"The record of economic success during the 1980's is clear: 18.6 million new jobs were created, increasing U.S. civilian employment by 20 percent. Only 12 percent of these jobs were in low-paid restaurant and retail areas, while 82 percent were in high-paid technical, managerial and professional areas.

Once Reagan's tax cuts kicked in (fiscal year 1982), the country experienced 92 months of economic growth without a recession. This represented the longest period of sustained peacetime economic growth in American history.

America's most successful achievers do pay a higher share of the total tax burden. The top one percent income earners paid 18 percent of the total tax burden in 1981, and paid 25 percent in 1991. The bottom 50 percent of income earners paid only 8 percent of the total tax burden, and paid only 5 percent in 1991. History shows that tax cuts have always resulted in improved economic growth producing more tax revenue in the treasury." -- Rush Limbaugh

The Second Amendment: The Great Equalizer

From Rady Ananda of OpEdNews comes this brilliant defense of gun rights and the effects of limitations on these rights. What makes this unique is that she is a "progressive." Apparently one who has at least some understanding of what the word "progress" means.

As a progressive, I value, work toward, and believe in an ever-expanding recognition of equality for all peoples. I have no tolerance for intolerance. Owning personal firearms levels the playing field somewhat for those most vulnerable to abuse: women, the elderly, the poor, and the handicapped. I'm a populist because I feel no allegiance to or from elites. Instead, I fear the vast expansion of governmental power over the past decade, at the expense of the Rule of Law, and at the expense of basic human rights -- particularly the 800-year-old Magna Carta provision for habeas corpus. 2A advocacy is an egalitarian issue.

Ananda quotes some of our founders, including Patrick Henry, who I will include as a contrast. She then includes some illuminating quotes from "progressives" of the past and present who sought to limit or ban firearm possession:

"The great object is that every (adult) be armed . . . Everyone who is able may have a gun."  Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Convention on the ratification of the U.S. Constitution

"Waiting periods are only a step.  Registration is only a step.  The prohibition of private firearms is the goal."  Janet Reno, former US Attorney General, 1993 

"Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."  Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York,  1994

"Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of Americans to feel safe."  Dianne Feinstein, US Senator, 1993 (who carries)

"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms.  History shows that all conquerors who have allowed the subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.  Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty."  Adolf Hitler

"One man with a gun can control 100 without one.... Make mass searches and hold executions for found arms."  Vladimir I. Lenin

Then comes the big leap.

Gun rights are neither liberal nor conservative, feminist nor patriarchal, Democrat nor Republican, Left nor Right. Gun rights are populist at their core, in defense against government tyranny at their widest application, and in self-defense at their most personal application.

In theory, this should be true. But wishing doesn't make it so. The overwhelming majority of those who favor weapons bans in this country are liberals, or progressives, or whatever other misnomer the leftists are using among themselves this week. The overwhelming majority of those who fight for the sanctity of the second amendment are conservatives, or right-wingers. Very few issues split more easily into leftist vs rightist than gun ownership. It even splits pretty clearly between Democrats and Republicans.

Since 2001, most Americans have favored stricter gun laws, though support has slightly dropped in recent years: 54 percent favored stricter laws in 2001, compared with 50 percent in 2007, according to Gallup polling. Now, a recent poll reveals a sudden drop -- only 39 percent of Americans now favor stricter gun laws, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll...

Nearly all the decline in support for stricter gun laws is from people who don't identify themselves as Democrats. Six in 10 Democrats still support stricter gun laws, but support has dropped 13 points among Republicans and 17 points among independents. Half of all independents supported stricter gun laws in 2007; now only a third of them do.

Quick, rough math accounting for slightly more Democrats polled than Republicans would lead to an assumption that only 2 in 10 Republicans vs 6 in 10 Democrats favor stricter gun laws.

Ananda clearly does not realize that she is rarity. Unlike most of her "progressive" activist friends, she actually views a repressive government as a bad thing. Lenin is not the goal for her. Perhaps she's an optimist, waiting for someone to achieve Marx's vision, but minus all that nasty death and depravity that always comes with it.

Around the Conservative Web - Weekend of April 19

Here are my picks for some of the best or most important blog posts this weekend from the right-wing extremist internet:

Althouse: Obama on Ortega Speech - "I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old." Other funny notes follow.

Cafe Hayek: Anti-capitalism on the Sports Page

Buick didn't have to sever its relationship with Tiger Woods because of the "downturn in the American auto industry." Buick severed the relationship because Buick is going broke. Buick is going broke because not enough people are willing to pay the price of Buick's cars given what it costs Buick to make them. I'm tempted to suggest that it would be a good thing for Tiger Woods to spend more of his scarce time supporting successful products rather than products that people don't value very much. But my advice is simpler. My suggestion for Tiger Woods is to spend his time however he sees fit.

Commonsense Political Thought: Third Party Follies

Votes thrown away on Libertarian candidates have often elected something far worse.

Politics remains the art of the possible.

Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Don't Be Hatin' His Procreation: Meet The Feminist's Poster Man-Child

What if women couldn’t get child support if she was unmarried? What if a woman knew that she was on her own if she got pregnant–no government support, no spousal support, no government subsidized abortions?

What if she either had to raise the child, her choice, on her own or give the child up for adoption? Do you think she would be more selective about her bed companions?

While this guy is despicable, irresponsible and a slut, he’s been enabled by at least 13 women, probably significantly more, who couldn’t be bothered to use birth control (not that that’s always 100%) or demand that he use it.

Economic Trends Journal: Banks Stress Tests Will Show a Failing Grade

Indy Mind: Olbermann Nods Approval (Ed: To what? What difference does it make? You know Olby is a tool, go there!)

No Left Turnz: Reap What You Sow

David Alexrod explained Obama’s “tactics” as follows: “You plant, you cultivate, you harvest. Over time, the seeds that were planted here are going to be very, very valuable..” My answer: Valuable for whom?

Power Line: Dawn Johnsen -- "prepared for political power"

I don't see how anyone can read Johnsen's statement at the October 2006 conference and be confident that, when she gains political power, Johnsen will say goodbye to a political agenda developed precisely in order to be ready for the day when she and her fellow left-wing activists gain political power.

Q and O: WaPo Editorial Suggests Closing the Military Academies

Right on the Right: TCU Reverses Gay Housing Decision (Ed: Apparently it remembered what the "C" stands for.

Suitably Flip: "And I Hate... the F***ing Eagles, Man."

Wizbang: Weekend Caption Contest Winners

Part black, part white, firmly on a leash. Yeah. That works for me.

Enjoy!

Zo Destroys on Partial-birth Abortion, Health Care, Obama, Veterans, Closing Gitmo, Iraq, Liberalism, Sarah Palin, Eminem, Abstinence, Strength, Sex, God, Principle, Kobe and Condoms - All in Six Minutes

God's gift to conservative You Tubers just keeps on giving:

You Make the Call: Is it Torture?

I'd appreciate your input on the "torture memos". Over at Examiner.com, I have a lengthy post wherein I describe what is being called torture in the media and ask a number of questions to see what people are thinking on the subject. Click below to check it out - much appreciated.

Is it Torture, Fraternity Hazing or Just Right?

Obama's Ponzi Scheme

A reader post from Sidney E. Wing. Quite good, I must say. Thanks, Sidney!

Move Over, Madoff

Obama makes you look like a rank amateur

 

Well, Bernie, a sixty-five billion dollar scam, eh?  Sorry, Pal, you’ve been one-upped! Our new president has devised the mother of all Ponzi scams!  Compared to him, you’re bush-league.  He’s conducting a scam in the trillions of dollars.  Not only is he doing it with adoring masses, abetted by his congressional accomplices - he’s made it legal!

 

When Charles Ponzi brought it to America, who would have thought it would eventually become refined to the level achieved by our President? How has he, perhaps unwittingly, disguised its components? The parts are all there: investment, promise, bait-and-switch, deceit, misappropriation, and return crumbs.

 

Investment. A Ponzi scheme is defined as an investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit or results achieved. Obama’s investors are us, the tax payers.  His only investment treatment is to selectively tap bank accounts of the most productive, keeping the number of his biggest victims to a digestable few, not to include or upset his electorate.

 

Promise. Through well documented fear-mongering Obama has framed our national economic challenge as a crisis that only government can resolve.  His rhetoric promises to invest our tax dollars through his stimulus plan to create millions of jobs, restore real estate values for financially responsible home owners, and restore confidence in public markets.

 

Bait and Switch.  Obama and team are consistent in their temerity, “Never allow a good crisis to go to waste.”  Therein lies conclusive evidence that Obama’s budget priorities are a great bait-and-switch. He promises to fix the financial crisis, but his actions are devoted to his long-standing liberal agenda on healthcare, energy and education as the solution, diverting resources and focus from real downturn causes.

 

Deceit.   His scheme is now exposed in the face of his now disclosed social agenda and absence of identifiable strategies and implementations that support the original vision he pontificated.  Having already taken a nose-dive from the ethical highground by blatantly reneging on his oath to eliminate ear-marks, he compounds his masquerade with a disingenuous claim that his signing of an ear-mark laden bill was last year’s business. But therein lies sleight of hand.and underlying dishonesty, so endemic to artful confidence men.

 

Misappropriation.  As investors, we the people have little influence in the near term as our wealth is commandeered and misdirected by Obama and his congressional conspirators.for social engineering. The indications were there, obfuscated by an adoring media.  Too few picked up on his socialist slips of tongue, and too many discounted his past associations and career-work priority, community organizing.  Socialism appears so ingrained that it’s the core of the man. In his righteous conviction, he’s tone-deaf to the damaging effects of his policies.

 

Return Crumbs. Recovery of jobs, mortgage relief, and stock market values will undoubtedly occur over time to some extent as free market forces begin to take hold, notwithstanding Obama’s assault on the private sector.  However slim the results, you can be sure he will rush to the front of any popular recovery parade in an attempt to pose as its leader, recall the direct funding (for one year) of 25 Cleveland police officers, an Obama media event! 

 

The Ponzi scam requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors in order to extend the scheme. Collapse is assured as the payout is not sustainable due to the drain on finite reserves.   Obama’s plan clearly mortgages America’s future to an unsustainable extent.  British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stated in 1975, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money," a truth even more poignant today.

 

The scheme is usually interrupted as legal authorities suspect the sale of unregistered, or phony, securities. Obama’s phony offering is his alleged commitment to do all necessary to stem the economic tide.  He just needs our assets along with power of attorney to pull it off.

 

Unfortunately, legal authorities are asleep on this one, or worse yet - in cahoots with the perpetrator.  Our only alternative is the vote.  Hopefully, Americans will soon sense the disaster looming on the horizon and retake our national birthright, a free-enterprise capitalistic economy, by neutering Obama and his agenda in the 2010 congressional elections.  Having shown his colors the emperor is now naked, not a presidential leader as was hoped – but a vastly empowered organizer with a not-very-hidden agenda. So, how is he unlike Bernie?  It’s just a matter of scale.

Journalism School Entrance Exam

My buddy Clyde at Patriot Room has gotten hold of a copy of the entrance exam given to new journalism school entrants. Oddly enough, it looks quite similar to what I experienced at Arizona State University. A sample question:

Assume you are an interrogator working for the CIA. You have a suspected terrorist in your custody and need to extract information. Choose from one of the following techniques:

A. Ask him politely about his plans, and if he refuses to respond, have the prison chef prepare a religiously sensitive meal for him.

B. Have several fellow interrogators stand around him, tell him to say his good-byes to his parents to the video camera, and then cut off his head with a butter knife.

C. Ask him politely about his plans, and if he refuses to respond, slap him on the belly.

D. Allow him to think he is going to a normal day of work, and then without warning fly a large plane into his 87th floor office window. You may also consider crashing the plane substantially below his office, and thus compel him to leap from the burning building to his certain death below. Collateral damage is acceptable.

(Instructor: If student answers “A,” ask him or her to submit their resume to the Obama Administration for immediate placement in the CIA’s Terrorist Interrogation Unit (they can complete their studies through distance learning). If the student responds “C,” call the FBI immediately and tell them that you have a possible terrorist in your class – this technique has been identified as torture. If the student responds either “B” or “D,” be certain to have Qu’rans and prayer mats available throughout the course period.)

Click here for more.

74 Percent of Internet Users used Internet for Election Info

74 percent of internet users--representing 55% of the entire adult population--went online in 2008 to get involved in the political process or to get news and information about the election, according to a recent Pew Poll.

This marks the first time that a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey has found that more than half of the voting-age population used the internet to get involved in the political process during an election year. Several online activities rose to prominence in 2008. In particular, Americans were eager to share their views on the race with others and to take part in the online debate on social media sites such as blogs and social networking sites.

Good news for the consumer, good news for me, bad news for the New York Times.

The relative importance of the internet also continued to grow within the overall political media ecosystem. Among the entire population (internet users and non-users alike) the internet is now equal to newspapers and roughly twice as important as radio as a source of election news and information. Among internet users and young adults, these differences are even more magnified.

Additionally, online political news consumers are delving deeply into the long tail of online political content--nearly half of online political news consumers visited five or more distinct types of online news sites this election cycle. However, this deeper involvement may change the way voters view online news content. Voters are increasingly moving away from news sites with no point of view, and towards sites that match their own political viewpoints--and this is especially true of those who delve deepest into the world of online political content.

Much more at the link above.

I trust this will be much more the case come 2012. If the recent Tax Day Tea Parties are a sign of growing discontent on the right, as I believe they are, the righty blogosphere should be in for big things over the next four years.

Janeane Garofalo Opens Mouth, Hilarity Ensues

Janeane Gorafalo, when she's not on "24," is a twit.

JANEANE GAROFALO: Thank you. You know, there's nothing more interesting than seeing a bunch of racists become confused and angry at a speech they're not quite certain what he's saying. It sounds right and then it doesn't make sense. Which, let's be very honest about what this is about. It's not about bashing Democrats, it's not about taxes, they have no idea what the Boston tea party was about, they don't know their history at all. This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up. That is nothing but a bunch of teabagging rednecks. And there is no way around that. And you know, you can tell these type of right wingers anything and they'll believe it, except the truth. You tell them the truth and they become -- it's like showing Frankenstein's monster fire. They become confused, and angry and highly volatile. That guy, causing them feelings they don't know, because their limbic brain, we've discussed this before, the limbic brain inside a right-winger or Republican or conservative or your average white power activist, the limbic brain is much larger in their head space than in a reasonable person, and it's pushing against the frontal lobe. So their synapses are misfiring.

Funny. Conservatives have brain issues, but the not so gargantuan mind of Sean Hannity leaves her a blathering mess every time he talks to her. What a waste.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Around the Conservative Web - April 16, 2009

I'm going to try to focus some well-deserved attention on the great conservative blogosphere that is growing by leaps and bounds as we speak. Hopefully, I will be able do this most weekdays. Please take the time to check out the great bloggers out there, and the interesting and informative pieces they have to offer. My email is on the left sidebar near the top if you ever wish to let me know about something that interested you. On the days I do this, I will also do another, different list of conservative blog posts at PatriotRoom.com. Tonight's is here.

Ace of Spades: Former LA Times reporter asks for federal funding for dying newspapers.

Cold Fury: Obama has promised he will no longer protect Americans by thwarting terrorist plots if it hurts the terrorists’ feelings.

Commonsense Political Thought: Stingy Bidens 

If we assume that the Bidens actually attend Mass 40 weeks a year, an $1,885 charitable deduction averages out to a whopping $47.13 in the basket every time they attend Mass, assuming that they make no other charitable contributions at all.

Gateway Pundit: Fox News beats MSNBC, CNN and Headline News, combined.

Political Castaway: Public prayer - Just do it!

Perhaps, it is time now to draw from the rising American outrage and begin to simply take back America, beginning with re-introducing public prayer into the daily fabric of American life.

 
Sister Todljah: David Shuster and Anderson Cooper - get a room!

The Daily Gut: Gregalogue - Right-wing cranks.

Three Sources: Serfs Up!

The government should not be thanked for increasing taxes and spending the producers into serfdom. They should be rebuked and reminded that they serve the people, not the other way around.

Wise Conservatism: The Media still doesn't get it.

Patriot Room: Circling the Drain - Only Five Connecticut Residents Donate to Dodd.

The American Standard

Jacob F. Roecker sent me this speech he delivered at the Tax Day Tea Party in Norman, Oklahoma.

In this country we look forward, because forward is the only direction to move.  A few weeks ago we were looking forward, and the only people we saw moving in the same direction were the people to our sides.  The people who believe the word “citizen” means something. 

I’m grateful right now across our nation we can look up and see the stars and stripes flying.  It’s there because brave Americans in our past, and brave Americans today, die to keep it there.  They give their lives, and gift to us an unparalleled freedom and prosperity in the history of the world.  It seems we can always look to our Soldiers as examples of the best America has to offer, and where do they turn?  Which direction do they face?  When times get toughest, what is it that they look to? 

You shouldn’t be surprised to know that throughout history Soldiers have looked to a piece of cloth.  Sometimes called a guidon, sometimes called “the colors,” and sometimes called a “standard.” Rallying around the standard in times of confusion gave Soldiers safety in numbers and a better chance to forge victory out of the threatening chaos before them. 

I ask now, what is our standard?  Our nation was forged in a time of war and needed a standard to turn to. Good citizens gathered and created a congress.  The congress created their standard, built upon everything they had learned from the past.  They needed to present their case clearly before all mankind and created: The Declaration of Independence.  At the end of the document we read the words “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” 

When representing the people really mattered it required the pledge of your lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.  This pledge was the patriot standard.  But I say that  good epresentation has always mattered.  It will matter in my children's generation, and it matters now.  The standard in this country for representation is total dedication.  Nothing they had was too important they were not willing to give it for this country. 

There have been many conclusions drawn from that document and their actions in signing it.  I would like to offer this conclusion for our generation.  That selflessness in pledging your sacred honor is the standard of public service for the patriot generation that blessed this land over 230 years ago.  It is the standard for every public servant from that time forward.  It’s time we remind our government that the Patriot Standard should be the American standard. 

We need that sort of representation now, but when you ask for it you hear people say things like “they don’t make them like anymore” or “those men were unique in all of history” and “we’ll never see men like that again.” I’d like to think that every generation of citizens has within its population the greatness of our founding fathers.  If they could manage to find such patriots among a population of 2 million people than how come we can’t find them among a population of 300 million?  Has God abandoned the country he has spent so much effort to help create?  Would a deity that has openly rewarded the compassion of this nation towards its former enemies abandon us now?  Does the argument that he cares less about me and my children than he did about the WWII generation, and the patriot generation hold weight?  

NO.  I cannot live and believe I have been abandoned.  I can live and believe that my voice has been abandoned in government. 

When the Boston tea party took place it wasn’t about the money.  It was about what the money represented.  Today the same logic stands true.  Government spending in our generation means that my children and grandchildren’s generation has already been taxed.  They bear the weight of this generation.   

How did we get here?  What’s at the root of it?  The root of it is representatives placing agendas above values, placing parties before principles, putting priorities on the political processes external to the constitution.  At some point we have been sold a lie and bought it.  We have purchased an imitation of quality, and now quality counts.   

Now we’re making some noise about it.  Now we’re asking of our government “Is this is the best we can do?” Their best isn’t good enough, and instead of shrinking into thinking that is all the country has to offer its time we work together and start demanding more.  There are patriots in this generation.  We have to find them and put them in office. 

I was on the phone with a friend last week who is a political adviser and recently had success in helping a governor get elected to office.  I invited him to ask that his next candidate sign a pledge to represent his constituents according to basic principles and values.  He said that it was politically too risky.  The candidate hadn’t secured the party’s nomination.   

Wait a second?  Too risky?  The possibly future governor of the state, in charge of thousands of uniformed service members that will probably get sent overseas is politically scared to sign a morally binding contract?  They are scared to risk their own political career, but are willing to take charge of those willing to take deadly risks.  Last time I checked if you didn’t get your party’s nomination you went back to your old job.  What happens to the Soldier in Iraq under fire when the person to his right or left is afraid to take risks? 

It’s time to get our priorities straight.  It’s time someone raise a standard.  It’s time this group sends a message to our government officials.  We the people lead this nation.  The caliber of representation that created this nation is the only caliber that will maintain it. 

In order for your rights as citizens to be maintained they must be exercised.  Now is the time.  You are the right person for the job, and together we can make the Patriot Standard, the American Standard. 

Visit 912candidates.org, download the letters and postcards and send them in to your officials.  Let them know you want your voice to matter.  You’d be surprised how many of them have been waiting America to stand up.  Today we are standing up.  We're on our feet, and all of us are headed in the same direction, forward.

Response to Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security

Reader Lori Hoeck writes the following beautifully mocking response to the news mentioned in this piece the other day:

Dear Secretary Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security,

I am here to formally and officially apologize for being what your department defines as a radicalized, right-wing extremist. I also now renounce my tendency to bitterly cling to my guns and my religion.

Please no longer count me among the fear-mongering, strident voices that manipulate political prejudices in expanded and accusatory propaganda campaigns advocating less government and more personal responsibility. Although I was never a member of any militias, nor am I a white supremacists, I am truly repentant … er … I mean free of my once deeply held beliefs in the validity of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, including the right to free speech and honest dissent. I realize now that such extremism is harmful to the hope and parental beneficence of my very much esteemed and unerringly wise president and his members of Congress.

I also hereby give up my once unswerving sense of individual resiliency, personal integrity, and Christ-based sense of morals and character development. These, too, are but a hindrance to the more enlightened, intellectual, and seasoned opinions and actions of those who have a higher education worthy of my subservience.

I mean, really, how foolish I was to think God was a part of the founding and blessing of this nation. How anti-intellectual of me to believe in the Bible. How silly of me to obey such a big, bad deity who has the audacity to call homosexuality, all lying, and arrogance sin. Whew -- what a weight of responsibility I can release now! No more need to have a stupid moral compass or a way of life based in the Golden Rule.

Secretary Napolitano, I want you to also know that I now embrace handouts over actually earning a wage; bailouts over healthy business practices; and inconsistent application of laws (Timothy Geithner's unpaid taxes not being wrong enough to keep him from holding office) over the idea of equality under the law.

Furthermore, I completely reject my entire family’s history of valuing a day’s pay for a day’s work, or of honoring ingenuity and long-term perseverance when it comes to adversity. I now understand that the problems my family faced -- the Oklahoma dustbowl, three wars, and the Great Depression – could have been made better if the government had just printed more money and given it to my grandparents.

Oh, Secretary Napolitano, I feel so much better now that I’m saved from all that bad thinking. Please keep up the good work of reminding us just how our national security is compromised by all those confused, radicalized, and anti-intellectual types. And please, please, don’t let those military types coming back from our wars get radicalized either! Heaven forbid … er … I mean Congress forbid that those veterans have their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat exploited. We all know how mindless soldiers can be, right Secretary? *knowing wink* I mean, hey, it can’t be true that they really care about their country, the Constitution, or regular citizens, right? I’m sure you even have proof somewhere that those Navy SEALs who rescued Captain Richard Phillips from the pirates are really just chomping at the bit to turn their skills on family and friends here at home. Oh, please protect us from such horrors of well-trained, loyal, and professional Special Ops people!

And on that note, please also take all the guns away from us silly citizens who would like to protect ourselves. I know the government can do a much better job. This is true because I now believe in this healthy concept: "of the government, by the government, and for the government."

So say we all!

Again, my thanks Secretary Napolitano for setting my thinking straight and helping me embrace a proper fear of my conservative neighbors, friends, and family.

Sincerely subservient,
A (Now) Unconcerned Citizen

You've picked a bad time to call

Drew at Barking Moonbat Early Warning System was in a foul mood as he took a call from a guy with the Republican party while he was doing his taxes today:

So I’m sitting here at the computer, with half a dozen .pdf forms open, trying to get my taxes done, hoping that I can get my bottom line small enough so that the check I mail in won’t bounce.

And the phone rings. It’s this guy from the Republican Party, who wants me to send them some money. “Oooh, now we’ve got Michael Steele and how much they need my support what with the crazy budgets the Democrats have rammed through and ... “

I cut the mother off at the knees. Bad time to call dude.

Click the link above for his hilarious, deadly accurate, and slightly adult-content rant.

You Might be a Right-Wing Extremist if...

According to a recent report by your federal government, it is quite likely that our government now considers you or someone you love to be a right-wing extremist and the equivalent of a hate group member:

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

So if you believe that the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land... you might be a right wing-extremist.

If you are against the killing of unborn babies and wouldn't recognize an emanation from a penumbra if it kicked you in the stomach, you might be a right-wing extremist.

If you believe that the 10th amendment to the Constitution (The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people) is binding law - you might be a right-wing extremist.

If you are not in favor of granting citizenship to people whose first act in coming to our country is illegal and shows that they may not be inclined to follow our laws, you might be a right-wing extremist. And you are certainly a hateful, bigoted SOB.

Terrorism no longer exists, according to the Obama administration. Instead, Obama has seen the enemy, and the enemy is you. And me. And current events could be conspiring to create more and more of us.

If you've avoided become a right-wing extremist thus far, you had better not lose your job. And if you think job is a four-letter word, you might become a right-wing extremist.

Nevertheless, the consequences of a prolonged economic downturn—including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit—could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past.

Concerned about your gun rights? You might be a right-wing extremist.

Proposed imposition of firearms restrictions and weapons bans likely would attract new members into the ranks of rightwing extremist groups, as well as potentially spur some of them to begin planning and training for violence against the government. The high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by rightwing extremists in anticipation of restrictions and bans in some parts of the country continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement

By the way, if you are a right-wing extremist, you should consider meeting up with some returning veterans.

Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to rightwing extremists.

The economy plays a big role in all of this, our government tells us.

Rightwing extremist chatter on the Internet

That's not you - that's me.

continues to focus on the economy, the perceived loss of U.S. jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors, and home foreclosures.

Then the report confuses me, because it starts talking about Obama's friends.

Anti-Semitic extremists attribute these losses to a deliberate conspiracy conducted by a cabal of Jewish “financial elites.” These “accusatory” tactics are employed to draw new recruits into rightwing extremist groups and further radicalize those already subscribing to extremist beliefs.

Apparently, right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists (if any such creature exists) and Obama's close friends use much the same tactics.

Many rightwing extremists are antagonistic toward the new presidential administration

If the thought of President Obama doesn't fill your soul with peace and hope and light, you might be a right-wing extremist.

and its perceived stance on a range of issues,

If you disagree with President Obama on any of a range of issues, you might be a right-wing extremist.

including immigration and citizenship, the expansion of social programs to minorities

What the hell does "the expansion of social programs to minorities" mean, anyway? Did I miss a Bush administration decision that denied welfare payments to the Micks? If you don't know what that means, either, you are definitely a right-wing extremist and a homophobe. May as well just kill yourself now and save the government some time, you bigot.

Meanwhile, Obama says America will never be at war with Islam, but according to this report war with some aspects of Christianity might be a good idea.

"(E)nd times” prophecies could motivate extremist individuals and groups to stockpile food, ammunition, and weapons. These teachings also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist individuals and groups in the past, such as violent Christian Identity organizations and extremist members of the militia movement.

If you are a member of a "violent Christian Identity organization," not only are you a right0wing extremist, but you are definitely also a hate-group member. I wonder, does Trinity United Church qualify as a "violent Christian Identity organization," or does the fact that it was only Christian in the way that Olympia Snowe is a republican save it from this distinction? Why is it that the only hateful Christian church I know of belongs to our President?

Scholars and experts disagree over poverty’s role in motivating violent radicalization or terrorist activity. High unemployment, however, has the potential to lead to alienation, thus increasing an individual’s susceptibility to extremist ideas.

If you live in Michigan, the government knows you've probably been a right-wing extremist all your life, but it thanks you for not realizing it until now and voting for democrats all those years.

Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.

Yep. Having perceived that illegal immigrants take away American jobs makes you a right-wing extremist. I think we've proven even our most vocal opposition readers to be right-wing extremists now. Apparently, the only way to avoid right-wing extremism is to be a delusional nutcase. Like Obama and the rest of his administration. Oh, did I type that? Sorry - must have been my inner right-wing extremist letting loose.

— (U//FOUO) DHS/I&A notes that prominent civil rights organizations have observed an increase in anti-Hispanic crimes over the past five years.

— (U) In April 2007, six militia members were arrested for various weapons and explosives violations. Open source reporting alleged that those arrested had discussed and conducted surveillance for a machinegun attack on Hispanics.

— (U) A militia member in Wyoming was arrested in February 2007 after communicating his plans to travel to the Mexican border to kill immigrants crossing into the United States.

That's all touching, but a little more concern with the much bigger problem of crime perpetrated by illegal aliens against U.S. citizens would be more touching. The Department of Homeland Security is more concerned with right-wing extremists than preventing foreign invaders, and yes, only a right-wing extremist would make that connection.

Rightwing extremist views bemoan the decline of U.S. stature and have recently focused on themes such as the loss of U.S. manufacturing capability to China and India, Russia’s control of energy resources and use of these to pressure other countries, and China’s investment in U.S. real estate and corporations as a part of subversion strategy.

Silly right-wingers. Clearly there is nothing to see here, much less discuss.

DHS/I&A assesses that lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing violent rightwing

extremist ideology are the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States. Information from law enforcement and nongovernmental organizations indicates lone wolves and small terrorist cells have shown intent—and, in some cases, the capability—to commit violent acts.

It's as if 9/11 never happened. They are literally saying that you and I are a bigger threat to homeland security than any potential Muslim sleeper cells living in America. I don't believe I'm overstating things when I say that I have never been more afraid of my own federal government.