Conservatism Today

Chrysler and Obama's Dealergate

Here's an excerpt from my Patriot Room post on Dealergate:

Giving President Obama the power to run the American auto industry seems akin to giving your teenage son a bottle of Jack Daniels to share with his buddy before a Friday night on the town. Allowing The Pres to pass along some of that power to the UAW is handing your car keys to the buddy and hoping he will get your son home safely.

We haven't addressed the possible scandal involving which Chrysler dealerships are being chosen for closing because we haven't been sure how big of a deal it is. But I've seen enough to think it is a big deal. It passes the smell test of exactly what I think Obama is arrogant enough to do, knowing that there is next to no chance of the mainstream media seriously looking into it. And it fits his Chicago-style philosophy of political payback to those who cross him.

If you aren't up to date, I suggest reading more at the link above. Or reading this post by Doug Ross:

Anyone else think this is a big deal?

45 Million Forced to Live without Health Insurance? Not Exactly.

This well-done video looks into the oft quoted "45 million" Americans who (allegedly through no fault of their own) don't have health insurance. It turns out that the number of people for whom this is true is actually more in line with the normal 1-2% of society who refuse to take care of themselves in any way, shape or form. 

Zo's Potty Politics

Zo the Plumber?

Great video on the nanny state.



These lyrics reminded me of the latest plans for a sin tax on soft drinks and other sugary beverages.

Dude: "I think I need a beer."

Uncle Sam: "A beer is not something to get,

Because somebody might raise the tax 1800 percent."

Dude: "Maybe I'll just have a Coke."

Uncle Sam: "Well it better be diet,

If I see sugar in that can I'll start a taxing riot."

Simple economics, yet too complex for liberals.

Short, but sweet riff from Zo.

This is the weekly post where I celebrate the fact that I have successfully made it through another weekend without posting anything on Saturday or Sunday. I offer this up to those - like me - who need to catch up on what they missed over the weekend. Here are some of the more interesting, entertaining, informational, or just downright funny right-wing blog posts from this weekend.

Axis of Right: Pelosi: What did she Know and when did she Know it?

Cafe Hayek: Regressivism

I have in my living room an engraving of New Hampshire's state motto, "Live Free or Die."  It's a proud and worthy sentiment for a free people, but not one shared generally by Americans today -- or by any other peoples, it seems.  Increasingly, Americans' sentiments would be more aptly captured by the motto "Exist as Coddled Children or Cry."

Gateway Pundit: Cheney on Powell: "I Didn't Know He Was Still A Republican?" (Video)

IMAO: Well, it's um... It's Green

“Green. It’s the new black”

Are you f@#$ing kidding me?

As a humor-hack of the lowest order, I can certainly appreciate beating to powder the dessicated bones of a 26-year-old meme, however, I can’t help thinking they should’ve worked just a little harder to include a miniscule smidge of honesty.

I expect a lot of readers feel the same way, so to kill time on a weekend, your assignment is to fill in the blank in the following sentence:

“Green. It’s the new _______”

I’ll get you started, you keep it running in the comments:

* Socialism

* Dumbass

* “We Are The World”

* Smug

Add yours at the link.

Michelle Malkin: Battered Hedge Fund Managers’ Syndrome

Yes, there are rotten hedge fund managers who have squandered billions of dollars without accountability – not unlike the government bailout and stimulus fund managers in Washington who continue to throw good money after bad. President Obama demagogues the unpopular industry because it fits the popular narrative – Wall Street bad, Washington good. Like battered wives, most hedge fund managers who supported Obama have tolerated the abuse futilely hoping it will stop.

 The Minority Report: Chrissy Mathews, you Ignorant Slut

May I beg to differ with the king of tingly legs -- the bard of partisan attack.

He attacked conservatives on three fronts: evolution, stem cell research, and global warming. His smug attack left no doubt that he felt himself on firm ground -- after all, there is a consensus on all three subjects -- a consensus reached by shouting down and ignoring any evidence that would throw into question the lack of evidence to support the theories.

Patterico: It was the Worst of Times... and Time

PoliPundit: Don't Ask, Don't Tell (It's a Readiness Issue)

In military affairs, I am not a Republican.

In military affairs, I am not a Democrat.

In military affairs, I am not an Independent.

In military affairs, I am a man focused solely on readiness. I have written on this topic many times because I saw first hand readiness dismissed for the sake of political expediency first on the watch of President Clinton and second on the watch of President Bush.

 Republican Ranting: Bristol Palin - "Learn from my Example"

I think Bristol’s story is a great testimony to other teens.  While some may view her as a hypocrite, I think many will view her as someone who went through a lot of hard times and doesn’t want to see other people go through what she went through.

Right of Center Ramblings: What is "Funny" for them is "Insensitive" for Us

What makes what Wanda said newsworthy? Well, The Messiah himself was there to hear it. And laughed right along with everyone else at every line. So much for 'lowering the partisanship' and 'healing our souls.'

The Conspiracy to Keep you Poor and Stupid: If They're so Rich...

...how can they be so stupid as to have voted for Obama to begin with? Don't you have to have some basic intelligence to get rich? Then how do you explain their surprise?

The Other McCain: Dijon-Gate - What have we Learned?

Exposure of the media role in the Obama phenomenon is what the Left fears most because, at some level, they understand that if the press were ever to report honestly on what the Democrats are doing, the game would change. So the Obama cultists, accustomed to only fawning coverage of their Leader, react with fury when the fawning coverage is demonstrated to be dishonest.

The Sundries Shack: Everyone's a Criminal, Except the Criminals

It’s sad that Secretary Napolitano cares more for the feelings of Mexico than she does the millions of Americans when her agency approved two reports naming them “extremists” and threatened to sic our police departments on them.

Or Canadians, apparently, who must be treated exactly the same as the drug-runners, coyotes, and criminals who flood in over our southern border.

Patriot Room: Police in Wisconsin can Attack a GPS to your Car Without a Warrant

God, I'm glad I left that state. Especially now that Brett Favre is gone for good. 

Trackacrat: Looks Erode but Stupidity Lingers

Back to the main point, that Howard Dean is prone to voicing innate stupidity, the type of stupidity that you cannot learn, you just naturally possess.

According to Dean, “We’ve had quite enough capitalism” already.

Vets on the Watch: Another Day, Another Global Warming Debunking

So scientists did. What they have found, not surprisingly, is that the oceans of the planet have been COOLING since 2003.

Wise Conservatism:  Our Second Amendment Rights are being Raped by Congress Again

That's it for this week. Hope you enjoyed the links. Check back next Monday morning for more.

Yep, it's Barack Obama's best month yet, and the smallest number since Obama was elected. Still, unemployment rose to 8.9 percent, the highest it's been since 1983. HotAir notes that the smaller job loss numbers come on the back of a single employer, the federal government:

The administration will hammer on that 539,000 number in order to show progress, but that’s deceptive.  The loss in private-sector employment actually came to 611,000, more than the 590,000 jobs anaylsts expected.  How did they get to 539,000?

Losses in April were tempered by a big 72,000 jump in government payrolls and overall, private sector employment fell by 611,000 last month.

Governments used stimulus money to hire workers in April.  Most of those jobs are on “shovel-ready projects,” and won’t be permanent employment, while the rest will expand bureaucracies needed to manage those jobs.  More to the point, all of those jobs cost American taxpayers, including the unemployed, to maintain.  That doesn’t create wealth and opportunity as much as it sucks both out of the market, and allow politicians to claim credit for growth that doesn’t exist.

Actually, the jobs aren't really shovel-ready in the traditionally sense of the phrase. No, it seems that 66,000 of the 72,000 new government jobs are census takers. In other words, ACORN workers paid by you and me to over-count the illegal immigrant and homeless population. And they'll be unemployed again in a year unless Obama finds a way to make them permanent.

I came across one of the better pieces I've seen in some time, over at HotAir today.

Republican politicians often forget that conservatism is an argument, while liberalism is a promise. The conservative argument will never be over, because any free-market system will always include a certain population who fare poorly. No matter how small that population is, or how much the overall wealth of society eases the burden of their poverty, they will always be extremely receptive to the seduction of collective politics...The conservative champions both the moral and practical superiority of liberty and individualism. The liberal promises tangible rewards in exchange for votes.

Ronald Reagan said as much in his presidential farewell address when he said, "Freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection." As such, the job of a conservative never ends. We must always be diligent and ready to defend freedom.

Liberal socialism is the ongoing critique of capitalism’s imperfections. To the casual center-left voter, the world seems overwhelming, confusing, and unfair. This was never more obvious than in the financial crisis that erupted last fall, when a large number of citizens became very angry and frightened about a crisis they couldn’t begin to understand. They just knew something terrible was happening, and they demanded action.

And this is why freedom is fragile. As a people, we have given as much spending power to the federal government in the last 100+ days as why have in the whole of our nation's history, because people demanded action and elected a man who promised he would give them all the government action they could ever hope for.

The Democrats stepped in with a ready-made narrative, which the Republicans suicidally left unchallenged, and offered the exact same solutions they have offered to every problem since the days of FDR: massive government spending and control. Conservatives found this dismaying and horrifying – who in their right minds would solve the problem Barney Frank created by giving Barney Frank more money and power? But Democrat voters were willing to accept this diagnosis and solution, as they always seem ready to accept liberal solutions, despite a century-long track record of absolute failure… because they need to believe that someone out there knows what they’re doing, and has the answers to the overwhelming problems produced by a complex economy, and packaged by a sensationalist media in love with Big Solutions to Big Problems.

Much, much more at HotAir.

As for the graphic above, I place myself about where the "Original Liberal" star. That would be what our founding documents would have been called at the time. With words changing meaning, the word liberal came to mean someone who believes in big government. Many of today's conservatives (like me, for whom social issues are not a high priority) are conservative in that they wish to conserve and retake the freedom and protections guaranteed in the Constitution.

It's a never-ending battle.

He simply wants to pay back the teachers unions. So much for taking the best ideas, regardless of party.

Barack Obama has never done a damn thing for vouchers to allow the poor to have some choice in their education, even though there is no added expense associated with doing so.

As the lady in the video, an Obama voter asked: "Why sir? Why?"

If you're like me, you take the weekend off when it comes to politics whenever you can, and focus on more important things, like the NBA playoffs. But now it's Monday and it's time to catch up on what you've missed. The following posts, among the best of the conservative web this weekend, will do the job.

Common Sense Political Thought: Insane Liberal of the Week

Hot Air: Obama uses WH press corps as threat against Chrysler investors

Minority Report: "Yes We Can" Replaces "New And Improved" To Sell Same Old Product

Pajamas TV: John Stewart is a Freaking Moron - Truth on Japan and WWII

Right Wing News: The Right Needs to Play as Dirty as the Left

Certainly Keith Olbermann's personal life is just as newsworthy as Joe the Plumber's and the details of Maureen Dowd's life are just as noteworthy as those of Bristol Palin -- are they not?

PoliPundit: China Cancels America's Credit Card

Pundit & Pundette: Offend a Feminist Week

Right of Course: Feminists Speak out on Breast Implants

Right on the Right: Ann Coulter Destroys Joy Behar on Waterboarding

COULTER: Do you want to be aborted, because I think you support abortion?

In fact, could we abort the terrorists instead of waterboarding them?

Sister Toldjah: Video: Rep. Schakowsky (D-IL) exposes liberal motivations behind healthcare “reform”

Patriot Room: Video: Apache Destroys 4 Insurgents

Wizbang: Weekly Caption Contest Winners

"The key is to hit both of Biden's buttocks at the same time..."

Wyblog: The Republican Party is Seriously F'd Up 

Liberals like to attack conservatives by pointing to Bush and saying "his policies didn't work" so our conservative principles are flawed. That's total rubbish. Bush's policies had little or nothing to do with conservatism.

That will do it for this week.

Nanny State Rap

Great video on the nanny state.



These lyrics reminded me of the latest plans for a sin tax on soft drinks and other sugary beverages.

Dude: "I think I need a beer."

Uncle Sam: "A beer is not something to get,

Because somebody might raise the tax 1800 percent."

Dude: "Maybe I'll just have a Coke."

Uncle Sam: "Well it better be diet,

If I see sugar in that can I'll start a taxing riot."

How Democrats plan to end Tax Deferral will Make American Businesses less Competitive Overseas

Simple economics, yet too complex for liberals.

Zo Destroys on RINOs, Schwarzenegger, Drilling, Obama's Apology Tour, Debt, Unemployment, Slave Labor and China

Short, but sweet riff from Zo.

Around the Conservative Web - Weekend of May 10

This is the weekly post where I celebrate the fact that I have successfully made it through another weekend without posting anything on Saturday or Sunday. I offer this up to those - like me - who need to catch up on what they missed over the weekend. Here are some of the more interesting, entertaining, informational, or just downright funny right-wing blog posts from this weekend.

Axis of Right: Pelosi: What did she Know and when did she Know it?

Cafe Hayek: Regressivism

I have in my living room an engraving of New Hampshire's state motto, "Live Free or Die."  It's a proud and worthy sentiment for a free people, but not one shared generally by Americans today -- or by any other peoples, it seems.  Increasingly, Americans' sentiments would be more aptly captured by the motto "Exist as Coddled Children or Cry."

Gateway Pundit: Cheney on Powell: "I Didn't Know He Was Still A Republican?" (Video)

IMAO: Well, it's um... It's Green

“Green. It’s the new black”

Are you f@#$ing kidding me?

As a humor-hack of the lowest order, I can certainly appreciate beating to powder the dessicated bones of a 26-year-old meme, however, I can’t help thinking they should’ve worked just a little harder to include a miniscule smidge of honesty.

I expect a lot of readers feel the same way, so to kill time on a weekend, your assignment is to fill in the blank in the following sentence:

“Green. It’s the new _______”

I’ll get you started, you keep it running in the comments:

* Socialism

* Dumbass

* “We Are The World”

* Smug

Add yours at the link.

Michelle Malkin: Battered Hedge Fund Managers’ Syndrome

Yes, there are rotten hedge fund managers who have squandered billions of dollars without accountability – not unlike the government bailout and stimulus fund managers in Washington who continue to throw good money after bad. President Obama demagogues the unpopular industry because it fits the popular narrative – Wall Street bad, Washington good. Like battered wives, most hedge fund managers who supported Obama have tolerated the abuse futilely hoping it will stop.

 The Minority Report: Chrissy Mathews, you Ignorant Slut

May I beg to differ with the king of tingly legs -- the bard of partisan attack.

He attacked conservatives on three fronts: evolution, stem cell research, and global warming. His smug attack left no doubt that he felt himself on firm ground -- after all, there is a consensus on all three subjects -- a consensus reached by shouting down and ignoring any evidence that would throw into question the lack of evidence to support the theories.

Patterico: It was the Worst of Times... and Time

PoliPundit: Don't Ask, Don't Tell (It's a Readiness Issue)

In military affairs, I am not a Republican.

In military affairs, I am not a Democrat.

In military affairs, I am not an Independent.

In military affairs, I am a man focused solely on readiness. I have written on this topic many times because I saw first hand readiness dismissed for the sake of political expediency first on the watch of President Clinton and second on the watch of President Bush.

 Republican Ranting: Bristol Palin - "Learn from my Example"

I think Bristol’s story is a great testimony to other teens.  While some may view her as a hypocrite, I think many will view her as someone who went through a lot of hard times and doesn’t want to see other people go through what she went through.

Right of Center Ramblings: What is "Funny" for them is "Insensitive" for Us

What makes what Wanda said newsworthy? Well, The Messiah himself was there to hear it. And laughed right along with everyone else at every line. So much for 'lowering the partisanship' and 'healing our souls.'

The Conspiracy to Keep you Poor and Stupid: If They're so Rich...

...how can they be so stupid as to have voted for Obama to begin with? Don't you have to have some basic intelligence to get rich? Then how do you explain their surprise?

The Other McCain: Dijon-Gate - What have we Learned?

Exposure of the media role in the Obama phenomenon is what the Left fears most because, at some level, they understand that if the press were ever to report honestly on what the Democrats are doing, the game would change. So the Obama cultists, accustomed to only fawning coverage of their Leader, react with fury when the fawning coverage is demonstrated to be dishonest.

The Sundries Shack: Everyone's a Criminal, Except the Criminals

It’s sad that Secretary Napolitano cares more for the feelings of Mexico than she does the millions of Americans when her agency approved two reports naming them “extremists” and threatened to sic our police departments on them.

Or Canadians, apparently, who must be treated exactly the same as the drug-runners, coyotes, and criminals who flood in over our southern border.

Patriot Room: Police in Wisconsin can Attack a GPS to your Car Without a Warrant

God, I'm glad I left that state. Especially now that Brett Favre is gone for good. 

Trackacrat: Looks Erode but Stupidity Lingers

Back to the main point, that Howard Dean is prone to voicing innate stupidity, the type of stupidity that you cannot learn, you just naturally possess.

According to Dean, “We’ve had quite enough capitalism” already.

Vets on the Watch: Another Day, Another Global Warming Debunking

So scientists did. What they have found, not surprisingly, is that the oceans of the planet have been COOLING since 2003.

Wise Conservatism:  Our Second Amendment Rights are being Raped by Congress Again

That's it for this week. Hope you enjoyed the links. Check back next Monday morning for more.

Good News! Only 539,000 Jobs Lost in April

Yep, it's Barack Obama's best month yet, and the smallest number since Obama was elected. Still, unemployment rose to 8.9 percent, the highest it's been since 1983. HotAir notes that the smaller job loss numbers come on the back of a single employer, the federal government:

The administration will hammer on that 539,000 number in order to show progress, but that’s deceptive.  The loss in private-sector employment actually came to 611,000, more than the 590,000 jobs anaylsts expected.  How did they get to 539,000?

Losses in April were tempered by a big 72,000 jump in government payrolls and overall, private sector employment fell by 611,000 last month.

Governments used stimulus money to hire workers in April.  Most of those jobs are on “shovel-ready projects,” and won’t be permanent employment, while the rest will expand bureaucracies needed to manage those jobs.  More to the point, all of those jobs cost American taxpayers, including the unemployed, to maintain.  That doesn’t create wealth and opportunity as much as it sucks both out of the market, and allow politicians to claim credit for growth that doesn’t exist.

Actually, the jobs aren't really shovel-ready in the traditionally sense of the phrase. No, it seems that 66,000 of the 72,000 new government jobs are census takers. In other words, ACORN workers paid by you and me to over-count the illegal immigrant and homeless population. And they'll be unemployed again in a year unless Obama finds a way to make them permanent.

Conservatism is an Argument; Liberalism is a Promise

I came across one of the better pieces I've seen in some time, over at HotAir today.

Republican politicians often forget that conservatism is an argument, while liberalism is a promise. The conservative argument will never be over, because any free-market system will always include a certain population who fare poorly. No matter how small that population is, or how much the overall wealth of society eases the burden of their poverty, they will always be extremely receptive to the seduction of collective politics...The conservative champions both the moral and practical superiority of liberty and individualism. The liberal promises tangible rewards in exchange for votes.

Ronald Reagan said as much in his presidential farewell address when he said, "Freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection." As such, the job of a conservative never ends. We must always be diligent and ready to defend freedom.

Liberal socialism is the ongoing critique of capitalism’s imperfections. To the casual center-left voter, the world seems overwhelming, confusing, and unfair. This was never more obvious than in the financial crisis that erupted last fall, when a large number of citizens became very angry and frightened about a crisis they couldn’t begin to understand. They just knew something terrible was happening, and they demanded action.

And this is why freedom is fragile. As a people, we have given as much spending power to the federal government in the last 100+ days as why have in the whole of our nation's history, because people demanded action and elected a man who promised he would give them all the government action they could ever hope for.

The Democrats stepped in with a ready-made narrative, which the Republicans suicidally left unchallenged, and offered the exact same solutions they have offered to every problem since the days of FDR: massive government spending and control. Conservatives found this dismaying and horrifying – who in their right minds would solve the problem Barney Frank created by giving Barney Frank more money and power? But Democrat voters were willing to accept this diagnosis and solution, as they always seem ready to accept liberal solutions, despite a century-long track record of absolute failure… because they need to believe that someone out there knows what they’re doing, and has the answers to the overwhelming problems produced by a complex economy, and packaged by a sensationalist media in love with Big Solutions to Big Problems.

Much, much more at HotAir.

As for the graphic above, I place myself about where the "Original Liberal" star. That would be what our founding documents would have been called at the time. With words changing meaning, the word liberal came to mean someone who believes in big government. Many of today's conservatives (like me, for whom social issues are not a high priority) are conservative in that they wish to conserve and retake the freedom and protections guaranteed in the Constitution.

It's a never-ending battle.

Think Barack Obama wants to Improve Education for the Poor? Think Again.

He simply wants to pay back the teachers unions. So much for taking the best ideas, regardless of party.

Barack Obama has never done a damn thing for vouchers to allow the poor to have some choice in their education, even though there is no added expense associated with doing so.

As the lady in the video, an Obama voter asked: "Why sir? Why?"

Around the Conservative Web - Weekend of May 3

If you're like me, you take the weekend off when it comes to politics whenever you can, and focus on more important things, like the NBA playoffs. But now it's Monday and it's time to catch up on what you've missed. The following posts, among the best of the conservative web this weekend, will do the job.

Common Sense Political Thought: Insane Liberal of the Week

Hot Air: Obama uses WH press corps as threat against Chrysler investors

Minority Report: "Yes We Can" Replaces "New And Improved" To Sell Same Old Product

Pajamas TV: John Stewart is a Freaking Moron - Truth on Japan and WWII

Right Wing News: The Right Needs to Play as Dirty as the Left

Certainly Keith Olbermann's personal life is just as newsworthy as Joe the Plumber's and the details of Maureen Dowd's life are just as noteworthy as those of Bristol Palin -- are they not?

PoliPundit: China Cancels America's Credit Card

Pundit & Pundette: Offend a Feminist Week

Right of Course: Feminists Speak out on Breast Implants

Right on the Right: Ann Coulter Destroys Joy Behar on Waterboarding

COULTER: Do you want to be aborted, because I think you support abortion?

In fact, could we abort the terrorists instead of waterboarding them?

Sister Toldjah: Video: Rep. Schakowsky (D-IL) exposes liberal motivations behind healthcare “reform”

Patriot Room: Video: Apache Destroys 4 Insurgents

Wizbang: Weekly Caption Contest Winners

"The key is to hit both of Biden's buttocks at the same time..."

Wyblog: The Republican Party is Seriously F'd Up 

Liberals like to attack conservatives by pointing to Bush and saying "his policies didn't work" so our conservative principles are flawed. That's total rubbish. Bush's policies had little or nothing to do with conservatism.

That will do it for this week.