Archive for the 'National Politics' Category

The weekend has come, and so has the dreary weather, at least in my part of the world, known as central Maryland. But there’s a bright side, in that I won’t have to shovel anything. In other parts of the world, here’s a bit of what’s been going on:

The University of Alabama in Huntsville has fired professor Amy Bishop, accused of shooting 6 colleagues, killing 3 of them.

From the “stoopid criminals” department: Oregon Ducks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has been suspended for the upcoming 2010 football season, after pleading guilty to a burglary charge. What did he steal? Two laptop computers and a guitar.

The Ninth Circuit has ruled that “God” in the Pledge of Allegiance is constitutional.

The National Review interviews pro-life Democrat Bart Stupak. For politicians with views similar to Stupak’s, 2SecondsFaster asks, “What should pro-life Democrats do?”

Members of the Thomas More Society react to the Illinios Attorney General’s claim that state’s constitution contains the right to an abortion.

Some say that defending the enemy is a time-honored tradition, sometimes invoking John Adams’ defense of the British soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre. A Wall Street Journal editorial begs to differ.

The Weekly Standard celebrates hope and change – in Iraq.

The New England Journal of Medicine reports a survey indicating that Obamacare could result in a decrease in the number of physicians. (H/T Hugh Hewitt)

SayAnythingBlog warns of a double-dip recession.

On the other hand theSpec reports that the world-wide freight recession could be ending.

The Empire State brings forth the nanny state. The New York legislature is considering a bill that would forbid restaurants from using salt in cooking.

And finally, a young protestor gives her opinion of President Obama’s fiscal policies.
Read the rest of this entry »

This video combines pictures from last year’s 9/12 Tea Party in Washington, DC with Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It, which has become somewhat of an anthem for the Tea Party movement. I was there, but do not show up in any of the pics. Created by the YouTube user Normn8or, and brought to you via Political Pistachio. (Hmmm, I wonder what lead singer Dee Snider thinks of this.)

Yesterday, President Obama and leaders of both parties had a “health care summit”. Reaction from the right includes the following: According to ARRA, the GOP had a good day at the summit. Jonah Goldberg at National Review pretty much agrees, but also says that the summit was incredibly boring. My Auburn instead focuses on Obama, claiming that for him it was a failure.

From CNS News, Obama’s four appointees to the “Debt Panel” include Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union.

According to Hugh Hewitt, Democrats say that Obama’s problem is gridlock, not his policies.

From Okie Campaigns, a board member of CAIR has been deported for supporting Hamas.

From Gateway Pundit, Van Jones isn’t just a truther and a communist, but was also a supporter of Saddam Hussein.

From CNN, a magnitude 7 earthquake has struck east of Okinawa.

From Infinite Unknown, New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg thinks that the U.S. will undergo an economic meltdown in 5 to 7 years.

Speaking of economic meltdowns, billionaire financier Jim Rogers predicts that the British Pound will collapse.

Some Brits are taking a cue from us Yanks, and have launched a Tea Party movement.

Meanwhile, HotAir reports that back on our side of the pond, lefties who disagree with the Tea Party have launched the Coffee Party.

i dunno, I am impressed. Glenn doesn’t always come across the right way in his delivery, but this impassioned speech was pretty darn good IMHO….

Another weekend come and soon to be gone. This one featured about 4 inches of powdery white stuff, a small amount by this winter’s standards. Here in Maryland, every few years or so, we seem to get what I call “Winter in December”, where December is cold and snowy, but January and February are milder. This past December certainly fit the bill, but there’s been very little let-up in January, with a long spell of below-freezing temperatures early in the month, and a snow storm to close it out. It looks like this will be a real winter, from start to finish. Just stay in your hole, Punxatawney Phil. Looking for your shadow doesn’t seem to be worth the effort this year. Meanwhile, here’s a bit of what’s been going on:

Ice Age Now reports how NASA and NOAA have been “cooking the data” on global warming, er, climate change. Such climate monitoring is now what the Obama administration wants from NASA, instead of going back to the moon.

The Washington, DC Metro had a horrible year in 2009, as 24 people were killed in the system.

From Atlas Shrugs via Newsbusters: Eleventh graders at an Ohio high school get a chance to earn school credit by becoming interns for Organizing for America. Suggested readings include Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.

According to Michael Medved, trying to emulate Truman will not work for Obama.

Want to take a ride on a military airplane, at taxpayer expense? It helps if you’re related to Nancy Pelosi.

Obama bows again! Not to a king or emperor, but to an American mayor. (H/T Snooper Report)

From Gateway Pundit: Illinois gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski, whom Duncan noted a few posts ago, has surged to within two points of the lead among Republicans vying for their party’s nomination. (Rock-n-roll trivia: Name the female vocalist whose maiden name is Andrzejewski.)

According to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, the Obama administration is determined to have Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terrorists tried in New York.

Oh the other hand, Bill Burck and Dana Perino, writing in National Review, claim that KSM and four others will instead be tried by military commission.

The Egyptian government has announced plans to reveal the results of DNA tests from the Pharoah Tutankhamun. I wonder if “King Tut” was anything like Steve Martin’s portrayal.

“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” – Thomas Jefferson

That’s right. After much reading, studying, thought, deliberation and careful consideration, I have decided that it is time for me to become more active in politics. No. I’m not ready to run for office, nor do I consider myself to the consummate politician, as I speak my mind too much and I don’t have enough pragmatic bones in my body.

However, I believe that I can help be part of a movement to retake this country from the progressives, of both major political parties, as they try to institute even more nanny state controls and continue to put the final nails in the coffin of our Constitutional system of government.

Just as our Founders believed that government closet to the people would be the most accountable to the people, we must start taking back our local governments and start breaking our fellow citizens of the “What can government do for me” mentality that has come to dominate our politics.

Just as the quote attributed to Andrew Tytler says: Read the rest of this entry »

Former Marine Ilario Pantano is BACK! This time not as a Marine, but as a candidate for US Congress. Pantano was accused of killing Iraqi’s but was acquitted. He was doing his job. And now he’s going to seek a new job.

A former stock broker, New Hanover County Sheriff’s Deputy and Marine is trying his hand at a new profession. Ilario Pantano wants the Republican nomination for the 7th Congressional District.

Pantano served in three wars, and in 2004 shot two men in Iraq. He was accused of murder, but all charges against him were dropped a year later.

This is Pantano’s first run for public office. He says his experiences tested his character, and make him an ideal candidate.

Good Luck Mr. Pantano!

Side by side comparisons of Bush’s State of the Union, and President Obama’s 2010 SOTU address.

There is something familiar.

Oh. I know. Its empty platitude filled rhetoric from politicians.

Gotcha.

Hat-tip to the Insta-dude...

So very witty and… well… true. Keynes is universally celebrated, why Hayek is not as well known… or accepted.

I do love the “party at the Fed” as portrayed. Keynes all hungover… heh…

Unless you’ve been under a rock, and you follow politics, then you are aware of the dust up surrounding the recent U.S. Supreme Court CITIZENS UNITED, APPELLANT v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION decision. It comes complete with President Obama chastising the Justices during his State of the Union, and Justice Alito’s equally firm “Not True”.

Anyways, its causing a big stink on the left right now, pretty much being pushed as an example of what happens when you get a conservative majority on the court and why its important to get the true judicial activists back in charge.

But what caught my eye the most in the dissent, written by Justice Stevens, was this bit of “logic”…

“If taken seriously, our colleagues’ assumption that the identity of a speaker has no relevance to the Government’s ability to regulate political speech would lead to some remarkable conclusions. Such an assumption would have accorded the propaganda broadcasts to our troops by “Tokyo Rose” during World War II the same protection as speech by Allied commanders. More pertinently, it would appear to afford the same protection to multinational corporations controlled by foreigners as to individual Americans: To do otherwise, after all, could ” ‘enhance the relative voice’ ” of some ( i.e., humans) over others ( i.e. , nonhumans). Ante, at 33 (quoting Buckley, 424 U. S., at 49). Under the majority’s view, I suppose it may be a First Amendment problem that corporations are not permitted to vote, given that voting is, among other things, a form of speech.”

Really? If logic has ever been tortured, it has been now, and therefore I must assume that Justice Stevens supports torture. Or something.

Still, its an interesting argument… on the surface anyways. Dig a little deeper and it is not so analogous.

Tokyo Rose was providing aid to the enemy during a time of war, easily an act of treason by trying to sabotage the war effort by attempting to demoralize soldiers and sailors. While I understand that the counter-argument is that now “foreign” companies can give money to campaigns after the ruling (ChinaGate being a better example), the particular act of Tokyo Rose is more of a non-sequitur in this instance…

I wonder if Justice Stevens is aware that Article 88 of the UCMJ would prevent the general officers in his example from saying anything contemptuous concerning the President, the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense, or the Governor of Texas, just to name a few. (Link to Article 88 of the UCMJ here: CLICK!), even contemptuous political speech. Free speech is not exactly “free” in the military. While I know that it isn’t readily enforced (as I’ve heard many times military members disparage Clinton, Bush and Obama during a heated political debate in the office and no one thinks to turn anyone in), it has been before when such speech was made public and by high profile individuals… such as generals..

Another problem I find with his argument is that of “voting” as a matter of “speech”. Why would we need the 15th and 19th amendments if people, regardless of the race or sex, have the freedom of speech, through voting, in the 1st!

Now, I know I’m not an expert in constitutional jurisprudence, nor do I claim to be an expert in platonic logic. However, I have read a book once or twice (Run Dick Run and a Star Wars : A Phantom Menace [LARGE PRINT EDITION} if you must know) in my life, and the Justice’s argument has a hole in the side of it caused by quite a massive iceberg methinks.