Tuesday, March 31, 2009

A Blog to Follow - Redstate.com

A Very Interesting Blog that I think you should subscribe to! I'll be pointing this blog out to you frequently for you to subscribe to, get RSS feeds from and follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/Redstate

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Morning Briefing for March 31, 2009
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)
Tuesday, March 31st

MARCH 31, 2009

Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

1. Lipstick on a Pig
And of course, another opportunity to take stern photographs of our Dear Leader.

2. For Dems, Sarah Palin is their next Rush Limbaugh
Time will tell. If the strategy fails, Mr. Carville may find a much smaller market for his services.

3. The UAW & ‘Shared Sacrifice’
Why is the UAW Hiding Details About its Deal With General Motors?

4. Progressivism - Socialism’s Little Brother
The TARP is a great case study in how government solutions actually exacerbate the problem and are further evidence that big government is a problem that should be the subject of reform — not capitalism.
Read More →

*Bumped* Tea Party Movie!!! - Johnny Tremain



Since there are a lot of Tea Party events going on http://brianleesblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/nationwide-tea-parties.html, in this era of AIG & GM Bailouts,


such as mailing Tea Bags on April 1 and April 15, I wanted to let you know about this movie that might get you in the spirit of things.






Looking for a way to make the American Revolution come alive ? Based on Esther Forbes's book of the same name, Johnny Tremain takes place in Boston from July 1773 through April 1775, and tells the story of a young apprentice silversmith drawn into a fight for human rights. When an accident cripples Johnny Tremain's hand and ends his hopes of becoming a great silversmith, Tremain finds himself without work and accused of a crime he did not commit. Sons of Liberty members Paul Revere and Josiah Quincy are outraged by the circumstantial case against Tremain, agree to represent him free of charge, and win his acquittal in court. Through association with his new friends, Tremain begins to better understand the current political climate, and eventually joins them in the battle for freedom. Tremain's involvement in the emptying of British tea into Boston Harbor, the arrival of the Redcoats in Boston, and the beginnings of the American Revolution at Concord is powerful and moving. The costuming is splendid, the music patriotic, and the dialogue well crafted.


The film stars Hal Stalmaster as Johnny Tremain, costars Luana Patten and Jeff York, and runs 80 minutes. This classic Disney film is wonderful entertainment and a fairly faithful representation of a crucial period in American history. (Ages 8 and older)


Return to the days that sparked the American Revolution, now on Disney DVD for the first time! Meet young Johnny Tremain, a silversmith's apprentice with dreams of learning the trade and making his own way. When a terrible injury ends his hopes, he joins the emerging Sons Of Liberty. The Redcoats are coming as you journey back to the Boston Tea Party, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and Lexington Green, where tyranny was vanquished by an idea -- freedom for all! Based on the classic novel by Esther Forbes, you won't want to miss one historic moment of Disney's classic adventure and liberty's rising light.

*Bumped* Review of the book "Liberal Fascism"


This is a book that came out last year that is really worth the read that you can get from your library or bookstore especially in this age of AIG and GM and government influence in business!!


A review from http://www.newsbusters.org/ is below.



Along with racist, the word fascist is one of the most common epithets you hear tossed around. Has the constant repetition of the word made it lose its meaning? Does anyone really know what it means? These are questions that Jonah Goldberg seeks to answer in his #1 best-selling book "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning."If you haven't picked up a copy yet, this is one book you need to buy.As part of our tradition of bringing you in-depth interviews with America's political leaders, I took the opportuntity to speak by phone with Goldberg about "Liberal Fascism." Our conversation is quite extensive but well worth the read. Given the length of the interview (which is available in audio format as well as transcript), I've broken it down into two portions: the first in which Goldberg discusses his many leftist critics including his confrontation with comedian Jon Stewart, and the second in which Goldberg discusses conservatism and where he believes it's headed. This is the first installment. Read the transcript below or download an audio copy.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Londonistan: How Britain Is Creating a Terror State Within


A Big Hat tip to http://www.wnponline.org/ on a recommended book to read as events unfold this week in London.


You can get this book at your library here http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/64595883&referer=brief_results





A Page on the World: Londonistan: How Britain Is Creating a Terror State Within


Melanie Phillips shows that Britain has become a gathering ground for Islamist terror groups, while the British establishment is in denial (2006, ISBN 1594031444).


Reviewed by John Ross Schroeder

I would like to begin with the credentials of the author. Melanie Phillips is the leading political and current affairs columnist for the Daily Mail. Her insightful, common-sense assessments of modern political life in Britain are hard to equal in the world of British journalism because they are generally based upon the backdrop of the traditional values that built the United Kingdom.

Her latest book, Londonistan, points out that Britain has become the leading European gathering ground for recruitment and financing of Islamist terror groups. The sheer scale of these activities has earned the area the label "Londonistan" by antiterrorist specialists elsewhere in the world.

Mrs. Phillips addresses the overall problem from a number of different angles. For instance, she shows that radical Islamic demands are being appeased by multiculturalism and by a so-called replacement theology put forward by certain Christian theologians who seriously question the necessity for the state of Israel (Mrs. Phillips is Jewish).

Franklin Littell calls this replacement theology Christian anti-Semitism that "rings with the genocidal note. This is the myth that the mission of the Jewish people was finished with the coming of Jesus Christ, that 'the old Israel' was written off with the appearance of 'the new Israel.' To teach that a people's mission in God's providence is finished, that they have been relegated to the limbo of history, has murderous implications, which the murderers will in time spell out" (The Crucifixion of the Jews, 1996).

The gravity of the problem

Although she allows that the majority of the Muslim community in Britain is law-abiding, Melanie Phillips does insist that "the evidence suggests that the numbers who do support either the aims or the tactics of the jihad are terrifying. According to British officials, up to sixteen thousand British Muslims either are actively engaged in or support terrorist activity, while up to three thousand are estimated to have passed through Al Qaeda training camps, with several hundred thought to be primed to attack the United Kingdom" (p. 9).

But why would Britain allow such reprehensible activities within its borders? Mrs. Phillips states the obvious when she notes that Britain is a country "where traditional morality has been systematically undermined and replaced by an 'anything goes' culture in which autonomous decisions about codes of behaviour have become unchallengeable rights" (p. 25).

This reminds one of the descriptions of ancient Israel in the days of the judges when "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6; 21:25).

The author also takes pains to point out that the threat is not just from a few radical extremists who might rarely succeed like they did when suicide bombers wreaked havoc on the London Underground with the loss of many lives. She believes that the British establishment is in denial about how widespread the threat really is.

Too many erroneously pin the blame on the United States, Israel and even on Britain itself instead of the guilty culprit, which she identifies as radical Islamic ideology.

Melanie Phillips concludes that "the West is under threat from an enemy that has shrewdly observed the decadence and disarray in Europe where Western civilization first began" (p. 285). Those weaknesses are now being exploited on many fronts by those determined to bring down Western civilization as we know it and replace it with a worldwide "umma"—a global community of Islamic believers in submission to Allah.

She further points out that Britain has been the cradle of Western liberty, but urgently needs to squarely face this growing problem and counter it with policies based on "absolute consistency and moral integrity, which arise from the strength of belief in the values that are being defended" (p. 273).

This book review highlights a few crucial points, but cannot really do justice to the massive evidence proffered within its pages that identifies the causes of this disturbing trend threatening Britain's—and Western civilization's—stability and way of life.

The recent deadly train bombings in India, plus a fresh outbreak of violence by terrorist groups against Israel (involving Gaza and Lebanon) that prompted a response unprecedented in recent times, underscore the importance of her warnings and the peril our Western democracies face. WNP http://www.wnponline.org/wnp/wnp0608/pageworld0608.htm



Hezbollah using Mexican drug routes to enter U.S.

A Big Hat tip to www.jihadwatch.org about Cartels and Terrorists!!

Hizballah using Mexican drug routes to enter U.S.
The Taliban makes much of its money through drugs, and Hizballah "has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in South America's tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil." This is not inconsistent with their self-image as pious Muslims since the one using the drugs is the dirty kuffar.

"EXCLUSIVE: Hezbollah uses Mexican drug routes into U.S.," by Sara A. Carter in the Washington Times, March 27 (thanks to Kim):

Hezbollah is using the same southern narcotics routes that Mexican drug kingpins do to smuggle drugs and people into the United States, reaping money to finance its operations and threatening U.S. national security, current and former U.S. law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism officials say.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in South America's tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Increasingly, however, it is relying on Mexican narcotics syndicates that control access to transit routes into the U.S.

Hezbollah relies on "the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers and transportation experts as the drug cartels," said Michael Braun, who just retired as assistant administrator and chief of operations at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

"They work together," said Mr. Braun. "They rely on the same shadow facilitators. One way or another, they are all connected.
"They'll leverage those relationships to their benefit, to smuggle contraband and humans into the U.S.; in fact, they already are [smuggling]."

His comments were confirmed by six U.S. officials, including law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism specialists. They spoke on the condition that they not be named because of the sensitivity of the topic.

While Hezbollah appears to view the U.S. primarily as a source of cash - and there have been no confirmed Hezbollah attacks within the U.S. - the group's growing ties with Mexican drug cartels are particularly worrisome at a time when a war against and among Mexican narco-traffickers has killed 7,000 people in the past year and is destabilizing Mexico along the U.S. border....

*Bumped* Tea Party Movie!!! - Johnny Tremain


Since there are a lot of Tea Party events going on http://brianleesblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/nationwide-tea-parties.html,

such as mailing Tea Bags on April 1 and April 15, I wanted to let you know about this movie that might get you in the spirit of things. You can get it from

your library here http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/37543183&referer=brief_results

or from amazon here http://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Tremain-Hal-Stalmaster/dp/B00005JM6F/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1237236634&sr=8-3

Looking for a way to make the American Revolution come alive ? Based on Esther Forbes's book of the same name, Johnny Tremain takes place in Boston from July 1773 through April 1775, and tells the story of a young apprentice silversmith drawn into a fight for human rights. When an accident cripples Johnny Tremain's hand and ends his hopes of becoming a great silversmith, Tremain finds himself without work and accused of a crime he did not commit. Sons of Liberty members Paul Revere and Josiah Quincy are outraged by the circumstantial case against Tremain, agree to represent him free of charge, and win his acquittal in court. Through association with his new friends, Tremain begins to better understand the current political climate, and eventually joins them in the battle for freedom. Tremain's involvement in the emptying of British tea into Boston Harbor, the arrival of the Redcoats in Boston, and the beginnings of the American Revolution at Concord is powerful and moving. The costuming is splendid, the music patriotic, and the dialogue well crafted.

The film stars Hal Stalmaster as Johnny Tremain, costars Luana Patten and Jeff York, and runs 80 minutes. This classic Disney film is wonderful entertainment and a fairly faithful representation of a crucial period in American history. (Ages 8 and older)

Return to the days that sparked the American Revolution, now on Disney DVD for the first time! Meet young Johnny Tremain, a silversmith's apprentice with dreams of learning the trade and making his own way. When a terrible injury ends his hopes, he joins the emerging Sons Of Liberty. The Redcoats are coming as you journey back to the Boston Tea Party, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and Lexington Green, where tyranny was vanquished by an idea -- freedom for all! Based on the classic novel by Esther Forbes, you won't want to miss one historic moment of Disney's classic adventure and liberty's rising light.

A Blog to Follow - Redstate.com

A Very Interesting Blog that I think you should subscribe to! I'll be pointing this blog out to you frequently for you to subscribe to, get RSS feeds from and follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/Redstate

Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

Morning Briefing for March 30, 2009
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)
Monday, March 30th


Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

Weekly Political Update is accessible here.

1. The White House Lays An Easter Egg. Shuts Poor Families Out of Easter Egg Roll
Obama Administration rejects 100 years of tradition in favor of denying the poor a fair chance of getting into the Easter Egg Roll

2. Obama Surrenders on Middle Class ‘Tax Cut?’
His Budget Director Says Tax Increases May be Necessary

3. This May Be Crumbling Faster Than We Expected….
The ultimate limit on these “spending plans” is the viability of the debt auctions….

4. Mike Pence: Real Republican Principles are the Path to Economic Recovery
Let the debate begin.


5. Statism cloaked as “National Service”
A Snapshot of Republican Failure

6. Fannie Mae Hack is Army’s New Top Lawyer
Why is the White House Hiding His FNMA Experience?
Read More →

Friday, March 27, 2009

$700 Million to Mexico? or $1.4 Billion?

A very interesting take from http://www.badeagle.com/ about your tax dollars. You Tea Party people (http://www.reteaparty.com/, http://www.taxdayteaparty.com/ ) should really appreciate this!!

$700 Million to Mexico?
Last year Congress sent $465 million to Mexico. This year Congress will send $700 million. It’s all part of the three-year Merida Initiative, implimented under the Bush administration–for the price of $1.4 billion.
Since the globalists, Communist or Capitalist, are determined to permanently link America with the Third World, we must make an effort to not let the criminal element prevail. Something like that. Since we’re selling America to the Third World, piece by piece, we want only their most trusted buyers and investors. Right?
This is all about anti-nationhood. This is globalism. One world, one green world, for all. It is multiculturalism, multi-theologism, and multi-economics.And multi-mess-ism. All it means is that America loses. America is not the greatest anymore.

America is not No. 1. ‘America is fallen, is fallen,’ as it were. That’s the game now. The dividing of powers, the hand-outs, the grabs, the tyrannies. It’s a rush to power. The scavangers of the world come to feed on the dying America. Washington is kindly handing out the bones of the country.Indeed, Washington, DC is the enemy of the United States. Our own government has profoundly betrayed us. Washington is destroying the country. The people seem helpless, duped, and forever lost. The Communist public education system has done its work. The lemmings of the nation rush to their own destruction.
But, just for the moral exercise, let’s state what should happen, what patriots would like to see happen. (But, are we willing to make it happen?)America should become wholly isolated, and impregnable. America should demand immediately the repayment of every debt the world owes us. America should not spend one more nickle on any nation. This is all over with. This is done. This idiotic debt-exchange in the world benefits only those nations that are unproductive, dependent, and arrogant about it. The Chinese don’t need hand outs. They’ve already been given everything they could want. America made China. China was “made in America.”

America owes nothing to anyone. America saved the world, twice. The world owes America everything. America has been holding up the world since WWII.Alas, the world will devour America. The more you do for someone, the less he appreciates it. America is more than un-appreciated. America is despised. And our satanic leaders delight in feeding that hatred. They will not stop until America is owned by the world. That is their goal. They themselves despise America–because they love power for themselves, alone. Nothing is greater, or more valuable to them, than their own power. They are America, in their demented, satanic minds. They personally benefit from the sale.
I say don’t send a nickle to Mexico. Just shoot any criminal that dares cross our border. Of course, as long as we have traitors among us, who take advantage of slave labor in the name of their own capitalism and personal success, we’ll never have control over America. We have to shoot the traitors first. Mexicans are here because enough American traitors want them here that the borders are open.
This is war. Indeed. But America will never fight it. It’s more like a bleeding, to death. Bush had a wonderful vision for the Middle East, but he was blind to America’s immediate needs, and indeed contributed to them. It was a good thing, to take the war to Iraq, so the Muslims murderers would be contained there. But the Mexican murderers were all the time entering through our back door.So, who will organize the patriots? Who will command the army of the American people? Who will resist Washington, and remove the pustule from the face of the earth? Who will save America? How will it come about?No, it’s not too late. But, people, we need to get our act together, pronto! We will see foreign armies in out streets, soon. United Nations troops, they’re called. We are on the fast lane to tyranny. We have to do more than simply own guns. We need organization, local, state, and national.We honor the founding fathers in this effort. We honor America.
http://www.badeagle.com/

Atlas Shrugged - Why it matters


An interesting article from http://www.bighollywood.com/


by Mike Baron
When I mentioned to friends I was reading Atlas Shrugged their response was uniform: “Oh that. I read it in college but now I have moved on to adult subjects.” These were liberal friends, you understand, and I couldn’t help but wonder why they would want to discourage me from reading a literary classic that is selling better now than at any time in its history. In fact, it has recently moved up to become Amazon’s 37th best-selling novel. Last week it was 44. By the time you read this it will have moved higher.

The reason becomes immediately apparent upon reading. It might have been written yesterday. Rand’s description of a socialist state taken over by “looters,” people who cannot create or produce but who seize power under the rubric of “fairness” is so spot-on accurate of today’s administration it’s scary. At over one thousand pages long, Atlas Shrugged is not a weekend read and made me question whether my fun-loving liberal friends actually read it, or read the Cliff’s Notes version which is also selling at unprecedented levels.

In a fictional United States, three giants of industry struggle with a government of venal bureaucrats, “looters,” Rand calls them, that closely resemble our present administration. The three industrialists are Dagny Taggart, Vice President in Charge of Operations for mighty Taggart Transcontinental, steelmaker Henry Rearden whose Rearden Miracle Metal puts steel to shame, and the Chilean play boy Francisco D’Anconia who inherited the world’s richest copper mines and proceeds to turn them into dust, shocking all who know him and invested in his supposedly rock-solid enterprise.
The reasons D’Anconia liquidates his empire in secret become increasing clear as the new administration strips away individual rights.
These are larger-than-life characters acting out their passion on an international stage. Has there ever been a more dynamic woman literary character than Dagny? There’s a reason Angelina Jolie is eager to play her in the upcoming film. (This will only intensify rumblings that our Most Holy of Hollywood Couples are secret libertarians.)
Dagny meets her match in Henry Rearden whose measure of a man’s worth is what he can produce. When Rearden’s miracle metal puts other steel companies in danger, they band together, start buying off politicians and go to Washington. Rearden is a man of utter rectitude whose word is gold. He hates incompetence more than anything. His men love him and willingly give their all because they know he values their contribution and will reward them accordingly.
It’s an enormous story with an enormous backdrop revealing Rand’s vast knowledge of steel-making and railroads. She slips her objectivist philosophy into the narrative seamlessly by showing — by talking, not so much. Characters make speeches that go on for days, most notably, D’Anconia’s passionate defense of money, any paragraph of which would have served as a synecdoche for the whole thing, and John Galt’s “I Am John Galt” speech which is 20,000 words and literally takes three hours to deliver.
Ayn Rand
Rand anticipated the situation in which we now find ourselves.
Dagny holds a press conference to announce she’s leaving Taggart Transcontinental to build a spur railroad called the John Galt Line:
The reporters who came to the press conference in the office of the John Galt Line were young men who had been trained to think that their job consisted of concealing from the world the nature of its events. It was their daily duty to serve as audience for some public figure who made utterances about the public good, in phrases carefully chosen to convey no meaning… They could not understand the interview now being given to them.
The government comes to see Dagny’s feckless brother Jim, President of Taggart Transcontinental to complain that TT’s superior rails and service are endangering the other railroads.

“Well consider the unions’ side of it,” whines one of Atlas’ interchangeable politicians. “Maybe you can’t afford to give them a raise, but how can they afford to exist when the cost of living has shot sky-high? They’ve got to eat, don’t they? That comes first, railroad or no railroad.’ Mr. Weatherby’s tone had a kind of placid righteousness, as if he were reciting a formula required to convey another meaning, clear to all of them…
“And then consider the public. The rates you’re charging were established at a time when everybody was making money. But the way things are now, the cost of transportation has become a burden nobody can afford. People are screaming about it all over the country.”

So the government forces TT to increase wages to the unions while lowering rates to the customers “in the public interest.”
The delightfully named Stanley Mouch (”Mooch”) serves as First Secretary to the mysterious Mr. Thompson, the head of state.
Mouch had summoned them all to Washington, as his friends and personal advisers, for a private, unofficial conference on the national crisis. But watching him, they were unable to decide whether his manner was overbearing or whining, whether he was threatening them or pleading for their help.
“Fact is,” said Mr. Weatherby primly, in a statistical tone of voice, “that in the twelve month period ending on the first of this year, the rate of business failures has doubled as compared with the preceding twelve month period. Since the first of this year, it has trebled.”
“Be sure they think it’s their own fault,” said Dr. Ferris casually.
“Huh?” said Wesley Mouch, his eyes darting to Ferris.
“Whatever you do, don’t apologize,” said Dr. Ferris. “Make them feel guilty.”
“But it is their own fault,” said Eugene Lawson, turning aggressively to Dr. Ferris. “It’s their lack of social spirit. They refuse to recognize that production is not a private choice, but a public duty. They have no right to fail, no matter what conditions happen to come up. They’ve got to go on producing. It’s a social imperative… There’s no such thing as a persona matter-or a personal life. That’s what we’ve got to force them to learn.”
“Well, if you want to talk practice,” said Fred Kinnan, “then let me tell you that we can’t worry about businessmen at a time like this. What we’ve got to think about is jobs… If you want my advice-ohm, I know you won’t go for it, but it’s just a thought-issue a directive making it compulsory to add, say, one-third more men to every payroll in the country.”

Can’t you just see Rahm Emanuel, Paul Begala, Obama, Pelosi and Axelrod saying these things?
Speaking of Pelosi:
Last week I almost quit. It was over Chick’s Special. Mr. Chick Morrison of Washington, whoever the hell he is, has gone on a speaking tour of the whole country-to speak about the directive to build up peoples’ morale… He demanded a special train for himself and party-a sleeper, a parlor car and a diner with barroom and lounge. The Unification Board gave him permission to travel at a hundred miles an hour-by reason, the ruling said, of this being a non-profit journey. Well so it is. It’s just a journey to talk people into continuing to break their backs at making profits in order to support men who are superior by reason of not making any.

So who is John Galt? He’s one of three pupils of the great moral philosopher Hugh Akston. The other two are D’Anconia and the pirate Ragnar Danneskjold. Galt is the inventor of a new energy source that would revolutionize civilization. But rather than turn it over to the government, he walks away. It is Galt who vows to stop the motor of the world. And he does.
Ragnar is Robin Hood in reverse. “Until men learn that of all human symbols, Robin Hood is the most immoral and the most contemptible, there will be no justice on earth and no way for mankind to survive.” Robin Hood, you see, stole from men who knew how to create wealth and gave it to people who didn’t.
Ragnar tells Rearden:
I cannot compute all the money that has been extorted from you-in hidden taxes, in regulations, in wasted time, in lost effort, in energy spent to overcome artificial obstacles. I cannot compute the sum, but if you wish to see its magnitude-look around you. The extent of the misery now spreading through this once prosperous country is the extent of the injustice which you have suffered.
Dagny picks up a hobo who used to be a factory worker. He tells her what happened:
We voted for that plan at a big meeting, with all of us present, six thousand of us, everybody that worked in the factory. The Starnes heirs made long speeches about it, and it wasn’t too clear, but nobody asked any questions. None of us knew just how the plan would work, but every one of us thought that the next fellow knew it-and because they made it sound like anyone who’d oppose the plan was a child-killer at heart and less than a human being.
The government under Stanley Mouch draws up a bill called Directive 10-289 which, “in the name of the general welfare,” forbids anyone to quit their jobs under penalty of prison terms. All business must remain in operation. If the owners try to retire, the industry will be nationalized.
All patents and copyrights, pertaining to any devices, inventions, formulas, processes and works of any nature whatsoever, shall be turned over to the nation as a patriotic emergency gift by means of Gift Certificates to be signed voluntarily by the owners of all such patents and copyrights.
The government sends polite goons around to collect the certificates. The directive also forbids any new inventions. But the National Science Institute does manage to come up with an original idea of its own: a sonic ray that turns flesh to mush.

The government nationalizes health care:
I quit when medicine was placed under State control, some years ago,” said Dr. Hendricks. “Do you know what it takes to perform a brain operation? Do you know the kinds of skill it demands, and the years of passionate, merciless, excruciating devotion that go to acquire that skill? That was what I would not place at the disposal of men whose sole qualification to rule me was their capacity to spout the fraudulent generalities that got them elected to the privilege of enforcing their wishes at the point of a gun.
I could go on. Rand certainly does. This book might have profited by some serious editing. This was her last work of fiction before devoting herself entirely to laying out her philosophy of objectivism, which holds that there are absolute truths and objective means of measuring them. The very word “objectivist” is anathema to liberals who deal in endless “sophisticated” variations of gray.
The solution Rand offers is for the men and women of industry and business to simply withdraw their skills and energies from the market rather than place them in the service of an evil socialist state. In “Atlas Shrugged” they go to a secret valley in the mountains. In real life, millions of Americans are reevaluating their efforts in light of the Obama administration’s punitive and senseless tax and spend policy. It is a viable option and one which every right-minded American must consider. And by right-minded, I mean Americans who understand the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to whom the pursuit of happiness is holy but the guarantee of happiness is a cruel joke perpetrated by the present gang of looters in the White House and Congress who couldn’t make a buck if their lives depended on it.

A Blog to Follow - Redstate.com

A Very Interesting Blog that I think you should subscribe to! I'll be pointing this blog out to you frequently for you to subscribe to, get RSS feeds from and follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/Redstate

Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

Morning Briefing for March 27, 2009
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

MARCH 27, 2009
Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.
1. Throwing Down the Gauntlet: House GOP Accepts Obama’s Empty Offer to Debate Budget Proposal
Boehner, Ryan, GOP Answer the Challenge from President “I Won” to Provide Alternatives to Spendtaculous Maximus

2. Obama’s Auto Task Force Decided to Bail Out GM & Chrysler Before they Started Work
What’s a Hundred Billion More of Your Money?

3. Really, Mr. Secretary? Which is it?
Is it too much to ask that your position remain unchanged over a 24 hour period?

4. Keith Olbermann Is A Twitt
And Don’t Get Me Started On Howard Dean

5. Obama Reaches out to Media… But Only Lefty Ones
Obama excludes Washington Press Corps and silence is heard…
Read More →

Mexico and CNN Blame U.S. Guns for Drug Wars!

A follow up http://brianleesblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/700-million-to-mexico.html to Hillary's trip to Mexico where she blamed the U.S. for Mexico's Drug war and Mexico receiving $700 taxpayer dollars this year, the Mainstream Media continues their Blame America biase in the article below.

Violent Americans with their guns. CNN hit that note again and again, and emphasized U.S. responsibility for the violence.

International Correspondent Michael Ware on February 26: “But let's not forget, this whole war is fueled, first by America's demand for illicit drugs; and, secondly, it's being fought with American weapons that have been smuggled back over the border.”

John Roberts on Feb. 26 “You got a big complaint from the Mexican government is the traffic going the other way. That there's plenty of American money going down to Mexico, plenty of American weapons being bought by straw purchasers and border states are also being funneled south.”

Kiran Chetry on Feb. 27: “The U.S. is also a major source for powerful weapons being used by Mexican drug cartels. In fact, the ATF is estimating that 90 percent of weapons confiscated in Mexico are smuggled in from the U.S.”

Randi Kaye on Feb. 28: “And from what I understand, weapons purchased or stolen in the United States accounted for 95 percent of Mexico's drug-related deaths. Now this is a huge problem for both sides of the borders. Is anything being done about that?”

Don Lemon on March 7: “So, obviously, we know there's a problem. How much -- how much does America bear responsibility for their problem when it comes to drugs going here and possibly weapons being used in Mexico for this violence?”

Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve on March 11: “Is the U.S. doing enough to stop the violence and drugs from coming north to the U.S.?”

Michael Ware on March 14: “It's an insurgency that America is fueling with demand for drugs and with the guns with which that insurgency is being fought.”

On CNN, only Lou Dobbs has been consistently skeptical of the Mexican and Obama Administration’s claims.
CNN also left an important point out of all its reporting on the Mexican violence – a point that the NRA’s Cox clearly made in his testimony. Gun control doesn’t work to stop crime. Just look at places that have very strict gun regulation. Like … Mexico.

Read entire article here http://www.cultureandmediainstitute.org/articles/2009/20090318143344.aspx

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Contact the Blue Dogs!!

A big hat tip from www.redstate.com about the Blue Dog Democrats. Contact them http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml on this issue and remember these names for future issues. Remember, they are all up for election in 2010!!

We need to get on the phone ASAP
Posted by Erick Erickson

We need to get the Blue Dog Democrats to slow down budget approval in the House of Representatives. The vote in committee is tonight.

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
PICK UP THE PHONE.


CALL 202-224-3121.


Ask for one of these five Congressmen:

1. Alan Boyd of Florida
2. Bob Etheridge of North Carolina
3. Charlie Melancon of Louisiana
4. Chet Edwards of Texas
5. John Yarmuth of Kentucky


Tell them to vote no on the budget tonight. We can stop the budget if you will pick up your phone right now.

A Blog to Follow - Redstate.com

A Very Interesting Blog that I think you should subscribe to! I'll be pointing this blog out to you frequently for you to subscribe to, get RSS feeds from and follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/Redstate

Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

Morning Briefing for March 26, 2009
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

MARCH 26, 2009
Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.
1. Can we Dispense with the ‘President Obama Didn’t Use a TelePrompTer Last Night!’ Charade Already?
Barack Obama is no Ronald Reagan — but we’ve known that for a while now.

2. Promoting Statism in the Name of Service
Obama’s compulsory service legislation advances

3. Democrats’ Executive Pay Sham Continues
Government needs to get out of the bailout business once and for all.

4. The True Cost of Our Rising Deficit
In addition to burdening our children and grandchildren with the debts of our poor choices, we could potentially be worsening our already fragile economy.

5. Alexandria, Virginia Can’t Handle The Truth
Jim Moran Wanted To Bring Terrorists To His District. His Constitutents Are Not Thrilled.

6. Obama’s Organizing for America targets… Evan Bayh.
No, you’re not misremembering. Bayh’s a Democrat.

7. EU: Obama has U.S. on the road to hell
“This ain’t no upwardly mobile freeway”
Read More →

Obama's First Abortionist Judge!!

Since science does show that an embryo has its own genetic code, abortion is therefore murder! Here is what our president is doing to further this trend! (H/T http://www.townhall.com/)


Obama's First Judicial Nominee: Another Slap in the Face of Christian Conservatives
Mario Diaz
While President Obama continues to talk about unity and hope on his current “media tour,” with his actions he continues to divide, alienate, and disregard the millions of pro-life, pro-family Americans whom he is still supposed to serve.
The reversal of the Mexico City policy, expanding destructive embryonic stem cell research, the push to force doctors to perform abortions, and the numerous nominations of extremely radical nominees like David Ogden, Kathleen Sebelius and Dawn Johnsen, among many others, are just a few of the many actions where he has shown contempt for people of faith.
He continues to do so with his first judicial nomination: Judge David Hamilton to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. An examination of Judge Hamilton’s record as a U.S. District Court Judge should bring chills to all freedom-loving people in America.

Judge Hamilton was the infamous activist judge who in 2005 ordered the Speaker of the Indiana House to immediately stop the practice of “sectarian prayers” at the opening of the legislative session. Apparently the prayers were too Christian for Mr. Hamilton. “[T]hey should refrain from using Christ’s name or title,” he ordered.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, where he is to serve if President Obama has his way, eventually overturned his foolish decision.
Hamilton also issued a series of rulings over seven years that prevented the state of Indiana from enforcing its informed-consent law requiring abortionists to inform women about the risks of the abortion procedure. The law was identical to the Pennsylvania statute that the United States Supreme Court upheld in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. But Judge Hamilton seems to have little concern for the law or precedent, and in a classic case of judicial activism, struck down the law claiming it imposed an “undue burden” on a woman’s ability to obtain an abortion.
Again, his stubborn and dangerous ruling was reversed on appeal to the Seventh Circuit, where the court strongly criticized his decision, calling it an “abuse of discretion.”
Before any of these decisions as a district judge,

Hamilton served as a board member of the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and as a fundraiser for the liberal activist group ACORN.

He was later nominated by President Clinton to the district court and the American Bar Association (ABA) rated Hamilton as “not qualified” at that time.
But we all know what booting Jesus out of the public square and abusing your discretion to promote abortion will get you these days: a “well qualified” rating by the ABA and a promotion to a lifetime appointment on a federal court of appeals from President Obama.
I hope this latest slap wakes us up. Many conservatives were hoping President Obama would show some good faith by re-nominating some of President Bush’s nominees, as President Bush did with several Clinton nominees. Far from it.
No Senator in good conscience should vote for this nominee. Judge Hamilton has shown himself to be an activist judge all too willing to disregard the law to advance his ideology. To prevent such a judge from ever being confirmed is the very purpose of the “advice and consent” process.
Obama's First Judicial Nominee: Another Slap in the Face of Christian Conservatives

"Liberty and Tyranny" by Mark Levin - A Review




Mark of the True Conservative

By Terence P. Jeffrey
If you want to learn to recognize the mark of a true conservative, read Mark Levin’s new book, “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto.” Levin is the real thing—a longtime intellectual and activist leader of the conservative movement—who writes with unmatched authority and clarity about the conservative vision and how it ought to be pursued today by you and your children and anybody else you know who wants to preserve American liberty. Levin is now best known as the highly, deservedly popular host of a nationally syndicated radio showhttp://www.marklevinshow.com/. But long before he rose to prominence in broadcasting, Levin was an activist who supported Ronald Reagan for president, then served in the Reagan administration, eventually becoming chief of staff to Attorney General Ed Meese. Since leaving public office, Levin has led the Landmark Legal Foundation http://www.landmarklegal.org/ and written two bestsellers: “Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America” and “Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover’s Story of Joy and Anguish.” The latter is the story of how Levin and his family rescued an ailing dog from a shelter, and the deep attachment they formed with the dog during the brief life remaining to it. The former is simply the clearest explanation extant of how the Supreme Court has gone about unconstitutionally rewriting the Constitution itself. As different as their subject matters are, both these books demonstrated Levin’s ability to tell a powerful story in simple, straightforward, compelling language. Like his old boss, Levin is a great communicator. That skill is manifest again in “Liberty and Tyranny.” Like our Founding Fathers and like other first-rate conservative thinkers, Levin recognizes that America’s rise to greatness was not rooted in ideology but in a worldview defined by basic—and true—assumptions about the nature of the world and the nature of man. Fundamentally, Levin explains, conservatives recognize that there is an immutable natural law ordained by God that all men and nations must obey. He also makes clear that while human beings have a God-given right to individual liberty, they are also imperfect by nature and, thus, if given too much power, are likely to abuse the God-given rights of others. “Some resist the idea of a Natural Law’s relationship to Divine Providence, for fear it leads to intolerance or even theocracy,” writes Levin. “They have it backwards. If man is ‘endowed by (the) Creator with certain inalienable rights,’ he is endowed with these rights no matter his religion or whether he has allegiance to any religion. It is Natural Law, divined by God and discoverable by reason, that prescribes the inalienability of the most fundamental and eternal human rights—rights that are not conferred on man by man. It is the Divine nature of Natural Law that makes permanent man’s right to ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’” Levin deftly isolates why modern liberal class warriors—those of President Obama’s ilk—must reject this understanding of the world. “The Statist cannot abide the existence of Natural Law and man’s discovery of ‘inalienable rights’ bestowed on all individuals by ‘their Creator,’” writes Levin. “In ideology and practice, the Statist believes rights are not a condition of man’s existence but only exist to the extent the Statist ratifies them. Furthermore, rights do not belong to all individuals. They are rationed by the state—conferred on those whom the Statist believes deserving of them, and denied to those whom the Statist believes undeserving of them.” As on his radio show, so in this book, Levin is unapologetic in his indictment of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and successive generations of FDR acolytes—including LBJ and BHO—for perpetrating a “counterrevolution” against the limited government prescribed by our Constitution and for creating and expanding a welfare state that breeds dependency in the people and that—if not soon dismantled—will bankrupt our nation. “The significance of the New Deal is not in any one program, but in its sweeping break from our founding principles and constitutional limitations,” he says. “Roosevelt himself broke with the two-presidential-term tradition started by George Washington by running for four terms. His legacy includes a federal government that has become a massive, unaccountable conglomerate: It is the nation’s largest creditor, debtor, lender, employer, consumer, contractor, grantor, property owner, tenant, insurer, health-care provider and pension guarantor.” This is the truth about what liberals have done over the last 80 years of American history. American freedom cannot survive another 80 years of expanding government and diminishing individual autonomy. If you want to rediscover true conservatism, read Mark Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny.” If you want to help preserve liberty, buy copies for your kids.

$700 Million to Mexico?

A very interesting take from http://www.badeagle.com/ about your tax dollars. You Tea Party people (http://www.reteaparty.com/, http://www.taxdayteaparty.com/ ) should really appreciate this!!



$700 Million to Mexico?
Last year Congress sent $465 million to Mexico. This year Congress will send $700 million. It’s all part of the three-year Merida Initiative, implimented under the Bush administration–for the price of $1.4 billion.
Since the globalists, Communist or Capitalist, are determined to permanently link America with the Third World, we must make an effort to not let the criminal element prevail. Something like that. Since we’re selling America to the Third World, piece by piece, we want only their most trusted buyers and investors. Right?
This is all about anti-nationhood. This is globalism. One world, one green world, for all. It is multiculturalism, multi-theologism, and multi-economics.
And multi-mess-ism. All it means is that America loses. America is not the greatest anymore.

America is not No. 1. ‘America is fallen, is fallen,’ as it were. That’s the game now. The dividing of powers, the hand-outs, the grabs, the tyrannies. It’s a rush to power. The scavangers of the world come to feed on the dying America. Washington is kindly handing out the bones of the country.
Indeed, Washington, DC is the enemy of the United States. Our own government has profoundly betrayed us. Washington is destroying the country. The people seem helpless, duped, and forever lost. The Communist public education system has done its work. The lemmings of the nation rush to their own destruction.
But, just for the moral exercise, let’s state what should happen, what patriots would like to see happen. (But, are we willing to make it happen?)
America should become wholly isolated, and impregnable. America should demand immediately the repayment of every debt the world owes us. America should not spend one more nickle on any nation. This is all over with. This is done. This idiotic debt-exchange in the world benefits only those nations that are unproductive, dependent, and arrogant about it. The Chinese don’t need hand outs. They’ve already been given everything they could want. America made China. China was “made in America.”

America owes nothing to anyone. America saved the world, twice. The world owes America everything. America has been holding up the world since WWII.
Alas, the world will devour America. The more you do for someone, the less he appreciates it. America is more than un-appreciated. America is despised. And our satanic leaders delight in feeding that hatred. They will not stop until America is owned by the world. That is their goal. They themselves despise America–because they love power for themselves, alone. Nothing is greater, or more valuable to them, than their own power. They are America, in their demented, satanic minds. They personally benefit from the sale.

I say don’t send a nickle to Mexico. Just shoot any criminal that dares cross our border. Of course, as long as we have traitors among us, who take advantage of slave labor in the name of their own capitalism and personal success, we’ll never have control over America. We have to shoot the traitors first. Mexicans are here because enough American traitors want them here that the borders are open.
This is war. Indeed. But America will never fight it. It’s more like a bleeding, to death. Bush had a wonderful vision for the Middle East, but he was blind to America’s immediate needs, and indeed contributed to them. It was a good thing, to take the war to Iraq, so the Muslims murderers would be contained there. But the Mexican murderers were all the time entering through our back door.
So, who will organize the patriots? Who will command the army of the American people? Who will resist Washington, and remove the pustule from the face of the earth? Who will save America? How will it come about?
No, it’s not too late. But, people, we need to get our act together, pronto! We will see foreign armies in out streets, soon. United Nations troops, they’re called. We are on the fast lane to tyranny. We have to do more than simply own guns. We need organization, local, state, and national.
We honor the founding fathers in this effort. We honor America.
http://www.badeagle.com/

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

A Blog to Follow - Redstate.com

A Very Interesting Blog that I think you should subscribe to! I'll be pointing this blog out to you frequently for you to subscribe to, get RSS feeds from and follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/Redstate

Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.


Morning Briefing for March 25, 2009
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

MARCH 25, 2009

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BREAKING THIS MORNING: Democrats Hanging on to Madoff Donations While Members Agitate for Return of Legal AIG Bonuses
Democrats are Keeping Madoff Money While Demanding the Return of AIG Bonuses They Voted to Make Legal. You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, Folks.

1. The Campaign To Bankrupt The Palin Family
The left fears Sarah Palin so they will try to destroy her and her family now.

2. Tim Geithner Gets The Full Maxine Waters Experience
Your Democratic Congressional Majority At Work
3. Hold the Phone: Dodd’s WIFE Was Paid by AIG?
She Served on the Board of an AIG Property… Based in Bermuda

4. Chris Dodd’s Quaint Irish ‘Cottage’
UK Telegraph Shows the House Dodd Says is Worth as Little as $100K

5. Senate to discreetly shut down House AIG bill of attainder.
House to gratefully let them.

6. Tim Geithner, Secretary of Nationalization
The federal government can’t fix the economy. The federal government does not create anything. It taxes and regulates.

7. GOP Sees Opportunity in Northeast
Signs of Life in a Region Left for Dead

8. Keeping the Democrats’ Mouthpieces on Life Support
Ben Cardin: Standing Athwart History Yelling “Subsidy”

Read More →

States Rebelling?

Here is an interesting post from Walter Williams

States Rebellion Pending
Walter E. Williams
Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks. He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully declared unilateral independence and went to war. Today it's the same story except Congress is the one usurping the rights of the people and the states, making King George's actions look mild in comparison. Our constitutional ignorance -- perhaps contempt, coupled with the fact that we've become a nation of wimps, sissies and supplicants -- has made us easy prey for Washington's tyrannical forces. But that might be changing a bit. There are rumblings of a long overdue re-emergence of Americans' characteristic spirit of rebellion.

Eight state legislatures have introduced resolutions declaring state sovereignty under the Ninth and 10th amendments to the U.S. Constitution; they include Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington. There's speculation that they will be joined by Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania.
You might ask, "Isn't the 10th Amendment that no-good states' rights amendment that Dixie governors, such as George Wallace and Orval Faubus, used to thwart school desegregation and black civil rights?" That's the kind of constitutional disrespect and ignorance that big-government proponents, whether they're liberals or conservatives, want you to have. The reason is that they want Washington to have total control over our lives. The Founders tried to limit that power with the 10th Amendment, which reads: "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."
New Hampshire's 10th Amendment resolution typifies others and, in part, reads: "That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General (federal) Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force." Put simply, these 10th Amendment resolutions insist that the states and their people are the masters and that Congress and the White House are the servants. Put yet another way, Washington is a creature of the states, not the other way around.
Congress and the White House will laugh off these state resolutions. State legislatures must take measures that put some teeth into their 10th Amendment resolutions. Congress will simply threaten a state, for example, with a cutoff of highway construction funds if it doesn't obey a congressional mandate, such as those that require seat belt laws or that lower the legal blood-alcohol level to .08 for drivers. States might take a lead explored by Colorado.

In 1994, the Colorado Legislature passed a 10th Amendment resolution and later introduced a bill titled "State Sovereignty Act." Had the State Sovereignty Act passed both houses of the legislature, it would have required all people liable for any federal tax that's a component of the highway users fund, such as a gasoline tax, to remit those taxes directly to the Colorado Department of Revenue. The money would have been deposited in an escrow account called the "Federal Tax Fund" and remitted monthly to the IRS, along with a list of payees and respective amounts paid. If Congress imposed sanctions on Colorado for failure to obey an unconstitutional mandate and penalized the state by withholding funds due, say $5 million for highway construction, the State Sovereignty Act would have prohibited the state treasurer from remitting any funds in the escrow account to the IRS. Instead, Colorado would have imposed a $5 million surcharge on the Federal Tax Fund account to continue the highway construction.

The eight state legislatures that have enacted 10th Amendment resolutions deserve our praise, but their next step is to give them teeth.
http://townhall.com/Columnists/WalterEWilliams/2009/03/25/states_rebellion_pending

Immigration Polls

Here are some polls on what Americans think about immigration topics. (H/t www.fairus.org) It is too bad that the will of the people keeps being thwarted!

Polls Reaffirm Americans Support Immigration Enforcement
Three polls released last week by Rasmussen Reports reaffirm what true immigration reformers have known for years: the American public overwhelmingly supports enhanced border security and strengthened interior enforcement of our immigration laws. The results of these polls further undermine the arguments of amnesty advocates who claim that the American people want "comprehensive" immigration reform.
The first Rasmussen poll, released March 16th, focused on border security. According to the poll, 79% of voters support using troops on the U.S.-Mexico border to protect Americans from drug-related violence. The 79% figure marked a 21% jump in support for the use of the U.S. military along the border in just two months. Only 10% of U.S. voters oppose putting U.S. troops on the border to fight drug violence, while 11% say they are unsure. Strong support for placing U.S. troops on the border may stem from the fact that 82% of U.S. voters are concerned that Mexican drug violence will spill over into the United States, including 50% who say that they are very concerned. The poll also found that more than six in ten Americans say that the Department of Homeland Security should continue to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Rasmussen Reports, March 16, 2009). The release of the poll came just days after President Obama and other members of his administration expressed reluctance to deploy members of the National Guard to the border. (See FAIR's Legislative Update, March 16, 2009).
The second Rasmussen poll, released March 17, highlighted strong support for local law enforcement of immigration laws. According to the poll, 73% of voters say that police officers should automatically check to see if someone is in the country legally when the officer pulls that person over for a traffic violation, while only 21% disagree. Furthermore, 67% of voters say that if law enforcement officers know of places where immigrants gather to find work, they should conduct surprise raids to identify and deport illegal aliens. (Rasmussen Reports, March 17, 2009). The poll's findings came less than two weeks after House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) questioned the success of the 287(g) program - which allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enter into agreements to train state and local law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. (See FAIR's Legislative Update, March 9, 2009).
A third Rasmussen poll, released March 18, shows that nearly seven in ten voters support strict government sanctions on employers who hire illegal aliens. Only 22% say that employers should not be punished, while another 10% are not sure. Nearly half of U.S. voters support sanctions for landlords who rent or sell property to illegal aliens, while 36% are opposed to such penalties. (Rasmussen Reports, March 18, 2009). These findings came just eight days after the Senate voted to kill an amendment offered by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to the $410 billion Omnibus Appropriations bill (H.R. 1105) that would have reauthorized the E-Verify program - which prevents employers from hiring illegal aliens in the first place - through September 2014. (See FAIR's Action Alert, March 10, 2009).

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A Blog to Subscribe to- Redstate.com

A Very Interesting Blog that I think you should subscribe to! I'll be pointing this blog out to you frequently for you to subscribe to, get RSS feeds from and follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/Redstate


Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

Morning Briefing for March 24, 2009
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

MARCH 24, 2009

Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

1. Teleprompt Me, Baby
Illuminating that special relationship between a man and his brain
2. Congress Prepares to Create Some New Unintended Consequences
And America’s best minds flee to other countries.
3. The AIG/TARP “Clawback” Is Dubious - But Is It Also Unconstitutional?
This may be the most important aspect of all….
4. Obama Yucks It Up Over Failing Economy
You’re unemployed and I\’m the President, I’ll laugh if I want to.
Read More →

***BUMPED***Review of the book "Liberal Fascism"




This is a book that came out last year that is really worth the read that you can get from your library or bookstore!
A review from http://www.newsbusters.org/ is below.
By Matthew Sheffield
Along with racist, the word fascist is one of the most common epithets you hear tossed around. Has the constant repetition of the word made it lose its meaning? Does anyone really know what it means? These are questions that Jonah Goldberg seeks to answer in his #1 best-selling book "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning."If you haven't picked up a copy yet, this is one book you need to buy.As part of our tradition of bringing you in-depth interviews with America's political leaders, I took the opportuntity to speak by phone with Goldberg about "Liberal Fascism." Our conversation is quite extensive but well worth the read. Given the length of the interview (which is available in audio format as well as transcript), I've broken it down into two portions: the first in which Goldberg discusses his many leftist critics including his confrontation with comedian Jon Stewart, and the second in which Goldberg discusses conservatism and where he believes it's headed. This is the first installment. Read the transcript below or download an audio copy.

Monday, March 23, 2009

A Post to Subscribe to - Redstate.com

A very interesting blog that I think you should subscribe to. I'll be pointing this blog out to you frequently for you to subscribe to, get RSS feeds from, and follow on twitter.

Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

Morning Briefing for March 23, 2009
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

SPECIAL NOTICES FOR RADIO SHOW PREP
House Republicans want to hear from your listeners. An MIT study examining the effects of an energy tax similar to the President’s plan will cost American households an average of $3,128 per year. Republicans want to hear how this tax increase will affect your ability to pay your health care premiums, send your children to college, start a small business, or otherwise achieve your American Dream. Go here for details.

We’ve prepared a special update on key political races for you here.

Lastly, you’ll be interested in this two minutes of hate for the week of March 22-28.

1. The Conservative Conundrum – Being Optimistic In Our Opposition
How do we maintain our inherent optimism as conservatives in the face of this onslaught against everything we hold dear?
2. Should ACORN Receive Any More Government Money?
Having worked to steal elections, do we want them stealing the census?
3. Obama Hacks Off France In Latest Foreign Policy Blunder
Someone forgot to tell Barack Obama that Jacque Chirac is no longer the President of France.
4. Barack Obama’s Bankrupt States of America
Flying the nation right into the ground
5. Silly Barack: Battles with Darth Cheney Aren’t for Kids
The Clueless President Tries to Pick a Fight With Dick Cheney Over Counterterrorism Policy
6. ‘Punch-Drunk’ POTUS Has a Hearty Chuckle at the Expense of the Recently Unemployed and Destitute
What the Heck Happened to “Hope and Change?”
7. British “Global Warming” Expedition Rescued From Intense Cold Just In The Nick Of Time
Good to hear, but why are greens so dense that they seem unaware that the Arctic is…. cold?
8. NYTimes Somehow Misses Obama ‘Special Olympics’ Jab
How it is that the NYT missed the one thing Obama said that had everyone in a tizzy is anyone’s guess
9. The Permanent Campaign Gets Creepy
The President of the United States has begun demanding loyalty oaths.

Continue Reading here http://www.redstate.com/blog/2009/03/23/morning-briefing-for-march-23-2009/

A very intersting blog - Barack's Teleprompter

This is an interesting blog to follow by RSS feed, Twitter or Subscription.

http://baracksteleprompter.blogspot.com/

A Case for NOT Increasing the Nation's Population

A very interesting article from an author named Robert Locke about reasons for Population Maintenance, not Growth! Hat tip (http://www.vdare.com/locke/grow.htm)

We Don’t Need to “Grow”
By Robert Locke
One of the most fallacious arguments for open borders is that we need immigrants to raise the birth rate, lest America begin to shrink and decline.
But is this really true? This depends on whether:

A) A higher birth rate is desirable; and
B) Is admitting immigrants the right way to replenish a country’s population?

The answer to both questions is no—for a long list of reasons:
1) Big Families are not an index of national vitality.
Many conservatives are sentimentally attached to high fertility and big families. The positive stereotype of large families carries connotations from the past, when children were expected to help out at harvest-time, and many babies were required to ensure that several survived to adulthood.
But we are now a society that expects to send its children to college, rather than send them out into the fields. We invest intensively on a small brood of children, rather than stretching our resources over a big flock of them—in part, because each are simply more likely to live.
Surely it is no accident that those cultures most famous for their interest in education (Jews, Japanese, Scots) also tend to have low birthrates.
True, the teeming slums of the Third World (or of Europe in Karl Marx’s day) have a certain crude vitality—but painfully lack most of the attributes of decent life, in part because of their burgeoning populations.
2) This has nothing to do with abortion.
The abortion issue is sometimes dragged into the question of population. But it has little connection, as abortion is only one—extreme—means of birth control. Any given birth rate can be accompanied by either a high or a low abortion rate. The key variable is not the birth rate as such but the choice of family vs. abortion. A high birth rate may even encourage abortion in the long run—as see in the case of place such as China and India. If we overpopulate this country to the same degree, we may end up with their population policies: forced abortions in the former and forced sterilization in the latter.
3) Small families aren’t a sign of national decline.
It is sometimes suggested that a low birth rate represents decadence in the white race or Western society. But non-white advanced industrial democracies such as Japan show the exact same pattern. In fact, Japan’s birth rate collapsed harder than ours did, as Japan had no baby boom after WWII. If anything, falling birth-rates are simply an index of industrialization—a side-effect of the movement of people from the land to the cities.
In fact, a decline in the birth rate is visible in all countries as they ascend the ladder of economic development—with some variance for cultural peculiarities such as the pro-natalist beliefs of Mormons or Orthodox Jews. To use economic jargon: the richer a country is, the higher the opportunity cost of children, and therefore the fewer children. Francis Fukuyama’s analysis of this phenomenon in The Great Disruption is the best I know.
4) We’re not fighting a breeding war.
The idea that we need a high birth rate in order to win some sort of population arms race is ludicrous. For a start, there isn’t a population arms race as such: there is only the need to maintain a large enough population to defend the homeland, and a large enough native population to maintain demographic dominance vis-à-vis resident foreigners. This is a question of border control, not fertility.
Britain at the height of her empire had a population of 40 million and ruled 600 million subjects. She now has 60 million and is a minor power. Armed self-defense depends far more upon foreign policy, national will, technology, and other factors than it does on raw population. Just ask the 1.3 billion Moslems who, as Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia recently pointed out, are daily defied by 5 million Israelis.
In fact, stable or slowly shrinking population is not a problem at all—unless we make the mistake of allowing foreigners into our country to displace us. So long as they stay in their own countries, they can breed all they want, as this will only result in their remaining poor and underdeveloped. Many of them, such as the 1.8 billion peasants in India and China, have essentially zero interest in us, anyway.
5) We only have one planet.
Taken to its logical consequence, a worldwide demographic arms race would spell ecological catastrophe. One does not have to buy into environmental extremism to grasp that a larger population puts a greater burden on finite natural resources. Even if we don’t reach an absolute breaking point, larger populations will still force us to accept more government regulation, to ration the shrinking supply of space and resources—a point libertarian immigration promoters never grasp.
6) America is doing just fine, thank you very much.
The current demographic forecast for this country for native-born Americans shows a demographically mature society. If you take immigration out of the picture, we would have had an essentially stable population since 1970. This is a good thing—and all the more reason not to allow immigrants to move here and spoil our achievement, which is particularly precious because we have done it without government coercion. China would just love to be where we are.
7) Growth is not good in itself.
From many points of view, a stable population is ideal, but even a gradually-declining one is acceptable within reasonable parameters. It would have lots of benefits that no one bothers to trumpet.
The gains to the environment are obvious. But has anyone thought of how nice it would be to knock down the slums of Newark and replace them with an environment more fit for a middle-class nation? Of how pleasant it would be to drive around Los Angeles without spending one’s life in traffic? Of how much more humane college admissions would be if there weren’t ten applicants for every place at prestigious universities? Of what a tight labor market would do for the wages of the American working class? Of what it would mean to have a continually-increasing capital to labor ratio in the economy?
8) We don’t need population growth to support the aged.
The last canard in favor of population growth is the myth of Social Security. It is said that Social Security and similar programs will collapse without population growth a.k.a. immigration because of the declining ratio of workers to beneficiaries.
False!—because the economic burden that actually matters is the ratio of all non-workers to workers. Non-workers includes not just retirees but children. Given that a low birth rate reduces the number of children in a way that comes close to balancing the increase in the number of retirees, the total burden on the working population in a stable society would not significantly increase.
We would be spending a lot more on nursing homes and Geritol, but spending much less on elementary schools, minivans, college tuition, orthodontia, and 4-bedroom suburban houses.
Given the cost of raising children today, and the fact that many of them nowadays don’t become net contributors to the economy until after four years of college (plus two or three years of graduate school), this declining burden would be substantial.
Insofar as Social Security does present minor problems, these can be dealt with by expedients that have already begun to be used, such as raising the retirement age. Age 65 was not handed down on stone tablets on Mt. Sinai, and medical advances combined with the decreasingly physical nature of most American jobs mean that this is not inhumane.
9) Older societies are more conservative.
Here’s another unexpected benefit of an aging population: a greater overall maturity in the society. We have had since the 1960’s (the maturation of a Baby Boom) a youth-obsessed culture, with all its disruptive side-effects. Frankly, a little gray hair might do us some good in terms of becoming a wiser, more sensible society. Conservatives who want to roll back the effects of the counter-culture should think about this.
10) Immigration creates more problems than it solves.
The many social costs imposed by mass immigration are well-known to readers of VDARE.COM. Using an influx of foreigners to reverse an imagined national decline because of lower birth rates is a temporary and dangerous expedient, with unpredictable and irreversible results.
No self-respecting conservative would subject his nation to such a reckless experiment.

Robert Locke (email him) is a former associate editor at FrontPageMagazine.com (archive here).