IRS' Filthy, Repulsive, Lerner-Laundry

It's bad enough that Lerner continues to collect taxpayer-funded salary and benefits in her million-dollar manse while throwing a self- pity-party at Politico.

Now it emerges that she and her pals were actively targeting groups who liked the Constitution.

...the IRS also targeted those who would educate their fellow citizens about the United States Constitution....

If you are offended at that, as anyone should be, you'll be moved to anger when you learn this:

...this particular IRS targeting commenced on Jan. 25, 2012 — the beginning of the election year for President Obama’s second campaign....

There is no such thing as "co-incidence."

...What is most corrosive about this IRS tripwire is that it is triggered by a particular point of view; it is not, as First Amendment scholars say, viewpoint-neutral. It does not include obfuscating or denigrating the Constitution; only those “involved in … educating on the Constitution” are captured by this criterion. This viewpoint targeting potentially skews every national debate about politics or government. And the skew is not strictly liberal; indeed, it should trouble liberals as much as conservatives. The ultimate checks on executive power are to be found in the United States Constitution. Insidiously, then, suppressing those “involved in … educating on the Constitution” actually skews national debate in favor of unchecked executive power....

There are some things that Conservatives should not do.  Finishing this post the way it should be finished is one of those 'not-to-do' things.

HT:  Political Capital

For AlGore!

Sure, I'm in AlGore's camp!!

The more green, the better, I say!

HT:  Sipsey

The Putin-Haters and The Family

An international pro-family congress was held in Moscow last week.

Nothing of this size and import can happen without the knowledge and consent of Putin, of course.

Here's a brief of the "General Concept" paper from that forum:

The Russian forum in its “General Concept” preface succinctly identified the harms caused by the “sensate culture” (a term from Pitirim Sorokin, a famous Russian sociologist who knew well the deleterious effects of a man-centered, atheistic worldview), a modern-day post-Christian dimension in world history: “the destruction of moral standards such as Goodness, Truth, and Beauty and destruction of faith in a Created natural order that distinguishes good from evil.” Such attitudes -- “this modern-day ambiguity, relativity, and indeterminacy regarding family” -- “creates the threat to the civilized existence of societies.” The Russians declare that “it is high time to talk not only about the role of the family institution in the retention of humanity as a biological species but also about the vital role of [the] natural family in the preservation of civilized society and “ordered liberty.”  This transformation is “crucially important especially given the millennial battle between civil society and barbarism, where the latter appears in a highly technological and disguised progressive form contributing to the increasing moral chaos.”

Hmmmmmm.

Is it just co-incidence that Putin's government has been the object of revulsion by Western "intellects" recently?

"Craft Brewers" Love Them Lotsa EPA

What's in the brews of these turkeys?

A battle is brewing in the beer industry over a new regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that spells out the agency’s authority to regulate bodies of water. 

Dozens of small craft brewers such as Sierra Nevada and New Belgium are rallying behind the EPA’s proposed Waters of the U.S. rule, arguing it will help ensure that they have clean water for their products.

Blah, blah, blah.

EPA's proposal will, in effect, grant EPA total authority over all ponds, streams, and creeks in the USA, including those "ponds" which show up only after hard rain and disappear in a couple of days.  EPA will be "regulating" those puddles which will be 'waterways'.

(No surprise:  the National Resources Development Council (NRDC) is behind all this.  Like Sierra Club, this bunch is a watermelon:  green on the outside, red on the inside.)

...under the EPA’s proposed waters rule, Lentz is concerned the agency could stop him from farming as much has 80 percent of his lands, because at some times of the year they are covered in water.

"Some times" is the key phrase.  EPA will 'benevolently' rule over farmlands FULL-time for a sometimes thing because "craft brewers" don't want to pay for sanitizing the water they use.

Does quaffing craft ale make you into a totalitarian-lover?

Have a Family? Eat Dirt Under ObozoCare!

Only another 2 million victims of ObozoCare, the "keep your doctor/keep your health-plan" scam of the century.

(By the way, is 9.5% of your income really "affordable"?)

'Fixing' Ballots: The Counter to Voter ID

Since Wisconsin voters will have to produce ID, the lefties have come up with a new trick:  a confusing ballot.

And GAB wouldn't talk about any aspect of the change process, which only confirms the El Slimo Jefe reputation of Kennedy and his far-left staff.

Graphic design:  the new War on Conservatives!!

Clemson Voyeur-versity

So. 

Clemson mandates that its students and faculty confess their sexual adventures or risk 'code of conduct' violation which could prevent graduation.

All in the name of "Title IX Training," you understand.  And, of course, it's a perfectly secure internet thing; you only have to sign in with your name, email address, and student number. 

Students are pleased that they don't have to submit pictures of the activity/ies.

Yet.

Once Again, Ryan Votes for ObozoCare

ObozoCare is, arguably, the single most pernicious pus-oozing wound on the US economy.

250,000 Virginia health policies--cancelled.  250,000 policies held by immigrants may be cancelled b/c the immigrants are illegals (but Obozo stalled that for a couple of years.)  Minnesota's largest ObozoCare insurer just dropped out of the plan.  Deductibles are up, full-time employment is down, and so is "employment" in general--small biz is simply not hiring due to ObozoCare requirements.  Nuns are still being persecuted by Obozo, although for the time being he's not executing them like ISIS would.

And yes, Paul Ryan voted to continue it as is.

The Bi-Partisan Stench of Washington D.C.

A curious vignette mentioned by Andy McCarthy vis-a-vis the Benghazi hearings.

...Intriguing questions have also been raised by Judicial Watch’s Micah Morrison about the activities of Aegis Defense Services, a military contractor active in Libya that has close ties to the U.S. intelligence community. One of Aegis’s top U.S. executives was Kristi Rogers, the wife of Congressman Mike Rogers (R., Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Rogers’ committee was responsible for investigating the Benghazi Massacre, including the CIA’s still unexplained mission there. As Eli Lake has reported, Rogers gave a pass to CIA officials accused by others of stonewalling his committee, and he vigorously opposed the appointment of a select committee. Recently, Rep. Rogers abruptly announced he would not seek reelection to his safe congressional seat and coveted chairmanship; Mrs. Rogers resigned first from Aegis and then, quite suddenly, from a law firm she’d joined only 13 months earlier – a law firm that had touted the “top secret facility security clearance” Mrs. Rogers had obtained for Aegis, and her creation of a board of directors that included two former senior CIA officials....

There's very good reason that actual Conservatives have zero respect for Republicans.

I won't miss "Lightbulb" Rogers, the ultra-jackass who banned incandescent bulbs.  It would be nice to see him in Club Fed, just for that offense alone.  But if he's also complicit in the Benghazi slaughter, I think he should be sent--alone--to fight ISIS.

Reality Check

Noted by Cold Fury, this brief column reminds us that politicians are .......apocalyptic gasbags.

“We’re in the most dangerous position we’ve ever been in as a nation,” claimed Senator Inhofe, the top ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee not long ago. John McCain warns that the “Islamic State is the “biggest threat we’ve ever faced.” More dangerous than the strife experienced during the Civil War. More serious than facing fascism. Scarier than the atomic age. A greater existential threat than communism during the Cold War. That’s chilling, for sure.

So what happens if America fails to engage ISIS in the manner prescribed by these senators? Well, as Lindsey Graham recently noted, the “president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed here at home.”

All of us?

ISIS could do Flyover Country a big favor and begin its work in D.C., of course.  I'd love to see a one-on-one winner-take-all between Sen. Graham and the current caliph.  Winner gets to occupy Congress for the next 2 years.

Can't be much worse than EPA and IRS, can it?

Cdl Burke Out

Not really a shock, but still a surprise.

Sandro Magister, who has emerged as the most authoritative and reliable of Vaticanists in the reign of Pope Francis, reports in his column for today, September 17, that Raymond Cardinal Burke is about to be removed from the position of Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, and from the Roman Curia altogether. His new position? That of "Cardinal Patron" of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a symbolic position usually reserved either for retiring Prelates, or as a merely extra position for this or that Curial head. A symbolic position devoid of the governing responsibilities that come from being the Prefect of a Curial Congregation or Tribunal, or of a Pontifical Council, or of a major Archdiocese.

Curiouser and curiouser.  Of course, Magister could be wrong. 

Hmmmmmm.

HT:  Rorate

The Abortion Industry's C-in-C

The biggest war that Obozo is fighting is his war on unborn babies.  This IS a war he can fight from the 9th hole--which explains his enthusiasm.

...Again and again, during the congressional debate, Obamacare defenders promised: Obamacare subsidies won't subsidize abortion; customers will be able to choose insurance plans that don't cover abortion; Obamacare subsidies, if they want to pay for abortion coverage, will be billed separately....

Wrong.

...The new GAO study shows that, instead, taxpayers are subsidizing abortions. Customers in five states have no abortion-free plans available to them, and in many states, customers can't tell which plans cover abortion and which don't....

Maybe Paul Ryan would say that this is all a misunderstanding, or something.  He certainly hasn't acted to cut off funding on the Abortion Front.

What "Foreign Policy" Is "Right," Paul?

Rep. Ryan was on national TV.

...Then, unprompted by Todd, Ryan began to praise Obama's recent foreign policy decisions. "I can say a lot of ugly things about his past foreign policy but I think he's now getting it better and a little more right," Ryan said....

Umnnhhhh.....OK, I'll bite:  what, exactly, is "better" and "more right", Paul?

By the way, Mr. Ryan, your call for 'dialog' with the socialist totalitarians on the domestic front is all very nice.  But as a Catholic, you should have read your Chesterton.

I'll help:

...war itself is not one thing at all, but is necessarily the collision of two things. And one half of the war is right simply because the other half of the war is wrong....

The Left--which has become Extremist in toto--has been at war with the Constitution (and Catholicism) for well over 75 years.  That 'other half' is wrong, Paul.  Is patty-cake your proposal?

GKC on Peaceniks

Chesterton was a bright guy.  Here he talks about the peaceniks:

...they cannot bring themselves simply to distinguish between wars that are right and wars that are wrong. I should say, rather, perhaps, attacks or resistances; for the war itself is not one thing at all, but is necessarily the collision of two things. And one half of the war is right simply because the other half of the war is wrong.

True dat.

HT:  Rorate

Did Cruz Provoke the Boos?

Apparently Ted Cruz wants him some Press and pushed the envelope--hard--to get it.

Douthat is suggesting that the crowd wasn’t booing Israel, instead, they were booing Cruz for playing politics — for having the audacity to lecture them about their own business.

Unhhhhh....hmmmm?

Cruz' assertion--that Catholics in the Middle East have 'no greater friend' than Israel--may or may not be correct.  But the conference was not about Israel at all.

So now the conference is all about Cruz.  Well, he got what he wanted.

The question is:  is that what Americans want?

The Best Way to Start a War? Lie Like Hell!

To some, Winston Churchill was a hero.

To the families of US troops killed during WWI, he was--indirectly--a murderer.

In 1907, Britain launched the Lusitania, “the greyhound of the sea,” the fastest passenger ship afloat. In 1913, Churchill called in the head of Cunard and said Lusitania would have to be refitted for a war he predicted would break out in September 1914....

Following some chicanery by Churchill--who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time---...

...German naval commanders began to order submarines to sink merchant ships on sight....

A practice with which a Brit naval commander approved.

...Churchill, seeing an opportunity to bring America into Britain’s war, wrote the Board of Trade: “It is most important to attract neutral shipping to our shores, in the hope especially of embroiling the United States with Germany. … We want the traffic—the more the better—and if some of it gets into trouble, the better still.” ...

Of course, Woodhead Wilson was complicit; he refused to keep US citizens off British ships and out of war zones, and he would NOT prevent US flagged ships from carrying war materiel.

On May 1, 1915, Lusitania set sail from New York. As Windchy writes, the ship “secretly carried munitions and Canadian troops in civilian clothes, which legally made it fair game for (German) U-boats....

...German diplomats in New York warned American passengers they were in danger on the Lusitania. And instead of sailing north of Ireland to Liverpool, the Lusitania sailed to the south, into waters known to be the hunting ground of German submarines....

Yah.  Then came Versailles, followed by the rise of Hitler and WWII.

Thanks, Winston!

Was Posner Right?

With a little scholarship, Posner's gay-marriage decision becomes highly suspect.  Not because he refuses to consider the moral position, but rather because Posner's philosophy is fundamentally amoral.

....he argues that homosexual orientation is genetic, an immutable and innate characteristic rather than a choice. To support this he cites a 2008 brochure from the American Psychological Association – not exactly the summit of genetic scholarship, although admittedly, it is the APA’s official view. However, no genetic cause has yet been identified; homosexuality’s origin is still an open question. Besides, if homosexuality is genetic, it should have disappeared according to evolutionary theory, as homosexuals do not produce offspring. Posner acknowledges that this is a problem, but says that the “kin selection  hypothesis” shows that homosexuality is compatible with evolutionary theory. What he doesn’t say is that the kin selection hypothesis is so controversial that it has been criticized by the Harvard evolutionary biologist who popularized it in the first place, Edward O. Wilson. Whether this is true or false is a matter for the scientists to work out. But the genetic origin of homosexuality is unsettled and contestable....

Hmmmm.  He finds a scientist who argues against his own theory and adopts it.  Really?

...he argues that same-sex marriage does no harm to the institution of marriage or to society at large. This is a claim which is impossible to prove in less than two generations....[and] ...Posner seems quite impressed by a recent study which analysed whether marriage rates fell after Massachusetts permitted same-sex marriage. “Allowing same-sex  marriage has no  effect on the heterosexual marriage rate,” he concludes. So what?...

Always an excellent question, by the way.

...Posner says that the welfare of children should be front and centre of arguments about marriage. Since marriage is the best place to raise children, he argues, it is discriminatory to deny homosexual couples the right to raise their children within the framework of marriage.

But he only considers the material benefits of a hefty household income. The real question is whether a marriage with a mother and a father is the best place to raise children. Posner ignores almost completely the psychological effects on children of growing up in a heterosexual marriage, focused as he is on the rights of adults.

How could such a brilliant scholar offer such conventional arguments about social morality based on such weak evidence?

Well!!  Glad you asked!!

...Posner defends his view of the relationship between morality and law. He calls himself a “moral subjectivist”, arguing that “an individual acts immorally only when he acts contrary to whatever morality he has adopted for himself. I am sympathetic to this position.”...

Yes, really.

This creates some problems.

Posner actually defended the following positions:  1)  It is impossible even to say that a practice like female genital mutilation is wrong; 2)  There are no actions which are always everywhere wrong, even infanticide; 3) ...the Nazis cannot be condemned in any objective way. In the light of the moral standards of the countries which won World War II their actions were appalling crimes. But these were just the feelings of the victors.

I suppose, then, that one could defend 'taking out' certain judges--as does the Mafia--under #2 above.  To the Mafia, that sort of thing is simple self-defense, and that's certainly a good reason, no?

Although I have never argued the morality of homosexual activity, choosing instead to argue from Nature, there is no question that homosexual activity is morally wrong.  In fact, it is gravely disordered.

Yah, even Ron Reagan made mistakes.  This was a big one.

Chisholm Not Partisan, of Course

Milwaukee's DA claims that his persecution of conservative groups is "not partisan."

We now know that in fact, it was NOT "partisan."

It was nookie.

The Dumbness of Ann Coulter

It's no wonder that Coulter couldn't draw an audience in Milwaukee and as a result cancelled her appearance.  She's kinda......ahhh......dumb.

Surveying the wreckage of a mere two years of a Democratic president with a Democratic Congress, all Americans should be focused like a laser beam on putting the Senate in Republican hands.--Coulter, 9/11/14

Ann, you twit:  "Republican" has nothing whatsoever to do with "conservative."  Filling Congress with Boehners and McConnells is not different in kind than filling Congress with any other group of grifters or charlatans, or two-bit hustlers.

Get real, Ann.

Let's Amend the Constitution

The street-hustlers who call themselves "Members of Congress" need a serious yank on their leashes.

...If this CR is enacted, the current Congress must return to Washington in a “lame-duck” session and vote for yet another funding bill before Dec. 11. That will allow members thrown out by voters in November to come back and vote to fund the government into next year--if not for the rest of fiscal 2015, which will end on Sept. 30, 2015....

Umnnhhh, yah.  Just like ObozoCare was "enacted," remember?

So.

The next Amendment should remove legislative power from Congress following an election until new Members are seated--or allow only those Members who are RE-elected to vote.

A better way, of course, is to vote out all of them and start over.  Or something like that.

RoJo: Kill Off EPA, Part Two

We are reminded that EPA's Green Jihad also threatens the nation's food supply. 

And since EPA is determined to corn-a-hole us with their damned corn-liquor gasoline, they also threaten the food supply of tens of millions of impoverished people in other countries who subsist on corn-based diets.

RoJo!!  The Time Is NOW!!

RoJo: Kill Off the EPA Jihadists

It is clear that the EPA is full of zealots who are waging Green Jihad against flyover country.

...A report published by the Institute for 21^st Century Energy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce outlines the stark economic impacts of the proposed Clean Power Plan. Between 2014 and 2030, the U.S. GDP will see an average annual economic loss of $51 billion, an average decline of 224,000 job losses per year, and an average annual loss of real disposable income topping $200. It is also likely that those families with low and fixed incomes with bear the greatest financial burdens associated with these proposed regulations.

Further, EPA Jihadists, like their (current) President and Attorney General, are at war with the 9th Amendment to the Constitution:

...The proposed Clean Power Plan also represents a significant change in the relationship between the EPA and the states in the environmental regulatory making process. ...Since the time of the New Deal, the regulation of retail electricity sales and local distribution has been a sovereign state function and the 1935 Federal Power Act limits the authority of federal regulators to “only those matters which are not subject to the regulation by the States.” The proposed Clean Power Plan radically alters this relationship....

And their swarms of regulators will make our quarters virtually uninhabitable:

...The EPA itself concedes that 50 gigawatts of installed baseload capacity will be forced into retirement by 2020 due directly to the proposed Plan. This would come in addition to the 70 gigawatts of installed capacity that have already been retired or will retire in compliance with other EPA regulations. This 120 gigawatts of installed capacity is no small number – it is roughly equivalent to the amount of generation needed to power 60 million homes....

As destructive as that plan is, it is only one of the battles that EPA is conducting against the US citizenry.  Other jihads are running against the automobile, factories, wood-burning stoves, and anyone living near a ditch which might carry water.

It's long past time for someone--ANYone--to begin a counter-offensive against EPA.

Maybe RoJo will take it up, if McConnell lets him.

Sometimes I Feel Like Following the Law,....

....sometimes I don't....

"Whenever we can, we follow the law," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the House Ways and Means subcommittee on health on Wednesday. --quoted at AOSHQ

That smarmy little pants-stain just gave up the whole game of the Obozo Administration.

Gun Control Repeaters

Hate the pun, love the punner....right?

Anyhooo......it seems that there's nothing new in the world.  The Million Mommy Hen-in-Charge figured out how to end Gun Violence (!!!)

...The only way we can truly be safe and prevent further gun violence is to ban civilian ownership of all guns. That means everything. No pistols, no revolvers, no semiautomatic or automatic rifles. No bolt action. No breaking actions or falling blocks. Nothing....

And how will THAT happen?

...What we need to do is establish the regulatory and informational institutions first. This is how we do it.  The very first thing we need is national registry. We need to know where the guns are, and who has them....

Yah, we've seen that before, but very few have been stupid enough to put it in writing, sistah.

By the way--before you go all goo-goo about "registry", check the results of that law in Massachusetts.  IIRC, it was a 90% fail.

HT:  Captain's

ObozoCare: Worse, Worser, and Worstest

Remember Ron Johnson, the Wisconsin Senator who was going to "repeal Obamacare"?  Yah, I heard of the guy.  Last time he talked about this, he was going to "fix" it.  He won't, by the way; McConnell won't let him.

The fifth column's agitprop notwithstanding, ObozoCare continues to piss off everyone--except the hospitals (who profited), the insurance companies (who profited), and the thousands of new bureaucrat-drones who have a fire-proof job with REAL 'healthcare' benefits.  And it's going to get a lot worse, folks.

Rate increases are modest, sez the MSM.  Good, no?

No.

The insurers don't have enough actuarial experience to come up with real numbers--and besides, Obozo gave 'em all the money they wanted through the tricks and gimmicks in the law.

Want real solid numbers (and a horrific increase in rates)?  Wait until 2017.  By sheer co-incidence, Obozo will be out of office and most of the (D) slime who voted for it will have lost their election or will retire--or are in completely 'safe' districts.

Another thing:

How many people are enrolled in Obamacare? Without a government to insurance company accounting system yet built, no one knows. 

Hmmmm.

Then there's the "baseline premium decrease" story.  Yes, it's true--but it's not ALL of the true.

...The new 2015 Silver baseline plan may have a lower premium than the 2014 Silver baseline plan. But that is almost always because the insurance company that held that slot in 2014, and almost always got the largest share of business, significantly increased their rates for 2015.

Then another insurance company, who didn't write much business and likely now eager to increase market share, decreased their rates and has become the 2015 baseline plan. The second company was able to decrease their rates without much fear because the Obamacare "3Rs" reinsurance scheme virtually protects them from any material losses....

That's a glacial-speed version of the "hide the pea" game played--illegally--in New York City.

Oh, yah!  Remember the BSOD-enriched "enrollment" process?  It's baaaa---aaack!!

 ...however many million people (pick any number other than 8 million) are still enrolled, everyone really needs to visit their state exchange or HealthCare.gov in the month between November 15 and December 15 in order to have their January 2015 enrollment validated, to be sure their income information is up-to-date, and to be sure they are enrolled in the optimal plan for the best subsidy.

Five to ten million people all trying to get through exchange websites between November 15 and December 15? Add however many people are going to sign-up for the first time this November to all of those existing participants re-enrolling for January 1, who will all be hitting the still fragile Healthcare.gov and state exchanges during that four week period, and it is not hard to see how Obamacare could be back in the news....

Last thing I'll mention is this:  the deductibles go up in lockstep with cost-trend and rates.

Should be a helluva great year for consumer 'free cash' next year, eh?

The Fix: Big Banks, Again

Well, well.  The Big Banks were price-fixing, eh?

Surprised?  Then you're living under a rock for the last.....ohhhh......10 years or so.

HT:  Ticker

By the way, yes indeed!!  The list includes Goldie and Chase.

The Mega-Recession

In a series of very revealing graphs, the Fed Reserve maps the mega-recession which began in the mid-2000's.  Yes, I said MID-2000's--because that's when median incomes began to collapse.

Since (roughly) '08, asset-holdings also collapsed.

There are exceptions:  the upper 10%, and the cohort in the 65-74 age range but it's complicated:  see the graphs.

"Stimulus"?  Bullshit.

HT:  ZeroHedge

(R) Strategy: Screw the Taxpayers!

Sure, the Pubbies have a strategy! 

...current reports are that they will spend more than the original Paul Ryan — Patti Murray deal that had included a tax hike. However, that is subject to change.

Third, and probably most significantly, they will make sure the continuing resolution expires after the election, but before January. That will free them up to go back for a lame duck session where outgoing members can use their votes to pass amnesty, tax increases, and further extend the Ex-Im bank.

After all, what counts more?  You, or the Cronies?

Hmmmmm??

Cdl Dolan Steps In It

Sometimes Cardinals of the church should tell their PR advisers what Jesus told Peter:

"Get thee away from me, Satan....."

That assumes that the Cardinals actually know what is going on.  Cardinal Dolan's latest foray into 'we're all one big family/hail-fellow-well-met/hearty guffaws' Irish politicking is--at best--ill-advised.

At worst, it tells us that His Grace does not understand that admonition IS a part of love.

Just Co-Incidence: IRS v. Breitbart

Strictly co-incidence that IRS demanded:

.....all of its organizational documents, financial records, W-2s, W-4s, 1099s, and K-1s filed, personal income tax returns for each member of the company, payroll tax forms, information regarding properties and assets acquired by the company, bank statements, and array of other records documenting revenues, expenses, and depreciation costs....

...from the conservative news source, Breitbart.

We all know that the IRS is just as pure as John Chisholm's wife.

Chisholm's Harridan Wife? Really?

According to at least one source, John Chisholm's war against conservatives and the First Amendment was started and has been kept alive due to John Chisholm's wife, a union member.

If true, there's only one conclusion here:  John Chisholm is not man enough for the job he has.

But his wife, Colleen, is!

ObozoCare Wunnerful? Not So Fast!

The propaganda that ObozoCare is just fine and dandy has begun (again.)

But there are plenty of reasons to doubt, beginning with a still-unbuilt "back end" of the ObozoCare systems--which is supposed to verify eligibility--and the massive tax subsidies awarded to whoring insurance companies.

Did VanHollen Throw the Game?

A writer hints that perhaps the Wisconsin's A.G. threw the game on gay "marriage" through sheer incompetence before the 7th Circuit. 

Nothing would surprise me about Van Hollen.

Positivizing the Eschaton at SCOTUS

It's likely that SCOTUS will be Positivizing the Eschaton of gay "marriage" in the next couple of years.  That'll happen despite the clear will of the people in three dozen States.  But Fed Gummint judges can't stop themselves from trampling all over the 9th Amendment;  it's what Fed judges do, as the scorpion famously said.

When that happens, let us remember the semi-immortal words of Justice Kennedy:

...The laws on marriage are typically made in the States, but there are many questions that must arise in federal law about the meaning of marriage – e. g., who counts as a “married couple” in immigration and naturalization, in matters of taxation, or benefits in the military?

  

But Justice Kennedy would write, with a straight face, that this federal portion of DOMA had trodden upon the  “historic and essential authority [of the States] to define the marital relation,” and sought to “influence or interfere with state sovereign choices about who may be married.”

Why are those "semi-immortal" words?

Because Kennedy will kill them off.  

Abrogating the Rule of Law, Part 15,467

The Obozo-ite march toward the Totalitarian Dream continues at the DC Circuit.

....because the current administration recognized this court as critical in future legal challenges to Obamacare, they wanted to – and hypocritically did – shift the balance of the court in a decidedly Progressive way – which is to say in a way which recognizes almost no limits on government power nor on the appropriate behavior of judges in expanding that power.

On Thursday, those malign efforts paid off for Obama and Reid as the DC Circuit agreed to an en banc review (all of the judges rehearing the case after it is initially decided by a three-judge panel) of the July 22^nd ruling in Halbig v Burwell that the IRS may not issue subsidies to those who purchase health insurance plans through the federal insurance exchange known as Healthcare.gov – because the plain text of the law specifies that subsidies are available on exchanges “established by the State.” In fact, this language is in the law twice....

Plain text be damned, full speed ahead, eh?

...The judges should consider the ramifications of what they do next. An overturning of the original panel’s ruling will properly be considered a purely political move leading to a further erosion of the public’s trust in our highest courts....

This is important because if the en banc reverses, SCOTUS will not likely take up the case unless Roberts suddenly obtains a conscience over his ridiculous ruling in NFIB.

So.  The citizen will be forced to ask "what 'law'?"--just as the citizen will be asking about queer "marriage" when plebiscites are over-ruled in black-letter violation of the 10th Amendment.

EPA: Where's the (R) House?

It's a given that IRS management is filled with crooks and liars, and that an actually-conservative House of Representatives would act to change civil service law to eradicate the cancer, since IRS is the most potent weapon of the Gummint aside from the military.

But the second-most potent Gummint weapon of war, domestically, is EPA.  It, too, is filled with crooks and liars, and that screams for similar reforms:  change civil-service laws and fire a bunch of its employees.

Aside from some show-trials, none of them effective, the "conservative" House has done diddly-squat on either of these enemies of the people.

...For example, the 2012 Utility MACT rule was peddled as essential to reduce mercury emissions (at a cost of $10.5 billion annually). But as documented by the Chamber study, the vast majority of benefits claimed by the EPA—nearly $62 billion—actually were derived from reductions of particulate matter. The reduction of mercury, meanwhile, is credited by the agency with a comparatively measly $400 million in benefits.

Similarly, the EPA’s emissions standard for sulfur dioxide is credited by the EPA as producing $2 million in benefits from the sulfur dioxide reductions but $29 billion in benefits from reductions of particulate matter...

This is called "bait and switch," which is also known as fraud.

But "fraud" is not a prosecutable offense when committed by Gummint, even with a "conservative" House.

We'll hear the girlymen yammer about '1/2 of 1/3rd.'  We are not impressed.

Elon Musk, Tax-Sucker Extraordinaire

If you don't get the term "crony capitalist" yet, perhaps this story will help.

....the nasty little secret about renewables is that the sun doesn’t shine enough to make any power 70% of the time and the winds tend to blow in the spring and fall, which are periods of low energy demand. Furthermore, sometimes the wind blows and sometime the sun shines. 
 
This intermittence requires utilities to pay very high fees under the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act to provide “Qualifying Facilities” stand-by carbon based power plants that are available to be quickly cranked-up to maintain the power to their electric grids on a 24/7 basis. 

The California Public Utilities Commission regulation allows full pass-through percentage markup on all purchased utility costs in the state. Consequently, it is more advantageous for utilities to pay higher costs to buy power. This explains why utilities are so enthusiastic to pay the high subsidized cost of “sustainably” generated power.

Since battery power has been politically deemed to be “sustainable power”, SolarCity and Tesla intend to manufacture huge “battery farms” in states like California that can be recharged at low electrical rates and then receive fees from utilities as stand-by power sources, regardless if the battery power is ever used. 
Tesla, SolarCity, and SpaceX are headquartered in California. As CEO, Elon Musk successfully led lobbying for each of these companies to receive huge amounts of government subsidies from the state. Having proved that he is the best CEO at getting subsidies from California taxpayers, Elon Musk seems to have chosen to switch where he is building his new factory to Nevada in order to avoid being a taxpayer.

If you STILL don't get it, please:  do not vote in any elections.  Ever.

Useful Self-Defense Tip

Vox comments on the 5-on-2 attack of the other night.  You'll figure out his use of the term "vibrants" unless you live under a rock.

...This is why you must carry. If both those victims had had compact .357s, there would be five fewer predators out there looking for kicks through beating up white people. Remember, vibrants never fight fair, so you always have to be prepared to deal with at least three of them at a time, and four is the safer assumption. Or, as in this case, five.

If you're armed, it's actually better if there is more than one attacker because it's that much less likely that the pro-diversity crowd will try to concoct a case against you. Just don't pull a Bernie Goetz and shoot anyone in the back or when they're already down.

Even if you can't carry a gun for some reason, a serrated three-inch blade on your keychain will be enough to address the first attacker. Get the blade out, keep your hand out of sight as the first attacker comes in, stay low, drive in with your left shoulder, rear hand in and up, and the attacker should be out of commission before he even knows you're armed. Don't try to warn them off, because when outnumbered you want surprise on your side. Vibrants tend to be cowardly, as you can see by the way they dart in and out when they attack, so they're probably not going to stick around after the first guy goes down. But don't pause and wait for them to run off, move in and take out the second one as soon as the first one is incapacitated....

Good stuff.

Saddam, The Mob, and Joan Rivers

Found near the end of a Noonan obit on Joan Rivers:

...Twenty years ago, when everyone was talking about how wonderful it was that Vegas had been cleaned up and the mob had been thrown out, Joan said no, no, no, they are ruining the mystique. First of all, she said, those mobsters knew how to care for a lady, those guys with bent noses were respectful and gentlemen, except when they were killing you. Second, she said, organized crime is better than disorganized crime, which will replace it....

Joan Rivers should have been GWB's foreign affairs adviser instead of the NeoCon horde of prissy-twits (see, e.g., Wm. Kristol.)  Unlike Kristol et.al., Joan understood the human condition.  Now we see in Iraq what Rivers understood about Vegas. 

HRC Trolls for MegaBucks

News item:

Clinton called climate change “the most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face as a nation and a world.”

Umnnhhh.....yah.  That's her way of asking for Crony Capitalist megabucks.

Is GE listening??

ISIS, What to Do

What to do about ISIS?

Arm the daylights out of the ISIS foes in the Middle East and support them with air power and intel.

There are plenty of ISIS foes. 

Then strip US passports from everyone who left here to join ISIS, and refuse entry to anyone with a European passport who did the same.  That's not all:  if we know they've been there, pack their US belongings into a dumpster and toss it into a landfill.  Or a bonfire, whichever is easiest.

Remember this:  GWB and the War Party destabilized Iraq; Obozo deposed an elected gummint there, too.  It appears from the evidence that the US is simply incapable of making a good choice (other than helping Israel) in the Middle East.

So stick to what we CAN do well, rinse, and repeat.

What Is Cdl. Dolan Doing?

When Bill Clinton was President, the nation learned how to parse words carefully.

So.  When the Archdiocese of New York blabbers about "allowing people" to walk in the St Patrick's Day parade, it is important to note that ALL "people" have been allowed to 'walk in the parade.'

But they have NOT been allowed to carry signage, posters, banners, or flags which contradict or derogate from Catholic teachings.

Until now.

One may ask "why."

Here's the simple rule:  Follow The Money.

Same as with Milwaukee's adoption of Common Core for its remaining Catholic schools:  it is the money from the Choice program that drove that decision, not pedagogy, nor Catholic cultural values.

It's true:  a man cannot serve two masters.

The Rules of ISIS

Found at the Captain's Journal.  These are the ISIS rules after they capture a new territory:

“No drugs, no alcohol and no cigarettes allowed,” it added.

"No public gathering other than those organised by ISIS will be allowed at any stage. No guns will be allowed outside of its ranks."

No alcohol, no cigarettes?  That's bad enough.  But that's Totalitarianism, just like their 'guns' rule.

"Moderate Muslims"? An Interesting Thesis

So.

What's a "moderate Muslim"?  Here's a provocative insight:

...The real Islam is a topic that non-Muslims of no faith who hold sacred only the platitudes of a post-everything society are eager to lecture on without knowing anything about it.

Their Islam is not the religion of Mohammed, the Koran, the Hadiths, the Caliphs or its practitioners in such places as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq or Indonesia. Their Islam is a religion that does not exist, but that they fervently believe must exist because without it their way of life is as doomed as the dodo.

They aren’t Muslims. They have no faith in Allah or the Koran. Instead they have faith in the goodness of an Islam that exists without resort to scriptures, theology or deity....

In other words, a "moderate" Muslim is no different than a secular Jew, or a secular Catholic.  And there are plenty of those folks around.  Why should Mohammedanism have a different spectrum of adherence than Judaism or Catholicism, especially in the ultra-secular West?

Huh.

HT:  ColdFury

What JPII Said, Again

St. John Paul II warned the US against the Iraq war. 

There was a reason for that:  he knew that--as despicable as Hussein was--that Hussein's fall would leave Iraq to an even less desirable fate.

He was right.

Now comes James Antle to outline Chapter Three in that story--the one that's playing out in the US today.

And Hell will freeze over before Wolfson, McCain, or any of that crowd, will say "We was wrong."

And yes, I gave GWB the benefit of the doubt back then.  But (go ahead and look for it in this blog) I gave him only a 51% 'right' v. 49% 'wrong' margin, largely because he was privy to intel.

As it turns out, "intel" was largely bullshit of the NeoCon variety. 

And I apologize.

Say WHAT, Ms. Happ?

Rather tantalizing story here.

Seems that Ms. Happ, the (D) candidate for State Attorney General, was.......ahhhh.......a bit slow in issuing sex assault charges against some guy who was paying for a house she sold under land contract.

Hmmmm.

Umpty-Bazillion Dollar FAIL

That would be Obozo's D.H.S. and Obozo's State Department.

This while the meatball girly-boy rouses rabble in Milwaukee.

Let's face the facts:  Obozo is the single largest threat to US national security since King George.

The Positivists v. The Naturalists

"Naturalists" are not nudists, nor Green Weenies.  And Positivists are heading for a serious fall, no matter how they dress up in their black robes and pose for pictures before stacks of Law Books.

Of course, since the Naturalists wear funny hats and are associated with incense, bells, and *gasp* religion, they're either old-fashioned or out-of-touch--or both, right?

...In the encyclical Evangelium Vitae of March 25, 1995, John Paul II based the sacred value of human life (from its very beginning until its end) on the same [Natural] law. In this important document, he affirms “every person sincerely open to truth and goodness can, by the light of reason and the hidden action of grace, come to recognize in the natural law written in the heart (cf. Rom 2:14-15) the sacred value of human life from its very beginning until its end” (no.2). In the encyclical, Veritatis Splendor, of the August 6, 1993,the Pope who has just been canonized, denounced the rejection of the natural law as the fruit of “a more or less obvious influence of currents of thought which end by detaching human freedom from its essential and constitutive relationship with the Truth.” [It is] on the basis of such a law – he affirmed on February 6, 2004 – that a platform of shared values can be built, around which constructive dialogue is developed with all men of good will, and more in general, with secular society.”

Also Benedict XVI frequently referred to the importance of this doctrine “there is an urgent need to reflect upon the question of natural law and to rediscover its truth" which "is common to all mankind.” [...] “All legal systems, both internal and international, ultimately draw their legitimacy from their rooting in natural law, in the ethical message inscribed in human beings themselves. The natural law is, definitively, the only valid bulwark against the abuse of power and the deceits of ideological manipulation.” (Discourse at the Pontifical Lateran University, February 12, 2007)....

"...the only valid bulwark against the abuse of power and the deceits of ideological manipulation..."

Well, now.  That's a significant line, particularly at a time when it's more and more obvious to many that the FedGov abuses its power and is willing and able to deceive for purposes of ideological manipulation.

The Positivist Priesthood, all dressed in black *coughPosnerCrabbcough* think that they and their un-natufal allies will persevere in the long run.

Don't bet on it.

Natural law is not intrinsic to "a religion," nor a captive thereof.  It is universal, which explains why NO world religion has endorsed same-sex "marriage" in recorded history.  It is also why NO world religion endorsed abortion, or theft, or murder of innocents or sodomy or fraud or perjury.

One might make the case that Mohammedanism has endorsed murder, polygamy, and perjury (or at least, fraud)--but then we have two possible responses:  either 1) Mohammedanism is NOT a religion, or 2) those Mohammedans who practice such atrocities are acting against their religion.  In either case, there are clearly "deceits of ideological manipulation" at play.

WIsconsin's Gun Violence Problem

Gun Violence Distribution/Hospitalization in a few States, HT:  Sipsey Street

The College Board's 'Fundamental Transformation'

The College Board owns the S.A.T. and various A.P. tests, by which your little snowflakes compete for (some) college admissions.  (ACT is the alternative.)

College Board has decided that their AP History test will be....ahhhh.....distinctly Zinnian.

(Perhaps it's merely co-incidence that the College Board CEO had a lot of input into Common Core.  Then again, maybe it is NOT co-incidence.)

Anyhow, a historian, Radosh, takes on the AP History section from 1900-present.  Worth the read.

Much-Needed Domestic Strategy!

Of COURSE there is a domestic strategy!!  It's simple:  reduce the American middle class to third-worlders.  Social Justice, and all that.  (Echoes of GWB, by the way.)

The Obama administration is working on new efficiency standards for seemingly every appliance but the kitchen sink.

Spurred by President Obama’s climate action plan, the Department of Energy is pumping out new standards for refrigerators, dishwashers, air conditioners, ceiling fans, furnaces, boilers, water heaters, lamps and many more appliances.

See?  We're from the Gummint, and we're here to he'p you!!

Or not:

...industry groups argue the standards, which will apply to both commercial and household appliances, could slow the economy, and that the Energy Department is rushing the new rules while overestimating the savings.

...Business groups say the new rules will be expensive for industry to comply with because it will require them to buy new technologies to develop appliances that emit less energy. That will raise the retail prices of household appliances, they say.  ...

Big Green has its own take:

Green groups and the Energy Department acknowledge the standards will lead to more expensive appliances but say consumers will save money in the long run on their energy bills.

Which is to say, 'let them eat cake.'

...Lower-income consumers, however, will be at a disadvantage, she said. They will have a tough time paying for the more expensive appliances, and are likely to keep using older ones....

Tough.  Wash by hand, and build a fire to cook your rice and beans, untermensch.

You recall that GWB, no stranger to Big Gummint plots, was also an enthusiast for idiocies:

Republicans played the rich-poor divide up during one of the most famous efficiency controversies: the ban on traditional incandescent light bulbs.

That episode also highlights how energy efficiency has become more of a partisan issue. The push for the new light bulbs started under President George W. Bush and initially had support from many Republicans. It then became a Tea Party rallying cry...

The ban is pushing consumers to buy more expensive light bulbs, even as they save money on their energy bills. Republicans complain this puts lower-income consumers at a disadvantage because they’ll have a tougher time paying for the more expensive bulbs.

You remember Pubbie efforts to rescind the light-bulb regs, don't you?

I don't either.  

Here's How to Respond to Tax Delinquent Indians

Seems that the Potawatomi tribe owes Wisconsin about $25 million and doesn't intend to pay.

OK.

The Governor has threatened to pull their slot-machine license.

OK.

But if I were Governor, I'd also seek to license every tavern and convenience store in the State to have slots.  Every.  Damned.  One.

Of course, those outlets WILL pay their taxes.

ObozoEducrats: "You WILL Obey!"

Don't think Common Core is any good?

Ya' think that Common Core is NOT based on some sort of peer-reviewed and validated evidence of efficacy?

Think that the Feds are ramming it down States' throats, 10th Amendment be damned?

You're right.

(Sure was nice of GWB to sign that No Child thing, eh?)

The Prophesy of "Hill Street Blues"

Middle of an essay by Glenn Reynolds, this pops out:

...I sometimes think the turning point was marked by the old cop show Hill Street Blues. Each episode opened with a daily briefing before the officers went out on patrol. In the early seasons, Sergeant Phil Esterhaus concluded every briefing with "Let's be careful out there." In the later episodes, his replacement, Sergeant Stan Jablonski, replaced that with "Let's do it to them before they do it to us." The latter attitude is appropriate for a war zone, but not for a civilized society.....

Ya' think??

Some Help for Charlie Sykes

Charlie Sykes cannot understand why 'conservatives' are less-than-enthused about Walker's campaign.

Let me help you, Charlie.

First off, Walker is a Boy Scout.  Honest, helpful, courteous, ....all that stuff.  He will get my vote.  So this isn't a rant about 'Why I Won't Vote for Walker'.

Having said that, I'll put Walker's problem in three words:

No Red Meat.

Walker is a terminal bore--or maybe his message is terminally boring.  He did Act 10 and has subsequently gone to ground over the size of Wisconsin Gummint--and for that matter, the size of the tax bite here.  Regulation relief?  Yes, but virtually invisible. Tax reductions?  Ditto.  Question:  what's the plan for the next 4 years?  Another $100.00 reduction in State income taxes?  Another $200.00 reduction in property taxes?  How about police & fire benefits, still unconscionably excessive?  Or better yet, how about fixing the abuse of the "duty disability" clause?  No mention.  No concern.

Yawn.

Closely connected:  Walker has not been visible in fighting the Obozo Regime.  He--unlike Jindal--rolled over for Common Core, a blatant invasion of State's rights.  Yes, he avoided the ObozoCare nightmare, but he certainly hasn't capitalized on that with red-meat speechification.  Yawn.

(Where's Walker on the illegals, by the way?  Nary a peep from him.)

Similarly, Walker has disappeared on the gay "marriage" fight, just as on the abortion-benefits issue for State employees.  Skittling sideways with "not my provenance" blather is gutless and, frankly, evasive.

Walker lost control of the "jobs" issue.  True, he didn't get his 250K.  But there's a reason:  ObozoConomy.  We all know that.  Why the hell doesn't he SAY that??

Walker shuffled and wavered on the Cost of Coal matter, saying that he'd defer reaction until a group of Midwestern Governors came up with an objection.  REALLY?  You have NOTHING to say about this, Scott?  How about "Screw this bastard and his Kill America Plan"?

Walker decided, as part of his "jobs" crusade, to establish another Gummint "helper":  WEDC.  Why does Walker think that his version of Crony Capitalism is better than the Doyle/Burke version?

One more thing:  Jim Doyle is dead and gone.  Yah, he's a slimebucket grifter.  So what?  Get over it.  Paint Mary Burke with the Obozo brush, with regulatory- and tax-increases, and the illegals.  Get rid of your McCain/Romney political "advisers" and get someone with testosterone.

See what happens then.

Move All "Misinformation" and Hate Speech To the Blog

Seems like Obozo has funded a system which will track "misinformation" and "hate speech" on Twitter.

They call that stuff "subversive."

Just like Bill Ayers is "subversive", right?  Or Frank Marshall?  Alinsky?

Oh.  Maybe not.

Posner v.....Thinkers

We are told that a blackrobe named Posner ridiculed the State of Wisconsin's constitutional definition of marriage.

In contrast,

...the writings of Plato and Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas, Maimonides and Al-Farabi, Luther and Calvin, Locke and Kant, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., one finds that the sexual union of male and female goes to the heart of their reflections on marriage...

Ah, the wisdom assumed with donning the black robe!

Or not.

Krugman, Dismantled

This turkey is a "prize-winning" economist?

What--from a CrackerJacks box?

Birds of a Feather Flocking at IRS

Well, well.

Seems that an IRS "ethics" lawyer may be disbarred.

For ethics problems.

IRS Apes EPA: "Sue/Settle" Slime

 For years, the Green-o-crats at EPA have chafed at law or judicial decisions which restricted EPA's authority to strangle economic activity.  So in order to get around these restrictions, EPA colluded with outside groups such as the Sierra Club.  Sierra would sue EPA to obtain Big Green ends, and EPA would deliberately fold its hand in court.  Then EPA would have a free hand to pursue the Green ends.

The Green-o-Crats of EPA got what they wanted, and so did Big Green.  "Win-win!" 

(You lose.  Too bad.)

Now the Lerner-ized IRS is pulling the same outrageous, dishonest, dirty trick.

...Members of Congress are demanding answers from the IRS about their apparent collusion with an angry atheist group to target the Church.

The issue arose when the angry atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the IRS, demanding that it investigate churches and pastors and monitor their sermons.

The IRS quickly folded, settling the case and agreeing to target and monitor churches...

What's...ahhh....curious.... is this:  IRS surrendered on a case which--by precedent--they could have easily won.

What's ominous is that IRS refuses to release the settlement's terms. That's interesting, no?  IRS is not a private club.  Their legal agreements should be available to all the citizens in cases which do not have an obvious 'privacy' bar.

It would be fun to get that chubby bald twit back to testify about this with Rep. Gowdy asking the questions, wouldn't it?

Missing Info on Countrywide Mortgage Directors

The NYT published an article indicating that Justice is mulling about taking Angelo Mozila, the ex-CEO of Countrywide Mortgage, to court over something.  As you recall, the collapse of Countrywide was a major contributor to the Great Recession.

They also mentioned four former members of the Board of Directors of the company, but missed a couple of interesting details.

Take Kathleen Brown.  The NYT item says that she is currently on a couple of other Boards.  What they do NOT mention is that Ms. Brown was a Goldman, Sachs exec, apparently at the same time she was a Director at Countrywide.

Or Henry Cisneros.  The NYT description tells us he's now on the Board of some hotel company.  It does NOT tell us that Cisneros was a Clinton cabinet member.  Sec'y, HUD, as a matter of fact.

Curious that the NYT would miss these connections, eh?

Obozo, Assisting the Leninists

Whodathunk that Obozo would help out the Leninists?

(Hint:  anyone who understands that Obozo is a Communist.)

Solzhenitsyn:

....Yet even you, good sir, have failed to note that I have no quarrel with Ukrainian separatism, only with the factual state of Ukraine. Currently, as statues of Lenin are being torn down in Ukraine (as rightly they should be!), why is it that western Ukrainians of all people in that land desire that the state of Ukraine should have the borders made for it by Lenin himself? The borders which Uncle Lenin himself drew up for Ukraine? For the present borders of Ukraine are the result of Lenin seeking for a way to compensate the Ukrainian people for consuming their liberty under Soviet domination. Thus it was Lenin who arbitrarily attached Novorosiya, the Donbas (by which Lenin separated the Donbas from the anti-Communist counter revolutionaries of Donietsk) as well as attaching parts of the left bank to Ukraine. Later, Krushchev arbitrarily added Crimea to Ukraine. And now Ukrainian nationalists stand firm in defense of their “holy” territorial integrity—of borders created by Lenin?

That was in 1993.  He didn't have much good to say about NATO then, by the way.  Later, in 2006, he gave an interview:

...Events in Ukraine, ever since the time of the referendum in 1991, with its poorly formulated options, have been a constant source of pain and anger to me. I have written and spoken about this often. The fanatic oppression and supression of the Russian language there (a language which polls show is consistently the prefered language of 60% of the people there) is a beastly methodology aimed primarily against the cultural prospects of Ukraine itself. The vast territories which were never part of historic Ukraine, such as Crimea, Novorosiya and the entire southeast were forcibly and arbitrarily consumed into the territory of modern Ukraine and made hostage to Ukraine’s desires to join NATO. Under the Yeltsin presidency, not one meeting was ever held with the Ukrainian President that did not end in Russia capitulating and accepting everything Ukraine requested. Yeltsin uprooted the Black Sea fleet from Sevastopol; something not even Krushchev did under the USSR. It is all a simple minded, indeed simpleton and cruel joke perpetuated against the entire history of XIX and XX century Russia. Given these circumstances, Russia will never, in any way, betray the many millions of Russian speaking peoples in Ukraine. Russia will never abandon the ideal of unity with them.

So what does Obozo do?

aaarrrrggghhh...

'Tis a Puzzlement

(to quote Yul Brynner playing the King of Siam...)

Below is a post linking to an essay on Ferguson.  Just by co-incidence....

“My son didn't shoot himself. I never believed it. I won't believe it,” said Victor White, Sr., the father of 22-year-old Victor White, III, who back in March, died from a gunshot wound....

V. White III was in a patrol car's back seat, hands handcuffed behind his back, when--according to the PoPo testimony, he offed himself with a single gunshot.........to his chest.

Yup.  Police will not lie, right?

Civil Unrest, Voting, and Ferguson UPDATED

This essay should be read in its entirety.  The author, who knows the St. Louis area very well, makes a point which has national, not just local, implications:

...I find the attitude that “there is no more racism” is prevalent in the white community and especially among conservative whites.  I believe the evidence is overwhelming that this is not the case, that those in the black community who are expressing concerns are doing so because there is indeed something to be concerned about. As Crump states, this IS systemic, and it must be addressed. The killing of Michael Brown is not a standalone, isolated incident in Ferguson.  It is a catalyst that set off a reaction to perceived racial inequity, police harassment, and (relevant to the Brown killing) a belief that Mr. Brown was wrongfully killed by the Ferguson police officer – and as a result of all of these, the protests occurred.  The residents are responding not just to the killing, but to a long-festering situation....

Umnmmnhhhh, yes.  And if we take his observation to the 30,000-foot level, all he's described is the elements necessary for any revolt.  1776, and all that.

He makes another point which is just as important, at least here in the US:

...There was an uproar on the Right in response to the appearance of voter registration tents near the protest site.  My colleague Dan McLaughlin mentioned it in his diary on Ferguson.  As I see it, the voter registration tent was not a bad thing.  The anger of the protesters should be redirected to voting instead of rioting.  If the residents want change, that is how to do it.  Some, including Rush Limbaugh, have claimed the NAACP and others are using this as a way to sway the midterms.  Was it?  Perhaps. But that doesn’t make it necessarily wrong.

We need to shake off the non-stop cynicism we have about situations like this.  There is nothing wrong with encouraging people who believe they are misrepresented to vote more....

Someone with a sense of humor could be selling Tea Party flags in Ferguson; who knows?  It might be a very successful enterprise.

Read the WHOLE thing, by the way.

UPDATE:  The OathKeepers sent a letter to Gov Nixon of Mo.  Here's a graf which underlines the first point above:

...you that you are making a grave mistake by continuing the pattern of militarization and abuse of rights that we saw during Occupy Wall Street (with curfews imposed on peaceful protesters, who were wrongly ordered to disperse and then pepper-sprayed at point-blank range); with the egregious death of Marine combat veteran Jose Guerena at the hands of a Tucson SWAT team while serving a mere search warrant; during the response to the Boston Bombing (with families being ordered out of their homes at gun-point, with many veterans telling us that the people of Iraq were treated with more respect and consideration than they saw in Watertown, Massachusetts); and with the recent horrendous use of "First Amendment Areas," military trained snipers, and militarized, heavy-handed Federal law enforcement at Bundy Ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada that galvanized veterans from all across America to travel there to prevent that ranching family from being "Waco'd" (with the Washington Times later disclosing that the Obama Administration did, in fact, consider using military force against the Bundy family and their supporters, but thankfully decided not to).  Those examples only scratch the surface of a systemic problem that has been ratcheting up over the years in nearly every community in America, as Washington Post journalist Radley Balko has exhaustively documented....

Yup.  
 

Clinton, Obozo, & GWBush: Losing to Al Quaeda

Seems as though our recent Presidents are not too perceptive when they decide to "fix things."

With Clinton, it was Bosnia.

Back in 2007, my book Unholy Terror ruffled quite a few feathers by pointing out the unpleasant truth that, in the 1990s, Bosnia-Hercegovina became a jihadist playground and a major venue for Al-Qa’ida, thanks to malign Saudi and Iranian influences. This was off-message, to put it mildly, to critics eager to defend failed Western (especially American) policies in the Balkans, as well as the usual coterie of jihad fellow-travelers and Useful Idiots, plus those eager, for personal reasons, not to have anyone look too deeply into where Saudi money goes in Europe.

However, my essential message — that Islamist extremism, though a largely imported phenomenon in Bosnia, has put down local roots and is likely to metastasize further due to that country’s intractable socio-economic problems — has been proven sadly accurate over the last seven years....

Yah.  And guess who Clinton helped?

Yup.  The Muizzies.

And of course, GWBush elected to depose Saddam, against the advice of John Paul II.  JPII was not a friend of Saddam, nor was he a peacenik; but he knew that the collapse of that regime would lead to Islamo-troubles downstream.

Yup.

And of course, there's Obozo, who has brought our foreign relations to near-perfect stupidity, again assisting radical Muzzies by deposing Gaddafy (thus, Benghazi), opposing Israeli efforts to stamp out Hamas, and working on his golf-game while feeding ISIS its weapons.

Yup.

It might be interesting to know just exactly who is advising these men--and what THEIR motives are.

Francis v. Benedict: Huh?

Some very sharp observers noticed the language used when Pope Francis asked for strong intervention against ISIS.

...Jorge Mario Bergoglio, invited “stopping the unjust aggressors” without “any bombing” or “starting a war”.

It's what he specifically did NOT use:  the qualifier "Muslim."  (And, by the way, his suggestion seems rather....ahhh.....inadequate....., given what we know.)


There's some history there, as it turns out.

[Following Benedict XVI's Regensburg address, t]he pontiff was hit, however, chiefly by accusations launched from some exponents in the Church. Among these, the then-Archbishop of Buenos Aires. The future Pope did not speak in person. It was Father Guillermo Marcó, spokesman for Bergoglio. Speaking to the Argentine edition of the weekly “Newsweek”, he used extremely harsh tones: saying that Ratzinger’s declarations had been “unfortunate”. And more: “I do not identify with the Pope’s words. I would have never used that citation.” Concluding with: “If the Pope does not recognize the values of Islam and it is left like that, in twenty seconds we will have destroyed everything that has been built over the last twenty years.”

It was Marcó who spoke, but everyone knew that those sentences corresponded to the thought of his superior.

Lessons learned:  1)  A Cardinal Archbishop criticized the Pope, so 'criticizing the Pope' can't possibly be as awful as the Bergliolites would have us believe, and 2)  Clearly, infallibility does not extend to political judgments.

Unkind to Ryan? Not Me!

There's been mumbling that the Tea Party types are not fans of Paul Ryan.  Well, maybe.  Sometimes I think Paul Ryan gets it--see his 'subsidiarity' inclinations.  Other times, it's clear that Paul is missing the boat by a mile--see his inexplicable stand on illegals.

I suppose that he's more conservative than Boehner.  That's not saying much, but you get the idea.

Others, however, simply mock him for his "path to fiscal sanity" budget proposals.

"...Representative Ryan has presented several budgets over the last few years which I have proceeded to rip into little shreds using, no surprise, arithmetic.  Specifically, his budgets all assume a 20 year time horizon and they make two assumptions that are false: A growth rate over that 20 years on a compounded annual basis that has never happened in the post-war for even five years, say much less 20 and worse, a reliance on there being no recessions during that period.

There has never been a 20 year no-recession period in the history of the United States.
Presentation of any such "budget proposal" is an outright fraud.  What's worse is that using the actual "as experienced" economic record since 1980 as a baseline Ryan's budget proposals result in the catastrophic collapse of the Federal Government (that is, tax revenue is exceeded by mandatory expenditures + interest) long before the 20 years are up...."

But hey!  Those proposals were nicely written and produced, no?

"Waste, Fraud, Abuse" Success?

Touted by the Governor's office:

On Jan. 3, 2011, Walker issued Executive Order #2, creating the Governor’s Commission on Waste, Fraud and Abuse, with marching orders to identify bloat and impropriety in state government programs and state appropriations and recommend solutions.

Good.

...The Walker administration on Wednesday announced the state Department of Revenue during the past four tax seasons has stopped $134 million in tax refunds related to fraud and adjustments....

Pretty good, too.

However.......

...Critics of the latest state budget say there is plenty of room for improvement in tracking waste in the $70-billion biennial spending plan....

So yah, maybe I'm a "critic" too.  $70 BN spent, and not a dime of "waste" found?

Crowing over 'better than Doyle' is not jumping a high bar, folks. 

Stupid Crook Stories

©2014 by Dean Weingarten

A career criminal has an out of wedlock child with a woman. He shows up for the child’s first birthday, only to find another man present, who also has a criminal record, but no felonies. The first criminal, enraged to find another man with the mother of his child, threatens to kidnap the one-year-old. The man without felonies fires a warning shot from a .38 to stop the threat.  The  career criminal goes to his car, pulls out a handgun and points it at the man with the .38, who promptly shoots him in the chest, killing him.  The handgun the felon retrieved from the car was a non-firing, realistic toy...

Definitely Darwin Award material.

Hint to Missouri: THIS Is a Problem

News item:

...Early Wednesday morning, Max Suchan, a law student serving as a National Lawyers Guild legal observer, was arrested. Suchan, a student at DePaul University College of Law, was released after spending about four hours in a police paddywagon, according to the guild. He has not been charged....

National Lawyers Guild, eh.

That's a Communist Party front group.  Always was, always will be.

That is a Big Problem.  Those are the guys Shakespeare wrote about.

UPDATE:  Kengor noticed the same thing. 

Chisholm and Accountability Board, Twit-Warriors

Herewith Andy McCarthy's lead graf:

It has come to this after six years of Barack Obama’s Chicago-style community-organizer governance: The hard Left no longer believes it necessary to pretend that the rule of law matters. It is politics as combat. The devolution can be measured from the trumped-up indictment of Tom DeLay to the trumped-up indictment of Rick Perry...

McCarthy didn't mention Scott Walker supporters.  He could have, of course.  Chisholm, a far-left D.A. did to Walker's supporters exactly what McCarthy describes.

IOW, Chisholm has decided to weaponize "law" to eliminate his political opponents, and he was joined in that effort by the "Accountability" Board pencil-necked geeks.

Well, if it's war that they want.....

Jazz Shaw Misses the Mark, By a Mile

Shaw, writing at HotAir, managed to miss the elephant in the room on a couple of counts.

...The old assumptions of law enforcement and their unwritten compact with the citizenry relied on a society where the police – and the laws – were respected, and criminals were a minority who would be rejected by the rank and file residents. But when the majority of an entire community decides to break that compact, the formula changes. They realize that they outnumber – and frequently outgun – the cops. A slumbering, snarling beast is awakened and in short order the police can find themselves on the run. This is not a formula for freedom of speech… it’s the path to mayhem and the breakdown of civil society. Before you’re too quick to demand the “demilitarization” of the police, you might want to remember who it is that stands between the neighborhood you have now and South Central L.A circa 1992....

Well, maybe.  But maybe not.

It is true that the 'unwritten compact' of which he writes has seemingly almost disappeared.  But the next sentence is less true than Shaw might want us to believe.  First off, it has never been "a majority of an entire community" which decides to break that compact.  Last night, the curfew was broken by perhaps 300 people, 1/10th of which were outside agitators (Black Panthers).  Further, many of the looters in Ferguson were also outsiders; arrest records show that they were residents of other States (Texas among them.)

Shaw might be in his 40's, which would excuse his apparent ignorance of the National Guard.  During the riots in Milwaukee (late '60's), it was clear that the police could not contain the disturbance.  In only 3 days, the Mayor asked for--and the Governor sent--the National Guard, which, in conjunction with the police and Sheriff, quelled the riot in only a few days.

We cannot account for the reluctance of the LA or Ferguson authorities to request the National Guard, of course.  That is a question which should be asked.

Shaw not only missed the 'call out the Guard' elephant; he also demonstrates his lack of understanding of the Principle of Subsidiarity.  Perhaps that also has to do with youth, because it certainly shouldn't be from lack of education, right?

In a well-ordered society, each level of that society has different responsibilities according to their capabilities.  When parental or adult remedies fail, the neighborhood, or church, takes up the slack.  When those fail, the municipality or County steps in.  When THEY fail, it is up to the State, and in extremis, the Feds.  (The niceties of Posse Comitatus will not be discussed here....)

What we have at the local level is a very serious case of mission creep.  One can only speculate as to why--whether it's machismo or political silliness--but in either case it's simply stupid.  I have no problem justifying body armor for the locals, sniper rifles, or locals using tear gas.  APCs?  Full-auto M16A2's?  Not so much.  They are the tools of the military and should be reserved to them.

Fortunately, each State HAS a military available on short notice.  Ferguson (and the blithering dodo (D) Gov. Nixon) should have made that call.