Saturday, February 16, 2008

Line o' the Day: Calderon in the Cauldron

 
Michelle Malkin quotes Tom Tancredo's open letter to Felipe Calderon:

In your speech yesterday to the California State legislature, you lectured the American people on how to improve our immigration policies. Why did you not propose that we model our policies on Mexico’s own policies toward illegal entry across your own southern border? Mexico expends enormous resources to prevent Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans from entering the country illegally, but you castigate the United States for wanting secure borders. Mr. President, in my neighborhood that is called hypocrisy.

Yup. You read my mind. Read the whole thing.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Caution: Congress at Work

 
Mr. Clemens, you say that Mr. McNamee never injected you with steroids.

No sir, Representative Waxman, he did not.

And you say that Mr. McNamee never injected you with HGH.

That's correct, sir.

Did he ever inject you with any substance?

Yes sir, he injected me with Vitamin B-12 shots.

In the tucchus?

Yes, in my hiney. But, sir, could I ask --

Yes, Mr. Clemens?

Didn't I read in the Post today that the Protect America Act is expiring? You know, the one that caught the terrorists calling into the U.S. before they were able to set off a chemical weapons attack?

Yes, Mr. Clemens, that's accurate, but what --

Plus, aren't the first baby boomers starting to retire about now? The ones that are going to bankrupt Social Security if some fundamental changes aren't made?

Correct, but I fail to see --

And isn't it true that Medicare is also a massive, unfunded liability that requires quick action on the part of Congress?

Uhm, why, yes, that's true. But what's your point?

Oh, nothing. Sorry to take us off-topic.

No worries. Now, when Mr. McNamee injected you in the tucchus, was it in your left butt-cheek or right butt-cheek?

Also see: Don Surber's Waxman Meltdown and the WSJ's San Francisco's Democrat

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Larwyn's Links: David Schuster - eat your heart out!

 
Larwyn writes a relaxed, thankful note, rightfully celebrating the death of Imad Mughniyeh from natural causes. Natural, that is, for a bloodthirsty mass-murderer.

Catfight! Maureen Dowd asserts that Hillary's failure is no litmus test for female candidates. Meeoooow!! Most guys love watching catfights, but... Hillary and MoDo? More of a cellulitefight than a catfight.

We're sinking! Throw some metaphors off the boat! Democrat strategist Jim Duffy states that, "If Obama continues to win . . . the whole raison d'etre for her campaign falls apart and we'll see people running from her campaign like rats on a ship."

Gaius snarks a pithy smackdown: "Hillary and Bill Clinton will never be able to pull a Sally Fields and announce that people like them. Because people don't."

More proof that self-deportation works: "Arizona became the first state to require all employers to confirm workers' legal status via the federal "E-Verify" system... After just six weeks, Arizona's system is already working: Newspapers in the state report that illegals are self-deporting by the thousands. Apartment complexes in Phoenix and Tucson confirm that thousands of tenants have skipped town. Many are returning across the border to Mexico... This success is proof that attrition through enforcement works." Enforcement works? Who knew?

AJ Strata asks: Are we seeing Reagan Democrats become McCain Democrats? AJ also has a must-read take on Obama's vote to protect terrorists from surveillance.

Code Pink: the other pink meat

 
Neocon Hippie captured the only-in-Berkeley confrontation between Code Pink and the supporters of the United States.

Not only is it okay to question their patriotism, I think it's safe to say that they're an affiliate of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Asia Times: Turkey 'Wrapped and Delivered'

 
Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst, describes the impact of Turkey's new constitutional amendment that permits young women to wear head scarves while attending universities.

[It's] hit Turkish society like an earthquake. Turkish women, after all, were given the right to vote, own property, run for political office - and the freedom to choose whether or not to wear a veil - shortly after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s, under president Kemal Ataturk.

One person described it as a "Black Revolution", saying that the head scarf is a political symbol and that "we will never allow our country to be dragged back into the dark ages".

Nisrin Baytok, a lawmaker, addressed the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying: "You are not opening the door for freedom; you are shutting it forever for the girls ... [whose] heads are shaved by their brothers to force them to wear head scarves."

...Secular officers in the armed forces and political establishments think otherwise, and have accused Erdogan of pursuing a hidden Islamic agenda. For a period this is what many people in the West thought as well, including the United States.

...His predecessor, Ahmad Necdet Sezar, once said "religious fundamentalism have reached dramatic proportions" in Turkey and argued that Islamic fundamentalism "is trying to infiltrate politics, education, and the state; it is systematically eroding values".

...In cases where a theocracy is in power, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, the veil is obligatory and not observing it can lead to severe punishment. In Iran, prosecutor general Abolfazl Musavi-Tabrizi once said, "Anyone who rejects the principle of hijab in Iran is an apostate, and the punishment for an apostate under Islamic law is death." Under the Taliban in Afghanistan, it was claimed that "the face of a woman is a source of corruption" and therefore, it should be covered...

Moubayed is of the opinion that permitting the hijab is appropriate, since it reflects the will of the people. I'm not convinced. I'm guessing it soon becomes required of all females due to harassment of those who choose not to wear it.

As the residents of Gaza found out, if Democratic institutions are used to elect a totalitarian government, those institutions are very short-lived indeed.

In this case, I'll gladly take wagers that the extremists will soon succeed in establishing religious law as superior to secular law.

Line o' the day: our curiously incurious "professional" journalists

 
Charles at LGF:

Does anyone think that if a news crew happened to capture on film a Confederate flag hanging in a John McCain campaign office, the rest of America’s media would just yawn, ignore it, and move on to other things? I’m just asking.

Newsbusters: MSM Remains Incurious About Obama Volunteer With Che Guevara Flag

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Obama promises Che-Che-Che-Changes...

 
IBD asks:

How is it a front-runner for the highest office in the land can reject an American flag on his lapel but permit the display of a huge Cuban flag at one of his offices, emblazoned with a mass murderer's mug?

What are Obama's core beliefs? Who knows, but somewhere Karl Marx is smiling.

Obama, operating without a teleprompter, blurted out the following statement right out of the Communist playbook.

"The insurance and the drug companies aren't going to give up their profits easily . . . Exxon Mobil made $11 billion this past quarter."

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH):

"I’ve talked to Barack a lot about his Patriot Corporation Act, which is not trade per se, but it’s certainly part of the economic package around globalization. The Patriot Corporation Act has not gotten the attention that I would hope it would. But, basically it says that if you play by the rules, if you pay decent wages, health benefits, pension; do your production here; don’t resist unionization on neutral card check, then you will be designated a “Patriot Corporation” and you will get tax advantages and some [preference] on government contracts."

Speaking of patriots, Obama seems to have a problem wearing a U.S. flag lapel pin. The problem is - he refuses to wear the patriotic pin.

"You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said.

"Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest.

It's not just the pin.

Obama appears to object to placing his hand over his heart during the National Anthem.

Well, if we can't figure out Obama's core beliefs and his patriotism, at least we know who his donors are. Oops. I guess we don't know who his real donors are. And there could be a large number of illegal foreign contributors behind his fundraising success.

According to an analysis being released today by a Washington think tank, the Campaign Finance Institute, Senator Obama of Illinois led the pack with such small and secret donations, pulling in about $31 million during 2007...

However, one area of concern with the flood of donations, particularly those made online, is that foreigners could be weighing in illegally in an American election. Mr. Obama's Web site allows donors to choose an address in one of 227 possible countries or territories, including Iran, Iraq, Zimbabwe, and Yemen...

Those donations would, of course, be illegal if they came from non-citizens.

Obama's a curious character. He is a brilliant orator, but possesses not a single noteworthy accomplishment... seems to embrace classic, failed Marxist philosophies and has a dubious allegiance to the United States.

Now that I think about it, he sounds like your garden variety Democratic Presidential candidate.

Secrets of the Great Seal of the United States

 
The Great Seal of the United States is the insignia that appears on the back of every one dollar bill. It is the nation's official emblem and represents the country's authority and sovereignty. It's now celebrating its 225th birthday; its origins date back to the first secretary of state -- Thomas Jefferson -- who headed the State Department from 1789 to 1793.

The National Treasure films have popularized the seal's mythology. Among the rumors:

• That the Seal proves the domination of the United States by a powerful, quasi-religious cult. The Ancient Scottish Rite of Freemasonry is a perennial favorite of conspiracy theorists as some Founding Fathers were Masons and the Seal uses several Masonic symbols.

• That the Seal draws on Satanism or polytheistic ritual to promote a universal new world order under which Earth would be ruled by a single omnipotent government.

• That repeated references to 13 — the number of steps in the unfinished pyramid, stars in the constellation over the eagle's head, arrows in the eagle's claw, stripes on the eagle's shield, letters in the phrase "Annuit Coeptis" — demonstrate the power of 13 American families.

• That there are two seals: one in which the eagle's head faces the arrows for times of war and another in which the eagle's head faces the olive branch for times of peace.

The real history of the seals -- at least its official history as described by the State Department -- appears somewhat less ominous.

• That known Masons like the first U.S. president, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin had no role in designing the final seal, which uses elements of traditional heraldry, such as the unfinished pyramid to symbolize a work in progress, arrows for war and an olive branch for peace. Masons share some of those symbols, but they have never been exclusively the domain of the order.

• That the phrase "Novus Ordo Seculorum" below the Roman numerals for 1776 at the base of the pyramid translates as "A New Order of the Ages" that began with independence and does not imply the United States will be the lynchpin of a sinister "New World Order."

• That the words "Annuit Coeptis" ("Providence favors") and the eye of providence that hovers over the pyramid refer to unexpected interventions of fate that assisted the colonists in creating a new country.

• That the references to 13 refer to the number of colonies that formed the original United States.

All that said, I'm not sure I buy this all-too-innocent fable. Using our electron blogoscope, let's examine the seal in detail.






Barack Obama? What the... ?

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

CNet: Tech News as reported by "Progressives"

 
Balanced reporting from Declan McCullah, who purports to be a tech news writer at CNet. The headline -- Obama, not McCain or Clinton, votes for electronic privacy -- captures the flava.

A U.S. Senate vote that took place two hours ago reveals how much three of our leading presidential candidates are committed to electronic privacy and the rule of law.

Barack Obama passes the test. John McCain failed. Hillary Clinton gets an incomplete.

The vote was on an amendment to deny AT&T and other telecommunications companies legal immunity if they are proven in court to have violated federal privacy law by opening their networks to the National Security Agency...

Quick quiz: which candidate does he favor?

Immediately after 9/11, when said wiretaps occurred, I don't recall many media types railing against the U.S. Government's invasions of privacy. It was perfectly obvious that the feds would begin (and the public was demanding) interception of calls leaving or entering the country if they were connected to known terrorist enclaves.

Furthermore, it is patently a legal practice, considering every time we leave or enter the country, we are subject to warrantless search and seizure of our persons and property.

It's called "Customs". Perhaps Mr. McCullah's heard of it.

I wonder how Mr. Partisan Tech Reporter could distinguish an electronic Customs bureau from a physical one.

As for the constitutionality of FISA, it strikes any serious observer as counterintuitive (putting it kindly) that the Commander-in-Chief can order terrorist camps in Afghanistan pulverized with bunker-busters... but can't listen to a phone call from the same camp to a safe-house in New Jersey!

Put simply: your right to privacy ends at the border. An international flight should put the question to rest for Mr. McCullah.

Also see: National Defense 101: A public service for "Progressives"

DHS warns terrorists may use "pregnancy prosthetics"

 
MSNBC's Deep Background:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is reminding law-enforcement officials of the increased use of female suicide bombers worldwide, and warning that women terrorists might hide explosives in devices “that mimic the look of a pregnant woman.”

The unclassified DHS threat assessment, released Monday and obtained by NBC News, shows photographs of “pregnancy prosthetics,” hollowed-out devices that could hold explosive devices. The report says “female suicide bombers have used devices that make them appear pregnant to hide explosive devices.”

The DHS report states that terrorists are using female bombers more frequently, in part because these attacks generate “more widespread media exposure.” It adds: “Continued use of female suicide bombers-the most recent example being a 3 February 2008 attack at the main railway station in Colombo, Sri Lanka-indicates that terrorists judge this tactic as effective in increasing defenses and thwarting security measures.”

In related news, authorities warned citizens of New York to be on the watch for partisan newsman Keith Olbermann.

One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, stated that "Olbermann may be hiding explosives in the empty husk that is his skull."

Barack Obama positions himself as Jimmy Carter, Part Deux

 
Always sniffing the wires for intriguing news, PrairiePundit caught this snippet in The New York Sun.

A foreign policy adviser to Senator Obama is scheduled to arrive in Syria today as the leader of a RAND Corp. delegation.

Zbigniew Brzezinski will travel to Damascus for meetings as part of a trip Syria's official Cham News agency described as an "important sign that the end of official dialogue between Washington and Damascus has not prevented dialogue with important American intellectuals and politicians."

It's also a sign that Barack Obama is following in Jimmy Carter's footsteps. Brzezinski, of course, was Carter's National Security Adviser.

Mr. Peabody, set the wayback machine to 1979.

The shallow machiavellanism of Brzezinski led him to the notion that Islam was not to be worried about because it was a "bulwark against Communism" and Muslims could help destroy the Soviet Union...

Brzezinski was not slightly wrong about Islam and about Iran -- he was totally, completely wrong.

And so, under his watch, the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini -- a man who Carter called a "man of God" -- began. Iran's radicalized government became the breeding ground and exporter of a virulent, extremist brand of terrorism. Iran funded, trained and equipped Hezbollah, Hamas, Fatah and Ansar al-Islam, to name but a few.

Does Brzezinski have any regrets about his disastrous strategic choices?

Asked if he has regrets about [US policy to support radical Islamists to undermine Russia], he responds, “Regret what?

...What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?” The interviewer then says, “Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.” But Brzezinski responds, “Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn’t a global Islam….

Even after 9/11, Brzezinski maintained that the strategy was sound.

And Barack Obama really wants to be President? Seriously?

Hat tip: Larwyn

I used to be a moonbat

 
The RJC is running a new ad campaign, which seems like an excellent idea.

As for the term moonbat: that's the term they prefer.

Hat tip: Ray

Newspaper headline o' the day

 
Jules Crittenden:

Hat tip: Larwyn

Monday, February 11, 2008

The Democratic Party Civil War Scenario

 
A Facebook thread reminded me of a scenario I'd been thinking about (and, no I don't hang out on Facebook - it showed up in a Google search. I promise!! *voice cracking*)...

1) Hillary and Barack go into the DNC with Obama holding a small lead
2) The 796 super-delegates decide the presidency in a smoke-filled backroom... and Hillary emerges the victor
3) A Democratic Civil War breaks out

Peggy Noonan asked an excellent question a few days ago: does Hillary Clinton know how to lose?

If she loses the nomination, does she gracefully withdraw? Does she know how? Or would she wage an intense legal battle from sea to shining sea?

I think we all know the answer to this question.

A president, not a nursemaid...

 
...Our president is NOT Nanny-in-Chief - elected to give us 'free" healthcare, or ban smoking, or order us to eat our vegetables and lay off the trans-fats.

Our president is not Cheerleader-in-Chief - elected to lead us in vapid feel-good chants like, "YES WE CAN!"

Our president is not Registered Foreign Agent-in Chief - elected to make other nations feel good about us, or to make us more like them...

Read the whole thing.

Hillary's cough drops

 
Make sure the foundation's applied con-sis-tently...

How's the eyeliner look? Even? Be certain!

Confirm that the mascara's the way I like it...

Eyeshadow! Eyeshadow! Don't forget the eyeshadow!

My makeup is perfect. If you ask me a question that a requires a coughing attack, I will have your head placed on a pike.


NewsBusters: Hillary's Convenient Coughing Fit Stopped Her Answer on Bill's Role
Photos: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster