Can Obama Learn Nothing?

Mr Obama seems to reflect little of his education. As I figured in SLI, "he has been taught, but what has he learned?"

I submit: he has learned actually quite little. And certainly, he has been massively schooled in the past few months since January 20th. Despite this, he refuses to open his mind to other paths, to alternatives, and continues upon courses that history proves and has proven lead to trouble, ruination, unfulfilled promises and disaster.

Europe danced with Socialism for years and years. The UK continues to embrace.

But the Truth will tend to Out. Witnesseth:

PARIS — A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of Socialism’s slow collapse.

Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to “irrational exuberance,” greed and the weakness of regulatory systems, European Socialist parties and their left-wing cousins have not found a compelling response, let alone taken advantage of the right’s failures.

German voters clobbered the Social Democratic Party on Sunday, giving it only 23 percent of the vote, its worst performance since World War II.

Voters also punished left-leaning candidates in the summer’s European Parliament elections and trounced French Socialists in 2007. Where the left holds power, as in Spain and Britain, it is under attack. Where it is out, as in France, Italy and now Germany, it is divided and listless.

Are you reading and heeding, Leftists, Demorats and Socialists in America? I suspect not. You are completely and fussedly Tone Deaf when it comes to History, quite like your current leader. And this -- again, are you listening? -- despite the seeming "collapse" of Capitalism. Not.

But -- oh yes -- the version of Capitalism that was FORCED upon private business that resulted in our current collapse. As in: forced loans to those who had no potential to repay. Then let the greed commence, on both sides, buyer and seller.

A collapse that is about to be REVISITED because the Demorats, currently In Power, learn nothing from history. They possess ideological Blinders because they want them. Plain and simple.

From The Atlantic:

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the Obama administration is on the verge of committing as much as $35 billion in financing and subsidies to provide mortgages to low- to moderate-income families. Hmm... this sounds vaguely familiar. The government subsidizing the mortgage market making credit artificially easy -- oh yeah! That was one of the reasons why the mortgage market overheated, and we fell into a deep financial crisis. Have we learned nothing?

No. That's the simple answer.

Are you LISTENING America??

Mr Obama is about to REPEAT the same damned mistake that got us here in the FIRST PLACE!

WHERE is your outrage? Where is your umbrage? Where is your VOICE?

Hello??

Loans to people who have little if any chance of repayment? PUSHED by our government?

Let's just shoot ourselves in the head and bring down the economy AGAIN!

BZ

ObamaKare: Seeking Collapse

The institution and passing of ObamaKare to include "single-payer" -- i.e., government managed and run healthcare -- will guarantee the ruination of this nation.

Additionally, what we as Conservatives suspected all along was confirmed today: Demorats want -- no, scratch that -- demand that illegal Mexican invaders be medically covered under the healthcare mandate.

From the Washington Times:

Fearful that they're losing ground on immigration and health care, a group of House Democrats is pushing back and arguing that any health care bill should extend to all legal immigrants and allow illegal immigrants some access.

The Democrats, trying to stiffen their party's spines on the contentious issue, say it's unfair to bar illegal immigrants from paying their own way in a government-sponsored exchange. Legal immigrants, they say, regardless of how long they've been in the United States, should be able to get government-subsidized health care if they meet the other eligibility requirements.

Paying their own way?

Undocumented, if they can afford it, should be able to buy their own private plans. It keeps them out of the emergency room," said Rep. Michael M. Honda, California Democrat and chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Hello? Is anyone using their brain? Illegal Mexican invaders use the ER because they know that they cannot be refused and because they know they don't have to pay. If they don't have to pay, why should they pay? And as illegals do they have the fiscal wherewithal to pay the same rates as legal immigrants and the so-called "middle class"? See my previous question.

La Raza wants all the Free Stuff it can extort:

The National Council of La Raza launched its own "flood their voice mail" campaign last week to put pressure on Mr. Baucus to expand coverage in his proposal to include all legal immigrants and to drop verification language in the legislation that would prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining coverage.

You know La Raza -- translated = The Race. As in: above all others. See an interesting video below:



Further, Our Hero's poll numbers for ObamaKare seem to be ever-dwindling, as in:

Just 41% of voters nationwide now favor the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s down two points from a week ago and the lowest level of support yet measured.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% are opposed to the plan.

And finally, were you aware of this very salient and disturbing fact in terms of collapsing our nation: 45% of US doctors will consider quitting if ObamaKare passes:

Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found.

The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors' own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul.

It also calls into question whether an overhaul is even doable; 72% of the doctors polled disagree with the administration's claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better-quality care at lower cost.

That result would simply shut down the entire nation, medically.

Keep on, fellow Conservatives. Do not flag, do not waver, do not push this issue aside thinking it's simply "won" at this point. It is not. Keep exposing the deep, dark inner guts of ObamaKare.

WHO will PAY for it all?

Take ONE guess. Then point the finger at yourself.

BZ

Ominous

Perhaps wrong for Sunday, I ask that you please play this interpretation of Petr Eben's Moto Ostinato.

Some people, like my brother, enjoy various pipe organs around the country for their charm and the massively-facile dexterity demanded of their artistes. There is no doubt that some pipe organ keyboardists border on the supernatural. Every finger of every hand works, every foot is placed. An exquisite organist is -- well -- busy.

I, however, tend to "enjoy" the sound of a massive pipe organ only when it tends to delve into the lower registers, when it seeks the depths of minors, extended bass pedals, when the music is dark, rumbling, arrogant, yet utilizing overwhelming chords, keyed to frighten, surge and explore the Mr Hyde within us all.

Let us listen to Eben:



BZ

PM Netanyahu Is Correct: The UN Is A Disgrace

Our Mr Obama undermined Israel on Wednesday. Mr Hugo Chavez certainly enjoyed and supported Our Hero's speech. An excellent analysis of that speech here.

Unfortunately, for many ignorers of fact, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck back on Thursday.



As Hugh Hewitt wrote on Wednesday:

The worst of many awful parts of (Obama's) speech is that the president engages in Israel-bashing before a group that includes many of the worst sort of thugs and dictators. President Obama missed the opportunity to remind the world that Israel has an absolute right to exist, and that no serious negotiation can begin until that right is recognized by all the powers in the Palestinian territories. The president's slam on the legitimacy of Israeli settlements is a red herring, and everyone knows it. The obstacle to peace is Hamas and every other extremist who wants Israel destroyed, not construction within previously established lines of construction.

Ahmadinnerjacket abjures the Holocaust. He wants Israel completely removed from the face of the earth. How is it that one may even attempt to conduct any form of rational discussion with an individual representing a nation that disregards historical fact?

As Mr Hewitt concludes:

The second worst part of the speech was the studied refusal bluntly to name Iran as an oppressor of its own people and an exporter of terror and breaker of international rules. Part of the essence of appeasement is the refusal by free states to speak bluntly about their fascist counterparts. The president's meaningless rhetoric about "certain truths which are self-evident" must be a very bitter pill for the dissidents of iran in prison, and their families and friends, who were looking for a statement of solidarity, not an invitation for the fanatics to continue their repression under the guise of each country pursuing "a path rooted in the culture of its people and its past traditions." What an embarrassment, but also how predictable given the president's long standing hostility to Israel and his reflexive desire to not offend our enemies.

America has, in essence, kicked Israel to the curb -- the only supporter of anything Western in the entire Middle East. Tiny Israel -- has anyone ever stopped to think of the achievements this country has made whilst surrounding by those nations who would and have invaded it in moments? And yet, by wars, Israel is continuously demanded to return small portions of land it held fairly as the result of these wars, whilst not being the aggressor.

Mr Obama is simply an apologist for American Power. John Bolton scores Obama's speech here and concludes: Our Hero is the perfect representative for a world he increasingly pushes as post-American.

The United States, friends, is the last and best chance for the entire planet. You diminish the power of America to the detriment of yourself and every other nation on the globe.

BZ

Global Warming:

Essentially, Mr Obama believes that anything and everything wrong with the environment is the fault and responsibility of the United States.

We are wrong. Always have been, always will. It is He and only He who can right these wrongs, and not only the environment.

Our Hero said at the UN on Tuesday:

Obama warned that a failure to address the problem could create an "irreversible catastrophe." Obama said time is "running out" to fix the problem but that, "we can reverse it."

This, from Mr Obama, whose own personal $350K+ limousine is essentially a tank absent tracks, a GM Top Kick commercial truck chassis with a Cadillac grille, weighing 6 to 8 tons, and acquiring (at best) a fabulous 8 mpg.

And all the other politicos from other countries attending the UN? How about this Enviro Reality Check:

It happens every autumn: midtown Manhattan becomes the motorcade capital of the world. Each foreign leader in town has a convoy of vehicles. Some of them, like President Obama's motorcade, are 20-to-30 vehicles in length. It's so long - it seems that when the front of it reaches the U.N., the back end is still back at his hotel.

Exacerbating the annual exercise in diplomatic gridlock are police actions, blocking intersections and closing streets for security to facilitate motorcade movements. It renders countless other vehicles immobile while waiting for motorcades to pass, their engines idling but still blowing exhaust into the midtown air.

Does it undermine the goal of the climate change summit and cause the pledges of environmental concern to ring hollow?

Uh. Yes.

Mr Obama IS coming again with his Cap & Tax bill. He will push and push and push and push. It's what He does; it's what He is. If you think He's forgotten about this bill then you are completely daft.

Because, after all, as far as He and His Administration are concerned, you're simply stupid. You need to be schooled. You need to be pushed. And moreover, you need to be punished for your improper actions and thoughts:

When it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees Americans as unruly teenagers and the Administration as the parent that will have to teach them a few lessons.

Mr Obama wants to tell the world what to do economically:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will urge world leaders this week to launch a new push in November to rebalance the world economy, but there are doubts national governments will bow to external advice.

Such as His advice and His policies have worked so magically wonderfully to date, in His own country?

And Britain is pushing Mr Obama for all its worth. From UK's Guardian:

Much hope has been invested in Barack Obama's ability to strike a new course for the US following eight years of Bush administration unpopularity. Yet many in the US and abroad are impatient with the pace of progress under the Obama administration. The president made the rounds on five news talkshows on Sunday as he pressed his policies and vision, preparing for what is likely to be a difficult week.

Besides the ongoing battle over healthcare, this week sees two showdowns between Europe and the US that will reveal further slippage in American global leadership. The first showdown comes today at a UN special session on climate change in New York City; the second will come at the end of the week at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, where America and Europe will butt heads over financial system reforms designed to ensure that the AIGs of the world can never again cause an economic collapse.

Europe has been increasingly critical of America's failures to live up to its global responsibilities. The US is not only the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases but is by far the largest per capita emitter of carbon and other pollutants. China comes close to the US in terms of total carbon emissions, but it has four times more people, who each belch far less individually. Europe, while having much the same high living standard, has an "ecological footprint" that is only half of America's, since Europe has taken leadership in implementing renewable technologies and conservation practices.

Britain wants America to mirror itself. Yeah. Right. Like the UK is such a powerful and leading nation. Uh-huh.

You want to turn control of your life to the Demorats? You want to turn larger chunks of your check over to the government? You want to shut down commerce? You want to shut down trucking? You want to shut down industry? You want to shut down electrical generation? You want to shut down the bulk of our economy? You want to buy into hysterical hyperbole?

Right.

Then simply do nothing.

Be a Good Sheep.

Baaah.

BZ

When You Retire:

Where, physically, do you want to be?

In which state? In which city or town?

If I had my ideal, I'd retire in Ft. Bragg, Fornicalia.

This is a town on the far northern coast of Fornicalia where there are not only fir trees but jagged cliffs, fog, rain, and a smaller highway. One. And one hospital.

My wife and I have visited here over twenty times. We think it's time to consider purchasing property. Property closer to the ocean is unconsiderable. We'll have to likely think about parcels some miles inshore from the coast itself.

But we want to be where it's cool and where it's wetter, all year 'round.

Where do YOU want to be when you retire?

BZ

America: HERE's Your Gubmint-Run ObamaKare:

I keep telling you and telling you and telling you.

The federal government is expressed in this fashion: "Enumerated in Article One, Section 8, these include the powers to levy and collect taxes, provide for common defense and promote the pursuit of liberty; to coin money and regulate its value; provide for punishment for counterfeiting; establish post offices and roads, promote progress of science by issuing patents, create federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court, define and punish piracies and felonies, declare war, raise and support armies, provide and maintain a navy, make rules for the regulation of land and naval forces, provide for, arm, and discipline the militia, exercise exclusive legislation in the District of Columbia, and make laws necessary and proper to execute the powers of the Congress."

Read THIS sentence:

All powers not expressly assigned to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people."

WHY do we insist on pushing control UP instead of DOWN to states and local governments?

And, when so many persons seem to be insisting on ObamaKare, why do we not question and examine what already EXISTS in other countries regarding national healthcare?

Why do we INSIST on mandating our taxes be sent to such a distant point that we have NO immediate input as to their distribution and application?

In addition, we seem to be unable to learn from history or current events. Currently in the UK, from the Telegraph regarding the NHS (National Health Service):

Doctors were making mistakes in up to 15 per cent of cases because they were too quick to judge patients’ symptoms, they said, while others were reluctant to ask more senior colleagues for help.

While in most cases the misdiagnosis did not result in the patient suffering serious harm, a sizeable number of the millions of NHS patients were likely to suffer significant health problems as a result, according to figures. It was said that the number of misdiagnoses was “just the tip of the iceberg”, with many people still reluctant to report mistakes by their doctors.

Your local DMV can't even assure your proper registration and license. And why is it that most rational people don't want to deal with their DMV?

You want to turn your health, your life -- over to the DMV?

BZ

One Million Dollars

Let's say something amazing happened.

Let's say that a person you once befriended and assisted, in a way you thought insignificant and about which you had completely forgotten, wired one million dollars into your personal account.

You can't put it under your mattress. You can't take it out in cash.

What would you do?

How would you invest that money?

What would you do with that money in order to ensure you reaped the greatest possible yield and paid the least amount of taxes possible, legally?

BZ

Garage Sales: Your Ticket To Federal Prison

Sell an Easy Bake oven at a garage sale, "go to jail"?

Face a fine of $15 million dollars?

What the hell? Is Our Hero attempting to fund ObamaKare from garage sale violations?

The CPSC says:

Americans who slap $1 pricetags on their used possessions at garage sales or bazaar events risk being slapped with fines of up to $15 million, thanks to a new government campaign.

Why, that's certainly "all things in moderation," isn't it?

Wait for it . . . wait for it: time for a Garage Sale Czar?

Here comes the Leftist inanity:

Those who resell recalled children's products are not only breaking the law, they are putting children's lives at risk,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. "Resale stores should make safety their business and check for recalled products and hazards to children."

In order to comply, stores, flea markets, charities and individuals selling used goods — in person or online — are expected to consult the commission's 24-page Handbook for Resale Stores and Product Resellers (pdf) and its Web site for a breakdown of what they can't sell.

Obama's Gubmint is gonna teach you a lesson, boy:

Violators caught selling anything on the enormous list face fines of up to $100,000 per infraction and up to $15 million for a related series of infractions.

But FOX News Legal Analyst Bob Massi says the law makes no distinction for families and small resellers.

Here's why I occasionally lean Libertarian:

It's absurd when nanny-state bureaucrats want to regulate things we buy at mom-and-pop shops or second-hand stores," Wes Benedict, executive director of the Libertarian National Committee, told FOXNews.com. "Consumer product safety is best left to a free market where suppliers can compete based on reputation and track records. American grown-ups aren't stupid, and they know they need to be careful about what they buy for their children from complete strangers at no-name stores."

I'm sorry. I apologize for the brief stream of Common Sense written in the above pull quote.

Video of a garage sale here. Some affected recalls portrayed here.

The government tells us when we're bad. The government seldom tells us when we're good. It tells us what to breathe, how to breathe, where to live, what to drive, how much money to donate, how much money will be forcibly removed from our paychecks against our will, what to eat, what to drink, taxes on our pets, what to think, when to feel guilty, how to kill people, how to sneeze, "do as I say, not as I do," and other points too numerous to mention. The government is nothing but All About No. Look at that photo above. Don't you feel guilty about slaughtering innocent children??

Nanny State. More ass-kissing, hand-holding, treating adults like Kindergartners and Deutschland Uber Alles, anyone?

Bueller?

BZ

Betrayal

Poland and the Czech Republic are (scratch that, were) two of the strongest allies the United States has (scratch that, had) in Europe.

They believe their countries' safety has been betrayed by this current administration:

WARSAW, Poland – Poles and Czechs voiced deep concern Friday at President Barack Obama's decision to scrap a Bush-era missile defense shield planned for their countries.

"Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back," the Polish tabloid Fakt declared on its front page.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski said he was concerned that Obama's new strategy leaves Poland in a dangerous "gray zone" between Western Europe and the old Soviet sphere.

But please note this:

The Bush administration always said that the planned system — with a radar near Prague and interceptors in northern Poland — was meant as defense against Iran. But Poles and Czechs saw it as protection against Russia, and Moscow too considered a military installation in its backyard to be a threat.

So Mr Obama has backed down.

He has backed down to Iran. And he has backed down to Russia.

What might your conclusions be? I know mine. . .

BZ

How Good It Feels To Be Alive

And to everyone.



God Gave Rock and Roll To You:

God gave rock and roll to you
Gave rock and roll to you
Put it in the soul of everyone,

God gave rock and roll to you
Gave rock and roll to you
Saved rock and roll for everyone

Love your friend and love your neighbour
Love your life and love your neighbour
No it's never too late to change your mind

Don't step on snails, don't climb in trees,
Love Cliff Richard but please don't tease
It's never too late to change your mind

Aaaaaaah. . .

God gave rock and roll to you,
Gave rock and roll to you
Put it in the soul of everyone

God gave rock and roll to you
Gave rock and roll to you
Saved rock and roll for everyone

If you wanna be a singer or play guitar
Man, you've gotta sweat or you won't get far,
'Coz it's never too late to work 9 - to - 5

And if you're young then you'll never be old
Music can make your dreams unfold

How good it feels to be alive

Aaaaaaaah. . .

God gave rock and roll to you
Gave rock and roll to you

Put it in the soul of everyone

God gave rock and roll to you
- To Danny Boy -
Gave rock and roll to you
- He gave to your sons -
Saved rock and roll for everyone

God gave rock and roll to you;
Gave rock and roll to you;
Put it in the soul of everyone.

--

Rejoice in what you have.

BZ

The "Mainstream Media" Truly Now Is Dead:

Because, at this point in our history, the so-called "Mainstream Media" is now the FRINGE Media. They do NOT represent ANYthing "mainstream" anymore.

Jimmy Carter is out of his mind. He's simply a doddering, insignificant old fool. And yet he's getting media play and the DC March on Saturday is ignored, the recent terrorist events and arrests are ignored, ACORN is ignored wholesale.

By the so-called "Mainstream Media." The FRINGE media.

Jimmy Carter said:

(CNN) -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday that racial politics played a role in South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst during President Obama's speech to Congress last week and in some of the opposition the president has faced since taking office.

Jimmy Carter and his ilk simply see racists under every bed, in every closet. Because they otherwise have no cogent argument and find themselves backed into a corner for lack of fact recognition.

When there is no defense, they have to -- HAVE to -- play offense.

And, trust me, it IS offensive. Massively offensive.

Joe Wilson, me, you, couldn't care less that Mr Obama happens to have a slightly higher general melanin count -- although, not horrendously so and by his own admission -- than previous presidents. Jimmy Carter said:

I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American," Carter told "NBC Nightly News." "I live in the South, and I've seen the South come a long way, and I've seen the rest of the country that shares the South's attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African-Americans."

So Jimmy Carter bottom-lines it this way: ANY disagreement with our current president = RAMPANT RACISM. Video here.

I say: you, sir, are simply a Bleeding Loon.

His opinions get the media play.

ACORN is purposely ignored.

This is a US media that has, I submit, the ONLY hand in its own demise.

And the sad thing? I really enjoyed holding a newspaper in my hand every day.

BZ

The US Census:

Is it illegal to refuse to partake of the US Census?

Can an individual be lawfully arrested for said refusal?

13 USC 9.

13 USC 141.

13 USC 193.

13 USC 214.

But here's the crux of the biscuit:

13 USC 221:

(a) Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided for by subchapters I, II, IV, and V of chapter 5 of this title, applying to himself or to the family to which he belongs or is related, or to the farm or farms of which he or his family is the occupant, shall be fined not more than $100. (b) Whoever, when answering questions described in subsection (a) of this section, and under the conditions or circumstances described in such subsection, willfully gives any answer that is false, shall be fined not more than $500. (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, no person shall be compelled to disclose information relative to his religious beliefs or to membership in a religious body.

Looks like I'll be $100 short sometime this year or next.

I do not answer census questions. Never have. Never will. And certainly not during this administration. Figures lie and liars figure.

BZ

A Breed Apart

Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens."--George Mason, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 17, 1788

Let's examine this quote for a moment. What is its meaning?

I might summarize thusly:

Unless each branch of government -- Legislative, Judicial, Executive -- suffers like the people their decisions affect. . .

Then nothing in Washington or in the halls of each state capital will change.

Both sides of the aisle purposely exclude themselves from most every law they enact, ruling they produce, decision they make. They are insulated by wealth, status, distance and security.

That, you see, is the foundation for the bulk of the problems we in the United States face today.

James Bryce, a British historian and professor, wrote The American Commonwealth in 1888. Bryce argued that the largest threat to personal freedom wasn't the "tyranny of the majority." He believed the "fatalism of the multitude" posed a much larger danger; that is to say, as the electorate tends to disengage and disinvest in the system, the door opens to greater corruption and arbitrary rule. As it was once said, local city councils and such are, these days, naught but "training camps" for abuse and dishonesty. For the precise reason I posit above.

We The People have created an elite class, a ruling class, of so-called "civil servants" whose sole purpose is to serve themselves.

Until this changes, nothing else will change.

BZ

ACORN: Some Good News

1. Thank God, ACORN IS This Stupid:

From FoxNews.com:

Two more ACORN officials were fired Friday after a second video surfaced showing staffers in the community organizers' Washington office offering to help a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute acquire illegal home loans that would help them set up a brothel.

The firings came less than 24 hours after another pair of ACORN officials from the group's Baltimore office were canned for instructing the "pimp" and "prostitute" how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for 13 "very young" girls from El Salvador that pair said they wanted to import to work as child prostitutes.

Darn. ACORN officials fired. How sad.

2. ACORN Will NOT Be Involved In The 2010 Census:

And shocking to think they would have. From Breitbart.com:

It is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts," Groves wrote.

What is it that Forrest Gump said? "Stupid is as stupid does"?

BZ

9-11-2001: One American Eight Years Later

We forget that Islam attacked America on September 11th of 2001.

3,000 American lives were lost that day. First estimates indicated that, due to the number of persons customarily occupying those buildings early in the morning, upwards of 50,000 Americans could theoretically have been killed. It was by the sheerest dint of luck that this didn't occur.

3,000 or 300,000 -- Islam would have killed as many as humanly possible that day, to include the entire Pentagon and our nation's Capitol.

And yet, only after 9/11 did we as a nation begin focusing on the rights and existence of Muslims. Why is that?

What happened to the rights of the man above?

Did he wake up that Tuesday morning thinking he would be left with no alternative to his life but jumping out some window or ragged hole made by the trauma of an aircraft impacting his place of work?

And yet, there he is, clothed, dark pants, light shirt, dark shoes -- jumping -- head-first towards what he knows to be concrete below.

What he knows to be his death below.

And so what was his alternative? Scalding strips of flesh hanging from his arms? An onrushing flash flame created by burning Jet A fuel?

Is that a decision at all?

To my knowledge no one has yet determined the identity of this man. And yet he clearly had a family and a name and a past and parents and possibly children.

And but for today, he is primarily forgotten.

THAT, you see, is our national legacy.

Eight years later.

BZ

One Down; Obama's Target-Rich Nominee Environment

Van Jones: down for the count. Resigned.

Why?

Conservative bloggers. Like me. Like many of my readers. Who dared, who had the temerity to pose actual questions -- much less fluffy little softballs -- where "real journalists" lacked the testicles to tread. Lest they, the DEM/MSM (horrors!) be in conflict with Our Hero.

From Politico.com:

(The resignation of Van Jones) confirmed that the real opposition party to Obama right now is the conservative grassroots that draws its energy from Fox News, talk radio and the Drudge Report, and often leaves Republican elected officials scrambling to catch up.

Quite absolutely correct. The GOP has certainly done nothing. Who managed to bring up the facts about ObamaKare -- and derail any pure version? Conservatives and bloggers.

The Demorats just don't have the votes to push the House ObamaKare bill, HR3200.

Who managed to bring up the facts about Van Jones -- and acquire his resignation? Conservatives and bloggers.

Which Obama Payback Nomination is next up to bat -- as a nod to support from animal rights groups?

Why, that could be Mr Obama's pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a Mr Cass Sunstein.

This, by the way, is a man who believes animals should "be granted the opportunity to sue with human representation in a court of law."



Mr Obama's problems lie not with Republicans, who are predominantly absent in both substance and style, but with fellow Demorats.

In the meantime, Our Hero's negative ratings continue to rise. Even Camille Paglia in Salon.com asks if it's too late for Mr Obama to turn things around.

As Dennis Prager logically writes: "the bigger the government, the smaller the individual."

I only ask: please keep it up, Mr Obama. Your nominations, your policies, your proposed bills create nothing but a veritable Target Rich Environment for myself and fellow Conservatives.

You have not the first clue. You are remarkably tone deaf. Thankfully.

To have our Reagan, we had to have our Carter.

To have a groundswell Revolution, we had to have our Obama.

BZ

Spending: Then & Now

Our Mr Obama said in a 2006 floor speech that preceded a Sentate vote to extend the debt limit:

Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”

Mr Obama then later joined his fellow Demorats in voting en bloc against raising the debt increase.

From TheHill.com:

Now Obama is asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling, something lawmakers are almost certain to do despite misgivings about the federal debt. The ceiling already has been hiked three times in the past two years, and the House took action earlier this year to raise the ceiling to $13 trillion.

"Conservatives" elected Mr George Walker Bush. Myself included. Little did we know, then, that he was just a bit of a Social Conservative (with his millions and millions of dollars wasted on AIDS in Africa, an exercise in enriching the pockets of black continental African racists). And little did we know that he was a massive Fiscal Liberal. He never met an expensive bill he didn't essentially endorse. Vetoes? Vetoes? "We don't need no steenkeen vetoes!"

Considering that, he was only, at best, a moderate security Conservative. He refused to constrain our borders both north and south.

Which brings us to now:

Again, from TheHill.com:

The Senate must move legislation to raise the federal debt limit beyond $12.1 trillion by mid-October, a move viewed as necessary despite protests about the record levels of red ink.The move will highlight the nation’s record debt, which has been central to Republican attacks against Democratic congressional leaders and President Barack Obama. The year’s deficit is expected to hit a record $1.6 trillion.

Where's TARP?

Where's all of our Stimulus Packages?

Who accounts for this? Where has an accounting been? Nowhere? Nothing? Billions pissed away as if they didn't exist?

And yet, despite this, despite Mr Obama's abhorrence with the Bush Administrations up-pushing of the Nation Debt?

Oh, well.

That's fine.

Because he is, after all, The One. And it's All About Him now.

BZ

Let's Talk About Van Jones: Ten Important Points

1. It would appear our illustrious Green Jobs Czar, Mr Van Jones (he of the stellar and unimpeachable character), took time off, prior to his appointment, to record a very popular CD hosted by Mumia Abu-Jamal entitled WARTIMES: Reports From The Opposition.

This runaway success, on Mr Jones's "Freedom Fighter Music" label, was unearthed on Weasel Zippers via Free Republic:

Van Jones, Barack Obama's Green Jobs Czar, produced a record album entitled "WarTimes: Reports from the Opposition" a few years ago that was narrated by convicted cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal and featured a clip of an interview Jones did where he slammed the United States and Israel and proclaimed his stand with a "global struggle" against the United States. Jones used his Ella Baker Center for Human Rights to found Freedom Fighter Music, the label WarTimes appeared on. WarTimes is also the name of an anti-war-on-al-Qaeda propaganda newspaper Jones helped organize.

The album was unearthed by the website Verum Serum, which posted a YouTube video with highlights of the album.

About three minutes forty-five seconds in to the highlight video, there is a brief interview with Van Jones at an anti-Israel demonstration where Jones criticizes Israel and calls for Palestinian 'right of return' then unloads on the United States:

"We see violence against poor people and poor people of color within the U.S. border, at the U.S. border, and beyond the U.S. border and you see U.S. tax dollars funding all of it. And so we have this now global struggle against the U.S. led security apparatus and military agenda that impacts people here and impacts people around the world and I think that we need to see our problems as linked."

Mumia closes out the album by describing it as a "small tease of the truth about U.S. imperialism's war on the world."

Our Czar Jones, as a San Francisco lawyer, supported cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal in a 1999 Oakland demonstration.

2. Mr Jones could quite potentially have a great deal to do with Our Hero's Cap & Tax campaign.

3. Unfortunately, Mr Jones has a bit of a potty-mouth, as he called Republicans "assholes" during a February energy conference in Oakland. Video is here.

4. Jones is an avowed communist:

Speaking to the East Bay Express, Jones said he first became radicalized in the wake of the 1992 Rodney King riots, during which time he was arrested.

"I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th," he said. "By August, I was a communist.

"I met all these young radical people of color – I mean really radical: communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This is what I need to be a part of.' I spent the next 10 years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary," he said.

Trevor Loudon, a researcher and opponent of communism who runs the New Zeal blog, identified several Bay Area communists who worked with STORM, including Elizabeth Martinez, who helped advise Jones' Ella Baker Human Rights Center, which Jones founded to advocate civil justice. Jones and Martinez also attended a "Challenging White Supremacy" workshop together.

Mr Jones has his website here.

5. The Obama White House isn't saying much about the learned and rational Mr Jones.

6. Nice job of Mr Jones portraying former President Bush on crack. Sterling work, sir, such a professional individual you are! A cut above!

7. Mr Jones says that "only suburban white kids" shoot up schools. Imagine that. And apparently only black kids shoot up black kids. LOTS of black kids. Huh. Must be genetic. Note to self: look into this.

8. There is already a call for Mr Jones to resign. Frankly, I'm surprised it's coming from an actual Republican:

Rep. Mike Pence, the no. 3 Republican in the House, is calling on Obama green jobs czar Van Jones to resign.

This sort of thing would usually be laughed off by Democrats -- a conservative Republican telling a Democratic appointee to quit.

But the Obama team isn't exactly jumping to back Jones today in wake of revelations that in the past he signed on to one of the "truther" groups that claimed 9/11 was an inside job. Oh, and he called Republicans a**holes in a video earlier this year before he was appointed.

9. Mr Jones a 9/11 Truther? He says no. But he's lying. Facts say yes, he signed it; and he never denied the signing. Hey, here's your excuse.

9/11 Truth.org said:

9/11Truth.org spokesman Mike Berger told the Washington Times over the phone that all of the signers had been verified by their group. He said 9/11Truth.org board members “spoke with each person on the list by phone or through email or individually confirm they hae added their name to that list.”

“I think in most cases they spoke to them personally,” he added. “No one’s name was put on that list without them knowing it.”

Dammit. I hate it when facts get in the way of a good Communist, Socialist Racist like Mr Jones.

I already wrote about Our Miss Jones last Tuesday.

Mr Obama has, apparently, in his own learned and scholarly life, never heard of a phrase similar to "you are judged by the company you keep."

. . . though you might dare to posit that this is nothing more than common sense which, as Glenn Beck points out, isn't much common anymore.

10. Common sense? And wondering why the DEM/MSM is tanking across the nation? How about this salient little factoid you won't read anywhere else (via Byron York of The Washington Examiner):

From a Nexis search a few moments ago:

Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the New York Times: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the Washington Post: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on NBC Nightly News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on ABC World News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on CBS Evening News: 0.

If you were to receive all your news from any one of these outlets, or even all of them together, and you heard about some sort of controversy involving President Obama's Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, your response would be, "Huh?"

And all this in the light of:

- Unemployment at a 26-year high;

- Approval ratings for Congress at a 24 year low;

Das Hopenchange. How's that working out for you, Mr Obama?

BZ

P.S.

Why is it that our Mr Jones cannot seem to locate a beautiful, strong, classically-sculpted African female with which to form his ideal bond? How and/or why does he find black females apparently lacking for his close personal relationship and breeding purposes? Why are his private, personal choices seemingly not in keeping with his public persona and support? How many powerful, solid, aware, supportive, strident, vocal, gorgeous sisters did he purposely ignore in order to make and finalize his familial choice? She is clearly one Lilly-White chick. Does this somehow not seem conflicting to you? She may be an UberPolitik choice. But how does this choice make you feel?

Chinese Flag At White House

From ChinaDaily.com:

The national flag of the People's Republic of China (PRC) will be hoisted at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on September 20, media reported Sunday.

Why?

Is it because China now owns all our debt?

BZ

ObamaKare: More Deadly Lies

And more reasons why you must take the time to read, read, read, and not simply listen to the pablum shoveled by the Obama Administration.

"There is no 'Death Book,' these policies don't exist, it's a bald lie, there is no evidence, nothing like this exists, these are but paranoid myths promulgated by beer-swilling white Republicans."

From the Washington Examiner:

Jim Towey wrote last week in the Wall Street Journal that Obama's Veterans' Affairs department had revived a controversial and previously discontinued 53-page pamphlet on end-of-life issues for wounded soldiers. The debate over what Towey calls the "Death Book" bodes poorly for the president's position in the health care debate.

We were supposed to be beyond any debate over "death panels" when it comes to health care reform. But now the administration is scrambling to explain whether and why it has been referring physicians to use an educational document for end-of-life planning that strongly hints at the worthlessness of life when its quality is diminished by, for example, being wheelchair-bound or having bladder control problems.

The Puget Sound VA website still refers to the 53-page pamphlet Your Life, Your Choices.

Jim Towey from WSJ writes:

Your Life, Your Choices" presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political "push poll." For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be "not worth living."

The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to "shake the blues." There is a section which provocatively asks, "Have you ever heard anyone say, 'If I'm a vegetable, pull the plug'?" There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as "I can no longer contribute to my family's well being," "I am a severe financial burden on my family" and that the vet's situation "causes severe emotional burden for my family."

When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?

Newest from the UK, the much-credited-and-referenced bastion of Perfect Healthcare (by the Leftists/Socialists of American government). From the UK Daily Telegraph:

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death.

The warning comes just a week after a report by the Patients Association estimated that up to one million patients had received poor or cruel care on the NHS.

You want the "gubmint" running your healthcare, America? Then this is your future.

Yes. Investigating all of these things will require an investment of your time. Yes, with effort, you can locate materials online. But you have to work and it behooves you to not simply take as fact what the DEM/MSM attempts to "spoon-feed" you. Because it is worthless pablum.

Only 25% of this country is "Left Wing." And the Leftists/Socialists have grossly overestimated the true nature and swing of our nation. The Demorats -- and Republicans, for that matter -- fail to realize that the bulk of Obama votes were votes not for this man, but against GWB.

Mr Obama is a megalomaniac. Now he wants to inculcate himself into your school children. And with videos. It's all about Mr Obama. The Obama 24/7 Show. You want to "resist"? Then how about keeping your children home on September 8th?

Mr Obama simply continues to unravel before our very eyes.

And please be aware, my dear readers: when people and administrations unravel, they become frightened. Panicked. And potentially very dangerous.

BZ

Plummeting Crisis:

Our Hero, Mr Obama, has approval numbers that continue to plummet:

Overall, 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That’s down a point from yesterday and the lowest level of total approval yet measured for Obama. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove. See recent demographic highlights from the tracking polls.

Yes, a slightly greater amount of The Electorate checked the box for Das Hopenchange.

Instead, they're getting more of the Demorat/Leftist checklist and, at this point, that's just not quite what they envisioned in their Das Hopenchange Lebensraum.

I always knew that Ted Kennedy wasn't much more than a Useful Tool in the Demorat drawer, God rest his soul. However, the Demorats confirm this, from Glenn Thrush of Politico:

The Reno Gazette-Journal has a sit-down with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-Nev.), who addresses the Ted Kennedy question in, um, an interesting way.

Q: How will U.S. Sen. (Edward) Kennedy's death affect things?

A: I think it's going to help us. He hasn't been around for some time. We're going to have a new chairman of that committee, it'll be, I don't know for sure, but I thinkSen. (Chris) Dodd, (D-Conn.). He has a right to take it. Either him or (U.S. Sen. Tom) Harkin, (D-Iowa), whichever one wants it can have it. I think he (Kennedy) will be a help. He's an inspiration for us. That was the issue of his life and he didn't get it done.

Nothing in here is particularly new — Kennedy will help the cause, Dodd gets to carry the banner, Kennedy's work remains undone. But the straight-shooting Reid does have a gift for saying non-controversial things in the most controversial way possible.

Ahhh -- a Useful Tool even in death. Nothing like abject Demorat adjuration.

And, of course, the Obama Administration is good for all its promises. Uh. Yeah.

On the Demorats' screen: more taxes for food.

On the Demorats' and unions' screen, stock taxes:

The nation’s largest labor union and some allied Democrats are pushing a new tax that would hit big investment firms such as Goldman Sachs reaping billions of dollars in profits while the rest of the economy sputters.

The AFL-CIO, one of the Democratic Party’s most powerful allies, would like to assess a small tax — about a tenth of a percent — on every stock transaction.

The Demorats and everyone aligning themselves with these losers don't get it.

The Revolution, trust me on this, folks, is growing: TAKE HEART, AMERICA. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GIVE UP OR RECUSE. PERSIST! KEEP ON!

I get my ammo for free.

BZ

Obama: His "Green Jobs Czar"

First, what do we know about appointed "Czars"?

Yes: they do not require Congressional approval.

He has 'super aides' for healthcare, the economy, energy and urban issues, with more to come -- prompting some lawmakers and groups to worry that he may be concentrating power and bypassing Congress.

What do we know about many positions in the Obama Administration?

Yes: the bulk of his top appointments still remain unfulfilled. Only 43% are staffed.

One of Mr Obama's appointments includes the "Green Jobs Czar," who is a man named Van Jones.

His "official" title is Special Advisor on Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Mr Jones is apparently a "self-proclaimed Communist."



Check out the melanin count on Mr Jones and Mr Obama. Any recurring themes, might you suggest?

In his own words:

Jones had planned to move to Washington, DC, and had already landed a job and an apartment there. But in jail, he said, “I met all these young radical people of color — I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, ‘This is what I need to be a part of.’” Although he already had a plane ticket, he decided to stay in San Francisco. “I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary.” In the months that followed, he let go of any lingering thoughts that he might fit in with the status quo. “I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th,” he said. “By August, I was a communist.”

Further:

In 1994, the young activists formed a socialist collective, Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM, which held study groups on the theories of Marx and Lenin and dreamed of a multiracial socialist utopia.

Mr Jones founded this organization.

Kathy Shaidle writes:

Like a character out of The Big Chill, Van Jones seems to have evolved from radical activist to Establishment insider. Perhaps only a left-wing administration incapable of recognizing irony would put a self-described communist in charge of creating jobs.

Enough for you?

Enough for me.

BZ

FBI Director Robert Mueller On Lockerbie Terrorist:

Though this is somewhat dated now (and I regret that it is "old news"), I myself only recently came upon the full letter that current US FBI Director Robert Mueller sent to Scotland's Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill with regard to Scotland's release of the Lockerbie bomber. Mueller crafts his letter in a way much more politically-correct than I could have realized myself. Yet his point is abundantly clear.

I re-print his entire letter here, as it deserves to be read in its completion:

Dear Mr Secretary:

Over the years I have been a prosecutor, and recently as the Director of the FBI, I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors, since only the prosecutor handling the case has all the facts and the law before him in reaching the appropriate decision.

Your decision to release Megrahi causes me to abandon that practice in this case. I do so because I am familiar with the facts, and the law, having been the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and indictment of Megrahi in 1991. And I do so because I am outraged at your decision, blithely defended on the grounds of ''compassion''.

Your action in releasing Megrahi is as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice.

Indeed, your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation, the conviction by jury after the defendant is given all due process, and sentence appropriate to the crime, the terrorist will be freed by one man's exercise of ''compassion''. Your action rewards a terrorist even though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder and even though neither he nor the government of Libya ever disclosed the names and roles of others who were responsible.

Your action makes a mockery of the emotions, passions and pathos of all those affected by the Lockerbie tragedy: the medical personnel who first faced the horror of 270 bodies strewn in the fields around Lockerbie, and in the town of Lockerbie itself; the hundreds of volunteers who walked the fields of Lockerbie to retrieve any piece of debris related to the break-up of the plane; the hundreds of FBI agents and Scottish police who undertook an unprecedented global investigation to identify those responsible; the prosecutors who worked for years - in some cases a full career - to see justice done.

But most importantly, your action makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988. You could not have spent much time with the families, certainly not as much time as others involved in the investigation and prosecution. You could not have visited the small wooden warehouse where the personal items of those who perished were gathered for identification - the single sneaker belonging to a teenager; the Syracuse sweatshirt never again to be worn by a college student returning home for the holidays; the toys in a suitcase of a businessman looking forward to spending Christmas with his wife and children.

You apparently made this decision without regard to the views of your partners in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy. Although the FBI and Scottish police, and prosecutors in both countries, worked exceptionally closely to hold those responsible accountable, you never once sought our opinion, preferring to keep your own counsel and hiding behind opaque references to ''the need for compassion''.

You have given the family members of those who died continued grief and frustration. You have given those who sought to assure that the persons responsible would be held accountable the back of your hand. You have given Megrahi a ''jubilant welcome'' in Tripoli, according to the reporting. Where, I ask, is the justice?

Sincerely yours,

Robert S. Mueller, III
Director, FBI

I cannot supercede this missive.

BZ