The Moonbats Are Nuts!

Amazing! Democrats control both Houses of Congress. That means --- if Democrats are united --- Republicans cannot pass anything. It means, with the exception of the Senate filibuters, Republicans can stop virtually nothing.

Yet it is Republicans are responsible for the failure of the $700 billion bailout bill?!?!?!

Survey says ... well, the surveys will probably reflect that those idiots who are inclined to believe virtually any Democrat lie believe this, too, reflecting the triumph of government-controlled education, and the absence of teaching mathematical skills. But anybody who can count votes should know better.

That's nearly as crazy as the suggestion that George Bush is responsible for the financial crisis because of his agenda --- TALKING POINTS ALERT! --- of "deregulation on steroids."

Well, the first thing is, the Bush Administration attempted to sound the alarm on the precarious status of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac practices years ago. Democrats on the Hill didn't want to hear it. After all, if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac kept on making irresponsible loans to people who couldn't afford to repay them, well, that just guaranteed another loyal Democrat constituency whose votes were effectively bought.

And let's not forget how this "crisis" started. Just like the "health care crisis," this is a "crisis" of Democrats' making. Democrats sponsored and jealously guarded the "community reinvestment" programs, supposedly enacted to address "racism" in the lending industry. Of course, Democrats were happy to fraudulently misrepresent sound and responsible lending practices as "racism" for political gain.

Soooooo, they socialized a portion of the lending industry with "government-sponsored entities": Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And just like Medicare (which socialized virtually half of the health-care "system," now that the chickens are coming home to roost, Democrats are calling, not for recognition of the failure of socialism and a removal of irresponsible government mandates, but for --- you guessed it! --- more socialism.

Now I can't begrudge any Republican who voted for the bailout. I understand their concern. It might even be a necessary evil, in light of the fact that this is a government-made crisis, arising out of government mandates. Kind of like the S&L debacle, where government guaranteed accounts, but failed to exercise appropriate oversight. The case can be made, and GOP leaders tried to make it.

However, unlike Democrats --- who reflexively throw money at any situation --- I would expect Republicans and Conservatives to be able to recognize the root causes, and actually address them by getting government out of an enterprise in which it has no legitimate business, expertise, or constitutional authority. And I expect Republicans to go after Democrat robber-barons like Franklin Raines, who precipitated this crises while profiting handsomely.

But to suggest that the failure of the bailout is to be blamed on the Republicans, well, only a moonbat residing in the cave of a far-Left echo chamber could believe that!

H/T to Riley for the YouTube video.

What The Moonbatosphere Hath Wrought

Someone sent this to me a few minutes ago.

It's despicable.

It's also the kind of response which is to be expected when otherwise respectable portions of the Democrat blogophere are peddling trash like this, while the moonbats are peddling worse.

I don't know the timing of the creation of this work, but I never saw anything even remotely like it until just a few minutes ago.

On The Abuses Of Credit

ViaDrudge, we learn that the nation's largest auto dealer --- a Chevrolet dealer in Arizona --- is closing its doors. Apparently, soft sales coupled with tighter credit has made it impossible for the business to stay open. Like many dealers, Heard Chevrolet "floor-plans" its stock, paying interest to GM for the privilege of displaying its automobiles.

'Can't say I'm surprised by this. My late grandfather was a Pontiac, Buick, and Cadillac dealer in Central Pennsylvania for more than forty years, from 1946 until 1 January 1987, when he sold his dealership in Sunbury to Blaise Alexander.

I vividly remember those dark days in the late 1970s, when Chrysler was begging for government loans to keep operating, oil prices were spiking, and sales of American gas-guzzlers tanked in the face of Japanese competition.

It was almost a certainty that, in a rather depressed area (economically), the only way that Schreffler Pontiac, Buick, and Cadillac survived was because of the fact that my grandfather didn't "floor-plan" his vehicles. Rather, he bought them from the manufacturer outright, and thereby avoided the costs of interest payments during economic downturns.

Don't be surprised if you see more car dealers going out of business in the next few months. And for the same reasons that we are talking about a nearly-trillion dollar bailout for Wall Street.

Facts To Ponder ... And Who's To Blame

Sent to me by my brother-in-law, a 20-year Army and Army Reserve veteran:

This just in!

Hey boys & girls ... facts are facts!!

This has to make you think a little bit, if not then keep your blinders on!

George Bush has been in office for 7 1/2 years. The first six the economy was fine.

A little over one year ago:

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;

2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;

3) the unemployment rate was 4.5%;

4) the DOW JONES hit a record high --- 14,000 +;

5) American's were buying new cars, taking cruises, vacations overseas, living large!...

But American's wanted 'CHANGE'! So, in 2006 they voted in a Democrat Congress & yep --- we got 'CHANGE' all right. In the PAST YEAR:

1) Consumer confidence has plummeted;

2) Gasoline is now over $4 a gallon & climbing!;

3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);

4) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $12 TRILLION DOLLARS & prices still dropping;

5) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure;

6) as I write, THE DOW is probing another low --- 11,100 --- $2.5 TRILLION DOLLARS HAS EVAPORATED FROM THEIR STOCKS, BONDS & MUTUAL FUNDS INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS

Yep, in 2006 America voted for "Change"! And we sure got it!!! Now, Barach H. Obama, the Democrat candidate for President --- and the polls say he's going to be "the Man" --- claims he's really going to really give us "Change"!! Just how much more "Chanage" do you think you can stand?!?!

Virginia Democrat Endorses Voter Suppression

Remember the days when Democrats complained of mythical Republican efforts at voter suppression?

Of course, it was just a myth, and an effort to play upon racial fears, since such accusations invariably accused Republicans --- without evidence --- of voter suppression in the Black community. Either that, or a concerted scheme to misrepresent humor ("Due to high turnout expected in this year's election, the Voter Registrar has determined that Republicans will vote on the first Tuesday in November, while Democrats will vote the next day").

Not this time. Now, a denizen of the Virginia moonbatosphere has shamelessly endorsed an effort to suppress votes. As one might expect, he endorses an effort to suppress votes in Texas, which is expected to go for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Good Thing Stupidity Is Not A Crime

Promises from the moonbat contingent to prosecute the President for "murder."

I wonder how one types or dictates a pleading while suffering from cranial-rectal inversion?

Why Is Mark Warner Dodging EFCA?

What is it with the Boyish Governor?

My understanding is that Mark Warner, now running to succeed retiring Senator John Warner (R-VA, and no relation), once again dodged a question about the fraudulently-misnomered "Employee Free Choice Act" at yesterday's Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce debate. "EFCA," as it's known, is number one on the union hit parade, and would require, inter alia, employer recognition of labor unions securing signatures on union membership cards in a bargaining unit. This procedure is currently allowed under the National Labor Relations Act, but employers familiar with union intimidation tactics frequently demand secret-ballot elections to put unions to their proofs about claims of majority support for the union.

Even 1972 Democrat presidential candidate former Senator George McGovern has found this proposal too radical for his tastes.

So why won't Mark Warner let Virginians know his position?

Might it be that he fears Virginians' reaction to a Senator who will advance Big Labor's anti-democratic agenda of intimidation?

Remember, this is the same Mark Warner who promised when running for Governor that he wouldn't raise taxes, and turned around and fought for the biggest tax increase ($6 billion) in Virginia history, on fraudulent claims of budget "crisis."

Of course, anyone who's been paying attention knows that Democrats scream "crisis" whenever they want to spend more taxpayer money to buy votes.

A "Meltdown"? Not Hardly

I am no economist. In fact, I took the absolute minimum number of Economics courses necessary to earn my degree at Hampden-Sydney. In retrospect, I regret that decision somewhat, as H-SC has a fine Economics Department. Even today, when I return to campus, a number of the professors --- none of whose courses I actually took --- greet me by name.

Nevertheless, in looking at today's economics news, and the drop in the Dow-Jones Industrial Average (about 2.15% as I write), I am marvelled that the press is describing it as "a meltdown."

Really? I was in law school in 1987, and vividly remember the day when the DJIA lost approximately 25% of its value, or about 500 points on a then-average of about 2000.

That was "a meltdown."

One can only wonder about the premises from which these reporters are proceeding. Utter ignorance of history?

Or are they so completely in the tank for Barry Obama and the Democrat Party that they are willing to misrepresent current events to sustain the lies that a merely "sluggish" economy is "the worst since the Great Depression"?

I Guess It Was Only A Matter Of Time

Just for grins, check out the rantings of this sanctimonious moonbat.

I guess it was only a matter of time before these boobs started assuming the mantle of Old Testament prophets.

If only they had approaching the same inspiration.

H/T to Moonbats-R-Us ... er, "RK."

What Matt Damon Had To Say

According to the boys and girls at Ranting Kids ... er, Raising Dough ... er, Raising Kaine ... er, "RK" (you know, the site that promotes another actor/Obama supporter whose most famous roles involve playing a moron), here's what Matt Damon had to say about Governor Sarah Palin:

It's like a really bad Disney movie... The hockey mom, you know 'I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska' and she's facing down Vladimir Putin using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. It's absurd, it's totally absurd, and I don't understand why more people aren't talking about how absurd it is. It's a really terrifying possibility; the fact that we've gotten this far and we're that close to it being a reality, it's crazy. I need to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago...I wanna know that, I really do, because she's going to have the nuclear code.

You know what's really totally absurd? Taking seriously the political rantings of an (admittedly talented) actor and screenplay writer whose foreign policy experience is limited to playing the caricature of a covert operative.

Or even more absurd? Nominating as a candidate for President a guy whose entire ticket has no executive experience, and whose most significant decisionmaking has involved which radical associations he's going to throw under the bus for current political gain, and never mind the poor judgment reflected in making those radical associations in the first place. A guy who complains about "gotcha" moments ("lipstick on a pig is still a pig") who might be taken ever so much more seriously had he risen to the defense of George Allen two years ago, with his "macaca" moment.

It's like --- oh, I don't know --- a really bad Robert Ludlum movie.

H/T to Ranting Kids ... er, Raising Dough ... er, Raising Kaine ... er, "RK." Whatever.

A Poll You Won't Hear About

I don't usually discuss "horse race," or more usually, "horse's a** race," numbers. However, this may be significant.

Not that you're likely to see it reported in the so-called "main stream" media, but pollster John Zogby, himself a Democrat, shows McCain/Palin up by nearly 4% over Barry Obama and Joe "the Plaigarist" Biden.

No wonder the moonbats are going positively crazy.

What Were You Saying About "Global Warming"?

More evidence that those who go on about "global warning" are merely engaged in another effort to find an excuse to control our lives.

"Global warming" is globaloney.

Civil Rights Attorney?

Just for grins, I decided to do a little research on Barry Obama's claim to have been a civil rights attorney.

Particularly since I am actually one.

Interesting results.

Searching on Westlaw, I searched the "allfeds" database (all federal courts) for "at("Barack H. Obama"). A search under at("Barack Obama") yielded no results.

There were seven reported decisions, all between April 1994 and January 1996.

Four were appeals, all in the Seventh Circuit. Nothing unusual for a Chicago attorney. Three were in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Again, not unusual.

Yet in not one of them was Obama listed as lead counsel, at least obviously. He was the second or third (and last) named attorney in each of the Seventh Circuit cases. He argued (and won) only one of them.

Civil rights attorney? Maybe. For about five minutes.

A New Leni Riefenstahl?

I guess I'm a little slow (those of you who will confirm that in comments need not), but this occurred to me yesterday:

Is David Axelrod --- producer of the Obamaganza rally at the end of the Democrat convention --- the Leni Riefenstahl of our time?

And no, I don't mean Barry Obama is a Nazi. What I mean is that Axelrod --- like Riefenstahl --- is packaging a local rabble-rouser of little accomplishments and dangerous ideas into an acceptable political product, with little more than smoke and mirrors.

The only difference? Riefenstahl was more talented. And did it in black-and-white.

H/T to Zimbio.com. Martyhef said it first.

Dime-Store Psychology To Camouflage Reactionary Liberalism

You've got to love the moonbatosphere. Checking Waldo Jaquith's indispensible Virginia Political Blog Aggregator, I came across this little gem, offering the dime-store psychoanalysis of those who dismiss the idiocy of the far Left through the device of sarcasm as demonstrating "an indirect form of anger."

Of course, the goal is to ascribe to your political opponents an unattractive characteristic. So much easier than addressing the merits of their arguments, don't you know.

Or worse yet, addressing the fact that your candidate is not only objectively unqualified for the office he seeks, but is an agent --- not of change --- but of reactionary Liberalism.

But what is perhaps most entertaining is the irony of the accusation, and the tactic. After all, taking a page from our friend, it is actually those who regularly demonstrate their affliction with Bush Derangement Syndrome who are the most "angry" people in politics.

I suppose that our friend is demonstrating what the psychological types call "projection."

Palin's Pimples Versus Obama's Carbuncles

It's been an amazing week. Perhaps to avoid the fact that it has become utterly clear that the choice facing Americans is between "the Hero" and "the Zero," the so-called "mainstream media" has savaged Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain's choice as Vice President.

I don't know what the actual figures are, but I think it has to be beyond question that the so-called "mainstream media" already has devoted more time to the family difficulties involving Palin's eldest daughter than it has over Senator Barry Obama's ties to admitted terrorist William Ayres, convicted felon and slumlord Tony Rezko, and race-baiting "minister" Jeremiah Wright.

Once again, the media is more interested in a Republican's personal pimples, while ignoring a Democrat's professional carbuncles.

What was that again about "right-wing media bias"?

So Much For Those Judgmental, Right-Wing Christians

Just a few hours after I posted my last, I got this from the Hon. Robert G. Marshall:

MARSHALL RIPS DEMOCRAT LIBERALS FOR ATTACKS ON PALIN’S DAUGHTER

Virginia Del. Robert G. Marshall on Tuesday (Sept. 2) blasted liberal Democrats for launching “vicious and outrageously personal political attacks” on the unmarried pregnant daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John S. McCain’s choice as his vice presidential running mate.

“Liberal Democrats affirm a right to privacy for any woman who wants to have a legal abortion, but they are granting no such privilege to Bristol Palin,” said Marshall, of Manassas, who has represented Northern Virginia’s 13th Legislative District in the state House of Delegates for 17 years.

“The Democrats excuse themselves from the sin of scandal, but they’re more than willing to use children as pawns on political chessboards. Like the Pharisees when they confronted Christ with a woman taken in adultery, whom they couldn’t have cared less about, Democrat liberals will use any means to try to take the gloss off John McCain’s smart vice presidential pick.

“These vicious and outrageously personal political attacks must stop.”

Marshall, chairman of the Life, Liberty, Property Political Action Committee, compared a May 31 statement by Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, while he was campaigning in Johnstown, Pa., with that of Gov. Palin and her husband, Todd, on Monday when it became public that their 17-year-old daughter was pregnant.

“I’ve got two daughters,” Obama said in Johnstown when describing his position on abortion. “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

Gov. Palin and her husband, on the other hand, on Monday issued a statement indicating they “are proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby. She knows she has our unconditional love and support.”

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnson, 18, the father of their pre-born child, are planning to wed.

“The issue of life and abortion is playing out like a gigantic morality play on the American political stage,” Marshall said, noting that Gov. Palin is pro-life and gave birth to son Trig five months ago though prenatal tests indicated he would be born with Down syndrome.

“What happened to tolerance? What happened to understanding and forgiveness?

“The Palin family is showing real strength of character under stress, which is what you have left when things are not under your control, everything seems to be going wrong, and you have to make a decision. They’ve made the right one.”

Must suck when the targets of your caricatures respond according to their principles, rather than your ridiculous smears of their true beliefs.

Of course, the far Left --- who rabidly defend the "right to choose" (so long as it applies to the right to choose to kill an innocent) --- cannot survive their own internal contradictions. For if you believe in a "right to choose," you must of necessity believe that there are circumstances in which the "choice" is appropriate.

So defenders of abortion must believe that there are time when abortion is the "right" choice.

But they never want to tell us when it is "the right choice."

Now, even unsophisticated thinkers can comtemplate such circumstances. For example, perhaps, when one is carrying a severely handicapped child? What qualifies? Tay-Sachs, a horrible genetic disease which condemns a child to a lingering death by the age of five? Cerebral palsy? Down's Syndrome, like little Trig Palin? A teenage pregnancy? Mere inconvenience?

The reason that Sarah Palin has to be destroyed is not because she is unqualified to serve as President, for she is. In fact, she's more qualified to serve than Barry Obama.

Sarah Palin must be destroyed because she's everything that so-called "Feminists" purport to stand for, but really don't. She has made a political career on her own merits, not riding on the coattails of her former-President husband, like Hillary Clinton. She's not a wealthy woman like Nancy Pelosi who demagogues about how the rest of us aren't surrendering enough of our income. She's the mother of five. She has exercised her choice to open her heart to a child facing challenges which most can only imagine. Living with Down's Syndrome cannot be easy, and I can speak from personal experience on the point, as I know a man with Down's.

In short, she's the purported "feminist" ideal, and rejects almost entirely the feminist ideology.

No wonder the far Left fears her so.

Ochildish

What does it say about a candidate when his most vocal, fervent supporters feel free to call the opposing candidate names? What does it say about a candidate whose most vocal, fervent supporters feel free to publicize the private facts about one of the children of his opponents?

What does it say when those most vocal, fervent supporters can praise a media type who questions the foreign policy questions of the bottom of an opposing ticket, while utterly ignoring the complete lack of similar qualifications at the top of theirs?

What does it say about a candidate whose most vocal, fervent supports praise his attestation that "I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper," while ignoring the fact that his biological brother is living in poverty in Africa on about $12 a year?

What does it say about a candidate who allows such individuals to act as smear merchants against his opposition? Remember, after all, these are the people who decry "Willie Horton" and "Swiftboating." Their silence in the face of the sleazy, slanderous moonbatosphere is both considered and deafening.

Now, I know that the boys and girls over at Ranting Kids ... er, Raising Dough, ... er, Raising Kaine ... er, "RK" bill themselves as "Virginia's Online Progressive Community," but what can we take from these examples?

It's pretty simple, really: "Virginia's Online Progressive Community" is peurile, sophomoric, and just plain mean.

And God forbid one should ever dare to offer a little reality. I was barred from posting comments a few months back for wholly content-based reasons.

Yeah, yeah, I know: it's their website, and I have no free speech rights on someone else's property. But I allow far Lefties to comment here, when rarely do they comment. So much for the Left being guardians of freedom.

Of course, those of us who understand them know better. After all, these are the people who are commenting about suggesting that .... well, let's just let Horse's Ass, or "Mule," or something like that speak for himself:

One can easily imagine how right-wing preachers would decry an out-of-wedlock pregnancy in the family of a Democratic candidate, exclaiming, while pounding on their Bibles, that the pregnancy sets a "poor example" for American teenagers. They would say that this is what can be expected from a family with "liberal" permissiveness. Well, I'm waiting to hear what the Bible thumpers say this time.

Really, "Mule"? Can one? Well, only if one is so thoroughly steeped in the mythos of the far Left that one has to make it up.

Have these people ever opened a Bible? Have they ever darkened the door of a church for any purpose other than the search for political power/votes?

One has to wonder. After all, it seems to me that one needn't have spent a great deal of time with one's body in church or nose in the Bible to have sensed just a little of the theme of "forgiveness" in the New Testament.

I can't say I'm surprised, though. After all, the single defining characteristic of the totalitarian, secular Left is the myth of human perfectability through the instrument of government. Proceed from that arrogant, delusional presumption, and it's easy to fail to recognize the need for God, and for forgiveness for sins. Indeed, "sin" becomes an obsolete notion, replaced by pathologies to be cured by pills, or surgery, or education, or --- most important of all --- more government.

And how does it apply to Sarah Palin's daughter (with due regard for her, I will not name her here)?

Well, you can savage the minor child of a Republican, particularly when you've constructed these elaborate fictions about your ideological enemies.

Witness the continued popularity of Ranting Kids ... er, Raising Dough, ... er, Raising Kaine ... er, "RK" among the moonbat Left.

Sarah Palin And Unions

With the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate (a selection I endorsed elsewhere, incidentally, as speculation was growing over the pick), it was announced that Palin was "a former union member and the wife of a proud union member [Todd Palin]."

Here's what Todd Palin's union's president, Leo W. Gerard, had to say about his wife's selection for the GOP ticket:

"It is important to realize that while the governor’s husband is a member of a union, this does not automatically qualify her for an on-the-job training program to become a heartbeat away from the presidency. And while her husband is one of 850,000 dues-paying members of the steelworkers union, it does nothing to absolve Sen. McCain of his long history of anti-union sentiment and anti-worker actions, including continuously pushing an anti-working family agenda that:

*Opposes giving workers the right to bargain collectively;

*Jeopardizes retirement security by privatizing social security;

*Further threatens job security by signing more job-stealing trade deals without the regard to human rights and environmental abuses; and,

*Erodes the ability of working families to secure quality health care by taxing their employer -provided coverage for both active and retired workers.

McCain’s choice is another example of his poor judgment and his desire to play politics as usual. McCain-Palin is not a team that works for working families. The first-term governor’s record is thin and divisive. And John McCain has a life-long record of being for the rich and powerful. No union card can hide that any more than Ronald Regan's union card did."

Other unions like the Teamsters (its Local 959 is one of the most powerful in Alaska) have been no more pleased by this obvious pander, which seems to have been conceived in ignorance of Rule 34 of Republican National Committeeman Morton Blackwell's Laws of the Public Policy Process: "You cannot make friends of your enemies by making enemies of your friends."

Soooo, one has to wonder: If still a "proud union member," will Todd Palin be exercising his "Beck rights" to prevent his union from using his dues to oppose the election of his wife as Vice President? Was he even aware of the fact that he could not be forced to be a union member, or to support the political and ideological activities of the Steelworkers union? Or is he among those many union "members" who have illegally been told that full membership --- and support for union political and ideological activities --- was required as a condition of continued empolyment?

I'd certainly be interested to the answers to these questions, and Mr. Palin's course of action if they are what I suspect them to be.

You Really Want To Go There?

Lowell Feld, the chief moonbat at Ranting Kids ... er, Raising Dough ... er, Raising Kaine ... er, "RK," has decided to start a series on "Republican elected women" he deems "more qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States than Sarah Palin." Since the cowardly Feld requires registration to comment on his website, and I offer a little too much truth for the Virginia blogosphere's leading moonbattery (it's kind of like an aviary), I'll have to offer my response here.

That's too rich. Dems nominate for President a man who's not even qualified for the office he holds now, put at the top of their ticket a man with less executive experience than the woman at the bottom of ours, and Lowell wants to play the experience game?

Please, Lowell. Indulge yourself.

And while you're at it, Lowell, please don't forget to mention how many of those Republican woman are, likewise, more qualified to be at the top of our ticket than the Dalai 'Bama is to be at the bottom of yours.

Today, I Am Officially Old

Yup. Gotta admit it.

Turns out Sarah Palin, John McCain's choice as running mate, is younger than I am.

While we graduated from high school in the same year, she is five months younger than I.

Damn.

A Very Politically Incorrect Victory Lap

Americans Misti May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh took gold a few minutes ago in women's beach volleyball at the Beijing Olympics, beating the premier Chinese team, repeating their accomplishment at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the first ever to repeat for gold in this event. They've not lost a set in more than a year.

What was interesting was their comments after their victory. First, Kerri Walsh pointedly said "Thanks, Mr. President," doubtless referring to President George W. Bush's famous visit with the women and the photograph taken with them, in their very skimpy uniforms.

Then, asked what was next for them, both women basically said that they wanted to go home and make babies.

One can only imagine the savaging they will take from the moonbatosphere for these variations from acceptable public discourse.

As for me, way to go, ladies. You may be the best ever in your event. You've made us all proud.

Obama And The "Unpatriotic" Smear

No, the smear isn't that the McCain campaign is calling Barack Hussein Obama, or Barry Obama, or the Dalai 'Bama, "unpatriotic."

No, the smear is Obama's whining about being called "unpatriotic."

Gee, Barry, who --- precisely --- is calling you "unpatriotic"? When? Where? Is your concern about the issue that someone serious is actually doing it?

Then again, perhaps we can play homo advocate for a minute. Applying their smear/reasoning, we should conclude that Obama worries about being called "unpatriotic" because of his own insecurities and fears that he actually is unpatriotic.

In reality, as far as I know, it's not the McCain campaign making such accusations, or any other serious GOP organization, for that matter. Now, I suppose that a few bloggers, or radio talk show hosts, or others might be doing so --- I wouldn't; I think you're a moron, not a traitor, and besides, I'm not even sure what you mean by the term --- but serious people don't take them any more seriously than the name-calling in the far-Left moonbatosphere supporting your candidacy.

In fact, the first serious item coming upon a Google search of "Obama unpatriotic" was a reference to your whining speech yesterday.

In short, the smear is not McCain calling Obama "unpatriotic." The smear is Obama's unfounded and specious accusation that McCain's legitimate questions about Obama's judgment, wisdom, and woeful inexperience are merely a challenge to his patriotism.

I don't expect that anyone in the so-called "main-stream" media will ever ask the Dalai 'Bama to put up (with specificity about who and when such accusations have been made) or shut up.

Then again, I never recall the so-called MSM ever asking John McCain to specify how money had corrupted the process, or required surrender advocates to tell us when the Bush Administration attempted to link 9/11 to Iraq.

The reason? Well, first, members of the MSM don't care what the answers are.

Perhaps more importantly, the sneaking suspicion or actual knowledge that the answer to the questions are, in each case, "Well, never."

If It's Kaine

As Barack Hussein Obama milks the veepstakes for all that it is worth (not that there's anything wrong with that), speculation abounds that he will select Governor Timmy! as his running mate.

All well and good. But if Governor Timmy! is selected to run for Vice President, he should resign from his current office.

Never mind that Virginia deserves another Governor; at a minimum, Virginia needs a full-time Governor, particularly in light of recent budget difficulties. After all, Virginia Attorneys General typically resign to seek their party's nomination for Governor.

Sooooo, if Governor Timmy! wants to become the junior member of the least-qualified national ticket in modern American history, he should surrender his office and commit to that quest his full attention.

Hey, at least he has some executive experience.

H/T to Riley at Virginia Virtucon for the graphic.

Charity Begins With The Family

Apparently, Barack Hussein Obama's half-brother lives in a shack in Kenya on less than $1 a week.

Soooo, this (BHO) is the crypto-Socialist who believes that "the rich" aren't shelling out enough for his vote-buying schemes ... er, "social welfare" programs?

Message to the socialist Democrats: don't soak me for more unless you're taking care of your own.

H/T to the Drudge Report.

Moonbat Attacks!

You know how you can tell you're getting to a Democrat. He whiiiiiiiiiines!

One could make a full-time job responding to the moonbattery of the far Left. Most times, it's just not worth the time or trouble.

But little "Truth-teller" over at Democrat official Clifford Garstang's --- or is that Clifford Claven? --- Cobalt6 blog is simply beyond the pale. Now, I suppose he can name-call as much as he wants, since it's not like he does much more than whine about the post he attacks (oddly, one in which I am pointing out an unfair question asked about the Obama campaign, and one which implies that he was associated with John Edwards' sleazy behavior). In fact, Garstang can and has done so here, a privilege he doesn't extend to those who don't register for his website.

But this is certainly odd: he notes that I "claim[] to be a lawyer, but that Alex Davis/Jonathan Maxfield used to claim that as well."

Well here's a little news flash, Cliffy: people listed as "counsel of record" (and scheduled to argue) before the United States Supreme Court don't merely "claim" to be lawyers; they are lawyers.

Now, I realize that the nature of the blogosphere and those who assume anonymous or pseudonymous persona might cause a certain skepticism, and here, I certainly respect a healthy skepticism. But I've been around the Virginia blogosphere a long time; people know me; I've even broken bread with no less a member of the Democrat blogosphere than Ben Tribbett. Even a Google search would make it pretty clear that I am who I say I am.

In short, Cliffy, your alter-ego or colleague might want to check easily-ascertainable facts before he questions someone's credentials, something he ironically does behind a cowardly cloak of anonymity. Not that such treatment and respect for others would be characteristic, or even expected from the far-Left slander machine.

But it would constitute simple decency. As would banning "Truth-teller" from your blog for his misdeed. Again, not something I expect from the likes of you or your website, Cliffy, 'specially since you endorse "Truth-Distorter's" tomfoolery.

Of course, our friend Carl Kilo pretty much gets it right.

Obama Announces Veep Choice!

And it's Hillary Clinton.

In related news, Obama also announced the appointment of a food taster, a designated staffer to start all automobiles, another to open all door handles, and a fourth to insure no bombs are planted under his toilet (see Lethal Weapon II).

OK, for the humor challenged, this is a joke.

This Isn't The Association That Hurts Him

As I watched the weekend talking heads on John Edwards' political suicide, one question I heard --- "What effect will this have on Barack Obama's candidacy?" --- struck me as very odd.

Other than the possibility that Edwards was being considered as a running mate (well, so much for that), I just couldn't figure this one out. What? Had Edwards been shtupping Michelle Obama? Being that it's Democrats, was he shtupping --- or being shtupped by --- Barack himself? That's certainly not the story, as I understand it.

As with any raging Socialist, I've little use for Barack Obama. But among his many sleazy associates, John Edwards is probably the least of them.

At least Edwards' sleaze was limited to personal corruption, not public corruption.

Now, hanging Weatherman terrorist William Ayers or race-baiting minister and confidante the "Rev." Jeremiah "God damn America!" Wright around the Dalai 'Bama's neck is perfectly appropriate. Maybe even convicted felon and Obama contributor Tony Rezko, since Obama had business dealings with him. Obama has a long trail of association with a virtual rogues' gallery of deeply sleazy associates.

But John Edwards? Not unless an Obama was involved in his illicit activities.

Another Example of Democrat Mindlessness

It seems that the Virginia Komsomol ... er, "Young Democrats Labor Caucus" ran a food bank for Verizon strikers, based upon the possibility of an impending strike called by their monopoly bargaining representatives.

Now, no word on the merits or demerits of the relative positions being taken by either of the parties to the negotiations is provided. No word on whether Verizon is being unreasonable, or whether the relevant Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) locals are making unreasonable demands akin to those currently coming home to roost in the American automobile industry.

Simply reflexive support of a labor union, and an effort to facilitate its efforts.

'Bout what I'd expect from Democrats.

Clifford Garstang Responds

A little earlier today (before I took my oldest WMD (H/T bwana) ... er, son to the Redskins game, I posted this little item about a post appearing on a moonbat ... er, Democrat blog. Now, normally, I would probably have just left a comment, but since this Democrat blogger (like many others) demands registration as a condition of commenting, I decided to make my own post.

Now, never mind that the gentleman in question never bothered to establish whether the church he was criticizing had anything to do with putting the sign up (it apparently has been taken down).

Mr. Garstang instead decided to throw out an accusation of racism. He apparently considers a reference to "Black churches."

What; predominately Black churches don't exist? Democrat candidates don't flock to them in the weeks leading up to elections? Democrat campaigns have not verifiably provided "walking around money" to Black (or African-American) preachers? The media frequently reports that the most segregated hour is when Americans attend worship. Now, that's not the case in my church, nor in many churches I know in Prince William, including the one attended by my sons' godparents.

I've approved his comment (since I despise the bile anonymity promotes, I reserve the right to reject comments by anonymous/pseudonymous posters) on the theory than friends and readers will recognize that this accusation says more about Mr. Garstang's character than it could ever distort mine among those familiar with facts.

Democrat Hypocrisy, Volume 9,746

It appears that Sixth Congressional Democrat Committee member Cliff Garstang is up in arms about a church which has a Bob Goodlatte for Congress sign on its property. He says "IRS take note."

No word on how the sign got there.

One presumes that Mr. Garstang will exhibit similar high dudgeon when Democrat candidates like Mark Warner, Barack Obama, and others start making campaign appearances in Black churches as the election draws near.

Or will he?

Moonbatosphere Double Standards

Word that former North Carolina Democrat Senator John Edwards has admitted to the extramarital affair (he denies fathering the illegitimate child) is truly sad.

After all, about the only thing respectable about the guy was the fact that a successful, good-looking trial lawyer didn't dump for a trophy wife his rather frumpy wife when she hit 40. Even more tragic is the fact that Elizabeth Edwards' cancer has recurred, and apparenly is inoperable. In short, she is dying.

Oh well.

But I'm wondering about the moonbatosphere's response. After all, they savaged Newt Gingrich for "pressing his [first] wife for divorce while in the hospital," or so the story goes. Incidentally, the first Mrs. Gingrich survived, and is alive today.

Go ahead. Google "Gingrich divorce 'first wife' cancer." I came up with not fewer than 10,400 results in about a quarter second. Most on far-Left smear sites.

As for Edwards? Don't hold your breath waiting for the moonbatosphere to apply the same standard to their boy. After all, "principles" are principles for the far Left. They're mere tools of convenience.

UPDATE: Well, there's one exception. But I've never categorized Ben Tribbett as part of the moonbatosphere.

Modern Democrats: Too Far Left For George McGovern

Say what you will about George McGovern (I have), but at least he's not a Marxist. A raging Socialist, perhaps, but not a "vanguard of the proletariat," "false-consciousness" Marxist.

To what am I referring? The amazing op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal in which he come out against the fraudulently-misnomered "Employee Free Choice Act," a pernicious little proposal at the very top of the union-boss wish list.

And what would EFCA do? Well, let's leave it to former Senator McGovern:

it runs counter to ideals that were once at the core of the labor movement. Instead of providing a voice for the unheard, EFCA risks silencing those who would speak.

The key provision of EFCA is a change in the mechanism by which unions are formed and recognized. Instead of a private election with a secret ballot overseen by an impartial federal board, union organizers would simply need to gather signatures from more than 50% of the employees in a workplace or bargaining unit, a system known as "card-check." There are many documented cases where workers have been pressured, harassed, tricked and intimidated into signing cards that have led to mandatory payment of dues.

Under EFCA, workers could lose the freedom to express their will in private, the right to make a decision without anyone peering over their shoulder, free from fear of reprisal.

So tell me again how Democrat supporters of EFCA (North Carolina freshman Congressman Heath Shuler comes to mind) are "moderates"? George McGovern is no moderate, and even he cannot stomach this proposal.

I once labeled McGovern "George 'No Enemies to the Left' McGovern."

It would seem that I owe him an apology. I apologize.

Oh, Foresooth! WaPo Editorializes In "News" Coverage

Thanks to one of the moonbats ... er, Lowell over at Ranting Kids ... er, Raising Dough ... er, Raising Kaine ... er, "RK," I noticed this little item in one of the "news" articles in today's Washington Post:

Since the end of World War II, government policy has funded and encouraged the suburban lifestyle, subsidizing highways while starving mass transit and keeping gas taxes much lower than in some other countries.

"funded and encouraged the suburban lifestyle [by] ... keeping gas taxes much lower than in some other countries."

So, it's a "subsidy" when government refuses to seize more of the income of the producers?

Few comments so succinctly illustrate the Marxist/Socialist premises upon which so many of today's media based their "reporting."

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, RIP

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize-winning author and perhaps Communism's most potent literary foe, died today at age 89.

His One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich should have been required reading in every American government school, but wasn't. While I had read this work, I was reintroduced to his importance by one of my college professors, James Pontuso, Patterson Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs at Hampden-Sydney College, whose doctoral thesis was on the great Russian author's work.

With a personal knowledge that the author of the phrase (Eric Blair AKA George Orwell) could not, Solzhenitsyn illustrated the reality of Marxist totalitarianism: "Imagine a boot in your face. Forever." And revealed its horrors to a world all too frequently willing to turn a blind eye.

RIP.

Obama's "Distractions"

I keep hearing from the Obama campaign --- in response to any issue raised by McCain or any other Conservative --- that "it's just a distraction."

By which the speaker means "We really don't want to or can't answer this, so we'll just dismiss it. Doesn't Senator Obama give a good speech?"

In short, it's just a "distraction" from the fact that BHO gives such a darn good speech. Says nothing, but says it well.

Once again, the far Left is demonstrating it's lack of respect for anyone who isn't on the far Left. And that the far Left fears real debate in the same way (and for the same reasons) that a vampire fears sunlight.

Middle-School Tactics For Me, But Not For Thee

Just saw this post by Lowell Feld over at Ranting Kids ... er, Raising Dough ... er, "Raising Kaine" ... er, "RK," and I thought something was funny. After all, the make sport of GOP presumptive presidential nominee John McCain by calling him "McLame."

But I seem to remember something about savaging former Delegate Dick Black for childishly characterizing challenger David Poisson (French for "fish") as "Poison."

Yup. Sure enough. Here's a post by teenager Kenton Ngo attacking Black's actions.

It's pretty pathetic when a teenager demonstrates more maturity than a man of Feld's years. On your own website!

Happy Nuke Day!

It was on this day, 63 years ago, that mankind produced the first man-made nuclear explosion with a plutonium fission device at the Trinity Test Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Shortly thereafter, World War II was ended when quickly-weaponized atomic bombs were first used in anger over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While fewer died on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively, than were killed in conventional raids on Dresden and Tokyo, it is the events of August 1945, which command the attention of most.

And what were the results of man's success in harnessing the atom?

Hundreds of thousands of American and Allied troops were neither maimed nor killed because President Harry S. Truman had the wit to bring to bear this new instrument of American power. Likewise, hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of Japanese survived who would not have, had the Allies been forced to invade and conquer the Japanese mainland.

Nuclear weapons can also happily be credited with the lack of a direct major-power confrontation during the last half of the Twentieth Century. Doubtless, we came close to one on a number of occasions. Nevertheless, the prospect of the horrific consequences of the use of nuclear weapons as equally undoubtedly a major factor in preserving a precarious --- if imperfect --- peace notwithstanding the ideological hostility between the world's two major powers in the post-war period.

Alan Oppenheimer, the on-site head of the Manhattan Project, quoted Shiva, the destroyer, from the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita, upon witnessing mankind's first atomic mushroom cloud: "I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds."

Literary critic and historian Paul Fussell --- himself a veteran of the war in Europe, and scheduled for transfer to the Pacific for the invasion of Japan --- observed twenty years ago, in the title essay (called "classic" by one author, and "powerful" by another) of his book, Thank God for the Atom Bomb.

Today, I would put it more simply: Happy Nuke Day!

Jesse Helms, RIP

Senator Jesse Helms was an unapologetic, no-nonsense lion of the Conservative movement, and his passing yesterday --- appropriately enough, for such a champion of liberty, on Independence Day --- will be keenly felt by generations of Conservatives. We heard the news as we were traveling to the annual Conservative Soiree at Bull Run Regional Park.

While a long-time friend of the Right to Work movement, I had only two occasions to have any interaction with the Senator from North Carolina.

The first was back in the summer of 1984, when I was interning for Congressman George W. Gekas (R-PA). I had just attended a reception on the Hill. It was a "Free China" reception, held by Conservative Senators and Members of Congress in response to a reception for athletes from Communist China.

In any case, as I was leaving, I happened to run into Senator Helms (who had attended) and joined a group of other interns who were chatting with him. It wasn't a long conversation, but it was less than a year after the liberation of Grenada, which caused a firestorm among the media because they weren't allowed to accompany the troops. Someone else, knowing of Senator Helms' history as an award-winning journalist, asked him what he thought of the controversy.

I'll always remember his humorous, almost impish response, delivered in a wonderful Southern accent. He paused, and then offered "Well, Ah think it woulda been sportin' to send them in first!"

Priceless.

The other was a few years later, on a professional level, when the Senator retained me to represent him in a lawsuit challenging a Clinton Executive Order attempting to debar Federal contractors who dared to exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act to replace permanently strikers in an economic strike (for higher wages and/or benefits). While it was ultimately determined that only those Members of the House who retained me had a claim, and we never filed suit on Senator Helms' behalf, I was alway flattered that a Conservative hero had retained my services.

He is and will be missed.

Resquiat in pacem.

Great Tune; Lousy Words

I heard a politician speak a few days ago on the phenomenon of the Obama campaign. This politician pointed out that, like a few songs of which he could think, Obama coupled a great, catchy tune with lousy words.

The classic metal anthem "Highway to Hell" came immediately to mind.

Interesting Point

It seems that Howling Latina has stumbled unwittingly into the truth.

She complains that Obama has assumed the posture of a moobat to win the Democrat nomination for President, but is posturing as a Republican to win the general election.

Of course, this illustrates one of the fundamental differences between Republicans and Democrats: Republicans expect their candidates to do when elected what they promise in their campaigns; Democrats expect their candidates to lie and act like moonbats when elected.

Today, In Cloudcuckooland....

In response to my post below, Jim Riley makes a wonderful point.

You see, it seems that our friends on the far Left have taken to calling themselves "Hussein" in honor of the Moonbatic ... er, Democrat nominee for President. Lowell Feld notes this over at Ranting Kids ... er, Raising Dough ... er, Raising Kaine ... er, RK ... er, whatever.

Even the sometimes logical Ben Tribbett, who is Not Larry Sabato, is now Not Larry Hussein Sabato.

Now, I suppose there's something to be said for doing so. After all, the Democrat nominee-presumptive is quite sensitive about sharing his middle name with the late and former Maximum Leader of Iraq, so much so that he whined about people who were pointing it out. Obviously, some Democrats worry that reminder of Obama's non-English, non-typical name will cost him votes and/or support. Taking the power out of it (much as adherents to Martin Luther's reforms took on the name "Lutheran," once an insult) is a legitimate tactic.

But remember two years ago, when Virginia's Moonbatosphere was was making sport of Senator George Allen's middle name?

So let me get this straight: "Felix" is to be ridiculed, but "Hussein," surname of one of the five most bloodthirsty dictators of the last half-century, is to be celebrated?!?!?!

Liberalism. It's not just a lifestyle; it's a mental disease.

"Hussein" Fashionable?

According to Lowell Feld, some moonbats ... er, "Democrats" have started putting "Hussein" in the middle of their names.

Doubtless, it a demonstration of solidarity with the late and former Maximum Leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. After all, these are the same moonbats ... er, "Democrats," who suffer from Bush Derangement Syndrome. And who has lost more to the Bush Administration than Saddam Hussein?

Oh, that's not the reason?

Could've fooled me.

Wesley Clark: Four-Star Moonbat

I'll vote for John McCain, with grave reservations based upon some of his positions (hostility to the First Amendment, for example), but it's clear that the moonbat Left finds little in his military record to commend him.

According to Gen. Wesley Clark, on yesterday's "Face the Nation" on CBS, John McCain's heroic record isn't that big a deal:

In the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk. It's a matter of gauging your opponents and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war.

He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world, but he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded .... that wasn't a wartime squadron.

According to Newsmax.com, even this was too much for moderator Bob Schieffer, who raised the issue by citing similar remarks Clark has made previously, noted that Obama hadn't had those experiences nor had he ridden in a fighter plane and been shot down. "Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," Clark replied.

Really? Apparently, riding in a swiftboat was, however.

In a March conference call with reporters while he was still backing Hillary Rodham Clinton, Clark said: "Everybody admires John McCain's service as a fighter pilot, his courage as a prisoner of war. There's no issue there. He's a great man and an honorable man. But having served as a fighter pilot --- and I know my experience as a company commander in Vietnam --- that doesn't prepare you to be commander in chief in terms of dealing with the national strategic issues that are involved. It may give you a feeling for what the troops are going through in the process, but it doesn't give you the experience first hand of the national strategic issues."

It's utterly amazing that one would disparage that record. But when you're a moonbat who supports a guy who was, just a few years ago, a "community organizer," i.e., a professional rabble-rouser, and who has no significant legislative or executive record, you have to start by denigrating perhaps the most honorable service a man can render and which, among any but the moonbats of the far Left, makes a man --- objectively --- highly qualified for the highest office in the land.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, within two hours of the Supreme Court's ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, predicts "higher taxes to pay for extra police if his city's gun restrictions are lost."

A pretty good prediction in any Democrat administration.

Duh!

Perhaps the dumbest and most self-evident headline I've seen in a long time:

"HIV spikes in men who have sex with men."

Only the perversion lobby has ever suggested otherwise.

What's next? "STDs spike among the promiscuous"?

Heller: "...it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct"

Courtesy of SCOTUSBlog, we learn that the Supreme Court today affirmed the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in District of Columbia v. Heller. In so doing, the Court affirmed that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right, exposing the dishonesty of the gun-grabbing, liberty-destroying Left.

A link to the decision is here.

Liberty and the right of revolution lives!

As I will be arguing a case before the Court on 6 October, no further commentary will be offered.

*&@$#%! Airlines!

Amazing. Utterly amazing.

If you have a few bucks laying around, and are thinking about investing in an airline, DON'T DO IT!

Just got off the phone with Ruiz, at United Airlines. It seems that United just managed to find a bag that had been misdirected.

'Course, the flight that it was supposed to arrive on arrived on time at Washington Dulles International Airport ten months ago tomorrow!!!

That's right. United will be returning a bag (my mother's) from a flight from ten months ago.

You see, last summer, the Youngs took a trip to Alaska. For reasons discussed elsewhere, my mother came along.

On the way back, her single bag was misdirected.

Now, we were pretty sure as to what happened. When we got back to Dulles, and noticed that only her bag (among the seven checked by the five of us) was missing, I noticed that we had an errant baggage claim check. There was a different name on it, and it was for a woman (in the military) traveling on to Kuwait, as was our flight.

Well, we of course reported that information when we went to the Baggage Office for United to complain.

Thus began six weeks of conversations with people on the United toll-free line. 'Cept English wasn't their first language. And they weren't in the United States. Noooo, they were in New Delhi. Yeah. In India. And we begged them to contact Kuwait, and to have someone physically look for the bag. "No can do," we were told. We begged them for the phone number of the terminal in Kuwait, so we could do that which they wouldn't. No luck. It was so bad that I seriously contemplated asking a friend from church --- a Marine officer on his way to Afghanistan --- to check for the bag when he went through Kuwait. Figuring he had better things to do --- and having been assured by United that they had, indeed, checked in Kuwait, I declined to do so.

To make a long story a bit shorter, we received a check for about $1,200.00 about six weeks later. But no bag.

And now, one day short of ten months to the day after we returned home, United has finally found.

I'm sure that my mother will be delighted.

As for me, I have little doubt anymore as to the reasons for the sad state of American airlines.

What A Huge Surprise!

The Democrat-controlled Senate Finance Committee has voted to increase your taxes!

Another fine example of why Chuck Colgan should have been retired last year by Bob FitzSimmonds.

Tell Me Again Why We Need More Taxes?

Senator (and future Attorney General) Ken Cuccinelli gets it right again!

In Richmond for Governor Timmy's! special tax-increase ... er, "transportation" session of the General Assembly, Senator Cuccinelli has apparently noted that while Virginians of all stripes are having to reprioritize their budgets to account for increased costs for transportation, only Democrats in the government of the Commonwealth are refusing to acknowledge reality by reshuffling budget priorities to spend more for transportation, and less (well, not really less, but smaller increases) for other areas of the budget.

I invite my few readers to play the Democrats' game. Rather than reordering your families' spending priorities, I suggest that you go into your bosses' offices, and demand a raise to account for the higher costs of gasoline for your commute.

When he or she finishes laughing you out of his or her office, call your state legislators and demand that they respond similarly to Governor Timmy's! tax-increase proposals.

Announcement: The Guilty Liberal Fund

Caught a caller to the Chris Plante Show on WMAL on the way to work today.

"Theresa" describes herself as a black single woman who makes over $120,000 per year, and supports the Dalai Bama ... er, Barack Hussein Obama (since I saw another blogger referring to "John Sidney McCain" the other day, with no complaints from his fellows in the moonbatosphere, I'm pretty sure I don't want to hear any more complaints about referring to middle names). Plante queried her for the reasons for her support, and she rendered the usual talking points about "health care for all Americans." Interestingly, she conceded what few close to the Dalai Bama will: that Obama will raise taxes.

That really doesn't bother "Theresa," since she's willing to pay more.

What Plante failed to ask her was "How much extra did you send in to the Federal government last year? The year before that? How about 2005?" Better yet, Plante might have asked her how much her tax refunds were for those years.

Plante also failed to ask "Theresa" for how many people --- other than herself and her family --- was she paying for health insurance.

You see, nothing in the world prevents people from sending in more to the Federal government. And "Theresa" is certainly free to purchase health insurance for whomever she wants.

And until someone advocating those positions favors us with that information --- and the answer is substantial --- I'm really not interested in hearing how "willing" he or she is to pay more taxes, or how he or she believes that "we" should be providing health insurance to "everyone," which by the way includes those who can "afford" it but are young, and/or healthy, and/or have decided to self-insure.

Of course, what "Theresa" means by "we" is that the Federal government should seize money from the productive at the point of a gun, and redistribute it to others. What she means --- assuming that she hasn't purchased health insurance for some unfortunate outside of her immediate family --- is that she doesn't take personal responsibility for her beliefs and put them into action.

Perhaps what we need to do to put the tax advocates to their proofs is to create the "Guilty Liberal" fund, so that Liberals who find themselves paying too little in taxes can assuage their guilt by sending in more than required by law.

Maybe then they'll leave the rest of us alone.

Of course, it's been tried in Virginia --- since 2002 --- and precisely five people have contributed to it.

The Difference Between Confidence And Sanctimony

Justice Byron White [UPDATE: Always check your citations! "flatearthakitt" rightly reminds me that it was actually Potter Stewart] once famously observed that he didn't know how to define the line between pornography (legally permissible) and obscenity (subject to legal sanction), but he knew it when he saw it.

It strikes me that one could make the same observation about the distinction between self-confidence and sanctimony. Not sure I could identify precisely where the line between one and the other is, but I sure hope that this guy at least waved when he breezed past it.

Does This Justify An "I Told You So"?

A few months back, I was criticized on a certain blog for joining the challenge to the credentialing of a certain individual at the 2008 Prince William County Republican Convention. I took the not unreasonable position that his attacks upon a prior Republican nominee violated his pledge of "intent to support all Republican nominees for public office in the ensuing election" when he had previously been elected as a Member of the Prince William County Republican Committee, and that any pledge made as a condition of participation and/or future membership was ab initio suspect.

Well, now he has this to say about the presumptive Republican nominee for President.

Now, I'm not thrilled with John McCain. But I believe we will at least have a country after four years of a McCain presidency. Four years of an Obama presidency [shudder] are likely to subject this nation to a wave of terrorist attacks to which the best response we might see is a chorus of "Kumbayah" and the raising of a white flag over the White House. Give Democrats control of Congress as well, and it is likely that the economy will be in a shambles from which it will take generations --- if ever --- to recover.

But I will vote for him in November, even if I will have little time during the heart of the campaign season to offer much more than rhetorical support, if that.

As he (quoting another favorably) notes in his most recent post: "The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior...."

Tell me again why the individual in question can and should be trusted to fulfill his pledge of "intent to support all Republican nominees for public office in the ensuing election"?

With Men Such As These....

Spent the day as a "den walker" at my youngest son's Cub Scout Day Camp today, and had occasion to chat with the young "range master" for the BB gun station. Nice fellow. Active duty Marine. Gunnery Sergeant. Off to Iraq in a few months.

Before we went on to the next station, couldn't help myself. Just had to say "Thanks. For all that you do. And [quoting Sgt. Phil Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues] be careful out there." We exchanged a knowing handshake, and parted.

With men such as these serving their nation, one cannot help but remain optimistic.

Yuk!

A report from our local police files on indecent and perverse public sexual behavior.

Reports that one of the suspects is known by the alias "Loudoun Insider" (author of this sophomoric smear) have not been confirmed.

I fail to understand why this deserved a special e-mail report from the Potomac News/Manassas Journal-Messenger.

UPDATE: Aww, poor "Loudmouthed Inciter" doesn't like my little bon mot, and his "amen chorus" of cowardly lions and the Old Whithered Wench have chimed in by misrepresenting the content of this post, but mainly, with name-calling, declaring me a "tool." As to the last, one is tempted to observe that they know from whence they speak.

I'm wounded.

"Dangerously Naive"

So says Bill Clinton's first CIA Director, James Woolsey, on the Dalai Bama's declaration that terrorism is a law enforcement problem.

Makes Hitlary look almost reasonable.

In Other News, Sun Rises In The East

It seems that Reg Weaver, National Education Association president, is recommending that the teachers' union endorse Barack Obama. This follows an unbroken string of NEA endorsements of the Democrat nominees for President.

Given Obama's opposition to educational choice, it would only be news of Weaver recommended something else.

A Business Owner Who Dares To Determine His Own Business

Oh, foresooth!

From today's WaPo, via Blacknell.net, we learn of the proprietor of a new business who actually dares to make his own determination as to what services he will provide to the public.

At least one denizen of the moonbatosphere is all in a lather because Mark Semler has decided what products he will offer in his drugstore. And because he won't offer abortifacients, condoms, and birth-control pills, the moonbat in question suggests shopping elsewhere.

I guess the irony of suggesting that a consumer exercise his right to choose against a proprietor who has also exercised his right to choose is lost on the author.

In other news in today's Washington Post, the Ruby Tuesday and Papa John's in the same shopping center will be offering neither a sushi bar nor McDonald's products at their locations.

How dare they!

Far Left Situational Ethics

Once again, the boys and girls at Ranting Kids ... er, Raising Dough ... er, Raising Kaine ... er, "RK," have demonstrated that the far Left has no real beliefs, except for the commitment to more power for --- you guessed it! --- other far Lefties.

Their latest rant? John McCain is no longer a "maverick."

Well of course not. When he was a useful tool for Democrats, he was a hero.

Now that he stands in the way of a Democrat becoming President, HE MUST BE DESTROYED!!!!!

WOW!

I was just cruising the Internet, and came across the biography of the Democrat Party's nominee for Virginia's Sixth Congressional District: Sam Rasoul.

It seems that Mr. Rasoul's biography makes reference to having visited "Palestine."

Interesting, but Mr. Rasoul doesn't appear to be old enough to have visited "Palestine," which hasn't existed since 1948. It's "Israel," Mr. Rasoul. Indeed, he has been identified as the youngest candidate for Congress in this year's cycle.

The reference itself speaks volumes about Rasoul's radical politics. And while ambivalence over Israel is about what I've come to expect from the modern Democrat Party, one wonders why those who have trashed clearly loyal Americans practicing Islam on the flimsiest of "evidence," using guilt-by-association tactics, haven't turned their attention to the actual statements of Mr. Rasoul, and their implications.

In Memoriam

There are men and women of a certain age in America for whom Jim McKay is synonymous with sports broadcasting. I am a man of that age.

He was a poet in a field in which many aspire to poetry, and few succeed.

He popularized many sports which theretofore gained little attention.

His humane coverage of the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games did perhaps more than anything to legitimize sports reporters as legitimate in his profession.

His "thrill of victory, agony of defeat" introduction of ABC's Wide World of Sports will be the defining sports introduction of his age, perhaps the defining introduction of his age.

Jim McKay, RIP.

The Empty Suit Fizzles in NoVA

Oh, how disappointing!

Over the last two days, Virginia's moonbatosphere has been boldly predicting that 50,000 people would show up for today's Obama campaign rally at the Nissan Pavillion, near Haymarket, in Prince William County.

Turns out, only about 10,000 people showed up, and is reflected on page one of the Internet version of the story. The only hint in the disappointing crowd size in the current WaPo story is this:

State and local transportation officials had braced for a major backup on Interstate 66, but traffic was like that of a normal rush hour.

Reference to the crowd expected by the moonbatosphere appears on page two of the Internet story, noting that one attendee had "heard reports that as many as 50,000 people were expected at the rally."

So much for "Obama fever." More like a mild headache.

What's The Exit Strategy?

It was on 8 January 1964, that President Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty." In light of the debacle he advanced in Southeast Asia (an undeclared war), it gives him the distinction of being the only American President to have lost miserably two wars.

Yet more than forty-four (44) years later, while we are out of Viet Nam, we are still engaged in the folly --- dare I say "quagmire"? --- of trying to fight a condition most frequently associated with bad personal decisionmaking by merely throwing money at it. By 1993, writes Robert Rector, we had spent more than $5 trillion without appreciably shrinking the percentage of Americans below the government-set "poverty line." Now, fifteen years later, the number may be as much as double the 1993 amount.

In the meantime, as Thomas Sowell observed:

The black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life.

GMU economist Walter Williams points out that the defining characteristic of economic success is marriage, noting that "The only distinction between both the black and white populations is marriage — lower poverty in married-couple families."

Now, if I proposed a program to destroy marriage in the black community, I'd rightly be called a racist.

The Left did it, and they're portrayed as "compassionate."

Some compassion.

And it's funny, but it never seems to be enough for the far Left. Spending on social[ist] welfare programs increases in good times, when the economy is growing, and it increases in bad times. Now, I suppose one could make the case that government spending on handouts should increase when economic times are tough, but when the economy is growing!?!?! This fact, more than anything else, is the immediate tip-off that government welfare is not about "compassion," or "priming the pump," or "getting the economy back on track."

It is about power and control, pure and simple.

But I digress. My point is, in the spirit of our friends in the moonbatosphere who complain about spending $1 or $2 trillion dollars to free 25 million people, and bang the drum for precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, even as conditions improve --- oh, wait, that's an official Democrat blog --- it seems fitting to ask:

What is your exit strategy from the War on Poverty?

From those of us who are footing the bill, and decidedly not engaging the social pathologies which cause poverty --- and which many of you refuse even to call "pathologies" any more --- tell us:

What is your timetable for withdrawal?

What are the conditions for "victory"?

When can we exit from the quagmire into which you have foolishly plunged us?

Perhaps when these questions are answered, we can take seriously complaints from these "deep thinkers" about Conservatives' commitment to win the war in Iraq.

Party Unity

Jim Bowden has a great post on what I believe to be --- at least as to the latter --- exaggerated reports that retiring Senator John Warner and Congressman Tom Davis are withholding their support from GOP nominee for Senate Jim Gilmore. The article discussing the facts seems to me to be an exercise in making a mountain out of a molehill.

I have no trouble believing reports about John Warner's perfidy. As one WMAL host has observed in other contexts, "Frequently appalled, but never surprised."

However, I would be very surprised if Tom Davis did not endorse his Party's nominee, notwithstanding any lingering bitterness over the fact that the GOP chose to nominate through a convention, and not a primary. Tom is a big boy, and my guess is that he understands that for many members of the State Central Committee, it was --- to quote a line from "The Godfather" --- "nothing personal; just business." Many of those voting --- at least those with whom I am acquainted --- have principled reasons for supporting conventions over primaries, as do I, and hold that conventions are the first and best method of choosing Republican nominees.

I said at the time that I would have been torn had Tom Davis run against Jim Gilmore for the GOP nomination for Senate, just as I was in the race between Gilmore and Bob Marshall (I ended up casting my ballot for Bob, but I am perfectly satisfied with Gilmore as the nominee). To be sure, I have had my differences with Congressman Davis, but I have known him for nearly as long as I have known Jim Gilmore. As Chairman of the PWC YRs when he ran for Congress for the first time in 1994, I worked hard for his election over then-incumbent Leslie Byrne. We've hosted him in our home. Our conversations have always been pleasant, and substantive. I consider him a friend.

I expect Tom Davis to do the right thing, because Tom --- unlike those Jim Bowden identifies as "RINOs" --- knows how Party politics are played. And even though it seems doubtful that he will stand for elective office again, I would be among those most surprised if he cast off a history of endorsing the Party's nominees from across the entire spectrum of those who are properly considered "Republicans" in order to gain the momentary and passing satisfaction of personal revenge.

Maintaining the filibuster in the Senate in a year that looks to be a good one for Democrats, and against the evils that they could perpetrate, is just too important.

Ben Tribbett Tries To Stir The Pot

And so we witness the fruits of the labors of the Gill-Haters: Democrat blogger Ben Tribbett asks:

Did Gilmore Steal The Nomination????

I thought Ben was a friend of mine. Sure, we disagree on just about everything political, but I thought he read my blog, where his question is answered.

The short answer to your question, Ben, is "No." The result was close, but Gilmore certainly won the GOP nomination.

Now, to be sure, I had my doubts about the veracity of the outcome, but they were based upon apparent incomptence, not conspiracy. However, those concerns were promptly cleared up.

Perhaps even Ben knows the silliness of his suggestion. After all, Larry's not flippin' his hairpiece over this headline.

The Empty Suit Speaks

You can read Obama's victory speech here.

Since it's a little like eating Chinese food, only less healthful, you'll doubtless be hungry for some substance.

After reading Obama's speech, you can watch and listen to Ronald Reagan's first inaugural address here.

Mark Warner's Pre-Emptive Strike

Just received a missive from the Mark Warner campaign. How I got on that list I'll never know.

In it, we get an interesting insight into the strategy to be followed by the Boyish Governor in trying to avoid his impending spanking for lying to the voters of Virginia by promising not to raise taxes, and then doing precisely that.

Warner campaign manager Mike Henry complains that Governor James S. Gilmore, upon narrowly winning the GOP nomination, "immediately went on the attack against Mark Warner."

Whine.

Henry also cites friendly news articles immediately attacking Gilmore, and complaining about "bitter partisanship."

Whine.

This from the guy who finds comfort from the Moonbatosphere, which constitutes all attacks, all the time?

So there's the strategy: whine, ... er, call it "an attack" when Governor Gilmore points out the differences between the two candidates, and complain about partisanship while seeking to join the most bitterly partisan Democrat caucus in history.

Wow! If it weren't so nakedly ridiculous, it would almost be funny.

Here's Henry's letter in full:

Friend --

The fight at the Virginia Republican Party convention this weekend was extremely close and hard-fought - and Jim Gilmore immediately went on the attack against Mark Warner.

Even the Richmond Times Dispatch said today that the tactic suggested "desperation" and noted that the Republicans are "more interested in posturing, more interested in appeasing interest groups, and more interested in partisanship than in getting things done." Yesterday, the Lynchburg News & Advance said our opponent will likely run "the kind of street brawl campaign you normally would expect to come across in New Jersey or New York." New Jersey and New York in Virginia??? The newspaper even asked him to "give the state's voters a campaign of ideas and civil debate, not the slash-and-burn techniques that have characterized the past."

Virginians deserve better. We have seen enough bitter partisanship to know that it doesn't get the job done. The only way we're going to create the jobs of the future, reduce the deficit, and put our country back on track is by working constructively to tackle the major challenges staring us in the face.

Will you write a letter to the editor telling your local newspaper that Virginians deserve a positive campaign focused on how we can move our country forward - not the divide-and-conquer politics of the past?

[Helpful link omitted]

Now that the other side has settled on their candidate, we need to ensure that we set the tone of this race.

Our country faces serious challenges and our political discourse must rise to a level commensurate with them. That's why we need to let every voter in Virginia know the truth about the type of campaign Jim Gilmore plans to wage.

We can prove that a positive, forward-looking campaign can defeat the same old tired, textbook political tactics that so many of us just don't trust anymore. But we need your help.

Write a letter-to-the-editor from our action center. Tell your local newspaper that we deserve a positive campaign focused on how we can move our country forward - not the divide-and-conquer politics of the past.

[Helpful link omitted]

Thanks so much for your support. Together, we'll get our country back on track.

Best,

Mike Henry
Campaign Manager