Ramble for 6/6/11

(New York City)-– I’m actually not far from where I was the other day, at Middle Village. Just up the Metropolitan Bvd, in fact. A nice drive this morning. Now, it’s about a 5. 1/2 hr drive, though so I had to leave Rochester at around 5am. Not overly happy about that but at least I missed a lot of the traffic.

• CHICAGO AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT: It’s truly about time somebody spanked these idiots, and I’m glad to see this. But I will be even happier, to be perfectly honest, if when they try to wiggle out of their responsibilities 2nd amendment, they get aggressively spanked yet again, without the people there having go through years of court action.
• UNION THUGS STRIKE AGAIN: Glenn Reynolds explains
• Palin and Dean: The Hill:
  

  Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman who helped Democrats capture the White House in 2008, warns that Sarah Palin could defeat President Obama in 2012.

  Dean says his fellow Democrats should beware of inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom that Obama would crush Palin in a general-election contest next year.

  “I think she could win,” Dean told The Hill in an interview Friday. “She wouldn’t be my first choice if I were a Republican but I think she could win.”

  Dean warns the sluggish economy could have more of a political impact than many Washington strategists and pundits assume.

  Howard Scream” Dean may well be politically clumsy, but he’s not a complete idiot.

  He sees the disaster the Democrats have succeeded in making out of this economy, and sees the trend which will make the picture even worse, come election time. Dean knows that the trends will continue, and knows at the point of election day, anybody with a pulse can beat Obama, so long as they’re not Democrat. As an example, our next story:

• SCUTTLING THE SHIP: Politico:
  

  Sarah Palin suggests President Barack Obama is downplaying disappointing economic numbers for May, saying he wants to “go down with this sinking ship.”

  Responding to new figures showing that the nation’s unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 9.1 percent, Obama said economy is heading in the right direction but that “there will be bumps on the road to recovery.”

  Pushing back in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Palin asserted: “This is not a bump in the road. We’ve hit a brick wall.”

  Correct.  Indeed, let’s take this a step farther; I think he wants the ship to sink.

  Now, Rush has made some waves of late saying this, but remember, gang, I said it back in April:

  Look, guys I’ve pointed this up before and will doubtless do so again, but I’m struck by the idea that our destruction at the hands of the left is by intent.

  And yes, I’m serious. I want you to seriously consider this: If you wanted to cripple the greatest nation on earth, (Who you’ve said publicly, you want to see take a smaller world role) how would you accomplish it, outside what the left has done? I think that when viewed through the standpoint of a strong America internationally speaking , and a strong private sector economy within America, and individual freedoms, Obama, and the left have gone precisely the wrong direction with a batting average that approach is as close to 1000 as no matter. Given that, it does not seem unreasonable to me to question whether this is a case of incompetence or malice. I conclude the latter.  Reasons are many, but can be summed up this way:

  One does not screw up totally every single time without a certain level of both competence, and intent.  It seems more likely to me that what’s happening is that Obama and company have a completely different goal than the stated strong America.
  Look, let’s take the gulf oil spill as an example since given “earth day” the press has been making a bit of noise about it over the last few days. Think back now, or re-read the reports of the happening and think:

  If a leftist wanted to create an anti oil-drilling sentiment in this country how would one go about it?  How does this differ from what Obama has done? That the two are so very close, suggests that our destruction is being accomplished as a matter of intent. And that is merely one aspect of the whole picture which is monotonously uniform.

  Now obviously, we need to throttle the EPA. But we also need to throttle the left, including Obama.

  I say it that way because Obama, for all that he represents is still a representation… the latest one… of a mindset… leftism… that has been at the foundation of our national problems for generations, now. I wonder if we can save our country in time, given the damage done.

  Seems to me then, that Palin’s got this nailed in a way few have dared.I’m still not thoroughly convinced that she is the best we can offer, but there’s no denying that she is a potent force on the conservative side, and on the side of America.

• WHERE ARE MICHELLE OBAMA’S FOOD POLICE? Oh, wait. Silly Blogger… rules don’t apply to liberal elite. Besides, she’s off to Africa. On OUR dime. I wonder if we can get her to stay there. I figure she would lmost certainly create last damage to us there.  Maybe we can get her to take him along.
• WILDFIRE: Meanwhile, America’s people are hurting, with disaster after disaster… Even those not brought about by the mismanagement of the Democrats, yet Fearless Leader is nowhere to be seen, down in Arizona, for example.
• YET ANOTHER  PEACE PRIZE… FOR WHO??Noam Chomsky. The uselessness of such prizes is fully revealed here.   As David Burge quipped:
  

  Six million dead Cambodians were not available for comment.

  Unlike what Chomsky (And those idiots passing out this prize) are going to tell you,  Negotiation and capitulation do not bring peace. What brings peace is judicious use of high explosives pointed at those who would claim power over others”.  Does anyone really think that the elimination of such groups wouldn’t bring peace? Imagine with me, if you will…  a world without Hamas, and without the PLO. Imagine the nations of the world banding together and pounding the crap out of the roving thug bands taht infest that region… the very thing the UN was supposed to do.. and never did… Imagine a world where terrorists are not given legitimacy by crackpot former presidents.  Does anyone not think that attacks against the free nations of the world wouldn’t slow by a substantial margin, under those conditions?  Remember, dear reader; Peace isn’t had by us dropping a warlike stance, but by maintaining it. Peace is a product of winning the war against those who have declared war on US. The reason of course that morons like chomsky don’t recognize that, is because they’d rather the U.S. didn’t win.

• THIS SAYS IT ALL: ABC NEWS:
  

  In a new video message released on the internet Friday, American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn calls on Muslims living in America to carry out deadly one-man terrorist acts using fully automatic weapons purchased at gun shows, and to target major institutions and public figures.”What are you waiting for?” asks Gadahn in English, and then adds that jihadis shouldn’t worry about getting caught, since so many have been released. “Over these past few years, I’ve seen the release of many, many Mujahideen whom I had never even dreamed would regain their freedom.”

  The result of course, of treating al Qaeda as criminals instead of enemy combatants. If we needed a better indication that leftist policy is failing this country and the war against al Qaeda, who as many may recall, declared war on US….  we certainly have it now.

• HUDSON LANDING PLANE TO NORTH CAROLINA: The plane involved with “the Miracle on the Hudson” is on its way to a museum in North Carolina.

Somewhere the Sun is shining, from Scott Wong, Politico:

And Palin turned to an extended ship metaphor to make her point that the country needs to “shift gears and change course” from Obama’s economic policies of bigger government, over-regulation and federal mandates.

“It’s very noble of President Obama to want to stay at the helm and maybe go down with this sinking ship,” she said. “I prefer and many Americans prefer that we start plugging the hole, that we start powering up the bilge pump, and start getting rid of this unsustainable debt that is sinking our ship.

“We don’t have to go the way of the Titanic,” Palin added. “There are things that have to be put in place before the ship sinks. We don’t have to keep going down the road that we are going on today.”

And it is from Wassilla.   While, Dumbo. b/k/a Barack Obama,  is perfectly willing to go down with the ship   You can bet it s union made ship, from Matt Patterson, Pajamas Media:

But the Obama administration has, through the NLRB, sided with the unions, in essence affirming Big Labor’s self-assumed right to blackmail and bankrupt private industry. The decision against Boeing (which the company is set to challenge in a June hearing) is indeed a dark and ominous sign: As Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore poignantly put it in the Wall Street Journal, “It’s the first time a federal agency has intervened to tell an American company where it can and cannot operate a plant within the U.S.” It’s as if a government agent blocked your way while you were fleeing a mugger and ordered you to go back and hand over your wallet.

Of course, Obama is under tremendous pressure to deliver some favors to the unions, who have spent hundreds of millions to put him and other Democrats into power. Having failed to deliver labor’s long-cherished “card check” legislation before last November’s GOP tide swept over Congress, and seeing unions withering under the assault of Republican governors like Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and New Jersey’s Chris Christie, the White House undoubtedly felt it had to give its money masters something.

So it has, and only at the expense of liberty, economic growth, and common sense. So much for land of the free.

Leadership lessons of Midway, Oliver North, RCP:

Notably, neither President Franklin Roosevelt nor Chester Nimitz, the tall admiral from Fredericksburg, Texas, took credit for the victory. They gave it instead to those who fought the battle. And unlike what would happen today, a “leak” about how our code breakers provided the decisive “edge” in the Battle of Midway — first carried in an article in the Chicago Tribune and later carried in Time magazine — did not get picked up in Tokyo. Now we have WikiLeaks — and small-minded officials who want all the credit.

As Ronald Reagan quipped, it is easy to get things accomplished if you don’t care who gets the credit.  Alas poor Dumbo is all credit but no accomplishment.

Breastaurants, one to get the cows upset, from Jason Daley, Entrepreneur:

Franchises inspired by the Hooters model–such as Celtic-themed sports bar chain Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery and faux mountain sports lodge chain Twin Peaks–have expanded rapidly over the last half decade, while corporate-owned chains like Brick House Tavern + Tap and Bone Daddy’s House of Smoke are picking up steam regionally. In fact, for the next couple of years, this segment (often referred to as “breastaurants”) is poised to be one of the fastest-growing restaurant categories.

Hat tip, Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.

The so-called National Association for the Advancement of  Colored People likes to pretend to supports black.  Rather the NAA[L]CP, that is the National Association for the Advancement of [Liberal]  Colored People simply advances to cause of her liberal masters.    Case in point, the NAA[L]CP is opposed to charters schools and in favor of failed public schools,  and unionized teachers, from MyFoxNY:

The NAACP has joined a lawsuit by the United Federation of Teachers against the Department of Education that threatens several charter schools in the Harlem area.

The suit calls for preventing several charter schools from opening, relocating or expanding.

Many charter school parents are shocked by the NAACP’s position.

Video:

Better to keep liberal teachers employed than to have black school children actually learn anything.

Gurkha – 30, Taliban – 0, from Daily Mail (UK):

Corporal Dipprasad Pun defeated more than 30 Taliban fighters single-handedly

Used the tripod of his machine gun to beat away a militant after running out of ammunition

A Gurkha soldier who single-handedly defeated more than 30 Taliban fighters has been awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross by the Queen.

Sometimes, bigger is not necessarily better.   One runty little hero.

The O-conomy, from Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard:

Whether by design or happenstance, President Obama is the greatest proponent of crony capitalism since FDR proposed cartels under the National Recovery Act. He does big favors for corporate supplicants and recipients of government subsidies while largely ignoring small business. His pet in the business community is Jeff Immelt of General Electric, which relies heavily on federal contracts and paid no taxes in 2010. His nominee for commerce secretary is John Bryson, whose company, BrightSource, is propped up by government subsidies. Obama’s aides are now touting the bailout of General Motors as one of his greatest achievements. Chrysler, not so much.

Obama is a regulatory zealot, even as the administration is supposedly weeding out damaging regulations. (As you might expect, they’ve found few.) At his meeting with Repu blicans last week, Obama was informed of a statement by Lisa Jackson, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, that EPA adopts policies without taking their economic impact into account—and does so on purpose.

And from Larry Kudlow, RCP:

Political advantage can be fleeting. A couple of months ago, during the winter quarter, job gains looked to be picking up, unemployment was easing lower, and President Obama’s re-election hopes looked more secure. But things sure have changed.

In recent weeks, a whole bunch of new economic stats have been pointing to a sputtering economy — maybe even an inflation-prone, less-than-2-percent-growth recession. Stocks have dropped five straight weeks, as they look toward slower growth, jobs and profits out to year end. And Friday’s jobs report didn’t buck these trends.

“Anemic” is the adjective being tossed around the media.

Economic cycles, come and go.  However, Dumbo’s cluelessness is permanent.  In Bill Gates-speak, Dumbo’s economy isn’t a bug.  It is a feature.  Dumbo would rather have an entire nation on food stamps than to see anybody who not a active campaign contributor do well.

Weiner’s weiner, from Moe Lane:

Weiner has a comprehensive list of enemies* – whose job it was to keep track and maybe push a little on Anthony Weiner.  Last week, he hit the mother-lode; the Congressman accidentally tweeted out a picture of his genitals to a nubile co-ed, and then tries to cover it up.  Our operative then proceeds to blow up the story, get it self-sustaining… and then, once Anthony Weiner is busy digging his own grave, our operative burns his Twitter account and email and walks away, whistling.  And probably with a nice bonus, too.

I like this theory because it fits the facts and doesn’t require an idiot plot: somebody got lucky, sure, but chance favors the prepared mind, right?  Best part is, this kind of cutout means that unless you figure out who ordered the political hit you’ll never be able to identify the guy who carried it out.  Unless he starts talking on his own, of course: I figure that if he’s a Democrat he’ll blab some time in 2014.  As in, after the Mayor’s election in NYC is over.

If it weren’t for the punny title, I’d be tempted to call this Weiner-Gaffe.  I see no criminal activity, but plenty of sheer stupidity on the part of the congresscritter.

Doctor Walter E. Williams on the liberals war on blacks, text:

“[T]he welfare state has done to black Americans what slavery could not have done, the harshest Jim Crow laws and racism could not have done, namely break up the black family,” Williams said. “That is, today, just slightly over 30 percent of black kids live in two parent families. Historically, from 1870s on up to about 1940s, and depending on the city, 75 to 90 percent of black kids lived in two parent families. Illegitimacy rate is 70 percent among blacks where that is unprecedented in our history.”

Video:

Hat tip:  Jeff Poor, Daily Caller.

Hope has died, from Ben White, Politico:

President Barack Obama is heading into his reelection campaign with a flagging economy that appears incapable of producing the sustained job growth needed to push unemployment below crisis levels.

And there appears to be very little he can do about it, at least in the short term.

The political gridlock in Washington, the drag of a decimated housing market and the lack of a clear driver of faster growth beyond a newly inflated tech bubble have combined to limit the administration’s options and lock the economy into dismal and seemingly permanent weakness

It seems just a few short months ago that Dumbo, b/k/a  Barack Obama was brimming with hope, and the media was swallowing it all.    No more.    The President has no plans and the media is out of hope.

Parked at Middle Village,NYC

(Elmwood Park,NJ)– I’m at a paper company here picking up a load for Rochester, which will bring me home.  I was at Middle Village, NYC again this monring. Here’s a pic taken while I wanted for a dock to open up.

I’m really happy about how this thing drives. The new parts in the transmission have made a new truck out of the thing, and the engine was just rebuilt last year… essentially I have a new truck.  And a bt of a hot rod, at that. It’s a fun drive, and one I’ve come to really enjoy.

I’m starting to get compliments from other drivers on the road about how it looks, which is always a kick. The inside is getting to the point where I can show it to you, and I’ll do that next week, I think, for those asking. Let’s take a look around, shall we?

• McJobs: Remember when they used to say (falsely) , under Reagan that the only jobs out there were hamburger flipping jobs? Turns out, under Obama, it’s true. And no, that’s not a healthy economy. And just this morning, even among those jobs the numbers are bleak at least.I suggest it’s time for Obama and the Democrats to stand up and own this economy they’ve created. Let’s get them to stand up and run for re-election, based on the economic disaster they’ve brought upon us.  Let them speak the truth: “We brought you four dollars plus per gallon of gas… we brought you massive unemployment, stagflation, and all te economic hardships that come with them. We’ve brought you a government healtcare plan that “insures’ you, but that you won’t be able to see a doctor.  And so on, and so on.Michial Walsh, by way of Glenn Reynolds this morning, says:
  

  Two years into the Obama administration, the country’s finances are a looming calamity. An unemployment rate of more than 8 percent has become the new normal, and even that understates real unemployment, because so many Americans have simply left the job market.

  The $800 billion stimulus was a complete failure, unless you count “government jobs saved” as a useful goal. “Quantitative easing” — the Federal Reserve’s printing money to buy Treasury debt — has already failed twice, yet it’s being contemplated again.

  And does anyone doubt Obama and the Democrats would have hiked taxes last fall had they not suffered such a humiliating defeat in the 2010 election?

  Barring those accomplishments, what accomplishments can the Democrats run on for re-election?  On what basis would they have us keep the reins of power in their hands?  All they can do now is attempt to spread fear of what the Republicans would do in office. But that’s not going to sell, anymore.

• Kevorkian buys it: The irony here is that the story writes itself. Ask yourself: Why didn’t he commit suicide, himself?
• “Gay”Softball league can limit “Straight” players: Su much for equal protection under the law.
• Breck Girl Gets Charged: Yeah, they finally got around to charging John Edwards for misusing government money vis-a-vie his campaign money, to keep his ….ummmm… affairs and the resulting kid, from public eye.  Now, think; does anyone seriously consider that a Republican in the same situation would be charged four years after the fact? Trust me, they’d be charged prior to the next election,with much ballyhoo.
• “Net Neutrality” If you ever doubted the FCC and it’s “Net Neutrality” nonsense was all about supporting leftists, doubt no longer.
• Palin: I note with no small amount of amusement the anti-Palin attack bits just keep flying out there. Anytime you see the Establishment Republicans aggeeing with the Democrats, it shows clearly whose side both the left and the establishment GOP is on. And, it’s not our side, trust me.  As Limbaugh says, today:
  

  The media, for two years has been trying to Palinize Palin — they’ve been trying to destroy her — and what’s happening here is she’s turning the tables on them and she’s Palinizing them, and the Republican Ruling Class is furious. The Republican Ruling Class is furious that Palin, going to all these states on her bus tour, is not coordinating with local Republican organizations, and there’s saying, “This ain’t cool! This is not cool, because if she turns out to be running she doesn’t need to be making enemies out of all these people.” But there’s another way to look at that, and that is: She’s not following a losing script.

  

  Rush Limbaugh

  It’s fascinating to watch this Palin stuff. They hate her, they despise her, they are frustrated that they haven’t destroyed her. They can’t believe she’s still smiling. They can’t believe she’s still drawing crowds. They can’t believe that she’s enjoying life. They can’t believe her family is still together. They can’t believe her husband hasn’t walked out on her. They can’t believe any of this. Folks, you know this as well as I do: When they set out to destroy you, they mean just that — and Palin’s not playing along with the script. She’s not acting destroyed. She’s not asking for forgiveness. She’s not begging them to leave her alone. She’s not changing in order to make them lighten up or anything. She’s just looking at ’em and smiling.

  “Oh, you want some more of it? Here it is,” and they’re beside themselves. They are literally beside themselves. Now, there are two kinds of people in the world: Those who understand Sarah Palin and those who pretend they don’t.

  …
  What I mean by “those who understand Palin and those who pretend they don’t,” is people who are critical of Palin for whatever reasons — she’s not schooled, she’s rough around the edges, she has a squeaky voice, whatever — whatever it is, claim not to understand her popularity or whatever, they know exactly what it is that attracts people to her, and that’s what bothers them. It bothers them she’s drawing these crowds, and that’s what they pretend not to understand. They want us to believe, “My God, what kinda idiot people are there that would follow this woman around? What kind of stupid people?”
  They know. The people I’m talking about know that as elites they are in a genuine minority, and there is disdain for flyover country, great Midwest, heartland, middle class, whatever. There’s a disdain for it — both social class-wise, education-wise. There’s all kinds of reasons. She owns that demographic. She owns it, and there’s deep resentment for it. So they pretend that she’s so odd and so off the wall, so weird that, “I don’t know what this crazy woman’s up to,” but they know exactly what she’s up to! Now, they don’t know whether she’s running for office or not, and that kills them, too. They can’t figure that out! That bugs ’em.

  Exactly so.  And look, as I said the other day, I’m not convinced Palin is the best we’ve got to run. But …. and note this well… these kind of attacks are going to be played against ANYone who dares be a real conservative. Because they know… both the left and the establishment GOP… that as Rush says, being a real conservative is not a losing formula.

• James Arness: I see James Arness has died.  Sad; A good actor.  And no, I never knew Peter Graves was his brother. But it makes sense. Same voice, and largely the same face. Graves had better comedic timing, however, at least in the public eye.

(Levittown, Long Island, NY )– Yeah, it’s warm. Must be June. This year is flying by. I came in here last night and slept until the morning when I got unloaded. I’ll be heading out in a few minutes. Im posting this from my Palm Pre today, so no pics.

• Clayton Cramer notes California has a short-sighted prison policy. Frankly, I’m unconvinced it’s all that different from most California policy. Why should corrections be the exception?
• When even Steve Verdon is forced to admit it….
• Paul A. Rahe:
  

  There are times – let’s face it – when one woman or man may be as good as another. Virtually any Republican in office (apart from Ron Paul) would be more serviceable as President than the current incumbent. But there are other times when one woman or man is not as good as another. George Washington brought something to the Presidency that no one else could have brought, and it may have made all the difference. Abraham Lincoln did the same in circumstances that were even more trying. 

  We are not in a crisis as grievous as the crises that these two Presidents faced. The survival of the Union is not at stake. But I believe that there is a great deal on the line – as much as, if not more than at any point in my lifetime. We face a grave crisis, and every such crisis is a golden opportunity.

  If President Obama is re-elected, I fear that the die will be cast – that we will go the way of Europe: dependency, crony capitalism, personal irresponsibility, economic stagnation, and military weakness. We are already a long way down that road. What Barack Obama is doing may make our further progress down that road irreversible.

  If, on the other hand, we elect a Bob Dole clone Рsomeone more serviceable than the incumbent who would be content to be the tax collector for the welfare state (a category that has long encompassed most Republicans) Рthere will be a pause in our progress down the road to perdition. But it will only be the kind of pause necessary from time to time if a man on the march is to catch his breath and pull himself together for further marching. The direction will remain the same. The only thing at stake would be the pace. That is what we chose when we elected Eisenhower, Nixon, Bush p̬re, and Bush fils. Every single President on this list increased the size and the scope of the administrative state Рjust not as much and not as fast as their Democratic opponents would have done.

  One quibble: I think we ARE in fact, in poop just as deep as in Washigton’s day and Lincoln’s… and I think its going to take that stature of person to solve our current problems.  That aside, look again….I note the exception here …. the person not on that list of his….is Reagan. Think on that for a moment.

  Now, look, Rahe isn’t the only one who sees this problem. The American voter in large part does, as well, which is exactly why I sad what I did on the 31st. (Go and read it if you haven’t…. it’s important.) Are you listening, GOP?

Middle Village, NYC, NY– I’m back in Middle Village, awaiting an unload.  Hot down here today.

I should explain my absence the last few days of last week; My truck broke down, and they had to put a new transmission in it. I suppose after 650,000 miles, it was time. The truck handles just fine and now I have the internet working.

Speaking of the internet working, and being gone for a while, we were offline for a while, because a search engine bot went nuts on us. We’re now back online and doing well. Thanks for the notes of concern. I didn’t find out about it until I was out on the road, and in another truck… I didn’t have my full computer system and that made it hard to fix from there. Of course, when I got home, it was a holiday weekend, meaning the ISP was short staffed. (Sigh)

• THANKS,DAVID: I want to take a moment today to thank David L, without whose tireless writing efforts, this blog would have stopped existing a year or so back. David’s been busting his bump getting the Morning Scramble out, and keeping an eye on things generally.  Because of my job situation, he’s been doing more writing than I have and I want to ensure he gets appropriate credit for his efforts. A tip of the hat to David…
• ANTI-PALIN BOOKS NOT DOING WELL: Over at American Thinker Steve Flesher notes:
  

  Palin-flamethrower, Geoffrey Dunn of the Huffington Post released The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power May 10^th and Frank Bailey, former Aide to Palin, teamed up with Palin-critic Jeanne Devon to release Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years on May 24^th.  Ardent opponents of Sarah Palin have been highly-anticipating these books which promised to tear down Palin’s public image for the long-term.

  Interestingly, Geoffrey Dunn’s book has not even hit Amazon’s top-100 list since its release; and after a week of media coverage including appearances on NBC, ABC’s The View, Fox News, CNN, and many more, Frank Bailey’s “memoir” disappointingly debuted at #40 and has already fallen to #75.

  There’s a reason they’re not selling. Americans have come to recognize a politically driven hit piece when they see it. If Palin is so very unpopular as the left and the press keep telling us, why all the attack books coming out? Why all the effort to bring down someone who they keep telling us couldn’t possibly win?  Bottom line; They’re scared to death the woman is going to run.  They’re trying to make sure we end up with an establishment Republican milquetoast centrist like McCain, who can be easily defeated in the general election.

  

  Another example of leftie love

  Look, I’m not convinced Palin is the best we’ve got to run, but as Steve notes, the Anti-Palin morons have just about shot their wad… there’s no more dirt left to uncover… the woman is fully vetted, they’ve already gotten about as vulgar as they can get in trying to bring her down… and they failed.  There’s little question that with no more mud to be slung at her, she is among the most potent of anti-Obama candidates. Certainly, a far more powerful choice than any of the establishment Republicans. And I’ll get to the divide between the establishment Republicans and the Rank and file at this end of today’s  Ramble. But as to Palin, I recall a similar attack mode being used on Ronald Reagan.. by both establishment Republicans and by the left as he was an up and coming star. I remember the statment he made as the Republicans put up yet another centrist in the middle 70’s…

  Raise a Banner of Bold Colors, Not Pale Pastels!

  Boldness wins elections, particularly boldly supporting freedom.

• Pouring gas on the fire: Mark Steyn writes:
  

  Oh, no, wait. Actually, Covert Operative Sunstein passes his day doing more or less what the sign on the door says: He collects information about regulatory affairs. More specifically, he is charged by the president with “an unprecedented government-wide review of regulations” in order to “improve or remove those that are out-of-date, unnecessary, excessively burdensome or in conflict with other rules.”

  

  Mark Steyn

  How many has he got “removed” so far? Well, last week he took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to crow that dairy farmers will henceforth be exempted from the burdens of a 1970s EPA-era directive classifying milk as an “oil” and subjecting it, as Professor Sunstein typed with a straight face, “to costly rules designed to prevent oil spills”. But Ol’ MacDonald and his crack team of Red Adair-trained milkmaids can henceforth relax because now, writes Professor Sunstein, Washington is “giving new meaning to the phrase, ‘Don’t cry over spilled milk.'”

  It shouldn’t surprise anyone that that’s as far as they’ve managed to get.  It’s my guess that they’ve actually added more regulations than they have removed.  After all, someone who believes government to be the end all and be all and Sunstein certainly does that, is not likely to expend any effort whatsoever to lower the power of government. And notice, please, that there is no mention whatsoever of the legislative process.  This has somehow managed to get bypassed utterly.  Or, as Mark puts it, udderly. (slap)  A nod to Martin for calling it to my attention.

• Barone:
  

  

  Michael Barone

  I’m confident that any comparison of economic coverage in the Bush years and the coverage now would show far fewer variants of the word ‘unexpectedly’ in stories suggesting economic doldrums.  It’s obviously going to be hard to achieve the unacknowledged goal of many mainstream journalists — the president’s re-election — if the economic slump continues. So they characterize economic setbacks as unexpected, with the implication that there’s still every reason to believe that, in Herbert Hoover’s phrase, prosperity is just around the corner. . . .  We tend to hire presidents who we think can foresee the future effect of their policies. No one does so perfectly. But if the best sympathetic observers can say about the results is that they are ‘unexpected,’ voters may decide someone else can do better.

  Absolutely and without question.  But you know, there is a hint that it was in fact expected to be bad; I’ve noticed, and I’m sure you have as well, how often the employment numbers are revised downward after the glowing headlines have disappeared.

• Lesson four, on Recognizing Reality:
  

  

  Lech Walesa

  Poland’s Solidarity-era legend, ex-president and 1983 Nobel Peace Prize winner said Friday he would not accept an invitation to meet with fellow Nobel winner US President Barack Obama.

  “It’s difficult to tell journalists what you’d like to say to the president of a superpower. This time I won’t tell him, I won’t meet him, it doesn’t suit me,” Walesa told Poland’s public broadcaster TVP.

  It seems that having paid the price for fighting an oppressive socialist government, Walesa is smart enough not to snuggle up to someone trying his best to build one. Good for him.

• Boehner Gets It: I’ve certainly had problems with him in the past and will likely again in future, but he’s got this one spot on. Jen Rubin:
  

  

  John Boehner

  He is blunt about the president’s conduct toward Israel.

  “It is part of what they’ve done for the last two and a half years — throw allies under the bus in an effort to reach out to people who hate us.”

  Just so. And of course, like most bullied kids, Obama doesn’t understand that just because you’re licking their boots, doesn’t mean the bully is going to like you.

• TIME TO FIGHT: Me at OTB:
  

  McCain’s problem wasn’t that he was insufficiently conservative but that the voters were fed up with Republicans after eight years of Bush and six years of a GOP Congress, two wars, Katrina, and a global financial collapse.

  Then tell me how you explain the mood of the electorate today, which is decidedly far more conservative than a McCain could possibly survive.  You see here’s the problem; after eight years of the centrist Bush the mood among the GOP majority was for real conservative.  McCain failed on every count.  I suggest that the democrats and the press (but I repeat myself ) do that very well which is precisely why they were so enamored with the idea that he was running.

  Notice, please, that the democrats have not been going after establishment republicans, but rather the grass roots.  That’s because they see the GOP  grassroots as a bigger threat.

  The fact is that enlarge plurality a merit and support cutting the size and scope of government, cutting taxes, cutting spending, do not trust government per se’ something on the order of 65% at this point support a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. constitution. The last poll I saw said something on the order of 70% oppose Obama care.

  Certainly, the democrats are never going to support moving in the direction the public wanbtrs, but, and here’s the point, neither are centrist establishment republicans.  Certainly, McCain is one of these.  McCain spent his entire campaign bending over backwards for the left who, once McCain won the nomination, when all out to defeat him. And frankly, given the lack of support from the GOP a rank and file, it’s no surprise and that they were able to do that.

  It’s as I said last year at Pajamas Media:

  The result of ignoring those clues is that Republicans have lost the last two elections. The call that we’ve seen growing so dramatically over the last several months is for the Republicans to actually stand up for conservative principles. In other words, it’s time for the Republicans to return to their core values. If that means replacing some of the standing GOP leadership, so much the better.

  I tell you this in all honesty; if the GOP doesn’t come up with a real conservative, and truly start fighting for conservative principles, (And McCain and ….Huntsman Huckabee, etc, etc simply do not qualify….  )… Obama will have his second term.  Not because he’s the more popular, but because the lukewarm GOP leadership is less popular among the conservative majority.

  Look, gang, it’s no secret that the GOP isn’t exactly happy about it’s own base. That’s why the tea party exists. While conservatives and libertarians make up the majority of the GOP, they don’t make up even half of the leadership. The rank and file are interested in principles of conservatism and libertarianism. They want to see those principles applied to governing. The GOP leadership has no interest anymore in such matters, being more enamored with attaining and remaining in power. Those principles are just standing in their way.
  Perhaps a look at the original NR mission statement as penned by WHB deserves a look:

  # It is the job of centralized government (in peacetime) to protect its citizens’ lives, liberty and property. All other activities of government tend to diminish freedom and hamper progress. The growth of government (the dominant social feature of this century) must be fought relentlessly. In this great social conflict of the era, we are, without reservations, on the libertarian side.
  # The profound crisis of our era is, in essence, the conflict between the Social Engineers, who seek to adjust mankind to conform with scientific utopias, and the disciples of Truth, who defend the organic moral order. We believe that truth is neither arrived at nor illuminated by monitoring election results, binding though these are for other purposes, but by other means, including a study of human experience. On this point we are, without reservations, on the conservative side.
  # The century’s most blatant force of satanic utopianism is communism. We consider “coexistence” with communism neither desirable nor possible, nor honorable; we find ourselves irrevocably at war with communism and shall oppose any substitute for victory.
  # The largest cultural menace in America is the conformity of the intellectual cliques which, in education as well as the arts, are out to impose upon the nation their modish fads and fallacies, and have nearly succeeded in doing so. In this cultural issue, we are, without reservations, on the side of excellence (rather than “newness”) and of honest intellectual combat (rather than conformity).
  # The most alarming single danger to the American political system lies in the fact that an identifiable team of Fabian operators is bent on controlling both our major political parties (under the sanction of such fatuous and unreasoned slogans as “national unity,” “middle-of-the-road,” “progressivism,” and “bipartisanship.”) Clever intriguers are reshaping both parties in the image of Babbitt, gone Social-Democrat. When and where this political issue arises, we are, without reservations, on the side of the traditional two-party system that fights its feuds in public and honestly; and we shall advocate the restoration of the two-party system at all costs.
  # The competitive price system is indispensable to liberty and material progress. It is threatened not only by the growth of Big Brother government, but by the pressure of monopolies(including union monopolies. What is more, some labor unions have clearly identified themselves with doctrinaire socialist objectives. The characteristic problems of harassed business have gone unreported for years, with the result that the public has been taught to assume (almost instinctively) that conflicts between labor and management are generally traceable to greed and intransigence on the part of management. Sometimes they are; often they are not. NATIONAL REVIEW will explore and oppose the inroads upon the market economy caused by monopolies in general, and politically oriented unionism in particular; and it will tell the violated businessman’s side of the story.
  # No superstition has more effectively bewitched America’s Liberal elite than the fashionable concepts of world government, the United Nations, internationalism, international atomic pools, etc. Perhaps the most important and readily demonstrable lesson of history is that freedom goes hand in hand with a state of political decentralization, that remote government is irresponsible government. It would make greater sense to grant independence to each of our 50 states than to surrender U.S. sovereignty to a world organization.

  Point number five here is particularly potent. We were told we needed a fresh approach and to get along with the other side. Well, we might try “compassionate conservatism,” except it’s already been done and all it did was grow government and allow us to abandon our principles. It also nominated John McCain and ultimately helped lose the general election. McCain was defeated because conservatives and libertarians — who would usually be supportive of real conservatives — sat on their hands in November, having identified McCain not as a conservative but as part of the problem.

  Ronald Reagan it was pointed out back in 1975, when the Republican party was then as now, mired in centrism:

  “I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our party” – when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.

  Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?

  Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people.

  Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.

  It is time to reassert our principles and raise them to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.”

  So, why are the left and the press going after the strongest spokespeople for real conservative values? Because they’ve seen such people win in very strong fashion before…. with Reagan, for one. They recognize the kind of threat it is to have such people running. Threat, that is, to the Big government left, and the establishment Republicans who refuse to fight the fight of freedom, the centrists who are more interested in getting along rather than actually standing for conservative values. That’s why the press, and the left, are coming out with everything they have against anyone who dares raise their head above the firing wall, as an actual conservative.  Such as Palin, now, as I mention above. They recognize that such a person will win easily in the general election.  They sense, correctly, that such ideals have more popularity by far than they themselves do.

  History has shown us the path to victory.  It’s also shown us how to lose.  We need only follow the victor’s path.  It comes down to this:

  Either the GOP offers up a real conservative, a person driven by conservative principles and not the weak-willed centrists like McCain, et al, Obama will have his second term.

Single issue Ramble this time.

I want to speak briefly about Memorial day which is today and I’d like you to really think about what I’m going to say to you.

It’s always been a special day for me, because honoring our vets has always held special meaning for me; it’s a lesson my parents instilled very well, indeed. It was brought home to me, as I was recently looking at pictures from a trip we made through the Gettysburg PA area some years ago.

It’s a particularly meaningful thing, when you’re standing on that field…. Something that goes well beyond the cold facts and figures about who died from what company, how old they were, or even where they were from. It’s more a feeling you get…. You can sense it… not unlike being at Arlington National Cemetery. I’m told Omaha Beach, and Pearl Harbor and many other sites are the same way. I’ve been at the funerals of firemen and policemen who died in their line of duty, and that was also remarkably similar.

In each case, we’re dealing with places and concepts of death, but, you see,  death alone doesn’t do it; doesn’t create that solemn atmosphere that is so unique to those places. After all; there are lots of mass casualty accidents have happened over the centuries and their sites are well marked, and revered, or at least held apart, and yet, their impact doesn’t approach that of an Iwo Jima or a Pearl.

Even under the shelter of the relative safety of the time that has passed since the events, as you stand in each place, you can still feel it; Lives were lost there that were willingly  sacrificed toward a higher ideal.

Our feelings and conclusions can be far different from what those lost experienced. Yet, their lives and their sacrifices still count for something. And the thing is, it doesn’t take much for us to out ourselves in their mindset.

Think of it this way; Every single man who died at Gettysburg, at Normandy, at Pearl and all the rest, has meaning for us because each of them, had their own lives, just as we have our own lives.

These people loved, they laughed, they cried. They had a favorite food, a favorite color, a particular bit of music, or of poetry stirred their souls, like none other, just like we, ourselves. Every bit as much as you and I love our lives, they loved theirs. Their lives were as precious to them, as yours is to you. Their loss was as keenly felt by their loved ones as yours would yours. And yet, they gave their lives up, for something they considered to be larger than themselves.

I have a neighbor, whose father recently needed a liver transplant. This neighbor willingly gave up part of his liver to be transplanted into his father. A noble action, certainly, commendable, and impressive. But with all respect to my neighbor, the choice to do that is comparatively easy to make. He knows and loves his father, and the sacrifice is fairly light by comparison.

So, compare that to those we honor today…. How much more noble is a sacrifice of one’s life for people that one will never meet?

Well, here it is, gang…. The people we honor today, those in uniform particularly, but some who were not, gave of themselves for the benefit of people they would never know…. you and I, and countless others from many nations. If not for their sacrifices, you’d not be reading this BIT, because I’d not have written it…. we’d be living in a very different world, possibly, one not nearly as good to us as it has been.

Look upon those actions, those sacrifices, and know what you’re seeing is strength, courage, and nobility in measures that should not… can not, be ignored. It must be honored by us all; it was made, after all for our benefit.

Think about that as we deal with the solemn proceedings for their day.

We’re back.

Looks like what happened, was, that there’s a search engine bot out there that was going a little crazy on us. We’re back online.

Quite frankly I don’t CAIR, from Paul Walsh, Star-Tribune (MN):

A national Muslim civil rights group is asking the head of Homeland Security to investigate the use of stereotypes after a man who appeared to be of Middle East descent was used in a recent security drill at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Monday renewed a request that Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano review “the use of outside trainers who offer hostile, stereotypical and grossly inaccurate information about Muslims and Islam.”

Quite frankly I don’t care what the Council on American-Islamic Relations thinks.    CAIR is not, and never has been, a civil rights organization.   Rather CAIR is the paid lobby for  Saudi Arabia.    While as Muslims may not be terrorists, virtually all terrorists are Muslim.   Mean it not like member of the Swedish Bikini Team have taken to wearing suicide vests rather than two piece swim suits.

No Shit Sherlock, Dean Schabner and ABC News have to strange idea of what constitutes news (no news, no link):

Harold Camping, the radio evangelist who predicted the apocalypse would begin Saturday, May 21, 2011, said today his understanding of God’s plan was just a little off.

Speaking outside the headquarters of his media empire near the Oakland, Calif., airport, Camping said his prediction that the Rapture would occur Saturday might have been wrong, but he stands by his prophecy that the world will come to an end as forecast on Oct. 21.

As do Elizabeth Tenety and the Washington Post:

You’ve been warned.

Radio evangelist Harold Camping said in a special broadcast Monday night on his radio program Open Forum that his predicted May 21, 2011 Rapture was “an invisible judgment day” that he has come to understand as a spiritual, rather than physical event.

Camping’s prediction wasn’t legitimate news before it proved to be false.  So now the news as not Camping, but why is ABC News and the Washington Post reporting on a proven charlatan like Camping as if Camping were legitimate sane?

Mark my words, I predict that unless self-proclaimed news organizations such as ABC News and the Washington Post quite publishing such tripe as if it were news and unless these wannabe news organizations fires such numbskull reporters
as Schabner and Tenety that they will struck by the Hail Bob Comet.  Film at Eleven.

Bibi rocks, the speech, video:

Hat tip: Carl in Jerusalem, Israel Matzav.

At last a world leader who believes in American exceptionalism, and he is not even an American.

Ruby Fizz II,  Rudy Giuliani plots to spend more millions to garner no vote, yet again, from Fox News:

A 2008 Giuliani aide told Power Play that key members of the old team are “staying loose” in anticipation of a potential run. He said the exploration seemed to have entered “a different phase” and that Giuliani had grown increasingly serious as the Republican field took shape.

“You can’t look at the Republican field and say that there isn’t room,” the former aide said..

Say good night Mr. Mayor.

We got Pawlenty, from Alexis Levinson, Daily Caller:

Tim Pawlenty announced his candidacy for president in Iowa Monday afternoon under the banner of ‘truth,’ presenting himself as someone whose campaign would not just be made of empty promises, and who will instead be willing to tell the truth, even if it makes him unpopular.

To show how serious he is, in his announcement speech in Iowa Pawlenty did just that, telling Iowans the unspeakable: that their beloved ethanol subsidies must come to end

Bravo Zulu Governor.

It it is Tuesday, why I am still here? I am with Eric on this one.  I sick of tired to the lame stream media attempting to make news out of every fringe conservative preacher.  Put all the supporters of Fred Phelps, Terry Jones and his Harold Camping fellow and you could not fill out building in Arkansas.  So why the relentless and breathless news coveage?  From the San Fransisco Chronicle:

ALAMEDA — The man who said the world was going to end appeared at his front door in Alameda a day later, very much alive but not so well.

“It has been a really tough weekend,” said Harold Camping, the 89-year-old fundamentalist radio preacher who convinced hundreds of his followers that the rapture would occur on Saturday at 6 p.m

There was no reason to suppose that Camping’s prediction was true, and suggest that anybody who thought otherwise, take his blogging to Arianna Huffington.

Westbury, Long Island,NY– Took a load to Carlisle, PA last night, and then another from there to Long Island, today. I’ll be heading west shortly.

• Hey, Billy… As always your comments on Krugman are spot on, and all the more so for their cut to the chase-briefness.
  

  Paul Krugman is a stark moron, Nobel Prize be damned.

  But… I think I’d have added a comment about the worthlessness of the Nobel Prize, anymore. After all…. Obama got one, why, again? Still and for all that, Krugman at least starts out with a passage I can believe.  Witness, please;

  Well, what I’ve been hearing with growing frequency from members of the policy elite — self-appointed wise men, officials, and pundits in good standing — is the claim that it’s mostly the public’s fault. The idea is that we got into this mess because voters wanted something for nothing, and weak-minded politicians catered to the electorate’s foolishness.

  I am reminded of Obama’s closest historical echo… Jimmy Carter. I’m sure you remember when the country had started to recognize it made a mistake electing that bozo…. as they are now, with the more recent Bozo, and what did Carter do? He went on national television and blamed the American people for reacting negatively to his mis-administration.  What a leader!! How many more days will it be, I wonder, when Obama starts following suit?  Not long, I expect. Oh…. and why, I wonder, doesn’t Krugman recognize that he himself is among the policy elite — self-appointed wise men, officials, and pundits in good standing (with the left) who led us down this path?  I guess his farts don’t stink, to him, huh? Typical socialist.

• CHAVEZ? ARE YOU KIDDING? Speaking of socialists, I see even the US Navy is apparently not immune to being remade in the politics of the immaculated one. Naming a  ship after Ceasar Chavez? Sigh….Only under scum like Obama would a far leftist get a navy ship named after him. Duncan Hunter is right on the money, his anger justified. Does anyone doubt whose politics is being worshipped here? Meanwhile the  list of actual Hispanic war heroes grows longer and yet untapped for such honors. But no, it’s more important to the left to honor union rabble rousers.
• SPEAKING OF UNIONS: We have always known they use tactics like this. Just as a reminder, here’s someone who admits to it. Question: Why is this slimeball not in jail? We both know the answer; because he supports the far leftist power structure with tactics like this, that’s why.
• WHY UNIONS ARE FLOURISHING IN GOVERNMENT: Eileen Norcross,  a senior research fellow with the Social Change Project and the lead researcher on the State and Local Policy Project makes the following observation:
  

  “The main differences between public and private sector come from economics,” said Norcross. “Private sector unions can raise their wages, but not their employment. By contrast, public sector unions can increase both wage and employment outcomes.”

  The result, says Norcross, is that public sector unions can grow the size of budgets, while private sector unions are constrained by the profitability of the firm.

  That is a fair enough description of the situation, but I think there to be a far simpler one, …(leaving aside for the moment, the obvious connection between leftists and unions world wide… for example, Andy Stern having everything but a desk in the Obama White House)… I suggest we need to examine this from the standpoint of free market competition. The fact is and always has been that Unions cannot survive in a competitive environment.  The free market is the enemy of the union movement. Many will balk at this notion and point, for example, to the private sector success of the UAW in the 5Os and forward. However, consider the situation; We had quite literally bombed the living crap out of our biggest manufacturing competition; Germany and Japan. When these finally came back on line, our auto makers (And most electronics firms as well) burdened with agreements made during the years when we lacked competition, now found they couldn’t effectively compete.  It is the Unions, along with the leftists in government placing unfunded mandates on Automakers, that forced them into bankruptcy. And of course the leftists in government ride in with taxes extorted from you and I to play ‘savior’. The only place where Unions can survive, much less thrive, is where there is no competition. Which, by the way, is why we see Union violence against non-union workers. They’re trying to frighten off the competition, seeing clearly it’s the death of the unions if such things are allowed to go on unchecked. Government, certainly, is one entity that allows no competition. Thus the union toe-hold. It’s time to outlaw unionization of any taxpayer funded job. Period. And I wonder who among the GOP leadership will have the stones to even suggest such a move.

• HERMAN’S IN: As David noted in making his scramble yesterday morning, Herman Cain is in the race. I like what I know of him and his thinking. I’ll be watching him fairly closely.
• MITCH IS OUT: I can’t say I’m overly sad about Mitch Daniels announcing he’s not running. You shouldn’t be, either. You see, I’m not convinced Daniels is the best we can do. I’ve been saying all along the current GOP field is weak, and I include Daniels in that list. Were he to run he’d have some serious questions to answer, to my mind as regard some judicial appointments…. such as the moron who wrote that ruling the other day as regards defending one’s home from invasion.
• I’M WITH ED HERE:
  

  I suspect that the media feeding frenzy Stanley describes has less to do with an impulse to lampoon the ridiculous than an impulse to ridicule Christianity in general.  Despite Camping and his followers being an extremely small fringe group, the media has covered this story as if the entire Southern Baptist church made this prediction. . . .  It’s not out of bounds to chuckle over the gullibility of those who rely on false prophets, but it’s worth considering who and what benefits from this avalanche of coverage of an obscure, already-discredited crank.

  One quibble, Ed…. the snickering didn’t TURN sinister… it STARTED that way.  It’s never been anything BUT that. And as I spoke to previously, Christ himself discredited predictions of the end of the world, saying “You shall know neither the day nor the hour”.

• OBAMA TO ISRAEL: DROP DEAD James Lewis at The American Thinker:
  

  Obama has just given an eager world his fantasy answer for the last sixty years of Arab-Israel conflict. The Great One’s long-awaited solution is for Israel to pull back to the cease-fire lines of the 1948 War of Independence, or what Obama, in a moment of historical amnesia, calls “the 1967 borders.” People have fought and died over those borders since 1949, not 1967. Make that sixty years of regular warfare.

  Take a quick glance at the Green Line on the map, and see if you can honestly answer this question:
  Would I want my family and children to live on the scary side of that lengthy, convoluted and meandering border, with Hamas and Hezbollah trying to breach the fence every night with knife-wielding maniacs and Grad rocket launchers? If you answered that question honestly, you cannot be a liberal. You know too much.

  However, if you think the answer is “Yes, I’ll do anything for peace, including putting my kids’ lives on the line,” then you are sucker bait for the most delusional political party in American history.  And that includes the Bull Moose Party. …

  Personally, the only thing that surprises me about this is that there is a Jew left in America still willing to sign on with the Democrats. You would think after 60 years of this business, at least leftist Jews would have figured out that there are some with whom one cannot make peace. Obama, who has never had his fantasies challenged by reality I can almost understand in this. But why is any Jew in America, voting for any Democrat?

• WHAT WAR POWERS ACT? Wasn’t it Joe Biden who swore on copies of Das Kapital that he’s move to impeach Bush if he took the nation to war without Congressional approval? So why the silence now? Nick has further questions and comment.

Obama does AIPAC, from Jennifer Rubin Washington Post:

The problems in the speech include: 1) Obama made it clear the United States is willing to give away Israel’s bargaining position for nothing in return; 2) Obama never even mentioned the right of return; 3) He did not reiterate specifically the necessity of a military presence in the Jordan Valley. You see, only Israel’s expected concessions are “well known”; 4) Israel can’t be expected to negotiate with those who want to destroy it, but negotiations need to resume; and 5) if anything Obama underscored that the United States has differences with Israel — but it’s between “friends.”

Hope  is for dopes, Gary Youngs, Nation:

Polls show that African-Americans indeed look at themselves differently. A January 2010 Pew survey revealed huge optimism. The percentage of black Americans who thought blacks were better off than they were five years before had almost doubled since 2007. There were also significant increases in the percentages who believed the standard-of-living gap between whites and blacks was decreasing.

But for all the ways black America has felt better about itself and looked better to others, it has not actually fared better. In fact, it has been doing worse. The economic gap between black and white has grown since Obama took power. Under his tenure black unemployment, poverty and foreclosures are at their highest levels for at least a decade

You know what hope is worth?   Well hope and dollar, plus applicable sales tax, will get you a cup of  coffee at McDonald’s.    Success if based on doing.   All attempts to improve socioeconomic status by virtue of hope are pointless.

The United States has black President, who happens to be an overt racism.  Yet having a racist black President has only made the black socioeconomic condition worse.    Consider this possibility,  the only thing liberals care about blacks is getting their votes.

Can Cain? Herman Cain did what was expected and officially threw is hat into the ring, from Daily Caller:

Cain said one of the biggest reasons he’s running for president is because, “we have become a nation of crises.”

“We have a moral crisis,” Cain said. “We got an economic crisis. We’ve got an entitlement spending crisis. We’ve got an immigration crisis. We’ve got a foggy foreign affairs crisis. And, we’ve got a deficiency of leadership crisis in the White House. There is a big difference between leadership and positionship.”

Is Herm the next Fred?  I don’t know, but he makes sense.

Gene Simmons tells Obama to Kiss off, video:

Hat tip: Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit.

It might be an interesting contest to get Simmons together with Ted Nugent.   Not that it would be safe for work.

Islands in the Stream, from Mail (UK):

Missippi flooding

We’ve all undertaken home improvements but these residents in flood-stricken Mississippi have had to embark on major construction projects just to protect their houses and livelihoods.These homes in Vicksburg are all situated along the Yazoo River, a tributary of the overflowing Mississippi River, and their owners have surrounded themselves with tons of earth and sand.

With questions over whether the main levees that protect the area from floods would hold, these farmers took no chances and have so far saved their homes and crops from destruction.