Jan Schakowsky: Bitsblog’s Fugly Whore of the Day

Representative  Jan Schakowsky (Illinois – Nine.)  is the Bitsblog’s Whore of the Day, and  darn fugly one at that.   If Schakowsky is going to call us despicable,  she might well have a reason.  Eric Zimmermann, Hill:

“The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs,” Schakowsky said in a statement.

“It’s despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt,” she added. “Not a single American household or business will be taxed at a higher rate this year. Made to look like a grassroots uprising, this is an Obama bashing party promoted by corporate interests, as well as Republican lobbyists and politicians.”

Hat tip photo:  Hillbuzz:

Rep. Jan Schakowsky is the wife of convicted felon Robert Creamer, notorious Chicagoland check-kiter (whose crime spree involved bank and charitable fraud, feloniously writing bad checks on accounts in one bank, for deposit into accounts in another bank, and withdrawal from a third bank before anyone could figure out there was no real money in the accounts to move around like that

Moe Lane:

Why do people like [Robert] Creamer think that they can get away with tax evasion? Because when you’re married to a Democratic Congresswoman, very often you can. That’s because people like Schakowsky don’t think that the rules apply to them. Which is her problem with the Tea Parties, really: the people involved with them have a distinctly different opinion, and they aren’t the sort that get amused with the argument that social justice sometimes requires bank fraud. Best to try to squash them quick

From the top, Fox News, only jumped on the Tea Party bandwagon, but did not create it.   The Obama administration in not cutting taxes it has raised them,  Duluth News Tribune: 

Hold on to your wallets, smokers. On the heels of President Obama’s expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, by taxing cigarettes an additional 62 cents a pack, the Minnesota Legislature is looking to add another dollar per pack to the cost of lighting up. 

Further Porkulus has not has created any new net jobs.   Obama’s economy is still tanking.   I am bit disappointed in Schakowsky lack of respect for Tea Party goers.   Judging by the way Schakowsky is holding her mouth, she knows all about tea bagging.

The Peoples’ right to peacefully air their grievances is fundamental and presumed to God given,  as is Schakowsky’s right to be ugly.    On the other boot, there is no right to tax fraud.    I am willing to respect Schakowsky’s real  right.   I ask, well demand, that she do the same.

Welcome one and all to the most intense nigtly read anywhere on the sphere… The Bitsblog Nightly Ramble

This is the “Day After” edition.

So many things went on yesterday, I can’t begin to discuss them all. An eventful day, to be sure. A day when the leftists infesting our government were served notice that the right will not be silent, anymore.

• Stand up! Across our nation conservatives stood up in numbers heretofore unimagined unreported, and unseen.  Estimates from a few places I’ve seen are 3,500 in Hartford, CT.  9,000 in liberal infested Madison, WI, another  2500 in Jacksonville,  2,500 in Boise, ID. 5,000 in Sacramento, CA, 16000 in Atlanta. 4000 in Lansing. New York had between 15,000 and 20,000. Of course the Dinosaurs are downplaying these numbers, lowballing them by quite a bit. Apparently, they’re trying to compensate for overplaying the numbers at the so-called ‘million man march’, or else are showing the same math skills they demonstrate so clearly when endorcing Obama’s tax and spend proposals.
• Will it work? Now, of course even absent the left ‘s desperately trying to downplay yesterday’s events, there will be those who will suggest there is no real effectiveness in the protesting we see. Even those on the right. But that’s simply not true. For 40 plus years, Democrats went into full cry at the slightest provocation. Result? We have Democrats in power in all three branches of government, and centrists instead of conservatives running the Republican party.   And the desperation of the left to dismiss these protests… particularly the Dinosaur Media, tells me they fear it’s all too effective a device. Of course, they’d know from personal experience, right?
• Yeah, but… Billy, I know. But here’s the thing; Fear is an immense motivation for a lot of good. Gingrich, apparently is smart enough to see he’s going to have to buckle to the trend, or get his ass eaten off by the gators swimming in this moat. To the degree that fear will serve the interests, Gingrich will be useful to the goal.  And say what you will about Hannity, but the fact is, for good or ill, he’s been behind a lot of the movement we see, here.  The trick to my mind, is going to be not simply turning it over to these people, but keeping the pressure on. Then again, isn’t that always the thing?
• Bye, John: I see John Madden is quitting.  Sad to see, but, yeah, it’s time.
• Weak and meek: Sarkozy has this one right. And here’s the thing; He’s not the only one who has Obama correctly tagged. Thus, Korea’s launch, Increased pirate activity, increased Iranian flaunting the Nukes, etc, etc. So much for the world loving us because The One strolled across the surface of the Patomic to assume the mantle of the presidency.
• We can leave if we want to:  Rick Perry is correct.
• Both Parties: Jen Rubin is correct, as well, to least to the extent that the Republicans have been pushed by vocal Democrat party sub-groups into nominating center to left RINOS to positons of power both in elected and unelected positions.  That has to change.
• Bankers fighting back? Well, what do you know? It’s almost like they’ve been reading my postings at Pajamas Media…
• Preemptive strike: Pelosi is calling for a probe on Wall street. A pre-emptive measure, of course. Her worst nightmare is that the involvement of her and her party in the recent problems gets played with the import it deserves.
• Fire Janet Napolitano: That’s what Ralph Peters says. I tend to agree. Indeed, the objections Peters raises are exactly what many forsaw from this woman when she was originally appointed. Thing is, she was appointed because her views reflect those of The One.  Thereby,  we both know there’s a snowballs chance of it actually happening.

From the Mailbag:

In Stuttgart, Germany, a court judge must decide on a case of honorable intentions in a situation where a man hired his neighbor to get his wife pregnant.

It seems that Demetrius Soupolos, 29, and his former beauty queen wife, Traute, wanted a child badly, but Demetrius was told by a doctor that he was sterile.

So, Soupolos, after calming his wife’s protests, hired his neighbor, Frank Maus, 34, to impregnate her. Since Maus was already married and the father of two children, plus looked very much like Soupolos to boot, the plan seemed good.

Soupolos paid Maus $2,500 for the job and for three evenings a week for the next six months, Maus tried desperately, a total of 72 different times, to impregnate Traute.

When his own wife objected, he explained, “I don’t like this any more than you. I’m simply doing it for the money. Try and understand.”

When Traute failed to get pregnant after six months, however, Soupolos was not understanding and insisted that Maus have a medical examination, which he did.

The doctor’s announcement that Maus was also sterile shocked everyone except his wife, who was forced to confess that Maus was not the real father of their two children.

Now Soupolos is suing Maus for breach of contract in an effort to get his money back, but Maus refuses to give it up because he said he did not guarantee conception, but only that he would give an honest effort.

Ummmm Oops.

Color this blogger stunned.    I come to praise the Frogs, a/k/a the Frencn.    The French Navy is acting with an audacity once reserved for the British  Royal  Navy and the United States Navy, McClatchy .

MOMBASA, Kenya – On another day of high drama in the waters off Somalia, French forces struck Wednesday at what they described as a pirate “mother ship,” and captured 11 suspected pirates hours after pirates attacked an American cargo ship with rockets in the second serious attack on a U.S. vessel in a week.

Meanwhile back in Obamaland:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced several new steps, including aid to shippers and insurers to bolster their defenses; attempts to block pirates from buying sophisticated vessels and arms; and a diplomatic initiative to press Somali leaders to deal with the problem.

Clinton acknowledged that piracy will not be stopped without tackling Somalia’s poverty and its lack of governance. She said, however, that, “You’ve got to put out the fire before you can rebuild the house. And, right now, we have a fire raging.”

Pirates, like the rats that they are, can not survive without their nests, lairs.   Piracy has been contained not by fancy words, of whiich the Obamatards have in long supply, but rather by decisive actions, of which Obama is allergric, to wipe out the pirates lairs.

Further,what is it with the Clintons’,  Somalia, and nation building anyhow?    Evidenctly Mrs. Clinton has forgotten B.J.’s disaster in Mogadishu:

In the wake of Operation Restore Hope, further US helicopter-borne incursions persisted, until, on October 4, 1993, at 6:30 AM., American forces were finally evacuated to the UN’s Pakistani base by an armored convoy along the so-called “Mogadishu Mile.” In that exercise alone, 18 U.S. soldiers died and 73 were injured, while two US Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and three further MH-60s put out of action. After the battle, one or more US casualties of the conflict were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by crowds of local civilians and SNA forces.  

Hell no Mrs. Clinton.   If you want to build a nation in Somalia, you go build it yourself.   The French have the right idea.   All the Obamatards have are mere words.

By way of  TV By The Numbers here’s the ratings of the cable news orgs who covered the Tea Parties yesterday:

Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for April 14, 2009

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 1,455,000 viewers
CNN – 697,000 viewers
MSNBC -457,000 viewers
CNBC – 253,000 viewers
HLN – 386,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,812,000 viewers
CNN—1,006,000 viewers
MSNBC -1,043,000 viewers
CNBC – 161,000 viewers
HLN – 804,000 viewers

Read the full story

Here’s the story in graphic detail:

I doubt the numbers, of themselves are going to need much explaining.  But perhaps some of the fallout, will.  To that end, let’s just for the moment take as a given that Fox shamelessly promoted the Tea Parties of yesterday. Offhand, I’d suggest to you that with that kind of lead, the message of those protests of yesterday resonated rather well with the public. And that may well account for the fearful reaction we’ve been seeing from the left, the government, and the remainder of the press.  And that’s what it is we’re seeing among these… fear.

And personally, I couldn’t be more pleased.

For all you, like me, who think that Barack Obama lives in own private alternative universe, which I call Obamaland, we now have strong collaborating evidence.    From Gateway Pundit, “‘President Obama Says He Is “Unaware of Tea Parties””.     So from where ever the one gets his news, it is not from the new media.     It appears that one restricts his view of the World to the prism of old, dinosaur, media.    No Internet for Obama.  No wonder he wants to ‘Fairness Doctrine”  talk radio, he doesn’t listen to it.    Funny how, Obama will take gratuitous cheap shots at the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, but never, ever, listen to their shows.

Gateway Pundit suggest that the one is spending too much time in the garden.   If so, is Obama in the weeds or on the weed?

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the Tea Bag Edition

Lots going on, today.  I’m not stupid enough to try and grab it all, but here’s a few bits of it.

• Tea as medicine:  My wife, when she was growing up, often said that whenever she had  a stomach ache, a cold, whatever, her Mom would always give her a cup of tea to smooth things out. She ended up regarding tea as Medicine and never got into the idea of drinking it, as one would coffeee, Cocoa, or whatever.  A little frustrating, really, because I often enjoy some Earl Grey, Constant Comment, or whatever. My desk drawer, both at home and at work, always and forever smells of the rather unique combo of whatever tea I happened to have stored there, recently. I think that’s a wonderful metaphor, for today; Tea as Medicine for what ails the nation.  Apparently a lot of others are struck with it as well, based on the reports I’m getting.
• A Mea Culpa: Today’s happening, with some 800+  Tea Parties listed on the web as happening around the country has prompted a timely mea culpa of sorts from Rick Moran.  I was one of the ones who took a bite out of Rick’s backside when he pooh-poohed the tea party phenom some time back. Frankly, I always expected this would happen. Rick’s just too damned honest to not make such a comment, now. Back then,Rick said:
  

  If this really was the beginnings of something profound that was tapping into the rage of the American people, there would have been not 300 but 30,000 people screaming their opposition to spendthrift Obama. People would have taken off from their jobs, bundled up against the cold, walked, rode, took the bus, or crawled their way to a protest if they were truly fed up and ready to throw the Democratic rascals out.Instead, we get 40 events that remind me of the old Mickey Rooney Andy Hardy movies where he and Judy Garland would put on a show to save someone’s business or house. “Hey kids! Let’s put on a show!” was Rooney’s battle cry in those movies and it is an apropos slogan for the effort that went into promoting these tea parties.

  When you get some money, organization, professionalism, and a little more realism, come back and see me.

  Now, however, he says

  Well, there still isn’t much organization and little professionalism, but it turns out that I was the one lacking realism. I failed to grasp the excitement this idea generated and how it would animate the grass roots to actually get out of their chairs and do something about the creeping statism and generational theft being perpetrated by the Obama Administration. I also failed to give any credit to the thousands of ordinary citizens who, without any help from an organized political structure and with little or no money, managed to organize around 800 of these tea parties, and make a virtue out of their inexperience by being imaginative and working hard. In the end, results count. Today will see uneven results from venue to venue but overall, will no doubt be judged a success – if not by the media then by the movement itself.

  (Note to our lefty friends: By the time Fox News got around to mentioning the tea parties, more than 500 had been announced. To believe that FNC is “behind” the tea parties is delusional. Any publicity they give is, I’m sure, appreciated by the organizers. But what does it say about the “reality based community” when they so easily slough off reality in favor of paranoia and fantasy?)

  But my concern in February, as it is now, is that the rhetoric about what the tea parties will accomplish will not match the reality of what actually occurs. Exaggerated claims of “revolution” as appear on the PJTV site are not only unrealistic but defeat the purpose of the movement by scaring otherwise sympathetic people off. Most Americans probably do not want “revolution” nor are they necessarily in tune with the goals of the tea party – not when 71% of Americans approve of Obama’s handling of the economy. The best that can be said is the that success of the tea parties show that many Americans are uneasy about this administration’s actions in spending our way to oblivion and that higher taxes for everybody are a dead certainty as a result.

   I’ll admit at at the time; I was torn on the subject, myself, but finally concluded if there was too much professionalism in the look of it, we’d be even more ignored than we ultimately have been, so far. the claim would be that it was all set up by the RNC, or Fox or Scafe, or someone.  That, and the idea that grassroots efforts are always more effective than top-down stuff, kept me in the tea party camp. The more I look around, though, the more I recognize that what’s happening, here, is more real than what gets tossed at us on the news every night. Rick under-estimated at the time, and I suspect still does, albeit to a lesser degree,  the amount of anger there is out there. Any measurement of such anger must be tempered with the understanding that, as I said a few weeks back, Conservatives, generally speaking don’t protest things, particularly on work days. They’ve got jobs and families to provide for. They’re not getting paid by unions and other groups to carry pre-printed signs. By their very nature, they’re not as inclined toward public displays of anger as our lefist bretheren.

  Also there’s the factor of mistrust of the polling agencies who insist that Obama has 71% support numbers on the economy. It’s my guess that such numbers are both tilted in the reporting, and fragile at their base, and will as a result of both, fall markedly very soon. I hasten to add that we shouldn’t ignore the bandwagon effect.

  Put another way,  and twisting the ‘grass roots’ metephor, it’s my read that the grass has been awfully dry for a long while, and will catch fire very fast, once the match is struck. And we did that today.

  I think I should point out in fairness to Moran, that his real concern, as I read it, his real concern is the effectiveness of the Tea Party movement, and that, I think depends to some degree on how the press receives it, and reports it. I’ll tell you this; I think the press, as Moran did, under-estimates the amount of anger out there. If they refuse to give this happening the weight it deserves… and the indications are that they’re already trying mightily to ignore it, they relegate themselves to irrelevance.  Truth to tell, they were already on the path to it, as evidenced by the New York Times and other news orgs going down hill. If the Dinosaur news agencies  that remain ignore this happening, today, they’ll be in effect adding rocket power to the irrelevance -bound sled. Fox, it should be said, has been doing the best job of any of them, but one gets the impression they’re doing it out of self-preservation, much as any other motivation.

• Guess who’s coming to tea?  Reports from the DC protest (One such from Melissa Clouthier)  are that lefty frother Jane Hamsher showed up. The look on her face at the sheer size of the thing must have been utterly precious. It was raining, there, I hear, too.
• Comments from several: I wonder if we’ll get the inflated turnout numbers reorted, that the ‘Million Man March’ did….
• Anger is a strength: Our liberal freinds got strong and unified because they got angry. Think about it; every major political group in history, good and bad, became powerful because someone stepped over the line somewhere. So it is, here. There’s a lot of anger in this movement. In reality the anger has been building for some time, now. That’s why DHS put out that report I mentioned yesterday. Those currently in government are afraid of the electorate.  Which is as it should be.   As a people, we tend to under-estimate our power over events, until such time as a line gets crossed, one day, and we stand up, making use of our spine, and we find in the doing, that we are stronger than we thought possible.
• Everyone knows the American Legion is a terrorist group:  Speaking of that DHS nonsense, I note the American Legion has sent a letter to DHS demanding an apology. This Ain’t Hell has details.  Here again, anger.
• Silence!  I warn you, however, that the first reaction of government will be to try and shut us up.  As an example, consdier Obama nominee Harold Koh. National Review‘s Ed Whelan writes last week:
  

  But, Koh warns in a footnote, “our exceptional free speech tradition can cause problems abroad, as, for example, may occur when hate speech is disseminated over the Internet.”  The Supreme Court “can moderate these conflicts by applying more consistently the transnationalist approach to judicial interpretation” that Koh advocates (and which I’m exploring in an ongoing series of posts on Bench Memos).  Gee, I wonder what that would mean for our pesky First Amendment distinctiveness.

  Personally, I wonder why this isn’t getting mroe attention from the right, myself. Perhaps it’s simply a product of there being such a target rich environment where Democrats are concerned, these days.

Other matters:

• Sustainability: Joyner, today:
  

  In “Fiat CEO: Cut Wages or No Chrysler Deal,” I detail how the Obama administration’s attempt to shepherd a shotgun marriage between Chrysler and Fiat appears to be in serious trouble. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is demanding major concessions from labor unions before agreeing to any deal — and is offering next to nothing in return….

  …
  If the point of the bailout is either to 1) save an important American company or 2) prop up one of the last remaining vestiges of highly paid, union manufacturing jobs, it’s not looking so good.

  That’s because this was never about saving the automobile business. Liberals have always always always been down on American business, so why would this occasion be any different?

  What this has always been about was saving the UAW… which was never sustainable, absent huge import duties on foreign cars. Gas prices going up didn’t help matters, either, nor did the ever increasing scope of governmental regulation on the auto industry, which is in the end failing for the same reasons trains did… Governmental over-regulation.

  Irony abounds. the UAW suffers from the worldview of the party they work so hard to keep re-electing.

  In the end, the unions have to fall for the business to survive. Fiat’s smart enough to see that, and outside politics enough to be able to say it without causing themselves governmental backlash issues.

  Cheers to them, I say.

I noted this in passing before leaving for work this morning, on Fox News, in an article apparently originating on the Gannett wires. and I’ve since confirmed it with local sources down in Binghamton, New York :

A social services accounting clerk wants compensation for missing his lunch break on April 3 during a horrific upstate New York immigration center massacre that left 13 dead plus the gunman.

James Kauchis, a government employee of the Broome County Department of Social Services, confirmed that he filed a formal complaint last week seeking the pay, according to the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin.

But he wouldn’t discuss it with the newspaper.

“That’s a matter between me, the administration and the union,” Kauchis said.

 In this case, we have the worst of both worlds… he’s not only a union member, but a government employee. Regadless of what else hapened to others, no matter what they lost, (their lives, particularly) he wants to get paid for his… his lunch break?  No matter what else happens, this moron thinks he’s owed something. Just imagine the burden placed on him by his oppressive supervisors!  This poor man is yet another victim of the horrible tragedy down there in Binghamton. Imagine with me please…the hardship…  and indignity of having to miss lunch!

Oh, wait… by the report, I see his supervisors had already brought in pizza and so on to keep the troops entertained while the lockdown was going on. On the government dime.  Of itself a small matter, but just another factor in the measurement of this guy’s qualifications as a typical Union member. 

 There it is for all to see, people. A typical Union, at…. ummmmm… work. Is there any wonder why Union membership is at an all time low, outside the realm of government?

Now, of course, I’ll be told, in knee-jerk fashion, that Kauchis doesn’t represent all union workers. And of course, that’s utter nonsense. I don’t doubt that there are some union members who are slightly better, but the bottom line is his actions are the logical conclusion of Unions.  What he’s demanding is in fact the letter of the contract, else he’d not be making the demands. This is the logical conclusion of leaning so heavy on the law (And the contract is a law, of sorts being legally binding) that we forget our humanity. This kind of nonsense, at a usually lower level of intensity is exactly what killed off American industry. It’s why GM is preparing for bankruptcy, for example.

Gee, I wonder who this guy voted for in the last election? Given the hold the Democrat party has on the Unions… or is it the other way around…. I think we can take that aspect as a given.  

If there’s anyone with a sense of justice working in that building, down there, they’ll let him know on no uncertain terms what an idiot he’s being. But, now, these other other union/Government workers.  Chances of that ever happening are as close to nil as no matter.

Angry? You bet your sitting device, I’m angry. Alas, though, this is all too typical.

Just how dumb is Obama?  We can add another subject to the long and growing list of which the Presidunce is flat out ignorant, economics, Robert J Samuelson, via Karl Patterico’s Pontifications:

Since the dawn of the Industrial Age, this has been simple: produce more with less. (“Productivity,” in economic jargon.) Mass markets developed for clothes, cars, computers and much more because declining costs expanded production. Living standards rose. By contrast, the logic of the “post-material economy” is just the opposite: Spend more and get less

David’s economic proverb of the day:   Beware of Obamatards  using analogies to preach economics, via Gateway Pundit”

“We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand,” he said, invoking a Biblical reference to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. “We must build our house upon a rock

The economy is not a building, and Obama is not an economist.

Good news from the DHS report, via John Powerline:

Paralleling the current national climate, rightwing extremists during the 1990s exploited a variety of social issues and political themes to increase group visibility and recruit new members. Prominent among these themes were the militia movement’s opposition to gun control efforts, criticism of free trade agreements (particularly those with Mexico), and highlighting perceived government infringement on civil liberties as well as white supremacists’ longstanding exploitation of social issues such as abortion, inter-racial crimes, and same-sex marriage

If the Obamatard who wrote this piece of drivel is right, and I doubt it, then we have won.   Off the top of my head, people who support the Second Amendment, oppose open borders, same-sex marriage, or an all powerful federal government constitute a clear majority of the country.    No wonder Obama is afraid.

Nadya’s Full House. 13WHAM:

And baby Jonah makes eight — or, rather, 14. The Associated Press reports that the last remaining baby in “Octuplet Mom” Nadya Suleman’s set of eight newborn children has been released from Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center in California tonight, according to a spokesperson from the hospital.

 I doubt that she be getting much sleep.

If there is anything the one hates, it is having make an actual desision.   Rather t han make a decison the allegationsof tortue duing the Bush administratin, the one has punted the decisino to Spain,   Scott Horton, Daily Beast:

Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo

[…]

Both Washington and Madrid appear determined not to allow the pending criminal investigation to get in the way of improved relations, which both desire, particularly in regard to coordinated economic policy to confront the current financial crisis and a reshaped NATO mandate for action in Afghanistan. With the case now proceeding, that will be more of a challenge. The reaction on American editorial pages is divided-some questioning sharply why the Obama administration is not conducting an investigation, which is implicitly the question raised by the Spanish prosecutors. Publications loyal to the Bush team argue that the Spanish investigation is an “intrusion” into American affairs, even when those affairs involve the torture of five Spaniards on Cuba.

Either the torture allegations have merit or they do not.   If the allegations have merit, the Obama administration has a duty to investigate.   If the allegations do not have merit, the President has a constitution duty  to protect American citizens from a Spanish kangaroo court.    The President swore to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States.   Obama’s Oath of Office has no provision for outsourcing justice to Spain.   The President’s duty is clear.  Obama’s thought process, such as it is, is rather muddled.

Addendum:

David Corn, Mother Jones has a good question:

Obama could even conceivably have to contend with extradition requests. If any of this comes to pass, it won’t then be a laughing matter.

I it is gonna be tough for the one to vote present on an extradition request.

Mrs. Cinton wants to reach out to the moderate Taliban, Asssociated Press:

KABUL – Taliban gunmen executed a young couple in southern Afghanistan for trying to elope, shooting them with rifles in front of a crowd in a lawless, militant-controlled region, officials said Tuesday.

The woman, 19, and the man, 21, were accused by the militants of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided that the two should be killed, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, the governor of the southwestern province of Nimroz

The Lord only knows what the extreme Taliban would have done, whipped the couple before they murdered  them?

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere, and a recent addition to the Homeland Security Watch List… BitsBlog’s Nightly Ramble

This is The Deluxe Cheeseburger edition

Before I get into the usual collections of quick takes, snarks and swipes, I want to take the opportunity to pass along some thoughts on tommmrow, because by the time tommrow’s Ramble goes up, the events will have already happened, and at least partially defined by the Dinosaur media.

Defined how, you ask?  Tommorow being April 15th, we’re going to see a lot in the news about the malcontents gathering together to bitch about taxes.  While it’s true that because of the Revolutionary history of the thing, Tea Parties are most usually associted with tax protests… and April 15th is a logical time for such protests to happen. 

Thing is, I don’t see the some 500 events I see listed around the country tomorrow as being about taxes,per se’, except in reflex. Rather, I see these protests as being about governmental growth and governmental spending, and frankly about a loss of freedoms generated by our own government… a government that until recently took seriously it’s oath to uphold those freedoms, by means of the constitution.

The Dinosaurs have been making mention of these events in derogatory fashion. If they have a bloody clue what the things are about, they’re avoiding telling their viewers about them for the most part. They know there’s a power there, that they don’t want to see winning the day, and so they ignore it, in hopes you will, too.

Now, as I say as of the other day, when I found the list of events I have in hand, there were some 500 such events planned around the country. But I’m not going to pass along that list, and I’ll tell you why; As with most true grassroots happenings, this this has already grown way beyond that listing, and there will be much in the way of impromptu protesting going on, as well. Best way to find out where to go to get involved is to do a Google search. If you can’t find it there, look on places likeAltavista, instead. Instapundit’s been doing a fair job of collecting these things, as has buddy Chuck Simmins at North Shore Journal.

I’m going to urge you; let your voice be heard. Ya know, to steal a cleche from Reynolds, they told me that Obama would unite us. And so he has, but not in the way I was told. We’ve begun to unite against the left in a way never seen before. And tommrow, not only will we all see this, we can be a part of it. Let’s remined the government who they’re suppsoed to be working for… because clearly, they’ve forgotten.

But the job doesn’t end, there. I’ll speak more on thatpoint, tommorow.

On to the usual Ramble doings.

• Michelle Malkin  having problems: … with the website. repeated crashes. I wondered why I wasn’t getting my usual quota of backlinks from them. Now, I know. I doubt this is anything but malicious intent, given tommorow’s a huge day for the site. Oh, by the way, if you’re interested in the DHS document I snarked about, she has it here.  Which may be, come to think of it, another reason she’s getting attacked, eh?
• Mislabeng the problem, as usual:  By way of frequent Limbaugh substitute Mark Hemmingway,  I note the American Legion has responded to the document with a little fire. (About bloody time someone did)
  

  The best that I can say about your recent report is that it is incomplete. The report states, without any statistical evidence, “The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.”

  The American Legion is well aware and horrified at the pain inflicted during the Oklahoma City bombing, but Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation’s uniform during wartime. To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical “disgruntled military veteran” is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam.

  Your report states that “Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.” Secretary Napolitano, this is more than a perception to those who have lost their job. Would you categorize union members as “Right Wing extremists”?..

  Well, yes, and therein lies my argument that we’re seeing this thing mislabeled. It’s the union types that lose their jobs first to foreign competition, both domesticly and jobs shipped aboard. By that measure then, that’s where the most xenophobia comes from, as regards jobs and people who are pissed at losing them. But of course a leftisty government firmly in the pocket of the unions is never going to lean toward the truth in the matter.  And there it is,people… the DHS is being used here by the Democrats for a political goal, plain and simple.

• Pirates: I’ve already written at some length on the topic. Despite disagreements with a fair number of people, some of which I have great respect for, I remain unconvinced my initial take on the thing was/is incorrect.  We’re going to be told that the increase in violence in the area is due to our killing the pirates holding Captain Phillips. Remember this; the context of that charge can be found in lesser amounts on any stable floor. The direct reason for any increase in violence in the area is the direct result of our not dealing with the situation as we should have been doing all along. Make no mistake, here, people; This stuff started under Obama, because his attitudes create an opening in which terrorists can work. As for Obama’s involvement in the supposed ‘direction’ of the rescue attempt.. Bunk.  I said this yesterday and it bears repeating, because this subject won’t be off the radar for at least four years: Obama fouled this one up, gang. Period.  No,  I’m not “wishing for failure” as so many on the left will charge.  Actually, I’m delighted  at the outcome, as much as I would be if my five year old had flushed my money down the john, and it all floated back up. That doesn’t mean the path to the result was at all desireable or correct, or that my five year old deserves praise for his actions. Obama’s inactions (in the name of peaceful resolution, of course) was as likely to cause the death of Captain Phillips as to save his life. That’s an unacceptable gamble. If it all works, Obama gets to look like a peacemaker, and looks like a water walker again…. if the Navy manages to pull the extraction of Phillips off without a shot.  As it happens, we had a field commander with the stones to take the lead. And, thank God for that.  But now think;If conditions cause a failure in any way, does Obama take the hit, or does the military? You know as well as I, Obama’s not going to get any blame for a failure, here.  And I’m supposed to sit back and smile and credit Obama for ANY of this? Sorry, no.  I won’t do it.  (And my the way, I should credit Joyner for mentioning this aspect yesterday, though even he didn’t hit the nail as hard as needs be, I think. ) What happened,in the end, was sheer  luck, and not leadership. It’s troubling that Obama and his followers don’t understand the difference. Troubling, too, that so many on the right are willing to give him a pass on this stuff. Trust me when I say to you, that I’m not so willing there, either. We are dealing, dear readers, with people who lose no opportunity, by their own words, to grow government with every crisis, real or imagined.  We’re about to see that demonstrated, once again.
• By the way, I think Jonah Goldberg got this wrong, too. His readers, however, didn’t.
• Facts/Krugman=(Error: Divided by zero) I’ve said it before and will continue to say it, so long as there’s anyone on the planet that claims Krugman is worth the air he consumes: The relationship between Krugman and facts is imaginary.  If Krugman were a blogger, he’d be one of a very few who would be able to give Glenn Greenwald a run for the money in the dishonesty department. (Longtime readers will understand the depth of that comment particularly well. )    And look, gang, when even Henke, who I have no great love for, can bitchslap Krugman into the middle of next Tuesday, … well.. You know Krugman’s backside is hanging out several miles.
• What wig will he wear at Sentancing? To the shock of nobody, Phil Spector was found guilty.   That’s a chapter I’d just as soon forget.
• Corruption from Jackson?  Well, it looks that way.
  

  Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s camp was told last year that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) would raise up to $5 million in campaign cash for the ex-governor if he was appointed to President Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

  The overture came from at least two members of the local Indian community who approached the Blagojevich fund-raising team last fall, sources say…

  So, you tell me… who among you is shocked by this? Yeah… me, neither. What a grand, fair minded, and upright group of people, these Democrats are, huh?

• Blogo does what Blago does: Oh, speaking of all that, Blago pleaded not guilty on corruption charges this afternoon.
• Rational?  Look, Billy, if the other side is being, in your view,  irrational.. and I agree they are… I submit the problem is that we’re accepting at face value that their goals are as stated.  Take, as an example, your topic of gun control.  One simply cannot be dealing with the facts in a logical manner, while making the claim that removing legal guns from society will make us safer.  Again, we seem to agree there.  So, if we assume they’re not acting out of sheer stupidity, what would the reasoning behind their position be on the subject?  The only way the argument becomes rational, is if we assume their goal, instead of the stated one, is to cripple our ability to defend ourselves.The same logic, I think applies itself rather well to what we see going on in government spending. We simply cannot spend our way out of the current situation. We can only cripple ourselves. The most logical answer then to that situation is that Democrats are not about solving our problems… they’re about making them worse. To consider this otherwise is, well, irrational.

Heh. Glenn notes a story that Jim Quinn noted this morning on the War Room.

One of the biggest concerns people have with buying smal cars is crash safety. More specifically, there are concerns about what happens when a small car meets a larger one in an accident. Regardless of size, all cars are required to meet the same crash safety standards. The problem is that crash tests are done by slamming a car into a standardized barrier, while accidents in the real world don’t generally involve impacts with standardized barriers.

When cars of different sizes collide there are a huge number of variables that impact the result. One of those is kinetic energy, which is a function of mass and velocity. A larger, heavier vehicle has more energy than a smaller, lighter one, and in combination with less crush space, the latter tends to come off worse in an accident. The Insurance institute for Highway Safety has run a series of crash tests between sub-compact and mid-sized cars and in all three cases the small cars did substantially worse than they did in the standard crash tests. All of the small cars earned good scores in regular testing but did poorly in the new tests.

If you’re interested, the full report is available here.

Ask me again why I drive a truck. I refuse to risk my life for a few gallons of fuel. And don’t even get me started about ‘smart’ cars. You’re safer on a motorcycle.

Memo to The One: Pretty words alone will not do.  Video:

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

Meanwhile away from Obamaland, back in the real world,

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) – Undeterred by U.S. and French hostage rescues that killed five bandits, Somali pirates brazenly hijacked four more ships in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway at the center of the world’s fight against piracy.

Obama has tried giving the pirates four days of the silent treatment.  Now he tried babbling.   Gotta a plan that works?   Not to worry, Victor Davis Hanson, Pajamas Media, who did actually attend college and knows history, not fantasy, has some suggestions, here is one:

1) Hit ’em where they are. If we review how the Romans, Venetians, British, and Americans dealt with piracy, then we arrive at the same conclusion: forces go ashore and destroy docks, ships, and houses of the pirate community-and soon leave. There is no reason to nation-build in Somalia, only to blast apart pirates on the water; and when they strike, tit-for-tat simply to bomb or send a missile at their point of return on land.

Finally BO, if you don’t understand VDH,  have somebody who did actually get an education explain the Marine Corps Hymm to you.

Boortz makes a point I’ve made before about this supposed ‘green stimulus’. It’s a contradiction in terms:

But here are the ugly facts … every “green job” that was funded by the Spanish government caused the loss of 2.2 regular jobs, or about 9 jobs lost for every 4 created. And – and this is a big one – only one out of the 10 newly created green jobs became a permanent job. In other words, folks. This isn’t long term stimulus. This is a government-created industry that will create a temporary surge in jobs that aren’t permanent and will squeeze out private sector growth.

Oh and there is more. Now Spain has been at it for about eight to ten years. And when this economic crisis hit, the study shows that Spain’s “green jobs” policy hindered its ability to cope with the crisis. Which is ironic, considering that Barack Obama feels that created “green jobs” will be America’s way of getting out of this crisis.

When the results are so dependably opposite of the stated goals, does it really make sense to take them at their word about what the goals are?  I’ll touch on another story of the like in the Nightly Ramble tonight.