All posts by Chief

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Banned from Britain by Ingsoc Gov’t

Extremists banned from Britain named by Home Office

A total of 101 individuals – including dozens of radical Muslim clerics, such as Omar Bakri – have been excluded in the past four years, using new powers introduced after the July 7 bombings in 2005.

Two thirds of them have been banned for “fomenting, justifying or glorifying terrorist violence” and provoking others to carry out terrorist atrocities.

The 16 named today, who have been excluded in the past six months, include six militant Muslims, four men who front Neo-Nazi groups, a Sri-Lankan Tamil Tiger leader, a former member of the Palestine Liberation Front and a right-wing American radio chat show host [emphasis added]. Six others banned since October are not named because it is not considered “in the public interest”.

Who could THAT be?

Michael Savage banned in Britain

Talk radio host Michael Savage is considering legal action against Britain’s top homeland security official after she released today a list grouping him with terrorists and neo-Nazi murderers banned from entry because the government believes their views might provoke violence.

In a telephone interview with WND, Savage said he is still waiting to hear back from attorneys, but he noted Britain has very strict anti-defamation laws.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to publicize the list of 16 people banned since October to show the type of behavior Britain will not tolerate, according to U.K. news reports.

Savage’s immediate reaction upon hearing the news was typically wry.

“Darn! And I was just planning a trip to England for their superior dental work and cuisine,” he recalled thinking.

“Then it sank in,” he told WND, “and I said, ‘She said this is the kind of behavior we won’t tolerate? She’s linking me with mass murderers who are in prison for killing Jewish children on buses? For my speech? The country where the Magna Carta was created?'”

Savage shouldn’t feel TOO bad…the Brits chased Thomas Paine across the channel for HIS offensive speech. Good company to be in.

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Illustrated: Poor situational awareness…

Doh! Pirates captured after attacking the wrong ship

This is just too good!

From a distance the large ship on the horizon looked like the perfect target, ripe for a successful spot of piracy.

But as the Somali pirates sped toward the vessel sailing near the Seychelles, they were horrified to see two boats and a helicopter set off from their target and launch their own counter-attack.

They had failed to spot, in the dazzling sun, that the ‘merchant ship’ they thought they were intercepting was, in fact, a French naval ship bristling with cannons, radar technology and armed commandos.

SOMETIMES there IS some justice in this world!

National Insecurity

B.O. – “What, me worry?”

PAKISTAN’S NUKES NO THREAT: BAM

President Obama said last night he’s confident Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal will not fall into the hands of enemies or terrorists because that country’s army understands how dangerous that would be.

“I’m confident that we can make sure that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is secure,” he said in his third prime-time press conference last night. “Primarily, initially, because the Pakistani army, I think, recognizes the hazards of those weapons falling into the wrong hands.”

This report is SOOOOO reassuring! Like the Paki Army is the acme of stability, and so much in control that OF COURSE there is no threat!

Yeah, sure.

Taliban forces — aided by elements of Afghan forces, as well as al Qaeda — have come within about 50 miles of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, in recent days, threatening a critical US ally that possesses as many as 100 nuclear weapons. “We’ve got strong military-to-military consultation and cooperation,” Obama said.

I’m sure that the Islamofascists over there are really impressed by “consultation and cooperation”.

If you REALLY believe B.O. that there’s no pending threat over there, e-mail me about buying into some prime Moody County, SD tropical beachfront property. Have I got a deal for you…just as credible as B.O.’s. assurances.

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We don’t need no steenking borders!

Napolitano: We Don’t Need Strong Borders Against Flu

The Obama administration on Tuesday staunchly defended its “passive surveillance” policy on the emerging swine flu threat, saying that its measured, cautious border monitoring makes sense.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared that more draconian enforcement steps are not yet necessary, even as she acknowledged that officials “anticipate confirmed cases in more states.”

Let’s see now: things are surely going to get worse, but we don’t need to worry about controlling the border traffic from the primary source…HUH? Even the Euros and ChiComs are tightening things up.

Swine flu outbreak a ‘serious situation': Obama

US President Barack Obama said Wednesday the outbreak of swine flu had created a “serious situation” in the United States requiring the “utmost precautions.”

…apparently only as long as it doesn’t make Nap tighten up the border.

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Megalobamania

Reid says Obama told him, ‘I have a gift’

Everyone knows President Barack Obama can deliver a great speech,…

…er…as long as the teleprompter holds out…

…including the president himself, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The paperback version of Reid’s book, “The Good Fight,” is coming out May 5 with an epilogue called “The Obama Era.” Reid said he was impressed when Obama, then a freshman senator from Illinois, delivered a speech about President George W. Bush’s war policy.

Reid, D-Nev., writes: “‘That speech was phenomenal, Barack,’ I told him. And I will never forget his response. Without the barest hint of braggadocio or conceit, and with what I would describe as deep humility, he said quietly: ‘I have a gift, Harry.'”

Yep! A legend in his own mind!

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ex-RINO Becomes Donk

Obama and Biden Publicly Welcome Specter to Democratic Party

President Obama and Vice President Biden publicly welcomed Sen. Arlen Specter to the Democratic Party Wednesday, calling him a man of “immense personal courage” and “unmatched integrity.”

Does this mean he lives up to the high ethical standards of Charlie Rangel, Charles Murtha, and the tax honesty of SecTreas Geithner and the former Sen. Daschle?

Personal courage to jump parties? When he was down +20% in the GOP primary polling? Yeah. right.

Hope he didn’t let the door hit him in the ass on the way out! Good riddence!

National Insecurity

US Suicide Pact Rejected by Israel

Plan for Palestinian state is ‘dead end,’ Israel tells U.S.

In a direct challenge to President Barack Obama’s commitment to rejuvenate moribund Mideast peace talks, Israel on Thursday dismissed American-led efforts to establish a Palestinian state and laid out new conditions for renewed negotiations.

What! Not genuflecting before the White House! Shocking!

Leaders of Israel’s hawkish new government told former Maine Sen. George Mitchell, the special U.S. envoy, that they aren’t going to rush into peace talks with their Palestinian neighbors.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he’d require Palestinians to accept Israel as a Jewish state in any future negotiations — a demand that Palestinians have up to now rejected — Israeli government officials said.

What a concept! Paleswinians accept Israel as being JEWISH? Doubly Shocking!

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Obama’s envoy that past Israeli concessions led to war, not peace.

The grand champion of all “DUH!” statements, but nevertheless, with meaning beyond the ken of the B.O., his administration, and especially the State Department’s “Foggy Bottom Boys”.

How unfriendly for Israel not to be willing to set itself up for being erased from the planet in agony, in order to meet the wishes of the Islamofascists and their claques in D.C. and elsewhere.

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UK SciFi-ish Writer Passes

It’s reported that Brit writer J.G. Ballard has passed. Although he was noted as being much more than a SciFi author, it’s some of his SciFi-ish stuff that the Chef is most familiar with, although he was best known for Crash, and Empire of the Sun.

His writing was thought-provoking, and often unsettling…but always well worth the read.

He had a good run.

JG Ballard dies after battle with prostate cancer

The award-winning novelist and short story writer, best known for Empire of the Sun and the controversial Crash, died on Sunday morning aged 78.

Friends and colleagues described him as a “brilliant” and “powerful” writer who worked tirelessly throughout his 50-year literary career.

R.I.P.

National Insecurity

Too much for even the Euros!

Britain and EU diplomats walk out as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls Israel ‘racist’

A rare bit of good judgment from B.O.’s administration.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiled as European diplomats left in protest over his opening address to a controversial UN summit to fight racism.

President Ahmadinejad, speaking as Israelis prepares to commemorate the Holocaust on Tuesday, described Jews and Israel’s creation as the “ugly face” of a Western conspiracy.

“They sent migrants from Europe, the United States in order to establish a racist government in the occupied Palestine,” he said.

“The word Zionism personifies racism that falsely resorts to religion and abuses religious sentiments to hide their hatred and ugly faces.”

Of course no spewage from Ahmadinejad I’m-mad-on-a-jihad would be complete without his trademark holocaust denial rant, which in this event was the unbearable straw from the Iranian camel’s backside, that even the Eurabians couldn’t abide:

EU diplomats launched a walk out when Mr Ahmadinejad claimed that the “pretext of Jewish suffering”, a reference to the Holocaust, had been used to create Israel.

The US did NOT walk out of the conference…we (fortunately) never even showed up to be there TO walk out, knowing in advance which way this UN stench was going to blow…an example of all-too-rare good judgment from the B.O. administration:

The United States, Israel, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand boycotted the conference because of fears that Mr Ahmadinejad would use the event to equate Zionism with racism.

The real question left standing regarding the B.O. administration stance is who in their right mind can hold out hopes for a positive result from negotiating with this latter-day Iranian Nazi?

Constitution Watch

She’s Makin a List, Checkin’ it twice…

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Among the recent spewage from the Janet Reno Napolitano (same difference!) Department of Homeland Security is this little number:

Federal agency warns of radicals on right

The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement officials about a rise in “rightwing extremist activity,” saying the economic recession, the election of America’s first black president and the return of a few disgruntled war veterans could swell the ranks of white-power militias.

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(Click on image for link to document.)

A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines “rightwing extremism in the United States” as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.

“It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,” the warning says.

According to that, if one is a supporter of either the 2nd, or 10th Amendments, or a veteran, you could be worthy of watching out for as a possible “rightwing extremist”, or sympathizer.  Even more threatening (shudder, gasp) are those who might not like President Obama for a variety of reasons.  (Admittedly, some of those reasons ARE truly rank, but hey Janet – there ARE a lot of us who dislike the B.O. regime because of policies and political differences…and we’re not all neo-Nazi racists…in spite of what you infer.

There are other categories of likely suspects for being right-wing subversives…dang!…I fit right in there in many instances, in spite of NOT being a closet Nazi, Klanner, or even a former member of the (actually innocuous) John Birch Society.  (I WAS in the 1980 SD Reagan delegation though…THAT must be it!)

Putting this together with the flap a couple of weeks ago about the Missouri State “Fusion” information office, it sort of starts to make a pattern….

“Just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not really after me!”

National Insecurity

UPDATED: Simple Solution to Piracy Incident!

Ship reaches Kenya; pirate lifeboat drifts toward land

A U.S.-flagged ship that was seized by Somali pirates arrived safely in the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Saturday, as a Somali mediator headed to sea to try to secure the release of the ship’s American captain.“The captain is a hero,” one crew member shouted from the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama container ship as it docked. “He saved our lives by giving himself up.

The ship, under the command of Richard Phillips, was attacked by gunmen far out in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday but its 20 American crew apparently fought off the hijackers and regained control of the freighter.

Phillips was taken hostage and is being held captive on a drifting lifeboat by the gang of four pirates who want $2 million ransom for him, as well as safe passage.

B.O. and his ilk continue to play “duck and cover” to avoid doing anything constructive on this…no doubt because of fears it might offend some Islamofascist somewhere if we acted decisively.

UPDATE comment:  Well, well.  B.O. Let the Seals go and do it to ’em!

What COULD we do? This is an easy one!

Situation: Small open boat, drifting in Indian Ocean. Contents of boat: Four (4) Islamoterr pirates, (1) hostage U.S. captain.
Solution: 4 Navy Seal and/or USMC sharpshooters; countdown: “5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – FIRE!” – 4 simultaneous shots.
Result: U.S. captain freed. 4 Islamoterr pirates simultaneously are surprised to meet their maker, and discover that the “72 virgins” situation was WAY exaggerated!

This is even legal under LONG-standing International Law (such as it is).  Pirates fall into a category of hostis humanus generis – common enemies of humanity – said status placing the perps in the category of “take ’em out before they do anything else”.  Historically, pirates were either sent to the bottom, or more or less immediately hung from a yard-arm.

Sounds fair to the Chief!

What WILL happen? Who knows at the rate the B.O. gang is fiddle-farting around. They’ll probably give it the old Ivy League try, and go for a UN resolution. One could HOPE for a CHANGE for something better than this, but, at this point those chances look pretty slim.

I hope I’m wrong, but fear that I’m not.

 UPDATE:  Good for us – I was wrong, and B.O. earns creds by allowing the Navy to do it’s job.  There’s not a whole lot that the Chief has said positive about B.O., but this time “he done good!” and the Seals did what was needed to resolve the situation (as suggested above), and free Captain Phillips.

Now – to avoid treating the captured maritime terrorist as just another “criminal” in the U.S. court system.  Give him to Kenya, and let ’em hang him high.

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B.O. Seeks The Dark Side

Obama climate plan: Blot out the sun

Even for the B.O. administration, at first this looked like a joke…but sadly, it’s not.

President Obama’s science advisor John Holdren has suggested that we consider blotting out sunlight to reduce global warming, according to an Associated Press report.

Holdren would shoot particles into the atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays back into space– I sure hope plants and people don’t need those rays for say, photosynthesis or vitamin D production, respectively. And what would be the other unintended consequences?

What IF this really was done, and really screwed things up…how would they undo it? Remember all the concern about a possible “nuclear winter”? This is exactly the same thing…(supposedly) without the war. You don’t want to imagine the results….worse than Bismarck, ND in January!

Holdren, of course, is a people-hating population control fanatic, anyway, so perhaps he’s hoping to killing two birds (or half the population) with one stone.

Oh… and what about all those solar power projects Obama keeps talking about? Don’t they need as much sunlight as they can get?

So many questions, so few brain cells for Holdren to work with.

The arrogant hubris here is breathtaking.

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Divorce by SMS!

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Saudi man divorces wife by text message

A Saudi man has set a legal precedent by divorcing his wife by text message. The man was in Iraq when he sent the SMS informing her she was no longer his spouse.

Saudi Arabia practises a strict form of Islamic Sharia law, under which the law a man can divorce his wife by simply saying “I divorce you” three times.

He followed up with a telephone call to two of his relatives to confirm the split.

The Saudi man was in Iraq to participate in “what he described as ‘jihad’,” according to the Arab News.

THAT’S cold!

She’s hopefully better off without the jihadi moonbat, but in Saudi Arabia…that’s problematical too.

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Terrs Plans to Lay “Easter Eggs” Foiled

Meanwhile, back in the world of overseas contingency operations the War on Islamoterrs, the UK has been busy preventing terrs from planting explosive Easter eggs aimed at seasonal shopping:

Al-Qaeda terror plot to bomb Easter shoppers

Sources told The Daily Telegraph that the arrests of 12 men in the north west of England on Wednesday were linked to a suspected plan to launch a devastating attack this weekend.

Some of the suspects were watched by MI5 agents as they filmed themselves outside the Trafford Centre on the edge of Manchester, the Arndale Centre in the city centre, and the nearby St Ann’s Square.

Police were forced to round up the alleged plotters after they were overheard discussing dates, understood to include the Easter bank holiday, one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

“It could have been the next few days and they were talking about 10 days at the outside,” one source said. “We had to act.” Police are now engaged in a search for an alleged bomb factory, where explosives might have been assembled.

Sounds like a plotline from Sleeper Cell.

Score a big one for MI5!

SD Politics

SD Judge Slaps Ed System, Sups.

Judge Sides With SD In Education Lawsuit

The judge in South Dakota’s education funding lawsuit has filed a preliminary decision and she’s sided with the state.

A group of parents and students sued the state, claiming it doesn’t do enough to adequately fund education in South Dakota. After a trial and months of deliberation, Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur ruled that the plaintiffs didn’t prove the education funding system is defective.

Dozens of families and around 70 school districts claimed that the state doesn’t do enough to support education, and the funding formula is flawed.

Some additional details of the decision are noted below:

Judge: Education not a right

South Dakota students aren’t guaranteed a quality education, a circuit judge ruled Wednesday, finding that the way the state pays for education does not violate the state constitution.

Circuit Judge Lori Wilbur’s decision follows a trial that saw six superintendents complain that a lack of money was hurting South Dakota’s students. An appeal to the state Supreme Court now is likely, according to the lawyer representing students and their families.

The state’s funding system has room for improvement, Wilbur acknowledged, but she also found that education is not a fundamental right; the state need not prepare students for college or “meaningful employment”; and the testimony of the superintendents was unreliable.

[B-SLAP!]  Superintendents testimony unreliable?!  That’s gotta hurt!  She basically called thgem a bunch of liars.

The judge said students receive adequate educational opportunities even without the “wish lists” various school superintendents presented at trial.

“Whether school districts, if given more money, could provide more programs or resources, or higher teacher pay, or build better facilities, is irrelevant if the constitutional minimum is being provided,” Wilbur wrote.

This following point is something the Chief CAN get behind.

She said that some policy options discussed at trial could improve education, but those decisions are for the legislature, not the judiciary.

If people are not concerned enough about the issues cited by the Superintendents during the trial to carry them to their legislators, then I guess they get the system that they are willing to accept, and pay for, and the students get the leftovers of the public trough.  Kind of harsh for the schools, but that’s life in a representative republic.

(Disclosure: the Chief is a public school educator currently at a small school district.)

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Ramos & Compean Prosecuter Out

Sutton resigns as U.S. attorney

The San Antonio federal prosecutor at the center of a politically charged case against two Border Patrol agents convicted of covering up their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler resigned Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton submitted his letter of resignation to President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, said Shana Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western Judicial District of Texas.

Good riddance. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

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A Call for John Galt

Bill Whittle is the Chief’s favorite online essayist & commentator…at his best, a 21st Century Thomas Paine. This is his most recent.

A MESSAGE TO THE RICH

The Washington Post ran a column a few days ago, in which a Mr. Joel Berg applauds the Obama Administration for reducing the amount of charitable deduction that The Rich are allowed to take when they write a check to charity.

Mr. Berg – who runs a charitable foundation that feeds the poor — explains things for us thusly:

“…It is wrong to give them [the very rich] unilateral power to decide whether their taxpayer-subsidized donations should go to, say, well-heeled operas or lavish care of pets rather than to organizations that meet more pressing communal needs.”

Bill goes on with more of the gory details of Berg’s whine about his offended sense of entitlement, leading up to the central proposition of the piece:

Well, I read this article in the Washington Post, and I thought: there you have it. The top ten percent, that pays sixty percent of the total income tax and which allows the bottom half – HALF! – to pay nothing… Those horrible, greedy bastards are not using their free-will generosity as “efficiently” as the government can, so let’s just take more of their money and call it square.

So let me now send a personal message to The Rich in America…

As an American and a patriot, I implore you – I go to my knees and beg you – LEAVE NOW.

Go and read this. It’s well worth the trouble, and oh, yeah, about John Galt…if you don’t know, check out Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

Glowbull Warming

Senate Rolls B.O. Glowbull Warming Plan

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Cap and Tax Collapse

A light in the forest!

Please pass Al Gore a Valium — and better make it a double — because his cap-and-trade dreams just took a dive in the U.S. Senate. In a vote late Wednesday, no fewer than 26 Democrats joined all 41 Republicans to insist that any new cap and tax on carbon energy would require at least 60 votes.

Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander called it “the biggest vote of the year” so far, and he’s right. This means Majority Leader Harry Reid can’t jam cap and tax through as part of this year’s budget resolution with a bare majority of 50 Senators. More broadly, it’s a signal that California and East Coast Democrats won’t be able to sock it to coal and manufacturing-heavy Midwestern states without a fight. Senators voting in favor of the 60-vote rule included liberals from Wisconsin, Michigan and West Virginia.

Now look for Team Obama to attempt to impose cap and tax the non-democratic way, via regulation that hits business and local governments with such heavy costs that they beg Congress for a less-harmful version.

Constitution Watch

B.O.’s Poor Situational Awareness, continued.

Video: radicals beat girl, 17, in Islamic stronghold of Swat, Pakistan

As the Chief noted earlier here, B.O. expressed the thought that we should be willing to negotiate with the Taliban. Good idea? NOT!. This illustrates one reason why not.

This grainy footage appears to show a 17-year-old girl being beaten by Islamic radicals in Pakistan’s northwestern region of Swat, where Sharia law was introduced after the government reached a truce with the Taleban in February.

A local Taleban commander in the militant stronghold of Matta, 25 miles from the regional capital, Mingora, ordered the girl to be flogged a week ago after accusing her of adultery, according to local reporters.

But some residents of Matta have accused the commander of ordering the beating to get revenge after the girl refused to accept his proposal of marriage, the reporters told The Times.

“Please! Enough! Enough!” the girl is heard crying in Pashtu, the language of the tribes who dominate northwestern Pakistan – now the main hub of Taleban and al-Qaeda activity. At another point, she cries: “I am repenting, my father is repenting what I have done, my grandmother is repenting what I have done…”

You can go to the article (linked above) for the video, complete with the chilling sound track of the victim’s unheeded cries for mercy. Warning: Graphically violent content.

This is Islamic Sharia Law in action. Taliban spokescritters were cited as saying that an error was committed in that the beating was done in public.

In NYT coverage it is noted that this has touched off criticism of the government for negotiating with the Taliban and effectively ceding control of the Swat Valley to these 7th Century visitors to the 21st Center.

This is a classic illustration of the Taliban caught in the act of being the Taliban….and B.O. thinks we can negotiate with these things?

Again, this is Sharia Law…favorably noted by B.O. State Department legal appointee Harold Koh in the context of transnationalist law…where foriegn law is used to establish precedent for US Court decisions.

This is acceptable to B.O….or is he so out of touch with reality that he is totally unaware of the views of those he is appointing.

The issue of negotiating with the Taliban, and favoring of alien legal systems for implementation in the U.S. by appointees both indicate B.O.’s continuing lack of situational awareness at best. At worst, we have a nightmare in the White house.

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Creeping – no, Galloping Fascism

Every picture tells a story…and it ain’t that pretty at all:

Il Duce, Redux?

Trying to handle the crisis, the Fascist government nationalized the holdings of large banks which had accrued significant industrial securities. The government also issued new securities to provide a source of credit for the banks and began enlisting the help of various cartels…. The government offered recognition and support to these organizations in exchange for promises that they would manipulate prices in accordance with government priorities. A number of mixed entities were formed… whose purpose it was to bring together representatives of the government and of the major businesses.… This economic model based on a partnership between government and business was soon extended to the political sphere, in what came to be known as corporatism.… The Fascists began to impose significant tariffs and other trade barriers.… Various banking and industrial companies were financially supported by the state.… [The national leader] created the [New Governmental Entity]….[which soon] controlled 20% of [the nation’s] industry through government-linked companies.… [The national leader] also adopted a Keynesian policy of government spending on public works to stimulate the economy.… Public works spending tripled to overtake defense spending as the largest item of government expenditure.

As much as that description sounds like U.S. government policy begun under George W. Bush and now greatly expanding under Barack Obama, the above passage of course describes the economics of fascist Italy in the 1930s, as summed up by Wikipedia. (A quick Google search produces plenty of similar summaries of “economic fascism.”) Furthermore, “The Fascist conception of life,” Mussolini wrote, “stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with the State. It is opposed to classical liberalism [which] denied the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual.”

Entered as a case in point about the direction B.O. is taking us:

U.S. Plans Key Role In Naming GM Board

The Obama administration will play a key role in reshaping General Motors’ board of directors over the next six months, potentially giving it even greater control in the management of the storied American manufacturer.

The president’s auto task force plans to consult with the company as it replaces a majority of its board, a White House official said. The board today largely consists of the current and former chiefs of major U.S. corporations such as Coca-Cola, Ernst & Young, Pfizer and Eastman Kodak. It is not known which of the 12 board members will leave.

The president said Monday that “the United States government has no interest in running GM.” But in practice it is already exerting tremendous influence over it, a situation that has triggered fierce debate over how much power the government should wield over the companies that it aids.

Is there a connection between the involvement of the Chrysler rescue with a deal with the Italian Fiat? That’s a rich potential source of grist for the mills of the blogosphere. Surely there couldn’t REALLY be anything but coincidence here…could there?

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Russia now a “Gold Bug”

Russia backs return to Gold Standard to solve financial crisis

Historical notes: The “Gold Bugs” were McKinley supporters, who, along with the President were strong advocates for the gold standard.

Russia has become the first major country to call for a partial restoration of the Gold Standard to uphold discipline in the world financial system.

Arkady Dvorkevich, the Kremlin’s chief economic adviser, said Russia would favour the inclusion of gold bullion in the basket-weighting of a new world currency based on Special Drawing Rights issued by the International Monetary Fund.

Admittedly, Russia has it’s own interests in mind, as a major gold producer, but still, it’s richly (pun alert!) ironic that the former and still quasi-Red state is in a position to instruct the U.S. on how to manage a stable currency in a world market system.

One has to wonder whether Marx, Lenin, McKinley, or Hamilton are spinning in their grave faster.

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B.O. Administration Continues Power Grab

Beyond AIG: A bill to let Big Government set your salary

It was nearly two weeks ago that the House of Representatives, acting in a near-frenzy after the disclosure of bonuses paid to executives of AIG, passed a bill that would impose a 90 percent retroactive tax on those bonuses. Despite the overwhelming 328-93 vote, support for the measure began to collapse almost immediately. Within days, the Obama White House backed away from it, as did the Senate Democratic leadership. The bill stalled, and the populist storm that spawned it seemed to pass.

But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the “Pay for Performance Act of 2009,” would impose government controls on the pay of all employees — not just top executives — of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

OK. So let’s see if I get this: After EVEN the Administration and the Senate gave up on the “Let’s pass a bill of attainder against those dastardly AIG zeks.” effort, they turn around and come back with a new attempt to be an even greater power grab. This one grants Treasury Secretary Kommissar Geithner authority to arbitrarily set the wage levels on ANYONE employed by any firm taking government money from the series of porkulus bills. How long before it applies to any federal contractor, vendor, etc? [Not long at all, methinks.]

Why should/would they stop there? What about schools (at all levels) who get federal money? What about state governments? One might guess what their intention is there, as indicated by abortive moves to FORCE states to accept federal money, along with the accompanying mandates, regulations, and (forced) future growth at STATE, not federal, expense.

At this rate it’s not far-fetched at all for a COMECON or something like Wilson’s WW-I era “War Industries Board”, and it’s twin “War Labor Board” to swoop in, and take control in order to save us from ourselves. Hmmm. On further thought, this has already been thoroughly described. For the gory details refer to the “Equalization Boards” as described in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

Who is John Galt, anyway?

Glowbull Warming

Glowbull Warming Update

Chill winds take heat off global warming

The ranks of America’s “climate sceptics” have been growing quietly for some months now. And at the weekend a watershed was reached: the usually left-wing New York Times put the British-born physicist Freeman Dyson on the front of its Sunday magazine. The article inside revealed that Professor Dyson – 85 years old and based in Princeton – not only possesses one of the finest noodles on Planet Earth, but also happens to think that most of what Al Gore and his band of Unmerry Men preach amounts to little more than yuppie self-loathing.

“All the fuss about global warming is grossly exaggerated,” is how Professor Dyson puts it. He adds that while it’s true that human-caused carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are rising, the Earth is still going through a relatively cool period in its history, and that most of the evolution of life took place in a warmer era. Professor Dyson is also fond of pointing out that carbon dioxide helps plants to grow – so having too much of the stuff hanging around might not be such a bad thing.

More signs of the outbreak of reason! Amazing.

National Insecurity

Strategy & the G.W.O.T.*

Getting beyond the daily concern over the immediate details of the Islamoterror War, it is instructive to back up, and take a look at “the big picture” of the Great War on Terror (* GWOT) in a historical and strategic sense.

The Chief humbly offers this posting from the Gates of Vienna blog as being a worth while offering towards doing this.

Islamic Jihad vs. the Western Way of War

I [written by a noted Norwegian blogger posting as Fjordman] had a conversation recently with a good friend of mine regarding the situation in Western Europe, with rapidly rising ethnic and religious tensions caused by mass immigration. Historically, the usual situation is that Muslims keep the lands they have taken possession of. There are a few exceptions, for instance with the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula, but this took centuries. If this pattern still holds up, the situation does admittedly look bleak.

The problem is that the circumstances this time around are very special. We are dealing with the unprecedented situation where a militarily inferior group is allowed by the authorities in technologically stronger countries to settle in their lands and harass the local population. Muslims haven’t actually defeated us in warfare. Do the old rules then apply? Nobody knows for certain. It is difficult to predict the future, apart from the fact that there will be a lot of turbulence here in the coming years and decades.

In my book Defeating Eurabia I quoted the American scholar Daniel Pipes, who believes that the decisive events in Europe have yet to take place, perhaps within the next decade or so. As Pipes puts it, the situation is historically unprecedented: “No large territory has ever shifted from one civilization to another by virtue of a collapsed population, faith, and identity; nor has a people risen on so grand a scale to reclaim its patrimony. The novelty and magnitude of Europe’s predicament make it difficult to understand, tempting to overlook, and nearly impossible to predict. Europe marches us all into terra incognita.”

I write about European history in order to gain inspiration from our past so that we can face the future with self-confidence. While reading about our artistic and scientific contributions to world culture is inspiring, we should not leave out our military traditions. They, too, constitute a part of our heritage, and we may soon need to revive some of those traditions.

Go to the original full posting for a lot of details and further analysis…if you have a serious interest in what we REALLY have to consider in dealing with this continuing “long war”.

As an additional historical note, Gates of Vienna takes it’s name from commemorating the successful defense of Vienna against the Islamic Ottoman Empire in 1683, which should reinforce for the reader the idea that fighting against Islamic aggression is nothing new, and continues to this day.

This fact remains, in spite of “politically correct” changes in terminology from B.O., Napolitano, et al,and their ilk referring to “overseas contingency operations” and such like, refusing to admit that there IS a continuing (if asymmetric) war declared on us by an Islamic militancy rejuvenated by petrodollars.

They (and we) ignore this cardinal fact at our peril.

Constitution Watch

ObamaCorps: Sieg Heil to the Chief!

1 Comment

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…call it for what it is…

Expanded Americorps has an authoritarian feel

With almost no public attention, both chambers of Congress in the past week advanced an alarming expansion of the Americorps national service plan, with the number of federally funded community service job increasing from 75,000 to 250,000 at a cost of $5.7 billion. Lurking behind the feel-good rhetoric spouted by the measure’s advocates is a bill that on closer inspection reveals multiple provisions that together create a strong odor of creepy authoritarianism. The House passed the measure overwhelmingly, while only 14 senators had the sense and courage to vote against it on a key procedural motion. Every legislator who either voted for this bill or didn’t vote at all has some serious explaining to do.

…It anticipates the possibility of requiring “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service – including elementary school students. The bill also summons up unsettling memories of World War II-era paramilitary groups by saying the new program should “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service,” while establishing “campuses” that serve as “operational headquarters,” complete with “superintendents” and “uniforms” for all participants. It allows for the elimination of all age restrictions in order to involve Americans at all stages of life. And it calls for creation of “a permanent cadre” in a “National Community Civilian Corps.”

But that’s not all. The bill also calls for “youth engagement zones” in which “service learning” is “a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.” This updated form of voluntary community service is also to be “integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula” at all levels of schooling. Sounds like a government curriculum for government approved “service learning,” which is nothing less than indoctrination. Now, ask yourself if congressmen who voted for this monstrosity had a clue what they were voting for. If not, they’re guilty of dereliction of duty. If yes, the implications are truly frightening.

Some further analysis of the mark-up and amendments to the bill as it slimed its way through the House was posted at the E3 Gazette, with linkages to the specific changes made as the Donk Congs and others unitedly shat it into existence:

HR 1388…is “Arbeit Macht Frei” too strong?

Check out the links on this one…read and weep!

SOUTH DAKOTA UPDATE NOTE:
Sen. John Thune was one of (sadly) only 14 Republicans who voted against this.
Donkey Party Rep.Stephanie Sandlin, and Senator Tim Johnson supported it.

Uncategorized

For what it’s worth:

Keep Your Powder Dry

The shot heard round the world
Led to freedom ringing clear
We’ve kept the fire burning bright
For two hundred plus years
Now the tide has turned against us
Our freedom is being sold
Where is the courage we once had
The patriots so bold?
A once great country gasps her last
She withers in the field
While government as cancer grows
Lady Liberty does yield
So is this it? oh shall we quit?
Should freedom fade away?
Is this the final curtain call
Has freedom seen its day?
HELL NO I say as I rise up
My rifle in my hand
I’ll not lose my liberty
I’ll not lose my land
So stand with me brave patriots
Against the rushing tide
No longer shall we silent stand
No longer will we hide
No longer will their words hold sway
No longer will they steal
The freedom God has given us
No longer will we yield
We stand atop the parapets
Our trumpets blowing loud
To spread the truth of Freedoms Call
Throughout the gathering crowd
Grab your coat, pick up your gun
Take up the battle cry
Be ready for the coming war
And keep your powder dry

Kender MacGowan
3-18-2009

Uncategorized

New Plan, Bad Plan

Geithner rescue package ‘robbery of the American people’

The US government plan to free beleaguered banks of up to $1 trillion (£690bn) of toxic assets will expose American taxpayers to too much risk, leading economist Joseph Stiglitz has cautioned.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist, speaking a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by almost 7pc in support of the novel public-private partnership (PPIP), said that the plan is “very flawed” and “amounts to robbery of the American people.”

Professor Stiglitz on Tuesday led a list of well-known economists and high-profile industry figures who have said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s toxic asset plan may not be as successful as it first seems.

Based on the record, why should anything BUT this be expected?

Uncategorized

Administration Potomac Fever Continues

George Will in the WaPo summarizes a lot that’s going on right now in Baghdad on the Potomac….and, with apology to the late Warren Zevon, “It Ain’t That Pretty at All”!

The Toxic Assets We Elected

With the braying of 328 yahoos — members of the House of Representatives who voted for retroactive and punitive use of the tax code to confiscate the legal earnings of a small, unpopular group — still reverberating, the Obama administration yesterday invited private-sector investors to become business partners with the capricious and increasingly anti-constitutional government. This latest plan to unfreeze the financial system came almost half a year after Congress shoveled $700 billion into the Troubled Assets Relief Program, $325 billion of which has been spent without purchasing any toxic assets.

After listing a number of weirdly reversed situations (like China lecturing us on maintaining a stable capitalistic system!), Will concludes with:

This is but a partial list of recent lawlessness, situational constitutionalism and institutional derangement. Such political malfeasance is pertinent to the financial meltdown as the administration, desperately seeking confidence, tries to stabilize the economy by vastly enlarging government’s role in it. [Emphasis added.]

As noted above, it ain’t that pretty at all.

Constitution Watch

B.O. Moves to Tighten the Ratchet of Power

U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms

The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.

The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.

Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president’s Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.[Emphasis added]

B.O. and company are nothing if not consistent. The overarching theme of the administration thus far has been an unrelenting series of policies and edicts aimed at increasing the arbitrary power of the executive at the expense of anyone or anything that could possibly get in their way, and to hell with the trivialities of observing the Constitution.

What adds the true touch of surrealistic quality is the accompaniment of B.O.’s best Alfred E. Neuman “What, me worry?” grin, and giggles while being interviewed on 60 Minutes (among other venues), about the continuing monetary soap opera.

Unfortunately, the joke’s on us, since we’ll get to pay for it all, one way or another.