All posts by Chief

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SCOTUS Gets it Right!

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Americans have right to guns under landmark ruling

Individual Americans have a right to own guns, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday for the first time in the country’s history, striking down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital.

The landmark 5-4 ruling marked the first time in nearly 70 years the high court has addressed the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It rejected the argument the right to keep and bear arms was tied to service in a state militia.

Justice Antonin Scalia said for the majority the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with militia service and to use it for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense in the home.

As far as the Chief is concerned this is not only a good decision…but it is the only rational one that could have been made based on the Constitution.

The really scary aspect of this is…what if the Court had gone the OTHER way…opening the floodgate for libDonk persecution of gun ownership…and with no legal protection left. A 5-4 decision is, as the saying goes, “a close-run thing”. Fortunately reason prevailed, and all sorts of unpleasantness can be avoided, at least for now.

It sure is fun to listen to the libs shuckin’ to try to interpret their way out of this one…with Daley’s Chicago regime next in the NRA sights, there must be some really interesting conversation going on with his machine’s candidate, the messiah B.O. himself trying to backpedal and sound like he’s not REALLY against guns.

The Chief also notes, most of the commentators, certainly those of the MSM drive-by persuasion, ignore the REAL 2nd Amendment gorilla in the corner – namely that said right to bear arms was NOT to enablle hunting, personal protection, fighting off Indians, or whatever. The real reason to insure that the citizenry was armed was to act as a limit to the government…so it it got too uppity, it could be overturned as may be necessary…just like it was in 1776!

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B.O. – Machiavelli Would Approve!

Brooks: The two Obamas

…as recent weeks have made clear, Barack Obama is the most split-personality politician in the country today. On the one hand, there is Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set and feeling the fierce urgency of now. But then on the other side, there’s Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes.

This guy is the whole Chicago package: an idealistic, lakefront liberal fronting a sharp-elbowed machine operator. He’s the only politician of our lifetime who is underestimated because he’s too intelligent. He speaks so calmly and polysyllabically that people fail to appreciate the Machiavellian ambition inside.

This piece is pretty good stuff…informative and worth a look.

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A Light in the GOP Forest

Fiscal Medicine Man

McCain shows signs of choking on another big issue, but at least there are SOME congressional Republicans that have the right idea.

When John McCain met privately with Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin after a political event in the Milwaukee suburbs on May 29, the Republican presidential candidate might not have realized that he had just come face to face with an opportunity and a test. Ryan showed him his plan to reform the economy. McCain expressed interest and said he would turn it over to his campaign’s economists.

Ooops. Bad move:

That was truly ominous. If the Kemp-Roth tax cut had been handed over to economists three decades ago, it probably would have died in its crib and aborted the national and Republican revival under President Ronald Reagan.

…and the good news part is:

Ryan’s plan is more sweeping than the proposal by his former boss and mentor Jack Kemp, who dealt only with taxes. In 70 pages, Ryan’s “Roadmap for America’s Future” shows the way to reform taxes, control spending and brake runaway entitlement outlays….

Ryan fears potential national disaster is ahead because we “will exceed the European extent of government and bring our economy to extinction.”

ABSOLUTELY!

He foresees the U.S. government share of the economy rising from 20 percent to a calamitous 40 percent by the time his three children (ages 3, 4 and 6) reach their 30s, requiring a doubled tax rate. President Bush’s appropriations rose $49 billion over the last year, and the Democratic-controlled House upped that ante. But spending enacted by Congress is dwarfed by statutory increases in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlements.

Ryan’s Roadmap makes a serious effort to cut appropriated spending. Ryan calls it “Gramm-Rudman on steroids” (referring to successive spending control measures beginning in 1985). But his boldest thrust comes in radical changes to entitlements, including an option for persons under 55 to buy private retirement insurance, plus reduced benefits and delayed retirement for Social Security. His internal revenue reform would amount to an optional modified flat tax (advocated in principle by McCain) and substituting a small business-consumption tax for the corporate income tax — while holding federal taxes to 18.5 percent of gross domestic product.

Here’s the only reason for hope in this situation:

It is hardly likely the Republican leadership will embrace Ryan’s daring agenda if it cannot even bring itself to temporarily forgo pork-barrel spending by passing a moratorium on earmarks. But Ryan represents a younger breed of reform Republicans who now have junior leadership positions.

Ryan, 38 and the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, has been working closely with freshman Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, 43, who has been named chairman of the national platform by Minority Leader John Boehner, and Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, 45, the party’s chief deputy whip. After what is expected to be another bad GOP defeat in the 2008 congressional elections, Ryan, McCarthy and Cantor could constitute the party’s new House leadership.

One can only hope!

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Triumph of Thuggery

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Official: Mugabe wins re-election after opposition pulls out

Zimbabwe opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said Sunday he would not participate in Friday’s presidential runoff, provoking dismay from international observers and handing an apparent victory to President Robert Mugabe.

Tsvangirai said his Movement for Democratic Change party decided to pull out of the vote because of violence and arrests targeting his party and its supporters. “A free and fair election is impossible,” Tsvangirai told reporters Sunday. “We in the MDC have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate … sham of an election process.”

It’s a real shame what’s happened in Zimbabwe. It’s potentially one of the most productive areas in Africa…but under the mis-rule of Mugabe, the country is verging on famine, and has an inflation rate that is so high and out of control (tens of 1000’s % OR MORE!) that there is literally no way to accurately determine it.

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Nothing is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, …

GPS failing? Blame the Northern Lights

Scientists have discovered that the natural light shows of the Northern Lights – or Aurora Borealis – interfere with the signals from global positioning satellites, which are used by sat-navs to pinpoint the locations of vehicles, boats and aircraft.

The intense electrical activity created in the atmosphere by the Northern Lights decreases the accuracy of the system, telling drivers that they are on a road they are not actually on or causing receivers to lose track of their position entirely.

Being able to read a map, the Chief personally thinks that while GPS is kind of neat stuff, it’s a bit of overkill for automotive travel. Now, if he were sailing a 35 ft. sloop from San Diego to Nuku Hiva, that’s another story…but even then, he had better know D.I.Y navigation…just in case!

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House Democrats Proclaim Socialist Goal

House Democrats call for nationalization of refineries

The Democrats in the House are showing their true colors: Red!

House Democrats responded to President’s Bush’s call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. Among other things, the Democrats called for the government to own refineries so it could better control the flow of the oil supply.

They also reasserted that the reason the Appropriations Committee markup (where the vote on the amendment to lift the ban) was cancelled so they could focus on preparing the supplemental Iraq spending bill for tomorrow.

At an off-camera briefing, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the same. And a senior Republican House Appropriations Committee aide adds that “there were multiple reasons for the postponement” including discussion on the supplemental. But the aide said there was the thought that Democrats may wish to avoid a debate today on energy amendments.

Here are the highlights from briefing.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), member of the House Appropriations Committee and one of the most-ardent opponents of off-shore drilling: “We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.”

…no doubt in accordance with their Soviet style “First 5-Year Plan”

HUH? Like we want the GOVERNMENT to control “how much gets into the market”??? This from the folks who say we need to cut back on our use of automotive transportation, and limit the use of petroleum in the name of the quasi-religious myth of human-mediated glowbull warming? The same government that has the pattern of spending more for less results on a habitual basis?

G-d help us all if they pull this one off!

Defense Matters!

Charges Dropped in USMC Case

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Military judge dismisses charges in Haditha killings

A military judge dismissed charges Tuesday against a Marine officer accused of failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqis. Col. Steven Folsom dismissed charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani after finding that a four-star general overseeing the case was improperly influenced by an investigator probing the November 2005 shootings by a Marine squad in Haditha.

“Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice,” Folsom said. “In order to restore the public confidence, we need to take it back. We need to turn the clock back.”

This turned out well. The fix was in against Chessani, and the others…but there was enough of a public flap created about this, that not even Donk Cong. Murtha’s statement of the guilt of the Marines, and the willingness of the USMC top brass of the time to throw some troops under the bus of political correctness was able to prevail.

The Chief isn’t holding his breath waiting for Murtha to apologize for his “rush to judgement” statements against the Marines.

National Insecurity

A Positive Note!

McCain attacks Guantánamo ruling

A good one from McCain…after all too many instances of moonbattery lately from him on oil drilliing, glowbull warming, etc.

John McCain on Friday described the decision by the Supreme Court to allow Guantánamo Bay prisoners to challenge their detention in US courts as “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country”. The Republican presidential candidate said he agreed with the four dissenting justices on the nine-member court that foreign fighters held at the detention camp were not entitled to the rights of US citizens.

He criticised Barack Obama, his Democratic opponent, for supporting the decision and said it highlighted the importance of nominating conservative judges to the Supreme Court. His remarks represented a hardening of his position from his more moderate initial response to the ruling on Thursday, signalling a strategic decision by the McCain campaign to make it an election issue.

As noted in a previous posting…stuff like this only re-emphasizes the critical nature of the judicial appointment process.

National Insecurity

Lib SCOTUS Judges Do Thier Own Thing

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Court says detainees have rights, bucking Bush

Logic? We don’t need no stinkin’ logic!

In a stinging rebuke to President Bush’s anti-terror policies, a deeply divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign detainees held for years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have the right to appeal to U.S. civilian courts to challenge their indefinite imprisonment without charges.

The Chief likes the statement made by Jon over at SD Politics about this:

I think the dissenters are likely correct. This is an example of the courts stepping in to superimpose their policy preference for that of the president and Congress. While granting habeas corpus rights and access to civilian courts to enemy combatants might be good policy (emphasis on “might”), that doesn’t mean that the Constitution demands it.

Why might these people not have such rights? First, terrorists have no legal rights, not even under the Geneva Accords. Why? First, they are not soldiers. They do not fight for a nation, therefore they are not signatories to the Geneva Accords and cannot claim protection. Their very method of action, not wearing uniforms and targeting civilians, violates international law. By not fighting for a nation and not wearing a uniform they do not even have the rights of POWs, rights granted to legitimate soldiers, which terrorists are not.

Remember all the depictions in old war movies, with partisans, spies, infiltrators, etc. were subject to summary execution?
This actually happened frequently…with both sides.

The precedent for this for the United States goes all the way back to the hanging of British Major Andros, who was involved in carrying communications while in civilian clothes in the Benedict Arnold case of treason.

The rule has been: no uniform, no legal rights – life, and death is tough! The GITMO crew is getting off easy!

G-d help us from more liberal SCOTUS Judges…which brings us back again to the matter of the upcoming Presidential election: Obamanation, Abomination; same difference!

National Insecurity

Obamanation Abomination: A Continuing Story!

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Obama Adviser Leads Delegation to Damascus

A foreign policy adviser to Senator Obama is scheduled to arrive in Syria today as the leader of a RAND Corp. delegation.

Zbigniew Brzezinski will travel to Damascus for meetings as part of a trip Syria’s official Cham News agency described as an “important sign that the end of official dialogue between Washington and Damascus has not prevented dialogue with important American intellectuals and politicians.”

This CANNOT be a good thing for the U.S.

Mr. Brzezinski’s visit to Syria, a country President Bush has accused of arming terrorists and ordering political assassinations in Lebanon, is in many ways in keeping with a theme of the Obama campaign. The Illinois senator in August said during a Democratic debate that he would be willing to meet with foreign adversaries, earning a rebuke from Senator Clinton, a Democrat of New York, who said such an approach would be “naïve.” On August 24, Mr. Brzezinski, a one-time national security adviser to President Carter, announced in an interview on Bloomberg’s satellite news channel that he was endorsing Mr. Obama, and he has been an adviser to the campaign since.

Apparently B.O.’s foreign policy attitudes will be just what he said they would be…talk to anyone, anywhere, and “We don’t need no stinkin’ preconditions!”

A spokesman for the senator’s presidential campaign, Tommy Vietor, said the campaign did not know Mr. Brzezinski was leading the delegation. “The first we heard of this trip was from you,” he said. He added: “Brzezinski is not a day-to-day adviser for the campaign, he is someone whose guidance Senator Obama seeks on Iraq.”

OF COURSE NOT! (At least not to be recognized while there’s a campaign to worry about.)

A supporter of Mrs. Clinton, Rep. Eliot Engel, a Democrat from New York, said he found it hard to believe that one of the Illinois senator’s main advisers would not know that his visit to Syria would appear to have the tacit consent of the Obama campaign. “People are going to say if you are advising Obama, you are representing Obama,” Mr. Engel said. “At this time when we are in the middle of an election, I can’t believe that for him to go to Syria at this moment would not appear he was going with at least some tacit approval of the candidate he is advising. I would think he would realize that,” Mr. Engel said.

D’ya think?

He ONLY used to be a National Security Advisor, why would he expect anything like that? Of course, he WAS in the Carter administration…with the absolute worst foriegn policy and national security record in the nation’s history.

B.O. promises more of the same

China Watch, National Insecurity

ChiCom Notes

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A couple of relevant items pertaining to recent doings of the Comrades of Beijing.

Lawmaker says Chinese hacked Capitol computers

A Virginia congressman says the FBI has found that four of his government computers have been hacked by sources working out of China. In remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Frank Wolf says he has been told by the FBI that four computers in his personal office were compromised.

The Virginia Republican says that similar incidents – also originating from China – have taken place on computers of other members of Congress and at least one House committee.

Why would they be so uncollegial as to do this?

A spokesman for Wolf says the four computers were being used by staff members working on human rights issues. Wolf is a longtime critic of the Chinese government’s human rights record.

Dang! That pesky old “human rights” again. Unlike the ACLU’s version of human rights issues, like being offended by someone peacefully praying, for example, ChiCom human rights problems often involve the injection of a 9 mm bullet to the back of the head…with the cost of said bullet being billed to the victim’s family.

…meanwhile, on a different note highlighting something that’s more of a problem with Washington than Beijing:

China’s Drilling for Oil in America’s Backyard

House Republicans want the American people to know that right now — around 60 miles off the coast of Key West, Fla. — China is drilling for oil, thanks to a lease issued by Cuba.

But 1,200 miles north of Key West, Democrats in Washington are blocking the United States from conducting its own environmentally-safe oil and gas exploration in similar U.S. coastal areas, said a news release from House Republican leader John Boehner’s office.

Democrat Congresscritters, wooden rail, hot tar, feathers. Some assembly required.

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Giving Fair Warning? Sounds like a plan!

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Packing in public: Gun owners tired of hiding their weapons embrace ‘open carry’

Those who wear their guns in full sight are part of a fledgling movement to make a firearm a common accessory.

Hmmmm. The Chief likes it!

Very interesting that this piece about pieces is in the generally leftish L.A. Times…and it’s not treated negatively…although they do of course get in the obligatory cautionary anecdote about some dork who decided to turn a shotgun against the police when they questioned him walking down the street with it.

Not a biggie…IMHO, the dork got what he deserved when the law returned fire and established the perp’s eligibility for the Darwin Award.

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Viral Organization Actively Replicating

ACLU unveils big expansion plans for US heartland

The American Civil Liberties Union announced by far the largest fundraising campaign in its 88-year history Monday, eying a dramatic expansion of its work on social justice issues in relatively conservative states such as Texas and Florida.

The campaign’s goal is $335 million, with $258 million already raised through behind-the-scenes solicitations over the past year, ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said. Major donors include billionaire financier George Soros, who gave $12 million through his Open Society Institute.

George Soros? ’nuff said. It’s an ill wind for sure.

Officials of two conservative legal groups often at odds with the ACLU were not pleased by the fundraising announcement, which came during the ACLU’s annual membership conference in Washington.

“The most dangerous organization in America is trying to become more dangerous,” said Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund.

Mathew Staver, founder of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, said the ACLU “already has been an antifamily and in some cases anti-religious liberty and anti-life organization. Any future expansion would simply increase its destructive presence and be concerning to people of conservative, moral values,” Staver said.

The Chief fully concurs.

Culture Wars

Church of England: Still Alive & Kicking

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Church attacks Labour for betraying Christians

The policies of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have helped to generate a spiritual, civic and economic crisis in Britain, according to an important Church of England report.

WHAT? Ingsoc is spiritually deficient?

Labour is failing society and lacks the vision to restore a sense of British identity, the report says in the Church’s strongest attack on the Government for decades. It accuses the Government of “deep religious illiteracy” and of having “no convincing moral direction”.

No moral direction? Religious illiteracy? DUH! Somehow they must have stumbled into range of getting clotted by ye olde cluebat.

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Drill Here & Now!

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The Bakken oil formation and national security

Here’s some more on the Bakken formation…previously noted here…which potentially has more oil than Saudi Arabia under the northern plains.

Yesterday, Bloomberg News published a story about some young oil developers and their rush to bring the Bakken oil formation, located in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, into major production.

The Bakken formation has been a minor producer of crude oil for over a half century. What has increased this formation’s potential is the arrival of mature horizontal drilling technology, now combined with water fractionating recovery techniques. These techniques could turn the Bakken formation from an inconsequential dud into perhaps the largest oil field on the planet.

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Elephants Never Forget?

Received via e-mail:
I’m  not going soft, but sometimes I like these heartwarming stories, and this one truly is amazing.

In  1986, Dan Harrison was  on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern  University.

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant  standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Dan  approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant’s foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.  As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked the wood out with his  hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The  elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.  Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled.

Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of  that day.

Twenty years later, Dan was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenage son.  As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of  the creatures turned and walked over to near where Dan and his son Dan Jr. were  standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot  off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the  encounter in 1986, Dan couldn’t help wondering if this was the same elephant.

Dan summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way  into the enclosure.
 
He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in  wonder.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Dan’s legs  and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

I’m thinking that it probably wasn’t the same elephant.

National Insecurity

Iran Nuke Watch

A couple of items relating to this:

Iran says it will not discuss suspending uranium enrichment

Iran on Saturday reiterated that it will not discuss halting uranium enrichment ahead of the arrival of a top international envoy expected to propose new incentives aimed at encouraging Iran to do so.

“The issue of suspension cannot be discussed any more, we have passed this point and it is not relevant. Iran’s position is clear on this point,” government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.

“The government view is that the issue is over,” he added in reaction to a new report by UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA on Monday expressed “serious concern” that Tehran was still hiding information about alleged studies into making nuclear warheads, as well as defying UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment.

Based on past performance, would any rational person expect anything else from them? Not!

Not to fear…according to our good buddy in the Kremlin, this is no problemo:

Iran not seeking to build nuclear weapons: Putin

Iran is not trying to acquire nuclear weapons but Tehran should avoid “irritating” its neighbours, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Saturday in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde.

Putin, who was in Paris for two days of meetings with President Nicolas Sarkozy and other French leaders, said there was no indication Iran was building its own nuclear arsenal, but he admitted that Iran’s compliance with investigations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was still a “point to be resolved.”

D’ya think?

Asked if Iran was trying to acquire nuclear weapons, Putin replied: “I don’t believe so. Nothing indicates it.”

Of course, there’s nothing to indicate that they aren’t going to try to score a little nukie, either. Considering the source here, the Chief is NOT reassured at all.

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The Huckster Spouts Off: LIBERTARIANS the REAL Threat to GOP!

Huckleberry hates freedom

The Chief KNEW that there were real problems with the Huckster. This reported statement illustrates the point, from a posting that Arkie Mike made on The Huffington Post (? Not exactly a conservative forum there!):

“The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it’s this new brand of libertarianism, which is social liberalism and economic conservatism, but it’s a heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism because it says ‘look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government. If it means that elderly people don’t get their Medicare drugs, so be it. If it means little kids go without education and healthcare, so be it.’ Well, that might be a quote pure economic conservative message, but it’s not an American message.”

The Chief found this at the OC Register’s Orange Punch site, which went on tho point out the following:

So libertarians are unAmerican? Actually, the Huckster completely misstates what libertarianism is about. We don’t advocate kids going without education, but a free system — which will lead to kids getting a far better education than the one they get in the government schools Huckabee loves. We believe in freedom, not government coercion.

Huckabee makes clear what modern Republicanism is all about: paying for government, which explains his support for massive tax increases. The Huckster does make a good point when he explains: “My experience in Arkansas was, a lot of the so-called conservatives said ‘Let’s cut the budget.’ But they wanted to add prison sentences, they wanted to eliminate parole, they wanted to have harsher sentences for various crimes. And I said ‘OK, that’s fine, but that’s going to be expensive. So which do you want?’ You can’t have both, or you do what the federal government has done, and this is where I think Republicans have been especially irresponsible. Their approach has been [to] just kick the can down the road and let your grandkids pay for it.”

Yes, Republicans such as George W. Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger keep spending, but increase the debt rather than raise taxes. That’s a good point, but Huckleberry agrees with Democrats: increase spending AND increase taxes. It’s honest, any way, but the libertarian alternative — finding market solutions, reducing government, increasing individual responsibility — is far more fair and sustainable.

The Chief fully concurs with that concluding paragraph. ’nuff said.

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AlGor Invited to Face Inconvenient Truths

Czech President Klaus ready to debate Gore on climate change

Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Tuesday he is ready to debate Al Gore about global warming, as he presented the English version of his latest book that argues environmentalism poses a threat to basic human freedoms. “I many times tried to talk to have a public exchange of views with him, and he’s not too much willing to make such a conversation,” Klaus said. “So I’m ready to do it.”

Klaus was speaking a the National Press Building in Washington to present his new book, Blue Planet in Green Shackles – What Is Endangered: Climate or Freedom?, before meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday. “My answer is it is our freedom and, I might add, and our prosperity,” he said.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for AlGor to step up to the podium. The Chief predicts he will stay far away from Klaus to avoid having his beautiful theory mugged by a merciless gang of vicious facts.

Oh well. It’s fun to imagine, anyway.

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Bear Facts not Recognized by Enviros

SUE, SARAH, SUE

NY Post Op-ed: Spot-on!

The polar bears are doing just fine, thank you very much. So says Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who announced last week that her state would sue to block Washington from listing the animals as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

And it’s a good thing, too – because the new bear-population protections mask what may be the most serious threat to American economic might in decades.

Say what? The point is…

The polar bear, you see, marks the first species on the “threatened” list whose supposed predicament is linked directly to global warming.

The current Alaskan polar-bear population may be near an all-time high, but Interior Department computer models – such as they are – project widespread melting of the polar ice the bears need to hunt.

And that’s a big problem, given the near-limitless powers embedded in the Endangered Species Act.

So what could this do?

The act, for one, requires the department to ensure that “all actions authorized, funded or carried out” by all federal agencies aren’t likely to “result in the . . . adverse modification of habitat” of listed species….because polar bears are now imperiled by global warming (officially, anyway), any carbon emissions anywhere in the country could conceivably be judged an illegal threat to their habitat.

EEEYOWWW! This gives the thermonuclear option to enviro-wackos.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, of course, has promised a measured application of the new protections. Problem is, that might not be his call. As George F. Will pointed out in these pages last week, the door is now open for a federal judge to use polar-bear safety to attempt to manage nearly the entire US economy….but the fact remains that any move to reduce US carbon emissions must be seriously and deliberately weighed against its economic costs.

And that’s a job for the elected representatives of the people – not an unaccountable gaggle of judges and bureaucrats who, in the end, answer only to their own predjudices.

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Jumping Frog Fails to get off the Ground

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Skydiver’s record attempt fails as balloon leaves without him

Sacre bleu! French jumper’s attempt meets with a SERIOUS setback…it’s almost funny how it happened.

A retired French paratrooper’s daring bid to skydive from the edge of space came to a farcical end when the balloon that was to take him almost 25 miles up drifted off without him.

Ooops!

After two decades of preparation and $20 million of investment, Michel Fournier, 64, could only look on helplessly as the helium balloon lifted off from North Battleford airport in the Canadian state of Saskatchewan, leaving him stranded on terra firma in his pressurised capsule.

It’s unstated whether there would be another attempt.

National Insecurity

UN Agency Shows Signs of Life!

IAEA: Iran may be withholding info in nuke probe

Iran may be withholding information needed to establish whether it tried to make nuclear arms, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday in an unusually strongly worded report.

DUH! D’ya think?

The tone of the language suggesting Tehran continues to stonewall the U.N. nuclear monitor revealed a glimpse of the frustration felt by agency investigators stymied in their attempts to gain full answers to suspicious aspects of Iran’s past nuclear activities. A senior U.N. official familiar with the investigation into Iran’s nuclear program said none of the dozens of agency reports issued in that context had ever been as plain spoken in calling Tehran to task for not being forthright. He agreed to discuss the report only if granted anonymity because he was not authorized to comment to the media.

Wonder if someone accidently used regular coffee there instead of the de-caf for them to admit there’s a problem.

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Obamunism

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Communists for Obama?

The satirical pseudo-neo-Stalinist site People’s Cube has this not very satirical, but spot-on examination of what happened with B.O.’s big Portland, OR rally last week…not quite what it was cracked up to be in the MSM.

Barack Obama’s massive pre-primary rally in Portland, OR, was aided in no small part by the appearance of an uber-hip band. Their gimmick? They start each performance with the Soviet national anthem.

It appears that many of the 75,000 “Obama worshipers” in Portland last weekend really turned up to see a free concert by an uber-hip Portland band, the Decemberists (see photo). Of course, the MSM didn’t report this fact because it might dampen the story of the new and wonderful miracle of the Obamessiah.

Most media reports were reminiscent of the style the Soviet poets used to glorify public appearances of the great Stalin. For example, Obama’s home paper, the Chicago Tribune, reported it this way:

They waited for hours under a warm sun, the line snaking for blocks and blocks through downtown. They packed onto the park lawn, from the makeshift stage to the waterfront and up to the street. They watched from a bridge overhead and from pleasure boats on the river, bikini-clad. They brought their parents and their infants. Some skipped work. Some wilted in the heat. A few jammed the streets afterward, hoping for a final motorcade glimpse. Fire department officials counted 75,000 in all, a record for the main attraction, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Not a word about the popular Obama-supporting band — which is a shame, because it’s the most interesting development in this whole episode.

Not only do the band members love Obama’s message, but they also write lyrics that sound as if Michelle Obama wrote them — except, of course, for the lyrics of the most musically competent piece in the entire set, the Soviet anthem. Those lyrics were written by Sergei Mikhalkov, Stalin’s most trusted poet.

There are more of the gory details in the piece, including a H/T to the ORIGINAL Decembrists, who would have been appalled at the Bolshies. It’s worth a look, as is the PEOPLE’S CUBE site in general.

Defense Matters!

Memorial Day: Remember!

Profiles in Valor

As the Chief humbly recalls his own 26 years with the Naval Service, he constantly has the thought…”I wish I could do more”.

The accounts of these Iraq war Medal of Honor recipients illustrates circumstances when there was no more possible to do.

Take a pause, and read them.  (H/T to Patriot Post)

medal-of-honor.jpg

It is not surprising that many Americans no longer observe Memorial Day with reverence. Schools no longer teach civics, the courts exclude God (officially) from the public square, and the Leftmedia and malls “celebrate” Memorial Day with commercial sales.

Indeed, Memorial Day has been sold out by many.

Founding Patriot John Adams wrote, “I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means…”

But is it?

Indeed it is.

Fortunately, millions of American Patriots still reserve Memorial Day to honor the service and sacrifice of our fallen countrymen, who donned the uniforms of our Armed Forces with honor and under oath to defend of our Constitution and the cherished liberties it embodies.

On 7 August 1782, General George Washington instituted the first formal military award of recognition for “any singularly meritorious action.” It was a purple cloth heart, the predecessor of the now-familiar Purple Heart, which is awarded to any member of our Armed Services who is wounded or killed in combat or combat-related actions. For this reason, the decoration carries the profile of George Washington.

But our nation’s supreme military award was instituted in 1861. That award is the Medal of Honor. (No, it is not the “congressional” Medal of Honor, and, no, it is not “won.”)

Some 3,400 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have been awarded the Medal of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.” Most have received this award posthumously.

On this Memorial Day, four young men who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will not be at the malls, nor will they be at the family barbecue.

These young men are not much different from others who have served in the past or those serving today in our nation’s Armed Forces but for the fact that they responded to extraordinary circumstances with extraordinary courage.

They are Corporal Jason L. Dunham, USMC; Master-at-Arms Second Class Michael A. Monsoor, USN; Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith, USA; and Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, USN.

Their Medal of Honor citations read:

Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Eyes of Texas Crossed by Pesky Legalities

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Court: Texas wrongly seized sect children

In a ruling that could torpedo the case against the West Texas polygamist sect, a state appeals court Thursday said authorities had no right to seize more than 440 children in a raid on the splinter group’s ranch last month.

Even Texas courts can’t warp the law into accepting a principle of collective guilt: where a whole class of people are legally liable for alleged misconduct by a few.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the state offered “legally and factually insufficient” grounds for the “extreme” measure of removing all children from the ranch, from babies to teenagers. The state never provided evidence that the children were in any immediate danger, the only grounds in Texas law for taking children from their parents without court approval, the appeals court said.

Dang! Makes it kind of hard to keep a good witch-hunt going!

Uncategorized

Google: Sauce for the Goose, not for the Gander

YouTube won’t take down all Islamist videos

A classic case of sauce for the ChiCom goose not being good for the US gander:

Google has refused a request from U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Ind.-Conn., to remove videos produced by terrorist groups from its video-sharing site YouTube.

“Senator Lieberman stated his belief, in a letter sent today, that all videos mentioning or featuring these groups should be removed from YouTube — even legal nonviolent or non-hate speech videos,” the statement said. “While we respect and understand his views, YouTube encourages free speech and defends everyone’s right to express unpopular points of view.”< Yeah, right. That’s why they are complicit in helping build and maintain “the Great Firewall of China” restricting access to content deemed objectionable to the ChiCom dictators of the People’s Republic. Why be troubled by a little bug-bear like consistency, one way or the other?

Culture Wars

Science, Intelligence, Design, and Glowbull Warming

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How are these things related? If you have a little bit of time, and are willing to think, read this:

Intelligent Conversation

In a world where a snob like Michael Moore and a smug manipulator like Al Gore can win Oscars for “documentaries” that play fast and loose with the truth, it’s ironic that Ben Stein’s Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which makes a serious effort to tell the truth about a problem that’s seriously damaging our civilization, not only won’t get nominated for an Oscar but will certainly be attacked as anti-scientific.

This is the opposite of the truth, or very nearly so. Ben Stein’s film project was to expose the way rigid insistence on Darwinist dogma is expelling not only brilliant individuals but also truth itself from the public conversation of science.

This is one of the best discussions of these issues that the Chief has encountered…well worth the read.

Uncategorized

California judges?…’nuff said.

California’s top court legalizes gay marriage

California’s Supreme Court declared that gay couples in the nation’s biggest state can marry – a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony.

The Chief supposes it would be a cheap shot in this context to describe California as the land of fruits and nuts…so I won’t go there.

Also, in all due fairness, it must be noted that there were threee justices who opposed this ruling for various reasons: kudos to them!

Next event: a push to amend the Califunny Constitution to remove the whole thing from the reach of the activist judges.

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Candidate doth protest too much!

Obama says Bush falsely accused him of appeasement

Barack Obama accused President Bush of “a false political attack” Thursday after Bush warned in Israel against appeasing terrorists – early salvos in a general election campaign that’s already blazing even as the Democratic front-runner tries to sew up his party’s nomination.

Hmmm. Must be hitting pretty close to the target to get a jump out of Obama so fast.

Hey B.O. – if the shoe fits, wear it!

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Chickens Coming Home to Roost

GOP Stunned By Loss in Mississippi

In a major blow to national Republicans, a Mississippi congressional seat that once voted for President Bush by a twenty-five point margin elected a Democrat on Tuesday. Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers beat out Republican candidate Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven, by a 54%-46% margin, a spread that several Republican strategists on Capitol Hill characterized as a startling wake-up call for a party in dire straits.

Too many RINOs, too few principles. Given a choice between the Donks, and the GOP version of Donk-lite, the real thing wins every time.

If the GOP’s alleged leadership doesn’t get some cojones and return to the principles that fueled the Reagan revolution, then the party will go the way of the Whigs, and something else, more willing to take a stand on the principles that were behind the establishment of the American republic…and if it’s not politically correct…then f-em if they can’t take the joke.