May 19, 2011

Tales From The Republican Foot-Shooting Race

The Republican campaign for 2012 is going great guns--if you’re a Democrat. Once again, prominent Republicans seem determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of possible victory by not merely shooting themselves in the foot, but by emptying multiple magazines into their own feet. Yes, it’s early, but let’s have a brief review of the most recent Bizarro-World Republican behaviors.

The I Hate It/I Love It Candidate: Mitt Romney recently addressed long-standing conservative concerns (here) about RomneyCare by absolutely praising and standing by RomneyCare! Not only is RomneyCare a clone of ObamaCare which is performing more or less exactly as ObamaCare will certainly perform (not delivering on its promises, not improving things, and costing huge amounts of supposedly unforeseen money), but it makes Romney seem like the dictionary definition of hypocrite when he swears that he’ll repeal ObamaCare while praising its smaller brother. Despite his demonstrated ability to raise loads of money, he is not endearing himself to the conservative base.

The "Republicans Are Every Bit as Bad as Democrats" Candidate: For an educated man who served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich makes almost unbelievable mistakes (here). Only a few days after declaring his candidacy, Gingrich blew himself and his candidacy up by violating Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment never to speak ill of fellow Republicans. Gingrich claimed that there is such a thing as “right wing social engineering” in the same way that such policies exist on the left. He also said that he supported a “variation” of the ObamaCare Individual mandate, and attacked Paul Ryan’s economic proposal as it relates to Medicare.

Let’s count the ways that Mr. Gingrich stepped on his tongue. Paul Ryan is arguably the only member of Congress who has proposed a comprehensive, serious, well thought out proposal that can actually stave off and improve our looming national economic disaster. Ryan is one man that every rational Republican will want to have on his side in the 2012 campaign. Ryan responded: “with allies like that, who needs the left?” “Right wing social engineering?” Restoring fiscal sanity, adherence to the Constitution and the law and reducing the size of government constitute right wing social engineering? Conservatives don’t think that way; leftists do. Gingrich supports a “variation” of the individual mandate, the single most egregiously unconstitutional and destructive part of ObamaCare, the part without which the entire Rube Goldberg contraption collapses? Mr. Gingrich has apologized to Rep. Ryan, and he and his publicity staff have been feverishly backpedaling in recent days, but the conservative base does not seem in the least impressed. Thanks for the shortest presidential campaign in American history, Mr. Gingrich, and thanks for writing highly effective Democrat campaign commercials for the Dems. As a historian, I’m sure you can appreciate the inherent irony.

The Smart Diplomacy Candidate: Jon Huntsman, former Utah Governor and current Ambassador to China is making considerable noise about running for president. Some conservative and many pseudo-conservative figures have been saying that when the public starts hearing from Huntsman directly, they’ll be very impressed. He recently announced that he firmly believes in global warming because “90% of scientists” believe in it (here). It is that kind of comment that makes one wonder if Huntsman can actually read, and if so, whether he actually reads. Not only is that statistic ludicrously incorrect, all of the best evidence since the inception of Climategate indicates clearly that the Global Warming/Climate Change/Climate Chaos house of cards has almost entirely collapsed because it is one of the largest and most costly frauds every perpetrated. Huntsman did allow, however, that he now believes that Cap and Trade (Tax) is no longer viable. This means, of course, that at one time, apparently recently, he thought that one of the most egregiously stupid and economically destructive leftist power grabs in history was a good idea! And this is a Republican candidate? Has he no idea of mainstream conservative thinking on this issue?

At this stage, one is tempted to wonder which party’s nomination these guys are seeking. Again, it’s early, but it’s a shame--and a potential tragedy--that prominent, ostensibly Republican figures, are behaving and sounding anything but Republican. It would be ironic and bizarre indeed if Conservatives had to hold their collective noses to vote for the eventual Republican nominee running against, of all people, Barack Obama. It is not outside the realm of possibility that a significant number of conservatives might simply stay home rather than vote for anyone who is so obviously far afield of genuinely Conservative values and principles.

Agreement with Mr. Obama is not, under the present state of American decline and danger, a sign of bipartisan cooperation, but a glaringly obvious indicator of a lack of understanding of the nature of Democrats and of the dangers we face. The Democrats care nothing for the Constitution and will do anything necessary to win. Republicans must not abandon fealty to the Constitution, but adopting Obamian policies as their own is a sure path to electoral defeat and national disaster. We can do better. We must do better.

Posted by: MikeM at 10:06 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

NY Daily News Writer Corners the Market On Ignorance

Considering the competition for that dishonor, NY Daily News writer Joanna Molloy really had to go out of her way to prove her ignorance, and in Ex-NYPD top cop Bill Bratton pushing for overdue ban on assault-weapons ammo clips she certainly does her best, encapsulating several decades worth of ignorance—not to mention stupidity and laziness—in just the second sentence of a dim rant.

Former New York top cop Bill Bratton has joined forces with the city's Citizens Crime Commission to support the ban on assault-weapons ammo clips that have been used in virtually every mass murder since 1984.

We can start by stating with absolute authority that assault weapons ammo clips have never played a part in a mass murder. Not before 1984, and not since.

Never. Ever. Happened.

Ammo clips are nothing more or less than strips of metal—typically spring steel—that hold one or more ammunition cartridges by the base. The rifles of both sides in World War I used ammunition clips. So did the rifles of World War II and Korea, from Mosin-Nagants designed in the 1890s to Enfields and Garands and SKSs that were obsolete by the 1950s.

Below, we see an example of the 8-round en-block clip of the M1 Garand on the left, and the 10-round stripper clip of the SKS rifle on the right. The most common clips in America, they have never been an accessory in any mass murder.

Oh, but I'm being completely unfair, aren't I?

Poor befuddled Ms. Molloy is but a journalist, and can't be expected to tell the difference between a clip and a magazine any more than she should be able to tell the difference between a car and a truck or a cat and a catfish.

A clip holds bullets to load magazines. It is the difference between a gas pump and a gas tank, or a Democrat and a Republican. It's so hard.

But back to Ms. Molloy's contention that "assault-weapons ammo clips that have been used in virtually every mass murder since 1984." Even if we generously allow her to plead obvious ignorance and substitute clip for magazine, her claim still fails to be true.

Arguably the most infamous school shooting in America took place at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold used as their primary instrument of death a Hi Point 9mm carbine that was designed specifically to comply with the very Ban on Scary-Looking Guns that Molloy would see re-implemented.

Richard Farley killed seven without using a single assault weapon in his 1988 murder spree.

The 1998 Westside Middle School Massacre was perpetrated by two kids armed with rifles with standard capacity magazines.

Patrick Henry Sherrill is the reason for the phrase "going postal," and used a pair of .45 ACP pistols to kill 14 of his co-workers in 1986.

Terrorist soldier Nidal Hassan shot up Fort Hood with a pistol.

Atlanta trader Mark Barton killed 12 with a pair of handguns and a hammer in 1999.

Just last year, Omar Thorton used a pair of standard-capacity pistols to kill 9 at a Connecticut beer distributorship.

Seung-Hui Cho perpetrated the Virginia Tech massacre of 32 of his fellow students using standard-capacity magazines in a Glock 19 and Walther P22.

Jiverly Antares Wong used a pair of standard-capacity pistols in Binghampton, NY in 2009.

Shall we go on?

Jeff Weise killed 9 in Red Lake Minnesota using handguns and a shotgun. Likewise, the North Illinois University shooting was perpetrated with pistols and a shotgun. Charles Carl Roberts, infamous for the Amish schoolhouse shooting in 2006, used a 9 mm handgun, 12 gauge shotgun, .30-06 bolt-action rifle. Kip Kinckel, Eric Houston, and Charles Andrew Williams also committed their mass shootings without using any assault weapons.

Purely as a matter of empirical fact, assault weapons and their magazines have been used in just fraction of murders of any kind.

But NY Daily News employee Joanna Molloy isn't acting as a responsible journalist, informed editorialist, or critical thinker. She is an ideologue dedicated to deceiving her readers in order to get them to agree with her.

Come to think of it, Joanna Milloy isn't ignorant. She knows exactly what she is doing. The only question is whether the NY Daily News finds this sort of deception acceptable.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:58 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Cornell West No Longer Digging "Hope and Change"

The former cheerleader for Barack Obama now considers the President a "black mascot" and "black puppet."

Cornel West, a Princeton University professor and leading black intellectual, is harshly criticizing President Obama, a candidate he once supported but now calls "a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats."

Don't start getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about Professor West, however. His biggest problem with Obama isn't that he's a egotistical radical destroying the nation, it is that he's an egotistical radical that isn't destroying the nation to benefit blacks. And that the President is a racist.

"I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men," West said. "It's understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he's always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white…When he meets an independent black brother, it is frightening."

I can hardly wait to see how Eric Boehlert and the drones at Media Matters are going to address this. Their default complaint against any criticism of the President is always that the criticism is always caused by racism.

Now that a prominent black liberal academic is effectively making the argument that Obama himself is too white and can't relate to black Americans because he was never part of their shared cultural experience, how can the race-baiters respond?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:35 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

May 18, 2011

Quick Takes, May 19, 2011

ITEM: Writing in USA Today on health care, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney promised, if elected president, to immediately issue an executive order to grant waivers to all 50 states for ObamaCare and to call on Congress to repeal it. Unfortunately, for Romney and the nation, he not only refuses to repudiate his RomneyCare Massachusetts version of ObamaCare, but actually defended it. This is a fundamental and foolish mistake that could, if Romney wins the 2012 Republican nomination, hand the election to Barack Obama. A great many Republicans will not forgive Romney his ObamaCare clone, and will simply not support him regardless. They’ll stay home on election day. Pray, gentle readers, for a better nominee and do all that you can to make it happen. Go here for the story.

ITEM: Regularly, public school officials (here), by stubbornly over-reacting to unremarkable, predictable, sometimes constitutionally protected student behavior, give ammunition to those who irrationally hate the public schools. Imagine that: Teenagers actually behaving like teenagers! Such a situation recently occurred in Shelton, Connecticut where senior honor student James Tate asked a girl to the prom by means of a message taped to an exterior wall of the school in 12” high letters. She accepted. School authorities have punished Tate by refusing to allow him to attend the prom, and despite public outrage, have not relented, causing several Connecticut legislators to draft a bill that would allow Tate to attend. So we have an honor student who thinks up a creative way to do something that harms no one, that did not in any way damage public property or disrupt school, and school authorities respond with petty vindictiveness. The citizens of Shelton have reason to question their judgment, particularly at the next school board election.

UPDATE: Tate will we allowed to go to the prom after all. The school’s Headmaster, Beth Smith changed her mind. Superintendent Freeman Burr explained: "James Tate has set for us a new standard for romanticism. Principals have to make difficult decisions every day. No one could have anticipated this kind of response." So let’s review: School officials did the right thing, but only because of mounting national outrage, the community and its mayor turning against them, and the threats of legislators to write legislation that would overturn their decision. Hmm. Sounds more like cowardice than moral reasoning, doesn’t it? Congratulation to James and to the lucky young lady who will accompany him to a prom neither of them will ever forget. Who says there are no happy endings?

ITEM: So GM is profitable—for the moment. This is not, by any means, a vindication of government involvement in spending tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money to pick winners and losers, and losers there were, like the shareholders who, legally first in line, were completely stiffed in favor of the unions. Go here to The Atlantic for Megan McArdle’s comprehensive analysis of the reality of such “profitability.”

ITEM: And I Thought I Had Some Really Bad Ideas! Department: From the good folks at Hot Air (here) comes news that the Pentagon is considering family visits for the detainees at Gitmo. Gitmo?! Gitmo. Gee, I wonder who is putting the military up to that? Here is a brief--and partial--list of why this is an incredibly bad idea:

(1) There is no historical precedent for giving prisoners of war such privileges and establishing such a precedent would be sheer lunacy.

(2) It would be a propaganda bonanza for jihadists who are taught to always lie about their treatment. Imagine the airtime useful idiots in the media would give to Muslim women and children weeping about the horrible treatment afforded their innocent, saintly menfolk.

(3) It would be a security nightmare. American soldiers patting down Muslim women in hijabs and burkas? Oh, that’ll play well on the news.

(4) The subhuman murderers in Gitmo should be thankful merely to be alive. Remember that these “people” would be delighted to dance on the bleeding corpses of any American man, woman or child they could slaughter, all the while invoking their deranged vision of god. American ethics require humane treatment--which they already get, in spades--nothing more.

ITEM: From Jim Geraghty at National Review Online (here) we discover that President Obama, at a town hall meeting on May 12 blamed the high unemployment rate on “huge layoffs of government workers at federal, state and local levels.” I’ve often marveled at Mr. Obama’s propensity to blatantly lie about things that are ridiculously easy to disprove. No doubt he is so used to the press covering for him that he thinks he can get away with anything. Not this time. The Facts: We are eight million below the most recent peak private sector employment, and not only has federal, state and local public sector employment not declined, it has actually increased. Visit the article for specific statistics. I suppose that one who leads from behind might be expected to deal from under the deck as well. Discuss.

ITEM: We Are Not Amused. At his El Paso immigration address, Mr. Obama adopted a mocking, condescending tone in attempting to ridicule Republicans. The residents of the border region, suffering daily from all of the problems associated with the influx of illegal aliens and drug criminals, which have recently included major fires set by aliens, were not in the least amused and have written to Mr. Obama to express their displeasure at his idea of humor. Visit Fox News (here) for the whole story. There has been speculation in the Lamestream media that Mr. Obama has a real chance to win Texas, in 2012 hence his visit. Right. You do that by denying a disaster declaration for helping with catastrophic wildfires in Texas, which of course, he has done. This is just another example of Mr. Obama’s utter cluelessness about the reality of the lives of the God and gun clingers in flyover country/red America, and of his utter lack of caring about those lives, particularly when they conflict with his Socialistic desires. But hey, the border is more secure than ever! Just ask Janet Napolitano--or Mr. Obama.

ITEM: Oh Goody! Department: The National Journal reports that Medicare will run out of cash in 2024, five years earlier than was expected, and Social Security will run out in 2036, a year earlier than expected. Go here for the entire story. But not to worry; I have no doubt that this is at the top of Mr. Obama’s “to ignore/make worse” list.

ITEM: So what’s the trouble with America anyway? Is it that Americans are rustic boobs, unsophisticated, superstitious idiots who bitterly cling to God and guns, who have no nuance, who are racist, sexist, and every other kind of “ist?” Or is our current difficulty that we are ruled by a self-imagined “elite” class of effete intellectual snobs whose stratospheric self-regard is woefully misplaced? Is it that our elite leaders actually have no common sense, believe America to be the problem in the world, and in reality, have no leadership skills at all? Go here to read an interesting essay on the topic by Walter Russell Mead.

ITEM: So Newt Gingrich is running for President? He is indeed. Boy oh boy, we finally have a genuine conservative in the race! Not so much. In an appearance on Meet The Press over the weekend, Gingrich opposed Rep. Raul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed Medicare reforms and said that he supports a “variation” of the individual mandate. In other words, he believes the Federal Government has the power to force you to buy whatever health insurance policy it prefers. Uh, so which party’s nomination is Gingrich seeking? Go here to Hot Air for the story.

GINGRICH UPDATE: From Hot Air (here), bad news from Iowa for Newt Gingrich:

“As he was getting ready to leave a speaking engagement Dubuque resident Russell Fuhrman approached him in the lobby of the Holiday Inn:

‘Get out now before you make a bigger fool of yourself,’ Fuhrman said directly to Gingrich.

Gingrich, visibly stunned, quickly moved forward to talk with other guests…

‘I’m a strong Republican but he’s an embarrassment to our party,’ Fuhrman said.”

Well, yeah.

ITEM: THEY DID WHAT?! Department: Via Hot Air (here) the Indiana Supreme Court has recently ruled that citizens have no right to resist an unlawful police entry into their homes. It is a long established principle of law that citizens may resist an unlawful arrest and unlawful entry onto their property, so what is the Indiana SC talking about?

““We believe … a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence,” David said. “We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest.”

David said a person arrested following an unlawful entry by police still can be released on bail and has plenty of opportunities to protest the illegal entry through the court system.”

Great. In the name of preventing violence, the Bill of Rights is out the window. It would be hard to imagine what leftist public policy goal could not be implemented under that standard. Oh, and after they’ve been arrested, paid tens of thousands in bail, their homes are trashed, their property illegally seized, they pay tens, even hundreds of thousands to attorneys, after many years, citizens might receive justice. Ah gentle readers, it’s the bold new age of Obamian hope and change.

ITEM: Brief, Shining Moment of Political Clarity Department: From PowerLine (here) comes a bit of enlightenment by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah):

“They [Democrats] want to intimidate all of the corporations in this country and other businesses from giving money that might help Republicans. And they know it's unconstitutional what they're doing, they know it's wrong, but they're going to go do it anyway, because it's political time to them. And frankly, it's been political time from Day One with this president. They play politics very, very tough, they play it well, and they don't give a damn about what's right and what's wrong.”
Just so.

ITEM: Imagine a government policy so brilliant, so useful, so full of cost savings and yummy goodness that the very government that rammed it down the collective throats of the public has to grant 1372 waivers (to date) to that very policy. From The Hill (here) we discover that the Obama Administration has granted another 204 ObamaCare waivers, bringing the grand total to 1372. Many of the recipients? Labor unions. Some people might consider this to be ironic, idiotic, or just plainly wrong, but they’d likely cling to God and guns too.

ITEM: What if they came to talk about flag burning, but nobody came? A LSU student recently announced plans to burn an American flag in the name of due process, peace, justice, no bacon on hamburgers or something, but was apparently surprised to find that those God and gun clingers who happen to live and attend school in Louisana were not, as the British monarcy might put it, amused. So he showed up to speak about his ideals and was met with jeers and water balloons and had to be escorted away by the police for his own safety. Go here to Hot Air for the story, video and commentary.

Indeed, this amounts to a heckler’s veto, and did deny the flag burner an opportunity to express his views. Not a good thing. A better thing would have been to ignore him entirely, or in the face of bad speech, to provide good speech. Let’s not adopt the tactics of the Left.

ITEM: The Scales Fell From His Eyes! Department: Global warming is a fraud. Who says so? David Evans, a scientist who was in the very heart of the international global warming machine for many years. Go to Hot Air (here) for the story of a scientist whose integrity wouldn’t allow him to continue to perpetrate an expensive, manipulative fraud on the public. An example:

“The debate about global warming has reached ridiculous proportions and is full of micro-thin half-truths and misunderstandings. I am a scientist who was on the carbon gravy train, understands the evidence, was once an alarmist, but am now a skeptic.”
An article worth reading.

ITEM: Go here for an interesting—possibly annoying—article that essentially postulates that women don’t lie about serious matters such as rape allegations. Right. Tell that to the Duke LaCrosse players. In reality, during my police service, I discovered that about 50% of rape allegations were false, and not false because the police—including me—are misogynistic cavemen who think all women are prostitutes and deserve what they get, but because the evidence—virtually always including their confessions of falsehood—proved it. Human beings don’t lie (women are human beings, right?)? Really?

ITEM: The union is your friend; admit it or we’ll kill you! Go here for an interesting—and infuriating--story about how the Communications Workers of America treats its members who don’t appreciate union bosses looting union coffers. Beatings and death threats sound familiar? We must unionize all of America! All praise the NLRB! These are the President's allies and strongest supporters, gentle readers.

ITEM: Louis Renault Award of the Week: John Kerry thinks Syria’s dictator is “obviously not a reformer now.” I was shocked, shocked! to learn this from Jeff Jacoby (here). And to think, all Assad had to do was kill at least 1000 of his own people (to date) to change the slow-learning Massachusetts senator’s mind. It’s rather a shame that Mr. Obama has come to no similar conclusion, preferring instead his default position on foreign affairs: interminable dithering and paralyzing indecision. Read Jacoby’s short essay for more.

ITEM: Where Do I Go To Get My Reputation Back? These days, accusations of unprofessional teacher behavior are common. As a high school teacher, I am very much aware that I have a large, glowing target on my back, more so, in many ways, than when I was a police officer. Go to the Washington Post (here) to read a cautionary article on a teacher falsely accused, eventually exonerated, but never made whole.

ITEM: By the way, I hear many Republican presidential candidates saying that they want to “reform” education. Why is that the business of the Federal Government, and why should Republicans think that way? Aren’t conservatives supposed to be for small government without saying “I absolutely support small government, but X, Y and Z are so important we just have to big government them to death?” Discuss.

ITEM: Occasionally, the police screw up so obviously and badly that they confirm the generally unwarranted suspicions of their worst critics. Such a case is reported by John Stossel (here). Philadelphia stopped and badly mistreated 25 year old Mark Fiorino who was openly and legally carrying a handgun. After discovering that what Fiorino was doing was completely legal, they let him go, only to lodge charges of reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct after Fiorino posted an audiotape he recorded of the incident on youtube. Why did they file the charges? It’s their opinion that because he told the officers he was behaving legally--and he was--he was somehow violating the law. Some people just don’t know how to quit when they’re behind.

ITEM: Is anyone else as horrified to see Sen. John Kerry (D-N. Vietnam) conducting smart diplomacy with Paahkeestaahn as I am? You know, John Kerry, the traitor who stabbed his fellow soldiers in the back, soldiers who were still on the battlefield? Kerry who attended a meeting planning the murder of Congressmen? Kerry who faked his medal citations? Kerry whose photo hung in the North Vietnamese war museum as a great hero of the glorious revolution? Kerry who repeatedly met with Communist enemies of America without government permission during the Vietnam War? Can anyone actually imagine him bargaining for American interests? Can anyone imagine him not denigrating America? Discuss.

ITEM: Louis Renault Award, Congressional Edition: From Hot Air (here) we learn that 20% of the most recent 204 ObamaCare waivers went to very toney businesses in Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional district. Imagine that! Yes, upscale eateries that charge $59 for a steak received waivers. I’m shocked, shocked! that the Obama Administration, the most transparent in history, would be involved in anything that smacks of political pay offs! Shocked!

ITEM: On a Fox News broadcast on May 16, Charles Krauthammer noted that Newt Gingrich committed a “capital offense against the 11th commandment.” Krauthammer was referring to Ronald Reagan’s commandant that thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican. In the estimation of Mr. Krauthammer, Mr. Gingrich has irreparably damaged his presidential chances. I suspect he’s correct. Discuss.

ITEM: Doesn’t This Woman Ever Think Before She Opens Her Mouth? DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano recently claimed that “very, very, very few people get a [TSA] patdown.” Uh, what? On my most recent trip through the wonderful world of TSA-controlled airports, I was patted down once in four passes through checkpoints, making it a 25% matter for me. I, a 6’ tall, 57 year old, really white guy with a military-style haircut and no back-country beard or mustache, certainly observed a sufficient number of pat downs on those occasions—none of which appeared to be of people who looked even remotely like young, Muslim males about to scream “Allahu Akbar!’’—to convince me that “very, very, very few…” is a very, very very big misapprehension foisted by a woman who apparently has never been burdened by an acquaintance with reality. Visit Hot Air (here) to find additional statistical evidence of Ms. Napolitano’s residence in an alternative universe or on another planet.

ITEM: First there was Rambo, now, Rambama! A toymaker (here) has capitalized on the successful SEAL takedown of Osama Bin Laden by making a muscular, GI Joe-like version of Obama with an M1-A4. That’s rather like casting Don Knots as The Terminator, isn’t it? Some things you just can’t parody. Irony factor: Real SF operators don’t need action figures; they are action figures. "Action figures? We don' need no stinkin' action figures!" Make your Christmas gift orders now!

And on that pseudo-manly, faux-warrior-like note, I must bid all a fond farewell until next Thursday. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you then!

Posted by: MikeM at 10:38 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Newt Gingrich Nukes His Campaign

The most politically-connected candidate from either party is trying to claim outsider status.

He is first-class academic and a very bright guy, but Gingrich is also ideologically unreliable and morally bankrupt. Luckily he's chosen to remind everyone of his ego and many foibles, including those that don't remember his last stint in power.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 06:24 PM | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Good News! The False Profit False Prophet Still Believes in Us

The man some already regard as the worst President in America just part of the way through his term reveals that he still has faith in us, and gives us his blessing.

I'm sure it makes your day to know that.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:59 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Not Today Dear, I Have a Headache

Not much in the way of productivity today until I get this migraine/cluster whatever-the-Hell-it-is headache under control. In any event, I have a review of Butler Creek magazine loaders up at LuckyGunner for American shooters, and a post up at Pajamas Media about the guns favored by certain Mexican shooters, and from whence they came.

Consider it my contribution to multiculturalism.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

May 17, 2011

S'il est coupable, l'Amérique doit exécuter Dominique Strauss-Kahn

"If he is guilty, America should execute Dominique Strauss-Kahn," is what I hope the French take away from the headline, though Google Translate doesn't always work as intended.

I say this because once upon a time in America, Strauss-Kahn's violent sexual assault would have resulted in a lynching by outraged citizens. Some years later, in some parts of the country, his crime could have been prosecuted as a death penalty case (side note: I am still personally in favor of forcible rape or sexual assault being treated as a capital crime). As it is, the disgraced Frenchman stands the possibility of spending his remaining years in an American prison, unless he OJ's his way out with high-priced lawyers and political pressure.

The French seems stunned at his "perp walk" and incarceration in Riker's, his suicide watch and prison jumpsuit. In their class-driven society, such treatment for a man of his stature is unthinkable.

It highlights one of America's greatest ideals. No man is above the law. It isn't true all the time, and especially when the offender is rich and powerful and influential enough, but we do have our moments.

The poor woman Strauss-Kahn is accused of raping and sodomizing is a Muslim. Sadly, in her own barbaric culture in many parts of the world she would most likely be put to death for her "crime," or would face nearly insurmountable odds in getting a conviction, needing multiple male witnesses, etc, and even if successful in putting her abuser in prison, faces the distinct possibility of an "honor killing" from her own family because of the twisted beliefs of her misogynistic donkey-humping cult.

Only in America could the victim of this violent crime have a possibility of finding justice, and her accused be treated from the outset like a criminal he most likely is instead of a privileged elite. Remember that as America-hating elitists try to turn us into a lesser nation.

MIKE ADDS: What Bob said.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:54 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Erik Scott Case, Update 11.3: The Post-Mortem Search of Scott’s Home Revisited

NOTE: THIS POST WAS UPDATED 05-22-11. SEE THE END OF THE ORIGINAL POST FOR THE UPDATE.

Whenever I begin to think that the Scott case could not become more convoluted or bizarre, something new turns up. In recent updates, I’ve focused on issues that are not absolutely central to the Scott case, but that are closely related, and that tend to shed additional light on the culture and procedures of Metro and Las Vegas. It is that culture and those procedures that almost certainly made Erik Scott’s death likely, and that continue to result in beatings and worse for citizens of Las Vegas. This update, however, returns to one of the central issues of the aftermath of the shooting of Scott.

Update 6, October 14, 2010 was dedicated to the extra-legal activities of one Steve Grodin, Deputy Public Administrator of Clark County. After the shooting of Erik Scott at approximately 1300 on July 10, 2010, Grodin almost immediately began to call Erik’s brother, Kevin Scott, demanding permission to enter Erik’s home, ostensibly to protect it and the firearms and valuables within. Kevin Scott was then traveling across the nation by air, and Grodin made a number of additional calls, actually claiming that he had absolute authority to enter Scott’s home and seize property within, but still trying to get Kevin’s permission, permission that Kevin unfailingly refused to give. Eventually, sometime after 1900, against Kevin’s clearly expressed wishes and against the orders of the only person who had legal control of the property under Nevada law--Erik’s girlfriend and co-resident Samantha Sterner--Grodin, accompanied by at least one Metro officer, used a locksmith to enter the home and to seize property.

Before we continue, here are links to related information:

For Update 6, 10-14-10, go here.
For Update 7, 10-23-10, go here.
For “Vegas Media Wakes Up,” 02-26-11, go here.
For “Linkedin” information on Steve Grodin, go here.
NOTE: The audio recording of Grodin’s call to Kevin Scott is no longer posted on YouTube.

As Update 6 explains in detail, the police had no cause to enter Scott’s home or to seize anything within. His home and its contents were completely removed in time and space from his death at the hands of the police at the Summerlin Costco; they had no relation whatever to the shooting and thus had no value as evidence--one doesn’t prosecute dead men--and could not be the proceeds of a crime as Scott committed no crimes prior to his death. No rational judge would authorize a search warrant absent a falsified affidavit, and the police surely could not afford something like that to be found. Having no warrant, and an absolute, one might be tempted to say panicky, need to get into the home, the police used Grodin, acting in his role as Deputy Public Administrator, to bring their plan to fruition.

Posted by: MikeM at 07:59 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

May 16, 2011

Letter From The Teacher #1: Mandatory, High Stakes Tests

Anytown High School, Any State, USA

To: Mr. & Mrs. Smith
From: Mr. English Teacher
Re: Apology

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Smith:

As I stand here watching your daughter, Lauren, working diligently on her mandatory, high-stakes test, I realize that I owe you--and all of the parents of my students--an apology. So I sincerely apologize. Why am I apologizing? Because this week, I’m wasting your daughter’s time. In fact, teachers across the state are wasting their student’s time by forcing them to take a series of state-mandated, high-stakes tests. And you should know that it’s not really my fault, but I feel badly about it just the same, so I’m apologizing.

Whose fault is it? For once it really is, more or less, George W. Bush’s fault. I’m sure you realize that Texas is in many ways, for good or ill, the national educational model. Well, when Mr. Bush was governor of Texas, he discovered that Hispanic kids weren’t doing as well in reading and other academic skills as other kids, and out of genuine concern for their welfare and with the best intentions, he wanted to do something about it.

What’s wrong with that? Nothing really, except that he was a businessman, so he applied what he knew--the business model--to education. Soon, all of the kids in Texas--and pretty much everywhere else when he became president--became toasters.

Posted by: MikeM at 10:18 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Debt Limit Reached, Nation Fails to Explode in Violent Fireball

Unpossible. Democrats made it sound like the world would end if we didn't immediately fund their largesse.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:49 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

NAACP Beclowns Itself. Again.

Update: Never blog before coffee. Story was from last year.

Still idiotic.

Because the cosmos is racist.

A graduation card sold at local stores has been pulled from shelves after a civil rights group raised concerns about the content. The group claims the card's micro-speaker plays a greeting that's racist.

It is a graduation greeting from Hallmark that says, "Hey world, we are officially putting you on notice."

Members of the Los Angeles NAACP did take notice. As characters known as "Hoops" and "Yoyo" banter on, African American leaders hear offensive language.

"And you black holes, you are so ominous. Watch your back," the card vocalizes.

"That was very demeaning to African American women. When it made reference to African American women as whores and at the end, it says 'watch your back,'" said Leon Jenkins of the Los Angeles NAACP.

When Hallmark was reached by phone, they said the card is all a misunderstanding. The card's theme is the solar system and emphasizes the power of the grad to take over the universe, even energy-absorbing black holes.

The card company says the card speaks about the power the grad will wield.

"The intent here is to say that this graduate is not afraid of anything," explained Hallmark spokesman Steve Doyal.

But that's not what some people heard.

"You hear the 'r' in there. 'Whores,' not, 'holes.' The 'r' is in there," said Minnie Hatley of the Los Angeles NAACP.

Some have argued that NAACP outlived its usefulness after the victories of the Civil Rights era, and (literally) cartoonish manufactured outrage such as the protesting of a graduation card referring to the solar system only reinforces those inclined to buy that argument.

Andrew Brietbart and the Tea Party haven't yet been blamed for the Hallmark card, but it's early in the news cycle. Give it time.

In the meantime, I can hardly to wait to see what the NAACP has to say about Uranus.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:11 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

May 15, 2011

The Second Amendment and Self Defense Post Heller and McDonald

The good folks at Pajamas Media, who are kind enough to publish our work from time to time, have posted an article I wrote on the fate of the Second Amendment and self defense post-Heller and McDonald. The battle for liberty is far from over, and the near-term fate of the Second Amendment may well be one of the most obvious indicators of the loss of individual freedom. I suspect you’ll find it interesting. Go here.

Posted by: MikeM at 04:57 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Erik Scott Case, Update 11.2: Patterns and Process

Since Update 11 on April 17, there have been a number of interesting developments. This update will deal primarily with the continuing saga of Officer Thomas Mendiola, the case of Officer Derek Colling, issues relating to the new inquest procedure and additional information on the National Association of Police Organizations--NAPO-- and its bestowing of undeserved hero status on two of the officers who shot Erik Scott. First, links relating to the matters discussed in this update:

For Update 10 (02-06-11), relating to the arrest and suspension of Officer Mendiola for giving a firearm to a felon, go here.

For Update 10.2 (03-27-11) relating to the unprovoked assault and brutal beating of a citizen by Metro officer Derek Colling, go here.

For Update 10.3 (04-02-11) relating to the latest developments in the Clark County inquest procedures, go here.

For Update 11 (04-17-11) relating to the awarding of “Honorable Mention TOP COP” status to Officers Mosher and Stark by the NAPO, go here.

For an April 26 Las Vegas Review-Journal update on the Colling/Crooks beating story, go here.

For the YouTube video--shot by Crooks’ videocamera-- of the beating, go here.

For a May 13 Las Vegas Sun update on Mendiola’s arrest, go here.

For a PDF of the criminal complaint in the Mendiola case, go here.

For a May 13 Lav Vegas Review-Journal update on the Mendiola case, go here.

For a My News 3 Update on the Inquest procedures, go here.

For a brief story relating to officer shootings in Milwaukee, WI, go here.

For a Las Vegas Tribune editorial on Metro corruption, go here.

THE COLLING BEATING:

In Update 10.2 (03-27-11), I detailed the case of Officer Derek Colling who was charged by Las Vegas resident and videographer Mitchell Crooks of beating him in an unprovoked attack on March 20. In that update, I concluded that Colling, who initially claimed that he was arresting Crooks for trespassing, but eventually charged him only with battery on a police officer, made a false arrest, an arrest attended by a brutal beating of Crooks who was standing on his own property while videotaping what to this day appears to be an unremarkable and apparently legitimate police action in his neighborhood. While it was not possible then to know exactly what happened, it appeared that Crooks’ version of events had the ring of truth and Colling’s did not. What did happen was an egregious case of “contempt of cop.”

Posted by: MikeM at 02:06 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

May 14, 2011

Rhetorical Drilling For Votes

At Yahoo News (here) we learn:

“Amid growing public unhappiness over gas prices, President Barack Obama is directing his administration to ramp up U.S. oil production by extending existing leases in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska's coast and holding more frequent lease sales in a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska. But the moves won't calm spiraling prices at the pump any time soon.”

Isn’t that wonderful? Mr. Obama has finally seen the light and is actually taking steps that might actually reduce energy prices for Americans! Hold on there buckaroos. What is far more likely is that he is feeling the heat and is taking rhetorical steps only. There is immediate and long term evidence that supports this contention. From the good folks at Hot Air (here), we discover a bit more clarity:

“His announcement followed passage in the Republican-controlled House of three bills--including two this week--that would expand and speed up offshore oil and gas drilling...The White House had announced its opposition to all three bills, which are unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate, saying the measures would undercut safety reviews and open environmentally sensitive areas to new drilling...But Obama is adopting some of the bills’ provisions.”

Posted by: MikeM at 06:03 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Corps of Engineers to Flood Productive Farmland to Save Fetid Cesspool

Here's an idea: Let's build a city below sea level—a city that keeps sinking lower every minute, at that—and surround it on three sides by one of the mightiest rivers in the world, a massive lake, and the Gulf of Mexico. Then we'll fill it with a heart-rending mix of poverty and corruption, and then make it most famous for wanton debauchery, inhumanity, and greed.

Then, when we've created about the most depraved place possible in a goelogically untenable position, we'll use the political influence of that hole in the swamp to make sure people and property that are productive are destroyed by the whims of those with a stake in the corruption.

That about sums it up.

Of course, one could note that if the Corps hadn't created the current system of levees and canals, nature itself would have been able to distribute the flood waters as God intended to make fertile cropland and a home for man and beast alike. Modern man, unfortunately, finds the idea of letting the Mississippi act the way a river is supposed to act in its own delta to be far too uncivilized, even as they destroy the delta itself and all who reside there in the process.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 03:23 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Officer in Erik Scott Shooting Indicted for Arming a Felon

But hey, there's nothing wrong with the Las Vegas PD:

A Las Vegas police officer involved in a fatal shooting outside the Summerlin Costco last year has been indicted on a felony weapons charge in a separate incident.

The indictment returned Friday charges officer Thomas Mendiola with disposal of a firearm to a prohibited person. He is accused of giving a handgun to a two-time felon.

Mendiola, 23, an employee of the Metropolitan Police Department since March 2009, has been relieved of his patrol duties at the Convention Center Area Command .

If convicted, Mendiola faces 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. I'll be interested to see what kind of deal Vegas authorities reach with him so that he stays quiet about what he knows about the police cover-up of the Scott killing.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:05 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

May 12, 2011

The Horror Of Public Sector Unemployment?

Mr. Obama appeared at a CBS News-sponsored “town hall” at the Newseum in Washington DC on May 12 (CBS story here). Unsurprisingly, jobs was a major focus of the event as Mr. Obama is continuing his fiction of being all about jobs during a “jobless recovery” for which he is directly responsible. Mr. Obama said:

"The reason the unemployment rate is still as high as it is, in part, is because there have been huge layoffs of government workers at the federal level, at the state level, at the local level...Teachers, police officers, firefighters, social workers-- they have really taken it in the chin over the last several months. And so, what we're trying to do is to see if we can stabilize the budget."

I have long marveled at Mr. Obama, according to his sycophants and the media (is there any difference?), the most intelligent man to ever occupy the Oval Office. Yet there exists virtually no tangible evidence or accomplishment to support that contention. He graduated from Harvard Law School and was President of the Harvard Law Review, yet wrote not a single scholarly legal article. He is the supposed author of two (?!) autobiographies before reaching the age of 50, yet there is compelling evidence that he didn’t write either. He served in the Illinois and U.S. Senates, yet there is no record of any significant legislative accomplishment. His grades and other college records have apparently been sealed in a vault in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings or shot into space.

What I suppose I’m saying is I don’t get it. Any other person renowned for intellect can invariably point to a long line of educational and work accomplishments, mileposts on the road to the attainment of a high level of acumen and experience. For such people, there are legions of friends and colleagues spanning decades who can produce concrete examples of their brilliance and accomplishment. Yet Barack Obama, the President of the United States remains an intellectual cypher, his intellect apparent only to his supporters and the Lamestream media (again, I repeat myself), apparently for his ability to read a teleprompter with some small degree of alacrity.

What I find particularly amazing is not only his tendency to spout glaring gaffes, but his propensity to regularly spout blatant lies, lies so obviously false to the reasonably well informed, and so easily disproved, as to make one wonder if he really did lie so openly and unashamedly. Among Mr. Obama’s more famous gaffes (go here for more):

(1) His campaign contention that “I’ve been in 57 states--I think one left to go.”

(2) His Freudian slip: “You’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith.”

(3) His comment about a Navy corpse-man.

(4) His apparently belief in the non-existent “Austrian” language.

(5) “The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries.”

(6) “Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s...”

(7) “On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes--and I see many of them in the audience here today...”

( “In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died...” (12 actually died).

(9) “The reforms we seek would bring greater competition choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system.”

(10) His recent suggestion that Texas has always been Republican. This would have been a substantial surprise to LBJ, Ann Richards and many other Democrat Texas leaders.

It is, however, his lies that are most disturbing. The most recent example is his quote about the “ huge layoffs of government workers at the federal level, at the state level, at the local level.” As Jim Geraghty of National Review Online (here) notes, this is an amazing, not even remotely correct, absolute lie. The facts are simple and easy to find: We are eight million jobs below the most recent peak private sector employment level, and not only has federal, state and local public sector employment not declined, it has actually increased. So Mr. Obama is not slightly wrong, he’s not merely mistaken, he has not misread or misquoted, he has propounded a bald-faced lie.

Is Mr. Obama so used to saying anything that he finds convenient on any occasion, secure in the knowledge that the press will never call him on it (about how many of the gaffes were you aware?) that he takes no pains to be accurate? In other words, is he simply careless? Is he knowingly and cynically lying in the sure knowledge that the press will not only fail to expose his mendacity but will surely cover for it if necessary? Does he hold the public in such low regard that he believes he can say anything he wants because they’ll believe it? Or is he so narcissistic, so delusional that he actually feels that anything he says is true simply because he says it? Which option would be more disturbing and more destructive to America?

One final suggestion: Mr. Obama actually believes what he said. He actually believes that despite his successful, Herculean efforts to dramatically expand the roster of government employees, their numbers have been, instead, dramatically declining. If so, this speaks to a delusional mind, a mind disengaged from economic reality, a mind unable to understand the basics of economics. It speaks of a man who is utterly incapable, intellectually or philosophically, to do anything other than to spend us into oblivion.

Should we expect less--or more--from a man who sees leading from behind as a virtue? To honorable Americans, lying is a sign of weak, defective character. To Mr. Obama and the press, it would seem to be a personal and political necessity. More’s the pity for us all.

Posted by: MikeM at 11:02 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Unwelcome Ad-ditions

Readers will have noticed, I’m sure, that the comments sections of our posts are occasionally infected with spammish advertising. We do not encourage or accept this kind of unbidden advertising and remove it as soon as we reasonably can. We’re sure that you don’t appreciate it either and ask your help in telling those who spam us that it is unappreciated by not accessing the links they provide.

Can’t we block it? Unfortunately, not really. As you may have noticed, such spammers use randomly generated URLS and titles that tend to defeat any blocks we erect. Install a block with the information they’ve used in the past and they’ll be back the following day with another randomly generated spam attack.

We’ll continue to remove them as quickly as we can, but in the meantime, know that we don’t like them any more than you do, and please bear with us. Thanks!

Posted by: MikeM at 06:04 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

Americans Idled

The Obama Administration is continuing its "harsh reality show" known as the US economy, and the President himself has stepped off the golf course and campaign trail long enough to float the absurd claim that layoffs of government workers is to blame for unemployment.

Jim Geraghty calls him on his lie:

CBS' Mark Knoller, covering a town hall on the economy with the president this morning, reports: "President Obama blames high unemployment rate on 'huge layoffs of government workers' at federal, state and local levels."

This is completely wrong. Extremely and mind-bogglingly wrong. Epically wrong.

Hit the link for the details, which confirms the private sector is shedding jobs under Obama, while the government employment is actually growing at every level.

Every word a lie. Including "and" and "the."

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 02:35 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)

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