Ruling with an Iron Fist

Dustin Hawkins has called for the death of Julian Assange. He has called for the CIA to kill the Wikileaks releaser of confidential information.

Killing Julian Assange would send a message: Julian Assange is not an American citizen and he has no constitutional rights. So, there's no reason that the CIA can't kill him. . . . Legally, we may not be able to do a lot to Assange since he's not an American, but killing him would do more to protect our classified data than any new security system.

I wonder if there would be any consequences to our Government murdering an Australian Citizen. And let's be clear this can't be "an unexpected heart attack" for Hawkin's strategy to work. It has to be clear (if deniable) that we did this.

Also I am continually depressed at how conservatives fail to understand the founding documents. The Declaration of Independence is for all people, not just for Americans. We might not have the power to enforce it throughout the world, but the idas that Americans have rights and foreigners just don't strikes me as mean and unamerican.

Satire

Conservative love to reveal their plans for America, and then, faced with blowback, pretend they were only joking or being satirical.

When the black alumna called she said she had read my recent column “If I Were President.” She wanted to know whether I was really going to abolish the African American Center. At that point, I already knew we were in for an educational conversation. These days, college graduates are not well-versed in satire. As an art form, it is swiftly becoming extinct.

Things went downhill in our conversation when this college graduate told me that she became upset with my remarks about getting rid of the African American Center after she “saw that I was white”. My seventh Great Grandfather fought in the American Revolution in order to preserve our basic God-given rights. But this college graduate seemed to suggest that the expression of basic human rights is contingent upon race. The African American Center she frequented as an undergraduate did not seem to give her the ability to reflect and remedy her own possible racism.

After hearing her tell me that she “got all amped up” in response to my satire I made a big mistake. I explained that I would get rid of all the centers if I really were running for chancellor.

Interesting. Apparently this foolish student was upset that Adams would get rid of African American centers if he was President. How silly. She doesn't understand satire. Of course Adams really would shut down the African American centers if he were Chancellor. You obviously see the satirical difference.

But then again maybe the studant was more concerned over shutting down the African American center than what title Adams felt he needed to accomplish this goal.

Obama visits a place Ahmadinejad once visited

Stop the presses. President Barack Obama, during his visit to Indonesia, a predominently Muslim nation, will visit a Mosque and a University where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad previously visited. Not only that, but the somewhat crazy president of Iran said some somewhat crazy things (including bog standard attacks on Israel). And Obama is going to the same places that Ahmadinejad once walked.

I'm not sure what this proves, but it is the theme of Terrence Jeffrey's latest article. He also doesn't exactly explain what the significance of this is, leaving it to his readers to fill in the blanks. Which they are more than capable of doing.

He's (Obama is) in his element, surrounded by Muslims that are interested in the destruction of America, Israel, capitalism, freedom and anything not Muslim. The best thing ever would be to leave him there and not allow his retun.

If Nothing Happens We Win!

Lot's of articles today on what will happen with the new Republican House and how Obama will deal with them. David Limbaugh's article is a pretty good example; essentially President Obama, being a super liberal egotist won't change his positions to be more moderate because he's not smart enough to to realize he should and not politically skilled enough to make the move.

Let me just comment again at how different the right looks at Obama; they see a guy who is stubbornly unwilling to abandon Far Left positions. And I see a guy who barely tried to uphold liberal positions before caving to industry and conservatives again and again. Did we get a public option in health care? No.

But let's consider what Limbaugh's article implies for Conservatives.

As long as Republicans stand strong for conservative principles -- and that's a very big if -- Obama's toast in 2012.

Well, this may be accurate. If they shut down the government, more or less, with gridlock, than the economy may still be in the toilet. In which case the voters might well take it out on President Obama. Unless of course Obama can make it clear that the gridlock over the last few years ('11 and '12) was the fault of Republicans in Congress, in which case who knows (particularly if they put up Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich).

Of course regardless of who wins in 2012, the cynical strategy of gridlock for the next two years kind of ensures that the losers are the American people.

I'm Tired of People Pretending to be Idiots

From Doug Gile's latest article; about how liberals are afraid of Sarah Palin.

According to the Progressives, women cannot be “real women” if they don’t fit the Progressives’ script. Yep, if a woman doesn’t march to the Left’s horse dung definition regarding what “they” (whoever the heck “they” are) have determined constitutes a real woman, she is illegitimate.

First of all who has said that Sarah Palin isn't a real woman? You have a citation on that?

Secondly, what people have certainly said is that Sarah Palin doesn't represent the interests of women. I might well say that. I don't think Sarah Palin will represent the interests of most Americans. She's a conservative, so in my opinion the things she wants to do for this country are bad for this country and bad for the people who live in it. What is wrong with saying that? Nothing. Certainly our Conservative buddies have no problem slamming Obama for not really loving this country because he works for programs they disagree with.

Giles also slams liberals women for not looking like Portia de Rossi. Instead they all apparently look like a stereotypical butch lesbian. Giles is kind of despicable.

Your Weekly Rush - Explaining without an Explanation

Limbaugh is obviously overjoyed at the electoral tsunami that hit America on Tuesday. That said he seems at a loss as to explain how O'Donnel and Angle lost. His narrative is that Conservative Candidates win; moderate candidates lose. Americans want Conservatism. So how to explain the losses of O'Donnel and Angle? It's the moderate influences in the party.

Christine O'Donnell could have won were it not for all the backbiting after her primary victory. Had the party gotten behind her, had Steele had some on-the-ground money for Nevada, who knows how that mighta turned out. We didn't have any money on the ground in Nevada. There was no way we're gonna combat the unions getting behind and the gaming industry getting behind Dingy Harry and who knows what the hell happened to ballot boxes in places, but there was no ground game money in Nevada and very little in Delaware, what the hell was gonna happen?

He strongly insinuates that Reid fixed the run in Nevada, but in both cases the answer is the same; rather than admit that these were weak candidates, he blames the party and party centrists (like Karl Rove?!?) for failing to support these strong Conservative woman.

Of course he goes on to point out how many awful liberals there are that get elected year after year, taking a shot at the late Ted Kennedy in the process. Real class.

New Quote

I was going to do this quote, also from Monty Python.

We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme. It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are more concerned with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government. Nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent. Nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today. Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby, ulcerous, little self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive. We are sorry if this impression has come across.

Too long, but it does more accurately display my attitude.

This will be a Productive Two Years

From Michelle Malkin's latest article.

No more compromising deals behind closed doors. No more compromising bailouts in times of manufactured crisis. No more compromising conservative principles for D.C. party elites. No more compromising the American economy for left-wing special interests. No more compromising transparency and ethics for bureaucratic self-preservation.

Let us be clear, in case it hasn't fully sunk into the minds of Obama and the trash-talking Democrats yet: You can take your faux olive branch and shove it. Thank you.

Republicans like to explain that they are the grown ups, but this doesn't sound very grown up does it? But it does follow on from conservative philosophy. There's no real need for conservatives to work liberals to make government work, because conservatives don't believe government can work. If Government can't work anyway, why bother getting up in arms to make it work?

No New Tale to Tell

Sorry - I was on the road then I was sick, then I didn't care for a few days. But now I'm ready to pounce on the latest Doug Giles article.

Yes, the masturbatory Progressives who deny the existence of God are the self-appointed gods of the post America milieu, and their Church of the New Groove is a DC on ‘roids.

I think his point is that Liberals and Leftists are their own religion (not, as it turns out, an original idea), and that we deny the existence of God and like to masterbate?

Giles' main theme is that we liberals are tyranically silencing conservatives, but since they have God on their side, they don't have to be quiet. It's always nice to assert that people who aren't taking any risk by speaking up are in fact taking huge risks. Makes their lives seem more dramatic. Kind of like when you are a kid running around playing "cops and robbers." Of course you pretend you are in great danger from the finger and/or plastic guns you have. Makes the game more exciting ("Cops and robbers" is way more popular than "run around and point at each other"). Giles is just updating that little thrill of pretend danger for the modern age.

Don't Worry about the Government

Michael Medved's latest article argues that Character doesn't matter all that much.

These various scandals, embarrassments and imperfections may count as lurid and compelling, but they shouldn't play a major role in swaying voters in the upcoming elections. All the candidates mentioned above have won their party nominations in campaigns for the House and Senate. When the electorate decides their fate in November, the only significant factor involves choosing a direction for Congress and the country.

Interesting. Is this a tacit admission that the Tea Party forced some weak candidates on the Republican party?

Let's Do Some Journalism

James O'Keefe, who pretended to be a pimp and a journalist, has had his latest scheme fail pretty spectacularly. Actually apparently he only pretended to pretend to be a pimp. Anyway his latest scheme . . . well wasn't that well thought out.

According to MediaMatters.org, Fox News has scarcely mentioned how CNN's Boudreau, cautioned by an O'Keefe aide with a guilty conscience, frustrated his bizarre scheme to lure her aboard a boat tricked out like Hugh Hefner's boudoir for the purpose of sexual humiliation.

"For months," Boudreau explained in recent broadcast, "I had been working on a documentary about the young conservative movement. James had called me about concerns he had regarding an upcoming shoot. He asked me to meet him to talk about the shoot ... When I showed up, there was no office, as promised. Instead, he wanted to get me on a boat, which we later learned, was staged as a 'pleasure palace.' One of his colleagues ... told me he had 'strawberries and champagne' waiting for me on the boat, and that he planned to 'hit on me' the entire time. She said it would all be captured on hidden cameras that had been set up on the boat and in the back yard. She said the sole purpose of the 'punk' was to embarrass me, and to make CNN look bad."

Too bad such a brilliant piece of journalism didn't quite come off. Or, more accurately, this guy's star is falling like a meteor.

Your Weekly Rush: Does Rush Even believe this?

Barney Frank recently noted that Rush Limbaugh had made homophobic attacks on him. Rush responded, apparently confused and hurt.

I'm trying to figure out what homophobic attack did we launch on him? We've never launched a homophobic attack on anybody. I never launched a "homophobic attack" on anybody!

Limbaugh went on to play Banking Queen, a parody song featuring Frank as the titular Banking Queen and the Barny Frank update theme, something called "My Boy Lollipop." All the while acting like he's amazed that anybody would suspect him of homophobic attacks.

No No No No

David Limbaugh's latest article drives me nuts.

I realize it's unfair and, according to some, even racist to hold President Obama accountable for his failed economic policies and cynical campaign promises,

No! Who exactly says it's racist to hold Obama accountable? Nobody. But some conservatives in holding Obama accountable have used racist and nasty phrases.

The thinking clearly is that not only did America not have a right to respond aggressively to the unprovoked terrorist attacks on our soil but also doing so has been counterproductive and that reversing the Bush policies would strengthen our position and make us safer.

No! Of course America has the right to respond to terrorists act. The Afghanistan War was suppoted by vast majorities of Congressional democrats. Invading Iraq, on the other hand, is a different matter.

I suppose the left's logic is that though Muslims are very peaceful, you'd better not provoke them or they'll turn into jihadists, which is what gave rise to 9/11.

No! And lord almighty what a stupid thing to say. First of all Liberals don't see Muslims as monolithic group the way dumbass conservatives seem to. Some Muslims are terrorists (a vanishingly small, but very dangerous percentage of Muslims as a whole). A somewhat larger group might be influenced to join them by our invasion of their countries.

Saner minds understand that jihadists are not jihadists because of America's tough interrogation techniques or because we didn't Mirandize them on the battlefield.

No! By saner minds, presumably Limbaugh means his own. I have my doubts. It's very simple. Jihadists won't be swayed to like the United States by anything we can do. But not all Muslims are Jihadists (or even all that many). There are larger groups, people that might join them, and people that might tacitly support them. If we torture and if we kill wantonly, and if we show a lack of respect for their people and their religion, than the arguments of Islamic Radicals make more sense.

Transparency

Emmett Tyrell's latest article is particularly transparent. He is writing about Chris Coons, Christine O'Donnels opponent in her race. Tyrrel's point is the media lets Coons of the hook while slamming into O'Donnel.

But do you know what was being taught at the Yale Divinity School when Coons was there as a graduate student? Witchcraft! Had Christine been a bit older and presumably sophisticated, she could have attended classes with Chris and been taught witchcraft by scholars. Perhaps she could have earned a Ph.D. in the mysteries of reading chicken entrails.

Along with classes in witchcraft, there were classes in queer worship and feminist/womanist/gendered theologies, and in the Intro to Christian Ethics II, there was black liberation theology, a study Coons first picked up in Africa. Were the "values" taught in these classes among those absorbed by Coons at YDS? We do not know because Coons is not answering Lord's calls for him to release his transcripts.

. . . His promise to apply the values he learned at YDS does not even call into question what those values might be. Queer worship? Feminist/womanist/gendered theology? Black liberation theology? Witchcraft? The press is too busy digging up dirt on O'Donnell.

Apparently if you study at a university that teaches some flakey courses, you must have taken them and you must be a flake. Here's a newsflash - even Brigham Young University (where I attended, a very conservative Mormon college) has flakey courses. Or, to be more accurate, courses with titles that sound flakey. So this is pretty sad.

And of course Christine O'Donnel's more serious transgressions involve the misappropriation of election funds.

Let Your Freak Flag Fly

Under normal conditions, it's best, politically, to keep your extremist views to yourself. But this political season, with the primary triumphs of so many tea party candidates, I think some Conservatoids have thrown restraint to the win. Case in point, Terry Jeffrey's latest article.

County by county, state by state, Americans should begin functionally abolishing government-run schools and replacing them with a free market in schools. On the federal level, Congress should kill the Department of Education by choking off its funding. The department was not constitutional in the first place.

Say what you will about the merits of this plan, there is no qustion that it is an extreme plan. Eliminating public education would be a far greater change than the mediocre changes to health care that have caused Conservatives to declare that we are now practically a socialist state.

For the record, of course I think this is a horrible plan. Public education is the bedrock of a civilized society, and to eliminate it is to create, purposefully, a caste system far stricter than the one we have today.

Dennis Prager, Historical Blindness, and the Religion of Leftism

First things first. Dennis Prager's latest article makes this ahistorical comment, that I had to point out.

One of the first books I ever owned -- in high school -- was titled "Danger on the Right." Throughout the world, people are fed the message "Danger on the Right" -- and virtually never "Danger on the Left," despite the left's far bloodier and more totalitarian record.

Allow me to point out a few things - the Red Scares (both the 1920s one and the 1940s/50s one) for one. People were pretty scared of the danger on the left then, weren't they? Let's also comment on the many right wing dictatorships that have imprisoned and executed Leftists and Communists (often with the support of the United States). How do you get away with making such a foolish statement? Perhaps because you assume your readers are fools.

But earlier in the article he makes this fairly common statement.

Liberalism and leftism are religions. While I felt I would be sinning against God when I tasted ham, I was certain I was sinning against both God and man were I to vote Republican.

That is how liberals, not to mention leftists, think: It is a grievous sin to vote Republican (unless the Republican is a liberal). One is abandoning their faith, values, community and very identity.

It is a grevious sin for Liberals to vote for Conservatives. I don't know about the grevious part, but it is a sin, as per this definition "any act regarded as such a transgression, esp. a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle."

If you are a liberal or leftist, it's because you believe that liberalism/leftism is what's best for the nation. Of course it would be a transgression, if you beleive those things, to vote what you believew ould be bad for America.

Muslims are Americans? Who knew?

Steve Chapman's latest article educates Townhall readers on what American Muslims are like. Turns out they are lot like the rest of us.

Most American Muslims are about as radical as Jay Leno. A 2007 survey by Pew found that only 5 percent have a favorable view of al-Qaida -- a number that drops to 3 percent among foreign-born Muslims. Far from praying daily for the rise of Islamic extremism, 61 percent said they were worried about it.

Unlike the alienated Muslim populations of Europe, American Muslims do not feel estranged from society. "Most say their communities are excellent or good places to live," Pew discovered. Most also believe women are better off in the United States than in Muslim countries.

Their overall satisfaction with the state of the country is no different, according to Pew, from the overall satisfaction of everyone else. They don't sound like a violent cult plotting to impose Taliban-style Shariah law on the infidels who surround them. They sound strangely like ... Americans.

So good on you, Mr. Chapman. But let's see how Townhall Readers have responded to this particular mesasge. 471 comments. That's a lot.

The only good Muslim is the one who apostates to Christianity. Unfortunately, the peaceful Muslims kill him. Therefore, there are no good Muslims.

Chapman is like a bystander on a beach saying it's safe to go in the water when would-be swimmers can see sharks circling patiently.

These so called “Moderate Muslims” in America seem to be facilitating, by their actions and words, the Jihadists creed.

Barak NoBama IS A DAMNED MUSLIM!!!

Stay out of my country Muzzie, it is too good for you and yours..

Anyone that thinks Islam is a legimate religion does not know the Bible or god...

Islam IS radical, period.

In fairness, there were a couple who were supportive of Chapman (although one was clearly a liberal (not that there is anything wrong with that)).

Sometimes the Title Is Enough

Case in point, the latest article from Dan Gainor. It's entitled "Left Calls in the Cavalry But Forgets They're the Bad Guys." And that really tells you all you need to know about it. Apparently we are desperate to win the 2010 elections, and so are calling on former Presidents and God to help us out, without realizing that God is on the Tea-partiers side.

We're not the bad guys incidentally.

Trashing Goldwater

Ann Coulter's latest article is interesting because she takes the time to trash an icon of the right, Barry Goldwater. In contrasting him with Reagan, she calls him "abortion-loving Goldwater" and "gay-marriage-loving Goldwater." But that's not all.

Goldwater may have been a thorough-going right-winger on national defense, but -- unless L. Brent Bozell Jr. was writing it for him -- he never would have said this of the Soviets, as President Reagan did: "There is sin and evil in the world and we are enjoined by Scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might."

. . . Goldwater wasn't our guy; Reagan was.

Interesting. Of coures Barry Goldwater wasn't unelectable because he wasn't Christian enough. And Barry Goldwater's campaign pushed this country to the right, essentially setting up Reagan down the road. And certainly Reagan's assessment of Barry Goldwater was pretty positive.

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness. We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.

That was from one of Reagan's most famous pre-presidential speeches (on behalf of Barry Goldwater).

It's all about Obama

Dick Morriss and Eileen McGann's latest article is intresting, in that they seem to acknowledge the possibility that their candidates may not have universal appeal.

The Democrats are gleeful over the missteps of Christine O'Donnell. Too many leading Republicans do not realize that all of our fates in the midterm election are tied to her. If the Democrats can discredit her, they can discredit all of those like her and raise lasting doubts about dozens of Republican candidates who would otherwise be victorious.

If the grass-roots tea party is foisting unqualified candidates upon us, and if our very own party leaders think this is true, what a weapon we are handing the Democrats. Those critical Republican leaders who would criticize the O'Donnells of our party must realize that she is here to stay, she is one of us now and she deserves all our support. Fortunately, the grass-roots knows this fact and has showered her campaign with donations and support.

Kind of confusing there as Morris seems to recognize that O'Donnel (and others) are weak, but stressing that they must be supported.

The larger point though is that this election needs to be about Obama; it shouldn't matter what kind of candidate we put up, so long as America focuses on how badly Obama has failed.