Category: Republican

Yes, Iran does hate us and they have reasons too

This is one of those posts that will separate me from the rabid Neo-Conservative right.

The New York Times reports that Iran has rejected the overtures of the Obama Administration.

The reasons were given:

Khamenei enumerated a long list of Iranian grievances against the United States over the past 30 years and said the U.S. was still interfering in Iranian affairs.

He mentioned U.S. sanctions against Iran, U.S. support for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his 1980-88 war against Iran and the downing of an Iranian airliner over the Persian Gulf in 1988.

He also accused the U.S. of provoking ethnic tension in Iran and said Washington’s accusations that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons are a sign of U.S. hostility. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, like energy production, not for building weapons.

”Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials? Have you given up your unconditional support for the Zionist regime? Even the language remains unchanged,” Khamenei said.

Khamenei, wearing a black turban and dark robes, said America was hated around the world for its arrogance, as the crowd chanted ”Death to America.”

While I will be the first to concede that much of this was done much before Obama’s time. The fact is that the United States has always treated that region as a pawn. A pawn in a game of “The Ends Justify the means.” and we are bearing the fruit of that now.

The Zionist remark can be described as simply this. The United States has never, ever, taken a critical tone with Israel and has mostly always blindly supported Israel’s acts of aggression in the region. All the while condemning anyone’s acts towards Israel. It is that policy that has people like those in Iran saying, “Death to America.”

Anyone that tries to tell you anything other than this, is selling you a line of bullshit.

I'm not really sure who Dylan Hales is….

But he might just be the smartest white man alive…

In a very well written piece called “A Lexicon of Conservative Bullshit” Hales lays down the most brilliant smackdown evah!

Hales point out the obvious:

Though it would not be difficult to comply a much larger list, a good overview of four standard talking points of the establishment conservative movement showcases just how worthless discourse on the modern Right has become—or at least the Right that gets representation on the airwaves:

“Government Should Be Run Like A Business”—While this sentiment, no doubt, rises from the general feeling that spending would be curbed if the State were to be managed more efficiently, the implications of such reasoning have been disastrous for conservatives. So-called “revolutionary” ideas like Supply-Side Economics, have proven to be absent any real value for those looking to limit the size of government. This isn’t surprising.  By consistently supporting revenue neutral “reforms,” the GOP and its useful idiots guarantee that government goals and responsibilities will be identical to those of any business—making a profit.  If increasing the inflow of funds to the already swollen government is “conservative” I’d like to know how.

“Culture Of Life”—There is no more meaningless phrase in the political lexicon than this, and yet it is almost unimaginable to envision a leading Republican candidate for any office avoiding this platitude when pandering for votes.  Forget for a second the wildly inconsistent application of any “pro-life” principles among movement conservatives.  Instead ask yourself this—what does promoting a “culture of life” even mean?  If the Bush years are any indication, it means using the tax base to further a faith-based Statism in a bizarre attempt to make the government stewards of the family. Again, it is hard to see how standing citizenship on its head or perverting the traditional role of the family qualifies as a “conservative.”

Complaints about “Freeloaders”—Nothing is more annoying than a bunch of bloated blowhards bitching about the underclass and street beggars living off the excess of society.  Whether it is true or not it is irrelevant.  The fact is that our society is unbelievably wasteful and driven by a materialist mindset which demands its big shots— and wannabe big shots—constantly “upgrade” in all facets of life to keep up with the Jones.  One consequence of this is a drop out culture of spoiled brats and lazy bums who are all too happy to skate by on the hand-me-downs of the consumption obsessed. Whining about the existence of such creatures, while feeding their come-what-may attitudes is ridiculous and ultimately only serves to undermine the thrifty habits that will required of more and more Americans as the bottom continues to fall out from under us.

“What Would Reagan Do?”—Movement fixation on the last prominent GOP figurehead to pay serious lip service to tearing down the State is understandable.  What is not understandable—or forgivable—is fetishizing a political figure of dubious political relevance in our current environment.  That Reagan’s “American Exceptionalism” nonsense is a major problem with the country today should now be evident to everyone.

More importantly, our fortieth president’s willingness to allow the neocons a very prominent seat at the table calls into question his judgment. At the very least treating him as a high prophet of wisdom and clear headed thought is remarkably shortsighted and obscures the problems facing the United States today—many of which we can thank the “Gipper” for.

Whether or not anti-statist politics can be rejuvenated under the conservative mantle remains to be seen.  Perhaps blowing up the institutions and building from the bottom is the best course of action.  Still, without a full reconsideration of the quips disguised as doctrines listed above, no right wing movement will ever get out of the gate—“conservative” or otherwise.

I don’t even know the guy and I like him. Well written sir. I only wish that more in the G.O.P thought like you.

Yes, we are a Banana Republic

John Hinderaker is shocked to discover that America is not what it seems to be:

I’m stupefied to find that some people are defending the constitutionality of Nancy Pelosi’s discriminatory, confiscatory and retroactive tax on people who receive bonus income from companies that got TARP money. I would have considered it a bright line rule that the government can’t identify a class of unpopular people and impose a special tax on them. What’s next? A 100% income tax on registered Republicans, retroactive to last year? If Pelosi’s bill passes muster, why not?

One theory, presumably, is that since the government is contributing TARP money it can put whatever strings it wants on that money. (Including, I guess, strings imposed after the fact that would deprive employees of agreed-upon consideration for work they’ve already performed.) But that theory has been rejected in a variety of contexts. The government cannot condition its spending on a relinquishment of constitutional rights. Here’s a thought experiment: how about putting a condition (retroactively, of course) on TARP money that says no employee of any bank that receives such money (or his spouse) can get an abortion? Would Nancy Pelosi think that’s constitutional?

Wells Fargo didn’t want any TARP money, but the government forced it to take more than $5 billion worth, so Wells Fargo employees who receive bonuses would be subject to Pelosi’s proposed tax. Say you’re a teller at a Wells Fargo branch in Minnesota and you’re married to a lawyer who makes $250,000 this year. You get a $10,000 bonus for your good work during 2008. The government steals it all (90 percent federal plus 8.5 percent state plus, unless it’s included in the 90 percent, 3 percent Medicare). That is simply insane.

Welcome to the new real world John! This is what happens when Conservatives, Libertarians and those pesky independents falls for the nice speeches and sweet swagger of a man, who in all honesty has zero business being President.

Luckily for us, there some Republicans who have some brains up on the hill. The AP Reports:

Senate Republicans are drawing out a flap that has made the Obama administration squirm, applying the brakes to Democratic attempts to quickly tax away most of the bonuses at troubled insurance giant AIG and other bailed-out companies.

Sen. Jon Kyl, the Republicans’ vote counter, blocked Democratic efforts Thursday evening to bring up the Senate version of the tax bill to recoup most of the $165 million paid out by AIG last weekend and other bonuses in 2009. The House had swiftly approved its version of the bill earlier in the day.

By rushing, Kyl said, Democrats were letting populist outrage trump informed decision making in the Senate, which is supposed to be insulated from the pressures of public passion.

“I don’t believe that Congress should rush to pass yet another piece of hastily crafted legislation in this very toxic atmosphere, at least without understanding the facts and the potential unintended consequences,” Kyl said on the Senate floor. “Frankly, I think that’s how we got into the current mess.”

Senate Democrats said they will try again next week to take up the tax bill and hope to complete it before April 4, when Congress leaves for a two-week spring break. Combining the disparate House and Senate versions of the bill might have to wait until after the recess.

If the Democrats want to fix the problem, they should try turning to the moron that they put in the White House and his treasury secretary. Both of their resignations would be nice right about now. We need some real leadership, and not that idiot Harlem Globetrotter nonsense, that we have been getting since Barry took office. In other words, it’s time for “Teleprompter Boy” to hit the damned road.

Others:

One the biggest reasons why I will never vote Democrat again…Ever

I am not going to write a long post about this. Because if I do, it will devolve into four letter words and outright nastyness.

I will simple say this; anyone who wants to know why I decided that the Democratic Party no longer represented the views that I hold, and was no longer the Party that I wanted to be associated with, need look no further than right here.

I am not a Republican, nor have I ever been a Republican, nor will I ever be a Republican. But I’ll be GOD DAMNED, if I’ll ever vote for a damned President that sucked up to, made alliances with and basically pandered to people that do this sort of a thing!

Michelle Malkin might be a bit more to the right than myself. But I commend that little loud mouthed woman for being the one that has the, ahem, balls to report this stuff that goes on. Good on you, Michelle. Next time some idiot calls her a hater, I’m sending them this link.

That is all….

The Southern Avenger on "States' Rights and The Left"

Synopsis:

When a number of states passed state sovereignty resolutions recently, though these measures came from right-wing resistance to Obama’s statism, the Left would do well to take note.

The Southern Avenger

The Southern Avenger @ Taki’s Magazine 

D'oh! Obama Bombs a joke…..Badly

To his defense,  The President was trying to funny. Did not work well, at all. 😮

Via Jack Tapper:

The first appearance by a sitting president on “The Tonight Show” may well end up being the last.

President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended up insulting the disabled.

Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance, the president talked about how he’s gotten better at bowling and has been practicing in the White House bowling alley.

He bowled a 129, the president said.

“That’s very good, Mr. President,” Leno said sarcastically.

It’s “like the Special Olympics or something,” the president said.

Ouch. Not a good way to follow up the week. I mean, after A.I.G. and everything else happening, and he does this.

Of course, The President’s spokesman and the White House tried to walk the cat backward:

When asked about the remark, the White House said the president did not intend to offend.

“The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics,” White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said. “He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world.”

From the GibbMaster:

“Good afternoon. The President made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world.”

Meanwhile, a war of opinions over at HotAir between AllahPundit and Ed Morrissey has broken out:

Update (AP): The Anchoress’s point is well taken, but honestly, I tire of this politically calculated outrage. We all know what he meant; it was politically incorrect, but more political incorrectness among our political elite is all to the good. Lay off.

Update (Ed): Not if only one side gets away with it, AP.

Also, let’s remember that Obama is supposed to be leading, not campaigning or working as a stand-up comedian.  He’s been insisting that we’re in the worst financial crisis in 70 years.  Going on Leno to discuss his policies could have been a smart step; going on Leno to make quips and one-liners, and doing it badly, hardly builds confidence in his leadership or his priorities.  When he stops with the crisis mentality, then he can show us why his stand-up career would have gone nowhere.

Also, wasn’t it Obama and his team that was screeching about the “political incorrectness” of Rush Limbaugh in hoping he’d fail, and insinuating that it amounted to treason?

Hey Allah, When they fire you from drifting off the script too much, you can come work for me man. I cannot afford to pay you; at least not until the Advertising money starts rolling in. I will need help with the dedicated hosting that we’ll have to get, because you are a big name writer and my puny little shared hosting account would not be able to keep with the demand, and I only get 50 gigabytes of bandwidth a month! So, when Michelle drops the hammer man; look me up!  We would make a good team! 😀 😉 😛

More Coverage:

Other Bloggers, left and right: : Townhall.com, protein wisdom, The Sundries Shack, Right Pundits, The Strata-Sphere, Patterico’s Pontifications, NO QUARTER, Perfunction, TBogg, Taegan Goddard’s …, TalkLeft, Ben Smith’s Blog, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber, Little Green Footballs, Wizbang, Conservatives4Palin.com, JammieWearingFool, Taylor Marsh, Riehl World View Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, Political Machine

Palin's Crap shoot

I said the same thing about Mark Sandford, not on the blog; but I did think this at the time. I really feel what Sarah Palin is doing here is huge crap shoot. I’ll explain after the quote:

Gov. Sarah Palin just told reporters that she’s accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska. The governor said that she will accept only about $514 million of the $930 million headed to the state.

“We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government. We are not requesting more money for normal day-to-day operations of government as part of this economic stimulus package. In essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government,” Palin said.

The biggest single chunk of stimulus money that Palin is turning down is $160 million for education. There’s also $17 million in Department of Labor funds (vocational rehabilitation services, unemployment services, etc.), about $9 million for Health and Social Services and about $7 million for Public Safety. The full list and the specifics aren’t available from the governor’s budget department yet.

The reason I say this is a crap shoot is this. If Obama’s stimulus is a failure or does not bring the expected change in the economy; Palin and Sandford will be considered heroes in the Republican Party, and amongst open-minded Independents that voted for Obama.  On the other hand; If Obama’s Stimulus package works and the economy does turn around,  The Republicans who opposed this stimulus as well as Palin and Sanford will be considered those who stood in the way of rescuing the Nation’s economy from total meltdown.

Either way, it is a very risky crap shoot and not one I personally would have taken. Because there is that risk that you might end up regretting your actions. While appealing to your loyal and sometimes overly ideological base may be nice, one has to remember is that Sanford and Palin are Governors of the entire state that they Govern and not just Governors of that State’s Republican Party base.

Another theory I have is this; perhaps Palin knows that her popularity within the party and amongst Alaskans is gone, and she’s basically setting herself up to not run in 2010 for Governor or get defeated. I could be wrong on that one. But sometimes politicians do this sort of a thing, knowing that they won’t be running for reelection or have seen the poll numbers and are going out in a blaze of glory.

Others, on Both Sides: Hot Air, Think Progress, The Moderate Voice, Power Line, Salon, Conservatives4Palin.com, RedState, AMERICAblog News, Don Surber and TPMDC

The History Revisionists Continue

Normally I would normally would not link to this Blog/Site, but I feel that this is extremely warranted.

Via Think Progress:

On PBS’s Charlie Rose yesterday — six years after the eve of the Iraq invasion — former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice discussed the decision to invade Iraq. Rice said she has had no “second thoughts” about striking the country, and when pressed by Rose on whether Saddam Hussein had connections to 9/11, Rice blankly said that “no one” believed in such a link:

ROSE: But you didn’t believe it had anything to do with 9/11.

RICE: No. No one was arguing that Saddam Hussein somehow had something to do with 9/11.

ROSE: No one.

RICE: I was certainly not. The President was certainly not. … That’s right. We were not arguing that.

Hmmm… That is kind of funny, because of this:

In his book, Bush At War, Bob Woodward noted that Bush said after 9/11, “I believe Iraq was involved, but I’m not going to strike them now.” Rice was no exception either. On Sept. 15, 2002, she said that Saddam had “links to terrorism [that] would include al-Qaeda.” As late as September 2006, she remarked, “there were ties going on between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime going back for a decade.” Cheney still believes there was a link between Iraq and al Qaeda.

In recent weeks, former Bush administration officials have continued to push the link. Bush maintains that he was right to make a false link between Iraq and 9/11. Former press secretary Ari Fleischer said last week, “But after September 11th, having been being hit once, how could we take a chance that Saddam Hussein might not strike again?”

I may not be a big fan of President Obama and his big Government socialism. But I will take that over a buffoon Administration that cannot even get their damned stories straight. Yes, I still believe that the Bush Administration mislead America, on the reasons for going to war in Iraq.  Do I believe that there should be punishments handed out? Sure, if there were any laws broken. But we all know that this will never happen, because we never punish our political leaders; Waco, Ruby Ridge and many other idiot acts by the idiotic centralized Government have proven that.

The Paleo Con and Neo-Con War rages on

Between the guys over The American Conservative and Commentary Magazine.

Can’t we all just get along people?

I mean, seriously. The Conservative movement is very much in the wilderness right now. Can’t we, just for once, put aside our differences and unite together, as one front, and get back to our moorings? We have some seriously dangerous people in the White House, we have to fight them, and we cannot do this, as long as we are fighting one another.

Sigh… This is one of the reasons why I am simply thinking about stopping blogging. It is just getting to be not worth it anymore.

Quote of the Day

Sin has come a long way since the Garden of Eden, but its wages are still the same even though many would have us believe it’s all relevant in our evolutionary world – a sure sign of madness.

And where is the church in all this?

They’re right in the middle of it looking for market share with a designer Jesus.

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” –1st John 2:16-17