After the deranged Jared Loughner was subdued in Tucson, it took virtually no time at all for Democrat Sheriff Clarence Dubnik to start blaming rhetoric on the right to have driven Loughner to his deed. As the story unfolded, there was no such evidence to support the sheriff’s claim. If anything, Loughner’s leanings were leftward.

When Nancy Pelosi led a group of fellow congressmen through a crowd of protesters, it wasn’t long before cries of racism were bandied about including the use of the “N” word no less than fifteen times. Andrew Breitbart offered a reward of $100,000 if anyone could provide audio or video proof of such a charge. Despite hundreds of cameras, video recorders, news organizations throughout the crowd, the reward remains unclaimed.

At several rallies hosted by Tea Parties and Glenn Beck numbering in the hundreds of thousands of attendees, this correspondent is not aware of any arrests. Protests outside of a private meeting hosted by conservative supporters the Koch brothers resulted in about twenty-five arrests out of a group of estimated at 800-1000. Here is an example of some of the civil discourse that the left is demanding.

http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/checker.aspx?v=hdqG8znz8z

Lynching Clarence Thomas? Calling for killing members of the Supreme Court while giggling into the camera? This is the civil discourse that the left is demanding?

It seems pretty clear that the cry for civility emanating from the left is really a call to muzzle what the right has to say. The targets on that map on Sarah Palin’s website, were just like the targets on the Daily Kos website, both targeting, metaphorically speaking, Congresswoman Giffords. You probably heard about the one on Sarah Palin’s website all day long. How deep did you have to dig to hear that the far left website Daily Kos had a similar map utilizing targets? What about the website that identified the home address of a Walmart executive so that union protesters could go to his house to protest. Oh, and did I mention that the site included a target on the Walmart trademark “smiley.”

Instead of issuing a bogus call for civil discourse, why not put a ban on hypocrisy? Don’t ask those on the right to do one thing while the left has free rein. But then again if they banned hypocrisy, they would have precious little to say.

That’s my opinion; I’d like to know yours.  Please comment below.

The 26^th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday celebration sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) held at the New York Sheraton last night was a remarkable event in the midst of all the babble about discourse and civility.  Of course it was civil; it would not be any other way, but considering the venom that has flowed in the past year with charges from racism during the health care debate to causing the Tucson shootings it struck a very different and positive tone.

The first sign of this was the choice of Andrew Breitbart as Master of Ceremonies.  Mr. Breitbart was in the middle of the firestorm of controversy surrounding claims of using the “N” word during a demonstration by Nancy Pelosi, marching to the Capital to pass ObamaCare without regard for the nation’s dissatisfaction.  Mr. Breitbart offered a reward of one hundred thousand dollars to anyone who came forward with proof that such a slur was said.  He was called just about every name in the book because of his stand.  The reward money remains unclaimed.

The Tea Party and Blacks

The significance of Mr. Breitbart’s role in the event tied into the theme of the evening, “Living the Dream.”  The speakers demonstrated how fundamentally congruent was Dr. King’s message and the message and actions of the Tea Party.  Dr. King’s belief in non-violent protest is confirmed by the actions of the Tea Party where hundreds of thousands have gathered to express their message without bricks, bottles, firebombs, or broken windows.  There are many on the left, who use those very tools, who search mightily to find evidence of racism at Tea Party rallies but who come up short.

So where is the opportunity for blacks and the Tea Party to come together?  Roy Innis, National Chairman and CEO of CORE said that minorities had made a big mistake, not once but twice in the past.

We made a terrible mistake from 1865 to 1932 when we supported the Republican Party exclusively, at a 95% rate. I wasn’t around in those days. Almost. But if I was, I would have made the same statement that I am making tonight and that I have made for the last forty years, which is that we have to break up the one party participation in politics of African Americans.

Since 1932, when somehow black Americans got confused and started believing that FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was really Abe Lincoln in disguise.  We’ve been going with the new Abe Lincoln, FDR, even up to this day.

We live mostly in large urban centers, one party systems, in those areas. Most of our complaints should be going to the leadership of those urban centers. But who do we blame? We blame everybody else but. We blame those who we are told to blame.

He described the serious condition of the inner city, but says how blacks learned their politics from those same people who created the problems. 

We let them tell us who are enemies are. That’s why we were not able to maximize the Reagan Revolution. I know some of you must think I’m crazy that we should have maximized the Reagan Revolution. As quiet as it is kept, a lot of black businessmen who did maximize the Reagan Revolution and they are doing very well for themselves.

He then pointed out that Allen West and Tim Scott, recently elected to Congress, did so with the support of the Tea Party.  To those blacks who are afraid of the Tea Party, Dr. Innis said, “Don’t be foolish and let your enemies, designate your enemy. You should have been the Tea Party, before the Tea Party.”  He continued that the Tea Party should be praised rather than scorned because “they turned the politics in this country around in a few short months.”

Herman Cain

Following Dr. Innis to speak was Herman Cain.  Dr. Innis introduced him with a strong push for Cain to run for president.  In his speech he pointed out that Dr. King’s creed was the same as the Declaration of Independence and it’s reference to inalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. He spoke of the connection between Dr. King and Ronald Reagan. Reagan argued for fighting for our freedom or we will lose it.  He concluded by saying that he did not want to have that conversation with his grandchildren talking about the days when Americans were free, but said that it wasn’t going to happen on our watch.

Reverend Samuel Rodriguez

The leadership award went to Rev. Sam Rodriguez who gave an impassioned speech. He began by talking about a new civil rights movement and he explained where our rights come from.  He said:

To the enemies of Life and Liberty we remind them if God giveth, only God can take it away…  It is  God is over man, and man over government and when government tries to shift that paradigm and go on top and become the Alpha and the Omega what we have is chaos, despair and hopelessness. We must fight to keep the ideals that made us great, it is God over man and man over government and not the other way around.

He then went on to explain the Hispanic community. The Hispanic community are natural conservatives. He asked the question, “Why are we here?” and then answered his question. He began by breaking down Hispanic into it’s parts. His, panic.

We are not here to teach America how do dance the Macarena. We are not here to increase the wealth of holders of portfolios who have invested wisely in Taco Bell. We are not here to make you press “1” for English and “2” for Spanish. It’s not why we’re here, amigo. We are here to bring panic to those who oppose Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The Wrap Up

Andrew Breitbart returned to the podium to wrap up the night and he did so with a powerful message.  He talked about the GOP and the Tea Party.  He said, plainly, the GOP sucked.  He said the Tea Party is lousy at public relations.  He then spoke directly to the audience.

The Tea Party needs you, period. Allen West and Tim Scott did not get elected through the leadership of the Republican Party. They got elected because of the Tea Party and I have been to Tea Parties all across this country and the people who move the crowds, they’re not invited to speak, they just show up and they’re the people that possess the crowds, and that is African Americans; and that is Hispanic Americans who understand that this country has been divided along the grounds of race and creed and we have been pitted against each other by this multicultural model that is nothing short of cultural Marxism.

He concluded by saying the Tea Party is there for the taking, that the left wants minorities to stand on the sidelines, but the Tea Party needs and wants them. It is about the creed not the color of their skin.

Pretty powerful stuff and if the message sinks in, there could be a tectonic shift in the politics of this country that could last for generations.  Maybe that is why there is a sense of panic on the left.

“Now, I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly.”  – President Obama commenting on a police incident in Cambridge, Mass. involving Sgt. Crowley and Professor Gates

“We don’t know all the answers yet and I would caution against jumping to conclusions,” – President Obama speaking about Major Nidal Hasan after he killed 13 at Fort Hood.

“There is no credible evidence so far that this attack was more than at least one person, the driver,” said Mayor Mike Bloomberg. “After that there is no evidence that anyone else was involved. It may be, but we can’t say that it is.”…“If I had to guess, twenty five cents, this would be exactly that,” Bloomberg said. “Homegrown maybe a mentally deranged person or someone with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.” – New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg commenting on the Times Square bomber

“You know, at this point I have no information that it’s anything other than a one-off,” – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano commenting on the Times Square bomber

“The odds are quite high that this was a lone wolf.” – New York Senator Charles Schumer commenting on the Times Square bomber

“Rep. Andre Carson said he and Rep. John Lewis had racial slurs yelled at them as they left the Cannon House Office Building, with protesters chanting what he referred to as “the N-word” fifteen times.” – CBS News report on the Health Care Vote.  Andrew Breitbart put up $100,000 to anyone who came forward with video or audio proof of Carson’s accusations.  To date, no one has come forward.

If it involves a black and a white, don’t wait for facts, blame the white guy; if it involves a Muslim, not so fast.  If involves an act of violence, it’s probably because of ObamaCare and since the Tea Party opposed ObamaCare, ceteris paribus, they are responsible for the violence.

In the aftermath of the shooting in Tucson, Arizona, instead of focusing on the victims and their well being, and for those killed, on their families, the left wasted no time trying, once again, to play their insipid game of Pin the Tail on the Tea Party.  But like perpetual guests on the reality show “Jackass” they seem to always end up sticking the pin in their own eye.

It is almost as if they believe if they say it first, if they say it loud, if they say it often, it will finally stick.  But as the quotes above show, they are rapidly approaching the point reached by the boy who cried wolf, where no one will believe what they say at all.

This is not about political rhetoric.  This is about a mentally ill person.  A demented person with many, many witnesses to his mental illness long before he pointed a loaded gun at nineteen people at a political meeting.  And yet our society has seemed to succumb to the left’s version of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”  Don’t blame the victim, they tell us, it’s not his fault.  Maybe so, but whose fault is it for not seeing something and saying something?

There were many opportunities to stop what happened before it happened.  His friends noticed his mental state deteriorating beginning in the tenth grade.  He turned from those friends and turned instead to drugs.  He had an encounter with Representative Giffords back in 2007, before the Tea Parties existed, that a friend noticed really bothered the shooter, Loughner.

[At] Mr. Loughner’s first meeting with Ms. Giffords in 2007. Mr. Loughner said he asked the lawmaker, “How do you know words mean anything?” recalled Mr. Montanaro. He said Mr. Loughner was “aggravated” when Ms. Giffords, after pausing for a couple of seconds, “responded to him in Spanish and moved on with the meeting.”

“I really can’t understand why Jared was so interested in Giffords,” Mr. Montanaro said. “I imagine it was simply because she was the most accessible.”

There is no mention of Tea Parties, Sarah Palin, or anything else setting off an otherwise normal person to start shooting people.  In looking at his background, his politics appeared to be decidedly left wing (click on links to see Tweets).

One of Loughner’s classmates in high school and community college, Caitie Parker, voided much of the baseless media speculation with a few Twitter messages Saturday afternoon. Parker, herself a liberal, said Loughner was “a really good friend,” whom she described as having been “left wing,” ”a political radical” and “quite liberal” when she knew him, although she lost touch with him after 2007 when he “became very reclusive.” Loughner was a “loner” and a “pot head,” Parker said in a Twitter colloquy with Anthony De Rosa of Reuters.

His classmates and teacher in community college were also terrified of him and feared for their lives.  At the first Walmart that Loughner went into looking to purchase ammunition, he scared the clerk so much that the clerk went in the back of the store and stalled before returning to say the store was out of ammunition.  If anyone should have had a target on them it was Loughner.  There were numerous red flags raised over  a six year period that someone who cared about this individual or cared for the public’s safety should have said something.  I am all for individual freedom and less government intrusion, but when someone sufficiently loses their grip that they are no longer rationally in control of their actions, it is time to get them the help they need.

Congressional Knee Jerk Reactions

Several Democratic members of Congress leapt into action to craft new legislation to prevent this from happening again.  Anti-gun stalwart, Carolyn McCarthy proposed legislation banning a part of the gun that was used.  One of the heroes who helped subdue Loughner, Joe Zamudio, carries a gun and because of that when he heard the shooting he ran towards the sounds of the shots rather than running for safety.  The left likes to paint gun owners as crazed fanatics.  Judge for yourself if this is fanatic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmmOWL05r8

Let Cooler Heads Prevail

Now is not the time for action.  It is the time for investigation and reflection.  Let us pray for those who died and pray for the speedy recovery of those still alive.  Let the facts come out about this case and not jump to conclusions over what set him off.  For anyone to use this to promote their political agenda is despicable.

That’s my opinion; I’d like to know yours.  Please comment below.

I’ll bet you thought I would be writing about Roland Burris, the senator appointed by Governor Rod Blagojevich under dubious circumstances.  No, Senator Mary Landreau of Louisiana just sold her vote on the senate health care bill to Harry Reid for $100 million.

Here is what was reported by ABC News.

On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

I am told the section applies to exactly one state:  Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world:  Louisiana.  (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)

Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu.

How much does it cost?  According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.

But don’t worry, the talking heads in the lame stream media will soon be circling the wagons saying that Senator Landreau didn’t personally get any money, she got it for her state.  But where did the money come from?  Your pocket, my pocket, and your children’s and your grandchildren’s pocket.  In short, Harry Reid is using the coercive power of the IRS to take your property and give it to Louisiana so that a deeply flawed health care bill will get passed and Mary Landreau can get re-elected.  Seems fair to me.  Does it seem fair to you?  Isn’t that what makes you proud to be an American?  The arrogance of this Congress and administration are incomprehensible.  They see Tea Parties across the country rising up to protest their out of control spending.  They get blasted when then go home for their summer recess.  Poll after poll says the country is opposed to the stimulus package, cap and trade, the health care bills, but they just keep rolling on.

Let me quote from the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness — That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

“But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their Future Security.”

These are troubling times.  We cannot allow these abuses to continue without speaking out loudly and strongly.  Our government has gotten far too big and out of control.  It’s time to shrink it back to where the Founding Fathers envisioned it: limited and unobtrusive.

How much time do we have left before Joe Biden’s prophesy comes true that within six months of taking office Obama, and by extension we, will face an international crisis?  Well, unless you haven’t been paying attention, I think he will hit his mark before his 100 days are up.

Obama and Biden and the rest of their supporters have confused the difference between being liked and being respected.  Daniel Patrick Moynihan, while ambassador to the UN called the world, “A Dangerous Place.”  When trying to be a leader in a world that is dangerous, it is far better to be respected than liked.

The Obama Feel Good Tour

As President Obama tours the world and grovels at the feet of the Europeans, the Saudis, and Latin American dictators, trying to “repair the damage,” done by President Bush, our enemies are licking their chops.  The Europeans flocked to see him, touch him, kiss him, but when he asked for a commitment of more troops for Afghanistan, how did they respond?  Awkward silence and an offer of 5,000 troops to train police while at the same time an insistence that the “world” should have some say in the regulation of the U.S. economy.

While President Obama achieved his goal of improving the U.S.’s likability quotient, pirates were taking ships on the high seas, North Korea sent an ICBM over Japan, Iran celebrated Nuclear Technology Day, and the Taliban made inroads in Pakistan.  How did the popular leader respond?  To North Korea, he scolded that actions have consequences and words have meaning and proposed more words from the UN to be piled on top of the words the North Koreans are already ignoring.

Disarmament

To continue with the feel good groove, we have stopped calling terrorists terrorists.  Their acts are now to be called Man Caused Disasters and I guess the terrorists themselves are to be called Man Caused Disaster Causing Men (or Women).  After all, we don’t want them to be offended by being called terrorists.  Isn’t that was caused 9/11?  It was merely a response to our bad behavior, no?  Our lack of likability?

There is no longer a War on Terror.  It’s an Overseas Contingency Operation.  We don’t want to raise Osama bin Laden’s sensibilities thinking we might be at war with him, but we do need contingency planning in case something happens.  As a further show of good faith, let’s start re-writing the Al Qaeda training manual for them by telling them exactly what kind of interrogation techniques we use so that they can best prepare the training of their members to resist them.  Of course, we already swore we would never use them again anyway, but we have to make sure they are prepared for the infidel’s trickery.  Repeat after me: “I am not going to drown.  I am not going to drown.  I am not going to drown.”  There, it’s simple, now they can resist even our most diabolical torture.  But we shouldn’t forget to tell them that if an interrogator so much as raises his voice they should do the following:

1. Ask for a lawyer
2. Insist on having their Miranda rights given to them in both English (so their lawyers can verify it) and in their native tongue
3. A clean, untouched by infidels hands, copy of the Koran
4. Immediate transport to the United States
5. A green card
6. A path to citizenship
7. A tenured professorship at the college of their choice

If that doesn’t get them to lay down their arms, what will?

Respect Not Likability

The only time the United States is both respected and liked is when the bullets are flying and the United States is saving the hides of our new friends.  When the shooting stops or it is confined to a theater far away from the talkers, the United States will be disliked but, however begrudgingly, respected.

Ronald W. Reagan may have been liked personally in private but when the klieg lights were on, he was “an amiable dunce,” and  “a cowboy.”  But Reagan stood firm and put Pershing II missiles in Europe against all protests.  Such steadfastness led to the eventual arms negotiations and winning the cold war.  At the moment President Reagan took the oath of office, the Ayatollahs in Iran released the American hostages they held for 444 days.  They respected that Reagan would act, not just talk.

George W. Bush was not liked.  He was another cowboy, one who was inarticulate to boot.  But he was respected.  After 9/11 the world respected that he would hunt down and kill America’s enemies.  After the Iraq invasion, Libya publicly shut down their nuclear program.  Quadaffi didn’t want to be next.  President Bush kept America safe for seven years after 9/11.  Now, this Congress and this President want set aside over 200 years of precedent and to put them on trial for doing that.

Preparing for Our Enemies

President Obama plans to keep America secure by cutting our defense budget by 25%.  He plans on a staggering increase in our national debt and selling it to the Chinese.  Picture the Chinese doing to the USA what Obama did to General Motors.  Can you just see the head of the Chinese Communist Party saying to Obama, “Well, we own you now.  You’re fired.”

Can this Juggernaut be Stopped?

On April 15th over 1 million people gathered at Tea Parties around the country to protest the growth of government, the taking of our liberty and out of control taxes.  The Obama main stream media largely ignored the event, or willfully disparaged it.

A recent Rasmussen poll, “85% of mainstream Americans say the government has too much money and power, just 2% of the political class agree.”  If they have no bread, let them eat cake! The poll went on to say, “51% of Americans have a favorable view of the Tea Parties but the political class strongly disagrees.” {emphasis added}  How more out of touch with the people can they be?  How more arrogant in their shameless grab for power can they be?

I will end this post, my friends, with a quotation from the Declaration of Independence.

“WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness — That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

July 4, 1776

I hope to see you at the Tea Party on July 4, 2009