Thứ Bảy, 31 tháng 8, 2013

THE TRIFECTA: Poverty, Mass Murder, and Liberals

Guest post by The DiploMad


Words evolve. They take on new meaning over the years. Social and political movements appropriate certain words, redefine them, and then use them to shape the ideological battlefield. The classic example of that, of course, is "bolshevik" and "menshevik." The Bolsheviks were, in fact, the Mensheviks and vice-versa. The word bolshevik, derived from the word meaning "majority," was appropriated by the radicals who were in reality the minority of the old Social Democratic party. The minority labeled the majority the minority and got away with it. Clever. There are many other examples of this in history such as the insistence on calling nazis and fascists right-wing when they are clearly left-wing products.

In our once great, still beloved, but evermore daft United States, precisely those who are not liberal, as in broad minded and generous in their attitudes towards others, have appropriated "liberal" as theirs. The political philosophy of this "liberalism" is one which portrays life as a series of problems that needs addressing by the state--the state guided and run, mind you, by the "well-educated liberal elite" produced by our increasingly decrepit "liberal" universities and informed by "liberal" Hollywood and "liberal" Big Media. Modern U.S. liberals are a variant of European social democrats who believe in a big state and mistrust the individual; the big difference being that US liberals have much more power in the world than their European co-religionists ever could hope. They advocate the "positivist" attitude so aptly summed up in the motto emblazoned on the national flag of Brazil, "Ordem e Progresso," so long, of course, as they are in charge of imposing the order and defining the progress. They take positivism's emphasis on rational thought and logic, and its opposition to superstition and fantasy, and turn it on its head into a "science-based" fantasy that somehow just so happens to lead to more power for them and their state. Global climate change is one stirling example of how liberals have taken a legitimate scientific-based concern over pollution, and turned it into a monumental hoax, known as Manmade Climate Change. That hoax somehow, just somehow ends up demanding more money and power for--guess who?--the liberals and their state. As we will discuss, this philosophy comprises followers who proclaim a great love for humanity while in practice exhibiting a great hatred for people.

Sorry for the long-winded intro, but it brings us to today's topic, for which I provide the following bumper sticker, "Liberals love humanity and hate people." Oh, and by the way, liberals will get you killed. Yes, killed. Modern liberalism kills people, and does so by the millions, all in the name of humanity, of course. It should have a warning label that asks you not to practice liberalism at home, or something along the lines of "I am a trained professional, do not attempt liberalism on your own."

Liberals hate all sorts of people but their special, most lethal hatred is reserved for the poor and the "uneducated." They kill the poor by the bushel, by the ton, by the hectare . . . they kill them at home and abroad. No poor person is safe from the lethal loving embrace of the liberals.

So many examples, it's hard to know where to begin. I don't pretend to provide an exhaustive account of liberal mayhem, just a glimpse at the tip of the iceberg. So, where do we start? How about with DDT? This extremely useful pesticide was virtually banned around the globe for decades because of the bogus writings of Rachel Carson, the lesbian biological mother of today's whacky environmental movement. The ban on DDT, ostensibly to save birds, puppies, and other wonderful warm things, resulted in the deaths of millions of poor persons around the globe from malaria and dengue, which came soaring back on the wings of now safe mosquitos. This tradition of sacrificing the poor on the altar of Gaia continues to this day. The insistence on the global warming hoax, long after the "science" has been shown to be false, perpetuates policies, e.g., ethanol in gasoline, opposition to domestic drilling and nuclear energy, that increases the cost of living, promotes food shortages, stifles employment, and, yes, leads to death. The opposition to cheap energy and food, the zoning restrictions in upperclass neighborhoods, all under the guise of protecting the environment, take direct aim at the lives and welfare of the poor. Liberals kill.

Liberal welfare policies create havoc throughout our society. What slavery, Jim Crow, the KKK, and racial discrimination could not do, liberal polices have done, to wit, destroy the black family and turn millions of blacks into permanent wards of the state and of the liberal political machines that control most of our cities. Liberal immigration policies, beginning with the disastrous 1965 Kennedy-Johnson immigration law, insure a constant stream of poor third world immigrants, altering irrevocably the nature of our society and ensuring that the struggling black (and white) American poor cannot compete with the ultra-poor pouring in from Mexico, El Salvador, Bangladesh, and so on. Liberal minimum wage laws ensure the disappearance of the starter jobs, once a platform for the poor to spring out of poverty. All of these people, the old poor and the newly arriving poor, need, of course, social programs and more and more government help. The liberal political machine dispenses jobs and money, and the productive sectors face rising taxes, a labyrinth of regulations, and the constant presence of "helpful" government regulators and enforcers. Let the poverty and misery spread!

Liberal gun control policies also target the poor. The poor in our cities must live with the drug dealers, gang bangers, and the other hoods in the hood. The comfortable liberals live in secure high-rises, and tony suburbs well protected by overpaid and over equipped police and fire departments and expensive security firms. The poor must put up with the inability to defend themselves; they must allow themselves to be murdered in the name of ridding America of gun violence.

Likewise liberal education policies deny the poor the right to choose the schools their children will attend. Instead an alliance of politicians and teacher unions keeps the poor trapped in failing and unsafe schools, while the wealthy liberals, well, you know what they do, and it isn't to send their own kids to those schools.

The examples are endless. From the liberal refusal to allow us to become energy independent, the liberal refusal to see what Islam does everywhere it takes root, and the liberals' seemingly endless assault on the family, everywhere we look we see the death and destruction that modern liberalism brings to our shores and promotes overseas.

To speak out on this is to risk being labeled a racist and hate-monger. To fail to speak out, however, means being complicit to some of the greatest crimes on the planet: the crimes of the liberals.


The DiploMad is a retired Foreign Service Officer who blogs at The DiploMad 2.0.

Wherein I go nuclear on the mentally defective, traitorous Leftists who have now become pro-war hawks for reasons of principle, not politics

After reading today's headline story on Larwyn's Linx -- illustrating the stunning transformation of long-time anti-war Democrat Nancy Pelosi into a pro-war hawk vis a vis Syria -- I turned to Twitter to express my, eh, concerns.



















This is Not the War We've Been Waiting For

Guest post by Dan from New York


Remember "the mother of all battles?" It's easy to dismiss the primitive war cries coming from Iran, Hezbollah and Syria as the same schoolyard hyperbole we get every time the USA and the West take aim at the Islamic world. We've become inured to the empty threats, but listen up. This time will be different.

It won't be 1991 when Bush The Elder successfully blocked the Israelis from responding to Saddam's hapless Scud missiles. Today's Israel - even one led by Obama's cat's-paw, Benjamin Netanyahu – is in no mood for that. If the Islamics insist on hitting Israel with reprisal attacks, Israel will likely respond with disproportional force, and a furious multi-front exchange of unknown duration would ensue.

We certainly don't hear that grim possibility reported or "analyzed" by the Obama-controlled media. But folks, look around the room. That's the war we should all be worried about.

The Daily Star (Lebanon), 8/31/13

Israel faces retaliation if U.S. attacks Syria: Iran military


BEIRUT: Israel will face retaliation if the United States launches a military strike against Syria, a senior Iranian military official warned, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported Saturday.

“Israel will be hit by retaliatory attacks if the United States launches an offensive on Syria since it [the Jewish state] is the first instigator in attacking [Syria],” Iranian Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi said.

Iran staunchly backs the regime in Damascus and is Hezbollah’s leading supporter in the region.

Firouzabadi accused Israel of spearheading efforts to drag Washington into a war with the government in Damascus.

The U.S. has stepped up its war rhetoric against Damascus after accusing President Bashar Assad’s regime of using chemical weapons earlier this month against opposition strongholds outside Damascus.

Editor's note: I've placed an All Points Bulletin for the oft-used term of yesteryear: chickenhawk:


Larwyn's Linx: Absolute proof that Democrats are national security traitors                                    

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Absolute proof that Democrats are national security traitors: American Power
Tap Out: Ralph Peters Destroys John Kerry's Disgusting Hypocrisy: Scoop
Narcissist-In-Chief Refers To The U.S. Military As “My Military”: WZ

82% Of Whites, 83% Of Non-Whites Support Voter ID: WZ
Palin obliterates Obama on Syria: Scoop
Horowitz: Conservatives Must ‘Fight Fire with Fire’: FPM

Economy

Mark Levin Eviscerates Grover Norquist Over Debate Comments: Tim Graham
Detroit: City of the Living Dead: Tammy Bruce
Obamanomics: Labor Force Participation Hits 34-Year Low, 63 Percent: WZ

Evict the Rich, White Liberals: Kevin D. Williamson
A Note From Ted Cruz: Protein Wisdom
Obama: Sex Ed for Kindergartners ‘Is the Right Thing to Do’: CNS

Scandal Central

Rep. Mike Kelly knows about Malik Obama / IRS scandal: Walid Shoebat
More on the NSA Commandeering the Internet: Bruce Schneier
Checkmate: 90 Miles

Media

Obama’s new Amerika: LA Times prints ’1964 Civil Rights Act led by Dems!’: Cheryl Carpenter Klimek
Cornel West Attacks Al Sharpton: ‘Bonafide House Negro of the Obama Plantation’: Andrew Kirell
The Aftermath of the George Zimmerman Case, Part 1: The Trial, the Evidence and the Verdict: Jonathan Cohen

Ace of Spades’ John Ekdahl goes nuclear over media's Syria double-standard: Twitchy
HuffPo Nut Says Vulgar Tweet Was ‘Pressure Test’ for Dana Loesch; Goes Crazy in Interview: ViralRead
Limbaugh blasts Chris Matthews’ book signing at the Reagan Library: Cheryl Carpenter Klimek

NBC's Mitchell: Trust Obama, He'll Bomb Syria With 'Cautious Anti-War Point-of-View': CNS
Kevin Williamson: I Agree Completely With Slate - and Let's Go Further.: Ace
12 Unspoken Rules for Being a Liberal: John Hawkins

World

Mr. Flexible's Inflexible Stance on Syria: Jeannie DeAngelis
Attack On Syria Is About Saving Face, Not U.S.: IBD
Obama’s bread and circuses: Caroline Glick

The FBI and the Muslim Brotherhood: Arnold Ahlert
Conspiracy and Truth are upside down: Keith Davies
What a Difference the Party Affiliation of a President Makes: Emperor Misha

Sci-Tech

Statins Combat Aging By Protecting Against Telomere Shortening: Benita Matilda
9 Reasons To Avoid Sugar As If Your Life Depended On It: Kris Gunnars, PopSci
Why does paper feel different after it has been wet and dried?: Reddit

Cornucopia

Breitbart Lives On: Breitbart.com Helps Out the Gateway Pundit in Hour of Need: GWP
In 2016, Put Her In The Big House: 90 Miles
Japanese Dinosaur Prank: Nora Kushti

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: DontFundObamacare.com

QOTD: "I have great news to share. Over 900,000 freedom-loving Americans have now signed the petition to defund Obamacare! But, we need 1 million to truly send a signal to Washington that we want Obamacare defunded.

If we work hard, we can accomplish this goal by Labor Day. Please help us reach 1 million signatures by forwarding this email to your friends and family. Encourage them to join hundreds of thousands of other Americans who are expressing their opposition to Obamacare at DontFundObamacare.com.

Then, spread the word by sharing it on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. If we work together, we can reach 1 million signatures and send a message to Washington that can't be ignored. We can stop Obamacare, but we need a grassroots tsunami to do it. There are far too many Republicans scared of the fight, but together we can unite Republicans to stop this huge train wreck. Thank you for standing strong for freedom." --Sen. Ted Cruz

Thứ Sáu, 30 tháng 8, 2013

Barack Obama and Eric Holder Bar the Schoolhouse Door, Blocking Minority Children From a Quality Education

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Pro-Choice: The Justice Department has asked a federal court to stop 34 school districts in Louisiana from handing out private-school vouchers so kids can escape failing public schools, just like the president's daughters.

He didn't say it on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech," but President Obama, along with Attorney General Eric Holder, also has a dream — one of leaving every black child in the Pelican State behind, trapped in schools that cannot educate them.

Almost simultaneously with the president's speech, Holder's Department of Justice filed suit in federal court to stop Louisiana's statewide voucher program.

Passed in 2012, the program guarantees a voucher to students from families with incomes below 250% of poverty and who attend schools graded "C" or below.

Liberals are all for choice when it comes to having children, but not when it comes to educating them. The irony of Obama's speech is that he pretended to honor a man who fought to have black children attend schools they were barred from as his administration fought to keep them in schools they can't escape from, a form of educational apartheid that's both separate and unequal.

White liberal hypocrite Matt Damon is typical of the elitists who don't practice what they preach.

Son of a public school teacher, the Hollywood actor has often sung the praises of public education, yet has chosen to send his four daughters to private schools that few of us non-movie stars can afford.

Chelsea Clinton benefited from attending D.C.'s most prestigious private school, pricey Sidwell Friends, where both of the Obamas' daughters, not to mention Vice President Biden's granddaughters, matriculated.

Can't have the working poor they pretend to care about have the same opportunity to exercise the same school choice with those gimmicky vouchers, can we?

DOJ's argument is that many of the schools affected remain under desegregation orders imposed 50 years ago and that, essentially, letting poor blacks leave these schools for better ones upsets the politically correct racial balance DOJ wants to achieve.

The DOJ complaint says that in several of the 22 districts involved "the voucher recipients were in the racial minority at the public school they attended before receiving the voucher."

So letting black kids leave makes these schools more white, which is bad, but getting a bad education while sitting next to a white child is apparentlay good.

According to the complaint filed in New Orleans federal court to block 2014-15 vouchers for students in public school systems under federal desegregation orders, the first year of private school vouchers "impeded the desegregation process."

How about the kids who end up not being able to read Dr. King's speech or spell "desegregation"?

Education is the enemy of the left, for with knowledge comes power, a power that does not come from the government. May we be so cynical as to suggest that an administration that fosters and feeds on dependency wants to perpetuate it by ensuring that poor black kids grow up to be poor black Democratic-voting adults?

And don't forget the necessity of letting teachers' unions feed at the public trough while babysitting the next cohort of functional illiterates.

Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal actually does something to help these kids with more than boilerplate rhetoric, while Obama and Holder use the full weight of the federal government to try to stop him.

Please, Mr. President, don't stand where Martin Luther King stood, in the shadow of the statue of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, leader of a party formed to fight slavery, at a gathering the only black U.S. senator, Tim Scott, was not invited to speak at, and preach about racial injustice.

What you and your attorney general are doing in Louisiana is racial injustice.


Read More At Investor's Business Daily

PLEASE REMEMBER TO THANK A DEMOCRAT: Labor Force Participation Rate Hits a 34-Year Low

We have now experienced five years of Obamanomics.

The results have been, in a word, catastrophic.

Here's an open question for any liberal reading along (and by that I mean you, Carlito, among others): how many more failed experiments in central planning, including the $1 trillion "Stimulus", Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, nationalization of the student loan business, "Cash for Clunkers", open borders, etc. will you tolerate before you finally declare that this regime's Marxist agenda will only end in misery?

How many more failures will you accept before you put your children above your religion of Statism?

Please consider Exhibit 4,806 in a series I call "Legacy of Failure - The Results of Barack Obama's Marxist Agenda":

President Obama’s policies have devastated all age groups, but the most heartbreaking impact is on the young:

Gallup reports that, “The lack of new hiring over the past several years…seems to have disproportionately reduced younger Americans’ ability to obtain full-time jobs.” ... According to Gallup’s “Payroll to Population” measure, fewer Millennials were working full time in June of 2013 than in June of 2012, 2011, or 2010... A recent 2012 Pew Research Center study found that 36 percent of the nation’s Millennials were still living with their parents.


Millions of older Americans have responded to the lack of job opportunities under Obamanomics by becoming “disabled.” Based on disability statistics, you would think that Americans have suddenly gotten sickly, or perhaps that we have been fighting a war:

A study from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco also attributes the drop in [labor force participation] in part to the “increased use of some social benefit programs, notably disability insurance.” ... Fourteen million Americans, including roughly 8.5 million former workers receive disability. In 2011, that included 4.6 percent of the population between the ages of 18 and 64. These Americans are not included among the “unemployed.”

Fourteen million Americans on disability–that is more than the populations of Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware, Rhode Island, Montana, New Hampshire, Maine, Hawaii, Idaho and West Virginia, combined: every man, woman and child in 13 states. The exploding ranks of the “disabled” are due to the absence of jobs in Barack Obama’s economy. The human cost of this tragedy is incalculable.

The CEO of Express Employment Professionals, a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, says: “All indicators suggest this shift [out of the labor force] is not sustainable.” That’s putting it mildly.

How much suffering do you want, liberals? How much more misery are you willing to impart on the next generation before you finally reject central planning? On a scale of Spain to North Korea, how far are you willing to go?


Hat tip: BadBlue Financial News.

The Great Destabilizer

Interesting comment by JVictor vis a vis Daniel Greenfield's article entitled "Liberal Hypocrisy in Iraq and Syria."

[A] so-called change of heart with members of the Obama administration is not a change at all.

Every time there has been a destabilizing force that poses a greater threat to Israel, the Obama administration has supported that force. Cases in point:

• whether people liked him or not, Mubarak was a stabilizing force in Egypt--he was thrown under the bus in favor of the destabilizing Muslim Brotherhood revolution;

• whether people liked him or not, Qadafi had become a stabilizing force in Libya--he was ousted by radicals supported by this administration;

• when the Arab Spring fever tried to take hold in Iran to overthrow [Iran's] Ahmadinijad, this administration sat by silently while the revolution was quelled;

• Assad has been a stabilizing force in Syria--now this administration is talking about taking him out;

• now that the people of Egypt have spoken out against the abuses of power by Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, this administration has been silent and absent in its support for the people;

• Saddam was a destabilizing force in his own right.

It is clear that the Obama administration is working diligently, either actively or by apparent inaction, to destabilize the Middle East and northern Africa while alienating Israel at the same time.

The question is, why?

I encourage commenters to offer conjecture. I have my suspicions, but then again, I'm a right-wing, Consitutional, conservative Hobbit Visigoth and all.


Hat tip: BadBlue Real-Time News.

Larwyn's Linx: Obama Leaks His Own War

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Obama Leaks His Own War: Daniel Greenfield
24 hours that define Barack Obama Perfectly: DTG
Cory Booker’s Imaginary Friend: Eliana Johnson

This is “Read My Lips” All Over Again: Erick Erickson
Obama’s Two ‘New Executive Actions’ on Gun Control: Tammy Bruce
New Black Panther leader’s gun charges dropped: Marcus K. Gaynor

A Truly Great Phony: Thomas Sowell
The ‘To Hell with Them’ Doctrine: Ed Driscoll
Rep. Bill Pascrell Lives Up His “F” Rating from the NRA: Max McGuire

Economy

Levinomics for America: Peter Ferrara
Another Veiled Call for Communism From Obama: Moonbattery
Move Over, Obamacare. Here Comes Obamaschool: Hunter Lewis

“Sending your kids to private school doesn’t make you a bad person”: PW
Can Democrats Fool All of Their Base All of the Time?: Elephant
How To Solve The Fast Food Strike In Two Simple Words: Glob

Scandal Central

Hillary's $500K Saudi jewelry: Ben Goad, The Hill
U.S. spy network’s successes, failures and objectives detailed in ‘black budget’ summary: WaPo
Whoa: US Intelligence Officials Not So Sure Assad Regime Behind Chemical Weapons Attack: Nice Deb

Climate & Energy

Climate Scientists Continue To Bury Facts That Disprove The Theory Of Manmade Climate Change: Jeff Reynolds
Climate Science Exploited for Political Agenda Says Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons: AAPS

Media

Your Semi-Official Obama vs. Syria Armageddon Predictions Thread: Robert Stacy McCain
Did Cory Booker's imaginary drug dealer pal ever meet Barack Obama's composite girlfriend?: WyBlog
National Journal Admits: Affordable Care Act Turning Out to Be Unaffordable: Bryan Preston

Actual quote: Obama seeks Syria response ‘just muscular enough not to get mocked’: Doug Powers
Show A Lefty Friend This Video, But Have Some Popcorn Handy: HayRide
Verify chemical weapons use before unleashing the dogs of war: Kenneth Timmerman

States’ Rights: OK for Dopeheads; Hateful Hillbilly Bible-Thumpers, Not So Much: R.S. McCain
Obama's two new executive orders on guns, relying on the media's ignorance of guns: John R. Lott
Levin: Ted Cruz is a natural-born U.S. citizen: Scoop

World

White House: Obama Eyeing “Discrete” Attack In Syria: WZ
Kim Jong-un Has Ex-Girlfriend Executed Via Firing Squad: Lid
Panama: Cuban weapons “in mint condition”: Fausta

Five Questions On Syria For POTUS Who Received Nobel Peace Prize for Doing Nothing: RWN
Obama DOD: Catholics, Evangelicals, Jews, Mormons are Radical Extremists: Joseph R. Carducci
The 2013 White House ornament theme is, ironically, Peace on Earth: Emily Zanotti

Sci-Tech

This is How Facebook is Going to Die: Steve Hall, AdRants
China moon mission scheduled for December: Juha Saarinen, ITnews
F-22 May Get Its First Combat Mission: DefTech

Cornucopia

Guns Along the Potamac: A Shot and a Bow: MOTUS
Understanding natural monopoly: Seth Godin
Woman's Possessions Trashed After Bank Sends Repo Men to Wrong House: Neetzan Zimmerman, Gawker

Image: Hezbollah's Hitler-style Salute
Sponsored by: Call John Boehner's office now ((513) 779-5400), tell him: pull the plug on Obamacare

QOTD: "America is in a constitutional crisis as well as an economic crisis. The problem is not just Barack Obama. It is the entire Democrat party, which has been taken over by Marxists (that is a literal truth and not just hyperbole), and which caused and continues to perpetuate both crises.

The constitutional crisis is that President Obama will not follow the law. He regularly makes up the law rather than administers the law as written. He abuses the powers of his office, effectively seizing the power to rule by decree, announcing new laws or changes in the law that he has no power to make. This goes on almost daily now. Will Obama follow the law now in taking any military action against Syria?

But worse is that the entire Democratic Party is supporting Obama in this effective coup d’état, with nary a peep of any protest regarding such presidential abuse of power from any Democrat quarters. Instead, it is clear that the Democratic Party embraces what Obama is doing, and would vigorously defend it if Republicans and conservatives ever managed to mount a serious challenge to this presidential abuse of office." --Peter Ferrara

Thứ Năm, 29 tháng 8, 2013

RED LINES, INDEED: Obama to provide air support for Al Qaeda and Ambassador Chris Stevens' killers in Syria?

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Mideast: The same al-Qaida-linked Ansar al-Sharia that killed four Americans in Benghazi is now training foreign jihadists to fight with Syria's Islamist rebels. Are we about to provide them air support?

On Sept. 11, 2012, U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was crouched in a safe room waiting for help as the al-Qaida terrorist group Ansar al-Sharia was taking credit for the attack, according to emails reaching the White House and the State Department.

Ambassador Stevens did not survive, nor did Glen Doherty, Sean Smith and Ty Woods, all killed by the terrorists of Ansar al-Sharia and other groups whose training camps surrounded Benghazi and were ignored by an oblivious Obama administration that now calls the scandal "phony."

Well, phony scandals do not produce body bags.

President Obama promised to bring the Benghazi attackers to justice, which he has not. Ansar al-Sharia roams free. Ali Ani al-Harzi, a leading suspect in the attack and a member of Ansar al-Sharia who was taken into custody after fleeing Libya for Turkey and then sent to Tunisia, is also free.

"Make no mistake," President Obama told reporters the morning after the attack, "we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people."

Well, not exactly. Fellow suspect Ahmed Abu Khattala was tracked down by the New York Times and found to be peacefully enjoying a strawberry frappe at a luxury Tunisian hotel.

Harzi came to the attention of U.S. intelligence investigators after he posted real-time information to a social media platform about the assault on the U.S. compound in Benghazi just as it was starting.

As Eli Lake reports in the Daily Beast, Harzi's brother is believed to be Tariq Abu Ammar, a mid-level planner for al-Qaida's franchise in Iraq. These days, Ammar's main job is arranging the travel of fighters from North Africa to Syria's al-Qaida-linked opposition.

As the Washington Free Beacon has reported, U.S. intelligence sources say Ansar al-Sharia is now running several training camps for jihadists destined for Syria in Benghazi and nearby Darnah, a port city further east.

The officials said the camps have been in operation since at least May and are part of a network that funnels foreign fighters to Syrian rebel groups. These include the al-Nusra Front, the most organized group fighting the Bashar Assad regime in Damascus. As we noted in June, Jabhat al-Nusra, with 7,000 fighters, is a branch of al-Qaida in Iraq that has publicly pledged allegiance to al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. It receives regular payments from al-Qaida in Iraq, and its goal is like that of a Middle Eastern caliphate.

In a revealing chart and article published by the Economist magazine, two of the three major fronts — the Syrian Islamic Front and the Syrian Liberation Front — are Islamist, as are 10 of the 12 identified rebel groups. We warned that arms destined for Syrian rebels would wind up in the hands of jihadists or al-Qaida backers.

All the ouster of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi seems to have accomplished is to make Libya a focal point for al-Qaida terrorist activity in North Africa. Two men believed to be Tunisians arrested on Aug. 3 carrying six passports, an AK-47 and foreign currency have provided some details of the camps.

The Tunisians stated that they were trained in small-arms use and were on their way to join Syrian rebels by traveling first to Benghazi, then Istanbul, and over land across Turkey and into northern Syria.

One of the men said he was an associate of Ansar al-Sharia's leader Sufian Ben Qumu, an al-Qaida terrorist released from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2007.

That the United States may soon be fighting alongside Ansar al-Sharia jihadists in Syria is an indictment of the Obama administration's clueless and recklessly naïve foreign policy and a slap in the face for the victims of Benghazi and their families.


Read More At Investor's Business Daily

Remember When Pictures Mattered?

As cnredd reminds us:

Remember the good old days? ... You couldn't go 25 seconds without some Leftie bringing up this photo that was taken 8 years before [George H. W. Bush] got Iraq out of Kuwait and 19 years before [Bush 43] took out Saddam himself...


Good times, good times...

Any Lefty bringing this one up recently?


How about Bill Clinton with the vicious Hafez al-Assad, Bashir's father?


John Kerry and Bashir?


Democrat Senator Bill Nelson and Bashir?


How about Jimmy Carter and Bashir?


How about the pathetic leftist nitwit Dennis Kucinich -- who visited with the ruthless dictator a mere two years ago -- and appeared to "heap praise upon Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is being widely criticized for the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations"?


But don't worry: the greatest Secretary of State ever -- Hillary Clinton -- called Assad "a reformer", so we know this administration is on top of things.


Historian Predicted America's Financial Collapse... in 1857

Guest post by J. R. Nyquist

The Great British historian, Lord Macaulay, predicted the future unraveling of the United States economy in a letter written in May 1857. Macaulay’s prediction was based on his analysis of American institutions. Discussing the life of Thomas Jefferson with an American author, Macaulay wrote, “You are surprised to learn that I have not a high opinion of Mr. Jefferson, and I am surprised at your surprise. I am certain that I never wrote a line, and … uttered a word indicating an opinion that the supreme authority in a state ought to be entrusted to the majority of citizens [counted] by the head; in other words, to the poorest and most ignorant part of society.”

According to Macaulay the United States was becoming increasingly democratic throughout the nineteenth century. And this tendency, he argued, was dangerous to liberty and to the country’s economic well-being. As Macaulay explained, “I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty or civilization, or both.”

Macaulay pointed to the French Revolution and to the tendency of democratic movements to despoil the rich. “You may think that your country enjoys an exemption from these evils,” Macaulay wrote to his American correspondent. “I will frankly own to you that I am of a very different opinion. Your fate I believe to be certain, though it is deferred by a physical cause. As long as you have a boundless extent of fertile and unoccupied land, your laboring population will be far more at ease than the laboring population of the Old World, and, while that is the case, the Jefferson politics may continue to exist without causing any fatal calamity.”

Eventually, of course, the United States must fill up with people. It must lose its economic advantages. “[T]he time will come, noted Macaulay, “when New England will be as thickly peopled as old England. Wages will be as low, and will fluctuate as much with you as with us.” America will then be urbanized, with a large population of “artisans.” Then it will happen that large numbers of these artisans will sometimes find themselves out of work. “Then your institutions will be fairly brought to the test,” wrote Macaulay. “Distress everywhere makes the laborer mutinous and discontented, and inclines him to listen with eagerness to agitators who tell him that it is a monstrous iniquity that one man should have a million, while another cannot get a full meal.”

With the supreme power in the hands of a discontented multitude, what kind of government are they likely to elect? Would it be a government committed to “the security of property and the maintenance of order”? Or would it be a government that gets through hard times by robbing the rich “to relieve the indigent”?  Eventually, wrote Macaulay, the Jeffersonian bent of the United States will result in the destruction of property, the plundering of the wealthy. “It is quite plain that your government will never be able to restrain a distressed and discontented majority. For with you the majority is the government, and the rich, who are always a minority, absolutely at its mercy.”

As we see today, all levels of government in America are involved in relieving the distress of the poor and unemployed, and we also see that this is presently accomplished by taxing the rich as well as by taking on debt. Presently the United States has the most progressive income tax system in the industrialized world with the rich paying more than half of all income taxes. As for the accumulation of debt, the gross public debt of the United States exceeds 160 percent of GDP; and this figure necessarily represents the future despoliation of the rich through inflation and/or future taxation.

The process that Macaulay wrote about, therefore, is well on its way. “I seriously apprehend that you will, in some such season of adversity as I have described, do things which will prevent prosperity from returning,” wrote Macaulay to his American correspondent; “that you will act like people who should in a year of scarcity devour all the seed-corn, and thus make the next a year not of scarcity, but of absolute famine. There will be, I fear, spoliation. The spoliation will increase the distress. The distress will produce fresh spoliation. There is nothing to stop you. Your Constitution is all sail and no anchor.” As the process of unraveling continues, he added, “Either some Caesar or Napoleon will seize the reins of government with a strong hand, or your republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians … as the Roman Empire….”

Today our barbarians are not represented by external tribes. Today the barbarian is an internal problem. In The Undiscovered Self, the psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote: “Separation from his instinctual nature inevitably plunges civilized man into the conflict between conscious and unconscious, spirit and nature, knowledge and faith, a split that becomes pathological the moment his consciousness is no longer able to neglect or suppress his instinctual side.” As Jung further explained, “the accumulation of individuals who have got into this critical state starts off a mass movement purporting to be the champion of the oppressed. In accordance with the prevailing tendency of consciousness to seek the source of all ills in the outside world, the cry goes up for political and social changes.” And what happens next, according to Jung? Society’s “underside comes to the top and the shadow takes the place of the light….”

Here is the psychological process at work inside every communist revolution. The movement of the oppressed against the rich becomes a pathological outbreak, with dire consequences. A criminal political class gains the upper hand. Plunder takes place on an unprecedented scale. “The Communist revolution has debased man far lower than democratic collective psychology has done, because it robs him of his freedom not only in the social but in the moral and spiritual sphere,” wrote Jung. Not only is the economy destroyed, but mankind sinks into immorality. This debasement, said Jung, could bring more than economic collapse. As Jung pointed out, “It needs only an almost imperceptible disturbance of equilibrium in a few of our rulers’ heads to plunge the world into blood, fire, and radioactivity.”

It seems perfectly clear that we are presently headed for spoliation as described by Macaulay. We are already acting like people who respond to scarcity by devouring our seed-corn, “and thus make the next a year not of scarcity, but of absolute famine.” And as Carl Jung explained, the debasement that follows is not merely economic, but spiritual as well. We see all the signs around us. We see the political situation developing apace. What Macaulay wrote makes perfect sense today, especially when we are watching his prediction unfold before our very eyes.


Visit J.R. Nyquist's website at JRNyquist.com

The Continuing Resolution Speech John Boehner Must Give

That is, if he wants to retain a majority and his Speakership next year.


Line in the Sand, a speech by Speaker of the House John Boehner

The ill-named Affordable Care Act -- also known as Obamacare -- has been a "trainwreck" according to its very architects since day one. From the CLASS Act, to the delay of the Employer Mandate, to exempting Congress from the law, the sheer size and complexity of this partisan bill makes it virtually impossible to implement.

I and my peers, all of us, we took an oath to uphold the Constitution. And today we are going to stand by that oath and defend the Constitution of the United States.

This bill was passed in an unconstitutional fashion -- with bribes and payoffs and other skulduggery -- by a single party that temporarily held power during the 110th Congress. The bill consisted of thousands of pages and not one person was permitted to read the bill before it was voted upon.

This bill fundamentally changes the relationship of the citizen to the government.

This is an unconscionable violation of representative government. Nancy Pelosi famously told us we had to pass the bill to find out what's in it. Now we know, and it's an unconstitutional disaster.

Because a single judge bows to some unknown pressure, and changes his vote at the last minute to rewrite a bill that is clearly unconstitutional... because, unlike every other entitlement program, Democrats had no Republican support for this bill...

Because Democrats used every underhanded tactic -- bribes, payoffs and corporate reacharounds -- possible to pass a bill that not one of them read before voting upon...

Because the IRS, already caught punishing groups based upon their political and religious affiliations, will be the enforcers of Obamacare... because radical, left wing groups like La Raza and ACORN will be hired as "Obamacare Navigators" with access to their political opponents' most sensitive health care data...

Because jobs are being destroyed. Because good jobs are disappearing before our very eyes as small businesses are driven not to hire by the law. Because full-time jobs are turning to part-time jobs. Because employers are slashing benefits for spouses and other family members to adapt to a law no one read.

Because the lies that were told to sell this bill were as awful as they were brazen... Because you can't keep your policy, you can't keep your doctor, you can't keep your plan, you can't keep your insurer, and you will pay far more, not far less...

Because Democrat lobbyists and staffers are raking in million advising companies how to comply with the tens of thousands of pages of regulations that this law has spawned... Because they have built a law so complex that no one can possibly understand its effects without paying off the very people who created it!

Most of all, because the people who want Obamacare most are the very same people who have exempted themselves from the law! Obamacare waivers have been issued for Congress, staffers, unions, special interest groups...

I have a question for President Obama and the Democrats? Aren't the American people the most important special interest group Congress serves? The vast majority of Americans want a waiver from Obamacare, just like the lobbyists and the other Beltway elites.

True to my word, Republicans will not shut down the government. We have passed a continuing resolution that funds every single aspect of the federal government except for Obamacare. Every single penny.

But we are drawing a line in the sand when it comes to the trainwreck of Obamacare. We want at least a year delay in its implementation, just like Congress, just like the unions, just like the employers subject to the mandate, and just like other Democrat special interests got.

So if Democrats want to shut down the government, so be it. The House Continuing Resolution funds the entirety of the government -- every single penny -- just not the trainwreck called Obamacare, which President Obama has already defunded for his pals. The vast majority of the American people have told us over and over again: we want a waiver from Obamacare too, just like Congress got.

Call up your Senator and tell them: we want a waiver too. Pass the House Continuing Resolution and delay Obamacare now.

Larwyn's Linx: Rush Limbaugh Derangement Syndrome, Obama-Style

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Rush Limbaugh Derangement Syndrome, Obama-Style: George Neumayr
Is Our Leadership About To Commit Treason?: Karl Denninger
Nation’s only black Senator not invited to speak at MOW: Francesca Chambers

Still Nothing to See Here: Mark Steyn
Man who gives speech on anything won't inform public on Syria war: Ace
Congressman: Obama is ‘Liar-in-Chief’ and ‘More Like a King’: Matthew Burke

15 Moronic Things Liberals Call Racism Since 2008: John Hawkins
The Case for Liberty and an Article V Convention – Part III: CDN
Police Militarization: It’s Gone Too Far: Realities

Obama promises mayors unilateral action on guns: Times
Once More into the Snake Pit: Cal Thomas
Defund Boehnercare: NoisyRm

Economy

When Rationality Breaks Down, So Does the Economy: J.R. Nyquist
Another delay on O'Boehnercare ‘exchanges’: Moe Lane
Setback for Sutter after $1B EHR crashes: Erin McCainn

Scandal Central

Mother Jones: "Internal Documents Reveal...FBI Blew Fort Hood": Ace
Obamacare “Navigators” Told To “Smile” When They Sign People Up For Obamacare Train Wreck: WZ
Operation Fast and Furious Fast Facts: CNN

Climate & Energy

Get on board shale revolution: Mark J. Perry

Media

Media Fails to Mention Murderer is Illegal Immigrant: JW
Thug Tries The Knockout Game With An Armed Man in Lansing, MI – Gets Popped In The Leg: Nice Deb
Heh: Brooklyn Criminal Apprehended After He Trips Over Sagging Jeans During Attempted Getaway: JWF

It's Super-media: With the power to detect non-existent racism!: Ann Coulter
CONFEDERACY: The New Democrat Talking Point Has Been Issued: Glob
The Myth of a Runaway Amendments Convention: Rob Natelson

World

Kucinich: Syria Strike Would Make the US Air Force ‘Al Qaeda’s Air Force’: Bryan Preston
Why Is Obama Leaking Syria Plans?: Jonathan S. Tobin
NYPD Designates Mosques as Terrorist Organizations: James Daniels

Sci-Tech

Researchers successfully reverse-engineer Dropbox : Rob Marvin, SD Times
Custom Elements: Defining new elements in HTML: Eric Bidelman
How Cisco Uses Social Media to Close Big Sales (And More): Al Urbanski, DM News

Cornucopia

Can't Fight the NSA?: Claire Wolfe
Pictures Suddenly Mean So Little: Wrinkles
Political QQQ: Maggie's Farm

Image: Get on board shale revolution
Sponsored by: Call John Boehner's office now ((513) 779-5400), tell him: pull the plug on Obamacare

QOTD: "Concealed within President Obama’s carping about Rush Limbaugh is a distaste for democracy. Obama is not the first aspiring tyrant to complain that the pen is mightier than the sword, or in this case, that the pundit is mightier than the president...

...He represents a familiar figure in history: the left-wing revolutionary who rises to power by praising dissent, then stays in power by trying to suppress it. This suppression is usually cast in terms of “civility,” respect for government, or whatever other cant works at the moment...

...Somehow Obama’s concerns about civility didn’t stop him from writing a glowing blurb for domestic terrorist Bill Ayers or dissuade him from attending the “God damn America” sermons of Jeremiah Wright. Out of power, Obama defined dissent as patriotism. In power, he treats it as near-treason..." --George Neumayr

Thứ Tư, 28 tháng 8, 2013

The Shameless Hypocrisy of the Left on Syria, in Tweets

This:



THUNDER: Missouri Set to Nullify All Federal Gun Laws

Well, now this could get interesting:

It looks like Missouri is about to order the federal government to butt out in terms of gun laws. The state legislature appears to have the votes to override the governor's veto of a bill that nullifies all federal gun legislation, reports the New York Times. (The AP talks to several Democrats who confirm they will bow to their constituents' wishes on the matter and vote against their party's own governor next month.) Even if the legislation becomes law, however, critics don't think it stands a chance in the courts. Backers say an important principle is at stake: "It’s probably one of the best states’ rights issues that the country’s got going right now,” says a state GOP party official.

The legislation not only declares federal gun laws to be null and void within the state's borders, it actually makes it illegal for federal agents to try to enforce them. In fact, state residents would be able to sue the arresting officer. The measure also makes it illegal for journalists to print the names of gun owners, calling to mind controversies like this one. A quote from a Democratic lawmaker pretty much sums things up: “We love our guns and we love hunting. It’s not worth the fight for me to vote against it." But, he adds, "the bill is completely unconstitutional, so the courts are going to have to throw it out.”

Now the Second Amendment is crystal clear on this matter, since it codifies in no uncertain terms that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The Framers wrote the Bill of Rights in plain English, so only a willful misinterpretation by progressives would treat it otherwise.

And most of the states, which gave birth to the federal government, were equally explicit on the matter of individual sovereignty and the right of self defense.

It is only the Statist, pursuing an illegitimate agenda deconstructing the rights of the individual while advocating the importance of centralized government, who could read these expressions otherwise.


Hat tip: Russell.

Obamacare's Creators Reap Millions as D.C. Lobbyists

The ruling elites passed an unconstitutional law they never read in the dead of night. It numbers in the thousands of pages, sets up trillions in wealth transfer payments over the next decade, and fundamentally changes the relationship of the citizen to the government.

Obamacare is the lynchpin of the progressives' century-long march to dismantle the Constitution. A 15-person politburo known as IPAB will decide who lives and who dies. The IRS will enforce the law while left-wing radical groups are paid as "navigators" and will have access to the citizens' most sensitive personal data.

And as this monstrously complex law lurches to life, its architects are reaping millions helping companies cope with the spasmodic changes that will wrack the entire health care supply chain.

ObamaCare has become big business for an elite network of Washington lobbyists and consultants who helped shape the law from the inside.

More than 30 former administration officials, lawmakers and congressional staffers who worked on the healthcare law have set up shop on K Street since 2010.

...The voracious need for lobbying help in dealing with ObamaCare has created a price premium for lobbyists who had first-hand experience in crafting or debating the law... Experts say that those able to fetch the highest salaries have come from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or committees with oversight power over healthcare.

Demand for ObamaCare insiders is even higher now that major pieces of the law, including the healthcare exchanges and individual insurance mandate, are being set up through a slew of complicated federal regulations.

...Watchdogs say the rise of the ObamaCare lobbyist is another example of the “revolving door” that turns public service into private enrichment... “After passage of major legislation, those who have networks on Capitol Hill take exceedingly lucrative jobs with the same industries subject to the legislation,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizen. “It raises questions about the [bill's] integrity.”

...The firm Avenue Solutions, for instance, recently hired Yvette Fontenot, a former staffer for both the Senate Finance Committee, which wrote ObamaCare’s tax-related provisions, and HHS's Office of Health Reform, which is assisting the implementation. .. Since her hire in April, the four-woman firm has picked up Health Care Service Corp. as a client, and Fontenot is now lobbying for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association as well... The Democratic firm banks about $3 million in revenue per year, records show, but is on pace for growth in 2013, earning $1.8 million through the first half of the year...

It’s not just ex-staffers who are becoming trusted ObamaCare guides — former members of Congress are lobbying on the law as well... Former Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) joined Alston & Bird in 2011 after dealing with healthcare and tax issues as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee... Now Pomeroy and his one-time chief of staff, Bob Siggins, are lobbying on ObamaCare for clients such as clients such as Vision Service Plan, the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans and Medicare — a health insurance provider...

The fact that the so-called opposition party leaders refuse to rally the public against this monstrosity, refuse to leverage its unpopularity, and refuse to de-fund the bill make them just as culpable as Obama, Pelosi and Reid.

Which is why I suggest we call it O'Boehnercare.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

DOD: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were extremist members of a hate group

I'm guessing this is a surefire sign that the end of the American Republic is near.

Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained educational materials from the Department of Defense (DOD) depicting conservative organizations as “hate groups” and advising students to be aware that “many extremists will talk of individual liberties, states’ rights, and how to make the world a better place.” The documents repeatedly cite the leftwing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a resource for identifying “hate groups.”

Judicial Watch obtained the documents in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) filed on April 8, 2013. The FOIA requested “Any and all records concerning, regarding, or related to the preparation and presentation of training materials on hate groups or hate crimes distributed or used by the Air Force.” Included in the 133 pages of lesson plans and PowerPoint slides provided by the Air Force is a January 2013 Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute “student guide” entitled “Extremism.” The document says that it is “for training purposes only” and “do not use on the job.” Highlights include:

  • The document defines extremists as “a person who advocates the use of force or violence; advocates supremacist causes based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or national origin; or otherwise engages to illegally deprive individuals or groups of their civil rights.”
  • A statement that “Nowadays, instead of dressing in sheets or publically espousing hate messages, many extremists will talk of individual liberties, states’ rights, and how to make the world a better place.”
  • ...
  • Under a section labeled “Extremist Ideologies” the document states, “In U.S. history, there are many examples of extremist ideologies and movements. The colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule and the Confederate states who sought to secede from the Northern states are just two examples.”
  • In this same section, the document lists the 9/11 attack under a category of “Historical events.”
  • [A]ctive participationwith regard to extremist organizations is incompatible with military service and, is therefore prohibited.” [Emphasis in original]
  • ...
  • The SPLC is listed as a resource for information on hate groups and referenced several times throughout the guide.
  • Of the five organizations besides the SPLC listed as resources, one is an SPLC project (Teaching Tolerance) and one considers any politically or socially conservative movement to be a potential hate group (Political Research Associates).
  • Other than a mention of 9/11 and the Sudan, there is no discussion of Islamic extremism.

In April 2013, following a terrorist shooting at the Family Research Council (FRC) headquarters that occurred in August 2012, Judicial Watch filed multiple FOIA requests to determine what, if any, influence SPLC’s branding of hate groups had on government agencies. On its website, the SPLC has depicted FRC as a “hate group,” along with other such mainstream conservative organizations as the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, and Coral Ridge Ministries. At the time of the shooting, FRC president Tony Perkins accused the SPLC of sparking the shooting, saying the shooter “was given a license to shoot … by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center.”

Though the document released today by Judicial Watch was obtained from the Air Force, it originated in a DOD office and is, therefore. thought likely to be used in other agency components...


In other words, the federal government is so infested with radical leftists, Marxists and other "progressives" that they are teaching a Bizarro-version of American history in which the nation's founders are extremists and, they, of course are the benevolent masterminds.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.