Bitterness, Anger, Slander, and Constitutional Conventions

It looks like the general terms of the political debate between Left and Right are framed for the foreseeable future. We on the Right will argue the current administration’s policies are reckless on several counts; fiscal irresponsibility chief among them. The Left will slander us as racists, homophobes, xenophobes, misogynists, Islamaphobes, and whatever else they can pull out of their Politically Correct handbook of imagined horrors.

As one small example of what to expect, take the comment left on my March 26 posting by someone named Richard. At first I couldn’t figure out where he saw ‘bitterness’ and ‘anger’ in my writing style. ‘Sarcasm’ maybe - but ‘bitterness’ and ‘anger’? I have determined to be entertaining in this project (at least for those of you who share my sarcastic sense of humor). ‘Bitterness’ and ‘anger’ would never serve that goal. Then I started drafting this post, and ... I got it – I understood Richard. Poor, poor, Richard. His reasoning seems to be: LibertyAtStake opposes the policies of a president who happens to be black (well, half black, to be precise); therefore LibertyAtStake is a hate filled racist. The pathetically fallacious reasoning  identifies Richard as a person in desperate need of public assistance designed for low IQ individuals.

I couldn’t explore this topic any better than Mark Davis does in this Dallas Morning News opinion piece - The dubious logic linking Tea Parties to racism.

The truth, of course, is the Left has launched this coordinated mass slander campaign because they are panicked by fear of the growing power of the T.E.A. Party message. And slander is the only card they have left, because they know they will lose on the merits of the arguments the T.E.A. Party patriots bring up – e.g. fiscal irresponsibility, government overreach, respect (or lack thereof) for the Constitution. The fun part is the T.E.A. Party Express is even now bearing down on them; and their panic should only mount as the climactic day of April 15 nears.

So, with apologies to renowned hippie and accomplished songwriter Neil Young, and also The Daily Caller’s Anchorman, I have adapted and modified certain famous song lyrics to stoke the fear now already growing in Progressive hearts.

“Ms. Palin and pitchforks coming,
We’re finally on the march.
This summer I hear the drumming,
No-vemb-er TEA Par-ty.”

===

The really good thing about the Left pursuing its unhinged slanderous narrative is the Left will be self-disqualifying itself from participation in the substantive public debate. IOW – the only discussion that matters now is between the right and the center. This discussion is coalescing around a realistic action plan that has two prongs:

Legislative Prong

1. Win back the House of Representatives in November 2010.

2. Use the power of the Appropriations Committee (“power of the purse”) to deny funding to newly created ObamaCare bureaucracies, or any of the many other abuses perpetrated by the Progressives in this session. (My personal favorite: The ‘If It Says Czar in the Job Title, It Is an Unpaid Volunteer Position’ Act of 2011.)

3. In November 2012 elect a president who respects the limits of the Constitution and/or a veto proof 2/3 congressional majority that also respects the limits of the Constitution.

4. Completely repeal ObamaCare in 2013. Begin governing the country within the limited government framework established by the Constitution, in 2013.

Constitutional Prong

1. Challenge the constitutionality of the ObamaCare individual mandate in federal court. This Washington Times article provides a balanced report of the current status.

2. Dust off the 10th Amendment, and pass ‘Nullification’ laws in individual state legislatures. The Tenth Amendment Center is leading the charge.

There has also been some lively, patriotically motivated, discussion of possible Constitutional amendments. Since there are now 27 Amendments, the proposals are usually framed as the “28th Amendment.” Search the Internet for “28th Amendment” and you can perform your own comprehensive review. Some of the proposals include prohibiting individual purchase mandates (surprise, surprise); and old chestnuts like term limits, and balanced budget dictates.

What surprises me is the lack of serious talk about calling a Constitutional Convention. This seems to me to be an egregious lack of imagination. Really – let’s think outside the box for a minute, people. The Founding Fathers, in their infinitely amazing brilliance, gave us a methodical and organized process for periodically refreshing the relevance of the Constitution. It’s called Article V:

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

“…or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States…”

If I’m reading the public mood accurately, getting 34 state legislatures on board to convene a meeting on the subject of Constitutional amendments is not so far-fetched.  I could see it being pulled together in a year’s time, or less. Maybe some enterprising state-level professional politician could start a Facebook page, or something.

I’m thinking about making my next post a careful examination of amendment proposals that could be introduced and debated in such a convention.

It’s On (Your Agitator-In-Chief Said So)

This Daily Caller editorial perfectly captures my mood on this rainy Friday morning.

I was the guy who spent last Saturday enjoying a beautiful spring afternoon on the west lawn of the Senate, with his wife and son, enjoying several patriotic speeches. I was also the guy who was perfectly willing – should events take an unexpectedly ugly turn – to storm the Capitol and drag Harry Reid’s sorry ass right out of his office for a long overdue reckoning with the people. According to reliable news outlets (and corroborated by my own eyes) there were anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 more of you there on Saturday. A fair number of you stayed in town through the end of the weekend to fly the flag - in the face of the Least Representative Congress in History passing its latest in a string of industry takeover bills. Bravo to all the patriots who gave of their own time and treasure to keep the fight up. And here’s the statistic that matters most – zero arrests. Let me say it again, zero arrests - despite the best efforts of certain members of the Least Representative Congress in History to set up the conditions.

Then, during the week, certain members of the Least Representative Congress in History came out to publicly whine about tepid harassment.  Harassment which, upon investigation, pales in comparison to the daily fare for the average conservative talk radio host. Make no mistake, this whining is a coordinated propaganda campaign conducted by the Least Representative Congress in History – for the specific purpose of dividing and vilifying grass roots resistance to their Progressive coup d'etat. They think they can slander the millions upon millions of TEA Party patriots based on a handful of largely unproven and  isolated incidents. One of their leading spokesmen in the slander has been none other than the man who showed us there really is no such thing as a Pro-Life Democrat: Congressman Bart Stupak himself.  Making Stupak's participation in the slander all the more obnoxious is the fact Stupak himself experienced this page from the Left’s own playbook, when he stupidly maneuvered himself into position to be the deciding vote for ObamaCare. Yeah, that’s right, I’m saying if we stack it all up, you most certainly got more menacing threats (quantity & quality) from the Left than you did from the Right, Congressman Teapack. I invite you to prove me wrong with the release of all the tapes, under force of subpoena of course, seeing as you are a Democrat, and that means I wouldn't trust you as far as I can throw you.

Your Agitator-In-Chief is also out fanning the flames. Barack Hussein Obama spent Thursday somewhere in Iowa, giving a stump speech to a crowd that was undoubtedly rounded up by SEIU Brown Shirts. The advice he gave to this gathering of Obama Zombies included “argue” and “get in your neighbors face.” To GOP plans to run in November on a ‘repeal and replace’ plank, he bellowed ‘Bring It on!’ Well, well - we’re way past even bothering to point out what it means to be ‘presidential.’ We should just follow the Agitator-In-Chief’s advice. I don’t think it will have the consequences he intends. This is the guy who badly lost his declared war on a broadcast network last year, and now he wants to declare war on every patriotic American. Bring it on.

April 15 will be the next major milestone in Liberty vs. Tyranny USA 2010. If my sixth sense remains in working order, I suspect tens (or hundreds) of thousands of patriots will assemble in the streets of DC to take the Agitator-In-Chief up on his offer. Millions (maybe even tens of millions) more will assemble throughout the entire nation. In assemblies this large, there may be a few arrests, but there will be nothing even approaching what routinely occurs at Leftie gatherings; for example the riots that occurred in Copenhagen during the Cop15 conference. Memo to Lefties – until you can produce a documented TEA Party rally that approaches the violence of Cop15 – shut up and get ready to be in the minority come November.

It’s The Process, Stupid

What’s Ahead

I’ve always liked Fred Barnes. As a commentator, that is, I don’t actually know the guy. He’s never seemed to me to be the sharpest knife in drawer, especially when sitting across from Charles Krauthammer. But his instincts are unfailing. And, man, were his instincts right on in this March 18 Wall Street Journal piece.

In this WSJ piece, Mr. Barnes lays out quite plainly what’s before us for the next several years – a rancorous pitch battle between us defenders of liberty and the peddlers of socialism.  It also reflects what I told a personal friend (one who has generally failing liberal leaning political instincts), when he told me during the primary season he was getting behind Obama. His reasoning? He thought Obama was the guy to motivate blacks out of their dependency class mentality. My initial response: huh? Then I remembered well intentioned liberals over think everything at all times. My second response: If this rookie ideologue gets elected, strap on your crash helmet, you’re going to need it.

Strap on your crash helmet, America, you’re going to need it. You can thank your Agitator-In-Chief, the Progressive machine that manufactured him, and the criminally biased MSM that failed to vet him for you.


Process: Thermotron Release

Our always proactive Field Engineer community (the sharpest of hand-picked knives each and all) was ahead of Mr. Barnes. As the build up to the phony Blair House Summit was boiling, the Thermotron Field Engineer community initiated a bottom up campaign to warn us performance requirements were about to exceed design limits. Our always proactive team of Design Engineers got the message and swung into action. The patented Thermotron upgrade release process reached the Quality Assurance testing phase the same week your Agitator-In-Chief cancelled his trip to his alleged boyhood home in Indonesia. The upgrade passed its final couple of stress tests at almost the precise moment seven allegedly pro-life Democrats folded like cheap lawn chairs to give your Agitator-In-Chief the margin of victory for introducing socialized medicine to the United States of America.

Today, I present to you the Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron 2010, version 2.0. Now, you might notice the parts you can see - the “transparent” parts - are exactly the same. This is true. But, trust us, the parts you can’t see are way, way better. Really.

Fortunately, the original Thermotron design vision gives us a process framework to apply to the new performance challenges.


Process: The Road to Impeachment

The Agitator-In-Chief has virtually ensured that his impeachment is now a question of “when,” not “if.”

On March 17, when his socialized medicine legislation was still in deep trouble on the Hill, Mr. Obama was desperate to reach the largest TV news audience in the country. The problem for him, of course, is he had previously unilaterally declared war on the network that possesses this audience – Fox. Under the circumstances, I think Brett Bair was remarkably restrained while he unsuccessfully attempted to get straight answers to simple questions from a filibustering Obama. The largest TV news audience in the country, already enraged by a legislative process that stinks to high heaven, was told by the Agitator-In-Chief they don’t really care about process after all. Hmmmm. They also witnessed Obama admit he had no idea what was or was not included in his #1 domestic legislative initiative. Hmmmmmm.  They also understand this legislation is a jobs killer in a down economy with high unemployment. Hmmmmm. Smooth politicking, Barry.

Then there is the backroom deal making that pushed this monstrous bill over the line. The stuff we know about, the stuff we suspect, and the stuff we have yet to uncover. The one thing you can be sure of is MSM will be of no use to us. But, like every den of thieves, we can keep a close eye on the Progressive gang. Keep a sharp look out for signs of frayed honor.

The leading contender for the deal that impeaches Obama is the job the White House allegedly offered Joe Sestak, to entice him to drop his primary challenge to turncoat Senator Alan Specter. Specter now feels betrayed and is publicly turning on his den-mates. And, worst of all for the White House, the American Spectator is on the case. These are the same guys who broke the Arkansas “Troopergate” story in 1993, which blazed the trail that eventually lead to a certain stained dress and a certain President lying under oath.

The Washington Times put the President on notice with the “I” word when the flatly unconstitutional Slaughter Rule was still in play. The Democrats pulled back from that particular brink, but their willingness to consider it is certainly indicative of their general contempt for the Constitution.

In more “abuse of power” news that might eventually be useful to Impeachment articles:

- The Obama Administration is apparently moving aggressively to restore federal funding for ACORN.

- The Obama Administration may be illegally lobbying federal employees for political purposes.

The poster child for the Thermotron Impeachment meter graphic was Stubborn Obama while the House legislation battle raged. It is now Whiny Obama, in anticipation of who we expect to see under oath claiming the dirty deals were Bush's fault.

The Events meter is obviously self-explanatory; it is the passage of ObamaCare into law. There is no need to update the graphic.

The graphic for Leftie Lunacy is Iconic Obama – the manufactured cult of Leftie personality that has brought us now to the brink of revolution in the streets.

News from the GOP / TEA Party Alignment front is more encouraging. The GOP Senate caucus is vowing to make the most of its limited powers to keep Democrat plans for socialized medicine front and center. Good – the longer the Democrats are made to defend the indefensible, the better. Several patriotic state attorneys general across the nation have already filed suit against the unconstitutional individual mandate. I haven't done the due diligence, but I'll bet not many, if any at all, have (D) after their name.  The GOP in DC is getting serious about stepping up to the plate to eliminate earmarks. Here's another Hill story on earmark reform.  Since fiscal responsibility is the #1 priority of the T.E.A. Party movement, it is a sign the professional politicians on that side of the aisle are beginning to get it. Therefore, pigs ears on a headband serves as our new graphic.  And you have to give the GOP some credit for standing solid in unified opposition to ObamaCare. In terms of principle, and political allegiances, let’s just take it as better late than never.


In Other Somewhat Related News

The Obama Administration signed on March 18 an $18 Billion so-called “Jobs” bill. This bill will be as ineffective as its’ 48 times more expensive predecessor bill ‘Porkulus,’ which only 6% of you believe created even a single job. It is more of the same, only less, top-down government demand side spending that always fails. Especially when deficits are huge – where the hell is the new spending supposed to come from? Can you spell “inflation”? The only measures that will revive this economy are steep, across-the–board and permanent tax cuts designed to open up the supply side of the equation. Unfortunately for the country, the Obama Administration does not understand this lesson - which is available to all of us in American presidential history; from Calvin Coolidge, to John F. Kennedy, to Ronald Reagan.

Relations between Israel and the United States are in tatters. As no less an esteemed Democrat than Lanny Davis writes – fault for fueling the tiff lies at the feet of the Agitator-In-Chief. After a year and a half of giving public apology speeches and writing private love letters to the Islamic regime in Iran – a regime that is fast moving toward a nuclear arms capability and which states as its official policy the annihilation of Israel. The same Iran that funds the terrorist organization Hamas, considered a major political party by the Palestinians  - who also advocate the elimination of Israel. Appeasing your enemies and bickering with your friends. Smooth diplomacy, Barry.

Strap on your crash helmet, America, you’re going to need it.

On the Motion to Slouch Toward Socialism…

…the Yeas are 219, the Nays are 212.

Or: Progressives, socialists, liberal Democrats, and allegedly pro-life folding lawn chairs takeover 1/6 of the American economy against popular and bi-partisan opposition.

So, what’s another trillion bucks down the social welfare state rat hole when the country’s broke?

The socialized medicine camel’s nose is now officially under the tent. I could go into a dark Thomas Paine stylized “these are the times that try men’s souls” meditation. I even thought about it. But, especially after participating in the Saturday’s rally on the Capitol lawn – with 20,000 or more other high spirited patriots from around the country - I don’t find that to be the appropriate tack. When Thomas Paine wrote his famous words the colonials were an ill-equipped rag tag band bravely resisting a better equipped army representing the world’s most powerful empire. In the present crisis, by contrast, We The People know we outnumber the Progressives. We The People know we have the Constitution on our side. And, most importantly, We The People have been awakened to the lies, unethical practices, contempt for the Constitution, and true agenda of the Progressives.

I can’t wait for April 15. I held out hope it would be a day of celebration – at TEA parties across the nation – after winning a victory against legislation that seemed inevitable before the Progressives lost “Ted Kennedy’s” seat to the people. Instead, it will be the next nation-wide mobilization of patriots to roll back the Progressive assault. I expect the streets of DC will be swamped with patriots from all around the country, in contrast to the small band that gathered to fly the flag at Lafayette Park last year. I also expect a lot of invigorating talk in the DC streets on April 15 that centers on the verbs “repeal” and “impeach.”

We have a little over 7 more months of enduring the Progressives in numeric control of the legislative branch, and sitting illegitimately in the Oval Office. We The People need to keep the pressure on our elected representatives, exercising our First Amendment rights to the fullest, and make each and every one of them fear for their electoral lives in November. But, let me be clear – November 2010 can’t be about throwing all the bums out. Some of the so-called “bums” do get it, and we will need them in 2011 and 2012 to resist from positions of power (like Speaker and Majority Leader, for example). Going forward, this link will help you keep track of who’s who: Pelosi Index.

Here’s one professional politician that is beginning to really get it. He’s on our side.




Here’s a professional politician that will never get it. He’s on their side.




If you get it, keep pounding the Capitol every time they try to rush at us with another Progressive outrage. Amnesty for illegal aliens seems to be next in the pipeline. Despite the growing awareness that man-made Global Warming is junk science, they will probably rush at us with yet another economy crushing new tax scheme they used to call “Cap and Trade” (before the term became generally discredited in the public discussion). We await word on the new label they will come up with for the same old massive wealth redistribution scheme.

If you get it, and still have neighbors who don’t, talk to them. Lobby them. Even the densest or least informed among us, if not previously committed to utopian ideology, are educable.

A good number of patriotic professional politicians at the state level are stepping up to the fight as well. The last count I recall is 38 state attorneys general ready to file lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate. A number of state legislatures (ten and growing, I think) have apparently exercised their tenth amendment rights and passed laws nullifying any individual mandate. I am proud that my home state of Virginia is moving aggressively on both of these fronts. According to my math, and my reading of Article V of the Constitution, we need 34 states on board to call a Constitutional convention. This information may come in handy in the not too distant future.

Welcome the predictable outcome when Community Agitators (Organizers) are elevated into the Oval Office - chaos. If we can keep our noses to the wheel, it may level off and begin to abate after the second Tuesday of November 2010.

The release date for the Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron 2010 version 2.0 has been postponed, since our attention was diverted by all the commotion generated by your Agitator-In-Chief. We also need to carefully calculate how many testers to lay off due to the newly mandated costs in the bill that passed last night. I remain hopeful the release date will be sometime this week.

Health Care March Madness

I begin drafting this post on the day March Madness tips off - the basketball tournament that is.  The post actually concerns the DC Health Care Reform madness - which has been on full open throttle 24x7 since the phony Blair House Summit concluded.

I’ve decided the best entertainment corollary for what’s going on in DC right now is the old Hanna Barbera cartoon Wacky Racers. Here’s a taste. You may cast elected officials into racer roles according to your own fancy.




In summary, The Most Transparent Administration in History has collaborated with The Most Ethical Congress in History - to throw the entire country into a state of chaos. The House vote presently at issue will have two possible outcomes for Barack Hussein Obama:

(1) The inevitable Waterloo style defeat originally predicted by Senator Jim DeMint in July 2009, or

(2) A pyrrhic victory merely deferring the final date for the inevitable Waterloo style defeat originally predicted by Senator Jim DeMint in July 2009.

Even if the Progressives now calling the shots in DC meet their declared goal of railroading this monstrosity through the House of Representatives this week, the next lines of defense are being prepared.

First, multiple law suits across the nation are poised to be filed, challenging the Constitutionality of the House package the moment it passes. There are at least two strong cases that will be made to the Judicial Branch by these petitioners.

(1) Passage by the so-called Slaughter Rule violates Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution – which requires a straight up or down vote on identical bills by both Legislative chambers before presentation to the President for signature.

(2) The mandate on individuals to purchase health insurance exceeds the powers granted to Congress to regulate commerce.

Second, the Republican Senate caucus is preparing to mount a determined defense if and when the package comes back to the Senate.

However, I remain hopeful We The People can win this fight here and now in the House of Representatives. The several thousand patriots who expended their own time and treasure to bring their case directly to their Representatives, with the March 16 People's Surge, had a huge impact. The millions more who melted down the phone lines on Capitol Hill also affected the debate (or, more accurately, the vote fixing) to our favor. As evidence I cite the following from today’s maelstrom of news on this topic: Barack Hussein Obama has postponed his trip to his alleged boyhood home in Indonesia. This tells me they don’t have the votes in the House, and are keeping him here in a desperate attempt to lobby for the additional votes.

So, keep the pressure up, patriots. My attention, unfortunately, is diverted by my responsibility to supervise Quality Assurance Testing for the soon-to-be-released Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron 2010, v2.0.

Liberty vs. Tyranny USA 2010: Pickett's Charge

I have to admit this historical moment has come along sooner than I initially anticipated when I inaugurated this humble little blog in December 2009. The moment has arrived for the “Pickett’s Charge” of the American Progressive gang.

The historical analogy fits on an irrelevant personal level. I sometimes like to kid my southern belle bride – who is distantly related to George Edward Pickett himself – about how Pickett finished last in his class at West Point, and gallantly led the most ill-advised frontal assault in American military history (Confederate charge, 3rd day at Gettysburg – generally recognized as the turning point in the American Civil War). Of course, he was only following Robert E. Lee’s orders at the time, and historical accounts are ambiguous (but colorful) about relations between the two men afterward.

When I started this blog, I honestly thought the Progressive gang had so-called “Health Reform” in the bag, and their “Pickett’s Charge” legislative moment would come at a later time - over Cap and Tax, Immigration Amnesty, or any of a number of other Progressive outrages dancing in their little heads. But, along came Scott Brown to shake up their plans, and here we are. The moment has arrived to man the ramparts, take aim at the Progressive troops charging at us with the battle cry “Alinksyu Akbar,” clad in their Mao jackets festooned with hopey-changey campaign paraphernalia. Obama (Lee) has given the orders, Pelosi (Pickett) is leading the charge, and the elected donkey caucus is providing the troops.

To do my little part to stoke up morale for the necessary defense against this berserker charge, I created the “T.E.A. Film Festival” Playlist on my YouTube account. Via the magic of the Internet (thank you Al Gore), you can view any of the 27 videos individually a few minutes at time. However, I specifically sequenced the playlist to be experienced as something akin to a full-length documentary of the T.E.A. Party movement to date, around 97 minutes viewing time. The audio portion of the Intro and Outro videos was written and performed by my youngest son. The 25 videos between were produced by individual patriots across the nation. Think of it as a federalist approach to film making. One gateway to this film experience is the YouTube embed at the top of this blog.

So, enjoy the documentary I’ve done on you the American people, contact your representatives in DC every way you can to tell them you don’t want the government to run another 1/6 of your economy, and let’s make April 15, 2010 a victory celebration.

Time for a Thermotron Recall?

Lately the design limits for the Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron 2010 have been pushed to the brink.  A consensus is building inside our highly professional community of Field Engineers that a recall may be necessary - to beef up the cooling system.

In his now famous March 3 "ObamaCare Waterloo" speech, which I chronicled on this blog post, President Barack Hussein Obama raised the prospects for his own impeachment a startling 5 percentage points.   When an American President plainly ignores the will of the American people, to push his own ego-driven ideological agenda, throwing the body politic into a state of chaos; We The People should stand up and take notice.

On the 'Leftie Lunacy' front, another percentage point was added by the First Amendment crime committed against my humble little blog, which I chronicled on this March 5 blog post.  The criminal who attempted to silence my humble little blog with a juvenile DNS Redirection attack has yet to be brought into custody.  Who needs further proof of the determination to silence opposition voices possessed by the vast network of Progressive ideologues that has infiltrated our society?

As I pointed out in my After Action Report, the evidence clearly shows the criminal is someone with administrative rights to the Blogspot 3rd party widget Homer Simpson Quotes.   Now, depending on the true identity of the criminal, and on my true identity of course, one would hardly expect such a juvenile cyber encounter to matter at all.  However, I take direct attacks very personally, giving me no choice but to increase the Thermotron's bottom line in retaliation.

I will also lay down a challenge to the owner/operator of Homer Simpson Quotes.  I, LibertyAtStake, challenge the owner/operator of Homer Simpson Quotes to a public debate.  I'll let you choose the moderator if you allow me to choose the two topics.  For the topics, I choose "First Amendment Rights" and "Blogging Ethics."  I might be able to swing an hour for each topic on local cable access TV.  With your help, we could maybe combine financial resources and do something a little bigger.  You know how to reach me by email: libertyatstake@gmail.com.

GOP / TEA Party Alignment measurements have fluctuated since my last report.  The GOP's performance at the phony Blair House summit was stellar.  This was quickly followed up by an article in 'The Hill' by House Minority Leader Boehner advising the GOP to "walk among" the TEA Part patriots.  The probability of eventual impeachment for Barack Hussein Obama accordingly moved upward two percentage points. 

Shortly thereafter, Senator Jim Bunning made his now famous principled stand for fiscal responsibility, raising the impeachment probability another percentage point.  For an as yet unexplained reason he received no support from his Senate GOP colleagues.  Jim Bunning threw a fastball high and inside, and the GOP stood there and looked at a called strike.  This disappointing performance subtracted a point from the Thermotron's bottom line.    Then - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave a very succinct, and devastatingly efficient, opposition reply to the "ObamaCare Waterloo" speech - adding the lost percentage point back.

I have thought long and hard about how these observations fit together.  After much consideration, I have decided the best response is for me to invite Mitch McConnell to lunch for a little chat.  The Senate Minority Leader is acting like a politician who almost, but not quite, gets it.

I suspect the Minority Leader held back the troops from supporting Jim Bunning's principled stand because he did not want the 'Party of No' label, knowing he was preparing a devastating 'No Way In Hell' response to ObamaCare.  This is the calculation of a cautious professional politician fitting for serene times.  We are not living in such a time.  We need all conservative hands on deck to mount a determined defense against the most determined Progressive assault against liberty we've ever seen yet.

The probability of eventual impeachment for Barack Hussein Obama now stands at 23%.  Twenty Three is the number once worn by the greatest basketball player in history, who also made a name for himself in Chicago.

After Action Report: Cyber Wars 2010

Immediately after rolling out of bed this morning, as I sometimes do, I checked up on the status of this blog.  I was greeted with a bit of shock to begin my day today.  When I clicked on the link to my blogspot, it briefly flashed on the screen and then random unexpected web sites started appearing.  Being an advanced ape above all (time to shamelessly plug the Kinks' masterpiece "Apeman"); I naturally tried the same thing a couple of more times.  You probably don't need to be told I got the same result each time.  Still in advanced ape mode, my main thought at this point was "holy s**t, I've been hacked!"

Then I poured myself a cup of coffee and started exercising my god given gift of critical reasoning.  First of all, the damage assessment.  What else is broken?  Click around for a few minutes.   Nothing.  OK, good.  Virus scan.  All clean.  Good.

These measures were really just prudently paranoid precautions anyway, because before my coffee cup was even full I recognized and categorized the attack as a Domain Name Server (DNS) Redirection - a relatively beneign, if annoyingly childish, attack.

And I wasn't all that worried about losing work or data.  I specifically chose Google's Blogspot service for this project not only because it fit my budget (free); but also because Google may very well own the largest hosting infrastructure on the planet (just guessing).  This means I should have little to no worries about the security and availability of the network hosting my blog.  Plus the Blogspot service includes simple-to-use backup tools that allow me to keep backup copies of everything on separate media.

Here it was time to drive boy #1 to school.  The drive went well while I pondered next steps.  Traffic was lighter than usual for some unknown reason.

The Blogspot service also includes help resources that I have found to be actually helpful.  A couple of searches, some reading, a little critical reasoning; and it became apparent the security hole was in all likelihood created by the inclusion of a 3rd party widget.  So, I went into my Blogspot dashboard, and began methodically removing one 3rd Party widget at a time, and testing the effect in Preview mode.

Long story short - the attack surface came through the Homer Simpson Quotes 3rd Party widget.

So, either the attacker hates Homer Simpson, or someone with administrative rights to Homer Simpson Quotes hates LibertyAtStake.  And committed a First Amendment crime.

My new policy is to avoid including 3rd Party widgets on this blog.  The experience of my faithful readers will be slightly diminished unfortunately.  The anti-First Amendment forces in the Cyber Wars of 2010 will need to find another attack surface to silence this blog.

Click here to link to the Kinks' original Promo film for "Apeman."

Obama’s Waterloo

It turns out Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has a knack for predicting the future. In July 2009 he foresaw ObamaCare would not be acceptable to the American people, and predicted a successful opposition would amount to Obama’s ‘Waterloo.’ ObamaCare proponents have since tried to make political hay out of these comments - to paint DeMint and like minded conservatives as obstructionists standing athwart the progressive mandate Progressives read into the November 2008 election. Events since July 2009 have proven DeMint right and Progressives wrong – there was no such mandate. The speech Barack Hussein Obama gave in the White House East Room in the early afternoon of March 3, 2010 may not be the ‘Waterloo’ for his entire Presidency; but it was most certainly the ‘Waterloo’ for ObamaCare. The ‘Waterloo’ analogy is perfectly apt because it will stand as the decisive event that sealed ObamaCare’s final fate, just as the battle in Belgium sealed Napoleon’s final fate.

This is where I get to shamelessly plug the latest Polls ‘R Us poll. Of the seven Obama clones identified by the Polls ‘R Us research staff, we were treated to a strange morph of Stubborn Obama and Clueless Obama on the afternoon of March 3, 2010. Stubborn Obama had already decided to shove ObamaCare down the American people’s throats against their will. Clueless Obama trotted out a bunch of lab coats as props - after deriding the bill itself as a “prop” in last week’s phony Blair House Summit.  Tin political ear? 

After consulting with Clueless Obama on the so-called “optics,” Stubborn Obama made the speech – defiantly. Stubborn Obama just can’t accept that the American people do not want the government getting between them and their doctor. Stubborn Obama demonizes private insurance companies because this is the entity that currently sits in the daily triangle between patients and doctors (i.e. they are the ‘competition,’ or more accurately, the ‘enemy’ to his preferred third wheel – the government)

Stubborn Obama made a phony show of including Republican ideas in a so-called bi-partisan bill. I’m sorry, but mixing in a few M&Ms into a quarter-pounder crap sandwich doesn’t make the sandwich any more appealing. Stubborn Obama also told several political lies to further his ego-driven agenda.

First and foremost is his lie the bill is somehow “bi-partisan.” The alleged bi-partisan process began on March 5, 2009 with a phony summit where Iconic Obama actually started the meeting with a statement along the lines of “get back to me this afternoon with your recommendations to fix everything.” IOW – it was a ridiculous show summit staged by a Progressive ideologue still feeling on top of his game. Then, the Democrat majority in Congress embarked on a partisan takeover of 1/6 the American economy. By the August recess, as predicted by Sen. DeMint, these Democrats found themselves being shouted down by the American citizenry in Town Hall meetings. After witnessing this, ObamaCare proponents chose to press on – and press on still, in the face of grass-roots resistance that included the 9-12 March on DC, the Emergency House Call on November 5, and the Code Red Senate Rally on December 15. I mean, these were grass-roots mobilizations of patriots all across the nation that literally brought these people, of their own free choice, at their own cost, to the front lawn of the Capitol. And still the proponents of ObamaCare pressed on. By this point, I had witnessed enough to begin this blog project (so, call me slow on the up take.) I like to think with all humility this blog project has contributed positively to the resistance since then. At a minimum, I can hope it will stand as a brief historical account. 

We then eventually wound our way to the phony February 25 summit, at which Obama called the bill itself a ‘prop,’ then spent a week bolting watered-down cherry-picked elements of the GOP alternative onto this prop. This is the bill Obama spoke in favor of in his March 3 ‘Waterloo’ speech.

The second most significant lie is his reassertion (for the uncounted Nth time) this bill will not add to the deficit. He again – even after being called on it in the phony Blair House Summit – double counted a supposed $500B in Medicare savings due to waste recovery. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) told him you can either apply the $500B to the deficit or to the new entitlement program, but not both (duh). To make the statement ObamaCare does not add to the deficit is to still do both in the final math (ugh).

These were the lies of commission. There were also lies of omission. As Mitch McConnell clearly pointed out in his response, Obama failed to mention the $500B in new taxes his bill imposes. Or the $2.5 Trillion in new spending.  Obama also failed to mention the invalid assumptions that were presented to CBO by Democrats – 6 years of spending against 10 years of taxes – despite Paul Ryan pointing it out plainly at the phony Blair House Summit.

So, what was Stubborn Obama up to with his March 3 ‘Waterloo’ speech? Simple – he is a Leftie ideologue doubling down on failed results. Leftie ideologues always double down on failed results, because their utopian vision trumps the measurement of results. The smart money in DC is still on ObamaCare dying in the House, now that Stubborn Obama has petulantly called for his up or down vote. When it goes down in flames we will see where Stubborn Obama goes from there. It will not be pretty. Stubborn Obama is a direct descendant of Community Agitator (Organizer) Obama.

Update

Mitch McConnell's opposition response to Stubborn Obama was a masterstroke.  So, let's just embed it here.

Ron Paul a Conservative? (Part 2)

My own assessment of Ron Paul’s conservative credentials comes down to these three measures.

First, I’ve always believed the defining attribute of the conservative mind is a hard-headed realism. We conservatives begin our thought processes by first reasonably assessing reality, as it is presented to us by nature and our creator. We then apply proven conservative principles to this reality, in order to make incremental, measurable improvements to that reality - but always remaining mindful of the natural limits of man’s ability to manipulate nature as given to us by our creator.

Second, Ronald Reagan once famously said “my 80% friend is not my 20% enemy.” This is a profoundly conservative insight. To be conservative is to avoid the trap of thinking dogmatically. For example, as a libertarian conservative, I will not label social conservatives my enemies just because they may be slightly more inclined to use the powers of government to legislate morality. I’m happy to accept them into the conservative tent for the common ground we have on important issues such as fiscal responsibility (today’s single most important issue btw – but that’s out of scope for this post). I’m equally happy to have an open and honest debate where we disagree on the margins - using the brilliantly conceived political system given to us by our Founders.

Third, the realistic thinking demanded by the conservative philosophy also requires me to assign relative weights to the 80% side and the 20% side. If the potential impact of being wrong in the 20% areas of disagreement is inconsequential, or maybe even purely theoretical, then my favorite German phrase applies – “macht nichts” (usually said while shrugging shoulders). On the other hand, if the area of disagreement quite literally holds the potential for deadly consequences – well, then we have a different kind of argument altogether.

To organize my thoughts, I threw together the following table while making reference to Ron Paul’s Wikipedia entry.

Ron Paul Position	LibertyAtStake				Comments
	Strongly Agrees	Somewhat Agrees	Somewhat Disagrees	Strongly Disagrees
Rejects membership in NAFTA and WTO as "managed trade"				X	All trade between sovereign nations is by definition “managed.”  Treaties that  push the direction of the management toward openness are welcome.
tighter border security	X				Border security is an important measure in both the ongoing culture war and the War on Terror.
ending welfare benefits for illegal aliens	X				Welfare benefits are for citizens.
opposes birthright citizenship			X		Not a high priority for immigration reform.  If the borders were controlled and benefits for illegals weren’t as easily available, fewer illegals would try  to make anchor babies.  I see no reason (yet) to tinker with the Constitution here.
Opposes Illegal alien amnesty	X				What part of “illegal” do the Progressives not understand?
grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal targeting specific terrorists.				X	Falls into the same trap as the Law Enforcement approach to fighting Terrorism – too narrowly constrained and not nimble enough to win the fight.
never to raise taxes		X			We are certainly way over-taxed today.   The odds of me seeing a new tax I like in my remaining life span are slim to none.  I just don’t want to say “never” on the only legitimate means the government has to raise revenue for its legitimate functions (far fewer than it is performing today).
Never approve a budget deficit		X			Again, absurdly high deficits are indeed public policy problem number one today. But, deficit spending per se is not automatically illegitimate.  The USA ran up deficits while winning WW II.  These deficits were easily closed by pro-growth economic policies in the 1950’s.
supports eliminating most federal  government agencies		X			Depends on what the meaning of “most” is.  I’m all in on eliminating Education and Energy for sure.  We could negotiate from there.
does not support a complete return to a gold standard, instead preferring to legitimize gold and silver as legal tender and to remove the sales tax on them				X	I just don’t get how this is supposed to work.  Two currencies (paper and precious metal) – with one (precious metal) valued by the other (like any other product or service)?  Or is it the other way around – paper backed by metals (but not entirely)?  Sounds more like a proposal from a guy who has a lot of gold and silver stashed away and doesn’t want to be taxed at sales time.  IOW – it’s kinda kooky.
gradual elimination of the Federal Reserve System				X	I happen to like that monetary policy is separated from Treasury, unlike most other nations.  Diffusion of powers is a very constitutional position.  Paul misses the point here.
2nd Amendment rights	X				I’m perfectly happy to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Paul and exercise our 2nd Amendment rights against an army of Progressive zombies, if and when it becomes necessary.
Withdrawal  from North Atlantic Treaty Organization			X		NATO is the only military alliance we have that functions at all militarily.  But I’m perfectly willing to go it alone as American interests dictate.
withdrawal from the United Nations		X			Yeah, I like ragging on the UN as much as the next guy, but this is not exactly at the top of my priority list and definitely not worth the chaos that would erupt if actually attempted right now.  Radically reducing the amount of money the US throws down the UN rat hole has my full support, however.
Nonintervention				X	This is the crux of my problem with Ron Paul … and being wrong on this literally holds deadly potential.

Ron Paul believes his positions are rooted in a strict respect for the Constitution. I give him credit for that. I also believe my positions are rooted in a strict respect for the Constitution. I hope he would give me credit for the same.

Where I think Ron Paul goes astray is he falls prey to the same cognitive fallacy as Progressive ideologues – that is, too literal and rigid an interpretation of his guiding philosophy.

Our strongest areas of disagreement are obviously in the War on Terror. Let’s explore this dimension on this point.

As a conservative I must recognize Radical Islam is a real phenomenon in my world. I also must recognize the world is extremely interconnected. I can use the Internet to communicate with anyone in the world instantly (so can Radical Islamists). I can use the intercontinental air flight system to be anywhere in the world within hours (so can Radical Islamists). In the spaces in between, the combustion engine, wireless communication devices, and various other technologies afford a freedom of movement our Founders could hardly imagine. Explosive technology that fits in a man’s crotch can bring down an airplane. Nuclear devices that fit in a backpack could immobilize a city.

Add all this up and what you have is a cult of insane murder monkeys possessing the potential for creating horrible chaos anywhere in the world. And, need I mention this murderous cult believes as a matter or religion America is the “Great Satan.”

Ron Paul and I are in full agreement on the defensive side of the ball in the War on Terror – i.e. tighter border security. The problem is nobody ever won a war playing defense exclusively.

Ron Paul devotees like to draw a distinction between isolationism and a policy of nonintervention. I find this to be a distinction without a difference. If you are involved in any way beyond your borders, you’ve intervened. It’s a lot like the age-old caution to scientists not to change the nature of what’s being measured by conducting the experiment. In the rather non-scientific field of international relations, it is quite impossible to be involved and not have an affect what’s happening. So, maybe we can agree it’s a judgment call along a continuum of degrees. Maybe we can also agree these judgment calls are some of the hardest decisions for anyone to make.

Ron Paul devotees also sometimes like to claim America was isolationist prior to the 20th Century. They sometimes invoke the Founding Fathers’ consensus position to avoid entanglement with European alliances as proof. Pure baloney.

The Founding Father’s lived in a different time and in very different circumstances. They rightly counseled against being entangled in European alliances - because this would have been, in their time, an unnecessary distraction. The western border of the United States at this time was well east of the Mississippi River. They were looking at a huge continent ripe for the conquering. Like it or not, so-called Manifest Destiny was an “imperial” policy. This policy was pursued by means including the Louisiana Purchase, the Spanish-American War, the Mexican War, and the Indian Wars, etc.

If anything, the United States of America has been far less “imperialistic” since the dawn of the 20th Century. In all the wars we’ve fought since 1900 – WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf I, Afghanistan, Iraq – the only land we’ve asked to keep is the cemeteries to bury our honored dead. We’ve also spent gobs and gobs of American treasure to rebuild the infrastructures and economies of our former adversaries – see, for example, Germany, Japan, and now Iraq. These are wise investments when they work. No stable democracy has ever waged war against another stable democracy.

According to Wikipedia, Ron Paul and I agreed on going into Afghanistan in 2001. I also found the tactics used in Afghanistan in 2001 to be brilliant – small boot-print CIA and Special Forces operations designed to kill Terrorists (and not much else).

According to Wikipedia, Ron Paul and I disagreed on the initial entry into Iraq. It’s not clear to me whether Ron Paul did not believe Saddam Hussein had WMD, or whether he believed Hussein had WMD and Iraq possessing WMD was insufficient justification. It doesn’t really matter. The fact is every credible intelligence agency on the planet felt Hussein had WMD at the time. Nor can anyone deny there were people under Hussein’s care in Iraq with Terrorist ties at the time. Plus, there was at the same time the unsolved Anthrax scare on American soil (still not really solved to everyone’s satisfaction btw). Therefore, Geo. Bush’s decision can be reasonably debated in retrospect in terms of tactical effectiveness; but certainly not criticized with absurd Leftie straw man arguments like the obnoxious “Bush lied, people died.”

Hussein was toppled in rather short order by the greatest fighting military the world has ever seen (ours). WMD was not found. I, personally, am shocked, shocked I tell you, at the total lack of MSM speculation that maybe the WMD was put on trucks and sent to fellow Baathist regime Syria for safekeeping. Use GoogleMaps to take a look at the highway system connecting Iraq and Syria, and ruminate on the possibility for yourself. But, hey, that’s just me.

But I digress. This is where events in Iraq overtook original intentions – as often happens in this messy world of ours. Al Qaeda saw a huge American military presence inside an Arabic nation, and decided to recruit Al Qaeda people from all over the Arabic world to fight the infidel force camped inside Iraq. You are free to argue in retrospect this unintended consequence should have been foreseen – but I defy you to find the contemporaneous MSM editorial that foresaw it.

This is where Geo. Bush and I saw things differently. Geo. Bush held steady to the “nation building” mission that is traditional after 20th Century American military victories. My view was narrower – just take the opportunity to play offense on the enemy’s soil and kill as many Al Qaeda recruits as possible (which would have required a much smaller military presence). Eventually, Gen. Petraeus came along with a plan to defeat the foreign Al Qaeda fighters and resume the original mission of nation building in Iraq (the “surge”). The result of Gen. Petreaus’ military brilliance and Geo. Bush’s resolve is a functioning democracy in the Arab world. That’s an accomplishment by anybody’s measure. It’s also an achievement that furthers the Founders vision of self-determination.

Ron Paul devotees (and anti-war progressives) sometimes throw out the lack of "Declaration of War" as an argument to de-legitimize the Iraq War. Baloney. Authority was granted by Congress by the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, enacted on October 16, 2002. Any argument this act does not satisfy Section 8 of the Constitution makes a distinction without a difference. The Obama administration continues to operate under its authority.

My personal view is our tactics in the War on Terror going forward should involve smaller, more precisely aimed, forces designed to kill and capture Terrorists wherever they may be. That means a big emphasis on human intelligence, Special Forces over huge unit deployments, and, yes, precisely targeted assassination operations. It also involves diplomacy (overt and covert) that includes capitalizing on opportunities for regime change whenever there is a chance to topple a regime that could be expected to share WMD with Terrorists (see what’s going on in Iran today.)

So, what we have here (that’s a ‘Cool Hand Luke’ reference) is a long-winded arrival at realizing Ron Paul and I have a profound disagreement when it comes to playing offense against the single most deadly dangerous threat of our day.

Ensuring safety and security for the citizenry is the number one legitimate function of government. This is the function of government that secures the ability to pursue all other rights. Ignoring an existential threat to the safety and security of the citizenry is not very conservative, and not very libertarian.

Ron Paul may be my 80% friend, but that doesn’t mean I need to support the guy for President.