LAS 2011 Review & 2012 Preview (Part 4 of 4)

Part 1 covered domestic conditions.
Part 2 covered foreign affairs.
Part 3 covered the current electoral situation.
Part 4 covers this blog project.

When I inaugurated this blog nearly 25 months ago, the Democrat Party (usually referred to on this blog as DemoHacks or the Donkey Party) held commanding majorities on both sides of Capitol Hill and was also in command of the White House. This version of the Democrat Party held – and still holds - policy positions closer to Nikita Kruschev than to John F. Kennedy. The hapless GOP establishment had lost the entire store to the Donkey Party, mostly because they (the GOP) had foolishly governed as ersatz progressives. The Donkey Party, long ago taken over by real progressives, was riding high and hell bent on “fundamentally transforming” America into a European social democracy like Greece or, more likely, if given sufficient time to slide down the slippery slope, a communist misery pit like Cuba. It was a dark time for liberty.

The only countervailing political force was a grass-roots citizen driven movement whose name matched precisely its message – Taxed Enough Already (TEA). While simultaneously weathering a withering caricature assassination mercilessly coordinated by the corrupt and biased liberal media, the patriots in this movement, political novices for the most part, accomplished the initial stages of a hostile takeover of the empty husk that was the GOP. The initial fruits of this takeover were the historic “shellacking” of the Donkey Party in the election of 2010, giving the GOP control of the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama was not on the ballot, and therefore still sits in the White House scheming and dreaming for “fundamental transformation.” His method for furthering his socialist, statist dreams is to constantly pick fights with the House GOP with the objective of dividing the American people into competing factions. Just as he was instructed so long ago by the teachings of Saul Alinsky in “Rules For Radicals” and Bill Ayers in “Prairie Fire.”

The election of 2012 will be a monumentally decisive and historic election for this 235 year old republic. Just as the Newtonian F=M*A theme running through this blog archive predicts and documents. If control of the government is given to a newly TEA Party infused GOP, the future for liberty will be restored. If the government remains split, especially if BHO holds onto the White House, the prescription is four more years of chaotic gridlock and whatever that may lead to at street level. If, in the least likely event, full control is restored to BHO and his corrupt gang of Progressives: Hello Cuba! This blog will remain in operation until this historic decision is made by the American people. Whether or not it turns out to be “Shellacking II” as I fully expect, this blog will shutter operations once the decision is made. Assuming, for the sake of argument, a period of postscript extending from election day 2012 to inauguration day 2013 – what, then, to expect from LibertyAtStake over the next twelve months or so?

==

Keeping up a decent blog is hard work. That’s why so many of the hacks paid to do it suck at it. The ubiquitous bell curve that applies to all of life’s undertakings does not spare the blogging community.

In recognition of this, and the old saw “work smarter, not harder,” the evolution of the blog format has been a constant search for higher returns on lower investments (of effort).

I have also tried to keep in mind the first keystone to success in any endeavor is a clear and unambiguous mission statement.

“Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”

==

With these things in mind, I have settled on a few tweaks for the 2012 run.

I’m stripping down the header section. It will contain only one widget devoted to political cartoons. A picture being worth a thousand words, as they say. This will also allow the meat of the matter – my own genius spilling forth from my own archive – to rise closer to the top of the blog.

I’m pretty happy with the sidebar as it is. The Assigned Reading List will continue to grow as a library in its own right to fuel the Conservative Ascendancy. The Daily Barry will automatically update itself each day as a tool for monitoring the Conservative Ascendancy’s progress. The JAUL Gallery has grown in direct correlation to the scourge of the White House directed Occupy movement, and the 2012 projection is for explosive growth. The video roll will continue to be rich source of mirth for conservatives, and the Bob Schieffer Blog Roll will continue to be the best damn conservative RSS feed on the planet.

==

Getting back to the dual objectives – return on level of effort and mission – I think the 2012 run will have more frequent, but shorter, posts. I will be less concerned about delivering the essay format personified by this four part series. I will concentrate more on hitting one issue at a time, with a short commentary designed to connect it to larger themes.

Like, for example, when Barry and his corrupt gang were patting themselves on the back for hitting 8.5% unemployment, I would have put together something like:

• Link to some corrupt and biased MSM cheerleading piece.
• Link to that chart everyone has seen, reminding us these are the same hacks who told us the trillion dollar crap sandwich known as Stimulus was needed to keep the number below the 8% they expected if we did nothing.
• Link to a piece reminding us they got down to 8.5% in large part by not counting people who have stopped looking for work.
• Link to a piece reminding us the only number that really matters – real jobs added per month – was half of what is necessary to get back to pre-crash employment levels. (200,000 vs. 400,000)
• Something about the anemic growth being a product of the American spirit and free market despite being saddled by the most anti-growth administration in American history.
• A snarky conclusion – something like, “It’s called math. They should try doing it honestly some time.”

There will be ten more opportunities to do this one. You get the idea for now.

==

I’m sure there will be the occasional essay as my muse (a truly lazy fellow, truth be told) dictates.

For example, I’d like to find the time to write an essay contrasting progressivism and conservatism in a way that makes clear why progressivism is perpetually at a competitive advantage. Not because it has superior ideas; but, rather, because it is an easier “sell.” Progressivism allows its’ adherents to simply feel good about intentions. Consequences, intended and unintended, never seem to come into the calculus of the progressive mind – at least not an honest accounting of consequences, anyway. Any idiot with a beating heart can embrace progressivism – functioning brain totally optional. By contrast, conservatism requires its adherents to start out by thinking clearly and honestly about human nature, and then to apply this understanding to an honest calculation of policy consequences, before spending other people’s money or issuing mandates for everyone else.

As an aside, this contrast brings to my mind the one word answer I whip out whenever a progressive pulls out that favorite canard of theirs – “how can you be pro-life and for the death penalty?” The one word answer is accountability. The fetus in the womb has had zero opportunity to make any choices, and is therefore accountable for nothing. The defendant in the court room, as well as the mother carrying the fetus, is accountable for all the choices leading up to the circumstance they find themselves in. But I digress.

I’d also like to do an essay piece on the commonalities between agile software development and conservatism. Both begin with a hardheaded acceptance of reality as it is given to us, both value transparency and individual accountability, and both emphasize disciplined adaptation to constant change, while always maintaining contact with a few governing principles to guide the change management process. And, yes, I am quite aware there may be as many of three of you out there who will understand what I’m talking about.

==

I’m certain Jack Wiley Dithers and his cracker-jack investigative journalism team will make a few contributions. JWD informs me they are now busily intercepting Instant Message (IM) communications sent and received by the hirsute raggedy-ass recycled hippie that has been using the Starbucks store wi-fi ever since OccupyDC has been in town.

The ‘Commentapalooza’ format will make the occasional appearance – because the raw content is so easy to collect systematically. Which means the url signed comments will continue to seed the input. Sorry comment board prudes, the beatings will continue until morale improves.

I’m also considering mounting a comment board invasion on the Leftie and biased MSM sites. This has to be carefully timed, however. While the repartee of a comment board fight is fun for me (yes, I know I am on the extreme edge of this bell curve for conservatives), Lefties are a time-consuming bunch to engage directly. They possess a tireless capacity for circular argument, the non-sequitur, ad-hominem attack, and setting straw men on fire. The overall experience is like chasing a bevy of moonbats with a tennis racket. It’s a good work out largely achieving nothing but the workout itself. But, timed properly, it could change the minds of a few observers, perhaps.

==

What to do after this blogs closes its’ shutters? Well, first and foremost, I fully expect to be celebrating the inauguration of Not-Obama in January 2013. And I still enjoy what I do outside of politics / blogging for compensation. I also enjoy the political blogging, though it remains uncompensated. However, this blog archive will forever stand as a resume bullet on the political blogging side. The question of what to do beginning from 2013 and beyond looks like a nice problem to have to LAS.

Commentapalooza

My post writing muse seems to have a case of the summer “blahs” – the lazy bastard. Not to mention I’ve noticed something since I started blogging - it’s hard to come up with a worthwhile column on a regular basis. That’s why so many hacks in the criminally biased MSM suck at it.

But it’s been a full week since my last masterpiece, so I have to come up with something. I guess I’ll fall back on a cache of chestnuts I’ve been keeping on the Intertubes, squirrel style, for the entire 18 month existence of this blog. Keen observers of the phenomenon known as LibertyAtStake are familiar with my habit of signing, with the url of this site, short comments on other writer’s posts. I do this for research purposes. The practice allows me to recall theses comments, and gives me the capacity review my meanderings around the Intertubes when collecting my thoughts for this or that post.

Plus the practice feeds into my self-appointed ‘mission from God’ … to rid the republic of BHO and the Progressive’s rancid governance … by occupying and holding as much Intertubes territory as one man with a day job and real life can possibly liberate in his “spare time.” You might call it my personal ‘surge’ strategy.

And not least … it’s fun for me. Opinion, sarcasm and snark comes to me as easily as exhaling carbon dioxide. You might say it’s my ‘God given talent.’

So, herewith is a short review of classic LAS comments , one per month of the blog’s existence, cherry picked with the greatest of ease courtesy of that magical mysterious Intertubes tool known as the search engine.

==

January 2010: LAS forewarns the Ruling Elites reading 'The Hill' to prepare for their upcoming 'Shellacking' in the elections of 2010.

February 2010: LAS drops in on the Breitbart TV site to give Valerie Jarrett a refresher on Alinsky 101.

March 2010: LAS channels the national treasure known as Dick Cheney to opine on the relative importance of reporting coming out of the Washington Post.  (By this time I had added a signature element to inform the FBI and DHS my intentions were entirely legal - [For a light hearted take on our present peril]). 

April 2010:  LAS offers a back-handed compliment to one of the criminally biased MSM's worst hacks of all, Rachel Maddow.

May 2010:  LAS votes "stupid" over "liar" to explain insane PC revision of history spewed by noted race baiter employed by PBS.

June 2010: LAS highlights the great problem plaquing the republic - legislators passing bills they don't read, don't understand, and can't predict the consequences for - because ... well, just because!

July 2010:  LAS reacts to faculty lounge wankers inexplicably (at least as it relates to reality) rating Obama ahead of Reagan.

August 2010: LAS opines on Barry's support for the Ground Zero Mosque.  (It was also about this time that I replaced [For a light hearted take on our present peril] with the far superior "Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive.")

September 2010:  LAS explains what the new GOP verb 'to primary' is all about.

October 2010:  A rare detour over to the Sports page brings back memories of 'Caddyshack.'

November 2010:  In the month of 'Shellacking I,' LAS joins TCL in a thoughtful discussion on airline security.

December 2010:  LAS predicts economic downturn if states balance budgets.

January 2011:  LAS explains why all heterosexual males should be conservatives.

February 2011: LAS explains root cause of old line civil rights organization's irrelevance.

March 2011: LAS temporarily borrows a GEICO marketing slogan to disparage an entire culture.  (It was around this time I added the old school emoticon that completes the signature element actively in use.  It came about due to some unsolicited advice from a couple of Daily Caller commenters, which I blogged about on February 16, 2011).

April 2011: LAS explains why it's Keith and not Mick that makes the Stones the Stones.

May 2011: In reply to a reply to an embarrassingly stupid post by WaPo's Ezra Klein, LAS promotes a "one property owner, one vote" program.

June 2011:  From yesterday's Science and Technology page.

That's all, folks ....

d(^_^)b


http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/

"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"

The Lessons of the NY-26 Special Election

Or …
Liberty vs. Tyranny 2012, Lessons (5:6)
*Because the stakes are that biblical*

These lessons are not what most of the dolts who comprise the criminally biased MSM have told you they are over the past week. This collection of mindless lemmings has rushed to another superficial and ultimately meaningless groupthink conclusion. This over credentialed gaggle of pseudo intellectuals has concluded this one very special election represents a pattern for the upcoming general election – even after actually living through (in recent memory!), the 2009 NY-23 special election and 2010 general election. Pavlov’s dog was smarter, for chrissake.

==

First of all, the so-called “conventional wisdom” (aka “me-too-itis”) – as exemplified by this completely useless David Gergen piece – is tantamount to accepting the end of the republic. Gergen and the rest of his useless gaggle is recommending to both political parties that they should not go near Medicare, one of the two biggest unfunded entitlements (Social Security being the other) driving our national debt spiral.

The 2009 NY-23 special election had a completely inverse relationship to the results of the 2010 midterm elections. I, LibertyAtStake, shall now explain why the same will be true of NY-26 and 2012 – provided We The People continue the learning curve we began around TEA Party season 2009, and the GOP establishment manages somehow to catch up to us.

==

They (Demo-hacks and criminally biased MSM) also think NY-26 is somehow a template for massive Democrat gains in 2012. This “analysis” (charitably stated) is utterly destroyed by two utterly obvious observations:

1. No way in hell can the Demo-hack party run a fake TEA Party candidate in every 2012 race. This corrupt strategy simply does not scale.

2. While it may be the case the Demo-hacks can win with an intellectually dishonest “MediScare” platform today, it may not be the case in 18 months – depending upon how well the real lessons (following) are applied, if you please.

==

Lesson 1: The modern Democrat Party is corrupt, period.

The modern Democrat Party is willing to run a false flag candidate, as long as it means they are “winning!” (per Charlie Sheen).

The modern Democrat Party is willing to tell flat out lies about their opponents’ plans , as long as it means they are “winning!” (per Charlie Sheen).

Just for the record, the false flag candidate is one Jack Davis. And the lie (in this case) they will repeat again and again is this: the Paul Ryan plan affects current retirees and ObamaCare does not. The exact opposite is true. The Paul Ryan plan touches no one above the age of 55, and ObamaCare removes $500 Billion (half a trillion dollars) from Medicare right now.

The Demo-hack party is quite simply third world corrupt. (Kudos to radio man Chris Plante for his clever formulation: “the Third Worlding of America”). The Demo-hack party actually places winning elections above the morality of simply being truthful.

They prove it every day with the vicious demagogic ads full of falsehoods they run every cycle, including this obnoxious recent example:




==

Lesson 2: The criminally biased MSM is corrupt, period.

The criminally biased MSM, in case it’s not obvious yet, is working directly for the Demo-hack party.

I shall support this assertion with a challenge. Send me any article or post (via comments or email, I just don't care) by the criminally biased MSM that makes either of the two factual points above – i.e. Jack Davis’ false flag impact and the truth about your Granny’s status as of today. I know you David Plouffe trolls are waiting in the wings, show me something for a change – but be prepared for the “exception proving the rule” defense (if you even get that what I mean).

As a matter of fact I believe I’ll open the engagement with a pre-emptive “exception proves the rule” strike - with this simple Google search ….

Search executed 2011-05-28, 7:28 PM.

Find the exception if you can, trolls ...

==

Lesson 3: The public at large is still far too gullible – still far too susceptible to Demo-hack lies as amplified by the criminally biased MSM.

Here I point to one element of the “conventional wisdom” that should be heeded – for the sake of the republic. Far too many citizens with voting rights still fall for Demo-hack lies. There remains a deep information deficit amongst those who live among us with voting rights. (Ameliorative topic for another post: the No Representation Without Taxation Amendment)

When 70% of people who say they support the TEA Party oppose reforming a program that is bleeding the republic dry, methinks they have something to learn about just what it is they think they are supporting. Those of us driving the Conservative Ascendancy still have a lot of heavy lifting to do, period. The fate of the republic depends upon it. Educate, inform, proselytize. Defeat the lies.

Maybe start with this crisp data point provided by a blogger from NY-25: The Lonely Conservative.

==

Lesson 4: The GOP had better take off the gloves … or all hell may break loose throughout the republic.

The hapless establishment GOP is still waging politics by the Queensbury Rules. The Demo-hack party, or more accurately the Left, has been bringing brass knuckles, knives, and loaded guns to this fight - from at least the moment they invented the verb ‘to bork.’ The hapless establishment GOP had been getting its collective ass handed to it as a result – until 2010. The unique aspect of the 2010 election season was an infusion of fighting spirit from a nationwide uprising of TEA Party patriots, who wisely determined using the previously empty husk of the GOP as their political party was a winning strategy in 2010.

It is still the best strategy going into 2012, in my opinion. Unfortunately, I had hoped this opinion would be unarguable by this point in the Conservative Ascendancy. It is not – because the establishment GOP is still (disappointingly) the weak sister in this partnership.

Memo to GOP: We cannot afford to have you put up any more RINOs. Jane Corwin is the perfect example of who *not* to run. She was inarticulate, squishy, and unpersuasive on the big issue - Medicare. You know the Demo-hacks are going to demagogue Medicare from now until election day 2012. It’s in their DNA, period. The Conservative Ascendancy needs articulate spokes people, who also possess a fighting spirit. We need people who are willing and able to take the argument directly to the Demo-hacks. And I mean directly. No quarter, no compromise – because none will be given. For chrissake, you’ve been having your ass handed to you for 20 some odd years – are you even smarter than Pavlov’s dog?

And besides, if you lose the respect and trust of the TEA Party patriots … you will hand the Left exactly what it seeks to exploit … anarchy.

Footnotes

A round up of professional Analyzers and Opinionators who see eye to eye with LibertyAtstake …

O’Connell and Pearson on Lessons 1 and 4.

Mona Charen on Lessons 1 and 4.

Linda Chavez on Lessons 1 and 3.

Jonah Goldberg on Lesson 4 (with a nice battle analogy – you know LAS liked that).

Carlson and Patel on Lessons 1 and 4.

Lesson 2 shall stand on my challenge to readers and trolls.  Bring it on, [removed by adminsistrator].

Update 5/31/2011

The long Memorial day weekend has dropped an object lesson in Lesson 2 into our national lap (so to speak). Watch the ironically named Democrat congressman with a taste for young party girls, and a lack of control over his social media technology, get a pass from the criminally biased MSM. Join the search for justice initiated by a senior member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.  My sense is the final spin depends on Mrs. Weiner - which surely cannot portend well for Representative Weiner.

Predictions For 2012: Mayans Holding the Clubhouse Lead

Professional golf fans will recognize the term “clubhouse leader.” This is the golfer who has the lowest stroke play score for the tournament with no more golf to play. Golf being the ultimate contest for pessimists, the clubhouse lead is generally considered the preferred position even if there is a competitor still out on the course with a slightly better stroke play score.

Just ask one of the greatest champions ever, Phil Mickelson.



==

In the tournament for predicting the state of the world for 2012, the ancient Mayan civilization is sitting in the clubhouse with a prediction that’s looking pretty good lately – the literal end of the world. You can even get a countdown widget for your site – calibrated to the second the end comes. Just so you can be sure to be completely punctual in your preparations for the end time.

If you detect sarcasm in my review, your antennae are finely tuned. But, who am I? What do I know? I’m still out on the course. And so is this numb nuts.



==

I’ll take a pass on dissecting the demagogic lies (the inflated deficit reduction claim for his 2012 budget Mulligan, the counter-factual claim of an increase in domestic oil production under his policies), the rhetorical sleight of hand (glossing over the fact so-called “clean renewables” have no chance for fifty years or more at providing an affordable supply for the present demand), and profound economic illiteracy (the claim taking $4B out of an industries pockets, whatever you think of that industry, will put downward pressure on the price of its product).

And as this recent addition to the Assigned Read List, from Right Wing News, pointed out so eloquently: “ it takes three pages of truth to combat one paragraph of lies.”

How true. Unpacking the lies and deceptions in just this short four minute example of pure demagoguery, is well beyond the scope of my pro bono post.

No, my point here is to brief the reader on the deleterious effect this demagoguery has on the state of the nation, and educate the reader on how to respond effectively – so as to make sure 2012 turns out better than the Mayan clubhouse leader is even now thinking it will, celebratory chili dog already in hand (he’s more John Daly than Tiger Woods).

==

The Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama has barely made the turn on his final round, and he has already compiled an impressive record of inflicting damage on the republic and creating chaos and misery for its citizens – so impressive that apocalyptic scenarios come easily into the mind. Too easily for comfort.

Especially when you consider his style of “governance.” The Empty Suit “governs” by means of 24 x 7 constant campaigning. Next consider his style for campaigning – the highly divisive 24 x 7 class warfare agitation of the Community Organizer.

This so-called “leadership” produces the kind of unhinged mob rule I’ve only just begun to document on my right side bar as the Just Another Unhinged Leftie (JAUL) Gallery.

Such as trashing historical buildings in failed attempts to shut down duly elected governments.



Such as using intimidation tactics to suppress legal democratic action, while ironically chanting “this is what democracy looks like.” (No, it's what mobocracy looks like)



Such as mindlessly attacking one of your own in the pitch chaos.

There are many documented death threats to be found in the Gallery as well, go ahead and give it a casual stroll.

==

The divisive “leadership” style in the Executive Branch - including the Department of ‘Just Us’ - contributes to a breakdown in race relations as well - the case for which was recently set out at National Review Online.

So, where is the Empty Suit on these charges? Nowhere – because he is the coward on race relations Eric Holder must have been talking about in 2009.

And where will the Empty Suit be on this racially motivated beat down?

** WARNING: THE NEXT VIDEO LINK CONTAINS DISTURBINGLY VIOLENT IMAGES **

Again, the answer is nowhere – due entirely to political cowardice. The rest of us will have to do with a perfectly understandable initial reaction and eloquent essay on the matter from the Angry White Dude.

==

So, making the turn toward my concluding point, I shall address how to effectively deal with the unhinged lunatics your Agitator-In-Chief has set loose upon the republic.

The short answer is: no quarter, zero tolerance. They have no limits dictated by morality – therefore the imposition of limits upon them is the only effective control they understand.

A big part of the problem has been long known for many years – the Left tolerates no dissent. As the great William F. Buckley once stated when the terms of engagement were more genteel:

“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.”

Conservatives, rightly guided by an ethos that seeks to foster the civil society, have been reluctant to adopt the strategy for dealing with the Left that will be effective in these times – take no crap and push back hard. The difference is we do our homework first and focus on the issue at hand. We have long known the Left dissembles, deceives, and distracts from the subject at hand in favor of ad hominem attacks and straw man arguments. The antidote is to grab them by the collar and drag them back to the argument at hand - ruthlessly. Humor often helps, but can be dispensed with when not practical.

For a beginner’s primer, take in this instructional manual from the great Andrew Breitbart on addressing the Leftist mob.




Got that? Take no crap - within the bounds of the law, of course.

Now, here is Mr. Breitbart’s instruction manual for dealing with biased interviewers.



Got that? Push back hard - within the bounds of FCC rules, of course.

Whether it’s the Pastor Terry Jones (whatever you think of his presentation) defending the First Amendment against the deadly IED known as Shariah Law, or Donald Trump (whatever you think of his positions) showing GOP politicians the way to successfully campaign against Barry is to come right at him – the examples of ruthless, and entirely legal, action aimed at ridding the republic of the Leftist scourge are springing up across the land. And that is an optimistic development.

==

The one factor that continues to vex me is the slow learning curve of the traditionally impotent establishment GOP. The TEA Party patriots I met in those crowds as early as spring 2009 - whom a majority of establishment GOP operatives no doubt labeled “unsophisticated” - understood my point instantly. Even after those TEA Party patriots delivered the establishment GOP an electoral victory of historic magnitude in 2010, I see scant signs the GOP has any idea what’s really happening here. And if that’s true – that makes them useless to We The People as our designated political party.

Memo to GOP: the debt ceiling fight is your last chance to show us you are worth keeping on retainer. After that no one anticipates resolution on any debates getting to the core issue of federal spending. So, this will wrap up the GOP / TEA Party Comity interview before we decide how to handle the 2012 election.

There needs to be real, and deep, spending cuts implemented in return for increasing the nation’s debt limit to newly absurd and perilous levels. I like some of what I’ve heard about statutory caps on spending tied to GDP in the Ryan budget. That’s a start. The problem I have is it won’t kick in until 2012, given the crappy 2011 budget deal you gave us. We need something that’s real right now (in addition to, not instead of, just to be perfectly clear). I recommend an extension of the Bush tax rates for everyone. Let Barry deal with explaining the rare and magnificent flip-flop-flip to his lunatic base.

Footnote

And now a short musical break, to celebrate the metaphysical certainty the criminally biased MSM will be no use to anyone.




Update 4/26/11

Via Liberty Pundits I have read there is a consensus building to stand behind something known as Senate Joint Resolution 10 - as the tribute to be paid for raising the debt ceiling.  I like this as a start - for a couple of reasons.  Tactically, because it only requires a bloc of 41 Senators to stand tall on the condition.  Materially, because it creates an annual spending limit tied to GDP, and requires super majority votes on the inevitable exclusions / loop holes.

But only as a start.  As stated above we need something that is felt in the current year to believe the GOP really has our backs, noting the lousy 2011 budget reconciliation has already been inked.  I still like leaving the tax code alone (for now) as a way of showing the government has enough revenue already.

Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws Of Motion (Part 15)

In the Eye of the Storm

Current events obligate the conservative blogger to opine on what he or she thinks of the 2011 budget deal that was announced on April 8, 2011 (only 189 days late from the original due date of October 1, 2010.)

I shall organize my obligatory entry around documenting several conversations from this weekend.

==

The first two conversations occurred while I was a parent spectator during a Saturday morning of U-13 Lacrosse competitions.

Conversation #1 was between yours truly and friend (well, his kid is my kid’s friend – which makes us friends the way that happens to parents). I know him to be a principled conservative. He asked me what I thought of the deal. I thought about it for a minute, and replied I’d be more disappointed if we weren’t about to get another bite at the apple with the debt ceiling fight coming up. He agreed with that sentiment, then offered his thought John Boehner is doing a good job in a very difficult job, which I agreed with. We got into whether shutting down the government would have been the right political call or not. We agreed it was a very difficult judgment call to make, politically – and we agreed on the reason why: how would clueless “compromise at any price” independents react?

At that point, I offered there was a poll a week or so ago showing it was basically a dead heat: which is why I was itching for the rhetorical fight of a shut down. He pointed out there were more recent polls showing a shift toward anti-shut-down-itis in the public, probably due to the Demo-Hack’s overheated rhetorical tactics; i.e. no more than 6% (six percent) of ANNUAL BUDGET DEFICIT REDUCTION is “extreme,” is “draconian,” and so on. That de-funding Planned Parenthood will somehow result in dead women’s bodies piling up in the streets (which I find to be an interesting argument, given that said funding goes toward dead fetuses piling up in Planned Parenthood garbage pails).

This guy pays attention, he’s forthright, and I have no reason to doubt him. I’m not going to waste my time looking for original references. Because this conversation just means I’m exactly where I was when I started this blog … when are you clueless “compromise at any price” Independents going to stop falling for the Left’s fear mongering?!

Conversation #2 on Saturday morning was with another parent, and federal employee. His entire take was a self-centered whine on the inconvenience a shutdown would represent to him. In the interest of public comity, I steered the conversation away from the subject. I did not verbalize what I was thinking – “Oh, just suck it up and enjoy the unplanned vacation, bureau weenie.” He’s not ready to process a shut down, believe me.

==

Then came Sunday.

My across the street neighbor’s son, a Coast Guard officer fresh from serving on a Navy Destroyer near Japan, was home on leave. In the course of a front-yard chit chat, the earnest young man asked me what I thought of the budget deal.

Like all earnest young men will tend to be, he seemed disappointed by the obvious shortcoming in the deal – i.e. how serious can the deal be when it addresses a mere 2.7% of the annual budget deficit? I tried to explain how incredibly important it is that the TEA Party has changed the conversation in DC – from how much more taxpayer money to bulldoze into flaming pits, to how much taxpayer money is worth liberating from this fate. Not sure how successful I was.

Then, almost on cue, his “compromise at any price” independent mother threw the Trump/birther issue into the conversation, parroting the Leftie talking point that anybody who’s asking the common sense question “where’s the certificate?” is by definition a crazy wing nut. As if there’s an equivalence to the budget discussion, … or something. She’s not ready to process a shut down, believe me.

==

So, that’s where we are. The Demo-Hack party operated the whole of the entire government last year in the most irresponsible fashion – failing even to perform its most basic duty to pass a budget. Speaker John Boehner and the TEA Party infused House GOP caucus is doing the best they can with what God gave them to work with – one half of one third of the government - to belatedly meet this responsibility. The Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama is racing as fast as he can to co-opt TEA Party language on spending cuts being a good thing. If the greatest deficit spender in human history pulls this off, the republic is surely finished.

David Plouffe – the Empty Head Behind the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama – was dispatched yesterday to Chris Wallace’s show on the hated Fox Network. Setting aside Plouffe’s rookie mistake of insulting the largest Sunday Show audience in the nation, his primary purpose seemed to be announcing that the Empty One has been convinced by recent events to announce his second, revised, 2012 budget. Apparently he now agrees with LibertyAtStake that his first 2012 budget submission - failing to address deficit projections or their largest driver, entitlements – was an unserious and irresponsible act of governance.

He will deliver this speech to his usual form – it will be a vapid exercise in self-congratulation full of empty platitudes and devoid of any but the most trivial and meaningless specific proposals. LibertyAtStake will be there to document it with another in the “Quickie Analysis” series of posts. (side note: LibertyAtStake still does not have a satisfactory answer to his prime question from the last in this series – just who in the hell are the Libyan rebels, anyway, Barry?)

==

We are in the eye of the storm. The 2012 budget will not be passed until after the November 2012 elections adjudicate the Demo-Hack spending addiction against the TEA Party movement for fiscal sanity.

Between now and then, we have a vote coming up to raise the debt ceiling, which many say is a necessity. If it is – it is solely due to the Demo-Hack spending addiction. Memo to GOP: The debt ceiling fight is a dress rehearsal for 2012. You need to show us, with Round 2, you have the rhetorical chops to continue to be our designated political party. Round 1 was a little ambiguous, to say the least. I, for example, expected you to use the riders as negotiating leverage to get the entire $61B in HR 1 cuts as a number. You fell short of the expectation. And we have the same decision coming up that we had in 2009 – stick with you guys or go it alone. You haven’t totally passed the interview yet.

And that is why this is Part 15.

Various and Sundry (On the Countdown to Shutdown)

I’m usually not one to pat myself on the back … except when I am. This is one of those times. When I saw this Wall Street Journal article reporting the 180 degree turnaround in your current administration’s policy on Guantanamo Bay, I was reminded of my own prescient words – posted May 4, 2010 under the title “Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion (Part 5)”

Action: Anonymous SUV owner leaves his vehicle smoking and parked in the middle of Times Square.

Left Wing Reaction: Golly, I hope it’s a TEA Party guy. That would fit today's official Leftie narrative. Fingers Crossed!

Right Wing Reaction: Gee, D’ya think it might be a Jihadi? D’ya think?

Long Term Projection: Mr. Obama’s policies in the War on Terror will slowly but inexorably morph into Mr. Bush’s policies, but no one in the MSM will be allowed to notice.

Man, I’m Good, Just Ask Me (MIGJAM). And congratulations to the MIGJAMs at the Wall Street Journal for noticing the War on Terror is now governed by Barack W. Bush’s policies.

==

My growing legion of dedicated followers (you know who you are) have seen I am in the habit of leaving snarky comments all across the Intertubes, with this blog’s url as a signature. I leave the url signature for one reason only – it works. It is entirely free of cost and generates traffic. As the conservative icon Barry Goldwater once said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”

One such recent comment generated an unusual amount of visits to my humble little blog, and I’m really curious as to why. *** Warning, the next link contains nudity – at least that’s what I think it is. ***

The good proprietors of iOwnTheWorld continued documenting their obsession with famous airhead comedienne Kathy Griffin, posting topless pictures under the title “LOOK AWAY – BECAUSE I AM NOT PASSWORD PROTECTING THIS POST”

I dropped in the comment: “U Have Been Warned. For. A. Damned. Good. Reason.” I really thought nothing of it – expecting it to be largely ignored as merely alternate wording for the post title itself, just a bit of snark in support of the generally accepted norms for public modesty.

I have some questions for anyone who followed this comment to my humble little blog.

Were you looking for more nudity of the same quality? If so, are you obsessed by hairless bipeds of indeterminate gender?

Or did you misinterpret my comment as a gateway to an apocalyptic “these are the biblical end times” type of message? Knowing if there are more of you than I thought is important to my research.

==

The Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama has officially launched his 2012 re-election campaign with an appropriately vapid and insipid video.

LibertyAtStake offers this 2012 campaign slogan for the Empty One: “Change and Hope – Same As Last Time, But Different This Time!”

==

LibertyAtStake is well-connected with the Democrat re-election campaign. I am constantly receiving updates from the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). How is this possible? I signed up for their blind email distribution. I am really smart with that undercover stuff, you know.

Here’s a sampling from just the past two weeks.

Robby Mook told me on Monday this Presidential election will be “historic.” My question back to Robby: Huh, what the hell was the last one for? (btw – I love “Mook” as the surname for a Democrat shakedown artist.)



The Empty One himself sent me a message on the same day - with lots of empty white space at the top. Symbolic?

On March 31, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the sound of whose voice has been known to cause dogs to chew off their own paws, made a fundraising appeal on the basis that Speaker John Boehner has a potty-mouth.

On March 30 – long after the Leftist rent-a-mob had filled the streets of Madison in all its pungent glory; Steve Israel attempts to separate me from my money by making me fear the TEA Party “mob.” Whoever that is.

On March 29, James “the Ragin’ Cajun” Carville makes his pitch with a folksy trope. A trope that I find to be an odd choice given we are currently debating the 2011 budget his party failed to pass last year when they had total control. No pudding for you!

They even dragged the Goracle out of his North Pole ice palace to rekindle Democrat glories past.

And I didn’t even bother to show you the panhandling letters I received through the same channel - in the same brief period - from Nanny Pelosi, Crazy Uncle Joe Biden, Chris Van Hollen (fresh off the mat after leading the DCCC to its historic mid-term “shellacking”), or Anthony “Waiver” Weiner.

The Demo-Hack party is running scared as we barrel toward Shutdown Friday.

To Shut Down or Not To Shut Down?

Capitol Hill has been reduced to a caricature of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet.’ A tragedy is unfolding on Capitol Hill that could easily end in national bankruptcy, just as Shakespeare’s play resulted in the Prince of Denmark’s death. The root cause will be the same in both cases – dithering and lack of leadership.

==

First, a few numbers for you to consider. LibertyAtStake recommends a stiff drink before wrapping your brain around the full implications of these numbers. The induced relaxation may save you from running out and doing something to your Senator you might regret later.

==

0 (zero): The number of 2011 budgets passed by the Donkey party when they had control of both sides of Capitol Hill.

$1.5T (One trillion, 500 billion dollars): The projected federal spending deficit for the single fiscal year 2011.

$1.6T (One trillion, 600 billion dollars): The projected federal spending deficit for the single fiscal year 2012, per the pathetically unserious budget submitted by the Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama.

$14.3T (Fourteen trillion, 300 billion dollars): Total national debt load, at least as of this second.

$46k (46 thousand): Share of the debt per citizen, and that includes your kids.

$128K (128 thousand): Share of the debt per taxpayer, taking into account the 47% of US households that pay no taxes at all.

$100B (100 billion): The GOP campaign promise for cuts to the 2011 budget, which is approximately .07% (point zero seven percent) of the projected 2011 budget deficit, approximately .06% (point zero six percent) of the Empty Suit’s 2012 budget deficit, and approximately .007% (seven one thousandth of one percent) of the total national debt.

$61B (61 billion): Total cuts to the 2011 budget in H.R. 1, which passed the House three weeks ago, and is approximately .04% (point zero four percent) of the projected 2011 budget deficit, also approximately .04% (point zero six percent) of the Empty Suit’s 2012 budget deficit because the scale of the division is already too ridiculous to make a difference at the second decimal place, and approximately .004% (four one thousandth of one percent) of the total national debt because the denominator is so huge it can even make a difference in the third decimal place.

==

H.R. 1 is what our elected “leaders” (so-called) on Capitol Hill are negotiating over now. H.R. 1 is the House’s proposal to the Senate for the 2011 budget, which should have been passed last year. This is not a serious negotiation. It is not a serious negotiation because one side in the negotiation is negotiating in bad faith.

That side is the very same Donkey Party that failed to pass the 2011 budget last year when they controlled both the House and the Senate. This failure was an act of the highest irresponsibility by people in a position of responsibility. And it was an intentional act – because they cynically calculated it was better for their 2010 midterm election prospects to avoid being tied to a budget with steep deficits.

They got “shellacked” anyway, because the American people have wrapped their brains around the implications of the growing national debt. The Donkey Party lost the House of Representatives, but held on to a slim Senate majority by their fingernails.

The Donkey Party’s current champion – The Empty Suit Known as Barack Hussein Obama – was, of course, not on the ballot in 2010. Thusly, it fell to him to submit the traditional Presidential budget proposal for 2012. It was an unserious act of irresponsibility. It failed to address the federal leviathan’s spending addiction in even the most ephemeral manner.

When presented with H.R. 1, the gang of Donkey Party hacks still entrenched on the Senate side of Capitol Hill howled over $61B in current year cuts. News flash - one day’s growth in the debt is $72B. The Donkey Party is not the least bit serious about reducing our national debt. Either that, or producing an old report card with an ‘F’ in basic arithmetic is one of their membership requirements. Or … maybe we can apply the common sense rule of thumb a Leopard doesn’t change its’ spots … and consider the possibility they are engaged in cynical, irresponsible political gamesmanship.

What’s that? You say their #2 “leadership” hack was caught on tape telling us so ...



And Howard ‘Primal Scream’ Dean is actually rooting for a shutdown. He seems supremely confident that the criminally biased MSM, buried so far in the Donkey Party’s hip pocket they’ve lost all their olfactory senses, will work tirelessly to spread Donkey propaganda during the shutdown. Apparently he thinks it’s still 1995 – before we had the Intertubes to counter-balance irresponsible MSM bias.



My hope is that this decent, honest, patriot realizes a shut down fight is the only way to deal with these cynical hacks.



Pick this fight, Mr. Speaker. We The People are prepared to win it for the republic. We can do basic arithmetic, even if the sclerotic ruling elites inside the Donkey Party and criminally biased MSM can’t. And we have the Intertubes now.

Footnote

Via Hyscience - Rasmussen provides more numbers in support of my position.  Shut it down now!


Update 4/2/2011

An anonymous commenter corrects my arithmentic and makes my point all the more relevant.

Stupid or Treasonous? (‘Coming to a Head’ Edition)

As a reader of blogs, I usually find the “remember you read it here first” blogging style off-putting. I find it a bit pretentious, because, really, how can anybody really know given the vast expanse of the Internet? And who would waste his or her time trying to prove it definitively, anyway? Get a life …. pleeeeeze.


However, the architecture for this blog project is nothing if not “pretentious,” soooooo …….

Can anybody out there identify anyone else who was predicting the inevitability of Impeachment proceedings for Barack Hussein Obama before I was, when I posted “Stupid of Treasonous?” on January 4, 2010? There might be something in the archives of the Impeach Obama Campign blog, but I’m unwilling to devote the time to find out.

But I digress.

Back to the point - I’ve noticed lately the ‘I’ word, sometimes a direct call, sometimes a building of evidence for the case, is coming up a lot lately in the blogosphere.


I do believe it is the kerfuffle in Madison, Wisconsin over the state budget shortfall that has brought things to a head. This awesome show of democracy in action, in the American heartland, has brought the Progressive Left out for us examine in its full glory – in the same way a flashlight shown under a sink in a Cabrini Green tenement brings out the cockroaches.

==

News Real Blog cogently connects events in Madison to the future of the republic itself.


American Power reminds us the Progressive Left’s pathology – and their Achilles Heel – is that everything is politics to them.

Hot Air looks at the poll numbers, sees the Progressive Left losing the public relations battle in Madison, and predicts the Progressive Left will lash out as a result. LibertyAtStake certainly agrees with the prediction. Violent protest is in the Progressive Left’s DNA.

The Impeach Obama Campaign thirds the prediction made by Hot Air and seconded by LAS. It won’t be Global Warming that heats up the republic this summer.

Michelle Malkin is maintaining the documentary record of the Left’s initial build up to fury.

Piece Of Work In Progress assists Ms. Malkin in this valuable service to the republic.

Snark and Boobs hones in on a commonality between the union goons and Islamists – violence toward women.

Big Gov explains why Scott Walker is the perfect antagonist to stare down the union rent-a-mob.

Allied Liberty News gives good advice to Governor Walker – fire the AWOL teachers!

Nice Deb documents what it’s like to try to do business with a gang of hacks who see everything as politics.

Sentry Journal presents how far the Progressive Left is removed from our republic’s founding principles.

Doug Ross lays out the choice before us: nothing less than liberty or tyranny.

Pundit and Pundette explain how and why sticking his nose into Madison's business redounds to Barack Hussein Obama’s ultimate decline.

The Right Wing, Nut! reminds us Barack Hussein Obama is a ‘Missionary Man’ (gratuitous Eurythmics reference), with a willingness to lie about the mission in order to further it. It was this sense of mission for the Progressive cause that drove BHO to make that foolish tactical mistake of inserting himself into the Wisconsin debate immediately after submitting his wholly unserious 2012 federal budget proposal. This showed his disrespect for the constitutional concept of federalism and highlighted his hypocrisy on the budget deficit issue.

Right Wing News asks “what are all the secret meetings about, anyway?”

The Impeach Obama Campaign (IOC) takes notice it is gaining recruits. Hell, even Newt smells blood in the water.

iOwnTheWorld sees nefarious intent behind BHO’s unwillingness to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. LAS agrees.

It’s already ‘case closed’ at the Camp of the Saints.

Mind Numbed Robot makes a strong case for ‘Treason.’ LAS comments that ‘Treason’ doesn’t need to be provable if the pattern of ‘Stupid’ keeps building.

Atlas Shrugs tunes into the ‘Stupid or Treasonous (It’s Beginning To Not Even Matter)’ vibe.

I think you get the point. There is more – much more – that could be added to this post from the patriotic network I call the Bob Schieffer Blog Roll.

==

The rising call for Impeachment is coming to a head because the Progressive movement, and their current champion – the Empty Suit known as Barack Hussein Obama – are feeling the political heat generated by the great awakening of the American public that is underway. This great awakening produced the TEA Party movement, beginning mere weeks after BHO took office and began to show us his priorities in office. This great awakening is contributing to the rise of the Internet as a source for valuable information, Fox News as a source for fair and balanced news, and the precipitous decline of the criminally biased MSM in the eyes of the public. This great awakening dealt an historically devastating November 2010 election loss to the Empty Suit known as Barack Hussein Obama and the political party his Progressive fellow travelers hijacked long ago. It will deal an even more devastating loss in the November 2012 election to the Donkey Party.


Remember you read it here first. :)

And the pressure applied to the Progressive champion – the Empty Suit known as Barack Hussein Obama – will, I predict, cause him to do desperate things leading to Impeachment articles before we reach November of 2012. He can’t help it – it’s in his Progressive DNA.

Remember you read it here first :)

That's All, Folks

The news of the past week or so has been an extraordinarily entertaining demonstration of Progressive madness, worthy of an essay in the idiosyncratic prose styling of yours truly. The Democrat Party has figured out the 112th Congress of the United States will be a hostile environment for their obnoxious agenda, and so they have been in a frantic frenzy - squeezing every ounce of Progressive puss out of the 111th they possibly can. This is the same Democrat party that literally trashed the White House after Andrew Jackson’s inauguration, and has since been hijacked by the Progressive movement (only improving on that legacy). Herewith is a visual characterization, followed by a somewhat researched, kind of edited, chronology - just for future historians studying the final demise of the Democrat Party founded by Andrew Jackson.

First, the visual ….





OmniPuss

I believe Rush Limbaugh when he says the Bush Tax Cut Deal was a huge “head fake” designed to allow the Omnibus spending bill to pass through unnoticed. OmniPuss was the Progressive neutron bomb that would leave all the buildings intact, yet condemn the buildings’ occupants to terminal indebtedness, by institutionalizing (for one more fatal year) the old DC business of redistributing money that hasn’t even been printed yet – to the tune of more than six thousand ear marks.

Ultimately, OmnisPuss proved to be more the first statement of the 112th Congress, than it did the final statement of the 111th. For one thing, Conservative Warrior Princess Michele Bachmann astutely pointed out that the Progressives, in their mad rush to condemn your grandchildren to third world status, had neglected Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution. Even the ‘Great-Aisle-Reach-Acrosser,’ John McCain, was on the right side of this fight. 'Grumpy Old Man' for the Conservative Ascendancy is a good role for the Senator From Arizona that Can’t Be Primaried. Let’s see more of it over the next six years.

And let us not forget, this is plainly and simply the federal budget Congress is duty bound to pass by October 1st every year. The very fact that this massive spending bill was even being debated after the elections is a permanent stain on the legacy of the 111th. Deploying their usual tactics of deceit and conceit, the Progressives tried to co-opt RINO votes with a “they do it, too” message. Finally, though, Dingy Harry had to give it up, because he didn’t have the votes, in favor of a continuing resolution the rightful chamber had already passed.

That’s one for Liberty over Tyranny.


Tax Rate Deal

The resolution of this one is fuzzier. As I documented in my previous post, this was a tough call for Conservatives. No Conservative wants to see anyone’s taxes raised in a soft economy. However, circumstances did put Progressives in control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue after 2008, and elections have consequences. The Progressives were hell bent on holding the tax rates of 98% of Americans hostage to their “holy grail” of soaking the 2% who have the capital to employ other Americans – when unemployment is stuck at 10%! Stupid? Yes, incredibly so. Destructive of an already soft economy? Yes, definitely. However - no one can say the GOP leadership didn’t strike a reasonable balance between the weak hand of the 111th’s composition, and the strong hand coming in the 112th.

Yes, there was about $300Billion in new spending when the 111th was finished adorning the Christmas tree the bill finally became. (The number the criminally biased MSM is reporting - $858B – is based on the false conceit that taxes not raised represent a cost to the government – as if it was their money in the first place.) And, I know I came out as willing to risk the chaos of letting clueless independents seeing their take home pay decreased after the New Year – but I am the Radical Conservative and they (the GOP Leadership) bears the responsibility of actually governing in the 112th. Taking this deal is latitude I will grant to them under the assumption they will go after spending with purpose in the next session. The OmniPuss result gives me hope.


Other Miscellaneous Legislative Stuff This Week

The so-called DREAM Act – actually a Democrat Party voter registration initiative – went down in flames when Dingy Harry brought it up as payback for his re-election. Make no mistake, this was a huge victory for the Conservative Ascendancy. The 112th will almost certainly now have to address the rule of law, and border security, before Amnesty is put on the table. This is as it should be – though there is apparently still much work to be done in my home state of Virginia. I tried the personal touch with Senators Warner and Webb - but apparently to no avail – they sided with Dingy Harry.

The Progressives did succeed in repealing the military’s so-called “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy against gays openly serving in the military. Now, I’m inclined to agree with the Marine Corps Commandant that this repeal is injurious to the effectiveness of military operations. However, I also think this reasonable objection applies mostly to ‘yesterday’s’ military configuration – massed formations of infantry, armor, etc. I firmly believe the lesson of the past decade, for military policy in the next couple of decades at least, is this: the tip of the spear should consist mostly of small-unit, precisely targeted, Special Forces and CIA assination teams – with a large train of information and other support organizations. You can see where the gays fit in, I’m assuming. As far as I'm concerned - this falls under the heading of elections have consequences, and if you didn’t expect Progressives to play social experiments with the military when you voted for them, then cop a clue next time.


Overall Legacy of the 111th

Let’s just stipulate this fitting closing to the 111th.






Enjoy the Christmas and New Year holidays, Patriots. We will need to build up our energy reserves to give strength to GOP spines in 2011. The agenda is using the investigative powers of the 112th to check Executive branch abuses, and the budgetary authority of the 112th to cut deficit spending.

Footnote 1

Oh yeah - Jay! Eee! Tee! Ess! Jets, Jets, Jets!


Update 12/20/2010

I think I gave Porky Pig his cue too soon. The 111th Congress has one more significant issue to take up, known as the NEW START Treaty, in which Barack Hussein Obama proposes to give away the missile defense farm to the New Soviet Union (aka the Russian Federation).

The New Soviet Union is even, incredibly, issuing instructions to the US Senate. Not a peep from Barack Hussein Obama on this affront, presumably because he sees the Russians as his accomplices in this latest historic achievement of his.

Meanwhile, Harry Reid continues to provide comic relief as Mr. Obama’s accomplice. Finally, the FCC foreshadows the events of 2011 with an unconstitutional regulatory power grab. The 112th Congress had better have the one page law on Barack Hussein’s Obama desk that reigns in this foolishness, by February 1st at the latest.  Yes, they had better.

Only 16 days until our people are sworn in.