Retiring The Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron 2010

This post shall be the final update to the Conservative Ascendancy Thermotron 2010. According to the Nobel prize winning physicist who designed it, a conservative electoral landslide in November is already assured by its present readings.

The Events meter already reached 10 two updates ago. With the original design constraints already exceeded , we now have “Obama’s Watergate” (the Joe Sestak affair) and “Obama’s Katrina” (the BP oil spill) to simultaneously consider. The stars are aligning nicely for the Conservative Ascendancy, indeed.

Despite candidate Obama’s high minded promise to end business as usual in DC, the statements issued by the White House and Joe Sestak have raised more questions than they have answered. This sordid affair now is pregnant with the possibility of becoming “Obama’s Watergate.” The timing of the statements – Friday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend – stinks to high heaven, because it looks they are trying to bury something. Using the impeached liar Bill Clinton as an intermediary stinks to high heaven, because it looks like they knew they needed to distance themselves from it. Claiming the quid pro quo was an unpaid position stinks to high heaven, because it’s highly implausible. The White House contacting Sestak’s brother stinks to high heaven, because it looks like they are covering their tracks. I say separate the conspirators for isolated questioning by a skilled prosecutor - under oath. This is the only way we will ever get to the bottom of whether the attempt to remove Sestak from the primary was merely clumsy and unethical, or in fact illegal.

“Obama’s Katrina” is the catalyst behind a draft essay I’ve been working with – “Why Can’t Government actually DO Anything? (Because It’s Government, Stupid).” But I think I’ll save that one for next time. After all, the crisis still continues with the well still not plugged, despite the Smartest President Ever taking charge four whole days ago. What’s taking so long, Mr. President? Maybe you should hold another Press Conference, or better yet, give a teleprompter speech - that’ll do it.

And by now, the whole country has heard about James Carville’s meltdown on Good Morning America. This makes the man who coined the political phrase “it’s the economy, stupid” (during Mr. Clinton’s 1992 election) the Leftie Lunacy poster child – because he is representative of the Left’s irrational and emotional fantasy belief in the government's ability to solve all problems. Of course, the Leftie Lunacy meter was already pegged at 10, making its contribution to the inevitability of a November electoral landslide without Mr. Carville's help. His meltdown is therefore actually meaningless except for its entertainment value, which is considerable.

GOP / TEA Party alignment is looking good as well. TEA Party patriots are settling into the role of a movement that can act independently and locally to push events on the street, as evidenced by this weekend’s “Stand With Arizona” rally. However, the movement needs an organized political party to do its bidding, if it is to be really effective. The GOP is lately showing every sign of falling into line with its assigned role.

In the last Thermotron update we already mentioned Representative Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) “You Cut” project. Mr. Cantor brings one vote to the House floor per week, based on our input. Last week’s vote would have saved us $30 billion by freezing Federal employee pay – but the Democrat majority shot it down.

Now we have Representative Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) “America Speaking Out” project. And even the normally staid and buttoned-down National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has tuned into the mood of the TEA Party movement, and released this hard hitting video (hat tip to Ruby Slippers).





I think I’ll retire the Thermotron with the GOP / TEA Party alignment meter stuck on nine (9), rather than ten (10). The GOP is, after all, still an organization composed entirely of professional politicos. But at least now it looks like they could become our politicos. Let’s make sure it stays that way. It will require vigilance by We The People for several years to come yet.

It is now definitely a foregone conclusion the Democrats will lose control of the House, and the Senate too. Remember you read it here first (unless Dick Morris already said it, I can’t remember). However, remember that leaves seven months for the Progressive gang to shove as much as they can down our throats before January 2011. It’s who they are. It’s what they do.  Liberty vs. Tyranny USA 2010 will not be concluded until the last Progressive desk is cleaned out on Capitol Hill.

And, of course, the Progressive gang will still be scheduled to hold the Executive branch throughout 2011. The good news is We The People will at least have enough power in the Legislative branch to fight a fair fight in the stalemate that now sets up for Liberty vs. Tyranny USA 2011. The really good news We The People will also have effective control over the relevant congressional investigative committees. Consequently, the Thermotron is retired with the probability of impeachment for Barack Hussein Obama set at 2 out of 3; the same ratio needed in Congress to override a Presidential veto.

On The Enlightenment

The initial spark for this post came when I read this article on Reason.Com – in which a hero of the Left, the Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg, is said to show intolerance toward a New York cabbie’s religious views. The scene was set in 1989, and the Ayatollah Khomeini had just sentenced Salman Rushdie to death for the content of his book. (I believe the term of art is “fatwa.”) The cabbie, of course, was a Muslim.

The concluding catch-phrase in this article really hooked me - “You want to kill the Enlightenment, you’re going to have to come through me.” It also apparently captures a sentiment that is widespread throughout western society today, as evidenced by the huge response to Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.

What is it about western society that allows this sort of spontaneous, voluntary, decentralized, creative, and powerfully focused cultural event? One could argue the Age of Enlightenment is the wellspring that made it possible.

The Age of Enlightenment is a strictly western historical phenomenon – there is no direct parallel in eastern societies, and it shows. The Age of Enlightenment is a deep subject to tackle in and of itself. For this post, let’s use this working short-hand definition from the Wikipedia article:

In his famous essay "What is Enlightenment?" (1784), Immanuel Kant described it simply as freedom to use one's own intelligence.

I guess I’ll throw in this slightly lengthier shot at pinning it down, also from Wikipedia:

Dorinda Outram provides a good example of a standard, intellectual definition of the Enlightenment:


Enlightenment was a desire for human affairs to be guided by rationality rather than by faith, superstition, or revelation; a belief in the power of human reason to change society and liberate the individual from the restraints of custom or arbitrary authority; all backed up by a world view increasingly validated by science rather than by religion or tradition.

==

The Scientific Method is of The Enlightenment. Subverting the Scientific Method to skew data toward an ideologically driven conclusion is antithetical to the Enlightenment – see “Climate Gate.”

The American Founding Fathers were children of the Enlightenment. They created the most perfect governing framework yet conceived; based on the inalienable rights of every individual, and designed specifically to limit the authoritarian power of government to infringe on those rights. Those of us now actively engaged in protecting the integrity of the American Founding are of the Enlightenment.

The ideals of our judicial system – symbolized by Lady Justice’s blindfold – are based on the concept of equal justice for all. This vision is of the Enlightenment. The contemporary American Left’s obsession with race, gender, and sexual politics is antithetical to the Enlightenment.

The most existentially dangerous enemy of the Enlightenment we face today may be Radical Islamic Jihadism. But coming in a very close second is the contemporary American Left - the enablers of this international murder cult.

You see, the American Left is afflicted with the mental disease known as Political Correctness (PC). The disease of PC can present with the symptom of moral relativism, preventing its host from recognizing evil when he or she sees it, and acting accordingly to defend oneself against it. The great peril of our day is that the PC-blinded American Left runs our government at precisely the time the Jihadi tide is rising.

PC is not of the Enlightenment at all. PC is irrational.

PC offers a rigid set of dogmatic rules to its adherents, which often drives them into fits of hypocrisy – as with this ideologically addled beatnick.









PC causes its victims to fear the utterance of scary words – as with this incomprehensible incompetent.








PC causes its victims to lose perspective on their priorities – as with this confused old man.







PC even causes its victims to forget they have a national identity – as with our Apoligizer-In-Chief.







Or the entire Democrat caucus for that matter …







We simply must clean House in November if the American republic is to be preserved and the Enlightenment is to be perpetuated.



Footnote

The ink was hardly dry on this post and this fresh evidence of Lefty PC madness surfaced. Is there a patriotic Democrat left anywhere in the nation?  Brussels?  AYKM?

If It’s May 20, It Must Be ….

… Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.

Yes, I know it’s not strictly speaking an “illustration.” Sorry, but I just don’t have those skills. However, on the bright side, I can appeal the fatwa on a technicality.

The subject dog is my 160 pound female Great Dane. I heard her say “biscuit u akbar!” once, and you can be sure I damn well did give her the biscuit.

You might be noticing that, as a harlequin Great Dane, she could be classified as multi-racial. I’m hoping this earns me PC credits to offset the PC demerits I’ll be receiving for cultural insensitivity.

==

And it’s a good time for a Thermotron update, too.

The Events and Leftie Lunacy meters are already pegged at 10 (earlier than even I anticipated.) There’s nowhere for them to go but 11.  Unfortunately, these meters were not designed by Spinal Tap.







The Events meter may be permanently stuck on 10, but the poster children keep coming. The latest event of note was this Tuesday’s primary election results. I have chosen ideological opposites Joe Sestak (D) and Rand Paul (R) as the poster children. Reams and reams of MSM analysis today gives us the shallow analysis there is an anti-establishment mood out in the country. No shit, Sherlock!

The shallow MSM analysis is true as far as it goes. But, if you want to really understand what’s happening – read my January 11 post “Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion.” What remains of the Democrat party “base” is increasingly liberal, and increasingly a minority of the general population. Expect more Democrat nominees with policy positions similar to Joe Sestak in 2010. On the other hand, the great bulk of the American electorate is awakening to its fundamentally conservative nature. Expect more Republican nominees and third party candidates with policy positions like Rand Paul’s to be pitted against the Democrats in the 2010 general election.

This will be good for the future of the republic. Let’s have a knock-down, drag out, partisan battle in the 2010 midterms - with stark, bright, and transparent (unlike 2006 and 2008) ideological dividing lines. Let’s stop screwing around in our politics, and decide once and for all if we want to be a wimpy social democracy or the exceptional individualistic America the Founders envisioned. The closest thing I could find to an insightful regular media analysis on this was from a local ABC affiliate in Philadelphia.

I will increase the probability of impeachment for Barack Hussein Obama by 2 percentage points because the establishment politician vanquished by Joe Sestak, Arlen Specter, is now incentivized to start talking openly about the unethical and illegal job offer the White House proffered to Sestak to get out of the race. Sestak will be similarly incentivized to start singing when he loses the general election.

The twin poster children for the Leftie Lunacy meter are Janet Napolitano and Eric Holder. Why do these two clowns still have their jobs? It has been one pratfall after another for these two; from Napolitano’s moronic “right wing extremists memo,” to Holder’s ongoing KSM trial circus, one embarrassing congressional testimony after another, and now the latest – neither of them has even bothered to read Arizona’s immigration enforcement law (it’s only 16 pages) before going public with full-throated opposition. Just pathetic. And there is not even room to include Michael Posner (it doesn’t go to 11).

GOP / TEA Party alignment is slightly increased by Republican Whip Eric Cantor's latest project.  Hey, at least they are trying.

Update - May 22

The winners now stand on the podium.  Thank you to all the (real) illustrators who participated in this patriotic contest.

http://reason-contest.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html


2nd Update - May 22

My personal favorite from http://chicagoboyz.net/

A Day In The Life: Liberty vs. Tyranny USA 2010

Yes, the post title is a veiled reference to the Beatles’ song – one of my favorites in a catalog I consider mostly overrated by the general populace.


I have a more or less repeatable, if not exactly auditable, process for writing my blog posts.

I try to allocate 1-2 hours most days to review the day’s news online. The time allocation is sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more, depending on circumstances. As an aside, just in the past year or so I made the decision to stop reading printed newspapers altogether. (My personal journey from “paperboy” throwing printed newspapers onto porches, while riding bicycle, to my current mode of acquiring news entirely online, might just be a good idea for a future posting. But I digress.)

I have a couple of dozen news, opinion, and blog sites on my long list. I have a loosely defined top 3 (short list), and top 5 (medium list?) that I can fall back on when time is tight. All of these sites are basically national in nature. Regardless of which list I’m working off of, the nature of the Internet (sites linking to other sites) often brings me to local media sites. This has resulted in me occasionally commenting on local boards all across America, as well as internationally on boards in countries as unlikely as Israel and India. I use this phase of operations to consider what my next post might contain. Usually I am listening to my customized Pandora radio stream while this phase of operations is in progress.

I also use this phase of operations to essentially “market” my blog by posting comments, with my URL as a signature. I will only post comments that are relevant to the parent article, and will only post comments to articles that connect to the content of my blog. (The connection is always real in my mind – but I do admit it may sometimes be tenuous to the outside observer.)

I have been rebuked exactly once by another blogger (a Lefty of course) for violating etiquette by signing my comment. Not that it mattered to me in that particular instance, or or will ever matter if it occurs again. I will contend before the Creator Himself my practice is decidedly NOT spamming - because I am disciplined about following the rules previously stated. Plus the practice allows me to later submit Internet searches to reassemble the comments as a complete set on demand. I even provide a convenient link on my blog for anyone else to do exactly this; the link I call “random droppings.” A completely transparent and fully integrated Internet personality – what could be more American, I ask you? In this spirit of transparent disclosure, I should point out I have also settled on the Daily Caller as my home court. The Daily Caller is the only site where I try to make sure I am notified of all replies to my comments, so as to subsequently ensure I always get the last word in (which seems very important in the blogosphere – go figure.)

While going through my daily drudgery (day job and all that), I perform thought experiments when circumstances allow - to first select a theme, and to then outline the content of the selected theme for the next posting. When I reach the point of believing it is worthy of sharing with other people, I’ll move on to publishing. When I started this blog project the rate of production was approximately 2 posts a week. I think going forward the rate will be a little slower – maybe 1.4 per week. There is a kind of creative frenzy involved in creating a process *versus* a kind of lazy comfort associated with settling into the process. Or maybe it’s a case of undiagnosed A.D.D. I have with defined processes. I’ve seen it in myself before.

Most of the past week I was mentally working with a theme around the idea of recent news reports being comparatively quiet under the current administration. Just because nothing blew up without explanation, and no one was witnessed screaming “Allah u Akbar” while inflicting mayhem on anyone who happens to be in their proximity. But day to day it just felt weak, and unworthy of publishing.

Then I participated in this comment exchange on the Daily Caller’s board.

It motivated me to switch gears and give birth to the posting you are now reading.

The thought experiment process for this post mostly occurred today on the lunch time walk I regularly take when weather allows.

The publication process is usually pretty quick - because the post is damn near already written mentally when I’m satisfied with the thought experiment. Draft in Word; grammar check; fact check; copy/paste to blogger, final formatting touches. Wham, Bam, thank you ma’am (gratuitous David Bowie reference).

The theme of this post is finishing the conservation with @PartisonPoision (whoever the hell that is).

@PartisanPoison, my friend, I am reminded of a phrase the Army sometimes uses – “situational awareness.” The present situation is very perilous. It, therefore, calls for extreme measures. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice (gratuitous Barry Goldwater reference).

Making reference to the recent analysis of Tony Blankely (critically important lieutenant in Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Conservative Revolution) – the 40 to 50 percent of us who are “shocked and appalled” by the policies of BHO and the Progressives are motivated. Motivated to spend our time and treasure to push back against their unprecedented assault on the American Founding and our liberties. Motivated to keep up the drum beat until BHO and the Progressives are removed from power once and for all.

In short, we are pissed off. Simply run down my blog roll to begin to grasp the tip of the iceberg.  Backyard Conservative in Chicago looks pissed off to me. Sharp Elbows in St. Louis looks pissed off to me. Neo-Neocon in New England looks pissed off to me. And on and on. At an early stage in this blog project I considered trying to include an exhaustive list of conservative bloggers. It didn’t take me long to realize this was an impractical objective (for me), because there are simply too many. But, never fear, if anyone out there wishes to take on this task – just follow the links. Think of it as LinkedIn for Conservative Bloggers. (Funny aside – I myself am 3rd degree connection to Barack Obama himself on LinkedIn. Then again, I often get people listed in “people you may know” on LinkedIn I would never, ever, recognize on the street.) And, guess what – we (the pissed off) can read, write, and we vote- every single time. And we have decided (individually – no conspiracy committee meeting required) to begin by clearing the field in the blogosphere.

So, @PartisanPoison, if you want to have a cordial conversation about politics, choose an older mode of interaction, with more cordial rules of engagement; like face-to-face or email. We (the pissed off) intend to clear the field in the blogosphere - using the rules of engagement we inherited from the contemptible Left. From contemptible Leftie sites like MoveOn.org and HuffingtonPost.Com (who, incidentally, has banned me from commenting for no reason but my opinion – see my April 6 post here. LOL.) We intend to clear the blogosphere field of these contemptible Lefties. We will consider revising the rules of engagement once the field is cleared of the contemptible Left.

Great Minds Think Alike

I’ve always liked smart people who are able to take seemingly complex issues, then break them down to arrive at common sense solutions. The best of this type often possess this rare combination of abilities: they can use big words artfully, and express big ideas succinctly.

This could explain what I saw in William F. Buckley, Jr. before I even knew what a “pundit” was. During the late 80’s and early to mid 90’s, when I had the disposable time and energy to make punditry a regular spectator sport, my favorite commentator was George F. Will. The pairing of Mr. Will against Sam Donaldson on This Week with David Brinkley was a weekly mismatch. From the mid 90’s until Mr. Obama’s election, I mostly took my eye off the punditry ball – things like making a living and raising a family had a way of consuming more and more time and energy with each passing year. But when the abuses heaped on the republic by BHO and the Progressives reawakened my interest in punditry, it was easy to see that the head of the punditry class in 2009-2010 is Charles Krauthammer.

A quick aside on George Will. Am the only one noticing he is lately showing less patience with his liberal foils? It’s almost as if Mr. Will understands the stakes for the republic now outweigh his need to maintain a pretense of civility to protect his insider status inside the beltway. I encourage Mr. Will to continue unceremoniously dressing down liberal fools as he did on this panel. The republic needs his considerable intellect fully deployed to hold back the foolishness of the Progressive hoards.

But I digress. The inspiration for this post was a column written by Mr. Krauthammer, in which he applies his considerable intellect to a topic I’ve been thinking about in my spare time lately (hence the post title).

Now, far be it for me to suggest my “mind” is as “great” as Mr. Krauthammer’s. Nor will I suggest my prose is anywhere near as polished as this master’s prose. I will, however, give myself credit for seeing the same *^%$#!!@!#!!* policy problem the previous administration left us with, and the current administration has only made worse.

The obvious problem is the total lack of a coherent national policy for dealing effectively with Radical Islamic Jihadism. Mr. Krauthammer, in his opinion piece, aims at the more difficult target of giving useful advice that has a chance of being implemented by the current administration (pearls to swine, good luck with that). I will simply describe my view of the correct policy (just because I can).

The root problem, as I see it, is the legal and national defense assumptions we have inherited need some reformation. Now, to my conservative mind, “reformation” means “slight tweaking,” not “fundamental transformation.” Let’s just get that straight before proceeding further.

During most of our history, we made two assumptions that were generally mostly true: (1) citizens would be loyal to the nation, and (2) threats of war would originate from outside our national borders. Yes, we had Benedict Arnold, Alger Hiss, and other occasional traitors – but these were the exceptions that proved the rule.

The uniquely new problem presented by Radical Islamic Jihadism is twofold: (1) the threat (for the most part) is not presented by standing armies, and (2) the enemy’s foot soldiers are trans-national. It is, in fact, a war with a profile that is at least as legal as it is military. That is what’s new and unique.

Up until now, the choice between treating the issue of Radical Islamic Jihad as a war, or as a legal problem, has been presented as choice between two distinct models. I’ve made no secret my position given this “either/or” choice can be summarized as “it’s a war, stupid” – because with the legal approach you are effectively required to wait for the bomb to explode to make the arrest, and that is just an unacceptably defenseless position to be in.

But I’ve come around to realizing we need something new that combines the military and the legal poles. My policy recommendation, in summary, is to aggressively prosecute a clandestine offensive war and a technological defensive war abroad, while also implementing a well-defined legal prosecution program domestically.



The War Abroad

Mr. Bush’s decision to pursue regime change in Iraq through invasion can be debated. It was debated at the time and the Congress approved it with the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. After much expense of American blood and treasure, the laudable result might still be a functioning Arab democracy – but that outcome still remains in question for the long haul. The current administration’s policies do not bode well for the future of this fragile democracy. Military action in Afghanistan was initially seen as an unmitigated success in 2002. Yet, we still have troops there today, and the current administration’s bumbling practically guarantees Afghanistan will return to chaos when we finally withdraw. Predator drones and other ordinance dropped from the air often create collateral damage and unintended victims, which probably does create more terrorists to kill or capture later (as some Lefties claim, and now Mr. Faisal Shahzad declares).

These observations only make more concrete a position I’ve espoused over the past 9 years or so – “it just needs to be about capturing and killing terrorists.” Recent mulling over the matter brings me to the more precise declaration “we need make it about precisely one bullet for each terrorist.”

Offensively, we need to dispatch small Special Forces units and trained assassins to specifically target individual terrorists. The CIA human intelligence function should be full bore on collecting foreign intelligence abroad. The NSA technical intelligence function should be set up to tap into every inch of the global communications network as necessary. Every Radical Islamist Jihadi in every foreign country should live in constant fear of black helicopters spilling out Green Berets, or Navy SEALs emerging from the nearest body of water, to kill or capture them.

Defensively, we need to aggressively pursue anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defense shields for ourselves and our allies, to protect us from rogue states with terrorist connections and nuclear ambitions (like Iran).

Large conventional force deployments abroad for years at a time are simply too divisive to our body politic, and – if we pursue my recommendations – just plain unnecessary.

My policy will still require a place to hold enemy Prisoners of War (POWs) until the enemy ceases hostilities. I defy anyone to demonstrate there is a more perfect solution than the facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.


Domestic Legal Prosecutions

Domestic legal policy needs to effectively deal with foreigners abusing our freedoms to operate inside our borders, as well as citizens who decide to become traitors.

First – the border with Mexico must be secured. In its current state, it can be too easily exploited by terrorists with evil intentions.

Second, the naturalization process must be able to weed out the Jihadis who are abusing the system to become citizens for infiltration purposes (e.g. Faisal Shahzad).

The common denominator connecting objectives one and two is the necessary death of Political Correctness (PC). This is, of course, a topic that could fill an entire treatise in itself. Let it be sufficient here to say PC proscriptions against “profiling” should be no impediment to doing the work and reaching the logical conclusions to keep illegal immigrants out, and to deny citizenship to Jihadis who seek it only to prosecute their war.

The linchpin is a transparently defined system for law enforcement (primarily FBI) to demonstrate reasonable suspicion to a judge, so that a warrant can be issued to slap the cuffs on a guy like Mr. Shahzad before he lights the SUV up in the middle of Times Square.

If the suspect is a foreign national, he or she should get a one way ticket to Guantanamo for a speedy military tribunal. Conviction should result in indefinite detention as an illegal enemy combatant POW under the Geneva Conventions.

If the suspect is a citizen, he or she should be charged with treason and tried in a civilian court. Conviction should result in execution per existing US law.

Comments from loyal US citizens welcome.


Addendum –May 10, 2010


I should fill in a hole in my policy recommendations. What should we do with American citizens who join the Jihad and go operational overseas? Take, for example, Anwar al-Awlaki. Easy – try and convict them of treason in absentia. They then become eligible to receive justice from a hellfire missile or one of our assassins – and with due process, too.

Contemporary Politics and Newton’s Three Laws of Motion (Part 5)

This blogging stuff is difficult work. It’s hard to come up with something worth reading by other people on a regular basis. Fortunately, this conservative blogger has a framework to fall back on when the creative oil pressure is a little low.

So, continuing along with the Newtonian physics theme - following is a laundry list of recent actions, their immediate Left Wing reactions, their immediate Right Wing reactions, selected cartoons from the Townhall Cartoons page, and my long term projection. I hope you find it an easy and enjoyable read in these perilous times.

==

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.

==
 
Action: Arizona passes and signs S.B. 1070 to enforce existing Illegal Immigration law.

Left Wing Reaction: All Arizonans are racists, fascists, and TEA Party terrorists!

Right Wing Reaction: Maybe Arizonans are sick of counting the Illegal aliens and drug mules running through their backyards.

Long Term Projection: Border security will be addressed before amnesty. That was not necessarily the case before. Bravo to Arizona and Governor Jan Brewer!

==

Action: Off shore oil rig blows up for the first time in forty years or so.

Left Wing Reaction: Told you so! Those greedy big oil villains never cared about the fishes and the birds!

Right Wing Reaction: Shit Happens. Pray for the eleven killed. Timing is kind of interesting, though….

Long Term Projection: We will acquire more oil from ANWR and other on-shore sources because we need it, it’s safer for humans, and it’s less risky for the environment.

==

Action: Senate begins debate on financial regulatory reform.

Left Wing Reaction: Told you so! Those greedy Wall Street villains are finally gonna get theirs!

Right Wing Reaction: So what? The usual suspects will make out.

Long Term Projection: I doubt anyone will remember in five years.

==

Action: President Obama launches phony deficit reduction commission.

Left Wing Reaction: Yippee! New taxes to pay for the ballooning social welfare state!

Right Wing Reaction: Shit! New taxes to pay for the ballooning social welfare state!

Long Term Projection: I fear we will become Greece. I hope we will have the will to fix the real problem: and cut federal spending.

==

Say, what’s your illustration going to be on May 20?