Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

Ben Shapiro - I didn’t vote for Trump in 2016. I am in 2020 — here's why. - YouTube

Sanity on display for those with ears to hear and rational faculties not yet rendered inoperative.  

 

KANYE WEST - THE MOST COMPELLING PRO-LIFE ADVOCATE ON THE WORLD STAGE

Note:  A transcript can be found below the video.

From Breitbart.com:

CARLSON: At this moment, the most compelling voice against abortion and Planned Parenthood is not a Republican. The most widely heard Christian evangelist in America is not ordained.

Instead, he is a rapper married to a Kardashian, who by the way, everyone says is crazy. Kanye West is running for President. But that’s not really the headline. The headline is that on core conservative issues, not political issues like legislation before the Congress, but on foundational questions about life and children, and what happens when you die. No one with a national platform has been more honest or sincere or effective than Kanye West has been, maybe in generations.

It’s all pretty shocking, really, talk about an unlikely messenger. But it’s real.

Check out West’s Twitter feed if you haven’t seen it. Not everything he says is conservative, far from it. Not everything he says is even intelligible.

But when West talks about his faith and about the gift of human life, you start to ask yourself, why aren’t there any elected Republicans who sound like that? They say they believe the same things. But if they actually do, why don’t they talk like Kanye West does? And the answer, of course, is because they’re afraid to.

But West is not afraid. He doesn’t have to be. He is too famous. He has made too much money. He sold something like 150 million albums over the past 20 years. And really, it’s hard to cancel a guy like that.

SHELBY STEELE - LIBERALS' ARROGATION OF MORAL AUTHORITY AS PERSONAL IDENTITY

Tucker Carlson's interview with Shelby Steele deepened my understanding of liberals.  I gained insight into the modern American liberal's profound sense of moral superiority and identity which renders ideological conversation and debate impossible.   An opponent is evil and his or her speech must be shut down.

Shelby Steele's Wall Street Journal article which occasioned the interview is titled, The Exhaustion of American Liberalism. 

Partial transcript beginning at the 3:15 minute mark: 

Liberalism is not an ideology.  It is an identity.  People who think of themselves as liberals really are adhering to an identity, to the idea of "my personal self."  I am the kind of person who is above racism, who is above sexism.  And if you take that position that I don't like, then you are challenging not just my ideas, but you are challenging me as a human being with a particular identity and that is why the passions, the ferocity of the Left that we see today in the streets and elsewhere.

There's a complete shutdown of any honest intellectual exchange because you are not threatening my ideas, you are threatening me, and I don't have the patience to be reasonable and argue with you on the basis of reason.  I need to literally extinguish or annihilate you in your position.  You see the anti-Trump sentiment in many ways.   Annihilate him!  There is nothing redeeming in this man!  And so forth, because...  liberalism is an identity

DINESH D'SOUZA ON "TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME"

D'Souza delivered a really terrific speech at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas on March 7, 2017.  He knows history as few others do, and tells facts about fascism, slavery, and the Democratic party that will astonish you.   Stay tuned for the Q&A.  Terrific.  Note: the video has a long lead-in.  The introduction doesn't begin until about the 19:30 minute mark.

 

 

DAVID HOROWITZ - "THE WAR AGAINST TRUMP"

David Horowitz  writes:

As I explained in my book Big Agenda: President Trump’s Plan to Save America, the source of this civil war mentality is a profound rejection of the American idea. This is the idea that we are equal citizens regardless of our origins, and that we are accountable as individuals for what we do. The left’s creed – identity politics – is an anti-American, racially charged determination to reject individual accountability and individual freedom, and to establish in their place group privileges, and racial/gender hierarchies. These hierarchies are based on the malicious premise that whites, heterosexuals and males are oppressors and - in the words of the Democratic platform - America is a society governed by “systemic racism,” which needs to be fundamentally transformed.

This collectivist, racial creed is the heart and soul of today’s Democratic Party and its allies in the mainstream media. It is the inspiration for the war Democrats have declared on the newly elected government of Donald Trump. In his inaugural address, Trump addressed the war in uncompromising but thoroughly American terms. “Through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other…. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice…. Whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American Flag.” This is the American creed, and it is the voice of the American people who elected Trump in November 2016.

[Read the whole thing.  It's not long.]

SEN. TED CRUZ RIPS OBAMA JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IN CONFIRMATION HEARING FOR SEN. JEFF SESSIONS

Senator Ted Cruz in his questioning of Sen. Jeff Sessions for Attorney General of the United States provided a litany of the lawlessness practiced by President Obama and his Department of Justice during the past eght years.  This video should be referred to again and again as an accurate historical record of a particularly disgraceful (and dangerous) period of American history which hopefully no future generation will experience again. 

THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN'S HOSTLITY TO EVANGELICALS AND ROMAN CATHOLICS

Family Research Council comments on the latest WikiLeaks dump:

Most people don't need to hack into the Clinton campaign to know the campaign's hostility toward Bible-believing Christians. From the paring down of the freedom of religion to the freedom of worship to the basket of deplorables, Hillary Clinton's comments were certainly clues of her campaign's disdain for those whose faith is important in their lives. Those clues were confirmed this week in a scandal involving two chiefs of the campaign. Proving that Donald Trump's mouth isn't the only liability in this race, Clinton's Communications Director, Jennifer Palmiere, has gotten the campaign in plenty of hot water with her 2011 email exchange with equally prejudiced John Halpin from the Center for American Progress.

The messages (which also included Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta) surfaced in the latest WikiLeaks dump, giving undecided voters plenty to think about before November 8. Halpin kicked off the insult-fest with a nod to the CEO of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, a Catholic who -- shock of shocks -- raised his children Catholic. "Ken Auletta's latest piece on Murdoch in the New Yorker starts off with the aside that both Murdoch and Robert Thompson, managing editor of the WSJ, are raising their kids Catholic. Friggin' Murdoch baptized his kids in Jordan where John the Baptist baptized Jesus," he wrote to Palmiere and Podesta. Going on, he added, "Many of the most powerful elements of the conservative movement are all Catholic (many converts) from the SC and think tanks to the media and social groups. It's an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy."

They're probably Catholic, Hillary's Communications Director chimed in, because they think it's "the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion." Then, taking a swipe at Protestants, she said, "Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals," she added. The comments are revealing because they show that Hillary Clinton's attack on Bible-believing Christians (when she called them a "basket of deplorables," in front of an LGBTQ crowd) were consistent with the broader campaign's contempt for conservative Christians. Even more telling, she not only smeared those who believe in biblical morality as deplorable, she also said they were "irredeemable" (which was a bit ironic, considering that redemption is the crux of the Christian faith).

DEMOCRATS TARGET "HYDE AMENDMENT" WHICH FORBIDS TAXPAYER DOLLARS FOR ABORTIONS (VIDEO)

From Family Research Council:

This week marks the 40^th Anniversary of the Hyde Amendment. This bi-partisan measure has saved two million babies and even President Obama has signed it every year in office.

But there is a new effort to repeal it. We can't let this happen!

This is just one of the many reasons our Get Out The Vote efforts are so critical this year. We must support candidates who will protect the Hyde Amendment and stand up for the unborn.

 

 

DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORMS COMPARED (VIDEO)

From FRC Action:

While the media largely ignores the party platforms after the political conventions, they should play a major role in every voters' decision-making for 2016. Apart from outlining the core beliefs and philosophies of the two parties, these documents are -- at their core -- the party's contracts with voters for how both sides will govern if elected. In many ways, these documents are just as important -- if not more so -- in guiding the politics of both parties as the candidates themselves.

REPUBLICANS MORE TOLERANT THAN DEMOCRATS (SEE VIDEO BELOW)

From NRO:

Filmmaker Ami Horowitz conducted an interesting experiment at the Republican National Convention this year. He stood outside the convention area holding an “I Love Hillary” sign to see what would happen. People were a little amused but surprisingly nice to a guy who seemed to be in the wrong place. 

When he tried the same experiment at the Democratic National Convention, people weren’t so friendly. Horowitz hit up Philadelphia and stood outside holding an “I Love Trump” sign. The responses were less than kind and it wasn’t long before he was spit up on and called a racist, surrounded by a bullying group of haters. 

Watch the video yourself and see which convention you’d prefer to hang out at: 

 

SURVEYING THE DEMOCRATIC DEBATE - WOW...

The Family Research Council offers a stunning summary:

Pin the Tale on the Donkey

There were plenty of takeaways from last night's Democratic presidential debate, but the biggest may be how much conservatives have to be grateful for. On a Las Vegas stage, Americans heard from five liberals bent on furthering the agenda that's put our nation on the financial, moral, and international brink. Together, they showed no remorse for the misguided policies of the Obama administration -- and instead seemed to apologize that the President's radicalism didn't go far enough.

It was an eye-opening experience for most people, who heard, as National Review put it, "college educations should be free for everyone; all lives don't matter, black lives do; Obama is simultaneously an enormously successful president in managing the economy, the middle class is collapsing... and that ObamaCare benefits should be extended to illegal immigrants." In a world displaced and upended by Muslim extremists, the NRA was mentioned 14 times more than radical Islam (which wasn't mentioned at all).

Out of step and woefully unconcerned about anything but the next big government program, voters heard from a man who could be President that the greatest national security threat facing America was climate change! Maybe so, if he was talking about the climate of hostility toward the West and religion -- but certainly not the weather. Still, Bernie Sanders insisted, "The scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis."

In a drastic departure from the GOP debates, social issues were almost nonexistent -- with one major exception: Hillary Clinton's stunning defense of Planned Parenthood. To CNN's Anderson Cooper, who feigned surprise that the former Secretary of State would propose another government program, Hillary fired back, "Well, look, you know, when people say that -- it's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, 'You can't have paid leave, you can't provide health care.' They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it."

In her allergy to the facts, Clinton failed to mention that redirecting money from scandal-ridden Planned Parenthood to community health centers would actually saveAmerica close to $235 million. That's hardly the "big government" most Americans know. But the fact that the only woman on stage would defend an organization exploiting and endangering her own gender said plenty to viewers. Meanwhile, foreign policy, one of the current administration's greatest weaknesses, got relatively little attention. Instead, Sen. Jim Webb, Gov. Martin O'Malley, Sen. Lincoln Chafee, Secretary Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Bernie Sanders spent most of the night trying to spend something else: taxpayer dollars.

With a particular focus on income inequality and paid leave, even Sen. Webb couldn't help but point out, "With all due respect to Senator Sanders, I don't think the revolution is going to come, and I don't think the Congress is going to pay for all this." No wonder the Democratic field sounded like a bunch of (to use Jim Geraghty's words) "hard-Left, pie-in-the-sky, free-ice-cream-for-everyone, Socialist pander bears." As for the shadow of scandal following Hillary Clinton, she did her best to step out of it. At one point, she tried to duck the issue, insisting that she would answer Congress's questions when the time came. "But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American people want from the next President of the United States."

What Americans want is someone they can trust. And based on her conduct, and the conduct of so many Obama officials, that person is becoming harder and harder to find. After seven years of Barack Obama, this country wants a President who won't break the rules to advance an agenda or bypass the law to institute flawed policy. That shouldn't be too much to ask -- but last night, it certainly felt like it.

MARK LEVIN: DEMOCRATS ‘WILL HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS’ FOR SUPPORTING IRAN DEAL

 

Jordan Schachtal of Breitbart writes:

Nationally-renowned author and Conservative talk show host Mark Levin sent a defiant message to GOP leadership Wednesday afternoon at the Stop Iran rally at Capitol Hill.

In his fiery speech, Levin demanded they do more to stop the deal. He also took aim at Democrat leadership in both the legislative branch and the White House, suggesting that the Iran deal shows how far to the left the Democratic Party has fallen.

“Never before has a President of the United States. Never before has a political party consented to funding and arming the enemy. Never before has a President entered into agreements with a terrorist regime that holds American hostages; that has killed and maimed thousands of American soldiers, and that seeks nuclear weapons and ICBMs (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles)  to attack his own country,” said Levin.

“Barack Obama makes Neville Chamberlain look like George S. Patton,” the former Reagan staffer added.

Levin highlighted the dangers involved if the deal were to be implemented in Congress.

OBAMA ADMIN: STOPPING ABORTION OF BABIES WHO CAN FEEL PAIN IS 'DISGRACEFUL'

What is disgraceful is that we have a "leader" with ginormous moral turpitude living in the White house.   (See the The Family Research Council report below which also rips Planned Parenthood.)  Meanwhile, CBN News offers the following coverage:  "Pain Capable Bill Passes First Legislative Hurdle"

 

WASHINGTON -- A bill to protect unborn babies older than 20 weeks has passed its first hurdle.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act Wednesday evening, 242 to 184. Almost every Republican voted for it and almost every Democrat against it.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, trumpeted the act as being quite consequential.

"H.R. 36 is the most pro-life legislation ever to come before this body," the top Republican said of the bill.

During heated debate before the vote, Democrats and Republicans took up familiar positions.

Many Democrats said they had to protect America's women and those women's right to make their own medical decisions. Republicans said they had to protect the most unprotected of classes: America's unborn children.

"We have no higher obligation than to speak out for those who can't speak for themselves, to defend the defenseless," Boehner stated on the House floor. "And that's what this bill does."

Bill sponsor Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said, "We have given these little babies less legal protection from unnecessary cruelty than the protection we have given farm animals under the Federal Humane Slaughter Act."

Democrats avoided talking about the babies, but concentrated on women who get abortions.

MISC

(My bolding below)

**  Eric Metaxes, drawing on the book  by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson, The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose,” notes:

“ What should come as a surprise is how few people actually practice generosity: Notre Dame found that that “only 2.7 percent of Americans give a 10th or more of their income to charity, at least 86.2 percent give away less than 2 percent of their income and nearly half give nothing.”

The book explains that generosity and happiness go hand in hand.  

** John Fund points out:

 President Obama’s approval rating among working-class whites has fallen to 27 percent as evidence that Democrats have forgotten the priorities of their party that made it the majority after the New Deal. Building the middle class has taken a back seat to the special interest agendas of elite liberal constituencies.

** Jay Nordlinger makes several notable observations.  First on the remarkable fact that Al Sharpton retains influence in spite of his past unrepented record:

 I see that President Obama has been conferring with Al Sharpton again. You may remember a little something — Steven Pagones does: Sharpton accused Pagones, then a young assistant DA, of raping a girl named Tawana Brawley. As Pagones held a press conference, Sharpton entered and bellowed, “Your accuser has arrived!” For ten years,Pagones pursued a defamation case against Sharpton — and won. Sharpton, who calls himself a “reverend,” has never apologized for his evil lie.

Second, Nordlinger points out the failure of Havana-based foreign correspondents to do adequate reporting. Instead, we find suppression of negative news coming out of Cuba.   Guillermo Fariñas, the Cuban independent journalist, won the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament.

Last week, he {Farinas] was meeting in his home with some fellow dissidents. An agent of the state broke in and stabbed four of them. Two of the victims — members of the Ladies in White — were seriously injured.  And, as the indispensable Mauricio Claver-Carone tells us, “not one Havana-based foreign journalist has investigated or reported on this violent attack.” Governments around the world have been largely silent, too. As always.  Many years ago, I wrote a piece called “Who Cares about Cuba?” When I raised this issue with Jeane Kirkpatrick, she said that indifference to Cuba is “both a puzzling and a profoundly painful phenomenon of our times.”

**  On the "Ferguson Affair," Jay Nordlinger praises Heather MacDonald for her piece which witheringly excoriates the New York Times' totally wrong-headed editorial.  Nordlinger finds everything MacDonald writes to be magnificent.

The Times cannot bring itself to say one word of condemnation against the savages who self-indulgently destroyed the livelihoods of struggling Ferguson, Mo., entrepreneurs and their employees last week. The real culprit behind the riots, in the Times’ view, is not the actual arsonists and looters but county prosecutor Robert McCulloch.

 Thomas Sowell also weighs in on the Ferguson affair.   He notes that to Attorney General Eric Holder and others, "the truth was offensive, but the lie that it exposed was not."

2013 IN REVIEW - A DISASTROUS YEAR FOR THE REPUBLIC

Senator  Tom Coburn (R - Oklahoma) wrote a cogent summary titled,  "The Year Washington Fled Reality."  [my bolding]

. . . In both the executive branch and Congress, Americans witnessed an unwinding of the country's founding principles and of their government's most basic responsibilities. The rule of law gave way to the rule of rulers.  . .  Taking unilateral, extralegal action—like delaying the employer mandate for a year when Mr. Obama realized the trouble it would cause for businesses—is part of a pattern for this administration. Immigration and border-security laws that might displease certain constituencies if enforced? Ignore the laws. Unhappy that a deep-water drilling moratorium was struck down in court? Reimpose it anyway. Internal Revenue Service agents using the power of the state to harass political enemies? Deny and then stonewall. Unhappy with the pace of Senate confirmations for nominees? Ignore the Constitution and appoint people anyway and claim that the Senate is not in session. . . .

To speed the approval of executive appointments and judicial nominations, Sen. Reid resorted to raw political power, forcing a vote (52-48) that allows the Senate majority to change the rules whenever it wants. In a republic, if majorities can change laws or rules however they please, you're on the road to life with no rules and no laws. . . .  The supermajority safeguard that prevented senators from destroying the institution in which they serve is now largely gone. Gone also are members of the majority who understood the need to protect minority rights. . . .  Instead, we have a majority leader who has appointed himself a Rules Committee of one. Referring to the right of the minority to offer changes to bills under consideration, Mr. Reid said: "The amendment days are over." Like President Obama, Mr. Reid is great at message discipline but weak on the rule of law and reality

How the nation's leaders perform in Washington is a reflection of the country, and culture, they represent. Moral relativism and postmodern disregard of truth has been promoted by academia for decades; sometimes it seems that the best students of that thinking can be found in Washington. We live in a time when laws and rules are defined however the holders of power decree, and "messaging" is paramount, regardless how far the message is from reality. [Read more . . .]

DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM

Parts of it are absolutely awful, as pointed out by the Family Research Council:

What the Platform Doesn't Say Does Hurt It

Sometimes it's not in what you say, but what you don't that matters most. Reading the Democratic platform is one of those moments. Compared to its Republican counterpart, the official agenda of the Democratic Party is deafeningly silent on the sanctity of life, the importance of traditional marriage, and the granting of meaningful protections to religious liberty--showing just where their priorities lay (or don't lay) in their incomplete vision for America. The Democratic platform calls for "unequivocal" support of Roe v. Wade and unfettered "access" to abortion on demand, ignoring an awakening understanding--both legally and medically--on the beginning of life issues. Nuanced and emerging matters such as fetal pain, embryo destruction, and sex-selective abortion are all conspicuously missing, just as end-of-life issues (assisted suicide, both active and passive euthanasia).

The GOP platform opposes all abortion funding, both here and abroad, a position consistently held by a majority of Americans, whereas the Democratic platform supports abortion "regardless of ability to pay." According to The Weekly Standard's John McCormack, "That last part-'regardless of ability to pay' is an endorsement of taxpayer-funded abortions, a policy that President Obama has personally endorsed. Obama wants Medicaid to pay directly for elective abortions, and Obamacare will allow beneficiaries to use federal subsidies to purchase health care plans that cover elective abortions." Talk about being out of touch with Americans! Seventy-two percent of Americans oppose "using any public money in the health care overhaul to pay for abortions," Quinnipiac University found.

And life is not the only issue where the Democratic Party breaks Left. The big news is the Democratic platform now supports same-sex "marriage," "the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law"--a stance that opposes all federal and state initiatives to the contrary. Of course, the irony is this news is being delivered from Charlotte, in the state that just voted overwhelmingly in favor of a marriage protection amendment. State's rights are an afterthought in the platform, unless of course you're talking about the District of Columbia statehood.

And the Democratic platform would not be complete without deflecting charges that ObamaCare's "contraceptive mandate" that requires all people of faith to pay for abortion drugs, contraception, and sterilization violates rights of conscience. "The Affordable Care Act ensures that women have access to contraception in their health insurance plans, and the President has respected the principle of religious liberty." Of course, just saying there's respect for the principle of religious liberty doesn't make it so. For an election that is supposed to be about jobs and the economy, it's the radical social issues that seem to be at the forefront of the Democratic convention. The evidence of that is obvious--not just in the Party's platform--but in the speaker line-up as well: Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, Nancy Keenan, President of National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Georgetown law student, Sandra Fluke.

43 SENATORS SIGN A LETTER OPPOSING THE REID BILL

They tell the Senate Leader:  

The only possible justification for a $2.4 trillion increase in borrowing authority is to allow the President to avoid any accountability for these issues before his 2012 election

More from the letter:  

We are writing to let you know that we will not vote for your $2.4 trillion debt limit amendment which, if enacted, would result in the single largest debt ceiling increase in the history of the United States.  In addition to this unprecedented increase in borrowing authority, your amendment completely fails to address our current fiscal imbalance and lacks any serious effort to ensure that any subsequent spending cuts are enacted.

The plan you have proposed would not alter the spending trajectory that is putting our economy and national security at risk.  In return for an unprecedented $2.4 trillion debt limit increase, your amendment reduces spending by less than $1 trillion over the next decade.  Setting aside the $200 billion shortfall between the CBO scored savings and the $2.4 trillion debt limit increase, identified by the Congressional Budget Office, most of the proposal’s alleged savings are based on a false claim of credit for reductions in war-related spending that were already scheduled to occur.  This amendment proposes no change to our military posture and, for that reason, these savings are the sort of widely ridiculed accounting gimmick that breeds cynicism about our ability to tackle our fiscal challenges.  The only possible justification for a $2.4 trillion increase in borrowing authority is to allow the President to avoid any accountability for these issues before his 2012 election.  It is by constantly putting off these tough decisions that we have found ourselves with a national debt nearly equal to the size of our gross domestic product.  The time for action is now, we cannot wait until we accumulate another $2.4 trillion in debt.

For all of these reasons, we must oppose your unprecedented $2.4 trillion debt limit amendment.  Given the nation’s enormous future spending challenges, it would be irresponsible to give the President this unprecedented additional borrowing authority without requiring the enactment of significant spending reductions and reforms.  We urge you to abandon this reckless proposal and instead pursue a more responsible course of action that would rein in spending, reassure the financial markets, and help promote private sector job growth.

(HT: Kathryn Jean Lopez)

"COMPROMISE" WITHOUT "CHANGING COURSE" = CRASH!

Via Ed Morrissey:

IBD’s two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez puts the crises in spending, long-term debt, and leadership into single-frame perspective this morning:

Ed Morrissey writes:

Also, be sure to check out Ramirez’ terrific collection of his works: Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion, which covers the entire breadth of Ramirez’ career, and it gives fascinating look at political history.  Read my review here, and watch my interviews with Ramirez here and here.  And don’t forget to check out the entire Investors.com site, which has now incorporated all of the former IBD Editorials, while individual investors still exist.

ROSS DOUTHAT - "WEINER'S NARCISSISM: A STORY OF THE INTERNET AGE"

  Useful analysis.

  Update 6/16/11 - Chuck Colson responds positively to Douthat's article and adds comments of his own - "Narcissism, Therapy, and Us."

THE MORAL DEGRADATION OF THE AMERICAN LEFT

John Walsh describes Anthony Weiner as "The Face of the Modern Left":

In his combination of unctuousness, mendacity, mock-reasonableness, petulance, bullying, hypocrisy, overweening arrogance, brazen aggression, self-pity, victimhood, and bogus moral preening, it’s hard to beat Congressman Anthony Weiner. He’s the perfect face of the modern American Left in all its glorious pathology; why anyone takes these people seriously is utterly beyond me. . .  (my emphases)

Here he is with ABC’s Jonathan Karl, doing what lefties do best: lie, equivocate, lecture, browbeat, and implicitly threaten, even when they’re caught red-handed: 

 Me:  The chutzpah exhibited on the video (with text) linked above takes one's breath away.  Go see it!

Walsh again:

As I said back on Election Night 2008:  ”This is an unlovely party filled with unlovely people, as America’s about to find out once the Obama pixie dust wears off.”

Me:  Extraordinary and repulsive is the fact that Democrats, caught in shameful situations, don't resign!  Jim Loft over at Gateway Pundit [a daily must read] expects Weiner to follow the standard Democrat precedent.   Loft writes:

Weiner may have bared all, but he will likely survive the disgusting scandal. After all, he’s a democrat.
And, Democrats don’t resign– Ever.

Whether they’re impeached in office for perjury or caught sleeping with drunk underage pages…
Democrats don’t resign.

KKK-Murder-Slandering Troops-Prostitution rings- In scandal after scandal…
Democrats don’t resign.

Did you hear about the guy busted with $90,000 in his freezer?… Yeah, he stayed in office.
Democrats don’t resign.

Drunken manslaughter?

Senator Kennedy’s car is dragged by a wrecker out of Poucha Pond. (Ytedk)

** Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) answered an ad placed in a Washington, D.C. homosexual paper, the Washington Blade, by Stephen Gobie, a male prostitute. Gobie became Barney Frank’s live-in sexual companion, and was soon running a male prostitution ring from Barney Frank’s condo. Last year Frank was chairing the Financial Services Committee.

** Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA) has sex with underage male House page. Studds turns his back on the House when he is censured. He continued to serve in House for six more terms.

** Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plagued by scandals: Abramoff Scandal, Sons who are lobbyists, boxing tickets and other perks, land deal that made him $1 million, etc.- Serves as democratic Senate Majority Leader.

** Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-IL) was indicted for sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer that began during the 1992 campaign. Despite the charges, he continued his campaign and was re-elected that November. Reynolds initially denied the charges, which he claimed were racially motivated. He was convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography.

** Hillary Clinton (D-NY) Her husband is impeached and involved in a record number of scandals and convictions during his term in office. She herself takes money from FBI fugitive. Today she is Secretary of State.

** Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) kills girl . Leaves her in pond to drown. Until his death he was the second longest serving member (next to the former kleagle) in the Senate.

** Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) former Ku Klux Klan Kleagle (recruiter). Democrat Byrd was the longest serving member in the US Senate.

** Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt)- in a 1985 television appearance Leahy disclosed classified information that one of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s telephone conversations had been intercepted. The information that Leahy revealed had been used in the operation to capture the Arab terrorists who had hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship and killed American citizens, and the Union-Tribune claimed that Leahy’s indiscretion may have cost the life of at least one of the Egyptian operatives involved in that operation. Because of his several leaks he was forced to step down from his seat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Today he is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

** Democratic Iowan Senator Tom Harkin (and John Kerry D-MA) traveled to Managua, Nicaragua to assure Fidel Castro’s proxy Daniel Ortega that Senate Democrats were working overtime to thwart President Reagan’s efforts to bring Democracy to the region. Today he is head of Senate agriculture committee.

Are we starting to see the pattern???
Democrats don’t resign.

LEFTIST MEDIA AND POLITICIANS DISGRACE THEMSELVES

Maybe it's a coincidence, but just yesterday I put up a blog post on truth.  This weekend, in response to the shooting of  Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (and the killing of six others in Tucson),  Leftist media and politicians have launched a major offensive to lay the blame for the violence at the feet of conservatives such as Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Fox news, Glenn Beck and others. 

Andrew Klaven points out: 

The Left—which has been unable to discover any common feature uniting acts of Islamist violence worldwide—nonetheless instantly noticed a bridge between the Tucson shooting and its own political opponents. The Chicago Sun-Times ran a slavering editorial blaming “the right.” MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson suggested that the killings were inspired by right-wing rhetoric. Politico’s Roger Simon did the same.  

FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL CRITICIZES SENATE FOR PUTTING SOCIAL AGENDA AHEAD OF MILITARY MISSION

The Family Research Council released the following press statement today at 12:20 PM.  I am in entire agreement with the statement, and consider the ramming through of political legislation in a lame duck session to be not only regrettable, but disgusting and against the spirit of a democratic society.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Family Research Council (FRC) today criticized the vote by the U.S. Senate to pass cloture for a bill that sets in motion a repeal of the 1993 law on homosexuality in the military, commonly referred to as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which codified the prohibition on homosexual conduct in the armed forces that has existed since the nation began.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins issued the following statement following the vote:

"Today is a tragic day for our armed forces. The American military exists for only one purpose - to fight and win wars. Yet it has now been hijacked and turned into a tool for imposing on the country a radical social agenda. This may advance the cause of reshaping social attitudes regarding human sexuality, but it will only do harm to the military's ability to fulfill its mission.

"It is shameful that the Democratic leadership, aided by Republican Senators, has forced through such a radical change in a lame-duck session of Congress. The 1993 law which is to be repealed was adopted only after months of debate and at least a dozen Congressional hearings. The repeal has been forced through only eighteen days after the Pentagon released a massive report, which raised more questions than it answered on the impact the overturning of this policy will have on our nation's military.

"It is clear why this was done: not to enhance the military's ability to accomplish its mission or to enhance national security. Rather, it is a political payoff to a tiny, but loud and wealthy, part of the Democratic base. They knew that the Congress elected last month would never adopt such legislation - certainly not without a more thoughtful and deliberative process.

"We thank Senators John McCain, James Inhofe, Jeff Sessions and Jim DeMint, as well as all of those who voted to support our troops over advancing a liberal social agenda. These senators fought hard for our men and women in uniform, and their efforts will not be forgotten."

Quick Takes

In UK, Coldest December since records began    (Great photos of snow, too)

In Case You Were Wondering… Democrats Out-Pork Republicans 50-1

It Begins… Feds Force Small Town Bank to Remove Christian Symbols & Christmas Buttons

RENTED AGITATORS CAN'T EXPLAIN THE SIGNS THEY ARE CARRYING

Kudos to Andrew Breitbart who waded into an anti-Glen Beck, anti Tea-party mob and challenged anyone to explain the meaning of the signs they were carrying.  No one could do it!   It turns out they were a union mob created by the DNC and Team Obama against Tea Partiers and top conservatives.  Read Jim Hoft's post and watch the video below. 

 

THE "TOLERANCE" OF PROGRESSIVES

Pamela Gellar (depicted with the "No Mosque" blouse) provides the link to the drawing below:

Does the scene above remind you of anything?  I looked at the Pelosi figure and immediately thought of Fairy Hardcastle in C.S.Lewis's That Hideous Strength.  And then I discovered that a commenter had made the same connection:

Nancy Pelosi in this picture reminds me too much of Fairy Hardcastle in CS Lewis’s novel That Hideous Strength. The whole thing about her and all the progs just might be prophetic if Obamacare gets its way. N.I.C.E. in C.S. Lewis’s novel (the National Institute of Co-Ordinated Experiments) is eerily similar to what they want to do with health care as well as for anyone who disagrees with them and their evil and wicked worldview. In the end God always wins.

RONALD REAGAN VS. THE CURRENT REGIME

HT: Gateway Pundit

ELENA KAGAN: 'The Bork Hearings Were the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Constitutional Democracy'

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan expressed that opinion in the video below (HT: Jonah Goldberg).  I watched the Bork confirmation hearings on television.  In fact, I videotaped them.  I considered Senator Kennedy's behavior utterly shameful and embarrassing.  And so with other Democratic senators.  If Elena Kagen thinks the hearings "the best thing that ever happened to Constitutional Democracy," she doesn't belong anywhere near the Supreme Court.  

QUICK TAKES

Ed Morrissey - Amnesty International: Haters of Western Civilization and defenders of Jihad.  Really?  Yes. Right up there with CAIR and Human Rights Watch.

--  Mark Steyn - Shame!  Black Congressmen lie about racial epithets   Breitbart - $100,000 offered for evidence.  No takers

PETER KIRSANOW - NANCY PELOSI WAS RIGHT

Kirsanow writes:

Nancy Pelosi was correct when she said that we have to pass the health-care-reform bill in order to find out what's in it.

Now that the bill has been safely passed and signed into law, the mainstream press is gradually revealing the scores of delightful provisions tucked away in the 2,700 page abomination: ob-killing taxes on businesses, innovation-killing taxes on medical products, suffocating regulations on individual freedoms, wealth-sapping taxes on the middle-class, unprecedented intrusions on personal privacy, unconstitutional mandates on individuals, racially discriminatory preferences for favored groups, a Ponzi-scheme-on-steroids financing mechanism, and spending on a galactic, incomprehensible scale.

And that's just the first 600 pages. But somewhere in this heaping pile of manure there just has to be a pony.

Update: AP: Say, guess what we just found in ObamaCare!

Ed Morrissey laments: "Over the past year, I’ve repeatedly warned about the dangers of static tax analysis.  That process considers changes in tax policy without considering its impact on behavior."

Me:  What kind of brains do we have in Congress?????  Are they so ignorant of human behavior?  Sheeshh....

QUICK TAKES

Ted Slater - Did the Tebow Super Bowl Ad Accomplish Anything?  (HT: Justin Taylor)

Time Magazine - Morocco deports Christian aid workers  (HT: Justin Taylor)

George Will - 'Promoting Dependency is the Democratic Party's Vocation."

Ed Morrissey - Guess Who's Exempt from ObamaCare Mandates?

"STIMULUS" EARMARKS FOR NANCY PELOSI'S DISTRICT - SAN FRANCISCO

Update 7/30/09 - Michelle Malkin  lists National Endowment of the Arts "smut-ulus" projects, some of which are included in the original post below.

(Original Post) - You won't believe this.  It gives a new meaning to Naked Politics.  Drawing on Mark Kelly's research, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council reports:

Mark Kelly of the Heritage Foundation did some digging on where the House Speaker funneled her District's dollars, and the list of projects is enough to send taxpayers through the roof. Let me put it this way: Nancy Pelosi is trying to stimulate a lot more than San Francisco's economy. While the average American is worried about losing his shirt, Congress is funding actors who aren't wearing any!

According to Kelly, $50,000 was sent to an initiative called CounterPulse in San Francisco that just sponsored a "Perverts [Sleep Around]" event on July 25, urging people to "Join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun!" Another $50,000 went directly to an entertainment group called Frameline that concentrates on promoting the "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community" in the arts.

Over at "San Francisco Cinematheque," organizers raked in $25,000 to promote documentaries like "Thundercrack," of which a reviewer writes, "Witness if you dare, the world's only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and a gorilla." A company called Jess Curtis/Gravity, Inc. will receive $25,000, presumably to help boost their Symmetry Project, which features nude couples in compromising positions.

Other programs are too crude and embarrassing to even mention. But shouldn't that say something to the third most powerful leader in America? If these projects are too obscene to talk about, what business does the U.S. government have funding them? This isn't just waste--it's reckless, indecent garbage sponsored by Congress and paid for by you. If these are the priorities of America's new leadership, then we should definitely get a second opinion on their vision for an issue as significant as health care. For more on Pelosi's "waste" line, visit Mark's blog at markkelly.posterous.com.

Additional Resources
Mark Kelly: Stimulus spending links for Speaker Pelosi's district. 

DIRTY POOL

From Jonah Goldberg at the Corner:

A Democratic Underground dweller buys a doohickey so he can turn off Fox News in any public place he finds it. So courageous.

"...it's time to get aggressive when it comes to people playing FOX News in businesses, doctor's offices and other public places."

CARVILLE, BEGALA, EMANUEL PLOTTED "OPERATION LIMBAUGH" BEGINNING LAST FALL...

The Democrat political/media chess game against Limbaugh continues.  Will Limbaugh prove to be the albatross the Democrats want to hang on the Republican party?  That's their  strategy as this article shows.  Will Limbaugh overcome the Democrat connivance against him (and the Republicans) and come out on top?  Stay tuned...    (HT: Drudge)

Update:  Victor Davis Hanson expatiates on Rush's appeal and his "certain sort of genius."  Definitely worth reading.

Update #2 -  Rush responds:  Challenges Obama to a debate.  Transcript here.  4 minute, 43 second audio here.

Republicans and Democrats Differ on Support for Israel's Actions in Gaza

Jonah Goldberg posted the following:

From Rasmussen:

Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans back Israel’s decision to take military action against the Palestinians, but only half as many Democrats (31%) agree. A majority of Democrats (55%) say Israel should have tried to find a diplomatic solution first, a view shared by just 27% of Republicans.

While 75% of Republicans say Israel is an ally of the United States, just 55% of Democrats agree. Seven percent (7%) of Democrats say Israel is an enemy of America, but only one percent (1%) of Republicans say the same. For 21% of Republicans, Israel is somewhere in between, and 28% of Democrats agree.

I do like the bit about how Israelis should  have "tried a diplomatic solution first."  This is a classic example of ideological knee-jerkery substituting for information. Hamas launched (or permitted to be launched) 6,464 rockets into Israel over the last three years. Israel did little to nothing but try "diplomatic solutions."

Me:  I agree with Jonah Goldberg.  I don't understand what Democrats would have Israel do given there were 6,464 rockets launched against her.

ETHICS: DEMOCRATS HAVE A PROBLEM

The Wall Street Journal offers a survey of the depth of Democrat malfeasance. The swamp is much deeper than that of just Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.   But it's more than a Democrat or Republican thing.  It's a cultural problem of massive proportions.  Did you see the 2008 "Ethics of American Youth" survey?   Read it if you dare.

"PRO-CHOICE" CATHOLICS REBUKED

- Update 10/21/08 - LifeNews: George Soros Funds Catholic Groups Making Obama Seem Pro-Life on Abortion

Regrettably I have little time to blog right now, but I'd like to at least draw attention to an outstanding pro-life leader in the Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, about whom the Family Research Council commented (my emphases):

In a passionate speech on what it means to be "pro-life," Archbishop Charles Chaput spoke Friday about the disservice done by Christian voters who are abandoning the abortion issue. More churchgoers seem to be twisting faith to fit their politics instead of evaluating candidates through the lens of faith. Speaking as a private citizen, Chaput talked about the crisis of conscience in this election. "I believe that Senator Obama, whatever his other talents, is the most committed 'abortion-rights' presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973. Despite what [others] suggest, the party platform Senator Obama runs on this year is not only aggressively 'pro-choice,' it has also removed any suggestion that killing an unborn child might be a regrettable thing. To suggest-as some Catholics do-that Senator Obama is this year's 'real' pro-life candidate requires a peculiar kind of self-hypnosis, or moral confusion, or worse." For more, please read Professor Robby George's article at www.thepublicdiscourse.com.

Additional Resources
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput: Little Murders
Prof. Robert George: Obama's Abortion Extremism

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE TRIUMVIRATE OF OBAMA, REID, AND POLOSI TAKE OVER WASHINGTON?

The consequences of all legislative power concentrated in a triumvirate of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid produces nightmares. The Wall Street Journal editorial today is titled "A Liberal Supermajority" (my emphases):

If the current polls hold, Barack Obama will win the White House on November 4 and Democrats will consolidate their Congressional majorities, probably with a filibuster-proof Senate or very close to it. Without the ability to filibuster, the Senate would become like the House, able to pass whatever the majority wants

Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s. If the U.S. really is entering a period of unchecked left-wing ascendancy, Americans at least ought to understand what they will be getting, especially with the media cheering it all on.

OBAMA MEDIA HYPOCRISY: ACCUSE McCAIN/PALIN OF INCITING RAGE AND IGNORE THE DEM'S HATE & RAGE FOR THE LAST 7 YEARS

John Hinderaker says:

You have to hand it to the mainstream media: they are utterly shameless in their effort to hand this year's election to Barack Obama. . . .  For those who have observed the lunacy that has gripped the Democratic Party and liberals generally over the last seven years, the idea that we are now witnessing "Republican rage" is laughable. Michelle Malkin does a definitive job of reminding us what hate, rage and lunacy really look like. Rage has been the public face of liberalism for the last seven years.

Me:  I couldn't agree more.  Michelle Malkin does indeed set the record straight with a terrific photo gallery.

Update: Check out the "calm reaction" of Dems to a McCain/Palin march on New York's Upper West Side.  Illuminating video!  Click here.

AN AD THAT NEEDS TO BE MADE

Byron York of National Review Online recently asked Alex Castellanos, the widely-acknowledged master of the genre, what ad McCain needs to produce. (He's not taking part in this presidential campaign).  His answer:

When this country and this economy are so near the precipice, do we really want to be driving a car with two accelerators and no brake?  A Democratic Congress and a Democratic president like Barack Obama?  A complete, unrestricted blank check for inexperienced radical leadership in Washington?

In short, let voters suffer buyer's remorse now, before the purchase.

DEMOCRAT RESPONSIBILITY FOR DEBACLE AT FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC

I have noted before the Democrat responsibility for the debacle at Fannie May and Freddie Mac and the reluctance of the McCain/Palin ticket to get specific and go after the culprits. 

Now the NRCC has put up an ad that finally does the job.  Click here.  You gotta see this.  It names names of the guilty ones on the Democratic roster related to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (HT: Stephen Spruiell at the Corner)

Note also the facts and figures assembled by Andy McCarthy:

Executive compensation:

Franklin Raines (Obama adviser and Fannie CEO 1999-2004):  $90 million

Jim Johnson (Obama adviser and Fannie CEO 1991-1998): $21 million in 1998 alone — which, as Byron has detailed, was initially concealed from the public) (I haven't been able to find, in a quick search, how many more millions he made from 1991-1997)

Jamie Gorelick (former Clinton administration Deputy AG & Fannie vice chair 1998-2003): $26 million.

Campaign Contributions

Barack Obama, though only in the Senate since 2004, took in $126,349 from Fannie & Freddie (second only to Sen. Chris Dodd, $165,400 — whose collections go back to 1989). 

Taxpayer Liability Increase

Potentially $5 trillion.

 

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FINANCIAL CRISIS?

The Democrats.  You don't believe me?  Then read this.

HAS OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN ORCHESTRATED A GOV. PALIN SMEAR CAMPAIGN VIA A MAJOR PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM?

If this story is true (and the evidence seems strong), it underscores the high level strategic deception and maliciousness engaged in by those who fear Gov. Sarah Palin's popularity to sway the election.  It looks undeniable that outright lies and accusations from "grass roots" attacks are actually engineered by a PR firm now apparently trying desperately to cover its tracks.  "Hot Air" offers a good synopsis and Michelle Malkin has still more as she keeps on top of the story.  Update: Click on the previous Malkin link for follow-ups.

Update 9/24/08 - from Michelle Malkin:  "The latest from Rusty Shackleford is here. Ray Robison weighs in here and here. Ace of Spades: “I think they’re lying.” Jay Tea at Wizbang: “Some enquiring minds don’t want to know.”

WHY IS CHINA PUMPING IRAQI OIL AND NOT THE U.S.?

Mainly because of three Democrat United States Senators: Chuck Schumer, Sen. John Kerry, and Sen. Claire McCaskill.   Frederick W. Kagan explains.

DEMS RIDICULE GOV. SARAH PALIN; JOKE ABOUT HURRICANE GUSTAV HITTING AT BEGINNING OF REPUBLICATION CONVENTION

Former National Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Don Fowler joked and laughed about the timing of Hurricane Gustav hitting New Orleans at the time of the Republican National  Convention.  Click here for hidden video.  (HT:Drudge)

"The hurricane’s going to hit New Orleans about the time they start. [Chuckle] The timing is — at least it appears now that it’ll be there Monday. That just demonstrates that God’s on our side. [Laughter] Everything’s cool."

Update:   Fowler apologizes.  Sort of...

PEGGY NOONAN - DEMOCRATS EMPHASIZE STRUGGLING SINGLE MOTHERS; REPUBLICANS TAXED AND STRESSED SMALL SHOPKEEPERS

Peggy Noonan contrasts the differing emphases of the Democrat and Republican parties:

Democrats in the end speak most of, and seem to hold the most sympathy for, the beset-upon single mother without medical coverage for her children, and the soldier back from the war who needs more help with post-traumatic stress disorder. They express the most sympathy for the needy, the yearning, the marginalized and unwell. For those, in short, who need more help from the government, meaning from the government's treasury, meaning the money got from taxpayers.

Who happen, also, to be a generally beset-upon group.

Democrats show little expressed sympathy for those who work to make the money the government taxes to help the beset-upon mother and the soldier and the kids. They express little sympathy for the middle-aged woman who owns a small dry cleaner and employs six people and is, actually, day to day, stressed and depressed from the burden of state, local and federal taxes, and regulations, and lawsuits, and meetings with the accountant, and complaints as to insufficient or incorrect efforts to meet guidelines regarding various employee/employer rules and regulations. At Republican conventions they express sympathy for this woman, as they do for those who are entrepreneurial, who start businesses and create jobs and build things. Republicans have, that is, sympathy for taxpayers. But they don't dwell all that much, or show much expressed sympathy for, the sick mother with the uninsured kids, and the soldier with the shot nerves.

Neither party ever gets it quite right, the balance between the taxed and the needy, the suffering of one sort and the suffering of another. You might say that in this both parties are equally cold and equally warm, only to two different classes of citizens.

Do you agree with Peggy Noonan?  Has she got it right or not?

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH RESPONDS TO NANCY PELOSI'S DISMISSAL OF ABORTION CONCERNS

Click here and here.  Interestingly, in addition to citing Catholic tradition and documents, Archbishop Chaput J. Chaput of Denver quotes the great Lutheran pastor martyred by the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Destruction of the embryo in the mother's womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed on this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder."

Update 8/26/08 - The estimable Catholic public theologian, George Weigle, asks, Are Obama and Pelosi dodging the life and death question?"  (Click to page two)

WSJ: THE REAL STORY OF THE DEMOCRATS' ABORTION PLANK

Click here.  HT: The Family Research Council, which offered the following summary of the Wall Street Journal article:

Some hidden stories behind the two major political parties' platforms are slowly emerging on the eve of the national conventions. On the Democratic side, much attention has been paid to the new abortion language that calls for a reduction in the "need" for abortions and more support for women who want to carry their pregnancies to term. A detailed story in The Wall Street Journal OnlineJournal shows how difficult it was for Democrats to reach even that limited result. The Obama campaign's strategy was to keep the party's pro-abortion interest groups and its small evangelical contingent apart: they never met face-to-face as the platform plank was written. Platform director Michael Yaki also revealed that the writers "deliberately steered the language [away] from having any morality" as that would have prevented compromise. The party evangelicals, including Tony Campolo and Jim Wallis, did not "push hard for legal restrictions, including partial-birth abortions," the reports. The result was a document that does not even ask for a reduction in the number of abortions, as the pro-aborts insisted this would suggest there was something immoral about the practice.

The Left and Plans for "Nuremberg-Style" Tribunals for Bush Administration Officials

I find this really shocking.  If this were ever to take place it would tear the country apart.  Byron York reports:

One thing that hasn't received much attention in conservative and Republicans circles is the ongoing conversation on the left about the possibility of Nuremberg-style war-crimes trials for members of the Bush administration should a Democratic president take office.  I'm not exaggerating or introducing the Nazi analogy myself; they actually use the phrase "Nuremberg-style" when they discuss "war-crimes tribunals." And they are quite serious (although the more moderate of them prefer a "truth commission.")  

HOW IS THE DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED CONGRESS DEALING WITH THE OIL CRISIS? HAVE A LOOK!

Courtesy of Hugh Hewitt:

Wherever Hewitt got this chart, I don't know, but it is way out of date.  Gas now costs $4.10 at the pump.

DAVID HOROWITZ - WHY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS UNFIT TO OCCUPY THE WHITEHOUSE

Update 6/10/08 - Horowitz and Ben Johnson say they are offering "$500 to any critic of the war who has written for a reputable publication and wants to challenge our thesis." Contact [email protected] to sign up.

- If anyone can refute the major points David Horowitz makes in the article below I would be glad to read those arguments.  If no one can refute Horowitz's points, then the Democratic party has gotten away with snookering the nation, and most assuredly has no right to the White House, or the control of Congress.  Herewith selections from Horowitz's article with my emphases:

. . . In the last five years the Democratic Party has crossed the line from criticism of war policy to fundamental sabotage of the war itself, a position no American party has taken until now.

Starting in July 2003, just three months into the war in Iraq, the Democratic National Committee ran a national TV ad whose message was: “Read his lips: President Bush Deceives the American People. This was the beginning of a five-year, unrelenting campaign to persuade Americans and their allies that “Bush lied, people died,” that the war was “unnecessary” and “Iraq was no threat.” In other words, for five years, the leaders of the Democratic Party have been telling Americans, America’s allies and America’s enemies that their country was an aggressor nation, which had violated international law, and was in effect the “bad guy” in the war with the Saddam Hussein regime.

The first principle of psychological warfare campaigns is to destroy the moral character of the opposing commander-in-chief and discredit his nation’s cause. Yet this is a perfect summary of the campaign that has been waged for the length of this war by the entire Democratic Party leadership, Joe Lieberman being an honorable exception who was driven out of his party as a result.

The one saving grace for Democrats would be if their charges were true – if they were deceived into supporting the war, and if they had turned against it only because they realized their mistake. But this charge is demonstrably false.

In fact, the claim that Bush lied in order to dupe Democrats into supporting the war is itself the biggest lie of the war. Every Democratic Senator who voted for the war had on his or her desk before the vote a 100-page report, called “The National Intelligence