That Ain’t Country Music

Posted on | March 11, 2010 | 5 Comments

I’m not one of these hard-core purists, who denounces any artist who strays too far from the original formula, despite my hereditary Old School tendencies. (My mother worked for the Atlanta office of RCA Records when I was a kid and used to bring home authographed records by Eddie Arnold, etc.) And I’m OK with the general trend toward rockin’ country that has developed ever since Mutt Lange moved to Nashville.

All that being said, Carrie Underwood’s “Cowboy Cassanova” is not country music. A fine song by a fine singer, but it ain’t country.

If you’re the argumentative type, feel free to argue. But you’re just wrong.

Progressives Awaken To The Idea That Americans Hate Progressivism

Posted on | March 11, 2010 | 5 Comments

by Smitty

Mike Madden at Salon listened to Glenn Beck, and likens his war on the word ‘Progressivism’ to Reagan’s war on ‘Liberal’.

But instead of sitting back and letting “progressive” become the next American political boogieman — like what happened to “liberal” — some Democrats want to fight back. “This is the big fight about the role of government and markets,” says Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future (who also says he’s proud to call himself a progressive, because of the original economic populism of the Progressive Era). “People need a clear narrative about how we drove off a cliff, and what we need to do to get off of it, and it has to relate to a set of ideas about how we got off the cliff.” That’s where laying out a progressive agenda — and explicitly identifying the conservative agenda as opposed to it — would help.

Madden’s analysis manages to overlook the fact that the more egregious RINOs either implicitly by action or explicitly by word brand themselves ‘Progressive’.
Since 1913, there has been progressive flooding (via Insty) of power and money into Washington DC. This has been a function of Amendments 16 & 17, plus the Federal Reserve Act, the three of which bad ideas must be stricken as soon as possible.
Look, Madden, you can put whatever label you want on your collectivist ideology. It matters not. The Constitutional restoration is arriving, albeit slowly, in a great big steamroller, and Progressivism is not going to enjoy much height going down the road.

How Bad Is It for Charlie Crist?

Posted on | March 11, 2010 | 11 Comments

“At this point, it doesn’t look like he could win a Republican Primary for Dog Catcher.”
– Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling

Kind of a nice plan you had there, Mr. Crist. All you had to do was to embrace Obama and get John Cornyn’s big money boys at the NRSC lined up behind you. Who cares about those stupid Republican primary voters in Florida, anyway?

The fix was in. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

How’s that plan working out for you, Charlie?

UPDATE: Oh, look, here’s a headline fresh in from Florida:

With a huge lead in Florida polls, Rubio dazzles crowd

Rubio 60%
Crist 26%

Sorry, Charlie.

NOT ONE RED CENT!

Constitutional Question: Will There Be One By The Time The 111th Congress Is Done With It?

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Power Line posts on “The Slaughter Solution”. As in NY Rep. Louise Slaughter; we’re still advocating against violent, illegal actions against Congress.

Speaking of illegal actions, will the Constitution’s stated intent for having revenue-generating legislation originate in Big House (the one with 435 seats) before moving over to the Little HouseSenate retain any meaning whatsoever after this debacle

Under Slaughter’s scheme, Democratic leaders will overcome this problem by simply “deeming” the Senate bill passed in the House – without an actual vote by members of the House.

What is the point of rules if they are mere bits of clay to be shaped around some emergent concern?
These godforsaken clowns have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution, only to use it as so much toilet paper. The Democrats don’t have the votes, I don’t care what Pelosi says. But how debauched can things possibly get as she staggers toward a final, Botox-enhanced rigor mortis.
People tell me I’m mad to think that some kind of state-level Article V convention is out of the question. That may be, but the atrociousness of Pelosi and company drag that Article V cramdown just a little closer toward being within the question every single day.
Worst. Speaker. Ever.

Update: Case in point, from Big Government:

As is the new DC operating procedure for major legislation, there are almost no firm details on the current language. We know there will be a large new federal bureaucracy, somewhere within government, to provide “consumer protection” for financial products. We know there will be a $50 billion tax on banking customers to provide a permanent bailout fund, or as Sen. Corker would describe it, a “wind-down” fund. Unfortunately, we also know that the bill will do nothing to reform Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, who continue to drain billions from the U.S. Treasury.

Vast, unread bills passed at odd hours. That’s one way to kill representative government, I suppose.

Update II: More from Another Black Conservative.

A Colleague Offered A Bit Of Rule 5 For The Ear

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

Bitter:Sweet apparently did the soundtrack for Lipstick Jungle. I’d like to advance the theory that double ignorance is a blank check to post a video, for example The Bomb:Because nothing works like a woman whose voice is made of pure sensuality laid over some jazzy stylings.

Eric Massa’s Next Job?

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | 4 Comments

He’s snorkeled his way out of the Navy, groped his way out of Congress and flunked his tryout as a Fox News regular contributor, so obviously Mr. Tickles is going to need another career that suits his unique abilities and interests. Public school teacher?

They do such a good job teaching us to read . . . who better to teach us about sex?

That’s from Enoch Root at Piece of Work in Progress, and here’s Veronique de Rugy at BigGovernment.com:

Based on the Recovery.gov data, more than two third of the 594,754.3 jobs “created or saved” with the stimulus funds were “created or saved” in the Department of Education . . .

Hmmm. Once they’re through with Eric Massa, maybe the Obama administration can “create or save” a job for Charlie Crist, another guy who’s going down hard.

IYKWIMATIYD.

Ambien Alert: Looks Like Patrick Kennedy Has Fallen Off the Wagon Again

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | 8 Comments

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Ace of Spades headline:

Patrick Kennedy Vows to “Destroy” Stone Cold Steve Austin & The Undertaker in Wrestlemania 47

I’ll try to get a partial transcript of Kennedy’s demented gibberish, just as soon as I can stop laughing. This could take a while . . .

UPDATE: Via CBS:

“If anybody wants to know where cynicism is, cynicism is that there’s one, two press people in this galllery. We’re talking about Eric Massa 24-7 on the TV, we’re talking about war and peace, $3 billion, 1,000 lives and no press? No press. You want to know why the American public is fit? They’re fit because they’re not seeing their Congress do the work that they’re sent to do. It’s because the press, the press of the United States is not covering the most significant issue of national importance and that’s the laying of lives down in the nation for the service of our country. It’s despicable, the national press corps right now.”

Honest, congressman, I’d be more than happy to cover your ridiculous drunken ramblings in person, but nobody in the “national press corps” is willing to pay me to make fun of you. And speaking of “despicable” . . .

Kennedy has repeatedly said he did not drink alcohol before the car accident, and he was disoriented from two prescription medications: Ambien and Phenergan. Police on the scene said he appeared to be intoxicated; however, no sobriety tests were conducted that night to prove he had been drinking.

Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.

UPDATE II: Fortunately, Allahpundit could be reached for comment:

Funny, but I don’t remember many Democratic complaints about the sustained media swarm over Mark Foley in fall 2006 while Iraq was falling apart. I’m sure there’s an explanation for the difference somewhere.

True dat.

Will This Bill Not Get A Constitutional Challenge, If Passed?

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | 4 Comments

by Smitty (via Big Government)

The Hill reports on a casual $100B that will blow right past state capitals and go to local governments:

Miller’s bill would make $100 billion in grants available to localities over the next two years in the form of grant programs for funds to save or create local jobs, or to create work-training programs for city workers.

I get that Pelosi, Miller & Co. have almost a century-long tradition of shenanigans to back them up.
Other than that, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever for the Federal government to be cruising at the Local level.
Well, the Federal government has the deep pockets, and the States are broke, is the likely response.
Let’s get some legal beagles to band together and start defending the Constitution, the 10th Amendment in particular, and start agitating for the Federal government to focus on Federal concerns.

If You Haven’t Been Groped by Eric Massa Yet, Please Raise Your Hand

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | 10 Comments

OK, let’s do a count . . . uh, so far, looks like I’m the only one:

[I]n conversations yesterday and today with some of Massa’s Navy shipmates, it became clear that the behavior toward his subordinates that got Massa into trouble in Congress is part of pattern that dates to his time in the Navy.
According to Peter Clarke, a Navy shipmate, Massa was notorious for making unwanted advances toward subordinates. He tells the story of his friend Stuart Borsch, with whom Massa shared a hotel room while on leave during the first Gulf War. “Stuart’s at the edge of the bed,” Clarke says Borsch told him at the time, “and [Massa] starts massaging him. Massa said, ‘You’ll have to get one of my special massages.’ He called them ‘Massa Massages.’” Ron Moss, a Navy shipmate and Borsch’s roommate, confirmed that Borsch told him this story at the time.
Borsch, now a history professor at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, didn’t addresss that specific incident, but did confirm to me in an email that he was groped by Massa: “In 1990, aboard the U.S.S. Jouett, I was awakened when a senior officer, Lt. Commander Massa, seemed to be groping me. (I was a lieutenant at the time.) I believe he may have been drinking. I shouted at him and he left. I mentioned the incident to several other officers. I did not officially report it.”
Clarke says that Massa’s roommate, Tom Maxfield, was also assaulted. “Tom lived on upper bunk,” Clarke say. “When you’re on ship, you’re almost exhausted 24-7. So a lot of times you sleep with your uniform on. Tom and Massa shared a stateroom together. Massa climbed up on the top of his bunk, which is hard to do–you never crawl up on somebody else’s bunk. He wakes up to Massa undoing his pants trying to snorkel him.”

(Via Memeorandum.) That’s a euphemism — “snorkel” — I hadn’t heard before, but I’ll be sure to keep it handy henceforth: “President Obama got another snorkel from David Brooks today . . .”

Don’t ask, don’t tell. IYKWIMAITYD.

UPDATE: Allahpundit:

 To no one’s surprise, because of Massa’s resignation, the less-than-worthless House ethics committee has ended its investigation into his alleged misconduct.

Nancy Pelosi’s Three-Ring Circus continues.

Our Problems Exceed Barack Obama

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

Dan Riehl’s post looks into Rasmussen’s poll numbers and concludes that they are suggestive of BHO’s arrogance and that

Obama is completely out of step with America’s priorities right now.

Barack is the culmination of a century of centralization in American politics.
If you check out the non-snarky Twitter #thankaliberal entries, the Left is quick and unfailing to pat itself on the back for every single positive thing that ever happened in the US.
We have to be diligent until January 2013, and I don’t mean to distract from that task.
But do save a couple of brain cycles for the bigger picture. The Left hopes you do not. They, I infer, would gleefully let us think that BHO is the source of all ill, and all we need to do is vote him out. No’ so fast. The real threat is the underlying ideology.
It’s an open question, not to offend the HillBuzz lads, whether HRC would have been better than BHO. I suppose she’d have driven a bit closer to the median, as opposed to stacking her administration up in the port-side ditch. But is her underlying ideology significantly different? I’m not so sure.
The bigger strategic question is more than just how we fight off another unsustainable entitlement. No, it’s how do we take the rest of those sacred cow entitlements out back and butcher them, in a politically executable fashion.
The problem is not the names, but the ideology, and the entitlements it breeds.

Update: Rick Moran points out 8 myths about BHO that Conservatives push.  Again: ignore BHO the tool, and focus on saving the greater project that tool was harming.

‘Dude, I’m So Wasted’

Posted on | March 10, 2010 | 8 Comments

It was nearly midnight in D.C., and I was sitting on the patio of the Dubliner with my friends Victor Morton and Pete Parisi of The Washington Times, when I saw Sean Pean walking past on F Street.

“Dude, that’s Sean Pean,” I said.

Pete and Victor turned to look, but Penn had his back to us, and they seemed doubtful of my celebrity-spotting ability.

“No, seriously, it’s him,” I said.

Evidently, while we had been enjoying our post-deadline refreshments at the Dubliner, Penn had been next door at Kelly’s Irish Times and was now departing, walking  eastward toward North Capitol Street. A gaggle of women who had been at the Irish Times caught up with Penn, and he stopped to have his picture taken with them.

I had my camera in my pocket, and didn’t want to miss the opportunity to add Penn to the “known associates” category (i.e., like former DNC chief Terry McAuliffe), but the Dubliner patio is surrounded by an iron fence, that separated me from the target.

I began preparations for scaling the fence when a woman sitting on the patio said, “No! Don’t try it.” The fence, about 3-1/2 feet high,  is topped with iron spikes, and the woman was obviously concerned that while going over the fence, I might impale myself in a most unpleasant way.

Indeed, on second glance, there was a real possibility of an accidental orchiectomy, and so I returned to the table with Victor and Pete — disappointed, but not disconsolate. Penn continued to the corner and caught a cab.

“You should Tweet this,” I said to Victor. He grabbed his iPhone to send out this message:

Was 10 feet from Sean Penn outside DC bar, had clear 2nd Am. view; all I did was hit my shoe against my head and say “dude, I’m SO WASTED”

Perhaps that reference to the Second Amendment was a bit hostile, but we’re professional journalists, after all, and we know what Sean Penn thinks of journalists:

First Amendment be damned . . . If Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn had his way, any journalist who called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a dictator would quickly find himself behind bars.
Penn, appearing on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, defended Chavez . . .
“Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it” said Penn, winner of two Best Actor Academy Awards. “And this is mainstream media, who should — truly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies.”

Chavez is a Marxist thug, and Sean Penn is a ginormous douchebag. These are simply the neutral, objective facts.

My Big Day in D.C.

Perhaps this is as good a place as any to describe my experiences Tuesday, which were kind of weird. My plan was to go down to the Heritage Foundation for their weekly blogger briefing, just to show up and let my D.C. friends know I hadn’t fallen off the planet.

My 10:30 a.m. departure from Hagerstown would have put me in D.C. by noon, but I stopped at Sheetz to grab a sandwich, gas up the 2004 KIA Optima and put air in the right front tire. (Old tire with a slow leak. New tire, $75. Just sayin’ . . .) So it was past 11 before I got out onto I-70 and switched the radio to WARK 1490 AM.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Glenn Beck was on the radio, issuing a groveling apology to Michelle Malkin, but there was no context – Beck just rambled on, abasing himself, without saying exactly what he’d done that necessitated the apology. Rolling down the interstate at late-for-a-meeting speed, I grabbed my cellphone and started calling friends, trying to find out what this was about.

Eventually, of course, I discovered that Malkin and Beck had gone ’round over Beck’s coverage of Rep. Eric Massa:

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air and Michelle Malkin give the background, and there’s more at Memeorandum.

This is one of the conundrums of blogging. To stay up-to-date, I have to be online all the time, but that would mean never leaving the basement to go places and meet people. Just in the time it took me Tuesday morning to get ready for my D.C. trip, I’d missed this story, and now I was going to be out on the road  and offline — for several hours, because I seem to be the only person in the world who hasn’t gotten a Blackberry or an iPhone yet. 

En route to D.C., I got a call from Rob Ryan, spokesman for Doug Hoffman’s congressional campaign. Hoffman had announced his plan to run in NY23 again, but I hadn’t had time to blog it, because I’d been getting ready for this D.C. trip. See what I mean?

Blues Buddies and Tax Moochers

So I kept rolling, down I-70 to I-270 and onto the Beltway to the GW Parkway, across the bridge and up Constitution Avenue, over to Columbus Circle and past Union Station to Massachusetts Avenue, and I pulled up to the curb near the Union Pub across from the Heritage Foundation and parked illegally. As I was getting out of my car, who did I see on the sidewalk? D.C.’s hottest young blues pianist, Ian Walters of SwampKeepers fame.

“Dude, you here for the blogger briefing?” I asked.

“No, just waiting for Lisa,” said Walters, referring to CPAC Director Lisa DePasquale, who was inside at the briefing. During CPAC, Ian is media coordinator, in charge of setting up “Radio Row,” etc. — a very important job. But here he was, a vagabond drifter loitering on Massachusetts Avenue.

“Just make sure they don’t tow my car,” I said, as I jaywalked over to Heritage. I entered the bloggers briefing — now nearing its conclusion — helped myself to coffee and a free sandwich and sat next to Lisa, who has an iPhone and announced via Twitter:

uh oh, @rsmccain just showed up at #tbb!

You see that #tbb is the Twitter hashtag for “The Bloggers Briefing.” Rob Bluey was presiding, and I noticed several familiar faces around the table, including Tabitha Hale of FreedomWorks.

Perfect. I’d been planning to go by FreedomWorks after the Heritage briefing, as I needed to put a bug in Tabitha’s ear about Chris Cassone playing the April 15 Tax Day Tea Party. Now I’d be able to save myself the extra trip, with the traffic and parking hassles on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Also at the briefing was my old buddy John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who handed me a printout of his recent op-ed at BigGovernment.com: “Proxy Access: The Obama-Dodd-Alinsky Shareholder Jujitsu. Interesting stuff there. And there was more interesting stuff, a Heritage study by William Beach called, “The 2009 Index of Dependence on Government, which included this graphic:

Click here to see the chart full-size. In 2008, there were 48 million IRS tax returns with zero federal tax liability, so that more than a third of all Americans are getting a free ride. Uh, including me — because I’ve got six kids and blogging hasn’t yet become the lucrative gold mine of a six-figure income. But maybe if you hit the tip jar, we can get me off Uncle Sam’s tax moochers list. I’m just sayin’ . . .

Well, the rest of this story will have to wait for my memoirs. Events of Tuesday afternoon caused an unexpected furor at the media-gossip blog Fishbowl DC this morning, and I suppose there’s no point disputing these anonymous sources who seem to know everything: “Absolutely no way.”

Whatever. At least Sean Penn hasn’t put me in prison yet.

NY-23: Hoffman Is Back.
Opposition Seized By Dismay.

Posted on | March 9, 2010 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Having met the gentleman at CPAC, it is a pleasure to point to Robert Stacy McCain’s article on Doug Hoffman over at The Washington Times.

Mr. Hoffman’s Conservative Party campaign last fall became a nationwide crusade after party leaders backed state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, whose liberal record angered conservatives bloggers, such as Erick Erickson and Michelle Malkin. Republican 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and the Club For Growth were among those who endorsed Mr. Hoffman.
As polls showed a Hoffman surge in the final weeks of the race, Mrs. Scozzafava quit the campaign and shocked Republicans by endorsing Mr. Owens, who won with a 48 percent plurality.
Mr. Hoffman’s supporters immediately began urging him to run again, with House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence praising his “brilliant” campaign.
Mr. Hoffman has reassembled most of his 2009 campaign team, including Mr. McLaughlin’s polling firm and TV advertising specialist Nelson Warfield, and begins with more than $200,000 in campaign cash remaining from last year.
Mr. Hoffman used his Facebook online network to announce his 2010 candidacy to supporters Monday night.

Read the whole thing

Ed Morrissey also offered analysis at Hot Air, along with a CPAC interview clip:

Circumstances should favor Hoffman this time. In the previous contest, a special election to fill John McHugh’s seat, the state didn’t allow for a primary contest, throwing the nominations to the county chairs of both parties. Democrats chose Bill Owen, while Republicans passed over Hoffman to select DeDe Scozzafava. Hoffman ran as a third-party candidate instead, winning over Tea Party enthusiasts while Scozzafava campaigned poorly and alienated voters in her district. Hoffman came within a couple of percentage points of winning the whole race.

More at the Memorandum River.

This blog predicts that Hoffman’s straightforward honesty will go over in the 112th Congress like a musician at a rap concert.  Clearly we need to send more musicians like Doug to DC.

UPDATE (RSM): Speaking being “seized by dismay,” I’d like to know which anonymous worm was responsible for this vicious lie.

The Babies Speak In Protest

Posted on | March 9, 2010 | 1 Comment

by Smitty (h/t Power Line)

The shame here is that they didn’t think of a way to work in some unborn people to protest the homicide.

A Good Day It Was, When A Young Robert Gibbs Found That Missing Head Of His

Posted on | March 9, 2010 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

(h/t Anorak News)

Rep. Pelosi Offers A Quote That Shall Live In Infamy

Posted on | March 9, 2010 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Tabitha Hale brings you the video:

Ace had an excellent riff:

In fairness, she’s quoting from the Federalist Papers, which spoke eloquently of “passing some laws so we can find out what great shit’s in them, and stuff.” Pretty sure that was John Jay.

Let’s channel a actual Founding Father, then. Alexander Hamilton:

It seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.
Federalist No. 1, October 27, 1787

If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people, whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify.
Federalist No. 33, January 3, 1788

It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow.
Alexander Hamilton and Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 62, 1788

Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?
Federalist No. 62, 1788

If it be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws — the first growing out of the last…. A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.
Essay in the American Daily Advertiser, Aug 28, 1794

Pelosi is consistently atrocious, if you recall her Are you serious? Are you serious? interrogative from last October.
Yes, Madame Speaker, we’re as serious as a

Godforsaken Heart Attack!

Update: More links at Ed Driscoll.

Update II: Dan Riehl, as is his wont, puts a ‘positive’ spin on matters:

I think I need a shower after watching the political news. And I’d really appreciate it if Rahm Emanuel left me alone long enough to scrub off the grime of the Democrats we’re getting to see in all their glory right now.

Heckuva job, Barry! Through incompetence and trying to foist your agenda on a nation that mostly rejects it, you are destroying the Democrat brand. He really is, you know. This all begins and ends with Obama. And at this rate, there may not be much of a party left by the time he’s finished. And he will be finished in 2012. Mark my words.

In defense of BHO, while the POTUS is nominally the head cheese of the party, the fact that he’s been national-level goods only since he Gave Good Speech in 2004 means that older, saner heads should be offering Rehoboam more forceful advice.

Congratulations To Fishersville Mike On The Prospective Daughter-In-Law

Posted on | March 9, 2010 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, but her thumbs have been an interest item recently.

Cindy Sheehan Might Make A Better Public Servant Than Rep. Pete Stark

Posted on | March 9, 2010 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

Uncoverage.net introduces

“Coach” Luis Garcia, Republican candidate for the 13th to replace Stark.

Uncoverage notes that Stark is already a Maryland resident, as a California tax dodge.
Rep. Stark may be OK, as he really knows how to deal with opposition, for example, in this classic rant where he threatens to eject an interviewer with the temerity to ask economic questions of him without gravitas afforded by an Economics PhD:

Quote Of The Day

Posted on | March 9, 2010 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

From Basil at IMAO

How can Congress possibly balance the federal budget without raising taxes?

It’s easy. Make Congress make up for any shortfall in the budget. Take it out of their pay. Cut Congressional pay (House and Senate) for every dollar the budget is in deficit.

What about the president? Well, if he vetoed the deficit budget, he’s off the hook. If he signed it, he’s liable. Dock his pay, too.

Now, what happens if the deficit is more than the pay of Congress? As is the current situation? Congress is on the hook for the balance. Personally. If Congressman A has twice wealth as Congressman B, he’s responsible for twice as much of the deficit.

When that still doesn’t cover the deficit, spread the debt around to other members of the government, exempting military pay only.

If Congress tries to get around it by raising taxes, count every tax increase as deficit money, and cut Congressional pay accordingly.

I learned a long time ago, that if someone had the solution to a problem, but had no interest in solving the problem, it was because it didn’t personally affect them; it wasn’t their problem.

Make it their problem.

This is certainly too simple, but the fundamental truth of the idea is in the feedback loop. Congress still is feeling insufficient discomfort.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?!
Fox News Smears Geert Wilders?
UPDATE: A Completely Crazy Idea

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 42 Comments

CubaChi at The Right Scoop:

A hero, a man who is risking life and limb to rescue the Netherlands and Europe from radical Islamization and communism taking grip of his country and continent. Everyday he has to wear a safety vest and hide his family and give them 24-hour security because he is willing to say the unpopular thing to protect and defend his nation.

First on “Special Report” with Brett Baier:

Then on Glenn Beck:

Now, there is perhaps some “fair and balanced” ambiguity here, and perhaps a good deal of unnecessary sensationalism – “Ooooh! The controversial far-right leader!” — but the overall tone of the portrayals, and the fact that these two reports were filed practically back-to-back suggests to me that somebody at Fox News (and somebody pretty important) is guilty of accepting liberal media reports of Dutch politics at face value. I’ve got a hunch about this, but it might take a while to investigate, so look for updates.

(Hat tip: Dan Riehl.)

UPDATE: I’m still trying to figure out where this anti-Wilders theme is coming from, and just got a call from a friend who suggests that Fox News is under pressure from Saudi interests – suggestions I’ve heard before, but prefer to discount. I think it far more likely that some senior producer or executive at NewsCorp has been listening to BBC or NPR or reading the New York Times and accepting those liberal characterizations as gospel.

It’s like what happened with the Sparkman “murder” in Kentucky. All it took was for one anonymous source at the Justice Department to tell an Associated Press reporter that they were looking at ”anti-government sentiment” as a motive and next thing you know, it’s “Send the Body to Glenn Beck” time.

You can’t judge people you’ve never met, in places you’ve never been, based on what you get from the media. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Kentucky or Kampala, there is simply no substitute for direct knowledge. And based on personal experience, I’m profoundly suspicious any time I see this “dangerous right-winger” theme in the media. Here is Roger Simon of Pajamas Media:

Regarding Wilders, I had the pleasure of meeting the man at a party in Los Angeles last year and spent thirty minutes or so talking with him, often one-on-one. He is extremely well-spoken and personable.

Pamela Geller, who knows Wilders, is outraged by the Beck segment. Whereas there is this from Charles Johnson:

Geert Wilders is a far right ideologue, and the European far right does often equal fascism. How the heck did Beck ever get this one right?

Frankly, now I’m tempted to start rattling the tip jar for a trip to Amsterdam, just to check out the situation on the ground. A quick check on Travelocity shows I could get a round-trip flight for about $800. If I could find somebody over there who speaks English, and has a sofa I could crash on . . .

It’s a completely crazy idea, but I’ve done crazier things.

UPDATE Tuesday 10:30 a.m.:  Now a Memeorandum thread. David Horowitz, Robert Spencer and Diana West (a veritable Murderer’s Row of LGF enemies) have commented on the situation. Paul Mirengoff wisely notes: “A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.” Noticing an Associated Press report of an “anti-fascist” protest against Wilders in England, I observed at the Hot Air Green Room:

If the protesters against Wilders are “anti-fascist,” then what does that make Wilders? He’s a “fascist” in the same sense that Mark Steyn is a fascist — which is to say, someone the Left hates.
A couple years ago I covered a David Horowitz speech at George Washington University where the left-wing protest pests chanted, “Racist! Sexist! Anti-Gay! David Horowitz go away!”
Horowitz is none of those things, but the protesters chant that stuff because they know that the accusations have propaganda value, stigmatizing Horowitz in the eyes of people who don’t know anything about him but who don’t want to be associated with racism, sexism or homophobia. A group calls itself “Unite Against Facism” and anyone they target for protests is immediately on the defensive: If you’re not a fascist, why are “anti-fascists” protesting against you? It’s like “peace” groups and “environmental” groups — who is against peace? Who wants to be labeled “anti-environment”?
The effectiveness of the Left’s propaganda against Wilders, I think, explains why he got such hostile treatment Monday from Fox News.

The influx of tip-jar contributions for a Holland trip hasn’t materialized yet. Maybe y’all don’t trust me over amongst all those foreigners. Anyway, I’ve got to run to D.C. today on business, so blogging will be light until this evening.

As The System Of Checks And Balances Disintegrates, Congress Becomes A Messy Signing Statement

Posted on | March 8, 2010 | No Comments

by Smitty

The Purple Avenger over at AoS seems kinda shocked that, once Harry Reid pulls his finger out of the dike, a flood of Really Bad Ideas follows, as captured in the WSJ.  In this particular case, it’s the Federal takeover of education.  Got to make sure that the tender collegiate brains are programmed properly.
The stream of Congressional slurry is based upon:

• Outright deceit,
• Jacking the noise-to-signal ratio. (2,711 pages?, according to Hair of the Dog)
• Making all the rules of order moot (HotD, Orrin Hatch ~4:40)

Overall, it’s too alarmist to view the 18th of March vote in the House as the pivotal day in US history. The sober truth is that there is no safety until a 112th Congress is sworn in.

Keep in mind that the Roman Senate too had a very long hang time, for all it was mostly a decoration after the Caesars . . .

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