The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Pope Joins ‘Gang of Eight’?

Posted on | July 8, 2013 | 97 Comments

When I saw this Tweet by the Pope, I was like, “Did George Soros pay him to say that?” The House is now considering the Comprehensive Piece of Crap Bill, and I was pretty pissed about it. Had the Senate Republicans or the Ford Foundation or some other open-borders lobby group gotten the Pope involved in pushing this legislative atrocity?

Apparently not.

Did you know that thousands of Africans have died trying to reach Italy? The European Union’s disastrous immigration policies — apparently, once you set foot there, they can’t kick you out — have made the Italian island of Lampedusa a mooch-magnet:

Pope Francis has visited Lampedusa to pay tribute to the thousands of refugees who have lost their lives trying to reach the European Union. The pope also criticized what he called the “globalization of indifference.”
The head of the Roman Catholic Church, who arrived on the tiny southern Italian island on Monday morning, tossed a wreath into the sea from an Italian coast guard vessel to commemorate the deceased would-be migrants. . . .
Later, the pontiff celebrated a mass on the island . . . in which he slammed what he described as “the globalization of indifference” and “the culture of wealth,” that causes people to become insensitive to the plights of others.
“We pray for a heart which will embrace immigrants,” he said via his Twitter account following the mass. “God will judge us upon how we have treated the most needy.”
Lampedusa, which is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland, has been the point of entry to the European Union for more than 200,000 people since 1999. More than 17,000 would-be migrants have died trying to reach the island during the same time period.
Around 4,000 have reached Lampedusa in the first half of this year alone, but this is well below the tens of thousands who reached the island during the Arab Spring revolts of 2011.

The “globalization of indifference”? Hey, dig this, Pope: How about encouraging the localization of responsibility?

If everybody is responsible, nobody is responsible. If it’s Europe’s job to take care of Africans, what is Africa’s job other than building boats so they can try to get to Europe? How about encouraging Africans to do something more productive than trying to leave Africa?

Also, speaking of “how we have treated the most needy,” Pope, I checked my records and you’ve never hit my tip jar. Just sayin’ . . .





 

UPDATE: Catholic readers might be shocked by my disrespectful tone toward His Holiness, but remember, I’m Protestant, so I can backtalk that guy and still get to Heaven. And why should this kind of gooey “social justice” nonsense — which intelligent people would reject as the idiocy it is, if Lindsey Graham said it –be exempt from criticism just because it’s coming from a dude wearing a robe?

C’mon: Was Rerum Novarum divinely inspired? Or was it, as I insist, a failed attempt by a fallible human being — a cleric with no training in economics — to strike a middle ground between the 19th-century radical Left and the reactionary Right? And upon the economic errors of Rerum Novarum, Catholics have erected an edifice of “social justice” doctrine that, a few decades ago, gave rise to the heresy of “liberation theology” that the Pope himself had to rebuke.

The duty of Christian charity cannot be transferred to governments, because that not only relieves the individual of his own obligation to charity, but it also encourages an attitude of helpless dependency and entitlement among the poor. “Social justice” thereby becomes a sort of adhesive that glues the poor to the economic floor, where sloth and profligacy are rewarded by government handouts and the lazy are encouraged toward envy of the industrious and thrifty.

Having turned Europe into a gigantic Social Welfare State, these economic errors have now made Europe a magnet for Muslim “refugees” who claim the right to emigrate on the basis of . . . what? Because they were born in Africa? Really? Just any person born in Africa can go to Europe and claim to be a “refugee,” because they’re African? There are 1 billion people in Africa, and I certainly hope His Holiness doesn’t mean they all have the right to move to Europe, whose citizens must have “a heart which will embrace immigrants” or else be condemned to Hell.

Speaking of being condemned to Hell, if you haven’t hit my tip jar lately, your immortal soul could be in jeopardy.

The Pope’s got his “social justice” doctrine, and I’ve got mine.





 

UPDATE II: A miracle! Like loaves and fishes!

“Go thou and do likewise.” Amen.

 


Category: Catholics, Immigration

Spokesman Denies Report That Virginia’s Corrupt Republican Governor Will Resign

Posted on | July 7, 2013 | 49 Comments

Some headline, huh? The problem is that if Gov. Bob McDonnell is corrupt, he obviously wouldn’t employ an honest spokesman.

So if Willie Deutsch says there’s a plea deal being worked out that would require McDonnell’s resignation, then of course his two-faced weasel of a “communications director” would lie about it.

That’s your job, when you’re working as “communications director” for a corrupt governor: You lie for a living. You are a professional liar, or otherwise you’d find honest work somewhere.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, this involves the governor’s $6,500 Rolex watch and also a Manhattan shopping spree for Mrs. McDonnell — a $10,000 Oscar de la Renta leather jacket, designer shoes, a Louis Vuitton handbag and so forth.

“State and federal investigations,” yadda yadda.

Is the corrupt governor going to resign? I don’t know, but we can’t believe a word from anyone who would work as “communications director” for someone who has disgraced his office like that.

UPDATE: Things look very bad for the corrupt governor:

Gov. Bob McDonnell, already under fire for reported ethics violations, apparently took a flight to the Final Four basketball tournament in April 2011 that was sponsored by one of his political donors, according to the Virginia-Pilot.
The newspaper reports that “people familiar with the trip” now say Jonnie Williams Sr., who heads the health supplement company Star Scientific Inc., covered McDonnell’s travel.
The FBI has been investigating McDonnell’s relationship with Williams for gifts he provided to the governor, including catering for his daughter’s wedding. . . .
As for the Final Four allegations, McDonnell’s spokesman, Tucker Martin, pointed out to the Virginia-Pilot that the trip was logged by the governor’s political action committee, Opportunity Virginia. Around the same time, Star Scientific also made a contribution of $22,371 to the PAC on April 7.

The more you look at this, the more you realize the question is not whether the corrupt governor is going to resign, but how soon.

Maybe after the FBI perp-walks him out of the Governor’s Mansion?

UPDATE II: David Brooks, November 2009:

“[Sarah Palin is] a joke. I mean, I just can’t take her seriously. … We’ve just a had guy elected Virginia governor who’s probably the model for the future of the Republican Party, Bob McDonnell, pretty serious guy, pragmatic, calm, kind of boring.”

Yeah, “the model of the future of the Republican Party” is corruption, probably resigning in disgrace, maybe going to federal prison.

It’s so . . . pragmatic.

 

Category: Corruption, Virginia

‘We Need Reinforcements’

Posted on | July 7, 2013 | 38 Comments

Robert E. Lee once famously paid tribute to the fighting ability of Texans: “I rely on Texas regiments in all tight places, and fear I have to call upon them too often. They have fought grandly, nobly.” During the Battle of the Wilderness, when it seemed the Confederate line could not hold, Lee rode his horse into the midst of the fighting to rally his troops. His soldiers urged him to go back, but Lee would not leave until reinforcements arrived. Learning that the fresh troops were from Texas, the general declared: “Texans always move them!” And so they did.

It was therefore somewhat confusing to learn last week that, in the fight to save innocent unborn lives in Texas, the forces of evil were so numerous and vocal as to discourage Christians:

The battle over the bill has attracted nationwide attention to Austin. During confrontations between supporters and opponents of the legislation at the state capitol last week, a group of anti-abortion protesters began singing the Christian hymn “Amazing Grace.” They were heckled by pro-abortion activists who chanted “Hail, Satan.” It was reported last week that a group called Grassroots Campaigns was offering to pay abortion supporters between $1,300 and $2,200 a month to participate in “our Pro Choice Campaign in Austin.”
One abortion opponent said he was exhausted by the “spiritual warfare” over the abortion bill.
“I have never seen the left do more spiritual warfare than I have so far this week,” Thomas Umstattd Jr. wrote at his blog. “Those of us who have been at the Capitol are worn out. I am weary to my bones. We need reinforcements.”

Will pro-life reinforcements turn out Monday at the Capitol? The reputation and honor of Texas is at stake in this spiritual warfare.

 

Category: Abortion, Texas

The World’s Youngest Blogger Gets His Vanilla Shake On

Posted on | July 7, 2013 | 14 Comments

Category: World's Youngest Blogger

Maryland Democrat Leads Key Group: Criminal Perverts for Martin O’Malley

Posted on | July 7, 2013 | 70 Comments

Scott Markle is registered as a Democrat and as a sex offender.

“A Carroll County man faces up to 20 years in federal prison after being charged with possession of child pornography. 51 year old Scott Wade Markle made a brief appearance Friday in Carroll County District Court on a separate charge of failing to notify authorities of a change of address. That’s because Markle is already on Maryland’s Sex Offender Registry.”
— WBBF-TV, Baltimore

Not all Maryland Democrats are criminal perverts, but child pornography enthusiast Scott Markle is trying his darnedest:

Since 2005, Markle has given state political contributions to Martin O’Malley, Sue Hecht, Ann Darin, Frank Rammes, the Carroll County Democratic Central Committee, and the Democratic State Central Committee of Maryland. He also gave in 2008 to a federal account belonging to the Democratic State Central Committee. Online filing information on fec.gov shows that he listed his employer as Warnken, LLC. That is the law firm of law professor, and Democratic Party donor, Byron Warnken. In 2009, Markle was called as a witness for a plaintiff who was suing Warnken. The case was dismissed. The online case search information lacks any details of the circumstances surrounding that suit and I won’t speculate. Markle’s LinkedIn profile shows him as a legal assistant at Warnken LLC but that profile doesn’t appear to be active. The July 2012 contribution to the State Central Committee lists Markle as an employee at Catoctin Counseling Center and a 2012 profile in the Baltimore Sun on the remodeling of the Markle-Courpas home in Westminster says that he is an administrator at their Westminster office. Among other services, Catoctin provides counseling services for children and adolescents.

What kind of “counseling” would Markle — convicted of federal child pornography charges in 2005 — give to “children and adolescents”?

VOTE DEMOCRAT AND DROP YOUR PANTS

To sum things up, Scott Markle and his wife Corynne Courpas are long-time Democratic party activists in Carroll County. They’ve attended five national conventions together and both served on the county central committee. Markle has also served multiple terms as an officer of the county’s Democratic Club. They’ve both donated to Democratic candidates for the past few cycles, including Martin O’Malley.

Markle’s enthusiasm for dirty pictures of kids apparently wasn’t cured by his previous conviction, so it looks like he’ll be going back to the place where Maryland Democrats belong: Federal prison.

 

Category: Crime, Democrats, Maryland

Is John Kerry’s Yacht Named ‘Failure’?

Posted on | July 7, 2013 | 44 Comments

Things are going badly in Egypt, although it’s hard to say just how bad they’re going. The latest trouble sign:

[The office of interim President Adly Mansour] said pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei had been named as interim prime minister but later backtracked on the decision saying consultations were continuing. A politician close to ElBaradei said the reversal was due to objections by an ultraconservative Islamist party with which the new administration wants to cooperate.

So, the liberal ElBaradei is unacceptable, but an “ultraconservative Islamist party” is OK — in fact, the Islamists get to veto the liberal?

When it was believed that ElBaradei had been appointed as interim prime minister, a Muslim Brotherood member said:

[El-Baradei’s] enthusiastic support for the military coup and arrests of our leaders has shown that he does not really believe in democracy… This appointment and the military coup that brought him to power will take Egypt back to the Mubarak era.

Exactly what was so bad about “the Mubarak era”? Never mind: The Muslim Brotherhood hated Mubarak, and they had their chance to run the show during Morsi’s government, and the fact that implementing sharia law isn’t really good for the economy or anything else . . .

Well, never mind any of that, you see. BLAME THE JEWS!

If Egypt goes from bad to worse — and what are the odds, eh? — no one can blame John Kerry, although he courageously stands ready to take credit if somehow things turn out all right:

“Over the days since the unrest in Egypt intensified, Secretary Kerry has been in constant contact with the national security team, regional partners, and his counterparts. In addition to participating in a secure call with the National Security Council today to review the very fluid situation in Egypt, he has been in hourly touch with Ambassador Patterson and in the last two days he has also spoken with Mohamed Elbaradei, Qatari Foreign Minister al-Attiyah, Omani Sultan Qaboos, Emirati Foreign Minister bin Zayed, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu.”

Excellent cell-phone reception off the coast of Nantucket, I’m told.

In case you’ve been busy this week and missed all the Egyptian drama, Gene Hackett has a thorough summary at ViralRead.

 


Category: Egypt

When Did Failing Upward Become An American Tradition?

Posted on | July 7, 2013 | 17 Comments

by Smitty

Heritage reports that (presumably blue) cities and states will be dumping employee healthcare costs onto the federal health care exchanges:

Both Chicago and Detroit have explored using the exchanges to reduce massive budget shortfalls, and it could set an example for others. Bloomberg quotes one expert from the Rockefeller Institute of Government: “We can expect other cities to pick up on this.… I expect [employee dumping] to mushroom.”
The incentives for cities—or even states—to dump their workers onto exchanges are significant. Bloomberg notes that reducing retiree health costs could save Detroit approximately $150 million per year—at a time when the city faces a $386 million budget deficit and $17 billion in long-term debt.

Read the whole thing.

Unless these shell games result in improved health and thus lower costs (doubtful), it’s not clear how just deciding those costs are not part of a city or state’s budget actually obviates those costs.

Here is a real opportunity for the GOP to rebuke “the reality-based party” by pointing out to voters that going on a permanent bender is not exactly reality, and last only until the credit card melts.

Category: Democrats, Health Care

The Dishonest Liar From Phonyville

Posted on | July 6, 2013 | 62 Comments

Was there ever a time that honest people did not despise John Kerry? He first came to public attention more than 40 years ago, lying about his service in Vietnam, and he has been lying about everything — every single thing — ever since. So this headline kinda set me off:

Experts: John Kerry’s credibility
could sink with boat flap


John Kerry got away with his lying for years simply because he was a member of Congress from Massachusetts, a state that hasn’t elected an honest politician in half a century or more. Most states send their criminals to prison. Massachusetts sends theirs to the Senate.

Years of experience in dishonesty are, of course, quite valuable in the office of Secretary of State, where Kerry’s predecessor wasn’t exactly an exemplar of integrity, and so the question is: Is it possible that a liar as skilled as John Kerry is overqualified for this gig?

 

Category: Democrats
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