Political Digest April 17, 2010

I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.

6 dead, at least 11 wounded in night of shootings
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04/3-wounded-in-separate-south-side-shootings.html
Time the US got out of Blagobamaville. The war is lost. Fratricidal, intra-racial violence is rising. Since it was mostly Southside, I’m assuming the most or all of the victims were black, as well as most of the perps. Is that racist of me? Want to bet I’m wrong? If not, you are racist too! Note there were many others wounded by gunfire as well. There were four blacks murdered, apparently by black thugs, the night before as well. Funny how black thugs can murder black folks (or white, Asian or Hispanic folks for that matter, but it’s mostly black folks they slaughter) every night with hardly a peep from the black race hustlers who call themselves black leaders. But let a white person use the “N” word….. The lives of average black people are only valuable if they can be used to get power by playing the race card. Otherwise they are buried and forgotten in days. Excerpt: It was a night of exceptionally heavy violence on a warm summer-like night in Chicago. Six people were killed and at least 11 others were wounded across the South Side in an area stretching from the Back of the Yards neighborhood to the Calumet Heights neighborhood to the Morgan Park neighborhood. There were no arrests in any of the shootings.

CBS spreads Supreme Court rumor
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
Ah, the Leftstream Media feuding with the Leftwing White House over Gay issues. I, personally, disagree with many conservatives on Gay issues. I don’t think anyone chooses to be Gay. I don’t know one hetro guy who has said, “I’m really angry at my girlfriend—I’m going top start dating guys from now on!” I think Gays should be treated like everyone else. I tell my wife that I don’t think Gays deserve special privileges—they should have to marry and suffer like the rest of us! But if being Gay is Okay, why did the White House deny that Kagan was a lesbian. Not anyone’s business, is it? The White House ripped CBS News on Thursday for publishing an online column by a blogger who made assertions about the sexual orientation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, widely viewed as a leading candidate for the Supreme Court. Ben Domenech, a former Bush administration aide and Republican Senate staffer, wrote that President Obama would "please" much of his base by picking the "first openly gay justice." An administration official, who asked not to be identified discussing personal matters, said Kagan is not a lesbian.

SEC accuses Goldman Sachs of civil fraud
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/16/AR2010041602161.html?hpid=topnews
I’m cool with this. Wish they would also charge Bill Clinton and the Congress for foisting the Community Reinvestment Act, Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac on the economy. I hope they really go after the individuals responsible, like Tourre—by going after the bank, they hurt the stockholders, which doubtless includes a lot of pension funds of people who did nothing wrong, probably including you and I. Excerpt: The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges Friday against Goldman Sachs, one of the most successful but vilified banks on Wall Street, for misleading and defrauding investors in selling a financial product based on subprime mortgages. In filing the civil suit against Goldman Sachs, the agency is targeting one of the banks that largely escaped the wreckage of the financial crisis and, with the help of various forms of government aid, emerged stronger. The SEC's suit strikes at a practice that was one of the main causes of the financial crisis: the creation of poisonous investments derived from home loans made to borrowers who couldn't afford the houses they were buying…. The SEC alleges that a Goldman Sachs vice president, Fabrice Tourre, was principally responsible for putting together the CDO. He also faces civil charges.

GOP candidates outraising Dems
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/92623-gop-candidates-outraising-dems
Excerpt: Republican Senate candidates outraised their Democratic rivals in the first quarter. Much of that money went to non-incumbents. Republicans had five of the top six fundraisers among Senate candidates and only one of them was an incumbent — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). The top 10 GOP Senate candidates outraised the top 10 Democratic candidates $20 million to $16 million, even though Democrats had six incumbents on that list and Republicans had two. Several of the most successful GOP fundraisers have clear paths to the November election. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and former Reps. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) headlined a big day for the GOP in three of the top Senate races on the map.

How 'soaking the rich' clobbers you
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/how_soaking_the_rich_clobbers_you_FsGylYW9sv3Mw187c528vJ
Excerpt: Nearly half of American tax filers didn't have to pay any federal income tax last year. But Americans -- especially New Yorkers -- shouldn't enjoy the free ride. Soon enough, everybody will pay for the higher spending that Washington's "generosity" encourages. And thanks to Washington, we'll be paying for higher state and local spending at the same time, too. Just a decade ago, two-thirds of American tax filers still paid into the tax system. But both Democrats and Republicans have spent the last quarter-century inventing and expanding all kinds of voter-friendly tax breaks. Easy-to-use tax software has helped people get every dollar -- something that was once less common, because it simply wasn't worth the bother. …..But everyone should have to pay something -- and anyone who earns enough to have cable TV can pay something toward their own national defense, too. A big majority of people, in fact, should pay enough to be annoyed on April 15 rather than excited. Otherwise, the politicians will figure they can just keep spending without angering a critical mass of voters. As it is, Washington just figures that when it comes time for tax hikes to pay for all the spending we're doing with borrowed money, the "rich" will pay. Case in point: President Obama seems certain to let the Bush tax cuts for upper-income Americans expire -- so in January the top rate will jump back to 39.6 from 35 percent. Two years later, a new 3.8 percent tax kicks in on investment income earned by families who make $250,000 and up (part of the health-care bill). Thing is, the rich already do pay. And when it comes time to pay for all of the spending we're doing now, the rich may not be able or willing to pay even more. Taxpayers earning over $200,000 paid more than 54 percent of federal income taxes in 2007, way more than the 32 percent of the nation's income they earned. In New York, the rich pay even more. Families above the $200,000 mark pay nearly 67 percent of the Empire State's share of federal income taxes.

The Teacher Pension Nightmare
http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/14/teacher-pension-education-taxpayers-opinions-contributors-josh-barro.html
Excerpt: Pension and retirement plans all over America have lost value. Plans covering public school teachers, by their own admission, are underfunded by $332 billion. However, the plans' real funding gap is far worse than their financial statements show, at nearly a trillion dollars--and you and I will bear the burden of covering their shortfall. The story of how this happened is familiar: States expanded their promises to retirees when times were good. Then, the economy tanked, pension assets fell in value and states skirted their obligations to deposit cash in pension funds--all causing a funding gap. But because benefits are contractually guaranteed, the obligation to cover any funding shortfall lies with taxpayers.

Obama's Education Plan Against Parental School Choice
http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/jborowski/obamas-education-plan-against-parental-school-choi
Excerpt: The White House asserted that the $900 million will target the nation’s soaring drop out rate. In fact, 1.2 million students drop out of high school each year—that’s 7,000 a day. The Obama administration firmly believes that it is necessary to focus on the schools with graduation rates lower than 60 percent. In addition, the administration deems it necessary to focus on students early in their education and ensure a safe learning environment in order to reduce high school drop out rates. Since 1965, American taxpayers have spent $2 trillion on public education. In inflation adjusted dollars, federal education spending per student has practically tripled. So what effect will Obama’s $900 million education grant have on student achievement? Chances are that this money will make absolutely no difference. Below is a graph prepared by Andrew J. Coulson, an education policy scholar at the Cato Institute, that shows no positive correlations between federal spending per pupil and test scores in reading, math or science.

Pelosi Changes Vote Schedule – Disrupts Republicans' Plans To Attend Tea Party Rally
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=64240
Excerpt: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) recessed the House in the late afternoon on Thursday and called for a vote at 7:30 p.m., the time when many Republicans had planned to speak at the Tax Day Tea Party gathering near the Washington Monument. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the rally, which is scheduled to last until 9:30 p.m. (what goes around, comes around. The GOP will control again. Payback time then.)

How Romney Could Kill the ObamaCare Repeal Movement
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/04/16/how-romney-could-kill-the-obam
Excerpt: Over the past several weeks, political observers have speculated about how passage of the national health care law modeled after the one Mitt Romney signed in Massachusetts could hurt his presidential ambitions. But more significant for conservatives is how Romney's presidential ambitions could stymie the effort to repeal ObamaCare. As it is, achieving a full repeal of the recently-passed health care law will be extremely difficult. Given that Obama would veto any bill to undo his signature legislative accomplishment, it means that to get rid of the law, Republicans will have to not only take back Congress, but capture the White House. It also means that conservatives will have to relentlessly campaign against ObamaCare during the next two elections and keep public outrage at an elevated level for at least the next three years. And even if they achieve all of this, they will have a short window to repeal the bill in 2013, because by 2014 the federal government will begin to dole out hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies, which will create a whole new constituency to preserve the law.

Obama administration finds a strong ally in the Rev. Al Sharpton
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/16/AR2010041602381.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
Birds of a feather. If a white minister had falsely accused six black men of raping a white girl, as Sharpton did in reverse in the Tawana Brawley (see link below) case, no politician or media outlet would go near him again. Why am I not surprised to find a lying race hustler allied with this White House. Excerpt: The Rev. Al Sharpton's brightly colored track suits and gold medallions are a distant memory, long ago replaced by tailored business suits and silk ties. That more polished image -- a strategy known around his headquarters here as "from-the-streets-to-the-suites" -- has been completed in the past year with Sharpton's new role in Washington: partner to the Obama White House.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawana_Brawley_rape_allegations

White NBC Reporter Confronts Black Man at Tea Party Rally: 'Have You Ever Felt Uncomfortable?'
http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?v=XdSUuz8zZu
The Leftstream Media continues to distribute the leftist propaganda that the Tea Parties are racists. Excerpt: “There aren't a lot of African-American men at these events,” NBC News reporter Kelly O'Donnell, a white woman, told Darryl Postell, a black man at a Tea Party rally held Thursday in Washington, DC, pressing him, in an exchange she chose to include in her NBC Nightly News story, to address her prejudiced assumptions: “Have you ever felt uncomfortable?” Postell rejected her loaded premise that race must divide Americans: “No, no, these are my people, Americans.” O'Donnell's story noted “skepticism over how the Tea Party is judged and labeled,” letting an attendee assert: “We're not racists, we're not any of the above that people claim us to be. We're ordinary citizens that love our country, and we're fighting for it.” O'Donnell soon wondered if it all may peter out, asking a man in the crowd: “Do you think this has enough energy to really last to November and to make a difference?” Over on ABC, Jonathan Karl highlighted how “many of them blamed us, the news media.” A woman demanded: “We want honesty from you. We want fair time from you. We want you, the media, to represent all the people, not just a certain portion of the people.”

Lieberman, Collins Threaten to Subpoena Obama Administration for Withholding Info on Ft. Hood Shooter
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/04/lieberman-and-collins-threaten-to-subpoena-dod-and-doj.html
Excerpt: Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, say they will issue subpoenas next week to the Pentagon and the Justice Department unless both departments end what they call “foot-dragging” in cooperating with the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee’s probe of the Fort Hood shootings. At a Capitol Hill news conference today, both senators said they’d been patient with the administration in the five months since the probe began, but don’t buy the administration’s concern that providing access to records and individuals to the committee might compromise the prosecution of alleged shooter, Army Major Nidal Hasan.

You have no right to violate my rights
http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/15/you-have-no-right-to-violate-my-rights/#ixzz0lHX6mPtP
Excerpt: In order to derail this program before it takes effect, it is critical to understand the fallacy of the slogan that implies a right to free healthcare. The definition of “rights,” as proposed by the Founders, are not random claims that individuals demand. Rational “natural rights” are not based on wants or even perceived needs. I cannot simply say that since my neighbor owns a luxury car, that I should have a ‘right’ to the same car. Most people can easily see that this proposition and use of the word ‘right’ is ludicrous. What then is a true definition of a ‘right’? (If something is a “right,” everyone gets the same amount. Bill Gates doesn’t get more freedom of speech, or religion or the press than you do. So if healthcare is a right, everyone must get the same amount.)

Whitewashing is quick work!
http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/15/whitewashing-is-quick-work/#ixzz0lHRz5WO
Excerpt: Hard on the heels of the report of the one-day British Parliamentary inquiry into the Climategate scandal comes the report of the grandly-named International Science Assessment Panel set up by the University of East Anglia (UEA). Surprise, surprise, it finds nothing wrong except a few lapses in concentration caused by all the hard work climate scientists are doing to save the planet. Unfortunately for the alarmist cheerleaders who will treat these reports as complete exoneration, they suffer from exactly the same problems as the scientific reports Climategate centered around. They are sloppy and incomplete while pretending to be the comprehensive answer. As such, they damage the authority of science just as much as Climategate itself.

Top Climate Scientist Under Fire for 'Exaggerating' Global Warming
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/15/michael-mann-climategate-global-warming/
Excerpt: Britain's top statistician absolved U.K. scientists following the climate-data scandal -- and blasted U.S. researcher Michael Mann for exaggerating the size of global warming. An inquiry by a panel of scientists into the behavior and methodologies of researchers at Britain's East Anglia University found Britain's climatologists scatterbrained and sloppy, but ultimately innocent of intentionally skewing climate data. But one of the top scientists selected for the panel slammed the methodologies used by Penn State climatologist Michael Mann to devise his infamous "Hockey Stick."

A House bill aiming to make research and data open to the public
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/04/15/a-house-bill-aiming-to-make-research-and-data-open-to-the-public/#more-18530
Excerpt: Climategate demonstrated what can go wrong when a few misguided scientists take control of data and keep it from the public. Now there’s a movement afoot to make open access to data and research papers a law. Washington, DC – Fueling the growing momentum toward openness, transparency, and accessibility to publicly funded information, the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2010 (FRPAA) has been introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) and a bi-partisan host of co-sponsors. The proposed bill would build on the success of the first U.S. mandate for public access to the published results of publicly funded research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and require federal agencies with annual extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with online access to research manuscripts stemming from funded research no later than six months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

So What Happened to Iraq?
http://article.nationalreview.com/431421/so-what-happened-to-iraq/victor-davis-hanson
Excerpt: Six years ago, the conventional wisdom was that Ayad Allawi, then prime minister of the appointed Iraqi interim government, was a puppet of the United States. Last month, though, the Allawi-led Iraqiya alliance won, by a narrow margin, more parliamentary seats than any other coalition in national elections — and he may become the country’s next prime minister. The secular Allawi successfully campaigned on the message of curbing religious interference in government — countering the often-argued charge that the U.S. has created a radical Islamic republic in Iraq. Yes, there is still terrorist violence in Iraq — especially recently, as the leadership of the country’s next government remains in doubt. And, yes, there are still around 130,000 American soldiers in Iraq. But in the first three months of 2010, the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq was about equal to those murdered in Fresno, Calif.

DNC to pour $20M, plus other resources into races
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_el_ge/us_democrats_campaigns
Excerpt: Bracing for potential losses in congressional and gubernatorial elections, national Democrats plan to spend $20 million to defend their candidates in November's contests. Democratic officials discussed the campaign push, a collaboration between top White House and congressional Democrats, on Friday only on the condition of anonymity because no announcements were ready. They said the cash would be split among the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — panels that do much of the fundraising, spending and candidate recruitment. With evidence from polls that members of the general public are souring on Democrats, senior party officials recognize the challenges they face to maintain their majorities in the House and Senate. Officials also said the Democrats' drive would include an aggressive program with noncash resources, such as campaign workers. Some officials estimated that effort would be worth up to $30 million.

Not Only Do They Vote, They Get Tax Refunds
Last week, undercover IRS agents busted 26 New York-area tax preparers for a slew of criminal acts, including claiming refunds in the name of dead taxpayers, inflating business deductions, and identity theft. While many would laugh off this story as one bunch of criminals putting another bunch of criminals in their place, the $95 million scam occurred over eight years and places the tax preparers in front of a federal judge, who can sentence them to hefty fines and years in prison. However, this also highlights the problems and potential for fraud with our ever-changing tax code. While these preparers were charged with fraud, it's worth mentioning as well that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the titular head of the agency arresting them, is also a tax scofflaw. Perhaps, though, this is a harbinger of things to come. With new IRS agents being needed to enforce tax law changes in the ObamaCare bill and the lurking prospect of a value-added tax that would put any number of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers on the hook for additional tax collection, busting tax cheats may become such a humdrum occurrence that stories detailing them may fall off the front pages of your newspaper. Indeed, they may become buried inside with the obituaries. The Patriot Post www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/

Elderly Carnation man shoots burglar who attacked him
http://www.thearmedcitizen.com/category/senior/
Excerpt: An elderly homeowner shot an intruder who attacked him inside his home Wednesday morning. It happened at Vern Grant’s home in 3600 block of Lake Langlois Road at about 5 a.m. It started when the suspect smashed the windows of Vern’s handicap van and rifled through his medicines. “The guy was screaming crazy things and he was berzerk. He threatened to kill him,” said Ernie Grant, Vern’s brother. Next, the intruder went for the back door of Vern’s home, shattering the glass and entering. “He threw his pills all over. He was ripping cabinets open. He was just … the house is trashed. The kitchen is trashed,” said Ernie. Vern, who turns 76 on Thursday, has Parkinson’s Disease and diabetes. But he was able to fight back. Vern says the intruder was screaming and incoherent.

Stunner… State-Run Media Ignores Leftist Thugs Ramming, Beating, Insulting & Chucking Eggs at Boston Tea Party Protesters
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/04/shockers-state-run-media-ignores-leftist-thugs-beating-insulting-chucking-eggs-at-boston-tea-party-protesters/
Can’t say that I find violent leftists or the media ignoring them stunning. Business as usual in Obama’s America. Excerpt: Excerpt: Yesterday, 10,000 Tea Party Patriots turned out on Boston Common to rally in support of the virtues of limited government, personal responsibility and the timeless allure of freedom. Over 10,000 Boston Patriots turned out for the event and to hear Sarah Palin speak. We came out to rally in support of the virtues of limited government, personal responsibility and the timeless allure of freedom. So did the thugs. Leftist thugs wearing USW T-shirts threw punches and rammed their way through the Tea Party Protest in Boston:

Back on Uncle Sam's Plantation
http://townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/02/09/back_on_uncle_sams_plantation?page=full
Excerpt: Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems. The kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others. The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families. Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is. I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican congress and signed into law by a Democrat president. A few years after enactment, welfare roles were down fifty percent. I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth producing American capitalism. But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction. Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism. Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh." (Star Parker is running for Congress. Democrats pull out all the stops to defeat “people of color” who run as Republicans.)

New rules on terror custody being drafted
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-obama-detention16-2010apr16,0,5014185,full.story
Excerpt: The Obama administration is for the first time drafting classified guidelines to help the government determine whether newly captured terrorism suspects will be prosecuted or held indefinitely without trial, senior U.S. officials said. The draft document envisions that a small number of suspected terrorists captured in the future could be detained and interrogated in an overseas prison, several of the officials said. At least in the short term, Bagram air base in Afghanistan would be the most likely prison to hold the suspects, they said. (How about shot? Is shot an option?)

The Welfare State of America
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/16/the-welfare-state-of-america/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_must-read-stories-today
Excerpt: Americans are used to taking comfort in the fact that European countries such as Sweden, France and Finland are inefficient "welfare states." Even if American competitiveness slacks off a bit, the thinking goes, we'll always be on top because the United States would never allow government to get as burdensome as it is in socialist foreign lands. It's time to start thinking differently as the U.S. bureaucracy expands to record levels. Even before Obamacare and this year's spending increases take effect, Americans have to accept that our government already has gotten to be as big as the biggest welfare states. Socialism is not just somebody else's problem anymore. A new Fox News report shows that even after adjusting for differences in the cost of living and the number of citizens in each country, total U.S. government spending per capita in 2009 exceeded that of all but eight nations in the world. More than 95 percent of countries have smaller relative governments than we do. In total, U.S. government spending came to $17,400 per capita, or about $70,000 for a family of four. The per capita cost of our government is much more than the per capita income of most of the world.

He Has Seen The Enemy, And It Is Israel!
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2010/04/he-has-seen-enemy-and-it-is-israel.html
Turns out the Jews are to blame. Who would have guessed? Excerpt: Excerpt: Accusing Israel of indirectly killing American soldiers is the newest and most pernicious argument of the anti-Israeli left, traditional Arabists in government, and now, the Executive Branch of the United States government. As detailed here before, the argument goes that because the people who kill American soldiers hate Israel, Israel is the cause of the killing.

Obama’s Pressure on Israel Spurs a Jewish Group for Sarah Palin
http://www.nysun.com/national/obamas-pressure-on-israel-gives-birth-to-jewish/86918/
Excerpt: President Obama’s recent demarche designed to increase pressure on Israel is having one immediate impact in the Jewish community — it is hastening the formation of an organization called Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin. Plans for the new group are set to be announced on Sunday by a Philadelphia-based journalist and activist named Binyamin Korn, a former executive director of the Zionist Organization of America. The announcement is unlikely to make big news, as the group is embryonic, with an advisory committee of several journalists and academics. Its aim, however, is to take advantage of the growing alarm within the Jewish community at what Mr. Korn, in an interview this week with the New York Sun, called an “escalation of rhetoric” criticizing the Jewish state.

Breyer expects health challenge
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/16/breyer-expects-health-challenge/
Excerpt: Justice Stephen G. Breyer predicted Thursday that the Supreme Court will one day be forced to pass judgment on the constitutionality of President Obama's just-passed health care overhaul plan. Justice Breyer told a congressional panel that the massive health care law, like most major federal legislation, is a good candidate for high court review. Some 20 states, virtually all with Republican attorneys general, have already joined a suit seeking to challenge the law in federal court, arguing that its mandate that Americans get health insurance is unconstitutional. The White House and congressional Democrats insist the plan passes constitutional muster.

Chicago Muslim murders four family members: had been clutching Qur'an and saying it told him to kill
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/04/chicago-muslim-murders-four-family-members-had-been-clutching-quran-and-saying-it-told-him-to-kill.html
Too bad it didn’t tell him that “Islam is a religion of peace.” Excerpt: Police had soon apprehended a suspect, a Wisconsin man with a lengthy criminal record who was related to all those killed. Sources involved with the investigation said the man had converted to Islam several years ago while serving time in prison and had a dispute with his wife -- one of the victims -- because she would not adhere to his faith. He told police that he needed to take his family back to Allah and out of this world of sinners, a source said. A police report quoted him as saying, "I wish I had more bullets. I wish I had more bullets."...Family members said the suspect had been acting strangely. The wife's sister, Shirina Thompson, said the suspect had been talking about "going to Allah."

How the media dismiss the Tea Party
http://www.marklevinshow.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2010/TeaParty/ExecSumm.aspx
Long but worth reading for media watchers.

EDITORIAL: Sink the Murtha
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/15/sink-the-murtha/
Currying favor with Democrats in Congress. Excerpt: The late Rep. John Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, has achieved his highest undeserved honor. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has decided to name the Navy's newest San Antonio Class amphibious transport-dock LPD 26 the USS John P. Murtha. This is a slap in the face to every service member who bridled when Murtha publicly accused Marines in Iraq of intentionally killing women and children in cold blood. Murtha made his views known after details emerged about a firefight in Haditha in November 2005 in which 24 Iraqis were killed. Murtha accused the Marines of engaging in premeditated murder and agreed with MSNBC's Chris Matthews that this was "exactly" like the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam. Charges later were brought against eight Marines but have since been dropped against all but one. However, Murtha's theatrical rush to judgment still rankles Americans in uniform, whose views on the congressman range from disappointment to the belief that he gave aid and comfort to the enemy. (Crews always nickname their ship. Wonder if this will be the “Earmarker” or the “Grafter”?)

Don't Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWIzYjFlZGRmNmUwYmQxZTA5NDMwY2MwZGM3YmIxMTU=
What about a Scottish Sgian Dubh or dress dirk? Excerpt: Not in the United Kingdom anyway. I've written in the next NR about the remorseless descent of modern Britain, but this story from today's Daily Mail captures a lot of the salient features: Full-time carer Rodney Knowles, 61, walks with the aid of a stick and had used the Swiss Army knife to cut up fruit on picnics with his wife. Knowles from Buckland, Devon, yesterday admitted possessing an offensive weapon at Torquay Magistrates Court. In the Nineties, Britain banned guns - and, despite being a small island with rigorous port-of-entry checks, found itself with more gun crime than ever before. However, it also found that, instead of shooting each other, Britons started stabbing each other - to the point where makers of school uniforms now offer them in Kevlar. So naturally the government began cracking down on knives. As this commenter notes: I can remember debating this when the law first came out. We all said what about the little old lady with her fruit knife or the old man and his fishing knife. People argued that common sense would be used so innocents would not be prosecuted. Not in modern Britain.

Repeal CRA, stop blackmailing banks
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Repeal-CRA_-stop-blackmailing-banks-90975249.html
Thomas Sowell points out that black owned banks gave loans to whites at a higher rate than to blacks, and all banks gave Asians loans at a higher rate than whites. Why? Because before CRA, loans were based on ability to repay. Excerpt: Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, has introduced legislation to repeal the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, a damaging relic from Jimmy Carter's presidency. The CRA empowered left-wing activist groups like ACORN and the Greenlining Institute to use claims of racism to force banks and other financial institutions to make loans and mortgages on the basis of the ethnic and demographic makeup of neighborhoods instead of the creditworthiness of borrowers. At the time, this tool of political blackmail was cleverly camouflaged by its proponents behind the righteous cause of ending redlining, the practice in which bankers allegedly drew red lines around certain local neighborhoods, putting them off-limits for loans and mortgages. The redlined areas were typically populated by minority residents, usually African-Americans or Hispanics.

Does Romneycare = Obamacare? Cato says yes
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Does-Romneycare--Obamacare-Cato-says-yes-90982654.html
Excerpt: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is widely considered to be the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, but the biggest obstacle he may have to overcome could well be Romneycare, one of his signature programs while serving as the Bay State's chief executive. More than a few people within and without the GOP - including most notably President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - contend that Romney's much celebrated health care reform of 2006 is quite similar to the Obamacare program that became law in 2010. Romney strongly disputes that characterization, but the very fact it is becoming an issue is indicative of its seriousness as an obstacle to his winning the GOP presidential nomination. Now comes the Cato Institute with a searing video critique of Romneycare that focuses on the major ways in which it resembles Obamacare. Watch this video and you will have a sense of the urgency of this issue for the Romney candidacy:

Who wins in 2010? Good luck reading tea leaves
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Who-wins-in-2010_-Good-luck-reading-tea-leaves-90985294.html
Matthew Beach is the type of tea party voter political strategists of all stripes have a hard time understanding. Beach got off Wednesday afternoon from his job working on helicopters at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., and along with his wife, Jessie, got in his 1999 GMC pickup to drive overnight to Washington, where he arrived in time for Thursday's lunch-hour Tax Day at Freedom Plaza. Before he left home, Beach hand-lettered a sign for the event. It read: DISAPPOINT THE GOVERNMENT: BE RESPONSIBLE, SELF-RELIANT AND KIND. In general, Beach believes the federal government spends too many tax dollars on too many things that are better done by local communities. "If you're responsible, self-reliant and kind, you don't need the government to provide for any of that," he told me as we stood in brilliant sunlight not far from the White House. "I'm from Alabama, and if I have to look to Washington to take care of my neighbor, that's looking too far."

Too funny: Communist Party USA Files Civil Suit Against Democratic Party
http://news.jonzu.com/z_uncategorized_communists-sue-democratic-party-for-stealing-platform.html
Satire. Please don’t write and say, “That isn’t true.” Excerpt: In a surprise move, the CPUSA (Communist Party USA) has announced a lawsuit against the Democratic Party and its leadership for the alleged theft of intellectual property. The plaintiffs claim that the entire so-called "new" Democratic agenda is, in fact, the product of a decades-long, painstaking campaign by CPUSA theorists, agitators, and underground subversive cells - which makes it the intellectual property of the Communist Party USA, protected by American copyright laws. "They stole our entire platform, rebranded it 'progressive', and claimed it as their own," declared a CPUSA spokesperson at a press conference in San Francisco. "And we communists say, not so fast! Not in this country anyway, where we still have property rights and the rule of law, thank God! Actually, let me rephrase that..." The Communist Party representative explained that government ownership of the auto and financial industries, redistribution of wealth, and free rationed healthcare have always been among the glorious CPUSA objectives: "We held on to these goals through all the difficult years of factional infighting, purges, denunciations, and heroic espionage on behalf of the Soviet intelligence services. "This may seem like a foreign idea to you, but we sacrificed everything for it - our friends, our neighbors, and our nation. We suffered from all kinds of ulcers and split personality disorders by blindly following Stalin's directives. We risked our chances of promotion within US government agencies by dutifully advancing Soviet foreign policy. And for what? So that some spoiled Democrats could ride on our backs to power while throwing us crumbs in the form of minor cabinet appointments?

Census
Filled it out, but didn’t notice a question asking if I was a citizen….

Another satisfied customer
Comment today on an older post: THANK THE LORD I found your blog. Prayers are with you to keep up the great articles that I pass on and post!