Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

"This is the worst economy since the Great Depression!" How many times have we heard that phrase in the past six months? Put aside that by almost every measure (particularly the unemployment rate) that statement is outright false. Nonetheless, that argument is used to justify a move towards a European-style government-controlled economy.

But what does such a European-style economy hold in store for us? Certainly not a better unemployment rate. The current U.S. unemployment rate is 7.6% (as of the end of January 2009).

By contrast, European unemployment rates in the larger European countries consistently have been higher than the current U.S. rate. The chart below (click on chart to enlarge) shows that through 2006 (and thus excluding the current worldwide economic problems) in France (FR) the unemployment rate has ranged in the low double digits for most of the past decade; in Germany (DE) in the high single digits; in Spain, in the mid-to-high teens.

A European-style economy holds no viable future for the U.S., unless we really do want the worst economy since the Great Depression.

Caroline Glick, who writes for the Jerusalem Post, is the most astute observer of the looming Iranian menace, and the pathetic refusal of governments in Israel, Europe, and the U.S. to address the problem. Visit her website. I love Glick's description of her background, which reads in part:

I grew up in Chicago's ultra-liberal, anti-American and anti-Israel stronghold of Hyde Park. Hyde Park's newest famous resident is Barack Obama. He fits right into a neighborhood I couldn't wait to leave.

I made aliyah to Israel in 1991, two weeks after receiving my BA in Political Science from Beir Zeit on the Hudson -- otherwise known as Columbia University.... From 1998-2000 I went back to the US where I received a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in June 2000. Although I spent most of my free time hiking in New England, it did not escape my attention that the vast majority of the faculty at the Kennedy School were not particularly fond of America -- or of Israel.

Glick's most recent article, An Urgent Memo to The Next Government, is a must read. From an analysis of the threat posed by the increasing missile arsenal fielded by Iran and its proxies, to the likelihood that Iran is developing electro-magnetic weapons that could paralyze our economy, Glick is right on target.

(h/t Israel Matzav via Hot Air)

The deer population in greater Ithaca, NY, is substantial. The tony Village of Cayuga Heights, adjacent to the Cornell campus and where many Cornell professors live, has a particular deer problem, and has been exploring ways of reducing the deer population. Because Cayuga Heights is mostly residential, hunting is a limited option, at best. Trapping, use of contraceptive bait, and other options are being explored.

This being Ithaca, nothing is easy, and the debate has been raging at a sometimes nasty pace. You see, the deer have many friends, including a group called CayugaDeer.org, which has a heavily footnoted statement on its home page, as if it were a research paper or law review article. Can't we just argue until we are red in the face without resort to footnotes?

One nearby resident wrote today that we must focus on ethics to guide the decision:

Feelings, religion, morality, law, cultural convention, and even science fuel many controversies. The local deer problem is no exception. Ethics may offer us a resolution....Applying the utilitarian or common good principles we might arrive at "bait and shoot." The rights and fairness approaches may argue for fencing. The virtuous approach might support contraception.

We must recognize our self-serving and egocentric motives, which can undermine ethical decision-making. Ethics must be the guiding principle, not expediency. Likewise, an ethical decision on this matter is not necessarily going to be without inconvenience or suffering.

So in the spirit of the controversy, I have composed this poem:

First, they came for the deer, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a deer,
Then they came for the rabbits, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a rabbit,
Then they came for the skunks, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a skunk,
Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Oh boy, am I in trouble now. I would be safer taking on religion and Middle East policy, than taking on the deer. Let the hate mail begin.

Video, CD, and Lyrics by Michael Adams

Here's the chorus:

I want my bailout money
Sweet green cash just dripping with honey
Gotta keep this economy running
I need another hit of my bailout money

The Endive website has obtained a copy of a page from the stimulus plan in which Democrats in Congress hand wrote changes (photo). Dummies. They forgot to include bread. You just can't trust Congress to do anything right.

The Stimulus Plan already has created jobs -- for people hawking get rich quick schemes, sorry I mean, providing shady advice for a fee on how to grab your piece of the stimulus pig-fest crap sandwich, sorry again, I mean providing professional advice on how fill out the papers necessary to qualify for government grants.
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P.S.: It's not too early for "I told you so" or to tell Barney Frank to take this job and ...

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UPDATE: These ads are being spread through Google Ads, which automatically place links on websites -- such as this one (scroll towards bottom of left column) -- which subscribe. Sure enough, just a few minutes ago I checked, and a link to the ad below was on MY BLOG!


Whose economy is this going to stimulate? Notice in the photo they are standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. How about this for a T-Shirt idea:

I got my stimulus check, and all I could afford was this lousy trip to Paris.

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UPDATE No. 2: Put a link in the Comment section to the most hideous ads you can find about the stimulus plan, and I'll post jpegs of them here.
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Sad. Do people really think they are going to get money?

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FINALLY: Someone with the honesty to call it a trillion dollar stimulus plan

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SEE RELATED POST Stimulus Grants For Republicans? Say It Ain't So

Barney Frank has been on a rant over bonuses paid to bank executives. Frank asked one executive: "What is it you'd do differently if you didn't get a bonus?"

Bank executives are easy targets given the current economic climate. But don't think Frank and others like him will stop with the executives. You want government health insurance or other government handouts? Be prepared for regulations which govern how you live, what you earn, what you spend, and eventually, what you say.

The bank executives are setting a bad example by staying put. They have alternatives. They would do this country a great favor by telling Frank: Take This Job And Shove It.

Frank wants to help the banking sector. Great. Do it. But don't use it as an excuse to dictate how much people earn while your buddy Chris Dodd gets sweetheart mortgage deals, and you just passed a "stimulus" package which steals hundreds of billions from future generations. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and right now Barney Frank thinks he has absolute power.

The government -- with Messrs. Frank and Dodd in the lead -- caused the banking crisis by forcing banks to make bad loans for social engineering purposes, then forced the banks to take federal money, and now use the acceptance of federal money as a means for further social engineering.

Taking federal money to help your company solve problems caused by the federal government does not make you an indentured servant. Leave. Now.

Apparently, some executives are contemplating taking this advice:

The Obama administration pledged to work with Congress on implementing tough executive-pay limitations at banks that get federal bailout money as critics said the few restrictions in economic-stimulus legislation will prompt talented managers to leave.

You go banking guys and gals. Please.

The New York Times is running a profile story on Eric Cantor, Republican congressman from Virginia, and House Minority Whip. By NY Times standards, this is a fairly soft piece; certainly not the hit job the Times has run on other Republicans. Nonetheless, the story should be taken as a first shot, and contains a glimpse of the approach the Times will take to attack Cantor should Cantor become a national candidate or stymie Barack Obama's legislative plans.

The Times tears people down by creating a caricature of the person. News reports, profile pieces, and columnists team together to drive the point relentlessly until the caricature enters the public consciousness. Bush the spoiled-rich party boy draft-evading dunce; Palin the unstable bad-mothering dim-witted hick; Cheney the Dr. Strangelove-style control freak; New Gingrich the half-crazed extreme-right obstructionist ideologue

For Cantor, the Times' first theme is clear. Cantor is a wannabe Newt. The title of the article could not be more clear on this theme: "In Gingrich Mold, a New Voice for Solid Resistance in G.O.P."

The article focuses on comparing Cantor to the demonic Newt. The web page even runs photos of both Cantor and Gringrich, for visual connection. With a back-handed compliment, the Times' notes that Cantor is not yet a certifiable Newt, even though Cantor "had studied Mr. Gingrich’s years in power and had been in regular touch with him as he sought to help his party find the right tone and message." But Cantor shares Newt's supposedly obstructionist tendencies, and "is as responsible as anyone for the tough line the party has taken in this first legislative standoff with Mr. Obama."

Should Cantor become more successful in his opposition to Obama's policies, or take the national stage as a V.P. candidate in four years, the Times will push the Newt connection. Eric and Newt will become interchangeable on the pages of the Times.

The second theme is that Cantor is a publicity hound who "has exhibited an eye for winning attention." Horrors, a politician who craves attention; I guess that disqualifies Cantor from ever becoming President.

So the theme is arising, albeit softly for now. If Cantor is unsuccessful, and stays in Virginia, the Times will stay with the soft treatment. But should Cantor succeed in opposing Obama's policies, or take a more prominent national role, the Times will launch into full attack mode to make sure the public views Cantor as "a publicity-craving Newt-Gingrich-style obstructionist."
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UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long. Like hounds responding to a whistle, the left-wing blogs have picked up on the "Cantor the obstructionist" theme sounded by the NY Times: Gingrich's Obstructionism Becomes Role Model for House GOP; THE NEXT NEWT; Party like it’s 1992. From one brilliant and classy comment poster: "Cantor is the very embodiment of corruption. Repiglican corruption. He is totally bent over, pants down, ass checks pulled open, squeaking 'fuck me, fuck me' to every Repiglican penis that is behind him, starting with Gingriche's .. Cantor and his ilk should be treated just as Mussolini was for the good of what is left of our country." Now that's change we can believe in.

The day before the presidential election, when Barack Obama's victory seemed all but certain, I predicted that I would be able to say "I told you so" about what lay ahead:

When this bubble bursts, I will be able to say "I told you so." Unfortunately, by that point in time, the damage will have been done.

While I was confident in my prediction, I didn't think I would be able to say "I told you so" less than a month into Obama's presidency. The obscene, fear-driven feeding frenzy which resulted in the trillion dollar (including interest costs) "stimulus" bill, combined with the renewed calls by Democrats for the "fairness doctrine" to stifle conservative speech and "truth commissions" to seek retribution against Bush administration officials, confirm that this presidency is on track to be the most destructive force this country has seen "since the Great Depression."

This is not a victory I wanted; I would much rather see this country flourish than succumb to Obama's socialist and repressive tendencies. But at least my conscience is clean. I didn't drink the cool-aid, so I bear no moral responsibility for what is to come.

Here goes. I told you so:

• February 11, 2009: "We are witnessing the disrobing of the Obama aura in a spending-drenched feeding frenzy befitting hungry pigs at a wet, putrid trough. The fierce urgency of now has become the fierce urgency of sow."
• February 11, 2009: "They think we're stupid."
• February 10, 2009: "The "stimulus" plan and Obama's economic policies will make things worse, not better."
• February 9, 2009: "There seems to be a deliberateness to the chaos, a purpose to the ever-increasing exclamation points, as in crisis (!), catastrophe (!!), act now or else (!!!), ... we're on the verge of (!!!!)."
• February 5, 2009: "The politics in this country is like a simmering pot. The boiling water represents the desire of people to be left alone and to make their own way in life. The cover on the pot is the set of liberal assumptions which tells people that ... those who have assumed the reigns of power know better. My sense is that the tighter that lid is pressed ... the more likely it is the pot will boil over.
• February 3, 2009: "the pork-filled "stimulus" monstrosity working it's way through Congress ... feeds every hungry congressional mouth at the expense of future generations."
• January 26, 2009: "By next Halloween, Obama will be just another failed President, besieged from left and right, weathered, looking like he had been on the job for a hundred years and counting."
• January 21, 2009: "Obama is one of the most aggressive politicians ever, and conservatives are kidding themselves if they think a few kind words now and then from Obama reflect a change in agenda."
• January 13, 2009: "Once built, who will maintain this infrastructure? And if the infrastructure is not self-sustaining, will the projects be a massive drain on state and local budgets for decades?"
• January 6, 2009: "The social security bubble is fragile enough; Obama's plan to give tax refunds to people who pay no taxes may cause the bubble to burst."
• December 31, 2008: "Much like campaign finance reform, Obama threw the "rule of law" overboard for political gain in the Burris case."
• December 23, 3008: "Looks like with the new Obama administration, we are going to need to dust off our dictionaries, which haven't been used since, oh, about 1998."
• December 6, 2008: "Obama's infrastructure plan is a road to nowhere."
• November 25, 2008: "I am getting a little uncomfortable with the increasing tendency of the punditry to believe that Obama the President will be a centrist, unlike Obama the Candidate."
• November 24, 2008: "Of all the concepts to help build the economy, Barack Obama has seized on the one type of project -- public infrastructure -- that has the worst history of cost overruns, corruption, construction incompetence, and economic harm."
• November 7, 2008: "Get real people! If you think Obama isn't going to push hard on his agenda, you are ignoring history at your peril."
• November 6, 2008: "Much like Hugo Chavez, power will be used to consolidate power."
• November 5, 2008: "Will President Obama be the moderate of the presidential campaign, the liberal of the primary campaign, or the radical of the past?"
• November 3, 2008: "Worse still, what we are slowly learning about Obama in these final days before the election transcends policy differences, and goes to the very nature of whether we will continue to be a free-market capitalist society which supports like-minded people around the world"
• November 3, 2008: "The Groupthink phenomenon has been made all the worse by the intimidation tactics of the Obama campaign and its supporters whereby those who dare to ask hard questions are vilified and ostracized."
• November 2, 2008: "Equally troubling are the changes proposed by Obama which seek to destroy rather than foster open political debate and free and fair elections."
• November 1, 2008: "Those who have spoken out against Obama should prepare for retribution....In just about every aspect of your political life, you will be ridiculed and belittled. There will be no sanctuary cities for you."
• October 30, 2008: "The hysteria in favor of Barack Obama long ago passed the stage of irrationality."
• October 30, 2008: "Obama’s proposals undermine the foundation of social security by divorcing contributions from benefits, and converting social security tax contributions into a wealth redistribution mechanism."
• October 29, 2008: "When the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the White House, and the Prime Minister of Israel is calling, who do you want answering the phone?"
• October 28, 2008: "In the end, as must all economic redistributors, Obama either will have to resort to repressive measures, or will have to abandon his tax plan. Regardless, the economic damage will be deep and long lasting."
• October 27, 2008: "Fear is stalking this land, and being stoked by Obama. The genius of Obama is that he has taken a message of fear, and sold it as hope. And the public buys it."
• October 26, 2008: "Before you know it, anyone who so much as questions Obama's policies will be ridiculed, investigated, targeted and denounced."
• October 24, 2008: "The markets are right to fear Obama."
• October 16, 2008: "The 'spread the wealth' language is the symptom, not the disease....The disease is that Obama sees the economy as a zero-sum game, where one person's success deprives those 'behind' him of success."
• October 15, 2008: "The suppression of legitimate political expression through false accusations of racism by the Obama campaign and its supporters is the defining theme of the 2008 campaign. This tactic, while it may be successful, is shameful and has damaged our society in ways we may not understand for years.
• October 14, 2008: "With the economy on the brink, Al-qaida on the prowl, the Russian bear on the loose, and our Constitution threatened by enemies foreign and domestic, I will not gamble on the presidency. I will not choose Door No. 2 by voting for Obama."

Democratic Senator Predicts None of His Colleagues 'Will Have the Chance' to Read Final Stimulus Bill Before Vote

Et tu, Senators Collins, Snowe and Specter?

Good news. Israel opens the border crossing with Gaza -- in between missile attacks from Hamas -- to allow the export of tens of thousands of carnations. Wait a second, I thought Gaza was a wasteland on the verge of humanitarian catastrophe (along with the U.S.).

Not that McCain, The Other McCain, as witnessed by this post:

[Andrew Sargus] Klein gives us a splendid insight into the central conceit of the liberal mind: Nothing exists -- or has existed, or ever will exist -- unless it's funded with federal taxpayer dollars.

Therefore, to oppose federal funding for "the arts" is to be anti-art, just as opposing federal funding for public schools is to be anti-education. Such is the shriveled state of the liberal psyche that it never even occurs to these dimwits to let people keep their own money to spend on whatever they want. You want to renovate a theater? Go renovate a theater. But don't bring the IRS down on my back to force me to pay for your tastes in architecture.

The withdrawal of Judd Gregg as nominee for Commerce Secretary has revealed, once again, the nasty side of Barack Obama.

At his news conference, Gregg went out of his way not to criticize Obama, simply explaining that he could not give "110%" in service to Obama, and wishing Obama well. Gregg bent over backwards in an attempt not to denigrate Obama, and to put the blame on Gregg himself for the embarrassing episode.

So how doe Obama react? The White House releases a statement which amounts to a "you didn't quit, we fired you" rant:

Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace, and move forward with the President’s agenda. Once it became clear after his nomination that Senator Gregg was not going to be supporting some of President Obama’s key economic priorities, it became necessary for Senator Gregg and the Obama administration to part ways. We regret that he has had a change of heart.

To add to the insult, Obama mocked Gregg during Obama's speech in Springfield, Illinois, at a celebration of Lincoln's birthday. Envisioning a day in the life of Lincoln in 1854, Obama noted how Lincoln was

"possibly in his law office, his feet on a cluttered desk, his sons playing around him, his clothes a bit too small to fit his uncommon frame -- maybe wondering if somebody might call him up and ask him to be commerce secretary."

Well, Judd, that's what you get for being nice. You go out of your way not to throw Obama under the bus, and you end up with tire tracks on your back.

Just like Jessica Simpson, who hadn't crossed Obama, but did beat him out for the cover of Us Weekly, resulting in an Obama joke about her weight problems. Or George Bush, who went out of his way to create a smooth transition, only to be insulted at the inauguration. Or Obama's grandmother, that "typical white person," who raised and loved Obama only to be characterized as a racist when Obama needed cover for his association with Jeremiah Wright. Or Jeremiah Wright, who Obama could not "disown", until Obama disowned him for political gain. Or Joe Biden, who Obama mocked at his press conference earlier this week. Or Hillary Clinton, who was only "likable enough." Or the racist people in small towns who "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Or Joe the Plumber, who had the temerity to ask a good question, only to be mocked by Obama. Or John McCain, who Obama mocked for not being able to use a computer. Or Nancy Reagan, who Obama mocked for supposedly holding seances. Or the entire population of the United States, who Obama singled out at his Berlin speech as a uniquely imperfect people.

Is it me, or is there a pattern here? The fierce urgency to mock.
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UPDATE 3-21-2009:
He's at it again, this time mocking the "special olympics." But since the teleprompter made him do it, I'm not sure it's his fault.

Hardly anyone reads Time magazine anymore. I say "anymore" for those people under the age of 40, who are too young to remember a day when Time represented the gold-standard of weekly news publications. If it weren't for an occasional visit to a doctor's waiting room, I'm not sure I'd know that Time still existed, except that Yahoo News sometimes runs Time articles.