Sharp Knife

WE'RE ALL MONARCHISTS NOW

When some military officers suggested that George Washington be made King of America, they got shot down harder than Harry Smith asking Jennifer Anniston out on a date. But you couldn't really blame them; after all, that's how it had always been done. Until America.

We fought for republicanism and democracy and against monarchy and aristocracy; yet we seem to be slipping backwards. Do we really prefer to subjugate ourselves as subjects rather than doing the hard but rewarding work of being free citizens of the City on a Hill?

Prince Obama lectured us that "other countries" would not accept Americans turning up their thermostats to 72 degrees. And on his first day in the Oval Office, he cranks his thermostat up to 102. As Karl Rove--I mean, David Axelrod put it: “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”

Guess what, David; other Americans like to be warm, too. But they're not lecturing President Hothouse ManFlower about what "other countries" find acceptable. In fact, when they get finished paying their own power bills, they pay his, too. Does this all seem a bit royal to you?

Consider John Adams, who was mocked mercilessly as a monarchist. wikipedia:

In the first year of Washington's administration, Adams became deeply involved in a month-long Senate controversy over what the official title of the President would be. Adams favored grandiose titles such as "His Majesty the President" or "His High Mightiness" over the simple "President of the United States" that eventually won the debate. The pomposity of his stance, along with his being overweight, led to Adams earning the nickname "His Rotundity."

When Adams said "His High Mightiness" at least he was thinking of President Washington. What excuse do today's reporters have? Adams was thinking of the majesties of his youth--our press corps is seeking another Camelot of their youth. And when Adams was through, he simply walked out of the White House, got on a horse and rode back to his farm alone. He didn't even phone Bob Woodward.

Think of the recent Inauguration--or as the Heavenly Choir-Press calls it, "His Precious, Precious Ascension to the Orchid Throne".

The way the government rightfully wiretapped, surveilled and profiled for inaugural security was enough to make Dick Cheney's heart swell with pride, if only his doctors would allow it.

But ordinary Americans want to be safe at their workplace, too, without being told that they're "shredding the Constitution". Nor do they wish to have their self-defense rights whittled away by those elites who have armed bodyguards, private police forces and gates on their communities, often paid for by the taxpayers.

Speaking of taxpayers, here's Prof. Walter E. Williams:

Some smugglers are good people who differ little from the founders of our nation such as John Hancock, whose flamboyant signature graces our Declaration of Independence. The British had levied confiscatory taxes on molasses, and John Hancock smuggled an estimated 1.5 million gallons a year. His smuggling practices financed much of the resistance to British authority -- so much so that the joke of the time was that "Sam Adams writes the letters (to newspapers) and John Hancock pays the postage."

Jasmin K. Williams tells us more:

Hancock was in the business of importing and exporting goods. Britain's proposed Stamp Act would greatly restrict trade activities. Hancock became one of the most vehement protesters of Britain's taxation of colonial trade goods after his ship, Liberty, was seized for transporting contraband. As it became increasingly difficult to make a profit in trade due to Britain's unfair tax practices, Hancock began smuggling goods such as glass, lead, paper and tea into the colonies. In fact, it was Hancock's boycott of British tea that led to the famous Boston Tea Party. Hancock's merchant business and smuggling financed much of Boston's resistance movement.

The private financier became publicly critical. On March 5, 1774, Hancock gave a speech in which he condemned British rule.

Hancock's rebellious activities didn't go unnoticed by Britain, There was a bounty on his head and that of Tea Party organizer Samuel Adams. As it became clear that Britain was not going to give up its hold on the colonies without a fight, Hancock and Adams left Boston. The pair hid out in Lexington. During his famous midnight ride, Paul Revere roused the two, warning them that the British were coming and would be there at dawn for the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

The two escaped just at the British broke into the house where they had been hiding. British Gen. Thomas Gage demanded that the pair be arrested for treason. After the battle, a pardon was issued to anyone who swore loyalty to the British crown -except Hancock and Adams.

If Hancock and Adams holed up in Lexington today, a Massachusetts judge would declare them "Spouse A" and "Spouse B". You know--like the Founders intended.

Our country was founded by tax-resisters like Hancock and Adams. But today, all we get is Geithner, Rangel and Daschle. Here's the difference; the Sons of Liberty wanted EVERYBODY to enjoy the same tax cuts as they had.

But Geithner, Rangel and Daschle don't want to share their own Personal Tax Cuts with anybody else even though they are the guys write the tax code. They love high taxes. For you. The battle cry of the Boston Tea Party was "No Taxation Without Representation!", not "No Taxation for Senators or Representatives!"

Even though they all claim that they were confused, they don't want to simplify the tax code either. They also love the impenetrable nature of a 6,000 plus-page tax code. It let's them dole out favors and alter behaviors.

As Al Hamilton put it:

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.

On and on it goes:

*Elites volunteer other people's children to be discriminated against by Affirmative Action, while their own children are insulated.
*Our Neo-Royalty send their own children to private schools while working overtime to deny your children that same option.
*Ted Stevens heard that "a man's home is his castle," and decided we owed him a Drawbridge to Nowhere.
*Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruled that Suzanne Kelo's home wasn't her castle, and gutted the Takings Clause, a provision first promulgated in the Magna Carta to stop royals from plundering the people.

As a conservative, I realize much of this is inherent in the crooked timber of humanity. But as an American, I stand with Tom Paine, who, before he went Commie, wrote this:

England since the conquest hath known some few good monarchs, but groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones: yet no man in his senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very honourable one. A French bastard landing with an armed Banditti and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original. It certainly hath no divinity in it. However it is needless to spend much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right; if there are any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the Ass and the Lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb their devotion. ...

Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent. Selected from the rest of mankind, their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed in the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions. ...

The nearer any government approaches to a Republic, the less business there is for a King. ...For 'tis the Republican and not the Monarchical part of the Constitution of England which Englishmen glory in, viz. the liberty of choosing an House of Commons from out of their own body — and it is easy to see that when Republican virtues fail, slavery ensues. ...

In England a King hath little more to do than to make war and give away positions; which, in plain terms, is to empoverish the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

Serf City, USA?

THEN KILL THAT BEHEMOTH MONEY-PRINTING BILL

and turn down that thermostat, Orchid Flower. But leave the Armed Forces alone.

When someone says "The Pentagon needs more Stealth Bombers," this president seems to think they're talking about Bill Ayers.

Let's take a little stroll down Memory Lane together, shall we?

It seems like it was only a week or so ago when George W. Bush had "wrecked the military". We were "stretched to the breaking point". We didn't "have enough boots on the ground". Our Humvees lacked the armor they needed and troops were forced to buy their own bullet-proof vests.

Remember this?

Obama: "You know, I’ve heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq.

And as a consequence, they didn’t have enough ammunition, they didn’t have enough Humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief."

Well, that was then and this is now.

The rest of the government is getting a trillion-dollar raise cause they did such a great job of driving the economy into the dirt.

But the military--who has triumphed in Iraq despite the weather, despite Iran, despite al Qaeda and despite the Democrats--is going to be cut by 11%? And that's just for starters?

Just last week, Obama swore: "I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution."

With what?

Condoms?

THE JUDGE

I almost never disagree with WTC-1 Prosecutor Andy McCarthy, but...

Obama may make a terrible decision, he may make a good one, or he may do something in between. But in any event, it was entirely reasonable for him to ask for a four-month time-out — which was done in a very respectful manner that did not in any way denigrate the dignity of the military tribunals. He is still getting his national security team in place and getting them the clearances they need to get up to speed on all the relevant facts, many of which are no doubt highly classified. He is, moreover, the President of the United States and the commander-in-chief of our military forces in a time of war.

So was George W. Bush. And Obama kicked him in the nuts every chance he could. For example: "The court's decision is a rejection of the Bush administration's attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantanamo."

The judge, Army Col. James Pohl, who is also the chief military judge at Guantanamo Bay, asserted that he found the the government's arguments for delay "unpersuasive," and thus reasoned that "the public interest in a speedy trial will be harmed by the delay in the arraignment." That's nonsense. ...Pohl also wrote, "The Commission is unaware of how conducting an arraignment would preclude any option by the administration," and that "Congress passed the military commissions act, which remains in effect. The Commission is bound by the law as it currently exists, not as it may change in the future." This, too, is just silly. The administration is not claiming that the Military Commissions Act is bad law..."

Really? Obama: "As president, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions." Sounds like he's claiming it's bad law--so bad he can simply reject a signed act of Congress. And just for the record, under the Conventions, we can summarily execute these moral pirates. Geneva signatories agreed to treat each others' prisoners decently. But why would rogue actors ever sign if they are automatically given the benefits without any of the obligations?

However inadvertently, Col. Pohl is just giving President Obama more reason to think there are better ways to deal with detainees than a system that denies abundantly sensible motions — and in which Osama bin Laden's personal bodyguard, arrested in possession of missiles intended for shooting at U.S. troops, gets sentenced to a grand total of six months on a war crimes conviction (which is what happened in the first commission trial).

That was an outrage, alright. And so is the fact that so many parolees have returned to jihad. But I don't hear Obama calling for a 120-day time out on paroles. Besides, anything Obama does will be easier, not harder, on these killers.

This judge is absolutely right. It was liberals who dragged this war into court and liberals on the court who mandated this whole system--and now they don't like it? Tough.

In their mad zeal and power lust, Obama and his pals have demogogued and smeared everyone at Gitmo, including this judge. They didn't give him or anyone else at Gitmo the benefit of the doubt--except for the prisoners, of course. But now they're somehow entitled to the benefit of the doubt that they denied to everyone else? I don't think so.

I'm on safer ground with Mr. McCarthy here; we both oppose Eric Holder's nomination and hope Michael Steele shows some steel.

At Pres. Clinton's pleasure, Holder freed two Weathermen terrorists. He was up to his neck in Hillary's Pardon Swap, freeing Puerto Rican terrorists for votes. And his law firm is representing 18 Gitmo terrorists.

That would make Holder the first Atty. General in our history who had spent more time freeing terrorists, excusing terrorists, pardoning terrorists and defending terrorists than prosecuting them! But such is the upside-down logic of Obama-land.

Nor will he outright promise not to prosecute interrogators who relied on Justice Dept. guidance. In other words, if you asked an Atty. Gen. Holder his legal opinion and followed it, he might prosecute you years later if the political winds shifted...for following his own advice!

C'mon, Eric; just pretend the interrogators are terrorists and cut 'em some slack!

McCarthy nails it here:

"...[L]eadership has to start embracing these important battles, not ducking them. There was an embarrassment of riches to exploit on Holder, Geithner and Hillary Clinton. ...Fighting is how you tell people who you are, and even if you don't win it makes you stronger down the road."

When Democrats were out of power, they did two things; they demagogued and they fought.

We can't demagogue, but we'd better show up to the fight; everything we believe in is under assault. People have to hear the argument even if we don't win it today.

One day we will win it...but only if we fight.

THE LATEST THRILLER

from noted N.Y. Times-reading author Joe Biden, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Also Agent of D.E.A., F.B.I., C.T.U., S.E.C., N.O.A.A., C.B.O., D.O.T., R.S.V.P. ...and the Bureau of Weights and Measures.

An excerpt:

It was a dark and stormy night. Except that it was sunny out. and clear. and about 2:30 in the afternoon. But other than that, it was a dark and stormy night.

The night smelled like danger. As it turns out, danger smells a lot like an old Amtrak seat cover. But I digress. I knew if I told her about my mission, I would have to kill her--or at a minimum, send her a strongly-worded letter. Hey--don't kid yourself, pal; those things can hurt.

I hugged the compound wall as I made my way across the estate. Somewhere in there was "The Terrorist", the organization's shadowy Number Two man, a stone-cold killer known to shoot innocent men right in the face.

In hopes of blending in with the locals, I was in full Lawrence-of-Arabia attire. They weren't going to make me in a million years...

"Hi, Joe! What are you doing in those sheets?" How many times had I asked Sen. Byrd that very same question?

Damn! There he was--"The Terrorist", Dick Cheney! And he had penetrated my cover!

"Hey, Lynn; Joe Biden's here! Bring us some of that special lemonade, would you, hon?" How many times had I heard Ted Kennedy ask that same question?

"Oh, hi, Joe," said Mrs. Cheney. "What are you doing here? And why the burqua?" How many times had Larry Craig asked me that same question?

"So it's going to be the old "Good Cop/Bad Cop"-routine," I thought to myself, because it's really hard to think to someone else. Beneath my robes, I reached into my pocket and felt the smooth, pearly handle of my Smith and Wesson .357 Derringer Thompson Sub-Machine Gun Walther Mitty Special. And then I remembered: I'd left my gun at home on the dresser.

I decided to play along and began chanting in Arabic: "Get out of Biden's house! Get out of Biden's house! Get out of..."

"Hah, that's funny , Joe," said Cheney "but the Inauguration isn't for another month. Say, Joe, I've been wondering--you've pledged to be the most useless, uninvolved, non-productive vice-president in history; what are you going to do with all that spare time--besides your rich fantasy life, I mean?"

Cruel bastard. No wonder they called him "The Terrorist".

"You need a hobby, Joe," Cheney continued. "For instance, I make home movies. I've even got one of the entire Democrat leadership signing off on waterboarding and wiretapping. Would you like to see it, Joe?"

Suddenly, I felt myself getting red in the face and hot under the keffiyah. Mrs. Cheney must have put drugs in the lemonade! But there was no time to ask for seconds now. I made a break for it. Barely making it back to the safe house, I collapsed on the bed. The next thing I remember, a month had passed and I was standing there taking the oath of office.

I spied Terrorist in the crowd, his cruel eyes mocking me. He'd come to the event in a wheelchair, hoping that I would ask him to stand up. As I finished my remarks by Lord Kinnock, right then and there I made a solemn vow to myself: never again would I wear women's clothing in public. on a weekday. in this country, anyway. And to write a screenplay for my new home movie.

Let's see... "It was a dark and stormy night..."

THE EXPRESSWAY TO SERFDOM OR THE PATH OF OUR FATHERS?

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."--Ronald Reagan

House Republicans struck a blow for freedom today when every single one of them voted against The Largest Spending Spree In the Entire History of the World.

Unlike the majority, they were joined by some members of the other party, making it a bi-partisan effort to kill this wasteful, bloated abomination.

No battle is ever truly and finally won or lost in politics. It's a Continuing Adult Education project. As President Reagan said, these principles are not genetic, living in our bloodstream, but spiritual, living in our hearts, minds and yes, our souls.

This isn't just about money, although the money is staggering. And it doesn't even include another trillion in spending promised on the campaign trail and perhaps even another trillion just for the hell of it.

It's really about freedom. Many of our countrymen think that government exists just "to give us stuff". They do not yet know that a government that is big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have--indeed, it eventually MUST and will take it, and even if those behind it have only the purest of motives.

That's why Republicans struck a blow for freedom today, even if the bill passes. This generation of Americans will likely get to see for themselves whether or not this is the path leading upwards to prosperity and freedom...or the path leading down to the socialist ant-heap.

IT'S LIKE CLOCKWORK

President Loophole:

"My children's school was canceled today. Because of, what? Some ice?"

Hey; you invited him!

The evidence for Global Warming is sketchy at best. But the evidence for the Gore Effect is rock solid and irrefutable. The "debate is over"!

Al was in town to testify about building a new grid. That way, when his builders return from Remulak 5 to retrieve him, they can recharge their starcraft.

Iain Murry:

A smart grid would be a good thing nevertheless for the purposes of conserving electricity by allowing for variable pricing, amongst other things. The utilities would probably build it themselves if they were allowed to, but such obstacles as environmental opposition to new lines and regulations that forbid smart prices get in the way. So government has to do it.

In fact, it seems that the model we are following is this one: government and lobbyists use regulation and innovation to stop the market from innovating; government and lobbyists perceive need for that market innovation; government pays market to implement innovation by paying costs of regulation and litigation from taxpayer funds; government and lobbyists finally say the market has failed and only government can provide genuine progress.

Why must everything government lays it dead hand on be so maddeningly complex and perversely convoluted? Like the Gore Effect, it seems to be a rule.

For example:

"...[I]n states that accept the [Waxman Stimulus] energy efficiency grants, utilities that use the grants to help consumers lower the energy consumption will be able to raise their rates to compensation for the loss in revenue. Consumers who participate in the programs may see their energy use go down, but may not see any change in the size of their utility bills. This is the legislative equivalent of a giant wet kiss to utility and environmental lobbyists but a giant kiss off to consumers."

You had your vote. Now buy a coat.

'TIL ME

The Pelosi/Reid Junta Strikes Back!

It's been an entire week now, and clearly, the Verdict of History is in:

the Obama Administration has been a Miserable Failure.

It is with deep sorrow that I say this. Indeed, I say it with more sorrow than anger. And more anger than O.J. Simpson at a Las Vegas auction of his personal effects with Mark Fuhrman as the auctioneer.

Whereas; Pres. Obama has "air-raided" villages, killing innocent civilians.

Whereas; Pres. Obama has kept Guantanamo open for another year despite having many years to plan for its closure.

and Whereas; Pres. Obama has inexplicably given himself loopholes on CIA prisons, harsh interrogations and renditions. Why, it's almost as if he demagogued his own country in wartime to advance his own personal ambition--yet we know that's just not possible!

And that doesn't even count his domestic agenda, where he has given himself loopholes on tax cuts, gay marriage, deficits, ethics reform, abortion, contraception funding and whether or not this new judge lady on American Idol is working out. Myself, I like her.

But speaking as a life-long liberal, a Democrat and a thinly-disguised concern troll, I'm afraid I've been left with no other choice:

IMPEACH OBAMA NOW!

Fortunately, that would leave us in the very capable hands of Joe Biden.

Unfortunately, Vice-President Biden just announced that we are "escalating" the war in Afghanistan, just as Nixon and Johnson did in Viet Nam. Therefore, the war criminal and bad dancer Joe Biden must be impeached also.

And that would leave me, Nancy Pelosi, as your next President of the United States. See--I told you I needed my own airplane!

You people come on back to D.C.! Keep practicing that oath, Mr. Chief Justice! Say hello to Mr. Vice-Harry President-Reid! This "Inauguration"-thing is not over people UNTIL I SAY IT'S OVER!


Take that Hillary. bitch.

JUST SAY NO

Republican Leader John Boehner, leading:

1. The $825 billion package slated for a House vote later this week will exceed more than $1.1 trillion when adding in the interest ($300 plus billion) between 2009-2019 to pay for it.

2. The Capitol Hill Democrats’ plan includes funding for contraceptives; regardless of where anyone stands on taxpayer funded contraception, there is no question that it has NOTHING to do with the economy.

3. The legislation could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which has been accused of voter fraud, is reportedly under federal investigation; and played a key role in the housing meltdown.

4. Here are just a few of the programs and projects that have been included in the House Democrats’ proposal:

$650 million for digital TV coupons.
$600 million for new cars for the federal government.
$6 billion for colleges/universities – many which have billion dollar endowments.
$50 million in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts.
$44 million for repairs to U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters.
$200 million for the National Mall, including $21 million for sod.

5. The plan establishes at least 32 new government programs at a cost of over $136 billion. That means more than a third of this plan’s spending provisions are dedicated to creating new government programs.

6. The plan provides spending in at least 150 different federal programs, ranging from Amtrak to the Transportation Security Administration. Is this the “targeted” plan Democratic leaders promised?

7. Even though the legislation contains at least 152 separate spending proposals, the authors of the plan can only say that 34 have any chance at keeping or growing jobs.

8. Just one in seven dollars of an $18.5 billion expenditure on “energy efficiency” and “renewable energy programs” would be spent within the next 18 months.

9. The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.

10. The House Democrats’ bill will cost each and every household $6,700 in additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.

11. The bill provides enough spending – $825 billion – to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700. $825 billion is enough to give every person in Ohio $72,000.

12. $825 billion is enough to give every person living in poverty in the United States $22,000.

13. Although the House Democrats’ proposal has been billed as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, in actuality only $30 billion of the bill – or three percent – is for road and highway spending. A recent study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that only 25 percent of infrastructure dollars can be spent in the first year, making the one year total less than $7 billion.

14. Much of the funding within the House Democrats’ proposal will go to programs that already have large, unexpended balances. For example, the bill provides $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) – a program that already has $16 billion on hand. States also are sitting on some $9 billion in unused highway funds – funds that Congress is prepared to rescind later this year.

15. All board members of the “Accountability and Transparency Board” created by this legislation are appointees of the President; none will be appointed by Congress.

16. A scant 2.7 percent, or $22.3 billion of the overall package, is dedicated to small business tax relief.

17. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the legislation increases by seven million the number of people who get a check back from the IRS that exceeds what they paid in payroll and income taxes.

18. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit at the center of the plan amounts to $1.37 a day, or about the price of a cup of coffee.

19. Almost one-third of the so-called “tax relief” in the House Democrats’ bill is spending in disguise, meaning that true tax relief makes up only 24 percent of the total package – not the 40 percent that President Obama had requested.

20. $825 billion is just the beginning – many Capitol Hill Democrats want to spend even more taxpayer dollars on their “stimulus” plan. In fact, the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey (D-WI), told Roll Call earlier this month, “I would not be surprised to see us go further on some of these programs down the line.”

Some thoughts:

*If you had a credit card that charged 300 billion in interest, you'd cut it up. This is Government-by-Loanshark.
*Because every nickel we spend these days is borrowed money, every expenditure should be both vital and wise. This bill fails on both counts.
*This isn't a "Stimulus Plan"--it's a mish-mash collection of all the left-over liberal wish-list spending that wasn't good enough to pass on its own before.
*The only thing ACORN deserves from the Feds is a search warrant and a RICO indictment.
*32 new government programs--programs that will never die, shrink or end, even if they are proven failures.
* It would still be bad, but it would be a much better bill if it simply "gave" $3,000 to every man, woman and child in America.
*If we cut tax-rates by a trillion dollars, this economy would explode, unemployment would practically cease and flourishing businesses would be bailing out the government instead of flourishing government bailing out businesses.
*Democrats much prefer the faux-tax cuts of "tax credits" over real rate reductions. If they cut payroll taxes, they might not get them raised again later.

Taxes exist not just to fund government, not just to grow government, not just for the social engineering in the tax code or the ability to dole out favors in it; taxes today (including the hidden taxes of litigation and regulation) exist mainly to impoverish middle-class workers so they'll feel the need for government programs.

It is the Statist Project, and Republicans were created by God to stand against it.

At least this one was. It's good to see I've got some company again.

SAN FRANCISCO FINALLY DOES ITS PATRIOTIC/MATRIOTIC DUTY!

Item:

The Brava! For Women in Arts company is presenting the West Coast premiere of Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom at the Brava Theatre in San Francisco through April 24th. ... The drama immediately sets out to show that the treatment of the prisoners is not in line with Geneva Convention rules since the American government does not consider them POWs but “legal detainees” who don’t seem to get fair trials.

Item:

Donning orange jumpsuits and black hoods on Sunday, dozens of demonstrators in San Francisco urged the immediate closure of the American detention and interrogation camp at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay....

"We're trying to send a message that torture is unacceptable," said Giovanni Jackson, 27, a San Francisco resident and a youth organizer with World Can't Wait, which sponsored the event. "Guantanamo has to shut down, along with other torture apparatus, to bring home the reality of what our government is doing."

I couldn't agree more with these fine patriots;

"Bring home the reality" baby!
The "world can't wait"!
We're "honor bound to defend freedom"!
CLOSE GUANTANAMO AND OPEN ALCATRAZ NOW!

Since they have insisted Guantanamo be closed, it's very decent of them to volunteer San Francisco to take its place--and they even have our bipartisan support!:

If liberals believe they ought to go, maybe we ought to open Alcatraz," Boehner, R-Ohio, told NBC "Meet the Press." Being reminded that Alcatraz is a national park, Boehner responded, "It's very secure."

Problem solved! And now, a musical interlude from Mr. Tony Bennett:

(intro:)The loveliness of Paris
Seems somehow sadly gay
The glory that was Rome
Is of another day
I've been terribly alone
And forgotten in Manhattan
I'm going home to my city by the bay.

I left Khaleed in San Francisco
prison on an isle, it screams "Detainees!"
To be where little cable cars
Climb halfway to the stars!
The morning prayers may fill the air
I don't care!

Khaleed waits there in San Francisco
Amidst the blue and windy sea
When Alcatraz is home, San Francisco,
Your Ninth Circuit will set them freeeeeeee!

DON'T RE-INVENT THE WHEEL, GRASSHOPPER

If the idea is to socialize America, put the Leviathan State in control of every aspect of our lives and establish a dreary one-party system, then by all means carry on.

But if the idea is liberate Americans, put individuals in control of their destinies and revitalize our economy, then we need to listen to those who have already accomplished these things.

Historian Paul Johnson:

Margaret Thatcher famously asked "Who governs Britain?" as unions struggled for power. By 1980, everyone knew the answer: Thatcher governs. Once the union citadel had been stormed, Thatcher quickly discovered that every area of the economy was open to judicious reform. Even as the rest of Europe toyed with socialism and state ownership, she set about privatizing the nationalized industries, which had been hitherto sacrosanct, no matter how inefficient. It worked. British Airways, an embarrassingly slovenly national carrier that very seldom showed a profit, was privatized and transformed into one of the world's best and most profitable airlines. British Steel, which lost more than a billion pounds in its final years as a state concern, became the largest steel company in Europe.

By the mid-1980s, privatization was a new term in world government, and by the end of the decade more than 50 countries, on almost every continent, had set in motion privatization programs, floating loss-making public companies on the stock markets and in most cases transforming them into successful private-enterprise firms. Even left-oriented countries, which scorned the notion of privatization, began to reduce their public sector on the sly. Governments sent administrative and legal teams to Britain to study how it was done. It was perhaps Britain's biggest contribution to practical economics in the world since...even Adam Smith published 'The Wealth of Nations'.

Margaret Thatcher revitalized Britain's economy just as Ronald Reagan did in America. We have lost what they gave us by straying from the principles that they espoused. And, incredibly, the path we seem poised to take is all the bad ideas that got us here...multiplied by a factor of 10!

Instead of listening to a boy-socialist who has never held a real job nor spent anything besides Other People's Money, we should instead heed those giants who have already been here, done this, and triumphed.

From her book "Statecraft", which means not just diplomacy, but literally to build or re-build a nation, Margaret Thatcher:

"If one generation is expected to carry an excessive burden on behalf of another, it will seek by every means to avoid it. It will either demand that past promises are broken, or it will not work, or it will not pay taxes, or the most talented people will leave. Socialist governments which have tried to tax 'till the pips squeak' have ample experience of that."

"Every regulation represents a restriction of liberty, every regulation has a cost. That is why, like marriage (in the Prayer Book's words), regulation should not 'be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly'."

"The right-of-centre parties still often compete with left-of-centre ones to proclaim their attachment to all the main programmes of spending, particularly spending on social services of one kind or another. But this foolish as well as muddled. It is foolish because left-of-centre parties will always be able to outbid right-of-centre ones in this auction - after all, that is why they are on the left in the first place. The muddle arises because once we concede that public spending and taxation are than a necessary evil we have lost sight of the core values of freedom."

"...(T)he larger the slice taken by government, the smaller the cake available for everyone."

"I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation."

"Socialists have always spent much of their time seeking new titles for their beliefs, because the old versions so quickly become outdated and discredited."

"The accumulation of wealth is a process which is of itself morally neutral. True, as Christianity teaches, riches bring temptations. But then so does poverty."

"With all due respect to the drafters of the American Declaration of Independence, all men (and women) are not created equal, at least in regard to their characters, abilities and aptitudes. And if they were, their family and cultural backgrounds - not to mention the effect of mere chance - would soon change that. On one thing, nature and nurture agree: we are all different. If this is unjust, then life is unjust. But, though one hears this expression - usually in the form of the complaint that 'life is unfair' - it really means nothing. In the same vein, someone once said to Voltaire, 'Life is hard.' To which is replied: 'Compared with what?'"

"When all the objectives of government include the achievement of equality - other than equality before the law - that government poses a threat to liberty."

"There is much to be said for trying to improve some disadvantaged people's lot. There is nothing to be said for trying to create heaven on earth."

"To the extent that the West is to blame at all for the ills of the Third World it is to the extent that the West created Marx and his successors, among whom must be numbered many of those who advised the Third World leaders in post-war years."

"In a system of free trade and free markets poor countries - and poor people - are not poor because others are rich. Indeed, if others became less rich the poor would in all probability become still poorer."

"The Third World is very much like the First World - just poorer: what works for the West will work for the rest as well."

"Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' is not above sudden, disturbing, movements. Since its inception, capitalism has known slumps and recessions, bubble and froth; no one has yet dis-invented the business cycle, and probably no one will; and what Schumpeter famously called the 'gales of creative destruction' still roar mightily from time to time. To lament these things is ultimately to lament the bracing blast of freedom itself."

Hat-tip: Right-Wing News

They don't come any "less" than a baby in the womb.

Jesus spoke:

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

Obama spoke at Saddleback Church:

"But what [faith in Jesus Christ] also means, I think, is a sense of obligation to embrace not just words, but through deeds, the expectations, I think, that God has for us. And that means thinking about the least of these. ...And so, for me, the goal right now should be — and this is where I think we can find common ground. And by the way, I’ve now inserted this into the Democratic party platform, is how do we reduce the number of abortions?"

Today President Obama committed United States taxpayers to pay for the abortions of foreigners by the sweat of their brows. American taxpayers don't want to pay for abortions in this country, let alone overseas. So I must ask:

Is this what it means to "reduce the number of abortions"?

Is condemning a little brown baby overseas to the death penalty in a Planned Parenthood Camp what Jesus meant when he said "Whatever you did to one of the least of these, you did to me"?

Why close Guantanamo for guilty men and open Death Camps for innocent babies?

Did you lie to a pastor in a church to obtain power...and for this purpose?

During the campaign, Barack Obama went to Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church. Obama promised us there that his "goal" was to "reduce the number of abortions".

He even quoted Jesus, saying he would protect "the least of these"; that is, the small, the helpless, the downtrodden and defenseless.

But now the campaign is over and those words were just lies to help Obama get what he wanted.

I believe that unborn children are the least of the least. They don't come any smaller or more defenseless. But whatever you believe about abortion, most Americans do not want the government to confiscate part of their paychecks to pay for other people's abortions--and certainly not to buy abortions for foreigners.

Yet that is precisely what Obama just did late Friday night, skulking in the shadows with no witnesses present.

Bizarrely, the president claimed "It is time that we end the politicization of this issue." How? By doing everything on NARAL's wish list?

In fact, Obama even wants us to help China pay for its Forced Abortion policy:

Obama also said he would work with Congress to restore American government support for the United Nations Population Fund, which has been blocked from receiving funds by a legal provision that bars the federal government from funding organizations which support or promote coerced abortion. The State Department found in 2002 that the U.N. agency was ineligible for funding because of its involvement with the Chinese government's enforcement of its one-child policy, which often leads to abortions.

That's bad enough, but that's not all:

"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," [Obama] told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package. [...]

"You know, I'm concerned about the size of the package. And I'm concerned about some of the spending that's in there... [about] how you can spend hundreds of millions on contraceptives," House GOP Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) later said. "How does that stimulate the economy?"

Those hundreds of millions aren't really for contraceptives. They are for building new abortion clinics. Obama considers abortuaries to be part of our infrastructure, just like roads and bridges.

Ironically, one of the underlying causes of this struggling economy is the lack of young people.

We should have known when he voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection laws that he was a true extremist. He's even more pro-abortion than Hillary if that's possible. And we see now that it is.

I understand why he would say that disagreeing with him is "politicizing" the argument. It's just a way to discredit opponents. But there's something deeply creepy about him simply decreeing that the debate is over. He seems to believe his own spin.

Anyway, since this is all borrowed money, it may be more accurate to say that we as taxpayers are not on the hook; it will be our children and grandchildren. If we let them survive.

It's the least we can do.

IT'S MANDATORY

Rush:

"I am hearing many Republicans say that very thing. "Well, we want him to succeed," and prominent Republicans! "Yes, we want him to succeed." They have laid down. They have totally. They're drinking the Kool-Aid, too. They have no guts to stand up for what their beliefs are because they're afraid of criticism. They're afraid of being called racists. They're afraid of not having gotten with the program. ... So yes, I would hope he would succeed if he acts like Reagan. But if he's going to do FDR -- if he's going to do The New New Deal all over, which we will call here The Raw Deal -- why would I want him to succeed?

Look, he's my president. The fact that he is historic is irrelevant to me now. It matters not at all. If he is going to implement a far-left agenda...a $2 trillion in stimulus? The growth of government? I think the intent here is to create as many dependant Americans as possible looking to government for their hope and salvation. If he gets nationalized health care, I mean, it's over, Sean. We're never going to roll that back. That's the end of America as we have known it, because that's then going to set the stage for everything being government owned, operated, or provided. Why would I want that to succeed? I don't believe in that. I know that's not how this country is going to be great in the future; it's not what made this country great. So I shamelessly say, "No! I want him to fail."

“AND DEFEND ALL ENEMIES, BOTH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC”–The Oaf of Office

In the very first public act of his presidency, Barack Hussein Obama has chosen to preserve, protect and defend…terrorists in Gitmo!

He only been in the White House one night–and he spent it staying up all night worrying about the “Rights” of our enemies.

He’s asked the tribunals to suspend for 120 days so he can review procedures and possibly bring all these “defendants” to your area. Funny, but when Terry Schiavo needed the same consideration, it was ‘unconstitutional meddling with the courts’. But nothing’s too good for our little Gitmo princes.

No wonder they chanted his name on election night.

"...AND I DECREE THAT HENCEFORTH, TAXES SHALL BE KNOWN AS "TITHES"..."

A Fisking

"My fellow citizens:

Um...could you show me the birth certificate first?

We the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

No the hell we haven't. We've been trashing them by calling them "Living" documents, and making them mean the opposite of what they actually mean. And by "we", I mean, of course, "you".

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas

but enough about my wife.

The time has come to set aside childish things.

Good. And you can start with that poet lady who speaks in the Stepford cadences preferred by university lesbians and Soviet Schoolmarms: "Good. Mor. Ning. Chil. Dren. Please. Get. Out. Your. Dear. Leader. Text. Books."

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

True.

We will restore science to its rightful place

By adopting the glorified shamanism of Global Warming and Human Cloning? It is pure leftist flim-flammery to claim that science=moral. Maybe we should treat stroke victims with aborted baby parts or maybe we shouldn't. But science cannot tell us if such cannibalism is right or wrong.

We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.

And unicorn farts will power our waterwheels, which are connected to a boot on a stick which will kick the steel ball down the chute and...BAM! Mousetrap! Sorry, Future Man--those are 18th century technologies.

And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.

"I've put Professors Ayers and Dohrn in charge of this effort."

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.

"I have also repealed the Law of Gravity. It was bugging me."

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works

Baloney. If it doesn't matter, then why do you invariably make government bigger? Big Government is ALL that matters to Democrats. And as government expands, liberty contracts.

Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.

Name one program that will end. Just one--you can't do it.

And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day

Just like we do in Chicago.

this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control

the market spun out only AFTER the government demanded it produce a Free Lunch--and you, sir, were a Lunch Lady. Without a watchful eye, the government spins out of control.

Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man

but not the rule of outlaws and the precious "rights" of terrorists.

we are ready to lead once more.

More? If you lead at all, it will be for the first time.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

And one of those enduring convictions was: "Have lots of missiles and tanks"!

We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.

The word is "Victory".

With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.

One fact, one fiction.

We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

I'm lookin' at you, Aruba.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

I'm lookin' at you, Microsoft.

To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history.

But you can still qualify for billions if your name is "Fatah". or "Mayor Daley".

Nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect.

I thought we were not going to apologize for our way of life.

We remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.

That's better than Obama's usual rhetorical treatment of the military; usually he goes morbidly on and on about the sacrifices and divorces and Post-Traumatic Stress until he sounds like a Tokyo Rose:

"You very brave, Joe. But why you fight so far from home? You miss Christmas again, Joe, and your sweetheart is kissing some college boy. Are you shell-shocked yet, Joe? Someday you'll be as crazy as Gary Busey in that only good flick Segal ever make, before Segal swallow Bakersfield. Remember, Joe?" .................

My own "honeymoon" just ended in Mexico City. Someday, and probably soon, my country will regret electing this paper-thin part-time patriot. But I'll give the other team this; they never gave up.

And neither should we.

GET OUT OF PALESTINE! GO BACK TO PALESTINE!

I don't usually like to print everything at a link, but I wanted every word of this:

Jew-baiting, then and now--Mark Steyn

An elderly Jewish friend from London was at a gathering recently, and said someone asked: “Politically speaking, who are our friends?” Nobody had an answer, and the consensus was that Britain’s Jewish community felt lonelier than within living memory.

A couple of months back, I found myself on Cable Street in East London for the first time in years. It was the scene of a famous battle in 1936, when Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, in a crude act of political intimidation, determined to march through the heart of the Jewish East End. They were turned back by a mob of local Jews, Irish Catholic dockers, Commie agitators et al all standing under the Spanish Civil War slogan, "No pasaran": They shall not pass.

They didn't. And, although many self-aggrandizing myths attached to the old left's "Battle of Cable Street" in subsequent decades, that day marked the beginning of the decline of Mosley and the BUF.

Things are different now, as Ezra Levant's dispatch on the intimidation of Calgary Jews in the heart of their own neighborhood makes clear: There's no resistance, no old leftist solidarity, no nothing, just a fatalistic shrug as supporters of banned (and explicitly eliminationist) terrorist organizations commandeer private property to compare Jews to Nazis. What can you do? They shall pass, week after week. It's as if Sir Oswald had marched through Cable Street in triumph, and then decided to make it a twice-weekly event.

By the way, those contemporary lefties who think the Jews should get out of Palestine might note the protest slogans of 70 years ago: In those London demonstrations, the Jews were told, "Go back to Palestine!"

Telling Jews they shouldn't be here and they shouldn't be there is just another way to say this: Jews simply shouldn't be. period. And it doesn't sound any better in the original German, either.

God Bless Israel.

MY SPIDEY-SENSE IS TINGLING UP MY LEG

First, they sent him to the UN to help Kofi Anan escape with briefcases full of Oil-for-Food money. And now, via Six Meat Buffet, Marvel has teamed-up Spiderman with the Trillion Dollar Man, Barack Obama.

We tried to warn Spidey what happens when you get tangled up with shady Chicago underworld figures--evidently, you become president!

Mr. Treacher also has arachnophilia.

And since you've stayed with the comic book meme this long, here's a bonus comic, via Lileks: Pat Buchanan Funnies, with Pat as "Mr. Williams, Anti-Zionist!"

CHENEY'S THE EGGMAN

...and the Walrus is Paul Wolfowitz!

The Bush/Cheney Junta has finally swung into motion: Undercover FBI agents. Dozens of intelligence teams. Profiling. Warrantless searches. Government surveillance of millions of innocent Americans. "Behavioral" investigators. Paramilitary units and interrogators standing by.

And all on the flimsy pretext of so-called "public safety!" These are the actions of a criminal regime that...oh--wait a minute--

Sorry; those are just the security arrangements for the Obama inauguration. Nevermind.

Q: Why shouldn't Americans enjoy the same kind of security against terrorism that politicians enjoy?

SAY IT WITH ME: "BUSH. WAS. RIGHT."

Now that wasn't so hard, was it?

The Nork Times:

"The [FISA court] decision marks the first time since the disclosure of the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program three years ago that an appellate court has addressed the constitutionality of the federal government’s wiretapping powers. In validating the government’s wide authority to collect foreign intelligence, it may offer legal credence to the Bush administration’s repeated assertions that the president has constitutional authority to act without specific court approval in ordering national security eavesdropping."

"May"? "It may"? Yeah--and Moses 'may' have been Jewish. And Bill Shakespeare 'may' have turned a phrase or two. And the New York Times 'may' be bankrupt on more levels than a four-story Whorehouse for the Indigent.

Villainous Company:

According to the Theory of the Unitary Editor, whenever a Times reporter is given unauthorized classified information, Bill Keller's editorial conscience allows him to unilaterally declassify national secrets, bypass Congress, and violate the law in the interest of keeping the nation safe from a popularly elected President who he fears may be unilaterally declassifying national secrets, bypassing Congress, and breaking the law.

FUNNY; THAT'S WHAT HE SAID

From Patriot Post:

America has come a long way

In a few short days, a black man will move from his private residence into a much larger and more expensive one owned not by him but by the taxpayers. A vast lawn, perimeter fence and many well-trained security specialists will insulate him from the rest of us, but the mere fact that this man will live there should make us all stop and count our blessings — because it proves we live in a nation where anything is possible.

Many believed this day would never come. Most of us hoped and prayed that it would, but few of us actually believed we would live to see it. Racism is an ugly thing in all of its forms and there is little doubt that if this man had moved there 15 years ago, there would have been a great outcry — possibly even rioting in the streets. Today, we can all be both grateful and proud that no such mayhem will take place when this man takes up residency in this house.

This man, moving into this house at this time in our nation's history is much more than a simple change of addresses for him — it is proof of a change in our attitude as a nation. It is an amends of sorts — the righting of a great wrong. It is a symbol of our growth, and of our willingness to judge a man, not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.

There can be little doubt now that the vast majority of us truly believe this man has earned both his place in history and his new address. His time in this house will not be easy — it will be fraught with danger and he will face many challenges. We're sure there will be many times when he asks himself how in the world he ended up here, and, like all who have gone before him, the experience will age him greatly. But in every way a man can, he asked for this. His whole life for the past fifteen years appears to have been inexorably leading this man toward this house. It is highly probable that in the past, despite all of his actions, racism would have kept this man out of this house. Today, we thank the Lord above that we are Americans and live in a nation where wrongs are righted, where justice matters and where truly anything is possible. A nation where O.J. Simpson is finally going to jail.

What, you thought this was about Obama?

IT'S OFFICIAL!

The Obama Administration has been pre-emptively declared a Federal Disaster Area in order to qualify for its own Barack Bailout Buck$.

It's touching how FEMA has decided to "sacrifice" and "put some skin in the game" in order to fund Hurricane Obama's Most Expensive Inauguration Evah.

Here's the Dire-Rector of FEMA, Mark Steyn:

The proposition that a new federal administration is itself a federal emergency is almost too perfect an emblem of American government in the 21st century. FEMA was created in the 1970s initially to coordinate the emergency response to catastrophic events such as a nuclear attack. But there weren't a lot of those even in the Carter years, so, as is the way with bureaucracies, FEMA just growed like Topsy. In his first year in office, Bill Clinton declared a then-record-setting 58 federal emergencies. By the end of the Nineties, Mother Nature was finding it hard to come up with a meteorological phenomenon that didn't qualify as a federal emergency: Heavy rain in the Midwest? Call FEMA! Light snow in Vermont? FEMA! Fifty-seven under cloudy skies in California? Let those FEMA trailers roll! ...

The metastasization of FEMA teaches several lessons – the first and most obvious being that any new government program, agency or entitlement will always outgrow whatever narrow purpose it was created for. Which is why we small-government types are wary of creating any new ones in the first place. Thus, an itsy-bitsy bit of inconsequential government tinkering on the periphery of the mortgage market expanded to the point where federally mandated home loans to the uncreditworthy came close to collapsing not just the U.S. property market but the global financial system.

If you'd suggested in the Seventies a new federal agency to cope with municipal snow removal in Connecticut, you'd have been laughed out the room. But, with government, mission creep isn't a bug but the defining feature. In mid-September, the "bailout" was a once-in-a-lifetime emergency measure to save the planet. A mere four months later, it's the new baseline. If your congressman's lousy boondoggle has got six zeroes on the end, it's an earmark: Boooooooooo! If it's got 12 zeroes, it's a "stimulus": Hurrah!

You're doing a heckuva job there, Steyn-ie.

Here's your Actual (not "Living") Constitution:

He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected...

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States. [They chose March 4 for the Inauguration.]

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven...

That clause was superseded by the 20th Amendment, an old-fashioned amendment passed by an authentic act of the whole people--not a new-fangled amendment passed by five judges in defiance of the people. It was ratified by Congress in 1933:

Section 1.
The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January...and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

In other words, this "EMERGENCY!" has been on the schedule since 1789 and specifically on Jan. 20th...for 75 years! How much lead-time does the government need for an event like this? A century? Three?

Another irony is that the extra Coronation Money was made available by the Dictator/War Criminal/President-for-Life George W. Bush. Remember him? He's busy buying party favors and filling champagne glasses now, but not so long ago he was the Junta Leader who was going to cancel elections forever.

Sorry, but that dog won't Junt.

At his first Inaugural, Ronald Reagan said "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government IS the problem."

Who even talks that way today? Reagan succeeded in reviving a nation's economy, strength and morale--but instead of listening to him, we've evidently decided to go in the exact opposite direction! "What does that Henry Ford know about automobiles?--let's listen to this young whipper-snapper Edsel instead!"

Reagan said "Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy..."--not a healthy, vigorous growing government.

He said "It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government."-- Truer words you will not read. Yet we're seemingly poised to make that intervention and intrusion both paramount and permanent.

Reagan: "It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams."

Under Obama, you will need a Federal Dream Permit to dream big dreams. The Good News: once you get it, it will come with as many Federal Fun Dollars as your calculator has zeros.

The Bad News? It takes 75 years to get one.

"This is Federal 911--what's your emergency? Besides the Inaugural, I mean?"

HAD EVEN LIBERALS UPSET

with their fabulous parting grifts, selling pardons at the end of the Clinton term.

But all is forgiven now. After all, what's the difference between Blago's Pay to Play senate seat-sale and the Clintons' Pay-to-Play pardon sale?

A: Nothing, not one thing--except the Clintons have been rewarded for their crimes and Blago won't be.

Hitch looks at the Clintons' more recent grifting and says Don't Confirm Her:

As Bill so touchingly put it [in '92], if you voted for him, you got "two for one." What the country—and the world—has since learned is a slight variation on that, which I would crudely phrase as "buy one, get one free." ...

In exchange for giving the painful impression that our State Department will be an attractive destination for lobbyists and donors, what exactly are we getting? George Marshall? Dean Acheson? Even Madeleine Albright? No, we are getting a notoriously ambitious woman who made a fool of herself over Bosnia, at the time and during the recent campaign, and who otherwise has no command of foreign affairs except what she's picked up second-hand from an impeached ex-president, a disbarred lawyer, and a renter of the Lincoln Bedroom. If the Senate waves this through, it will have reinforced its recent image as the rubber-stamp chamber of a bankrupt banana republic.

Andy McCarthy is a Holder hold-out, also:

The Clinton administration’s impressive 1996 overhaul of counterterrorism law happened before Holder ever got to Main Justice. He was there, though, in time to engineer the shocking, politically driven pardons of 16 Puerto Rican separatists — terrorists whose organizations (most notoriously, the FALN) were responsible for over 130 bombings and the murders of innocent Americans; terrorists who hadn’t even applied for clemency or expressed a modicum of remorse (elementary prerequisites for pardon consideration under Justice Department standards); terrorists as to whom Holder’s response was to stonewall Congress when the inevitable questions arose; terrorists whose pardons Holder supported over strenuous protest from victims’ families and law enforcement (including subordinates he brow-beat into muting their objections); terrorists whose pardons Holder urged despite the horrible message this sent in the aftermath of al Qaeda’s bombings of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Moreover, Holder had been acting as Attorney General throughout the final months of the Clinton administration when al Qaeda killed 17 members of the U.S. Navy by bombing the U.S.S. Cole. In response to that al-Qaeda atrocity, the Clinton Justice Department filed no charges . . . even as the department was taking no action against Iranian government operatives who, Justice well knew, had carried out the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, in which 19 members of the United States Air Force were murdered. Charges were finally filed in these cases by the Bush Justice Department.

Holder did, however, contribute to one other terrorist matter: the pardons of Weather Underground terrorists Susan Rosenberg and Linda Sue Evans.

Which was why Hillary mentioned The Fresh Prince and Bill Ayers only once during the primary--Obama zinged her right back. McCain, of course, wouldn't mention it because the VC put him under post-hypnotic suggestion.

The Clintons turned the pardon power on its head. It was meant to be a last resort for the powerless--but they turned it into a first resort for the already-powerful to grab even more money and power. Liberals used to care about stuff like this.

Hillary's Pardons-for-Votes were worse than the mere money-grubbing by Blago, Bill and her brothers. Hers were Blood Pardons, setting other people's killers free for personal gain.

Politically corrupt, electorally corrupt, legally corrupt and morally corrupt.

Insane as it may be, it seems that the job of the next Secretary of State is to excuse terrorists and the next Attorney General's job is to free terrorists. Clinton and Holder have experience in that field that money just can't buy.

Rent, sure--but not buy.

WHEN YOU FIRST REALIZED

that delicious, nutritious, health-restoring Soylent Green...was people?

The late Richard John Neuhaus:

The culture of death goes all the way back to that fateful afternoon when Cain struck down his brother Abel, and the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And Cain answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said to Cain, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.” The voice of the blood of brothers and sisters beyond numbering cry out from the slave ships and battlegrounds and concentration camps and torture chambers of the past and the present. The voice of the blood of the innocents cries out from the abortuaries and sophisticated biotech laboratories of this beloved country today. Contending for the culture of life has been a very long journey, and there are still miles and miles to go.

The culture of death is an idea before it is a deed. I expect many of us here, perhaps most of us here, can remember when we were first encountered by the idea. For me, it was in the 1960s when I was pastor of a very poor, very black, inner city parish in Brooklyn, New York. I had read that week an article by Ashley Montagu of Princeton University on what he called “A Life Worth Living.” He listed the qualifications for a life worth living: good health, a stable family, economic security, educational opportunity, the prospect of a satisfying career to realize the fullness of one’s potential. These were among the measures of what was called "a life worth living."

And I remember vividly, as though it were yesterday, looking out the next Sunday morning at the congregation of St. John the Evangelist and seeing all those older faces creased by hardship endured and injustice afflicted, and yet radiating hope undimmed and love unconquered. And I saw that day the younger faces of children deprived of most, if not all, of those qualifications on Prof. Montagu’s list. And it struck me then, like a bolt of lightning, a bolt of lightning that illuminated our moral and cultural moment, that Prof. Montagu and those of like mind believed that the people of St. John the Evangelist—people whom I knew and had come to love as people of faith and kindness and endurance and, by the grace of God, hope unvanquished—it struck me then that, by the criteria of the privileged and enlightened, none of these my people had a life worth living.

In that moment, I knew that a great evil was afoot. The culture of death is an idea before it is a deed.

FAMILY SECRET AGENT JOE BIDEN, INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY! in

"The Spy Who Revised and Extended Me: The Theory of the Sanitary Executive" by Commodore 3rd Class Joe Biden, Delta Bravo Easy Like Sunday Mornin' Company, United States Marine Mammal Conservation Corps...

Chapter One

The prop-wash kicked up that old familiar smell.

It was the smell of death, lingering like Larry Craig at an airport men's room.

And then it came back to me, like the way Bill Maher keeps re-living that unfortunate camp counselor incident; that's not "the smell of death"--I'd just forgotten to change my skivvies in Bangalore.

"No time for that now," I thought. "I'm here on a secret mission from the Officially Officious Office of the President-Select. I've got only one goal; to find bin Laden. Also "Nala", the beautiful village maiden Barack met on his trip to Pakistan back in the '80's. Okay; that's really two goals. But still."

I had just gotten up from my seat and was starting to exit Air Force-Elect Two, when the stewardess asked "Uhh..aren't you going to flush that, sir?"
"Sorry, 'bout that, ma'am."
"And buckle your pants?"
"Sorry again, ma'am."

I could tell already that this was going to be a rough tour in a rough country--and especially if I was going to have to flush my own toilets. And wear pants. I made a mental note to have the stewardess fired.

I debarked the aircraft--or is it "disembarked"? No, I think it's "debarked". No, wait--come to think of it, I think it is "disembarked". Sorta' like "disembowel". Speaking of, I think I smell "death" again.

Anyway, I put on my shades against the torrid glare of the afternoon's Asian sun. Then I took them off. Put them back on. Then off. On. Off. OnOffOnOffOnOff. Great Ganesh, but that's fun!

But deep down, I knew the fun couldn't last. Somewhere out there was guy named bin Laden, seven feet tall and dragging a kidney dialysis machine around behind him, with a great big target painted on his back.

At least, I hoped he had a target painted on his back; it was the only way I'd ever find him. Suddenly, out of the corner of the corner of my eye, I spotted them; two armed men following me, trying to appear inconspicuous.

I gave the first one an elbow to the throat. The other one's eyes got wide as I grabbed his necktie. "WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?" I screamed.

"Se...Secret Service, Mr. Vice-President!" he stammered.

Relaxing my grip on his tie, I told him "That's "Mr. Vice-President-ELECT, pal; we only have one vice-president at a time!"

Somehow, I would have to find a way to blame this on Cheney, like all the times before. I made a mental note to have those agents fired.

If there's one thing I know, it's that I would have to act quickly, secretly and with deadly force. Okay, that's three things--but still.

I got my satellite phone out, set it up on the tripod and pointed it at Tel-Star. A nice seven foot-tall man dragging a kidney dialysis machine around behind him helped me. I was ready to get my instructions from Washington.

With the Inauguration only days away, Barack had decided to send me half-way around the world on a potentially deadly mission in complete secrecy. Say--you don't suppose he's trying to get rid...no, no--that's just crazy talk.

The sat-phone went dead.

I smell "death" again. Is there a laundromat in this town?

Chapter Two

Just then, my cell phone rang. It was my secretary , reminding me that I needed to pay my satellite phone bill or it would get shut off. I made a mental note to send $53.16 to the sat-phone company plus an additional $5 Billion just in case they needed money. And to fire my secretary.

As I hung up my cell phone, I realized I would have to find another way to contact Washington. But how?

And then I saw her face. Now I'm a believer. Not a trace of doubt in...plagiarism? What plagiarism? I haven't been accused of plagiarism since I was a wee little laddie, working in the coal mines of northern England alongside Lord Kinnock's family. Why do you ask?

Anyway, there she was. "Nala", the beautiful village maiden that Barack had fallen in love with all those years ago. Sure she was older now. In fact, she looked like ten miles of bad upcoming infrastructure project. I made my way through the crowded and ancient bazzar, unchanged by the centuries, where quaint local merchants were selling handmade rugs, dates, olives and ICBM components purchased from the Clinton administration.

"Do you know who I am and why I'm here?" I asked her. I was really hoping she did, cos' I wasn't really sure.

"Yes--you have come in the name of Hope and Change, bearing my bailout." Nala's eyes began to dampen until she leaking like a Big Dig tunnel ceiling in Boston.

It was then that I noticed the teenage boy beside her. There was something familiar about him, and yet...

Nala explained to me that Barack had fallen in love with her--but she had fallen in love with one of his more mature travelling companions.

"Roland Burris is a Love God and the Father of my Love-Child!" she blurted out.

Somehow I sensed that those words would end up chiseled on his mausoleum in Chicago. Now it all made perfect sense; how else to explain Barack's bizarre refusal to seat Roland Burris in the Senate?

I gave the letters of transit to Nala and Roland, Jr.--after all, the problems of two people don't amount to a hill of organic free-trade Starbucks coffee beans in this crazy world.

I went back to the hotel and packed my bags. Even though I hadn't found bin Laden, my mission here was complete. The bellhop, a kindly seven foot-tall man with a kidney dialysis machine trailing behind him, helped me load my bags into the car. He asked if I would mind delivering this suitcase to his cousin in New York. I don't mind. I gave him a dollar so he could buy a Slurpee. I told him to bring me the change.

Get out of my house, Cheney--I'm comin' home!

Um...anybody seen my sunglasses?

THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE

As fortune would have it, we intercepted a copy of Barack Obama's Inaugural Address. It was sent for final edit to "Bill Ayers @ mad bombers.com", but it mistakenly came to our address, "mad @ bombers.com" instead.

Nevertheless, it is a great, great speech and if its principles are follwed, it will produce years and years of peace and prosperity:

"My fellow citizens:

These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.

Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery, and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.

But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?

Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America, at peace with itself and the world.

So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams.

Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic ``yes.'' To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I've just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.

In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.

I'm told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I'm deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inaugural Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.

It does require, however, our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.

And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.

God bless you, and thank you."

..................................

Those are of course , excerpts from Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address, also given in a time of conflict and economic strife.

Why reprise it now? Because President Reagan already faced the problems we're facing today and he succeeded in bringing both peace and prosperity. But he did it by taking the exact opposite course than the ones that are being proposed today!

If we really want to rebuild a country, we should listen to those who have already done it!

He rebuilt the military, not the bureaucracy. He cut tax rates, not fresh, new welfare checks. A quick look at his calendar from his first week in office tells the tale:

*Remarks on Signing the Federal Employee Hiring Freeze Memorandum
*Exchange With Reporters on the Release of the American Hostages in Iran
*Memorandum Directing Reductions in Federal Spending
*Remarks Announcing the Establishment of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Reform
*Remarks on Signing a Resolution Proclaiming a Day of Thanksgiving for the Freed American Hostages
*Remarks at a White House Reception Welcoming the Freed American Hostages and Their Families
*Executive Order 12287 -- Decontrol of Crude Oil and Refined Petroleum Products
*Executive Order 12288 -- Termination of the Wage and Price Regulatory Program
*Message to the Congress Reporting a Budget Rescission
*Memorandum Postponing Pending Federal Regulations

Peace through Strength...and Prosperity through Freedom.

An administration whose "objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy"--NOT a healthy, vigorous, growing government.

And this statement is even more true today than when Reagan first spoke it on Inauguration Day in 1981: "It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government."

So amidst the upcoming hoopla and hype, remember this: When a paper tiger promises you the moon, it's probably a paper moon, too--and paid for with your credit card.

IT'S THE IRAN-OMY, STUPID

"How odd
of God
To choose
the Jews."--William Norman Ewer, British journalist and Soviet spy

"But not so odd
As those who choose
A Jewish God
Yet spurn the Jews."--Cecil Brown, American reporter


The Steyn-o-stinian:

Forget, for the moment, Gaza. Forget that the Palestinian people are the most comprehensively wrecked people on the face of the earth. For the past sixty years they have been entrusted to the care of the United Nations, the Arab League, the PLO, Hamas and the “global community” — and the results are pretty much what you’d expect.

Even America failed the Palestinians; when Arafat swaggered into New York to address the UN back in the '70's with his pimp-pistols on his hips, we failed to put a bullet between his beady rat-eyes for the murders of our diplomats. That failure of moral clarity condemend thousands and thousands to death, on all sides. And it still kills to this very day.

So, as I said, forget Gaza. And instead ponder the reaction to Gaza in Scandinavia, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and golly, even Florida.

Oh, no--not in Del Boca Vista, too! Alas, yes;

An 18 year-old from Coral Springs was busted for wielding brass knuckles and a pocket knife, a petite middle-aged woman shouted "baby killers!," and a mob of protesters chucked rocks at a cop car. ... As the Herald reported yesterday, a dozen people were arrested, mostly for disorderly conduct.
What wasn't mentioned: The most serious charge (a felony battery) came from a bright, well-respected Bonita Springs doctor and director of a non-profit named Riadh Atmani. The Miami police report notes that the 42 year-old - a bearded, six-foot-five, 220 pound bear of a man - grabbed a police officer "and his prisoner," pulled them into a pack of protesters, "hit [the cop] in the face" and "broke the sergeant's glasses." Shortly afterwards, around 3:20 p.m., police described his demeanor as calm and soft spoken. Public records show Atmani runs Bonita Springs Islamic Center on Bonita Beach Road, about which little information is available. (He couldn't be reached at several listed phone numbers for comment.)

Other highlights from police reports include: A 31 year-old from Jordan who allegedly tried to ignite a riot, then called a cop a "nigger"; a 23 year-old car-kicker from Kuwait, and a New Yorker who threw one too many punches in amid a mosh pit of demonstrators.

Steyn continues:

As I always say, the “oldest hatred” didn’t get that way without an ability to adapt: Once upon a time on the Continent, Jews were hated as rootless cosmopolitan figures who owed no national allegiance. So they became a conventional nation state, and now they’re hated for that.

Hamas is a mental illness masquerading as a nationalist movement. When I was at Gitmo a couple of years back, one of the most philosophically interesting moments came during a conversation with the camp's mental health doctors on how you tell when a suicide bomber is feeling depressed.

That's easy; when a suicide bomber is feeling up, he wants to blow up a lot of infidels--and himself too.

But when a suicide bomber is feeling down, he wants to blow up himself--and a lot of infidels.

Hamas does not commit war crimes; it IS a war crime.

Hamas=Genocide. They're the Geneva Conventions in reverse. If the Conventions say "No human shields", they use human shields. If it says "Wear uniforms", they don't wear uniforms. If it says "Don't target civilians", they target civilians. Etc., etc., etc.

And Hamas also "equals" Iran. Never forget it. That is one reason why some Egyptians and even some Palestinians reject Hamas, even as protestors in Miami and elsewhere try to be more Catholic than the Pope, or in this case, more Islamic than the Grand Mufti. Not everybody wants to live under the thumb of the crazy Iranians and clean up after their stinking Death Cult parties.

FOR THE TIME BEING, ANYWAY

"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world."--Daniel Webster

This article by Leon Panetta is unfortunately one of the reasons Obama picked him to run the CIA.

Panetta says most Americans are "armchair torturers" (they aren't), that waterboarding is torture (it isn't) that it is immoral (it's not), a crime against humanity (nope), unconstitutional (again, no) and violates the precious Rights of terrorists (it doesn't). Panetta:

"We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don't. There is no middle ground."

"We"? The first word in the Constitution is "We", as in "We, the people of the United States of America...". That "We" does not include everyone in the whole wide world and certainly not foreigners bent on destroying the United States of America and every "We" in it. Mr. Panetta believes American Constitutional protections automatically extend to foreign mass-murderers. I don't.

In fact, "We" established the Constitution to "provide for the common defense"--not to make us defensless. And to "secure the Blessings of liberty to Ourselves and our posterity"--not to every psychopathic Pakistani pirate.

As for "Cruel and unusual punishment", waterboarding was not done out of cruelty--it was done to prevent cruelties, such as Barbara Olsen being vaporized at 600 miles per hour. Nor is it punishment, or done for vengeance. It is a means to defend the innocent from mass slaughter by causing the guilty to suffer a few brief moments of of hellish fright. To my mind, it is both legally negligent and morally indefesible NOT to waterboard a Khaleed Sheik Muhammed in order to halt his scheduled murders.

In addition to nominating Panetta, Obama will also nominate Thomas Perrelli to the third-highest post in the Justice Department. Perrelli was Micheal Schiavo's lawyer in the sucessful Death Penalty prosecution of Terri Schiavo.

Because the philosophy of assisted death is almost identical to the philosophy of abortion, the Schiavo case featured the odd spectacle of militant feminists cheering on an essentially "ex"-husband in his quest to kill his first wife.

During the primaries, Obama desperately needed to peel off some of Hillary's pro-abortion voters, so in a stunning act of moral cowardice, he publicly groveled and kowtowed before the Dead Baby lobby, recanting the one decent thing he ever did; namely, giving Terri one last court review, a courtesy we routinely extend (and extend and extend) to serial killers.

Here's Obama, bravely throwing a dead woman under his bus to further his own ambitions:

"I think professionally the biggest mistake that I made was when I first arrived in the Senate. There was a debate about Terri Schiavo, and a lot of us, including me, left the Senate with a bill that allowed Congress to intrude where it shouldn't have. It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped. And I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better.”

No, Perfesser, you don't know better. The right of Congress to order lower courts to review a case is right there in the Constitution. Not in your phony "Living Constitution", but in the Actual Constitution. You really should read it sometime instead of writing your own.

Congress didn't order the courts to reach a certain verdict; it merely ordered the courts to take one last look to see if her rights were being protected. Because it was indeed Constitutional, the courts complied, even if it was grudgingly and with much "Don't-You-Know-Judges-Are-Gods?"- harumph-ing, hand-wringing and judicial bed-wetting.

The courts replied that they were going to protect her to death.

These two nominations, Panetta and Perrelli, point out the very dangerous views liberals have of the Constitution.

On one hand, they stand the Constitution on it's head to make it protect and even coddle foreign mass-murderers. They get all the benefits and none of the duties.

On the other hand, liberals turn the Constitution inside out to make it demand the cruel and unusual 13-day execution-by-starvation of an innocent American, a helpless handicapped woman.

In the Land of the Liberal, a Terri Schiavo has no rights. But a Khaleed Sheik Muhammed has nothing but rights. Terri was sacrificed for a Cult of Death, while no sacrifice must ever be demanded of the Death Cultist Muhammed. Terri is thrown under the bus, while Muhammed is made a unionized bus-driver who cannot be fired or even asked to work late. Something is very, very wrong.

Three times in this country's history, Democrats have tampered with the Constitution like this. Most recently was the Warren Court era, creating the Abortion Holocaust, the 60's civil unrest, and letting First Pals Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn blow up San Francisco cops with impunity.

The next time was when the New Deal stretched out the Great Depression for more than a decade.

And before that, activist Democrat judges twisted the Constitution so badly in their damned Dred Scot case that they plunged the entire nation into civil war.

But, hey; what could possibly go wrong this time?