Jon Stewart on IRS Scandal

So clear even a liberal can get it.

Post Election Rant

Obviously I am very disappointed in the results from election night.  So much so, that I really have not had the heart to even write this.  But, Kathleen Parker got me out of that and quickly too.

The truth is, Romney was better than the GOP deserved. Party nitwits undermined him, and the self-righteous tried to bring him down. The nitwits are well-enough known at this point — those farthest-right social conservatives who couldn’t find it in their hearts to keep their traps shut. No abortion for rape or incest? Sit down.Legitimate rape? Put on your clown suit and go play in the street.

Equally damaging were the primary leeches who embarrassed the party and wouldn’t leave the stage. Nine-nine-nine, we’re talking about you, Herman Cain. And Gov. Oops? You, too. And then there were Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann, who never had a real shot at the nomination and certainly could never win a national election, yet they refused to surrender to the certain nominee.

Did they have a right to persist in their own fantasies? Sure. But not if they were serious about getting a Republican in the White House. Thus, for months and months, Romney had to spend his energy and, as important, his money to prevail in the primaries against opponents who had no chance and who ultimately hurt him. During that same precious time, Obama’s campaign was busy pinpointing specific voters, practically learning the names of their dogs, and buying ads in niche markets.

Wow, so it is my fault.  Not that I am even “furthest right” when it comes to social issues. I have made no bones about it, I didn’t like Mitt Romney as the nominee.  I have been saying for over a year that had he got the nomination he would lose.  I didn’t even think that because of his wishy washiness on social issues.  To me social issues are not really the purview of the federal government, and I don’t care which side is trying to make the case that they are.  You cannot legislate your sense of morality onto someone else, it comes from within.   That said, people still want to see that you have core convictions.

I also have seen many of the more moderate republicans all across social media blaming the tea party and SoCons.  Really?  I will say it again, I didn’t like Romney as the nominee.  I didn’t want to vote for him.  When push came to shove, I went out and I did it.  Not only did I vote for him, I went out and worked my ass off trying to get him elected.  I spent the final six weeks of the cycle on trains, planes, and automobiles crisscrossing the country from swing state to swing state.  I spent 7 to 8 hours per day knocking on doors, then spend another few hours making phone calls.  I did this in close to freezing temperatures and pouring rain one more than one occasion.  I slept in hotel that I had to keep changing rooms because of bugs.  Don’t tell me that I didn’t take one for the team.

Every Tea Party minded person I know personally did similar things as well.  Americans for Prosperity, one of the tea party umbrella groups, helped get people like me out to swing states.  Do you think that Romney was their initial choice?  Not likely, but we will never know as they don’t endorse candidates.  But, you still saw them working night and day on the GOTV effort.  Like me, they understood the stakes.

Now, what did the squishy middle do?  Were they there?  Did the same people who are throwing this blame around at people like me get out from in front of their computers and make the same personal sacrifices that I made?  Many of the ones that I know didn’t.  They sat around posting things through social media to people who already agreed with them.  Boy, that was helpful.

One thing that was proven without a doubt is that the moderate wing of the party cannot the presidency without the crazies from the far right.  To the people who believe that all life is sacred and is worth fighting for.  I will admit that some go too far for my tastes.  I refuse to engage with people who show horrific pictures of dead babies and ask me if I think it is ok to rip babies out of their mothers wombs.  That is emotional blackmail.  But, if you think that same tactic isn’t used on the left you are sadly mistaken.  They take one person out 45,000 that has some obscure sob story and then tries to pass a law that forces everyone in the country to change their life in order to accommodate their plea of the day.  While of course the opposite is true as well.  But I am sick to death of hearing that I caused the loss of the senate and I am somehow personally responsible for Romney’s loss.

I was there, I was in a tightly contested county in a swing state on election day.  No kidding, they had me knocking on doors that already had literature on it.  I called and told them that this was happening.  I was told to just keep going.  I walked seven miles on election day, going door to door.  At one point I had to find a woody area so I could go to the bathroom because I knew that one of the drivers wouldn’t be able to get me in time, I was so far out from the victory office.  Luckily I had napkins with me.

After returning from day of door knocking I was making calls all day.  I was calling Minnesota.  You know what, 3 out 5 calls were wrong numbers due to bad area codes.  How the heck is that my fault?  Didn’t the campaign bother to update the phone lists?  Apparently not.  The campaign is denying the story of software they created for the GOTV effort, but I can tell it was true, at least in Ohio.  It wasn’t working properly.

Where was the Romney campaign in Wisconsin?  Why didn’t they use the popularity of Paul Ryan as the hometown boy with the all the advantages they had with Governor Walker’s grassroots efforts?  They didn’t put enough resources in that state.  That is my fault how?

I am sick to death of hearing that my voice shouldn’t matter in the party.  That my views are somehow less important than theirs.  That I should be giving up on my principles to tack left.  Because heaven knows that is what the democrats do when they lose elections.  They moderate.

I happen to believe that we need immigration reform in this country.  But I am not willing to sell out my principles in order to get it.  The facts are President Reagan signed immigration reform decades ago, did that help bring Hispanics into the party?  No it did not.  Did the democratically controlled congress keep their end of the bargain?  If they had we wouldn’t have millions more in the country.  Read the law that Reagan signed Ms. Parker.  The borders were supposed to be secured.  The law was supposed to go after employers that violated the law by giving any additional positions to illegals, oh excuse me, undocumented workers.  None of that has happened.  So I am supposed to put my trust into the democrats doing the same again?  I guess if I am stupid I should.

What people like you Ms. Parker are really saying is that my views matter so little that I should be just cast aside.  Lets also take a stroll down memory lane of the past few GOP presidential candidates.  McCain, a moderate.  Dole, a moderate, Bush I who governed as a moderate and destroyed the yacht industry while president.  An industry that all these decades that has never come back, and never will.  Thanks to his “luxury” tax thousands upon thousands lost their jobs, companies went out of business, and America, once the #1 exporter of said yachts is now the #1 importer.  The industry died and it cost the tax payers millions and millions of dollars.  Yes, that is the leadership that the right should be looking for.

President Bush 2 is the only one of them that was ran as conservative unabashedly.  He was successful not just once, but twice.  Now, he still ended up with big government polices and spent money like a drunken sailor (sorry to all you drunken sailors) that has gotten us to the point where we are now.  Above and beyond all the money and the big government policies that President Bush promoted and acted upon during his presidency, his biggest sin was acting like you are suggesting.   He rolled over and allowed the left to control the narrative.  He didn’t fight back on all the lies.  He felt that the presidency shouldn’t be used in that way.  While in theory I agree with him on that.  I, to have a great deal of respect for the office of the presidency, but times have changed.  We have 24 hour news cycles and cable channels that do nothing but spit out a point of view and will use lies if necessary to promote their agenda.  That must be countered and countered hard.  His refusal to do it, is a big part of the reason we even have a President Obama.  So no, Ms. Parker I reject your advice.  The protection of religious liberties matter.  I will fight for them from shore to shore in this country.  The word marriage has meaning.  If gay marriage was simply about benefits, the problems would have been solved years ago.  If DADT tell was simply about serving in the military we would not have seen people in uniforms marching in Gay Pride parades this year, even though that is clear violation of military code of conduct.  You wouldn’t see gay couples suing conservative churches to perform marriage ceremonies.  They are trying to say that my beliefs are bad, that there is something inherently wrong with them.  I don’t care what a gay couple does in the privacy of their bedrooms, but I do care what they are trying to do to my church.  They want tax write-offs and hospital visitation fine.  But stay out of my place of worship.

Did it ever occur to you Ms. Parker that Romney was never able to make the connection to voters?  Did it ever occur to you that he never gave a coherent reason of why he should be president other than he wasn’t Obama?  Now that was more than enough for me, but for the low information voter it wasn’t.  Most people don’t like change just for the sake of change.  They will dance with the devil they know.  That is part of human nature.  Did it every occur to you that people in this country don’t want to elect someone who is wealthy as he is?  The left, that you seem all too willing to model after, has done a great job in creating a society that wealth is a bad thing, that people with money are ogres, evil, and someone who isn’t compassionate.

People in this country want conviction Ms. Parker.  Romney didn’t show that he really had that.  People want real conviction because it is a sign of leadership.  Stop blaming me and put the blame where it belongs, on the left who have convinced people that anyone that dares calls themselves a republican, or gasp even worse a conservative, lacks compassion and is racist.   Look in the mirror Ms. Parker, because you yourself have bought into that argument.

 

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Quote of the Day – Patrick Kennedy Edition

If the Court upholds the law, dangerous Tea Party extremists will go on a rampage. Backed by Super PAC’s and shadowy front groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, they’ll do everything in their power to defeat President Obama, demonize Democrats who fought for health care reform and, if they win the election, dismantle the law piece-by-piece.

Yep, that is my plan tomorrow, to go on a rampage.  By the way – the “dangerous” Tea Party will be doing everything in its power to defeat President Obama even if the law is overturned.  Obamacare is only a symptom of a much greater problem.

Activism – Tea Party Conference Call on Obamacare

Patriots,

 Did you know that the Supreme Court is expected to release its ruling of Obamacare by the end of this month?

This could be one of the biggest rulings of this century and we want to bring you as much information as quickly as we can surrounding the ruling.

Within 2 days of the ruling we will be hosting a Tele Town Hall with some very special guests. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Congressman Steve King, Senator Rand Paul and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will all be joining us on the call to give you their take on what the Supreme Court decides.

   

The date will be determined when the Supreme Court releases its decision and will either be the night of the ruling or the night following the ruling, but the call will be at 8pm EDT. We’d love to have you join the call!

Click Here to Sign Up Today

We will send an email as soon as we have set the date and the great thing is that once you sign up with your phone number, we will automatically call you to conference you into the call the night of the call.

We look forward to you joining us for this exciting event and yet another stop on the Road to Repeal!

Tea Party Patriots National Support Team

Richard Mourdock Ousts Longtime Senator Lugar in Indiana Primary

Senator Lugar will be retiring from the senate come January.  Not by choice, but by the will of the people in Indiana.  

I have been having a back forth with several different people about this since the news hit last night.  They are blaming the libertarians and The Tea Party for Lugar’s defeat.  They are none too pleased.  I have heard that Lugar is conservative enough.  Really, for whom?  It would seem to me that the person he is conservative enough for is President Obama or maybe majority leader Reid.  After all he supported both Kagan and Sotomayor for their seats on the supreme court.  It will be a rare instance when either of these justices put the written constitution before their own political belief systems.  There is nothing conservative about voting for either of these women.  You cannot say that someone who is putting ideology before the constitution means that they are qualified for the bench.  They are both judicial activists that will continue to erode the limited role of government intrusion into our lives that our constitution guarantees us all.  

Lugar is a supporter of embryonic stem cell research, has a rating of 78% from the Conservative Union, has a rating of D+ from the NRA and an F from Gun owners of America.  He supported not just TARP, but the illegal and unconstitutional take over of the car companies.  He said not one word when President Obama gave the unions preferential treatment over the car companies bondholders.  Even though that was in violation of bankruptcy laws.  He has consistently voted against much-needed earmark reform.  His record on illegal immigration has shown someone who sides with the illegal immigrant over the rule of law.  He also supported Kathleen Seiblus for HHS.  A woman who is raising her own personal war on consciences of people of faith in this country.  

I am supposed to think that this man is a good representative of conservative values and the Republican party?  

Mourdock has a record of protecting life, protecting the 2nd amendment, standing up to the President’s auto company takeovers; he actually took the administration to court to try to stop it and protect the bond holders.  He has brought fiscal sanity back to Indiana by returning money to the state treasury every year, refusing a pay raise, helping communities lower bond costs by pooling resources; saving tax payers money and increasing the effectiveness of the pension funds for the retirees.  Indiana has a stronger fund for families to save for college and the pensions he heads were recently named as one of the top managed pensions in the country.  

Boy, he certainly is someone I should turn away from simply because The Tea Party backed him.  Those crazy people who would rather see someone in office that will fight to regain some fiscal policy to our federal government.  

I have resisted the meme that the “establishment” GOP is trying to stop much-needed reform and is only interested in the status quo.  After looking at Lugar’s record and seeing the people who tried to stand up and say he is “conservative enough” I have to give.  That is exactly what is happening.  I get that compromise is needed to get things done.  I don’t deny that.  But it is time that we have conservatives in Washington that understand that the nature of the compromise has been that republicans spend money and the democrats talk about future savings that never materialize is no longer working.  It is time that we cut the budget, rid ourselves of waste, and get our financial house in order.  

I guess the difference is that I feel no real allegiance to the republican party anymore.  They are just as much to blame for the mess we find ourselves in.  I am a conservative first, not a republican.

So I must ask again, Senator Lugar is conservative enough for whom?  

Good Riddens Senator Lugar.  

Malkin V. Williams

I could watch this all day.  Juan Williams is smarter than this, or at least I thought he was.  The Tea Party is not violent.  You can disagree with the agenda that they have, but keep it on the issues.  Otherwise you end up looking as beclowned as poor Juan here.  There is hope though, his son was recently listed as one of the top black republicans to watch, is running for city council in Washington, DC.

 

 

Isn’t The Tea Party Standing Up for the Constitution?

As you may have figured out I am very active on social media.  I am on every presidential candidate’s email list, I get emails from all types of conservative groups, and I have twitter and facebook accounts as well.  I get all kinds of things sent to me about the conservative movement.  Many of which mention the constitution.  I have been doing reading and going to different events to learn more about the constitution.

So I was very surprised today when I was told that The Tea Party Mission didn’t include the rally that is being held on March 23 to preserve religious freedom.  The posting I put up on this rally was removed and I was given a warning for breaking the “rules”.  Really?  I would like to know what exactly I have been doing for the past three years then.  Wasn’t the entire point of learning more about the constitution was to be able to elect officials that would actually follow it?

I am in agreement that social issues are not necessarily the purview of The Tea Party, but how exactly do you separate an issue of the first amendment and The Tea Party?  The entire reason we are in the place that we find ourselves in now is because the federal government has been trampling all over our constitutional rights for several generations now.  The federal government has grown well beyond what the founders ever intended.  As such they involve themselves in things that are none of their business and are better left for the states and local governments to decide.  When they do this they waste more and more of our resources in terms of time and money as well as stripping our freedoms away; bit by bit.

The Tea Party was also formed to let our government know that we were no longer going to stand and allow them to take more and more of our freedoms away.  Mandating to the church that they have to violate their consciences in order to provide free birth control is all about freedom.  It doesn’t matter what you personally feel about birth control and/or abortion because they are not the issue.  This is strictly a first amendment issue.  It is just being discussed in terms of birth control and women’s health.

You need to ask yourselves if the government is allowed to take this protected right away from the church what is next?  If the Tea Party isn’t going to stand up and protect this then they may as well just fold up the tents and go home.  Because we are done.

And your thoughts on the matter?

Ignorance and Government Dependency

Several small studies have been completed by The University of Waterloo, Ontario and Duke University, the finding show that more ignorant a person is on a complicated issue the more likely they are to allow the government handle it. I would think that Global Warming would be one of these issues, as trying to read some of the scientific data on it is a mind numbing experience.

But, I have to wonder would the results be similar if they studied less complicated issues?  We live in a society where government dependency is becoming more and more commonplace. One has to look no further on the record numbers on food stamps at the moment. While there is an economic reason why so many have found themselves in a position to take help from the government at this point in time in our history, can we say that this is not going to lead to more government dependency as time goes on? I don’t think that will be clear for quite some time, but it should be a growing concern in this country.

We are seeing Europe going through austerity measures and in Greece the people are not reacting well to having to retire later and getting fewer benefits.  Isn’t this sort of the same type of thing?  Is the average person living in Greece looking at the numbers and looking at the not so healthy world economy?  One would think that if they were paying even the least little bit of attention they would realize that the changes are quite literally vital to their country’s economic well-being.  

Uncertainty brings anxiety, Shepherd and Kay explain, and one way to deal with that anxiety is to “simply outsource personal responsibility to supposed qualified others.”

Do we really have “qualified others” in our government at present?  I am sure that some are, but just take a look at the failure of the “Super Committee”, a committee that was formed that never had a chance of anything but failure.  These are the people we should be looking at as qualified?  

But here is the money item:

 “Being actively critical of something one is dependent on is thought to be psychologically uncomfortable, and therefore avoided in favor of increased perceptions of legitimacy, trust, and desirability. System justification theory posits that people are motivated to justify and legitimize the status quo and the system in which one lives.”

Once you have turned over the control to the government you are basically giving them unlimited power to do whatever they want to your life.  You become complacent and no longer feel the need or the desire to pay close attention to what is going on around you.  You become almost slave like to the whims of people who you have never met, who don’t understand your real needs or desires, nor do they care to know.  You have given them unbridled power to behave as they so choose.  They then become addicted to the power and will say and do anything to hold onto that power.  

I have been saying for years that we have no one to blame but ourselves for the mess that we are currently facing.  We have the government that we deserve.  We expected it work just fine on auto-pilot.  Clearly, with trillions of dollars worth of debt, public schools that are failing our children, and public officials that are out of control, we were wrong.  

The one bright spot of the research was the following on the Tea Party:

“Generally I think of those movements as representing instances where people are not following our model, possibly because these are people who feel a) a sense of personal control/efficacy, and b) feel like their behavior can create change. This sense of personal control and ability to create change may make people feel less dependent on the government, or change how they respond to perceived dependence. Either way, it means that the individual may be less inclined to truth authority and avoid the issues.”

It is clear that we must become more involved in our government and the issues facing this country or we face a life of dependency and outsourcing any sort of control over our own lives. 

Quote of the Day – VP Biden Edition Part 2

“I don’t disrespect the Tea Party, I think the Tea Party and the Van Jones folks are different hats of the same concern. There’s an overwhelming frustration. There’s a great frustration here in America that the two parties haven’t been able to get very much moving. We have been in this period where there’s just nothing but fighting. So, you have, on the one hand, Van Jones’ guys — whoever he is — the point is, talking about the excesses of Wall Street and there’s some truth in what he says and there’s truth in what the Tea Party says.”

Vice President Joe Biden on the Anti-Wall Street Protests.

Why is Joe Biden acting like he and Van Jones don’t know each other?  They gave a speech together two years ago.  Interesting indeed.

 

Quote of the Day – Tom Brokaw Edition

“They played by the rules of American politics, they got angry, they got organized, they got here, and they got what they wanted. … If you want to change Washington, that’s what you have to do.”

Tom Brokaw on The Tea Party. 

At least someone in mainstream media gets it. 

More threats from the feminist left

Joan Walsh: “A Lot Is Not Known” About Bachmann’s Foster Children It’s predictable, but still shocking and sick when you see it.

So was Michelle Bachmann somehow a slut for caring for children not her own?

Top comment:

My God!  This filthy extreme left Obamamaniac is really going to go after the foster children of Rep Bachman? I had to listen to this clip 3x to believe she actually said that. Obama’s children are off limits, but the extreme left is already planning to go after Rep Bachman’s children, and openly saying it publicly? I have never seen or heard anything as filthy or sleazy, and I’ve heard and seen a lot. Ms Walsh has hit a new low for the extreme left. I don’t know how you get dirtier than this. Obama should publicly reprimand her and tell the extreme left that people’s children are off limits, that is unless this started out of the White House?

  Bachmann’s closing on Romney even in New Hampshire, so she’s getting the Palin treatment. Good luck with that. Obama poll numbers lately. And those other inconvenient numbers.

Quote of the day

Professor Jacobson on Sarah Palin’s “Fight like a girl” speech in Wisconsin yesterday:

In one sentence, Palin did more to advance the cause of women in politics than all the Women’s Studies Ph.D’s in all the universities in this country combined.

Which is why Sarah Palin scares liberal women to death.

Mad City judge returns from vacation, inserts self again

Oh yeah, she had said she needed more time to consider whether the passage of the bill violated the open meetings act, then went on vacation. Now she’s baaaack, and still hasn’t ruled on the merits (such as they are NOT) The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

This Secretary of State business reminds me of the Illinois posturing about seating seedy Dem Sen. Roland Burris, using process to evade common sense. This is how the leftie-leaning legal profession strikes many of us these days. I thank God that after my acceptance at UW law school years ago, when I was still a wavering liberal, I got a private sector job offer and never looked back.

Another reason to eliminate Secretaries of State. (Isn’t that how corrupt IL GOP Gov. Ryan ascended?) And eliminate process, if it means you have to publish laws in the MSM for them to take effect. Why should they have so much power vested in them?

An interesting split among law profs at Marquette. One agrees with Judge SEIU Sumi. The other:

Richard Esenberg said he was not surprised by the ruling but criticized the judge.

“There is applicable Supreme Court precedent that a court has no authority to enjoin the publication of a law,” he said. “The state has repeatedly cited that law to her and as far as I know she has not only failed to explain herself about why she feels she has the authority, she hasn’t even acknowledged there is an issue. That just leaves me speechless.”

Esenberg was referring to a 1943 state Supreme Court opinion that said courts could not interfere with legislation until it is published and becomes law.

According to the JS the Assistant Attorney General says the law is absolutely still in effect.

As for the public sector unions and their ally Dem WI Secretary of State LaFollette, struck inarticulate by the TEA party, I will quote his famous relative, Fighting Bob:

“Free men of every generation must combat renewed efforts of organized force and greed to destroy liberty.”

More over by me at BackyardConservative.

Bye Bye Speaker Pelosi, Hello the People’s House

Happy new House New Year.

The imperial Pelosi era is over. No more boozing cross-country plane-loads at our expense. No more strutting and bashing We the People with her gavel. No more imbecilic arrogance of we have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it.

She’s still telling whoppers as she steps down.

Welcome Speaker Boehner.

Power Play has long observed he and his staff to be among the least cynical, most earnest of any on the Hill. It may seem contrived or cheesy to critics, but these folks actually believe in what their talking about.

Whatever the barriers Pelosi broke, John Boehner will certainly be the first brother of 11, German-Catholic, tavern keeper’s son from blue-collar Cincinnati to wield the gavel. Those roots are reflected in the people he has gathered around him and in their priorities.

Welcome, at long last. This is the people’s house.

–crossposted at BackyardConservative

Person of the Year Prattle

What passes for debate at Time, via NRO’s Geraghty.

2009 was Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, for saving us all. Well, that remains to be seen. What fresh hell.

2008 was Barack Obama. Ditto.

2007 was the murderous Vlad Putin.

I think Time owes us a good one. For a change.

If they can’t bring themselves to name the eeevil Sarah Palin (because, after all, how many conservatives read Time) then the TEA Party would be a good choice. Just in the interest of their retaining a shred of journalistic integrity. Or they too may be sold for a dollar.

Who’s your pick, folks?

Dakota Dreaming Big

Another (part of the) country heard from, The Middle Coast.

A taste of what’s to come. Happy trails:)

In case you missed it, the ABC interview on horseback.

Building the Next Bailout…and BUST

TWS:

In July, Illinois went to market with a $900 million BAB issue that attracted 93 investors, including 17 from overseas. The international investors accounted for about 30 percent of the offering. Illinois state officials even joined their underwriters, Citigroup, on a road show through Europe and Asia to drum up interest in the sale.

Setting up the next bust in Illinois and around the country.

Screwing up the current one. From e21 Morning eBrief:

In Foreclosure Controversy, Problems Run Deeper Than Flawed Paperwork (Round Up)Millions of U.S. mortgages have been shuttled around the global financial system – sold and resold by firms – without the documents that traditionally prove who legally owns the loans. Now, as many of these loans have fallen into default and banks have sought to seize homes, judges around the country have increasingly ruled that lenders had no right to foreclose, because they lacked clear title. The court decisions, should they continue to spread, could call into doubt the ownership of mortgages throughout the country, raising urgent challenges for both the real estate market and the wider financial system. The White House has announced that President Obama will pocket veto H.R. 3808 which would have allowed banks to shortcut the current notarization process. See Alphaville for and the Washington Post for more more.

Goldman Sachs: The US Economy Is Weaker Than You Think (Seeking Alpha)Goldman Sachs issued a very bullish note on the Euro this morning. Not because they think Europe is entering a period of robust growth. No, in fact they reduced their estimates for European growth based on the recent Euro strength; however, they see the U.S. economy simply deteriorating more than Europe. The chart in this presentation that jumped out was the ISM’s index compared to the orders & inventories. The orders and inventories data shows a very strong leading indication of future ISM growth. Currently, the orders and inventories data is forecasting ISM readings in the low 40s.

Peggy Noonan on Greece and America’s reaction:

Mr. Lewis: “The Greek state was not just corrupt but also corrupting. Once you saw how it worked you could understand a phenomenon which otherwise made no sense at all: the difficulty Greek people have saying a kind word about one another. . . . Everyone is pretty sure everyone is cheating on his taxes, or bribing politicians, or taking bribes, or lying about the value of his real estate. And this total absence of faith in one another is self-reinforcing. The epidemic of lying and cheating and stealing makes any sort of civic life impossible.”

Thus can great nations, great cultures, disintegrate, break into little pieces that no longer cohere into a whole.

Read it all.

Outrage. Outrage.

This election is so damned important.

Related post: Obama Desperately Trying to Save His Own Senate Seat

–crossposted at BackyardConservative (I’m going crazy, people)

Quote of the day

Andy McCarthy, Contra Buckley:

The movement now ascendant in the country is not about anything so small as the question of which party has control over the Senate in 2011. It is about the future of freedom and prosperity, about the kind of nation we will be. Its goal is to return the United States to a pre–New Deal understanding of the Constitution’s limits on federal power, and to a pre–Baby Boom Left’s appreciation of the greatness of America. That is not a project for one election cycle. It is the work of a generation.

The Buckley Rule has no place in that enterprise. The object is to make Big Government pols of both parties members of an endangered species. And unlike the callow GOP establishment, the tea party is bold enough to believe good ideas — applied, limited-government conservatism — can win even in Delaware . . . and Massachusetts.

The GOP establishment will either get the message or it will go the way of the failed candidates it has backed. If it had done its job, if it had undertaken to represent rather than thwart the public will, it wouldn’t now be asking itself how you get Christine O’Donnell elected. It would have found a better Christine O’Donnell.

Read the rest.

Michelle an “Enormous Asset”

My latest snark on FLOTUS. Of like mind, Pink Cinderellas, All in a Row , via Pundit & Pundette. Latest snark on POTUS/TOTUS. Plus the suburban vote is in play, but WaPo gets only part of the story, as usual. Is Michelle coming to your neighborhood?

P.S. When she comes to campaign in Illinois, will she be asked about (nice view from the press gate) Jesse’s Girl?

Heading for Hot dogs and beans in Obama economy

I caught part of this earlier today, and was especially struck by this woman. An Obama voter at the CNBC townhall is a CFO of a company, describes herself as middle class, and goes on:”I’m Exhausted Of Defending You”. RCP video.

See if you think he gives her a good answer.

Plus more on the Marxist, redistributionist mentality of Dem Senate candidate Coons. Taken to real extremes.

And are some CFO’s more guilty than others?