Sunday, December 27, 2009

Kevin's Back

Maureen Dowd's latest column is a hoot.  She let her conservative brother Kevin write it.  Here's the link.  Best line is near the end.  "To the Democratic senators: Go last next time; the bribes are much bigger."  I like this guy.

Jess

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

My E-mail to Senator Carper

I sent my Democratic senators e-mails to express my feelings about their support for the Health Care cloture vote. Here's the one I sent to Senator Carper. The one to Senator Kaufman was the same except for the different election date and an acknowlegement that it wouldn't be him running in 2010 since he was only appointed as a placeholder for Joe Biden's son Bo. I'd like to encourage all of you to make phone calls and write letters of your own. It may not have much practical value, but it might make you feel better. Here is the contact information:

E-Mail Senator Carper Phone: (302) 674-3308

E-Mail Senator Kaufman Phone: (302) 573-6345 or (302) 424-8090


I am following up on my phone call to your office this evening with this e-mail to express my outrage at your support for this health care monstrosity. I am not writing to complain that you failed to hold out for a large enough bribe. That element in this story simply emphasizes how tawdry a business you are engaged in. The fact that such bribery was necessary to pass this bill speaks volumes about what terrible policy this is for our country. Your support of it just because you are a Democrat is despicable. I won't waste the bandwidth asking you to vote against the final bill. I know I'd be wasting my time. Just know that in the words of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto after Pearl Harbor, you have " awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve." I will donate my money and my time to work for your defeat in 2012. I believe you will one day not simply regret this vote, but you will be ashamed of it.

Jess McVay

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Crisis

As I sit down to write this post, the headline on the Fox News website is declaring that Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson has agreed to support the Senate Democrats' Health Care Reform bill. He was finally coaxed to sell out for his 30 pieces of silver, just like Mary Landrieu before him. She set the bar pretty high with a $300 million bribe for Louisiana. I wonder if Nebraska did as well. Our tax dollars at work! This brings the Dems to sixty votes, the number required to defeat a Republican filibuster, and send the bill to conference committee with the House. Not a done deal yet, but one more step on the way to a legislative trainwreck of historic proportions. So you can imagine, I'm feeling a little depressed right now.

But I don't intend to wallow in despair for too long. I'd like to share a brief story with you. Last Wednesday night I attended a meeting of the 912 Delaware Patriots. Its one of those Tea Party organizations that have sprung up all over the country. We're mostly a bunch of gray or graying conservative citizens who love our country and are shocked by this juggernaut barreling down on us since the November election. I suspect the most common phrase you'd hear from this bunch would be, "I'm not usually very political but...". You get the idea. We feel like we have to take action to save this country from Barack Obama's vision of Entitlement America. At the end of last Wednesday's meeting, the founder of the group, Russ Murphy, got up and made some short closing remarks.

He said that Christmas was approaching, and this would be our last meeting until the new year. There are a lot of serious issues before us, and it might be easy to get discouraged, but he wasn't going to give up. Then he reminded us of another Christmas season 233 years ago. In December of 1776, the Continental Army was all but defeated. In August of 1776, they had lost the Battle of Brooklyn and had been forced to abandon New York City. They had been in retreat across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. Ninety percent of the army that was present in Manhattan was now gone. Many had lost faith in their prospects for success and had deserted. Many more were reaching the end of their enlistment and would soon be gone. Winter was upon them. Morale was low. America's revolution was on the brink of failure. In an attempt to bolster morale and end the year with a victory, George Washington, who was Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, devised a plan to attack the Hessians at Trenton on Christmas night. Two days before that fateful battle, in an attempt to raise the spirits and strengthen the resolve of his army, Washington had the text of Thomas Paine's pamphlet, The Crisis, read to his men. Russ Murphy read the first few lines to our group last Wednesday night. It begins:


These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value." Thomas Paine, The Crisis

Washington won his victory, and though the numbers were small and the strategic value limited, this minor triumph has gone down in history as a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

Today, we are engaged in another conflict, not with armies this time, but still, as then, with ideas. We don't deceive ourselves that our sacrifice compares in any way to theirs. But as they served their country then, let us not shrink from our duty to serve it now. Let us live up to the example that they set for us. Stay in the fight. Don't be discouraged. Let every battle we lose make us even more determined to succeed in those that are to come. They fought for their children and their grandchildren. Are our children and grandchildren any less important? November 2010 is less than a year away. I am dedicating myself to the goal of taking my country back. I want you to join me in this effort. A recent 912 Delaware Patriots newsletter included a slogan that I am adopting as my personal motto. "I am not just one person. I am one more."

Jess

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Obama Channels Clinton in Oslo

Maybe you heard that our president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a few months ago. It made all the papers. The decision was quite shocking at the time and a bit difficult to understand. The late night talk shows had a field day with the news. Conan O'Brien had one of the best bits. Seems no one could figure out what the president had done to deserve such an "honor". I use the word "honor" while biting my tongue in light of the fact that scumbags like Yasser Arafat and crooks like UN Secretary General Kofi Annan have been similarly "honored". Snake oil salesman Al Gore got a Nobel Prize too. So did the worst American president in recent history (until now) Jimmy Carter. Mikhail Gorbachev got his for helping to end the Cold War. Ronald Reagan was somehow overlooked by the Nobel Committee. In the end, the consensus was that Obama won the award for making really awesome speeches and not being George W. Bush.

Well, this week the president went to Norway to collect his award and grace the committee with a characteristically awesome speech. Unfortunately, the president disappointed the crowd in Oslo. But conservative politicians and journalists back home had mostly nice things to say about the speech. What's up with that? The president apparently was seen to have dissed the Norwegians in general and the Nobel Committee in particular. There is this from Britain's The Guardian:

The White House has cancelled many of the events peace prize laureates traditionally submit to, including a dinner with the Norwegian Nobel committee, a press conference, a television interview, appearances at a children's event promoting peace and a music concert, as well as a visit to an exhibition in his honour at the Nobel peace centre. He has also turned down a lunch invitation from the King of Norway.

The Norwegians felt snubbed by Mr. Obama. And as far as the speech itself was concerned, I guess you could say it fell short of the Nobel clan's expectations. I haven't listened to the speech myself. I can't stand to hear Mr. Obama pontificate. I find myself shouting at the TV ala Joe Wilson. So I read the transcript. You can read a transcript of the speech here. I read about 3/4 of it before I gave up, but it seemed pretty good to me. I had no problem picturing George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan delivering the same speech. Maybe that is why so many conservatives praised the president. People like Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Bill Kristol, and Charles Krauthammer gave the president high marks with perhaps a few small caveats. And I can see how they could be favorably impressed. Here a few short excerpts that you may have seen or heard:

For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.

Yet the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions - not just treaties and declarations - that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: the United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms.

I - like any head of state - reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation.

I understand why war is not popular. But I also know this: the belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it.

Great stuff. Fantastic speech. In your face Nobel Committee! I'd even believe he meant it if it was anyone besides Barack Obama. But this is just too out of character for the president I have come to know. I don't like this guy. I don't trust this guy. I wouldn't waste my spit on this guy if he was on fire. To paraphrase the old lawyer joke, I can tell he's lying because his lips are moving. Now that I've established my credentials as a less than objective observer, let me tell you what I really think.

First of all, calm down all you liberals out there. A lot of liberals have been getting very upset lately. They've been wringing their hands about the president's Afghanistan decision, and now he's off in a foreign country praising America instead of apologizing for us. There, there. Don't worry. He doesn't really mean it. This is political theater in my opinion. He's taken a page out of President Clinton's playbook. This was Barack Obama's Sister Souljah Moment.

Sister Souljah was a black hip hop MC and activist who had made several racist remarks against white people. Speaking at a meeting of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition at which Sister Souljah was also scheduled to speak, Bill Clinton repudiated her remarks and compared her language to that of white supremacist and former klansman David Duke. The incident was seen by some as a courageous and principled act by Mr. Clinton, but by others as a transparent and shameless attempt to gain favor with moderate voters by distancing himself from Jesse Jackson and Souljah.

Mr. Obama has a problem with mainstream Americans. Conservatives have never liked him. Moderates and independents helped get him elected, but are falling away in droves according to recent polling. I believe this Nobel speech was a bit of political gimmickry to court moderate voters. He gave a speech that sounded like it was written for Ronald Reagan. Never mind that he doesn't mean it. It's just a speech. It's not as if he's making any commitments to any real policy. And while he's at it, he kicked a little sand in the face of the Norwegians. No harm done there. It's not as if he needs anything from them. He can afford to insult them. It costs him very little, but some of the folks back home love it. The Norwegians are a nice enough lot, but to some Americans, they're just another ultra liberal Scandinavian social democracy thriving under the umbrella of protection that our defense spending provides, all the while lecturing us on how to become properly civilized. The Danes have Hans Christian Anderson, the Swedes have Abba and a reputation for sexual freedom. All the Norwegians have is the Nobel Committee with its penchant for awarding Peace Prizes to crooks, tyrants and conmen. In that regard, they're a little more arrogant than they've got any right to be. Many Americans don't mind seeing them get their comeuppance.

So three cheers for Barack Obama. He showed them I guess. He delivers a characteristically great speech. It was written to please a conservative, patriotic audience. But it's just a speech. We know he's good at that. That's essentially why he was getting the Nobel in the first place. Then to compound the effect, he slights his hosts to the delight of the same conservative crowd. He gains the kudos from conservatives at home, sacrifices a little good will from the Norwegians (who cares), and he does one more thing. Remember all the ridicule he endured for having been awarded the Nobel without any accomplishment? He successfully deflects the criticism that would naturally have ensued had he not upstaged himself with an uncharacteristically pro American speech. So congratulations Mr. President. It was a win-win-win performance. But I believe a performance was all it was.

Jess

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Check Out The Liberty Dial

 I came across a video on YouTube which was posted , and I presume produced by, a blogger at FocusOnLiberty.blogspot.com  The subject of the video is the Liberty Dial, a better way to view the political spectrum.  Instead of simply differentiating between Conservatives on the right, and Liberals or Progressives on the left, the Liberty Dial places the different political philosophies on a circle, with the extremes of both left and right, ie. Communism and Fascism, meeting at the bottom.  This recognizes that they are both really just different variations of the same theme: Statism.  At the top of the dial is Liberty.  As the author acknowledges, total liberty would be chaos or anarchy.  The philosophy that we call Conservative, or Libertarian, would go just to the left of total liberty.  Then come the Moderates, the Liberals, and then, as we approach the Statist bottom of the dial,  the 111th Congress.  I think this is such an elegant description of the relative positions of our political philosophies, that I wanted to share it with as many people as possible.  Please watch the short video below, and then visit the website to read his own discussion of his concept.  While you're there, check out the prior article about the D-Day Memorial in Virginia.  Its quite impressive as well.

Jess

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Thank You Jon Stewart: Public Servant

The headline on the Foxnews website declares, "Fake News Show is Covering Climate-Gate, But Not 'Real' News Shows?  No Joke."  The article goes on to describe how Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on Comedy Central is covering this remarkable revelation about tainted science providing what has been the basis for the theory of global warming.  The mainstream media (MSM), on the other hand; ABC, CBS, and NBC are ignoring the story.  I described the fundamentals of this scandal in an earlier blogpost.  Since that time, Phil Jones,  the director of the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University has stepped down , pending an investigation, due to his implication in this funny business.   The Daily Show narrative is a masterpiece.  Jon Stewart proves, once again, that humor, sarcasm, irony and wit are often the most effective way to tell an important story.  See for yourself in this short clip.
Dec 11 update: YouTube clip got deleted. Replaced by new source: Comedy Central. Best part begins at 2:20 min into clip

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Scientists Hide Global Warming Data
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It is a travesty that the mainstream media is ignoring this story. Their political bias is exposed for all to see when they attempt what amounts to a cover up of this huge revelation in the climate change debate. Foxnews, The Wall Street Journal, talk radio, and lots of web based outlets have covered the story. And now even Comedy Central has scooped the MSM. Hello major networks. Anybody home in the news divisions?

Fortunately for the cause of truth, President Obama will be attending the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this month. I can't believe he's still going. What's he likely to accomplish besides stepping in a big pile of doo doo?  Its widely acknowledged that they will not achieve any of the forum's goals. The conference will be a failure, thankfully, and Obama will get his share of the blame for another slapdown in Copenhagen. It sounds pretty much like a win-win to me. And in the process, the media will be forced to focus more attention on the new controversy surrounding the climate change hoax. The president is really giving us a gift here. How dumb can this guy be?

Jess