Taking Your Marbles ...

and going home.  Apparently the new Democrat strategy for dealing with defeat is petulance (see: Black Caucus Walkout).  The Democrats did it to respond to Governor Scott Walker's reforms by fleeing to the adjoining state.  Now they are going to try it in the House of Representatives in Washington, DC to protest the Eric Holder Contempt of Congress vote.  How did such childishness work out for you in Wisconsin?

Our Imperial President

President Obama, when he was inaugurated, swore to uphold the United States Constitution and the laws of our land.  He lied. Repeatedly, and with increasing frequency, he has been ignoring Congressionally-codified laws and other established processes ... and has been issuing administrative orders/actions instead.  The President is disturbingly assuming the mantle of an emperor -- an I-know-better-than-you-peons imperialist.

Here is a short list of the laws, agreements or processes that have been ignored or circumvented by The Barry (there are more):

No Child Left Behind -- George W. Bush, in one of his more liberal actions, cajoled Ted Kennedy and Congress into passing this act in order to raise educational standards throughout our states via a series of increasingly-rigorous testing standards. Yet, even after doubling the spending in the Department of Education under Arne Duncan, many of these standards have been knocked into a cocked hat by Obama ... without any Congressional review or approval (see: USA Today Article).

Defense of Marriage Act -- no matter what one's view is on homosexual marriage, there is a law on the books defining marriage as between one man and one woman. This was passed in Bill Clinton's term and signed by him into law. A year ago Obama declared this law unconstitutional and indicated that his administration would not enforce its strictures (see: YouTube Video).

Don't Ask Don't Tell -- also back in Bill Clinton's administration, the issues of homosexuals serving in the military was resolved with a Department of Defense (DOD) policy that stated that homosexuals could serve therein ... as long as they didn't flaunt their sexual preference. Obama has recently tossed this understanding into the Potomac River by having his DOD revoke this policy (see: Wikipedia Entry).

Missile Defense Shield -- the United States had agreed, under George W. Bush's administration, to erect a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic … much to the dismay of Russia. Hardly a year later Obama abrogated this commitment and left these Eastern European nations slowly dangling in the breeze (see: Guardian Article). And more recently Russian’s Premier Putin has hardened his attitude toward the United States despite this unilateral attempt at appeasement.

Immigration Laws – the Obama White House is using administrative actions under Janet Napolitano’s aegis to create its own extra-legal process for dealing with millions of illegal immigrants. It recently effectively granted amnesty to such younger illegals (see: CNN Story). It also just responded to the current Supreme Court ruling (allowing Arizona law enforcement officers to ask anyone stopped for cause to produce proof of citizenship) by indicating that the federal government would no longer cooperate with Arizona in this process (see CNNPolitics Story). This is tantamount to a finger in the eye of both this state and the Supreme Court.

Obamacare – this wildly unpopular law, probably passed illegally using the Congressional reconciliation process, is now under review by the Supreme Court … with a decision expected this Thursday. If this law is struck down as expected, watch for our imperial President to find another slick way to continue to push his agenda on healthcare independent of our existing legal system. Stay tuned.

Recess Appointments – this past January, when Congress was not technically in recess, President Obama made “recess” appointments to the NLRP and the Consumer Protection Bureau (see: LATimes Story). Although clearly inappropriate, Congress yelped once and then rolled over.

Fast and Furious Subpoena – Eric Holder is expected to be voted in contempt of Congress this Thursday by the full House of Representatives (but it is expected to die later in the Senate). This is because he and President Obama have claimed executive privilege by refusing to turn over critical documents in the Fast and Furious gun-running investigation (see: CNNPolitics Story)

Does one see a disturbing trend in the high-handed governing style under the current administration? Clearly when Barack Obama took his Presidential oath of office three and one half years ago, behind his back, he surely must have had his fingers crossed.

Nexus Perplexus

A nexus is a single connection between things, facts or ideas.  A plexus is multiple ordered connections (often biological.)  We are living in a plexus world ... information-exchange connections are multiplying at a dizzying pace spawned mostly by the Internet and social-networking plexuses (plexi).  Two people can connect in only one way.  Three people can connect in three ways, but four people can connect in six ways ... and five people, in ten ways.  So how many ways can six billion people connect?  The answer is a number larger than all the grains of sand in all the beaches in the world.  This would be best called a "perplexus" as it is what the world seems to be rapidly approaching.  Facebook  and other social-networking sites could not build computer farms large enough to accommodate such an ultimate level of connectivity.

Previous information-exchange models went through hubs (newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations) which dramatically reduced the number of connections to manageable levels ... but gave these hubs an enormous say in setting the information-exchange agenda.  Now, with the diminishing power of these former hubs, we are faced with the ironic consequences of what would be a totally "democratic" information-exchange world ... and that would be absolute chaos.  We have already witnessed precursors of such a new society in the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and the political fibrillation over how Western societies are to confront their current debt crises.  The world is trapped in an information maze with little understanding as to how to extract ourselves.  But extract ourselves we will ... as we always have.  But I, personally, am somewhat worried about what socities and information-exchange constructs will arise to deal with this new world order. 

Will they be benign or malignant?  (Or, more likely, just another way of promoting Lady Gaga?)

Pulling Out All Stops

It seems pretty obvious that Barack Obama cannot be re-elected by running on his record ... so his legion of strong-arm Chicago advisers are pulling out all stops.  They are trying to attract those hoards of unthinking voters by cobbling together a panoply of rifle-shot emotional appeals and giveaways.  So far the groups that have been singled out include:

- Single women who want to have their contraceptives paid for by someone else
- Metrosexuals who moon over Justin Bieber
- 18-30 year old illegal aliens who can assemble the necessary (often forged) documentation to prove that they were here before the age of 6 (how can they vote?)
- Those of us who want to see Sara Jessica Parker naked
- Others who want to know all about top-secret U.S. covert operations
- Underwater investors in "green" companies

Before November, I'm certain that there will be many others.  Bill Clinton based his re-election strategy in 1996 upon "triangulation".  Can we call The Barry's 2012 strategy "polyangulation"?
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Goldwater Redux

"Let me remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me also remind you that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Barry Goldwater, in his acceptance speech as Republican candidate for President, 1964

Barry Goldwater, with the above words, attempted to move the Republican Party back to the right after 35 years of "moderation" (read ideological coziness with the Democrats).  Unfortunately, it also cost him the 1964 Presidential election.  But, he did manage to re-plant the flag of conservatism that was then carried forward by the likes of William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan.  Now, Jeb Bush, has managed to throw Barack Obama a lifeline (after The Barry's few disastrous weeks in his quest for re-election.)  His poorly-timed comments in New York City at the Bloomberg LP were:

“Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad, they would have a hard time if you define the Republican party, and I don’t, as having an orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement, doesn’t allow for finding some common ground,”

In response, the keeper of the conservative flame, Grover Norquist, riposted in the following quote from the Washington Post:: 

Grover Norquist is lashing out at former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) for his comments critical of Norquist’s anti-tax pledge. Bush has said in recent days that Republicans should accept a deal that includes $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. “There’s a guy who watched his father throw away his presidency on a 2:1 [ratio of spending cuts to tax increases] promise,” Norquist told Talking Points Memo . “And he thinks he’s sophisticated by saying that he’d take a 10:1 promise. ... You walk down that alley, you don’t come out. You certainly don’t come out with 2:1 or 10:1.”

Who is right in this internecine squabble?  Even though I kinda cringe at a lot of what Grover Norquist says, I do believe that the "radicalism" that is being exhibited by him and many many others in the Republican party is nothing more than a recognition of the squishiness that has seeped into the Republican ideology since Ronald Reagan's Presidency ... and the continued drift leftwards in our political ethos as a result of the ideological resolve of the radical left.  Let me offer three examples:

- President Richard Nixon in some ways was even more liberal than LBJ.  He called his approach "New Federalism" which included expansion of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the government's first affirmative action programs, and a proposal for comprehensive national health care (with an employer mandate!)

- President George W. Bush "43" prided himself as being a "compassionate conservative."  Yet, to some, he was in fact more of a "slow-walking liberal."  Witness his $4.8 trillion expansion in our national debt, his extreme ballooning of our federally-funded entitlement programs -- the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit of 2003, his huge increase in government regulations, and, with Ted Kennedy, the "No Child Left Behind" program.

- We now have the most radically-left President in our history.  Recent revelations of Barack Obama's membership in the socialist New Party (see: Breitbart Story) is just one indication of the hidden agenda that he brought with him into the White House.  Obama has been resolute in not compromising with the Republicans during his term in office.  Even when he got Speaker of the House John Boehner to agree to a $800 billion revenue (tax) increase, he reversed himself the next day and demanded $1.2 trillion.  Isn't this the kind of lack of finding a "common ground" that Jeb Bush might have highlighted?

Yes, I think we all agree that compromise should be part of politics.  But when one party is constantly and perniciously loath to move to the middle (read the Democrats) ... and this rigidity is lauded by many in the media ... this gives rise to the kind of radical mimicry that Grover Norquist represents.  The persistent and consistent take-no-prisoners attitude on the radical left is now being matched on the radical right ... and, in a way, I can't blame them.  And until there is a relenting on the left, I don't believe that there will be any relaxing on the right.  If compromise is always painted as being willing to move left, then, eventually, the body politic revolts and gives rise to the Tea Party and the kind of reaction we just witnessed in uber-liberal Wisconsin ... in its failure to recall its conservative Governor, Scott Walker.

This is why Grover Norquist, the modern-day Barry Goldwater, might indeed be a good thing for our nation in the long run ... even though he is a bit of an anathema currently.

Juxtaposition XXXVI

Janis Joplin

Michelle Obama

"Go Down on Me"

See: Breitbart Video and judge for yourself what The Barry intended.  Can we say that Barack threw Michelle under the truss?

Oaf Oath

When the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, testifies before Congress and, under oath, says that "Fast and Furious" doesn't refer to "Fast and Furious." we obviously have a problem (see: CNSnews Story).  And yet this revelation does not come from the New York Times or CBS or the Washington Post, it comes from CNSnews.  This is yet another egregious example of how our erstwhile primary news outlets are hiding under the covers ... afraid to report the obvious corruption in the Obama administration lest they too are exposed as the partisan frauds that they have become.

Don't Spike the Ball

Governor Scott Walker has thankfully prevailed in his recall election in Wisconsin.  This, despite the full-throated efforts of the public-service unions there and from around the country (see: Forbes Story) ... and the fact that voter turn-out in uber-liberal-leaning Madison was 119% (see: Breitbart Story).  Curious!?!

Not that he takes my advice, but I have a suggestion for Governor Walker ... "Please don't spike the football."  The emotions in Wisconsin have been running very high and what may otherwise appear to be rational people have been acting quite irrationally.  In fact, I have been shocked by the rabid actions of those who have been skunked in this Waterloo for public-service employees.  Describing the actions of many of these wing nuts as bordering on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest" is not too much of a stretch.

Both George Bush and Barack Obama have made the mistake of spiking the football after a victory ... and they have lived to regret it.  A more modest and self-effacing reaction from Governor Walker to this victory would indeed be refreshing ... and probably beneficial to him in the longer run.

S'no Snow

The dearth of snow this past winter was viewed by the global-warming alarmists as proof that Armageddon was finally upon us and they genuflected once again to Al Gore's prescience.  (They overlooked that The Barry had promised that "the seas would recede" in his administration.)  However, on Sunday. the 3rd of June, 2012, it snowed in New Hampshire ... on top of Mount Washington (see: Mt. Washington Weather).

On a similar note, these same alarmists have been pointing to receding glaciers in Greenland as another indication of our impending doom.  However, as it turns out, these same glaciers had an equivalent event in the 1930's ... see: Greenland Glaciers in the 1930's.  I suppose that the polar bear population decline myth busting will be next?