Oh, this is just lovely. A company called StarvingEyes Advergaming is hosting a Flash game called Tea Party Zombies Must Die. It’s a first-person shooter that allows the player to kill zombiefied versions of Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and other Tea Party celebrities.
What’s that again about conservatives being hate mongers?
I was incorrect in a previous article, and I’d like to post a correction. Steve Perry, the beloved singer from arena rock band Journey, is not running for the Republican Presidential nomination. I regret the misunderstanding and assure the readership that swift punishment will be meted out. There will be demerits.
As it turns out, the actual candidate is Rick Perry, shown here displaying some truly wretched muzzle and trigger discipline:
Way to set an example, Rick.
The Brady Campaign wasted no time putting the shot to good use, issuing a press release on the matter.
The Republican primary campaign has hardly begun and already it is being dominated by extremists. None as scary as Rick Perry who brazenly carries weapons – concealed and revealed. Even on the campaign trail!
Only an egotistical extremist would carry a loaded weapon into a crowd – encouraging others to do so. Is this where America is headed?
Continued...
Tonight’s Republican Presidential debate in Ames was, of course, little more than glossy dinner theater wrapped in the flannel shawl of politics. Heck, it was run by Fox News. Nevertheless, it gave us some clue as to the intentions and character of our possible nominees. Some of it came as a surprise.
In short, Ron Paul rocked the house. We’re talking Hendrix at Woodstock, folks. All the man needed was a bottle of Zippo fluid and a Fender Strat.
The most interesting dynamic was the running academic debate between him and Rick Santorum on constitutional limits. I disagree with Paul vehemently on his blanket hostility to the 14th Amendment, but I sure wouldn’t have to debate it with the guy in person. Though he comes across as a little nervy, Paul is capable of delivering complex concepts in layman’s terms, and doing so with real fire. The crowd responded to him, in approval and not, more vocally than they did for any of the other candidates.
As the news came in about the shootings of Gabrielle Giffords and Judge John Roll, I was sadly reminded that her office was one of those targeted by the so-called window war following her vote in favor of the health-care bill. I’m not saying that any group or political stripe bears the sole blame, but we all need to step back and take a look at the rhetoric we’re tolerating from elected officials, the media, and from some in our own ranks.
In the months following the 2008 election, I lost count of how many times I heard some seemingly normal person blurt something like, “I wouldn’t pull the trigger, but I wouldn’t cry over ______’s grave, either.” There was talk from armchair revolutionaries about it being “time to vote from the rooftops.”
There was more of it after the health-care vote. In the 2010 mid-terms, we were treated to Sharron Angle’s drivel about “2nd Amendment remedies,” and Sarah Palin’s PAC ran an advertisement (now removed) portraying literal targets on the names of Democrats they hoped to unseat. Continued...
In what was an otherwise predictable State of the Union address from President Obama, one episode sticks out. The President chose to attack the Supreme Court directly, with seven Justices seated only feet away from him.
Regarding last week’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, he said,
With all due deference to separation of powers [spoken with unmistakable contempt], last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests–including foreign corporations–to spend without limit in our elections. I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people. (…) I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.
The Justices sat serenely, with the exception of Samuel Alito, who shook his head and appeared to mutter “that’s not true.” Continued...
Scott Brown defeated Martha Coakley in the race for Ted Kennedy’s vacant Massachusetts Senate seat. This changes the balance of power in the Senate and erodes the 60-vote majority the Democrats have enjoyed until now. This is nothing short of a referendum, not just on President Obama’s performance, but on the the 4-year Democratic majority and their agenda. The brakes are on for the health care bill, cap-and-trade, and many other pet causes.
Almost tellingly, stock markets took a jump this morning, with health care stocks rallying. One wonders if today’s election had something to do with that.
The closing gap also means that we’ll likely see the conservative Democrats acting a little more conservatively as they feel safe splitting away from the hard-left leadership in Congress.
It also bides well for the 2010 midterms. Remember that the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress was preceded by victories in the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races. Continued...
According to a report issued this week by the Southern Poverty Law Center:
Almost a decade after virtually disappearing from public view, the antigovernment militia movement is surging across the country, fueled by fears of a black man in the White House, the changing demographics of the country, and conspiracy theories increasingly spread by mainstream figures.
The “report” is little more than a sloppy editorial, citing no statistics or academic sources, and relying only on anecdotal evidence gathered from interviews. Nonetheless, it dovetails nicely into the pattern of rhetoric that we’ve been seeing for the past six months.
The strategy of this administration has become increasingly strident and transparent. Here’s how it works:
“Don’t listen to anyone who questions us. They’re out of touch, and if they’re not with the program, they’re crackpots and liars. Better yet, imply that they’re terrorists. It also helps to throw down the race card. Continued...
So, there I am looking for our President’s reaction to the unrest over the Iranian elections. His response? To express “deep concern.” He made it clear that the depths of his concern were shared not only by “the world,” but by Ahmedinijad, who he referred to as the “Supreme Leader.” Great.
He’s also “deeply concerned” about the fighting in Gaza, terrorism in Pakistan, and the two American journalists currently languishing in a North Korean jail. On prior ocassions, he’s expressed “deep concern” for the state of the American automobile industry and Hurricane Gustav.
While he did all kinds of nothing, Hillary Clinton told the press she was “deeply concerned” when, for the first time in almost two centuries, pirates took control of an American ship.
Heck, he’s probably “deeply concerned” about climate change as well, but I’m bored of digging up links. Point is, “deep concern” is this guy’s answer for everything.
Well, we’re past the First 100 Days, and if anything, the Left’s perceived monopoly on power seems to be getting more tenuous by the day. President Obama wants a Credit Card Holder’s Bill of Rights, so he told Congress to draft one.
This time, however, there’s one little problem:
The Senate bill to tighten regulation of credit cards just became a tougher sell to the House yesterday after senators approved an amendment by Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to allow people to carry firearms on visits to national parks.
No, no, no! That’s not how it’s supposed to work! This administration is supposed to be the Second Coming of FDR, and this is the new legislative process:
That’s the change we’re supposed to believe in: an effective blurring of the lines between the Legislative and Executive branches, with more power in the hands of the Chief Executive than George W. Continued...
The only Chief Executive to ever come from Georgia had this to say in a New York Times editorial last week:
(…) none of us wants to own an assault weapon, because we have no desire to kill policemen or go to a school or workplace to see how many victims we can accumulate before we are finally shot or take our own lives. That’s why the White House and Congress must not give up on trying to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, even if it may be politically difficult.
As much as I admire Mr. Carter for his humanitarian work, I really wish people would stop asking for his opinions on politics.
Of course, nobody knows the horrors of violence first-hand like Mr. Carter. Observe:
If he’d had an AMD-65 with a 50-round drum magazine, perhaps the oar wouldn’t have been necessary. To each his own, I suppose, but what kind of self-respecting Southern Baptist goes fishing without a gun?
I’m not worried about another Assault Weapons Ban. In fact, I’m not worried much about any legislation. What scares me is a sort of scheme like this, which could stand up to post-Heller scrutiny:
If we can use a capital infusion to a bank as an opportunity to control executive compensation and to limit use of private planes, why can’t the government use its weight as the largest purchaser of guns from major manufacturers to reward companies that work to keep their products out of criminals’ hands? Put another way, if it is too difficult to outlaw bad conduct through statutes, why not pay for good conduct? Why not require vendors to change their behavior if they want our tax dollars?
–Elliot Spitzer, writing for Slate
I don’t think this’d fly, but it gives me pause. Bear in mind that executive orders, particularly under an administration that sees itself as the second coming of FDR, fall into a gap where there is no real oversight. Continued...
Some guy yelled at me about this today. People seem to yell a great many political things at me lately. Frankly, it’s all quite tiring. Anyhow, this doofus went of on an unsolicited rant about how President Obama was going to “shut off the internet at will.”
Man, I thought, I gotta know how he can do that. So, I googled (is that a verb now?) “Obama shut down internet,” and I was led to the documents for the Cybersecurity Act of 2009. The actual bills are S. 773 and 778. The first draft is here [pdf].
I skimmed through it and found that it echoed almost everything I’d heard about last year’s CSIS report. Basically, the report acknowledged a few things that should have already been glaringly obvious:
Continued...
Ah, April 22nd. Birthday of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the October Revolution and savior of the Proletariat. Let us all take a moment to…
What? Oh. Oh…that April 22nd. Earth Day. Right. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
Earth Day wasn’t founded by Lenin. It was founded by Ira Einhorn, who, unlike Lenin, only murdered one person.
Accounts vary, and many contest the allegation that he founded it, though he claims to have done so. What is uncontested is that he was pivotal in organizing it, and he served as Master of Ceremonies for the inaugural Earth Day Rally in 1970.
Heck with it, I’m going to buy about 300 cases of Aqua Net and use it all in one fell swoop. If I survive the fumes, at least I’ll know I helped keep that pesky ozone layer from healing itself. Think of the tan I’ll have then.
In the wake of last week’s violence in New York and Pittsburg, it’s not unwise to expect calls for new gun restrictions. Couple that with this administration’s published stance regarding gun rights, and we all have reason to be worried.
However, it looks like the current administration is learning from history, and they’re not salivating over gun control as rabidly as they were fifteen years ago.
In an interview with Katie Couric, Eric Holder quickly backpedaled on his prior support for a new Assault Weapons Ban, stating,
I don’t think it has and in fact, I look forward to working with the NRA to come up with ways in which we can use common-sense approaches to reduce the level of violence that we see in our streets and make the American people as safe as they can possibly be.
When prodded further, all the elaboration he’d give about his support for gun control was,
These are issues that we’ll have to discuss.
Continued...
It’s looking like moderate is the new progressive, and the Left is having their biggest existential crisis since Sarah Palin.
We can criticize Blue Dog behavior all we want, but as long as we keep funneling their members millions of dollars every two years in small, online donations, then we will actually be ratifying, not criticizing their behavior. We will be supporting their efforts to push the party to the right, not working to push the party to the left.
If they are coasting that they can block or clear whatever legislation they want, the Blue Dogs consider themselves to be in charge of D.C., not Speaker Pelosi or President Obama. (…) The Blue Dogs are an overt obstacle to progressive governance. (…) They are overtly anti-progressive and anti-left wing.
The following letter was sent to Attorney General Holder in response to his comments about a renewed Assault Weapons Ban. It was not sent by a gun-rights group. It was not sent by the NRA.
Nope; it was sent by 65 Democratic Congressmen. Read on.
So, here we go. Yet again. The whole thing is getting tiresome, and I’ve got a sneaking suspicion I haven’t heard the last of it.
It works like this:
Continued...
So, the new President has transplanted his proposed policies from his own site directly to the official White House site. Under the “Urban Policies” header, we have a blueprint for his ideas on gun control.
Spin: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade.
Fact: This is a defacto gun registry. The Federal government will have access to all information a buyer includes on Form 4473, without having to obtain a warrant or prove cause. Remember, Obama voted for the Patriot Act, which included the ability of the government to engage in wiretaps on citizens without warrants.
Spin: Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals.
Continued...