Council Submissions

• The Political Commentator – Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano going back…
• The Noisy Room – The Enemy Among Us – Even in Idaho
• Simply Jews – Glenn Greenwald or the douchebag’s lines of defense
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Shock And Shush
• Bookworm Room – Is the IRS scandal the worst political scandal in American history? I say “yes
• Gay Patriot – In 2008, we told you Obama wasn’’t the man you (thought you) were voting for. . .
• Joshuapundit-DHS Is Training Law Enforcement To Give Muslim Brotherhood, Radical Islamists A Pass
• The Razor – Scandal Scorecard
• The Colossus of Rhodey – New “Scotty” Spouts Off on the New Trek’sPolitics
• Rhymes With Right – My Response To @WhiteHouse #ObamaCareInThreeWords Meme
• The Glittering Eye -A Series of Unfortunate Incidents
• The Mellow Jihadi – Autumn Sandeen, a Sailor with No ESWS Pin?
• VA Right! - VA GOP Convention: Conservatives and TEA Party Send Republican Establishment a STRONG MESSAGE! Overcome DIRTY TRICKS and WIN!
• The Right Planet – #Scandalpalooza (more…)

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – Invaders Guarding the Watchtower
• The Colossus of Rhodey – “Morality and Conscience”
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – The Difference It Made
• The Political Commentator – Cartoon, Video: Hey recent college graduate, congratulations?
• Joshuapundit-Who Really Is Really Savagely Destroying Palestinian Children?
• The Right Planet – Exasperation: A Nation on the Brink
• Gay Patriot – Only the president can end the Benghazi “sideshow”
• Rhymes With Right – A Lawless Agency In Need Of A Special Prosecutor
• VA Right! - A Word on Supervisor Elton Wade Appointing Norm Sulser to the Hanover School Board
• The Glittering Eye -What Did They Know and When Did They Know It
• The Razor – The Ignored Will Not Be Silenced
• Bookworm Room – Obama and Henry II; Obama and Martin Niemöller; and Obama and Al Capone
• The Mellow Jihadi – Michelle Bachmann, Jihadi Foods, and the US Navy
• Simply Jews – When in Rome or the best and the worst of that trip (more…)

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – The Language of Killer Tomatoes
• The Political Commentator – Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose and the culture of Me!
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – VE Day
• Bookworm Room – “Extremism” when it comes to late term abortion and guns
• Joshuapundit-America’s Left: Koch Bros. Bad, Al Jazeera Good!!
• The Colossus of Rhodey – If You’re a Pro Sports Guy and Outspoken “Progressive” …
• The Mellow Jihadi – What price do you put on a life, does £710- or $1,103- seem appropriate?
• Rhymes With Right – SC Democrat Chairman Is Truly A Racist Dick
• VA Right! - Why Is Hanover County Paying Supervisor Elton Wade $30,030 Per Year as a Crossing Guard?
• The Glittering Eye -The Country
• The Razor – What To Do When The Enemy of Your Enemy Is Still Your Enemy
• The Right Planet – ‘G-d Bless You’
• Gay Patriot – The two Benghazi scandals
• Simply Jews – Richard Falk: a canary in the coal mine or a fly in a cesspool? (more…)

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 1/3 votes! Joshuapundit –Days After Boston, Obama Pressures Israel To Release Terrorists As A ‘Goodwill Gesture’
• Second place with 2  votes – Gay Patriot- Basketball player comes out; “I could care less”
• Third place  with 1 1/3 votes – The Political Commentator-Hungary’s shoes of death! (more…)

Earlier this morning, caught a good piece from Byron York on why winning the Hispanic vote would not be enough to secure a GOP presidential victory.  Here’s the crucial paragraph:

But here is the real solution. Romney lost because he did not appeal to the millions of Americans who have seen their standard of living decline over the past decades. They’re nervous about the future. When Romney did not address their concerns, they either voted for Obama or didn’t vote at all. If the next Republican candidate can address their concerns effectively, he will win. And, amazingly enough, he’ll win a lot more Hispanic votes in the process. A lot from other groups, too.

Read the whole thing.  Did recall reading something about a year ago on Mitt Romney’s failure to appeal to working class votes disaffected from the incumbent administration.  York is right; the next Republican candidate needs to effectively address their concerns.

Part of the answer, ironically enough (given the premise of York’s piece), lies in a piece Jill Lawrence published last week in the National Journal, a piece on Republicans’ challenges with Hispanic voters.  Lawrence cited a focus group whose participants . . .

liked what they heard about Medicaid, immigration, economics, and education in clips from speeches by some prominent party figures. But the people they listened to—New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush—are unusual in how they talk about these issues and seemed like anomalies to the focus-group participants. (more…)

Council Submissions

• The Political Commentator – Hungary’s shoes of death!
• The Noisy Room – Amnesty – Solidifying the Marxist Control of America for Decades, If Not Permanently
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Syrian Delirium
• The Razor – The Lure of the Conspiracy Theory Revisited
• Joshuapundit-Days After Boston, Obama Pressures Israel To Release Terrorists As A ‘Goodwill Gesture’
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Should be titled The Reluctant Idiot
• Rhymes With Right – Why Is A Matter Settled 70 Years Ago Still An Issue In Our Public Schools?
• Bookworm Room – Orwellian double think enters the gun grab debate
• The Glittering Eye -What If Fairies Are Real?
• The Right Planet – Chris Matthews Pushes the ‘Only Whites Can Be Racists’ Meme … Again
• The Mellow Jihadi – A Reuters Writer Writes Me
• Gay Patriot – Basketball player comes out; “I could care less”
• VA Right! - Ken Cuccinelli Airs First Campaign Ad of the 2013 Governor’s Race
• Simply Jews – Boston bomber and the Waltham, Mass triple murder (more…)

The headline is what I just saw on Yahoo! (hence the quotes). The article is from Peter Grier of the Christian Science Monitor:

Former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has slammed US law enforcement for responding to the Boston Marathon bombing with “police state tactics.”

In a post on the website of libertarian activist Lew Rockwell, Mr. Paul said Monday that the governmental reaction to the tragic explosions was worse than the attack itself. The forced lockdown of much of the Boston area, police riding armored vehicles through the streets, and door-to-door searches without warrants were all reminiscent of a military coup or martial law, Paul added.

“The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city,” according to Paul.

Furthermore, this response did not result in the capture of suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Paul charged. He was discovered hiding in a boat by a private citizen, who called police…

The article seems to be written by a leftie: it unfortunately goes on to quote the pompous and silly Glenn Greenwald, and uses guilt-by-association to insinuate that Austrian economics (Ludwig von Mises) somehow goes with racism.

But brush that aside: the main topic is still interesting. Your thoughts? Who went too far: Ron Paul, or the Boston police?

Council Submissions

• The Political Commentator – Boston conspiracy theory: Obama, the Saudis and a ‘dark-skinned male’?
• Simply Jews – Boston bombers: mission accomplished
• The Right Planet – Rush for Judgement: The All-Star ‘’Calumnists’’ of the MSM
• The Noisy Room – Sleeping With The Saudis
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Apocalypse now … and then
• Joshuapundit- The Two Boston Marathon Bombers And What It Says ABout Jihad And The West
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Global
• The Razor – The Alarm System
• Rhymes With Right – Joe Biden Proves He Is Utterly Ignorant Of Democrat Party History
• VA Right! - Bombings, Shootings and Obama’s Gestpo: Welcome to the Fundamental Transformation
• Bookworm Room – Islam — the ultimate umbrella organization for violent malcontents
• Gay Patriot – Millennials & the Real Republican Problem
• The Glittering Eye -The Search
• The Mellow Jihadi – Bourbon Red Turkey Eggs and Pilates (more…)

In a piece on the immigration bill, Stanley Kurtz offers a nutshell version of the real problem facing Republicans today:

Republicans have been in a funk ever since Obama’s re-election. I’m the first to agree that there’s a deeper problem, but it’s got more to do with under-thirties and what education and the culture are doing to them than with anything a path to citizenship will fix.

When I listen to my non-Republican twentysomething friends talking about the GOP, I hear an image of a party drawn from Democratic talking points and college professors’ prejudices. Few are aware of the ideals of liberty and civil society that have stood as the guideposts for the conservative and libertarian thinkers who have defined the basic philosophy of the Republican Party since Reagan.

Many, as Arthur Brooks sagely observed last month in the Wall Street Journal believe Republicans are indifferent to the poor.  Republicans need to change that faulty perception.  They have to show the “under-thirties”, as Kurtz described this demographic suffering the most under Obama’s policies, that conservatives are aware of — and sympathetic to — their plight and will, if elected, put into place policies which will make it easier for them to find jobs commensurate with their talents and their training, allowing them to prosper as did young people in the Reagan Era.

FROM THE COMMENTS:  Cactus Bill gets it:

There has been a bastardization of the language for some now. When compassion is defined by how much government can provide instead of what you can provide for yourself the notion of pursuing your own happiness is turned on it’s head. Real compassion is allowing an environment where a business of any type can actually HIRE someone. A real job is more compassionate and rewarding to the soul than all the government provided resources have ever been able to give. (more…)

Here’s a fun chart. (Source: Gluskin-Sheff. Hat tip, Zero Hedge.)

What does it mean? It means that, starting around 2008 or so, the stock market has been strongly linked to the Federal Reserve Bank’s “Quantitative Easing” (QE) policy.

We’ve seen that point before; this chart shows it another way. Since the second half of 2008, the market moves up if the Fed is growing its balance sheet; the market stops (or declines) if the Fed stops; which means that the ratio of them (shown above) has kept fairly level.

In other news (and also hat tipping Zero Hedge), a Chinese woman wants to sue the Fed over its QE policy:

A woman in Kunming, Yunnan province, is trying to sue the United States central bank after discovering that the real value of the US$250 she put in an account in 2006 had shrunk by 30 per cent.

She claims it was a result of the Federal Reserve issuing too much money.

Her attorney, her son Li Zhen , called the lawsuit “litigation for the public good” which aimed to stop the Fed from continuing its quantitive easing policy…

He filed the lawsuit alleging “the abuse of monopoly in issuing currency” last month at the Kunming Intermediate People’s Court…but the court has yet to decide whether to officially place the case on file.

Why didn’t I think of that? The woman gets the issue: that the Fed has been debauching the dollar. Whether her suit succeeds is another question, but God bless her!

Finally, I want to mention the recent controversy over Reinhart-Rogoff’s work. It might be boring, so further discussion is beneath the following ‘fold’.

(now with updates) (more…)

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – Honoring Margaret Thatcher – The Ultimate Progressive Hunter
• Simply Jews – Social justice for fantastika? Or entitlement of parasites?
• The Political Commentator – 
  Is Pamela Geller an extremist?
• Joshuapundit-Unmourned, Unloved and Politically Inconvenient
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Look in the mirror, Cenk Uygur
• The Glittering Eye -Personal Computers Aren’t Too Good
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Aegypt”s Aepic Fail
• The Right Planet – Pat Condell Is Waiting for Jesus … And He’s Pissed!
• The Mellow Jihadi – Raymond Davis, the Cause of All Our Pakistan Issues
• VA Right! - With America Under Attack, Liberals Disarm Us and Open the Gates to Barbarian Hordes
• The Razor – We Are Idiots
• Rhymes With Right – Senator Seeks Censorship
• Gay Patriot – Boston Aftermath: A nation (that should be) united in grief & outrage
• Bookworm Room – No matter what happened yesterday, today shows the deep fissures Obama has created in America (more…)

This will be a rambling non-post, inviting your input (even) more than usual.

First, here’s my general position on abortion. Having long believed that both total permissiveness on abortion and a total prohibition of it will lead to some horribly unjust outcomes, and that a line must be drawn somewhere even though the line will be permeable and arbitrary: I would ban late-term abortions – let’s say, I don’t think second-semester abortions should be allowed – while permitting early-term abortions – let’s say, I’d allow first-semester. (Again, I know the “semester” line is unclear and highly debatable; I simply believe that the other lines that people propose are worse.) Also, I favor counseling about the alternatives, and parental notification where the mother is a minor. Finally, I oppose publicly-funded abortions, i.e., I am against our government forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions against their conscience.

Having arrived at the above positions some time ago, I spend little time on the issue of abortion. It’s just not a top one for my interest.

But abortion may interest many of you. This is, after all, a gay conservative blog (and, as a non-conservative on certain issues, I am a guest).

So, what’s up with the Gosnell trial? It’s big right now, in Bruce’s Twitter stream. In my slower-moving way, I gather that:

1. Gosnell did some particularly shocking, immoral late-term abortions; and that
2. The media silence about the trial is shocking and repugnant in itself.

Is that the gist? Or is there more (or less) to it? Re: the media blackout – Is it a conspiracy perhaps, or just the media’s usual left-wing Herd Instinct? Has the trial been getting, say, foreign coverage?

People who have been following the trial, please feel free to inform me (and everybody) in the comments, and to express your informed opinion. I feel that, certainly on a conservative blog, this topic should get some daylight as a comment thread.

UPDATE: Wouldn’t you know, today Yahoo! is rotating a column on the Gosnell trial through its headlines, on and off. I don’t know if that means the wall of silence is cracking, or only that Yahoo! had me profiled as conservative-leaning.

UPDATE: The wall of silence is cracking. Ace has examples of Jake Tapper and Andersen Cooper both teasing some coverage to come. Naturally, and as Ace puts it, Cooper’s “entree into the story is through the prism of ‘not enough government regulation.’” Better than nothing!

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – NoKo-a-NoGo
• Joshuapundit-Appomattox: The Fire Is Quenched
• The Colossus of Rhodey – The Politics Behind DC’s The Movement
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – War of Koreunification
• Simply Jews – Remembering Holocaust: the first British shots of WW II
• The Razor – A Phone Call Between Premier Li and President Obama
• Rhymes With Right – Harry Reid Threatens To Engage In “Unconstitutional Abuse Of Power”
• VA Right! - Gun Control: Exceptions for Rape, Incest and the Life (or Health) of the Gun Owner?
• The Right Planet – Subprime (Part Duh)
• The Glittering Eye -A Tale of Two Californias
• Bookworm Room – The fundamental unconstitutionalism of Obama’s presidency
• Gay Patriot – Margaret Thatcher: Feminist Icon
• The Mellow Jihadi – Operation Up Dog
• The Political Commentator – Holocaust Remembrance Day 2013 – Hate redux!

(more…)

Rest In Peace, Margaret Thatcher.

-Bruce (@GayPatriot)

In Ace’s “Headlines” sidebar, I just noticed this post at FreedomWorks: 15 Year Old Wisconsin Conservative Meets Bullying From Teachers.

Worth a skim. To be clear: By “bullying”, he does not mean physical assault, but rather a series of moral-emotional assaults from teachers who single him out for questioning (sometimes invasive) and ridicule. From Mr. Backer’s conclusion:

If teachers want bullying to end with homosexuals, other races or religious beliefs, they should want it to end with every type of bullying possible, including political views.

I haven’t done any research that would let me vouch for Mr. Backer’s story, but if it’s true, it’s chilling. Or, to say something more positive: that kid has guts!

Bruce – C’mon, you were there, who did you like?

• Pat Caddell, unloading on the GOP Establishment? (Must read! “Caddell predicted that the Republican Party, unless it became the anti-establishment, anti-Washington party, would become extinct…”)
• Rick Perry
• Tim Scott
• Marco Rubio
• Rand Paul
• Sarah Palin (Hubby Todd “got the rifle, I got the rack” – and too many other lines to count)
• Paul Ryan
• Scott Walker (“In America, we celebrate the 4th of July, not the 15th of April!”)
• Pat Toomey (Little heat, but much light)
• Ann Coulter (Fun fact: “Mitt Romney won 20% of black males under the age of 30 – that is a stunning number…”)
• Lt. Col. Allen West

We slow-witted non-Tweeters need to know. Folks, let’s hear your thoughts in the comments!

(Updating this post with more CPAC speakers, as I watch ‘em and like ‘em.)

Council Submissions

• Simply Jews – Michael White: The Livingstone Formulation? Nope, the Seumas Milne’s formula.
• The Noisy Room – Marxism in Education – The Infiltration of Our School Systems by the Common Core Standards
• The Political Commentator – Elites Beware: The New York Liquor Limitation Law could be coming to a restaurant near you!
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Add Kurt Busiek to those comics creators who don’t get it
• Joshuapundit – ‘Killing Jews Is Worship’ Ad Campaign Rolled Out On SF Muni Buses
• The Razor – The EU: Stealing From The Poor And Giving To The Rich
• The Right Planet – Draconian Gun Laws Creating Black Market
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Unhooking The Alliance With Pakistan
• Rhymes With Right – Many Shocked To Find Out Pope Francis Is, In Fact, Catholic
• VA Right! - Do Republicans Even Deserve to be a Majority Party Any Longer?
• The Mellow Jihadi – Iran Launches Destroyer
• The Glittering Eye – Francis
• Gay Patriot – Was the “charm offensive” expected to achieve anything*?
• Bookworm Room – At CPAC, Dr. Ben Carson comes out swinging against President Obama (more…)

Council Submissions

• The Colossus of Rhodey – Do We Need Overseers To Make Sure We Don’t Destroy Ourselves?
• The Noisy Room – Beware the Droids of March
• The Political Commentator – CPAC 2013 Has Been Cancelled!
• Simply Jews – North Korea: The mistake of Lieutenant Novichenko
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Leading From The Shadows
• Rhymes With Right – What The Real Question Is In The Voting Rights Act Case
• Bookworm Room – Porn, comedy, and an increasingly jaded culture (but don’t give up all hope)
• The Glittering Eye -Why Hybrids and EVs Are No Solution
• VA Right! - Sequestration Pain: Necessary Service Reductions or Obama Temper Tantrum?
• Joshuapundit-New Egyptian Law Allows Unrestricted ‘Citizen’s Arrests’ Of Foreign Tourists
• Gay Patriot – Why didn’’t Candy (Crowley) follow up with Nancy (Pelosi)?
• The Mellow Jihadi – A Navy Sailor Gets His Shots!
• The Razor – What If The Experts Are Wrong About North Korea?
• The Right Planet – 1.6 Billion Rounds of Ammo? 2,700 Armored Vehicles? For Homeland Security? Can We Talk? (more…)

Faster, please.

House Republicans unveiled an ambitious cost-cutting plan Tuesday that would balance the budget in 10 years without raising taxes, while repealing ObamaCare and overhauling entitlements — a document Democrats are sure to reject but could be used as a negotiating tool in talks with President Obama.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee, is sticking by controversial proposals, including one to give future Medicare retirees the option of using government payments for private health care plans.

Taxes are the vehicle that the Federal Government uses to strip power and freedom from its citizens. That immense power is sapping the private sector right now.

Here is the full text of the Ryan Budget Plan.  Read it for yourself.  No filters.

-Bruce (@GayPatriot)

From last Friday on Piers Morgan (ugh), McCain complains about the flak he’s been catching, for all the flak that he himself spewed on Rand Paul’s recent filibuster:

“Well, you know, I am always intrigued by the fact that when I disagree with my own party leadership, my own president — like saying that Donald Rumsfeld ought to resign, [or] we need to do the surge — then I’m a brave maverick,” McCain said. “When I’m taking on others, then he’s just an angry old man.”

Here’s a clue for you, Mr. McCain. You are not the only one who gets to be a maverick and take principled stands that disagree with your party leadership. In fact, the year 2008 called and claimed that you ARE your party’s leadership. That would mean others get to be mavericks and take principled stands which disagree with YOU.

Or at least they should be able to, without your whining and pissing on them like a cranky old man, um, teenager.