How many millions did unions spend getting Democrats elected this season?  They must be livid that Democrats can’t shove the auto industry bailout through:

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said he knew of no Republicans who would support the Democrats’ $25 billion proposal and said he was disinclined to move a bill without bipartisan support.

“I’d want to be careful about bringing up a proposition that might fail,” given that a rescue plan would likely fare better under a President-elect Barack Obama administration, Sen. Dodd (D., Conn.) told reporters on Capitol Hill. “There’s some political considerations that need to be made over the next few days.”

What political considerations?  If it’s the right thing to do, get your Democratic majorities moving.

More from Pelosi:

A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats were “hopeful” they could get a package passed but that the chances hinged on support in the Senate and from President George W. Bush, who hasn’t indicated whether he would sign the legislation.

Maybe the Democrats aren’t going to get much done after all.  I suspect the days of trading safe Republican votes so Democratic Congressmen in more conservative districts can vote no on issues like illegal immigration are over.  First, the compassionate conservative is gone, so there’s nobody undermining the party from the inside trying to drag votes across the aisle.  Sure, guys like McCain will always play the sap, but he won’t drag Republicans with him like a sitting president can.  Second, as the minority party, Republicans must now clearly delineate what separates them from Democrats if they ever hope to return to power.  “I voted with the other guys” isn’t a very compelling campaign slogan when you’re asking people to make a switch.

Democrats better get their house in order if they’re going to govern.  Republicans have no incentive to rescue you guys.

I have a sinking feeling that NYC Mayor Bloomberg and President-elect Obama will be sharing similar tax plans this year:

To illustrate the problem, the mayor said a 7.5 percent increase in income taxes for a family of four earning $50,000 to $70,000 annually would mean they would pay an extra $116 a year.

That “does put in perspective what might have to change,” Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg defines the “rich” as a family of 4 making $70K a year in the world’s most expensive city.  You have got to be kidding me.  But that’s not all by a long shot.  Mayor Mike wants to eliminate property tax rebates, hike property taxes, fire 1,000 cops, raise sundry fees, and hire more meter maids to, as liberals would quaintly put it, raise more revenue.

I’m so glad the Republican Party supported the liberal Bloomberg.  He not only embarrassed the party by turning independent, but he continues to damage the Republican brand with liberal policies.  It would have been better to have a Democrat in office to push these liberal policies and let them own them.

That’s right.  If Republicans are going to rise from the ashes, they have to let liberals own their policies.  This will be especially important for Congressional Republicans.  If they follow the moderate “reach across the aisle” meme and provide a fig leaf for the failed Democratic policies soon to be pushed by Pelosi, Reid, and Obama, they’ll be slitting their own throats.

There’s nothing in Obama’s priorities that Republicans should support.  Are Republicans going to “compromise” on higher taxes?  Is muzzling talk radio via the Fairness Doctrine a good idea after the media just kicked the “moderate” McCain in the teeth?  How about adding 10s of millions to Democratic coffers by supporting card check for the unions?  Will the GOP add 20 million new Hispanic voters after they just broke 2 to 1 for Obama even though John McCain has been front and center on all their issues?

There’s nothing to do now but let the Democrats kill themselves.  They’ll overreach.  They’ll kill an already bad economy with higher taxes.  Be disciplined, take some media flack, get out of their way, and get ready to run against them when even a blind monkey could tell their policies have failed.

From the moment Barack Obama announced his intentions to run for POTUS, I assumed that he would win.   The Clinton machine was worn out, and there were social forces and irrefutable facts that no “conservative” candidate could overcome.  Everything was in place when it came time to vote.  Briefly….

First, demographics:  Immigration and generational changes have eclipsed the Euro-centered, Post WWII electorate.  The young don’t care about Bill Ayers or radicalism any more than my generation cared about Tokyo Rose and Henry Wallace; the world of the young today is so bizarre and free-wheeling that nothing as tame as Jeremiah Wright can stand out and get serious attention.   Immigrants - most of whom have come here from despotic or chaotic countries - are seeking advantage through political power, and Barack Obama poses no threat to their conception of liberty.  They also don’t give a damn about Ben Franklin or Paul Revere, if you get my point.

Second, The Welfare State, or the same thing by other names:  Has grown in every administration since 1936, with a lapse during WWII.  All administrations have supported and expanded Human Resources and Defense ”superfunctions”, until it accounts for almost 62% of federal outlays since 1940 (adjusted for inflation). Everyone gets a piece, including those who call themselves conservatives.  Arguments about The Welfare State are window-dressing, because no faction or party seriously argues about its existence, and none attempt to define its sufficient size.

Third, popular conservatism itself, today, is a side show.   Buckley’s generation-long efforts to make conservatism respectable expired along with his sincerity, good sense and originality.  His heirs - like the bore George Will,  have made the essential muscularity of conservatism into a watery, disgusting gruel fit only for bow-tie wearing drama queens.   George W. Bush’s incoherence and government by passive silence has earned the detestation of almost every political perspective, especially the paleoconservatives.  Compassionate conservatism appeared to be ritualistic soul-cleansing, where things not belonging to you could be freely given to others.  Watch Barack Obama on this issue, too.

On the radio side, conservatism is dished up in the same old tropes, accompanied by country music, audio cuts of Ronald Reagan’s speeches and Wright’s squeals, and endless hammering on the anvils of American Exceptionalism and Rugged Individualism.  Together, their conclusions about why conservatism is moribund, is that voters dismayed by Republican cowardice and cupidity, punished them by voting for liberal Democrats.  Brilliant.   With analysis like this, we can win the T-Shirt slogan contest and forget the battle of ideas.

Speaking of ideas, that was McCain’s fatal problem.  He didn’t have any; he had a maverick personality, a biography, and expected us to generate ideas from there.  Obama projected plainly liquid and uncertain ideas, and his persona expanded like a Macy’s Parade balloon while McCain turned into a homunculus. Why this happened is unclear, and material for another post.

Right now I’m damned angry.   We’re exchanging one set of fools and poltroons who are clueless about the rationale, modes and aspirations of conservatism, for another set who are clueless about life, human nature, and the dangers in the world at large.  Great.

Change you’re going to get

From a Michelle Malkin post today:

Obama’s illegal alien aunt (and campaign donor!) is a deportation fugitive; Bush administration moves to protect her

[snip]
Turns out Aunti Zeituni Onyango, one of Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama’s many relatives made famous in his memoir, is an illegal alien. And not just a run-of-the-mill illegal alien on welfare. [snip]

Barack Obama’s aunt, a Kenyan woman who has been quietly living in public housing in Boston, is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago, The Associated Press has learned.

Zeituni Onyango, 56, referred to as “Aunti Zeituni” in Obama’s memoir, was instructed to leave the United States by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP late Friday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango’s case.

[snip]
Via cjburch, this Ace of Spades commenter sums it all up: “Obama’s aunt is here ILLEGALLY living in poverty, and is a deportation FUGITIVE. She’s collecting WELFARE and has DONATED to Obama’s campaign, ILLEGALLY! Obama. Family in poverty as he makes millions. Complete lawlessness. Giveaway your hard earned tax payer money to illegal fugitives. CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN.”

Of course, Bush is slowing down proceedings against her.

As our politicians like to remind us, We are a Nation of Laws!

Bottom line: I was always voting for McCain because Obama is far too left-wing.  Did the speech swing anyone?  We’ll see. 

11:04 PM Country song not doing a lot for me.  :) 

11:04 PM Interesting end to the speech.  Very strident…very strong call to public service. 

11:02 PM Call to public service. 

11:01 PM Real shot at Obama and the his Messianic complex. 

10:59 PM Addressing a very interesting part of his POW status…being broken and how the men told him to fight again. 

10:55 PM Can liberals forgive him for the bombing? 

10:54 PM “the scars to prove it”…Reminds me too much of John Kerry. 

10:52 PM “Get this country moving again”…Is the country really that broken?  Not sure I see it. 

10:50 PM Makes an important point about war, and it’s cost…Something he’s not unfamiliar with. 

10:48 PM Iran is a huge problem.  Do you really want Obama dealing with it? 

10:46 PM Proposing energy independence with the usual suspects…but draws important distinction between he and Obama that we can’t abandon drilling. 

10:44 PM Grabbing some of the money from foreign aid to countries that “don’t like us much”.  Good idea. 

10:43 PM Wish he’d say go after colleges that are raising tuition at twice the rate of inflation.  Wish he’d go after colleges with large endowments that won’t spend them.  

10:42 PM Use community colleges to train people for new jobs…Make up the difference in wages for those going to new careers…   

10:40 PM Finally getting some meat…doubling child tax credits, lowering business tax rates, lowering personal rates… 

10:39 PM Booing?  Doesn’t seem that mature. 

10:38 PM Why am I thinking that McCain won’t appoint strong conservative judges?  It just doesn’t seem like him. 

10:37 PM ”Letting people keep the fruits of the their labors”…A critical component of the American dream. 

10:35 PM Challenging the Republican Party now…No doubt the Republican “revolution” got caught up in the Beltway culture of corruption. 

10:33 PM Don’t like the specific references toward hardship cases.  Seems like liberal pandering to me. 

10:32 PM Have to give him credit for risking everything on the surge.  Campaign was dead at that point. 

10:31 PM Remove money from politics?  Others, myself included, see that as limiting free speech. 

10:30 PM Kill pork spending…good start. 

10:29 PM If you work for the American people, why are you so stridently pro illegal immigration? 

10:26 PM Does anyone over the age of 30 buy the idea that a bipartisan spirit will take hold of Washington politics?   

10:25 PM Good speech so far, but we need some details. 

10:23 PM What was that disturbance?  McCain handled it well though.

10:21 PM Clearly Palin was the attack dog while McCain takes the high road. 

10:19 PM McCain is a lot less strident than Obama so far. 

10:16 PM I certainly thought we’d get more attacks after 9/11.  Say what you want about W, but he has defended the country. 

10:15 PM Interesting: McCain comes off as fatherly. 

10:13 PM How many people are watching the NFL right now?  Bad planning by the RNC. 

10:11 PM Will “renew” America; hope he gets specific. 

10:10 PM Ding! Ding!  McCain right about the surge that even Obama now admits succeeded beyond our wildest expectations. 

10:09 PM McCain wants to keep “our money, in our pocket”, but didn’t initially support the Bush tax cuts. 

10:08 PM McCain’s resume blows Obama’s away. 

10:03 PM Let’s hope McCain really lays down what he plans to do with the country. 

10:02 PM Will McCain touch illegal immigration tonight? 

10:01 PM Did CNN offer counter commentary from Republicans during Obama’s speech?

9:58 PM Listening to the enemy tonight–CNN. 

9:56 PM Being former military, I am biased toward military families.  Have to give the McCain’s credit for a long history of military service. 

9:55 PM Why is Cindy’s hair frizzy?  :) 

9:54 PM McCain never a Washington insider?  Not sure I buy that story, Cindy. 

9:51 PM Understand why Cindy discusses their charity work, but somewhat uncomfortable.  Is it old school to believe charity stays close to the vest?   

9:49 PM Cindy McCain, Sarah Palin…McCain has good taste in women.

Hard to believe that lowering the drinking age is a priority issue for college presidents.  Wouldn’t their time be better spent addressing the crushing debt loads their students take on after attending their institutions?  But similar to arguments against stepped up enforcement in the illegal immigration debate, university presidents no longer enforce the laws and then claim they don’t work:

…MADD agrees that campus bingeing is a big problem and says the answer is to tighten alcohol policies, punish violators and go after adults who provide alcohol to kids.

But Mote and other presidents can point to long lists of enforcement, education and counseling efforts that are in place, with little real impact.

I think Madd is right.  In my experience, colleges make very little to no effort enforcing the drinking age.  Boot a couple of underage drinkers and I bet things change dramatically on campus.  But nobody in the ivory tower wants to risk tuition dollars, so they look the other way.  Take 2 doses of enforcement and call me in the morning.

The electoral map this year, as in 2004, portrays something other than plain electoral potential.   See one here.   It’s absolutely true that these Red and Blue State distinctions today stand for something other than objective politics.  Anyone who’s lived in either of the colored enclaves knows that they’re insular social systems, with the natural tendency to grow more insular and self-reinforcing, especially during times of stress like an election season. 

Here in Connecticut, our company of the “coastal elites” has no real opposition, and has been especially liberal in its open contempt for that which is not itself.  Politics here is simply white noise, containing all the possible ideas about humankind, but with the same old fantastic historical narratives about how to create a good society. 

Nothing meaningful gets done, because what really matters is the perpetuation of the steely states-of-mind that come from social and cultural stratifications.  Unfortunately, as the ruling classes yammer and assert their worldview into empty space, the ”culture” around them grows more  noisy and chaotic and unstable.   Mass immigration and emigration, and  the blessed end of the ’60’s generation’s power are all happening at once, and the future is unknown. 

What can we expect in the next thirty years?  We don’t know.   America has, ’til now, managed the Hobbsean-Lockean problem - the rule of man versus the rule of law - although rule by courts is essentially rule by man, and rule by minoritarianism is just as wicked.  Still, we have no pockets of cultural entropy like Lebanon, yet, unless it’s Detroit.  We have no lethal tribal, sectarian or ideological wars. Not yet.  But do we have reason to believe that, in forty years,  New York City, or Baltimore won’t look like Beirut does today. 

Or Boston.  When the last restraining vines of the Yankee myth systems have been pruned away and burned, and the levelling blandishments of capitalism  and consumption no longer flatten the passions, will the coercive tools of progressive government  be enough to keep the peace?  I don’t think so.  And by the way, that Yankee myth system isn’t useful because it’s upheld by a Yankee bloodline - that began to disappear in the New England sterility of the 1840’s - but because it knits together a common culture.  Take it away with no replacement and you have third-century Rome, or the Middle East today.  

As for the Middle East, is it accurate to attribute the troubles there to irrational colonial borders,  or post-colonial pseudo-statehood, or poverty, or despotism or lack of economic mobility?  These all add to the poison, no doubt, but is there any category for the plain perversity of human self-assertion, and the moral malfunctions that cause it?  Not today. 

It’s unfashionable to fit Western Enlightenment modes of conduct to the “senseless” hate and murder in the Middle East because it’s culture specific, so we’re left with no disciminating capacities at all.   And for that reason, we can’t even evaluate the past, present and future for ourselves.   If  Hartford, with eleven shootings in a single afternoon, isn’t the land of the Droogs, what is?  In one week, these events have faded from memory.  Who are we today?

It’s a long way from The White Man’s Burden on the express train to moral nullity, but we’ve made the journey without a stop for the mail.  Today, in a multiculutural stupor, we’re close to accepting arranged marriage, female circumcision, polygamy, polyandry, polyamory, the oppression of women and children in general, exceptions to religion/state barriers for Muslims, and the vagaries of Shari’a Law in parts of America, and in many parts of Europe.   All of these adjustments will lead to more  more extreme adjustments to others, and they won’t necessarily be Muslims, but some other group with a claim to legitimacy and indulgence. 

45 years ago I read a dreary thesis on political legitimacy, written by some figure in international relations, and whose name I’ve completely forgotten.  He concluded that free-thinking, tolerant Britain was the most stable country in the world, where the totalitarian USSR and its constituent countries, were fragile pressure-cookers.  Britain’s social vigor then was attributed to the usual assortment of virtues assigned to free-societies. 

Completely ignored was Britain’s post-industrial torpor, Commonwealth immigration policies, declining aspirations, the stirrings of a ”New” Labor every bit as dogmatic and certain as the old hereditary ruling class,  and the burning, destructive fever known as the  1960’s.  Britain is in steep decline today, with a continuous current of emigres to other English-speaking lands.  We should pay attention. 

As often touted by yours truly, enforcement works when it comes to illegal immigration:

The illegal migrant population has dropped an estimated 11 percent through May after hitting a peak last August, based on census data used in a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Much of that decline is due to people who self-deported by slipping back across the border.

The drop began well before unemployment went up, which points to the real success story: Washington’s wake-up call last summer to beef up enforcement, from plugging leaks in the border to cracking down on employers who hire illegal workers.

And further proof:

Immigrant remittances to the Bank of Mexico are down after years of rising.

So much for the left-wing scare tactics that claimed we’d have illegal immigrant concentration camps.   It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you actually enforce the law.

Better yet, sign this petition to
Drill Here, Drill now!

House Democrats call for nationalization of refineries

House Democrats responded to President’s Bush’s call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. This was at an on-camera press conference fed back live.

Among other things, the Democrats called for the government to own refineries so it could better control the flow of the oil supply.

This from the people who fix your bridges and invest your social security money, Oh boy, health care too! Well, they do graft expertly.

They also reasserted that the reason the Appropriations Committee markup (where the vote on the amendment to lift the ban) was cancelled so they could focus on preparing the supplemental Iraq spending bill for tomorrow.

Phones have been ringing non-stop telling these bozos to drill right through the furry critter’s head and get our oil.

At an off-camera briefing, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the same. And a senior Republican House Appropriations Committee aide adds that “there were multiple reasons for the postponement” including discussion on the supplemental. But the aide said there was the thought that Democrats may wish to avoid a debate today on energy amendments.

Here are the highlights from briefing

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), member of the House Appropriations Committee and one of the most-ardent opponents of off-shore drilling
“We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.”

if you vote for me I’ll give you oil.

Hinchey on why they postponed the Appropriations markup

He had to confer with Fidel and Hugo.

I think there aren’t enough votes for the Peterson amendment. It wasn’t taken up (the Interior spending bill) because of the omnibus Appropriations bill. That’s the main focus of the Appropriations Committee. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)

Hey Rahm, then go on record voting for higher gas prices.

They (Republicans) have a one-trick pony approach. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), Chairman of the Resources Committee (In this circus the Dems are the clowns)

You cannot drill your way out of this. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Select Committee on Global Warming

“The White House has become a ventriloquist for the oil and gas energy. The finger should be directed back at them. They had plenty of opportunity to (arrange an energy policy). But they did not put an energy policy in place.” Markey

And you did?

The governors of California and the governors of Florida are going to scream this is not the way to go. Hinchey

Let them, I don’t mind.

There are a lot of arrows in the President’s quiver that he decided not use. Hinchey

I think it’s unlawful to shoot congress critters with a bow; why I don’t know.

“What we do has to be in the interest of the American people. Not major corporations.” Emanuel

The only thing of interest to congress is staying at the public trough.

“It’s like when I talk to my kids. Before we’re going to talk about dessert, we’ve got to talk about what’s on your plate. I hope I’m a little more successful with the oil industry than I am with my kids.” Markey

I hope not, unlike your kids the oil industry is productive.

There are so many red herrings out there they might as well construct an aquarium.

From House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) when I asked him if the markup was canceled because of potential Democratic defections on the Peterson amendment. (emphasis added)

“No. The reason the markups aren’t going through is because we’re trying to get the supplemental on the floor tomorrow.”

Ultimate BS! The phones and faxes have been non-stop on this and 287(g) the law for local law enforcement funding on illegal immigration arrests.

And from a Senior Republican House Appropriations Aide.

“There were multiple reasons for the postponement including ongoing negotiations on the (supplemental) and a (Democratic) wish to avoid debate and votes on the energy amendments.

He hasn’t done a damn thing to avert this drift.

McConnell: Dems will ‘turn us into France’

The Senate’s top Republican says Democrats’ sights are set on European-style socialism, and derided likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s claims of being a unifier… [snip]

McConnell finishes off by saying:

Mr. McConnell, who over the years expressed discomfort as Mr. McCain broke with conservatives on campaign-finance reform, taxes and immigration, said the decorated Navy fighter pilot nevertheless will win support from the Republican base, and the contrast with Mr. Obama boosts Republicans’ confidence that they can keep control of the White House.

Whatever McConnell is ingesting has to be highly regulated or quite illicit. The funny ’shrooms couldn’t cause this aberrant a vision.

If you try to sail, float, powerboat or swim from Algeria to Europe - which is a long way - and drown - one fatwa says you committed suicide and another states you’re a “martyr”.   Dueling fatwas again.

The Algerian Ministry of Religious Affairs banned illegal immigration. One form of illegal immigration is crossing from Algeria to the Mediterranean European littoral by sea.  If you drown in the effort, it’s considered suicide, and praying for the soul of a suicide is illegal according to the Ministry.  

Sheik Shamsedin Bourubi disagrees.   He thinks the dead are martyrs (?).  He said it’s “important to understand the social motivation that pushes young people to immigrate (sic)”.

If you ask me, the social motivation is that they live in Algeria under the authority of  The Algerian Ministry of Religious Affairs!

The election of 2006, how the Democrats changed the country. The links will take you to the data for verification.

Part 1

A little over one year ago:

1. Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high
2. Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon
3. The unemployment rate was 4.5%

Since voting in a Democratically controlled Congress in 2006 we haveseen:

1. Consumer confidence plummet
2. The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.50 a gallon
3. Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase)
4. American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses)
5. Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars
6. 1% of American homes are in foreclosure

America voted for “change” in 2006, and we got it!
Remember, it’s Congress that makes the law…not the President. He has to work with what’s handed him. Of course sometimes they are hand in glove with Congress.

Quote of the Day: “My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you’ll join with me as we try to change it.” - Barrack Obama

Part 2

Taxes.

Whether Democrat or a Republican you will find these statistics enlightening and amazing.

Taxes under Clinton 1999 Taxes under Bush 2008

Single making 30K-tax $8,400 Single making 30K-tax $4,500
Single making 50K-tax $14,000 Single making 50K-tax $12,500
Single making 75K-tax $23,250 Single making 75K-tax $18,750
Married making 60K-tax $16,800 Married making 60K-tax $9,000
Married making 75K-tax $21,000 Married making 75K-tax $18,750
Married making 125K-tax $38,750 Married making 125K-tax $31,250

Both democrat candidates will return to the higher tax rates. It is amazing how many people who fall into the categories above think Bush is screwing them and Bill Clinton was the greatest President ever.
If Obama or Hillary are elected, they both say they will repeal the Bush tax cuts and a good portion of the people who fall into the categories above can’t wait for it to happen.

Part 3

You think the war in Iraq is costing us too much?

I have been hammered with propaganda that it’s the “Iraq War” and the “War on Terror” that is bankrupting us. RIDICULOUS!

$11 billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
$2.2 billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
$2.5 billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
$12 billion dollars a year spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
$17 billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
$3 Million dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
$90 billion dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
$200 billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages caused by illegal aliens.
Illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US.
During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.
In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.
“The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes is Committed By Illegal Immigrants In The United States”

The total cost is a whopping $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!!
The total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.”

Are we voters that stupid? I guess so.

Every Ruben Navarrette Jr. article on illegal immigration strikes the same chords. The illegal immigration debate is “ugly” and opponents are racists. He makes that sweeping generalization based upon the sample size of his own inbox.

The truth is the vast majority of Americans welcome LEGAL immigration. However, they recognize the issues that unfettered, illegal immigration cause. If Mr. Navarrette thinks the race card will intimidate us, he’s wrong. Furthermore, if as claimed in his article, he wants progress, dropping the race baiting and addressing the issues would be a good place to start.

Paul wasn’t struck this hard

The light of conversion, brighter than that seen by Paul, altered Hillary’s belief in church going and guns. The stump Gospel according to Hillary now proclaims “how positive and ‘fundamentally optimistic’” we are.
Shorn of her elitism like a prostitute’s hair, Hillary castigated Obama’s remarks about bumpkins. Her new view posits that bumpkins are good people, stupid but good.

“I disagree with Senator Obama’s assertion that people in our country cling to guns and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration,” she said.
She described herself as a pro-gun churchgoer, recalling that her father taught her how to shoot a gun when she was a young girl and said that her faith “is the faith of my parents and my grandparents.”

This alleged conversion took place before the corkscrew landing in Bosnia but after she tried to join the Marines.
God works in mysterious ways. From the Obamessiah to Clinton’s vision, religion is returning to American politics.

Can I get an Amen!

Former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Fearraro has some interesting thoughts on how Barack Obama benefits from his race:

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” she continued. “And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” Ferraro does not buy the notion of Obama as the great reconciler.

If Barack Obama and John McCain swapped resumes, with all else being equal, would McCain still be a serious presidential contender? McCain has numerous shortcomings, his campaign finance and immigration efforts readily jump to mind, but a thin resume isn’t one of them. Should Obama be the Democratic nominee, the qualification gap is so large here that I’m not even sure how one considers pulling the lever for Obama.

Race is the key factor in his meteoric rise whether people want to admit it or not. Obama supporters can make the case that he’s qualified by posting in comments or sending me an e-mail; however, any mention of “change” and “bipartisanship” must be backed up with examples. That empty rhetoric may be good enough for the mainstream media, but we require facts.