Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Sara Palin's Going Rogue #5 On Amazon

Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue: An American Life is available for pre-order on Amazon and it is already up to #5 and there is not even a picture of the dust jacket available.

I guess she is not as popular as every one thought.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

What To Do Before TSHTF

Wretchard and his commenters are discussing what to do before there is a breakdown in civilization. Of course there is the usual - buy guns and ammo. But what else could help?

Stock up on tools. Even cheap Chinese stuff if it is not too junky. Voltmeters and for those who are somewhat adept – oscopes.

A good shortwave radio. This is good at under $150

Sony ICF-SW7600GR AM/FM Shortwave World Band Receiver with Single Side Band Reception

This is good for $60

Kaito KA1101 - Worldband radio

This is a good disaster radio for $30

American Red Cross FR150 Microlink Solar-Powered, Self-Powered AM/FM/Weatherband Portable Radio with Flashlight and Cell Phone Charger (Red)

and don't forget an antenna for your shortwave radio:

Kaito AN-03L - Radio antenna

Once you get your radio buy spare alkaline batteries and practice using your radio. Like any tool, the more experience you have with it the better it will serve you when you really need it.

If you can fix things or make thing – good. Plumbing, house wiring, simple house repairs. Auto repairs.

Tools, tools, tools. Most of them that will be useful don’t have a rifled barrel.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

ACORN Is A Criminal Defendant

ACORN is in big trouble in Harry Reid's home state, Nevada.

A preliminary hearing Tuesday in the downtown Clark County courthouse has put ACORN on trial for the first time as a criminal defendant.

Until now, prosecutions for voter registration fraud have focused on ACORN workers, and authorities have secured guilty pleas from several who admitted to falsifying voter registration forms.

But when investigators from Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller's office raided the ACORN Las Vegas office, Ross says they found a paper trail that implicated the ACORN organization itself.

"We came across policy manuals that outline their policy of creating a quota system, which is against the law," Miller told FOX News in an interview. "This, in fact, was something that was widespread and something the organization itself knew about, and it's important to hold the organization criminally accountable as opposed to the individual field directors."
It just keeps getting worse for these folks. I wonder what ACORN lawyer and community organizer Mr. Obama has to say about this?

Democrats used to say in the 2008 Campaign that "Jesus was a community organizer." I wonder if he ever condoned vote fraud? There is no record that he did. The record on ACORN being involved in vote fraud seems rather robust though.

And ACORN is being hurt by one of its own (well not any more) who is grassing on them.
At the preliminary hearing Tuesday, prosecutors and defense lawyers sparred over the arcane regulations of voter registration. But the highlight of the proceedings was the testimony of Christopher Edwards, the 33-year-old former ACORN field director who has cut a deal with prosecutors to testify against the group.

Edwards has begun to provide a view inside ACORN's operations, telling investigators about the Blackjack program in the Las Vegas office, which allegedly submitted the names of the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys as new voters.

"It's Las Vegas, it's blackjack," Edwards testified, describing what he called the "Blackjack bonus," saying ACORN set a quota of 20 cards per day for workers, and 1,000 a week for the group's political organizers. Edwards described a huge sign in the ACORN office that read: "Blackjack Bonus, 21 cards, extra 5 dollars," and said the program was instituted with the approval of higher-ups.

In fact, he said, other ACORN offices were jealous of the Blackjack program. Edwards said there were problems with payroll fraud at ACORN, noting that a Detroit voter registration director paid himself twice, falsely claiming he was also a canvasser.
If ACORN loses its case it could lose its Nevada tax exempt status. And then there is the criminal probe in New York.

What I wonder is when the SEIU comes in to the mix in a public way?

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Don't Talk



The speaker in the video is Mr. James Duane, a professor at Regent Law School and a former defense attorney.

Yeah. Don't talk. The Mafia Code of Omerta. Silence. The Video explains why.

Here is Part 2 by a police officer in case you need more reasons.

Which brings up this book:

Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent

Here is what one reviewer said:
This is a very thoughtful and vigorously argued book about the injustices that arise when prosecutors seek to expand the reach of federal criminal statutes beyond their proper field of application. The author has litigated many of the cases he discusses, and is able to translate the complexities of that experience intelligently and without condescension, but also without all of the unnecessary technical details that lawyers writing for a general audience sometimes get bogged down in. Harvey Silverglate is an institution in his own right: a tireless advocate for civil liberties, prolific writer, and astute student of the law, there are few people who have a stronger commitment to illuminating the practical workings of the criminal justice system and their relationship to broader currents in the law. This is a must-read for those interested in criminal law, civil liberties, and the recent history of the Department of Justice, by a writer who has the courage of his convictions and voices them powerfully and well.
Here is an interview with the author Harvey Silverglate.
BC: Then has the common law tradition been abandoned? Does innocence of intention matter anymore?

Harvey Silverglate: The common law tradition has been essentially abandoned in federal law. Indeed, for a very long time the Supreme Court has ruled that federal law is entirely the product of congressional statutes and administrative regulations, rather than of common law evolution. This presumably was -- in part -- an effort to assure clarity. The law was to mean what Congress wrote and intended, rather than follow the long-standing dictums of common law tradition and interpretation. In theory, this should have produced a body of law with more clarity than the typical state law code.

In practice, despite Morissette's admirable but ultimately failed effort to turn the situation around common law notions were abandoned in the federal criminal justice system and clarity suffered, not to mention the moral content and purpose of the law. Now, people who have done things that most normal folks would not consider a crime, can be sentenced to decades-long stays in federal prison. In truth, any criminal justice system that abandons clarity of obligation and proof of criminal intent has abandoned its moral purpose and hence its legitimacy. And, as my book shows, our federal system of criminal justice has long since lost its legitimacy.
How about that. There is much more.

Ayn Rand explains what it is all about in her novel Atlas Shrugged.
"Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed? We want them broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against . . . We're after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you'd better get wise to it. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted -- and you create a nation of law-breakers -- and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
The upshot of all this: Don't Talk to the Police. Ever.

And while you are at it you might want to talk to your Representatives about what has happened to justice in America. And don't even get me started about Testilying in drug cases.

House of Representatives
The Senate

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Saudis Green Light Israel

According to The Daily Express UK Saudi Arabia has green lighted an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

INTELLIGENCE chief Sir John Scarlett has been told that Saudi Arabia is ready to allow Israel to bomb Iran’s new nuclear site.

The head of MI6 discussed the issue in London with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Saudi officials after British intelligence officers helped to uncover the plant, in the side of a mountain near the ancient city of Qom.

The site is seen as a major threat by Tel Aviv and Riyadh. Details of the talks emerged after John Bolton, America’s former UN ambassador, told a meeting of intelligence analysts that “Riyadh certainly approves” of Israel’s use of Saudi airspace.
It looks like Zbigniew Brzezinski's suggestion that the US shoot down any Israeli jets attacking Iran when they are over Iraq has become a moot point.
The national security adviser for former President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, gave an interview to The Daily Beast in which he suggested President Obama should make it clear to Israel that if they attempt to attack Iran's nuclear weapons sites the U.S. Air Force will stop them.

"We are not exactly impotent little babies," Brzezinski said. "They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? ... We have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not.
And Dearest Zbig, what if they avoid Iraqi airspace by overflying Saudi Arabia? And heaven forfend what if the American military fails to follow orders? Or just suddenly becomes inept? What then Zbig?

One need only look at the Saudi reaction to the 2006 war against Hizballah (an Iranian proxy) in Lebanon. Their first reaction was "we have no dog in this fight". Followed by "evil Israelis." However, they sat on their hands the whole time.

The world is routing around damage. And the damage? Obama and his crew of Marxists psychophants. Thank the Maker there are still some adults in the world.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Monday, September 28, 2009

SEIU Factor In Illinois Senat Race

Illinois Republicans are making efforts to connect the Democrats to the SEIU in the race for Obamas old Senate Seat. Roland "I am not a crook" Burris (D - Crook County) is currently keeping the seat warm.

Illinois Republicans are using a union endorsement Democrat Alexi Giannoulias received Thursday to again try to make disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich a central figure in the U.S. Senate race.

The powerful 170,000-member Illinois chapter of the Service Employees International Union endorsed Giannoulias, the state treasurer, in his bid for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat, and Republicans jumped at the chance to point out the union's ties to Blagojevich.

SEIU was one of the largest contributors to Blagojevich's campaigns before lawmakers removed him from office in January after his arrest on federal corruption charges that included accusations he tried to sell or trade Obama's Senate seat to enrich himself.

One of the things Blagojevich wanted, according to a federal indictment, was a high-paying job at a union organization affiliated with SEIU. Tom Balanoff, president of SEIU's Illinois chapter, has said he will make a good witness for the prosecution at Blagojevich's trial.

The GOP suggested the endorsement reflected badly on Giannoulias and pressed him to explain why he would accept it.
As I predicted earlier today the SEIU is the next target in the effort to pull down the ACORN family. What I did not expect was that the shots would come from the GOP. I figured it would be Breitbart or Beck leading the charge.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Cannae

Bill Whittle has a marvelous video that you should watch.

And what is Breitbart's strategy for continuing the attack? In a word make ACORN sue him. Which it has done. What was O'Keefe and Gile's response when a suit was first mooted? "Bring it on."

Kathleen Parker suggests the next front in the war. SEIU. And in the process explains why the public option is so critical to Obama's plan to neuter the American people.

Just last week, the Kansas City Star reported that two state agencies acting on an SEIU public records request sought to identify in-home health workers who care for the elderly and disabled. After complaints, the state acknowledged that it was under no legal obligation to provide the information and ceased helping the SEIU. Unionizing is not a state function, needless to say. And never mind the invasion of privacy.

One needn't be a mathematician to imagine what a national health-care option might mean to a union in search of new dues-paying recruits. The SEIU, which has promised "to fight tooth and nail" for a public option, is demonstrably persuasive. In Illinois, former governor Blagojevich (thank you for your patience) helped position the SEIU so that it could unionize health-care workers when he signed an executive order allowing collective bargaining. The SEIU showed its appreciation in advance by becoming Blagojevich's largest contributor, handing over $1.8 million for his two gubernatorial campaigns.
This war is not over. Not by a long shot. Keep at them Andrew. Keep at them Glenn.

You can find out what Andrew is up to at Big Government.com and of course Glenn can be found at FOX.

H/T Instapundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Look For The Union Label In Michigan

Michigan is almost 20% unionized. And Michigan is in trouble.

Economically beleaguered Michigan faces a possible government shutdown - shuttering highway rest areas, state parks, construction projects and the state lottery - if lawmakers fail to reach a budget deal in the next few days.

The state with the nation's highest unemployment rate has a nearly $3 billion shortfall. Federal recovery act money will fill more than half the gap, but the spending cuts or tax increases needed to fill the rest have caused bitter infighting at the state Capitol.

Michigan is one of just two states whose budget year starts Oct. 1. The other, Alabama, already has a spending plan in place, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
And Alabama is under 10% unionized. I wonder if there is a connection? Do you suppose that extracting unsustainable wages from employers is unsustainable? And it probably is not even the wages so much as inflexible work rules. After all high productivity is what really makes high wages possible.

Time Magazine Failing - Will Buy Weak Companies

Time Warner is getting rid of Time. The reason? They can't sell space. Even with a disdainful picture of Glenn Beck on the cover.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc will eventually sell the Time Inc magazine unit and could buy holdings in its core entertainment category, Gordon Crawford, managing director of its largest shareholder, said during a presentation this week.

"Time Warner just spun off their cable division, they are going to sell their print division, they are going to spin off AOL and they're just going to be Warner Brothers, HBO and the Turner Networks," said Crawford, managing director of The Capital Group.
How about acquisitions?
Time Inc's magazines include popular titles such as People and Sports Illustrated. In the second quarter, revenue at Time Inc publishing, the largest U.S. magazine publisher, fell 22 percent to $915 million due to a 26 percent decline in advertising revenue.

While Crawford did not name specific acquisition targets, he did say there would be a "winnowing process" during which weaker companies in the sector would be gobbled up.
I guess their success will depend on whether they can strengthen the weak companies they buy. With the fringe media in serious decline due to being mainly left wing in a center-right country (not to mention the internet) their days are numbered.

Meanwhile FOX seems to be doing fine. In the middle of one of the greatest economic downturns in decades. Well that is what downturns are for. The winnowing out of weak sisters. I expect the NYTs will not be far behind.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Big Battery

Texas is slated to get a really big battery to improve grid reliability.

Electric Transmission Texas LLC (ETT) has completed a contract with NGK-Locke, Inc. for a state-of-the-art, sodium-sulfur 4-megawatt NAS battery system, which will be installed in Presidio, Texas. ETT is a joint venture between American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company (MidAmerican).

The NAS battery will be the first in Texas and the largest in the United States and represents part of a $67 million overall commitment by ETT to improve transmission reliability in Presidio and surrounding areas.
And what are the capabilities of this battery?
The NAS® battery system uses sodium-sulfur battery technology. This technology proposed by ETT for Presidio will provide the following benefits:

Due to its quick response, the battery will address voltage fluctuations and momentary outages.

In the event of an outage on the radial transmission line providing power to Presidio, the battery can supply 4 MW of uninterrupted power for up to 8 hours.

The battery will allow Presidio’s electrical load to receive uninterrupted power from Comisiün Federal de Electricidad (CFE) during emergency situations.

The battery will allow for maintenance on the new transmission line being built to from Marfa to Presidio without loss of electric service.
One of the many things you can do with a battery like this is peak leveling. That means the transmission lines do not have to be designed for peak power use but only have to deliver the average power required at the load. It also means a smaller generator can be used to supply the load if the generator can supply the average load. Savings all around if the battery and its associated conversion equipment are cheap enough.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

LSD And DNA

Linearthinker suggested this article on how LSD led to the discovery of DNA.

FRANCIS CRICK, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced thedouble-helix structure of DNA nearly 50 years ago.

The abrasive and unorthodox Crick and his brilliant American co-researcher James Watson famously celebrated their eureka moment in March 1953 by running from the now legendary Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge to the nearby Eagle pub, where they announced over pints of bitter that they had discovered the secret of life.

Crick, who died ten days ago, aged 88, later told a fellow scientist that he often used small doses of LSD then an experimental drug used in psychotherapy to boost his powers of thought. He said it was LSD, not the Eagle's warm beer, that helped him to unravel the structure of DNA, the discovery that won him the Nobel Prize.
There is a video about LSD at the site that is most interesting. Have a look. Albert Hoffman has a few things to say.

Which brings up some news about current research on LSD.
LSD, the drug that launched the psychedelic era and became one of the resounding symbols of the counterculture movement of the '60s, is back in the labs.

Nearly 40 years after widespread fear over recreational abuse of LSD and other hallucinogens forced dozens of scientists to abandon their work, researchers at a handful of major institutions - including UCSF and Harvard University - are reigniting studies. Scientists started looking at less controversial drugs, like ecstasy and magic mushrooms, in the late 1990s, but LSD studies only began about a year ago and are still rare.

The study at UCSF, which is being run by a UC Berkeley graduate student, is looking into the mechanisms of LSD and how it works in the brain. The hope is that such research might support further studies into medical applications of LSD - for chronic headaches, for example - or psychiatric uses.

"Psychedelics are in labs all over the world and there's a lot of promise," said Rick Doblin, director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in Santa Cruz. "The situation with LSD is that because it was the quintessential symbol of the '60s, it was the last to enter the lab."
Because of the widespread use of the drug in the 60s by the counterculture we have lost 40 years of research on the drug. That is unfortunate. But it is being reversed.

As the video points out LSD temporarily reduces or eliminates the filters experience has encoded into the brain. In other words you experience the world the way a newborn does. With all the tools developed for studying the brain since LSD was invented scientists should be able to learn a lot about how the brain functions. It may even help to understand schizophrenia which some scientists think is caused by a lack of filters in the brain of the afflicted. It is really too bad that we have let these studies go for so long. It is fortunate that they are resuming.

Drug prohibition has cost us a lot. Fortunately we are slowly getting over it. The sooner the better.

You might like to read Albert Hoffman's book on his discovery of LSD:

LSD: My Problem Child: Reflections on Sacred Drugs, Mysticism, and Science

The discovery of DNA is not the only connection DNA and LSD have. There is also Kerry Mullis' discovery of the Polymerase Chain Reaction for replicating short strands of DNA which is used for all kinds of work on DNA including forensics.

Kerry has written a book on his work with DNA and the influence of LSD on his life:

Dancing Naked in the Mind Field

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Funniest Comment In A Very Long Time

Go here and read the 9/24/2009 10:13:00 AM comment.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Ecological Balance

I was having a discussion about this and that at Talk Polywell and one of my correspondents said:

...many of them both unnecessary and unsustainable. A truly civilized society would maintain an ecological balance and still be able to visit the planets.
And I said:
Humanity is unsustainable. We will go on for as long as we can.

In 1900 it was estimated that New York would be buried in horse crap by 1920 if things kept going the way they were going. Obviously they did not.

Ecological balance is pure fantasy. Because things (on all scales) are always fluctuating. Not to mention new organisms. (bird flu, swine flu)

Ecological balance before or after a large volcanic eruption? Ecological balance before or after a very large meteor strike? Ecological balance before or after the onset of an ice age?

So just exactly which ecological balance is the best? And how do you keep it?
These ecological balance folks have delusions of grandeur.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Friday, September 25, 2009

He Helped Write A Book

It seems some one helped Mr. Obama write Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. Christopher Andersen in Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage says it was American terrorist Bill Ayres.

Ron Radosh had this to say about it.

Obama had not as yet written anything. But he had taped interviews with family members. Andersen writes: “These oral histories, along with a partial manuscript and a truckload of notes, were given to Ayers.” Look over those words. A man Obama said before the campaign — after conservative pundits continually raised the issue that he was friends with an “unrepentent terrorist” — that he knew only in passing as someone in the neighborhood. He was simply an acquaintance — not someone he had any real friendship or relationship with. Yet Obama evidently gave Ayers his notes, tapes, and the small amount that he had already written.

On the latter point, Andersen also writes, quoting a Hyde Park neighbor of Obama: “Everyone knew they were friends and that they worked on various projects together. It was no secret. Why would it be? People liked them both.” Why should it be secret? We know the answer to that. Obama was denying this relationship, as well as suggesting it was not true they worked on projects together. Everything that was ferreted out at the time that proved this was hardly likely was simply ignored by the MSM.

Finally, Christopher Andersen concludes: “In the end, Ayers’s contribution to Barack’s Dreams from My Father would be significant — so much so that the book’s language, oddly specific references, literary devices, and themes would bear a jarring similarity to Ayers’s own writing.”
Well isn't that interesting. Ayers was not just some guy in the neighborhood but also a collaborator. Maybe that is why Mr. Obama got his start in Chicago's Hyde Park politics with terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn who still sees herself as a radical.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Thursday, September 24, 2009

You Can't Cheat An Honest Man




Hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside. William S. Burroughs


Bring It On


In the above video the ACORN outers, Hanna Giles and James O'Keefe, say about potential suits from ACORN, "Bring It On". Well ACORN has brought it on.
Community activist group ACORN is suing the makers of a hidden-camera video that showed employees of its Baltimore office giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman posing as a prostitute.

The liberal group contends that the audio portion of the video was obtained illegally because Maryland requires two-party consent to create sound recordings.
This has got to be the dumbest political move since Bill Clinton said, "I did not have sex with that woman."

So what does Althouse think? She says:
Glenn Reynolds is pretty sure ACORN is falling into a trap.

Yes, it's almost as if the real point of the videos was to provoke a lawsuit that would open ACORN to the legal intrusions of discovery. And of course, Giles and O'Keefe will get even more publicity, and it shouldn't be hard for them to attract aggressive legal counsel and a hefty litigation fund.
I have heard lots of folks in comments to this story offering to donate to a legal defense fund. It is almost as if ACORN wanted to keep this story alive.

As to keeping the story alive? I was already getting tired of it and hadn't planned to write anything further since the story had served its purpose. It got the Census Bureau to sever ties with ACORN.

H/T Instapundit who thinks as Althouse pointed out, "I’M PRETTY SURE THEY’RE FALLING INTO A TRAP". Yes they are. Click on the Instapundit link for more.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Mark Levin Is A Libertarian

He says so in this video.

There seems to be a lot of them cropping up on the TV these days. Stossel, Beck, and now Levin. And let us not forget the libertarian who kept the movement alive on the internet. Glenn Reynolds AKA Instapundit.

"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism." - Ronald Reagan

And what is libertarianism at its heart? "Leave us alone." Or since the Founding: "Don't Tread On Me." A flag that flew from the jackstaffs of the US Navy from the beginning. And is still flying on those jackstaffs.


Me? I'm A Proud Member Of The Leave Us Alone Coalition. In case you hadn't guessed.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

She Is Bright - They Are Stuck On Stupid

As you know I have covered the Sarah Palin Hong Kong speech in a previous post. Neil sent me an e-mail link to this take on her speech.

Melvin Goodé, a regional marketing consultant, thought Mrs. Palin chose Hong Kong because, he said, it was “a place where things happen and where freedom can be expanded upon.”

“It’s not Beijing or Shanghai,” said Mr. Goodé . “She also mentioned Tibet, Burma and North Korea in the same breath as places where China should be more sensitive and careful about how people are treated. She said it on a human-rights level.”

Mr. Goodé, an African-American who said he did some campaign polling for President Obama, said Mrs. Palin mentioned President Obama three times on Wednesday.

“And there was nothing derogatory in it, no sleight of hand, and believe me, I was listening for that,” he said, adding that Mrs. Palin referred to Mr. Obama as “our president,” with the emphasis on “our.”

Mr. Goodé, a New Yorker who said he would never vote for Mrs. Palin, said she acquitted herself well.

“They really prepared her well,” he said. “She was articulate and she held her own. I give her credit. They’ve tried to categorize her as not being bright. She’s bright.”
Over a year of blackening Sara's reputation down the tubes in one short quote.

I have always thought that the Democrats severely underestimated Sarah. Hopefully the Democrat politicians will stay stuck on stupid.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Sarah Palin In Hong Kong


Sarah Palin gave a speech in Hong Kong. She blamed the Government for the financial mess we are in.
You can call me a common-sense conservative. My approach to the issues facing my country and the world, issues that we’ll discuss today, are rooted in this common-sense conservatism… Common sense conservatism deals with the reality of the world as it is. Complicated and beautiful, tragic and hopeful, we believe in the rights and the responsibilities and the inherent dignity of the individual.

We don’t believe that human nature is perfectible; we’re suspicious of government efforts to fix problems because often what it’s trying to fix is human nature, and that is impossible. It is what it is. But that doesn’t mean that we’re resigned to, well, any negative destiny. Not at all. I believe in striving for the ideal, but in realistic confines of human nature…
Yep. We are stuck with human nature as it is. There will be no New Socialist Man. No New Conservative Man. No New Libertarian Man. Just the same old man we have always had. Perfection is not an option. However, we can do better.

Now about the financial meltdown.
While we might be in the wilderness, conservatives need to defend the free market system and explain what really caused last year’s collapse. According to one version of the story, America’s economic woes were caused by a lack of government intervention and regulation and therefore the only way to fix the problem, because, of course, every problem can be fixed by a politician, is for more bureaucracy to impose itself further, deeper, forcing itself deeper into the private sector.

I think that’s simply wrong. We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place. The mortgage crisis that led to the collapse of the financial market, it was rooted in a good-natured, but wrongheaded, desire to increase home ownership among those who couldn’t yet afford to own a home. In so many cases, politicians on the right and the left, they wanted to take credit for an increase in home ownership among those with lower incomes. But the rules of the marketplace are not adaptable to the mere whims of politicians.



Lack of government wasn’t the problem. Government policies were the problem. The marketplace didn’t fail. It became exactly as common sense would expect it to. The government ordered the loosening of lending standards. The Federal Reserve kept interest rates low. The government forced lending institutions to give loans to people who, as I say, couldn’t afford them. Speculators spotted new investment vehicles, jumped on board and rating agencies underestimated risks.
And that part I bolded? Sounds like Ronald Reagan. I like that.

There is way more at the link. Too much to cover in a blog post. I do think it woluld be interesting to see how the left (they just couldn't resist) covered the speech.
Two US delegates left early, according to AFP, with one saying "it was awful, we couldn't stand it any longer." He declined to be identified.

"I'm going to call it like I see it and I will share with you candidly a view right from Main Street, Main Street U.S.A.," Palin told a room full of asset managers and other finance professionals, according to a video of part of the speech obtained by The Associated Press. "And how perhaps my view of Main Street ... how that affects you and your business."

Palin spoke out against government intervention in the economy. "We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place," Palin said, according to the Wall Street Journal. "We're not interested in government fixes, we're interested in freedom," she added.

She also praised the conservative economic policies of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, according to another attendee who declined to be named because he didn't want to be seen as speaking on behalf of his company.

She claimed that if taxes were cut and the capital gains tax and estate tax eliminated, the world would "watch the U.S. economy roar back to life."
My totally uninformed guess on the walkouts? Recipients of Government largess. Of course they couldn't stand it.

As to cutting taxes to get us out of the hole? Seems like a good idea to me. The money would go where profits are being made. That would be an automatic investment in winners rather than the Obama way of investing in the politically connected.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

What Are They Trying To Hide?

The most transparent Congress evah does not want to put the bills it votes on online 3 days before a vote. Especially not the health care bill.

Senate Finance Committee Democrats have rejected a GOP amendment that would have required a health overhaul bill to be available online for 72 hours before the committee votes.

Republicans argued that transparency is an Obama administration goal. They also noted that their constituents are demanding that they read bills before voting.

Democrats said it was a delay tactic that could have postponed a vote for weeks.
Three days equals weeks? That seems a bit math challenged to me. Considering how hard it is for some Democrats to figure out their taxes why am I not surprised?

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A Conservative Judge Says: Legalize

There are Law Enforcement Officers Against Prohibition and also at least one Conservative Judge.

A conservative trial judge from Orange County, Calif., James P. Gray has become a troubadour for the decriminalization of marijuana as the only way to put a dent in illegal trafficking and the destruction that rises from it.

Gray has been on the bench as a governor-appointed municipal court and superior court judge since 1983, served as a federal prosecutor on Los Angeles, run for Congress as a Republican and for the U.S. Senate as a Libertarian. (See: www.judgejimgray.com)

Addressing the lunch crowd at The Global Public Policy Forum on the U.S. War on Drugs on the UTEP
[University of Texas, El Paso - ed.] campus Monday, Gray said the key to the problem is demand but there is little chance that the appetite for marijuana and other drugs will lessen in the United States.
Judge Gray sees it as a civil liberty issue.
“We have lost more of our civil liberties because of the War on Drugs than anything, and if we lose our civil liberties to the government, we almost never get them back,” Gray said.

So, he said, anyone looking for change should not look to the government because federal agencies, from the DEA to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are hooked on the money devoted to the War on Drugs.

“The drug war may not be winnable, but it is eminently fundable,” he said.

Gray, who heard no questions or comments challenging his views Monday, said he thinks public opinion on the issue of drugs is starting to shift, largely because the cost of the government’s 40-year-long War on Drugs and toll of lives from violence spurred by the drug trade.
And yet there is a faction among the conservatives who are among the Drug War's most staunch proponents. Despite the monetary waste and loss of liberties. Go figure.

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

As Seen On Fox



You can find the infamous Bag Of Weed song from this episode at the YouTube link provided.

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Kop Corruption



One of the things that helped end alcohol prohibition was police corruption.

Barry Cooper (Kop Buster) also helped bust a police officer who was soliciting underage boys.
“Within a short time, we hope to have a corrupt police chief in jail for seven felony warrants [for] harming kids,” he told reporters. “I acted as a undercover journalist-informant, they listed me as the informant on the arrest affidavit. I befriended this officer and made him believe that I was his friend and that I wanted to clear his name. The truth was, I was relaying all that information to the Combine police department.”

Cooper continued: “As an ex-narcotics officer, I’ve experienced corruption and seen it myself. My wife suggested that I use my experience to go and start busting corrupt police officers instead of citizens. That’s when we formed ‘KopBusters,’ a reality TV show. We’re hoping to have 13 episodes up on [...] TV very soon. I feel [passionate] about my job, and we’re using these stings so I can win Texas attorney general in 2010, because in that position I can expose police corruption even further, take their salaries and begin paying police officers six-figure incomes … The one’s that deserve it.”
I wish Barry good luck. However, the very best way to end the corruption of drug prohibition is the same way we ended the corruption of alcohol prohibition. Legalize.

And visit Kop Busters

H/T Colleen via e-mail

All That Jazz



This was made in 1933. Marijuana was made illegal in 1937.

Harry Anslinger was the front man for the effort to make marijuana illegal.
Harry Anslinger (1892-1975) was the first US drug czar. Anslinger was appointed to the newly created position of Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics on August 12, 1930 and he served in the position until 1962. He had perviously served as Assistant Prohibition Commissioner in the Bureau of Prohibition. He was responsible for the introduction of the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act which criminalized cannabis in the United States.

He is notorious among the American proponents of de-criminalization of marijuana for his manipulation of misinformation masquerading as science behind the criminalization process, the earliest form of a " War on Drugs"
Harry had only the best of taste in music.
Marijuana is taken by ...musicians. And I'm not speaking about good musicians, but the jazz type... —Harry J. Anslinger, Commissioner of the US Bureau of Narcotics, 1930 - 1962
Even in his prime Harry was known as a fraud. At least among some folks.
Even at the time, reputable experts had already deemed much of the alarmist anti-cannabis propaganda that was being disseminated in Hearst publications and quoted by Harry J. Anslinger in congressional testimony was inaccurate. Anslinger took pains to ensure that news of upcoming meetings was not circulated where any groups that might counter the proposed legislation (which taxed marijuana out of existence, in an end-run around the medical issues) would be alerted. The American Medical Association, which would likely have argued the medicinal benefits of marijuana, was notified only two days before the hearing. Their representative, Dr. William Woodward, denounced the hearings as being rooted in tabloid sensationalism, and demanded an explanation for the secrecy involved. Anslinger ignored Woodward's vociferous objections -- when before the vote he was asked by Congress if the AMA agreed that the bill should be passed, a member of Anslinger's committee replied, "Yes, they are in complete agreement."
And so for the last 70+ years we have been denied the benefits of marijuana as medicine based on the lies of a government official.

Not every one was on board with the refer madness of the time.
The La Guardia Committee was the first in depth study into the effects of smoking marijuana. It systematically contradicted claims made by the U.S. Treasury Department that smoking marijuana results in insanity, deteriorates physical and mental health, assists in criminal behavior and juvenile deliquency, is physically addictive, and is a "gateway" drug to more dangerous drugs.

The report was prepared by the New York Academy of Medicine, on behalf of a commission appointed in 1939 by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who was a strong opponent of the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act . Released in 1944, the report infuriated Harry Anslinger who was campaigning against marijuana and he condemned it as unscientific. Anslinger went on an offensive against what he saw as a "degenerate Hollywood" that was promoting marijuana use.

After high profile arrests of actors like Robert Mitchum, Hollywood gave Anslinger full control over the script of any film that mentioned marijuana.
Thankfully, as more information comes out, reefer madness is dying a slow death.

H/T Diogenes via e-mail

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Yipeee!!! Glenn Beck Is A Libertarian

It seems that Commentary Magazine is not happy about Glenn Beck being a libertarian.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on Beck. In the past I assumed he was a typical figure in the pundit and cable-media world. Only recently have I watched portions of his television program, as well as interviews with him, and heard parts of his radio program. And what I’ve seen should worry the conservative movement.

I say that because he seems to be more of a populist and libertarian than a conservative,...
I admit he is not exactly my type of libertarian. Still. The libertarians are an underrepresented group in American discourse. You know the "leave us alone people". Nice to see him garnering such large ratings on Fox.

I do think the conservative movement should be worried. Especially if they are being represented by groups such as the Values Voters coalition.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Major Electronics Magazine Covers Polywell

ECN Magazine has an article up on Polywell and other small fusion efforts. You will never guess who the author is. Heh.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Values Voters Ask A Question


I always thought that the thing to do was to bless people in the hope that they would see the light. These "Values Voters" from 2007 don't seem to see things that way.

The New York Times reports on the 2009 Values Voters Summit. The Times does have some good news for us libertarian types.
At a time when the Republican Party is in search of new leaders, the procession of familiar faces on stage Friday and in the audience was striking. Two of the party’s biggest names — Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, and Sarah Palin, the party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2008 — did not show up at all, citing scheduling conflicts.

Many Republicans have been arguing that the party’s focus on social issues is a mistake at a time when voters are concerned about the economic downturn and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the emphasis at the summit, sponsored by the Family Research Council, was still decidedly on issues like same-sex marriage and abortion.
These Republicans don't seem to have any understanding of the "leave us alone" voters.

And just in case you want to know the words to the song in the video I have a link. It is some ugly shit. Really ugly shit. Ungodly ugly shit. Some one should tell these folks to put a sock in it if they are interested in winning elections.

Because come the next election I may have to make a choice between a communist and a theocon. If that is the choice I'm given I'm going to do the same thing I did the last time I was given that choice. I'm going to vote for the communist.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Tea Parties And The Drug War

Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer who is against the drug war, had this to say about his experience at the 9/12 March Against Washington (via e-mail).

"Resistance continues to crumble: How conservative does one have to be to board a bus & travel all night to go to a march on Washington on September 12th? The DC fire department estimated the crowd at about 70,000 & I would say it might have gone to 100,000. Regardless, I was there, wearing the shirt & had about 60 ask why. Keeping in mind these were extremely serious conservatives, 80% were agreeing with the COP message of legalize all drugs.

Many more read the shirt and waved or nodded.

For the few that disagreed my standard line was: 'I believe in liberty & keeping the police out of my house.' What do you believe in?'....that tag line was effective in helping the listener understand what principles I stood for.

Love my hat: Attending a monthly conservative breakfast, the gentleman across from me, 10 years my senior, asked what COP stood for. I told him. He replied he had just given a presentation on why all drugs should be legalized & regulated. At the end of the breakfast he invited me to his 'pre 9/12 march' on Washington soiree on one condition; wear the hat.

www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org

The crowd was definitely a 'grasstops.'..doctors, lawyers & Indian chiefs affaire. For two + hours I chatted with über conservatives from all over the country.wearing my best Stetson. It was an 18 hour day and well worth it."
Howard also documents how opposition in Congress is crumbling.
And the envelope please: Nearly a year ago I reported my excitement, as chairman of the largest caucus (104 members) in the House invited me to a one hour chat. He wanted to drop (introduce) a bill to end federal prohibition of all drugs, starting with cannabis. I was unable to tell you who he was for discretionary reasons. Only senior LEAP staff and Board Members knew.

Roll the drums…Former Congressman and Republican candidate for President Tom Tancredo this week stated for the first time in public the need to legalize drugs, all drugs. Mr. Tancredo and I have been in regular contact the past 12 months, including being on his radio show. I applaud his courage to become a leader on our issue. Though no longer in Congress, he remains the spiritual head of the Congressional Immigration Caucus. I am exploiting this connection.

The Kumbayjah Moment has arrived: I attended a Senate hearing this week. Although the topic was immigration and the borders, the witnesses spent well over half their time on how federal agents are arresting drug smugglers and seizing drugs. The Chairman, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was focusing his hearing to demonstrate that the borders are now secure enough to allow the Congress to move forward with a comprehensive, immigration bill.

Near the end Senator Hatch (R-UT) stated to all, The War on Drugs has been a failure. Ladies and Gentlemen his admission has become the general tone on the Hill. His sentiments reflect the Zogby poll that 76% of Americans agree the Drug War has been a failure. As I present to staffers, there is a statistical zero pushback on declaring the Drug War a dysfunctional failure. This does not mean we are near the finish line. No. There is a lot more work to be done. Think of the 12-step process for Alcoholics Anonymous. – Hi, my name is Bob and I am an alcoholic: Hi, my name is America and the Drug War is a failure. Eleven steps to go. Kumbayjah.

Out to lunch: As you know, many believe that the Congress and federal employees live in a Lah-Lah Land and have no idea of what the real world (outside the Beltway) is like. This perception was reinforced at the above hearing. A federal police agent reported a great victory as the federal police have seized 13 million dollars (out of a yearly total of some 25 billion) in the past two months going from the US to Mexico. Upon hearing this, I reacted instinctively and made a pddffhh noise that was heard by a few around me, including a newspaper reporter and a former Congressman and hearing witness. After the hearing the reporter and I had a good chat and chuckle. Yes, it was impolite but I was unable to stop myself. Me bad.
Howard is a man after my own heart and says:

Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional & immoral domestic policy since slavery and Jim Crow.

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Who Says Marijuana Is Not Medicine?



The real crime is mentioned at the end of the story. The mom is fearful of the police for giving a child medicine that helps in ways that no other medicines helped.

The laws need to change.

Overheard At Althouse

In the comments.

It's like when Palin seized control of the terms of the health care debate with a post on her Facebook page. The world has turned absolutely upside down..

Nice feather in the cap for Democrats. Punked by a chick on Facebook. And arguably one of thee dumbest chicks on Facebook, which is saying something.
Evidently she is a lot smarter than Democrats. Which is saying something considering how the Democrats are always braying about how smart they are.

California Says NO To Solar Power

California is not going to build a thermal solar plant in the desert. It seems the "environmentalists" are against it. You know. The usual. It is unnatural.

A proposed solar energy project in the California desert that caused intense friction between environmentalists and the developers of renewable energy has been shelved.

BrightSource Energy Inc. had planned a 5,130-acre solar power farm in a remote part of the Mojave Desert, on land previously intended for conservation. The company, based in Oakland, Calif., said Thursday that it was instead seeking an alternative site for the project.

The Wildlands Conservancy, a California environmental group, had tried to block the solar development, as had Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who proposed that the area become a national monument.

The land was donated by Wildlands to the Interior Department during the Clinton administration, with assurances from President Bill Clinton himself, the group says, that it would be protected in perpetuity. But the Energy Policy Act of 2005, a Bush administration initiative, opened the land to the development of solar projects.
I think this is just another example of the Cloward-Piven strategy at work. Create a crisis and then put the government in charge of "fixing" the problem. You have to wonder why Californians are such suckers for this strategy, given that the State is bankrupt.

H/T Watts Up With That

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Obama Was A Trainer For ACORN

Here is what ACORN had to say about Mr. Obama.

Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office. Thus, it was natural for many of us to be active volunteers in his first campaign for State Senate and then his failed bid for U.S. Congress in 1996. By the time he ran for U.S. Senate, we were old friends. And along about early March, we started to see that the African-American community had made its move: when Sen. Obama’s name was mentioned at our Southside Summit meeting with 700 people in attendance from three southside communities, the crowd went crazy. With about a week to go before the election, it was very clear how the African-American community would vote. But would they vote in high enough numbers?

It seemed to us that what Obama needed in the March primary was what we always work to deliver anyway: increased turnout in our ACORN communities. ACORN is active on the south and west sides of Chicago, in the south suburbs and on the east side of Springfield, the state capital. Most of the turf where we organize in is African American, with a growing Latino presence in Chicago’s Little Village and the suburbs.
And where did I get the hint to look for the Obama ACORN connection?

From this Glenn Beck video.

And what made me look into that? A story about the genesis of the current situation by Glenn Beck where Glenn discusses the Cloward Piven strategy. And of course you have heard of the Cloward-Piven strategy from my pre-election post Barney Frank Frankly Not Frank which discusses how the mortgage crisis got started.

You can actually learn something useful about Cloward and Piven from the wiki.
The Cloward-Piven strategy refers to a political strategy outlined by Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, then both sociologists and political activists at the Columbia University School of Social Work, in a 1966 article in The Nation. The two argued that many Americans who were eligible for welfare were not receiving benefits, and that a welfare enrollment drive would create a political crisis that would force U.S. politicians, particularly the Democratic Party, to enact legislation "establishing a guaranteed national income."

Cloward and Piven’s article is focused on forcing the Democratic Party, which in 1966 controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress, to take federal action to help the poor. They argued that full enrollment of those eligible for welfare “would produce bureaucratic disruption in welfare agencies and fiscal disruption in local and state governments” that would “deepen existing divisions among elements in the big-city Democratic coalition....
OK. How about some more of the picture?
First proposed in 1966 and named after Columbia University sociologists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, the "Cloward-Piven Strategy" seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.

Inspired by the August 1965 riots in the black district of Watts in Los Angeles (which erupted after police had used batons to subdue a black man suspected of drunk driving), Cloward and Piven published an article titled "The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty" in the May 2, 1966 issue of The Nation. Following its publication, The Nation sold an unprecedented 30,000 reprints. Activists were abuzz over the so-called "crisis strategy" or "Cloward-Piven Strategy," as it came to be called. Many were eager to put it into effect.

In their 1966 article, Cloward and Piven charged that the ruling classes used welfare to weaken the poor; that by providing a social safety net, the rich doused the fires of rebellion. Poor people can advance only when "the rest of society is afraid of them," Cloward told The New York Times on September 27, 1970. Rather than placating the poor with government hand-outs, wrote Cloward and Piven, activists should work to sabotage and destroy the welfare system; the collapse of the welfare state would ignite a political and financial crisis that would rock the nation; poor people would rise in revolt; only then would "the rest of society" accept their demands.
Now who was it that said "never let a serious crisis go to waste"? Rahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief of Staff. And what does a Chief of Staff do? Well he helps to fill staff positions wih the appropriate people. People like Communist Van Jones, Obama's former Green Jobs Czar. Or how about radical John Holdren, Obama's Science Czar.

You know it looks like these folks have a plan for America. And I don't think I like the plan.

And to think it all started to come apart with an attempt to start a child prostitution ring that was aided by ACORN.
Members of a community organisation closely linked to US president Barack Obama have been secretly filmed advising a fake pimp and his prostitute on how to evade authorities.

The video is seen as a serious setback for Obama, who has previously worked for Acorn, America's largest community organisation representing minorities and the poor.

Acorn was also a major supporter of Obama's campaign to become president, even though it is a non-profit non-partisan government organisation that receives over $70 million in taxpayer money.

Conservative activist James O'Keefe, along with a bogus prostitute, filmed Acorn workers advising on tax advantages for underage prostitutes.

In the video, an Acorn worker is heard telling O'Keefe that "under sixteen, yeah, so you'll be eligible for a child tax credit".

The worker also tells O'Keefe on how not to get caught by police.
If you haven't seen the videos you can watch them here:

Acorn Videos. And more is to come says Andrew Breitbart at Hot Air.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Obama Hates Democrats

The New York Times passes on the rumor that Obama has asked New York Governor David Patterson to withdraw from the New York Governor's Race.

President Obama has sent a request to Gov. David A. Paterson that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race, fearing that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing, according to two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative with direct knowledge of the situation.

The decision to ask Mr. Paterson to step aside was proposed by political advisers to Mr. Obama, but approved by the president himself, one of the administration officials said.
That sounds racist to me. Why? David Patterson is Black.

H/T Lois Koenig via Facebook

Cross Posted at Classical Values

This Is Getting Serious




From the fine blog Dispatches from The Camp Of The Saints.... Whose author, Robert Belvedere, claims to be a:
[DHS-Certified Rightwing Extremist / White House Certified 'Fishy' / Carter-Certified Raaaaacist!]. In other words an all around good guy you should visit.

H/T R. Dave via e-mail

Saturday, September 19, 2009

On The Margins

Eric at Classical Values was discussing the efforts to maginalize Glenn Beck. In that piece Eric also mentions the Drug Warriors on the right. Reality of course is much more hilarious than anything I could imagine. Instapundit shows that the Democrats are using Glenn (who claims to be a libertarian) to make fun of the outcry against Obama's Czars.



And who do they (through Glenn) pick on first? The Drug Czar. So can we expect to see a concerted effort to eliminate the Drug Czar position? One can only hope.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Friday, September 18, 2009

Back When The Left Liked Israel



The group doing the singing is The Weavers. Pete Seeger was a member. Pete was a at one time a communist and as far as I know he is still on the left (he did repudiate Stalin).

H/T R. Dave via e-mail

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Thursday, September 17, 2009

A Better Fake

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Audacity of Hos
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorHealthcare Protests


If you haven't been following the ACORN scandal you can get up to speed here.

H/T Instapundit

They Were Always Crooks

“The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods.” - H. L. Mencken

Menken Quotes

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Texas Style



These folks are not native Hebrew speakers. They don't do the hard "ch" right. Still. I loved it! Klezmer style - Mickey Katz would be proud. (check out "Kiss of Meyer" a Yiddish classic I loved as a kid)

Here are some Chinese who do the hard "ch" (Ashkenazi pronunciation) better. Funny. They don't look Jewish.

Here is a jazzed up version (Klezmer style, Sephardic pronunciation) by a native Hebrew speaker.

Surfer version by Dick Dale.

H/T R. Dave via e-mail

Cross Posted at Classical Values

ACORN Is Looking For A Few Good Gynecologists - Or Is Bill Gates In Favor Of Child Prostitution?

By now you are familiar with the ACORN Child Prostitution ring scandal. If not watch this video. Or you could watch this video. Among others.

Well ACORN is embarrassed and plans to investigate what went wrong and who is to blame.

ACORN, calling the actions of some of its employees “indefensible,” has suspended advising new clients as part of its service programs and is setting up an independent review to see what happened.

ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis said in a written statement that she was “ordering a halt to any new intakes into ACORN’s service programs until completion of an independent review.”
Is the investigation going to be on the up and up? What do you think?

One way to tell is to see how they intend to do the investigation.
In addition, she said, "ACORN's independent Advisory Council will help select an independent auditor/reviewer no later than September 18th to review all of the systems and processes called into question by the videos."

In early 2009, ACORN set up an independent Advisory Council to help put together a new management team under Lewis. Lewis was appointed to the job in the fall of 2008 after disclosure of a set of improper management decisions by the founder of the organization.

The Advisory Council includes John Podesta, president of the liberal Center for American Progress; Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a former lieutenant governor of Maryland; Andrew Stern, international president of Service Employees International Union; Henry Cisneros, a former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; John Banks, vice president of Government Relations Con Ed; and Eric Eve, senior vice president of Global Consumer Group, Community Relations, of Citigroup.
John Podesta? President of a liberal Center? Yeah. He is going to go after them with tooth and nail.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend? A member of the Kennedy clan. Is she going to make the Democrats look bad by bringing down the hammer on ACORN? Sure. Why wouldn't she do the right thing?

Andy Stern whose SEIU is tied at the hip with ACORN? I'm sure he will show considerable independent judgment. NPR (yeah that NPR) has the story:
ACORN's biggest union backer, the Service Employees International Union, gave more than $4 million to the community organization and its affiliates from 2006-07, according to Dept. of Labor filings. One SEIU local union, the Illinois Homecare Workers and Home Childcare Providers, sprouted from ACORN's organizing efforts and pays rent to ACORN.

ACORN's affiliates also pick up money from the Change to Win labor federation, the Food and Commercial Workers Union and the United Federation of Teachers, among others.
Henry Cisneros of HUD? Yeah right.
...the Department of Housing and Urban Development gave ACORN Housing Corp. $8.2 million from 2003 to 2006, according to USAspending.gov. ACORN Housing provides counseling, classes, and access to special loans to low-income homebuyers. HUD has given another $1.6 million to other ACORN affiliates since 2003.
Henry would have absolutely no reason to sweep anything under the rug. None at all.

John Banks of Com Ed? I got nothing on him. Yet.

Eric Eve of Citi Group? Citi got $45 billion in TARP funds. Are they going to do any thing to unduly embarrass the government and threaten their gravy train? Nope. This particular abortion will get buried as expeditiously as possible with a minimum of fuss.

How about some other connections.
...Project Vote -- the voter mobilization organization that works closely with and draws its leadership from ACORN -- paid ACORN and an affiliate $5.4 million in 2006. But where does Project Vote get its money? Normally it's hard to tell, but we obtained a 2006 tax return showing the nonprofit's funders, including: $4.5 million from the charitable trust of the investment management firm Vanguard; $425,000 from the Bauman Family Foundation, which also gives to the People for the American Way; and $396,000 from the liberal phone company Working Assets.
How about that Project Vote? Well I have some dirt on them. Mr. Obama did some legal work for them.

How about foundations supporting ACORN?
The foundations that give to ACORN & Co. vary widely. There are some classically liberal ones: The Bauman Family Foundation gave $350,000 to ACORN's American Institute for Social Justice. George Soros' Open Society Institute gave $300,000 to that institute and $250,000 to ACORN proper. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation gave the institute $1.8 million.

But some of the biggest donors are mainstream foundations of big corporations, according to data from the Foundation Center. The JPMorgan Chase Foundation gave $2.4 million to ACORN Housing and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation gave $1.4 million. Citigroup's foundation gave $1.5 million to the social justice institute.

Other major donors include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gave $1.4 million for an education reform campaign. The Ford Foundation has given $1.3 million, including $257,000 this year for "public education and technical assistance to grassroots groups working to expand access to the Earned Income Tax Credit, living wage ordinances and paid sick days." Foundations affiliated with the late founder of the United Parcel Service gave a combined $6.4 million.
Just what kind of education do Bill and Melinda support for Salvadoran child prostitutes? Something better than what the ACORN folks had in mind I hope.

How about individuals?
The 527 organization Fund for America was set up last year by top liberal donors and operatives to help fund pro-Democratic organizations this election season, but it ended up folding. The Fund, itself bankrolled by George Soros and others, gave $200,000 to ACORN.

ACORN has also had its own affiliated 527s. Communities Voting Together, for example, was founded to "educate and mobilize low income voters in key communities in key battleground states in the run-up to the 2004 presidential elections, focusing on Latino and African-American neighborhoods." The group received $125,000 from film producer Jeanne Levy-Hinte; $100,000 from environmentalist donor John R. Hunting, whose wealth comes from the Steelcase office furniture company; $80,000 from the president of Working Assets, and $70,000 from Linda Pritzker of the Hyatt fortune.

There's a lot more to ACORN's financial picture that we can't complete here. ACORN's network is complex, and money often transfers from one affiliate to another, making it hard for outsiders to keep track of it all. But one thing is for sure: ACORN is busy.
For sure they have been busy. Doing one of the biggest money laundering schemes in America.

Linda Pritzker has quite a family. Take her Cousin Penny.
...lets start with a well known Chicago name Penny Pritzker. It starts with a bank failure.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for the 1,406 people who lost much of their life savings when Superior Bank of Chicago went belly up in 2001 with over $1 billion in insured and uninsured deposits. This collapse came amid harsh criticism of how Superior’s owners promoted sub-prime home mortgages. As part of a settlement, the owners paid $100 million and agreed to pay another $335 million over 15 years at no interest.

The uninsured depositors were dealt another blow recently when the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court decision to put any recovered money toward the debt that the bank owners owe the federal government before the depositors get anything.

But this seven-year-old bank failure has relevance in another way today, since the chair of Superior’s board for five years was Penny Pritzker, a member of one of America’s richest families and the current Finance Chair for the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, the same candidate who has lashed out against predatory lending.
How charming. A family that looks out for the little people.

Well there you have it. The team of gynecologists in charge of doing the internal investigation of ACORN. And some of their connections.

In my opinion this will not be over until ACORN, SEIU, Project Vote, and every one connected with them goes down. If you find out stuff about them I can use send it to me. Or blog it yourself. And don't forget to save every incriminating page in your own computer. Just in case they try to disappear the evidence.

Happy hunting.

H/T Instapundit along with many other links.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

I Started A New Blog

Because of this.

You can find it at Simon Politico

Shocked

From the Mail Online comes a bit of news about White House reaction to the 9/12 March Against Washington.

As many as one million people flooded into Washington for a massive rally organised by conservatives claiming that President Obama is driving America towards socialism.

The size of the crowd - by far the biggest protest since the president took office in January - shocked the White House.
Glenn Beck has a few words to say to a caller about the DC March.
CALLER: Oh, my gosh.

GLENN: And they also quote somebody in the White House saying that the White House was shocked at the number. Now, you're not going to get that in the mainstream press here in America, but that's what the Daily Mail is reporting today.

Now, everybody in Washington knows, and the great thing is America now understands. America now knows that America is awake. It is the best news ever. America is awake.

So don't worry about what you see in the mainstream media. Start keeping track of who you can trust and who you can't. You know, I said, when was it, last Wednesday maybe when this ACORN stuff started to come out, I wondered why nobody would cover the Van Jones story when it happened. I asked for answers. I just wanted somebody to answer the question: How much power does this guy have, who let him into the White House, what does all of this mean for the policies of the president.
My local paper (the Rockford Register Star in case you are interested) has been very light on coverage of this movement. So I wrote them a love letter:

I noticed you missed the Van Jones story - until he was gone.
I noticed you missed the ACORN taxfraud/child prostitution story - and now Congress has cut ACORN funds.
I noticed you have been very light on the Tea Party stories and yet those parties are having a huge effect on politics in America.

I'm told by the Mail Online (a Brit paper) that Mr. Obama was shocked at the size of the demonstrations. How come they report it and you are silent?

Conservatives outnumber liberals in all 50 states.

Something is happening here and you don't know what it is. Or at least you are not reporting it.

You know it would be a shame if you started going down the Washington Post road - losing $1.10 for every paper sold.

You may find this blog from Russia interesting:

Red Tape
It is said that Washington DC Police estimate about 1.2 Million people collected to protest Obama and socialistic policies on Sept. 12. Estimates are as high as 2 million people. It depends on what time of day the estimate was from. That's a lot of people! Apart from this protest there were protests in many cities in every state in the union. One DC police officer said, “I’ve been here 20 years and this is the largest crowd I’ve ever seen.”

This is HUGE news! Funny how most media ignores and belittles this backlash. The media in the USA has become like Putin's state media. I see very little difference in the way US news anchors and major media news treat negative stories on the Obama White House and the way the protests against Putin were handled by Russian press and the way Putin dismissed his critics as loons influenced by the West and the US. What makes the massive turnout around the country so significant is that it is the first truly conservative mass movement in American history. And Obama fled to Minnesota for the day!

Though even news sources reported numbers from 70,000 to as high as 1.5 million there is now an argument over the number, and protesters are being labeled as white bigots, old, hicks and even Republicans, when in reality they are non-partisan.
A Russian blogger gets it and you don't. I hope you are suitably amused.

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This is so amazing to me. Media shouting led to Obama's rise. Their silence will lead to his downfall. Because the silence enrages the Americans who are being ignored. Those Americans will keep raising their voices until they are heard. Town Halls were not enough. A million people in Washington were not enough. I'm thinking a 40 seat loss in the House for supporters of the President will get some attention. And if that is not enough there is always 2012.

H/T Instapundit

My Party



From 9/12 in DC.

H/T Instapundit