Have you ever watched the Rev. Al Sharpton’s television show on MSNBC and wondered what you’d get if you combined his ignorance of American history with James Carville’s inability to quit speaking? If so, you’ve probably concluded, as I have, that you’d get someone who sounds a lot like Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. (Yes, the same Congresswoman Lee who, while visiting NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories in 2005, infamously asked whether the Mars Pathfinder had taken a photograph of the flag Neil Armstrong planted on Mars in 1969.)

And as I listened to Lee speak recently, February 8th, on Ed Schultz’s radio show, it dawned on me anew that responsibility for many of our nation’s current woes can be directly traced to the fact the we’ve placed congressional members and senators in power who know little to nothing about recent American history, much less events surrounding our nation’s founding.

For example, when Schultz asked Lee why anyone would think Congressional Republicans wanted to better the economy when their chief focus appears to be defeating the president, Lee concurred, in a round-about way, then said:

As I have scanned the annals of history, during the tenure of many presidents, obviously the recent presidents of JFK and Lyndon Baines Johnson, of Richard Nixon who was impeached, and subsequently Ford and Carter. I cannot find in the statement of a message of a minority leader, majority leader, or speaker, whose message has been defeat the commander-in-chief.

Wow. The “recent presidents” Lee referenced were JFK, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter. JFK died in 1963 and Carter left office in January of 1981. In other words, “recent” to Lee is somewhere between 31-to-49 years ago? Moreover, Lee said Nixon was impeached. Seriously folks, Nixon made history by becoming the first president in U.S. history to resign the office, and of course he resigned before charges of impeachment were brought against him.

(more…)

“This I am sure, whoever, ruler or subject, by force goes about to invade the rights of either prince or people, and lays the foundation for overturning the constitution and frame of any just government, is highly guilty of the greatest crime, I think, a man is capable of….Whosoever uses force without right, as every one does in society, who does it without law, puts himself into a state of war with those against whom he so uses it; and in that state all former ties are cancelled, all other rights cease, and every one has a right to defend himself, and to resist the aggressor. This is so evident, that Barclay himself, that great assertor of the power and sacredness of kings, is forced to confess, That it is lawful for the people, in some cases to resist their king…”

- John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 1690

The words and ideas of philosopher John Locke stirred the Founders of our nation to rise in revolution against the British crown. Alongside the Gadsden flag–”Don’t Tread On Me”–that has become a favorite emblem of today’s Tea Party, the forces of George Washington also flew the Pine Tree Flag with the motto: “An Appeal To Heaven.” It was a reference to Locke’s teaching that power and right ultimately lay in the hands of the people themselves.

In 2008, the American people elected a man whose life story represented the fulfillment of the Founders’ nascent vision of the equality of all human beings, and whose rise to power bespoke the very American exceptionalism he himself declined to profess. Yet this man, who could have achieved greatness far beyond his oratory skill, could not transcend the left’s rhetoric of violence and conflict, and could not resist the temptation to divide and rule.

For three years, he and his political allies have used violent words: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Senator Obama said as he campaigned in 2008. “Punch back twice as hard,” Obama’s deputy chief of staff (now campaign manager) told Democrats in 2009. “Punish” your “enemies,” Obama told Latino voters in 2010. “Take out” the “sons of bitches,” a union leader said before Obama at a rally this month. Today Democratic strategists justify Obama’s naked class warfare by accusing Republicans of a “war on the middle class”–a false charge, calculated to incite and inflame hatred.

For three years, that rhetoric has had real and regrettable results: physical intimidation at a polling place in Philadelphia, which the Obama justice department refuses to prosecute; assault, battery and mayhem committed by union thugs against citizens at town hall meetings; harassment of executives at their homes by bussed-in “community organizers; and, most recently, hostage-taking by union members engaged in illegal strikes–real hostage-taking, not the trumped-up kind Obama has invoked in rhetorical attacks against his political opponents.

Violence is wrong, and anyone who uses violence to achieve a political purpose does violence to our American values. Yet from Bill Ayers to James Hoffa, Jr., the left has embraced–and the media has largely ignored–Obama’s violent associates. Until CNN finally acknowledged the Tea Party as a legitimate political movement by hosting its recent presidential debate, the media generally assisted the left in casting the Tea Party as extreme, racist, and “terrorist,” blaming it for events like the Tuscon atrocity.

(more…)

Background information is here: Breitbart.tv – NBC News Caught Red Handed ‘Selectively Editing’ & ‘ Doctoring’ Video to Smear Gov Perry as Racist

Cross-Posted: TobyToons.com (Conservative Political Cartoons)

Last night was a stunning success for the heroic middle class and for organized labor! Progressives seized control of two Republican state senate seats in Wisconsin–one of the few times in American history that a recall election has been successful, and on so grand a scale!

And that’s just the beginning. We are going to recall that pathetic Koch addict, so-called “governor” Scott Walker, as well! We are on the march to total victory!

True, we lost four of the other six recall elections yesterday. True, we failed to win the third seat necessary to take control of the state senate and begin rolling back Walker’s devastating attack on workers’ rights. True, we spent $30 million, much of it taken from the hard-earned dues of our members. True, we must now rally our exhausted and rather demoralized ground troops to defend two shaky Democrat-held seats next week.

Comrades–these failures point to the far greater victory that we achieved last night! We defended the “middle class” against evil corporations and Tea Party terrorists! We stood up to a tsunami of Citizens United-enabled outside money, and unleashed our own flood of Citizens United-enabled outside money! We rallied a huge crowd of red-shirted thugs at Ed Schultz’s live election coverage on MSNBC, smashing any pretense at objectivity!

Don’t you see what that means? We have sent a clear message to the nation: we are so fanatically devoted to the progressive cause that even losing elections will not deter us! The radical left and the public-sector unions have taken control of the Democratic party, and we are willing to destroy it in order to save it! We, the revolutionary vanguard of the middle class proletariat, have declared war on America–and we will not be defeated!

(more…)

Somewhere lurking in the hot, putrid halls of Congress this summer is a union bailout bill of epic proportions and long-term ramifications.   Whether or not Democrats can ultimately push it (or something like it) into passage is yet to be determined. However, with rumors that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) signed on as a co-sponsor on Thursday, it would appear that the union bailout is quietly creeping along.  If it passes, though, its ramifications surpass the mere $165 billion-plus price tag, as it will influence the political landscape for decades to come.  In sum, Democrats need the bailout desperately and Republicans should shun it like the plague.

Likely to surpass the touted $165 billion it is estimated to cost, Create Jobs and Save Benefits Act (S. 3157) was introduced on March 23rd by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and is designed to bailout unions’ underfunded pension funds by transferring the liability of those funds onto the backs of the taxpayers.

Under these bills, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) would, at the request of the plans, have the authority to take over the pension obligations of employers who have withdrawn from the plans, and pay the benefits out of taxpayer dollars, says Furchtgott-Roth:

• Once the PBGC shoulders that obligation, it would keep making payments until the last retiree or designated survivor dies.
• Since many multiemployer plans are in financial difficulty, this legislation, if enacted, could dramatically increase the federal deficit, putting even more pressure on the American taxpayer and the economy.
• Depending on events, it might add billions to government spending — current underfunding levels are estimated at $165 billion-bumping up future deficits.

According to a June 24th article published in the Bureau of National Affairs Construction Labor Report (subscription required):

If enacted into law, the bill would convert a private funding shortfall for collectively bargained multi-employer plans into a public obligation, said Brett McMahon, vice president of Miller and Long Concrete Construction and an ABC member.

The legislation would transfer a portion of multiemployer pension funding obligations to a new insurance program that would be operated by the PBGC and paid for with taxpayer dollars instead of employer-paid premiums, F. Vincent Vernuccio, a spokesman for the trade group’s advocacy organization, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said during the call.

At the heart of the union pension problem are companies that, in many cases, agreed to put retirement money for union workers into “multi-employer plans” but have since gone out of business. As the unionized workers in multi-employer plans are still entitled to a pension, the remaining employers are left funding the pensions of workers who, in many cases, they never employed.

(more…)

Between February 27, 2009, and today we learned something.

We learned that this administration is bent on subverting republican government. Article IV of the Constitution — and its guarantee of a republican form of government — means nothing to Obama, the Congressional majority, and Obama’s Supreme Court appointees. Obama rules by decree. Elena Kagan’s okay with banning books.

November 2 is our last chance to stop the free fall into tyranny.

In many states, including my home state of Missouri, passions rage in advance of the August 3 primary. I understand. To a degree, I helped enflame those passions by launching a tea party in February of last year.  But that was before we fully understood what’s going on in Washington—before we realized that Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats (not to mention Woody Allen and Ed Schultz) believe in tyranny.

On August 3 and November 2, I will follow the advice of the wisest man I every met, William F. Buckley Jr. Buckley’s rule for picking a candidate was simple: “Always support the rightward-most, viable candidate.” I would ask the same of everyone whose advanced the cause of liberty in the past seventeen months or longer.

Some good, sincere people want to tear down candidates they believe are less than ideal.  In some election years, I’m inclined to do the same.  But not this year. Not with what we know.

(more…)

Rep. George Miller (D-CA) is Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. Noone would ever mistake him for a member of the Blue Dog Caucus–the organization of relatively ‘moderate’ democrats in Congress. Not to put to fine a point on it, he is an unreconstructed leftist of the highest order. A Saul Alinsky Sith Lord, if you will. Yet, even Rep. Miller thinks ACORN’s days may be numbered.

Appearing tonight on the Ed Schultz show on MSNBC, Rep. Miller had this to say about ACORN:

But, they’ve made some horrendous mistakes. I don’t know whether or not they can survive it.  We’ll see what the investigations say.

Yes, we will. (more…)

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis has taken on the (daunting) task of defending ACORN in the mainstream media. Her Politico bio is here. **UPDATE** MSNBC videos have been removed from the site. They are a couple days old at this point and we aren’t certain the explanation at this time.

**UPDATE**
TODAY Show vid recovered here: