Combating the icon isn't easy, but friend Christina Molina is tireless when it comes to debunking the myth of Castro's executioner, whether painted on the side of a food truck, or the t-shirt.

 Here's her latest from The Tolucan Times:

 From Pop Culture to Slop Culture: The Importance of Educating Yourself Before Jumping on a Bandwagon

Pop culture icons have been around as long as I can remember. They can be anything from a real person to a character or symbol. Some of the most well-known pop culture icons on the human side include Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, and Pee-wee Herman. People find ways to identify with these icons and they proudly display them on t-shirts, hats, bracelets, etc. This is a common and acceptable practice, right?

Now picture yourself walking down the street and you see a guy coming towards you. He is wearing a t-shirt with someone’s face on it. As he gets closer, you realize that the “icon” he has chosen to display on his shirt is Adolf Hitler or maybe Osama bin Laden. What do you think now? Is this just another famous pop culture icon or has this person crossed the line? Chances are you will feel shocked, confused, and offended by this ignorant display of bad taste.

Cuban Americans, many of us who live in the San Fernando Valley (especially in the cities of Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena), are shocked, confused, and offended regularly by one of the most mass-produced pop culture images: the image of Che Guevara. In case the name doesn’t ring a bell, just think of a bearded man in a beret and at the top of the beret, a red star. Yes, that guy, made popular by bands like Rage Against the Machine and worn everywhere across the various Occupy movements in the country. To those proudly displaying his face on their clothing and hats who don’t know any better, he is a symbol of the revolution and he is a hero.

Let’s talk a bit about Ernesto “Che” Guevara and let’s discover who he really was. He was born to a wealthy Argentinean family and as a child, he loved to read. He began reading the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, which influenced him greatly in his adult life. He studied medicine, but was considered a failure because he never actually became a doctor nor did he ever open his own medical practice. He joined forces with Fidel Castro and helped him launch the revolution in Cuba, which overthrew the Batista regime. The Cuban people believed the message they had been sold by Castro and Guevara, so they initially lent their support to the cause. Sadly, they soon came to realize that everything they had been promised was a lie.

Ernesto Che Guevara did not believe in free elections, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, press, assembly or any other rights granted to us here in the United States. He was a homophobe, a racist, and had no tolerance for anyone whose beliefs differed from his. He was a mass-murderer who led firing squads that killed innocent men, women, and children simply because they did not share his ideology. He believed that a “…revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.”

Is this the kind of guy whose image someone really wants to proudly wear on a t-shirt? Are these Che t-shirt-wearing “rebels” really aware of whom the real Che was, or do they simply not care? This is the Land of the free, the United States of America, and thank goodness we have the right to wear what we want and believe in what we want. The purpose here is not to impose censorship by any means; it is to educate and open the eyes of those who probably do not know. If more folks were educated about who Che really was, then maybe parents would hesitate before buying their kids merchandise with his face on it. Maybe even adults would think twice before walking around with a red-star clad beret. Ultimately it is your choice, but if you wouldn’t walk around wearing a Hitler or bin Laden t-shirt, then why would you walk around in a Che t-shirt?

I recently purchased a t-shirt displaying Che’s face with a big red circle and slash across his face (as in “Say No to Che”). While walking with my daughter in Old Town Pasadena on Jan. 2, a man in a wheelchair began to yell at me. He screamed, “Viva Venezuela!” and then he yelled for me to kiss his rear end. (Of course he used a much more colorful word.) What could I do? Here is this man in a wheelchair and I would really look like a big jerk if I stood there and engaged in a full-scale argument with him. I simply acknowledged his remarks as trash and kept on walking. Trust me; it took everything to hold back from engaging, but I did not want to expose my daughter to further insults. This man knew who Che was and he chose to verbally attack me for wearing my anti-Che shirt, as it was his right to do so. (I can only imagine what would happen to him in Venezuela if he tried to exercise the same freedom of speech!)

On Jan. 3, I was at Disneyland with my mom, daughter, and niece. Since my dad proudly served in the United States Army, I wanted my mom to experience the daily flag retreat ceremony. (If you haven’t experienced the flag retreat at Disneyland, you are missing out — it’s a treat!) During the ceremony, members of the Armed Forces, past and present, are invited to stand around the flagpole as the flag is lowered. As the hymn of the United States Marine Corps played, an elderly woman was helped out of her wheelchair by her son. She stood there with great difficulty, but she held her head high with pride as she saluted the American Flag and tears streamed down her face. After the ceremony I approached her and I thanked her for her service. She was a WWII Veteran and had met her husband in the Marine Corps. Before I could thank her any further, she looked at my shirt and said, “I really like your shirt! A lot of people don’t know who he really was, but you know! Good for you! Thank you for wearing that!” I could not believe that this American hero was thanking me for wearing my shirt. I asked to take a photo with her and in turn, her son requested if he could take a photo with me because she wanted one with me in that anti-Che Guevara t-shirt. My mom could only look in amazement. It’s not very often that she actually tells me that she’s proud of me, but she sure let me know how impressed she was with me and how proud she is that I stand up for what I believe in.

Now that you know, will you stand up for what you believe in? Or will you choose to follow the sheepish masses as they continue to idolize a mass murderer and Communist icon? Food for thought….

The author, Cristina M. Molina, poses with a WWII Veteran and U.S. Marine who quickly recognized and commended Cristina on her anti-Che Guevara t-shirt.

Given my late night heavy last night this caught my eye today. Chock-full of tongue-in-cheek (and a sprinkling of colorful language and racy metaphor) , but peppered with a lot of truth of the 5 ways the Occupy Wall Street Generation was ruined.

This is good...

See, we were raised on 1980s movies and sitcoms, and the "cold, unfeeling grownup who works too hard" was the villain in half of them. The whole point of these "body switching" comedies -- where a kid winds up in the body of a grownup -- was that the career-driven workaholic dad learned what life was really all about. The message was clear: If you work too hard, you'll lose your soul.

The characters who worked their asses off were shown to be stiff prudes who come down on the lighthearted main character with an iron fist. Or maybe that person is the main character, but by the end they realize that the only way to truly enjoy life is to lighten up and embrace their inner child. They finally stand up and quit their grindstone job in a hail of applause, and live a life of stress free bliss. As a side note, at some point, those people had to urinate ... so the little kid trapped in the dad's body...

Yeah, goes into some colorful language and racy metaphor right there, so go to the link and read the whole article for a much needed laugh. I think you will find yourself seeing the truth behind the snarking. After reading it I came to the conclusion the #OWS movement is useful idiots abuse.

PS: Had to add this because I feel it balances the above article ... Actor John Ratzenberger has his head on pretty straight on America's workforce problems:

Here is an idea...

If the #OWS does not disband their squatters' encampment within a week, and clean up after themselves on their way out, then the private owner of the Zuccotti Park (who has connections to Obama and and "green energy loans") that has welcomed the interlopers and pressured the mayor and city officials NOT to remove the growing group early on, should be charged by the city for any loitering penalties that would be normally put upon each individual squatter, fines for having such an obvious violation for non-permit issuance for such an extended and consistent gathering, litter and noise fines, fines for the land being used as a residence when it is not zoned as such, and be forced to clean and renovate the park grounds to an original aesthetically acceptable state comparable to its appearance prior to the onslaught of human sloth and waste or be fined and charged for the city to make it so. Also, the individual businesses along the park should file a class action suit against the park owners for financial losses and any duress incurred over the last couple months of this obstruction on that part of New York City. But they won't...

"As an old friend of Trotsky’s might ask: What is to be done?"

To be sure, the protesters’ First Amendment rights should be respected — during the waking hours, and given the appropriate permits, they should be allowed to peaceably protest until Trotsky himself rises like Lazarus from the grave. But so too should the laws of the land, the rights of the property owners in Lower Manhattan, and the exigencies of reality be respected. To that end the city of New York should raze the tent city in Zuccotti Park and close the space each night, so that the area might be effectively cleaned and efficiently policed, and so that the occupied might get some sleep, too.

The more difficult question is how to accomplish this. It is plain that the occupiers are breaking the park’s posted rules, which explicitly prohibit “camping and/or the erection of tents or other structures” and loitering in a way that “interferes with the use of” the park by others. It is also clear that their continued presence is a magnet for grift and violence and a growing threat to public safety. Though the park’s owner, Brookfield Office Properties, is required, per the original development deal with the city, to keep Zuccotti open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, city zoning code does contain provisions whereby it can move to shut it down if that “closing is necessary for public safety.” If the political will existed, the eviction of the occupiers could thus be undertaken righteously. But the political class’s early decision to indulge the OWS set and the park’s ambiguous public/private status have Brookfield and Mayor Bloomberg deferring to each other. Bloomberg’s line has been that he can’t enforce the rules unless Brookfield asks him to. Brookfield’s line has been that they will follow the mayor’s lead.

And what of the residents and business owners around Zuccotti? Thus far, the members of Community Board 1, who nominally represent them, have been less than robust in addressing the situation: By a vote of 33–3 the board passed a flowery resolution in support of the squatters, and the greatest concession it has managed to secure in ongoing talks with the umpteen “working groups” at OWS is an informal agreement that the latter’s infamous percussionists would limit their drumming to a few hours each day. The obsequiousness has to this point continued up the line: Lower Manhattan’s city councilwoman, assemblyman, and state senator, along with borough president Scott Stringer, and even U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler have for weeks presented a united front in hedging between representing the concerns of their constituents and flattering the gauzy generalities of a group of no-account out-of-towners.

Yet, another example of how the #Occupy movement is NOT like the TEA Party. This is what their Democracy looks like.

What the physically challenged are good for...

What children are good for...

To Be Continued... And it promises to NOT be pretty.

HotAir has the full background on these dumb and dangerous protest moves in Washington DC last night in their attempts to shutdown the free speech at the AFP “Defending the American Dream” conference. Remember, Obama and the democrats are supporting this national bowel movement.

Too bad the MSM has their plates full chasing Herman Cain's 15 year old "sexual harassment" stuff, or I know they would be all over this. /sarc

(Damage in yesterday's Occupy Oakland mess. You might be "better than this", but you are in bad company.)

THIS is what socialism/communism looks like, kids. It is not the one-like-minded utopia you have been fed. They gather the collective, and then they lay down the alternating rules/laws, and define "truth" and "reality" at any given moment to fit their agenda and need. It is why you are called useful idiots. There are enough people living in the USA from the former USSR and Eastern Europe, and the current Communist Cuba to pick their brains about how this wonderful life under socialism/communism works. You were led to the gathering of the hive, and now you are no more than personal rights/private life eunuch worker drones for the collective to rule and roll. It might be a wake-up call for a small percentage of young mush minds of ideology that started this trek through a new world order, but perhaps a start. Lesson #1: Don't be some idiot to a cause.

YouTube: Think it's a worker's paradise at Occupy Wall Street? Guess again -- there's strife, distension and violence. Two people who have been at Occupy from day one discuss how the internal order hasn't worked for them.

More @ Ace of Spades Headquarters about how the MSM is slowly having to actually report on the dark side of this #OWS movement ...

"Welcome to the party, pals".

Now, a palate cleanser:

It is so hard to grab a really great sample from this Patriot Post piece, so I strongly suggest a full read...

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free." --John Adams, 1787

[...]

The intellectually challenged Occupy morons have built their movement around the errant assertion that if the assets of the 1 Percent were entirely redistributed, everyone would live happily ever after. Unfortunately, what the 35 Percenters really want, "redistributive justice" as Obama calls it, would require the redistribution of income from the other 65 percent of Americans families who live on earned income, so that everyone could be equally impoverished.

Of course, there's a problem with liquidating the assets of the 1 percent (comprised of more celebs and pro athletes than Wall Street bankers), or even the top 25 percent of the so-called rich: Most of their assets are on paper, and the rest of that "wealth" is in the form of small businesses and real property that support the jobs of tens of millions of Americans who actually work for a living -- and take pride in their occupations.

Thus, liquidation would result in the collapse of the entire economy, leaving everyone under the same statist tyranny as Obama's 35 Percenters -- equally miserable, equally dependent upon the government, and that much closer to Obama's mandate to implement Democratic Socialism.

Fact is, socialist economies always fail. In the inimitable words of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, "Socialist governments ... always run out of other people's money. They then start to nationalize everything."

Of course, socialists never let reality intrude upon their classist fantasies of universal equality and happiness. Nineteenth-century historian Alexis de Tocqueville once observed, "Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."

Read in full...

The drawback to being somebody's/something's useful idiot is you are the first to be expendable, no matter what level you are operating at. You are dangerous to the cause, because if the confused masses see you turn against the cause those undecided masses will then be enlightened.

How popular is this socialist (yes, it is what it is) movement in the city streets?

Poll: OWS least popular among lower income groups

Poll: Voters Viewing Occupy Wall St. Unfavorably

And a footnote to my late night post regarding Oakland. I think it is getting to the point where we will soon say Oakland is not "occupied" but has been invaded and taken over. The mayor of Oakland is a major failure to the citizens of that city. I pity the Oakland cops. This ain’t nothin’ yet. It’ll get worse. They will be torn between their union and their duty… and their own private property and families’ safety as residents of the city. I wonder if it would be possible for the city to impeach the mayor… just a thought for future reference. If anything, all this will be pre-made political ads for the person who will challenge her in the next election.

Make no mistake, a large percentage of these constant squatters are professional anarchist protesters, much the same that travel the world to make trouble at the G-Summits. They are not indigenous to the cities, in many cases. Another thing, they are trying to claim the violence and vandalism was perpetrated by Oakland cops disguised as anarchists. SERIOUSLY?

The mayor of Oakland needs to be held accountable for this by the citizens of Oakland and the business there. And not to feel left out Occupy Seattle got busy too.

I want to hear the MSM try to spin this as somebody else's fault, other than the squatters and those bussing in to assist them, and try to sell to the American people how it's just a couple bad apples in the bunch. They had better think long and hard before saying the words "Occupy" and TEA Party in the same breath ever again...

More coverage and photos and videos at Big Government, Weasel Zippers and Michelle Malkin.

Remember, Obama and select democrat leaders have come out publicly in support of this. In for a penny ... In for a pound. As are these people:

Did she say "shutting down the schools"??

Egyptian activist Mohammed Ezzeldin joined the spoiled and soiled masses. I wonder how long they would have mindlessly repeated his words had he gone into anti-Israel memes, or called for jihad, or insisted on the USA follow the doctrine of Sharia Law? A non-American inspiration for these people? Would they have listened to Lech Walesa or Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and repeated their words, or heeded their warnings?

While I respect Rep. John Lewis's work during the civil rights movement, I'm not a fan of his politics or ideology for this nation. However, I obviously respect Rep. Lewis more than these people because I would have allowed him to speak. And, agree with him or not, I believe a TEA Party rally would have allowed him to speak his mind also. Take note, if this is how they treat somebody of support, how do you think the opposition will be silenced were they to take control (we do have examples, you know)?

Occupy D.C. protesters try to storm The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Innocent tourists (families) are inside viewing the priceless historical artifacts of this nation's aeronautic accomplishments. What was their purpose for trying to cram themselves into the museum? Just an ordinary 'flash mob' disruption of noise, or worse?

There are those trying to compare the OWS to the TEA Party. On so many levels this is crap. Neither group have the same goals in mind for this nation and her people. One wants government out of our lives as much as possible so we can thrive on our own. The other is insisting government should control and provide everything, and they are angry that in the last three years it hasn't happened as quickly as they were led to believe it would. Those supporting the OWS try to point out the TEA Party isn't real American's, but is funded by "millionaires and billionaires". Really? George Soros and the powerful unions in this country are funding the OWS circus. It is very apparent these people are quite easily led away from the individual's though process, and are easily incitable. They have been trained and are supported by the same union thugs we saw in Madison, WI. late last winter. The way they have treated the areas where they have squatted for three weeks is an indication they respect nothing or nobody. These 'protesters' are beginning to out-stay their welcome. Is this what Obama had in mind? He sure is throwing his full support behind them.

Cross-posted @ CW

Open Memo to The OWS Crowds:

During these tough economic times we sure could use all the help you've been giving!

Thanks for all the free advertising!

The Evil Corporations

iLosers. iScum. iDiots.

In the course of the last week or so I have become convinced those "99%-ers" squatting on Wall Street with their expensive cameras, drums, sleeping bags, and computer laptops/iPhones, bitching and moaning they are not being taken care of in the USA, should hop on boats and head for the Hollywood/Michael Moore-endorsed People's Utopia of Cuba. The weather's much better down there. Healthcare is modern and free. Food and water are abundant. Everyone lives in a huge house and might even lovingly take you in. Not to mention the additional police, security, and street clean-up tax dollars being used to babysit you in NYC while you work hard not to work is money taken away from the city coffers in the event of, say, additional snow removal when this year's winter is worse than last year's. The people of NYC will love you even more when the snow and ice have them at a stand-still while you are unfairly and comfortably tucked inside Mom's old comforter sleeping one off on the stained couch in her basement as the hum of the gas-powered clothes dryer keeps you warm.

Dear protesters in New York City,

You are not 99 percent of America. I don't mean that in the obvious numerical sense. If 99 percent of Americans had actually joined your march, Manhattan would have flipped over by now.

What I mean is that if 99 percent of Americans actually sympathized with your cause, the entire nation's economy would have collapsed long ago -- apparently to the delight of the organizers of this current protest.

What I mean to say is, you have a marketing problem.

When you decided to sit in traffic and block the Brooklyn Bridge a few days ago, with that blazing pink "SMASH PATRIARCHY-SMASH CAPITALISM" sign in hand, you probably didn't see the regular people you stranded in traffic.

You know, the ones with real-world concerns, business to attend to, families to go home to, et cetera. You may have read about such people during college in a book called "The Petit Bourgeoisie," or something like that. Many of us grew up calling them "the middle class."

Whatever you call them, they are hurting badly in this economy, probably more than you are. (I'm just judging by that sweet digital video camera I see you holding out in front of the cops, in hopes of provoking them into a viral-video police brutality incident.)

Those people you left stuck in traffic have a hard time paying their bills and rents and health insurance and mortgages. They worry about things like finding decent schools for their children to attend and making sure they don't get fired at work, and fixing leaking roofs and chimneys.

You know what they don't worry about, ever? Smashing patriarchy and capitalism.

Read more...

Do all these unwashed hippie-wannabe-throwbacks understand the pecking order under Communism/Marxism? You will NOT simply be given all that you want and need. It will be decided for you, in spite of if it's enough, or not. You will have close to what you already do/don't have (if that), while those unions bussing in, (democrat) politicians who are rich, and the rich Hollywood celebs that have voiced support for you get to keep their money, multiple homes, jets, food, healthcare, etc while at the top tier of the party ladder. The difference is right now, with enough hard work and luck, you can become rich. Under the government/system you are screaming for you will not be permitted to ... Nor will you be permitted to approach any of these people. You are willing fools.

Meanwhile, what was/is the major complaint by the media and the left of the TEA Party rank and file? Well, that they were all violent racists because they are all white, or something ... Wait, the OWS crowds are mostly what? But here we find your average Jew-bashers and Jew-blamers. And then the "Truther" nuts. It's freakin' Woodstock without the music ... But give them time. I'm sure the rock stars will start showing up soon. One thing I keep hearing is the bizarre similarities of these college kids loitering on Wall Street ... Somehow many have parents who are college educated, but shockingly unemployed now with their homes foreclosed on, and in many cases one or the other parent has either taken gravely ill or died from the stress the banks have inflicted on them. Hmm...

Watch Neil Cavuto put the pressure on Dennis Kucinich regarding lack of support for the TEA Party's "freedom of speech" and the "right to assemble":

Excellent commentary in American Thinker titled "Obama and the 3 curses" that gets to the nub of the issue...

Recently, I came across something spooky. Composing a political comment to share with friends, I referenced the putative ancient Chinese curse may you live in interesting times. It's an old saw of unknown provenance and authenticity, but one that has gained enduring currency in the English language and seemed to capture the bitter lesson Americans have learned since falling for Barack Obama's frothy promises of hope and change.

After all, what could be more interesting than watching a young and inexperienced President set out to transform America, empowered by electoral mandate and his party's control of Congress? And President Obama did not disappoint. He boldly borrowed $5 trillion dollars to spend on bailouts and stimulus and government programs on a scale unseen before. He took over health care, auto companies and student loans. He used the power of the purse and an army of regulators flamboyantly, to recast the United States as a socialist country. How exciting to live in these most interesting of times!

And, of course, the promise turned into a curse. We have worse than nothing to show for record government spending and debt. Unemployment is stuck above 9% and we lose jobs "unexpectedly" with monotonous regularity. Gas and food prices are skyrocketing. We've extended jobless benefits into another welfare entitlement and 46 million people are on food stamps, another record. The economy has stalled and teeters on the brink of a disastrous backslide into a recession we never really escaped. And let's not forget America's historic credit downgrade and the waves of foreclosures. In Washington they talk of economic "uncertainty," but across the land there is the unmistakable stench of fear in the air.

Satisfied with my commentary, I decided to look up the Chinese quote to make sure I got the wording right. It turned out that there is no known Chinese language version of the quote, nor a definitive Western source. But what stopped me in my tracks was that this is the first of three apocryphal quotes of increasing severity, like the circles of hell. Whether genuine or not, all three contain nuggets of rueful truth that explain their enduring currency. And to read them today is to experience a shock of recognition - they are the three horsemen of the Barackalypse. [...]

Read on.

Remember this from just a month ago?

Maybe this is why Contessa felt a rather false sense of security in challenging Rep. Mo Brooks with the question...

Almost 80 percent of lawmakers might need to crack open an economics textbook before the congressional recess ends, a new study on Tuesday suggests.

The vast majority of members lack an academic background in business or economics, according to a study by the Employment Policies Institute, a nonprofit group that takes a conservative stand on fiscal issues. Only 13.7 percent majored in business or accounting, and 8.4 percent have an economics degree.

“How many members of Congress have an academic background that provided them with a basic understanding how the economy works? The answer, it turns out, is not many,” the report concluded.

On the Senate budget committee, five out of 23 members — about 20 percent — have a business/accounting or econ background, EPI research fellow Michael Saltsman told POLITICO. And on the House side, eight out of 37 members, or just over 20 percent, hold academic degrees in business or economics fields.

Weasel Zippers also reminds:

And it was Obama who claimed “professional politicians” were the ones who could understand the debt crisis and not the general public.

Yeah, except "The public at large" generally tries to stay within their budget, pay their bills, and cut-back on spending when needed ... And those stealing other people's money or caught in Ponzi schemes usually go to prison.

You know, you're just not paying quite enough yet at the grocery or the department stores. As a matter of fact, Obama has an app for that...

WASHINGTON–President Obama announced the first-ever fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for long-haul rigs, work trucks, and other heavy duty vehicles Tuesday, the second mileage pact with manufacturers in less than a month.

The regulations call for reductions on fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 2018 of 9 to 23 percent, depending on the type of vehicle. Trucks and other heavy vehicles make up only 4 percent of the domestic vehicle fleet, but given the distance they travel, the time they spend idling and their low fuel efficiency, they end up consuming about 20% of all vehicle fuel, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Experts say that a 20 percent reduction in heavy vehicle emissions would boost fuel efficiency to an average of 8 miles per gallon from 6 miles now.

EVERYTHING we eat, wear, use in our daily lives is hauled by trucks from point A to point B to point C and all along the points in its trek from ingredients to production to distribution to market so that we can purchase goods. While these big rigs (and their drivers/companies) fork-over even more money into meeting these new CAFE standards they also pass along the new strain of doing business to points A, B, C, etc. Those people pass on the cost to the consumers. And it is the same whenever a new tax is imposed on such things. The consumer really does end up paying the price ... unless the consumer stops shopping, and said businesses all the way back to point A lay-off employees or simply chain and padlock the doors and board-up the windows for good. And this includes the trucking companies/drivers.

Either this administration doesn't understand the basic hand-in-hand relationship between the economy and businesses making this nation the success it has been ... Or it does and is deliberately fighting against all parties involved, including the consumer (see: American people).

More thoughts on this @ HotAir

The dimmer switch.

It's really very hard to defend taking away the people's right to choose, as Mark Steyn points out ...

I think we ought to be harder when minor functionaries of a failed leviathan reveal themselves to have a defective understanding of the role of government in free societies. Steven Chu, the Energy Secretary who came into office saying “we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe“, has now offered up another soundbite for our times. On Friday, he defended the ban on Edison’s iconic incandescent in economic terms:

We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own money.

So what? I waste my own money on all kinds of things. If I wanted Steven Chu to have a say in it, I’d get Parson Bloomberg to marry us at Gracie Mansion.

More to the point, I wonder if Secretary Chu has any idea how stupid this argument sounds from an administration that has wasted more of other people’s money than anybody else on the planet. Secretary Chu and his colleagues took a trillion dollars of “stimulus” and, for all the stimulating it did, might as well have given it in large bills to Charlie Sheen to snort coke off his hookers’ bellies with. (In my weekend column, I touch on only the most lurid and outrageous of the government’s many smart investment decisions: its use of stimulus dollars to stimulate the Mexican coffin industry.)

Continue...

For all their crowing about "new renewable sources of energy" not-a-one of them has even a rough draft of any such 'source' to be had. Meanwhile, they are willing to make life harder, more expensive, and darker for the rest of us while they come and go as they please, burning energy, spending trillions of our money, and torching our rights. Why the hell are we letting them get away with it? Hmm?

Thanks to the inimitable Paquito D'Rivera for shedding light on this phenomenon, because I've been unable to understand how it is beneficial for Americans to spend their hard-earned, and increasingly hard to acquire dollars on propaganda shows produced by tyrannical dictators who enslave their people and hate us. While it's easy to understand why the dictator's agents of influence would promote such events, I have a hard time understanding why respected institutions of culture agree to participate, or why someone who escaped the plantation is now willing to dance for the former master, or why a son of an exile would dishonor his  father.

Yes… Libya!

By Paquito D'Rivera

Years ago, Miami’s Willy Chirino had a hit song—a cute Cuban Guaracha— with a chorus that went: “If she wears a Bikini… punish her!, If she wears a mini-skirt… punish her!” The song was about a tycoon whose wife was kind of loose. Each time she slipped, her husband would “punish” her by buying her a mansion, the latest model sports car, or a vacation with her girlfriends in The Bahamas.

Apparently the US government has taken Chirino’s parody too seriously, or perhaps someone has convinced them to apply such a peculiar disciplinary concept to the most cruel and dangerous of dictatorships in this convoluted world of ours. In a friendly and conciliatory gesture, on February 2008, the Bush administration sent the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to a gala concert in North Korea. Naturally, the despotic Kin Jon-Il didn’t even bother to attend. His answer was to increase even more his threatening atomic arsenal. Two years later, among a myriad of atrocities taking place in Cuba, pacifist Afro-Cuban doctor Oscar Elias Biscet, a devoted follower of Dr. Martin Luther King’s ideas, was sentenced to 25 years in prison; Orlando Zapata-Tamayo’s death in a hunger strike; the physical and mental abuse of his mother Reina Luisa Tamayo and to the self-sacrificing Ladies in White; the incarceration of hundreds of dissidents and even the arbitrary detention of American citizen Alan P. Gross.

It seems like to celebrate such horrors, the New York City Ballet, the Wynton Marsalis Orchestra, and also Chico O’Farrill’s orchestra, under his son Arturo’s direction, traveled to Cuba. The Ministry of Culture of the oldest (and most ridiculous) dictatorship in the hemisphere invited them. “Ours is not a political visit. It is strictly musical”, the travelers simply affirmed as if in a totalitarian country like Cuba, everything, absolutely everything, didn’t have markedly political intentions.

The examples of “friendly aggressions” of Americans against ill-governed nations by never ending tyrannies have been quite many. Of the shameful case of China business affairs we better not even talk about. But we must recognize that the massive repressive escalation of the Castro brothers’ dictatorship, finally gained the support of many more nations that united to condemn these five decades plus of abuse and arbitrariness. In the meantime, President Obama’s administration, following the Chirino song’s chorus, “punishes” the repressor by encouraging travel and cultural exchanges (unilateral of course) of American artists and their counterparts (in what is left) of the island in ruins. This basically translates into considerable new revenue of extra cash for the Castro government. Also the sponsorship of a huge Cuban festival in the city of the skyscrapers, facilitating the free use of US territory as an enormous exhibit warehouse, where they will showcase only what they decide people should see.

As we expected, in the expo named “¡Sí Cuba!”, or Yes Cuba!”, the valuable contributions of Celia Cruz, Cachao, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Zoé Valdés, Andy García, Gloria Estefan, Olga Guillot, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Bebo Valdés and so many other giants of our national culture will be absent. They have been systematically deleted from our suffering country’s history books because they oppose communism.

So, following the above mentioned examples, now that the Libyans, with the support of the civilized world, are liberating a crucial battle against Muhammar Gaddafi (or however the hell it’s spelled), I propose that –through the Libyan Embassy in Washington DC– we request that the Bedouin Coronel’s Ministry of Culture, organize the “Yes Libya!” festival. It’ll be pretty much like Fidel’s, but instead of mambos and rhumbas, they can play their own nawbah and takambas; musical styles danced by Libyans (at least by those who are still alive).

I suggest the festivities to begin with a great demonstration on camelbacks and dromedaries, loaned by the nation’s zoos that house those particular species. The camel riders, dressed as they do in the dessert, will be carrying curved swords, daggers, hand-grenades, anti-yankee placards, life size posters of the brother leader of the revolution and AKG rifles, fired occasionally by the cavalry men. (About the possible throwing of hand-grenades and other explosives against opposing demonstrators, we would submit this option to a democratic vote from the Libyan government’s organizing committee).

The cavalcade, preceded by the RPSBB (Retired Palestinian Suicide Bombers Band) and by women covered with veils and burkas, would march from Times Square to Ground Zero’s esplanade, where counting on the voluntary assistance of Casa de las Americas, Pastors for Peace, the Venceremos Brigade and the diplomatic representation of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, would put up the dictator’s (pardon me, the leader’s) legendary Bedouin tent. Once in the neighborhood, there will be a prayer on the site of the mosque that was to be built there and had caused so much controversy among the intolerant families of the twin towers’ victims; little incident that occurred so long ago. At the end of the prayers, there will be free shish kebab, couscous with chickpeas and barbecued goat testicles. Passages of the Koran will be read and there will be a give-away of the famous green book, autographed by the remarkable author, father of the revolution. A Libyan boy, wearing a Che Guevara T-Shirt, machine gun in hand, will unveil a beautiful statue of Benjamin Netanyahu hanging from an olive tree in the heart of the historical plaza, once home of the twin towers, a symbol of capitalism. At the end of the ceremony, Mayor Bloomberg will read a proclamation declaring the official day of Tripoli in New York. As evidence of Islamic tolerance, accompanied by the Retired Palestinian Suicidal Bombers Band, Louis Fahrakan will interpret the Arab version of Willy Chirino’s “Punish Her,” especially orchestrated by Robert Mugabe for this occasion. To close with a golden seal, 100 members of the Palestinian band, activating their explosive vests at the cry of “Yes Libyaaa!” would blow to pieces and in the name of the eternal brotherhood between our people, 40 American flags will be burned along with 49 Israeli flags and a Cohiba cigar. Allah-Akbar!

Paquito D’Rivera.
Bern, Switzerland,
April 27-2011

We here at Babalú have been denouncing the Hollywood left for years. We've written hundreds of posts about the useful idiots in Hollywood.  If you're new here, please click this link to read and learn. 

Lionel Chetwynd, perhaps best known for "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz," issued an open letter of resignation to the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors. 

It is scathing; from Big Hollywood:
 

 

Specifically, I refer to remarks attributed to Vin in the recent publication “Prime Time Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How The Left Took Over Your TV” by Ben Shapiro. I do not defend the book, having yet to read it; I address only the matters raised by its research content.

June 2, 2011

(AN OPEN LETTER)
Dennis Doty, Chair The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors

Dear Dennis,

Herewith, I tender my resignation as both Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors, and also my general membership. The proximate cause are comments by our friend and Caucus leader Vin Di Bona; but the true reason lies in how those comments make clear that views held dearly and passionately by me, and my sense of the American story, render me unsuitable for continued membership. So while this is not about our friend, the talented and decent Vin Di Bona, it does begin at his side.

Specifically, I refer to remarks attributed to Vin in the recent publication “Prime Time Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How The Left Took Over Your TV” by Ben Shapiro. I do not defend the book, having yet to read it; I address only the matters raised by its research content.

In preparing his book, Mr. Shapiro interviewed a large number of our Hollywood notables on the subject of diversity – not the sacrosanct mélange of race, religion, gender orientation and the like, but a more challenging diversity: that of opinion and policy. The vast majority felt quite comfortable endorsing discrimination against those whose political philosophy was not rooted in the reflexive Leftism of Hollywood. Vin’s contribution, when asked to address this alleged anti-conservative bias, was that it “ … (is) probably accurate and I’m happy about it, actually. … If the accusation is there, I’m okay with it”. In a subsequent statement, he endorsed the content of the quote, saying he “stood by it”. He was not alone; indeed many of those interviewed held the opinion that discriminating against conservatives was a simple virtue – i.e., one all could/should accept. Vin’s comment was mild compared to some. Many called for wider efforts at shutting out voices with which they happen to disagree. But, what if we substitute for “conservative”, words like African-American, or Gay, or Jew, or Muslim, — or, God forbid, Leftists, Communists, or Liberals?

While Mr. Shapiro’s revelations are appalling, and cause enough for any person such as myself to choose to sever ties, it becomes mandatory when the comments made are later affirmed rather than mitigated. (Vin and I have now spoken, and I reference that conversation below.)

In my years as a member of the Caucus, I worked tirelessly to promote fidelity to our First Amendment rights. You well know, for example, the Bipartisan Political Panels I organized, my pieces for the Caucus Journal, and – now to my embarrassment – my involvement in bringing to the Caucus such speakers as Eric Cantor, Tom Ridge, John Thune and others. I knew most of my fellow members looked upon the political positions of these people as distasteful; what I now understand is the disgust was not for their views, but for their very person. Such people, Mr. Shapiro’s sources make clear, must be silenced and it is therefore proper to make them suffer discrimination. Shame on all of them. Their sickness is an infection that belongs in Europe of the 1930s. It does not belong in America. It is especially evil that it be found in our community, where America’s popular culture is born, where we create the images explaining who and what America is to our fellow countrymen, and more, to the world. Next Monday will mark 67 years since young Americans from across our country – and that includes Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana, all the “fly-overs” – willingly gave their lives on Norman beaches to bring freedom to the subjugated peoples of Europe, people about whom those brave young heroes knew little or nothing.

And is this how today’s beneficiaries use the freedom won by the blood and sacrifice of men and women surely better than we?

Lest I seem like Claude Raines, I am not protesting, “shocked, shocked!” for I always knew the truth; indeed, as I believe you’re aware, I experienced overt Blacklisting for my views as a conservative – at the very hands of those who piously deplore the Blacklisting of Communists in a former day. As 1950s Blacklist victim Carl Foreman warned me when I told him I was moving to Hollywood: “Beware the fearless defenders of the safely contentious.” He was right: Rhetoric is easy, principle is hard. Certainly, then, I have always known and understood the Leftward prejudice of Hollywood. Yet, until now, I have remained relatively passive and simply rolled with the blows. So what has changed?

Three things:

The first is personal: I realize, now, the enormous special obstacles put in my path by my supposed colleagues, obstacles that over the years made earning a living or a quiet pursuit of my trade so unusually onerous, were not a matter of political difference; they were a declaration of my unworthiness to be one of them. The rejection was not of my ideas, but of my person. The pain inflicted was deliberate.

The next is my immediate community: Until now, the Hollywood culture kept mean-spirited and odious persecution carefully discussed out-of-earshot of we lepers; now, however, there appears to be no problem in openly admitting to cheap and easy prejudice. Few cancers are more lethal to a civil society than ideological bigotry. And no one can spread disease better than our industry. – The last, and by far, far, the most important, is our beloved America: This is a time of inflamed political confrontation, evoking Bleeding Kansas of the 1850’s or even the Civil War itself. And as Dante taught, “there is a special place reserved in hell for he, who in the face of moral crisis, does nothing.” So if the Hollywood Left has no compunction in publicly proclaiming its creed, then for the sake of those Americans who have a different vision for our country, someone must shout, “Stop! This is not what America’s about! The American people deserve better!” In my own awkward way, I am trying to meet that challenge. We, privileged to work in the entertainment industry and enjoy the bounty our chosen career bestows on success, should never imagine ourselves the arbiters of what is permissible in the public square. We do not own the dream factory, but are merely its custodians, stewards at best. Rome won its empire at the edge of the sword. The British built theirs with commerce, sending out grocers. But America? We dispatched Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis and Elvis Presley, Writers, Producers, Directors, DPs, all our talent. The jewel of our national patrimony – our popular culture – has been a beacon to the world in spreading the message of freedom and tolerance. The success of this enterprise when in the hands of prior generations makes the miserable failure of our current crop to even listen to voices other than their own all the more painful.

Since beginning this letter, I have had the opportunity to speak to Vin, and I assure you both, I believe his distress at what has been said, his explanation of how the words came to be spoken, and accepted his personal apology. But this issue now goes beyond my personal trust, having migrated to the very nature of our community and its mainstream organizations – amongst which The Caucus holds a particular pride-of-place. It is for that very reason I no longer belong in your midst. I shall miss you all.

I wish you and all my former fellow members the rewards freedom, hard work, and talent, enable.

With best wishes and great sincerity
Lionel Chetwynd

H/T:  Doris Wise Montrose, Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors

About the media's mining expedition through the nearly 25,000 emails of Sarah Palin for "Gotcha!" gold ...

Well, a couple days in, and an army of agitated and eagerly duped stooges (readers) of the New York Times, WaPo, and various other MSM mental giant news organizations has offered-up some scathing Weiner-esque revelations against former Gov. Sarah Palin--- WHAT? No smoking guns? And the woman is a gun-toting, animal killin', Bible-thumpin', backwoods troglodyte to dumb to work in Washington DC? As predicted this, for the Palin-hating MSM, is like one of those roadside IEDs the enemy is in the process of setting up, but it goes off prematurely turning them into pink-smoke. But there are those who don't hate Sarah Palin that are doing their own digging to catalogue the leadership and policy skills of the woman. Conservatives4Palin and SarahPAC.com are enlisting readers to go into Palin’s emails and gather such evidence to the complete opposite of the PDS MSM.

So far we see Gov. Palin's email box was barraged by death threats. That she felt the humbling awesomeness just weeks prior to giving birth to her Down Syndrome son Trig. That, scandalously, her staff was excited when Sen. John McCain called on her to be his 2008 VP running mate. That she really isn't the mindless, blood-thirsty, animal hater, but a highly responsible hunter and conservative environmentalist. Anyhow, you get the politically pornographic picture here on the Palin exposure...

So, what's the Palin deranged MSM to do in order to cover their arses? Why, insinuate the Palin we see now is a mere fading shadow of the wonderful Alaska landlocked Palin of three years ago ...

She was hands-on and averse to partisan politics. She championed openness in government and had normal relations with the media. She was a little starstruck by her interactions with national politicians but unafraid to do battle with the chief executives of the world’s largest oil companies.

The emails from her governorship, released Friday, brought back the memory of a long-lost Palin: the popular, charismatic, competent woman of the people.

This was the vice presidential candidate John McCain’s team thought they were getting, before her darker tendencies — defensiveness, thin skin, grudge-keeping — hardened into tics. Together with the newly released, pro-Palin documentary “The Undefeated,” which focuses on her rise to the spotlight, the emails are reminders of a sympathetic figure who was not yet the brittle, divisive caricature Palin has become. [...]

The comments at the Politico link have not been kind to the writer, or the MSM. The writer is lamenting a lost wonderful Palin, and that the woman we see now is a nasty bag of griping, annoyed hotair. This is the PDS universe the MSM has created for itself with the phantom ignorant, dumb, and evil "Sarah Palin". THAT "Sarah Pali" simply doesn't exist. The 2011 Sarah Palin is the same 2007-8 Palin that sat at the Alaska governor's computer writing the emails. Well, perhaps a slight change. She has learned how to handle these idiots, and when to pick her fights with them. And they really are too ignorant, stupid and evil to figure that out. And as an added measure at least one Palin-hater has figured out this is a major can of worms that has been opened for everybody, and very well could be a "Dangerous Precedent" for other politicians, and should be investigated by the FEC. Perhaps he's been reading the comments, on various news sites carrying-on with this Palin witch hunt, that are demanding the emails of Obama during his time in the Illinois Senate, ACORN, the US Senate, and the White House (Hell, his Blackberry obsession alone would make for some interesting "Gotchas!").

Poor MSM ... The Sarah Palin emails aren't turning out to be the massive fig leaf they were hoping for to block the exposure of the face--- er, Weiner of the democrat party.

Cross-posted @ CW

Yes. Yes. Yes. But he said the same thing just a year ago. The fear for consumers then was the threat we would be seeing $3/gallon gasoline. Right now you will see more gas station signs with just at or over $4/gallon. The reasons we have seen this increase in just a year are obvious. This administration's domestic and economic policies are intentional to take control of our energy habits by what they deem as some twisted tough love tactic. As if we are the addicts the left/liberals have been claiming for the last couple decades ... addicted to oil/fossil fuel. It's a 'cold turkey' ploy. A backdoor 'cap and trade' agenda. In the last week I have heard Obama-supporting talking heads claiming things are getting better. They say the gas prices are coming down because people are driving less. Well DUH! But everywhere people would be driving to and spending money at is suffering because "people are driving less" and don't have extra money in the household budget to spend. I'm coming out of the grocery store with nearly half the haul for just about twice the price. The U.S. dollar has been so degraded by this administration's bailout/stimulus policies, and the past few years of a spend-like-a-drunkin-sailor democrat Congress. The oil speculators have taken great advantage of the dollar's situation in all of this. But exactly how easy would it have been for them had things been done completely different in response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico just a year ago? If we--- HE had just bucked-up and carried on with oil production, and not nearly wiped it out in the eyes of the rest of the profiteering world and market speculators? Seems this administration is alone in the world in the belief that money and profits are dirty words.

Yet, just a week ago Obama claimed drilling wasn't any sort of solution to the nation's high gas prices.

This man's opposition to U.S. domestic energy production and use was noted just weeks before the 2008 POTUS election, but the MSM was not offering it to the voting public for consumption or consideration. Only the "rightwing" blogs and conservative radio/TV exposed it.

When oil and gas prices began to climb he expressed not a desire to bring them down, but a preference they would have risen gradually. Then the American people would 'adjust'.

So, what did Obama say in this morning's weekly address?

1. He is turning it over to AG Eric Holder for investigation, these pesky high oil/gas prices, to look for any "fraud or manipulation" ... Well, that's pretty much how the open markets in a capitalistic economy rolls. Only, it's not seen as "fraud and manipulation" in the sense he's presenting it. It's dog-eat-dog, Barry. Eric Holder, the AG of the USA's DOJ never saw a case/investigation he simply just couldn't resist politicizing. Yeah, that'll turn out well.

2. Oh! He's calling for expanding "safe and responsible oil production here at home" ... Last spring's BP oil spill was one of the worst ever for the nation, but was also a bit of an anomaly. US oil companies have greatly cleaned up their drilling and production practices.

So now he's presenting increasing domestic oil production here as some incredible new idea that he suddenly came to all on his own. (It's sorta kinda like killing Osama Bin Laden after using all the black-op tactics and CIA intel practices he kept in place from George W. Bush, but slammed and condemned since running for office in 2008.) Never mind just about EVERYONE with two working brain cells to rub together have been screaming for years, especially this last year since BP, to DRILL! BABY, DRILL!!! I can't wait to hear Sarah Palin's reaction to his brilliance this morning. You remember Sarah Palin? That evil ignorant, stupid, clueless broad?

And let's not forget how he and his EPA and KenSalazar of the Department of the Interior not only halted domestic oil production in the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf, but did so and held up permits in SPITE of federal judges' rulings against their unconstitutional drilling moratorium ... TWICE!

During this past year other countries such as China, Russia, Cuba and Venezuela have been making plans or are stepping up drilling in the Gulf waters. Arab/Muslim countries have watched their leaders fall or are under threat, jeopardizing oil markets there. And most recently Obama has given Brazil funding to expand their oil production with an additional promise the USA will be Brazil's biggest customer as they store it in the Gulf.

Oil drilling companies have pulled out of the Gulf, at least one going bankrupt, and Shell Oil lost billions of investment dollars in the Arctic when they recently gave up on the administration's and EPA's stall tactics. Both the local/state economies of Alaska and the Gulf states have and will be suffering because of all of this, not to mention the countless possible jobs lost. And then there are those lost jobs and closed businesses in the Gulf region in the last year of 'mouning' over the BP spill.

So, to top it all off Obama is creating, and funding (well, he's creating it while we fund it), yet ANOTHER "team to coordinate work on Alaska drilling permits" ... Alaska's getting a friggin' oil czar, I guess. The ONLY thing this guy nows how to create is more bureaucracy, and its additional accompanying debt.

3. And finally to take away oil subsidies (never mind "green energy" has been getting huge subsidies for years, and hasn't produced so much as a fart's-worth of energy yet ... but we must depend on it ...).

No, the oil companies are the ones who need investigated and grilled by the smug dogs and ponies in Congress that are too damn dumb and lazy to get a job anywhere else but a career spending other people's money in the US government:

FYI: Who makes the most money from oil and gas prices???

The U.S. government does.

The U.S. economy is in the crapper, and all Obama and the democrats can come up with to get our economy back on track is to call for more taxes and no spending cuts, raising the debt ceiling, and strap the oil companies with more taxes (which would be passed onto the consumer) ...

He has the audacity to cite the oil companies making $4 billion a week. I would bet that is far less than what the federal government takes in from taxes in a week ... Yet, the U.S. government cannot exist on that? But the oil companies are wrong for profiting, expanding for more profits, hiring and paying more workers, developing newer and better technologies, procedures and products ... putting money into research, giving education grants and donating money to charities, pumping money into the local economies? What exactly are we getting for all our future trillions of tax dollars the ponzi government is banking on? Failed entitlement and social programs, waste in endless pork projects, money to corrupt entities (see: U.N.) and countries, bailing-out (buying) private companies/industries it has no business buying and owning while it boosts corrupt unions and cronies, and expanding and adding to already bloated government jobs.

Forgive me if I side with the evil oil companies, folks.

I have my doubts about exactly how today's drilling announcement by Obama will effect oil and gas prices. The man is not credible in anything he says. He is not good at gambling or playing the markets because he is wired to oppose such things, and to crush capitalism. Except, of course, if it means several wonderful vacations and parties in a year, great top of the line eats, and endless mornings and afternoons on the nation's/world's best golf courses. (He's never had to pay for anything himself in his life, or take a loss and struggle to get back on his feet, or make a payroll, or seriously balance a budget for fear of losing everything.) The markets and speculators have learned this about him in these last two and a half years. They know how anti-business (small or large), anti-American taxpayer and anti-exceptionalism he is. They know his master plan and motivation for this country and our economy is the dreaded "green energy" ideology that ruined Spain's economy. We are to become Europe at every level, from nanny state programs, to capped wages and life-draining government revenues while stifling individual freedoms and rights through government controls and regulations/restrictions.

Obama's assertion about the American oil/gas consumer "adjusting" was right. As I pointed out it was just a year ago $3/gallon was horrific. As we fork over $4/gallon, with fears we could see $5/gallon by the end of summer, is there any doubt if gas station signs dropped to $3/gallon tomorrow the line of bumper-to-bumper cars would be wrapped around the block to fill`er -up? We have 'adjusted' ... Rather, we have been conditioned to accept what was high and outrageous a year ago as acceptable and even good/cheap now. I dread to think what we will have adjusted to a year from now, and deem acceptable and good/cheap. But not to worry. Political speculators say Obama intends to raise at least a billion dollars to run for re-election in 2012, and he's already started.

Ask yourself this: If everything this man has done and is doing, and planning to do is so great, and the nation is so much better-off than it was before he took office, and the future looks so darned bright for us all with him at the helm of the nation, why ... WHY does he need so much money to get a second term in office? Especially when the 2012 GOP field is uncertain, at best ... Today's drilling announcement was less about helping the struggling American people and the economy, and more about a politically expedient play.

The only addiction here is not the American people's addiction to oil and gas so that we can get to work and school, live clean, healthy, and comfortable lives while being productive and generous with ourselves and others. Oil and gas is the life blood to this nation's growth, progress, and strength that has enabled us to help ourselves, and the rest of the world for generations. No, the addiction here is that of this man and the government to power, control, and the hard earned money off the backs of the American taxpayer.

He thinks we are are ignorant frogs in a boiling pot. He turns up the heat, then lowers it. Turns it up again, and lowers it again ... Until he believes we cannot tell we are being cooked alive by the flame of this insanity.

He is wrong, and will be blowing a billion dollars come 2012 ...

But that's all this guy knows ... How to spend and blow other people's money.

Hopeless changeling ...

Yes, he's eating frog legs above.

UPDATE:

My oil industry pal in La. adds that what may have finally pushed Obama to make Saturday's address about opening drilling and granting permits was yet another recent ruling of a week ago Friday by Federal Judge Feldman (pdf), ruling against the Obama Administration's obstinate, dismissive, and contemptible Department of Interior and Sec. Ken Salazar.

My friend adds:

"Your story is missing the most recent court decision of Friday a week ago, by Judge Feldman. This one was a doozy and swung the door wide open for every Tom Dick and Harry involved in the offshore drilling and exploration to force the Fede...ralies to take action in either issuing or declining permits, regardless of their claims of not having enough staff. It calls Zero's bluff in a huge way. He was caught in the trap laid by his own actions. He took the only way out, a speech ... And there were more than two previous rulings. Several more."

Macondo was a very large anomaly and overhyped by the MSM & dumb bloggers trying to make Obama look worse than he already looked (clueless). They all helped Obama make his case for stopping leases and the moratorium on drilling permits. FYI, fish catches are at an all time high this spring. Marlin, yellow fin tuna, speckled trout, redfish, etc.. are being caught it record numbers.

Which we already know as our resident La. hunter and fisherman Humberto kindly shares photos from his catches here on Babalu.

My friend also reminds me that the GOP-led House in Congress a few days back passed a drilling bill that also helped in forcing Obama to the 'verbal' decision to re-open domestic drilling:

"Zero had to make these statements, especially after Feldman’s most recent ruling AND the GOP led House’s recent bill regarding drilling being passed. They both call his hand to be laid out for the public to see. He cannot withstand this onslaught. He has been caught in a trap."

Added Bonus - Green Fail: Rocky Mountain Power may turn off solar program

Cross-posted @ CW

UPDATE: As promised, my guy Howie @ CW talked by phone with Austin Stukins (the former Marine in one of the videos below) and you can read about it here: LSU Students Say Not On MY Watch

Austin Stukins will now be a contributor to Chandler's Watch, and from what I hear, The Hayride down in the New Orleans universe ... If you are on FaceBook you can 'friend' Austin http://www.facebook.com/#!/austin.stukins

He's a good guy and a great patriot.

--------------------------------------------

You might have missed it yesterday, but LSU students took precious time out of final exams to counter protest the planned burning of an American Flag (which grad student Ben Haas says was in support of his buddy's earlier LSU War Memorial defacing and stolen Flag-burning).

Two of the better videos from yesterday's student uprising against liberal idiocy are as follows:

My buddy Howie over @ Chandler's Watch is interviewing Austin Stukins, the former Marine and current LSU student in the video above. I'll give everyone a heads-up with a link when he posts it @ CW.

Cody Wells, President of the LSU Student Government Association, is the person who organized the counter protest on the LSU campus was on Fox and Friends this morning:

More here.