"You deserve better, my friends, and we expect better..."

I have been listening to and reading about Daniel Hannan for a few years now. I imagine our Founding Fathers had more than a bit of the Brit left in their accents and proper English as they discussed and debated the basic founding of our republic post-Revolution. I find it striking that some of the loudest pro-American patriot voices have foreign accents, especially English accents. How ironic is it that the country we fought for our independence from over 235 years ago, and who fought back at us to keep us entangled with them, are now urging us to hold onto our republic and independence centuries later? Conservative people, such as Hannan and Mark Steyn, speak the strongest about this nation's best qualities, and warn us against following the rest of the socialist world off the cliff.

Love this guy.

Great Britain's Daniel Hannan at CPAC 2012:

Here is a bit of Mark Steyn's latest column, "The Church of Obama", regarding the "women's health" mandate that sparked last weeks major rift with the Catholic Church, and other religious sects, and the Obama administration, but I recommend reading it in full so as not to miss Steyn's sarcasm and dry humor therein...

The bigger the Big Government, the smaller everything else: First, other pillars of civil society are crowded out of the public space; then, the individual gets crowded out, even in his most private, tooth-level space. President Obama, Commissar Sebelius, and many others believe in one-size-fits-all national government — uniformity, conformity, supremacy from Maine to Hawaii, for all but favored cronies. It is a doomed experiment — and on the morning after it will take a lot more than a morning-after pill to make it all go away.

And a reminder from Pasha as he intimidates the good Dr. Yuri Zhivago with the stark reality they now live under. Yep, we are that red locomotive in Hannan's rearview mirror.

In all reality, odds are he's looking at his last year in office. God knows he and his wife are spending our money like it is. A year from now his wife will be looking around the White House to see what she can tuck inside her suitcase as MSM allowed historic souvenirs. But forget the ugly designer clothes, the WH china and artwork. In the course of this next year Obama will be looking at how many fundamental rights he can take from us on his way out.

Top on his list seems to be our Second Amendment right to own guns. If you had any doubts the ATF's/DOJ's primary goal in the gun walking "Fast and Furious" was to promote tougher gun controls over law abiding American citizens, those doubts should be fading very soon...

In the recently passed Omnibus spending bill Congress strictly warned Obama he wasn't to use any of that money to advocate or promote gun control. Now, as is his bad habit, it appears he is going to bypass the Constitutional checks and balances by doing an end-run around Congress to do what he damn well pleases.

John Lott writing for FOX News has more on this pattern: President Obama's Anti-Gun Agenda Shows No Sign of Stopping

And remember...

Struggling for ideas for that perfect gift this Christmas? This past "Black Friday" gun sales broke the previous sales record by 1/3. (Read the comments at the link and weigh the tone ... and at an MSNBC link, of all places!) "We are the 47%". The last gun sales record was set in late summer-early fall of 2008. I remember that statistic, but I'm trying to recall the significance of 2008... I really cannot, for the life of me, understand the reasoning behind 2008's gun sales surge, or even think of a reason why citizens would lawfully exercise our US Constitutional 2nd Amendment right to own guns ... can you?

The beginning of the week the U.S. Senate passed a bill, National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) - Senate Bill 1867, saying the government can detain citizens indefinitely under suspicion of being terrorists. (Imagine if this same Bill had been even considered, let alone passed, under a republican administration or held Senate. Wait ... Why, the vote was a staggering 97-3!)

Republican Senators that did vote for the bill assured there were no worries for American citizens. Yeah, because our US Constitution's 4th Amendment has been protecting us so far against the DHS's outrageous searches at the airport with the TSA. I have yet to hear/see any reports where any terror attempt has been thwarted by these invasions on children, housewives, and our walkered-elderly. But maybe we can all just chill with a DHS snow cone, eh? April 2009 a (then) newly unclassified Department of Homeland Security report outlined additions to the "terror watch list". The document's title: "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment". Included in this report, aside from the obvious according to the title, are our returning Iraq/Afghanistan veterans. Yet, we are not permitted to say or even think the identity of this nation's real terrorist enemies.

The MSM is trying to spin and sugar-coat the reasons behind this record-breaking surge in gun sales as it is now somehow cool and socially accepted trendiness to own them ... guns, that is, not Min Pin Chis.

Yeah, right...

The American people aren't stupid and ignorant. The MSM is stupid and ignorant for believing that we are.

I think it pretty much tells you where the nation is right now ... and Gov. Chris Christie has some thoughts on that as well, while confronting a recent OWS heckling (emphisis mine):

Here’s the way I feel about it: They represent an anger in our country that Barack Obama has caused,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd. “He’s a typical cynical Chicago... politician who runs for office and promises everything and then comes to office and disappoints, and so their anger is rooted not in me or Mitt Romney, their anger is rooted in the fact that they believed in this hope and change garbage.

And they are the ones that are eagerly awaiting the promised fundamental transformation they believe has not come about soon enough. Then there are those of us, we "bitter clingers", that fully understand all of this, and will not be bought-off with DHS snow cones while standing in search queues.

Obama's Razor - In any given situation, the most cynical explanation is usually the correct one with this administration. (HT: comment # 10 @ AoSHQ)

Cross-posted @ CW

Tommy Chandler (of Chandler's Watch) emailed this to me yesterday. He has attended Pearl Harbor remembrance events over the years, and knows well this fine gentleman, Stuart "Stu" Hedley. He is one of the very few remaining veterans stationed at Pearl Harbor that fateful and historic day 70 years ago today. Just a bit, and then go to the link for the full read...

Hedley addressed a group of dozens, and told his story of growing up from a carefree young man to a young war hero in a tapestry of terror and trauma. Though 90 years old, Hedley’s voice is still strong, as well as his resolve to be thankful.

He opened with the question, “Who knows in here what boat was the first to sink on December 7, 1941?”

A charade of answers poured forth. He smiled.

“You’re all wrong,” he said. “It was a tug boat.”

But the USS Arizona was indeed the first U.S. ship to be bombed. Hedley saw the whole thing happen from his position as gunpointer of a 16-inch gun battery at Turret 3 on the USS West Virginia.

The West Virginia was heavily torpedoed, took several bomb hits, and was badly damaged. Hedley himself escaped harm. He had a story about that.

[...]

In the attack on December 7, a shell hit the top wing of the West Virginia.

“The explosion blew a hole through the turret right by my feet. If I’d had my legs pointed straight out, they would have been blown clear off,” he said.

By the time the explosion went off, there was massive chaos on the ship, Hedley described.

“One of my crew members yelled, 'Stu, let’s get outta here,' although he didn’t say it that nice,” Hedley said, chuckling.

Obama's Razor - In any given situation, the most cynical explanation is usually the correct one with this administration. (HT: comment # 10 @ AoSHQ)

Given this administration's proclivity to take full advantage of any-given crisis situation and use it to the advantage of their agenda, do not believe they aren't above actually orchestrating a crisis/situation in order to use it. Think about anything Obama and the democrats in Congress have done since he has been in office. It all had to be done immediately (stimulus, multiple unemployment extensions, bank bailouts, GM buy-out, ObamaCare, debt ceiling increase, various 'jobs bills', etc.), with great urgency and emergency. Hell, no need to read the bill(s). We would find out later what it would cost the American people in money and rights. When the failed ATF "Operation Fast and Furious" (OF&F) was breaking to the American public months back some of us became very cynical and warned that the program's intent was to make America's gun ownership look bad, and thus a crisis that needed Congress to make even more and bigger laws regarding gun ownership/buying. From the start, Hillary Clinton falsely stated Mexico's drug cartel gun violence was fed by a majority of American guns.

"Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians ... I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility."

When that was debunked, the administration obviously had to MAKE it so. Perhaps as Rep. Issa issues subpoenas for testimony from this administration on OF&F, one should also be handed out to Sec. of State Hillary Clinton. But it also begs asking why a "rule requiring gun stores to report multiple sales of assault rifles, other long guns, delayed" as late as last February. (Visit that link, and compare that info from then to what we now know of OF&F.) But it also adds confusion to the mix as barn doors are trying to be shut after the fact as recently as a month ago. Yet, as the Southwestern states' gun dealers tried to alert the ATF about the attempted straw purchases of massive amounts of weapons they were basically told to shut up and sell them...

The fact is that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) encouraged gun dealers to sell assault rifles to known straw purchasers illegally buying on behalf of others.

The fact is that the Justice Department oversaw the operation as ATF literally watched bad guys collect hundreds of guns—week after week—for nearly a year.

And then there is this little bit that does not get near enough play in this whole story:

"I just want you to know that we are working on it," Barack Obama reportedly told Sarah Brady regarding gun control. "We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar." - March 30, 2011, the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Pres. Ronald Reagan, and Jim Brady's shooting)

So where does that bring us on connecting the tangled graph points of this "Obama's Razor"? While Rep. Issa's heated investigation into Fast and Furious, and the administration's deep involvement in it, kicks its way through every brick wall now comes the warning I, and others, suspected was the root purpose of the ATF/DOJ operation from the beginning ... A reason to push for and impose MORE government gun control over our 2nd Amendment rights.

“This hunt for blame doesn’t really speak about the problem,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein at a recent Senate Judiciary hearing while discussing Fast and Furious.

“And the problem is, anybody can walk in and buy anything, .50-caliber weapons, sniper weapons, buy them in large amounts, and send them down to Mexico. So, the question really becomes, what do we do about this?”

The ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) have introduced a dedicated firearms trafficking statute, but it has stalled in the House Judiciary Committee.

Really? In an ongoing investigation that has not yet come to full conclusions about OF&F and its operators, democrats in the US Congress are seeking to take major steps without all the information ... This FUBAR by the US government entities is now the fault/blame/responsibility of the American citizens and WE are to be punished? So, you tell me ... A created crisis in order to push through more restrictive gun laws on the American people? What other reason could there be, given the stark fact the Obama Administration and ATF did not do this operation with the Mexican government's cooperation, or even enlightenment ... and to date has caused hundreds of lives in Mexico, innocent citizens and police and military? My money's on "Obama's Razor". It had to make their false claims from two years ago a reality. If the democrats and Obama believe they can make 'gun control' an issue to run on in the November 2012 elections they are horribly mistaken.

Footnotes: For anyone that tries to compare the Obama Administration's "Operation Fast and Furious" to one briefly tried under the Bush administration...

To date, 30 lawmakers have called for the DOJ's AG Eric Holder's resignation.

And much credit needs to go to CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson who has been pretty much the lone investigative journalist/reporter of this story.

UPDATE to footnotes below the fold...

March 2009

Obama in a TV interview on Univision April 2011

Cross-posted @ CW

I came across this comment in response to Peggy Noonan's article, The Divider vs. The Thinker, in the WSJ.  It perfectly coalesces into words the reason for the unease, fear and anger I think many of us feel about the direction our country has taken.

Justin Harp wrote:

The battle of the next century for America will not be fought abroad. However it will be fought domestically in the now varying world views that the demographics that are being pitted against one another hold as Truth. When the Pilgrims came to America they were seeking religious freedom. Their trust in the God of the Bible was the common thread that held them together. For the first 200 years of the US there was a common moral compass that guided the actions of our citizens in politics, education, healthcare, business and in family. God has now been removed from each of these systems and the government has been enthroned as the guiding force. Now we have a society that battles constantly over diametrically opposed World Views. The desire is always to find common ground, the problem is there is no common ground. The same word used from either side has different meanings (ie tolerance. To one it means to coexist peacefully with an agreement to disagree. To the other it means to embrace at the cost of contradiction and hypocrisy, to not embrace is bigoted or discriminatory). Now we try to legislate morality. Isn't that what Occupy Wall St. is about? Wanting fairness through redistribution of wealth, regulation to impede greed and excess? There was a time when the system worked because the guiding principles in men's hearts compelled them to act in a "fair" manor because of their believed accountability to a higher power. Now the higher power has been excused from the room and the hope is that a depraved individual will behave as a moral one because of regulation or law. Morality is not introduced to the system from external forces; rather it is emanated outwardly by the participants. It finds its way into the players from the teachings of parents who clearly define right and wrong based upon a clear understanding of "TRUTH". Today the family is completely broken. Children are seen an anchor to parents financial aspirations. In today's world 50% or greater of Americans don't believe in truth. With this type of disparity in thinking how can we expect common ground? How can the sides come close enough together for any glue to hold us together. So the new way to political power is to determine which side is greater in number and pander to their current wishes for what they define as "justice". In the new America it will get you 4 years in the oval office. For Americans it will lead to waking up in 15 years not trusting your neighbor.

Forget about, "The whole world is watching".

America, you'd better be paying close attention and figuring this one out by November 2012. Socialism/Communism is not "democracy".

Hmmm, I'm noticing a trend that flies in the face of all that Kumbaya, feel-good, Arab Spring democracy-spreading cheering that was emitting from this same circle not too long ago.

So now democracy (which is a general term here for setting up a constitution, following it, and having a system of freedom wherein the people get to vote on a regular basis ... good or bad) is now somehow passé.

To hear North Carolina's governor address the democratic practice of voting on schedule you would think it is such a major problem to the democracy ... even more so to a representative democracy.

Early buffering of Gov. Perdue's remarks to not have elections for Congress for a few years were fluffed-off as a joke. But the above audio appears not to have any sort of punchline delivery to it.

The governor's remarks, in and of themselves, might fall under the radar quickly enough, except that they are a bit echoed in Obama's former budget guy, Peter Orszag's column ...

In an 1814 letter to John Taylor, John Adams wrote that “there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” That may read today like an overstatement, but it is certainly true that our democracy finds itself facing a deep challenge: During my recent stint in the Obama administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, it was clear to me that the country’s political polarization was growing worse — harming Washington’s ability to do the basic, necessary work of governing. If you need confirmation of this, look no further than the recent debt-limit debacle, which clearly showed that we are becoming two nations governed by a single Congress — and that paralyzing gridlock is the result.

So what to do? To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic. [...]

And now comes an article by the New York Times expressing how people all around the world just see voting as "useless".

Increasingly, citizens of all ages, but particularly the young, are rejecting conventional structures like parties and trade unions in favor of a less hierarchical, more participatory system modeled in many ways on the culture of the Web.

In that sense, the protest movements in democracies are not altogether unlike those that have rocked authoritarian governments this year, toppling longtime leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Protesters have created their own political space online that is chilly, sometimes openly hostile, toward traditional institutions of the elite.

The critical mass of wiki and mapping tools, video and social networking sites, the communal news wire of Twitter and the ease of donations afforded by sites like PayPal makes coalitions of like-minded individuals instantly viable.

“You’re looking at a generation of 20- and 30-year-olds who are used to self-organizing,” said Yochai Benkler, a director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. “They believe life can be more participatory, more decentralized, less dependent on the traditional models of organization, either in the state or the big company. Those were the dominant ways of doing things in the industrial economy, and they aren’t anymore.”

Yonatan Levi, 26, called the tent cities that sprang up in Israel “a beautiful anarchy.” There were leaderless discussion circles like Internet chat rooms, governed, he said, by “emoticon” hand gestures like crossed forearms to signal disagreement with the latest speaker, hands held up and wiggling in the air for agreement — the same hand signs used in public assemblies in Spain. There were free lessons and food, based on the Internet conviction that everything should be available without charge.

Someone had to step in, Mr. Levi said, because “the political system has abandoned its citizens.”

The rising disillusionment comes 20 years after what was celebrated as democratic capitalism’s final victory over communism and dictatorship. [...]

Get it? Democracy is hard and messy, and sometimes needs a kick in the ass...

But, you know, socialism (and in that manner communism/Marxism) is just so much more neat and easy ... and fair, to be sure. So, why bother, huh? Let's just chuckitall and designate a King of The World. Got anyone in mind?

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

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.

I have spent the last three days thinking about what I want to say about our experience in San Antonio and Cooking With the Troops.

My family has talked and talked and rehashed almost every detail of our weekend, multiple times. And I'm still at a loss for words to describe all that we experienced. I'm just going to post lots of photos and try to give you a feel for what we experienced.

When I first received the invitation to join Cooking With the Troops in Texas in July, I didn't hesitate before I agreed. I can think of no higher honor than doing what I do best to say thank you to those who have sacrificed everything for my personal freedom.

I don't have photos of the troops we served because so many of those that we met over the weekend gave up their limbs and a normal life so we could continue to enjoy the freedoms that we do. Many were waiting for prosthetics. The Warrior and Family Support Center is a beautiful home-like healing facility with an air conditioned kitchen (Thank you, God!). I was grateful that we could be there to do this one act of charity for these, our best and bravest.

They are absolutely heroes and it was our great pleasure to serve them. What an honor!

But let me tell you about the Amazing Volunteers (or Team Cubanaso):

The first thing I want you to know about these people, (including my own family) is that when asked if they were interested in doing this, (San Antonio, Texas in July, people!) not one of them hesitated. "Of course. What can I do?" And that was the attitude that carried through the entire weekend.

The guys from Dos Cubanos Pig Roasts (Texas, you are sooo lucky!) brought their expertise, four pigs, and their families. (Yay! More Cubans!) I think that might just have to be a separate post altogether. (Go "like" them on Facebook right now, please.)

Pig Roasting is their specialty, but Joey Lay and Jorge Carmona were able and willing to help in the kitchen as well. (Yes, that's Jonathan working on his professional photo-bombing skills, but that's not important right now.)

Of course, Val from Babalú was there knee deep in Cajas Chinas and pig fixins.

Because this was a service to the military, they named him Point Man on the Pigs. He proved more than capable in his role (thank you, Val and Caja China people)! They started preparing the coals at 5 am.

By 9:00 am, it was time for the Pig Flip.

The pigs were done by 10:30. And the aroma went out in a cartoon-like-smoke-with-a-beckoning-hand and by 11:00 the guys were gathering around to get their first taste of the lechón asado, Cuban-style.

Once the pigs were done, Val came in to help my sons, Adam and Jon cut (more!) onions & garlic for the mojo for the yuca.

Our menu? A typical Nochebuena feast:

We spent all of Thursday and most of Friday morning prepping for our Friday lunch. Which meant cutting pounds and pounds of onion, garlic, and peppers for the Sofrito Que Se Le Perdio a Santa Barbara (as my mom would say).

We had 3 vats (VATS!) of Black Beans that turned out delicious thanks to the hard work by Val and Amy Kikita and the generosity of Conchita Foods. At this point, the aroma from the sofrito, the beans and the pigs had people wandering hungrily into the kitchen, which was great.

There was a lot of fun and camaraderie happening in the kitchen, along with a lot of hard work. (We Cubans would call it "relajo." =D)

Chef Ellen Adams of Red Hot Dish was responsible for dinner that night (couscous!) and Heather Solos of Home-Ec 101 was everywhere you wanted her to be. Both of these amazing women were so willing to lend a helping hand, and always with a smile. (When I grow up, they are who I want to be.)

Here's Jonathan helping with Ellen's fabulous couscous.

My family fell in love with these guys (yes, even you, Mike Russo!) and I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual.

I can't stress enough how every one of these volunteers pitched in wherever they were needed. We worked hard and long and shoulder to shoulder. And we bonded. We bonded in that gosh-that-was-exhausting-work-and-more-fun-than-it-should-be way. Every single person had that "What can I do?" attitude.

Let me just take a moment to talk about my kids.

Thing one: I was so happy they were all able to go on this trip. And I had all four of them with me all weekend - win!

Thing two: They all surprised and amazed me with how willing they were to step up and do whatever was required. What began as helping-mom-do-her-thing became a labor of love for them individually. I loved that they took ownership of the preparations themselves.

Thing three: No way would I have been able to prepare my share of the food without my family. I am completely at a loss. They went way above and beyond any expectations I had and I'm completely grateful and oh, so proud of them all.

Let me introduce you to Jorge, who managed the beautiful Warriors & Family Support Center at Fort Sam Houston. He is Puerto Rican and provided us with our music while we worked (and managed to locate some espresso for us Cubans). In fact, it was a little emotional prepping all this Cuban food with support from Celia, Beny, and Willy. Thank you, Jorge! (He was still gushing about the amazing food we provided as we were saying our goodbyes.)

I was quite proud that I managed (with lots of help) to prepare 300 of my famous Homemade Pastelitos de Guayaba.

Although the volume was obviously much, much greater than anything I ever make, I felt like I was feeding my own family. I know it sounds corny, but with every dish we felt that same way. Like we were feeding family. (Maybe that's why everything tasted so great?)

But then there was the fiasco with the rice, because really, could everything go perfectly smoothly when you're making lunch for these many people?

I confess that I had no clue how to make rice for 250 people (300 was the final count.). So Adam and I winged it and we got some rice that was cooked on top but hard on the bottom. We also managed to burn some. At 10:30, with the 12:00 deadline looming, the rice was a mess and I was close to having a breakdown.

Jorge Carmona's family to the rescue! They had done congris before at a pig roast event and had encountered the same problems. "Just take small batches, add water, and cook in the microwave." Without hesitation, they stepped up and did just that and rescued the rice. I don't think I could be more grateful. What's better than having a Cuban cook in the kitchen? LOTS of Cuban cooks in the kitchen.

Amazingly, we Cubans managed to get the food out and on the tables at 12:00 military time. This is quite a feat when you usually run on Cuban time. =D

The warriors and their families came through the line and even though the food was foreign for many of them, they ooh-ed and aah-ed and came back for seconds and dove right into the yuca con mojo and the plantains (Thanks, Goya Foods!) without a second thought.

I was most pleased when the guys with the Hispanic surnames came through. They recognized the music. They recognized the food. "Is that guava??" And they were grateful for this "little piece of home."

Much gratitude to the CEO of Cooking With the Troops, Blake Powers of Blackfive who pulled us all together for this amazing experience and gave us the opportunity to serve. Thank you, Blake and cwtt.org. We have all been forever changed by this experience.

And to Mr. Bob Miller, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer and All Around Classy Guy.

I thank you all for the privilege of serving side-by-side with you.

I don't have words to express the gratitude and admiration I feel for the volunteers, the warriors and their families. Thank you all for your service.

Let it be known that we Cubans are very proud Americans.

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?

Did you know, in 2010 the U.S. Department of Education purchased 27 shotguns?

Did you know, the U.S. Department of Education has the ability to execute search warrants of private property?

And did you know, the U.S. Department of Education can (and does) act like a law enforcement S.W.A.T. team and kick down the door of the home of a U.S. private citizen, cuff and drag him out onto his lawn at 6 a.m., drag his young children out of their beds, and lock them all in the back of a hot car for six hours while they raid his home?

Where is the MSM on this? Oh, that's right ... It's a democrat administration. Never mind ...

Sidebar: Do you really know Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan and his vaunted background in Chicago's public school system?

Have you met Obama's Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings?

"The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother's care, shall be in state institutions at state expense." - Karl Marx

"Happy birthday, baby!"

As we remember Mother's Day I would like to highlight one Mother in particular as an example of those mothers whose children have heard a higher calling, and volunteered for service in this nation's military. These children cannot grow into the young adults who serve loyally, bravely, and heroically if it were not for their parents, and especially their Mothers. It is in these women even sons find great strength, perseverance, loyalty, and self discipline ... even in life's most difficult and horrible times. Thus is the biography of fallen U.S. Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Patrick Murphy:

These mothers realize their sons are called home in their Eternal Father's time. The pain of that call never diminishes for those left behind in this world. However, the legacy of that son who thrived on the goodness and strength of his Mother sometimes gets a second life.

Just shy of six years since the day of Lt. Murphy's ultimate sacrifice, a sacrifice shared by his Mother Maureen Murphy, The United States Navy has resurrected Lt. Michael Murphy to serve our great nation again. Yesterday, on what would have been Lt. Michael Murphy's 35th birthday, his Mother, family, friends, and US Navy SEAL brethren gathered in Bath, Maine at the Bath Iron Works shipyard to celebrate the rebirth of this honorable young warrior as they christened the new US Navy warship the destroyer USS Michael Murphy.

Generations of Navy sailors who will be stationed onboard the USS Michael Murphy will learn about the young man behind the name of their home ship, and will feel the pride in Lt. Michael P. Murphy's legacy of strength, courage, and dedication ... his Mother's legacy ... and strive to carry on that legacy in their own service with the United States Navy, and to our nation. And on this Mother's Day we thank Maureen Murphy, and the countless mothers like her that have selflessly given us such strong and brave sons and daughters to protect us.

Cross-posted @ CW

As this junk science evolves into junk politics, and junk governing into a Western socialist dictatorship over the world's population it must be said we have inflicted a pox upon ourselves by allowing an unchallenged voice to this cult of global warming hoax.

George Orwell said, "There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them."

He was right ...

The European Commission on Monday unveiled a "single European transport area" aimed at enforcing "a profound shift in transport patterns for passengers" by 2050.

The plan also envisages an end to cheap holiday flights from Britain to southern Europe with a target that over 50 per cent of all journeys above 186 miles should be by rail.

Top of the EU's list to cut climate change emissions is a target of "zero" for the number of petrol and diesel-driven cars and lorries in the EU's future cities.

Siim Kallas, the EU transport commission, insisted that Brussels directives and new taxation of fuel would be used to force people out of their cars and onto "alternative" means of transport.

"That means no more conventionally fuelled cars in our city centres," he said. "Action will follow, legislation, real action to change behaviour."

The Association of British Drivers rejected the proposal to ban cars as economically disastrous and as a "crazy" restriction on mobility.

"I suggest that he goes and finds himself a space in the local mental asylum," said Hugh Bladon, a spokesman for the BDA.

"If he wants to bring everywhere to a grinding halt and to plunge us into a new dark age, he is on the right track. We have to keep things moving. The man is off his rocker."

Continue ...

Por la libertad de Cuba, Zapata Vive y el Asesinato de Hermanos al Rescate

(Click twice to enlarge)

Friends from the Los Angeles based Cuban run periodico, 20 de Mayo, serving the local community since 1969, created the wonderful collage of photos shown above.   The link to this weeks fine edition is here.

If you look close you´ll see yours truly as well as my personal, and Babalu friends Henry Agueros, and Zelde.  It was a great afternoon, and I'm pleased to report that no Che lovers made an appearance.

Markitos posted a two part video of the event at YouTube, here is Part 1.

 
Part 2 is here.

Huge thanks to Abel Perez, and Markitos.

Apparently the indigenous communists in this country haven't primed the pump enough for the radical Islamists to swoop in with Sharia.

TBA, eh, Choudary?

More here.

I guess Lady Liberty will have to wait on her burka fitting.

Who do both these groups think they're dealing with in this country? The American people might be 'fat and lazy', but eventually they wake up and get off the couch.

Here a selection of pieces published on the occasion of Reagan's centennial. Feel free to add links to other tributes in the comments.

• Official Reagan Centennial Page
• Michelle Malkin has a great page up with the Gipper's own words
• The Classical Virtues of Ronald Reagan (from the Heritage Foundation);
• Revealing Reagan’s true legacy (from the Washington Times);
• Reagan Reclaimed (Superb analysis in NRO by Steven F. Hayward. The libs will hate this piece -- reason enough to read it!);
• Reagan Revealed (Deroy Murdock in NRO);
• Liberal Bouquets for Dead Conservatives (Jonah Goldberg in NRO);
• Ronald Reagan: A Relaxing View (William F. Buckley in NR, writing in 1967);
• Ronald W. Reagan (Jim Hanson in Big Peace).

Click the link below for the tributes written by our contributors:

• A Leader like few others by George Moneo
• Guayaberas Blancas by Val Prieto
• Ronnie Reagan: A Legacy of Love and Devotion by Maggie (DrillANWR)
• Spoiled by Alberto de la Cruz
• A Gift by Ziva Sahl
• Idealist AND Ideologue by Henry Gomez
• A Slobbering Love Affair — Cuban Americans and Ronald Reagan by Humberto Fontova

* * *

A Leader like few others
by George Moneo

In my musings I often use the phrase, "the greatest President of my lifetime" when speaking of Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States. It's not meant as hyperbole in the least; it is a rare thing to be inspired by a great leader. I know what it must have been like for those men and women who heard Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Lincoln, Churchill, Patton. For eight years -- plus four if you start the countdown clock in 1976 at the RNC Convention -- Reagan was an inspiration to me an so many others. He was a leader with a capital "L".  He pushed us to be great, to be everything the promise of America had to give us. He didn't need little buttons with pithy slogans on them; he didn't put on airs and talk to us in sweaters; he didn't have to bite his lip to pretend to show empathy; he didn't need logos. He spoke directly to us, the American people. He was always telling us that the greatness of our country was us, not the government. And we responded with two landslide victories at the polls.

He was a man of principles, yet pragmatic when he had to be. But he never wavered on his core beliefs. He said what he meant when he reformed our tax code; when he called the Soviet Union "an evil empire"; when he fired the PATCO strikers; when he invaded Grenada; when he asked Gorbachev to "tear down the wall"; when he proceeded with the Strategic Defense Initiative despite the hysterical, cowardly baying of the left; when he walked out of an arms treaty negotiation with Mikael Gorbachev to the dismay of the still-baying liberal intelligentsia and media; when he unapologetically helped and supported anti-communists all over the world; when he proselytized Constitutionalism as a goal of his administration. That is leadership. He didn't need a push poll to know what the American people wanted. He knew us because he was one of us.

Reagan wasn't perfect. I wish a variety of international issues had been handled differently. He didn't deal with Iran after the Marine Corps barrack suicide bombing of 1983; this act of war (among so many, many others) was linked to Iran through its proxies in Lebanon. Reagan should have taken decisive and devastating action against this infectious pustule that threatens the West to this day with its Islamic fascist Jihad. The Iran-Contra scandal, an outgrowth of the very same weak middle-east foreign policy that was woefully unaware of the nature of the enemy we faced (and still face), was an unnecessary detour and distraction, and has unnecessarily sullied his reputation. He didn't do enough to dislodge the beast ninety miles away. On the domestic front, Reagan did not forcefully put a stop to the rapid explosion of Federal "departments" that have taken over traditional state and local activities.

It is a badge of honor that in his day Ronald Reagan was reviled, insulted, libeled and slandered by the left, belching out a wicked hatred for the man that, in recent memory, has been enthusiastically reserved only for George W. Bush and Sarah Palin. It speaks volumes that the left has to use the adjective "Reaganesque" to describe their woefully inadequate "leaders," while at the same time lying about who Reagan was to get a twisted and perverted message across.

We will continue to tell the truth about this great man to those who will listen. His leadership, his optimism, his humility, is sorely missed. For giving me the privilege to experience first-hand what greatness in a leader is, I am eternally grateful. Thank you President Reagan, and God bless you.

* * *

Guayaberas Blancas
By Val Prieto

I was going to my grandparents house as I did everyday during high school to take them their hot off the press copy of El Diario de las Americas, the newspaper I delivered back then. I remember there being way too much traffic around their house. Some streets were cordoned off and there were motorcycle cops everywhere. There were alot of cars moving through the usually quiet street of their apartment building. I wasn't sure what was going on.

I pulled into my parking space at their building - it was the one parking space for their apartment but abuelo wouldn't let anyone else park there, family or not, if he was expecting me. It was my space. I picked up their copy of the paper and knocked on the door. My grandfather's voice came through with his usual "Who is it, you or your brother?" A quick "My brother" from me would always get me in the door.

As usual my cafe was ready for me on the kitchen table. I handed my grandfather his sports section and abuela here society page, sat down at the table and relaxed for a minute. I drank my cafecito.

"There's alot of traffic out there today" I remember saying. "Must be an accident or something. The streets are all closed."

"Bah! It's the President's visit. Pero que te pasa a ti muchacho?" My grandfather looked at me almost stunned that I had no idea the President of the United States was going to be less than two blocks from his apartment. I had completely forgotten even though it was the front page headline of the very newspaper I'd been delivering.

Of course I felt like an idiot. Abuelo had been watching the mortorcade when I had arrived.

I dont remember who's idea it was, but the next thing I know my grandfather is splashing on his English Leather and donning his white long sleeve Guayabera. We were going to see the President.

We walked the two or so blocks from his apartment to La Esquina de Tejas, the restaurant where President Reagan was to visit. I don't remember exactly what my grandfather and I talked about on that walk but I'm sure Abuelo tossed a few tidbits of knowledge my way as he always did.

The restaurant was a well known place for us. It was across the street from the clinic where as a boy I had to go for my daily shots to battle anemia. It was my grandfather who'd walk me there, teaching me about baseball or talking about our family or telling me jokes. After the shot we'd cross the street, he would order his cortadito from the cafeteria window of the restaurant. He'd always buy me a pack of gum or the violet candies I used to like. The very same restaurant where the President would be eating was ours in a way. We had a history there.

The day President Reagan went to La Esquina de Tejas, the day where he later said "Cuba si, Castro no" in a speech, that very day was one where I would take one of my last walks with my grandfather.

We stood in the parking lot across the other street from the restaurant and waited for the President. There were alot of people there. Abuelo stood there calmly, smelling like a gentleman and wearing his finely pressed white long sleeve guayabera. He held his paragua - umbrella - open above him to block the sun while I clamored about the crowd in search of a better view. When the President's motorcade arrived Abuelo and I looked at each other as if to say He's here, are you paying attention? with our eyes.

A few minutes later out from the limo came President Ronald Reagan, the most powerful man in the world and leader of the free world. He turned and waved at the crowd, at us, and we cheered. Abuelo just stood there as before, a smile beaming from his face.

There at our little corner, at the little cafeteria where Abuelo had consoled me every day for a year after my shots, at the very same little spot where we would ultimately end our day no matter where we had traveled, there stood the President of the United States in a white, long sleeve, finely pressed guayabera.

I wonder if he, too, smelled of English Leather.

(Published here, back in 2004.)

* * *

Ronnie Reagan: A Legacy of Love and Devotion
by Maggie (DrillANWR).

I figured everyone would be climbing the monolith Ronald W. Reagan today. And I'm in just as much awe as everyone else over the legacy of Ronaldus Maximus the politician, the diplomat, the speechifier, the world leader, the Soviet crusher. But I also like to remember Reagan as "Ronnie".

In an age of text messaging and social networking in limited characters I think we've lost that fine art of communicating with pen and paper, heart and soul. Above me on my desk I have a small square sticky note my husband left for me one morning. I glance up at it throughout the busy day and smile (and no, I won't tell you what it says). A few years ago some of the many letters Ronald Reagan wrote to his beloved wife Nancy Reagan were published in a book. It was a side of the man we really never even considered amid all his staunch resolve and rugged stature. But it was there ... a legacy of love for her:

My Darling Wife

This note is to warn you of a diabolical plot entered into by some of our so called friends - (ha!) calendar makers and even our own children. These and others would have you believe we've been married 20 years.

20 minutes maybe - but never 20 years. In the first place it is a known fact that a human cannot sustain the high level of happiness I feel for more than a few minutes - and my happiness keeps increasing.

I will confess to one puzzlement but I'm sure it is just some trick perpetrated by our friends - (Ha again!) I can't remember ever being without you and I know I was born more than 20 mins ago.

Oh well - that isn't important. The important thing is I don't want to be without you for the next 20 years, or 40, or however many there are. I've gotten very used to being happy and I love you very much indeed.

Your Husband of 20 something or other.

We all know the mental isolation President Reagan spent the last part of his life in. And we know his wife Nancy was forever devoted to being beside him to the lonely end. I imagine, in those long hours of fog and clouds she spent with Ronnie, Nancy treasured as priceless those pages and pages of her husband's thoughts, words, emotion, and silliness. It's as if he had been prescient, knowing he would need them to communicate to her everyday how much she had meant to him in this life, and continued to. Even then he was able to romance the woman, just as he continues to inspire us today. It is a legacy of love, loyalty and devotion, even during the worst of times, we can all learn from both Ronnie and Nancy Reagan.

* * *

Spoiled
by Alberto de la Cruz

Ronald Wilson Reagan was elected President of the United States right around the time I entered high school and had become politically aware. Before then, the only political conversations I had participated in consisted of making fun of the toothy little peanut farmer with the perpetual stupid look on his face that occupied the White House. Ronald Reagan brought about my political awakening, and gave me a gift few Americans throughout history can boast about; living in America during one of the greatest presidencies of all time.

As an impressionable teenager, Reagan showed me what it meant to be an American. He gave me the same hope and inspiration that founded this great country, and he made me proud to have been born here. It was his patriotism and love for America that reached out to every citizen, and no matter how pernicious the attacks against him, they felt comforted by the fact that they knew their president would do whatever was necessary to protect our country and our way of life.

In a way, spending eight of my early years with Reagan as president spoiled me for the rest of my life. No president since him has ever come remotely close to this greatness, and I am afraid to say that it may be decades before another one comes along. Nevertheless, I am happy and proud to be able to tell my children and my future grandchildren that I lived in this great country when it was under the leadership of one of the greatest presidents of all time.

Few Americans can say that, and I thank the good Lord I am one of those Americans.

* * *

A Gift
by Ziva Sahl

Like many baby boomers, the president of my childhood was Eisenhower. He quietly guided our great nation through a time of unprecedented prosperity, optimism; and security; at least that was my perception. I grew up as a proud patriotic American, with an unfailing belief in America’s manifest destiny.

That nationalistic self-assurance ended on November 22, 1963, and with finality six weeks later when my Father suddenly passed away.

In retrospect, it seems overnight, all was gone. Prosperity was replaced by struggle; optimism was replaced by an introspective confusion fashioned by the chaos of social change. The 1960s, celebrated by the MSM as a decade of joyful, youthful rebellion, was in fact an era of frightening violence and upheaval perpetuated by radicals that ended civility in our country -- I hated it.

The 1960s dissolved into the 1970s with further decline. Newly married, I was happily immersed in the joys of domestic life and other than writing a letter of support to President Nixon after his 1970 Cambodia speech, didn’t pay much attention to politics.

Years went by, Ford, Carter, well, I did take notice of Carter, as his blatant bungling, and insipid self-righteousness, had me reaching for the remote whenever he appeared on television.

As a native Californian, I always liked Ronald Reagan; he often appeared on Los Angeles television, and hosted one of my favorite shows, Death Valley Days. Even so, in 1980, I was confused and shocked when my mother, a lifelong democrat proudly voted for him. I was even more surprised when she continued that support into his second term; not since her misguided support of JFK had she been so excited about a politician. That confusion ended on a busy day, June 12, 1987. I was at home working, ignoring the audio coming from the TV in the other room, until I heard these words:

In the 1950s Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you." But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health; even want of the most basic kind -- too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.

Wow, what a reminder of whom we are and what we stand for. It was sucker punch, striking at my core, and rekindling patriotism left unstirred since those dark days of grief nearly a quarter century earlier. By the end of the speech, ending with the famous, “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev -- Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” I was in tears...what a gift President Reagan gave to us all, the purpose of being American.

Only the greatest of leaders are able to beneficently inspire a nation with words that resonant individually. How blessed we are to have had the leadership of President Ronald Reagan, the father of modern conservatism. His legacy is our nation's hope for redemption.

* * *

Idealist AND Ideologue
by Henry Gomez

Almost exactly three years ago I created this video and posted to YouTube.

It was in response to the groundswell of support for Barack Obama that included celebrities making songs from his speeches. I was taken aback by how people became so captivated by Obama's rhetoric though it seemed obvious to me that it was empty and deceitful. Here's what I wrote at the time:

It takes more than a pretty video and a bunch of celebrities singing to make a great president. It takes a person who understands where the true greatness of America lies.

Long before anyone ever heard of Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan challenged Americans to hope, to dream, to believe....

In themselves.

He brought change. He told us "yes we can". Except he also told us we didn't need government to do it. He inspired us with his words and his actions. He showed us that our individual liberty and creativity is what makes our country great not any government program.

Today, Americans are wowed by the empty oratory of politicians who promise nothing but failed socialism in disguise. Even the presumptive Republican nominee cloaks himself in the mantle of Reagan but has shown that he doesn't understand Reagan's philosophy.

Reagan was an idealist AND an ideologue. His policies were based in his rock solid conservative ideology. That doesn't mean he never compromised. But compromise is something different than standing on the same side of an issue with those who are supposed to be your political adversaries.

John McCain is no Ronald Reagan.

* * *

A Slobbering Love Affair — Cuban Americans and Ronald Reagan
by Humberto Fontova

Cuban-Americans gave Ronald Reagan 90 per cent of their vote. No other American ethnic group approached this level of devotion. Even “southern whites,” America’s most reliably Republican voting bloc, fell short of this “Hispanic” group’s support for The Gipper. A visit to Miami’s Cuban Memorial Cemetery might help explain the phenomenon.

You'll often find people with itchy noses and red-rimmed eyes ambling amidst these long rows of white crosses. It's a mini-Arlington cemetery of sorts, in honor of Castro and Che's murder victims and those who—utterly without allies—fought and fell trying to free Cuba from these proxies for an Evil Empire. Twenty-five years later President Ronald Reagan would insure that any such fighters in Central America had an ally in the U.S. Worse still (in liberal eyes) he unashamedly defended the Nicaraguan Contras as “freedom-fighters.” The tombs and crosses in the Cuban Memorial are mostly symbolic. Most of the bodies still lie in mass graves dug by bulldozers on the orders of a man Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern called, “very shy and sensitive, a man I regard as a friend."

Never heard of this Cuban Memorial in the mainstream media? Well, it honors the tens of thousands of Fidel Castro's and Che Guevara's victims. Need I say more about the media blackout?...I didn't think so.

Some of these Cuban Memorial visitors will be kneeling, others walking slowly, looking for a name. You remember a similar scene from the opening frames of "Saving Private Ryan." Many clutch rosaries. Many of the ladies will be pressing their faces into the breast of a relative who drove them there, a relative who wraps his arms around her spastically heaving shoulders.

Try as he might not to cry himself, he usually finds that the sobs wracking his mother, grandmother or aunt are contagious. Yet he's often too young to remember the young face of his martyred father, grandfather, uncle, cousin –or even aunt, mother grandmother-- the name they just recognized on the white cross.

"Fusilado” (firing squad execution) it says below the name-- one word, but for most visitors one loaded with traumatizing flashbacks.

On Christmas Eve 1961, Juana Diaz spat in the face of the Castroite executioners who were binding and gagging her. They'd found her guilty of feeding and hiding "bandits." (Che’s term for Cuban peasants who took up arms to fight his theft of their land to create Stalinist kolkhozes.) Farm collectivization was no more voluntary in Cuba than in the Ukraine. And Cuba's Kulaks had guns—at first anyway. Then the Kennedy-Khrushchev pact left them defenseless against Soviet tanks, helicopters and flame-throwers. When the blast from Castro’s firing squad demolished Juana Diaz’ face and torso, she was six months pregnant.

In Aug. 7, 1961, Lydia Perez was eight months pregnant and a political prisoner of the man Andrea Mitchell describes as, “old-fashioned, courtly–even paternal, a thoroughly fascinating figure!” Lydia somehow annoyed a guard who bashed her to the ground, kicked her in the stomach, and walked off. Both Lydia and her baby were left to bleed to death.

Rigoberto Hernandez was 17 when Che Guevara’s soldiers dragged him from his jail cell, jerked his head back to gag him and started dragging him to the stake. Little “Rigo” pleaded his innocence to the very bloody end. But his pleas were garbled and difficult to understand. His struggles while being gagged and bound to the stake were also awkward. The boy had been a janitor in a Havana high school and was mentally retarded. His single mother had pleaded his case with hysterical sobs. She had begged, beseeched and finally proven to his “prosecutors” that it was a case of mistaken identity. Her only son, a boy in such a condition, couldn’t possibly have been “a CIA agent planting bombs.”

“Fuego!” and the firing squad volley riddled Rigo’s little bent body as he moaned and struggled awkwardly against his bounds, blindfold and gag.

“Judicial evidence is an archaic bourgeois detail!” sneered Che Guevara.

Carlos Machado was 15 years old in 1963 when the bullets from the firing squad shattered his body. His twin brother and father collapsed beside Carlos from the same volley. All had resisted Castro and Che’s theft of their humble family farm.

According to the scholars and researchers at the Cuba Archive, the Castro regime’s total death toll—from torture, prison beatings, firing squads, machine gunning of escapees, drownings, etc.—approaches 100,000. Cuba's population in 1960 was 6.4 million. According to the human rights group Freedom House, 500,000 Cubans (young and old, male and female) have passed through Castro's prison and forced-labor camps. This puts Castro and Che's political incarceration rate right up there with their hero Stalin's.

Resulting omelet?

The Castro brothers and Che Guevara converted a nation with a higher per capita income than half the nations of Europe, the lowest inflation rate in the Western hemisphere, a larger middle class than Switzerland, a huge influx of immigrants and the 13th lowest infant-mortality in the world, into one that repels Haitians.

Having lived it, to Americans of Cuban heritage Communism means—not free healthcare, not universal education, not overzealous social workers and community organizers—but pure Evil.

Ronald Reagan understood.

Had Ronald Reagan been U.S. President in 1960, no Cuban Memorial would be needed in south Florida today. And some obscure and long-dead Latin criminals named Fidel Castro and Che Guevara would merit less textbook space than Pancho Villa.

* * *

No words ... Just read (in full):

U.S. Supreme Court Issues Landmark Decision: Constitution is Void

ATLANTA, Jan. 18, 2011 - The U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that serves to allow judges to void the Constitution in their courtrooms. The decision was issued on January 18, 2011, and the Court did not even explain the decision (Docket No. 10-632, 10-633, and 10-690). One word decisions: DENIED.

Presented with this information and massive proof that was not contested in any manner by the accused judges, at least six of the justices voted to deny the petitions:

"There is no legal or factual basis whatsoever for the decisions of the lower courts in this matter. Â These rulings were issued for corrupt reasons. Â Many of the judges in the Northern District of Georgia and the Eleventh Circuit are corrupt and violate laws and rules, as they have done in this case. Â The Supreme Court must recognize this Petition as one of the most serious matters ever presented to this Court."

The key questions answered negatively by the U.S. Supreme Court was:

"Whether federal courts must be stopped from operating corruptly and ignoring all laws, rules, and facts."

By denying the petitions, SCOTUS has chosen to sanction corruption by federal judges and to allow federal judges to void sections of the Constitutional at will.

William M. Windsor has been involved in legal action in the federal courts in Atlanta since 2006. Windsor was named a defendant in a civil lawsuit (1:06-CV-0714-ODE) in which Christopher Glynn of Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls, swore under oath that Windsor did a variety of things including the crimes of theft and bribery. Windsor stated under oath that Christopher Glynn made it up and lied about absolutely everything that he swore. Windsor then obtained deposition testimony from Glynn and the other managers of the Maid of the Mist boat ride, and they admitted, under oath, that charges against Windsor were not true.

Despite this undeniable proof, 32-year federal Judge Orinda D. Evans declared that the grandfather of three should not have fought the lawsuit, and she forced him to pay a fortune in legal fees of Maid of the Mist. Windsor appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, but federal judges Dubina, Hull, and Fay rubber-stamped Judge Evans' ruling. Windsor then took his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices said the appeal was not worthy of their consideration (cert denied).

After attempting to get the case reopened with new evidence that proved fraud upon the courts and obstruction of justice, Judge Evans and Judge William S. Duffey committed a variety of crimes and violations of Constitutional rights, as did judges with the Eleventh Circuit. All of this was detailed for the Supreme Court. [...]

A dear friend recently home from the hospital, coming to terms with her failing health asked, "How can I die when Cuba is not free?"  It seems they come more frequently now, phone calls or emails announcing an illness, or informing about the passing of a friend or an acquaintance, followed by expressions lamenting that they passed burdened by exile; the heartbreak of never having seen their beloved Cuba again, and worse, forced to face death knowing that the island of their birth is still ruled by the brutal tyrants.    The same men who terrorized their way to power, murdering anyone who got in their way, the same men who decimated families, the same men who robbed millions of  intended lives leaving an empty hole, unending longing, an endless stream of  tears, and gut wrenching sobs.  Tears and sobs that the world, with back turned, never sees, and never hears.  1959-2011—fifty-two years of incomprehensible suffering.

Dear God only you know when it will end, but as long as we breathe, have a voice that speaks, and fingers that can type, we will continue the fight for a free Cuba.  Please God, let it be your will that 2011 is the year the nightmare finally ends.    ¡Viva Cuba Libre!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.’ 

The Obama administration's use of regulation to govern against the will of the people is tyranny; it doesn’t matter if the regulations are well intended or a deliberate step to gain absolute power, if allowed, further oppression will follow, and the USA, the world’s only guarantor of freedom for mankind will be lost.

Andrew Breitbart's Big Government has an excellent article by Robert Allen Bonelli, Using Regulation Against The Will Of The People, here's an excerpt:

The New York Times and Fox News, an unlikely combination, recently reported that the Obama Administration is taking advantage of a rule in the final version of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“Obamacare”) that authorizes Medicare coverage of yearly physical examinations.  The new rule says Medicare will cover voluntary advance care planning to discuss end-of-life treatment as part of an annual visit.  The mandate for end-of-life planning, commonly referred to as death panels, was specifically legislated out of Obamacare because of the uproar by the majority of Americans.  Most recent polls show 60% or more of the electorate wants Obamacare repealed, but this particular mandate was rejected by the people before the law was passed.

Using this embedded rule, one of the hundreds of Obamacare surprises that will be revealed over time, the Obama administration is able to achieve its policy goal through the regulation-writing process.  In this case, doctors will be encouraged to provide information on how to prepare an advance directive, stating how aggressively patients wish to be treated if they are so sick that they cannot make health care decisions for themselves.  Regardless of the merits, this is not what the people want.  If this seemingly harmless step is allowed to be taken, what else can be written into regulations that will further circumvent the will of the people?

 Early this month, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) voted to regulate the Internet for the first time. This scheme, known as Net Neutrality that forbids Internet service providers from impeding access to legal web content, may seem minor but it raises larger free speech issues and the threat of more intrusive regulation.  Even Congress has been sensitive to the First Amendment implications of any legislation regulating the Internet and has been careful in taking any action to date.

The people want debate by their elected representatives on this issue, not the imposition of new regulation at the whim of a president who believes he knows better than the citizenry.  This move, along party lines by the appointed commissioners of the FCC and publically welcomed by Mr. Obama, is nothing more than a power grab in defiance of the will of the people.

Perhaps the most dangerous use of regulatory power hanging over the American people is the judicially extended powers of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to regulate specific greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, as pollutants under the forty year old Clean Air Act.  The Clean Air Act was originally written to regulate air pollutants, not something that is ever present in the air – and certainly not something that is part of life itself!

The Supreme Court made the ruling in April of 2007 in the case The State of Massachusetts v. the Environmental Protection Agency but little has been done since.  However, with the support of the Obama administration, the EPA is now ready to regulate carbon dioxide.  The Clean Air Act, as it is now written, requires that any source that emits more than 250 tons of carbon dioxide per year be required to capture those emissions.  That threshold is so low that not only would it impose higher costs on power plants and refineries, but also farms, rural schools and hospitals.

If the EPA is allowed to follow through on using the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide, Washington D.C. bureaucrats will have more control over the lives of citizens and their businesses than the citizens themselves.

These three examples clearly prove how the Obama administration is poised to use the regulation-writing process to advance its own agenda regardless of what the American people want.  The administration is also acting in open defiance to our form of representative government.  Regardless of where anyone stands on these three particular issues, it is the dictatorial action implied by this process that should be rejected.  The 112^th Congress can use its power to review any regulation to strike down this power grab.  The American people need to demand that this new Congress act swiftly to send the president notice that our liberty will not be taken from us by the stroke of a pen.

Robert Allen Bonelli is the author of “Liberty Rising,” an accomplished business executive, public speaker and involved citizen.

Read it here, and Nice Deb has more on the "T" word at NewsReal Blog.