What He Said, He Being VDH

Much has been written about the Tea Party movement. Those within it (and I count myself) are naturally enamored with it while those in opposition view it more like a trip to the zoo. Understand that I'm not a member, since there seems to be no mechanism for membership. Also, there seems to be no national leader, no organizational chart and no bulging bank account. Hence, attempts to define a movement that has no clear definition is proving to be a daunting task, even for the most erudite among us.

Enter one Victor Davis Hanson. From his perch overlooking his vineyards, this history professor is one of the leading voices of conservatism. For those who are unfamiliar with his work, he can be found over at Pajamas Media. Here's a link to his recent posts.

In this post Where Did the Tea Party Anger Come From? he gives us his take on the Tea Party and makes some salient points about the country along the way.

He answers his question early on:

There is a growing sense that government is what I would call a new sort of Versailles — a vast cadre of royal state and federal workers that apparently assumes immunity from the laws of economics that affect everyone else.

If I were up on my European history, I might be familiar with his example. I'll just conclude that this sort of dissatisfaction with the overreach of the Obama administration is nothing new.

But at some point — perhaps triggered by the radical increase in the public sector under Obama, the militancy of the SEIU, or the staggering debts — the public snapped and has had it with whining union officials and their political enablers who always threaten to cut off police and fire protection if we object that there are too many unproductive, unnecessary, but too highly paid employees at the Social Service office.

Ooooh, that's good. And accurate.

There is another Tea Party theme that those who play by the rules are being had, from both the top and bottom.

More accuracy right there.

As goes California, so goes the nation?

There is a sense of futility: new higher taxes won’t lower the deficit and won’t improve infrastructure or public service. Much of it will go to redistributive plans that, the middle believes, will only, fairly or not, acerbate social problems. In California there is a sense (born out by statistics) that we lack a civil and humane public culture brought on by two often neglected facts: a small cadre of overpaid public employees ensures that we don’t have the money for continuance of basic public services; and, second, we feel our tax money is going to redistributive entitlements rather than focused on improving a collapsing infrastructure of dams, canals, freeways, airports, and trains.

Since his article is rather lengthy, I'll quote the passage that really got my attention. It concerns the steady drip of the loss of respect, for the nation and its people and values. We're not the country that some in the media think we are. We're still humble, honorable, and honest. The problem is that we've allowed ourselves to be taken in by the sweet nothings whispered in our ears by self-serving politicians.

It's not our system that needs a change. It was originally designed to be operated by fellow citizens who understand that they are working for other fellow citizens. In other words, our Founders relied on the wisdom of the average American to keep the government from growing too big for its britches. But progressives have sought to undermine the foundation of the country by feeding us a message that we're a country we're not. Now, as the Tea Party emerges as a movement comprised primarily of average Americans, we hear the same lies being trotted out by those who seek to see us submit to our alleged betters.

Here's what really jumped from the monitor:

Somehow we forget that we are in the 21st century with our multitude of cell-phones, laptops, no-down-payment new car leases, big-screen TVs, cheap food, and accessible rent that have permeated all society and given the proverbial underclass appurtenances that only the very rich of the 1960s could have dreamed of. Yet the Dickensian rhetoric has only intensified. There is rarely any acknowledgment of the public’s investment in anti-poverty programs or of its efforts to promote social equality. Instead, an overtaxed electorate is constantly reminded of its unfairness and its moral shortcomings. (I just left a multimillion dollar ICU unit in Fresno, where I was visiting a relative. Over a third of the visitors there did not seem to speak English, and so I was impressed by the public generosity that extends such sophisticated care to those who that day seemed largely to have arrived here recently from Mexico. The notion that a visitor to Mexico could walk into such a unit in Mexico City and get instant, free — and quality — care is, well, inconceivable. Yet politicians talk of our heartlessness, not our generosity.)

(emphasis mine)

If you're new to VDH, this article is a good introduction. If you're already a fan, this is one of his better posts. As they say, read it all.

"Barack Obama, Report to the Principle's Office, Again"

Barry opened the door and saw Principal Sam glowering at him. He walked sheepishly towards the overly large chair once more and climbed up into it.

"Barry, it appears that I've made another mistake by believing you when you said you'd clean up the mess downstairs in the boiler room."

Barry replied, "But Sir, I can explain everything. That spill was a direct result of that transfer student from England, Beppie. He's the one who lit the cherry bomb and flushed it down the toilet on the second floor. A bunch of kids told me he did it."

Principal Sam said, "Barry, perhaps I gave you too much leeway and authority too soon. I trusted you when I shouldn't have."

"But Sir, just look at the people that I've got lined up to clean the boiler room. There's Linda, the President of the Debate Team, and Kyle, the vice-president of the chess club, then there's Roger, the secretary for the National Honor Society. Suzy, president of the Science Club..."

"None of whom has ever swung a mop, judging by the mess that's still down there. What about you? Do you intend to just stand by and watch your classmates do all the work?"

"Well, Sir, somebody has to organize them. How else would anything get done without an organizer?"

An exasperated Principal Sam leaned forward for emphasis. "This institution has functioned quite well for years without anyone to "organize" things, especially something as simple and straightforward as a clean up in the boiler room."

"But Principal Sam, we need to find out all the reasons why this happened. Like where Beppie bought the cherry bomb and the lighter, both of which are prohibited on school grounds, I might remin.."

"I already know the rules".

Principal Sam's voice grew louder. "Barry, your efforts leave much to be desired. I gave you the task you said you wanted. You told me you'd handle everything and we'd be back to normal by now. It's been two weeks and what should have been done the day the pipe burst still hasn't been done. All I hear from you is excuses and finger-pointing. That's a poor response to any crisis. Is this how you'd do it in real life?"

Sam sighed. "Just as an exercise, what would you propose to prevent this from happening again, Barry?"

"Oh, that's simple, Sir. We'll just close all the bathrooms!"

G20 Nations Wake Up, Obama hits Snooze Button

President Obama received a stunning rebuke of his theory of domestic economics from German Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to the G20 meetings in Toronto last week.

Merkel, addressing a business audience in Berlin today, said she told Obama in a phone call that cutting government debt is “absolutely important for us,” exposing a second point of contention ahead of the June 26-27 G-20 summit in Canada.

As if to pour salt in that wound, the leaders of the G20 nations have pledged to cut spending in an effort to stimulate their respective economies, despite the exhortations of Obama.

Whew!

Not that it means anything, of course. Obama and his economically illiterate Congressional cohorts have demonstrated that they hold the American people in contempt when it comes to big, expensive government programs that severely restrict the economic freedom of the country.

Let's step outside the friendly confines of the Beltway for a minute and take a realistic look at what the $787B Stimulus Bill has actually done for the countrys' unemployment figures. Have we received our money's worth from this effort to lift us out of the deepest recession in history?

We'll ignore this administrations' new paradigm of "jobs created or saved" since there is no accurate way to measure their newly created statistic. Instead, we'll use the old measuring stick of numbers of unemployed Americans. Using the governments' own Bureau of Labor statistics for a quick check, scroll down to the end of the page and note the unemployment rates for 2008 (5.8%) versus the 2009 rate of 9.3%. That's a 60 per cent increase in unemployment in one year. The Stimulus Bill was passed in February of 2009, giving it nearly a full year to show a positive effect on the nations' economy.

Suppose for a minute that you're the CEO of a large corporation. Let's say you have a plan that you'll present to the board of directors that you say will take the company to new heights. The board likes the sound of your idea and gives you the go-ahead to enact your plan. One year rolls around and your plan has not only not produced the results you promised, but has instead cost the company half of its market share. The companys' stock now sits a record low and market share is merely a fond memory. How long do you think it would take before you were asked to resign? And could you blame the board after they gave you the green light for your idea?

This is the disconnect between Washington and the real world. The Obama administration is beyond clueless when it comes to matters economic and has ventured into the area of doing outright damage. Their policies are actively prohibiting the creation of jobs by removing needed capital from the private sector and funneling it into Washington to pay the interest on the debt for the many massive new spending programs like Health Care Reform.

Fortunately for us, the rest of the world seems to be waking up to the simple fact that runaway government spending is doing far more harm than good. Hopefully, those other governments and their leaders will dismiss the failed notion of government as the fixer of all economic woes.

The very best thing that government can do, right now and in the future, is to get out of the way and let the private sector do what it does best, namely produce and grow wealth. Those in Washington today don't seem to have the foggiest clue where tax money comes from. It's not created out of thin air by Washington and it doesn't grow on cherry trees. Economic freedom works every single time it is tried and always results in growth and prosperity. By now, it should be very clear to everyone that extreme leftist government policies are harmful to the country and it's people.

We have reached a point of diminishing returns on our tax dollar. So much is being taken from the private sector that we can no longer ignore the consequences.

Big government is now officially too big.

Friday Bits of Tid, Mother Nature Edition

And a lovely Friday it is, lads and lassies.

Team USA has won its pool and will advance to the next round of World Cup competition. Not bad for a team the referees don't seem to like.

And now news from the wide world of nature.

A restaurant in Arizona is serving up lion meat burgers. I'll bet the burp afterwards sounds like a roar. And you want a gazelle for dessert.

You knew I was a snake before you took me in. A conservationist known for rescuing snakes is dead after being bitten by a cobra. One Darwin Award, coming right up.

Cruising with kittehs. Cat lady loses custody of the 15 cats she was driving around. She was driving a Pontiac Catalina.

It was a moooving ceremony. Man forced to marry his cow.

Stop me if you've heard this one before. A horse walks into a bar, the bartender says...

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Obama the Job-Slayer

"What is best in life, Obama?"

"Crush your political enemies! See them driven before you and hear the lamentations of the merchants!"

Well, our current economic pickle has all three things covered. The landscape is littered with the carcasses of those who dared oppose The Anointed One. General Stanley McChrystal was driven before him just yesterday, and today he hears the lamentations.

Today's Washington Post carries this article: Business leaders say Obama's economic policies stifle growth.

Ivan G. Seidenberg, chief executive of Verizon Communications, said that Democrats in Washington are pursuing tax increases, policy changes and regulatory actions that together threaten to dampen economic growth and "harm our ability . . . to grow private-sector jobs in the U.S."

This blog strongly suspects that this sentiment among former supporters of Obama has been widely held, just not widely acknowledged. The reality is that our economy has been suffering from the policies of a Democrat-controlled Congress ever since January of 2007. It was just about that time that our recession began in earnest. While correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation, in this case it certainly appears to.

In the past, businesses always managed to have enough profit to set aside for emergencies. I'm speaking specifically of the olden days before the explosive growth in government brought on by LBJ's Great Society and its' war on poverty. Until that time, Washington was not much of a consideration for business as its' intrusion into the marketplace was small, especially when compared to today. Sure, a few companies went after big defense contracts, but that was about as far as anyone cared about DC.

In the years since, we've seen an explosion of new and increasingly intrusive policies and programs that have taken an ever larger bite of corporate profits to the point that the market can no longer bear it. All the costs associated with regulatory compliance have been passed along to the consumer that can be passed.

Think EPA.

While no one wants dirty air or water, this one department now has so much power that it's actively preventing an effective response to the Gulf oil spill. That's just one example. Multiply this many times and you wind up with a government that no longer cares for the economic health of the nation.

Add to that Obama's disdain for any company that dares to show a profit and there's no wonder we're stuck in a Jimmy Carter-esque malaise. Record unemployment numbers followed by one "unexpected" downturn after another for eighteen months and even the most fervent supporters of this administration will start to admit the truth.

This administration is the most anti-business administration we've ever seen. And we're paying for it in lost jobs, lost houses and lost dreams.

Obama Fulfills His Role as National Professor

America is getting a very valuable lesson in politics courtesy of Professor Barack Obama.

How often have you dismissed campaign rhetoric? Nearly all politicians (or potential politicians) say things while on the campaign trail. Only rarely will they enact or follow through on their promises once in office. Between kissing babies and excoriating their opponents, they always offer up grand plans that ususally dissipate in the cold light of political realities once they reach office.

It's like a game. You know that once in office, you won't see the same firebrand that whipped crowds into a voting frenzy at the town square. You expect a much more subdued public official than campaigner.

It's the American Way. Or at least it was prior to the arrival of Barack Obama.

Psychologically, there's a reason for that: politicians generally have enormous egos. Their ego commands them to say virtually anything to achieve the goal of being elected. A chicken in every pot? Literally, we all know that won't happen, it's the underlying supposition that's designed to make the favorable impression on the voting populace.

Over the years, we've built up a kind of national immunity to campaign rhetoric. We dismiss it the day after election day, sort of like a used diaper.

Things are very different now. Eighteen months into the reign of Barack the Magnificent, we're finding out that he was deadly serious about some of the things he pledged while running for office. Nowhere is that more evident than in his response to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy.

Here's what I mean:



We allowed our national somnambulence to overtake us when we heard this. Of course, at the time, "global warming" or "climate change" had yet to be exposed as the grand fraud that it is. ClimateGate had yet to reveal the truth to the world that a small group of scientist were being paid to lie in order allow politicians to impose an agenda of societal and economic control in the name of "science".

Nothing else explains the reason that this statement from Obama didn't take his presidential bid to the bottom of the Gulf to rest alongside the broken pipe of the Deepwater spill. We just didn't think he was at all serious. How could someone who wanted to be President actually advocate the economic ruin of his country?

Obama's imposition of a moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico proves he's very serious when it comes to imposing his will on the unwilling public. Even though it was overturned by Federal Judge Martin Feldman, Obama intends to appeal it. Instead of standing down in the face of even more economic damage to the Gulf coast area already ravaged by the spill, Obama remains determined to stick to his campaign promise to make energy costs for his fellow countrymen "necessarily skyrocket".

This just might turn out to be a good thing for the country. For too long, the void between a politician's campaign promises and reality has been as big as the Grand Canyon. We're now waking up to the fact that there are elements within Washington that don't have best interest of the nation in their hearts and are doing their best to bring us to our knees.

I'm willing to bet that we, as a nation, will start paying closer attention to what campaigning politicians say from now on.

And that we'll start to take them at their word.

Manufacturing Sector News - the Good and the Bad

Once upon a time in a far away land, there was a sector of the economy that thrived. Stable and less prone to dramatic economic fluctuations, this sector was driven by the needs of a modern society. People at that time clamored for products that made their lives easier, increased family time and reduced backbreaking labor. This clamoring was met by craftsmen who knew how to make the things that people wanted.

These craftsmen and their mighty machines also provided employment for others who weren't schooled in the industrial arts, but whose contributions and skills were necessary for production of the modern products: truck drivers, welders, painters, inspectors, accountants, salesmen and others. College degrees weren't required. Skills were passed along from generation to generation through apprenticeships formal and informal.

Through innovation, this sector brought the human race to unprecedented wealth and health. Mortality rates went down as life expectancies rose. New materials and new ways of making things were developed and refined to the point that ideas previously confined to literature were made real within the lifetimes of many: self-powered vehicles, air flight and eventually even space flight became common. Farm production grew to previously unheard of rates, providing more food for more people at less cost. Advances also came to the fields of medicine, relieving or minimizing suffering and eliminating previous scourges.

This was the success of manufacturing. The free market obeyed easily observable and simple rules. Products that were initially expensive came down in price as production rates increased. America enjoyed a standard of living that was the envy of the world.

It was doomed to be short-lived, however. In the late twentieth century, short-sighted politicians with little experience in the business world decided that America would move away from making things and toward an economy that had formerly been on the fringes, depending on disposable income to survive. Thus was born the misguided notion that an entire nation could support itself by relying on service instead of hardware. Legislation was introduced that began to dismantle the manufacturing sector and distribute it among other countries with far lower standards of living and thus lower wages. Lofty ideas of a worldwide economy were the starry-eyed dream of out of touch bureaucrats who envisioned themselves in control of the system.

Fast-forward to today and our current deep recession. The world economy is on the brink of collapse brought on by its' own weight. Different cultures don't all share the same enthusiasm for work that Americans do, despite the insistence of academics who still advance the false notion that all cultures are equal and equally good. Such segmentation of labor has now enabled China to surpass the US in manufacturing output.

This may have an unintended side effect as people who have been unemployed in the service sector are rediscovering the joy and satisfaction of working with their hands. If the hugely unpopular Cap-and-Tax bill passes during the lame-duck session of Congress after this Novembers' elections, artificially high energy costs could accelerate this move as shipping becomes prohibitively expensive. Until that bill is repealed, that is.

A return to the type of economy that raised the US to the status of the worlds' leader can only mean good things for us. The level and amount of new items is accelerating along with the demand. People the world over still want the products that make modern life easier and simpler, providing more time to spend with family and friends. We could begin to make those items again. There is nothing stopping us, once we regain control of Washington and install politicians who understand and respect the average American and his or her hopes and dreams of a family, a house, and a secure and free future for their children.

When this happens, be prepared for another period of truly unprecedented improvement in the human condition, led once again by America.

Obama Appoints Radical Environmentalists to Expert Panel Instead of Experts

As if we needed further proof that President Obama lives in a fantasy world of academic opinion, we see who he has appointed to a panel to investigate the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill.

No one on this panel has any experience in the field of petroleum engineering. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Three of the panels' seven members are on record opposing offshore drilling; Bob Graham, Frances Beinecke, and Donald Boesch.

Are you surprised?

You shouldn't be, particularly in light of the other massive policy failures of the Obama administration. Obama seems to have a keen knack for picking the wrong person for advice. For example, he said the economists who provided the input into the Stimulus Bill claimed a "multiplier effect", that every dollar spent by Washington would result in the creation of $1.50 in the private sector. We have since learned that this has not happened. If this were true, then we'd be enjoying good times once more with the low unemployment figures prevalent during the Bush years despite 9-11 and two wars.

With three of the seven members of this panel demonstrating a bias against drilling, you can already guess what the conclusion of the panel will be, and it won't be favorable to America's real energy needs. This is by design, in case there are any who doubt why these particular members were chosen. Don't expect a dispassionate, objective collection of facts. Expect the opposite, much like the 9-11 Commission that very conveniently omitted the fact that President Clinton literally had Osama bin Laden in the crosshairs of a snipers' rifle, but declined to remove him for political reasons. Obama and his advisors have, once again, chosen to mollify their radical supporters on the left who want nothing less than a return to an 18th century way of life for the most advanced civilization on Earth.

One quote from the article above voiced by Frances Beinecke claims that the main cause of the spill is the tired trope that America is "addicted to oil". I've railed against this image of America as a junkie before. Not only is that statement an insult to the nation, it ignores reality. Further, it shows the ignorance of whomever utters it. This attitude has absolutely no place in a serious examination of this tragedy, particularly at the highest level of government.

I'll come right out and say it. We can do better than this. Mr. President, if you are to truly find the facts concerning the cause of this spill and prevent another disaster from occurring, it is imperative that your panel include industry experts in petroleum engineering and related industries, not radical, leftist environmentalists. Merely sharing your Marxist political views is not enough. It's almost as if you know that anyone inside the industry will most likely not be aligned with you politically.

We can see straight through your motives, Mr. President. This is one area where your administration is truly transparent.

This is a technical problem that requires technical solutions, not political rhetoric.

Friday Bits of Tid, US Open Edition

The US Open is under way at scenic Pebble Beach. Both Tiger and Lefty have their work cut out for them.

World Cup Team USA has just kissed Slovenia's sister - 2-2. Which brings up the question: can we tie our way to victory? I'm just askin'...

And now, for the post both of you have been waiting for.

It's Friday!

Someone needs to call the alien mothership and tell them to come retrieve this thing we call an Obama. It has obviously malfunctioned and is in dire need of some sort of repair. It gave a speech that only an off-worlder could appreciate (namely Keith Olberman) last Tuesday. The rest of us Earthlings were left scratching our heads. The man I want to be when I grow up, Charles Krauthammer, rebuts the speech here.

 If you didn't believe in angels before you read this, you may afterwards. Heart, cockles, warming. Some assembly required.

Conversely, Beelzebub stops a census.

And speaking of the devil, scientists are trying to map his genes. I wish they'd put a little more effort into finding out what a boffin is and why they seem to be constantly amazed.

Con-conversely, the Vatican considers the Blues Brothers a Catholic classic. Also count Crossroads with Ralph Macchio.

It would appear as though the World Cup is a matter of life and death to some, depending on where you watch. Also remember, there's no fun in Islam.

It was only a matter of time before they started replicating.

And finally, we present a scene in a high school counselor's office in about ten years. "Jimmy, when did you first know that you wanted to be an astronaut?"

"Well, Mr. Waterski, I was seven at the time..."



Y'all have a good'un' and Go Team USA and Lefty!

The Implosion of a Presidency

We witnessed something this past Tuesday evening. I'm not talking about the Lakers rout of the Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

No, what we saw was the implosion of a Presidency. It was like watching a train wreck: you know there will be carnage, but you can't take your eyes off it. Call it a morbid fascination if you will, but President Obama's oil spill speech was what we conservatives have been waiting for ever since he was elected. The nation finally got a good look at our President and what it saw, it didn't like.

Those of us who strive to make informed decisions about politicians prior to entering the voting booth to cast our ballots knew just enough about Barack Obama not to vote for him. Not that his opponent, John McCain was any better, McCain has his own history as a "maverick" inside the GOP. Still, for anyone who was able to find any information at all on Obama, his history in politics gave us pause.

Obama kicked off his political career in the swanky home of one of America's domestic terrorists, Bill Ayers. That one simple fact should have been enough to scuttle his future except for one thing: most Americans didn't know who Bill Ayers was, and this was Chicago. OK, that's two things. Ayers' heyday was in the sixties, an era that the majority of Americans outgrew around 1972. While the rest of us matured, Ayers didn't. His lunatic ravings about wanting a revolution to overthrow the US were so quaint, we patted him on his little head and tossed him to the curb alongside our old copies of Rolling Stone. Ayers, however, never let go of his adolescent rebellion, and in fact, held it even more closely.

That was one strike against Obama.

Then we found out that Obama had spent twenty years in a church headed by one Jeremiah Wright. Wright is every bit the immature radical that Ayers was, except Wright had his hand on a Bible. His sermons were made available on YouTube and caused a minor sensation for about three days until Obama disowned the "pastor" who married him and baptised his two little girls. Another lunatic, Wright used his pulpit to rail against some mythical country whose own CIA would introduce AIDS into the water supply of black neighborhoods, or some such nonsense.

That was two strikes against Obama.

Despite a radical past and present, a nation wracked by manufactured racial guilt decided to give Obama a shot at the highest office in the land and leader of the free world. It rationalized that he wasn't really as radical as all his friends and elected him by a narrow margin. "He'll grow into the office" was the national mood. After all, he was the Anti-Bush. Eight years of constant criticism from the media had turned the country against him: it was ready for a change, any change. It hoped desperately for change.

Obama portrayed himself as the new cool guy, intellectual, knowledgeable in all things, able to undo all of the damage that the cowboy Bush had done to the US around the world. Healer of the planet, receder of seas, lover of European-style soft Socialism. He was to bring a new tone to Washington, we were told. Gone would be the days of partisan bickering, backroom deals and political paybacks.

The nation believed him. Right up until Tuesday nights' speech.

We've been patient enough. We watched the nation's unemployment rate go up to nearly double what it had been for a decade, thinking it was a blip that could be easily cured with the application of a massively expensive Recovery bill. We watched as more and larger bills cascaded from the halls of Congress, each one sold as the cure for the impending doom brought on as a result of the failed Bush administration. We saw the government takeover of not one, but two former powerhouses of American capitalism: General Motors and Chrysler Corporation, reducing then to mere shells of their former selves, now essentially run by the unions that caused their demise. Not content with that, we watched the Cash for Clunkers program squander billions more taxpayer dollars as millions of perfectly good vehicles were destroyed for no good reason, depriving many consumers of reliable, though used, "inefficient" cars.

Fast forward to April 20th. The Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico explodes, killing eleven workers and causing the worst environmental disaster in American history. Weeks go by while British Petroleum tries to fix the leak. Obama fails to fully mobilize a full-frontal assault on what rapidly proves to be a massive oil spill, choosing instead to focus on his golf game. Obama refused, in writing, the assistance of several other countries. He even skipped the memorial for the fallen workers on the rig in favor of a fund-raiser for Barbara Boxer.

Finally, nearly two months after the explosion and spill, Obama deigned to grace America with his words last Tuesday. In his first speech from the Oval Office, sitting behind the desk he normally has his feet on, he addressed the nation in what was a rambling, mostly incoherent speech lambasting our "addiction" to oil and pushing for yet another job-killing, massive tax, after issuing an unnecessary moratorium on drilling that will put many more thousands of Americans out of work.

What made his Tuesday speech remarkable was the reaction from his former supporters in the Ministry of Misinformation, namely Chris "Tingles" Matthews, failed sportscaster and make-believe pundit Keith Olberman, and Howard Fineman. Their post-mortem of Obama's speech was eye-opening, as they finally appeared to shed their blind, deaf, and dumb allegiance to The Anointed One. Since then, his former tongue-bathers have abandoned him nearly in unison, as if they had somehow seen the Bat Signal that it was OK to finally start speaking the truth about this most incompetent of Presidents.

Couple the unexpected reaction from the left with his sinking approval numbers in the polls, and one thing is becoming clear to the nation: Captain Kick-Ass is not here to save us.

Not by a long shot.

Obama's Oil Spill Speech - All We Expected and Less!

On Tuesday night, President Obama gave his first speech from the Oval Office. From behind the desk made from the British ship Resolute, he attempted to quell the public uproar over his bungling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill currently emptying into the Gulf of Mexico and onto its' shoreline. The full transcript is here.

He began by reassuring the American public that he had been Johnny-on-the-spot since day one, appointing  Nobel Prize-winning physicist and Energy Secretary Stephen Chu to head a panel that consisted mainly of people with other high sounding titles but no actual experience in petroleum engineering. He promised that the spill would be 90% contained sometime in the coming days. Or weeks. Whenever.

He then laid out the clean-up plans, citing Admiral Allen as the point man and bragging that he's authorized some 17,000 National Guardsmen to the coast.

As the clean up continues, we will offer whatever additional resources and assistance our coastal states may need. Now, a mobilization of this speed and magnitude will never be perfect, and new challenges will always arise. I saw and heard evidence of that during this trip. So if something isn’t working, we want to hear about it. If there are problems in the operation, we will fix them.

Hmm, let's ask Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal if those problems have been fixed.

He then proceeds to the next part of the speech, which also just happens to be his favorite sport, right after golf- blaming George Bush.

The oil spill represents just the latest blow to a place that has already suffered multiple economic disasters and decades of environmental degradation that has led to disappearing wetlands and habitats.

Really? Could you please be a tad more specific, Mr. President? Where are these disappearing wetlands and habitats and what, precisely caused their disappearance? Why are we just now hearing about this?

The third part of our response plan is the steps we’re taking to ensure that a disaster like this does not happen again.

With a job-killing moratorium on drilling in the middle of the worst recession in American history. Well, that'll certainly do it, Sir.

I know this creates difficulty for the people who work on these rigs, but for the sake of their safety, and for the sake of the entire region, we need to know the facts before we allow deepwater drilling to continue.

Your concern will most certainly pay the rent and utilities for those affected, won't it? We should be glad this wasn't a plane crash. If it were, you'd probably impose a moratorium on all flights until we found the cause.

It's along about here that this speech degrades into radical, leftist, environmental talking points that serve no purpose other than to lay the groundwork for the passage of the job-killing Cap-and-Tax bill.

After all, oil is a finite resource. We consume more than 20% of the world’s oil, but have less than 2% of the world’s oil reserves. And that’s part of the reason oil companies are drilling a mile beneath the surface of the ocean – because we’re running out of places to drill on land and in shallow water.

Really, Mr. President? Then why are we finding vast reserves of oil in places where we know dinosaurs never roamed, like miles beneath the Gulf of Mexico? And the only reason we're running out of places to drill is that your radical progressive cohorts in Congress and the EPA have imposed so many restrictions on easily accessed oil that companies are forced to drill in increasingly inaccessible areas, a direct cause of this spill and it's subsequent damage.

For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered. For decades, we have talked and talked about the need to end America’s century-long addiction to fossil fuels. And for decades, we have failed to act with the sense of urgency that this challenge requires. Time and again, the path forward has been blocked – not only by oil industry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and candor.

Mr. President, we are not "addicted to oil". If you were just a bit better informed and experienced, particularly when it comes to science and physics, you'd know that there isn't a better or more versatile substance on Earth. Nothing else comes close to it. The development of oil into plastics has been just one of the most beneficial industrial movements in history. So many things have been made from petroleum products that they are beyond the space of this blog to even begin to catalog. So your (and your radical environmentalist supporters) claim of being "addicted to oil" is just so much hogwash. And you know it.

When I was a candidate for this office, I laid out a set of principles that would move our country towards energy independence.

Would that be the principles that would make our utility bills "necessarily skyrocket" and bankrupt coal companies, putting scores of Americans out of work and decimating our standard of living? Those principles, Mr. President?

His closing point is a real doozy. Basically, he states that if we can put a man on the moon, then we can certainly begin to use alternative forms of  energy. Again, his single-minded focus on organizing communities works against him out here in the real world. It's as if we, the United States of American, are so stupid that we can't or won't find alternatives to oil.

Mr. President, if it were out there, we'd find it.

And thank you for your vote of confidence.

The Gulf Oil Spill Speech We Won't Hear Tonight

President Obama approaches a lectern which has no teleprompter. He pulls a small stack of index cards from his vest pocket and, facing the camera directly, begins his speech.

"My fellow Americans. During the past two months, our country has experienced the worst ecological disaster in our history. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig resulted in the tragic deaths of eleven people. The well that was uncapped in that explosion has leaked massive amounts of raw crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico that is now reaching our shores. It has caused and will continue to cause many in the area to lose their livelihoods. Entire industries that depend on the bounty of the Gulf coast such as seafood and tourism will likely take years to recover, but recover they will.

I and others within my administration have tried to distance ourselves from British Petroleum for partisan political reasons, at times contradicting ourselves as we flail about trying to avoid the negative publicity and damage to my presidency that a spill of this magnitude would surely cause. I have since come to the conclusion that accidents do happen despite our best efforts, and in this case, finger-pointing is a useless exercise in political gamesmanship. I will no longer frame BP as a villain, as I have been informed that many American citizens and British subjects rely on the corporate health of BP to finance their retirement. The continued profitable operation of BP is a high priority for me.

The response by my administration has been anemic at best and has resulted in far more damage to the Gulf Coast and its residents than it should have. For this I truly apologize to the American people. We should have been ready for any catastrophe, as required by law. We have failed you.

In order to correct these grievous errors, I have asked for the resignations of Ken Salazar, Carole Browner, Lisa Jackson, Rahm Emmanuel, David Axelrod and Eric Holder. I expect your letters on my desk by tomorrow morning at the latest. They will be replaced by the best and brightest candidates who have real experience in the field of energy production and business in general. I now understand that radical political views make a poor substitute for concrete, effective action during a national emergency such as this.

In addition, I am directing the White House to formulate a national energy policy that insures that America will have abundant, inexpensive energy for the foreseeable future. This policy will recognize the vital role that oil plays in our economy and will make its harvesting easier and safer by moving drilling closer to shore where spills are more easily contained. I am also directing Congress to lift any moratoriums and restrictions on drilling and to immediately stand down on the American Power Act. Our new national energy policy will also ease the construction of new nuclear and coal-fired power plants by lifting restrictions that, for too long, have held us hostage to the whims of radical environmentalists.

In addition, I have waived the Jones Act and will welcome all who have graciously offered their help, as we have so often helped other parts of the world when disaster strikes. We have much work to do to minimize the effects of this disaster. We must and will return the beaches and shores of the Gulf to their original pristine condition and the lives of its residents to normal.

We will not let this accident deter us from a safe and secure energy future. Thank you and may God Bless the United States".

Staff attempts to revive the stunned members of the press in attendance.

What We Don't Want in Washington

The upcoming elections this November will be the most important election held in our lifetime. Four years will have passed since the Democrats regained control of Congress and two years will have passed since the Annointing of The One to the Presidency.

So, it's about time we asked ourselves a national question: are we better off now than we were four, or even two, years ago?

While this question has been asked before, most notably by Ronaldus Maximus, at no time has the answer been more clear. The answer is a resounding "No!".

Pick an issue, any issue. Our situation is bad and getting worse with each passing day. This administration is toxic to traditional American values, as if someone else from a different country were running things and had never heard of individual freedom. Each new piece of legislation that comes from Capitol Hill not only fails to adequately address issues, but actually reduces the freedom of every American and compounds the problem.

Our economy is suffering. The solutions are as simple as they are straightforward. Lower taxes and reduced governmental red tape. But has anyone in this Democrat controlled Congress offered to do the things that must be done to get our economy back on solid ground? Look at the latest unemployment figures for your answer. It's like Washington is collectively blind, deaf and dumb to the ills of the nation and the suffering of its' people.

Why did we get a massively expensive and unnecessary new program like ObamaCare in place of genuine action to salvage the economy and despite the protestations of the majority of Americans? Why do those in power continue to act in ways that defy common sense? Perhaps this video will help explain our current situation.


(h/t Ace of Spades HQ)

This is a prime example of the arrogance of our elite ruling class. This Congressman, Bob Etheridge (D-NC) should be sitting in a jail cell for assault and battery. He should be censured, then impeached. He has acted in a manner that has brought shame to the office he holds. He has insulted each and every American whom he claims to serve.

The sad part is that his views concerning those of us who dare question the motives and actions of those we send to Washington are shared by most of the progressives who have managed to lie their way into office. They do not represent the people of their districts, do not hold American values close to their hearts and certainly do not value the Constitution. If they did, you would never see this kind of arrogance and disrespect shown to anyone.

If this idiot is reelected, then the people of North Carolina should be ashamed of themselves, for they have sent the exact wrong type of person to Washington.

How can we begin to expect a solution to our national problems from an arrogant bastard like that?

Friday Bits of Tid, World Cup Edition

It's Friday and time to feign interest in soccer, or as the Europeans call it, football. Team USA plays their opening game against the Mother England tomorrow at 2:30 pm. I'm told that even if we lose this game, we're not out of the competition. Meh.

I'm sorry (not really) but our American version of football is far more engaging, what with all the running and the tackling and the feats of athleticism, and that's just the cheerleaders. And I'd put two Oakland Raiders fans against ten of England's best hooligans any day.

Here are the parents of a typical Oakland fan.

 (courtesy of SI Kids)

Here's what they're up against. An Australian backpacker in South Africa for the soccer World Cup passed out drunk in the driveway of a Johannesburg politician under the impression he was in Cape Town.

What soccer fans may lack in looks may now be helped with the latest in cosmetic surgery - Dimpleplasty.

Here's what happens when you American history is viewed through the distorted lens of postmodernism - A warning label on the Constitution of the United States. I predict a flood of nastygrams, and well-deserved ones at that.

File this under the "psychology" tab of this blog. Two villains are thrown on the analytical couch. - Darth Vader and Barack Obama.

Finally, Michelle Malkin gives us Obama's Ass-Kicking Song.

Enjoy.

Captain Kick-Ass Strikes Again - Incompetence on Parade

Just when you think the governments' response to the Gulf oil spill couldn't get any worse, along comes more bad news. What with all the unnecessary red tape keeping Louisiana from building berms to keep the oil out of the marshes and wetlands, boots on necks, no chemical dispersants thanks to the EPA, disaster responses that were never implemented, dead fish and birds, jobs lost, kicked asses and all, that Obama has escaped without too much damage to his reputation as a receder of seas and healer of Earth.

You would be wrong, petroleum breath.

Here comes news of an offer that shouldn't have been refused. It seems that the Dutch government wanted to help us in the recovery efforts by donating ships with oil-skimming booms. In addition, they also offered to help us build the berms that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal wanted.

Obama's response? Thanks but no thanks.

It's becoming painfully obvious to all save the most well-programmed of Obamabots that our President is in so far over his head that he has to look up to see the bottom. This situation has already eclipsed the Bush Administrations' perceived mishandling of Hurricane Katrina by exponential factors. One royal screw-up is followed by another, larger screw-up. With each new day dawns the reality that, yes Virginia, experience does matter, particularly when it comes to running the worlds' only superpower. How long we remain in that role is in doubt with our current leadership and its determination to see the country brought down a few notches.

While the focus for the Gulf Coast residents in on cleaning up the spill and reconstructing the areas' economy, the focus in Washington has been how this will play to Obama's political advantage. This disconnect between Obama and the American people, not just the ones in the Gulf, is becoming so pronounced that it can't be ignored any longer. Yesterday, WSJ Online's Dorothy Rabinowitz penned this jewel - The Alien in the White House. It's good and not too long. As they say, read it all.

One wishes for a leader with the brains to solve a real problem. One that doesn't involve wet fingers in the political winds to determine the right course of action. One that could graciously accept help from other countries in a spirit of cooperation and thankfulness.

One with, you know, some real experience.

Captain Kick-Ass to the Rescue!

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!

No, it's Captain Kick-Ass!

Able to leap tall oil rigs in a single bound. Faster than a speeding golf ball. More powerful than Nancy Pelosi's gavel. A tireless public union servant, dedicated to untruths, injustice, and the progressive way.

Oh boy. Sorry kiddies, that's all the snark that Uncle Backwards can tolerate for one day.

It's a somewhat slow news day, so that usually presents a problem here. Do I post the latest poll showing Obama's approval numbers sinking like a rock again? Meh, that's too easy. I could do that almost every day.

Ooooh! How about all the Republican women who won yesterday's primary elections? Ok, that doesn't happen every day, so it's an option.

Wait! I've got it! How about all the lefty talking heads who are just now starting to realize that Obama is, shall we say, not quite up to the job of being President? Hmm, maybe not. After reading it, the author just claims Obama's a third term of Bush.

There's always the Gulf oil spill. Here's a good story about a company that decided to gear up for what should've been a no-brainer. They made a few miles of oil containment booms in anticipation that someone would buy it in order to protect the Gulf shore from the encroaching oil. Curiously, no one's buying it.

I guess I'll just have to be content with this little piece of effluence from the mouth of our Precedent. "I'm talking to Gulf experts so I'll know whose ass to kick."

Way to go there, Captain. I feel better already, don't you?

Of course, if we left it up to all the talking heads at the MFM, all we'd hear is about how Obama needs to lose his cool and go all gangsta on somebody's ass. Like that'll seal the leak in the Gulf. Instead, out here in the real world, what is needed is someone who understands that this is a highly technical disaster that can't be fixed with words. Or emotions. It takes many things that Captain Kickass just doesn't have, has never had, nor appears that he wants. Things like real managerial experience. A willingness to admit that he doesn't have all the answers. Listening to others who don't share his Marxist tendencies and could actually suggest that the government get out of the way and let those who do this for a living fix the problem.

Is the Gulf oil spill Obama's Katrina? As I've said before, you bet your light, sweet ass it is.

This Explains A Lot - Lefties Can't Count

You know.

You know you know.

You've seen the evidence which lead you to know.

But there has been no way to "prove" what you know.

Until now.

Our current recession/depression closely coincides with the Democrat takeover of Congress in the 2006 elections. Using past experience as a gauge of future performance, American businesses braced themselves for what was to surely follow: massive increases in government spending and regulations which inevitably lead to an economic downturn. We haven't been dissapointed. In fact, it's so bad that Washington had to try to invent new ways of measuring jobless statistics in order to mislead the public about the damage being inflicted upon average Americans, "jobs saved or created".

Now, granted, our economy has cycles of ups and downs. Life is like that. Good days and bad days. But we take the bitter with the sweet and look forward to the good times that will inevitably return. That right there is faith in our free market system, a faith that's sustained the country through other downturns and would be no different now except for one tiny little thing. The Obama administration and this Congress have no idea how a free market economy works and are actively pursuing policies that are hostile to business.

If you've ever balanced your checkbook, you've wondered where these job-killing ideas come from and why the common sense you apply to your household budget seems absent inside the Beltway.

Now you know.

Thanks to Daniel Klein and Zeljka Buturovic. They analyzed the data from a Zogby poll in a refreshing way, counting not necessarily right or wrong answers to a question, but by eliminating the obviously wrong answer from the responses. The results are very revealing and serve to help explain why we're in the shape we're in, economically. Basically, the more you lean to the left politically, the less you understand about economics.

It's not that liberals did badly compared to conservatives in this survey, they were a soul-crushing disaster. The best thing they got on their test was drool.

Here they are, best to worst, with an average number of incorrect responses from 0 to 8: Very conservative, 1.30; Libertarian, 1.38; Conservative, 1.67; Moderate, 3.67; Liberal, 4.69; Progressive/very liberal, 5.26.

.Notice the "spread" between the best and worst scores. Take 5.26 and divide it by 1.30 and you get a rounded answer of 4. That's four times wronger than the correct answer, which means that libs and lefties not only don't grasp the concepts of money, you may as well be speaking Aramaic to them when it comes to matters economic. Multiply this by 535 Congress members and a White House full of others and you can see why we're in this mess. ( And I sincerely apologize for all this math.)

We have somehow managed to elect people in Washington who are far dumber than the average fifth-grader.

We Must Make a Decision About Oil

It appears that progress is being made to slow the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A cap has been lowered that is capturing some of the leaking oil and that oil is being pumped up to a surface ship instead of into the water. Our prayers go with everyone who is working to fix this problem.

Meanwhile, above the surface, we have a larger problem. We must determine what we, as a nation, are going to do to secure our energy future when it comes to oil.

Radical environmentalists want us to abandon the use of oil altogether in favor of, uh, um, well, they don't really know. All they can say is that oil is bad and we shouldn't use any of it and point out that this disaster is a prime reason for us to not use any of that icky, oily stuff. The part of that argument that doesn't hold water is basically all of it.

These radicals have been at work for the better part of two generations to insure that we don't have a viable energy policy based on reality. They've infiltrated government and the private sector alike, crafting legal maneuvers that have essentially crippled our ability to be self-sufficient and free from foreign suppliers. The EPA seems to be the enemy of the people when it comes to the harvesting of oil for America. They wield enormous power and primarily use it to restrict oil drilling instead of opening up new areas of exploration and development.

They all say the same thing: we need to develop alternative means to generate energy, but when pressed for a truly viable alternative to the methods and substances we now use, they cite wind and solar power.

Now for the dirty little secret they seem all too happy to ignore: windmills only generate power when the wind blows, requiring methods to store electricity until it's needed. Ditto with solar and the sun. Neither one of these alternatives will enable one aircraft to take off, but you never hear that from the radical environmentalists, now do you?

I'm terribly sorry to tell them this, but their attitude just doesn't cut it any more.

Our national choice should be very clear. We need oil and we will need it for the foreseeable future. It is the best and most efficient substance that we've discovered so far, capable of being made into so many things that benefit mankind it would take volumes to catalog it all. It's in our best interests to insure that the harvesting and refining of oil is plentiful and safe. This means that we're going to have to eliminate the current mindset of oil as somehow foreign to the earth, since that's where it came from originally. In its concentrated form, it is certainly toxic and requires safe procedures to minimize the effects of contamination, especially of our water supplies. The procedures are not terribly complicated, nor are they beyond our capacity to implement. Better to have a spill on dry land than a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf, should a spill occur at all.

Our national mindset should be that we will harvest and refine oil as safely as possible. We need to drill in accessible places, which means on dry land, first. Only after exhausting those reserves should we then move to less accessible areas. We should have the old "can-do" spirit that once was part of the national phyche and say we're not going to let a few idiots keep us from having a cheap and abundant supply of oil.

We can safely drill for and refine oil. Now let's get out there and do it.

Son of Friday Bits of Tid

The end of a week of blowouts and boats and blown calls, oh my.

Mr. Wizard is spinning in his grave: A Mentos and Coke powered vehicle. Can you drink the exhaust?

This just in. Finnish Police have solved all known crimes in meatspace and are currently on the lookout for virtual furniture thieves.

I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlord, um, ministers.

England's employment rate is rising.

I'll have whatever the translucent gentlemen in the corner is having.

Just for fun, try explaining to your mates in the holding cell that you were arrested for chasing cheese.

I'm not gonna ask 'cause I don't wanna know. Man gets probation in dirty diaper theft.

Y'all have a good weekend now, y'hear?

The Obama Administration - A Lesson in Misplaced Priorities

It's about time something got done to stop this oil gushing from beneath the Gulf of Mexico. The Obama administration is about to implement the "Shakespeare Kill" option to contain the spill that is now threatening the beaches of Florida after already coming onshore in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

In a bold move, President Obama has ordered Attorney General Eric Holder and a team of lawyers to the Gulf. After meeting with the Attorneys General of the affected states, they will then be lowered to the seabed at the site of the leak and will be pumped into the well to stop the leak.

What? That's not why they're there?

Then what the hell are they doing? Do they think they can stop the spill by waving an injunction at the TV monitor attached to the live camera? Yeah, that'll stop it.

Folks, this is what you get when you elect someone who has no experience in anything other than academia. .

(courtesy of Michael Ramirez at IDB, and Pajamas Media)

Obama's insistence that all things can be solved by the government is on display in this debacle. After all, Washington put a man on the moon, didn't it? There weren't any private engineers or technicians who worked on the space program, right? They were all NASA employees. So, there.

Shit, even I can't keep up this snark for very long. My Snark-O-Meter has now become a pink blur where the needle used to be.

In crafting an effective response to this ecological disaster, we've seen everything done that a lawyer knows how to do: bluster, excoriate, castigate, accuse and threaten. None of which do one thing to solve the problem of thousands of barrels of oil leaking per day. You would think, with the history of safe drilling that we've enjoyed for over 40 years, there would be someone with the expertise and equipment to effectively cap this well. Failing that, you'd think that there would be plans in place to at least minimize the effects of the oil and keep it out to sea.

Well, there was a plan. It was put in place after the Exxon Valdez spill. It involved ships with booms on them to corrall the oil and burn it out at sea. What happened to that plan and why wasn't it implemented within the first few days of the spill?

Here's another oddity. Federal plans call for sand berms to be erected to prevent the spread of oil into wetlands and marshlands. Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal is still waiting for approval to start the construction of the berms, but has yet to get the go-ahead from the government. The same government that President Obama famously bragged has been on the job since "day one."



It's not like President Obama doesn't know what to do. As Senator, then candidate Obama, he didn't hesitate to tell the Bush administration that he could do a much better job of handling natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

Now the shoe is on the other foot. Feels kinda funny, don't it, Mr. Obama.

Pelosi - "I Pursue Policies in Keeping With "The Word" - The Word, "Um, No You Don't"

We've come to expect many things from those we send to Washington, particularly in the past few years; obfuscation, lying, misrepresentation, and the defense of obfuscation, lying and misrepresentation, which always involves more obfuscation, lying, and well, you get the picture. It seems that all we hear from pols is the same old effluence, so when someone manages to do something out of the ordinary, it gets our attention just because it's different.

Our dear Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi has succeeded in introducing a new paradigm into modern political speech - incoherence. But she does it so well.

Observe and cringe:



Granted, she was speaking at a Catholic Community Conference in Washington, so a certain amount of kissing-up to the audience is to be expected. But when she says that she pursues policy in keeping with the tenets of Christianity when she clearly doesn't, someone needs to call bullshit.

Bullshit.

It's not like she pays attention to Catholic doctrine. She's gotten flak about her alleged beliefs in the past, only to be allowed to receive communion anyway, so the elders of her church obviously don't have a problem with her hypocrisy. In a sane world, her consistent endorsement of abortion (in clear violation of church doctrine) would be grounds for excommunication. But the public spectacle of her being denied entry into the church would cause an uproar, mostly from the right going "Yeah, it's about time!"

But it's her insistence that she's pursuing public policy with an eye towards the Bible that is wrong on so many levels, starting with the truth, that this declaration borders on insanity. If she were truly crafting legislation as though Jesus were at her side, then I posit that we would never have seen the Stimulus Bill, Cash 4 Clunkers, TARP, nor the Healthcare Takeover enacted over the loud objections of most of the country. She'd recognize that she was governing against the will of the people she was sent to represent. In fact, I seriously doubt she'd be in politics at all, given her proclivity towards big government and the control it must necessarily exert upon a free people.

She'd realize that she's the prime driver of the historically low approval ratings that Congress is currently enjoying. The Light would show her that she's defying nearly every tenet of Christianity by crafting bills that reduce our standard of living. She'd know beyond a shadow of a doubt that her policies were directly contributing to the downfall of the most productive society in the history of the world.

She'd also know that a firestorm would erupt had someone like Sarah Palin or George Bush uttered the same lines, but her remarks are protected by a fawning media that is trying to misshape public opinion.

If she were at all serious about governing in a manner consistent with Biblical teachings, I'd suggest she start with the Golden Rule and stop exempting herself from the laws she makes.

Why All the Lies About Israel?

Let me see if I have this straight.

Hamas runs Gaza. Hamas declared open war against Israel two years ago. Israel closely controls material going into Gaza to keep out arms sent there by Syria and Iran, among them the many rockets that rain down upon the innocent people of Israel daily.

Hamas claims that there's no aid reaching the people thanks to the Israeli government (a falsity), so a flotilla is organized by the same terrorist group that helped with the Millennium bomb plot at LAX airport. They claim they're on a humanitarian mission, however, when they are told to comply with IDF commands to observe the naval blockade against Gaza, their ship is boarded where the "humanitarians" proceed to fight the IDF forces with weapons that they just happen to have aboard. These weapons include knives, metal rods, and firebombs.

Israel, in taking all the legal steps to keep her enemies disarmed and her borders safe, is roundly condemned by the UN and other countries in the Middle East who are openly hostile to Israel, if they recognizer her at all. The flotilla's organizers as much as declared that their intentions were not humanitarian, but meant to break the blockade.

So, Israel defends herself against her sworn enemies and is accused of a "massacre" when a shipful of terrorists attempts to invade her shores.

There's something backwards about all this...

(h/t to Michelle Malkin, Doug Ross, and Pajamas Media)