400 Temps Swarm Beach for Obama Oil Spill Photo Op, Then Disappear

Pathetic.

Even more pathetic? Knowing that the White House will cite every one of these temps as jobs created in their next round of fantasy employment statistics.

But Invading His Privacy Is a Bad Thing

Joe McGinniss, the deranged/obsessed left wing author who rented the home next door to Sarah Palin while writing about her, has now threatened to call the police on a reporter that wanted to talk to him.

The charge? Trespassing.

Why Was This Solider Off Base, In Civvies, with His M4?

The chain of command is going to rip someone a new one over this bit of idiocy:

The soldier had been in Atlanta less than a day when when he and his cousin, identified simply as T.J., were sitting in his blue Chevrolet Impala at the Rolling Bends Apartments in northwest Atlanta, the soldier told WSB.

Seven men walked to the car, he said.

"They were coming up to the car,"' the soldier told the television station. "I noticed T.J. hit the unlock button. They came up to the side of the car. They opened the door and grabbed my rifle."

The soldier said he was punched, kicked and hit in the head with a glass bottle when he tried to retrieve his gun.

"I tried to call out to my cousin T.J. but he didn't do anything," the soldier said in a WSB news report.

"A weapon like that being in a neighborhood like that is not a good combination," the soldier said. "I still feel betrayed by my family because T.J., that's my blood. Like, how are you going to value the streets more than your own cousin?"

The soldier was not in uniform at the time. It was not clear why he had his weapon with him.

There is no logical reason that I can think of that a soldier on leave would retain a selective-fire carbine or machine gun as he left base. The weapon should have been secured in the unit's armory. Both the soldier and his immediate superiors have some explaining to do.

Meanwhile, a real, honest-to-God assault rifle is in the hands of criminals.

Don't Claim Success So Soon: BP's "Top Kill" Effort Far From Over

I've been far more quiet (in general) about the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling disaster that I was the disasters of hurricane's Katrina and Rita, precisely because I know so little about drilling, especially drilling that occurs a mile underwater.

My criticisms of the White House response has also been muted as well, as I don't think they have any more answers, legal authority, or capability to respond to this disaster than President Bush did in the aforementioned storms. I find myself, once again, defending the Office of the Presidency because it is not the ultimate authority on everything (even though President's certainly like to think so, and we do too, when it is time to assign blame). If we're going to criticize the White House for anything, it had to be its actions and inactions before the rig exploded, which can no doubt be traced back to earlier administrations as well.

This disaster is a tough problem to fix, and I'm sure the engineers geologists and workers frantically working on this are doing the very best they can to solve the problem of the gushing oil well a mile below the cold dark waters of the Gulf.

But I was a bit shocked yesterday to see so many news sites and blogs so eager to be the first to trumpet the success of BP's "top kill" attempt. The process is simple, in theory. Pump heavy mud in to the well, and the weight of the mud will eventually overcome the pressure of the oil attempting to escape from deep underground. Once equilibrium has been established, the oil will stop flowing and the well can them be capped by a thick layer of concrete.

By early yesterday, officials were attempting to claim success, even though they had no idea if the attempt worked. The process only had a 60%-70% of working, and we still don't know if it is having the intended effect.

Keep your fingers crossed, folks, but we still don't know of the mud is working, if it is is creating a permanent stoppage, or just forcing the oil to look for another outlet. Even if the mud works, it will be years, perhaps, before we know if the concrete plug has really stopped the column of oil and gas forcing it's way to the surface, or just redirected it.

Hope for the best, but don't assume this is over.

Update: Peggy Noonan, of all people, has a much harsher take on Obama's actions and inactions, and wonders if his illusion of competence can survive:

I don't see how the president's position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president's political judgment and instincts.

There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don't see how you politically survive this.

The president, in my view, continues to govern in a way that suggests he is chronically detached from the central and immediate concerns of his countrymen. This is a terrible thing to see in a political figure, and a startling thing in one who won so handily and shrewdly in 2008. But he has not, almost from the day he was inaugurated, been in sync with the center. The heart of the country is thinking each day about A, B and C, and he is thinking about X, Y and Z. They're in one reality, he's in another.

Obama Makes Bad Move in Alleged Sestak Job Offer

President Obama said at his press conference today that he "can assure the public that nothing improper took place" in conversations between the White House and Rep. Joe Sestak, who suggested earlier this year he was offered a White House job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge against Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.

And Nixon said he wasn't a crook, either.

As others have pointed out, there aren't too many scenarios here, and none are good from Democrats. Either Sestak is lying, or someone in the Obama Administration seems to have committed a felony.

But by responding to these charges himself, Obama can no longer pretend to be above the fray, and has involved himself as an actor in any potential scandal that could erupt from the possible crime, or the presumptive cover-up.

It wasn't a very smart move on Obama's part.

But then, so few things in his Administration have been anything resembling smart.

Don't Ask. Don't Tell. Don't Attend.

It seems Barack Obama and his liberal allies are all for accelerating the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," allowing gays to openly serve in the military.

It's a matter of efficiency.

That way they can ignore both groups at once.

Chicago's Handgun Ban Fails to Save Home Invader

An elderly Chicago couple is alive today because they ignored Chicago's unconstitutional handgun ban and killed the armed invader breaking into their home:

An 80-year-old Chicago man shot and killed an armed man who broke into his two-story house in a pre-dawn home invasion Wednesday on the city's West Side.

At about 5:20 a.m., the homeowner and his wife, also in her 80s, discovered the intruder entering their home through a back door. The homeowner, who had a gun, confronted and killed the burglar on the doorstep, police said. Cops said the intruder also fired his gun during the struggle.

"It's a good thing they had a gun, or they might be dead," said Curtis Thompson, who lives next door to the couple, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Neighbors described the elderly couple, who both walk with canes, as pillars of the community in Garfield Park, where home invasions have been all too frequent.

Their neighbor, Shaquite Johnson, told MyFoxChicago that the two are "heroes" for fighting off the attacker — and that the shooting means there is "one less criminal" walking the streets.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley immediately assailed Johnson for referring to the deceased as a criminal, and instead called the home invader a "valued constituent."

Fleeing the Scene: Obama Doesn't Want to Be Tied to Obamacare

It appears that the White House objected to ABC's Jake Tapper referring to Obamacare as Obamacare, considering it a pejorative.

Hey, the rest of us hear "Obamcare" and think of plenty of pejoratives as well, but since you forced this down our gullets, Barack, own your mistake.

You are admitting Obamacare is a mistake, yes?

If it isn't a mistake, then why aren't you proud of it, this legislation you wanted so badly to be your legacy?

Spending-Crazed Congress About to Pass Bill That Creates Billions in Taxes, Billions More in Spending, And Wrecks the Economy... Media Deathly Quiet

Hot Air posted on this, or I would have missed Keith Hennesey's deconstruction of this monstrosity entirely:

The bill:

• increases infrastructure spending by $26 B over ten years;
• extends a raft of expiring tax provisions, mostly for one year
• provides funding relief for certain employer pension plans;
• raises a bunch of taxes, mostly on businesses and a certain kind of partnership income called "carried interest;"
• extends unemployment insurance benefits, increasing federal spending by $47 B over the next two years;
• increases Medicare payments for doctors for eighteen months at a $63 B cost;
• increases health insurance subsidies for the unemployed (through "COBRA") by $8 B over the next two years; and
• increases federal Medicaid spending by $24 B for a six-month policy change.

CBO gives us the net budgetary effects of the bill over the 11-year period 2010-2020:

• $40 B net tax increase;
• $174 B spending increase;
• $134 B deficit increase.

I count at least four reasons this bill deserves the title The Hypocrisy Act of 2010.

Make certain you read the entire thing, so that you understand Nancy Pelosi's radical Democrats are ramming through yet more health care spending by cramming in and adding to provisions of Obamacare, erasing even the pretext of the lie that Obamacare saves money.

How much more of this graft, tax and spend Congressional abuse can the economy stand before imploding?

I can only hope that when all is said and done, and this nation's economy collapses under the weight of their ever-present greed, that Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama get their just desserts.

The Thugs Want Their Cut; and They'll Wreck The Nation to Get It

A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of troubled union pension funds. If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.

The bill, which would put the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation behind struggling pensions for union workers, is being introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), who says it will save jobs and help people.

As FOX Business Network's Gerri Willis reported Monday, these pensions are in bad shape; as of 2006, well before the market dropped and recession began, only 6% of these funds were doing well.

Although right now taxpayers could possibly be on the hook for $165 billion, the liability could essentially be unlimited because these pensions have to be paid out until the workers die.

Labor and the Left have been using their political power for years to extort exorbitant benefits out of companies, and they've done as good of a job in managing their pensions as they have the government. As the article states, 94% of these union pensions were in trouble before the recession.

Now Democrats want their incompetent constituencies bailed out by the taxpayers—again—and the bailout is, as the article states, unlimited. If passed, we will have to pay for this forever.

Not just no, but Hell no.
I don't know if it is arrogance, stupidity, or simply corruption, but Democrats can't seem to fathom that the public trough is not bottomless. They seem to think that they can keep appropriating funds that don't exist, and that if they pass laws, money will magically appear from somewhere to pay for it all.

Its amazing that so many on the left ridicule those of us who believe in God, and yet stake the entirely of their future on hopes of a fiscal miracle.

Washington is an addictive culture, and now more than ever before, Democrats operate like drunken sorority girls, living completely in the moment, doing whatever feels good without any thought towards the future, hoping that when they wake up in the morning, mom and dad will be there to settle up for all the damage they've caused.

Quite frankly, the collective actions of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, Senate, and White House could not be any more of a threat to this nation if it tried. Their fiscal irresponsibility is a far greater threat to this nation's future than collective actions of al Qaeda, Iran, and North Korea.

If we do not radically change the behavior of both parties in Washington (and the Democrats in particular), this nation will collapse, just as Greece and the European Union seemed destined to do in coming days.

Despite warnings sounded around the globe, free-spending enemies of our way of life such as Senator Bob Casey continue to push our nation towards insolvency at a quickening pace. No one in government or depdent on the government is willing to stop them... nor will they be, as the get rich off the labor of the taxpayers.

Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.

At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.

Those records reflect a long-term trend accelerated by the recession and the federal stimulus program to counteract the downturn. The result is a major shift in the source of personal income from private wages to government programs.

The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more-expensive programs.

Most Americans hope that the elections in November will allow us a chance to save our nation via the ballot box.

Sadly, if we can't find a way to shut down the reckless spending of our current crop of politicians and force them towards the path of fiscal accountability and restraint before the mid-terms, any resulting change in personnel may come to late to save our way of life, or our nation's future.

Calderon Lied, and Democrats Applauded

And no, it isn't about the issue you think it is.

It's All Fun For Them, Until One of Their Little Unionized Terrorists Get Shot

I was offline most of the weekend, spending the bulk of Saturday and Sunday in an NRA Personal Protection Outside the Home course with a class filled with NRA instructors. All of us were concealed carry permit holders, and all had previously taken the Personal Protection in the Home course (more on the courses at another time, perhaps).

As a result, I didn't get a chance until today to read about Nina Easton's account of a SEIU/NPA mob action that terrified the teen-aged son of a Bank of America lawyer, who was alone when the mob poured out of 14 buses and stormed their home.

I was not there and cannot provide details, context, or the perceptions of the young man trapped inside the home, but I would not begrudge anyone the right to arm themselves if their home is suddenly surrounded, swarmed by a crazed and shouting mob.

Grasping the size of the angry horde massing outside, trapped family members have every reason to go into a state of high alarm, as any reasonable person would under these completely unreasonable circumstances.

If a homeowner in such a situation felt that a chanting mob banging forcefully on door and windows was attempting to break into the home, they would be fully justified under the laws of many states if the decided to start firing a gun through the door into the tightly packed mob behind it in order to stop what they felt was a felony home invasion in progress.

This is not an extreme nor unusual statute, but a simple acknowledgment of castle doctrine and stand your ground laws applied to a bizarre situation. The simple fact of the matter is that the union mob need not intend harm upon the family they've besieged, they merely need to act in such a way as to make those poor trapped souls feel in fear for their lives from the mob actions. At such a point, angrily thrown rocks, kicked doors and punched-out windows could unleash a volley of gunfire, causing casualties among those attempting to terrorize a family at home.

No jury on earth would convict a family trapped by 500 thugs screaming through bullhorns and causing them to reasonably suspect that their lives were in danger from a mob they thought was breaking down his door, and it's doubtful there would even be a prosecution in many jurisdictions.

Barack Obama's comfort with thug politics and love of strong-arm behavior may get some of his supporters killed one day, and he'll have no one to blame but his own tactics and allies.

Agents of Incompetence, Part 423

Just when you think that Customs and the ATF have plumbed the depths of ignorance regarding claims that airsoft guns can be converted into machine guns, A dim-witted Fox News account dives deeper into the abyss.

Oh My Word

If you use duct tape instead of paint to cover the entire exterior of your car...

you might be a redneck...

...a really, really disturbed redneck.

Arkansas Cop-Killers Were Sovereign Citizen Extremists

The two police officers gunned down in Arkansas Thursday were killed by a father and son that were part of the radical sovereign citizen movement.

The Arkansas State Police on Friday identified the pair — killed Thursday during an exchange of gunfire with the police — as Jerry R. Kane Jr., 45, of Forest, Ohio, and his son Joseph T. Kane, believed to be 16.

About 90 minutes before the shootout with the police, Sgt. Brandon Paudert, 39, and Officer Bill Evans, 38, were killed with AK-47 assault rifles after stopping a minivan on Interstate 40 in West Memphis, Ark., the authorities said.

Jerry Kane, who used the Internet to question federal and local government authority over him, made money holding debt-elimination seminars around the country. He had a long police record and had recently complained about being arrested at what he called a “Nazi checkpoint” near Carrizozo, N.M., where court records showed he spent three days in jail on charges of driving without a license and concealing his identity before posting a $1,500 bond.

Sheriff Gene Kelly of Clark County, Ohio, told The Associated Press on Friday that he had issued a warning to officers on July 21, 2004, saying that Mr. Kane might be dangerous to law enforcement officers. Sheriff Kelly said he had based his conclusion on a conversation the two men had had about a sentence Mr. Kane had received for some traffic violations.

Sheriff Kelly said that Mr. Kane complained in 2004 about being sentenced to six days of community service for driving with an expired license plate and no seat belt, saying that the judge had tried to "enslave" him. Mr. Kane had added that he was a "free man" and had asked for $100,000 per day in gold or silver.

I have never seen or heard of a "sovereign citizen" that wasn't a chronic screw-up that was drawn to the movement to excuse their own chronic bad decision-making. Many—like Joe Stack, the man who flew a plane into IRS offices earlier this year in a vengeful murder/suicide—are tax cheats and scam artists with great disdain for government and law-enforcement officers. They feel the law is the cause of their problems... not their own corruption and moral turpitude.

The world is better off without such people.

It is a shame that they sometimes take good people with them when they self-destruct.

Politically-correct ROE Seeks to Turn Afghanistan into Beirut

God forbid we send out soldiers into battle with loaded weapons:

Commanders have reportedly ordered a U.S. military unit in Afghanistan to patrol in a manner that could handicap them.

Some soldiers are being ordered to conduct patrols without a round chambered in their weapons, The US Report has learned from an anonymous source at a forward operating base in Afghanistan. Our source was unsure if the order came from his unit or if it affected other units.

On war correspondent Michael Yon's Facebook page, commenters stated that this is a common practice in Iraq, while others said that it is occurring in Afghanistan as well. According to military protocol, "Amber" status requires weapons to have a loaded magazine, but the safety on and no round chambered.

"The idea that any combat unit would conduct any operation, including patrolling and even manning a security post -- in which direct action may-or-may not take place -- and not having weapons loaded, borders on being criminally negligent in my opinion," says Lt. Col. W. Thomas Smith Jr., a recognized expert on terrorism and military/national defense issues. "This is nothing more than infusing politically correct restrictions into already overly restrictive rules of engagement. And this PC nonsense is going to get people killed."

I wonder how high up this order originated, and with good reason. The order to put the Marines in Beirut on "amber" status is rumored to have come when then Senator Joe Biden became infuriated when he visited the base and found that the guards were armed with locked and loaded weapons.

This email came to me from a Marine roughly two years ago:

I am a former Marine, having served from '78-'86 When the barracks in Beirut went down, three Marines I knew went with it. Two were Marines I had attended a school with, and were acquaintances at best. The third was a Marine captain that had, immediately before his mission in Beirut, been my company executive officer.

Many years later, I met another former Marine who had been a senior NCO there. We began to exchange stories of our time in the Corps, as former Marines are prone to do. When the subject of the Middle East arose, he told me a disturbing tale. In a nutshell, Biden, a few weeks before the bombing, had visited the barracks. He had a fit at the defensive posture of the unit, which had prudently set up barricades, automatic weapons emplacements, etc. Per Biden, they were not deployed as appropriate to their "peacekeeping" mission - too warlike, and "sending the wrong message."

He demanded that the fortifications be dismantled. The senior NCO on the scene respectfully reminded the senator that he was not in the chain of command. After throwing a tantrum, Biden and the rest of the congressional fact-finding mission left for home. A few days later, word came down from the Pentagon to comply with Biden's instruction. Evidently, Biden had located a spineless officer at the Pentagon. Also included in the order were some changes to the ROE (Rules of Engagement) that slowed response to any attacks. (Marines were not allowed to keep their weapons loaded) The one Marine, a young lance corporal, who was able to fire on the truck as it headed toward the barracks was only able to do so because he had kept his weapon loaded in spite of the order, after the unit first sergeant had hinted he would turn a blind eye. This is the same young Marine, that suffering from survivor guilt, took his own life shortly after.

I was unable to confirm this story at the time, just as I am unable to confirm it now. We do know, however, that our troops in Afghanistan are faced with absurd rules of engagement created by REMFs (I'll let you look that up on your own), bureaucrats, and politicians like those presently in power.

It appears they won't be satisfied until they get our soldiers and Marines massacred... again.

Know Your Pests

It is a small-minded, greedy and instinctive creature that survives on a scavenger's diet, but prefers to feast upon the succulent roots of of established growth, whittling away at the underlying base until it can no long support life, killing it from below.

And then there is the vole...

Breaking: Mexican President Calderone Lied to Congress

Let's not let a little thing like a huge lie get in the way of self-serving rhetoric (my bold below):

"There is one issue where Mexico needs your cooperation. And that is stopping the flow of assault weapons and other deadly arms across the border," Calderon said to a standing ovation from U.S. lawmakers.

Calderon said the increase in violence in Mexico had coincided with the 2004 lifting of a U.S. assault weapons ban.

The 10-year ban on the sale of assault weapons to civilians expired without being extended by Congress. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the administration favors reinstituting the ban, though guns rights groups oppose it.

Calderon said he respects Americans' Second Amendment right to bear arms but said many of the guns are getting into the hands of criminals.

SEIZING GUNS

Mexico has seized around 75,000 guns and assault weapons in the last three years, Calderon said. He said more than 80 percent of them came from the United States and noted there were more than 7,000 gun shops along the border.

This was part of the same speech where Democrats gave Calderone a standing ovation for criticizing laws meant to protect Americans from his predatory citizens.

Calderone's claim that more than 80% of guns came from the U.S is a bald-faced lie.

The actual figure is less than 18%, and the number of guns purchased from dealers that made their way to Mexico was only eight percent; the majority of guns traced to the United States were stolen.

The bulk of firearms in the hands of the cartels are military weapons purchased on the black market, with a sizable percentage purchased or stolen from the Mexican government itself.

Corruption in Calderone's own government has provided far more machine guns to the cartels than he could ever dream of getting from U.S. gun stores.

That is the uncomfortable truth that he would rather ignore.

Mexican President Craps on Our Laws, Democrats Applaud

Where do you begin?

Felipe Calderon's faltering nation relies on dollars sent home by illegal aliens to support his anemic economy, so it is little surprise that he'd want U.S. sovereignty compromised and immigration enforcement efforts impuned.

What is utterly pathetic, however, is that he could make a speech in front of our Congress attacking laws Americans have passed to protect our citizens from the kidnappers, drug dealers, and murderers that are his nation's most worrisome export, and receive a standing ovation from Democrats.

I no longer question the patriotism of the Democratic Party.

That question has been answered.

Coward In Chief

Physical evidence proves that a North Korean homing torpedo sank the south Korean frigate Cheonan on March 26. Despite the fact that 46 sailors were killed in the attack, our gutless administration refuses to faces the incident honestly, refusing to call the sinking of the Cheonan an act of war.

Administration officials would not go so far as to label the attack an act of war -- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he would not get into "hypotheticals" when asked if the dispute could lead to war. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States is focused on supporting its "strong ally" while at the same time considering "stability in that region."

Mirroring his bosses, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also refused to state the obvious:

The Pentagon's top leadership refused on Thursday to label the sinking of a South Korean ship an act of war.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the United States supports the finding that North Korea sank a South Korean warship in March. South Korea announced the finding this week.

Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, say the next move is up to South Korea. They would not discuss what options the U.S. might have, even though the U.S. is a close ally of the South and maintains tens of thousands of troops on the North Korean border to defend the South.

We are governed by an administration who cannot honestly address events out of fear of having to act issue a strongly worded statement if they admit out loud what occurred.

One day this President's craven acquiescence to evil is going to get people killed.

Rand Paul's Dilemma

As soon as he won the Republican primary in Kentucky, Rand Paul was accused of being a racist by those on the political left. Ben Smith got his digs in at Politico, and of course, Think Progress ratcheted up their outrageously outrageous outrage up to "11," and their usual talking points-following crowd immediately followed suit.

Paul has trapped himself in an untenable position thanks to being a fairly rigid libertarian, and James Joyner does an excellent job of explaining how a non-racist libertarian such as Paul can paint himself into such a corner.

Paul’s views are identical to those I held when studying Constitutional Law as an undergrad and not all that far removed from my current position. There's no question in my mind that private individuals have a right to freely associate, that telling owners of private businesses whom they must serve amounts to an unconstitutional taking, and that it's none of the Federal government's business, anyway. Further, in the context of 2010 America, I absolutely think that business owners ought to be able to serve whomever they damned well please — whether it's a bar owner wishing to cater to smokers, a racist wanting to exclude blacks, or a member of a subculture wishing to carve out a place for members of said subculture to freely associate with only their kind out of purely benign purposes.

The problem, circa 1964, was that there really was not right to freely associate in this manner in much of the country. Even once state-mandated segregation was ended, the community put enormous pressure on business owners to maintain the policy. That meant that, say, a hotel owner who wished to rent rooms without regard to color really weren't free to do so. More importantly, it meant that, say, a black traveling salesman couldn't easily conduct his business without an in-depth knowledge of which hotels, restaurants, and other establishments catered to blacks. Otherwise, his life would be inordinately frustrating and, quite possibly, dangerous.

In such an environment, the discrimination is institutionalized and directly affecting interstate commerce. It was therefore not unreasonable for the Federal government to step in using their broad powers under the 14th Amendment. I'm still not sure parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (especially the issue in question here) or the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (especially treating individual states differently from others) are strictly Constitutional. But they were necessary and proper in the context of the times.

Paul's position may very well be accurate, but as Joyner points out, the probable unconstitutionality of portions of the law had to be weighed against standards of reasonableness in the context of the times in which the law was passed. The strict view Paul has taken is probably a constitutionally correct libertarian interpretation, but that is utterly irrelevant to the rhetorical campaign being waged against him.

In short, these stories do not seem to show that Rand Paul harbors racist sentiments or sympathies, but that his libertarian values are being used against him. I suspect that Democrats may try to keep pushing this issue or raise it again in the fall. Paul is going to have to come up with a less wonky response to this emotion-driven issue.

Right now, he doesn't seem to have one.

Mexican Pirates Robbing Americans At Gunpoint in Border Lake

Somebody call John Kerry and his swift boat, as it seems he might be useful after all.

While the U.S. government does nothing, the violence and criminality spilling over from Mexico's civil/drug war continues to escalate:

Officials in Zapata are warning boaters on the waters of Falcon Lake to be on alert.

The alert comes after at least three pirate types of attacks within the past month.

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez says, "They have been victims of piracy and I dare say that word. They have been robbed by people using AR-15’s or handguns to their heads. It's just not safe to go to the Mexican side anymore."

It's not safe on the American side of this border lake created by the damming of the Rio Grande between Mexico and Texas, either. The most recent event occurred this past Sunday, as suspected Zetas cartel gunmen robbed fishermen in American waters on the lake.

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration, allowing Mexican President Felipe Calderon a soapbox to rant about Arizona's new anti-criminal immigrant law, refuses to do anything to control our southern border or protect American citizens.

Happy Everybody Draw Mohammed Day

I'm no artist, but I did swipe one of the original Mohammed cartoons several years ago to create a satirical suicide bomber-themed clothing brand, "MOGOBANG - Sportswear for Infidels"

I think all of one person bought the shirt, but that wasn't the point; having the freedom to create such an item was. Muslims are attempting to undermine that freedom as they do so many others. In our society, such challenges to free speech rights cannot stand (and yes, that includes the right of Comedy Central to create a show mocking Christianity).

You don't have to like such speech, but you do have to tolerate it. Over at Pajamas Media, Zombie puts considerable thought into discussing the importance of such blasphemy in The New Free Speech Movement.

At Reason, they're having a drawing contest.

Keeping up a Proud Family Tradition

On the up side, at least she kept dry.

Much Ado About Something

Arlen Specter was knocked out in his first run as a Democrat, even with President Obama's support. Blanche Lincoln faces a runoff against her Democratic Primary opponent, both of which are currently being handily beaten in polls by the Republican opposition. Ron Paul's son claims a Tea Party victory in Kentucky. Jack Murtha's seat in Congress was saved for the Democratic Party by the greed of his pork-addicted constituents.

You can find pundits on both sides to spin the results as a victory or a disaster (just as long as you sign their checks), but the simple fat of the matter is that last night's votes don't really amount to much, and November is very, very far away.

"Family Values" Rep. Souder Quits in Disgrace Over Affair

There are few things more galling than someone claiming the moral high ground when they are actually bottom feeders. I feel sorry for Souder's family, and the family of his promiscuous staffer, but the two of them actually involved in this apparently long-term affair deserve whatever humiliations come their way.

The most shocking thing about this affair is that the other person was, in fact, a woman.

Stolen Valor: Democrat Senate Candidate Falsely Claims Vietnam Vet Status

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal stepped in it, big time:

"We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam," Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. "And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support."

There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.

Blumenthal eventually joined the Marine Reserves and served in a civil affairs unit, but never went to Vietnam during the war.

Hopefully, Connecticut's voters will treat him with the disdain he deserves.

Making the Right Call: Marines Need to Scrap the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle

Amphibious assault is synonymous with the U.S. Marine Corps, a combined-arms military force that is simply the best in the world at what it does.But are generals in charge of current procurement guilty of the costly mistake of "fighting the last war" when it comes to the future of Marine assaults?

Recent advancements in weaponry in the past few years have made the decades-old concepts behind the Marines next-generation Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle obsolete before the vehicle even entered production. In my latest article at Pajamas Media today I argue that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is doing what is best for our Marines when he threatens to scrap the EFV.

The question now becomes, what should replace it?

I'm all in favor of airborne armored insertion if it can be made feasible (an armored Super Osprey carrier for over-the beach IFV insertion?), or fully submersible amphibious armored personnel carriers to be launched from stealthy submarine assault ships.

Launching the still relatively slow EFV in the face of today's and tomorrow's threats simply seems insane.

Jeremiah Wright Comes Out Swinging

"I am 'radioactive,' Sir. When Obama threw me under the bus, he threw me under the bus literally!"

You and about 300 million other Americans, pal.

Woody Allen Supports Obama for Dictator

And yes, the aging pedophile was dead serious:

In an interview published by Spanish language newspaper La Vanguardia (that we translated), Allen says "I am pleased with Obama. I think he's brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him."

But wait - there's more!

The director said "it would be good…if he could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly."

In other news, Barack Obama thinks he's brilliant, that the Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him, and that he would make an excellent dictator.

Wave of Chinese Blade Attacks Continues

Here we go again:

A man attacked six girls with a meat cleaver at a busy Chinese market before committing suicide by jumping out of a building, according to state-run media. Two of the six were seriously injured, according to the state-run Guangzhou Daily. All six were hospitalized.

The attack occurred about 7 p.m. Sunday (7 a.m. ET) in the market in Foshan, Guangzhou province, according to the report. The man, thought to be about 20 years old, jumped from a three-story building and died, according to Guangzhou Daily.

The attack was the seventh such mass knife attack in China in recent weeks, five of which occurred at schools. More than 100 people have been wounded or killed in the spate of attacks, and authorities are struggling to understand the causes.

Left-Wing Think Progress Advocates Stripping Citizens of Constitutional Rights Without Benefit of Trial, Conviction, or Notice of Even Being A Suspect

Think Progress, the propaganda mill for the radical progressive left, is seeking to strip away the Constitutional rights of Americans by doing what they do best: engaging in deception and perversion of the facts to serve a anti-American political agenda.

Their latest attempt is to use the fear of terrorism (without, of course, naming Muslims as the primary cause of terrorism, as that would not be politically correct) to advocate for the government to have the power to strip away the right of American citizens and resident aliens to purchase and own firearms with nothing more than the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen.

They couch their plea in an incredulous and deceptive pitch, asking:

"...if those on the terrorist watch list should be able to purchase firearms..."

The immediate, instinctive, and entirely emotional response for most people is going to be of course not. Luckily, our Founders sought to create a nation based upon the rationality of laws and not the swirling emotions of men.

Keeping real suspected terrorists form obtaining weapons is an admirable goal, but the simple fact of the matter is that the terror watch lists are ever-expanding, bloated, inefficient, and arbitrary. Children, the elderly, actors, soldiers, and even some of our most famous politicians (including Ted Kennedy) have been placed on these hastily-constructed and poorly maintained terror watch lists, and once on them for whatever imagined offense, it is very difficult to get your name of of them.

What Think Progress advocates is stripping Americans of their rights without the benefit of even being accused of of a crime. You will have no trial. you will have no judge, and no jury. You will have a Constitutional right merely done away with based upon a computer or some harried and incompetent Department of Homeland Security drone connecting your name to another person, or place, or thing that someone, somewhere, thinks might have in some way been related to some criteria they have decided is suspect.

Will keeping everyone on the terror watch list from purchasing guns stop, or even slow Islamic terrorism? As the most lethal attacks on American soil have all been committed with easily acquired objects (box cutters, household and industrial chemicals) the obvious answer is a resounding no.

Think Progress and their progressive, anti-American allies in the White House and Congress hope to erase our Constitutional protections by fiat and fear-mongering because they cannot convince Americans to give up their rights though honest discourse.

Marx, Obama and Alinsky must be proud.

Freak Defends Freak

Is it any surprise that the kind of pervert that would seduce his own wife's daughter and who was accused of molesting a seven-year-old adopted child would support a man accused of raping other children?

In a just world Roman Polanski and Woody Allen would both be rotting in prison, but what should be found every bit as revolting is how they are accepted among most of their predator peers in the entertainment industry with few reservations.

Religion of Peace Attacks Cartoonist... Again

Let them have their way in all things, or face their violent wrath:

The home of a Swedish artist who once drew a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad as a dog has been hit by a suspected arson attack, police said Saturday.

Lars Vilks, who lives in Nyhamnslage in southern Sweden, was not at home during the attack late Friday night and no one was reported injured.

It was the latest in a week of attacks on the 53-year-old cartoonist, who was assaulted Tuesday by a man while he lectured at a university and saw his Web site apparently attacked by hacker on Wednesday.

I've long tried to give Muslims the benefit of the doubt, hoping that despite 1,300+ years of evidence to the contrary that it was extremists that misunderstood or perverted Islam that were the root of Islamic terrorism and suppression.

But that simply isn't the case, it it?

Ammo Shortage Continues

It started before Obama was elected, and shows no signs of abating.

Why Not Nuke It?

National Geographic warns that the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico could leak for years, wrecking the ecology of the Gulf of Mexico and once it hits the Gulf Stream, the East Coast as well.

Why not nuke it?

A low-yield nuclear device detonated deep in the relief well now being drilled in the would fracture the rock around the leak and seal it, would it not? Presumably, the detonation sealing the well would trap any radiation far under the seabed.

It seems a potentially practical solution at a time where we seem to be running out of ideal solutions, and one that might be far less ecologically damaging than allowing the leak to spew oil for years.

Any experts out there care to weigh in on this?

Red State: Kagan's Thesis Proves She's A Socialist

Not sure what a college thesis proves since many young academics without real world experience experimented with socialism before they matured, but a) Erick makes the case that the thesis is in line with her later writings, and; b) Barack Obama has surrounded himself with socialists and Marxist/Leninists his entire career, so a judge that currently supports socialism would certainly be someone he would find attractive as a nominee.

It is valid evidence by itself? Certainly not. Does it help paint a broader picture of her beliefs to augment her quite thin resume? Perhaps. Will it make a difference? Doubtful.

Baring a real stunner of a scandal hiding in the wings, get ready for Justice Kagan.

Going Postel

The left-wing media are desperate to create some sort of smear to delegitimize the Tea Party movement, and having failed at false charges of racism, and false charges of violence, they're now stuck with pathetic attempts using minor academics to toss out absurd comparisons that Dan Rather would have the common sense to avoid.

Birchers? Klansmen?

Really?

In the Best of Hands...

Just because you're the Attorney General of the United States doesn't mean you should actually read a short ten-page law before condemning it... does it, Eric?

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has been critical of Arizona's new immigration law, said Thursday he hasn't yet read the law and is going by what he's read in newspapers or seen on television.

Also going by what he's seen on television, Holder has appointed Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs to run the interrogation unit at Guantánamo Bay due to his near 100% success rate in obtaining vital information from captured suspects while at NCIS.

Laughter At McCain's New Border Stance

McAmnesty isn't fooling anyone:

Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) couldn't contain himself Thursday when he saw footage of Sen. John McCain's (R) latest campaign ad.

In the ad, the Arizona senator says that the state has to "complete the danged fence" along the Arizona-Mexico border. A sheriff walking with him responds, "Senator, you're one of us."

In an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Shadegg, who is retiring, could be seen laughing along with hosts Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, and Mika Brzezinski.

Hopefully, this will be McCain's last campaign.

Hawaii Shows Birthers The Door

They shall serve no whine:

The island state's Republican Gov. Linda Lingle signed into law on Wednesday a bill that would allow Hawaii to ignore repeated requests for President Obama's birth certificate.

Health Department officials say they still get 10 to 20 e-mails each week requesting verification that Obama was in fact born in Hawaii, which prompted the law.

Speculation about the President's birthplace has continued on the Internet for nearly two years, despite evidence that he was born in the nation's 50th state in 1961.

"I had my health director, who is a physician by background, go personally view the birth certificate in the birth records of the Department of Health," Lingle said during a recent interview on WABC Radio with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

"The President was, in fact, born at Kapi'olani Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii," she said. "And that's just a fact."

Progressives Panic Over TN Restaurant Carry Law

Is Alan Colmes merely dim, or deeply dishonest?

That is the decision you have to make when you read his nonsensical headline "Tennessee Republicans Pushing Guns In Bars." Following the less-than-brilliant guidance of Think Progress, Colmes dishonestly suggests that the goal of Tennessee's legislature is to put armed civilians in bars.

No person with a bit of common sense will swallow that argument, but that means every liberal will. As they aren't bright enough to figure out the facts on their own, I'll try to explain it in small words they can understand.

Like many states, TN treats bars and restaurants that serve alcohol identically under the law. The law that Colmes is shaking with indignant fury over was not written with the intent of encouraging people to carry guns in to bars, but to allow concealed carry permit holders to retain their weapons on their persons when they go out to dinner at restaurants that serve beer, wine, or mixed drinks. It is a law designed to let citizens who carry legally at IHOP also carry legally at TGI Fridays... that is all. It allows people who go to lunch or dinner at some restaurants that were formerly off limits. That is all.

They aren't looking to recreate the fabled Wild West, despite what Colmes & Shakir claim.

The only real question is whether they are lying to their easily-led readers on purpose, or if they is just as uneducated as those that follow them.

President Jerk

Some government officials remember that they represent not just themselves, but an entire nation, so they try to act at all times with class and decorum.

Barack Obama will never be confused with those people:

When President Obama was asked if he would play a round of golf with his talk-radio nemesis Rush Limbaugh, the response, relayed by a top Democrat, was: "Limbaugh can play with himself."

Think Progress Duped By Class Project

And the sad thing is, the kids weren't even trying to fool anyone; Think Progress simply did it to themselves.

The Center for American Progress seemed to have blockbuster news on Tuesday: an expose titled "Telecoms' Secret Plan To Attack Net Neutrality."

On its Think Progress blog, the liberal advocacy group announced it had "obtained" a PowerPoint document "which reveals how the telecom industry is orchestrating the latest campaign against Net neutrality" through a pseudo-grassroots effort. The story was echoed on Slashdot, Boing Boing, and innumerable pro-regulation blogs.

There's just one problem with Think Progress' claim: It's not, well, accurate.

In a case of truth being stranger than astroturf, it turns out that the PowerPoint document was prepared as a class project for a competition in Florida last month. It cost the six students a grand total of $173.95, including $18 for clip art.

The "No Net Brutality" campaign idea was one of the four finalists created as an assignment for a two-and-a-half week "think tank MBA" program. The other finalists were a project promoting free speech in Venezuela, one supporting education reform in Poland, and one dealing with sales taxes rates in Washington, D.C. ("No Net Brutality" came in third. The Polish reform idea won.)

Not only was the PowerPoint document presentation no secret, but it was posted publicly on the competition's blog, along with an audio recording of the event in Miami where the student contestants presented their ideas to the judges.

The mastermind behind this SNAFU is Lee Fang, who some of you will recognize as a faithful but unimaginative Oliver Willis-grade drone.

(h/t/ Simon Owens)

Simple Brilliance

Not every complex problem needs to have a complex (and expensive) solution. Check out this quite green idea for capturing much of the oil still being emitted by the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Via the Huffington Post, which has the back story.

Great Moments in Copy Editing

Oh my:

It takes 14 keystrokes to type "(delete space)" and just one to actually, you know, do it.

Apple Loses Another iPhone

I pretty much ignored the drama the first time around, but now it has happened again, I've got to start wondering if it is really a mistake:

Yes, Apple's done it again. Pictures have surfaced on the Vietnamese website Taoviet of another fourth-generation iPhone prototype.

It looks more or less exactly like the one Gizmodo got hold of that caused so much trouble.

A couple of screws appear to have been eliminated, and there's a neat little '16GB' printed on the back where the most-famous-phone-in-the-world had only a series of Xs.

Presumably, Apple will call INTERPOL to retrieve this phone, since they can't send their pet SWAT team overseas.

Smashing Darwin

This has to be one of the most bizarre mash-ups of 21st century Internet technology (YouTube) and 19th century metaphysics (Evolution vs. Creationism) I've ever seen (via Ben Smith):

I'm amazed that any political group can run an ad like this anywhere in today's presumably educated United States. I like to think of myself as a decent Christian if far from perfect one, and I'm offended by this PAC ad.

I've got a news flash for these folks: evolution may be just a theory, but it is a far more credible theory based upon all the known laws of physics (which I will remind every Christian, are also laws laid down by God as surely as he laid down the Ten Commandments), than the literalist argument of a creation story where the Earth was created in seven 24-hour days. I don't see how any rational person can look at the wonderful world the Lord has created for us, the layers upon layers of splendor and complexity and logic and beauty that should support belief in an all-powerful and benevolent God, and come away with the thought that all the science God created to explain this universe to us is superseded by a metaphor created to convey that most complex act of creation ever to barely literate iron age men.

Likewise, it is undisputed by an educated person that the Bible has been repeatedly edited, revised, and translated by all too human hands, and it is not the literal word of God as it was first revealed. If anyone cares to dispute this point, I'd ask them to please provide their Bible, written in first-century Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew.

I'd also expect them to be able to explain why they are not using all of the Bible, and instead are using the abbreviated Douay-Rheims Bible favored by Catholics, or the even more abbreviated King James version popularized by Protestants.

But even more bizarre than a Republican PAC arguing that Bradley Byrne believes in science and reason is Byrne's argument that he does not.

As a Christian and as a public servant, I have never wavered in my belief that this world and everything in it is a masterpiece created by the hands of God. As a member of the Alabama Board of Education, the record clearly shows that I fought to ensure the teaching of creationism in our school textbooks. Those who attack me have distorted, twisted and misrepresented my comments and are spewing utter lies to the people of this state.

You're on your own, folks.

I'm leaving this one before someone starts burning heretics, which in Alabama, I presumably am.

Budda-Slayers of the Mojave

Just two weeks after winning protection from the Supreme Court, the simple Mojave Desert Memorial Cross was stolen in the night:

The 7-foot-tall metal cross in a 75-year-old war memorial that withstood the heat of the Mojave Desert and a blazing battle in the Supreme Court over its legality was ripped down and stolen Sunday night, according to federal officials.

"This is an outrage, akin to desecrating people's graves," said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Liberty Institute, which represents the caretakers of the Mojave Desert War Memorial. "It's a disgraceful attack on the selfless sacrifice of our veterans. We will not rest until this memorial is re-installed."

The National Park Service says someone cut the metal bolts holding the metal-pipe cross to the top of the memorial's Sunrise Rock and made off with it Sunday night or before dawn on Monday.

Authorities had no immediate motive for the theft but National Park Service officials are considering a range of ideas from scrap metal scavengers to people "with an interest in the case," said Park Service spokeswoman Linda Slater.

Let's be very frank: no thief would trudge to the cross' remote location to remove a vessel of metal filled with concrete that has little or no scrap value. The cross was removed by an individual or group that dimly thinks the cross represents a religious argument instead of of a moment in time where the dead of war were honored with such symbols as a sign of respect and remembrance.

The theft of the Mojave Desert Memorial Cross is a vengeful act committed by small minds that can only grasp their present anger and self-righteous rage. They lack empathy and respect for their fellow citizens who valued the cross as a respectful memorial, lack respect for our laws and system of justice, and are too dim to grasp the historical context of such a symbol.

Another cross will go up if this one is not recovered, and perhaps it will be erected in such a way to make it more difficult to desecrate.

That saddest part of this crime is that those simpletons that removed the Mojave Desert Memorial Cross probably think of themselves as enlightened and progressive in some way. The stark reality is that they harbor the same tolerance, intellectual heft, and sensitivity as the Taliban.

You're Fat and Stupid: White House Manufacturers Another Epidemic Requiring An Intrusive Big Government Response

They can't stop meddling:

A White House report warns, "The childhood obesity epidemic in America is a national health crisis."

The review by the Task Force on Childhood Obesity says one out of every three children is overweight or obese. The task force is a key part of First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign to solve the problem of obesity within a generation. President Obama ordered the comprehensive review of the issue.

The report includes familiar themes, emphasizing the importance of improved nutrition and physical activity. It also calls for some new and dramatic controls on the marketing of unhealthy foods.

The task force wants junk food makers and marketers to go on what amounts to an advertising diet. It says media characters that are often popular with kids should only be used to promote healthy products. If voluntary efforts fail to limit marketing of less healthy products to young viewers, the task force suggests the FCC should consider new rules on commercials in children's programming. It also challenges food retailers to stop using in-store displays to sell unhealthy food items to children.

The advisory panel proposes better food content labeling on products and vending machines. Restaurants and vending machine companies are urged to display calorie counts. The experts say the FDA and USDA should cooperate with the food and beverage industries to develop a standard system of nutrition labeling on the front of packages. The study also suggests that restaurants should re-evaluate portion sizes, improve kids' menus and list more healthy food choices.

Are there really people over the age of 12 with working brain cells that don't yet know that high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie meals are unhealthy?

Like Obamacare, this latest initiative is about control, not health. It is the latest attempt by progressives to usurp power over even the most mundane parts of our lives, and turn a once-free nation into obedient servants.

Michelle Obama is joke of a face for this campaign. Her last paying job was to find a way to dump hospital patients back on the street, and her parenting skills include subjecting her daughters to a racial supremacist church.

Don't tell us how we should raise our kids, Michelle, when you've set such a horrible example for your own.

Drugpac Shakur? Tupac's Mom Facing Felony Drug Charges

Oops:

A hearing has been delayed for the mother of rapper Tupac Shakur after her arrest in North Carolina on drug charges.

The Fayetteville Observer reports that 63-year-old Afeni Shakur Davis was charged in April with felony possession of marijuana, maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance and simple possession of a controlled substance. Her hearing, originally scheduled for Monday, was continued until Aug. 24.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Arson Adventure

Someone in Montana doesn't like medical marijuana.

For the second time in as many days, a medical marijuana business in Billings, Mont. has been the target of an attack.

This, as the city council in Billings is set to vote tonight on whether to place a moratorium on medical marijuana businesses.

This morning, a rock was used to break the glass of Montana Therapeutics, and a beer bottle filled with gasoline was lit and thrown inside. The attacker spray-painted "NOT IN OUR TOWN" on the storefront.

Another account cites video evidence that the arsonists in at least of of the attacks were a pair of young men. The question of the hour has to be, "what motivated these young men?"

Were they strongly against medical marijuana? Or are we looking at a couple of angry young drug dealers who didn't want legal stores cutting their profits?

Campos: Is Kagan Obama's Harriet Miers?

I'm not a SCOTUS expert and won't pretend I'm remotely familiar with Elena Kagan's record, but Paul Campos looked it over, and found it very, very thin:

Yesterday, I read everything Elena Kagan has ever published. It didn't take long: in the nearly 20 years since Kagan became a law professor, she's published very little academic scholarship—three law review articles, along with a couple of shorter essays and two brief book reviews. Somehow, Kagan got tenure at Chicago in 1995 on the basis of a single article in The Supreme Court Review—a scholarly journal edited by Chicago's own faculty—and a short essay in the school's law review. She then worked in the Clinton administration for several years before joining Harvard as a visiting professor of law in 1999. While there she published two articles, but since receiving tenure from Harvard in 2001 (and becoming dean of the law school in 2003) she has published nothing. (While it's true law school deans often do little scholarly writing during their terms, Kagan is remarkable both for how little she did in the dozen years prior to becoming Harvard's dean, and for never having written anything intended for a more general audience, either before or after taking that position.)...

[snip]

...At least in theory Kagan could compensate somewhat for the slenderness of her academic resume through the quality of her work. But if Kagan is a brilliant legal scholar, the evidence must be lurking somewhere other than in her publications. Kagan's scholarly writings are lifeless, dull, and eminently forgettable. They are, on the whole, cautious academic exercises in the sort of banal on-the-other-handing whose prime virtue is that it's unlikely to offend anyone in a position of power.

If Campos' critique is accurate—and I'm going to proceed as if it is—we need to ask ourselves a very simple two-part question:

1. What is the minimum level of competence, experience, intellect, and scholarship that we should expect in someone nominated to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court?
2. Does Obama Administration nominee Elena Kagan meet these minimum standards?

I have no problems with Kagan being the nominee based upon her record, because she doesn't have a record to criticize. She is utterly unspectacular as a nominee in every way.

More than partisan loyalty, I suspect most Americans want the sharpest, most penetrating legal minds to serve this nation on the Supreme Court even, even when we disagree with their stances. Elena Kagan has shown no evidence of having that sort of intellect. She seems to be a competent if pedestrian academic, but aren't there thousands of Americans, if not tens of thousands, equally qualified at that level?

I'd rather the President nominate a brilliant mind I utterly oppose than a middling, if inoffensive candidate.

Americans deserve to have our best on the Supreme Court. I would like to see anyone make the serious argument that Elena Kagan is the best we can nominate for the highest court in the land.

Bueller? Anyone?

PJM Exclusive: High School Where Flag Flap Occurred Hides Racist Secret

If you are a high school principal or assistant principal that has authorized a racial supremacist/seditionist group to have a presence on your school campus, you should probably not draw attention to yourself by castigating students who merely want to wear patriotic clothing.

If the administrators at Live Oak High School who allowed MEChA on campus aren't on administrative leave by the end of the week, then something is extremely wrong with the Morgan Hill Unified School District. That applies to any other school district that allows this group to sow racist sedition, for that matter.

Blow Still Huffing and Puffing About Tea Partiers

Poor Charles Blow.

Like every other leftist op-ed writer in the NY Times stable, he continues to beat the drum touting the Tea Parties as racist, gosh darn it, even if he can't provide any direct evidence of that at all.

The irony lost on Blow and his comical compatriots is that they are wedded to disparaging a group that doesn't exist, and has never existed. They describe a Tea Party of knuckle-dragging Klansman manufactured in their fever dreams, not the congenial protests typically organized and run by moms and grandmothers.

There is hate surrounding the Tea Party. But it comes from Blow and his absurd leftist allies that long ago lost an unsupportable narrative.

Corrupt Chicago Public Servant Throws Self Under Bus Train

Embattled Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano, under investigation by his own agency for financial issues, threw himself in front of a Metra train this morning and was killed, sources said.

It happened in an unincorporated area near Crystal Lake just after 8 a.m.

"It's very sad day for Metra," Metra board member Jack Schaffer said after emerging from a canceled meeting this morning that was to deal with Pagano's job status.

Pagano, executive director of the commuter rail service since 1990, was put on paid administrative last week amid a probe that he paid himself an unauthorized $56,000 bonus. The probe expanded to look at "more serious allegations of official misconduct," according to the attorney hired to conduct Metra's inquiry.

Pagano's salary was just under $270,000/year, and he still couldn't stop himself from (apparently) stealing.

He's the third corrupt Chicago politician to commit suicide in recent months.

The Appalling Media Double Standard on Reporting Political Violence

The majority of political violence in this country comes from the radical left... but you'd never know it, as the ideologically-aligned media does it's very best to conceal crimes ranging from riots to murder committed by progressives.

Progressives will be sure to point out that some of the instances I cite are the work of anarchists, not progressives. I'd suggest they look at lot closer at the groups and individuals implicated. Many if not most of those cited are adhere to variants of anarchistic thought that have ties to Marxist/Leninist philosophy, and are cut from much of the same cloth as Bill Ayers and his Alinsky-trained protégé in the White House.

Doubt that the media are covering for their blood-thirsty left wing allies?

Decide from yourself in my latest article at Pajamas Media.

Just don't tell professional racist Andre Carson. Finding out that his side is the side with along history of domestic terrorism would make his poor little hateful head explode.

Dana Milbank Caught with Live Boy, Dead Constitution

In his best work, his trenchant insights lead to thought-provoking articles that almost make you forget his insatiable lust for prepubescent boys and his heroin habit.

This is not Dana Milbank's best:

By George W. Bush's standard -- you're either with us or against us in the fight against terrorism -- NRA chief Wayne LaPierre should be just a few frequent-flier miles short of a free ticket to Gitmo right about now. Seems he and the rest of the gun lobby are fighting for terrorists' right to buy firearms.

The Bush administration urged Congress to pass a law barring people on the terrorist watch list from buying explosives and guns. The gun lobby objected. Now the Obama administration is urging Congress to pass the same legislation, and the gun lobby continues to object.

On Wednesday, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, using the star power they acquired in the apprehension of the Times Square bomb suspect, came to Capitol Hill to plead for Congress to change the absurdity in the law that keeps those with alleged terrorist ties off airplanes but enables them to legally buy guns and explosives.

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, Dana Milbank railed against alleged civil rights violations he attributed to the various evil shamans of the Bush Administration. He seems to have gotten past that, now that a little inconsequential tyranny suits his peccadillos.

He now proclaims that faceless government bureaucrats should have the power to strip Americans of their constitutional rights, based upon nothing more than their name appearing on a list... a terrorist watch list so comically flawed that it contains the names of infants and nuns, Congressman and Senators. A list nearly impossible to appeal. A list that often seems utterly insane.

Still, Milbank feels comfortable denying the constitutional rights of citizens in this instance. It satisfies his gun control fetish, and allows him to slander the NRA, the group dedicated to defending the Second Amendment when no other civil liberties organization will. Milbank labels them terrorists. Milbank, the pedophile/addict, seems to enjoy slander and libel as it suits his needs.

Seems fair, doesn't it?

Third and Final SEAL Found Not Guilty of Terrorist Beating

Oh, how heartbroken our military-hating left must be:

A Virginia military jury found a Navy SEAL not guilty Thursday on all charges he punched an Iraqi suspected in the 2004 killings of four U.S. contractors in Fallujah.

"I'm really happy right now," Matthew McCabe, the Navy SEAL, told Fox News shortly after hearing the outcome of the court martial. "It's an amazing feeling. I'm on cloud nine right now."

McCabe, a special operations petty officer second class, called the proceedings "troubling at times," adding "having your career on the line is not an easy thing to handle.

McCabe was the third and final Navy SEAL to be prosecuted in the case. He had faced charges of assault, making a false official statement and dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee. McCabe was accused of punching last year is Ahmed Hashim Abed, the suspected mastermind of the grisly killings six years ago.

What an absurd and morally bankrupt country we live in that this even came to trial. Political correctness has run amok to the point that terrorists trained to lie are leant more credibility that the highly trained counter-terrorists that captured them.

Every time an asinine case like this is brought up, it simply ensures that good men will refuse terrorists the right to surrender. Weep not for the dead men to come. Weep only that our society's values have become so perverse that we have to kill those who would surrender so the good guys won't later be tired up in court when all they really desire is the honor of protecting those who do not appreciate their sacrifice.

The Disaster America Ignored

I'll be frank: I didn't have a grasp of how bad the flooding in Tennessee was, because I didn't see enough news coverage to grasp to severity of the disaster.

I know now. [via Hot Air]

It's amazing and inspiring to watch a community exhibit so much courage and a can-do attitude in the face of such utter devastation. They didn't cry and wait for others to rescue them; they rescued themselves. They didn't loot and riot and shoot at those trying to help them; they organized and helped those most in need.

In several years, I suspect most of Nashville will bear few physical scars from the 2010 flood, because the city and people of Nashville are not just survivors, they are winners determined to triumph.

Years after Katrina, New Orleans will still be a stinking cesspool of quitters and defeatists crying for handouts.

Look at the character of these two cities, and see if you can figure out why one will thrive no matter the odds, and why one will fail no matter the treasure wasted.

Character matters.

Update: Frank Ross has similar thoughts:

Nashville had all of the elements of Katrina, except for the "narrative" bits: no helpless population, no incompetent governor, no hopeless mayor, no looting, no screeching about FEMA, and most important, no Republican in the White House. Instead, it offered a community that banded together, took on the task, saved its neighbors, fought back the floods and is now getting on with its life.

In other words, it offered an old fashioned America: folks doing what Americans do best, including that most important thing: not whining. Maybe that's why they call it the Volunteer State.

Meanwhile, readers of left wing blogs did what liberals always do, and immediately attacked this post as being—sigh—racist. Why of course it is, dear liberal.

Strong moral fiber. Deep sense of community. Selflessness. Courage in the most extreme circumstances. Charity. All racist.

At least for liberals, I mean. For those of you able to comprehend a more complex world view, I'd suggest re-reading Bill Whittle's excellent post-Katrina essay Tribes.

As I said... character matters.

It's Time For Radical Steps to Rid Us of Illegals

I just watched a man (I didn't get his name) on Fox & Friends relate how his niece was brutally murdered by an illegal alien in 2005. She was one of more than 2,200 people murdered every year by illegal aliens.

At a time where spoiled basketball millionaires protest against the safety of American citizens, it is time to consider radical action to deplete and deport the criminal aliens that infest this nation.

Obviously, locking down the border should be our primary concern. Governors in border states have called upon the White House to deploy the National Guard; Bush, and then Obama, have turned a deaf ear. Congress, likewise, refuses to provide the funds needed to secure our borders. Our Department of Homeland Security? A joke more interested in confiscating toy guns and strip searching grandparents that protecting our citizens.

Our first actions should include attempts to impeach elected and appointed officials for violating their oaths of office. This should apply uniformly to Democrats and Republicans that have stood in the way of of border security.

As this occurs, state governors should attempt—again—to pressure the President to call out the National Guard to serve along our borders as aides for the border patrol, and those units with engineering capabilities can be put to work immediately hardening the border itself.

State and federal elected officials should allow residents and legal aliens an opportunity to be rewarded for pointing out the criminal aliens in our midst, but offering them bounties for the capture and deportation of illegals. Ensuring that bounties will be paid only for successful deportation and enforcing laws against filing false statements will make the information actionable, and provide American citizens a financial reason to do the right thing. Bounties of $250-$500 per illegal may not sound like much, but it will be enough to make a difference.

Most importantly, there needs to be a zero-tolerance policy for employers of illegal aliens. Businesses that are found to have intentionally skirted immigration law and who make a practice of knowingly hiring illegal aliens should not be fined. They should be shut down entirely. Make it unprofitable for employers to hire these criminal aliens, and even the underground economy of illegal day laborers will find themselves quickly out of a job.

If the federal government continues to refuse to act responsibly on this matter, states will be forced to act in their own best interests, just as Arizona has.

We are a proud nation of immigrants, and we respect and desire legal immigration and assimilation into our diverse society. We do not condone criminal immigration nor the radicalized segmentation preferred by pro-criminal alien radicals, and must protect our borders from those who would leach us dry.

News Organ Freaked by Dramatic Rise in Pistol Permits in Upstate NY

You can almost hear the reporter's sphincter tightening as she frames her story:

Oswego County Clerk George Williams delivered some startling news to the legislature's Community and Consumer Affairs committee during the April 22 meeting.

Pistol permit applications have increased sharply, following both a state and national trend, he noted. "Something is happening in this country," Williams added.

During the entire year of 2008, the county clerk's office handed out 208 pistol permit application packets. Of those, 67 were returned. For 2009, 428 application packets were handed out and 110 were returned.

As of the date of the committee meeting, 400 application packets were given out and 142 have been returned. That is more than double the number of pistol permits issued for 2008. "Something's on the move," Williams said, adding that other county clerks in the state are seeing the same trend. "It's scary."

Scary? 142 pistol permits?

My county's sheriff has a name for that.

Thursday.

Bomber Admits Terror Motive

Shahzad, who rather infamously hates George W. Bush, was inspired to bomb Times Square by the drone attacks he saw carried out against the Taliban in Pakistan on the orders of the Obama Administration:

It was payback.

The Connecticut man charged yesterday with the botched Times Square car bombing confessed to trying to slaughter innocent people in retaliation for US drone attacks that wiped out the leadership of his beloved Taliban, The Post has learned.

Admitted terrorist Faisal Shahzad -- who copped to training in explosives in the past year with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the leading extremist Islamic group in his native Pakistan -- said he was driven to evil by the slew of deaths among leaders of the terror group, law-enforcement sources revealed yesterday.

His training came in a tribal area where American drone aircraft have pummeled members of the Pakistan Taliban and al Qaeda in the past year.

The article goes on to mention that the current Administration is downplaying Shahzad's motive, no doubt hoping to stem of the chorus of "I told you so!" yips from his anti-war left flank. Obama has not only validated the Bush Administration's use of drone warfare in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but escalated it significantly with brutal effect.

WaPo Upset Tea Party Groups Are "Battling Perceptions of Racism"

I imagine their alternate title was "How much longer must we toil to make this stick?"

As several states with active "tea party" groups prepare to hold important primary elections this month, the movement is struggling to overcome accusations of racism that are tinting perceptions of this loose network of conservatives.

The challenge is made tougher by one of the defining elements of the tea party movement: No one person controls it. There is no national communications strategy. And incidents of racist slogans and derisive depictions of President Obama continue to crop up, providing fuel for critics who say the president's skin color is a powerful reason behind the movement's existence.

Amy Gardner and Krissah Thompson are among the cohort of Obama loyalists that create accusations of racism by constantly insinuating that there is a problem of racism, without ever providing evidence much beyond imagery provided by LaRouche Democrats. Racist invective hurled at black Republicans has long been a staple of so-called "progressives," and the most "derisive depictions" of President Obama pale in comparison to the constant steam of caricatures, effigies, and threats directed at President Bush that these same journalists ignored for the proceeding eight years.

"Racism" is the charge brought up by progressives in the media and their elected allies because identity politics is all they have left. As more and more Americans realize that conservative fiscal policies are our best way out of this recession and that shrinking the government that the current Administration is so feverishly attempting to grow, sowing division—even where none exists—is the last desperate attempt to keep a real grass roots movement from enveloping and thwarting a radical President and his radical allies in Congress. Statists dream of establishing the ever more powerful, ever more controlling government that they seek to rule. Progressives want an easily led public with skin-deep diversity masking ideological conformity.

No wonder real ideological diversity, without strawman leaders to objectify and demonize, terrifies progressives so thoroughly.

Update: The progressive narrative continues to collapse.

It Must Be Contagious

Spending all your time thinking, writing, and talking about homosexuality must eventually turn you gay.

Fred Phelps must be about to burst into flames...

An Ideology of Naked Bigotry and Hate

Barack Obama purposefully described millions of American citizens with a sexually-explicit slur. Left-wing MSBNC shill Contessa Brewer is upset that the Times Square attempt couldn't be blamed on Tea Party protesters, and laments the fact that she can't ignore that most terrorists are indeed Muslims.

There has to come a point where the vicious partisanship shared by Brewer, Obama, and other progressives has to be recognized as nothing less than first-order bigotry and hatred that is antithetical to the hopes and dreams of what Americans aspire to be. Far from being able to carry out Dr. King's dream of being able to judge people just on the content of their character, we are instead saddled with a "progressive" movement blind to character, that uses the imagery of minority status as a cudgel, and which demands rigid ideological conformity from it's followers with no dissent allowed.

If you doubt this—even for a second—find a progressive forum and politely question any part of their orthodoxy.

Suggest that gays should be entitled to a co-equal status to marriage, but not actual marriage. Ask sincerely why adoption is not preferable to abortion. Mention that while you didn't agree with his Presidency, you think that George Bush was a good man who sincerely cared about people. Mention that you just "don't get" all the anger directed at Sarah Palin.

Then duck.

Such thinking—such questioning—is not allowed. Dissenters are brutally mocked and ridiculed. Internal conformity is demanded. Their hatred of the Other has spawned a movement less tolerant than the Klan and no more ideologically variable than the Khmer Rouge.

The ultimate irony, of course, is that they think they have diversity on their side. Perhaps they do have a point. They do have a diversity of color.

Just no diversity of acceptable thought, or any tolerance for those that would think for themselves.

Comfortably Dumb

David Neiwert at Crooks and Liars makes an asinine and snarky post this morning about the capture of Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad, writing:

The next time you hear some right-winger (most notably Dick Cheney) sneer at the Obama administration's "law enforcement approach to terrorism," remember this.

Neiwert is either dumb as a post, or worse, assumes his readers are.

The law enforcement approach to terrorism that conservatives disagree with concerns terrorist events and suspects outside of U.S. territory.

Many liberal Democrats prefer to treat international terrorism as an international law enforcement matter, a laughable strategy considering the ideological (and occasional state) support many terrorists receive in the countries they use as their base of operations. The military approach—which, I hasten to add, has been largely adopted by the Obama Administration because it works—involves surveillance and military interdiction instead of arrest warrants. The Predator drones strikes inside Pakistan that have stepped up under Obama, and occasional raids in the Horn of Africa, are perfect examples of this in practice.

I defy Neiwert to product anyone—former Vice President Dick Cheney included—who calls for military strikes on American soil against suspected terrorists. No, we trust our federal, state and local law enforcement officers to use their expertise to track down terrorists on American soil, and they did just that in this instance, and admirably well.

Niewert is abusing a strawman. Worse, he's insulting the intelligence of his readers.

Or at least I hope he is.

Arrest Made in Times Square Terror Attack

The usual suspects:

Federal authorities arrested a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent Monday night at New York's JFK International Airport in connection with Saturday's attempted Times Square car bombing.

The man was identified as Faisal Shahzad, of Connecticut, Attorney General Eric Holder said. Shahzad was attempting to board a flight to Dubai at the time of his arrest, Holder said.

A total of three people were taken off the flight, but information is scarce about the other two.

And the Taliban video claim? It was posted from Connecticut as well. As it starred known Taliban, that video claim that this was a Taliban attack seems even more solid than earilier.

Hutaree Cultists Out On Bail

When they were first arrested after being accused of plotting the murder of police officers in hopes of starting a civil war, the charges against the militant Hutaree cult sounded serious and shocking.

After reviewing the evidence, however, the judge in the case has lashed out at the government for deficiencies in the case and ordered the suspects freed on bail:

In a blistering attack, U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts in Detroit said prosecutors had failed to persuade her the defendants were a danger to the community.

While they may have engaged in "offensive and hate-filled speech," it was not at all clear that they had conspired to break any laws, Roberts wrote.

"Discussions about killing local law enforcement officers -- and even discussions about killing members of the Judicial Branch of Government -- do not translate to conspiring to overthrow, or levy war against, the United States Government," she wrote in a 36-page opinion.

The fury of the judge does not seem to bode well for the government's case.

It's National Pet Week

Enjoy your pets...

Violent Leftists Riot in Asheville May Day; National Media Silence Results

Imagine, if you will, what would happen if a group split off from a Tea Party protest and went on a rampage, smashing windows and vandalizing cars. Eleven are arrested, and some of those have known ties to right wing militia groups.

Don't you think that dozens of stories would have flooded network news and talk shows, and that government officials—perhaps Obama himself—would decry the right wing violence?

Well, that likely would occur if the violence was right wing in origin, but when a group of radical leftists split off from the main crowd at a pro-communist May Day parade in Asheville, NC over the weekend and went on a rampage, the national media utterly ignored it.

I've found only a handful of local stories about the violence, and none dare identify it as left wing in origin, though the Mountain Express comes closest.

Last night around 10:45 p.m., vandals shattered glass at several businesses around the Battery Park Avenue area, including the Eye Center, Bella's, the Asheville Citizen-Times, the entrance to the Grove Arcade, Cucina 24, an RBC Centura ATM and the glass etching landmark across the street from the Arcade. Several cars in the area were also damaged. Reports at the time described around 20 people wearing dark clothing, breaking windows.

"The subjects were wearing masks and face coverings and are estimated to have damaged at least eight vehicles and five businesses," an announcement from the Asheville Police Department reads. "Officers from all districts responded, as well as a K-9 unit and Forensics staff."

So far, 11 people have been arrested by the APD. Most are from outside the Asheville area. They are:

Jordan M. Ferrand-Sapsis, 24, of Oklahoma City, Okla.; Naomi Rachel Ullian, 26, of West Chestnut St. Asheville;
 Marshall Rogers Tingler, 24, of Oklahoma City
; Daniel Heinz Regenfcheit, 26, of Carrboro; Karen Leigh Alderser, 19, of Carrboro.; Alissa Marie Batzold, 18, of Carrboro; Havely Carolyn Carsky, 23, of Meadow Lake Road, Asheville; Randall Duncan Stezer, 17, of Graham; Wyatt Sherman Allgeier, 19, of Mount Pleasant; Cailin Elizabeth Major, 25, of Milwaukee, Wis.
; and Nicholas Ryan Entwistle, 19, of Kansas City, Mo.

The article goes on to mention that two of those arrested are anarchists, affiliated with known radical left-wing groups. You won't find any mention of the politics of those arrested, even though their leftist radicalism seems to be at the heart of their violent rampage. The evidence is too circumstantial, I'm sure the media would suggest, even though Ferrand-Sapsis helps publish a radical prison newsletter routinely censored for incitement, and Major is being sued for civil rights violations for attacking churchgoers as part of militant pro-gay group Bash Back.

Don't look for Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann to froth with outrage over the violence; it comes from their side. Don't expect Janet Napolitano to issues vague warnings about left wing terror. Don't expect Congressional liberals to express faux "concern."

You see, left wing political violence doesn't exist... even when it does.

Update: Ed Morrissey notes a similar riot—and anemic media response—in Santa Cruz, CA.

Taliban Claims Responsibility for Times Square Bomb Attempt

Let's see Mayor Bloomberg continue to downplay this:

A top Pakistani Taliban commander took credit for yesterday's failed car bomb attack in New York City.

Qari Hussain Mehsud, the top bomb maker for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, said he takes "fully responsibility for the recent attack in the USA." Qari Hussain made the claim on an audiotape accompanied by images that was released on a YouTube website that calls itself the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel.

The tape has yet to be verified, but US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal believe it is legitimate. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel on YouTube was created on April 30. Officials believe it was created to announce the Times Square attack, and Qari Hussain's statement was pre-recorded.

"This attack is a revenge for the great & valuable martyred leaders of mujahideen," Qari Hussain said. He listed Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Pakistani Taliban who was killed in a Predator strike in August 2009, and Abu Omar al Baghdadi, the former leader of al Qaeda Islamic State of Iraq who was killed by Iraqi forces in mid-April. And although he was not mentioned, an image of Abu Ayyub al Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was also displayed in the images accompanying the audiotape.

You can view the video yourself at The Long War Journal. I don't think we can emphasis enough that this has every appearance of being a legitimate Taliban attack inside the United States, plotted overseas, and not the work of an isolated homegrown jihadi acting on his own initiative.

The bomber obviously has access to the explosives and vehicles as they are extremely common components. The question now is whether the bomber has orders to make a second attempt.

(h/t AllahPundit on Twitter)

Possible Fuel-Air Explosive Terrorist Attack In Times Square Goes Awry

I'm just getting up to speed on the news of a failed terrorist attack in New York City' Times Square, where authorities responded to the scene of a smoking vehicle after calls about an explosion, and found the bomb:

Police officers from the emergency service unit and firefighters flooded the area and were troubled by the hazard lights and running engine, and by the fact that the S.U.V. was oddly angled in the street. At this point, a firefighter from Ladder 4 reported hearing several "pops" from within the vehicle. The police also learned that the Pathfinder had the wrong license plates on it.

Members of the Police Department’s bomb squad donned protective gear, broke the Pathfinder's back windows and sent in a "robotic device" to "observe" it, said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the police department's chief spokesman.

Inside, they discovered three canisters of propane like those used for barbecue grills, two five-gallon cans of gasoline, consumer-grade fireworks — the apparent source of the "pops" — and two clocks with batteries, the mayor said. He said the device "looked amateurish."

Mr. Browne said: "It appeared it was in the process of detonating, but it malfunctioned."

I'm going to disagree with the Deputy Commissioner, and suggest there is nothing amatuerish about this bomb. I agree with Allahpundit that appears the 3 bulk propane tanks and 10 gallons of gas were to be the explosives in a fuel-air explosive, one of the deadliest weapons in modern warfare. While not as polished as those used by mlitary forces (including our own), the explosive power of these devices in IED form are fierce, as a burster charge spreads a flammable cloud of fuel, that is then detonated by a secondary charge to form a massive overpressure wave that is extremely lethal.

This particular device seems to have failed because the bomb builder simply got his chemistry slightly askew, and had the fuel air mix inside the vehicle too low (which I somewhat doubt), or more likely, had too much fuel in the cabin of the vehicle so that the potential bomb didn't have the air it needed to breath and detonate properly. If the fireworks had ignited when the fuel-air mixture was optimum, we'd be reading a story of carnage this morning like those we've seen in Iraq, with hundreds dead.

They need to find the individual terrorist or terrorist group behind this and fast, because odds are that they now know exactly what they did wrong with this bomb, and they are not likley to make the same mistake again.

Update: South Park related? The evidence is thin, but it isn't entirely unreasonable.

National Enquirer Ready to Break Obama Cheating Scandal... That I Wrote About Two Years Ago

Go to the Enquirer for the taste of exploitive naughtiness and rumors of video, and then to this October 29, 2008 CY story for the details the Enquirer left out of their teaser.

Keep in mind that I interviewed the driver (who is not a professional limo driver, but the National Operations Director for a PR firm Obama had hired for his 2004 Senate race), published the story here, and then offered the source's contact info to the MSM so that they could do their own investigations... but ABC News and NBC News had already interviewed the driver, and chose to squash the story.

Other media outlets also apparently knew of the affair and the willing witness, and sat on the story as well.

Let's be very frank. If any of these new organizations had printed the truth regarding Barack Obama's affair with Vera Baker just a week prior to the election, he would not be our President.

The lesson here?

If you have important information about a political candidate for the most powerful elected position on planet Earth and need it to be dissiminated, make sure you make your first call to a reputable news organization without a partisan axe to grind... like the National Enquirer.