Conspiracy theory

I usually won't "go there"...but today I'm going to "go there".  "There" is conspiracy theory land.  Conspiracy theory land is that place where tinfoil hat-wearing kooks imagine all sorts of bizarro world stuff: the Bildeburgers, Skull and Bones, One-world elite conspiracies straight from the imagination of Dan Brown. 

Please allow me to doff my tinfoil hat just this once.  I've got a conspiracy theory.

I believe that the Duce administration has intentionally allowed the oil spill off the cost of Louisiana to get progressively worse in order to create an epic environmental catastrophe. 

There I said it.  Now let me take off the tinfoil hat and explain WHY I have come to this conclusion.

The Administration has essentially done nothing in the 30+ days that this disaster has been unfolding.  Nothing.  Zero.  Zilch.  Jack Squat. This sort of neglect doesn't just happen.  It's intentional. 

Il Duce may be an extremist and a bumbler, but even the most accomplished bumbler (Jimmy Carter, anyone?) eventually will do SOMETHING.  Even if that something is wrong, they'll do SOMETHING.  So far Il Duce has...commissioned a study of the issue.  No, seriously.  That's it.

It is apparant to me that Il Duce seeks to leverage this catastrophe to gain more government control of our energy resources as well as an excuse to forever ban offshore drilling.

Think I'm nuts?  Tell me why.

The Imperious Maryland State Police

I wrote previously about the Maryland State Police and their "attitude" problem.  A more imperious group of a-holes you'll never find, not in any law enforcement or non-law enforcement group, not ever.

Now, it seems, they've decided that the act of recording them while arresting you is illegal.

Several Marylanders face felony charges for recording their arrests on camera, and others have been intimidated to shut their cameras off.

A man whose arrest was caught on video faces felony charges from Maryland State Police for recording it on camera.

"We are enforcing the law, and we don't make any apologies for that," said Greg Shipley, MSP.

Get a load of the 'tude displayed by the MSP spokesmouth! It's exactly what I've come to expect from those tools.

First, Mr. Spokesmouth, you are wrong.  The law which you cite involves SECRETLY recording a person.  When the asshole officer is aware of the recording being performed, there is no secret.  Given the recent spate of brutality on the part of police in Maryland, it's a very good idea to record any contact with them around here.

Second, if it isn't legal to record the particulars of an arrest, how to you justify dashcams in cruisers recording...wait for it...people being arrested?

What we have here is an arrogant group of bigger-than-the-law jerks throwing their weight around in an attempt to intimidate.  If the State Attorney General doesn't step in and put a stop to this patently unconstitutional activity on the part of the MSP, it will show him to be in accord with the MSP's thuggish behavior.

Which wouldn't surprise me.  Not one bit.

As the Team Elephant Establishment Spins

The latest soap opera offered for your entertainment and bemusement is called "As the Team Elephant Establishment Spins".  You see, the anointed candidate in Kentucky, Trey Grayson, lost to libertarian Rand Paul.  Wait, let me rephrase that.  Trey Grayson got his clock cleaned by Rand Paul.

This has to be a huge disappointment to folks like Elephants in the Blue Grass, about whom I wrote last month, who were gung-ho for the Establishment guy.  I will say of Mr. "Grass" that he was extraordinarily gracious in defeat.

But others weren't, particularly Elephant establishment leader Mitch McConnell (via his spokesmouth).

“The electorate is pissed,” said Mike Shea, a long-time political adviser to McConnell. “Rand did a really good job of tapping into those themes and tapping into that anger. Trey is a nice guy, but in his commercials and everything else, he seemed completely unable to generate any kind of dialogue to indicate he was tapping into that. If you meet him, he didn’t seem like he was angry.”

Oh. That's what it was. It wasn't that the electorate liked Paul.  They just wanted to vote for an angry guy.

Those of us of a certain age recall that in 1994, when Team Elephant took the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years, Big Media (the BM for short) spun it as "revenge of the angry white man".  Is that really where you want to go, Mr. McConnell?  Because you're every bit as expendable as anyone in Washington.

Tired establishment candidates and RINOs went down to defeat.  This has to have the Elephant elites banging their heads on the wall.  The last thing they want is for their party to be coopted by mundanes.

They needed a study to figure this out?

File under "incredible grasp of the obvious".

A conservative think tank and criminal defense lawyers are forming an unusual alliance to try to get Congress to quit writing criminal laws so loosely that they subject innocent people to unjust prosecution and prison.

They're just now noticing this? Where have they been for the past 40 years?

Next thing you know they'll be telling us that many of the laws Congress has passed are patently unconstitutional.

When it comes to a grasp of the obvious, no one beats Conservatives.  No one.

"Hero" cops

According to the pro-bigotry crowd over at Caput Penitus Culus and FLDS Texas, I'm anti-law enforcement.  I am, of course, no such thing.  But, by the same token, neither am I one to genuflect before the icon of the self-sacrificing hero cop passed off by law enforcement sycophants.  Especially when I read stories like this one.

THREE brave teenagers were hailed as heroes last night after saving a drowning woman - as cops stood by and WATCHED.

Pals Graham McGrath and Rosie Lucey, both 18, dived into the River Clyde to haul the unconscious victim from below the water.

They dragged her to the bank where fellow Glasgow University student Reece Black, also 18, pulled her out.

Quick-thinking Rosie then brought her round with CPR.

But as the courageous trio performed the dramatic rescue, Strathclyde Police officers held back worried onlookers on Glasgow's Albert bridge.

Held back onlookers. Priceless.

But that's not the worst of it, believe it or not.  Check out this shizz.

A Strathclyde Police spokesman said: "It is not the responsibility of the police to go into the water - it's the fire and rescue service."

Now, THAT is priceless.  Spoken like a true government tool.  Which, when you get right down to it, is exactly what cops are.

Sequels we DON'T need

For people of a certain age, like me, these two news items are chilling.  Truly chilling.

Richard Nixon's grandson is joining the family business.

Like the Kennedys, Carters, Cuomos and Bushes before him, 30-year-old Christopher Nixon Cox is hoping to use his family's political legacy as a springboard to political office. He's seeking the GOP nomination to run against four-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop in eastern Long Island — a seat Republicans hope to win as part of the party's effort to recapture the House.

The eldest grandson of former President Jimmy Carter has won a suburban Atlanta state Senate seat in a special election Tuesday night.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! The two worst politicians of the 1970's - hell, perhaps of the entire 20th century - are making vicarious comebacks in the guise of their demon spawn.  The last thing this country needs after 8 years of King George the Dim and 1.5 years of Il Duce is a dose of Nixon/Carter!

Watergate.  Enemies lists.  Gas lines.  18% interest rates.  11% inflation.  Disco.

Okay, technically they weren't responsible for disco.  But someone has to take the fall for it!

Dominoes

I've watched with some interest the goings on in Europe, particularly the spectacular meltdown occurring in Greece.  As much fun as Greece's chaotic reaping of the whirlwind they've sown has been to watch, you don't want to make the mistake of Big Media (the BM for short) in ignoring the other nations of the EU and their own slide toward oblivion.

Greece may simply be the first domino to fall.

Next up?  By all appearances, it would have to be Portugal, followed by Spain.  Or is that Spain, followed by Portugal?  Or will Great Britain jump the line and crash before Portugal and Spain?

I could go into all of the reasons why a single European currency pretty much guaranteed the domino scenario.  But I would just be parroting the words of others much wiser than I in matters of economics.  Stick to what you're comfortable writing about, that's what I say.

So where does it end? 

If, in fact, we're in full-blown dominoes mode, how many are going to tumble before it's all said and done?  Are we talking a handful?  Half-dozen?  A dozen?  The entire European Union?  And, if Europe tumbles, are we next?

The next few months will certainly be interesting; that is, if you consider economic anarchy "interesting".

Those who fear technology hate freedom

My assertion is this: fear of technology is emblematic of a hatred of individual freedom.  To buttress this claim, I present Exhibit A.

US President Barack Obama lamented Sunday that in the iPad and Xbox era, information had become a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy, in his latest critique of modern media.

Obama, who often chides journalists and cable news outlets for obsessing with political horse race coverage rather than serious issues, told a class of graduating university students that education was the key to progress.

"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter," Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.

"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, -- none of which I know how to work -- information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation," Obama said.

The key phrase in this ode to intellectual incuriousity (say, wasn't that the knock on King George the Dim?) is this: "[N]one of which I know how to work..."

It's funny - it feels like just yesterday I was lambasting Justice David Souter for this same failing.  Notice something here?  Both individuals refuse to embrace technology.  And both individuals embrace policies that are anti-individual freedom.

Oh, c'mon, Vulture!  Two examples?  That's all you can muster?

There'll be more.  How do I know?  It's like this: people who are engaged in free, productive activity in society utilize technology to make them more competitive, productive, marketable, etc.  They use technology in the free exchange of ideas.  They use technology to make their lives and the lives of others around them better.

People who stand in opposition to individual liberty disdain such activities.  The get their money the old fashioned way: they loot it.

Further proof "conservatives" don't get it

I frequently receive email advertisements from NewsMax.com.  It's what happens when you don't pay attention to checkboxes when you "register" for a website.  I could unsubscribe.  But then I'd miss gems like this.

It is remarkable that Theodore Roosevelt (TR to his friends), who has been beloved as an iconic patriot and president, would become a controversial figure today.

This unusual development is largely due to the rise of Glenn Beck.

Glenn has been right on many issues and his views are resonating with Main Street.

But he is wrong on one big issue: Theodore Roosevelt is not, as he claims, the root cause of President Obama’s intrusive, “big government” policies.

It is no accident that TR’s face is chiseled into Mount Rushmore along with those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, as he is rightly regarded by historians as one of the greatest presidents in American history.

As TR himself might say, "Balderdash!"

TR is on Mount Rushmore because President Calvin Cooledge was adamant that, in addition to the Father of our Country, George Washington, the monument must include two additional Republicans and one additional Democrat.  Since Republican Presidents not named Reagan have been uniformly dreadful, TR was settled upon as the second Republican, the tyrant Abraham Lincoln being the first.

Notice that the two Democrats chosen for the monument had been dead in the neighborhood of 100 years at the time they were chosen.  You really do have to go back that far to find a Democrat who was worth a damn.

Back to TR.

I've been reading a book called American Progressivism.  It's a tough read; it mostly consists of the speeches and political writings of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.  Mr. Ruddy, TR was everything Glenn Beck says he was.  He may even be worse than Beck has alleged.  Roosevelt was actually proposing grander Fascist policies during the 1912 Presidential campaign than Wilson was!  While Roosevelt may not have brought about the world's first Fascist government -- that was left for Wilson to accomplish -- he was instrumental in setting the table for Wilson's abuses.

So why is Ruddy so adamant in defending Roosevelt?

A few words of disclosure here: I am an ardent Theodore Roosevelt devotee and have been a longtime member of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (the membership roster has me listed after another TRA member, Karl Rove).

And my brother, Daniel Ruddy, a historian, is the author of a new book called “Theodore Roosevelt’s History of the United States” (published by Harper Collins). It draws upon TR’s own words to construct a unique history of the United States based on Roosevelt’s colorful insights and provocative views.

Ah, now it becomes clear! His brother has written a "history" of Roosevelt. The word "history" is in scare quotes because we're all familiar with the kind of "histories" we get when authors with a predisposition to adulation for the subject of their work write.  They tend to produce slavering paeons that conveniently omit the subject's peccadillos.

Anyone who calls themselves a conservative but thinks that TR was peachy keen is no friend of freedom.  No one -- I repeat, NO ONE -- who loves freedom can justify the policies and pronouncements of this smug, "I know best what's good for you the sheeple" elitist a-hole.

Of course, that's the kind of disinformation we get from the Team Elephant mainstream these days.  Get used to it.  Because, notwithstanding all pronouncements to the contrary, this Elephant hasn't changed its spots.  It's every bit the Donkey Lite party in 2010 that it was in 2008.

The Narrative

      Violent extremist?

I've started becoming aware of an underlying story line within a lot of the news and commentary we're bombarded with on a daily basis.  I call it The Narrative.  The base elements of this story line are as follows:

• Right-wing extremists are becoming more and more violent
• Right-wing extremists are as much of a danger, if not a greater danger, than Islamic extremists
• People who support enforcement of our immigration laws are right-wing extremist racists
• Tea Party participants are right-wing extremists and racists
• If an act of terrorism occurs, assume it was committed by right-wing extremists until proven otherwise
• Something has to be done about these right-wing extremists

Did I miss anything?

I don't know about you, but The Narrative scares the bejeezus out of me.  The people being identified as "extreme" look a lot like you and me.  They're ordinary people who work for a living, raise a family, pay their taxes on time, obey the law, and love their country.  What they don't love is their country's out-of-control government.  That is what makes them "extremists".

The Narrative completely ignores the pervasive acts of terrorism of the Left.  What?  You've never heard of ALF or ELF?  They only commit acts of arson against automobile dealerships and new housing developments (ELF), and acts of violence against persons engaged in animal testing (ALF).  Nothing extreme there.  And let's not forget the "peaceful" protesters who turn every city where the G-20 meets into Beirut circa 1982.

Think I'm exaggerating that last point?  How much coverage was given regarding May Day's Arizona immigration law protests to the acts of violence committed against pro-enforcement protesters by anti-enforcement protesters?  If you say "nearly none", go to the head of the class.

But the Tea Partiers?  I wish I had a dollar for every time CNN or PMS-NBC or one of the other Big Media (the BM for short) cesspools trots out some "expert" QQ'ing about the violence they expect from the Tea Party and the Right any day now.  I'd be a friggin' millionaire.

What does it mean?  It means that the elite is creating an environment wherein opposition to anything the government does is extremist.  They're creating an environment where John Q. Sheeple will have an automatic knee-jerk reaction to identify Tea Partiers, anti-ObamaCare health care in the Fascist model, and Constitutionalists as violent extremists.

How do we combat this?  Beats me.  I'm just a simple computer programmer violent extremist.

How to make a Vulture's head explode

It's easy, really.  Add one part King George the Dim, one part news story like this.

Is George W. Bush about to start a political comeback?

Written off as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history when he left office, the 63-year-old Bush has been keeping a low profile, fading from view as the country turned its attention to his successor, President Barack Obama .

Now, some events might be turning in Bush's favor just as he and his family emerge to tell their side of the story, first with the release this week of Laura Bush's memoir, "Spoken From the Heart," then in November with the release of his book, "Decision Points."

"The rehab's well under way," said Mark McKinnon , a Bush confidant who still bikes with the former president in Texas .

"His loyalists have always believed that history would be much kinder to the president than public opinion was during his term. We also believe that leaders who make tough decisions are rarely popular when they're president, but that history puts things into context."

That loud noise you just heard? That wasn't yet another gift from the Religion of Peace in Times Square. That was my head.  Sorry if I got any brain gook on you.

King George vindicated by history? Not if I have any say in the matter! The man was a disgrace as President! He did more to grease the skids for the loss of our freedoms than any President since Woodrow Wilson. He has ruined the financial future of this nation with his profligate spending, and doomed us to perhaps decades of futile warfare with his foreign wars of aggression. And he made the Presidency of Il Duce possible.

His place in history should be that special cesspool where the memories of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson and other horrific Presidents reside.

Let's just say that when he dies, what I'll leave on his grave won't pass for flowers.

Man bites dog

Criticism of Il Duce and his administration by Big Media (the BM for short) and popular commentators of the Left (is that redundant?) has been virtually nonexistent up to this point.  But the times, they are a changin'. It seems that the near non-response of the Duce administration to the impending ecological catastrophe about to hit the shores of the Gulf states is a chicken come home to roost.

Of all of Il Duce's cheerleaders, no one has been as "in the tank" for their Messiah as the editorial writers of The New York Times.  Until now.

BP seems to have been slow to ask for help, and, on Friday, both federal and state officials accused it of not moving aggressively or swiftly enough. Yet the administration should not have waited, and should have intervened much more quickly on its own initiative.

A White House as politically attuned as this one should have been conscious of two obvious historical lessons. One was the Exxon Valdez, where a late and lame response by both industry and the federal government all but destroyed one of the country’s richest fishing grounds and ended up costing billions of dollars. The other was President George W. Bush’s hapless response to Hurricane Katrina.

Now we have another disaster in more or less the same neck of the woods, and it takes the administration more than a week to really get moving.

Wow! You could knock me over with a feather.  Every word of that critique is true.  And damning.  And, had the President in question been King George the Dim, this singular criticism would be echoing from every media orifice.  But, given that so much of Big Media follows in lock-step behind The Times, more criticism should be forthcoming.

But if you think that The Times criticism of the administration is unbelievable, this is even more unbelievable.

HBO's Bill Maher on Friday asked an extraordinary question of his guest panel: "Why isn't Barack Obama getting more s--t' for the oil spill in the Gulf?

Almost as surprising, the studio audience applauded after the "Real Time" host said this.

Talk about your "man bites dog" moment! Bill Maher, as big a Lefty as you'll ever find in a "political" context, a man who excoriated King George without mercy, questioning why his Messiah wasn't being (correctly) criticized for his lackadaisical response.

Just when you think you have it all figured out, something like this happens [/sarcasm].

I'm the first to criticize the BM and pundits like Maher when they go 24x7 hammering on something that matters to them and harms opposing points of view and then, predictably, fall silent on issues that make "their side" look bad (Climategate, anyone?).  So I salute The Times and Bill Maher for breaking from the pack and criticizing where criticism is due.

Well done, chaps.