Panic is Pandemic

It's the flu.  The flu, not the black death.  The flu, a disease that lots of people get every year and, unfortunately, a disease that lots of people die from every year, whether it originated in a pig or not.  Again . . . it's the flu!

And, yes, swine flu is apparently "pandemic."  Sounds scary, doesn't it?  Kind of like "enjoy your last moments on earth for tomorrow we'll all be dead."  But pandemic doesn't actually mean that.  According to dictionary.com, it means "prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world."

So the swine flu is prevalent and widespread around the world.  What's the big deal?  So is plain-old non-porcine flu.  So is the common cold.  So is stupidity and, now, not coincidentally, panic.

For the last time (hopefully) . . . it's just the flu!

President Obama . . . not telling the truth

Barack Obama spoke at Fox High School today.  Did he tell students the truth?  Nope.

First, only about 100 students actually got into the gym to see him.  (So said Betsey Bruce on Fox 2 this morning.)  Kinda makes you wonder how much money was spent to stage Fox as the latest photo op.

Second, Obama wasn't telling the truth.  Don't take my word for it, check out the Associated Press story here.

New York Post on Obama's Tenure . . . "100 Days, 100 Mistakes"

Link to column here.

Tourists running the White House

Have you ever been to a big city, like Paris or New York?  It is very easy to spot the tourists on their first visit.  They're the ones behaving inappropriately, staring with wide-eyed and taking snapshots of everything in sight.

Unfortunately, some folks in Barack Obama's White House Office of Military Affairs decided to act like tourists on Monday, "sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty" for the sake of a snapshot.  (Link to story here.)  Who cares if it would be eerily reminiscent of September 11 and cause widespread panic?

Tourists taking a picture is one thing.  These folks were more like stupid children on Christmas morning.  They've been out of power for years and now have some new "toys" to play with - Air Force One and military jet fighters.  What the heck, take 'em up for a spin.  Money is no object.  Who cares that it costs $60,000 per hour to keep Air Force One in the sky, not to mention the F-16s.  A picture is worth a thousand words and, of course, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Specter the Scoundrel

Always a R.I.N.O. at best, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter today became an ass, well, a donkey anyway.  He switched to the Democrat Party.  (Link to story here.)  The switch comes a little over a month after Specter promised not to switch.  Imagine that, a lying politician.

What's this all about?  

For Specter . . . personal power . . . he wants to keep his Senate seat and faced a serious threat from conservative Pat Toomey in the 2010 primary.  Toomey, without the support of GOP leadership, almost defeated Specter in 2004.  Specter must have seen the writing on the wall.

For the Democrats . . . 59 Senators in their caucus and counting.  Al Franken in Minnesota would make a filibuster-proof majority and effectively give them total control of the federal government.

For the Supreme Court . . . assurance that any liberal appointed by Obama will sail through without a fight.  Conservatives (and Republicans) will have no chance to stop the freight train and whatever slim chance may have existed there is now no chance to overturn Roe v. Wade in our lifetimes.  Someone once said, it is all about abortion.

For the GOP . . . hopefully, a wake-up call.  Specter should not have been coddled in the party in the first place.  He's a liberal and doesn't belong.  Other liberals don't belong either.  And now, without the possibility of a filibuster anyway, why continue to coddle the others.  The Republican Party needs to stand for something . . .  conservatism.  It should be something more than a label.  

Maybe it will be again one day.

Mayor Slay calls for unification of City and County

The City of St. Louis is not in St. Louis County, or any other County, and, therefore, must operate several redundant county-like departments in addition to city departments.  And in doing so, the City wastes resources that it doesn't have.

In addition to preventing efficient operation of government, the City-County separation also prevents the St. Louis region from looking at the big picture . . . what's good for the region instead of what's good for the City or Hazelwood or Wildwood or Florissant or Creve Coeur.

True unification of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County would be good for our community.  Is the time right?  According to this story from the Suburban Journals, City Mayor Francis Slay thinks so, though County Executive Charlie Dooley thinks Slay's all talk.

Let's all hope that it is more than that this time.

Obama's Teleprompter Woes Continue

Check out the video at this link.  It is what happens when the empty suit who Americans elected president gets ahead of his script.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a president who was able to think on his feet and speak his own words intelligibly instead of Barack Obama.

Babies Killing Babies

Your Federal Government, through the FDA, has determined that it is okay for 17-year-old children to obtain abortion pills without even a parent's consent.  It is now legally permissible for children across this land to kill other children.  (Link to story here.)

Aren't you proud of yourself America?

Remember when $100,000,000 was a lot of money?

Hoping to convince Americans that he's fiscally sound (Ha!), Barack Obama convened his Cabinet and asked them to cut $100 million from the budget.  (Link to story here.)

Obama's hoping that that nice big round number impresses you and me.  Now $100 million used to be impressive.  It is still a little more than a successful blogger makes for his work but compared to the $3.6 TRILLION budget that Obama has proposed for 2010, even he admits that $100 million is no more than a "drop in the bucket."  Frankly, that's even a rosy overestimate . . .

The federal government's deficit for the MONTH of March, 2009, was $192.3 BILLION.  That's one month.  And Obama's "challenge" to his Cabinet is to cut "roughly one-twentieth of 1 percent" from that figure.  

One-twentieth!  

Of 1%!  

Of one-month's overspending!

Andrew Taylor and Calvin Woodward at the Associated Press pointed out that what Obama asked his Cabinet to do is equivalent to cutting a cup of coffee or two out of your household's annual budget.  It is like trying to save $6 from a family's $60,000 budget.  The cuts would be only 1/10,000 of the Cabinet secretaries' collective annual operating budgets (excluding war costs, the so-called stimulus, various bailouts, and entitlement programs).  And the interest on the "stimulus" alone with cost almost $100 million a day, every day, for the next 10 years!  (Link to their story here.)

Time to dump some more tea?

Peas in a Pod

Barack Obama has a new-found friend in Socialist Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.

How long will it be before Hugo introduces his pal to old buddy Fidel Castro?

Or to fellow crazy Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

After all, don't they all want the same thing?

Et tu, FBI?

Not only is the Department of Homeland Security warning that veterans must be watched, the FBI is watching them too.  (Link to story here.)  The Bureau's "Operation Vigilant Eagle" was coordinated with the Department of Defense and aimed to "share information regarding Iraqi and Afghanistan war veterans whose involvement in white supremacy and/or militia sovereign citizen extremist terrorism threat."

Welcome home vet's.  Thanks for your sacrifice.  We'll be watching.

Cue the music . . .

Barack Obama . . . covering up Christianity

President Obama gave a speech in Gaston Hall at Georgetown University (a Catholic institution, by the way).  

Here's a photo of what Gaston Hall normally looks like:

And here it is, "decorated" for Obama:

Notice anything missing?  Or should I say covered up with black-painted plywood?

That's right.  The cross and the "IHS" monogram, symbolic of the name of Jesus.  They were covered at the request of the White House.  (Link to story here.)

The president wouldn't want to be photographed around too much evidence of Christianity, I suppose.  

Who knows, doing that might have gotten his name on a watch list at the Department of Homeland Security.

(Credit where credit is due.  The photos used here were found at this link.)

Political Profiling - Local and National

We live in weird and threatening times.  Americans elected a new president in November and Missourians elected a new governor.  Both Barack Obama and Jay Nixon are liberal Democrats and since they've taken their respective offices, two law enforcement bulletins have come to light.  Each suggesting that conservatives - because of their beliefs - are potential threats to law and order and eyes must be kept on them.

The first of these political profiles came from the Missouri Information Analysis Center and the Missouri Highway Patrol.  The "Strategic Report" on the "Modern Militia Movement" reads like a college term paper on the subject of domestic terrorism linked with "militia movements" from the 1980's (when "Tom Clancy novels, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, and movies such as Rambo glorified combat") to the present.  The report goes on to describe the present state of America as a "lush environment for militia activity" and describes some "motivators" for that activity.  So far, who cares?  No big deal.

Unfortunately, the report didn't end there.  It went on to analyze the ideologies of militia members stating that they "often subscribe to the ideology of other right-wing extremist movements such as:  . . . Anti Abortionists" and folks described as "Anti- Immigration."  And, furthermore, "Militia members most commonly associate with 3rd party political groups.  It is not uncommon for militia members to display Constitutional Party, Campaign for Liberty, or Libertarian material.  These members are usually supporters of former Presidential Candidate:  Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr."  Even better, the historic Gadsden Flag, shown here, is described as the militia movement's "most common symbol."

The Missouri report has, thankfully, been pulled.  (Link to story here.)

But political profiling has gone national, thanks to Janet Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security, which issued a threat assessment on "Rightwing Extremism."  What is "rightwing extremism," you ask?  According to our government, "Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.  It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."  (Emphasis added.)  Missouri Right to Life anyone?  The report also seems to suggest that veterans are likely to become rightwing extremists and are a greater threat because of their military skills.

The DHS report is drawing heaps of criticism from several directions.  Even Democrats are "dumbfounded" by its issuance.  But Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano is standing by the report.  (Link to Washington Times story here.)

It is appalling and alarming that state or federal government officials would warning law enforcement to keep an eye individuals because of their political beliefs, especially when those beliefs are as mainstream as the Libertarian Party or Pro-Life causes.

Last time I checked, we still had a Constitution.  If Janet Napolitano doesn't realize that, it is time for her to find another job.

SLC goes Lone Star

Though I risk being branded a right-wing extremist by the Department of Homeland Security, I'll proudly fly the flag of Texas today.

(And, by the way, who am I kidding.  I'm sure they've already branded me.)

The fix was in

State Senator Jeff Smith, a St. Louis Democrat, was charged with a misdemeanor for using false identification to enter a Missouri casino.  He, reportedly, used the I.D. of State Representative Joe Aull, a Marshall Democrat, who was also charged.

All charges have been dropped against both men reports the Associated Press and Tony Messenger's blog at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which, in this case, is appropriately named . . . "Political Fix."

Happy Easter!

While these Easter greetings are coming a day late, they are no less sincere.

My best wishes to all my readers, your families, and friends.  Praise God for the gift and resurrection of our Savior.

Christ the Lord is risen today!  (Just like yesterday.)

Good Friday

"With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.  The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God."  -Mark 15:37-39 (NIV).

Even Missouri is becoming a nanny state

Today the Missouri House of Representatives, by an overwhelming majority vote of 135-19, passed a bill that would ban junk food and soft drinks from public schools.  (Link to story here.)

Unbelievably, the majority Republican House, which ought to know better - and which gets my support most of the time, has decided that it knows better than kids, parents, schools, school districts, and elected school boards what children should be allowed to eat or not eat.  And, giving them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they do.  Kids probably shouldn't be eating Twinkies for lunch and guzzling Dr. Pepper in the halls.

But the appalling part of this story is that the folks in Jefferson City believe that it is the state's business to decide what's in the vending machines from Raytown South to Parkway South.

Shouldn't that decision be made by local communities, i.e. school boards?  Of course!

Let's hope that the Missouri Senate has a better understanding of the role of state government and this bill dies a slow death.

Senator Claire McCaskill flip-flops on illegal immigration

Back in 2007, I gave Missouri's junior senator props for voting against the Washington elite's bipartisan, anti-American, amnesty bill for illegal immigrants.  But now Claire McCaskill is seems to have turned in her independence, and her respect for the law, by flip-flopping on the so-called "DREAM Act."  (Link to story here.)

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, this measure "would allow millions of illegal aliens who meet a very loose definition of 'student' to qualify for green cards" and in-state tuition.  Then, those students receiving green cards could "petition the government to grant their parents and relatives legal status too."

I believe in immigration.  After all, it is more than a cliche, it is the truth to say that this nation is a nation of immigrants.  However, it was a nation of legal immigrants.  And it must remain so.

Individuals who fail to follow the law should not receive a benefit.  Individuals who enter the United States illegally or overstay their legal welcome should not be rewarded with green cards, or anything but a plane, bus, or boat ticket home.

In 2007, Claire McCaskill listened to Missourians and voted to defend American law.  If we scream loud enough again, maybe she'll listen again, snap out of it, and remember that she should be working for you and me, not Barack Obama.  If she doesn't, let me be the first to congratulate Sarah Steelman on her defeat of McCaskill in 2012.

Financial Irregularities at Missouri Democratic Party?

In tomorrow's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tony Messenger reports on the apparent inability of the Missouri Democratic Party to follow federal election law.  It seems our state's Dems "have been audited, fined or questioned by the FEC [Federal Election Commission] in six consecutive election cycles."  (Link to story here.)

Brace yourself

In the midst of a recession, job cuts, and rising unemployment in America, President Obama plans to renew efforts to "reform" immigration, including amnesty for illegal immigrants.  (Link to story here.)  Look for efforts to begin next month.

Americans were outraged, rightly so, when President Bush pushed such a plan in 2007, and, eventually, defeated it.  But victory could be fleeting.  Defeat would be devastating.  Get ready to put up a fight.

What should we be worried about?

Barack Obama . . . the clueless head of state

The United States of America has no king.  In world affairs, our president serves as head of state in addition to heading our government.  But when it comes to conducting himself as a head of state, Barack Obama is without a clue.  He's a fish out of water and an embarrassment on the international stage.  

If it wasn't for Obama's empty rhetoric about "hope" and "change" and its sway over sycophants in Europe (as in the U.S.), or his seeming embrace of all things Muslim, America would already be the world's laughingstock.  So far, only our nation's rivals are laughing.  But the line is forming up behind them as we speak.

Maybe you're reading this and thinking that I'm too partisan and being too rough on this guy.  Well, don't take it from me.  Take it from Camille Paglia posting at Salon.com.  She suggests that Obama has "what appears to be a total vacuum where a chief of protocol should be.  There has been one needless gaffe after another -- from the president's tacky appearance on a late-night comedy show to the kitsch gifts given to the British prime minister, followed by a sweater-clad first lady's over-familiarity with the queen and culminating with the jaw-dropping spectacle of a president of the United States bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia."

America elected a dope.  A guy who has no idea how to conduct himself in office and, worse yet, hasn't thought to hire someone to help him through this stuff.

Either that's true or Obama is intentionally trying to undermine America's position in the world.  I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that he's just that ignorant.

A side note from Paglia.  She wonders "why was protest about the latter indignity [bowing to King Abdullah] confined to conservatives?"  Surely, that's rhetorical.  "The silence of the major media was a disgrace."  On that point Camille, we're agreed.  But I, for one, am not surprised.

4/8/09 Update:  For another similar viewpoint, check out Ralph Peters' piece at the New York Post.

Oink!

Citizens Against Government Waste has released the 2008 Pig Book.

$17.2 billion in earmarks.  That's a heck of a lot of waste.  But, unfortunately, that massive amount of money seems like a drop in the bucket these days.

Nonetheless, earmarks must end.  The old saying goes . . . pigs get fat but hogs get slaughtered.  It is time to slaughter the hogs in the 2010 elections.

A big win for the conscience (and the children) in Illinois . . . at least temporarily

A Circuit Judge in Sangamon County, Illinois, has issued a ruling prohibiting the State from forcing pharmacists to dispense abortion pills (so called "morning-after" pills).  (Link to story here.)

That's fabulous news for both individuals who want to work as pharmacists yet not become accessories to the murder of innocent children and, of course, to those children too.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story.  It is only a circuit court ruling.  It is certain to be appealed.  

Stuart Varney - right on the money!

Banks wanting to pay back bailout loans from the government are being refused.  They want to pay off the loans to get the Feds out of their business.  But the Feds won't go quietly.  In fact, they won't go at all.  They're forcing the banks to keep the money and the uneasy "partnership" with the government.

This news should be sending shock waves around the country but, unfortunately, it is hardly a blip . . . 

Why won't the government take the money back?  Stuart Varney posted this answer on the Wall Street Journal's website over the weekend:

"The government wants to control the banks, just as it now controls GM and Chrysler, and will surely control the health industry in the not-too-distant future.  Keeping them TARP [that it bailout]-stuffed is the key to control.  And for this intensely political president, mere influence is not enough.  The White House wants to tell 'em what to do.  Control.  Direct.  Command."

Unfortunately, Varney is absolutely right.  Don't believe it?  Check out this piece from Bloomberg.com today.  Its lead, "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he's prepared to oust executives and directors at banks that require 'exceptional' assistance from the U.S. government."

Barack Obama has already led a socialist takeover of the U.S. government.  Now he's got his sights set on American industry.  The banks, manufacturing, healthcare.  What's next?  Insurance?  Energy?  Agriculture?

So, what's the big deal about government's involvement in or control of the banks?  Varney offers that answer as well:  

"If Rick Wagoner [former GM boss] can be fired and compact cars can be mandated, why can't a bank with a vault full of TARP money be told where to lend?  And since politics drives this administration, why can't special loans and terms be offered to favored constituents, favored industries, or even favored regions?"

This is bad.  And getting worse day by day.