Nuance

That criminal George W. Bush said "I don't do nuance" back when he was in the White House.

It appears Obama's critics on the Libya adventure don't either.

We're glad to see a Republican Democrat (!) stand up and speak for us. Found at Weasel Zippers:



Did we mention we're BFF with this principled American?

How about Obama's base. What do they think about bombing Libya? What do they think about today's escalation of sending CIA troops into Libya? Claire at SondraK posts this audio clip:



So, as of today the only nuance is coming from the Republicans.

We'd share our opinion on the absence of conservative criticism, but it would lack... nuance.

Socialism Explained

Another winner from Battlefield315:



We started a new book today. Robert Conquest's 2005 book, The Dragons of Expecttions, Reality and Delusion in the Course of History. A quote jumped out at us on page 6:

There are minds that, having risen beyond primitive, unthinking orthodoxies, often merely turn to a rejection of the traditional. Whoever has made this apparent advance is convinced that he or she has reached a superior condition. Minds that have improved their knowledge and remained open to more have indeed progressed. But we often find those who have achieved a critical attitude to the traditional have also adopted a largely, or wholly, uncritical attitude to untried, or even failed, alternatives whose attraction is verbal rather than real.

Libya BUMPED

[originally posted 3.20.11]

We're not fooled Mr President.

Avoiding the Libya issue for three weeks then announcing the US is going to war with a country that poses no threat to the US is not measured deliberation.

Doing so without a vote form Congress demonstrates your lack of commitment to the cause and your tyrannical impulses.

And how dare you attack a sitting member of the UN's Human Rights Commission?! Have you no shame Mr President?

Ginger at IOTW has asked for some slogans for Obama's first war. It is her way to help the liberals progressives communists in the left as they are likely speechless as one of their own is going to war for oil. She has 251 suggestions so far! Here are our favorites:

War we can believe in!

Burn Your Burkhas against war!

Cleaner More Articulate War

If war is the answer, Barry didn’t ask any questions.

Stop the war, stop the lies, Obama bombs and Libya dies!

Winning the future, one tomahawk at a time.

We are the Invaders You’ve Been Waiting For!

Obama dithered, Credibility withered

Make Par Not War

You have to bomb Libya to see what’s inside it.

Muammar Gaddafi acted stupidly

1 2 3 4 If Barry bombs Arabs it’s not a racist war!!!!

Just think of it as aborting Khaddafy in his 195th trimester.

You stopped the economy, now stop the war.

It’s not war, it’s anti-bullying!

Operation Drop-a-Pair

How many lives per gallon, Barry?

Barry the boob went to War for French Lube!!!

Barry’s in a Sand Trap

FORE! NOT WAR

This is the war we’ve been waiting for.

It’s Still Bush’s Fault.

Barry lied and hope and change died.

Endless War. End This War. What’s One More.

Top photo from CTV Edmonton.

UPDATED & BUMPED 3.27.11

This video not only sums up the Libya situation, but the challenges facing the security of our nation.

Just Suppose...

The Newbius Papers offers suppositions:

Suppositions first: Suppose that Obama is actually a committed Marxist whose intent is on overthrowing ("fundamentally transforming") the way America operates. Suppose that he intends to destroy life as we know it, to be replaced by top-down socialism/fascism, and wants to be able to claim that an outside agent is responsible. Suppose that he intends to weaken our country, our citizens, and our standing in the world. Suppose, also, that the Democratic Party (and their Union enforcement arm) are agents of this change and that it has been their desire for the last 75 years or so, too.

How do you achieve this without prematurely alerting the American public?

Most people are willing to give Baby Barack Duvalier Obama the benefit of the doubt and chalk up his 'mis-steps' to naievete and disinterest. Most people are willing to apply Hanlon's Razor to his governance. However, what if it is not stupidity at all?

What if Obama's actions really are malicious to the long-term success of the United States? What if ideology really does drive every action or inaction on his part? What if the results are intended? What then? Because the already-visible results of his policies, if intended, make him an enemy of the Constitution - Domestic variety.

Are you ready to face that reality?

Fair questions. But how many of us are asking?

U/T: Newbius

UPDATE 5PM

Van Helsing at MoonBattery not only gets it, but does so in poetic fashion. Click over to see the video that inspired Mr. Helsing's post.

There has never really been a line between liberalism and communism, just a murky gray zone of flowery-sounding but fundamentally wrong principles your average liberal doesn't have the focus or intestinal fortitude to follow through to their logical Stalinist conclusions. That gray zone is disappearing, as hardcore authoritarians use the party to drag America toward a collectivist future.

Like we've always said, Democrats hold Communist Inspirations. They will choose the same path that a Stalin or Marx would choose under the same conditions. Always.

A Collective Regime of Peace & Love

Heh. Check out this creative music video about the history of the Soviet Union and current Russia.

Obama & Gun Control

A real short post here. We're at work early today so we can leave early and stop by the shooting range on our way home.

Hat owner, John Lott, has a Gun Control update at Fox News. It is a good summary to see where we are now, and what proposals are likely to be coming our way. "Reasonable" proposals. "Common Sense" proposals. Proposals that "we can all agree on". In other words, liberal progressive communist proposals.

Obama has been a consistent opponent of gun ownership. He enacted a ban on the importation of semiautomatic guns because, “The U.S. insisted that imports of the aging rifles could cause problems such as firearm accidents.” He has proposed much more extensive reporting requirements on sales of long guns. Obama’s nomination of anti-gun Andrew Traver to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives threatens imposing many new regulations. Still further, the Obama administration has actively pushed for the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty and continues to make inaccurate statements about the source of Mexico’s crime guns.
---
Everyone wants a perfect, almost magical solution that will stop criminals from getting their hands on guns. But, unfortunately, background checks do not stop bad guys from getting their hands on guns. Not a single academic study by economists or criminologists has found that the Brady Act or any state background checks has reduced violent crime.
---
banning more people from buying guns. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) proposes that those who have been arrested, but neither charged nor convicted, for illegal drug violations should be denied buying guns.

Dr. Lott references this Washington Times article, EDITORIAL: U.N. threatens Second and First Amendments, from 2010 about the UN Arms Trade Treaty:

The Obama administration strongly supports the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty and no doubt will use the process to push for gun-control regulations that it can’t get through Congress otherwise.
---
Gun rights aren’t the only thing would-be globocops are targeting in the treaty. There is a U.N. discussion paper advancing “the reduction of violence in the media and in video games” as well as “sustained efforts at reeducation and reorientation of [member state] citizens.” Whatever the plan, that can’t be good for the First Amendment.

Three indisputable facts:

1) The Second Amendment protects the other amendments,
2) Every rifle in 1776 was an assault rifle, and
3) You can have it when you pry it from my cold dead hand.

In related news, the ATF was allowing guns to go to Mexico in order to justify more spending on stopping guns going to Mexico.

NRA's Wayne Lapierre asks:

They wanted to prove that there were guns flowing to Mexico, so they set up an illegal pipeline to send guns to Mexico,” speculates LaPierre. “When does it stop being law enforcement and start being a criminal enterprise?

We've followed Wayne Lapierre for years - we contribute to his salary - and we doubt he is 'speculating' here.

We think Obama's first gun-control proposal should be the elimination of the ATF.

It is reasonable, as it will reduce the deficit.

It is common sense, as it will save the lives of US border patrol agents.

It is a proposal we can all agree on, as they won't be missed.

U/T: SayUncle

Union Man

Found over at NiceDeb - she has posted the lyrics there too. A fantastic piece of work by Glen Shulfer.

Related: Karl Rove writes in the WSJ today about SB5, the 'anti-union' bill about to go into law here in Ohio.

For weeks, the nation's attention has been drawn to the storm in Madison over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to limit the power of government unions. Yet 500 miles to the southeast, in Columbus, Ohio, Gov. John Kasich is on the verge of passing a more extensive reform.
---
Why then so much attention to events in the Badger State and so little to those in the Buckeye State? The most likely reason is that legislation began moving in Wisconsin first. Once the media had deployed to Madison, they didn't have reporters, cameramen and television time to open a second front in Columbus. It was also costly for unions to bus in protesters and put on rallies in Madison. Similar protests in Columbus would have drawn much less attention while doubling expenses.
---
In attempting to re-energize itself by battling in Madison, the labor movement is making itself appear weaker and more thuggish than before. Scott Walker didn't expect this fight, but he is winning it. He absorbed body blows in the process, as strong and effective leaders do. The lasting damage has not been done to Mr. Walker but to the labor movement, whose desperation grows as its power, numbers and reputation wane.

Picture from Weasel Zippers

Ohio S.B. 5 - BUMPED

[originally posted 2.22.11 5pm]

Karl and a friend attended the rally today at the Ohio State Capitol.

Not much to share. Maybe 2k white people there - all union types chanting "Kill the Bill". No anger - more of a picnic attitude. Many just there finding old friends and catching up. As for organization: the busses were running, but there wasn't a sound system, evidence of leadership, nor were they any creative signs. In short, for a rally with a message, it was a bust.

S.B. 5 may be inevitable, but so was ObamaCare. And we recall far more passion at the tea party rallies in '09 & '10.

There was no evidence of anyone on the pro-S.B. 5 side except the two of us, so intellectually they were pretty outnumbered.

It appears only one representative joined his constituents. Say what you will about the UFO spotter - he found time away from The Ed Show to join his constituents today when his fellow state and national representatives were nowhere to be found.

Video coming soon...

UPDATE 10PM: See the Video!

UPDATED & BUMPED 3.22 10am

Another example of how this guy sticks to his principles. Congressman Kucinich, our buddy in the picture above, on FOX News questioning the validity of the US bombing Libya. His points are valid.

WebScrape

Three images found from our tour of our Daily Bookmarks:

From MoonBattery:

From EnglishRussia - pictures from the transition in 1990:

iHop Shrugged

Another great video from Heritage covering the impact of ObamaCare on small businesses.



Less than a month away from Atlas Shrugged, Part 1. Be There!

Monday Afternoon Cigar

Rocky Patel Sun Grown.

We're still reading Oliver H. Radkey's The Unknown Civil War
in Soviet Russia.

This is a story of the Green Movement in Soviet Russia in 1920-1921. Not an Al Gore type green movement, but a large population of peasants who saw communism for what it was and wanted no part of it.

They took up arms and were part of the most organized, and possibly the largest, peasant revolt in human history. Estimated strength of 25-50,000, these "bandits" threatened Lenin's hold on power when he was at his weakest. Had the revolts spread, the Bolsheviks would have been doomed.

We're reading about the last few months of the revolt. Lenin had sent his top general to the Tambov province to crush the uprising and had passed two laws to assist the government in its efforts. Order 130 and Order 171.

Order 130 allowed for families of Greens to be exiled, and for summary executions of anyone caught hiding arms or aiding the insurgents. But that law failed. Those who would have suffered disappeared, joined the insurgents, or when caught would not give their names. So Order 171 came to be.

Think of Order 171 as the Soviet version of Obamacare's Death Panels, but on a more efficient, evolved, and enlightened scale.

Order 171 is essentially collective punishment. A Green comes from a village, therefore the village is guilty.

Here are the 7 articles of Order 171 (Page 324):

1. "Bandits" refusing to give their names were to be shot on the spot without trial.
2. Hostages were to be taken from settlements where arms were hidden and were to be shot unless the weapons were given up.
3. From a household where a concealed weapon was found, the oldest worker would be taken and shot out of hand without trial.
4. A family giving shelter to a "bandit" was to be arrested and exiled from the province, its property confiscated, and it eldest breadwinner shot on the spot without trial.
5. A family giving shelter to members of a "bandit's" family or hiding the property of a "bandit" was to be considered itself as "bandit" and would have its eldest breadwinner shot forthwith without trial.
6. In case of the flight of a "bandit's" family, its possessions were to be distributed among peasants loyal to Soviet authority and the dwelling was to be burned.
7. The decree was to be read before village assemblies and was "mercilessly to be carried out".

This is what it looks like when you put a communist in a corner.

Thursday Afternoon Cigar

Our first CAO Brazilia of the year. Not the last.

The Brackets

Kristinn Taylor at Big Government posts a bracket image that says it all:

Clinton’s most self-indulgent moment came when when he urged Lewinsky to perform oral sex on him while he took a phone call from a Congressman. However, the November 17, 1995 incident occured in private, the Congressman did not suspect anything was amiss and it was not revealed until years later as part of the Starr investigation.

Obama’s most self-indulgent moment was broadcast on national television this week when, in the midst of numerous crises crying out for American leadership, he took time to film his picks for the NCAA basketball tournament brackets for broadcast by the ESPN sports network.

This follows a two-year string of self-indulgences by Obama since he became president that has demonstrated to the world that nothing comes before Obama’s me-time.

Iowahawk has an image with a similar theme.

Between now and November 2012 the DNC will produce a focus-tested marketing message that will distract from Obama's failure on all-things-important. Will we be fooled?

Dissent is Patriotic

University of Cincinnati student Aaron Tobey is the focus of our tribute post today. He wrote the 4th amendment on his chest and stripped to his boxers at the Richmond International Airport last December.

He was detained for 90 minutes and is now suing TSA for " wrongful detention and a breach of the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment."

Don't you know? You don't mess with the Commissars of Grandma Pat-Downs!

Also from last December: Conservative Cowgirl with her own dissent at a California TSA checkpoint.

That hat gets everywhere!

Photo from Wired.

Bell Curve

We all know that the left end of the envy bell curve contains the communists among us. Every union rally we go to is a visit to the other end of the curve.

What we dont know is where to draw the line.

Now, thanks to a Rasmussen poll, we know that 11% of Americans will admit that communism is the ideal government solution. Comrades!

So we know how many will admit to preferring communism. But we still do not know how many are communists.

NiceDeb's opinion on this poll:

I think the fact that more than one in ten of us are stone cold Commies is frightening. It explains the massive numbers that show up at leftist rallies with their Communist banners. It helps explain the undercurrent of violence we see at so many left-wing rallies. It helps explain how Obama was elected and continues to have support as high as he does.

Exactly.

Commenter Greg at Weasel Zippers:

Well first there is all the success stories of Communism…uhh well they killed a lot of people efficiently.

And who could compete with the economic powers of North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, and China? I mean when China gets to the point that all the males won’t have females the economy is really going to skyrocket.

And weren’t people in Berlin just fixing to get over that wall to go to the communist part of town.

Can’t see why people in the United States would be against this.

Greg, the force of sarcasm is strong in you. You should wear our Commie Obama hat!

And you're right, Greg, the killing was efficient. While every quota for harvests and every 5-year plan for infrastructure were missed, every train to the Gulag ran on time. For some reason commies are efficient only when human suffering is at hand.

A new phenomenon is emerging. Hints: ACORN, Planned Parenthood, NPR.

Yes, it is the hidden camera! A glorious invention by the folks at 60 Minutes, yet long since discarded.

But those stimulus-funded commies aren't the only ones to be exposed for their evil, immoral, anti-human ways. So is North Korea.

Here is a 4-minute video taken in North Korea with a hidden camera. Hidden cameras are crossing the Chinese border all the time now, and there will be more where this came from.

For the viewing pleasure of those 11% of Americans, including Michael Moore and President Obama, we present... your utopia:

Show Off!

Those blowhard blustering boasters in the British Army bring us the feel-good story of the day:

From Telegraph.co.uk: Dead Men Risen: The snipers' story

Operating from a remote patrol base in Helmand, two British snipers were responsible for killing 75 Taliban fighters in just 40 days. In one remarkable feat of marksmanship, two insurgents were dispatched with a single bullet.

And they get paid to do this!

Saturday Afternoon Cigar

To Take Delight: smoking a Romeo Y Julieta Habana Reserve cigar and watching the Krauthammer smack down of NPR's latest pawn in its theft of taxpayer money. Rarely does a YouTube video enhance the taste of an already fine cigar.

Will You Submit?

Found at Moonbattery:



Here is a screenshot from January 2008. Interesting, eh?

Friday Evening Cigar

The Santa Damiana tastes extra special as we savor the victory in Wisconsin.

Thousands of jobs saved and a budget closer to being balanced.

The Jobs Picture

The jobs picture - that is worth a thousand words.

Claudia at IOTW posted this updated graph of our current un-employment rate. I guess one can read into this that "we are back from the brink".

Here is a screenshot of our Home Page Survey as of today:

Obama's target is 8.0% at next year's election. Why doesn't he set the bar a bit higher and return us to George W. Bush era rates?

Pictures from the Motherland

EnglishRussia has two posts today. First, pictures from a Russian police academy. We see they still embrace the "Start Them Young" philosophy.

That is one furry police hat!

And pictures of artwork by artist Dmitry Shorin:

Wisconsin Winter Palace

Communists took control of the Winter Palace in Petrograd on October 25, 1917.

Communists took control of the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison on March 9, 2011.

When they are not lying, cheating or stealing, they are turning to mob-rule to achieve their ends.

Here is video from yesterday found at The Blaze. Notice the "COPS FOR LABOR" t-shirt among the trespassers at 2:32.



Today's Drudge Headline:

From JSOnline:

With Democrats still in Illinois, the state Senate abruptly voted Wednesday night to eliminate collective bargaining provisions for most public workers that have stood for decades, sending a flood of angry protesters into the Capitol.

The bill, which has drawn international attention, is to be taken up at 11 a.m. Thursday by the Assembly.

That house has already passed a nearly identical version of the wide-ranging bill, which Gov. Scott Walker introduced last month to address a budget shortfall.
---
"The Senate Democrats have had three weeks to debate this bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come home, which they refused," Walker said in a statement. "In order to move the state forward, I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government."

Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald at WQOW:

"Before the election, the Democrats promised "adult leadership" in Madison. Then a month and a half into session, the Senate Democrats fled the state instead of doing their job.

"In doing so, they have tarnished the very institution of the Wisconsin state Senate. This is unacceptable.

"This afternoon, following a week and a half of line-by-line negotiation, Sen. Miller sent me a letter that offered three options: 1) keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 2) take our counter-offer, which would keep collective bargaining as is with no changes, 3) or stop talking altogether.

"With that letter, I realized that we're dealing with someone who is stalling indefinitely, and doesn't have a plan or an intention to return. His idea of compromise is "give me everything I want," and the only negotiating he's doing is through the media.

Gov. Walker writes in today's WSJ, Why I'm Fighting in Wisconsin:

In 2010, Megan Sampson was named an Outstanding First Year Teacher in Wisconsin. A week later, she got a layoff notice from the Milwaukee Public Schools. Why would one of the best new teachers in the state be one of the first let go? Because her collective-bargaining contract requires staffing decisions to be made based on seniority.

Ms. Sampson got a layoff notice because the union leadership would not accept reasonable changes to their contract. Instead, they hid behind a collective-bargaining agreement that costs the taxpayers $101,091 per year for each teacher, protects a 0% contribution for health-insurance premiums, and forces schools to hire and fire based on seniority and union rules.
---
The unions say they are ready to accept concessions, yet their actions speak louder than words. Over the past three weeks, local unions across the state have pursued contracts without new pension or health-insurance contributions. Their rhetoric does not match their record on this issue.
---
Taking on the status quo is no easy task. Each day, there are protesters in and around our state Capitol. They have every right to be heard. But their voices cannot drown out the voices of the countless taxpayers who want us to balance our budgets and, more importantly, to make government work for each of them.

Russia didn't have a Scott Walker in 1917.

Russia did have plenty of "COPS FOR LABOR" in October 1917, although their slogan changed to "CHEKA FOR LABOR" exactly 23 days after the Revolution.

A Long Way To Go

This Jesse Jackson Jr. speech on the floor of the House could be dismissed if it had been made in the Hope & Change days of 2008.

It could be dismissed if it were made in Russia in 1917. Or in Venezuela today.

Nope. The Illinois Democrat Congressman gave this speech this past week. In the United States of America.



Did any fellow Democrats rush down and pull Jackson from the microphone? Didn't any leaders in the Democrat Party proof his speech? Did any Democrats rush to denounce this speech?

Or was he presenting the Democrat platform: Communism?

EnglishRussia has photos from 1953 Soviet Union. The same philosophy the Congressman preaches was applied in the Soviet Union. Instead of iPods and Laptops, it was bread that was a right, and it was bread that was received.

U/T: Moonbattery

UPDATE 9am:

Battlefield315 has a new video out that fits perfectly with this post.

Tuesday Afternoon Cigar

We're trying a new one today: the Romeo Y Julieta Habana Reserve. Quite tasty, as are all Romeo Y Julietas that we've tried up to now.

We're celebrating Gov. Kasich's State of the State speech today. You didn't hear about it from the MSM because they chose to protect you from the harsh right-wing rhetoric truth. It was a display of leadership, accountability, vision, and tough choices. Instead, they probably showed you our Dear Leader's latest golf score, or his wife's latest diet plan. We say "probably", because we don't know. We tuned out of the MSM propaganda game back in the Clinton years.

From Reuters:

The governor of Ohio, one of three Midwestern states considering bills to strip public sector unions of bargaining rights, said on Tuesday his new budget will not raise taxes but will require deep spending cuts.

Sounds like a tea-partier!

UPDATE 5pm: From The Blaze: A new video from outside of today's State of the State speech.

Revolutions Explored

A riveting 40 minute history class from Glenn Beck's Friday show.



Several of the books in our Library section to the left are mentioned, as is the author of Lenin, Stalin and Hitler. We looked back at a quote we took from his book - here.

U/T: NewZeal

Wednesday Afternoon Cigar

We're trying a CAO Cameroon today. So far, mediocre. It was offered as a discount in our last cigar order, so the price was right. And we got what we paid for.

But otherwise, a wonderful 50-degree day in sunny South-West Ohio. Our version of the Wisconsin bill, SB 5, just passed committee and is expected to be voted on this week. Maybe today? So while we cannot join our fellow patriots in Columbus today, we'll smoke a cigar in their honor.

Bolsheviks in America UPDATED

Two differences to October 1917:
1) We have cameras,
2) We have YouTube.



Similarities to October 1917:
1) A numerical thug minority claims to be a majority,
2) The result of thug success will result in a worse situation for everyone.

Wisconsin State Senator Glenn Grothman is chased and trapped by hecklers outside of the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. on Mar. 1, 2011.

Imagine if Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker had tried to put the unions on par with the private sector rather than ask the unions for only 50% of what their private sector counterparts are paying.

On the bright side: Hat owner, Tammy, at IOTW reports that the Wisconsin senators hiding in Illinois are splintering in their cowardly solidarity. She also links to this fun story of Illinois Tea Partiers' use of social media to track the whereabouts of the Wisconsin senators.

The only unknown: Who's going to blink first?

UPDATED 3.3 11am

We were disturbed by the second video above. 12 minutes and yet no police officers come to the senator's aid. There have been some other cases where one could accuse the police of sympathizing with the unions in these recent demonstrations. It appears a retired Greenfield (outside Milwaukee) police officer is doing exactly that - from NiceDeb:



Maybe we'll hear from some firefighters soon? Frankly, we're disgusted by the firefighter turnout to these anti-taxpayer greed-fests.

Teachers Unions Explained

Another classic from Battlefield315: