Save The Eagles?

Remember how it was oh so important to save eagles? It was so important that the mosquito killing chemical DDT was banned, and as a result, millions upon millions of human beings died from mosquito-borne illnesses. Nearly 30 years later, it would seem that eagles aren't that important after all:

A controversial wind farm proposed near Red Wing plans to ask for federal permission to legally kill eagles, making it one of the first in the nation to participate in a new federal strategy aimed at managing the often-lethal conflict between birds and turbine blades.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials say they urged the developers of AWA Goodhue Wind to seek the new permit because the deaths of an unknown number of eagles and endangered golden eagles will be inevitable once the 50-turbine project is up and running.

The process for such "incidental take" permits was devised in 2009 as a compromise between the demand for clean energy from the growing number of wind farms and the rising concern over the estimated hundreds of thousands of birds and bats that they kill every year.

So, is it wrong to kill eagles? From an enviro-whacko perspective, it depends on who does the killing.

You see, it's different when a lefty kills an eagle. Remember when DDT was banned because it was supposedly (never proven) making the egg shells of eagles too thin and brittle. As a result, literally 10s of MILLIONS of human beings died from mosquito borne illnesses-- supposedly to save eagles. But it's OK to kill a few eagles if it means that these monuments to stupidity and "green religion" are left intact.

Meanwhile, it was acceptable to kill tens of millions of human beings by banning DDT--to "save" eagles.

Ain't it grand how liberal illogic works?

The Democrats' Continuing War on Children

I’ve always maintained that if there was anyone who had it in for kids, it was the liberal democrat. It is actually my contention that liberal democrats have been waging war against children for decades now, on a number of fronts. On one front, it is their ceaseless support for abortion. On yet another front, it is their insistence on padding their own political fortunes on the backs of the children who actually are fortunate enough to survive the womb, by willingly piling mountains of debt on their progeny for the sole reason of maintaining a stranglehold on their own political power. On yet another front, you have the liberal democrat waging war on children by indoctrinating them; thereby ensuring that they grow up to be nihilistic dolts; unable to sustain a self-determinant and independent lifestyle; thinking that they don’t stand a chance without the limousine liberal establishment being on hand to ‘level the playing field‘ for them.

These are tough times for Minnesota schools. In Lakeville, for example, the school board recently announced wrenching cuts of almost $7 million. Ninety-four teachers will lose their jobs, arts programs will suffer and a school will be closed. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth, but the board set its jaw: There’s not a dime for anything extra.

Unless you’ve got an ax to grind with white folks. Then the money spigots open. The Lakeville schools are sending a delegation of teachers to the 12th annual “White Privilege Conference” at the Bloomington Sheraton from April 13-16. The district is shelling out $160 a pop — plus $125 a day for teacher subs — for this “white guilt” festival.

Aside from being a textbook example of a situation literally screaming for a “Don’t tell me we don’t have any money!” rejoinder, this is also a textbook example of the type of war that the liberal democrat is waging on society by targeting society’s children, even at times going so far as to feature books endorsed by former unrepentant Weather Underground terrorists.

So the next time you see a liberal democrat hiding behind a child to advance his or her agenda, know that the last thing on their mind is the protection of that child and that child’s interest.

Know rather that it is the child who is in their crosshairs.

A Plea From Our Chiseler-In-Chief...

A letter I received in an email; supposedly penned by "The One," himself... (with comments by yours truly, in bold)...

Leo --

I come into this election with clear eyes.
(Translation: "I see the ass-whoopin' that's a-comin'")

I am proud of all we have achieved together, but I am mindful of all that remains to be done.
(Translation: "I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, finished with my quest to destroy this country").

I know some out there are frustrated by the pace of our progress. I want you to know I'm frustrated, too.
(Translation: "I actually wanted single payer socialized medicine by now").

But with so much riding on the outcome of this election, I need everyone to get in this game.
(Translation: "Hey--all you mind-numbed footsoldiers--where the hell are you now?")

Neither one of us is here because we thought it would be easy. Making change is hard. It's what we've said from the beginning. And we've got the lumps to show for it.
(Translation: "It's hard bein' a pimp")

The fight this fall is as critical as any this movement has taken on together. And if we are serious about change, we need to fight as hard as we ever have.

The very special interests who have stood in the way of change at every turn want to put their conservative allies in control of Congress. And they're doing it with the help of billionaires and corporate special interests underwriting shadowy campaign ads. (George Soros and the SEIU are of course, excepted).

If they succeed, they will not stop at making our work more difficult -- they will do their best to undo what you and I fought so hard to achieve.
(Yes, bringing back our nation from the brink of destruction will take some time).

There is no better time for you to start fighting back -- a fellow grassroots supporter has promised to match, dollar for dollar, whatever you can chip in today.
(Hmmm... a perusal of the donation site doesn't say just who that "fellow traveller err.. astroturf err.. grassroots supporter" is. Talk about 'shadowy.')

Please donate $3 -- and see who wants you to re-commit to this movement.
(Personally, I wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire, but I digress)

Now-- this is where "The One" desperately pines for the "Glory Days:

I know that sometimes it feels like we've come a long way from the hope and excitement of the inauguration, with its "Hope" posters and historic crowds on the National Mall.

I will never forget it. But it was never why we picked up this fight.

I didn't run for president because I wanted to do what would make me popular. And you didn't help elect me so I could read the polls and calculate how to keep myself in office.

You and I are in this because we believe in a simple idea -- that each and every one of us, working together, has the power to move this country forward. (Yes, forward, forward toward that train wreck up ahead)

We believed that this was the moment to solve the challenges that the country had ignored for far too long.

That change happens only from the bottom up. That change happens only because of you.

So I need you to fight for it over the next 26 days. I need your time. I need your commitment. And I need your help to get your friends and neighbors involved.

If you bring in a new donor today, your $3 donation will become $6. And our Vote 2010 campaign will have twice the resources to make important investments like putting staff on the ground, providing materials for volunteers, and turning out millions of voters come Election Day.

Please donate $3 -- and renew your commitment today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/OctoberMatch

If we meet this test -- if you, like me, believe that change is not a spectator sport -- we will not just win this election. In the years that come, we can realize the change we are seeking -- and reclaim the American dream for this generation.

Thank you for being a part of it,

President Barack Obama (pbuh, Hmm-Hmm-Hmm)

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Once universally loved, "The One" is now reduced to begging for attention and relevance like a two-bit bum brandishing a squeegee.

Gotta love it.

Liberal Road to Hell On Parade...

Detroit is a veritable museum of societal decay imposed by liberalism:



Make no mistake: This is Obama's & the rest of the democrats' vision for our nation.

Erick at Red State's Call to Action...

Senate Republicans, take heed:

FIGHT

Another Sacrifice for the Good of the Collective?

With my son having a rare genetic bone disorder, we have often utilized the expertise available at Minneapolis Shriner's Children's Hospital. The care there is top notch, and they are tops at what they do. Nowhere else can one find more competent care with regard to children's orthopedic issues, burn issues, and other muscular-skeletal maladies. And most of all, treatment there is of absolutely no charge to its patients.

Bruce Thompson at American Thinker brings some bad news:

The Shriners Children's Hospitals, which have provided free medical care to children, may be closing many of their facilities. The endowment supporting these facilities have fallen in value from $8 billion to 5 billion, with income also down sharply. Supporting current operations is reportedly drawing down the endowment further at a pace of $1 million a day, according to AP.

And if Obama gets his wish with limiting deductions wrt charitable contributions, the future of Shrine Hospitals looks even more bleak:

The Obama administration proposal to reduce the tax deductibility of charitable donations makes the future dim for these, and many other worthy charitable endeavors, whose funding basis has been devastated.

Indeed. But it would appear that through greatly decreasing and/or eliminating charitable deductions altogether, the socialist Obama administration plans to bleed private charities dry, thereby leaving the government to step in and take up the slack; this would by necessity not only grow government, but increase its power and influence over others to the point where Big Government will be the be-all, and the end-all, womb-to-the-tomb abomination.

'Charitable functions' will be an exclusive function of the government, and as thus will cease to be charity, as charity itself has a voluntary component.

So, Obama voters, how do you like your 'brave new world' now?

Currently on my Bookshelf...

Ever since I've been paying any attention to anything political, which is from a mighty long time ago, I've often wondered as to why those who ostensibly preach against man's inhumanity to man, and for decency and human rights so often run to the defense of and even embrace murderous despots.

For literally decades now, trying to make some sense of this seeming paradox has, to paraphrase Dr. Suess, "puzzled me til my puzzler was sore."

Finally, there's a plausible explanation put forth by a man by the name of Jamie Glazov, who himself, along with his family, fled Soviet tyranny during the 1970s.

In his book, "United in Hate," Glazov introduces us to his first encounters with the left, as he looked on with shock and horror as the tyranny that he fled was not only embraced but actually longed for by those who had otherwise lived in relative freedom for all of their lives.

I'm currently a few chapters into this fascinating read. I've contacted Glazov, and he has agreed to do an exclusive interview with me as soon as I am done reading the book.

Stay tuned for what is sure to be an enlightening, eye-opening and fascinating interview.

The Oklahoma Awakening

‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.’
-Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

The Tenth Amendment, which is supposed to hold weight equal to the First, Second and every other Amendment to the United States Constitution, has in the last 80 years been regarded as “a nice idea” but optional. This has resulted in usurpation of powers from the States in everything from health care to education (and everything in between).

Far from being taken seriously, the Tenth Amendment has become the red-headed stepchild of the Constitution, and has been ignored with impunity by the Federal government.

There is a movement afoot in Oklahoma, however, to rectify the situation:

Oklahomans are trying to recover some of their lost state sovereignty by House Joint Resolution 1089, introduced by State Rep. Charles Key.

The resolution’s language, in part, reads: “Whereas, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.’; and Whereas, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and whereas, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and Whereas, today, in 2008, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government. … Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the 2nd session of the 51st Oklahoma Legislature: that the State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States. That this serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.”

The measure passed overwhelmingly in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives, but was hung up in the State Senate (sound familiar?) However, Representative Charles Kay plans to re-introduce the measure when the Oklahoma State House reconvenes next year.

What would upholding the Tenth Amendment entail? Walter E. Williams writes,

Federal usurpation goes beyond anything the Constitution’s framers would have imagined. James Madison, explaining the constitution, in Federalist Paper 45, said, “The powers delegated … to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, [such] as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. … The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people.” Thomas Jefferson emphasized that the states are not “subordinate” to the national government, but rather the two are “coordinate departments of one simple and integral whole. … The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same government.”

Of course, the eye of the needle through which the camel squeezed its head was the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave the Federal government the authority to regulate interstate commerce. All well and good; however, meaning of the term “commerce” has been twisted and manipulated to not only cover business transactions between residents of different states, but everything else under the sun:

These scholars interpret interstate commerce to mean “substantial interstate human relations” and find this consistent with the meaning of commerce at the time of the writing of the Constitution. They also argue that this expansive interpretation makes more sense for the foreign and Indian commerce clauses as one would expect Congress to be given authority to regulate non-economic relations with other nations and with Indian tribes.

This ‘liberal translation’ of the term, ‘commerce,’ of course, flies in the face of Jefferson’s writings; which is SOP for liberals, who true to their moniker often take great liberty in using the words of the Constitution as so much silly puddy to bend and shape their meaning to fit their cause d’jour. This led to the creation of FDR’s “New Deal,” which led to the notion that the government pretty much had the right to step in to any situation, for any reason, if there was any indication of interstate commerce whatsoever. While minor shifts toward state’s rights have occurred in between, the Federal Government still maintains overwhelming authority over areas of our lives in which they Constitutionally have no business to regulate.

This could be the start of a groundswell of opportunity to defeat Federal usurpation of power, and to once and for all defeat the federal imposition of liberalism and its even uglier cousin, socialism. I look forward to a Republican legislator from my home state of Minnesota to take up this mantle (I know it won’t be a democrat).

What hath Liberalism Wrought, Part......?

Is it time now for us to re-deploy from Chicago??

Chicago working to prevent repeat of deadly weekend

By DON BABWIN
Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -- Police planned to increase patrols and put SWAT officers and specialized units on the streets over the weekend, a show of force aimed at deterring violence like the three dozen shootings that left nine people dead last weekend.

"Weather permitting, we will have our helicopter up," said police spokeswoman Monique Bond, who said Thursday night was relatively quiet, with only four shootings, none fatal.

Meanwhile, religious leaders said they had persuaded some churches to open their doors in the afternoons and evenings to protect people from gunfire.

"We just picked up about four more churches in Austin (a neighborhood on the city's West Side) that's going to open their doors as a safe haven," said Ira Acree, an activist and pastor of the Greater St. John Bible Church.

On Friday, Mayor Richard Daley took the unusual step of calling together more than two dozen officials from the police department, schools, social service agencies and religious groups for a City Hall summit on the violence. Afterward, he said it was just the start of a continuing dialogue about how to combat violent crime.

And, in turning the attention to where it needs to be, Mayor Richard Daley took a courageous step:

A fired-up Daley blasted the gun industry and called on parents and adults to do their part by intervening to help troubled youth and by working to keep others on the right path.

Way to go, Dick. Way to stick it to those guns. We all know that they all sprouted legs and pulled their own triggers.

And Tio Hardiman, executive director of CeaseFire, an anti-violence group, said young people need help finding alternatives to the streets.

"We need to go right to the corners and find out what some of these young people want to do, identify some employers that are willing to hire maybe 30 from this neighborhood, 30 from another neighborhood and try to get them hired somewhere so then we can get them off the corners."

But Daley said joblessness does not justify violence.

"When the killing is done, you still don't have a job, in fact, it greatly decreases the chances that you ever ... will have a job," he said.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Instead of pointing the bony finger of indignation at the gun industry, why not look at yourself and other liberals in the mirror, Mayor Daley? Ever since the dawning of the Great Society, the State thought that they would be more fit to parent kids via taxpayer money than would their biological fathers.

Now the State may be good at plowing streets, picking up garbage, and repairing highways, but by now you should know that it sucks at fatherhood.

As my good friend, Steve Gottwalt, is fond of saying, "The best welfare program is a job, and the best social program is an intact family."

Yet, Pelosi, Reid and other liberals, with allegiances ever-invested in the Nanny State, think it's a good idea to take even more money from the local economy and "invest" even more of it in "government fatherhood" programs that have clearly been failures from day one; ironically lessening the chances even further that these youths will get jobs; even if they don't pull a trigger.

As I noted in my very first post on this blog, I saw the ugly effects of the Great Society, and of liberalism in general when I grew up in the Chicago area in the 1960s and 1970s.

And let me tell you folks, it ain't gettin' any prettier.