Love those spring reds

The Arizona Experiment

Well, the Arizona immigration bill may be a hoax, we shall see. Isn't it interesting that Mexico itself is pretty tough on its own illegal immigrants. And isn't it odd that many protesters of the law (though balanced coverage has been slim) have acted in particularly offensive and uncivil ways--even to the point of throwing rocks at police.

This is not reassuring to most Americans.

And obviously if Arizona police willy-nilly arrest everyone based on the color of their skin that would be wrong. It would also overwhelm the system. Because there are thousands and thousands of people entering the state illegally, often treading over the same ground, the same ranches, the same no longer pristine stretches of desert, the same homes, the same stretches of road where children can no longer safely wait for school buses. What would you do, as governor, when the federal government refuses to act. What would you think, as a citizen, when this lawlessness goes on for years and years.

As it turns out, apparently the numbers are down because the economy is down. But also, those who do come are more likely to be armed, more likely to be involved in the illegal drug trade.

So what's the solution? Open borders? Legalize drugs?

I'm actually in favor of closing the border, building a fence, increasing legal immigration, and legalizing drugs, to take away the profit. And yes, tax it.

In the meantime, it's an election year, and Democrats are playing politics hard with this volatile issue. But let's not forget the incident that really sparked the Arizona law--the murder of a rancher on his own land, who was in the habit of offering water and helping injured migrants.

It's an experiment in Arizona. Let's quiet down and see if common sense prevails.

More. Kathy Barkulis, Smart Girl Politics, Illinois. Show me your papers. As Kathy reminds us, there is no photo-ID for voting in Illinois. (Chicago, sanctuary city) Golly gee.

More. Via Potluck, Jennifer Rubin quotes Lynn Sweet on our President Barack Obama's uselessness the last time immigration reform came up and failed.

More. Video, via RCP: Arizona Gov. Brewer On Immigration Law: "We Have No Other Choice"

...and while further away from the border we may not have noticed the recent brutal murders and beheadings in the resort town of Acapulco, and the killings in broad daylight of an American consular official and her husband just south of the border, most Arizonans probably have.

--crossposted at BackyardConservative

Tea Party is Popular, Not Populist

Repeat after me, (formerly MS) M, still liberal and clueless.

The Tea Party is popular, not populist.

Noemie Emery, DC Examiner. Via RCP.

We have to be stupid or evil. It always comes back to that with these lefties. Otherwise they just don't want to know. No, no, no. Well, and our President Barack Obama thinks the same way.

Sorry, media lefties, we don't wanna hold your hand for you to get it. Can't you do it all by yourselves? Take a little responsibility?

Though maybe they're starting to get clued in at least about the Obama administration.

Hysteria Over Arizona

Legal Insurrection: Did The Danish King Wear An "I Could Be Illegal" Button?

Byron York: A carefully crafted immigration law in Arizona.

Leo Banks, The American Thinker: The Arizona Uproar

In other news: New York: Muslim student pleads guilty to jihad terror charge

P.S. Michelle Malkin: They’re back: A gallery of open-borders extremists; Update: May Day is Che Day; vandals strike AZ capitol

Ain't Misbehavin'

A Violent Demonstration

Forsythia tops the wall

NY Times Moans over Jobs in North Dakota

Let's find a heavy cloud to cast over that sunny plain state--don't you know, they don't have enough housing there--they're homeless!!!

The Times probably think the likes of ACORN should be invited in, whereas normal people think they are a blight on the community.

P.S. omg eeeeevil Halliburton is hiring. NY Times brain cramp.

Tea Party Vendor Beaten by SEIU Gets Day in Court

Kenneth Gladney, who was at the St. Louis health care town hall to sell Gadsden flags, finally has a chance for justice. 24th State. Gateway Pundit.

I didn't say it!

First thing we do, let's kill all the journalists

Big Three Nets' Evening News Ratings Crater to Summer 2009 Levels Two Months Early

The Upside Of Salt Regulation - Job Creation

The last one I wish I'd said. Is it seditious?

Who is being incendiary?

The Tribune sends reporter Richard Serrano down to Oklahoma City to fan conspiracy theories and try to tie Tea Parties to insurrectionist and domestic terrorist behavior.

Interesting. And despicable. Despicable:

Any anniversary is hard for those losing a loved one to whatever cause. Birthday. Wedding. Day of death. Rounded anniversaries — 10 years, 15 years, 50 — aren’t necessarily more significant to the survivors than an "ordinary” mark of time.

They seem to matter more to the media and society than to the survivors. They matter most to those who exploit anniversaries for a political agenda or to rekindle the long-doused fires of conspiracy theories.

Funny, on another page in the Tribune there's a poll that shows distrust of the government is mainstream--as is distrust of the national media. I would add to that local media, which exacerbated tensions by crowding around to interview a single counter-demonstrator at Chicago's Tea Party.

As far as assertion of states' rights, that is mainstream as well. Looking back, post-Katrina, New Orleans and the state of Louisiana had their hands full trying to stop looting and crime in the devastated city--they had numerous volunteers rescuing people from their homes and probably could have used more people to protect life after the flooding abated. In the wake of ObamaCare, 10th amendment sentiment is serious--witness how many states are challenging the constitutionality of forcing citizens to buy a health care policy against their will--not to mention unfunded mandates forced on the states.

How about investigating our own--domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and FOBarack, retired from bomb-making and murderous intent but teaching little recruits in the schools, and how about those people in Chicago toting guns and actually murdering people, including schoolchildren? You know, I think they're called gangs.

P.S. Let's watch this again. Kathy Barkulis, (who took on CNN's Susan Roesgen last year), video of her awesome speech at the Tea Party this year.

Just received an email from the Keyboard Militia with a link to photos of the Alton, Illinois Tea Party. Don't call me angry.

More. The American Spectator. TWS on the Tea Parties, including Michael Barone, who references CNN in Chicago last year.

...Can we talk about the media's selective outrage? Hmm, Blue Rage and Red Rage :

Lethal Bush-hatred soon metastasized beyond the print and electronic media, to be represented in the graphic arts: At Chicago's Columbia College, a curated exhibit included a sheet of mock postage stamps bearing the words "Patriot Act" and depicting President Bush with a gun to his head.

Hmm, and I recall on the walls of New Trier High School poster cartoons of President Bush as a monkey. [One more--who can forget our own Sen. Dick Durbin comparing our defenders to Nazis]

... NPR with some sense: Distrusting Government: As American As Apple Pie

WSJ: Andrew Kohut: Americans Are More Skeptical of Washington Than Ever

More. Rush reminds us of Waco, which I was reminded of the other day,

The Senate bill which ultimately passed doesn't outline enforcement penalties, but the original House bill implied jail time, confirmed by Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, so we haven't conjured this worry out of thin air. And who knows what these unprincipled Dems will shove through next? No, they probably won't be toting guns, despite libertarian Rep. Ron Paul's assertion, but maybe he can't forget what happened in a neighboring congressional district-- the thuggish and horrifying civil liberties abuse at Waco--children died at the hands of the ATF trying to "save" them-- under the Dem Clinton administration. Yes, Koresh was nuts but the government was criminally incompetent--76 people died.

but I hadn't remembered Oklahoma City was on the anniversary of that shameful attack.Limbaugh Blasts Clinton: Didn’t Waco Raid Inspire OKC Bombing?

--crossposted at BackyardConservative

Crabapple Blossoms

Pears in the background.

Tea in Chicago & Other Places

Here, here, here.

P.S. Houston Tea Party Pics!

Coralville Courier

Obama once again demonstrates his authoritarian arrogance

What, No Nuance?

Liberal Tea Party Crashers Are Totally Blending In Say Anything

Like totally.

More. Tea Party Crasher Is Under Investigation By Employer Net Right Nation

More. Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Educated

Don't Call Me Angry. Don't call me racist.

More. Powerful Video "The Tea Party. Are these people racist?"

More.

GayPatriot

RT @slicedsky: Dem Rep. Heath Shuler Backtracks on Hearing ObamaCare Protesters Yell “N-Word” at Black Congressmen http://3mk63.th8.us #tcot

andrewbreitbart

Amazing exchange between WaPo ombudsman & citizen alleged to have been where CBC N-Word barrage occurred: http://tinyurl.com/y725gks

Iowa GOP Backs ObamaCare Challenge

The Republican candidates for governor and attorney general are challengers themselves. Brenna Findley's statement on the issue is posted in Caffeinated Thoughts today: Time to Bring Power Back to the People

She's a graduate of the University of Chicago Law school. Like that:) Looks like she accomplished more than our President Barack Obama:

She understands what it takes to create jobs. She helped entrepreneurs on Chicago’s south side start their own businesses while volunteering at the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship. Upon graduation from law school, she worked in private practice where she focused on helping companies create jobs and litigation to fight fraud.

Findley for Iowa.

A Fiery Michele Bachmann

Getting a look in The American Spectator. She draws a lot of commentary:)

She has the kind of solid credentials liberals especially want to dismiss. I think Michele'll wallop whoever her Dem opponent is in November--because in this economy, or most other times, Americans don't want a tax and spender representing them in Congress.

Liberalism is the Big Lie: ObamaCare Embodies It

In today's Chicago Tribune, a sneering Eric Zorn dismisses concerns about Americans being forced to pay for health care they don't want. Where's his liberal sensibility on civil liberties?

18 states are now challenging ObamaCare. Gee, why is that? Individual mandates, something our President Barack Obama opposed as a candidate. And is Zorn really endorsing the unfunded mandate shell game that will cost Illinois another billion or so it doesn't have? The state is already bankrupt. We are facing huge tax increases under this Dem mismanagement and further loss of Illinois jobs, yet we're probably going to be forced to pay for expensive "health care" like in- vitro fertilization? Is this a life-threatening illness? Should we all have to pay for someone's lifestyle choice?

The CBO is garbage in garbage out. They can't extrapolate and make logical further pronouncements--they work for the Congressional majority of the time, which is Democrat these days. Though what are we hearing now after ObamaCare has passed--that we are on a fiscally unsustainable path, with talk of equally ruinous, job-killing higher taxes:

Elmendorf also declined to estimate what a VAT tax level would need to be to cover the 2020 debt, which the CBO predicted will be 90 percent of GDP.

In talking about that 90-percent figure, Elmendorf's low-key, clinical assessment drew chuckles from a group of reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor:

"That would put us in a very select group of developed countries," he said. "There are relatively few developed countries that have debt-to-GDP ratios that high."

Hahaha a laugh a minute. A basket-case economy, how hilarious. Presumably those chuckling are Zorn's clueless, elitist MSM counterparts.

Is it a "Big Lie" to deduce common sense consequences--more than 16,000 IRS agents? That's no joke to most Americans. After all, they are taxing us just for living. You can judge the results of the bill for yourselves, the Republican House Ways and Means members report is here. "Democrats’ Health Care Bill Contains Massive Expansion of IRS’s Power". Highlights:

• IRS agents verify if you have “acceptable” health care coverage;
  
• IRS has the authority to fine you up to $2,250 or 2 percent of your income (whichever is greater) for failure to prove that you have purchased “minimum essential coverage;”
  
• IRS can confiscate your tax refund;
  
• IRS audits are likely to increase;
  
• IRS will need up to $10 billion to administer the new health care program this decade;
  
• IRS may need to hire as many as 16,500 additional auditors, agents and other employees to investigate and collect billions in new taxes from Americans; and
  
• Nearly half of all these new individual mandate taxes will be paid by Americans earning less than 300 percent of poverty ($66,150 for a family of four.)

The Senate bill which ultimately passed doesn't outline enforcement penalties, but the original House bill implied jail time, confirmed by Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, so we haven't conjured this worry out of thin air. And who knows what these unprincipled Dems will shove through next? No, they probably won't be toting guns, despite libertarian Rep. Ron Paul's assertion, but maybe he can't forget what happened in a neighboring congressional district-- the thuggish and horrifying civil liberties abuse at Waco--children died at the hands of the ATF trying to "save" them-- under the Dem Clinton administration. Yes, Koresh was nuts but the government was criminally incompetent--76 people died.

Perhaps we could look at what the IRS has to say on the matter. The head of the IRS himself prissily confirms they have their ways--they will have the power of the purse--grabbing your refund.

Let's consider another consequence of the IRS onslaught--some have wondered whether this is a bug or feature of the ObamaCare bill--a backdoor way to destroy the private insurance market and usher in a Big Government takeover. We are already seeing this start to happen in blue Massachusetts, the closest blueprint to ObamaCare. To non-profits. Harvard. Lots of supposedly "greedy" liberals squealing over there, being demonized by their governor, another Obama blueprint. WSJ:

This week it became impossible in Massachusetts for small businesses and individuals to buy health-care coverage after Governor Deval Patrick imposed price controls on premiums. Read on, because under ObamaCare this kind of political showdown will soon be coming to an insurance market near you. [snip]

Yet all of the major Massachusetts insurers are nonprofits. Three of largest four—Blue Cross Blue Shield, Tufts Health Plan and Fallon Community Health—posted operating losses in 2009. In an emergency suit heard in Boston superior court yesterday, they argued that the arbitrary rate cap will result in another $100 million in collective losses this year and make it impossible to pay the anticipated cost of claims. It may even threaten the near-term solvency of some companies. So until the matter is resolved, the insurers have simply stopped selling new policies.

University of Chicago Professor of Law Richard A. Epstein details the pending disaster that is ObamaCare.

Zorn jokes about the right to seize our firstborn. Well, we know the consequences to the unborn. Death to the innocent in the womb, life saving drugs denied to those deemed unworthy, the elderly shunted to the side. Freedoms lost in a myriad of ways. And then there's the issue of making future generations pay for the American Dream they may never enjoy.

In his patronizing, orchestrated attempt to "unpack" the Big Lie, Zorn misses the Big Picture once again.

Forced to pay, left to die.

There is no liberty left in liberalism.

Liberalism is the Big Lie.

--crossposted at BackyardConservative

States Rights Bustin Out All Over

dcexaminer

Montana's states' rights lawsuit over gun regulation gets South Dakota's support: South Dakota will support Montan... http://bit.ly/c5cDSO

5 states to join lawsuit to stop health overhaul BusinessWeek

Where will it end? A healthy new federalism and limits to federal power grabs. Let's hope.

Palin Bachmann Rally Today

Live at Minnesota Democrats Exposed.

Bachmann's Dem opponents face an expensive primary in August.

Enter North Dakota

Challenging ObamaCare. Yes we can!
Audio: Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem Comments About North Dakota Entering Health Care Lawsuit

In reaction, Kathleen Sebelius gets officious.

A Mostly Quietly Remarkable Tea Party

One measure of the Tea Party's impact are the continued smears by Dems/leftists and their allies in the press, the most prominent manufacturing racial slurs out of thin air. The Tribune takes a stab at figuring out this Taxed Enough Already movement but hasn't figured out that the MSM is part of the story in making people mad. (Look at my pictures, look at the CNN at the Chicago Tea Party tape again, this time in the context of the St. Louis Tea Party--fresh outrage.) For example, why didn't reporter Oscar Avila consult the Tribune's own (recent) archives and interview Rick Santelli? (You could have called me, I would have pointed you to it--and I'm a tea partier too:), a two-fer.

Most recent demonstrations have occurred at local Democrat congressional offices, where we hear intemperate language (watch the video) coming from those on the left, and/or a congressman himself--who says he doesn't care about the Constitution.

Yet in the Tribune article we are lectured by the former political reporter for the Des Moines Register, now serving at the Paul Simon think tank here in Illinois, to moderate our tone. To some the Constitution may be a dusty document, detached from everyday life, but many Americans are quite passionate about it. The hard-won debate to shape it forged our freedom and the world has not yet seen anything like it. The Constitution limits the power of government, and casting it aside are fightin' words to those who love individual liberty. Yet we respond largely in "quietly remarkable" ways. That is the real story.

In Illinois we have seen the Chicago Machine and the Chicago Way trample on common decency time and again as corrupt politicians line their own pockets at our expense and buy votes by indebting us and our children and our children's children. Now they are in Washington. Juan Williams, a very nice man, thinks we are acting only in our self-interest. Well, that is very human, but what really motivates us? You can read this. And this. Or you can take an honest look yourself at what went on in Congress that dark Sunday in March.

It is not compassionate to lie about rationing and denying care to our most vulnerable, while funding the death of our most innocent. It is not responsible to steal from the young to pay political favors to those who want to retire in their 50's, living well today while killing the American Dream for the future.

It is not statesmanship to cheat us of our cherished heritage.

We the people. We, the people are speaking up, are standing up. We want the bill repealed.

We want our country back.

P.S. Just to underscore, so you can't dismiss us as intolerant (don't judge us by yourselves), I'll say it again:

The Tea Party movement is broad-based and hearkens back to the time of the founding fathers. You know, when we had the first Boston Tea Party against taxation without representation. We draw on de Tocqueville, not Alinsky. We respect the American Constitution.

More. Tea Parties outpoll Obama. Rasmussen. Gallup--Tea Partiers are fairly mainstream. Whaddya know.

--crossposted at BackyardConservative