If The Democrats Can Be Rehabbed, Then So Can The GOP

People, listen to Bob Belvedere:

Perhaps the number of people supporting our fight to restore our freedoms and liberties [which is all The Founders wished to do in the 1770's] is less this time than a third of the citizens of The United States.  Perhaps, as it dawns on more and more people that the Left In America is overthrowing The Republic, more of our fellow citizens will join our cause.  I don’t really care because I don’t think it matters.

What matters, what’s really important, is that we few, we blessed few, keeping fighting those who are waging war on everything America stands for because it is the right thing to do.

We are the good guys, the white hats.  We are the warriors for freedom and liberty, the defenders of tradition, morality, and Free Will — all that is good and decent and honest and true.

Since we represent what is Right, our numbers don’t matter.  Our cause is just.  We are on the side of the Timeless Truth.

Read The Entire Thing.  It’s rousing.

Bob’s post got me thinking about the nature of our political parties and how they fit in the modern American experiment.

The Democrat Party should not exist in 2013.  Look at its history.  This is a group that supported the enslavement of millions of Africans.  When abolitionists had the temerity to question why America was neck-deep in the slavery business, it was the Democrats who pitched a fit and started the Civil War.  During that conflict, many northern Democrats became little more than wily agitators against the Union.  In the post-war period Democrats created and aided the most vicious domestic terrorist organization in US history, the Ku Klux Klan.  When they weren’t busy organizing lynch mobs, Democrats were gleefully enacting Jim Crow laws to make sure black people were completely subjugated.

Lest you think the modern Democrat Party has somehow reformed itself, ponder this:  Which partisan outfit is totally stoked about abortion, a practice that has killed nearly 55 million people?  Which side of the political aisle has more to gain from our broken discriminatory immigration system?  Which party supports the modern bigotry of affirmative action?

In a more just world, the Democrat Party would be little more than a vague memory, like the Whigs or the Federalists.  That the Democrats still thrive despite the malfeasance they’ve perpetrated says some very ugly things about the American political process.  At the very least, the Democrats continued existence is an example of the painfully short memory of the voting public.

But the Democrat’s inexplicable longevity also means there is hope for the Republican Party as well.

The Donkey Punchers carry some of the most awful political baggage in American partisan life.  Yet somehow they’ve managed to reinvent themselves as an effective Leftist platform.  If the Democrats can overcome their support of slavery, segregation, ghettoization, tribalism and mass baby-killing then the GOP can put the failures of George Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney behind them too.

And if it’s possible that the GOP can become a winning party again, it can also be refashioned into a potent force for conservatives.  One could argue that the only way to rehabilitate the Republican Party is for it to move to the right.  It will not be an easy process; for every Reagan, there seems to be a thousand feckless Karl Rove clones.  Nonetheless making the GOP the true representative of American traditionalism can be done, if the Right is motivated to do some heavy lifting.

Hey, it could by that conservatism is fighting a losing battle against statism.  That doesn’t mean right-wingers must give up their principles just to accommodate the evil empire of socialism.  There is no honor in giving in to every single infantile proggtard whim.

More importantly, lets not have it come to that.  The Democrats have thrown their hideous past down the memory hole.  It’s been so successful that today their are very few people who recognize the abhorrent history of the Democrat Party.  The GOP has comparatively few skeletons in their closet.  All this suggests that the Republicans can win and become the political voice of conservatism again.

Marco Rubio: Hip-Hop Connoisseur

The Senator from Florida, dropping some made rap science on TMZ.

When it comes to early/mid 90′s rap, the stuff that came out of the Biggie-Tupac East Coast-West Coast feud can’t hold a candle to the weirdly endearing Wu-Tang Clan and all their various side-projects and solo discs. And Jay-Z hasn’t put out a decent record since the “Big Pimpin’” days. But that’s just me.

Anyhoo, look at how Rubio is working the media. A Republican isn’t supposed to know anything about modern music, much less have an opinion about old skool and contemporary rapppers. Yet here’s Marco Rubio, talking credibly about urban music. Kinda amazing.

I cannot wait for Harry Reid to tell us of his long standing love of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

UPDATE:  Sorry my post came out kinda janky before.  I stink at teh intertubez.  I got those links and embeds fixed, so you can almost read my yakety-yak now.

The Ongoing Problem With Karl Rove

Why do I bring him up now?

Because Hugh Hewitt said this the other day on Twitter:

Still waiting for critics of Rove to nominate best GOP strategist…for most it is like hating your starting QB but having no back-up.

Hewitt’s statement got my dander up a bit and then I sorta went on a rant.

Oops.

Allow me me sorta clean up my tweets for human consumption.

First, I have no other GOP strategerist to replace Karl Rove, so I’ll concede Hewitt a well-earned point.  If I absolutely had to pick someone to run the 2016 Republican ticket, I’d hire the person who ran either Scott Walker’s or Bobby Jindal’s campaigns and then hope for the best.  At least those folks have had success in the last four years.

Like every other facet of the GOP panoply, it’s very tough to have confidence in politicos based in Washington DC.  Choosing somebody outside the Beltway might be the only viable option.

But here’s something I’ve been wondering.  How come nobody–not the slick consultants, the overpriced underperforming tech gurus, or the high-powered campaign honchos–could figure out just how stupid and self-defeating Mitt Romney’s pro-life positioning was?

Think about the journey Romney took to become an anti-abortion presidential candidate.  Homeboy was pro-abortion for most of his public life.  He only started making vaguely pro-life noises in 2005.  He then tried to assure the GOP faithful that he was pro-life.

There were several problems with Mitt’s messaging.  Most pro-lifers were very skeptical of Romney’s rather recent and not completely convincing conversion.  That alone probably depressed social conservative turnout and hurt Romney’s chances on Election Day.

However, Mitt being perceived as an insincere opportunist wasn’t his biggest problem.  Romney never used his pro-life position for anything except winning the GOP nomination.  Once he got that, being anti-abortion was more or less forgotten by the campaign and the candidate.

Funny thing is, Obamaton propaganda ministers David Plouffe and Jim Messina didn’t forget. While Romney was trying and failing to make the election about the national debt going supernova and the sputtering American economy, Obama succeeded in making 2012 about Mitt being a misogynistic piece of dogshit.  Naturally, Team Barry used Romney’s pro-life stance as the convenient hook to slam the former Massachusetts governor as a vagina-hating douchecanoe.  Romney never defended being anti-abortion except in the weakest most mewling ways.  Even worse, the GOP standard bearer never employed his pro-life stance as a club to beat up Obama at all.

For God’s sake, Obama voted against the Born Alive Act when he was an Illinois muckety-muck.  He gave (and continues to give) lots of federal tax dollar love to Planned Parenthood, the same organization that was cool with giving abortions to what it thought were underage sex slaves.  There was plenty of anti-life extremism in Obama’s curriculum vitae that could’ve been exploited by the Romney camp.  But they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it.

So why did Mitt Romney even bother going through the motions to become a pro-lifer in the first place?  His position on the abortion issue didn’t energize evangelical Christians and other components of the social conservative movement.  It didn’t expand the party’s base by getting significant chunks of the Latino vote, a constituency I keep hearing is full of natural Republican voters.  Further, Mitt never employed his pro-life stance as a pivot to attack Barack Obama’s shockingly radical anti-life actions.  Once the primaries were over, being pro-life didn’t help Romney in any way.  It can be credibly argued that being a squishy half-assed pro-lifer hurt Romney because it gave Obama an opening to create the War On Women narrative against the GOP standard-bearer.

This should be an iron-clad rule in politics:  If your ideological positions are not helping you, they will be used by your opponent to hurt you.  This is especially true when it comes to abortion, which is far more emotional and polarizing then an issue like energy independence or entitlement reform.  Mitt and his team forgot this law of partisan warfare and it cost them dearly.

I’ll admit that this post is a lot of gussied-up Monday morning quarterbacking.  On the other hand, the Republican Party consultant class gets paid to figure this out before the election and they still don’t know how to play the game.  If you listen to Karl Rove and his ilk, they still think the GOP’s problems are caused by being too right-wing.  They’ve had just as much time as I’ve had to do a post-game analysis of the November debacle.  Their strongest recommendations involve letting Obama get his way on everything, then lather-rinse-repeat until 2016.

To be fair, Karl Rove won two presidential elections in the last decade, so its not like he’s got no game.  The problem is that he doesn’t understand why Mitt Romney got his ass beat two and a half months ago.  Nor does anybody else who runs anything in the Republican Party seem to get it either.  If Turd Blossom is the best the GOP can do, then they deserve to perish because they suck at politics.

RELATED:  I don’t wanna belabor the point, but I’m going to anyway.

Politics–like life itself–is often not about what you say, but how you say it.  If Barack Obama stated, “I’m going to raise your taxes because I think you’re too stupid to know what to do with all your money”, he’d win 10 states, tops.  If the President declared, “I’m going to obliterate the Second Amendment and incrementally take away your guns because I don’t trust you, the great unwashed bitter clingers”, his approval rating would hover just above herpes.  If Two-Pack Attack Barry admitted that ObamaCare was going to feature death panels to determine who gets what kinds of medical treatment, Romney would’ve won the 2012 election with seventy percent of the popular vote.

But of course, Obama doesn’t do that.  The Duffer-in-Chief believes all those things in his heart, but he never says them out loud.  Instead, he always couches his ideology in nicey-nice pablum:  ”balanced approach”, “common sense gun laws”, “Obama does care”.  Even better?  As he describes his own campus Marxism as true-blue Americana,  he’s turns the Republicans into the Ku Klux Klan, the Taliban and the Nazis all rolled into one big slimy ball of extremism.

It doesn’t help matters when prominent candidates on the Republican side completely lose the plot and play into his hands.  The problem with the GOP isn’t that Todd Akin misspoke on the life issue.  It’s that Todd Akin was never taught how to speak credibly and effectively about his political views in the first place.

To stick with the abortion issue, being pro-life isn’t enough for a political candidate.  Being extremely pro-life isn’t enough.  Being pro-life and then turning your position into a cudgel to beat up your opponent is what has to happen if you want to win.  Allowing yourself to get bogged down in some weird rhetorical side street will only get you in trouble.  If you’re not on offense, you’re on defense.  That means you’re getting your ass kicked.

This is true of every political issue.  Why take a stand on any topic if it cannot be weaponized and deployed against an opponent?

Music Monday Super Bowl After Party — “We Are The Champions” (Live) by Queen

Congratulations to the world champion Baltimore Ravens.

 

 

 

And so ends the 2012-2013 National Football League season.

If you’re a Ravens fan, this couldn’t be a more epic victory.  Ray Lewis got to ride off into retirement as a two time Super Bowl winner.  Ed Reed snagged an interception to tie him for most post-season picks by a defensive player.  Joe Flacco capped his insane playoff run with a well-deserved MVP trophy.  John Harbaugh beat his brother to take home the Lombardi trophy.  The team had to fight off both a momentum-killing 34 minute power outage and a second half comeback attempt by the San Francisco 49ers, yet still managed to score a victory.

For a Super Bowl that didn’t seem like it had the big time vibe of past games, the contest itself had many tense moments.  There were stand-out defensive plays, ridiculous athleticism from both offenses and an amazing kickoff return for a touchdown.  Even though the Ravens never trailed, the 49ers taking advantage of the power outage to slowly reel Baltimore back within striking distance was dramatic.

This is a reminder of something we take for granted.  It really doesn’t matter who’s playing in the Super Bowl.  You could have the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Carolina Panthers.  As long as the teams are roughly equal in skill, the games are going to be pretty fun to watch.

Speaking of that power outage, here’s something schadenfreude-y.

Show of hands if you had ‘Green Energy Fail’ on your Super Bowl Bingo card.

Think about this:  The Super Bowl is a multi-billion dollar game.  Fortunes are spent on 30 seconds of ad time.  Businesses fight and claw each other just to be kinda-sorta attached to this event.  Cities lobby to host the game because they know it’s an economic boon.  There’s some serious crony capitalistic shizzle going on with the American professional sport’s premier night.

And yet, even with all that money and prestige on the line, the efficiency experts couldn’t figure out how to get power to a football stadium.

If you think that’s great,  just think how rad it’s going to be when the Obamatons mandate smart meters for your house.

‘Immigration Reform’ Is Just Another Term For ‘Republican Suicide’

Playing the part of Doctor Kervorkian will be Senator John McCain.

John McCain:  Well, look, I’ll give you a little straight talk. Look at the last election. Look at the last election. We are losing dramatically the Hispanic vote, which we think should be ours for a variety of reasons, and we’ve got to understand that. Second of all, we can’t go on forever with 11 million people living in this country in the shadows in an illegal status. We cannot forever have children who were brought here by their parents when they were small children to live in the shadows, as well. So I think the time is right.

I stole this from The Other McCain.  Why not clicky that linky and read the rest of his post?  Come back when your finished.

Now please forgive me a moment, but I’m going to run a quick multiple choice quiz.  It’s only one question, so don’t sweat too hard.  Are you ready?   Okee-dokee, here it is.

What is the purpose of immigration?

A:  To help white guilt liberals feel good about themselves.

B:  To create a cheap labor source for crony socialist corporations.

C:  To give diversity trainers a reason to exist.

D:  To make the United States stronger.

If you answered “D”, you win a free one year subscription to Blog De KingShamus and an E-High Five!

(Please note–there is no such thing as an E-High Five.  Sorry Tennessee…and everywhere else.)

The only reason why you bring immigrants into the country is to make it better.   Any immigration policy that doesn’t make America a more powerful nation, in observable quantifiable ways, is idiocy soaked in stupidity slathered in mendacity wrapped in a zesty bullshit crust.  Also, score it a total loss if the purveyors of any new policy employ multi-culti pablum like ‘Diversity Is Strength’, ‘Live in the shadows’ or ‘Nation of Immigrants’ to justify the program.

For those who think the GOP congress will get a pat on the back from Hispanic voters for passing an some sort of amnesty immigration reform, I have one simple phrase:  ”1965 Civil Rights Act”.  More Republicans voted for it than Democrats.  Senate Democrats fillibustered the thing  as much as they possibly could.  Of course, who got the credit?  Part-time Democrat President and full-time mega bigot Lyndon Johnson, naturally.

So here’s how it’s going to go down:

Republicans desperately want to be BFFs with Latinos, so they lead the charge to get an amnesty bill passed.  It’ll be filled with a lot of tough talk about enforcement and triggers and other folderol that will be nothing more than rhetorical fig leaves meant to fool conservatives.  The amnesty that dare not speak it’s name will blow through both chambers of Congress with massive bipartisan support.  Obama will have an enormous signing ceremony, surrounded by his usual cadre of human props.  Steve Kroft will lead the MSM cheerleaders praising the Democrats for finally solving this decades-long problem.

Meanwhile, Republicans will quickly get swept aside in the media narrative of ‘Barack–Benevolent Guardian of Hispanic Hopes And Dreams’.  Marco Rubio will get emo after he does all the work to get this monstrosity passed and none of the glory.  When Telemundo dutifully points out that many GOPers didn’t vote for shamnesty, the RNC will be shocked to find Latinos still think the Party of Lincoln is populated by racists.

Here’s the real kick in the teeth.  If you want a picture of the future, imagine eleven million formerly illegal immigrants voting Democrat—forever.  Republican permanent minority party status: ACHIEVED!

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s Budget Surplus Is Soooooo Big

How big is it?

Wisconsin’s budget picture brightened Thursday, with new estimates that show a surplus will grow to $484 million, giving Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker even more room to pursue their tax cutting agenda.

The estimate from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau was nearly $137 million better than one Walker’s administration released in November. The numbers will be used by Walker as he puts the final touches on his two-year spending plan, which he’s set to unveil on Feb. 20.

But surely this is not a accomplishment worthy of our adulation. We shouldn’t be impressed by such a meager feat. Governor Walker was just building off a previous budget surplus, right?

In 2011, Walker took office facing a roughly $3 billion budget shortfall…

Oh.

Okay.

Look, I know it’s a stretch to make this comparison, but can you imagine if the federal government did anything like what Scott Walker has done? Is it even possible to picture a world where we–and I realize how crazy this sounds–lowered the debt ceiling? Neither Obama or the Congressional GOPers talk about getting to a surplus these days. The fight in Washington is over whether the debt should be unimaginably immense or just insanely massive. Spending less than what you take in is seen as a hopeless anachronism that doesn’t make sense in our enlightened new age.

Yet here’s Scott Walker, scourge of progressives from Berkley to Georgetown, actually getting his state in line with ancient unfeasible common sense.

Hey, conservatives, you wanted a winning right-wing governing model? Walker’s only been serving it you fresh out of the oven for two years straight, surviving a brutal recall election in the process. If that’s not bad-ass enough to at least merit a sniff from the Republican talent scouts, I don’t know what is.

I snagged this link from Ann Althouse’s blog. Thanks.

The Sexxxiest Pro-Abortion Ad You’ll See This Month (With Update)

I mean, who isn’t turned on by a dude grunting weird sexual innuendos about a Supreme Court case that allows people to terminate their pregnancies?

So it’s weird when Clint Eastwood talks to an empty chair, but it’s totally rad when a man breaks the fourth wall and moans at an empty cradle. Got it.

For those of you without a program to refer to, the actor playing the randiest abortion provider ever is Mechad Brooks.  He’s some really famous guy in that show that’s on one of those channels you watch when you’re fighting off a hangover and an eight hour Law & Order-Criminals With SUV And Trials marathons is running or whatever.  As you can imagine, filming a pro-abortion propaganda video is a big step up for Mr. Brooks’ career.  If this Roe v Wade anniversary tribute thingy takes off, he’ll get a fifteen second cameo in the next Lady Gaga video and a free season pass to Knott’s Berry Farm.

It’s also funny how they got a guy to celebrate legalized baby killing.  Consequence-free sex has been a leftist dream ever since Margaret Sanger was invited to her first KKK rally, but it’s men that have the most to gain from ready access to abortion.  They get all the fun and none of the messy medical complications or the increased risk of suicide  Just don’t accuse them of not caring for women’s health.

After the creepiness has worn off, the ad is refreshing in it’s morbid honesty.  Like the Lena Dunham/First Time campaign spot, the horny nihilists at the Center For Reproductive Rights are gleefully pandering to the lowest common denominator: ”Let’s have sex then get rid of the inconvenient kid that results.”

We get no sob stories about women denied access to ‘vital’ ‘health care’.  The pro-abortionists don’t gin up some statistically negligible scenarios to tug at our heart strings.  Nope.  Instead we get the inhuman bump-and-grind brutality at the core of the state-sanctioned baby killer movement delivered to us straight.

The pro-lifers are disappointed that Roe v Wade is still operational.  It’s ugly that such an unconstitutional and immoral ruling still stands.  But there is one thing the anti-abortion activists can take solace in.  Never before has the febrile murderous heart of the abortion rights mob been so visible.  This means those who value human life will no longer have to fight against the shadowy obfuscations formerly used by the pro-’choice’ movement.

UPDATE:  Matt over at Conservative Hideout did a post on this clip too.  Check it out.

The video is made by a joint called Draw the Line.  They apparently think that $9.00 a month birth control is a “luxury item” that only the wealthy can afford.

The weirdest thing about the last year’s War on Women dance craze was the idea that spending the same money as two McDonald’s meal deals was a serious financial burden.  But Obama won on that bullshit, so I guess it was all just the opening gambit.  Since our government is now breaking the Catholic Church over it’s knee and making them pay for everybody’s rubbers, it’s only a matter of time before the country gets inured to taxpayer-sponsored abortion.

That’s the hope of pro-abortion groups, anyway.

Conservatives Don’t Have To Fix The National Republican Party (With Updates!)

Since even before Mitt Romney went down to defeat, Drew M over at Ace of Spades has been very down on the Republican Party.  Which is why I was surprised when he wrote this the other day:

A conservative country that claims to support smaller government doesn’t elect Barack Obama not once but twice (no matter how awful Romney was). A conservative country doesn’t run up annual $1 trillion deficits and a $16 trillion cumulative debt. A conservative country doesn’t accept ObamaCare as either good policy or a law within the bounds of the Constitution. A conservative country doesn’t build a welfare state that has unfunded liabilities of “$86.8 trillion, or 550% of GDP” and growing.

I could go on but you know the rest.

Far from being a bulwark against this out of control spending and growth in federal partner, the GOP has been at best an enabler and at worst a perpetrator.

And I don’t blame the GOP one bit.

Political parties and politicians are about winning elections. In the end the best way to win an election is to give a majority of the people in the electorate what they want. What far too many Americans want (even some conservative Republicans in good standing) is other people’s stuff.

How many people who voted for Mitt Romney or actual conservatives for Senate and the House want their Social Security and Medicare left untouched? How many of them give lip service to a flat tax proposal but would freak if their various tax credits and deductions were eliminated? How many of them talk a good game about getting rid of the Department of Education but would freak if aid to their kid’s district were cut?

Of course Republicans are going to respond to these people. But these people who support all sorts of government spending while talking about “the damn government” and taxes are the problem.

It’s a must read, so go ahead and hit that link.  I’ll be here when you come back.

Here’s the slightly weird situation the Republican Party finds itself in circa 2013.  The House of Reprazentin‘s GOP majority is still fairly solid, at least if you’re going by raw numbers.  Many members of the current House were elected in the 2010 anti-Obama wave.  They can cite their ’10 and ’12 elections to credibly argue that the constituencies they represent didn’t elect them to become President Leftist McDreamboat’s rubber stamp brigade.

So there are motivated conservatives in the House.  That’s great.  Problematically, they may only be a slim majority of the lower chamber’s majority.  Given how many of the GOP representatives have voted recently, that may be a wildly optimistic count.  Then, slap the number of conservatives Republicans with the all-but-extinct Blue Dog Democrats.  Add them together and it’s unclear if there is a working right-center coalition in the House that can get anything done on entitlements, spending or tax reform.

The other big hurdle to conservative reform is the fact that the American people just re-elected the most liberal president since LBJ and the most liberal Senate majority since the Oliver Cromwell took over England.  The House GOP could eliminate the income tax and replace it with a 10% VAT at 9:00 am tomorrow.  By 9:01, Harry Reid would’ve killed the bill in the Senate and by 9:02 Obama would be using page one of the statute to fire up his Parliament Ultra Lights.

In Congressional races, when the constituency is often more conservative than the general US population, a Republican can do well selling a right of center message to the voters.  This is why a solidly blue state like Illinois can still elect six Republican congress-peeps out of their 18 seat delegation.  Get beyond the House level and it’s harder for the current GOP to sell it’s message to voters in national races.

So should the Republican Party just pack it in?  Obama certainly wants them broken and divided.  The GOP has been so cowardly that there’s been talk that the National Rifle Association could become the opposition party.

Drew M suggests that conservatives focus on winning back the American culture.  That’s a very necessary thing, but not everyone is a novelist, filmmaker, musician or television director.  Non-artsy conservatives need a role in creating a more favorable political environment for the Right.

The state and local levels of government have a viable blueprint.  There the Republican Party is not just surviving, it’s thriving.  Conservative ideas are winning in Obama-fied blue states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and Ohio.

Scoring victories in state races and gubernatorial elections doesn’t sound as sexxxy as vaporizing Harry Reid’s Senate majority, but it is.  Our federalist system gives conservatives fifty states to win governorships, mayors’ contests, school boards memberships, town council positions and representative races.  Getting decent people into these spots will foster a saner, less suicidal political culture at the grass-roots level.

Helping right-of-center candidates win local elections doesn’t just have an immediate positive impact on communities.  It also creates a deep bench of conservative political talent.  The Republican Party has the worst congressional leadership since the 1960′s.  The last two presidential elections have seen the party field it’s weakest candidates since FDR was trouncing Herbert Hoover and Alf Landon.  

It doesn’t have to be this way.  You want leaders that don’t cry or cower every five seconds?  Then you have to encourage anti-Boehners and non-McConnells to stand up.  The process of getting them into positions of of national power starts by getting them elected in local contests.    

The R\ght is simply too DC-centric.  We keep saying how the Beltway culture is poison to our values.  Worse, we can see that the federal government isn’t going to get any friendlier to conservative ideas any time soon.  Well, if that’s the case, then it makes sense for traditionalists to go someplace where they can actually do some good.

It’s time we stop caring so much about what Eric Cantor does.  It’s long past time that we start paying very close attention to what our state senator is saying.  Who knows, that person might just get elected President some day.

MORE TO THE STORY:  You know why else conservatives don’t owe the national Republican party jack shit?  The national GOP hasn’t really done anything for them lately.  Forget about how the Tea Party never got the credit it deserved for the 2010 midterms.  Don’t bring up the way the Republican Senate Election dudes can’t pick decent candidates to take back upper chamber.

More damning than all that is the GOP’s last two presidential picks.  They both seem purposefully designed–at least in hindsight–to alienate as much of the conservative party base as possible.  John McCain snubbed religious conservatives nearly every time he could afford to.  Mitt Romney’s pro-life/pro-gun/pro-marriage stances were of a suspiciously recent vintage.  Even more stupid than Mitt’s trying to buy conservative bona fides was his decision to defend those positions in the meekest more apologetic least forceful way possible.  If you’re gonna jump on the pro-life bandwagon, you may as well use it to your advantage.

The GOP is just not that into conservatives.  Republicans  will take right-wingers on a date and hook up with them back at the frat, but that’s as far as it’s gonna go.  Playas are gonna play after all.

It’s just one more reason why the right should forget about the establishment Republicans in Washington.  They suck at politics, they can’t win and they dislike their base.  That’s enough for me.

I hope Reince Preibus is still bosom buddoes with Sheldon Adelson.

ONE MORE THING: Bob Belvedere of the brilliant Camp Of The Saints wrote about this like three days ago.  As usual, my timing is awesome.  Check it out.

…it is time for a showdown between the forces that want to aggregate to the national government more powers than those that are enumerated in The Constitution and those of us who believe that it should be followed to the letter.

‘Legal expert’ Jeffrey Toobin, per usual, gets it wrong:

“A sheriff does not get to decide whether laws are constitutional,” he said. “Unless a court invalidates a law, he’s obligated to enforce it.”

That’s become the practice, but it is simply not the way it is or is supposed to be. All officials who take an oath to The Constitution are individually responsible for assuring that it not be violated. Further, by said oath they are obligated not to enforce any law or regulation that they believe would cause them to violate their oaths. If someone disagrees, the matter may be settled in a court of law, but oath-taking officials do have this power/responsibility. And they should not fear exercising it. It’s their duty.

The national government is beyond hope.

Emphasis mine.

Read the whole thing.

Why Does Anybody Need An Assault Rifle?

No seriously, why?

This dude has the answer.

Like, I’m trying to find something to quibble with–But…I…Just…Can’t….Do…It.

I’ll just add this from a technical perspective:  The AR-15, one of the premier semi-auto rifles on the planet, makes for an amazingly adaptable platform.  This NYShooters forum thread lays out just a few of the calibers you can get an AR chambered in.  Basically, an AR can be made to do everything from plinking tin cans to defending a house from intruders to taking down a moose.  It’s basically the firearms equivalent of buying a Mini Cooper car and being able to turn it into a Dodge Grand Caravan, Ford F-350 Super Duty pick-up truck and a Lamborghini Gallardo.

Mr. Colion Noir’s vids are pretty rockin’.  He’s a less-schticky more practical-minded FPS Russia, but he throws in some pop-culture stuff too.  Most of all, dude makes so much sense that he deserves another clip.

How many of these apply to you?

I scored a solid 15.

Post your scores in the comments.

I snagged the video links from CBD at Ace’s sidebar thingy.

Fighting Chuck Hagel–Not The Worst Idea Ever (Now With Update!)

Why?  Let’s let Robert Stacy McCain…I mean Bear Bryant Reincarnated…explain.

…conservatives should not hesitate to roast liberals for the hypocrisy and cynicism inherent in the “Democrats for Hagel” bandwagon. If that vicious bastard Andrew Sullivan supports Hagel, this is reason enough for any patriotic American to oppose the Hagel nomination. And the obverse of this brutal logic is that we must welcome every ally to our cause of defeating Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, in order to inflict maximum embarrassment on the Democrats. They might “win” — Hagel’s nomination may be approved by the Senate — but the conservative strategy must be aimed at making that “win” as damaging as possible to the reputation of the Democratic Party.

If we can’t beat them, at least make sure we hurt them.

I knew I was sorta miffed at this Jazz Shaw piece, but I really couldn’t figure out why until I read The Other McCain’s post.

The thing is, I sorta agree with a lot of Shaw’s argument.  Hagel isn’t the worst nominee Obama could pick for the job of Secretary of Defense.  The President could always find someone less qualified, more chicken-shit or more leftist than Hagel, so fighting him might not be all that productive.

Under certain circumstances, I’d probably counsel the same thing.  If it was early in Obama’s first term, fighting against Hagel would be more painful.  The GOP would’ve had a much harder time beating up on a Hagel nomination at that point, and it would’ve cost them more to do so.

However, floating the Hagel trial balloon now means a Republican nomination fight makes more sense.  Obama’s had far too many victories lately.  He won a bitter election just a few months ago.  He just got the GOP to cave on taxes during the fiscal cliff train wreck.  The President has momentum and the Republicans should being trying to halt it using any opportunity at hand.

What does a fight actually cost Republicans?  Congress’ approval ratings are a burning-hot eighteen percent.  Serious conservatives, people who at one point identified with the GOP brand, are kinda done with the party.  In a way, the Republicans almost have to have a fight, if only to remind people that they still exist.

Even more importantly, it’s not like Chuck Hagel is some beloved conservative stalwart.  Yeah, I guess he helped spike the Kyoto Treaty back in the day.  When pondering that, it’s also important to remember that the sun shines on a dog’s ass every once on a while.  Meanwhile Hagel was against the surge in Iraq.  Hagel has said no to a military strike against Iran, which won him the enduring respect of Iran’s mullah-run media.  Even fellow RINO maverick John McCain doesn’t like the guy.

Hagel has been wrong about a lot of stuff.  Wrong about military stuff.  That should be good enough for Republicans to pick a fight with him and his BFF Commander-in-Chief.

The era of Republican reasonableness should be over.  They have nothing to lose by confronting Hagel.  They have a lot to gain.  Obama is the one with his political capital hanging in the wind.  It’s time for the GOP get a win–any kind of win–against the President for a change.

UPDATE:  Linked by the great Dustbury, who makes this observation about Republican courage.

…if the GOP imagines that it might someday want to grow a spine, it would help if the party had some vague familiarity with vertebrae, doncha know.

If the Republicans really wanna show they’re brave truth tellers unafraid of their own shadow, I have a phrase they could use–free of charge:

“Sarah Palin-Bobby Jindal 2016″

#WhyIsMyPaycheckLessThisWeek–Helping Soothe Liberal Hurt Feelings

Turns out lefties are freaked out about paying their fair share.

I mean, PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE!!!!111111!!!111!!!!

Earlier this week, many Americans realized the “fair share” fiscal cliff deal didn’t seem so fair. One Democratic Underground commenter was a little behind yesterday and was shocked — shocked! — to learn that the fiscal cliff crapwich didn’t extend the payroll tax holiday. (They don’t call ‘em DUmmies for nothing.)

“What happened?” he asked. “My paycheck just went down by an amount that I don’t feel comfortable with. I guarantee this decrease will hurt me more than the increase in income taxes will hurt those making over $400,000.”

Forgive me gentle readers, but let me address this emotionally distraught person directly.

Dear Mister Why Is My Paycheck Less This Week,

I see that you are surprised to note that your paycheck is less than it was back in 2012.  Let me first say that I too mourn for your lost revenue.  It is money that you will most likely never see again, what with the annual trillion dollar deficits our government–completely dominated as it is by the US House Republicans I must add–just keeps running up.  

But do not worry.  There is a bulwark against the GOP’s destructive maddening destructiveness.  President Obama, with his bountiful business experience as a community organizer, adjunct part-time college lecturer, lawyer and Chicago politician, knows best how to use your cash better than you ever could.  In the glorious future ahead of us, we can all look forward to more great job-creating wage-raising successes like Solyndra, Abound Solar and A123 Systems.  

As a good Democrat, you’ll be happy to know your President is using your money for many other important investments.  Such as the Guantanamo Bay detention center.  And drone strikes.  And giving guns to Mexican freedom fighters or something.  So feel comfortable knowing that while revenues have been raised from you and many other kind-hearted liberals like you, these funds are being well spent on things that you truly agree with.

Now, there will be those outside of the totally mainstream Democratic Underground message board who will disagree with this obvious wisdom.  They will tell you that by voting for President Obama, you have in fact chosen to pay higher taxes and thus you should not be surprised to see a lighter paycheck.  They’ll assert, while smoking a cigar and kicking a puppy no doubt, that our President actually wants higher taxes.  The fascist wreckers in our society believe Obama sought out a higher payroll tax as part of the fiscal cliff deal.  

This is obviously not true, as I have succinctly pointed out to you.

Now rest your head, friend.  I’m sure this is a lot of information for you to process.  I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.  Just know that smarter, savvier people than you have it all taken care of.  

2012–Obama’s Ascendancy or Conservative Reform?

Let’s face facts, people.  Conservatism really took it on the chin in 2012.  After all, Republican Mitt Romney got his ass beat by left-wing ideologue Barack Obama.  The Supreme Court, led by John “No Seriously, Dubya Nominated Me!” Roberts, upheld ObamaCare.  The US Senate remained in the hands of Democrat Majority Leader embarrassment Harry Reid.

Look at some of the dire metrics going against conservatives. The fiscal cliff deal is all tax hikes, no spending cuts and a whole lot of kabuki theater nonsense.  The media remains a statist bullhorn and progressive piggy bank all in one.  The education establishment is committed to indoctrinating America’s youth in the ways of Karl Marx while failing to teach them how to read.  According to conventional wisdom, the Right should spare themselves the embarrassment of a messy end, get into a dark corner, curl up in a ball and quietly die.

Again.

Just like it croaked in 2009, right?

Seems as if once more, conservatism didn’t listen to it’s sworn enemies or it’s fair-weather friends.

Consider the following sequence of events.  On Election Night, Barack Obama’s hottest sexual fantasy was fulfilled when Mitt Romney delivered a submissive beta-male concession speech.  Just over a month later, Governor Rick Snyder made right-to-work the law of the land in union-dominated Michigan.

That certainly wasn’t supposed to happen.  Just like after Obama won in 2008, the left was stoked to see America morph into a slightly bigger less ouzo-fueled Greece.  Socialist values were destined to sweep away all the bitter-clingers and their retrograde obsessions with the US Constitution, free market socialism and keeping some of the money they earned through the sweat of their labors.  All that hackneyed 18th century Enlightenment jive was going out the door, replaced by Barack Obama’s brand of shiny happy grievance-group buy-offs.

The Mitten State, of all places, was thought to be one of the strongholds of Barack Obama’s national progressive realignment.  Big aggressive labor groups pumping piles of money into Democrat campaign coffers has been the great idea in the Donkey-Puncher playbook since the Paleolithic Era.  Now that beloved Donkey-Puncher strategy is in serious jeopardy.

Lest you think this is an isolated right-wing victory in a sea of conservative defeats, ponder the fact that during what was supposed to be the new Progressive Golden Age, no Republican has lost a governorship since 2007.  Thirty states have a GOP chief executive.  Twenty-one states have both a Republican governor and a GOP-controlled legislature.  Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker not only survived a nasty recall race, he annihilated the competition and looks poised to win a second term.

Seen this way, it’s clear many states welcome right-of-center politics.  They’re comfortable letting conservatives–or ‘Republicans‘ at least–run their governments.  Why didn’t all that translate into a win for Mitt Romney?

Maybe because Romney just didn’t offer enough of a contrast to Barack Obama’s galloping socialism.  Forget for a moment that the former Taxachussetts governor got less votes in ’12 than that famous arch rightwing stalwart John McCain did in 2008.  Instead, look at how well the Libertarian Party candidate did.  Gary Johnson scored 44,000 votes in Florida.  Ohio gave 47,000 votes to the former New Mexico governor.  He snagged 48,000 votes in the Keystone State.

To be fair, with the exception of Florida, none of these vote counts could’ve put Romney ahead of Obama.  But you can look at these Gary Johnson voters, along with Mitt’s overall lack of support, as indicative of a general conservative dismay with the Republican nominee.  If the GOP presidential candidate isn’t going to stand up forcefully to the President, why should anybody else?  Many voters made the entirely reasonable conclusion that Romney was a weak specimen, and they looked at other options.  This in turn created a min-Perot effect, where the traditionalist/conservative vote was split in several states and was depressed across the country.

The Romney campaign seemed to take an awful lot of voters for granted.  Social issues like abortion were never really addressed, except in the quietest most defensive way possible.  Gun enthusiasts got a few perfunctory interviews in various National Rifle Association publications, but that was pretty much it.  It seemed as if Team Mitt felt these voters–who make a large chunk of the Republican base–were just going to fall in line.  Those Republicans were not swayed by Romney’s sotto voce strategy, and it ended up costing Romney dearly.

Worse, by not going out and arguing against Obama’s anti-life positions or his thinly-veiled hatred of the Second Amendment, the GOP nominee allowed David Axelrod and Co. to define him as an out of touch racist gay-bashing plutocrat who wanted to chain women to an ironing board while simultaneously giving them cancer.  In retrospect, the Romney campaign ran an absurd race.  While Mitt wanted the election to be about jobs and the economy, Obama and the media (sorry for the repetition) made it about what an unlikable piece of shit Romney is.

Sadly the Democrat’s plan worked, because the Republican nominee was unable to defend himself from a barrage of attacks. Nor could he articulate strong positions that excited important parts of the GOP base. Worse, he couldn’t effectively pivot any of his policy positions into personal or political slams against Barack Obama.

In short, conservatism’s problems in 2012 were much the same as they were in 2008.  Nationally, their standard-bearer was n astoundingly poor choice to represent the vast center-right coalition that should be natural Republican Party supporters.  In contrast, state level conservatives are enacting serious reforms.  Once you look beyond Washington DC’s poisonous liberal assumptions, there is a muscular conservatism to be found in the rest of the nation that is making progress against the utterly unsustainable blue state model.

Maybe the Right should do what Rush Limbaugh says.

Let’s try conservatism, just for a second, just to see how it feels.

Now in the short term, conservatives will certainly take some licks.  Their nominal party just lost an election.  That tends to have painful consequences.  More ominously, the Republican’s caving in to the fiscal cliff deal might just be the final nail in the Party’s coffin.  That means precious time will be lost as conservatives coalesce behind a new opposition party.  If that process is done quickly a regenerated Tea Party, flush with new supporters, could become a more effective bulwark against the Democrat’s hateful statism than the feckless GOP.

Looking at the situation in total, 2012 gave conservatives plenty of heartburn.  But in some ways, the failure of the Republican Party’s presidential campaign and the success of the state-level GOP gives the Right options it did not have in 2011.  We have principled leaders in positions of power who have started tearing down liberalism’s failed policies.  The Right can tout their successes and compare them to Obama’s catastrophes.

Even better, conservatives no longer just have to accept what the Republican Party tries to spoon-feed them.  The Right has gotten very little out of it’s coalition with the Beltway GOP besides a pair of busted presidential campaigns and a very strained frenemy-esque relationship.  Perhaps it’s time to remind the Republican Party who really is the junior partner in the firm.

KingShamus’ Best of 2012

Hey, here’s some of my old crap! If there’s any consolation, I picked two or three posts from each month.  That should limit the suckage.  I know, this is sorta lame, but if I Instapundit can do it, so can I.

January

Mitt Romney Sucks And I Miss Reagan

Music Monday Zep – ‘We’re Gonna Groove” by the mighty Led Zeppelin

February

Beer Review – Assorted Samuel Adams Winter Suds

Mike Bloomberg’s Very Busy Week

Presidential Election Doomwatch–Placing The Blame For Mitt Romney’s Ascendency

March

Support Conservative Political Mommy Bloggers!

Ameritopia and the Fable of The Frogs

Barack, Trayvon and The 2012 Election

April

President Barack ‘Dog Meat’ Obama Is An Admitted Dog Meat Eater Who Has Eaten Dog Meat

Rick Santorum’s Exit

May

Wait, Faster Than Light Travel Isn’t Hip in Science Fiction Anymore?

Music Review – ‘Harmonicraft’ by Torche

DeWayne Wickham: Get Back On The Democrat Plantation, Gay Republicans!

June

Municipal Debt Bombs: The Other Source Of Fiscal Collapse

Because Fashion Is A Passion For The With-It And Hip

Grade School Bully Gets Bullied By His Teacher Who Is In Fact A Bully

July

The Shootings At Aurora-A Real Villain and Real Heroes

Hey Everybody! ‘The Obama Effect’ Is Coming Out Today!

General Electric and Barack Obama: The Magical Relationship Continues

August

Why Clint Eastwood’s Republican Convention Speech Worked

Nathan Lane: Prince Barry’s Court Jester

Hey @MSNBC! Here Are All The Speeches You Didn’t Cover From Last Night’s #RNC.

September

NFL Replacement Refs Making The Game’s Faults All Too Obvious

The US Doesn’t Have To Fix The Middle East

Who Could’ve Foreseen The Highly Unlikely Scenario Of Terrorism At The US Consulate In Benghazi?

October

#MyFirstTime–Best Political Ad…EVAH?

DVD Review–Prometheus

November

(Really, can’t we skip this month?  It was sorta yucky.)

Mayor Mike Bloomberg: “The NYC Marathon is on; let the boroughs eat running shoes” (Update!)

Post-Presidential Election 2012: Splitting Headache Edition

Personal Values, Political Choices

Lawrence O’Donnell Was For Secession Before It Was Cool!

December

Living And Breathing Left-Wing Politics

Guns Crime Facts, Gun Crime Feelings

Okay folks, there you have it.

BDKS 2012 is done.  On to the new year.  Thank God.

Also, thanks for stopping by Blog De KingShamus.  The readers and commenters are who make this place cool.  For that I am humbled and grateful.   Happy New Year and may your 2013 be full of happiness, success and a fully-stocked MRE bin.

About The Human Reaction To Violence

Specifically, horrifying violence like the Newtown atrocity.

As I said in a previous post, the peak year for mass killings in the United States was 1929.  Violent crime has actually decreased substantially in just the last five years.  And yet, even with all that, we react in genuine–and maybe not so genuine–horror each time we hear about an episode of mass death.

Most people living in the 21st century recognize that crime can lead to violence on a large scale.  When the local Latin Kings faction goes to war against their rival Folk Nation set in some South Side Chicago social dysfunction hell-hole, sane people will denounce the death and destruction that inevitably ensues.  Yet, on an intellectual level, they’ll understand why this sort of violence occurs.  The massive revenue streams that come from drugs, gambling, prostitution and other criminal rackets aren’t controlled with stern looks and strongly worded letters.

People tend to get why two gang cliques would fight and die to maintain possession of turf.  People hate what criminals do to the innocent victims.  They’ll denounce the gangs that create mass death.  But citizens also grasp the ugly reality that drives our modern crime wars.

In a way, there is a cold comfort to be found in processing out the cause-and-effect of most crimes.  By doing that a person can figure out how to deal with the problem, at least on a personal level.  They can shun places they know are high-crime areas.  They can encourage friends and family to stay away from gangs.  They can organize neighborhood watch programs.  They can take any number of positive steps to avoid becoming a victim.

On the other hand, when a mass killing like the Newtown occurs, it is in every sense of the word irrational.  There is no identifiable cause.  As of this writing, nobody can discern why the Newtown monster committed this abhorrent act.  He wasn’t fighting to protect his turf.  He wasn’t avenging a fallen gang-banger in his clique.  He wasn’t even trying to intimidate a rival.  So far as we can tell, the Sandy Hook shooting is truly a random act of violence.  It’s the kind of violence that could occur anywhere at anytime to anybody.

The human mind can’t really comprehend the brand of death brought by the Newtown atrocity.  It’s almost impossible to deal with, because there is no understandable cause-and-effect to take solace in when an insane person commits mass murder for no reason.  When something like this happens, it overwhelms rational thinking.  Especially when it first occurs, it creates an immediate and powerful fear response.

A persons’ reaction to something like Newtown is very different from his reaction to the news that two gangs smoking each other over prime crack-dealing real estate.  The act of a madman cannot be handled in the same way that people deal with crook-land violence.  There is no defense against arbitrary evil.  This sickening truth, that at any moment a madman could be on a collision course with us or our loved ones, hangs over the Newtown massacre.

Worse, the fact that random violence is still a part of human existence shatters the patina of order that we create for ourselves.  We delight int the routines we construct to give our lives purpose.  The shooting in Newtown is a terrible reminder that evil can come barging into our lives unannounced, prepared to destroy everything.

SORTA RELATED:  This is why I can almost forgive some of the egregious anti-gun idiocy going on these days.  Guns can be scary for folks who have no experience with firearms.  Even the weakest caliber weapon can be deadly, and can be dressed up to look even more menacing.  Add a mass murderer to the equation and it’s inevitable that people will have completely irrational thoughts.  It’s their way of coping with the terror of indiscriminate violence.

What I cannot excuse is the brain-dead hypocrisy of the American Left.  These are the same people who were against a military response after the September 11th 2001 attacks.  America was supposed to sit on it’s hands and let the UN or the World Court or some other useless organization of feel-good do-nothings sue Osama bin Laden for wrongful death and for being a grouchy little meanie-head.  Above all else, many elements of the Left wanted President Bush to chart a restrained course.  In their view America had remain calm and not fly off the handle making rash decisions based on the raw emotions immediately after 9/11.

Yet, after the Sandy Hook shooting, what’s been the nearly-united response from American liberalism?

“WE NEED A NATIONAL CONVERSATION LECTURE ABOUT GUNS“

Which quickly moved to…

“I HOPE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION MEMBERS GET KILLED WITH GUNS“

Followed shortly thereafter by…

“ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN“

Note that it hasn’t even been two weeks since the Newtown atrocity, and the country has been bombarded by a barrage of preachy moral attacks by liberals.  They were picking targets to freeze, personalize and polarize almost as soon as the last shot was fired.  This became a self-righteous partisan crusade within hours of the Sandy Hook shooting.

So much for the sane rational measured logical Left.

Merry Christmas 2012

Kris Kringle’s Good Behavior/Bad Behavior Surveillance Program went from “charming” to “Orwellian” overnight.

Santa Claus:  Just another liberal fascist?

More importantly…Dear BDKS homies, have a very Merry Christmas.

I hope jolly ole Saint Nick gives you everything on your wish list, without all the newfangled voyeuristic spying.

I also want to say thanks to all the readers who come to Blog De KingShamus.  You guys and gals rule.  Thanks for stopping by and making this goofy little webzone cool.  My posts always get intelligent commentary, often smarter than the actual posts themselves.  That’s pretty awesome and for that you have my eternal gratitude.

So Merry Christmas to you, Gentle Readers.  May you be blessed with faith and fellowship on this great holiday.  Stay safe in your travels.  Keep the reason for the season in your hearts.

Also, wearing a tin-foil hat to stop Santa’s mind-reading rays might not be a bad idea either.  ;-p

Guns Crime Facts, Gun Crime Feelings

Some loosely connected facts.

Item One:  A look at mass shootings, courtesy of John Fund over at National Review.

Mass shootings are no more common than they have been in past decades, despite the impression given by the media.

In fact, the high point for mass killings in the U.S. was 1929, according to criminologist Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Incidents of mass murder in the U.S. declined from 42 in the 1990s to 26 in the first decade of this century.

The chances of being killed in a mass shooting are about what they are for being struck by lightning.

Until the Newtown horror, the three worst K–12 school shootings ever had taken place in either Britain or Germany.

But why let the truth interrupt a Democrat/Media Party narrative?

We must do—–something.  What?  Who knows?  But something has to be changed, even if the change is pointless and counter-productive.

Item Two:  What is the worst school massacre in US history?

On May 18, 1927, a part-time caretaker at a school in Bath, Michigan, killed 45 people, including 38 children, when he blew up a school and then killed himself, along with two first responders at the scene. Another 58 people were wounded.

The 38 children were in grades three through six.

Forty five people dead by the hand of a mad bomber.  An evil person motivated to commit murder will often find a way without firearms.

Item Three:  Gun crime in the United States has gotten worse over the last ten years, right?

Nope.

Note–just as gun crime rates started going down, the national assault weapons ban had been lifted the year before.

I mean, if all the statists can do is emote and demagogue the Newtown atrocity, I can engage in a shameless ‘correlation equals causation’ argument.

Item Four:  Chicago, run by former Obama Administration chief-of-staff Rahm Emmanuel, has some of the toughest gun laws in America.  How is life in a gun-free paradise working out?

The City of Chicago just saw its 436th murder of 2012, surpassing 435 murders from 2011.

That figure was as of October of this year.  Sadly, the Windy City’s murder statistics are probably much higher than 436 by now.

Item Five:  What is the violent crime rate per 100,000 people in the United States?

USA 2011:  386.3

Item Six:  What is the violent crime rate per 100,000 in the very gun-unfriendly United Kingdom?

Gun crime in America is becoming less frequent.

The United States doesn’t have a violent crime problem, at least when compared to other countries.

America is safer than almost every other Western industrialized nation on the planet.

The facts are on the side of self-defense.  The facts are on the side of empowering law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.  The facts are on the side of judicious reasoning and measured responses.  The facts are on the side of the Second Amendment and its integral place in the US Constitution.

The trouble is, we are being asked by our enlightened betters to disregard these truths.  We are being told, in ways ranging from slightly vulgar to mostly idiotic to completely ham-handed, that the country must throw away the hard-won civil rights gains made in the last several decades.  We must relinquish the tools that have made both ourselves and our property more secure then they’ve been in half a century.

Why?  Because a vile deranged man cannot be trusted with firearms.

Never has the Left’s sneering contempt for ordinary citizens been more blatant:  ’A psychologically-troubled lunatic cannot be trusted with guns, therefore neither can the rest of you slack-jawed bitter clingers.  Now hand over your weapons.  It’s for your own good.’

Make no mistake.  The Left is not calling on gun control because it’s proven to be effective.  There simply isn’t an overwhelming amount scientific data to suggest that an assault weapons ban would’ve prevented a shooting like the Newtown tragedy.  They are simply reflexively reacting to a gut-wrenching crime.

Many left-wingers assign a malevolent nature to an inanimate object.  Some find guns to be too rural to ever align with the self-congratulatory cosmopolitanism so many on the Left identify with.  Some just fear firearms because they look scary and dangerous.  For these basically anti-intellectual instinctive reasons, liberals dislike guns.

Alas, the progressive caucus’ collective instincts are terribly wrong.

Conservatives are going to try to reason Obama and the Democrats out of their anti-gun position.  Under normal circumstances, that might work.  The problem here is that, even more than usual, liberals never actually reasoned themselves into their current pro-gun control stance.  The stupid ugly retrograde Second Amendment needs some serious progressive remodeling and that’s good enough for them.

The #Newtown Atrocity, Children and America’s Priorities

By now, you know that monstrous evil has visited Newtown, Connecticut.

After killing his mother in her Newtown home, 20-year-old Adam Lanza drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary, where officials said she taught, and gunned down 20 children and six adults before killing himself.

Most of the dead were found in two first-grade classrooms, police said.

Students described being ushered from their classrooms hand-in-hand, with their eyes closed, to the safety of a nearby fire station as police converged on the school. Anguished parents rushed to the scene.

State police sources told The Courant that Lanza had his brother Ryan Lanza’s identification, which initially led to confusion about his identity, police said. He was dressed in black fatigues, police said.

His motives are unknown.

We may never know what made the shooter commit such a heinous crime. From our current information, we do know that he turned the gun on himself.  The last act of a monstrous fiend, who murdered innocent children for some insane reason, was to take the coward’s way out.

Sickly appropriate.

While the rest of America was still trying to sort through this heinous crime, the American progressive movement rushed to take advantage of a crisis.  We’ve heard the Hollywood Left bleat out their usual cliched stupidity.  David Frum and the rest of the news media vultures have thoroughly beclowned themselves.  They’re playing the same tired old gun control song and dance that they always do.

Why do these folks carry on like this?  Because they’re stupid.  Gleefully stupid, in fact.  The ever-present race for gun control can only be explained by the foolishness of the people making the argument.  They’re uninformed idiots who react to everything using their dopey emotion-rich logic-deficient ideology.

So let’s not fall into their trap.

If we really want to do something to prevent gun violence at schools, ponder a glaring inconsistency in our society.  The citizens of the United States are very comfortable hiring armed men and women to guard places like banks and credit unions.  This is seen as a reasonable deterrent to thieves who try to steal our property.

So as a nation, we’ve made the decision to guard our money with armed security officers.  Great.  At the same time, when Americans send their children to school, what guards them?  School secretaries.  Video cameras.  Metal detectors.  Gun-Free zones.

In other words, nothing.

Parents routinely drop their children off at schools that cannot deal with a mad man determined to bring death on a large scale.  They do this because we cannot imagine that this kind of isolated incident will happen in our communities.  For whatever reason, Americans think that it can’t happen to them.

Then a malignant human cancer comes along and violently shatters our delusions.

If this country really loves its kids, we’d better start protecting them at least as well as we protect our cash.

Living And Breathing Left-Wing Politics

Bob Belvedere points out a strength–or is it a weakness?–of the Left’s mindset.

For the Left every aspect of life is, indeed, political — it has to be for any Ideologue. This is because an Ideologue sees everything as needing to conform to the system of ideas they have accepted as being necessary for Life to be good and worthy.

The Ideologue designs a blueprint for how Life must proceed and every material to be used in it is governed by the design. Any deviation and the structure risks becoming unstable. Like a building plan, an Ideology must be followed to the letter and, therefore, it has to dictate the specifications for everything needed to make a building efficient [electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc.]. Thus, an Ideology must encompass every facet of Life. It must pervade every nook and cranny.

Read the whole thing.  It’s strong work.

Just to build on Bob’s idea, think about progressives and how they relate to their cultural signifiers.

For many people on the Left, Jon Stewart is a comedic genius.  He’s also the scourge of evil Rethuglicans.  He’s also the voice of a generation.  He’s also a total dreamboat.

Sorry ladies, he’s taken.

It’s just too bad he and his buddy Stephen Colbert don’t get the same ratings as “Swamp People”–even when you add the viewers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report together.

But because Jon Stewart is a vociferous liberal who routinely buttresses leftist assumptions, he is covered in accolades far beyond his actual influence or ability.

The mental and emotional gymnastics needed to be a liberal must be exhausting.  You have to support undertalented overrated court jesters.  You have to laugh at their tired clap-humor.  You have to recite their dopey bits at parties as if they were the second coming of Richard Pryor.

And that just covers the television socialists that have to be fawned over.  There are many musicians who put their liberal politics well ahead of their songs.  From Bon Jovi to Bruce Springsteen, the pop world if chock full of lippy leftists who haven’t made relevant music for decades because they’re too busy to sniffing the Democrat Party’s jock.  Those luminaries of the left must be coddled and worshiped as well.

The best recent example of Karl Marx getting a permanent invite to a recording studio is Green Day, seen here acting ‘zany, yet disaffected’.

Sorry ladies, they’re dip-shits.

If you recall, Green Day was a post-grunge snot punk band who had pretty much worn out their welcome with music fans right around the point when “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” became the feel-meh overplayed hit of 1997.  After that triumph of tedium the group released a folkie rock album that went directly into the bargain bins.  A pair of greatest hits/b-sides compilations killed some time as the new millennium rolled along.  For a while, it seemed like Green Day might do the honorable thing and break up due to lack of interest.

By 2004, most of the American public graduated from middle school and moved on from Green Day.  The dream of one day living in a world untainted by Bill Joe Armstrong’s pathetic fake-British accent was almost a glorious reality, but the band still had one more trick to play: Knee-Jerk George Bush Bashing.  Even though the group had largely eschewed political statements throughout their career,  American Idiot was rock opera based around the astoundingly novel concept that America is awful, traditional values are a cancer and neoconservatives are ghouls.

Naturally, American Idiot was a huge hit that revitalized the band’s career, mostly because it courageously told Hollywood and the New York Times exactly what they already believed.  Green Day became the go-to band for college freshmen looking for My First Agitprop while providing pop-culture cover for the arm-patch jacket hipster brigades.  With “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” grinding away on the ipod, one could finally read Noam Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Dissent” without immediately falling asleep.

The problem is that as a piece of art  American Idiot is jaw-droppingly weak.  Besides the title track’s frenetic energy, the songs just aren’t there.  The album is too polished for punk, too emo for metal and too pop-oriented for either.

As muddled as that sounds, the real sonic failing is the pair of overambitious 9 minute long song/suites.  Making a rock opera is difficult when the writers have talent. It’s even harder when lead guitarist Billy Joe Armstrong has only a tenuous grasp of his instrument. “Jesus of Suburbia” in particular is a cobbled-together dog’s lunch of decent to mediocre guitar riffs interspersed with Billy Joe’s faux-literate complaints about small town America.  The lyrics are tedious, but the song itself suffers from the lazy transitions and ramshackle construction of the tune’s not-so-great components.

If American Idiot was not a pointed blast of hate directed at George Bush and red state America, there is no way the media and the progressive movement (alas, I have repeated myself) would’ve lauded Green Day to the degree they did.  If American Idiot’s lyrical content had been apolitical, it would’ve been perceived as just another craptastic Green Day disc.  No loving reviews, no Grammy awards, no high-toned Broadway adaptation–none of that would’ve occurred based strictly on the artistic merits of  American Idiot.

In other words, liberals had to talk up a ham-fisted piece of creative shit just because it aligned with their socialist tastes.

This is no way to live.  It’s emotionally barren and neutered.  We on the Right should avoid this trap with all our strength.

I keep making this observation, but I think it’s worth making several dozen more times: Although conservatives pride themselves on “Not worshipping the government” and “having interests and lives outside of politics” — as contrasted with liberals — in fact, if you consume conservative media, you will find our media completely rubbishes that claim, because the expressly conservative media is almost entirely about government and politics.

Even when the conservative media notes the occasional fiction book, the review is often largely about what the book says about politics or morality. That is, even in a review of fiction we seem over-concerned with the politically didactic usefulness of art.

No insult to Matthew Condinetti, and I should note it’s not exclusively about those things — I cite this just as a for-instance. I see this a lot. K-Lo will put in a positive review for an Adam Sandler-produced movie like Deuce Bigelow (yeah, I think I remembered she liked it), but will spend the bulk of her praise talking about how the movie illustrates Deuce’s central decency and how that is a Good Message and… yawn.

Is it a funny movie? Does it achieve its goals? Does it entertain? Does it provoke? Those are the proper grounds for review of a film or book. Sure, given a conservative audience, you’d also want to note the objectionable material or positive messages in a sentence or two, to alert conservative-minded people about them. But such things are not properly the main grounds for appreciation of a fiction.

Rest the rest of Ace’s piece.  It’s very good.

Here’s something that may sound a little too simple, but it’s still true–Conservatives should critique art.  Conservatives should confront the culture head on.  More importantly, conservatives should get a glove and get in the game of creating art.  What conservatives should not do is automatically get behind a movie or book just because it’s sympathetic to the Right.

Let the Left have a monopoly on being knee-jerk applause clowns. By all means progressives, keep barking like trained seals for corrupt propaganda pieces.  Liberals have already more than filled America’s quota for sycophantic entertainment knob-polishers.

Great News–Lovable Fresh Faced Moppet Set To Become US Ambassador To England

The least diplomatic person in the fashion world is about to become an American diplomat. Makes perfect sense.

Two years late, give a warm hug to a million brain cells short.

In 2010, we set up an interview with the Syrian leader’s wife, Asma al-Assad, a Western-educated former banker and a woman with a reputation as a force for reform in the Middle East. Like many at that time, we were hopeful that the Assad regime would be open to a more progressive society. Subsequent to our interview, as the terrible events of the past year and a half unfolded in Syria, it became clear that its priorities and values were completely at odds with those of Vogue. The escalating atrocities in Syria are unconscionable, and we deplore the actions of the Assad regime in the strongest possible terms.

Shorter Nuclear Wintour: Sorry I believed the Assad Regime’s bullshit and then published it verbatim in my bubble-headed fashion magazine.

I know Anna Banana put out this little half-assed apology back in June, but it’s become a tad more interesting given that the Vogue Meanie-In-Chief may be getting a new job.

There’s a rumor in Washington that the United Kingdom may soon be welcoming a very stylish emissary. According to a report by Bloomberg News, Anna Wintour, the powerful editor of Vogue magazine, is being considered by President Obama for the prestigious post of U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

I know a lot of us wanna tee off on this Ambassador Wintour thing like it’s a huge outrage.  It’s understandable; I kinda wanna go ballistic too.  But the more I think about it, the more I think this more annoying than anything else.

After all, what is an ambassador, really?  I know we’d like to think of them as thoughtful diplomats who understand all the foreign-type gobbledeegook that the rest of us forgot in World Cultures class.  Unfortunately, a person usually gets the job because she donated the biggest chunk of cash to the winning presidential candidate.  The late Christopher Stevens seems to have been one of the few ambassadors who actually understood the language, customs and culture of the country he was assigned.

More importantly, an ambassador’s job involves kissing ass.  This isn’t a quality one would normally associate with Anna Wintour.  But think about it this way:  If Vogue and Wintour can figure out a way to grovel in front of Dictatorette Asma Al-Assad, surely striking an obsequious pose for England shouldn’t be too difficult.

So yeah, floating the Wintour ambassadorship trial balloon is indicative of the Obama Administration’s habitual unseriousness.  It’s governance by D-List niche celebrity, of the type President SolidGold Wonderful seems particularly fond of.  Oh well.  It’s Barry’s presidency and I guess he’s allowed to run it like an America’s Next Top Model episode.

Besides, if we’re going to get annoyed over something here, how about the injustice of poor mistreated Sarah Jessica Parker not getting her own ambassadorship?

More, Slightly Related Kinda:  Here’s a picture of Anna Wintour’s favorite power-couple taking in the Parthenon, in Athens Greece.

Even Better:  Here’s Jim Geraghty.

I suppose we’re expected to believe Wintour has distinguished credentials, qualifying her to represent the United States to one of its closest allies, beyond her political affiliation or contribution. And I suppose we’re also to believe that Anna Wintour has risen to the standard of proven excellence in the U.S. State Department’s mission in representing this country abroad.

Never mind Wintour being the most-qualified person to be our next ambassador to the U.K. or France; she’s probably not even the most qualified Obama bundler for the job.

Just like Joe Biden is the smartest most able vice-president Barack Obama could’ve picked.

“High On A Mountaintop” By Chris Cassone–A Tribute to the Heroes of Benghazi

Chris Cassone understands something about President Obama and his administration full of feckless spineless cowards that most of the Palace Guard Media refuses to acknowledge.

High On A Mountaintop

I heard the man on the radio, said, “My son is gone and what’s to show?”
Defending who knows what for who knows why.
Half a world away they watched for real, they saw the soul of a Navy Seal
“Who gave the order for my son to die?”

Evil men telling evil lies
Just to win a vote you let them die
While that drone would only hover.
Finger pointing. They’re on the run.
Investigations have all begun.
How much more will they uncover?

High on a mountaintop. That’s the only place where I can stop this crying
High on a mountaintop. Closer to God and further from all this lying.
You know it stands to reason, and it’s shaping up like treason, we all know.

He didn’t even have to venture in, but when his brothers, they all needed him,
He was on the spot…not flying to Vegas.
Real leaders lead when they are called,
Never thinking that they’ll drop the ball
But drop to their knees for Him who has made us

9-11, baby, you should have known
Al Queida coming and they’re all alone
But where is the outrage for THIS story?
Laser target, in his sight
60 to one, yea the odds looked right.
You’ll never understand their glory

HOAM. It’s the only place I can go to stop this hurting.
HOAM Justice will come one day, I know for certain.
-I know I cannot runaway, but give us just another single day
-These heroes live forever but a coward dies a thousand times.
-You know it stands to reason but it’s shaping up like treason, we all know.

Half a world away they watched for real, they saw the soul of a Navy Seal
“Who gave the order for my son to die?”

A great song which asks important questions.

Prediction:  Right around 2016, the brave truth seeking mainstream press that constantly pats itself on the groin for speaking truth to power will finally have enough time to report on what actually happened on September 11th in Benghazi.  The story of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty and Sean Smith will be a huge fifty word featured blurb on page E-12 of the New York Times.  The heroes of Benghazi will fall below a fawning profile of Michele Obama’s victorious Senate run, a Paul Krugman op-ed praising Supreme Court Chief Justice Joe Biden for enshrining the constitutional right of dolphins to have same-sex marriage and a full page meditation on America’s heartbreak over Lindsey Lohan’s eighteenth stint in rehab.

That is, unless we in the blogosphere keep this story alive.

I snagged this link and video from Jim over at the great Conservatives on Fire blog.  Thanks, mi amigo.  Read his series of posts on taking an incremental approach vis-a-vis the upcoming collapse of the Western world.