Erick Erickson's Blog, page 180
March 1, 2011
Morning Briefing for March 1, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For March 1, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Our last WWI vet passes away at age 110
2. The Non-Conspiracy
3. Washington Post's Greg Sargent Demands Unions Get Violent. Union Goons Attack Fox Reporter.
4. Does Harry Reid Want A Government Shutdown?
5. Beyond the Left's Talking Points: WI Protests Are About Union Power & Money
6. War, What Is It Good For? – Ask National Geographic.
7. From Prostitution to Death Threats: Gordon Hintz Is One Classy Fella
8. Beware the Gang of Six
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1. Our last WWI vet passes away at age 110
Frank Buckles, the last of the 4,734,991 Americans who served in World War I, has passed away. When you think of most kids today, his story is just staggering.
He was born on a Missouri farm when William McKinley was President. When the US entered WWI in April 1917, he had turned 16 barely two months earlier, but was determined to enlist.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. The Non-Conspiracy
It is not a conspiracy. Some of you think it is. It is not. A conspiracy is a secret plot by two or more people to do something harmful. What Barack Obama is doing is no conspiracy — it is not secret. Harmful, yes. Secret, no. In fact, the administration is pretty open about it.
I'm talking, of course, about high-speed rail. High-speed rail is the reason Barack Obama couldn't care less about what is going on in the Middle East. High-speed rail is the reason Barack Obama is perfectly willing to let us descend into a Carter Era energy crisis. High-speed rail is the reason Barack Obama does not want us to "drill here, drill now."
It's not a conspiracy. The facts are everywhere. Jay Hakes, who was in charge of the Energy Information Administration under Bill Clinton, is quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying, "There's no way we can create a better future without the price of [fossil-fuel-based] energy going up." Barack Obama's own Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, has said, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe."
Think about this. When George Bush was President and gas prices climbed over $3.00 a gallon, what did the left do? They screamed for President Bush to withdraw oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. They screamed that Congress should cut the gas tax.
The Left has not done that at all with Barack Obama in the White House.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Washington Post's Greg Sargent Demands Unions Get Violent. Union Goons Attack Fox Reporter.
The Washington Post's leftwing mouthpiece, Greg Sargent, who they ostensibly pay to be an objective reporter is on twitter demanding that unions in Wisconsin get violent to get their way.
In what we can presume is unrelated to Greg Sargent's call, a Fox News reporter was attacked by union thugs in Wisconsin.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Does Harry Reid Want A Government Shutdown?
If the continuing resolution is not passed by this Friday, the government will shut down — not that this is a bad thing.
Everyone in Washington is claiming they don't want a shutdown, but Harry Reid's actions suggest he does. Instead of dealing with the continuing resolution when the Senate gets back for business this week, he will take up patent reform instead.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Beyond the Left's Talking Points: WI Protests Are About Union Power & Money
It's nearing two weeks since unions and their cohorts on the Left have thrown a nationwide fit over Scott Walker's solution to what is ailing Wisconsin. Unions and Democrats have made Wisconsin their cause célèbre by deploying OFA astroturf, the big talking heads, as well as recruiting just about every known Grateful Dead concert attendee on their mailing lists into Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Democratic state senators (now humorously known as fleebaggers) comically continue to hold the state hostage over an issue of union power, politics and money—nothing more and nothing less.
Despite unions' long hatred of Scott Walker, the new governor is moving to address both the symptoms of the disease and the disease itself—the public-sector union scheme that has molested Wisconsin's taxpayers and their children by gaming the system. Unions like Wisconsin's teachers' union [WEAC] (which was Wisconsin's biggest-spending lobby in 2009) have been extraordinarily adept at fixing the system through spending millions to elect politicians who, in turn, reward the unions at the expense of the taxpayers.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. War, What Is It Good For? – Ask National Geographic.
Perhaps we are all fortunate that Walter M. Miller, Jr. wrote A Canticle For Leibowitz before the era of Global Warming Chic. He, Neville Shute, and all the fine Rock Singers who jammed at the No Nukes Concert, seemed to believe there wasn't a silver lining around the mushroom shaped cloud of a nuclear holocaust that didn't consist of Strontium-90.
Now, our scientific overlords inform us that if you just pop a few nukes, somewhere far away from where Dr. Genius parks her SUV, it may not be a total suckage field.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
7. From Prostitution to Death Threats: Gordon Hintz Is One Classy Fella
Last week Democrat State Representative Gordon Hintz of Wisconsin received a municipal citation connected to prostitution.
Hintz appears to be paying visits in one of those massage parlors that is just a front for prostitution, if not worse.
Rep. Hintz got dinged "for violating a city sexual misconduct ordiance" in Appleton, WI.
Now he is in the news again for telling a female Republican state representative that she is "f**king dead"
Please click here for the rest of the post.
8. Beware the Gang of Six
Imagine for a moment a private financial services firm caught running a ponzi scheme in which public funds were spent on lavish projects for the manager's friends. Astoundingly, instead of incarcerating the perpetrators and returning the money to the investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) negotiates with the criminals. That's right. The SEC collaborates with the criminal executives to force the public to contribute more money to the institution and leave it there longer, in order to rectify the scheme and achieve solvency. Sounds perverse and preposterous? Well, some Republican senators are concocting a similar approach to "solving" the budget crisis created by the Democrats.
February 28, 2011
The Erick Erickson Show
I'm going live at 7:05 p.m. ET. You can listen live at http://wsbradio.com and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.
I'll be talking about Washington Post reporter Greg Sargent calling for union violence in Wisconsin.
I'll also be talking about the continuing resolution and Frank Buckles passing away.
Plus more.
Consider this an open thread.
Washington Post's Greg Sargent Demands Unions Get Violent. Union Goons Attack Fox Reporter.
The Washington Post's leftwing mouthpiece, Greg Sargent, who they ostensibly pay to be an objective reporter is on twitter demanding that unions in Wisconsin get violent to get their way.
In what we can presume is unrelated to Greg Sargent's call, a Fox News reporter was attacked by union thugs in Wisconsin.
Once I pointed out on Twitter that Sargent was calling for unions to get violent in Wisconsin, Sargent declared he was not promoting violence despite actually writing on twitter:
Dear union thugs: Will you please get violent in Wisconsin already? Pretty please?
Note also that Sargent is calling union members "thugs".
The point here is not that Sargent actually is endorsing violence. I'm sure he really was being sarcastic.
The point is that Greg Sargent, after demanding that unions get violent in Wisconsin, wants us to extend to him a courtesy — that of not taking his tweet at face value — he has a willful pattern of refusing to do with conservatives and Republicans.
See, for example, his insistence that the tea party movement wants "to reverse" abolition, women's suffrage, and civil rights.
What's good for the goose . . .
Exit point: Yes, I believe Sargent was being sarcastic. The problem is that if I or Sarah Palin or anyone on the right had said something similar, Greg Sargent and his friends would never, ever extend us the courtesy of recognizing the sarcasm, etc. If you need proof, just dig around for Sargent's writings about Sarah Palin's target map.
From Prostitution to Death Threats: Gordon Hintz Is One Classy Fella
UPDATED: We now have the audio from Charlie Sykes about Gordon Hintz, who appears to be trying to go from being your run of the mill john to a pimp. You can listen here.
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Last week Democrat State Representative Gordon Hintz of Wisconsin received a municipal citation connected to prostitution.
Hintz appears to be paying visits in one of those massage parlors that is just a front for prostitution, if not worse.
Rep. Hintz got dinged "for violating a city sexual misconduct ordiance" in Appleton, WI.
Now he is in the news again for telling a female Republican state representative that she is "f**king dead"
Hintz made the statement to State Representative Michelle Litjens for her vote on the Budget Repair Bill that would curtail union powers in the state.
In other words, a guy who has to hire prostitutes tells an attractive state assemblywoman he has no chance with that she is "f**king dead" for her vote on legislation.
I wonder if Gordon Hintz's union masters taught him how to be so classy.
Does Harry Reid Want A Government Shutdown?
If the continuing resolution is not passed by this Friday, the government will shut down — not that this is a bad thing.
Everyone in Washington is claiming they don't want a shutdown, but Harry Reid's actions suggest he does. Instead of dealing with the continuing resolution when the Senate gets back for business this week, he will take up patent reform instead.
The patent legislation is rather controversial, changing the patent granting standard from "first to invent" to "first to file", meaning that you may invent something, but unless you file your patent before someone else does, the other person gets the patent.
Yes, the patent office needs to be reformed as does the patent process. Companies now have to spend large sums on patent fights. Software is now treated as a patent issue instead of a copyright issue, expanding litigation efforts and stifling innovation.
But listening to Democrats and Republicans in Washington, there is no more pressing issue than preventing a government shutdown.
So why then is Harry Reid putting off consideration of the continuing resolution? Either he wants a government shutdown, or he is admitting the GOP has won.
Morning Briefing for February 28, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For February 28, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. It's What Happens When an Unstoppable Force Hits a Malleable Object
2. An Inconvenient Truth About 'Gasland'
3. As Unions Rally in NJ, Disabled & Critically Ill Get Abandoned by Union Bus Drivers
4. Scott Walker is fighting for municipal budgets too
5. Wisconsin Democrats now owe state $165,000,000.
6. The Goofy Attacks On Glenn Beck
7. February 28, 1991: The End of Operation Desert Storm and the 20 Years After
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1. It's What Happens When an Unstoppable Force Hits a Malleable Object
We stare into the abyss today — the abyss that comes when a political party's spine is removed and we stare down into the cavity . . . longingly . . . waiting . . . dreaming of what might have been.
Friends, I write this hoping the events I predict will not happen, but I suspect the events will happen. You need to understand what is at play today in Washington. There are two competing forces.
The first force is that of the Democrats and their unstoppable desire for a government shutdown. You read that right. The Democrats, not the Republicans, are desperate for a government shutdown. Barack Obama needs a government shutdown.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. An Inconvenient Truth About 'Gasland'
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) are a bunch of suckers when it comes to Leftist propaganda films featuring outrageous, junk-science based, anti-capitalist claptrap. Just ask Al Gore, who won an Oscar a few years back for An Inconvenient Truth.
One of this year's nominees in the Documentary Feature category is a film by Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic called Gasland. Too bad there's no category for Documentary Fiction.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. As Unions Rally in NJ, Disabled & Critically Ill Get Abandoned by Union Bus Drivers
Perhaps it's just a coincidence. Then again, perhaps not. However, at the same time AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka went to New Jersey on Friday for a "solidarity" rally, a group of unionized bus drivers who transport developmentally disabled and critically ill patients decided to abandon their duties and stage a sick out.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Scott Walker is fighting for municipal budgets too
One of the things that has been missed in the debate over public employee unions in Wisconsin is the impact on city and county budgets. Governor Scott Walker's proposal doesn't just impact the state's fiscal situation, but it attempts to help the cities and counties. And, as the former Counter Executive of 2-1 Democratic Milwaukee County, Walker has a real familiarity with how the fiscal crisis is impacting city and county budgets. Aaron Rodriguez from the Hispanic Conservative has done us all a great service by reviewing the budget fights with the unions that Walker won in his county. Rodriguez, a leading Wisconsin school choice activist, has great examples of how the teachers unions have put their own interests ahead of the children.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Wisconsin Democrats now owe state $165,000,000.
The American Thinker points out that, thanks to the refusal of the Wisconsin Democratic party to admit that last November's elections mattered, a deadline for reducing the debt servicing load of the state of Wisconsin by $165,000,000 expires today. The money was to help pay a court case settlement involving a $200,000,000 raid on the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund in 2007 by the previous Doyle (D) administration; the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that using the fund to balance the budget was unconstitutional, which means that the state has to pay it back. It also means that without this provision in place, the state is not going to have the opportunity to get even a little out from under its 43 billion dollar debt.
$165,000,000 divided 14 ways works out to just over $14.78 million per AWOL state Senator: personally, I say that they should have their paychecks garnished for it. Forever.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. The Goofy Attacks On Glenn Beck
Of late a garden industry has developed amongst some alleged conservatives and all variety of squishes — they seem to be calling themselves "thoughtful conservatives" to distinguish themselves from the rest of us — criticizing Glenn Beck. Why alleged political pundits would worry about Beck's show I haven't any idea. He's an entertainer with a significant business, they aren't. In the interests of full disclosure I will own up to listening to about 20 minutes of his radio show every day and my mother-in-law watches his television show. I find Beck to be without doubt the funniest man on radio today. So I'm not an authority on him, though I suspect his critics aren't either. I am, however, at least conversant with his shows.
The criticism is apparently that Beck's listeners aren't discerning enough to listen to Beck without being psychologically damaged and anyone who goes on Beck's show is a big poopy-head who should be denounced.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
7. February 28, 1991: The End of Operation Desert Storm and the 20 Years After
In what may well be remembered as the high-water mark of the projection of American power and prestige, it was at Midnight on February 28, 1991 that President George H.W. Bush announced the suspension of combat operations, and an end of Operation Desert Storm. Gulf War One had come to a close.
February 26, 2011
The Rising Sun
Last week, after months of behind the scenes arguing and frustration, I made the call (and take full responsibility for making the call) to clean house here at RedState. A number of user accounts were disabled.
If you feel the need to understand my reasoning you can go here.
If you want or need a full explanation surrounding what happened and why, you can go here.
For the past week, the front page contributors and I agreed we'd let everyone have at it. There have been comments. There have been diaries. I hope everyone found it cathartic.
Before it becomes a distraction, I am now here to announce that we are moving on. Outstanding diary threads on the matter are having comments closed.
If you cannot let go, you might need to go. That is not me wanting you to go, but we have a fight against both Barack Obama and a bunch of squishy Republicans to get on with. The mourning period is over.
The fight goes on against the left. The period for wailing and gnashing of teeth has come to an end.
Carry on.
February 25, 2011
It's What Happens When an Unstoppable Force Hits a Malleable Object
We stare into the abyss today — the abyss that comes when a political party's spine is removed and we stare down into the cavity . . . longingly . . . waiting . . . dreaming of what might have been.
Friends, I write this hoping the events I predict will not happen, but I suspect the events will happen. You need to understand what is at play today in Washington. There are two competing forces.
The first force is that of the Democrats and their unstoppable desire for a government shutdown. You read that right. The Democrats, not the Republicans, are desperate for a government shutdown. Barack Obama needs a government shutdown.
Everyone in Washington is fixated on the Myth of 1995. In the MythTM, nasty Republicans shut down Washington, DC, starving old people and children, denying passports to refugees from the crisis, and gunning down our soldiers in harm's way because the government could not buy and ship bullets to respond. Yogi Bear also starved to death because no tourists with their picnic baskets could get into Jellystone.
In the MythTM, Bill Clinton was transcendent and triumphant. He outmaneuvered the GOP, reopened the government, and cruised to re-election vanquishing the GOP. Don't believe me? Just watch the West Wing episode cementing the MythTM as fact.
In fact, I hear David Axelrod, Plouffe, and Jay Carney keep coming out of the White House bathroom red raced, sweaty, and slightly blind and the only thing left in the bathroom is a flatscreen running that episode over and over and some hand sanitizer.
It is the MythTM.
John Boehner, who was in Newt Gingrich's leadership team, remembers the MythTM. He remembers how the failed GOP PR battle, Bob Dole's betrayal, Gingrich's ham fisted handling of the matter, etc. sabotaged the GOP. The GOP, being the stupid party, botched the PR campaign. So despite getting a balanced budget and welfare reform by forcing a shutdown and gaining seats in the Senate while holding their own in the House, John Boehner and the House GOP leadership have bought into the MythTM.
We are now left with the unstoppable force of the White House and Democrats wanting a shutdown impacting the malleable object that is the Republicans' spine desperate to contort its way into a spin that it cut spending and kept Washington open.
The impact here is going to be huge. Let me tell you why.
Again, the White House and Democrats are desperate for a shutdown so Barack Obama can, like Bill Clinton in the MythTM, be transcendent and leader looking.
John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell are desperate to not have a shutdown lest they get blamed and hurt in 2012.
The consequence of this will be Chuck Schumer in the Senate sensing the yellow growing down the spine of the GOP. The Democrats will draw a firm line in the sand daring the GOP to cross it. The GOP will, in turn, walk as far away from the line as possible.
Gone will be the defunding of Planned Parenthood.
Gone will be defunding of government abortions in the District of Columbia.
Gone will be the major spending cuts.
Gone will be virtually any fiscal discipline.
They will not even attempt to defund Obamacare.
The GOP will give the White House whatever it wants just so the GOP can avoid being blamed for a shutdown.
Hopefully someone — maybe the House GOP Freshmen and guys like DeMint, Lee, Paul, and Toomey — will recognize that 2011 is not 1995.
Voters want spending cuts. Voters are sympathetic to a conservative coalition hellbent on reining in Washington.
Barack Obama and the Democrats have misread voter sentiment throughout the last two years. There is nothing to indicate they will get it right this time. If the GOP stands up for spending cuts and budgetary reform, the Democrats may very well force a shutdown.
Already their friends in the media are beginning to regurgitate the MythTM and suggest it is the GOP, not the Democrats, who want the shutdown. What the media fails to see is that some of us do want a shutdown — hell, I want a shutdown — but Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, etc. will do everything in their power to prevent that from happening.
If a shutdown happens, it will be because the Democrats, more than the GOP, bought into the MythTM and the MythTM simply was what it was — a myth.
The GOP needs to fight for spending cuts and not roll over. Unfortunately, unless we keep the pressure on, I'm afraid the GOP will indeed roll over and do everything in their power to avoid a shutdown.
The GOP can win the PR battle if the government shuts down. They just don't think they can.
And they'd rather good press than principle any day of the week.
Morning Briefing for February 25, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For February 25, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. It's a Strategy, Not a Conspiracy
2. 67% disapprove of legislators fleeing Wisconsin to avoid vote
3. University of Central Florida Hosts Terrorists & Forcibly Removes Their Detractors
4. Moving RINOS Rightward is Good, Defeating them is even Better
5. Secret White House Meetings
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1. It's a Strategy, Not a Conspiracy
I've written at length about the destructive energy policies of the Left and of the Obama Administration. Specifically, their hostility toward domestic producers and the producing states will inevitably lead to higher unemployment and a stagnant economy in the near term; long term, they imperil our national security.
What could possibly motivate them?
Some say that Obama is merely the puppet of an evil conspiracy which is bent on our destruction.
Others say that Obama thinks he is acting in the country's best interest, but that his perspective is limited and his worldview is skewed.
It is important for us to act as if it is the latter, and here's why.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. 67% disapprove of legislators fleeing Wisconsin to avoid vote
Two-thirds of likely voters disapprove of Wisconsin legislators fleeing the stat to avoid their duty to vote.
New Rasmussen Reports polling finds America's voters strongly oppose Wisconsin state senators fleebagging tactics to avoid a vote that would restrict collective bargaining rights for government workers' unions.
Only 25% of likely U.S. Voters approve of this failed 2003-vintage Democrat tactic.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. University of Central Florida Hosts Terrorists & Forcibly Removes Their Detractors
While it's certainly the case that a University may host an event paneled by individuals that the University leadership does not agree with or even may find reprehensible, it starts to look more like endorsement when they get into the habit of tossing law abiding citizens for asking questions of the University guest that may be uncomfortable.
Such was the case in the almost universally overlooked incident that took place at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in November of last year.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Moving RINOS Rightward is Good, Defeating them is even Better
Well, the dust has settled from the 2010 legislative session, and organizations like National Journal and American Conservative Union have published their annual voting reports. So who are the 'top conservatives'? You'll never guess.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Secret White House Meetings
Remember all that highfalutin rhetoric from Barack Obama about not doing business with lobbyists, etc? Well, we already knew it was a lie given the number of lobbyists he let into the White House to work after saying he wouldn't.
But it appears the lie is a serial lie. Obama is having his minion take meetings with lobbyists routinely, but they are doing it outside the White House across the street.
Why?
Because he can say no lobbyists have been to the White House.
February 24, 2011
Religion of Peace Strikes Again With Plot to Assassinate George W. Bush
That's the summation of it. A Saudi national living in Texas, well, let's let CNN have the glory since they have the story:
A Saudi national living in Texas was arrested Wednesday allegedly after he acquired chemicals to make a bomb and researched several possible targets, including the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush, and nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams.
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his alleged purchase of chemicals and equipment necessary to make an improvised explosive device, according to the Justice Department.
It's important to note here that as much as we may be safer these days, we are not wholly safe.
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