SFChron: Moford’s Vicious Attack on Laura Bush

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, President, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Laura Bush, docile doormat Behold, the ideal Republican wife: Prim, sexless, nearly useless, lets the men do the real thinkin’. Hot!

Yes, that was the headline for Mark Moford’s column in the San Francisco Chronicle today. Not only does the very title of this screed of ignominious proportions rip into the first lady for no worthy reason, Moford also says that being a Catholic woman is “unfortunate.” Shamefully, he also calls the Bush daughters their “twin Styrofoam peanut daughters,” so it isn’t just Laura Bush he unduly attacks. It’s been a long time since a major newspaper has published a so-called editorial with this much vitriol contained within.

Moford tries to explain why conservative women find themselves raising an eyebrow at loudmouthed women like Teresa Heinz Kerry and Hillary Clinton (when she was first lady) but he completely mischaracterizes why people react to them the way they do as mere distaste of their gauche personalities as opposed to opposition to their ideologies and a feeling that such women overstep their boundaries.

Moford starts his column off recounting how a “conservative Catholic” female friend of his had expressed to him her hatred of Teresa Heinz Kerry. I have to say, I can’t imagine why this woman is a friend of Mofords at all considering the way he describes her as having an “unfortunate choice of religious and political affiliation.” It makes me wonder if he took the character he describes from someone else’s life? Moford so obviously despises conservative Catholics that it is hard to believe that he suffers any to be in his life.

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Congressman Ramstad comes out in opposition to the Flight 93 memorial

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under Flight 93, War on Terror | No Comments

Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN) gave a House speech this month, supporting Mr. Burnett’s opposition to the crescent design. The speech is entered in the Congressional Record here, along with supporting statements from Tom Burnett Sr. (father of murdered Flight 93 hero Tom Burnett Jr.).

That makes two Congressmen now who have come out publicly against the crescent memorial. (Tom Tancredo took the lead last November, asking the Park Service to choose a completely new design.)

News coverage revs up confrontation at this Saturday’s public meeting

Ramstad’s speech, and our ongoing petition drive, netted a full width banner headline on the front page of the Somerset Daily American, with the story continuing full width on an inside page as well. This high profile local news coverage should make for an interesting Memorial Project meeting at the Somerset County Courthouse this Saturday. Several critics will be speaking during the public comment period, and the first batch of petitions will be delivered in bulk (over 5000 signatures to date, 4700 online and 500 on paper).
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Contrary to Claims, Obama Very Close With Racist Preacher, Wright

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

**I published this on 3/17, but felt it worth re-publishing after the latest example of Obama pretending to be “shocked” by the racist Rev. Wright’s actions**

Many in the newsmedia are reacting with quite restraint to the revelations of comments by Obam’s racist “spiritual mentor,” Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. Imagine if this were a Republican politician linked to such outrageous talk and you’ll realize how the MSM has been studiously underplaying this controversy. A benefit of the doubt seems to be the rule of thumb for how the media is treating Obama, a benefit that would be denied a GOP candidate.

But, as ABC’s Jake Tapper asked concerning Obama’s knowledge of Wright’s racist rants: What did Obama know and when did he know it? In this posting Tapper finds that Obama was distancing himself from Wright a year ago causing the question to be raised if Obama long ago wondered if Wright would be a liability? But, there is video of Obama lovingly introducing Wright even after that proving not only that Obama is very, very close to Rev. Wright, but also that he was not distancing himself from the man at all.

On June 5th, 2007, Senator Barack Obama spoke before 8,000 people gathered in Hampton University’s Convocation Center. Most of them were pastors and ministers attending a conference there.

He was there to speak on mostly post Katrina issues and to criticize the Bush administration’s efforts during that natural disaster. Obama tried his catch phrase of the moment, saying that a “quiet riot” might be occurring in America and he affirmed that he felt that America was a racist nation, that the reaction to Katrina had just “pulled back the screen” on America’s racism. Obama also used rhetoric heavily doused with religious symbolism.

But, that boiler plate aside, there was two very interesting segments in Obama’s remarks concerning his racist “spiritual mentor,” Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. that are not getting the press it deserves. (See the video at Channel 2 News Chicago)

He was effusive in his praise and admiration for Wright, this foaming at the mouth, hate monger. This runs contrary to his late claims that he is somehow shocked by Wright’s racism, or that he now disagrees with him as well as his claim that he was not familiar enough with Wright to know of his point of view.

As the speech kicked off (at 1:07 into the video), Obama introduced the Rev. Wright to the audience with these glowing and highly personal words:

And then I’ve got to give a special shout out to my Pastor. The guy who puts up with me, counsels me, listens to my wife complain about me. He’s a friend and a great leader not just in Chicago but all across the country, so please everybody give an extraordinary welcome to my pastor Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Trinity United Church of Christ.

Where’s he at? There he is. That’s him, that’s him right there.

You wearing a suit today, right?

This reveals a very intimate portrait of Obama and Wright’s relationship. Notice the last bit where Obama jokes about Wright’s penchant for wearing an Afrocentric style of dress and that his wearing of a suit at that event was uncommon. These are the remarks of a close friend to another loved intimate, not the words of a man making perfunctory comments.

Later in his comments Obama mentioned Wright again. (At 13:43 in the video)

You know, I’ve been on a journey trying to get at the truth that question for a long time. I mention Rev. Wright… I first met Rev. Wright when I moved to Chicago after college.

And that’s where I met Rev. Wright and started going to Trinity United Church of Christ and he helped me on another journey and introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. And I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things that I was too weak to accomplish myself, maybe he could accomplish them for me if I placed my trust in him. And I learned that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when they believe in him and they come together and are guided by him.

So, we see that Obama obviously had a close, long-term relationship with Wright not a casual one where Obama might have missed the Reverend’s long-standing agenda.

It is also interesting that Obama’s rhetoric was so steeped in evangelical Christian rhetoric. Isn’t a “fanatic” Christianity one of the charges so often leveled by the left against president Bush? Don’t they so often say that he is somehow too religious? And, how often did we hear from the MSM how “controversial” Bush (or any Republican) was for delivering a speech before Bob Jones University?

And remember, Bush just went to make a single speech at Bob Jones University and the media slammed him for months afterward. Yet, Barack has had an intimate, 20-year relationship with Wright who has vehemently called for God to damn America and the media yawns at the news.

In light of the criticism of Bush’s injecting “too much religion” in his presidency or that his administration is just like a ”Christian Taliban”, it is also a legitimate question to ask, where are those same accusers when this 2007 speech by Barack Obama is so filled with religious fervor? Where are the anti-religious left and the so-called separation of Church and Staters at now?

In fact, this entire speech is filled with nothing but class warfare, expansions of social programs, raising the minimum wage, typical great society type junk all couched squarely as a civic responsibility enmeshed with Obama’s view of Biblical precepts.

Now, as far as what Obama knew of Rev. Wright’s racist comments and when he knew it, ABC’s Jake Tapper is right on when he notes that Obama had dis-invited Wright from delivering the public invocation at his candidacy announcement more than a year ago. This obviously reveals that Obama had begun to distance himself from Wright before he announced formally for the presidency. It is plain that Obama knew of Wright’s problematic ranting long before his sudden claim that he is shocked by Wright’s past rhetoric.

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Two Recent Success in WOT You Didn’t Hear About in the Media

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Islam, Islamofascism, Media Bias, Military, News, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Taliban suffered a big loss in Pakistan/Afghanistan this month and so did al Qaeda in Iraq, but the MSM has been practically silent on these great successes. It only goes to show that the media is so completely sold on the claim that the war is lost that they aren’t interested in doing any real reporting on the war.

Not only has Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki headed up a brilliantly successful attack on rebel leader and Iranian backed Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army in Basra, but it seems that Maliki’s hard-line against Sadr has convinced Iraq’s main Sunni block to return to their places in the Iraqi government. Sadr has called for a ceasefire between forces loyal to him and the Iraqi government. At this point, al-Maliki seems poised on a breakthrough in Iraqi affairs that could lead to more involvement and less bloodshed. This is all something that few expect possible only a few months ago.

The western press has reported the information above widely, if not enthusiastically, but that isn’t the only good news in Iraq. What seems to have been given short shrift is the fact that al Qaeda has been severely hurt in Iraq, even “decapitated.”

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When the cure is worse than the disease

April 30, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Congress, Dan Scott, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Science, Society/Culture | 3 Comments

-By Dan Scott

In my last article I ended with mentioning that there will be increased Ethanol mandates on top of the absurdity of the failed government policy on electric generation. The current run up in food prices is devastating to the world’s poor. How else does one explain the food riots in Haiti, Egypt and Bangladesh? Are they so far away that it is easy for us to ignore, play ignorant or the part we played in it? We are looking at the beginning of a huge humanitarian crisis of epic proportions if ethanol mandates and subsidies are not immediately suspended.

Low global wheat stocks, coupled with the emergence of a virulent crop disease, are threatening the world’s food supply, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer told food aid groups Wednesday.

“We have never been less secure about the near-term future of wheat,” he said. “Here in the United States it is our most basic crop with a farm gate value of $16 billion (€10 billion). Global wheat stocks are at an unprecedented historic 30-year low, and U.S. wheat stocks are at unprecedented 60-year low.”
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5 Ways to Lower Gas Prices

April 29, 2008 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Government, Corruption, News | No Comments

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New York Times Attacking Textbook Makers, Veiled Attack on Capitalism

April 29, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

College textbooks are overpriced and something should be done. Why, Congress should even step in! That is the message that The New York Times wants us to understand and I can’t say it is, in and of itself, entirely the wrong message — save the whole bit about Congress stepping in, of course. But, as is typical of The New York Times, their story is only a small part of the whole story. In their exuberance to shake a finger at book manufacturers and in their hurry to blame capitalism the Times missed the bigger story.

The Times reports that “College students and their families are rightly outraged about the bankrupting costs of textbooks that have nearly tripled since the 1980s.” They also report that a bill is pending in Congress that would “require publishers to sell ‘unbundled’ versions of the books…” This, the Times feels, is the right move to solve the problem. Any first year economics student, however, knows there is far more to it than just slapping more regulations on book publishers.

Still, the Times thinks it has the prescription for what ails our students.

“The bill is a good first step. But colleges and universities will need to embrace new methods of textbook development and distribution if they want to rein in runaway costs. That means using digital textbooks, which can often be presented online free of charge or in hard copies for as little as one-fifth the cost of traditional books. The digital books can also be easily customized and updated.”

The Times gravely assures us that, “Right now, textbook publishers are calling the tune.” Naturally, The NYT acts as if these evil capitalist textbook companies are abusing their status as official providers of books merely to rip-off our students. But the Times doesn’t bother to fill the reader in on the full story. The greater story is far more disgusting than just that of a textbook company taking advantage of our students.

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Does Winfrey Ride The Beast?

April 29, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Entertainment, Frederick Meekins, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Race, Religion, Society/Culture | 1 Comment

-By Frederick Meekins

At one point in her career, Oprah Winfrey was pretty much seen as a harmless crank as to the casual viewer catching the show in passing assumed that the program dealt primarily with her seesawing weight and whether or not her shackup might secretly prefer to be paid in three dollar bills. However, as she has amassed considerable power and influence during her 20 plus years in the public limelight, this broadcaster is no longer an innocent afternoon distraction filling the time between when one arrives home from work and when dinner is set on the table but rather has intentionally set out to subvert American culture and the spiritual well being of the nation.

Not content with the worlds of television, publishing and politics now that she has taken an interest in Barack Obama only because he happens to be Black, Winfrey has now set out to establish her web presence as well. According to the March 3, 2008 edition of USA Today in an article titled “World Is Oprah’s Classroom”, Winfrey plans to lead an online interactive book discussion.

However, there is more to the book being studied than the typical feminist drivel one would expect women of the upper income bracket to be sitting around and reading. The title of the book alone is enough to send a chill down the spine.

The book is titled “A New Earth: Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle. It is through this text that Winfrey hopes to be the False Prophet to Obama’s Pseudo-Messiah.
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Liberty’s Asylum

April 28, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | No Comments

A few months ago I met a bunch of great folks at a blogger’s conference in Chicago. Since then we’ve begun to try and get more involved together and we’ve decided to call our little network “Liberty’s Asylum.”

Check out all our affiliated blogs. There’s some great stuff out there.

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Islamic Shari’ah Banking, Is It Invading America?

April 28, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Economy/Finances, Islam, Islamofascism, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Daily Record in Baltimore, Maryland recently published a story by Brendan Kearney that oddly seems to present a conflict between a bank employing Islamic Shari’ah law with its American investments and some black American borrowers and painting it as a racist issue. Sadly, the real story, that of Islamic law being imposed on American investors, is sidelined in order to pursue the race card. (Full story reprinted at BlackEnterprise.com)

As The Record reports, a black couple in Baltimore — I identify their race because it is pivotal to how The Daily Record reports the story — had contracted with the Church’s Chicken restaurant chain to open a new outlet in Baltimore. Unfortunately for the entrepreneurial couple, as they were investing in their chicken outlet, Church’s Chicken was purchased by Crescent Capital Investments Inc., the US affiliate of the Bahrain-based First Islamic Investment Bank BSC. And, upon the restaurant chain’s purchase, these new Islamic corporate owners decided to institute Shari’ah laws upon their investments.

This caught the Beasleys new restaurant in a tough spot because pork products were on the morning breakfast menu for the Church’s Chicken chain. Because Shari’ah law principles had been imposed on the Beasleys’ new restaurant, they would be barred from serving their breakfast menu items, their corporate owners informed them. This barring from being able to serve their breakfast items, the couple maintains, contributed to the restaurant’s failure and their eventual bankruptcy.

Where the racism charge comes in is that older Church’s Chicken establishments, stores already open and operating, were grandfathered in and allowed to continue serving the pork food products. The new corporate masters decided that only new establishments would be barred from serving pork. As it happens, all the previous chicken restaurants in the area were owned by white people or people of other ethnicities besides black. As a result, the Beasleys imagined that the reason they were being prevented from selling the pork items on their menu was because of their race.

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Barack Obama: It’s More About His Choices

April 28, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, President, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

Many of the more conservative talking heads – and even some on the Left side of the aisle who support Hillary Clinton – are espousing their concern about Barack Obama’s “associations.” They point to Obama’s spiritual advisor, Jeremiah Write, and note his “friendly” relationship with unrepentant domestic terrorists William Ayers and his partner Bernadine Dorhn and wax alarmingly about his willingness to associate with such people. Certainly, Wright, Ayers and Dorhn are interesting if not contemptible people but a person’s associations concern me less than a person’s choice to defend those associations.

The moment the Jeremiah Wright issue was brought into the public eye the taboo of aggressively examining the background of the first Black man with a real chance to capture the presidency was lifted. Begrudgingly, the star-struck mainstream media – so in awe of Barack Obama’s “rockstar” political presentation – has begun, ever so apathetically, to cover the issues of his candidacy that the new media has exposed.

When the racism and bigotry of Obama’s spiritual leader, Jeremiah Wright, was first exposed in February of 2007 by The New Media Journal’s Erik Rush in a column titled Obamination, all those critical thundered that Obama had to denounce not only Wright’s statements, but the church and the man himself. What Obama responded with was a denunciation of the statements and a redirection. He chose to redirect the conversation to one about race in America. Obama made a conscious decision – a choice – to tacitly defend his pastor of 20 years even though it was plain to the world that Wright was a bigot, a racist and a socio-political opportunist.

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A Democrat Against Our Allies

April 28, 2008 | Filed Under Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Foreign Policy, News, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By The Heritage Foundation

Citing opposition to NAFTA from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the run-up to Ohio’s Democratic presidential primary, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) pleaded with Wall Street Journal readers yesterday not “to play bumper-sticker politics with trade” and instead engage in “a real debate.” If the rest of his op-ed represents all the arguments he has against current U.S. trade policy, then it’s going to be a short debate.

Brown first raises concerns over rising trade deficits, specifically mentioning the growth of our trade deficit with Mexico since 1993. What Brown fails to mention is that 95 percent of the increase in our NAFTA deficit since 2000 is due to increased energy imports. If Brown really were concerned about these deficits ,he would support expanding domestic energy production in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The more energy we produce domestically, the less we need to import. But Brown is opposed to almost all efforts to increase domestic energy supplies.

Next, Brown raises the specter of sovereign wealth funds, intoning: “five governments control more than $2 trillion that they use to buy stocks and other assets in America and other countries. So far, the funds controlled by the People’s Republic of China and the United Arab Emirates have been passive investors. So far.”

What the freshman Ohio senator fails to realize is that America benefits from investment abroad. The U.S. has run a trade deficit for most of its history and the record shows that unemployment generally drops as trade deficits rise. This is because trade deficits are offset by investment surpluses from abroad. These investments create jobs and wealth for Americans.
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Powerful Lobbyists Line Up Against Voice of the People in Illinois

April 27, 2008 | Filed Under Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, Government, Corruption, Illinois ConCon, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

At last YOU can have a say in Illinois!

The Illinois Constitution has an interesting provision in Article 14. It’s a rule where every 20 years a Constitutional Convention can be called to consider alterations and amendments to the state Constitution. The Convention itself isn’t called automatically, though. Only the question of calling or not calling the convention can be on the ballot at first.

Illinois has developed the reputation as one of the most corrupt anti-democratic state in the union and now we have this one small chance to change that. This is one chance, but a fleeting one, to finally have a say in what our politicians do. Do you want a chance to actually have a voice in state politics at long last? Vote yes on the ConCon.

Illinois DESERVES Better!

Naturally, there are very powerful people lined up to deny the citizens of Illinois from having their say after decades of being ignored, trodden upon and stolen from. After seeing politician after politician go to jail for corruption and graft.

These powerful folks don’t want their sweetheart deals and back room power-brokering to be upset by we lowly and forgotten citizens… you know, we who pay ALL of their bills with our exorbitant taxes?

So, guess who opposes the right of the people to have their say?

Unions stand against the people.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers are against the ConCon. Why? Why else but because it will threaten their overly cushy jobs and their bloated and illicit pension and healthcare plans– the sort of plans that no one in the private sector is ever able to get.

The The Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association are against the ConCon. Why? Well, how could they continue to so mis-educate our children so blatantly without ever being called to account for their failures if the people were ever called to have a say on their shoddy efforts at education?

A Constitutional Convention threatens the undeserved perks and high spending jobs they have. No wonder they are afraid of the people having their say.

As in everything, there are certain dangers. We might end up seeing taxes actually made worse instead of better. But, we also have the opportunity to put term limits on the thieves in office, pass a recall amendment, even finally pass that concealed carry bill that most people in the state support but is so continually blocked by just a handful of anti-American Chicago powermongers.

Certainly once we say yes to the ConCon our work it cut out for us. But we have to say yes to even get that one chance to be heard in Springfield, at long last. If we don’t say yes now, it’ll be 20 more years before we have a chance to have a say again.

Saying no out of fear that things “could” get worse is no option. Step up to the plate, Illinois. NOW is the time to FINALLY have YOUR say.

SAY YES TO THE ConCon!!

For more info go to the Illinois Citizen Coalition.

5 Important things you can do to get involved in fixing our FAILED government.

1. Give yourself permission to believe good things are possible. Stop cursing the darkness of Illinois politics and become the light that fixes our state.

2. Schedule a Town Hall meeting on the Constitutional Convention. We have speakers across the state that can present or debate the benefits of a convention.

3. Become an organizer. Your help in identifying “Yes” votes is important.

4. Help raise money. Powerful interests on both the left and right are fighting to keep things just the way they are. You can become part of the solution by finding people willing to become donors and paid members of the Illinois Citizens Coalition.

5. Make phone calls. If you find 10 people to call 10 people, your efforts can become part of the multi-partisan movement to clean-up Illinois. We can provide you with phone-scripts and telephone.

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On Cao’s Blogtalk radio today…

April 27, 2008 | Filed Under Entertainment, Publius Contributor, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

I was on Cao’s blogtalk radio show, “The Keys to Victory” show, today. Click on the play button and have a listen.

It was a lot of fun and we talked about a wide range of topics. Something should interest you, I’d think.

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The god That Failed New Orleans

April 27, 2008 | Filed Under Congress, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Taxes, Thomas Brewton | No Comments

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Why does much of New Orleans still look as if the 2005 devastation of Hurricane Katrina had occurred just a few weeks ago?

Huge areas of New Orleans still are wastelands. New Orleans’s liberal-progressive-socialist Senator Mary Landrieu has grabbed far more than her share of Congressional pork. Hundreds of millions of Federal dollars spent for rehabilitation have produced far too little beneficial result. People were without electric power for months; the police department contained more thieves than honest law enforcers; drug-dealing and prostitution remain major enterprises; and the city still retains its crown as the nation’s murder capital. One of the city’s few “legitimate” businesses is casino gambling.

City and state administrations have yet to coordinate rebuilding plans, as politicians fight over who gets what share of the spoils. The best that the city’s Mayor Nagin can do is to demand that the Democratic-socialist Party presidential candidates pledge to send even more pork to New Orleans.

What accounts for this dismal record?
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Another liberal profile in pettiness

April 27, 2008 | Filed Under Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By Michael M. Bates

California Senator Barbara Boxer is your standard-issue shrill, humorless, doctrinaire liberal who knows what’s best for everyone else and will force it on them whether they want it or not. Naturally, this makes her a leading light among her Democratic colleagues.

Ms. Boxer exhibits a keen insight that is the envy of other solons. Speaking of earthquake victims, she shrewdly observed: “Those who survived said, ‘Thank God I’m still alive,’ but of course those who died, well, their lives will never be the same.”

Ever vigilant, Ms. Boxer recently picked up on a rumor that Pope Benedict XVI would visit the United States this month. Then she learned that other senators planned to introduce a resolution welcoming His Holiness to the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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Mich. House Speaker Hires Felon to Oppose Citizen Petitioners

April 26, 2008 | Filed Under Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, News, Publius Contributor, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The campaign to raise enough signatures on petitions to recall Michigan’s Speaker of the House is taking another turn for the worse. The fight to toss the Speaker out has been pretty vicious but so far all those bad turns have been perpetrated by Andy Dillon, the Democrat in office, and none of them by the citizen groups trying to launch the recall effort. (See here and here.)

This time, the citizen groups trying to oust the Speaker are crying foul over the fact that Speaker Andy Dillon hired a convicted felon to interfere with petition carriers and to dissuade citizens from signing those petitions in Redford Township.

Party spokeswoman Liz Kerr acknowledged that Marcel L. Mitchell — who has been convicted eight times of armed robbery, gun charges and other offenses since 1990 — was hired to inform residents about the Redford Township lawmaker’s voting record. She said there’s nothing illegal about hiring Mitchell, who got out of prison last year and is on parole.

But critics say that hiring a violent felon to “inform residents” about Dillon’s voting record is an obvious attempt to threaten voters into not signing the petitions.

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An Example of AP’s Bias in Favor of Illegal Immigration

April 26, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Immigration/Immigrants, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The issue of illegal immigration has seemed to drift from the front pages of the news, of late, but the AP is not finished trying to advocate for law breakers everywhere, it seems. On April 25, the Associated Press posted a story that serves as a perfect example of how the wire service aims their reporting to support illegal immigration in the United States. In “Arizona sheriff stirs furor with crackdown on illegals,” all the negative framing of the issue is used against Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s efforts to curb illegal immigration and those who stand against him are constantly given the benefit of the doubt with neutral or positive language describing their actions. Additionally, whenever illegals are mentioned they are presented as victims, one “afraid” immigrant even being quoted as calling our immigration officials “the devil.”

The subject of the story is Sheriff Arpaio’s recent “crackdown” on illegal immigrants in his jurisdiction of Maricopa County, Arizona. After Federal training was given to his officers, the sheriff began a series of sweeps across the county to detain illegal immigrants. His actions are completely legal and not a single case of abuse by the sheriff’s officers has been reported — a fact that the AP story doesn’t bother to mention until the 20th paragraph of the 22 paragraph story.

As the AP piece starts we get a shot at Arpiao right away with a snarky description of the man as being the “self-proclaimed ‘toughest sheriff in America.’” Then the AP starts right in with several paragraphs of Hispanic pandering, public officials in small towns inside Arpaio’s jurisdiction attacking the sheriff’s actions. In fact, as paragraph after paragraph of the his detractors appear in the AP piece railing against the man’s work, the man himself gets only a few lines in the story to defend himself.

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Corporate Heads Make Too Much? What About Union Leaders?

April 26, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Center For Union Facts, put out a press release jabbing unions in the ribs for their unprincipled finger pointing at the high salaries of corporate heads like CEO’s, CFO’s, etc. But, as the CUF points out, union chiefs make the same sort of money and no one is pointing fingers at THEM saying that the bloated salaries of union scammers are too high. Where are the calls for union heads to give back their exorbitant salaries?

Here is a list of some union thieves’ grossly bloated salaries.

The Plumbers paid former General President Martin Maddaloni $1.3 million in total compensation, and Secretary-Treasurer Thomas Patchell almost $900,000 – after they were ousted for disastrous pension investments in a Florida hotel. According to the Association for Union Democracy, the buyout agreement included “salaries and benefits plus free use of cars and other perks through the end of 2006.”
AFSCME President Gerald McEntee recorded total compensation just shy of $585,000.
General President of the Laborers Terence O’Sullivan made more than $528,000.
National Education Association President Reg Weaver made almost $439,000.
The presidents of unions for players in the National Football League and the National Basketball Association made more than $1 million each. The NFL union head, Eugene Upshaw, made $2.4 million. Moreover, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb received $900,000 from his AFL-CIO affiliated union as a player representative.

Wow. Seems rather hypocritical of these union folks who point fingers at corporate heads, doesn’t it?

And, as CUF Executive Director Richard Berman points out, the money that union chiefs get paid are from the dues of union members and NOT the profits from a company.

“While stockholders always have the option of showing their dissatisfaction with salary issues by dumping their stock, union executives have made it virtually impossible for a union member to escape paying for high salaries and perks through mandatory dues.”

Just so!

So, let me be one of the few that will call for these union thugs to pay back their undeserved salaries!

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AGW insanity has reached new heights of absurdity

April 26, 2008 | Filed Under Dan Scott, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, Global Warming, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Science, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By Dan Scott

Recently, President Bush has seemly signed onto the AGW bandwagon by giving it legitimacy. While his approach in elevating nuclear power as the solution to this non problem is rational from the energy independence, national security, foreign policy and balance of trade perspectives, no AGW promoter will sign on to such a solution. Not Al Gore, not Nancy Pelosi, not Harry Reid. There is a reason why no nuclear power plant has been built in the US since the Three Mile Island incident, which by the way no one was killed. The idea of nuclear power generation is dead in the US, even if the NRC grants the permits to build the power plants, the environmental lobby supported by their allies in the Democrat Party will tie up such permits with ceaseless litigation as they tried with the border fence. Department of Homeland Security played it’s trump card of the national security waiver to stop the environmental excuses. The result will be a minimum of 10 years (2018) before the first power plant comes on line if the power companies have deep enough pockets to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in litigation costs.

Given the recent actions of State Power Commissions blocking numerous coal fired electric plants, the country will be faced with the harsh reality of soaring electric rates and soaring natural gas prices. Why soaring natural gas prices? The only alternative to nuclear and coal is the natural gas. Electrical power generation by natural gas is in direct competition with residential use for cooking, laundry and heating (space & water) in addition to general industry. The competition for this limited resource will spark price hikes just as in the 1970s since we are importing natural gas. This one – two punch on the consumer will condemn the economy to anemic growth rates indefinitely. The cost of electricity under this scenario will go up 5 fold by 2025. Take your current electric bill and multiply by 5, can you afford AGW?
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