Friday morning round-up and Open Thread
Yes, the site looks a little different. Something went wrong, but my wonderful webmaster is working away to fix things. I know, therefore, that my site will soon be better than before. Meanwhile, I have wonderful stuff to share:
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The headlines have been filled with stories about 90,000 youthful illegal aliens pouring over America’s southern border.
“Oh, my God!” shrieks the administration. “This is totally bizarre. We never intended for this to happen.”
Except it seems that someone intended to have something happen. How else to explain the advertisement on a federal employment website asking for people to work as escorts for 65,000 illegal alien children who would need “resettlement.”
I was going to say that I look forward to the explanation for that one, but I know the drive-by media won’t pursue it, so the administration won’t have to explain.
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While I’m on the subject of strange things the administration is doing, Zero Hedge says that it appears as if the fed is deliberately creating a “bond run panic.”
Sometimes, the only explanation seems to be Cloward-Piven as applied, not just to the welfare system, but to all American systems.
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Noah Rothman says that Hillary is finally getting the vetting she deserves from conservatives, who just complained about her in 2008, rather than investigating her. Clintonistas are getting nervous, and are working to ban conservatives from archives that may reveal more of Hillary’s dirty little secrets.
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If you’ve ever wondered what a DemProg means when s/he says “I take full responsibility” for something that went wrong, Hillary has offered a handy-dandy translation. Basically, cutting through her fog of words, it means “I take no responsibility whatsoever, except for that bit where I said ‘I take full responsibility.'”
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I am a procrastinator. I’m pretty good about posting, but my email correspondents know that I’m notoriously bad about quick replies, sometimes waiting weeks to get back to people. I’m binary. I either write back instantly (which I fear overwhelms the person on the other side) or I politely delay until my inbox is full, and I’ve lost track of things. Or maybe, as Megan McArdle explains, I’m showing the dark side of a writer’s perfectionism.
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It’s old news now, but I still want to remind everyone that, in addition to all its other sins, the IRS also gave over a million pages of taxpayer information to the FBI. Naughty, naughty.
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There’s a renewed debate about whether we should have gone into Iraq. Here’s what I think: On the intelligence data available in 2003, war seemed reasonable. If you accepted the merits of Bush’s theory — create a major democratic, stable country in the heart of the Middle East — war seemed reasonable. If you looked at the matter militarily, victory seemed possible. Even though our first effort was too weak, once we figured out our problem and had the Surge, victory was assured.
The one thing we didn’t factor into the war plan was the same thing that caused us to lose the war in Vietnam: DemProg opposition on the home front. So, next time we decide to go to war, the first thing to do is to subdue the DemProgs at home….
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This is an interesting take on Obama’s decision to release the Gitmo 5 in exchange for a deserter and possible traitor. No matter how one spins it, it makes Obama look very, very bad.
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A video’s been making the rounds: A class salutatorian was told that he couldn’t mention his faith. He did anyway.
Conservatives are impressed by his courage; DemProgs are outraged by his daring to express such evil views. I mean, that’s what’s going on, right? We don’t let people stand in a public forum and express evil views such as Naziism or Christianity.
What I want to know is when did Christianity, which is still the majority religion in the U.S., become a viewpoint so evil that private citizens can no longer voice it in public?
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Patricia Dickson explains why voting Republican would benefit blacks, just as surely as it did when the Dems were openly racist (slavery, KKK, Jim Crow, etc.). Sadly, her logic will (a) never cross over from the conservative blogosphere to most black Americans and (b) even if it did cross over, it wouldn’t convince them because they are too deeply in thrall to the notion of victim identity, rather than to being an individual whose needs are ill-served by being part of the DemProg Borg collective.
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Speaking of DemProg racist Borg collectives, Rhymes with Right says that, if the Washington Redskins must give up their identity, there are a lot of other corporate logos that need to go too.
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The Texas GOP platform is getting a lot of heat. Jon Stewart did an obscenity-laced rant attacking the bit saying that, if gay people want, they should be able to try therapy aimed at changing their sexual desires. As far as Stewart is concerned, that kind of choice is forbidden. If you’re gay, you must stay gay, no matter what.
But I digress. What I wanted to say is that, if you’re a Texan, you may be interested in this proposed GOP platform that Greg, from Rhymes with Right, put together.
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Kevin D. Williamson says that, while the government may not be using the words “inflation,” we’re suffering from inflation. I agree. Every time I buy groceries or fill my gas tank, I think to myself, “I can afford these escalating high prices, but how are poorer people managing?” If feels like 1979 all over again.
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One of my political Rubicon moments was back in the 1980s when I realized that “whole language” reading was product of a toxic combination of unions and the Democrat Party. It’s also practically criminal, insofar as it deprives kids of the opportunity to learn how to read. And worse, it keeps coming back and is always just as bad as before.
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I’ve ranted and raved before about bureaucrats and the fact that they become dangerously self-perpetuating entities. Jonah Goldberg says the same, but with wit, elegance, and erudition. I want to write like that one day.
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No, says Richard Baehr, Israel is not “destabilizing” the Middle East by having the temerity to look for her kidnapped boys. What’s destablizing the Middle East is a blend of toxic Leftist politics and Islam.
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I finally figured out Leftists remind me of when they throw around that 97% figure in connection with scientific agreement. Barbara Boxer phrased it in a way that triggered a memory. First, Boxer (emphasis mine):
We should all know we must take action to reduce harmful carbon pollution, which 97% of scientists agree is leading to dangerous climate change that threatens our families.
And now the memory about that phrase — the one saying that “a majority of scientists agree” about something:
“Scientists agree” about a lot of stupid things.
