Thursday morning roundup

Before I get to the news, I just wanted to throw in a little aside about birds’ nests.  They are one of nature’s small miracles and, today, I’m in a position to know.  A hopeful family has planted itself outside our front door on top of our porch light.  From afar, the nest appears generic, but a closer view reveals that it is a spring symphony, dotted with flowers and redolent of sweet herbs.  What a lovely affirmation of life.

And now to the news.

James W. Von Brunn’s attempted killing spree at the Holocaust Museum, which was foiled by security guards (one of whom sacrificed his life), is being touted by a very excited media as proof-positive that the really dangerous people in this country are the Right Wing Wackos.  Bobby Eberle contrasts this coverage with the media’s manifestly conscious effort to downplay the politics (and religion) behind some recent other murders in this country, which were, of course, Islamist in their ideology.

With a debate ranging, and fingers pointing, about Von Brunn’s deranged politics, it’s useful to review this excellent video, which explains that Left and Right are antiquated terms and that the real issue is “lots of government power” versus “very little government power.”  True conservatives prefer little (although not to the point of anarchy), everyone else prefers lots.  And loonies just want to kill people.

As for me, the one thing I always remind my children is that you can tell a lot about a society’s health and freedom by how it treats its Jews.  Countries that treat Jews badly tend to be bad countries in terms of economics and freedom.  The opposite is true for those countries that treat their Jews well.  This has nothing to do with what Jews bring to the country, and everything to do with how the nature of the country.

Usually I’ll direct you to a specific post on a blog.  Today, I’m going to send you to the blog itself.  Laer, at Cheat-Seeking Missiles, has several posts at the top of his blog that are so good, each deserves to be read.  Whether talking about GM’s new management, Obama’s Czars, the environment (Laer’s specialty) or the California budget crisis, Laer is hitting them out of the park every time.

John Bolton analyzes the horrific Hobson’s choice that Israel faces vis a vis Iran.  Bombing it is nightmarish, but being bombed by it would it be infinitely worse.  As I’ve said, I think that Israel will bomb Iran’s nuclear program, and that it will do so with covert aid from Arab nations afraid of Iranian nuclear hegemony.  (That these nations will deny, deny, deny after the fact goes without saying, but they’re still going to help.)

On the subject of Obama as sold (charming, erudite) and Obama as is (crude, bullying), Power Line has a post in which Paul Rahe describes and summarizes Obama’s mastery of deeply offensive gestures.  So, I guess, there is something he’s good at — it’s just not something the media is boasting about.

I emerged from childhood right around the time that Phyllis Schlafly was spearheading the fight against the Equal Rights Amendment.  My father, bless his formerly Communist heart, agreed with her, but the voices around me (the media, the teachers at school, my friends and their family) all assured me that Schlafly was a troglodyte.  Aside from that fact that I finally realized she was correct about the ERA, I’ve since learned that Schlafly is an exceptionally intelligent and highly-functional American citizen.  When she attacks the President’s proposed changes to American health care, every citizen should listen.  I know I’m listening (although it helps that I’ve been opposed to nationalizing health care from the git-go.)

Also on the subject of health care, when Karl Rove talks, everybody should listen.  Here, Rove details the arguments Republicans (that means us, guys) should be making over and over to stop the Obama steamroller from destroying the American medical system.  While the system definitely has vices, its virtues outweigh those vices.  Obama’s program would not repair the system’s problems, but would instead destroy, perhaps irreparably, its unique benefits.

More profound philosophers than I have noted that it is the nature of those in power to sustain and increase that power.  (Which is why George Washington’s decision to reject a kingship and to step down after two terms was so extraordinary.)  Bureaucracies are even worse in this regard, since their power-seeking is colorless, at least from the public’s eye view.  No glittering trappings of power, just the stealth aggregation of total control.  Bureaucracies also make very bad decisions and, as one film maker is discovering, also make very bad enemies.

For the past few days, I’ve been hammering away at the gaping chasm between “advertised Obama” and “real Obama.”  I’m not the only one noticing this disconnect.  The Cairo speech highlighted the fact that our “brilliant,” “erudite” president is grossly misinformed about myriad historical facts.  Victor Davis Hanson reveals many of the President’s mistakes (and explodes some pro-Islamic PC myths along the way).

Before you panic about WHO’s decision to classify the swine flu as a pandemic, read Daniel Henninger’s thoughts about the flu’s actual progress as compared to just any old generic flu.  His article will calm you.

Rogue prosecutors aren’t just an American phenomenon.  Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.  This is a tragic story all around.

Ann Coulter is in good form attacking the inanities in Obama’s speech.

Larry Elder writes an excellent column reminding us that the same media that promised extra vigilance after Bush “lied” regarding Iraq is doing absolutely nothing but nod its collective head following every Obama pronouncement.  As has been the case since Obama burst on the scene, the media’s Obama coverage reminds me strongly of those bobble head dolls that used to nod relentlessly in the back of American cars.

John Wayne died thirty years ago today, and National Review is commemorating his life with a symposium.  I blush to admit this, but I saw my first John Wayne movie only about five years ago.  Before that, because I’d been raised in solely Leftist environs, I accepted as fact that he was a “joke,” without ever bothering to reach my own conclusions.  (That’s how leftists think, of course — they recycle other people’s conclusions as their own facts.)  When I finally saw Stagecoach (courtesy of TCM), I was completely blown away by his screen presence.  Wow!

Emmett Tyrrell writes lucidly about why Obama is a naive ignoramus (and that’s describing him in nice terms) to demand that Israel hand over her settlements.  (And yes, I have strong opinions on this point.)

Some things are only funny when they’re jokes.  An old joke tell of the time Winston Churchill learned that he had a short lead time to give a speech on economics.  When he went to his economics speechwriter, the man told him that the information Churchill needed for the speech was so complex, it would be impossible to gather and process the necessary numbers within less than six months.  The speechwriter was therefore surprised when, a few days later, Churchill showed up at the forum and gave a learned speech, sprinkled liberally with statistics and conclusions.  When the speechwriter asked how Churchill did this, his answer was simple.  “I made the numbers up.  No one knows the answers now and, in six months, if anyone comes up with the numbers, I can just claim that they changed in six months.  As it is, my conclusions were correct.”  I don’t know if Chris Muir knows that joke, or if he’s just being his usual brilliant self but, in today’s cartoon, he makes precisely that point about the “truth” behind Obama’s numbers.

As I did even in this post, I keep writing that it is our job as conservatives to make our fellow Americans aware that Obama, his administration and the Democratic Congress are not the answer to American woes.  Whether because of our work, or because Americans can read the tea leaves, polls are relentlessly showing that, while Americans (a generous people) still like Obama the man, they don’t like his politics.  And at some point, I’m sure that they’re going to stop forgiving the man for having those politics.

I’ve commented repeatedly, here and in other posts, that Obama is ignorant.  George Will is not ignorant and even speaking off the cuff he demonstrates a stronger grasp of historical reality, and of cause and effect, than Obama does in even his most prepared speeches.

Some political cartoons are better than others.  This is one of the best, managing to attack Sotomayor, judicial activism, identity politics and Republican senators, all in two panels.

Okay.  I’m finally done.  Any new thoughts I have will go in entirely new posts.