Free Speech is Free Speech

 Let’s start with the fact that I think Jimmy Kimmel is an ass and his comments about the Charlie Kirk murder were wrong and deserving of criticism.

Having said that, I do not understand why the FCC Chairman weighed in on those comments and either expressly or implicitly stated that ABC’s broadcast license would be in jeopardy over the comments. I would like to know what FCC rule was violated by those comments. Ignorance, vulgarity, and bad taste cannot be based for FCC intervention.

Those of us that oppose government interference with speech should all be unhappy if the ABC decision to dump Kimmel was based on fear of FCC action, rather than a realization that Kimmel is a rotten individual with a declining audience.

Back in Business

 I’ve been away for quite some time. My focus was drawn to other matters, but I have missed having the opportunity to opine on the issues of the day.

I have decided to come back to blogging and I also intend to create a podcast. I’m not sure yet what the focus will be, but I will throw my two cents in from time to time until I do develop the content.

Whatever else is true, I’m happy to be back.

Assini's Extraordinary Effort

As you may know, I was a strong supporter of Mark Assini in his race for Congress in New York's 25th District.

It was always going to be an uphill battle...the incumbent, Louise Slaughter, is a 14 term member of Congress and a powerful member of the Democrat leadership in Washington (e.g., ranking member on the Rules Committee). Moreover, Mark was really left largely on his own by national, state, and local GOP leadership. No one really believed in Mark's chances except Mark, his family and some die-hard friends.

Well, as you know, Mark has brought the race down to the wire and beyond. The counting of absentee and affidavit ballots continues and the margin remains razor thin.

Mark may lose the final tally, but in my mind he is already a winner. Talk about fighting the good fight! Mark left nothing on the table in this one. He and his family should be proud.

I want to thank Mark for allowing me to have been a small part of the effort. He will be a role model for anyone who has a dream or goal and who seeks that dream or goal albeit against long odds and against the naysayers and notwithstanding whether he/she is likely to prevail. Mark knew what he wanted to do. He had a message and he found a way to convey that message to many, many voters. He did so with good humor, class, and competence.

Three days after the election, it is still being talked and written about. It was an extraordinary effort by an extraordinary guy.

Way to go Mark.

Can the GOP Make Tuesday Count?

The GOP won quite a victory on Tuesday. But will they use the fruits of that victory wisely?
That's the question Charles Krauthammer posed in this Washington Post column. 

Krauthammer warns the GOP that "[Their win] was a negative judgment, not an endorsement of the GOP. The prize for winning is nothing but the opportunity for Republicans to show that they can govern — the opportunity to seize the national agenda". 
He offered a plan to accomplish that. Here are some of the high points of the plan:

"It needs to be urgent, determined and relentless. Say, a bill a week for the first 10 weeks. Start with obvious measures with significant Democratic support, like the Keystone XL pipeline.

Like fast-track trade negotiation authority that Harry Reid killed and that Obama, like all presidents, wants. Republicans should propose and pass it, thereby giving Obama a victory and demonstrating both bipartisanship and magnanimity (as well as economic good sense).
Then a simple, targeted bill to repatriate the $2 trillion of assets being held by U.S. corporations overseas, a bill to authorize and expedite the export of liquid natural gas and crude oil (the latter banned by an obsolete 1975 law) and a strong border security bill.
As for Obamacare, a symbolic abolition that Obama will immediately veto is less important than multiple rapid-fire measures to kill it with a thousand cuts. Repeal of the medical device tax. Repeal of the individual mandate. Repeal of the employer mandate. Repeal of the coverage mandate, thereby reinstating Obama’s broken promise that “If you like your health-care plan, you can keep it.” And repeal the federal bailout for insurers on the Obamacare exchanges".

He also warns against taking the "impeachment bait" that he thinks Obama will wave before the GOP in the form of unilateral action on immigration.  
Krauthammer is a doctor. I hope the GOP leadership is smart enough to follow his prescription. 

Obama's Lying Eyes...and Lips...and...

As long-time readers will recall, Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite political historians and pundits. He is, like me, a conservative living in a blue state (for him, California).

He has previously lamented the fact that the President gets away with murder due to our docile press. In this NRO post, Hanson simply tells it like it is. Our President is a serial liar. Its not pleasant to use the term, but the facts are what they are.

Hanson lays out the parade of half-truths, mischaracterizations, obfuscations, and outright falsehoods that have been a hallmark of the Obama presidency.

I have to believe that if Barak Obama was a Republican, he would be reviled in the press. As a Democrat, his Praetorian Guard media has only grudgingly acknowledged his penchant for dissemblege.

Read Hanson's post and decide for yourself.

Strategy? Obama Doesn't Even Have a Strategery.

John Hinderaker at PowerLine is one of my favorite political pundits. He's smart, conservative, and a lawyer to boot.

In this PowerLine Post, Hinderaker outlines the true depths of the failure of the President and his administration as it relates to ISIS. The Obama Administration's foreign policy is a joke and his key advisors, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel are not ready for prime time.

The press gives some signs of waking to the disaster that is in the offing, but I fear that two more years of Obama's bumbling will lead to an ever increasing risk of a deadly terrorist attack on our shores.

No expects the President to have all the answers, but he could at least give the appearance of a man trying to find them. His obvious disdain for the military and for any kind of diplomatic confrontation, has kept him from dealing with multiple threats to our interests.

Somewhere Jimmy Carter must be smiling, because President Obama has relieved him of the title of "worst President ever". Meanwhile George W. Bush and his stategery for the terrorists is looking pretty good.

UPDATE:

Here's more by Hinderaker on the need to deal with these terror groups immediately and decisively...while we still can!

"C" is for Cookie...Not!

This ridiculous story is evidence that the nanny state mentality has really taken over, and to an extreme degree.

Early episodes of Sesame Street have been compiled and made available for sale. They apparently come with warning labels because much of the content is "unsuitable for preschoolers". The biggest offenders...Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch.

Good lord, if today's child rearing "experts" truly believe that the original Sesame Street is bad for kids, I fear for the future!

Where There Is Life, There Is Hope

I noted some time ago that my blogging was way down, at least in part, because I had become pessimistic about the future of our country and society. Almost everything I read seems to point to the relentless erosion of the ideals which I believe made America a great country. I think that debilitated me from blogging; concluding it is apparently a pointless exercise.

Thus, I was happy to run across this post by Michael Barone. Mr. Barone is a smart Conservative who I often read and almost always agree with. His article in National Review Online, pointed out that many times in the past, the doomsayers predicted the end of the world as we knew it. Yet, somehow, those predictions fell far short.

Barone ascribes it to the ingenuity and drive of the American people. He concluded by saying that betting against America has always been an error.

My continuing to blog may well be pointless, but it gives me something to do when my wife is not home.  If nothing else, it is a way to share positive notes, like Barone's piece. Those of us who sometimes despair about the future of the nation, need the periodic reassurance.

Thanks, Michael.

Partisanship and Tyranny

The indictment and arrest of the "LDC 4" was our latest public demonstration of the extent of partisanship and tyranny which now infects our public world.

I make no claim about the guilt or innocence of any of the four men arrested on Wednesday. I only know that the "perp walk" was not SOP, but clearly intended for public consumption. If we had any doubt, the "off the record" note to local media, informing them of the when and where of the perp walk, should have removed it.

Attorney General Schneiderman cares only about self-promotion and partisan back-scratching. The charges against Bob Weisner were as vague and difficult to understand, as any I have ever seen. Again, it leaves one to wonder if the real reason behind the charges is to damage Weisner's wife, Maggie Brooks.

Whether or not any of these men is guilty, the perp walk was a disgrace. No citizen should be publicly humiliated by a government official, for what can only be political advantage. What happened to these men's right to a presumption of innocence? Who gave Schneiderman the right to act like the Sheriff of Nottingham?

Maybe he should read the Magna Carta or the US Constitution.

Presidential Prevarication

Let's face it. Our President has a problem telling the truth.

His Obamacare promises..."If you like you current policy, you can keep it. Period!"...and..."if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Period!"...are now clearly shown to have been a campaign ploy.

Now he "apologizes", so to speak. What exactly is he apologizing about? It appears that he's sorry that we didn't realize he was lying in the first place. NBC's Chuck Todd, who elicited the "apology" in a recent interview, subsequently noted that he thinks that the Presedent does not believe what he said was a lie. This despite aides having been quoted (in a Wall Street Journal report) as saying they told Mr. Obama that his "you can keep" it line was not accurate.

Our President will say anything to get and keep his job and to get his way on governmental matters. You see, I guess his view is that if a statement helps him in the campaign of the moment, it must be true.

If only we had a free and unbiased media.

The Stupid Party

Yes, you got it, I'm talking about the GOP.

This is the party that is working with Chuck Schumer, et. al. to bring in some 30 million new residents, who will very quickly (mark my words) become relaible Democrat voters. Somehow, the Republicans in Washington think that allowing millions of people, mostly low or unskilled, who are largely hostile to all of the things about America conservatives stand for, to live in the country and ultimately become citizens, is good for the GOP.

They can't be that dumb. Can they?

Long Time No Blog

I doubt there are many people checking this site as I have not posted in six months.

I have been busy, but I think the main reason is a feeling of futility. When I first strted blogging it was fun to vent my views. But as time went on, I came to realize that everyone has an opinion but only a very, very few have persuasive opinions which reach many people.  I'm certainly not one of them.

There have been a number of things to write about, not the least of which is the incredible degree to which President Obama's second term is the lamest of lame duck situations. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to matter because his press corps (a/k/a Praetorian Guards) downplay it all.

I think I have been debilitated by Obama's re-election and the realization that the country seems irretrievably lost.

Sorry to be so dour. I don't suppose anyone would miss that kind of maudlin commentary. I do hope to resume blogging, and I'll try to stay more upbeat. I'm sure it will be on a limited basis, though,  because I do remain extremely busy at work.

Beyond The Cliff...The Abyss?

Mort Zuckerman, writing for the U.S. News has this to say about the huge financial problem of unfunded debt facing America. Zuckerman says  that this problem dwarfs the fiscal cliff as an economic disaster.

A key quote from the piece:

"The greatest fiscal challenge to the U.S. government is not just its annual deficit but its total liabilities. Our federal balance sheet does not include the unfunded social insurance obligations of Medicare, Social Security, and the future retirement benefits of federal employees. Only in the small print of the financial statements do you get some idea of the enormous size of the unfunded commitments. Today the estimated unfunded total is more than $87 trillion, or 550 percent of our GDP. And the debt per household is more than 10 times the median family income."

As Glenn Reynolds (the Instapundit) likes to say:

"Something that can’t go on forever, won’t. Debts that can’t be repaid, won’t be. Promises that can’t be kept, won’t be. Make your plans accordingly."

I am.

Staring At The Cliff

The deadline looms. The President has a news conference. Senators confer.

We are close to a deal, says Politico. There is a framework in place, says Fox News. I hear the plan calls for raising $800 billion in new revenues by ending the Bush tax cuts on those making over $450,000/yr and by terminating the payroll tax holiday. "Shockingly", there are no spending cuts.

As I noted a couple of weeks ago, we've seen this movie before. It wasn't that good the first time.

Under Barack's Bus

President Obama announced that he accepted the decision by UN Ambassador Susan Rice to withdraw her name from consideration for appointment to be Secretary of State.

As noted in Weekly Standard blog post, the President also criticised the unfounded attacks on her character of recent weeks. Of course, those "attacks" resulted from Obama having sent her out to mislead the public on his behalf.

So now Susan Rice joins the four dead embassy officials as victims of the Benghazi scandal. At least she didn't have to take a real bullet.

We've Seen This Movie Before

And we know how it ends.

I'm talking about the little dance routine going on between GOP and Democratic leaders over the "fiscal cliff" negotiations. As I listen to Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell go through their usual rhetorical machinations, I ask myself how guys so easy to roll got to be in top leadership spots. I feel like it is inevitable that the GOP will cave on "revenues" in exchange for some vague and distant spending cuts. And, they'll still get the blame for whatever fiscal tragedy occurs.

It particularly bothers me since the answer is simple. The President's campaign had only one consistent, specific theme. He asked that those making over $250,000/yr. pay "a little bit more" as part of "a balanced approach" to reducing the deficit. The election results came in and it would seem that the people agreed with the President.

As such, the Speaker should announce that "the people have spoken" and the House should immediately pass a bill extending the Bush tax cuts to all taxpayers except those making over $250,000. He should then ask the President to outline the spending cuts which were to be his part of the "balanced" deficit reduction. This would compel the President to put something on the table or be exposed as (to use his term)  a "bulls.....r".

The Republicans could stay faithful to their "no tax increase" pledge. Their vote, after all, would be to extend most of a tax cut, not to raise any tax. The President would be left to explain how his campaign rhetoric regarding taxing the rich brings in only $80 or $90 billion and leaves us over $1 trillion short of balancing the budget. That should be interesting.

Unfortunately, I don't think our GOP "leaders" have a clue. If, instead of winning, they cave again, the GOP may be finished, because the Tea Party members and other fiscally conservative Republicans are almost certain to say good-bye.

UPDATE: Here's an interesting article proposing that the GOP adopt the Simpson-Bowles deficit plan as an alternative to the almost certain disaster awiting them as a result of the current "negotiations".

Where The Economy Goes From Here

As a conservative, I have grave concerns about President Obama's re-election and its likely effects on the US economy. I have been quite afraid that we are likely to head further down the road towards a state-directed economy, much like European social democracies.

In this blog, University of Chicago economist, John Cochrane, makes a few predictions. They really aren't pretty. The most obvious; that four more years of Obama means four trillion more dollars added to our national debt.

The part of his post that troubles me the most, however, is his description of the incredible breadth of regulations which are already on tap and slated to be implemented as a result of current legislation and executive fiat. Here are his examples just dealing with the EPA:

• Greenhouse gases. Detailed industry controls focusing on greenhouse gas emissions. They're even going to regulate cow farts. Sorry, Farm Methane Emissions. It's funny unless you're a dairy farmer. Hundreds of billions
• Between greenhouse gases, much tighter mercury limits, and designating coal ash a "hazardous substance" like nuclear waste (I'm exaggerating, but that's the idea), the end of coal.
• Tight fracking regulations.
• Much tigher ozone standards. Many cities are now way over the limit.
• Cut sulfur in gas from 30 ppm to 10 ppm. EPA: $90 billion a year
• Temperature standards to protect fish in power plant cooling ponds
• Tighter standards for farm dust. Farms have to submit mediation plans.
• Water quality control for every body of water in the country.
• Strict regulation of industrial boilers ($10-20 billion)
• Formaldehyde emissions from plywood. I didn't know Home Depot was a dangerous place to hang out.  

There are a lot more examples, coming as a result of the ACA (Obamacare), the Dodd-Frank law, and other Federal laws and executive orders.

Read the whole post, but make sure you have the stomach for it. If this guy is half right, our economic future is not a happy one.

Where Conservatives Go From Here

I spent my day yesterday feeling down because I didn't get the "presents" I wanted for "Electionmas" (as Ann Althouse put it). I'm done feeling gloomy, though and now its time to move on, disappointed but glad I live in a Democracy. As Mo Udall once said after losing an election, "The people have spoken.....the bastards".

The "soul searching" is now beginning for Conservatives and Republicans. There will be many calls for being more inclusive or for finding candidates who will argue conservative principles more forcefully. There have already been call for purging the GOP of Tea Party members or apostates like Chris Christie.

The GOP must take this look, but as it does, it must reflect on the fact that Obama's election and re-election tells us that the United States is not the same country it was 20-30 years ago. It is not simply politics, however. The culture has changed and unless conservatives find a way to get their ideas into the current cultural mainstream, they are doomed to political failure.

This piece by Andrew Klaven outlines the problem and offers a few suggestions for a plan of attack. He suggests that political success can only be built upon a foundation of ideas which must be spread through the culture. Here are a couple of excepts from his article:

"The smartest political writers in the country, all of whom are conservative, will now be addressing those questions. I’m an artist; I play the long game.
To win that game, to create an electorate more deeply committed to true liberty and resistant to the sort of cultural scare tactics the president’s campaign team used so effectively, there are three areas to which conservatives need to commit intellectual and financial resources—three areas that our intelligentsia and funders, in their impractical practicality, too often ignore."

Klavan goes on to outline those three areas, the mainstream news media, the entertainment industry and religion among intellectuals (particularly in academia). His conclusion:

"In the aftermath of a crushing electoral defeat, all this [Klavan's discussion of ways to change the current culture] may seem a distant business, an airy conversation for another day. It isn’t. The demography of the country is changing, but demography is not destiny. Ideas are. We must retake the culture and begin speaking truth to a new America."

I think Klavan is really on the right track. I encourage you to read it. I hope that conservatives and GOP leaders realize that the path to political victory lies, in part, outside of electoral politics.

Obama Re-Elected

Barak Obama has been re-elected President.

I admit to my great surprise and some sadness. I fear that the great country I grew up in, is irrevocably changed. It appears that the country of the rugged individualist, has given way to  a nation where JFK's famous adage "Ask not..." has been stood on its head.

Moreover, the President ran a divisive campaign, which may take some time to heal.

Perhaps the President will take his close shave and try to be the agent of hope and change that he claimed he was four years ago. We'll see. I do not think the country can take four more years of the same Obama we had over the last four.

Finally!

Election Day is here.

The voting has begun. The early returns show a 5-5 tie out of Dixville Notch.

Romney is out-performing McCain already. Obama beat McCain by more than 2-1 in the Notch in 2008. The start of a trend.....?