The Tale Of The Swine

Once there was a tribe of wild pigs who lived in a remote area of the woods.

As anyone who's spent time around pigs will tell you, they are by no means the most unintelligent of animals, and these pigs had learned to adapt quite well to their circumstances. They had fashioned dens and had gradually learned to piece together a tribal law that allowed them to work as a group when necessary to ensure an adequate if not over generous food supply, care for their young and defend themselves against any natural predators. In their little corner of the woods, they were pretty much the dominant species, and were reasonably content.

One day, a pig named Andy went missing. The others searched for him throughout their part of the forest, but they were unable to find him no matter where they looked. Andy's fate became a major topic of conversation among the pigs. It was totally unheard of for one of them to simply disappear like that.

The pigs didn't quite keep track of time beyond the seasons, but still by their reckoning it was some time before, to their astonishment, Andy reappeared as the leaves were turning color.

The pigs were ecstatic to see their lost tribe member returned to them..and even better, in what appeared to be rip roaring good health.

Most of the wild pigs tended to lose some weight as the weather started to turn colder and food became scarce and harder to find, but Andy was sleek, fat and obviously had been living, if you'll pardon the expression, high on the hog. His bristles and hooves were clean, his eyes shone brightly and he was as happy as a pig in - well, you know. And much to the other pig's surprise, he had a pretty red collar around his neck, something none of them had ever seen before.

"Wherever have you been Andy?" the other pigs asked. "We looked everywhere for you."

"Oh, I can't wait to tell you", said Andy. "I've discovered something wonderful."

"You know, I was chasing down some berries I smelt over by the oak trees over by our eastern border, you know the place. Well I ended up going a little past our bounds and what bad luck! I wasn't paying attention and got my left rear trotter lodged in a tree root."

"I tried and tried, but I couldn't get free and I thought I might die there. But then the most marvelous thing happened. A man heard my squealing, came through the underbrush and set me free."

Now, the pigs had heard of men before, but only in their pig legends that dated long before they had moved to their present remote home. Some pigs wondered if they even existed. And now, here was Andy telling them he'd actually seen one!

"I was still injured, so the man took me back with him to an amazing place called a Farm. I couldn't believe what I saw there. There are fields loaded with food and grain, and all kinds of different animals living there in peace and plenty. I lived in a large, warm den called a barn, with straw for my bed and the very best of food.No sleeping out of doors for this pig! And do you know what I had this morning? Apples! And corn mash! You can't believe how good it tastes compared to the berries, roots and acorns we live on here - and free, every day, without me having to go out and find it."

"The man - I call him my Dear Farmer - gave me this red collar and made me his pet. He knew I came from a tribe of wild pigs in the area somewhere, and I overheard him say to one of the other men that he was going to let me go near where he found me to see if I would be able to lead him to the other pigs. He wants us all to come live there on the Farm, can you believe it?"

Needless to say, the other pigs were astounded. And as they began discussing this on their own, various differences emerged between them on what they should do.

"What makes you think he wants us all to come live on this farm thing?" one asked Andy.

"Why else would he send me to come and look for you?” replied Andy. " Why, the Dear Farmer loves pigs! He said so. He probably wants our manure to help grow his crops. This is a time for us to move on and progress now that we have a golden opportunity to have a better life for ourselves."

The pigs debated this at length. A number of them, particularly the sows with young piglets were all for going to the Farm. Winter was coming on, food was getting harder to find and the prospect of a warm barn to sleep in and ample food was very enticing. And all of it in exchange for a little manure!

One faction, headed by an old, rugged boar named Ronaldus was adamant in arguing against the move. No matter how glowingly Andy painted a picture of progress and plenty, Ronaldus insisted there was no guarantee of the Farmer's true intentions, and that more important, they had no guarantee that the food and lodging would continue. "If the Farmer can give you these things and you come to depend on them, the day may come that he takes them away. Better we stay in the forest and depend on ourselves."

"You're old fashioned and afraid of the future, Ronaldus" responded Andy. "This is all about change...there are plenty of animals already living on the Farm and it works out well for them. It's an animal's paradise. Why should it be any different for us? I tell you, I've been to the Farm, I've seen the future and it works."

With that, the majority of the pigs voted to follow Andy to where the Dear Farmer was waiting and begin a new life on the Farm. Besides, as Andy explained, if they didn't like it, they could always leave and return to their old life in the woods.

Once they reached the Farm, the pigs saw that it was very much as Andy had described it. The Dear Farmer seemed pleasant and genial, the Farm had many animals living in it and looked peaceful and prosperous. And there, just as Andy had said, was the nice warm barn!

The pigs spent a couple of nights in the warm barn, and even if the food wasn't quite the way Andy had described it, it was still delicious and plentiful.

But on the third day, the Dear Farmer and one of his men herded the pigs into a fenced enclosure, all except Andy, who continued to be allowed to stay in the barn and to roam free during the day. The pigs heard the Dear Farmer refer to their new quarters as 'the sty' and while it wasn't as nice as the barn it was still sheltered and warmer than some of their old dens, and the food was still much more plentiful than back in the forest.

Some of the pigs had a few misgivings. Some of them noted that now that they were in a fenced enclosure, there was no chance to return to their old life in the forest even if they wanted to. And they noticed that only Andy, with his red collar, still had the freedom to roam and still slept in the nice warm barn.

"You're being unreasonable", some of the other pigs replied. "You're simply not progressive. The Dear Farmer is providing for all our needs here. This sty is far better than our old dens in the forest, and the food is better and comes without our having to hunt or do anything for it. And besides, why shouldn't Andy run free? Isn't he our leader now? And since he's the Dear Farmer's friend, so much the better for us."

Life for the pigs assumed a day-to-day routine. The Dear Farmer or one of his men came every day and continued to make sure that the pigs were fed and watered regularly and their needs were taken care of. Some of the pigs noticed that Andy had ceased coming around, although they spotted him roaming around the farm occasionally. When some of the pigs questioned this, the others responded, "How can you criticize Andy like that? Look at all he's done for us! He's probably working hard with The Dear Farmer to make sure we get what we deserve and are taken care of properly."

Many of the pigs, you see, especially the younger ones had largely forgotten the old days in the forest and felt they were entitled to food, shelter and good treatment just because they were pigs.

One day, an unusual thing happened to break the routine. The Dear Farmer and two of his men came into the sty, picked out a couple of large hogs and a couple of piglets and drove them out of the sty towards another building over by the other side of the Barn, one the pigs heard the Dear Farmer refer to as the 'smokehouse.'

The pigs were quite surprised at this, and spent much time debating over what had happened and what it meant. Some of them thought that perhaps the Dear Farmer felt their sty was getting too crowded, and that the 'smokehouse' was simply another sty. "It's just another example of how the Dear Farmer looks after us."

Others theorized that the hogs and piglets had been promoted and were going to join Andy in assisting the Dear Farmer in looking after the other pigs, and that they would soon be seen wearing pretty red collars too. Still others thought that they had disobeyed the Rules of the Farm in some fashion, were being punished and would be returned to the Sty shortly.

The next day, some of the pigs noticed Andy walking by and called out to him, saying they needed to talk to him. To their surprise, Andy approached the sty at a brisk trot. "Hello my fellow pigs", Andy said. "How goes it with you?"

"Andy, we need you to find out something for us", one of the hogs said. "Yesterday, the Dear Farmer took two of the hogs and couple of piglets out of our sty. We've been wondering what happened to them."

"Oh, I know all about that" Andy said. "This is probably an excellent time for us to talk about what being part of the Farm really means."

"You see, being part of the Farm is not about the individual, it's bigger than that. Here, we're all part of the Farm. And to keep the Farm going, everybody in the Farm is going to have to sacrifice something, accept change for the greater good. Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game."

"That means that we pigs also have to sacrifice. We have to be about the good of the Farm, and all the animals on it, not just say 'hey, we're doing fine' and not worry about the rest of the Farm".

"What do you mean, Andy?" asked one of the pigs.

"I mean that the pigs you mentioned are helping the entire Farm, including all of us pigs, by performing a special role in keeping the Farm going. That's why they're in the Smokehouse. As the Dear Farmer taught me, from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

The pigs mulled this over for a bit. Finally, a sow named Dinah asked, "Andy...I understand that maybe it might be necessary for some of us pigs to go over to the Smokehouse to help the whole Farm. But if that's our role, where do you fit in? Are you going to be going to the Smokehouse too?"

Andy chuckled, "Not quite Dinah. The Dear Farmer gave me other duties to perform for the Farm. I've already been able to tell another tribe of pigs in the forest near the south part of the Farm about the animal's paradise here and some of them are in the Barn as we speak. They'll probably be in a sty over in a different part of the Farm tomorrow, enjoying all of the benefits we have and doing their part to keep the Farm going just like we are."

"Not only that, but I also help them get the things they need and deserve from the Dear Farmer, just as I'm helping you. You need me to intercede with the Dear Farmer because I understand his ways. I'm the.. community organizer for all the pigs on this farm!"

"Wait a minute Andy", asked another of pigs, an older hog named David. "I don't like this one bit. Look at what we've come to. We were told that if we came here, we'd live in the nice warm barn, get free food and nothing was going to be demanded of us except a little manure. Now it seems like things have changed. We're not in the Barn, the food's not quite what we were told and it looks like a lot more is being asked of us than just manure. I want out of this deal. I want to go back to the forest."

"I see", said Andy. "Because things aren't exactly the way you want you're willing to jeopardize the entire community for your own selfish needs. Let's say all of us abandoned the Dear Farmer the way you want to. What do you suppose would happen to the Farm? What about the piglets? You want to deprive them of food and shelter too? Remember what I said about us all needing to have some skin in the game? "

"Yeah", yelled Dinah and some of the other pigs as they glared at David "Isn't it time we thought of the piglets?"

"I could care less,” replied David. "I want out!"

Andy looked at him a second, and then said very quietly, "Fine David. If you want to put yourself ahead of the piglets and their needs, ahead of the whole Farm, that's something I guess you'll have to live with."

'How do I get out of the sty?" asked David.

Andy looked at him for a long moment. "David, its one thing for me to listen to you outrageously putting yourself ahead of every animal on the Farm. It's something else for you to expect me to help you do it. I'm fighting for the average pig, the little porker, not the greedy one per cent who don't want to give so we all can enjoy peace and plenty."

He then trotted away, listening to the other pigs applaud him and shout out his name. And as he went, Andy made a note to himself to talk to the Dear Farmer about moving David to the Smokehouse the very next day.

Tony Blankley RIP

Ace columnist, op-ed writer and commentator Tony Blankley made the passage last night, succumbing to a long bout with stomach cancer. He was 63.

Tony Blankley was not only a top columnist, but someone whom had seen things from the inside. He spent six years in the Reagan Administration as a speechwriter and senior policy analyst, and from 1990 to 1997 he served as press secretary and general adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich during the Contract With America days.

What I always liked about his stuff was the way that he combined his sensibilities with the fervor of an articulate conservative and a naturalized American citizen.

His columns on national security issues were always a particular favorite of mine, He had an almost instinctive feel for these matters and you always came away with a fresh perspective. And he was one of a select group of people who have not only an innate understanding of American politics but the ability to communicate it.

He'll be missed.

Last Night's Debate - 'Moderator' Stephanopoulos Does His Bit For Obama

Last night's debate in New Hampshire was most notable for proving once again that Republicans and especially conservative Republicans should avoid the dinosaur media like the plague.

Last night's debate was hosted by ABC, and moderated by George Stephanopoulos - ex-campaign operative, Senior Advisor on Policy and Strategy and press spin jockey for President Bill Clinton, who walked into his job with ABC as soon as he resigned from the White House.

Stephanopoulos' 'moderating' lacked even a semblance of objectivity or journalistic ethics as he fired over the top broadsides , often hypothetical ones at the GOP candidates to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if he got an early morning call from the White House beforehand. Here's a sample:

“Now, there have been questions about that calculation of 100,000 jobs. So if you could explain it a little more,” Stephanopoulos asked Romney of the former governor’s claims about jobs created by companies he has helmed. “I’ve read some analysts who look at it and say that you’re counting the jobs that were created but not counting the jobs that were taken away. Is that accurate?”

“No, it’s not accurate,” Romney bluntly responded. “It includes the net of both. I’m a good enough numbers guy to make sure I got both sides of that.”

Stephanopoulos did not cite any analysts by name.

In another line of questioning, Stephanopoulos asked Romney if he believes “that states have the right to ban contraception, or is that trumped by a constitutional right to privacy?”

Romney responded by questioning Stephanopoulos’ logic and his choice to raise a hypothetical situation that would never happen.

“You’re asking — given the fact that there’s no state that wants to do so, and I don’t know of any candidate that wants to do so — you’re asking could it constitutionally be done?” Romney asked, with a hint of incredulity.

Stephanopoulos, undeterred, pressed Romney again: “I’m asking you, do you believe that states have that right or not?”

Amid a chorus of “boos” from the audience, Romney again parried the impossible hypothetical.

“George, I don’t know whether a state has a right to ban contraception,” Romney responded. “No state wants to. I mean, the idea of you putting forward things that states might want to do that no state wants to do, and asking me whether they could do it or not, is kind of a silly thing, I think.”

Stephanopoulos also took shots at the other candidates, notably Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. And he deliberately encouraged the candidates to squabble among themselves rather than actually doing what a moderator is supposed to do, keep things on track and on topic. I'm sure that pleased the Obama campaign no end.

Oh, I hear what you're thinking...'hey,George Stephanopoulos is a human being,he has his views, you can't expect him to shut them off.'

Actually, that's exactly what I expect, from him and anyone else in the media who bills themselves as journalists and news professionals rather than commentators or opinion writers.

Tell me, when you go to work in an office, in a factory, or a business environment do you make a point of trumpeting your politics? Do you let them affect your job performance? Let's say you're Democrat plumber whose boss sends you on a job, you make a point of talking politics with the customer and modify your charges and your performance based on their ideology. How long do you think you'd stay employed?

The same thing is true in most work environments...with the exception of academia,Hollywood and the dinosaur media, where voicing conservative views can impact your employment prospects unless you're too well established and entrenched to touch.

A detached, balanced and non-biased attitude ought to be the standard in broadcast news and journalism, and it used to be, at least on the surface. Not any more. If George Stephanopoulos received any negative feedback from his employers at ABC for his performance, it was for not being more subtle about it.

That's exactly why the stocks, the readers and the audience are plummeting at the dinosaur media papers and the alphabet networks, and why the internet, talk radio and FOX, whose motto 'Fair and Balanced' is exemplified by their having Democrat Chris Wallace as their main anchor are seeing their readership and audiences surge. Since the dinosaur media's whitewash of President Obama, more and more people simply aren't drinking the Kool-ade anymore.

If I were running, I wouldn't even go near a debate like this. I think NewtGingrich had a decent idea of making these things Lincoln -Douglas style, with no moderator but a timekeeper and the candidates forced to think on their feet to counter each other's arguments. At the very least, I wouldn't go near one sponsored by the alphabet networks unless I badly needed exposure.

As for the rest of the debate, it was notable that once again, no one has really been able to lay a glove on Mitt Romney. There were a few attempts, mainly by Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, mainly focusing on Romney's changes in his positions and his time at Bain Capital, but they didn't really seem to do much damage and seemed fairly ineffectual.

The primary is Tuesday, and Romney is expected to win. It will be interesting to see how Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum end up finishing as we proceed on to South Carolina.

ADDENDUM: Hugh Hewitt notes that the execrable David Gregory did exactly the same thing that Stephanopoulos did last night in the NBC debate Gregory 'moderated' this Sunday morning.

No question in my mind now that this was coordinated from the White House. Disgraceful.

So Now, It's 'Recovery Winter'!!

Remember 'recovery summer' and how that ultimately turned out? Well it's back,this time as 'recovery winter' . At least if you read the Soros media, outlets like the New York Times and other assorted Obamabot shills.

What they're jumping up and down about is a downtick in unemployment of a huge one tenth of a percent in December, from 8.6 to 8.5 and the 'robust' addition of 200,000 jobs.

I deconstructed this once before, but let's go over a few things again.

The percentages they're talking about are the the 'official' U-3 unemployment rate. It accounts only for the people who are receiving or have applied for unemployment benefits and are actively seeking work.

The more accurate stat is the U-6 rate, which government never trumpets but is a lot closer to reality. It includes the above plus people no longer actively seeking employment, people who are not covered by unemployment, like people hired as independent contractors or the owner of the small dry cleaning business or restaurant that closed its doors in your neighborhood last week or people let go with not enough quarters of employment to qualify for benefits or from part time and seasonal jobs. That rate fell too...from 15.6 to 15.4.

Adding 200,000 jobs during the holiday season is also not evidence of an uptick, since a number of seasonal jobs open up and then close afterwards in places like retail. Normally unemployment rates go down between 1 and 2%. A reduction of a tenth of a percent tells us things are actually getting worse. Retailers and others expected a skinny Christmas and gauged their hiring accordingly.

As Zero Hedge points out, there's also a distinct possibility that the Bureau of Labor Statistics is cooking the books by lowering the labor force participation rate to provide an artificially 'lower' unemployment rate.

The market isn't fooled either - the Dow is down almost 40%, although it may come back a bit if there are sell offs.

Look for a 'correction' in this horse manure next month.

ECI Ad On Ron Paul

Now airing in New Hampshire...and featuring my old friend Gary Bauer, my choice for president in 2000. If only..

The Latest LATMA - Cutting Edge Israeli Satire!

The Council Has Spoken!! This Week's Watcher's Council Results

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for the first Watcher's Council match up of 2012, carved eternally in the akhasic records of cyberspace.

Great ideas and eternal truths never die - or as the megilla written by Ecclesiastes put it so well long ago "There is nothing new under the sun" - because human nature never changes.

This week's winning essay, The Noisy Room's 2011 – Turning Our Backs on the Gods of the Copybook Headings takes an old and very prescient poem by Rudyard Kipling, applies its lessons to our present day and turns in a real cri de coeur. Here's a slice:

Rudyard Kipling:
AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

*************************************************************************

Welcome to 2012… Buckle up because it will be one hell of a ride as Obama goes for broke and his mask comes off, displaying the full intent of his Marxist agenda. Interesting times indeed.

2011 was a year replete with Progressivism running wild in America and across the globe. A year that freedom slipped away and tyrants gathered collectively in gleeful anticipation of a coalescence of power, wealth and control. The year that many patriots woke up in America and realized they did not recognize their country any more.

Economics

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

The Keynesian economists blather on and on… Every channel you turn to, they proclaim that we are in a recovery, albeit slow, but, recovery nonetheless. And they actually think we are stupid enough to believe that. Elitist arrogance run amok.

Silly Marxists, we know the markets are rigged. All they do is go up and Americans know it is a lie. Gold and silver markets are being manipulated. Stocks are a bad joke. The dollar is junk. While firms such as IMF Global rip investors off, publicly and brutally, individual banks are stealing their clientele blind a few dollars at a time. Why? Because they can. The collective mentality dictates that you should steal all you can before the ship goes down for the last time. After all, what does it matter? Get it while you can, is their reasoning. Screw everyone, time to look out for numero uno. What they forget is that their actions will have a cost, just like it did in the days before the Russian empire came tumbling down and the KGB changed their clothes from chic jack booted thuggery, to sleek government de regeur.

We are trillions in debt here in the US. Forget untenable, it’s un-survivable. But our leaders keep printing money in a Weimar frenzy, declaring: “What inflation?” While Americans go to the store and weigh what they can afford to eat this week as opposed to keeping the heat on.

Regulations are strangling capitalism to death and company after company is down-sizing or folding altogether. Three years into Obama’s bleak utopia and unemployment is staggering. Don’t believe the government’s numbers – they are a lie as well. Rigged to make gullible taxpayers believe things are better than they really are. Thy story is entitled Animal Farm. How very anti-laissez-faire. Welcome to 1932 redux.

I sense Cass Sunstein chuckling sardonically behind the Marxist curtain of the EPA and other agencies stealing our land, telling us what we can and can’t buy and where we can and can’t live. Herding us into cities where we can be stacked and packed and controlled. They are engineering tenement Hell.

In our non-Council category, the winner was an old Watcher's Council favorite, Sultan Knish with The Year We Lost Afghanistan, Etc. submitted by The Political Commentator.


Here are this week’s full results.New Zeal was unable to vote this week, and was affected by the 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 votes! The Noisy Room – 2011 – Turning Our Backs on the Gods of the Copybook Headings



• Second place *t* with 2 1/3 votes – Joshuapundit- A Bridge Too Far: CAIR Versus Bare Naked Islam



• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Right Truth –Taliban to Gitmo: Bye-Bye!



• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – New Zeal-Communist Party Targets Veterans for Recruitment: How Will Their Skills be Used?



• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Bookworm Room-A tour de force post taking us from Google interviews, to self-esteem, to dancing men



• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Razor-Israelis Stand Up to the Haredi



• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Rhymes With Right-Where Non-Discrimination Principles And Aiding Students Conflict



• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Mellow Jihadi-I Gotta Move to Texas



• Fifth place with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews – Hugo Chavez Reflects



• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – Civilization Continues to Crumble



• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – VA Right! – Why the Iowa Caucus Is (Almost!) Irrelevant

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 2/3 votes! – Sultan Knish- The Year We Lost Afghanistan, Etc. submitted by The Political Commentator



• Second place *t* with 2 votes – Gates Of Vienna – Driving Out The Infidel submitted by Joshuapundit



• Second place *t* with 2 votes – Jon's Deep ThoughtsMilitary Intelligence is an oxymoron? I think not. submitted by Bookworm Room



• Third place with 1 2/3 votes - Small Wars Journal – Thinking the Unthinkable about Napalm and Flamethrowers submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD



• Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes - Daily Mail/Dominic Sandbrook –The spectre of 1932: How a loss of faith in politicians and democracy could make 2012 the most frightening year in living memory submitted by The Noisy Room
  



• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote - Confessions of a Closet Republican – <After Christmas Day Bombings Boko Haram Tells Nigerian Christians They Have 3 Days To Get Out submitted by Simply Jews



• Fifth place *t* with 1 vote -Alex Knapp/Outside The Beltway – Ron Paul Versus The Fourteenth Amendmentsubmitted by The Glittering Eye



• Sixth place with 2/3 vote -Wolf Howling –Obama Signs On To Silencing Criticism Of Islam submitted by Rhymes With Right



• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -National Review Online –Repo Men submitted by The Razor
  



• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Powerline –Keynes Was Right–About the Jews? submitted by The Watcher

See you next week! And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!

Hollowing Out America's Military -Obama's Latest Project

President Obama formally announced the beginnings of what's been in the works for some time - the hollowing out of the US military so that he can have more money to spend on his domestic agenda and rewarding his political allies.

It will also play well with his base, whom, like this president, mostly have little understanding or use for our military and what it does.After accumulating trillions in debt, he will thus - wait for it - campaign as a fiscal hawk who reduced spending and brought our troops home!

With the able assistance of SecDef Leon Panetta, a political hack who knows absolutely nothing about national security, the president's plan is basically this:

He will lay off massive amounts of experienced and battle tested military personnel, ideally those who haven't been in long enough to become vested for a military pension or full medical benefits. They'll simply be tossed into an already toxic job market as a 'reward'.Total troop reductions are conservatively estimated at 500,000, bringing our forces down to pre -WWII levels. For those that manage to stay in, pay and benefits will be sharply slashed... while a the same time, the White House is proposing pay increases for Washington bureaucrats.

Instead, we're going to rely on drones. A brief look at how long it took NATO forces to overcome Khaddaffi's forces using air power and a glance at how successful relying primarily on drone warfare would have been in say, the Gulf War or against any power with a significant air force ought to tell you what a smart move this is. Boots on the ground equals control.

Now that President Obama has done his best to see to it that the makings of a Muslim Brotherhood caliphate are in place in Egypt and North Africa and that Iraq will almost certainly come under Iranian influence, we're pretty much leaving the Middle East to fend for itself and trusting the new Arab Spring governments to be friendly entities. We'll still keep our bases in Bahrain and a few other places, but they will be naval and air bases, with the minimum boots on the ground.

Since the president also remains adamant about domestic oil drilling and coal use in America, you may draw your own conclusions about how wise this is. Especially in light of recent Iranian actions concerning the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

By the way,contrary to popular rumor, the US is not going to 'deploy' troops in Israel. They're going to be stationed there briefly for a coordinated missile defense exercise and then leave. The Israelis are going to be left bracketed by Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas, with the 'Palestinian' Authority and Muslim Brotherhood-ruled Egypt right next door and a nuclear Iran just over the horizon.

Europe is going to largely be abandoned. Although we'll still have NATO and pay lip service to it, we're going to pull out most of our forces and largely leave the Soviets in place as the major conventional power to the East and Turkey the largest one to the southeast. Another 'benefit' of this could very well be a massive German re-armament, which has always worked out so well in the past.

President Obama is willing to give the Taliban just about anything they want to allow us an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan. A Taliban office has already been set up in Qatar to complete negotiations, the Obama Administration has declared itself more than willing to release murderous jihadis currently in Guantanamo back to the Taliban, and we're on our way out in a fashion that will provide a great deal of thought for both our enemies and for allies in the region like India.

The US is giving up a prime doctrine our military has operated under since WWII - the ability to fight wars on two fronts at once. Even if budget cuts mandate this, announcing it to the entire world was an act of unforgivable folly and almost begs our enemies to combine against us and take advantage.

The sole firewall we're keeping up is in the Western Pacific, where we continue to maintain military bases and have stationed ground troops in Darwin, Australia.

While this isn't a bad idea by itself, it relies on our blue water naval superiority in the region. Thanks to the cuts president Obama and Secdef Panetta have in mind, we won't be able to maintain that superiority, as our navy is going to be at its lowest level in ships since 1915.

The total cuts involved amount to almost a trillion dollars - $480 billion over the next decade and a whopping $500 billion now thanks to the inane bargain Congress made with the president in case the super committee failed. This does not take in account other cuts hidden elsewhere in the budget via unfunded joint weapons projects and to our CIA and other parts of our national security apparatus,some of which is in Homeland Security's budget. That amounts to close to another $300 million, according to several sources.

I can't do better than to quote my own Congressman Buck McKeon,head of the House Armed Services committee: "“This is a lead-from-behind strategy for a left-behind America.”

It is indeed,and we will pay for it later in blood and treasure.

Egypt Prosecutors Demand Death Penalty For Mubarak, Sons

Egyptian prosecutors are now demanding the death penalty for 83-year-old former president Hosni Mubarak, his two sons, former interior minister Habib el-Adly and six senior police officers for their alleged role in the death of Tahrir Square protestors:

"The prosecution demands the maximum penalty against Mubarak and the rest of the accused, which is death by hanging," Mustafa Khater, a member of the prosecution team, told a court. "The killing of one person calls for a death penalty so what would the court say in a case where hundreds have been killed."

Khater's speech prompted cheers and claps from some lawyers who shouted: "Death, death ... Allahu Akbar!" {...}

Chief Prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman told the court that, even if Mubarak did not directly order the killing of the protesters, he failed in his constitutional responsibility to protect the people.

There's a good chance they may very well hang the Mubaraks and the other defendents. With the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists set to take over the new parliament, the military tribunal that currently rules Egypt might just find some scapegoasts and some blood highly useful right now, as a diversion if nothing else.

Mama Grizzley, Okie Style - Teen Mom Blows Away Intruder Who Tried To Break In

Now, this story made me smile..

A young 18-year-old teen mother in Oklahoma City took out an intruder to protect herself and her 3-month-old baby on New Year's Eve, less than a week after the baby's father died of cancer.

Sarah McKinley said that on Christmas Day, the same day of her husband's funeral, a man later identified as Justin Martin dropped by, claiming that he was a neighbor who just wanted to say hello. Mrs. McKinley didn't fall for that and refused to let him in.

On New Year's Eve Martin returned with another man, Dustin Stewart, and this time was armed with a 12-inch hunting knife. They'd obviously been scoping things out and knew Mrs. Mckinley was alone in the house with her baby, so the scum began trying to break in, figuring she was an easy mark.

She wasn't. Sarah McKinley grabbed her trusty 12 gauge, her baby and a bottle, headed for her bedroom and called 911.

"I've got two guns in my hand -- is it okay to shoot him if he comes in this door?" the young mother asked the 911 dispatcher. "I'm here by myself with my infant baby, can I please get a dispatcher out here immediately?"

The 911 dispatcher confirmed with McKinley that the doors to her home were locked as she asked again if it was okay to shoot if the intruder were to come through her door.

"I can't tell you that you can do that but you do what you have to do to protect your baby," the dispatcher told her.

So when Martin kicked in her bedroom door and came after her with the knife she shot and killed him. His partner ran away and turned himself in to the police later.

Since this is Oklahoma and not Lotus Land, the cops are calling it justifiable homicide and no charges will be filed.

"You're allowed to shoot an unauthorized person that is in your home. The law provides you the remedy, and sanctions the use of deadly force," Det. Dan Huff of the Blanchard police said.

"I wouldn't have done it, but it was my son," McKinley told ABC News Oklahoma City affiliate KOCO. "It's not an easy decision to make, but it was either going to be him or my son. And it wasn't going to be my son. There's nothing more dangerous than a woman with a child."

Mrs. McKinley, you are one stand up, heroic woman and I have a feeling that as soon as you're ready, some upstanding example of manhood is going to propose and take you off the market. Oklahoma, OK!

Remember this story the next time some politician in a gated estate with armed bodyguards or 24/7 Secret Service or state trooper protection tries to talk you into disarming yourself and tell them exactly where they can stick it.

Rogue President - Obama Appointments 'Unprecedented Power Grab From Congress'

There's this document called the Constitution. Now, in Article II, Section II of the Constitution it says:

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

President Obama had some fairly radical appointments he wanted to make. One of them was Richard Courdray, whom the president want to head the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Senate objected because of the unprecedented power it would have placed in one man answerable only to the White House ( similar groups like the FDIC and the SEC have executive boards) and rejected his nomination.

Since then, the Senate has been in pro forma session to prevent recess appoints, in accordance with the Constitution.

The president decided that he was going to decide whether Congress was in session or not, and simply appointed Courdray in a recess appointment.He followed that up later in the day with recess appointments for three pro union members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Speaker Boehner called the appointment an “extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab,” and said that the position “had not been filled for one reason: the agency it heads is bad for jobs and bad for the economy.”

Congress blocked Cordray because they want to revamp the CFPB. Its financing, for example, comes from the Federal Reserve,giving it no Congressional oversight.

As an interesting side not, it also violates the Obama Administration's own policies.

It shatters legal precedent and violates the president's oath to protect and defend the Constitution. And as always with this president, it's about the politics.This is a way for him to energize his base against 'obstructionist Congressional Republicans.' That's whom he's decided he's running against.

the Senate Democrats, to their shame are not going to challenge an incumbent Democrat president on this, so it will be left to the Republicans.

They can, of course, take the president to court and tie this up. Among other things, the Dodd-Frank bill that created the CFPB and the director's position Cordray would fill specifically states that the director's executive powers will not take effect until the CFPB director "is confirmed by the Senate." That would certainly give President Obama the political platform he wants.

Or they can punt for now and take this up say, in two months when the new tax bill needs to be voted on.

There's also a chance that an outside party like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce could file suit.

We'll see.

California Federal Judge Rules Assault On Jewish Students By Muslims Is 'Protected Speech'

No, I'm not kidding.

Over at UC Berkeley, Muslim students and were holding an anti-Israel “Apartheid Week” demonstration sanctioned by the university and conducted by the Muslim Student Association, Students for Justice in Palestine and their assorted leftist allies on campus in 2010.

For anyone who's never been to these little gatherings, they feature anti-Semitic,inflammatory rhetoric as the main course along with street theater like trampling and burning Israeli flags ( which contain a religious symbol, by the way)and simulated 'checkpoints' blocking off essential parts of the campus and forcing students to run a gauntlet of violent and intimidating students to get by.

At the 2010 protest at Berkeley, 20-year-old Jessica Felber and a few other Jewish students in the pro-Israel Tikva group had the courage to confront this mob by mounting a small pro-Israel demonstration in response.

The anti-Israel crowd responded by issuing violent threats against the Jews, culminating in leader of the Students for Justice in Palestine, Husam Zakharia, assaulting Ms. Felber and ramming her from behind with a loaded shopping cart.Ironically, Felber was carrying a sign that read “Israel Wants Peace” when she was assaulted.

Zakaria was later arrested but the local district attorney apparently declined to prosecute him.

In an interview, Felber said Zakharia has been involved with numerous violent incidents involving Jews:

According to her, physical intimidation has frequently been employed as a tool by SJP to silence students opposing their anti-Zionist activities on campus. “SJP students have been terrorizing us for three years with intimidation, accusations and threats. This incident is simply the culmination of it all and we are not going to tolerate it anymore.”

SJP’s tactics backfired on at least one occasion when, in November 2008, the group attempted to disrupt a concert organized by the Zionist Freedom Alliance during “Israel Liberation Week” on the UC Berkeley campus. After striking a ZFA activist in the head, Zakharia found himself beaten to the ground. Following the incident, Zakharia and two fellow SJP members, along with two Zionist activists, were cited for battery but no charges were officially filed.

Felber then decided to file a civil rights action against the University of California at Berkeley, the Regents of the University of California and their ranking officials. The complaint stated that Defendants were fully aware that Zakharia, the SJP and similar student groups had been involved in other similar incidents on campus against Jewish and other students, but took no reasonable steps to protect Ms. Felber and others.

The complaint charged that the assault was the result of the university having essentially sponsored and encouraged similar incitements by the SJP and the MSA and failing to discipline them for past incidents.

It documented how the university had ignored numerous complaints from students about the poisonous climate on campus and accused the university of tolerating 'the growing cancer of a dangerous anti-Semitic climate on its campuses' thus violating the civil rights of Ms. Felber and other students to enjoy a peaceful campus environ.

Now, if Ms.Felber had been black and was injured by, say, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood or White Aryan Nation during a campus demonstration, you know without even guessing that the Obama Department of Justice would be in this up to their necks and providing DOJ lawyers for her by the busload. Instead, she was forced to hire private counsel.

The case went to trial in Federal Court in Oakland and was heard by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg, an Obama appointee.

He dismissed the case out of hand.

He claimed that the harassment constituted 'protected political speech':

Seeborg said the university did not have any obligation to intervene in any dispute where a private individual on campus was allegedly interfering with another’s constitutional rights. He instead appeared to indicate that the incident was an outcome of Felber’s counter protest.

“The incident in which Felber was assaulted with a shopping cart, for example, did not occur in the context of her educational pursuit,” Seeborg wrote. "Rather, that event occurred when she, as one person attempting to exercise free speech rights in a public forum, was allegedly attacked by another person who likewise was participating in a public protest in a public forum."

Now, I always thought that freedom of speech involved talking, not ramming someone from behind with a shopping cart. But apparently the rules are different when it comes to Muslims...and Jews, for that matter.

If attacking someone physically is now protected speech, would that also apply if a bunch of young Jewish men grabbed a few baseball bats and exercised their freedom of speech in breaking up what amounted to a racist assault on their people and their right to self-determination?

Well, your 'Honor'?

I smell the stench of something very old and pungent here...

(hat tip, Louie Louie)

Summing Up Iowa

The Iowa Caucus has come and gone.

The results were a virtual photo finish between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, but the real winner of course was Rick Santorum.

I say that because Santorum managed to come up on top with a shoestring campaign that spent a fraction of what his opponents did in Iowa, and he did it in spite of being largely marginalized in the debates. He did it in a way that you can really only do in a small state like Iowa - using shoe leather and rental car miles. Like Mike Huckabee before him, Rick Santorum triumphed in Iowa because a lot of people had a chance to meet him and liked what they saw.

Also working in his favor was the high percentage of social conservatives in Iowa and the fact that his rivals imploded. In the end, it came down to a choice between Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul.

Despite various naysayers, the fact that Mitt Romney did as well as he did in a Midwestern state loaded with evangelicals and social conservatives says something about his relatively broad appeal to various factions. He wasn't supposed to win here, and he actually devoted very little time in Iowa until the last weeks, when polls showed him near the top of the field.

As I wrote on these pages long ago, a significant part of this election after three plus years of Barack Obama is going to be about competency, and Mitt Romney definitely comes across as a competent candidate whom could actually perform well in the Oval Office.

Both Romney and Santorum now proceed to New Hampshire with very different challenges.

Rick Santorum has to raise enough money based on his Iowa finish to put together a campaign organization capable of taking him to the next level. If he doesn't, he simply won't go much further. He also needs to be able to adjust his message sufficiently to appeal to voters more concerned with the economy than social conservative issues.

And finally, Santorum is no longer going to be marginalized as a candidate, with all that implies. He's going to be getting greater scrutiny, and he's going to be a target. How he deals with that will make or break his candidacy. The atacks have already started with the meme in a number of quarters that he's a 'big government conservative.' He is in the sense that like almost everyone else in the GOP fold he believes in a strong national defense,border security, and a sound fiscal and trade policy. He doesn't if you translate it as 'welfare state', which is what it really means today.

Mitt Romney's challenge will be to build on his success. This is going to be a little trickier than it sounds. While Mitt Romney will undoubtedly do well in new Hampshire, he will face increased media scrutiny and is likely to face visceral attacks by Newt Gingrich,who is embittered over his showing in Iowa after leading in the pols there at one point, and blames a series of negative ads run bu a pro-Romney super-PAC.

Anyone whom saw Gingrich's speech last night knows there's blood in the water. I would even say it's to the point where Gingrich, historically a bomb thrower, cares less about winning the White House at this point than he does about doing his best to destroy Mitt Romney. That and trying to hold on until South Carolina and attempt to eke out a win there is pretty much what remains of Newt Gingrich's strategy,and we'll see it unveiled in New Hampshire in the debates and in Newt Gingrich's ads.

Gingrich will also try to contrast himself as the 'Reagan conservative' he isn't as opposed to 'liberal' Romney.

Mitt Romney's challenge will be to defend himself forcefully while not going over the line into anger and tit for tat infighting.

Rick Perry, after a disappointing fourth place finish will probably be looking at South Carolina as his firewall. If he's unable to make a decent showing there, he will likely drop out.

The biggest loser of course was Ron Paul. Due to Iowa's caucus rules, this was probably his best chance to make a decent showing. He bet all his chips on it, and lost.

Iowa's third place finish, well behind Romney and Santorum is probably the best he's going to do in the primaries, although he will continue to be a force in the campaign. His real goal is to be a spoiler and set up things for a third party run.

Watcher's Council Nominations - Post Hawkeye Head To Head Edition

Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, The Independent Sentinel, The Grouch,Crazy Bald Guy, Knowledge Creates Power and Capitalist Preservation took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won't be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let's see what we have this week....

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – 2011 – Turning Our Backs on the Gods of the Copybook Headings



• Simply Jews – Hugo Chavez Reflects



• The Right Planet – Agony In The Garden



• Joshuapundit-A Bridge Too Far: CAIR Versus Bare Naked Islam



• The Political Commentator – Is it the Obama administration or Iran in charge of U.S. foreign policy?



• The Colossus of Rhodey – Civilization Continues to Crumble



• Bookworm Room – A tour de force post taking us from Google interviews, to self-esteem, to dancing men



• Rhymes With Right – Where Non-Discrimination Principles And Aiding Students Conflict



• The Glittering Eye -The American Ant Tribe



• VA Right - Why the Iowa Caucus Is (Almost!) Irrelevant



• The Razor – Israelis Stand Up to the Haredi



• The Mellow Jihadi – I Gotta Move to Texas



• Right Truth – Taliban to Gitmo: Bye-Bye!



• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Kick It



• New Zeal – Communist Party Targets Veterans for Recruitment: How Will Their Skills be Used?

Honorable Mentions

• The Grouch - A Caucus? A Primary? A Mess?



• Crazy Bald Guy - The Idiocy of Iowa



• Knowledge Creates Power - The Race for the White House 2012… Perhaps Not All Horses to the Gates



• The Independent Sentinel/strong> - How An Online University Pays For A Football Bowl & Scams Vets With Federal Dollars



• Capitalist Preservation - The fallacy of the minimum wage: Part One

Non-Council Submissions

• Daily Mail/Dominic Sandbrook –The spectre of 1932: How a loss of faith in politicians and democracy could make 2012 the most frightening year in living memory submitted by The Noisy Room



• Confessions of a Closet Republican – After Christmas Day Bombings Boko Haram Tells Nigerian Christians They Have 3 Days To Get Out submitted by Simply Jews



• Palestinian Media Watch – In newest Zayzafuna, "Palestine" still replaces all of Israel submitted by The Right Planet



• Gates Of Vienna – Driving Out The Infidel submitted by Joshuapundit



• Sultan Knish -The Year We Lost Afghanistan, Etc. submitted by The Political Commentator



• The First Street Journal The Muslim Brotherhood Wins With an Assist submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey



• Jon's Deep Thoughts-Military Intelligence is an oxymoron? I think not. submitted by Bookworm Room



• Wolf Howling – Obama Signs On To Silencing Criticism Of Islam submitted by Rhymes with Right



• Alex Knapp/Outside The Beltway – Ron Paul Versus The Fourteenth Amendment submitted by The Glittering Eye



• Pajamas Media – Video: #OWS Loons Try to Disrupt Romney Speech in Iowa, and Fail submitted by VA Right



• National Review Online –Repo Men submitted by The Razor



• Seraphic Secret –Rise of the Killer Drone submitted by The Mellow Jihadi



• Small Wars Journal – Thinking the Unthinkable about Napalm and Flamethrowers submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD



• Liberty's Spirit -Big Tent Mythos submitted by Right Truth



• Powerline – Keynes Was Right–About the Jews? submitted by The Watcher



• Jay Cost – Still Romney's Race To Lose submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy! And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!

Iowa: Santorum and Romney Finish In Dead Heat For First

With almost 90% of the votes counted, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have finished neck and neck in the Iowa Caucus, a mere 13 votes separating them.

Both ended up with 27.7% of the votes, with Romney getting 27,830 votes to Santorum's 27,817.

Ron Paul finished third with 21.1% and 23,737 votes, with Newt Gingrich (13.3% and 14,961 votes) and Rick Perry (10.3% and 11,600 votes )trailing Paul and Michele Bachmann bringing up the rear with 5.1% and 5,690 votes.

On to New Hampshire...

Latest Iowa Results

Candidates Vote % Votes Delegates

Ron
Paul
24% 3,821 0

Mitt
Romney
23% 3,650 0

Rick
Santorum 23% 3,636 0

Newt
Gingrich 13% 2,058 0

Rick
Perry 10% 1,571 0

Michele
Bachmann
6% 978 0

Jon
Huntsman 1% 106 0

With 282 of 1,774 Precincts Reporting

Iran Warns US: 'Keep Your Aircraft Carrier Out Of The Persian Gulf'

Iran issued warnings today that they regard the Strait of Hormuz as their territorial waters and that a US ship that exited into the Strait into the Gulf of Oman had better not return to the Persian Gulf - or else.

“We recommend to the American warship that passed through the Strait of Hormuz and went to Gulf of Oman not to return to the Persian Gulf,” said Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi, the commander in chief of the army, as reported by Iran’s official news agency, IRNA. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will not repeat its warning.”

The ship General Salehi was talking about is the aircraft carrier the USS John C. Stennis.

The warning was accompanied by a statement from a senior member of Iran's majlis (parliament) Nader Qazipour, reported in Iran's FARS News Agency that any foreign warships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without Iranian consent should be stopped, as Iran considers the Strait part of its territorial waters rahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifther than a freely passable international waterway :

"If the military vessels and warships of any country want to pass via the Strait of Hormoz without coordination and permission of Iran's Navy forces, they should be stopped by the Iranian Armed Forces," Nader Qazipour told FNA, explaining about the contents of the plan.

In relevant remarks on Monday, another Iranian legislator stressed that Iran will use all its capabilities and possibilities to defend the country against foreign threats and the country will use the Strait of Hormoz as a defensive tool and will close the waterway if it comes under threat.

"Iran will definitely use the defensive potential of the Strait of Hormoz if it is faced with threats," Rapporteur of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazzem Jalali told FNA.

The bellicose saber rattling has a purpose, of course.

In the midst of all of this, the Iranians suddenly announced that they're willing to entertain talks again on their nuclear program with the UN 5+1 (the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) due to the wonderful non-results that occurred last time.

It's the carrot and stick game the Mullahs have played so successfully in the past,and its one purpose is to buy time for Iran to complete its nuclear weapons and delivery systems.

President Obama bought into this big time. He reluctantly ( his own words) finally signed tough sanctions passed by Congress against Iran into law that target their central bank and would make it difficult for them to process their oil payments.

The only problem is, they're meaningless because of how the Senate Democrats watered them down. Not only don't they take effect for six months, but President Obama has the wiggle room not to apply them if he judges doing so would not be in US interest.

There's no question in my mind that President Obama will almost certainly bend over again, swallow hard and engage with Iran. It's also almost a certainty the US will not enforce any sanctions while talks are going on, let alone any military action. And of course,Russia will see to it that the proposed talks go absolutely nowhere except to a highly watered down policy statement the Mullahs will use for toilet paper.

This is indeed a very bad time for America to have a leader like President Obama at the helm of the ship of state.

The Showdown In Iowa....

Today in Iowa, the Republican primary season officially kicks off, and what could be more fitting than a conversation with former Democrat presidential candidate Weekend Monkey, Joshuapundit's political guru.

WM: Hideyho, primates!

RM: Well, hello Weekend Monkey, nice to have you drop by. So, what's your take on the Hawkeye cauci?

WM: It's like a freakin' garage sale, Rob. One where everybody's kind of passed by the merchandise a few times too many and figures, 'well I gotta buy something.'

RM: I take it you're not too pleased with the candidates.

WM: Well, c'mon, I'm a Democrat. But from a sheer horse race aspect, I think the ReThugs might have done a little better.

RM: Yeah, I remember you weren't too impressed. Tell me, did anyone get a shot of you wrestling with a corndog ala' Michele Bachmann when you were running in Iowa back in '08?



















WM: No way....let's just say I was shooting for a much larger target audience than a photo like that would have gotten me. Plus, she looks like she's a lot more talented at that kinda thing than me, hee hee hee hee!

OK, seriously...you gotta remember that Iowa is a weird little state to run in. There's what, only a coupla of highways in and out of the state?You meet with the primates in their living rooms and at the local Mickey D's for cryin' out loud and half the time they're people who won't even go out into the snow to vote in some dumb caucus instead of watching football or American Idol.Not unless they're really motivated.See, you're not really chasing votes, what you're really chasing is foot soldiers who will go out in the snow and dominate their local caucus.

That's why I was doing OK until I flamed out...I had all these college students shilling for me.

RM: Speaking of which, I do seem to remember a report that surfaced on you, a lamb and some Iowa State coed involved with the local Weekend Monkey for President club..

WM: I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove anything. No comment. Ever.

RM: Hmmm OK...back to Iowa, how would you analyze the various candidates and how they're likely to do?

WM: Well,let's deal with the marginals first, Rob. Like I said a long time ago, the race for the ReThug nomination is going to be between Romney the Robot and maybe one or two not Romneys. So far most of them have flamed out, while Romney the Robot has stuck with his programming. You had Michele Bachman right after she won the Ames Straw Poll, you had the Herman Cain clown show, you had Rick Perry, then you had Newty, who everybody knew was gonna self-destruct sooner or later.

Bachmann probably understood Iowa the best of any of them, since she's originally from here even though she had the smarts to leave. But she screwed up by simply getting involved with the wrong guys, something a lot of women can relate to I'm sure. First it was Ed Rollins, then it was that doofus she hired as campaign chair who ended up dumping her for Ron Paul. Plus, instead of keeping that corn dog in her mouth she kept putting her foot in it, hee hee! I don't see her doing too well or keeping going much longer.

RM: Yeah , even her friend Sarah Palin was saying it's probably not her time.

WM: I don't think Rick Perry ever recovered from his debate performances. He was the flavor of the month until then, and people realized he probably wouldn't do so hot against Obama in the general. He'll probably just barely manage to get into double digits.

RM: Actually, he's been doing a little better on the ground in Iowa lately.

WM: Yeah, and he might actually pick up some delegates in the South and surprise people if he manages to keep going. But Iowa? I see him happy to get into double digits.

His Newtness is going to be lucky to hang on to fourth place. Face it, even among ReThugs he's just not a likeable guy, and his stuff about how he's the prospective nominee and how he gonna start arresting and subpoenaing judges...blecchh! Plus, like I said before, the Tea Party ain't gonna wrap their arms around him, assuming they have the cranial capacity to think about it. Ol' Newty's a major DC insider, and he's been hanging around K Street in DC land so long he probably has a sandwich named after him at some of the restaurants...tongue and baloney with cheesewhiz on white bread, yeah. He'll try and hang on until South Carolina, but essentially I think he's toast. Don't be surprised if Rick Perry or Rick Santorum take a lot of votes away from him there if they're still in it.

RM: OK, that leaves Ron Paul, Mitt Romney And Rick Santorum.

WM: Don't be surprised if Ron Paul wins. That weird, nutty old geezer is almost as much of a creature of DC land as Newty, but he's done a real good job of painting himself as an outsider. Plus, his supporters are exactly the kind of dedicated know nothing chimps who will run out into the snow to muscle the caucuses. I wouldn't be surprised not only to see him win, but to see him win big. That will dissipate after Iowa when we get to the real primaries, but yeah.

RM: I had a tip from a very reliable source that he's getting money and logistical support from the Obama campaign, with the idea of him running later as a third party to split Republican votes.

WM: Yeah, I saw that. Wouldn't surprise me....it may be the only way Obama could win.

Anyway, Rick Santorum...remember, Iowa is a small state, where you can practice retail politics the way you can't in bigger states where it takes more moolah to run. You can really reach out and touch the primates if you know what I mean hee hee!

Santorum's done that, mostly because he's been willing to run himself ragged like a baboon in heat all over Iowa and because the other not Romneys have flamed out. But he doesn't have much of an organization and he isn't going to be able to run on for long without one. He has hardly anything going in New Hampshire, for example. If he does good in Iowa, he might be able to collect enough bananas to keep going, otherwise this is going to be as far up the tree as he gets.

RM: Romney?

WM: The Robot has surprised me..beep beep! He's done pretty well simply by avoiding screwing up too bad, which is a talent I kinda envy, believe me. If he takes a second or even a third place finish in Iowa, the next stop is New Hampshire, where he will probably do pretty well. But it remains to be seen how well he does in the South.

RM: That's where I figure Rick Perry or Rick Santorum might start picking up some support.

WM: Yeah, if they can get it together enough to file to be on the ballot properly! Hee hee!

RM: OK, numbers Monkey.

WM: First off, any primate that puts shekels on something like the Iowa Caucus deserves to. I'm not that stupid. But if I was and somebody was to offer me Ron Paul and say five points or Romney and six or seven, I might go for it if I'd just fallen out of a tree and forgotten I don't make book on caucuses.

I think it's gonna be Ron Paul, Romney and Santorum in that order. If you're gonna pin me down, I see Paul getting high twenties to low thirties, Romney the Robot in the mid to high twenties and Santorum in the high teen to very low twenties. Plus or minus four.

RM: OK! We'll see if you're as good at this as you were in previous years.

WM: Later Rob. Smell ya later Primates!

Weekend Monkey was a Democratic candidate for president in 2008 and is JoshuaPundit's political Guru. He can be reached at wendmonkey@yahoo.com

Obama Appointees Pressuring Immigration Officers To Rubber Stamp Visas

According to this AP story citing a Homeland Security report and internal documents, President Obama's appointees within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are pressuring rank-and-file officers to rubber-stamp immigrants’ visa applications, sometimes against the officers’ will and even when fraud or security questions are involved:

A 40-page report, drafted by the Office of Inspector General in September but not publicly released, details the immense pressure immigration service officers are under to approve visa applications quickly, sometimes while overlooking concerns about fraud, eligibility or security.

One-quarter of the 254 officers surveyed said they have been pressured to approve questionable cases, sometimes “against their will.”

The report does not call out any particular officials and indicates that the agency has had a problem with valuing quantity over quality since at least the 1980s.

But high-ranking USCIS officials said the pressure has heightened after the Obama administration appointed Alejandro Mayorkas as director in August 2009 during an effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform, bringing with him a mantra of “get to yes.”

Internal communications provided to The Daily indicate that the new leadership seemed to fundamentally clash with career agency employees over when to afford the benefit of the doubt, culminating in a whistle-blower investigation into a senior appointee and, ultimately, the agency-wide inspector general inquiry that produced the report.

“We recognize their right to interpret things as liberally as possible, but you still have to follow the law,” said one high-ranking official who was unhappy with the current push.

At least five agency veterans seen as being too tough on applicants were either demoted, or given the choice between a demotion or a relocation from Southern California — where their families were — to San Francisco and Nebraska, according to sources and letters of reassignment provided to The Daily.

Those kind of threats have caused lower-level employees to fall in line, sources said.

“People are afraid,” said one longtime manager, who requested anonymity for fear of being fired. “Integrity only carries people so far because they’ve got to pay the rent.”

A rank-and-file officer who was not involved in the investigation claimed he was demoted to working on less technical cases because he had a high denial rate. “They don’t reprimand you, they just move you,” he said.

And here's a fact that will warm your heart. Immigration attorneys, who represent these visa applicants are very happy ( naturally) at the increased approvals, but complain that a lot of immigration officers are just looking for reasons to deny a case, and already demand a higher standard of proof than what is required.

The standard of proof that's required? A 51 percent likelihood that a fact is true.

Tell me...how would you like to be able to be judged by that standard as a citizen when it comes to traffic court or the IRS?

Alan Colmes Mocks Rick Santorum Over Dead Child - Lowest of The Low

People say FOX News is biased, but I can't imagine how you can possibly believe that when they allow a scumbag like Alan Colmes airtime. Regular members of Joshua's Army might remember that he actually applauded Iran's proxy war against our troops in Iraq and accused Sarah Palin of causing her son's Down's Syndrome. But his latest ought to ensure that no one of any decency has anything to do with him again.

Asked about GOP Candidate Rick Santorum's recent surge in Iowa, Colmes replied: "Well, hah hah. it's certainly hard work in that he visited all the ugly - you know, like every part of the state. And it's also that the Republicans have speed dated every other Republican and so there's nobody left except Rick Santorum. But once they get a load of some of the crazy things he said and done like taking his two-hour old baby who died right after childbirth home and played with it for a couple of hours so his other children would know that the child was real...."

At that point NRO Editor Rich Lowrey, another guest on the panel interrupted him, saying: "That's a cheap shot, Alan. To say it's crazy, something that's that personal and hurtful as losing a child and to mock it like that is beyond the pale and beneath you."

Except that in this case Rich Lowrey is dead wrong. Nothing is beneath this creep..absolutely nothing. Some one should have slapped his smirking countenance out of that chair and thrown him out of the building bodily.

Below, Senator Santorum talks about this son's death, and why he brought his son home for the last time:



Alan Colmes tweeted the following afterwards:

@AlanColmes

just spoke to @RickSantorum. He and Karen graciously accepted my apology for a hurtful comment

I sent a retweet to Alan Colmes telling him exactly what I thought of him. It was not polite or gracious in the least.

How The U.S. Bribed 'Palestinians' To Begin Talks With Israel

An interesting if somewhat sickening story to start off the New Year..

One of the big surprise stories surfacing is that the 'Palestinians' have finally agreed to begin negotiations with Israel without any preconditions, although they're very careful to label them as 'talks about talks' rather than any actual negotiations. That's probably accurate, since it's almost certain nothing will actually be accomplished.

The talks are being held in Amman, Jordan with Jordan's King Abdullah as mediator in the context of a Middle East Peace Quartet meeting (The United States, Russia, European Union and the United Nations. The Israelis are sending Yitzhak Molcho, Israel's chief negotiator for talks with the 'Palestinians' and Fatah is sending Saeb Erekat, formerly the right fork of the execrable Yasser Arafat's tongue.

Two questions come to mind immediately. Why Jordan, and why did Fatah suddenly agree to sit down with the Israelis? The answers are simple once you connect the dots.

Why Jordan is simplicity itself. King Abdullah, along with a Bedouin minority rules over a country where 75% of the population identifies themselves as 'Palestinian', and where Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are increasingly popular.Jordan is another of those Arab countries like Egypt without oil income and King Abdullah has attempted to bridge Jordan's economic gap by becoming a U.S. ally and accepting close to $1 billion in American foreign aid.

Jordan has already seen a certain amount of Muslim Brotherhood sponsored unrest, largely from his 'Palestinian' citizens, and the last thing he wants is a Hamas dominated state next door in Judea and Samaria that might seek to overthrow him and take Jordan over as the actual 'Palestinian' state the way Arafat and Fatah did in the 1970's. He has every reason to anxiously support some kind of Fatah ruled state in hopes that even if Hamas takes over, they'll concentrate on trying to destroy Israel. leave him in peace and be content with that. Obviously King Abdullah has forgotten what happened to his father Hussein in the 1970's when Arafat and Fatah tried to take over Jordan and turn it into a 'Palestinian' state in 1970 with a very similar scenario, but that appears to be what King Abdullah has in mind.

As for why Fatah agreed to sit down with the Israelis, the answer's even simpler. Money talks, and they have nothing to lose anyway.

Some of you may recall seeing this under reported story about the U.S. Congress agreeing to release 20 percent of $187 million in U.S. aid to the 'Palestinians' that had been frozen because of 'Palestine's' bid for U.N. membership. That happened just a few days ago, and now we see the 'Palestinians' grudgingly agreeing to meet with the Israelis for the first time in months.

As one of my notorious Little Birdies whom actually works within the 'Palestinian' Authority informed me, I was entirely correct when I guessed this is no mere coincidence.This person had told me back when the funds were first frozen that it was only a matter of time until the 'Palestinians' got their usual jizya from the Obama Administration. And in our latest exchange, he informed me quite openly that the Obama Administration had made a solid proposition to Abbas and Fatah in exchange for freeing up the funds, and just sitting down with the Israelis was the price.

The 'Palestinians' aren't totally stupid, they know President Obama is coming up for re-election and is trying to convince Jews to vote for him, and that even the appearance of progress towards that mythical two-state solution looks good. So they went along. And why not? They have nothing to lose.

Abbas and Fatah aren't in a position to make any kind of binding deal anyway, not without the consent of Hamas. And even if they were, they have absolutely no inclination to do so. As Abbas has said many times, he's not prepared to make even a single concession on 'Palestinian' demands, and those demands aren't anything the Israelis can realistically accept unless they're suicidal.

At worst, the 'Palestinians' will walk away again with remarks for their groupies on the press and the so-called international community about how the Israelis are refusing to negotiate. At best, some of the goons in the Quartet may even successfully lean on Israel for some more unilateral concessions. And the important thing is, they get the money, honey, a nice chunk of which will also go to Hamas.

The 'Palestinians' managed with the willing help of President Obama to obtain $545.7 million courtesy of the US taxpayers in 2011, including the part that was frozen. That money is characterized as development and humanitarian aid, but it really continues to fund the War Against The Jews, since Fatah and Hamas can use it to free up money they already have for use elsewhere. In other words, the US government is funding anti-Semitic incitement and outright terrorism to the tune of well north of half a billion per year.

And it's going to continue. President Obama has already asked Congress for $513.4 million in aid for the 'Palestinians' in fiscal year 2012.

Ron Paul:U.S. should not support Israel, Defends Hamas, Homicide bombing,Calls Gaza 'Concentration Camp'

This interview was done January 5th, 2009. On Iran's Press TV, no less. Tell me again he doesn't hate Jews.

Happy New Year!!

Have a wonderful 2012,wherever you are!