I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln
------------------------------- I had hoped to embed the video linked below for today. It seems all that I can provide is a link, though.
The last in this list of issues of concern to Thaddeus McCotter is by far and away the most interesting.
The challenge of globalization, the war for freedom against terrorists, the rise of Communist China and whether moral relativism erodes a nation built on self-evident truth.
This suggests a belief in moral certitude. Many cringe at the thought, but in an interview in which he was requested to define what conservatism is he refused, arguing that doing so could lead to the exclusion of those who define conservative as differently. Instead, he chose to define only what conservatism is to him. This is moral certitude practiced on the individual level. There is another term for this - individualism.
We've seen the alternative nationally.
Boomers firmly ensconced in moral relativism selfishly support choice over life, they choose debt over thrift, they choose "The Man" over liberty, and they push poverty on all but themselves. These choices all find acceptance when viewed with the proper moral perspective. Never mind the overall contradictions.
The majority of the boomer generation never stopped thinking of themselves. First rejecting the thrift, success and sacrifice of the greatest generation then engorging themselves on a combination of free love, consumerism, and me-ism. Nothing satiated the boomer generation; not their incessant self aggrandizing through the media, not new age nonsense. They were lost in an endless maze of perpetual desire and unable to find contentment. Now with the bill for all their excess firmly on the table, they pass it on to subsequent generations. Once a hippie, now the man -- perpetually living off the plate of another.
Never before has our country seen such a worthless, selfish, shiftless, horrible, or gluttonous group of malcontents so intent on shifting their individual responsibility to society as the generation that followed the Greatest Generation.
They truly are --- The Worst Generation --- A generation rationalizing gluttony through moral relativism.
While there has been buzz in the Beltway that McCotter could run for the Republican nomination, he has yet to take any formal steps in the race. Obama leads him in the poll 43 percent to 19 percent …
The article takes the view that this is good news for Obama when in fact our current president is unable to garner more than 43% against an unknown and undeclared Thaddeus McCotter.
In an interview Monday with POLITICO, Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter said he’s seriously considering a White House bid and will decide within the next two weeks.
Breitbart adds:
There’s no one I’d like to see more at a debate than McCotter,” gushed conservative Web impresario Andrew Breitbart. “This is a guy that’s blunt, sarcastic, pop-culture-savvy, constitutionally sound and an authentic voice.
On Friday, he said his decision was largely based on timing.
He said he wasn't ready to commit to running against Stabenow right now but that waiting -- "playing around like Hamlet," is how he put it -- wouldn't be fair to the potential candidates who might run. Uncertainty about a McCotter campaign could hurt their efforts to gain ground in polls and raise money.
"That wouldn't be cool," said McCotter, who has been talked about in some conservative circles as an outside prospect to run for president.
Brad Miller helped to transfer $13 Trillion according to PBS into the pockets of the financial institutions from the pockets of his constituents over the past three years while pretending to protect the people from predatory lending. The true predator of the people is Brad Miller.
With what will likely be a difficult reelection bid on the horizon Brad Miller now needs some of that $13 Trillion he helped to transfer from your pocket to the pockets of the financial industry to fall his way.
One would not begrudge any politician holding a fundraiser, but when that fundraiser targets the same industry that benefited from Miller's tenure in office to the tune of $13 Trillion questions propriety arise.
McCotter has been a Youtube and Red Eye regular and for good reason ... like Chris Christy he is a conservative who can speak, but unlike Christy he shows more depth. I hate to say it, but Christy comes across as a one show hammer-the-union pony. I am all for hammering unions but a presidential candidate needs more breadth.
Thaddeus McCotter has not only breadth and the ability to communicate but he understands liberty. With a group of stale conservatives on the menu some McCotter could go a very long way.
Going forward Obama will be forced down another predetermined path. He will direct the US to help install a democracy in Libya. If he fails to do so his invasion of Libya will be seen as a failure.
Some presidents engineer events as Bush did through the Bush Doctrine, while others are lead by events. In this case Obama is being lead by the ongoing forces of the Bush Doctrine.
It leaves one to wonder, though, did Bush create the Bush Doctrine or was it simply his only choice?
This past week Obama delivered another Middle East speech. In it he outlined the American path going forward in that region.
Let me be specific. It will be the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region, and to support transitions to democracy.
Yes, this. First, is the Bush Doctrine ... democratization. And for proof of concept Obama points to ... Iraq?
In Iraq, we see the promise of a multiethnic, multisectarian democracy. There, the Iraqi people have rejected the perils of political violence for a democratic process . . . Iraq is poised to play a key role in the region.
...
We have a stake not just in the stability of nations, but in the self-determination of individuals.
And with the Bush Doctrine again firmly defining American actions in the Middle East Obama turns to Assad of Syria:
President Assad now has a choice: he can lead that transition [to democracy], or get out of the way.
Obama ran against the Bush Doctrine during his campaign. He is now the driving force behind the Bush Doctrine. Obama, lead by world events rather than leading them, has been mugged by the reality of those world events.
[Edited for clarity due to a mistaken drag and drop.]
Newt was interviewed by Davis Gregory on Meet the Press and self destructed.
In it Newt attacked the Ryan plan, supported a "version of the individual mandate and is forced to defend himself from accusations of "coded" racism which required one to don Gregory's racism to see.
I didn't realize these three issues were in a single interview.
On the Ryan bit Newt seemed to attack social engineering from the left and right based on whether they mandated individuals to make a predetermined decision. He seemed to argue that we need a plan that allows people to "voluntarily migrate to better solutions" and that the Ryan plan did not meet that need. Later, though, he contradicted himself and expressed support for a version of the individual mandate.
With Newt's attack on the Ryan plan I believe we see a failed attempt at triangulation.
We saw Newt fail in his attempt to position himself between the Ryan plan and the see-no-deficit democrats and in the process lose his establishment support. Then then we saw him loose his base and Tea Party support when he expressed support for the individual mandate.
Newt is headed into a primary election not a general election, so now is not the time for triangulation failed or otherwise. In this interview he lost his support in the primaries from his base, the establishment, and the Tea Party.
Newt burned himself.
I'm sad to see him go as I had looked forward to what Newt would have brought to the debates.
Newt Gingrich, what you just did to Paul Ryan was unforgivable… You undercut him and his allies in the House. You’re an embarrassment to the party.
I like Newt, and believe he raises the bar of debate, but if he is unaware that supporting a "version" of the individual mandate is an untenable position in today's conservative party then he has no business in the race.
Newt reveals himself to be an establishment conservative that seems unable to evolve with the basic new realities such vehement rejection of the individual mandate that have been forced on to the conservative Party by the Tea Party.
Newt Gingrich has damaged the conservative position in the ObamaCare debate.
Newt calls Obama "The Food-Stamp President" amid a massive increase in the food-stamp rolls while making no reference to race.
But David Gregory, viewing the world through his lens of race sees "coded racially tinged language" and accuses Newt of racism based only on his own presumption.
Who introduced race in this conversation? David Gregory.
When an individual presumptuously charges racism where there is none, the charge of racism becomes an act of racism itself.
Why are the wealthiest like Buffet and Gates liberals? Their politics runs counter to the democrat myth that republicans are the party of the rich.
The reason is simple.
Taxing income penalises the productive while sheltering the wealth of individuals like Buffet. That's right, the Democratic Party is the party of the non productive massively wealthy while rhetorically picking up the marginally more productive poor who have given up on high earnings.
When Obama talks of taxing millionaires and billionaires he is missing the mark. He is pushing for a higher tax on income. What he doesn’t get is that millionaires and billionaires actually don’t have that much income. Yes they have wealth, but it is very easy to avoid paying taxes on wealth. The people who will pay higher taxes are young people, not the rich old fogies that have bundles in the bank.
Kenneth Anderson sitting in for Glen at Instapundit visits a theme I frequently pick low-hanging fruit from and hammers hippies:
Aging populations take less risk, innovate less, make fewer breakthroughs in new technology, consume more but not necessarily in ways that produce increases to the general standard of living. And when the aging generation has political power from numbers, they tend to think in terms of themselves – and call it social justice. Insofar as they have not produced lots of new children, they are less invested in the future after themselves, and are perfectly willing to eat the next generation’s seed corn.
Yep.
The Hippies are, and have been "The Man" for some time now. Our national debt problem is their pig, but they refuse responsibility for it. Firmly ensconced in moral relativism they selfishly support choice over life, they choose debt over thrift, they choose "The Man" over liberty, and they push poverty on all, but themselves.
The majority of the boomer generation could never stop thinking of themselves. First rejecting the thrift, success and sacrifice of the greatest generation then engorging themselves on a combination of free love, consumerism, and me-ism. Nothing satiated the boomer generation; not their incessant self aggrandizing through the media, not new age nonsense. They were lost in an endless maze of perpetual desire and unable to find contentment. Now with the bill for all their excess firmly on the table, they pass it on to subsequent generations. Once a hippie, now the man -- perpetually living off the plate of another.
Never before has our country seen such a worthless, selfish, shiftless, horrible, or gluttonous group of malcontents so intent on shifting their individual responsibility to society as the generation that followed the Greatest Generation.
I feel love for our National Park system. I feel similarly for our highway system. Why? My feelings for the National Park System and our Highway system both stand in stark contrast to my generally libertarian sensibilities. Neither does the federal government have the authority from a Constitutional perspective to run either the parks or the highways yet despite this I feel no intrusion, no sense that these programs cross my individuality... why?
I believe the non controversial nature of these programs both personally and nationally stems from the fact that all citizens have equal access to them and that they constitute no transfer of wealth. No one is excluded and the parks and highways weigh upon us equally.
These programs unlike their more controversial wealth shifting siblings are egalitarian. In that respect I believe these programs should be a model for our failing controversial social programs.
Temporary Note for the month of October: If you find the post below useful please consider purchasing a round of popcorn from the link above for yourself , for the scouts and my son who's idea it was to put this on polifrog.
Thanks
-----------------------------------------
The family's Toyota Sienna's intermittent wipers became intermittently operational while traveling the National park circuit almost two years ago. Coincidently the slow setting would fail as well as the the "auto home" feature common on all autos today. Good timing was required when turning the wipers off otherwise the wipers would likely stop mid windshield. The only settings that worked consistently were the off setting and the high setting. Good enough ... ignored.
Well, it was ignored until a couple of months ago when we were increasingly reduced to one wiper setting ... off.
The wiper motor seemed fine so I was initially interested in hunting down the only the control relay. As it turns out a little research lead me to conclude that the relay is integrated with the wiper motor itself. With that knowledge and after a visit to car-part.com a fifteen dollar replacement wiper motor was in hand.
The replacement motor replaces the one tucked behind the air filter housing. Two mounting screws are easily reached from the front; the other two are hidden from sight but easily located as they are near the wiper arm pivot points.
Before removing the wiper mechanism, though, the wiper arms must be removed from the assembly. A plastic cap covers the nut that holds the wiper arms to the conical splines of the wiper mechanism. Occasionally these nuts work loose striping the spline pictured to the right and requiring the replacement of the entire wiper mechanism. Be wary during reassembly.
With the wiper mechanism (sometimes referred to as a transmission) off of the van one can scribe the position of the arm that is attached directly to the wiper motor. Perhaps this is an unnecessary step as a miss-match can be corrected for when reattaching the wipers, but I prefer to keep things as originally designed.
With the position of the drive arm marked and the drive arm removed the motor is easily removed from the mechanism. Once the new motor is bolted in place the scribing done earlier facilitates positioning the drive arm on the motor's spline. As a secondary conformation of the proper position of the drive arm I connected the motor to the van's wiring and ran the wiper mechanism while laying free.
I first ran it on intermittent. Note that the arm stops on the scribe:
I also ran it on low and high:
And finally tried it out on the van:
For those interested, out of curiosity I took the old wiper motor apart. Removing the cover revealed the failed electronics that control speed, intermit, and wiper stop. There was also some corrosion that was most visible on the inside of the plastic lid as though the motor had been splashed with salt. Under the electronics was the worm gear that ran the drive arm.
More nonsense from Brad Miller ... Energy Critical Elements Renewal Act (Rep. Brad Miller, H.R. 952).
The skinny of a long post...
A) Radical environmentalists like Brad Miller helped to destroy the US rare earth mineral industry based on "environmental concerns".
B) The foreign supplies of the minerals from China are found to be an unreliable source.
C) The Fix: Restart the US rare earth mineral industry (for "environmental concerns") with the government's help and Brad Miller's support just days before the passage of ObamaCare.
After decades of production, the High Desert operation all but ceased operations amid environmental concerns in 2002. Since then, well over 90 percent of the world’s rare earths, as they are known in the industry, have come from China.
Ok, here is an example of the kind of environmentalism supported by Brad Miller that is complicit in shifting an entire industry and its jobs to China and has lead to a near world monopoly of rare earth minerals being produced in China.
But, there is a problem,
a growth market is emerging for the elements, which are necessary to produce wind turbines. Many nations are now scrambling to develop renewable energy industries and China, chief among them, is expected to require a greater amount of its own supplies...
putting the US in a squeeze.
And, according to Mark Smith, Chief Executive of Molycorp Minerals..
The demand is going to outpace the supply.
Private funding proved difficult under the current economic conditions for the unprofitable Molycorp Minerals which, of course, led to lawmaker's dashing to the rescue and
during a congressional hearing last week, House members on both sides of the aisle spoke favorably about the push to ramp up operations at the Mountain Pass Mine, with one of them introducing a bill that could help yield funding for the $450 million plan.
Brad Miller, supporter of environmental causes great and small, had this to say...
During a hearing March 16 before the House subcommittee on Science and Technology, the push for federal assistance gained more traction when the panel's chairman, Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., described Smith's operation as vital in reducing dependence on the Chinese.
"If we intend to rebuildAmerica'scapability to supply its own needs in rare earth materials, if we intend to foster a home-grown capability to make the devices that provide wind energy, we can't succeed unless he and others like him succeed," Miller said. (emphasis added)
Ben Goad adds...
Separately, Rep. Mike Coffman, D-Colo., the following day introduced legislation that would make Molycorp's plan eligible for the loan guarantee program, which would allow the company to borrow 70 percent of the $450 million cost, to be paid back over 10 years, Smith said.
Also according to the article..
The operation would create about 900 permanent jobs and about 700 temporary jobs related to the estimated 22-month construction period, Smith said.
He said Molycorp would draw most of the workers from Inland Southern California and the Henderson-Las Vegas region of Nevada.
To sum up...
The environmentalists, supported by Brad Miller, helped to destroy the production of rare earth minerals for "environmental reasons". Later it is realized that the industry is useful for "environmental reasons" and that it is in the interest of national security to have the industry within our boarders, as China had become the supplier of 90% of rare earth minerals. Realizing this, our representatives meet in the days leading up to the passing of ObamaCare to devise legislation creating a 450 million dollar loan to the unprofitable LLC Mollycorp Minerals.
Winners...
--Mollycorp Minerals.
--Representative Mike Coffman (R-CO) out which state Mollycorp Minerals is based.
--Harry Reid's Nevada and the representatives of the eastern districts of Southern California as they can claim the creation of around 1500 jobs originally destroyed by the environmental movement.
--The nearly 1500 Employees who get their jobs returned to them for "environmental reasons" after loosing them for "environmental reasons".
--Statists
Losers...
--The American society, and the American economy over the long run,
--The employees who lost work due to the environmental movement in the first place,
--Brad Miller, who seems clueless to the irony of supporting the economically destructive activities of environmentalism, and then later coming to the support of rebuilding the devastation left by environmentalism.
Governments can make inefficient choices and governing the destruction of economic activity only to manipulate its reconstruction to the credit of our representatives is one of them.
The National Labor Relations Board is trying to stop Boeing from moving the production of some of its jetliners from Washington state to South Carolina where less-burdensome labor-union privileges will allow Boeing to produce at lower cost (Letters, May 7). One unintended by-product of Boeing’s move, of course, would be greater competition for workers in the south and, hence, rising wages there.
Then as now, Uncle Sam – despite all his blah, blah, blah about ‘justice’ and being on the side of ‘working families’ – kept the wages of higher-paid Americans artificially high by keeping the wages of lower-paid Americans artificially low.
Frankly, if the media were on the trail of Exxon or the Bush Administration there would be no end to the questions over the curious double and triple shuffling of the events surrounding the Osama Operation.
1) There was a firefight. 2) There was no firefight. 3) Bin Laden was “resisting.” 4) Bin Laden wasn’t armed. (Makes the concept of “resisting” interesting.) 5) He used his wife as a shield. 6) His wife was killed too. 7) He didn’t use his wife as a shield, she ran at a SEAL who shot her in the leg, but she’s fine. Some other woman – the maid? – was used as a shield. By somebody. Downstairs. 9) That other woman – downstairs – was killed. 10) Maybe not. She was killed unless she wasn’t – and who was she, anyway? 11) Bin Laden’s son was killed. 12) Unless it was some other guy. 13) Bin Laden’s daughter saw him get killed. She’s undoubtedly traumatized, poor dear. 14) They were going to capture Bin Laden until the problem with the helicopter, which was: A) It had mechanical trouble B) It did a hard landing C) It crashed D) It clipped a wall with a tail rotor, effectively a crash 15.) They were never going to try to capture him, it was always a kill mission. 16.) No it wasn’t. 17) The chopper blew up. 18) The SEALs blew it up. 19.) Panetta said yesterday the world needed proof, the photo would be released. 20.) Obama said today in an interview he taped with Steve Kroft for “60 Minutes” to be broadcast Sunday that it won’t be released. It’s too gruesome, would offend Muslim sensibilities (something he worries about a lot – I personally do not give a warm fart on a wet Wednesday about Muslim sensibilities), and how would Americans feel if Muslims released pictures of dead Americans? 21.) Kroft – whose not a total idiot – pointed out that ever since “Black Hawk Down” days, Muslims have been doing precisely that, filming American bodies being dragged through the streets, filming Daniel Pearl’s head being cut off, filming any and everything. 22) Obama gets pissed at CBS, the tape gets cleaned up, that question disappears. (Inside info.) 23.) We got a “treasure trove” of stuff from hard drives, etc. 24.) There were no phone lines, and no internet access at the “mansion,” they didn’t even have TV – what “treasure trove?” 25.) There is obviously in the pictures of the place a large satellite dish. I guess they used it for making salads. 26.) And now, just today: apparently the idea was to capture him, but only if he was naked. There was a suspicion he might be wearing a suicide bomber type explosive vest, or belt. So if he’s not naked and you can’t see if he has a vest on or not – shoot him.
Three new conservative districts may be created by way of creating a second Mel Watt, thus likely forcing Miller and Kissell into less cushy districts.
"Republicans should pick up three seats under any fair and legal map," he continued. "That is huge. No other states in the nation would gain as many Republican seats. Clearly, Reps. (Larry) Kissell and (Brad) Miller are serving their final term."
Don't like these results? Put blame on the Voting Rights Act as it trumps the NC Constitution's anti gerrymandering measures.
A previously scheduled Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on racist Native American stereotypes will now include discussion on the use of a codename used during the bin Laden kill-or-capture mission: “Geronimo.”
I was told – in these exact terms, “we overruled him.” (Obama) I have since followed up and received further details on exactly what that meant, as well as the specifics of how Leon Panetta worked around the president’s “persistent hesitation to act.” There appears NOT to have been an outright overruling of any specific position by President Obama, simply because there was no specific position from the president to do so. President Obama was, in this case, as in all others, working as an absentee president.
and
President Obama was literally pulled from a golf outing and escorted back to the White House to be informed of the mission. Upon his arrival there was a briefing held which included Bill Daley, John Brennan, and a high ranking member of the military. When Obama emerged from the briefing, he was described as looking “very confused and uncertain.” The president was then placed in the situation room where several of the players in this event had already been watching the operation unfold. Another interesting tidbit regarding this is that the Vice President was already “up to speed” on the operation. A source indicated they believe Hillary Clinton had personally made certain the Vice President was made aware of that day’s events before the president was. The now famous photo released shows the particulars of that of that room and its occupants. What that photo does not communicate directly is that the military personnel present in that room during the operation unfolding, deferred to either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates. The president’s role was minimal, including their acknowledging of his presence in the room.
The financial industry needs a haircut and it would have happened naturally had the government not supported the result of their gamesmanship with more government sanctioned theft through TARP and the Federal Reserve.
We the people pay the price.
Charlie Munger, Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway:
Last week, while everyone else was talking about the President's long form birth certificate, the EPA was busy releasing new regulations designed to choke off any nascent economic growth that may help to lift the nation out of the great recession.
And from the same article:
The suit seems rather specious from the get go as a full study was conducted and completed in 2004 and concluded in its executive summary that injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids "poses little or no threat to underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) and does not justify additional study at this time." But hey, that was 6 years ago!
“Major mistake. OBL was/is a powerful cult figure who has vanished with no ‘death certificate.’ His body should have been displayed. The only thing more powerful than a living cult leader is one who disappears off the face of the earth. Making his body disappear was a deadly blunder that plays straight into the hero myth. Joseph Campbell couldn’t have written a more terrible ending.”
It has been reported that after Osama bin Laden was dispatched yesterday, he was given a burial at sea, in the “Islamic practice”: In accordance with Islamic practice, bin Laden was washed and wrapped in a white sheet before buried at sea at 2 a.m. local time, senior U.S. military and intelligence officials said.
This was presumably done in the interest of impressing the “moderate” Muslims of the world with our respect for their religion, but if anything, it does just the opposite. What we were unwittingly implying by that politically correct act was that we agree with those who claim that Osama was a true Muslim, and that we don’t accept the account of the reformers that he was an apostate. What are the latter to make of it? And how does this in any way discourage his supporters, knowing that when we dispatch them to get their virgins (or raisins, or whatever) we will take pains to ensure their safe arrival in heaven?
Two senior counterterrorism officials confirmed that bin Laden was killed in Pakistan last week. One said bin Laden was killed in a ground operation, not by a Predator drone. Both said the operation was based on U.S. intelligence, and both said the U.S. is in possession of bin Laden's body.
Officials long believed bin Laden, the most wanted man in the world, was hiding a mountainous region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak ahead of the president.
The large majority of Americans say spending too much money on unneeded or wasteful federal programs is to blame for the federal budget deficit, while 22% say the deficit is a consequence of not raising enough in taxes to pay for needed programs.
Some other woman – the maid? – was used as a shield. By somebody. Downstairs.
