Dharun Ravi Was Zimmermaned Before Zimmerman was Zimmermaned by NBC...

polifrog



Remember the gay guy who killed himself because his roommate filmed him having sex with his lover then outed him with coordinated public viewings?

It was just another media lie.

The American media has a template that it bends the truth toward.  What results is a lie.  NBC maliciously edits Zimmerman's call to 911:





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Treasonous Whispers -- From a Sitting President...

polifrog



Obama is unAmerican. There is no other take to be taken from his whispered flexibility-after-the-election comment to Medvedev. Obama's friends are not the friends of America.








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Neil Cavuto - On Our Sinister President

polifrog






Obama's friends are not America's friends. They were not when he paled around with Bill Ayers and they are not now...




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Obama's Greatest Bipartisan Achievement -- Zero Votes....

polifrog









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Why the Wealthy are so Frequently Liberal...

polifrog



Dissecting Leftism:

The simple answer is this: wealthy liberals blatantly use social liberalism and big government regulation to protect their relative position in society. Big government regulation and taxation thwarts the economic mobility of those trying to move up, allowing the elites to remain elite, while still seeming pious for all their apparent efforts to help the little people.

Absolutely. Liberalism is all about the piety of the non pious. They got theirs, why allow anyone else have a chance?





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She's no Liberal Socialist, but She Knows What They are Doing to Her and All of Us...

polifrog

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Liberal Arrogance on Parade ...

polifrog



PrairiePundit:

Liberals have this conceit that if you were really smart you would be a liberal. So they tend not to listen or comprehend arguments they disagree with. That is why they were so shocked by what happened at the Supreme Court. They discovered that they had not give their advocates much to work with so they stumbled through the questions of the court. You could also tell from the liberals on the court that they thought the law would be found unconstitutional and they were trying desperately to save parts of it.

It was not so much a matter of conservatives on the court being political, although liberals losers are already starting to suggest this. It was the force of the reason within their questions that had supporters of the law reeling.

I have noticed this in common conversation whether it be face to face or via the anonymity of blog discussion sites. Total arrogance.




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The Democrat Party is Down to Sacrificing Pawns....

polifrog



...but then, that is all the citizenry is to liberalism, pawns to be manipulated and used in the service of governance.

Instapundit:

JACOB SULLUM: More on the Irrelevance of ‘Stand Your Ground’ to the Trayvon Martin Case.

Pretty much everything under discussion is irrelevant here, right down to the political framing: A Hispanic Democrat  shoots a black guy and somehow it’s the fault of white Republicans. Because, I guess, everything is.

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Obama Extremism Defined by 414 Votes...

polifrog



House unanimously rejects Obama's budget.


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Zimmerman's father: "So much hate from the president..."

polifrog



So true. How do we move beyond racism when we are haunted by the specter of racist allegations based on false narratives?






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Toobin Take Day Three ... Crash and Burn...

polifrog










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Robin Hood Did not Simply Steal from the Rich, He Stole From Corrupt Governance...

polifrog



Sherwood Forest moved from fiction to reality with the founding of America. Unfortunately over the course of time the forrest has been raised and the grounds claimed by government's merry men returning Sherwood Forrest to fiction once again.

Maura Pannington:

It may seem pointless to try to prove a fictional character’s political views, but we live in an America where public servants have painted themselves as heroes and we’ve been duped into cheering for them as our champions. They have made themselves larger-than-life in a land that was meant to be run by a limited government. They feed us stories and fables, narratives about our nation that they have written, and someone needs to inform them that they are not good writers. There are better legends out there, ones that ring true—tales of self-reliant people doing brave deeds for the sake of others who are bowed under the weight of a growing state. If we can see Robin Hood in the right light, we can see ourselves as we should: shrewd enough to discern injustice on our own and strong enough to fight it as we see fit.

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SAT Goes Full on Racist -- New Rule Requires ID...

polifrog



ABC:

Students taking college entrance exams this fall will have to submit photo id's with their applications.


The security measure follows recent allegations of widespread cheating at high schools on New Y ork's Long Island. 20 current or former high school students were accused in a cheating scheme.


Some students were paid as much as $3,500 to take the SAT exam for others.

SAT integrity is weightier than vote integrity. What's a vote in a representative democracy anyway?





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Another ObamaGift to the Conservative Campaign this Fall...

polifrog





Karl Rove:

...By telling Mr. Medvedev and his patron, the once-and-future Russian President Vladimir Putin, that he will have “flexibility” after the American election on Russian demands opposing a US missile defense for Europe, Mr. Obama is in effect saying he is ready to do something the Russians will like but that the American people won’t.

If you think the ObamaCare Hearings are covering this up, think again.

Obama has already shown us that his friends are not America's friends over and over. Now he has given us geopolitical proof that can fit in an election year sound-bite.



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Reading Supreme Tea Leaves...

polifrog




Weekly Standard:

In fact, Obamacare's best proponents today weren't the solicitor general; they were Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

...

Ginsburg and Breyer made clear that they support the individual mandate; Elena Kagan was less effusive, but she seemed more or less supportive, too. On the other side there is Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts (who cast serious doubt on the government's attempt to define the market broadly or construct limiting principles on this new federal power), and Justice Samuel Alito (who pressed back very hard on the notion that the mandate is necessary to prevent the uninsured from shifting costs on to the general public). Justice Clarence Thomas was characteristically silent, although it is a bit hard to imagine him siding with the government, given his longstanding constitutional principles.

Kennedy, of course, remains in the middle. But for all of the talk that Roberts could ultimately provide a sixth vote in favor of Obamacare, another justice’s questions hinted that there could be a sixth vote in the other direction.

...it's impossible to say whether the Court will affirm the mandate or strike it down. Still, based on the tone of questioning alone, Obamacare's advocates ought to worry less about winning Roberts, and worry more about losing Sotomayor.

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The Social Cost of False Media Narratives That Power the Political Power of Leftist Hate ...

polifrog




Victor Davis Hanson:

So far all that is clear is that there is a growing anger among African-Americans about a failure to immediately arrest the shooter that in turn is provoking an even greater backlash against the antics of Al Sharpton, the creepy bounty offered by the New Black Panther Party, and others who inflame for their own careerist advantage, and no one — not the president, not the media, not the civil rights leadership, not the politicians — seems willing or able to call for a time-out until all the facts are reviewed and released. We have collectively regressed to the days of Rodney King and the L.A. riots and the O. J. Simpson trial — or to something far worse. Hope and change came and went.

I lean toward something far worse... a repeat of 50's and 60's leftist racism. Whether it is blacks in the 50's or whites today, the left gains political power through hate.

When we look we find that racism in crime is not what is portrayed in the media. We find that Whites predominantly kill whites, blacks predominantly kill blacks and amazingly others predominantly kill others:

For visual proof of media racism we need only turn to the media narrative of Treyvon and Zimmerman. Here we find that there are two narratives, one that is years old and preferred by the media and another that is current and closer to the truth:

False narratives like this do not lead to national health. They, in fact, lead to racial division. Why? Because a group of Americans, blacks, are being told one story by the media and by the race hustlers like Shapton when the truth is much different. When this episode goes to court and if Zimmerman is found innocent blacks will feel disenfranchised due to a media lie. How much pressure will the court system feel to find Zimmerman guilty? How much did the same pressure work to OJ's advantage a decade and a half ago?

Then there is the other side, those forgotten by all but family and the courts, when our energies are focused on false racist media narratives and the battle with racist echo of a false accusation. They come from all races but most are a media footnote.

Liberals racism divides and weaken our nation.



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Holy Stuttering Crap --- Yes it Really is This Hard to Defend ObamaCare...

polifrog









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CNN on ObamaCare Supreme Court Arguments -- "Train Wreck"

polifrog



CNN's Law Correspondent, Toobin:

This was a train wreck for the Obama administration. This law looks like it’s going to be struck down…All of the predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong.

…The only conservative justice who looked like he might uphold the law was Chief Justice Roberts who asked hard questions of both sides, all four liberal justices tried as hard as they could to make the arguments in favor of the law, but they were — they did not meet with their success with their colleagues.

It is that second bit that bothers me. Why is it that the liberal Justices feel that it is appropriate for them to carry water for the solicitor general?

Liberals have compromised our courts with their politicization of the bench and that is the result of their having congress for so long prior to 1994.

Chapel Hill approves cell-phone ban 5-4

polifrog



News-Record:

Chapel Hill has approved the ban despite an opinion from the state attorney general's office stating that a ban is outside the town's authority.

Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos wrote the state attorney general last year asking if the town had the statutory authority to regulate cell phone use.

Assistant Attorney General Jess Mekeel said no.

This includes hands free devices.  I wonder of passengers, falling under hands free conversation, would be included?

Imagine the enforcement for something that can easily be seen as talking to one's self.

Sigh... They claim conservatives wish to tell people how to live their lives. Uh, no. That is the exclusive provence of liberalism doing those things they feel is best for the commune.

I'm glad I left Chapel Hill.



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A Political Post Break...

polifrog








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News-Record-New claims cast Trayvon Martin as the aggressor

polifrog



News-Record:

The Orlando Sentinel reported today that George Zimmerman told police he lost 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in the neighborhood he regularly patrolled and was walking back to his vehicle last month when the youth approached him from behind.

The two exchanged words, Zimmerman said, and Martin then punched him, jumped on top of him and began banging his head on a sidewalk. Zimmerman said he began crying for help; Martin's family thinks it was their son who was crying out. Witness accounts differ and 911 tapes in which the voices are heard are not clear.

A statement from Sanford police said the newspaper story was "consistent" with evidence turned over to prosecutors.

[emphasis added]


So, Zimmerman was jumped, nearly beaten to death but saved the loss of his life and the pain that would have caused his family because he was allowed to defend his person.  We will see if the facts bear this out over time, but that will preclude a media lynching.  Sorry libs.

Another race story falls apart...





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I got it! We'll Call it a Penalty-Tax..........???

polifrog



But what if we call it a "penalty-tax"? Will the court laugh at us then?
Yes:




Alito, “General Verrilli, today you are arguing that the penalty is not a tax. Tomorrow you are going to be back and you will be arguing that the penalty is a tax”:






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It is and it isn't or it was before it wasn't....

polifrog




Washington Examiner:

On the first day of oral arguments in the case challenging President Obama's national health care law, justices seemed skeptical that the individual mandate should be considered a tax -- one of the main consitutional defenses being offered for the law.

...

"This is not a revenue-raising measure, because, if it's successful, they won't -- nobody will pay the penalty and there will be no revenue to raise," said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the mandate.

Another liberal on the court, Justice Stephen Breyer, said of Congress's description of the fine for non-compliance with the mandate, "They called it a penalty and not a tax for a reason."

...

The Obama administration has to thread a difficult needle. U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argued today that the penalty for non-compliance with the mandate did not function as a tax for the purposes of the Anti-Injunction Act. Tomorrow, he'll have to argue that it does operate as a tax, and thus is a constitutional exercise of the congressional power to levy taxes.

Justice Samuel Alito asked Verrilli whether he could point to another case in which courts identified something as not a tax for the purposes of the Anti-Injunction Act while still ruling it was a constitutional exercise of taxing power. Verrilli could not name any. But he went on to explain that the government had identified a number of penalties that would fall into the same category, including three that concern alcohol and tobacco.

h/t Bubba





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Hmm, Gingich Cancels NC Stop...

polifrog



robchristensen:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's campaign swing to North Carolina on Wednesday has been cancelled, his campaign has confirmed.

[...]

Probably nothing..




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Link to Supreme Court ObamaCare (Affordable Heathcare Act) Arguments Written and Oral..

polifrog


Just a link for now...




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Police: Zimmerman says Trayvon decked him with one blow then began hammering his head

polifrog




Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel:

With a single punch, Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who eventually shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old, then Trayvon climbed on top of George Zimmerman and slammed his head into the sidewalk several times, leaving him bloody and battered, authorities have revealed to the Orlando Sentinel.

That is the account Zimmerman gave police, and much of it has been corroborated by witnesses, authorities say.

[...]

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Graphing That BLS-BS... and America's Second Keynesian Great Depression...

polifrog




Notice how the unemployment rate has fallen parallel with the labor participation rate while the employment to population ratio has remained flat.

We are moving sideways in the same way the US did during the Great Depression.  In each depression (30's and 2008) we used massive injections of stimulus to forestall the economy's return to equilibrium because the return to appropriate pricing is painful.  This results in a broken market that can not heal or a Keynesian Depression.

Conservative Commune:

The NY Fed explains :

...In the most recent cycle, the employment-to-population ratio traces out an L shape, but the unemployment rate falls because the participation rate declines substantially (a much more gradual decline was expected by many given the aging of the baby boomers); in other words, a larger share of the population is out of the labor force rather than participating and being unemployed.

We’ve seen a lot of happy talk about how well the economy is doing now. Most of that comes from the media which has about as much of a grasp on the economy and how it works as does the current occupant of the White House.

A look at those four recessionary cycles gives context to the depth of the one we’re currently battling. If you look closely at the part of the chart depicting our current situation, you realize that while we’ve seemingly bottomed out, the employment-to-population ration is not rising. And that, of course, is because of the horrendous drop in the labor force participation. [...]

 Devastating...





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Why is Are Democrats Asking Whether Cheney Should Have Received a Heart at His Age?

polifrog




GatewayPundit:

Democrats FURIOUS That Cheney Didn’t Face Obama Death Panel Before Transplant....

I also noticed the Drudge headline over the weekend that suggested Cheney's age should exempt him from receiving a heart transplant.

When once we diminish the value of unborn life, we diminish the value of one's remaining years.




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Rep. Mike Turner Reminds Obama that the Presidency is not Imperial...

polifrog




Weekly Standard:

Congressman Mike Turner, a Republican from Ohio, sent a letter to President Obama demanding an “urgent explanation of [his] comments to [Russian] President Medvedev in Seoul this morning,” only hours after a hot microphone caught Obama privately telling Medvedev this morning that he’ll have “more flexibility” after the November 2012 elections to deal with Russian objections to U.S.-NATO missile defense.

...

Turner writes: “Congress has made exquisitely clear to your Administration and to other nations that it will block all attempts to weaken U.S. missile defenses. As the Chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, which authorizes U.S. missile defense and nuclear weapons policy, I want to make perfectly clear that my colleagues and I will not allow any attempts to trade missile defense of the United States to Russia or any other country.”

What are we becoming?






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Obama's ObamaCare Problem...

polifrog



There is no win for Obama:







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Community Organizing via Inciting Mobs are Should Disqualify an Individual From the Presidency...

polifrog




Via Instapundit Victor Davis Hanson:

We went from the beer summit to Trayvon Martin’s resemblance to the boy the president never had. In each case, facts did not matter. . . . The role of a president is to rein in the mob, not to unleash it. The latter is what community organizers do; the former is what makes statesmen. Yet on issue after issue — anti-terrorism, global warming, government ethics, and racial relations — a frenzied mob, egged on by the media and demagogues like Barack Obama, have almost stormed the jail, only to dissipate when met by either evidence, or the knowledge that the incarcerated was one of their own — as if they had never screamed and threatened in the first place.

Yea, I sense another beer summit...

Yea, Those Constitutional Concerns Over ObamaCare are a BFD...

polifrog



Ilya Shapiro

As most readers are no doubt aware, the Supreme Court this week takes up six hours of argument in the Obamacare litigation. Constitutional claims that were originally dismissed as “frivolous” and “easy” are now getting three days of hearings – unprecedented in the modern era. The Court has thus signaled what the American people have known all along, that the government’s breathtaking assertion of power goes beyond anything attempted in the history of the Republic.

[...]

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The Down Side to Term Limits is the Freedom From the Influence of the Citizenry Provided by the Last Term...

polifrog




I'll completely blink on missile defense after the election...

President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.

President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.

President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

No. There is nothing to fear from a second Obama Term.




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Uncommon Knowledge Discusses the Supreme Court and the Affodabe Healthcare Act, AKA ObamaCare...

polifrog




Seems to be a good time to repost this discussion between Ricard Epstein and John Yoo moderated by Peter Robinson.





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The Liberty Squelching Nature of Free Stuff...

polifrog



Ben Stein:

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government
that requires every citizen to prove
they are insured . . . but not everyone
must prove they are a citizen.

Badges?  We don't need no stinkin' badges.



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So is this whole Zimmerman thing starting to look like a cross between BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES and the Richard Jewell affair?

polifrog




 Instapundit:

So is this whole Zimmerman thing starting to look like a cross between BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES and the Richard Jewell affair?

Progressives, Spike Lee tweeting Zimmerman’s address, making death threats.

There has developed in our society a pattern of accusation based on the assumptions of leftist racial expectation rather than fact. This dynamic has resulted in the public media lynchings of innocent individuals and groups  before the diligence of time is able to reveal media leftist racial accusations  to be the falsehoods they are. In the end  the damage of the accusations remain, haunting society with the specter of racism that never was.






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Witness: Martin attacked Zimmerman

polifrog





Although it doesn't matter to some, knowing what happened is vital before casting blame.

MyFoxTampaBay:

The night of that shooting, police say there was a witness who saw it all.

...

"The guy on the bottom who had a red sweater on was yelling to me: 'help, help…and I told him to stop and I was calling 911," he said.

Trayvon Martin was in a hoodie; Zimmerman was in red.

The witness only wanted to be identified as "John," and didn't not want to be shown on camera.

His statements to police were instrumental, because police backed up Zimmerman's claims, saying those screams on the 911 call are those of Zimmerman.

"When I got upstairs and looked down, the guy who was on top beating up the other guy, was the one laying in the grass, and I believe he was dead at that point," John said.

Zimmerman says the shooting was self defense. According to information released on the Sanford city website, Zimmerman said he was going back to his SUV when he was attacked by the teen.

Sanford police say Zimmerman was bloody in his face and head, and the back
of his shirt was wet and had grass stains, indicating a struggle took place before the shooting.

Newt on Obama's singling out concern for those who look like Obama:







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Peter Shiff Speaks Common Sense on "Free" Birth Control...

polifrog




Mind you, this all applies to ObamaCare as a whole. Free stuff dives nations toward bankruptcy...







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Doing it to Scale...

polifrog



Sorry, just a kickass link.




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Let's Wander on Over to the UK and See What Racism We Find at Home...

polifrog





Because not all racism is equal as far as our racist American press is concerned...



DaiklyMail:

Police are investigating a possible race hate attack after a 13-year-old boy was doused in gasoline and set on fire.

The teenager, who suffered first degree burns to his face and hands, is white and his two attackers black.

His mother Melissa Coon said the attackers told her son 'This is what you deserve. You get what you deserve, white boy'.

...

'[One of them] poured the gasoline, then flicked the Bic, and said, 'This is what you deserve. You get what you deserve, white boy'.

Mrs Coon said her son was able to beat the flames out with his hands and shirt and was able to call 911 and his father.

Police said the boy had been engulfed in a 'large fireball'.

He has lost his eye lashes, eyebrows and some skin on his face.

...

My five year old came in and asked me, 'Mom, am I going to get set on fire today?'' she said. 'I was in tears.'

Double Standards.




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Gun Control According to the Cone Crowd...

polifrog

Makes sense to them. One of them claims to lose a piece of his soul when confronted with this thought.




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Two of Our Nuns Requested to Finance Fluke Fornication...

polifrog

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Obama's Keystone Compromise Summed Up in a Cartoon...

polifrog



Really, this is an oil pipe with a hole in it stretching from Canada to Oklahoma.   No oil will flow through this pipe which will keep Obama's friend, Chavez, happy, but is it good for  America's friend, Canada and is it good for Americans?

This is election year chicanery from a styrofoam president.  If he wins reelection plan on this pipe to go unfinished throughout his second term and chalk up the expense of the Oklahoma to Gulf leg to funding Obama's reelection.

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Florida Shooter Was On His Back and Being Punched When He Shot Trayvon Martin..

polifrog





HolyCoast.com 

I bet you hadn't heard that so far in the flurry of media reports on the shooting.  All you know is a random whitish guy (who's actually Hispanic) targeted a poor black kid and shot him because of racism.  Does anyone wonder why no charges have been brought in this case?  Could it be there isn't yet evidence of a crime and that perhaps the shooter was in fact defending himself?  From Examiner.com:

All the way back on February 27th, the local Orlando Fox station interviewed the witness who dialed 911. Almost none of the thousands of articles since have mentioned any of the details described by the witness. Some, however, have attributed false statements to this witness. On March 16th, theSanford police department released new details to the Orlando Sentinel. Once again, these details have been ignored or changed by the media.

• The witness reports that George Zimmerman was on the ground and Trayvon is on top of him punching him.

• The witness says that George Zimmerman was screaming and yelling for help.

•  Police arrive and find Zimmerman bleeding on his face and the back of his head. 

•  He also has had grass stains on his back. All this confirms the story told by Zimmerman and the witness.

• Police play the 911 tape for Trayvon Martin's father, who tells police that the voice screaming is not the voice of his son.

The neighborhood this took place in has seen a lot of crime. Would you be surprised to learn that there were eight burglaries, nine thefts, and a shooting just in the past year? In fact, the local homeowners' association reports that George Zimmerman actually caught one thief and aided in the apprehension of other criminals. The Miami Herald wrote about this on March 17th. None of the thousands of articles and cable news segments that came after, thought this was important.

In fact the Miami Herald goes on to interview neighbor, Ibrahim Rashada, who is black. Rashada ​confirms that there has been a lot of crime in the neighborhood and indicates to the reporter that the perpetrators are usually black.

It has been reported that Martin was on a 5-day suspension from school.  According to what I'm reading that suspension was due to tardiness and not other misbehavior.  The Examiner article above refers to the suspension but didn't have all the facts behind it.  It doesn't appear that this kid had a history of violent behavior, but that doesn't prove one way or the other who instigated the incident.
[...]

It seems to be the way leftist racism works, you only hear the political truth that counts after being sifted on the bases of race..





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So, What do Minorities Say About Requiring an ID to Vote?

polifrog




"Now, the only way you don't want an ID, is if you're doing something crooked."





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You're Welcome, From Greece...

polifrog



Get your popcorn...








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Leftist Race Based Politics Requires Sifting Events Based on Leftist Racial Prejudices:

polifrog




Ask yourself why Ed Cone will never start a discussion with one of the events below. Instead, he focuses on issues like vaporware bumper stickers, Tara Servatius' singular faux pas, George Zimmerman, and Sal Leone.

What drives Cone's focus on these supposedly  racial  incidents above while ignoring those below?  Cone's record is quite clear by his sifting of events that his focus has less to do with racism than the politics of the incident in question.  This use of race as a political tool is leftist racism in America today.

polipundit:

I await Obama’s statements on these incidents:

[edited for clarity]



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5 Things Dems. Got Wrong on Health Care --

polifrog



Politico:

Voters would reward them, they thought, even if Democrats muscled a bill through without Republican support. It was just a matter of getting out of Washington and selling the law. Obama would lead the charge, and rank-and-file Democrats would proudly campaign on the achievement.

None of it worked out that way.

At the two-year mark Friday, nearly everything that Democrats believed about the politics of health care has turned out to be false. And the cost of those miscalculations has been huge. They have haunted Obama’s presidency, soured business as usual at the Capitol and upended the conventional wisdom peddled by political strategists, who have rarely been so wrong about something so big.

Immoral governance usually turns out this way...




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Broken Promises? More Like a Litany of Lies...

polifrog








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From Styrofoam Columns to the Keystone Pipe Photo-ops, A Styrofoam Presidency... ...

polifrog




LA Times:

Earlier this year, Obama deferred the building of a pipeline from Canada's tar sands to the Gulf Coast through environmentally sensitive parts of the Midwest.

Deferred? To when?  No.  Obama nixed the Keystone pipeline.

On Thursday, he said his administration would expedite construction of the southern part of the route, starting in Cushing, Okla.

So now Obama OK's  a pipeline that begins in Canada and ends at the US/Canadian boarder, then picks up again from Oklahoma  to the south.

This sounds like two useless pipes with a big hole in the middle.

Obama has tried to strike a middle position on energy issues between Republican advocates of stepped-up drilling and environmentalists who push for a fast switch from fossil fuels to alternative sources of energy.

So, now Obama is a moderate for backtracking from extremism and leaving us with the possibility of a  useless pipe with a big hole in the middle? 

His administration's policy is "all of the above," Obama often says, backing oil production, alternative energy and increased efficiency.

Obama is finally parroting Sarah Palin's "all of the above" approach from three years ago, 

That stance has opened him to attack from both sides, as was quickly apparent with the announcement that the administration would treat the route from Cushing to Port Arthur, Texas, as a "national priority."

It seems he is even fooling the extremists with his "moderate" approach in backing the construction of a pipe with a  multi-state long hole.  If Obama is reelected, who knows when the pipe will be completed?  This so called moderate stance is in reality an election year Styrofoam gimmick.

Noting the press push on this Rush observes:

I wouldn't be surprised if Obama says, "I've laid more pipe than any president except Bill Clinton."

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Lord Monckton Questions Obama's Birth Certificate...

polifrog




Daily Caller:


Great Britain’s Lord Monckton tells Dennis Miller on his radio show:

“I don’t know whether he is Kenyan or not. . . The point is that if I were you, I would want to make absolutely sure that he was born here before allowing him to be elected. And the birth certificate that he put up on that website, I don’t know where he was born. But I do know that birth certificate isn’t genuine. 

... 

 It appears in layers on the screen in such a way you can remove quite separately each of the individual dates,” Monckton said. “You use Adobe Illustrator and each of the individual dates is in its own separate layer. This thing has been fabricated. Sheriff [Joe] Arpaio of Arizona has had a team on this for six months. And he has now gone public and said there’s something very desperately wrong with this and of course nobody is saying anything because the entire electorate has been fooled

... 

I’m no birther, don’t get me wrong,” Monckton said. “I haven’t a clue where Obama was born and I wouldn’t want to entreat into the private grief behind investigating. But the point is, is what he has done on the White House website is he has put up a document which he is plainly a forgery and I would regard that as a very serious matter.”

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Our Strange President....

polifrog




Newt:

“Let’s accept that he’s a Christian. He’s a Christian whose policies are to apologize to Muslim extremists while they’re killing Americans – at the same time he’s waging war against the Catholic Church and against every Right-to-Life Institution in this country. . . . Why is it he’s more sensitive to radical Islamists who are killing young Americans than he is to the Catholic Church, to Baptists, to Fundamentalists, to people who are pro-Life. I mean, the fact is, this is a very strange Presidency. . . “

A strange president indeed. The fact is that there is a consistent clash between Obama's rhetorical claims and his actions.






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Is a Child Conceived Years After the Death of the Father Entitled to Benefits?

polifrog



National Partnership :

The Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in a case that will decide whether children conceived through in vitro fertilization after a parent's death can receive Social Security benefits, NPR's "All Things Considered" reports (Totenberg, "All Things Considered," NPR, 3/19).

The Social Security Administration since 1939 has provided a benefit to the families of deceased wage earners. However, it is unclear whether benefits should be provided to children who were not yet conceived when the wage earner died (Women's Health Policy Report, 11/17/11).

They will not deny the benefits. It is for the children.

What of sperm donors and all their progeny?  I suspect there will be a rush to cash in on Dr. Jones.

But what of the impacts of this decision  on a slightly a different scenario?

Let's say a married couple amicably divorce dividing the totality of their assets equally.   Years later the woman visits the sperm bank where her half of her sperm from the previous marriage is housed and through the miracle of IVF eventually gives birth to the child of a man she has not seen in many years.  Can she sue and win child support from her previous husband, a man who has not seen  her for years?

I suspect the answer would be yes, as it would be genetically impossible for him to deny fatherhood and it would be for the children.  I suppose this could become another revenue stream for unscrupulous women.




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Paraglider vs. Eagle (Vulture) in the Himalayas ...

polifrog







Not my sort of joy, but I get it.




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Opportunity Still Digging Around Mars Almost a Decade Later...

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popsci:

Here Opportunity takes a final series of self photographs after parking on a sunny Martian hillside.   With  sunless days on their way this solar powered remote controlled car  prepares for winter hibernation.

Lets hope she wakes to another year.




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Is the Tea Party Dead? Ben Shapiro Believes So...

polifrog



I don't...



Ben uses the minutemen analogy as the way forward.

I believe that is what the Tea Party was and still is. It is a grass roots movement that can affect change not only on the local level, but at the state level in the form of congressional seats and subsequently congressional influence. That does not mean it has the power to affect change on the national level which is represented by the office of the president ... yet. Before the Tea Party can affect change at the presidential level it must become what the gentry conservatives already are ... established.

Give the Tea Party time to grow to the national level.





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If Democrats in the Senate Can Go Three Years Without a Budget and Government Continues Unabated ...

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...how will we ever control spending?

Weekly Standard:

Fox News host Bret Baier had a straightforward question last night for Obama advisor David Axelrod: "Why haven't Senate Democrats passed a budget resolution in 1,040 days?" It's the sort of question that's probably not asked enough, especially considering Republicans in the House have passed a budget in that time and they--under the leadership of Paul Ryan--introduced a new budget yesterday.

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Liberal Hipocrits Chanting Hipocrit...

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Iowahawk:

I sometimes hear the question, "Why are you a Democrat?" and frankly, I have to laugh. Laugh and laugh, because perhaps this person may tire of my laughing, and he will eventually wander off. Sometimes I ponder seriously when I hear this question, because I'll look around and around and there's nobody there asking the question. Why am I a Democrat?

I am a Democrat because I believe everyone deserves a chance. And if necessary, a second chance. And if, by the eighth or ninth chance, this guy needs another chance, I mean, come on. This guy is due.

I am a Democrat because I believe in helping those in need. All of us, you and I, have an obligation to those less fortunate. You go first, okay? I'm a little short this week.

I am a Democrat because I believe in the equality of all people, regardless of their race. That is why I think we should give free medical degrees to minorities because, well, duh. Like any of those types are going to make it through medical school.

I am a Democrat because I fervently believe in tolerance. Tolerance is critical in our diverse society, and if you have a problem with that, mister, then I will inform the authorities and I bet that after a few hours in their "special room" you too will agree that tolerance is critical.

I am a Democrat because I believe that we should take our noses out of other people's bedrooms. I say we move the noses to their banks and storage sheds and scout troops, and so forth.

I am a Democrat because I hold sacred freedom of the press, as well as freedom of the TV and freedom of the movie. Where I draw the line is freedom of the talk radio, and don't even get me started about that damn Internet business.

I am a Democrat because I recognize that education is important. Very, very, extremely very important. We must [...]

He continues until he is distracted by Survivor...




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The Left Loves Protest, So Where are They on This - Political Speech is Now a Felony but it Gets an Obama Pass?

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When you hear a liberal complain about the loss of free speech remember that their concern is conditional on the party in power, therefore always political.








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Obamacare is an Election Year Loser, SCOTUS Pass or Not...

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ObamaCare is set to face down the Supreme Court in a week or two. What are the political implications?

Charles Krauthammer says ObamaCare is unpopular because it is dog-food.



It is more than dog-food for Americans, it is dog food for the Obama campaign.

If the Supreme Court finds that Obama's signature legislation is unconstitutional, Obama will enter the November election as a greater failed president than he already is.

But what if the ObamaCare passes constitutional muster, you say?

The answer is that ObamaCare is such awful dog food not even the Supreme Court can make ObamaCare a net positive in his campaign. With the Supreme Court backing ObamaCare the Tea Party and other anti ObamaCare types will see the election as the only way to end ObamaCare. Obama will enter the November elections with a Tea Party on steroids.

There is no winning on the ObamaCare issue for Obama.



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So, Why Doesn't Rush Call Bristol Palin and Offer Words of Encouragement?

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Bristol Palin:

Dear President Obama,

You don’t know my telephone number, but I hope your staff is busy trying to find it. Ever since you called Sandra Fluke after Rush Limbaugh called her a slut, I figured I might be next. You explained to reporters you called her because you were thinking of your two daughters, Malia and Sasha. After all, you didn’t want them to think it was okay for men to treat them that way:

“One of the things I want them to do as they get older is engage in issues they care about, even ones I may not agree with them on,” you said. “I want them to be able to speak their mind in a civil and thoughtful way. And I don’t want them attacked or called horrible names because they’re being good citizens.”

And I totally agree your kids should be able to speak their minds and engage the culture. I look forward to seeing what good things Malia and Sasha end up doing with their lives.

But here’s why I’m a little surprised my phone hasn’t rung. Your $1,000,000 donor Bill Maher has said reprehensible things about [...]

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Daily Kos' Proper Orwellian Speech to Mold the Minds of the Masses...

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Kos endeavors to teach proper Soviet era Orwellian terminology to his athoritarian  flock...

•  Never say Entitlements –Instead, say Earned Benefits.

 Uh, there is nothing earned for work not done and work done previously was paid for...

•   Never say Redistribution of Wealth –Instead, say Fair Wages For Work.

Dollars received from redistribution are not wages and are not fair to those who do works.

• Never say Employer Paid Health Insurance. - Instead, say Employee Earned Health Insurance.

Nothing is earned that is mandated.

•  Never say Government Spending. - Instead, say The People Are Investing.

No.  The People are  being taxed and the government is spending those taxed dollars as government spending.

• Never say Corporate America. –Instead, say Unelected Corporate Government.

Huh? Unelected government?  The only place I see that is in Obama's Czars and non recess "recess appointments".

Authoritarian Statists every last one of them...




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Is it Freedom of Religion or Freedom of Worship?

polifrog



What is in a word?

The attack on religious liberty is a two front war. One front you know about, the other one you may not have noticed.

...

This is nowhere more apparent today than in the President's repeated use of the phrase "freedom of worship" rather than "freedom of religion." They prefer and proffer this language change because "freedom of worship" is about something you do for one hour a week. "Freedom of religion" is about how you live in the other 167 hours of the week. The secularist left now in control of our government is content to allow one hour of free "worship" so long as they get to tell you how to live the other 167 hours. Of course, our Constitution does not guarantee us merely freedom of worship but freedom of religion. The first amendment is about all 168 hours a week, which is the whole point. The secularist left hopes that by repeated references to freedom of worship, you will eventually come to accept the diminution of your God-given rights.

There is a lot in a word. It is why the Constitution is written and why we should use the words of the Constitution against those who would diminish our rights for their government gain.




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Obama's Catholic Problem is not an Amish Problem...

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The administration continues its push to marginalize Catholicism:

In announcing the rule for college-based health plans, HHS said it would follow the same system for enforcing the rule on religious colleges and universities that object to purchasing sterilizations, contraceptives and abortifacients for its students that President Barack Obama has proposed for enforcing the regulation on religious non-profit organizations in the coverage for their employees: The insurer will be forced to provide the sterilizations, contraceptives and abortifacients to the students free of charge.

“Under the final rule, students will gain the same consumer protections other people with individual market insurance have, like a prohibition on lifetime limits and coverage of preventive services without cost sharing,” HHS said in a press release. “In the same way that religious colleges and universities will not have to pay, arrange or refer for contraceptive coverage for their employees, they will not have to do so for their students who will get such coverage directly and separately from their insurer.”

But, the Amish get a pass:

The Amish are exempt from the entire health care reform law. So are members of Medi-Share, a program of Christian Care Ministry. Yet, when the Catholic Church asks for a religious exemption from just one regulation issued under the law – the mandate that all employers, including religious institutions, must pay for sterilization and contraceptives, including abortion-inducing drugs – the Administration balks.

The government respects the First Amendment that guarantees the right to freely exercise one’s religious beliefs, but only to a point. In the health care law it picks and chooses which beliefs it respects. The Amish do not believe in insurance, and the government understands. Christian Care Ministry believes people should form a religious community and pay medical bills for one another, and the government says okay. Yet when the Catholic Church opposes being forced to pay for services that violate its beliefs, the Administration says “tough.”

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Inflation...

polifrog



The Fed's QE series of money printing for the past few years have been inflationary. That does not necessarily mean that the inflation will show up immediately, but eventually it will







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It's a Complicated Complicated Complicated World for Some...

polifrog




How long does it take to travel 80 miles if you are driving at 80 miles per hour?



h/t iOTW


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Ian Anderson and Tony Snow on What Else but the Flute...

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A touch of Locomotive Breath at the end.

h/t LI:







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Progressivism and the authoritarian impulse...

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Protein Wisdom:

And it is because of this — the progressives’ fidelity to a belief system that is fundamentally at odds with the idea of equality of the individual before the law — that I’ve said time and time again that modern progressivism / “liberalism” is nothing like the classical liberalism upon which this country was founded, and is in fact antithetical and hostile to the very notion of individual autonomy, and a foundational “fairness” that comes about as a result of a system of law that seeks to create an even playing field. That is, it is in a very real and strict sense un-American.

To the progressive, your social and political worth — in fact, your very claim to morality — comes from your various identity politics alliances. That is, your morality is a function not so much of what you do, but rather of where you claim to stand, and with whom.

Progressivism cares not about fairness or equality in the sense those words are used under a political paradigm that adheres to classical liberalism; instead, it seeks to redefine “fairness” and “equality” (and “tolerance”) as based on the outcomes it desires, a deconstructive procedure it then justifies by tying those outcomes to its own self-serving descriptions of what comes to count as moral. It is circular reasoning made perfect. Might makes right. The ends justify the means.

And, thus, leftists claim morality as theirs to impose and the right to acquiesce.

I reject their "morality" in which racist leftists are not racist and all conservatives are racist without need for proof.

I reject their "morality" that places the needs of a fish or spotted owl above the needs of even a single human.

I reject their "morality" that allows women to claim a "right to choose" that denies all rights to another human when  that "right to chose" is exercised.

I reject their "morality" that places the "needs of society" above, not only the needs, and desires, but the  beliefs of the individual.

I reject their "morality" that  has been balkinizing America for decades through   multiculturalism and is straining the common threads  that bind our nation together as one people.

It is the authoritarian impulse that gives rise to leftist immorality for in each case their "morality" leads to a weaker individual and a stronger state.






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Accusations of Liberal Immorality Need not be Sourced From Religion Alone...

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Victor Davis Hanson:

...the only way to question these illiberal doctrines is without apology to identify them as immoral—and to welcome the hysterical reaction that ensues.

Absolutely. And hysterical doesn't do justice to the level of irrationality one is faced with when attacking liberal immorality.




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All Our "No Stronger Allies" Allies "Punch Above Their Weight Class" ...

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What's Up With the St. Charles Missouri Caucus?

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Noisy Room:

Today may go down in history as “The St. Patrick’s Day Massacre” as the day some 2,000 people walked away from Francis Howell North High School in St. Peters, Mo., after political bedlam broke out during the 2012 St. Charles County Republican Presidential Caucus.

Not sure what happened here, but it looks to me like the Gentry Conservatives are attempting to keep control through procedural power rather than constituent power.



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Why I Battle Leftist Racism Over at Ed Cone's, AlfonZo Rachel Provides the Answer...

polifrog



Because when racism exists more as an accusation than a provable reality it is those who accuse who practice racism.

For example,

Ngee, a self described black woman, without proof accuses Sal Leone of racism. My reply:

ngee's comments represent a teachable moment. Forums such as this, by virtue of anonymity, semi anonymity or simply the lack of visual and physical contact, are by nature as race-less an exchange of ideas any of us have come across.

Where is the appreciation of that near racial equality when ngee's first words in this thread are:

This thread is a PRIME EXAMPLE of how segregated the Greensboro blogosphere is. As a black woman (born, raised, went to school here)it AMAZES me how a candidate for office would PROUDLY post a racially charged comment on a racist blog.

Unfortunately, ngee shatters that near racial equality, that near raceless exchange of ideas, by needlessly introducing race.

Why make such an announcement in a racist society? One would think in a racist society such an announcement would be avoided, least one's words be ignored or ridiculed. The reality is that such an announcement is evidence of the recognition by ngee that in our society her race is to her advantage.

The end result is that ngee introduces racism for a personal gain in credibility so as to more forcefully make a dubious charge of racism.

Where are these "racist blogs" ngee referenced? None of the links in the thread lead to one that I could find. Where is the racism in Sal's comments? There was no mention of race, nor was there a reference to anything that was predominantly racial. Just what are the linkages ngee makes between Sal's comments and ngee's race?

ngee's charge of racism seems to rely entirely on accusation and a sense of personal racial credibility. However, the repercussions of the charge of racism are too great for proof to be casually cast aside. The weighty charge of racism requires a similarly weighty concrete foundation of proof upon which to rest. And what is ngee's proof? None was provided. I asked earlier in the thread for proof, but was ignored.

I don't know what to call the game ngee is playing, but the needless introduction of race into nearest thing to a raceless exchange of ideas most of us will ever experience to indignantly engage in baseless and unprovable character destruction is an ugly, ugly thing.

Example 2:
When given a choice between interpreting a term with racist intent by the author or without, a leftist racist  will choose racist intent and accuse the author of racism as we see in this thread.  Throughout the thread we can watch leftist racism in action as they attack me for the use of the word "mistral".   I reply to the charge over a handful of comments in the following way:

Okay, I googled up "minstrel" and found:

1. A medieval singer or musician, esp. one who sang or recited poetry.

2. A member of a band of entertainers with blackened faces who perform songs and music ostensibly of black American origin.

You chose option number 2.

When the greater influence in my life is Tull while the greater influence in your life is apparently "blackface" entertainment, then does that not say more of your racism than any lack thereof of mine?

Yet, you go there with your accusations. Apparently "blackface" is what comes to your mind when you see Obama and read the word minstrel. Be mindful that it is you making the connection when another could be chosen.

To jump from the term "minstrel" to racism is a bridge too far. It requires the assumption that the term is a reference to a nearly century old form of entertainment ("blackface") and then requires the application of that entertainment to a man that is neither white nor in "blackface" and then finally claim the whole convoluted process somehow says more of another's racist intent than your own.

Perhaps you should explore what darkness in you drives you to view Obama as a white man in "blackface" rather than the black man that he is.

I left the tread on this summation by Jim Langer:

So, the likely gambit was provocation. A successful one, too. Bravo. That level of intelligent discourse deserves acknowledgment.

Why do I go through the trouble? Zoe:

If the Democrats lose the black vote, they lose everything. This is why their hooks are so deep in the black community and have virtually hard-wired the black community to be loyal to them. The chains that Democrats used to put on their wrists and ankles have now been clamped onto their hearts and minds.

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Sunday Morning Smile File...

polifrog

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A Few Sunday Morning Links...

polifrog

• Gallup Calls BS on BLS Unemployment Data

• CBO report says healthcare law could cause as many as 20M to lose coverage

• Wow they got one right

• Santorum Is Faring Better in Swing States, Romney Nationally

• Friday night news dump: Administration to move forward with and expand contraception mandate

• American Thinker: The evidence is mounting that we have a limitless supply of Texas tea -- because oil is in fact a renewable resource that is being constantly created deep under the earth's surface.

• In his hubris and haste, the president has tipped his hand on the free exercise of religion.

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Enjoy the New Racism and It's PC Too...

polifrog




It's transparent...

(h/t) Guarino:





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"The War on Women" is Nothing More Than Democrats Playing Fart Politics...

polifrog



So, when you were a kid and out of the blue someone accused another classmate of farting, who did you think actually farted?

Yeah, that is the level of Democrat politics at this point.



They are flailing...





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St. Patrick's Day Movie...

polifrog


NSFW but, then, it's Saturday...






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Weaving a Regulatory Web of Waste and Liberty Lost...

polifrog



First they came for and got our high-dive diving boards. Now they want the pool. Why? John Stossel and Bill Whittle offer an answer and it's unpleasant.

John Stossel: (h/t Anonymous)

Big-government advocates will say that as society grows more complex, laws must multiply to keep up. The opposite is true.

[...]

F.A. Hayek wisely said, "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." Another Nobel laureate, James M. Buchanan, put it this way: "Economics is the art of putting parameters on our utopias."

Barack Obama and his ilk in both parties don't want parameters on their utopias. They think the world is subject to their manipulation. That idea was debunked years ago.

They do not learn, they teach.

Bill Whittle, however, looks around and says, 'hey we aren't a free people. We are a people bound by endless regulation'.

And asks for a "sweet" spot:








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Great Myths of the Great Depression From the Youth of America...

polifrog



These videos focus on The Great Depression, so they do not touch on Japan's Lost Decade Lost Two Decades or the current Depression America is mired in, each of which have repeated the mistakes of The Great Depression thus lengthening our shared misery.

All three are Keynesian Depressions.







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