Friday, September 14, 2012

Obama's Abandonment of the 1st Amendment

It's All Quiet on the Western Front. Not a word from our President, nor our Secretary of State nor any of our ambassadors, nor the news media about Freedom of Speech.

I've heard apologies, explanations that the US government is not at fault, denunciations of Mitt Romney for daring to criticize the Obama government's foreign policy but not one word in defense of Freedom of Speech.

Have you seen the film? It's a low budget Monty Python spoof on Islam. It deserves harsher criticism for being a bad film than it does repudiation for hurting someone's sensibilite. (Thanks Hillary).

In case you haven't seen it here's the movie "Innocence of Muslims":



Here's Hillary Clinton's statement. Where's the defense of Freedom of Speech? The movie's purpose, she said, was cynical and intended to provoke rage. I wonder, what was her reaction to Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ"? or Dung-Covered Madonna at the Brooklyn Museum?



This awful pathetic movie stirred up outrage; shouldn't this be a "teachable" moment. Shouldn't we be saying to the muslim world that freedom of thought and expression must be allowed? Shouldn't we be asking the muslim world if their response to this movie was not ... oh, just a little-bit over the top? Shouldn't we be saying that respect goes two ways and that they too (the Muslim world) should respect religious minorities and atheists?

Ms. Clinton. Mr Obama. Where is your defense of Freedom of Speech? Where is your defense of freedom of thought and expression?

Obama voting "Present" once again

Obama, who has brought voting present to an art form, has struck again.  Where is he in the Chicago teacher's strike?

Remember this:
When I’m in the White House, i’ll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself. I’ll walk on that picket line with you as POTUS, because workers deserve to know that somebody’s standing in their court."


Obviously the teacher strike is a political minefield for Obama. But the irony is delicious. Why is it that the left still defends him? Maybe its because they know that he is 100% behind them but that his quest for power comes first. And the left is cool with that.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C. S. Lewis

Thursday, September 6, 2012

And you say today's Democratic Party isn't Socialist?

Watch this video. It's scary.

The Democrats are in trouble.

I thought the Democratic Convention would have poor optics and messaging with Fluke, Warren and other speakers promoting an ever more radicalized Democratic Party but never once did I think that the political operatives at the DNC would shoot itself in the foot as badly as it did.

First came the DNC "feel-good" promo: "Government is the only thing we belong to."



Wow! Feel good. Yes. Reasonable. On the surface yes. But oh how revealing.

The American Experiment - American Exceptionalism - is that our government is our employees. We are not property of the government. We are not subjects of the government nor our elected officials. We are citizens and government officials, from the president on down, are our employees. We do not belong to the government.

Then Illinois Governor Pat Quinn evokes Rousseau and the counter-enlightenment by saying "Let's make the will of the people the law of the land." Hmmm. I guess the constitution doesn't count for much. If the will of the people is to take money, restrict speech, imprison or kill irregardless of the Constitution then let's do so. The US Constitution was EXPLICITLY against having the will of the people being the law of the land.

And now the Democratic Party removes "God" and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from the platform. We all know that removing "God" from the platform would lead to a firestorm. Fine. But then, the DNC backtracks from the platform changes and puts the reversal up to a vote on the convention floor. A two-thirds majority is needed to put "God" and "Jerusalem" back into the platform. Three times the proposal is put up to a vote. Three times the changes are voted down. And what does the DNC do, through Antonio Villaraigosa? They say that the vote was approved by the delegates.
Villaraigosa, in what quickly became an awkward moment, asked for the voice vote three times in all. After the second time, he paused for several seconds and looked behind him for guidance from a convention staffer -- possibly a parliamentarian -- before turning back and asking for a third vote.

Even though the no's were again as loud if not louder than the aye's on the third vote, Villaraigosa said he had determined that two thirds of those present had voted in favor. Boos filled the arena in response.
The Huffington Post


At issue is more than removing "God" and "Jerusalem" from the Democratic Party platform. As said before, we all know that is unstated position of the Democratic Party and that the positions had remained in the platform for political purposes only. The issue is not that the delegates objected to reinserting "God" and "Jerusalem" back into the platform. The issue is that the Democratic National Committee, on national TV, over-ruled the delegates and rigged the vote to go the way they wanted.

If votes don't count, then don't vote, and certainly don't pretend to vote.

This debacle will bring ObamaCare and Nancy Pelosi's statement "We Have to Pass the Bill So That You Can Find Out What Is In It" once more to the forefront. This alone may cost the Dems Ohio and the national election. (Ohio had a referendum last year and opposed ObamaCare by close to a 2/3 majority.)



The Democratic Party is in trouble. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.

EDIT 9/8/2012: I knew that removing "God" and "Jerusalem" would cause problems but, oh my God, did this raise a firestorm. "Three" times the delegates were asked to put God back into the platform and three times they said "NO!" I was wrong - the issue that resonates is the denial of Peter:
Jesus answered, "This very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."
Matthew 26:34

Monday, September 3, 2012

Does Obama Have a Chance

So does Obama have a chance? Of course he does. He's president of the United States; he has large subsections of the population that will vote for him no matter what. The only question is: does he win 270 electoral votes.  

I don't think so. I'm not saying Obama will lose - only that he is in a very weak position. Enthusiasm is down, job approval is precariously low and he has to play defense. In 2008 Democrats came within a percentage point of winning Missouri and Obama made a valiant run at Montana, Arizona and Georgia. Now no one is thinking that Obama can carry Missouri, Montana, Arizona or Georgia.

I think that Romney wins all of McCain's states plus Indiana and North Carolina without a question.

Here's the 2008 Obama-McCain map.




Here is the 2012 map. I put Indiana and North Carolina in red as I don't think Obama has a chance for either state. New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada are in gray as they are states that Romney can realistically win.

The 2012 Map with toss-up states (Indiana and NC are in Red)



I think that Romney will win Florida fairly convincingly. Iowa and Colorado I also put in the lean Romney column. Virginia and Ohio are harder to say. Adjusting turn-out to 2004 levels for Republicans and 2008 turnouts for Democrats show a very close race.  Government workers will turn-out at high levels for Obama. Black votes will drop but by how much? Right now, forcing myself to chose I think that both states (Virginia and Ohio) vote for Romney by 3-5 points,  52-48. NH is a tough case. A lot of Massachussets liberals have moved to NH but their vote total will probably drop. Obama also won a lot of disaffected "any-but-the-above", Ross Perot voters in 2008. He won't have them in 2012.





I'm not certain about Wisconsin. The re-call this summer shows that Wisconsin is in play. I think it will be very close there. Nevada. I'm not certain how it will go. We will know for sure in October when we see where the candidates are spending their time and where the campaigns put (or pull) their advertising. 

Obama's outerwall has been broken. His forces will retreat to the keep (Ohio and Virginia). I think both will be overrun by Romney's troops.

EDIT 10/5/2012: (oops. part of this was left in draft)

Will Obama and the Dems Jump the Shark this week?

It's hard to believe that the Democrats think their line-up is going to resonate with the American people. Sandra Fluke is going to represent the Democratic Party's view of women. How absurd is that? It's more bizarre than the "Life of Julia" that they trotted out earlier this year. There is a very good chance that the Obama Presidency is going to implode this week.