Poll: Most support Arizona immigration law

Interesting:

Poll: Most support Arizona immigration law - UPI.com: "Seven in 10 U.S. adults support arresting people who can't prove they're in the United States legally, a poll about Arizona's new immigration law indicated.

The Angus Reid Public Opinion poll of 1,002 American adults asked respondents if they'd want four guidelines in Arizona's immigration law enacted in their own state.

The law, the nation's toughest, seeks to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants and gives police broad powers to stop people on suspicion of being in the United States illegally."

The Insurance Mandate in Peril

I hope so:

Randy E. Barnett: The Insurance Mandate in Peril - WSJ.com: "A'tell' in poker is a subtle but detectable change in a player's behavior or demeanor that reveals clues about the player's assessment of his hand. Something similar has happened with regard to the insurance mandate at the core of last month's health reform legislation. Congress justified its authority to enact the mandate on the grounds that it is a regulation of commerce. But as this justification came under heavy constitutional fire, the mandate's defenders changed the argument—now claiming constitutional authority under Congress's power to tax.

This switch in constitutional theories is a tell: Defenders of the bill lack confidence in their commerce power theory. The switch also comes too late. When the mandate's constitutionality comes up for review as part of the state attorneys general lawsuit, the Supreme Court will not consider the penalty enforcing the mandate to be a tax because, in the provision that actually defines and imposes the mandate and penalty, Congress did not call it a tax and did not treat it as a tax."

Obama: “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money”

Some need to stay on task and some need to stay on teleprompter:

Hot Air Obama: “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money”: "We’re not, we’re not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that’s fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or providing good service. We don’t want people to stop, ah, fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow our economy."

Obamacare’s Danger Signs

Hmm...

Obamacare’s Danger Signs - Grace-Marie Turner - Critical Condition on National Review Online: "Obamacare is far from settled policy. There are two more federal elections before the major provisions of the law take effect in 2014. Doctors are fighting mad, patients are scared, and companies are starting to realize that the promises of health-care-reform legislation could turn into a huge and costly burden. "

80% Say Religious Faith is Important To Their Daily Lives - Rasmussen Reports™

This is something you don't hear in the news:

80% Say Religious Faith is Important To Their Daily Lives - Rasmussen Reports™: "Eight-out-of-10 Americans (80%) say that their religious faith is at least somewhat important in their daily lives, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 18% feel their religious faith is not very or not at all important to their lives.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of all adults describe their religious faith as very important to their daily living.
Women are more likely than men to feel their faith is very important to their lives. Sixty-six percent (66%) of African-Americans say their religious faith is very important, compared to 56% of whites. Married adults are more inclined than unmarrieds to rate their faith as very important to daily living.
While the majorities of those of all faiths say their religious beliefs are at least somewhat important to their daily lives, there are sharp differences in terms of those who describe it as very important. Eighty-two percent (82%) of Evangelical Christians say their religious faith is very important every day, a view shared by 65% of other Protestants, 46% of Catholics and 37% of those of other beliefs."

EurObama - NYPOST.com

Not good:

EurObama - NYPOST.com: "The only reason VAT is even on the table right now is that bureaucrats like VAT enthusiast Nancy Pelosi have an appetite for spending that far outpaces Americans’ willingness to cough up their hard-earned dough. Every statehouse and city council across the land is literally out of money, and turning to the only people who can print the stuff: Washington.

The federal government spent $3.5 trillion last year while taking in just $2.1 trillion, producing a deficit-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio of 10%, a level not seen since World War II. By contrast, the European Union requires member countries to keep deficits at 3% of GDP. If America was in Europe, we’d be Greece.

What’s worse for us is that we’ve pretty much given up trying to address the root problem, which is the decade long spending binge initiated by George W. Bush and then tripled down on by Barack Obama. The VAT isn’t a way to streamline a complicated tax code; it’s a new spigot to flood money into the pockets of teachers who can’t be fired, and securities regulators who can’t get enough porn."

Protest picture of the day

Hot Air Blog Archive : "Maybe it’s just me, but does anyone else see the irony in the juxtaposition of these two protest signs outside of an appearance by Sarah Palin in Eugene, Oregon?"

It’s on: “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” set for May 20th

It’s on: “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” set for May 20th

What Kind of Socialst is Barack Obama?

Good article:

What Kind of Socialst is Barack Obama?: "The assertion that Barack Obama is a socialist became a hallmark of the 2008 presidential campaign. His opponent, John McCain, used Obama’s own extemporaneous words to an Ohio plumber as Exhibit A: “When you spread the wealth around,” Obama had said, “it’s good for everybody.” That, McCain insisted, sounded “a lot like socialism,” as did Obama’s proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy and high earners for the explicit purpose of taking better care of the lower and middle classes with that redistributed money."

Millions face tax increases under Dems budget plan

It's just the beginning:

Millions face tax increases under Dems budget plan - Yahoo! News: "President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in the Senate promise to cut the deficit by almost two-thirds over the next five years, but their budget plan could threaten about 30 million people with tax increases averaging $3,700 in 2012 and after because of the alternative minimum tax.
The alternative is tax increases elsewhere in the revenue code averaging up to $100 billion a year after 2011 to continue alternative minimum tax relief and also curb taxes on people inheriting large estates.
The Democratic plan released Wednesday by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota relies on such boosts in revenues to carve the deficit from $1.4 trillion last year down to $545 billion by 2015."

Obama's disregard for media reaches new heights at nuclear summit

Ouch:

Obama's disregard for media reaches new heights at nuclear summit: "World leaders arriving in Washington for President Obama's Nuclear Security Summit must have felt for a moment that they had instead been transported to Soviet-era Moscow."

They entered a capital that had become a military encampment, with camo-wearing military police in Humvees and enough Army vehicles to make it look like a May Day parade on New York Avenue, where a bicyclist was killed Monday by a National Guard truck.

In the middle of it all was Obama -- occupant of an office once informally known as "leader of the free world" -- putting on a clinic for some of the world's greatest dictators in how to circumvent a free press.

The new currency is obedience

Good:

Hot Air Blog Archive The new currency is obedience: "The past two years have seen a profound change occur in the American system. Our basic currency is no longer the dollar. People like Jason Levin understand the nature of our new currency, which is obedience."

Obama Democrats worship central planning. They have repeatedly expressed the belief that only powerful, maternal government can be trusted to allocate the most essential resources, or manage vital industries. The free market is a playpen, filled with the stuff that isn’t serious enough to merit direct control by the Mother State. When a particular toy causes the children of the electorate to scream, it is quickly snatched out of the pen. The free market can’t even be trusted to deal with airline fees for carry-on luggage… which turned out to be a market response to previous government action. You are expected to sit quietly and swallow your tears if Mother State chooses to beat you over the head with one of your toys.


Central planning is useless if nobody follows the central plans. Where the free market is persuasive, organizing resources by responding to demand and exploiting opportunity, central planning is coercive. It must compel obedience to its designs, and compulsion is always necessary. If people were eager to follow those designs of their own free will, there would be no need for central planning in the first place.

Public Policy Polling: Obama/Bush Nearly Divided

Wow, who would have thought this?

Public Policy Polling: Obama/Bush Nearly Divided: "Americans are now pretty evenly divided about whether they would rather have Barack Obama or George W. Bush in the White House. 48% prefer Obama while 46% say they would rather have the old President back.

Bush had atrocious approval ratings for his final few years in office, particularly because he lost a lot of support from Republicans and conservative leaning independents. Those folks may not have liked him but they now say they would rather have him back than Obama. 87% of GOP voters now say they would prefer Bush, a number a good deal higher than Bush's approval rating within his party toward the tail end of his Presidency. Democrats predictably go for Obama by an 86/10 margin, and independents lean toward him as well by a 49/37 spread."

How Bad Could 2010 Really Get For Democrats?

Hmmm...maybe 100 seats?

RealClearPolitics - How Bad Could 2010 Really Get For Democrats?: "Though Election Day is still months away, pundits have already begun to speculate on possible outcomes for this year's midterms. There's a general consensus that Democrats will lose seats in November, but beyond that opinions vary widely on how big those losses might be. Some argue that because of the advance notice, passage of health care, and an improving economy (or some combination of all three), Democrats will be able to limit their losses significantly. Others are predicting a repeat of 1994, when Democrats lost 50 seats and control of the House."

So how bad could 2010 get for the Democrats? Let me say upfront that I tend to agree with analysts who argue that if we move into a "V"-shaped recovery and President Obama's job approval improves, Democratic losses could be limited to twenty or twenty-five seats.

That said, I think those who suggest that the House is barely in play, or that we are a long way from a 1994-style scenario are missing the mark. A 1994-style scenario is probably the most likely outcome at this point.

Orgone Blasters Chemtrails Aliens ELF Fight Back By Sherry Shriner

I had someone comment on my blog so I followed the link to their website. Sometimes you just can't make things up. This Sherry Shriner blends every form of syncretistic belief into the weirdest hybrid I have ever seen.

From secret codes, reptilians, mystery names for God (she has a fetish for Yahweh which is the Hebrew YHWH commonly referred to as the tetragrameton), plane chemtrails, the power of crystals and on and on... Every conspiracy out there, is thrown together, vigorously stirred and out pops...I'm not sure what to call it.

You can't even really call this false prophecy because no one will believe it unless they themselves have refused to take their meds.

The world is full of interesting people that need our prayer and a really good Christian counselor. May God reveal Himself to her.

Orgone Blasters Chemtrails Aliens ELF Fight Back By Sherry Shriner: "The Lord is raising up a group of Warriors to prepare for, and fight against, the arrival of the Antichrist and his forces on earth. Joel 2, Rev, 9 and Rev. 16 mention literal alien and demonic invasions on earth. The orgone will protect the Lord's people and their properties against them. The orgone to aliens is like garlic to vampires. It destroys them. WE CAN DESTROY THEM! By disseminating orgone throughout our towns, cities, states, and country we can make our land, air, and water uninhabitable for them! We can annihilate them by the millions!"

The Teaparty Movement, The Democrat Party, Racism and Incitement! • Looking at the Left

Well worth the read:

The Teaparty Movement, The Democrat Party, Racism and Incitement! • Looking at the Left: "After a massive kickoff rally in Searchlight, Nevada, the Tea Party Express III is winding its way across America. They are received by large rallies of Tea Party patriots in city after city along the way. The three bus, 43 city tour arrives in Washington DC this week for a mega-rally on tax day April 15th.

Recent polls show that the Tea Party movement has bipartisan support. Despite a year-long stream of hate speech and lies from the mainstream media and Democrat officials, 63% of Americans say their views are closer to the Teaparty’s than to the President’s.

The mainstream media, in lockstep with the Administration, has gone to the gutter in their effort to brand this important movement as a pack of howling racists."

Urban Traffic: San Francisco 1906

Absolutely fascinating:

Car Lust: Urban Traffic: "This video has been making the rounds of late. It's Market Street in San Francisco on April 14, 1906, four days before the great 1906 Earthquake."


Here's the same street after the Quake:

Fighting Allergies by Mimicking Parasitic Worms

This makes a lot of sense, I've wondered why allergies seem so much more prevalent today:

Technology Review: Fighting Allergies by Mimicking Parasitic Worms: "As blossoming spring trees spew pollen, many allergy sufferers would be grateful for a more effective way to alleviate their itchy misery. How about swallowing a batch of pig whipworm eggs, or deliberately infecting oneself with the fecal-dwelling hookworm? Yucky as these options sound, mounting evidence in both humans and animals suggests that infection with these parasitic worms seems to protect against a number of inflammatory diseases, including asthma and allergy, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, and type 1 diabetes."

French Leader Sarkozy Slams Obama, Warns He Might Be Insane | EUTimes.net

Sarkozy understands the man:

Update:  I have serious reservations about this story and quite frankly don't believe it:

French Leader Sarkozy Slams Obama, Warns He Might Be Insane | EUTimes.net: "A new report circulating in the Kremlin today authored by France’s Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) and recently “obtained” by the FSB shockingly quotes French President Nicolas Sarkozy as stating that President Barack Obama is “a dangerous[ly] alie'ne'”, which translates into his, Obama, being a “mad lunatic”, or in the American vernacular, “insane”.

According to this report, Sarkozy was “appalled” at Obama’s “vision” of what the World should be under his “guidance” and “amazed” at the American Presidents unwillingness to listen to either “reason” or “logic”. Sarkozy’s meeting where these impressions of Obama were formed took place nearly a fortnight ago at the White House in Washington D.C., and upon his leaving he “scolded” Obama and the US for not listening closely enough to what the rest of the World has to say."

Notes About Rights

Very interesting:

Hot Air Blog Archive Notes from the SRLC fringe: "The Bill of Rights also followed a pattern, which was to lift the innate, natural rights of citizens above the power of government.The rights in those first ten amendments again flowed from the concept of natural law, which flow from the individual and not from the society in which the individual lives. The rights to speech, assembly, privacy, petition for redress of grievances, to keep and bear arms, and so on come from the individual himself as a consequence of his humanity – and require no gift or confiscation from government.

Note that the founders did not add a right to health care, or to food, or shelter, or even water in this bill. Why? Each of those items existed in those days, obviously, and were just as critical to life and happiness as they are today. However, to grant a right to food, as an example, would directly contradict the idea that the farmer who grows the food has a right to ownership of the fruits of his labors – literally speaking, in this instance. It sets in motion a confiscatory requirement to satisfy that right. Someone has to seize that food and distribute it to others in order to bring that “right” to fruition."

The Social Costs of Pornography

Not surprising:

RealClearPolitics - The Social Costs of Pornography: "'The large body of research on pornography reveals that it functions as a teacher of, a permission-giver for, and a trigger of many negative behaviors and attitudes that can severely damage not only the users but many others, including strangers.'

But to me the most important potential cost of porn is its effects on ordinary men and their ordinary relationships. According to Layden: 'Exposure to pornography leads men to rate their female partners as less attractive than they would have had they not been exposed and to be less satisfied with their partners' attractiveness, sexual performance, and level of affection, and expressed a greater desire for sex without emotional involvement.'

She concludes: 'For males, more pornography use was associated with greater acceptance of sex outside of marriage for married individuals, greater acceptance of sex before marriage and less child-centeredness during marriage. The reduced desire for children is especially pronounced in a reduced desire for female children.'

Men who use porn do not want daughters. What does that tell you about the social costs of porn?"

Diversi-Tea Training

Intolerance for the opinion of others. How progressive:

Diversi-Tea Training - WSJ.com: "'Oreos,' 'Uncle Toms,' 'spook at the door': it turns out people are 'lobbing' racial slurs! When Johnson speaks of the assumption that 'the Republican Party is for whites and the Democratic Party is for blacks,' does anyone doubt the accuracy of his perception?

It is Democrats, not Republicans, who hold this race-based assumption. And it doesn't actually go both ways. No white American today suffers the indignity of being labeled a 'traitor' to his race; the supposedly liberal assumption is that blacks, and only blacks, are expected to think a certain way because of the color of their skin. As Bauman reports:

Black conservatives don't want to have to apologize for their divergent views.
'I've gotten the statement, 'How can you not support the brother?'�' said David Webb, an organizer of New York City's Tea Party 365, Inc. movement and a conservative radio personality.
Since Obama's election, Webb said some black conservatives have even resorted to hiding their political views.
'I know of people who would play the (liberal) role publicly, but have their private opinions,' he said. 'They don't agree with the policy but they have to work, live and exist in the community. .�.�. Why can't we speak openly and honestly if we disagree?'"

Reporter's notebook: What really happens at Tea Party rallies

Wow, this is from CNN?

Reporter's notebook: What really happens at Tea Party rallies - CNN.com: "When it comes to the Tea Party movement, the stereotypes don't tell the whole story.
Here's what you often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: offensive posters blasting President Obama and Democratic leaders; racist rhetoric spewed from what seems to be a largely white, male audience; and angry protesters rallying around the Constitution.
Case in point: During the health care debate last month, opponents shouted racial slurs at civil rights icon Georgia Rep. John Lewis and one person spit on Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The incidents made national headlines, and they provided Tea Party opponents with fodder to question the movement.
But here's what you don't often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: Patriotic signs professing a love for country; mothers and fathers with their children; African-Americans proudly participating; and senior citizens bopping to a hip-hop rapper."

Progressives can't get past the Knowledge Problem

Very interesting:

Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Progressives can't get past the Knowledge Problem | Washington Examiner: "'If no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?' -- President Reagan, Jan. 20, 1981.

Economist Friedrich Hayek explained in 1945 why centrally controlled 'command economies' were doomed to waste, inefficiency, and collapse: Insufficient knowledge. He won a Nobel Prize. But it turns out he was righter than he knew.

In his 'The Use of Knowledge In Society,' Hayek explained that information about supply and demand, scarcity and abundance, wants and needs exists in no single place in any economy. The economy is simply too large and complicated for such information to be gathered together.

Any economic planner who attempts to do so will wind up hopelessly uninformed and behind the times, reacting to economic changes in a clumsy, too-late fashion and then being forced to react again to fix the problems that the previous mistakes created, leading to new problems, and so on."

Chopra Blames Own Meditation for Baja Quake

Oops! Sorry about that. Heh, this guy is a weapon of mass destruction.

Chopra Blames Own Meditation for Baja Quake - AOL News: "The U.S. Geological Survey is blaming day-to-day seismological changes for Sunday's 7.2 earthquake along the U.S.-Mexico border. But Deepak Chopra, the famed alternative-medicine practitioner and transcendental meditation guru, is pretty sure he knows what really happened.

'Had a powerful meditation just now -- caused an earthquake in Southern California,' Chopra wrote to his nearly 179,000 Twitter followers shortly after the quake.

And then, to clarify: 'Was meditating on Shiva mantra & earth began to shake,' he tweeted. 'Sorry about that.'"

For some, a low profile on health vote

The old duck and cover strategy:

For some, a low profile on health vote - James Hohmann - POLITICO.com: "Before Congress left town for the spring recess, Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged rank-and-file Democrats to return home and tout the benefits of the landmark health care bill.

But instead of barnstorming their districts celebrating their historic accomplishment, some have been content to remain beneath the radar, reluctant to advertise their role in passing the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s domestic policy agenda.

Rep. John Boccieri, who represents this conservative area in northeast Ohio, is one of them."

Who Lost Iraq?

This doesn't look good:

Center For Security Policy: "Back in February, Vice President Joseph Biden declared: 'I am very optimistic about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration.' Even for a politician much given to strategic ineptitude compounded by foot-in-mouth disease, that was a doozy.

As has been pointed out innumerable times since, if Iraq turns out to be a truly 'great achievement' in any ordinary sense of the word, Mr. Biden and Barack Obama - two of the most insistent opponents of George W. Bush's efforts to consolidate Iraq's liberation - are among the last people in Washington who should take such credit.

Worse yet, unfortunately for the Iraqi people and others who love freedom, it looks increasingly as though the Obama administration will have the loss of Iraq as one of its most signal accomplishments."

The Psychology of UCI’s Muslim Student Union

Interesting:

Pajamas Media The Psychology of UCI’s Muslim Student Union: "No modern phenomenon has impacted college campuses today more than the Muslim Student Association/Union. Founded in 1963 by the Muslim Brotherhood — the same radical Sunni organization that spawned the terror group Hamas — the MSU has since made headlines around the country due to its militant and controversial rhetoric. The MSU, especially that of University of California at Irvine, is infamous for attracting charges of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism, as well as for sparking the 2007 investigation of UCI for anti-Semitism. The MSU is no stranger to the First Amendment. Come May every year, the organizations hides behind it so its members can spout anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic remarks on college campuses. And just last February, MSU members at UCI attempted to use their right to free speech in order to deny Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren his own free speech, as Pajamas Media’s Roger L. Simon documented when he interviewed Oren for PJTV.

Despite all this, the MSU continues to grow unhindered on college campuses around the world. The questions that I and many others ask is: why?"

Note to Liberal Elite: It's Not About Race

The charge of racism is losing it's meaning:

RealClearPolitics - Note to Liberal Elite: It's Not About Race: "New York Times columnist Frank Rich argues that opponents of Obama's healthcare legislation are motivated by racism. The Washington Post's Colbert King believes Tea Party activists 'forerunners' are Southern segregationists. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution's Cynthia Tucker views racist incidents as a 'reflection on the Grand Old Party' overall.

We heard the same arguments last September. Liberals were struggling to make sense of the angry town hall meetings. 'An overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man,' Jimmy Carter said. Days before, the Times' Maureen Dowd concluded that the 'shrieking lunacy of the summer' had 'much to do with race.'

Gratuitous charges of racism are no sideshow. They capture an enduring mistake of modern liberalism. And that mistake disserves liberals most."

Obama the Promise Keeper!

Hot Air Video: NRSC hails Obama the Promise Keeper!