You Don't Haggle Over The Price Of Fruit With Someone Who Is Setting Fire To Your House

A new chapter is currently being written in the cumbersome tome The Futility of Being Civil To Liberals by John McCain and Nelson Rockefeller, with contributions from Gerald Ford and Lincoln Chafee (ghost written by Neville Chamberlain). Thinking he could finally get a well deserved free trade treaty with Colombia through congress, George Bush in his meeting with Barry Obama offered to support the economic stimulus package that Nancy "Am I smiling? I can't tell" Pelosi has been clamoring for in exchange for the agreement's passage. I know President Bush's intentions are honorable, but he should know by now not to trust a Democrat. Although there were no aides present in what was supposed to be a private conversation between the current and future Presidents, Obama's aides have managed to promptly leak this information to the press.

Its time we stopped treating negotiations with liberals as if they are conducted in good faith. There is always an ulterior motive. These are not honorable people. Its time we stood up and fought them. Else we end up like Gerald Ford, begging Democrats for money while South Vietnam burns.

Damned Right I'm an Angry, White, Male!

Obama critic and author of "The Obama Nation" Jerome Corsi has been detained by authorities in Kenya:

"Corsi had promised a news conference today that would 'expose details of deep secret ties between U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and a section of Kenya government leaders, their connection to certain sectoral groups in Kenya and subsequent plot to be executed in Kenya should Senator Obama win the American presidency.'"

Hmm, combine this with the millions of dollars Obama is allegedly receiving from abroad, and you begin to wonder who is backing his meteoric rise to power. Personally it frightens me a bit that a man who would be the most liberal President since LBJ appears to have such foreign support. D0 we really know anything about this guy? He's a relative unknown with socialist, if not marxist leanings, who has unknown, possibly foreign, backers behind the scenes. Do the American People know this? Is anyone trying to tell them? Do we know the kind of "change" Obama represents? Good Lord! The Democrats nominate a collectivist with more backing abroad than in the States, and all the Republicans throw against him is John McCain?

If Obama is elected, the resulting 4-8 years of socialism wrought on America will be a black mark not only upon the Democrats, but upon the spineless Republicans who were too unprincipled and cowardly to oppose McCain and then speak out against Obama. Why should we vote for you? Even in the minority role, you won't speak out. The reason I'm even considering voting for your nominee is because the other side is rolling out a Maoist. Big changes (1976-80-esque) need to take place in the Republican Party. Even if we somehow redefeat socialism in America, this will be far too close. Remember when wackjob leftists lost in 40+ State landslides? Do today's idiot GOP leaders know how hard the Buckleys, and Hayeks, and Goldwaters, and Reagans struggled on the fringes of American politics to pull this country back from the collectivist abyss? Now we just give all those gains back? We let them create a financial crisis, we let them blame us for it, we let them declare it a new "Great Depression", and we not only let them decide we need "New Deal" type government intervention, we collude with them to do it?!

Its not until now that I understand what it was like for men like Hayek and Buckley, what its like to be a lone voice in the wilderness, "standing athwart history yelling 'Stop!'"

The 228

What a bizarre day. Let's all just take a step back and calm down for a second. 777 is the biggest points drop in Dow history, but at just shy of 7% it doesn't even approach the 26% drop in 1987. There will be much moaning and gnashing of teeth. Congressional leaders are already declaring that they will not give up, but they're going to have to go back to the drawing board. Beyond that, there's even a question of whether or not some leaders in Congress want a bailout vote to succeed. Nancy Pelosi must not have wanted this to pass, that's the only way I can explain away her anti-GOP rant at the close of the debate today. You don't build bipartisan support for a deeply unpopular bill by attacking the minority party whose support you need, right before the vote. We know she supports heavy handed government intervention in the U.S. economy, so her actions today leave only two possibilities in my mind. She may be gambling that the economy is going to tank (Wall Street's reaction to the vote was predictable) and wants to blame the Republicans for voting down the bailout, or she is completely inept, incompitent, and just plain stupid. If anyone else has a viable explanation for her unhinged remarks today, I'd like to hear it.

Now don't get me wrong, I hate this bailout and am happy to see it fail. The bumbling Republicans however, have missed their opportunity. This crisis was caused by government regulation. By forcing lenders to accept less than qualified home buyers because of economic or racial status, they placed the housing market on a house of cards. Instead of pointing this out and educating the American people, the GOP leaders (you know, the party of limited government) responded to an over regulation problem with support for a mass government intervention that would make Karl Marx smile in whatever corner of hell he's stewing in at the moment. Are there any classical liberals in the upper echolons of the Republican Party anymore? Thank God the rank and file voted against it (if only because they feared being booted out of office). This is the problem conservatives face right now. We seem to be losing our hold on the Republican Party. Hardly if ever do I see an elected Republican promote the Libertarian economic principles that our country was founded on and swept Reagan into office. The American people aren't dumb. They will see who is in the right if we actually argue and defend our position. As Margaret Thatcher put it: "The facts of life are conservative," but you have to let people know what the facts are.

The 228 stand victorious for now, hopefully no one shows Henry Paulson a goat path.

Democrats Find Wool, Attempt to Pull Over Eyes

The Democrat National Convention opened up last night with. . . prayer! That's right, the godless secularists aren't actually godless at all, why they're just like the typical mid western voter. Blessings will open and close each night, (I can feel Michael Moore wince. Seriously. He caused a small earthquake) plus there will be "panels and parties run by Democratic-leaning religious advocacy groups that didn't even exist in 2004". Hmm, why did these groups spring into existence over the past four years? Why is the Democrat party suddenly embracing faith? (Well other than faith in global warming, socialism, and the infallibility of Jimmy Carter) "Behind the scenes, efforts to attract the religious vote will concentrate largely on Christian 'values voters.'" Oh, so the Democrats want the "values voter" that supposedly pushed Bush over the edge in 2004. So now all of a sudden the Democrat party has found God, and to prove it to voters, they're going to pray. . . in public! Its almost as if they view religion as a means to an end, this magic force that will sooth the fears of Christian America. That can't be right though. That's way too cynical. If that were true, it would mean that the Democrats view religion as a type of "opiate of the masses" or something. "One reason religion is playing such a prominent role at this week's convention is that Obama has made faith outreach prominent in his campaign." That's better, I forgot Obama had such a strong faith. Jeremiah Wright can testify to that, I wonder when he's slotted to speak? I just hope the brutal campaign season hasn't made Obama bitter, because he's becoming clingy. No date yet for his Ohio hunting trip.

No Time Left For You

Nancy Pelosi has no time to entertain Republican proposals to end the congressional ban on off shore drilling because she's "trying to save the planet". How arrogant can you get? If Republicans don't fall over each other to get to a camera, then we're pretty much doomed. If we don't take this and run with it, then we're too stupid to run the country anyway.

The Democrats weren't elected by the American people to "save the planet" by keeping oil supply low. If Mrs. Pelosi wants to make that case, I say be my guest. I'd love to hear a different Republican every day lambaste the Democrats over oil prices. This is our issue. Its their fault that we aren't exploiting domestic sources of oil. (Well, we can also blame George H. W. Bush, but then again we can blame him for a lot) There's a reason that Congressional approval is in the teens. If only Republicans would grow a set and go on the attack.

Pelosi is completely inept. She thinks she still represents San Francisco. I hope it isn't news to House Republicans that most Americans don't want to become San Francisco. I shudder to think of even setting foot in that God forsaken place.

Bizzaro St. Louis

I was screwing around in Time Magazine's online archives and found this little nugget from the April 17th 1933 issue:

"Last week for the first time in 24 years, St. Louisans elected a Democratic Mayor. Victorious candidate was Bernard Francis Dickmann, 44, bachelor realtor. A grey-haired, ruddy-faced, wisecracking good-timer. Mayor-elect Dickmann is president of the City Real Estate Exchange. A party worker for 20 years, he had never before run for office."

St. Louis, like any other city in America, has been under Democratic control for at least a generation, but having lived in the area my entire life I really can't imagine it being any other way. This really blew my mind:

"The St. Louis Democracy's (I hope they mean "Democrat's") victory, an echo from last November, was far from complete. Republican Louis Nolte was re-elected city comptroller for the fifth time. Republicans retained a majority on the board of aldermen"

Maybe someday, we can win it back. Maybe Osama Bin Laden will move to San Fransisco and Marry Ariel Sharon's comatose body. Anything's possible.