***  CLeanedup some of the spelling.   Have to remind myself not to post aftergoing to a hockey game and a few beers.

Alright now that I have the blog all set up, it is time to get to business. I have not really posted too much on politics in my transition from Typepad to here, so I thought I would do a post about my thoughts on the political landscape.

We now have Obama as President and we should be gracious and respect him on his win. He has a great campaign and was not rattled by anything. And the MSM and Elite in Washington gave him him a pass on his associations and his past. So we must get over that. We should not get into the same Obama bashing that the Left has done, we are better than that. Not to say we should give him a pass or not go after his policies, but we need to go after the policies and how they are destructive to our way of life. The taxes that Obama wants to implement will had a negative effect on the economy. His policies will bring us closer to Eurabia (European Union) standards which have been in decline over the past few decades. Their unemployment is much higher than ours and their socialistic policies have been a drag on their economies.

Do I think Obama will be able to drag us into a Socialistic government as the EU??? No I think that too many of the new Democratic CONgressmen elected will not let that happen. They are much more conservative or centrist than Obama, so he will not be able to enact many of his programs. But will he bring us closer to the Eurabia model??? Yes.

And as the minority Party we as conservatives need to try and stop his leftward direction he wants to bring our country.

How to do that???? We need to take the total different direction that the Left did with Bush. We do not need to demonize Obama as the Left has done to Bush. It is destructive and does not bring the country together. What we need is to explain Conservatism so everyone will see it as the better way to go than Liberalism. Our country has been divided for far too long.

We on the Conservative side need to show how Conservatism is better. Not just to say that the Left is always wrong . We need to learn from Obama and his campaign on how to inspire the country on the Conservative path. Onbama has done a great job in inspiring people to his cause. Not that is it the right cause, but that it is a cause that people can follow and believe in.

What do we as Conservatives need to do to inspire people to our cause??? Well, that is the million dollar question. The so-called conservative party (Republicans) have become Democrat Lite, and have left the core principles of Conservatism in the dust. When they had power, they squandered it by spending like drunken sailors and left Conservatives in a conundrum. Do we vote for the Democrat lite or not vote at all. And as we have seen, the conservatives stayed at home the last 2 elections.

So what are we suppose to do as conservatives???? Start a new Party???? Reform the Republicans??? Well, that is what this and many of the blogs and forums and groups that I have joined are trying to figure out. I think that the 3^rd party is not going to work. It only hurts our cause more than helps. Others might think differently, but that is my opinion and many of my friends’ opinions. I am not going to castigate someone that voted for a 3^rd party candidate, that is your own choice. But it s not helpful, unless you get more support.

I think that the best way is to start locally and work your way up. Start with local candidates that are conservative and then bring them up to state and then national level. And I know that along with where I live that is going to be hard, we have not had a Republican here in 40 years, but that is where we need to start. But we need to find local diamonds in the rough that can go up the latter and hold true to the Conservative cause.

This is just my little opinion on what the Republicans need to do. Will they follow??? I have no idea, but me and my friends at Grizzly Groundswell, and many other adventures that I am in are trying to do just that. I and my friends can not do it alone. We need everyone that is on the Conservative side to join in this fight and get involved. Join in local politics, school boards and local government. This is going to take time and effort from everyone.

Just my 2 cents

UPDATE:  You can see Fred give this talk at http://www.fredpac.com/Index.aspx

UPDATE:  You can see Fred give this talk at http://www.fredpac.com/Index.aspx

UpdateII: Video at the bottom

Courtesy of NRO, here is some wisdom from Fred Thompson about the importance of this election.

Re: Unleashing Fred   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Fred’s rally:

It’s time for those of us who are concerned about our nation’s future to focus on what is at stake in this year’s elections. This is a time of great challenge for our country. We know that somewhere in the world our worst enemies either have, or are trying to get their hands on, the most dangerous weapons known to man.  Small rogue nations are developing nuclear weapons and threaten our allies.  Large nations are engaged in massive military buildups.

At home we are girding for the possible onset of a recession. Very soon we will go to the polls and set a path that will determine how we respond to these challenges. It will be a decision that we will make not only for ourselves but very possibly for generations to come. . . .

Senator Obama and his campaign see an historic opportunity—a political opportunity.  They know that in times of fear and uncertainty the promise of a safe haven is well received.  But there is no sanctuary in what they offer.

Their “haven” is the same old tired refuge of liberalism: the federal government.  And the candidate – the least experienced, most liberal in two generations – represents a last gasp at imposing the failed 1960s radical, leftist agenda that could never succeed in normal times. 

Let me make it as plain as I know how.  If Senator Obama is elected President with a Democrat majority in the House and Senate, this country will make a dramatic shift to the left, such as we have never seen before.  Senator Obama and the Democratic Congress will be unrestrained and unrepentant in making our country as never before more divided and more dependent upon a dramatically larger and intrusive federal government.

[snip]

. . . [H]ow we respond to our economic challenge is more important than the crisis itself. For the last 25 years the United States, and indeed the world, has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity.  You wouldn’t know it from listening to Obama, but worldwide over 1 billion people have been able to lift themselves out of poverty.  This is due to America’s influence, from our defense of freedom in World War II to the Cold War, to the ascendency of our free-market capitalism, the adoption of open trade policies, and globalization.  Yet some say our current financial difficulties are evidence that we should turn our back on our founding, free market principles … that it’s time for big changes. 

But in a world that is increasingly inter-connected by jobs, trade and global finance, how our economy is viewed by the rest of the world is extremely important to America’s economic well being. The worst thing in the world we could do is appear to be unfriendly to investment and trade with an economy constrained and made uncompetitive by layers upon layers of new regulations, and bogged down in the divisiveness of class warfare.  Yet if you are to take them at their word this is precisely the direction that an Obama administration and a Democratic Congress would take us, turning a short term recession into a long term economic decline for the United States.

And while our regulatory regime needs to be examined and improved, we should be clear: capitalism is not the cause of our nation’s economic challenges. The subprime mortgage crisis was not rooted in lack of regulation, but in bad policies made by Democrats in Congress that forced banks to give mortgages to people who could not afford the houses they were buying. These are the same politicians who protected the excesses and fraudulent conduct of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They are the same ones who now want to control the spending of hundreds of billions of dollars to solve the problem they helped create, and who tried to slip $200 billion into the first bailout bill for their political cronies in ACORN, the organization that is now systemically perpetrating voter registration fraud around the country.  This record, Obama and the Democrats say, entitles them to total control of all of the levers of power in Washington.

[snip]

The liberal agenda is based upon the belief that there are elites among us who know more and know better than the rest of us.  And that with the application of their intellect and power … and our money … they can impose regulations and establish programs, bureaus and agencies that will solve all the problems of the masses’.

Senator Obama and his supporters essentially see society not as dynamic and changing or full of opportunity.  They see one that is divided by economic classes into which every one of us is permanently assigned.  In their worldview, those in a lesser economic class are presumably resentful and envious.  So it’s the government’s job to level things out … or as Senator Obama would say “spread the wealth around.” . . . . 

This is the reason why they do not understand Joe the Plumber.  Because he doesn’t have a higher income today they assume that he never will and that he believes he never will. They expect him to resent anyone whose doing better than he is, instead of planning to do better himself. They don’t understand the Joes of the world.  Never have.  Never will. 

This political philosophy has a long tradition. At best it can be labeled a benign welfare state.  But history tells us that it can lead to tyranny or economic turmoil or both.  And … most important … it has never found favor in the United States – not during the Great Depression, in times of war, or any other time. 

It’s because in this country we have a different view.  We know that people do better when given opportunity and responsibility.  It has to do with our view of the nature of man.  . . . .  We believe that man was meant to be free—entitled to be free.  It’s an inalienable right, endowed by our Creator.  When free and inspired man can achieve great things – for his family, community and his nation.  In fact this belief is what we built our nation on.

[snip]

Let there be no doubt that an Obama administration and a heavily Democratically controlled Congress would change the face of this nation.  Only you can decide whether or not the ways in which they would change it would be a good thing.

I don’t believe it.  And John McCain doesn’t.  . . . Responsible change is the essence of conservatism.  We must change in order to preserve what is best about our country.  We have always been able to accommodate constructive change without turning our back on our first principles.  We must do it again. 

However, that does not include staking everything upon the eloquence and inexperience of one who has toed the extreme liberal and partisan line his entire political life, much as he tries to blur that fact now. 

This is the choice that we have in this election.  Let’s hope for our nation’s sake that we choose well.

Read the whole thing here:  10/24 11:01 AM

Let’s not lose heart.  Get everyone you know to vote.  There are long lines of people voting early in Dade County in Florida.  Somebody on FOX is interviewing them right now and you can tell they were all bussed in.    Chicago tactics are spreading country-wide.  It’s essential we get out the vote. 

And let’s also hope that a victorious McCain finds a place in his administration for the marvelous and wise Fred.

Julia (Stix’s Mom)

Yes it is that time again.  Time for the Porker of the month from the CAGW.  And this months winer is Sen Carl Levin.

Sen. Carl Levin
(D-Mich.)
Washington
Office Phone:
202-224-6221
Fax: 202-224-1388

CAGW Names Senator Carl Levin Porker of the Month

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) its September Porker of the Month for attempting to give earmarks contained in committee reports the force of law.  The provision is included in S. 3001, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009.

Currently, earmarks listed in committee reports do not have the force of law; only those included in the statutory language have that status.  Traditionally, members of Congress have included earmarks in committee reports knowing they are not the law, but have expected federal agencies to treat those spending items as if they had the force of law.  President Bush issued an Executive Order on January 29, 2008 instructing government agencies not to fund any earmarks contained in report language, or based on any non-statutory source, such as phone calls from members of Congress.   

This means that beginning with this fiscal year’s authorization and appropriation bills, agencies would be under no obligation to fund earmarks contained in committee or conference reports.  In a brazen attempt to gut the executive order, Sen. Levin inserted a provision (Section 1002) into the defense reauthorization bill that would incorporate the earmarks listed in the committee report into the statute itself, making the earmarks “a requirement in law.”  The earmarks would be “binding on agency heads in the same manner and to the same extent” as if they were written into the bill. 

This provision continues a practice of using committee reports to hide earmarks and make them difficult to eliminate by offering amendments to authorization and appropriations bills.  It certainly does not qualify as “reform” of the earmarking process.  It would prevent open debate and votes on earmarks and reduce transparency and accountability.  The “incorporation” language sets a precedent for other fiscal year 2009 legislation.  If it is not removed from the bill, it would demonstrate that the Democratic leadership of Congress has no intent of ever getting earmarks under control. 

Considering Chairman Levin’s history of requesting earmarks, his bill language is not surprising.  In fiscal year 2008, Chairman Levin requested 255 earmarks for a total of $301.4 million, which made him the eleventh biggest porker in the Senate.

The earmarks in S. 3001 total $5.9 billion, and include the following:  $6.5 million for expandable light air mobility shelters, $5 million for a hydrokinetic power, and $2 million for thin film amorphous solar arrays.  While earmarks generally are a waste of tax dollars, they are most outrageous when included in a bill that is intended to defend the national security of the United States. 

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) had planned to offer an amendment to strike Section 1002 and preserve the current status of earmarks in committee language so they will continue to be just that language, not the law. 

For attempting to circumvent the January 29 Executive Order and make it easier to earmark the taxpayers’ money, CAGW names Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) its September 2008 Porker of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.

####

For more information, contact:    Leslie K. Paige
202-467-5334
lpaige@cagw.org

Political Pistachio Guest to discuss the Americans Arrested in China for Being Christian

Jim Jacobson served as a policy analyst in the Reagan White House, served as a political appointee in the George Herbert Walker Bush administration, and was a senior legislative assistant in the U.S. Senate. He has testified before Congress, conducted briefings at the White House, State Department, and the United Nations, and he has personally brought aid, Bibles, and provided advocacy to Christians in many countries in the last ten years. He frequently travels into restricted countries where Christians are severely persecuted for their faith, including war zones. Now, he is speaking out about three American Christians arrested in China after they held a press conference in Tiananmen Square condemning China’s widespread oppression and human rights violations.

Tonight, Jim Jacobson will be live on Political Pistachio Radio to discuss China’s persecution against those that daily risk their lives for the crime of the Christian faith.

Join us live at 10:00 pm Eastern, or catch the archive, HERE.

Obama Nation Book by Jerome Corsi Draws Criticism - Corsi is my guest tonight on BTR

Tonight on Political Pistachio Radio Dr. Jerome Corsi must meet controversy head on!

Dr. Jerome Corsi, staff writer for World Net Daily, has suddenly found himself in the midst of a violent storm of controversy. The WND writer, this week alone, has been the object of numerous television and radio shows as the media tries to wade through the information contained in the book, and determine if the book is truly filled with falsehoods, or is a well researched piece of literature that takes a close and hard look at the Democratic Presidential front-runner, Barack Obama.

The book at the center of the controversy is, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. The Huffington Post calls the book, “…one of the worst political books ever written. Corsi piles distortion upon innuendo to create a gigantic heap of right-wing garbage, with a seemingly endless parade of basic factual errors running through the text like rats. Corsi’s book is an embarrassment to the craft of journalism, and any of the conservatives who have praised and promoted it should feel humiliated at how bad it truly is.” Media Matters writes that The Obama Nation “contains numerous falsehoods about Sen. Barack Obama.” Even Conservative talk show host and Townhall writer Hugh Hewitt exclaims about the book, “Corsi’s from the fringe. . . the book contains errors.”

Hugh Hewitt, however, also points out that the Obama Campaign has given us an “absurd set of non-responsive responses,” and that, “Now they botch a gimmie — defining Corsi as a nut while not putting attention on the charges he leveled.”

Sean Hannity has stated that The Obama Nation “may have made his [Obama’s] campaign a bit nervous.”

Joseph Farah, founder of World Net Daily, says about the controversy surrounding the book, and Jerome Corsi, “Unlike most of the critics of The Obama Nation, I have actually read the book from cover to cover. It is a thoroughly well-documented piece of first-rate journalism. Are there mistakes in it? Show me a first edition that doesn’t have some – other than the Bible. But is it truthful? Does it add considerably to the public’s knowledge of the front-running candidate for the presidency? Do we know much more about Obama than we would had we relied exclusively for our information from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Associated Press? I offer a resounding ‘yes’ to all three of those questions. I am privileged to call him my friend, colleague and co-worker. I stand with Jerry Corsi today as he is viciously maligned by an attack media that would prefer to aim its potent artillery at a man who dared to do their job when they refused, when they laid down, when they sucked up, when they failed to ask the tough questions, when they took sides.”

In response, Barack Obama’s advisers have been tracking Corsi’s media appearances, quickly telephoning producers to react to the book’s charges, and last night, the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign issued a 40-page response to the book.

The Democratic National Committee has its own rapid response team to take aim at Corsi’s book, saying, “One of the most vile smear peddlers of the 2004 election has found a new target. We cannot afford to let Corsi get away with the same dirty tricks that fooled so many people in 2004. We can’t rely on the media to hold him accountable – in fact, the sheer brazenness of the lies is attracting even more coverage. The media have shown that they aren’t going to stop him. It’s up to you to spread the truth.”

So, what is the truth? Is this book a classic smear job? Or is Corsi’s book simply caught up in the crosshairs of the leftists because it hits a chord? Is Dr. Jerome Corsi a discredited liar peddling garbage in order to help continue Bush-Cheney politics? Or is he a simply being lynched by the mainstream media and Democratic Party for daring to write the truth? Be the judge yourself. Read the book, and listen to what Dr. Jerome Corsi has to say tonight on Political Pistachio Radio.
The show airs live at 10:00 pm Eastern Time, but will be archived for later listening for those unable to listen live. Access the program HERE.

www.blogtalkradio.com/politicalpistachio

This is my hill

By J.J. Jackson

Eventually, if you want to enact positive change you have to fight for that change. If you don’t, you’ll just get more of the same. Right now America is in full retreat, being chased from each hilltop by anti-American forces touting their weapons of class warfare, rights descendant from bureaucrats and mob rule where the minority is not protected.

I firmly believe that one of the problems we have in our society today is that we are compromised by compromise. At some point people began believing that compromise, much like change, is carte blanche good and never to be questioned. Others though seem to believe that compromise should be questioned, but only as a formality to look like they were seriously considering the consequences. But if you keep compromising with people that don’t agree with you on core issues all you are doing is moving towards their position and away from yours.

And if your position is a core belief what happens when you are no longer upholding it because you have compromised to the point where your opposition has basically gotten their way? It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure it out.

We see where compromise has gotten us on a variety of issues from abortion, where a child isn’t a child if it is only so many weeks old in the womb but magically becomes a child one nanosecond after that, to the second amendment where it is now only ok to keep certain types of government approved arms despite the clear and unambiguous term “shall not be infringed” staring us in the face. We have been led to a place where arbitrary and capricious standards that make absolutely no sense reign. And it has all been in the name of the vaunted goal of compromise.

America has, over the years been a victim of an extreme leftward lean in our policy. Those that have pioneered this policy have played on the desire of Americans to simply want to get along with everyone. They exploited that desire with perfection.

This became blatantly apparent in the years after FDR’s social programs to the point where today the continually modified and expanded FDR plan for socialism is favored by the majority of Republicans where as in the early twentieth century it was favored by the Democrats. Today, after decades of compromise on the Constitution and with the Republicans as a whole filling the position of the Democrats of old, the Democrats have marched solidly even further to the left.

They then cry out for even more compromise with their new and more intrusive government programs such as Hillary Clinton’s plan for socialized medicine. Every election cycle they propose even grander socialist wealth redistribution policies. And why shouldn’t they? They’ve eventually won nearly every battle they have fought when it comes to such ideas by drawing enough people into compromise for compromise sake and promising them a piece of the pie they offer.

Everything has shifted. Because once our decision was made to compromise on the core principles which founded this great nation we have been in a constant state of retreat from the fight for individual liberty, equality and unalienable rights. Americans are in retreat and those that want to turn America into some form of socialist nanny state with themselves at the controls are on the attack.

As we retreat we keep passing up hills and giving them to the enemy.

The hill named “Right to property”? Gone. Overrun by the forces of FDR charging forward with his plans for confiscating the wealth of one American to pay retirement benefits to other Americans.

The hill named “Right to Privacy” with regards to our personal affects and records? Gone with the invention of the income tax because each and every year you are required to lay your personal records bear for the government to scrutinize.

The hill named “Second Amendment”? The daisies on that hilltop were trampled into the ground long ago with laws that infringed on the rights of the people to freely keep and bear arms.

The hill named “First Amendment”? Blown right past when McCain-Feingold became law.

And we just keep retreating and giving ground like it doesn’t matter. I’ve been yelling for years but the generals leading this charge backwards have ignored me. But now my legs are getting tired. In my arms there is a loaded rifle that has been rarely fired under official orders. Although I have fired it many times on my own and with other Americans also fed up with the situations that arise much to the chagrin of those who claim to be our “leaders” of course. And all about me I am watching my fellow Americans retreat as the orders are given time and again.

We are told to rally around our anointed leader, whoever it may be, come election time. We have the specter of a Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama presidency thrown in our faces to scare us into voting against them and not for something. We are told not to question. We are told to sit down and shut up. We are told, as conservatives, to vote for whomever the GOP nominee is, even if it is someone like John McCain who is basically using the John Kerry strategy of running on the fact that he served in Vietnam and how dare you question him. Don’t you know he is a war hero?

If you point out that he has a penchant for violating the Constitution and joining arm in arm with some of the most liberal members of Congress you are branded a troublemaker, a racist or whatever nonsensical term he and those that support him think they can get away with.

But there is one problem. The problem is that I am not actually enlisted in this army and I don’t really mind being labeled a troublemaker. I have sworn no deep allegiance to the Republican Party aside from simply registering with the party so that I can vote in their primaries and have a say in who their nominee is. But I am not a good little soldier and I do not recognize their authority to order me to vote for their candidate if I disagree with the ultimate choice. I’ve merely been here as someone that has sought to lend my rifle to defeating bigger foes of America.

But now I am not certain that the Republican Party is my kindred spirit in the quest for restoring this Republic. So I’m stopping; right here. No more running. This hill on which I now come to rest will be my hill. This is where I will make my stand.

And I know we as Americans can do it. We can make this stand. Remember when we were told to accept comprehensive immigration reform and amnesty for illegals? Remember how we were told that stopping that atrocious piece of legislation was impossible? That it was a done deal? Remember what happened when the foot soldiers revolted against McCain and others who did not have America’s best interests in mind?

That’s my point.

I was there for that battle. I fought on the front lines. And I saw what happens first hand when Americans rally even as their leaders cower and retreat. Mere foot soldiers rose to the status of general through battlefield promotions and led the counter attack. So my legs will not run another mile. They don’t have another mile left in them to run.

I will not be blown off this hill. I’m setting myself here, preparing my powder and cleaning my rifle. I am confident in my shot. And make no mistake, I will fire every last bullet at those that are about to come over the rise and try to take this hill from me.

This is my hill; one of the last vestiges of our once great country slowly being ripped from us. And I know that there are many who will stand firm if only they see others willing to stand their ground and know they are not alone.

Sure, others will blindly follow the calls for retreat. I will not.

I am tired of being told to suck it up and grow up and accept the compromise placed before me by those that are worried they will lose if I do not follow. Yet at the same time they are unwilling to compromise with me and my fellow Americans and reveal their own hypocrisy. They don’t want compromise. They don’t want what is best for this country. They want their power. And I will not be party to that folly.

It will not be easy. There will be suffering. There will be pain. There will be blood spilled this day and probably for many days, months and years to come. We may even enter into terrible darkness and the deepest of winters and fear that all is lost. But to make things better I am willing to suffer. If I am not, then the enemy has already won and defeated me.

This is my hill and I claim it for Lady Liberty. This is where I make my stand for what is right. And John McCain? He will never have my vote. Promises today and deathbed conversions cannot undo the history he has.

To Hell with worrying if anyone else has the courage to stand by my side and fight. The only way you are taking this hill is over my dead body. Today is a good day to die, but since I don’t plan on dying on this hill, that means there is only one question to ask of those about to charge over this hill and try to take it. Are you willing to die on this hill trying to take it from not just me but all the other Americans you are about to come face to face with?

Well? Are you?

**********

J.J. Jackson is a conservative/libertarian author writing about events in the United States and around the world. He is the owner of Conservative News & Opinion – The Land of the Free and also The Right Things – Conservative T-shirts & Gifts. His weekly articles can be found at Liberty Reborn

The author of this piece is my guest tonight on Political Pistachio Radio.

TONIGHT — ED AMES joins us on my internet radio program. We’re on at 9 p.m. ET and you can listen LIVE by clicking here. (The link will stay alive in archive if you miss the show and want to listen to it later).

You remember Ed. He played “Mingo” in the Daniel Boone series.

He’s also well known for his singing carer with his brothers, a group appropriately named “The Ames Brothers”.

Ed Ames is one of the rare Hollywood Conservatives you don’t often hear about.

Coincidentally, Scott Johnson at Powerline yesterday posted about the toxic anti-conservative environment in today’s Hollywood:

“Andrew Breitbart helps hold down the fort at the Drudge Report while running Breitbart.com. He observes the entertainment industry from his home in the Los Angeles area. In a terrific Washington Times column, Andrew decries the existence of the new Hollywood blacklist. Comparing the old Hollywood blacklist with the new, Andrew has previously observed:

“My father-in-law, Orson Bean, an author, comedian and actor, was once blacklisted as a Communist back in the ’50s. Ed Sullivan called him to say he could no longer book him on the show. Fifty years later, and after a sharp ideological metamorphosis, Orson says it’s harder now to be an open conservative on a Hollywood set than it was back then to be a Communist.”

Ed Ames knows all about it.

We discussed it over drinks when we met in November 2006 at David Horowitz’ Restoration Weekend in Palm Beach, FL. Former radio show co-host and actor Mark Vance (pictured at left in the Circle Room at the Palm Beach Breakers Hotel with Ames) did a couple of episodes of Daniel Boone with Ed.

Tonight we’ll get Hollywood actor Ed Ames’ perspective and observations on the Hollywood Left and its politics. Join us for a fascinating chat with the man who gave Johnny Carson his funniest bit — The Tomahawk. Watch it at The Radio Patriot now. And join us tonight!

*****

Please vote for my podcast in the Best Podcast/Video Blog category! I will love you if you do.

Siggy will thank you… maybe.

Russia: A totalitarian regime in thrall to a Tsar who’s creating the new Facist empire

By JONATHAN DIMBLEBY

As ex-President Putin settles in to his new role as Prime Minister, he has every reason to congratulate himself.

After all, he has not only written the script for his constitutional coup d’etat, but staged the play and given himself the starring role as well.

Of course, he has given a walk-on role to Dmitry Medvedev, his personally anointed successor.

…

But the transfer of power from Putin to his Little Sir Echo, Medvedev, and the show of military strength with those soldiers and clapped-out missiles in Red Square on Victory Day which followed it last week, made it clear who is really in charge.

…

Just before he stood down as President, Putin declared: “I have worked like a galley slave throughout these eight years, morning til night, and I have given all I could to this work. I am happy with the results.”

As he surveys the nation today he reminds me of that chilling poem by Ted Hughes, Hawk Roosting, in which the dreaded bird sits at the top of a tall tree musing: “Now I hold all Creation in my foot - I kill as I please because it is all mine - I am going to keep things like this.”

…

Despite the fact that Putin’s Russia is increasingly autocratic and irredeemably corrupt, the man himself - their born-again Tsar - is overwhelmingly regarded as the answer to the nation’s prayers.

Russia has a bloody and tormented history. Its centuries of suffering - its brutalities, its wars and revolutions, culminating in the collapse of communism and the anarchic buffoonery of the Yeltsin years - have taken a terrible psychological toll.

Cynicism and fatalism which eat away at the human psyche have wormed their way into the very DNA of the Russian soul.

In a nation that has not tasted and - with very few exceptions - does not expect or demand justice or freedom, all that matters is stability and security.

…

In a country where the “separation of powers” has become a bad joke, the law courts are no less corrupt.

Except perhaps for minor misdemeanours at local level, the judiciary is in thrall to the Kremlin and its satraps.

The threat of prosecution for tax fraud is the Kremlin’s weapon of choice against anyone who dares to challenge its hegemony.

When Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once the richest man in Russia, used his oil wealth to promote human rights and democracy, Putin detected a threat to his throne.

The oligarch was duly arrested and convicted of fraud. He now languishes in a Siberian jail where he is in the third year of an eight-year prison sentence.

None of this is a matter of public debate in Russia where the media has been muzzled by the Kremlin, their freedom of expression stifled by the government.

Almost every national radio and television station is now controlled directly or indirectly by the state, and the same applies to every newspaper of any influence.

In the heady days immediately before and after the collapse of the Soviet empire, editors and reporters competed to challenge the mighty and to uncover scandal and corruption.

Now they cower from the wrath of the state and its agents in the police and the security services.

That diminishing number who have the courage to investigate or speak out against the abuses perpetrated by the rich and powerful very soon find themselves out of a job - or, in an alarming number of cases, on the receiving end of a deadly bullet.

Some 20 Russian journalists have been killed in suspicious circumstances since Putin came to office. No one has yet been convicted for any of these crimes.

Putin calls the system over which he presides “sovereign democracy”. I think a better term is “cryptofascism” - though even the Kremlin’s few critics in Russia recoil when I suggest this.

After all, their parents and grandparents helped save the world from Hitler - at a cost of 25 million Soviet lives. Nonetheless, the evidence is compelling.

The structure of the state - the alliance between the Kremlin, the oligarchs, and the security services - is awesomely powerful.

No less worryingly is popular distaste - often contempt - for democracy and indifference to human rights.

In the absence of any experience of accountability or transparency - the basic ingredients of an open society - even the most thoughtful Russians are prone to say: “Russia needs a strong man at the centre. Putin has made Russia great again. Now the world has to listen.”

The new Prime Minister has brilliantly exploited the patriotism and latent xenophobia of the Russia people to unify them in the belief that they face a major threat from NATO and the United States.

This combination of national pride and insecurity has been fuelled by the America with its proposed deployment of missiles only a few hundred kilometres from the Russian border, allegedly to counter a nuclear threat from Iran.

No serious defence analyst believes this makes any strategic sense, while even impeccably pro-Western Russians recoil from this crass assertion of super-power hegemony by President Bush.

Similarly most Russians feel threatened - and humiliated - by the prospect that Ukraine and Georgia, once the most intimate allies of the Soviet Union, may soon be enfolded in the arms of NATO.

…

With communism consigned to “the dustbin of history”, there is no ideological conflict of any significance. And there is now only one military superpower.

[Editorial Comment: WHAT? No difference between USA and USSR?]

“…while those who call me unpatriotic have used their positions of privilege to avoid military service while sending [standing applause] while sending over 4,000 American boys and girls of every race to die [dramatic pause] over a lie.”

“Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy. He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn’t make me this color.”

During this speech and questions and answers period he managed to not answer almost all questions on the basis that the person asking had not heard the entire sermon.

Then on the War note, “he lied they died” comes to the rescue.

So Farrakhan didn’t “put him in chains” or make him a slave I would like to know WHO did!?!? When was HE in chains? And on the color part he seems to be complaining about the color of his skin…I would have to say he has to go take that one up with GOD not the white man.

If the reports are true the SECDEF will be recommending a new position for the above Person of the Year ‘07 (in my eyes). General Petraeus may take the reigns at CENTCOM for the departing Admiral Fallon. Lt. General Odierno would fill Petraeus’s boots leading the fight in Iraq.

Also for those engaged in the “war over lies” debates, I only post these for you to reference. Are they nukes? No. WMDs yes.

Today at 11AM Eastern we’ll talk to EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed producer Mark Mathis.

Chat’s open at 10:45 and the call in number is (646) 652-2639. Join us!

The Origin of the Species by Darwin, and Ben Stein’s Movie, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”

When I recommended that people go out and see Ben Stein’s Movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which is in theaters now, the readers of Political Pistachio erupted into all kinds of opinions. In the comment section of Political Pistachio alone the following discussion took place:

—————————————————————–

Doug. Read the selfish gene by richard dawkins, it is an excellent book and explains how evolution works in an amazing way.
You can see evolution in action in the world around us eg. the flu virus, that evolves new strains every few years that humans are not naturally protected against.

LBM
lordbrownmouse Email 04.17.08 - 2:52 pm #

——————————————————————————–

Doug,

So you do not believe in evolution at all?

Let me ask a question. If you were able to leave earth for 100,000,000 years and then returned, would you expect to find no adaptations or changes in the animal species that live here?
lordbrownmouse Email 04.17.08 - 3:00 pm #

——————————————————————————–

Obviously there are some adjustments in nature. Survival of the fittest, and all that. However, I do not subscribe to the theories of evolution beyond the basic adaptions in nature - and I am in full belief that there is a Creator. There is too much information and proven data that is in opposition to most of the Evolutionary Theories - and after all, like Creation, Evolutionary theories are unproven, hence the reason they are “theories”.
Douglas V. Gibbs Email Homepage 04.17.08 - 10:32 pm #

——————————————————————————–

Survival of the fittest?
a Email 04.17.08 - 10:57 pm #

——————————————————————————–

But lots of basic adaptations over millions of generations is evolution. lbm
lordbrownmouse Email 04.18.08 - 10:59 am #

——————————————————————————–

Certain Aspects of adaption are an inevitable part of life, but does it explain the origin of life? Can the origin of life truly be from a lack of intelligent design? Can Darwinism declare how life began without using the words “perhaps” and “may”?
Douglas V. Gibbs Email Homepage 04.18.08 - 4:04 pm #

——————————————————————————–

Remember the origin of life is the simplest single cell life form you can imagine - don’t you think there is a possibility that the conditions for this could occur in a planet of volcanoes, earthquakes and meteors without intellgent design?
lordbrownmouse Email 04.19.08 - 4:25 am #

——————————————————————————–

Darwinism doesn’t explain the origin of life, it explains the evolution of life forms - it never meant to. Science doesn’t answer religious questions. Also, Darwinism is over 100 years old, and scientific methods have changed greatly since then, and there’s so much
more to the laws of evolution then just Darwinism.

Survival of the fittest is the most relevant aspect of old time Darwinism.
a Email 04.19.08 - 11:30 am #

——————————————————————————–

I guess what I’m trying to say is that Darwinism is no more the sum total of evolution science, than Eienstein’s theory of relativity is the sum total of the laws and science of physics. Darwinism is somewhat dated.
a Email 04.19.08 - 11:39 am #

——————————————————————————–

if Darwinism doesn’t explain the origin of life, only the evolution of life forms - and it was never meant to, as you state, then why, pray-tell, is the book by Darwin called “The Origin of Species”? Besides, this movie is not really about whether or not certain aspects of Darwinism are acceptable or not acceptable, but that Darwinism is the only scientific theories allowed to be put forth in academia - and scientific evidence or theories regarding Intelligent Design is suppressed. . . Why is that?
Douglas V. Gibbs Email Homepage 04.19.08 - 4:25 pm #

——————————————————————————–

As you can see, it sparked a lot of discussion. But why is it such a volatile issue? And why is the mere mention of an Intelligent Designer enough to get people all up in arms? Is the possibility of an Intelligent Designer that much of a threat to science? I always thought that science was about endless possibilities, and pursuing the evidence to support any idea through the scientific method. Problem is, regardless of the data and evidence acquired regarding Intelligent Design, the Scientific Community suppresses it, and blacklists any scientist that even dares mention Intelligent Design. . . in fact, the wall put up by Science against those that support the possibility of an Intelligent Designer is not much unlike the Berlin Wall built to keep out any dissenting opinion by the Communists.

So, is this an issue about Darwinism? Or is it about Freedom?

Well, all of you out there that find this an important topic that needs to be discussed, tonight on Political Pistachio Radio I am going to be joined by Andrea Shea King, Sunday Night Host of the Andrea Shea King Show on WDBO AM 580 on the Space Coast in Florida, as well as a fellow Blog Talk Radio host, to discuss this matter. We both saw the movie yesterday morning when it was released, and encourage all of those who have an interest in this issue to listen to the show, and participate in the discussion. . . Join us on Political Pistachio Radio Tonight at 10PM Eastern Time!

Catch it tonight. Entertaining the troops! You can also click on the logo to take you to the site.