Point and Laugh

Wretched loser Janeane Garofalo spews bile and hate; demonstrates her ignorance again

Janeane Garofalo, who has failed as an actress, a radio talk show host, a comedian and now as a human being, went on the little watched Keith Olberman show to spout her racist conspiracy theories regarding the tax day Tea Party protests and the people who took part in them. That Garofalo finds it necessary to refer to regular Americans as stupid rednecks and racist Klan members should, by now, come as no surprise. In her interview on MSNBC she offers up her view that conservatives have, to paraphrase her wandering verbal vomit, an expanded limbic brain that apparently pushes against the rest of the grey matter thus causing those evil conservative thoughts. And she also aped the easily debunked idea that these protests were the product of the Republican party and Fox News; what Nancy Pelosi referred to as astroturfing. That such a protest could be organized from the ground up by motivated individuals who share a desire for limited government and lower taxes is beyond Garofalo's ability or desire to comprehend.

The idea comes to my mind that Garofalo is implying that all those conservatives at the Tea Parties need to have a lobotomy, getting rid of that pesky limbic brain, to make them into good little liberals. Let's repeat that; to be a good little leftist, you need a lobotomy. Of course, I don't think she would have put it that way if she had spent a few moments thinking about the implications. But then again, it is pretty rare for any hate filled leftist such as Garofalo to do much thinking beyond the moment in any case, so it should come as no surprise that she didn't take this line of thought to its logical conclusions either. Would that qualify as a self fulfilling prophesy?

In any event, commie leftards like Garofalo are becoming more and more shrill as the opposition to big government elites in both parties is now coming from regular people in flyover country. The reality is that the Tea Parties are about regular people who are deeply concerned about the rapidly increasing size and scope of government. We look at what has been happening for many years and we see the danger to the republic that we love. We want to preserve what is best in this country and to return the government to its true purpose and a size that is smaller and more limited. This is the vision that the founders had when they created America in the first place. We were to be a nation of citizens with individual rights that the government was forbidden to take away. Our government was to be one of limited, specific and enumerated powers that was to stay out of the lives of its citizens to the greatest degree possible, because that is the only moral form of society, and because no totalitarian government has ever avoided an eventual collapse. And regular people have now reached the tipping point at which they understand that they have to take action to roll back the size of government while it is still possible to do so and they have begun to act. And that terrifies the left.

The people who are now becoming activists have not generally done so before. And that has the potential to be a huge change in the political landscape. If this movement gains momentum, then the big government elites and self-loathing leftists like Garofalo are finished. They will not be able to stop the eventual electoral avalanche that will result if most people come to realize the danger of allowing the government to tax, spend and grow to the point where collapse is inevitable. The people who came out on April 15th do understand it. Our numbers are growing and we are not going to be cowed by the Garofalo's on the left. They are moral and intellectual pygmies who deserve only scorn and laughter. Don't let the tattooed court jesters distract you.

Push them aside and keep your eyes on the prize.

Chicago After Action Report

CNN reporter loses her mind on national TV

The Tea Party in Chicago was a resounding success like so many around the country. I went downtown myself and arrived shortly after the rally had begun. Federal Plaza was packed with a standing room only crowd. I would say that it would have been nice if there had been a raised stage because it was impossible to see the speakers due to the number of people in attendance. But regardless, it was fun to wander around reading all of the different signs that people had on display. The people there were well behaved and polite; something you don't usually get from the left. Speakers included Mancow Muller and Jonathan Hoenig among others, speaking about the current situation and how we got here. Founding Bloggers have posted lots of pictures of the event that will give you a taste of what it was like to be there.

Contrary to what some in the left media would have you think, this was not an event sponsored by the RNC. Indeed, I was very pleased to hear that organizers refused Michael Steele's attempt to insert himself into the rally as a speaker. It is, indeed, time for the officials in government to be listening to us, not the other way around.

With regards to stage time, we respectfully must inform Chairman Steele that RNC officials are welcome to participate in the rally itself, but we prefer to limit stage time to those who are not elected officials, both in Government as well as political parties. This is an opportunity for Americans to speak, and elected officials to listen, not the other way around.

It should be noted that the left and their handmaidens in The Elite Media Monoculture are spinning like mad in an attempt to portray this as manufactured by the Republican party rather than being a grass-roots effort. But the argument, such as it is, falls flat when Republicans are targets of citizen outrage too. The massive spending spree in Washington has been going on for some time now, and Republicans should get their share of the blame. The elites in both parties need to be kicked out and replaced with people who will be responsible stewards of the national interest. Right now we have only a few in congress from either party who fit that description. The job of cleaning out the dead wood and replacing it will take years.

Official numbers coming in from the organizers show that the total attendance across the country was about 650,000. It is no wonder that the left is freaking out. Conservatives coming out and protesting in massive numbers is something that the left is just not used to or able to comprehend. This is the last thing that the left wants. They prefer that conservatives be unseen and unheard so that the left will be able to push their socialist agenda without any critics causing inconvenient delays or objections. They are cowards you see. They are unwilling and unable to defend their plans on the basis of ideas or evidence because there is no evidence in history that collectivism works and no theory that hasn't been soundly refuted by free market economists, historians and political writers over the centuries since the country's founding. And so they resort to smears, lies and scare tactics to make you think what they want you to think. And the dinosaur media is a big part of the problem.

As evidence for this, we should take a look at the now infamous video of CNN 'reporter' Susan Roesgen having a hysterical nervous breakdown on live national TV at the Chicago Tea Party. Judge for yourself whether there is any possible way that today's Elite Media Monoculture can claim to be fair or objective when the 'reporter' spends her on air time arguing with the protesters instead of gathering information about the who, what and why, etc., as a journalist is supposed to do. Lecturing and yelling at the people there is not what you would expect from a reporter who was really interested in getting the story. But if you have an agenda you are trying to push, then it comes as no surprise.

LGF the Next Daily Dish

Little Green Footballs used to be one of my favorite daily reads on the Blogsphere. Alas, Charles now spends his time attacking Right-to-Lifers, Intelligent-Designers and other assorted Right Wing Extremists. Sad but true. It illustrates a point made long ago by Ayn Rand; that if you have no solid, and explicit principles, then you will not long hold any consistent point of view. Of course Charles Johnson did some good work in the past, for example with regard to the Dan Rather fake memo scandal. But over time Charles has drifted father and farther into Andrew Sullivan territory. If LGF were a smaller blog it would matter little, but he is not. Thus I have chosen to demote his link to the loon category along with the perpetually fearful Daily Dish. If you want to read good blogs doing good work on liberty, limited government and the war against the Islamo-Fascists you will find plenty of good links in the regular blog section. I recommend those that I put there. But unfortunately LGF is no longer one of them.

The Chicago Tea Party

All across the country there will be tax protests on April 15th. Even before Rick Santelli's Shout Heard Round the World, this movement was gaining steam as people became more and more alarmed about the out of control tax and spend policies of the Obama-Fuhrer and the Democrats. For not only are they eager to spend all of our money on their socialist schemes, they are now spending the money of generations yet unborn as well. So if you would like to make your voice heard, find a Tea Party Near You and go. I'll see you there.

New York Taxes Itself into Oblivion

Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today

The Wall Street Journal reports that the same forces that have decimated Michigan are at work in New York. Taxes in the empire state are the highest in the country, and as happened in Michigan, the best and brightest, who also happen to be those earning the most money, are rapidly leaving the state.

We reported not long ago that New York city depends for half of its annual budget on just a tiny handful of taxpayers. But those people are leaving, and now that new and more crushing taxes are being put in place, the exodus will only speed up. The city and state depend on a flow of tax revenue from the very same people that they have demonized for years. Now those people are fleeing and taking their wealth with them. How will New York survive when it is made up of only welfare dependents?

The laws of economics cannot be evaded. Sooner or later the actions that Democrats take to destroy the wealth producers takes its toll and all that you have left are those people who are a net drain on the system. It is at that point that the collapse comes home to roost.

America held hostage Day 4

Reuters reports that pirates have seized another boat and taken more people hostage. This is, of course, what happens when you have a weakling in the White House.

Obama's Radical Foreign Policy

At The American Thinker Ken Blackwell, who should have been elected as the head of the RNC instead of Michael Steele, gives us a rundown of the Obama-Fuhrer's foreign Policy blunders so far. And there have been no shortage of them. Obama's recent trip to Old Europe has cemented in the minds of many the fact that he is a weakling and a naive idiot who can be easily played. Already the boy president is cutting critical weapon systems that keep us safe and talking pie in the sky ideas about unilateral disarmarment that could only come from an American leftist.

American Leftists are easily indentified by our enemies who know instinctivly that the playing field is wide open to them as long as Democrats are in charge. Russia and China are both building up their respective military power. North Korea has launched a missile over Japan and continues to develop their atomic weapons capability. The terrorists in Iran are doing the same. And Pirates are running loose on the high seas kidnapping American citizens while Obama admires his reflection in the teleprompter and dreams about his next magazine cover story.

The Obama administration is incompetent and feckless and is pursing a radical agenda that is designed to undermine American power and make us much less important, and therefore will take away many of our options for future action, and the rest of the world knows it. In Europe they are celebrating because they understand just how weak and ineffective Obama is going to be. Dictators around the world are running wild because they know that with Obama in the White House, they are safe for the next four years. Can there be any doubt that they will take advantage of The Affirmative Action President's stupidity and weakness?

Leaving Michigan Behind

Skilled and educated workers are fleeing the state

This story from The Detroit News brings us further confirmation that the economic environment in Michigan is forcing people out of the state in order find jobs that are fast disappearing in this once great midwestern state. As I, and many others have pointed out, it is Democrats and the big labor unions that have run Michigan for decades. Now we are seeing the long term results of their policies in the form of falling employment, rising taxes and collapsing businesses. Other states that have been similarly run by Democrats for years and years such as New York and California are also suffering from severe economic problems and for many of the same reasons. But Michigan is a good case study because it was at one time such a major economic powerhouse of the American economy. Michigan was at the heart of America's auto manufacturing and heavy industry. But things have changed and not for the better.

If one can count on anything, one can be sure that Democrats and the left will always raise taxes, will always create a hostile business climate, will always increase the levels of government required regulation of every facet of economic activity they can, will look for more and more ways to strangle creativity and business creation, and will always find ways to punish the most productive people while rewarding the lazy and indolent. It is as predictable as a law of nature.

And just like a law of nature these policies, when put into practice as they have been in a state like Michigan, will have consequences that are as completely predictable as they are destructive. In the state of Michigan, therefore, conditions have reached the point at which people and businesses can no longer function. The people who live in the state and see this happening are now pulling up stakes and moving out for good because it is the only way that they can survive. The government of the state has literally made it impossible for these hard working and productive people to exist in Michigan. If they stay, they will end up impoverished as the government takes more and more of their wealth. And so they are leaving in droves.

And it is not just a random selection of people either; the ones who are moving out are those who are most educated and productive. It is these individuals who are always targeted by the Democrats for looting that allows the left to "spread the wealth" around to other people who have become permanent wards of the state. But that can continue only so long as the productive are present and continue to produce wealth to loot. What happens to the sclerotic socialist edifice when the victims refuse to cooperate?

Years ago, for those of you who are too young to remember, there was a popular phrase used to describe this phenomenon; "Brain Drain." It was used in connection with the loss of population that affected Eastern Europe after the advent of communism after the end of WWII. For a time, before the communists closed their borders, the best and brightest of Eastern Europe fled the communist utopia in favor of Western Europe or America. The communists who ran things could not afford to allow their victims to escape, so within a short time the borders of the communist world were closed to the rest of the world. The socialist utopia became a prison from which escape was punished by death. Barbed wire, machine guns and land mines made sure that the most productive people were chained to the communist vampires so that a constant flow of blood could be ensured.

Fortunately Michigan has no such border. At least not yet.

Democrats Want to Reinstate Oil Drilling Ban

CNS News brings us this story in which we learn that the Democrats are still in thrall to the Back to the Cave Movement that wants to keep you poor, technologically backward and in the dark. They talk a good game for the cameras, but when you look at the details you know that energy under the Obama-Fuhrer will be much more expensive and much more scarce.

Not to worry though, because Democrats are not against all energy; just the kind that is productive, cheap, plentiful and reliable. They have no problem at all with water-clocks, sundials and torches. And while we're at it, why don't we bring back the use of that renewable oil resource from the 19th century, the Whale?

Rahm Emanuel Skims 320K From Freddie Mac

Nice work if you can get it

The Chicago Tribune reports that Rahm Emanuel was paid $320,000 for a brief stint at Freddie Mac at the same time that the housing crisis was exploding across the country. It seems that he attended a few meetings, but whether he did much more is unclear. Of course, I don't think he will be asked by the New York Times to give any of it back.

Barney Frank Projects His Mental Instability Onto Republicans

In this article from The Washington Examiner we see yet another example of a prominent leftist projecting his own mental and emotional problems onto those healthy people he sees as a threat to his own self image. Congressman Barney Hot Dog seems to be channeling Janeane Garofalo who is fond of making similar claims about how evil conservatives and Republicans are, along with her desire to put them out of their misery for the benefit of all humanity. This tendency of leftists to demonize their critics is, unfortunately, nothing new.

It should be noted here that conservatives tend to shy away from making such ridiculous blanket pronouncements about the evil nature of their opponents. And this is a critical difference. Of course we should not be unwilling to point out the evil nature of leftist ideology itself and name names when required. For some people on the left really are evil. But not everyone is; some are just simply mistaken or deluded by the overwhelming amount of propaganda that they are subjected to on a daily basis. And many people have not been exposed to the ideas of liberty and freedom in anything like a systematic way, and so have nothing against which to compare the slogans of the left. And many people simply don't follow politics closely in any case as they are busy with their lives and day to day concerns.

We conservatives tend to focus on the merits of the arguments in question first and foremost. We believe that the facts and evidence back up our views on free markets, national defense and the basic virtue of the American system as it was seen by the Founding Fathers. We are confident that these views are true and that both theory as well as history have shown them to be so. We expect that most reasonable people, who when shown the arguments and facts, will be able to see for themselves the superiority of the American way of doing things.

But the leftist has no such deep level of confidence, as can be demonstrated by the fact that the leftist will nearly always try to squirm out of any debate of first principles or related ideas. Facts and logic are anathema to them for the most part. And so we are treated to the spectacle, for example, of Barney Frank trying to bully his way out of having to answer a simple question put to him by a young law student.

It is not an inspiring sight.

Parrots

In this story from Reuters we find that Hollywood is on a binge of movie remakes, going over old territory in the hopes of making a profit in an industry that has seen a big fall off of consumer interest. That there has been an exodus from the movie theatre should come as no surprise given the level of contempt and hate that Hollywood has shown for "the little people" in flyover country. How many anti-Iraq war movies did they make? I lost count, but I know that every one of them flopped at the box office. And yet they can't seem to help themselves, and they keep giving us more anti-American poison. We as a nation have demonstrated that we don't really want that kind of product, but they keep on dumping it on us like some kind of pimped up drug pusher hoping for a big score.

The 1980s have turned into a full-fledged garage sale of titles. "Romancing the Stone," "Footloose," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Dune," "The Karate Kid," "Red Dawn," "RoboCop," "The Big Chill," "Arthur," "Ghostbusters" and "The NeverEnding Story" are but a few of the titles from that decade being developed in Hollywood.

I can't think of any good reason why any of these films need to be done again. It seems unlikely that a remake will provide a better product that the original. (Dune may be an exception here, but then again the SciFi channel already did a remake that was pretty good so why do we need a third one?)

To my way of thinking this reflects the failure of the government monopoly education system that no longer turns out educated students. Back in the day, we were expected to actually know things and read books. Actual learning had to take place if you wanted to graduate. Now the schools are all about political indoctrination. So what if the students can't read or write? At least they love Obama and mouth the right slogans.

Such individuals are incapable of original thought, or even of recognizing it in others.

They have been reduced literally to the level of parrots; repeating what they have heard before without the ability to understand it.

1000 Words

A brief visit to Starnsville

Time brings us this photo essay in which we get to see just what happens when the left runs things long enough for the effects to become visible.

If you're not familiar with the reference, Starnsville is the fictional town in the book "Atlas Shrugged" that was home to the 20th Century Motor Company. In the story, the heirs of the Company choose to run it according to their own Marxist ideas of income "redistribution" with sad and predictable results. They put into action the maxim, "from each according to his ability; to each according to his needs." But, of course, the most productive and creative people have no desire to be turned into slaves working for the parasites that live off of the effort of others. And they abandon the company and the town in droves. In the end the town collapses, businesses flee and the very infrastructure of roads and buildings crumbles and begins to return to the state of nature as it was before people arrived.

It is a simple lesson in economics and human nature that the left has yet to learn. And we can see the principle in action in reality. The state of Michigan and the city of Detroit have been run by the Democrats for years, and they have put into place the same kinds of policies that Rand wrote about. Perhaps in a more dilute form, but the principle is the same, and the results speak for themselves. This is the future that Obama and his friends have in mind for the rest of us if we don't kick them out at the next opportunity and roll back their insanity before it's too late.

Going Galt

Michelle Malkin has lately been running a series on "Going Galt"; a reference to the popular novel Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand in which the producers simply stop producing when the socialist looter's government becomes too big. It is a reflection in fiction of the real world effect of socialist "economics" that always results in people creating less under command and control economies because there is no incentive to work hard when the fruits of one's labor are stolen and "redistributed" to the undeserving parasites who clamor for handouts. For those are the policies that this administration is putting into place. In case after case we see the big government left acting to take wealth from the producers and give it to the unproductive. And it should be noted that The Obama-Fuhrer was quite clear during the campaign that we would do this even though he understood that it would actually hurt the economy as a whole. His rationalization for this was the eternal trope of the left: "fairness." For in the mind of the envy driven leftist it is indeed unfair that people who are able to create and produce should be allowed to keep the success that they earn through their work and sacrifice. What is "fair" is that parasites should not have to work at all, and still be rewarded by the government for their poor decisions and their sloth.

But there is a solution to the problem that the individual can put into action we well. People have been writing to Michelle telling her of the various ways in which they are downsizing their own productive effort in order to keep it out of the hands of the our thieving government. The idea is simple. "Progressive" taxation takes more money away from those earning higher salaries, and the rates "progressively" get higher as one's income increases. But of course, one does not have to earn a high income if one chooses not to. Instead, you can decide to earn less, and therefore be subject to less of a tax bite and also make less for the government to take. The Obama-Fuhrer cannot, after all, force you to earn a fortune if you don't want to. And so as people become less productive, by choice or by circumstance, the government is starved of the loot that it would otherwise have taken. And make no mistake; this will become more and more widespread until the Obama-Fuhrer's policies are reversed. People respond to incentives both positive and negative. And the Obama-Fuhrer's entire policy is to make war on the productive. But the productive don't have to play along with the socialists if they don't want to.

This phenomenon isn't large yet, but the current trends indicate that it will be. One of the many things that leftists do not understand is that the laws of economics are every bit as real and unchanging as the laws of physics or chemistry. Thus, people will eventually stop producing when their extra efforts are taxed away by looting do-gooders. It has been demonstrated in history over and over again that collectivism results in falling productivity and lower living standards. And the size of the collapse is directly proportional to the amount of redistribution that the left tries to put into practice.

Obama's Voodoo Multiplier

In this article from The Wall Street Journal we learn that Obama's economic plans are based on pure wishful thinking and fantasy. How do we know this? We know it because they assume that massive government spending has no negative effect on the private sector. Indeed, they think that their actions will actually result in more economic activity in the private sector than would otherwise have been the case without the government spending. This is, of course, insane. Government spending can only be done by taking wealth from the private sector, which means less economic activity in the private economy. How can it be otherwise? If I take half of your income, does that make you more wealthy or poorer? Do you have more to work with, or less? Will you have more options open to you or fewer?

It's not really hard to figure out, unless you happen to have a Harvard education and work in Washington.

The Manchurian Candidate

Bloomberg news brings us an essay similar to the one below from the Wall Street Journal. In this article Kevin Hasset takes the idea of Obama being hostile to the American economy to its logical conclusion. How, he asks, would a President be different from the current one if he wanted to drive the American economy into the ground on purpose? Hasset can find find very little difference, and that is very bad new for all of us.

The reality is that whether Obama is actually trying to destroy capitalism or just simply incompetent, the results will be just the same unless he is stopped. Thankfully, it seems that some people are slowly waking up to the reality of what they voted for. Even liberals like Jim Cramer, Warren Buffet and others are starting to complain, ever so carefully, about the death spiral that the Obama administration is giving us. Perhaps liberals are capable of learning new things after all.

The Obama Economy

The Wall Street Journal brings us this editorial in which they point out that the Obama-Fuhrer seems to be doing all the wrong things if you wanted to bring back the economy from its downturn. On the other hand, if what you want is to destroy the American economy as a means to foist a socialized utopia on the country by force and fraud, these are all of the things you would expect.

The Decline of California

Democrat's state of denial

Whenever leftists and Democrats get their hands on government you can bet they will run things into the ground. Case in point is the state of California which is now so broke that if you are owed a tax refund, you can kiss it goodbye. You won't be getting your money back, just a worthless IOU that will probably never be repaid.

In this article from the Wall Street Journal we can see all the sad details that have led to California's state wide bankruptcy. Of course no one is calling it that, but we all know it when we see it. It is no wonder the productive people are fleeing the state as if it were a third world dictatorship.

Obama The Narcissist

Obama seems to combine the worst aspects of both Carter and Clinton. Clinton was a narcissist and Carter was incompetent. With Obama we get both in the same package. I think we will survive, but it's going to be a very bumpy ride until the Obama-Fuhrer is thrown out of office. The good news is that conservatives have an opportunity over the next several election cycles to put good people in place to roll back the damage that the America hating Dems are going to do to the country. It will be hard work to fix the mess, but if we can get serious majorities back in the congress and get the White House back four years from now, we should be able to hold them for quite a while. Just as in the 70s', the American people will learn how dangerous it is to allow democrats anywhere near the levers of power until they have grown into adults.

Rush vs Steele

I'm not sorry that I voted for McCain, even though we all knew that he was a mediocre candidate at best. I would still rather have him in office than the Obama-Fuhrer for the simple reason that the Fascist-in-Chief is going to drive the country off a cliff as fast as he can. (Just look at how the markets are doing if you think otherwise.)

Having said this, I think Rush's point is well taken. The reason that we have lost in the last several election cycles is because of what liberal republicans have done to the republican brand.

It is important to remember that most people do not follow politics closely, so they only know what they see when they turn on the TV and see liberal republicans agreeing that, "yes we need big government and more regulation and taxes, just not as fast as the democrats want to go, and by the way, I really like it when I am interviewed by The New York Times."

Principled conservative leadership has been lacking for a long time and the results speak for themselves. Republicans won elections when, like Reagan or the congress of 94, they stood for the ideas of limited government and capitalism with everything that goes with those things and when they fought to put those ideas into practice. Loud, consistent and constant advocacy of principles is the only way that conservatives stay in office.

But when they start to act like liberals, the voters lose their interest in republicans. Our conservative elites in the party and many of the republican pundits who have now attached themselves to the beltway culture like barnacles, have failed to understand this, and therefore the reasons that we have reached the state we now find ourselves in. They were the ones who said that we needed to be more "moderate." It was their strategy that brought us the decimation of the party at the national level. They have lost their way and lost touch with the base of the party. And the base responded by rejecting them. Unfortunately, many of them can't quite seem to figure this out yet.

Ask yourself, why was Sarah Palin not at CPAC? Why was she not asked to deliver the response to the recent speech by the Obama-Furher? Is there a person who currently connects better to the base of the party?

The leaders in the republican party are currently estranged from base conservatives and afraid of their own shadows in the face of the democrats and the left wing media. Until they find the courage to stand for conservative ideas boldly and without apology, they will remain in their current subservient position.