Triumphant Return, Courtesy of Grave Concerns

I apologize for my absence. I have recently started a new course at work, and last week I was working from 5 AM to 9PM, leaving me with little or no energy to devote to political commentary. That, and I was a bit out of the loop. Feel free to give me specific political issues of concern from the last week if you think they deserve my attention.

My focus this week is the President's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the SCOTUS. This, as I warned all of my left-leaning friends during the election, is the inevitable result of playing identity politics. As has been stated in pretty much every newspaper of note (with varying degrees of admiration by the usual rags), Sotomayor makes her decisions through the lens of her own personal experiences as an immigrant. To this, I can only respond that I am thankful that she is only on the 2nd Circuit. She has actually explicitly stated that she thinks a Hispanic woman is better suited to being a judge than a white man, simply by virtue of her perspective. As RS McCain says, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! The last time I checked, there was the delightful little concept of "impartiality" to protect. Are we to be held hostage now by sympathies to identity groups?

Ironically, no. If you pay close attention, you'll notice that Democrats play a particularly vile brand of identity politics. They will absorb a group into their "big tent", though I'd use the term collective, and then should this group not adhere exactly to the greater plan they will be ignored. Take for instance the black community in California; they voted overwhelmingly in favour of President Obama. However, the vast majority of the President's economic policies will have no demonstrable impact on black poverty. In fact, one could argue that his economic policies will hurt black families because the areas he is targeting with "stimulus" are predominantly the reserve of bleeding heart upper middle class white people. I fail to see how protecting the snail darter is rewarding the black community. Furthermore, gays voted overwhelmingly Democrat as well, and yet they are getting no help on the marriage issue. As HillBuzz has pointed out, it's an issue of language rather than rights. However, a continued battle on gay marriage is of interest to the Democratic party, and so gays will continue to vote for them and get nothing in exchange.

President Obama is the apotheosis of this ruthless and unethical way. He used a groundswell of feeling by identity groups like blacks and disenfranchised youth to gain power, but he's not accepting any kind of reciprocal responsibility. He promised them Hope and Change. He'll bring them death, and they will love him for it.

Rule 5 Sunday! Part 2, The Democratic Process

Hungover today. Busy all week. Not much energy for this kind of thing. I'm hoping to do some catching up next week, what with the Democratic Party in Congress trying to pass communism through environmentalism. Keep on track with Monique Stuart and RS McCain on the unusual happenings.

This week, I thought I'd open Rule 5 to the floor. Post links in the comments section, and throughout the rest of the day I'll update the main body with the images. Have fun!


UPDATE

What the hell. I love Alizée.It isn't every day you see a Corsican hottie.

Rule 5 Sunday!

The title has nothing to do with the content of the post. Go to The Other McCain to get the meaning. Also, just to keep my brother happy, this post is totally free of Ann Coulter references.

Today I'm going to muse on the political culture of my current city, and why it is moronic. Here in Fredericton, a riding that historically has gone blue (that means the same thing as going red for my American readers), I am surrounded by people who have no idea how politics actually works. It's amazing what 8 years of voting liberal can do to the cultural psyche.

First of all, people seem to assume that President GW Bush was the worst president in history. They can cite no evidence, they can offer no sane argumentation. When questioned, they look at you as if you claimed the sky is neon yellow. Forget the fact that previous Presidents have committed perjury and probably felonies (President Clinton), completely fumbled Mideast policy and allowed Americans to be held hostage for over a year (President Carter), bungled the PR campaign on what was militarily the cleanest jungle war ever (President Johnson). I could go on, but I think you get my point. Make no mistake, I do not credit President Bush with being in the top 5, but you have to give the man a reasonable analysis. He dealt admirably with the greatest attack on US soil since Pearl Harbour. He concluded a successful ground campaign in a country that had repelled all previous attempts at doing so (seriously, even the Brits never had garrisons in every Afghan province). He removed on of the most intractable and wily dictators around from power, and he managed to hold his ground against two innovative insurgent campaigns at the same time, while simultaneously preventing a follow-up attack on the US. Allow me to be completely clear: Al Qaeda had plans and attempted to execute several attacks on the US post 9/11. That's how terrorist campaigns work. You open with a bang to get people's attention, and then you bleed their will to fight by demonstrating that you can hit them anywhere you want. That hasn't happened, so if you want to blame President Bush for Iraq, you had best be willing to give him credit for the lack of further attacks on US soil. Or you are a hypocrite.

Which brings me to my next point. Hypocrisy is rampant in this part of the country. It really irritates me, especially as a libertarian. People in this city just love to tell me how the Canadian military should be deployed to Darfur, but that the current Afghan mission is a war for oil. They love to tell me that the government should intervene and force Evangelicals to be nicer to gays, but that their "right" to smoke weed shouldn't be infringed. Well? Which is it? Do you want an interventionist nanny-state that regulates everything right down to how you feel about the asshole next door who plays country music at 4 AM? Or do you want the government to treat you like an individual citizen and stakeholder, with the rights and responsibilities that entails?

Nevermind, you're probably too baked to understand half of those words. Go back to parroting Jon Stewart and thinking you're brilliant.

And now for something completely different! Rule 5 WOOO! (Click for full size, I'm still learning how this stuff works)

War is Peace, and we Have Always been at War With Eastasia

A quick aside for those of you who think I actually MEAN "East Asia". It's a truncated quotation from 1984. "Eastasia" is one of the 3 megalithic political blocs.

Go read Five Feet of Fury. Right now. I mean it, do not come back until you have checked that link. Scroll down until you can read "Today's Hate Crime".

I cannot even begin to describe the degree to which I am incensed. According to Canada's draconian counter-protest legislation, if you wish to stage a demonstration against another demonstration, you must allow yourself to be segregated into a tiny box and surrounded by police. This is not to protect you, it is to protect the larger protest from you. I have seen this lunacy before. During the latest round of Pro-Gaza, Pro-HAMAS protests, pro-Israel protesters were often dispersed by police for "disturbing the peace". Apparently, waving HAMAS flags and chanting "death to [insert group here, including Jewish children]" is just fine though. Now we see it again.

Only this time, it could be much worse. Canadian hate-crime legislation under the Criminal Code is already pretty damn sweeping. Luckily for these protesters, it really only kicks in once it has been proven that you committed a crime. It's a way of ratcheting up your sentence because you were thinking naughty thoughts. Some Mens are more Rea than others. However, if the Toronto Police have launched a hate crimes investigation, regardless of outcome, we can be sure of two things. 1: Canadian politicians, local and federal, are afraid of losing Tamil votes and so are already in appeasement mode. 2: Barbara Hall, of the Dreaded Ontario Human Rights Commission, is going to start talking again. I think we can all agree that a woman so pretentious that she believes she is better qualified than a judge to determine whether or not a woman wearing a veil while testifying violates a defendent's rights to face his accuser shouldn't really be given a microphone. I can tell you right now, she will recommend that the Tamil protesters lodge a complaint to the HRC, at which point these poor counter-protesters will be persecuted at her whim.

And for what? Stating something that was confirmed in an Act of Freakin' Parliament! "Protect Canada, Fight the Tamil Tigers". The Canadian Government has a stated position of forceful opposition to and non-negotiation with terrorist groups. The Tamil Tigers are a terrorist group. Therefore the Canadian Government will forcefully oppose and refuse to negotiate with the Tamil Tigers. Simple syllogism, right? I guess not.

Sometimes I just Can't Help Myself. I have to Smack Morons

Alright, alright, I know I'm risking the wrath of my brother here, but I must comment once again, in a roundabout way, on Ann Coulter. I promise not to gush. Well, not excessively anyway.

The latest "it-girl" on the blogosphere (and now I go to wash with fire after using that phrase) is Meghan McCain, the daughter John wishes he never had. Seriously, this girl is frighteningly stupid. Now, I know that a lot of American conservatives are pointing out that John McCain finished badly at the Academy. Frankly, that doesn't have much to do with anything. John McCain was too busy dating strippers and Jumping the Wall to care about his ranking. Having experienced a US service academy, I can't say I blame him. Still, there is no excuse for the idiocy that is his daughter.

Take a gander at her blog. It is beyond comical that she gets tagged as having expertese in anything, let alone politics. Media? Well, maybe. Being addicted to publicity might qualify. I mean, like, really? She's upset that Arlen Specter left the party? All snarkiness aside, she really is a travesty being forced into the public sphere. You would think the daughter of two prominent public figures would be able to speak without sounding like a socialite from southern California.

Don't even get me started on her desire to morph the Republican Party into the Other Democratic Party. Oops, too late. Every one of her "arguments", assuming she bothers to make a point, is substantiated only by personal conjecture. Her assertions don't meet any aspect of the standard Parliamentary Debating test for veracity. None of her assertions are "commonly recognized fact". None of them are "easily demonstrable by basic research". They certainly aren't "conclusions based on rational premise". You can tell she hasn't a leg to stand on because she hasn't, that I am aware of, ever used the phrase "I think". It's always "I feel". Congratulations, you would be executed in the world of Equilibrium.

Apparently, this little tart had two tickets to the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and tried to get an extra guest in Paris Hilton Style. Also, for greater amusement value, she apparently thinks that she can oust Ann Coulter as the resident Republican Hottie.

That paragraph break was to give me time to recover from a near-terminal fit of laughter. Ann Coulter's physical appearance is convenient, but not necessary to her popularity. People don't flock to Rush Limbaugh for his looks; they do it because he is provocative and entertaining. Ann Coulter is popular because people agree with her. She's popular because she knows how to start a fight, and how to end it. She's popular because she writes with wit, humour, and a shocking degree of substantive evidence.

Humourously enough, Ann Coulter describes in excruciating detail how people like Meghan McCain become popular. The MSM just loves someone who claims to be Republican but has no idea what it actually means. Christopher Buckley's political views were of no interest until he endorsed President Obama. Now that he regrets his decision, he has receded into political obscurity. One can only hope the same will happen to Ms. McCain.

The Coming Disaster

This week in both the National Post and the Globe and Mail, allusions were made to the possibility that economic recovery has already begun, or will begin shortly. Naturally, the current batch of politicians are already burnishing their economic credentials, preparing to take credit for the "miraculous recovery".

Frankly, this is horseshit.

First of all, there is no possible way that the "stimulus" packages could be credited with a potential recovery. Why? Because the vast majority of that money hasn't been spent yet. Essentially, the governments of the West are expecting us to believe that merely the ephemeral promise of governmental largesse has produced a counter-cyclical effect! Consumer confidence restored, the great toxic assets purified by the Name of Mighty Keynes. Right, and if that's true then swine flu is really avian flu because the pigs are darkening the skies over a newly risen Atlantis.

Part of a particular process taught to all military officers involves asking yourself, repeatedly, "Has the situation changed? If so, how does this affect me?" Well, the situation hasn't changed. Americans and Canadians, and probably everyone else, are losing their jobs at a steady rate. Toxic assets are still toxic, and people are still defaulting on mortgages. Banks are still skittish about lending to each other, as no one's asset sheets are believable. Worst of all, the government is refusing to allow banks to pay back the TARP funds so as to be free of congressional interference. Oh, and GM and Chrysler still have moronic business practices.

Economists are predicting minor growth, and soon. Bully for them. I consider this to be the eye of the storm, because as RS McCain states "The Fundamentals Still Suck". Not to mention the government is aggravating the situation with needless interference and an increase in taxes for, well, just about all Americans. Mark Steyn is looking more and more prescient in his warnings that the dreaded Rich in America might soon include more people than expected.

So what do we have now? Perhaps, and I consider this very likely, we will have a happily ignorant plebeian class more than ready to return to somnambulism, encouraged by a class of elites with no understanding of economics but a burning desire to rearrange the world into some Utopian order. My brother, a legal alien in Oklahoma City, commented that the latest rash of get rich quick ads go something like "Big Business is getting bailout money! Now it's your turn!"

The American Dream is slowly being eroded by an addiction to government largesse. The only Justice that comes from Socialism is that people dumb enough to buy into it will get exactly what they deserve. Unfortunately, the rest of us will be collateral damage.

Why "Diversity" is simply another name for Appeasement

Hat tip to Kathy Shaidle over at Five Feet of Fury on reminding me of my favourite ex-Muslim.
(Some related reading, not directly about today's post)

If you were not aware, on Mother's Day, the Tamil minority in Toronto demanded attention by blockading the Gardiner's Expressway (a major artery) en masse. To visibly demonstrate the justice of their cause, they used women and children as blockades to prevent the police from forcibly removing them. Well, at least they didn't use the standard Tiger tactic and strap bombs to them.

That's right. I am making an unequivocal statement on the nature of the protest. Every person in that crowd should have been forcibly dispersed for openly agitating on behalf of a known terrorist group. It's in the Globe and Mail. It's in the National Post. It's on every blog that concerns itself with Canadian affairs. These "peaceful protesters" wave Tiger flags and literally chant "Tamil Tigers! Freedom Fighters!"

Funny how HRCs will persecute an Alberta pastor for vehemently preaching one of the tenets of his faith, and yet don't do a damn thing when an entire mob is shouting its support for an organization that Parliament has labelled terrorist. Let's be clear on this. I don't care about Sri Lanka. I don't care that Tamils are being oppressed, I don't care that Tamils are doing atrocious things to Sinhalese Sri Lankans. It isn't my country, and I have no stake in this. I do care if our democratically elected government has declared it illegal to materially support a specific group with international ties, and a select group of citizens deliberately and noisily chooses to ignore that.

I will give Tamil-Canadians two pieces of advice. Firstly, choose a nationality. For the sake of political behaviour, you are either Tamil or you are Canadian. I have family in Italy, but I have no intention of harassing the Canadian government regarding Berlusconi's policy. Secondly, I will give you the same advice I give to girls lamenting that life is unfair:

You are not a beautiful snowflake, unique in all the world.
You are a cog in a great and wondrous machine.
Cogs that begin to grind, or slip, or otherwise fail get replaced.
The world keeps turning.