Monday, March 31, 2014

What happened to a government of laws, not of men?

Squishiness on the subject of immigration enforcement is now ecumenical, with Democrats lauding more foreigners because of their propensity to support the party line, and establishment Republicans throwing in with big businesses drooling over the cheap labor pool (the latter case being an excellent example of the Leninist observation about the rope and the last capitalist).

So both political parties share responsibility for the lax enforcement of our immigration laws, in that the present administration has been emboldened by their posturing to ignore them. I don’t know to what extent this policy approach has yet provided material assistance to the Democratic party, or fatter margins to big businesses, but it does look like we’re in for a bit of crime wave:
President Obama’s Department of Homeland Security caught then released 68,000 aliens who had previously been convicted of a crime, a new report from the Center for Immigration Studies shows.

The report, provided to Breitbart News ahead of its late Sunday evening release, reviews internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) metrics to conclude that the Obama administration released 35 percent—or 68,000—convicted criminal aliens back into the U.S. general population when they could have been deported. “The criminal alien releases typically occur without formal notice to local law enforcement agencies and victims,” CIS’s Jessica Vaughan, the report’s author, added.
Leaving aside, for the moment, the potentially devastating impact that these criminals could continue to have on the lives of innocent citizens, let’s take a look at the broader political effect of a government that has decided to substitute rule by executive fiat for the written law.

The Obama administration has introduced selective enforcement of various laws, ranging from immigration to voting rights to health care, generally acting as if legislation is intended as mere advice from a mob of gawkers on the political scene rather than as the law of the land. The president and his minions, backed almost always and everywhere by the Democratic party – and occasionally aided and abetted, or at least enabled, without let or hindrance (depending on circumstances) by establishment Republicans - have taken this tack with decidedly partisan intent, as part of the overarching goal of strengthening the props under the “progressive” infrastructure they are trying to build in order to replace what they take to be the outmoded and extremely inconvenient constitutional structure of our republican system, along with its quaint assumptions of the primacy of individual liberty and the necessity of personal responsibility. In short, Obama, the Democrats and their fellow travelers have embarked on the path of revolution – bloodless and bureaucratic, to be sure, but a revolution nonetheless. And unlike our country’s original revolution, which was rooted philosophically in the struggle by colonists to retain historical rights that had been usurped or withdrawn by a distant, condescending and incompetent government, the one we are now encountering is a bizarre foray into reaction, wherein the government – not so distant, but certainly condescending and incompetent - is struggling to reimpose a meddlesome, paternalistic , centralized system upon the people in complete violation of their historical rights, and without even the tattered veil of mere legalism with which the ministers of poor George III attempted to justify the tyranny of his reign (a tyranny, by the way, that in most respects never came close to the level of social and political control contemplated by our home-grown progressives) . Obama’s wishes, whims and desires are the law, and the constitution and other forms of legislation might as well be so many brochures from vinyl siding vendors for all of the genuine influence they exercise upon this president.

There are two great dangers in this revolution from above. The first, of course, is the damage that Obama’s actual policies are doing to the U.S. both domestically and internationally. Domestically, he is pushing programs that throttle the economy and erode the vitality of the middle class, as well as – to get back to immigration, specifically – alter the demographics and the culture of our society in ways that make assimilation increasingly difficult due to the fact that there are fewer and fewer things that we all have in common, fewer and fewer truths that we hold to be self-evident. On the international stage, due to the naïveté and complete rudderlessness of the administration, we are distrusted by our allies and sneered at by our enemies, perhaps only one or two steps away from being compelled to follow the famous direction in The Winter’s Tale: “Exit, pursued by a bear”.

But there is another danger, more subtle yet just as corrosive as the damage being done directly by Obama’s overt actions. The president and his adherents are actively undermining respect for the law. Not just specific laws, but the concept of law, the idea of law as the distillation of justice and equity and rights in a form applicable to our daily lives and reliable as a guide to our future endeavors, the result of a deliberative process involving those men and women we freely choose to represent us in the ongoing effort to uphold a civil society dedicated to preserving the optimal balance between individual freedom and order. Obama is done with all of that. The law is no longer something that we have ourselves devised and entrusted to government stewardship with any reasonable expectation of fairness and accountability. To Obama and his ilk, law is a tool of ideology, the twin encouragements of stick and carrot to be applied in establishing the supremacy of the progressive gnosis, something that the federal government does for us (or, increasingly, to us), always and everywhere, of course, for “our own good”, whether we like it or not. The law is now simply the expression of personal power.

And how long can a society stand when its own “elite” refuses to abide by the law? When the highest government officials commit lawless acts with impunity, does this not tend to wear down the ingrained lawfulness of the average citizen, in ways great and small? Leftists frequently like to characterize conservatives as extreme libertarians who cherish a return to some romanticized version of the old west, where men carried their freedom in their holsters. Wouldn't it be ironic if we do, indeed, wind up with a society along those lines because the High Sheriff decided that his tin star invested him with the divine right of kings?

Gee, I wonder what all of the fuss was about?

Just as certain, shall we say, concerned parties used to be fond (and may still be) of saying that “there’s no such thing as the mafia”, members of our ascendant criminal class are now claiming that there’s no such thing as ObamaCare.

What are they going to do, mix Beano into the feed?

"White House looks to regulate cow flatulence as part of climate agenda".

Cows, however, are not taking this lying down...



(H/T to the People's Cube for the image).

Monday movie

A scene displaying extreme psychological manipulation from The Manchurian Candidate.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Sunday funnies



Man vs. alcohol on Race Day in Limerick.



Here's a guy who puts his pants on one leg at a time; problem is, he puts them on over his head.

Be not afraid.

Possibly the greatest April Fool's joke of all time.

All about farts (it's ok, folks; this is science).

Some simple truths from Miss Red.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Untimely

Democrat gubernatorial candidate in Massachusetts passes a kidney stone during a debate.

Click on the link and check out the guy's photo. I bet the first words that come to mind are, "What, me worry?"

Update: "Dies Irae" for Democrats. More on the subject from Ed Driscoll.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Open mouth, insert foot

Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate from Iowa just scored two “own goals”: he publicly aligned himself with the lawyers’ lobby, and he insulted Iowa farmers.

For some strange reason, I am reminded of this A&W Root Beer commercial…

Reid sees….Republicans

Harry Reid pretty much blamed Republicans for Russia’s recent annexation of Crimea.

Truth is, he’s only just scratched the surface. Other things the GOP is responsible for:

1) Eliminating the tan M&M
2) The comeback of tuberculosis.
3) Fatally pwning Old Yeller by spraying his face with shaving cream
4) All gun-related crime
5) Yeast infections
6) Obesity
7) All wars going back to the fall of Constantinople
8) Justin Bieber
9) The extinction of the great auk.
10) The proliferation of “brothel red” paint as the color of choice in American dining rooms
11) Global warming
12) Global cooling

C'mon, Harry, let's hear you shout it from the rooftops!

Keeping constituents in their place

Rhode Island state senate trash Josh Miller - who looks like he just swallowed a piano - responds with the kind of eloquence we've come to expect from liberals when a citizen tries to discuss Second Amendment rights.

Update: See the second item in this post at Are We Lumberjacks? I think it would be great to see Miller (and his little dog, too) challenged by some justly incensed constituent to step outside for a little broadsword practice.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

The world turned upside down (continued)

Some psychotic a**hole glued razor blades to playground equipment in Illinois.

How about a little truth in labeling?

A reader at the Israelly Cool blog takes issue with a Palestinian promotional campaign (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Monday, March 24, 2014

So much for civilization

All the technological development, all the creature comforts, the increase in literacy, the eradication of hunger and disease in ever wider parts of the globe – and we’re still capable of incinerating aborted babies in waste-to-energy plants? And such is the condition of our modern world view that I bet the only criticism that might conceivably come from the political left is that this somehow leads to global warming.

One inevitably recalls Dostoevsky: without God, all things are permitted…

ObamaCare marketers turn to worn-out internet meme to peddle the program

Cat GIFs? Seriously? I wonder what’s next (Rickrolling? Hampster Dance?) Considering all the propaganda about how hip this administration is supposed to be, it’s astonishing to see how many of its ideas are at what you might call the hip replacement stage.

I’ve fallen and I can’t get up – so watch me disco dance in the prone position!

Terrorist sympathizer working for the IRS?

Why am I not surprised?

Sightseers

The Obamas sure do get around.

Of course, travel is broadening...

Monday movie

Dennis Weaver is chased by a faceless, murderous trucker in Duel.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Sunday funnies

There's a reason you never hear anybody say "wise old penguin" (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Another story from the life of that wild and crazy president, Calvin Coolidge.

I'm not really sure how this sells soda pop, but it's pretty interesting in its own right.

Tragic yet... hilarious.

School trip or population control?

Rockabilly culture rocks on!

Chicken spectacles.

Guess this takes some concentration...




Friday, March 21, 2014

Illinois Democrat: Hey, it's stupid to use Detroit as a role model

Let's use California, instead.

Happy Feet Friday

On balance, I'm a somewhat indifferent Steve Miller fan, but I do like his version of the old blues song, "You Better Come On Into My Kitchen".

Duh!mographics



H/T: Moonbattery.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

The world turned upside down

Transgender woman claims that it was not she, but her former male self that was a serial killer.

A perfect example of the officious, meddlesome nature of liberalism: “Hey, why don’t you nag your kids into signing up for ObamaCare?” Related: “Se habla español!”

Mark Levin and Walid Shoebat discuss the diabolical savagery of Muslim fanatics in Syria (caution: stomach-turning details; also see here and here).

For sale: Solid little, er, multifamily residence in Houston.

Dude, haven’t you heard that tolerance is a one way street?

The sound of dominoes falling.

This is the kind of luck most of us can only dream of: ”$33 million Faberge Egg discovered by scrap metal dealer”.

Chipping away at the GOP establishment

Scott Wagner shows how it's done.

Elsewhere, Rand Paul attempts to "change the dialogue".
Whatever you think of Rand Paul, he’s actually doing something that politicians rarely do — talking at length to audiences who don’t usually agree with him. And winning over new friends in the process. His recent speech at UC Berkeley, where he apparently got a standing ovation for excoriating runaway government spying on Americans, is only the latest example.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Even Jimmy Carter occasionally learned a few things from his foreign policy mistakes

Charles Krauthammer ponders the thick-headed cluelessness of BHO, and compares him - unfavorably - to the frequently hapless Jimmy Carter, who at least, every now and then, had a moment of lucidity.
Obama is not the first president to conduct a weak foreign policy. Jimmy Carter was similarly inclined — until Russia invaded Afghanistan, at which point the scales fell from Carter’s eyes. He responded boldly: imposing the grain embargo on the Soviets, boycotting the Moscow Olympics, increasing defense spending and ostentatiously sending a machine-gun-toting Zbigniew Brzezinski to the Khyber Pass, symbolizing the massive military aid we began sending the mujahideen, whose insurgency so bled the Russians over the next decade that they not only lost Afghanistan but were fatally weakened as a global imperial power.

Invasion woke Carter from his illusions. Will it wake Obama?
No, no it won’t. Carter didn’t enjoy the advantage of a Democratic Party that was slavishly devoted to him, nor did he have the kind of adulatory press that clings to Obama like the scent of cheap cologne. All of this blind loyalty creates a sort of white noise that muffles the sound of those odd, and sometimes dangerous, things that go bump in the night, thereby enabling our president to continue snoozing comfortably while the world collapses around him.

The foreign policy ineptitude, plus the ObamaCare disaster, are now combining to sink Barry in the polls, and his wretched performance looks like it may torpedo the Democrats’ chances of holding onto the Senate this fall. Gee, liberals, it must suck to find out that your Manchurian candidate is a complete dumbass who’s tracking dog s**t over all over your red carpet to ultimate victory.

Update: More from Richard Fernandez.
There are no good choices because America is in a foreign policy clip-joint. Everything on the menu is bad and all the liquor is bogus. We should be looking for a way back on to the street and not seeking a way to get further in. The word is out: every bad guy within hail knows Obama is a screw-up and worse, one with delusions of grandeur.

Send in the clowns

Vice President Biden is in Europe to “reassure” our allies.

“Reassure” them of what, precisely? Our boundless sense of humor? Sorry, but I cannot conceive of any serious, high-stakes situation in which the presence of Joe Biden would alleviate my, or anybody else's, anxiety.

Auto dealer 1, labor union 0

An automobile dealer in Wichita turns the tables on a labor union protest.

What are New York's new gun registration forms good for?

Well, if you get enough of 'em you might grill some hot dogs.


The resistance movement heats up.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Assortment

Drat! I missed pi day again.

Ask Dr. Dalrymple.

The federal government: real estate magnate.

"Ted Cruz: Badass".

The Obama administration's ongoing surrender of America.

The mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370 gets more and more baffling.

I feel like I'm really not doing enough to increase global warming.

And a happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all!



Obamanomics

Illustrated (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Monday movie

Randolph Scott hunts down the men who killed his wife in Seven Men From Now (the action starts after the credits at about the 2-minute mark).

Bonus clip! Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin =shoot it out over a Wells Fargo strong box at the end of the film.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sunday funnies

An amusing (and actually, a pretty logical) argument against government-subsidized art (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).




Interesting professional certification: LEGO Master Builder.

Well, you can't see their women so I guess this is the next best thing.

Hey, great, something to look forward to in my old age.

Man, it was so cold the other day that my fingers turned sort of, you know, smalty.

The latest revelation of Islamic theology: "Saudi cleric issues fatwa against all-you-can-eat buffets".

Harry Reid, age 9 months.

Fire protection on the cheap...


Saturday, March 15, 2014

Miller time

Dennis Miller critiques the Democrats' global warming pajama party.

Defending the indefensible

Of all the preposterous assertions made by Barack Obama since (and even before) he became president, few are more risible than this one: “The truth is, generally I look very sharp in jeans."

Update: Say, how would this thing know that I wasn't just listening to Obama on the car radio?

Friday, March 14, 2014

Bringing home the bacon

A mountain of bacon. North Carolina hunter bags a boar weighing over 500 pounds.

Happy Feet Friday

Some early Harry James, with Ben Pollack and his orchestra from the mid-1930s. This is supposedly the recording that prompted Benny Goodman to hire Harry James.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

I know betting systems that are more reliable than this

36 Chambers draws attention to the fact that most climate models are wrong (sounds more like unsettled science to me).

I suppose the old flat earth consensus was pretty popular in its day, too.

Another sterling example of why only police are qualified to carry guns

Tree Hugging Sister relates an appalling story about a trigger-happy cop in Alabama.

Fighting the Republican establishment

It's a job that has to be tackled at all levels, including state and local, as pointed out in this interesting piece on some shenanigans in Virginia posted over at the Liberty Zone (H/T: Mr. G.).

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Waiting, waiting...

Former IRS capo Lois Lerner was obviously neck-deep in political efforts to stifle conservative PACs during the last election cycle. House Oversight Committee chairman Daryl Issa is "weighing whether the committee should vote on holding Lerner in contempt of Congress for providing false or misleading information."

When this committee does anything but issue bombastic denunciations and empty threats, I'll be sure to take note. Let me know when the "weighing" is over, congressman.

Are we ready for a Chicago-style political hack as president?

Yeah, I know, we already have one. But how about a political hack and erstwhile ballet dancer?

Monday, March 10, 2014

Happy birthday, Chuck Norris!

Tough guy actor Chuck Norris celebrates 74 a**-whoopin' years.

Today's Chuck Norris fact: Few people can go down Niagara Falls in a barrel. Chuck Norris can go up Niagara falls in a cardboard box.

Breakfast of champions

Some European exquisite thought to make fun of Americans by posting a picture of a huge breakfast with a side of semi-automatic pistol. The real comedy, however, is in the comments. Check it out here (big H/T to Jeff G. at Protein Wisdom).

Australians: the coolest people in the world

Australian responds to deadly snake bite: “I said to myself, if I’m going to cark it I’m going to have a beer, so I got a Goldie out of the fridge and drank that.”

CBS can't handle the truth

Sheryl Attkisson, one of the few mainstream media reporters who has declined to treat President Obama like a cross between Saint Francis of Assisi and Albert Einstein, has resigned from the Confederacy of Barack Sympathizers.

Monday movie

Humphrey Bogart is possessed by an all-consuming greed in Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Sunday funnies

As far as I'm concerned, bacon pretty much markets itself. Oscar Mayer, however, is pushing a bacon blitzkrieg with this over-the-top (and hilarious) video. Kinda makes me want to go do some post-graduate work at the Oscar Mayer Institute for the Advancement of Bacon (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon pwns automotive journalist Travis Okulski.

You gotta have an exit plan.

Now, I've got what you might call a plebeian palate. I once sent a bowl of vichyssoise back to the kitchen to get it warmed up. But I'd think this here stuff is generally beyond the pale even for your rarified gourmands.

Trash talk through the ages.

This guy can shovel my driveway anytime.

Adult snack...

Saturday, March 8, 2014

March isn't coming in like a lion

This year it's coming in like a ravenous T-Rex. First we get yet another winter storm, then Doug the ferret crosses the River Jordan, then Mrs. Paco is diagnosed with both influenza AND pneumonia. Expecting frogs and locusts here at the Paco Command Center any day now.

What if they passed a law and everybody ignored it?

No, I'm not talking about immigration enforcement. This time it may be something positive: many Connecticut law enforcement officers appear to be taking a stand against enforcement of the "assault weapons" ban in that state.

Why political power has to be limited and closely monitored

Because no one can be trusted with it.

Climate change

The whole notion is just so yesterday.

Update: And for that matter, so is Desmond Tutu.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Happy Feet Friday

One of the most famous singing duos of the 1940s, Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connel, perform their big hit, Green Eyes.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Coming soon to an episode of Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?

Alan Grayson bullies indiscriminately, it appears – not just other politicians, but the folks at home, at least according to his soon-to-be-ex-wife.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

A little learning is a dangerous thing

Especially when it’s slapped on like an uneven coat of varnish: “Big mistake—Barack uses Hillel against Bibi”.

Harry Reid defends cop-killer apologist

Futilely, as it turns out.

How interesting

Neither can I.

Now he tells us

Ben Bernanke – the ex-Fed chairman who is now pulling down a quarter million dollars per speaking engagement - admits that he might have made a couple of little mistakes.

Lord, but I am tired of these politically-motivated high-finance d-bags who exercise a reverse Midas touch over everyone’s wealth but their own.

Detroit

Apparently, MoTown is Chicago's role model.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Free speech on trial

Mark Steyn on the Ezra Levant persecution (H/T: Captain Heinrichs).

Too much more of this here "smart diplomacy"...

...and we're liable to wind up as an "autonomous republic".

Looks like a great time to be shrinking our military.

Update: Wow. Just...wow. Apparently, Obama was working on his smart diplomacy shtick even back when he was a senator.

Update II: Ok, time to take the president seriously. Wait....

Monday, March 3, 2014

What a pity...

...that a fool and his presidency are not necessarily soon parted.

Monday movie

Rex Harrison is a famous conductor suspicious of his wife in Unfaithfully Yours (directed by the great Preston Sturges).

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Sunday funnies

Birds. They'll rat you out every time.

"Congressman" Ronald Reagan?

Not yet!

Amazing cakes.

Now that right there's a subtle ride.

Scary photographer?

Winter prank:



The fix is in, as Bob Hope has a duel with Alan Mowbray (the look on Mowbray's face as he realizes that he has hopelessly forgotten the marks indicating the pistol that is actually loaded is priceless).