This Can Only End Well.

Rueters reports on an upcoming Putin/Chavez summit in Venezuela:

“Russia will cement energy ties with its closest Latin American ally, Venezuela, when Prime Minister Vladimir Putin travels to Caracas this week for a trip that could also lead to arms deals that worry Washington.

Venezuela, South America's top oil exporter and a member of the oil producers cartel OPEC, is seeking funds and technology to help develop its oil deposits and is also seeking loans to buy Russian military hardware.

"We should expect a lot of big arms and energy contracts. When Putin has travelled recently to centres like India he brought back a lot," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the magazine Russia in Global Affairs.

"It is always a good chance for Putin to show to the United States that we have a lot a friends all over the world."

Clearly all American problems with these two statesmen stem from (as our President would like to believe) being too confrontational.

See Also: Compare this conversation with this one to see what appears to be two very different relationships and power dynamics.

"All The News That's Fit To Print"

Last week in The New York Times Maureen Dowd, Charles Blow, Bob Herbert and Paul Krugman used all of the following terms to describe those who do not support ObamaCare:

Bullying (x3)
Desperation
Threatening
Nefarious
Racist
Neanderthals
Disgusting
Fanatics
Paranoid
Lowlifes
Foaming-at-the-mouth
Nauseating
Insane
Toxic
Ignorance
Bigotry
Fear-mongering
Hate-mongering
Scare-mongers

Let no one mourn the death of old media.

"Unmanned Systems For An Unsafe World"

"Unmanned systems for an unsafe world." Such is the slogan used in a new set of Northrop Gruman advertisements plastered all over the Capitol South metro stop just steps away from the House office buildings. The ads feature pictures of unmanned helicopters, planes and other assorted fighting machines at work.

Below is a low quality camera phone picture of one of the actual ads in Capitol South featuring what appears to be an unmanned "Fire Scout" helicopter. Similar (but not identical) ads can be found on Northtrop Gruman's website.

We will not stoop to militaty-industrial-complex name calling, but the thought of America's last line of defense being Northrop Gruman robots is "interesting."

State Run Higher Education At Its Finest.

And Now For The Legal Challenges.

If ObamaCare passes today there will be numerous legal challenges to come. The Attorneys General of South Carolina and Florida have already weighed in:

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster says he and Florida Attorney
General Bill McCollum are ready to file a federal lawsuit if health care reform
legislation passes.

The U.S. House plans to vote on the plan Sunday.

McMaster said Friday that he expects attorneys general to join the
lawsuit. He and other GOP counterparts have denounced the legislation.

McMaster says he wants to challenge an exemption that would keep
Nebraska from paying for Medicaid costs.

He says even if that provision is dropped, he will sue over the
requirement for everyone to buy health insurance. McMaster says both provisions
violate state sovereignty.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/19/attorneys-general-south-carolina-florida-set-sue-health-care-reform/

Hard Hitting Ads On The Hill.

The Conservative 501(c)4 American Future Fund has launched a series of ads directed at members of Congress. The ads appeared today in the print version of Politico (a Capitol Hill Newspaper) and directly warn on-the-fence Democrats about the cost to their electoral future of voting for ObamaCare.

Several of them are shown below (click the image for a larger view):

And This Is News?

This gem came out yesterday:

Survey: Readers don't want to pay for news online.

The fact that there are still people creating business plans based upon the concept of pay-for-content web pages is truly amazing. A large cause of the early 2000's tech bubble was the misinformed notion that users of a free web page could be transformed into paying users. They couldn't then and they can't now.

Ex-McCain Aide Goes Wild In Defense of Sean Penn.

As reported by the Washington Examiner:

"A Yeas & Nays reporter was publicly berated and threatened to be escorted out by police on Thursday night when the reporter asked actor Sean Penn a controversial question about his humanitarian work in Haiti.

Penn, who recently has been criticized for his motivations in helping to rebuilding Haiti, recently told CBS News he hopes his critics "die screaming of rectal cancer."

Members of the media were invited to a gala hosted at the Washington Hebrew Congregation and were allowed to ask one question each of the actor in a closed-door news briefing.

When the Yeas & Nays reporter asked, "How have you seen your critics change since you mentioned that they should die of rectal cancer?" publicity coordinator C.J. Jordan interrupted to say the reporter was only allowed to talk about the Haitian benefit...

...Jordan ended the interview, and publicly scolded the reporter outside of the media room. Jordan told the reporter that to keep her job, she needed to write a letter of apology to the Haitian ambassador. The publicity coordinator then threatened to have the reporter escorted out of the building by the police."

"You desecrated this sacred place," Jordan said.

"Publicity coordinator” C.J. Jordan really went out of her way to appear ridiculous in her defense of Sean Penn. Desecration of a sacred place? Threats that the reporter will lose her job?

It comes as little surprise that Ms. Jordan was last heard from as a part of Senator John McCain’s failed 2008 campaign. You can tell a lot about someone by the people they surround themselves with. Apparently, Penn and McCain have similar taste.

This Day In New York Times History.

Atop an article published on March 10, 1994 (though it is datelined March 9) the New York Times printed a headline proudly proclaiming "U.S. Tightens Rules To Help Investors In Municipal Bonds" and continued:

"In an effort to help the millions of Americans who own municipal bonds, the Federal Government issued new rules today intended to make it easier for them to keep track of the value of their bonds, which are often a major part of their life savings. "

The NYT had the same unquestioning faith in top down, government rules and planning then as they do today. Anyways, we have to wonder how all of those new rules worked out for muni-bond investors?

A Comparison.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (who may be the biggest RINO in Congress when constituencies are taken into account) is apparently trying to launch a "gang of 14" effort to compromise on health care. Of course the biggest obstacle is that Democrats do not really want to work with Republicans on this issue. Which raises an even bigger question: Why do ANY Republicans want to work with Democrats? After all, this is the issue that the White House has gone truly "Chicago style" on. The right, on the other hand, has seen the public rally to their side. There is absolutely no reason for anyone on the right to be compromising.

It is truly sad that the same folks who elected this man, this one and even this one are still being represented by this one.

Voting With Their Feet.

Reuters recently ran an article on young American Jews finding work and internships in Israel to avoid the American recession. The article also noted that many other young Americans were headed to Europe and Asia to find opportunities. New Zealand has seen a similar wave.

President Reagan had a story he used in several speeches, including his farewell address, about Vietnamese “boat people” fleeing to the United States. The story was used by the President to illustrate that it was America that people were struggling and fighting to get to… and not vice versa. Essentially, the story was about people voting with their feet.

By the numbers, the economic situation in America today is not that much worse (and by some metrics better) than the early 1990’s, the 1970’s or the Depression. What is different is our government’s response. The American economy is increasingly being controlled in a top down manner. Regardless of the effects that this will have on numerical indicators (which most free market scholars would argue will be negative), it will have a very bad effect on American moral. Israel, New Zealand and even most of Western Europe are not more affluent than America is today. But some of these foreign lands have increasingly more economic freedom, less of a rigid regulatory structure, less of an oppressive tax structure (especially for business) and an environment where people see the chance to make it big.

The Orange One Seems Particularly Desperate.

Remember, this is a sitting Governor speaking about a member of his own party:

UPDATE: Recent polls showing Marco Rubio ahead by as much as 32 to 34 points suggest that Crist should indeed be getting very desperate.

What A Difference Three Years Makes.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul has become something of a polarizing figure in certain conservative circles and much of the criticism against him is his own fault. Yet we were recently sent the below video of a Fox News interview from May of 2007 and can not help but give Mr. Paul credit where credit is due.

The link below starts at 1:15, be sure to watch for at least the next minute. Neil Cavuto's nearly flippant comment at 1:37 is especially ironic. Also, take note of the Dow at the right of the screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU2RK0TNbXk#t=1m15s

What A Massa.

We wrote earlier on the odd circumstances regarding Congressman Massa’s resignation. The story has gotten even more bizarre. According to a recent Politico article , Massa's account of the alleged harassment is as follows:

"I have to come find out that on New Year's Eve, I went to a staff party — it was actually a wedding for a staff member of mine," Massa said. "There were 250,people there. I was with my wife, and in fact we had a great time. She got the stomach flu, I went down to sing "Auld Lang Syne." And with cameras on me — I'm talking three of them — filming me, I danced with the bride, and I danced with the bridesmaid. Absolutely nothing occurred.

I said goodnight to the bridesmaid. I sat at down at the table where my whole staff was, all of them, by the way, bachelors. One of them looked at me and — as they would do after, I don't know, 15 gin and tonics and goodness only knows how many bottles of champagne — a staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid. His points were clear, and his words were far more colorful than that.

And I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me and I said, 'What I really ought to be doing is frakking you,' and then tossled the guy's hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where I shouldn't be there."

The events detailed above seem extremely benign in comparison to the average congressional scandal: nothing illegal, nothing overtly sexual, nothing but alcohol induced comments. Just words.

Furthermore, Congressman Massa is now noting that he would have been the deciding vote against ObamaCare. Massa is essentially saying that the White House blew this small incident out of proportion in retaliation for his stance on health care. This may all die out soon as a simple "he said-he said" issue. But there is a chance that this story, the issue of White House Chicago-style intimidation, could get legs and turn into something big. Forcing the resignation of a Congressman is getting dangerously close to enemy list territory.

You Are MEAN Congressman!!!

New York Congressman Eric Massa resigns tomorrow. When we first heard about this, we were not that interested. It seemed like a standard same sex harassment case. But upon further investigation there is more to it.

Representative Massa is accused of harassing a male staffer. Yet no one – no one- is claiming that Massa is himself gay. Rather it would appear that Massa is accused of using language that was deemed harassing by the staffer. Massa blames the situation on his “salty” language learned in the Navy.

Most likely Congressman Massa used an un-PC term for homosexuals around a homosexual staffer.

All judgment aside, there is some humor in the fact that this Republican-turned-Democrat Congressman (he made the change in 2006 of all years) likely hired an ultra liberal staffer who would eventually betray him for using “mean” language.

The New York Times Provides More Sage Insight On Life.

A recent New York Times article stated the following:

"The likelihood that a marriage will last for a decade or more decreased by six percentage points if the couple had cohabited first, a study found."

The Times then waste several hundred words and their readers' time discussing the issue without once even approaching the real cause.

What the Times does not say: The biggest factor in divorce probability is a couple's attitude towards divorce, and most couples who would simply never get divorced for moral reasons would probably never live together before marraige either.

Liberal Conservatism Is Nearly Always A Failure.

Despite growing disapproval of the socialist left, British conservatives find themselves losing ground in recent polls. One of the major voter complaints according to these polls: The Tories don't stand for anything. And it seems that they don't. They promote higher taxation and flip flop on fiscal issues, while taking pains to stay always politically correct.

If there is one group of Americans who should learn from this, it is moderates and those who belittle and degrade the tea party movement.

Standing for something, especially something voters get truly excited about, (even if *GASP* it might offend your opponents) goes along way when looking to regain the majority - whether that majority be in Capitol Hill or Westminster.

Court Watch: Guns And Liberty!

This morning the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in McDonald v. Chicago. Most legal observers predict that the case will result in a victory for the 2^nd Amendment, but there is also hope in free market circles that the case will be a win for economic freedoms as well.

Lawyers for the plaintiff gun owners in the case are advancing a libertarian theory based upon the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14^th Amendment that would overturn the infamous Slaughter-House decision and open the door for greater constitutional protection of basic economic liberties. (While other 2^nd Amendment advocates, including the legal team from the NRA, have advocated a less sweeping, more gun-centric approach.)

From early reports of the hearing, it appears that the Court came across as very friendly towards the 2^nd Amendment and gun rights, but the Justices seemed unlikely to go as far as to make the sweeping overturn of Slaughter-House:

From the initial questioning through the end, it was quite clear that those living in Chicago — and, by extension, New York, San Francisco, and other places with extreme gun restrictions — will soon be able to rest easy, knowing that they will be able to have guns with which to protect themselves. Unfortunately, the Court did not seem inclined to adopt the arguments propounded by petitioners’ counsel Alan Gura (and supported by Cato) that the Privileges or Immunities Clause was the way to go. Chief Justice Roberts expressed reluctance at having to overturn the 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases and other justices joined in concerns over how activist judges would use the Clause if the Court revived it — even if that were the path that hewed more closely to the constitution’s true meaning.

This turn of events is unfortunate because reviving the Privileges or Immunities Clause, far from giving judges free reign to impose their policy views, would actually tie them closer to the text, structure, and history of the Constitution. As it stands now — and as it seems will be the case after McDonald is decided — many of our most cherished rights are protected only to the extent that judges are willing to label them as sufficiently “fundamental” to warrant such protection. That is an unprincipled jurisprudence and one that hurts the rule of law.

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/03/02/gun-rights-secure-liberty-less-so/

For a further explanation of the two competing pro-gun rights legal arguments see:

http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/10/the-nra-muscles-into-mcdonald