A Discussion on the "Big Lie"

It's from American Thinker.
The 'Big Lie' explained by a good man
by William D. Zeranski

Lying, as a daily practice, is hard, because you have to remember the lie and keep repeating the lie, never forgetting it, especially, if the liar begins expanding on the original deception.

Many of us are aware of something known as the ‘big lie.' A lie so colossal, so unbelievable, and so inexplicable, the lie is believed because the originator, the teller of the lie, couldn't possibly believe or make such an incredibly, grotesque and inaccurate statement.

It turns out the phrase was first used by Harry S Truman and is still very good advice for today.

The technique of the "big lie" consists of two things. It consists first of making a charge against one's opponents which is frightening and horrible and so extreme that nobody could believe that a decent person would make it if it were not true. Hitler explained this very clearly. He said that if a lie is bold enough people will think there is some truth in it because it would never occur to them, in their own experience, to lie on such an exaggerated scale.

The second part of the "big lie" technique is to keep repeating the lie over and over again, ignoring all proof to the contrary.

The "big lie" technique is immoral and subversive. It is not a weapon which democratic society can afford to use. It violates the rules of the political game which underlie our constitutional form of government. It violates them in just the same way that riot and revolution violate them.

Go read it all, it is good advice and good history.

Friday Links from the Washington Post

Official: Son of al-Qaeda-linked terror leader killed in U.S. strike

Four NATO troops killed on sixth day of Marja offensive in Afghanistan

Republican Marco Rubio is anti-Crist challenging Florida governor in Senate primary
Dana Milbank leads off with a play on words, he probably thinks that is really clever, but as a Christian I take offense to it. This is what he follows it with:

The anti-Crist came to Washington on Thursday. In the ballroom of the Marriott Wardman Park, they acted as if he were the Messiah.

Michael Gerson has this: A primer on political reality
Be sure to read this one. 

It's nonsense to say the U.S. is ungovernable
by Charles Krauthammer
The meat of the article is down into it:

It's 2010, and the first-year agenda of a popular and promising young president has gone down in flames. Barack Obama's two signature initiatives -- cap-and-trade and health-care reform -- lie in ruins.

Desperate to explain away this scandalous state of affairs, liberal apologists haul out the old reliable from the Carter years: "America the Ungovernable." So declared Newsweek. "Is America Ungovernable?" coyly asked the New Republic. Guess the answer.

That is just a part, read it all.

This is just a part of what they are offering today, to see what all they offer go to
Washington Post.

Is the IRS Criminal Investigations Unit Really That Big?

I was surprised to see this in the Houston Chronicle as I read about the man who ran his plane into the building:

Stack took off in his single-engine Piper Cherokee from Georgetown Municipal Airport at 9:40 a.m. Twenty minutes later, his plane crashed into the IRS building in north Austin that houses the criminal investigations unit, sparking a fire and sending two people to the hospital.

This in no way condones what he did, it just makes me wonder.  I had assumed the IRS would be extremely busy this time of year with tax time, it never occured to me the building would not have been used for that purpose.  Apparently the criminal investigations unit is far larger than I had ever imagined. 

John Brennan and the Flying Imams

From Front Page Magazine:

 It’s bad enough that John Brennan, President Obama’s national security deputy, thinks Gitmo jihadi recidivism is “not that bad.” But in his talk last week with Islamic law students at New York University, Brennan made even more reckless comments about our counterterrorism programs while pandering to one of the worst Muslim grievance-mongers and sharia peddlers in America.

During the question-and-answer session, Brennan welcomed a question from Omar Shahin. He identified himself as the head of the “North American Imams Federation.” What he didn’t mention was his role as the chief ringleader of the infamous flying imams. You remember them: They were the six Muslim clerics whose suspicious behavior — provocatively shouting “Allahu Akbar!” before boarding the plane, fanning out in the cabin before take-off, refusing to sit in their assigned seats, requesting seat-belt extenders, which they placed on the floor — led to their removal by a U.S. Airways crew in 2006.

h/t Jim H Little

Another of Those "Gee, who knew?" Moments

It's from the Associated Press and I'll just let the headline speak for itself:
Jobless claims rise unexpectedly
click the headline to read, if you really want to.

UN Climate Change Head Honcho Resigning

This is an AP story, guess it was getting a little warmer in his office.
Top UN climate official resigning
By ARTHUR MAX

AMSTERDAM — Top U.N. climate change official Yvo de Boer told The Associated Press Thursday that he was resigning after nearly four years, a period when governments struggled without success to agree on a new global warming deal.

His departure takes effect July 1, five months before 193 nations are due to reconvene in Mexico for another attempt to reach a binding worldwide accord on controlling greenhouse gases.

De Boer is known to be deeply disappointed with outcome of the last summit in Copenhagen, which drew 120 world leaders but failed to reach more than a vague promise by several countries to limit carbon emissions — and even that deal fell short of consensus.

But he denied to the AP that his decision to quit was a result of frustration with Copenhagen.

And - he didn't say he needed more time to spend with his family, or if he did it wasn't reported here.  Nothing was mentioned in the article about the scandals reported associated with the most recent report. It goes on to say:

De Boer said he will be a consultant on climate and sustainability issues for KPMG, a global accounting firm, and will be associated with several universities.

For a little more go here.

Climate law could cost Texas lots of jobs

More from the Houston Chronicle.
Study says climate law could cost Texas lots of jobs
By TOM FOWLER

Proposed U.S. climate change laws could cut Texas' manufacturing output by more than 5 percent and increase electric prices by as much as 52 percent by 2030, according to a study to be unveiled today by a conservative Texas think tank.

The state's energy-intensive industries — including oil and gas producers and chemical plants — would be hit particularly hard by laws aimed at putting a price tag on greenhouse gas emissions, said Margo Thorning, one of the authors of the study done for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. It will be released at a Houston news conference.

If pending legislation such as the Waxman-Markey bill is enacted, the Texas economy will experience slower growth and thousands of valuable jobs will be lost,” Thorning said, referring to the climate change bill passed by the House of Representatives last year. “Energy-intensive industries with foreign competition could reduce their operations in Texas and relocate in countries without similar mandates.”

Read the rest here.

What the Opposition is Up to

We don't hear much of this candidate on the Democratic side so I found this very interesting.  It's from the Houston Chronicle.
Shami camp fights gaffes, image issues
By R.G. RATCLIFFE AUSTIN BUREAU

Businessmen Clayton Williams and Tony Sanchez bought instant credibility in their runs for governor through large investments of their personal fortunes, but hair-care millionaire Farouk Shami isn't finding it so easy.

Political professionals say he isn't being taken seriously because he has shown a naivete about state government (he did not know the names of the state comptroller or attorney general when asked who they were), has had a series of miscommunications and had his professional campaign staff turn over twice. He fired one staff after they'd been on the job for 10 days, and the second quit Wednesday.

Even Shami's gaffes have gotten little media attention.

“It's a campaign where the only thing serious about it is it involves serious money,” said Dave McNeely, a former political columnist who now lectures at the University of Texas.

McNeely said if it was not for the $5 million Shami personally has lent his campaign, the media would not take him any more seriously than the five other long-shot candidates who have filed to contest the party's nomination with former Houston Mayor Bill White.

Shami received little more than a media blip from his statements that there may have been a government conspiracy in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or that white people do not want to work or that Texas needs foreign workers because a day without Mexicans is “like a day without sunshine.”

“People aren't taking him seriously, and there's a bleed-over in the media,” said UT journalism professor Bill Minu­tagli.

Of course, if he were a Republican or Conservative making gaffes we might hear more about it.  The highlighting and emphasis are from Rockport Conservative.

More About the Tea Party groups

This one by Lloyd Marcus in American Thinker. I love it!
Tea Party Movement Untamed

It appears that everyone and his brother is seeking to categorize, direct, and control the incredible, increasingly powerful phenomenon known as the Tea Party Movement. Some say that it is doomed to fail because it does not have a single charismatic leader. Some say that taking a stand on social issues such as abortion is death to the movement. "Stick to the Constitution" is their mantra. Some fret, "What about the infighting and groups splintering off to form new groups?" Ticket prices sparked controversy at the first Tea Party Convention. Some believe that the movement should forever remain grassroots. Some say that the GOP is hijacking the movement. Some say that we should not pick candidates. Some say that it is silly not to pick candidates.

During CNN and BBC radio interviews, I as a black conservative was confronted with,

"And what about those racist signs at the Tea Parties?"

Yes, the feelings, thoughts, and opinions of Tea Party patriots are all over the place. What a mess! Well, I say, how wonderful! I mean, think about it. Millions of Americans who have been passively watching our country slipping away for years are suddenly passionately seeking to restore it. So frankly, I do not care if the movement is a bit wild and free. Scott Brown's shocking, historic win in Massachusetts confirms that we are making a huge difference.

It's very good, read it all.

An Email from Tea Party Patriots

I receive a lot of emails from the Tea Party Patriots but this one needs to be seen by more people than just those signed up to receive their emails.  There are quite a few "talking heads" who could do with a good perusal of this and others of its kind. They are not saying anything we have not said and discussed on this blog, but they have a much larger mailing list.

TPP Statement on Tea Party Political Party

Dear Fellow Tea Party Patriots,

There is much talk of the formation of a third political party based on the tea party movement.

Tea Party Patriots is issuing this statement in order to make it clear that we are not associated with any attempts to form a third party. Additionally, we believe that such efforts are unproductive and unwise at this time. The history of third party movements in this country is one of division and defeat. We believe that it is instead time for all Americans to rise up and demand appropriate reform within their own parties. The mechanisms exist for citizens to participate in their parties, and to drive their parties in the right direction.

The Tea Party Patriots encourage all citizens to get involved in the party process, and to reshape their parties into something in which they may once again believe. This country does not belong to any one party, nor does it belong to the career politicians. This country belongs to the citizens. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "We have given you a republic madam, if you can keep it." The founders knew that it would be our sacred obligation as citizens to get involved, and to work hard to hold on to this great nation. We have much work to do, and future generations will look back in judgment. We hope you will join us in preserving the republic.

You are the heart and soul of the Tea Party Movement. Thank you for promoting the causes of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets with us!

Your Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator Team
Debbie Dooley, Mike Gaske, Kellen Giuda, Ryan Hecker, Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Meckler, Sally Oljar, Diana Reimer, Billie Tucker, and Dawn Wildman

It has to Start With US

The LA Times has an article we all need to read and make notes on.
'Tea party' activists filter into GOP at ground level
By Kathleen Hennessey

The conservative movement is urging its members to seek positions as Republican precinct representatives. Their goal is to remake the party - and U.S. politics - from within.

First there was the "tea party" protester. Now meet the Tea-publican.

Conservative activists who once protested the political establishment are now flooding the lowest level of the Republican Party apparatus hoping to take over the party they once scorned -- one precinct at a time.

Across the country, tea party groups that had focused on planning rallies are educating members on how to run for GOP precinct representative positions. The representatives help elect county party leaders, who write the platform and, in some places, determine endorsements.

"That's where it all starts. That's where the process of picking candidates begins. It's not from [GOP leader] Michael Steele's office down. It's from the ground up," said Philip Glass, whose National Precinct Alliance is among the groups advocating the strategy. "The party is over for the old guard."

Read it all here.

The AP has a long article on the Climategate exposure

And the Washington Post has an article, that if not damning is at least telling the liberal world that something is afoot and it isn't going to be good for those whose religion is climate change. The AP article is not as critical as any of the British papers but it is a start for the American MSM.
First the Associated Press:
Scientists seek better way to do climate report
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON – A steady drip of unsettling errors is exposing what scientists are calling "the weaker link" in the Nobel Peace Prize-winning series of international reports on global warming.

The flaws — and the erosion they've caused in public confidence — have some scientists calling for drastic changes in how future United Nations climate reports are done. A push for reform being published in Thursday's issue of a prestigious scientific journal comes on top of a growing clamor for the resignation of the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Now for the Washington Post:

Series of missteps by climate scientists threatens climate-change agenda  
By Juliet Eilperin and David A. Fahrenthold

With its 2007 report declaring that the "warming of the climate system is unequivocal," the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won a Nobel Prize -- and a new degree of public trust in the controversial science of global warming.

But recent revelations about flaws in that seminal report, ranging from typos in key dates to sloppy sourcing, are undermining confidence not only in the panel's work but also in projections about climate change. Scientists who have pointed out problems in the report say the panel's methods and mistakes -- including admitting Saturday that it had overstated how much of the Netherlands was below sea level -- give doubters an opening.

This still doesn't give us details, but it is shining some light on the idea there may be a problem at the IPCC.

Another in the Washington Post with a lighter side:
Global warming's snowball fight
by Dana Milbank

The back-to-back snowstorms in the capital were an inconvenient meteorological phenomenon for Al Gore. ....

....Al Gore, for one, seems to realize it's time for a new tactic. New TV ads released during last week's blizzards by Gore's climate advocacy group say nothing about climate science. They show workers asking their senators for more jobs from clean energy.

That's a good sign. If the Washington snows persuade the greens to put away the slides of polar bears and pine beetles and to keep the focus on national security and jobs, it will have been worth the shoveling.

How Much Damage can Brennan Do To his reputation?

 Power Line pundit Paul Mirengoff has a post on him and his recent statements.  Here are a few of his comments:

 "Have we ever had a high level national security official who made as many foolish comments as John Brennan, President Obama's chief counter-terrorism adviser? I can't recall one."

"Brennan's latest words of wisdom pertain to the issue of recidivism among former terrorist detainees."

"You know, the American penal system, the recidivism rate is up to something about 50 percent or so, as far as return to crime. Twenty percent isn't that bad,"

Brennan may be agnostic on how to deal with potential "ticking time-bomb" scenarios. But at least he's clear that there's no real problem with the large-scale release of terrorists where we can expect one in five of them to engage in future terrorism

He ends with this

Obama should relieve Brennan of his counter-terrorism duties so that he can devote more time to visiting Islamic centers.

I've left much of the article out of this post, go read it all.

Time for Tea Party to Walk the Talk: Part 2

This is Part II of my essay on why the Tea Party should remain small and localized to maintain its momentum, strength and impact.

If the Tea Party tries to go “national” it will collapse on its own weight like the Democratic and Republican parties are doing now. Except it will collapse faster and more easily because it is new and amateurish. And then it will be absorbed back into the three groups -- Dems, GOP and independents -- because people will be disillusioned, once again, by the political process that does not work, but keeps getting repeated. Doing the same thing gets the same results.

Scott Brown was not elected because of the Massachusetts Tea Party. He was elected because people wanted to say no to government’s socialist trend – specifically the movements to take over healthcare, automobiles and energy.

Currently history looks like it's going to be repeated with the Tea Party. It will be a paragraph in history books ten years from now. If we act now, it can still exist in ten years and continue to help keep this country on track. But it will take the same discipline the Tea Party movement is asking of our Congress -- to limit yourselves.

Desire to grow bigger is part of the problem. It is not the solution. People think "we must do more!" Not true. There is huge power and sense in doing nothing. Being "the party of 'No'" was the most powerful thing for the Republicans this past year. Refusing to buy in to the Left's panicked cry of "We Must Do Something!" was wonderful, and the right thing to do with “Comprehensive Healthcare” takeover and Cap n Trade (energy takeover) movements. Those campaigns were a jump off a political cliff into a new regulatory depth and power over individuals and private business that the government simply should not have. And it was stopped by saying no.

Limited government starts with the individual. And it’s time for the Tea Party to limit itself to a few basic tenets in small, localized groups, and keep itself more like states – not a federal government. Do not "go national". Don't try to be a party competiting with the Big Two. The Tea Party should limit its focus to rallying more and more people to make the system work again -- by getting more people to be active in politics – starting with the simplest of activities: VOTING.

Look for part 3 next week.

Links on the Climate Gate Scam

It is proving more and more scandalous. When I think of the money we could have saved that has been spent on the religion of global warming AKA climate change and as well as the greenie religion that grew out of it, I am afraid my blood pressure shoots up into real global alert territory.

Here are just todays headlines and links:

World may not be warming, say scientists

Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995

The Greening Of Africa Destroys IPCC Credibility

Many meteorologists break with science of global warming

Climategate's Phil Jones Confesses to Climate Fraud

And for all the latest from the scientist check out Watts Up With That.

It's Not Just Medina

From the Houston Chronicle:

GOP governor hopeful denies conspiracy, but Democratic candidate Shami not so sure
By JOE HOLLEY

...About the time Medina was trying to clarify her position, her Democratic counterpart, Houston hair-products magnate Farouk Shami, offered up the same kind of remarks she was trying to disavow.

In an interview during a taping of Inside Texas Politics on Dallas' WFAA-TV, Shami refused to discount so-called “truther” theories that suggest the U.S. government played a role in the terrorist attacks.

“I'm not sure,” said Shami, who was born in Palestine and has lived in the United States since 1965. “I am not going to really judge or answer about something I'm not really sure about. But the rumors are there that there was a conspiracy. True or not? It's hard to believe, you know, what happened. It's really hard to comprehend what happened. Maybe. I'm not sure.”

Shami also said during the interview that he cannot find many white people willing to work, so he hires Hispanics and African Americans instead.

I'm pretty sure he is not one of those "ultra conservatives" referred to in the last post.

To read the whole article go here.

Republican primary ballot propositions

From the Corpus Christi Caller Times, to see their commentary on the "ultra conservative" such as this:

The five initiatives are longtime projects of the ultraconservative arm of the GOP, political scientists said.

Read it all, in the meantime here are the propositions:

Ballot Proposition 1:

Photo ID

The Texas Legislature should make it a priority to protect the integrity of our election process by enacting legislation that requires voters to provide valid photo identification in order to cast a ballot in any and all elections conducted in the state of Texas.

Ballot Proposition 2:

Controlling government growth

Every government body in Texas should be required to limit any annual increase in its budget and spending to the combined increase of population and inflation unless it first gets voter approval to exceed the allowed annual growth or in the case of an official emergency.

Ballot Proposition 3:

Cutting federal income taxes

In addition to aggressively eliminating irresponsible federal spending, Congress should empower American citizens to stimulate the economy by Congress cutting federal income taxes for all federal taxpayers, rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars on so-called “federal economic stimulus.”

Ballot Proposition 4:

Public acknowledgment of God

The use of the word “God,” in prayers and the 10 commandments, should be allowed at public gatherings and public educational institutions, as well as be permitted on government buildings and property.

Ballot Proposition 5:

Sonograms

The Texas Legislature should enact legislation requiring a sonogram to be performed and shown to each mother about to undergo a medically unnecessary, elective abortion.

Should we ask a Politician to Commit Political Suicide?

That is the question Walter Williams is asking and discussing in this article From the American Spectator. After writing what the constitution actually says,

"Who is to blame for a federal government that spends a third of our income, regulates most every aspect of our lives, and has snuffed out the personal liberty envisioned by our founders? It is tempting to blame politicians whom we elect and send to Washington.

It is tempting to blame politicians whom we elect and send to Washington. I shared that view until a luncheon conversation I had with the late Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina during the 1980s. ...

....he asked me to tell him how could he remain senator from North Carolina and vote against crop subsidies. He said that if he voted against crop subsidies, North Carolinians would run him out of office and elect someone else whom I’d find worse than he."

My conversation with Sen. Helms was an epiphany of sorts: how reasonable is it for us to ask or expect a politician to commit what he deems to be political suicide?

Go to the American Spectator to read the entire article. It is up to the usual standards and fine writing of Walter E. Williams.

The Wisdom of Harry S. Truman

From the Urgent Agenda blog:

WONDERFUL QUOTE – AT 5:23 P.M. ET: Reader Don Hodun refers us to this quote from David McCullough's biography of Harry S. Truman. It's from the section in which McCullough describes Truman staff members' view of their boss:

And all of them, it seems, admired his sense of history, which they saw as one of his greatest strengths. "If a man is acquainted with what other people have experienced at this desk," Truman would say sitting in the Oval Office, "it will be easier for him to go through a similar experience. It is ignorance that causes most mistakes. The man who sits here ought to know his American history, at least." When Truman talked of presidents past - Jackson, Polk, Lincoln - it was as if he had known them personally. If ever there was a "clean break from all that had gone before" he would say, the result would be chaos.

Mr. Hodun writes, "I cannot help but think our current president's apparent disregard for history and precedent makes ol' Harry rather prescient."

I agree with Mr. Hodun.

Victor Davis Hanson Couldn't be More Succinct

He always has such a clear way of thinking.  This is from VDH Private Papers:
It is short and to the point so I am printing the whole thing.
The New Commandments on the Animal Farm Barn Wall
by Victor Davis Hanson

1. Savvy Americans always see through the fraud in the end and do the right thing are infantile and don’t know what’s good for them.

2. Democracy is finally working again in decline and the people are ungovernable.

3. The filibuster is a much-needed check on the Bush-Cheney steamrolling nexus evil.

4. Bloggers and pundits overwhelmingly support much-needed progressive change are a D.C. echo chamber we should ignore.

5. Congress has become a Culture of Corruption is full of hard-working servants who more than earn the perks they sometime receive.

6. Americans and their politicians should listen to brave voices of dissent within the intelligence community must support in bipartisan fashion their government’s policies against terrorism.

7. Bipartisanship is simply caving to Republican obstructionism a way to get the country moving again.

8. Trying KSM in New York is proof of the resiliency of the American system problematic.

9. Guantanamo Bay will be shut down a year from the inauguration sometime, perhaps, in the future.

10. Deficits are proof of the reckless Bush-Cheney fiscal policies necessary stimuli designed to move our country in a fairer and more equitable direction.

11. Wall Street bankers are greedy fat cats savvy businessmen whom we don’t begrudge.

12. C-Span should air health-care debates should never be allowed to air insider horse-trading will air bipartisan exchanges with the president.

Like I said, he just couldn't be more succinct, plus he is just so much fun to read.