You know what they say, If Momma ain't Happy........

This is from the Wall Street Journal via Lucianne and for some reason I really like it. (my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek)

Moms to the Barricades

'The tea parties are an extension of our need to protect the future for our children'

By MICHAEL GRAHAM

If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. And if you've been to a tea party, you know Momma ain't happy at all.

Forget "angry white men." In the male-dominated world of conservative politics, the tea party stands out as a movement of energized and organized women. In particular, moms.

Moms like Sarah Palin, of course, who's been described as the "Momma Bear" of the tea party movement. But more important are the thousands of women at the state and local level who created this political phenomenon.

Moms like Christen Varley, the suburban mother of four who organized the successful tea party rally on Boston Common last month. Moms like Karen Miner Herd, who calls herself "one of the founding mothers" of the tea party movement in Virginia.

Read the rest, you will like it too.

Victor Davis Hanson on the news

From Pajamas Media via Instapundit:

News beneath the news

From the embarrassing to the pathetic

I don’t want to beat the proverbial dead horse, but these media polarities are getting to the point of absurdity. Bush, the lazy golfer while we were at war; Obama the engaged commander-in-chief playing golf for needed relaxation more in one year than in Bush’s eight. Katrina, the emblem of federal inaction and culpable incompetence; the BP slick, either a result of private greed overwhelming noble federal auditors or proof of the Obamian competent response. Bush’s illegal war clearly alienating Muslims and thus creating terrorists daily; laughable excuses from a terrorist that Obama’s stepped-up targeted Predator assassinations “created” would-be killers such as himself. Right wingers in bed with Wall Street oligarchs greedily crafting federal policy for the exploiting class; Obama for some odd reason, no doubt in the end a noble reason, taking more money from the likes of Goldman Sachs and British Petroleum than any politician in history. The Bush-Cheney nexus shredding the Constitution with the Patriot Act, Guantanamo, Predators, and renditions; Obama the civil libertarian reluctantly forced to maintain or expand such protocols, albeit at last under a watchful liberal eye. Bush’s “lost” war in Iraq miraculously soon to be Obama’s “greatest achievement.”

What is the theory behind all this other than partisanship or cynicism? I think it involves the power of faith and the irrational, in some cases not confined to the left. (e.g., I once got a prominent conservative angry at me when I suggested Reagan embraced large deficits, signed an amnesty bill, wanted nuclear disarmament, and raised payroll taxes). Politics is a religion, never more so than in the case of Obama. And true believers always prefer the saintly explanation rather than the most logical.

You will want to read it all, go here.

Interesting, always good from 4 Block World

Not the brightest moment for the military

From the Washington Examiner:

Medal for 'courageous restraint' plan get mixed review from troops
By: Sara A. Carter
A proposal to grant medals for "courageous restraint" to troops in Afghanistan who avoid deadly force at a risk to themselves has generated concern among U.S. soldiers and experts who worry it could embolden enemy fighters and confuse friendly forces.
Lt. Col. Edward Sholtis, a spokesman for Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who commands NATO forces in Afghanistan, said that no final decision has been made on the award, which is the brainchild of British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter.
"The idea is being reviewed at Headquarters ISAF," Sholtis said. "The idea is consistent with our approach. Our young men and women display remarkable courage every day, including situations where they refrain from using lethal force, even at risk to themselves, in order to prevent possible harm to civilians. ... That restraint is an act of discipline and courage not much different than those seen in combat actions."
However, professor Jeffrey F. Addicott, a former senior legal adviser to the Green Berets and director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, said "It's an absolutely outrageous proposal to our fighting men.
"The implication of this award is that we do not engage in war fighting that is appropriate," Addicott said. "They're sending a chilling message to our troops that we are not complying with the law of armed conflict. It's a propaganda victory for our enemies."
Sholtis disputed that the award would limit troops' ability in the battlefield.
"We absolutely support the right of our forces to defend themselves," he said. "Valuing restraint in a potentially dangerous situation is not the same thing as denying troops the right to employ lethal force when they determine that it is necessary."
The medals proposal is consistent with NATO rules of engagement aimed at reducing civilian casualties in Afghanistan as a way to win the support of the populace. But some soldiers say rewarding "restraint" while risking their own lives is a troubling concept.
The directives "are confusing and the mixed messages from command is making it more difficult for us to defend ourselves," said a U.S. Army soldier in Afghanistan.
A U.S. Marine captain who has served in Iraq, said that he understands the intentions of the award but believes "it's just a bad idea." He said, "They teach us not to second-guess our decisions in dangerous situations. When people second-guess themselves they can be putting lives at risk."
Some soldiers shrugged at the proposal. "It's good, but just like with valorous medals, guys are going to do the right thing because it is the right thing," said Army Lt. Joseph Cooper said. "I think our year in Maiwand [Afghanistan] has shown that in frightening and confusing moments the U.S. soldier will consistently make the right choice time after time."
But other soldiers saw the medal proposal as a reinforcement of troubling rules of engagement. "Unfortunately, we are being reduced to a police force," said another U.S. soldier. "There are troops that never leave Bagram or Kandahar airfield. ... Maybe if they left us all on base and never sent us out to confront the enemy, we could all be honored [for] valor ."

They didn't get a  clue from the exoneration of the Navy Seals, apparently.

Is there a state of Florida in Great Britain? New Mexico?

I guess there doesn't have to be, they can have voter problems on there own.
From the Australian:

Voters protest as thousands unable to cast ballots in British election

WIDESPREAD voter anger has marred the British election, with thousands of people being deprived of their right to vote as polling stations were unable to cope with demand.

David Monks, chief returning officer for England, told The Times the widespread failures to deal with high voter turnout may lead to by-elections in the next few weeks as disenfranchised citizens challenge results.

Some protested in the streets at being unable to vote because of queues when polling stations closed at 10pm.

British Electoral Commission head Jenny Watson said it would investigate but that "we’ve been saying for some time that the system we have is at breaking point".

The Conservatives said reports of the queues were "disturbing" and must be "thoroughly investigated".

And Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown was "very concerned" about the reports of people being turned away from polling stations and "would support a thorough investigation into them", according to his spokesman.

The Labour Party also said 600 people were missing from the electoral roll in Chester, despite having registered.

An estimated 500 would-be voters were turned away in Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg’s constituency of Sheffield Hallam and another 200 people in Woodseats, a Sheffield suburb five miles away, were told their votes would not count.

Voters gathered outside Mr Clegg’s home and he apologised for the problems.

Police were called to deal with angry people prevented from voting in several areas including in Brockley and Hackney in London.

Many more details here.

I suspected this all along!! I think I've seen them in action

They must be the ones who run us down with road rage, or cut in line at the grocery store.  I knew they were Neanderthals!

Neanderthal genes appear in Europeans, Asians

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

We have met Neanderthal, and he is us – at least a little.

The most detailed look at the Neanderthal genome helps answer one of the most debated questions in anthropology: Did Neanderthals and modern humans mate?

The answer is yes, there is at least some cave man biology in most of us.

One percent to 4 percent of genes in people from Europe and Asia trace back to Neanderthals.

“They live on, a little bit,” said Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

I watched the Naked Archaeologist several days ago and this was his explanation for the Biblical Giants.  He said the word giant was a mistranslation of a word that meant essentially human without a soul.  He then went to a cave site in Israel where Neanderthals and humans lived together at the same time.  The site is also the same as described as the land of the giants in the Bible.  Very interesting.  If you get the History International channel you might want to tune in at 4 PM to that interesting show. Actually, watch your cable or satellite provider for other times, too.

Are We All Socialists Now?

I don't think so. But apparently Al Sharpton does. This from Gateway Pundit:
Democratic Leader Al Sharpton: “The Dream Is to Make Everything Equal in Everybody’s House”

Last month Al Sharpton claimed, “Americans overwhelmingly voted for socialism when they elected Barack Obama.”

On Sunday the Democratic Leader stuck to his socialist theme. Sharpton told a congregation in Connecticut, “The dream was to make everything equal in everybody’s house”

Go here for the video.

This is seriously Not Funny: Discrimination against the American Flag

Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees

Freedom of expression or cultural disrespect on Cinco de Mayo?

By GEORGE KIRIYAMA

On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag. But Cinco de Mayo is not any typical day especially on a campus with a large Mexican American student population.

Galli says he and his friends were sitting at a table during brunch break when the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove American flag bandannas that they wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal's office.

We have such an anti-American bent in so many of our schools and this is in a very strongly PC, liberal area I guess it should not be surprising. At the end of the article we do find this, it gives me a little hope.

The five boys and their families met with a Morgan Hill Unified School District official Wednesday night. The district released a statement saying it does not agree with how Live Oak High School administrators handled this incident

The boys will not be suspended and they were told they can go back to school Thursday. They may even wear their red, white, and blue colors again, but this time, the day after Cinco de Mayo, there will be no controversy.

These are only the opening and closing paragraphs, read it all here.

A little humor to begin the day, the administration is watching Fox News

And someone at the LA Times noticed:

Oh, my! Look what cable news channel Obama's own Justice Dept. chooses to watch when Big News breaks

Here is President Obama's Attorney Gen. Eric Holder offering more details about the capture and interrogation of Faisal Shahzad, the accused Times Square bomber, from the secure confines of the briefing room of Holder's own Justice Department in Washington.

The briefing room's main TV's are tuned to the top-rated cable news channel. Trouble is, that's the dreaded Fox News Channel that Obama aides including David Axelrod so weirdly picked a fight with last fall, castigating it as an alleged broadcast arm of the party of Abraham Lincoln, who never even owned a TV.

You have to go to the link to see the big picture.

Joe the Plumber is working as a Republican for sure

As much a put down as a news item this is from Mediaite.com.

Joe The Plumber Elected As Republican Committeman In Ohio

"The Associated Press reported that Joe, whose real name is Samuel Wurzelbacher, won a spot as a Republican committeeman in Lucas County, Ohio. Wurzelbacher won a hotly contested 38-23 vote (though this account says 38-24 – scandal!) to become “one of nearly 400 committee members who set the agenda and pick a chairman for the local party.”

They managed to make a fairly long blurb (for a short article) about it. Read it all here.

Census spending we almost do NOT want to know about

Multiply this story from Denver by, oh, just say 10 for starters, and you can find a whole lot of wasted money.

Thousands spent on unused census swag

by Jace Larson

DENVER - The U.S. Census Bureau spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on promotional items used to convince more people to mail back their census forms, but a 9Wants to Know investigation found thousands of the items were dropped off, unused, at a local high school.

- Colorado's Census participation below average

The leftover items, such as backpacks, cloth grocery bags, hats, pins, magnets and business card holders, were dropped off at Lakewood High School last month.

"We probably had, between the backpack style [bags] and the shopping bag style [bags], over 1,000 dropped off," Lakewood High School Principal Ron Castagna told 9Wants to Know.

He estimates more than 1,000 posters printed in different languages were also dropped off at the school.

An unknown Census worker walked into the school in mid-April and asked the principal if she could leave the items. She did not ask the school to distribute them.

"[She] said, 'We have extra stuff. We're wrapping up the Census and we just want to distribute the materials,'" Castagna said.

It did not sit well with him.

"Wait a minute, times are tough and I'm sitting in a position where we've got a school district that's done everything the right way and yet we're still going to face budget cuts," he said.

Among the many boxes of posters the Census worker left at the school, were more than 300 promotional posters printed in Farsi. Farsi is the language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan.

9Wants to Know reviewed the U.S. Census Bureau's numbers from 2000 and found 360 people spoke Farsi in all of Jefferson County at that time.

Castagna says he hopes to let students use the backs of the posters in art classes.

There is more here.

Oops! Busted! Obama took money from BP, Senator Landrieu has done well, too

From Politco:

Obama biggest recipient of BP cash

While the BP oil geyser pumps millions of gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama and members of Congress may have to answer for the millions in campaign contributions they’ve taken from the oil and gas giant over the years.

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company’s political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.

On top of that, the oil giant has spent millions each year on lobbying — including $15.9 million last year alone — as it has tried to influence energy policy.

During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records.

An Obama spokesman rejected the notion that the president took big oil money.

“President Obama didn’t accept a dime from corporate PACs or federal lobbyists during his presidential campaign,” spokesman Ben LaBolt said. “He raised $750 million from nearly four million Americans. And since he became president, he rolled back tax breaks and giveaways for the oil and gas industry, spearheaded a G20 agreement to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, and made the largest investment in American history in clean energy incentives.”

In Congress, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who last week cautioned that the incident should “not be used inappropriately” to halt Obama’s push for expansion of offshore drilling, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of BP’s largesse. Her comments created some blowback, with critics complaining that she is too blasé about the impact of the disaster, even though she was among the first lawmakers to call for a federal investigation into the spill.

As the top congressional recipient in the last cycle and one of the top BP cash recipients of the past two decades, Landrieu banked almost $17,000 from the oil giant in 2008 alone and has lined her war chest with more than $28,000 in BP cash overall.

“Campaign contributions, from energy companies or from environmental groups, have absolutely no impact on Sen. Landrieu’s policy agenda or her response to this unprecedented disaster in the Gulf,” said Landrieu spokesman Aaron Saunders. “The senator is proud of the broad coalition she’s built since her first day in the Senate to address the energy and environmental challenges in Louisiana and in the nation. This disaster only makes the effort to promote and save Louisiana’s coast all that more important.”

Several BP executives have given directly to Landrieu’s campaign, including current and previous U.S. operation Presidents Lamar McKay and Robert Malone. Other donors include Margaret Hudson, BP’s America vice president, and Benjamin Cannon, federal affairs director for the U.S. branch. Donations ranged from $1,000 to $2,300 during the past campaign cycle.

Read more its a long article.

Even more secrets on how we caught him

This is from WCBSTV in New York City but since I started this yesterday afternoon many people have it.  Michael Yon has a facebook post that it is not that big a secret, but he is in Afghanistan and privy to quite a few secrets.  I just think news media should be a little more careful.  Loose lips still sink ships just like they did in WWII.

In the end, it was secret Army intelligence planes that did him in. Armed with his cell phone number, they circled the skies over the New York area, intercepting a call to Emirates Airlines reservations, before scrambling to catch him at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

This is what Michael Yon says:
Cell phone tracking is widely recognized by the enemy here. Taliban have often attacked cell towers and cell employees.

Is Obama an outsider?

I know many of you, as have I, have commented to each other that our President doesn't really know us. He didn't really grow up in middle class American as we did or our children  did.  My children and their cousins say it this way, "He didn't watch Scooby Doo."  Well, I don't know, maybe he did, but he sure doesn't seem to understand us or even like us.  An American Thinker article puts it this way:

A Stranger in Our Midst

By Robert Weissberg

As the Obama administration enters its second year, I -- and undoubtedly millions of others -- have struggled to develop a shorthand term that captures our emotional unease. Defining this discomfort is tricky. I reject nearly the entire Obama agenda, but the term "being opposed" lacks an emotional punch. Nor do terms like "worried" or "anxious" apply. I was more worried about America's future during the Johnson or Carter years, so it's not that dictionary, either. Nor, for that matter, is this about backroom odious deal-making and pork, which are endemic in American politics.

After auditioning countless political terms, I finally realized that the Obama administration and its congressional collaborators almost resemble a foreign occupying force, a coterie of politically and culturally non-indigenous leaders whose rule contravenes local values rooted in our national tradition. It is as if the United States has been occupied by a foreign power, and this transcends policy objections. It is not about Obama's birthplace. It is not about race, either; millions of white Americans have had black mayors and black governors, and this unease about out-of-synch values never surfaced.

Read the rest, it makes a lot of sense.

Afghanistan is becoming a political/military problem

U.S. military growing concerned with Obama's Afghan policy

By: Sara A. Carter

The Obama administration's plan to begin an Afghanistan withdrawal in 2011 is creating growing friction inside the U.S. military, from the halls of the Pentagon to front-line soldiers who see it as a losing strategy.

Critics of the plan fear that if they speak out, they will be labeled "pariahs" unwilling to back the commander in chief, said one officer who didn't want to be named. But in private discussions, soldiers who are fighting in Afghanistan, or recently returned from there, questioned whether it is worth the sacrifice and risk for a war without a clear-cut strategy to win.

Read more at the Washington Examiner.

This could Effect some of our Area Hospitals

Obamacare has a poison pill for doctor-owned hospitals

By: Rob Bluey

Physicians at McBride Orthopedic Hospital had ambitious plans for their Oklahoma City hospital before Obamacare. Two new operating rooms and a four-bed intensive-care unit were part of a multimillion-dollar expansion project that promised to bring competition and more health care choices to the community.

But once President Obama's signature was dry on the 2,409-page Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, so, too, was the McBride project. The recently enacted law imposed a series of new federal regulations on physician-owned hospitals, including an immediate ban on expansion.

Read more at the Washington Examiner:

Are your 401K's safe?

Not very, according to this article in Human Events.

Republicans Sound Alarm on Administration Plan to Seize 401 K's

by Connie Hair

In February, the White House released its “Annual Report on the Middle Class” containing new regulations favored by Big Labor including a bailout of critically underfunded union pension plans through “retirement security” options.

The radical solution most favored by Big Labor is the seizure of private 401(k) plans for government disbursement -- which lets them off the hook for their collapsing retirement scheme. And, of course, the Obama administration is eager to accommodate their buddies.

Vice President Joe Biden floated the idea, called “Guaranteed Retirement Accounts” (GRAs), in the February “Middle Class” report.

In conjunction with the report’s release, the Obama administration jointly issued through the Departments of Labor and Treasury a “Request for Information” regarding the “annuitization” of 401(k) plans through “Lifetime Income Options” in the form of a notice to the public of proposed issuance of rules and regulations. (pdf)

Read the rest and be on the alert to act on this.

I wonder why we alway tell them how we did it?

It seems to me if we could keep this a secret they wouldn't know how to do it better the next time. This is from Politico but they are not the only ones telling how we caught him.

Cellphone led FBI to Times Square car bomb suspect arrest

by Mike Allen

The number from a disposable cellphone led FBI agents to the suspect arrested Monday night for allegedly driving a car bomb into Times Square on Saturday evening, according to a senior official.

“They were able to basically get one phone number and by running it through a number of databases, figure out who they thought the guy was,” the official said.

Thanks, Mike and the rest of you newsers, I know they needed that information.
Read more:

The AP is doubting the Administrations take on the Oil Spill

Again From AP and Yahoo:

SPIN METER: There since Day One? Maybe not

By ERICA WERNER

WASHINGTON – To hear Obama administration officials tell it, they've been fully engaged on the Gulf Coast oil spill since Day One, bringing every resource to bear and able to ensure without question that taxpayers will be protected.

Not quite.

Take President Barack Obama's repeated claims that BP will be responsible for all the costs associated with the devastating spill that began after an oil rig operated by the company exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and later sinking.

"Let me be clear: BP is responsible for this leak; BP will be paying the bill," Obama said while touring the area Sunday.

While it's true that the federal Oil Pollution Act, enacted in 1990 in response to the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, makes BP responsible for cleanup costs, the law caps the company's liability for economic damages — such as lost wages, shortened fishing seasons or lagging tourism — at $75 million, a pittance compared to potential losses.

Administration officials insist BP will be held responsible anyway, noting that if the company is found negligent or criminally liable, the cap disappears. Claims also can potentially be made under other state or federal laws, officials said.

Read it all for a better explanation of the details.

Politico has this to say on the Oil Spill
White House in P.R. 'panic' over spill
By GLENN THRUSH & MIKE ALLEN
The ferocious oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening President Barack Obama’s reputation for competence, just as surely as it endangers the Gulf ecosystem.
So White House aides are escalating their efforts to reassure Congress and the public in the face of a slow-motion catastrophe, even though it’s not clear they can bring it under control anytime soon.

“There is no good answer to this,” one senior administration official said. “There is no readily apparent solution besides one that could take three months. ... If it doesn’t show the impotence of the government, it shows the limits of the government.”
Hope and change was Obama’s headline message in 2008, but those atop his campaign have always said that it was Obama’s cool competence — exemplified by his level-headed handling of the financial meltdown during the campaign’s waning days — that sealed the deal with independents and skeptical Democrats. The promise of rational, responsive and efficient government is Obama’s brand, his justification for bigger and bolder federal interventions and, ultimately, his rationale for a second term.

So there was a “little bit of panic,” according to one administration official, when White House aides sensed the oil spill narrative getting away from them last week. The White House was particularly alarmed by the rash of stories comparing the Obama administration’s initial response with President George W. Bush’s sluggish response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Read more:

A Dubai Flight was turned around

And three passengers were removed.  Hmm.... didn't hear that on CNN last night. This is from Yahoo News, via Lucianne.

Three passengers taken off New York-Dubai flight

DUBAI (AFP) – Emirates Airlines said on Tuesday that three passengers were removed from a New York-Dubai flight, after US officials said a suspect in an attempted New York bombing was arrested trying to fly to Dubai.

"Emirates can confirm that its flight EK 202 (from New York to Dubai on May 3)... was called back by the local authorities prior to departure. Three passengers were removed from the flight," the airline said in a statement.

"Full security procedures were activated, including the deplaning of all passengers and a thorough screening of the aircraft, passengers, and baggage. Emirates is cooperating with the local authorities," it said.

US officials said earlier that a Pakistani-American suspect in an attempted car bombing on Saturday in New York's Times Square was arrested while trying to flee on flight from New York to Dubai.

New York police chief Raymond Kelly has said more than one person may have been involved in the attempted bombing, but offered no specifics.