Conservativism
What Can You Do To Help Scott Walker?
H/T The Other McCain for the video above
It’s one of the best political ads I’ve ever seen.
If you’re someone feeling frustrated that the Cocktail Party GOP establishment is running the table and effectively pushing Willard “Mittens” Romneycare towards the 2012 Republican nomination, remember there are awesome people in office like Scott Walker or Allen West that need your attention and support.
What can YOU do to help Scott Walker defeat the Left in Wisconsin?
What can YOU do to stop the Left’s voter fraud efforts this year?
What can YOU do to expose the truth about Labor Unions?
Only you can answer the above. You might think this is silly, but to be able to answer that you need to spend a quiet day by yourself really thinking about it. Wake up super early before the rest of your family if you have to, pour yourself some coffee and just sit in a quiet place of your house and think about who you want to be in 2012 and what impact you can make in this election.
I honest to goodness wake up every morning hoping there is someone out there who will read something on this site that will cause her or him to get up off the couch and take action in her or his community. The reason the Cocktail Party and the Left win so often is because too many good people think “It’s just me” or “I’m only one person” or whatever.
The fact is, you are a remarkable and amazing person who loves your country. You have great talents that you just need to bring out from under the bushel basket. I know there is something you can do to encourage and support people like Scott Walker.
What do you think that something is?
SPOILER PLOT SUMMARY: The Iron Lady Starring Meryl Streep as Baroness Margaret Thatcher
NOTE: This is a full spoiler plot summary for The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep in the role of Baroness Margaret Thatcher. If you don’t want to know what happens in the film, please don’t click below and read the rest of the article as the plot of the movie will be spoiled for you. I intend this plot summary as a guide to the movie for people unfamiliar with Baroness Thatcher’s life story; I took the time to research many of the things referenced quickly in the movie so that there are names, dates, and context provided in this summary that are not in the actual film. However, while I grew up in the time period covered in the movie and vividly recall the days when Baroness Thatcher was Prime Minister of Great Britain I have never been a subject of the Commonwealth and am not an expert on British politics. If I misunderstand the politics of the time or how things work in the parliamentary system, please don’t leave irate comments on this article with the usual feigned outrage over things like that (you know who you are). I would however, very much appreciate those in Commonwealth countries who’ll read this and offer additional insights or corrections where needed. I saw the film once — and only once — and this spoiler plot summary was completed from memory immediately after seeing the film. I have done my level best not to include any personal opinion in this summary and have not judged the film one way or the other. This is not a review, but a summary and guide to the film.
I will say, however, that anyone who was afraid that Baroness Thatcher would be depicted poorly in this movie should rest assured that this is an excellent depiction of her. The controversy that’s been ginned up centers around the fact that Baroness Thatcher is depicted in the year 2009 in the movie — after she’s suffered a series of strokes and is having trouble with her memory. This is a Hollywood device that’s been employed in recent years, similar to how the movie Titanic depicted an elderly woman remembering her life and loves; I believe the people at the movie studio felt this was a way to make the Baroness seem human and vulnerable at the end of her life, with flashbacks highlighting her political career and marriage to her husband Baronet Denis Thatcher. The movie thus becomes the story of roughly 24 hours’ of the Baroness’ life in October of 2009 (a month before her official portrait was unveiled at 10 Downing Street in November 2009). Baroness Thatcher, as an elderly woman in her 80s, stops throughout this day from breakfast-to-breakfast to reminisce on her career and personal life through flashbacks.
The filmmakers make attempts at being clever, where they show objects or engage dialogue that triggers the Baroness’ memory of earlier times so that the film can progress through the years via Baroness Thatcher’s recollections. The other device used for these trips down memory lane is the ghost of Denis Thatcher, whom the Baroness can see but who is invisible to everyone else. It’s never implied that the Baroness actually thinks she sees him, but rather she misses him so much (even after six years of outliving him) that his presence is tangibly felt in his absence.
All of the memories are being triggered by the fact that Baroness Thatcher’s daughter Carol (a gaudy and off-putting woman who is best known for being a failed TV reporter and the second female winner of a reality show called “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” where she ate bugs and kangaroo testicles) has pushed for Denis Thatcher’s old suits, clothes, and other things to be emptied out of the Baroness’ home in the Chester Square area of London. It’s the packing of all these things and the memories they conjure that has rattled the Baroness enough for all the old ghosts of her past to emerge. You can be the judge as to whether or not you believe this is a clever (or silly) means of driving the memories and narrative of the movie.
SPOILERS BEGIN HERE:
PHOTOS: The Exact Replica of the Oval Office in the Reagan Library and Museum
I wanted to post these photos of the exact replica of the Oval Office that’s displayed at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California — because they are an excellent resource for anyone who enjoys photoshopping and would like to use them for political cartoons in the upcoming election.
It’s hard to find photos of the Oval Office without people in them, so on a recent trip to the Reagan Library I took shots of the replica from every angle imaginable so that I’d have access to whatever possible image I’d ever need of an Oval Office in the future.
The Reagan Library’s Philippine Shell Christmas Tree (Just One of Many State Gifts on Display)
I always feel a little let down on Boxing Day, with the joy and celebration of Christmas concluded for another year. The lights may still be strung up on the trees and houses around town, but a lot of people stop turning them on. The store shelves are being cleared of Christmas items and will have Valentine’s Day chocolates for sale by this afternoon, I’m sure.
So I thought it would be nice to show you one more Christmas treasure today from the Reagan Library’s collection in Simi Valley, California.
This was a gift to President Reagan from Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, made from clam shells, sea star needles, and other sea life appendages and accoutrements that washed ashore on those islands in the Pacific.
By law, Presidents are not allowed to keep gifts that are given to them by the visiting heads of state or government who visit the White House. The President, as the representative of the people of the United States, graciously accepts these various items…which are often displayed to the public somewhere in Washington during that president’s term.
Upon leaving office, the private entity that is formed to create that departing President’s official library and museum raises the funds from donors to purchase many of the treasures given to the President by these dignitaries. For instance, when Gordon Brown visited the United States as Prime Minister of Great Britain in 2009, he gifted Obama an antique pen set that was carved from wood of as sister ship to the HMS Resolute (the ship from which the wood for the Oval Office’s desk was obtained); Barack Obama, it should be noted, gave Brown a set of dvds a staffer had bought at Best Buy (which contained old movies that routinely play for free on most cable stations…and the dvds were in fact Region-1 coded, which British dvd players can’t operate…on top of Gordon Brown being legally blind and unable to watch dvds of anything, so they might as well have been radio programs).
After he leaves office in 2013, the Obama presidential library and museum in Honolulu, Hawaii will have an option to purchase that pen set from the US government for display to the public in the same way this Philippine shell Christmas tree is displayed at the Reagan Library. Something tells me the pen set is going to stay in the White House or end up in the Smithsonian, though, since I can’t imagine Obama wanting to part with any of his own coin for something thoughtful and historic the British people gave to him (considering how aggressively Obama seized every available opportunity to snub and slight our allies in London).
If you’re someone who still thinks the Obama Library will be in Chicago, you need to think again. I have a friend who works at the University of Chicago; in 2009, the University here was very gung-ho in pursuing the Obama Library. Mayor Daley and other Chicago politicos were zealously scheming to land what they saw at the time as “a prize”. The doomed Chicago Olympics bid included a provision to use land reclaimed from one of the temporary stadiums to have been constructed for the Games to build the Library near the University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus, with the University gaining all the documents and other treasures for some sort of “Obama Center” akin to the “Carter Center” in Georgia.
Well, I’ve been told that “it’s been a long time” since anyone at the University of Chicago “has said boo about even wanting that Library”. It is as good as a done deal that the University of Hawaii is getting the Library, and that it’s going to be, most likely, some sort of gaudy Frank Gehry-designed, crumpled steel and curvy glass monstrosity right on the water. The Obamas are not coming back to Chicago once they vacate the White House in January of 2013…they are headed to Honolulu, where no doubt Barack Obama will pick up where Jimmy Carter leaves off and become the official America-hating former US president once Carter passes away in 2013 or 2014.
It’s sick how the timing on all this has worked out: just as Carter’s about to permanently join Kim Jung-Il, Muyamar Quadaffi, and other vile America haters somewhere much, much warmer than Hawaii or the Philippines, Barack Obama’s going to begin his post-presidency in Honolulu where he’ll no doubt eclipse Carter in the global apologies-for-American-excellence department.
It’s like there’s an undeserved gift that just keeps on giving or something.
Hope!
Change!
Worse than Carter!
Which means there’s always hope that the 45th or 46th president could be even better than Reagan.
It’s Boxing Day…I just have to end on a positive note here.
The Skeletons in Ron Paul’s Closet
Last week, someone posted in the comment section of one of the Hillbuzz articles that we had turned into a Ron Paul site so I thought I would chime in and make a correction. I am not a fan of Ron Paul. I have never taken him seriously as a GOP contender and always just thought of him as an annoying distraction. Until now. If the polls are to be believed, he could very well win Iowa. Disturbing. It would most likely end there for him (hopefully) but it does make you sit up and take a healthier look at him and what he believes and some very disturbing things are bobbing to the surface. Like any candidate that is taking a lead in the polls…media scrutiny is part of the territory. I have to say that I agree with his general theory that less government is ideal. I know that Ron Paul wants to get rid of many (or most) of the government agencies and for that I applaud him but his foreign policy views scare the hell out of me. Islam is a very big threat to the United States…Iran is a very big threat to the United States…we can’t ignore them and leave them alone. A nuclear attack from Iran would change life as we know it. Like it or not, the world counts on us… and our current president wants to weaken us to the point that we are no longer able to protect those who want to live free. In the words of the great Ronald Reagan…
“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.”
So, like all the other candidates, Ron Paul is having to answer questions about his past and there’s plenty of skeletons to dig out of his closet. Here are a few things you may (or may not) know about Congressman Paul.
1. Did you know that Ron Paul endorsed Cynthia McKinney in 2008 as the Green Party candidate? Yep…you read that right. Instead of endorsing McCain/Palin (or remaining silent) he actually endorsed one of the looniest humans to ever walk the Earth…Cynthia “I love Muammar Qaddafi” McKinney.
2. I know this has been covered on here before but did you know that Ron Paul thinks that Bradley Manning is a patriot? Yep…the Bradley Manning who gave stolen classified military documents to Wiki-leaks to be exposed to the world? How could an American presidential candidate actually voice support for someone who knowingly put our troops lives in danger?
3. Did you know that in the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s, Congressman Paul had a monthly newsletter called Ron Paul’s Freedom Report? This newsletter made very controversial anti-gay, anti-Semitic and anti-black statements. One newsletter claimed that gays were trying to infect other Americans with AIDS by compromising our blood supply. Another stated that order was established during the LA riots only because the blacks had to go pick up their welfare checks. Paul has tried to distance himself from the newsletters by saying that he did not write the articles but they were written in the first person (as if by him) with no other name in the byline and Mr. Paul profited over a million dollars from the newsletters. Whether he wrote all the newsletters or only some of them, he should have been aware of what was being written in his name. He has been given a free pass on these newsletters because no one has taken him seriously as a presidential candidate but in light of his poll numbers in Iowa…he has some explaining to do.
Whether you love Ron Paul or hate him…you have to ask this question…
If Ron Paul is so libertarian that he won’t even police people who use his name, if his movement is filled with incompetents and opportunists, then what kind of a president would he make? Would he even check in to see if his ideas are being implemented? Who would he appoint to Cabinet positions?
For the record…Kevin and I have discussed at great lengths the current GOP field and agree that currently Newt Gingrich would be the best man for the job (unless Sarah decides to jump in and save the day…how wonderful would that be?). Rick Perry is also a good man but may have done too much damage to himself during the debates to recover fully. We both were greatly disappointed by the demise of Herman Cain, who clearly was not ready for prime-time. I am almost completely burned out by this political roller coaster and we haven’t even begun the primaries yet. The people that I used to admire and respect (Charles Krauthammer, George Will, Ann Coulter, Nikki Haley etc.) have really let me down and have proven to all be establishment cocktail party hacks. I’m not sure where the Tea Party is in all of this mess. Who are they supporting? Have they made any statements? Will we be stuck with Romney? Will Ron Paul launch a 3rd party bid should he not be the GOP nominee or will he accept defeat so as not to damage his son Rand’s political career?
What are your thoughts?
Obama To Get Indefinite Detention Powers Against U.S. Citizens
H/T Sodahead
Last week I wrote about a couple of traitorous additions to the Defense Authorization bill written in secret by John McCain (RINO-AZ) and Carl Levin (D-MI).
According to the ACLU and DownsizeDC.org, among other watchdog organizations, sections 1031 and 1032 of the bill give Obama—and every future president, if there are any—“the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world….The power is so broad that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself.”
And (SURPRISE!) it turns out that Obama asked for that power himself.
How nice of our favorite backstabbing Constitution-shredding s0-called “Republican” John “Benedict Arnold” McCain to oblige him (may he rot in HELL, after losing a brutal primary fight that bankrupts him.)
But McCain wasn’t alone in his treachery.
Sen. Lindsey “Rights for Illegals, but Not American Citizens” Graham said about it on the Senate floor: “1031, the statement of authority to detain, does apply to American citizens and it designates the world as the battlefield, including the homeland.”
It is a sad commentary on Mr. Graham–a co-sponsor of the bill–that one can’t predict if that was praise or criticism without looking at the replay. Turns out, Senator Graham thinks it’s awesome that one person the the U.S. government can pick up a phone, make a call, and make you disappear, without charges, without trial, forever.
More gullible and/or partisan members of the DNC-controlled media have been trying to insist for the past two weeks that the law doesn’t apply to Americans here, in America. And The White House was claiming that Obama was going to veto the bill if it applied to American citizens (now, not so much.) But…
“Another sponsor of the bill – Senator Levin – has also repeatedly said that the bill applies to American citizens on American soil, citing the Supreme Court case of Hamdi which ruled that American citizens can be treated as enemy combatants:
‘The Supreme Court has recently ruled there is no bar to the United States holding one of its own citizens as an enemy combatant,’ said Levin. ‘This is the Supreme Court speaking.’
Levin again stressed recently that the bill applies to American citizens, and said that it was president Obama who requested that it do so.”
I’ve tried to find out what happened to the bill in Conference Committee, but the general consensus in the Liberty blogosphere this evening seems to be that the bill is just as bad coming out of committee as it was going in.
This evening at 6:58 p.m., 90 Democrats and 193 Republicans voted AYE to give the most corrupt president in U.S. history the power to kidnap and detain Americans anywhere in the world, forever, just on the basis of his opinion that they’re terrorists.
I’m kind of at a loss for words here, which may be appropriate, since technically anything I say can now be used against me by the president of the United States.
The bill now heads back to the Senate. Now may be a good time to pick up the phone and let your Senators know what you think.
UPDATE: Here’s the web page you can use to contact your Representatives.
Thoughts? Comments? Last words? Condolences?
How did YOUR Reprehensibles Representatives vote?
What does a secret $16 Trillion bailout look like?
Like most Americans who work for a living*, I was outraged by the TARP bailouts that totaled over $700 Billion.
I was offended on principle, of course…any amount of public (borrowed) money going to bail out privately-owned companies is wrong. But the amount–so large that no normal person can get their brain around it–was offensive, too.
The bailouts spawned protests and Tea Party events across the country, and probably helped fuel the electoral bloodbath of 2010.
But here’s the jaw-dropper, which has received next to no media coverage. Between December, 2007 and June, 2010, the Federal Reserve (which is not federal, nor is it a reserve) secretly bailed out politically-connected U.S. banks and corporations, AND foreign banks and governments, to the tune of $16 Trillion in U.S. taxpayer money.
Now, if you can’t imagine $700 Billion, there’s no way you can picture what $16,000,000,000,000.00 looks like, or what kind of value that represents.
I just found a video that puts these dollar figures into context, using a penny to represent $100,000,000 (one hundred million dollars). Disclaimer–it’s a pitch for a Republican congressional candidate in Texas, so please don’t be offended by that mention at the end of the video.
It’s just sickening…sickening is the only word I can come up with.
If you don’t know what the Federal Reserve is, or how it determines the value of the money you work hard for, I would highly suggest that you pick up a copy of The Creature from Jekyll Island
UPDATE: Here’s some sourcing for the $16 Trillion figure:
The New American: Another Secret Federal Reserve Bailout, $7.7 Trillion This Time
The Federal Reserve Bank committed some $7.77 trillion in funds to major Wall Street banks during the height of the 2008 financial crisis, according to a report published by Bloomberg News November 28 through a Freedom of Information Act request.
It’s unclear from the methodology explained by Bloomberg’s analysis of some 29,000 Federal Reserve documents released how much overlap there is with the Government Accountability Office audit published last July that counted some $16 trillion in Federal Reserve loans to major Wall Street banks. Bloomberg’s explanation of its methodology does indicate at least some overlap.
Throughout the financial crisis, Congress remained blissfully unaware that trillions of dollars were being committed by the Fed with the implicit guarantee of the U.S. taxpayer. “We were aware emergency efforts were going on,” Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank told Bloomberg, but “we didn’t know the specifics.” Frank, who announced his retirement November 28 after the Massachusetts state legislature gerrymandered him out of his district, served as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee at the time the bailouts began. That committee is charged with oversight of the Federal Reserve and the banking industry.
[...]
Mitt Romney's Top Donors
The Bloomberg report noted that top Wall Street banks** benefited most from the deal. “The big six — JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Morgan Stanley — took 63 percent of the Fed’s emergency-loan money as measured by peak daily borrowing,” the San Francisco Chronicle observed November 29 of the Bloomberg data.
*except those who belong to government employee unions, many of whom don’t actually work for a living
**AKA Mittens Romneycare’s chief source of campaign cash
