Charles Hope and the Luminous Top

Right-Wing flees the monster it created

They cheered as Bush created the creepy-sounding Department of Homeland Security, but they never expected it to fall in the hands of Democrats!  How did that happen? Now the DHS is predictably eyeballing right-wing extremists, who are totally surprised and panicking, burning up the airwaves and filing lawsuits. Partisanship means never having to say sorry. How could these schmoids ever be expected to understand blowback overseas when they can't identify it under their noses?

9 out of 10 software packages support Israel

In its PR campaign to explain its attack on Gaza, Israel's supporters have invented a new tactic in their well-developed “Hasbara” spin activities. Dozens of sock puppet Twitter accounts have been created solely to spam the same repeated talking points into the #gaza tag. Here we see one factoid containing an obvious misspelling get mindlessly copied throughout their network of troll bots.

Nader goes soft on Obama

America exploded with a paroxysm of outrage as wounded Obama followers savaged Nader for expressing hope that he doesn't play Uncle Tom for the corporate interests.  Watch as Fox news feigns offense:

Nader was too kind in suggesting that he's anything but an establishment shill.  Once again, Nader displays critical thinking during a time of mass hysteria.

Peter Kirsanow's Six Fights

Kirsanow says

In many cases, the congressional math may preclude Republicans from little more than voicing principled opposition. But that's not nothing. It's imperative.

Watch for genuine opportunities to work together for the betterment of the country. But on every other occasion fight. Fight every attempt to entrench a new entitlement. Fight every attempt to redistribute wealth. Fight every attempt to radicalize the courts. Fight every attempt to weaken our defenses. Fight every attempt to restrict political speech. Fight every attempt to revise history. Fight for what's best about America.

“Weakening our defenses” is a dandy idea, because our military spending is roughly equal to the rest of the world.  But the other six are right on.

The Constitution is not a Suicide Pact

That's why they told us that the irregular nature of the Al Qaeda threat forced us to circumvent Article I Section 8, requiring Congress to issue declarations of war, and allow the President unlimited power to prosecute the war against terror.

However, the founding fathers were indeed confronted by irregular warfare, and established a response in the Constitution. Chuck Baldwin explains

President Bush should have supported Ron Paul's bill, H.R. 3076, the September 11 Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001. This is the constitutional way to deal with rogue terrorist organizations. This is the way President Thomas Jefferson responded to the Barbary pirates.

According to Congressman Paul, “A letter of marque and reprisal is a constitutional tool specifically designed to give the President the authority to respond with appropriate force to those non-state actors who wage aggression against the United States while limiting his authority to only those responsible for the atrocities of that day. Such a limited authorization is consistent with the doctrine of just war and the practical aim of keeping Americans safe while minimizing the costs in blood and treasure of waging such an operation.”

William Buckley's son blasts Movement

Christopher Buckley writes

I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. Eight years of “conservative” government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance....to paraphrase a real conservative, Ronald Reagan: I haven’t left the Republican Party. It left me.

The Elasticity of Legislation

As Iceland goes bankrupt, the IHT explains that

Tension with Britain has flared anew during the current crisis. It centers on hundreds of thousands of accounts that Britons hold in online branches of the Icelandic banks; now they fear they will lose their money, and the British government wants Iceland to pay up. The government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain has used powers granted under anti-terrorism laws to freeze British assets of Landsbanki until the standoff is resolved.

Bankruptcy gets redefined as terrorism when it pleases the Prime Minister, and yet many will still insist that government should be granted extra power during extraordinary crises. Really, why bother?

Realignment

The most important issue of our time. Michael Moore, Ron Paul, and Michelle Malkin all stood together against the bailout.  On the other side: John McCain, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush.

Are you beginning to see the contours of the Establishment yet?  Do you still understand American politics as Liberal versus Conservative?

How Obama could have won with a landslide

By running on a platform of restoring the Rule of Law.

Strong arm tactics against Paul delegates

Michael Nystrom writes

Devastation does not begin to describe how I felt about the Massachusetts Ron Paul delegation.

In an instant, they were joined by members of the McCain Campaign, and by Republican congressmen from other states, and other unknown individuals. The whole group was surrounded by secret service men / goons with ear pieces and mics listening in. The delegates were told that they they had to change their vote.

(more...)