From One Failed Superpower, With Love

The following is the final 2 paragraphs of an online op-ed piece chronicling America's descent into Marxism. The piece is entitled,"American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper," and is dated April 27, 2009.

"The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed
in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money
printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in
the world. If this keeps up for more then [sic] another year, and there is no sign
that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst
Zimbabwe.

"These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First
came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax
system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, los[s]es and
swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs
look [like] little more then [sic] ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear [sic] volumes. Should we congratulate them?"

The source? Pravda.online.

Scared enough?

Louisiana State Sovereignty: Thanks, 10th Amendment!

I sent a variation of the following to WWL talk radio host, Spud McConnell, yesterday:

A Senate resolution affirming Louisiana sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment passed the Senate by a 32-0 vote on May 11 and is now in the Committee on House and Government Affairs. We need to publicize it and call our representatives to assure its passage.

For more information, see Tenth Amendment
Center, and click on State Groups.

Today, I received this reply:

I knew it was introduced by A.G. Crowe but I didn’t know it had gotten that
far. Gonna try to get him and whoever is handling it on the House side next
week. Thanks for the heads up and for listening. spud

Ya gotta love a responsive medium! The Tenth Amendment Center is a very good link.

R.I.P., Dear Goose

I just joined the Facebook group, "Stop the Stelly Tax Increase," a Louisiana measure to reverse part of the Stelly tax plan that prevents Louisiana families from fully deducting charitable gifts, mortgage interest and certain medical costs from their Louisiana state income taxes. I also started a Discussion topic entitled, "The Legislature Should Read This Obituary." Here it is:

"R.I.P., Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs. Killed by government appetite for shiny omelets, and rampant demands for increased egg output to stimulate less
productive barnyard fowl.

"The Goose leaves no survivors."

Amid reports that first quarter tax revenues are down significantly nationwide, it appears that there will soon be pretty slim pickings at Old McDonald's place

E-I-E-I-Owe.

Senator Turns Atlanta Tea Partier In to the FBI

Smshirk of Atlata posted a Discussion topic on the Tea Party Patriots main page. You may read it here.

It seems that Rhode Island Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, with whom he had engaged in a spirited correspondence, turned him in to the FBI as a suspected extremist. An agent actually showed up at his door! Fortunately, the agent was reasonable and polite.

Nonetheless, this point is -- smshirk thought twice before feeling comfortable about writing to his Senator again.

We must not allow ourselves to be silenced. Let me say that again, a little louder: WE MUST NOT BE SILENCED.

Smshirk didn't allow himself to be silenced. I think I'll go write a little love note to some folks in D.C.

Memorial Day: A Toast to the Fallen

We honored our Fallen Warriors yesterday, and kept the spark of NOLA's Tea Party Movement glowing at the (world's longest name for an event) Greater New Orleans Memorial Day Constitutional Tea Party Picnic. Good fellowship, interesting speeches, readings by schoolchildren, recognition of Veterans, and a Memorial service for those who sacrificed their lives that we -- and those who call us friend -- might live our lives in freedom's fold. I forgot to bring a floral tribute, so I made a daisy chain of clover flowers to place beneath the poster. Somehow, Memorial Day this year feels like more than just the day that the pools open.

Hot Air posted commentary and several photos of the Memorial constructed on the site struck inside the Pentagon by the cowards of 9/11. Commemorated are The Fallen, service members and civilians alike. It's a very moving piece and worth the view.

A day for reflection, gratitude, and not just a small measure of uncertainty about the future.

Nancy, With the Lying Eyes

Saved to my Documents folder as "Lying Pelosi Letter" and mailed this afternoon:

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

I write to you again as an active participant in the T.E.A. Party movement, and as a concerned citizen. You are the leader of my House of Representatives and third in presidential succession. As such, you are answerable to me even though I do not live in your District.

Recently many people have become confused and concerned about national security, in no small part because there are lingering doubts about who said what, when, in connection with enhanced interrogation techniques employed against suspected terrorists. You are one of the "whos;" the Central Intelligence Agency is the other.

Today, I watched televised accounts of your press conference. You and your entourage skirted and refused to answer questions about those lingering doubts. In fact, you noted that you will be answering no further questions about the matter in the future. That will be a mistake.

If the C.I.A. lied to you, and continuously lies to Congress -- as you have stated on more than one occasion -- the American people deserve to know. We simply cannot have prevaricators among those who are responsible for our national and domestic security. We cannot witness as our elected officials -- or our citizens -- become the victims of deceit.

I am certain you are as concerned about this issue as is the rest of the country.

Therefore, I ask that you initiate an investigation into these allegations and demand the release of contemporaneous C.I.A. meeting notes about the 2002 briefings in which you participated. The sooner, the better.

Sincerely,

cc: Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, Rep. Vic Snyder, President Barack H. Obama

Now, will someone please help me extract my tongue from my cheek?

Musings and Mutterings About Our Flag and the Clown Car in D.C.

1. Today is the day to fly your US flag! Go out to your neighborhood hardware store and buy one (whose package says, "Made in U.S.A.!). Mount it where all may see it and be inspired. Lord knows, we need some inspiration these days.

2. NewsFlash! Yesterday I received, via the U.S. Postal Service, a letter from Senator Mary Landrieu regarding my communication with her (emailed on March 5th) concerning the Employee Free Choice Act! She advises me to "rest assured that [she] will keep [my] views in mind should this legislation come before the full Senate for a vote." Isn't that nice. The address block of the letter, however, was more than "nice" -- it was hysterical.

I signed the letter -- in typical Southern Lady fashion as my Mama taught me -- with my given name, maiden initial, and married surname, followed by my husband's initials in parentheses (Mrs. W.A.). To let the good Senator know that I didn't just fall off the turnip truck when it comes to labor law, I also added my degree initials, "J.D." The following is what some goofy staffer came up with:

Dr. and Mrs. Terry C. and W.A. Paulson

Street address

New Orleans, LA 70115

Gee whiz -- that was a cheap medical degree!

Your tax dollars at work.

3. Charles Krauthammer's column in today's Times-Picayune, is entitled, "Obama Comes to his Senses on Detainees, " and explains that, once one ascends to the presidency, he becomes privy to a heckuva lot about a lot of stuff that makes one's predecessor seem not quite so dense. It also details how the Young President has managed to slam, yet still adopt, a large number of Bush policies, especially concerning anti-terror measures. Mr. Krauthammer writes:

"The genius of democracy is that the rotation of power forces the
opposition to come to its senses when it takes over.


"When the new guys, brought to power by popular will, then adopt the
policies of the old guys, a national consensus is forged and a new legitimacy
established. That's happening before our eyes. The Bush policies in the war on
terror won't have to await vindication by historians. Obama is doing it day by
day. His denials mean nothing. Look at his deeds."

Indeed.

4. Now, if we can just convince him not to sully graduation day for the students who invite him to address them at commencement. He did just that today at Annapolis. As their Commander in Chief, the Young President lectured the Midshipmen about how very bad war is, and how very cavalierly the Bush administration had acted toward the armed services, and how he would never let politics interfere with his decision whether to commit our service members to warfare.

Using a commencement address at a service academy as a campaign moment is allowing politics to interfere.

Get a clue.

Memorial Day Constitutional Tea Party Picnic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJHKtLnT0Ak

(I'm not sure why this just printed the link. This is a funny poke at government spending).

Your Government is looking out for you. Not.


Head on down to West End Park from 11:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 24th, for our Memorial Day Constitutional Tea Party Picnic! Bring your own food and drinks, hear some patriotic music and a few NON-POLITICIAN speakers, and participate in a Tribute to our Veterans at 2:00. Other activities are planned for kiddos, too.

Keep our momentum going!

San Antonio!

We're back from the Twenty-Seventh Annual Multi-State Labor and Employment Law Seminar in San Antonio! We got some really good information -- I was totally clueless about the colossal, overbearing, indecipherable, contradictory requirements of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, especially about records-keeping. I'll have a few rants to share in coming days -- including quite a few about the union-wonk lawyer who spoke on the Employee Free Choice Act.

(I'll note that not everything was all-business. We also got to stroll down memory lane when we stayed one night in the VIP quarters at Ft. Sam Houston, and Pepper got to see a few of his favorite PGA golfers at the Valero tourney being played at the Westin La Cantera.)

But, for today, I'll focus on the sub-title of the conference: The 2009 Barbecue and Mexican Food Tour of the Texas Hill Country! Doug is our researcher and tour guide on all these excursions (one year he found a Jamaican grocery store for jerk chicken and goat in an urban Florida neighborhood where we really had no business visiting -- the old men playing checkers at the other table didn't seem to pay us much heed, though), and he had a detailed schedule of gastronomic delights lined out. I think Pepper and I must have gained 20 pounds between us.

It all started with the 3rd Annual San Antonio Soul Food Festival and Gospel Choir Contest. Giant smoked turkey legs, lots of stuff on a stick, and sweet potato pie to kill for.

Then came the barbecue tour of Luling and Lockhart -- 3 stops with enough ribs, brisket, and sausage to feed a family of four for a month (we didn't have enough room left in our tummies to go to Doug's planned 4th stop!). There's nothing like excellent barbecue sauce under your fingernails!

In Luling we became familiar with the Watermelon Thump Queen contest via posters featured in the windows of Main Street businesses by the 4 contestants, especially in City Market -- my favorite among the barbecue stops. In Lockhart, we were blown away by the beautiful, ornate courthouse in the town square (down the street from Black's Barbecue and a few tattoo parlors). We got a piddling little serving of meat to go at Kreutz's.

The Mexican Food category led us to a touristy place one night that actually had good food (and a mariachi band). And we enjoyed the smoky salsa and fish tacos at Rosario's near the Villejito. But the crown jewel was not on "the list."

Doug wanted barbacoa (cow head), and found a bakery far away from downtown that prepared it on weekends. When we got there, no barbacoa was in sight, but we got some mighty fine, mouth-watering Mexican pastries. So, we headed back down the street and decided to stop at a small, freshly-painted restaurant that advertised itself as "under new management." While "freshly-painted" usually doesn't suit Doug's criteria for "local, hole-in-the-wall" joints, and "under new management" can be disastrous, we were running low on time and decided to give it a shot.

At first glance, the menu looked pretty standard and Doug was a little disappointed. Then he tried the salsa. Then they brought a different type of salsa and he was hooked. We found barbacoa on the menu for him, ordered, and waited. The wait proved worth itself. Wow! What fabulous food -- cooked to order -- at prices that more closely resembled those in the 1960s than 2009. And Las Cazuelas was owned and staffed by a friendly, funny family who sought to meet our every need. I can't say enough good things about it.

Now -- a few plane rides and one delay later, we'll probably be grazing on salads for weeks to un-do the damage rendered by the 2009 Barbecue and Mexican Food Tour of the Texas Hill Country. Mooooo!

Ya Gotta Wonder What He Was Thinking . . .

Remember this picture? The Tax Day T.E.A. Party sign?

Someone stole it.

It was about 15 feet from the Neighborhood Watch sign.

I'll just get over the theft if the thief plants it in his yard. Or mails it to Congress.

N'Awlins Air Show 2009

May 1, 2009 -- Belle Chasse Joint Reserve Base/Naval Air Station.

The N'Awlins Air Show -- awesome!

(And I don't use that word lightly!)

Tiptoe: The Young President's First Whack at the Supreme Court

This one may just drive us all over the edge. The Young President has already been given the opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court Justice. Speculation is all over the place.

Some pundits think that, knowing he'll probably have more than one appointment over the next 3 1/2 years, he may back off and nominate a fairly moderate centrist. Others think he'll dive directly into the left end of the pool. Of course, race/ethnicity and gender will be criteria. Immutable characteristics such as skin color and reproductive organs are certainly reliable predictors of judicial acumen. Yawn.

The Young President has been quoted as saying he believes the time for radical judicial activism has passed, but another quote has him desiring a nominee "who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book." Huh? Being able to empathize with a litigant's "pain" does not help one to construe a statute or to discern legislative intent.

The Supreme Court rarely seeks the abstract concept of "justice" as its goal; the Supreme Court is tasked by the Constitution and the Common Law system with interpreting the law as it applies to a specific set of facts. Our law school profs taught us that first you argue the Law, and if the law's not on your side, then you argue the Facts; only as a last resort do you argue Public Policy (read: justice). It's that whole hobgoblin-of-small-minds concept.

I just can't see him abandoning juicy judicial activism. He's already thrown most of the Constitution out the window -- why not toss common law precedent out there, too?

Crossposted here.

Going to Gitmo: Part Deux

Dropped in snail mail today:

President Barack H. Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Obama:

I am writing to you once again as an Independent voter from Louisiana. As you might surmise from the watermark on this page, I was an active participant in the New Orleans Tax Day Tea Party -- one of those "folks waving tea bags around."

On April 15th, your economic advisor, Jared Bernstein, announced that you were unaware of the many Tea Parties taking place in small towns and large cities all across the nation; but, in your First-100-Days Town Hall Meeting in Missouri, you not only acknowledged the Tea Parties, you actually proceeded to mock both the participants in and the significance of Tea Parties. Unfortunately, in your belated effort to smile, nod, and belittle the grassroots Tea Party movement, you chose to miss the point intended by most Tea Partiers -- or, worse, you chose to mischaracterize it.

As a consequence of your words at the Town Hall Meeting, I am indeed gratified to learn that you are "happy to have a serious conversation" about the issues facing the nation which you believe to be the most urgent -- your holy trinity of healthcare, energy and education, joined by Social Security during your performance in Missouri. I am most certainly pleased that you and "Claire" are working diligently to audit all federal spending, even though you didn't suggest what might be the outcome of that audit. I am thrilled beyond belief that you sent the world notice from Missouri that you intend to have a "serious discussion" about how to reduce health care spending -- open, thorough, and genuine debate are the hallmarks of democratic deliberation -- instead of rolling out another juggernaut like you did with the Recovery Act. That is what you meant by that comment about "serious discussion," isn't it, Mr. President?

But, then you suggested that the Tea Parties were all about -- and only about -- the Recovery Act. Wrong.

The ill-thought-out, helter-skelter overspending embodied in the Recovery Act is certainly an element of "the point" of the Tea Parties. What you must come to understand, however, is that "the point" is most assuredly not only about the Recovery Act. The passage and signing of the Recovery Act were simply the tipping point.

In April, the implementation of the Recovery Act was coupled with teasers of what other spending plans you and Congress had yet to announce. Add that fact to the rapid growth of the federal government in the mere first weeks of your administration, together with overt steps in Congress that threaten individual freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights. When all these straws came together, the Recovery Act broke the camel's back.

We camels -- we defenders of the Constitution -- coalesced, we spoke, and our numbers grow daily. That is another point. Our numbers grow daily.

Your administration's condescension to the patriotic men and women who serve in our military is deplorable; its social agenda to "spread the wealth" is a turn to the "failed policies" of former first-world nations. You and the Congress have corrupted the spirit of volunteerism with the passage of the Kennedy Act. The road upon which you and the Congress have placed the country is heading straight toward the destruction of the Republic by centralizing too much power in Washington in defiance of the Constitution.

You were elected to be our president -- a leader -- not our nanny or our omniscient exalted ruler. Please start listening to all American citizens and assume the appropriate presidential role as conceived by the Framers.

Sincerely,

Send cookies to my cell at Gitmo, and tell my family I love them.

Crossposted here.

The View of Trying Terrorists Isn't Quite as Clear-Cut Off the Campaign Trail

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reports that the Young President's Administration may reverse itself on trying Gitmo detainees via military tribunal, and unleash the military prosecutors after all. Adhering to the Obama administration S.O.P., this tidbit was, of course, leaked on a Friday afternoon, without attribution:

But in recent days a variety of officials involved in the deliberations say
that after administration lawyers examined many of the cases, the mood shifted
toward using military commissions to prosecute some detainees, perhaps including
those charged with coordinating the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The more they look at it,” said one official, “the more commissions don’t
look as bad as they did on Jan. 20.”

Several officials insisted on anonymity because the administration has
directed that no one publicly discuss the deliberations.

Administration officials said Friday that some detainees would be
prosecuted in federal courts and noted that Mr. Obama had always left open the
possibility of using military commissions.

Still, during the presidential campaign Mr. Obama criticized the
commissions, saying that “by any measure our system of trying detainees has been
an enormous failure,” and declaring that as president he would “reject the
Military Commissions Act.”

Are we moving a little steeper up the terrorism learning curve, Mr. Y.P.?

The view from the Oval Office isn't quite as clear-cut as it was from the campaign trail, now, is it.