Surprise! Iran Thrilled By Chuck Hagel Nomination

A Secretary of Defense who’s soft on Iran and an Israel hater would match his boss

(CBS News) Iran’s Foreign Ministry says it is hopeful the appointment of former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel to lead the Pentagon would improve relations between Tehran and the U.S.

Asked about Hagel’s nomination, ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday that Tehran was hopeful that there would be “practical changes” to U.S. foreign policy, and that nations would change their attitude towards the U.S. if it respected their rights.

Hagel’s nomination is causing jitters in Israel, on the other hand, where some view the former Nebraska senator as unsympathetic or even hostile.

This is typical of the political Left both in the United States and around the world, who would like to see Israel reduced back to the 1967 borders, if not totally eliminated, and often seem to see Iran as little darlings who are completely misunderstood. Iran with nukes? Bah. Stop looking under you bed for the boogeyman.

Hagel further refused to sign a letter asking the EU to designate Hezbollah a terrorist nation, and wanted to treat Hamas, a known and violent Islamist terrorist group, “pragmatically”.

On the notion of Hagel being anti-gay, there is disagreement. The Log Cabin Republicans are at odds with GOProud. I’m on the side of GOProud, I don’t see one comment as being anti-gay. But, consider if Hagel was being appointed by a Republican president: do you think the Liberals and Progressives would be up in arms over saying ““openly and aggressively gay” about another appointee? Instead, the vast majority on the left are ignoring the issue.

It’s his views on Islamists that is most troubling: he’s soft. He’s soft on Iran and terrorist groups. He also wants to cut the military to the bone. Granted, we need cuts. There is no need for so many over-seas bases post-cold war. Nor as many big weapons programs in the new paradigm of fighting terrorism. But, Hagel doesn’t have the experience to run the Pentagon.

Hagel’s nomination goes hand in hand with that of John Brennan for CIA director, whom Powerline terms an Arabist, partly due to his own anti-Israel leanings.

Read: Surprise! Iran Thrilled By Chuck Hagel Nomination »

Gabby Giffords Pushes Gun Control, Launches Anti-Gun Group

On one hand, you can’t blame her. On the other hand, she’s using her experience to attempt to infringe on Constitutional rights

(USA Today) In response to a horrific series of shootings that has sown terror in our communities, victimized tens of thousands of Americans, and left one of its own bleeding and near death in a Tucson parking lot, Congress has done something quite extraordinary — nothing at all.

Democrats have submitted 8 pieces of anti-gun people control legislation in the House, Republicans have submitted 2 pro-gun pro-people bills. Diane Feinstein plans to introduce a big comprehensive bill in the Senate.

Special interests purporting to represent gun owners but really advancing the interests of an ideological fringe have used big money and influence to cow Congress into submission. Rather than working to find the balance between our rights and the regulation of a dangerous product, these groups have cast simple protections for our communities as existential threats to individual liberties. Rather than conducting a dialogue, they threaten those who divert from their orthodoxy with political extinction.

So, first insult people. Good start. Second, there is no “balance between rights and regulation”, not when it comes to Government. We’ve heard this same argument about the TSA and about government surveillance. Rights are rights. Once the government starts infringing, they are lost, and the average citizen can’t stop The Government. No one saw it coming as the government started infringing on gun rights in Nazi Germany.

As a result, we are more vulnerable to gun violence. Weapons designed for the battlefield have a home in our streets. Criminals and the mentally ill can easily purchase guns by avoiding background checks. Firearm accessories designed for killing at a high rate are legal and widely available. And gun owners are less responsible for the misuse of their weapons than they are for their automobiles.

If you live in a big city, which tend to be Left leaning, yes, you are more vulnerable (to the tune of double the violent crime and murder rate), because you fools tolerate and coddle criminals.

Americans for Responsible Solutions, which we are launching today, will invite people from around the country to join a national conversation about gun violence prevention, will raise the funds necessary to balance the influence of the gun lobby, and will line up squarely behind leaders who will stand up for what’s right.

No, they will stand up for what their far left politics tell them, and to hell with the Constitution. What we aren’t really hearing, and we do not see at ARS, is any way to deal with the lunatics that use guns to commit mass murder ‘n suicide. Or how to deal with the criminals that use guns, particularly in metropolitan liberal areas, and especially liberal gun free zones, like Chicago.

When you have real solutions that don’t involve infringing on my rights and when all you liberals have given up your own guns and armed guards, come see me then. Until then, you have no right to force you anti-Constitutional viewpoint down my throat. And if you want my guns, bring bigger guns to take them.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Gabby Giffords Pushes Gun Control, Launches Anti-Gun Group »

WRAL Decides They’ll Track Gov Pat McCrory’s Promises

This is a hoot, a Pat McCrory promise tracker

Gov. Pat McCrory took office on Jan. 5, 2013, and like all politicians has made some promises to get the post. As the state’s first Republican governor in 20 years, McCrory will face some unique problems and challenges, even with a GOP-controlled legislature.

WRAL News will keep up with the promises he made on the campaign trail to track his successes and failures over a four-year term. Is he able to cut taxes and reform government as he promised? Will teachers be paid for performance and will North Carolina move ahead with natural gas drilling?

While some outlets did keep track of Obama’s promises, WRAL did not. Nor did they do the same with previous governor Bev Perdue, who declined to run for a second term due to being a complete SCOAMF.

A more in depth article is even funnier, in which WRAL closed the comments after the first 4, which where all asking about tracking Democrat promises.

Read: WRAL Decides They’ll Track Gov Pat McCrory’s Promises »

If All You See…

…is an evil fossil fueled motor boat, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Blogmocracy, with a post on what Obama blamed for deficits.

Read: If All You See… »

Judge Jeanine Pirro Provides Awesome Smackdown Of Journal News

Yeah, another post today on the Journal News issue, but, the Judge, whose name appeared on The List, provides an epic smackdown. I particularly like the part about how the Journal News just made battered women unsafe (way back I volunteered at a battered women’s shelter in Greenville)

(Video has autoplay, so only shows in single post status. Click the more tag)

Read More »

Read: Judge Jeanine Pirro Provides Awesome Smackdown Of Journal News »

Schoolkids Won’t Know What School Looks Like

Won’t someone think of the children?

The gas leak that forced the evacuation of Wheeler Elementary School was caused by snow and ice on the roof, the Onondaga Central School District said this morning.

It’s so terrible! All that snow and ice because you won’t abandon your fossil fueled lifestyle.

Read: Schoolkids Won’t Know What School Looks Like »

President Of Journal News Says “Journalists Shouldn’t Be Threatened”

The Journal News, which published the names AND addresses of 33,614 registered gun owners in two NY counties, and wanted information in order to publish more from a third, is all sorts of upset in regards to the response they received. Fortunately, the NY Times is there to provide a sob story in their defense

(NY Times) But the article, which left gun owners feeling vulnerable to harassment or break-ins, also drew outrage from across the country. Calls and e-mails grew so threatening that the paper’s president and publisher, Janet Hasson, hired armed guards to monitor the newspaper’s headquarters in White Plains and its bureau in West Nyack, N.Y.

Personal information about editors and writers at the paper has been posted online, including their home addresses and information about where their children attended school; some reporters have received notes saying they would be shot on the way to their cars; bloggers have encouraged people to steal credit card information of Journal News employees; and two packages containing white powder have been sent to the newsroom and a third to a reporter’s home (all were tested by the police and proved to be harmless).

“As journalists, we are prepared for criticism,” Ms. Hasson said, as she sat in her meticulously tended office and described the ways her 225 employees have been harassed since the article was published. “But in the U.S., journalists should not be threatened.” She has paid for staff members who do not feel safe in their homes to stay at hotels, offered guards to walk employees to their cars, encouraged employees to change their home telephone numbers and has been coordinating with the local police.

In the US, law abiding citizens should not be threatened by a small paper attempting to make a big splash and intimidate those law abiding citizens, putting them in danger, and, let’s not forget, they just made it easier for criminals to know which homes are most likely without a gun, therefore safer to perform their criminal activities against.

The Journal News had no problem publishing the information in order to intimidate legal gun owners, many who are law enforcement, retired law enforcement, and corrections officers, but has a hissy fit over people doing the same back. Many of the law enforcement and corrections officers have received threats from hard core criminals, rather than just people popping off. Interestingly, the Times doesn’t say which bloggers were encouraging people to steal credit card info. Nothing available in a Google search. Nor is the Journal News releasing the actual emails and letters.

The Journal News’s features editor, Mary Dolan, said that while she was not involved with the publication of the article, her home address and phone numbers were published online in retaliation. She has had to disconnect her phone and has “taken my social media presence and just put it on the shelf for a while.” She has also received angry phone calls from former neighbors in Westchester whose gun information was published.

She said she was especially concerned about the part-time staff members who write up wedding anniversary and church potluck announcements who have been harassed. But she supports the paper for its decision.

“It sparked a conversation that needed to occur in this country, and it revealed tactics that will be employed when gun owners feel their rights are threatened,” she said.

Consider that: “when rights are threatened.” Our Constitutional Right to own a gun. Liberals don’t like that. Except when it’s their own gun. They want Everyone Else disarmed. I dare say that the Journal News and those who work for it would be rather upset if people were trying to restrict their “freedom of the press.”

Read: President Of Journal News Says “Journalists Shouldn’t Be Threatened” »

Surprise! Pelosi Wants More Tax Revenues

This seems to be the Democrats solution for everything: tax ‘n spend, tax ‘n spend

(The Hill) Pushing back against the Republicans’ deficit-reduction strategy, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this weekend that more tax revenues – not just spending cuts – must be a part of Congress’s effort to rein in deficits.

Pelosi said the tax hikes in the recent “fiscal-cliff” deal are a start, but don’t go far enough to generate the revenues the government needs to run the country effectively.

And there you go, the Democrats idea of “deficit reduction” is to tax the bejesus out of the citizens to make up for the shortfall in absurd government spending levels. They’ve been running roughly trillion dollar deficits every year since Obama was elected, and the Democrat led Senate has failed to pass a budget in all that time. There are really no cuts that the Democrats like, other than destroying the military through reduced funding. In many cases they want the budgeting increased, such as with welfare, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, etc. Giveaways to left wing groups and donors? You betcha!

Without offering many specifics, the California Democrat said she wants to scour the tax code for unnecessary loopholes and “unfair” benefits that help those – either companies or individuals – who don’t need it.

Here are benefits that are “unfair”: all the perks that elected legislators receive yearly. Let’s make them pay for most of their own expenses. It’s a drop in the bucket, but it all adds up. Let’s yank those pensions and health insurance plans away.

To reduce deficits, President Obama and the Democrats want a balanced package that combines entitlement reform with spending cuts and new tax revenues. Republicans, however, are rejecting the notion that new taxes should be a part of the process. They say the tax hikes included in the just-passed fiscal-cliff bill are plenty. Now they want to focus on cutting spending.

What spending cuts and entitlement reform have Democrats offered? They told us that the major programs were off the table. They really offered no spending cuts. During a government shutdown, only “essential” services are kept running (also known as “exempted”). Let’s look at those that aren’t essential and cut cut cut.

Pelosi also took a few shots at Republicans, blaming the rightward shift of their party for the partisanship in Washington’s current political environment. She said the GOP is now “dominated by an element that are anti-government ideologues” who are “committed to not cooperating with this president.”

“It didn’t used to be this way,” she said. “I keep saying to my Republican friends, take back your party. This isn’t the Grand Old Party that did so many things for America, that commanded so much respect. We need a strong Republican Party. This is really the over-the-edge crowd. That’s the way I see it.”

In other words, she wants a party that is open to massive spending and getting steam-rolled by Democrats.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Surprise! Pelosi Wants More Tax Revenues »

Rep Jose Serrano Submits Legislation To Repeal Presidential Term Limits

When I caught this over at 90Ninety Miles From Tyranny, I was hoping it was a joke or a false meme. Alas, it isn’t. Screenshot comes from Mike

It’s real. Rep Jose Serrano, who took over tax cheat Charlie Rangle’s Congressional seat, submitted the legislation. Right now, it looks like it will go absolutely nowhere. He has no co-sponsors and it has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it will languish under GOP control. But, one has to wonder what would happen if the GOP loses the House in 2014.

Read: Rep Jose Serrano Submits Legislation To Repeal Presidential Term Limits »

If All You See…

…is an awesome planet healing scooter which Everyone Else should be forced to drive, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Zilla of the Resistance, with a post featuring the Second Annual Zilla Awards for Awesomeness in the Dextrosphere!

I figured this was the perfect place to highlight this, since Zilla has me in two categories, including “Best Use of Pretty Ladies While Debunking the GoreBull Warmal Colding Hysteria Hoax“. Head over and check it all out!

Read: If All You See… »

Pirate's Cove