All politics are not local

Effect of D.C. party policies on the economy outweigh state policies and voting for “the man”

Even as a young Democrat in the 1980s, I disagreed with former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill’s supposed axiom, no matter one’s definition of “local”. Then, as now, Democrats were facing an electorate suffering the consequences of policies enacted by their super-majorities in both houses of Congress and signed into law by their President. Clearly guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of economic and national security malfeasance based upon the relevant facts, one can understand the trial lawyer-like resort to avert the gaze of the jury to “local” facts irrelevant to the job description.

I voted the party as a Democrat from 1980-1998 because I favored liberal policies. Since my 2000 conservative epiphany, I have voted for Republicans because I favor conservative policies. The job of a member of Congress is to vote on issues that affect my wallet and national security.

I base my votes on how they will vote on issues that impact my life and that of the nation, rather than who I “like” as a person; campaign ads; so-called “smarts”; or other irrelevant factors usually even including ethics and character, except for executive positions as will discussed below. I also choose my barber based on how well he cuts my hair rather than on the quality of the patter.

In short, I vote the party, not the man. This is true at the national and state levels, but more so at the national level given the structural constraints of cities and states that can’t print money. Character doesn’t matter so much, it seems to me, in legislative positions given the publishing of laws and recorded votes. Character does matter in executive positions given the discretionary power of such offices.

That said, what matters most are the policies favored by parties as that is what affects our lives directly. Poor policies that wreck the economy or invite aggression for foreign enemies aren’t made more palatable when enacted by “good people” or those we like to watch in TV.

Moreover, I have always considered Presidential and Congressional elections to be much more important than state and local elections due to the determinative effect of national policies on the economy that dwarf the effects of policies of states, given the emasculation of state’s rights and the near all-encompassing power of the federal government since the 1930s.

Rare are the states that can avoid a recession brought on by failed economic policies emanating from Washington.

I said all that to say this: Nothing has been more important to me in politics since 2000 than that the failed liberal policies of the Democratic Party be utterly discredited in the electorate’s mind once and for all, and that they be defeated at the polls.

I converted based on the success of Reagan’s monetary, economic, social and national security policies. When a liberal and a Democrat, it was always clear to me what both parties stood for. I was Democrat because I was a liberal.

These facts are why it is so frustrating to me that so many Americans have had to be re-educated away from the obvious lie that there has been no difference between them except by degrees. I suspect this is the case because of the domination of American politics by the Democrats for most of our history. It is has been the default party for too long. After all, it was good enough for Grandma and America has done all right, or so the thought process may go.

I would argue that America has done all right for so long due due to the conservative movement push backs made increasingly necessary by a JFK-less Democrat Party that started selling its soul to the Left soon after his assassination. Moreover, it seems we have reached a Big Government tipping point this past decade especially since ObamaDems tripled the deficit in two years.

Is the GOP perfect? No, and as a conservative I have to accept that all choices since Eve bit the apple are between lessers of evils. But liberals have made the Democratic Party their home for decades. They aren’t leaving it.

The GOP would be better with a responsible opposition. There has been no responsible opposition party for many years and I think the electorate is beginning to realize this after the past 20 months of rule by leftists.

The path to redemption for the Democratic Party can only be trod after a deserved liberal comeuppance election that is likely next Tuesday.We need good liberals. They are good at spotting fires that need putting out. Its too bad they didn’t declare victory 35 years ago on civil rights and the safety net for the truly needy, rather than going to seed.

The present duty is to rebuke them utterly. I will be voting, with but one or two exceptions for Republicans only, at the local, state and national level. America can only begin to heal after the Democratic Party is rebuked.

The Rule: Vote out the Ds!

Now, I hope my exception proves the rule, as I now lean toward voting for Democrat Roy Barnes for Georgia governor based upon his performance in the office before his re-election defeat soon after the turn of the century; lack of any great differences in policy proposals with Republican Nathan Deal; a general liking of divided government and the fact of a Republican General Assembly in the Peach State; and the fact that Deal has been in Washington for the past 28 years.

But I remain persuadable on this race, so committed to the proposition that party trumps the man. Feel free to persuade me.

Mike DeVine

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

Charlotte Observer, The Minority Report and Examiner.com archives

www.devinelawvista.com

Braves-Gamecock Sine Die view from Stone Mountain of Georgia

Speaker David Ralston the star of Georgia’s annual Forty Days and Forty Nights

Sine Die is the Latin term for the end of a legislative session that the Peach State employs to signal its constitutionally-mandated end of not one minute moThere than 40 days of lawmaking.

The conservative, yet easily subverted, time limit didn’t die with sine, but the new Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives did kill the corrupt poison that previously occupied his chair and emerges as a coalition builder, problem solver, competent leader of character this state sorely needed.

Speaker Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), we applaud you for balancing the budget without major tax increases, despite a huge ObamaDem great recession-caused revenue shortfall of over 20%; the passage as an amendment of one of only two Democrat-sponsored bills, the Karla Drenner (Avondale Estates) unnatural tanning regulation bill (HB 853); killing a silly race-based abortion criminalization bill; and, especially for restoring honor and integrity to the Speakership.

DeVine Law acknowledges that the “sick tax” aka hospital bed fees may have been necessary to fill an unfunded, federally-mandated Medicaid gap, but we were not happy with the lack of public college and university cuts. But we mainly blame Governor Sonny Perdue for caving to the “bleeding-hearts (but not our wallets) for low income would be students” education lobby, especially given the tuition hikes announced today.

Everyone has to suffer except government employees. The only jobs “saved” by ObamaDems stimulus were unnecessary state government jobs that We-the-ravaged by the recession-People still have to pay for.

We are happy that Grady Memorial Hospital made its first profit in many years.

Kasim Reed emerging as strong conservative Mayor of Atlanta

This conservative Republican endorsed former Democratic Party state legislator Kasim Reed for Mayor last year.

Not only are we are not disappointed, in fact, we are pleasantly surprised to see the union-backed former candidate stand up to city employee unions in demanding reductions in tax-payer funded benefits; demanding pension reform; laying off unnecessary airport workers; putting his own pre-budget deficit crisis plans for more cops; and demanding that the city reduce the size of government by saying:

“We’re doing too many things in Atlanta,” Reed said in an interview. “We’re going to run our government in a radically different fashion.”

GA-9 and Jimmy’s Grandson

If we have to have a liberal Democrat representing people in Decatur in the state senate (and we do, given the handful of Republicans residing there), they could do much worse than Jason Carter, the former President’s son. Congrats on his special election day win.

But this rooster really crows for Tea-Partier-backed Republican Tom Graves in making the run-off to fill the Northwestern Georgia congressional district formerly held by Nathan Deal who resigned to seek the GOP nomination for Governor. Graves, the sponsor of the only JOBS Bill to pass before sine die, faces state senator and fellow Republican Lee Hawkins in the June 8 runoff.

Perfect Gamecock, Glaus-House gang’s Braves vision and Lebron

It is exceedingly rare for a starting pitcher to retire 27 batters in a row. It has happened only 22 times since 1880, and in only 19 of those did the starting pitcher pitch the complete game and win.

A former South Carolina Gamecock caught the latest last Sunday when Dallas Braden and the Oakland A’s beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0.

John Montgomery Ward pitched the first perfect game on June 17, 1880 before establishing department stores across the Fruited Plain.

Unofficial perfect games:

Harvey Haddix pitched 12 perfect innings for the Pittsburg Pirates, only to lose 0-1 to the Milwaukee Braves in 1959.

Ernie Shore pitched a perfect relief game in 1917 after Boston Red Sox starter Babe Ruth was ejected from the game after arguing with the home plate umpire over a walk to the lead-off hitter for Washington. Shore retired 26 batters in a row after his first pitch resulted throwing out the runner trying to steal second base.

The Troy Glaus-House Gang

Yes, Jason Heyward is still the phenom. Every at bat of the J-Hey Kid is a happening, but does everyone remember the boo birds a few weeks ago directed at Atlanta’s first baseman? Now Glaus is 12th in the NL in RBIs.

An all-star every full year he has been in the big leagues, Brian McCann has struggled with vision problems before and after two Lasix surgeries. His struggles have brought home to me just how important is eyesight acuity to success in the National Past-time.

Lebron

Finally, a question: Was Lebron James’ woeful performance in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Game 5 loss to the Boston Celtics in last night’s conference semi-final NBA play-off game due to:

1. Dialing it in to make statement to management about threats to move to the New York Knicks unless they bring in Orlando Magic-like co-stars;
2. Continuing elbow pain;
3. Celtic defense so tight he was prevented from driving the basket; or
4. Did he just CHOKE?

The Next Episode

Mike DeVine Law Gamecock is overwhelmed with issues  that can be seen from DeKalb County’s Mound-o-Lith but with only so much time to crow, and so asks his readers to comment on which of the below subjects they would like to hear crowings upon:

Elena Kagan SCOTUS nomination emphasizing White Harvard, un-Free Speech and ROTC

A Christian perspective on why we suffer and have physical bodies

• Dodd Financial Regulation Bill and why an independent FED must still be audited by representatives of We the People
• The problems with VAT and FAIR taxes, even if the 16th Amendment’s income tax was repealed
• Two Americas under ObamaDems (or is it four): Union America vs. Non-Union America and Government Employee America vs. The Rest of Us
• The Greece-ian formula for a permanent recession in America
• ObamaDem policies brewing Tea Partiers that unite libertarians, social conservatives as part of a coming 60%-participation handshake of Jeffersonians, Hamiltonians, and most other -onians that ousts ObamaDems from power come Election Day 2010
• King Barack  Obama as a stranger in our midst and his Camel-Not reign over Haiti (Nashville, not so much)

P.S. No matter what, Braves-Gamecock will be pulling against Los Suns.

Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Minority Report columns

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

Two years ago, poultry’s greatest oracle saw 2008′s Summer of $4.00 /gallon gasoline as the beginning of the end of this affluent society’s fetish with faux man-made global warming-moral preening. Getting to work and buying food trumped feel-good, paganistic gaia worship.

Now, twenty years after a generation was indoctrinated by Al Gore and two years into the Great Recession, comes this:

By a 55% to 32% margin, most voters continue to believe finding new sources of energy is more important than reducing the amount of energy Americans now consume. Support for finding new sources of energy has been this high or higher for months.

Complete Cockstradamus-confirming Rassmussen poll results here and previous energy and environmental prognostications here.

Too bad we have a representation without consideration regime instead of a government that reflects the wishes of We the People. I think the disconnect portends a future affirmation of a long-running Cockstradamus forecast of civil disobedience before any GOP super-majorities could reverse the ObamaDem socialism and now Mark Levin agrees.

Braves-Gamecock

Early last Spring when future Braves Hall-of-Famers, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine were struggling with facing up to the end of their careers, Cockstradamus predicted that both would either be Braves broadcasters or employed as coaches or in the front office by the Atlanta Braves.

Both are in the broadcast booth this year and Smoltz is arguably the most entertaining color commentator ever.

The year of the Chicken is coming

When will civil disobdience start? 2011? Not sure, but I am confident that next year will see a significant increase in the number of households that keep and raise chickens for food, thanks to the refusal of ObamaDems to allow us to bail ourselves out of this deep recession in which the under-employment rate rivals that of the bulk of the years of the Great Depression at upwards of 18% and higher.

The chicken is a very efficient recession-blunter what with the eggs, breasts, thighs, wings, alarm clock and strong male role model.

Cock-a-doodle-do, and yes, the only debate left about Tiger Woods is by how many strokes will he win this weekend’s Masters.

Cockstradamus says by 2 strokes over Lee Westwood.

Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Minority Report columns

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

Originally published @ Examiner.com, where all verification links may be accessed.

Will Obama Jobs Summit and Nobel ‘moves to the center’ create jobs and peace?

In short, no and maybe and never forget that modern Democratic Party moves toward the center are akin to  bank robbers (Bonnie Pelosi and Clyde Reid pictured) taking a day off.

Government policies that foster the creation of private sector jobs are not a secret

Over a year ago, this column suggested that President Barack “spread the wealth” Obama would, before the 2010 elections, discover that there wasn’t enough wealth to spread around and turn to some tax cut and/or supply side measures.

It appears that I was “right” in a technical sense, but the post-Jobs Summit Stimulus II by another name is quite puny and has no more chance of stimulating private sector job creation than did the Stimulus I aka government growthulus bill.

In short, Obama’s move to the center is about as close to the Bill Clinton center as Pluto’s closest distance to Earth during its elliptical orbit. Of course, there could always be a Stimulus III for Easter, but I digress.  The Obama proposals:

The one-year only small business incentives are very similar to those tried by President Jimmy Carter and his filibuster-proof Democrats that failed miserably;

The “cash for caulkers” aka “sexy insulation” proposal is another one-shot gimmick; and

In the one area of government spending that could actually out people to work on public infrastructure, Obama proposes only $50B.

Why is creating private sector jobs such a low priority for ObamaDems? The first stimulus that didn’t allocated only 10% of the massive $700B+ bill to public works, with most of that puny amount to be spent in 2010 and beyond. Yes, many signs have been spotted on empty lots advertising the “economic recovery act”, but the vast majority of the funds not related the safety net for the truly needy were to “save” state and local government jobs and to create federal jobs that taxpayers must fund.

Bottom line: ObamaDems don’t care about the poor and middle class, unless caring is defined as indefinite unemployment benefits, welfare, food stamps and labor union “protection” (GM takeover is best example of the latter).

And if anyone thought that these proposals were any kind of significant move to the center, those thoughts should have been disabused by his attack on “bank fat cats” yesterday, so upset was he that Bank of America dared to pay its TARP ransom and escape his meddling controls.

Apparently, Obama has written off the 2010 elections in which he will not be on the ballot; is delusional on economic policy; and/or thinks he can fool the public into thinking he is trying to create real jobs for them.

Wasn’t it Deputy Barney Fife that said: Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me? If they truly wanted to spur job creation, all they have to do is study the effect of the supply side tax and regulation cuts under Reagan and JFK.

Why doesn’t the Drive-By Media ridicule Obama like they did Reagan and Dubya when he used the word “evil”?

It is because they don’t believe he believes it. The Drive-Bys are a protection racket for the Democratic Party, but why anyone would trust a Democrat President given that party’s behavior since November 1963, I haven’t a clue, unless the reason is child-like denial or pure ignorance.

However, I will give the President kudos for more than just the first part of his war speech when accepting the Nobel “aka hate Bush” Peace Prize and his actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The best deterrent for “evil” is to kill evil doers, and Obama has allowed the armed forces to continue to kill them. Bravo!

Obama has not surrendered in Iraq aka Connecticut Middle East and Pakistan is fighting with renewed vigor against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Keep it up.

Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Minority Report columns

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

Originally published @ Examiner.com, where all verification links may be accessed.

Deliverer is a synonym for Messiah, and Lucifer wields pitchforks

The soon to resign CEO of the nation’s largest bank, Ken Lewis, and his cocky defender here at Examiner, have been vindicated in spades, with this announcement last week:

Bank of America Corp. said Wednesday it has repaid the entire $45 billion it owed U.S. taxpayers as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Bank of America was among hundreds of banks that received government support through the government’s TARP program. The bank received $25 billion as part of the initial round of investments when the credit crisis peaked last fall. It received an additional $20 billion in January shortly after it acquired Merrill Lynch in what was a heavily scrutinized deal.

Repayment of the funds frees the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank from the government restrictions that have hampered its search for a new CEO, including executive pay limitations.

Bank of America has been searching for a successor to Lewis since it announced in late September that he planned to retire on Dec. 31.

President Barack Obama asked about recently announced executive bonuses, stated that he didn’t “come to Washington to save fat cat bankers who still don’t get it.”

No, he came to try and literally sic pitchfork lynch mobs on them while many were getting threats to their life and safety. His administration falsely claimed that Bank of America Corporation (BAC) was “insolvent”, despite the fact that it had never missed a payment on its obligations. It was clear that Obama wanted his Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to be BAC’s new CEO. He tried everything to drive it into the ground, and he did succeed in getting Ken Lewis removed as Chairman of the Board.

But while Obama was taking apology tours and dating Michelle at the taxpayers expense, Lewis took no salary for two years and paid the government back its un-asked for loan, nine years early.

Obama is looked upon (or was) as some sort of Messiah during the 2008 Presidential campaign by yutes, Europeans and the American left in the press and the Democratic Party.

But do Messiah’s wield pitchforks? No.

Messiah’s perform miracles, and given Lewis’ performance, he must better understand the tendency of Messiahs to be crucified. The TARP pay back miracle follows on the heels of the miracle he performed in turning the merger with a bankrupt Merrill Lynch into a money maker, after being forced to go through with the deal by Geithner’s predecessor at Treasury, Hank Paulson, during the financial crisis late last year.

Lewis also survived lies about the deal by Paulson and Fed Secretary Ben Bernanke, both of whom claimed that they didn’t coerce Lewis to go thru with the deal after learning of Merrill’s balance sheets.

Finally, he survived relentless attacks by the dead-tree drive by media outlet (Charlotte Observer) in his hometown that tried to out North Carolina’s largest private employer out of business. Guess they thought it would sell more newspapers?

Ken Lewis was attacked by the economy, the media, congressional show trials and a thuggish, Chicago Way President and Administration.

The result: Bank of America survives and does more to reduce the deficit that all of the above combined.

Could the man that de-TARPed Bank of America do the same for the United States of America?

Ken Lewis for President 2010!

Click here for all prior DeVine columns on this subject.

Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Minority Report columns

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

Originally published @ Examiner.com, where all verification links may be accessed.

Cap-and-tax high energy tax attack on the poor and middle class is dead

Finally,  a so-called Blue (moderate) Dawg Democrat stands up to the Hectorer-in-Chief, and conservatives could do a lot worse than for that democrat to be the Scots-Irish author of Born Fighting who famously tried to start a fight with the former occupant of the White House.

One of the most passionate and enduring dreams of President Barack Hussein Obama, directly consistent with the Marxist dreams of his Kenyan father, is that Americans learn a lesson from high energy prices even if it bankrupts the coal industry.

But the lesson Americans learned when gasoline reached $4/gallon two summers ago is that man-made global warming aka climate change was a fetish of an affluent society, a relic of the pre-Great Recession salad days.

The fact that ObamaDems’ cap-and-tax attack on the poor and middle class bill has been stalled for months concentrates the mind. Obama’s pending pilgrimage to the climate change revival required that the Nobel Messiah perform a miracle before his Transfiguration, so he had his EPA Gabriel issue a threat to his congressional subjects.

The threat got caught in a Virginia Webb:

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) sent a letter to the president late last week warning Obama against agreeing to any binding climate change agreement during a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark this month.

“I would like to express my concern regarding reports that the Administration may believe it has the unilateral power to commit the government of the United States to certain standards that may be agreed upon at the upcoming [conference],” Webb wrote to Obama.

“Although details have not been made available, recent statements by Special Envoy on Climate Change Todd Stern indicate that negotiators may be intending to commit the United States to a nationwide emission reduction program,” Webb added. “As you well know from your time in the Senate, only specific legislation agreed upon in the Congress, or a treaty ratified by the Senate, could actually create such a commitment on behalf of our country.”

It appears that even if the pagan religion were true, Webb long ago decided that it would not justify the draconian measures desired by the Left, as evidenced by his appropriately puny bill to continue the Bush Administration research in wind and solar power.

But after the climategate emails showing the scientific data was fraudulent, all you hear now are death rattles.

There will be no new taxes on energy, just as Cockstradamus crowed two years ago.

I don’t think Charles Krauthammer need worry:

Not everyone is pleased with the coming New Carbon-Free International Order. When the Obama administration signaled (in a gesture to Copenhagen) a U.S. commitment to major cuts in carbon emissions, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb wrote the president protesting that he lacks the authority to do so unilaterally. That requires congressional concurrence by legislation or treaty.

With the Senate blocking President Obama’s cap-and-trade carbon legislation, the EPA coup d’etat served as the administration’s loud response to Webb: The hell we can’t. With this EPA “endangerment” finding, we can do as we wish with carbon. Either the Senate passes cap-and-trade, or the EPA will impose even more draconian measures: all cap, no trade.

Thank you for the clarity on this issue Senator Webb.

Now, how about Virginia tobacco?

Just as the EPA threat is based on a non-Congressionally approved, unilateral executive overreach “finding” that what humans breathe out is an “endangerment” to human health, so is the recent action by the FDA to regulate tobacco, but to only apply the law to “clove” and other flavored cigarettes as dangerous to children.

But just as the EPA can’t selectively apply its regulations only to big business, the FDA can’t just protect children. Adults matter too! The problem is that everyone knows CO2 is not a health hazard. Kim Strassel points out the legal problem:

But the EPA’s legal vulnerabilities go beyond that. The agency derives its authority to regulate pollutants from the Clean Air Act. To use that law to regulate greenhouse gases, the EPA has to prove those gases are harmful to human health (thus, the endangerment finding). Put another way, it must provide “science” showing that a slightly warmer earth will cause Americans injury or death. Given that most climate scientists admit that a warmer earth could provide “net benefits” to the West, this is a tall order.

Then there are the rules stemming from the finding. Not wanting to take on the political nightmare of regulating every American lawn mower, the EPA has produced a “tailoring rule” that it says allows it to focus solely on large greenhouse gas emitters. Yet the Clean Air Act—authored by Congress—clearly directs the EPA to also regulate small emitters.

The laws being passed by this ObamaDem Congress are disastrous enough (non-stimulus, $1.8T budget deficit, etc).The Republic can’t stand Napoleonic edicts and this conservative Republican is glad that at least one Democrat is willing to stand up for the separation of powers to protect We the People from the ideological leftist nut who garnered the necessary electoral votes to appoint 911-truthers and Maoists to the executive branch.

I suspect that Webb won’t be getting an invitation to White house parties given his Copenhagen executive overreach warning epistle, and we suspect that Obama won’t be making a get tough with John Conyers-type phone call to Webb as well.

The Secret Service’s diligence on party-crashers just got a priority alert. The problem is though, that the people who have invitations to White House parties and who occupy the offices are the danger, not tabloid moguls.

Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Minority Report columns

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson 

ObamaDems don’t care about winning wars, honoring the troops, deterring terrorists, creating non-government jobs or allowing anyone to secure a loan in this country without their prior approval.

This is the first in a series, focusing on the governing concept of President Barack Obama that we identified early in his Administration and dubbed “expostfactObamalism”, due to ObamaDems’ attempts last Spring, to retroactively tax AIG-bonuses at a 90% confiscatory rate and to criminalize the enhanced interrogation techniques and the giving of legal advice justifying same, that CIA agents and Justice Department lawyers used to keep us safe after 911.

The recent decision to provide Khalid Sheik Mohamed (pictured, courtesy of TMR) with a civilian trial and return to the scene of his horrific handiwork near Ground Zero in New York City inspired the need to return to this issue, given its departure from fundamental American principles and comparability to the the regular criminalization of politics by Third World banana republics.

Actions of this kind so violate fundamental fairness that  the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions explicitly state, for example, that:

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. – US Const. Art. 1, sec. 9

No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, retroactive law, or any law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall be made. – Texas Const. Art. 1, sec. 16

U.S. Supreme Court precedents have severely limited the applicability of these concepts to criminalization of deeds deemed legal at the time, but have allowed their applicability, at least in the criminal realm to similarly-situated groups rather than just named individuals. However, our culture and traditions have, until the rise of the ObamaDems, have mostly followed the concepts embodied by the most detailed language of the Lone Star State’s language cited above.

Our purpose today, is to re-introduce the concept of expostfactObamalism in a number of contexts, which we will revisit over the coming week in more detail, as indicated below:

KSM trial in NYC

Possibly the most vile and cynical action taken by the liberal Democratic Administration, the decision to refuse to accept a guilty plea from the mastermind of 911 is a direct assault on previous administration. Such a trial serves no useful purpose as Attorney General Eric Holder (in the role of Janet Reno as Bill Clinton’s Waco raid foil) admits that KSM can be held indefinitely as an enemy combatant.

KSM was about to be convicted and executed under the rights-sensitive, U.S. Supreme Court-demanded, Democratic Party majority passed and signed  by Obama into law, military tribunals at Gitmo. The result of civilian trial in NYC can produce no better outcome, and promises to be a show trial that indicts President George W. Bush et al, with KSM and the other four terrorist defendants testifying essentially as witnesses corroborating the “testimony” of candidate Barack Obama’s campaign criticisms of the United States at war.

As we have oft repeated, Dems say and do for free, what the terrorists would gladly pay them to say and do. We suspect the irony of Mohamed echoing the words of ObamaDems, including Barack Hussein Obama and other ObamaDems, will not be lost on the American people.

Jobs summit fraud

The stimulus wasn’t, but could have been. Even the Keynesian part wasn’t. We know this because now ObamaDems are post-2009 Election Day in Virginia and know that they don’t have enough wealth to spread around to cover the stench of the fact that Dems Don’t Care about the poor and middle class.

If ObamaDems cared about actual people having actual jobs (save for government and union jobs), they would have front-loaded the recovery act with shovel-ready jobs. That they didn’t is an admission that they only care about the perception of progress on jobs leading up to Election Day 2010.

If they cared about creating jobs, they would celebrate the cooling Earth of the past 11 years, breathe a sigh of relief that we discovered the fraud of the global warming/climate change claim, and accept the reality of oil as the now and indefinite future fuel of prosperity and liberty. Read George Will, here.

We will have extensive coverage of this issue after the President’s address to the nation on Tuesday, but suffice to point out for now that:

• Obama is whining about the deficit and consequent lack of resources after his $1.8T first budget deficit, squandered the moment and our currency on a government growthulus bill posing as a stimulus;
•  ObamaDems reject any and all of the proven supply-side policies that produced the Reagan-Clinton 25-year recovery and tie all proposals for tax relief to crony capitalism that requires investors to follow the advice of federal bureaucrats;
• Seeks to monopolize mortgage, student and small business loans within the federal government’s discretion in order to enforce the above; and
• Creates two Americas that John Edwards never hinted at, i.e. One Union, One Non-Union, and guess which gets the shaft.

The non-surge in Afghanistan is expost facto pre-911 mentality

West Point address admits ObamaDems’ Bushlied Era and campaign claims that the Afghan war was one of necessity was a fraud

Charles Krauthammer’s paraphrase of Winston Churchill as Obama:

We shall fight in the air, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, we shall fight in the hills — for 18 months. Then we start packing for home.

President Obama’s cynical use of West Point cadets as props for his diatribes, insults and lies against his predecessor as Commander in Chief (and oh, btw, I am sending 30,000 more of you chumps into war) showed just what a small man he is. I got through two pages of the eight-page transcript before having to write this column, the main follow-up to which will detail the vile hurlings from Obama’s mouth later in the week. For now, consider:

1. No mention of victory
2. Enemies of liberty described as mere ”extremists”, never terrorists
3. No praise for Iraq victory
4. Blames Cold War muhajadeen strategy that defeated the Evil Empire, for 911. We “allowed” 911 to happen
5. Blames Taliban resurgence on Iraq War
6. Lies concerning supposed denials of Afghan Theater troop requests by then Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld
7. Ad nauseum ad infinitum….in next column

 The AJC’s Jim Wooten Thinking Right:

It is tacky and disrespectful of the Office of the President for the Commander-in-Chief to assemble his troops, as Obama did at West Point, and use the occasion to trash their former Commander-in-Chief. This is the action of a small-bore leader.

We were told during the Bushlied Era, that we had to get Usama bin Laden, but now, not so much. But a war tax? We need that.

More later, every day this week…

But before we conclude part one, one comment on the relatively strong support the President has received from prominent Republicans, like Newt Gingrich, for his decision to send 30K troops to Afghanistan. Newt, like Karl Rove and Bill Kristol, disagree with exit strategies that telegraph to allies and enemies alike that we haven’t the stomach to finish the job, but do think that General Petraeus can win the war with the extra troops.

I was asked by an Astute Conservative Political Observer in Alabama is Newt had gone over to the dark side due to his praise of Obama’s decision on the increase of troops in Afghanistan.

No, he hasn’t, although some of his actions on climate change, support for moderates in contested GOP primaries and other actions do show he has been inside the Beltway too long.

However, the main lesson to be drawn from this exercise as contrasted with the behavior of Democrats (including then Senator Obama who refused to vote the fund the troops as a campaign game of chicken with Hillary) is the consistency of Republicans in supporting Commanders in Chiefs and troops in the Field.

By contrast, Democrats use war and the troops as political issues and pawns.

Dems are vile.

Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Minority Report columns

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

Originally published @ Examiner.com, where all verification links may be accessed