REFLECTIONS

In this issue: 1. Prop-8 2. Gulf Spill 3. Texas
4. Dust 5. Missile 6. GM 7. Missouri 8. Young 9. Leadership

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –

1. Prop-8. A gay federal judge, who attempted to turn a federal trial in SF against Proposition 8, into a circus and put Prop 8 supporters at risk of bodily harm from militant gays “unexpectedly” found that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional. He is a pretty good judge on most matters, and has a good reputation. Unfortunately on this subject, he was unable to separate his sexuality from his respect for law and order. His opinion overturns the will of over 7 million Californians who went to the polls and defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. His opinion bought all the leftist and gay rights drivel. As he is pretty good at what he does, he attempted to craft all the supportive arguments into findings of fact so that any higher court will have a far more difficult time overturning his decision. I expect the decision to be upheld by the Ninth Circus and I expect the SCOTUS with Justice Kennedy as the approving Justice uphold the decision. At which time all Hell will break loose, for this is not about Gay Marriage per se; rather it is about who gets to decide – the black-robed bozos or the people who pay their salaries and pensions. I predict tar, feathers and ropes in the not so distant future. While unpleasant, perhaps it is time to truly send a message to the black robed cowards.

2. Gulf Spill. Big news last week out of the Gulf of Mexico was the successful initial capping of the Macondo well blowout. As administration officials strutted and preened I front of the fawning media, taking credit for stopping the leak, the administration continued to push for approval of their 6-month (soon to become permanent) moratorium on offshore oil exploration. While all this was going on, administration officials and greens in the Gulf were wondering where was the oil? Very little of it hit the beaches, with only around 350 acres of Louisiana wetlands being oiled. Compare this with over 10,000 acres of wetlands being lost in Louisiana to the ocean every year. If the oil wasn’t on the beaches and wetlands in large – or even noticeable – quantities, and there is no more oil being spilled, why are we treating this like an emergency? Sounds like the former head of BP was correct when he said the oil would evaporate, dissipate, and get eaten by the bacterial life in the Gulf and not be a long (or even short) term problem. You would think that God, Mother Nature, Gaia, or the Muslim Moon God would create an ecosystem that can handle all natural insults with not a lot of difficulty. It appears that they have, as the Gulf of Mexico did just fine this time around.

3. Texas. The State of Texas fired a shot across the bow of the EPA last week with a six-page letter cosigned by the State Attorney General and the Chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This letter was a stunning blast at the EPA, responding to EPA demands for an oath of fealty to the EPA by the State of Texas to enforce new EPA dictates put into place without virtue of the congressionally mandated process for creating and approving new rules and regulations. The stick used by the EPA on this will be withholding permit approval for anything in Texas until such an oath of fealty is made. Basically the state of Texas told the EPA to put their demand where the sun does not shine. And they used blunt language to tell the EPA. You can find a copy of the letter here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35298358/Texas2EPA-Letter-Aug-2-2010

4. Dust. The EPA, apparently with not enough to do, is now contemplating regulating dust on farms and other rural locations under the Clean Air Act. This will be a vehicle used by them to control all food production nationwide. It is yet another reason to defund the EPA completely and move responsibility for regulating clean air and clean water back to the many states where that responsibility belongs.

5. Missile. The latest breathless reporting of military vulnerabilities had a new ballistic anti-ship missile being tested and deployed by the ChiComs. This one is a very fast impactor (which is a ballistic missile) that has sufficient accuracy to be able to take out a carrier. Early reportage of the new weapon went with the typical “we’re all gonna die” view of the world. While serious, this threat is not unexpected, as it has long been suggested that a way to take out a carrier would be to drop an ICBM on the middle of the Carrier Battle Group (the carrier itself). Sounds like this is what the ChiComs are planning on doing. Note that each CVBG today has assigned a number of Aegis cruisers and other ships armed with Standard missiles. These have been used over the last decade for anti-missile and anti-satellite work. Perhaps we have been planning against for the Dong Feng (DF) 21D for more than a day or two.

6. GM. Government Motors, tired of being called Government Motors or Obama Motors, suggested that they be privatized once again. Last week the GM CEO suggested that the company go private by being allowed to sell stock. They also suggested that Treasury release its shares for sale to the general public. A thought on this: It will be a very cold day in Hell before any private investor invests a dime in this corporation. This is driven primarily by the new UAW ownership stake in GM. The other driver is the rape and pillage job done to the GM and Chrysler bondholders when Obama stole the company via TARP fund bailouts in 2009. It is rather like Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football. How many times are you going to end up flat on your back after yet another “Trust me” from the Obama administration, Treasury, Geithner, or democrats in congress? Any more than once gives us the definition of insanity – the act of doing the same thing over and over all while hoping for a different result.

7. Missouri. Voters in Missouri slapped democrats and President Obama Tuesday by passing a resolution calling on the legislature to pass legislation that denies the government the ability to require citizens of Missouri to purchase health care insurance – the individual mandate at the heart of ObamaCare. The measure passed by over 71% of the vote. It had weakest support in the democrat inner cities of central St Louis and Kansas City. In some counties, it had over 85% support. Missouri was a deep purple swing state that has been tending democrat over the last several election cycles. This result is a strongly conservative victory for citizens of Missouri that ought to drive the election this year in that state. It may or may not be a harbinger of things to come. But it is most certainly a demonstration of the deep unpopularity of ObamaCare and the process used to force it through congress by congressional democrats and the Obama WH.

8. Young. Last week Eric Holder’s (in)Justice Department dropped all investigations into incumbent Alaskan Representative Don Young. These investigations came out of the same corrupt federal office that obtained the Ted Stevens conviction in 2008 and Conrad Burns in 2006. Both incumbent Republican senators were defeated by democrats in their respective reelections mainly on charges of corruption. We will see how many feds end up in jail or stand trial on RICO charges based on their participation in this criminal conspiracy. I am not holding my breath. Don Young (R, AK) has a challenger in Alaska for the Republican nomination in two weeks. The candidate is Sheldon Fisher, who paints himself as the only true conservative in the campaign. Fisher really screwed up in his first round of campaign ads, trotting out Young’s supposed corruption and the federal investigations of him. This was a wasted round of ads, as people up here are so angry at the feds that they cannot see straight. Fisher would have been far better off had he gone after Young for failing to try to defund intrusive federal agencies that have been obstructionist in Alaska. These include the EPA (oilfield and mine permitting), the Army Corps of Engineers (oilfield permitting), and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (endangered species listing). Fisher could have gone after Young for refusing to bring impeachment charges against activist leftist federal judges – like the SF Prop 8 judge. Young has been in the House for over 40 years and he knows how to play the game. But the game has changed over the last 18 months, and there is a real opportunity to defund, disobey and repeal much of existing federal law. Who is most capable of doing this? We are going to find out.

9. Leadership. One of the things we conservatives have been looking for is someone to lead us out of the current mess – the Next Reagan. The beltway insiders swing back and forth between pretending to be the next Reagan and claiming that Reaganism is dead and buried. Perhaps the best description I saw was a blog comment that said that what Reagan really did for this nation was give us about 25 years for the technology to empower every individual to learn facts, details, exchange ideas, and influence our circle of friends and the wider community. None of this would have been possible 25 years ago, as the leftist media still controlled the narrative. Today nobody controls it. That is the weakness of the left and the strength of the right. That is also why the left has failed so quickly and spectacularly. It is also why things will turn around very quickly once we get the festering carbuncle of government taxation, regulation, control and ownership off the backs of individual Americans. We as individuals are the leaders. We as individual conservatives ought to be engaged in the very real task of moving government power to the lowest possible levels over the next decade or so. Demand small government at all levels and go after every single candidate or incumbent hammer and tong should they not support that direction in words and deeds. If we get the job done at the local level, the national stuff will take care of itself.

More later — AG

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Note: Interesting Items can be found also at the following locations: MatSu Valley News and the home page. Rod Martin’s The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column. Alex Gimarc is a long-time member of the previous Town Hall Conservative group.