I feel as long as Sarah Palin continues speaking out as she does, I'm going to have to start a regular critical series on her (along with regular features like my 'Sunday Talk Soup' and 'Political Potpourri').
- "Jan Brewer has the cojones that our President does not have to look out for all Americans, not just Arizonans, but all Americans". Um, Ms. Palin, Obama has 2 daughters. And Governor Brewer (R-AZ) may have a lot of things, but she doesn't have testicles. It may very well that Jan Brewer is responding authentically to the illegal immigration problem, but until the prominent murder of a well-known rancher, there really wasn't support for the immigration law. To Brewer, struggling to get elected on her own, the issue, which quickly won public support, was found money, particularly given the Obama Administration's decision to file suit against the Arizona law, which all but guarantees she will be able to ride the tide to reelection. So Ms. Palin's attempt to make Brewer out to be a profile in courage is overstated. Furthermore, Ms. Palin fails to address improving crime statistics, increased Border Patrol, and we haven't seen ICE refusing to prosecute under Obama (less than a 10% drop in prosecutions, more weighted to issues resulting in jail time.) This is not to say I'm satisfied with Obama's approach to border protection, but I continue to believe that not only is the Arizona law unconstitutional: it's bad public policy: Arizona would essentially be subsidizing border protection, a national responsibility. Ms. Palin needs to stop this populist nonsense if she wants to be taken seriously. Leadership is more than a series of provocative Twitter posts. If Ms. Palin wants to know who really has cajones, she need look no further than her 2008 running mate, John McCain, whom was relentlessly attacked by media conservatives because of his role in immigration reform and his votes on the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts.
- "Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts. Pls reject it in interest of healing." There are millions of Muslim Americans whom are patriotic American citizens. With all due respect to the surviving family members of 9/11 victims: they do not have veto privileges over fellow citizens' rights to worship, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. I don't want to hear about zoning Muslims out of anywhere close to Ground Zero. Patriotism requires defending individual/minority rights against majoritarian passions, not politically exploiting fears and smears.
Senator Coburn (R-OK) and McCain (R-AZ) released a report called Summertime Blues, a collection of questionable 2009 stimulus bill expenditures put on your grandchildren's credit card, including:
- Over half a million dollars to replace windows for a closed Forest Service visitor center;
- Over a million dollars from the National Science Foundation to study the use of video games by the elderly
- Over $700K for a Northwestern University professor to study machine-generated humor
- Some $2.4M for 5 new buses in Winter Haven, FL, expected to carry some 2 or 3 passengers an hour
- Roughly half a million dollars in smartphones to convince DC smokers to kick the habit
- Some $13M is being spent to renovate Ft. Jefferson in the Florida Keys, which gets roughly 52,000 visitors a year.
Political Cartoon
Lisa Benson is referencing the California initiative that is designed to destroy state political minority rights, undermine the balance of power with the governor and give the perpetual irresponsible-spending Democratic-dominated state legislature a blank check in budget matters. This would be a naked abuse of majoritarian power and must be rejected by a republic based on protecting individual rights from unrestricted mob rule.
Quotes of the Day
I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.
Woodrow Wilson
Musical Interlude: The American Songbook Series
Mel Tormé, "Blue Moon"
