Overdue Indictments

Hilary Clinton: Involuntary Manslaughter, for her demand that the US relationship with Libya be "normalized," and then telling Ambassador Stephens to shut up already, you don't need any extra security, I just declared everything normal over there. Conspiracy to Commit Perjury, Providing False Statements, too, for that video, which doesn't make any difference, doncha know.

Eric Holder: Fraud and Diversion of Government Property, for Fast and Furious. Conspiracy to Commit Murder, for Fast and Furious. Malfeasance, for just about everything else he's done.

Leon Panetta: As a former Secretary of Defense, activate him in the military and then bring UCMJ charges of Dereliction of Duty and Conduct Unbecoming, for leaving Americans to die in battle without rendering aid. Then back to the civilian courts for False Statement about that video crap.

James Clapper: for being Stupid on Station. And Perjury.

Susan Rice: Conspiracy to Commit Perjury.

And, last but not least:

President Barack Obama: Managing a Criminal Enterprise.

Man up

So this guy Snowden drops a dime on NSA's wholesale and indiscriminate collection of just about everything we all say and do, and then gets hisself off to Hong Kong. Okay, hero or traitor? Well, if he had manned up, stayed here and faced the music, then I'd be giving him a medal. But he didn't. He ran off, which is something a spy would do.

Now, I've been hearing some pundits and commentators saying things like "high school dropout" and "Top Secret clearance" in tones of incredulity, like the former obviates the latter. I am intimately familiar with the entire clearance awarding process, having spent many of my post-military years in da bidness, and, please, get a grip. Your level of education is not an issue in clearance awards; it's an issue in the job you're being hired to do, and if a high school dropout can do the wondrous computer administrative support tasks required by the job Snowden was hired by Booz Allen to perform at NSA, then well and good. I mean, Richard Branson was a high school drop out, too.

Clearances are a whole separate beast. The clearance process determines whether you are the type of person who can be entrusted with classified information, anything from the mundane level of Confidential to the stratospheric stuff which is protected under various code words. That usually goes to character, which can be snapshotted by a look at your spending habits, the people you hang out with, how well you play with others, and what kind of foreign connections you have, among other categories. And, obviously, Snowden passed muster.

But, waaait a minute, that PROVES the clearance process doesn't work!

Well, no. It actually proves the clearance system is working great.

Because, you see, the clearance investigation is designed to ferret out traitors to the United States, persons who are willing to sell out this country for personal gain or for ideological reasons. Snowden is not that kind of person. Au contraire, he fervently believes in the Constitution and the operating principles of this country. So, when he discovered the NSA was conducting operations directly against the Constitution, operations that are un-American and traitorous in themselves, he exposed it.

Just like any good American would do when confronted with a covert Marxist operation designed to destroy the country.

Okay, that last sentence may be a bit of hyperbole, but I can sympathize with Snowden's dilemma. In the course of his job, he discovers a powerful US government agency is waging a secret war against the populace. What do you do, especially when you discover everyone from the President on down, is in on it? You don't exactly have the best course of redress, like the IG and members of Congress, since, the moment you call them, you're a marked man. Right, IRS?

So, gotta give him credit, he went public. And not in any way that compromised US security, because even the dullest of terrorists knew we were tracking their phone calls. Unless, of course, you believe collecting information on every single American is a good, right, and proper security tactic. Which I don't. It's a fishing expedition, easily turned against us. Get off your lazy asses, CIA and FBI, and do some real investigating! You know, like following up on leads about some Chechen guy, or when one of your agents sends up a memo about some suspicious flight training.

But no credit for going to Hong Kong. Dude, that's treason.

Ghost of the Gipper

This Romney guy. Dunno. Might have to change my opinion. He's starting to look more Reaganesque.

Like last night, during the debate. Romney completely neutralized the "Bin Ladin is dead" trope. By the end of the night, it was pretty clear that both of them could handle foreign policy. If you like Obama's, then you're not going to get a whole lot different with Romney. So the issue is, what do you think of the economy and, in that regard, Romney wins, hands down.

Now, I firmly believe that Obama has turned the US into a dithering muffin no longer taken seriously by our enemies, and that he has done so in a deliberate fashion. That's the kind of rhetoric I was expecting from Romney, and the kind I did not get. But it doesn't upset me because Romney was playing long ball. He avoided Obama's efforts to make him look like a raving war monger, and that pacified the two or three so-called "independent" voters still left in the country. That leaves only the economy as an issue, and it's pretty clear which of the two can fix it.

Advantage Romney.

Classic case here of losing the battle and winning the war. Quite masterful, Mr. Romney.

Almost Reaganesque.

Eat More Chikin'

We Americans sort of listen to your cant while going about our business. Most of what you say is harmless, so you're pretty easy to ignore. But, every once in awhile, you go too far, like threatening a business. And what do we do? Smash shop windows, camp in parks and defecate all over them, scream at your children while blocking your front yard? Burn things?

No. We just show up.

In droves. In legions.

Just like we're going to do in November.

You'll be stunned for weeks.

Declaration 2.0

We hold it self-evident that the United States of America is the only country ever founded under the concept that the individual matters. Every preceding country was founded by conquest, and ruled by elites who regarded their population as mere peasants to be managed, controlled, and kept in their places. Not so here. The idea of America transcended race, religion, ethnicity and social class, a concept so radical that an additional war was fought between countrymen some eighty years after America's founding to settle remaining questions. Even today, there is resistance. Some persons just simply don't like the idea of others living freely.

And those persons have become our rulers. The very factions our founders warned us about have coalesced into parties, both of which seek control of the country. One of those parties has become so dangerously anti-freedom that it must, at all costs, be completely replaced and destroyed in the next election cycle. The replacing party, while not so bad, still believes that government is the solution and will, under its four year reign, do as much damage to individual rights as the party they replaced.

This must stop.

Therefore, the people of this country proclaim a pox on both your houses, and advise the politicians, party leaders, government functionaries and bureaucrats that we are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore. Either you recognize that we, the People, have primacy over your plans and programs and bureaus and regulations, or be prepared to ride feather-covered rails out of town.

Get me?

Heartening

So, the public union referendum in Ohio goes down in flames, as does the Mississippi right-to-life one. At the same time, Ohio rejects the Obamacare mandate and Virginia becomes all Republican all the time.

Mixed results?

Nope.

We still value the individual in this country. We still respect unions because they're made up of our neighbors and friends, regular working people. Now the unions, themselves, have become Marxist fronts, and public service unions…don't get me started. Giving a group of our neighbors the power to shake us down to finance their salaries and pensions, while the schools get worse and the regulators grow by exponential notation? Extraordinarily stupid, but that will play itself out. Eventually.

We want women to still make their own choices, too, even if they are incredibly stupid ones. You have the freedom in this country to be stupid.

BUT...

...us paying for your stupid behavior? That’s another story. Pay for it yourself. No Obamacare.

Unions getting out of control? Send Republicans up to the state house to slash and burn budgets, thereby limiting how much damage public service unions can actually do to us.

Restores one’s faith, it does.

Remagen Bridge

Schlub has been vacillating on this whole budget deal. People I respect like it; people I respect don’t. The most annoying aspect: Baracula gets to push the issue past 2012. Most gratifying: Baracula’s sheep clothing slipped and the raving Marxist underneath came snarling out.

A lot of my fellow Tea’ers are screaming betrayal because the debt limit was raised. I share your pain. But consider this, fellow patriots: we are standing at Remagen Bridge. The way to Berlin lies open. We’re looking at each other thinking this is some kind of trick; why did they leave a bridge intact for our use? The Germans on the other side are saying we better not cross. So, what, we go, “Okay, sorry to bother you.” ?

No. We cross the friggin’ bridge, beat the crap out of the remnant, destroy the MarxoDemocrats once and for all, and raise the Stars and Stripes over the capitol.

And, this time, there’s no friggin’ Russians in the way.

Code Red Rally: Celebrities!

How many can you identify? Hint: Most are Congressmen:

Yes, the Black Caucus, hoping someone will yell something disparaging. Which no one did, except "Boooooooo!" Lots of thumbs downs, too. But that's it. Believe me, if anyone HAD yelled what is alleged, the crowd would have made that person a greasy spot in about two seconds.

Oh, Schlub ran into one of his heroes:

Code Red Rally continued

Oh, let's do some more:

The sign says "Proudly Voting No." Don't know who's office, but good on ya, mate.

Code Red Rally: Congressional Office Buildings.

Here's some photos I snapped while standing at the Cannon then Rayburn office buildings (or was that the Longworth? Eh, whatever!):

Hey! What? I've STILL got a Blog???

Apparently, I do. And, yes, Schlub has been quite remiss, neglecting his duties and leaving the two or three of you who actually look at this thing in the lurch. So, to make up for it, I bring you:

PICTURES!

These are a couple of shots from the big Code Red Healthcare rally back in March, you know, the one with the alleged racial epithets hurled at the Congressional Black caucus? I say "alleged," because I was standing right there. More pictures to follow:

You no longer have our consent

Laura Ingraham's speech at the Code Red rally was a stem winder. Unfortunately, Blogspot is having a hissy fit and won't let me load it. I'll keep trying. In the meantime:

Pretty much sums the prevailing attitude

A series of photos showing the line of people trying to get into the Senate Office buildings, and a bemused Senator and his staff wondering what is all the fuss and bother out here:

Code Red Rally- 15 Dec 09

Brisk little rally on the side of the Capitol, about 5000
people, give or take:

A little more perspective here:

Pitchforks, people!

        Michele Bachmann!

Tea Party- the Documentary Film

Schlub and Mrs. attended the DC premiere of "Tea Party- the Documentary Film" last night at the Reagan Center. Since Schlub was present during the actual 9/12 march (see below) and Mrs. wasn't (wanted to go shopping. Shopping! Can you believe it?), Schlub wanted her to see what she missed. I mean, Macy's will always be there, but how often do you get to storm the Capitol with a million of your friends?

So, we went. Senator Jim Demint, Congresspeople's Tom Price, Joe Wilson, and  Marsha Blackburn were there, as well as Dick Armey. Here's a picture of them and the cast handing out awards:

If you get out your magnifying glass, you might be able to identify them.

Gotta say, Tom Price can deliver a stem winder.

So, after a lot of self-congratulations, we got into the film, which focused on five persons who pretty much got 9/12 off the ground. The film was a little less than 2 hours and the middle was draggy, almost put-you-to-sleep draggy, but, the last part, the actual 9/12 march...Wow. Inspiring. Almost as inspiring as being there, which somewhat mollified the Shopaholic.

Here's a picture of her with William, a re-enactor who is one of the cast members:

Brush with greatness.