Sunday, May 30, 2010

Immigrants and Socialists March Against SB 1070 in Phoenix

This is why I covered it. Reading the morning newspapers on yesterday's illegal immigrant march in Phoenix, you'd think it was just a nice outing for families to stand up against Arizona's SB 1070. But this was no weekend picnic. The event was more about revolution and reconquista than about "immigration reform." The Arizona Republic, CNN, and the New York Times all publised blasé reports, riddled with inaccuracies and omissions. And check the screencap at yesterday's Los Angeles Times below. It's hard to find a better image that captures the media's pro-illegal immigration reporting: "A girl waits to join the march through downtown Phoenix." See how seemingly normal things appear. The editorial choices made by MSM functionaries are staggering sometimes:

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To put it mildly, the press didn't report the whole story. Here's the scene as the crowd gathered at 8:00am at Indian School Park in Phoenix. This image better captures the tone of the day's events. Behold Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio as KKK terrorist:

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Or as the state's "Abuser #1":

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Here's the message from the "Mexica Movement," with some of the group's signs below:
We the Nican Tlaca, the Indigenous people of this continent, demand that you (white people on our continent) stop your pretense that we are foreigners on our own continent. Stop pretending that your borders that separate our people have any legitimacy. Stop pretending that you are moral or just in the genocide you perpetrate against us. Remember that all of the evil laws that Hitler and the Nazis made against Jews and Gypsies were totally legal and within the framework of their government’s democracy. Remember that all of the evil of Hitler was supported by the majority of the German people, including all of the discrimination and ethnic cleansing, including the holocaust.
Claiming to be "non-profit," the group sold smaller placards. The minature version of this one, with Arizona flag and Swastika, was popular among marchers:

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Throughout the day chants and exhortations decried European colonialism, for example, "WE DIDN'T CROSS THE BORDER ... THE BORDER CROSSED US!!"

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Everywhere you looked you found Nazi excoriations:

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L.A's neo-communist International ANSWER contingents were on the ground ...

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... putting the pressure on for mass amnesty:

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That "WE DIDN'T CROSS THE BORDER" slogan wasn't just found among the obvious extremist groups. Lots of everyday folks were spouting this nonsense. But the mainstream press isn't giving you these images, which were too numerous to photograph:

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Marchers routinely carry the Mexican flag above the American flag:

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Like a bee to honey, this lady swarmed right over to the reconquista table, hanging out there for a while:

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And none of the MSM reports indicate that Ron Gochez was a leading organizer of the day's events. Remember Gochez from the viral YouTube last month? I spoke to him personally. I told him I'd seen him on television (with Griff Jenkins on Fox) and he gladly posed for photos:

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His comrades proudly marched with Aztlan-style banners and Mexican flags:

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The "indigenous" people were all around, but the media's not reporting their call to expropriate the "colonialists." Nice people --- with a radical message:

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The Big Labor/Open Borders lobby was well-represented:

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The unions bused in scores of Latino families:

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They hung back in the shadows while their organizers spouted attacks on "racism" and "white supremacy":

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As the procession begins ...

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... marchers are met by revolutionary socialist organizers:

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Temperatures reached the mid-90s. Mexican businessmen ignored the class-struggle rhetoric and went about selling their products. Folks like ice cream when it's hot out:

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Some protesters joined the march as the procession made its way south down 3rd Street. See what I mean about Sheriff Joe Arpaio? The media malpractice is stunning. Where's the reporting? This kind of signage was ubiquitous along the route:

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Moving along, I spotted this ominous banner:

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Turns out that a band of anarchists had infiltrated the march. This woman was paranoid, obviously alarmed I was taking her picture:

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It's understandable, considering the group's strong message on no borders:

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One of their thugs threatened me with violence, getting in my face next to the sidewalk. Still, I wanted to get another shot of their biggest banner, only partially readable here: "INDIGENOUS PEOPLE FOR MIGRANT RIGHTS." And "SOLIDARIDAD," with the anarchist's "A":

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Continuing along, some of the most potent signs were carried by immigrant families themselves:

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I'd be surprised if a majority of those protesting weren't illegal immigrants, and even in Arizona I guess folks aren't too worried about deportation. Will President Obama deliver on amnesty? Marchers are betting on it. (Recall that the press is now calling illegal aliens "unauthorized migrants.") You can't make this stuff up, although the MSM refuses to report the big picture:

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I fault the organizers of the march for planning a 5-mile protest route in extremely hot weather. Things got scary for some families. And I felt bad for the mothers I saw (with swaddled babies or fully-clothed toddlers) who obviously weren't educated on the dangers of heat stroke for infants and young children. Many families were stopping, caring for kids who were clearly overcome by the heat. I'm serious about this. A 2-mile march starting 9:00am would have been an improvement, with just as much media coverage. As it was, at 2:00pm people were still marching downtown to the government seat. The fire department was responding to heat-related emergencies all day. Not even the availability of ice-cold water along the route can excuse putting families at risk for political gain:

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Seen here, again, regular folks hoisting extremist signs. The "Nazi" message is getting out there:

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Campaign signs along the protest route. Governor Jan Brewer's running for another term. She's attacked as Hitler (see below), but of course the Nazi dictator suspended the electoral process after coming to totalitarian power in 1933. Facts weren't relevant to the marchers:

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Latin American revolutionary iconography is everywhere along the march:

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Immigration, naturalization, and passport services are widely available in downtown Phoenix:

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But open-borders activists want you to believe it's all a nightmare:

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Passing the Arizona Republic's building downtown. They had reporters on the ground, but I don't think they wanted to actually walk in the shoes of the migrants (like I did) --- or if they did, they ain't saying what's really going down:

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Passing the Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. District Court in downtown Phoenix. Illegals could face deportation hearings here, but the migrants marched past without even noticing. The day's incommensurabilities were simply mind-boggling:

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And it's not like Arizona authorities weren't concerned with unlawful activity, violence, or unrest. The Arizona Republic's report was sure to indicate the "heavy police presence," which apparently included police detachments on the roofs (on top here, at the state supreme court building toward the end of the protest). And you can see why. The crowd was massive, perhaps even in the tens of thousands:

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People are descending at the Capitol Building, just in time for the hate-fest:

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I didn't stay long. As I took this photo the speaker was denouncing the theft of Mexican lands, in both English and Spanish. (In fact, most of the speeches and protest chants were in Spanish --- I didn't feel at home in my own country.)

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Protesters weren't allowed on the grounds of the state legislature. I did come all this way, so nice tourist pic, in any case:

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Yet another attack on Governor Jan Brewer:

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The Spartacist League was on hand once again:

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Demonstrators put on a flourishing conclusion for the press:

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More Nazi demonology as the marchers turn the corner. I almost missed getting a shot of this one:

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Walking back to the Hyatt Hotel downtown (to catch a cab back to the Indian School Park), here's a sign advertising English lessons in Spanish. Hey, maybe pretty soon folks won't need 'em:

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Stay tuned for an additional report on the Stand With Arizona event at Diablo Stadium. The media's getting that one wrong as well.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Arizona Update

Well, as I predicted, it was a really big day. Thanks to Grizzly Mama, Lew Waters, and Miss Tammy for checking in on me.

Anyway, I'm beat. I posted a few pics to
my Twitter page, so check that (and follow me while you're there, and I'll follow you back).

In addition to the Phoenix protest, I have some decent pics from the Stand With Arizona event, and I'll get all of that stuff posted ASAP (probably one big post in the morning, and more later Sunday and Monday).

Thanks again and keep checking back. I'm doing fine.

Friday, May 28, 2010

SB 1070 Immigration Rallies Planned for Saturday in Phoenix, Tempe

I'm heading to bed. I'll be on the road early in time to make for the big immigration rallies scheduled in Phoenix and Tempe. The Arizona Daily Star's reporting, "SB 1070 Opponents, Supporters Planning Rallies on Saturday":

Opponents of Arizona's new immigration law hope to attract 50,000 people for a protest march on Saturday - an estimate former state Sen. Alfredo Gutierrez said is justified despite the nominal turnouts at prior protests against the law.

Gutierrez said passage of a string of tough laws targeting immigrants over recent years and heavy-handed enforcement by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have tempered people's willingness to speak out publicly.

But he said the threat of SB 1070 "changes all that."

March organizers also announced the first four Arizona companies that will be targeted for boycotts, selected, Gutierrez said, because officers from all four have a record of contributing to Republicans who backed SB 1070.

The march from midtown Phoenix to the Capitol isn't the only event in the valley Saturday centered on the new law.

Backers of the legislation, operating under the banner of Stand With Arizona, plan their own rally Saturday evening at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Speakers include Arpaio, Mark Spencer of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association and supporters of a "buy-cott" urging people to come to Arizona to show support for the law.

"The purpose is just to show that we stand solidly in the corner of Arizona's right to stand as an independent state and enforce the laws that are already on the books," said Gina Louden, founder of the national buy-cott campaign.

She said SB 1070 simply clarifies that state and local police have the same power to check someone's immigration status as do federal officers.

Carole Bartholomeaux, spokeswoman for Stand With Arizona, said they expect 10,000 to attend. She said there are no plans by supporters of SB 1070 to counter-demonstrate against foes during their march.
The Stand With Arizona page is here. It's going to be a long day. The morning protest in downtown Phoenix features a 5-mile route, so I could be pretty well tuckered out by the time I get to my hotel and cleaned up. Nevertheless, I'll try to post some pictures in the afternoon, and hopefully earlier if I get a chance to sneak into a Starbucks for some coffee-break blogging.

Thanks for reading!

At the video, from KEYT Santa Barbara, "Immigration Rights Protesters Arrested."

RELATED: At Verum Serum last month, "Some Pics of Sunday’s Immigration Protest in AZ You Won’t Be Seeing on MSNBC."

Santa Ana College Offers Scholarships to Illegal Immigrants

I saw this previously at the Orange County Register. But check Gustavo Arellano's completely over the top take on this, "Five OC Illegal Immigrants Who Did More to Better Humanity than Dana Rohrabacher."

Arellano spoke at my college as part of the Puente program in April (gotta build that ethnic solidarity, I guess).

The Santa Ana scholarship program sends the completely wrong message, but considering that the population of Santa Ana is about 90 percent Latino/Mexican, this kind of stuff obviously goes down well in the community.

What kind of country are we going to have folks? Open borders are a fact of life, and we're seeing the erosion of any respect in practice or in spirit for the rule of law. It's unreal sometimes.


RELATED: "Rohrabacher blasts illegal immigrant scholarship‎":

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is incensed that Santa Ana College is establishing a scholarship for illegal immigrants . He has written a letter to the school’s president saying if they proceed with this ,their federal funding could be in jeopardy.

The $2,500 matching scholarship is being created in honor of Tan Ngoc Tran of Garden Grove, a former Santa Ana College student and immigration activist who was killed in Maine on May 15 by a drunk driver.

In his letter to college president Erlina Martinez, Rohrabacher said while Tran’s death is tragic, “channeling our scarce resources to illegal immigrants, even if they are students, is unforgivable at a time when so many of our citizens and legal residents are struggling to meet their own education needs.’’ ....

Tran was a crusader for passage of the DREAM ACT, which would allow illegal immigrant students to get legal status.

Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, also said the scholarship dedicated to illegal immigrants is “an affront to law abiding citizens who tax dollars will pay the bill.’’

Rohrabacher tells Martinez that giving such money “to law breakers by rewarding them with scholarships exhibits a misguided set of priorities for Santa Ana College.”

Tanker Truck Explodes on Eastbound 91 Freeway!

This is one news story at affected me personally, and in a big way. See, LAT, "Tanker Explodes in Flames on 91 Fwy." And KABC-7 Los Angeles, "Tanker explodes on 91, shuts down freeway":


Firefighters let the tanker rig burn out its 9,000 gallon fuel load. Some drivers were stuck for up to 6 hours. And check the spectacular picture at LAist.

I left my house at about 11:45am. I'm travelling with my two sons. We're staying at my mom's house in Yucca Valley, which is about 40 minutes north of Palm Springs. I'm getting up at 3:00 in the morning to get on the road for Phoenix.

I rarely if ever check traffic reports unless it's been raining. So when we got
just past Anaheim Hills heading east on the 91 Freeway a blinking road sign warned drivers to be prepared to stop. Next thing I know I see the Highway Patrol closing down the freeway. I think we got off around Weir Canyon Road and I followed a Highway Patrol cruiser further east until I could see ahead down the freeway. I turned around to get back on the 91 westbound, over to the 57 Freeway north to Interstate 10 east.

Of course, I was really excited to get to my destination, so the thought of being held up for hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic was depressing. That said, the detour wasn't too bad, and I feel a lot better knowing we didn't sit on the 91 for 6 hours.

Thank God no one was hurt.

Rand Paul Takes On the 14th Amendment!

For a guy who says he's an unequivocal backer of equal protection of the laws, you'd think Rand Paul might be a bit more, let's say, careful in avoiding another big fight on civil rights issues. The 14th Amendment is the Holy Grail of the U.S. civil rights regime, and within a week of suggesting that federal law overreaches when regulating private business decisions and freedom of association, here he comes again with more. See CNN, "TRENDING: Paul: No citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants."

Allahpundit has an interesting post on this, and he points us to a George Will essay from March, "A Birthright? Maybe Not." It turns out that the authors of the 14th Amendment never intended U.S. born children of foreign parents to gain citizenship. The logic is impeccable, but as with the public accomodations debate we just had, I'm betting this is another argument conservatives won't win (for the moment, at least ... check back with me after we get "comprehensive" immigration reform).

More at Memeorandum.

Cross-posted from American Power.

Alto Arizona! Zack de la Rocha Rages Against SB 1070

I wrote about Alto Arizona previously: "Ron Gochez, LA RAZA, and National Day of Action Against SB 1070, May 29."

At the viddy, socialist rocker Zack de la Rocha calls for "sensible" immigration reform in this ad for the weekend's events:

Turns out the dude's been getting involved quite a bit, for example, "Zack de la Rocha Leads a March of Thousands to Joe Arpaio's Jails, Neo-Nazis and Nativists Back Arpaio":

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Erick Erickson is Naming Names...UPDATED!!

...In the Nikki Haley "inappropriate relationship" scandal. See, "Naming Names," which is just a teaser for the drip, drip, drip of information he's rolling out today. I'll update later.

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HuffPo's reporting as well. See, "Nikki Haley, Will Folks Phone Records: Pair Had Long, Late-Night, Convsersations."

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this one ... I've been on the road getting ready for tomorrow's Arizona SB 1070 protests.

Anyway, I wonder what's up with Erick Erickson? Does the guy have the goods on Will Folks or not? I guess not. See, "
Letting the Chips Fall Where They May."

Allahpundit says no: "Red State: On second thought, we’re not sure if anyone’s paying Haley’s accuser."

And then Dan Riehl goes after the "pseudonymous boyo":

Yeah, maybe Erick screwed up on this one. But he basically admitted it, so why pile on? Because it was getting a lot of comments? How weak can you freaking get, dude?

Also, Eric's out here every day fighting the good fight without the need to hide behind some punk-assed pseudonym. And I'd rather have him in the fox hole next to me any day of the week, as opposed to some perpetual adolescent, half-baked conservative who cried out a whiny-assed alas and adieu before running away from the blogosphere because not enough people were paying attention to him before he was hired by Michelle Malkin as a snarky headline aggregator. Some of us do have memories, boyo.

Said punk should man up and lose the mask if he wants to directly criticize people with the balls to put their names and careers on the line every day as, you know, actual people; or maybe he should just stick to pics of McCain Blaghett's breasts and Palin winks before his comments drop even more and Salem Communications realizes just how easy it is to replace a pseudonymous Internet addict without a life whose big trick is slobbering over anything with breasts when he isn't comment trolling.

Say what you want about Erick. At least he isn't a punk and a cheap shot artist afraid to put his name on his posts.
Now that's a scandal!

Anyway, more at R.S. McCain, "
Background to the Carolina Scandal: Will Folks, Jake Knotts and the ‘Hit List’; UPDATE: Who Is Rod Shealy?" (Also at Memeorandum.)

70th Anniversary of Dunkirk Evacuation

Theo Spark has a brief news clip, but see Jules Crittenden, "Miracle of Deliverance":
Under heavy attack by the Luftwaffe, an estimated 5,000 were killed in the evacuation and more than 200 vessels, one in four, were lost. Total allied casualties in the battle of Dunkirk, an estimated 30,000 killed or wounded and 34,000 missing or captured, according to Wikipedia. Another 338,000 were saved to fight another day. Hitler had ordered a three-day halt, and a number of top German brass considered the failure to launch an assault a critical error.

Plus, at Guardian UK, "Dunkirk spirit revived as Little Ships head back: More than 50 of the ships that took part in the Dunkirk evacuation returned to France today on the 70th anniversary," and Times of London, "Dunkirk veterans return to France to celebrate ‘Operation Dynamo’ 70th anniversary."

I Am Israel

"I Am Israel," via Right Truth:

RELATED: At Blazing Cat Fur: "Dykes Against Israel Apartheid." And, DoubleTapper, "IDF Women."

EXTRA: In the news, at Foreign Policy, "
Reframing the debate about disarming Hizbullah."

KrisAnne Hall, Florida Assistant State Attorney, Fired for Speaking at Local Tea Party

From Right Scoop, "Florida Assistant State Attorney Fired for Speaking at Tea Party":

And at Miami Herald, "Prosecutor Fired After Free Speech Dispute."

Gov. Chris Christie Town Hall Meeting in Bergen County, N.J.

This has been going viral a bit, via BitsBlog, "Chris Christie Tells Teacher She Doesn't Have to Teach":

RELATED: At New Jersey Star-Ledger, "Gov. Chris Christie, N.J. residents argue during town hall meeting in Bergen County."

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Obama's Katrina: Blame Where it Belongs

From Charles Krauthammer, at WaPo, "A Disaster With Many Fathers":

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Here's my question: Why were we drilling in 5,000 feet of water in the first place?

Many reasons, but this one goes unmentioned: Environmental chic has driven us out there. As production from the shallower Gulf of Mexico wells declines, we go deep (1,000 feet and more) and ultra deep (5,000 feet and more), in part because environmentalists have succeeded in rendering the Pacific and nearly all the Atlantic coast off-limits to oil production. (President Obama's tentative, selective opening of some Atlantic and offshore Alaska sites is now dead.) And of course, in the safest of all places, on land, we've had a 30-year ban on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

So we go deep, ultra deep -- to such a technological frontier that no precedent exists for the April 20 blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

There will always be catastrophic oil spills. You make them as rare as humanly possible, but where would you rather have one: in the Gulf of Mexico, upon which thousands depend for their livelihood, or in the Arctic, where there are practically no people? All spills seriously damage wildlife. That's a given. But why have we pushed the drilling from the barren to the populated, from the remote wilderness to a center of fishing, shipping, tourism and recreation?

Not that the environmentalists are the only ones to blame. Not by far. But it is odd that they've escaped any mention at all.

The other culprits are pretty obvious. It starts with BP, which seems not only to have had an amazing string of perfect-storm engineering lapses but no contingencies to deal with a catastrophic system failure ....

Obama didn't help much with his finger-pointing Rose Garden speech in which he denounced finger-pointing, then proceeded to blame everyone but himself. Even the grace note of admitting some federal responsibility turned sour when he reflexively added that these problems have been going on "for a decade or more" -- translation: Bush did it -- while, in contrast, his own interior secretary had worked diligently to solve the problem "from the day he took office."

Really? Why hadn't we heard a thing about this? What about
the September 2009 letter from Obama's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration accusing Interior's Minerals Management Service of understating the "risk and impacts" of a major oil spill? When you get a blowout 15 months into your administration, and your own Interior Department had given BP a "categorical" environmental exemption in April 2009, the buck stops.

In the end, speeches will make no difference. If BP can cap the well in time to prevent an absolute calamity in the gulf, the president will escape politically. If it doesn't -- if the gusher isn't stopped before the relief wells are completed in August -- it will become Obama's Katrina.
Plus, at Financial Times, "Spill Risks Turning Into Obama's Katrina‎." Also The Hill, "The Big Question: Is Obama to Blame for Gulf Coast Disaster?" (via Memeorandum). And from Damon N. Spiegel The Hill link, " The oil spill in the gulf might end up being one of the worst if not the worst environmental disaster this country has even seen. Katrina pales in comparison and the media put on a witch hunt over the former administration."

CARTOON CREDIT: Michael Ramirez at IBD.