Take Back Congress! Philadelphia Tax Day Tea Party

At MyFox Philadelphia, "Tea Party Rallies On Independence Mall":

At Midnight Blue, "Take Back Congress Tea Party – Philly Style":

Andrew Breitbart on Nightline!

At Founding Bloggers, "Andrew Breitbart Interviewed By Nightline’s Terry Moran Outside The Whitehouse":

The interview's scheduled for sometime this week ...

Rachel Maddow Hosts 'The McVeigh Tapes' ... Rachel Maddow!!

I saw this at Andrew Breitbart's Twitter stream and just now found some media tidbits.

Ellen Gray, at Philadelphia Daily News, offers a hint of condemnation, but doesn't go far enough:

McVeigh's victims were silenced forever, but their killer, it turns out, lives on in 45 hours of audiotapes from interviews he gave for Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck's 2001 book, "American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing."

The cable network has married the previously unreleased audio from the interviews with McVeigh to what MSNBC describes as "state-of-the-art computer re-creations" - resulting in footage that at times looks a bit too much like video-game animation for comfort.

I don't care where you fall on the use of re-enactments in news documentaries: There's something a bit cold about most computer animation and superimposing an impassive McVeigh-like mask on the face an actor only adds to the chilling effect of hearing the Oklahoma City bomber describe how he killed all those people and suggesting that victims' families need to "get over it."

But then graphics aren't the only aspect of MSNBC's presentation of "The McVeigh Tapes" that left me a little queasy.

In introducing the special, host Rachel Maddow can't resist an attempt to peg the Oklahoma City bombing to current events.

"Nine years after his execution, we are left worrying that Timothy McVeigh's voice from the grave echoes in a new rising tide of American anti-government extremism," she says.

You want to go there, Rachel? Really?

What happened in Oklahoma City wasn't some tea party - it was mass murder. Invoking the name McVeigh in the face of some angry rhetoric is (and we can only pray will remain) overkill.

It's more than that. It's evil.

Israel and Obama

At WSJ, "The View From Jerusalem: Why Israel is anxious about the Obama Administration":

Imagine that you're an Israeli perusing the past week's headlines. Senior U.S. military officials have told Congress that Iran may be a year away from producing a bomb's worth of fissile material. Efforts to sanction Iran are again bogged down at the U.N., even as the sanctions are watered down to insignificance. And senior Israeli officials now say that Syria has supplied Hezbollah with Scud-D missiles that can hit every city in Israel with a one-ton warhead to an accuracy of 50 meters.

Oh, and now the Obama Administration seems increasingly of the view that Israel is the primary cause of instability in the Middle East. In a press conference last week, President Obama said the U.S. had a "vital national security interest" in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on the theory that "when conflict breaks out . . . that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."

The remark, which echoes previous comments by senior Administration and Pentagon officials, is being widely interpreted as presaging a concerted Administration effort to press even harder for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement over territory. After the recent flap over Jewish settlements north of Jerusalem, concern is growing that the U.S. wants Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders. At their narrowest, those borders give Israel a nine-mile margin between the West Bank and the Mediterranean Sea.

RTWT.

CHANGE! Poll Finds Epic Distrust as Public Repudiates Congress, Obama Administration!

A new survey at the Pew Research Center finds "epic dissatifacation" with government and elected officials. See, "Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor: The People and Their Government":

By almost every conceivable measure Americans are less positive and more critical of government these days. A new Pew Research Center survey finds a perfect storm of conditions associated with distrust of government -- a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials.

Rather than an activist government to deal with the nation's top problems, the public now wants government reformed and growing numbers want its power curtailed. With the exception of greater regulation of major financial institutions, there is less of an appetite for government solutions to the nation's problems -- including more government control over the economy -- than there was when Barack Obama first took office ....

Source: Pew Research, "Public Trust in Government: 1958-2010"

Hostility toward government seems likely to be a significant election issue and an important element in both midterm voting intentions and turnout. While there was widespread distrust of the federal government in the late 1990s, just 37% went so far as to say that the federal government needed "very major reform." Today, that figure stands at 53%; increasing numbers of Republicans, independents and Democrats say that government needs very major reform. Still, far more Republicans (65%) and independents (54%) than Democrats (41%) express this view.

Consistent with this pattern of partisanship, anti-government sentiment appears to be a more significant driver of possible turnout among Republicans and independents than among Democrats. Among Republican voters who are highly dissatisfied with government, 83% say they are absolutely certain to vote in the midterm elections; that compares with 67% of Republicans who express low levels of frustration with government. By contrast, there is no difference in intention to vote among Democrats who are highly frustrated with government (63%) and those who are less frustrated (64%).

Perhaps more troubling for Democrats, the link between dissatisfaction with government and voting intentions is at least as strong among independent voters. Independents who are highly dissatisfied with government are far more committed to voting this year than are independents who are less frustrated (78% vs. 58%). Overall, independents voters slightly favor the GOP candidate in their district by a 41%-to-34% margin, but those who are highly dissatisfied with government favor the Republican candidate by an overwhelming 66%-to-13% margin. Independents who are less dissatisfied with government favor the Democratic candidate in their district (by 49% to 24%), but are much less likely to say they are certain to vote.

While the GOP has a decided enthusiasm advantage predicated on discontent with government, it has a potential unity problem given the appeal of the Tea Party to many of its members. Only about half of Republicans (49%) say that the GOP is the party that best reflects their views right now, while as many as 28% cite the Tea Party. Among independents who lean Republican, the problem is potentially greater: As many say the Tea Party best reflects their views right now (30%) as the GOP (29%), with nearly as many saying nobody is representing their views (28%).

IMAGE CREDIT: Serr8d's Cutting Edge.

Airlines Face Bankruptcy Amid Volcanic Ash Flight Bans

The world economy's getting some massive fallout from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano. See Financial Times, "Airlines Warn of Bankruptcy and Call for End to Restrictions." And from LAT, "Airlines Carry Out Test Flights in Europe's Ash-Filled Skies":

Their losses deepening, European airlines on Sunday stepped up pressure to reopen the skies by carrying out passenger-free test flights despite the layer of volcanic ash that kept most planes across the continent grounded for a fourth day.

Airlines in Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and France sent jets close to or into the plume of ash and dust thrown up by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, in bids to demonstrate that flying conditions over Europe were safe. All the flights landed without incident, they said.

There was no indication, however, that aviation authorities would immediately ease restrictions on European airspace. Officials said new wind patterns could disperse some of the ash cloud and allow more regularly scheduled flights to operate Monday, but thousands of stranded passengers and affected businesses braced for the ban on air travel to extend into the new week.

British Airways canceled all service Monday into and out of London. Lufthansa also announced the cancellation of all of its flights worldwide Monday. The French government said airports in northern France, including Paris, would remain closed until at least Tuesday morning.

Except for a handful of flights allowed where a gap appeared in the cloud of ash, no-fly zones were in force in all or part of more than 20 countries on the continent Sunday, the Europe-wide aviation agency Eurocontrol reported. The list included southern nations such as Italy that had hitherto escaped restrictions but are now being hit as the high-altitude grit drifts farther south and east.

Communist-Obamacrat Tea Party Infiltration Busted!

This is getting too funny.

First, Gateway Pundit has a report, "Socialist Infiltrators Hand Out Fake Tea Party Literature at NY Protest." Pretty pathetic. Click on the full communist phony "tea party" flyer here:

Plus, check this out, from Erick Erickson, "Is the Obama Administration Behind An Astroturf Anti-Tea Party Website?" (via Memeorandum):

Astroturf is the act of professional interest groups designing campaigns that appear to be grassroots efforts, but are not. It is what the left has accused the tea parties of being. Only more and more it looks like the anti-tea party movement is truly astroturfing.

Writing on January 15, 2010, Glenn Greenwald at Salon noted Barack Obama’s new head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Cass Sunstein, had championed creating fake websites and using outside 501(c)(3) interest groups to act as alleged independent champions of government policy and to “cognitively infiltrate” opposition websites, etc.

In other words, Cass Sunstein has favored the government using outside parties as government propaganda agents to paint their opposition as fringe and undermine their credibility. Kind of like what has been happening with the tea party movement – lots of SEIU members pretending to be tea party activists causing violence in front of TV cameras.

Sunstein advocates that the Government’s stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into “chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups.” He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called “independent” credible voices to bolster the Government’s messaging

Considering Sustein’s recommendations, it is not far removed to speculate the Obama administration is behind a new anti-tea party website called The Other 95, which defends the government from tea party criticisms and attacks the tea party movement as fringe.

More at the link. Also, at Moe Lane's, "#rsrh The Other 95 and faux-populism."

New Details on Bloodthirsty Communist Counter-Protest in Los Angeles!

Let me say once more up front that I despise Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, obviously. But it's worth pointing out the heights of leftist thuggery in smashing the Nazi group's First Amendment rights to peaceably assembly. The video indicates the violent nature of these communist youth thugs:

Also, check out the report at LAist, "Neo-Nazi Rally and Counter-Protest End With Arrests, Some Violence." The guy with the tatoos showed up about an hour before the march, and police said he wasn't even with the Neo-Nazis. But the ANSWER communists beat him to a pulp anyway:

And the communists sure took advantage of their own First Amendment rights:

And once the Neo-Nazis (NSM) left the scene, the communist mob attacked the media and anyone else who stayed behind. Animals:

As the NSM members began a return march to the parking lot, angry counter-protesters lobbed rocks, chunks of concrete, bottles, a metal wrench, and other objects at them, aiming in particular at one NSM member's vehicle, which wouldn't start up.

At about 2:30, the police thanked the crowd and asked them to disperse as the event was over and all the NSM members had left, however many people remained on-scene, throwing bottles and rocks at the police and members of the media.

Institutionalizing Blacks

The Blog Prof has one of the must-read posts of the day, "Detroit Free Press likens tea party movement to the Confederacy":

I have pointed this out many times before, but it's worth repeating yet again. One of my all-time favorite movies is The Shawshank Redemption. In it, Morgan Freeman, aka "Red", coined the term when prisoners become dependent on the prison system and can no longer survive without it - institutionalized. One of the older prisoners, Brooks, was willing to kill to stay in the system as he knew nothing else after so many years. Yet they let him out and he promptly hung himself. He was institutionalized. The Democrats have institutionalizing the black population in this country, no different than slave masters did many decades ago. The same party that fought for slavery, not against it, segregated schools and filibustered the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 now has shackled the black population to another form of slavery - slavery to the state. Stripped naked of their dignity, their hope and their self-reliance.

'Cause I'm Already Gone...

The Eagles in concert at Honda Center is next Sunday. I'll try to post a couple of my favorites in the meantime. Here's "Already Gone":

And as always, don't miss Theo Spark and Washington Rebel. Plus, from Anton at PA Pundits International, "Sunday Music – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – The Bob Dylan Series (Part 3)." And Sir Smitty's "Rule 5 Sunday" is here.

BONUS: Swedish Meatballs Confidential, "Probably The Best Blog In The World -- International Security 101."

Baby LuLu's Coming to L.A.!

With her mom, Karen Alloy:

Be sure to watch until the end (I love Baby LuLu!) ...

Obama Zombie Professors

From Orit Sklar, "Obama Zombies Versus Countercultural Conservatives":

College campuses have become the most intolerant environment for free speech in America over the last few decades, with conservative students, speakers, and ideas in the crosshairs of hostile leftist professors and administrators who use their resources to advance a radical political agenda while suppressing the opposition. For years this was treated as a problem that was isolated to the campus community, but during the 2008 presidential campaign, the country learned that this problem breached the campus wall without a single sandbag laid down to reinforce it. In Jason Mattera’s Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation, he demonstrates how comprehensively the Obama campaign hijacked an entire voter generation to win the election. The good news is that, by heeding Mattera’s advice, the Obama Zombies – and the country — can be saved.

RELATED: It's not just students, obviously. The kids are assaulted by their radical professors with a constant barrage of neo-communist disinformation and propaganda. See, "What Do Professors Want":

Many academics not only envy people with money, but also those who enjoy political authority. Professors are more confident than most that they have the truth and are convinced that, if given the opportunity, they would rule with intelligence, justice, and compassion. The trouble is that few Americans, at least since the time of Andrew Jackson, will vote for intellectuals. (The widespread assumption that Presidents who have Ivy League degrees are intellectuals is highly debatable. The Left declared consistently that George W. Bush, who had diplomas from Yale and Harvard, was mentally challenged. Barak Obama, who was not really a professor, has sealed his academic records.) How many professors run City Hall anywhere? How many would like to? How many humanities and social science professors are consulted when great civic issues are discussed and decided? Who would even invite them to join the Elks?

Instead of steering the machinery of local, state, and national politics, academics are relegated to writing angry articles in journals and websites read by the already converted and pouring their well-considered opinions into the ears of young people who are mostly eager to get drunk, listen to rap, watch ESPN, and find a suitable, or at least willing, bed partner for the night.

On the Left and Right money means power, and we "pointy heads" and "eggheads" are on the outside looking in. One thinks of Arthur Schlesinger Jr swooning over the Kennedys for the rest of his life because they gave him a title and a silent seat in some White House deliberations. Those making as much money as, say, an experienced furnace repairman account for little in this world, despite the PhD. How many academics even sit on the governing board that sets policies for their campus? It is all most humiliating. (To see how intelligently and objectively academics use the authority they have, examine the political correctness the suffocates the employment practices and intellectual lives of almost all American campuses. Aberlour's Fifth Law: "Political correctness is totalitarianism with a diploma.")

Blazing Cat Fur's Constantly Dealing With This Stuff...

It's no surprise that Matthew Yglesias hates American sovereignty and would toss American exceptionalism to the "supranational" legal authority of a "North American Union." Here's how the guy dresses up in his free time:

But actually, I'm just getting a kick out of this comment at the blog, from a lefty in Canuckistan:

As a Canadian, I have absolutely no interest in having to deal with Tea Party in my politics. Or, for that matter, a leader who can have citizens assassinated at their whim. Or a population that, in the majority, thinks evolution isn’t true. Or, a population that would deny its citizens health care. Or, a leadership that sends its armies to kill in foreign countries. Or… well I think you get the idea.

Clean up your act. Become a nation of laws again. Treat your citizens with respect. Treat the world’s nations with respect. Then, maybe, we’ll talk.

Yeah. Right.

Recall that my good friend BCF is constantly dealing with this stuff, for example, "Don’t roll your eyes at Islamic incursion into the Toronto Public Library." And, "Video Now Available - Press Conference: The Islamist Threat in Quebec."

Hey, no wonder Yglesias wants a North American Union!

International jihad solidarity, hooray!!

'Bounce Boxer' Bumper Sticker!

I picked up a new batch of "Bounce Boxer" bumper stickers at the Irvine Tea Party. And it turns out that Opus 6 recently displayed a sample on her soccer mom transportation unit:

I'm going to be updating my bulletin board today and tomorrow, and will update with photos.

Oceanside Hotties For Obama! (Not)

More from the Oceanside Tax Day Tea Party:

These babes are totally hip on this dude (not):

More photos from Oceanside at Left Coast Rebel.

BONUS: "Geithner Praises 'Positive Side' of Tea Parties." Actually, he's just mostly digging the conservative hotties!

(Via Memeorandum.)

New York Central Park Restroom Fail: Free-Market Alternative Flushes the Competition ... Plus, Bonus ObamaCare Comparison!

Amazing photos at NYT, surprisingly.

New York Central Park's public restrooms are practically out of a Mel Gibson "Road Warrior" movie, while the free-market alternative, at 25-cents a sitting, could easily have been featured in Tom Cruise's "Minority Report."

Here's the main article: "Sunday in the Park, Feeling Nature’s Call." And at the photo, the women's restroom near Central Park's historic Bethesda Fountain: "... one of the city's most beautiful landmarks. The bathroom inside, not so much":

This is the men's room, at the southwest corner of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx: "Discreet, to be sure. But not a great place to be if you find yourself in need of assistance."

And here's the free-market facilities: "The 25-cent pay toilet in Madison Square Park opened just over two years ago, originally intended as the first of several to be installed around New York."

And look inside: "The surfaces are shiny and high-tech, and after each visit the entire interior gets a quick wash."

Now, in the broader scheme of things, the administration's ObamaCare legislation is represented by Central Park's public stinkholes. America's private healthcare system, providing the best medical care in the world, is represented by the shiny fee-for-use private restroom facilities. See also, Astute Bloggers, "NOW THEY TELL YOU: OBAMACARE WILL MAKE RATES SKYROCKET!"

ANSWER Communists Savagely Beat Neo-Nazis at L.A. Counter-Protest: Police Escort Victims to Safety; MSM Cheated Out of 'Fascist' Tea Party Angle!

I'm obviously not sympathetic to Klansmen and Neo-Nazis. In fact, this quote pretty much sums it up: "'It's just one group of racists protesting another group of racists', an officer said." But I'd say the ANSWER fanatics are more dangerous, despite what the MSM keeps feeding us about "right-wing terrorists" and "tea party violence."

Notice at the video how it's the leftists who are beating the Neo-Nazis (who had a permit to hold a demonstration). The communists were even throwing bottles. Comparative hatred, yes, but which group of extremists is quicker to resort to violence?

And check out headline at the Los Angeles Times, "White supremacist rally ends with five arrests and two assaults, police say." But when you get down to the meat of the story:

One man, who sported Nazi tattoos, was severely beaten near City Hall while another man, who carried a confusing sign about religion with a scribbled swastika, was pummeled by a mob of people on Spring Street between 1st and 2nd.

The Los Angeles Police Department went on tactical alert during the event and took responsibility for escorting the white supremacists to and from the demonstration site. Earlier in the week the group had obtained a permit for the demonstration.

At the end of the rally, after 2:30 p.m., police escorted the white supremacists to the criminal courts building parking lot to get in their vehicles. However, one car failed to start. A crowd of counter-demonstrators ran to the lot and began hurling rocks and bottles into the parking lot's southwest corner, hitting cars and shattering glass. As some of the white supremacists held shields emblazoned with swastikas over their heads to protect them from the projectiles, others attempted to jump-start the car.

And you know, this just doesn't fit the MSM narrative. At the OC Weekly earlier this week, "Orange County Tea Parties Open To All, Including Neo-Nazis." And ANSWER's Party for Socialism and Liberation even tried to link the tea parties to the Neo-Nazis:

The Party for Socialism and Liberation will rally against an upcoming neo-Nazi group’s celebration of Hitler’s birthday later this month, and attempted to tie Tea Parties and Minutemen into the same “ultra-right-wing” category. The PSL’s advertisement of the event states:

In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the U.S. is witnessing a significant rise in ultra-right-wing activity--from the "Tea Party," to neo-Nazi groups, to anti-immigrant Minutemen. In LA, fascist Nazi forces from the misnamed "National Socialist Movement" are coming to hold a racist, anti-immigrant protest on April 17. The PSL is organizing to be there and defeat the Nazis.

Of course, most news stories tonight will be reluctant to indicate how the communists perpetrated the real violence during today's protests. Doesn't fit the left's storyline.

Obama's Socialism in America: UPDATED!!

For socialist commenter Tim Gaskill, here's Dr. Sanity, "THE POLITICAL LEFT: UNITED IN HATE WITH AMERICA'S FOES":

If the left understands anything, it is that in order for their ideology and its promised utopia to be born, they must thoroughly destroy America and undermine everything America stands for in the world. Once that has been accomplished, then their way is clear. Of course, they truly believe they will be able to control the Islamist genie they have encouraged, appeased and enabled along the way. That's why they are so nonchalant about terrorism and the threat of Islamic jihad. First, they see themselves on the same side politically; and second, they believe they won't have any trouble stopping the Jihad once they are in power. What's the big deal? They also intend to roll back the rising seas, stop global warming, and heal the planet, after all.

Cited there is Jamie Glazov's United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror.

Fidel Castro agrees, and the results are witnessed below at Che Guevara's revolutionary firing squads:

Recall that Fidel has repeatedly endorsed Barack Obama, most recently in praising Democratic-socialist ObamaCare:

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Thursday declared passage of American health care reform “a miracle” and a major victory for Obama’s presidency, but couldn’t help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what communist Cuba achieved decades ago.

See also, "Obama's Socialism in America" (images from the Oceanside tea party).

RELATED: Ronald Kessler, "Obama Espoused Radical Views in College."

White House AFPAK Strategy

From the White House Flickr page:

President Barack Obama speaks, during a meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the Situation Room of the White House, April 16, 2010. Listening at the table, from left, are National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Deputy National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, and Vice President Joe Biden.

And to keep up with the conflict, bookmark Foreign Policy's, "AFPAK CHANNEL." For example, from Friday, "Daily Brief: Quetta Hospital Blast Kills 12."

Added: From Bernard Finel, at Foreign Affairs, "A Substitute for Victory: Adopting a New Counterinsurgency Strategy in Afghanistan."

Tax Day Tea Party Washington DC 2010

From Looking at the Left, "TAX DAY REVOLT- Washington DC 2010":