Inequities of American Farm Policies

Via Left Coast Rebel:

And check the website, at Cato Institute.

Americans Sour on Obama, Incumbents, Poll Finds

At WSJ:

Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the country and less confident in President Barack Obama's leadership than at any point since Mr. Obama entered the White House, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

The survey also shows grave and growing concerns about the Gulf oil spill, with overwhelming majorities of adults favoring stronger regulation of the oil industry and believing that the spill will affect the nation's economy and environment.

Sixty-two percent of adults in the survey feel the country is on the wrong track, the highest level since before the 2008 election. Just one-third think the economy will get better over the next year, a 7-point drop from a month ago and the low point of Mr. Obama's tenure.

Amid anxiety over the nation's course, support for Mr. Obama and other incumbents is eroding. For the first time, more people disapprove of Mr. Obama's job performance than approve. And 57% of voters would prefer to elect a new person to Congress than re-elect their local representatives, the highest share in 18 years.

The results show "a really ugly mood and an unhappy electorate," said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducts the Journal/NBC poll with GOP pollster Bill McInturff. "The voters, I think, are just looking for change, and that means bad news for incumbents and in particular for the Democrats."

RTWT.

Elton John Performs in Israel

Pictures here: "'Ain't gonna stop me from coming here, baby': Elton John performs in Israel after string of other artists cancel appearances."

The People's Cube adds its two rubles, "Rock'n'Roll Board of Compliance Disciplines Elton John":

Leaders of the international Rock'n'Roll community voiced their outrage today over the news that one of their own, who they always thought was a dependable degenerate extraordinaire, turned out to be a double agent, possibly working for the Reactionary Conservative Cabal Internationale.

Sir Elton John, who had been recently put on probation for singing at Rush Limbaugh's wedding, violated his parole and defied the progressive community by flying to Israel, where he played Thursday night to a crowd of 50,000 screaming occupiers of Palestine at a Tel Aviv stadium, thus breaking the international blockade aimed at sensory deprivation and cultural disorientation of the Zionist entity.

While the more disciplined rockers like Carlos Santana, Elvis Costello, and The Pixies obediently canceled their concerts for Jews in compliance with the above directive, the soon-to-be ex-star Elton John told the Zionist audience those cancellations "ain't gonna stop me from playing here, baby." According to one informant, "non-person John then put on sunglasses of the color of the Israeli flag, and aggravated his treasonous rhetoric by adding, 'We do not cherry-pick our consciences,' before hitting the opening chords of his 1972 hit 'Crocodile Rock.'"

Discrimination Based on Social Condition?

That title? Yeah, it's kinda off, I know.

But consider the source: Libby Davies, Canadian Member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party. Davies was caught in a recent controversy in which she denied Israel's right to exist. At the American Spectator, Aaron Goldstein calls her "Canada's Helen Thomas." Prime Minister Stephen Harper "demanded that her boss, NDP Leader Jack Layton, fire Ms. Davies."

All of this is pretty emblematic of today's radical left, and what actually got me interested in Ms. Davies is Blazing Cat Fur's post, "Libby Davies ...even more stupid than first thought possible!"

It turns out that Ms. Davies has "introduced two bills in the House of Commons to change the Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to prohibit discrimination against a person based on their social condition."

This bill would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of social condition. In doing so it would protect from discrimination people who are experiencing social or economic disadvantage, such as adequate housing, homelessness, source of income, occupation, level of education, poverty, or any similar circumstance. As the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation and many other organizations have pointed out, a person's standing in society is often determined by his or her occupation, income, education level or family background.

Pretty unreal, eh?

Check this comment at Roy Eappen's:

Legislation such as this is a grave danger to a free society, grave danger to morals, ethics and commonsense ... they want to eradicate personal reponsibility and place the burden on the fabric of society.

All in a day's blogging, I guess.

RELATED: From Darleen Click, "'It is a terrible price society will pay for all the entitlement we have given over to people'":

Maywood, CA. – 96 Percent Hispanic Sanctuary City – Disbands Police, Fires All Employees to Avoid Financial Collapse

At LAT, "Maywood to hire others to run the city." The city's 96.4 percent Hispanic with almost half the population illegal aliens:

Maywood's $10.1-million general fund budget has a deficit of at least $450,000, officials said. Beyond that, the city has been unable to obtain insurance because of a history of lawsuits, many involving its Police Department, which also patrols Cudahy. Operating without insurance would make even routine government services highly risky.

"We're limited on our choices and limited on what we can do," Councilman Felipe Aguirre said. "We don't want to file for bankruptcy. We don't want to disappear as a city."

Aguirre said filing for bankruptcy was not an option for Maywood because its problems were related specifically to insurance coverage and not cash flow.

But during a contentious City Council meeting that stretched late into Monday night, opponents of the plan accused council members of managing the city incompetently by failing to maintain the city's insurance coverage.

"You single-handedly destroyed the city," Lizeth Sandoval, the city treasurer, told the City Council ....

The action is yet another blow for the predominantly Latino city of 45,000 residents densely packed into about 1.2 square miles in the heavily industrial southeast part of Los Angeles County. Officials estimate about half the city's residents are illegal immigrants.

Maywood has had a contentious history for years. In the last decade, shouting matches have erupted during council meetings, election campaigns have been marked by political hit pieces, and even an accusation was made that a city clerk tried to have a councilman killed.

The Police Department has been the focus of troubles as well. Four years ago, the department faced a political outcry when it began running checkpoints that resulted in hundreds of cars being taken away from unlicensed illegal immigrants. Critics charged the checkpoints were an attempt to make money off Maywood's large illegal immigrant population.

The checkpoint sparked a political movement that brought a new council that was more sympathetic to illegal immigrants. But Maywood was back in the headlines when it declared itself a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, making the town a target of conservative talk radio and TV news shows.

And at KTLA, "City of Maywood is on the verge of complete financial collapse":

Gulf Spill Cap Containment Operations Crash, Along With Obama's Presidency

At New York Times, "Problem With Cap Causes More Oil to Gush in Gulf." (Via Memeorandum.) A "worst-case estimate" finds the spill spewing "about 2.5 million gallons are spewing a day."

Meanwhile, "WSJ/NBC Poll: Americans Frown on BP Efforts":

A majority of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling the oil spill off the Gulf Coast, but a majority of Americans also said BP hasn’t done enough to stop the spill.

Some 69% said BP has done less — or much less — than what should be expected of the oil company. However, Americans don’t think much of the president, Congress, or the federal government’s response, either.

BONUS: Administration response pics, from the White House Flickr page:

President Barack Obama is briefed on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico aboard Air Force One en route to New Orleans, La., Sunday, May 2, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama listens to Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, right, during a briefing on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, aboard Air Force One en route to New Orleans, La., Sunday, May 2, 2010. Also participating in the meeting are, from left, John Brennan, assistant to the President for homeland security and counterterrorism, Carol Browner, assistant to the President for energy and climate change, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen, left, who is serving as the National Incident Commander, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, right, brief President Barack Obama about the situation along the Gulf Coast following the BP oil spill, at the Coast Guard Venice Center, in Venice, La., Sunday, May 2, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama, National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, and Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph look at the effect the BP oil spill has had on Fourchon Beach in Port Fourchon, La., May 28, 2010. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

One of the Presidential helicopters flies over southern Louisiana as President Barack Obama returns to New Orleans after visiting Grand Isle, May 28, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy

RELATED: At ABC News, "BP Oil Spill Disaster: Two Killed in Accidents; Containment Cap Removed After Robot Sub Collision; Gulf of Mexico Well Leaking at Nearly Full Force Until Repairs Can Be Made."

Democrats Roll Out Joe Barton Campaign Platform

Well, I was kinda joking in my previous post, "Dems to Run on Joe Barton Campaign Platform."

But I guess it's no joke to the DNC:

And this is actually the Dems' second Barton ad buy:

Right.

Well see how this works out amid massive Democratic fail.

RELATED: See Peter Hannaford, "Joe Barton Was Right" (via Memeorandum).

Obama Fires McChrystal

At NYT, "Obama Relieves McChrystal of Command":

President Obama removed Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal as commander of American forces in Afghanistan on Wednesday, and tapped as his replacement the general’s boss, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the architect of the 2007 surge in Iraq.

Mr. Obama, standing with General Petraeus and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the White House Rose Garden to underline the continuity and solidity of his Afghan policy, said that he had regretfully accepted General McChrystal’s resignation.

He said he had done so not out of personal insult, but because a magazine article featuring contemptuous quotes from the general and his staff about senior administration officials had not met standards of behavior for a commanding general, and threatened to undermine civilian control of the military.

“War is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general or president,” Mr. Obama said. “As difficult as it is to lose General McChrystal, I believe it is the right decision for national security.”

I'll update with video when I find it. More at Memeorandum and USA Today. Related updates at The Other McCain.

RELATED: "McChrystal Apologizes for Rolling Stone Interview."

Parents Outraged at High School's Graphics Sex Ed Class: Film at 11

Not really. See Fox News, "Graphic Sex Ed Class Under Fire" (via Memeorandum):

Parents are outraged after young teenagers were instructed on graphic sexual acts during a Planned Parenthood sex education class at the local high school in Shenandoah, Iowa.

“It was horribly inappropriate,” Colleen Dostal told Fox News Radio. “To do that in a mixed-gender classroom, — I truly believe it was inappropriate.”

Dostal’s 14-year-old son was one of a handful of eighth graders in the class. The students, she said, were given instruction on how to perform female exams and the instructor used a 3-D, anatomically correct male sex organ to explain how to use a condom.

But Dostal said she was most upset over the instructor simulating sexual acts using stuffed animals designed to resemble STD’s.

“I do not understand why any adult with a classroom of children would show them sexual positions,” she told Fox News Radio. “I think that’s horribly inappropriate.”

As for the photographs, “I believe some of those photos were pornographic,” she said.

“Had we known this was going on, I would have sat in the classroom or I would have pulled him out,” Dostal said.

Yeah. Well.

I'll bet she bans MTV from the house as well. Hard to keep those Gaga and Katy Perry viddies away from the kiddies these days, and that to say nothing of those dawg bump-and grind viddies that show up on the BET-style cable outlets.

In related news, "Planned Parenthood Missing Over $1 Billion Taxpayer Dollars." I wonder if some of those funds went to this: "Planned Parenthood to offer "insemination services," marketing lesbians." That bothers me a little more than the sex ed classes, but what can you do?

Judgment Day for McChrystal

Yeah, that sounds about right. A little roundup, at WSJ:

President Barack Obama and U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal will meet in person today at the White House. The president said Tuesday that he had not yet made up his mind if he would ask for the general’s resignation for disparaging comments he made about the Obama administration’s national security team to Rolling Stone magazine.

Also, at NYT, Max Boot, "Judging McChrystal's War‎":

ON Tuesday, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, was called back to Washington to explain disparaging comments he and his aides made to a Rolling Stone reporter about senior administration officials. The general’s ill-advised remarks, which have prompted him to prepare a letter of resignation, will only feed the general sense of despair and impatience that Americans seem to feel about our progress in Afghanistan.

Great comparative analysis of Afghanistan and Iraq, and then:

By letting his aides mouth off to a reporter, General McChrystal has displayed a potentially fatal lack of media savvy. But he deserves credit for energizing a lethargic command and putting in place the right strategy to turn around a failing war effort. Whether or not he carries it out, his plan can work. We just need to give it a little time.

Finally, check out Thomas Ricks at Foreign Policy, and also the threads at Memeorandum.

(Added: From Glenn Reynolds, "POLITICO: Obama’s real McChrystal problem: Afghanistan plan in trouble. The halfhearted approach seldom succeeds.")

Stand for Israel, Stand for the West

A "friends for Israel" group, at Maggie's Farm.

A New Generation Must Stand for Truth ...

A couple of weeks back, Rob at Say Anything suggested the potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitch Daniels' call for a "truce" on social issues was a "breath of fresh air."

I can understand the sentiment, but I'm certain that the other side won't observe a truce. The radical left's degradation and decay has made long inroads in society. There's never a breather in the battle for right and goodness. And in thinking about this I'm reminded of the most powerful political ad from campaign '08, and perhaps of all time. "Life, faith, and family ... now more than any other time in history ... a new generation must stand for truth ...

McChrystal and Civil-Military Relations

Eliot Cohen, who is not kind to Obama (and his strategic blunders in Afghanistan), puts the burden on McChrystal's breach of civilian control, "Why McChrystal Has to Go":

It is intolerable for officers to publicly criticize or mock senior political figures, including the vice president or the ambassador (who is, after all, the president's personal representative to a foreign government). It is intolerable for them to publicly ridicule allies. And quite apart from his own indiscretions, it is the job of a commanding general to set a tone that makes such behavior unacceptable on the part of his subordinates.

RELATED: Some interesting links at Instapundit, here and here.

McChrystal Apologizes for Rolling Stone Interview

At CNN:

And be sure to read the Rolling Stone piece, for example:

Although McChrystal has been in charge of the war for only a year, in that short time he has managed to piss off almost everyone with a stake in the conflict. Last fall, during the question-and-answer session following a speech he gave in London, McChrystal dismissed the counterterrorism strategy being advocated by Vice President Joe Biden as "shortsighted," saying it would lead to a state of "Chaos-istan." The remarks earned him a smackdown from the president himself, who summoned the general to a terse private meeting aboard Air Force One. The message to McChrystal seemed clear: Shut the fuck up, and keep a lower profile

Now, flipping through printout cards of his speech in Paris, McChrystal wonders aloud what Biden question he might get today, and how he should respond. "I never know what's going to pop out until I'm up there, that's the problem," he says. Then, unable to help themselves, he and his staff imagine the general dismissing the vice president with a good one-liner.

"Are you asking about Vice President Biden?" McChrystal says with a laugh. "Who's that?"

"Biden?" suggests a top adviser. "Did you say: Bite Me?"

Althouse on Gaga

Hey, all the big bloggers blog Lady Gaga, like Ann:

She posed for the cover in a big machine-gun bra and a nearly naked ass and purports to "tell all," yet everyone's talking about McChrystal, whose name isn't even on the cover! Life is so unfair to Lady Gaga!

Glenn Reynolds chimes in, "THE REAL VICTIM IN THAT MCCHRYSTAL/OBAMA FIGHT..."

And previously at American Power, "Lady Gaga Goes Double-Barrel at Rolling Stone."

Will Obama Fire McChrystal?

A really good video clip:

And the source of all of this, Rolling Stone's interview, "The Runaway General."

RELATED: James Fallows, "Obama Has to Fire McChrystal." (Via Memeorandum.)

Pelosi's Blame Game

She's a disgrace. What else can you say?

At Beltway Confidential, "Pelosi’s Lame Blame Game: No ‘Burrowed-In’ Bush Appointees Oversaw Deepwater Horizon" (via Memeorandum):

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., recently blamed Bush appointees who “burrowed in” at the Minerals Management Service for the regulatory failures that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. But as it turns out, not one of the officials responsible for overseeing the exploded rig was a Bush political appointee.

The Washington Examiner has obtained biographic information on the MMS officials responsible for overseeing BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig at the time it exploded, from the Gulf Region Director to the last inspector to set foot on the rig. Most of these federal employees started with the agency decades ago. Not one was a presidential appointment of George W. Bush, although one longtime MMS employee in question was promoted to his current position during the Bush Administration.

Excellent work. RTWT.

Also, at Sundries Shack, "Oooh! That Evil Bush Discovered Time Travel!"

We Are Scientists in Our Lab...

I saw these guys play so many times it's ridiculous. "Amoeba's" essential, one of the most fun-packed punk jams EVAH (stay away from the mosh pit if you know what I'm saying, LOL!!) --- and local to the O.C to boot. Give it up for The Adolescents. Still playing too. They're headlining the Vans Skateboards Warped Tour 2010. Gotta be a blast:

We are the scientists in the lab
Looking through a microscope
Those little glass slides they never lie
How can this small mind cope?

I've never seen anything like it before
This amoeba's got a mind of it's own
But don't turn your back you stupid science world
This is reaching for the telephone

A one celled creature a one celled thing
It hardly knows it's alive ...

Jennifer Love Hewitt Looks Fabulous in New People Magazine!

Hey, my wife gets People Magazine, and man this week's issue is fantastic!

See, "Jennifer Love Hewitt Advises Girls to 'Love the Way You Look'":

In a world that's overly focused on body image, Jennifer Love Hewitt is urging young women not to obsess about weight – because it's simply not worth it.

Well, she's one to talk!

Plus: "Sneak Peek! PEOPLE's Most Amazing Bodies."

Hollywood Walk of Fame

At Father's Day dinner, my wife mentioned that she'd never seen the "stars" on Hollywood Boulevard. I told her that I was just up there in February, when I covered the communist protest against "Obama's wars."

If you're not careful, you'll miss some of the cooler stars on the sidewalk, which are often located where you least expect them. Below, just reading their names was breathtaking. At bottom, the parking attendant took my picture (the ANSWER commie stickers on my shirt are part of my "cover" for my inside reporting). I parked at Hollywood and Vine, across from the Capitol Records building. I think I'll take my family up there one of these weekends. It's much more family friendly than it was in the 1980s, when I used be in Hollywood all the time for punk rock concerts: