Theo's Fourth of July Totties

ICYMI, "Independence Day Totty..." and "Bonus 4th Totty..."

What's at Stake This Fourth of July

From Elizabeth Shaw and Michael Novak, at National Review, "On This of All Fourths of July":

On this Fourth of July, religious people of every American tradition are meditating as never before on the foundations of the American practice of religious liberty. On this Fourth of July, as on every other, we celebrate those sacred words of our Founding: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And we celebrate also, as implied in that affirmation, the first clause of the First Amendment to our Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

This year this meditation is more important than ever. For the actions of our government have suddenly made a radical and troubling break from the American tradition of religious liberty. With the force of federal law, President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services has claimed to define what a religious organization is. The definition is narrow and legalistic: “one that (1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets.”

This definition falls woefully short of the full Jewish and Christian conception of religion...

RTWT.

Mitt Romney: The Best of America

Via Theo Spark:

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs: 'Arafat Truther'

I saw this earlier and wasn't going to post, but Israel Matzav administers the epic smackdown, and it's worth spreading viral. See: "It's come to this: Chuckles the Clown becomes an Arafat truther":

...just when you thought that Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs could not possibly sink any lower, we find that @Lizardoid is now giving credibility to the notion that 'someone' ('Israel is going to be the most likely suspect') poisoned Yasser Arafat. I would rate that as being the Middle East equivalent of claiming that George W. Bush hired 19 hijackers to fly two jets into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and one into the ground in Pennsylvania on 9/11/2001.

Yes, Charles Johnson - the guy who gave so many of us our start in conservative blogging - has become an Arafat truther.

Also at Diary of Daedalus, "According to al Jazeera":

This is just a sign of Charles now embracing all he was once against. His past support of Israel was one of the major hindrances for the Left to embrace him. Clearly this post is a wink and nod to the Israeli haters on the Left. Will Charles soon be linking to Hizb’Allah’s al Manar next?

MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Loves Her Some 'Imperialism, Genocide, and Slavery' This Fourth of July

It happens every year.

The progressive freaks step out with their disgusting anti-American attacks on the Fourth of July. Angry White Dude has this, on the black radical feminist hack, "THIS IS HOW MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY VIEWS INDEPENDENCE DAY!":

Dudes and Dudettes…this is a perfect example of leftist lunacy…this is their mindset. This time the topic is celebrating our Independence Day. I don’t know if many of you know who this gal is, but she has a two hour show on the week-ends at the msDNC Funny Farm. She also fills in on different segments of other shows there as well. In this segment she includes genocide, imperialism and of course slavery. So, I’ll cut to the chase display what she states herself… you read, you watch, you decide.

There's excerpts and video at the link.

And see also NewsBusters, "MSNBC's Harris-Perry Marks July 4 By Noting American Imperialism and Genocide, But Also Prisoners with GEDs."

BONUS: Here's more for your pointing and shaming pleasure, via Twitchy, "Shameful: Aaron Sorkin, Left celebrate Independence Day by slamming America; Update: Chris Rock joins in."

Hill Country Barbecue Market

I think we're just having chili and cheeseburgers, but boy does this sound delicious.

At the New York Times, "An Homage to Texas, by the Pound":

Moist brisket on greasy paper is not the only reason to eat at Hill Country, but it’s a convincing one. The term “moist brisket” is the restaurant’s euphemism for the deckle and tip of the brisket, upholstered in fat that will slowly render and baste the meat during the 13 or 14 hours it spends in the smoker. Carved just before serving, the meat is juicy throughout, but the parts that really get me going are the blackened edges that give way to a mahogany-tinted quarter-inch or so of smoky borderland between crust and interior.

The moist brisket, along with the beef and pork ribs that carry a similarly peppery, crunchy top layer, show Hill Country’s rotisserie barbecue pits at their finest. The restaurant is a state-of-the-art Manhattan homage to the preindustrial craft of Texas barbecue, particularly as it is practiced in the town of Lockhart.

The flavors Hill Country achieves in its pits are not precisely the ones I remember from meals at Lockhart’s legendary rivals, Smitty’s Market and Kreuz Market. At both places, the smoke was deeply entrenched in the meat.

Prime Minister Netanyahu Sends Fourth of July Greetings to the United States

Via Israel Matzav:

X Games Double Loop

At Motor Authority: "Double Loop World Record Set at X Games: VIDEO."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "X Games: Duo sets world record with Hot Wheels double-loop dare."

David Blankenhorn and the Power of Left-Wing Intimidation

I was thinking of writing about David Blankenhorn after he came out for homosexual marriage a couple of weeks back at NYT. He was bullied into changing his position. He barely wimpered in defense of traditional marriage at the Prop. 8 show trial. So I wasn't surprised in the least.

Anyway, see this outstanding essay, from Dennis Prager, at Townhall, "Roberts, Blankenhorn, and the Power of Liberal Intimidation":

Given how many more Americans define themselves as conservative rather than as liberal, let alone than as left, how does one explain the success of left-wing policies?

One answer is the appeal of entitlements and a desire to be taken care of. It takes a strong-willed citizen to vote against receiving free benefits. But an even greater explanation is the saturation of Western society by left-wing hate directed at the right. The left's demonization, personal vilification, and mockery of its opponents have been the most powerful tools in the left-wing arsenal for a century.

Since Stalin labeled Leon Trotsky -- the man who was the father of Russian Bolshevism! -- a "fascist," the Left has labeled its ideological opponents evil. And when you control nearly all of the news media and schools, that labeling works.

The liberal media even succeeded in blaming the right wing for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy even though his assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was a pro-Soviet, pro-Castro communist. Similarly, just one day after a deranged man, Jared Loughner, attempted to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and murdered six people in the process, The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote that it was right-wing hate that had provoked Loughner: "It's the saturation of our political discourse -- and especially our airwaves -- with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence. Where's that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let's not make a false pretense of balance: it's coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. . . ."

Krugman made it all up. But what matters to most of those who speak for the left is not truth. It is destroying the good name of its opponents. That is the modus operandi of the left.

It works.

Two examples in the last month bear testimony to its efficacy. One was the overwhelmingly likely motivation of Chief Justice John Roberts to declare the ObamaCare individual mandate constitutional despite his ruling that, as passed, the mandate was in fact unconstitutional.

The other was an op-ed column that David Blankenhorn, the prominent conservative advocate for marriage and against same-sex marriage, wrote for The New York Times.

First Blankenhorn.

David Blankenhorn has committed his professional life to fighting for the institution of marriage. And as recently as 2010, he testified on behalf of California Proposition 8, which, in 2008, amended the California Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman -- and which was immediately challenged in the courts, where liberal judges overturned it.

Blankenhorn was vilified throughout the liberal and gay media (which, in their invective against proponents of retaining the man-woman definition of marriage, are indistinguishable). As Mark Oppenheimer, editor of the "Beliefs" column in The New York Times wrote:

"During the trial [over the constitutionality of Proposition 8] and in the immediate aftermath, Blankenhorn became a national figure; he was . . . the butt of ridicule . . . . And now, he has decided to give up that fight.

"Blankenhorn would be ridiculed in The New York Times, and he would be . . . [ridiculed] in a play by an Oscar-winning screenwriter, starring a bevy of Hollywood stars."

Blankenhorn told Oppenheimer:

"I had an old community organizing buddy who wrote a note to me after the trial and said, how does it feel to be America's most famous bigot? I used to think you were a good person. Now I know you're a bad person. How does it feel to know that your tombstone will read that you're just a bigot."

Two weeks ago, Blankenhorn wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times in which he announced that he now supports same-sex marriage....

And from the conclusion:

David Blankenhorn's change -- he has admitted he is tired of fighting the culture wars, and he has gone from being the object of New York Times derision to being a New York Times hero -- and Justice Roberts' change -- New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote a column lauding Roberts for his "statesmanship" -- reassure progressives that ridicule, demonization, and character assassination work. With the stakes so high in the forthcoming election, expect it to only increase.

Well, it's already happening. In fact, Jonathan Krohn, who wrote an excellent little free-market treatise when he was just 14, has allegedly had a "change of heart" about conservatism. It's reported that he backs most positions on the left but hesitates to call himself a progressive, lest he end up looking like the pathetically spineless douchebag loser that he is now. I'm not going to be surprised if he comes out homosexual in the years ahead as well. Seems like everyone else is nowadays, the freaks.

See the book here: Defining Conservatism: The Principles That Will Bring Our Country Back.

Military Personnel Take Oath of Citizenship From Flight Deck of USS Midway

A great story, at the Los Angeles Times, "On the Midway's deck, military personnel take oath of citizenship":

SAN DIEGO — After the ceremony was complete, after he had listened to the speeches and repeated the 141 words that made him a U.S. citizen, Marine Lance Cpl. Hua Fan admitted to being a bit overwhelmed.

"It's going to take a while before it settles in," said Fan, smiling broadly. The 23-year-old, who was born outside Beijing, added: "I've felt like a part of America for some time, but now I'm an official part."

It was a common sentiment among the 35 active duty U.S. military members from 19 countries and territories who took the oath of allegiance in a short but emotional ceremony Monday on the flight deck of the carrier museum Midway.

"It's been a dream of mine for a long time: to become a real American," said Marine Lance Cpl. Andre Baxter, 22, from Jamaica. "And now it's real."

The federal government has a program to expedite citizenship applications from military personnel. Three times each year — just before Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Veterans Day — the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services holds naturalization ceremonies in San Diego strictly for members of the military.

Officials tailor their remarks to the specific holiday. In this case, it was a discussion of the early days of the American Revolution.

"Our nation was founded by young patriots like yourself," retired Rear Adm. Mac McLaughlin, president and chief executive officer of the Midway Museum, told the gathering.

'The Amazing Spider-Man' in Theaters

As I was saying, I'm way behind on my movies. I took the boys to see "The Avengers" on Sunday --- and we were all quite pleased with that.

But I'm not sure if I can warm up to a new Spider-Man franchise so soon. We'll see. Kenneth Turan has a review at the Los Angeles Times and he says it's not too bad after all. See: "Review: 'The Amazing Spider-Man's' Peter and Gwen are super."

The trailer, on YouTube, is here.

'Unpatriotic Debt'

Via Lonely Con (via Memeorandum):

The Truth About the Homosexual Left

From a gay conservative, Terrence Jackson, at Right Wing News:

The gay Left must come to an end.

This isn’t to say that I wish harm to the minions of the liberal gay community, but rather that the time has arrived for a more reasonable and rational debate, freed from the intolerance and bigotry of the champions of far-left gay advocacy. And this debate can never, and will never, occur as long as people like Dan Savage remain the best possible choices to represent a growing collective of activists.

I, along with many other gay conservatives, took issue with the creator of the ‘It Gets Better’ series of videos for his comments recently on Twitter, where he referred to gay conservative group GOProud as “house faggots”. As this is a man that has been known for representing millions of young gay men and women, it is far from inspiring to see one of the most well-known gay figures hurling hateful insults in the direction of people just like him. And for what? All because they choose to support a candidate that doesn’t align with their personal views on gay issues? It seems that Mr. Savage and his ilk suffer from something far more severe than a disdain for GOProud. They have a disdain for Americans and their values.

The evidence is all around us. From the gay rights activists captured on film giving the middle finger to a picture of Reagan, to Joy Behar claiming gay conservatives only “think with their penises”, the gay Left and its most impassioned wingnut allies have shown significant hatred for anything that differs from their defined norms. It is common practice to insist that the republican party is the party of anti-gay bigots ( though it was Reagan’s voice that helped prevent the passage of the Briggs Initiave), and while many on the gay Left will speak of the injustices suffered at the hands of cruel, hateful people, they take no issue with comparing gay conservatives to “jewish nazis“, and so on. It is this double standard that divides us further, and endangers not just an important political discourse, but the livelihood of decent, hardworking people.

The gay Left has made a name for themselves by being unreasonable, combative, and unabashedly shameful in their conduct. They claim to care about the political system that so many of us respect and value, but would never vote for even the best ecomonic strategist for office if his views on gay marriage weren’t completely in support of it. They condemn every comment made by someone who they have pegged as anti-gay, but as of late, have been completely silent on the divisive comments that come from within their own community. In a community of politically-active gay leftists, to dissent is to be cast out, no matter what you stand for as a person. And this is troubling.

It is the lack of patriotism and respect for American ideals that pushes so many away from the gay liberal agenda...

A devastating takedown of the radical left's agenda of hate. More at the link.

RELATED: "Oh God, What Next? California Bill Would Allow Children to Have More Than Two Parents."

VIDEO: Bar Refaeli Under Water

Time for a swim?

See London's Daily Mail, "Specs appeal: Bar Refaeli gets her sexy geek look on and goes for a swim in her clothes to promote new underwear line."

It's an Unconstitutional Penalty

As noted early, the Supreme Court's ObamaCare ruling is an electoral gift to the GOP, but Team Romney can't fail on the messaging. See Hot Air, "Team Romney: No way are we declaring a “ceasefire” on health care."

Patterico has the background on "it's an unconstitutional penalty." Republicans need to push back hard against the Democrats, who won't stop denying the mandate is a tax. See: "Romney Advisor: Romney Thinks Mandate Is a Penalty."

And when you have folks like Wolf Blitzer (unusually) hammering Team Obama and the DNC, there's not a moment to waste in beating back against this monstrosity. See Randy's Roundtable, "One More Time...It's A Penalty!"

More at Legal Insurrection, "Beware journalists turning conservatives into a circular firing squad."

Let Freedom Ring: “We Can Do Better Than an America Where Uncle Sam Sheds Tears”

Via Freedom's Lighthouse, "New Hard-Hitting Ad Shows “Uncle Sam” Shedding a Tear and Holding a Tin Cup Thanks to Four Years of Barack Obama: “We Can Do Better. We are Not a Beggar Nation.” – Video 7/3/12":

Former Teen Prostitute Zahia Dehar Shows Lingerie Collection at Paris Couture Week

She's 20 now, and prostitution is legal in France, but it's 18 or over and some star soccer players apparently paid her for sex when she was 17.

At London's Daily Mail, "Call girl to catwalk queen: Former teen prostitute accused of underage sex with footballers shows lingerie collection at Paris couture week."

'The Glorious Fourth'

Boy, Bill Whittle's been busy!

Here's another great clip, from the Afterburner series, via Glenn Reynolds:

Dependence Day

From Gretchen Hamel, at IBD, "On This Independence Day, We're Dependent On Deficits and Debt":

As we celebrate the July 4th holiday marking the U.S.' historic break with Great Britain, it's worth considering: Are we as independent as we think we are?

In fact, the numbers suggest that we are deeply dependent — on deficit spending and debt. Our nation's current debt, nearing $16 trillion, and our annual budget deficit of $1.2 trillion, indicate that our government's addiction to spending is nowhere near its limit.

Of that $16 trillion debt, the U.S. owes more than $5 trillion to foreign nations, an all-time high. So much for independence. We're now a debtor nation, and unless we get our fiscal house in order, that debt will endanger our nation's prospects for long-term growth.

If that sounds alarmist, consider this: In August 2011, Vice President Joe Biden visited China. This wasn't just any diplomatic visit — it was the supplication of a debtor, in which Biden undertook to reassure our Chinese debtors that their investment is sound.

Biden assured his hosts that they had "nothing to worry about" when it comes to the U.S. honoring its obligations. It wasn't the first time a high-ranking U.S. official has had to offer soothing words to our creditors, and at this rate it won't be the last....

Ultimately, our heavy reliance on foreign debt is the symptom of a much larger problem, which is our nation's relentless addiction to government spending that drives up deficits and demands continued foreign investment, regardless of the risk and the cost.

So as we commemorate our independence, it's worth reflecting on the ways in which our nation's leadership has made us deeply dependent on other nations, and the risks that dependence brings. If there's good news, it's that this crisis can be averted — if policymakers in Washington take action to cut spending, reduce the deficit and pay down our nearly $16 trillion debt.

That achievement would be almost like a second declaration of independence and well worth celebrating.

Read the whole thing.

Photo: Gretchen Hamel, Executive Director of Public Notice.

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Via Nice Deb:

The Wikipedia entry is here.