Denver May Day for Reconquista and Revolution

From Looking at the Left, "AZTLAN ASTROTURF – MAY DAY MARCH in DENVER." Most of these are self-explantory. The revolution is without borders, as the progression of banners shows. And notice what demonstrators are wearing. The woman with the Opresor! banner fourth down: red star on her shirt. And the dude with the "Death to Empire" sign: Mao cap and Arafat-esque keffiyeh. And don't miss at the link COP KILLER ANARCHIST UNICORNS.

Violent May Day Protests

The report's at LAT, "Violent May Day Protests in Athens." And below, anarchists in San Francisco prepare to take back the streets. Plus, at bottom, more on the L.A. reconquista demonstrations:

Berman Post: Immigration Rally (NYC Union Square)

From Andrew Berman, "Immigration Rally (NYC Union Square)":

Added: Now a thread at Memeorandum, with posts from Atlas Shrugs, Gateway Pundit, and Weasel Zippers. As Pamela notes, "If it's leftist, anti-America -- it's a Jew-hating bunch."

Firedoglake Attacks Racist White 'Nativist' Xenophobes

It'd be hard to find greater contrast. From Astute Bloggers, "LEGAL IMMIGRATION? YES! ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION? NO":

And then compare to Firedoglake (via):

This new "education policy" in Arizona is right out of the history of Fascist Europe. Immigrants – in particular a specific category, Hispanics – are being scapegoated for the State’s problems, demonized, and purged.

I can do nothing to change what the people and government of Arizona have done, but I will never forget what I am seeing, and I will never forgive Arizona for it. They have taken in my perception the dubious Blue Ribbon County Fair Prize for being the most irredeemably racist, xenophobic people in the country gathered together in the most un-American state in the Union.

There are just no words strong enough to condemn these people or what they are doing.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

Saw it last night, with my teenage son. Amazingly good flick. Don't think I've had as much fun at a slasher film since when I was in high school, or thereabouts. "The Shining" remains one of my favorite movies of all time, and I love Sissy Spacek in "Carrie." I saw the original "Halloween" in theaters back in the day. Frankly, though, sometimes I take my cinema viewing too seriously. Toward the end of this one, that pool of blood scene is the best. Quick snippets of it at the end of the trailer. Have a blast and see this one, especially if you've got teenagers to hang with:

Spill Won't Affect the Drill: We Need the Oil (and Jobs)

From the most surprising of places, NYT, "The Spill vs. a Need to Drill." And you know, this stuff just kills the radical leftists who are openly rejoicing at the Gulf spill. Soon we'll be hearing calls for "a million Deepwater Horizons":

Emotions are running high as an oil slick washes over the Gulf Coast’s fragile ecosystem, threatening fisheries, shrimp farmers and perhaps even Florida’s tourism industry. Thousands could see their livelihoods ruined. A cleanup could take years ...

But whatever the magnitude of the spill at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, it is unlikely to seriously impede offshore drilling in the Gulf. The country needs the oil — and the jobs.

Much has changed since 1969. The nation’s demand for oil has surged, rising more than 35 percent over the past four decades, while domestic production has declined by a third. Oil imports have doubled, and the United States now buys more than 12 million barrels of oil a day from other countries, about two-thirds of its needs.

The politics have also changed. Republicans want to boost domestic oil production to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. High on the Democratic agenda is reducing carbon emissions that cause global warming. To bridge the gap, the White House has backed a compromise that would expand domestic offshore exploration in exchange for Republican support for its climate policy.

There is another reason why offshore drilling is likely to continue. Most of the big new discoveries lie deep beneath the world’s oceans, including in the Gulf of Mexico. For the oil companies, these reserves are worth hundreds of billions of dollars and represent the industry’s future.

Since the 1980s, the Gulf has turned into a vast laboratory for the industry to test and showcase its most sophisticated technology — rivaling, the industry says, anything used for space exploration. This is where oil companies found ways to drill in ever-deeper water, where they developed bigger platforms to pump even more oil, where they pioneered the use of unmanned submarines and elaborate underwater systems straight out of a science fiction novel.

Some of the newest floating rigs can drill in more than 10,000 feet of water. They can stay in the same position for weeks, even as they sustain 40-foot waves, thanks to satellite positioning systems and tiny propellers below the hull. Hundreds of miles away, engineers sitting in control rooms in Houston monitor the drilling in real time.

All this has helped to turn the Gulf of Mexico into the fastest growing source of oil in the United States. The Gulf accounts for a third of the nation’s domestic supplies, or 1.7 million barrels a day, mostly from the deepwater region.

Obama Fundraiser Gloria Estefan Headlines L.A. Illegal Immigration Rally ... Reconquista!!

At KTLA, "Thousands March in May Day Rally in Downtown L.A.":

And of course, where there's radicalism, the Obama administration can't be far behind. For example, Obama fundraiser Gloria Estefan kicked off events at L.A.'s migrant's march this morning.

At KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Thousands March in May Day Rally":

Singer Gloria Estefan kicked off a massive march through the streets of downtown Los Angeles as demonstrators galvanized in opposition to Arizona's tough law against illegal immigration demanded an overhaul of immigration laws.

"We're good people," the Cuban-born singer said aboard flatbed truck. "We've given a lot to this country. This country has given a lot to us." Cardinal Roger Mahony stood on the truck and joined the crowd in chanting, "Si, se puede," or "Yes, we can," in Spanish. Streets and sidewalks were packed with tens of thousands of people as horns blared. Organizers handed out T-shirts that read, "Legalize Arizona" and "Boycott Arizona." Marchers waved American flags, along with many from other countries, including Mexico, the Philippines, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

Also, at LAT, "Thousands gather for immigrant rights march in downtown L.A."

And at Michelle's, "May Day/Che Day: Reconquista Returns":

The open-borders lobby can try and hide its radicalism with a carefully-orchestrated show of American flags, but the movement’s reconquista roots always expose themselves on May Day.

Photo Credit: Slapstick Politics, "2006 May Day protest in Denver."

Barack Obama Sex Scandal with Vera Baker?

Yeah. Sure.

It's a tabloid rumor. But National Enquirer's the only news outlet that would even touch the John Edwards love-child shocker, and now they've got this: "OBAMA CHEATING SCANDAL: SHOCKING NEW REPORTS":

PRESIDENT OBAMA in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, DC Hotel with a former campaign aide.

A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions.

While Baker has insisted in the past that "nothing happened" between them, reports reveal that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Mediaite has a nice overview on this, "National Enquirer’s Obama Scandal: Claims Surveillance Proves Affair." Plus, more at Memeorandum. Vera Baker picture at DBKP, "Obama, Vera Baker: Enquirer Uncorks Presidential Cheating Scandal." See also No Sheeples Here! and YID With LID.

Actually, there's a lot more we don't know. Remember this, "Obama's Gay Nightmare: Still Waiting for Barry's Backside Boogie Pics!"

What Kind of Socialist is Barack Obama?

From Jonah Goldberg, at Commentary:

Obama still scoffs at the suggestion that he is a socialist largely to delegitimize his opponents. During his address to House Republicans at their retreat in December 2009, Obama ridiculed Republicans for acting as if his health-care scheme were some “Bolshevik plot.” In responding to the “Tea Parties” organized to oppose the expansion of government, Obama has explicitly likened those who describe his policies as socialist to the “birther” conspiracy theorists who foolishly believe he was actually born outside the United States: “There’s some folks who just weren’t sure whether I was born in the United States, whether I was a socialist, right?”

He reserves for himself the mantle of technocrat, disinterested, pragmatic, pushed to use the powers of government by the failings of his predecessor and the madness of the free market. He is not interested in ideology; he is interested in doing “what works” for the greatest number of Americans (he has often said that his guiding insight to government’s role is the notion that we are all our brothers’ keepers). Indeed, Obama goes further and often insinuates that principled disagreement with his agenda is “ideological” and therefore illegitimate. In a speech on the eve of his inauguration, he proclaimed that “what is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives—from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry.” In other words, to borrow a phrase from Lionel Trilling, ideology is an irritable mental gesture.

Denying that you are an ideologue is not the same thing as proving the point. And certainly Obama’s insistence that ideology is something only his critics suffer from is no defense when stacked against the evidence of his actions. The “pragmatic” Obama is only interested in “what works” as long as “what works” involves a significantly expanded role for government. In this sense, Obama is a practitioner of the Third Way, the governing approach most successfully trumpeted by Blair, who claimed to have found a “third way” that rejected the false premises of both Left and Right and therebylocated a “smarter” approach to expanding government. The powerful appeal of this idea lies in the fact that it sounds as if its adherents have rejected ideological dogmatism and gone beyond those “false choices.” Thus, a leader can both provide health care to 32 million people and save money, or, as Obama likes to say, “bend the cost curve down.” But in not choosing, Obama is choosing. He is choosing the path of government control, which is what the Third Way inevitably does and is intended to do.

Still, the question remains, What do we call Obama’s “social-ism”? John Judis’s formulation—“liberal socialism”—is perfectly serviceable, and so is “social democracy” or, for that matter, simply “progressivism.” My own, perhaps too playful, suggestion would be neosocialism.

The term neoconservative was assigned—and with hostile intent—to a group of diverse thinkers who had grown convinced that the open-ended ambitions of the Great Society were utopian and, ultimately, counterproductive, even harmful. At first, few neoconservatives embraced the label (as late as 1979, Irving Kristol claimed he was the only one to accept the term, “perhaps because, having been named Irving, I am relatively indifferent to baptismal caprice”). But as neoconservatism matured, it did become a distinct approach to domestic politics, one that sought to reign in government excess while pursuing conservative ends within the confines of the welfare state.

In many respects, Barack Obama’s neo-socialism is neoconservatism’s mirror image. Openly committed to ending the Reagan era, Obama is a firm believer in the power of government to extend its scope and grasp far deeper into society. In much the same way that neoconservatives accepted a realistic and limited role for the government, Obama tolerates a limited and realistic role for the market: its wealth is necessary for the continuation and expansion of the welfare state and social justice. While neoconservatism erred on the side of trusting the nongovernmental sphere—mediating institutions like markets, civil society, and the family—neosocialism gives the benefit of the doubt to government. Whereas neoconservatism was inherently skeptical of the ability of social planners to repeal the law of unintended consequences, Obama’s ideal is to leave social policy in their hands and to bemoan the interference of the merely political.

“I would have loved nothing better than to simply come up with some very elegant, academically approved approach to health care, and didn’t have any kinds of legislative fingerprints on it, and just go ahead and have that passed,” he told CBS’s Katie Couric. “But that’s not how it works in our democracy. Unfortunately, what we end up having to do is to do a lot of negotiations with a lot of different people.”

Whereas Ronald Reagan saw the answers to our problems in the private sphere (“in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem”), Obama seeks to expand confidence in, and reliance on, government wherever and whenever he can, albeit within the confines of a generally Center-Right nation and the “unfortunate” demands of democracy.

Photo Credit: Looking at the Left, "Dissent is the New Racism in Obama’s Post-Racial America."

100,000 Expected for May Day Protest in Los Angeles

Authorities in Los Angeles are bracing for a massive illegal immigration rally today. As always, the hardline communist protest groups are leading the demonstrations. Here's the statement at L.A. Indy Media:

WORKERS RIGHTS ARE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS! Diverse immigrant rights groups all over the United States will come out in a united full force for an all-out drive to push genuine immigration reform in 2010. In almost all major cities of the United States, immigrant rights groups led the labor unions, immigrant rights advocates and anti-war and racism forces like the International ANSWER Coalition will hold march and rallies for full immigrant rights and to commemorate International Workers Day.

Check ANSWER's page here, with the link to the international solidarity protest flyer, "ESTAMOS UNIDOS POR LA REFORMA MIGRATORIA EN EL 2010" ("UNITED FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM 2010").

And via Blazing Cat Fur, check out Robert Fulford's essay on Soviet May celebrations:

May Day was the biggest annual show in the world, a gigantic parade that climaxed before the Lenin mausoleum in Red Square as dignitaries smiled down on rows of tanks, cannon, missiles and soldiers paraded before them.

It was the chief ritual in the myth-laden cult of communism, a drama that seamlessly combined weaponry and peasant enthusiasm. May Day parades flourished till 1991, when protesters jeered General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and suddenly the jolliness was over. Today it exists mainly as a grotesque comedy, its carefully crafted remnants floating on the Internet.

Gulf Oil Spill From NASA Earth Observatory

Lots o' stuff on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Via NASA's Twitter stream and Memeorandum, "Gulf Oil Spill Creeps Towards Mississippi Delta."

And the untouched photos are at NASA Goddard's Flickr page:

And don't miss the phenomenal coverage at The Big Picture, "Oil spill approaches Louisiana coast."

Radical leftists have already exploited the tragedy, but see Sarah Palin, "Domestic Drilling: Why We Can Still Believe":

All responsible energy development must be accompanied by strict oversight, but even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen. No human endeavor is ever without risk – whether it’s sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization. I repeat the slogan “drill here, drill now” not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills – my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences. How could I still believe in drilling America’s domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.

Our hearts go out to all Americans along the coast affected by this recent tragedy, especially those who lost family members in the rig explosion, and our prayers go up for a successful recovery. May spill responders be safe.

- Sarah Palin

Boycott Shakira!

At CNN, "Shakira enters Arizona immigration fight."

Yeah, yeah. Another airheaded lefty celeb gets all human rights-y on us.

In contrast, let's hear it from a blonde with brains, Heather MacDonald, "Praising Arizona":

The Arizona law is not about race; it’s not an attack on Latinos or legal immigrants. It’s about one thing and one thing only: making immigration enforcement a reality. It is time for a national debate: Do we or don’t we want to enforce the country’s immigration laws? If the answer is yes, the Arizona law is a necessary and lawful tool for doing so. If the answer is no, we should end the charade of inadequate, half-hearted enforcement, enact an amnesty now, and remove future penalties for immigration violations.

Smashing Zero

I've kept my good friend Kreiz waiting a long time for some Smashing Pumkins. Here's "Zero" (Wiki link here):

Also, listen to "Tonight, Tonight" (embedding's disabled).

Plus, don't miss Theo's "Bedtime Totty..."

BONUS BONANZA: COED, "Weapons of Mass Distraction: 2010 Hooters Calendar Girls Invade Iraq."

Gov. Jan Brewer Speaks Out on Arizona Immigration Law

Megyn Kelly interviews Gov. Jan Brewer on Arizona's tough new immigration law:

RELATED: From Byron York, "In response to critics, Arizona tweaks new immigration law" (via Memeorandum).

Palin Hacker Convicted

At CNN, "TRENDING: Man found guilty in Palin e-mail case" (via Memeorandum).

And at Fox News, "Palin E-Mail Hacker Convicted on 2 of 4 Charges":

A Tennessee jury on Friday convicted the man who hacked Sarah Palin's e-mail account on two of four charges -- computer fraud and obstruction of justice. The panel did not find David Kernall guilty guilty of wire fraud. It deadlocked on an identity theft charge.

The former University of Tennessee student faced as much as 50 years for breaking into Palin's e-mail while the former Alaska governor was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008.

The two charges for which Kendall was convicted -- unlawful computer access and obstruction of justice -- carried a combined maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. It also calls for as much as eight years of supervised release, but it will be up to the judge to decide the sentence.

More at the link.

Amanda Marcotte: Liar and Deceiver

That's what Jill Stanek argues at, "Amanda Marcotte, Just Another Pro-Abort Fraud":

While I think all abortion industry types are crooks and liars, there are some pro-abort ideologues who I believe are misguided but genuine.

Until 2 days ago I had Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon in that category. She's harsh and anti-Christian, but I thought she was honest ...

Despite our differences, I gave her the benefit of the doubt as being authentic. No more. Marcotte now falls into the liar and deceiver category.

RTWT to get the full background, but I couldn't resist Jill's Twitter exchange screencap:

Leftists are liars, as I brutally demonstrated recently with Captain Fogg of the Swash Zone. No amount of factual presentation will work with these pure haters. That's why good folks of moral persuasion have to keep the pressure on. It's a tough job, but thank God we have folks like Jill Stanek on our side.

BONUS: From Jill's WND essay, "Vaccines Made With Fetal Cells Causing Autism?":

Marcotte, childless, is in no position to argue in favor of recommending another's child as a human science experiment. Apparently it is no great leap for hardcore pro-death ideologues to advance from endorsing human embryo research to endorsing human child research.

Ouch!

Photo Credit: Flickr.

Arizona Legislature Passes Bill to Ban ''Chauvanist' Ethnic Studies Programs

Give it up for the Arizona legislature!

At Fox New, "Arizona Legislature Passes Bill to Curb 'Chauvanism' in Ethnic Studies Programs" (via Memeorandum):

After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature sent Gov. Jan Brewer a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences.

After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences.

The bill, which passed 32-26 in the state House, had been approved by the Senate a day earlier. It now goes to Gov. Jan Brewer for her signature.

The new bill would make it illegal for a school district to teach any courses that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

See also, Gateway Pundit, "Wow… Arizona Passes Bill Banning Radical Ethnic Studies Programs."

RELATED: Doug Ross, "Irony-meter shatters: La Raza, MEChA and other racial separatist groups worry that law enforcement might use racial profiling to enforce laws." And Aaron Hanscom, "Separatism 101."

Belated Earth Day Shocker: Green Tea Parties for Big Government?

Yeah, you read that right. Listen to Sting sing the virtues of "big government" at the video. Another reason why I completely disassociate politics from pop music. Well, almost completely: Thank goodness for Ted Nugent.

BONUS: CSPT features some Shania Twain videos (she's a sweetie).

Political Impact of Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

The front page of my morning Los Angeles Times is splattered with coverage of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. See, "Frantic drive to spare: Fears of an ecological crisis grow as crews tackle a leak that could rival that of the Exxon Valdez." The background is here:

The crisis began last week when the oil rig Deepwater Horizon sank in deep gulf waters, days after it exploded and caught fire. Of its crew of 126, 11 are missing and presumed dead. The rig was owned by Transocean Ltd. and operated by BP, which is responsible for the cleanup.

Oil has been leaking at a rate of 5,000 barrels a day. Because it could take 90 days to drill a relief well to stem the flow, the spill could reach 18.9 million gallons, more than leaked from Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound, the worst spill in U.S. history.

On the political impact, see "Gulf oil spill is a political challenge for Obama's energy policy." And at Washington Post, "As oil spill hits Louisiana coast, critics assail Obama's offshore drilling plan." Obama's gonna get hammered by the radical left base of his party on this (netroots enviro-Nazis are already pissed off), and he'll flip-flop on his drilling plan to mobilize the environmental vote. None of this changes the fact that we need to increase domestic supplies, but the Gull spill will be exploited out of pure political expediency. Soon we'll see the spill used as a battering ram on Sarah Palin, to weaken the attractiveness of her robust embrace of increasing domestic supplies. More at USA Today, "Should oil spill end Obama's offshore drilling plan?" And at ABC News, it's happening already, "White House Says No New Offshore Drilling Until Investigation is Complete: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Threatens to Jeopardize President Obama's Offshore Drilling Policy."

Pre-Order Pamela Geller's, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America

Pamela's got her book cover posted, and readers can pre-order, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America:

Book jacket blurbs at the link. For example:

Barack Obama is a revolutionary on a mission to cut America down to size. One size fits all, to be precise. His post-sovereign America is a country no different from any other: economically bankrupt, morally rudderless, with nothing exceptional about it besides the heights from which it tumbles and the remorselessness of its choice – his choice – to decline. With their characteristic attention to detail, clarity and fearlessness, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer assay the wreckage. The Post-American Presidency is must reading for every concerned American who needs to know why we’re in this perilous moment, and where we’re headed if we don’t take our exceptional country back.

-- Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review legal affairs editor and bestselling author of Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad