The Lunch Counter

From a perspective of politics as usual, one could easily call her decision to pass the baton to her Lt. Governor a ‘misunderstanding‘ about governing.

What we know is, like it or not, Palin doesn’t do politics ‘as usual.’

I’ll go out on a limb and say what no media person has said yet. That, being driven by her love of country and her State, she is stepping out of political office so that she can get her message out without being a burden on Alaska in dealing with endless lawsuits.  Which, by the way, is what she said. The tide of media opinion suggests she can’t take the heat and is getting out of the kitchen. Fact is, her message resonates with conservatives, which is a smaller, less intrusive government, where capitalism and free markets, personal freedom and liberty will once again prevail. Her core beliefs are what is driving her. Not conventional politics. Her priorities are faith, family, and then her State, in that order. Essentially, it is all the things that the Obama administration, which only believes in an all powerful and controlling federal government, does not believe in.

There’s no reason to not believe the reason she gave for leaving, nor to doubt the sincerity with which she gave it. (Anyone see a teleprompter?) And I’d wager a guess that her not playing ‘politics as usual’ will give David Axelrod  Excedrin headache number 13 trillion. All the speculation from pundits of her cutting and running is misplaced, wishful thinking.

She hasn’t given up. She has changed the game.

You go girl.

Though not widely publicized, there was a ‘Tea Party’ at 9th Ave. & Creighton Road today. Lest there be any doubt, I am a supporter of the Fair Tax. It alone would begin a lasting economic recovery on into the future, without adding to or piling on the current national debt.

The crowd of somewhere between 300-400  people were all, at least the ones I saw and spoke to, well behaved and passionate about what they believe, that the country is going in the wrong direction, in so many ways. Trying to spend our way to prosperity and borrow our way out of debt, taking over private companies and industries all add up to economy killers. Markets pull back at the fear of being next on the hit list. Risk-taking and investment stop. Jobs end. Exactly what we are seeing happen right now.

That’s why most people were there, home-made signs and all. They sang patriotic songs along with a PA system that someone had set up. This is what grassroots looks like.

I, and a few other Fair Tax advocates were there to answer questions about the Fair Tax and to enlist Fair Tax supporters. I am happy to report that we picked up 41 new supporters in those two hours today.

Thanks to two of our newest members Mr. Brown and Mr. Doyel, and to Community Coordinator Jim Whatley, for their help and participation at our Fair Tax table. We handed out pamphlets and spoke to a lot of people. Everyone we spoke to that had questions or were just curious, liked the Fair Tax once they learned more about it.

Special thanks to Lee for the umbrella. We were offering FREE SHADE for people that signed up to join us.

Part of building our grassroots support includes recruiting Community Coordinators and County Coordinators. To learn more about the FFTEA and the above positions,  please check out our website.

I was interviewed by PNJ reporter Thyrie Bland for an article that will be in tomorrow’s paper.

Pictures will be posted here as well as on our FFTEA Panhandle website as soon as I get them.

Update 07/05/09: PNJ article, Protesters take aim at taxes, socialism

related links:

• 9th Avenue Tea Party
• Florida Fair Tax, Panhandle Group
• Pensacola Fair Tax Meetup Group

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What?

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities say two professional wrestlers found dead in a low-rent hotel in the capital may have been drugged to death by female robbers.

Autopsies are being performed on the two midget wrestlers, one of whom went by the name “La Parkita” — or “Little Death” — and wore a skeleton costume in the ring. The other was known as “Espectrito Jr.”

Authorities say two women were seen leaving the men’s hotel room before the bodies were discovered.

Prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera said Wednesday that gangs of female robbers are experienced at using drugs to knock men out and rob them, but they may have used too strong a dose.

That may have been because of the wrestlers’ small stature, although larger men have also died in similar crimes.

Hotel Mexifornia? Cancel that trip to Mexico honey. I know, this has nothing to do with politics. Sometimes I’ll digress. But a headline like that bears a second look.

link: Two Mexican Midget Wrestlers Killed by Fake Prostitutes

‘It’s a pattern of controlling the press.’ The ‘events are pre-packaged.’ This is what Helen Thomas, the Grande Dame of The White House press briefing room, told White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the ‘town hall meeting’ that President Obama has planned. Another infomercial. ‘Yes, and if you act now (vote for everything that I think is good for you, you don’t have to read it), you’ll get a second one absolutely FREE.’ Emphasis on ‘free.’

Of course I have to agree with both Chip Reid and Helen Thomas that it is disingenuous to call it something that it is not, where questions solicited over the internet are screened in advance, and they pick and choose the ones they want to answer.

That is not any-one’s definition of a town hall meeting. This is a town hall show. I wonder if someone from Air America radio is advising David Axelrod on how to fool the American people? This is similar to the way that Air America radio host Mike Papantonio and Robert Kennedy Jr run their Ring of Fire radio show. That show is to talk radio as this ‘town hall’ event is to a town hall event.

Frankly, I’m glad to see the media standing up, instead of laying down, to Gibbs (the administration) on the willful deception going on in The White House. They have certainly come a long way since the presidential campaign season when they had enough ‘plants’ in ‘debates’ that were run by them to open up a roadside stand. In either case, it is the same deception. Is this the change you were expecting?

This video is noteworthy just for the sheer incompetence on display in the performance of the White House Press Secretary. This is a real gem.

In responding to Helen Thomas telling Gibbs that the White House screens the questions and calls reporters on the night before to tell them that they will call on them at the ‘town hall’ meeting, Gibbs responds to Thomas with ‘eh, we’ve had this discussion ad nauseum’ and then points to someone else to change the subject. But not before she responds with ‘of course you would, you don’t have any answers.’ Priceless.

See the entire exchange below. Get the kids and some popcorn, you will want to see this again and again.

It’s fair to say that auto sales of any brand is down, and down significantly and for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is government intervention. Current economic conditions aside, the Prius and vehicles like it are not what the market demands. And for whatever demand there is, there is no demand to eliminate the SUV and American cars as we know them. That demand is coming from Washington, not the market.

Despite claims that Americans turning their backs on gas-guzzlers have contributed to the present dire straits faced by GM and others, Toyota’s latest sales figures point to a stagnant market for more efficient Japanese models as well.

Sales of the Prius in the US were down from 15,011 in May 2008 to just 10,091 for the same month this year. For the year to date, sales of the Prius in the US stand at 42,753 compared to 79,675 in 2008 – a drop of more than 45 per cent.

Markets don’t respond well to political direction. There are many laboratories to look to for evidence of this. Venezuela is one such laboratory. The former USSR and Cuba are others.

Markets are self-correcting when ‘allowed.’  That is to say, when they are not interfered with.  Above everything else, markets don’t do well in an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Folks’ 401k plans bear this out. Devious as it may be, one could argue that the administration is using the FUD factor to help advance its agenda.

Motivation aside, the power grab the Obama administration has perpetrated over various industries and companies within his first 100 days is sending only one message to business. Watch out, you could be next.

It wasn’t a slip of the tongue when candidate Obama said something like ‘the United States is the greatest country in the world, that’s why we need to change it.’

To a socialist, the very fact that America has become as great as it is in under 200 years, while Europe and Asia go back thousands of years, just gets under their skin. So as not to miss the obvious question, why do you suppose that is? Two words, freedom and liberty.

Because of our freedom and generosity, Americans have become the greatest producer and contributor of foreign aid in the world, and by a long shot. Not only in terms of money given but in terms of the ability of American farmers and industry to feed the world and for our military to provide aid after natural disasters wherever they may occur. Right, we need to change that.

A look at the numbers of where we are going is in an article by Alan Aronoff at American Thinker entitled Stimulating America’s Decline and begs your reading.

Whether these are his words is immaterial. Just look around.

The fundamental change that the Obama administration has in mind will cripple the economy and suppress capitalism by suppressing risk taking and investment.  There is already a lengthy history of government involvement in private industry whether by ‘bailout’ (democrat-speak for ‘takeover’) or takeover, where this administration is concerned.

For years Democrats in Washington have been pre-occupied with our image in the world. I wonder what our image in the world will be when the ‘land of plenty’ has nothing left to give?

It comes as no surprise to many that the Supreme Court would overturn the decision made by Sonia Sotomayor. That’s what happened today.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

It is instructive to watch how the Supreme Court decision will be reported. Headlines like these should be a clue.

• AP  ‘Court rules for white firefighters over promotions‘
• New York Times, Justices Rule for White Firefighters in Bias Case

The storyline will be less about Sotomayer being overruled, less about the fact that the plaintiffs prevailed in getting equal protection under the law, and more about stoking the racial fire and accusations that the court wants to ‘wind back the clock.’

And, more importantly, less about the fact that the court’s solution to the case was only that. A solution of the case. Plaintiffs prevail, end of story. There was no constitutional question regarding racial preferences to be decided.

The constitutionality of racial preferences under the law will come before the Supreme Court some day. And you can bet that a court with Sotomayor and one more ’sympathetic’ judge would codify government-approved racial discrimination once and for all.

related links: Sotomayor, Equality Or Pay-Back | It’s The Supreme Court, Not Oprah

While the Honduran government is trying to stabilize and preserve its democracy and its constitution, they are meeting with objections from the likes of Fidel Castro, the hemisphere’s idiot Hugo Chavez, who has already threatened to overthrow their government, as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. What?

Hugo Chávez’s coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation’s constitution. It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking.

So what happens when the people take a stand for law and order, and the support of their own constitution? For one thing, you can be sure this administration will be consistent and come down on the side of the dictators instead of the people. It has already happened to the people in Iran.

It remains to be seen what Mr. Zelaya’s next move will be. It’s not surprising that chavistas throughout the region are claiming that he was victim of a military coup. They want to hide the fact that the military was acting on a court order to defend the rule of law and the constitution, and that the Congress asserted itself for that purpose, too.

Mrs. Clinton has piled on as well. Yesterday she accused Honduras of violating “the precepts of the Interamerican Democratic Charter” and said it “should be condemned by all.” Fidel Castro did just that. Mr. Chávez pledged to overthrow the new government.

Where’s the next uprising against constitutional abuses going to come from? And how will the Obama administration react?

link: Honduras Defends Its Democracy, Fidel Castro and Hillary Clinton object.

The Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day Award goes to a shining example of a Columbia educated, angry liberal black man that calls black republicans and Fox News racists, and his name is Casey Gane-McCalla writing on NewsOne.

After reading his unsubstantiated claims of racism by Fox News and its news on-air contributors, seems to me Mr. Gane-McCalla is guilty of what he is accusing the others of. He goes so far as to bring us the top 5 Uncle Toms on Fox News.

Being a Republican does not make you an Uncle Tom. If you believe in fiscal responsibility and social conservatism, it is your right to be a republican. However if you are a black republican, it should be your duty to stand up to your party when it becomes blatantly racist against your own kind. You should also realize it when they only use you to attack other black people and never to offer any other points of view.

These African Americans have made a living off of going on Fox News and smearing black leaders and culture. They often are the mouthpieces for the things that even Fox is to racist to say. They always attack another black person and never stand up to any of Fox’s or the GOP’s racism.

And more recently, this gem. ‘Nixon Would’ve Aborted Obama For Being Mixed.’

link: Top 5 Fox News Uncle Toms | Nixon Would’ve Aborted Obama For Being Mixed

I was taken aback just a bit to learn that the University of West Florida has an employee group called a Black Employee Association. This came to light in an article in the Pensacola News Journal about a Juneteenth event one week too late. No, the report wasn’t a week late. UWF’s celebration was a week late.

If you’re going to celebrate the ‘end’ of slavery, at least you could do it on the proper day. A week late sort of smacks of racial pandering. Someone on that campus apparently came under some criticism from the Black Employee Association and the CYA reaction was to ‘honor’ the end of slavery a week late. Maybe someone from the University can end the speculation as to why it was a week late? Right after they explain why they have a Black Employee Association.

It is a myth that the halls of higher education are the  enlightened bunch, above racial prejudice, when they have a racially defined group on their campus. It’s easy to justify say, a Professor’s Club or a Support Staff Club. They are color blind, race neutral, and the way things ought to be.

Where is the justification, in 2009, for endorsing anything based on race? It certainly would not be allowed if it had anything to do with religion. No, that’s not as precise as could be said. If it had anything to do with a Christian religion  it would not be allowed. The ACLU would see to that.

Is it true that the school will begin their winter break, formerly known as Christmas vacation, on December 28th this year?

link: UWF’s Black Employee Association celebrates Juneteenth