How liberals view the economy

Stephen Carter, a professor of law at Yale University, explains (Hat tip: Rush):

As an academic with an interest in policy, I tend to see businesses as abstractions, fitting into a theory or a data set. Most policy makers do the same. We rarely encounter the simple human face of the less-than-giant businesses we constantly extol. And when they refuse to hire, we would often rather go on television and call them greedy than sit and talk to them about their challenges.

So there you have it: if the real world doesn't match liberal theory, find some group to blame and call them names, in this case "greedy". 

Hat tip: Rush

How to survive as a black man

At his blog, Acting White, James Callier relates his encounter with a Sheriff's deputy in the racially-charged and often violent city of Oakland, CA:

As the officer cautiously knocked on the driver-side window, the black man instantly remembered Chris Rock’s rules for engaging the police (here). Instead of rolling down the window and yelling in a Samuel Jackson voice, ‘WTF do you want MF!’ I calmly said with a smile, ‘hey officer!’ He then moved his hand away from his gun (to my pleasure), and asked if I knew that I was parked in a red zone. I said no, but it was possible because I did not recall seeing any marking as I approached a few minutes earlier. I added that I was waiting to pick up someone from BART and this was a convenient spot.

Now this is where it got interesting. Upon my words, the deputy stepped back with a look of disbelief and shaking his head. He then straightened up and, with authority, asked for my license and registration and if I had anything else to offer, wherein I said, ‘nope, you got me dude!’ I fully expected a citation, but then he busted out laughing, (like when you were a kid trying to keep milk from shooting out of your nose when your brother farted at Grandma’s dinner table). Officer Laughtrack said he could not believe I was offering the truth as my defense, in downtown Oakland, site of riots and sh_t. He said let’s just call this a warning.

San Franciscans prepare for The Rapture

People from around the San Francisco Bay Area gathered at the headquarters of Family Radio International, home to evangelist Harold Camping who had predicted that today would be The Rapture, the day when the souls of the faithful would rise up to heaven. On this day of spirituality, one man saw the opportunity for profit:

"Can I have your stuff tomorrow?"

Concerned that not all the worthy would rise to heaven on their own, some provided help using the laws of physics. Here is Sponge Bob Square Pants experiencing the joy-of-rapture via a helium-assist.
Santa Claus arrived and passed out the favored drink of true-believers, Kool-Aid. Some people couldn't get enough:
Also there in force were members of the Calvary Bible Church of Milpitas, CA. Some thumped bibles, some preached, and some just went about the prosaic mission of poaching from the soon to be disappointed members of Rev. Camping's flock to expand their own:
The message of the Calvary Church seemed to be that the judgment day was coming soon, just not today.

Others took a different approach to finding the truth:
The sign in the center above is "Science: we won't make a fool of you." On the left, the sign reads "The Bill is Nye." Apparently, Bill Nye, the Science Guy, has a fan. Showing the diversity present at this gathering, the woman on the right places her faith in British science fiction.

Not everyone appreciated the fun. This reporter, Lisa Amin Gulezian from ABC News, Channel 7, could not help but look down her nose at the gathering:
While the Family Radio International offices were closed today (why work when The Rapture is nigh?), some of Rev. Camping's followers were present, including this man with the "repent now" sign:
Anticipating that there would be a tomorrow, he told those assembled that Rev. Camping's numbers were merely approximate and that, while Rapture may not be today, it will be sometime soon. (That interpretation is not in keeping with the Church's website which, as of this writing, still reads "Judgment Day, May 21, 2011, the Bible guarantees it!")

Why didn't God call the faithful to heaven today? One group was their to proclaim it was because of Gay Pride:

All in all, a good time was had.

Democrat: Global Warming will destroy Washington DC by the year 2000

Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) was a Harvard Sociology professor, UN Ambassador, US Senator (D-NY), as well as advisor to US Presidents from JFK to Ford. As a Democrat working in the Nixon White House, he wrote a memo on September 17, 1969, declaring that Global Warming would cause disaster by the year 2000 (the full text (PDF) is available from the Nixon Library):

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has the effect of a pane of glass in a greenhouse. The C02 content is normally in a stable cycle, but recently man has begun to introduce instability through the burning of fossil fuels. At the turn of the century several persons raised the question whether this would change the temperature of the atmosphere. Over the years the hypothesis has been refined, and more evidence has come along to support it. It is now pretty clearly agreed that the C02 content will rise 25% by 2000. This could increase the average temperature near the earth ' s surface by 7 degrees Fahrenheit. This in turn could raise the level of the sea by 10 feet. Goodbye New York. Goodbye Washington, for that matter. We have no data on Seattle. [Emph. added]

While CO2 levels did increase from 1970 to 2000, there has been nothing like a 7 deg. temperature increase, the rise of sea level has not changed from its historical trend, and NY and DC are not underwater. The only thing that is under water is the credibility of predictions made by global warmists.

NOW calls on IMF head to resign over rape allegation

From NOW's website:

"The National Organization for Women is calling on Dominique Strauss-Kahn to resign or be removed immediately from his position as managing director of the International Monetary Fund," said NOW President Terry O'Neill.

NOW will take its message public today and is encouraging women's rights supporters to join in an action outside IMF headquarters.

Who:	NOW President Terry O'Neill and other feminist leaders and activists
What:	Demonstration calling for resignation or removal of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn
When:	Wednesday, May 18, 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Where:	IMF headquarters - 19th St. NW, between G and H Streets (Foggy Bottom Metro, Blue/Orange)

"Our society has a history of downplaying the seriousness of violence against women and re-victimizing the brave women who come forward to seek justice," said O'Neill.

Do you remember NOW organizes protests to call for Bill Clinton to resign because Juanita Broadderick accused him of rape? No, I don't either.

Hat tip: BotW.

Questions: What was young Barack's ambition when growing up?

Answer: to become Prime Minister of Indonesia.

This comes from a New York Times Magazine article by reporter Janny Scott who describes a conversation from Pres. Obama's youth in Indonesia:

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” [Obama's stepfather] Lolo asked Barry one evening, according to Saman [Lolo's houseboy].

“Oh, prime minister,” Barry answered.

Hat tip: Robin of Berkeley.

More liberal racism

Cornel West is a professor at Princeton University, an author, and a progressive.  In an interview with Chris Hedges of TruthDig (hat tip: Washington Post), West explodes in a racial tirade:

“I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men,” West says. “It’s understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he’s always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white. He is just as human as I am, but that is his cultural formation. When he meets an independent black brother, it is frightening. And that’s true for a white brother. When you get a white brother who meets a free, independent black man, they got to be mature to really embrace fully what the brother is saying to them. It’s a tension, given the history. It can be overcome. Obama, coming out of Kansas influence, white, loving grandparents, coming out of Hawaii and Indonesia, when he meets these independent black folk who have a history of slavery, Jim Crow, Jane Crow and so on, he is very apprehensive. He has a certain rootlessness, a deracination. It is understandable.

“He feels most comfortable with upper middle-class white and Jewish men who consider themselves very smart, very savvy and very effective in getting what they want,” he says. “He’s got two homes. He has got his family and whatever challenges go on there, and this other home. Larry Summers blows his mind because he’s so smart. He’s got Establishment connections. He’s embracing me. It is this smartness, this truncated brilliance, that titillates and stimulates brother Barack and makes him feel at home. That is very sad for me.

West goes on to explain that Obama is “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats. And now he has become head of the American killing machine and is proud of it.”

Don't get upset with West: the rules clearly say that progressives are allowed to be racist without consequence.

Two contrasting military doctrines

What has our military intervention in Libya accomplished? At the moment, ithe lack of results seem to make the US and NATO look weak and ineffective. Also, the choice of Libya for our third war seems peculiar. Syria has a central role as a supporter of terror, particularly Hamas and Hezbollah, and supporting regime change there would seem to have much greater global significance. In the Obama doctrine, however, being weak, ineffective, and irrelevant are not faults but rather virtues. Stanley Kurtz, who has been studying the writings of Samantha Power and other Obama advisers, explains (hat tip: Instapundit) how they see it:

In Power’s view, to be credible, humanitarian interventions must respond to immediate danger (thus Obama’s waiting until the militarily unpropitious moment when Benghazi itself was under imminent threat), must be supported by multilateral bodies (thus the resort to the U.N., NATO, and the Arab League in preference to the U.S. Congress), “must forswear up front . . . commercial or strategic interests in the region” (thus the disavowal of regime change as a goal of our multilateral action), and must “commit to remaining for a finite period” (as Obama has pledged to do in Libya). Even NATO’s threat to bomb the rebels if they kill civilians (which struck many as unrealistic, and at cross-purposes with our supposed military goals) is foreshadowed in Power’s writings, which highlight the need to police both sides in any humanitarian action.

Contrast that with the five-point doctrine enunciated (hat tip: DaTechGuy) by Sarah Palin last Sunday in her speech in Denver:

I believe our criteria before we send our young men and women, America’s finest, into harm’s way, I believe that our criteria should be spelled out clearly when it comes to the use of our military force. I can tell you what I believe that criteria should be. I can tell you what it should be in five points:

First, we should only commit our forces when clear and vital American interests are at stake, period.

Second, if we have to fight, we fight to win. To do that we use overwhelming force. We only send our troops into war with the objective to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible.

We do not send our military and stretch out the mission with an open-ended and ill-defined mission. Nation-building, a nice idea in theory, but it’s not the main purpose of our armed forces. We use our military to win wars.

And third, we must have clearly defined goals and objectives before sending our troops into harm’s way. If you can’t explain the mission to the American people clearly, concisely, then our sons and daughters should not be sent to battle. Period.

Fourth, American soldiers must never be put under foreign command. We will fight side by side by our allies, but American soldiers must remain under the care and command of the American officers.

And fifth, sending our armed forces should be the last resort. We don’t go looking for dragons to slay. However, we will encourage the forces of freedom around the world who are sincerely fighting for the empowerment of the individual.

Compare and contrast.

Another Broken Campaign Promise

As uncovered by the always interesting James Taranto:

• "Barack Obama: I Won't Martyr bin Laden"--headline, Daily Telegraph (London), June 19, 2008
• "U.S. Team's Mission Was to Kill bin Laden, Not Capture"--headline, Reuters, May 2, 2011

Our vacuous "leaders"

John Hinderaker examines the thoughts of ex-Speaker Pelosi:

Nancy Pelosi, press conference, September 7, 2006:

[E]ven if [Osama bin Laden] is caught tomorrow, it is five years too late. He has done more damage the longer he has been out there. But, in fact, the damage that he has done ... is done. And even to capture him now I don't think makes us any safer.

Nancy Pelosi, earlier today:

The death of Osama bin Laden marks the most significant development in our fight against al-Qaida. ... I salute President Obama, his national security team, Director Panetta, our men and women in the intelligence community and military, and other nations who supported this effort for their leadership in achieving this major accomplishment. ... [T]he death of Osama bin Laden is historic....

It is unfortunate that many public figures are unable to view events otherwise than through a partisan prism.

Many people want to have serious and in-depth discussion and debate on key issues with the leaders, such as they are, in the Democrat and MSM camps. I think that that idea is overrated. As Ms. Pelosi illustrates above, our "leaders" often don't have any views beyond what is superficially convenient at the moment.

RELATED on the subject of superficial thoughts: Do you remember when having US special forces assassinate people was considered a bad thing?

PREVIOUSLY on ex-Speaker Pelosi:
•Pelosi: Pass Obamacare so artists can quit their day jobs
•Speaker Pelosi's deep thoughts on giving Miranda rights to terrorists.
•Pelosi: Sexism in the House
•Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Feinstein: how their husbands benefit from government contracts
•Pelosi: let them eat cake!
•Eco-hypocrite of the day
•San Franciscans rally against Nancy Pelosi (photos)

Obama assassinates Osama!

One week ago, CIA operatives entered a mansion in Pakistan and killed Osama bin Laden. (The announcement was delayed until the middle of tonight's episode of Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, which is not to imply that Obama is holding a grudge.)

UPDATE: The AP reports that the US handling of Osama's body will follow "Islamic tradition":

U.S. officials said the helicopter raid in Pakistan was carried out by CIA paramilitaries together with the elite Navy SEAL Team Six. The U.S. team took custody of bin Laden's remains, which American officials said were being handled in accordance with Islamic tradition. [Emph. added]

Do you think that that will be the same as the manner and tradition with which Al Qaeda handled the bodies of Westerners they had beheaded?

BREAKING UPDATE: Cindy Sheehan speaks (hat tip: BotW.):

"I am sorry, but if you believe the newest death of OBL, you're stupid. Just think to yourself--they paraded Saddam's dead sons around to prove they were dead--why do you suppose they hastily buried this version of OBL at sea? This lying, murderous Empire can only exist with your brainwashed consent--just put your flags away and THINK!"--Cindy Sheehan, May 2, 2011

If you doubt Ms. Sheehan's statement, remind yourself that the New York Times declared her to have "absolute moral authority," at least their columnist did claim that when it was a convenient thing to claim.

Victims of Communism Day

Four years ago, Prof. Ilya Somin of George Mason University proposed May 1 as an annual day for commemorating the victims of communism. He wrote:

The authoritative Black Book of Communism estimates the total at 80 to 100 million dead, greater than that caused by all other twentieth century tyrannies combined. We appropriately have a Holocaust Memorial Day. It is equally appropriate to commemorate the victims of the twentieth century's other great totalitarian tyranny. And May Day is the most fitting day to do so. I suggest that May Day be turned into Victims of Communism Day.

The lessons that we learn from communist/socialist history are too valuable to waste. The victims of communism will have died in vain if we do not study it.

Prof. Somin has updated his post for this year (hat tip: Instapundit).

PREVIOUSLY on communism:
•Venezuela: Forward to the past
•China sentences American for industrial spying
•In San Francisco, communists still think fondly of the Soviet revolution
•The communist suicide-bomber
•Venezuela's other major export: organized crime
•Communist holocausts
•Chavez closes another opposition TV station
•Why is Alger Hiss' guilt such a threat to the liberal vision?
•In Poland, the former communist country celebrates Ronald Reagan.
•Chavez takes from the poor to give to....

A divider not a uniter

In his continuing failure to understand the nature of the office of President, Obama showed his petty side at a White House Correspondents dinner. The AP reports:

President Barack Obama exacted his revenge Saturday after weeks of attacks from his would-be Republican challenger Donald Trump, joking that the billionaire businessman could bring change to the White House, transforming it from a stately mansion into a tacky casino with a whirlpool in the garden.

Trump may inspire a lot of jokes but the President of US should not be making personal attacks on US citizens. He should leave that to his campaign staff.

UPDATE: Prof. Reynolds comments: "You don’t punish Donald Trump by giving him attention" and "it’s a pathetic commentary that the allegedly independent White House Press Corps served as a vehicle for an incumbent President to bash his most vocal challenger." Good points.