Eric Zimmermann: Pelosi: now we don’t have to ‘explain process’
Sen. Arlen Specter’s decision to switch parties will make it easier for Democrats to move forward with their agenda, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday.

Specter’s switch will give Democrats 60 caucus members in the Senate (assuming Al Franken wins his legal battle in Minnesota). That is enough votes to end debate on a bill and overcome Republican filibusters.

“Very exciting, very exciting for the American people, because now we can get things done without explaining process,” Pelosi told CNN’s Candy Crowley. more……

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NRO: Obama’s Year Zero
It is no accident that “hitting the reset button” has become one of the regnant clichés of the early weeks of the Obama administration. The president has spent the last 100 days acting as though he has the power to make the world anew: to turn enemies into allies by the power of his personal charm and his self-presentation as a break with the sordid past; to re-create the automotive industry, the energy sector, and the economy in general along lines he considers more fruitful and pleasing; to ignore any vestiges of conservatism still present in the populace; to dismiss any criticism as the grunting of dinosaurs. It is Year Zero of a pallid revolution. more……

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Jeff Lukens: When the Obama Backlash Comes
Public opinion can be very fickle. Barack Obama has ridden a positive wave of opinion all the way to the White House. The public has welcomed him into office in that same spirit of hope in which he ran. Since the inauguration, however, the President is showing he has different plans than the ones he spoke about during the campaign. It should come as no surprise when the public turns on him just as easily as he has turned on them. more……

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Dick Morris: Obama sows seeds of demise
When the Obama administration crashes and burns, with approval ratings that fall through the floor, political scientists can trace its demise to its first hundred days. While Americans are careful not to consign a presidency they desperately need to succeed to the dustbin of history, the fact is that this president has moved — on issue after issue — in precisely the opposite direction of what the people want him to do. more……

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Nile Gardiner: Worse than Jimmy Carter
It is hard to think of a U.S. president who has done more to weaken his country on the world stage in such a short period of time — and that includes the hapless Jimmy Carter. President Obama’s first 100 days as a world leader have been an overwhelming failure, a damaging mix of diplomatic gaffes and humiliating apologies for America’s past, combined with a naïve outreach to American-hating tyrants and despots, as well as an overwhelming indifference towards traditional allies, including Britain. more……

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Lawrence Kudlow: 100-Day Lurch to the Left
In the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan’s popularity and policies moved American politics firmly to the right. In only 100 days, Barack Obama’s politics and policies have shifted America way to the left.

The president is seeking to change the whole relationship between the government and the free-enterprise private sector. He is steering the country away from democratic capitalism and toward his big-government command-and-control vision. We are witnessing a triumph of government bureaucrats over entrepreneurs, investors, and small businesses. more……

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-Cnation

I’m going to cut through the bullshit and get right to it.

I defy anyone to to show me so much as one area, be it social, economic, educational or political, which has been improved by illegal immigration. Just one.

Go ahead, take as much time as you need….

You can’t, can you?

That’s because illegal immigration has been a blight on our country in every conceivable way. Crime? Up. Unemployment? Up. Welfare roles? Bursting at the seams and unsustainable. Health care? The burden placed on the health care system by illegals has forced countless hospitals out of business nationwide, including one in my former hometown of Port Chester, New York.  States like California, with one of the largest illegal alien populations in the country, are bankrupt. States like North Carolina, with it’s estimated illegal population of 300,000  – currently the 8th highest illegal population in the country – are also dealing with tremendous state budget shortfalls.

For reference: (links open in new window):

• The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Californians (2004)
• The Costs of Illegal Immigration to North Carolinians (2008)

Illegal alien crime runs the gamut from identity theft, to gang activity (the ultra-violent MS-13 is composed mainly of illegal Salvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans), drugs, rape, murder, human trafficking, astronomical rates of drunk driving deaths/murders….hardly a day goes by where we don’t read about a citizen getting creamed by some drunk illegal. Just recently here in Raleigh, a 72 year old man was hit by not one, but two separate illegals, both of whom left the scene of the crime. The victim died.

Current estimates of Illegals in the federal prison system put their numbers somewhere between 24 and 33 percent of all federal prisoners. Even on the low side, that is huge.

There is simply no way for an honest, rational person to deny the facts that are right in front of our noses, but both the liberal left and corporate America will continue to push for amnesty for these illegal invaders – and will in all likelihood get it this year – unless unless we stand up en masse to stop it. The tea party thing was a start, but we need to channel that outrage into specific issues as needed; with Schumer pushing amnesty this week, there is no time to lose.

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 87% of Americans believe it is at least “somewhat important” to get control of our borders and reduce illegal immigration, while 66% believe it is “very important”. However – and not all that surprisingly – among the ‘political class’, who according to Rasmussen ‘tend to have more confidence in political leaders and less trust in the wisdom of the American people’, only 32% believe that it is ‘very important’.

Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters April 11-12, 2009 How important is it for the government to improve its enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration?
Very important	66%
Somewhat important	21%
Not very important	9%
Not at all important	2%
Not sure	1%

Complete poll results here.

My personal opinion of the ‘political class’ as described above is that they are fools. Anyone who puts that level of trust in the government – any government – is virtually guaranteeing a life of servitude for themselves and their future generations. Governments should not be trusted. Ever. Why? Just look around….if you’re over the age of 35, this country is unrecognizable to you from the country of your youth. Somewhere along the way, we lost our skepticism….we got complacent, we took our eyes off the ball and allowed the radical left to maneuver themselves into the highest positions of power. And now we’re trying to rationalize allowing 30+ million illegals who are taking our jobs, driving down wages, driving our country into financial ruin, destroying our culture, and many of whom are killing, raping and robbing our citizens, to stay here rather than doing the sane thing and getting them out.

It is wrong, and I am ashamed of what we’ve become. If you support amnesty, you should be ashamed too. Of yourself.

-Cnation.

In Sacramento today, ACORN members disrupted several foreclosure auctions and, according to Michelle Malkin, ‘helped send an auctioneer to the hospital with chest pains.’

From the Modesto Bee:

As the first auction was to begin at 9:30 a.m. on the Sacramento County Courthouse steps, Los Angeles ACORN member Kathleen Thompson-Boons asked an unidentified auctioneer with LPS Financial Services of Sacramento “to stop the auction.”

When the auctioneer resumed seeking bids from nine potential bidders, Thompson-Boons asked again, prompting the auctioneer to say, “If you’re not going to bid, then go away.”

Seconds later, protesters surrounded the group, chanting, blowing whistles and creating a commotion that made it impossible to hear. The auctioneer, who had a pacemaker according to associates, began to collapse and was later taken to a local hospital.

The protest continued for about 90 minutes. ACORN members left after cheering a concession by LPS Financial Services to cancel a specific requested foreclosure auction for one Sacramento family. Minutes later, as the group left, the auctions resumed as scheduled. read the whole article….

So, where was law enforcement? Why were these animals allowed to disrupt a public auction on the county courthouse steps with impunity? Most importantly, why is nobody standing up to these ACORN goons?

Sacramento had a pretty respectable tea party turnout, something on the order of 15,000 attendees. You know what I’d like to see? An organized counter-demonstration by Sacramento tea party protesters to shut the ACORN thugs down.

The dates and times of the foreclosure auctions are public knowledge. If a few hundred tea party protesters were to show up, I think that perhaps ACORN would have second thoughts about disrupting the proceedings.

As I wrote earlier this evening, the tea party protests were a good start, but we must not forget that they were just that  – a start. One of the most valuable things we learned from our protests was that there are a significant number of  like-thinking Americans who are ready and willing to stand up not only against taxes, but for the Constitution, for the rule of law, and against liberal fascism of the type promoted by ACORN and similar organizations.

We’re smarter than the opposition, but they’re better organized, better funded, and have a significant head start on us in the type of tactics ACORN used today to delay / shut down the foreclosure auctions and send that poor man to the hospital. If the will is there though, there’s no reason we can’t take these cowards on and beat them on their own battleground. We can start by DEMANDING that law enforcement do their job.

Standing up for what’s right isn’t always pretty, and sometimes means getting your hands dirty.

What do you say, Sacramento tea partiers?

-Cnation

Gateway Pundit: Team Obama Miscalculates US GDP Growth By Nearly Half a Trillion Dollars
“In a report last week that the Obama Administration was still insisting that GDP growth in 2010 would be a strong 3.2%.
International Business Times reported:    Taking a closer look at how the President arrives at his rosy projection of cutting the deficit to “just” $530 billion by the end of 2013 you find he accomplishes it not by keeping expenditures off budget, like his processor, but by utilizing grossly unrealistic economic growth assumptions.” more……

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Washington Times: Barack’s in the basement
“President Obama’s media cheerleaders are hailing how loved he is. But at the 100-day mark of his presidency, Mr. Obama is the second-least-popular president in 40 years.
According to Gallup’s April survey, Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969.” more……

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John Fonte: Koh Fails the Democracy Test
Consent of the governed? Or rule by international wisemen?
“Advocates of global governance advance their agenda through the “transnational legal process.” Harold Koh, former dean of the Yale Law School, who has been nominated by President Obama to be the legal adviser to the State Department, is a leading advocate of this “transnational legal process.” His confirmation hearing is today, Tuesday, April 28.” more……

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Michelle Malkin: 100 Days of Reckless Photo-Op Hubris
“Come on, who’s surprised? The White House-engineered photo-op of low-flying Air Force aircraft that caused terror in New York City this week epitomizes the Age of Obama. What better way to mark 100 days in office than with an appalling exercise in pointless taxpayer-funded stagecraft?”  more……

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Larry Kudlow: Geithner: The Fox Guarding the Henhouse?
“What is going on in this country? The government is about to take over GM in a plan that completely screws private bondholders and favors the unions. Get this: The GM bondholders own $27 billion and they’re getting 10 percent of the common stock in an expected exchange. And the UAW owns $10 billion of the bonds and they’re getting 40 percent of the stock. Huh? Did I miss something here? And Uncle Sam will have a controlling share of the stock with something close to 50 percent ownership. And no bankruptcy judge. So this is a political restructuring run by the White House, not a rule-of-law bankruptcy-court reorganization.

Meanwhile, top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett opened the door wide on CNN yesterday to bank nationalization and CEO firings. Unfortunately, my take that the economic stress tests are a political stalking horse for more government ownership, more government control of the banks, and more government disruption of shareholder rights and normal corporate governance looks to be coming true.” more……

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Just a reminder that the Dixie Gun And Knife show will be coming to the North Carolina State fairgrounds in Raleigh, NC on May 2nd and 3rd 2009.

For more info and their complete 2009 calendar, please visit their site:
http://dixiegunandknifeshow.com

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-Cnation

Team Obama scores another hit and provides yet another example of why they are not fit to lead this country.

Displaying an almost unbelievable lack of awareness, sensitivity, and total lack of respect for the people of New York, the White House yesterday dispatched Air Force One, along with a fighter jet escort, to the skies over Manhattan for – are you ready for this – a photo op.

Yes, you read that right. A photo op.

I mean, how stupid can they be?

Some idiots in the white house actually thought it would be a good idea to send a low-flying jumbo jet to the scene of the worst attack ever on American soil in order to take some pictures. It gets better though – they did so without notifying either the Mayor or the people of New York City.

As you can well imagine, panic ensued.

New York Times reports:

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said Monday afternoon that he was unaware of the flyover. At his daily press briefing, Mr. Gibbs initially referred questions to the F.A.A. and the Air Force. When told that those government offices were referring questions to the White House, Mr. Gibbs said: “I have no information on this other than what I saw.”

Mr. Gibbs, pressed by reporters, said he had seen news reports of the flyover, but declared: “I was working on other things. You might be surprised to know that I don’t know every movement of Air Force One.” Later, he added that he would look into the matter.

Here’s a video of the planes, with people running for their lives in the foreground.

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While it is unclear as of this writing who, specifically, authorized the flight, the White House has accepted responsibility for the incident.

More from Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.

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-Cnation

John L. Perry: Obama, the Puppet President
“The full story of Barack Obama, the puppet president, remains untold: Who is the Geppetto who carved this herky-jerky stick figure? Who now pulls the strings that control the movements that affect the daily lives of all Americans?” more…..

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Jed Babbin: Is Pelosi a War Criminal?
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — then the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — was briefed on CIA interrogation techniques including waterboarding when they were begun in 2002.  She was among the “Big Eight” present at the briefings — the Senate and House leaders and chairmen and ranking members on both intelligence committees….But fortunately for Nancy Pelosi and all the others who knew the details of the CIA interrogation program and didn’t object to it, we are a nation of laws, not of Potter Stewarts.  What the law was in 2002-2005 is not what it is today or may be tomorrow.  The law is what it is, and was what it was, and punishments cannot be meted out on the basis of what liberals now wish it might have been.” more……

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Steve Milloy: Gore lies to Congress about personal finances
“When Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn confronted Al Gore with his profiteering from global warming legislation at today’s House Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing on the Waxman-Markey climate bill, Al Gore said that every penny he ever made from his business activities went into non-profit efforts. [See transcript below.]

That is a flat-out lie, according to this March 6, 2008 Bloomberg report that indicates that Al Gore invested $35 million of his own money in various for-profit endeavors.” more……

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Joann Muller: GM Reaches The End Of The Road
“In divvying up what’s left of GM, the government intends to take the largest slice for itself–just above 50%–and hand another fat piece–39%–to the United Auto Workers union. That would leave a little over 10% for GM’s bondholders, if they choose to accept GM’s offer to swap $27 billion in unsecured debt for new equity in a restructured GM.

It’s a lousy deal, most analysts agree, and even GM’s chief financial officer, Raymond Young, admitted that getting 90% of bondholders to accept it–the government’s threshold–is a “high hurdle.” If they don’t, GM intends to file for bankruptcy, Henderson said. …”Bondholders, who own more than $27 billion in GM bonds and have the same legal rights as the unions, would only receive a mere 10% of the restructured company and essentially no cash,” the committee’s advisers said.” more……

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Thomas Sowell: Survival Optional
“It used to be said that self-preservation is the first law of nature. But much of what has been happening in recent times in the United States, and in Western civilization in general, suggests that survival is taking a back seat to the shibboleths of political correctness.” more……

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-Cnation

When I first saw this video earlier this evening, I was amused. I’m pretty sure I even laughed out loud. But then I stopped laughing. Why? Because the blank, completely lost expression on Obama’s face exposed a man who was on autopilot; a man who had absolutely no idea what he was saying. None.

This man is incapable of speaking his own words from his own heart.

I am well beyond believing that Obama is of his own mind, heart, and will at this point in the game. I will not speculate publicly beyond that statement other than to say that I, like many others who’s bullshit detectors are -off- -the- -scale- with this president and this administration, would like to know who’s really behind President Teleprompter’s words.

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Thanks to Politico for the quality video.

-Cnation

Unbelievably (even by liberal standards), left-wing nutjobs are blaming the possibility of a swine flu pandemic on the Republicans.

I’m not going to provide a link because to do so might give the impression of credibility to the sources, but all the usual suspects have weighed in – the Huffington Post, the Daily Kos, democratic Underground, etc, etc…

In typical liberal fashion though, not one of them has admitted so far that one of their own, namely Chuck Schumer, was also against pandemic funding. back in february, he said this in regards to pandemic funding in the stimulus bill:

“All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they’re all out,”…

From Michelle Malkin: Schumer opposed flu pandemic funding in stimulus, too, you morons
Sorry to interrupt all the liberal blogosphere’s unhinged GOP-bashing over conservative opposition to flu pandemic funding in the porkulus bill, but…more……

-Cnation