California Conservative

Tim Dickinson’s article in Rolling Stone Magazine purports to tell the Democrats what’s holding their party back. In Mr. Dickinson’s mind, the Democrats would be better off if their consultants weren’t so greedy:

The Democrats’ most dangerous opponent in ‘08 may be their own campaign consultants, who charge far more than GOP strategists — and deliver far less

Dickinson then sizes things up this way:

2008 has the makings of a banner year for Democrats. The wave of discontent that swept the GOP from Congress last November is growing, and the Iraq debacle will make it difficult for Republicans to retain the White House. But there is one group of powerful Washington insiders who have a proven ability to derail the Democrats. Working behind the scenes, these top-tier operatives humiliated Mike Dukakis in a tank, muzzled Al Gore on the environment and portrayed John Kerry, a lifelong crusader for gun control, as a rifle-toting Rambo. Year after year they have made sure that the Democratic message comes across as little more than a fuzzy, focus-grouped drone about child tax credits, prescription-drug plans and the “fight for working families.”

In the spirit of bipartisanship, I’d like to offer Mr. Dickinson some free advice, something I don’t do often. (more…)

This afternoon, I read an ‘article’ in the Chicago Tribune. The article was essentially a puff piece on Ahmed Rehab by Noreen Ahmed-Ullah. The more accurate way of describing it would be to say that she asked softball questions and Mr. Rehab told some fanciful fibs. Here’s the best example of Mr. Rehab’s fanciful fibs:

Q. What is the source of the latest criticism/accusations being launched against CAIR at the national level?

A. Every one of the dozen or so urban legends about CAIR that are circulating out there can be traced back to a single and homogeneous source of interlinked individuals and groups with such deceptively benign names as the Investigative Project, the Middle East Forum, Jihad Watch and Americans Against Hate. These groups typically flourish in the unmoderated, chaotic world of the blogosphere; they attempt to sell themselves to political and media circles as experts on Islam and terrorism and as patriots who are looking out for American interests. A second look exposes them as career Islamophobes who are deathly afraid of Muslim-American enfranchisement and its possible effects on the Israeli lobby’s interests.

As an occasional contributor to Americans Against Hate blog, I take it personally when people say that I’m spreading urban legends. I’d further submit that Mr. Rehab’s line that a “second look exposes them as career Islamophobes who are deathly afraid of Muslim-American enfranchisement and its possible effects on the Israeli lobby’s interests” is a fanciful flight of fibbery. Speaking strictly for myself, I can unequivocally state that I’m not “deathly afraid of Muslim-American enfranchisement” nor am I worried what effect that might have on “the Israeli lobby’s interests.” Based on my conversations with a friend who also blogs at AAH, I got the distinct impression that he found Rehab’s answer to be nothing short of hilarious.

As for these ‘urban legends’, let’s examine them. (more…)

Unions have a terrific effect on our auto industry and public schools. Imagine being the reason for a collapsed industry AND the intellectual vandalism of millions of school children.

Whenever possible, I avoid union-run businesses and products. Here’s my diagram of UTLA’s relationship with students and Democrats:

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Clark Baker is a senior contributor to CaliforniaConservative.org. He is an author, filmaker, father and retired LAPD officer. You may read more of his work here and here.

Zbigniew Brzezinski’s op-ed in Saturday’s edition of the Washington Post offers a scary glimpse into how the mind of a foreign policy disgrace works. Here’s an example:

Constant reference to a “war on terror” did accomplish one major objective: It stimulated the emergence of a culture of fear. Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue. The war of choice in Iraq could never have gained the congressional support it got without the psychological linkage between the shock of 9/11 and the postulated existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Congress voted to authorize the use of military force to remove Saddam because hoping he wouldn’t use the WMD’s, which we know he used on the Kurds and Iranians, was a fool’s policy in a post-9/11 world. We didn’t need to postulate about WMD’s because he used them in the past. We didn’t need to postulate on them because the cease-fire his generals signed demanded that he either (a) turn over his chemical or biological weapons or (b) show he disposed of them. We didn’t have the obligation of proving that they existed at the time of the attack. Saddam had the obligation of proving that he didn’t have them. Brzezinski is also wrong in hinting that President Bush has been a demagogue about Iraq. (more…)

Thanks to the reporting of Audrey Hudson and Katherine Kersten, and thanks to yesterday’s floor vote in the House, America is getting a glimpse into what national security would look like if Democrats had their say. Let’s first look at the impact the House vote would have on our national security. Here’s what John Murtha said in his interview on National Public Radio:

“They won’t be able to deploy troops unless they extend troops overseas. And if we limit the extension, then it’ll be very difficult for them to continue this surge, which the American people are against and the Iraqis don’t want,” Murtha said yesterday on National Public Radio.

If we don’t defeat al Qaeda in Iraq and the Iranian-funded Shi’ite insurgents, Iraq will become the mixing ground of the worst influences in the Middle East: Iran’s mullahs and al Qa’ida. By voting to establish deadlines for our troop deployment, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha & Company are telling Iran and al Qa’ida when they can take control of Iraq.

Of course, John Murtha doesn’t believe that. He believes that al Qa’ida will disappear once we leave:

JACK MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA REPRESENTATIVE: People tend to say, well, if we leave there’s going to be chaos. I don’t believe that. Seventy-eight percent of the Iraqis say that’s not going to happen, 78 percent of the Iraqis say it’ll be…we’re the ones that are causing this and al Qaeda’s going to be…al Qaeda’s going to disappear.

Is Murtha the type of person we want offering military advice to future presidents? I think that thought should scare every voter.

In addition to Pelosi, Murtha and Company not taking the war against the jihadists seriously, we also know that Nancy Pelosi is a passionate advocate of ending racial and religious profiling: (more…)

LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.

HOUSE # 1:

A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern “snow belt,” either. It’s in the South.

HOUSE # 2:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house.

Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore.

HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as “the Texas White House,” it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

So whose house is gentler on the environment? Yet another story you WON’T hear on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC or read about in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Indeed, for Mr. Gore, it’s truly “an inconvenient truth.”

(Submitted by reader Ted S.)

In an unbelievable show of defeatism, the NY Times called Friday’s vote a must win “for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and for the party as a whole.”

After reading that, I can’t fathom how voting to unilaterally declare defeat is winning. It can’t seriously be considered a win militarily. This vote won’t be considered a win for the Democrats, either. They just handed Republicans a billy club the likes of which they haven’t had since Jean Francois Kerry was babbling something about a “global test” in October of 2004. Among the Democrats who just became one term wonders because of this vote are: Nick Lampson, Tim Mahoney, Heath Shuler and Tim Walz. They might as well start polishing up their resumes because they’re history after November, 2008.

They held caucuses, private meetings, conversations on the House floor, and pieced together a majority, a vote at a time, while fighting the longstanding divisions that critics loved to highlight as “Democrats in disarray.”

The truth is that the Democrats are essentially two different camps. People like Jim Marshall and John Barrow of Georgia are relatively conservative Democrats who will vote more often with Republicans than Democrats on national security issues. The other group is comprised of moonbats like Maxine Waters, John Conyers, Keith Ellison and Chaka Fattah. Those groups mix together like oil and water. Characterizing them in disarray is relatively mild. (more…)

When the United Nations holds an annual Commission on the Status of Women to “evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide,” you’d suspect there’d be a number of countries cited for violating women’s rights. China, the Sudan, Iran, North Korea or any number of Arab countries come to mind.  Not so, only one: Israel.

According to the 2007 session report:

….the Commission would have the Economic and Social Council express the importance of providing assistance, especially emergency assistance, to alleviate the harmful impact of the financial crisis that had exacerbated the already dire socio-economic and humanitarian situation faced by Palestinian women and their families.

Further, the Council would demand that Israel comply fully with the provisions and principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the regulations annexed to the Hague Convention IV of 18 October 1907 [“Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land”] and the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, in order to protect the rights of Palestinian women and their families.

Also by that draft, the Council would reaffirm that the Israeli occupation remained a major obstacle for Palestinian women with regard to their advancement, self-reliance and integration into the development planning of their society. It would encourage all women in the region to take an active role in supporting the peace process.

The official U.N. vote was 40-2 with only the United States and Canada opposing. The 40 countries who voted for the resolution against Israel in support to aide Palestinian women were:

In favour: Algeria, Armenia, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Congo, Croatia, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Peru, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Suriname, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania.

Against: Canada, United States.

This shouldn’t be surprising from an organization that names Cuba and China on it’s Membership of the Human Rights Council.    Anti-semitism, anyone?

Cross-posted @: Bottom Line Up Front

Thanks to Jack Kelly for writing this column. It adds another bit of information to what we’ll soon call the unraveling of the global warming hysteria. Here’s how Kelly ridicules the global warming hysterians:

Two female explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, planned a trek across the Arctic ocean earlier this month to highlight the dangers of global warming. They had to call the expedition off because it was too cold. “One night they measured the temperature inside their tent at 58 degrees below zero, and outside temperatures were exceeding 100 below zero at times,” Ann Atwood, who helped organize the expedition, told the Associated Press.

That isn’t the last ridiculing that Kelly did in this column:

The Jim Jones of this Kool Aid testified on Capitol Hill last Wednesday. Former Vice President Al Gore was greeted as a “prophet” by Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Go read the entire column. You deserve a good laugh today, especially at the expense of ‘The Prophet’ and his minions.

Technorati Tags: Global Warming, Al Gore, Associated Press, Environmental Extremists

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

According to this Washington Post article, the Out of Iraq Caucus cracked under the pressure. They’ve now said that they won’t block funding for the war. Here’s the details:

As debate began on the bill yesterday, members of the antiwar caucus and party leaders held a backroom meeting in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made a final plea to the group, asking it to deliver at least four votes when the roll is called. The members promised 10.

“I find myself in the excruciating position of being asked to choose between voting for funding for the war or establishing timelines to end it,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). “I have struggled with this decision, but I finally decided that, while I cannot betray my conscience, I cannot stand in the way of passing a measure that puts a concrete end date on this unnecessary war.”

That was the message of Democratic leaders: This is the best deal they could make, and it is better than no deal at all. At a meeting of Democratic vote counters yesterday, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) quoted the Yogi Berra line “When you reach a fork in the road, take it.” “We’re at the fork in the road,” Emanuel said.

The truth is that the bill will be stripped of deadlines and other restrictions once it gets to the Senate. I suspect that Emanuel told the Out of Iraq caucus that in his late night appeal to them. I also suspect that he told them that the party would look inept if they didn’t pull together and pass this legislation. The truth is that they already have looked inept and discombobulated. (more…)