Drilling Again in the Gulf!

The vast oil reserves hidden under the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico are once again going to get tapped after Obama brought that industry to its knees in the wake of the Great Spill.  Obama has finally seen the light and authorized drilling to resume...oh wait, it's the Cubans that are going to be drilling off our shore!

You know, the same Cubans that are driving '50's vintage cars...but not to worry:

Ocean scientists warn that a well blowout similar to the BP disaster could send oil spewing onto Cuban beaches and then the Florida Keys in as little as three days. If the oil reached the Gulf Stream, a powerful ocean current that passes through the region, oil could flow up the coast to Miami and beyond.

The nascent oil industry in Cuba is far less prepared to handle a major spill than even the American industry was at the time of the BP spill. Cuba has neither the submarine robots needed to fix deepwater rig equipment nor the platforms available to begin drilling relief wells on short notice.

Makes those dolphins and pelicans feel great doesn't it!

Mr. President - would you please allow this nation to get back to work? Look, the Gulf oil spill was awful...but it was also grossly overblown.  Remember the dire warnings about the plume getting in the Gulf Stream and polluting beaches in North Carolina?  Didn't happen.  Remember the shrieks from the greenies about the oil lasting for decades in the Gulf.  Didn't happen - Mother Nature has a damn good habit of making those people look silly.  Unfortunately, Barry O and the Boys don't mind looking silly as real economic damage is inflicted on the Gulf region and on our ability to reduce the dependence on foreign oil.

Buck Up!

Mourning the Morning

Terrific ads:



and for those of you that don't remember, this was the original:




Sigh...remember when we had a real President?

Hat tip EH.

Required Rumbler Reading

We're taking on Islam again in this edition...it needs to be taken on.


1. Policies of Illusion: The City Journal keeps churning out very high quality material and this analysis by Bruce Thornton is a terrific example. The fundamental argument set forth is that the West is basing their policies for dealing with the Islamic world on a set of dangerously false assumptions, thus creating policies of illusion.  Foreign policy needs to deal with reality, not what we wish it would be.

Lan astaslem!

2. How America Should Deal With the Ground Zero Mosque: While we are on the subject, this is a fine analysis of what we should do about the "Hamosque" at Ground Zero and the growing threat of spreading Islamism.

3. Reading Rauf: The Ground Zero Hamosque imam has gotten quite a bit of press.  Obama and the boys stick to the message that he is a "man of peace" and have funded expeditionary trips abroad for Rauf...this piece takes a look at the man through his own words - it ain't pretty.

4. Islam vs. The West: Picking up on a theme here?  Good!  Yes, this is another fine piece that tries to boil the conflict down to an understandable maxim: "Islamism is not a movement to be engaged, it is an enemy to be defeated."

This is Islamism "engaging" the West.

5. When Jewish Boys Bow to Allah:  A scathing piece from The American Thinker on how attempts to "understand" and "appreciate" Islam have led to a bunch of white kids (some Jewish) bowing to Allah on a frickin' field trip in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  If you haven't seen the video, it's in this piece...grab a barf bag before watching.

That's it for now, dear readers. Enjoy but stay engaged!

Obama versus The West (well, Colonel West)

Which one of these should really be President?

The Republican Pledge - a Good, but Tepid Start

Early drafts are leaking out on the Republican "Pledge to America," and it looks like a good start.  Here's a summary from CBS and Rumblethoughts alongside:

Jobs:

- Stop job-killing tax hikes  Need to go deeper here - we have one of the most non-competitive onerous corporate tax systems in the world.  We need fundamental corporate tax reform.

- Allow small businesses to take a tax deduction equal to 20 percent of their income This is a good tactic, a lot of the "rich" the Dems want to tax to death fit here.

- Require congressional approval for any new federal regulation that would add to the deficit 2/3 majority?

- Repeal small business mandates in the new health care law. Kill it, kill it dead.

Cutting Spending:

- Repeal and Replace health care Excellent - espouse free market wisdom here...

- Roll back non-discretionary spending to 2008 levels before TARP and stimulus (will save $100 billion in first year alone)

- Establish strict budget caps to limit federal spending going forward  You are going to have to attack the entrenched bureaucracy - how about shutting down all departments not mandated by the Constitution?

- Cancel all future TARP payments and reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac No - put Fannie and Freddie into receivership and on the glide slope to be totally shut down.

Reforming Congress:

- Will require that every bill have a citation of constitutional authority

- Give members at least 3 days to read bills before a vote 3-days to read 2000 plus page  bills??  

Defense: OK stuff here, but we are going to have to get serious about the cost of our overseas commitments - let's shut down foreign aid immediately to those countries that don't support the United States in our efforts to keep the peace?

- Provide resources to troops

- Fund missile defense

- Enforce sanctions in Iran

Yes We Can...

"Can" takes on a new meaning:

Hat tip Rush

And yes, the American people get it:

Tea Party Tango

The worst for establishment Republicans is behind them now.  They have suffered the deserved humiliation at the polls that comes from being disconnected from the desires of the people, and in Alaska, New Hampshire, Utah, Nevada and even tiny Delaware, conservatives have chosen who THEY want to send to Washington...not who Washington says is good for them.

The unifying message is, as it has been since the founding of the Tea Party Movement - remember, TEA = "Taxed Enough Already" - that D.C. no longer serves the will of the people and we want the insanity to stop.  Enough spending, enough taxes, let's put the genie back in the bottle and go back to our Constitutional roots.

Kool Aid drinkers across the fruited plain, including those that still believe Obama is the Messiah are quickly resorting to the "nuts" defense...and in the case of female candidates, they are going for the "nuts and sluts" defense.  I watched a libero-babe (oh wait, I can't really use "babe" on that hardened bitter woman)  on Hannity's show last night laughingly deride Christine O'Donnell because she was against "masturbation and the use of condoms..." sniff, sniff, how backward!  Assuming Ms. O'Donnell can pull it out in November - and don't underestimate that - she is not going to Washington to impose her conservative sexual mores on us,  (unlike when statists go to Washington and demand that we accept gay marriage, gays in the military, Federal funding for abortions etc. etc.) she is going to cut spending and reduce the size of government.

Now, I know Ms. O'Donnell is running for the seat once held by the sainted, brilliant orator, Joseph "Bite Me" Biden, so her character must be put under special scrutiny lest she stain that hallowed seat...God forbid there ends up being a website dedicated to her gaffs.  You mean like this one that is dedicated to Joe's:  Bidenisms.  Well, you get my point.  

And how are we conservatives so far out of the beloved "mainstream," as libero-scribes parrot?  Well let's see:

• We believe the government is on the wrong course.   That puts us in line with 75% of the voting public.
• We want Obamacare repealed.  That puts us in line with 53% of the voters.
• We favor deepwater offshore drilling.  That puts us in line with 53% of the voters.
• We are in favor of smaller government and lower taxes.  That puts us in line with 68% of the voters.
• We fundamentally believe that America is a society that is fair and decent and that  it doesn't need to be socially engineered to be more "equal."  That puts us in line with 69% of the voters.
• We believe that if you want to immigrate to America, you should also assimilate.  Gosh, only 74% of the voters agree with us there.

On and on it goes - in issue after issue - WE ARE THE MAINSTREAM!

So, yes, I am sure the Ruling Class Republicans who live in the finger-bowl districts of D.C. and yearn for the day that a WaPo reporter refers to them as a "maverick" who has "grown," are nervous.  They should be.  But, as the cartoon infers - listen up!  The people have no voice with the Democrat party anymore: the Dems are entirely controlled by hard left-wing ideologues, Union thugs (teacher's unions, civil servant unions in particular) and kooks of every stripe...stray from their statist positions and you are out.  So, the people have only one hope right now and that is the Republicans.  They can either hop on their surf boards and ride this wave in November or potentially face a third party in two years.  The madness has to end and the only weapon the people have left is the voting lever.

Rumbler Required Reading

On the road a bit this week, so this one is going to be quick:

1. I Thought The First Stimulus Was For Shovel Ready Jobs:  I remember getting in a dust-up with an Obama Kool-aid drinker when Stimulus II went through.  He scorned my ignorance at not understanding the importance of infrastructure spending.  So,  real man of genius, Mr. Stimulus Spending on Infrastructure is Going to Save the Economy - where did the money go??

2. 9/11 and the 9 Year War:  As always, the boys at Stratfor have incisive analysis looking over our shoulders at the long war.

3. Thinking Clearly About Economic Inequality:  Will Wilkinson dares to bring up the moral dimensions of economic policy.  A fine write up, worth the read.

4. Barney to Fannie: Drop Dead!:  They really should put Barney Frank's picture in the dictionary next to the word "hypocrite."  If there was a "Prime Enabler" in the mortgage crisis that lead to our economic downfall, Barney was the big bang.

5. We Are Ruled By Professors:  Victor Davis Hanson is a regular on RRR, but doggone it, he deserves it!

Till next week, stay safe and stay smart...we are going to need it!

Summer of Recovery?

Hat tip Michael Ramirez

The Shape of Things To Come: Afghanistan

The boys at Stratfor have written a thorough and engaging analysis on what lies ahead in Afghanistan - a picture is worth the proverbial thousand words:

Read the whole article here.

Freedom Waning

Unless we act decisively in November:


Hat tip BC