My Beauty Best Teacher

Via RealClearPolitics comes this data on the performance of our Democratic President, Barack Obama:

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. shed 2.3 million jobs since February 2009, Obama’s first full month in office. Going back to World War II, that is by far the worst record for any president in his first 17 months, outpacing the job destruction experienced in the early Bush years by more than 800,000 jobs.

Sure, you can blame the first few months of that period on lame-duck President Bush. But perhaps companies accelerated their shedding of jobs because they were bracing for higher tax rates, increased union power and costly environmental taxes under Obama.

Other measurements are only slightly kinder to Obama. The two-percentage-point increase in unemployment rate during his presidency, to 9.7 percent from 7.7 percent, is the third-worst since World War II. Dwight Eisenhower and Gerald Ford saw bigger increases.

GDP growth under Obama, an abysmal 3 percentage points so far, is the fourth-worst in the postwar period. Eisenhower, Ford and Ronald Reagan all began their terms with worse GDP growth.

Obama and the Democrats continue to chant over and over that this economy is "Bush's economy"- and they are correct up to a point. Bush inherited a poor economy too, and turned it around through conservative policies like less regulation and tax cuts. But Obama took a poor economy that was faced with serious problems (mostly stemming from Democratic control of Congress starting in 2006) and made them worse with liberal policies. At some point, he has to take responsibility for this economy and turn it around. Here in Michigan, we've had a Democratic Governor (Jennifer Granholm) who has spent her entire 8 years as Governor blaming the poor economy on her Republican predecessor (John Engler), and if she were elected again, she'd spend the next 4 years doing it too.

Look, at some point the numbers don't lie- Obama is one of the worst President's in our nation's history, and I contend that by the end of his term of office he will continue to rank as one of the worst President's in our nation's history. He, and his party which supports his policies, deserve to be crushed in elections so that they learn their lesson and do not put in place policies in the future like they are enacting now.

During her confirmation hearings, Justice Sotomayor testified that the 2nd Amendment was an individual right for every citizen of the United States to bear arms. In her Senate testimony, sworn under oath, she said "I understand the individual right fully that the Supreme Court recognized in Heller" and, "I understand how important the right to bear arms is to many, many Americans." Justice Sotomayor repeatedly averred that Heller is "settled law."

Sotomayor was nominated by a Democrat (President Barack Obama), the confirmation hearings were conducted by Democrats, and every single Democrat in the Senate voted for her to be confirmed. Now they need to be held accountable for her bald-faced lying under oath.

In the recent McDonald v. Chicago court case, which was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the issue of gun rights, the Court held that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms" protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and applies to the states. This decision confirmed how important the right to bear arms is to Americans, and it followed up the recent Heller decision and made sure that Heller was settled law.

One would assume that Justice Sotomayor joined in the majority, since her sworn testimony agrees with all of these ideas- but she didn't, since she told the Democrats whatever they wanted to hear and they confirmed her without digging further. The Breyer-Sotomayor-Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissent urged that Heller be overruled and declared, "In sum, the Framers did not write the Second Amendment in order to protect a private right of armed self defense." She disagrees with the other Justices who think that the Second Amendment says that people's right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed, and felt that it was legal and proper and right for states to ban handguns and mandate that guns be re-registered annually with payment of the fees, among other requirements.

It's fine that Justices Breyer and Ginsburg dissented- they never promised anyone that they considered Heller to be "settled law." They never lied about their beliefs and views and played up "how important the right to bear arms is to many, many Americans." On the other hand, Sonia Sotomayor promised to do one thing and then did the opposite- she said one thing, and then did the exact opposite.

Federal judges have lifetime appointments, and so there is no real way to hold them accountable directly. But that does not mean that Judges can feel free to lie under oath in confirmation hearings and not worry about repercussions. That does not mean that those who appoint, question, and confirm judges that lie can not be held accountable- they can, and they should. Obama, the Democrats who questioned Sotomayor, and the Senators who voted to confirm her need to be held accountable by voters the next time they are up for election for their failures to appoint people who tell the truth, for their failures to question people such that their falsehoods are exposed, and for their judgement to vote to confirm a judge who lies so easily and so quickly.

One can only hope that the process won't be repeated during the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings.

In a recent address Thabo Mbeki stated:

As with material goods, Africa is a primary producer of intellectual resources, and also a consumer of finished intellectual products, but makes little contribution to the value that is added in between. Much (perhaps most) African intellectual production occurs under northern (American and European) contracts. Consequently, Africa’s intellectual agenda is set outside the continent, with African scholars are co-opted as consultants and primary researchers, while the ablest of them are provided with careers in western universities, research institutes and policy institutions. The final product is then re-exported, its value having been multiplied many times over, to Africa for consumption by African people, governments and institutions.

More here

We all know that the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress have fought to make sure there is no new nuclear power (see my post Yucca Mountain for information on how Obama has defied Congress and shut down the Yucca Mountain project). Obama and the Democrats have also worked to make it more difficult for more energy production through coal. After the Deepwater Horizon accident, Obama and the Democrats put in place an ”arbitrary and capricious” ban on all oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in waters over 500 feet in depth, a ban that was intended to do “irreparable harm” to businesses.

But perhaps you didn't know that for some reason, since June, the Department of Interior has refused to issue any permits for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf in waters less than 500 feet of depth- effectively banning through administrative decree any drilling in shallow waters.

Via Sweetness&Light, this story is from CNN’s Money.Com:

Stealth ban on Gulf drilling, By Steve Hargreaves, Senior writer
June 25, 2010

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The offshore drilling ban imposed after the BP disaster is only supposed to hit operations in deep water — 500 feet or more. But drillers in shallow water say they haven’t been issued permits since the April 20 explosion. The delay has already forced hundreds of layoffs, and many more could be on the way.

"I’m almost out of business over here," said Paul Butler, president of Spartan Offshore, a small drilling company in Metairie, La.

"The Department of Interior isn’t issuing permits," said Jim Noe, a Hercules executive. "By mid July all of our rigs will be on the beach, and the workers without a job."

That could be a lot of jobs. Jobs are on the line: Deep water drilling, which is currently banned while an investigation into the Deepwater Horizon accident is underway, is estimated to employ at least 35,000 people on both the rigs and in jobs that support them.

Nearly that many jobs (at least 35,000) could also be at stake (lost) over (a ban on) shallow water drilling. While shallow water rigs are smaller and employ only about half as many people, there are almost twice as many of them in the Gulf, according to the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association…

Safety first: An Interior Department spokeswoman said there is no freeze on shallow water drilling. However, she said, new safety procedures were put in place following the Deepwater Horizon spill.

"Companies have to comply before we can issue them permits," the spokeswoman said. "No one has fully complied."

Spartan’s Butler said there was a long delay between when Interior stopped issuing permits and when the new safety guidelines came out. Indeed, the first Interior Department notification to oil companies about the new requirements was dated June 8, nearly two months after the disaster.

Butler said he has been scrambling to get his paperwork in order and hopes that permits will be issued soon…

So, in summary, the ever-expanding federal government, which is increasingly in charge of more and more aspects of our life after voters put Democrats into Congress and the Presidency, decided that it was going to put in place new safety requirements on shallow-water drilling rigs, took two months to publish these requirements, and has been refusing to issue any permits for drilling since it decided to change the requirements, causing the loss of thousands of jobs already and the potential loss of thousands more, all with the intent to drive up the cost of energy so that you and your businesses use less, so that the globe will not warm up in spite of its relatively recent emergence from a Little Ice Age. In summary, idiots that idiot voters elected are putting in place idiotic policies because of idiotic beliefs.

"Tunde Jegede is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who is uniquely placed between the worlds of Contemporary Classical, African and Popular music. He is a prolific Producer/Song writer and has worked across several genres both as a performer (Cello, Kora, Piano and Percussion) and producer."-website

For further coverage read related African Loft post

This weekend marked the two year anniversary of this blog, so I thought that it would be fun to look back a bit. As I wrote in my inaugural post My Goal, this blog is primarily an outlet for my thoughts on education, teaching, local politics, and national politics. My background in government, business, and education has given me a unique perspective from which to comment on these subjects and I have continued to do a lot of different things in these areas, and so my hope was that these experiences would further the political discourse in this country and maybe even educate some of my readers. What motivated me to put together this blog and what continues to motivate me to spend the hours each week on it is the desire to make the world a better place.

My blog has been described as "like Glen Beck, minus the Mormonism" by one of my readers. Another reader wrote to me and said "What I like about The Conservative Teacher is the focus on national and regional politics, the reporting -- often in real-time -- on the dynamics of the liberal fascism of today's public schools, and the entertaining mix of popular culture. I read The Conservative Teacher every day, and you should too." Some people have said that my blog "gives them hope that there is actually still conservative teachers in education," and others have written that "each post is fun and entertaining and informative."

It is surprising how many regular readers that I have and how many people my blog has reached. Oh, I know I'm not a huge blog, but based on the numbers, I am the biggest conservative teacher blogger in Michigan. Each year has more and more people are checking out my blog, linking to it, adding it to their list of favorites, and emailing friends and family links. This year alone alone twelve thousand new readers have found their way to my blog! And they are not all from the US- I have readers from the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, India, Germany, and Italy, and have even had readers from Egypt, Iran, Russia, Turkey, China, Pakistan, and North Korea.

Being a blogger means that I am part of a community and could not have spread my message and observations without the help of other bloggers out there. In particular, I would like to thank Pundit and Pundette, TheBlogProf, Vox Day, Net Right Nation, Right Michigan, and For A Better Day- thanks for letting your viewers know about my blog.

Based on reader responses and feedback, here are some of their favorite posts on politics, the environment, teaching, and popular culture- be sure to check them out!
Democratic Aide implicated in Scheme to Bilk Millions out of taxpayers through Michigan Film Credits, Obama Nicknames, Coon Hunting, A Bear Named Obama, Teleprompters, Queen Touching, and Bush Fighting Zombies, or David Petraeus says a special Cherokee word to soldier in coma, soldier wakes up!.

In conversations with Art-World acquaintances I had asserted: "Till we develop economically and build thriving economies a vibrant indigenous Art Market is dead on arrival". a post by Bunmi Oloruntoba echoes those thoughts of mine:

The dream of sustainable development, i guess, is for African economies to grow to empower and expand an Africa bourgeoisie, and to see, in terms of art, Africa's institutions and exhibition spaces grow in response to this growing bourgeoisie, their increased buying power and thirst for new affirmations and identities. Until then, Africa's artists will forecast the weather of their societies in response to and as an extension of the exhibition spaces and appreciative centers of West

More here
.

George Ayittey writes:

Although all dictators are bad in their own way, there's one insidious aspect of despotism that is most infuriating and galling to me: the disturbing frequency with which many despots, as in Kyrgyzstan, began their careers as erstwhile "freedom fighters" who were supposed to have liberated their people. Back in 2005, Bakiyev rode the crest of the so-called Tulip Revolution to oust the previous dictator. So familiar are Africans with this phenomenon that we have another saying: "We struggle very hard to remove one cockroach from power, and the next rat comes to do the same thing. Haba!" Darn!

More here
Photo courtesy of FP

FP reports on the evolutionary strengthening of Turkey's democracy:

Contrary to the views of some Turkish and Western analysts, the primary struggle within Turkey is not between Islam and secularism, but rather between a militaristic pseudo-autocracy and liberal democracy...What we see occurring in Turkey today is a process of democratization, spurred by growing civilian control over the military. However, due to problems deriving from the country's illiberal constitution, which is a product of a 1980 military coup, progress has not always been smooth...The solution is a comprehensive constitutional reform that includes the judiciary. Such a step would not only improve the role of law, but strengthen Turkey's case for European Union accession by harmonizing the country's judicial process with European standards.

More here

While Africa fiddles and complains about China rather than grasp the opportunity. Vietnam goes about getting it done.

In Obama or Bush as Emperor? I compared discussed how the Democratic National Convention, as organized by Barack Obama, was characterized by several writers as exciting because it tapped into our inner aggression, passion, and anger, and then I compared this to the Republican National Convention, as organized by John McCain, which was characterized by several writes as less exciting because it was comparatively calmer, quieter, and at peace with itself. Of course, the point I was making is that the Democrats are tapping into the dark side of the Force, and the Republicans the light side of the Force.

So let's reflect on what has been going down lately. Is Obama calm, quiet, and at peace with himself and tapping into the power of the light side of the Force, or is Obama full of anger, passion, and aggression and trying to tap into the dark side of the Force? Or is Obama just a petulant child with no midichlorians to speak of?

After watching all of Obama's useless thuggery in fighting the Gulf Oil spill, I'm choosing option 3. As Darth Vader said: "He's as clumsy as he is stupid." At one point, I really thought our nation was in trouble with Obama- I thought he could be Palpatine, the Emperor of the Sith, but now I realize that Palpatine actually had a plan to take over, he wasn't clumsy in building his dictatorship, and he was popular. Barack Obama isn't Palpatine- a closer Jedi analogy is Jar Jar Binks, although that's just sad to think about- American elected Jar Jar Binks as President? Seriously, these aren't the answers that you are looking for!

No more will you learn today, me so sorry!

Reuters reports on some very welcome news:

The dire state of rich countries' public finances is likely to squeeze aid to Africa in the next few years, although it may be the bitter pill the fast-growing continent needs to wean itself off handouts..."

On greater skepticism from the tax-paying western public:

After the financial crisis, Western publics are understandably a bit skeptical about forking out for what they see as an open-ended commitment," said Tom Cargill, an Africa analyst at London's Chatham House think-tank..."

Aid is largely welfare:

African governments don't like talking about aid. It's like welfare," said Chatham House's Cargill. "But there should be the beginnings of a conversation about how we help African countries move to a situation where they do not need aid."

Via Detroit News:

New state-by-state figures released by the federal government Friday showed Nevada led the nation in unemployment last month, assuming the title Michigan had held since April, 2006. The U.S. Department of Labor said Nevada's jobless rate jumped from 13.7 percent in April to 14 percent in May. In Michigan, meanwhile, the rate fell from 14 percent in April to 13.6 percent last month.

That's great news, right? Michigan is no longer the worst in the nation! Unemployment rates actually dropped in 37 states. We're turning the corner, right? Obama and the Democrats in Congress can take credit for saving our economy, right?

"What's happening this time around is we're seeing the economy continue to struggle -- it's not picking up as much as it should," Bill Anderson, chief economist with Nevada's employment agency, said.

That's right- every year as college graduates seek jobs and construction and landscaping takes advantage of the weather, the unemployment rate falls, but this year, it fell less than normal. Thanks to Obama and the Democrats in Congress, economic activity was destroyed. But that's not all the bad news.

The widespread declines (in unemployment rates) were mainly because people gave up looking for work and were no longer counted. Nationwide, 431,000 jobs were added, which was the biggest gain in a decade. However, the surge came from mainly from 411,000 temporary census jobs.

At least Michigan is no longer worst in the nation for unemployment.

Emily Witt writing in The Nation:

Nollywood is an industry whose defining characteristic is the absence of any centralized infrastructure. Just as many Africans have spurned the electricity grid, the land line and the corporation for the solar panel, the cellphone and the individual entrepreneur, Nollywood has eschewed the studio system and formal distribution networks for a DIY ethos....

On its authentic nature;

Fifty years after the first wave of independence, Nollywood might end up killing off a lingering overestimation of independence's potential to effect lasting social change. Without being nihilistic, Nollywood videos address the experience of globalized, urbanized Africa as it actually exists

More here

Barack Obama has been hard at work lately- er, I mean hardly at work. In the last 18 months, Obama has played 33 rounds of golf, which incidentally is 9 more than Bush played his entire Presidency, and if you remember correctly the liberals and the left made a big deal of how much golf Bush played. By any measure, that's a lot of golf, even for a regular guy like me- that's almost a round of golf every two weeks (roughly 1 round of golf for every 2.3 weeks as President). He might as well join a league and at least go for league champion, and then at least he'll win a trophy of something. But I digress.

He took a break from golfing recently to deal with the Gulf Oil spill by golfing for four hours, which was longer than he visited the Gulf region. I guess that looks bad or something.

For a look at how much Obama cares about running our nation and dealing with the issue in the Gulf (see my post Obama Can Help with Gulf Oil Spill), check out this post from PolitiPage titled Obama during oil spill — golf, parties, photo-ops… and more golf! (photos), and you can see a timeline of how Obama has spent his time recently golfing, at parties, mountain biking, and vacationing. Towards the end of the timeline, you can see that it just isn't worth the effort of finding pictures as evidence any more to point out that Obama is spending his time as President living the good life and wasting taxpayers dollars at parties and functions and jetting around the country to go to basketball and baseball games.

Oh, yesterday Obama went to a baseball game. Obama saw Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg set a record, but his White Sox won the game. Hard at work? Hardly working is more like it.

G. Pascal Zachary writes:

To a greater extent than any of the other regional powers in global “football,” African star players leave their countries and sub-regions to play for higher-paying clubs elsewhere in the world, usually in Europe, which has the best and highest-paying club teams on the planet, and increasingly in Asia and the Middle East. The exodus of football talent from Africa mirrors the general “brain drain” from the world’s poorest continent. The outflow of footballing talent from Africa is singular; it impoverishes African sporting life – and civil life generally — in a more profound way than when Brazilian joins the Italian league, a German plays for Chelsea or a Japanese suits up for a Spanish club.

Continuing he asks:

what’s the damage from “football imperialism.?” I’d argue that even elite Africans in Africa still suffer from an inferiority complex, around race and place, which fuels brain drain and a lack of a “stake” in their own countries, where many talented people – from doctors to goal keepers to university professors – feel under-appreciated because they are under-appreciated. So club football is a kind of proxy for a dysfunctional modernization process in Africa, and in African cities especially.

More here

Here is a poem I wrote in honor of our Dear Leader:

Emanuel wished on an Obama scale,
And that’s what started Obama Tales.
Around the room the dollars flew,
But Emanuel and George knew what to do.
They climbed on the backs of their Obama friends,
Now the adventures never end!

Obama Tales, Obama Tales
It’s almost time for Obama Tales.
Come along and take my hand,
Let’s all go to Obama Land.

There’s Joe he’s the biggest,
Not so brave of heart.
There’s Hillary,
So shy, but so very smart.
There’s Eric and Elena and their tales of fun,
Cause you know two heads are better than one.

Obama Tales, Obama Tales
It’s almost time for Obama Tales.
Come along and take my hand,
Let’s all go to Obama Land.

Okay, so maybe this is better set to music. Click here to see what I was thinking for the tune.

For a long time, I've had my doubts about the Democrat's much-touted subsidies and tax credits for filmmaking in Michigan. Most of my doubts center around the fact that these subsidies are being given away with very little oversight and are being given away to those with political connections (for example, Michael Moore sits on the board that recommends who gets these tax credits- and recently gave them to himself). This lack of transparency and political favoritism has not received the attention it should, because hidden behind the wall of secrecy that is the Democratic-run Film Office, there are a lot of corrupt deals being made that are screwing taxpayers over. Now it is confirmed though.

Breaking News: The chief-of-staff for a Grand Rapids Democratic State Congressman has been implicated in a million-dollar fraud scheme whereby he would buy a $4 million dollar building for $50 million and then apply $12.5 million dollars in subsidies through the state of Michigan's disgraced Film Office.

Noah Seifullah, who has been forced to resign from Congressman Robert Dean's staff, was in the process of finalizing the details of the Hangar42 studio scheme when the news broke. The Michigan Film Office had already given preliminary approval to the request for over $10 million in film-credits when the news broke.

This Hanger 42 scheme represents just the tip of the iceberg into the corruption that is rampant in the Michigan Film Office, so much so that Janet Lockwood, who is the director of the Michigan Film Office, is being forced to resign amid the growing criticism. Her office has stonewalled efforts to find out more information about the Hanger 42 deal, and many others, and she has attempted to provide citizens as little information as possible about the decision making process involved in the give-away of millions of taxpayers money.

The Mackinac Center was the first to publicly raise questions about the Hangar 42 deal with an essay and investigative video posted on its website May 20. They reported that the studio was on the market for as little as $9.8 million as late as February, but apparently sold for as much as $40 million not soon after that in order that the buyer could claim a much larger film-credit. As of today, the Michigan Film Office, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., the seller and the buyers are all unwilling to answer questions about this scheme, and the Democratic Governor who is so proud of her Film Office (and even bragged about the Hanger 42 deal as evidence of the success of the film-credits in her recent State-of-the-State speech) nor the Democratic-controlled Michigan Legislature have pressed for answers or explanations.

The Grand Rapids Free Press deserves a lot of credit for putting this story together and piecing together the details here. They found the speech where Noah Seifullah outlined a 'hypothetical' situation whereby massive amounts of fraud could bilk the Michigan taxpayers out of millions. They then connected the 'hypothetical' situation described by Siefullah to the real world Hanger 42 project. Give the Grand Rapids Press credit for doing the real work on this story, fighting through government obstruction and attempts by Democrats at every turn to keep the corruption and fraud that is running rampant in their Film Office secret.

This scandal raises important questions. The Michigan Film Office is Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm's pet project, one that she brags about often, and yet this scandal raises questions and concerns about how thoroughly corrupt it is. She continually plows taxpayer money into this project, and yet her top example of success for this program (Hanger 42) has proven to be a corrupt sham. Next, at what point in this sham did someone cry foul- who knew what when at the Michigan Film Office about Hanger 42? Perhaps the Attorney General should start asking some questions. Is this the kind of public-private corporate welfare project that Democrats promote, rife with corruption of public officials? Last, is the corruption limited to just the local (state) Representative? Or is this something that many officials in the Democratic party are caught up in?

Stay tuned for further updates, and please feel free to link to this story- perhaps if this story gets big enough the Michigan Film Office and the millions that it is giving out to politically-connected individuals under great secrecy can be brought to light and analyzed and cleaned up.

UPDATE: Here is a video of the story:


UPDATE II: Looks like the Attorney General is getting into this situation- according to this story, Mike Cox (the AG for Michigan, and GOP candidate for Governor) is looking into the Hanger 42 scheme.

NOTE to NEW READERS: New readers, please feel free to also check out some of my recent good posts like Obama is a Caudillo, The Inside Deal: Obama's Economic Program, Employment-Population Ratio Drops to 58.5%, Earth Day: Is it just one big Communist Plot?, Gifted Programs in Schools Training Future Liberals, or Obama On Inner and Outer Circles of Leadership. Also feel free to link to blog-curhatanku.blogspot.com on your blog, and bookmark conservativeteacher.blogspot.com so you can become a regular reader of the battles of a conservative teacher's attempt to advance the principles of liberty and freedom.

Ramona Koval interviews Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at the Sydney Writer’s Festival.

Via Coder at a lecture titled “Who Will Reform Politics in Nigeria” Charles Soludo:

...called for the pruning of Nigeria to six regions with Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja as special centres. He said 774 local governments, were merely conduits for profligacy and waste, as well as the adoption of a unicameral legislature that would reduce the number of law- makers from 459-150.

More here
Well said! We have previously discussed Nigeria's synthetic states and largely pirate governors. Its unlikely that Nigeria's political turkeys will vote for this kind of thanksgiving.

Via RealClearPolitics, Mike Allen broke this disgusting story yesterday:

Phil Schiliro, the White House congressional liaison, has told the Senate to aim to take up an energy bill the week of July 12, after the July 4 break (and after the scheduled final passage of Wall Street reform). Kagan confirmation will follow, ahead of the summer break, scheduled to begin Aug. 9. The plan is to conference the new Senate bill with the already-passed House bill IN A LAME-DUCK SESSION AFTER THE ELECTION, so House members don't ave to take another tough vote ahead of midterms.

A White House aide has the official word: "President Obama reiterated his call for comprehensive energy and climate legislation to break our dependence on oil and fossil fuels. In the coming weeks he will be reaching out to Senators on both sides of the aisle to chart a path forward. A number of proposals have been put forward from Members on both sides of the aisle. We're open to good ideas from all sources, and will be working with Senators on a comprehensive proposal. The tragedy in the Gulf underscores the need to move quickly, and the President is committed to finding the votes for comprehensive energy legislation this year."

Gary Peters, Democrats in Congress, and Democratic President Barack Obama know that the people don't want this cap-and-tax bill passed. They know without a certainty of a doubt that the voters DO NOT want the bill. The will of the people has been clearly expressed to them, and the Democrats totally understand that there is no way that voters want anything to do with this bill. And yet they intend on passing it anyway.

If you tell someone not to do something, you demonstrate through actions (like an election) that you don't want someone to do something, and then they look at you and do it anyways, what are they telling you? Gary Peters, Democratic Congressman from Michigan's 9th District, is telling his constituents "screw you." Barack Obama, Democratic President, is telling the people of the United States "screw you." They know that people don't want the bill passed, and yet are going to pass it anyway, in defiance of the public will, in disregard to the public will, and in disrespect to the public will.

This isn't Bush surging troops in Iraq when the 'public was against it'- polling data was pretty inconclusive on the War in Iraq, and if it was unpopular, it was marginally so (although vocally so in a certain segment of the population). And Bush was proud of the surge- he thought it would work and that voters would reward his party in the coming elections from its success (it did work but voters are idiots and punished him for winning an 'unwinnable' war). The cap and tax bill is different- voters are solidly against it , and have been for a long time, and in a consistent manner, and getting more and more against, and Democrats know it won't work, are not proud of it, and don't want to run on its success because they know it is going to be a failure. And yet they'll pass it anyway.

"Screw you America" is the new slogan of the Democrats. I'm not going to take this any more- everyone in my Congressman's district needs to know that this is how the Democrats think. Throw the bums out.

The news that there are massive deposits in mineral wealth in Afghanistan and that it could be turned into one of the world's richest mining centers does not surprise me at all. One of my favorite video games to play is the Europa Barbarorum mod of Rome: Total War, and my favorite faction to play is Baktria.

The key to playing Baktria, which is the name of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom that sprawled over the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world covering the regions Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia from 250 to 125 BCE, is to build a gold mine. The major cities of Backtria all have the potential to build rich gold mines, and in the description section of these buildings you can see the research that people put into the game as a whole. You see, in Bactria and Sogdiana, which is today Afghanistan, there are considerable gold deposits, that were mined even in antiquity.

In ancient times, there were productive gold mines in Bactria, that produced much of the wealth that created an empire that was able to battle the Seleucids, Persians, and invaders from the East, and eventually crossed the Hindu Kush and conquered parts of India. It must have taken extensive wealth to build an empire in this area, and what made ancient empires rich was usually mineral wealth, so I always suspected at the size and extent and wealth that was generated by the gold mines in this region.

Herodotus wrote about the occurrence of gold near the Bactria and how it was mined by ants. The Persian Emperor Darius wrote about how 'gold was brought from Bactria.' Pliny may have mentioned it as well. The biggest problem is that archeology just hasn't been done in this area of the world, so although there are scattered references to the past mineral riches in Afghanistan, there is nothing solid. It was because of that vagueness that I've been bumming around on the internet recently, trying to track down more information on the gold that I suspected lay hidden in the hills and mountains of Afghanistan.

And now, it turns out, I was right! Just wanted to point that out to anyone who cared.

In FT:

...the direction of trade may be changing but its character, involving raw material exports and manufactured imports, has not. Yet over the long-term demand for African commodities, land and manpower is unlikely to diminish. This time optimism about the outlook has less to do with visionary autocrats and more with the macro-economic climate.

More here

This is yet another great campaign advertisement that the Tea Party has inspired! Via Weasel Zippers, as reported on by the Politico:

Alabama Republican congressional candidate Rick Barber is encouraging his fellow tea party activists to “gather your armies” against President Barack Obama — with a campaign ad that twice shows a hand fidgeting next to a Revolutionary War-era pistol. In the new ad, Barber is seen sitting around the table with actors playing George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Sam Adams. Barber recently secured a spot in a July 13 runoff against Martha Roby, the winner of which will take on incumbent Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.). Roby nearly secured the 50 percent needed to win the primary and is the favorite headed into the runoff.

Even if the guy doesn't win the nomination, give him credit for the great ad. Enjoy!

"It’s been a long time since I’ve written on your blog, but I read it faithfully.

It took a long time but I have to say, you and DCPS teachers have been right about so many things. At my school the teachers are very supportive of me, a still-new second-year teacher. I have struggled with writing and teaching effective lessons, managing student behavior, and organizing my classroom. However, I am new, motivated, and teachable. I left a better-paying career to teach. So you would think the administration would value my attitude and willing spirit.

However, the administration heaps criticism on me and has not offered mentoring to me, nor has it ordered coaches to come into my room to model lessons. The administration takes incentives from my students (recess, field trips, computer use, daily prizes) but blames me for having an ineffective behavior plan. Having a master educator observation has been encouraging to me because the difference between my fall and spring observations showed significant progress. However, I am so disillusioned with my administration that I don’t think I even want a post-conference for my last principal observation. The only reason I haven’t broken down psychologically is because of my friendship with God, who sustains me, and because I have seen the administration belittle and humiliate other teachers at the school so I know it’s not all about me. Teachers have walked out (and others have threatened to walk out) of staff meetings. Turnover is high. Teachers are pitted against other teachers during meetings. Teachers on your blog have been saying all along - it’s not so much the teachers as it is the parents and the administration. I once was blind…

I don’t know what my plans are for next school year, but based on my principal’s IMPACT scores, I may not be in DCPS. My heart was really set on helping the most disadvantaged students in DC.

Moving to another school system won’t be so hard for me because of my age and lack of children who depend on my income and health insurance. However, I feel for teachers at my school who are older, sometimes parents, and either leaving DCPS or considering leaving. They have told me that it is really a leap of faith.

I regret, though, having gotten my feet wet in DCPS then moving to the suburbs. The first two years are when teachers make the bulk of their mistakes. There’s a huge learning curve those two years. Now I may have to take all that knowledge gained at the expense of DCPS’ students to the ‘burbs.

I need to find this one teacher I thought was so terrible three years ago and apologize, because now I see.

Chika Unigwe writing in the Guardian:

Image by dan mogford via Flickr

In a society where the pursuit of money takes precedence over everything, one can expect a decline in culture and in the quality of cultural production.Regrettably, this is going on. People are reading, but it's a different sort of literature: self-help books published mainly by evangelical pastors eager to win souls over to the gospel of prosperity. There is art on the street, but it is splashes of paint on trucks and buses, outsized drawings (usually religious, with a blonde Jesus). There is nothing of the grandeur and quality of Ife art in it...Perhaps this is too pessimistic. I was witness in Nigeria to the collective sense of hope in a people who, like the phoenix, keep rising from the ashes. There is a renaissance in Nigerian literature...

More here

Caudillo is a Spanish word that describes a leader who attempts to lead his state in an authoritarian way. Sometimes it is translated as strongman, and it refers primarily to charismatic populist leaders 'of the people' who keeps power by relying on personality cults, securing support from key power blocs in society, and controlling the structure of the government through the distribution of government jobs. A few examples of powerful Caudillos include Juan Manuel de Rosas of Argentina, Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico, José Rafael Carrera of Guatemala, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, or even the Spanish ruler Francisco Franco, who used from 1936 the title "Caudillo de España" (echoing other titles for charismatic strongmen who rule a nation like "Führer" and "Il Duce").

Democratic President of the United States of America Barack Obama is attempting to be a caudillo.

Ben Stein in his article Our Caudillo President wrote (this is only part of the article):

We live in a Constitutional Republic. The President's job under the Constitution is to enforce the laws made by the elected Congress. His job is not to create new laws and enforce them all by himself. His job is as magistrate under the Constitution, not as Caudillo. He is not the law. He is supposed to enforce what Congress decides.

The BP behavior is reminiscent of how, immediately after assuming office, Mr. Obama, with no Congressional authority or administrative allowance, simply made a phone call to fire the head of GM. When I called the White House press office to ask under what law or regulation Mr. Obama was acting, I was told he did not need a law. If the government put a lot of money into GM, it could call the shots at GM, I was told. But under what authority, I asked. "None needed," was the final answer.

Without any new legislation, President Obama has used returned TARP money as a political slush fund to prop up favorite industries. This is the same problem: serious executive action without legislative authority.

The same goes for Mr. Obama's demand that BP pay the lost wages of oil and gas workers suspended from work because of the moratorium on Gulf of Mexico underseas drilling. There simply was no legislation allowing this kind of specific demand. Mr. Obama's demand was in the nature of a threat, more than a Constitutional act.

These are the acts of a big city boss or a third world dictator.

Ben Stein has picked up on Obama's style of leadership, which was on full display recently- Obama sits up all high and mighty and judges us, threatening people and companies he doesn't like, wags his finger at you, and then just does things, regardless of whether they are legal. And the Congress that is supposed to be providing oversight for him, supposed to be supervising his slush funds and unconstitutional grabs for power, is doing nothing to stop him or rein him in. Obama might be called a new type of Democrat, different from 'moderates' or 'blue dogs', but the moderates and blue dogs are doing nothing to restrain or restrict him, so what use are they.

The only solution that presents itself to prevent our nation from continuing down this strongman path to dictatorship and tyranny is to vote every single person out of office who is a Democrat, and to elect Republicans to replace them. Then, at least we have a shot of keeping this the nation of the free and the home of the brave.

Pankaj Mishra reviews Ayaan Hirsi Ali's latest book:

“Nomad” reveals that her life experiences have yet to ripen into a sense of history.
The sad truth is that the problems she blames on Islam—fear of sexuality, oppression of women, militant millenarianism—are to be found wherever traditionalist peoples confront the transition to an individualistic urban culture of modernity. Many more young women are killed in India for failing to bring sufficient dowry than perish in “honor killings” across the Muslim world.
Such social pathologies no more reveal the barbaric core of Hinduism or Islam than domestic violence in Europe and America defines the moral essence of Christianity or the Enlightenment.

via Chris Blattman

Have you seen this yet? Watch the video- it's only a minute long- but it is shocking in its naked aggression. In it, Democrat Congressman Bod Etheridge (D-NC2), who was coming back from a fundraiser headlined by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was asked by some students on the street whether he supported the "Obama Agenda." The Congressman immediately grabs hold of one of the students and starts to assault him. I'll give the kid credit- if the Congressman would have touched me like that, I'd be in jail (I assume that in modern USA if I am assaulted by a Congressman and fight back I go to prison). The whole thing is caught on film.

Big Government broke the news, but I first saw this on powerlineblog, but saw over at rightwingnews that Etheridge has a credible Republican challenger named Renee Ellmers (yet another conservative GOP woman running for office this year). You can donate to Renee Ellmers' campaign here. Additionally, you can follow Renee Ellmers on Facebook and Twitter.


UPDATE: On an unrelated note, here is what happens when a Taliban sniper pisses off US troops- they drop a 500 lb airburst bomb on them:

Global Voices reviews Chez Gangoueus (fr) A blog about French African literature by Réassi Ouabonzi. Answering a question about literary trends he declared :

...in Congo, a new generation of writers is budding, inspired by award-wining writer and intellectual Alain Mabanckou. In Sénégal, I'm struck by the current emergence (empowering) of women writers, in the wake of  best selling author Marie Ndiaye. I notice writers from Cameroon write with the same “in your face” directness and energy that they are are famous for. I must confess that I am in awe of Nigerian writers,  like the great Chinua Achebe. Among francophone writers, I could mention so many: Abdourahman A.Waberi from Djibouti,  Jimi Yuma from Congo, Patrice Nganang and Leonora Miano from Cameroon…

I'm getting sick and tired of the increasingly amount of articles written by liberal bloggists and journalists who argue that Barack Obama can't do anything at all to help the situation with the Gulf Oil Crisis. There is article after article, blog post after blog post, all arguing the same thing- this was a natural disaster, the responsibility for the containment and cleanup is entirely on BP, Obama had nothing to do with it, Obama has nothing to do with it, and Obama and the Democrats in Congress who are running our nation right now are not to be blamed for it. They are wrong though- Democrat President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress running our nation can and should be blamed for their failures during the Gulf Oil Crisis.

First, as I wrote in Obama: Didn't Waive the Jones Act, Made Gulf Spill Worse that:

Don't kid yourself- there is a lot that the government can do to help the situation in the Gulf- like getting the heck out of the way of people who want to help. Obama could have waived the Jones Act and allowed foreign ships to assist in transporting goods (like oil-skimming booms) in order to help clean up the mess. But he didn't. Obama refused to waive the Jones Act.

Second, as I wrote in Mitt Romney on Leadeship that:

Romney is right- what we need right now is someone who will use what power and authority and resources that the federal government has to help, and other than that stay out of the way. Attacking BP isn't going to help anything, and there will be plenty of time for that later if that is what is called for. And sitting down with lawyers, labor union leaders, watermellons, and anti-war activists isn't going to help him come up with any new ideas to solve this issue. It's Day 52- what sort of leadership has he demonstrated from his position as most powerful leader in the world?

Third, New York Times columnist CAMPBELL ROBERTSON wrote in Efforts to Repel Gulf Oil Spill Are Described as Chaotic:

From the beginning, the effort has been bedeviled by a lack of preparation, organization, urgency and clear lines of authority among federal, state and local officials, as well as BP. As a result, officials and experts say, the damage to the coastline and wildlife has been worse than it might have been if the response had been faster and orchestrated more effectively.

“The information is not flowing,” Senator Nelson said. “The decisions are not timely. The resources are not produced. And as a result, you have a big mess, with no command and control.”

Obama should not be held responsible for the Deepwater Horizon Rig blowing up, but after it did, he should have been on the situation, providing leadership. This was federal waters, the federal government has extensive resources available, and the one thing that the President of the United States can do better than anyone else is act as a crisis manager. Once the rig blew up, Obama doesn't have to go out there with a straw to suck up the oil, but he does have to put in place a team who can organize federal, state, and local officials and put in place clear lines of command and clear lines of communication. That's his job. The President's job is to step in when there is a disaster and lead. He doesn't have to do anything- man a rig, visit the Gulf Coast, clean pelicans- but he does have to LEAD, or at least delegate that leadership to someone else who can then lead (like a crisis manager or something).

Fourth, lawmakers passed the federal Oil Pollution Act in 1990 to ensure that plans were in place for oil spills, so the response effort would be quick, with clear responsibilities for everyone involved. This means that Congress and the President are responsible for making sure that these plans were in place and ready to go. Oh, I know Obama has only been President for a couple years now (it seems like a lot longer), but the Democrats have been running Congress for years longer than that- at what point do we hold them responsible for not making sure that that laws in our nation are being followed? If the government can't take responsibility for something like this, passed almost 20 years ago, on what leap of faith can you expect them to take responsibility to do anything right as their responsibilities expand under Democratic leadership?

Obama CAN help to contain and clean up and prevent future Gulf Oil disasters- but he isn't doing that. He isn't helping to contain the spill- in fact, it appears that he is not repealing regulations that hinder fighting the spill and he is hindering efforts by states to build reefs and other means of protection. He isn't helping to clean up the spill- he has created a vacuum of leadership at the top of our nation, a vacuum that is sucking the oil right out of the ground and spewing it everywhere in a potent symbol of his inadequacy for the Presidency. And he isn't helping to prevent future Gulf Oil disasters, unless you consider his attempts to drive the US back into the Stone Age by killing energy production a way to help prevent future spills like this one. Obama can help the Gulf Oil Spill... but he isn't. The same things could be said for the Democrats who are running Congress as well.

Voters need to hold these people responsible and throw them out of office. Unlike a lot of conservatives, I'm not calling for big government and all powerful government to solve the situation, but I am calling for a government that shows leadership during a crisis and works to get out of the way of people trying to help. That's something that is possible, but not happening, under President Obama and the Democrats in Congress.