…it’s that no matter what happens, any and every solution the Democrats will devise to any and every problem will be based upon raising taxes.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, is proposing a new carbon tax to reduce U.S. energy consumption. Part of the proceeds, he said would help pay for “universal health care — “upon passage,” he noted.

Dingell, here, wants not only to raise taxes, but also to create a new tax to pile on to those we already pay. A “carbon tax”.

But he’s not finished!

In addition to the carbon tax, Dingell’s plan to reduce global warming also includes higher taxes on gasoline; and a phase-out of the mortgage interest deduction on what he called “McMansions.”

If that’s not enough, he’s holding free reign on the as yet unproven concept of man-made global warming.

Yeah, yeah, we know — Dingleberry and his ilk ignore the scientists who employ actual science to refute the man-made “climate change” theories that are based totally upon politics rather than science, so…

“The earth is getting warmer and human activities are a large part of the cause,” Dingell said. “We need to act in order to prevent a serious problem.”

Dingell admits that reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be a “massive undertaking,” but he believes higher taxes and fees are “the most effective way” to solve the problem.

Dingell said he would levy an additional 50-cents-a-gallon tax on gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, to be phased in over five years and then adjusted for inflation.

Boy, it must be nice to be able to simply pile on the taxes and restructure the Constitution at the same time. After all, the end result of this idiot’s agenda will be a socialist state to replace the present structure of the United States Government — Ding has already decided that socialized medicine is a done deal, so…

Where will the revenue go?

“First and foremost, the Earned Income Tax Credit will be expanded,” Dingell said on his website. He said the higher EIC (a tax refund for poor people who don’t pay taxes) will help lower income families compensate for the increased taxes on fuels.

Dingell said the money raised by the higher gasoline tax would go into a highway trust fund, with 40 percent going to mass transit and 60 percent going to roads. (The revenue from the tax on jet fuel would go into the airport and airway trust fund.)

Finally, Dingell said the revenue from his proposed fee on carbon emissions - the carbon tax - would go into the following accounts: Medicare and Social Security; Universal Healthcare (upon passage); State Children’s Health Insurance Program; Conservation
Renewable Energy Research and Development; Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

.

This is such a Democrat issue: Employ junk science as a basis for dumping large new tonnages of taxes on the American people while shoving our government in the direction of a political philosophy that is 180 degrees in opposition of the Law of the Land upon which our great and hitherto profoundly successful nation has been based from its founding.

To take things a step further, the politics advocated by the Democrats represent the cornerstones of those governments that have been our sworn enemies and collective anti-thesis over the last century.

Socialists. National Socialists. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

These folks simply don’t understand even the most fundamental reasons why we broke away from England in the latter part of the 1700s, why our great Constitution says what it says or why the United States of America is boss trump in the global arena.

We are.

Even when we read about the citizens of foreign countries opposing us via demonstrations and so forth, we can understand that the reason they’re bitching is that we’re the boss — we possess the factors that make any entity existing within the boundaries of humanity boss: We are both economically and militarily superior to the rest of the world. When America makes a move, it is felt across the globe. That’s the way it is.

We don’t simply sit on our riches and/or our military might, we share both. The Democrats find fault in the latter. They found fault in our protecting the South Vietnamese from communism and they find fault in our attempts to introduce democracy to the Arab world. They would prefer to surrender.

If the Democrats are so dedicated to the options of

a) living under Sha’aria law or

b) being beheaded

that’s their lookout.

If the Democrats are so dedicated to taxing us to death

that’s a good reason to vote otherwise

If the Democrats are so willing to transform us into a socialist country

that’s a spectacular reason to do away with their party.

‘Nuff said.

…a second post on the same day, it’s great to have some time on my hands.

Given my history of general contempt for the French (they’re now spared the “spit”), I was impressed enough by a) their rejection, as a voting mass, of the ultra-socialist EU constitution served up awhile back and then, later, b) the election of a right thinker and former interior minister named Nicholas Sarkozy as the successor to America-hating leftist president Jacques Chirac, to travel hopefully on the future of French-American relations.

To go further, I also see that the French government now has a realist at the helm, a realist who will hopefully guide his country along a path that both extracts France, to some degree, from the morass of the socialist EU and brings her into both a stronger economy and more positive relations with the United States (it would be nice, since our fearless leaders — right! — insist upon continued membership in the U.N. — SPIT!).

I am, in fact, beginning to wonder if maybe George Bush and all of Congress should consider employing Sarkozy as a consultant.

The National Assembly approved tough new restrictions on immigration yesterday, completing a major step in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s program to roll up a famously well-trodden welcome mat.

The bill, which still needs Senate approval and a second vote in the Assembly, requires would-be immigrants for the first time to demonstrate a knowledge of the French language and cultural values.

When my grandparents arrived in N.Y. from Russia and Poland in the late 1920s/early1930s, respectively, they came with the sole intention of becoming Americans, as one with our heritage, language and social customs. Today, we are becoming inundated with immigrants who have little or no desire to assimilate into our society — they flee one system, but feel no loyalty to the system that takes them in, provides better opportunities to prosper and allows them freedoms they didn’t possess back in the old country.

Bravo Sarkozi!

“For many of our countrymen, immigration is a source of concern,” said Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux upon introducing the bill. “They see a threat to their security, their jobs, their lifestyle. We must understand the … hopes of this silent majority.”

However, the bill has roused a range of critics, including leftist politicians, scientists, human rights groups, the Vatican and even French police and members of Mr. Sarkozy’s own party and government.

Some argue that would-be immigrants, if they cannot enter France legally, will simply do so by illegal means.

“The desire to go to Europe is very strong,” said Catherine de Wenden, an immigration specialist at the National Center for Scientific Research, a Paris think tank. “And the tougher the policy, the more likely it will lead to illegal immigration.”

That last bit is so very typical of liberals/leftists — “If we pass a law against it, it will lead to people breaking that law, so we shouldn’t pass it or we might have to enforce it.”

And these people want to govern — excuse me, micromanage western civilization?

“Lawd”, as they say, “have mercy!”

You Go, Sarkozi!

In the course of email correspondence with an Angel, she indicated her displeasure (yeah, an understatement, and being a fellow Noo Yawkah –though not dwelling there presently — I share her consternation and disgust) at the thought of an enemy of our very form of civilization being welcomed to New York to speak at the U.N., or for any other reason, for that matter.

This stuck in my mind for a bit, and the result was that every time I’ve come across a link on anything related to the matter, I’ve clicked on it.

Articles like this one.

And Ahmadmanjihad is the enemy.

US-led forces in Iraq say they have arrested an Iranian officer operating in the north of the country.

They say the man was a member of the Quds Force - an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards - and was detained in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya.
“This individual has been involved in transporting improvised explosive devices,” the American military said.

The US has accused the Quds Force of helping arm Shia militias in Iraq. Iran denies any involvement with militants.

A statement by the US military said the arrested man had been involved in the “infiltration and training of foreign terrorists in Iraq”.

Okay…

So, just to show how well the “intellectual elites” (lefteez) have done at taking over academia, the past and present jihadi with nuclear arsenal ambitions is to speak at Columbia U during his visit, by invitation. I wonder if they’ve sent any invitations to Nicholas Sarkozy. Probably not, as he’s a right thinker rather than a malevolent threat to our national security.

This is certainly true.

Meanwhile: As Columbia welcomes Ahmadinejad to campus, Columbia students who want to serve their country cannot enroll in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at Columbia. Columbia students who want to enroll in ROTC must travel to other universities to fulfill their obligations. ROTC has been banned from the Columbia campus since 1969. In 2003, a majority of polled Columbia students supported reinstating ROTC on campus. But in 2005, when the Columbia faculty senate debated the issue, President Bollinger joined the opponents in defeating the effort to invite ROTC back on campus.

A perfect synecdoche for too much of American higher education: they are friendlier to Ahmadinejad than to the U.S. military.

The ROTC bit really rankles me as an American: The Democrats have no problem pushing their tax-devouring, vote-chasing, negative-result social agendas at the federal level, but there doesn’t seem to be any sort of patriotic movement afoot among the rest of their political folderol. If they can peddle their socialist wares on a national footing, it seems to me that the Republican side of the political equation could mandate onsite ROTC, which is, after all, one of the building blocks of the future in the national security/defense sector, as a requisite for any federal university tax subsidies. No tickee, no washee, no exceptions.

As far as the Iranian Islamofascist terrorist president’s declared intention of visiting and placing a wreath at Ground Zero is concerned, they’d damn well better not let him. Not only would it be a desecration, of that national shrine, of the highest order (it would be the equivalent of spitting on the graves of all those who perished on, or as a result of, 9/11), but it would also provide Ahmadmanjihad with provender for a veritable feast of propaganda opportunities.

…what happened was, I received an email from a year-ago client about three weeks ago, one of those “we should have listened to you to begin with” kinds of things — I won’t go any further than that in the interests of professional/proprietary considerations, but let’s just say that the project has blossomed from the week it might have required me a year ago to a period of weeks today.

More interruption of my much needed semi-retirement, but I sometimes feel emptily bored not having something challenging to my career skills around, anyway…

I don’t always have a lot of trouble balancing professional and other concerns, but for the last couple of weeks or so, I’ve been practically living this project, which has involved a few one-day out of town trips and a lot of other factors that have consumed my time and as a result, I haven’t had any time to post more than two articles since Labor Day, and I’ve had the same paucity of time where visiting other blogs has been concerned.

Luckily, the project’s about completed, and FedEx will be hearing from me presently.

This doesn’t mean that I’ve been ignoring the news, and I have to laugh at this one…

Certain portside “journalists” have turned the Sally Fields awards incident into a possible dastardly right-wing FOX censorship of the Flying Some, But Not Much’s First Amendment rights. Others who also list sharply to port suggest that not only Sally, but other Hollywood types whose profanities were omitted or bleeped over, were also being persecuted ala deprivation of their freedom of speech.

The whole kerfuffle stems from Fields making a comment that if mothers were in charge, there would be no “g’damd” war. The censors cut off the last two words for the expletive, and I suppose these lefties, always grasping at any straw to villify some conservative or some conservative institution, equate the missing non-swear word with some great and profound political revelation.

It wasn’t even an original line, in fact it’s adorned many a bumper sticker in years gone by.

These folks can get really, really pedestrian. It’s beginning to sound a lot like the kind of stuff you’d have found in Pravda “back in the day”.

Racial bigotry conjuring, parasite exploiters of their fellow blacks comedy team Sharpton & Jackson are back in action on the Louisiana front, looking to milk some political capital out of events in Jena.

On the Israeli front…

Speculations abound surrounding the Israeli air strikes on Syria.

The speculation of Bret Stephens, author of the linked OpEd makes the most sense among the theories brought up, and speaking of Israel, my favorite all time Democrat and a former mayor of my hometown Ed Koch has written another column that’s worth reading.

Last but most definitely not least, and whether you believe that there exists a North American Union (NAU) agenda behind the Security & Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) or you don’t, this is exactly the kind of thing — the only thing, hopefully — needed to beat back advances of that stealth agenda.

Cudos to folks on both sides of the aisle for foiling the Mexican Truckers From Hell debacle.

The Amendment was sponsored by Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), and passed by a whopping 74-24 margin. Since the amendment contains language already included in a House-funding bill, it will likely survive the conference committee and stop the program. Susan Tully of the Federation for American Immigration Reform says the Senate vote is a real blow to the Bush Administration.

“It’s a real big deal stopping the Mexican trucks from coming. President Bush signed the agreement with Mexico and Canada for the Security Prosperity Partnership across the borders and through that partnership without any agreement or any oversight on the part of Congress,” says Tully.

She says there is great concern that the Mexican trucks have lower safety standards, and could facilitate the smuggling of drugs, terrorists, and illegal aliens. However, Tully says that perhaps the greater concern is that the Mexican truck pilot plan is just one step in the overall agenda of bringing about a North American Union. According to Tully, one can go to SPP.gov and find all of the documents pertaining to this pilot program and see exactly what is taking place.

This also makes the score U.S. 3, “La Raza” 1 (and this by outright cheating on the part of the Democrats, imagine tampering with the scoreboard at Wrigley Field or Fenway Pahk!) in recent Congressional actions.

I was reading someplace that Mexican Prez Calderon is furious about this setback to his U.S. invasion plans, and said something in a speech to the effect that Mexico is a country that extends beyond its borders.

Oooops!

Sounds to me like the little shit needs to have a professional slapper-arounder in his entourage to tend to him when he blurts such boneheaded blurtings.

**************** UPDATE ****************

This article contributes some amount of creedence to Bret Stephens’ theory in his above linked OpEd.

…in large part, the success of the left in having infected such a large quantity of voters with disinformation sickness is, in many ways, the fault of the right-thinking side of the equation, yet this is, at the same time, somewhat excusable from an adult’s point of view.

After all, if anything at all has become cornucopially evident, it is that the Democrats have become, since Bush beat Gore, blatantly irresponsible in their anti-administration {and anti anything else that doesn’t glorify their own political agendas} rhetoric. Everything from comparing Camp Delta with the killing fields of the Pol Pot regime to attempting to smear the reputation of a great and patriotic general in order to achieve purely partisan political ends.

So here we have half a Hill full of Republican senators and representatives who are accustomed to addressing their professional affairs in a dignified and mature manner, as one would expect of folks we’ve elected to lead the country, beset by aggressively sub-adolescent attacks whose opposition would require playing in the same Romper Room environment that the Democrats play in. Being a conservative myself, I can understand where a fellow conservative might be at a loss to respond to such attacks, other than to offer up a mature reply, and at the same time feel reluctant, out of sheer self respect, to respond on the same level on which the attack-in-question was delivered.

Envision, for example, someone like John Bolton being forced to have a lengthy political debate with the likes of a Cindy Sheehan.

My point is that we conservatives tend to value our dignity, and the farther left you travel, the less value is placed on that very concept. As a result, those politicians who represent us are civilized men and women who would need to regress, drastically, in every way in order to remain on the same page as today’s Democrats.

Too many of them obviously don’t know what to do, I know that I’d be pretty nonplussed if a bunch of colleagues started questioning my integrity without any kind of evidence to support their innuendos, or blurted idiotic, platitude-related non-realities at me, expecting me to respond on an adult level.

The silver lining (for We, the People) I perceive here is that today’s Democrats are completely obtuse when it comes to reading the disposition of the American people. The problem, for them, is that they suck up the campaign financing offered up by ultra-leftists and other wingnuts on that end of the political divide, and then have to sing for their supper. This means that even against the sensibilities of We, the Voters, they are forced to pursue the agendas, no matter how unpopular among the majority of Americans, of those paying their freight — or lose a lot of campaign funding. We’ve seen how desperate Democrats are to garner, even at the sacrifice of their very morality, campaign contributions, even welcoming them from fleeing felons and others who run “bundling” schemes.

I don’t think the Republican Party will have as much difficulty as the media wants us to believe, in 2008, regaining a majority in Congress and another right-thinking President in the White House.

The Democrats have supped with the devil, and now he owns them. Hmmm, I seem to recall an old New York deli restaurant called Lox, Stock & Bagel. Now what made me think of that?

********

On another and totally unrelated thought, I wonder how Muslims felt about the first day of Ramadan being sandwiched in between Patriots’ Day (9/11) the day before and the first day of Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) the day after.

********

Speaking of which,

to my fellow Jews, Shana Tova!

…one that, for me, proved to be a bit more eventful than I’d originally planned, so much so that I fell sort of behind — things I’d intended to do on or by Friday and Saturday need to get done today.

One thing I had planned to do “no matter what” was listen to the blog radio interview in which Always On Watch and WC conversed, for an hour, with Robert Spencer.

I missed it, dagnabbit! Luckily, however, it is archived and can be listened to (scroll down) in its entirety here.

I listened to it on Tuesday morning and it was excellent, well worth the time. A lot of knowledge was imparted, things I didn’t know and a lot of ground was covered — it is a very full hour. I would highly recommend sharing it with anyone you know who believes that Islam is a benign religion or that it is not a grave threat to western civilization.

Someone needs to share it with George Bush and Condoleeza Rice.

A thought: Our beloved (yeah, right!) political left considers a minute of silent prayer in school, a statue of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse or G-d’s name in the Pledge of Allegiance to signify an oppressive, ironclad merger between church and state, yet they see nothing wrong with the immigration, societal inundation and voting rights of members of a civilization that believes emphatically in a state being run strictly according to the freedom-stifling tenets of Koranic scripture.

To move along, I’m just now emerging from an unexpectedly festive Labor Day Weekend mode and feel compelled to resurface in the Land of the Living and get on with things…

There are a bunch of stops I need to make today. One is the Lincoln Quality Meat Market, whose praises I simply cannot sing enough of. Yay!

Another is at the only Peet’s Coffee & Tea location in Chicago (there’s one more someplace in the suburbs) and the only one I’ve seen outside of California. I came to buy all my coffee at Peet’s when I lived in San Francisco, they are the best of the best.

Unfortunately, I have developed an expensive “addiction” — for the last couple of months, the only coffee I’ve been buying for home consumption has been Peet’s Kona. Once you drink that for awhile, it seems, all other coffees become downright boring, and I am a major coffee drinker. Even Jamaican Blue Mountain pales almost to insignificance beside this stuff…

On another topic, I was reading an article the other day (infinitely less appealing than a discussion on great coffees) concerning Mayor Jim Naugle of Ft. Lauderdale, a Democrat, no less, and his empissening of his gay constituents by seeking the elimination of homosexual whoopie-making in public toilets.

The bit that got me was this:

The reaction was brutal. The local South Florida Sun-Sentinel ran a piece effectively accusing Naugle of gay-bashing. Predictably, the “gay community” came out of the woodwork, attacking the mayor as “homophobic,” “bigoted” and full of “hate.” Critics said Naugle was undermining Broward County’s carefully cultivated reputation as a “gay-friendly” vacation destination.

I keep reading and hearing all this GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender) stuff about “seeking equality”, but… but… all the straight people I know who take vacations stay in hotels rather than commode stalls, and confine their intimate activities to same. I understand that it’s cheaper (unless one gets caught by the vice squad or whomever) to conduct ones affairs in a stall amid the combined odors of disinfectant cleaners and stale urine than it is to pay for a nice, clean hotel room, but c’mon!

It’s absolutely ghastly that these people can demand “equality” on one hand and their right to engage in sex in public toilets on the other, and make an issue of it. Doesn’t it strike any of them that such behavior can demean their entire cause, such as it is? I mean, who thinks it will further their quest for “equality” to be known as “the people who stand for cheap sex in public toilets”?

I’m so glad — oh, have I said this before? — that I’m over 50 years old. I really, truly don’t want to be around to see the long-term effects of the liberal permeated society we live in today.

As it is, society as a whole seems to have gone, in my lifetime to date, from an entity that once made sense to some kind of bizarre cartoon…