You can’t say the same about most California cops anymore, they’re too busy performing the “kiss where the moon don’t shine” on far left politicians who see their come-one-come-all policy toward illegal immigration.

If they gave a damn about anything more than just having a job, like maybe enforcing the law, they would let the courage of their convictions take them down a different road, up to and including going to other states and getting on the cops there.

Maybe that’s just me, perhaps I just believe that a man needs to stand for something.

Like Arizona cops.

From One News Now:

PHOENIX - Sheriff’s deputies raided two Sizzler steak house restaurants in Phoenix on Saturday, arresting nine employees who are suspected of being illegal immigrants and using fraudulent documents to get jobs.

The raids were part of a yearlong investigation into whether the operators of the two Sizzler locations broke a civil law by knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Brian Lee said in a statement.

Deputies were looking for 23 suspects wanted for identity theft, Lee said. Authorities believe one of the suspects was deported three times and has been hired back by Sizzler each time he returned.

The sheriff’s office received a tip from a former Sizzler manager who claimed he had been fired for his refusal to hire employees without the proper documents, Lee said.

“This is another example of a case where desperately needed jobs are being occupied by illegal aliens who have disregarded our laws and our borders,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio said in the statement.

Arpaio, known for pushing the bounds for how local law enforcement agencies can confront illegal immigration, frequently raids workplaces in the greater Phoenix area for people in the U.S. illegally.

A message left at one of the two restaurants wasn’t immediately returned Saturday afternoon. A manager at the other restaurant declined to provide his name and publicly comment on the raid.

Hats off to Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Lt. Brian Lee, for doing what a law enforcement officer is supposed to do: Arresting criminals.

Earlier, I came upon a sidewalk Lyndon LaRouche stand on a street corner that bore colorful abstract banners that said:

Save NASA, Impeach Obama!

The workers there were attempting to acquire signatures and cash donations to support the impeachment of the president.

“Never happen,” I said.

“If we work hard and get the support we need…” A worker told me.

“No, it won’t.” I insisted. “I’d love nothing more than to see that corrupt commie bum get the boot, but the reality is, it just ain’t gonna happen. Even if it did, then what? Biden’s next in line, then Pelosi, the fate worse than death, and then, if the country’s still around, Hillary.”

“Oh, we’ve got a plan for that.” he assured me. “We let Biden know that if he doesn’t get it right, he’ll be next, then Pelosi –”

“Keep dreaming.” I said.

As I was about to leave, he handed me a flyer with some LaRouche politics on it, which I took with me and subsequently read.

The narrative on one side ended with:

“Anyone who is not moving for Obama’s ouster is not for real. The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is one more demonstration of why Obama must be expelled from office on an emergency basis. If you want to save the nation, he has got to go. Either he goes or civilization goes.”

I kid you not! Either he goes or civilization goes.

Now, this came off an oh - fish - ial Lyndon LaRouche hand-out. I looked around on-line to try and find it in one linkable place or another, since many might find it difficult to believe that someone with so many followers wouls actually print up something like that, and this is the only one I found.

If what this guy was saying and the editorializing on the letter size, small print flyer are core LaRouche (pure frantic alarmism, well beyond even the more dramatic rants one hears on the right, mixed with a heavy dose of paranoia), we are one lucky republic that the man never made it to the White House.

What’s still frightening, though, is the number of people who take him seriously.

There’s some hope when an opinion coming out of California disagrees with those of the usual suspects on the left.

From One News Now:

A California based lawyer is dismissing claims by many that the Arizona law aimed at cracking down on illegal aliens amounts to racial discrimination.

Brad Dacus, founder of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), does not think opponents of Arizona’s immigration bill have a real argument. He notes that all attempts to dismantle the measure are merely political.

“If Arizona was caught in violating basic due process rights — if they were pulling people over without cause — then that would be one thing,” he contends. “But the law is indisputably constitutional, and any contentions against it are purely politically based.”

Last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District voted against the Arizona law and sought to place a dent in the state’s economy by ending funded employee travel to the neighboring state. The school district also pushed for history and civics classes to discuss the measure “in the context of unity, diversity and equal protection for all.”

The city of Los Angeles, which had more than $26 million in contracts with Arizona this year, showed its disapproval of the bill by proposing a boycott against the state, calling for actions like ending pension and municipal bonds. Gloria Molina, the city’s supervisor, called the immigration bill unconstitutional. She believes it goes “too far” and says she must defend the Constitution.

Dacus argues that the Arizona law is constitutional, and he does not think that actions against the state have legal basis.

“This boycott by the city of Los Angeles is purely political and has no legal foundation to support its legitimacy,” he explains. “The law passed by Arizona is a duplicate of the federal statute. The only difference is that the federal government isn’t enforcing their statute. This law is to explicitly prohibit any issue of race as a basis of pulling someone over.”

The boycott would end contracts with Arizona-based companies and would demand review of other contracts with the state that may be canceled.

Yes, I know. On the other hand:

Gloria Molina, the city’s supervisor, called the immigration bill unconstitutional. She believes it goes “too far” and says she must defend the Constitution.

Right, right. The Constitution. This Molina moonbat indicates, in her statement, that she wouldn’t know the Constitution from an aging Moose.

Remember, we’re talking the L.A. area, here.

To demonstrate the general state of “out there” in L.A., when the “progressives” here began their crusade to boycott the State of Arizona, large numbers of air-headed lefty Los Angelenos made great hay about no longer buying beverages from Cincinnati-based AriZona Beverage Company.

In many ways, living in southern California among the Molinas of this world is similar to living inside a cartoon.

As anyone who’s been visiting Hard Astarboard for a long time knows, The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is one of Seth’s “pet peeves”.

Well, before he began his temporary absence from these pages, he made it known among friends that he supports the nomination of John Pistole to head up the TSA, himself registering surprise that the Obama Administration was actually able to produce a nominee who doesn’t seem to have any legal or ethical baggage to bring with him.

Since Seth, da boss hereabouts, is concerned both professionally and patriotically with security, I figured we should post this article from Homeland Security Today:

FBI Deputy Director John Pistole impressed members of the Senate Commerce Committee in his first of two confirmation hearings Thursday with his knowledge and experience with terrorism concerns in his bid to become administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

His long career at the FBI left such a positive impression on lawmakers that even Republicans seeking an outright declaration of opposition to collective bargaining rights for TSA screeners–which they did not receive–were left acknowledging they would support his nomination.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who derailed the nomination of Obama’s first pick to become TSA chief earlier this year over the issue of collective bargaining, again raised it Thursday.

DeMint insisted that officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must question how collective bargaining rights for TSA screeners would improve security. He was unsatisfied with an earlier reply from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that security and collective bargaining weren’t mutually exclusive.

“When the secretary of homeland security can’t tell us how something would improve security, it should stop us in our tracks,” DeMint protested.

Collective bargaining for TSA screeners “would have a direct negative impact on security” by applying a 19th century industrial era model to a 21st century information age environment, DeMint argued. Transportation security officers (TSOs) could jeopardize national security if they demanded changes in their workplace, through the use of collective bargaining, that restricted rapid redeployment or changes in work schedules due to threat information, he said.

Pistole acknowledged that Napolitano asked him to conduct a review of the issue if he is confirmed. That review would involve collecting as much information as possible from relevant stakeholders to make an informed judgment or recommendations.

As the FBI has no unions or collective bargaining rights, Pistole emphasized that he was “attuned to safety and security issues” as a priority.

DeMint warned Pistole that he would face intense political pressure to grant collective bargaining rights to TSOs. While DeMint endorsed Pistole’s credentials to lead TSA, the senator said he would question his competence if he caved to that pressure.

“If we see you yielding to political pressure, that would suggest to us that priorities have changed,” DeMint stated.

DeMint was visibly disappointed by Pistole’s position on the issue, however.

Although Pistole said collective bargaining would not work at the FBI because it would impair the agency’s ability to surge resources and to deploy people worldwide at a moment’s notice, he could not commit to the same status at TSA because he had not yet conducted his review of the issue.

Lacking a firsthand knowledge of how TSA managers work together, Pistole could not say for certain if TSA would benefit from a third party such as a union facilitating discussions. He also declined to promise that his review of collective bargaining would be made available to the committee.

Despite those positions, DeMint conceded, “I will trust your judgment until proven otherwise.”

Other issues

If confirmed, Pistole said he would immediately examine intelligence to assess soft targets that may provide attractive opportunities to al Qaeda and other terrorists seeking to strike the United States.

Successful attacks in Europe and India against rail networks and a thwarted plan to attack the subway system in New York City have demonstrated terrorist interest in hitting passenger rail systems because they are not protected as well as airports, Pistole said.

Security at general aviation airports also requires a second look, Pistole said, as the spring attack on a federal building in Austin, Texas, underscored the vulnerabilities involved with privately owned aircraft. Fiscal restraint may restrict how much attention those airports receive from TSA, however, he said.

As for aviation security, Pistole vowed to be guided by threat information to ensure the best use of the “latest intelligence, latest training, latest techniques, and latest technology” at TSA.

To that end, Pistole endorsed the use of advanced imaging technology (AIT) at US airports, saying it was the best means to detect the sort of sophisticated explosive carried by suspected Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

Pistole provided some of the most detailed public comments to date on the bomb allegedly carried by Abdulmutallab, noting that it used an initiating charge of acetone peroxide (TAPT) with a main charge of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN).

PETN also was the explosive used by shoe bomber Richard Reid in his attack on a US-bound airliner in December 2001, Pistole noted, but Abdulmutallab carried almost twice as much PETN as Reid did.

Reid’s PETN would have caused a manhole-size hole in the airplane had it detonated, so Abdulmutallab’s charge “would have caused catastrophic damage” to Northwest Airlines Flight 253 had it worked, Pistole noted.

Given the level of the threat, TSA must continue its rollout plan of AIT and strive to engage foreign partners to adopt standards similar or better to the United States for aviation screening, Pistole said.

Pistole identified his top priority at TSA as making certain that TSA has the latest intelligence and threat information. The major failing of the Christmas Day bombing attempt was that information sharing did not occur in a fashion timely or robust enough to trigger a visa revocation or watchlisting for Abdulmutallab, he commented.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), chair of the committee, predicted that Pistole would receive Senate confirmation as early as next week in a vote to occur after his second confirmation hearing June 16 with the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Soon after, Rockefeller revealed, the Commerce Committee will unveil a TSA authorization bill as well as a port security bill, both of which will have a great deal of impact on TSA operations.

Of course, given that we’re dealing with the Obam/Pelosi and Reid trimvirate, one never knows what ulterior information might be concealed beneath Deputy Director Pistole’s publicized personna, but from the looks of the man’s background and from what he says, he gets the benefit of the doubt here at Hard Astarboard.

The perfect explanation as to why “progressives” vote as they do, and those they vote for are as they are.

It’s one of those dispatches from the world of social science that leave some gloating and some fuming: A pair of researchers have concluded that when it comes to grasping basic economic concepts, liberals and Democrats are significantly less “enlightened” than conservatives and libertarians.

Researchers Daniel Klein and Zeljka Buturovic put forth their analysis in a recent article in Econ Journal Watch, an online scholarly journal, and in a subsequent column Mr. Klein wrote for the Wall Street Journal. Needless to say, it has elicited a less-than-favorable peer review from liberal economists.

Americans describing themselves as conservative, very conservative and libertarian “do reasonably well” when asked about basic economic questions involving supply, demand and the effects of regulation, concluded Mr. Klein, an economics professor at George Mason University, and Ms. Buturovic, an associate researcher with the polling firm Zogby International.

“But the left has trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals and aesthetics,” the two write.

The entire story.

From the Heritage Foundation.

Diane Macedo over at FoxNews.com points out that one publishing company–Wilder Publications–has put warning labels on their editions of the United States Constitution. The warning label on “Foundations of Freedom: Common Sense, The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, The Federalist Papers, The U.S. Constitution” reads:

“This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today. Parents might wish to discuss with their children how views on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and interpersonal relations have changed since this book was written before allowing them to read this classic work.”

The idea that the Constitution is somehow dated and less relevant today is outrageous. The simple, noble principles enshrined in the Constitution have never been more relevant than they are today.

Heritage’s Matthew Spalding makes this exact case in his book, We Still Hold These Truths, writing:

To this day, so many years after the American Revolution, these principles—proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and promulgated by the United States Constitution—still define us as a nation and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous and just nation unlike any in the world. They are the highest achievements of our tradition, serving not only as a powerful beacon to those throughout the world who strive for freedom and seek to vindicate self-government but also a warning to tyrants and despots everywhere. It is because of these principles, not despite them, that America has achieved its greatness.

Macedo notes that many who have encountered this bizarre warning have already begun to voice their displeasure:

Amazon.com’s customer reviews of Wilder’s copy of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation show an overwhelming number of people speaking out against the disclaimer, describing it as “insulting,” “sickening” and “frankly, horrifying.”

Another review for Wilder’s edition of the Federalist Papers calls for an all-out boycott of the publisher, sarcastically pointing out the “dangerous ideas” it’s trying to protect children from: “limited government, checks and balances, constrained judicial review, dual sovereignty of states and federal government, and deliberative democracy.”

As an American, I am totally disgusted with this kind of crap. The idea that this is the kind of thing to which our young are subjected nowadays, it’s no wonder so few of them even know what the Constitution is, let alone what’s in it.

Got some time to post a bit more.

If the allegations against an Army intelligence analyst by the name of Spc. Bradley Manning are indeed true, he needs to be dealt with as a traitor should be dealt with, this in time of war, to boot, without compassion or any form of lenience.

A Soldier who allegedly gave video of an Army helicopter attack to an online whistleblower has been arrested in Kuwait, according to Wired magazine.

Spc. Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence analyst, is reportedly the source of the 2007 video that the website Wikileaks dubbed “Collateral Murder” when it released the video online in early April.

Manning, 22, was arrested about two weeks ago while stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer, about 40 miles from Baghdad, according to the magazine.

In a statement on Manning’s arrest the Army did not refer to the Apache attack video, but said Manning “was placed in pre-trial confinement for allegedly releasing classified information and is currently confined in Kuwait. The Department of Defense takes the management of classified information very seriously because it affects our national security, the lives of our Soldiers, and our operations abroad.”

I have no brief for any member of the Armed Forces who divulges classified information, or any data related to operational circumstances that has not been cleared for release by the member’s superiors. It gets other people killed.

The whole story.

Traitors, unfortunately, also come in politician form and I can think of a few offhand, whom I won’t name, who go by the initials BHO, NP and HR.

I’ll be spending most of my time this weekend doing some work on my boat, as I may take another of my long cruises south along the Mexican coast really soon, and want to have everything 4.0 when I do it.

But this morning…

Something we already knew,

to whit:

When asked to compare Nancy Pelosi to previous House speakers, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) didn’t hold back. In an exclusive interview with HUMAN EVENTS, Pence excoriated her as the “least democratic speaker in the history of the House of Representatives,” arguing that she’s blocked a “free and open debate” in Congress.

Watch The Video.

Moving on, we all know that today’s feminist movement is not about women’s rights or opportunities as it purports to be. The reason they ignore the plight of women in many Muslim countries is because their politics, based on the “progressive” school of politics, demand butt munching Islam from the left side of the aisle.

Feminists are hypocrites who pursue the left wing agenda, and anyone not contributing to that gets short shrift like those Muslim women do.

As for any woman in politics who is not supporting “progressives”:

Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown appeared on Thursday’s Good Morning America to deride the mostly Republican women who won primaries on Tuesday as “wingnuts” and to sneer that they represent a “blow to feminism.”

I’d say it’s only a blow to the far left.

From Caroline Glick:

The first rule of strategy is to keep your opponent busy attending to your agenda so he has no time to advance his own. Unfortunately, Israel’s leaders seem unaware of this rule, while Iran’ rulers triumph in its application.

Over the past few weeks, Israel has devoted itself entirely to the consideration of questions that are at best secondary. Questions like how much additional assistance Israel should provide Hamas-controlled Gaza and how best to fend off or surrender to the international diplomatic lynch mob have dominated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s and his senior ministers’ agendas. Our political leaders — as well as our military commanders and intelligence agencies — have been so busy thinking about these issues that they have effectively forgotten the one issue that they should have been considering.

Israel’s greatest strategic challenge — preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons — has fallen by the wayside.

Seriously good insight. Here’s the rest.

Another worthwhile and amusing read comes from Wesley Pruden, all about Obama’s search for that “ass” he says he wants to kick.

At least as I see them, and admitting that I wouldn’t have been quite so optimistic as this even six months ago, is improving from a conservative viewpoint, though it will be impossible to avoid the great cost to the next couple of generations of Americans the far left controlled Democrats have wrought.

Not to mention that to be endured by those of us who probably still have two or three decades to go before we hit the exit.

I believe in the American system, and even though it seemed like that system was fading away without a whimper {Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid driving the House and Senate, each with a heavy hand and Barack Obama having brought the famously corrupt Chicago political machine with him to the White House; a triumvirate of anti-Constitutionalism and pure socialism with communist overtones and a quiet war on the morality, the sanctity of life and the sense of sovereignty enjoyed under the law by each and every state in the Union}, economy crippling, government expanding legislation like ObamaCare and Cap & Trade being forced down the gullet of a mostly unwilling population by politicians who see themselves as mandated to tell us what’s good for us whether we agree to it or not, and enforce their will by criminalizing non-compliance, the tide is turning.

I was pleasantly surprised when the Tea Party movement materialized, seeming to spring from the Townhall meeting clashes between angry voters and the very legislators responsible for their ire.

Suddenly, Americans had had enough of the bail-outs, the “stimulus” event that was nothing more than the far left trinity now ruling, with an iron fist in charge of the country blatantly stealing money from the taxpayers while also plunging us deeply into an unprecedented* thirteen trillion dollar national debt.

The American people have realized that those running the government are abusing their respective offices in order to transform our country into something no right thinking American wants it to become, and as Americans do when we are backed into a corner by our own government, we are initiating a correction.

House and Senate incumbents in both parties are getting comeuppances in primaries around the country as the Tea Partyers raise large sums of money from fed up Americans, using the donations to enlighten the voters in various districts as to what the men and women representing them in Washington have been up to and what it’s doing to their nation, to them and, later, to their children and grandchildren. “Alternative” candidates are being pushed to replace incumbents, even by their own parties. Democrats and Republicans alike.

What we’re witnessing is a bloodless revolution, friends, that will only intensify as November draws gradually closer.

No matter how hard the left wing mainstream media fights to convince We, The People that the Tea Partyers are just a bunch of racist neocons making noise, the “tea baggers” are proving them to be the effluent propagandists and liars they are, so far removed from the principled, impartial, truth respecting, responsible journalists who once set a standard that made membership in the Fourth Estate a respectable distinction, that they have become.

And now they’re on the run. The media have become so incredibly farfetched in their attempts to justify the lefties on the Hill and in the White House that they really do look stupid, and the politicians they protect and support aren’t looking much better.

A bunch of D.C. Democrat incumbents who sold out their fellow Americans, including their own constituents, by foisting the healthcare bill on us are, right out of the blue, experiencing the need to “spend more time with their families”.

Translation: They know they’ll be soundly humiliated if they run for reelection and, for their egos’ sake, are returning to the private sector.

The long and the short of it is, patriotic Americans are fighting the good fight to get our country back, and if the constantly growing voter backlash continues, the leftist element that’s taken control will be swept out for years to come, the final battle that which sends Obama packing in January, 2013 and replaces him with a president who maintains American values.

*Unprecedented; A term often used by both the incumbent president and his tame media boot lickers to accent his purportedly “magnificent accomplishments.”

Larry Elder’s column today is a bang-up job well worth sharing.

While in high school, I was standing at a bus stop next to a gas station. A kid tossed a candy wrapper on the station lot. Somebody yelled, “Hey, pick that up.” The kid, with a straight face, defended himself. He said, “I just created a job.” Someone would be hired, he explained, to pick up the trash, and this would be good for the economy.

Don’t laugh. The kid probably works for the Obama administration.

That sounds about right.

Congress is now considering yet another “stimulus” package. But did the administration’s previous one work? Of the $787 billion stimulus package, President Obama said it would “save or create” 3.5 million new jobs. Has it?

The National Association for Business Economics polled 68 private-sector members. Seventy-three percent said the employment at their companies was neither higher nor lower as a result of the stimulus package.

What about the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office? A February 2009 Washington Times article said:

“President Obama’s economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

“CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.”

This, of course, is far beyond the grasp of the “intelligent” people who set policy in this country, namely our politicians.

I do not challenge the intellectual capacities of Obama, Pelosi and company, because I know they are all highly intelligent: The screwing they have been giving the rest of us Americans has been premeditated, its goals to transform our great nation into a second rate socialist has-been.

…Zogby International asked questions about economics of nearly 5,000 people…

Truncating;

“On every question,” wrote Klein, “the left did much worse. On the monopoly question, the portion of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly (31 percent) was more than twice that of conservatives (13 percent) and more than four times that of libertarians (7 percent). On the question about living standards, the portion of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly (61 percent) was more than four times that of conservatives (13 percent) and almost three times that of libertarians (21 percent).”

Maybe those with more education performed better? No, the report said. “We work with three levels of schooling: (1) high school or less; (2) some college (but not a degree); (3) a college degree or more. In our data, economic enlightenment is not correlated with going to college.”

The left blames the financial collapse on “greed,” ignoring the role played by government involvement — Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, the Federal Housing Administration, the Community Reinvestment Act and elsewhere. Leftists point to “insufficient regulation” on Wall Street for reckless behavior, rather than to the players’ assumption that too-big-to-fail would protect them.

Elder is so right. The entire column is here.