The Great:

The Disgusting:

On August 6, 2011, 30 US service members were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were being transported in crashed in Wardak province, Afghanistan. It was the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. 17 members of the elite Navy SEALs were killed in the crash.

Yesterday, Karen and Billy Vaughn, parents of Aaron Carson Vaughn, spoke at the Defending the Defenders forum sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots outside the RNC Convention in Tampa. Karen brought a copy of the form letter they were sent following their son’s death.

It’s a form letter.

It was signed by an electric pen.

That’s not all.

Karen Vaughn reached out to the parents of the other SEALs killed in that crash.

Their letters were all the same.

Form letters – signed by an electric pen.

After the deadliest single loss of US forces in Afghanistan, Barack Obama sent out form letters to the parents.

If that doesn’t tell us all we need to know about the “president’s” level of respect for the heroes who place their lives on the line for our safety and our liberty, well…

UPDATE: But Obama did send a personal letter to rapper Heavy D’s family when he passed away.

And this guy wants us to reelect him?

I really hate to say this about any of my fellow Americans, but anybody who votes to reelect Obama is either an idiot, a hater of America, the Constitution or both or just a garden variety traitor who truly does not deserve, born here or not, the privilege of living in this awesome country.

At any rate, there is that saying, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, but I guess that this depends whether or not either the goose or the gander is a P/C liberal.

From Godfather Politics:

Hate crimes are beginning to stack up. But determining what constitutes a “hate crime” is in the eye of the beholder. Actually, it’s in the eye of liberals who only see criminal activity when it’s leveled at one of their protected classes. Here’s the latest insanity. While California has been described as the “land of fruits and nuts,” New York is competing to be the fruitiest and nuttiest land of them all.

What did that dog say in the Beggin Strips commercial? Oh, yes: “Baccccooooonnnn!”

“Police are investigating an unusual bias crime on Staten Island. Muslims who gathered for prayer to celebrate the end of Ramadan in a city park found bacon scattered on the ground. . . . [B]efore most of the faithful arrived for Morning Prayer, it was discovered that someone had scattered a quantity of raw bacon on the field.”

This is, as they say, is Big News! Why?

“‘This has been determined to be a bias event on the part of our Hate Crimes Task Force,’ NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters.”

A bias event on the part of the hate crimes task force.

This, of course, is because that dastardly act was sure to offend Muslims.

It’s another matter entirely if you’re in, say, Saudi Arabia, an Islamic country, and find yourself under arrest for possession of a Bible, but here in this Judeo-Christian country, it’s fine to desecrate… well…

Where were our government officials when artist and photographer Andres Serrano unveiled his “Piss Christ”? It was a photograph of a “small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist’s urine. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art’s ‘Awards in the Visual Arts’ competition, which is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects.”

What was the response from the art community? Here’s one example:

“The art critic Lucy R. Lippard has presented a constructive case for the formal value of Serrano’s Piss Christ, which she characterizes as mysterious and beautiful. She writes that the work is ‘a darkly beautiful photographic image . . . the small wood and plastic crucifix becomes virtually monumental as it floats, photographically enlarged, in a deep rosy glow that is both ominous and glorious.’ Lippard suggests that the formal values of the image can be regarded separately from other meanings.”

I’m sure Mzzz. Lippard also feels that the above mentioned IslamoBaconGate affair was the most perverse, racist hate crime in modern history, or something to that effect, though she’s still rahther partial to “Piss Christ” (pinky extended as she sips at her chamomile tea).

Mzzz. Lippard likely pulled the handle for Obama in 2008, will again this November, and would probably purchase Pelosi and Reid bubble gum cards if they were available.

With a “snip!”

But it turns out that the bacon was left there for stray animals and had nothing to do with intimidating Muslims. The person who put the bacon in the park made these comments on a radio show:

“I had put the bacon there. It was going bad in my trunk and I put it out for the scavengers like the opossums and the raccoons and sea gulls, and I did not intend for that to cause anybody any problems.”

LOL! Mayhaps the NYPD should start doing something more constructive, like putting together an internal crime prevention unit: In the last several months (I wonder if it has anything to do with the “anti-racist” lowering of standards for recruitment) members of New York’s finest have been nabbed for everything from ticket fixing and DUI to smuggling slot machines, running guns, kidnaping and extortion, and stealing firearms from a police precinct house.

We here at Hard Astarboard have always been supportive, almost fanatically so, of the police, but things here in New York are getting just a little out of hand…

Maybe the police who were put on “bacon patrol” looking for a “hate” crime were the same officers who shot the nine bystanders near the Empire State Building last week.

The Godfather Politics article, by Gary DeMar, is here.

First, I want to make a brief observation regarding President Obama’s utter contempt for the hard earned tax money taken from hard working Americans.

He (The Communistander-in-Chief) has so far, as President, taken something like 38 fund raising trips here to New York. This is to raise money for HIS PERSONAL CAMPAIGN, yet is he, or is his campaign warchest, financing these trips?

“Of course not!” You exclaim, “Don’t be silly!”

We, the taxpaying American people, are paying for these trips, and we’re not simply financing a Greyhound bus ticket and a couple of nights at Motel 6, maybe a small per diem for lunch.

Oh, no.

We’re paying for a lot of aviation fuel, accommodations for His Majesty’s inevitable large entourage at the Waldorf Astoria, where they do a heck of a lot more than just leave the light on for ya’, travel, accommodations and deployment of O’s Secret Service detail and Lord only knows what other federally (taxpayer) funded expenses. Oh, yeah, and then there’s the cost to New Yorkers for all the police overtime and related costs.

All that so the president, who vowed “change” when he ran for office (we’ve gotten “change” alright), can panhandle here for further spare change.

Alright, having said that, on to the post at hand, which is courtesy of a great column by David L. Goetsch at Patriot Update.

One of the principal strategies of the left for the past 40 years has been the dumbing down of America’s public schools. Dumbing down public education at all levels is how the left is transforming Americans into a flock of naïve, ill-informed, easily-led sheep. A major component of the dumbing down process is historical revisionism. Historical revisionism is the concept liberals use to revise America’s past to suit their agenda in the present.

One of the most prolific practitioners of historical revisionism is President Obama. When it suits his purposes to do so, the president will simply make up history that never happened or distort what did happen until it appears to support his agenda. President Obama’s most infamous act of historical revisionism came when he claimed that not only is American not a Christian nation, it is one of the world’s largest Muslim nations. To make such an absurd statement, Barack Obama had to ignore more than 200 years of historical evidence, evidence that is readily available and clearly contradicts him.

Historical revisionists such as President Obama employ one or more of five methods for distorting America’s history to suit their purposes: 1) deconstructionism, 2) post-structuralism, 3) modernism, 4) minimalism, and 5) academic cronyism. Thinking people who respect and admire the truth no matter where it leads need to understand these five methods, recognize when they are being employed, and challenge the liberals who use them to distort the truth. The best way to challenge historical revisionists is to call the world’s attention to their use of these five wrong-headed, deceitful, and intellectually lazy methods.

Read the rest here.

This, as they say, hits the proverbial nail right on the head.

From Front Porch Politics

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer will not be bullied by the Obama administration’s new illegal immigrant policies. According to a new executive order she issued on Wednesday, she has instructed state agencies to deny benefits to illegal immigrants regardless of whether they get temporary work permits or amnesty under Barack Obama’s disregard for the law in his new immigration policy. Brewer has labeled the new policy as “backdoor amnesty.”

Wednesday was the first day that illegals were to apply for work permits under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy and thousands lined up across the country to do so. But according to Brewer’s EO, state agencies will be denying IDs and benefits to those individuals.

You have to ask yourself: Why can’t all governors be as responsible and smart as Brewer when it comes to dealing with illegal immigrants?

Jan BrewerTelling Obama to insert his backdoor amnesty where the moon don’t shine…

From Conservative Byte

Here at Hard Astarboard, we consider this one a “must watch” video!

Yes, I know, we already know that about Sean Penn, who long ago joined the ranks of celebrity traitors.

From Jeffrey Kuhner via Washington Times 24/7:

Sean Penn loves dictators, especially if they are anti-American leftists. Recently, the Hollywood star visited Venezuela to campaign for strongman Hugo Chavez. Mr. Penn joined Mr. Chavez at a major rally in the city of Valencia. The actor has been a longtime friend of the despot. With Venezuelans going to the polls on Oct. 7, Mr. Penn came to bolster Mr. Chavez’s re-election efforts. He should be ashamed; Mr. Penn’s actions border on treason.

“Thank you very much for visiting us again, dear friend,” Mr. Chavez said, while introducing Mr. Penn in front of a large crowd. “We’re all Americans, from the north, the center, the south. Long live the American continent!”

Mr. Penn, sporting expensive sunglasses and wearing a white shirt, was accompanied by Argentine producer Fernando Sulichin. The actor waved to the audience, and then embraced the Venezuelan socialist. Although he didn’t speak, Mr. Penn’s message was obvious: He backs Mr. Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution. In other words, the Hollywood star supports a brutal tyrant who is a mortal enemy of America and capitalism — the very nation and economy that have enabled Mr. Penn to attain great wealth and celebrity status. He is not just a colossal hypocrite, but obtuse.

Mr. Chavez has transformed his country into an oil dictatorship. Since 1999, he runs a military regime characterized by human rights abuses, economic nationalization and neo-imperial socialism. Political opponents are harassed. Critics have been imprisoned. He has cracked down on the independent media. He controls the judiciary and the central bank. He has expropriated private property. He has raised taxes on the rich. He has engaged in massive social spending and redistribution of wealth, using nationalized oil companies as a personal piggy bank to reward his constituents. The results have been disastrous. He has amassed massive deficits and crippling debt. Inflation is soaring. Poverty and unemployment have risen. The middle class has been eviscerated. Government corruption is rampant. Businesses and investors have fled. The rule of law has been overturned. Basic freedoms are repressed. The Catholic church is persecuted. Venezuela’s fledgling democracy has been dismantled. It has become the Cuba of South America — a failed Marxist police state.

Moreover, like communist Cuba, Chavez’s Venezuela seeks to export revolutionary socialism abroad. Mr. Chavez openly meddles in the internal affairs of his neighbors, subverting their democracies. He arms and funds Marxist guerillas in Colombia; he props up anti-American leftists in Bolivia and Nicaragua; and insists on forging an axis with Havana. Mr. Chavez may despise supposed Yankee imperialism. But he has no qualms coddling up to a resurgent Russia, Islamist Iran or an expansionist China. He has even called for Iranian nuclear technology, Chinese missiles and Russian bases to be stationed on Venezuelan soil. In short, Mr. Chavez despises America, and openly advocates the downfall of our capitalist system.

Instead of trying to produce a decent movie, Mr. Penn prefers to jet-set around the globe. He is aiding and abetting a murderous dictator who is in bed with hostile powers. To be fair, he is not the only Hollywood leftist to glamorize communist despots. Oliver Stone, Michael Moore, Robert Redford — the list goes on of wealthy Hollywood elites who have made pilgrimages to Cuba’s island prison, extolling the supposed virtues of Fidel Castro’s Marxist utopia. They are not just willfully blind to the economic misery and political enslavement caused by communist rule. They willingly choose to side against their own country. They are self-hating Americans, who prefer the false promise — and false existential meaning — of revolutionary politics. For them, ideological fanaticism trumps patriotism.

Yet, even by Hollywood standards, Mr. Penn is extreme. Several years ago, he visited Iran. He praised the mullahs of Tehran, claiming they want “peace” with Israel and “social justice” for poor Iranians. In short, he allowed himself to be used as a propaganda tool for an Islamic fascist regime that has been waging a covert war against the United States for decades. It is one thing to be a degenerate Hollywood liberal, smugly lecturing Americans on how bad their country is while endlessly snorting cocaine and bed-hopping with prostitutes. It is quite another to actively help brutal governments that oppress their own people and seek to undermine America on the world stage.

Mr. Penn is an embarrassment to his profession and his country. The sad thing is he probably doesn’t even realize that a wealthy, decadent hedonist like himself wouldn’t last long if he lived in Iran’s medieval theocracy or Mr. Chavez’s thug state. Both Islamists and socialists would confiscate his money and drugs, curtail his career in film and imprison him for any criticisms against the state. They don’t care for self-absorbed narcissists who spout anything that pops up in their drug-addled heads. Sadly, we in America do. And it’s time we show the likes of Sean Penn if they want to be traitors that is their choice. But we will no longer watch their movies. Hollywood must clean up its act or face the consequences of American patriots launching massive boycotts against actors who betray the nation.

The emphasis above is mine, and other than that I will add nothing else because a) the article speaks for itself and b) a treasonous organism like Sean Penn is simply too contemptible to waste any further words on.

I was reading a post at a favorite blog of Hard Astarboard’s that defines true feelings of ones patriotism (in this case British), something Sean Penn and his ilk know nothing about, rather succinctly.

From the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action:

Mexican Drug Cartel Used “Fast and Furious” Gun in Failed Assassination Plot

Just when you think the news about the disastrous “Fast and Furious” gun-walking operation can’t possibly get any worse, a U.S. government report has disclosed that Mexican drug cartel operatives used a firearm from the infamous scheme in a failed attempt to assassinate a high-ranking Mexican law enforcement official.

According to a recent Daily Caller article, the gun “was seized in Tijuana in connection with a drug cartel’s conspiracy to kill the police chief of Tijuana, Baja California, who later became the Juárez police chief.”

An August 6, El Paso Times article gives further details:

The firearm was found Feb. 25, 2010, during an arrest of a criminal cell associated with Teodoro “El Teo” García Simental and Raydel “El Muletas” López Uriarte, allies of the Sinaloa cartel.

Tijuana police said they arrested four suspects in March 2010 in connection with a failed attempt to take out Julián Leyzaola, and that the suspects allegedly confessed to conspiring to assassinate the police chief on orders from Tijuana cartel leaders.

The firearm in question was traced back to the “Fast and Furious” operation.

Just another biproduct of criminal scheming by the Obama Administration, a political hack in attorney general’s clothing and your friendly neighborhood BATFE.

The article is here.

Isn’t it, though?

I mean, that the sometimes unpredictable O. Snow and O. Bama were jointly involved in something as important as this, even though in Obama’s case, as always, I fear that it was motivated by election year politics (him signing off on this), though you must admit that given his track record, one can only assume that the current president doesn’t even go to the bathroom without there being some ulterior political motive.

Nonetheless, I was happy, as I know Seth, Wolf and Chuck will be, to see that this has been done.

Congress took action where the Supreme Court didn’t to curb Westbooro Baptist Church’s followers from protesting the funerals of fallen troops and veterans.

President Obama signed into law Monday the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act that includes language aimed at protecting service members funerals. The church based in Kansas is best known for staging protests at service members funerals to protest the service of homosexuals in the military.

In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled the First Amendment protected Westboro’s right to protest the funerals. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that “as a nation we have chosen … to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”

Sen. Olympia Snow, R-Maine, introduced legislation three months following the Court’s ruling that gives the government the right to further protect the funerals. The act argues that ensuring fallen troops have respectful burials is important to maintaining a strong military and protecting national security.

The new law extends bans on picketing funeral services of troops and veterans from 150 feet to 300 feet, and prohibits protests from being conducted up to two hours before and after a funeral. Previously the ban was for an hour before and after.

Violations are punishable by a fine and up to a year in jail.

“The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground, and obviously we all defend our Constitution and the First Amendment and free speech,” Obama said at the White House ceremony Monday. “But we also believe that when men and women die in the service of their country and are laid to rest, it should be done with the utmost honor and respect.”

Nice going, and as the title of this post says, It’s about time!

Had my Wolf been returned deceased to me after one of his Ops and these Westboro freaks showed up at his funeral, I would have no qualms about giving them a large dose of another kind of First Amendment…

I wasn’t planning to post a second time today, and then I ran into this idiocy.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) told a recent gathering of the Women’s Political Committee that the spirits of suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul spoke to her at the White House.

Pelosi said she heard them say: “At last we have a seat at the table”.

A video recently posted on Youtube shows Pelosi speaking in May describing her first meeting with President Bush in the White House after becoming part of the Democratic House leadership.

In the video Pelosi says, “He’s (Bush) saying something to the effect of we’re so glad to welcome you here, congratulations and I know you’ll probably have some different things to say about what is going on–which is correct. But, as he was saying this, he was fading and this other thing was happening to me.”

“My chair was getting crowded in,” said Pelosi. “I swear this happened, never happened before, it never happened since.”

“My chair was getting crowded in and I couldn’t figure out what it was, it was like this,” she said.

“And then I realized Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul, Sojourner Truth, you name it, they were all in that chair, they were,” said Pelosi. “More than I named and I could hear them say: ‘At last we have a seat at the table.’ And then they were gone.”

The video appears in the linked article, as it wouldn’t embed properly, herein, for some reason.

UNbeLIEVable! Only from the lips of a loony liberal.

Naturally, all the liberals who see this video will nod sagely, swoon and believe every word Pelosi says.

Idiots…

From Ann Coulter’s latest column, Liberals’ secret weapon: Conservatives who don’t read…

Fifty years from now, everyone will agree that Karl Rove committed treason by revealing the identity of CIA “spy” Valerie Plame, tea partiers shouted the N-word at a black congressman and Duke lacrosse players gang-raped a stripper.

Liberals tell whopping lies, and most conservatives can’t be bothered to learn history.

In the last few days, we’ve heard both George Will and Charles Krauthammer, otherwise intelligent people, repeating bogus Democratic talking points about how Joe McCarthy allegedly smeared innocents with false allegations.

These two, and many lesser lights, have invoked the standard liberal calumnies against McCarthy in order to ridicule Sen. Harry Reid for making a Birther-like accusation against Mitt Romney, saying that the “word is out” that Romney didn’t pay taxes for a decade.

This, it is claimed, is comparable to Sen. Joe McCarthy’s “famous speech” in 1950, in which he allegedly said he had a list of 205 communists at the State Department — but then he never produced that list!

No, the idea that McCarthy threw out unsubstantiated charges and switched numbers, from 57 to 205, were the wild-eyed allegations of McCarthy haters, which, on closer examination, turned out to be completely false, just like the accusations against Rove, the tea partiers and the Duke lacrosse players.

It was proved false at the time — not just decades later, when McCarthy was vindicated with a whoop when Soviet archives and cables were revealed to the world.

Well, that’s what liberals do: They rewrite history as quickly as they can, sometimes almost immediately, to suit their propaganda needs, and it’s true: Our fellow conservatives don’t read nearly enough, resulting in their actually believing much of the left’s version of “established fact”.

As Democrats always do when they are caught red-handed harming the country, they obsessed on some small, technical error of a Republican.

Spot on!

Anyway, the entire Ann Coulter column appears here.