Jan Brewer – Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicians to Secure America’s Border (Broadside Books)

This is not a typical political biography, but the story of what spurred the Arizona law known as SB 1070 – Support our Law Enforcement & Safe Neighborhood Act.

Article IV – Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution imposes on the Federal Government the duty to “protect each [State] against invasion…domestic violence.” At its best, the federal government selectively enforces our laws with regard to protecting our borders and immigration. That lack of protection and the violence and high costs that have become part and parcel of life along our southern border spurred Arizona to action.

The Arizona law has been labeled racist and worse, but that can be said of just about anyone or anything that disagrees with President Obama. What it really boils down to is a fundamental difference in the interpretation of the Constitution and private property rights. Brewer correctly believes that citizens have the Constitutional right to be safe on their property.

Brewer outlines not only the negligence of the Federal government for not enforcing our border security, but their complicity in the death (in Arizona) of border patrol agent Brian Terry. It was the Obama administration failed program known as Fast and Furious, in which the Justice Department, under the failed leadership of Attorney General Eric Holder, that allowed 2020 weapons to be purchased and funneled to Mexican drug cartels on the border. One of those weapons was used in Agent Terry’s murder.

Brewer quotes Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever’s testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee; “We cannot sit by while our citizens are terrorized, robbed, and murdered by ruthless and desperate people who enter our country illegally.

In contrast, Obama and his ilk would have you believe that every illegal – or as they dub them, undocumented – alien is a hard working family man with a wife and two small children, he is desperately trying to feed, clothe and put a roof over.

Holder highlighted his incompetence in exchange with Texas Congressman Ted Poe, where he admitted that he hadn’t actually read the 10-page law – but that hadn’t prevented him from publically and with some regularity stating his opinion that the law was unconstitutional.

Holder would later be joined by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and State Department spokes-weasel P J Crowley, two more members of the Obama administration who criticized the Arizona law that were forced to admit publically that they hadn’t bothered to read the law before registering their public denunciations of it.

This amazing account not only spells out Brewer’s courageous fight to secure and protect the people of Arizona, but serves to highlight the utter incompetence of the Obama administrations law enforcement and Homeland Security leadership.    

The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan– Michael Hastings (Blue Rider Press)

If you believe:

• That terrorism should be dealt with as a law enforcement matter…
• That you can use diplomacy and negotiate with terrorists…
• That the treatment of prisoners during interrogation at Abu Ghraib amounted to heinous acts of torture…
• That politicians and diplomats have all the answers….

Then this book is for you.

The Operators is Michael Hastings’ book length adaptation of his Rolling Stone magazine article entitled The Runaway General, which profiled General Stanley McCrystal and caused the firestorm that led to McCrystal’s sacking from his role as commander of the Afghanistan operations.

Of course to buy into the story, you would have to buy into Hastings contention that General McCrystal and his team, are the first members of the military that ever blew off a little steam and chose to disagree with their boss, in this case President Obama and his policies. Hastings seemed genuinely shocked that McCrystal and his pals would occasionally consume large quantities of adult beverages and bad mouth the boss and tell a few bad jokes.

Hastings seemed concerned about the honor of no less an intellectual heavyweight than Vice President Joe Biden from being labeled Joe “Bite Me”. Imagine the outrage…soldiers who swear, drink and drop F-bombs! Oh the humanity!

After reading The Operators I can’t help but wonder what the Pentagon leadership is thinking when they delude themselves that they can win friends and favorable coverage by allowing access to clearly liberal reporters like Hastings and equally liberal outlets like Rolling Stone. That magazine came of age during the Viet Nam war and while society has evolved, Rolling Stone has remained firmly implanted in the mindset of mistrust of the military and anything but liberal socialist government.

Hastings disdain for the military seeps through in his writing despite his desire to be a part of the action and fit in with the people he writes about. I can’t quite shake the image of Jack Nicholson’s monologue from A Few Good Men with the line about wanting him out there on that wall…Liberals love to disparage the military at the same time they enjoy and indulge in the freedoms that the military fights to preserve every day.

Hastings seems to have three guiding forces at play throughout the book; he is first and foremost a liberal. Second he is clearly a supporter of Hillary Clinton and is influenced by the Clinton doctrine – that treats terror a legal rather than military issue, that would have us go back to the do nothing approach to dealing with terror where we try diplomacy and to buy our friends. Third, he supports Obama, but only because he sees the President as a fellow traveler while clearly questioning whether President is Liberal enough.

The only real revelations to come out of The Operators was the sickening fact that the Pentagon was actually considering awarding a medal for “courageous restraint” to members of the military who put themselves in harm’s way, but rather than taking out a threat with force they held back. The clear stupidity in this thought process would have lead more often than not to this being a posthumous award. It isn’t now, nor has it ever been the charge of the military to restrain themselves; their purpose has been twisted over time by Liberal outcry.

The second revelation is that even in war torn Afghanistan the Obama administration feebly clings to the ridiculous notion of so-called “green energy” as Hastings describes the Afghan disgust over a $1.9 million solar panel array that ‘didn’t work.”

Who’s the Real Fake? Ron Paul…

One of the most laughable segments of last night’s Republican debate from Arizona was Congressman Ron Paul’s explanation for calling frontrunner Rick Santorum a “fake”.

Citing Santorum’s spending and votes in Congress as evidence that he was not nearly as conservative as he may appear. “No one accuses me of voting for too many bad bills,” Rep. Paul added, he is often criticized for refusing to vote on any bill as part of his philosophy.

There’s the rub. While Congressman Paul loves to proclaim that he’s never voted in favor of a earmark, it hasn’t stopped the so-called “Dr. No” from requesting and delivering piles of earmark cash for his Texas district. Paul lards the pork barrel earmarks onto bills then turns around and votes against the bill that he knows will pass, thereby claiming safe cover from critics.

Paul’s own website lays out his requests for $157 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2011 and $398 million in 2010. Congressman Paul’s list of earmarks reads like a page out of Community Organizer in Chief Obama’s playbook. The highlights include:

• $2.5 million from taxpayers to modify medians and sidewalks for an "Economically Disadvantaged" area.

• $38 million in multiple requests for literacy programs to "encourage parents to read aloud to their children."

• $11 million from federal taxpayers for a "Community-Based Job Training Program."

• $1.2 million for a "Low-income working families Day Care Program"

• $2 million from federal taxpayers for a "Clean Energy" pilot project


So this is what Congressman Paul passes off as “REAL” conservatism?!

Where is the Outrage?!

What’s Another $150 Billion in Debt…
The House, the Senate and President Obama have painted themselves into a corner once again, passing and signing off on yet another $150 billion in new debt in the form of an extension of the so-called payroll tax cut, before the two month Bandaid they passed late last year runs out.
Not only did they add to the already insurmountable debt but they added to the looming short fall in funding of Social Security. I continue to be amazed by the roll over and play dead Obama media that doesn’t bat an eye about this defunding of, to use the Liberal terminology, “America’s safety net”.
Instead we get bombarded by lines like allowing this cut to expire would be “a tax increase on the poor and middle class.” What happened to all of the indignant Democrat voters who wanted to string up then Senator Rick Santorum for having the nerve to suggest that taxpayers be allowed to take the exact same amount of their Social Security money, 2% and invest it as they see fit for their future retirement? They made it seem like that 2% was the difference between Grandma having a roof over her head and being out on the street.

A serious question comes to mind; when will it be acceptable to put the 2% payroll tax back in place? We simply can’t continue to under-fund the Social Security account and expect it to survive. One of the biggest contributing factors to Santorum losing the election was the scare tactics the Democrats rolled out regarding Social Security and now they are doing something even worse and completely removing the money from the system.
And for what? You’ll hear the bullshit and lies that this money will stimulate the economy and help families; how much impact did the first full year of payroll tax cuts work out for stimulating the economy? Real unemployment, not the bullshit government numbers, but the actual hard numbers that include people who have dropped out of the work force hovers around 15-17%.
Put it in perspective, this cut will put about $40-$50 per month in the average American’s pocket. That equates to a couple of pizza’s or a partially filled gas tank a month! Now let’s take the actual costs to pay for this; the upfront number is about $150 million, but paying back the money we borrowed to do this will cost us a whole heck of a lot more over time. So is it really worth it?


Speaking of the Obama Roll Over and Play Dead Media


With $4 a gallon gasoline looming ever closer and talk of $5 a gallon gas, I’m wondering where all of the Democrat and media outrage over gas prices that we heard during the George W. Bush administration has gone? It seems like all we heard about was the Bush Cheney ties to “Big Oil” and there were calls for investigations of gouging and huge profits taxation for Democrats. But now with the Community Organizer in Chief in office all we get is the sound of crickets.

The fact of the matter is that when Obama took office the price of gas was $1.79 a gallon for regular unleaded, so we have seen the price soar by more than double! The mere talk of the Keystone XL Pipeline caused the price per gallon to drop; then the Community Organizer in Chief blocks the pipeline and what has happened to the price of gas since then?

Speaking of the Obama Roll Over and Play Dead Media – Part 2

Rick Santorum supporter…supporter, not campaign spokesman, Foster Friess makes an old joke and the Obama Roll Over and Play Dead Media gets their panties in a knot and froths at the mouth to express their outrage. The fact that they want to hold Santorum responsible for what a supporter says is absolutely astounding!

The Community Organizer in Chief gets a free pass on comments and acts that are a whole lot more incendiary from his supporters like his Pastor of over 20 years, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones and his neighbor/co-worker Bill Ayers among others.

It’s absolutely laughable to see MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell getting her granny panties in a bunch during the interview with Friess and then have her co-worker Chris “Tingles” Matthews slurr his outrage and claim that Republicans hate women! This from the guy who called Michelle Bachmann a “balloon head.” I guess for Matthews the fact that Democrats like Bill Clinton who blew his load on the intern and and Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd’s exploits with waitress sandwiches prove how much Democrats love women!

Can’t wait to see what the Rev. Al Sharpton, a guy who gives Ed Shultz and Rachel Maddow a run for their money for the title of “Dumbest Man on TV” has to say about all this!

Odds and Sods

• Now that Obama’s trampling of religious freedom has blown up squarely in his face, he is trying to sidestep the issue by changing his mind and putting a big government program in its place to dole out contraceptives. So much for the one year waiting period to role this out…this will be in place by August of this year, well in advance of the election so it can become another entrenched program. Quick! Name one temporary government program or tax? Can’t do it! Once this gets done, it will be mean spirited Republicans who don’t care about women’s rights if they try to role this up when Obama gets sent packing. The time to stop this is NOW! Think about it…what gives the Community Organizer in Chief the right to enact this? This guy is acting more dictatorial everyday; just imagine if he gets a second term?

• For years Liberals have accused Conservatives of wanting to be in everyone’s bedrooms; frankly speaking for myself and most conservatives, I don’t give a hoot what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home, not sure the same can be said about Liberals. You can’t seem to be able to keep Libs out of your kitchen with Mrs. Community Organizer wanting to tell everyone what they can and can’t eat and what schools kids can eat and now she’s even sticking her nose into the military’s chow lines trying to force feed veggies to the troops. Sorry but I trust these grown men and women to make their own choices when it comes to the food they eat! Don’t think they need Nanny Michelle to hold their hand.

• I love how Liberal environmental types get so worked up about mercury in the water system, yet they want to force you to have mercury in your home, with their poison pigtail light bulbs! You need to get guys in Tyvek suits with special respirators to clean up if you break one of these stupid things! So really, what’s more dangerous?

• Liberals claim to be pro-choice unless your choice involves not paying for contraceptives, which fly in the face of your belief system, then choice goes out the window. Why won’t they just admit that what they really are; Pro Abortion! They are pro-government dependency! The whole argument over the Catholic Church being forced to pay for contraception speaks volumes about the mindset of liberals. They are so used to pimping for dependency that they think that people aren’t free to choose where they work. If you work for an institution that has a health insurance plan that doesn’t cover contraceptives and you want that coverage, here’s a news flash; you can go get a job working for a company that covers that under their plan! Freedom of choice- what a concept!

Dahlkemper Parades Her Stupidity

Former Erie Congresswomen Kathy Dahlkemper just can’t seem to contain herself, insisting on parading her stupidity.
The Weekly Standard, picked up on a press release fired off by the oxymoronically named Democrats for Life of America, denouncing the Obama administration’s decision to force religious institutions like Catholic schools and other institutions to pick up the tab for employee contraceptives under the Obamacare health care reform plan, which has Dahlkemper claiming that she would not have voted for the bill had she known this would be the outcome.

"I would have never voted for the final version of the bill if I expected the Obama Administration to force Catholic hospitals and Catholic Colleges and Universities to pay for contraception,” said Dahlkemper. "We worked hard to prevent abortion funding in health care and to include clear conscience protections for those with moral objections to abortion and contraceptive devices that cause abortion. I trust that the President will honor the commitment he made to those of us who supported final passage."

The story has been picked up by the Drudge Report and the Blaze, leading to reader comments calling Dahlkemper stupid, lazy, incompetent, naïve and worse.
I find it odd that it wasn’t that long ago that Ms. Dahlkemper proclaimed publicly how proud she was of her vote for the Obamacare bill because she helped to author the part of the virtually unread bill that extended parental healthcare coverage to offspring to 26 years old. Now she suddenly came to the realization that she had been played like a cheap fiddle by Obama and his minion Nancy Pelosi just to get her vote.

Maybe it’s time for Ms. Dahlkemper to come to grips with the fact that voters sent her packing largely based on her Obamacare vote and to borrow a line from heavy metal poets Motley Crue, “don’t go away mad, just go away.”

Dylan Ratigan – Greedy Bastards (Simon & Shuster)

I have always found the portrayal of Conservatives as “angry white guys” entertaining and misguided. Grab your Advil, tune in MSNBC, which is guaranteed to induce a headache, and soak up to nearly non-stop anger and bitterness of the cavalcade of Liberal hosts.
That is the point you have to start from when you read Greedy Bastards by Dylan Ratigan, host of MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show, described by the press materials accompanying the book as “one of the highest-rated, daytime shows on the network.” Talk about damning with faint praise…given the cable news channel’s less than stellar audience numbers.

In Greedy Bastards, Ratigan attempts to details his perspective on our “broken system.” He runs down what ails a wide variety of problems ranging from banking to the stock market and healthcare to big oil/energy. Taking off on his crusade to remove money from politics, Ratigan attempts to draw correlations between the root cause of the problem and the flow of cash to politicians.

I don’t disagree! But I do find it interesting that Ratigan spent much of his early career as a financial journalist covering Wall Street yet he didn’t do a whole lot to raise red flags about the ridiculous Ponzi schemes and outright fraudulent financial instruments that the folks he was charged with covering were creating that became part and parcel of the financial meltdown tsunami that mowed down the housing, banking, finance and insurance industries in it’s wake. These guys created a financial house of cards that got a total pass from the regulators and politicians that wrap themselves in the cloak of looking out for the little guy and Ratigan stood idly by and said nothing until now.

Full disclosure; my day job is in the healthcare industry, so I read that section of the book with great interest. Ratigan lays out a classic example of his friend “Larry” who was clearly suffering a repetitive stress hand injury and was offered medical advice to address the issue with physical therapy which would have offered some relief. “Larry” decided not to follow through on the exercises that were recommended…let me stress that point; “Larry” decided not to follow through on the exercises that were recommended, and later needed to have surgery to solve the problem. It seems more than a bit ridiculous to indict the entire industry based on a patient choice.

Surprisingly, Ratigan does offer up a market based solution to the problem of the high cost of healthcare, rather than turning to the government to fix the problem. He advocates for a solution that I have pushed for many years; allowing market forces of health savings accounts and patient choices to drive down the cost of healthcare through competition and increasing quality.
The roadblock to most solutions tends to be the government and a HUGE increase in regulation. Ratigan bemoans some regulation, while pushing for new regulations, never accounting to the very real costs of those regulations and the fact that regulatory costs get passed through the so-called “greedy bastards” and get paid by the end-users.
The cartoonish cover may not have been the best choice, because it sets the tone for Ratigan’s BAM, BIFF, POW, approach; skimming the surface of very real issues, yet not really offering much in the way of in-depth solutions to the problems. Instead he chooses to nibble around the edges of solutions or offering up tried and failed solutions; like the electric car to solve the so-called energy crisis.
The real solution is not getting money out of politics, which is a limitation on free speech. The real solution is an energized, alert and informed electorate that pays attention and calls their elected officials when the put self-interest over public interest and an electorate that understands that the government is not the source of solving problems, but the source of creating problems.