Me, I’m waiting for the Outrage Of The Left to kick in

Records from a cell phone used by President-elect Obama were improperly breached, apparently by employees of the cell phone company, his transition team said Thursday.

Breached may be a little bit over-the-top. It’s really not all that hard to look up a customers information. Certainly, they were accessed improperly.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the team was notified Wednesday by Verizon Wireless that it appears an employee improperly went through billing records for the phone, which Gibbs said Obama no longer uses.

Hmm, Verizon is sure to be the next wireless company on the Left-side hit list. Of course, they are already not particularly welcome, along with AT&T, because of the whole “domestic wiretapping” thang. Anyhow, the Left acts like seagulls, fly around, make a lot of noise, crap all over everything, but, then they quietly ignore their petitions and such and go get a new phone. Kinda like the way they deal with anthropogenic global warming, eh?

Anyhow, if that Verizon employee is treated like the employees at my company, he or she will be joining the unemployed. All he/she was doing was looking at records, can’t access email or voicemail, but, there are massive federal rules about this, not to mention company rules.

Will the left-o-scolds react? They sure didn’t care much about Palin’s email being hacked or Joe The Plumber having his records looked at improperly and probably illegally by people who work for the state of Ohio, among others.

‘Memba this?

This was the commercial that Barry ran non-stop in many of the battleground states, of which mine was one. And, of course, those in the Obamanuts-O-Sphere called McCain McSame, and referred to a McCain win as Bush’s 3rd term. Sure seems like we are getting Clinton’s 3rd term now, eh?

Of the 47 appointees named so far to transition or staff posts, 31 have ties to the Clinton administration, including all but one member of the 12-person Transition Advisory Board.

And we are now looking at potentially Tom Daschle for Sec. of Health and Human Services (good thing his wife Linda isn’t a registered lobbyistfor the health care industry or anything), and let’s not forget the talk of Hillary for Sec. of State, and even Billy Jeff for Ambassador to the U.N. The Wall Street Journal has a thinly veiled editorial-on-the-politics-pages defending all this, but, the Change We Deserve sure seems to be Clinton’s 3rd term, and Just More Of The Same, eh?

In a long, long, godawful long post at Alternet, Jeremy Scahilltells us that this is pretty much Slick’s 3rd term. He forgets about all the other fun. Of course, with the maybe conspiracy theories about an Obama affair, his birth certificate, and his Selective Service registration out there, maybe there will be more Clintonista type fun. And let’s not forget Tony Rezko and his singing to the prosecutors. I wonder who Barry will bomb when he gets caught doing something unseemly?

Funniest quote

“What this conversation is about is laughable if you ask people in America what they care about. They care about the economy, jobs, education, health care. They don’t care about whether somebody who fills a particular box is from a prior administration,” he said

Um, when the candidate has run on a platform based almost solely on Change and Hope, changing Washington, moving forward, well, yeah, people might care. They might start wondering why they didn’t just vote for Hillary.

FoodHot Chocolate (well, we are having way below average temps this week) for thought: Christine Todd Whitman and Robert M. Bostock - Free the GOP: The Party Won’t Win Back the Middle as Long As It’s Hostage to Social Fundamentalists (Via Little Green Footballs)

Four years ago … our central thesis was simple: The Republican Party had been taken hostage by “social fundamentalists,” the people who base their votes on such social issues as abortion, gay rights and stem cell research. Unless the GOP freed itself from their grip, we argued, it would so alienate itself from the broad center of the American electorate that it would become increasingly marginalized and find itself out of power.

At the time, this idea was roundly attacked by many who were convinced that holding on to the “base” at all costs was the way to go. A former speechwriter for President Bush, Matthew Scully, who went on to work for the McCain campaign this year, called the book “airy blather” and said its argument fell somewhere between “insufferable snobbery” and “complete cluelessness.” Gary Bauer suggested that the book sounded as if it came from a “Michael Moore radical.” National Review said its warnings were, “at best, counterintuitive,” and Ann Coulter said the book was “based on conventional wisdom that is now known to be false.” …

In seven of the nine states that switched this year from Republican to Democratic, Obama’s vote total exceeded the total won by President Bush four years ago. So even if McCain had equaled the president’s numbers from 2004 (and he did not), he still would have lost in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia (81 total electoral votes) — and lost the election. McCain didn’t lose those states because he failed to hold the base. He lost them because Obama broadened his base.

This is where I usually get into one of those long posts where I barely know when to stop (and get myself flayed), so I’ll try and be brief.

This is something that I have mentioned a few times over at Pirate’s Cove, as well as here at McCain Blogs and at Stop The ACLU. The two authors of the column call it social fundamentalists, which, quite frankly, is a bit insulting, even though I am not one. Me, I call it the moralists. In my political opinion, most moral issues do not belong as part of the core agenda of the GOP, particularly at the national level. These issue mostly should belong to individuals and to private groups. There is nothing wrong with having high morals, but the GOP as a party seems to be pushing these issues over the ones that were established per the Constitution: keeping the country running.

I guess, for me, it goes back to the fact that the Conservative movement is based on Classical Liberalism. There are 3 cores to the Democratic political model: the economic, the moral, and the political. In Classic Liberalism, the model states that government stays out of those cores as much as possible. The government that governs least governs best, but gets involved when necessary. Social Democracy is when government gets massively involved in economic issues. Classic Conservatism is when government gets involved highly in the moral core, and somewhat in the political core.

Personally, I rarely get involved in the main social focuses of the day. For instance, gay marriage. Personally, it is not a hot button issue for me. If I had to vote, I would probably vote against gay marriage. Marriage is between a man and a woman. But, but, I see no reason to stop homosexuals from having civil ceremonies and being considered domestic partners. If 2 people love each other, who the hell am I to stop them? This is America. Freedom. And Prop 8 is the perfect example of how it should work. Private citizens and groups doing it, rather then the national GOP pushing it in Congress.

Now, let’s look at stem cell research. The big issue is embryonic stem cell research. Certainly, the backing of this research by Liberals is because of its implications to abortion on demand, another big moral issue, obviously. This is an issue that is a hot button one for me. I think it is despicable that the Left pushes ESC research simply for abortion issues, and, the GOP has opposed the research, mostly on moral lines. Should the GOP push legislation and block federal funding for ESC research on moral lines? Yes, to some degree. But, it is a loser method. Like with abortion, the Left has won the morality of the issue by using non-offensive language, such as “the march of progress” and “blocking potential cures.” They did this with abortion with terms we all know, such as “choice,” “reproductive rights,” and “a woman’s right to choose.” Funny how under Obama’s health plans, you will be forced to get a health care checkup, loosing your “choice,” but, I digress.

We should not forget the morality of the ESC issue, but, the political party should fight it on mostly non-moral grounds. For instance, ESC research has provided no cures, no medicines, and no treatments without massive issues, usually known as “teratomas.” Monster tumors. Adult stem cell research, and now placental stem cell research, have been providing cures, medicines, and treatments. I just posted one earlier. Which is why private industry is spending lots of money on them. If ESC was so great, they wouldn’t be whining to the feds for money. The GOP should block the use of federal money for the ESC research because it is a waste of money.

Abortion is, of course, the big issue. And one I personally rarely get involved in. I hate to say it, but, it is not one of my hot button issues, except in terms of late term abortions, which are, per the doctors that perform them, performed mostly because the mother decided very late that she doesn’t want the baby, and not for medical reasons, and the issue of parental notification. I could go on and on on these issues, but, for brevity, I won’t. Just consider, though: if a minor gets busted for, well, pretty much anything, the parents must be notified! But, here we have a massive life changing medical procedure, and in many states parents do not have to be notified. Just. Plain. Wrong. The GOP could certainly fight on legal grounds on these two issues, rather then moral grounds.

Abortion on demand has been turned into a privacy issue by those who support it. And, it is the Democrats number one all-encompassing issue, make no doubt about that. So, how does the GOP fight that? They mostly don’t, not as a Party. Again, let the individuals and private groups do it. They managed to get abortion on to several State ballots, and, if we stay true to our conservative roots, that is where it belongs. 9th and 10th Amendments. Limited government, particularly at the federal level. Certainly, the national party should fight if Democrats try to expand abortion on demand.

Certainly, many people will disagree with me. Hey, it’s America, that’s your right. My opinion is that the national Party, and even the State Party’s, should ease off the moral issues that have become so prominent, and focus more on our core ideals: limited government, continued low taxes, national security, individual rights and individualism, and a government that empowers and enables, not one that does it for you.

To wrap up (got a bit long winded), I should say I am no big fan of Whitman. Didn’t care for her when I was living in NJ, and still don’t. But, to me, she is making some sense. We shouldn’t expand our base by being a be all say all Party which stands for virtually everything, at least in rhetoric, like the Democrats. We should expand our voting base by being a Party of ideas, and holding our elected officials to those ideals.

This is what we have to look forward to for the next 4 years from the mainstream left, starting with Crooks and Liars, the perfect name for a Progressive blog

As we predicted before the election, Barack Obama’s victory has loosed a flood of hatefulness from the racist right in America. Digby yesterday had a detailed post laying out some of the cases that have erupted so far.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

In rural Georgia, a group of high-schoolers gets a visit from the Secret Service after posting “inappropriate” comments about President-elect Barack Obama on the Web. In Raleigh, N.C., four college students admit to spraying race-tinged graffiti in a pedestrian tunnel after the election. On Nov. 6, a cross burns on the lawn of a biracial couple in Apolacon Township, Pa.

The election of America’s first black president has triggered more than 200 hate-related incidents, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center – a record in modern presidential elections. Moreover, the white nationalist movement, bemoaning an election that confirmed voters’ comfort with a multiracial demography, expects Mr. Obama’s election to be a potent recruiting tool – one that watchdog groups warn could give new impetus to a mostly defanged fringe element.

Yes, there is not doubt that there are jerks out there on both sides. People who go too far in expressing their so called First Amendment Rights. People who just do not take in to consideration what the phrase “being an adult” means.

According to that AP piece, neo-Nazi Web entities like Stormfront have seen a serious spike in business.

C&L then mentions the little t-shirt experiment that Chicago teen Catherine Vogt engaged in, seeing what would happen if she wore a “McCain Girl” t-shirt to school one day, then a “Obama Girl” one the next. But, according to C&L, what has been happening on “the right” is much, much worse. Of course.

There is a massive difference, though: most of these people expressing the hatred are massively far right, are massively fringe players, and are people that we do not want. We want nothing to do with people from sites like Stormfront, and, remember, Ron Paul was flayed for taking money from neo-Nazi’s like Leo Metzger and for an ad on Stormfront. We do not tolerate these folks, and want them to all piss off.

On the other side of the aisle, we have had massive hate on a continuous basis since Bush was elected. Michelle Malkin wrote a book about it. She has a whole category specifically about the Left’s fantasies about assassinating President Bush. The Huff Post has taken to closing posts that are about some bad thing, some hospital visit, some medical problem, etc, that happens to people on the right, for fear that bloggers on the Right will pick up on the massive hate and wishes for death. I have tons of hate posts and comments from those on the Left in several categories, as does Right Wing News, Moonbattery, and others.

We had years of those on the Left thrilling at the proposition of posting higher and higher body counts from Iraq. The blogging leader on the Left, Markos Moulitos, had his famous “screw ‘em” post. And let’s not forget some of the comments by Democrat electa-critters, who compared G’itmo to a Soviet gulag, Abu Ghraid under the Coalition forces to Saddam’s thugs, and called our troops dumb, as well as cold blooded killers. The big difference here is that these are mostly the mainstream Left. Not fringe players. And those on the left rarely say “dude (or dudette), you are going way too far.” The typical behavior is to either ignore the issue, or cheer them on.

So, when it is the mainstream Right engaging in this type of behavior, then I’ll be concerned. Barking Moonbats on the left should clean their own house before casting aspersions. When commenters at Michele Malkin, Hot Air, Powerline forums, Ace of Spades, Free Republic, etc, start laughing at bad things that happen to Barry and his folks, then I’ll be worried. When Boortz, Hannity, or Rush start having assissination skits like the ones by Randy Rhodes (not that a comparison between the greats and a barely listened to hack are fair), then I’ll be concerned. Till then, keep your hysterical rhetorical BS to yourselves, Moonies!

Everyone is asking “WWBD?” as of late. What Will Barry Do? is obviously of importance, considering all the hopiness and changiness that Barry promised to the weak minded dupes who never thought to inquire why they were serving on something called a “Death Star.” Patterico solicited ideas on this the other day, and there were some pretty good answers.

Some policy decisions are pretty simple

• He will appoint massively far left Progressive judges whose ideas on abortion on demand match his
• He will reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine through the FCC, thereby avoiding a rather simplistic lawsuit based on the 1st Amendment (Congress shall pass no law). I have read that some recommend using the 9th and 10th if this occurs
• He will increase the redeployment of troops from Iraq ahead of what is safe
• He’ll send a token force of maybe a couple thousand troops to Afghanistan
• He won’t get involved in Iran, because the EU nations who have been negotiating will tell him to piss off
• He’ll get his basketball court installed

Other then that, I do not expect him to actually get much of his legislation passed. I doubt much of it will even make it to committee. The Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid led Congress has their own agenda, and if happens to coincide with President Obama’s, so be it. But, do not expect much legislation to get actually passed. This is a legislative body which couldn’t even pass a resolutionexpressing sympathy for the residents of Greensburg, Ks, after the massive tornado, nor one expressing support of the goals and ideals of Mother’s Day, without first sending simplistic legislation like that to committee. It took them months to pass the Greensburg resolution. The Mother’s Day one never did. So, what do they do in 2009?

• A total repeal of the 2001/2003 tax cuts. The bill that does this will expand the number of people in the lower classes who do not pay any income tax. Barry is forced to sign. This will happen by mid February
• Repeal of tax breaks on energy companies, particularly oil companies. By mid February.
• Backdoor legislation increasing corporate taxes
• more bailouts as Democrat policies damage the economy even more
• Passing the card check legislation for unions
• Re-instituting the ban on offshore drilling. Mid February
• They’ll get around to nationalized health care and/or insurance by summer, but, will not do anything till near the winter holidays, when people aren’t watching
• massively reducing appropriations for Iraq, Afghanistan, intelligence agencies, and measures for the international portion of the war on terrorism. By June
• Passing legislation allowing the telecoms to be sued over the “domestic wiretapping”
• Papercut legislation on handguns will start, then they will wait for a major incident to occur before passing sweeping legislation that restricts all guns
• Climate change legislation
• They’ll throw a sop to Obama in the form of passing his Global Poverty Act, but, will fail to fund it, and perhaps pass his $500/$1,000 tax rebate-welfare check idea
• Investigation after investigation into the Bush admin
• Legislation closing G’itmo and ending the military trials

As far as it goes, I believe the Congress will have about as cozy a relationship with Obama as they did with Bush. They will do what they want to do, not what Obama wants them to do. He may want to appear centrist during his first year, but, what he will look like will be a dupe of Congress. They will be passing legislation that he really wants, but didn’t want to go for so quick.

What do you think will happen?

This is serious stuff folks

Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.

Those are seven words President-elect Barack Obama is dreading but expecting to hear, friends and advisers say, when he takes office in 65 days.

But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

So, when you see Obama having twitches and a strange repeating pattern of reaching for some invisible thing on his belt, now you will know why.

And Crackberry addiction is real. It can make you nuts not having it. Someone made the mistake of hooking theirs up to the PC at work Wed. night, after I had already blown town, and changed the pin by mistake, meaning I got no corporate email since. Personal, yes, but, even on PTO, I like to keep abreast, and wack non-necessary email. Just got home and hooked it up, checked corporate. Shaking has stopped.

Oh, and have fun, Barry!

While the stock market continues to go down post election, gun sales continue fabulously. But, how fabulously?

Between Nov. 3 and Nov. 9, the Federal Bureau of Investigation received 374,000 requests for background checks on gun buyers - 49 per cent more than the same time last year, CNN reported.

That’s a lot of checks! One of them mine.

“The spike in gun sales … is a serious overreaction to Obama’s election,” said Harvard law professor Mark Tushnet in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail.

Prof. Tushnet, who has written a book about the U.S. gun debate, said that while Mr. Obama may support moderate gun control, he won’t - and couldn’t - enact swift changes.

“Whatever [Mr. Obama's] ‘deep’ views on gun control, the issue is going to be very low priority for his administration and for Democrats in Congress,” Prof. Tushnet said. “And such legislation would, of course, be extremely controversial. I don’t see any significant political force among Democrats to spend the political capital needed to enact more than the most minor tinkering with existing gun regulations.”

It won’t be sweeping legislation. It will be death by 1,000 papercuts. Tiny legislation that no one really notices. And regardless of what Obama said on the campaign trail, Obama has always been against guns.

Apparently, Barry is looking to hire Glinda The Good

Want a top job in the Obama administration? Only pack rats need apply, preferably those not packing controversy.

A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive — some say invasive — application ever.

The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps.

Only the smallest details are excluded; traffic tickets carrying fines of less than $50 need not be reported, the application says. Applicants are asked whether they or anyone in their family owns a gun. They must include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook pages.

Some of the questions include

• Have you ever hung with an unreformed domestic terrorist?
• Have you ever earmarked $1 million for the hospital your wife works at, then seen her get a massive raise?
• Have you ever had your peeps sue to silence your critics?
• Have you ever worked against the security and/or foreign policy interests of the United States?

Interestingly, much of the real substance in the questionnaire are focused on the question “will you be an embarrassment to Obama?” Two of the names thrown around for the Barry administration are John Kerry and Jamie Gorelick. Let’s see: John Kerry came back from Vietnam and not only consistently smeared his fellow soldiers, but went to Paris on at least one occasion to speak with the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. Jamie Gorelick was the one who put in The Wall between law enforcement and intelligence, which certainly helped lead to not being able to stop 9/11.

Of course, to Liberals, those are embarrasments, but a sourse of pride. Especially since the first question asks for all resumes for the past 10 years, to avoid resume falsehoods. I wonder if he asked Joe Biden for one.

It’s those uber-fashionable Islamic insurgents!

Islamic insurgents seized a strategic port city in Somalia on Wednesday, raising fears that they were gearing up for an assault on the capital, about 50 miles away.

The fighters, wearing red head scarves and chanting “God is great,” marched into Marka without firing a shot. Government troops had fled the night before upon hearing that an attack was imminent, residents said.

I hear that they also had very chic green smocks and some of those cool shoes that Don Johnson always wore in Miami Vice.

The seizure of Marka comes amid peace talks between the government and one opposition faction. But the most dangerous insurgent group, Shabab, which has acknowledged ties with Al Qaeda, has rejected the negotiations and vowed to overthrow the government.

The same group took responsibility for Wednesday’s seizure. Several local government officials have been assassinated in the city in the last month, including the acting governor and a deputy police commissioner.

“Our martyrs are in full control of the town,” Mohammed Awil, a Shabab commander, said by telephone from Marka. “We will govern all of Somalia through Islamic law, reaching our goal step by step.”

So, they weren’t just Islamic insurgents (props to the LA Times for even going that far in the title and the story), but Al Qaeda. Good to know. And a great fashion sense.

As Rusty Shackleford writes

These would be the same people who publicly stoned a 13 year old girl to death last month. Since the “real enemy” is in Afghanistan, I wonder if the new Obama administration will turn a blind eye to what is happening in the Horn of Africa?

WWBD?

Interesting advice

THE threat of recession could disappear if we all put a smile on our face, the Government’s top money man said today.

After two months of persistent bad economic news, Treasury secretary Ken Henry said the worst could be avoided if Australians simply cheered up.

“Fundamentally what is driving weaker economic outcomes globally at the moment is fractured confidence,” Dr Henry said.

“We can talk ourselves into worse outcomes; of course we can. People do; it wouldn’t be the first time. But we don’t have to,” he said during a speech at the National Press Club.

On one hand, he is correct. It is a loss in confidence. And, consider that the Democrats, who have railed about a “bad economy” since Bush took office, saw their whining become reality. Being positive will certainly help.

On the other hand…well, there is no other hand. It may sound silly coming from the Aussie’s top money man, but, if leaders push doom and gloom, you get doom and gloom. If they push positives, yeah, may not always work, but, it sure doesn’t hurt.

Anyhow, can a nice smile be worse then the Crap Sandwich 2.0 that Congress has fed us? It sure doesn’t have the capability for abuse that all that money has, eh? Dr. Henry also stated that Australia’s tax system was too complicated, and should be simplified.