Obama's proposed addition to the Christian Beatitudes

Blessed are the wealthy and middle class, for they have the most to take from.

UN Sec Gen has a problem with freedom of expression

Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General has some thoughts on freedom of expression, and they aren't very friendly to those whose speech offends others:

[...] Freedom of expression should be and must be guaranteed and protected, when they are used for common justice, common purpose. When some people use this freedom of expression to provoke or humiliate some others’ values and beliefs, then this cannot be protected in such a way.[...]

Now to follow the SG down the rabbit hole: How would the SG treat Islam and Judaism, both of which deny the divinity of Jesus, and therefore offend a couple of billion Christians, seems clear in light of his sentiments.  Same for Jews and Muslims being offended by the Christian claim that Jesus was the messiah.  This is doubtless offensive to them.  Simply celebrating Christmas must provoke and offend a great many others' values and beliefs.

Rather than seek to limit our freedom of expression, the thing to do is strengthen our freedom to provoke and humiliate others.  If we deny protection, we've agreed to a system that favors the least tolerant among us and encourages ever more violent and destructive protests. Better by far to tell these folks to grow up and not worry about how others view their religious beliefs.

This will be Obama's political epitaph

The Roman historian Tacitus wrote this of the Emperor Galba (3 BC - 69 ) and it struck me that it describes Obama very well:

He seemed too great to be a subject so long as he was subject, and all would have agreed that he was equal to the imperial office if he had never held it.

Many Americans would doubtless agree that the Hope and Change Obama of 2007-08 as built up by his supporters and the press bears little resemblance to the man bumbling through his first three years.

Candidate Obama held out such hope for, well, everything that some let down was inevitable. But the change from what he promised (post-racial, competence, economic recovery, etc.) to the small ball playing, constant campaigner is startling. Turning to the politics of class envy and seeking to pit one group of Americans against another as a way of holding power is a sign of both desperation and a glimpse of his true character.

In the end he should have stuck to voting present, giving inspiring speeches and eating the occasional stray.

Little Brett Kimberlin needs more exposure

For some time now, a felon by the name of Brett Kimberlin has been targeting bloggers who refer to his criminal past when posting about him.  Kimberlin has convictions for drug dealing, perjury, and being the "Speedway bomber".  This last was a nasty bit of work that seriously injured a bystander.

Since his release from prison, he became a minor celebrity among left leaning bloggers.  Also -- and this may at least partly be why he seeks to persecute bloggers who refer to his felonies -- he appears to be involved with two charities that together have brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There are numerous posts on the internet about this unpleasant fellow, and he may feel that the bloggers' actions are threatening to cut into donations and the grants he has gotten from sources such as a Soros foundation, Babs Streisand, and John Kerry's frau.  Or he may be unstable.  Whatever the reason, he has gone out of his way to harm those who truthfully report on his past actions.

Many bloggers have agreed to post on this cretin today in an effort to show solidarity with those bloggers Kimberlin and his associates have targeted.  Although I often don't agree with the politics of Kimberlin's victims, I really hate folks that attempt to bully and intimidate others into silence.  So this is my part of the push back.

Brett Kimberlin is an odious man.  He is a little man.  I hope the publicity he receives today (and over the past few months) leads to media investigations of the charities he is involved with as well as his finances in general.  He owes millions of dollars in damages to a woman whose husband was injured during his bombing spree.  If the aggressive persecution of bloggers reporting on his past leads to increased scrutiny of his finances, and causes him to pay what he owes, I will applaud this new example of unexpected consequences.

Here are some links to get you started

Washington Examiner has a story

Blogger Patterico describes his tangle with Kimberlin and his supporters.  It has gone on for about a year,  Patterico also provides a great deal of background info

Lee Stranahan has organized the get-out-the-story day, and provides an introductory video

Perhaps the most harrowing tale is that of blogger Aaron Walker

See if you can tell the difference between the EPA's methods to ensure compliance and those of the USSR

An EPA apparatchik administrator discussed his methodology for ensuring compliance from those he oversees.  It involves attacking a few subjects to get the rest to stay in line.  Let's let him describe his methods:

“It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them.

“Then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”

Now compare that to this bit of advice from Soviet administrator apparatchik Politburo member Molotov during Stalin's de-kulakization program (necessary for forced collectivization of the peasantry):  The kulaks must be dealt "such a blow" that "the middle peasant will snap to attention before us."

This is not to claim that Obama is Stalin nor that Obama practices Stalinist techniques (his own administrator insists the technique is Roman).  But it is interesting that the Obama administration views those to be controlled as little more than recalcitrant serfs who respond best to threats and administrative violence.  Why else gloat about making examples of some in order that the rest "snap to attention before us."

Obama's family tree grows

Aside from Obama's own seemingly wonderful nuclear family -- he's clearly a caring dad who makes a great effort to raise his children properly, the more distant branches of the Obama tree are not really what most of us picture when we think of presidential relatives.

Sure straight arrow Jimmy Carter had brother Billy, but for the most part relatives of presidents were at least presentable in polite company.

President Obama however has had pretty bad luck whenever his relatives make the news.

His aunt was here illegally, and his uncle just pleaded to a DUI.

Not content with his own disreputable relations, Obama now goes out and claims Trayvon Martin as own of his own.  Perhaps he shouldn't have waded into that political swamp without first checking on the water's depth.  He's claiming that a foul mouthed, (probably) pot smoking young man as being representative of what his own son would look like.  Young Trayvon was proud of his golden grill, may have attacked a bus driver and been a thief, was in trouble at school, sported tattoos, and certainly held low opinions of women.  He was what used to be called a juvenile delinquent.

We can't choose our extended families, but we can choose those who we call family.  Obama has chosen poorly.

Now for the self denunciation:  This post is limited to mocking President Obama for engaging in politics -- his base needed to be reassured that Obama was with them on this -- while events were still unfolding.  He made a similar mistake when Prof. Gates was arrested, accusing the arresting officer of "acting stupidly".  What happened to young Trayvon was a tragedy.  If Zimmerman followed him with the intention of provoking a confrontation, Zimmerman needs to be brought to justice -- either criminal or civil.  Trayvon seems to have been killed largely due to his being black; he deserved a chance at a full life.

Obama and the Dems see Kulaks...

... and want to destroy them as a class (or at least humble their pride before God and the unions) and dispossess them of more of their unfairly gotten wealth -- all in the name of fairness.

Just like Lenin and Stalin before him, Obama has a ready made group to demonize for all his failures.  For him the kulaks ("fist" in Russian) are an elastic class that encompasses Wall Street tycoons, opposition politicians, hardworking folks making above 200,000 dollars, and generally any who oppose his policies.

America's credit rating is downgraded, and his profligate spending can't be responsible.  No! it must be the new kulak class at fault.  The housing bubble pops and it can't be due to the government's pressure on banks to loosen loan rules and the government's buying of bad loans that encouraged foolish practices.  It must rather be the Wall Street kulaks who in their greed forced the proletariat to take out loans they knew they would be unable to pay.

The economy fails to improve that way the five four year plan promised (recall that unemployment was never supposed to rise much above  8%), Obama shouts "kulak!", and the Cheka (in this case ably played by the national press) dutifully locates kulak conspirators and wreckers.

Obama is increasingly open to flying his anti-kulak flag. Witness his earlier unguarded moments when he expressed regret that the SCOTUS had yet to take up "redistributive change", his desire to use the tax code to "spread the wealth", and his admonishment to many that at some point folks had made "enough" money -- presumably on the back of the proletariat.  Those feelings slipped out and at the time he did some backtracking and was at pains to reassure that he had nothing against the wealthy.  Compare that to  his more recent attacks on millionaires, billionaires, corporate-jet owners, and a slew of others.

It may be that the improving economy means that he doesn't have to whip his base and the modern Cheka into a frenzy to get reelected.  So we may not see him in full throated denunciation of society's kulak class during the campaign season -- although Bain Capital will certainly come in for some kulak-style class hatred.  Given that the reelection theme so far is justice and equality, the kulak bashing has already made itself known.  But he will doubtless return to the theme more fully once January 2013 rolls around and he can finally put his feelings into legislation without fear of being turned out of office.

Andrew Sullivan brings his usual facility for illogic while complaining of illogic in others

Andrew Sullivan in his Newsweek cover story puzzles over the "internal incoherence" of Republicans claiming that Obama is both incompetent and a threat to the nation.

He somehow can't conceive that an incompetant person in a position of great authority and power can be a threat.  According to him, the incompetence would prevent the person from doing harm.

Certainly such a thing is possible.  We went through it with Carter and many on the left would say we went through it more recently with Bush.

It's therefore hardly surprising that Sullivan is puzzled: such a possibility is beyond his ability to grasp.  Which may also explain his continued writing for a Newsweek under Tina Brown's incompetent but authoritative hand.

Another area where Andrew "whose baby is Trig" Sullivan might want to tread lightly is complaining about others' connections to reality, as he does just a line later in his piece.