Show the ID

This speaks for itself.

I think is also applies to someone who should show his original ID.

Examining Obamacare

Does anybody remember the primary justification for pushing the health care reform bill through so fast? It was that costs are too high and growing too fast, and we need reform to bring costs and cost growth down. The problem is that the Congressional Budget Office says the current bills will raise, not lower, health care costs — and that's before they get busy porking the bills up to buy enough votes for passage.

Kill this now, before it does us in!

Giving Ahmadinejad His Due

A protestor stands her ground.

Yes, I'm sure either (a) this image is from PhotoShop or (b) this woman has been raped and murdered by now — probably (a). But it's still a great image.

Honduras' Views

A protestor carries an absolutely classic sign.

The text of the poster reads

Honduras is an example for the world.
We have no oil or money,
but we have our manhood.

I wish President Obama had enough manhood to let the people of Honduras keep and follow their constitution, instead of insisting they reinstate a dictatorial Hugo Chavez wannabe.

Merely a Political Ideology

This is evidence, if not quite (here) up to proof, that Islam — or at least Islamism — is a political ideology masquerading as a religion. Masquerading. It's not actually a religion, it's merely a political ideology.

How can I be sure? Easy: No religion can support an atheist ideology. No religious teacher, believing in any sort of supreme being, can preach a godless and anti-god philosophy and belief structure. Yet, that's what's happening in mosques across the Middle East (and elsewhere). And then, of course, those preached at go out and demonstrate their support of the atheistic ideas they've been taught.

We shouldn't be surprised. Aside from its consistent drive for power, the defining characteristic of Islam is that it has always been socialist — and totalitarian — as demonstrated within the past hundred years by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem supporting the National Socialists in Germany and coaching them in their "final solution", and by the current close alliance between the Socialist Workers' Party and both the Muslim Brotherhood and its New Arab left.

Islamism and socialism — national or international — are merely political ideologies. They have always been close siblings, nearly twins. And both have been political ideologies since their beginnings. It's just that a political ideology in the seventh century automatically came with a veneer of religion. There was then no other way. But that was and is just a mask, a disguise of convenience, a masquerade. That mask enabled Mohammed and his successors to establish political dominance over broad areas in the ideology's earliest years. It was a mask the followers of Karl Marx, centuries later, didn't need.

Stimulus, Ineffective

Obama's stimulus bill was passed (without being read) in January, but it has had less than no effect on the US economy so far. Could it be the federal fire truck is parked on the stimulus fire hose?

Independence Day Tea Party

Like some 400 other cities across America, Albuquerque had a TEA Party. It was primarily scheduled to be from 4 to 6 this afternoon. I don't know how many people were there, but there were lots. (I'll add an update tomorrow with the official estimates of its attendance.)

A lot of people were near the stage, where there were speakers and musicians. (No, there were no politicians speaking.)

Most of the people attending were spread out along Alameda Boulevard and the median between the eastbound and westbound lanes.

Most people held home-made signs.

My own Congresscritter (whose district does not include Albuquerque) got specific mention.
The front and back of the sign say
        Teague taxes New Mexico
        and hands Al Gore billions

Some of the participants carried historic flags.

There were a couple of signs that I particularly liked. This was one.

Another was a specific message for the Secretary of Homeland Security (who grew up in Albuquerque and went to Sandia High School).

A good time with a LOT more great messages than I can pass on here.

Update: This morning (Sunday), the Albuquerque Journal cites Tea Party organizers as estimating the size of the Fourth of July Tea Party at about the same as the one in April -- about 7,000. The Journal says no police estimate was available. Since Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez has been openly hostile to the Tea Party process, that suggests the police estimate is at least not significantly lower than the organizers' estimate.

Independence Day

233 years ago

A long time ago, but important to remember. As John Adams wrote at the time (on July 3, 1776)

Yesterday the greatest Question was decided, which ever was debated in America, and a greater perhaps, never was or will be decided among Men. A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony "that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free and independent States, and as such, they have, and of Right ought to have full Power to make War, conclude Peace, establish Commerce, and to do all the other Acts and Things, which other States may rightfully do." You will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the Causes, which have impell'd Us to this mighty Revolution, and the Reasons which will justify it, in the Sight of God and Man.

Adams continued, in a separately posted letter that same day

But the Day is past. The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

Yes, Adams thought we would celebrate on the anniversary of the day the Declaration was passed rather than commemorating the day it was signed. But that doesn't really matter. Whatever date one chooses to use, this holiday is for the commemoration of American independence and the exceptional manner in which the Founding Fathers accomplished it. That is what I will be thinking about this holiday weekend, and I know many others will be, too.

Reflections on the News

Here's the best one-liner I've heard/read this week:

AL FRANKEN THOUGHT: Caligula sent a horse to the Senate. Minnesota is just sending part of the horse.

I'd been thinking of Kitty Genovese, as applied to foreign policy, even before seeing this cartoon:

(If you can't remember events from 1964, just search on her name.)

Michael Ramirez also brought a laugh, as he often does. It's just because his cartoons are so true.

UPDATE: Just read this comment (in the second item, " Heads Obama Wins, Tails You Lose") on the Honduran situation:

Zelaya's ouster is no "coup" but a lawful transition of power made necessary by his own defiance. As our colleague Mary O'Grady points out, the Honduran Supreme Court had ordered a halt to his unconstitutional efforts to extend his term, and the military arrested him for defying the court's order. It's as if the Angry Left's paranoid fantasy had come true and George W. Bush refused to leave office this January.

eBay Thinks It's Real

I don't know quite what to make of this, but one thing seems fairly clear — eBay thinks it's real. Otherwise, their (second) stated reason for taking down this auction is invalid on its face.

Actually, I don't believe the stated reason, that "birth certificates and other forms are government ID are prohibited on eBay", is their real reason. After all, eBay has had no qualms at all about allowing auctions of valid stolen Albuquerque Police Department ID, badges, and similar items — government ID as referenced in their stated reason — despite formal complaints by the City of Albuquerque and formal requests that those auctions be cancelled.

Now I'm just waiting to see what happens next.

UPDATE: It appears the U.S. Army also believes the eBay birth certificate could be real. At least that's one message the Pentagon is giving. The Pentagon has cancelled the orders of Army Reserve Major Stefan Cook. Cook had sued to get his orders cancelled on the grounds that Obama is not eligible to be president, and order such deployments, because he was not born in the United States. By cancelling Cook's orders, the Pentagon admits he might be right.