So, Our Border is More Secure Than Ever?

From AP via Breitbart:

U.S. authorities on Thursday found a sophisticated tunnel used to smuggle drugs between Mexico and San Diego, the second such discovery in the region in less than a month.

The half-mile passage runs from a residence in Tijuana to a warehouse in San Diego’s Otay Mesa area, the San Diego Tunnel Task Force said in a statement…

Half a mile long and the second such tunnel discovered in the past month! Anyone want to bet me there aren’t more of these? All along the border?

Until we get serious about border security we simply will not be able to resolve our immigration issues. As long time readers know, I’m in favor of a path to citizenship for long-time, illegal residents (amnesty, as it were), but however we do this, we can’t do anything until we ensure that no more can come over.

If securing our border takes a 50 foot high fence along ever inch of the border, with its foundations going 50 feet underground to block tunnels, then that is what we’ll have to do. The border must be secured – and do keep in mind, aside from the illegals we must consider that if drug dealers can dig half mile long tunnels, so can terrorists who want to slaughter us.

Any US government which refuses its duty in this task is unworthy of the American people. This is a genuine “must” for our nation.

North Korea to USA: "Screw You"

That is a loose translation:

North Korea has rejected a proposal by the U.S.-led U.N. Command (UNC) to hold general-level military talks on the North’s deadly artillery attack on an inhabited South Korean island, officials said Thursday…

And why should they agree? All we’ve done is call for talks – the North Korean regime committed a brutal and unprovoked act of war against South Korea and did we respond in kind? No. All that tells tyrannical regimes is that we’ll pay any price to avoid war…and now they are working out how much to charge us (in foreign aid) to pretend they won’t do it again (until they figure its time to shake us down, again).

After the 20th century, you’d think that everyone would be on to the scam of tyrants. Cowardly thugs that they are, they can be easily pushed back – but by applications of insane violence, they continually convince people to just go along. For far too many in leadership, peace is sweeter than justice…even if the peace is bought with the blood of others.

Until we set our faces firmly against the tyrants we’ll just get more of this. Those tyrants we can take out, we should – those we can’t at the moment should be isolated and made to understand that their turn will come in the by and by. Free people – people of decency – simply must not play games with the wicked.

Sarah Palin Kills a Fish: Liberals Wet Themselves

Geesh! From Hot Air – liberals will find anything they can to hate Sarah Palin over:

…The story which caught my attention had one of the more provocative titles I’d seen all week. Sarah Palin clubs to death a fish on reality show labelled ‘a snuff video’ by animal rights group. (And really, guys, couldn’t you spell check the title?)

Sarah Palin is under fire for clubbing a fish to death on her new reality TV show.

The Tea Party darling and her daughter Bristol, 20, were shown on a halibut fishing trip filmed for her new programme, Sarah Palin’s Alaska.

After catching a fish, Sarah is seen beating it with a club and Bristol later holds its still-beating heart in her hand, a sight Sarah called ‘weird’.

It’s a fish! It’s dinner! No matter how the thing is dispatched, it wasn’t destined for a long life and quiet retirement. This is getting certifiable – the left is completely insane over Sarah Palin.

Liberals! They just get dumber by the day.

The Best of Us Show True Gratitude

So, next time you’re whining about your little problems, remember this – from Dallas News:

Marine Cpl. Zach Briseno jokes that he’s taller since returning from Iraq – although he’s most grateful that the prosthetic legs that add several inches to his height allow him to chase after his 5-year-old son.

Although he’d never complain, it has taken time for Briseno to get used to life after losing his legs in an explosion, and it’s not easy for him to move around his apartment in his wheelchair. That’s why a nonprofit organization is providing him with a home that will have wider doors, lower counters, a special shower and other safety features.

“It’s truly a blessing for me and my family,” Briseno said this week as relatives and friends surrounded him on the lot where the home is to be built by next spring…

You lose your legs in battle and still have a family to raise, you’ve got problems – and a right to complain. I doubt that Briseno complains much – just doesn’t seem in character for him. The rest of us who haven’t lost our legs – we got no problems, at all.

Helping a Hero is the organization assisting Cpl. Briseno – and my bet is that they can use whatever you can give.

Out and About on Thanksgiving Day

Victor Davis Hanson surveys our ailing society.

Jindal proves himself a genuis: make Congress a part-time job.

Russia has agreed to become a colony of China. Putin, in every action, proves himself the most obtuse Russian leader, ever – now he’s mortgaging Russia’s future to the Chinese.

Idiot students on a hunger strike to try and force approval of the Dream Act. This does not in any way, shape or form move me to agree to a back-door amnesty for millions of people…but it does move me to want to cut off funding for higher education as we’re clearly not getting anything out of it. Come on – you go on a hunger strike when the chips are down and liberty is at stake…not as a means of ginning up support for a legislative act. The kids have clearly never been taught the first things about history, democracy or civil disobedience.

Sign of the times: squatters taking over foreclosed homes.

Michelle Obama threatens America – Barack has to finish what he started. Goodness, I hope not – we haven’t been that bad a nation, have we?

Non-insane liberals gather to try and figure a way out of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama political melt down. One odd Republican joins them.

Thanksgiving

A prayer:

Thank you, Father, for having created us and given us to each other in the human family.

Thank you for being with us in all our joys and sorrows, for your comfort in our sadness, your companionship in our loneliness.

Thank you for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the whole of our lives.

Thank you for friends, for health and for grace.

May we live this and every day conscious of all that has been given to us. Amen – From The Catholic Prayer Book, compiled by Msgr. Michael Buckley

And a song:

Stopping Sarah

Some people are upset over the, well, sneers by Barbara Bush and Chris Christie over the prospects of a 2012 candidacy by Sarah Palin. A lot of people who are devoted followers of Palin get very upset when someone criticizes her – especially if that criticism is seen as elitist snobbery. Are we seeing some sort of attempt to pre-set the 2012 primaries by forcing Palin out and allowing someone more “in” with the GOP establishment to get the nod?

You betcha!

Palin, herself, asserts that Mrs Bush’s comments are likely just the result of “blue blood” prejudice about someone of Palin’s decidedly middle class background. While Christie isn’t blue blood as the Bush’s, he’s of that east coast, establishment background. Don’t get me wrong, here: Christie would make an excellent President and if he ever did get the GOP nomination, I’d enthusiastically back him…but, still, he’s not of the same social background as Sarah Palin.

The reason why Palin is both deeply loved and greatly despised by different groups of people is because she represents a segment of the American population which has only rarely taken charge of the nation’s destiny before, but feels that now it must in order to save America. Palin, rising to power, would be beholden to no elites and would actually set an agenda which is for the middle class. This delights the middle class – frightens the Ruling Class.

The people backing Palin are the quiet men and women who do the right thing, never even want to rise high in the world of finance or fashion, raise their kids right, pay their taxes, serve in the military and do the real work of America. These people have, at times, been either Democrat or Republican, but while each party has managed to claim votes from them the people, themselves, have only rarely run the show. Its really been two sets of elites bidding for the support of this block of voters – who are not a majority (they probably constitute 45% of the population), but without whose support nothing can really get done.

Never forget that those in power tend to believe they are there because of moral and intellectual merit. While some are well disposed towards the broad mass of society, none of them really feel that the regular folks have what it takes to be in charge. Events tend to give such Ruling Class people confirmation of their views – most of the leadership is chosen from a small sub-section of the population, either born to the group or recruited in to it via schools and businesses. Al Gore is the perfect example of someone born in to the Ruling Class, Bill Clinton someone who was recruited in to it. All of them tend to share, to a greater or lesser degree, the conviction that they are some how, in some way, better than those they lead. And the higher up you go – and the longer a person has been in the higher ranks – the more pronounced this attitude is. While there can be wide divergence in views between such people, the ultimate conviction is that only one of them can possibly tackle the problems of the day.

Sarah Palin challenges that. So did Ronald Reagan, in his day. Going back further in American history, there is Andrew Jackson who threw the Ruling Class in to fits thinking that such a backwoods hick like him could be President. Those two are just about it for middle class people really rising to the top with their middle class identity intact – for the rest of America’s leaders – left and right; good, bad and indifferent – it has really just been one after another of Ruling Class people.

While the left side of the aisle does and will continue to hate Sarah Palin far more than even the most establishment part of the right, the establishment of the right will continue to doubt her – and try to exclude her. They did this to Reagan. First they hoped they could just use him as a base-enthuser and fund raiser. Then they hoped they could keep him away from leadership. Then they hoped they could control him, once he was in leadership. Sound familiar? Of course, Reagan wouldn’t be used, wouldn’t be denied and just did what he wanted to – proving, in the end, to be smarter, stronger and more tenacious than anyone – right or left – who came up against him. I think Palin will prove to be just like this – if, of course, she decides to run.

She may not, after all – there are increasing signs that she’s gearing up for it, but a lot of that is stuff you just have to do even if you merely wish to keep your options open. It could be that by the middle of 2011, Palin will find a candidate among the GOP prospects that she believes will do the right thing and, rather than run herself, she’ll throw her support to that person. But it may end up being that, surveying the field, she concludes that no one else can really do what needs to be done – and then she’ll get in. If she does get in, I hold she’ll win the GOP nomination…not because she’s got overwhelming support (she doesn’t), but because her support is very solid and will crawl over broken glass to support her in the primaries. She’ll win most of them with 40-45% of the vote, but that will be enough as in most of them she’ll come in first.

Its an open question as to whether or not, nominated, she can win the general election. Democrats officially rub their hands with glee over the prospect of a Palin nomination – but, then again, they rubbed their hands with glee over the prospect of meeting Reagan in the political field. But Palin does have high negatives – she has been relentlessly slandered by the left, sometimes attacked on the right. Whether she’d be able to overcome all that and convince a majority to back her over Obama remains to be seen – and, of course, will depend in large measure on how Obama fares.

But make no mistake about it, if she runs and wins, each step of the way she’ll be scaring the daylights out of the Ruling Class. As it looks more and more that she might win, they’ll get ever more furious in their attempts to stop her. They are afraid she’ll come to town and just entirely throw over everything in DC the Ruling Class has built for their owe wealth and power. They’re right to have that fear – as a representative of the middle class, Palin likely won’t give a darn whom she offends as she makes the government responsive to the middle class.

And I think, as it turns out, that what we really need is a middle class revolutionary to get in there to change things. My preferred candidate of all candidates remains Bobby Jindal – the son of immigrants knows all about getting ahead in America the honest, hard working way – but as he doesn’t seem to enthused about running in 2012 (he is, still, very young – and can easily wait until 2016 or 2020, or even later), Palin may end up being my gal for 2012.

Obamunism! Fed Lowers 2011 Outlook

As I’ve been saying – from the Washington Post:

Unemployment is set to remain higher for longer than previously thought, according to new projections from the Federal Reserve that would mean more than 10 million Americans remain jobless through the 2012 elections – even as a separate report shows corporate profits reaching their highest levels ever…

Don’t put too much faith in those corporate profits – the banks have a whole bunch of make-believe profits based upon everyone ignoring the fact that they are insolvent coupled with an absurd rise in stocks over the past year. Real profits are not as good as advertised, and mostly bought by keeping employment costs low (ie, letting people go and/or not hiring).

Meanwhile, another surge of foreclosures will hit in 2011 as the 2006 ARMs come due and unemployment remains high. China and the European Union are increasingly gripped by financial problems and the world teeters on the edge of another financial collapse. The Fed is projecting 3% or so growth in 2011 – but that happens only if nothing goes wrong. Things will go wrong. Period.

Blue Dogs to the GOP?

Interesting story over at NRO’s The Corner:

Rep. Bill Owens, a Democrat from upstate New York, may back House Republican leader John Boehner for speaker. New York–based GOP pollster John McLaughlin tells National Review Online that Owens is reading the tea (party) leaves.

“He might as well start talking to Speaker Boehner about switching parties,” McLaughlin says. “Either way, he’s got to be worried about reapportionment in New York State; we’re scheduled to lose two House seats and the Democrats may be ready to give him up. It’s a courageous move; it’s also a smart move.”…

…After Rep. Heath Shuler, a Blue Dog Democrat, lost his bid for minority leader to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the outgoing speaker, swing-district Democrats are squirming. “Owens may be sending a signal to moderate Democrats,” McLaughlin says. “At this point, they may have to do something drastic in order for President Obama and Pelosi to get the message. Owens, more than any outsider, knows what’s really going on inside of that caucus. With this kind of statement, he’s likely showing that he’s willing to vote with Republicans on upcoming bills, be it on tax cuts or other big-ticket items.”…

The very best move the Blue Dogs could do would be to split off from the Democrats and offer a moderate alternative to the nearly-socialist Democrat Party. By taking 30 House members and a few Senators with them (perhaps Lieberman, Tester from Montana, Nelson of Nebraska and just maybe Manchin of West Virginia), such a new party would demonstrate that the Democrat party, as it stands, will never recapture a majority. This would allow the new party to recruit at the State level with a mind towards eventually replacing today’s Democrats with a new major party which would be liberal on social spending, but far more conservative on social issues and personal liberty. In other words, a revival of my father’s Democrat party.

What is happening here, however, could be the start of some switching to the GOP – its already started at the State level (for instance, the party switch of a Louisiana State legislator has given the GOP control of that house for the first time since Reconstruction), and the trend may continue as “2012 Democrats” see both the mood of the nation as well as the liberal pig-headedness of the Democrat leadership. Of course, if they don’t move in the next couple of months, it will be too late – in order to switch and have a shot at not drawing a primary challenger, they’d have to come on board fast and quickly demonstrate their new convictions.

The grim reality for the Democrats is that in 2012 the only person who has a serious chance of winning is President Obama. I know we GOPers are very hopeful that we’ll beat the President, but we have to be realistic – it is very hard to beat an incumbent President and while we’ll work hard and furiously to do it, it won’t be easy. But Obama getting re-elected won’t make Democrats defeated at the legislative and State level in 2012 feel much better. The House is already gone and, given redistricting, might not come back for a decade or more – and given the number of Democrat Senators up for re-election, it would take some really stupid moves by the GOP for Reid to remain Majority Leader come January of 2013.

Boiled down, if there are Democrats who both want to continue in office and have a chance of advancing anything they care about, their only option is to find a way to work with the GOP. While Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are running the Democrat show, there isn’t much chance of working with the GOP. And so, the choices are: form a new party which can, at times, worth in a bi-partisan manner with the GOP, or just join the GOP.

We’ll see how it all plays out.

White House Entirely Flubs Korean Issue

Goodness, this is about the most obtuse action I’ve ever seen our government take – and I’m old enough to remember the Carter Administration. From ABC:

A White House official tells ABC News that the U.S. is going to spend a great deal of effort trying to get China to take a more “robust” stand against North Korea’s actions.

“We need to send a strong signal to the Chinese that they need to stand up to North Korea,” the official says…

Stand up to North Korea? Stand up? For goodness sake, the only reason North Korea exists is because it serves China’s strategic interests! While we can’t say that the attack was hatched in Beijing, there is just about zero chance it happened without Chinese approval. Such a move by the United States would be akin to our asking China to curb North Vietnam in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive. The world learns: the United States is unwilling to defend its interests and goes begging the Chinese to pull our fat out of the fire.

The proper stance to take regarding this North Korean attack is to quietly inform the Chinese that upon the next attack there will be massive retaliation against North Korea by both South Korean and American forces. That we will attempt to de-capitate the regime and will go after the security forces infrastructure, thus weakening the North Korean government’s ability to suppress their own people. That is the kind of message which would give China pause and may lead to North Korea being put on a tighter leash..asking the Chinese to curb North Korea merely telegraphs to them that we are unwilling to take stern measures, and thus just invites further outrages.

This is the “smart diplomacy” which Obama brings to the table – a fool’s paradise where it is imagined that China is a nation the United States can rely upon to advance American and allied interests. Complete and utter idiocy, that is what it is.