Shut up and get in line.

Remember in early-mid 2008 as the Republican Party rallied behind the biggest backstabber in the modern party era, and snarled at conservatives who backed conservative Fred Thompson and moderate but tough Rudy Giuliani, Shut up and get in line! He’s the only candidate the media won’t go hard after. Conservatives grumbled knowingly but did so. In a move surprising nobody but the GOP, the media gleefully turned on McCain as soon as he had the nomination sewn up. McCain endorsed the Democrat nominee, and would have nobody say a word against him. The party rode McCain’s coattails down to 60-40 minorities in both houses.

As the Democrats laid waste to our Republic, the people rose up against it, led by conservative citizens. Thus the Tea Party movement was born, and in the uprising demolished the Democrats in both House and Senate, decisively taking the House and paring the Senate minority to 47-53. The Beltway Republicans were delivered an emphatic mandate, namely “stop the spending and regulation that the Democrats are perpetrating!”

What did the Republicans do under Boehner and McConnell? Nothing discernable. Boehner suddenly found himself in a position to dictate terms to Obama. But every showdown followed a pattern. Democrats make demands. Republicans draw a line and say, “No further!” Democrats then threaten servicemen, blame Republicans for starving granny, or just call them mean names. Republicans give in, signing on to massive spending, massive debt limit increases, massive cuts in defense, accepting crumbs in return. As Americans screamed at them in rage, the Republicans said, Shut up and get in line! It was the best deal we could get.

OK, your turn now, GOP.
Read more

To date, the London Olympics pricetag is about $17B. The security pricetag alone is approaching $1B (currently $855M), and the cost has government and citizen groups up in arms, since it is already double what was budgeted. There will be 23,000 security guards, along with layers upon layers of security measures that have earned the nickname “Lockdown London”.

Why the huge price tag? Even the original budget outlay of $437M is, for a two week sporting event, just a huge amount of money. Why is all that necessary? Are pickpockets, muggings, and petty burglary all that big a deal? What perils are out there that require such a level of vigilance?

They might not say what it is they fear. But everybody knows.

It’s really a dumb question. Everybody on the planet knows the answer to that. Even our own triumvirate of dubious protectors — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Uncle Sugar Barry Milhouse John Wayne Gutsy Call Obama, along with their whole cabinet and czar-bar full of crooks and commies — know the answer.

Everybody in the world knows why the London Games are forced to bristle with forces of protection, visible and invisible.

They won’t say why. But they know.
Read more

I know what the current times look like. I know, brother, I know. I am firmly ensconced in the “the glass is 95% empty” camp, when it comes to the present and future of this 50-state Republic. Yet there is reason for great hope in this dark hour in history.

The vision of the Founding Fathers of 1776? The heart and the movement are alive and well, thriving, growing, gaining daily in population, intensity, intellectual breadth, and boldness. It is embodied in the Tea Party movement – relatively leaderless, loosely organized at best, not particularly focused on one issue or another. The official Tea Party movement began as a force in opposition to profligate government spending and taxation. The national movement seems to be coalescing around freedom and the rule of law, which is, after all, where it began in the 1760’s.
Read more