Free Kareem!

When I first came to DC, I was told about the plight of an Egyptian blogger named Kareem Amer. Kareem has been shunned by his family and imprisoned in Egypt for nothing more than publishing unpleasant but true complaints about Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and some of the more oppressive aspects of Islamic law.

Can you imagine being incarcerated for speaking your mind--in defense of freedom, no less? Needless to say, this young man should be freed.

Yet, he still sits in an Egyptian prison--as he has for the past 1,096 days.

There is a protest scheduled at noon in D.C. at the Egyptian cultural center in DuPont Circle. If you can make it, I strongly encourage you to attend. I have attended several and helped organize one of the protests (I am unfortunately unable to attend this one). You'll meet some great people for a good cause--and it'll get you out of the office for a bit too.

Our current administration has already demonstrated its endorsement of curbing free speech rights around the globe, so you'll sooner see Hillary Clinton in a skirt than hear her so much as reproach Egypt for this crime. Someone has to stand up for what is right.

You can visit FreeKareem.org for more information about Kareem's plight and the facebook event page for info on today's protest.

Free Kareem!

Who Are You?

And what have you done with Evan Bayh?

This week, the United States Senate will vote on a spending package to fund the federal government for the remainder of this fiscal year. The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 is a sprawling, $410 billion compilation of nine spending measures that lacks the slightest hint of austerity from the federal government or the recipients of its largess.

The Senate should reject this bill. If we do not, President Barack Obama should veto it.

The omnibus increases discretionary spending by 8% over last fiscal year's levels, dwarfing the rate of inflation across a broad swath of issues including agriculture, financial services, foreign relations, energy and water programs, and legislative branch operations. Such increases might be appropriate for a nation flush with cash or unconcerned with fiscal prudence, but America is neither.

...

The solution going forward is to stop wasteful spending before it starts. Families and businesses are tightening their belts to make ends meet -- and Washington should too.

The omnibus debate is not merely a battle over last year's unfinished business, but the first indication of how we will shape our fiscal future. Spending should be held in check before taxes are raised, even on the wealthy. Most people are willing to do their duty by paying taxes, but they want to know that their money is going toward important priorities and won't be wasted.

Seems a Blue Dog has found his teeth again. I like him much better now that he's not running for president or shilling for Hillary.

"Save it for 2050"

From HRC's intra-campaign memos on how to deal with Obama:

All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light.

Save it for 2050.

...

Let’s explicitly own ‘American’ in our programs, the speeches and the values. He doesn’t. Make this a new American Century, the American Strategic Energy Fund. Let’s use our logo to make some flags we can give out. Let’s add flag symbols to the backgrounds.

Wow. I must give HRC a little credit here: she didn't take the advice to paint Obama as essentially non-American. Granted, in any other profession such a move would not be a compliment--but this is electoral politics.

Read the remarkably revealing details of the Clinton campaign meltdown at the Atlantic here.

Dear HRC,

Let me tell you what I tell neo-confederates who still fly that damned battle flag,

YOU LOST. GET OVER IT.

All the best,

JPB

Please, God, No!

I've been super busy trying to catch up from my trip to New York, but I will write up a report of all the goings on shortly.

But I caught this in the WaPo this morning and nearly fell out of my chair:

It's likely that the next president will face at least one Supreme Court vacancy. Obama should promise Hillary Clinton, now, that if he wins in November, the vacancy will be hers, making her first on a list of one.

Shriek.

Race and the Race

"Post-racial" my black...

Message to HRC and DNC: Beware the 'New N***** Rule'

In spite of her defeat in the North Carolina primary Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton is staying in the race for the Democratic nomination. At this point, her only hope is to convince the remaining uncommitted "Superdelegates" to give her the edge over Barack Obama. However unlikely this may be, it is not impossible. The Clinton political machine is formidable and if it can be done, they can do it. If they accomplish the feat, it would be the most devastating blow to the Democratic party in generations.

Without question, the most loyal demographic constituency for the Democrats are blacks. Democrats have enjoyed overwhelming black support starting back in the 'New Deal' and they then solidified their hold on the black vote when the GOP openly courted disaffected southern Democrats after the Civil Rights Movement. That said, the relationship is not a permanent one.

If the Democratic Party were to appoint Senator Clinton over the democratically-elected Obama, many black people would view it (as what is called in some circles) as a 'new nigger rule.'
A NNR is a legal or administrative procedure which is enforced with benign pretense, yet has the demonstrable effect of abetting racism, prejudice, or otherwise just screwing the black guy. Historical examples include, but are not limited to, the Grandfather Clause, poll taxes, and literacy/constitutional knowledge tests to vote. (Notice how all of these are forms of disenfranchisement.)

Stripping away an otherwise rightfully won party election by established yet questionable means when it just HAPPENS to prevent the first major party nomination of a black candidate in our nation's history, more than a couple black people in this country are going to be enraged.

And understandably so.

If she were to snag the nomination from Obama, many black people would turn on the Democratic Party. Of this, I have little doubt. Does this mean blacks will come back to the GOP? Certainly not right away. The Republicans have a lot to answer for, and outreach is needed on their part. (Although, if McCain picks a well-respected black VP in the event of Clinton's nomination, I would imagine it would have a significant impact.)

But a--shall we say "disenchanted?"-- black electorate may stay home instead of voting for a party that so blatantly screwed Obama. Losing even part of such a solid voting base would be disastrous for the Democrats and, in all likelihood, would amount to throwing away a second consecutive Presidential election they should have won easily.

This election is the Democrats' to lose. If they choose Hillary, they will manage to alienate their most loyal supporters while simultaneously electrifying the conservative base by nominating perhaps the greatest Republican fund raiser in the nation.

Only they could be this stupid.

"A Spine of Steel"

And a heart of pyrite:



I remember when I used to respect my former governor...

Weekly Standard Develops Sense of Humor

In the upcoming issue of the Weekly Standard, the always funny P.J. O'Rourke has a masterful column describing the American electoral process to Europeans:

Hillary Clinton is "America's ex-wife."

A man can be a Democrat to the core, going into the voting booth to pull the lever with the donkey label no matter what. Then he sees Hillary's name on the ballot. And it all comes back to him .  .  . the first marriage .  .  . the time he came home a little late, it wasn't even midnight, and he'd only had four or five beers, and she threw his bowling ball down the storm sewer.

Why I Miss Bill Clinton...

Oh, don't be alarmed. The statement in my headline is purely a self-serving one.

I first became interested in journalism in high school when Bill Clinton was president. In a very (and I do not say this proudly) Limbaugh-ean way, I spent my first years in print taking him to task for Haiti, Yugoslavia, Somalia and other foreign policy debacles (Monica happened in my college years). It was so easy and I never ran out of material.

Now Bill is thrusting himself back into the spotlight to save Clinton '08, which is looking like the H.M.S. Titanic of political campaigns.

A couple weeks ago, as if channeling John Kerry -- a politician not half the talent or intellect of our former molester-in-chief -- he said he was against the Iraq war from the outset...which was apparently after he supported the president publicly.

But I'll forgive him that. I think a large number of people today can look back at the events after 9/11 with at least of tinge of regret on what we said/did/supported - myself included.

That said, this fatuous absurdity takes the cake as the most ridiculous thing Bill Clinton has ever -- and I mean ever -- said:

Just a few days ago, in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, the former president said, "I have been blessed in my life to know some of the greatest figures of the last hundred years. Because of what you did. You, you gave me the chance to be president. You voted for me twice here, and I'm very grateful.

"I go to Nelson Mandela's birthday party every year and we're still very close. I believe if Yitzhak Rabin had not been murdered in 1995 we would have peace in the Middle East. I loved him as much as anyone I've ever known.

"But if you said to me today, 'I'm gonna give you one last job for your country -- go and do this -- but it's hazardous and you may not get out with life and limb intact and you have to do it alone except I'll let you take one other person,' and I had to pick one person whom I knew who would never blink, who would never turn back, who would make great decisions under pressure and would never forget what the purpose of being there was, I would pick Hillary of the people I've known and I would never even think about it. It would be an easy choice."

On behalf of all anti-left journalists everywhere, may I say welcome back to the fore, Bill. We've missed you.

Via Daily Dish.