Republicans Set to Cave?

Power Line  "Byron York passes on what he is hearing from Senate Republicans on the fiscal negotiations in DC. What he is hearing isn’t good:

The word among some Senate Republicans is that a fiscal cliff deal is likely to be struck by Sunday, or Monday at the latest. …

Those Senate Republicans hope the final deal will make permanent current tax levels — Bush tax cut levels — for everyone who makes below $500,000.

The $500,000 figure is not set in stone. It could be $400,000, as President Obama is reportedly willing to agree to, or it could be higher, as some Senate Democrats have suggested in the past. … In addition, big spending cuts, the sequestration cuts scheduled to go into effect in the new year, would not be affected and would go forward as planned.

"Conversation": a word signifying nothing, as in "we need to have a national conversation on this"

Robert J. Mack  "So, next time you hear a politician or a news analyst use the word "conversation," be very afraid. That word has become the weapon of choice used by the propaganda specialists in politics and media to bamboozle the American people. You will know that in that "conversation" no one won the debate with a vigorous defense of the facts, no minds were changed, and nothing of significance happened. Oh, and by the way, the bamboozled went away happy."  Read more: American Thinker

For example: How to Have an Unconventional National Conversation about Guns and then there is this: Labor Becomes Part of the National Conversation: The Best and Worst of 2012.

You could call this a national conversation about the use of the term "national conversation".

The New Yorker

Liberal racism made manifest

Big Hollywood; Boston Globe Says 'Django Unchained' Conjures House Negroes like Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain  "Critic Wesley Morris clearly spent hours crafting his thoughts, likely in tribute to the film's artistic excellence. Yet Morris' column contains a paragraph that could be considered even uglier than the violence pulsating through director Quentin Tarantino's genre mashup."  H/T to John LaRosa

Samuel L. Jackson plays crusty, waxen Stephen as a vision of depraved loyalty and bombastic jive that cuts right past the obvious association with Uncle Tom. The movie is too modern for what Jackson is doing to be limited to 1853. He’s conjuring the house Negro, yes, but playing him as though he were Clarence Thomas or Alan Keyes or Herman Cain or Michael Steele, men whom some black people find embarrassing. Emphasis mine, TD 

More at Big Hollywood: "Where many movies about black bondage are diluted by liberal hankie-wringing, this one feels fueled by a black rage that still simmers today. It might be the most savage cinematic depiction of slavery ever made."  Then there is this at Wake Up, Black America: Jamie Foxx gets to live out his fantasy of killing white people in his film. "Tyrone", the author of this site calls the NAACP the "National Association for the Advancement of Colored Progressives". Hey, he said it, not me.

Star Jones Plays Race Card Against GOP  "Former "View" co-host Star Jones is playing the race card against the GOP for daring to disagree with President Barack Obama."

Democrat Racism Against Black Republicans (pdf)   "The following are just a few of the disgusting images of black Republicans produced by Democrats that caused no more than a yawn from the NAACP and other people who self-righteously hurl condemnations at Republicans over real or perceived racial stereotyping ." Images herein are racist and vile in the extreme, but acceptable because they are created by Democrats. As is this quote from a famous black liberal:

"In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and [there] were those slaves that lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master ... exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him. Colin Powell's committed to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture." Harry Belafonte

And this cartoon of Condoleeza Rice by Oliphant:

A book by Kevin Jackson, blogging at The Black Sphere:   The BIG Black Lie "This book helps Americans understand how the Left has wrongly defined our country. It helps parents understand that it’s the little things that can affect their children and build patriotic warriors."

If you are tired of being called a racist, and you need the ammunition to battle the Left, then The BIG Black Lie is a must for your literary collection. Readers will become empowered by The BIG Black Lie, and they will find it a truly enjoyable read!

From Larry Elder: Robert Griffin III, aka RG III, the black rookie sensation Washington Redskins quarterback Gets 'Uncle Tom' Treatment  "...ESPN's Rob Parker, who in addition to the "cornball brother" comment, said: "OK, he's black, he kind of does the thing, but he's not really down with the cause. He's not one of us. He's kind of black, but he's not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he's off to something else. ... We all know he has a white fiancee. Then there was all this talk about him being a Republican."

From the Media Research Center comes The Ku Klux Con Job Award for Smearing Conservatives with Phony Racism Charges  Via Newsbusters
Several entries are listed, but the winner is Yahoo! News Washington bureau chief and former political director for ABC News David Chalian talking over a picture of Ann and Mitt Romney, as caught on an open microphone during ABCNews.com coverage of the Republican National Convention, August 28:

“They are happy to have a party with black people drowning.”

Takers, get ready to party! Makers, BOHICA*

Neal Boortz   "Obama says he wants “revenues.” Well that’s fine! It’s additional tax revenue that helped us balance the budget when the GOP controlled the congress and Clinton was in the White House. There’s a difference though … a huge difference. The “revenues” that led us to our last balanced budget came from tax receipts brought on by a surging economy. It was the Dot.Com boom. The revenues came from economic growth, not tax increases. Now take a close look at all of the rhetoric surrounding the fiscal cliff talks today. Do you see any mention anywhere about additional tax revenues resulting from a growing economy? No … you don’t. That’s not part of the Obama/Democrat equation. The ONLY revenues the left approves of are revenues from tax increases. That’s it. We can’t balance the budget if we don’t increase taxes. Economic growth is not part of the picture. 
"Need convincing? Follow this scenario:"...  Read more...

 World Magazine

*"Bend over, here it comes again"

The 10 Worst Regulations of 2012

Heritage  "It seems that no aspect of American life can escape government regulation. In the past year, regulators drafted rules that addressed everything from caloric intake to dishwasher efficiency.

Maggie's Notebook

"Most of these rules increase the cost of living, others hinder job creation, and many erode freedom. Not all regulations are unwarranted, of course, but increasingly, the rules imposed by the government have less to do with health and safety and more to do with whether government or individuals get to make basic pocketbook and lifestyle decisions that affect them. And it is not just the regulators who are to blame. Congress writes laws that give unelected bureaucrats the broad powers they wield.
"Today we bring you 10 of the worst regulations from 2012." Read on if you dare...

Hope n' Change

Keep Israel in mind

Jerusalem Post

Argus Hamilton: The News in Zingers

Jewish World Review   "David Letterman was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor in Washington Tuesday. He overcame a heart bypass and depression to enjoy a sex scandal in the workplace. The award was named to honor a president who overcame a bad back to achieve the same goal."

About.com

.... "President Obama left Hawaii for Washington for budget talks with Republicans this week. Massive defense cuts are looming if they collapse. If we can just rig it to where North Korea is the world's only superpower, the Mayans will have been right, only a month off. "

It's hard to wish David Gregory, NBC and the media in general well

Via Ann Althouse:  Gregory had no intent to commit a crime; he was committing journalism instead.   "Gun owners often say they want the government to leave them alone; why then are some clamoring for Gregory to be prosecuted?" Asks Howard Kurtz, with amazing naivete. The implied argument is quite weird and perverse.



How would Gregory cover this story? Arizona Ranchers Demanding Protection From Armed Drug Smugglers  "Jim’s house has been burglarized twice and one of his neighboring ranchers has moved his family off the ranch for fear of them being harmed by the illegal activities. When asked if the borders are safer now than before, they laugh and say they’ve gotten worse, despite what the government claims. Jim told a news crew:" Read more...

From Legal Insurrection; Washington, DC Gun Attorney David Benowitz On The David Gregory Situation  "On the one hand, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is faced with what could be perceived as someone publicly flouting the law to make a point on TV. This practically compels MPD to investigate. On the other hand, given that there seem to be large obstacles to prosecution, no injuries were sustained, and that there is no real possibility of any punishment being either necessary or actually imposed, is this a case that DC’s Office of the Attorney General should take on?"

Probably true and Gregory will benefit from the publicity, unfortunately. I still have problems with the man over the extreme disrespect he- along with others, including Norah O'Donnell- publicly showed President Bush to his face. Do not expect this blog to shed any tears for Gregory nor to wish him well. TD

Big Journalism takes on the Wall Street Journal over this  "And that is partly the point of conservative criticism--to point out that gun control, as it already exists, ensnares otherwise law-abiding citizens in absurd and self-contradictory regulations. The other point is to illustrate that the mainstream media elite, and the liberal political forces it serves, want to apply one law to themselves and another to the rest of America. It is all right for Gregory to violate the law, but a private citizen might go to jail."

If Today's Media Had Covered Jesus' Birth...

Diogenes' Middle Finger  Yes, that is the name of this blog. It comes to us via Sense of Events, so it isn't my fault; I inherited this article. And they got it from The People's Cube.

suckersonparade

Time for conservatives to learn from Saul Alinsky and Obama/ 12 ways to do just that

Thomas Lifson  "David Gregory and Piers Morgan have both met the Alinskyite Right, and progressives in positions of power should take note. Both men are the targets of digital petition drives aimed at holding them to their own standards, and ridiculing them, invoking Rules 4 and 5 from Rules for Radicals:

4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.

But since the 1960s, the left has grabbed control of education, the nonprofit sector, the arts and culture, and the Democratic Party. The Right feels, and actually is, powerless in most of these areas. Thus, conservatives are beginning to [understand] that we must emulate the (successful) tactics of the left, in leveraging our ability to influence the major institutions shaping our lives.

Legal Insurrection has it's own take on this column by Lifson   "Is there any more vile network than MSNBC, which has turned into a stinking cauldron of race and class warfare? Yet there is no group targeting MSNBC akin to Media Matters which targets Fox News and other conservative media. I wish the Media Matters of the world and their tactics didn’t exist, but they do … and they are effective. Fox News is on the defensive all the time, while MSNBC gets a pass."

Video explaining Liberal Universities

:12 Ways To Use Saul Alinsky's Rules For Radicals Against Liberals Going into the next primary election, Republicans would do well to remember number 7 in this list:

7) A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. This one seems self-explanatory, but in practice, it can be tough to keep things on a timeline. This is what happened to the Occupy Movement, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Republican race for the presidency, too. If it goes on too long, people sour on it whether it’s a war, an election, or a tactic.

But, is there a lot conservatives can learn from his tactics? Absolutely. Some of it we can apply and some of it we can see how the Left has applied it against us

Compare the Rules for Radicals with Obama’s behavior. Rubbing resentments, fanning hostilities and searching out controversy:

What is meant by "Consent of the governed" and who can revoke it?

John Locke

Consent of the governed definition:  "A condition urged by many as a requirement for legitimate government: that the authority of a government should depend on the consent of the people, as expressed by votes in elections."

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed...
             Declaration of Independence, United States of America, 1776

Just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.

From The Blaze

I like this post, even knowing it ain't gonna happen. In attempting to edit improper grammar and punctuation, the site required that one must log in. As usual the capcha code wouldn't work, so no errors in the text could be corrected by me. Read the post as it is:

The Declaration of Consent Revocation
...."The history of this federal government, and its tyrannical despotic president, Barack Hussein Obama, is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over We The Free People of these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world."
....
42.The government has engaged in the most tyrannical of endeavors, that of which has the object of complete disarmament of We The People, effectively enslaving us to their tyranny, that of which we cannot allow, causing us to publish this Declaration.
43.In every stage of these abuses, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble of terms. Our repeated petitions have landed on deaf and unwilling ears and have been answered by repeated injury. A government of which character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyranny, is unfit to retain the consent of a Free People.
....
"45.Therefore, We the People, by authority of our ultimate supremacy in government, solemnly publish and declare, that the consent to govern given to the current federal government of the United States by We The People of the States united, is hereby immediately revoked, that their bureaucracy is to be immediately dissolved, and the President, his entire administration, and those individuals appointed by him to hold unelected office, immediately resign their posts; erected in its place a government holding true to the Constitution as outlined by our Founding Fathers barring the provisions of slavery and lack of adequate suffrage for all; and that this new government adheres to new rules, including:"....
Hat tip to Tom Williams, posting at Oregon Military Veterans, Family and Supporters

Beyond Defeat or Defiance; Redefining state-based health reform under Obamacare.

American Enterprise Institute   "But one way or another, taxpayer subsidies for new ACA coverage for at least several million Americans will start flowing out of Washington in 2014. The results of the 2012 election, as well as last June’s Supreme Court decision upholding the health law as constitutional, mean that Obamacare’s plans for even more doses of health care subsidies, regulations, and mandates cannot be fully stopped. However, changing the terms of how this happens and reshaping the future nature of our health system remain possible."
Related posts at this site:

• As debate about whether ObamaCare is a good idea continues, rejecting four major misconceptions about healthcare is crucial to any chance of our eventually emerging with a better system.
• More than Just Broccoli: The Real Slippery Slope of ObamaCare’s ‘Must-Buy’ Provision
• If You Don’t Buy Insurance, Will You Really Pay the Tax?
• Why Is the ObamaCare Tax/Penalty Needed at All?
• The law is unpopular among small business owners because it is not making employee health insurance more affordable.

The Brits are experts at government-run healthcare: