Comment on Instapundit: Blog Archive: "KYLE SMITH: Why Obama Is Concocting An Impeachment Threat: Because He Has Nothing Else."

If we survive the next two years, that being a clause bigger than Santa, we need to think of how to make two moribund parts of the American Constitution work. These are the Electoral College and Impeachment. OK, with a nod to Monty Python, make that three parts and include the Senate. OK OK make that the Senate and the House.

Fixing the Senate is the easiest part, but without this nothing else works. Repeal the XVIIth Amendment. That would probably result quickly in a 60 seat GOP Senate. Over time it would probably raise the pressure to increase the number of states, separating Crook County from Illinois and probably fragmenting other states with decaying machine cities dominating rural and suburban zones of productivity. Ideally the size of the House would also increase to bring down the number of voters per district from 200,000 to a more democratic fraction or 20 or 10,000 voters per Representative.

The Electoral College could be saved not by abolishing it but by making it a standing body with a defined membership ready to act when needed. Make the top three officers, Executive Legislative and Judicial ex officio Electors, with others as allocated by apportionment elected for fixed overlapping terms as are the Senators. The Electoral College could be given additional duties settling political constitutional questions as a Court of Judicial Review. There would be no reason to have them physically assemble to perform that task, as there would be no reason to have an expanded House of Representatives with up to 5,000 members assemble in one place except for a purely ceremonial occasion.

Impeachment could also be improved by making it more routine. Simply insert into the Constitution that every state may propose articles of impeachment and forward them to the Speaker of the House who shall annually submit them and other articles that Representatives wish considered to the House for consideration. If a majority of the House should vote to proceed then charges will be forwarded to the Senate. By making the initial process almost routine, and by allowing outside agents to prepare articles, it becomes likely that some charges against some officers if not the President will be sent to the Senate. In an emergency nothing would stop the House from drawing up articles of impeachment at any time.

Comment on "Instapundit: 'THIS SEEMS RIGHT: Israel must be permitted to crush Hamas.'"

It is tempting to urge Israel to destroy every structure in the Gaza strip and expel 1.8 million people. For over 60 years, that is for three generations, the people of Gaza have been comprehensively indoctrinated to hate and kill Jews.

The only people who have been subject to as thorough a level of control by a regime with a more dangerous and delusional perception of reality may be the North Koreans. While NorK artillery is within 35 miles of Seoul the proximity of Gaza to Israel and the concentration of hostile forces shielded by UN facilities and civilians and the billions of dollars in aid that is promptly diverted to waging war all make Gaza even more dangerous.

If the people of Gaza were not complicit in the crimes of the Hamas regime then they would be welcoming the Israelis as liberators, as did the people of Lebanon when the Israelis first invaded there. As it is the Israelis owe the civilians of Gaza no more consideration than the allies did to the people of Germany and Japan in 1944-45.

So why not clean Gaza out and bulldoze it flat? There is only one reason. The hostile dangerous and even deranged population, almost two million of them, would flood first into Egypt and then into Europe and the Americas. Everywhere they go death and destruction and tyranny would follow. The Israelis are accused of treating Gaza like a prison camp. If only they did. Unless the whole population could be moved to some isolated and deserted island it is best to keep them where they are. What is needed is for them to be reoccupied and controlled and then deprogrammed from the ideology of death. That would take at least another three generations. The only alternative is one the Israelis would reject. That would be to do to the people of Gaza what the people of Gaza would do to the people of Israel if given a chance.

These are the only five choices that Israel has.
1. Status quo. Continue playing whack-a-mole while simultaneously supplying electricity concrete medicine and other resources to Gaza followed by occasional punitive expeditions. Over time the technical resources available to the terrorists and the threat will increase. This strategy will inevitably lead to WMD equipped missiles being launched at Israel from Gaza.

2. Surrender, will lead to the extermination of the Jewish people in Israel.

3. Destroy Gaza and exterminate the Gazan people. That will not happen.

4. Destroy Gaza and expel the people. That will only spread the problem and create more chaos.

5. Reoccupy Gaza and reeducate the people over several generations.

A Garden of Stone

Today I visited Cypress Grove National Cemetery. The National Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York City. Not another living soul was there.

Most of the Civil War era markers have just a name and the home state, a rank sometimes and a unit. The more recent markers usually include dates and a cross. A few have the Star of David.

There are stories here that deserve to be told. Lest we forget.

There are couples here. This is a place of love.

This lady waited over 52 years to join her husband.

Some are to poignant to need elaboration. "Our Hero" was 16 years old.

A portion of the National Cemetery is collocated within the nearby but separate private Cypress Grove Cemetery. The Guard kindly drove me the distance from the entrance to that area. There are also old Jewish sections within the larger Christian cemetery, which is unusual. There is an NYPD memorial section adjacent to the largely Civil War government graves. Within the National Cemetery area some of the graves are for Confederates. Did they die in captivity near here during the war? Their graves and those of the Union soldiers are mingled. Those boys are far from home but now they are all together as Americans. Today perhaps some would object to honoring those who served in the CSA by placing them in a National Cemetery. What were we fighting for if not to say that they belong here?

Comment on the Belmont Club: "The Indefinite Man"

Belmont Club » The Indefinite Man

Brandeis' Core Value is "take the money." People take at face value self identified Jewish institutions and then add a set of preconceptions based on that. 

In New York we will soon have the Israel Day parade sponsored by the United Jewish Appeal and the American Jewish Committee. These are two old mainstream organizations that have raised millions of dollars over many decades from the Jewish community. Their present leadership have endorsed and advanced the Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement targeting Israel. Organizations that support BDS, such as J Street, have been invited to participate in the parade.

There is a tension between the need for certainty in the face of corruption and the need for doubt in the face of complexity. Without certainty there are no standards to be held to. Without doubt there is no need to inquire test and innovate. 

We need both 

"Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders."

and

"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken."

Those whose vision of purity admits of no imperfections, and therefor of no mercy of change can only rejoice at the death of their near rivals, as Luther did of Zwingli's, even over those of their avowed enemies. The Irish should be grateful that they only had a Congregational Calvinist to deal with.

The universities are now far down the path of pursuing money at the expense of free thought. Eisenhower was concerned by the effects of big government on academia. He was right but by considering the simple interests of the National Security State of his time the whole of the problem he did not consider the future vulnerabilities and stages involved. The universities became addicted to big projects and sponsorships, not only from government engineering and science but then also from Area Studies in the Social Sciences and Humanities. That inflated budgets and costs and bloated administration at the expense of teaching. It reduced the dependence on students and cut the bonds between faculty and the public as alumni, parents, and students. The hunt for money to keep feeding the swollen system made the universities open to influence from private foundations and foreign governments. Those interests then had a mechanism to penetrate first the universities and then the government administration and other segments of society. That is the Gramscian March.

On Instapundit: Blog Archive: "James Taranto: Justice Thomas Was Right: Citizens United ..."

As I do not wish to spend money on a new computer now I need to find a better browser than Safari for my old MacBook. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The blowback on this will be frightening. The radical homosexual lobby have done things that will convince average people that they really are part of a crazy alien conspiracy determined to destroy America and that they really are coming for your children. The result will be the political rise of fringe extremists, increased violence against and by gays and the recriminalization of conduct. For all those who wanted to tear down the safe smug Ozzie and Harriet world of 1950s America they can now look forward to something far far worse. We may all end up in Putin's Russia.

On "Instapundit » Blog Archive » THE HILL: Eleven state attorneys general slam Obama healthcare fixes as illegal."

Instapundit » Blog Archive » THE HILL: Eleven state attorneys general slam Obama healthcare fixes as illegal. The attorneys g…

The attitude of the Democrats is worse than "Laws? We don't need no stinkin laws." If you demand a law they will laugh and cough up another 3,000 page monster. They think that they have cover from a tame media and all the law they need. Buried within the ACA are hundreds of Easter Eggs saying "the Secretary may" or "the Secretary shall." Legislative power was transferred to Sebelius and Obama is Sebelius' boss so Obama can rewrite the law as he pleases. They really believe that. The ACA was not a piece of legislation about Health Care. It was a Constitutional Amendment. It should be renamed the AEA, the American Enabling Act.

Comment on Theo Spark: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE (UK) GUARDIAN / OBSERVER NEW...

Theo Spark: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE (UK) GUARDIAN / OBSERVER NEW...: An American response to an editorial in the Guardian, Sept 21, 2013: "American gun use is out of control. Shouldn't the world inte...
(from "Sean Linnane")

Criminals should not have access to guns. See how easy it is when we all agree? Mr Porter thinks that denying access to firearms to law abiding people will keep the weapons from the criminals and that society will then be peaceful and safe. We have a natural experiment. In one location, Red State/county America, there is a large armed population with a low crime rate and a low death from firearms rate. In two other locations, Blue State/County America and the UK, we have strict rules against firearms ownership. In both places where guns are illegal there is a large uncontrolled criminal class running wild. While there are more deaths from firearms in Blue America than in the UK in neither are people safe.

All this is besides the real point of the Second Amendment and having an armed citizenry. The guns are not there to control crime but to control the government. In the UK people are not citizens but subjects of a government that allocates authority to a winner through an electoral ritual that does not alter the top down distribution of authority. In America the authority comes from the bottom with limited powers assigned to the federal government. The people do not have to engage in bloody revolution or resort to their firearms to restrain government on a regular basis. We hope that they never have to. The ability and right of the people to reject a tyrannical regime is however at the root of all the freedoms that the people form their government to protect.

Perfect Beach, Fort Lauderdale

Morikami: Bonsai, Bird & Cactus Rose

Comment on PJ Media » Announcing PJ Media’s New Registration System

PJ Media » Announcing PJ Media’s New Registration System

This may be studied in Business Schools for years to come as a Case Study of corporate ineptitude on a level with such classics as the Great Snapple Debacle. Absolutely zero concern was shown by management for either internal or external customers. The internal customers are the staff, in this case the Blogger/Content Providers such as Richard Fernandez or Zombie or Victor Hansen. Since no one generates the content to turn a profit a little courtesy on the part of management is needed. The external customers are the Commentators who are lured by the desire to read the Content and see their own deathless prose in the comments preserved for posterity. They provide the eyeballs that the Managers hope to sell to advertisers.

What was lost?
1. The comments. An archive of years of often valuable discussion by subject matter experts and an irreplaceable record that future Historians could have accessed. This was an act of pure vandalism.

2. A functional format.

3. Tools that could be customized, as Wretchard did at the Belmont Club.
a. Edit
b. Preview
c. html codes < b > < i > < a href="insert link here" >
d. Embedded links
e. Subscribe to comments.

4. Comment numbering.

What was gained?
a. Avatars
b. An Orwellian Like without a corresponding Dislike option.
c. A "Report Abuse" option. This has been used once that I found, to hide a most innocuous comment on the Belmont Club by MachiasPrivateer. Clearly this has given a weapon to the hostile and destructive that will be misused to shut down this community.

------
Mr Hanscom's boss is according to the "About Us" page is the COO Sandra Rozinski. According to Zoominfo Ms Rozinski's last job was VP for Customer Satisfaction and Corporate Planning at Candle Corp. She is a numbers cruncher, not an engineer or sales professional. Candle was acquired by IBM. I wonder how their internal and external customer satisfaction was.

Nothing that I have seen indicates that either Mr. Hanscom nor Ms Rozinski are secret Lefties bent on destroying PJM, so take off the tin foil hats. Apply Occam's Razor and consider that this is probably a case of simple bad management leading to paralysis. We see it everyday in corporations across America. It is usually worse in larger organizations. The amazing thing is that things are worse outside of the U.S.

What should be done? Mr. Hanscom and Ms. Rozinski should have responded within 24 hours to the concerns of their dissatisfied customers, both internal and external. Perhaps they could consult with a skilled professional, Richard Fernandez comes to mind, on what user interface and features would most please their customers. They could propose changes, solicit advice, consider feedback, and alter plans. They could do what management, especially management experienced in overseeing customer satisfaction, is expected to do.

If anyone finds evidence of foreign money and influence then we go from there.

------
Add to the list of annoyances with the new format that it is effectively impossible to log in, change profile information, and comment from my Blackberry. Add that to the inability to subscribe to comments, lack of an edit feature, lack of html features, loss of Preview, Like without disclosing who liked and no Dislike, Orwellian new Terms of Service, and of course loss of the archives. Quiet an achievement for Customer Satisfaction.

Twilight in New York, Central Park Panorama

South

West

North

North East

South East

Comment on FaceBook, The New York Daily News: A Christmas wish to end gun violence...

"More politicians join onto the Daily News anti-gun campaign 
Raymond Kelly, Bill de Blasio, Bill Thompson and others say
enough is enough"

The right to keep and bare arms, like other rights, is more important than Kelly or Bloomberg's right to gain and exercise power. I do not get my jollies from weapons but I do know why we have that right. It is not so people can hunt bambi with a bolt rifle or shoot at photos in the basement with a handgun. It is to ensure that lawful citizens control the government. The juries police and military are subsets of the militia. It may sound strange but the people have the right to own and train on real weapons. The government, that is Kelly & Bloomberg, have a duty to train and help citizens to use that right wisely. People who can't be trusted with guns shouldn't be trusted with the vote.

Comment on The Belmont Club: » Ground Options

Belmont Club » Ground Options

Cowboy 42,
Thank you for the courtesy of remembering me. I did not leave the blog at our host's request. Whiskey was not my enemy, indeed I had at first urged forbearance but when he descended to personal abuse of our host I supported his removal. More problematic for those who remember the Flame Wars was the erratic behavior of Habu. While an often incisive and engaging commentator, he began bullying women and then intimated a threat of violence.

Why do intelligent productive people fall into the aridity of personal abuse and hate? Perhaps it is a response to a trauma or the aging process. When it happens it is frightening to see. The less talented trolls or hate mongers find cover and exploit such problems. Wretchard managed to hold the ship on course at a difficult time.

My reason for leaving was simply that I was being stalked through the threads by a lunatic that I had met in real life and invited here. My apologies to all. There is apparently no way to protect anyone from that. Know that I follow you and wish you, well almost all of you, well.

Comment on Daniel Hannan, Telegraph Blogs: "And after we've left the EU…"

And after we've left the EU… – Telegraph Blogs

Just who will be in the Anglosphere Union? You mention the UK US Canada Australia and Ireland. The old Dominions on the gates of Buck House are Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. Wouldn't India be a wise addition, and if them then what about Japan? Below you point out that Argentina has in the past been closer to the UK than parts of the old empire were. Would the Irish join? Would you want South Africa with their corrupt racist tribalist collectivist politics? If you don't keep out the RSA then how do you keep out Nigeria? If you don't keep out Nigeria then what's the point?

What is needed is an alliance of those who respect the rule of law and what were called the "Rights of Englishmen." If it were to be the  first 5 listed, and maybe New Zealand, despite their horrible fantasy insular politics that makes Little Englanders look savvy, and India then would we want some kind of currency union? Isn't that a slippery slope to where we all are now?

Could the new union imitate the US Federal Reserve? Instead of a top down monstrosity like the Euro just add a few regional banks controlled by the local banks and indirectly subject to multiple levels of inspection. The US dollar may look the same everywhere and be legal everywhere but it is really issued from 12 regional centers that are largely independent and responsible for keeping the local economies working.

Could the new union be open to Iceland and Denmark to reward them fro trying to tell the EU to get stuffed? The original US Articles of Confederation included an invitation to Canada to join any time they wanted. That never worked out. Perhaps though the new union could include or really be achieved by adding half a dozen more regions to the Federal Reserve system.

-----
Maybe a bottom up system starting with and built on a better currency scheme than the Euro is what is needed. The Euro was an intrusion from the top that destroyed a locally managed free trade system. Perhaps by replicating or even joining the American currency system, flawed as it is and needing inspection and reform, you could square the circle of local control and open trade. We all need to get back to our roots before the Centralizers took over.

Proposed: A Unified Campaign Theme, "Reality vs. Obama"

The 2012 GOP campaign against Obama must above all be focused. It must constantly remind the public that Obama at his core stands for beliefs and policies that are divorced from reality. This video should be the centerpiece of the campaign. It should be shown constantly until every American is familiar with the message. Obama destroyed good cars that would have had value to poor people to send taxpayer money to overpaid cronies and wealthy people. Obama destroyed wealth.

The car represents the power and industry and creativity and most importantly the desires of normal Americans and millions around the world who desire to be like us. The car is a living thing. You can see and hear it fight for its life. It has over 200 years of American history behind it. It has a hundred years of industrial development within it. Obama destroyed the creation of American labor and ingenuity and strength that fought to live.

Obama is "The Cash For Clunkers" Candidate.

Perfect Park Day

Puppeteer to small child, "Yes yes, my Psychiatrist has been attempting to convince me of that for years."

Heavy News Day

Five stories caught my eye at glance and they all should be bad news for Obama. Emphases added.

1. Dozens Of Republican Senators Press Obama On Missile Defense | Fox News - AP

WASHINGTON – Forty-three Republican senators have written to President Obama saying they will oppose any efforts by the Obama administration to limit missile defense or pursue further reductions in nuclear weapons.

Obama was caught on tape Monday telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he would have more flexibility to negotiate on missile defense after the November election. Seizing on those comments, Republicans said any concessions to the Russians would be counter to U.S. safety and security. They also said concessions would contradict the assurances Obama gave the Senate when he pressed for them to ratify the New START treaty in December 2010.

The senators, led by Jon Kyl, said any limits on missile defense would weaken the U.S. in dealing with potential nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran.

Comment: The GoP finally begins to wake up. Obama's gross incompetence on every foreign policy issue is now publicly combined with collusion with an unfriendly if not hostile power, and documented dishonesty before Congress for good measure.

2. Obama’s Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli, has rough start at health care oral arguments | The Lookout - Yahoo! News by Liz Goodwin

Supreme Court justices battered Obama's solicitor general, Donald Verrilli Jr., with questions today, prodding him to explain why the government could compel Americans to buy health care insurance and not, for example, force them to purchase broccoli or burial insurance.

Verrilli appeared to stumble over his words at the beginning of his hourlong questioning, and took a drink of water less than a minute after beginning his statement before composing himself. After the oral arguments were over, some court watchers weren't exactly kind when assessing his performance.

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said that the day's arguments were a "train wreck" for the Obama administration and that Verrilli seemed unprepared. "I don't know why he had a bad day," he said. "He is a good lawyer, he was a perfectly fine lawyer in the really sort of tangential argument yesterday. He was not ready for the answers for the conservative justices."

Time Magazine writer Kate Pickert wrote on Twitter that Verrilli "lost his footing a bit," relying on the liberal Justices to remind the other Justices of the key arguments for the law. Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein said Verrilli "lost big."

.....

At one point, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg interrupted Verrilli's response to Justice Antonin Scalia's hard-hitting questions about the limiting principle, appearing to try to help him out. "Mr. Verrilli, I thought that your main point is that, unlike food or any other market, when you made the choice not to buy insurance, even though you have every intent in the world to self-insure, to save for it, when disaster strikes, you may not have the money," Ginsburg said, articulating the government's argument that uninsured people are still part of the national health insurance market.

"That is definitely a difference that distinguishes this market and justifies this as a regulation," Verrilli responded. Later in the questioning, Ginsburg brought up that "a major, major point of your argument was that the people who don't participate in this market are making it much more expensive for the people who do." Verrilli again appeared grateful for the verbal cue, restating Ginsburg's argument.

.....

Comment: The implosion at the Department of Justice is now on display before the general public. Before this the people, except for a small number of enthusiasts and bloggers, only rarely heard about what Eric Holder has done, the botched effort to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City got more exposure than the suppression of the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panthers, and the generally extraordinary partisanship and incompetency that have mark the administration have been hidden by supportive media. The raw desperate partisanship of Ginsburg, who like Kagan and possibly Thomas on the other side should have recused themselves from the case indicates the desperation of a movement facing repudiation. Thomas' role may be questioned because of his wife's lobbying. Ginsburg and Kagan have been active partisans on this issue in their own interest.

It is possible but unlikely that the Court could in rejecting Obamacare revisit the logic that supported the imposition of Social Security in 1935. Doing so would prove a nuclear bomb on American governance given how deeply entrenched in all aspects of American life programs and policies arising from the SSA are. Five Justices could rewrite that at any time if they so choose. The government lied to the Court about the same issues before the Supreme Court today 77 years ago. Whether or not anyone believes that public support for such a system is a good thing, the current US Social Security system, and all its elaborations such as Medicare, rest upon no Constitutional authority beyond a reading of the Commerce clause that was novel at the time and relied upon representations to the Court that were probably known to be false at the time.

3. Democratic lawmakers blast police in U.S. teen killing - Yahoo! News By Donna Smith | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday blasted police handling of a racially charged case in which a neighborhood watch volunteer shot dead an unarmed black teenager in Florida, accusing local law enforcement officials of botching the investigation.

The lawmakers, speaking at a congressional forum attended by the parents of the slain teenager, called for the immediate arrest of 28-year-old George Zimmerman, the white Hispanic who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26 in what he said was self-defense.

Florida law enforcement officials have faced intense criticism in recent weeks from civil rights activists and others for not arresting Zimmerman, who remains at large and in seclusion. Police say a state "stand your ground" law that allows people to use deadly force when they perceive danger in any public place has prevented them from making an arrest.

Congresswoman Corrine Brown, who represents Sanford, the town where the shooting took place, decried the police inaction, saying she did not know if it was due to incompetence, a cover-up or "all of the above."

.....

Accounts of exactly what happened the night of February 26 have been confused. Zimmerman told police that Martin punched him, knocked him down and slammed his head into the sidewalk repeatedly before he fired the fatal gunshot.

-----

Comment: Most Americans identify with their police and want law and order. The Obama administration "lead from behind" and followed the lowest race baiters in seeking to exploit this story. It was only after they poured gasoline on the fire that it was reported that the photo shown to the public of an angelic child was 4 or 5 years old, with the real Tryvon Martin being a 240 lb football player who was expelled from school for drugs possession and who had boasted online of committing assault. In addition they launched this by now familiar theatrical episode before discovering that Zimmerman was not some old white guy, possibly German or Jewish (did someone at the White House try to score points by wondering if he was related to Bob Dylan?) but in fact a Hispanic, and for those who like such narratives the Neighborhood Block Watch and older guy going to school achiever and community supporter the Left claims to favor. All that goes out the window in the rush to exploit the rituals of pity and grievance used by the likes of Al Sharpton whenever there is a TV camera available.

Note that for this article Reuters violated their usual copybook by identifying him as a "white Hispanic." They never make that distinction as a normal practice. This may seriously alienate members of the Hispanic community from the Democrats. There is already a virtual war between Blacks and Hispanics in places like Los Angelas, with districts being effectively cleansed in the Bosnian sense of people from the less powerful group. The Democrats offer the Hispanics unlimited immigration and subsidized jobs in Health Care. The large and complex Hispanic collection of communities in the US may not fall into place as the junior partners in such a simple and venal bargain.

4. Unruly JetBlue Pilot Locked Out of Cockpit, Flight Diverted - Yahoo! News By JOSH HASKELL and CHRISTINA NG | ABC News

A JetBlue pilot acting erratically was allegedly locked out of the cockpit by his co-pilot, causing an airplane traveling from New York to Las Vegas to be diverted to Texas.

A passenger sitting close to the front of the plane told ABC News that the co-pilot walked out of the cockpit and went to the bathroom before the incident happened.

"The guy was in the bathroom for a while and the pilot inside the cockpit locked the flight door," the passenger said. "Passengers noticed the guy acting weird when he came out of the bathroom."

The unruly pilot then went to the cockpit and started pounding on the door. The passenger heard someone yelling "bomb" and "we're going down." The passenger believes it was the pilot who had been locked out.

A co-pilot remained in the cockpit and was flying the plane, designated as Flight 191, which was carrying 135 passengers and six crew members.

The passenger said it was a "crazy scene" that ended when a group of male passengers restrained the disorderly pilot at the front of the plane until it was able to land.

A government source told ABC News that the pilot was subdued by an off-duty New York City police officer and an off-duty JetBlue pilot who were traveling on the flight.

The off-duty pilot flight helped land the plane in Texas.

"At roughly 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET, the pilot in command elected to divert to Amarillo, Texas, for a medical situation involving the captain," JetBlue said in a statement.

"Another captain, traveling off duty, entered the flight deck prior to landing at Amarillo, and took over the duties of the ill crewmember once on the ground," the statement said. "The aircraft arrived Amarillo at 10:11 am CT, and the crewmember was removed from the aircraft and taken to a local medical facility."

The captain is now in FBI custody.

Comment: The world is not safe or rational and hopey changey juvenilia can't be indulged. Also the Democrats now own the burdens of transportation security, and the associated annoyances. They can't blame Bush. Anything that reminds the public of what they must endure under the now unionized workforce controlled by the Democrats, and how the world remins dangerous even if the incident here was simply one sick pilot, is bad for Obama.

An earlier version of the story reported the pilot as yelling about Iran and a bomb but that was apparently scrubbed. Anything that reminds the public about the real threats would only increase the pressure on an administration, and their allies in the media, now desperately sticking fingers in more holes than the little Dutch boy did.

5. Americans angry with Obama over gas prices - Yahoo! News By Patricia Zengerle | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling high gasoline prices, although most do not blame him for them, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online poll released on Tuesday.

Sixty-eight percent disapprove and 24 percent approve of how Obama is responding to price increases that have become one of the biggest issues in the 2012 presidential campaign.

In the past month, U.S. fuel prices have jumped about $0.30 per gallon to about $3.90 and the Republicans seeking to replace the Democrat in the November 6 election have seized upon the issue to attack his energy policies.

The disapproval reaches across party lines, potentially spelling trouble for Obama in the election, although the online survey showed voters hold oil companies or foreign countries more accountable than politicians for the price spike.

"Obama is getting heat for it but people aren't necessarily blaming him for it," said Chris Jackson, research director for Ipsos public affairs.

Majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents all disapprove of the president's handling of gas prices, according to the online poll of 606 Americans conducted March 26-27.

Eighty-nine percent of Republicans said they disapproved, as did 52 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of independents.

"People are unhappy that they are having to pay $3.90 a gallon. They want somebody to be able to lash out at and the president is as good a person as anybody," Jackson said.

BLAMING OIL COMPANIES

The most common reason cited by voters of all political stripes for the rising cost was oil company greed.

Overall, 36 percent of respondents said "oil companies that want to make too much profit" deserve the most blame for higher energy prices. Twenty-eight percent of Republicans said so, as did 44 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of independents.

Twenty-six percent of all respondents said a range of factors was equally to blame, including oil companies, politicians, foreign countries that dominate oil reserves and environmentalists who want to limit oil exploration.

There was little difference in that result across party lines. Twenty-seven percent of Republicans, 24 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of independents said all of those factors were equally to blame.

Republicans have hit Obama particularly hard for his decision to block TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL Canada-to-Texas pipeline as a sign that his energy priorities are hurting America.

Hoping to placate car-loving Americans, Obama toured U.S. oil country last week to tout his "all of the above" energy strategy that includes room for oil and gas development in addition to support for renewable fuels.

In Oklahoma, he pledged to accelerate approval of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans immediately dismissed the campaign-style stop as a stunt, saying Obama does not have the authority to really jump start the project.

Jackson said Obama has little to fear, at least according to historic trends, from gas prices alone if the U.S. economy continues to recover from deep recession.

Previous spikes in fuel prices have not affected U.S. presidential election results. But economists warn that higher gas prices could slow the overall economy, which would toughen Obama's chances of winning re-election.

The poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points for all respondents.

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech)

Comment: Finally we come to the story that ties together the total failure of the Obama government on every level. Foreign and domestic policy, political professionalism, even simple optics, all are exposed as amateurish, even those elements that the Democrats supposedly excelled at such as messaging instead of actual achievement. Most important the public is now starting to understand. Obama has been consistent on one thing. He has opposed anything that would increase American energy production or make America a safer richer and more powerful place. Billions have been poured down ratholes like wind farms and electric cars. Real work that would increase the safe and clean energy available, and the number of real union jobs, building modern refineries and power plants and pipelines and mining, has been stonewalled.

Macy ⃰s Flower Show 2012

Macy's is putting $400 million into the old store so this year they had to move the annual flower show to a big tent outside in Herald Square.


They also used the store's display windows. The theme is "Brasil." Maybe because Obama tossed money at them to build the Brazilian oil industry while destroying America's but the city is awash with thousands of happy Brazilian tourists, and Macy's knows who their customers are.


The show mascot is the big Toucan.


They even have an indoor waterfall.


All concerned pulled out the stops to make this one of the best horticultural displays ever done. Anyone in the New York area should see this.

Desecration of Australian war graves

The original is on LivelLeak.com. The record of this must be preserved.
We are fighting evil. It really is that simple. Rejoice in the knowledge.
LiveLeak.com - Muslims attack Australian war graves

It Was So Warm and It Is So Cold

WTC 9-11 Memorial, South Pool

WTC 9-11 Memorial, North Pool

In Memoriam Rick Rescorla. From the Ia Drang to the WTC. America gets and deserves the best.

What cannot be forgotten or shared on the web was the smell of 9-11.