Tea Party, Earl Grey, Hot

I think I like David Cameron, the new British Prime Minister.  Read this and tell me an American conservative / Tea Partier couldn't have said it (albeit probably without the capitalization of "government"):

 Her
Majesty the Queen has asked me to form a new Government and I have
accepted. Before I talk about that new Government, let me say something
about the one that has just passed.

Compared with a decade ago, this country is
more open at home and more compassionate abroad and that is something we
should all be grateful for and on behalf of the whole country I'd like
to pay tribute to the outgoing prime minister for his long record of
dedicated public service.

In terms of the future, our country has a hung parliament where
no party has an overall majority and we have some deep and pressing
problems - a huge deficit, deep social problems, a political system in
need of reform.

For
those reasons I aim to form a proper and full coalition between the
Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

I believe that is the right way to provide
this country with the strong, the stable, the good and decent Government
that I think we need so badly.

Nick Clegg and I are both political leaders that want to put
aside party differences and work hard for the common good and for the
national interest.

I
believe that is the best way to get the strong Government that we need,
decisive Government that we need today.

I came into politics because I love this
country. I think its best days still lie ahead and I believe deeply in
public service.

And I
think the service our country needs right now is to face up to our
really big challenges, to confront our problems, to take difficult
decisions, to lead people through those difficult decisions, so that
together we can reach better times ahead.

One of the tasks that we clearly have is to
rebuild trust in our political system.

Yes that's about cleaning up expenses, yes
that is about reforming parliament, and yes it is about making sure
people are in control - and that the politicians are always their
servant and never their masters.

But I believe it is also something else. It is
about being honest about what Government can achieve.

Real change is not what government can do on
its own - real change is when everyone pulls together, comes together,
works together, where we all exercise our responsibilities to ourselves,
to our families, to our communities and to others.

And I want to help try and build a more
responsible society here in Britain. One where we don't just ask what
are my entitlements, but what are my responsibilities.

One where we don't ask what am I just owed,
but more what can I give.

And a guide for that society - that those that can should, and
those who cant we will always help.

I want to make sure that my Government always
looks after the elderly, the frail the poorest in our country. We must
take everyone through with us on some of the difficult decisions we have
ahead.

Above all it
will be a Government that is built on some clear values. Values of
freedom, values of fairness, and values of responsibility.

I want us to build an economy that rewards
work. I want us to build a society with stronger families and stronger
communities. And I want a political system that people can trust and
look up to once again.

This
is going to be hard and difficult work. A coalition will throw up all
sorts of challenges.

But
I believe together we can provide that strong and stable government
that our country needs based on those values - rebuilding family,
rebuilding community, above all, rebuilding responsibility in our
country.

Those are the
things I care about. Those are the things that this government will now
start work on doing. Thank you very much.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1277599/UK-ELECTION-2010-David-Cameron-Nick-Clegg-make-Downing-Street-debut.html#ixzz0nllBWGaB

Obama Saves Euro?

From here.

Okay, so if Obama went to a great deal of trouble to save the Euro . . . why?  What's in the Euro for us, long-term?

I love certain European countries, but to my mind a united Europe is like China . . . either a great friend or a great adversary or both.   A true European hegemony represents an unpredictable shift in the balance of power.   One can easily imagine a situation in the future where the ChiComs, self-interested Putin-esque authoritarian post-Soviets, and EuroSoc are in general agreement on some matter, and the United States stands alone (provided we don't follow the European socialist example).

Should that day come, we'll rue the day we saved the monetary tool that was meant to allow for a united Europe.

LGF Fail

I haven't been paying any more attention to Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, given his return to the irrationality of his leftist roots, but I saw this and just had to share:

http://www.weaselzippers.net/blog/2010/03/charles-johnson-fairly-sure-the-tennesee-state-flag-is-neonazi-logo.html

Leftist Kamikaze

I thought anti-IRS types were supposed to be the "right-wing anti-government kooks" the media is always talking about.

Or, more reasonably, people who think the government is too big and should stay out of our wallets are usually conservative.

The guy from Austin, though, is a leftist. His manifesto makes that plain.   And yet in between anti-business and anti-capitalism diatribes he'll take a moment to reflect on the fact that the government sucks at life and should stay out of everyone else's.  It's almost like he had recognized just enough to where some people would start to reanalyze life and perhaps end up conservative, but this guy was so stuck in the leftist mindset that when THE GOVERNMENT of all things seemed to betray him, he couldn't take it.

Don't get me wrong, the guy's a nut no matter who he ever voted for, but I think what broke him was the confusion of ideas in his head, rather than some particular structural defect in the brain.  Instead of solving the progressive riddle, he got mad and wanted to quit the game.

American Revolution: A Political Thought

The American Left is lucky that their foe is the American Right, because as a rule American conservatives are too polite or too interested in their own affairs to really kick ass, even though they could.  By the same token, American conservatives are lucky to have the American Left as foes, because as a rule the American Left is too stupid and too cowardly to actually pick a real fight.

If one were gunning for revolution (no pun intended), then the best way would be to get one or the other side so pissed off that they really start fighting.  The Left might be easiest, given that they're stupid, but the Right has more to be pissed off about if they'd ever pay attention.  Getting them to really pay attention is seemingly unlikely, but the advent of Limbaugh, Fox, and Beck may change this.  

But, in the American system of politics, whoever is the most pissed off can generally win elections, which usually serves to satisfy many of the most pissed people for awhile.

So as a rule, the American system in the current political climate is designed in such a way as to keep a certain percentage of people pissed off all the time, but never quite to revolutionary levels.   It's like a boiler that never boils over.  This has served the Left well, of course, since some of them have long vision (e.g. Stalin's comment on slow takeover, the statements of Obama and others that nationalized health care is the goal with stuff like the "government option" being a long slow segue to that, and so on).

The trick for pro-revolutionaries, then, is that time be compressed to get one side or the other totally pissed off in less than the election cycle.  In other words, either an Obama has to get busy trying to nationalize the economy, or else another Bush-the-Younger has to get busy re-establishing the Constitution. 

Given how busy Obama's been on his task, it appears that the Right may take a bit longer to actually get revolutionary, unless Obama accelerates and the Right gets even more pissed.   The Left, of course, was getting revolutionary even when Bush the Younger was in office, which is when the Republicans were, for the most part, lazy bastards (which is the proper thing for government to be, rather than busybodies involving themselves in absolutely everything).

So, if there is to be revolution in the near future, I predict it will come when the government becomes busy-conservative.  The Leftist revolutionaries will no doubt point fingers and try to make the Tea Parties and such out as the genesis of their own revolutionist tendencies and the environment that 'required' it (since, of course, they're pussies who can't accept blame on their own), but I think its true genesis will have been simply the derailment of the past century of Leftist victories.

2010 vs. 2010

Been wanting to watch 2010 lately, but this guy beat me to it.  Nice notes with pictures.