Unbelievably, HSUS, and to a lesser extent PETA, have grown into well-funded juggernauts with tremendous political influence at the local, state, and federal levels in the United States. HSUS pushes for a thousand-plus laws on all levels per year to usher in its brave new vegan vision. Most of this lobbying activity appears to be illegal and based upon fraudulent fundraising activity. There is an ongoing IRS investigation into this matter. Meanwhile, PETA’s focus is the media, education, and influencing public opinion to embrace the animal rights agenda. Horrifically, they have been incredibly successful to this end.
It has long been the goal of HSUS and PETA to “capture” California and to mandate veganism through carefully worded and placed state laws. The “capture” of California would be the crown jewel of their animal rights movement knowing that as goes California, so goes the nation. To this end, HSUS has ushered forth SB 917 and AB 1117. SB 917 will legally redefine the term “animal cruelty” with purposefully overbroad and poorly defined law to include the transportation, display, and all sales of animals on public property.
An American in the Den of Assad
Michael Totten interviews Andrew Tabler.
MJT: There’s a whole chapter in your book about you and bunch of other journalists at a Syrian government conference.
Andrew Tabler: [Laughs.]
MJT: Writing about something like that would normally be a thundering bore, but this was fascinating. The authorities did everything in their power to make sure nobody understood anything or left the conference with any information whatsoever. Why do you suppose they spent so much time and effort making themselves all but impossible for mere mortals to understand?
Andrew Tabler: One of the ways the Syrian government defends itself is by obscuring everything that happens inside the country. Right now there’s a huge question about whether or not to intervene. The government can dispute whatever argument pro-interventionists have. This isn’t unusual for these kinds of regimes. Assad is a master at manipulating the press. Often times hardly anyone is even paying attention to Syria, though that’s changed now. At the time they could snow job us, but now it’s a lot harder, especially when so much violence is being captured on YouTube.
She Don’t Need No Stinking Sparky Car
“The big news yesterday was that Energy Secretary Steven Chu does not own a car. But his wife owns a 2002 BMW 325i, which gets 21 MPG, according to the Daily Caller. Why did Chu not get her to trade in the Beamer for a Chevy Volt? Also, as a Cabinet secretary, he gets a security detail that drives him around in an SUV, most likely a Cadillac Escalade. We can mince around with words over whether he owns a car or not, but he is not taking public transportation, walking or riding a bicycle to get everywhere.”
East Germany: Before & After
Here’s an absolutely fascinating photo essay showing the transformation of East Germany. Need any more evidence that socialism only (and always) leads to destruction?!
Obama Spends $770 Million to Renovate Egyptian Mosques -Taxpayer’s Children Are Choked
Now is the Time When we Juxtapose
WSBTV July 26th 2011: Why has the US State Department spent $770 million to fix up mosques in Egypt? Can you imaging the outrage from the media if $770 million was spent to fix up Christian churches in the US, much less a foreign country? Cripes, I imagine there’d be outrage if $77,000. had been spent.
Feel The Change Media August 7th 2009: Maybe its because an entirely different agenda under Obama’s Leadership is playing out. No wonder by August 2010 the number of Americans who think Obama is a Muslim nearly doubled (Its probably more than 1 in 5 by now, but a heavy search came up with no new poll on the subject)
Hashtag Of The Entitlement Generation
I was just informed that using the word “slut” to describe a girl who uses so much birth control that she went broke is frowned upon.
— Ron Swanson (@ronswanson2012) March 9, 2012
Reader Tips
Oh no, little dinosaur, please don’t go.
The comments are open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
This Day In Sex Pistols History
March 9th, 1977 – Pistols sign to A&M Records.
March 9th, 2012 – John Lydon butter commercial.
Honey, I Finished The Internet
Just in time for November.
The Tolerant Left
Take Me, Obama
Obama documentarian Davis Guggenheim “I took a pay cut to make this.”
Via Townhall.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans
….as the bird carcasses pile up—two more dead golden eagles were recently found at the Pine Tree wind project in Southern California’s Kern County, bringing the number of eagle carcasses at that site to eight—the wind industry’s unofficial license to kill wildlife is finally getting some serious scrutiny.
Some 77 organizations—led by the American Bird Conservancy, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Endangered Species Coalition and numerous chapters of the Audubon Society—are petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to toughen the rules for the siting, permitting and operation of large-scale wind projects.
It’s about time. Over the past two decades, the federal government has prosecuted hundreds of cases against oil and gas producers and electricity producers for violating some of America’s oldest wildlife-protection laws: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Eagle Protection Act.
But the Obama administration—like the Bush administration before it—has never prosecuted the wind industry despite myriad examples of widespread, unpermitted bird kills by turbines. A violation of either law can result in a fine of up to $250,000 and imprisonment for two years.
h/t Ed S.
It’s Probably Nothing
THE GREEK private sector involvement (PSI) plan, the process under which banks and other bondholders will take losses, last night claimed sufficient take-up for collective action clauses (CAC) to be triggered, which would force all holders of Greek law bonds into the restructuring plan. If CACs are triggered this morning, where does this leave Greece?
The answer is, unfortunately, not in a much better position.
[…]
[E]ven if the 95 per cent participation rate [in the Greek law bond swap] is met and the banks are returned to some semblance of stability, this is still a terrible deal for both Greece and Eurozone taxpayers. It has sown the seeds of a major political and economic crisis at the heart of Europe, further threatening the stability of the Eurozone.
This would, perhaps, have been acceptable were it not for one nagging detail: this plan will not save Greece.
Via
Update: ISDA Says Greece In Default, CDS Will Trigger (h/t Nick)
Not Watching For The Asteroid
How did [Soledad O’Brien] get the definition? Here’s a clue – near the end of the interview, she couldn’t hear what Joel was saying because “someone was talking in my ear, so I couldn’t hear what you said.”
CBC: Not Safe For Work
SDA gets results!
Call it a victory for common sense. Radio-Canada, CBC’s French wing, has pulled its soft-porn web-TV series, Hard, from its Tou.tv website […]
Radio-Canada always denied the series was pornographic. CBC president and CEO Hubert Lacroix defended Hard, saying it was popular in France, good value for money, and perfectly in line with the CBC’s mandate.
…of screwing the taxpayers.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Sparky Cars
‘One of Fisker primary financial backers is venture captital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, of which Gore is a partner. Fisker received a $528.7 million conditional loan from Dept. of Energy’s…That’s a LOT of money to produce only 200-300 thus far, some of which seem to be lemons. This is the same company that caught flak because after it secured US govt financing, started assembling their cars in – Finland. Fisker Automotive seems headed for the same fate as Solyndra’
If Dr. Brian Day Were a Writer on The Simpsons
Dr. Brian Day is a Vancouver based surgeon who is a past president of the Canadian Medical Association. On his YouTube channel he recently published this video:
The Story Behind US Gas Price Pain
There is cheap oil available in the United States. You just have to be able to transport the crude from Cushing to your personal refinery to take advantage of it.
One final element is making matters worse: Refineries are currently starting to shift to producing spring-summer gasoline blends, which are lighter and therefore usually cost about 10¢ more per gallon than fall-winter blends. And this year, the quick refinery shutdowns needed to enact the seasonal shift are creating slight supply gaps because some of the “swing” refineries that usually help bridge the gap are no longer operating. For example, the Hovensa refinery in the US Virgin Islands – a joint venture between Hess Corp. (NYSE.HES) and Petroleos de Venezuela – used to produce extra volume during the seasonal transition, but it was closed down a few weeks ago after losing $1.3 billion over the last three years.
Read it all.
Reader Tips
The late John Wayne, in his starring role as the eponymous hero of the 1952 Warner Bros. feature film Big Jim McLain, provides our vicarious pleasure of the night, as he punches a country club communist in the face.
The comments are open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
“Not Showing Up To Riot” Is A Failed Conservative Policy
Indeed! “I don’t believe in a higher standard for conservatives. I think that’s a trap…”