Rush calls for ‘Chaos:’ Limbaugh leads bid to wreak havoc in Dem race

Carla Marinucci / San Francisco Chronicle

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s crucial Pennsylvania primary victory last week came with the help of a patchwork of political support: working-class voters, seniors, white men, Catholics, women and — maybe even the Great Satan.

Rush Limbaugh may be his real name, but to millions of Democratic grassroots voters, especially on the left, the conservative icon who has been called the most influential radio broadcaster in America reigns as the political Prince of Darkness.

Even more so during a 2008 presidential race in which Limbaugh has assumed a new title, “commander,” as he heads a drive dubbed “Operation Chaos,” a gleeful and, he argues, increasingly successful effort to wreak havoc with the Democratic primary system and its candidates, Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Limbaugh’s effort, which began early this year, is a call to arms urging conservatives and Republican voters to re-register as Democrats — and create chaos in that party’s presidential nomination process by casting a vote.

The proof that it is working, Limbaugh says, is in the unusual turnout of turncoats: An estimated 100,000 GOP voters crossed over in last Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary. And he argues it’s no coincidence that TV networks last week appeared reluctant to rely on exit polling and waited more than an hour before calling a solid Keystone State win for Clinton. “Operation Chaos” loyalists have been following orders to mess with exit pollers en masse — by lying to them, Limbaugh says.

“The endgame is to see that neither of these candidates can win by virtue of the primaries,” Limbaugh told The San Francisco Chronicle last week. “One or the other will win only when the superdelegates decide who they want. And whoever the supers choose will infuriate the loser’s supporters. More chaos.”

Already, he notes, both Clinton and Obama have been “weakened — which was the objective,” and their negatives are both approaching 50 percent. He cheers the fact that Obama “hasn’t won a primary since Feb. 22 … and he has lost in seven of the 10 most populous states.”

So according to the broadcaster’s ambitious schedule, “Operation Chaos” is right on track: By the time the Democratic Party convention in Denver rolls around in August, he said, both Obama and Clinton “will be so bloodied and brought down to earth that neither can win in the general.”

It’s a plan — political theater, blatant self-promotion or dirty tricks, take your pick — that has some Democrats, already weary of their party’s presidential demolition derby, calling for his head, particularly after he told his listeners last week that Denver convention riots might be a nice finish to the Democratic contest.

“I hate him. I think having a ‘Rush Limbaugh’ vote is disgusting,” sighs Democratic Party activist Gloria Nieto, who heads the Silicon Valley Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Club. “What kind of model is that for our democracy — that people would hear someone on the radio saying, ‘Go screw with the Democrats!’ ”

Limbaugh insists liberals and the “drive-by media” played the crossover hand first to help Republican John McCain.

“For crying out loud, the media and the Democrats essentially chose McCain as our nominee!” he argues, insisting that they played a role in urging independents to cross over in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire to vote for McCain. “This is the kind of effectiveness they used to have a monopoly on … but no longer.”

Election panel approves petition to recall Kilpatrick

Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

DETROIT — Wayne County officials approved language for a recall campaign against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, green-lighting the second effort to oust him since the $8.4 million whistle-blower scandal broke this year.

The first never got started, after the language was rejected when Kilpatrick’s lawyers argued the petitioner didn’t live in the city.

Angelo Brown, 45, said he hopes to begin gathering the 56,970 required signatures as early as this week. The security guard, who lives in southwest Detroit, said he’s launching and financing the effort on his own. It’s a daunting task: He has 180 days to gather signatures; once he starts, they’re valid for 90 days. Working alone, that’s more than 600 signatures a day to meet the minimum to force a recall election.

“The conditions of the city are just getting worse and worse,” said Brown, who has campaigned for the City Council and Wayne County Commission. “We need leadership that can work on the city and not on the mayor’s problems.”

“We don’t need to be propping up the mayor.” more

Today, the Detroit Free Press ran an article where the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance and Andy Dillon lackeys are accusing each other of lying and breaking the law.

Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer held a Lansing news conference during which he played audio recordings he said prove that signature gatherers lied about the recall effort to get signatures. In one instance at a gas station in Redford Township, a circulator was recorded telling a would-be signer that the petition was about preventing a hike in the gas tax. There was no mention of recalling Dillon, Brewer said.

Drolet responded by accusing Dillon supporters of trying to block people from signing the petition by saying it would legalize gay marriage.

The MTA sent out the following YouTube clip in which a Dillon lackey tried to confuse a petition circulator by saying it could be to legalize gay marriage.

Friends,

Check out this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeyB_yAwbO4

On the video, convicted felon Marcel L. Mitchell and four other blockers are at the Redford Twp. library trying to stop citizens from signing the petition to recall Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon. Dillon and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer hired these blockers as “voter education specialists”.

Listen as one of these ‘voter educators’ tries to discourage a potential petition signer by saying that the petition may legalize gay marriage!

Brewer and Dillon are paying these thug blockers to lie to and scare voters – not educate them – and they are caught on tape doing that.

Remember that the blocker, Marcel L. Mitchell, is an eight-time convicted felon who, according to the Secretary of State, has never voted. Dillon and Brewer eventually were forced to fire Mitchell after The Detroit News reported on his multiple felony convictions (including armed robbery).

Unless recalling Speaker Dillon will somehow legalize gay marriage, these blockers are paid to lie, intimidate or do whatever it takes to stop petition signers.

Tomorrow, May 1st, citizens who collected the signatures to recall Speaker Andy Dillon will submit those signatures to the Secretary of State. The recall election will be held on August 5th, the same day as the scheduled primary election.

Leon Drolet
Executive Director
Michigan Taxpayers Alliance

From American Renaissance:

Plan Targets Anti-Western Lessons
Matthew Benson, Arizona Republic (Phoenix), April 17, 2008

Arizona public schools would be barred from any teachings considered counter to democracy or Western civilization under a proposal endorsed Wednesday by a legislative panel.

Additionally, the measure would prohibit students of the state’s universities and community colleges from forming groups based in whole or part on the race of their members, such as the Black Business Students Association at Arizona State University or Native Americans United at Northern Arizona University. Those groups would be forbidden from operating on campus.

{snip}

Pearce [Rep. Russell Pearce], a Mesa Republican, said his target isn’t diversity instruction, but schools that use taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate students in what he characterized as anti-American or seditious thinking. The measure is at least partially a response to a controversy surrounding an ethnic-studies program in the Tucson Unified School District, which critics have said is unpatriotic and teaches revolution.

SB 1108 states, “A primary purpose of public education is to inculcate values of American citizenship. Public tax dollars used in public schools should not be used to denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization.”

For schools that violate the anti-Western-teachings provision, the bill provides the state superintendent of public instruction with the authority to withhold a portion of state funding.

Rep. John Kavanagh, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said he hopes the measure helps return cultural studies in the state’s schools to a “melting pot” model.

“This bill basically says, ‘You’re here. Adopt American values,’” said Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican. “If you want a different culture, then fine, go back to that culture.”

{snip}

The result, said [Democratic] Rep. Pete Rios, would likely be a chilling effect on public instruction regarding diversity and other cultures.

The video above was posted on YouTube over a month ago (March 20, 2008).

The video below was posted on YouTube even earlier (March 14, 2008).

These videos are rather degenerate…

Only a Democrat would be scummy enough to propose a 1,500 percent increase in the beer tax.

From Richard Viguerie www.conservativehq.com:

Dear Fellow Conservative,

It’s safe to say that we’re all watching John McCain closely in trying to assess whether he’s worthy of our support this November.

Senator McCain’s done some good things in recent times, but he’s also committed some blunders that we, as conservatives, need to pay attention to.

Wednesday was one of those blunders.

McCain asked the North Carolina GOP not to run a television ad that highlighted Barack Obama’s ties to his Pastor of twenty years, Jeremiah Wright.

The ad did not involve the presidential election – it merely pointed out that the two Democratic candidates in the North Carolina governor’s race had both endorsed Obama, and that because of that, they were too extreme for conservative North Carolina.

Here’s a link to an article that discusses the situation.

If John McCain is intent on micromanaging the message of individual state parties, and at the same time unwilling to link his potential Democratic opponent with a revealing character issue, then it sheds doubt on whether he’s got the stomach to mount an effective and winning general election campaign.

McCain needs to tell why he should be president, but also why his opponent should not be president.

Seeing as this is a very important matter, we’ve set up a poll at ConservativeHQ.com where you can register your opinion on McCain’s latest blunder, as well as other issues important to conservatives.

Please take a few moments to tell us what you think. Thank you for helping us advance the conservative cause.

——————————————————

Rush Limbaugh chimes in:

On Today’s Show…

Show Highlight: Sen. McCain shows us who he is by attacking the North Carolina Republican Party’s Obama ad. It’s not racist! In New Orleans, McCain ripped President Bush on Katrina, but gave local Democrats a pass. What an ego! He’s appealing to liberals by using conservatives as foils. (Rush 24/7 Members: Listen Here)
» Now Shipping from the EIB Store: Operation Chaos T-shirts, Caps, and Stickers
» Watch the NC Ad That, Without OpChaos, Wouldn’t Exist: Extreme

Pearl of Wisdom: “Senator McCain owes us an explanation. Tell us what is racist about this North Carolina ad. He sounds just like a liberal, asking that we make inferences about the North Carolina Republican Party and the people that run it.”
» Parody: Citizen McCain » Visit: PaulShanklin.com

Pearl of Wisdom: “If Senator McCain is campaigning not as a Republican or conservative — but as a ‘maverick,’ and an ‘independent’ — why shouldn’t we behave in the same way? Why do we have to fall in line with whatever he dictates?”

We’re All Mavericks Now: McCain has no interest in rebuilding the Republican Party as an institution. He intends, instead, to use it to achieve his ends and leave it in whatever state it is when he is done. (Rush 24/7 Members: Listen Here)
» Arnold Ahlert: “Man Up,” Sen. McCain

Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s interview with Bill Moyers is the beginning of a campaign to sanitize him and portray him as harmless. One thing Wright told Moyers is true: Obama is just “a politician.” He’s not the Messiah. (Rush 24/7 Members: Listen Here)
» NewsBusters: Obama’s Official Blogger a Communist?

TOM WALSH

Time for an honest chat about trade

BY TOM WALSH • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • April 24, 2008

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How much did Sen. Barack Obama’s ill-chosen words about embittered small-town people clinging to anti-trade and anti-immigration sentiments out of frustration with the U.S. economy have to do with his 10-point thumping by Sen. Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary? OAS_AD(‘ArticleFlex_1′);

Hard to say. We’ll know more after Indiana votes May 6.

What’s certain after Clinton’s big win, however, is that we face at least another month of desperate tactics to capture every possible Democratic delegate, which means another month of dumbing down the debate about serious issues to simple, misleading sound bites.

Of particular concern is the topic of trade, a pretty big deal in the fast-changing global economy where the United States is floundering these days.

Trade is something of a dirty word this political season. Both Clinton and Obama have badmouthed the 14-year-old North American Free Agreement between the United States and friendly neighbors Mexico and Canada. Both oppose ratification of a free trade pact with South Korea, one of a dwindling number of staunch American allies.

So steady is the drumbeat of anti-trade invective that even U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, a Republican from Oakland County who voted for NAFTA and other free trade deals, may oppose the Korean accord if a vote comes.

Knollenberg spokesman Nate Bailey said key elements of the Korea pact — big reductions in Korean duties on imports of U.S. beef, oranges, cars and trucks in exchange for elimination of the fairly tiny 2.5% U.S. tariff on cars — look good. But he said Knollenberg is worried about enforcement of the pact.

What Bailey didn’t say, and didn’t have to, is that Knollenberg represents a district with a lot of auto industry workers and companies going through hard times. And even as a Republican who doesn’t normally feel compelled to genuflect to the UAW on trade matters, Knollenberg is savvy enough to know that most Americans — rightly or wrongly — link job losses in manufacturing to globalization and to free trade. more

Fight to recall Dillon grows nasty

Accusations of harassment fly

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF and DAWSON BELL • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • April 25, 2008

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On paper, the campaign to recall House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, is hard-nosed democracy in action. OAS_AD(‘ArticleFlex_1′);

On the streets of Redford Township and Dearborn Heights, it has been a seething, name-calling scrum of public rallies, court fights, verbal confrontations and charges of deception, law-breaking and police harassment.

Once aimed at a dozen lawmakers who voted for tax increases last fall, the recall effort has narrowed to make an example of Dillon alone.

The stakes are large: The possible demise of a House leader who was considered a potential candidate for governor, or vindication of Democratic control and the $1.4-billion tax increase to balance the state budget.

It’s turned Dillon’s marginally Republican, middle-class district into a battleground of petty skirmishes and even undercover spies.

“The residents are tired of it. I hear it every day,” said Redford Township Supervisor Miles Handy, an unabashed Dillon supporter.

“Tell them to turn in the petitions right now so we can get on with it. Andy Dillon will be very successful. He’s very popular, and he will win overwhelmingly,” Handy said.

Leon Drolet, a leader of the recall campaign and a Macomb County commissioner, said Dillon and his allies aren’t behaving like they think he’s too popular to be ousted.

Recall opponents hired crews to thwart signature collection — including, as it turned out this week, at least one man with a lengthy criminal record. And they went to court to try to stop the petition drive for alleged violations of election law.

Drolet said the campaign is following the law and will collect sufficient signatures by May 1 to force a recall vote.

“Their intent is to keep it off the ballot by any means necessary,” said Drolet, a former Republican legislator.

The campaign must turn in 8,724 valid signatures by Thursday to put the recall on the Aug. 5 primary ballot.

Dillon’s counter-campaign, aided by the state Democratic Party, has worked to discourage potential petition signers. Often, citizens have been besieged by recall petitioners and then Dillon advocates cajoling them to not sign petitions.

Harassment complaints

Drolet accused Handy and police of harassing petitioners. Dillon tried to halt the petition campaign, but Wayne County Circuit Chief Judge William Giovan ordered only that the petitioners obey campaign laws.

“We can’t even eat lunch in Redford anymore because Boss Hogg will pull us over and issue a warning,” said Drolet, referring to a “Dukes of Hazzard” character known for abusing the law.

Handy said township police responded to citizens’ complaints about home improvement scam artists and recall petitioners who looked suspicious.

Handy said it’s an affront to voters for Drolet and other outsiders to try to recall Dillon.

“I think it’s heavy-handed that an elected official from Macomb County would try to come in here and influence our voters,” Handy said.

Drolet said Rose Bogaert, chair of the Wayne County Taxpayers Association and a resident of Dillon’s district, asked for his help.

Dillon said recall advocates have deceived citizens to get signatures and have driven past his home and videotaped his children in front.

“I don’t think my district wants to recall me,” he said.

The recall campaign hired Joe Munem, a Macomb County antitax activist, to videotape police and Dillon supporters as they tried to convince people not to sign.

Munem had a busy day April 15, recording a pig roast and rally of several hundred Dillon backers at a park. The same day, he taped a demonstration by recall and antitax activists at the Redford post office.

Who’s gathering, signing?

Dillon supporters say a key question is whether the recall campaign is gathering illegal signatures.

Undercover investigators hired by the Democratic Party observed Detroit residents being paid to sign and circulate petitions in violation of state law, said party Chairman Mark Brewer.

Brewer said the investigators chronicled campaign law violations in affidavits. The alleged violations, he said, will be presented in court “at the appropriate time,” a sign that the legal fight will be renewed if the recall submits its signatures.

Drolet said some campaign workers were fired for improper signature-gathering. The campaign hires people from outside Dillon’s district to comb neighborhoods for potential signers, he acknowledged, but then they turn the names over to district residents to gather their signatures, as required by law.

Drolet said the recall effort is paying $10,000 to National Ballot Access, a Georgia firm that has coordinated petition drives for conservative ballot issues in other states. National Ballot will get another $3,000 if the drive succeeds, Drolet said.

Drolet won’t predict whether voters will remove Dillon. “Right now, all I care about is qualifying for the ballot.”

Dillon said it won’t happen.

“I can’t imagine they’ll have enough valid signatures,” he said. But if they do? “I think we’ll be able to beat it.”

Contact CHRIS CHRISTOFF at 517-372-8660 or christoff@freepress.com.

State Rep. Andy Dillon says recall advocates deceived people.

Bangor Township teacher, Matt Sawicki announced his candidacy for US Congress Tuesday night at the Bay County Lincoln Day Dinner.

The battle between Sawicki and Dale Kildee is sure to be a spirited one!

From Saul’s 4-23 morning update:

The Bay County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner was a great success. Republicans from around the county and neighboring counties joined GOP Chairman Matt Lance, who did a great job!

U.S. Senate candidate Jack Hoogendyk and GOP Congressional candidate Matt Sawicki also addressed the Bay County dinner.

Michigan Republican Party Chair, Saul Anuzis is scheduled to debate paleolibertarian Buchanan supporter Justin Raimondo at the Republican Liberty Caucus National Convention.

The debate is scheduled for Saturday September 13th at 1pm in Detroit at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Romulus.

Dear Friend,

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Bob is excited by the opportunity to campaign alongside the talented volunteers who are actively working towards his nomination should he choose to run. Incredible people from the Reagan ‘80, Perot ‘92/’96 and Paul ‘08 campaigns are eager to continue the revolution with Bob.

Liberty deserves such experienced leadership. Our moment is now.

With your energy and support we can assemble an influential campaign aimed directly at the authoritarian establishment.

Help Bob enter the race for President of the United States with a running start.

Please take one of the following steps today:

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• Make a contribution. $100. $50. Even $25 will help us reach our next milestone and advance our effort to build a national campaign to support Bob’s candidacy.

Towards Liberty,

BobBarr2008.com Staff

BRIAN DICKERSON

Alienating new voters in Michigan

BY BRIAN DICKERSON • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • April 23, 2008

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If you’re a young voter energized by Barack Obama’s historic presidential candidacy, you probably thought the Michigan Democratic Party had run out of ways to make you feel marginalized. OAS_AD(‘ArticleFlex_1′);

After all, state party leaders have already put on the only Democratic primary in the country that didn’t include your candidate (although Obama surely bears his share of the blame for that fiasco).

Then, when you gamely followed state Democratic chair Mark Brewer’s instructions to express your presidential preference by voting for the Uncommitted slate, national party leaders assured you that none of the votes cast in Michigan’s rump primary would count.

So it’s not like you didn’t know which way the wind was blowing when state Democratic Party regulars gathered in 15 district conventions last Saturday to select members of a Michigan delegation that may never be seated at August’s Democratic National Convention.

But just in case you still didn’t understand how insignificant your role in the Democratic Party’s democratic process really is, the party had one more surprise up its sleeve. more

According to a reliable source who has worked with the McCain campaign, McCain’s people contemplated pressing criminal charges against members of the Michigan State University chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom (MSU-YAF) for the protest that the conservative campus organization did of Senator McCain when he visited MSU to give a speech on January 13, 2008. The video of that protest can be seen below.

According to the source, John McCain’s wife was upset, because members of MSU-YAF allegedly yelled at her that her husband “is a liberal.” No physical contact was made, and protesters were no closer than 15 feet away from Mrs. McCain, who arrived to the event prior to her husband.

For being an allegedly battle-hardened war hero*, McCain sure is a prissy if he contemplated pressing charges against people for participating in political discourse.

A Plant In Our Midst?

The talk among Republicans on Tuesday continued to be speculation that a Detroit News story last week highlighting how the Michigan Republican Party (MRP) started 2008 $250,000 in debt was shopped to the national media by political operative John YOB, a John McCAIN staffer.

Republican sources claim they’ve talked to or have communicated with national reporters that have led them to believe Yob is planting the story as part of the on-going power struggle between MRP Chair Saul ANUZIS and former Michigan Republican Committeeman Chuck YOB, Yob’s father.

Adding fuel to the fire was a posting Monday by the Michigan Conservative Dossier political blog titled “McCain operatives using campaign to settle political scores”. The post quotes an anonymous state committee member as saying Yob planted the story, and that Yob allies Glenn CLARK and Matt HALL “helped prep those quoted in the story.”

John Yob didn’t answer calls to his cell phone or respond to an e-mail sent to his address at McCain headquarters. But Clark, the chair of the 9th Congressional Republican Party, scoffed at word of the rampant rumors, telling MIRS “I don’t know anything about what you’re talking about.”

“In Lansing, if somebody says something in an elevator, five minutes later it’s all over the Capitol,” Clark said. “Fortunately, Lansing is a small town.”

He pointed out that information of the MRP’s finances were available on the Secretary of State Web site. It’s not exactly secret information and the story was timely seeing the MRP committee met over the weekend. “

These are public statements. It doesn’t take Deep Throat, Woodword or Bernstein to read those,” Hall said. Hall added the information on the blog was “absolutely false.” “I’m not sure where this is coming from,”

Hall said. “I’ve got better things to do electing Republicans than getting involved in this.”

MRP Spokesman Bill NOWLING acknowledged that the MRP did start the year using its line of credit because the heated primary between McCain and Mitt ROMNEY sucked away a lot of the money the party traditionally has been able to raise in off years.

He called the January 2008 report the News story was based off of as “a snapshot of the end of last year, not a snapshot of last Wednesday.”

On the Yob rumor, Nowling said, “I couldn’t possibly comment,” but added, “if the Democrats fought us as hard and as intently as some people within the party fight us, we’d never win an election. They would rather spend their time infighting than defeating Democrats.”

Clark said the Republican Party is unified, raising money and getting strong for November. McCain is the party’s nominee while the other party is still tearing itself apart over its nomination.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:
Dennis Lennox, (xxx) xxx-xxxx
campaign@dennisfornorthernmichigan.com

TOPINABEE, Mich. – Republican State House candidate Dennis Lennox vowed to save taxpayers $394 million a year by cracking down on the 200,000 illegal aliens living in Michigan.

His plan includes:

- Cutting funding for social programs that support illegal aliens.

- Setting up a State Police website for citizens to report the whereabouts of illegal aliens.

- Amending the Michigan Constitution of 1963 to make English the state’s official language.

- New laws punishing those who knowingly hire illegal aliens with fines and jail sentences for repeat offenders.

- Cutting state funding to Detroit, Ann Arbor, and other sanctuary cities for illegal aliens.

“Instead of helping the hard-working people struggling to make it with Michigan’s economic woes, Lansing is providing taxpayer-funded services to illegal aliens,” said Lennox. “This is a serious problem that needs a serious solution.”

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Michigan taxpayers paid $394 million to educate, treat and incarcerate illegal aliens in 2006.

“Michigan’s economy has been hit hard with recession. It is an injustice to the people of Michigan that their taxes are going to the funding of services for illegal aliens,” said Lennox.

“As northern Michigan’s next state representative, I will stand for law and order.”

Lennox is running for 105th District seat being vacated by Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer (R-Kewadin). The 105th District comprises of Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan and Otsego counties.

Paid for by Dennis Lennox for State Representative P.O. Box 232, Topinabee, MI 49791 http://www.dennisfornorthernmichigan.com/

UPDATE: I have had a few phone calls and emails from party leaders. One of them Saul Anuzis who asked me to take down the post. I have checked and double checked and I believe the information to be accurate, so I will not be removing the post.

*BREAKING*
Heading into a strong anti-Republican headwind this fall, the McCain campaign has a tough challenge to reach 270 electoral votes to win. But it is possible. Especially given that a state like Michigan should be in play. As Democrats rush to nominate Obama, the opportunity for McCain’s message to win among working-class families strengthens. Still it’ll be hard. Michigan has not gone red in a Presidential Election since 1988.

What will ensure a McCain failure is if his own operatives sabotage his effort. In Michigan, we’re used to the Yob faction snipping at the heels of Republican efforts. Usually on the outside and without significant impact upon a campaign’s outcome. But 2008 is different.

Now on the inside of the McCain campaign, the efforts of both Yobs to use the campaign for their own personal agenda is seriously starting to show how its undermining victory.

First, they planted the story in the Detroit News on Friday about the MI GOP’s fundraising. This was confirmed by a state committee member. Not only did John Yob plant the story with a national writer, but Glenn Clark (also a paid consultant to McCain) and Matt Hall helped prep those quoted in the story. All of them did this without ever calling state party. They showed no effort to help the team. Then again, why yell turn around when the knife fits between the shoulder blades with ease.

How does it help McCain for President to attack a swing state party?

Next, Yob leaks to The Atlantic that the last remaining Regional Campaign Manager, responsible for the Great Lakes Region (Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin) is going to be Jennifer Hollawell. The campaign has not released this information nor confirmed this. But John Yob needs to continue to feed reporter’s his leaks in order to manipulate the planting of his stories.

How does it help McCain for President to leak internal personal hiring decisions?

Meanwhile, Chuck Yob continues to gloat that as a member of the “RNC McCain Eleven” the only members of the RNC to support McCain prior to his securing of the nomination, that he’ll be the next RNC Chairman appointed by a President McCain. Now for the 157 members of the RNC that didn’t initially support McCain, this continues to make it difficult to obtain unity.

How does it help McCain for President to continually stir up strife and ill-will among RNC members?

This march of madness by the Yobs through the McCain campaign makes one wonder about the leadership of the campaign. It also makes it clear winning is going to be tough with the Yobs still standing in the doorway to victory. And it continues to make one wonder why anyone finds their personal agendas so appealing.

Nonetheless, we still need to find a way to make Michigan go red. If not, we’ll know one reason we lost…and maybe a President Obama will send the Yobs away as Ambassadors. They’ll have earned it.

Read the story here.

The desire to spread democracy abroad is not exclusive to contemporary neoconservative ideology. During the 5th century BC, a superpower that was plagued with politicians who exhibited hubris that is not dissimilar to the hubris of warmongering neoconservatives caused war to roil the ancient world.

Sparta and Athens were two of the many city-states that existed in ancient Greece. The relations between the two city-states were strained prior to the start of the Peloponnesian War, which was started in 431 BC. For example, according to Thucydides, who lived during the Peloponnesian War, a helot (slave) revolt occurred in Sparta in 465 BC. Sparta called upon her allies to aid in the suppression of the revolt, and when the Athenian military showed up to assist the Spartans, the Spartans refused to allow the Athenian soldiers to enter the city for fear that the Athenians would betray the Spartans and aid the slaves in their rebellion. Out of all the city-states that provided soldiers to aid Sparta, only the Athenians were prevented from taking part in the conflict.

Sparta and Athens never trusted one another, which is evidenced with how Sparta rejected Athenian military support during the helot revolt. Relations between the two city-states declined further when Athens relocated the helots who won their freedom in the uprising to a city near Sparta. The intentions of Athens were unclear to Sparta, which contributed to diplomatic problems.

Another action that Athens took that worried Sparta was when the Athenians began construction on a wall around Athens during the Persian Wars (499-448 BC). Sparta, which fought the Persians as an ally of Athens during that war, objected to the building of the walls, but Athens went ahead and built them anyways.

In 461 BC, which is 30 years prior to the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians expanded their walls to connect the city of Athens to the nearby sea to ensure that supplies would always be able to reach them from their navy. These new walls were completed in 457 BC, and upon completion, gave the Athenians an aura of invincibility.

In 435 BC, which is only four years prior to the Peloponnesian War, Athens placed economic sanctions on the nearby city-state of Megara. This city was an ally of Sparta, and the economic sanctions placed on them by Athens destroyed the economy there. Athens did this, because Megara refused to join the Athenian empire. Just like President Bush’s decree that other countries are “either with us or against us,” the hubristic Athenians felt the same way. Needless to say, the way Athens hurt Sparta’s ally infuriated the Spartans.

The incident where Athens threatened Sparta’s security by relocating the helots to a nearby city, the building of the city walls, nor the economic sanctions were the cause of the Peloponnesian War. According to historian Victor Hanson, who wrote A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War, “Sparta feared the Athenians [as] they grew more powerful, seeing [that] most of Greece was already subject to them.” Spartan power was diminishing compared to that of Athens, and what lead to war is evident:

“Spartans had . . . seen Athenian-inspired democracy spread throughout the Aegean and Asia Minor in the 450s BC. . . How threatening these purported demonstrations of Athenian power really did not matter; Sparta was convinced that they represented a systematic and dangerous new aggression. Innate ethnic and linguistic differences between Ionian Athenians and Doric Spartans might have been mitigated, but democratic imperialism on the move was another challenge altogether. The Spartans might have lived with the existence of Athenian imperialism. They had done so for much of the earlier fifth century. But once Athens began to combine its lust for power with a radical ideology for the support for democracy abroad, Sparta rightly concluded that the threat transcended mere armed rivalry and promised to infect the very hearts and minds of Greeks everywhere.”

Hanson continues:

“In the strength of her navy, in the members of her merchant ships, in wealth, resources, and fame, Athens was supreme. Her ambitions seemed limitless. More and more the Athenians began to dream of a western as well as an Aegean maritime empire.”

The Peloponnesian War raged for nearly 30 years, and it became evident that Sparta would eventually win the conflict when city-states that were allied with Athens became neutral in the conflict as the Spartans achieved victories. As the Spartans advanced, these city-states reevaluated their stances of the war to avoid the prospect that they be on the losing side of the conflict. This is analogous with how European states like Spain pulled their troops out of Iraq after facing Islamic terrorist attacks in their own countries.

In one decisive victory, Spartan forces captured 7,000 soldiers who were fighting on behalf of the Delian League, which was to Athens what NATO is to the United States. The leaders of the Delian soldiers, Nicias and Demosthenese, were both executed, and the prisoners spent ten weeks in captivity before being sold into slavery. After this victory for the Spartans, many neutral city-states joined the conflict on Sparta’s side, and some city-states that were members of the Delian League revolted against Athens, believing that their defeat was soon to happen. This demoralized the Athenian people and expedited Spartan victory.

In 404 BC, the once invincible Athens was defeated, and Sparta became the hegemonic ruler of ancient Greece. Democracy was overthrown in Athens and replaced with an oligarchy, which was comprised of 30 tyrants who severely restricted the liberties of the Athenian people. Athenian prisoners were put on trial, and hundred of them were sentenced to be executed, while thousands more were forced to live in exile from Athens. Athens, in her zeal to impose her will on foreign peoples, was ruined forever.

Spartans fought a necessary war to preserve their sovereignty, while the Athenians fought, just as the neoconservatives do, an elective war to impose democracy on foreigners. I highly doubt that an Athenian would think that attempting to shove democracy down the throats of foreigners was worth it when all was said and done.

At the time of the writing of this column, 4039 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the war began March 19, 2003. Well respected economist Joseph Stiglitz has estimated that the Iraq War will cost the United States at least $3 trillion, but after factoring in the cost of weapons, future health-care costs for veterans of the conflict, interest on foreign loans used to fund the war, and future borrowing, the cost of spreading democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan will be somewhere between $5 trillion and $7 trillion. Al-Qaeda, which did not exist in Iraq prior to the American invasion of the country, has operations there now. According to the Associated Press in an article entitled “Analysts: Al-Qaeda Back to Pre-9/11 Strength” (7/12/2007), the terrorist organization responsible for the worst terrorist attack ever committed on American soil is recruiting people into their ranks faster than our country can kill them, because our involvement in the Middle East is fueling anti-American sentiment. Al-Qaeda is growing in strength not in spite of efforts by the United States, but because of it.

Is democracy-mongering worth it? Are the costs associated with imposing democracy on goat-herding, Bedouin, camel jockeys worth it?

Free-speech advocate Max Karson of the University of Colorado turned 22 today. He is best known for his politically incorrect activities which include being involved with the satirical newspaper The Yeti, being arrested for voicing his opinion in a Women’s Studies course, and most recently, for writing a column for the student newspaper of his school which is entitled “If It’s War the Asians Want, It’s War They’ll Get.”

Because he makes statements that are not in line with the politically correct orthodoxy that is common on his college campus, he has faced persecution. Left-wing diversity Nazis started a website, http://www.in-solidarity.com/, to try to stifle Karson’s right to free speech. This website raises money by selling “In Solidarity” t-shirts, has an online petition that people can sign to condemn Karson’s “words of hate” and accuses Karson of being “racist, misogynistic, and homophobic,” and links to the “Plan of Action in Response to Max Karson’s Hate Speech Global” Facebook group which has over 500 members.

As seen in the YouTube video below, left-wing activists have rallied to denounce Karson and his activities:

The Chancellor of the University of Colorado, G.P. “Bud” Peterson, issued a statement to condemn Karson’s article. In his statement, he apologized to the Asian-American community for Karson’s article, described the article as using “hateful language,” and ignoring the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, stated that he will have “the Dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. . . review this matter, to meet with the management of the Campus Press and to consider what steps are appropriate to account for what was published.”

The Advisory Board of the Agency for Human Rights and Community Relations of the City and County of Denver issued a formal statement to condemn Max Karson’s article. In their statement, they write:

The Advisory Board is also concerned with the timing of this article. The Japanese American Community is preparing to honor their elders and ancestors on Sunday through the Day of Remembrance. The experience of being interned in camps simply because of ancestry and ethnicity is truly a most painful Japanese American experience. That dark period in the history of this country was a human rights atrocity and the Campus Press has disregarded the tremendous pain felt during the anniversary of that historical crime by publishing the article now.

I think the cowardly secret attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the cannibalism practiced by Japanese soldiers during World War II, and the ways the Japanese treated their captives make the internment of Japanese citizens in the United States seem mundane in comparison.

You can find links to various condemnations of Max Karson and his article on the In Solidarity website.

The irony of the situation is that Max Karson is not a racist and wrote the satirical column to raise attention to what he believes to be racism on his campus. His statement was posted on Facebook:

I don’t mind offending people. Sometimes it’s necessary to offend in order to provoke thought about difficult subjects. For example, in my “Asians” piece, I poked fun at Asian stereotypes for the purpose of mocking racist white people who never bother to understand or even consider Asian cultures and race relations at the University of Colorado.

And I can deal with the fact that most people don’t read my writing before condemning it. I can deal with people thinking I’m racist. I can deal with the fact that nearly all of my fellow editors at Campus Press have publicly denounced the decision to publish my piece. I can even deal with the death threats.

Up until Wednesday, I felt good about the conversations taking place. I had set out with the goal of sparking dialogue about racism at CU, and that’s what I did. When I found out there was an anti-racism rally organized by the Facebook group, “Plan for Action in Response to Max Karson’s Hate Speech,” I was thrilled. I’ve been at CU for almost two years now, and rarely do I see people of different colors band together in such large numbers.

I went to the rally full of excitement because I thought that the public conversation was going to move forward to the subject of racial tension at CU — a subject that is consistently ignored by the general public, school officials and the media. But as the event organizers got up and gave their speeches, I felt my insides sink.

Every single speech was focused on my writing. They called it racist, insisted that it was not satire, and demanded that we reject hate speech as a community. The opportunity to bring new stories and ideas to the conversation was wasted on an hour of angry protests against my jokes ridiculing Asian stereotypes.

And that’s what I can’t stand. I can’t stand that people would rather gossip about me than tell their own stories about racism. I can’t stand that the people who experience racism every day would rather waste their energy on demanding the suppression of clearly protected speech instead of adding their own speech to the mix. I can’t stand that our student leaders are simply giving more ammo to the angry conservatives who claim that liberals always suppress dissenting speech.

The sad irony of their CU-sanctioned protest was succinctly put into words by David Chiu: “We as a community seek the immediate resignation of the Campus Press staff and university faculty responsible for the publication of these articles. We do not want a scapegoat offered up for sacrifice to meet the demands of an infuriated public.”

Yes, David, you do want a scapegoat. I stood there and watched the attending university officials smile and nod while you spoke. Do you know why they were smiling? Because even though they’re the ones in charge of the racist hell-hole we call CU, you still managed to blame the hateful attitudes of thousands of people on a dorky, smart-mouthed kid with authority problems.

And your solution, of course, is the same as theirs. You think that if you shut me up, you’ll be one step closer to the “hate-free environment” you dream of. It reminds me of when university officials apologize for my piece instead of apologizing for the fact that minority students don’t feel safe at their school, and when the CU Student Union passed a self-aggrandizing resolution to condemn racist writing instead of encouraging public dialogue on the subject.

Racism has been driven underground and institutionalized over the past several decades. The days of hood-wearing and cross-burning, at least in Boulder, are over. Now racism lives in policies and micro-messages such as looks, remarks, and avoidance.

If you really want to fight racism, you have to allow people to express it, and then you have to engage it, not stomp it back into invisibility. No matter how much it hurts us, open dialogue is the answer.

My job as a journalist is to create that open dialogue by amplifying the voices of students — even students with racist or other hateful ideas that I disagree with. Your job as an activist is to engage those ideas with community dialogue, and if you find them hurtful or upsetting, to try to change the minds of the people who espouse them.

Now let’s get back to work.

Despite the assault on his right to free speech, Max Karson has stood firm. While very vocal left-wingers are standing “In Solidarity” against Karson’s right to free speech, the silent majority of America is standing in solidarity with Karson.

For more coverage about the Karson controversy, see the YouTube video below:

From the Associated Press:

It seems that American politicians are more concerned with serving the interests of foreign peoples rather than the interests of their constituents. As American jobs are exported overseas and what jobs that remain are taken by people who immigrate to the United States, one can only wonder how soon it will be until the United States collapses. When the “shining city upon a hill,” as Ronald Reagan called the country he loved in his farewell address, falls economically, but more importantly culturally, a new Dark Age will begin for the world. The only course of action that can stop America from falling is if politicians in Washington begin to put their country’s interests first.

Since 1965, the United States has welcomed immigrants into the United States from mostly non-European countries, and more recently, has encouraged these immigrants to not assimilate into American society, but rather, to retain their foreign culture, because this contributes to diversity and multiculturalism. It is argued by some people—mainly elitists—that diversity is not just a strength for our society, but is actually the greatest strength. Rational people, on the other hand, feel that diversity should not be celebrated, because it contributes to nothing more than balkanization in which a homogenous and unified population is replaced with heterogeneity and division. If diversity truly was a benefit for society, then the biblical story in which God creates diversity in Babel by preventing the citizens of that town from communicating in the same language does not make sense, for the construction of the Tower of Babel would have been sped up and not hindered by the alleged advantage of diversity.

Regardless of the simplicity of the concept of putting America’s interests first, politicians in Washington seem to have a problem with understanding it. For example, when it comes to immigration, the one thing that we should have learned from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 is that there are people in this country who should not be here. Instead of learning the lesson of the terrorist attacks, our politicians continue to deny that mass and illegal immigration are problems and our borders remain porous. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, two of the 19 September 11th terrorists were here on expired visas and at least six of the others had broken as least one immigration law. By ignoring the threat that mass and illegal immigration pose to the American people, and by not enforcing immigration law, American politicians are betraying the people they were elected into office to serve.

When it comes to improving infrastructure, it might be better to build hospitals for our aging population, schools for the next generation, and newer bridges in the United States so that they do not collapse, rather than building schools, hospitals, bridges, and whatnot in the Anbar province of Iraq. It is an injustice to the American people that they are forced by their government to pay taxes so that their government can have funds to better the lives of foreign peoples.

One of the many errors of liberalism and neoconservatism is that the two ideologies promote democracy abroad. Democracy, self-rule, and liberty are traits of Western civilization, and it is wrong to believe that our civilization is universal in that foreigners can behave, think, and act like us. What many Americans see as “universal rights” is precisely the same thing that our enemies see as American imperialism, which contributes to resentment of the United States abroad. If it is wrong for Muslims to impose Sharia law on non-Muslims, it is equally wrong for Westerners to impose democracy on Muslims. Not only are Muslims incapable of handling democracy, but our attempts to force them to become democratic only encourage them to terrorize the American people.

Democracy has never existed in the Middle East, and it will never exist in the Middle East. Neoconservative politicians argue that Afghanistan has been turned into a democracy, because people there vote; however, it was the new allegedly “democratic” government there that tried to execute a man for converting to Christianity. Democratists argue that Turkey is a functioning secular democracy; however, I doubt that the Armenians whom the Turks slaughtered or the Kurds who are persecuted there would agree with that assessment. The Islamic people are incapable of being democratic.

The genius of the United States’ traditional foreign policy is that the country opposed regimes—be they democratic or totalitarian—if they opposed America’s interests, and supported regimes—be they democratic or totalitarian—if they supported America’s interests. For example, the United States was supportive of Augusto Pinochet in Chile when he overthrew the democratically elected communist Salvador Allende. The United States entered into a military and trade alliance with the benevolent dictator Francisco Franco of Spain during the Cold War, but had weak relations with democratic India, because India was supportive of the Soviet Union. Believe it or not, there was once a time in American history when American leaders put their country’s interests first and ignored the wellbeing of foreigners.

In contemporary times, the Western world has become post-modern in that Occidental countries now seem to preoccupy their time with promoting human rights in backwards countries, putting an end to the various genocides in Africa, bringing economic stability to Third World countries, and in short, doing everything possible to serve the interests of foreigners. Western countries even have gone to war to serve the interests of foreigners. For example, when Slobodan Milosevic united his people to oppose the Islamic conquest of his country, NATO intervened. Milosevic was painted as a war criminal, because he did not subscribe to the notion that Muslim invaders should be able to seize his country’s territory. Because of NATO’s intervention, Kosovo was inevitably able to secede from Serbia. The once Eastern Orthodox Christian country has been ripped apart by Westerners who aided the Islamists in their conquest. The real criminal is not Milosevic, but the Western politicians who committed cultural treason by aiding Islamic conquerors. These Western politicians are to Westerners what the Kapos were to the Jews during World War II.

In Kosovo today, Christian churches are being destroyed by the Islamic invaders, Serbians are attacked by ethnic Albanian Muslims, and the national monuments of Serbia are vandalized. If Saladin were alive today, he would be shocked with how much the Western will has decayed. Allowing Islamic invaders to steal Serbian territory is no different than allowing Chechnyan terrorists to steal Russian territory or Mexicans to steal the American southwest. Hopefully, when New Mexico and California eventually try to secede from the United States, NATO will not intervene when Americans rise up to defend their land.

The aid Western countries give to their enemies as they are being conquered is similar to the end of Jean Raspail’s book, The Camp of the Saints. In his book, hordes of immigrants conquer Europe, and when only about 20 Westerners are left who defend their civilization, the French Air Force sends in fighter jets to kill the last remaining Westerners. I do not understand why Western civilization is so devoted to committing suicide. Richard the Lionheart and Godfrey de Bouillon would be disgusted with what the West has become.