The Spectator rundown on the lowdown on the skinny of the Senate races.  The most interesting part of it is George Allen is now downgraded to a toss-up.

No, we aren't paranoid.  The Dems actually do control the news media.

Tancredo Watch has picked up on the swipe he took at Lindsey last weekend.

When is someone going to finally get the message that these RINO Conservatives recruited to 'send a message' to misc. politicians are going down?  People aren't as extreme as the RINO Conservatives want you to think.

So Costner doesn't approve of the new movie about GWB.

My humble opinion is that GWB hit it out of the park last night with that speech.

I don't remember if I mentioned this several weeks ago when I was ranting about Olmert (I still would rather have Bibi there, but as I am not a voter in Israel, they need to live with their mistake.  As our two countries are joined at the hip - forever-more, so do we!) Where was I?  Oh, I don't know if I mentioned my thoughts on Syria.  Something occurred between Syria and Iran that started me thinking. Evidently Iran is pulling the strings for Syria.  From what I gather Syria's military isn't much, that Iran can over-run Syria whenever.  Is Assad afraid of Iran?  Did he help manipulate that incident today in order to wriggle into our good graces?  Seriously, is Assad ready to pull a Qaddafi and turn on Iran?  I keep wondering if Assad is afraid of Iran, he may just jump ship.  We all know the meeting between Iran and Iraq was orchestrated today by Iran to make GWB look bad.  What if, just what if what we did to Saddam may have the unforeseen consequence of causing other dictators to jump ship before we shock & awe them?

It's a little like the movie Tombstone where Wyatt Earp swears revenge against the Cowboys who are wearing red sashes in the film.  If he sees a cowboy wearing a red sash he is going to kill them.  May be the same thing.  Is Assad going to throw his red sash into the wind before Wyatt Earp Bush brings him down?  If so, then no matter what the Dems may try to say Iraq will be a success. 

I think we will know the outcome before very long.

Could be interesting.

Thanks to the Colorado Confidential for bringing us this breaking story.  Seems like TT has been busy addressing the League of the South.  According to the SPLC, on a day when we were remembering what happens when hate groups get out of hand, Tancredo was in Columbia, SC hanging with the League of the South.  The thing that makes me so angry is that the League of the South was once not an extremest group.  Up until a few years ago, nothing was wrong with a membership in the Sons of the Confederacy.  Because of the extremism, I'l allowed my UDC (United Daughters of the Confederacy) membership to lapse.  There's nothing wrong with honoring those who fought honorable for what they believed in, but you don't turn those organizations into political weapons of hate.  Until two years ago they were nothing but genealogical groups.  (And for total disclosure, I paid my DAR dues today).  Then, Tancredo began blasting Lindsey.   Let's face it, Tancredo sets out to destroy those he dislikes of those who cross him.  This is a very disturbing personality trait in someone who aspires to the Highest Office.  That trait alone should eliminate him.

"...Tancredo's appearance was part of a five-day sweep through conservative South Carolina, which hosts an early GOP primary and has seen the Southeast's largest percentage gain in foreign-born residents since the 2000 Census. Rising to his friendly audience, Tancredo blasted South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham for being too soft on immigration and basked in the long applause that followed his harangues against illegal immigrants and "the cult of multiculturalism" that glorifies disunity and refuses to acknowledge the "Christian principles enshrined in the U.S. Constitution." (Tancredo did not appear to grasp the irony of addressing the "lack of unity" in America in front of a group dedicated to Southern secession.)

The afternoon's proceedings were opened by Garland McCoy, board member of Americans Have Had Enough! McCoy, a veteran conservative activist and treasurer of the telecom industry front-group Progress and Freedom Foundation, declared he "has not been so excited" by a politician in a long time. "Tom Tancredo can go all the way," he said. Most in the crowd appeared to agree. "I brought my son here today to meet the next president of the United States," one man told Tancredo during the question-and-answer period..."

Sometimes there really are Dirk Pitt moments.  They started working on the ironclad H. L. Hunley today and removed the rear hatch.  Cool!

Okay, I admit it.  I 'stole' the Giuliani sticker from the Giuliani Blog.  I don't think they will mind!

The PA from LA has it right on immigration.  He links over to Called As Seen, and a Michael Medved's comment that if we lose the House..."Death Wish Republicans"

"...Consider for a moment the real example of Jimmy Carter, so beloved of Death Wish Republicans. Under his watch, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan (beginning a nightware from which we still haven't awakened), the Communist Sandinistas seized Nicaragua, and the Islamo-Nazi Mullahs deposed the Shah (with Carter's cooperation) and installed the fanatical regime that still threatens the world today. On the domestic front, Carter launched vast new governmental programs (including the utterly unnecessary new cabinet departments of Energy and Education) that neither Ronald Reagan nor any subsequent president has managed to eliminate. In other words, the appallingly inept Georgian did permanent damage to the country, both domestically and in foreign policy, from which all Americans still suffer, but the political gain for the GOP was merely temporary: by 1986, a mere six years after Carter left office, the Dems had regained control of the Senate and just six years after that they took back the White House (for two terms of Clinton). You can't build a successful political movement for the long term on the idea that you're going to turn over power to your opponents so they will proceed to wreck the country...."

I think there is more too it than immigration.  Called As Seen picks up on something I've been hinting at for weeks. Unfortunately I need to pick up several paragraphs so I can expound from there taking the Called As Seen post in an entirely different direction.

"...The moral aspect of this issue is very clear to me. This country was founded on the self-evident truth that "all men are created equal". As such, they had certain rights that came from God, including life, liberty, and the ability to pursue happiness. It came from the Declaration of Independence. Some of those rights were set forth in the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1789. I saw no exception on the basis of race or national origin in either of those documents. Indeed, the 14th Amendment made it doubly clear that no person was to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

Yet, these days, to be considered a conservative in good standing, I must embrace claims that the President and the United States Senate engaged in "treachery", that they supported the "dispossession"of the United States of America. It is a veiled way of calling those he disagrees with traitors. ...

It matters not that they deliberately mischaracterize the President's proposal as "amnesty" (there is punishment - it is just not the punishment demanded by people like zampolit Cella and others on his side of the debate)...."

Has anyone noticed what has been going on with that 'ultra' Tancredo wing of the GOP lately?  MM's appearance on O'Reilly is the perfect example.  The guy from the Girls Gone Wild has finally been picked up for something.  Let's face it, the man is a sleaze. But, MM's argument is that he was taking advantage of weak minded college girls.  They may be weak minded and most likely drunk, but they are not innocent and know perfectly well what they are doing.  Seems they busted this sleaze on using underage girls.  Fine.  I don't have a problem picking anyone up for that- BUT- if they are going after the jerk just because of 'taste' no. He has a right to be as sleazy as he wants.  People don't need to patronize him - put him out of business that way.  (BTW- looks like they are going after him on fraud, etc.  That's a legitimate way to take him down) But - to demand legislation because the girls aren't old enough to fend for themselves is just plain - well, it's just plain - Dem!

There, I said it.  Tancredo, Malkin, Hannity, Rush, Reagan, Romney, Allen, etc. (and their supporters) have become so conservative, so demanding of the government that they have lost sight of the fact that one of the facets of conservativitism is to keep the government out of our lives - as much as possible.  And the poor libertarians have become so demanding of rules and conservative regulations they are becoming the anti-libertarians.  Then Hannity complains that he wants a Reagan - Republican - Candidate.  These guys have gone so far right, they don't even recognize the words of Reagan when confronted with said words.

I digress....

Called As Seen mentions that "..."...The moral aspect of this issue is very clear to me. This country was founded on the self-evident truth that "all men are created equal". As such, they had certain rights that came from God, including life, liberty, and the ability to pursue happiness. It came from the Declaration of Independence. Some of those rights were set forth in the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1789. I saw no exception on the basis of race or national origin in either of those documents. Indeed, the 14th Amendment made it doubly clear that no person was to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law."  

I think this fits beautifully with my posting on The Subway Canaries dealing with conservative misrepresentation of the First Amendment and religious freedom. " James Madison:  "The purpose of the Constitution is to restrict the majority's ability to harm a minority." Federalist #10 and "The purpose of the Separation of Church and State is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries" James Madison, 1803. 

We should also note the following, that Jefferson thought the States should take precedence over the Federal when it came to matters of state and religion.  “I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling in religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. It must rest with the States, as far as it can be in any human authority (letter to Samuel Miller, Jan. 23, 1808).”