Announcing "The Liberator Today"

I am starting a new blog, "The Liberator Today." It is named after the influential abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator," founded by William Lloyd Garrison, pictured at left. Although he never held public office, his outspoken and articulate rhetoric against slavery was instrumental in that institution's demise.

Hope you come on over and pay a visit.

Congratulations to President Elect Obama

Congratulations to the new President-elect. His team ran a superior campaign. In his gracious acceptance speech, John McCain asked all Americans to work with the new President to help solve our nations problems. I will certainly make my voice heard and continue my day job, which I believe serves our country, in its small way.

Also, Obama will have the respect that comes from occupying the great office to which he has been elected. All Americans owe him this. I also pray that he will make good decisions that benefit the nation as a whole.

On a programming note, I am going to discontinue this blog, perhaps after some election post-mortems. I am starting a new blog and will make an announcement here and on BwD when it is ready to roll.

Meanwhile, the nation should savor this moment of history, when we have elected a black man to the Presidency. We should be proud, even if we disagreed with his positions, that our country has come so far and so fast in repairing race relations. Certainly we are now an example for all the world to see.

.

Shutting Down the Opposition Press

In a move that Hugo Chavez would favor, Obama has kicked reporters from opposition papers who have endorsed McCain from his campaign plane. Let's see how Big Media reacts to this, after the dust up over Maureen Dowd being asked to exit the McCain plane.

Once again, Obama shows his true colors. Even richer is the purported reason for the boot. Supposedly, videographers are making a documentary about the final days of the campaign. Hot Air says it best:

It also looks a little self-indulgent. Obama’s clearing room on the plane for — what? Documentarians who will produce hagiographies about his historic importance. That fits into another pattern we’ve seen for months, one marked with fake presidential seals, The Barackopolis, and infomercials. In the coming Age of Obama, only the worshipers will get front-row seats to history.

If Obama cheats his way to victory, we might want to read more about the Gene Sharp, pictured at right.

H/T HotAir

.

Why The Race is Tighter Than You Think

Iowahawk, premier blogger satirist, sent me over to Tidestemmer, a worthwhile trip. In an article titled "Random Error Doesn't Look Like This," Gene Fama argues what I have noticed in over three decades of watching elections; Republicans almost always do better than the polls indicate. People forget how close the 1976 election turned out to be, 50.1% to 48.0%. That was an incredible result given the albatross of Watergate, the Nixon pardon, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" statement, and the MSM portrayal of Ford as a bumbler. (Hey, is there some sort of theme here?)

Look at this graphic on exit polling discrepancies from 2004 and you will notice the consistent anti-Republican bias in result. Why? (It is not that Republicans cheated in every state.) My theory is that pollsters for the MSM are more comfortable polling in locations where there are like minded people and they somehow are self selecting fellow liberals to do exit polling to a small but measurable degree. This is basic to anyone who has studied the need for double blind testing in psychology, the area of science most closely linked to polling.

Gene also discusses the so-called Bradley effect, but turns it on its head. Perhaps, in an atmosphere supercharged by the constant playing of the race card, people who disagree with Obama on the issues, but who don't want to be called racist are saying they will vote for him as well. Because Obama did not seem to have a Bradley effect going in the primaries (he closed well), I tend to buy Gene's explanation. In the primaries, the Democrats all agreed with one and other on the policy issues, hence no effect.

To re-iterate my point from yesterday, just more reason to keep voting and get your fellow freedom-lovers to vote as well.

.

Making the Case Against Obama

Over at Hot Air, Guy Benson and Mary Katharine Ham, have teamed up to put together one of the most comprehensive set of arguments against the candidacy of Barack Obama I have seen. Please at least skim the article for yourself, much of this has been commented here and in BwD, but they have put it all together nicely.

Abortion: Not only his extremism, but his lying in defense of extremism are detailed.

Taxes: Despite his statements that 95% of Americans will not pay more in taxes, we know that his programs will cost and short of confiscatory tax rates, this won't get the kind of cash needed by Obama's socialist plans for health care. Incredibly, Obama has said he wants to raise capital gains taxes, even if it results in less income for the feds. Why, "It's the fair thing to do."

Radicalism: (Read socialism) Obama's political upbringing has been with the most radical elements of the American left as symbolized by Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright.

Foreign Policy Judgment: Yes, he was against the Iraq war, when he was a state senator from a liberal district, so what. How about, he voted against the surge, which is giving us the scope to start withdrawing with victory. How about meeting Ahmadinejad without preconditions, which he keeps trying to spin as "we should be talking." (A reminder, we are talking to Iran. The question is, should the President of the United States legitimize that fascist fool by meeting without preconditions.) Also, his initial reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia was mealy-mouthed, compared to McCain's immediate condemnation.

Liberal disdain for the Heartland (I like to call it Marxism): Us gun-toting, bible thumping, anti-illegal immigrant rednecks cling to these beliefs out of despair of improving our lives. This is classic Marxist dialectic, arguing that those who don't agree with you are victims of "false consciousness." I'm surprised that the underlying Marxist premise of Obama's remarks doesn't get more play, because it indicates the depth to which he has internalized an Marxist academic thought. (My apologies to any liberals who wondered in here by mistake, for causing the cognitive dissonance of seeing conservatives using big words and understanding your academic overreaching.)

Lack of Accomplishments: Nothing more to say.


We must not be discouraged, every vote counts, not necessarily in determining the outcome, but in shaping the debate. I am not conceding the election, more about why the race is probably tight, tomorrow. But, even if Obama cheats his way to victory or wins outright, it is important that the voices of those who believe in freedom of speech, freedom of markets, limited government, and anti-socialism be heard. This has been a terrible year, capping off a terrible eight years, because we have been betrayed by the party we thought most wedded to the cause of liberty. The sooner we move the country back towards a freedom agenda the better off we will all be. So I urge you to vote, even if you live in the bluest of blue states, to let others know that there are millions ready to fight socialism in America.

H/T E3Gazette

.

The Coming Carbon Thugocracy

Jason Grumet, Obama policy advisor on the environment, has a plan to wreck the United States economy. He plans to outlaw the element represented at left. From the WSJ:

In an interview last week with Bloomberg, Mr. Grumet said that come January the Environmental Protection Agency "would initiate those rulemakings" that classify carbon as a dangerous pollutant under current clean air laws. That move would impose new regulation and taxes across the entire economy, something that is usually the purview of Congress. Mr. Grumet warned that "in the absence of Congressional action" 18 months after Mr. Obama's inauguration, the EPA would move ahead with its own unilateral carbon crackdown anyway.

Such an action would clearly be extra-constitutional, because the proposed method of imposing taxes to reduce carbon emissions are the purview of the Congress. Further, the EPA is not supposed to be politicized, but here is Team Barry, ready to seize control of the machinery of state to impose socialism. Amazingly, this plan assumes that Obama won't be able to convince a democrat Congress to do his bidding on global warming. Admittedly, this was not Obama, but an advisor talking, but the stench of state planning and redistribution permeates his campaign.

H/T American Thinker.

.

More Thugocracy II

Middle-aged male Obama supporter (pictured at left) beats up frail bespectacled McCain supporter. And yeah, it matters that the attacker was a man. Details here.

If you see or know this New Yorker, ask him why he's such a coward.

H/T Weasel Zippers

.

More Thugocracy

Over at BwD, Dean has a great post about the travails of Joe the Plumber, who had the audacity to question The One's plans to confiscate cash from the small businesses.

.

Whose Hubris?

After warning his supporters of the dangers of hubris today, Barack Obama vowed to "change the world."

Cowardice on Fannie/Freddie

Peter J. Wallison, of the WSJ, brings to light a couple of important points on the current financial mess. First, contrary to Obama's claims (he's wrong again) this crisis did not happen because of deregulation:

While there has been significant deregulation in the U.S. economy during the last 30 years, none of it has occurred in the financial sector.

Second, Obama himself bears complicity. By his own account, Obama wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury that the subprime loan situation was dangerous. Here is what happenned next:

In the summer of 2005, a bill emerged from the Senate Banking Committee that considerably tightened regulations on Fannie and Freddie, including controls over their capital and their ability to hold portfolios of mortgages or mortgage-backed securities. All the Republicans voted for the bill in committee; all the Democrats voted against it. To get the bill to a vote in the Senate, a few Democratic votes were necessary to limit debate.

However, Obama was unwilling to confront his own party on this issue, an issue in which he claims to have had "special" knowledge that a crisis was in the offing. This is the most revealing example of political cowardice I can imagine. The job description of Senator is to vote on legislation. Legislation was offered that might have mitigated the current crisis. Obama claims he knew a crisis was brewing. He did nothing. Great leadership.

H/T HotAir.

.