Mo Brooks, American Hero

Liberals in the news media and entertainment world have made a fortune in the private sector, yet they seem to reflexively worship any expansion of big government--a bureaucratic, tax-and-spend monstrosity that eventually would undermine their own success and that of their family, friends, and industry, as well as the country itself. Can someone please explain this? Why would any reasonable person favor transforming the most economically successful country in world history into a failed socialist state? In any event, here is a case in point that should be included in the MSNBC (a.k.a. BSNBC) highlight reel. This epic fail has been making the rounds of the Internet, but in case you haven't seen it, anchor Contessa Brewer--credentials unknown--makes a complete fool of herself in asking Representative Mo Brooks about his economic background.



Brooks, who represents Alabama's fifth congressional district and who voted against the debt-ceiling bill, graduated from Duke University in three years with a double major in political science and economics, with highest honors in economics according to his official biography. In 1978, he graduated from the University of Alabama Law School.

Taliban Helicopter Attack Kills SEAL Team 6 Members

Terrible news from Afghanistan:

Thirty-one members of the American special forces have been killed in Afghanistan in the deadliest military incident of the 10-year war after the Taliban shot down a US helicopter.

The majority of the dead were from Navy Seal Team 6, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden in a night-time raid deep into Pakistan, but are unlikely to be the same personnel.

[Source: Guardian UK]

The Taliban claimed credit for the attack. According to ABC News, "A total of 38 people were on board the Chinook helicopter when it crashed overnight in the eastern Afghan province of Wardak." The New York Times adds that "The helicopter, on a night-raid mission in the Tangi Valley of Wardak Province, to the west of Kabul, was most likely brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade, one coalition official said."

Donations to the families can be made at the Navy SEAL Foundation website.

Casey Anthony Look-alike Nearly Killed in Road Rage Incident

Perhaps the security surrounding Casey Anthony's release from jail after being found not guilty in the death of Cayleee Anthony was justified. Recently, an Oklahoma convenience store clerk almost lost her life in a traffic crash merely because she looked like Casey Anthony. When this attack occurred, Anthony was still being held in Orange County (Fla.) jail.

The suspect who smashed into the Oklahoma woman's vehicle was charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

Here's an account from the Oklahoma City media:

Did Obama "Dream" Of His Mother's Health Insurance Woes?

Well, it wouldn't be the first time that proponents of socialized medicine made up insurance horror stories that didn't hold up under scrutiny.

Was it an urban myth that President Obama's other was denied cancer treatment coverage? Politico suggests that this might be the case:

President Barack Obama’s mother had no major problems with her health insurance coverage at the time she was dying of ovarian cancer in 1995, a new book about her life claims, raising questions about the accuracy of a story that Obama often told on the campaign trail in 2008.

New York Times reporter Janny Scott’s “A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother” says that Ann Dunham’s health insurance covered most of the costs of her medical treatment, leaving her to pay the deductible and any uncovered expenses. Those came to several hundred dollars a month.

On her blog, Michelle Malkin described it as the "Expanding Catalogue of Obamacare Fables":

Personal anecdotes of dying family members battling evil insurance execs deflect attention from the cost, constitutionality and liberty-curtailing consequences of the law. The president’s Dunham sham-ecdote is just the latest entry in an ever-expanding catalogue of Obamacare fables...

Since Obamacare passed, the amount workers pay in health care premiums has soared an average of nearly 14 percent; thousands of businesses have sought waivers in search of relief from the law’s onerous mandates; medical device makers have slashed jobs and research; and the private individual health insurance market is in critical condition.

Again, in general dealing with an insurance company can be enough to make you sick even on a good day, but does anyone really believe that a featherbedding government bureaucracy will be an improvement?

Leftists Who Falsely Accused Tea Party of Violent Rhetoric Use Violent Rhetoric Against Tea Party

In the aftermath of the horrible Tuscon shooting, liberals in the political and media world immediately made the ridiculous and now-debunked claim that Tea Party activism was somehow responsible. But their demands to tone down the rhetoric or so-called violent imagery did not stop them from accusing ordinary, law-abiding Americans who love their country and their freedom of being terrorists during the debt-ceiling debate.

Writing for the American Spectator website, George Neumayr summs it up:

"Civility" is synonymous with the advancement of liberalism, so nothing they could possibly say about Tea Partiers, no matter how nasty, conflicts with it. On the other hand, Tea Partiers, according to this logic, are inherently uncivil for refusing to argue within the narrow parameters of debate set up by the establishment....The assumption underlying these insults is that the Tea Party harbors an extreme and lawless ideology. In reality, it merely proposes fiscal prudence and respect for the law and Constitution. The recklessness in U.S. politics comes not from the Tea Party but from the establishment as it runs up trillions of dollars in debt....All the terms of invective used against the Tea Party more accurately capture the banditry and indulgence of the establishment. What is "responsible" about spending money that the U.S. government doesn't have? What is "balanced" about running up debt at a slightly lower rate?

Bernie Goldberg (among others) also analyzed the situation on FNC:



The Washington Times has more.

In General Counsel is Back Like a Bad Penny--Or a Shiny Quarter

Owing to a heavy writing/editing workload, this blog lapsed into dormancy, but we're back! We expect to resume regular postings going forward especially since we're approaching the third anniversary of this blog. Thanks for reading, and please continue to stop by.

Tom Foley Fails The Voters Of Connecticut

Americans have a lot to be thankful for on this day.

On a macro level, the November elections halted this mad rush toward socialism (although there are rumblings about executive orders that could circumvent the will of the people).

We have to wonder how many more seats could have been won in Congress without fraud committed by ACORN wannabes and union operatives with the complicity of government officials? In a way, it's almost like an occupying army comes in and steals close elections. U.S. Department of Justice whistleblowers have testified that the agency won't enforce the section of the Voting Rights Act that requires states to remove deceased voters from the rolls or othewise lift a finger to combat ballot fraud.

For a technologically advanced, industrialized nation, the U.S. has incredibly lax registration and voting procedures that are ripe with fraud, including allowing illegal aliens to vote. One of the first orders of business for the new Congress should be to tighten procedures for voter registration and absentee ballots and to require photo ID in elections in all 50 states.

Back in September during primary season, Maryland resident Rory Cooper addressed this issue on NationalReviewOnline:

Maryland is one of 23 states that maintain the most minimal standards for voter identification, only requiring that you show ID (photo not required) when you register, and never again after that. This allows anyone who knows your full name and polling location to vote in your place with no recourse. ..

Liberals led by the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, and the NAACP contend that voter-ID requirements are designed to suppress minority and Democratic votes, but that has been proven wrong time and time again. ..

A Rasmussen poll in August 2010 found that a full 82 percent of Americans believe all voters should show photo ID before they are allowed to vote, representing a majority in every single demographic group. ..

In ruling after ruling, strict voter-ID laws have been found to be constitutional and not in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Yet that doesn’t stop liberal activist groups from spending countless court hours and taxpayer resources working towards an end goal that invites voter fraud. ..

The point here is not that people should be denied their right to vote. Quite the opposite: Legal and registered citizens should not be denied their right to have their votes fully count by illegal ballots cast mere feet away. ..

It’s time for all 50 states to have commonsense voter-ID laws that require photo identification every time you vote. It is the only way to protect the integrity and security of this sacred obligation for millions of legally registered Americans. Please, will someone check my ID?

Connecticut is fortunately on of those states in which photo ID is required. This didn't stop the Democrats from apparently stealing the governor's election in some shady activity in the city of Bridgeport, aided by an inept office of the secretary of the state. The events in Bridgeport were dirty and chaotic.

Lackluster candidate Tom Foley, who allegedly lost the election by some 6,000 votes out of about one million cast, had a solemn obligation to the voters to contest the election and get to the bottom of the vote fraud. Instead, after a few days of saber rattling, he threw in the towel, and let the voters down.

Jim Vicevich summarizes on RadioViceonline:

 So let’s see. In Bridgeport we have poll workers on tape mixing official ballots with sample ballots, voters allowed to vote who were not registered, registered voters receiving multiple ballots and what does Foley say? “So the election Tuesday, although very close, was a conclusive victory for Dan Malloy, and this result should not be questioned.” And how does Mr Foley know that the irregularities were not willfull?

...[Foely] was a rich guy looking for another title and clearly out for himself. A guy who wanted to play Governor, not be Governor. It was never about the people of this state, or the fiscal emergency facing Connecticut, it was about him, a throwback to the original elitist RINOs that we will continue to purge from the party.

Pajamas Media had a report of vote fraud in neighboring Massachusetts that was likely replicated throughout the country on November 2.

Addedendum: In the midst of all this outrage from liberals about "Tea Party" votes being responsible for Bristol Palin's ascendancy on Dancing With The Stars, the HillBuzz blog quips that Palin supporters were just doing what Democrats do in real elections!