In a recent video Newt Gingrich outlines 3 ways to lower gas prices. Touching upon the three main causes that contribute to the rising costs of “black gold”, this video is a must see. Rather than outline the what Newt has to say, I will let him speak for himself.

However, pay close attention to his strategy to punish oil speculators. This would be a good litmus test to discern whether the price of oil is tied to speculation and, if so, just how big an impact speculation is having on the price of oil. Newt’s solution and his number crunching assume a priori that speculation is a major driving force behind excessive oil prices.

There is still debate amongst industry experts regarding the impact of speculation, so I choose to err on the side of caution and would use the approach floated by Mr. Gingrich as a test vehicle to feel out the industry and the role speculation is playing.

Another message from Newt Gingrich, this time from American Solutions. A milestone in the Drill Here, Drill Now movement has been reached, as over 1 million have signed the petition to force the issue in Washington. Listen to Newt as he celebrates this important achievement. Then go here and sign the petition.

Finally, the video that started it all.

Let’s make July 4th Energy Independence Day, while simultaneously making ourselves less dependant on the whims of the political hacks in Washington who offer up complaints, threaten lawsuits - even celebrate the rising cost of oil - instead of providing real solutions that are really nothing more than exercises in common sense.

What does his support of the DC gun ban say about Obama the man? If it were up to him, your right to protect yourself with a firearm would not exist.

As you watch this riveting and heart wrenching video of a survivor’s testimony to the U.S. Senate regarding the Luby’s massacre in 1991 in Kileen, TX, just remember Obama’s stance regarding gun control and his complete disregard for the Constitution. And no, this is not the Obama who changed his mind after the fact of the recent SCOTUS ruling, this is the Obama who stated, on the record, that he believed the D.C. handgun ban was constitutional - the real Obama. I can hardly imagine a man whose understanding of the basic right to defend oneself is on par with that of the common snail is qualifed to be commander-in-chief, whose job is to defend this country. Lacking any real direction in the understanding of a human being’s right to self-defence, how are we to believe his compass will direct him any differently when individual defence is extended to the collective? How safe do you feel now?

And think of how different the ending would have been back in 1991 had someone been armed to protect themselves and their fellow citizens from the brutal assault. I love what the woman in video says at the end of her testimony. Right on the money.

Angus, a fellow contributor to Lump on a Blog writes a very astute comment that bears repeating here in the main post:

Something makes me think that that arrogant pinhead Schumer sitting there listening to her testimony with his annoyed bored look doesn’t think (or realize) that her father acted heroically to save his family by attempting to stop the gunman or that her mother acted out of unquestionable love for her husband by comforting him as he was dieing.

Schumer and people like him can only see victims, not a heroic father, not a devoted wife and mother, and not even a madman with a gun. To Schumer and his fellow travelers, they (and everybody else in the world) were all victims, and since in their worldview only victims exist (are allowed to exist?) they cannot allow individuals the right of defending themselves in any way and possibly challenging their worldview.

These people were not victims, and so it follows that ‘the emperor has no clothes’.

Not that it would have mattered one way or the other - nobody is ever, EVER, going to take my gun from me - but a shocker decision (welcomed, of course) from the Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling upholding the right to bear arms as outlined in the 2nd Amendment. The ruling shoots down a D.C. gun ban over 30 years old.

Michelle Malkin reports via ABC news the backpeddling Obama.

ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Alexa Ainsworth Report: With the Supreme Court poised to rule on Washington, D.C.’s, gun ban, the Obama campaign is disavowing what it calls an “inartful” statement to the Chicago Tribune last year in which an unnamed aide characterized Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as believing that the DC ban was constitutional.

“That statement was obviously an inartful attempt to explain the Senator’s consistent position,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton tells ABC News.

The statement which Burton describes as an inaccurate representation of the senator’s views was made to the Chicago Tribune on Nov. 20, 2007.

In a story entitled, “Court to Hear Gun Case,” the Chicago Tribune’s James Oliphant and Michael J. Higgins wrote “. . . the campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said that he ‘…believes that we can recognize and respect the rights of law-abiding gun owners and the right of local communities to enact common sense laws to combat violence and save lives. Obama believes the D.C. handgun law is constitutional.’”

First we had the SCOTUS decision providing enemy combatants access to the U.S. legal system - a decision lacking any foundation in Constitutional Law to prop this dangerous and precedent setting victory for the enemies of this country. Next we were served to a second helping of insanity with a subsequent decision not to allow the most horrendous of child rapists to face a death they so richly deserve. Next the lowering of damages in the Exxon Valdez case followed up with this latest decision protecting my right to bear arms. Two bad decisions and two good decisions.

I guess the liberals on the court decided it was time to not tick off too many gun owners and to tell the environuts to kindly skulk away and go screw themselves. I’m not so sure if this is an attempt to fool the country into believing we are not on a rollercoaster heading straight for hell. In the past couple of weeks I have been alternating between being pissed off and happy so much I am beginning to feel bipolar. Maybe I need to increase my meds.

In the meantime, I’ve got my gun. Perhaps I’ll use it to shoot a child rapist or two. Or maybe send some of those enemy combatants to meet their 70 Virginians - or was that virgins. Hell - I can’t remember.

Oh, and for those incapable of recognizing noir humor - I’m kidding about the shooting part. Except that I will blast a hole the size of Texas in your head should you ever find yourself foolish enough to threaten my family or break into my home. And I won’t lose a wink of sleep over it - not one single night.

Praise the Lord and pass the ammo please.

More from Allah Pundit at Hot Air and La Shawn Barber.

Emperor Misha I reports the good news with his usual style and wit: Dodged A Civil War There…

Amen. Of course, there is still the problem of those four…Damn!, where did I put those meds?

“All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time.” - Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller (1898-1971), the most decorated Marine in history. Today is his birthday. Happy birthday General.

Dick Morris outlines some of Obama’s proposals in his new book Fleeced and in this article. It is enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up:

In effect, he would legislate a 60 percent tax bracket for upper-income Americans, killing all initiative and innovation. He’d raise the top bracket to 40 percent. He’d apply FICA taxes to all income, not just that under $100,000 as at present. So add 40 percent plus FICA’s 12.5 percent plus Medicare’s 2 percent plus state and local taxes averaging, after deduction, at 5-6 percent, and you have a 60 percent bracket.

He would double the capital gains tax, saddling the 50 percent of Americans who own stock with dramatically higher taxes.

He’d double the dividend tax, hitting elderly coupon-clippers now retired and depending on fixed incomes.

He wants to cover 12 million illegal immigrants with federally subsidized health insurance, dramatically driving up costs and forcing federal rationing of healthcare. As in the U.K. and Canada, you will not be permitted certain medical procedures if the bureaucrats decide you are not worth it.

He proposes requiring Homeland Security operatives to notify terror suspects that they are under investigation within seven days of starting the investigation.

He says that unless they can establish that there is “probable cause to believe that a certain individual is linked to a specific terrorist group,” Homeland Security cannot seize his documents and search his business. The current standard is only that the search be “relevant” to a terror investigation.

Welcome back Carter.

A book for those of us who practice sanity and live in the real world. Liberals with their heads implanted firmly up their arses need not pay heed to reality and with my humble permission may continue to lick the toes of Al Gore in ecstatic worship.

Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor

More from the Anit-Idiotarian Rottweiler

The target may have changed, but the solution is similar yet more challenging on many fronts. From the International Herald Tribune: U.S. says exercise by Israel seemed directed at Iran

WASHINGTON: Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Several American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military’s capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran’s nuclear program.

More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece during the first week of June, American officials said.

The exercise also included Israeli helicopters that could be used to rescue downed pilots. The helicopters and refueling tankers flew more than 900 miles, which is about the same distance between Israel and Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, American officials said.

Israeli officials declined to discuss the details of the exercise. A spokesman for the Israeli military would say only that the country’s air force “regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel.”

But the scope of the Israeli exercise virtually guaranteed that it would be noticed by American and other foreign intelligence agencies. A senior Pentagon official who has been briefed on the exercise, and who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the political delicacy of the matter, said the exercise appeared to serve multiple purposes.

And don’t think Israel does not have the testicular fortitude to follow through. Recall with me if you will:

1981: A joint Iraqi and French project is near completion. The Osirak nuclear facility near Baghdad is days away from coming online. Intelligence confirms Iraq’s intention of producing weapons grade uranium and Israel knows it has to act, and act quickly. If the reactor goes “hot” an attack would endanger the surrounding community with a deadly dose of radiation.

The attack would take place by air on a target over 1,100km away. Before the mission, Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) Chief­ of ­Staff, Lt. Gen. Rafael Eitan told the pilots: “The alternative is our destruction.”

The Israeli’s trained for the mission using target mockups and flew full-scale dress-­rehearsal missions.

On June 7th, at 3:55pm, the F15 and F16s fighter jets thundered off the runway from Etzion Air Force Base, piloted by the best the Israel Air Force’s (IAF) fighter corps had to offer.

Flying low to avoid detection, they reached their destination late that afternoon. When the smoke cleared the reactor lay in ruins. The attack was completed in less than two minutes. Israel, and the world, was spared the consequences of a nuclear-armed Iraq.

Today: A joint Iranian and Russian project is near completion. Iran’s first nuclear reactor at Bushehr is scheduled to go online sometime is early 2006. This time, however, the reactor would not be the only target. Nuclear facilities at Natanz and Arak, as well as Esfahan and a host of other locations would be high on the hit list. The recent claim by Iranian dissidents that Iran has over 4,000 centrifuges capable of processing weapons grade Uranium adds another layer of complication.

Esfahan is said to be the primary location of the Iranian nuclear weapons program. From the Federation of American Scientists:

The Nuclear Technology/Research Center in Esfahan is Iran’s largest nuclear research center, and is said to employ as many as 3,000 scientists. Iran signed an agreement France in 1975 to build a nuclear research center in Isfahan, to provide training for personnel to operate the Bushehr reactor, located at the University of Isfahan. As of 1977 Iran reportedly planned to have at least one reactor and a small French-built fuel reprocessing facility in Isfahan by 1980…

…Esfahan is also reportedly the site of Iran’s largest missile assembly and production plant. This ballistic missile production facility, built with North Korean assistance, is capable of producing liquid propellants and missile structural components. According to reports published in Russia, apparently based on information developed by the Russian Federal Security Service, Esfahan is involved in the production of Scud-B and Scud-C surface-to-surface missiles by assembling components bought in North Korea and China. According to the 1995 Jane’s Intelligence Review - Special Report No. 6 on Iran’s weapons, North Korea helped build a “Scud Mod B” (320 km/1000 kg) assembly plant in Iran in 1988, but the plant apparently never manufactured any missiles. North Korea aided Iran in converting a missile maintenance facility into an assembly plant for the Scud Mod Cs. Other activities at this facility are reported to include R&D on unguided missiles and production of missile frames.

Read more…

One of the best news stories regarding current oil prices, their origin, and the thinking pattern (or lack thereof) of the American voting public I have yet to read. Of particular interest is the following statement:

Light, the New York University professor, said that no matter how persuasive the arguments were for assigning blame, it would be difficult to convince many American voters that responsibility lies with Chinese motorists, Saudis, oil companies or Democrats.

“You can go through a detailed chain of logic and eventually line up at a Saudi palace or the Democrats’ doorstep,” he said, recounting the lesson of Carter. “But voters don’t think that way. . . . They say, ‘I’m paying $4 a gallon; who do I hold accountable?’ It’s Bush and the Republicans.”

Poohbama, possibly our next annointed messiah and therefore defacto leader of the Eeyore party has the confidence over Republicans to handle the current energy crisis. Talk about a lack of historical sense by an entire block of American voters with a propensity to lack critical thinking skills. With blinders on and a resounding sound of silence bouncing around in their vacuous skulls, they charge forward like a bunch of brainless zombies to push levers, buttons, or punch cards without the tiniest bit of sense attached to what they are doing. It is a sad day when I, born in Canada, know more about American history and American politics than most Americans. Sheesh.

A poll by the Pew Research Center found that, by a margin of 15%, respondents believed Democrats would give greater priority to the energy issue. A weekend poll by the Washington Post and ABC News gave Obama a 20-point advantage over McCain on the issue.

Not that I’m a big McCain fan and not that I not mad as all hell with the Republicans - many of whom are Democrats transfixed by their images in the mirror - but I have to ask myself.

Really? Are we that stupid?

This story still has legs, so I thought I would dedicate a special post to it again, but with some updates and cool photoshops.

In case you forgot recently the UK Telegraph reported that:

Richard Danzig, who served as Navy Secretary under President Clinton and is tipped to become National Security Adviser in an Obama White House, told a major foreign policy conference in Washington that the future of US strategy in the war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain, try something else.

Mr Danzig told the Centre for New American Security: “Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.”

He spelt out how American troops, spies and anti-terrorist officials could learn key lessons by understanding the desire of terrorists to emulate superheroes like Luke Skywalker, and the lust for violence of violent football fans.

And let us not forget to be inclusive and give honorable mention to the party of Eeyores. The Winnie the Pooh official website describes Eeyore:

Eeyore is everyone’s favorite delightfully dismal donkey. But Eeyore doesn’t see himself as gloomy — he just has low expectations.

Hammer, meet nail.

With the prospect of a President Poohbama and the Party of Eeyores set to gain seats in the House and Senate, one must begin to wonder whether this country has lost its collective head. As Poohbama decides to bury his head in an empty vase of honey, expect the Eeyores to skulk away and contemplate the violence of football fans and how this country lacks understanding of the motives of our poor enemies, the terrorists, whose propensity to blow things up is strictly due to their love affair with Luke Skywalker. Which, of course, makes all of this our fault.

This worked so well for us before. Remember Carter? How about Billy? Talking and doing nothing worked so well back then, how dare we deviate from the game plan. Those or us who talk of pre-emptive strikes - such bastards! Yeah, I sure miss that Mr. Clinton guy - you know, the easily distracted useless waste of space who was too busy pulling his balls out his pants for some intern to put them to much use. I’m sure he is so sorry about acting impotent during the first World Trade Center bombing, the Cole bombing, the bombing of the African embassies, and letting that Bin Laden guy get away, but heck, give the guy a break, he was dealing with that whole mess about some spots on a dress.

Anyway, for your viewing fun:

From DPGI.

From The People’s Cube.

In other news, the Emperor Misha I on a favorite topic of mine that goes something like “only stupid people vote for Obama”. Oh, and something about piss and boots. Or something like that. Read Imperial Translation Service (For Democrat Voters Who Are Too Dumb To Pour Piss Out Of A Boot). Spot on.

Update: Canada Free Press Gives Obama a history lesson:

One of the obvious implications of last week’s Supreme Court decision, which granted inmates at Guantanamo Bay the right of habeas corpus to appeal their detention, is that if Osama bin Laden were captured alive by U.S. forces, the al Qaeda founder could end up in a U.S. civilian court afforded all the protections of law abiding American citizens.

When Barack Obama was asked about this on June 18th, he suggested that Osama could be adjudicated in the manner of the Nazi War Crime Tribunals at Nuremberg. Obama argued, “I think what would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he’s engaged in and not to make him into a martyr and to assure that the United States government is abiding by the basic conventions that would strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism.”

The following day, John McCain replied on his website giving Obama a short history lesson. McCain wrote, “Unfortunately, it is clear Senator Obama does not understand what happened at the Nuremberg trials and what procedures were followed. There was no habeas at Nuremberg and there should be no habeas for Osama bin Laden….By citing a historical precedent that does not include habeas, he sends a signal of confusion and indecision to our allies and adversaries and the American people.”

It also signifies that Barack Obama does not understand 20th Century History. Yet this should hardly come as a surprise. Up until a few weeks ago, Obama thought it was the Americans, not the Soviets, who liberated Auschwitz….

…The Nuremberg Trials were an unprecedented response to an unprecedented calamity. Similarly, the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay are an unprecedented response to an unprecedented calamity. The United States is fighting a war against an Islamic fundamentalist organization that does not fight under the rules of engagement and instead carries out acts of terrorism against innocent civilians on a mass scale. The United States must adapt to those unprecedented circumstances through innovative methods of adjudication.

It amazes me that Barack Obama, who taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for more than a decade, would be unaware of the legal controversy surrounding Nuremberg and the commotion it caused within the U.S. Supreme Court. If Obama taught the U.S. Constitution to his students the same way the Reverend Jeremiah Wright preached to his congregation then heaven help us all.

To borrow the vernacular of the day - Obama, you’ve been served. And maybe spanked a little - by a Canadian who seems to understand more about the U.S. constitution than you do. Wow.

More from Hot Air.

—–Original Post——

From the Dallas Examiner:

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Barack Obama’s foreign policy advisers said Tuesday that Osama bin Laden, if captured, should be allowed to appeal his case to U.S. civilian courts, a privilege opposed by John McCain.

Responding to questions from The Examiner, Sen. John Kerry and former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke said bin Laden would benefit from last week’s Supreme Court decision giving terrorism suspects habeas corpus, the right to appeal their military detention to civilian courts.

“If he were to be brought back,” Clarke said of bin Laden, “the Supreme Court ruling holds on the right of habeas corpus.”

Read the whole story. If that does not make you sick enough, lets not forget as reported by Aces of Spades via NRO on the Foreign Policy of Pooh.

Richard Danzig, who served as Navy Secretary under President Clinton and is tipped to become National Security Adviser in an Obama White House, told a major foreign policy conference in Washington that the future of US strategy in the war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain, try something else.

Mr Danzig told the Centre for New American Security: “Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.”

Enough is enough. This is worse than Clinton’s non-response to every terrorist attack against U.S. interests during his administration. See the email this story link at the bottom of this post. Use it - often. Spread the word or you just might be burying pieces of your kids, wife, husband, mother, father, friend, or some other relative - if there is anything left to bury. Oh, and Digg the heck out this story. I don’t care if you do it here or on some other site. I ain’t in this for the fame or fortune. Just get the word out.

More comment from the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

Some good news today as Michelle Malkin reports on another Haditha charge being dismissed.

Michelle also has more on President Poohbama. And let’s not forget to leave out our liberal friends, each of which remind me of Eeyore. The Winnie the Pooh official website describes Eeyore:

Eeyore is everyone’s favorite delightfully dismal donkey. But Eeyore doesn’t see himself as gloomy — he just has low expectations.

Hammer, meet nail.

Source: American Elephant

Update:

I rank this one under the category you have got to be blanking kidding me: Aces of Spades on the Foreign Policy of Pooh. Yep, we are officially screwed if Obama wins. Turn to your bibles and get out your guns. Ah, the Tao of Pooh. I feel so confident, so relaxed, so sublime, so…..violated.

More on the subject at NRO.

Original Post:

High Fuel Prices Lead to Protests in Europe
S. Korea truckers vow fuel strike, president under fire
Malaysia cuts ministers’ allowances, delays projects
Nepal to raise fuel prices to counter shortages
China braces for leap in gas prices.

All of this from a single commodity not surprisingly nicknamed “black gold”.

Now consider the consequences of our energy policy - or lack thereof - for the past number of years. Environmentalists with scarcely a smidgeon of evidence convince politicians that man-made global warming is real. Both Presidential candidates have bought into the farce hook, line, and sinker and pseudo-science is the ruler of the day. At least a UK court had the courage to actually look at the evidence and rule that Al Gore’s global warming movie, An Inconvenient Truth, contained at least nine convenient lies, in particular with respect to his claim that Hurricane Katrina was caused by global warming. The court stated the film was little more than a form of “political indoctrination.” Of course, it was no surprise Al was subsequently awarded a Nobel Prize for this most ignoble piece of trash.

As reported by the Trumpet’s The Politics of Carbon Footprints

The number of qualified scientists that have now signed a petition decrying the faulty science that promotes the global warming theory grew to 31,000 in May and continues to grow by an average of 35 signatures daily.

The greatest concern of the more sensible commentators on the scam is the speed with which politicians—ignoring true science—are rushing to embed global warming in government policy. This is in process at both the national and supra-national level. The result could well be huge taxes on the public which will simply feed the coffers of big business, the legal profession and government. These burdensome costs will be passed off to the consumer and the taxpayer, all in the interests of reducing “human-induced climate change”—your “carbon footprint”!

Meanwhile, more balanced and responsible scientists, analysts and commentators are giving increasing vent to the exposure of the utter foolishness of this whole scenario. But far from the warmists backing down, they just tunnel their heads even more deeply into the sand of deceit. In the meantime, bankers, industrialists and politicians rub their grubby hands with glee, anticipating the windfall that carbon trade-offs will yield to them.

Considering that global warming alarmists and environmentalists hold us hostage everyday to their distorted worldviews based more on an anti-growth political ideology than real science, I am often surprised at the sheer lack of intelligence of the American voter. We have placed ourselves in this predicament.

If you want to know who is to blame for high oil prices and you have voted Democrat in the past, or for RINOs who feed at same trough of bad science and bad policy, whose feigned concern for the average American you have swallowed like a bad pill, look no further than the mirror.

If you want to know who to blame when your own children inherit a world where their own standard of living and ability to experience a pleasurable existence instead of meeking out a so-called life cradled by the soul-killing and life-sucking mediocrity of socialism again, look in the mirror.

When you tuck little Timmy or Susie into bed tonight and pull the level for some politician in November beholden to a group of people who have placed road block after road block to stop us from gaining energy independence while all the while exhorting the necessity of the very manifestation of this policy and making you look the fool in the process, think of how stupid they must think you are. I used to believe in the idiom that a fool who persists in his folly becomes wise, but I just don’t know if this applies to the American electorate.

It certainly does not apply to many of our politicians. Their solution - sue OPEC and tax the big, bad oil companies for daring profit 8 cents on the dollar. That’s way to close to the 18 cents the government takes from you for every dollar you spend at the pump. How about a tax credit to every American on the amount of information deficit wind spewing from the legislative branch and proportionate to the amount of B.S. spewing out their pieholes? We would all be rich. When I first read the sue OPEC story, for the first time in my life I almost wished I was wearing adult diapers. I laughed so hard I nearly lost control of my bladder. Never in the history of the world has so many leaders done so little for so many.

How many nuclear power plants have we built in the past 20 years? Take a guess. Even France is smarter than we are when it comes to the use of nuclear power and please don’t mistake that for a compliment. How many refineries have we constructed in the past two decades? Again, take a guess. If you don’t know, try Googling it. Take the time to educate yourself if you are typically not inclined to do so. The future of this nation is on the line.

Lest you forget, with oil at an all time high, a geopolitical crisis in the making, coupled with the apathy of the voters that put the Democrats in power, and record prices at the pump, your Congress, lead by Democrats, voted to stop additional drilling in the United States while Cuba decided to step up production on 36 new oil wells. If you can figure that one out, then perhaps you deserve that Nobel Prize. Maybe the Nobel committee will wisen up and decide just to give you Al Gore’s. Those voting against lowering the price of gas and supporting higher inflation, lower consumer confidence, a possible recession, threatening your job and your families livelihood: 59 RINOs, 157 Democrats, and 1 Independent. Great job American voter! Your children will thank you.

More from Hot Air. Post by Ed Morrissey.

Michelle Malkin posts on Harry Reid and the Senate taking up the windfall profits tax on big oil. Let not the Liberals take the blame on this one. No, its never their fault or the result of years of failed energy policy. I can’t wait to see if this passes just how long it will take for the extra tax to impact pump prices. Harry and his comrades need a lesson in economics 101. The silver lining? There is evidence the tide is turning. Recent Gallup polling data indicates the percentage of voters blaming big oil for skyrocketing gasoline prices is dropping. In the past year alone the number has decreased from 34 percent to 20 percent, while support for more drilling in U.S. coastal and wilderness areas is on the rise. During the same year the number has increased from 41 percent to 57 percent. Is the American electorate finally waking up? We’ll see in November. All of this seems to have escaped Harry and company.

More reasons I can’t quite get the American electorate. Despite his lack of leadership skills and experience, his transparent political maneuvering concerning his embarassing “mentor” Jeremiah Wright, and now this clown, Barak Obama is up in the polls over John McCain. Not that I am a fan of either, but really people, come on.

Looks like Obama’s disciples are scrambling to hide some rather anti-Semitic content on the new annointed messiah’s campaign site. From the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

High Oil prices - sue OPEC and punish those bastards at big oil!

Engery crisis - no more nuclear power!

Economic crisis - raise taxes and rely on an unproven scare campaign about global warming to raise them even more and really cripple the economy.

If all else fails - throw all intellectual thinking to the wind and act, think and cry like a baby:

Join others on June 12th to combat Al Gore global warming alarmism and the planned $1.2 trillion dollar carbon tax. I’m in.

Millie is Alarmed After Listening to Al Gore

Harvey to the rescue.

All is well.

Upon informing my wife of John McCain’s intent to introduce his address to CPAC with a video of Ronald Reagan she quipped, “Isn’t it good practice to start a public presentation with a joke to lighten the mood?” God bless my wife for seeing the humor under such circumstances. It was the day after Super Tuesday and I needed a good laugh.

And Then There Were Two:

From Michelle Malkin: Romney just informed a CPAC crowd he is suspending his campaign. There is some whispering he will support McCain. If he plans on running in 2012, I could not imagine a more egregious mistake. After he bows out, a CPAC official takes the stage and mentions John McCain’s session in the afternoon. Reports of boos from the audience. If he does show the Reagan video prior to his appearance I hope the boos are mixed with enough laughter to send McCain a strong message.

Glenn Reynolds accuses those of us who know what hides under the Reagan cloak McCain attempts to wrap himself in as demonstrating Kossack-like anger and states:

To me this seems like much ado about nothing.

That statement itself is the very definition of myopic thinking. I guess pundits like Mr. Reynolds would be thrilled for us to join their herd of sheep with our noses stuck up each others rears as we are herded towards a cliff. It is a stark reminder of the posturing of the apathetic and the yearning for the status quo. I doubt people like Mr. Reynolds would have made it in early America when individual thinking and sacrifice forged a country based on principles and people fought for what they believed in. Nobody had the time to gloss over serious issues with apologetic statements aimed at marginalizing the solemn.

As to those who voted for McCain in the primaries, my gut tells me many of these people, hypnotized by flashy pictures on their television screens or poll-tested slogans are completely unaware of the real McCain. While many disagree on the source of the following stages of civilization, the sequencing fits and holds up under scrutiny: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage”. If one wants to know how John McCain is the Republican nominee looks no further than apathy. To understand Glenn Reynold’s backhanded admonishment, the answer also is to be found with this word.

I am proud to be a suicide voter.

Update: Michelle Malkin on McCain’s speech at CPAC.

This fits my sentiments exactly. The Drudge Report links to a New York Post piece titled Once John Wins, He’ll Make a Left. Matt’s title for his link adds a new vernacular to the political life in America: The Suicide Voter. Many conservatives are vowing to not just sit out the election, but vote for any candidate that opposes McCain. Some hope this will lead, at a minimum, to the Carter Effect.

McCain, who once approached John Kerry to be his running mate, has so many credibility issues with conservatives the only way many of them see a way out of this mess is to send a message. Nothing this man says has even a sniff of believability when it comes to conservative issues. The means to his end - to his power - will be to court conservatives and hope we are dull enough to vote for him. Failing that, he would settle for conservatives sitting out the election.

The primary process appears headed towards electing a liberal for the Republican party - a man who believes in Global Warming, sneers at the word profit, voted against the Bush tax cuts, and co-authored the most distasteful amnesty bill imaginable and resorted to playground politics by explicitly or implicitly labeling opponents of his amnesty bill bigots, stupid, or worse, all the while insulting our collective intelligence by demanding his bill did not amount to amnesty. Which reminds me of the adage “We may have been born at night, but we weren’t born last night”.

The greatest generation made momentous sacrifices to protect this country and save the world from certain ruin. Now it is time to pick up the gauntlet once again and do what is painful. Now is the time for us to make our own sacrifices. Whether you herald from that generation or are a dedicated young conservative, sacrifice is sometimes necessary in order to get your message clearly heard. Yelling from the mountain tops in frustration will not suffice. Sitting out the election is also not an option. In any game in life, one must play to win - even if it means strategically losing a battle to win the war. No, it is our duty, as conservatives to do the unthinkable. Vote for Obama or Hillary for president. By sitting out the election, your ability to work towards electing a Congress with enough votes to block any momentous stupidity that often leaks from halls of power will disappear and with it, your voice.

Sometimes the path to heaven passes straight through hell. I am prepared. Are you?

Pass this story on. Use the email story below.

Michelle Malkin has a roundup of Super Tuesday. She also has a primer for the upcoming CPAC conference and a message from McCain to conservatives: Calm down. To which I reply: Dream on. There is also a reference to the “suicide voter” as well.

More from Polipundit who believes conversatives are down but not out.

Hot Air breaks it down state by state.

Glenn Reynolds quotes Michael Silence on McCain: “…Seems to me the social conservatives should start courting him.” It is this type of arrogance that turns conservatives off. If McCain ever thought enough conservatives would vote against him - not just abstain from voting - but actually vote against him, I can assure you he would be crawling on his knees and kowtowing. Trouble is, we are already on to his game. I trust my instincts - not McCain. The guy will promise you the world and once in office tilt the country so far to the left we would all feel drunk. McCain, Obama, Hillary - it’s all the same to me. Different outfits, all of them empty of content, scurrying like cockroaches to assuage their addiction to power. This is the modern politician.

Emperor Misha I from The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler has a Super-Tuesday hangover. Don’t we all.

Update: Post Florida primary update:

Michelle has a poll for registered reader’s on her blog in the post John McCain vs. the right: No easy peace. Very telling. Some of her reader’s responses are also included. The reference to Carter in one of the feedbacks speaks volumes of where we are. My mind is made up. If its McCain vs. Hillary or Obama, I am voting for the nominee from the Democrat party. Enough of this nonsense.

Perhaps if this sentiment were widely known before Super Tuesday, McCain will put out to pasture to graze on the corpse of his failed immigration policies and faux conservative principles. Maybe he will find them as hard to swallow as we do. Email this story to all your friends. Email Michelle’s post to all your friends. Blog about it, write about, talk about it. End the pain of McCain by opening peoples eyes.

Original post:

A friend of mine at work explained it very well. Unimpressed by Ford and with Nixon and Watergate fresh in their minds, the electorate decided for a “change”. Their choice - a peanut farmer whose presidency lead to stagnation, high gas prices, long fuel lines, the radicalization of Iran and the accompanying hostage crisis met with impotence and hand-wringing. The end result was the election of Reagan in 1980.

This is how I view today’s election. I won’t vote for McCain - I may even vote for Hillary or Obama - and I tell my independent McCain supporters this as often as possible. Hey, if you want a Hillary or an Obama to hold the highest office in the land, keep supporting McCain. There are a lot more people out there who think like me and here’s why - a Hillary or Obama presidency will be so disastrous that in four years we may have a shot at getting another Reagan.

Regardless of how well we do in the current struggle with radical Islam, McCain’s arrogance and myopic vision concerning illegal immigration will have far-reaching negative consequences. If McCain wins the nomination, I say sit this one out. If I had terminal cancer I would rather die quickly than linger in pain. Out of the ashes we may just find, four years from now, a new beginning.

Spread the word - we may just be able to pull out this tailspin yet. Just say no to McCain.

Forum is here.

Michelle Malkin on McCain Gone Wild.

More from Polipundit - a fellow Mitt supporter.

A few subtleties I was not aware of in how delegates are assigned in the primary process. From Real Clear Politics: Is McCain Inevitable?.