The more the MEC doubles down on the freedom-hatred . . .

. . . the more America resists it.

It's not an "extraneous measure"; it's very much of a piece with the payroll tax cut extension

That extension, and inking the deal on the Keystone XL pipeline are both economy-boosting moves, and it makes perfect sense to have them in the same bill.

Now, Congressional Pubs, stick to that position. Do not waver. This is the perfect fight to pick with the MEC and the Freedom-Haters.

The MEC has no serious interest in preserving Western civilization

When the Senate was ready to go with some sanctions against Iran that actually had some teeth, he backed away.

Worth pondering - except that, if you basically come from a LITD-type point of view, it will depress you

Yuval Levin, at NRO's Corner, says that the choice between Newt and Romney is not an ideological one, that they are both moderates - in LITD lingo, Reasonable Gentlemen - and that the way for Pub voters to decide between them is on the basis of temprament.

Yuk. I want a principled rightie. Western civilization is done for with anything less.

How's this for chilling?

This whole nation - left, right and center - was so alarmed by 9/11/01 that it went along with the creation of a new cabinet-level department to address homeland security, in spite of the largely-borne-out misgivings about ponderous bureaucracy, silly procedural doo-dah, outright invasion of privacy of citizens who come nowhere near meeting the profile of a radical Muslim terrorist, and, of course, cost. We wanted to be safe against this new breed of fiercely determined, wily, ever-flexible, hate-filled Muslim terrorist plotting against us.

Well, check this out: under the MEC regime, it is reviewing procedures to see how they fare when measured against "environmental justice" criteria.

These people have dog vomit where their hearts and brains should be.

For that last remaining few of you who think it's over the top to say we have a revolutionary socialist for our current president

Exhibit A: The Most Equal Comrade's speech today in Kansas.

Because the MEC regime wants to be sure of the support of this particular voting bloc . . .

. . . it will grandstand on the world stage, via the State Department's singling out of gay, lesbian, bisexual (I've always wondered how a person could determine he or she was in this category without having multiple intimate relationships, either simultaneously or serially, to see if her or she liked them equally) or "transgendered" (Notice how rapidly this awkward, recently-fabricated term has made it into the mainstream of our lexicon, and created a whole demographic out of people who "just feel like they are the other gender") as a beleagured minority whose treatment it will police the world wide. As the linked article points out, shall we anticipate that it will be so vigorous in pursuing respectful treatment of Coptic Christians and Jews?

This oughta be good

Occupy San Francisco is starting its own financial institution: The People's Reserve Credit Union. Plans to hire and makes loans to homeless people.

Oooookay.

Cooking the books on sea level trends

Dr. Nils Axel Morner of the International Union for Quaternary Research gives the IPCC a sound smackdown for falsifying satellite altimetry in order to try to show a rise in sea levels in the past few decades.

Yet more evidence that climate science is a hopelessly corrupted field.

As if SecDef Panetta's bash-one-of-our-best-allies diatribe wasn't enough . . .

. . . along comes the MEC regime's ambassador to Belgium, saying that modern antiSemitism results from supposed Israeli intransigence in its dealings with the Palestinians.

These people clearly harbor a basic antipathy toward Western civilization.

"Back to the damned table" to discuss what and with whom?

Leon Panetta has picked a strange juncture in the unfolding of events in the Middle east to demand that Israel exhibit an even more appeasing attitude toward those bent on its destruction.

One less contender

So the Hermanator makes it official.

As I said in my most recent post about him, he is at least guilty of really poor judgement. Several people who know him well still refuse to believe he has ever engaged in sexual shenanigans, and I'd still like to believe that that's the case. His story is that of someone who knows how to summon the highest levels of character, and has done so on a regualr basis. It's also obvious that he really embraces, and has a zeal for defending, the principles of conservatism. Of course, as we've seen more than once, a person's - particularly a man's - libido can operate concurrently to a fealty to principles and win out in a contest for the person's willpower.

He's not done as a public figure. I'm sure he has books, columns, and probably a resumed radio-host gig in his future.

What's going to be sad and disgusting in the extreme is the sewage flood of vitriolic gloating that will inevitably stink up Facebook and the comment threads at just about any column, article or blog post about the man. That's just where we are as a society.

The unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent . . .

. . . but the labor force participation rate also fell, from 64.2% to 64%.

In other words, 315,000 more people gave up looking for work.

When you hear someone singing the praises of a planned economy, check your ammo supply

I gave some thought to taking on Andy Stern's WSJ column on the Chinese economic model, but Bookworm Room has administered a smackdown at least as effective as any I could have come up with.

Staying one step ahead of the Freedom-Haters

McDonald's came up with an impressive end-run around the Happy Meal ban in San Francisco: tack an extra dime on the price, so that the toy is a purchased item, not a gift.

Of course, the food totalitarians are outraged, saying that "the point was not for corporations to find more clever ways to circumvent the law."

These people never stop until they are defeated.

It doesn't increase the sum total of productivity anywhere in the world by one tiny bit

Kevin Williamson at NRO says that the Fed's move yesterday - lowering the dollar-financing costs to European banks - still does not satisfy the first law of economics: the money has to come from somewhere.