"This House Belongs To Those Who Will Never Have A Portrait Here"

I can't help it, I love the Bushes. Not every policy, just them. They are so, so gracious and classy and respectful of the nation.

W. gets off some good lines, but the tone of both Bushes' remarks is so refreshing it does the heart good.

It was good of the Obamas to have them back.

Is Same-Sex Marriage A Civil Rights Issue?

What do African American pastors say?

Defections

Former Alabama Congressman and gubernatorial candidate --and former Obama campaign chair-- Artur Davis is no longer a Democrat. At his blog he explains why:

parties change. As I told a reporter last week, this is not Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party (and he knows that even if he can’t say it).  If you have read this blog, and taken the time to look for a theme in the thousands of words (or free opposition research) contained in it, you see the imperfect musings of a voter who describes growth as a deeper problem than exaggerated inequality; who wants to radically reform the way we educate our children; who despises identity politics and the practice of speaking for groups and not one national interest; who knows that our current course on entitlements will eventually break our solvency and cause us to break promises to our most vulnerable—that is, if we don’t start the hard work of fixing it.
On the specifics, I have regularly criticized an agenda that would punish businesses and job creators with more taxes just as they are trying to thrive again. I have taken issue with an administration that has lapsed into a bloc by bloc appeal to group grievances when the country is already too fractured: frankly, the symbolism of Barack Obama winning has not given us the substance of a united country. You have also seen me write that faith institutions should not be compelled to violate their teachings because faith is a freedom, too. You’ve read that in my view, the law can’t continue to favor one race over another in offering hard-earned slots in colleges: America has changed, and we are now diverse enough that we don’t need to accommodate a racial spoils system. And you know from these pages that I still think the way we have gone about mending the flaws in our healthcare system is the wrong way—it goes further than we need and costs more than we can bear.
Taken together, these are hardly the enthusiasms of a Democrat circa 2012, and they wouldn’t be defensible in a Democratic primary. But they are the thoughts and values of ten years of learning, and seeing things I once thought were true fall into disarray. So, if I were to leave the sidelines, it would be as a member of the Republican Party that is fighting the drift in this country in a way that comes closest to my way of thinking: wearing a Democratic label no longer matches what I know about my country and its possibilities.

 Curtsy for that to The People's Cube.

Also defecting, over same-sex marriage: Jo Ann Nardelli, Democratic Committeewoman, founder of the Blair County Federation of Democratic Women,Vice President of the PA State Women’s Caucus, etc.

She said it started a few weeks ago, ironically as she and her husband were getting ready for Mass and watching Meet the Press when Joe Biden, a Catholic, cited his support for gay marriage.
This shocked her. She said she'd always related to Biden. She said he reminded her of her father. But this announcement shocked her. And then, shortly after, President Obama announced that he'd "evolved" into supporting gay "marriage."
And then as a Democratic committeewoman she received her agenda from the party espousing the same position. "To stand up and agree and sign off on this I couldn’t do it," she said.

Think We've Got Our Marriage Referendum

18,000 signatures due tomorrow; 57,000 due in June. Number of signatures turned in yesterday? 113,000 announced here. Final # 122,000+ not counting signatures collected over the weekend. By the deadline there may be three times as many signatures as necessary...and they said it couldn't be done in Maryland. Pastor Derek McCoy of the Maryland Marriage Alliance makes the announcement.

Memorial Day 2012

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 2009

We remember. 

But I've come to the conclusion remembering isn't enough, and in fact is mere sentimentality unless we take from memory the resolve Lincoln prescribed at Gettysburg:

from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth

First Tomato Update 2012

I have at least two major projects on my plate, and they are each in different respects weighing upon my spirit, which is why I've spent the last two weekends in the garden straining my bending over, pulling up, digging and hauling mulch muscles and pretending said projects and the people associated with them do not exist.

Dripping sweat for 3-4 hours and concentrating on something else feels good. At least until you come inside, shower, realize all those unused muscles are seizing up on you, and said projects have not worked on themselves.

The good news is all the tomatoes --four kinds!-- and other veggies finally got into the ground last weekend. (May 19: for record-keeping purposes) They could have gone in late April temperature-wise; I just wasn't in the mood. Wasn't in the mood last week either (not myself this Spring: nothing's wrong, just kind of sapped), but I don't want to reach mid-July wracked with regret, and a home-grown tomato might be just what I need, so I sucked it up. Once I got started it felt right.

This weekend I added marigolds to scare off slugs and recruited 75% of my offspring for Operation Jungle Tame to help me reclaim the hydrangea bushes which line the back yard from the morass of weeds and crud I'd allowed to grow up around them. I was afraid they'd (the hydrangeas, not the offspring) all be choked and dead, but they were thriving --just hidden behind very tall grass, incipient trees and honeysuckle tendrils sticking out from the back fence. And 5-6 of this awful invasive weed. I don't know what it is but it's spiky all over like a cactus, except it has spiky leaves, too. It grows about a foot per night, and is the most wretchedly ugly thing I've ever seen. It looks like a plant from outer space. I HATE those things.

The worst is now cleared out and about 1/3 of the back yard has been well-cleaned and mulched. If it doesn't rain on the weekends, we'll probably have recaptured the entirety by next weekend.

It was fun working with the kids. They only whined a little and they're all both big enough and strong enough to actually be useful. Middle Weed mowed the lawn and ran the trimmer. Us goils pulled up the vines and anything that wasn't a hydrangea. Little Weed stuffed the detritus into a lawn bag. Everyone took turns using the big clippers to take down stray trees and those horrible spiky things. The boys spread the weed-n-feed and hauled the mulch. Now that I've taught them what to do and know they can do it, I will of course be turning the job over to them entirely and staying inside to drink margaritas.

Bwahahahahahaha.

Everybody Blog Brett Kimberlin Day

Today is everyone blog Brett Kimberlin day. Michelle Malkin writes:

the past eight years that I’ve been blogging and operating Internet media companies, I’ve witnessed or experienced firsthand some of the most unhinged behavior against conservatives — from individual harassment and intimidation, to e-mail bombs and e-mail hackings, to troll infestations, distributed denial of service attacks, coordinated spam block attacks, and death threats.
Over the past twenty years that I’ve worked in daily opinion journalism, written books, and traveled across the country speaking in every type of venue, I’ve always believed that the most effective response to attempted censorship of conservatives is more speech, not less.
More. Louder. Bolder.
For conservatives online, it is also a time-tested truism that there is great strength in numbers. When bloggers, activists, video content creators, and Twitter users on the Right unite behind common principles — fighting jihadi propaganda, exposing corruption, calling out media bias, following the progressive money trail, holding the Republican Party’s feet to the fire, etc. — we can accomplish uncommon things.
Over the past year, Aaron Walker (who blogged as “Aaron Worthing”), Patterico, Liberty Chick, and now Stacy McCain have been targeted by convicted Speedway bomber Brett Kimberlin because they dared to mention his criminal past or assisted others who did. The late Andrew Breitbart warned about Kimberlin and company.
I have spoken directly with both Patterico and Aaron about their ongoing battles.
The mainstream press, not just the conservative blogosphere, needs to hear and report their stories.
This is a convoluted, ongoing nightmare that combines abuse of the court system, workplace intimidation, serial invasions of privacy, perjury, and harassment of family members. McCain was forced to move with his family out of his house this week, and has just gotten a small taste of what Aaron and Patterico have been enduring over the past year. Aaron and his wife were fired from their jobs after their employer feared the office would be targeted next. Convicted bomber Kimberlin has filed bogus “peace orders” against Aaron, when it is the Walkers who are the victims, not the perpetrators.

Read blogger Patterico's firsthand experience with "SWATTING", which as he points out, can get people killed and is a terrific waste of police time and community resources.

He documents the literal daily harassment (including not only SWATing but harrassment lawsuits and posting phony naked pictures supposedly of himself) of him and other bloggers (AaronWorthing, Stacey McCain, Ace of Spades among others) and he names names of at least some of the individuals and entities behind it.

Excellent run-down not only of Kimberlin's antics, but of his Soros-funded front groups.
Good round-up here.

Notre Dame & Other Un-Persons

Now, finally, can we all agree the media abdication of duty and lapdoggery is undeniable? How is it possible that 43 organizations (including the Obama-awarding U. of Notre Dame, with many more expected to follow) file suit simultaneously in 12 jurisdictions and ABC World News and NBC Nightly News literally (and I mean that literally, Mr. Biden) don't mention it? (CBS gave it a thorough-going 19-seconds.)

Folks is hoppin' mad, but don't they get it? Catholics and their institutions already don't exist. The history books have already been updated, and all the double-plus-ungood people were never there.

The chancellor of the Archdiocese of Washington explains the suit here:

 

Update: EJ Dionne explains why the press isn't covering the 43 lawsuits. It's because the REAL story is that many bishops AREN'T suing.
Yes, Dear.

Just as on 9/11 the REAL story was the number of Muslims who weren't attacking us.

Dionne rests his case on the word of one bishop, actually: Stephen Blaire of Stockton. He's the guy who says Paul Ryan's budget is a moral failure. I haven't gotten around to fisking him yet but he's way overdue. An interview he gave in the NC Register recently shows beyond doubt he hasn't even read the dang budget. He thinks the Church should not defend itself because it gives the GOP a talking point. And we all know the Church exists for the purpose of denying talking points to the GOP, and political neutrality means never telling politicians they are wrong. Except Paul Ryan, apparently.

Dionne is angry that the Church hasn't been mollified by the "compromise" on the HHS mandate, in which the government allows an accounting trick so Christians can pretend on paper they aren't funding abortifacient drugs and sterilizations. E.J., Baby: THERE IS NO COMPROMISE. The HHS rule was finalized as written on the same day the Administration floated it as some kind of maybe possibility down the road. It was a trick and a lie from the beginning, and only you and Sr. Carol fell for it.

Fauxcohantas & The First Birther President

"Lizzie Get Your Minority Faculty Position" from The Ryskind Sketchbook

You've heard of "Fauxcohantas," the scandal caused because Harvard Law Prof and Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren claims Cherokee blood -- falsely, it turns out. Sing along w/ Lizzie to the tune of "I'm An Indian Too" from Annie Get Your Gun. And if you really want to have fun, click over to the Sketchbook and read his lyrics to "Claimin' I'm A Cherokee," sung to the tune of Doin' What Comes Naturally.  Here's one verse: 

Folks are fair in Harvard Square,

For justice they are yearnin’

They will tenure whites like me

If I say I’m  Cher-o-kee (If you say your Cher-o-kee).

 

To add insult to injury, turns out Ms. Warren also plagiarized some recipes in the Pow Wow Chow cookbook. Clearly no one took the authenticity of the recipes very seriously at the time, since Ms. Warren submitted two crab recipes among several others as generations-old recipes from the Oklahoma Cherokee. Crab is so authentically Oklahoman, as we all know (and Mark Steyn beat me to mocking, but I thought it all by myself)

What's going on at Harvard Law that teachers and students alike must falsely embellish their heritage to feel good enough? As you probably read, it turns out the President used to pass himself of as being born in Kenya back in the day. Which means -- and this is the true importance of the story-- Mr. Obama is our first birther President! He probably wasn't born in Kenya, but he himself if the source of the story that he is.

My big conclusion from this week's news cycle? Harvard Law types are liars.