Unreal: J.D. Hayworth Pitched 'Free Government Money'

Recall that following the "Phoenix Rising" event a few Saturdays back, AZ GOP Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth held a barbeque fundraiser that night. Organizers were asking $25 to attend, and I wasn't too thrilled about it. I didn't know anyone, for one thing (and the crowd wasn't overflowing by any means). But more importantly, I didn't know that much about Hayworth himself. Well, I know something now. See, "Hayworth pitched ‘free money’ seminars in 2007 infomercial." (Via Memeorandum.) And remember, there's no such thing as "free money."

Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate

Full report at The Other McCain, "Sharron Angle Fights Back."

Angle's campaign page is here.

And the text from the ad:

Unemployment has skyrocketed. Billions in bailouts to Wall Street millionaires with little to show for it. The national debt reaching critical mass. Iran close to going nuclear. The Gulf Coast submerged in oil. And the Majority Leader of the Senate moves quickly into action — not with solutions, but by attacking his opponent.

Within hours of Sharron Angle becoming the nominee to face Reid in November, Reid launched a brutal advertising assault that is a slap in the face to all Americans. Not only is Reid not offering solutions to our problems, he’s using special interest money to throw mud and try to tear down his opponent. America deserves better.

If you care more about sound ideas than negative sound bites, if you think it’s time to end the bailouts, end the power of the special interests, and, above all, take back the America we love, then please visit SharronAngle.com and contribute today — and do it before Harry Reid attacks again.

Daily Kos Commies Attack Israel as 'Rogue Nation'

And the U.S. as well:

An organized boycott of the goods and services of a rogue nation is an allowable expression of opinion. Had the world decided to boycott the U.S. after our invasion of Iraq, we might well be better off today.

The full post is here:

And remember, the Kos people are the "mainstream of the Democratic Party."

The world is upside down.

And in related news, "Israeli Easing of Blockade of Gaza Draws Praise of U.S." (Via Memeorandum.) Of course, easing the blockade will make it easier for Hamas to import weapons for jihad against Israel, but that's what this is all about in the long run. There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

East Bay Jew Hatred: Free Palestine Movement Blockades Israeli Ship in Oakland

At Zombie, "Radicals, Islamists and Longshoremen Blockade Israeli Ship in Oakland":

An Israeli cargo ship arriving in Oakland today was forced to sit idle and not offload its containers when longshoremen joined forces with a coalition of communist and Islamist groups who picketed the port in protest against the recent violent incident off the coast of Gaza.

The ship, owned by Zim Lines, was not carrying any controversial cargo, nor is Zim involved in politics in any way; it was targeted simply because the shipping company is based in Israel.

The planned protest and blockade were organized by The Free Palestine Movement (one of the same groups which organized the Gaza “flotilla” in the first place) as well as a rogues’ gallery of nearly every communist, anti-Israel and radical Islamist group in the Bay Area ...

Additional reporting at the link (via Instapundit, "BUT THERE’S NO ANTI-SEMITISM INVOLVED").

Video from the communist website Indy Bay:

And at the Free Palestine Movement's homepage, "Israeli Ship Successfully Blocked, More Help Needed." Also, Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, "6/20/2010 Oakland Labor Community Picket of an Israeli Zim Line ship":

Protest Israel’s Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla!

Boycott Israeli Ships and Goods!

Lift the Blockade NOW – Let Gaza Live!

Bring Down Israel's Apartheid Wall!

Unions, labor federations and other organizations around the world have condemned Israel’s deadly attack against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31. Nine people were killed and dozens seriously injured in the Israeli commando attack in international waters on ships attempting to bring humanitarian cargo to the suffering and blockaded people of Gaza. Six people aboard the ships are still missing and presumed dead.

The Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was a blatant act of piracy on the high seas. No Israeli ship should now be allowed to carry on trading activity any where in the world without facing picket lines, protests and embargo. Dock workers in several countries including South Africa, Norway, Sweden and Malaysia have declared that they will refuse to handle Israeli cargo in the coming weeks.

We call on everyone who stands for justice and against occupation and apartheid to join the June 20 picket at the Port of Oakland. This is a moment of great opportunity. In San Francisco in 1984, a picket line and refusal to unload cargo of a ship carrying South African cargo was a key event in mobilizing the anti-apartheid movement worldwide.

Dems to Run on Joe Barton Campaign Platform

At The Hill, "Dems Mount Effort to Label Conservative GOPs as ‘The BP 114’." Plus, watch Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel cling to Rep. Joe Barton like a life preserver:

There's been panic on both sides of the aisle, actually. It's an election year. Barton got skittish, others in Congress jumped at the political opportunity, and the media's not giving Americans the full story. For example, see IBD, "An Apology to Be Truly Sorry About":

Rep. Joe Barton says what everyone knows is true and his own party threatens to kick him out of his committee seat. We expected cynical political opportunism from Democrats, but not from Republican leaders.

Where are we as a society when the truth is treated as a something that can't be uttered in public?

Barton, the Texas Republican, apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward, now relieved of his duties, during Thursday's House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing for what he characterized as a "shakedown" by the White House in forcing the company to create a $20 billion victims' compensation fund.

He also declared that he was "ashamed" of the White House's tactics, and called it "a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown."

"I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong is subject to some sort of political pressure that is — again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown," he said.

Naturally, the Democrats went hard after Barton. And the media were happy to aid the cause. And just as naturally, other comments by Barton have not received as much attention. Without having watched the hearing or read the transcript, how many people know that Barton said:

"There is no question ... that BP made decisions that objective people think compromise safety. There is no question that BP is liable for the damages."

Or that he told Hayward "we want to hold (BP) responsible, do what we can to make the liable parties pay for the damages."

Just as every lawmaker should, Barton simply wants the government to follow our due process system ...

RTWT.

More Weekend Gulfapalooza Cartoons!

At Flopping Aces and Theo Spark's (and at bottom, Michael Ramirez at IBD):

Worst NYT Article EVAH! ... 'Border Violence in Arizona Totally Exaggerated'

These freaks at NYT should actually talk to people on the ground in AZ:

When Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, announced that the Obama administration would send as many as 1,200 additional National Guard troops to bolster security at the Mexican border, she held up a photograph of Robert Krentz, a mild-mannered rancher who was shot to death this year on his vast property. The authorities suspected that the culprit was linked to smuggling.

“Robert Krentz really is the face behind the violence at the U.S.-Mexico border,” Ms. Giffords said.

It is a connection that those who support stronger enforcement of immigration laws and tighter borders often make: rising crime at the border necessitates tougher enforcement.

But the rate of violent crime at the border, and indeed across Arizona, has been declining, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as has illegal immigration, according to the Border Patrol. While thousands have been killed in Mexico’s drug wars, raising anxiety that the violence will spread to the United States, F.B.I. statistics show that Arizona is relatively safe.

That Mr. Krentz’s death nevertheless churned the emotionally charged immigration debate points to a fundamental truth: perception often trumps reality, sometimes affecting laws and society in the process.

Judith Gans, who studies immigration at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona, said that what social psychologists call self-serving perception bias seemed to be at play. Both sides in the immigration debate accept information that confirms their biases, she said, and discard, ignore or rationalize information that does not. There is no better example than the role of crime in Arizona’s tumultuous immigration debate.

“If an illegal immigrant commits a crime, this confirms our view that illegal immigrants are criminals,” Ms. Gans said. “If an illegal immigrant doesn’t commit a crime, either they just didn’t get caught or it’s a fluke of the situation.”

Ms. Gans noted that sponsors of Arizona’s controversial immigration enforcement law have made careers of promising to rid the state of illegal immigrants through tough legislation.

“Their repeated characterization of illegal immigrants as criminals — easy to do since they broke immigration laws — makes it easy for people to ignore statistics,” she said.

Well, you know what they say, "Lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Just spend some time with American Patrol down in Arizona and you'll get the lowdown.

More at Weasel Zippers, "Citizens Armed With Heavy Weapons Patrolling Drug-Smuggling Routes Along Arizona Border With Mexico, 'We Will Use Lawful Deadly Force When Appropriate' ..."

**********

UPDATE: At Just One Minute, "On The Border" (via Memeorandum):

... these numbers do not support the case that the rural and border areas of Arizona are getting safer. Quite the contrary, actually. Maybe the Times can turn a reporter loose on that.