The Tilled Land

Retro
The New York Times website today featured a fourteen minute video retrospective of the Tawana Brawley affair. All will remember the incident in which a black teenager claimed she was raped by several upstate New York cops. Of course it was later determined that it was a complete fabrication. The cops were wrongly accused and, no doubt, actual black women who were victims of rape were thenceforth viewed skeptically.  Figuring prominently in the video was Obama adviser and MSNBC host Al Sharpton. 

Who is a man of God. 
Who did not apologize for his role in falsely inciting racial animosity.
Who does not apologize even today. 
Who has the ear of the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world. 

Even Eliot Spitzer (a.k.a. Client #9) apologized for whoring around before getting his own television show. 

Not Sharpton.


Let's Dance
An internal watchdog at the Treasury Department is set to report Tuesday that the IRS spent almost $50 million on more than 200 employee conferences from 2010 through 2012, spending the tax-collecting agency's new acting commissioner called "inappropriate." (WSJ, 6/2/2013)

So Liberals, please note. When we say that taxes should not be raised, spending should be cut, this is what we mean.


Stumblebum
A second major piece of legislation that would have made Illinois the 13th state to allow same-sex couples to marry also stumbled in the closing days of the session. The Senate passed a bill to legalize the unions in February, but the House failed to take up the measure in the face of pressure from the Roman Catholic Church and a group of black ministers.  (WSJ, 6/2/2013)

Whatever one's view of gay marriage - and reasonable people can have entirely different opinions - it is worth noting again the opposition of many black clergymen. So for gay marriage advocates, can we have a little more tolerance for those who oppose? Labeling opponents as homophobic is not a good strategy and you might be surprised at the constituency of those who hold divergent views.

Belief System

Revelation
After his recent lunch with Obama, Ryan (R-Wis.) revealed that it was “the first time I’ve ever had a conversation with the president that lasted more than two minutes.” Think about that. We’ve been through debt ceilings, super committees, sequesters and fiscal cliffs, yet the president waited until his fifth year in office to actually sit down and talk with the Republican chairman of the House budget committee? That is simply beyond comprehension. (Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post, 3/18/2013)

A common theme of Republicans, but one that even Democrats have privately admitted. When the history of the Obama years are written, honest biographers will note the strange aversion that he displays toward working with other politicians. 


Subjective
The Supreme Court returns to the subject of same-sex marriage for a second day on Wednesday, when the justices hear arguments about the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. (NYT, 3/27/2013)

--It's cover to cover at the New York Times on gay marriage  An issue that directly affects the less than 2% of the country that is gay. 

--Said to be following the issue closely are both former President Clinton who signed into law the Defense of Marriage  Act which formally defined marriage as between a man and a woman and President Obama who opposes gay marriage. Clinton and Obama are both Democrats.

UPDATE: Both Clinton and Obama have changed their minds!

--Heard this one: Gays had absolutely no interest in marriage until they realized that it was a good excuse to get dressed up and have a party! We cannot remember if we thought that one up or if it came from Ann Coulter. Probably Coulter. 


Brave New World
During Wednesday's oral arguments, Justice Antonin Scalia remarked on that contradiction, saying it was a "new world" when the attorney general could decide a law is unconstitutional but still enforce it. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, considered a potential swing vote in the case, called that a “questionable practice.” (Washington Post, 3/27/2013)

How would you like to see a head-to-head with AG Eric Holder and Justice Scalia? Our prediction? First round knockout for Scalia.

Recalled To Life

Suspicious
Mr. Hagel also announced on Friday that the U.S. is cancelling plans to deploy defenses against ICBMs in Europe within the next decade, and the suspicion is that Mr. Obama is offering them as a bargaining chip in his next arms-control deal with the Russians. Recall that Mr. Obama was overheard last year telling then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he'd have "more flexibility" after his re-election. (WSJ, 3/18/2013)

Read a history of Poland - any one - and this is what you will find:

- In 1791 Poland passed the first written constitution in Europe.
- Poland has been a stalwart friend to the U.S. and to democracy.
- Throughout history, Poland has been subject to invasions and accompanying acts of genocide from neighbors.

If Obama was the great mind that his hagiographers tell us he is, he would understand history. Instead, he sides with the Russians. 


Draft Dodgers
The Democratic-drafted budget, approved narrowly a couple hours before dawn, calls for almost $1 trillion in new taxes over the next decade to help reduce the deficit.
...
The budget plan was opposed by four Democrats who are up for re-election in 2014: Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.), Kay Hagan (D., N.C.), Mark Pryor (D., Ark.) and Mark Begich (D., Alaska). (WSJ, 3/23/2013)

Besides the fact that this is the first budget that the (Democrat-dominated) Senate passed in four years, this is all you need to know:

- $1 trillion in new taxes.
- Not supported by Democrats who have to face voters. 

Republicans should be mopping the floor with Democrats, but they are not. Time to stop listening to Karl Rove and start listening to Ann Coulter. 


Tax Time
Former Vice President Al Gore published a blog post on his website entitled “‘The time has come’ for a carbon tax,” which includes excerpts from an editorial from the Financial Times which endorses a carbon tax. (Dailycaller.com, 3/22/2013)

For Democrats, the answer is taxes. Always taxes.


The Way They Are
Public support for gay marriage has hit a new high as Americans increasingly see homosexuality not as a choice but as a way some people are, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The poll shows that 58 percent of Americans now believe it should be legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married; 36 percent say it should be illegal. (Washington Post, 3/18/2013)

* Poll conducted in Vermont, California and Provincetown, MA (?)