I was born in Maryland and spent my first thirty years living there, first in the Appalachian Mountains, then on the Eastern Shore, and later in suburban Washington. After a year in South Carolina, I moved to Georgia in 1977. I soon met another park ranger who worked in Florida. She was a wonderful woman who became my best friend. then my wife, and soon the mother of our three children. I spent over eleven years working in the historic city of Savannah, Georgia, and on the moss-draped sea islands nearby before moving to Atlanta.. In 2007, I retired from the National Park Service and a career dedicated to preserving and interpreting resources and themes in the cultural and natural history of the United States. It was a most rewarding experience. Today, I enjoy living in the rolling hills and woods of the Appalachian Piedmont east of Atlanta.
A black farmer in the rural south USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service
When Andrew Breitbart's Big Journalism expressed concern about the class-action settlement called Pigford, he was ridiculed by the usual media suspects. That was last year. A few days ago, The New York Times verified that Breitbart had every right to be outraged at what has become an extraordinary fraud on taxpayers brought to us by our elected officials and their appointees in Washington. I won't belabor readers with my take on this one. All I ask is that my liberal readers read the NYT article before declaring Pigford just another target of unhinged conservatives. If liberals can't handle the news from their flagship source, here is a shorter version of the story from the editors of National Review Online.
If we keep spending money - taxpayer or Chinese loan - like this the country will not survive.
I wondered how long this administration could function with Chicago style politics and its hands paralyzed by ineptitude. Now Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif), who can be a tad loopy at times, has called for an investigation that may have long and deep national and political impacts. The charges: potential bribery on the part of Democratic Party officials for offering jobs, and potential misprison on the part of Obama administration officials for not reporting the original crimes.
The national political scene has not been a hot topic at this blog for some time for two primary reasons. First, it's depressing and, second, you can only eat so many Tums in 24 hours. The potential of this story requires our attention though, as we spin toward another election cycle later this year. All indicators point toward a combative affair that could unhinge the collectivists and seriously damage the once-great party that welcomed them in coalition. That's what happens when the party in power goes beyond one of the most tried and true sayings about our federal government: the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. And just how have they exceeded this axiom? With this administration, the left hand doesn't know what to do and the right hand hopes what they're doing will bring change. Basically, the Obama method has taken a government that usually practices marginal competence to one that practices incompetence.
Such rank amateurism in high places opens doors for more than business as usual. Some of that process may result in noticeable errors. Some of those noticeable errors may result in law breaking. As I've said before in this blog, politics is an often nasty game of compromise. The back room is an essential part of the game and it's a place where the participants don't want to be interviewed for television or see people taking notes. When the left and right hands can't deliver a unified and effective product, the back room deals can boil up into news from the very lips of the insiders. That is precisely what's happening with Democrats Joe Sestak and Andrew Romanoff and their contention that they were offered jobs to step aside in their respective Senate races.
Frankly, reasonable American surely don't want a repeat of the Watergate years sapping our national energy. Nor do they want their country forced into a nanny state by Chicago style thugocracy. Where to go? What to do? Betty says it all:
A few weeks ago, Eric Holder saw nothing wrong with Black Panthers using billy clubs to intimidate voters. Today, he thinks intimidating terrorists with cigars is a crime. Holder is the one who should be answering tough questions under oath.
Michelle Malkin has followed this under-reported, racially sensitive case for over two years. "Horror" is the appropriate word for this crime. Political correctness will keep you from hearing about the event and subsequent trial in the state-run, mainstream media.
The White House wanted supporters of health care reform to start attending this summer's town-hall meetings. The Service Employees International Union took up the challenge and attended meetings. in St. Louis and Tampa. Moonbattery has a scary perspective on this development. There was violence involving union thugs at both locations, the worst assault occurring in St. Louis.
Here is raw video from that assault which resulted in six arrests, including three SEIU thugs:
Read the details here and here, taken from a Powerline entry. As the last link states, the intimidation and violence coming from these thugs is the Chicago way. The Chicago way has now become the American way under the leadership of Barack Obama. It is going to be interesting between now and September when Congress reconvenes.
The rebellion has begun. Union intimidation and violence against those opposing the Obama administration will backfire mightily. The victims will be Democrats in the House who represent center-left districts. I expect many of them will be packing their bags after the 2010 elections.
