THE RULE OF LAW is losing out to tyranny.

Michael Barone noticed it over a year ago; he called it "Gangster Government".

REMEMBER THE GULF: [T]he Obama administration flounders in a sea of ineptitude, red tape and finger pointing.

Obama’s cabinet, including the EPA, continues to let ridiculous regulations stand in the way of oil being removed from the water. Skimmers that discharge separated water containing less than 1% of oil residue are being met with bureaucracy. Local authorities were unnecessarily stopped from dredging to build protective sand berms, out of concern the dredging was too close to the shoreline. The environmentalists who wish to protect our nation from some uncertain catastrophe are ignoring the one happening right this very moment.

The Heritage Foundation will be sending a team of experts to investigate and report on the oil spill response – what worked, what didn’t, and why. It should be interesting. Stay tuned.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA: With the 4th of July weekend fast approaching, the California Department of Transportation painted over a U.S. flag mural near an expressway days after 9/11.

Can’t possibly have patriotism on display on the 4th of July ....

PARANOIA is looking better every day.

THE CEO PROBLEM: the U.S. doesn’t have one.

Related post here.

GULF SPILL UPDATE: containment deadline missed; volunteers beached by Feds.

The environment would be better served by plugging the stupidity gusher at the White House.

Links from Instapundit.

IF THERE’S ANY TIME IN HISTORY when the feds have well earned the epithet "gooberment," that time is now.

Rampant stupidity.

PROBING THE OUTER REACHES OF STUPIDITY: NASA’s “next frontier” is better relations with the muslim world.

The audacity of dope.

JUSTICE FOR ALL? An Instapundit interview with former Justice Department civil rights attorney J. Christian Adams. Adams will testify before the Civil Rights Commission today.

IT’S ABOUT LIBERTY, not healthcare.

The video is about Virginia’s lawsuit to block ObamaCare. It’s long (~60 min) but worth every second of the time spent watching.

NEAR-COLLISIONS ON RISE in Washington area's skies amid influx of inexperienced controllers. In an otherwise decent article about Washington D.C.’s crowded skies, there’s this:

"It's the air traffic controller that's supposed to control this situation, not the onboard warning system,” said John DeLisi, deputy director of aviation for the National Transportation Safety Board. "When it had to kick in and do its thing, that wasn't a good controller."

Partially correct. The onboard warning system, TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System) is indeed a “when-all-else-fails-and-things-are-rapidly-becoming-unglued” system of last resort.

What’s missing is the role of the pilot. When I last flew as pilot-in-command, admittedly a long time ago, it had been drummed into me that it is the pilot, not the flight controller, who is ultimately responsible for safety of flight.

A good pilot listens to his flight controller’s instructions, as he should. But the ultimate responsibility is his alone.

FEMINISM VS. HOTNESS: From the perspective of feminist recruitment efforts, ask yourself this: if a girl is going to choose an adult female role model, who is she more likely to choose, Sonia Sotomayor or Michelle Bachmann? Elena Kagan or Sarah Palin? Feminists need to demonize attractive Republican women because they pose an existential threat to feminism.

Link from Instapundit.

WHY LIBERALS SHOULD LOVE THE SECOND AMENDMENT. Ignoring the obvious “liberals good/conservatives bad” condescension, this Daily Kos post is quite a good argument in favor of Second Amendment (gun) rights.

I’VE PRETTY MUCH IGNORED l’affaire Weigel. Once one recognizes the mainstream lamestream media is corrupt, preferring to report the narrative in lieu of the news, the existence of a JournaList becomes obvious. Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic observes:

The sad truth is that [news organizations] now hire people who came up in journalism without much adult supervision, and without the proper amount of toilet-training.

Too many “journalists” are petty, mean, small-minded pseudoadults badly in need of mature supervision.

ROADSIDE SCHLOCK: Calling the Recovery.gov stimulus signs "the height of narcissism," Rep. Aaron Schock, (R-IL)is preparing to do battle on the floor of the House.

Having driven the highways for 50-plus years and seen every construction site signed with something akin to "this wonderful improvement is brought to you by (your tax dollars)," it's hard to get too excised.

Except for this -

Projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will bear a newly-designed emblem.

The emblem is a symbol of President Obama’s commitment to the American People to invest their tax dollars wisely to put Americans back to work.

which is quoted exactly from this EPA document. And if you're interested, here's a training document of which there must be at least 49 more.

Narcissm and waste: hallmarks of the Obama administration.

FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY, we visited James Madison’s Montpelier, the lifelong home of the Father of the U.S. Constitution, architect of the Bill of Rights, and fourth president of the United States. Here are some photos from the visit.

The home, restored to its 1820’s appearance.

The Blue Ridge mountains, taken from the front veranda.

Madison’s Temple.

James and Dolley Madison statue.

CAPTION ME

BIG SURPRISE: A report released Thursday by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee "provides evidence that the Obama administration misrepresented the assets devoted to the cleanup, misrepresented the timing of when government officials knew there was an oil spill and misrepresented the level of control the government had over the matter. It also claims the Obama administration seemed more interested in public relations than cleaning the mess and plugging the hole.”

Via CNS News.

PRAISE FOR OBAMA? From the Washington Examiner?

Link from Instapundit.

OLD TOWN MANASSAS always has a phenomenal Fourth of July fireworks celebration. This year was no exception. Here are some photos.

The train station, gussied up for the celebration.

Waiting for the fireworks. The best view is always along the railroad tracks.

The fireworks begin.

Darker now, and a better image.

And the finale.