I WOULD BE HARD-PRESSED to admit that the mainstream media was possessed of even a lick of common sense - but they just might.

Link via Instapundit.

TAKING SHALLOWNESS TO NEW DEPTHS: George Will on “demon denim.”

Rachel Lucas responds:

I’d thought that I wear jeans because they’re inexpensive, comfortable, easy to launder, and go with just about everything, but really, without even knowing it, I’ve been “carefully calculating” my “costume” because I’m “eager to communicate indifference to appearances.” And how very rude of me to have such disrespect for others and to be so immature about it.

Judging from the picture, Will should reconsider wearing jeans.

THE SNEEZE. From my email.

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With their rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt.

Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and Moms freely brushed away tears.

This class would NOT pray during the commencements - not by choice, but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it.

The principal and several students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families.

The speeches were nice, but they were routine ... until the final speech received a standing ovation.

A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then, it happened. All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly SNEEZED!

The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said, “God bless you” and walked off stage.

The audience exploded into applause. This graduating class had found a unique way to invoke God's blessing on their future with or without the court's approval.

I have no idea whether this is true or not, but I hope it is, for it shows an ingenuity that this country will sorely need in the decades to come.

FISKING THE WASHINGTON POST’S pseudo-apology for bogus claims of Tea Party racism.

I would only add that the Post’s Colbert I. King has not only not apologized for his hate-filled diatribes, he doubled down.

OPEN THE DOOR and what do you get? ObamaCare, electrocution, and freezer cash. Your choice.

IS ANYONE KEEPING TRACK of Tea Party wins? I’d put the minimum at three four: Dede Scozzafava’s loss in New York; Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts; Bart Stupak’s decision to retire in Michigan, and soon-to-be-former Congressman Alan Grayson’s future loss in Florida. There are certainly others I’ve missed.

LIBERALISM RUN AMUCK: “The Maine Human Rights Commission is taking heat over a controversial proposal to ban schools from enforcing gender divisions in sports teams, school organizations, bathrooms and locker rooms. It says forcing a student into a particular room or group because of his or her biological gender amounts to discrimination.”

This is what happens when the asylum is turned over to the inmates.

“I GUESS they really do know how to fish in Alaska.” Yep. Put a juicy bait out, wait for the strike, and reel ‘em in.

OBAMA: “WE WON’T USE NUKES.” Hmm. Try this scenario on for size:

You own a home in what can only be described as a pretty nasty neighborhood. The Mr. & Mrs. Canada next door seem nice enough (though boring) and never really cause you any trouble. Those Mexicos on the other side are a bit of a problem. First, they seem to fight a lot over drugs, and they keeping coming into your yard. They do mow it once in a while however, so you have to give them that. Further down the street you have the Chavez clan. Now these people are bona-fide fruitcakes and their raucous parties seem to be gathering in the Honduras family and others. They love threatening the neighborhood, but so far it's been pretty much all talk. Across the lake, however, things are different. That's where the Muslims live. Now most of them are OK, but they have a gang problem; gangs with names like Al Qaeda and Taliban. It's not the graffiti that bothers you so much, it's their penchant for gang violence. These gangs regularly wander into their own neighborhoods wearing explosives and then turn themselves into greasy spots on the sidewalk ... along with a few dozen of their own family members. Every once in a while they'll sneak into your neighborhood to cause problems. When you try to keep them out with security screening they scream bloody murder.

Well ... OK, so that's your neighborhood. A lot nice, but some really nasty actors out there. So tell me ... would you hold a community meeting to tell all of these neighbors that yes, you have guns in your house for self-defense, but you promise you won't use those guns to defend yourself unless you're actually being attacked by someone with a gun? "You can attack us with swords, machetes, knives, slingshots, bows and arrows, mace, grenades, possums with HIV ... you're choice ... and we won't use our guns to defend ourselves. But if you come after us with guns all bets are off.

I prefer the 23rd Psalm approach: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the meanest son-of-a-bitch in that valley.

TALKING CRAP: sign in (or register; it’s free) and enjoy.

“ONE OF THE MOST OMINOUS DEVELOPMENTS of our time has been the multicultural dogma that all cultures are equal.... Multiculturalism enshrines the sins and grievances approach -- and paints the poor into a corner, where they can nurse their resentments, instead of advancing their skills and their prospects. The beneficiaries are politicians and race hustlers.”

MINE HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN

SUPREME COURT Associate Justice John Paul Stevens to retire. Will President Obama please his base and try to “rahm” an extremely liberal pick through the confirmation process or back off, pick a moderate liberal, and hope the Senate Republicans will grant him “due deference”? An extreme choice is sure to provoke a battle that will last through the November elections – and likely result in even more Republican gains in Congress.

Obama’s response today to Justice Stevens announcement suggests he’ll try the former approach. Stay tuned – and stock up on popcorn

THINKING ABOUT THE CENSUS. A month or so ago, I wrote that an “oath of citizenship” should be required of Americans before being allowed to vote. Now I wonder if the census should be limited to those (and their dependents) who’ve taken that oath.

NO LIBERAL WOMEN of any wattage in sight.

Well, of course. When you ban incandescents, all you’re left with are flourescents.

EVEN THE TREES are bowing to “His WONness”, the President Obama.


Is this one bowing, or trying to hide the fact that the road ahead is dangerous?

TWO VIEWS on ObamaCare. Follow the links, but I think both articles can be summed up as follows: (1) rationing is coming; (2) it ain’t gonna be you making the decisions; and (3) get used to it.

NEXT UP, THE VAT TAX. Why not? We’ve already got fat taxes.

With the VAT, Obama’s triumph will be complete. He will have succeeded in reversing Reaganism. Liberals have long complained that Reagan’s strategy was to starve the (governmental) beast in order to shrink it: First, cut taxes — then ultimately you have to reduce government spending.

Obama’s strategy is exactly the opposite: Expand the beast, and then feed it. Spend first — which then forces taxation. Now that, with the institution of universal health care, we are becoming the full entitlement state, the beast will have to be fed.

Read James Pethokoukis’s commentary to see how the VAT could come to pass. I could live with a VAT in lieu of an income tax, but only if a massive, market-based restructuring of ObamaCare was part of the package.

SIDE NOTE: the value-added tax (VAT) is a consumption tax, structurally similar to the Fair Tax, but without its transparency. As Pethokoukis notes: “[P]oliticians love the hidden aspect of a VAT as way of duping voters. To them opaqueness is a feature, not a bug.”

A TEA PARTY SUCCESS in the making?

THE TEA PARTY is pro-family. Somehow, I already knew that.