Well, at least he's consistent.

Obama campaigns like he governs: expensively and on the public dime.

President Barack Obama is set to hold a campaign rally at Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas on Wednesday, his first visit to Southern Nevada since Nevada Journal revealed that his campaign  for the costs of events at local public . Obama’s campaign, Obama for America (OFA), left the Clark County School District with nearly $25,000 in unpaid bills from two rallies at Bonanza and Coronado high schools in 2008.

Neither CCSD nor the Obama campaign would confirm for Nevada Journal the campaign’s plans to pay for Wednesday’s event. In 2008, CCSD billed the Obama campaign $53,116.12 for the Bonanza and Coronado rallies. Obama for America originally paid $28,484.40 of the bill, but left $24,631.72 unpaid. That remainder was not paid until June 2012, following multiple  Nevada Journal inquiries. The bill was for 500 hours of school police officer overtime, providing extra security for the rallies.  [snip]

Obama’s campaign isn’t the only one hosting rallies at CCSD schools. Last week, presumptive Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan held a rally at , and on July 27, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., campaigned on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney at C.C Ronnow Elementary School. Mason Harrison, a spokesman for the Romney campaign’s Nevada organization, told Nevada Journal the Romney campaign paid for both the Rubio and Ryan events, and said the campaign usually pays for all events ahead of time.

The Obama campaign has been in the news several times for reportedly not reimbursing cities or other public entities for the costs of its events. In February, Obama held a fundraising breakfast in Newport Beach, Calif., and the city sent the Obama campaign a $35,043 invoice to cover extra security costs incurred by the city.The bill was due June 9, and when Newport Beach received no payment, it sent the campaign a past-due notice.  [snip]

 In June, the town of Durham, N.H., attempted to bill Obama’s campaign up to $20,000 for extra security costs. The Obama campaign declined Durham’s request, referring it to the Secret Service, just as with Newport Beach.

Stay classy, Mr. President.

Paving the road to Hell in Africa.

"Liberating" Libya might have made many of us feel better here in the US, but it was the apotheosis of Do Gooderism run amok. Our good intentions have paved the road to Hell for northern Africa.

• Qaddafi agreed to give ups his chemical WMDs in return for American support. Obama welshed on that agreement for global meliorist reasons. In so doing, he made it much less likely that dictators will trust the US going forward when we ask them to put down their swords. 
• The stockpile of weapons Qaddafi still had at the time of his demise has fallen into the hands of radical Muslims, including al Qaeda.
• This led directly to the complete destabilization of Mali, by arming radical Islamist factions in the country who were otherwise kept in check. Now one of the few bright spots for democratic rule in Africa is gone.
• Now Niger finds itself as the next domino in line to tumble. 

How many countries will fall as a result of our heedless act of Do Gooderism? The best that can be said about this experience is that Obama seems to have learned the lesson of how Do Gooderism can unleash hellish unintended consequences, as evidenced by his refusal to similarly intervene in Syria.

Of course, this is all besides the fact that Obama set a dangerous precedent by ignoring the War Powers Act in order to prosecute the war in Libya. What incentives do future presidents have to respect that limit on their foreign policy powers now that Obama has shown you can cross that line and not be held to account?

FRC shooting & Lake Placid Tolerance

I've talked before about Lake Placid Tolerance, the phenomenon, frequently found on the Left, where people claim to be tolerant of others but only so long as the "others" share their Liberal positions. If the "others" don't, then the tolerant folks frequently spew hateful, often violent, racist, or misogynistic rhetoric against them.

We're seeing another example of this today in response to the shooting at the Family Resource Council, a Conservative public policy and advocacy organization in DC. The shooter shouted messages about FRC's hateful policies being the justification for his actions before and during his shooting spree. The responses from way too many on the Left are classic Lake Placid Tolerance in action. In other words, they've been completely intolerant, classless, and hateful.

Do I feel bad that there was a shooting at the FRC? Yes. Am I surprised? Not really.— 
Amber J. (@skii_bum1985) August 15, 2012

*Please* stop shooting up Family Research Council. No need to turn these horrible, bigoted people into victims. Thanks!— 
Elon Green (@elongreen) August 15, 2012

fuck The Family Research Council, and it’s hatred and intolerance toward the LGBT community. Maybe they just needed some more Chic-Fil-A..— 
Glenn D. Sibley (@GlennSibley) August 15, 2012

Yo @EWErickson, a shooting at #FRC HQ was a long time coming. Though I'm surprised the#AFA wasn't 1st. Hate begets hate. #NOH8 #Bigotry— 
Chase J. (@Way2Blue4You) August 15, 2012

This one was particularly ironic. You brand yourself with "NOH8" and then say that attempted mass murder "was a long time coming"?

More classy tolerance:

Dear FRC: my thoughts are with you. Just don't say the things you do about your fellow Americans and expect not to be called a hate group.— 
Tom Doran (@portraitinflesh) August 15, 2012

If shooter who injured security guard did it to terrorize pro-homophobia community, it IS domestic terrorism. The FRC IS STILL a hate group.— 
Labgrrl (@labgrrl) August 15, 2012

Surprised someone went shooting up FRC? Nope. Hate begats hate. #certifedhategroup— 
Brandon Shire (@TheBrandonShire) August 15, 2012

@michellemalkin How much empathy would Cons show if Black Panther Sec guard got shot in arm? He didn't die. He got shot in arm 4 godsake— 
Josef K. (@apls452) August 15, 2012

Family Research Council …who knows maybe the hated are starting to hate back …look out TBAGGERS— 
GEOFFREY WILLIAMS (@jeffreynola) August 15, 2012

And the winning quote goes to Jon G. for insightful analysis:

FRC shooting is another reminder that the #NOH8 crowd isn't against hate at all — they just want you to hate different people.— 
Jon G. (@ExJon) August 15, 2012

Why I'm elated Paul Ryan is Romney's VP

This is why. Listen to what this man says. He gets it. And unlike Obama, whose speeches four years ago were filled with vapid tripe and meaningless bromides, Ryan's words actually mean something. They're not just gibberish.

 Talking to Democrats about his famous budget, Paul Ryan said,

“America is having enormous trouble paying for the welfare state we already have, much less the far more ambitious one you guys want to build. If you ever find the courage, and then the language, to persuade Americans to pay much higher taxes for the sake of perpetuating and perpetually expanding our welfare state, Republicans will challenge those bad policies. We’ll acknowledge, however, that they are at least affordable bad policies.

“It will be easy to know when brave Democrats succeed in catalyzing American politics. That day will have arrived when Republican politicians have good reason to fear that the most serious consequence of opposing a tax increase will be not another denunciation by the New York Times editorial page but defeats at the ballot box. Until Democrats assemble that electoral majority of Americans insisting on higher taxes, we must devise spending plans consonant with the federal government’s existing (and effectively unexpandable) revenue stream. Republicans are proposing big changes in existing social programs and strict limits on future government outlays, to make the operations of the welfare state compatible with the government’s revenues.

“Democrats who find those changes appalling can do one of three things: persuade Americans to accept enormous tax increases; offer an alternative plan, humane and enlightened, for the federal government to address social needs by spending no more than 19 percent of GDP; convince the nation’s voters and the world’s lenders that a huge and permanently widening gap between federal revenues and spending is nothing to worry about. There is no fourth option.”

From the Dept. of "If Something Can't Last Forever, It Won't"

Investors are actively preparing for the Euro's collapse.

A peak inside the mind of The Onion readers

Specifically regarding Paul Ryan as Romney's VP:

Admit It, I Scare The Every-Loving Shit Out Of You, Don't I?

When Mitt Romney selected me as his running mate, I knew the Democratic attack dogs would come out in full force. They would say I’m a right-wing ideologue. They would say my views on entitlement programs are far too radical. They would say putting me on the ticket immediately kills Mitt Romney’s chances of becoming president because I’m a liability. But if we’re being honest with each other—if we’re able to put aside the talking points for a few minutes and say what we’re all actually thinking and feeling—I believe we can acknowledge the real truth here.

I’m young, I’m handsome, I’m smart, and I’m articulate. And that scares the ever-loving shit out of you. You can pretend like you have this thing in the bag, but you know good goddamn well that this race just got real interesting, real fast.

It’s okay to admit it. You’re frightened to death of me. It might actually be healthy for you to face your fears now rather than later, when Mitt and I are leading by a few points in the polls and it looks like this thing might end badly for you. Face it: I’m not some catastrophe waiting to happen, like a Sarah Palin or a Dan Quayle. On the contrary, you have the exact opposite fear. I’m a solid, competent, some might say exceptional, politician.

Read the rest of the article.

The new Puritans

"Liberals are often some of the least tolerant people when they are sure they are right; like the Massachusetts Puritans from whom, culturally and intellectually, much of modern American liberalism descends, they believe in freedom for God’s Elect — and force to make the heathen and the unenlightened Do Right."   -Walter Russell Mead

Filed under: Hitting the nail on the head.