Enjoy a Friday LinkSwarm:
LinkSwarm for December 7, 2012
December 7th, 2012DeMint Leaves Senate to Head Heritage Foundation
December 6th, 2012Sen. Jim DeMint has announced that he’s stepping down from the Senate to head the Heritage Foundation. DeMint’s official statement is here.
It’s big news when a Senator steps down to head a think tank, especially the granddaddy of all conservative think tanks, where founder Ed Feulner is stepping down at age 71.
It will be tough to lose DeMint from the Senate, where he’s done so much to further the cause of limited government and recruited stalwart conservatives like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul to join him. But hopefully he can awaken a sleeping giant at Heritage, an enormously important institution before and during the Reagan Revolution, but almost invisible in the Internet era.
Erick Erickson likes the move. “Jim DeMint’s power in the conservative movement just grew exponentially. A man who was going to retire in four years anyway, will now be leading the conservative movement from its base of operations for years to come.”
Edited to Add: Ted Cruz joins the chorus of congratulations.
A Good List of Conservative Texas Blogs
December 4th, 2012This list of conservative blogs in Texas is well worth taking a look at. For starters, I’m in there, which means it passes the first-cut test.
I hope to take a good look at all of these when I have some time with an eye toward updating the blogroll.
Paul Burka Discusses Ted Cruz, and Proves (Yet Again) He Doesn’t Understand Conservatives
December 3rd, 2012So Paul Burka noticed that Senator-elect Ted Cruz picked conservative Chip Roy as his Chief of Staff.
Sayeth Burka:
What I find revealing about the choice of Roy is that Cruz–who has been making noise as a potential contender for the White House in 2016–appears to be putting his chips on the tea party as the future of the Republican party. In doing so, he is aligning himself with insurgents like Rand Paul and, of course, the chief insurgent, Jim DeMint, who helped fund Cruz’s Senate race.
Is this a good bet? I’m dubious. The tea party has a lot in common with the old Ross Perot “United We Stand” bunch. These groups seldom have staying power. Granted, the Kochs’ involvement makes the tea party’s survival more likely, at least in the short run, but in the establishment almost always prevails. It may prove to be the case, though, that Cruz is so appealing that he can transcend the factionalism in the Republican party. The strength of the Republican field in 2016 is that it is filled with big names: Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee. Only Rubio and Cruz qualify as fresh faces, though, and that might be where the rank-and-file look first.
Wait, let me get this straight: A conservative Republican Senator-elect, who worked at a conservative think tank, ran as a conservative, courted conservatives, and beat the overwhelming favorite establishment candidate while pledging to govern as a conservative, has now chosen…a conservative chief of staff?
Sadly, Burka misunderstanding conservatives is nothing new. The idea that conservatives truly believe in low taxes, balanced budgets, and limited government seems entirely alien to Burka. When it comes to describing inter-Republican-Party dynamics, he’s like a color-blind man trying to describe The Wizard of Oz.
And so instead of reaching the obvious conclusion, that Ted Cruz chose a conservative chief of staff because he’s a conservative, Burka prefers to envision imaginary 2016 horse-race jockeying.
I could try to explain to Burka exactly why the Tea Party exists and what it wants, but I fear it would be like trying to teach the fundamentals of optics to a dog.
Pat Condell on “Islamophobia”
December 3rd, 2012Just as he did a few months ago, British atheist Pat Condell takes aim on another mockable aspect of modern radical Islam and their politically correct enablers: “Islamophobia”.
(Hat tip: Urban Grounds.)
Syria and Guns
November 29th, 2012OK. Thanksgiving break over.
I’ve come across a couple of blogs from the world of international conflict you may want to take a look at:
Both are worth checking out.
A Quick Pre-Thanksgiving LinkSwarm
November 21st, 2012Lots of larger pieces in various stage of construction, but rather than put them up when everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving, here’s a quick LinkSwarm:
Happy Thanksgiving!
Texas Vs. California: Thanksgiving Week Edition
November 19th, 2012Another quick update on the respective fates of our nation’s two biggest states:
Your Top Stories, All Mashed Together
November 16th, 2012To much going on. Here’s a sampler:
First up, Unions kill Hostess. By calling a strike against a company that was already in bankruptcy, against the advice of the Teamsters, who had already taken a look at the Hostess books, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union ensured that instead of a 6% pay cut, unionized workers would take a 100% pay cut. Way to go, unions!
Israel still seems to be gearing up for a ground offensive in Gaza. And by firing rockets at Tel Aviv, Hamas pretty much guarantees that the only faction in Israeli politics urging restraint will retink their position. “I get a lot less liberal when you want to kill me.”
Lefties are trying to boycott Papa Johns for daring to lay people off because of ObamaCare. “If this is anything like the Chick-fil-A buycott, and you want Papa John’s for dinner, you’d better get your order in now.” It’s amazing that any business in America ever has to declare bankruptcy, given there are so many liberals around who can tell them exactly how much profit they “need”…
Former general and former CIA head David Petraeus testifies on Benghazi. He says his report said the attack was launched by al Qaeda, but higher-ups in the Obama Administration deleted the reference. The more we hear about Benghazi, the more it appears that Fox News was right.
Considerations for an Israeli Ground Assault on Gaza
November 15th, 2012Stratfor considers the implications of an Israeli ground assault on Gaza, concluding that it would look an awful lot like Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s 2008-2009 incursion into Gaza.
The biggest difference is that that back then, Egypt wasn’t run by Islamist assclowns.
This also gives me a chance to link to this totally off the hook article on Israel’s urban warfare tactics in Nablus in 2002. As far as I know, it’s the only useful application of French postmodern literary theory in the history of mankind…