A Democrat match made in heaven

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, 29, and her longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky, 32, have notified their friends of their engagement.

The couple has a lot in common. Mezvinsky is the son of former U.S. Rep. Ed Mezvinsky and former Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinksy, both Democrats.   Dad, who represented Iowa’s 1^st CD for two terms in the 1970‘s, is a convicted felon who pleaded guilty to 31 of 69 charges of white collar crimes involving bank, wire and mail fraud, resulting in a bit of time in prison.  He was sentenced to 80 months for the crimes which totaled nearly $10 million.

Shortly after his indictment, Mezvinsky was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but the judge at his trial disallowed a mental illness defense, although many believe that liberalism is a mental disorder. 

Mom Mezvinsky, a former television journalist, served one term in Congress in the mid-90‘s. In 2000, she was running for the Democrat nomination for the U.S. Senate when hubby Ed’s business problems forced them to file for bankruptcy and caused her abrupt withdrawal from the campaign.

Chelsea’s family history is better known.  Her Dad, William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, is the infamous impeached former president, disbarred for lying to a grand jury and suborning perjury in relationship to his womanizing exploits.

Mom Hillary was a U.S. Senator representing the people of New York, although she never previously lived there. Also an accomplished liar, she ran for President of the U.S. and was bested by Barack Obama, for whom she now works as Secretary of State.

One plus: The engaged couple will never be able to knock one another’s family without taking a time out and calling it a draw.

How liberals at ASU honor the First Amendment and treat guests

This video clearly illustrates why the once respected profession of journalism is dying.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was invited to appear at a forum at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. Arpaio graciously accepted the invitation, not anticipating that the students, who are trained to value free speech, would instead turn out to brutalize the First Amendment and dominate last night’s event.

The exceedingly popular sheriff, elected to an unprecedented five 4-year terms, has been a strong advocate of illegal immigration enforcement. Pro-amnesty student protesters showed up to drown him out as he tried to answer questions at the event, which was not open to the general public.

 The protesting student journalists began chanting  Bohemian Rhapsody, making it impossible for the Sheriff to be heard. After being invited to participate in a discussion forum and being unable to speak, Arpaio rightly got up and walked out, ending the charade.

Goldwater Institute gets Sprouled

The Goldwater Institute has sent out invitations for its upcoming event featuring Dr. Frank Luntz as guest speaker of the 2009 Speaker Series Luncheon. As is often the case, the soiree will be held at the venerable Ritz-Carlton.

Dr. Luntz is well known as a political pollster, focus group maven and a leading communication strategist, instructing conservatives on how to sell their vision for America. In fact, it was Luntz who helped the Republican Party develop the highly successful Contract with America in 1994.

All of this begs the question: What are Luntz and the Goldwater Institute doing in the same cabal with Nathan Sproul and his Lincoln Strategy Group — listed as double sponsors of the event?

Since the proper use of effective language is a driving force for Dr. Luntz, we’d be curious to hear his answer to this unsavory association.

In the absence of a response, our best guess is a McCain illegal immigration connection. Sproul, it will be remembered is the dastardly character who ran the despicable campaign against Sen. Russell Pearce (R-Dist.18). His tactics were so reprehensible that they gave rise to the term “Sprouling”  — first used in this blog.

It was Sproul who obtained McCain’s quid pro quo endorsement for Len Munsil in his unsuccessful 2006 gubernatorial bid, which floundered under a weak  anti-illegal immigration banner.

Sproul was also behind the disingenuously named ballot initiative Stop Illegal Hiring (Prop. 202) which sought to accomplish just the opposite.  The voters saw through the abysmal charade — and its proponents of low wage, illegal and exploitable labor led by McDonald’s owner Marion “Mac” Magruder, Carl’s Jr. owner Jason LeVecke and chaired by County Attorney wannabe Andrew Pacheco  — sending it to a swift defeat. The conservative publication Human Events also covered the deceptive effort.

The men are connected through their involvement with the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, the tail that wags the dog of illegal immigration. Then there are the familial linkings, with Andy McCain, the son of John McCain, serving as chairman of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

Failure to comply with the established elite McCain purveyors of  illegal immigration brought threats of retribution against the legislators who supported the Legal Arizona Workers act.

Most recently, Clint Bolick, who serves as the director of the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation at the Goldwater Institute, relentlessly hammered Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio both in the daily newspaper and in two lengthy GI Reports over minutia, in an apparent effort to ingratiate himself with the generous donors of the open borders crowd.

The uniting of these dissimilar gents  is not for fun and games — they mean business. Connect the dots, follow the money. They all lead to McCain.

Fact-filled reading to make you smarter

Jack Cashill’s compelling article available at American Thinker, compares “The Competing Narratives of Barry and Sarah.” 

Beginning in the spring of 1964, Cashill follows the paths of infant Palin and toddler Obama. A lengthy read, it is nonetheless worth your time.

When it serves her purpose, Linda Valdez ignores the news

It’s quite an accomplishment for an editorial writer to deliberately ignore the news, but when it serves her purposes, the tactic seems to work quite well for Linda Valdez.

A case in point is her foolish Quick Hit in today’s newspaper. Under the headline, So how do you think Latinos are voting? she writes:

“According to a recent release from the Immigration Policy Center, “New Americans” (naturalized citizens or their U.S.-born kids) made up 10.6 percent of all registered voters in Arizona in 2006. Latinos made up 11.7 percent of voters in the state in 2008. Hmm, I wonder how they feel about the political party with a reputation for immigrant bashing?”

Valdez is so bonded to her amnesty agenda that she misses the mark entirely when she uses the term “immigrant bashing, “ in her attempt to marginalize the Republican party. She wants so badly to link criminal illegal trespassing into the U.S. to the lawful and orderly process of immigration, when she knows no corollary exists. We have the most gracious and easily accessible immigration policies in the industrialized world for those who want to immigrate legally. Breaking in is quite another issue. Valdez most likely has locks on her own doors to prevent such activity on her own property.

This Rasmussen Reports survey must have caught her eye. It is a poll of Arizona Democrats and Republicans — statewide and notes that Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Arizona voters have a favorable view of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and his aggressive enforcement of laws against illegal immigration. Forty-six percent (46%) view the sheriff very favorably. Just 26% have an unfavorable opinion of Arpaio, including 16% who are very unfavorable,

Rasmussen found that “Arizona voters also strongly approve of some of the tactics the sheriff employs to fight illegal immigration and crime related to it.”

Check it out Linda.  We don’t make up facts to fit an overarching scheme.

ACORN: Taking a page from the Obama playbook?

Remember how Barack Obama took such offense when his middle name Hussein was mentioned during the 2008 campaign? It was considered so “racist” and derogatory that his even his opponent John McCain jumped to Obama’s defense after Bill Cunningham, a national talk show host warming up a Republican crowd for a McCain appearance had the temerity to utter the name. McCain actually opined it was “disparaging” and “inappropriate” to mention the name. “I absolutely repudiate such comments, and it will never happen again…it will never happen again,” vowed McCain. Watch him solemnly intone his promise here.

Then came the day of reckoning, when Obama placed his hand on the bible and was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, unreservedly using the middle name he ran from during the previous years.

Now we read that ACORN, the group known for voter fraud and steeped in corruption and criminal practices, an organization in which Obama cut his political teeth, has been considering taking a page from that name change book in an effort to rehabilitate its disreputable image. This internal memo comes courtesy of POLITICO.

Politics Arizona Republic style

The smoldering embers are reigniting into that familiar old inferno. We’ve seen it before when a conservative has the temerity to gain traction, or heaven forbid, actually win an election. The Arizona Republic pulls out all stops to effect a frontal assault. Pseudo Republicans are taken under wing, which is why Congressmen Jeff Flake and John Shadegg usually garner favorable coverage. Ditto Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain.

But let an actual conservative Republican even talk about the issues or have a base urging him to run, as in the case with popular radio talk show host and former Congressman J. D. Hayworth, and the flames get fanned with extra vigor.

Via its editorial staff, reporters, columnists and even the now-liberal cartoonist, the Republic has relentlessly hammered Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas, for doing their jobs of enforcing the law. The newspaper would prefer to see selective enforcement and certainly none that results in the arrest, conviction or deportation of their favorite residents: illegal aliens.

Now the vulnerability of John McCain has become the vanguard issue. He has recently been the subject of a Rasmussen Reports survey that showed him to be in a dead heat in a hypothetical match-up with Hayworth — not good news for Arizona’s senior senator. Another such survey indicated 61 % of Arizonans said he doesn’t represent them. He has had a disconnect with his own party base for so long that he didn’t even bother to attend the state presidential preference primary when his name was placed in nomination for the 2008 election, an overt display of disdain for the very people who brought him to that dance.

J.D. Hayworth serves to compound the injury as far as the daily is concerned. He is knowledgeable on the issues, congressional procedures and the myriad personalities. They exposed their growing angst Saturday in an editorial lavishing praise on McCain. The very next day, the newspaper sics the drooling dog E.J. Montini on Hayworth. The more ink they expend, the more fearful they appear that Hayworth could, in fact, show their boy Johnny the door. National politicos are speculating on the possibility of a McCain defeat.

Right now, we can only hope. If Hayworth enters the race, we can look forward to calling him “Senator.”

Throwing liberal caution to the winds, Brewer acknowledges Christmas

Gov. Jan Brewer is bringing back the Christmas tree to the Capitol Tower, and is making no bones about what it is called.

 ”I believe in calling something what it is, and it is a Christmas tree — just as a (Chanukah) menorah is a menorah,” she said.

Former Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat who developed a severe case of liberal amnesia with the accompanying systemic virus of political correctness, forgot the Judeo-Christian religious roots of our nation‘s founding, and gave these items the foolishly generic names of “holiday tree” and “candle holder.”

Deborah Sheasby, legal counsel for the Center for Arizona Policy, said Brewer made a good decision. “The government does not have to shy away from acknowledging what it is,” she said of the holiday display.

Gov. Brewer will actually participate in the Capitol Christmas tree lighting ceremony tomorrow, Monday, November 30, at 10:00 AM. 

Join her and give her a loud applause.

Criminal enterprise ACORN has cronies in high places

The Justice Department has concluded that the Obama administration can lawfully pay the community group ACORN for services provided under contracts signed before Congress banned the government from providing money to the group, The New York Times reports.

The opinion was signed by David Barron, the acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.  Brian Kettenring, the deputy director of national operations for ACORN, praised Barron’s decision.

So much for President Obama’s October 1, signing into law a bill that included a provision saying no taxpayer money — including money authorized by previous legislation – could be “provided to” the group or its affiliates.

Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a statement saying “the bipartisan intent of Congress was clear — no more federal dollars should flow to ACORN.”

“It is telling that this administration continues to look for every excuse possible to circumvent the intent of Congress. Taxpayers should not have to continue subsidizing a criminal enterprise that helped Barack Obama get elected president. The politicization of the Justice Department to payback one of the president’s political allies is shameful and amounts to nothing more than old-fashioned cronyism.”

But what can we expect from a Justice Department under the auspices of Barack Obama — who played an active role training Chicago ACORN members in leadership seminars. In turn, those volunteers worked on his campaigns. He also served as the legal representative for the group, now known primarily for facilitating voter fraud and encouraging other nefarious activities.

The Hill reports that the very Department of Justice that is now deciding in favor of the group, provided it over $200,000 in grants between 2002 and 2009, according to a recent report by the department’s inspector general.

The Cleveland Leader provides a detailed and fact-filled account of Obama’s involvement with ACORN. National Review Online’s Stanley Kurtz writes Inside Obama’s ACORN.

The costly Court Tower of Babel

Barbara Rodriguez Mundell, presiding judge of Maricopa County Superior Court, has written a My Turn column for the daily, in which she heaps accolades on the new and innovative 16-story  criminal court tower.

Mundell never mentions the cost, but does enthuse over the consultants who ensure victims’ rights will be in the forefront of the design team‘s agenda.

Funny, all along we thought it was the dispensation of justice, by interpreting the law and applying it to the facts of each case, which was the role of the criminal courts.

Among the litany of recommendations to be implemented, from separate waiting rooms, hallways and restrooms for victims and their families, are “highly visible signs.”  How much do you bet they’ll be bilingual?

The courts have enlisted the services of Dr. Judith Heerwagen, an environmental and evolutionary psychologist whose work focuses on the links between building design and human health, well being, and productivity. Mundell stresses Heerwagen’s ability to make the new courts more “empathetic.”  Among other projects, Heerwagen has worked with the University of California, Berkeley on the development of a protocol for assessing sustainable buildings. “The Living Building Leader,” Cascadia, has offices in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington state and Oregon. Their exceptionally high-end website carries these words: “The Cascadia Region Green Building Council advocates for change at all levels and pushes for paradigm-shifting legislation.”

We’ll leave you to figure out what that signifies, but we suspect it’s expensive and has a left-wing bent. 

The project is currently pegged at costing taxpayers $340 million. Any additional questions you might have after reading Judge Mundell’s column, are answered — with slant included — at no additional cost. The county has thoughtfully provided a live construction camera which updates images every minute, for those interested in seeing how their money is being spent.

But under the link for Consultants and Contractors, only Arizona companies are listed and there is not a single mention of Dr. Heerwagen.