Van Jones - The Gift That Keeps On Giving

UPDATE SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6: VAN JONES RESIGNS. From a Washington Post blog: "On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me," Jones, special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a statement announcing his resignation just after midnight Saturday. "They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide."

He continued: "I have been inundated with calls -- from across the political spectrum -- urging me to 'stay and fight.' But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past."

Could it be that no one has that much time and energy?

And how will all those MSM outlets Byron York mentions below explain this to their readers/viewers - that an Obama appointed czar given $30 billion tax payer dollars to spend on "green jobs" has suddenly resigned? And their readers/viewers don't even begin to have a clue why? They don't have a clue because their sources for news are so in the tank for Obama. And the MSM figures if they don't report on it, it's not newsworthy. Out with the old media - in with the new. If you were getting your news on the web you knew about Van Jones weeks ago.

One down...

My original post begins here.

And to think that I was getting tired of the Van Jones-athon on Glenn Beck's radio show. I think Van is about to meet Obama's grandmother - under the bus.

From Glenn Thrush at Politico:

Rep. Mike Pence, the no. 3 Republican in the House, is calling on Obama green jobs czar Van Jones to resign.

This sort of thing would usually be laughed off by Democrats -- a conservative Republican telling a Democratic appointee to quit.

But the Obama team isn't exactly jumping to back Jones today in wake of revelations that in the past he signed on to one of the "truther" groups that claimed 9/11 was an inside job. Oh, and he called Republicans a**holes in a video earlier this year before he was appointed.

Asked about Jones' affiliations with the 9/11 group at the daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs would only say: "It's not something that the president agrees with." And then Gibbs referred other questions to a statement Thursday by the Council on Environmental Quality in which Jones said he never backed any of these 9/11 conspiracy groups.

"Given recent revelations concerning the associations and statements of the president's green jobs czar, Van Jones should resign his position and if he is unwilling to do so, the president should demand his resignation. His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this Administration or the public debate," Pence said. "The Constitution of the United States vests Congress with the responsibility to advise and consent in the appointment of high ranking officials by the president. To date, President Obama has appointed more than thirty individuals to ‘czar’ positions within his Administration without permitting the Congress or the American people to properly examine their backgrounds or public records."





The Van Jones (non) feeding frenzy
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
09/04/09 11:30 AM EDT
From a Nexis search a few moments ago:

Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the New York Times: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the Washington Post: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on NBC Nightly News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on ABC World News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on CBS Evening News: 0.

If you were to receive all your news from any one of these outlets, or even all of them together, and you heard about some sort of controversy involving President Obama's Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, your response would be, "Huh?" If you heard that that adviser, Van Jones, had apologized for a number of remarks and positions in the recent past, your response would be, "What?" And if you were in the Obama White House monitoring the Jones situation, you would be hoping that the news organizations listed above continue to hold the line -- otherwise, Jones, who is quite well thought of in Obama circles, would be history.

H/T The Drudge Report

The Zen Of Politics

This is the best protest sign against the Beijing Olympics I have seen so far. I find it highly amusing that communists do not possess a sense of humor nor do they take criticism/ridicule very well. The zen of politics - the more you try to hold onto something the more elusive it becomes. Do you think the Chinese feel the Olympics beginning to slip away yet?

More Olympic Meanderings

Since it seems I have a reader who does not appreciate my opinion that we should support the Tibetans and walk away from the Olympics here are some comments from John Derbyshire at NRO. I especially like the comment about Taiwan as well as the observation that the Chinese are going to have trouble controlling free people:

Smash The Running Dogs Of Olympicism! [John Derbyshire]

The fuss over Tibet is getting interesting. I still doubt that a big Olympic flop could bring down the communist government of China, and of course Tibet might be forgotten again a news cycle or two from now, having no oil, and with a population insufficiently barbarous, and a religion insufficiently dogmatic to produce terrorists. Still, a boycott of the opening ceremony by leaders of free nations might actually come off. The French seem to be seriously pondering it.

All sort of other ideas for embarrassing the ChiCom gangsters are buzzing around. Some are suggesting, for example, that athletes simply not show up for the opening ceremonies. (They are not required to by their Olympic contract.) There is also the idea, which I rather like, that an entire national team might shave their heads the night before the ceremony to show solidarity with Tibetan monks and nuns, the bravest and most persecuted of Tibetan patriots.

At the Olympics, the Maoists will be dealing with free people from free nations, and there is only so much they can do to control them. It's not clear they understand this. They've been living for decades in a bubble of unchallenged power, and are not very imaginative. The opportunities for embarrassment are endless, and the prospect of it very delicious to anyone who loves liberty. Personally, I hope their stinking Olympics is a huge fiasco, and I see encouraging signs it may be.

Smash the Running Dogs [John Derbyshire]

This would really spoil the commies' Olympic fun:

Mr. Derbyshire: Frankly, I would enjoy seeing Taiwan declare independence on the opening day, if they really wanted to muck up the PRC's Olymipcs …

[Me] Not likely, unfortunately. The Taiwanese are a trading people & want to keep the status quo going. It would put an almighty wrench in the works, though.

Free Tibet

This is what happens when you allow the Olympic Games to be held in a communist country. I can't imagine why the monks would take advantage of this opportunity to give their communist oppressors the finger. But we shouldn't boycott the games because it would only hurt athletes, don't you know. Mr. Rogge wants to disassociate himself and the Olympics from politics. Good luck with that Jacques - let us know how that works out for you. In the meantime we should walk away from this cluster now (emphasis added):

"International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge poured cold water Saturday on calls for a boycott of the Summer Games in Beijing over China's crackdown in Tibet, saying it would only hurt athletes.

"We believe that the boycott doesn't solve anything," Rogge told reporters on this Caribbean island. "On the contrary, it is penalizing innocent athletes and it is stopping the organization from something that definitely is worthwhile organizing."

Demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet on Friday—the most violent riots there in nearly two decades—left at least 30 protesters dead, according to a Tibetan exile group. China ordered tourists out of Tibet's capital and troops patrolled the streets on Saturday.

On a six-day tour of the Caribbean, Rogge expressed condolences for the victims and said he hopes calm will be restored immediately. He declined to say whether the committee would change its stance if violence continues or more people are killed.

"The International Olympic Committee has consistently resisted calls for a boycott of the Olympic games," Rogge said."

Is Communism Dead?

This editorial cartoon is courtesy of The Columbus Dispatch and appeared in today's edition. It begs the question "Is Communism dead?". Were our old Soviet enemies really vanquished without firing a shot as Lady Thatcher once said or were they merely taking a nap?

Let's recap:

Vladamir Putin seems to feel fairly secure in his ability to dispatch critics of his regime with impunity, as well as with radioactive isotopes. Very KGB, very James Bond - it almost makes one nostalgic.

In a Cold War style speech February 10th Putin said "What is a unipolar world? No matter how we beautify this term it means one single center of power, one single center of force and one single master."
"It has nothing in common with democracy because that is the opinion of the majority taking into account the minority opinion,".

"People are always teaching us democracy but the people who teach us democracy don't want to learn it themselves."

That's rich - coming from a communist.

The Russians, the Chinese and the Indians all got together recently to make nice and to offer a counter balance to the United States in world affairs, especially since all three have significant investments in Iran.

Speaking of investments in Iran, the Russians have been actively assisting Iran so that they may achieve their nuclear ambitions. Then again, maybe not, if the Russians don't get paid on time.

Not to mention the festering socialism the Soviets infected our universities with during the Cold War. Could it be that the methods they were employing domestically to bring down the United States never really stopped after the Soviet block collapsed?

I'd say Vlad's been a busy boy - rise and shine, indeed.

(CWCID - Glenn Beck)