This is the reason for the season.
MORNING LINKS
ITEM: Wondering where all those Tea Parties are taking place? Have a look. Hat tip to Instapundit.
ITEM: Creeping socialism/fascism alert — A Greenville, Texas City Council member is arrested and removed from a City Council meeting for talking about a subject that the Mayor didn’t like. Pretty amazing video, including the attempt by the Mayor after the arrest to explain what he did. Hat tip to the Drunk Report.
ITEM: Creeping socialism/fascism alert (part 2) — Students disrupt and eventually shut down a talk by former Congressman Tom Tancredo on illegal immigration (hat tip to the Drudge Report.):
Dozens of protesters turned out to oppose a speech given by a former Colorado congressman, who was on campus to speak against illegal immigration.
Tom Tancredo didn’t make it through his talk. In fact, he left campus early after protesters interrupted his speech and broke a window.
Protesters who weren’t allowed into the room where the speech was being given gathered outside the door and chanted, “There’s no debate, no space for hate.”
ITEM: You know, you would think that OPEC would have learned by now: “OPEC sees ‘devastating contraction’ in oil demand“. This has happened before when OPEC has tried to keep prices high. Of course, it’s currently exacerbated by the worldwide recession going on.
OVERNIGHT LINKS
ITEM: It is getting downright comical watching the Left hyperventilate about the Tea Parties scheduled for today. Sandra noted that Keith Olberman devoted two full segments of Tuesday’s show in an attempt to debunk/dismiss them. I suspect the Left is not just terrified at seeing the Right adopt a practice (mass demonstrations) they felt they owned, but also at the thought that today’s turnouts nationwide may exceed anything the Left has put together in decades.
And, in case you’re wondering, Sandra and I are heading to the one here in Denver (at noon MDT on the steps of the State Capitol). I’ll try to post photos and video later.
ADMIN: By the way, I’ve introduced two new categories: “Sea of Deficits” and “You Say You Want a Revolution?” Both, I assume, are self-explanatory.
ITEM: First the Tea Parties and now this: “Gov. Perry Backs Resolution Affirming Texas’ Sovereignty Under 10th Amendment” (original hat tip to the Drudge Report):
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”
Perry continued: “Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas.”
You say you want a revolution?
ITEM: Shocking details of the CIA’s rendition program against al Queda — during the Clinton Administration! Funny how the Democrats in Congress tend to forget about that.
ITEM: Flipper and the Pirates — “Thousands of dolphins block Somali pirates”. No, really.
ITEM: So, how has that scolding of North Korea worked out?
North Korea said it has abandoned aid-for-disarmament talks and ordered international monitors out of the country, leaving the U.S. and others to figure out a new way to deal with Pyongyang’s pursuit of dangerous weapons.
Coming on the heels of North Korea’s latest weapons-related test — the April 5 firing of a missile-like rocket — the moves show that Pyongyang can resist international pressure despite its poverty.
North Korea ordered International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors out of the country, ending global monitoring of a research reactor at Yongbyon and in theory allowing reprocessing of fuel rods to make plutonium.
The five other nations in the disarmament talks — China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. — must decide whether to try to restart the process or take a new approach to the North.
ITEM: In the meantime, Obama is losing the Onion, which takes its own shots at the lapdog mainstream media:
More than a week after President Barack Obama’s cold-blooded killing of a local couple, members of the American news media admitted Tuesday that they were still trying to find the best angle for covering the gruesome crime.
“I know there’s a story in there somewhere,” said Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, referring to Obama’s home invasion and execution-style slaying of Jeff and Sue Finowicz on Apr. 8. “Right now though, it’s probably best to just sit back and wait for more information to come in. After all, the only thing we know for sure is that our president senselessly murdered two unsuspecting Americans without emotion or hesitation.”
Added Meacham, “It’s not so cut and dried.”
ITEM: This is neither news nor a surprise: “Russia and China get cozy”. But what’s really silly is the subhead: “But neither is ready to act like a responsible power.” What does that mean, exactly? I mean, for all the Left’s mocking of Bush’s hopes that countries would move toward democracy, who in their right mind think that Russia or China will ever act in anything but their own perceived interests?