So much to cover today, folks, as this and yesterday were rather explosive news days.

9/11 v. Fort Hood – Jonah Goldberg discusses the idiotic reaction President Obama had to the murder at Ft. Hood. What is more damning is the press reaction, giving this cretin a pass after attacking George W. Bush for keeping his calm in front of children when 9/11’s butchery was occurring.

Political Correctness and the Ft. Hood Shooting – More on the disgusting behavior of the media and leftist culture in general.

As Fort Hood Tragedy Unfolds, Obama Is Politician-in-Chief - Frank Gaffney continues Jonah’s meme, mocking the President as supreme Politician-In-Chief.

The coming crises – Ralph Peters continues on political correctness and how the government is trying to dance around some serious hot-spots Peters lists, like Mexico, Nigeria, and the usual suspects in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan.

And on to other news…

Europe Dumps Democracy – Paul Belien eulogizes the individual countries of Europe as they become a superstate answerable to no one.

Activists bring ‘tea party’ to Capitol Hill – 10,000 sane working people (as opposed to the Left’s professional protesting cadres) came out to rally against ObamaCare. Good on them.

Hello, Tipping Point – Kimberly Strassel notes that the liberal push has become desperate. They tried to push through ideas unpopular with a majority of the population, and had their heads handed to them on Tuesday. This may signal the end of the radical left’s influence in American politics, God willing.

Finally, we have Charles Krauthammer putting to rest the lie that America fundamentally changed at the election of Barack Obama as president. He and his minions overshot their influence, and will pay dearly for it.

Cross-posted at RudyCarrera.com.

Politicians keep telling us that the rich need to “suck it up” and throw in well beyond their share. They tried this in Maryland and it has resulted in a drop in revenue that is comparable in their tax rate increases. A recent study from the Empire Center for New York State Policy is showing that the state is suffering from a similar fate.

The authors of the studies — E.J. McMahon and Wendell Cox — point out that between the years 2000 and 2008, there was a departure of 1.5 million people, mostly from New York City, with destinations that were safer for finances. Proof that money was a major factor in the decision making is seen in the income groups that have been coming and going from the state and the impact it is having on the budget.

According to the study, the families that have been leaving have income levels that were 13 percent higher than those arriving to the Empire State. In Manhattan and the New York County area, the impact was even more profound. Those leaving the Big Apple had an average income of $93,264, which was approximately 28 percent higher than those who were arriving (which made $72,726 on average).

The real injury is not so much in people, but in revenue. According to the study, the trade off in the income groups of those arriving and those leaving translated in a lost $4.3 billion in taxpayer income. Add that to the other years in the study (2001 through 2008) and it adds up to a devastating $30 billion.

The authors of the study are some what cautious in their approach and do not attempt to single out a particular reason for the mass departure, but the Wall Street Journal places the state’s and city’s excessive tax rates. Citing the Tax Foundation, between the years of 1977 and 2008, New York was consistently ranked first or second for having the highest rates compared to the rest of the country.
During the years covered in the Empire Center Study, New York’s taxes ranged between 11 and 12 percent of income.

Taxes reach its highest level in 2004 saw a high in departures in 2005. That year, the state lost approximately 250,000 people who moved to other parts of the country. Meanwhile the state has passed another massive tax bill that likely lead to people leaving the state as they vote with their feet.

There is an old saying, “the more you tax something, the less you get of it. The more you subsidize something, the more you get of it.” New York is committing economic genocide, through heavy taxation, on its most affluent residents. The result, ironically will be fewer tax dollars and a decidedly poorer state.

Horrible news from Ft. Hood, Texas. 12 dead and 31 wounded by a soldier with a Muslim background, one who used to go to his prayers dressed proudly in the uniform of the American soldier. God help CAIR if they blame anyone but the perpetrator for this massacre.

Andy McCarthy also has commentary here, courtesy of NRO, though the shooter was actually not a convert.

Cross-posted at RudyCarrera.com.

By Jacob Engels

The American experiment to provide public education to ensure individuals have the judgment necessary to secure their liberty has evolved into a system used to foster dependence on government and destroy freedom.

Since Thomas Jefferson advocated public education, Americans on both sides of the political aisle have treated the necessity of public education as being beyond question. It has been presumed the fabric of society and creation of knowledge is dependent upon public education. To question whether public education should exist is in short to question the existence of civilization.

This common cultural view of public education remained dominant as American voluntary public education offered by local communities evolved into massively centralized state and federal bureaucracies. These bureaucracies now mandate attendance and impose curriculum’s designed to impose social engineering agendas promoting collectivism rather than educating students.

Public education is now a set of firmly entrenched bureaucracies that increasingly fail to teach the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. One look no further than the competitive disadvantage many graduates of American public find themselves in as they are tossed into a hyper-competitive global information economy. Rather than address these problems, the commonly held view is that public education must be supported at all costs so that it may continue to provide education that it no longer supplies.

Mountains of evidence regarding the uncompetitive-ness of American public education and the plethora of political agendas in the curriculum’s has accumulated–I strongly encourage people to read work done by scholars such as Thomas Sowell and Milton Friedman on public education.

Today the question is not whether public education is necessary to preserve a liberty and sustain knowledge but rather how will American liberty be preserved under the all powerful compulsory public education system? If the government’s grip on the minds of public through compulsory public education is not broken then public education will secure its future as the death of liberty rather than the being a cornerstone of democracy.

It has taken less than a year for the American people: liberals, conservatives, democrats, republicans and independents alike – the very life-force of our great nation’s electorate – to become outraged. The People are no longer able to stomach Obama’s overt attempts to subvert the very foundation of American society, by constructing and implementing an outrageous agenda, which is clearly unconstitutional.

Throughout the ebb and flow of 2009, I have waded waist-deep through the digital muck, searching for the credible, educated voices of Conservatives in America. They are out there, and their voices are becoming increasingly audible. Obama’s missteps, mistakes and fumbles have sent nerve-wracking shockwaves through the spines of his most rabid of fans. Even liberal sports fans (if such a person exists) have great difficulty stomaching their team’s offense when it excels at fumbling the ball. A full three quarters played, riddled with turnovers, penalties and miscues, have resulted in mounting apprehension by the very Democrats who put him on the field.

The pendulum swing back to the right, which I’ve anticipated, was realized yesterday, the 3rd of November. Like many of you, I had my proverbial ear to the ground yesterday; listening in earnest for the sounds of rumbling, portending what I hope will be an earthquake catalyzed by conservatives and joined by the disgruntled and disillusioned People on the east coast.

Here, in Colorado, the tremors back east were barely noticed by the masses; but the Republican victory in New Jersey, the landslide in Virginia, and the close race in New York’s 23rd district, will undoubtedly have lasting ramifications that will be felt by everyone in 2010. The People’s disgust with the status quo has shaken the establishment, and its impact will continue to be heard and felt. We the People have been silent too long; we will be silent no more. Yesterday’s events were like the rays of sunlight breaking through the fog confusing many of us, particularly the Conservative movement in America.

These victories were largely ignored, or flippantly dismissed, by Liberals and the MSM, including the “O-man-child” himself, who was reportedly busy playing basketball and watching an HBO homage to himself while the results were coming in. Because of this liberal reaction – or lack thereof – their sycophant lapdog media scribes will frame these significant results as “trivial” in the coming days and weeks. They are not. Conservatives have always had a strong foundational, ideological lineage in American politics. The opening week of November 2009 marks the beginning of a necessary disruption bolstered by this foundation, these ideals, and our lineage. This is the beginning of an encouraged commotion; the formula for a future force in the political ideology of Conservative America.

Remember, remember the beginning of November,
Dawn of Conservative thought,
I can conjure no reason,
How the political season
Could ever not be got

This initial political “shot” is now in the books. Conservatives routed the Democrats in a seemingly fated clash. There are many more battles on the horizon, but this first skirmish should not to be taken lightly by “O and the Jokers.” Young Conservatives have joined the battle; we’re here and we’re not leaving. We’re finished with boot camp and resolved to join and finish this war. The next Presidential election is three years away, but we’ve already learned something: the more we bleed in these battles, the stronger we are, and the angrier we become.

Obama’s campaign for president, and subsequent inept administration, has constructed a flimsy ideological structure using “hope” as load-bearing supports, “change” as uncured bricks, and easily crumbled voters as its base and mortar. The binding power of this mortar is weathering nearly as well as Elmer’s paste. The base of the pyramid is weakening due to the top-heaviness natural to the Democrats’ Party, and the fragile youth-voters are realizing that this is a building without lasting substance, and they are shouldering a huge load. They are waking up feeling the crushing burden of “buyers remorse.”

One year ago, I couldn’t walk more than fifty feet on CUs campus without seeing an Obama t-shirt or hearing someone talking about how much change “they thought” was needed and possible with him. I haven’t seen a t-shirt for at least a month now, and the Obama-chatter has been drowned out by, “are you guys hiring?” They’ve lost the fervor of a unified voice demanding hope and insisting change; instead they now hope that there is enough change in the cushions of the couch to buy lunch. The once well-fed student body is quickly losing ideological weight; they’re hungry and are attracted by the nutrition found in our conservative principles, which will quickly prove to be noticeably heartier and more satisfying than whipped-up creamy words and cheese-puffy phrases.

There is no questioning the fact that a resurgence of Conservative principles and thought have already—after only nine months—become powerful ammunition for Americans disenchanted by the direction that this administration is taking. Daniel Webster said, “It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.” Americans are not followers; but we are a nation founded in leadership. The next critical step required from patriots, particularly in the next three years, is the imparting of strong conservative principles in the educated youth of America. The door is open wider now, than ever before. We have the tools and the drive to create the future force of young Conservative Americans. A defensive position historically has had the advantage in battle; however, the liberals have not been able to dig effective foxholes in the Conservative soil America was built upon. Now is the time for action; aggressive and offensive action. Knight takes King: checkmate. Who’s with me?

Authored by Guest Blogger, Jesse Allan Hackstaff