Well, whaddaya know? Newt was exonerated!

Much has been made of the "uprising" against Newt Gingrich, supposedly by Republicans and allegedly due to "tax fraud" and "crazy, Leftist ideas".
My memories are that the Left was just insanely opposed to Gingrich, and it was because he repeatedly boxed Clinton in with brilliant strategy, forcing him to pivot to the Right and releasing a surge of prosperity and hiring. Many Republicans (which I would call "R.I.N.O.s" now) joined in on the insurrection, because Newt was trying to drain the swamp in D.C., and the money was too good to let him do that.

SophosArchaeus will defer to Brent Bozell, who was paying much closer attention at the time and was in a position to do professional research and reporting. Thus, from 1999 (yes, this information has been in the public record for 13 years):

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Newt Is Vindicated, But Nobody Knows It
by L. Brent Bozell III February 9, 1999

The judgment is in. After three and a half years of investigation, the IRS has cleared Newt Gingrich and his allied nonprofit groups of any violation of the tax laws in the controversy over his television history course "Renewing American Civilization."
So after having run countless news reports highlighting the accusations that ultimately forced Gingrich to pay a $300,000 fine, did the media correct the record with a decent airing of the decision? Are you ready? ABC, CBS, and NBC devoted exactly zero seconds to Newt Gingrich's vindication. Only CNN's Brooks Jackson filed a decent TV report, on the early-evening show "Inside Politics."
Jackson began: "It was legal after all. Newt Gingrich's oh-so-controversial college course that he started back in 1993, before he was Speaker. Remember how Democrats denounced it?" He then showed old footage of Democrats David Bonior ("Mr. Gingrich engaged in a pattern of tax fraud") and John Lewis ("We now have a Speaker under investigation for lying to the outside counsel, investigating his involvement in a massive tax-fraud scheme"). 
Jackson quoted from the IRS decision: "The course taught principles from American civilization that could be used by each American in everyday life, whether the person is a welfare recipient, the head of a large corporation or a politician...The course was not biased toward particular politicians, or a particular party. The facts show the class was much more than a political platform." Of course, that was clear to anyone who watched the course, but that's simply too much to ask of today's press. 
Gingrich issued a statement that clearly expressed his feelings: "I consider this a full and complete vindication. I urge my colleagues to go back and read their statements and watch how they said them, with no facts, based on nothing more than a desire to politically destroy a colleague."
But the damage hadn't been done simply by devious politicians like Bonior, but by journalists. In the face of Newt's innocence, some reporters couldn't muster even a regret. 
On "Fox News Sunday," Juan Williams came to the Democrats' defense: "David Bonior was engaged in a fight with a man who was the head of the Republican revolution at the time and who was standing up on his high horse and pretending to be totally above any impropriety." Bonior, see, was just "playing politics." National Public Radio reporter Mara Liasson agreed: "I think it was recognized that Bonior was taking a page out of Newt Gingrich's book. Newt Gingrich mounted an attack on Jim Wright. That was considered audacious and insurrectionary at the time and Bonior learned his lesson from him." 
This kind of analysis reeks of Clintonian cynicism - hey, facts, schmacts, all that matters is who won. In the sloppy logic of these two, Gingrich's attempt to sell the nation's cable subscribers on civilizing principles is identical to Jim Wright's fake book marketed to the Fertilizer Institute for a little extra cash from lobbyists. Gingrich knows he should have paid closer attention to the tax laws in creating the course, but he wasn't just another grasping power broker like Jim Wright.
To grasp the media's antagonism - then, now, and probably forever - toward Newt Gingrich, compare their treatment of him with their coverage of a real crook, Webster Hubbell. They roasted Newt when he was charged, then ignored him when he was cleared. Hubbell was celebrated when he was cleared of tax evasion charges filed by Ken Starr, but when a federal court reinstated the charges on appeal, the networks aired no coverage.
When Hubbell's indictment was first dismissed by Judge James Roberston, who attacked Kenneth Starr for overreaching, the media swooned with delight. All the TV cameras lapped up Hubbell drawling "they can indict my dog, they can indict my cat, but I'm not gonna lie." But when Hubbell's tax evasion charges were reinstated, Fox News Channel revealed the astounding number of camera crews: two. 
The news magazines also betrayed their biases. Time magazine, which devoted a page to attacking Starr when Hubbell on the first occasion, could only muster this snotty attack on Starr in its "Winners and Losers" feature: "Webster Hubbell - Like the fat kid at school, he's always getting picked on. Get ready for more Ken Starr."
Let's get this straight. Hubbell embezzled half a million dollars from his law firm partners in Arkansas. After he resigned from the Justice Department in disgrace, Clinton's pals paid him almost another million dollars for supposed "jobs" that asked for no substantial work, money he pays next to zero taxes on. And he's the one getting picked on here?
But the media is populated by the Juans and Maras of the world. True or false, right or wrong - these things don't matter. It's all politics, and ugly politics at that.

YES! [we're still here]

Greetings, all.

SophosArchaeus is still in business.  We have been busy with family, holidays [hope you and yours had a blessed and very merry Christmas* and are starting a new and better year], secret missions to Elbonia, fighting off alien invasion, resetting the circadia, and so forth and such like.

Please stay in touch.  The elder wisdom will have much to say in coming weeks about our Dear Leader (the "warrior") and the rising tsunami of American patriotism that will wash away the failed, old-world, delusional, Statist, Socialist, Keynesian, and/or Jihadist infestations that we have been abiding for so long.

The date to remember is November 6th, 2012.  On that day, NO ONE STAYS HOME and no true American will allow their voice to be lost in meaningless, Pyrrhic, "protest votes" that result only in the defense of the Constitution coming in second in a two-horse race.  That way is the "nothing" which is all that good Men must do for the triumph of evil.


Meanwhile, pay attention to the primaries and try to select the best Conservative we can get into the White House and start fumigation.  And don't forget the need to complete the liberation of the Senate from the anti-Constitutionalists, to advance the repairs needed to the greatest, most generous, freest and most just country in the history of Mankind.  From today to that day, we will have to wade through vast cesspools of propaganda and outright lies from the Left and the misguided - - try not to swallow or pass on that which is not true. 


*for our many non-Christian friends, a happy Hanukkah, or blessings in general.  For those that have no faith, our prayers that you are given the gift of belief in the Creator and hopefully, also knowledge and love of Jesus.  This must be a miserable time of year for those who only "believe" in solstices, biology and odds.

The Chinese village that FOUGHT BACK !

The Village of Wukan, 20,000 brave Freedom Fighters, have apparently thrown the Communist oppressors out of the village ! !   This is the first I have seen of this story, appearing the the British Daily Telegraph,
HERE.

If this is true, then it is a near-first (after Tienanmen Square).  News from the Dark side of Communism, where news does not easily escape.  PLEASE share this story as widely as possible, before the article (like the 20,000 endangered Patriots of Wukan) disappears.

自由萬歲！

Happy Thanks Giving!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Just a thought about what goes on today. Many people will think of it as "turkey day" or a chance to O.D. on football (though I believe the schedule is limited this year).

Believe it or not, these secondary, sectarian things are an important part of Thanksgiving. They are, of course, not the central theme, but joy shared with friends and family is one of the main ideas. Originally it would have been singing, story telling and perhaps dancing.

But for what and to whom are we thankful? This should include anything that has been a blessing (oops, there's one of those - um - old fashioned words) to you. You should be grateful to your family and friends for whatever they have extended to you: help, growth or just understanding and companionship; perhaps just a hand, a shoulder or an ear. Family and friends are a blessing in themselves, of course. Some don't have these gifts. Don't take them for granted. You should also be grateful for those people, for their existence and their relationship with you. And to whom does one express this gratitude?

Oooops. Another one of those awkward, old fashioned notions. This one simply must go to God, in whatever way you comprehend Him. For me, this is God the Father, maker of heaven and Earth, at whose right hand now sits my Lord Jesus, his only son, who together with the Father and Holy Spirit holds the universe in their collective hand.  Oh, and who holds for me a place where all is made right, just for believing and doing my poor best - - an ultimate reason that transcends nice-but-limited Earthly reasons.

Its nice to have some definition in mind for all this, but even if you are one of those who simply believes is an amorphous "God" with no other details (I know that not all of my understanding is correct, because I'm just a fallible human), that's fine. But today I think you need to believe consciously and gratefully. The Founders, far from just "Deists" ('cause if they were, they sure packed a lot of praise, gratitude and pleas to Christ and Father in their daily writings). Take a moment and dedicate it to that gracious being, whatever He is.

I am glad that I don't have to be grateful to some dead, uncaring "odds" or random physics for my soul or blessings, or think that this (nice as most of it is) is "all there is". That must be a real stretch to get joyful over, or all nostalgic about for a HOLY day - er, holiday.

Nice job, God! Please keep it up.