Sunday, September 30, 2012

Sultan Knish: What Orwell Can Tell Us About the Liberal Appeasement of Islam

Sultan Knish: What Orwell Can Tell Us About the Liberal Appeasement of Islam

Orwell's preface, so rarely published, concludes with his motivation for writing it, "It is the liberals who fear liberty and the intellectuals who want to do dirt on the intellect."

As they say - read the whole thing.

Larry Sabato Now Questioning Current Polling: ‘My Projection Is That Obama Gets Considerably Fewer Electoral Votes Than Last Time’ (Video) | The Rightnewz

Larry Sabato Now Questioning Current Polling: ‘My Projection Is That Obama Gets Considerably Fewer Electoral Votes Than Last Time’ (Video) | The Rightnewz

Sabato: ‘Almost impossible that Obama wins by ’08 margin.
Note to libs: This is not Dick Morris or Karl Rove

Listen to Larry Sabato express skepticism on some of the current polling, especially in Virginia on this morning’s Face the Nation

Althouse: "I am saddened by my daughter’s ongoing disappointment because we could not afford to send her to her dream college."

Althouse: "I am saddened by my daughter’s ongoing disappointment because we could not afford to send her to her dream college."

The culture has truly tipped, with everyone feeling entitled to things they can't pay for and assuming somebody else over there will pay somehow, some time, and I shouldn't have to think about them.

We recommend Mitt Romney for president | Dallas Morning News Editorials - Opinion and Commentary for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

We recommend Mitt Romney for president | Dallas Morning News Editorials - Opinion and Commentary for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

Candidate Obama, an orator of great skill and cadence, might have overcome everything and put the U.S. on a brighter path. President Obama, unfortunately, fell short of the challenge. The wars have largely faded from headlines, but the economic struggles remain, along with an attendant worry about future federal spending, deficits and debt.

Obama’s Democratic supporters would argue that no one could have succeeded in what he inherited, that the nation’s problems were far more severe than anyone could handle in four years.

We respectfully disagree. On the central issue that will define his presidency — a stalled U.S. economy weighed down by crushing annual deficits and accumulated debt — Obama showed himself to be less leader than follower. While he expended his political capital on new government programs, unemployment stayed at debilitating heights.

For that reason, this newspaper recommends Republican challenger Mitt Romney for president

Dershowitz: Amended MTA rules "Unconstitutional" and "it's going to encourage violence" - Atlas Shrugs

Dershowitz: Amended MTA rules "Unconstitutional" and "it's going to encourage violence" - Atlas Shrugs

And while I am no fan of Dershowitz, in this he is absolutely correct. "It incentivizes people to engage in violence. What it says to people, is that if they don’t like ads, just engage in violence and then we’ll take the ads down.”

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) on Socialism

Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) on Socialism:
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)It is almost universally recognized that the West shows all the world a way to successful economic development, even though in the past years it has been strongly disturbed by chaotic inflation. However, many people living in the West are dissatisfied with their own society. They despise it or accuse it of not being up to the level of maturity attained by mankind. A number of such critics turn to socialism, which is a false and dangerous current.
I hope that no one present will suspect me of offering my personal criticism of the Western system to present socialism as an alternative. Having experienced applied socialism in a country where the alternative has been realized, I certainly will not speak for it. The well-known Soviet mathematician Shafarevich, a member of the Soviet Academy of Science, has written a brilliant book under the title Socialism; it is a profound analysis showing that socialism of any type and shade leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death. Shafarevich's book was published in France almost two years ago and so far no one has been found to refute it. It will shortly be published in English in the United States.
(Alexander Solzhenitsyn, "A World Split Apart," Address at Harvard University, 8 June 1978)

What the campaign to criminalize "Islamophobia" and "hate speech" are really all about - Jihad Watch

What the campaign to criminalize "Islamophobia" and "hate speech" are really all about - Jihad Watch

"To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize." -- Voltaire

Environmentalism That Can Work | Via Meadia

Environmentalism That Can Work | Via Meadia

And we also hope that environmentalists everywhere will take note: when greens find ways to enhance human well being while also protecting natural resources, good things happen for everyone. There are many serious environmental problems in our urbanizing and industrializing world, and managing the impact of human activity on the environment is something we need to do. But the planet’s resources ultimately need to be managed from a humanity-centric position: when environmentalists default to the position that human beings are a blight on the planet whose depredations must be halted they stop being part of the solution.

Obama Admin bribing defense contractors not to issue lay-off notices in October [Darleen Click] | protein wisdom

Obama Admin bribing defense contractors not to issue lay-off notices in October [Darleen Click] | protein wisdom

A little quid pro quo prior to election

The White House moved to prevent defense and other government contractors from issuing mass layoff notices in anticipation of sequestration, even going so far to say that the contracting agencies would cover any potential litigation costs or employee compensation costs that could follow.

Roger L. Simon » Benghazi Worse than Watergate

Roger L. Simon » Benghazi Worse than Watergate

It involves the terrorist murder (not an electorally irrelevant burglary) of government officials, their reckless endangerment, the undermining of the Bill of Rights and free speech by our own administration in response to Islamist threats, and, ultimately, the complicity of that same administration, consciously or unconsciously, in the downfall of Western civilization.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media function as their more-than-willing accomplices in this downfall, in essence as Obama’s court eunuchs.

Surrender in New York - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Surrender in New York - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

What a monstrous joke we’ve become, genuflecting to both political correctness and Islamofear.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Tales of the Ruling Class

Tales of the Ruling Class:
Instapundit »
WATCHDOGS SAY WATERS PUSHED ETHICS LIMITS: The California Democrat hired her grandson, paid him well as her chief of staff. So House Ethics Committee reproves the grandson?
Yes. And this is a committee with a GOP majority.
Which should give you some idea of just how tough Republicans will be on corrupt, big-spending Democrats even in the event they sweep the table this fall.
These bastards have far more in common with each other than they ever will with the hapless dumbasses who keep sending them to, and back to, the halls of power.




The Next Subprime Crisis Is Here: Over $120 Billion In Federal Student Loans In Default | ZeroHedge

The Next Subprime Crisis Is Here: Over $120 Billion In Federal Student Loans In Default | ZeroHedge

Whereas earlier today we presented one of the most exhaustive presentations on the state of the student debt bubble, one question that has always evaded greater scrutiny has been the very critical default rate for student borrowers: a number which few if any lenders and colleges openly disclose for fears the general public would comprehend not only the true extent of the student loan bubble, but that it has now burst. This is a question that we specifically posed a month ago when we asked "As HELOC delinquency rates hit a record, are student loans next?" Ironically in that same earlier post we showed a chart of default rates for federal loan borrowers that while rising was still not too troubling: as it turns out the reason why its was low is it was made using fudged data that drastically misrepresented the seriousness of the situation, dramatically undercutting the amount of bad debt in the system.

Luckily, this is a question that has now been answered, courtesy of the Department of Education, which today for the first time ever released official three-year, or much more thorough than the heretofore standard two-year benchmark, federal student loan cohort default rates. The number, for all colleges, stood at a stunning 13.4% for the 2009 cohort. The number is stunning because it is nearly 50% greater than the old benchmark, which tracked a two year default cohort, and which was a "mere" 8.8% for the 2009 year. Broken down by type of education, and using the new improved, and much more realistic benchmark, for-profit institutions had the highest average three-year default rates at 22.7 percent, with public institutions following at 11 percent and private non-profit institutions at 7.5 percent. In other words, more than one in five federal student loans used to fund private for-profit education, is now in default and will likely never be repaid!

And while it is impossible using historical data to extrapolate with precision what the current consolidated federal student loan default rate is, we do know that there is now $914 billion in federal student loans (which also was mysteriously revised over 50% higher by the Fed just a month ago). Using simple inference, all else equal (and all else has certainly deteriorated), there is now at least $122 billion in federal student loan defaults. And surging every day.

Economic Liberty: SOCIALISM IS NONCREATIVE

Economic Liberty: SOCIALISMIS NONCREATIVE

Socialism depends upon and presupposes material achievements which socialism itself can never create. Socialism is operative only in wealth situations brought about by modes of production other than its own. Socialism takes and redistributes wealth, but it is utterly incapable of creating wealth.

DEARBORNISTAN: Muslims in America rally against the First Amendment | BARE NAKED ISLAM

DEARBORNISTAN: Muslims in America rally against the First Amendment | BARE NAKED ISLAM

This assault on the First Amendment in the name of the prophet Mohammed is a sad day in America – and confirms fears that Muslim-American activists do not understand the fundamental separation of church and state in the American Constitution

An Enduring Argument Against Counterinsurgency | Small Wars Journal

An Enduring Argument Against Counterinsurgency | Small Wars Journal

This article suggests there is an enduring argument to be made against America conducting COIN.  Specifically, the argument is that insurgencies often occur in weak and failed states, which are home to disproportionately high rates of mental disorders such as PTSD and depression.  This results in a problematic cycle of violence and traumatic events which drive higher rates of mental disorder which, in turn, place additional pressure on a failed state to remain in that category.  As a result, victory from the counterinsurgent’s perspective becomes almost impossible.

Blazing Cat Fur: Heckler’s veto: NYC subway authority bans ads that might “provoke violence”

Blazing Cat Fur: Heckler’s veto: NYC subway authority bans ads that might “provoke violence”

Insanity

Marathon Pundit: In These Times has it wrong: Obama doesn't love car workers, he loves the UAW

Marathon Pundit: In These Times has it wrong: Obama doesn't love car workers, he loves the UAW

In These Times--which seriously make the New York Times look like the Wall Street Journal, has a story today with the headline, Romney loves American cars, Obama loves American car workers.

They got it wrong. While Mitt Romney, whose father was the CEO of the American Motors Corporation, does love American cars, Obama loves the United Auto Workers Union. His money-losing General Motors and Chrysler bailouts were political payoffs to his pals at the UAW--who now are pounding the streets for Obama's reelection.

Besides, Obama is a typical liberal. He loves "the people" but he could care less about individuals.

Arrest Of Obscure Anti-Muslim Filmmaker Has Free Speech Implications For All Americans - Investors.com

Arrest Of Obscure Anti-Muslim Filmmaker Has Free Speech Implications For All Americans - Investors.com

The arrest of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who made the film "Innocence of Muslims," may be a non-event for most Americans. But anyone who values free speech should care greatly about his fate.

The Obama Press Votes Early | RealClearPolitics

The Obama Press Votes Early | RealClearPolitics

Mitt Romney is facing perhaps the most corrupt and tendentious coverage in presidential history, as members of the fourth estate eschew any semblance of integrity in their attempt to skew interpretations in favor of their pinup, Mr. Obama.

Planned Parenthood Buys $3.5M in Anti-Romney TV Ads

Planned Parenthood Buys $3.5M in Anti-Romney TV Ads

If re-electing a President with the most extreme abortion views in our history wasn’t disturbing enough, Planned Parenthood is able to be so partisan thanks, in large part, to our generosity -- in the form of tax dollars – notwithstanding our opposition to their pro-abortion agenda! The case has long been made that our tax dollars subsidize Planned Parenthood’s abortion business. But there is another case to be made – that Americans are bankrolling Planned Parenthood’s aggressive liberal and partisan political activities.  

Whether it’s their political agenda or their abortion services, Governor Mitt Romney is right to say that the taxpayers shouldn’t be funding Planned Parenthood.  If Richards wants Planned Parenthood to be a “kick-butt” political organization, that’s up to her, but she needs to do it on her own dime and not on the backs of American taxpayers.

Dem Pollster Pat Caddell: MSM is Threatening Future of Country

Dem Pollster Pat Caddell: MSM is Threatening Future of Country

The decades-long incestuous relationship between the Democrat party and the mainstream media is birthing something monstrous.

Go Army, Beat Navy - By Douglas A. Ollivant | Foreign Policy

Go Army, Beat Navy - By Douglas A. Ollivant | Foreign Policy

The conventional wisdom holds that the future of American conflict will be dominated by drones, SEALs, and a massive combined naval/air team in the Pacific. This scenario envisions little purpose for land power outside the limited but potent capabilities inherent in Special Operations. But there is an alternative view that believes the conventional wisdom to be utopian and unwilling to consider the most likely conflicts to occur in the future.

Bigger Government, More Cronyism, Less Economic Freedom

Bigger Government, More Cronyism, Less Economic Freedom

Recent news about the Obama Administration’s divestitures from AIG and GM—in some cases at a loss of billions of dollars—stands as a reminder of the privilege and cronyism that permeates our economy.

As favoritism grows with the size of the government, economic freedom continues to be eroded by policies like bailouts, loan guarantees, and tax exemptions. Privilege has replaced the good public economic policies of freedom. The influence of a select few is eroding our economic values and introducing perverse incentives and inefficiencies that hurt our competitiveness

Southern Poverty Law Center: "Wellspring of Manufactured Hate" - Atlas Shrugs

Southern Poverty Law Center: "Wellspring of Manufactured Hate" - Atlas Shrugs

The communists over at the Southern Poverty Law Center are among the gravest threats to freedom in the United States, and are named as such in the AFDI Threats to Freedom Index. The enemedia eagerly laps up and repeats their designation of pro-freedom groups as "hate groups," and uses this designation as a propaganda tool to demonize and discredit us. But here is an excellent expose that shows what these subversives are really all about.

Catholic Bishop: Voting for Obama Jeopardizes the 'Eternal Salvation Of Your Own Soul' - Religion - Fox Nation

Catholic Bishop: Voting for Obama Jeopardizes the 'Eternal Salvation Of Your Own Soul' - Religion - Fox Nation

A Catholic bishop from Springfield, Illinois is warning that the stakes for the 2012 election are even higher than most people think because voting for President Barack Obama could damn “you own soul” to hell.
 
In a column and video posted by the official newspaper of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and obtained by Right Wing Watch on Wednesday, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki called out the Democratic Party for temporarily removing God from their platform, supporting abortion and recognizing that “gay rights are human rights.”
 
“There are many positive and beneficial planks in the Democratic Party Platform, but I am pointing out those that explicitly endorse intrinsic evils,” the bishop explained. “My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote. But I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues. I would be abdicating this duty if I remained silent out of fear of sounding ‘political’ and didn’t say anything about the morality of these issues. People of faith object to these platform positions that promote serious sins.”
 
(...) 
 
“Again, I am not telling you which party or which candidates to vote for or against,” he concluded, “but I am saying that you need to think and pray very carefully about your vote, because a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy.”

Former Democratic pollster Pat Caddell: Media Have Become 'Enemy of the American People' :: Political News and commentaries :: Hyscience

Former Democratic pollster Pat Caddell: Media Have Become 'Enemy of the American People' :: Political News and commentaries :: Hyscience

In remarks to the AIM conference, "ObamaNation: A Day of Truth," on September 21st, former Democratic pollster and analyst Pat Caddell said, "I think we're at the most dangerous time in our political history in terms of the balance of power in the role that the media plays in whether or not we maintain a free democracy." Caddell noted that while First Amendment protections were originally provided to the press so they would protect the liberty and freedom of the public from "organized governmental power," they had clearly relinquished the role of impartial news providers.

Stop calling criticism of Islam "Islamophobia" - Jihad Watch

Stop calling criticism of Islam "Islamophobia" - Jihad Watch

Canada's National Post takes aim at a word that is being used to stifle debate and destroy foes of jihad and Islamic supremacism. "Opinion: Stop calling criticism of Islam ‘Islamophobia,’" by Jackson Doughart and Faisal Saeed al-Mutar in the National Post, September 26:

Thursday, September 27, 2012

PJ Lifestyle » 8 Ways Blacks Perpetuate Racism and the Only Way to Thwart It

PJ Lifestyle » 8 Ways Blacks Perpetuate Racism and the Only Way to Thwart It

All things considered, blacks and the civil rights culture surrounding them are the most open and prolific purveyors of racism in America. This is an ironic travesty which spits upon the graves of history’s abolitionists and offends all who are committed to a dream of equality under the law and goodwill among men.

Welcome to the Recovery: 2012 may be the worst non-recession, non-depression year in the history of the United States

Welcome to the Recovery: 2012 may be the worst non-recession, non-depression year in the history of the United States:
There have been worse years for the American economy than this one, of course. For example: 2009, 1982, the entire 1930s.
But those years occurred during official recessions or the Great Depression. Right now we are supposed to be in the third year of a recovery.
But look how 2012 is shaping up: After a weak 2011 when GDP growth was just 1.8%, this year’s growth rate looks even weaker. Today the Commerce Department revised second-quarter GDP growth to just 1.3% (1.25%, actually). As a result, many banks are now looking for growth of around 1.5% for the rest of the year — with plenty of downside risk. Full year GDP might be less than 1.5%, putting the economy at heightened risk of falling back into recession.
And at the same time, unemployment remains stuck above 8%, and the labor force remains so shrunken that JPMorgan recently said “that there has been essentially no progress in repairing the labor market after the recent downturn.”
Given anemic growth and a dead-in-the-water labor market, could it be that this is the worst non-recession, non-depression year in modern U.S. economic history? Maybe even since the birth of the Republic?
Quite possibly. Here is my evidence:
– Commerce Department data goes back to 1930. Since then, there has been no single year with GDP growth as weak as 2012 that wasn’t in recession.
– The United States has not had this sustained level of 8%-plus unemployment since the Great Depression.
So based on those two data points, this is certainly the weakest non-recession, non-depression year since 1930, with the only year close being 2011!.
But what about earlier than that? Well, the data gets a little tricky. But here is what I have determined.
– 8% or higher unemployment is very rare before 1930 during times of generalized growth. For instance, from 1869 to 1899, there was only one year where unemployment averaged 8%. And there is also evidence that unemployment below 5% was typical earlier in America’s history. Also keep in mind that labor force participation from 1850- 1920 among males was around 90%. Today, labor force participation is around 64%. So it is rare that so many people who want jobs are idle, as is the case today.
–  As far as GDP growth goes, let’s break it down by decades. From 1790-1810, U.S. economic growth averaged about 5% a year. From then to the Civil War, it averaged around 4%. Same for the post-Civil War era through 1900. Then until 1930, growth averaged between 2% to 3%.
My conclusion: If you combine high unemployment, low labor force participation, and slow GDP growth, 2012 might well be the worst non-recession, non-depression year in the history of the United States. The only other challenger is 2011. Or maybe next year …



Americans Turn on MSM: What Does It Mean? | Via Meadia

Americans Turn on MSM: What Does It Mean? | Via Meadia

For what it’s worth, I think that both The Nation and Fox have some valid criticisms of the MSM. The legacy press clearly prefers the liberal establishment to either the hard left or to social conservatives and libertarians. However, the right is correct that once the press ventures out of its center-left, establishment comfort zone it is more sympathetic to the hard left than to the populist right. The non-stop MSM hit pieces on the Tea Party, searching almost desperately for nuts and Nazis at Tea Party events in order to discredit the movement and the drum roll of predictions that the movement was about to disappear, were impossible to miss. The contrast with the much more welcoming treatment given OWS would, I think, convince an observer from Mars that much of the press hunted for evidence to hang the Tea Party and looked past compelling evidence that OWS was deeply flawed, largely without serious political support or impact and increasingly influenced by some very shady movements and folks.

American Power: In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage, Support the Civilized Man

American Power: In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage, Support the Civilized Man

I'd post every single entry at Atlas Shrugs if I could. Pamela's blog is off the charts with moral clarity. Head over there for an historic tutorial on freedom of speech and moral backbone in the face of totalitarianism.

Military Needs Accountability at the Top « Commentary Magazine

Military Needs Accountability at the Top « Commentary Magazine

and it is an issue that the military leadership should be asking themselves about. Accountability is imperative if the military is to continue to perform at a high level, but there is a widespread perception that accountability is lacking for those who wear stars on their shoulders.

GDP collapse puts U.S. economy into recession red zone | AEIdeas

GDP collapse puts U.S. economy into recession red zone | AEIdeas

Bottom line: Growth the past two quarters has averaged about 1.6%. Not only does this mean the economy is growing more slowly than last year’s 1.8%, it is also slow enough to signal about a 50% chance of a recession within a year. And the third quarter also looks weak.

The anemic, three-year-old U.S. recovery is already running out of steam. And if it does, it may be several more years before we see unemployment below 8%.

The American Spectator : Mugged: Ann Coulter's Home Run

The American Spectator : Mugged: Ann Coulter's Home Run

The liberal myth of race history exploded in latest book.

Ann Coulter is fearless.

In writing her newest book, Mugged: Racial Demagoguery From the Seventies to Obama Ms. Coulter takes the time to carefully and in detail explode the self-made liberal myth of liberals and liberalism as heroes in the American civil rights movement.

The Last Tradition: Rush Limbaugh: Don't Let Bogus Polls Depress You

The Last Tradition: Rush Limbaugh: Don't Let Bogus Polls Depress You

Folks, there are a couple of polls out there today that are just outrageous. One is the CBS/New York Times poll. The other is the Washington Post poll. I'm telling you: They are irresponsible. They are designed to do exactly what I have warned you to be vigilant about, and that is to depress you and suppress your vote. These two polls today are designed to convince everybody this election is over.

“He’s so cool, he’s so likeable and he gives me free stuff!” [Darleen Click]

“He’s so cool, he’s so likeable and he gives me free stuff!” [Darleen Click]:
It’s come to this …  What America Has Become

The Rape of a Nation

The Rape of a Nation

Britain is a very odd place these days. We are being subjected to what amounts to a racial and cultural war against us, yet our politicians refuse to talk about it, and the overwhelming majority of the indigenous population seem too cowed and fearful to force the politicians to not just recognise the problem, but to actually do something about it.

Truly, this is a country and a people staring into a racial and cultural abyss. A civilised indigenous race seems to have rolled over and allowed itself to be defiled, abused and defeated by the uncivilised detritus of the Third World.

What happened to us? When did we lose our will to survive as a proud and unified people? What on earth is wrong with the British? Our immediate ancestors would have been rioting in the streets long, long ago.

Can it really be because we are afraid of being called a word? Are we really so frightened of being called “racist” we are prepared to allow our children and grandchildren to inherit Hell On Earth? If defending your people, your culture, your country and your very civilisation apparently makes you a racist, then it is a badge I will wear with pride.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

ANN COULTER: Liberals Can’t Break 200-Year Racism Habit –

ANN COULTER: Liberals Can’t Break 200-Year Racism Habit –:
BY ANN COULTER, Sep 26, 2012
Democrats spent the first century of this country’s existence refusing to treat black people like human beings, and the second refusing to treat them like adults.
After fighting the Civil War to continue enslaving black people and then subjecting newly freed black Americans to vicious, humiliating Jim Crow laws and Ku Klux Klan violence, Democrats set about frantically rewriting their own ugly history.
Step 1: Switch “Democrat” to “Southerner”;
Step 2: Switch “Southerner” to “conservative Democrat”;
Step 3: Switch “conservative Democrat” to “conservative.”
Contrary to liberal folklore, the Democratic segregationists were not all Southern — and they were certainly not conservative. They were dyed-in-the-wool liberal Democrats on all the litmus-test issues of their day.
All but one remained liberal Democrats until the day they died. That’s the only one you’ve ever heard of: Strom Thurmond.
As soon as abortion is relegated to the same trash heap of history as slavery has been, liberals will be rewriting history to make Democrats the pro-lifers and Republicans the pro-choicers. That’s precisely what they’ve done with the history of race in America.
via Liberals Can’t Break 200-Year Racism Habit – Ann Coulter – [page].

Dr. Sanity: THE MORAL SAVAGES OF ISLAM AND THEIR COUNTERPARTS ON THE POLITICAL LEFT

Dr. Sanity: THE MORAL SAVAGES OF ISLAM AND THEIR COUNTERPARTS ON THE POLITICAL LEFT

As the late Christopher Hitchens noted "The useless and meaningless term Islamophobia, now widely used as a bludgeon of moral blackmail, is "testimony to the effectiveness of all of the horrific violence and intimidation, including public beheadings" done in the name of Islam's god.

The truth is that "Islamophobia" is not a phobia at all-- it is a completely rational fear of an insane and irrational movement that threatens to swallow the world. Being afraid of the "religion of peace" after the innumerable acts of violence, terror and depravity committed in the name of its god across the globe is not an exaggerated response to its savagery; it is not at all inexplicable; and most certainly it is not illogical in the slightest.

Being afraid of ruthless moral savages who fanatically believe in Islam as they continually denounce and limit freedom of speech and thought; as well as spit on all the key values of Western civilization, is far from a phobia--rather, it is a natural response to the sad reality of Islam as it is practiced in much of the Middle East and around the world.

This is not to say that there are not some rational and reasonable Muslims who decry what is being done. I'm sure there are many. But they cannot or will not stand against the violence for long. They are simply too cowed and frightened by the thugs who we see on TV day in and day out who speak for Islam.

And, who wouldn't be? These same moral savages think nothing of killing those in their own religion if it suits their purposes: especially if they question or disagree with the brutality.

‘We are at war with an enemy as savage, as voracious, as heartless as the Nazis…but one wouldn’t know it from our behaviour’ | Jewish Tribune

‘We are at war with an enemy as savage, as voracious, as heartless as the Nazis…but one wouldn’t know it from our behaviour’ | Jewish Tribune

We are at war – yet too many stubbornly and foolishly don’t put the pieces together and refuse to identify the evil doers. We are circumspect and disgracefully politically correct.

Let me mince no words in saying that from Fort Hood to Bali, from Times Square to London, from Madrid to Mumbai, from 9/11 to Gaza, the murderers, the barbarians are radical Islamists.

To camouflage their identity is sedition. To excuse their deeds is contemptible. To mask their intentions is unconscionable.

WHAT DO RADICAL ISLAMISTS AND PROGRESSIVES HAVE IN COMMON?  Answer:  Hatred of America, capitalism…

WHAT DO RADICAL ISLAMISTS AND PROGRESSIVES HAVE IN COMMON?  Answer:  Hatred of America, capitalism…:
WHAT DO RADICAL ISLAMISTS AND PROGRESSIVES HAVE IN COMMON?  Answer:  Hatred of America, capitalism, and the US Constitution.  Donald Thornton, writing in ThyBlackMan.com, makes the connection so many seem to have missed, particularly in light of the recent attacks on US installations around the globe:
The eerie similarities between radical Islamist all over the world and radical Leftist that reside right here in America. Because their ultimate goals are synonymic. A nation; dare I say a world, under submission to their will.
I believe these two ideologies are clear and present dangers to America and the world at large. Because both; at their core seek to suppress any speech or expression that is contrary to their worldview. Free speech has to be the first and most protected foundational pillar of any new nation.  And it must be re-enforced perpetually in any existing nation that has adopted it.
The progressive ideal is utopian– a “new world order” based on a rejection of capitalist ideals and individualism. So, too, the radical Islamists, who reject capitalist (western) ideals and individualism.  Granted, the radical Islamists’ goal is the institution of global sharia law, which is inherently religious, whereas the progressive goal is the institution of global communitarianism and inherently secular.  Yet these two growing groups have a frightening common goal.  David Horowitz recognized this “unholy alliance” back in 2004, with the publication of a book by the same name.
Now ask yourself this:  Do President Obama’s recent actions/statements regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and Israel, combined with his unabashed progressivism, suggest there is any potentially dangerous problem here?

Liberals Can't Break 200-Year Racism Habit - Ann Coulter - Page 1

Liberals Can't Break 200-Year Racism Habit - Ann Coulter - Page 1

Democrats spent the first century of this country's existence refusing to treat black people like human beings, and the second refusing to treat them like adults.

After fighting the Civil War to continue enslaving black people and then subjecting newly freed black Americans to vicious, humiliating Jim Crow laws and Ku Klux Klan violence, Democrats set about frantically rewriting their own ugly history.

Step 1: Switch "Democrat" to "Southerner";

Step 2: Switch "Southerner" to "conservative Democrat";

Step 3: Switch "conservative Democrat" to "conservative."

Contrary to liberal folklore, the Democratic segregationists were not all Southern -- and they were certainly not conservative. They were dyed-in-the-wool liberal Democrats on all the litmus-test issues of their day.

(Video) John Bolton on Obama's UN Speech: 'An Exposition of Moral Relativism' :: Political News and commentaries :: Hyscience

(Video) John Bolton on Obama's UN Speech: 'An Exposition of Moral Relativism' :: Political News and commentaries :: Hyscience

John Bolton provides the only truly honest assessment of Obama's absurd speech at the UN.

Rush: They're Trying to Depress You with Polls - Rush Limbaugh - Fox Nation

Rush: They're Trying to Depress You with Polls - Rush Limbaugh - Fox Nation

Rush Limbaugh makes the argument that reports about some recent polls are trying to depress conservative voters and are right now more oriented toward pushing agendas than measuring voters.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

It is time to end the corruption that is infecting schools | PrairiePundit

It is time to end the corruption that is infecting schools | PrairiePundit

It is time that we quit ignoring the inherent conflict of interest in letting teachers select the people who decide whether or not they get a raise.  If they can't see the conflict then they need to go back to remedial ethics class.

Who Are the Syrian Rebels? | Via Meadia

Who Are the Syrian Rebels? | Via Meadia

The Syrian rebels are definitely not a bunch of democracy activists who suddenly and reluctantly picked up weapons to fight for a free and peaceful Syria. Further complications arise from the differing agendas of the rebels’ main foreign backers, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which no longer see eye-to-eye on which rebel groups should get weapons.

The bottom line: what comes out of the Syrian civil war will not be prettier—or more stable, or more accepting of American priorities, or friendlier to Israel—than the Assad regime.

From 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville sends a message to America about the right and wrong kinds of equality

From 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville sends a message to America about the right and wrong kinds of equality:
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America:
There is in fact a manly and legitimate passion for equality that spurs all men to wish to be strong and esteemed. This passion tends to elevate the lesser to the rank of the greater.
But one also finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality which impels the weak to want to bring the strong down to their level and which reduces men to preferring equality in servitude to inequality in freedom.
That is the difference between aspiration and redistribution, between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome, between earned success and learned helplessness. My boss, Arthur Brooks:
Earned success means defining your future as you see fit and achieving that success on the basis of merit and hard work. It allows you to measure your life’s “profit” however you want, be it in money, making beautiful music, or helping people learn English. Earned success is at the root of American exceptionalism.
The opposite of earned success is “learned helplessness,” a term coined by Martin Seligman, the eminent psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. It refers to what happens if rewards and punishments are not tied to merit: People simply give up and stop trying to succeed.
All surveys show that most Americans still embrace our free enterprise system—today. The crucial test is whether the country is willing to support the hard work and policy reforms that will sustain it.The cost of failing this test will be more human than financial. In our hands is the earned success—and thus the happiness—of our children and grandchildren. The stakes in the current policy battles today are not just economic. They are moral.

Too fat to fight: Is childhood obesity a national security threat? - CSMonitor.com

Too fat to fight: Is childhood obesity a national security threat? - CSMonitor.com

"Too fat to fight," a new study by former Pentagon military chiefs, says school junk food and childhood obesity are a national security threat -- with more than a quarter of 17- to 24-year-old Americans too heavy to join the military if they wanted to.

Planned Parenthood Starts 3.5 Million Ad Blitz Against Romney - Katie Pavlich

Planned Parenthood Starts 3.5 Million Ad Blitz Against Romney - Katie Pavlich

 

Why is Planned Parenthood political and why can it use public funds for this purpose?

Conservative Movement to Media: “You are Rigging this Election”

Conservative Movement to Media: “You are Rigging this Election”:
 Over 20 Conservative Leaders including Rush Limbaugh, Ed Meese, Mark Levin and Tony Perkins
Call on Public to Tune out the Liberal Media!
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell, along with more than 20 conservative leaders and media personalities, has publicly called out the liberal media for their deliberate and calculated attempts to rig the 2012 presidential election in favor of Barack Obama.
“We have never witnessed a more brazen and complete attempt by the media to decide the outcome of a presidential election.  For 25 years, the Media Research Center has been documenting liberal media bias daily.  During that time, we have covered seven presidential elections including this one.  We have never seen it this bad.  The media have decided to re-elect Barack Obama and have employed countless distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies as their means to that end,” Bozell said.
Bozell informed the heads of ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News in a letter co-signed by conservative leaders and media personalities including Ed Meese, Rush Limbaugh, Jenny Beth Martin, Matt Kibbe, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, and Tony Perkins that they are urging the members of their respective organizations to switch off the liberal media:
“We the undersigned – representing millions of Americans from our respective organizations – are now publicly urging our members to seek out alternative sources of political news in order to make an intelligent, well-informed decision on November 6. It is time the American people turn you who are offending off, once and for all. You have betrayed their trust,” Bozell wrote.
Within that letter the MRC’s News Analysis Division provided a list of the most egregious examples of the media’s lopsided coverage during this election season.

Media Rigging 2012 Election, Worst Liberal Bias In 25 Years

Tuesday, September 25, 2012
This election year, so much of the broadcast networks, their cable counterparts, and the major establishment print media are out of control with a deliberate and unmistakable leftist agenda.  To put it bluntly: you are rigging this election and taking sides in order to pre-determine the outcome.  In the quarter century since the Media Research Center was established to document liberal media bias, there has never been a more brazen and complete attempt by the liberal so-called “news” media to decide the outcome of an election.
A free and balanced media are crucial to the health of this country. It is your duty as journalists – as outlined in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics – to “distinguish between advocacy and news reporting,” while simultaneously “seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues.”
There is a reason why the media are viewed with such disdain by the American public, as evidenced by every recent poll on the issue.
You have breached the public trust by willfully turning a blind eye to the government’s public policy failures, both domestic and foreign, while openly and shamefully smearing Gov. Mitt Romney. You are:
  • Painting conservative ideas as extreme, while refusing to report the disastrous consequences of liberal programs enacted since 2008.
  • Submerging the truly horrendous economic conditions America is facing and focusing only on minor political issues.
  • Characterizing conservatives as cruel budget “slashers” instead of responsible officials trying to avoid a debt catastrophe.
  • Focusing on alleged shortcomings in Romney’s business record instead of Obama’s record as the chief executive, whose policies contributed to a failed economy.
  • Deliberately covering up embarrassing government failures and scandals, including the Solyndra debacle, Fast & Furious, and national security leaks which have put American lives in jeopardy.
  • Pouncing on real and perceived missteps by conservatives, portraying them as bumbling incompetents, while suppressing embarrassing and incendiary remarks made by Vice President Joe Biden to prevent him from becoming a liability.
  • Portraying conservative opposition to tax hikes as an impediment to deficit reduction while failing to highlight how liberal tax increase policies will cause massive damage to the economy and cause the deficit to explode.
  • “Fact-checking” conservatives in order to discredit their arguments while regularly refusing to “fact-check” liberals who are distorting the truth.
We the undersigned – representing millions of Americans from our respective organizations – are now publicly urging our members to seek out alternative sources of political news in order to make an intelligent, well-informed decision on November 6.
It is time the American people turn you who are offending off, once and for all. You have betrayed their trust.
Sincerely,
L. Brent Bozell, III

President

Media Research Center

Co-Signed:
Gary Bauer

President

Campaign for American Values
Hon. J. Kenneth Blackwell

Former, U.S. ambassador

U.N. Human Rights Commission
Morton Blackwell

Chairman

The Weyrich Lunch
David Bozell

Executive Director

For America
Brian Brown

President

National Organization for Marriage
Al Cardenas

Chairman

American Conservative Union
Marjorie Dannenfelser

President

Susan B. Anthony List
Becky Norton Dunlop

Former Reagan Official
Colin Hanna

President

Let Freedom Ring
Laura Ingraham

National Radio Host
Matt Kibbe

President and CEO

FreedomWorks
Amy Kremer

Chairman

Tea Party Express
Curt Levey

Committee for Justice
Mark Levin

Author and National Radio Host
Rush Limbaugh

National Radio Host
Jenny Beth Martin

Co-Founder

Tea Party Patriots
Ed Meese III

Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy,

Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies

Heritage Foundation
Mike Needham

Chief Executive Officer

Heritage Action
Karl Otteson

U. S. Federation of Small Businesses Inc
William Pascoe

Executive Vice President

Citizens for the Republic
Tony Perkins

President

Family Research Council
Alfred S. Regnery

Paul Revere Project
Mathew D. Staver

Founder and Chairman

Liberty Counsel
Richard Viguerie

Chairman

Conservative HQ.com
The letter:

open-letter-media

Brutally Honest: "Let us consider just how egregiously the press has abandoned its responsibilities to the public trust"

Brutally Honest: "Let us consider just how egregiously the press has abandoned its responsibilities to the public trust"

She goes on to write that the media are willfully transforming into Pravda on behalf of the President. 

And she's right.

Tax credit for electric cars a waste

Tax credit for electric cars a waste: Houston Chronicle:
Tax credits for electric vehicles will cost the federal government nearly $2 billion through 2019. But the subsidy doesn't make EVs cost-competitive and will have little immediate effect on the nation's emissions, according to a report by theCongressional Budget Office.

Even with a tax credit and the lower fuel costs, electric vehicles cost their owners more over the vehicles' lifetimes compared with non-plug-in hybrids and conventional internal combustion engine vehicles, the report said.

The federal tax credit offers buyers as much as $7,500 per vehicle.

A plug-in hybrid with a battery capacity of 16 kilowatt-hours needs a $12,000 credit to be cost- competitive at today's vehicle and fuel prices, according to the budget office. The cost disadvantage rises with the size of the battery capacity.
... 
I think that still understates the cost, because of the expense of battery replacements which would probably require a new loan for most people they are so expensive.  When you ad on top of that the limited range and the long recharging time, and there is just no reason to buy the things.

Leave the Mideast to its own barbarism

Leave the Mideast to its own barbarism
It’s time to simply give up. I’ve never been one, even in the bleakest of circumstances, to consider a situation utterly hopeless. However, the possibility of securing lasting peace in the Middle Eastern region of the world and establishing solid stable relationships with the nations and, most of all, the culture there is just that. All signs indicate that whatever form of diplomacy is exercised, any and all efforts amount to nothing more than outright futility.
While I, along with the majority of Americans, feel that it is the United States’ duty, even responsibility, to promote freedom, democracy and the preservation of human rights in all corners of the globe, there must come a time where the most logical diplomacy is no diplomacy. The time has come where the realization must occur within our government and our population that the divide between the ideals, morals and ethics that exists within the foundations of democracy and those within the culture of the Middle East is just too great.
With a society that bases the entirety of life around a glorified cult passing itself off as a religion whose principles are in stark contrast with the core beliefs of democracy, a permanent, even moderately long-lived peaceable relationship is an impossibility. For a long-lasting common ground to exist between West and East a massive ideological transition of unfathomable proportions would have to occur. Basically, Islam would have to cease to exist … or democracy would – but neither ideology is going anywhere.
Many will argue the need for continued diplomacy, arguing that the consistent and incessant violence, hatred etc. are the work and mindset of just a radical few. To pose a rebuttal to that theory: A radical “few” does not consist of hundreds of thousands of angry, rioting, burning, murdering, venom-spewing individuals strewn over a dozen countries for weeks on end with no word whatsoever from the “peace loving” Muslims denouncing the acts of the “radical few.” While there are differing degrees of hatred, that underlying theme seems to exist consistently among them all.
It’s time to end our futile efforts. It’s time to bring our hundreds of millions of dollars in annual wasted financial aid home. It’s time to bring our extremely valuable human resources home and put up a hypothetical fence, leaving these ungrateful children to their own destruction and demise. It’s time to steal a page from the diplomatic playbook of U.S/Cuban relations. End this insanity. It’s time!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Are Terrorists Threatening Free Speech? | Via Meadia

Are Terrorists Threatening Free Speech? | Via Meadia

Over at City Journal, Michael Totten chronicles the recent history of intimidation and violence perpetrated against so-called blasphemers and apostates by radical Muslims who feel insulted. By forcing Americans to hold their tongues due for fear of violent repercussions, Islamic terrorists have effectively eroded the free speech rights of Americans.

Tony Blair on Anti-Americanism in Middle East: ‘America’s Role is Not To Be Loved, It Is To Be Strong’ (Video) | The Rightnewz

Tony Blair on Anti-Americanism in Middle East: ‘America’s Role is Not To Be Loved, It Is To Be Strong’ (Video) | The Rightnewz

He nails it here. He gets it. Blair says this is a long struggle and America must be strong and should not worry about being loved

Boos Subside as Ryan Explains the Truth - By Grace-Marie Turner - The Corner - National Review Online

Boos Subside as Ryan Explains the Truth - By Grace-Marie Turner - The Corner - National Review Online

The headlines shouted “Ryan Booed!” after Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan dared to enter the lion’s den of the AARP on Friday to talk about Medicare.

But that was near the beginning of his talk. What wasn’t widely reported is that the boos subsided and the applause increased as he explained how Obamacare harms Medicare and how the Romney/Ryan plan would save it.

Jonah Goldberg on Progressivism

Jonah Goldberg on Progressivism:
Jonah GoldbergIn his essay "The Endless Party" (Winter 2004/05, and his excellent book Never Enough [2010] that it became), CRB senior editor William Voegeli puts his finger on the indispensable observation about liberalism, past and present: its total lack of a limiting principle. Voegeli shows that in liberal rhetoric the measure of a program or policy is to be found in the intentions of those promoting it, not in its objective success. Failure is only proof that the government should "try harder" with more funding and deeper meddling. Tactically and philosophically, liberals can never concede that there will ever be a point where the progressive's job is done, because that means they would be out of work. And the real occupation, and preoccupation, of progressivism is to remain in power.
(Jonah Goldberg, "AmeriCons," review of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Ten Years of the Claremont Review of Books, ed. by Charles R. Kesler and John B. Kienker, Claremont Review of Books 12 [summer 2012]: 12-6, at 16 [brackets in original])

The Commentator - Millions of deaths later: The birth of the green movement and junk science

The Commentator - Millions of deaths later: The birth of the green movement and junk science

This is the story of how dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), previously used to treat malaria, was banned based on flimsy evidence and ideology, seeing the beginnings of the green industry.

Millions have died as a result. Malaria is a disease that is caused by a bite from a female mosquito, which induces protozoan parasites into the blood stream of the recipient

Late-term Abortions of the Liberal Mind - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

» Late-term Abortions of the Liberal Mind - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

The always excellent Jonathan V. Last at The Weekly Standard has a remarkable piece about the corrupting influence of abortion on the left’s mindset—how elevating it to primacy status in the political arena has thoroughly distorted the thinking of otherwise smart people, forcing them to adopt positions that would be simply ludicrous if they weren’t so horrifying.

Muslim Requests for Censorship Used by Secularists to Silence Christians?

Muslim Requests for Censorship Used by Secularists to Silence Christians?:
This is the letter from 57 Muslim organizations to John Brennan of Homeland security that requests that all bias against Islam disappear from any federal training materials.This applies to training for those involved in the war on terrorism, although there is no such thing, as we’ve been told.  The letter seems to have prompted the firing of a military instructor.
Surely there has to be a balanced approach that takes aims at truthfulness without intention to offend; but if the new standard of PC-Speech is to allow hate speech and offensive speech to be defined by those offended, that seems backwards. It allows someone who really is your enemy and means to do you harm to use your instruments against you. One of those most dissatisfying sporting events to watch is a game in which a very good team beats itself.
The end result of some of these new moves that seem to be favored by the current administration and the people in positions of regulatory power will be chilling. I do not think it a stretch to say that liberal elites who really hate Christian apologetics, preaching, and evangelization are quite happy to find excuses to put the squeeze on religious speech in the name of a more tolerant society. But tolerance means putting up with speech that is offensive, not silencing it. I can tolerate (and not call for silencing of) Muslim insistence that God has no Son. But I would like to be free to argue otherwise. The recent rioting over an anti-Muslim video is putting heat on officials to start moving against freedom of speech in the name of peace. But this only postpones a reckoning with the problems inherent in a society that responds to provocations in this manner. It will not end peacefully in the long run.

The Fallacy of Redistribution | RealClearPolitics

The Fallacy of Redistribution | RealClearPolitics

We have all heard the old saying that giving a man a fish feeds him only for a day, while teaching him to fish feeds him for a lifetime. Redistributionists give him a fish and leave him dependent on the government for more fish in the future.

If the redistributionists were serious, what they would want to distribute is the ability to fish, or to be productive in other ways. Knowledge is one of the few things that can be distributed to people without reducing the amount held by others.

That would better serve the interests of the poor, but it would not serve the interests of politicians who want to exercise power, and to get the votes of people who are dependent on them.

Barack Obama can endlessly proclaim his slogan of "Forward," but what he is proposing is going backwards to policies that have failed repeatedly in countries around the world.

Yet, to many people who cannot be bothered to stop and think, redistribution sounds good. 

The Obama Record: 1 in 7 on Foodstamps – 1 in 16 on Disability – 1 in 12 Out of Work

The Obama Record: 1 in 7 on Foodstamps – 1 in 16 on Disability – 1 in 12 Out of Work:
It's been a total, shameful failure. Here.


Why would anybody vote for more of the same? Seems insane to me. Government needs to get out of the way of the people.




Commonsense & Wonder: Government waste and fantasy

Commonsense & Wonder: Government waste and fantasy

LG Chem received $151 million from feds, $100 million from state

Two years ago, when President Obama visited the LG Chem battery plant in Holland, it was hailed as part of the transformation of Michigan to a “green economy.”
The battery plant, which supplies batteries for the Chevy Volt, got $151 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Today, $133 million of that $151 million has been spent, but since April, the company's 200 workers have been on "rolling furloughs" because the electric vehicle market has failed to blossom as promised by many.

NYC: No Big Gulps But Morning After Pills For Teenagers Are Fine - Katie Pavlich

NYC: No Big Gulps But Morning After Pills For Teenagers Are Fine - Katie Pavlich

NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg's "Big Gulp" ban, a ban on sugary drinks over 16 ounces in size, has been in the news for over a month now. Just last week, the NYC health board voted to put the ban into place. Today that same health board voted to allow the distribution of Plan B, or the morning after pill, to teenage girls without parental consent

Even MSM Beginning to Notice Obama’s Middle East Failures | Via Meadia

Even MSM Beginning to Notice Obama’s Middle East Failures | Via Meadia

The press has been kind to the Obama administration during its travails in the Middle East, kinder than it might have been if the president were a Republican. That may finally be changing—and it only took a fiasco of epic proportions to do it.

Obama’s Palace Guard | The Weekly Standard

Obama’s Palace Guard | The Weekly Standard

How media fact checkers made themselves of service to the president in the welfare reform debate

Mark Hemingway : Yes, Obama Gutted Welfare Reform

Mark Hemingway : Yes, Obama Gutted Welfare Reform:
Some time in early August, Mitt Romney started running ads hitting Obama for gutting the work requirements in the landmark 1996 welfare reform law. As soon as he did this, the media "fact checkers" pounced and accused Romney of lying; the campaign reporters relied on the fact checkers and spent the next several weeks demanding Romney explain why he was running a misleading ad; Chris Matthews screamed at Reince Priebus on air that talking about welfare reform was racist; and Bill Clinton accused Romney of lying about about what Obama had done in his DNC speech.
The trouble is -- and I know it's difficult to accept that Bill Clinton might have been less than honest with the American public -- that Obama did seriously undermine the work requirements in welfare reform. The key personnel in Obama's Department of Health and Human Services that work on welfare policy have extensive public track records of opposing workfare. Fact checkers didn't talk to any critical sources, including the guy who wrote the work requirements in welfare reform and made the charges against the Obama administration to begin with. And because they know work requirements for welfare are hugely popular, the Obama administration is basically engaged in a statistical con game to make you think their new welfare requirements have done something other than gut the law.
And that's just for starters. If you want to read about maybe the worst example of media malpractice this campaign season -- and that's setting a high bar -- I encourage you to read my feature in the latest Weekly Standard on "Obama's Palace Guard." Suffice to say, there are layers upon layers of dishonesty and incompetence here. It's infuriating.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Dem Mayor Koch Rips Obama on Israel, Libya

Dem Mayor Koch Rips Obama on Israel, Libya:

Former Democratic mayor of New York Ed Koch spoke out today, ripping President Obama over his anti-Israel policies and his dramatic malfeasance with regard to the Libyan consulate. Obama’s decision not to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Koch, was “unacceptable … There should be a certain courtesy involved. You don’t just say, ‘We can’t fit him into our schedule.”
That was Koch pulling his punches. On Obama’s handling of the al Qaeda attack on our Libyan consulate that resulted in the murder of the American ambassador in Libya, Koch stated, “Any other self-respecting country where their embassy was attacked, their ambassador and his security detail murdered and the local police ran away would withdraw their embassy immediately in protest. Koch is an Obama supporter – but even he can’t stomach Obama’s Middle East policies.

Jerry Z. Muller on Conservative Themes

Jerry Z. Muller on Conservative Themes:
Jerry Z. MullerAlthough conservatism is characterized above all by its historical utilitarianism and by its recurrent assumptions and arguments, the range of institutions defended by conservatives is not unlimited, and a few have been the special object of conservative solicitude. The recurrent substantive themes of conservative social and political thought include:
1. a skepticism regarding the efficacy of written constitutions, as opposed to the informal, sub-political, and inherited norms and mores of society. For conservatives, the real "constitution" of society lies in its historical institutions and practices, which are inculcated primarily through custom and habit;
2. the central role of cultural manners and mores in shaping character and restraining the passions, and hence the political importance of the social institutions in which such manners and mores are conveyed;
3. the need of the individual for socially imposed restraint and identity, and hence skepticism regarding projects intended to liberate the individual from existing sources of social and cultural authority;
4. an emphasis on the family as the most important institution of socialization, and despite considerable divergence among conservatives over the proper roles of men and women within the family, the assertion that some degree of sexual division of labor is both inevitable and desirable;
5. the legitimacy of inequality, and the need for elites, cultural, political, and economic;
6. security of possession of property as a prime function of the political order;
7. the importance of the state as the ultimate guarantor of property and the rule of law, and hence the need to maintain political authority;
8. the ineluctability of the possibility of the use of force in international relations. [sic; period in original]
9. Conservatives [sic; capitalization in original] have a propensity to assert that the successful functioning of a capitalist society depends on premarket and nonmarket institutions and cultural practices. Anxiety over whether the cultural effects of the market will erode these institutions and practices is the most consistent tension within conservative social and political thought.
(Jerry Z. Muller, "Introduction: What Is Conservative Social and Political Thought?, in Conservatism: An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from David Hume to the Presented. Jerry Z. Muller [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997], 3-31, at 18-9 [italics in original; footnote omitted])

Obama Gets Media Pass On Mideast Protests, China War Drums, Afghanistan Collapse - Investors.com

Obama Gets Media Pass On Mideast Protests, China War Drums, Afghanistan Collapse - Investors.com

Hell breaks loose all over the world, the economy stinks, and we're going broke. But the president parties, yuks it up with Letterman and skips intelligence briefings. All the while, the press sees no evil.

Legacy media attempting to demoralize Republican voters?

Legacy media attempting to demoralize Republican voters?:
Even though President Obama had a great day yesterday among Gallup’s sample, his approval jumping 4 points, he still remained in a statistical dead heat with Mitt Romney, leading him by only two points among registered voters.
Today, for the second day in a row, Rasmussen showed the race tied (among likely voters), with each candidate at 46.  ”Isn’t it strange” wonders blogress diva Ann Althouse, looking at these numbers. . .
. . . how the candidates are so precisely locked in an even standoff, when the newspapers are pounding it into our heads that the pathetic, miserable Romney hasn’t got a chance? Where would Romney be now if the media gave him something close to equal treatment? Is it possible that the media’s desperate boosting of their candidate is causing the electorate to tune out or even skew in the other direction? I think so. I find myself repelled by media bias.
Ann, you’re not alone.  Fewer than one-in-three independent voters have a great deal or even a fair amount of trust in the mass media.  I do wonder if the media are trying to make it look like Obama’s a shoo-in for reelection in order to demoralize Republicans, to prevent us from donating to Mitt Romney and to discourage us from voting in November.
Also to note, Ann asks, “Where would Romney be now if the media gave him something close to equal treatment?”  And I ask, where would Obama be now if the media subjected him to the same treatment they subject Mitt Romney, devoting as much time to Obama’s failed policies and inaccurate statements as they do to the Republican’s supposed gaffes, that is, or asked tough questions, with followups as did the folks at Univision?

Intimidating freedom: The Muslim imperative to oppose Islamists | Qanta Ahmed | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel

Intimidating freedom: The Muslim imperative to oppose Islamists | Qanta Ahmed | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel

To be sure, to debase any belief system is never admirable and often despicable. However, debasing Islam does not constitute a crime, and in the eyes of Islam itself is not a punishable act. The answer? Defending not Islam, or the prophet, or the Maker — who hardly require the meager defense of mortals — but the ideals of liberal democracy. Brave work it is indeed to engage in the jihad of the pen against the jihad of the sword. If Islam is to keep the imposter of political Islamism from usurping our ideals, belief and rightful values, we must, as Muslims, oppose the Islamists ourselves. The alternatives do not bear thinking about.

Romney in better shape than media | PrairiePundit

Romney in better shape than media | PrairiePundit

Crushing conventional wisdom will only slow this gang down for a few days, meaning Romney will have to govern in a hostile environment, but so did Reagan and Bush.  The reason that Obama is doing so badly when the party ID skew is removed from the polls is the Independents are going strongly for Romney.

BTW, polling shows distrust of the media at an all time high.  Their bias has become too extreme to ignore.

"The Lid": What Is Wrong With Calling Savages---Savage?

"The Lid": What Is Wrong With Calling Savages---Savage?

Here is the bottom line in my mind. Someone that allows their kids to be blown up, or to be used as a  human shield is a savage. What Is Wrong With Calling Savages---Savage? Exactly Nothing.

Kudos to my  friend Pamela for telling the truth and shame on the news media and politicians for implying that its hate speech.

Bowing to the Mob - Mark Steyn - National Review Online

Bowing to the Mob - Mark Steyn - National Review Online

I see the Obama campaign has redesigned the American flag, and very attractive it is too. Replacing the 50 stars of a federal republic is the single “O” logo symbolizing the great gaping maw of spendaholic centralization. And where the stripes used to be are a handful of red daubs, eerily mimicking the bloody finger streaks left on the pillars of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as its staff were dragged out by a mob of savages to be tortured and killed. What better symbol could one have of American foreign policy? Who says the slick hollow vapid marketing of the Obama campaign doesn’t occasionally intersect with reality?

Romney winning handily in their analysis

Romney winning handily in their analysis: Unskewed Polls looks at the results with what they see as a more representative sample.  It might be interesting to follow their chart as we get closer to the election.  Polls taken right before the vote tend to have less bias, because the polling companies want to look competent after they get through their voter suppression efforts on behalf of Democrats.

Why the polls understate Romney’s support

Why the polls understate Romney’s support:
They assume it’s 2008 all over again:
But 2008 was no ordinary election. Blacks, for example, usually cast only 11% of the vote, but, in 2008, they made up 14% of the vote. Latinos increased their share of the vote by 1.5% and college kids almost doubled their vote share. Almost all pollsters are using the 2008 turnout models in weighting their samples. Rasmussen, more accurately, uses a mixture of 2008 and 2004 turnouts in determining his sample. That’s why his data usually is better for Romney.
But polling indicates a widespread lack of enthusiasm among Obama’s core demographic support due to high unemployment, disappointment with his policies and performance, and the lack of novelty in voting for a black candidate now that he has already served as president.
If you adjust virtually any of the published polls to reflect the 2004 vote, not the 2008 vote, they show the race either tied or Romney ahead, a view much closer to reality.

What Egypt Wants: More U.S. Appeasement « Commentary Magazine

What Egypt Wants: More U.S. Appeasement « Commentary Magazine

Having studied here in the 1980s, Morsi thinks he knows America. But his contempt for Western culture is such that he believes that he and other Islamists can dictate terms to the United States with impunity. President Obama’s attempt to win the hearts of minds of the Muslim world failed. But Morsi’s contempt is such that he believes he can demand more appeasement. Morsi says Egypt won’t live by American rules but he seems to think that the U.S. must accept his dictates. Given the refusal of the Obama administration to make him pay a price for this arrogance, there’s no reason for him think that he can’t get away with it.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Free Speech Isn’t the Problem - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online

Free Speech Isn’t the Problem - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online

I absolutely agree that our devotion to free speech can cause headaches and challenges. But so can any number of non-negotiable facts of life. Anyone with a child knows that having a kid creates all sorts of problems and inconveniences. But few decent parents respond to those problems and inconveniences by loving their kid any less. And as a general rule, only evil, incomprehensibly stupid, or selfish people would consider getting rid of their kid to avoid the inconvenience.

There’s nothing wrong with exercising sound judgment, even caution, when it comes to offending another’s most cherished beliefs. But the First Amendment isn’t the problem here, the dysfunctions and inadequacies of the Arab and Muslim world are.

James Burnham famously said that when there is no alternative there is no problem. If free speech in America causes a comparative handful of zealots to want to murder Americans, the correct response is to protect Americans from those zealots (something the Obama administration abjectly failed to do in Libya) and relentlessly seek the punishment of anyone who succeeds. Because, as far as America is concerned, there is no alternative to the First Amendment.

Richard Cohen states the obvious

Richard Cohen states the obvious: But sometimes the obvious needs to be stated:
LONDON — The Muslim world cannot have it both ways. It cannot place Islam at the center of political life — and in extreme cases political violence — while at the same time declaring that the religion is off-limits to contestation and ridicule. ...
The porn-grade American movie that started the unrest was pitiful. The murderous violence that followed from Cairo to Benghazi was criminal. Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper, then had a strong editorial case for mocking the religious fundamentalism that produced the killing; it chose to do so through caricatures of Muhammad.
Gérard Biard, the editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo, put the case well: “We’re a newspaper that respects French law. Now, if there’s a law that is different in Kabul or Riyadh, we’re not going to bother ourselves with respecting it.” Alluding to all the violence, Biard asked: “Are we supposed to not do that news?”
How about that? The French are defending free expression more than the Obama administration, which decided that terrorists get a veto over our Constitutional rights.

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Another Spectacular Green Failure

Another Spectacular Green Failure:
What would you do with $7.5 billion? There are probably as many answers as there are people, but we’re guessing nobody opted to waste it all on a policy that accomplishes exactly zilch. Unfortunately, it looks like the federal government has opted to do just that. Reuters has the details:
U.S. federal policies to promote electric vehicles will cost $7.5 billion through 2019 and have “little to no impact” on overall national gasoline consumption over the next several years, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report issued on Thursday.
Greens have an odd knack for developing useless and expensive government policies. Ethanol, ballyhooed as a way to reduce greenhouse gasses, raises food prices for the poor and, in the US, actually increases greenhouse gas emissions at great cost. Costly programs to create “green jobs” seem to produce more scandals than jobs. And now we have a subsidy program for electric cars that costs money but otherwise gets nothing done.
Greens need to get better at policy; as it is, greens seem too policy challenged for public opinion to support the sweeping changes they recommend. That’s a shame; the world’s environmental problems are real, and good solutions are urgently needed.

Faster, Please! » Between Two Worlds

Faster, Please! » Between Two Worlds

I wish Romney would stop listening to the campaign managers, and listen more to his gut, which drove him to make a good, strong statement when our guys were attacked and killed in Egypt and Libya.  I hope he finds the courage to speak truth to power in the next few weeks, and calls out this shameful administration for its fecklessness, its betrayal of our troops and our people, and its amazingly insouciant willigness to invent a new fable most every day.  That would give us some hope that a President Romney might be able to navigate the tsunami approaching our civilization.

And yes, even master it.  I think we’re ready to engage the war for our future.  The bad guys have had a long, free run at us.  Time to get serious.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Math is Hard: Only 15 Percent of Democrats Believe Economic News Is Bad

Math is Hard: Only 15 Percent of Democrats Believe Economic News Is Bad:
Talk about living in a bubble. And these are the folks from the “reality-based” community.
With just 47 days before the general election and Mitt Romney attempting to pivot the focus of the election back on the state of the economy, citizens with Democratic leanings are actually doing an about-face on the economy compared to their Republican counterparts, according to a recent study from the Pew Research Center.
New data found that just 15 percent of Democrats believe that recent economic news is mostly poor, a percentage that took a significant drop from the 31 percent of Democrats polled last month who did think that economic news was mostly bad. According to the study, the 15-percent clip is among the lowest percentages during President Barack Obama’s nearly four years in office.
Considering the media is doing their best to shield their Precious Obama from any bad news–essentially ignoring it completely–this does make some sense. If a Republican incumbent was presiding over such misery it would be the 24/7 focus. As an example, when was the last time any network newscast led off with high gas prices?