AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT LOOKS AT AMERICA

A student from India describes his observations of life in America.  He discusses how university life is different but also notes how "equal" everyone appears to be in society. . .except that poor people seem to be fat while rich people seem to be slim!

CLIMATE CHANGE

It is almost impossible to follow the climate change issue unless you are an expert, because news reports keep changing.  And then one reads German and Russian articles that say it is not the crisis Al Gore and the left are making it out to be.  But the World Federation of Scientists  has come out and said it is "not a planetary emergency." I presume this is a more credible group than Al Gore. On the other hand, I don't think this report should be used to ignore issues such as pollution.

FOREIGN POLICY LEADERSHIP: OBAMA vs. BUSH

From The Telegraph.  The British don't seem very happy with Obama's leadership.

Barack Obama is proving an embarrassing amateur on the world stage compared to George W. Bush.

I wonder if they have been listening to conservative Charles Krauthammer?

Krauthammer said on Fox News that the inability to draw together allies to take military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad marked a major diplomatic failure for President Barack Obama.

ATTACK SYRIA?

Anthony Cordesman always has thought out his positions and in this column analyzes the military issues involved in attacking Syria. He does not think this is the best time to attack and also raises the issue that more human costs can result from traditional artillery or air strikes than from chemical weapons.

The chances of such negotiations succeeding are now extremely limited, but the U.S. has waited so long that so are the chances of a clear rebel victory based on moderate movements. Moreover, an active, high profile U.S.-led effort towards national conciliation can lay the groundwork for some form of eventual agreed national conciliation even if it cannot end or even pause the fighting in the short-term. Above all, the U.S. needs to focus on collective action, and finding a workable compromise among Syrian factions that has some chance of a long-term solution that offers stability and security to Syrians. There is no point in fighting a war against chemical weapons. There is no point in U.S. military symbolism or massive unilateral military action. There is a point in trying to use force to end the suffering, the fighting, and repression - and serve our national interest while we meet the needs of the Syrian people and our allies.

PJ Media has a variety of different commentators assessing the pros and cons of an attack. One commentator, Victor Davis Hanson concludes:

In short, from what we’ve seen from this administration with its withdrawal dates in Afghanistan, its boasts about getting every single soldier out of Iraq, its deadlines to Iran, its red lines to Syria, its reset with Vladimir Putin, and its euphemistic war on terror, it is simply not up to a sustained air war over Syria, or anything much other than a day or two of lobbying cruise missiles. To think that it is will sorely disappoint present supporters of bombing Assad.

U.S. military officers are less than enthusiastic about an attack on Syria.

Former and current officers, many with the painful lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan on their minds, said the main reservations concern the potential unintended consequences of launching cruise missiles against Syria.

FBI INVESTIGATION OF NIDAL HASAN

From Mother Jones.  The FBI investigation blew it.  It had information at least one year in advance regarding what kind of person he was.  I am sure no one will be held accountable for the lives that could have been saved by being less "politically correct."

BECOMING A GENTLEMAN

Is the word "gentleman" an oxymoron in today's culture? 

A gentlemen is, first of all, a cultural achievement. No boy is born opening doors or laying his jacket across puddles for his sisters and girlfriends. A boy doesn’t naturally keep his word or forbear a slight when an excuse or a score settled is within easy reach. All those things we might call virtues, and good manners must be learned. But to be learned they must be taught, and that requires first of all that they are esteemed. So you’ll immediately see our predicament: Mr. Darcy is not born, ladies, he is made.

 A plea for women not to lower the bar in relationships with men.  These reflections come out just as we are ready about Miley Cyrus' recent performance.

MALAYSIA BANS CHRISTIAN USE OF "ALLAH"

From Andrea Ryan. The links in the article deal with the legal case as well as the issue that the generic word for "God" in many Islamic cultures is Allah. 

… from the very beginning, the word ‘Allah’ has been used in the liturgy, prayers and worship of those Christians who speak Bahasa Malaysia.  But for centuries, there has been no opposition or uproar about their use of ‘Allah’.
As stated earlier, the word ‘Allah’ pre-dates Islam. It is not a creation of the Muslims and its existence does not begin in the Al-Quran. …
- See more at: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/08/malaysia-bans-christians-from-using-word-allah/#sthash.mhUgeOyA.dpuf

… from the very beginning, the word ‘Allah’ has been used in the liturgy, prayers and worship of those Christians who speak Bahasa Malaysia.  But for centuries, there has been no opposition or uproar about their use of ‘Allah’.
As stated earlier, the word ‘Allah’ pre-dates Islam. It is not a creation of the Muslims and its existence does not begin in the Al-Quran. …
- See more at: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/08/malaysia-bans-christians-from-using-word-allah/#sthash.mhUgeOyA.dpuf

… from the very beginning, the word ‘Allah’ has been used in the liturgy, prayers and worship of those Christians who speak Bahasa Malaysia.  But for centuries, there has been no opposition or uproar about their use of ‘Allah’.
As stated earlier, the word ‘Allah’ pre-dates Islam. It is not a creation of the Muslims and its existence does not begin in the Al-Quran. …
- See more at: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/08/malaysia-bans-christians-from-using-word-allah/#sthash.mhUgeOyA.dpuf

OBAMA REMARKS RAISE RACIAL TENSIONS

From WAPO.


From the John Lott.  Deals with black revenge for the verdict of the Zimmerman trial.

Black congressmen also see a rise in racial tension under the first black president.

NSA SPYING

Well, some at the NSA were spying on the love interests of fellow workers! Washington is a mess.

The employees even had a code name for the practice – "Love-int" – meaning the gathering of intelligence on their partners.

FAILURE OF US HIGH SCHOOLS

From CNBC. The big headline of the week everyone is missing.  I am afraid the American public continues to live in la-la land with regard to the quality of public education.  But I think some of this blame also rests on our culture which affirms irresponsibility and prolonged immaturity.

It was this one: "Three-quarters of high school grads are failing".

That's right. According to ACT, one of the big college testing companies, only a quarter of this year's high school grads have the combined reading, math, English and science skills necessary to succeed in college or a career.

Left Winger Says Sarah Palin was Right

Noam Chomsky, noted leftist, says Sarah Palin was right on charging Obama on his "hope-change" rhetoric.  Obama was using a rhetorical gimmick.

“I don’t usually admire Sarah Palin, but when she was making fun of this ‘hopey-changey’ stuff, she was right,” Chomsky said. “There was nothing there. And it was understood by the people who run the political system.”

THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

Various sources on the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood's "General Strategic Goal" for North America.

Obama's Strange Love Affair with The Muslim Brotherhood. 

Media Distortion and the Muslim Brotherhood's "Peaceful" Activists.  “Never has Egypt lived a darker period,” this good friend writes. “Nothing is worse than a so-called religious dictator.”

White House spokesman jokes about Islamic attacks on Christian churches.

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ATTACKS CHRISTIANS IN EGYPT

From the Center for Law and Religion Forum.

“The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party has been inciting the anti-Christian pogroms on its web and Facebook pages. One such page, posted on August 14, lists a bill of particulars against the Christian Coptic minority, blaming it, and only it, for the military’s crackdown against the Brotherhood, alleging that the Church has declared a “war against Islam and Muslims.” It concludes with the threat, “For every action there is a reaction.” This builds on statements in the article “The Military Republic of [Coptic Pope] Tawadros,” carried on the MB website in July, about the Coptic Church wanting to “humiliate” Muslims and eradicate Islam….

Another report from the New York Times.

Hundreds of Islamists poured into the street, torching, looting and smashing the village’s two churches and a nearby monastery, lashing out so ferociously that marble altars were left in broken heaps on the floor.

 

CONGRESSWOMAN ASKS FOR BRIBE????

A voicemail to a lobbyist from Congresswoman Norton asks for a contribution and she leaves a voicemail!  Is it legalized bribery or just typical politics?

OBAMA AND EGYPT

Protest signs attacking President Obama are popping up in Egypt.

NSA & PRESIDENT OBAMA

This is pretty strong language coming from a liberal publication like Slate. 

With the latest major revelation about National Security Agency surveillance, there’s a huge taboo question that needs to be put out on the table: Has President Obama been deliberately lying about the NSA, or have his statements just been repeatedly “wrong”?

CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF GEOGRAPHY

Using President Obama's geographic references, Victor Davis Hanson, points out the ignorance Americans have of basic geography.

Even our best and brightest — or rather our elites especially — are not too familiar with history or geography.

Both disciplines are the building blocks of learning. Without awareness of natural and human geography, we are reduced to a self-contained void without accurate awareness of the space around us. An ignorance of history creates the same sort of self-imposed exile, leaving us ignorant of both what came before us and what is likely to follow.

CLINTONS & MONEY

For Maureen Dowd (liberal progressive) all the Clintons are about is money, money, money.  They certainly do not have Jimmy Carter's "heart" to help people or even George W. Bush's humanitarian concerns.

If Americans are worried about money in politics, there is no larger concern than the Clintons, who are cosseted in a world where rich people endlessly scratch the backs of rich people.

As George Packer wrote in The New Yorker, Bill Clinton earned $17 million last year giving speeches, including one to a Lagos company for $700,000. Hillary gets $200,000 a speech.

PRESIDENTS PORTRAYED AS MONKEYS

President Obama was recently portrayed as a monkey which created quite a negative reaction among progressives.  No Pasarani has a historical analysis on how presidents have been portrayed as monkeys.

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD PERSECUTE CHRISTIANS

I was trying to find major media coverage (CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR) on the recent church burnings and persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt (Roman Catholics have also been persecuted).  I could not find any search engine turn up information that the US media is dealing with that issue with specificity.  However, this is what I found:

Al Jazeera has an excellent story. (But then I see a story of an Al Jazeera commentator calling Al-Sisi a Jew and you have to question its commitment to truth).

An Amnesty International story on FoxNews.

Another FoxNews story.

USA Today.

A June video on the issue at NBC news.  And a more recent clip on the Muslim Brotherhood denying it has burned churches.

The last story from NPR when I did a search was from May, 2011.

So it is a bit ironic that the most complete news source was an Arabic source.

BEATING A POLYGRAPH TEST

Lessons from an NSA whistleblower!  Trick the tester on test questions to evaluate whether a person is lying by biting your tongue and then daydream when later asked a question about which you have to lie.

GROPING DEMOCRAT MAYOR OF SAN DIEGO

From the Atlantic.  Evidently the Democrat Party knew about may Bob Filner's groping and abuse of women in 2011, but it did nothing about it because they wanted to keep the mayor's seat Democrat.  I thought the Democrat Party was the party that supported women?  Hypocrisy is wonderful. 

The Democratic Party of San Diego needs better lawyers. Or rather, it should have used the lawyers it has.

In 2011, at least three women warned the head of the San Diego County Democratic Party of stories in the community about then-Rep. Bob Filner making inappropriate advances toward professional women with whom he'd come in contact through his political position.

What happened next illustrates the enormous challenge the situation presented to local Democrats, who were looking to Filner as their best shot at retaking the mayor's seat in the heavily Republican community for the first time since 1992. It also reveals the party's short-sighted and ultimately self-destructive failure to do due diligence on the accusations, which were presented to the party secondhand and yet failed to trigger any kind of substantive investigation, or even an intra-party conversation with a lawyer.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN EGYPT?

Michael Totten is one of the best reporters on the Middle East.  He calls it like it is.  The mainstream media has treated the Muslim Brotherhood as some kind of moderate Islamic force (ignoring the attacks on Christians and the destruction of Christian churches.  Unfortunately US policy toward Egypt has failed miserably under the Obama administration.

Here are some excerpts with his interview with Eric Trager (Washington Institute for Near East Policy):  I think Washington’s fascination with the Brotherhood is the product of a search for an Islamist organization that reflects the “culture” of the Middle East and isn’t violent. There is a lack of appreciation for the fact that just because an organization doesn’t lead with violence doesn’t mean it’s going to be moderate or democratic or capable of governing.

And too many analysts took the Brotherhood’s claim of moderation at face value. The Brotherhood says it views shura, an Islamic concept that means consultation, as democracy. Many analysts said the Brotherhood is not only adopting democracy, it’s finding an Islamic justification for it. My view is that far from finding an Islamic justification for democracy, they were simply redefining democracy in a way that wasn’t democratic but sounded good to the West. 

One other thing: the Brotherhood has a five-part motto. The last two components of that motto are “Jihad is our way” and “Death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.”

THE FAMILY & ECONOMIC GROWTH

MereOrthodoxy discusses the importance of the family to economic growth.  Unfortunately the media does not discuss this issue because it is politically incorrect in an age of when marriage commitments are not applauded and children are seen as interfering with one's life style hopes.

As Jason DeParle wrote last year in The New York Times that “changes in marriage patterns — as opposed to changes in individual earnings — may account for as much as 40% of the growth in certain measures of inequality.” David Leonhardt, also of the Times, noted a recent finding that “family structure was one of the four factors with a clear relationship to upward mobility.” As Schulz himself found, only 5% of married families were poor at any point this year, while 30% of single-parent households felt the blow of poverty. These data points paint a bleak portrait; those being raised without a mother and a father will face immense social and economic barriers.

BURKA AVENGER

Well, this is very interesting.  I assume little girls will be watching this.  At the same time female lawyers in Libya are losing their jobs.

 

 



 

 

PUTIN & OBAMA

I think this Reuter's article goes a long way in explaining why Obama and Putin have not been able to relate to each other in the same way as Bush did with Putin.  Obama was never able to establish a personal connection with Putin which if Obama acted this way with Putin it may explain why he has not connected with other world leaders in a more personal way. 

While Putin stakes a lot on personal relationships, Obama likes to focus more on the business at hand, diplomats say.

Diplomacy is not always about "business."

But also there is that issue of Putin's opposite position on homosexual issues, which Obama has embraced so strongly in recent months.

US TERROR WARNING

An Israeli analysis of the Obama administration's current warning about a possible terrorist act is interesting for its implied criticism of the decision.  It has been  reported in a number of places  that terrorists could be now implanting explosive devices in their bodies--as this report points out there may have already been experiments on animals.

But there are at least 6 elements that don't add up.  For example, "if the threat is specific, why are so many countries on the list?"  And also the administration says the information came from electronic intelligence, but al-Qaeda has avoided electronic communication.

The article concludes:

Finally, the sweeping warnnings from the Obama administration dramatically refute its own oft-heard claims that al Qaeda is no longer a force to be reckoned with, because it has lost its compact central command and control of its component branches, which have split up into regional franchises operating autonomously. Al Qaeda, they have been saying, is no longer capable of large-scale terrorist attacks on a global scale.

American criticism of the decision from Professor Angelo Codevilla.

On the technical side, while on the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I witnessed NSA’s (deplorably) successful effort to continue to use a communications intelligence satellite after its existence and function had been revealed by a combination of a British spy and a New York Times article.

The embassy shutdowns and the traveler warnings resulted from intercepts of terrorist communications devices – phones and computer links that the terrorists surely knew are being monitored. That knowledge long predates the recent publicity – revelation is the wrong term – about NSA’s reach into the electronic spectrum.

The attacks were known of for months--why is it coming out at this time?

The timing of the administration’s announced closure of numerous U.S. embassies in the Middle East has raised concerns among some U.S. officials that the Obama administration is politicizing intelligence to distract attention from the Benghazi and other scandals.

“Why is this coming out now?” asked one official with access to terrorist threat data. “Is the administration trying to suck up news coverage with the embassy threats to distract attention from what the CIA was doing in Benghazi?”

CLOSING EMBASSIES AUGUST 4th

Daniel Pipes basically implies the US is a wimp for looking scared under the threat of terrorism by closing down its embassies.

Don't know about you, but I find this pre-emptive cringing unworthy of a great country, even humiliating. Why do we allow a bunch of extremist thugs to close us down, rather than the reverse? For what purpose do we pay for the world's best military and largest intelligence services if not to protect ourselves from this sort of threat?

ANTI-OBAMA SATIRE IN EGYPT

An Egyptian belly dancer has produced an anti-Obama rant and also ridiculed the US ambassador.  The situation in Egypt is complicated but the Obama tilt toward Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood regime has created enemies among other Egyptians.

JAKE TAPPER'S DATE WITH MONICA LEWINSKY

A bit of history.  Jake Tapper, NBC reporter, discusses his date with Monica Lewinsky.  It gives some insight into the Washington theater and the social atmosphere of the press corps and "politicos."

I write, clearly, because I want a piece of this story just like everybody else. That imperative distinguishes me not at all from every other journalist in Washington. But perhaps even more, I also want to point out that behind this particular bimbo eruption sits a young woman who is not a bimbo, who is a fairly sensible sort from what I saw, who was never going to be the one holding a press conference alongside a posterboard blowup of the Star with a back pocket full of the cash she got from selling out. She may be guilty of poor judgment, but she never asked for this.

RUSSIA'S ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL POLICY

Russia has taken a strong stand against homosexuality.  Buzzfeed discusses the factors which include a demographic disaster unless Russians start having babies.  I wonder how Obama is going to deal with Putin on this issue since Obama has been pushing same-sex marriage laws in Africa on his recent trip.

“Analyzing all the circumstances, and the particularity of territorial Russia and her survival…I came to the conclusion that if today we want to resolve the demographic crisis, we need to, excuse me, tighten the belt on certain moral values and information, so that giving birth and raising children become fully valued,” lawmaker Yelena Mizulina told Vladimir Posner, Russia’s Charlie Rose.