WHY REID HATES ROMNEY?

Interesting article on the reasons for Reid's attack on Romney, even to the point of calling a fellow Mormon a tax-dodger among other things.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's scathing attacks on everything from Mitt Romney’s personal integrity to his devotion to his faith won't be going away for one simple reason, people close to the Democrat say: Reid personally, deeply loathes Mitt Romney.

CIVIL LIBERTIES UNDER OBAMA

Reason.com gives some of the "atrocious decisions" the Obama administration has made on this issue. There are over a dozen  issues libertarians would like to debate him on.

DEBT OUTLOOK

CAN UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS BE MANIPULATED?

Jack Welch comments on the brouhaha he made when he questioned last month's 7.8% unemployment statistic. There is a certain subjectivity to these statistics.

The possibility of subjectivity creeping into the process is so pervasive that the BLS's own "Handbook of Methods" has a full page explaining the limitations of its data, including how non-sampling errors get made, from "misinterpretation of the questions" to "errors made in the estimations of missing data."

These three statistics—the labor-force participation rate, the growth in government workers, and overall job growth, all multidecade records achieved over the past two months—have to raise some eyebrows. There were no economists, liberal or conservative, predicting that unemployment in September would drop below 8%.

I know I'm not the only person hearing these numbers and saying, "Really? If all that's true, why are so many people I know still having such a hard time finding work? Why do I keep hearing about local, state and federal cutbacks?"

IS THERE REALLY A TEACHER SHORTAGE?

Jay Greene, "The Imaginary Teacher Shortage."  For decades we have tried to boost academic outcomes by hiring more teachers, and we have essentially nothing to show for it. In 1970, public schools employed 2.06 million teachers, or one for every 22.3 students, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Digest of Education Statistics. In 2012, we have 3.27 million teachers, one for every 15.2 students.

REPORTING UNEMPLOYMENT: 2004 vs. 2012

Comparing how the media reported the job figures in 2004 and how they are reporting it in 2012! Morissey compares some of the major news outlets like PBS and the New York Times. It appears that it makes a difference if you are a Democrat or Republican. It is a lengthy article, but the quotes are there.

In 2004, a jobless rate of 5.4% “cast doubt” on the economy, and suddenly 7.8% is a sign of “a steadier recovery.” In 2012, the NYT never even mentions the need to grow jobs by 150,000 each month to keep up with expansion in the labor force. Not even once.

THE MEDIA & THE OBAMA REELECTION

Fred Barnes, "Obama's Boys on the Bus."  He argues that the media is trying to get Obama reeelected and are not just reporting the news.  It is interesting that Time has evidently discussed the implications of Romney's Mormonism, but it never evaluated Jeremiah Wright's impact on Obama's thinking.  But he quotes from a number of individuals, including Democrats which seem to support his argument.

And on media fact-checkers:  Media “fact checkers,” too, have been notoriously one-sided, to the detriment of Republicans. Paul Ryan’s speech at the Republican convention was flyspecked in a novel way: He was faulted not for what he said but for what he didn’t say. Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s constant stream of misstatements, goofy comments, and gaffes are routinely tolerated. “From insensitively telling a wheelchair-bound state senator to ‘stand up’ to not recognizing how many letters there are in the word ‘jobs,’ the media have let Biden get away with gaffes that would have gotten GOP VP picks pilloried,” says Geoffrey Dickens of the Media Research Center.

FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

There are a lot of different reactions out there, but I felt the Patheos blog were some of the better ones.

It was a substantive policy discussion, a debate worthy of this country.  While it is the case, inevitably, that questions go unanswered and lots of faux facts are thrown out, the candidates did not focus on soundbites or scoring points against misstatements.  They spoke in serious ways to serious issues.

JOE BIDEN IS RIGHT

The middle class has been "buried" by the last four years--look at the charts.

UNDERMINING US HISTORY

Analyzes the 2013 American  Historical Association conference agenda in New Orleans and argues:  If you doubt that leftist activists now dominate the study and teaching of U.S. history, take a look at the program for the 2013 American Historical Association conference in New Orleans. The pattern  is similar to the University of Michigan’s history department, discussed here yesterday—a heavy emphasis on race, class, and gender, with more “traditional” topics frequently reconfigured to conform to the dominant paradigm.

CHILD SOLDIERS

"Obama Waives Sanctions on Countries That Use Child Soldiers."  I totally oppose this decision even for reasons of Realpolitik.

DEATH PANELS

From the New York Times. 

Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health care resources more prudently — rationing, by its proper name — the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget. 

But when you get to the end of the article it is clear that some kind of rationing will be taking place. But how do you know when a medical treatment might allow someone 10 more years of life or if would just cause someone to end up on a machine for a year?

A POLLSTER UNDER OATH

From Politico:  John Edward's pollster is put under oath and reveals how polls can be used for political leverage even for a candidate low in the polls.

When a pollster or strategist for a struggling political campaign presents what seems like a sugar-coated view of his candidate's chances, do you ever think: I wish I could give that adviser some truth serum, or maybe put him under oath?

Well, truth serum may be pushing it, but the put-him-under-oath part has actually happened. And when a pollster is required to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, under penalty of perjury, what emerges is quite a bit different than what you hear in the waning days of a presidential campaign.

STABILITY OF SAME-SEX COHABITATION

This British study indicates that the stability of same-sex cohabitation is  worse than oppposite-sex cohabitation and much worse when compared to opposite-sex married couples.

OBAMA'S ECONOMIC FATALISM

Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post.

It takes a supreme ego to assert that because Obama failed at the central task of his presidency, economic revival, no one else could have done better. He made a series of policy choices that had real ramifications, both economic and political. He made poor choices and now doesn’t want to accept the consequences of those choices.

It is up to Romney to point out what choices Obama made and the consequences of those choices (e.g. a credit rating downgrade, enormous debt, anemic growth). Romney is saying he will “fact check” Obama in the debate. Bad idea. He needs to give the country a reality check. He can start by debunking the idea that we are on the road to prosperity and Obama did the best that any president ever could have.

MARKETING THE "OBAMA" PHONE

The interview of the lady who is going to vote for Obama because she received a free "Obama" phone is all over the internet.  Patheos gives a bit of the history of this program and looks at the issue of why some are calling it a free phone from Obama.

When you click the link at ObamaPhone.net to apply for a free cell phone, you’re redirected to…wait for it…FreeGovernmentCellPhones.net. That’s right. The same website that decried the “false rumor” and “incorrect term” of The Obama Phone Program has another website, surely desired to attract search engine traffic, that advertises The Obama Phone Program. Nice.

UPDATE: The website has already been changed! Visit Obamaphone.net now, and you’ll get something like a blog with no pictures of Obama, as though they’re in the process of dismantling the site. But surely there’s nothing to see here, folks! Let’s talk about Mitt Romney’s tax forms!

Here is the Left's analysis of the Obama phone controversy.

BENGHAZI = WATERGATE?

I am not so sure the Benghazi terrorist attack on the US embassy equals Watergate, but for Obama to say for 9 days Benghazi was not a terrorist act when it occurred on the anniversary of 9/11 and Libya's own leader was calling it a terrorist act indicates some kind of foreign policy ineptness or agenda behind the cover-up.  Even some Democrats are questioning the administration on their position.

A FOX report of the cover-up.  But even Andrea Mitchell at NBC is raising questions.

JORDAN IS NEXT

The Muslim Brotherhood are poised to create problems in Jordan.

LOSS OF CIVIL LIBERTIES

"ACLU: Bush administration quadrupled warrantless wiretaps. Just kidding. It was Obama and Holder."  Justice Department documents released today by the ACLU reveal that federal law enforcement agencies are increasingly monitoring Americans’ electronic communications, and doing so without warrants, sufficient oversight, or meaningful accountability.  (http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2012/09/aclu-bush-administration-quadrupled.html)

You can check out the ACLU web site and see the graphs on this trend.  The media is not talking about this, but it does raise issues of big-brother looking in on people who may dissent. I thought liberals hated wiretaps and were big defenders of civil liberty?????

A LIBERAL CASE AGAINST OBAMA

This is very unusual. . .a liberal who will not vote for Obama.

Tell certain liberals and progressives that you can't bring yourself to vote for a candidate who opposes gay rights, or who doesn't believe in Darwinian evolution, and they'll nod along. Say that you'd never vote for a politician caught using the 'n'-word, even if you agreed with him on more policy issues than his opponent, and the vast majority of left-leaning Americans would understand. But these same people cannot conceive of how anyone can discern Mitt Romney's flaws, which I've chronicled in the course of the campaign, and still not vote for Obama.

Don't they see that Obama's transgressions are worse than any I've mentioned?

I don't see how anyone who confronts Obama's record with clear eyes can enthusiastically support him. I do understand how they might concluded that he is the lesser of two evils, and back him reluctantly, but I'd have thought more people on the left would regard a sustained assault on civil liberties and the ongoing, needless killing of innocent kids as deal-breakers. 

He details his reasons in the column in the Atlantic Monthly. 

BENGHAZI LIBYA ATTACK

An analysis of why the Obama administration  didn't want to refer to the attack as a "terrorist attack."

This sort of official dissembling is as appalling as it is standard-operating procedure for U.S. governments. Why would it take several weeks for Obama and his administration - the one that was going to be so transparent about everything, right? - to come even vaguely clean about the attack? And even in yesterday's U.N. talk, Obama seemed to be suggesting that recent and rampant anti-American actions in the Middle East had more to do with "The Innocence of Muslims" than with larger issues of U.S. policy in the area.

ELECTRIC CARS: THE FUTURE?

The Congressional Budget Office weighs in and calls electric cars a waste of money, at least how Washington has funded and directed the program.  The government subsidizes inefficiency.

From the CBO:  Assuming that everything else is equal, the larger an electric vehicle’s battery capacity, the greater its cost disadvantage relative to conventional vehicles—and thus the larger the tax credit needed to make it cost-competitive.

CHINA BUILDING CANAL IN NICARAGUA

China has signed an agreement to build a canal in Nicaragua.  Where is US investment?  This will be a signifant entry of Chinese economic power into the Westerm Hemisphere.

According to spokespeople, the canal will take an approximate 10 years to be built, and will cost $30 billion US dollars. According to the agreement, the Nicaraguan canal will be partially built by 2019, by which time it will have the capacity to transport 416 million metric tons, which would represent 3.9% of the world’s maritime load.

US FOREIGN POLICY: LESS RAMBO, MORE KISSINGER

From the Boston Globe.   The column challenges both candidates to act less like Rambo and more like Kissinger.  It is interesting that the columnist would want to go back to Kissinger who was not well-liked by many Democrats, particularly for his Vietnam policy (I assume the columnist is a Harvard liberal since the overwhelming number of university professors are liberals).  But time and history add perspective.

He is right to recognize the realistic and nuanced conduct of policy under Nixon and Kissinger.  The column also caught my eye because I talked to a person who worked in the State Department in more recent years and felt it was a mess.  He actually mentioned that probably the best years of US foreign policy were in the Nixon-Kissinger years because Kissinger managed to head-off many of the disastrous decisions of the State Department bureaucrats.  Except maybe for Reagan, presidents after Nixon (whether Democrat or Republican) have had a hard time countermanding the ineptness of the State Department bureaucracy.

FAILED BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS, SUMMER 2011

There is a lot of debate about who caused the collapse of budget negotiations:  Obama or Boehner. 

From the liberal New York Times (Matt Bai, author):   If you shake hands with a guy on the price of a car, and you agree to talk again after the car has been inspected and the loan has been approved, you don’t really expect to show up and find out that car now costs $5,000 more. This is essentially what happened to Boehner. What both Tuesday’s panicky calls from the White House and the subsequent counteroffer make clear is that Obama knew he was changing the terms and felt he had no choice.

ABC News interviewing Bob Woodward about his new book, The Price of Politics:  But at one critical juncture, with an agreement tantalizingly close, Obama pressed Boehner for additional taxes as part of a final deal -- a miscalculation, in retrospect, given how far the House speaker felt he'd already gone.

James Pethokoukis, Reuters:  Blame Obama.

THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

This review paints a pretty bleak picture.

This pre-emptive attempt to define the epitaph of the Afghanistan war (made by a U.S. official at NATO) could almost be the one-line summary of Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Little America. The author himself spreads the blame even wider. "Our government was incapable of meeting the challenge. Our generals and diplomats were too ambitious and arrogant. Our uniformed and civilian bureaucracies were rife with internal rivalries... Our development experts were inept. Our leaders were distracted."

We need not stop at Nawa and Garmser. The whole operation in Afghanistan departed far from its original objectives, which were to deal a blow to al-Qaeda and reduce its chances of attacking America again. The United States could surely have dealt al-Qaeda a greater blow with the half a trillion dollars that it has spent in Afghanistan, if it had spent a large part of that money elsewhere (Egypt, Somalia, Yemen, Mali...). As this book implies, it would have done a better job in Afghanistan, too, if it had spent less money and been more focused on its original goal.

Here is the transcript of interview Hugh Hewitt had with the author of Little America, Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

From WAPO:  Obama's troop increase was misdirected (excerpts from the book).   

DECLINE OF CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA

A review of a new book by Ross Douhat, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics.

Douthat, a columnist for the New York Times and a film critic for National Review, argues that our problem isn’t the disappearance of religion, as religious conservatives argue, or an excess of religious fervor threatening our freedom, as the secularists and religious liberals counter. Rather, our problem is “bad religion: the slow-motion collapse of traditional Christianity and the rise of a variety of destructive pseudo-Christianities in its place.”

MISQUOTING ROMNEY

I post this more for how the media can misinform the public by leaving out words or phrases that a candidate might use.  It deals with a report in the Huffington Post (which if you subscribe to AOL is the news summary that pops up everytime you check email) about Romney's remarks regarding the middle class.  Both Romney and Obama essentially agreed, but by changing the wording it made Romney's position differ from Obama's.

(Someone else has reported that the Huffington Post was just using an AP story so it may not be its fault).

OBAMA'S NEW WELFARE RULES

FactCheck at WAPO gives Bill Clinton's defense of the new welfare rules two pinocchios.

In his high-profile speech at the Democratic convention, Clinton himself came to Obama’s defense, claiming that the change in rules actually would require “more work, not less.”

It is a complicated read, but Obama has changed the welfare reforms of the Clinton era.

2008 DEMOCRAT PLATFORM -- WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED?

Interesting article on looking back at what the 2008 Democrat platform accomplished in the area of science and technology.  Some of  the highlights:

1. The platform promised more spending on research and development, but spending on these key areas have gone down.  For what it’s worth, in constant dollars total federal R&D spending peaked under the George W. Bush administration in 2007 at $154.4 billion. 
2. Sex education.  The number of abortions has remained stable for the last decade.
3. Embryonic stem cells can be used in research but support for cloning is not supported.
4. Abortion is protected.
5. The 2008 platform said America "could not drill its way to energy independence.  President Obama proudly pointed out in his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention last week that the use of renewable energy has doubled under his administration and that thousands of Americans have jobs building wind turbines and long-lasting batteries. In addition, the U.S. has cut its imports of oil by 1 million barrels per day while opening up “millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration in the last three years, and we'll open more.”  With gas at $4 a gallon there would be a decline in imports, but it appears drilling is okay now with all of these acres being opened up to oil exploration.
6.  What about drilling? President Obama correctly claims to have opened millions of acres to drilling for hydrocarbons. But how does that compare with previous administrations? In its first three years, according to the Bureau of Land Management, the Bush administration leased 8.8 million acres for oil exploration and production, compared to 5.3 million for the Obama administration. The Clinton administration leased 11.4 million acres in its first three years.
7. New wells drilled on federal land.  The first three years of the Bush administration saw 9,276 new wells drilled, whereas under the Obama administration 9,693 wells were.
8.  The 2008 platform called for 5 million green energy jobs.This goal is not being met -- look at the unemployment statistics and firms like Solyndra which have gone belly up.And then there are t he wind turbines being built in China!
9. The 2012 Democratic Platform declares, “We are expediting the approval process to build out critical oil and gas lines essential to transporting our energy for consumers.” Really? It is true that the Obama Administration has approved the southern leg of the Keystone pipeline?
10.  No support for space exploration.
11. They are still working on climate change policies and green house gases in the 2012 platform. . .but As it happens, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are back down to their level in 1992. This is largely not due to Obama administration green energy policies, but because fracking has produced an abundant supply of cheap natural gas.

OBAMA'S MIDDLE EAST POLICY

From Der Spiegel.  The Germans see it as in "ruins."

Here are some interesting maps showing where Muslim protests are taking place.

COMPARISON OF OBAMA & ROMNEY TAX PLANS

From Taxprof:  Given all the Democrat rhetoric this was a bit of a surprise. (There is a table to compare numbers).

Among the tax reform plans of the major presidential candidates, Mitt Romney’s proposal to lower rates and eliminate credits and deductions comes far closer than that of President Obama to the widely-praised and bipartisan framework of the Simpson-Bowles tax reform commission.

President Obama’s tax plan, however, is largely at odds with any commonly held notion of tax reform, including Simpson-Bowles.

FACT-CHECKING OBAMA/BIDEN AT THE DEMOCRAT CONVENTION

The fact checkers at Annenberg analyzed Obama and Biden's speeches at the Democrat Convention--go there to see the complete analysis.  I guess I expected more of the President and was most disappointed on his total misquotes of Romney on Iraq and bin Laden.

President Obama boasted that his plan would cut the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years, citing “independent experts.” But one such analyst called a key element of the plan a “gimmick.”

Vice President Biden quoted GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney as saying “it’s not worth moving heaven and earth” to catch Osama bin Laden. Actually, Romney said he’d target more than just “one person.”

The president said U.S. automakers are “back on top of the world.” Nope. GM has slipped back to No. 2 and is headed for third place in global sales this year, behind Toyota and Volkswagen.

Biden said “the experts” concluded Romney’s corporate tax plan would create 800,000 jobs in other countries. One expert said that. She also said the number depends on the details, and foreign jobs could grow without costing U.S. jobs.

Obama quoted Romney as saying it was “tragic” to “end the war in Iraq.” What Romney was criticizing was the pace of Obama’s troop withdrawal, not ending a war.

Biden claimed Romney “believes it’s OK to raise taxes on middle classes by $2,000.” Romney actually promises to lower middle-class taxes.

Biden said Romney and running mate Paul Ryan “are not for preserving Medicare at all.” Actually, the plan they endorse would offer traditional Medicare as one option among many.

Obama said his tax plan would restore “the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was president” for upper-income taxpayers. Not quite. New taxes to finance the health care law also kick in next year, further burdening those same taxpayers.

It is interesting that Annenberg had trouble fact-checking Bill Clinton's speech, because he gave so many statistics to run down!

By the way here is the critique of Romney's convention speech. One difference I saw is that he did not purposely misquote Obama (as Obama does him).  Romney is taken to task for "exaggeration and puffery."

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

For Democrat views on tolerance start viewing at 12:00.  Daily Show, September 5, 2012.

DEMOCRATS BOO GOD

From CNN.  I think the "no's" have it!  This was not well-handled.  First you take "God" out and then you try to put "God" back in to all of these boos.

Here is a Republican campaign ad!   "Three Times They Boo God."

COLLAPSE OF DEBT DEAL

Bob Woodward has written about Obama's "fury" when the debt deal collapsed.  One can make an argument for fault being laid at the feet of Boehner and the Republicans, but it looks to me that Obama pressed too hard to get more.  One needs to know when to push further and when to realize that you cannot get more out of the person you are negotiating with.

But at a critical juncture, with an agreement tantalizingly close, Obama pressed Boehner for additional taxes as part of a final deal -- a miscalculation, in retrospect, given how far the House speaker felt he'd already gone. 

But it also looks like Pelosi ignored Obama.  Democrats sure didn't help him.
 
Obama phoned in to deliver a "high-minded message," he writes. Obama went on so long that Pelosi "reached over and pressed the mute button on her phone," so they could continue to work without the president hearing that they weren't paying attention. 

HOUSE BUDGET PROPOSAL

From U.S. News & World Report:  The Republican controlled House has a plan to cut $2.5 trillion from the budget over the next 10 years.  The list is quite extensive.  The Democrats will fight for a number of these programs.

OBAMA'S SECOND TERM

The Wall Street Journal asked several leading Democrats to give advice to Obama on what he should do in his second term.  There is no way to know for sure what would happen, but these writers do give a bit of a vision into the future.

OBAMA, THE CEO

Forbes has an column on an article published in the New York Times.  The title of the Forbes column is:  "New York Times Proves Clint Eastwood Correct--Obama Is a Lousy CEO."  Evidently the NYT article is critical of Obama's leadership style--normally nothing critical of Obama is ever published in the NYT so this is a bit of a surprise.  Two flaws are noted:  1) Obama "vastly overrates" his capabilities and 2) he "spends a lot of time and energy competing in trivialities"

THE REAGAN QUOTE

Running from the Reagan question? --  "Are you better off today than you were four years ago."  It has been interesting to see how Democrats have jumped around this question.

Investor's Business Daily gives the economic statistics on whether we are better off.  Here is the Democrat response and another one here.

US DROPS AGAIN ON WORLD COMPETITIVENESS INDEX

The drop began in the Bush administration but it has escalated under Obama.  The US dropped 2 points in the last year to 7th.  But some of the other statistics are alarming.  These statistics are compiled by the World Economic Forum -- it is not a branch of the Republican Party or the vast right-wing conspiracy.

• The U.S. scores 42nd in property rights, behind Namibia and Uruguay.
• The U.S. ranks 59th in government favoritism, behind Guinea and Bolivia.
• The U.S. scores 76th in wastefulness in government spending, behind Mali and Nicaragua.
• The U.S. also is 76th in the burden of government regulation, behind Kenya and Thailand.
• The U.S. scores 69th in extent of taxation, behind Gambia and Ethiopia.
• The U.S. ranks 103rd for total tax rate, behind Greece (!) and Philippines.

BILL CLINTON'S 8 DIGS AT OBAMA

From Politico.  Most are from 2008, but one is from 2011.

THE TERRIFYING NEW NORMAL

A sobering column by Victor Davis Hanson.  I am waiting to see if any of these issues will be addressed in the election campaign. . .but I have my doubts.   Young and old face some serious challenges as a result of decisions in Washington.

In other words, we are seeing the proverbial chickens coming home to roost in an economy that has run up $16 trillion in debt, regulated its way into paralysis, hounded the private sector, and demonized profit-making. The strange thing about the 2008 disaster was not just that hand-in-glove with Wall Street banks Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae created a huge real estate bubble and then watched it pop (one inflated through private speculation and government-backed sub-prime loans), but that the blame went not to the intrusive, incompetent federal government or even to a Goldman-Sachs-like bundler (a firm from whom Obama got more campaign money than did any other prior presidential candidate), but to the vague “private sector” — as if the well-driller or timber man had somehow collapsed the economy. The result was that Obama’s medicine from 2009 onward was worse than the original disease.

WHO INVESTS IN BAIN CAPITAL?

Well, this is interesting!  A number of Democrat-oriented retirement systems and even the University of California are invested in Bain Capital.  How do you demonize Romney for Bain Capital when you are making money from it?????

AN EVALUATION OF THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY

From WAPO.  The article begins with Obama's promises that he would bring Democrat and Republican together when he won the presidency in 2008 and what happened to lead to so much "gridlock" today.  It deals with the question:  Why has President Obama fallen so far short of what he so passionately described as a candidate four years ago?

Basically there are two sides to the issue:

That Obama ran into a wall of opposition from the Republicans on many of those initiatives is indisputable. What is at odds in these varying interpretations is whether anything might have changed that. Republicans say it could have been different. But there is little evidence that, once their leadership decided to oppose Obama, there was much he could have done to win them over — and there are plenty of examples showing how dug in they were.

There are also questions about how hard Obama tried. His advisers cannot point to a clear strategy for trying to create a climate of cooperation — other than their belief that the support he won in the election and the economic crisis would create those conditions. They argue that he incorporated Republican ideas into the stimulus and spent months waiting to see if a bipartisan health-care plan would emerge from the Senate Finance Committee.

Both parties and Obama dropped the ball at various times resulting in the confrontations that exist today.  Obama and Republicans no longer represent the kind of leaders that go back to the "partnership" of Senator Dirksen (Rep., IL) and President Johnson (Dem.) who were willing to cooperate on a number of important issues.

EVENTS AT THE DEMOCRAT CONVENTION

With all of these special interest meetings and events, will the delegates have time to nominate Obama-Biden?  There seems to be a meeting for almost anyone. . .except the Family Research Council, James Dobson, etc.

DEMOCRAT HUMOR

Democrat comedians ridicule Republicans.

ROMNEY BEATS OBAMA TO DISASTER SCENE

Romney put Obama on the defense--this election may be very interesting.  Romney announced at the end of the convention that he would tour devastated Louisiana.  Where was the president?  Why wasn't he going?  Obama realized about 12 hours later that this would look bad--a sitting president ignoring a disaster scene.  It was reminiscent of President Bush's flyover of Katrina, which resulted in much Democrat criticism of Bush.  You have got to give this one to the Romney campaign.

President Barack Obama was today forced to announce he will fly to storm-hit Louisiana on Monday – hours after Mitt Romney beat him to the punch by deciding to head there this afternoon.

After it emerged that Obama was still taking time to fit in a campaign stop in Cleveland, Ohio before checking out how clean-up operations are proceeding in the Bayou state, the Obama campaign abruptly cancelled that event. 

Seven years ago, President George W. Bush was lambasted for inaction and incompetence in dealing with Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and much of the Mississippi and Louisiana gulf coast.

JUMAH AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

From the Bureau of Indigeneous Muslim Affairs:  They are expecting 20,000.  It looks like the Democrats are trying to capture the Muslim vote.

BIMA’s purpose in rallying large numbers of Muslims to participate in this event, Jumah at the DNC, is to make the general public aware that the Muslim community is a healthy and vibrant component to the American society. Being that these events will occur between August 31st and September 3rd; which happens to be the Labor Day weekend, we felt that it would be most convenient for Muslims to be able to travel without being inhibited by their work schedules and other obligatory duties. Also it is the best time for Muslims to capture national and international attention.

Just saw this update (9/1):  It has been taken off the official Democrat Convention program.  But the program still has a variety of other religious groups listed.

FED POLICY

Washington's policies on low interest rates are hurting retirees, causing insurance premiums to rise, etc.  This means retirees and others have less money to spend on jump-starting the economy.

SUPERBUGS

WAPO:  Companies are not creating drugs the will deal with future pandemics--this could be a big problem in the future.  And if some of the labs are in China, aren't we vulnerable to the Chinese government and its scientists' abilities?

Between 1945 and 1968, drug companies invented 13 new categories of antibiotics, said Allan Coukell, director of medical programs at the Pew Health Group.

Between 1968 and today, just two new categories of antibiotics have arrived.

In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration approved one new antibiotic, which fights one of the many bacteria, Clostridium difficile, causing deadly hospital-borne infections.

“What kept us out of trouble for the last 60 years is that every time drug resistance caught up to us, the pharmaceutical companies would go back to the drawing board and develop the next generation of drugs to keep us ahead of the game,” said Brad Spellberg, an infectious diseases physician in Los Angeles who heads a microbial resistance task force for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “That’s the part of the equation that’s changed. Drug companies are no longer trying to get one step ahead.”

OBAMACARE RAISING HIGHER EDUCATION COSTS

From Investor's Business Daily.  The issue is that as states struggle to pay increased medicaid costs they will have to cut back on support to higher education.  As a result tuition will go up and students will have to pay more for their educations.

According to the Budget Crisis Task Force, over the past decade, Medicaid costs have climbed an average 7.2%, nearly double the growth rate of tax revenues.

At the same time, states have steadily shifted the burden for college onto students and parents. Today, tuition accounts for about 40% of the costs, up from 23% in 1985.

APOCALYPSE IN HISTORY

From Wired.

Over the past half century, none of our threatened eco-pocalypses have played out as predicted. Some came partly true; some were averted by action; some were wholly chimerical. This raises a question that many find discomforting: With a track record like this, why should people accept the cataclysmic claims now being made about climate change? After all, 2012 marks the apocalyptic deadline of not just the Mayans but also a prominent figure in our own time: Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who said in 2007 that “if there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late … This is the defining moment.”

Actually he could go back farther into history than the last 50 years or so.  In the past religious apocalypses were more the rage. . .now we see scientific-based apocalypses.  Some time something will happen, I am sure, but being obsessed with something can generate a lot of terrible public policy in addition to the human worry that takes place.

The writer calls himself the "Rational Optimist"--is there such a thing as a "Rational Pessimist?"

HISTORICAL DESTRUCTION OF NIZHNY NOVGOROD

Having visited shortly after the collapse of communism, the destruction of the cities' old buildings is sad.  It is actually a beautiful city and if the historic central part of the city could be preserved, it could become a "Prague" for tourists (at least in summer).

MEDIA FAILING THE COUNTRY

Jake Tapper is hardly a right-winger, but he is joining Mark Halperin in taking the media to task for following the Obama story line and not dealing with tough issues out there.  This has been quite evident on the evening news--important issues are being ignored.  One can't but help think that if Bush were in office the media would be skewering Bush for 8.3% unemployment of the failures in foreign policy.  If Obama has done something that is working, cover it, but if his policies are failing that should be covered as well.

"A lot of people are hurting out there. Unemployment is 8.3 percent. That doesn’t even take into account the underemployed,” he said, arguing that too much time has been spent not talking about the economy.

Tapper also criticized the media for not giving enough attention to the war in Afghanistan. 

"We are spending a lot of time in the last few weeks, those of us in the political world, political journalists and also politicians, talking about things other than the economy," said Tapper. "[A] lot of people are hurting out there. I’d like to see more action taken and more emphasis given to this issue.”

CONFLICT IN THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN

From Politico 

President Barack Obama’s campaign team, celebrated four years ago for its exceptional cohesion and eyes-on-the-prize strategic focus, has been shadowed this time by a succession of political disagreements and personal rivalries that haunted the effort at the outset.

.

CRITICISM OF OBAMA

Surprised to see this published in the leftist Newsweek. It is lengthy but the most telling criticism of the Obama administration's failure to produce that I have seen documented.  Niall Ferguson admits to being an advisor to John McCain.  However, you cannot argue with the statistical data he uses in comparing what Obama said he would do and what has happened.  And it would be interesting for Obama/Biden to have a face-to-face debate with Romney/Ryan on medicare, foreign policy, and the economy.

Some interesting quotes:

Yet the question confronting the country nearly four years later is not who was the better candidate four years ago. It is whether the winner has delivered on his promises. And the sad truth is that he has not.

In his inaugural address, Obama promised “not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.” He promised to “build the roads and bridges, the electric grids, and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.” He promised to “restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.” And he promised to “transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” Unfortunately the president’s scorecard on every single one of those bold pledges is pitiful.

And all this despite a far bigger hike in the federal debt than we were promised. According to the 2010 budget, the debt in public hands was supposed to fall in relation to GDP from 67 percent in 2010 to less than 66 percent this year. If only. By the end of this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will reach 70 percent of GDP.

According to Ron Suskind’s book Confidence Men, Summers told Orszag over dinner in May 2009: “You know, Peter, we’re really home alone ... I mean it. We’re home alone. There’s no adult in charge. Clinton would never have made these mistakes [of indecisiveness on key economic issues].”

No one seriously doubts that the U.S. system needed to be reformed. But the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 did nothing to address the core defects of the system: the long-run explosion of Medicare costs as the baby boomers retire, the “fee for service” model that drives health-care inflation, the link from employment to insurance that explains why so many Americans lack coverage, and the excessive costs of the liability insurance that our doctors need to protect them from our lawyers.

America under this president is a superpower in retreat, if not retirement. Small wonder 46 percent of Americans—and 63 percent of Chinese—believe that China already has replaced the U.S. as the world’s leading superpower or eventually will.

August 24, 2012:  Here is a reaction to Ferguson's article which gives some of the criticism Ferguson was given by the Left for his comments. The Left doesn't leave a lot of room open for academic freedom.

OBAMA RADIO INTERVIEW

Obama is interviewed by a radio station in New Mexico.  I am not sure Obama, or any candidate, could do well in a situation like this.  But these are the questions the President gets by local media when there are so many serious problems out there?

FIRST MONUMENT ERECTED IN HONOR OF OBAMA

From the Chicago Tribune:  A marker has been placed at the Baskin-Robbins where Barack first kissed Michelle!  You can see the brass marker on a granite stone with a picture of the first kiss (I assume it was a later one).  As a historian this strikes me as a really strange monument--I can't recall anything like this for previous presidents, although I am willing to be corrected.  I am certainly happy for them to be remembered for the first kiss, but normally monuments are erected for great diplomatic, political, or economic contributions.

But maybe this reflects our culture--it's all about money and tourism:  The 3,000-pound granite boulder, commissioned by the owners of Dorchester Commons, was 2 1/2 years in the making, according to Jonelle Kearney, a spokeswoman for Mid-America Asset Management, which manages the shopping center. She said the idea came about after several queries from visitors.

"It's a marker for the community, for posterity and tourism, too," she said.

Linda Swift, 67, said the marker gives tourists another reason to visit Hyde Park, the Obamas' old stomping ground. It's not far from the Hyde Park Hair Salon on Blackstone Avenue, where the barber chair Obama used to sit in to get his hair cut is on display, enclosed in glass.

UNDERSTANDING RYAN'S MEDICARE REFORMS

Medicare needs to be reformed if for no other reason than to help future generations of retirees.  The nuances and implications of Ryan's program will become part of Democrat election attacks.  But somehow a serious discussion has to take place.  Medicare and social security are going broke.

According to FactCheck.org, “Democrats are still hammering an old, and since replaced, GOP proposal, claiming it would ‘end Medicare,’ and cost seniors $6,000 more a year for their health care.”
In 2005 Obama called for serious Medicare reform, but Democrats have not done anything to reform it or social security.

Erskine Bowles, a Clinton advisor, calls Ryan's plan "sensible, honest, serious."  Surely there is some way for Republicans and Democrats can come together on this issue with demagoguery.  And more here on Bowles' comments that Obama scutlted the deficit commission. 

Ryan's words:  “They turned Medicare into a piggy bank to finance ObamaCare,” Ryan said. “And we want to point that out. And we want to … restore those cuts to prevent that raid. … And so we propose no changes to anybody in or near retirement so that the guarantee of Medicare is for them. That's a clear contrast with President Obama's plan.”
From CNN.

Forbes:    As to the supposedly draconian nature of Mitt Romney’s Medicare cuts, they’re only exceeded by the severity of the Medicare cuts in…Obamacare.  According to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, Obamacare will reduce Medicare spending by $716 billion between 2013 and 2022, relative to prior law. These cuts directly affect current retirees. By contrast, both the Romney and Wyden-Ryan plans only affect retirees younger than 55. In other words, for better or worse, President Obama cuts Medicare more than Romney would.

RUSSIAN ATTACK SUB IN THE GULF OF MEXICO

The Russian attack submarine was evidently undetected.  This is a bit unsettling and shows some flaws in the US anti-submarine defense.  Putin has been showing his muscle, which makes it unclear why Obama, in an open microphone statement to Putin earlier this summer, said that he would be able to work more with him after the election.

The stealth underwater incursion in the Gulf took place at the same time Russian strategic bombers made incursions into restricted U.S. airspace near Alaska and California in June and July, and highlights a growing military assertiveness by Moscow.

POLICE NOT REPORTING CRIME

The author seems to have multiple examples and also deals with unreported racial violence of blacks on whites and Asians.  I know that after the Trayon Martin affair a number of attacks on whites were reported as black youth supposedly retaliated.  But whether some of this is racial or just crime will never be known until crimes are reported, recorded, and studied.

OBAMA'S FOREIGN POLICY

From Michael Gerson, Seattle Times:  "Kicking the Can Down the Road."  If Gerson is right, the US faces some serious problems in the future.  Postponing dealing with problems may result in more serious problems in the future.

Obama has not only continued George W. Bush's global war on terror -- whatever it is currently called -- but has expanded its scope and lethality. The legal and physical infrastructure of the conflict -- from the Patriot Act to Guant?namo Bay -- remains in place. The mommy party, in this instance, has become daddy with a drone and a hit list.

In many parts of the world, the Obama doctrine has become an exercise in kicking the can down the road -- avoiding or downplaying problems that will only grow more complex and dangerous with time. There have been some admirable exceptions -- Libya is certainly one -- but Fouad Ajami describes the sum as a "foreign policy of strategic abdication."

Ideology is partly responsible. Mann's book describes an Obama foreign-policy team that holds a "distinctly more modest and downbeat outlook on America's role in the world." Its members seem deeply impressed by America's limitations -- its fiscal constraints and challenged primacy. These beliefs tend to be self-fulfilling. They make a virtue of ceded leadership.

PORN IN EXECUTIVE BRANCH

A call for Obama to investigate the use of porn in Washington agencies as a result of several scandals reaching back to the April 2012 Colombian sex investigation related to the secret service and military.

Bloomberg quotes a cybersecurity expert saying the Missile Defense Agency’s use of porn is concerning because “many pornographic websites are infected and criminals and foreign intelligence services such as Russia’s use them to gain access and harvest data.”

OBAMA & IFTAR DINNER

Obama's comments are summarized at the Iftar dinner in White House noting his comments on President Jefferson as the first president to hold such a dinner to reach out to Muslims.  His quote about Jefferson holding an Iftar dinner is inaccurate or at least subject to extensive debate.  The State Department's view which is not particularly critical.  The view at Jihadwatch.  Jefferson does not appear to be thinking this was an Iftar dinner.

There was a dinner that Jefferson attended, but it may be a stretch to see this as a "pleasant" Iftar dinner given the recent troubles with the Barbary pirates.

SCRUBBED PHOTO

I have seen a number of instances of trying to change web sites when unwelcome political news or improper affiliations come out.  This is one of the Obama campaign or hsi supporters trying to distance himself from a political interest group with a message that is not helpful in the current campaign.  I don't know how all these internet gurus find the caches of these kinds of pictures, but it reminded me of how Stalin tried to airbrush opponents out of pictures in the 1930s.

MEDIA CRITICISM OF RYAN

At this point I can't say if Ryan is the best VP nominee or not.  But I find it ironic that the media is criticizing Ryan for not having "private sector experience."  Obama and Biden have no such experience and in fact were applauded by some in the Democrat Party for not having it.  Most Democrat candidates have not had private sector experience--Gore got his experience after leaving office and Kerry married into money. 

OBAMA: DESTROYING SUBURBS & HIGHER ED

From the Chronicle of Higher Education (not a right-wing publication):  a review of Stanley Kurtz's new book, Spreading the Wealth:  How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities.

Spreading the Wealth, however, bears directly on the economic prospects of higher education. Kurtz’s provocative thesis is that under bland-sounding labels such as “regionalism” and “Building One America,” Obama has laid the regulatory groundwork for curtailing the political autonomy and the economic vitality of the nation’s suburbs. He traces Obama’s animus against the suburbs back to his days as a community organizer and traces the community organizers Obama worked with in the 1980s and 1990s forward to their participation in White House meetings during Obama’s presidency. A principal figure in this is Mike Kruglik, a longtime community organizer who was one of Obama’s first bosses in Chicago in the 1980s, and who remains one of Obama’s close confidants and White House guests.

PELOSI HEARING VOICES

Interesting.  Pelosi is hearing the voices of past suffragettes (and seeing them).  Their spirits are communicating with her.

Pelosi says, "He's (Bush) saying something to the effect of we're so glad to welcome you here, congratulations and I know you'll probably have some different things to say about what is going on--which is correct. But, as he was saying this, he was fading and this other thing was happening to me."

"My chair was getting crowded in," said Pelosi. "I swear this happened, never happened before, it never happened since."

"My chair was getting crowded in and I couldn't figure out what it was, it was like this," she said.
"And then I realized Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Alice Paul, Sojourner Truth, you name it, they were all in that chair, they were," said Pelosi. "More than I named and I could hear them say: 'At last we have a seat at the table.' And then they were gone."

Here is the youtube video.

DOUBLE STANDARD

From RealClearPolitics:  Bachmann and Reid are treated differently when they raise charges that can't be substantiated.  Bachmann was criticized for her statements, even by follow Republicans, but no one seems concerned about Reid's unsubstantiated charges.

Conservatives often complain of two sets of standards in politics: one for Democrats and another for Republicans. Sometime that double standard is imaginary. Often, it's quite real.

Not only are Democrats and the White House unwilling to denounce him publicly, but Reid himself claimed in an interview with his home state media that the Obama campaign is delighted by his underhanded tactics and wants to see him continue to drive the media discussion of Mitt Romney’s tax returns.

THE DEBATE ON JOB CREATION

Obama stresses the role of government in the creation of jobs; conservatives stress independent businessmen:  CNBC tries to put this debate into some perspective.

Economists agree that economic growth is aided by things like school systems and reliable infrastructure. Although they often say "less is more" when it comes to regulation (a view championed by Republicans), they generally say a certain amount of regulation is necessary — such as efforts to prevent another financial crisis (echoing Democrats on this point). 

Economists also agree that tax policy will have an impact on the job climate. Here they see a delicate line to walk. America's need now, according to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, among others, is to set a less profligate course for the long run, while not allowing the nation to go over a "fiscal cliff" when Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of this year. 

Many forecasters worry that a rise in tax rates would slow economic growth and perhaps even tip a weak economy back into a recession. But at the same time, failing to address chronic budget deficits won't do much to inspire the long-term confidence of businesses and investors.

COMING OBAMA LANDSLIDE

It is only August but it does look like an Obama win.  It is his to lose.

VIOLENT RELIGIONS

Australian, Dr. John Dickson, addresses the criticisms of the Old Testament and Christianity as "violent" religions.

OBAMA'S FIRST JOB

It was for a business and he considered it "working for the enemy."  (From the David Maraniss biography via Hotair).

CHRISTIANS ATTACKED IN EGYPT

 A Christian laundry burned a Muslim's shirt with an iron and Christian homes were torched.

OBAMA 2012 ADS

From CBS News.  The DNC homepage shows more Romney attack ads than accomplishments of Obama.  If the Democratic National Committee’s strategy for victory is to muffle its own party’s achievements and focus more on slamming Republicans, it seems to be doing a good job on its website,

ROMNEY'S OLYMPIC GAFFE?

I haven't followed this controversy in detail, although I did hear his interview with Brian Williams on NBC news.  England has gone ballistic about his comments and the American press is talking about his "stumbles."  I don't know if London is ready or not, but when when you can't get the right Korean flag up, I am not so sure that Romney isn't right.

CHICAGO VALUES (AND BOSTON)

Someone sent me an article on the gay community's attacks on Chick-fil-A because its CEO supports a biblical definition of marriage.  I was going to ignore it, but I happened to look at the Drudgereport this morning.

Here is an article from the Chicago Sun-Times quoting Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emmanuel saying that Chick-fil-A was not welcome in Chicago. The company does not "reflect Chicago values."  The gay community does not want the company in Chicago.

But there is also on the same Drudge page an article on "Godfather Welcomes Farrakahn." As the Chicago Sun-Times reports:  Ignoring Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s history of anti-Semitic remarks, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday welcomed the army of men dispatched to the streets by Farrakhan to stop the violence in Chicago neighborhoods.  

So it is okay to be anti-semitic, but not okay to support a "biblical definition of marriage?"  And to solve Chicago's street violence problem, Emmanuel is turning to Farrakahn's values!  He sounds as naive as Germans and Jews in Germany in the 1930s who didn't believe Hitler would do what he said he would do.

The Boston mayor is opposed to Chick-fil-A because of the biblical definition of marriage comments, but he gives away city land to a radical Muslim group and attends the dedication!  This Muslim group believes in death for homosexuals!

ABROGATION (NASKH) IN ISLAM

This is a difficult question to resolve, but obviously critical when one looks at the contradictions in the Quran.

Middle East Quarterly (2007). 

The Qur'an is unique among sacred scriptures in accepting a doctrine of abrogation in which later pronouncements of the Prophet declare null and void his earlier pronouncements.[9] Four verses in the Qu'ran acknowledge or justify abrogation:

• When we cancel a message, or throw it into oblivion, we replace it with one better or one similar. Do you not know that God has power over all things?[10]
• When we replace a message with another, and God knows best what he reveals, they say: You have made it up. Yet, most of them do not know.[11]
• God abrogates or confirms whatsoever he will, for he has with him the Book of the Books.[12]
• If we pleased, we could take away what we have revealed to you. Then you will not find anyone to plead for it with us.[13]

Islam Review. 

WikiIslam. 

Everything Islam. 

NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING

Both Obama and Romney engage in negative ads.  But there is also an issue in my mind that some ads that are considered negative are actually using factual data.

TOP 10 ITEMS NOT RELEASED BY OBAMA

So Romney has not released some income tax statements.  Here is a list of items of information about himself that Obama has not released.

And maybe even Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to keep talking about releasing tax returns--she may not want this same pressure put on her. . .but she seems to be putting pressure on the media to release their tax returns if they keeping talking about this issue. 

GREEN ENERGY COMPANIES GOING BANKRUPT

I am all for green energy, but why do all these companies Washington gives help to and Obama supports go bankrupt?

BULGARIAN BUS BOMBER

The bomber was evidently a "terrorist" released from Gitmo.  He had produced a movie about his days there.  Maybe he should have been kept there and 7 lives would have been saved.  More here.  I haven't seen this covered in the media.

LEFT-WING MONEY MACHINE

You don't hear much about the left-wing money machine.  The focus in the media is always on corporate and right-wing giving.  David Horowitz is interviewed by Glenn Reynolds (a libertarian).

CAMPAIGN 2012

Obama is criticizing Romney for quoting what Obama actually said! Watch the videos.

President Obama's reelection campaign accuses Mitt Romney of distorting the president's words, by showing a side by side comparison of the Obama's words and Romney's quotation of those words. . .

HUMAN GENOME

Interesting article on interbreeding between humans and "non-human" ancestors.

Geneticists have used noncoding DNA in other types of historical analyses as well. Until the past few years, most scientists doubted that human beings had ever stooped to interbreed with Neanderthals or other archaic hominids. That view has since been routed: DNA extracted from old Neanderthal bones proves that all people of European and Asian descent have a few percent of Neanderthal DNA inside them today, equivalent to the amount they inherited from each great-great-great-grandparent.

OBAMA & MEDIA HYPOCRISY

Politics!

One hears a lot of criticism from the Obama camp and media about Romney's connections with Bain Capital.  Now we find that Obama's top bundler led Bain when some of the worst layoffs and bankruptcy at GST Steel occurred.  And Romney had left the company when all this was taking place.  Here is the ABC report which includes the money Obama was receiving from Bain officials.  Here is the National Review's take on the issue--release the returns.

And everyone is jumping on Romney for not releasing the last 10 years of tax returns.  But the media was silent on this issue when Kerry was running.  Donald Trump has raised the issue of why none of Obama's college transcripts, etc. have been released for the "sake of transparency."

Chris Mathews on Obama--he is "perfect."  This guy’s done everything right. He’s raised his family right…. Everything he’s done is as clean as a whistle. He’s not only never broken any law–he’s never done anything wrong. He’s the perfect father. The perfect husband. The perfect American.  I guess if Obama is perfect, others should be held to a different standard.

Transparency is a noble idea, but the media should hold everyone accountable.

ISLAMIST ASCENDANCY

Charles Krauthammer:  That the Arab Spring is a misnomer. This is an Islamist ascendancy, likely to dominate Arab politics for a generation.

It is clear that Islamists have gained influence throughout the Middle East.  Arab nationalism and socialism is a thing of the past.

CLIMATE WARMER IN ROMAN TIMES

Tree rings show this.   I have always wondered how Romans could have lived through some of those winters in Gaul and Britain.  It also shows the earth is moving back to temperatures that once existed after millenia of cooling.

German researchers used data from tree rings – a key indicator of past climate – to claim the world has been on a ‘long-term cooling trend’ for two millennia until the global warming of the twentieth century.

And here is a related article that states that oscillations in the earth's orbit contribute more to climate change than any other factor.

CONFIDENCE IN TELEVISION NEWS DROPS

From Gallup.  Among 16 U.S. institutions tested, television news ranks 11^th, following newspapers in 10^th place. The 25% of adults who express a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in newspapers is down slightly from 28% last year. Confidence in newspapers is now half of what it was at its peak of 51% in 1979.  Even liberals no longer have confidence in the television news media.

PENTAGON GAY PRIDE DAY

A discussion of the media and Pentagon Gay Pride Day.  It raises the issue of Bradley Manning's arrest for espionage.

PALIN TREATED DIFFERENTLY THAN BIDEN

A study comparing how Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were treated in the 2008 election--obviously Palin was treated differently.  Some of it appears to be a bit sexist.  And the study was using major media like the New York Times and CNN, which, as liberals, one would presume to be a bit more sensitive to feminist issues.

Coverage of Palin was more likely to include references to her family, physical appearance and social issues, particularly in newspapers and by political blogs, while coverage of Biden dealt more with foreign policy and the economy.

In that coverage, the authors found evidence of gender stereotypes, with stories mentioning her family, physical appearance and positions on social issues; this trend was more pronounced on television. However, on issues that might be considered "women's issues," such as health care or education, Biden received more coverage.

ISLAM'S DESTRUCTION OF HISTORY

A list of historical sites (non-Islamic) that have been destroyed by Islamists.  The list could be added to because there is no mention of Christian sites in Turkey and Iraq that have been pillaged.  And sometimes it is even Muslim artifacts that are destroyed.

OBAMA'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

A new book by David Maraniss finds that much of what Obama describes did not happen that way as he digs into his family's past.

ROMNEY AD

I am sure President Obama wishes he hadn't said this.

THE AUSCHWITZ ALBUM

From Yad Vashem.