MEDIA SPIN ON BOSTON TERRORISTS

Barry Rubin questions how  the media is beginning to handle the Boston terrorists. Will the media and Washington really dig into true motivations?

Now that the two (primary, at least) terrorists from the Boston Marathon attack have been killed or captured, we enter a new phase in which the dominant Politically Correct, factually incorrect forces try to explain away the attack.

BILL MAHER ON MUSLIM VIOLENCE

In his typical earthy language Bill Maher says you can't compare Muslim violence with Christianity. "There is only one faith that wants to kill you. . ."

THE BOSTON BOMBERS

An interesting account by a woman who received facials from the terrorists' mother and observed the family.  It seems the family was becoming increasingly observant Muslims while the writer knew them.

A plea from a moderate Muslim.  Unfortunately the media doesn't give moderates as much attention as CAIR and radicals.

The Tsarnaev brothers prove that the current Homeland Security “whack-a-mole” strategy is severely limited and rather flawed. The United States must address head-on the ideology of political Islam, which is the root cause of Islamist terrorism.

Until most Muslims begin to harness our resources and our efforts to counter the ideology of Islamism and its attraction of vulnerable American Muslim youth and its pathway towards jihadization, we will continue to see youth ages 13 and up turn against us. The “morphine” of jihadism numbs their identity and drives them to destroy free societies. It infects them, dehumanizes their fellow Americans, and instructs them to commit acts of terrorism against their own — Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

OBAMA & BIDEN 2012 TAXES

Obama paid at the 18% tax rate--pretty low for someone making over $600,000.

EXPLAINING THE GOSNELL NEWS BLACKOUT

An analysis of why the media is not covering the trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell.

But the thing is that I’m getting kind of sick of pointing out egregious bias only to see things not just remain bad but get worse. Just think, in the last year, we saw the media drop any pretense of objectivity and bully the Susan G. Komen Foundation into funding Planned Parenthood. And then we had how many months of coverage focused on someone calling a birth control activist a bad name? And who can forget every pro-life person in the country being asked to respond to Todd Akin’s stupid remarks about rape?

So our abortion-drenched media would certainly want to cover what is arguably the country’s most horrific serial murder trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, right? Well, far from the front-page, top of the news, daily update coverage you rightfully would expect, it’s been downplayed. Majorly downplayed.

IRS

I think everyone should pay their taxes, but when the IRS claims to be able to read emails, texts, etc. without a search warrant of some kind, 1984 has arrived.  Increasingly civil liberties are being co-opted.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has claimed that agents do not need warrants to read people's emails, text messages and other private electronic communications, according to internal agency documents.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/292989-irs-claims-it-can-read-emails-without-a-warrant#ixzz2QA4vL6B6

EDWARD SAID

A summary of the impact and background of Edward Said.

Columbia University’s English Department may seem a surprising place from which to move the world, but this is what Professor Edward Said accomplished. He not only transformed the West’s perception of the Israel-Arab conflict, he also led the way toward a new, post-socialist life for leftism in which the proletariat was replaced by “people of color” as the redeemers of humankind. During the ten years that have passed since his death there have been no signs that his extraordinary influence is diminishing.

EVANGELICALS & CATHOLICS EXTREMIST GROUPS

Army Reserve training material: Evangelicals, Catholics are extremist groups.  
 

A slideshow presentation shown to US Army Reserve recruits classifies Christians, including both evangelicals and Roman Catholics, as religious extremists, placing them in the same category as skinheads, the Ku Klux Klan, Hamas and Al Qaeda.

The presentation also warned that members of the military are prohibited from taking leadership roles in any organization the Pentagon considers ‘extremist,’ and from distributing the organization’s literature, whether on or off a military installation.

The opening slide warns that ‘the rise in hate crimes and extremism outside the military may be an indication of internal issues all [armed] services will have to face.’

Citing a Southern Poverty Law Center report as evidence that extremism is on the rise, the Army Reserve presentation blames ‘the superheated fears generated by economic dislocation, a proliferation of demonizing conspiracy theories,the changing racial make-up of America and the prospect of 4 more years under a black president who many on the far right view as an enemy to their country.’

PLANE DIVERTED: POSSIBLE TERRORISTS!

A family complains about scenes of violence and sex on an in-flight movie that there children were being exposed to.  The next thing is the plane is diverted and the family is escorted off the plane for questioning!

ASSOCIATED PRESS REVISES TERMS

The AP will no longer use the terms "illegal immigrant" and "Islamist".

FDR AND ANTISEMITISM

A discussion of the issue of whether FDR could have done more to help Jews in Nazi Germany.

OBAMA: THE ANTICHRIST?

From the Guardian:  1 in 4 Americans think Obama is the antichrist.

About one in four Americans suspect that President Barack Obama might be the antichrist, more than a third believe that global warming is a hoax and more than half suspect that a secretive global elite is trying to set up a New World Order, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

The survey, which was conducted by Public Policy Polling, asked a sample of American voters about a number of conspiracy theories, phrasing the questions in eye-catching language that will have the country's educators banging their heads on their desks. The study revealed that 13% of respondents thought Obama was "the antichrist", while another 13% were "not sure" – and so were at least appeared to be open to the possibility that he might be. Some 73% of people were able to say outright that they did not think Obama was "the antichrist".

CHRISTIANS IN MIDDLE EAST NEED PROTECTION

Kirsten Powers in USA Today. 

"Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world." So asserted German Chancellor Angela Merkel late last year, causing a stir. Merkel echoed a concern expressed by then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who warned in a 2011 speech that Christians face a "particularly wicked program of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing."

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, an expert on the region, told me he is shocked that American Christians aren't regularly protesting outside of embassies drawing attention to this issue. Persecution of Christians in the Middle East is, he says, "one of the most undercovered stories in international news." Perhaps it's time for that to change.

OBAMACARE INCOMPETENCE

This is from Joe Klein, a liberal!

Let me try to understand this: The key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care super-stores—called exchanges. The Administration has had 3 years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.


This is a really bad sign. There will be those who argue that it’s not the Administration’s fault. It’s the fault of the 33 states that have refused to set up their own exchanges. Nonsense. Where was the contingency planning? There certainly are models, after all—the federal government’s own health benefits plan (FEHBP) operates markets that exist in all 50 states. So does Medicare Advantage. But now, the Obama Administration has announced that it won’t have the exchanges ready in time, that small businesses will be offered one choice for the time being—for a year, at least. No doubt, small business owners will be skeptical of the Obama Administration’s belief in the efficacy of the market system to produce lower prices through competition. That was supposed to be the point of this plan.

4/5/2013 Another article on Democrat concerns about Obamacare.

Two-thirds of Democrats now believe Obama's health care reforms will either hurt them personally or have no effect on their daily lives, a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows. In comparison, just 27 percent of Democratic respondents said the reforms would help them.

VIOLENCE OF CHICAGO TEACHER'S UNION

Footage.  It is interesting to see the role played by socialists in the march. 

OBAMA & BANKS

I couldn't figure this one out when I saw the headline in the Washington Post:  "Obama Administration Pushes Banks to Make Home Loans to People with Weaker Credit."  Haven't they learned anything from recent history?  This was one of the reasons we had the banking and Fannie Mae crisis just 5 or 6 years ago.

Officials are also encouraging lenders to use more subjective judgment in determining whether to offer a loan...  If you loan someone money there has to be objective criteria that they will pay it back or someone is getting to eat the loan.  And it usually ends up being the honest taxpayer.

CNBC reports more problems developing with loans to people who cannot realistically pay the loan off.

KATRINA RELIEF MONEY MISSING

$700 million of Katrina relief money has gone missing. Where did it go and is this just the beginning?  Since New York was described as the most corrupt state in the union, I kind of think there will not be an investigation that really follows through.  And I wonder how much more misspent money will be discovered.

COMING ICE AGE????

I thought everyone was concerned about global warming.  Die Welt is a very credible German newspaper so when it reports on questions about global warming, it cannot be considered some right-wing conspiracy to silence Al Gore.

The right accuses global warmers as "junk-scientists."

From Forbes:  "Hide the Decline."  A global warming supporter won't debate a fellow scientist on the issue because he is an "evangelical."

Greenhouse gases protect the earth from harmful gases.

LASHING RETURNS TO LIBYA

Islamists have revived lashing for lawbreakers.  Waiting to see how Washington or media handle this.

ENJOY YOUR COFFEE!

High coffee consumption explains the longevity of Greeks on the island of Ikaria!  Drink up.

OBAMA ON MIDDLE EASTERN ALLIANCE

From World Tribune.  In the recent meeting Obama had with Netanyahu, he is said to have promoted an Iran-Egypt-Turkey alliance.

The sources, familiar with Obama’s discussions during his March 20-22 visit to Israel, said Egypt, Iran and Turkey represented the new Muslim powers that would determine the future of the Middle East. They said Iran’s alliance with Sunni Egypt and Turkey would avoid a nuclear arms race despite concern over Teheran’s uranium enrichment program.

RELIGION IN US CITIES

Gallup lists the top ten most religious cities in American and the bottom 10 in religiosity.  The most religious:  Provo-Orem, Utah.  The least religious:  Burlington-South Burlington, Vermont.  Portland, Oregon is the 4th least religious city.

WHAT HAPPENED IN CYPRUS?

There is a lot of coverage of the crisis but most of the articles do not explain why Cyprus, a rather small country, got into the problems it did.  The Economist interviews an official in the central bank of Cyprus.  Basically it goes back to a communist government whose fiscal spending and deficits to support social and retirement programs bankrupted the country.

LIBERAL CRITICISM OF DR. BENJAMIN CARSON

Dr. Carson is the black neurosurgeon who has spoken out criticizing a number of Obama's policies.  It is hard for liberal to deal with blacks who don't follow the Democrat world view.

GLOBAL WARMING ACTIVIST ATTACKS EVANGELICAL

From Forbes. 

Prominent global warming activist Michael Mann threw down the gauntlet against evangelical Christians this week, calling a distinguished climate scientist and well-known Christian an “evolution denier” while refusing to participate with him in a global warming debate. In the wake of Mann’s unprovoked attack, prominent ‘evangelical’ global warming activists, who target evangelical Christians by claiming to also be evangelicals, declined to stand up for the Christian scientist against Mann’s ugly and unprovoked assault.

Roy Spencer is a senior scientist at NASA who is skeptical that humans have caused global warming.  Michael Mann attacked his religious beliefs and refused to debate the global warming issue with him.  Was he afraid he would lose the debate and as a result chose to focus on discrediting someone for his religious belief?  So much for secular open-mindedness and willingness to discuss issues they do not agree with.  And Mann ignores that the fact that some evangelicals do believe in global warming.

THE NEW EUGENICS

Where will all of the new genetic testing take us?  The eugenics movement of the early 20th century led to racism and national socialism.

JOURNALISTIC HYPOCRISY

What was okay for the media to say about the Bush family is not okay to say about the Obama family.

BANNING THE "EASTER" BUNNY

Diversity is great for everyone except if you are a Christian.

Heritage Elementary School in Madison, Alabama is taking the word “Easter” out of Easter, according to WHNT19 News.

What does that mean?  Well, they’ll still tolerate someone dressed as a giant bunny, but it will no longer be called the “Easter bunny.”  Similarly, “Easter eggs” are just “eggs,” and it might be better just to use “different shapes.”

THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY

USA Today columnist, Jonathan Turley, argues that Obama has achieved "the imperial presidency" that Nixon tried to establish but failed.  Warrantless surveillance, unilaterial military action, kill lists, and attacking whistleblowers. . .not exactly aspects of constitutional rule.

STOMPING ON JESUS

Students were expected to stomp on a picture of Jesus as part of an in-class assignment at Florida Atlantic University.  One student who refused to do it is being "punished" for refusing to do the assignment.

Florida Atlantic University as secular seminary. Dennis Praeger:

Question: What is the difference between Christian seminaries and American universities?
 
Answer: Christian seminaries announce that their purpose is to produce committed Christians. American universities do not admit that their primary purpose is to produce committed leftists. They claim that their purpose is to open students’ minds.

4/10/2013 A group of students and faculty are demonstrating to support the professor's right to have this kind of activity.

IRAN PENETRATING VENEZUELA

Iran is laundering billions of dollars through Venezuela and Hezbollah is setting  up bases to expand its operations into the western hemisphere.  Terrorism is growing closer to home.  I haven't seen this covered in the media, but it is from an "off-the-record" State Department official. 

OBAMA'S DEAL WITH PUTIN

FP Passport | FOREIGN POLICY

"We watched the president state to Medvedev that he would have greater flexibility after the election," Turner told Foreign Policy on Sunday night. "Putin later announced the terms of the agreement. You'd have to conclude that there was a deal."

The Ohio Republican was referring to a "hot mic" exchange between Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a nuclear security summit in South Korea last March. "After my election I have more flexibility," the president told Medvedev, referring to ongoing discussions about missile defense. "I understand," replied Medvedev. "I transmit this information to Vladimir."

Since the incident, the administration has steadfastly denied ever plotting a secret deal with Putin. Additionally, on Friday, when the Pentagon announced the cancellation of some Europe-based defenses as part of a reallocation of resources to protect against North Korea, Pentagon spokesman George Little rejected the notion that the plan had anything to do with Russia. "The missile defense decisions Secretary Hagel announced were in no way about Russia," he said.

SODOMY & JIHAD

It is hard to believe what some Islamic clerics not only teach, but issue fatwas on. . .and in London as well.  (MEMRI TV)

“My question is whether I am permitted to allow one of the mujahideen access to my anus, if my intentions are honorable, and the purpose is to train for Jihad by widening my anus.”

The sheik praised Allah and said: “In principle, sodomy is forbidden. However, Jihad is more important. It is the pinnacle of Islam. If sodomy is the only way to reach this pinnacle of Islam, then there is no harm in it.

THE ARAB SPRING: A REASSESSMENT

A discussion of how "optimism bias" influenced US foreign policy decision-making during the Arab Spring of 2011.  As crowds gathered in the streets in the Middle East demanding an end to dictatorships the media and policy-makers were ignoring the potential problems and even the actual rhetoric to blindly report that the Middle East was moving into an entirely different era of democracy and freedom. 

When the spring first bloomed in the winter of 2010–2011 it was welcomed by jubilation on the part of the young revolutionaries congregating day after day in places such as Tahrir Square in Cairo, but also by the foreign correspondents who would carry the good news about the fall of tyrants to the rest of the world. The air of freedom was intoxicating, as one young Egyptian wrote; the lion-hearted Egyptians were risking their lives to overthrow the corrupt and cruel dictatorship in an uprising such as the world had not witnessed in living memory. It was people power at its best and it was a shining example for the whole world. The rebels told the foreign correspondents that they had been inspired by America’s example of freedom, and that it was therefore a great shame that America and other Western governments, blinded and paralyzed by unreasonable fear of Islamism and the Muslim Brotherhood, had not given full support to these freedom fighters.

There is a place for Bismarckian realists.

ABORTION DEATHS IN CHINA

The number is mind-boggling--since 1971 over 330,000,000 abortions have been done in China as a result of its "one child policy".  Now the country faces an ageing problem.

IMAGE OF AMERICA DROPS IN THE WORLD

But it has gone up in Mexico!  Nevertheless the drop presents challenges to Obama and Kerry.

The median approval rating for U.S. leadership for 130 countries was 41 percent in 2012, down 8 percentage points from the 49 percent approval during Obama’s first year in office, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday

OBAMA AS NEGOTIATOR

From Politico.  Interesting observations about Obama as a less than stellar negotiator.  He doesn't work the room to convince Republicans of his opinions--LBJ would have been grabbing everyone he could corner to convince them of his agenda.  Looking at his Blackberry when there are people to lobby. . .

Another reason is the rancid relationship between Obama and Republicans on the Hill. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the third-ranking House Republican, told us about an exchange he had with Obama at Saturday night’s white-tie Gridiron dinner. During a break in the program, McCarthy saw an empty chair next to Obama and decided to seize the chance. Surprised Obama wasn’t working the room, and thinking the president really is a loner, McCarthy walked up to the head table. He found the president was reading his BlackBerry. (Another attendee said Obama was talking to Ken Burns, the documentarian, who was showing POTUS pictures of his family on his phone.)
It appears that Obama is really a loner (even among Democrats) with a few close friends who he really trusts and works with.

The Myth of a "Rock Star" Professor.  Obama's student evaluations were great his first two years but after that they dropped dramatically.  And very few students were signing up for his classes.

ANOTHER US FOREIGN POLICY GOOF

U.S. aid policy contributed to the coup in Mali which led to an al-Qaeda group trying to take over the country.  The State Department blew this one.

U.S. efforts to help the Malians secure their national territory failed spectacularly the first time. Until March 2012, when a cataclysmic military coup caused the State Department to suspend all assistance, the U.S. concentrated its aid on Mali’s economic and social development, on the theory that extremism could best be defeated by alleviating poverty. In 2011, the U.S. spent $221 million on irrigation, transportation, education, health and other development initiatives. It spent less than $4 million for security programs. Much of that sum, moreover, went to development projects that purported to curb extremism.

GREEN CARS ACTUALLY CREATE MORE POLLUTION

The global warming supporters are really causing more warming than less with an emphasis on green energy.  And there is also the issue of how they will dispose of the batteries when these cars are sent to the junk yard.

A 2012 comprehensive life-cycle analysis in Journal of Industrial Ecology shows that almost half the lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions from an electric car come from the energy used to produce the car, especially the battery. The mining of lithium, for instance, is a less than green activity. By contrast, the manufacture of a gas-powered car accounts for 17% of its lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions. When an electric car rolls off the production line, it has already been responsible for 30,000 pounds of carbon-dioxide emission. The amount for making a conventional car: 14,000 pounds.

WILL LIBERAL WHITES TURN REPUBLICAN?

A discussion of how liberal whites condemn racism but when liberal Boston commuters begin to see hispanics at normally white commuter stations, they evidence racial discomfort with minorities.

The results were clear. After coming into contact, for just minutes each day, with two more Latinos than they would otherwise see or interact with, the riders, who were mostly white and liberal, were sharply more opposed to allowing more immigrants into the country and favored returning the children of illegal immigrants to their parents’ home country. It was a stark shift from their pre-experiment interviews, during which they expressed more neutral attitudes.

LIBERALS ATTACK CONSERVATIVE RELIGION

Liberals are wondering if children of conservative religionists will convert to liberalism.  Since liberals aren't haven't children, they need children of conservative families to convert to liberalism.

VENZUELA'S HUGO CHAVEZ

Hugo Chavez was supposedly a man of the little guy in Venzuela.  But the pictures I have seen with his daughters show expensive jewelry and watches on his daughters.  I am not an expert on the cost of jewelry, but I don't think the average person in Venzuela is able to wear such expensive jewelry.

DRONES OK, WATER BOARDING NOT?

Left economist Paul Krugman seems to think drones are not the issue, but waterboarding is.  But drones kill people and waterboarding does not?

EUROPE AND ISLAM

A description of current religious issues in Europe caused by Islamic immigration.

EDWARD SAID

An analysis of the impact and work of Edward Said.

Columbia University’s English Department may seem a surprising place from which to move the world, but this is what Professor Edward Said accomplished. He not only transformed the West’s perception of the Israel-Arab conflict, he also led the way toward a new, post-socialist life for leftism in which the proletariat was replaced by “people of color” as the redeemers of humankind. During the ten years that have passed since his death there have been no signs that his extraordinary influence is diminishing.

HARRY DEXTER WHITE

It is interesting to see how facts change political debates.  Harry Dexter White was a spy for the Soviet Union, but for years the left argued that it was just right-wingers making information up about him.  Now Foreign Affairs recognizes that he was indeed a spy.  So the right wins this one.  The issue should be truth and political bias should not stand in the way of finding out what exactly happened. But I haven't heard anyone on the left stand up and admit they were in error on this one.  But could this same thing be happening today?

The truth about White's actions has been clear for at least 15 years now, yet historians remain deeply divided over his intentions and his legacy, puzzled by the chasm between White's public views on political economy, which were mainstream progressive and Keynesian, and his clandestine behavior on behalf of the Soviets. Until recently, the White case has resembled a murder mystery with witnesses and a weapon but no clear motive.

Now we have one. The closest thing to a missing link between the official White and the secret White is an unpublished handwritten essay on yellow-lined notepaper that I found buried in a large folder of miscellaneous scribblings in White's archives at Princeton University. Apparently missed by his previous chroniclers, it provides a fascinating window onto the aspirations and mindset of this intellectually ambitious overachiever at the height of his power, in 1944.

THE GIRLS ON FOX NEWS

REPUBLICANS OUTSMART OBAMA?

The Hill.  This is the first time I have seen someone argue that Boehner and McConnell have outfoxed Obama on the sequester and taxes.

The president convincingly won a second term in November, but since that time, the congressional Republican leadership has outfoxed, outmaneuvered and plain out-strategized him on just about every issue. 

On taxes, McConnell (R-Ky.) just flat-out beat Joe Biden. He preserved 98 percent of the Bush tax cuts in perpetuity, which from a policy perspective is huge. He also made sure that the payroll tax holiday came to a conclusion, thereby making sure that every American would feel the tax increase that President Obama has long been fighting for.

STOCK MARKET REACHES NEW HIGHS

But maybe it is not like it used to be.  The Dow is up, but the other economic signals are not looking that great.  Where will it all end?

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: Then 14164.5; Now 14164.5
• Regular Gas Price: Then $2.75; Now $3.73
• GDP Growth: Then +2.5%; Now +1.6%
• Americans Unemployed (in Labor Force): Then 6.7 million; Now 13.2 million
• Americans On Food Stamps: Then 26.9 million; Now 47.69 million
• Size of Fed's Balance Sheet: Then $0.89 trillion; Now $3.01 trillion
• US Debt as a Percentage of GDP: Then ~38%; Now 74.2%
• US Deficit (LTM): Then $97 billion; Now $975.6 billion
• Total US Debt Oustanding: Then $9.008 trillion; Now $16.43 trillion
• US Household Debt: Then $13.5 trillion; Now 12.87 trillion
• Labor Force Particpation Rate: Then 65.8%; Now 63.6%
• Consumer Confidence: Then 99.5; Now 69.6
• S&P Rating of the US: Then AAA; Now AA+
• VIX: Then 17.5%; Now 14%
• 10 Year Treasury Yield: Then 4.64%; Now 1.89%
• EURUSD: Then 1.4145; Now 1.3050
• Gold: Then $748; Now $1583
• NYSE Average LTM Volume (per day): Then 1.3 billion shares; Now 545 million shares

BOOK ATTACKS OBAMA'S LEADERSHIP

Vali Nasr, a university professor who was seconded in 2009 to work with Richard Holbrooke, Mr Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, records his profound disillusion at how a "Berlin Wall" of domestic-focused advisers was erected to protect Mr Obama. 

"The president had a truly disturbing habit of funnelling major foreign policy decisions through a small cabal of relatively inexperienced White House advisers whose turf was strictly politics," Mr Nasr writes in The Dispensable Nation: America Foreign policy in Retreat.

THE SEQUESTER MESS

Robert Samuelson blames JFK for setting in process the notion that the nation can ignore budget deficits.  Debt became an accepted government policy.

What Kennedy did was this: In early 1963, he proposed a $13.6 billion tax cut (today: about $320 billion) even though the economy was not in recession and the tax cut would enlarge the budget deficit. Kennedy adopted the theory that government could, by manipulating its budgets, increase economic growth, reach “full employment” (then a 4 percent unemployment rate) and reduce — or eliminate — recessions.

OBAMA STRATEGY: "TAKE NO PRISONERS"

From the Hill.  He is determined not to "cave" in negotiations with the Republicans. 

It is a clear change for a president who, during his first term, faced criticism from his left flank for being too conciliatory toward the GOP on healthcare reform and, later, during deficit battles. Liberal voices argued that Obama was mistaken in thinking the Republicans had any real interest in finding common ground.

OBAMA & CRITICISM

A compiliation of the number of times the Obama administration has tried to silence critics in the media. It does not seem to be able to take criticism.

RICHARD DAWKINS: INCONSISTENT ATHEIST

Dawkins has no trouble attacking the God of Jews and Christians, but he does not seem as troubled with the god of Islam, Allah.

Whoops. It’s funny how these confident, cocksure prophets of atheism-who barely have time to take a breath between slamming the tenets of Christianity and Judaism-often get curiously tongue-tied and shy when the subject of Islam comes up. The idea that Dawkins doesn’t “know so much about” the God of the Koran is absurd. Of course he knows about Islam. And the same disdain and disregard that he has for Judaism and Christianity should surely apply to Islam as well.

DAVID BARTON & THE USE OF HISTORICAL EVIDENCE

David Barton has used illustrations from Louis L'Amour, a western novelist, to provide historical support for an illustration he used.

Historians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticism. - See more at: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/27/david-barton-louis-lamour-and-the-use-of-historical-evidence/#sthash.aDdSvzaq.dpuf

Historians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticism.

Historians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticism - See more at: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/27/david-barton-louis-lamour-and-the-use-of-historical-evidence/#sthash.aDdSvzaq.dpuf

Historians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticism. - See more at: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/27/david-barton-louis-lamour-and-the-use-of-historical-evidence/#sthash.RxNm6iYl.dpuf

Historians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticism - See more at: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/27/david-barton-louis-lamour-and-the-use-of-historical-evidence/#sthash.aDdSvzaq.dpuf

storians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticis - See more at: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/27/david-barton-louis-lamour-and-the-use-of-historical-evidence/#sthash.RxNm6iYl.dpuf

Historians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticism - See more at: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/27/david-barton-louis-lamour-and-the-use-of-historical-evidence/#sthash.RxNm6iYl.dpuf

Historians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticism. - See more at: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/27/david-barton-louis-lamour-and-the-use-of-historical-evidence/#sthash.RxNm6iYl.dpuf

Historians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticism. - See more at: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/27/david-barton-louis-lamour-and-the-use-of-historical-evidence/#sthash.RxNm6iYl.dpuf

Historians can have honest disagreements about whether the L’Amour story, or other oral traditions passed down through the years, can be used as legitimate historical evidence. They can also debate whether citing a primary source that is quoted in a secondary source is good practice. But when David Barton attacks historians for using second-hand accounts and then goes ahead and does it himself for the purpose of using the “past” to make a political point on the Glenn Beck Show, he deserves criticism. - See more at: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/02/27/david-barton-louis-lamour-and-the-use-of-historical-evidence/#sthash.RxNm6iYl.dpuf

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER ATTACKS ZIONISM

Prime Minister Erdogan said Islamophobia is a crime against humanity just like Zionism. 

OBAMA'S SEQUESTER STRATEGY

From Politico.  

He will divide, isolate and defeat Republicans using all the powers of his office and all his skills as a political campaigner. As Americans grow frustrated with the cuts, Republicans will reject their party’s no-tax mantra and demand that Congress end the standoff, even if it means raising some new revenue – just the way Obama is demanding.

ARGUING ATHEISM IN A CAIRO MOSQUE

From World Affairs. 

During the event, one 18-year-old Egyptian high school student proclaimed: “As an atheist, I believe that faith is against our very humanity and the source of warfare and bloodshed.” That’s a bold statement in Egypt, and certainly a bold thing to say to a mostly Muslim audience. Indeed, Abdelfattah said it was the first time he’d seen a public meeting on the subject of atheism, which had been considered, he said, “sensitive and taboo” before the opening up of society heralded by the ousting of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak two years ago.

ANOTHER LESS THAN STELLAR CABINET NOMINEE

First it was Chuck Hagel at defense and now the Obama administration has nominated Jack Lew for Secretary of the Treasury, a man who seems to have manipulated money to help himself wherever he served.

Grassley has been digging into Lew’s tenure at New York University, where he pulled down an enormous salary, including sweetheart loans, while the students were footing enormous tuition bills. Worse, under his nose NYU negotiated a deal with Citicorp (miraculously, Lew’s next employer!) to provide loans to students, a deal that then-state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found to be illegal.

I thought liberals were looking out for the little guy. . .just a bunch of fat-cats looking out for their pocket-books.

HIGH SCHOOL FASHION 1969

"No one is fat!" (according to one post)

FIX THE FAMILY OR FIX EDUCATION?

Obama recently gave a speech wanting to extend pre-kindergarten programs, but USA Today asks, "Why not fix the family instead?"  It is strong, stable families that motivate kids, not programs.

HEALTH CARE COSTS IN THE UNITED STATES

An analysis of why health care costs are so high.  Why should one generic Tylenol pill cost a $1.50 a pill?

What are the reasons, good or bad, that cancer means a half-million- or million-dollar tab? Why should a trip to the emergency room for chest pains that turn out to be indigestion bring a bill that can exceed the cost of a semester of college? What makes a single dose of even the most wonderful wonder drug cost thousands of dollars? Why does simple lab work done during a few days in a hospital cost more than a car? And what is so different about the medical ecosystem that causes technology advances to drive bills up instead of down?

NORTH CAROLINA LIBERAL ATTACK PLAN

Someone leaked the strategy of how liberal Democrats plan to "destroy" Republican office-holders in North Carolina.

WHITE FLIGHT FROM LONDON

Everyone I have visited with in recent years who have visited London remark that it is no longer a British city.  Now the Daily Mail has documented how extensive the flight of whites from London has been.


More than 600,000 white British Londoners have left the capital in a decade.  Census figures show that between 2001 and 2011 the level of ‘white flight’ reached 620,000.

It is the equivalent of a city the size of Glasgow – made up entirely of white Britons – moving out of the capital.

MORALE OF TEACHERS

It hits a 25 year low.

Only 39 percent of teachers described themselves as very satisfied with their jobs on the latest survey. That's a 23-percentage point plummet since 2008, and a drop of five percentage points just over the past year. Factors contributing to lower job satisfaction included working in schools where the budgets, opportunities for professional development, and time for collaboration with colleagues have all been sent to the chopping block.

Stress levels are also up, with half of all teachers describing themselves as under great stress several days per week, compared with a third of teachers in 1985.

CHICAGO POLITICS IN WASHINGTON

"Obama Ally Got $340 Million to Set Up Health Care Co-Ops." The moralists and watchdogs seem strangely silent when these kinds of things go on in Washington today.

A health insurance company headed by an old friend from President Obama's days as a community organizer got a $340 million federal loan to establish Obamacare co-ops in New York, New Jersey and Oregon despite having a chronic record of consumer and regulatory complaints.

The New York-based Freelancers Insurance Company has been rated the "worst" insurer for two straight years by state regulators, and data compiled by a national insurance association show an extremely high rate of consumer complaints.

OBAMA & THE MEDIA

Politico describes how Obama manipulates the press.  

President Barack Obama is a master at limiting, shaping and manipulating media coverage of himself and his White House.

Not for the reason that conservatives suspect: namely, that a liberal press willingly and eagerly allows itself to get manipulated. Instead, the mastery mostly flows from a White House that has taken old tricks for shaping coverage (staged leaks, friendly interviews) and put them on steroids using new ones (social media, content creation, precision targeting). And it’s an equal opportunity strategy: Media across the ideological spectrum are left scrambling for access.

But something is different with this White House. Obama’s aides are better at using technology and exploiting the president’s “brand.” They are more disciplined about cracking down on staff that leak, or reporters who write things they don’t like. And they are obsessed with taking advantage of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and every other social media forums, not just for campaigns, but governing.

SENATE DEMS PROTECT CORPORATE TAX LOOPHOLE

Political hypocrisy is so interesting.

Democrats and Obama may be demonizing Republicans for being the protectors of fat-cat Wall Street capitalists and corporation CEOs, but they are doing a good job of protecting their moneyed friends. Democrats don't like big oil, but if you are not part of corporate big oil, being a fat-cat corporation is okay. Normally the press doesn't cover this type of hypocrisy.

The following is from the ABC News report:

Listening to the White House, you'd think the key to averting the across-the-board spending cuts (the dreaded "sequester") set to in place on March 1 is closing the tax break for owners of private jets.

Here was White House Press Secretary Jay Carney last week: "How do you explain to a senior that we're doing this, asking you to sacrifice, but we're not saying that corporate jet owners should lose their special tax incentive."

On Wednesday, Carney summed up the Republican position this way: "We'd rather see our national security undermined than corporate jet owners, God forbid, give up their tax break."

And President Obama in an interview Wednesday with KAKE-TV in Wichita: "What we don't want to do is give somebody who's buying a corporate jet an extra tax break."

Carney has brought up the corporate jet tax break at every single briefing this week.

Listening to the White House, you might think that the "balanced" Democratic plan to avert the spending cuts would close that loophole for private jets.

But you would be wrong.

The Senate Democratic plan - which has been endorsed by the White House and is, in fact, the only Democratic plan actively under consideration right now - doesn't touch corporate jets.

We asked Carney if the White House is upset that the Senate Democrats' plan protects corporate jets. His answer: "Our position - in the president's plan that has been available for ages but republicans and some reporters pretend doesn't exist - is that the corporate jet loophole should be eliminated. We'd be fine if it were eliminated as part of the revenue component of a sequester buy-down or as part of broader tax reform in a bigger balanced deficit reduction deal. Either way. And either way, Republicans oppose it, and would rather see sequester hit than ask corporate jet owners to give up their special tax break. How is that not true?"

Even if the Senate plan did end the tax break for private jets, it wouldn't make much of a difference. The tax break - which allows the owners of private jets to depreciate their airplanes over five years instead of the standard seven years for commercial airplanes - would raise less than $300 million a year. That's a tiny fraction of the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts scheduled to go into effect this year.  But - even so - the Senate Democratic plan allows that tax break to continue - unchanged.

The White House also frequently mentions tax breaks for oil and gas companies. The Democratic plan does eliminate some of those, but even that doesn't add up to much: Just $2 billion in the Senate Democratic plan.

GRADE INFLATION & HIGHER EDUCATION

The impact of grade inflation in higher education is a sore point at many universities.

It was my second recommendation that sparked doubts. I argued that, “to increase transparency and accountability further, the Legislature should require all universities to include on transcripts not only the grade the student received for each class, but also the overall average grade for the class. This would tell prospective employers whether or not a given student’s high grade-point average was the product of exceptional work or of enrolling in what today’s students call ‘Mick’ (for ‘Mickey Mouse’) courses.

Another article from the NYT : The college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement, albeit an expensive one, for getting even the lowest-level job.

OBAMA & GENERALS

Interesting.  Accusations that Obama is sacking the leading generals involved in Afghanistan.

BOEHNER CHALLENGES OBAMA ON SEQUESTER

Boehner argues that sequester was Obama's idea so he needs to fix it and stop blaming Republicans.

But Boehner reminded Obama that the automatic cut idea was originally proffered by the White House during the debt-ceiling talks of 2011. He said Congress "reluctantly accepted the president's demand" and claimed it's now up to Obama to find the escape hatch. 

"So, as the president's outrage about the sequester grows in coming days, Republicans have a simple response: Mr. President, we agree that your sequester is bad policy. What spending are you willing to cut to replace it?" Boehner asked. 

SENATE DEMOCRATS NOW CONCERNED ABOUT OBAMACARE

From the WSJ.  The media seems to have ignored the questioning of an administration official by Senate Democrats.

"Powerful Democrats" subjected a top Obama administration health-care official "to withering criticism" last week, notes Walter Russell Mead. When Gary Cohen, head of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, appeared before the Senate Finance Committee, chairman Max Baucus of Montana and Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Maria Cantwell (Wash.) "tore into him."

SYRIA & THE BALKANS

Syrian Islamists are getting state-of-the-art weapons from Kossovo and Bosnia.  An earlier post discussed Iran arms coming into the Balkans, now we have arms leaving the Balkans for Syrian rebels.  Al Qaeda is in the Balkans and no one seems to be reporting this.

REVISIONIST HISTORY: THE HAYMARKET SQUARE RIOT

A whole new perspective of an historical event, The Chicago Haymarket Square Riot of 1886, has occurred because of a question asked by a student in class.  It caused a professor to dig into the original documents in a way previous historians had not.  The result is a more accurate account of what occurred. . .but the left is unhappy with the new information. 

From National Review.

THE END OF THE DOLLAR AS A WORLD CURRENCY?

From CNBC. 

When compared to its peers, the dollar has drifted to a 15-year low, according to the International Monetary Fund, indicating that more countries are willing to use other currencies to do business.

It would appear that within 10 years the power of the dollar will be ended after being the world currency since the end of World War II. The world senses that the U.S. is not the economic force it was once. . .and this will lead to less political respect.

PROBLEMS IN THE EUROZONE ECONOMY

And Obama is following the same pattern of deficit spending that is not working in Europe.

There is no magic bullet that can magically transform the EU economy.  The French made a mistake electing a socialist in France that decided to expand government programs and increase taxes.  But no one ever confused the French for being capitalists.  The multiplier effect of government spending is 0.  You cannot tax and spend your way to economic prosperity.

Europeans never learned that.  They are full on Keynesians.  Central planners.  Bureaucrats.

The debts they have accrued are eating them alive.  Their economies cannot grow fast enough to keep up. They have entered what is known as the death spiral.  Because of the heavy government interference in markets, and the artificial low interest rates the EU Central bank is imposing, capital is locked.  It doesn’t turn over and won’t cannot be allocated through the marketplace to more productive resources.

FACT-CHECKING THE STATE OF THE UNION, 2014

When the left-wing  Huffington Post fact checks Obama's State of the Union Address and finds a number of serious errors in his statements, his administration is definitely in mess when it comes to dealing with the problems faced by America.  He is upsetting conservatives, moderates, and now liberals with his policies.

IBD discusses the debt crisis challenge which the State of the Union seemed to ignore.

First, despite what Obama says, the debt crisis is nowhere near fixed — as anyone who's looked at the report from Obama's own debt commission would know.

That report opened with this stark statement: "Our nation is on an unsustainable fiscal path." Left unchecked, it said, the rising debt "will put America at risk," and that "continued inaction is not a viable option."

The American Spectator on Obama's "most audacious lie."  

Humor(?) in the speech.

IRAN IN THE BALKANS

The presence of Iranians in Sarajevo has increased (not to neglect other Islamic groups).  It could pose some serious issues for Europe, especially with Iran developing nuclear weapons.  And there are large Muslim minorities in most European countries (although most are Sunnis and not Shias).

The threat Iran and its proxies pose to Western interests in the Balkans is multiplied by the growth of Wahhabi movements in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, and the mountainous Sandzak region straddling the border between Montenegro and Serbia. In remote, isolated villages throughout the Western Balkans, Wahhabi groups have developed a network of extra-territorial, sharia-run enclaves that over the past two decades have become safe havens and recruiting grounds for jihadis from around the world. Under the guise of running “youth camps,” Islamist extremists in recent years have systematically transported young people into national parks or local hills and forests where they are given military training by former mujahedin. The camps are intentionally transitory, re-established in different places and under different auspices each year, to make it more difficult for security officials to track them, but despite their ad hoc nature they have been effective in fostering the relationships needed for creating extremist networks.

OBAMA & BUSH

"7 things Democrats would have freaked about if Bush had done them."

ISLAM IN DEMOGRAPHIC DECLINE

Column by David P. Goldman. ( I have read his book and he uses UN statistics to make his case)

“Something really big is under way — and practically no one has noticed it, even in the Arab world,” Ignatius quotes an e-mail from Eberstadt, one of the best conservative economists working today. But I don’t think it is quite accurate to say that “practically no one has noticed it.” On the contrary, Islamist leaders like Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been shouting from the rooftops about the trend for the past five years, as my book reports. Excluding the independence-hungry Kurdish minority, Turkey’s fertility rate is probably around 1.5 children per female, about the same as Iran’s, and a guarantee of national decline.

LIBERAL HYPOCRISY

From Politico.  "Dick Cheney's Revenge."

Will the author of the Obama administration white paper on killing U.S. citizens please report for his war crimes trial right away?

If he served in the George W. Bush administration, someone would already be agitating for his extraordinary rendition to The Hague. The white paper outlines why the Obama administration believes that it can kill U.S. citizens without due process if they are senior members of Al Qaeda or an affiliate. This is not a merely theoretical legal question, as Anwar al-Awlaki found out from the business end of a Hellfire missile a few years ago in Yemen.

DRONES AND DUE PROCESS CLAUSE

An analysis of "Originalism" and the constitutionality of the Obama's decision to kill American citizens believed to be terrorists with due process as stated in the 5th Amendment of the Constitution.

PRAYER BREAKFAST, 2013

I thought this was a quite impressive talk.

Dr. Carson's comments on his speech.  He made some pointed comments about American African-Americans not thinking for themselves.

McCRYSTAL RELIEVED OF COMMAND

This happened in 2010 but the NBC News article gives some historical perspective into Obama's decision.

VOTER FRAUD IN OHIO

Investigations taking place in Ohio.

Democrat Melowese Richardson has been an official poll worker for the last quarter century and registered thousands of people to vote last year. She candidly admitted to Cincinnati’s Channel 9 this week that she voted twice in the last election.

From Political Wire.

WHEN DISSENT WAS GOOD

 Dissent was good when Bush was president and the evil Dick Cheney was vice-president, but now. . .
 
Remember back in what was it - 2006 or thereabouts - when left-leaning critics of President Bush couldn't stop talking about how nothing was more red, white, and blue than good old-fashioned American dissent? Why, our very country was founded by an act of dissent, didn't you know! So back when Vice President Dick Cheney - routinely likened to Darth Vader and Voldemort - was running things, the very air was filled with cries of "not in our name" and all that, because it was so damned important that the United States not contravene its basic principles even in the name of self defense!

. . .candidate Obama rejected the Bush adminstration's position that it could detain U.S. citizens as enemy combatants without pressing charges while President Obama claims the right to kill U.S. citizens without laying charges.

RISING TAXES

The New York Times is finally recognizing the cost of Obama's policies. . .but they don't mention Obama's responsibility for the policies.  I don't know what will happen when people have to start paying Obamacare premiums or face tax penalties.

More of Obamacare's costs to consumers. 

WHITE HOUSE WAR ON FOX NEWS

A liberal, Kirsten Powers, argues for the right of Fox News to report the news freely and criticizes Obama's White House for cutting Fox out-of-the-loop on news briefings.  The mainstream media is not holding the White House accountable for any of its decisions.  There is right to the freedom of the press.

“Can someone explain to me,” Powers wrote, “how it’s ‘liberal’ to try and shut down a media organization? What the Obama administration is doing, and what liberals are funding at [Media Matters] is beyond chilling – it’s a deep freeze.” She’s right – it’s not “liberal” at all, and neither is the contemporary totalitarian left. She goes on to excoriate Media Matters further for its threats to collect dirt on Fox News employees and to sue conservatives for “slanderous” comments about progressives. “If the White House can call one news outlet illegitimate for asking tough questions, then guess who is next? Anyone”:

JOURNALISTS AND LIBERALS

Marvin Olasky discusses "Why are journalists liberal."  Liberals see themselves as the good guys supporting social justice, equality, etc.

ISLAM IN EUROPE

Islam is now putting pressure on secularists in Europe as their numbers grow.  According to one imam "secularism has become antireligious."

But native Europeans also are converting to Islam, either to fit in to Muslim-dominated neighborhoods, for marriage, or to counter the spiritual emptiness in the secular countries, according to an article in last weekend’s New York Times.

CRITICISM OF CIA NOMINEE

Many are concerned with John Brennan's nomination to direct the CIA.  Michael Scheuer gives a well-thought out rationale for finding a different candidate.  It is not just that John Brennan seems ready to trample on civil liberties, but he does not even understand what is at stake in the Middle East.

This month, President Obama nominated John Brennan to be the next CIA chief. Mr. Brennan was a longtime Agency officer and held a number of senior appointments there. He also has held a number of senior positions outside the Agency in the nation’s national security apparatus. One might argue that all of these positions were based on Mr. Brennan’s unvarying willingness to say “Yes, my genius leader” to anything his boss of the moment said was a good idea. It also has been said that he was thoroughly detested inside the Agency while working for DCI George Tenet—primarily because his first question on the proposal of a covert operation to protect Americans was always was “How will this impact on Director Tenet’s reputation”—and for fully supporting the CIA’s overwhelmingly successful rendition program while Messrs. Clinton and Bush were in power, and then damning the Agency for the program and helping to destroy it when he snuggled up to President Obama and his consistently anti-CIA party. Indeed, there was a popular joke inside CIA in the 1990’s which ran something like: “Question: Why is George Tenet never photographed from behind? Answer: Because they have not found a way to dislodge John Brennan’s nose.”

MEDIA AND DRONES

Evidently the New York Times and Washington Post kept some information secret to honor the Obama administration request to do so for national security reasons.

US news organisations are facing accusations of complicity after it emerged that they bowed to pressure from the Obama administration not to disclose the existence of a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia despite knowing about it for a year.

I kinda think that if this were the Bush administration, I don't think the mainstream media would have been as compliant. 

RAND PAUL ON THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

A very interesting committee hearing.

THEN AND NOW

"The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall."  Cicero , 55 BC 

RADICAL ISLAM

I didn't know what to think when I started to read it, but Senator Rand Paul's (R, KY) speech analyzing US policy with regard to responding to radical Islam is really quite informative.  War should never be the only policy option exercised.

One thing he notes that I don't think many Americans understand is the impact of historical memory in the Muslim world.  Americans view of historical memory is fleeting so often they do not understand the impact of policy decisions.

Americans need to understand that Islam has a long and perseverant memory. As Bernard Lewis writes, “despite an immense investment in the teaching and writing of history, the general level of historical knowledge in American society is abysmally low. The Muslim peoples, like everyone else in the world, are shaped by their history, but unlike some others, they are keenly aware of it.”

There is a lot of merit in finding a middle path.
 
What the United States needs now is a policy that finds a middle path. A policy that is not rash or reckless. A foreign policy that is reluctant, restrained by Constitutional checks and balances but does not appease. A foreign policy that recognizes the danger of radical Islam but also the inherent weaknesses of radical Islam. A foreign policy that recognizes the danger of bombing countries on what they might someday do. A foreign policy that requires, as Kennan put it, “a long term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of . . .  expansive tendencies." A policy that understands the “distinction between vital and peripheral interests.”

And where are the great thinkers today who can conceptualize American policy options like George F. Kennan?

I think all of us have the duty to ask where are the Kennans of our generation? When foreign policy has become so monolithic, so lacking in debate that Republicans and Democrats routinely pass foreign policy statements without debate and without votes, where are the calls for moderation, the calls for restraint?

MORALITY & WHITE HOUSE FOREIGN POLICY

From Commentary.  Obama and liberals were against water-boarding but the use of drones on American citizens is ok.  I think the following quote says it all.  At least water-boarding didn't kill people.  The media seems strangely silent about the Obama administration policy on using drones.

So what do you think Senator Barack Obama would have said if President George W. Bush had pursued these policies? And how do you think the press and the political class would have reacted?

Let me suggest as well that a man who feels wholly at ease with drone strikes that have killed American citizens suspected of engaging in terrorist activities without the benefit of a trial and which have, in the process, killed hundreds of innocent people should be a tad bit more careful when it comes to lecturing about the immorality of enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs). Joe Scarborough, for example, argued that what Bush did with EITs is “child’s play” compared to what Obama has done.

Another comment on the moral hypocrisy of the decision.

The way the administration phrased it, as “legal,” “ethical,” and “wise,” got a lot of hackles up, especially when Michael Isikoff let slip how little oversight there is — including oversight over decisions to kill American citizens. 

CHILD RAPIST MAY BE FREED

In Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has yet again been placed under international scrutiny after a story circulated stating that a father who raped and killed his own daughter last year was to be set free upon a small payment of blood money.

ISLAMIC JIHAD AGAINST FREE SPEECH

Another good article from Michael Totten.  Islamic blasphemy laws are impacting the West's free speech.

This Islamic jihad against free speech started in 1989, when Iran’s tyrant Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the murder of British novelist Salman Rushdie because the author supposedly blasphemed the Islamic religion in his novel The Satanic Verses. Dozens of people connected with him, his book, and his publisher were attacked—some even killed—in countries as far away as Japan. Bookstores in the United Kingdom and United States were firebombed. The British government took the threat so seriously it provided Rushdie with an around-the-clock armed security detail, and he had to live in hiding under an assumed name for years.

Paul Marshall and Nina Shea published a grim book in 2011 called Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes Are Choking Freedom Worldwide. They conclude that “in Muslim-majority countries and areas, restrictions on freedom of religion and expression, based on prohibitions of blasphemy, apostasy, and ‘insulting Islam,’ are pervasive, thwart freedom, and cause suffering to millions of people.” Tragically, those millions will have to keep suffering for a while.

BIDEN MISTATEMENS ON EUROPE TOUR

Among other things Biden gets Poland and Portugal mixed up!  I don't know who should be upset more, the Poles or the Portuguese.  And he thinks he wants to be President????  He makes Dan Quayle look like an intellectual.

CORRUPTION IN GREEN ENERGY

This time it is wind energy.  A culture of corruption has descended on Washington. . .these companies get tax payer money and then seem to fail or provide jobs for Washington insiders.  I don't see the media covering these failures.