OBAMA FAUX PAS

At the recent G8 Summit Obama kept confusing the British Chancellor George Osborne with the popular singer Jeffrey Osborne. Not the greatest diplomacy.

According to the Sun and the Financial Times, Mr Obama apologised to the chancellor for calling him Jeffrey three times during the meeting - saying: "I'm sorry, man. I must have confused you with my favourite R&B singer".

ARCHAEOLOGY IN BIBLICAL TIMES

A "new" archaeology find indicating proof for King David is finally getting into the news. But the article also shows the "politics" of trying to substantiate historical truth in modern Israel and the Middle East.

Pictures on archaeology in biblical times.

REPORTER'S COMPUTER COMPROMISED

A CBS news reporter's computer was breached.  It may not be known who did it but it looks like a very sophisticated job which points to someone at the NSA or Department of Justice.  Of course, denials of such activity are being made.

COLLEGE DEGREES vs. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

Students in China and India are finding the jobs are not in fields with requiring university degrees, but in positions that would be considered more vocational.  And college degrees don't always qualify a person for work.

JFK SECRETLY ADMIRED HITLER

From the Telegraph. An article summarizes comments JFK made about Germany, Hitler, and fascism on his trips through pre-war Germany.  His father, Joe Kennedy, was noted for his pro-German feelings so I assume the young son would have been grown up with those influences.  But diaries are only one source in considering a person's beliefs.

MORE IRS LEAKS

The list of conservative groups who had their IRS returns leaked to opponents keeps growing.  Now a group who opposes gay marriage comes forward with its story of how opponents got its tax returns.

The wife of the former IRS commissioner, Max Shulman, worked for a liberal group which opposed conservatives.  There sure seem to be a large number of potential conflicts of interest.

COST OF OBAMACARE

Supporters say it will cost less; critics say it will cost more.  Forbes seems to have done a good job showing that insurance is actually going up under Obamacare.  There is an issue of supporters "spinning" the rates to make them look lower.

SHRINE OF ABRAHAM DESTROYED

Radical Wahabis destroyed a shrine commemorating Abraham's stay in the Ebla area of Syria.  Muslims consider Abraham a prophet but the Wahabis are opposed to many mosques and sites other Muslims consider special.  Wahabis have destroyed other sites as well.

OBAMA'S CHICAGO WAY

From John Fund at the National Review.

That media failure continued throughout Obama’s first term. Perhaps now, as Obama’s “Chicago Way” is coming into focus, the media will want to redeem itself. With Obama, it’s become all too clear: You can take the politician away from the machine, but you can’t take the machine out of the politician.

Can you ever take the Chicago machine out of the politician?

WHITE HOUSE VISITORS

This is an interesting graph.  The government official visiting the White House the most was the IRS Commissioner, Douglas Shulman. . .and he isn't even a cabinet member!  Why would the president want to visit more with a non-cabinet official than his cabinet appointees?  The IRS is supposed to be non-political.

The IRS Commissioner only visited the White House once in the Bush years.

NORTH AMERICAN OIL & THE FUTURE OF SAUDI ARABIA

As sources of oil in North America increase, it will put pressure on Saudi Arabia's oil dependent economy.  If new discoveries of oil in North American indeed reach production levels predicted, the price of oil would go down creating severe budget problems for Saudi Arabia's bureaucratic-oriented economy.  And this raises more issues for the Middle East.

Current trends in the global energy market don't look good for Saudi Arabia. First, the International Energy Agency projected in November 2012 that the United States will surpass the Gulf petrogiant as the world's top energy producer by 2020. Then, last week, it revealed that North America, buoyed by the rapid development of its unconventional oil industry, is set to dominate global oil production over the next five years. These unforeseen developments not only represent a blow to Saudi Arabia's prestige but also a potential threat to the country's long term economic well-being -- particularly in the post-Arab Spring era of elevated per-capita government spending.

According to the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation, the breakeven price is currently $94 per barrel, less than the current spot price for Brent crude. (Iran needs oil to be at $125 per barrel to break even, which explains the feud between Iran and Saudi Arabia within OPEC.)  But absent deep political reforms that create new sources of income, the breakeven price will surely grow. According to Riyadh-based Jadwa Investment, one of the world's most important knowledge bases on Saudi Arabia's economy, by 2020 the breakeven price will reach $118 per barrel. At this point, the Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency's cash reserves will begin to drain rapidly and the breakeven price will soar to $175 a barrel by 2025 and to over $300 by 2030. And this cuts to the heart of the dilemma: In order to balance its budget in the future, Saudi Arabia will need to either drill more barrels and sell them for lower prices or drill fewer barrels -- actively reducing global supply -- and sell each at a higher price.

THE PRESS & OBAMA

From the liberal Daily Beast--pretty critical of the press as it deals with the administration's scandals.

. . .and yet there is an entire class of journalist so invested in a certain moral and ethical image of the president its members are unable to entertain facts that might tarnish that image. They are the pro-Obama equivalent of Birthers, never letting emerging facts cloud the conclusion they’ve already committed to hold.

It’s disheartening to see the Obama administration attack the press in unprecedented ways and the reaction from the press is to accept that blame and then go forth to explain to the world that the president isn’t really like this. Most of the time he is a good guy. He loves us, honestly. He just has these moods.

DEATH OF THE DOLLAR?

From CNBC.  The average person does not focus on this issue but if the dollar loses its preeminence as a world reserve currency, it will require extensive belt-tightening by Washington in order to pay off the massive debt the US has accumulated.

The U.S dollar is shrinking as a percentage of the world's currency supply, raising concerns that the greenback is about to see its long run as the world's premier denomination come to an end.

"The No. 1 security issue we have as a nation is the preservation of the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency," said Michael Pento, president of Pento Portfolio Strategies. "It's a thousand times more important than a nuclear bomb being tested by North Korea. It's a thousand times more important that we keep the dollar as the world's reserve currency, and yet we are doing everything to abuse that status."

DANGEROUS TRENDS IN THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY

Both Bush and Obama have extended presidential powers beyond what is appropriate.  Ron Fournier raises the issue of  how these powers could be misused by a future president.  Both liberal Democrats and Republicans have been short-sighted when it comes to protecting the American people from presidential overreach.

Think about it, liberals. What if there is a president in your lifetime who is more conservative than Bush? What if that commander in chief is empowered, as were Bush and Obama, by a national tragedy and a compliant Congress? Your guy Obama has armed a president-turned-zealot with dangerous powers and precedents.

Think about it, conservatives. It may be maddening to listen to Obama tie himself into knots over the balance between liberty and freedom, but what if the next Democratic president sees no limit on a commander in chief's powers? What if he or she doesn't give a whit about offending the mainstream media?

THE REPORTER THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HATES

From Politico.  A CBS reporter, Sharyl Atkinson, is doggedly trying to find the truth in some of the actions of the Obama administration and is finding herself dismissed because of a supposed "political agenda."  There are very few mainstream media reporters asking the tough questions, but she certainly is one.

BRITISH WELFARE STATE SUPPORTS JIHADISTS

Advocates of jihad in Great Britain receive $38,000 a year in welfare payments.  British soldiers only earn $24,000 a year! It looks like a system ready to destruct and destroy itself.

OBAMA: NOT NIXON BUT HARDING

John Dean has a column at Bloomberg arguing that comparisons of Obama scandals to the Nixon era are wrong, but that he could be compared to the presidency of Warren G. Harding.  While normally one would not want to be compared to Harding, I think the case can be made that Obama is not personally involved in some of these scandals.  But certainly his advisors have done him a disservice.

PRITZKER: NEW COMMERCE SECRETARY

From TaxProf blog. Commerce Nominee Sails Through Confirmation Hearing Despite Not Reporting $80 Million Income, Offshore Tax Shelters.  I thought Romney was criticized for tax shelters and possible off-shore investments?  Oh well, Pritzker is a Democrat.

IRS RAID

In 2011 the IRS raided Gibson Guitar for allegedly using illegally imported wood.  The execs at Gibson had contributed to Republicans.  Its competition, C.F. Martin & Co., also used the wood, but its execs contributed to Democrats--it was not raided.  Now it is clear why Gibson was raided--it supported the wrong political party.  Chicago politics.

OBAMA AND MEDIA

From The Week:  I haven't been keeping track but the Obama administration has changed its story about the IRS 5 times. It looks like a White House with advisors who don't know how to handle a controversy.

For instance, the White House has changed its story at least five times on who knew what and when on the IRS' targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, and suddenly reporters are keeping score. Politico's Reid Epstein offered readers a timeline of Carney stories to prevent confusion. National Journal's Ron Fournier wrote that he "desperately want to believe [White House strategist Dan] Pfeiffer" when he issued denial after denial on Sunday talk shows on all of the scandals facing the Obama administration, but "the White House can't be trusted." At the Huffington Post, NBC analyst Howard Fineman scoffed at the idea that the White House knew nothing about the IRS' activities. Given the talent in the West Wing, "it's hard to imagine that the Obama inner circle was oblivious to the issue of what the IRS was doing in Cincinnati," Fineman concluded.

OBAMA AND NIXON: PRESS FREEDOM

James C. Goodale in the New York Times: 

The search warrant filed to investigate the Fox News reporter James Rosen proved as many had suspected: President Obama wants to make it a crime for a reporter to talk to a leaker. It is a further example of how President Obama will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom.

The government's subpoena of The Associated Press's phone records was bad enough. But the disclosure of the search warrant in the Rosen case shows President Obama has delved into territory never before reached by previous presidents.

Obama, worse then Nixon!  And this is from a liberal.

BRITISH SOLDIER BEHEADED IN LONDON

Pretty chilling account.  Don't think this will be on the evening news.  Another report here.

IRS: A PERSONAL STORY

From National Review.  What happened when Democrats and then the IRS, OSHA, the FBI, and ATF dealt with a business woman who started a Tea Party group.  Government bureaucracy used for political ends.

GLOBAL WARMING: NOT HAPPENING?

From the BBC.  Global warming has been "at a standstill" since 1998.  Yet we have Al Gore and others preaching this as a fact.  A number of research articles are quoted.

IRS SCANDAL

From TaxProf blog:  A summary of the developments in the IRS scandal involving holding conservative, religious, pro-life, and Tea Party groups to different standards than liberal, Democrat groups seeking tax exemption status. Liberal politics in the IRS. 

And Obama first heard about the scandal (SNL version--"The same sources as his aunt.") on TV.  What kind of advisors does he have?

Liberal Democrat Senator McCaskill (MO) calls for all IRS officials involved in scandal to be fired.

Obama officials knew of IRS scandal during 2012 election but hid the details because of the election. The Treasury Department also knew in 2012.

IRS TREATED LIBERAL GROUPS DIFFERENTLY

From USA Today. While the IRS was asking for much more information about "Tea Party" groups, it was approving liberal groups without asking for the same information.

Tim Carney.   IRS employees overwhelming donate more to liberal Democrats. . .and some employees are activist Democrats.

In the past three election cycles, the Center for Responsive Politics' database shows about $474,000 in political donations by individuals listing "IRS" or "Internal Revenue Service" as their employer.

This money heavily favors Democrats: $247,000 to $145,000, with the rest going to political action committees. (Oddly, half of those GOP donations come from only two IRS employees, one in Houston and one in Annandale, Va.).

Did Harry Reid get Romney's tax returns from the IRS?  In the 2012 election Reid was talking like he knew what was on Romney's returns--supposedly he hadn't paid taxes for 10 years.

Investor's Daily. 

Obama joked about auditing enemies in 2009. 

Christian, conservative, and pro-Israel groups refused tax exemptions but not Muslim groups.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE

From the Daily Beast.  A discussion of student debt and how it has a bigger impact at third and fourth tier institutions.  Online will not be the savior of weakening institutions. 

The colleges with the most to conceal tend to be expensive 2nd- and 3rd-tier private institutions. For instance, 85 percent of students from Ohio Northern graduated with debt averaging almost $49,000, while the median starting salary for graduates is just $44,800. Compare these figures with the statistics for Princeton, where the average debt is $5,225 for the 23 percent of graduates with any debt, while the median starting salary is $56,900.

Adjuncts anxious about job security have realized that giving higher grades improves their student evaluations, which often determine whether they remain employed. The “resortification” of colleges also encourages students to view themselves as customers, and instructors as retail workers employed to serve them. The A is now the most common grade on college campuses nationwide; it accounts for roughly 43 percents of all grades given. Meanwhile, results of the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a test used by more than 500 colleges to measure academic progress, reveal that 36 percent of students make absolutely no improvement in writing, complex reasoning, or critical thinking during four years of college.

EVANGELIZING CHRISTIANITY IN SAUDI ARABIA

A Lebanese man who encoruaged a Saudi women to convert to Christianity received 60 lashes.

OBAMA ON RADICALIZATION OF ISLAM

According to Alan Johnson Obama is right on some things and has underestimated other issues that lead to radicalization.  Johnson also proposes that it is not just government that radicalizes, but that family and community also matter.

The battle of ideas against radical political Islamism of the kind that influenced the Tsarnaev brothers is tough for three reasons. First, we are talking about a systemof ideas, an ideology, which is notoriously difficult for the neophyte to contest. Second, these are sacralized systems of ideas, ideologies upon which lingers the whiff of incense, and these are near-impossible for a non-expert to critique. Third, there are some points of support in the wider intellectual culture—not for terrorism, but for an inchoate negativism in the form of anti-Americanism, anti-Westernism, and conspiratorialism. The Islamist recruiters know how to surf that wave, believe me.

CNN: ROMNEY RELIGIOUS FANATIC

An interesting video of the Piers Morgan show on CNN:  it shows the difference in cultural values between Romney, a Mormon who quotes the Bible, and a panel composed of secularists.

SATIRE ON SOVIET COMMUNISM

Rap music put to the history of Soviet Russia.  The language is a bit crude, but really quite good historical interpretation.

CHINESE CREATE SUPER VIRUS

Why in the world do Chinese scientists need to create a super bird-flu virus?  Researchers can't even cure some of the current strains.  It is like biological warfare has begun.  Washington is worried about guns when maybe it should be focused on chemical and biological weapons of the future.

Senior scientists have criticised the “appalling irresponsibility” of researchers in China who have deliberately created new strains of influenza virus in a veterinary laboratory.


They warned there is a danger that the new viral strains created by mixing bird-flu virus with human influenza could escape from the laboratory to cause a global pandemic killing millions of people.

ARE CHRISTIANS LIKE JESUS OR THE PHARISEES?

From Barna. 

One of the common critiques leveled at present-day Christianity is that it’s a religion full of hypocritical people. A new Barna Group study examines the degree to which this perception may be accurate. The study explores how well Christians seem to emulate the actions and attitudes of Jesus in their interactions with others.

51% of Christians are in the Pharisaical category!

MUSLIMS WANT SHARIA LAW

From Reuters.  Extensive polling on a number of issues from the Pew polls.

Large majorities in the Muslim world want the Islamic legal and moral code of sharia as the official law in their countries, but they disagree on what it includes and who should be subject to it, an extensive new survey says.

Suicide bombing was mostly rejected In the study by the Washington-based Pew Forum, but it won 40 percent support in the Palestinian territories, 39 percent in Afghanistan, 29 percent in Eygpt and 26 percent in Bangladesh.

UN OFFICIAL BLAMES US FOR BOSTON BOMBING

I have seen Falk's comments at other news accounts, but this one gives a bit more detail.  What was interesting is that this fellow still gets the UN appointment and has a career after describing the Ayatollah Khomeini as a moderate back in 1979. . .and 9/11 was a US government conspiracy.

The United Nations official who angered critics by blaming the Boston Marathon bombing on “American global domination” will keep his post, because not enough other countries took offense at his comments.

OBAMACARE

Democrat leaders in Congress were seeking a way to get around Obamacare while sticking the rest of the country with it.

HYPOCRISY IN BOSTON TERRORIST RESPONSE

From Howie Carr at the Boston Herald.  Suppose the marathon bombings had been committed by born-again Christian Tea Party members on the dole.  Do you really think that Gov. Deval Patrick would be hanging on to those terrorists’ welfare files even tighter than he clutches Lt. Gov. Tim Murray’s state cellphone logs from the morning of Nov. 3, 2011?

INSIDE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

A tell-all book is coming out!  It is not going to make the administration look as noble as the media presents it. A lot of hypocrisy.

A column on the "hubris" of Obama. Even as the nation’s workers wilted under a struggling economy and high unemployment, Obama decided to take two round excursions to Hawaii at taxpayer expense over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Just six weeks later, he jetted down to Florida for a luxury four-day golf vacation where he played with Tiger Woods. Meanwhile Michelle Obama also took another vacation, skiing in Colorado.

CHICAGO POLITICIANS SEEKING GANG SUPPORT

Chicago politicians are seeking help from gangs.  Chicago is going to look like Colombia or worse. Gangs will end up controlling the city council.  Money is also flowing from gangs to politicians.
 
The gang representatives were interested in electing aldermen sympathetic to their interests and those of their impoverished wards. As for the politicians, says Baskin, their interests essentially boiled down to getting elected or reelected. “All of [the political hopefuls] were aware of who they were meeting with,” he says. “They didn’t care. All they wanted to do was get the support.”

While they typically deny it, many public officials—mostly, but not limited to, aldermen, state legislators, and elected judges—routinely seek political support from influential street gangs. Meetings like the ones Baskin organized, for instance, are hardly an anomaly. Gangs can provide a decisive advantage at election time by performing the kinds of chores patronage armies once did.

NEW YORK SCHOOL BOARD & HOMOSEXUALITY

Girls asked to give lesbian kiss at school lesson.

QUESTIONS ABOUT US ANTI-TERRORISM EFFORTS

We are in the best of hands. I will be adding to this thread as I see articles on the possible failures of Washington to deal with terrorism.

WAPO:  "Is  the FBI Focused Enough on the Real Bad Guys?"

WAPO:  "CIA Pushed to Add Boston Bomber to Terrorist Watch List."  It did this more than a year ago.  The FBI appears to have ignored it.

Austin Statesman:   "Report:  Federal Agency Charged with Oversight of Fertilizer Plant Security in Disarray."

Wall Street Journal:  "Boston Suspect Was Put on Two Watch Lists."   Are these watch lists really meaningful?

Volokh:   "Why Wasn't Tsarnaev Searched at the Border?"

Mother of suspects was on terrorist watch list.  "If they were seeking asylum, why did they keep flying back and forth to their native country?"

BOSTON MOSQUE: RADICAL TIES

USA Today.

The mosque attended by the two brothers accused in the Boston Marathon double bombing has been associated with other terrorism suspects, has invited radical speakers to a sister mosque in Boston and is affiliated with a Muslim group that critics say nurses grievances that can lead to extremism. 

Several people who attended the Islamic Society of Boston mosque in Cambridge, Mass., have been investigated for Islamic terrorism, including a conviction of the mosque's first president, Abdulrahman Alamoudi, in connection with an assassination plot against a Saudi prince.

UN: BOSTON HAD IT COMING

From Powerline.

OBAMA & GREEN ENERGY

Government money was given Fisker automotive to develop a "green" car even when the administration knew the company was in financial trouble.  $200 million down the drain.  Another Solyndra.

FBI & HOMELAND SECURITY BLEW IT ON BOSTON TERRORISTS

From The Hill:  Both agencies seem to have failed to pick up warning signs about the Tsarneav brothers.

And Russia alerted US agencies a number of times and no one seemed to be listening.

OBAMA BUDGET GOES AFTER THE MIDDLE CLASS

He promised taxes would not rise on the middle class.

But his annual budget is doing more to target middle-class taxpayers than any of his previous proposals, calling for caps on deductions, changes in the way some tax benefits are calculated and a big hike in cigarette taxes — all proposals that would make middle-class Americans pay more.

“The president keeps breaking his campaign pledge to not tax the middle class — first with his health care law and now with these tax hikes in his budget,” Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top GOP member on the Finance Committee, told POLITICO. “As I’ve said before, when it comes to this White House and its penchant for wanting to raise taxes, everyone — including those middle-class families the president says he wants to help — needs to watch their wallets.”

JEW HATRED

You don't see this covered in the mainstream media.  A Jew was attacked by a Muslim on a New York City subway.

A harrowing scene occurred recently on the New York City subway when a group of teens approached and harassed a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke. The ringleader, a self-identified Muslim teen, threatened to kill the man and added, “They should have killed all of you.” When police confronted the belligerent 17-year-old at a stop in Brooklyn, a mob formed. As the crowd filmed the scene and yelled at the policemen, one young woman began beating a cop before being arrested.

GOD OR ATHEISM?

Philosopher Peter Kreeft discusses the issues involved in this debate.

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.