"DEMOGRAPHY AS DESTINY"

This is a post from Instanpundit:  I have been watching demographic statistics for the last few years (including those from the UN).  It is hard to believe that people do not see the ramifications of this trend, even in the United States.

DEMOGRAPHY AS DESTINY:

In Japan, birthrates are now so low and life expectancy so great that the nation will soon have a    demographic profile that matches that of the American retirement community of Palm Springs. “Gradually but relentlessly,” the demographer Nick Eberstadt writes in the latest issue of The Wilson Quarterly, “Japan is evolving into a type of society whose contours and workings have only been contemplated in science fiction.”

Funny how the warnings of demographers are laughed off, while the warnings of climate scientists produce immediate calls for action. But what’s most revealing to me is the kind of sentiment displayed in the comments to the piece, such as “There are a DISGUSTING number of people on this earth.” And: “This column is nothing more than a thinly veiled attack on a woman’s right to choose.”
And, unsurprisingly, this triumph of eliminationist hate speech:
Call me an America-hating but what better than declining birth rate among a ‘pathogen on the planet’ (Caldicott), hurling pan-global wars & arms & political meddling for its amerigoon-exceptionalist empire promoting a culture of Greed-Uber-Alles. More fundaMentalist Biblicalism we’re all so over?
Oikophobia lives. And Bob Zubrin is clearly on to something. Of course, quoting Helen Caldicott is an immediate I Am An Idiot! marker. . . .

ROMAN CATHOLIC AD

I think this is a bit long for an ad, but it is an interesting production visually.  And I can't ever remember a clip like this from a Roman Catholic group in an election campaign.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN AD

The implication is that Romney would not have been tough enough to take Osama bin Laden out. . .but Obama was tough enough.

ATHEIST-ISLAMIST CONFRONTATION

I was wondering when something like this would happen--counter demonstrations.

REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN AD

This is going to be a tough campaign.

EATING DOG SATIRE

A satire on Obama eating dog in Indonesia. I don't know how many times this scene has been used to comment on some issue.

OBAMA GEOGRAPHY GAFFE: MALVINAS OR MALDIVES OR FALKLANDS?

Obama gets the Malvinas and the Maldives mixed up. I thought this was what George Bush or Joe Biden was supposed to do.

And the Brits are upset because they are supporting him in Afghanistan, but he is not supporting them in the Falklands (or the Maldives if you are President Obama).

This is pretty strong language (from The Telegraph in the UK): For all its PR spin during the Cameron visit, when the prime minister was blatantly used as an election prop and a fundraising foil for Obama’s re-election campaign, the Obama administration could not care less for the Special Relationship. If Mr Obama really believed in the alliance with Britain he would be actively siding with the British people over the Falklands, instead of continuing to appease Buenos Aires and its South American cohorts, including Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela.

GATHERING POLITICAL DATA

Market research along with social media reveals much about both potential Republican and Democrat voters.

Like so many other aspects of today's political landscape, the debate over microtargeting reflects a clash of two intractable American values: the struggle for individuality, and the desire for privacy. What Gage calls "Big Data," others would call Big Brother. We're social animals, tweeting every trenchant and insipid thought, but, somehow, we still prize anonymity. We're more open than ever, but less trusting. We want things to be easy -- Amazon, tell us which book to buy, Pandora, which song to play -- but we don't want it done behind our backs. Because that makes us feel stupid and tricked.

THE PROTESTANT ETHIC

The impact of religion on the economy from Forbes.

But perhaps the most important difference over time may be the impact of religion on family formation, with weighty fiscal implications. In virtually every part of the world, religious people tend to have more children than those who are unaffiliated

Organized religion provides a counterweight to the European notion that we must rely on government for everything. Poor people educated or fed by the charities of mosques, churches, and synagogues relieves some of the burden faced by our variously tottering states and shredding social welfare nets.

OBAMA & RUSSIANS

No Russian shakes Obama's outstretched hand. What does this mean? It is so obvious.


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

MOSES WAS A MUSLIM

Interesting.

ISRAEL & ABZERBAIJAN

Israel and Azebaijan may have secret military agreement.

Why does it matter? Because Azerbaijan is strategically located on Iran's northern border and, according to several high-level sources I've spoken with inside the U.S. government, Obama administration officials now believe that the "submerged" aspect of the Israeli-Azerbaijani alliance -- the security cooperation between the two countries -- is heightening the risks of an Israeli strike on Iran.

OBAMA'S HIDDEN AGENDA AFTER HIS REELECTION?

In discussions with Medvedev Obama is asking for "space" until the elections are finished before dealing with the Russians on missile defense. He believes he can exhibit more flexibility after the election. So the issue is how much will he give up to the Russians after his reelection? Legal Insurrection comments on the implications of Obama's apparent attempt at being less than honest with the American public on his future plans.

And on gay rights evidently he is delaying until after his reelection to come out in support of it. The Atlantic Monthly says he doesn't want to lose black votes in November 2012 (black voters overwhelmingly oppose it).

COLLEGE IS TOO EASY

Clarence Page writing in the Chicago Tribune: 36 percent of students made no significant learning gains in critical thinking and communication skills from their freshman to senior years.

DANISH HUMORIST MOCKS OBAMA'S RHETORIC

I don't think you would see this on Colbert or the Daly Show.

AMERICAN AND RADICAL ISLAM IN TUNISIA

Democratic forces in Tunisia believe the US State Department is helping radical Muslims take control of the government.

Radical Islamists are making inroads in the Arab world's most advanced, liberal, and tolerant country. And the secularists think the United States is helping them do it.

BUDGET PROJECTIONS

SUMMER 2011 BUDGET TALKS

Mickey Kaus ran as a Democrat in the last California primary which makes this an interesting analysis of how Obama blew last summer's debt negotiations with the Republicans. He quotes a Washington Post article which says Obama and the Republicans were close to a deal when Obama upped the ante.

VOTER GLOOM

The numbers are not good for Obama. Voters do not have confidence that America is headed in the right direction. If the Republicans had a strong candidate, it would be all over for Obama in November.

OBAMA ON IRAN

In 2004 Obama supported bombing Iran; now he does not--what changed?