Racial hatred: Black American youths in Wisconsin acting like Nazis

House of Zathras links to reports about gangs of Black youths attacking whites outside the Wisconsin State Fair. Looks like this media outlet is trying to report thoroughly what happened. We had similar late-night incidents in downtown Denver last year.

Inexplicables

Victor Davis Hanson asks

Does buying a $40,000 ticket to the president’s 50th birthday party mean that one is exempt from the presidential invective against “millionaires and billionaires” and “corporate jet owners”? As a general rule, the more I hear of such carping, the more I assume the whiner covets what he so childishly is obsessed with ending.

He also asks if it makes sense that the entire illegal immigration debate is couched in terms of anger toward the United States.

Don't answer the doorbell!

Via Instapundit

Warnings

This summer I have been re-reading two politically-oriented books. Mark Steyn's America Alone must be the best book written in the last decade about the political shape of the world. He gives us many examples of the threat of Islamic Jihad. At the end of his book he gives ten suggestions as to how we can cope with the threat of Islam. Appeasement is not one of them.

He writes about the importance of demographics, and predicts what effect demographics will have on various countries in the future. For example, Japan has a dangerously low birthrate and no immigration. Europe countries all have dangerously low birthrates, and hordes of Muslims living on welfare. Of course, the reason they can afford to have welfare states is that the United States has been providng for their defense.

Mark has a new book coming out this fall entitled After America. Scary title! America, of course, during the last decade has gone down a path of fiscal irresponsibility and welfare state politics. I doubt if Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama will fare well in Mark's new book.

Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism warns us of the historically totalitarian direction leftist politicians from Mussolini to Hitler to Woodrow Wilson to F.D.R. have taken their countries. He also reminds us of the Black Power and SDS and Weathermen thugs who took over universities. Who was the one politician you remember who stood up to the campus fascists? Ronald Reagan, Governor of California!

"Thank God for the Atom Bomb!"

"When the atom bombs were dropped and news began to circulate that "Operation Olympic" would not, after all, be necessary, when we learned to our astonishment that we would not be obliged in a few months to rush up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being machine-gunned, mortared, and shelled, for all the practiced phlegm of our tough facades we broke down and cried with relief and joy. We were going to live. We were going to grow to adulthood after all."
Ace linked to an essay by a World War II soldier, who thought he was going to have to land on the beaches of Japan. Then, news of the dropping of the atom bomb on August 6, 1945 reached the soldiers, who believed they would never experience a full adulthood. The writer points out that Harry Truman was the only president in our lifetime who "had experience in a small unit of ground troops whose mission it was to kill people." "Having found the bomb," Truman said, "we have used it...we have used it to shorten the agony of young Americans." Read the whole essay here.

First it was ADHD: now it's Bipolar Disorder!

Dr. Joy Bliss writes regularly at the Maggie's Farm blog. I really enjoy her posts. This one may be one of her best.

The last fad diagnosis was ADHD: every little boy who didn't act like a good little girl had it. Now, it is Bipolar Disorder for all kids with unruly emotions. In Newsweek, Mommy, Am I Really Bipolar?

A quote from the article:

I believe... that there is no scientific evidence to support the belief that bipolar disorder surfaces in childhood. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case: the evidence against the existence of pediatric bipolar disorder is so strong that it’s difficult to imagine how it has gained the endorsement of anyone in the scientific community. And the effect of this trendy thinking can have devastating consequences. Such children are regularly prescribed medications that are not effective in kids and have unwelcome side effects.


Diagnostic faddishness is rampant in Psychiatry, and an embarassment to the field. Why does it occur? It occurs because our descriptive diagnostic categories are so elastic, and so fundamentally unvalidated, that there is room for much mischief. Not to mention that the drug companies always welcome new opportunities to sell their wares.

First, guns; now, cocaine?

"U.S. federal agents allegedly allowed the Sinaloa drug cartel to traffic several tons of cocaine into the United States in exchange for information about rival cartels, according to court documents filed in a U.S. federal court."
Via Instapundit

Chemistry 101

Did you know that Mexico drug cartels already control most of the marijuana, cocaine, and heroin that enters into the U.S.? Well, now they are "fast becoming kings of methamphetamines." The same is true for other "synthetic" drugs like ecstacy, and over 40 other synthetic drugs now popular among druggies. These drugs can be produced in only a few hours, compared to the months it takes to grow marijuana, for example. And, they can always depend on China to supply them with the chemicals they need. An estimated 41,000 people have been killed in Mexican drug wars since 2006.

"Deliver me from evil"

Do you believe in the Devil? C.S. Lewis was asked that question in an interview with Time Magazine in 1947. He answered, "There is no uncreated being except God. God has no opposite. The proper question is whether I believe in devils. I do. That is to say, I believe in angels, and I believe that some of these, by the abuse of their free will, have become enemies to God. Satan, the leader or dictator of devils, is the opposite, not of God, but of Michael."

In my ignorance of the Old Testament, I had to look up Michael in Wikipedia, and found that he is considered an archangel in Christian, Jewish and Islamic tradition!

I have been reading the Gospel of Luke to my sons at night. Jesus did a lot of healing of people who were possessed with demons. I saw a young teen in Wal-Mart the other day who seemed possessed. He could not stop himself from making loud noises. I thought if Jesus were physically there He would have healed the boy, if the boy or his caretakers had shown faith in Him.

I know there is Evil in the world. I pray to God daily to lead me away from evil, which for me is to feel sorry for myself. I ask for an attitude of gratitude, a connection to God's eternal joy and bliss, and an ability to uplift those with whom I come into contact.

"Lewis noted the failures born from mankind's fallen nature. But he believed in the power of Jesus Christ to overcome sin, death and Satan, and the optimism of faith and hope."

"For as St. John declared, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. . . . The one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him."

They like us better than we like ourselves!

The Pew Global Attitudes Project has done some interesting research as to how America is viewed around the world. It turns out that the people of Japan (85%) and Kenya (83%) view America more favorably than we view ourselves (79%)! On the bottom of the graph we find ourselves not being liked very much by Palestinians and Jordanians, and the people of Pakistan and Turkey. Hmm, what do those four countries have in common?
Via Ace

Important Numbers

U.S. unemployment rate now 9.4. Mexico unemployment rate now 4.9!
Mexico's birthrate is also declining sharply. "As a natural consequence of us transforming from a rural to an urban society, we are running out of Mexicans to export," González Gutiérrez said. "Our society's growing at a rate of 2.1 children per woman – in the 1970s it was more than five."

Question: How many American women have gotten pregnant by Mexicans who have come to America? My impression is that the birthrate among those women in America is higher than the numbers cited above of those women who remain in Mexico.
Via Ace

Hope and Change

Scientists have found a drug that can fire up brain cells (neurons) that elderly rhesus macaques monkeys had ceased using as they grew older. As Instapundit would say, "Faster Please." The article Instapundit linked to in National Geographic states: "Chemicals given to rhesus macaques blocked a brain molecule that slows the firing of the brain's nerve cells, or neurons, as we age — prompting those nerve cells to act young again."

V.P. Biden complains about debt deal

Joe Biden is not too happy about the deal on the debt. He whines that the Tea Party Republicans "acted like terrorists." Well, at least I guess it is now okay to use the term "terrorists!" Politico has the story here.
Via Instapundit
UPDATE: By a margin 269 to 161, with 66 Republicans voting no and 95 Democrats voting yes, the House passed the debt-ceiling bill today.

A man of character and good humor

This Saturday anyone who has ever been a fan of Denver Broncos football, or who appreciates people of good humor and impeccable character, will want to hear the speech given by Shannon Sharpe as he is inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
If you want to read a sweet story, please go here to read what Denver Post sportswriter Mike Klis wrote today about Shannon, who was raised by his grandmother in this
cinder block home with concrete floors in rural Georgia. His grandmother died this month in the nursing home where she had worked while raising her own nine children and Shannon and his brother and sister. Shannon has been determined never to embarrass his grandmother. Now he is sure she will be listening to his speech Saturday, and most of it will be about his grandmother. What a wonderful man of character and good humor.

No one should be surprised.

Ann Althouse is reporting that tens of thousands of Egyptians poured out into Tahir Square today chanting "Islamic, Islamic, neither secular nor liberal." I am rereading Mark Stein's marvelous book America Alone. Mark writes much about the rising political power of Islam throughout the world. I highly recommend the book.

"First tentative steps toward fiscal sanity"

Jennifer Rubin is reporting in the Washington Post that a deal has been agreed to in Washington. The president gets a deal through 2012, the House gets one trillion in cuts up front, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gets his bipartisan commission to recommend another 1.8 trillion in cuts. Nothing yet on paper.

Crowder on bailouts

Via Instapundit

"The first genuine political victory for the economic wing of the Tea Party"

Contrary to the impression we get from the lame stream media, David Harsanyi writes here that Washington is actually working "a lot better than it used to." By that he means that since the White House and both Houses of Congress are no longer controlled by one party, we are actually seeing vigorous debate and critical thinking about how to solve the nation's fiscal problems that were created by Congress and the White House when one party marched us right off the "ideological cliff."

"Those we call political extremists are often just extremely crazy."

Right-of-center Cal Thomas and left-of-center Froma Harrop both have important things to say about Anders Breivik. Thomas points out that police and journalists are calling him a "Christian fundamentalist," although these same groups never refer to Islamic terrorists as "Muslim fundamentalists," for fear of angering Islamists. Thomas also points out that Norway forbids civilians from carrying concealed weapons, or owning automatic weapons, unless they are gun collectors. I remember that at Columbine High School here in Colorado, and at Virginia Tech, the campuses were "gun free zones."

Harrop also criticizes those in the media who call Breivik a "right-winger." She is irritated by the media's need to put this into a political framework and ask irrelevant questions such as "What did he want?" There are legitimate debaters on both the right and the left who are concerned about multi-culturalism and immigration issues, and to put this insane man in the middle of those debates does both sides a disservice and "distorts the views" of sane people who have similar concerns.

"Evil incarnate"

Bret Stephens takes a stab at pinpointing what is Anders Breivik in today's Wall Street Journal. Obviously, Breivik is neither Christian nor conservative, as lame stream media writers have hastened to paint him. Stephens says Breivik's worldview is "fundamentally geared toward hastening an apocalypse." Here are some quotes from Stephens piece today:

In a superb new book, "Heaven on Earth: The Varieties of Millennial Experience," Boston University's Richard Landes notes just how pervasive this kind of impulse has been throughout history and across cultures, and how much its many strains—Christian, Marxist, Islamist, Nazi, environmentalist and so on—have in common. Breivik, Mr. Landes says, was of a piece: "Like many active cataclysmic apocalypticists, he believed that the socio-political world is in huge tension, like tectonic plates about to crack, and if he can set off a small explosion in the right place it will unleash far greater forces." In this sense, Mr. Landes adds, "the thing he resembles most is the people he hates."

What it is is millennarian: the belief that all manner of redemptive possibilities lie on just the other side of a crucible of unspeakable chaos and suffering. At his arrest, Breivik called his acts "atrocious but necessary." Stalin and other Marxists so despised by Breivik might have said the same thing about party purges or the liquidation of the kulaks.

These are the politics that have largely defined our age and which conservatives have, for the most part, been foremost in opposing. To attempt to tar them with Breivik's name is worse than a slur; it's a concession to a killer with pretensions of intellectual sophistication. And it's a misunderstanding of what he was all about.

Norway, Europe and probably the U.S. will now have anxious debates about xenophobia, populism and the rise of neofascism. These are worthy topics, but they are incidental to understanding what happened on Friday. What we witnessed was the irruption of an impulse—more psychological than political—that defines a broader swath of the ideological spectrum than most people would care to acknowledge. As for Breivik, there ought to be no question as to what he is: evil incarnate

She is lookin out for her man!

Now here is a woman who deserves every penny of her elderly husband's billions! Someone attempts to throw a foam-pie in Rupert Murdoch's face, but his wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch, in the pink jacket and black skirt, lands a right cross, while another woman and a man join her in blocking the attempt!

Is this threat being ignored?

The mass murder of innocent people in Oslo brings the threat of individual terrorists back onto the front pages. But David Sirota writes here of "a more systemic threat of terrorists or foreign governments exploiting our economy's penchant for job-offshoring. How? By using our corresponding reliance on imports to stitch security-compromising technology into our society's central IT nervous system."

As the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission reported, they could mean "kill switches" secretly implanted in Pentagon systems that control our arsenal. Or they could mean new back doors that allow Chinese military hackers to again breach Defense Department computer networks, as they did in 2007.

Sirota is a lefty, so I don't go all the way down the road with his conclusions, but I am glad he is writing about this subject, because it is a threat to our national security.

Our Creator wants our left brain to know what our right brain is up to!

Over at One Cosmos, Dr. Bob writes about unity.

"A healthy mind seeks unity above all else. It is what the mind does and what it is for. It can also, of course, analyze into parts, but always for the purpose of synthesizing things into a higher and more complex unity. Only a psychotic person prefers to live in a hopelessly sundered world of bizarre and irreconcilable fragments."

"The other day, a fellow named Rush Limbaugh made an astute observation, suggesting that the reason Obama is reduced to such a stuttering prick (to quote Tommy DeVito) when off the teleprompter, is that he is a deeply divided person, either consciously or unconsciously (and undoubtedly both, in our opinion). He is the polar opposite of, say, Ronald Reagan, who always knew what he thought and could answer any question, for it was simply a matter of returning to well thought-out first principles and applying them to the problem in question. Very scientific, if you will. (What he could do about these principles was, of course, constrained by certain realities such as a liberal congress dedicated to expansion of the state.)"

The "responsibility deficit"

John Andrews writes here that "Deficits abound, but it’s ultimately the responsibility deficit that will sink us unless we get a grip. Its symptoms are everywhere – in dishonest pension promises, in sanctimonious politicians with zippers down, in an Obamacare law that embeds big business and big labor with big government, waivers the connected, dehumanizes the patient, cooks the books, and calls it reform."

Summer reading

Betrayal was written by Linda Chavez in 2004. It documents the outrageous political power amassed by public employee unions from 1995 to the present. Workers have been betrayed by their union bosses, according to Chavez, because workers' dues have primarily gone to support the Democratic Party, not to do traditional union stuff like collective bargaining, contract negotiations, and grievance resolution. Things have only gotten worse since the election of Barack Obama.

RUSH was written by Todd Bucholz this year. It is witty and thought-provoking. Buchholz challenges the commonly preached ways that individuals find happiness. He is for competition, capitalism, "the pursuit of love, new knowledge, wealth and status," and risk-taking. "The contented do not grow smarter, they grow moss."

Cooling off

I still think this would be better than what my dog does: plop himself down on top of marigolds, petunias and other garden flowers!
via Finestkind Clinic and fishmarket

"Just another day"

via Julie at A Work in Progress

Not living up to his billing

Jennifer Rubin adds her voice to those who see through the Obama myth.

Unstoppable?

via Invincible Armor

"Overly enthusiastic screening"

Do you think your free expression of views on the web will not be used against you in employment interviews? Think again!

The practice of demogaguery

No one sees through Barack Obama better than Victor Davis Hanson. Historian Hanson gives us a history of demagoguery, then shows how Mr. Obama implements five tried and true tactics used by demagogues throughout history.

1) The use of an incendiary, but otherwise unimportant, example to whip up anger against the so-called establishment classes

Why mention “alligators and moats,” or claim that doctors wantonly lop off limbs and rip out tonsils, or accuse jet-setting corporate grandees of draining the federal Treasury at the expense of “kids’ scholarships”? The president knows full well that the American-Mexican border is only one-third fenced and the influx of illegal aliens is still considerable. He must appreciate that the vast majority of doctors, in this age of promiscuous malpractice suits, do not insist on dangerous and unnecessary surgeries to gouge the patient. And corporate depreciation schedules for personal aircraft reflect a minuscule cost to the Treasury, one analogous perhaps to the tab for personal jet aircraft for those in federal and state government. If the president cannot adduce cogent arguments to oppose increased oil exploration, then he turns to ridiculous anecdotes about the importance of inflating tires, tuning up cars, and trading in 8-mpg clunkers.

2) The demagogic rejection of demagoguery

Recently the president called for a civil, respectful tone among the parties negotiating the looming debt crisis — a sort of prep for tarring his Republican opponents as holding a “gun” to the “head” of his supporters. In fact, for most of Barack Obama’s career we have seen violent similes packaged with Sermon on the Mount forbearance: Divisive language like “bring a gun to a knife fight,” “get in their face,” and “make them sit in the back seat” is always juxtaposed with lofty appeals for no more red-state/blue-state rancor — in a style right out of the best of the fourth-century Athenian demagogues.

In classical times this technique was known as praeteritio and paralipsis — deploring the very sort of tropes that you are about to embrace. Obama adds a concrete manifestation to his rhetoric: damning “fat cat” bankers and then playing golf more than any other modern president as he courts Wall Street, or deriding private jets but using his own presidential jets to junket the first family to Costa del Sol, Vail, and Martha’s Vineyard.

3) The evocation of anonymous straw men, sometimes referred to as “some” or “they”

In the Manichean world of Barack Obama there are all sorts of such demons, mostly unnamed, who insist on extremist politics — while the president soberly and judiciously splits the difference between these fantasy poles. So for the last three years we have heard, but been offered few details, about the perils of both neo-con interventionists and reactionary isolationists, of both profligate big spenders and throw-grandma-over-the-cliff misers, of both socialist single-payer advocates and heartless laissez-faire insurers who shut emergency-room doors to the indigent in extremis — always with the wise Barack Obama plopping down in the middle, trying, for the sake of all the people, to hold onto the golden mean between these artificially constructed zealots.

4) First-person nausea

The demagogue, in messianic fashion, sees himself as a lone crusader taking on special interests, again always on behalf of “the people.” Almost everything is personalized in these cosmic struggles. So, ad nauseam, we hear of the narcissistic “I,” “my,” “mine,” etc., as if the executive branch is but one man of genius and compassion, set against existential challenges and demonic enemies everywhere.

5) Inconsistency of position, predicated on the (always changing) perception of 51 percent majority opinion

At various times, Barack Obama has lashed out at those who wished to refuse to raise the debt limit, although as a senator that is just how he voted. He deplored the polluting effects of big money in campaigns, only to raise more Wall Street cash than anyone else in presidential history — as he became the first candidate to reject the public financing of general-election presidential campaigns and the limitations on fundraising that such four-decade-old laws entailed. He once decried the very idea of not applying the War Powers Act that as president he has completely ignored. He insisted that drilling and increased supply had little effect on oil-price stability — but maintained that releasing a small amount of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve most surely would. The once-demonized Bush protocols — Guantanamo, tribunals, renditions, intercepts, wiretaps, Predators, Iraq, preventive detention — have been embraced or indeed expanded.

There is never a systematic agenda, a defined foreign policy. Instead, amid a fuzzy ideology of hope and change and spread the wealth, almost any position can be embraced one day and summarily rejected the next — no new taxes in December 2010, lots of them in June 2011; shovel-ready stimulus is once essential, but soon proves not so shovel-ready after all; new federal healthcare is mandatory, but so are 1,400 exemptions from it — depending on perceptions of what might win over a majority.

What impresses about Barack Obama is his ability to take an ancient art, refine it with an Ivy League veneer, and become a new, cool version of the old Cleon.

©2011 Victor Davis Hanson

Via Geckofeeder

Wisconsin leads the way

From obesity to anorexia?

A clear majority of American adults are overweight or obese. Magazines and newspapers cover the problem daily. The First Lady is making its prevention one of her chief causes.

Now, however, with Princess Kate gracing the covers of nearly all the magazines, will we turn our attention to the opposite phenomena? Kate, down to 95 pounds, is pregnant. Will her self-starvation lead to a malnourished infant? Here she is talking with actress Nicole Kidman, who is certainly not overweight.

Do we have the gumption to manage our employees?

Here is a reprint of a column written in 1985 that clearly identifies 545 people directly, legally, morally responsible for our nation's difficulties. The only thing I would add is that we the people elect them, except for the nine Supreme Court Justices.

"Raising farm costs by killing bats"

Have you ever thought about the importance of bats sweeping the night sky for bugs that prey on the vegetables and fruits we eat? Neither have I. Here is a blog post telling about how thousands of bats are being killed by wind turbines.

Star Spangled Banner

On the Fourth of July I sent people over to Andy's Place to watch this. Now I have decided I want it on my blog, too. There are some rough spots we all have trouble with, but toward the end there are some absolutely beautiful contributions from these fine soldiers serving in Iraq.

From the viewpoint of a part-time cashier

If I had any money to invest, here are some companies I would think would be attractive. Unilever (Axe products: they have completely cornered the market of young males). They also sell Dove products and Vaseline, among many other products. Hershey not only sells Hershey bars, but also Reese's and Kit Kats. Mars (M&Ms;). Pepperidge Farms (Goldfish crackers). Wrigleys (gum). Living Essentials has a patent pending on 5 Hour Energy. Pepsi and Coke would have to be considered. Cadbury, not only for their chocolates; they also sell Trident gum.

The Finkler Question

I am still enjoying immensely Howard Jacobson's book The Finkler Question. One of the themes of the book is Jews who are ashamed to be identified with Israel. One of the main characters, Samuel Finkler, is asked by a group of Jews in the entertainment industries and in academics to be the leader of a group called ASHamed Jews.

The humor is brilliant. Most Jews identify themselves with the Democratic Party, and with people like Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. They need an outlet to let the world know they are ashamed to be identified with Israel's aggressive self-defense.

Another outstanding feature of Jacobson's writing is the dialogue between characters. A person says something, and then the other person repeats some of the words used by the other character, and takes the conversation in a different direction, putting a new emphasis on the words. I am going to try this out in interactions with people.

Disconnect

TL in Exile writes here about "the lifeblood of the nation."

"Fast and Spurious"

Confused about Operations Fast and Furious and Gunwalker? Mark Steyn explains what happened:

"United States taxpayers were picking up the tab for Mexican drug lords’ weaponry in order that the ATF could identify high-up gun-traffickers. But, as it turns out, these high-up gun-traffickers were already known to other agencies — FBI, DEA, and other big-spending acronyms in the great fetid ooze of federal alphabet soup in which this republic is drowning. And, indeed, some of those high-ups are said to have been paid informants for those various federal agencies. So, in case you’re wondering why Obama’s second annual Recovery Summer is a wee bit sluggish at your end, relax: Stimulus dollars went to fund one federal agency to buy guns for the paid informants of another federal agency to funnel to foreign criminals in order that the first federal agency might identify the paid informants of the second federal agency."

Doug Ross says we need a federal prosecutor.

S.I.E.U. intimidation tactics exposed

We have all read about S.E.I.U.'s influence on the Obama presidency. Now a catering company has sued S.I.E.U. and in the discovery process of the lawsuit, the court has asked S.I.E.U. to produce its manual for intimidation of American businesses. Read about it here.

Sounds of Silence

As the mullahs and Ahmadinejad sprint forward to join the nuclear club, the response from the Obama regime has been, and continues to be silence.

Are they all hypocrites?

Back in 2006 there was a vote in the United States Senate on raising the debt ceiling. It passed 52 to 48. All Democrats, including Senator Obama from Illinois, voted against raising the debt ceiling when George W. Bush was President.

Marco Rubio on the greatness of America

A word of encouragement

"The True Cornerstone has been set. Build."

Declaring victory on behalf of their leader

Is this the "Kloppy Gambit" gone national?

Daring to challenge, daring to unite

Are you a three percenter?

Cisco cams

HP and Cisco systems are combining to ship one-half million surveillance cameras to keep watch on the citizens of Chongqing, China.

Antichrist?

Michele Bachmann officially left her church shortly before announcing for the Presidency. The church was affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which has come under criticism from some Catholics for its views on the papacy, an institution that the denomination calls the Antichrist.

Good move, Michele!

Feet, fork, fingers, sleep, stress, and love

Dr. David Katz blogs here about six things we can do to ensure good health.

I agree.

This blogger says "the prospect of Obama achieving a Supreme Court majority and shaping American life for decades beyond his own disastrous presidency should be at the forefront of Americans’ concerns as the 2012 election approaches."

Your Sunday quiz

via iOwntheWorld

Perry's priorities

Last week Texas Governor Rick Perry resisted efforts by the White House and UN to prevent the execution of this man, who admitted raping and murdering a sixteen-year-old Texas girl.

Hickenlooper: a weather vane?

Colorado's Democrat Governor John Hickenlooper says in an interview with Politico that Obama will have a "very hard" time winning Colorado in 2012.

Default on the narrative!

Jon Caldera suggests that we lower the debt ceiling!

Germany turns to coal and natural gas.

Germany has decided to scuttle nuclear energy by 2022, and plans to use climate fund cash to build up coal and natural gas plants! Why? Because they are experiencing burgeoning electricity demand due to their "still powerful manufacturing economy dependent upon exports."

Do you think he could take on Obama?

Florida Representative Allen West is interviewed about the important issues facing America. "That's why the 2012 election is so important!"

“Of such deals, are Tea Parties born.’’

Jeff Jacoby reminds us that in five and one-half months the 100-watt incandescent light bulb will no longer be legally sold in the United States. The law outlawing the sale of incandescent light bulbs that are used in 85% of American homes was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007. Jacoby explains here why it is an example of "unadulterated crony capitalism."

Three reasons the debt debate is malarky

Who is responsible for our eating habits?

Does "healthy food" (fruits and vegetables) have to be so expensive? David Sirota doesn't think so. In fact, he blames "the ultimate elitists: agribusiness CEOs, their lobbyists and the politicians they own." Sirota alleges that these corporations use "public monies to protect private profit." "Lawmakers whose campaigns are underwritten by agribusinesses have used billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize those agribusinesses' specific commodities (corn, soybeans, wheat, etc.) that are the key ingredients of unhealthy food. Not surprisingly, the subsidies have manufactured a price inequality that helps junk food undersell nutritious-but-unsubsidized foodstuffs like fruits and vegetables. The end result is that recession-battered consumers are increasingly forced by economic circumstance to "choose" the lower-priced junk food that their taxes support."

For example, Sirota points out that the federal government has poured over 50 billion dollars into the corn industry over the last decade. "Corn, of course, is processed into the junk-food staple, corn syrup, and feeds the livestock which produces meat."

I am sure there is truth in Sirota's words. But what responsibility does the individual consumer have? Do we really have to choose the french fries and Coke, the chips and donuts?

Working part-time as a Wal-Mart cashier, I notice that Hispanics of all income levels still buy large quantities of Roma Tomatoes, mangos and jalapeno peppers. People from India now living in the U.S. buy large quantities of other vegetables. Stores that survive cater to the preferences of their customers. No one is "forcing" me to buy junk food. That is a choice, folks.

West and Rubio?

I spoke with a guy today (a scientist). He was telling me that there is a movement to draft Colonel Allen West and Representative Marco Rubio to run as GOP presidential and vice presidential candidates respectively. We could, and probably will, do much worse!

Forgetful?

Memo to the guy who left his opened package of condoms on a shelf at Wal-Mart: I am sure that the toy department was the apppropriate place, size wise, for you to leave it, but next time could you please stop at the cash register and pay for them before leaving the store? Just sayin.

The numbers may be going down slightly, but...

Michael Barone writes here that there is a new reality on the immigration front: Mexicans are staying home. People here illegally, 60% of whom are Mexicans, are now estimated at 11.2 million (2010 numbers), down from the 2007 peak of 12 million, and about the same as 2005 numbers. Barone believes the 2011 numbers are even lower.

Still, 11.2 million is hardly "staying home," is it? It is still a huge negative impact on our health, welfare, food stamps, law enforcement, and education costs.

The left ecstatic, the right embarrassed?

People at The Wall Street Journal and Fox News must be embarrassed to read the allegations of phone-hacking by their sister publication in England, News of the World, owned by News Corp., which also owns Fox and the Wall Street Journal. News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is another who cannot be enjoying the negative publicity. However, the left must be ecstatic, given their hatred of Fox News, which has soundly beaten its rivals in cable news audience ratings. So far nine people have been arrested in England, and the F.B.I. is beginning an investigation in America.

Questions on my mind today

Are we reliable witnesses to our own history? To the extent that we are only able to remember what was done to us, and not what we ourselves have done, I think the answer is no.
How do we rectify the disparity? Do we go around asking everyone we know to tell us how they see us? That might be painful.

Are we persons who always puts ourselves in the most flattering light when we review what has happened to us?

Are we aware of God's presence throughout our day? If so, do we pray that His will be done through us, and ask for His guidance? Do we humble ourselves, ask forgiveness, and forgive others as He has forgiven us?

9.2

This blogger thinks about this scene from Animal House every time a new unemployment number comes out. This week it was 9.2%. Furthermore, he suggests that when Obama does his military service, as suggested for the fraternity members in Animal House, he should volunteer to go to Libya.

Cats summarize all the Harry Potter movies

I have not seen any of the Harry Potter movies. Now I don't have to; these cats have just summarized them for us in one minute.
via Neatorama

By land, sea, air, and the virtual world!

Politico is reporting that 24,000 files were stolen from the Pentagon by a "foreign government" in a "single intrusion" in March. Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn said that the theft included "our most sensitive systems, including aircraft avionics, surveillance technologies, satellite communications systems, and network security protocols.”

Why do I love this story so much?

Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on a couple who had paid cash for their home! The matter went to court and the homeowners proved their case. The judge ordered Bank of America to pay the homeowners' legal fees. Five months later those fees had still not been paid, so the attorney for the homeowners asked the sheriff to seize the bank's assets. Read the whole story here!
Via Redneck Peril

How Russians handle Somali pirates

What is it with us? Why are we fascinated by pirates? Is it similar to our fascination with mobsters when the Godfather movies came out? Why do corporations pay huge ransoms to these criminals?

Apparently the Russians do not share our fascination with pirates. This video shows Russian Navy Commandos taking over a pirate ship after pirates had taken a Russian oil tanker. They handcuffed the pirates to their ship, and blew it up.

Here is more on the story from the blog Bloviating Zeppelin:

The soldiers freed their compatriots and the tanker. The Russian Navy Commandos moved the pirates back to their own (pirate) ship, searched the pirate ship for weapons and explosives and then they left the ship and
exploded it with all remaining pirates hand-cuffed to it. The commandos sank the pirate ship along with the pirates and without any court proceedings, lawyers etc. That is, they used the anti-piracy laws of the 18th and 19th centuries where the captain of the
rescuing ship can decide what to do with the pirates. Usually, they were hanged.

"Bow in humility to rise up in courage.”

Very true, is it not?

Keeping your composure

A woman in a supermarket is following a grandfather and his badly behaved 3 year-old grandson.

It’s obvious to her that he has his hands full with the child screaming for sweets in the sweet aisle, biscuits in the biscuit aisle; and for fruit, cereal and pop in the other aisles.

Meanwhile, Granddad is working his way around, saying in a controlled voice, “Easy, William, we won’t be long, easy, boy.”

Another outburst, and she hears the granddad calmly say, “It’s okay, William, just a couple more minutes, and we’ll be out of here. Hang in there, boy.”

At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and Granddad says again in a controlled voice, “William, William, relax buddy, don’t get upset. We’ll be home in five minutes; stay cool, William.”

Very impressed, the woman goes outside where the grandfather is loading his groceries and the boy into the car.

She said to the elderly gentleman, “It’s none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don’t know how you did it. That whole time, you kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying things would be okay. William is very lucky to have you as his grandpa.”

“Thanks,” said the grandfather, “but I’m William . . . the little s**t’s name is Kevin.”
Via Mostly Cajun, All American, and Opinionated

No shame

Obama to CBS: "I can't guarantee Social Security checks, veterans checks, disability checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out.”

Remember, I control what comments get published.

This is from the blog Caption This. Any thoughts?

Rendezvous

For the last time, the US Space Shuttle has approached the International Space Station (ISS)

Will they find that she did it beyond reasonable doubt?

This woman is accused of doing something very, very evil.

Maybe you should find someone else to heckle!

In surfing the blogosphere today I found this You Tube video of Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, punching a heckler in the jaw in 2002, when Aldrin was 72-years-old.
Via Neptunus Lex

"An abiding sense of underachievement"

Do you have "an abiding sense of underachievement?" Does that explain to some degree our devotion to sports teams? When sports stars suffer the humiliation of defeat and thereby capitulate to the "gods of failure," does that therefore enable each of us in our devotion to them to locate our own sense of underachievement by identifying with theirs?

The quotes are from The Finkler Question by Jacobson. One of the characters in the story, the one who is serially unsuccessful with women, gets mugged...by a woman. He awakens the next morning to "an alien sensation of near cheerfulness" because he suffered a "palpable loss of the theft of actual possessions," as opposed to his usual feeling of a "nagging consciousness of something having gone missing."

Here are some other gems from The Finkler Question.
" beautiful unshaven nose-ringed charity worker with whom he was destined to be happy...or, unhappy; it didn't matter which, so long as it was destined."

"I could use the company, but I can't go through the pain of getting it!"

"At a certain age, men begin to shrink; but yet, it is precisely the same age when their trousers become too short for them! Explain that!"

"We're talking about (raising taxes) in 2013 and the out years."

A new one: "Operation Castaway"

Now we are learning of the possibility that a new scandal may be unfolding concerning arms trafficking to criminal gangs in Honduras. Three members of the House of Representatives have sent the following letter to the Director of I.C.E.:
July 12, 2011

The Honorable John Morton
Director
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Department of Homeland Security
500 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20536

Dear Director Morton:

We are concerned about recent reports that suggest similarities between “Operation Castaway,” a firearms trafficking investigation led by the Tampa Field Offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and “Operation Fast and Furious,” an ATF program that provided firearms to Mexican drug trafficking organizations. Specifically, reports indicate that firearms under “Operation Castaway” may have been provided to dangerous criminal gangs in Honduras, including MS-13.

If true, these reports raise serious questions about the leadership of the ICE and ATF Tampa Field Offices. We support ICE’s efforts to disrupt criminal syndicates that traffic in firearms, drugs, and other illicit substances. However, when those efforts serve to fuel the operations of criminal enterprises through the provision of firearms, they must be stopped and those responsible must be held accountable. In an effort to address this issue, we would appreciate your response to the following questions.

1. What role did ICE agents and leadership play in “Operation Castaway?”

2. Can you confirm whether “Operation Castaway” included a gun walking scheme that allowed weapons to be trafficked to Honduras? If so, have any of these firearms ended up in the possession of the notorious MS-13 gang?

3. How many guns have been allowed to pass into Honduras and how many have since been accounted for?

4. Were these weapons subject to any special monitoring processes once they left the United States?

5. Is “Operation Castaway” still ongoing? If so, are you, in coordination with the ATF, planning to terminate the program?


We find it extremely troubling that the United States government would willfully allow weapons to be acquired by dangerous criminal and drug trafficking organizations, in direct contravention of our strategic and national interests. We look forward to receiving your responses to these questions in a timely manner.

Sincerely,

Gus Bilirakis, U.S. Representative, Florida, 9th District

Michael McCaul, U.S. Representative, Texas, 10th District

Candice Miller, U.S. Representative, Michigan, 10th District
Via Sipsey Street Irregulars

"Gunwalker," "Fast and Furious," explained

The Gunwalker Scandal Made Simple

There are five key accusations against ATF and DOJ made by ATF whistleblowers and other sources within FedGov:
1. That they instructed U.S. gun dealers to proceed with questionable and illegal sales of firearms to suspected gunrunners.
2. That they allowed or even assisted in those guns crossing the U.S. border into Mexico to "boost the numbers" of American civilian market firearms seized in Mexico and thereby provide the justification for more firearm restrictions on American citizens and more power and money for ATF.
3. That they intentionally kept Mexican authorities in the dark about the operation, even over objections of their own agents.
4. That weapons that the ATF let "walk" to Mexico were involved in the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jaime Zapata, as well as at least hundreds of Mexican citizens.
5. That at least since the death of Brian Terry on 14 December, the Obama administration is engaged in a full-press cover-up of the facts behind what has come to be known as the "Gunwalker Scandal."
Via Sipsey Street Irregulars

It is now hitting the fan, folks

Representative Darrell Issa, Chairman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Senator Charles Grassley, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, have, on July 11, 2011 sent this letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, naming twelve current and former members of the Department of Justice who were "unquestionably aware of the implementation of this reckless program." Therefore it is necessary to review communications between and among these senior officials. As such, please provide all records relating to communications between and among the following individuals regarding Operation Fast and Furious:
1. David Ogden, Former Deputy Attorney General;

2. Gary Grindler, Officer of the Attorney General and former Acting Deputy Attorney General;

3. James Cole, Deputy Attorney General;

4. Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General;

5. Kenneth Blanco, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;

6. Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;

7. John Keeney, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;

8. Matt Axelrod, Associate Deputy Attorney General;

9. Ed Siskel, Former Associate Deputy Attorney General;

10. Brad Smith, Office of the Deputy Attorney General;

11. Kevin Carwhile, Section Chief, Capitol Case Unit; and

12. Joseph Cooley, Criminal Fraud Section.

These records should include e-mails, memoranda, briefing papers, and handwritten notes. Additionally, any records related to communications referring to a large firearms trafficking case within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) or in Phoenix should be included in any production.

Please provide this information no later than July 18, 2011, at noon. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact Tristan Leavitt in Ranking Member Grassley's office at (202) 224-5225 or Henry Kerner of Chairman Issa's Committee staff at (202) 225-5074. I look forward to receiving your response.
Via Sipsey Street Irregulars

What have we learned?

Vincent Carroll used to write columns for the Rocky Mountain News. When that paper ceased to operate, The Denver Post did a wise thing; they hired Carroll, whose views always seem to me to be in line with common sense.

Today Carroll asks if the Obama we have seen this week is for real; pretending to want to do something about our debt, while only five months ago offering up a budget that the Congressional Budget Office said would double our debt in ten years.

Carroll's conclusion: "Now we're supposed to believe he's a born-again deficit hawk and budget cutter without peer in either party. If American voters are ready to buy that, then they've learned nothing from the past 30 months."

Kitten versus Pitbull

Via Classical Values

What do you look for in a book?

When I go to the library I like to browse and read book jacket covers to see if a book might have some relevance to my current situation or interests. This week I decided to try a book called The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. Among other qualities, such as "the wisdom and humanity of maturity," the cover said it was funny. I like funny. The older I get, the more I cherish laughter. The book is about three men, two of whom are widowers, and one is so unsuccessful with women, he qualifies as an honorary third widower!

For example, he goes to church one day and sees a woman lighting candles and making the sign of the cross. Of course, he immediately falls in love with her, and assumes she is distraught and in need of his protection. Later, at his house, she confesses that she is "a bit of an arsonist," but assures him that she has no intentions of burning down the church, but just that she is "turned on by flames." The next morning he awakens to two realizations: one, that she is gone; and two, that his sheets are on fire! The way the author tells this story just made me explode with laughter for at least five minutes.

The book on the 2008 election campagns

I finally finished reading Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, the definitive book chronicling the 2008 presidential election campaigns. There is much more about the Democrat campaigns than the Republican campaigns. Obama and the Clintons took up most of the space. It was fun for a news junkie like myself to remember all the most newsworthy events of the primaries and campaigns. The book certainly held my attention unwaiveringly. One cannot help but conclude that the authors were more in tune with the Democrats than they were the Republicans. I think they were probably closer to sources within the Democrat inner circles than they were to Republican sources. Still, there is an amazing amount of inside stuff, reflecting a great deal of hard work by the authors in getting accurate accounts of what happened.