op ed review 1/16
An Army official says Tucson massacre suspect Jared Loughner, who wanted to sign up for military service two years ago, was a "habitual drug abuser." http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/01/jared_loughner_marijuana.php
The local Tucson sheriff who condemned "the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country". was an outspoken opponent last year of Arizona’s immigration legislation calling it racist, "disgusting" and "stupid", and even promising not to enforce it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/10/giffords-shooting-sheriff-rightwing-rhetoric
And the Sheriff’s own office ignored Loughner’s history of public death threats by phone to many people in Pima County including staff of Pima Community College, radio personalities and local bloggers. When Pima County Sheriff's Office was informed, his deputies assured the victims that he was being well managed by the mental health system. It was also suggested that further pressing of charges would be unnecessary
Not wanting to let a good crisis go to waste, MSNBC anchor Richard Lui asked viewers "Is it time to rethink the Second Amendment?"
Conservative talk show host Mark Levin has put out a challenge to those left-wing media personalities accusing conservative talk radio stars and Sarah Palin of encouraging murder. He offers $100,000 to Chris Matthews to find any example where Sarah Palin or Levin himself had "promoted the murder of anybody." This took place shortly after Levin played clips of Matthews suggesting Levin's passionate radio shows were "angry" and apparently implying that Levin's shows and those of talker Michael Savage had some responsibility for the Tucson murders.
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/01/13/mark-levins-100000-challenge-t
President Obama went to Tucson to speak at the memorial. “Never before in the annals of national moments of mourning have the words spoken been so wildly mismatched by the spirit in which they were received. Obama supporters turned it into a pep-rally, even handing out Obama t-shirts. "All that was needed to make the moment complete was cheerleaders dressed in skeleton outfits."
Here’s how stage managed the memorial was:
http://i.azcentral.com/commphotos/view/442818.jpg
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce fought President Obama tooth-and-nail on his vast legislative push during the last two years, helped Republicans win back the House and put Speaker John Boehner between the president and any new law. Now, as Obama is poised to advance an agenda that includes unilateral global warming regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency and, critics fear, a version of union-promoting “card check” by administrative fiat, Chamber President Tom Donohue is vowing war on Obama’s “regulatory tsunami.”
http://dailycaller.com/2011/01/11/u-s-chamber-president-vows-war-on-obamas-regulatory-tsunami/
If you think Big Labor’s agenda is confined to taking away the secret ballot and empowering bureaucrats to mandate contracts on workers and small businesses alike without their consent, their latest scheme may surprise you. The most recent targets in the push by union bosses to force unionization on employees and employers are groups like the Girl Scouts, American Red Cross and Salvation Army.
The Washington State Legislature considers regulating hair design: "1085 HB, titled AN ACT Relating to creating a HAIR DESIGN license, has been scheduled for a public hearing…."
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1085&year=2011
Respondents to a recent Washington Elway poll have a clear target for all that budget cutting: waste and fraud. Some 71 percent of those polled said the state would have enough money to balance the budget if it eliminated waste and fraud. (Of course, one person's waste is another person's necessary state program.)
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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
Betsy Galliher, 1/18
My name is Betsy. I'm a wife and proud soccer mom, a writer, and small business owner. I'm also a killer.
On the morning of January 8th, 2011, I intentionally entered a gathering held by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and shot her at near point blank range. I injured 14 others, killing six: among them a beautiful, curious, doe-eyed, nine-year-old girl. I didn't actually pull the trigger, but I'm as guilty as the psychopath who did.
Here are just a few of the charges against me:
I am a conservative.
On occasion, I listen to Beck, Limbaugh, and Fox News.
I've been known to pick up a book or two by conservative authors; Thomas Sowell, Andrew McCarthy, or the Founding Fathers, for example!
I believe the federal government is too large, far too intrusive, and dangerously powerful.
I believe in personal responsibility, and the amazing generosity of Americans to aid those in need, rather than permanent entitlements.
I believe the private, not public sector, is the backbone of our economy.
I believe our progressive tax system is punitive. We are over-taxed, over-regulated, and over-lectured.
I believe in the power of the free market to correct itself, without government (taxpayer) intervention.
I believe the Constitution is intended to limit government, and empower the individual.
I believe in holding our elected official's feet to the fire, be they Republican or Democrat (incendiary pun intended).
I believe our sovereignty is at risk via unsecured borders, out of control spending and our crippling deficit, reckless abuses of the Constitution, and the moral decay of Washington.
In short, I'm a madman. Guilty as charged, and armed with the belief in my 1st Amendment right to peaceably question those we elect to serve.
The only person who actually pulled the trigger on that terrible, fateful day was Jared Loughner, by every account, a deeply troubled young man. But the real guilty walk among us: senior citizens in red, white, and blue, armed with signs, "Taxed Enough Already," flag-wavers clinging to guns and religion, doctors, the wealthy, business owners, talk radio, and any citizen that dare exercise his or her right to free speech, particularly a conservative.
We're called greedy, stupid, and racist. We're ridiculed with snide "slurpee" innuendos, and called lewd and malicious names, such as "teabaggers." Ordinary citizens maligned by their own government while the pious, liberal elite get a free pass on reason and truth; while Islamists invoke their religious cloak; while the ideologue professes his moral superiority; while the media uses the power of spin; and leftists, including Robert Gibbs and Barack Obama, employ their bully pulpit.
We defend conservatism by our very way of life: as self-reliant, tax-paying, moral citizens, and faithful defenders of limited government and the power of the individual. We are violent inciters only in so much as we threaten the current Leftist, agenda-driven stronghold on government. So alarming is our threat, the real inciters wasted no time in politicizing the tragic deaths of six innocent citizens, and one revered Congresswoman, still fighting for her life. And they will waste no time in shamelessly exploiting a ‘crisis' at the hand of a lone psychopath to further enact gun control, and squelch freedom of speech under cries of ‘civility.'
Does the Left really believe the "rhetoric" of Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, and Fox is incendiary? Do they fail to understand the language of conservative "talk" is the echo of ordinary citizens calling for limited government, and individual freedoms? Or, do they silence us because we know our current leaders don't actually believe in their own limited power? Truth be told, even Jared Loughner undermines their agenda. And they know it. They know their "transformation" of America is failing, and that people like me are not afraid to say so.
My name is Betsy, and I'm a killer. They are determined to stop me before I kill again.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/my_name_is_betsy_im_a_killer.html
Another good read: “President Obama is cynically exploiting the tragic shooting in Tucson for political gain. His memorial address Wednesday night was a surreal spectacle in narcissistic self-congratulation. It dishonored the victims, those who were murdered and maimed by Jared Lee Loughner, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Democrat. Instead of being a solemn and serious event, the memorial resembled a pro-Obama pep rally. The president of Arizona University praised Mr. Obama for his "visionary" and "courageous" leadership. Throughout the memorial and Mr. Obama's speech, students regularly cheered, clapped, whistled and hollered. All the while, the president basked in his newfound glory…..Civility - or the supposed lack of it - had nothing to do with the tragedy. Yet Democrats and the liberal media desperately have been seeking to connect the massacre to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement. Paul Krugman, columnist for the New York Times, blames a "climate of hate" - conservative talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Fox News - for the shooting…….This is a new McCarthyism: intolerance and hatred masquerading as civic virtue. Demonization trumps debate. The Tucson shooting reveals the totalitarian nature of the modern left: the willingness to seize upon the flimsiest pretexts to attack rivals as accomplices in mass murder - even when there is not a shred of evidence to support this view…..In fact, those who know Mr. Loughner are saying that the gunman never listened to political talk radio or watched Fox News. He was not some right-wing fringe militia type or a crazed Tea Party activist. He was the very opposite: the product of the permissive and destructive culture of the 1960s.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/13/obamas-tucson-degradation/
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FROM OTHER COLUMNS
"For far too long, Republicans have been reticent to engage in emotional arguments to make their case. ... [I]t would be nice if they didn't have to, but a substantial portion of the population has grown quite comfortable with empty slogans like 'social justice,' 'speaking truth to power,' 'evil corporations,' and a host of others designed to do one thing: convince Americans that the greatest country in the world must abandon the very economic system that has made it the envy of the world. What both political parties have done with regard to irresponsible spending is criminal. One party wants to 'go straight.' The other will not be content until every American is equally miserable -- with the exception of a ruling class which must administer that misery 'fairly.' ... If there's a debt ceiling, my fellow Americans, that means there's also a spending floor. Lower the floor, Republicans, even if it means fighting emotional fire with emotional fire."
-Arnold Ahlert
"[I] was struck [recently] by the words of the great Christian theorist and historian of the last century, Hilaire Belloc, that I read in his 1916 book 'The Elements of the Great War, the Second Phase.' He observed that when the most profound issue may face a nation, there is the danger that 'the lesser should conquer the greater, the viler the more noble, the more changeable the more steadfast. ... We know, upon the analogy of all historical things, small and great, that the less creative, the dullest and the worst elements may destroy, and [have] frequently attempted to destroy, the vital, the more creative and the best.' That is what America faces today. For too long, the decent American majority of citizens who are productive and hardworking ... have sat by while others have tried to usurp our liberty to enhance the power of government.... Now all these conflicting interests and passions are funneling into Washington. These next 24 months -- beginning now -- are the decisive period."
-Tony Blankley
"If reverence for the Constitution is not our guiding principle, then what should it be? Should the government be entirely dedicated to fulfilling the needs of its citizens, allowing no legal barrier to stand in its way? ... There is only one governing principle that properly respects the freedom of all citizens: ironclad obedience to a clear and concise document that identifies their inherent rights, and forbids the State from compromising them, under any circumstances. The Constitution does not 'give' you those rights. It recognizes them. You had them before you could read or understand a single word. Every human being throughout history had them, even those who lived before any of the Founding Fathers were born. In reading the Constitution aloud, the 112th Congress will acknowledge those rights ... and read an arrest warrant to an out-of-control government."
-John Hayward
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GLOBALONEY
Oops. Can't let the public know how wacko you really are. Professor Tim Flannery is one of the world's most prominent global alarmists -- as Chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Council, and 2007 recipient of the Australian of the Year award in his native country, the most prestigious honor Down Under, endorsed by the Australian government. But Professor Flannery has suddenly become persona non grata in warmist circles. And not for his history of hysterical predictions that haven't come true. No, the good professor (a mammologist, not an environmental scientist) let slip the wacky quasi-religious basis for his climate activism.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/01/aussie_warmist_tossed_under_th.html
The Environmental Protection Agency has vetoed a mountaintop-removal coal-mining project that would have been one of the largest in Appalachia. (Burning domestic coal means less need for foreign oil)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703583404576079792048919286.html
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LEFTIST WATCH
Within hours of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, lunatic “economist” Paul Krugman raced to put up a blog post blaming Sarah Palin and the Tea Party for the attack. “For those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target,” said Krugman, “the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party activist. (Her father says that ‘the whole Tea Party’ was her enemy.) And yes, she was on Sarah Palin’s infamous ‘crosshairs’ list.”
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=41085
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ISLAM
Authorities in Saudi Arabia announced that they are ready to release the vulture being held under suspicions of spying for Israel, Israel Radio reported Sunday. Bandar bin Saud, the Saudi nature authority, was quoted to Arabic language news daily that there is no truth behind claims that the bird was linked to espionage.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=202766
“Social scientists attached to the Second Marine Battalion in Afghanistan last year circulated a startling report on Pashtun sociology, in the form of a human terrain report on male sexuality among America's Afghan allies. The document, made available by military sources, is not classified, just disturbing. Don't ask, don't tell doesn't begin to qualify the problem. These are things you didn't want to know, and regret having heard….. the report might have considered whether male pedophilia in Afghanistan has a religious dimension as well as a cultural one….”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MA11Df03.html
Iran has arrested about 70 Christians since Christmas. The latest raids have targeted grass-roots Christian groups with charges that range from trying to convert Muslims to being possible footholds for foreign influence.
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-world/20110111/ML.Iran.Christian.Crackdown/
An influential Islamic leader says Pope Benedict XVI should mind his own business after the pontiff called on Pakistan to repeal its anti-blasphemy laws
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/11/islamic-leader-to-pope-benedict-on-blasphemy-mind-your-own-busi/
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CHINA
The Beijing Genome Institute has placed an order for 128 new high-performance DNA sequencing instruments. This purchase will bring the total number of sequencers at BGI to 157, nearly twice the number of instruments at the largest sequencing center in the United States, at MIT.
http://www.scienceprogress.org/2010/02/china-gene-sequencing/
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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES
Actress Vicki Lawrence, 61, recently filmed a video dressed as "Mama" and declaring herself to be homeless because she sees it as a career move. "I have decided to become homeless because that is the only way for a person to become famous in this country these days," she says in the video.
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/13/exclusive-vicki-lawrence-as-mama-calls-out-ted-williams/
Too cute for words:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLPp4gXUY3o
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HUMOR
Leno: Due to the recession there are now 15,000 less lawyers. Nobody ever talks about the good things that happen because of the recession………At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LG unveiled a line of appliances that can send text messages. Would you want appliances that can text you? You’re in a business meeting like, “Excuse me, I have to take this. It’s from my can opener.”
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WISE WORDS
“When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny.”
-Thomas Jefferson
"The Constitution provides the structure of our federal system and a system of checks and balances that applies equally to each branch of government, to relations between the states and the Federal Government, and, as importantly, to each of us. It protects the rights of all Americans to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' and limits governmental authority to ensure these liberties are faithfully protected -- both by and from the state. But in the end it is each citizen who is responsible for protecting the liberties set forth in the Constitution and Bill of Rights."
-Ronald Reagan
“….the American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”
-W. E. Gladstone, British Prime Minister
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1:26 PM
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