Saturday, February 16, 2013

op ed review 2/17



THIS WEEK’S NEWS
A Gallup poll shows that at the end of 2012, self-identified conservatives still outnumbered liberals in every state of the nation except for two -- Rhode Island  and Massachusetts.    But “..only four times in the last hundred years has a Republican campaigned as an unabashed conservative.  Coolidge won big in 1924.  Reagan won two landslides. Only Goldwater, running with a divided Republican Party one year after Kennedy was murdered, lost as a conservative.  As for Reagan, he won because he held conservative values and never apologized for them or watered them down.”

It's time for the State of the Union address, which means the president is pivoting back to jobs once more. It's an annual game where President Obama pretends to be focused on employment and many in the media pretend to believe him.   “Obama takes 57 vacation days since vowing he 'Will Not Rest Until Anyone' can find a GOOD job”
Obama’s State of the Union address was filled with pledges for new government spending, couched as investment in “broad-based growth”, from infrastructure development to Executive measures to combat climate change, designed to bypass Congressional opposition. There was no talk of tax cuts or freeing businesses from red tape and suffocating regulation. Not a word about advancing economic freedom, but acres of language about government intervention, in the economy, the workplace, education system, and practically every aspect of American life, plus a job-killing costly minimum wage hike.

Marco Rubio delivered the GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union last night. Did he talk about the contracting economy, rising unemployment, immigration reform, spiraling debt, and what we can do about it? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And Yes. But thanks to a unique moment of having to take a sip of water while publicly speaking for a long stretch of time, the only thing talking heads are talking about today is Rubio “watering down the Republican message.” Get it?
Hypocrisy:  A Hispanic Republican senator drinks water on TV, and the media demolish him. A Hispanic Democratic senator is accused of having sex with underage prostitutes, and the media ignores it.

Like Rubio, Bill Clinton was mulling a presidential run four years in the future when something far worse happened during a speech: He got booed off the stage of the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Somehow we didn't get TV news replaying that clip over 200 times, as the Daily Caller reports cable news did with Rubio's "Bottled Watergate." We didn't get CNN asking if Clinton's career was over, as it did with Rubio on Wednesday. "Bias" is not a strong enough word. America's powerful establishment media are ever-dependable shills…….And like the official press organ of a banana republic, they threaten — on a daily basis — our freedom, bought with blood, to choose our leaders while armed with accurate information.

The Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Obama……entities in Mainland China owned about $1,170,100,000,000 in U.S. government debt, making China the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt.

China surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s biggest trading nation last year as measured by the sum of exports and imports of goods, official figures from both countries show.

The U.S. Navy is unable to refuel the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) because of budget cuts.

After four years of Obama´s diplomatic ´leadership´ and billions of dollars in attempted friendship aid, a new public opinion poll reveals that 92% of Pakistanis now disapprove of the United States.

The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide “Obamaphones” to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven't proved they are eligible to receive them.

Should it be a federal crime for businesses to refuse to hire ex-convicts? Yes, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which recently released 20,000 convoluted words of regulatory "guidance" to direct businesses to hire more felons and other ex-offenders.

Four California high-school students were reportedly suspended for chanting “U.S.A! U.S.A!” and wearing American flag bandanas during a basketball game. While their punishment has since been rescinded, school administrators said “the incident is far from over.” principal Glenn Lipman felt that the students’ actions might “have had racist undertones since the schools have large Hispanic student populations.”

 “A peer-reviewed survey of 1077 geoscientists and engineers finds that "only 36 percent of geoscientists and engineers believe that humans are creating a global warming crisis." If there is a scientific consensus at all, it would have to be skepticism toward anthropogenic global warming. Yet President Obama in his State of the Union speech Tuesday cited the now-discredited notion of such a consensus as the foundation of his green agenda. It is bunk.”

A homicidal maniac blames racism in the Los Angeles Police Department for his killing rampage against cops and civilians and the New York Times responds, “You know, he just may have a point.”

“True to form, CNN, Reuters, and other media outlets used the announcement of Pope Benedict XVI´s retirement to dwell on ancient sex scandals, opposition to gay marriage, and a host of other things the media have never liked about a Pope who would not hew to whatever worldview the chattering classes embraced at the moment "

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
William Sullivan  2/10
Contrast can bring clarity. And I do not think that the two warring political ideologies in America have never been personified, juxtaposed, and as clearly defined as the contrast we witnessed at this week's National Prayer Breakfast.  Dr. Benjamin Carson, the famed director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, was given the unique opportunity to share his beliefs before a distinguished audience, including President Barack Obama. He did not waste the opportunity, and courageously expressed his beliefs with conviction, contrary though they are to those of the president.

Much has been made of Dr. Carson's alternative solution to make healthcare more efficient:….In two paragraphs, Ben Carson has offered a free market solution to create competition and reduce healthcare costs that is feasible, understandable, and compassionate. (And one that has already been tested -- it is very similar to the system used in Singapore. ) Its relative simplicity alone stands in stark contrast to Obama's healthcare solution pitch, the mechanics of which were so confusing that after two years of explaining it, Democrats entreated Americans to not even try to understand it. Just accept it and see what happens, as Nancy Pelosi suggested..

……..Dr. Carson went on to destroy the notion of the progressive income tax, arguing that "God has given us a system" that would work. He argued that because God requires tithing regardless of outcome:  “There must be something inherently fair in proportionality. If you make ten billion dollars, you put in one billion. If you make ten dollars, you put in one. Of course you gotta get rid of the loopholes. [Laughter] But, now some people say, "Well that's not fair, because it doesn't hurt the guy who made ten billion dollars as much as the guy who made ten." Where does it say you have to hurt the guy? He just put a billion dollars in the pot! We don't need to hurt him. It's that kind of thinking that has resulted in 602 banks in the Cayman Islands. That money needs to be back here building our infrastructure and creating jobs."”

Is it possible to say anything more contrary to Barack Obama's insistence on the moral imperative to take disproportionately more from the wealthy to redistribute among the collective?

And this is where the contrast between the two men becomes most apparent. Barack Obama rejects the notion of fairness presented by God, because his devotion to God, if it was ever a driving motivation in his life, has become supplanted by his devotion to the government administration of fairness. That much is abundantly clear. Consider that Dr. Carson carries himself with a pious humility, crediting God and family for giving him the strength of will to succeed. President Obama, whose name would rarely collide with humility in a sentence, insists that the government is responsible for people's success.

The revelation here is not that Barack Obama is a PC thug who intends to transform the fabric of America, or that he makes victims of women rather than empowering them, or that he subscribes to a Marxist's notion of fairness by coercion, or that his healthcare solution is a muddled, hopeless mess sold on Utopian dreams. We already knew all that.

No, the real revelation is that at this year's prayer breakfast, so often only a pious ritual, his exact opposite stood and spoke in sharp contrast to our president. And Dr. Ben Carson owns a legacy as an innovative pioneer of his field and philanthropist whose life and work have personally touched, and even saved, countless others. Barack Obama, on the other hand, despite all his celebrity, owns a legacy that amounts to little more than stirring fear and outrage on the premise that others are not doing enough to help people.

Which ideology has produced the more effective, positive outcome?

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS
"[Obama's] speech gave every indication that he remains a hostage to the superstition that we can spend our way to national prosperity... In reality, the state of our union is this: The United States is today $6 trillion deeper in debt than it was before Barack Obama was first sworn in as president……Out of every dollar the country owes in government debt, 36 cents was acquired under the Obama administration.  The state of our union is this: Today there are more than 4 million fewer Americans working than there were when Barack Obama was first sworn in as president -- not including those who have retired. ... The state of our union is this: Economic growth is weaker than it has been during any recovery in recent memory; in fact, the economy shrank in the last quarter. ... The state of our union is this: Incomes are lower today than they were when Barack Obama was first sworn in as president. ... He boasted that al-Qaeda is decimated, but that news has not reached Benghazi or most of North Africa. So the state of our union also is this: North Korea sets off nuclear weapons with impunity. Iran seeks them without fear. Islamists slaughter our diplomatic personnel while the president's national-defense team keeps bankers' hours. ... The president's confrontational, hectoring, and highly ideological speech ought to be a wake-up call to the country. The Republican majority in the House is the only real check on his power. Supplementing that check with a Republican majority in the Senate is imperative. Even through all of President Obama's obfuscations, that much is clear."
                             -National Review
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LEFTIST WATCH
Therein are the basic personality parameters of the entity known as the modern American left.
Membership in the American left is, thus, easily attained.  All one needs to do is believe and accept the following……(long list)……None of these character traits are dominant among the left in the many countries of Europe or elsewhere who have socialist leaning governments or citizenry.  Dependence on government is a common trait but the spoiled child approach to ideology and the opposition is not.  It appears to be the sole preserve of the American left.
“Occupy LA Honors Chris Dorner, Copkiller Who Killed Minority Officers”
“Chris Dorner: A Mass Shooter Leftists Can Love”

“Liberalism is what evil is masquerading as in our time. I won't go into the labyrinthine details of the matter here, but it was a life-changing epiphany that ultimately led to a transition from secular-conservative/libertarian to man of faith and walking, talking anachronism.  And it made me realize that liberals aren't just misguided, which they are -- they're also in bed with evil. This is apparent in much of what they do, and the support that murdering fugitive Christopher Dorner is receiving from the left is a good example.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/02/killer_dorners_supporters_are_par_for_the_lefts_course.html#ixzz2KW7CQcXX ____________________________________________________________________________

ISLAM
An Egyptian court ordered a one-month ban on YouTube, after it said the video-sharing Web site had failed to remove an American-made anti-Islam video.
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GUN CONTROL
Out of the flurry of ambitious gun control proposals in the wake of December’s school shooting in Connecticut, expanded background checks on gun sales are fast emerging as the “sweet spot” — as one Senate Democratic leader put it — between what gun control advocates seek and what can actually attract bipartisan support in Congress.

Wayne LaPierre: “It seems so reasonable. In the minds of many, "universal background checks" for firearms transactions sounds like a good idea. But is it really? No. No idea is good if it doesn´t work. No legislation is reasonable if it fails to accomplish its purported goal — to prevent violent criminals and the mentally ill from acquiring firearms. Criminals won´t participate in a "universal" system. They´ll always steal or get their guns, and everything else they want, on the black market. Reasonable people know that criminals will never be part of the "universe."

In less than four weeks since President Obama proposed sweeping new gun control laws and a ban on assault-style weapons, the backlash from law enforcement groups that strongly support the Second Amendment has surged and now there are 10 state sheriffs associations opposed to the president. The Illinois Sheriffs Association became the last to join the growing crowd of police opposed to Obama, arguing this week that the president should instead be focused on mental health, not gun hardware.

A school board in western Colorado has decided to allow the district superintendent and a principal to carry firearms onto school grounds.

Hollywood action star Steven Seagal guided members of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s volunteer posse through a simulated school shooting. Members of the volunteer posse, some of them armed, began patrolling areas surrounding schools in Arizona’s most populous county. Seagal’s involvement was called a “mockery” by an Arizona state legislator (guess which party).  “Anybody who has criticized me or the sheriff for standing up to help the children, in my opinion, is an embarrassment to the human race.”
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ARTICLES
Every job has a minimum requirement. The absolute very least that anyone can do without being considered a complete and utter failure. The minimum requirement for a Commander-in-Chief is to stick around when an American diplomatic mission is under fire. Obama flunked even this minimal requirement by going to sleep and then flying off for a fundraiser in Vegas. The minimum requirement for a Secretary of State is to at least pretend to care why such an attack took place. Hillary Clinton failed that minimum requirement by declaring that it didn’t matter why the attack happened.

“It is difficult to say with certainty which of the many whoppers President Obama told tonight took the most crust to utter, but my money is going on this assertion, made a few minutes into the speech: “Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs.” I know “Orwellian” has now become rather hackneyed, but there is simply no other adjective that better describes this statement. It is not merely a lie. It is the precise opposite of the truth. It is just as absurd as “war is peace” or “freedom is slavery.”

While Barack Hussein Obama is firing 20,000 Marines as part of his massive purge of the United States military to “save money”, he’s also fighting to send $700 million to the terrorists of the Palestinian Authority.

Rush:  “It Finally Hit Me: Barack Obama Will Never Be Held Responsible for Anything”

We heard many bad and tired ideas during last night’s State of the Union address, and one of them was the promise to raise the minimum wage, to $9 dollar an hour. While on the surface it may seem like a way to increase the standard of living for lower-income Americans, in reality the policy is likely to backfire. For instance, research by economists David Neumark of the University of California, Irvine, William Wascher of the Federal Reserve Board, and Mark Schweitzer of the Cleveland Fed shows that that minimum wages increase poverty and hence poverty reduction

 “Contrast can bring clarity. And I do not think that the two warring political ideologies in America have never been personified, juxtaposed, and as clearly defined as the contrast we witnessed at this week´s National Prayer Breakfast……nearly everything Ben Carson said was a perfect contradiction of the values expressed by Barack Obama.
Liberals continue their hysteria over remarks made by Dr. Ben Carson at the National Prayer Breakfast last week. Carson, a prominent pediatric surgeon from Johns Hopkins University, dared to weigh in on healthcare — something he knows something about, and certainly knows better than Barack Obama. In the liberal mind, Carson committed a grave transgression; he had dared to disagree with Obama, and in Obama’s presence. In a discussion of Carson’s moral effrontery, Candy Crowley, host of CNN’s State of the Union, asked her panelists whether they were offended by Carson’s comments.
Wall Street Journal:  “Ben Carson for President.”
Here come the "Ben Carson for President" t-shirts
Dr. Ben Carson at the National Prayer Breakfast (27 min)

"Amnesty, amnesty, amnesty, the trap has been cleverly laid for us and the question is will we fall for it again."

With their attacks on tea party conservatives, Karl Rove and his cohorts have fired the first salvo in the Great GOP War of 2013. The strangest aspect of this is that even as Rove denounces conservatism in favor of his unique brand of watered-down compromise, he appears to be looking to capitalize on conservatism itself. While he may call his latest super PAC the “Conservative Victory Project,” Rove most decidedly does not wish for conservative victory. The aim of his group is to push moderate candidates while posturing as the savior of the embattled Republican Party.
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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES
Startling picture of lightning striking the Vatican - hours after Pope Benedict XVI´s bolt-from-the-blue resignation.

Musical leaf flute:
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LATE NITE
Leno:    President Obama wants Congress to increase the minimum wage. Believe me, when it comes to doing the minimum for their wage, Congress knows what it’s talking about.....

Argus Hamilton……..President Obama allowed his Jobs Council to expire without renewing its charter despite high unemployment and a contracting economy. The members never met anyway. The Jobs Council was only intended to save one job, and now its work is done.
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WISE WORDS
"Any system that penalizes success and accomplishment is wrong. Any system that discourages work, discourages productivity, discourages economic progress, is wrong. If, on the other hand, you reduce tax rates and allow people to spend or save more of what they earn, they'll be more industrious; they'll have more incentive to work hard, and money they earn will add fuel to the great economic machine that energizes our national progress. The result: more prosperity for all -- and more revenue for government. A few economists call this principle supply-side economics. I just call it common sense."
                       -Ronald Reagan

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

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