op ed review 3/17
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
Washington Post: “Obama’s
approval drops as Americans take a dimmer view of his economic policies”
Democratic strategists are increasingly worried about the
decline in President Obama´s job approval ratings.
Obama: 'We Don’t Have an Immediate Crisis in Terms of Debt'
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now
Pope Francis, known for simplicity and
conservatism
New Pope Francis is an ardent opponent of same-sex marriage,
in coincidence with traditional Catholic belief. In 2010, he wrote, “Let’s not
be naïve, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive
pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but
rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive
the children of God.”
On May 23, Boy Scout
leaders from your state will meet with scout leaders from other states to vote
on whether or not to amend its longstanding membership policy restricting open
and avowed homosexuals. AFA has a list
of actions you can take to help save scouting.
The first budget from Senate Democrats in four years
includes nearly $1 trillion in new taxes but would not balance the budget.
Rep. Paul Ryan´s latest budget plan shows that we can balance the budget in just a decade without any new taxes and still increase spending if we get rid of the massive cost of ObamaCare.
On immigration reform, Conservative talk show host Mark
Levin says “I’m convinced the Republican leadership — particularly in the House
— has a Republican death wish.”
Donald Trump agrees:
the Republican Party will hand Democrats 11 million votes if Congress
grants citizenship to illegal immigrants, likens the reform efforts to a
“suicide mission.”
GOP throws in the towel, part 1: Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell says Obamacare is here to stay. "When it came to Obamacare, we
gave it everything we have, everything we have, and we just lost…"
GOP throws in the towel, part 2: Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
says he’s changed his mind, gay marriage is OK.
Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell sent out a
shocking photo showing what it looks like if you stack every page of Obamacare
regulations one on top of the other. The stack reaches to more than seven feet
in height and is so big it might take a 3-D printer to print it all.
Applying for
benefits under Obamacare could be as daunting as doing your taxes. The
government's draft application is now on the Internet. It runs 15 pages for a
three-person family.
When the U.S. Senate this week takes up the continuing
resolution to fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year
2013, Sen. Ted Cruz (R.-Texas) will offer an amendment that will prohibit
funding for the implementation of Obamacare during that period.
Your tax dollars at work:
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $1.5 million to
study biological and social factors for why “three-quarters” of lesbians are
obese and why gay males are not, calling it an issue of “high public-health
significance."
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is leading an online poll as the
conservative pick for president in 2016. With 190,000 votes cast as of Monday
morning, Paul leads, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Florida Sen. Marco
Rubio rounding out the top three. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are running in last place, ranked 32 and 31 respectively.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/12/online-poll-rand-paul-the-conservative-pick-for-president-in-2016/
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) says the prospect of running for
president has become “more realistic” to him but he will not think about a 2016
bid before completing deficit-reduction talks.
Chinese doctors have performed more than 330 million
abortions since the government implemented a controversial family planning
policy 40 years ago, according to official data from the health ministry.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the Democratic
Party’s leadership in the House of Representatives, suggested an assault
weapons ban and private-sales background checks were only the beginning of a
broader gun control agenda extending to handguns as well.
_____________________________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
David Cortman,
Washington Times, 3/10
W. D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on Feb.
8, 1910. Within the first two years of the organization’s existence, its moral compass was
clearly outlined via the pledges within the Scout oath: “On my honor I will do
my best….To do my duty to God and my country….and to obey the Scout Law;…..To
help other people at all times;….To keep myself physically strong,……mentally
awake, and morally straight.”
Since the inception of the Boy Scouts, those taking this
pledge have had a strong influence on our society. They have become presidents,
congressmen, governors, even astronauts. The things they have stood for have
served to mark out a path for them, and to carve out a place.
As Deputy Chief Scout Executive George J. Fisher said in
1937, “Each generation as it comes to maturity has no more important duty than
that of teaching high ideals and proper behavior to the generation which
follows.” In the interest of remaining this force for
good, Boy Scouts has focused its membership and leadership guidelines on those
things that correspond with the “morally straight” aspects of the pledge and
the “high ideals and proper behavior” Fisher referenced.
It is important to note that this is not a reflection of
what the Boy Scouts are against, but of what they are for. In a word, this
purposeful hedging in and maintenance of membership standards and practices is
simply an outworking of their freedom to associate—and especially their freedom
to associate with those whom they choose. This was never a problem, and was not
seen as a negation of any certain group or practice, until some began pushing
to curtail the Boy Scouts’ freedom of association in the late 20th century.
We must remember that in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
(2000), the Supreme Court upheld the Boy Scouts’ right of freedom of
association, and therefore their membership policy. The court found that while
it may not represent the views of all, “the First Amendment does not require
that every member of a group agree on every issue in order for the group’s
policy to be expressive association.”
Yet now, even after winning at the Supreme Court, Boy Scouts
national leadership, under pressure from activist groups who don’t agree with
the Scouts’ values, is toying with the idea of allowing individual councils to
decide for themselves whether to abide by this policy. In other words, Boy
Scouts national leadership is toying with the idea of giving up their freedom
to choose what they stand for.
If Boy Scouts’ position shifts, it will be a seismic
cultural change indeed. Moreover, it will affect hundreds of thousands of boys
who have gone through the program and are yet to. Relationships to affiliated
groups, such as churches and other local organizations, will be forever altered
as well, especially since more than 70 percent of Boy Scouts units are
chartered to faith-based organizations.
Moreover, a change here will set a poor example to other
groups which are presently standing for something in specific, rather than
caving in to the politically correct pressure that beckons them to embrace
everything and stand for nothing in particular. The Boy Scouts will no longer
be what it has been for decades if it accedes to the demands of others. Once it
accedes, far from making peace, it will only open itself and the local councils
to continued and more aggressive attacks.
This is a war the Boy Scouts of America didn’t launch. Yet
since it has been launched against them, it’s one that they must win from the
high ground of the Supreme Court victory (Dale) and the constitutionality of
association. A victory here will be a victory for current scouts as well as
generations of scouts to come. This has nothing to do with what the Boy Scouts
are against, but everything to do with what they are for.
What you can do to influence the decision:
Chief Seattle Council Scout Executive Sharon Moulds 206-725-8317. or 206-725-5200
_____________________________________________________________________________
FROM OTHER COLUMNS
"One thing nearly everybody agrees upon is that the
'sequester' is a silly sideshow to the real challenge facing America:
unsustainable spending on entitlements. ... The system we are trying to
perpetuate was created for the explicit benefit of the so-called greatest
generation, the most coddled and cared for cohort in American history. I don't
mean to belittle or demean the heroic efforts and sacrifices of those who
served in World War II. But the idea that a whole generation deserves credit
for what only some did is little more than an attempt to buy glory on the
cheap. One of the egalitarian precepts that all Americans are supposed to
subscribe to is the idea that one citizen isn't more worthy than another,
simply by accident of birth. If you stormed the beaches of Normandy, you are due praise and honor. If
you were simply born the same year as those who stormed the beaches, you're no
more deserving of praise than someone born of any other generation. ...as
Washington grapples with the legacy costs of the 'greatest generation' ... it
is at least worth recognizing that the government and the culture designed to
benefit one generation has come at the cost of those that come after it."
-Jonah Goldberg
"Joshua Welch….who is 7, was suspended from second
grade in Maryland's Anne Arundel
County last week because
of his 'Pop-Tart pistol.' While eating a rectangular fruit-filled sugary
something…Joshua tried biting it into the shape of a mountain, but decided it
looked more like a gun. So with gender-specific perversity he did the natural
thing. He said, 'Bang, bang.' ... The [school] said 'one of our students used
food to make inappropriate gestures' and although 'no physical threats were
made and no one was harmed' the code of student conduct stipulates 'appropriate
consequences.' The [school's] letter, suffused with the therapeutic ethic,
suggested that parents help their children 'share their feelings' about all
this. It also said the school counselor is available, presumably to cope with
Post-Pastry Trauma Syndrome. ... Government is failing spectacularly at its
core functions, such as budgeting and educating. Yet it continues to multiply
its peripheral and esoteric responsibilities, tasks that require it to do
things for which it has no aptitude, such as thinking and making common-sense
judgments. Government nowadays is not just embarrassing, it is -- let us not
mince words -- inappropriate."
-George Will
__________________________________________________________________________
BOOKS,FILM
“A Conservative's Guide to Dealing with Nature's Most
Irritating Mistake” by Kurt Schlichter. “If you want a field manual stuffed
with un-PC essays and searing mockery designed to make liberals cry, you’re in
the right place.”
Blockbuster miniseries The Bible has fast become one of the
biggest hits on American TV, landing more than 13 million viewers for its first
episode. But while its runaway success has taken the entertainment world by
surprise, it has not come as a shock to its creators. The producers have
revealed that during its production, the show seemed to be marked by mysterious
omens which they claim are evidence of ´the hand of God´.
________________________________________________________________________
LEFTIST WATCH
“Obama to Nominate
Sharia Supporter, Illegal Immigrant Advocate as Labor Secretary.” President Obama reportedly intends to
nominate in-your-face radical leftist lawyer Thomas Perez
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Republicans are “at
war” with their “own government” by trying to “shrink” its role in society.
____________________________________________________________________________
CONSERVATIVE STRATEGY
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): “The GOP of old has grown stale and
moss-covered. I don't think we need to name any names, do we? Our party is
encumbered by an inconsistent approach to freedom. The new GOP will need to
embrace liberty in both the economic and the personal sphere. If we're going to
have a Republican party that can win, liberty needs to be the backbone of the
GOP. We must have a message that is broad, our vision must be broad, and that
vision must be based on freedom….”
The 2012 election featured the bottom feeding charge of a
Republican War on Women. The grounds for such a charge were less than zero. But
with the Democrat Party outright controlling so much of the national media,
every Democrat talking point takes on added weight. opposition to abortion
indicative of a “war on women?” That would overlook the fact that at least half
of babies aborted are female. Maybe it is a liberal war on women. The most
braindead allegation was that Republicans harbored a secret plan to ban contraceptives.
The effectiveness of that charge
_____________________________________________________________________________
CPAC
Friday is the second day of the 2013 Conservative Political
Action Conference – an annual gathering in Washington, D.C.
where members of the GOP meet to cement their ideology and try out potential
presidential nominees for the coming years. Today Republican party leaders and
celebrities will speak at the conference, including Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan,
Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump.
Sen. Marco Rubio served
up a familiar portion of conservative red meat to CPAC attendees on Thursday,
endearing himself to activists who could help propel him to a higher political
office in the future. Rubio received a rock star's welcome before
speaking at the CPAC, where he used his 15-minute slot to extol traditional
conservative positions on taxes, education, abortion, same-sex marriage and
trade with China.
"We don't need a new idea. The idea's America, and it still works,"
said Rubio, to major applause, anticipating that liberals would criticize his
remarks for offering no new ideas.
Donald Trump gave his highly anticipated speech at CPAC
Friday morning, and all anyone is talking about now is how confusing and
terrible it was. “Off his meds?”
___________________________________________________________________________
NOTEWORTHY LINKS
A meticulous new analysis examines the benefits of
government-administered socialism among a representative cross section of
individuals. It is an insightful departure from the usual studies of
socialism that analyze only collective benefits to society using statistics
about such things as income quartiles and poverty levels. The new study
is 27 pages. “As its author, I'll
summarize the results here.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/03/the_sequestered_life_of_julia.html#ixzz2NG6Voyw4
WWII in color: Rare photos from
1942 show Flying Fortress bombers and
their heroic crews in The Mighty 8th
Command.
The famous grumpy
cat:
__________________________________________________________________________
WISE WORDS
"I think all of us are agreed that war is probably
man's greatest stupidity and I think peace is the dream that lives in the heart
of everyone wherever he may be in the world, but unfortunately, unlike a family
quarrel, it doesn't take two to make a war. It only takes one, unless the other
one is prepared to surrender at the first hint of force."
-Ronald
Reagan
posted by gary at
8:53 AM
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