op ed review 4/14
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher died peacefully after
suffering a massive stroke at 87.
British historian Paul Johnson: “Margaret Thatcher had more impact on the
world than any woman ruler since Catherine the Great of Russia. Not only did
she turn around—decisively—the British economy in the 1980s, she also saw her
methods copied in more than 50 countries…..The kind of services that Thatcher
rendered Britain in peace were of a magnitude equal to Winston Churchill's in
war.…Among the British public she aroused fervent admiration and intense
dislike in almost equal proportions, but in the world beyond she was recognized
for what she was: a great, creative stateswoman who left the world a better and
more prosperous place, and whose influence will reverberate well into the 21st
century.”
Shameful: “Democrats
Blocking Resolution to Honor Lady Thatcher”
Combined spending of federal, state and local governments
now exceeds median household income
An explosive device sent to "America's
toughest sheriff" was intercepted by police in Arizona. Wasn’t he looking into President
Obama’s citizenship claims last year?
Arrested illegals mock Border Patrol, telling them “Obama’s
going to let me go”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is using the Sandy Hook
tragedy to raise campaign money. http://nhregister.com/articles/2013/04/11/opinion/doc5167246494401824846087.txt?viewmode=fullstory
One of the Senate architects of Obamacare now says that the
healthcare law is “beyond comprehension.”
The District of Columbia’s
Obamacare czars have decided that henceforth insurers shall be forbidden by law
to charge smokers higher rates than non-smokers. Smoking, as it turns out, “is
a preexisting medical condition,”
Rand Paul reminds majority black Howard University
that it was the Democrats, not the Republicans behind 'racism and Jim
Crow'
Business as usual in Chicago: The daughter of President Obama´s former
pastor, Jeremiah Wright, was indicted on
charges of money laundering and lying to federal authorities.
Obama declares Thursday ‘National Equal Pay Day,’ despite paying female staffers less than male counterparts
Landlord Joe Biden pocketed $26,400 in 2012 for renting a
cottage to the Secret Service so they could protect him.
President Obama paid a tax rate of only 18% on income of
$608,000 in 2012.
The RNC unanimously approved a resolution Friday urging the
U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Proposition 8, the measure under court review that
forbids same-sex marriage in California.
Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming
after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven't heard about
these sickening accusations? It's not your fault. Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion
doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage
of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting
revelations of Gosnell's former staff, who have been testifying to what they
witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/04/10/philadelphia-abortion-clinic-horror-column/2072577/
A writer asked a Washington Post reporter why no coverage of
the Gosnell trial. Her reason: “I cover policy for the Washington Post, not
local crime.”
“Why They Won’t Talk About Kermit Gosnell”
Huh?? Gonzaga University will not allow students to
organize a Knights of Columbus chapter because the group only admits Catholics
– a violation of the school’s non-discrimination policy. Gonzaga, a Roman
Catholic university in Spokane,
Wash., had concerns over a
requirement that “all members of a student Knights of Columbus group must be
Catholic.”
Huh? The state of California
is reportedly considering legislation that would force group insurance policies
to provide infertility treatment for gay and lesbian couples. “Two men who have
sex with each other for a year and do not produce a baby would be considered
“infertile” under the proposed legislation. So would two women.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced
it is considering dropping current broadcast decency standards that ban
explicit profanity and "non-sexual" nudity. The new FCC policy would allow network television and local radio
stations to air the f-word, the s-word and to allow programs to show frontal female
nudity, even during hours when they know children will be
watching and listening. It is accepting comments on the proposal from the
viewing public until the end of April.
_____________________________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
Doug Mainwaring
4/12/13
Remember little Anthony Freemont, in one of the
"Twilight Zone's" most famous episodes? In the opening sequence Rod
Serling informs us: "A monster had arrived in the village. Just by using
his mind, he took away the automobiles, the electricity, the machines --
because they displeased him -- and he moved an entire community back into the
dark ages -- just by using his mind.. . . and the people there have to smile.
They have to think happy thoughts and say happy things because once displeased,
the monster can wish them into a cornfield or change them into a grotesque, walking
horror. This particular monster can read minds, you see. He knows every
thought, he can feel every emotion."
We have entered the "Twilight Zone." The spirit of
Anthony Freemont rules our collective psyche, dictating our behaviors. And who
is the Tyrant possessed of the spirit of little Anthony? Progressive
ideologues. And while they don't have the same superpowers that Anthony was
endowed with, they do indeed wield a power just as brutal and effective as
Anthony's: political correctness.
Political correctness seeks to silence all opposition to the
advancement of progressive ideology. Those who manipulate the power of
political correctness appear on the surface to be the good-hearted, the
vulnerable, and the victimized. Whether as individuals, as organizations, or as
cultural groups, they present a picture of innocence and goodness, of
unparalleled magnanimity and empathy. Yet like Anthony, their appearance is
deceiving. They demand total fealty. And if you don't think the "happy
thoughts" they want you to, their outward appearance gives way to
vindictiveness and the same swift, disproportionate punishments that little
Anthony meted out.
They want to be constantly affirmed, never challenged, never
questioned, never judged. If they sense you don't agree with them, you are
immediately judged to be a "bad person, with bad thoughts." They
intimidate you into silence, until outwardly you only express happy thoughts,
i.e., expressions of vigorous agreement with and the moral goodness of their
will. For individuals and organizations who do not bend to their will, like
Anthony, they wish their detractors out to the cornfield. Their version of the
cornfield is the constant threat of social isolation, of being unloved and
disrespected.
Pick any issue currently being advanced by progressives --
same-sex marriage, state-mandated free contraception, abortion, man-made global
warming and strict gun control, to name a few. Publicly question or resist any
of these and be prepared to be judged as an anti-science, homophobic,
misogynist, racist, xenophobic, Neanderthal. As with little Anthony, to attempt
to enter into legitimate discussion or debate on these issues is out of the
question, and met with severe consequences. Your have only two options: Start
thinking "happy thoughts," or brace yourself for the cornfield.
Let's face it, the rise of political correctness is nothing
more than the end of free speech in the United States and in westernized
countries around the world. While appearing benign and guileless like little
Anthony, the reality is that roiling vitriol exists just under the surface of
these ideologues, waiting to lash out at the first sign of "bad
thoughts."
When the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation announced it
was halting its contributions to Planned Parenthood last year, the spirit of
Little Anthony Fremont leaped into action. In essence, Komen was guilty of not
thinking "happy thoughts" about Planned Parenthood. The skirmish was
never about breast cancer prevention and women's health. It was about demanding
massive funding for the nation's premiere abortion provider. How dare Komen
disagree?
Fast forward to the ongoing trial against abortionist Kermit Gosnell. He's accused of killing many babies born alive during botched abortion attempts, yet major networks and newspapers have ignored this story. With testimonies such as, "Gosnell taught me how to flip the body of the baby over and snip its neck with a pair of scissors to ensure 'fetal demise,' runs counter to the media's national narrative. The horrific truth currently lies abandoned in a cornfield.
An example which recently struck very close to home for me
occurred after I wrote an opinion piece last year in the Washington Post expressing
my opposition to same sex marriage. Although I am gay, I believe wholeheartedly
that the definition of Marriage is immutable.
Despite the fact that I voiced my full support for civil unions, because
I didn't think "happy thoughts" about same-sex marriage, I became the
object of Anthony's wrath in hundreds of comments that were posted. Within twenty-four hours, a page was created
on a gay website with my picture, excerpts from my writings, and at last count,
over one hundred mostly vile comments posted, all meant to intimidate and
prevent folks like me from speaking up.
More recently, we have witnessed Dr. Ben Carson, the most prominent member of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, forced to withdraw as the school's commencement speaker. He was sent out to the cornfield because he dared to not join the chorus of "happy thoughts" about gay marriage.
Progressives and their facilitators in the media want us to
believe that the angels and archangels, the cherubim and seraphim, are singing
the praises of genderless marriage. They want us to hear only the choruses of
Senators and Representatives, NFL players, Conservatives, and Fortune 500
Corporations in magnificent harmony, proclaiming their belief in this
implausible notion that two men or two women together is exactly the same as a
man and a woman.
Remember: We are in the "Twilight Zone." This is
not the heavenly chorus we now hear: It is the discordant jingles of
opportunists, searching to be relevant, remunerated or reelected. Dissenters
from this message, are catapulted to the cornfield where their voices are less
likely to be heard.
Let there be no doubt: The modus operandi of the Progressive
movement is the same as that of little Anthony, silencing opposition from
concerned adults by any means, all the while maintaining the outward, public
appearance of being a sweet, innocent, smiling child. Political correctness is
a tool of tyranny, wielded skillfully by Progressives to silence and render
impotent principled objection to the advancement of their cause.
We have come face to face with little Anthony Freemont. As
it turns out, Rod Serling was right: If you do meet Anthony you can be sure of
one thing: you have entered the "Twilight Zone."
We have, indeed, met him.
Evidence he’s right:
An Army officer has sent an email to subordinates
labeling conservative Christian organizations as "domestic hate groups"
and stating their values don't align with "Army values."
A Christian florist in Washington State,
who declined to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding because she objects for
religious reasons, is being taken to court by Washington Attorney General Bob
Ferguson.
________________________________________________________________________
FROM OTHER COLUMNS
“Great
Britain and the world have lost a great
leader. ... Lady [Margaret] Thatcher now takes her place in history alongside
Sir Winston Churchill, the Duke of Wellington and all the other great British
heroes who defeated enemies of their island nation. An intrepid warrior for freedom
and human dignity, Prime Minister Thatcher stood with her 'noble friend,'
President Ronald Reagan, to confront the Soviet empire when it was at its peak.
Her courage and steadfastness earned the respect of her fiercest foes. It was,
after all, the Russians who dubbed her the Iron Lady. At home, Lady Thatcher's
free-market reforms were revolutionary -- and salutary. Using deregulation and
privatization, she restored Great Britain,
once dismissed as the 'sick man of Europe,' to
its position as a world power. Indeed, her policies led the way and inspired
other nations -- including those in newly free Eastern
Europe -- to adopt similar reforms to boost their economies.... We
will do our best to live up to Margaret Thatcher's example of principled
leadership and iron will."
"The Obama administration treated the creation of
'democracy' in the Middle East as a good
thing. Ironically, those who created the United States of America viewed
democracy with fear -- and created a Constitutional republic instead. ... In
its most basic sense, democracy means majority rule. But there can be majority
rule in a free country or in a country with an authoritarian or even a
dictatorial government. In this age of sloppy uses of words, many people
include freedom in their conception of democracy. But whether democracy leads
to freedom is an open question, not a foregone conclusion. ... The idea that
'all people want freedom' is one of those feel-good phrases that some people
indulge in. But you do not get a free country just because everybody wants
freedom -- for themselves. You can have a free country only when people are
willing to let other people have freedom."
-Thomas
Sowell
"In 1960, when vastly more Americans were involved in
physical labor of some kind, 0.65 percent of workforce participants between the
ages of 18 and 64 were receiving Social Security disability insurance payments.
Fifty years later, in a much healthier America, that number has grown
nearly nine-fold to 5.6 percent. ... One factor has to do with what
correspondent Chana Joffe-Walt calls the 'Vast Disability Industrial Complex.'
These are the sometimes shady, sometimes well-intentioned lawyers who fight to
fatten the rolls of disability recipients. These lawyers get a cut of every
winning claimant's 'back pay.' The more clients, the bigger the take……As the
nature of the economy changes, disability programs are sometimes taking the
place of welfare for those who feel locked out of the workforce -- and state
governments are loving it. States pay for welfare, the feds pay for
disabilities."
-Jonah
Goldberg
“President Obama came to office
in 2009 promising to negotiate with America's enemies and create a
world without nuclear weapons. Four years later, North Korea is threatening
America with nuclear attack, Iran is closer to its own atomic arsenal, and the
world is edging ever closer to a dangerous new era of nuclear proliferation…….All
of this is occurring even as Mr. Obama has pursued the most aggressive nuclear
arms control agenda since the 1970s -- or more likely because of it…….On
present trend, the President who promised to rid the world of nuclear weapons
is setting the stage for their greatest proliferation since the dawn of the
atomic age."
-The Wall Street Journal
__________________________________________________________________________
LEFTIST WATCH
Such classy people on the left: “Hundreds took to the streets as macabre
‘Thatcher death parties’ were held late into the night across the country,
organised by critics of the ´Iron Lady.´ Smashed shop windows, paint bombs and
police being attacked were all consequences of the Left´s sick ´celebration´ of
Baroness Thatcher´s death.”
College professor and MSNBC host
Melissa Harris-Perry says your children are not yours – they are owned by the
community. She says public education has failed because we have not allowed the
state to confiscate more of our money. “We have to break through our private
idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families.” Kids
belong to whole communities, she insists, and once we realize this we’ll make
“better investments” in government indoctrination of children.
George Soros isn't behind everything the left does, but it
sure seems like he helps fund it all. The lefty magazine Mother Jones
released a tape, reportedly obtained from a Democratic Super PAC in Kentucky, in an effort
to hurt Mitch McConnell's bid for reelection in the U.S. Senate. Mother Jones
gets funding from George Soros' Open Society Foundations.
___________________________________________________________________________
SECOND AMENDMENT
Almost from the
moment he walked into the Oval Office, Barack Obama has had a serious lying
problem when it comes to firearms. The 44th president has a near
pathological predilection for using defective, invalid, and flat-out
dishonest statistics in his quest to restrict the 2nd Amendment rights of
American citizens, a fact first pointed out here at PJ Media in the summer of
2009.
Beginning a week of high pressure on gun control, the White
House on Monday accused some Republican senators of cowardice for planning to
filibuster gun legislation without allowing the full Senate to vote on
President Obama’s initiatives. “If they oppose this legislation, have the
courage to say so on the floor and vote no,” said White House press secretary
Jay Carney. “Don’t block it. Don’t hide behind a procedural action to prevent a
vote. That’s the wrong thing to do, and that’s how the president clearly
feels.” “A man using the parents of
murdered children as a photo op defines "cowardly" for us.”
A professor at a public university in Texas is under investigation from school
administrators for allegedly forcing students in her graphic design class to
create anti-gun posters for a personal anti-gun campaign she had launched.
____________________________________________________________________________
CONSERVATIVE STRATEGY
Pat Buchanan: “The Republican
National Committee has produced an "autopsy" on what went wrong in
2012, when the party failed to win the White House and lost seats in Congress. Yet,
the crisis of the Grand Old Party goes back much further. What killed
the New Majority? First, there was mass immigration, which brought in 40 to 50
million people, legal and illegal, poor and working class, and almost all from
the Third World. The GOP agreed to the
importation of a vast new constituency that is now kicking the GOP into an
early grave….And when amnesty is granted to the 12 million illegals, as GOP
senators are preparing to do, that should advance the death of the GOP as a
national party by turning Colorado, Nevada and Arizona blue, and putting even
Texas in play. Second came party acquiescence in dropping half the nation off
the income tax rolls, while making half dependent on government for food
assistance, income support, rent, health care and the education of their kids
from Head Start through Pell Grants. Why
should the half of America
that pays no taxes but survives on federal benefits vote for a party that will
cut taxes they do not pay but roll back benefits upon which they do depend? A
generation has grown up rejecting the truths that its grandparents lived. And
while population growth among our native born halted decades ago, scores of
millions have come in from abroad to fill the empty spaces. And they are still
coming. They like what Big Government has to offer, and seem uninterested in
what the GOP has to sell. In that case, you try harder to sell your product,
change your product, or go out of business. Yet, if the GOP changes its
product, it may just lose its most loyal customers. When the obituary of the
party is written, the subhead will likely read "Dead of Self-inflicted
Wounds."
Rich Lowry:
“Where is today’s Jack Kemp?” The autopsy is a good faith effort
to stare the Republican predicament straight in the face and begin to come up
with solutions….. No “rebranding” will make a difference if Republican policy
is not relevant to people’s lives. What the party desperately needs more than
different marketing or new political consultants are a few Jack Kemps,
political entrepreneurs willing to ignore orthodoxies and evangelize for new
ideas. …The Republican Party can study itself to death and hire the world’s
best marketers, but without some Jack Kemps it will only be dressing up stasis.
Fox News contributor
and former Democratic pollster Pat Caddell ripped into Republican consultants
at CPAC last month. The man who
engineered Jimmy Carter’s 1976 presidential victory called the Romney campaign
“the worst campaign in my lifetime” and criticized chief Romney strategist
Stuart Stevens. “There was a failure of strategy, a failure of tactics, a massive
failure of messaging. Most of all there
was a total failure of imagination. Stevens had as much business running a
campaign as I do sprouting wings and flying out of this room.” Participating in a panel — “Should We Shoot
All the Consultants Now?” — Caddell accused the GOP consulting class of being
only “in the business of lining their pockets and preserving power.” “When you have the Chief of Staff of the RNC
and the political director of the Romney campaign, and their two companies get
$150 million at the end of the campaign for the “fantastic” get-out-the-vote
program… some of this borders on RICO [the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and
Corrupt Organizations Act] violations,” Caddell told attendees. “The Republican Party is in the grips of what
I call the CLEC — the consultant, lobbyist, and establishment complex,” Caddell
said.
_________________________________________________________________________
ARTICLES
Tax Freedom Day 2013 is April 18 -- Five Days Later than
Last Year
“ObamaCare Is Rationing Seniors To Death: This is how ObamaCare squeezes Medicare that squeezes
hospitals that squeeze doctors who end up squeezing seniors by delaying and
denying the treatment they need.”
“US won’t be returning to moon, NASA chief says” Soon it will be China’s moon.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/21908503/us-wont-be-returning-to-moon-nasa-chief-says#ixzz2PttZBRPj
___________________________________________________________________________
NOTEWORTHY LINKS
Dennis Prager has started his own online university, trying
to correct the leftwing bias of American universities. “PRAGER UNIVERSITY
IS AN ENTIRELY NEW CONCEPT IN EDUCATION. Our courses, taught by some of the
finest, most original thinkers in the world, are five minutes long, visually
stimulating and rich in practical content.
Each seeks to enhance the student's understanding and appreciation for
the core ideas that support Western Civilization such as freedom, personal
responsibility and capitalism.”
6 Ways Obama's Budget Is Worse Than Everyone ThinksCuts just $186 billion in spending
-- over 10 years...
You won’t believe this:
Inside North
Korea: Shock video and photos show true
horror of Kim Jong-un's evil regime
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/inside-north-korea-video-photos-1826234#ixzz2QGCxO9rF
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
LATE NITE
Leno: A long list of
celebrities and musicians have signed a letter to President Obama asking him to
ease the nation's drug enforcement policy. Hollywood celebrities and musicians
want the president to ease our drug laws — it's always the people you least
expect…….Some experts believe North Korea
has a missile that could reach Los
Angeles. And of course, if North
Korea did attack Los Angeles,
that would start a war with Mexico.
The whole thing would escalate…..Here’s something I didn’t know. When Vice
President Biden and President Obama meet for lunch at the White House, the chef
goes out of his way to personalize their meals. For example, Biden’s lunch
always comes with a toy.
______________________________________________________________________
WISE WORDS
"[Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher] demonstrated two
great qualities. The first was that she had thought seriously about how to
revive the British economy and entered office with a clear set of policies to
do so. She brought down inflation by controlling the money supply, and she
began removing the controls, subsidies, and regulations that kept business
lazy. Her second great quality was the true grit of a true Brit (or perhaps I
should say, of a true-blue Brit). We both realized that our policies wouldn't
solve such deep-rooted problems overnight. The first effects, in the world
recession of 1981-82, were painful. I remember meeting her in Washington at a time when people in both our
countries were calling for a change of course. She never wavered. And she was
proved right by events. ... Margaret Thatcher -- this great lady has not only
served her country well, she has served the free world well. She is truly a great
statesman. So much so that I'll correct what I just said: She is a great stateswoman holding her own among
all the statesmen of the world."
-Ronald Reagan
posted by gary at
7:55 AM
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