op ed review 1/18
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
In a stunning Tuesday report, Gallup CEO and Chairman Jim
Clifton revealed that “for the first time in 35 years, American business deaths
now outnumber business births.”
Conservative Group Targets Comcast/NBC over the issue of
“the corruption of American journalism.” Comcast/NBC is accused of acting as a
“leftist Super Pac sponsoring millions of dollars worth of attack ads disguised
as ‘news’ that seek the political oblivion of conservatives and the Republican
Party.
“A group of young men in Nebraska are fighting the stranglehold
broadcast and print media have on political speech. Using a combination of
programming wizardry and personal experience gained from navigating the
legislative process, these men have constructed the “We Vote Project.” It is a game-changer in every sense of the
phrase.”
Arizona became the first state in the nation on Thursday to
enact a law requiring high school students to pass the U.S. citizenship test on
civics before graduation, giving a boost to a growing nationwide effort to
boost civics education.
The Mexican government will start issuing birth certificates
to its citizens at consulates in the United States, seeking to make it easier
for them to apply for U.S. work permits, driver’s licenses and protection from
deportation.
“Boehner slams Obama in brutal floor speech”....Cites
22 times the president said he couldn't create own law...
From the Military Times:
“Obama’s mark on the military: A
deeply unpopular commander in chief is forcing profound change inside the ranks.”
According to a Military Times survey of almost 2,300 active-duty service
members, Obama's popularity — never high to begin with — has crumbled, falling
from 35 percent in 2009 to just 15 percent this year,
It was one of the most powerful images of solidarity the
world has seen since the end of World War II. A million and a half people
marching through the streets of Paris, some crying, many cheering, others
chanting ‘Je suis Charlie!’ or singing La Marseillaise – that most
spine-tingling of all national anthems. At the head of the march were 50 world
leaders; the Prime Ministers of France, Britain, Spain, Denmark, Poland, Turkey
and Israel stood side-by-side, arm-in-arm with the German chancellor, the
Palestinian president, and the Queen of Jordan. So where was the leader of the
free world? Home watching the NFL
playoffs.
Mainstream Media ignores one of the most embarrassing
moments in American diplomatic history:
John Kerry brings musician James Taylor to a belated press conference to
sing "You´ve Got A Friend" to the French people.
Kerry said Monday that those criticizing the absence of top
U.S. officials at the unity rally in Paris Sunday are "quibbling".
Has Obama checked out?
Sen. Ted Cruz believes the GOP has a track record of failure
when the party nominates a presidential candidate from the “mushy middle.
The country is about to meet the Jeb Bush of 1994, courtesy
of the mainstream media. Even as Mitt Romney sends the press signals that he
kinda sorta wants to run again, Bush is no longer being treated as a mere
potential candidate. That means journalists, rather than simply handicapping
how he’d do against this or that challenger, are starting to dig into his
record. Thus we have the “head-banging conservative,” which is how Jeb
described himself when he first ran for Florida governor two decades ago.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is set to appoint a
Muslim lawmaker to the Intelligence Committee, giving him access to some of
America´s most closely held secrets in the war on terror. He once said US
schools should be like Islamic madrassas and warned law enforcement that ´Allah
will not allow you to stop us´
Cake maker who refused to bake for gay wedding labeled a
‘Nazi’ by Colo. civil rights officials
Obama amnesty to impose billions in costs on states, lawsuit
alleges.
Students across the United States are getting a taste of
progressivism. And it doesn’t seem to please their palates. The implementation
of Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity lunch standards is encountering backlash from
students and school administrators across the country. The program seems to
have taught them a valuable lesson in the realities of progressivism -- that
when American voters give up power to busy-body progressives, the result is
more control over their lives and the loss of individual liberties.
__________________________________________________________________________
THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
Cal Thomas 12/30
As 2014 ends, the
stock market is at record highs but our traditional institutions and
self-confidence are in decline.
A Pew Research
Center study confirms one trend that has been obvious over several years. The
"typical" American family is no longer typical. Just 46 percent of
American children now live in homes with their married, heterosexual parents.
Five percent have no parents at home. They most likely are living with
grandparents, says the study.
These startling
figures about the decline of the American family contrast with the year 1960
when 73 percent of American children lived in traditional families.
A major contributor
to this trend has been the assault on marriage and other institutions by the
Baby Boom generation. It was that generation that promoted cohabitation,
no-fault divorce, hatred of the police (they called them "pigs" then,
too) and disdain for the military and America, spawned not just by the Vietnam
War but a life of relative ease unknown to their parents.
The culture bomb
dropped by the boomers created fallout still being felt today. The two-plus
generations born since the Sixties have been infused with the notion of
entitlement, victimhood, envy and greed. Since the elimination of the draft,
young people are no longer expected to serve in the military and so most of
them pursue whatever goals they wish with no expectation they should give
something back to their country. It's one possible explanation for why we can
no longer seem to win wars.
History warns us
what happens when empires refuse to teach known values that strengthen
societies and help protect them from enemies intent on their destruction.
The late British
diplomat Sir John Glubb wrote a book called "The Fate of Empires and
Search For Survival." Glubb noted the average age of empires since the
time of ancient Assyria (859-612 B.C.) is 250 years. Only the Mameluke Empire
in Egypt and the Levant (1250-1517) made it as far as 267 years. America is 238
years old and is exhibiting signs of decline.
All empires begin,
writes Glubb, with the age of pioneers, followed by ages of conquest, commerce,
affluence, intellect and decadence. America appears to have reached the age of
decadence, which Glubb defines as marked by "defensiveness, pessimism, materialism,
frivolity, an influx of foreigners, the welfare state, (and) a weakening of
religion."
Decadence, he
writes, "is due to: Too long a period of wealth and power, selfishness,
love of money (and) the loss of a sense of duty."
Do these not define
America at the end of 2014? Glubb says the 250-year average of empires has not
varied in 3,000 years, but we don't learn from history because "our
studies are brief and prejudiced." He means they are mostly about one's
own country.
It will take more
than a new Congress in 2015 and a new president in 2017 to save us from the
fate of other empires. It will take a revival of the American spirit, and that
can only come through changed attitudes towards our institutions and each
other.
_______________________________________________________________________
FROM OTHER COLUMNS
“CBS News gave an early report on the terrorist attacks in
Paris. It included this telling sentence: ‘A reporter for Britain’s Telegraph
newspaper in Paris told Sky News that the first two officers to arrive, who
were apparently unarmed, fled after seeing gunmen armed with automatic weapons
and possibly a grenade launcher.’ Every American, every citizen of a free
country, needs to read, and re-read that sentence. Here is the answer of
liberals and socialists to the problem of domestic security. Let the police do
it. Let the state protect you. Give all weapons to the professionals who are
trained and who can be trusted. … When John Kerry arrives in Paris, he
doubtless knows that France lacks a Second Amendment. But France has a National
Anthem, the Marseillaise. And a memorable line in that stirring song is: Aux
armes, concitoyens! To arms, Fellow Citizens! Now is the time to put
self-defense on the international agenda. If your government does not believe
in the right to keep and bear arms as a human right, then it probably
doesn’t believe in your right to life, either.”
-Ken
Blackwell
“Joe Biden flew to Brazil last week to try to mend relations
with Brazil’s government that’s angry over NSA spying. He has a natural
curiosity for the country. After Joe landed, he told reporters he was thrilled
to be in the Amazon, because he always wanted to see where books come from.”
-Argus
Hamilton
________________________________________________________________________
LEFTIST WATCH
There’s a solitary man at the financial center of the Ferguson
protest movement. No, it’s not victim Michael Brown or Officer Darren Wilson.
It’s not even the Rev. Al Sharpton, despite his ubiquitous campaign on TV and
the streets. Rather, it’s liberal billionaire George Soros.
________________________________________________________________________
GLOBALONEY
The global warming establishment and the media are crowing
about 2010 being in a tie for the “hottest year” ever. Ignores Satellites
showing 18 Year ‘Pause’ – ‘We are arguing over the significance of hundredths
of a degree’' “The NASA press release
is highly misleading...talk of a record is scientifically and statistically
meaningless.'”
_______________________________________________________________________
ISLAM
The newest edition of Charlie Hebdo will include cartoons of
the Muslim prophet Mohammed, as the French satirical magazine continues to
stand defiantly against Islamic extremism following an attack on its Paris
offices that left 12 people dead.
“Muslim Call to Prayer to be
Chanted from the belltower Every Friday at Duke University”
Whoops! Supposedly Duke University thought turning the
majestically Gothic bell tower of famous Duke Chapel into an Islamic minaret
for every Friday call to prayer, heralded as “interreligious reimagining of a
university icon,” would be non-controversial. But the bow to campus
multiculturalist ideology, thanks to nationwide publicity, barely lasted 24
hours.
Islamic State's Psychological War on U.S. Troops. This week, Pentagon officials began calling
up retired generals to let them know that their home addresses, private e-mails
and other personal information had appeared in a document that was publicized
globally by a group claiming to support Islamic State.
America Following France's Demographic Path To Terror. Dearborn, Mich., is about 40% Muslim. Would only a bigoted Islamophobe be
disturbed upon hearing that stat? Maybe,
but a secret 2013 National Counterterrorism Center document, revealed by the
online publication The Intercept, found Dearborn second only to New York in
known or suspected terrorists and their associates.
The FBI Wednesday arrested an Ohio man for allegedly
plotting an ISIS-inspired attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he hoped to set off
a series of bombs aimed at lawmakers, whom he allegedly considered enemies.
A Saudi Arabian blogger was sentenced to 10 years in prison
and 1,000 lashes after he used his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabia's
powerful clerics. The second round of his punishment had to be postponed
“because his wounds from last week's flogging had not yet healed properly and
he would not be able to withstand another round.”
____________________________________________________________________________
ARTICLES
A federal researcher points out that King George III
couldn’t suspend laws — as many say Obama just did. A non-partisan branch of the Library of Congress tackled the question:
What would George III do when faced with a law he didn’t like? “Not even the King of England at the time of the
American Revolution had the authority to suspend laws unilaterally…”
Republicans in Congress are nearly unanimous in opposing
President Obama's unilateral executive action on immigration. Nearly all want
Congress to overturn the president's edict. But how to do it? Republicans have
two basic options, and as the time to act nears, it appears they are preparing
to choose the one more likely to fail.
A terror attack on Europe by radical Islamists cannot be
prevented, the head of the EU police agency has warned…..”the diffuse nature of
the network, the scale of the people involved makes this extremely difficult
for even very well-functioning counterterrorist agencies such as we have in
France to stop every attack."
The Troubling Math of Muslim Migration Preventing a
Paris-style attack is, in part, a numbers game. Americans don’t seem to be
paying attention.
The most common New York cab
driver name is now Mohammed
Clint Eastwood’s Empty chair? “It should be painfully clear by now that no
one of authority is in charge at the White House, least of all President Obama.
His government is running itself, without any serious, detailed direction from
the West Wing in the day-to-day issues and troubles America faces at home and
abroad.”
Wes Pruden, Washington Times: “Why Hillary Clinton won’t run for president”
Peggy Noonan: “Don’t Do
It, Mr. Romney”
Jeff Sessions Pens 25-Page Roadmap for New Republican
Majority
Christianity is under attack in America, and it’s losing.
Meanwhile, the Church is, in general, sitting out the fight and hoping the
problem goes away.
___________________________________________________________________________
NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES
15 Statistics That Destroy Liberal Narratives
The late Martin
Luther King Jr., and his “I have a dream” speech are being used in an effort to
fight President Obama’s executive action to grant worker amnesty to millions of
illegal immigrants. At issue: Jobs taken by illegals that America’s minorities,
specifically blacks and legal Hispanics, need.
___________________________________________________________________________
WISE WORDS
“[T]he only foundation for a useful
education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no
virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object
and life of all republican governments.”
-Dr. Benjamin Rush
posted by gary at
8:14 AM
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