Saturday, January 24, 2015

op ed review 1/25



THIS WEEK’S NEWS
State of the Union address:  Obama calls for civility, then immediately taunts Republicans over his two presidential wins.
Ben Stein:  “Endless Gifts From Uncle Obama”
The Associated Press released a fact check of President Barack Obama’s 2015 State of the Union address, and their analysis is not kind to Obama’s claims.
Obama Proposes New Law that Already Exists
In spite of all the mainstream media promotion, President Barack Obama‘s 2015 State of the Union address drew the lowest television viewership for any such speech in the last 15 years,

There’s a subtext to President Obama’s slew of domestic policy proposals since the November elections: President Obama does not trust Hillary Clinton very much. None of the president’s domestic-policy brainwaves has much chance of becoming law in the next two years: not free community college, not cash grants to selected middle-income households, and certainly not heavy tax increases on upper-income earners. The president knows these odds better than anybody. So why keep propounding such no-hopers? The intent, pretty obviously, is to box in his presumptive successor as head of the Democratic Party.

Obama mocked for MLK Day photo that features him: ‘It’s always about the Big O!’

“In an effort at outreach to the large and growing Moron-American voting bloc…..Obama debases the presidency in sit-down interviews with YouTube celebrities”
“The White House Thursday was officially declared a “Laughingstock” and will be demolished by the Department of Interior within a month, officials said today. The proximate cause of the declaration was the White House decision to take the presidency to a brand new low, inviting in three absurdly unqualified and generally ridiculous people to interview the president of the United States.”

The new border bills drafted by Republican leaders require the actual removal of at least 66 miles of weak border fencing between Mexico and the United States. The border bills also only require for the construction of 27 miles of effective double-layer fencing along the 2,000-mile border. “It is a remarkable that the direction of our progress is going backwards, from a goal of building 700 miles of double-layer border fencing [in 2006] to only 27 miles [in 2015],” said a Hill staffer who opposes the leaders’ bills.
Then Republican leadership pulled the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.” “Everyone should be worried by the House Republicans' action. The measure has overwhelming popular support; the GOP campaigned on the issue…..but the GOP could not pull it off. That level of incompetence bodes poorly for legislation that does not have popular support.”
“Republican Woman Derails Abortion Ban”
“This past week, the national media and the Republican base both scratched their collective heads perplexed by the un-anchoring of the Republican Party.”

Gas is so cheap that a gallon costs 89 cents less than a gallon of sparkling water, and more than $1 less than a gallon of Pepsi, according to economist Mark Perry with the American Enterprise Institute. “Thanks at least in part to the revolutionary drilling technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, we now have the cheapest gas in history when adjusted for increased fuel economy and higher wages.”.

After Irish-born actor Liam Neeson shot off his mouth about Americans’ fondness for guns — you know, the things he uses in his hit action movies — the company that provided the weapons for the latest installment in the Taken series decided it had had enough: PARA USA regrets its decision to provide firearms for use in the film “Taken 3. While the film itself is entertaining, comments made by its Irish-born star during press junkets reflect a cultural and factual ignorance that undermines support of the Second Amendment and American liberties. We will no longer provide firearms for use…”

Great moments in socialized medicine:  The British National Health Service is ‘not fit for the future’ and unless it undergoes radical change it may be forced to abandon free healthcare for all, in the future, the service's top doctor has warned.
Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana was a bad idea, the state’s governor said Friday.
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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
Mark Davis  1/23
The Dark Urges Of Chris Kyle's Haters

…the torrents of liberal revulsion (American Sniper) has sparked have nothing to do with vigorous debate over a movie’s merits. The Hollywood haters of “American Sniper” are driven by hatred of Chris Kyle himself. And it is there we find a modern mental pathology that would keep a full ward of psychologists busy for a very long time.

But no degree in human personality traits is necessary to see what drives the monstrous reactions of the Michael Moores, Seth Rogens and Max Blumenthals who have gone beyond disregard for the movie to heap venom on its subject.

There is not a surprise to be found in Moore’s attack about the cowardice of snipers, Rogen’s snotty comparison of the film to Nazi propaganda, or even Blumenthal’s label of “mass murdering sniper,” in the mold John Lee Malvo.

This is a natural visceral reaction when the bigotries of the left are laid bare to the bright light of American virtue. The prospect of a selfless American hero willing to risk his life to fight the evils of global jihad offends leftism at every level. It speaks to a strong America, which they despise. It celebrates wartime sacrifice, which does not move them. And it highlights the evils of our Islamic enemies, which sends them over the cliff into an abyss of hostile loathing they cannot help but share.

The comments of the Kyle-haters were met with conservative pushback, much of it suggesting that Michael Moore in particular should shut up and thank God for the Chris Kyles who fight for his freedom to make whatever little films he pleases.

I differed. From the insults to Kyle to the labels of him as a murderer, to the derision of any film that would elevate him, I want to hear it all. I want every loathsome, odious rant from these people to be out there for all to hear. Let them be judged by those words. Let their vicious derangements go into a time capsule for the ages, to chronicle how such merchants of our pop culture reviled the people who fought for the liberties they take for granted.

No one is required to love “American Sniper.” No one is required to support the war. But if you are unmoved as the credits roll, there is something askew in your heart……What is missing in the cauldron of leftist aggressions is the inability to appreciate the sacrifices of participants in wars they disagree with. It led them to brand past generations of soldiers as baby-killers in Vietnam, and it leads them to insult the honor of those who volunteer today to protect our nation from Islamofascist monsters who would kill us where we stand.

If ambivalence to “American Sniper” is evidence of a missing cog in the heart, condemnation of it is evidence of a dark pool in the soul, a black hole of hatred that yields a wounded animal reaction when faced with the threat that Chris Kyle’s life story poses to their worldview.



Ken Blackwell:  1/22
Black lives matter” has become the slogan of anti-police protests across the nation, but the target of the protests is so misplaced that the motives of the so-called civil rights leaders behind the movement must be questioned. Do they really care about black lives? Or are they cynically exploiting isolated incidents, such as the death of Michael Brown, to inflame the black population and advance their own political interests? Today, on the somber anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, it’s time for black leaders to face up to the real danger threatening black lives in America. It isn’t the police.  According to an anti-police brutality organization, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, 313 blacks were killed by “police, security guards and vigilantes” in 2013. It isn’t even black criminals, who, as Rudy Giuliani famously pointed out on “Meet the Press,” are responsible for 93 percent of violent deaths among blacks. Sources estimate that between 6,000 and 8,000 blacks are murdered each year.  No, the greatest danger to blacks is found precisely where we ought to be safest: in our mothers’ wombs. In 2010, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 138,539 black babies were aborted. I’ll say it again: 138,539 black babies, nearly one baby in three, were killed in the womb in 2010.

FROM OTHER COLUMNS
“Obama sure is consistent. His State of the Union address sounded like his other speeches: What I’ve done is great! America is in a much better position. We’ve created a manufacturing sector that’s adding jobs. More oil is produced at home. I cut deficits in half! Give me a break. The deficit is lower now not because of any prudence on Obama’s part but merely because the $800 billion stimulus spending blowout didn’t continue. All the president does is increase spending: free community college, free Obamaphones, free birth control, etc. Yes, our annual deficit is lower, but it’s still $488 billion! Our $18 trillion national debt increases by $3 million every minute! Yes, more oil is produced at home, but that’s in spite of the administration. Oil production is down on public land. Yes, the manufacturing sector added jobs, but that’s mostly because of cheaper natural gas created by fracking, which Obama’s cronies opposed. Also, America is finally recovering from recession. Obama’s policies probably slowed that recovery. Does the President delude himself when he takes credit for oil production, lower deficits, etc.? Or does he mislead on purpose? I don’t know.”
          -John Stossel

“I think (Obama) believes that the world is unfair and those who are more fortunate are just lucky—you know, “You didn’t build that”—and that his role, as he said to Joe the Plumber, is to spread the wealth around. And so he is letting people into this country so they can partake in the wealth that the existing American population has created.  I think his response to the Ebola crisis was typical, sending our troops over there.  He doesn’t view his role as protecting the American people from this disease.  I think this is a man who has enormous resentments toward this country, especially towards those people who have flourished and prospered here.”
             -Thomas Sowell
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LEFTIST WATCH
Arizona State University is offering an English course this semester that promises to explore the “problem of whiteness” in American literature and culture
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GLOBALONEY
It wasn’t.  The New York Times features one of the most misleading headlines ever: “2014 Was the Warmest Year Ever Recorded on Earth.” The first paragraph drives the hysteria home……

Al Gore wants to spend $90 trillion to ban cars from every major city in the world.
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ARTICLES
The ‘American Sniper’ Freakout:  Why the left can’t tolerate this movie.
Noonan:  I saw “American Sniper” last night. It is not a great movie but it is a powerful one. It had the power to leave a packed Manhattan movie house silent—really, completely silent—as they stared at the closing credits and tried to absorb the meaning of what they’d seen.
While ABC’s The View is no stranger to discussing topics that often polarize non-liberal audiences, Clint Eastwood’s patriotic masterpiece American Sniper found an unlikely ally: Whoopi Goldberg.
Americans love war heroes, despite what Hollywood liberals think

How Pope Francis allows politics to distort the Christian faith

The problem with socialism isn’t that you eventually run out of other people’s money. It’s that you eventually run out of oil money. Well, at least in Venezuela…

Chris Edwards at the Cato Institute believes there should be a National Museum of Government Failure. He argues that the displays at the Smithsonian would pale into insignificance if set beside the awe-inspiring sight of such things as the “$349 million on a rocket test facility that is completely unused“, the Superconducting Collider whose ruins include nearly 15 miles of tunnel and the ex-future Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site. Yet these artifacts, whose scale would surpass many a Lost City, are far from the worst failures.

Gunfight in Kansas
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WISE WORDS
“Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason.”
                    –Benjamin Franklin


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