Thursday, January 31, 2013

Holy Cow---Hagel Was EMBARRASSING!

Yid With Lid    "Regular readers of this site know that I have not been in favor of former Senator Chuck Hagel's nomination---but even his biggest detractors did not expect the performance he gave today during his senate confirmation hearings.   It wasn't that he said things that people disagreed with, or got caught with some sort of scandal--he looked totally unprepared and out-classed. He was pathetic.
"The guy knew what he would face...his own statements and record, many of them were posted here. Chuck Hagel had weeks to figure out responses--and OH MY G--, he didn't even understand what containment means."
The full text of this post is even more interesting

....
"If you asked me this morning if Hagel would be confirmed by the Senate, despite my objections to his nomination I would have answered in the affirmative. After today's embarrassing display there is a legitimate chance he may be blocked or even have his name withdrawn before this process is over."
Hat tip to Jeffrey Dunetz at Conservative Bloggers on Facebook

Obamabot Singer Beyonce Admits She Lip Synced National Anthem At Inauguration, Blames Her Unwavering Devotion To Dear Leader…

Weasel Zippers "NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Beyonce says she did lip sync when she performed the national anthem on Inauguration Day.
"The singer held a press conference Thursday in New Orleans days ahead of her half-time performance at the Super Bowl.
"She said she’s a “perfectionist” and wanted her performance for President Barack Obama to be a memorable one. She called the day “emotional.”"

Paving over History; This would fit the Obama pattern, wouldn't you say? But MMFA says the story is ridiculous.

If a sinkhole forms under the Obama library, he can honestly say he inherited this problem from a Republican.

Jeannie DeAngelis "In 1970, Joni Mitchell's song Big Yellow Taxi was a huge hit. Forty-two years later, it is rumored* that the University of Chicago wants to raze Ronald Reagan's childhood home to clear the way for Obama's future presidential library, which brings to mind the lyrics "[t]hey paved paradise and put up a parking lot." 
...."The controversy over the location of the future archive started when Michelle Obama's former employer, the University of Chicago Medical Center, disclosed potential plans to turn Ronald Reagan's childhood home in Chicago into a parking lot for President Barack Obama's Presidential Library.  That was when it became clear that liberals will not rest until every vestige of conservatism is purged both figuratively and literally from the national consciousness and progressivism is all that remains."
Read more.
* emphasis mine, TD

Media Matters disagrees emphatically; Conservative Media Manufacture Ridiculous Claim That Obama Is Destroying "Reagan's Childhood Home"
"The "childhood home" is an apartment Reagan lived in for less than a year as a young child, and its planned demolition is part of an expansion by the University of Chicago that has nothing to do with President Obama's presidential library. Obama hasn't chosen which state his presidential library will eventually be in, let alone where people will need to park for it. Further, Obama Press Secretary Jay Carney has declared the story "false." "

Collectivist Mind Games: Demonizing the Non-Compliant

The People's Cube
The entire text of this article is quoted below:

PROG OFF
A three-part series by Oleg Atbashian published in the American Thinker this week: The Collectivist Mind Game, Part 1: Demonizing the Non-Compliant

The Collectivist Mind Game, Part 2: Demonizing the Opposition

The Collectivist Mind Game, Part 3: Demonizing Human Nature

This series, in its turn, is also a part of a larger series, tentatively titled The Mind Games of Manipulative Illusions, which recently appeared in various places:The Socialist Mind Game: A Brief Manual - The American Thinker Obama's media to Romney: You lost, now play our game or else - The Washington Times Obama’s Tax Cuts: The Sucker at the Table - PJ Media

 

From our "Bureaucrats Gone Wild" file: Couple Faces Jail Time for Saving Baby Deer’s Life (VIDEO)

Update:
Political Cartoons by Gary Varvel
The Foundry via Overcriminalized.com   "An Indiana couple is facing up to 60 days in jail and $2,000 in fines for saving a deer from death. Jeff Counceller, a police officer, and his wife Jennifer spotted an injured baby deer on their neighbor’s porch. Instead of turning a blind eye to the dying fawn, the Councellers took the deer in and nursed it back to health.
"They kept the deer, Little Orphan Dani, in their backyard as it recovered. Everything was fine until an Indiana Conservation Officer spotted Little Orphan Dani in the Councellers’ yard. The Councellers were charged with unlawful possession of a deer, a misdemeanor offense." 

For all of us, but especially for our low-information voters: Bret Baier Checks President's Deficit Reduction Math with Doug Holtz-Eakin

This played on Special Report some days ago, but we need to be aware of its content, especially for those of us who get glassy-eyed at budget discussions.

American Action Forum  "AAF President and former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin checked the math on the deficit reduction President Obama claimed to have already made in yesterday’s press conference. Watch the segment here for a step-by-step look at the budget gimmicks in play. You can also see the Eakinomics video referenced in the segment here." 

Last September, Holtz-Eakin gave this assessment of Bill Clinton's convention speech on Obama's economic policies. Remember Clinton is a Democrat politician, not an economist. I'm just sayin'.
"Bill Clinton provided a full-throated defense of President Obama’s economic and fiscal policies, the main ingredient of which is red ink. Unfortunately, the defense is built on claims that cannot be reconciled with the facts. It’s arithmetic."
Douglas Holtz-Eakin has a distinguished record as an academic, policy adviser, and strategist. Currently he is the President of the American Action Forum and most recently was a Commissioner on the Congressionally-chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Ann Coulter and others on the immigration reform plan

Political Cartoons by Robert Ariail
Ann Coulter   "And look how great that's turned out! With Hispanics on track to become the largest ethnic group in California this year, the state that gave us Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan is incapable of electing any Republican statewide anymore. Taxes keep going up, and there's no one left to pay the bill.
That will be our entire country if Republicans fall for Rubio's phony "Enforcement First!" plan. Perplexingly, some Republicans seem determined to turn the whole nation into California, in the foolish hope of winning one last election.
"No border can be secure when the pot of gold on the other side is an American green card. (Again playing games with language, Rubio doesn't call the right to legally live and work here a "green card," but in practical effect, that's what it is.)
"So when exactly does the enforcement part of Rubio's "Enforcement First!" plan kick in? Answer: Never."

NRO; A Pointless Amnesty  "And, if we are to take Hispanics at their word, conservative attitudes toward illegal immigration are a minor reason for their voting preferences. While many are in business for themselves, they express hostile attitudes toward free enterprise in polls. They are disproportionately low-income and disproportionately likely to receive some form of government support. More than half of Hispanic births are out of wedlock. Take away the Spanish surname and Latino voters look a great deal like many other Democratic constituencies."

Heritage; Senate Immigration Reform: Another Misguided Call for Comprehensive Legislation  "Helping the millions who remain stuck in the shadows, along with American employers and individuals legally seeking to come to the U.S., requires a different approach. This means rejecting the same old methods used in the past, namely rejecting comprehensive immigration legislation. Such an approach which tries to solve all of our nation’s varied problems at once will help no one. Worse, promising to be loaded with political trade-offs, it is likely to hurt the very people it tries to help."
Political Cartoons by Glenn Foden
Miami Herald; Rubio, Senate ‘Gang of Eight’ unveil ‘tough but fair’ bipartisan immigration deal   "Rubio’s office said the senator expects pushback from the right as well as the left. Liberal-leaning unions have fought against guest-worker programs such as the one the Gang of Eight proposed. The AFL-CIO, however, told The Washington Post that it supports this effort along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Liberal immigration advocates also want a faster pathway to citizenship."

Probe Ministries;  One Christian Perspective on the Immigration Reform Debate   "Steve Cable takes a look at the immigration issue from a biblical point of view.  Setting aside all the political rhetoric, what does the Bible really have to say about this topic and how should the church respond with an [authentic] Christian perspective."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/28/v-fullstory/3204447/rubio-senate-gang-of-eight-unveil.html#storylink=cpy

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Did you hear about the MSNBC video of NRA supporters heckling a Sandy Hook victim's father? Never, never believe any NBC source!

Deceptively Edited Video Of Sandy Hook Hearing Portrays Gun-Rights Supporters As Hecklers
"In the wake of a gun control hearing involving the father of one of the victims of the tragic Sandy Hook shooting BuzzFeed, The Telegraph, and other liberal media outlets have resorted to using a deceptively edited video in order to smear Second Amendment supporters.
"A video promoted by all of the aforementioned sites purportedly shows the "father of Newtown victim heckled by NRA supporters." However, when the heavily edited video of Neil Heslin is compared to the raw video, available at Twitchy, it becomes apparent that important context has been removed from the interaction.

NBC Demonizes Gun Owners With Phony 'Heckler' Story

Big Journalism; Media Had No Incentive to Verify 'Heckle' Story  "When the media assumes the role of protecting The State, that's when manufactured propaganda is allowed to become news. The probably false "heckle" story helps The State because The State wants to restrict our civil rights. Therefore, the story is too good to check and must be spread as quickly as possible."

This sums up the entire recent history of NBC News, putting the above story into context.
Capus
NBC News Caught Using Deceptive Edit … Again  "NBC News just can't stop with its ongoing crusade to deliberately and maliciously manipulate content in order to push Obama's agenda. Just how shamelessly and desperately dishonest is the Peacock Network? Let us count the ways."
....
"All of this has happened under the watch of Stave Capus ...who's not only the president of NBC News, but also the "the arbiter of issues involving ethics, style, standards, safety and other matters that affect the Division's journalistic bearing."  
" But Capus has obviously done nothing to stop the ongoing and flagrant fraud committed by his subordinates -- and in some cases his anchors.
"How many Dan Rather moves like this does NBC News get to make before some action is taken? And if Capus isn't going to do something, maybe there's one person above him with a smidgen of character."

 

Fight back against the media; 1/30/2013

CBS's Eye on Obama
 
"In a counterattack against the efforts by the White House and its minions in the mainstream media to eradicate Fox News, Kirtsten Powers, a liberal who works for Fox News, pulls no punches about how serious the situation is, saying, “There is no war on terror for the Obama White House, but there is one on Fox News …what the Obama administration is doing, and what liberals are funding at MMFA is beyond chilling – it’s a deep freeze.” "
 
Kroft Admits: Obama Likes Me Because I Throw Softballs   "(Obama) knows that we’re not going to play ‘gotcha’ with him, that we’re not going to go out of our way to make him look bad or stupid.”
"Gotcha" apparently, is a euphemism for "asking hard questions."  In fact, we searched our database here at Breitbart and can't find one challenging or tough question Mr. Kroft has ever asked President Obama.

Immigration: true wisdom or just Obamagration?

This UK Guardian writer's position: Obama's immigration reform plan: the verdict Via The Intellectual Conservative

New Senate Immigration Reform Bill is Nothing New  "The new immigration reform bill being touted by Senator Marco Rubio (Republican, Florida) and the "Gang of Eight" senators – mostly liberal Democrats and liberal Republicans – is little different than past immigration reform bills. It contains the same contradictory positions: toughen up border security while making it easier for illegal immigrants to remain in the US."
Political Cartoons by Chuck Asay
 
Conservatives should give Rubio a chance on immigration reform   "Let me make it very clear.  I hate illegal immigration as much as anybody.  I am a naturalized US citizen and came to the US legally.  The key difference between the US and much of the world is the "rule of law."
"At the same time, hating illegal immigration or calling everything "amnesty" is not going to solve the problem.  This is why I've always favored a plan that offers a path to legalization to people who are willing to do a few things."  Read more.
Silvio Canto is the author of "Cubanos in Wisconsin," a book about his family leaving communist Cuba. 

What Was the Point of Obama’s Immigration Speech?  "I know the president likes the sound of his own voice, but, really, what was the point of his immigration speech today in Las Vegas? He didn’t deal with any of the hard issues — like guestworkers or spousal immigration rights for homosexual couples or how many millions more people a year he wants to admit — and just regurgitated the usual boilerplate about how we’re a nation of immigrants and our system is broken, etc."...  Via Lucianne

Michelle Malkin; Amnesty gang throws law-abiders under the bus  "Have you studied for your naturalization test, taken the oath of allegiance to heart, embraced our time-tested principle of the rule of law, and demonstrated that you will be a financially independent, productive citizen? You’re chumps!"

What diference does it make, Hillary?

Some Details About Media Bias

Always On Watch  "Please watch the following short video, particularly appropriate on Inauguration Day 2013 (hat tip to Randy's Roundtable):" 


 

The Obama philosophy of governing

 
OK, "governance".

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Never stand between Obama and potential Democrat voters!

He spent how much to fly to Las Vegas to give a 25-minute speech he could have given from the White House?
NRO: Obama’s Immigration Proposal   "President Obama just gave about a 25 minute speech in Las Vegas outlining (in terms even more broad than the Senate’s gang of eight yesterday) his principles for comprehensive (but of course) immigration reform. Here are the highlights from the president’s speech and the written proposal released by the White House:" ...

Victor Davis Hanson; Immigration Platitudes and Press Conferences
"Are we really saying that from now on the Nigerian with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, who is waiting legally to come to Silicon Valley, should be privileged for consideration over someone without a high-school diploma from the interior of Mexico, who has the ability simply to cross the border in a way the latter does not?"
Conservatives should oppose the Senate immigration proposal, and can gain much from doing so.  " Well, here it finally is: the long-threatened “bipartisan” comprehensive immigration reform proposal, and as the old joke has it, when the Stupid Party and the Evil Party get together, they come up with something that is both stupid and evil."

Barack Obama on Illegal Immigration: You Do As I Say, Bitch (Congress)!!!!   

 
Obama Got It ‘Backasswards’: Should Ban Invaders and Defend the Constitution!   "Obama’s lack of comprehension may help explain why he has waged an all-out campaign AGAINST the 2nd Amendment, while at nearly the same time, DEFENDING foreign moochers against the rule of law, as in the case of illegal aliens."

Fair and Balanced...and still unafraid

Krauthammer: FOX News should be proud that we annoy Obama so much  "As we heard in President Obama’s recent interview with TNR, the White House’s irritation with FOX News and rightward-leaning media outlets continues unabated — but as Charles Krauthammer pointed out last night, that should be more of a source of pride than anything else. Nothing says success quite like your competition’s outspoken annoyance:" Video and transcript...

Legal Insurrection 
Fox Arm 590 LI

Senator Rubio Makes His Case

Rush Limbaugh  Two excerpts below:
"RUBIO:  You know, our argument about limited government is always harder to sell than a government program.  It always has been.  I mean, it's easier to sell cotton candy than it is to sell broccoli to somebody, but the broccoli is better for you, and the same thing with a limited government.  Yeah, it's a lot easier for a politician to sell people on how a big government program is gonna make their life better, but I think ours, once we sell it, is more enduring and more permanent and better for the country.  It is a challenge.  And, by the way, it's not just a challenge for people that are immigrating here, it's a challenge for people that are born here.  We have a real fight on our hands to convince the American people that limited government and free enterprise is the right thing for our future. I think that's a real challenge across the board given some things that have happened in our society."
"RUSH:  Well, you have a difficult job ahead of you because you are meeting everybody honestly, forthrightly, halfway, you're seeking compromise.  Obama is seeking political victory.  Obama doesn't care about enforcing exist[ing] law, so people say, "Why will he enforce anything that's new?"  He sued Arizona for simply trying to enforce existing federal law.  You've got a tough job ahead of you."

After the interview, Rush followed up with these points:
Resist Cynicism About Marco Rubio
"We've got a president who's not enforcing existing immigration law.  He says that he's not gonna have border protection in his bill, which he's announcing today."

Rush's audience reacts to Rubio
...."RUSH:  I know.  They own the low-information voter segments.  They own pop culture.  They own books, TVs, movies. They own the classroom.  That's a key.
CALLER:  I've got kids that I'm constantly countering the message they're getting in school.  And we're in a fairly conservative district and they're still getting --
RUSH:  I know.
CALLER:  -- not a conservative message.
 

Sen. Rubio to discuss immigration on the Rush Limbaugh program today

Marco Rubio Is Trying To Charm Fox News And Rush Limbaugh Into Backing His Immigration Plan
"Hannity's views on the subject of immigration reform have shifted since the election. Two weeks ago, Hannity called Rubio's immigration proposal "most thoughtful bill that I have heard heretofore." 
"On Monday, Hannity remained skeptical, but Rubio made a believer out of him again."

Twitchy

EIB Alert: Senator Marco Rubio Will Join Today's Show in Hour Two
Watch for coverage of this here later.
Political Cartoons by Steve Breen

Trust the liberals to keep us safe

“In the wake of mass murders like Sandy Hook and the horrific rapes and murders of thousands of women each year,” the ladies explained in their column, “pepper spray, mace or five-round handheld pistols aren’t going to cut it.”

The "Chickification" of America

Alan Caruba  "The latest manifestation of an effort that pre-dates Obama, the “chickification” of America, is the decision by the Department of Defense to allow women to engage in battle alongside their male counterparts. There are few ideas more idiotic than this. Forget the usual arguments put forth about upper body strength and such, even the Israeli Defense Force, famous for including women in its ranks, uses them auxiliary functions in order to free up the men to do the actual fighting.
"No civilized nation wants to send women into combat. "No military that depends on unit cohesion and morale wants to put the two sexes together in close proximity because the two sexes tend to do what comes naturally in close proximity. They’ve been holding hearings in Congress about the problems this has created in our military services."
 Political Cartoons by Eric Allie
We see draconian laws passed on business by bureaucrats who have never run a business and rules for our soldiers decreed by those who have contempt for the military. And they call conservatives "extremists"!


 
Richmond Confidential photo
Rush also discusses the chickification of football:  "The players, just heard Obama, they can make some of these decisions, but they're not smart enough.  The players just don't know enough about what's good for them.  They need somebody like Obama or a federal commission, whatever, to oversee the game 'cause the players don't know what they're talking about, they don't know what they're doing, they're not smart enough."....
...."And if you have the courage to admit it, that's the Left's attitude about virtually every problem in society.  Jobs, income, car to drive, gasoline usage, you name it, you just can't make some of these decisions on your own. You don't know what's good for you. You don't know what's best for you.  Somebody else has to move in." 

Monday, January 28, 2013

Confirmed? Iranian Nuclear Facility Suffers "Mega Explosion"

Yid With Lid
"Today the Times of London quoted Israeli intelligence officials as saying that "a mega explosion had occurred and caused damage to the Iranian "Fordow" nuclear facility. The heavily fortified "Fordow" nuclear facility for uranium enrichment is located underground on a mountain near the Iranian city of Qum.
"Sources reported that the explosion occurred last week. The Israeli government was trying to investigate into reports which told of damages sustained by the facility which led to trapping 200 workers inside the facility, according to the newspaper.
"The British newspaper quoted an Israeli official as saying that "we're still in the early stages of trying to comprehend what happened and the extent of its significance," pointing out that it was not known whether the explosion was "an act of sabotage of incidental".
"The Israeli official declined to comment on news regarding the presence of Israeli warplanes near the facility which contains 2700 centrifuges for uranium enrichment at the time of the explosion's occurrence."....

Darrell Scott's Columbine Testimony

Snopes writes of this story: " Netlore Archive: Mr. Darrell Scott, the father of a victim of the Columbine shootings, did in fact deliver the stirring testimony before Congress that has been widely quoted in forwarded emails." 

Snopes   "Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful."
....
USA Today
"What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties.
"We do not need more restrictive laws." Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain  lies within our own hearts."...

Hat tip to former schoolmate from Garibaldi, OR: George Cohee

How Liberals think: "every dollar Phil Mickelson makes is a dollar denied to a poor person"

How Liberals think  "So why did Phil apologize?  Bear in mind, he didn’t apologize for WHAT he said, just for saying it – and that was because the left was hammering him for his insensitivity and greed.  Yeah … greed.  Wanting to keep more of the money you  work for and earn is greed.  Wanting the government to use force to take money from someone else and give it to you is not greed.  Go figure."
...."Now … look at what Loyal Democrat wrote:"
The man should indeed apologize. For every surplus dollar he has, that is one dollar that was denied to a poor person. Thus, by hoarding so much wealth, the man has in effect stolen from the poor. Why such theft is not grounds for imprisonment just shows how rotten our greedy nation really is.

 "....“Loyal Democrat” is the face of the ObamaVoter.  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.  In fact … be scared S#!?less.  These people are multiplying hamsters --- and with about the same brain power – and they have voter registration cards."  Neal Boortz
More on this from Neal Boortz:  Phil isn't the one who needs to apologize
"....Let’s start with Angel Adams.  ... The lovely and quite fertile Angel was found living in a motel room in Tampa with 12 of her 15 children by three different fathers."   She said, “Somebody needs to pay for all my children.  Somebody needs to be held accountable, and they need to pay!”  No … not kidding.  Here’s the video.  ... Maybe Angel should be the one to hold a press conference and apologize to America on behalf of every woman who became pregnant by a man to whom she was not married, and then had a baby she [k]new she could not afford to raise."

"I’d like an apology as well from all of those people who have been studiously avoiding taking a job until their unemployment benefits run completely out.  You’re bleeding the system dry.  So apologize!"
...."So, Phil.  You’ve learned your lesson, right?  Do what you have to do to escape the moochers, leaches and parasites --- but hush about it.  The predators get outraged when the prey escapes."

Hillary in 2016 = Obama's third term

Conservative media watchdogs push back on Obama's Fox News criticism

President Obama Laments Rush Limbaugh And Fox News’ Influence On Public Debate "The media can either help break or uphold partisan gridlock, the president said, adding that “If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you’ll see more of them doing it.” " Via Legal Insurrection
Liberal Fox contributor Kirsten Powers tweeted:   
When is Obama going to attack MSNBC which is actually what he claims Fox is (arm of DNC). Oh wait @mmfa doesn't want him to do that.
Fox News "Conservative media critics are pushing back on President Obama's suggestion that Capitol Hill Republicans would be more inclined to work across the aisle if they were "not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest." "
....
"Bob Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, said Obama is just using an old Democratic Party tactic of saying, "centrists would go along if those nasty conservatives don't beat them up."
" "I don't hear Obama complaining about The New York Times trying to pull him to the left," added Lichter, a communications professor at the Northern Virginia university."   Read more:

Victor Davis Hanson; Women at the Front (Discussion follows)

Victor Davis Hanson  "One way or another, we have now apparently made a number of assumptions: that in the next war we will see overtly gay men and women fully integrated in small ground units amid firefights and carnage at the front; that this will not affect negatively, but more likely improve, US combat efficacy; and that those intolerant reactionaries who object and feel less safe or simply less comfortable will shun the military — and that the military will not suffer as a consequence of their absence, but more likely improve. If all true, then we are onto the brave new world!"
Liberals say that not all women can be in a combat unit, but all should have the chance. I say not to believe a word o[f] that."
The history of US liberals is that a certain percentage of combat platoons MUST consist of women to reflect the population and therefore physical requirements will have to be lowered to make that happen.
We've covered this before: Does Sexual Equality Require Preferential Treatment?

....As recently as last Saturday; Dempsey considers lowering standards for women in combat

In case you think any Democrat administration will keep the quality of the US military its main priority, keep this in mind always:
US military despised by Progressives
On her MSNBC show today, Melissa Harris-Perry stated that the U.S. military is "despised as an engine of war by many progressives."


" She was speaking about the military being a leader (as usual) in righting wrongs. The pathetic thing is that she assumes this is an anomaly. Obviously the "education" she got focused more on PC BS and less on the fact that the US military has been the greatest force for freedom and liberty in the history of this planet. Hundreds of millions of people live better lives due to the completely, unsurprising historical truth that the US military has fought and defeated tyranny and totalitarianism all around the world." 

Obama EPA kills power plant, 3,900 jobs in Texas

Beltway Confidential   "Freysinger made it very clear who was responsible for the projects death. “The (Las Brisas Energy Center) is a victim of EPA’s concerted effort to stifle solid-fuel energy facilities in the U.S., including EPA’s carbon-permitting requirements and EPA’s New Source Performance Standards for new power plants,” he said"
...." “These costly rules exceeded the bounds of EPA authority, incur tremendous costs, and produce no real benefits related to climate change,” Freysinger commented."

Freedom Works has this commentary: EPA's New Source Performance Standard as bad as Utility MACT?  "The EPA may have more far-reaching plans for this unnecessary rulemaking. Namely, this proposal will increase the agency’s control over electric utilities; put fossil-fuel EGUs in the EPA’s regulatory bind due to CO2 emissions, and set a precedent for creating CO2 performance standards for other sources."

Alan Caruba, who writes prolifically on these topics has this perspective on the premise behind all this:
 A Tsunami of Governmental Global Warming Lies
"The Liar-in-Chief about global warming—AKA climate change—is President Obama who, during his second inaugural speech managed to ignore any mention of the nation’s catastrophic debt in favor of warning that climate change is causing forest fires, drought, and powerful storms. Excuse me, but the climate has always included these natural events. They are not the result of a warming that is [in reality] not occurring."
From green-buzz, believe it or not. 
UPDATE: Norway Data Shows Earth’s Global Warming Less Severe Than Feared   "The findings also show the effect of reduced airborne particulates from burning coal, which may decrease the cloud cover that cools the earth, probably has less of an impact on climate through indirect cooling than originally projected."

Sunday, January 27, 2013

We don't need no stinkin' guns!

Hat tip to Harley Standlee, Placerville, CA

Safe Six

12 Whimsical Altered Street Signs

Buzzfeed   "French street artist Clet Abraham snuck out into the night and pasting removable stickers onto street signs throughout major cities in Europe, giving the signs a humorous twist."  Here's one:
 

On the Obama Administration's Foreign Policy

Obama’s Incoherent Islamic PolicyUsing Drone Strikes While Embracing The Muslim Brotherhood Appears To Be Cognitive Dissonance
A good opening question would be: Islamic Sharia law decrees:
Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada signifying warfare to establish the religion. . . I have been commanded [by Allah] to fight [all] people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah…
"So why does President Obama maintain – “We are not at war against Islam” – when they are clearly at war with us?

Obama signals focus on foreign policy with new chief of staff  "President Obama's choice of a foreign policy expert and longtime aide to become his chief of staff is widely seen as evidence that the president plans to emulate his predecessors, who used their second terms to put their mark on the world."

Obama secretly pledges to divide Jerusalem  "The negotiator said top members of the Obama administration told the Palestinians the U.S. president will renew talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state in the so-called 1967 borders – meaning in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and, notably, eastern Jerusalem."

Brit Hume: Case For Hillary Clinton "Being A Great Secretary Of State Is Exceedingly Weak"
"....You look across the world, now at the major issues. Are Arabs and Israelis closer to peace? How about Iran and North Korea and their nuclear programs? Have they been halted or seriously set back? Has the reset with Russia, which she so famously introduced with the photo-op in Moscow with the reset button, has they lead to a new and more cooperative relationship? Is there a Clinton doctrine that we can identify that she has articulated and formed as secretary of state? Are there major treaties that she has undertaken and negotiated through to a successful conclusion? I think the answer to all those questions is that she has not. And those are the kinds of things that might mark her as a great secretary of state."
Political Cartoons by Chip Bok
Hillary's strange testimony  "History will remember Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s performance before senators and House members at the congressional Benghazi hearings as a stunning indictment of her profound failures and those of Obama administration.
"In jaw-dropping testimony, Clinton defiantly defended her incompetence and her supreme lack of critical thinking, while making the stunning admission that the motive and immediate cover-up of an act of war and the resultant slaughter of an American ambassador and three attaches representing America abroad “didn’t matter.” It was, in fact, a matter of life and death. What could matter more?"

Some advice on women in combat from a female veteran

Hot Air  "Yesterday’s column on women in combat elicited a number of passionate responses from both sides. Some of them came from proponents of the move, frequently citing alternate motives on my part. These ranged from “trying to keep women pregnant in the kitchen” and “Republicans want to lock women in the 1950s” to whichever variant of the GOP’s “war on women” you’d care to name. Many others lent a more sympathetic ear. One in particular, though, caught my attention. It was from one of America’s female veterans who served in Iraq, delivered with a first hand, been there, done that background. The Marine in question – who for purposes of publication will go by the pseudonym of “Sentry” – had previously submitted this history and opinion as a comment at National Review, but her story was compelling enough that I checked into her background, contacted her and decided to republish it here in its entirety. I offer the following as a third party testimony to stand your scrutiny on its own merits."
I’m a female veteran. I deployed to Anbar Province, Iraq. When I was active duty, I was 5’6, 130 pounds, and scored nearly perfect on my PFTs. I naturally have a lot more upper body strength than the average woman: not only can I do pull-ups, I can meet the male standard. I would love to have been in the infantry. And I still think it will be an unmitigated disaster to incorporate women into combat roles. I am not interested in risking men’s lives so I can live my selfish dream.  Read more here.
 The writer has much more to say, but her key point is here:
....Everyone wants to point to the IDF as a model for gender integration in the military. No, the IDF does not put women on the front lines. They ran into the same wall the US is about to smack into: very few women can meet the standards required to serve there. The few integrated units in the IDF suffered three times the casualties of the all-male units because the Israeli men, just like almost every other group of men on the planet, try to protect the women even at the expense of the mission. Political correctness doesn’t trump thousands of years of evolution and societal norms. Do we really WANT to deprogram that instinct from men?

Greta Van Susteren Strikes Back At Obama's Attack On Fox News

Noel Sheppard  "As NewsBusters reported, President Obama, in an interview published Sunday by The New Republic, said, "If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it."
Within a few hours, Fox News's Greta Van Susteren struck back:"

Apparently President Obama wants his usual media pass and Fox challenges his policies – which happens to be the media’s job.
Frankly, I think a far bigger part of the problem is the disintegration of relationships between politicians. It is also worth noting that President Obama has not developed relationships on Capitol Hill – note that he had to dispatch VP Biden to Capitol Hill for the recent tax debate because he does not have the relationships. [...]
And do you know what else? Brace yourself for this one! Some Democrats have told me that they want to come on Fox to discuss issues but they get heat from their Leadership for appearing on Fox. Does President Obama know that? So which Party is intimidating its members? And to say Senator Harry Reid is willing to compromise is just wrong. He has not allowed a budget to get to the Senate Floor for years to even begin a discussion. The budget process is where all compromise begins and ends and ended it before it even got started.
 

David Mamet Is Fighting for Our Dying Liberty As We Succumb to Marxism

Independent Sentinel   "Defiant ex-liberal and famed Pulitzer Prize winner, David Mamet, is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director. He has made a full conversion from liberalism since it has come to represent collectivism."

 

" Mamet’s latest column in The Daily Beast calls for a look at the Marxism infiltrating our society and its growing control over the individual through bureaucracy:"
 
"Mamet recognizes the condescension of this movement which views blacks as so inferior they need to be given special consideration by the government:"
The government, for example, has determined that black people (somehow) have fewer abilities than white people, and, so, must be given certain preferences. Anyone acquainted with both black and white people knows this assessment is not only absurd but monstrous. And yet it is the law.
"One point that should not go unnoticed is Obama’s overreaching into our personal lives:"
President Obama, in his reelection campaign, referred frequently to the “needs” of himself and his opponent, alleging that each has more money than he “needs.”
But where in the Constitution is it written that the Government is in charge of determining “needs”? And note that the president did not say “I have more money than I need,” but “You and I have more than we need.” Who elected him to speak for another citizen?
Finally, a liberal who doesn't complain about Obama because he is not far enough left to suit him. 

George Floyd Revisited: Derek Chauvin Was Wrongfully Convicted

  The American Spectator | USA News and Politics Derek Chauvin and his colleagues did not murder George Floyd. Chauvin’s prosecution and tri...

https://spectator.org/