"Saving" the Housing Market

Thomas Sowell  "Sometimes we are more concerned about some people because they are especially deserving. But this cannot be said about those who borrowed money to buy homes that they could not afford, or who borrowed against the equity in their homes, and now find that what they owe is more than the home is worth.

"If anyone is especially deserving, it is those who had the common sense to avoid taking on bigger financial obligations than they could handle, but who are now expected to pay as taxpayers for other people's irresponsibility."

(Updated) New Edition of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ Gets PC N-Word Scrubbing, ‘Entertainment Weekly’ Okay With That

Big Hollywood  "What’s next? Blazing Saddles? Rap albums?

"You don’t update and whitewash Mark Twain, you teach Mark Twain. You have your students read the novel and then teach them the context of the times and the context of the words. Twain was no racist and the words he used were deliberate. But again, what’s most troubling isn’t one idiot publisher making a moronic decision, it’s that those like EW who should be at the head of the line protesting this are instead the primary PC Palace Guards defending it."

Reporter Trial Set For Use of “N Word” and Double Standard  "Reporter Tom Burlington files suit against the station that fired him, because, he alleges, it was acceptable for a black person to use the “n word” but not him. When illustrating the discrepancy in a staff meeting, he says in his suit, he used the word and was fired for it."

What Will the PC-Police Do When the ‘Narnia’ Films Confront Islam?  "The works of C.S. Lewis have been demonized in the past by the usual suspects on the cultural left. One of his biggest detractors is Phillip Pullman, a bitter atheist, whose books are less successful than Lewis’s, and the film based on his novel “The Golden Compass” was a box office bust here in the States. Pullman has described Lewis’s work as “racist and sexist”. While most readers in the United States are barely aware of this guy, his opinion is in line with the sort of people who run the film industry. Because of that fact alone, the producers of the Narnia films will undoubtedly face some world class peer pressure to “soften” the story when it comes time to bring the film adaptations of The Horse and his Boy (as well as the last book in the series, The Last Battle ) to life."

Pat Oliphant, whose work we sometimes appreciate.

Obama on the debt ceiling; then and now

Ethel C. Fenig  "Busy campaigning for the presidency in 2007 and 2008 and involved with other personal matters not related to his senatorial duties, Obama didn't even bother voting when the issue came up in each of these years. Indeed, he didn't vote on many other issues during his overlapping later senatorial career/presidential campaign time."

 Do Americans really want to 'tax the rich' to curb the deficit?  "The poll results of a bunch of liberals hardly represent "most Americans." And given the poll choices what should we expect?
"The 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll is the same source that claims most Americans (63%) have no problem with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed being tried in NYC. "Most Americans" chose the loaded answer, "New York is a target anyway."" Monte Kuligowski

More Confirmation of Obama's Socialism  "... the war for the nation's heart and soul is now commencing in earnest. Beginning tomorrow, Speaker-presumptive John Boehner and the House Republican majority will be the frontlines in the fight to stop, then rollback, Mr. Obama's and the left's attempt to radically transform an unwilling nation. The coming fight will take enormous courage and resolve; there can be no wavering in Republicans' commitment to principles. Conservatives need to furnish the backbone."
J. Robert Smith is a public affairs consultant with a practice in Alexandria, Virginia.

Gas Prices Back Above $3, Networks Don't Question Obama Policies

http://www.claybennett.com/

Wall Street Journal  "The Heritage Foundation noted on Dec. 29 that the press pestered Bush about gas costs and the political consequences of high pump prices, but have yet to ask Obama the question. CBS suggested on April 26, 2006, that President Bush needed to "do something" about gas prices.
"A few months later, on Aug. 21, 2006, Bush was asked at a press conference: "What do you say to people who are losing patience with gas prices at $3 a gallon? And how much of a political price do you think you're paying for that, right now?"....
"How does Obama plan to raise prices? With further EPA regulations of power plants and oil refineries, and more rules for natural resources on government properties and the 'de facto moratorium' on oil drilling.
"Not one of the December 2010 network stories mentioning gas prices questioned the role of the Obama White House."

Pentagon cuts to reflect Gates, White House tussle

Reuters   "Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been successfully pushing back against White House attempts to more severely cut into weapons program funding than what the Pentagon had been bracing for, an analyst and defense company source said on Tuesday."

Mike Ramirez Cartoon

http://www.investors.com/EditorialCartoons/Cartoon.aspx?id=558645

The outrage of the Enterprise XO

Blackfive  "But I sure as hell respect the stones, ability and discipline it takes to ride a rocket into the sky and then land it on a boat in the ocean. So unfortunately a good officer loses his chance to command the Enterprise over something this lame, but worse yet we lose a bit of our warrior spirit."

Captain Owen Honors  "As for the military high command, which reacted with knee-jerk speed by destroying Capt. Owen’s career, I don’t think it did itself any favors. When will traditional forces realize that the liberals in this country can never be appeased? A less extreme response would have been proportionate to the low level of the offense, and would not have fed the perpetual outrage machine on the Left. As it is, conservatives, with their abject overreacting keep conceding liberal points, even when the liberals really have no point at all."

Max Boot: Judging Captain Honors  "Honors seems to have not gotten the message, which calls his judgment into question. On the other hand, the military’s judgment is open to question, too, when it is far easier to relieve an officer of his command for a sexual imbroglio of even the mildest sort than it is for losing a battle or even a war."

(Updated) Gas prices on rise: Drilling Is Stalled Even After Ban Is Lifted

Wall Street Journal "More than two months after the Obama administration lifted its ban on drilling in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico, oil companies are still waiting for approval to drill the first new oil well there. Experts now expect the wait to continue until the second half of 2011, and perhaps into 2012."

The Causes and Effects of High Gas Prices "But a huge part of the supply problem is due to environmental regulations (and environmentalists' opposition to new refineries), and political opposition to oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and in parts of Alaska. 

Photo: The Freedomist

"Gasoline supplies are impeded by regulations that require specialized blends of gasoline for certain parts of the country. Gasoline used to be essentially the same nationwide, but there are many different "flavors" of gas sold now, in some cases for specific counties. Generally this seems to cause the price of gas to be higher in and around big cities.

"Another factor that drives up the cost is the political opposition to offshore drilling."

http://townhall.com/cartoons/lisabenson/

Home Security Sign

Maggies Farm  via Bookworm Room

Iran Media: Massacre at Christian Church in Egypt Was….Mossad Plot; No Muslim Could Do Something ‘So Inhumane’

Big Peace  "That certainly clears things up, doesn’t it? This report, which is a translation from Iranian television, tells you everything you need to know about the Iranian regime and its worldview:"

AMERICA GETS PUNKED… Russians Say START Treaty Covers Antimissile Defense Systems

Gateway Pundit  "They Told Us the START Treaty Could Not Wait – It Had to Be Signed Before Christmas–
"The Obama Administration insisted that passing the START Treaty would not impact the US antimissile defense systems.
"They were wrong."

John Bolton considering bid for US president in 2012

Jerusalem Post "Earlier in the interview, Bolton, who also once oversaw US non-proliferation policy, came out strongly against the Obama administration's foreign policy, saying that the US president seems to be " very uncomfortable asserting American interests around the world.""

Texas Speaker’s Race Heats Up: John Bolton Endorses Challenger  "Who ends up wielding the gavel this year is key for many reasons, not least among them the one that has already come up twice in this post: The redrawing of Texas’ electoral map. The state will get four new seats in the US House or Representatives, and lines down to the precinct level will also be redrawn. The House speaker plays a key role in that process, and thus the speaker in this year’s session will be unusually powerful and influential well beyond the 140 day legislative session."