Some Very Bad American Habits

Victor Davis Hanson  "The wealthier and more leisured American society has become, the more it has developed some terrible habits that will have to end if we are going to return to fiscal sobriety and a unified culture. I am pessimistic on that count, but here are a few examples:"...

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/chuckasay

Judge Vinson calls out Justice on its ObamaCare dishonesty.

Wall Street Journal  "Normally, when courts void an entire statute, it is considered a de facto injunction and the government files a motion for an immediate stay. The Obama Administration decided to ignore the order for nearly a month and continued with implementation as if nothing had happened, and then played dumb in Judge Vinson's courtroom." Via InvestorVillage.com

Political Ignorance and Obamacare Repeal  "Only 49% of Republicans and 50% of independents know that the law has not been repealed, compared to 64% of Democrats. Ironically, the uneven distribution of ignorance about repeal might actually help Democratic supporters of the law. To the extent that many Republicans and pro-repeal independents think that the law has already been repealed (30% of Republicans and 25% of independents, respectively), they are unlikely to press their representatives in Congress to make repeal a priority or focus on it as a major electoral issue."

Oil at 2.5-year high as European stocks up

Reuters  "Crude oil prices jumped to a 2-1/2-year peak on Monday as worries about supply disruption increased due to widening clashes in Libya..."
Rich Terrell captures the concept well:

What are Republicans Waiting for, $10 a Gallon at the Pump?  "A day should not go by on which Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner aren’t giving a press conference about how Obama’s energy policies are to blame for the soaring price at the pump and for killing domestic energy jobs at home.

"Here are some suggestions. Take note, gentlemen."...

Drilling Here, Drilling Now: It’s Just Common Sense "The noose we allowed foreign oil producers to place around our necks is tightening.

"And the worst part of all this is neither the per gallon gasoline price nor the per barrel price of oil, but rather the fact that it doesn’t have to be this way. We could be pumping enough oil here at home to offset the ramifications of the upheaval in Libya, but our president, various members of his administration, and the majority of Democrats in the Senate remain unwilling to budge on the idea. Therefore, we’ve literally turned our backs on billions upon billions of barrels of oil that we could be extracting and using right here at home."

Transcript: Secretary Gates Speech at the United States Air Force Academy

GlobalSecurity.org  " In fact, as you may know, the Air Force and Navy have been working together on an Air Sea battle concept that has the potential to do for America’s military deterrent power at the beginning of the 21st century what Air Land Battle did near the end of the 20th."

Secretary Gates Looks Ahead   "The contemporary buildup in Afghanistan, somewhat following the Iraq model, has made very significant progress toward pacification of that country. This Secretary of Defense shares in the credit for these successes.
"The era of confrontations between large armies, Mr. Gates asserts, is over, and what is more likely is the projection of powers of interdiction from the air and sea, with an amphibious-insertion capacity of more modest and less heavily armored manpower levels."

Get the Facts at FamilyFacts.org

Morning Bell   "That is why The Heritage Foundation is launching a redesigned FamilyFacts.org filled with hundreds of charts, issue briefs, and reports demonstrating the effects that parental involvement and religious observance have on teen development, family stability, and academic achievement. Since our founding in 1973, The Heritage Foundation has sought “to build an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish.” The research at FamilyFacts.org documents how enduring family relationships, anchored by healthy marriages, are the foundation for everything else we try to accomplish."

Related: Fathers Who Are Husbands Spare Children from Poverty  "A wedding ring on Dad’s finger is more than a symbol of his commitment to Mom. It also proves to be the ultimate anti-poverty weapon for their children. Now that’s something to celebrate and encourage this Father’s Day. It’s fitting on Sunday to honor all the fathers who strive to keep that commitment, even when they grow weary."

Helping the Poor

Kerby Anderson  "What is the reason for this reduction in poverty? The biggest factor is the emergence of middle classes in previously poverty-stricken China and India. And as capitalism has spread to other countries, there has been a similar impact."

Rumsfeld’s Rebuttal

Victor Davis Hanson  "What the book does not leave in question is Rumsfeld’s life before age 68, which at long last is made clear to the reading public. Only a dozen or so Americans in the latter twentieth century saw more, did more, and thought more about the advancement of American society at home and the interests of the United States abroad than did Donald Rumsfeld, and fewer still had more success and satisfaction doing it, and ruffled so many feathers in the process."

Judge Vinson’s New Order in the Mandate Litigation

Volokh Conspiracy  "UPDATE: According to this story, DOJ is willing to abide by the 7 day deadline Vinson imposed, so my hypotheticals above may be only of academic interest. And commenter Joe has a pretty good explanation of why: After DOJ complies with Vinson’s order, the case will be in the Court of Appeals and Judge Vinson won’t have any control over the pace of the case. Sounds sensible."

BOMB THREAT at Scott Walker News Conference–Leftist Protester Arrested!

Big Government  "Amazing!  A bomb threat was called in on a Walker rally and the media doesn’t report on it?"

Liberals: not evil, not stupid…just 100% wrong!

Bookworm Room  "If the core premise is correct, then I say there is no way to overcome this gulf and, perhaps, it would be best if we lived apart from one another. Why? Because I fear that the endgame of this Liberal world view can only be an epic global disaster. This Liberal view not only cannot survive (Darwin), but is the enabler of its/our own destruction."

The most excellent article cited above: Why Modern Liberals (AKA progressives)Are 100% Wrong About Everything  "The reason people listen to tripe such as “Imagine” is that, even back in the 1960s and 1970s, America’s youth had already been exposed to a great deal of leftist indoctrination. Otherwise, they would have voted with their wallets by refraining from purchasing that recording. Sayet explains how this indoctrination works:"

Why America Will Stay on Top

Wall Street Journal  ""The big change in principle came under Kennedy," Mr. Johnson writes. "In the autumn of 1962 the Administration committed itself to a new and radical principle of creating budgetary deficits even when there was no economic emergency." Removing this constraint on government spending allowed Kennedy to introduce "a new concept of 'big government': the 'problem-eliminator.' Every area of human misery could be classified as a 'problem'; then the Federal government could be armed to 'eliminate' it."" BRIAN M. CARNEY
Then after celebrities and activists got on the bandwagon, the nation began to devour itself. But then he adds:

Pessimists, he points out, have been predicting America's decline "since the 18th century." But whenever things are looking bad, America "suddenly produces these wonderful things—like the tea party movement. That's cheered me up no end. Because it's done more for women in politics than anything else—all the feminists? Nuts! It's brought a lot of very clever and quite young women into mainstream politics and got them elected. A very good little movement, that. I like it." Then he deepens his voice for effect and adds: "And I like that lady—Sarah Palin. She's great. I like the cut of her jib." I agree that she would make a great vice-president.

Wisconsin: "It’s the sort of behavior that you’d think a civility institute would thrive on. Yet we haven’t heard a peep from the two ex-presidents and their Arizona initiative."

Althouse  "And remember when President Obama said: "At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do, it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.""  Read the rest of Ann Althouse's coverage of the Wisconsin union protests here.

But one man — who did not agree with the protesters — decided he would occupy the central spot. To the consternation of the others, he invited people to come talk to him one-on-one.