The failure of Communism

Photo Gallery: East Germany's Transformation  During and after communism; life under the Communists contrasted with life after them. Perhaps only the Pete Seegers and Barack Obamas can explain why life under free enterprise and capitalism is so appealing to them


Reunification Renovations  Though it seems the author is disappointed that the buildings were not restored to their historic look. However in the upcoming communist plans, those not going to rot were to be torn down completely.

"One-time stables in Zittau in 1990. The wall shows the building's history. The light patches in the stone work mark the original 16th-century roof profile. Above that the darker stone shows the mansar roof added during the Baroque period."

"Zittau in 2001. All traces of the past have been plastered and painted over. After the renovation project the building was converted into shopping mall."

Obama, Gay Marriage and Evolution

Left Coast Rebel  "White House press secretary Jay Carney, when questioned if Biden's remarks signaled a change in Obama's position, repeatedly told the press that Obama's views were "evolving". When pressed if "evolving" meant "changing his position", Carney mustered his best double speak, twisted himself into a pretzel worthy of the name, and mumbled something about evolving "not necessarily" meaning change. Come again? 
Let me quote three of the first four words Wikipedia uses to describe evolution: "Evolution is...change...". The Random House Dictionary lists "change" as one of the synonyms for evolution. Some speculate that Obama wants to signal his liberal friends that he will be "more flexible" after the election in pursuing a more left leaning position, but that he cannot afford to offend any of his more conservative, churchgoing base. 

Is Obama’s Vetting Finally Beginning?

Alana Goodman "As trivial as the Obama-eats-dogs and composite-girlfriend memes might seem, they actually speak to a deeper issue. At the Telegraph, Tim Stanley argues:

What stands out from the composite story isn’t that Obama amalgamated characters, it’s that the press hadn’t noticed until now. As with the dog story, this confirms the suspicion that the mainstream media gave Obama a free pass in 2008 and declined to check too deeply into his background. Even The Atlantic’s [David] Graham admits that he’s never read Dreams From My Father, and neither, it would seem, has anyone else in the press corps. They have the excuse that the book is incredibly narcissistic and boring, but otherwise isn’t this exactly the sort of character assessment/assassination that should have happened four years ago? …

  Emphasis added.


 Neal Boortz: Obama official cites .. Karl Marx. No, really.

Karl Marx

"If there was a widespread awareness that Obama is more communist than capitalist he would have no chance for reelection.  So it would be wise for administration officials to try to keep the communist rhetoric as subdued as possible. 

"Someone needs to get this message to a senior Obama administration official by the name of Rick Bookstaber currently serves on the Financial Stability Oversight Council.  This is the body of unelected bureaucrats created by the Dodd-Frank fiasco, charged with the task of ensuring financial stability in our financial system." 

France's election

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Mr. Terrell's brain should be preserved at all costs and studied after he is gone.

Morning Bell: Socialism Rises Again  "Last weekend, the people of France took a sharp turn to the left, and the rest of Europe may be on the brink of rebuking its recent tack toward fiscal responsibility. With Sunday’s election of French Socialist leader Francois Hollande, France has leapt backward toward the policies that have helped sink the continent in a sovereign debt crisis. Disturbingly, the big government platform Hollande campaigned on is all too familiar to the American people, and if the United States is not careful, it could suffer the same fate as its European allies." "
...."Though Europe is an ocean away, the policies that are sinking the continent could have the same impact in the United States if replicated here. Endless spending has dire consequences, and if America is not careful, it could follow Europe’s path to economic ruin."

Life in ObamaWorld

Nealz Nuze "These articles are for the “But he got bin Laden!” crowd: Top General Says Obama Knew About OBL’s Hideout Since Summer of 2010 – Refused to Act Until May and Former AG Michael Mukasey Says Obama Officials Drafted Memo to Blame Military If OBL Mission Failed.

George Will: “If you struck from Barack Obama’s vocabulary the first-person singular pronoun, he would fall silent”

"Look, self-absorption’s part of the occupational hazard of politics and it’s also part of the job description of being president. All that said, try to imagine Dwight Eisenhower talking about D Day, saying, “I did this, I decided this, I did this, and then I did that” — it’s inconceivable. If you struck from Barack Obama’s vocabulary the first-person singular pronoun he would fall silent, which would be a mercy to us and a service to him actually, because he has been so incontinent in his speechmaking for the last three years that you wind up with, as you said, an Ohio State University, empty seats."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/05/04/98923

Victor Davis Hanson: Secretaries Gone Wild; The Obama cabinet lacks experience and follows its own rules.  "Chu also once warned that California’s Central Valley agriculture might disappear owing to global warming. True, it could decline, but that would more likely be due to the Obama administration’s decision to divert irrigation water in hopes of helping out the three-inch San Francisco Delta smelt. Chu should realize that private-sector California farmers create thousands of jobs, while his own cabinet’s Solyndra-like projects have done precisely the opposite."  Page 2:
"The common theme with these cabinet secretaries is loud, uninformed rhetoric; a lack of practical experience; a certain utopian zealotry — and an expectation that there are rules for government grandees and quite different ones for the rest of us."

Could the U.S. give up Mount Rushmore? Iconic site is on list of 'sacred lands' UN says must be returned to Native Americans

UK Daily Mail  "James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, unveiled his recommendations in Geneva on Friday after completing a 12-day visit to the U.S. where he met with representatives of indigenous peoples in six states.

"The fact-finder also had a chance to meet members of the Obama administration and briefed the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, but no member of Congress agreed to meet with him."   Here comes Alcatraz all over again.

"The U.S. is home to some two million Native Americans, nearly half of them living on 310 reservations. While some tribes have prospered thanks to the booming gambling business, others are trailing national averages in income and health."


Rick Moran: UN official says US should return land to the Indians  "This is only one of the problems with satisfying land claims of "indigenous" people. The tribes with which we are familiar with today may have arrived relatively recently in the New World (3-5,000 years), according to some linguistic studies. Before their arrival, a group of Native Americans known as the Clovis people occupied much of the US and Canada. What happened to them? No one knows, but it's a pretty good bet that the newcomers either killed them off or interbreeding gradually eliminated the Clovis culture.

"What part of a Native American land repatriation would go to the ancestors of the Clovis people - assuming any could be found?

"For that matter, there isn't a European culture that didn't displace another one somewhere along the line. Do we give England back to the Celts? Or the Anglo Saxons? The Normans conquered England and oppressed the indigenous people as much or more as we oppressed the Indians. Where do you draw the line? How far back can one go to satisfy "indigenous" rights?"

More Media Bias

http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/02/death-of-journalism-1/

Neal Boortz:  Blatant stupefying media bias .. but who's surprised?   "Last week we talked a bit about the Obama campaign spot ...  In that commercial here is what Bill Clinton said:

“That’s one thing George Bush said that was right:  the President is the Decider-in-Chief.  Nobody can make that decision for you.  Look, he knew what would happen.  Suppose the navy SEALs had gone in there and it hadn’t been bin Laden?  Suppose they’d been captured or killed?  The downside would have been horrible for him.  But he reasoned, ‘I cannot in good conscience do nothing.’  He took the harder and more honorable path, and one that produced, in my opinion, the best result.”

" Immediately the ad was criticized because Clinton mused about how horrible it would have been if the Navy SEALs had been killed … how horrible it would have been for OBAMA!"

.... “That’s one thing George Bush said that was right:  the President is the Decider-in-Chief.  Nobody can make that decision for you.  Look, he knew what would happen.  Suppose the navy SEALs had gone in there and it hadn’t been bin Laden?  Suppose they’d been captured or killed?  The downside would have been horrible.  But he reasoned, ‘I cannot in good conscience do nothing.’  He took the harder and more honorable path, and one that produced, in my opinion, the more honorable and best result.”

"OK … now tell me that there’s no media bias in support of Obama’s reelection.  Go ahead … I’m listening!"  More on this here.

greenberg-art.com/.

Cleveland Plain Dealer: One of Five Arrested in Bridge Blowup Plot Signed 'Occupy' Group's Warehouse Lease  "As to the Cleveland Occupy group's worries about a "disaster," that would seem to depend on whether the establishment press outside of Cleveland cares enough to do follow-up reports. I'll bet they won't. But if this story were about someone active in the Tea Party who had gone rogue, it would already have been widely headlined nationwide."
Via Newsbusters

Made you look, didn't I?

ABC’s ‘GCB’ Carves Own Twisted Version of 10 Commandments; Controversial show escalates agenda of mocking Christians with attack on Bible.  "Such a selfish and conceited painting of biblical holy words is clearly meant to scorn Christian beliefs, despite liberals’ wild defense of the show. So ABC, when are you releasing that salacious version of the Koran?"


CBS Aghast at Ted Nugent's Profanity, But Honored Bill Maher by Reading His Op-Ed
"So CBS took umbrage at conservative Ted Nugent's profane outburst, but gave Maher a microphone to tell people to calm down after he had showered women with the worst of insults. It reveals a double standard toward outspoken conservatives and liberals; CBS made sure to emphasize that Nugent is not a moderate, and yet treated the profane Maher like the voice of reason."

A fiercely left-wing leader to strike fear into the hearts of France's rich (Updated)

The Independent (UK) "France will be waking up today to its first Socialist President for 17 years – and bracing for radical change. There are all kinds of reasons why one might fear a François Hollande presidency, especially if you are a prosperous French person.
"The 57-year-old Socialist has openly admitted that he "does not like the rich" and declared that "my real enemy is the world of finance". This means taxing the wealthy by up to 75 per cent, curtailing the activities of Paris as a centre for financial dealing, and ploughing millions into creating more civil service jobs."


Update: French election results have implications for US economy, foreign policy  "While any talks between the two leaders will likely to focus on diplomatic and economic relations, Obama is probably taking a lesson from the outcome of the French election.Obama, like Sarkozy, is campaigning for re-election amid a faltering economy, high unemployment and voter discontent over spending and cuts."

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

Thomas Lifson and Rick Moran: Europe's Morning After  

"In view of his promise to tax millionaires at 75%, the wealthy of France are already making plans to relocate, as French income taxes stop at the border (unlike American income taxes -- we are the exception among major nations). Thanks to the EU, French plutocrats can live anywhere in the union, with no visa.

"Hollande also plans on reducing unemployment the old fashioned way -- drastically increasing the number of government workers, thus expanding the welfare state even beyond the generous cradle to grave cocoon in which the French state lovingly wraps its citizens. He has made vague promises that he won't add to the debt to realize his economic goals, but it is very difficult to see how he can avoid it."   Anything here sound familiar?

Neal Boortz: France elects a socialist  ...."He wants the rich taxed at 75% … and the voters think this will fund all of their government entitlements for generations to come.  If it doesn’t, just raise taxes some more.

"Sound familiar?  Only if you’ve been paying attention." ....

We’ll stick with three distinct economic models.  Capitalism, or free enterprise; Socialism … and that third one....

• Under that third economic system the means of production is privately owned,  but heavily controlled and regulated by government.  Government tells the businesses what and how much they can produce, what they can charge, who they must hire, what they must be paid … etc.  That type of economic system is called economic Fascism. 

"I’ll just leave it to you to figure out where our Dear Ruler comes down on all this."

Obama invites Hollande to White House  "In a telephone call, Obama "indicated that he looks forward to working closely with Mr Hollande and his government on a range of shared economic and security challenges," White House spokesman ."Jay Carney said in a statement.

President Obama called President-elect Francois Hollande of France to congratulate him after the results of the French election were announced today.  President Obama indicated that he looks forward to working closely with Mr. Hollande and his government on a range of shared economic and security challenges.  President Obama noted that he will welcome President-elect Hollande to Camp David for the G-8 Summit and to Chicago for the NATO Summit later this month, and proposed that they meet beforehand at the White House.  President Obama and President-elect Hollande each reaffirmed the important and enduring alliance between the people of the United States and France.

 An Uncommitted Socialist  "Hollande’s victory appears to be less an endorsement of him than a referendum on Sarkozy. The new president remains a broadly unknown, untested politician with no clear agenda. Based on Hollande’s campaign, French citizens understand only that he is no Sarkozy. It remains to be seen how he will govern and above all, how he will manage the looming sovereign-debt crisis."

The Very Short Life of Julia (Updated, 5/7/2012)

Hope 'n Change

For more on "Julia", read here.


Morning Bell: A Better Life for Julia  "There’s another vision — a conservative vision. The Heritage Foundation created its own version of the “Julia” cartoon and showed how individuals would benefit under conservative reforms like those in Heritage’s Saving the American Dream plan. Instead of growing government and increasing its involvement in our lives, conservative policies restrain government and give individuals more freedom to make their own choices and succeed on their own merits."
Click here to view the "Julia" slide show from Heritage.

Al-Qaida spokesman Adam Gadahn a fan of 60 Minutes but said Fox News 'lacks neutrality' and CBS is 'close to being unbiased'

Guardian  "Osama bin Laden pondered the merits of US television news channels as he considered how to extract the best propaganda benefit from the tenth anniversary of 9/11 last year, and concluded that CBS was "close to being unbiased".
"But an American-born media adviser for al-Qaeda warned Bin Laden to beware of the broadcasters' "cunning methods" as he described Fox News as a channel in the "abyss" that should "die in anger", CNN as too close to the US government and MSNBC as questionable after it fired one of its most prominent presenters, Keith Olbermann."

Speaking of the press and whom they serve: Brokaw: White House Correspondents' dinner hurting the press  "He said the annual black-tie affair, which features Washington reporters and editors drinking, joking and partying with Hollywood stars and the city's top lawmakers -- including the president -- is contributing to the public's mistrust of the media.

" "If there’s ever an event that separates the press from the people they’re supposed to be serving, symbolically, it is that one." he said."

Watch this bullying of President Bush by the toady* Stephen Colbert in 2006:

*The term "toady" I get from the movie "A Christmas Story". The little nobody intimidated the other kids fearlessly as long as he was standing with the big bully behind him. Likewise, there was Colbert in a room full of media people whom he knew did not like President Bush - Colbert had seen their scornful questions at White House press conferences- and knew they would broadcast his every snarky remark worldwide with praiseful glee. As with the little toady in the movie, Colbert bought his fame cheaply. TD

Rubio: “The president has become divisive, cynical, given to hyperbole on these issues, always looking to pit Americans against each other in some sort of political calculation”

Weasel Zippers   "Rubio’s far too nice. Obama has not “become” these things — they are in his DNA and have defined him from the beginning."
Quoting from The Hill:

“When this president ran for office in 2008, he said he was going to be different, he said he was going to be a post-partisan uniter that brings everyone together and three and a half years later the president, quite frankly, has become like everyone else in Washington D.C,” the freshman senator said on Fox News Sunday.
“This obsessive effort to win his reelection — he has lost himself and he has lost what makes him different and this issue of how they’ve used the bin Laden raid is one example about how his administration has become just like everybody else,” Rubio added. . . .
Rubio said that Obama’s time in Washington has made him more “cynical” and “divisive.”

Though I agree that Obama was always like this and has not  changed a bit, I think Sen. Marco Rubio worded it wisely and will be taken more seriously by some whose minds need to be changed. TD

Castro: Obama rips United States and compliments Cuba to visitors

Education Action Group Foundation:

“President Obama knows this only too well and has talked about it with some of his visitors. He candidly told one of them: ‘The problem is that the United States sends soldiers while Cuba, however, sends doctors.’” Really? That’s what our commander-in-chief said to visitors, presumably at the White House?
Is it any wonder our standing in the world continues to diminish?

Hat tip to Weasel Zippers