Now New York City is going after Big Soda — bureaucratic guns blazing.

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE  "Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to ban the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces at restaurants, delis, sports stadiums, movie theaters, and food carts would fine businesses as much as $200 for each plus-size drink they sell.

Gulp. Big gulp. Speaking of which, since the rule won’t apply to supermarkets and convenience stores, you should still be able to buy 7/11’s enormous 32-ounce Big Gulp, a giant container of sugary fizz dwarfed only by the 44-ounce Super Gulp and the 64-ounce Double Big Gulp, which is twice the size of the average human stomach."

McCain: Security leaks coming from ‘highest levels’ of White House

The Hill  "McCain suggested that the administration was leaking the information, which he called a “breach of national security,” to bolster Obama’s foreign-policy credentials ahead of November’s election.

" “It makes the president look very decisive,” McCain said, “and it gives very little credit to the other men and women who make these things happen.” "

Team of Mascots

Vanity Fair:  "Four years ago, Barack Obama said he wanted a Lincoln-esque “team of rivals” in his Cabinet. Thanks to his own temperament, the modern White House, and the 24-hour news cycle, what the president has created is something that doesn’t look Lincoln-esque at all.
"In dealing with a Cabinet, as with life itself, there is no substitute for experience. Clinton-administration veterans told me that their boss made better, fuller use of the Cabinet in his second term than he did in his first, when officials such as Les Aspin at the Pentagon and Warren Christopher at the State Department sometimes struggled to build a cohesive team."
Via  Weasel Zippers

AYERS AND OBAMA: WHAT THE MEDIA HID

Breitbart:

..and now

Ayres then...

"Ayers methods have certainly changed since the 60s, but his commitment to bringing down the American system has been a constant throughout his life. Therefore, it's fair to ask what Obama saw in Ayers, the committed anti-capitalist radical. It's also fair to ask why the NY Times (and the rest of the media) were so quick to dismiss the import of the connection. No one is saying Obama and Ayers were part of a secret cabal, but they do seem to have been friends over a period of years, so presumably they had something in common. Given Ayers' consistently extreme views on America and government, isn't that worth exploring?"  Hat tip to Lucianne


Did Bill Ayers Write Obama’s Book?  "Also unfortunately for Obama, Andersen’s sources – all of whom were sympathetic and appear to be at least neighbors to Obama – came to other conclusions. Andersen wrote:

These oral histories, along with a partial manuscript and a truckload of notes, were given to Ayers. “Everyone knew they were friends and that they worked on various projects together,” another Hyde Park neighbor pointed out. “It was no secret. Why would it be? People liked them both.” In the end, Ayers’ contribution to Barack’s Dreams From My Father would be significant – so much so that the book’s language, oddly specific references, literary devices, and themes would bear a jarring similarity to Ayers’ own writing. Even the caveat at the beginning ofDreams, in which Barack points out that he uses invented dialogue, embellished facts, composite characters, inaccurate chronology, and pseudonyms to create an “approximation” of reality, resembles Ayers’ defense of the inaccuracies in his memoir Fugitive Days.

Book confirms: Ayers wrote Obama's book "As the Obama-as-Milli Vanilli story unfolds, Matthews and those willfully blind souls like him are in for a shock.  To admit that Obama needed a collaborator would have undercut his campaign for president and to reveal the name of that collaborator would have ended it.
"Now that he is president, it may be time to start telling the whole truth about the man we elected president."

What happened in Wisconsin?

Recall results show a deeply divided electorate  "This is a pretty positive preview of the November election. The independent vote seems to running to right this year. But before the GOP can start thinking about chilling the champagne, conservatives should carefully consider that the liberal base still turned out in very respectable numbers in support of Barrett."


Rick Moran: One downer on a good night: Wisconsin Dems possibly take senate
"Democrats appeared to have assumed control of the state Senate with results posted early  Wednesday showing former Sen. John Lehman (D-Racine) defeating incumbent Van Wanggaard in a tight race."

It's All Over in Wisconsin   "Unions took it on the chin.  They will not – at least not now – turn back the reforms enacted by Walker that have already resulted in improvements in the Wisconsin economic picture.  The principal reform?  Government employee unions no longer have collective bargaining rights, with the exception of police and firefighters."

"Here is the way it works when government employee unions can engage in collective bargaining."

• Step 1.  Unions pour money, sometimes millions of dollars, into the campaigns of favored politicians.

• Step 2.  Unions then negotiate with the very politicians they managed to get elected with their money for increased pay and benefits. 

• Step3.  Taxpayers foot the bill for the increased pay and benefits while the politicians pull down campaign donations from the unions that will help to keep them in office.

Bill Kristol: Obama’s Tepid Tweet

"Obama was so determined to avoid damage to his "brand" that he didn't show up in Wisconsin to rally the troops in what's likely a losing cause—but then, stung by the criticism that he was ducking the fight, he has a staffer tweet a message that he's "standing by" Tom Barrett? Really? "Standing by" is in fact an apt description of what Barack Obama's doing. One wonders whether other Democratic elected officials and parts of organized labor will similarly "stand by" Barack Obama in the fall, focusing instead on other races and fights important to them?" As nice as it sounds,  I don't think so.
From Salon:  Obama: Too little, too late? Obama's last minute tweet and an Election Day pro-Barrett video won't stop complaints about inaction in Wisconsin
"Urging people to “sign up for a shift” might have been a little more helpful a few days ago, don’t you think?" 

http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/06/wisconsin/

An NRO Symposium: Making sense of the Wisconsin vote  "While the election represents a major setback for public unions (whose perks and benefits are low-hanging fruit in a time of budget crises), it demonstrates a healthy civic impulse and clear-sightedness on the part of voters. The decision to retain Governor Walker demonstrates an ability on the part of voters to discern the difference between private unions (which can be a perfectly legitimate part of a free-market negotiating process) and public unions (which are a different sort of creature)."
...."The exit poll also shows Romney has real problems in Wisconsin. He loses to Obama by 11 points, and nearly a third of Walker’s voters say they are either voting for Obama or haven’t decided yet."

Steve Hayes (One of my favorites on the Fox Special Report All-Star Panel): Why Scott Walker Won the Battle of Wisconsin
"Scott Walker won for a simple reason: He did what he promised to do as a candidate and it worked."
[Public sector unions] "understood two things from the beginning: The reforms would work and they would thin the ranks of public sector unions. That is precisely what happened. Public sector employees, given a choice about union membership, are opting out."

The uber-tolerant liberals rejoice that American voters have ruled, er...wait!

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Ronbo over at Freedom Fighter's Journal has found this: "Angry libs flood Twitter with death threats after Wisconsin recall defeat."    One of these tweets shown here, more at the link:

AHH FACK IM BASED!@caleb_white

Scott walker will die within the next week ive already payed for the hit

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire: Many Didn't Think Recall was Legitimate    "Maybe the most important numbers in the exit poll from last night: Just 27% said recall elections are appropriate for any reason (and Barrett won those folks, 90%-9%). By comparison, 60% said that recalls are legitimate only for official misconduct (and Walker won them, 68%-31%), while another 10% said recalls are never appropriate (and Walker won here, 94%-5%)."...

[MSNBC's Ed] Schultz Worries About 'Damn Scary Stuff' from GOP Following Walker's Win.  This is what you hear from a political hack who portrays a journalist:

"There's a big effort in this country by the conservatives to destroy and defund public education. This, of course, is hurting the minority communities. State budgets are being chipped away at. In this state of Wisconsin, they took a billion dollars out of public education. What does this mean? Because there's a lot of Republicans who are saying that they're gonna model what Scott Walker has done in Wisconsin, and that they're gonna do this and move forward with this radical agenda to knock out public education in America. What does this mean? Is this a bellwether night?"

File under "Demagoguery" 


The Whupping in Wisconsin: Seven Key Conclusions  

"Remember, the left was perfectly fine with money in politics when they thought Barack Obama was going to raise $1 billion with which he would bludgeon the GOP. Now that it is not happening, money in politics is again evil. It is no coincidence that the left seized on this talking point even before the polls closed."

WATCH: Angry Democrat SLAPS Tom Barrett After Wisconsin's Recall Election
"One Wisconsin woman was so upset over the results of Wisconsin's recall election last night that she actually smacked Democratic candidate Tom Barrett across the face." (Video)

Legal Insurrection

At right- pretty much how the anti-Walker cartoonists portray the whole affair:

Former Clinton Adviser Dick Morris: 'Bill Clinton Does Not Want Barack Obama to Win'

Noel Sheppard, Newsbusters:

DICK MORRIS: "Bill Clinton does not want Barack Obama to win. I’ve spoken to several good friends who are staunch conservatives who have had exchanges with Bill Clinton in private, and at one point one of them quotes him as saying, "You have six months to save the country." "

"And he never liked Obama. They never got along. He is an in-law in a sense because she is in the administration, but, and he has to do what he has to do, which is what he’s going to do, what he did today I think in running around helping him raise money, and is going to do tonight.

"But when it comes to a little jab here or a little jab there, you can count on Clinton to do it. And this wasn't such a little jab. This was throwing Obama under the bus."

Huge exit poll disaster for all the networks in Wisconsin

Richard Baehr   "I think Walker may wind up winning by more than ten points. That is a huge miss for exit pollsters. One little known Illinois pollster, We Ask America, had Walker up 12 with big survey done on Sunday, over 1,000 voters. Nate Silver of the New York Times was skeptical of their numbers.  PPP, a Dem pollster,  had it as a 3 point race the same day. Their numbers have been very favorable to Obama in every state. 

"I bet Axelrod, Messina, and Plouffe are looking at some of the state polls tonight a bit differently.  The Obama campaign is putting out the story that in exit polls, Obama beat Romney by 11.  And if  the exit polls are wrong by ten points or more, what then?"

The Battle of Midway, seventy years ago this week

The Wikipedia account
Return to Midway; Robert Ballard ; Excerpt here.  The book.

Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942 Overview and Special Image Selection   "Japanese Combined Fleet commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto moved on Midway in an effort to draw out and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet's aircraft carrier striking forces, which had embarassed the Japanese Navy in the mid-April Doolittle Raid on Japan's home islands and at the Battle of Coral Sea in early May. He planned to quickly knock down Midway's defenses, follow up with an invasion of the atoll's two small islands and establish a Japanese air base there. He expected the U.S. carriers to come out and fight, but to arrive too late to save Midway and in insufficient strength to avoid defeat by his own well-tested carrier air power."
This page presents a special selection of Battle of Midway views, chosen from the more comprehensive coverage featured in the following pages, and those linked from them:

Parts 2-6 found here.

The Battle of Midway:Turning the Tide in the Pacific--Supplementary Resources

Commemoration of the Battle of Midway   Many links here.
Model of the Yorktown as she now looks at the bottom of the sea, one mile deeper than the Titanic!

War Department film of the battle. Sentimental, but we have missed that feeling for decades.

AIRCRAFT OF THE AIR BATTLE OF MIDWAY  "The biggest single loss of obsolete American aircraft at Midway was sustained by the carrier borne Douglas TBD ‘Devastator’ torpedo bombers of VT-3, VT-6 and VT-8. Thirty five of the forty one Devastators which took part were destroyed. Like the Vindicator the TBD’s were not used in combat after Midway, being replaced by the Grumman Avenger."  (Below)

"The star ship-destroying role at Midway was filled by the Douglas SBD ‘Dauntless’. Both mark 2 and mark 3 versions took part, the earlier as part of VMSB-241 on Midway, the later version flying from all three American carriers as scouts and dive-bombers and sinking or mortally wounding all four IJN carriers and a heavy cruiser."  (Below)

"The front line American fighter at Midway was the Grumman F4F ‘Wildcat’, with VMF-221 flying the mark 3 version from Midway and VF-3, 6 and 8 operating the mark 4 version from all three carriers. Both versions made kills at Midway, and although the F4F's were progressively replaced by F5F Hellcats on fleet carriers, later Wildcat versions including the GM built FM-2 served on escort carriers until the end of the war." (Below)

Here is the real "celebrity" of the early war years, The Japanese Zero fighter.   "The most advanced aircraft of either side at Midway, the Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21, variously known as the Reisen, 'Zeke' and Zero, was a lethal combination of agility and range flown by battle experienced pilots. The performance advantages were gained at the expense of lighter construction, lack of armor or fuel tank protection and less power than their American opponents."

Mitsubishi A62M Zero in the World War II Gallery at the

 National Museum of the United States Air Force.

This replaces the previous photo of a "Zero" because of the helpful correction by Anonymous, who commented, "Your photograph of a "Zero" isn't actually a Mitsubishi Zero. It's a North American T-6 trainer modified to look somewhat like a Zero for a movie." We first felt the original source was accurate and we thank the commenter for this correction. TD

WW2 Air Corps training film teaching our pilots how to recognize the Japanese Zero
I believe you will all recognize the actor portraying the pilot trainee.

Also seeing first action at Midway: Grumman TBF Avengers  

The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway (1942)  Complete with precise time lines and still classified secret at that time.

Action Report; Admiral Chester A. Nimitz to Admiral Ernest J. King  Concludes with this report: LESSONS AND CONCLUSIONS FROM THE ACTION. This portion of the report is one reason American air forces got better as the war progressed.

Politico Nails Mainstream Media for Liberal Bias

White House Dossier   "The article, by Politico Executive Editor Jim VandeHei and its top reporter, Mike Allen, raises a possibility that is shocking within the Beltway but which would be unremarkable to many conservatives outside of it: that the charge of liberal bias in the press “often rings true” and that it is already emerging in stories about Romney’s past.

Republicans cry “bias” so often it feels like a campaign theme. It is, largely because it fires up conservatives and diminishes the punch of legitimate investigative or narrative journalism. But it also is because it often rings true, even to people who don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh.
And the imbalance can do slow, low-grade but unmistakable damage to Romney: Swing voters are just getting to know him. And coverage suggesting he is mean or extravagant can soak in, even though voters who took the time to weigh the details might dismiss the storyline.

 

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

The Wisconsin Recall Stakes

The Wall Street Journal; A test of whether taxpayers can control the entitlement state.
"A single election rarely determines a democracy's fate, but some matter more than others. Tuesday's recall election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is one that matters a great deal because it will test whether taxpayers have any hope of controlling the entitlement state and its dominant special interests."


Lloyd Marcus: Tea Party Express VII in Wisconsin: The Good and the Ugly  "Our tour bus was attacked right before our second rally of the day in Madison."

 

Neal Boortz: Voting in Wisconsin Today  "What we are really talking about here are union thugs who have managed to pilfer the taxpayers for too long.  They’ve been able to come to the table and negotiate with politicians with other people’s money – your money.  If anyone should be outraged, it is the taxpayers.  Hopefully the taxpayers --- and the folks who have escaped the unions since their union dues are no longer forcibly collected --- will take the final step and head to the polls today."


Byron York : Wisconsin labor fight started ugly, ended ugly  "And in the final hours before that vote, anti-Walker activists have spread ugly and baseless rumors that Walker is about to be indicted and -- in perhaps the lowest and most ridiculous point of the entire spectacle -- that Walker fathered an illegitimate child in college.  
"The indictment rumor was the work of the lefty television network Current, relying on what appears to be guesswork and supposition. Walker called it "100 percent wrong." But the report shot through a liberal blogosphere desperate for anything to use against Walker."

If this election is close, it will get even uglier; "Recounts would either be triggered by a secretary of state or the candidates themselves. Democrats are certainly preparing for the possibility, as Politico reports:".... Hot Air


FOLLOW THE WISCONSIN RECALL ON POWER LINE LIVE  "Some would call PL Live a chat room, but we prefer to think of it as a bar–a neighborhood tavern where you can hang out for a while among friends." Click here.


Althouse: The Walker recall election is more important than the presidential election.
More here: Recall headlines, including " "Wisconsin recall: Democrats prepare for recall recount." Oh, lord help us. Let the win be decisive." 

Above: MSNBC cartoon. TW had to look a bit to find one with this point of view. Most of the MSNBC cartoons were like this one at right:                                                                             

Daily Caller: Obama has now decisively intervened in the race... "with a tweet. … He didn’t even use all 140 characters. … It’s an effort so self-protective and wussy it may come to stand for the President’s ineffectuality. Next he’ll tweet his opposition to Assad. …"

Rick Moran: 5 Reasons Why Labor Has Already Lost the Wisconsin Recall Election  "State governors are watching the recall effort very closely. While the issue of collective bargaining reform will not doom Walker’s chances, the very fact that he was recalled in the first place as a result of Act 10 makes politicians nervous. Can governors take on unions with regard to their pension and health benefits, which are out of control and need to be reined in?"


This from the Chicago Sun-Times: Wisconsin gov’s collective-bargaining reforms have been resounding success

Ron Radosh: On Wisconsin! The Meaning of the Recall Effort  Walker's "reforms passed and, lo and behold, proved to be the kind of conservative reform that was effective and popular. Their implementation revealed the Democratic and trade union opposition to be not the “progressives” they claimed to be, but reactionaries who were standing in the way of necessary change." 


PJM Exclusive: Marine Vet Arrested at Wisconsin Labor Rally Speaks Out  "This disturbing video shows the arrest of a man who has done no apparent wrong. He attended a public rally in Wisconsin on Friday carrying an inoffensive political sign, encountered many who opposed his views, and was arrested by police."
Listen to the shouts of "Lock him up! 

"Willoughby served in the United States Marine Corps from 1992 to 2000 and was honorably discharged. He was also a firefighter for 10 years in the state of Florida. Willoughby says that his time as a non-union firefighter has led him to suspect that the Wisconsin police officers may be acting as union members first and police officers second."
The (union) police report read: 

During a political rally, subject raised a protest sign above his head in a manner that created danger to the public. Subject’s actions caused a disturbance during a political rally.

Before It's News has this account of Willoughby's detainment: 

Willoughby, a former marine, said he said he was raised in a Christian family, loves the Lord, and raises his children in a Christian home. He said he could not believe the feeling of being held in a jail cell, looking at the American flag out the window and wondering why he was there. He said, “So many Christians take their freedom for granted. They don’t realize how fragile and vulnerable our freedoms are and how important it is to stand up for our freedom. If you stand back in the shadows, your rights and civil liberties will be stripped from you.” ....

CNN: Why can’t the White House keep a secret?

Hot Air  "An even better question: do they want to keep secrets? Adam Levine analyzes the Stuxnet leak, as well as other recent leaks, and asks why this administration has suddenly turned into a sieve:"

The article follows on the heels of what many considered dangerous leaking of details about a mole who helped foil a plot by al Qaeda in Yemen.  The revelations of the British national threatened what was described at the time as an ongoing operation.

 http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/06/01/99893

 ...."This leak will complicate matters for the next administration, as CNN explains below.  Now that we’ve committed acts of cyberwarfare and have begun bragging about it, allies with more vulnerability than the US — such as Israel — might think twice about assisting us in the future.  It’s almost certainly going to complicate whatever negotiations take place with rogue nations in the future that might otherwise be inclined to reform.  But hey, as long as Obama can make himself look good, then why worry, right?"
"Senators Marco Rubio, Richard Burr, and Dan Coats blast the White House for their lack of discretion in today’s Washington Post:"

Sitting in a prison cell in Pakistan is one of those foreigners who trusted us. Shakil Afridi served as a key informant to the United States in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. This brave physician put his life on the line to assist U.S. efforts to track down the most-wanted terrorist in the world, yet our government left him vulnerable to the Pakistani tribal justice system, which sentenced him to 33 years for treason. The imprisonment and possible torture of this courageous man — for aiding the United States in one of the most important intelligence operations of our time — coincides with a deeply damaging leak in another case.

From This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here:   Another Phony Warrior Exposed…in the White House   In his American Thinker article, "Levinson  refers to this cynical exploitation of our troops as “Barack Obama’s Stolen Valor,” and suggests that a shortened version, dropping the Barack, would make a pointed bumper sticker during this election season."
...."Only a self-aggrandizing narcissist like Barack Obama steals the valor of genuine heroes and claims it as his own."

And after Obama leaves the White House can we assume that everything he has learned will be known by Ayres, Dohrn and a host of other leftists who dislike this country in the extreme?
I say again that Barack Obama will be a millstone around this nation's neck when he leaves office; a constant source of trouble that will make Jimmy Carter seem like Ronald Reagan by comparison. TD

By the way, here's another leak.  "Western diplomatic sources said the administration of President Barack Obama has ordered the U.S. intelligence community to ensure the ouster of Assad in 2012."