Pope Benedict resigns

He's now an ex-Benedict.

Pope Benedict in shock resignation  "Benedict - the former Cardinal Ratzinger - was always seen as a caretaker pope. Elected in 2005 at the age of 78 following the death of his predecessor John Paul II, Ratzinger was considered  a placeholder for other candidates who were in their 50's at the time and considered too young to fill the office."

Comedians are already turning on Pope Benedict
" "Liberals are generally humorless, but they think hate is hilarious," blogger Robert Stacy McCain wrote at The Other McCain in response to Boyle's tweet."
"A post at Da Tech Guy included what the blog called "a piece of twitter snark that speaks volumes."

 "With the hate going to the #Pope today I recommend Obama issue an apology and blame a YouTube video before some Catholics attack an embassy," tweeted "End of the Republic."

Hat tip to Joe Newby at Examiner.com

Experts: Top 5 picks for the next pope  "Expert Vatican watchers all name the same five 'papabile' — the Cardinals, princes of the church, who could be the next pope."

 

From the "Ain't Gonna Happen" file: "The growing case for impeachment of Obama"

The growing case for impeachment of Obama  "It’s not a question yet being asked or debated in the Big Media. But it is a question being addressed by some members of Congress, by an increasing number of pundits by activists on the left and the right – and for more than one or two alleged constitutional offenses.

American? Give me a break

"Some of those who have broached the subject include
Reps. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.; Walter Jones, R-N.C.; Trey Radel, R-Fla.; Steve Stockman; former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas; former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio; Fox News’ Mike Huckabee; former assistant U.S. attorney Andrew McCarthy; left-leaning investigative reporter Dave Lindorff; talk-radio host Mark Levin; former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich; author and columnist Pat Buchanan and others."
I still don't have any problem whatever with the whacking of al-Awlaki; you take up arms against America, you pay the price. The discussion in here, however, presents the other side of the issue while conjuring the vision of law-enforcement people handcuffing Mirandized terrorists and getting them out of their terrorist camps to the US to be defended by some pro-terrorist lawyer who loves publicizing anti-American diatribes in front of jurors who have been threatened with beheading. Or jurors who think Chris Dorner is a hero.
Do not look to American liberals for wisdom; only unapologetic silliness. TD

Here are some reasons discussed in this article, each accompanied by expert opinions for and against each point:

• Operation Fast and Furious
• Obama’s U.S. citizen ‘hit list’
• Recess ‘ appointments – when Senate was in session
• Appointment of ‘czars’ without Senate approval
• Suing Arizona for enforcing federal law
• Illegal-alien amnesty by executive order
• Cap and Trade: When in doubt, bypass Congress
• Refusal to prosecute New Black Panthers
• Refusal to defend Defense of Marriage Act
• Illegally conducting war against Libya
• Benghazi-gate
• Gun-control executive actions

http://www.impeachobamacampaign.com/cartoon-obama-shrinks/

This thoughtful, well-presented article concludes with these words:

“If the American people really wanted constitutional government – if they were really committed to the kind of constitutional republic that is reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States – things would change.”   Read more

 

Which Obama listened to Dr. Carson's speech?

I had been wondering which Obama Dr. Carson would have seen if he had looked to his right during his powerful Prayer Breakfast speech.

I said to myself, "Self, which Obama was watching Dr. Carson's speech?"

This Obama?                                                                         ...or this Obama?

   

 

Well, Rich Terrell has revealed that it was this Obama: 

The Obaglare

Would you believe Democrats were critical of Dr. Carson's speech?

"In his address, Carson had specifically avoided taking a partisan point of view, noting that the American bald eagle needed both a “right wing” and a “left wing” to take flight."   Bob Beckel on "The Five" called the speech "disgraceful"  (They should change the name of this show to "The Four Out of Five".)

U.S. said to be target of massive cyber-espionage campaign

tucsonsentinel.com

The Volokh Conspiracy sends us this disturbing post:
Once again, Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post has broken a cybersecurity story:
The two events are tied together by something Steve Chabinsky said during the panel discussion: We’re used to the idea that cybersecurity is an arms race, with defense chasing offense and vice versa, and that the US and its adversaries are constantly trying to counter the other’s tactics.  What we haven’t absorbed is how quickly proliferation occurs.  
Once a nation has found a tool that overtops America’s national security defenses, the tool will only work for a while.  Eventually its thrust will be parried by the Defense Department. At that point, the code isn’t good for its original purpose, but it’s still plenty good for breaking into private networks, and it will keep working until a good defensive tactic has spread across the entire Internet.

Here is the story referred to above:
washingtonpost.com  "A new intelligence assessment has concluded that the United States is the target of a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign that is threatening the country’s economic competitiveness, according to individuals familiar with the report.
"The National Intelligence Estimate identifies China as the country most aggressively seeking to penetrate the computer systems of American businesses and institutions to gain access to data that could be used for economic gain."

 

Disabled Marine rifles at inauguration signal shift in administration policy

Dishonoring the Corps; Marines in inaugural parade had bolts removed from their rifles
"“The bolts have been removed from the rifles rendering them unable to fire a round,” the post stated. “Apparently Obama’s Secret Service doesn’t trust the USMC. Simply searching each guy to make sure he didn’t have a live round hidden on him wasn’t enough, they had to make sure the guns were inoperable." Visible in photo, right and below.

This examiner article tells us this is a new thing  "Wondering if this may be an inauguration policy of long standing that transcends administrations, Gun Rights Examiner made a cursory search and found something even more curious. In the 2009 Inaugural Parade, the United States Navy marched with rifles that had not been so disabled (see 1:24 into that video plus the final slide)." The article continues:

This raises the question of why the administration felt it necessary to make this change now, particularly with concerns being raised about military involvement in domestic affairs, litmus tests on top brass willingness to fire on American citizens alleged by a heretofore prominent and credible Nobel Prize nominee, a "terrorism" policy that allows for assassinating Americans without due process, rising concerns over deployment of domestic drones, and publicized opposition among many in the USMC to presidential policies such as women in combat, as well as having been the most resistant military branch to ending “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

 

'So God Made A Liberal'

CNS News  Continuing the trend of merciless mocking of liberals from yesterday, SooperMexican has produced a top-notch parody of Dodge's widely acclaimed Super Bowl ad featuring the voice of the late Paul Harvey delivering a commentary called "So God Made A Farmer."

 

"I literally laughed out loud at this video.

"That makes two incredible videos mocking the left in two days. Let's hope this trend continues." 

Dr. Ben Carson confronts Obama and Biden publicly over ObamaCare (Sunday morning update just added)

UPDATE from the Wall Street Journal: Ben Carson for President
"The Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon may not be politically correct, but he's closer to correct than we've heard in years."

PowerLine Blog  "Watching the video, I also couldn’t help but wonder what Obama was thinking. My guess is he was thinking: this is a dangerous guy. At a key point in Dr. Carson’s speech, Obama appears to check his Blackberry — just so you might not think he was overly impressed."

Kerry Yawns his Way Through Prayer Breakfast

 

This is no lightweight individual that is speaking to Obama. Learn more about Doctor Carson here: 

 

"Gifted Hands - the Ben Carson Story "; His surgery separates conjoined twins

 

Penn State University TV special: Ben Carson: An Extraordinary Life - Conversations from Penn State  Get to know this remarkable individual before you begin reading stories from the left about what a bad man he is.

 

Ambush at Hilton Hollow  "...Forced to sit at the dais and suck it up while a renowned pediatric neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins Medical School, Dr. Benjamin Carson, debunked the concept of Obamacare as well as pointing out the president's seeming indifference to the national debt, Obama did his best to smile but he simply could not suppress that droned-out expression, the one, you know, that kills.

"Obama's first frown comes a few minutes into the talk when Dr. Carson uses the term, PC, for politically correct, in his discussion of how difficult it is to speak these days without offending someone's too-tender sensibilities."

Byron York: With public focused on jobs, Washington fights other fights

Washington Examiner  "So what is Washington doing amid these deep economic anxieties? Working on a bipartisan plan that would begin with the mass, immediate legalization of illegal immigrants, before any border security or enforcement measures.
"That those two facts exist simultaneously -- deep fears about the economy and a political fixation on immigration reform -- is just one illustration of a disconnect between national political leaders and the people who elected them."
I suggest that Obama would rather lead a revolution than to actually govern anything.

http://www.cagle.com/news/obama-second-term/#.URZi3DbnbIU

Nestoring

Kerby Anderson  "Have you ever heard of the verb “nestoring? I had never heard about it until Jonah Goldberg wrote a column about it. The word comes from Dr. John Nestor, who even has an entry in Wikipedia about him and the reason someone coined the term to describe him.

"Back in the 1980s, transit officials in Washington tried to figure out why they were having traffic problems on the Beltway. It turns out that Dr. Nestor would get in the left lane and set his cruise control to 55 mph. This forced cars behind him to merge right and create a bottleneck. He would not move to the right for drivers behind him. He asked: “Why should I inconvenience myself for someone who wants to speed?”

"He became a somewhat of a celebrity when he wrote a letter to the Washington Post explaining what he was doing on the highway and why. The newspaper received lots of angry letters to the editor in response and led to the coining of the term “nestoring.”

"Dr. Nestor was also a regulator for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While he was in the cardio-renal-pulmonary unit, he approved no new drugs. None, he reasoned, were worth the risk. That was his philosophy. If you don’t approve of any drugs, then you are guaranteed that no harmful drugs will go out on the market. Of course, you also will be keeping back drugs that could be beneficial, even life-saving, to the general public.

"This was the philosophy of John Nestor, which came to be known by the verb “nestoring.” Don’t take any risks. Keep a firm conformity to laws, standards, and regulations regardless of the larger consequences.

"We see so many examples of “nestoring” today in government regulations that strive to make the world 100 percent safe. That is impossible in a fallen world. There will always be risk and we will have to weigh them against the benefits.  Unfortunately, people who believe in “nestoring” seem to be missing what we used to call common sense"

Krauthammer : Call Obama’s sequester bluff

Charles Krauthammer  "For the first time since Election Day, President Obama is on the defensive. That’s because on March 1, automatic spending cuts (“sequestration”) go into effect — $1.2 trillion over 10 years, half from domestic (discretionary) programs, half from defense.
"The idea had been proposed and promoted by the White House during the July 2011 debt-ceiling negotiations. The political calculation was that such draconian defense cuts would drive the GOP to offer concessions.

      

"It backfired. The Republicans have offered no concessions. Obama’s bluff is being called and he’s the desperate party. He abhors the domestic cuts. And as commander in chief he must worry about indiscriminate Pentagon cuts that his own defense secretary calls catastrophic."

Obama vs. the Facts on Polarization

Seth Mandel  "As the authors write, this is consistent with past surveys as well. Obama likes to pretend that he is dealing with unfair and unprecedented opposition and that his antagonists are rewriting the rules unilaterally as the game progresses. Such self-pity is unworthy of the office, but it’s also flat wrong."

Obamacare, the Sandwich and the Wagon

Watchdogwire  "Dinesh D’Souza and Michael Shermer in debate at Oregon State University. Questions from the student body regarding Universal Health Care / ObamaCare. The answers were quite well presented and the student body seemed to agree." 

One of a series of debates that they take on the road much like Lincoln-Douglas or William Buckley-Gore Vidal.

 

Hat tip to Tommy Collins, Richardson, TX