Scowling Face of the State

 

'Audit the IRS' Tea Party rally set for today on Capitol Hill   "Two potential GOP candidates for president - Ted Cruz and Rand Paul - are going to be there. It should be interesting to hear what they have to say. Expect both of them to connect IRS targeting with NSA snooping - two potent issues for conservatives in 2014."

 

A Comprehensive Distrust of Government 

"In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations." --author and Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)

George Will; Scowling Face of the State  "[Lois] Lerner, it is prudent to assume, is one among thousands like her who infest the regulatory state. She is not just a bureaucratic bully and a slithering partisan. Now she also is a national security problem because she is contributing to a comprehensive distrust of government."

secretsofthefed.com

Signs and Wonders: Navy bans porn but misses the point

World Magazine  "The Pentagon horrified many but surprised few people when it reported last month that since lifting its ban on homosexuality, the number of sexual assaults in the armed services increased to an astonishing 26,000, and that many of the assaults were male-on-male. After all, when you announce “anything goes,” you shouldn’t be surprised when “anything” actually shows up."
....
"[Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council]"  believes “no one has done more to sexualize the military than President Obama.” He said, “.... look at the White House’s radical social policies and start acknowledging their role in fostering this dangerous, sexually-charged environment.”  

Organizing for Action gathers a whopping three people for gun-control rally in California

Hot Air  "This is a pretty decent illustration of the lack of enthusiasm on the pro gun-control side, especially in light of a nearby and tragic shooting spree fairly recently. I’d wonder if a protest of three Second Amendment would even warrant a news story, unless it was to mock the absence of actual protesters. So, here I am providing some newsworthy context to this reporter’s exceedingly fair treatment of three gun-control supporters. There were three."

Israelis size up John Kerry

Pundits hope for better things from Secretary of State Kerry, but say most nations know that he will not matter; that he is bound Obama's foreign policy. And that, the world is familiar with.

 

israelnationalnews.com

 

Charles Krauthammer asks of Hillary: Can somebody name one achievement she had in the four years that she has been Kerry's predecessor?

Brunswick, Maine in the Civil War

Tunnel Wall  We noticed people searching for this article were directed to a blank page and I do not know why. Perhaps it will help you if it is re-posted here. TD

Visit the Historic Home of Civil War Hero Joshua Chamberlain in Brunswick, Maine
"Lawrence Joshua ( I thought it was Joshua Lawrence .TD) Chamberlain was a quiet college professor when the Civil War began, but before it was over he became one of the Union's most celebrated officers - the hero of Little Round Top at Gettysburg and the man selected to accept Robert E. Lee's formal surrender at Appomattox."  More here at Gettysburg Daily

Harriet Beecher Stowe house.

Bowdoin Graduates Who Served with the Union

Bowdoin Graduates Who Served with the Confederacy

Maine’s Civil War Monuments

(Below) The charge of the 20th Maine on Little Round Top, Gettysburg, 1863 Don Troiani

MAINE INFANTRY REGIMENTS in the Civil War.

Brunswick Trivia:  "Brunswick, Maine has the widest main street in Maine because Indians burned down the town and in order for that not to happen again they made the main street very wide so that the fire could not jump from building to building."  More here.

More posts at the link

Jay Leno Eviscerates 'Snoop Obama' in Monologue

Breitbart   "NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Friday night monologue. Jay hits the feds from all sides: the NSA surveillance scandal; the IRS targeting scandal and the agency's extravagant, million-dollar conferences; and the exploding national debt. Notice the difference in audience reaction for a Mitt Romney tax joke.

Mike Ramirez: Birds of a feather

'Never heard of him’: Notable Columbia prof says he isn’t sure Obama attended Columbia University

CampusReform.org'   " “I taught every significant politician that ever studied at Columbia,” said Columbia Emeritus Professor of History Henry Graff, in an interview last week with Wayne Root, a contributor at The Blaze. “Between American History and Diplomatic History, one way or another, they all had to come through my classes.”
"“Not Obama,” he continued. “I never had a student with that name in any of my classes. I never met him, never saw him, never heard of him.” "

Henry Franklin Graff, Professor Emeritus of History

From Columbia News back in 2000; Historian Henry Graff Says American Presidency Is Losing Prestige
...."I don't think this is the way the Presidency should be conducted," said Graff. "I don't think the President should appear on talk shows." Graff's concern with presidential perception is rooted in fear for a leader who does not inspire trust. The question that needs to be asked, Graff said, is, "Do we have sufficient gravitas when the moment comes that the President says 'follow me'."....Little did he know back in 2000.

Archaeologists find the bodies of 21 World War One German soldiers in perfectly preserved trenches where they were buried alive by an Allied shell

UK Daily Mail   "The bodies of 21 German soldiers entombed in a perfectly preserved World War One shelter have been discovered 94 years after they were killed.
"The men were part of a larger group of 34 who were buried alive when a huge Allied shell exploded above the tunnel in 1918, causing it to cave in.
"Thirteen bodies were recovered from the underground shelter, but the remaining men had to be left under a mountain of mud as it was too dangerous to retrieve them.

 

"Nearly a century later, French archaeologists stumbled upon the mass grave on the former Western Front in eastern France during excavation work for a road building project."
....
"Archaeologists also uncovered the wooden sides, floors and stairways of the shelter.
"The dead soldiers were part of the 6th Company, 94th Reserve Infantry Regiment.
"Their names are all known - they include Musketeer Martin Heidrich, 20, Private Harry Bierkamp, 22, and Lieutenant August Hutten, 37, whose names are inscribed on a memorial in the nearby German war cemetery of Illfurth."   Full article here.


WWI Grave Find Tells Story Germans Want To Forget


More images here.  WW1 roster of German regiments, Links

Archaeologists find First World War soldiers in preserved trenches
"With very little light, water or even air penetrating the site, many items were extremely well-preserved. Boots, helmets, weapons, wine bottles, spectacles, wallets, pocket books and even the skeleton of a goat were found – this last assumed to have been present for the purpose of providing fresh milk for the men. Archaeologists also uncovered the wooden sides, floors and stairways of the shelter, big enough to shelter 500 men and occupied by the 6th Company, 94th Reserve Infantry Regiment."

Obama's scandals later; right now lets discuss the Obama leadership in the world

Brit Hume on Obama's Silence Strategy: "A Good way to Duck, but Not a Good Way to Lead"

 

The Good and Bad of Obama’s Counterterrorism Strategy "Finally, the president curiously omitted any reference to America's efforts to prevent terrorist groups from acquiring weapons of mass destruction – a pillar of America's efforts in the Global War on Terror since President George W. Bush's 2002 State of the Union address . As North Korea continues to increase the size and effectiveness of its own nuclear arsenal, and terror-sponsoring Iran draws perilously close to obtaining nuclear weapons-making capability, the United States must work to actively thwart the nuclear ambitions of rogue nations."

The course President Barack Obama has set may lead to a direct war with Iran  "Because it is transparently obvious that U.S. assistance is are too little, too late and will pose no real deterrent, it seems that the main purpose of the aid is not to help the rebels win but to increase pressure on rebel groups to join multilateral peace talks."

 

US News; Obama's Absentee Foreign Policy   "There have been some actions taken, like the use of military force in Libya, but even that appears to have been more of an accident, a distraction if you will, than something growing out of a well thought out tactical and strategic vision. Even the Clinton administration had a more muscular foreign policy than the current occupant of the White House."

Obama’s increasingly muddled Syria policy  "Does he care that he has let this crisis get out of hand? .... Does he care that after saying Assad had to go, Assad didn’t? Does he care that after calling the use of chemical weapons a “red line,” he lackadaisically responded by offering the rebels small arms that will do them not much good? Finally, does he care that he seems not to care?"

 The U.S. has tragically misplayed Syria  "It has only succeeded in weakening the moderates in the Free Syrian Army (FSA..."

A Half-Measure in Syria  

This president’s foreign policy seems to be oriented around not letting it get in the way of his domestic and political priorities — more action in Syria will require expending political capital, risking mistakes, angering some of his domestic allies and some of his opponents, too, but there are also costs to inaction that starts to look impotent (and to letting Assad gain the upper hand again). So the administration tries to make it look like they’re doing something, without doing anything

 

Obama Doctrine: America Allies with Muslim Brotherhood to Promote Middle East ‘Stability’  "Two and a half years ago, who would ever have thought that the United States would enter an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood? There were hints in President Barack Obama’s Cairo speech, yet now it is clear that this is the new basis for regional security sought by the Obama administration."

Jennifer Rubin; Obama’s multiple national security untruths  "In foreign policy, the credibility problem plagues him. Consider all the things Obama has asserted that simply aren’t true:"....

 

The Scandals of Obama; The Office of President Forever Tarnished?

 

Bloviating Zeppelin has brackets to help determine the winning scandal Can be hard to read, but certainly gives you a perspective.

 

 Obama's upside down enemies list   "Hanson concludes his tour of the upside-down world of Obama's friends and enemies with the observation that Obama's "most pernicious" legacy "will be the creation of a rogue government that has cut off and terrified half the population - and for no other reason than that they seem to represent things that Mr. Obama simply does not seem to understand."
"Or want to understand."

Obama’s Climate of Intimidation  "Beyond the fact that biased reporting shapes public opinion to favor the left, it may also have an effect on law enforcement. The persistent lies that have been told about right-leaning political groups by leading Democrats, including President Obama himself, may have led to the IRS abuses of power that we’ve heard so much about in recent weeks."

Trey Gowdy On IRS Targeting – We Should Look At Obama/Biden Reelection Team (Video)


Do You Trust This Man?  "There is a common element to the so-called Obama scandals—the IRS targeting of conservatives, the fatal attack in Benghazi, and widespread spying on U.S. journalists and ordinary Americans. It is a lack of credibility."

Thomas Sowell asks the same question  "But we the voters are not blameless. Having chosen an untested man to be president, on the basis of rhetoric, style, and symbolism, we have ourselves to blame if we now have only a choice between two potentially tragic fates — the loss of American lives to terrorism, or a further dismantling of our freedoms that has already led many people to ask, “Is this still America?” "

The New American Enemies List

Note that the IRS is not interested in leaking to Democrat senators or former administration official rumors about George Soros’s income or the details of the tax returns of Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg, or Bill Gates.

Victor Davis Hanson   "There is currently a climate of fear growing throughout the United States. Millions of Americans are terrified of the IRS, the Department of Justice, the EPA, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and even perhaps the FBI, CIA, and State Department.
Why?
"These government agencies have never been bigger, more powerful, and more ideologically driven. Citizens fear them for understandable reasons: those who do nothing wrong, whether in filing tax forms or trying to buy a rifle, are considered suspect and deserving to be the target of either federal scrutiny or presidential slurs.  But those who do a great deal of wrong, either by illegally entering the country, disrupting polling, trafficking in weapons in Mexico, eavesdropping on American citizens, pulling tax information for partisan purposes, subverting a government agency, or lying to the public about government activity, seem exempt from punishment — and, more chillingly, sense that they are so exempt."

 

IRS: 'Tea Party' Was Shorthand for Political  "Internal Revenue Service director of rulings and agreements Holly Paz explained that the IRS simply used “tea party” as shorthand for politically-involved groups in profiling non-profit applicants. She said that when tax agents in Cincinnati referred to tea party groups as requiring special scrutiny, they simply meant all groups with a political activity level."