The, like, decline and, y'know, fall of the English major

NY Times

"In the past few years, I’ve taught nonfiction writing to undergraduates and graduate students.... Each semester I hope, and fear, that I will have nothing to teach my students because they already know how to write. And each semester I discover, again, that they don’t.

"They can assemble strings of jargon and generate clots of ventriloquistic syntax. They can meta-metastasize any thematic or ideological notion they happen upon. And they get good grades for doing just that. But as for writing clearly, simply, with attention and openness to their own thoughts and emotions and the world around them — no."

Is it the Obama/ Bill Ayres plan to make the US lose respect in the world?

Krauthammer: China, Russia couldn’t care less what Obama says
"Krauthammer says that China, Russia and the international community at large doesn’t really care what Obama says because they don’t respect nor fear him:"....

From back in August, 2011,

However, a senior Russian lawmaker stressed that Washington should not expect Moscow to extradite Snowden.

Rush thinks this is all going the way Barack Obama wants it to.  (And this does seem about how Bill Ayres and Rev. Wright would want the US to be regarded, wouldn't you?)
"All it means to Obama is that the United States isn't as feared nor is it as respected. In Hong Kong they wouldn't extradite Snowden. I'm telling you, this is right up Obama's alley, to preside over the decline of the superpower once known as the United States. Look, there isn't any doubt about this any more. There's no doubt about what Obama's agenda is. There's no doubt about what his plans for transforming the country are, and there's no doubt that he's just profoundly successful with all this."
So Rush agrees that Krauthammer is right, but he feels that this disrespect is just the way Obama wants it to be.

The run-up to the Battle of Gettysburg, 150 years ago JEB Stuart departs from Lee

 Relive The Battle of Gettysburg: Bloodiest Conflict of Civil War  ~Total Gettysburg is committed to bringing the Battle of Gettysburg to you with rich narrative, stunning photos and detailed maps that bring the battle to life. Our goal is to educate about the battle that decided the fate of a country and inspire you to action to protect these sacred Civil War battlefields. The American Civil War has much to teach us and Total Gettysburg will get you started. ~

Welcome to the first of many videos to be produced for the Total Gettysburg Video Series. Each will cover a 4-5 hour time-period of the battle until the 3-day Battle of Gettysburg has been covered.

June 25 1863; STUART STARTS SMALL SADDLE SKEDADDLE
   " It seemed like such a logical plan at the time: as the Army of Northern Virginia was moving north on the summer’s great invasion, they knew where they were going. It did not seem that important to have the crack cavalry of Gen. J.E. B. Stuart available to scout ahead; if cavalry were needed, there were other units with the various corps that could do the job. Stuart therefore was given permission to detach his force for another “ride-around” intended to loop entirely around the Army of the Potomac, harassing, alarming and confusing them along the way, while picking up any supplies they came across. It would prove to be a terrible mistake, because the Army of the Potomac was on the move as well."

Painting by Mort Kunstler

Roads North: Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania day by day

General JEB Stuart  ...."Following the Confederate loss at Gettysburg, JEB Stuart effectively screened the retreat of the army across the Potomac River and back to Virginia. Stuart would thereafter be mired in controversy regarding his actions leading up to Gettysburg and used as a scapegoat responsible for the Confederate defeat. Stuart would play heavily in many engagements after Gettysburg until his untimely death nearly a year later at the Battle of Yellow Tavern."

JEB Stuart’s Ride Around The Union Army: 1863
"In the aftermath of General Lee’s return to Virginia from Gettysburg much controversy raged over Stuart’s role, in the public’s perception that the campaign had been a failure. Stuart was criticized for taking his column of troopers east and passing the Potomac to the right of Hooker who was then moving his army northward toward Frederick."

Think NSA Spying Is Bad? Here Comes ObamaCare Hub

IBD  "The Health and Human Services Department earlier this year exposed just how vast the government's data collection efforts will be on millions of Americans as a result of ObamaCare.
"Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., asked HHS to provide "a complete list of agencies that will interact with the Federal Data Services Hub." The Hub is a central feature of ObamaCare, since it will be used by the new insurance exchanges to determine eligibility for benefits, exemptions from the federal mandate, and how much to grant in federal insurance subsidies." 
Read More

calwatchdog

Anonymous DHS Employee Reveals Frightening Extent of Obama Administration's Targeting of Conservatives

Intellectual Conservative  “This is bigger than you can imagine, bigger than anyone can imagine. This administration is collecting names of sources,
whistle blowers and their families, names of media sources and everybody they talk to and have talked to, and they already have a huge list...If you are a website owner with a brisk readership and a conservative bent, you’re on that list. It’s a political dissident list, not an enemy threat list."
Read the full article here.


Is all this the "revenge" Obama had in mind? Why would we not think all this is the upshot of what he was speaking of here?

Obama's Enormous Climate Lies

Alan Caruba  Putting aside Obama’s intention to further reduce our nuclear arsenal as articulated in his June 19 speech in Berlin, he has solidified his position as the World’s Greatest Liar with his statements about climate change, aka global warming, which he called “the global threat of our time.”

Let us stipulate that the global threat of our time is the rise of Islamic fanaticism in its pursuit of a worldwide caliphate.

Obama unveils climate change plan that goes around Congress  "President Obama is launching fresh battles over climate change with plans to curb emissions using executive powers that sidestep Congress — including controversial rules to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants."  Video

Did You Know the Following Facts About Global Warming?
 

President Obama as leader of a world power

WaPo

Jennifer Rubin; ‘Pretty please’ foreign policy   "Unfortunately, the president who fancies himself as the guy who ends wars and doesn’t start them has no idea that, without military success and the threat of military force, your influence wanes and our adversaries come to regard us, well, as a joke.

 

"We didn’t win the Cold War at the negotiating table. We won by continually challenging Communist aggression and maintaining a strong military that eventually helped bankrupt the Soviet Union."
Obama and Clinton were preceded by better men than they.

Obama's Emptiest Benghazi Talking Point  "On Oct. 26, 2012, Obama said his "biggest priority" was bringing the "folks" in Libya responsible for murdering four Americans to "justice." Tick, tock, tick, tock."

The Islamic Schoolyard-Bully and Obama's America   "Not especially large or strong, the schoolyard bully—generally a prickly, nasty fellow—picks on two groups: 1) those who are obviously weaker than him and 2) those who, while larger or stronger than him, willingly give in to him—willingly appease."

Edward Snowden Took the Job at Booz Allen Just to Collect (and Then Release) US Government Secrets

The Volokh Conspiracy   "The South China Morning Post reports:

Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor for one reason alone – to obtain evidence of Washington’s cyberspying networks, the South China Morning Post can reveal.
For the first time, Snowden has admitted he sought a position at Booz Allen Hamilton so he could collect proof about the US National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programmes ahead of planned leaks to the media.
“My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked,” he told the Post on June 12. “That is why I accepted that position about three months ago.”

....
 "Asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: “Correct on Booz.” "
Emphasis added. TD

How to Prevent the Next Edward Snowden 

WaPo

Alan Caruba; Will White Guilt Convict George Zimmerman?

Warning Signs

...."Much as I wish it were not so, I think George Zimmerman is going to get a fast ticket to jail for having defended himself against Trayvon Martin. On February 26, 2012, when the local police inspected the scene and examined the injuries George sustained, they declined to arrest him. Not only did Zimmerman’s injuries cry out “self-defense”, but Florida has a “Stand Your Ground” law.

"Never one to let an opportunity pass to get attention, the Rev. Al Sharpton showed up the day of Zimmerman’s arrest, April 11, to say, “Forty-five days ago, Trayvon Martin was murdered.” The Rev. Jesse Jackson also chimed in, referring to Martin as “murdered and martyred.”  Oh, let’s not rush to judgment here! Let’s not create any race-based anger and discord before the facts are presented in a court of law."....

 

Obama administration bungles Snowden, leaves great power diplomacy in shambles

 Thomas Lifson  "It would be comic if the national security of the United States were not in peril. The Obama crew, which smugly promised us "smart diplomacy," has totally bungled relations with China and Russia, America's two major potential global rivals, in its handling of the Edward Snowden affair. As Sarah Palin might ask: How's that "smart diplomacy" workin' out for ya'?"

Where's Edward Snowden?  "This may be an ominous development, or it may be a bit of misdirection from Snowden and his handlers. Ominous because you wouldn't put it past Putin to take Snowden into custody and try to exchange him for someone we have in our jails that the Russians may want. Or perhaps Putin might want to see if he could wring any intelligence out of the young man before he leaves the country."

Nobody respects Obama  "Second, no one is afraid of the US and that is very bad for the world's only superpower."

Kristol: GOP Senators Should Block Immigration Monday, Let Us and Them Read the Bill

The Weekly Standard "The boss this morning talked about the immigration bill on Fox News Sunday's "Panel Plus":"

An Embarrassing Truth  "Embarrassing. Nauseating. Truly and breath-takingly ignorant. That would be the current fawning capitulation of the Republican Party regarding immigration. What is it about these "professional" politicans in the GOP that forces them to be constantly in a reactionary-defensive mode regarding Progressives?"

The complete intellectual degradation of the abortion debate

Bookworm Room  "I’ve commented before on the factual dishonesty of the abortion debate.  Abortion proponents pretend that we’re living in the 1950s, when out-of-wedlock pregnancy was a stigma, not a commonplace.  I guess it’s unsurprising that the intellectual debate would be equally dishonest.  One could say that the good thing about mass murderer Kermit Gosnell is that his “post-birth” abortions have brought to light the intellectual paucity of the Democrat party when it comes to abortion.  The Supreme Court has insisted on a balancing act, and the Democrats have responded by putting their thumb firmly on the abortion side of the scale."