Voters in California contemplate forming new state

Yahoo News

 

"Tom Knorr, chairman of the Measure A campaign in Tehama County, holds a State of Jefferson flag as he poses for photographs at his ranch house in Corning, Calif., Tuesday, May 27, 2014. The idea of forming their own state has been a topic among local secession dreamers for more than a century in California’s largely rural, agrarian and politically conservative far northern counties. Residents in two counties, Del Norte and Tehama, will decide June 3, 2014, on an advisory measure that asks each county’s board of supervisors to join a wider effort to form a 51st state named Jefferson."

...

"But the loss of millions of dollars for everything from infrastructure to schools is among the biggest worries of residents who oppose the secession movement. The Del Norte County Board of Education, which receives 90 percent of its funding, or $32 million, from the state, voted to oppose the local initiative, known as Measure A."

 

The Presbyterian assault on Israel

Abu Yehuda

 

"Since 2004, the PC(USA) has passed resolutions calling for Israel’s withdrawal from all territory captured in 1967, right of return for Arab refugees, and suggesting that its board divest from companies doing business with Israel until ‘the occupation’ is ended. But the organization stopped short by two votes (333-331-2) of passing an actual divestment resolution in 2012.

"Its resolutions have consistently followed the Arab line in full and placed all the blame for the conflict on Israel. The 2004 resolution is entirely devoted to condemning Israel with the exception of one line criticizing “Palestinian suicide bombings.” This was their response to the Second Intifada which by then had killed 1000 Israelis, almost all of them innocent civilians!"   More here...

And then this week there came Pope Francis...   " From the beginning the Arabs asserted a ‘right’, not only to a state, but to every inch of the land.  More recently, they rejected several additional offers of partition. In each case the grounds for rejection appear to be the insistence on a ‘right of return’ which would in effect bring about Arab sovereignty over all of the land, and a refusal to agree to a final end of the conflict — that is, to admit that the Jewish state is here to stay."
Via Allyson’s Geo-Political Inspections

Dragging along

 Washington Examiner

Reactions to President Obama's West Point speech

 Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations: Obama’s Unclear Foreign Policy Path   ...

"What I would hope is that the president makes a concerted effort to tie our foreign and domestic policies together so that people understand that what happens here in the United States affects our ability to act in the world, and what happens in the world will in many ways affect the quality of life here. That was perhaps implicit in the speech. That has to become explicit in the administration's choice of priorities between now and the end of 2016."

CNN: Obama outlines foreign policy vision of 'might and right'    "Under fire from the political right for what critics call diminishing U.S. global influence, Obama offered a robust defense of his foreign policy as the pragmatic and most effective expression of America's leadership role in the world."

Krauthammer’s Take: Obama’s Foreign-Policy Speech ‘Literally Pointless’

 

"Krauthammer said he spoke with a member of Congress who took issue with President Obama’s “pettiness” during commencement address of taking on his critics, and said the president should have focused on the graduates instead. “There was no response from any of the cadets — it was quiet as a mouse,” he said."

A Sad, Half-hearted Address to the Wrong Audience  " Before a silent graduating class at West Point, Mr. Obama monotonically delivered a defensive foreign-policy address empty of substance. He failed to connect with an audience that responded with polite but tepid applause to a vapid speech more suitable for the United Nations than for the United States."

 

 

The President’s Tired Refrains at West Point    "President Obama’s speech at West Point was not so much an articulation of his foreign policy but a defensive response to critics."
" ... the reputation of weakness is weakness, and despite all of the measures of national power that the president cites, the credibility of American power has diminished on his watch, not out of drift but because of his distinct choices."   Emphasis added

Cliché' alert: "...every fiber of my being"

Obama receives standing ovation from less than 25% of West Point cadets: report
“ 'Receiving tepid applause and a short standing ovation from less than one-quarter of the audience upon his introduction, Obama argued for a contradictory foreign policy that relies on NATO and the United Nations while insisting that ‘America must always lead on the world stage,’  the paper reported."

CNN: Troops gave him an "icy reception".   "CNN’s international correspondent Jim Clancy called the West Point response to President Obama’s meandering foreign policy address “pretty icy” Wednesday.

"Clancy said it was “not really a great speech to give at the U.S. Military Academy,” and the address has drawn bipartisan criticism.

“ 'It was a philosophical speech,” he said. “It was not a Commander-in-Chief speaking to his troops. And you heard the reception. I mean, it was pretty icy.”

Obama Tells West Point Grads That They’ll Be Combating Global Warming   "These future leaders in our military just spent years in college learning about battle strategy, guerrilla warfare, leadership, and how to respond under pressure. They probably should have learned how to reduce their carbon footprint while they were there because the President seems to think that rising CO2 emissions are an emerging threat." Related.

Obama also took a strong stance against … well nobody   ... "This wasn’t lost on the Twitterverse, where writers and pundits provided their alternative to Obama’s “this-stupid-choice versus that-stupid-choice” argument, and they’re hilarious." A sample or two:

 

Ben Shapiro @benshapiro Follow

Obama: "We need to do stuff. And the stuff we will do will not be stuff that a crazy person says we should do. It will be good stuff."

 Lachlan Markay @lachlan Follow    

"Some say we should nuke the entire Asian continent. Others want our capital to be Pyongyang. Unlike everyone else, I'm a rational centrist"

 

 More on this: Obama leads America to glorious victory over straw men at West Point

Public School Kids Rebel Against Michelle Obama's Healthy School Lunches

Public School Kids Rebel Against Michelle Obama's Healthy School Lunches As First Daughters Get Meatball Subs, Ice Cream    ... "Twitchy has done a great job capturing the reactions and photos to some of these lunches and it’s not pretty (click here, here, and here for examples). But CNS News decided to dig a little deeper. What exactly are Michelle O’s daughters eating at lunch? Is it in any way comparable to the lunches in our nation’s public schools?" ...

Michelle O: 'Parents Have Right to Expect Their Kids Will Get Decent Food in Our Schools'
... "Unmentioned in the entire controversy is the fact that for millions of children and their parents, school lunches are a convenience, not a necessity. Schools still permit children to bring food from home into the cafeteria. There is nothing stopping parents who "always put our kids' interests first" from packing a nutritious lunch the night before -- or making sure their children pack their own nutritious lunch." ...

Meanwhile, here is the school menu for Michelle Obama's daughters
Snack: Locally Baked Muffins
Mixed Greens with Avocado & Grapefruit Salad
Housemade Chicken Fingers
Breaded Eggplant w/ Marinara
Steamed Fresh Vegetables
Organic Sweet Potato Fries
Nectarines

 

 

Spring Vegetable Soup
Classic Caesar Salad
Deviled Egg Salad
All Natural Meatball Subs
Spinach Ricotta Phyllo Bake
Roasted Eggplant, Zucchini and Tomato
Bananas

 Hat tip to Harley Standlee; Placerville, CA

Pope Francis’s unfriendly visit

Caroline Glick    ... "Pope Benedict XVI was perceived as a friend of Israel, despite his childhood membership in the Hitler Youth. His opposition to Islam’s rejection of reason, eloquently expressed at his speech at the University of Regensburg in 2006, positioned him as a religious champion of reason, individual responsibility and law – Judaism’s primary contributions to humanity.

"His predecessor Pope John Paul II was less willing to confront Islamic violence. But his opposition to Communism made him respect Israel as freedom’s outpost in the Middle East. John Paul’s visit to Israel in 2000 was in some ways an historic gesture of friendship to the Jewish people of Israel.

"Both Benedict and John Paul II were outspoken champions of the Second Vatican Council and maintained doctrinal allegiance to the Church’s rejection of anti-Judaism, including the charge of deicide, and its denunciation of replacement theology.

"Alas, the Golden Age of Catholic-Jewish relations seems to have come to an end during Francis’s visit to the Promised Land this week." ...
 

About Afghanistan and this president

Krauthammer’s Take: Obama’s 2016 Timing for Afghanistan Withdawal Is ‘Personal Narcissism’     ... "Krauthammer found it contemptible that Obama would orient military plans around the timing of his departure from office, merely to make himself look better."
 

 

Via Lucianne;   A ‘Monumental Mistake’? Obama Details Afghanistan Withdrawal Plan  From John McCain: “The president’s decision to set an arbitrary date for the full withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is a monumental mistake and a triumph of politics over strategy. This is a short-sighted decision that will make it harder to end the war in Afghanistan responsibly,” the trio said. “The president came into office wanting to end the wars he inherited. But wars do not end just because politicians say so. The president appears to have learned nothing from the damage done by his previous withdrawal announcements in Afghanistan and his disastrous decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq.”

 

Obama taking on foreign policy critics   "The White House is mounting a concerted defense of President Obama's foreign policy against criticism that he has weakened U.S. influence around the globe. — The full-court press hinges on a speech Obama will give Wednesday at West Point's commencement … "   More here.

Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations:  Fixing Our Foreign Policy: 12 Ideas From a Sometimes Critic  ... "I appreciate that it does not take a whole lot of effort to find fault. In that spirit, here are a dozen proposals -- some likely to be popular, others anything but -- that if adopted would enhance this country's national security. I offer them now in the hope the president and his aides are open to new ideas as they prepare his much anticipated May 28 national security speech at West Point."

 How 21st century wars end under Democratic presidents   ... "A better statement of how 21st century wars end under President Obama (and, one suspects, Democrats in general) would be that they end as soon as the president believes he can end them without politically harmful blowback and no later than dates that are predetermined by the political calendar."

Ballot Snafus Nearly Kicked This Senior Democrat Out Of Congress

 

Politix   ... "Conyers, 85, on Friday lost his appeal Friday to get on the August primary ballot after Michigan election officials found problems with the Democrat's nominating petitions, AP reports. This would have ended his 50-year career in Congress.

"But then a federal judge reinstated Conyers's name on the ballot.

"The problem was that Conyers lacked the 1,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot. He faces a Democratic primary challenge from the Rev. Horace Sheffield III."

2010; Conyers's wife pleads guilty       ... "Her tenure has been marred by controversy and complaints about her personal behavior. Last year, in a dispute during official council proceedings, Conyers called then-council President Ken Cockrel “Shrek.' ”

Mrs. Conyers in action on the Detroit city council: 

The 5 Stages Of An Obama Scandal

Black Quill and Ink

 

... "Moreover, the VA scandal is opening the eyes of many in the media to the president’s strategy. Columnists are starting to notice the same canned responses, inaction, and smokescreens in this instance and are comparing them with other scandals.

"One can only hope that this will bring a higher level of seriousness to scandals, such as Benghazi and force the president to realize that his scandal playbook is no longer an option."

More at BQI

http://liberallogic101.com/?p=11291

What Obama’s many messes really mean  

"Another week, another scandal.

"From Fast and Furious at the ATF to the Pigford fraud at the Department of Agriculture, the IRS’ political targeting to the State Department’s Benghazi mess, the healthcare.gov debacle at HHS to spying at the NSA and the DOJ, President Obama is running out of agencies and departments to defend in his two years left in office." ...

Three cheers for the RNC’s new debate process

Via Hot Air

 

Hugh Hewitt   "Chairman Reince Priebus has done a lot of great things for the Republican National Committee he heads and the GOP he leads.

"But of all the good work, the three great "Priebus reforms" will be the re-ordering of the primary calendar for the presidential nomination process, the decision to move the nominating convention forward to late June or early July and the decision to seize control of the previously out-of-control debate schedule for the primaries and caucuses, which will choose the 2016 Republican standard-bearer.

"The first two reforms took only the agreement of the members of the national committee. The latter required a thoughtful innovation that, while coercive, is only gently so and is likely to be welcomed by legitimate contenders for the nomination.
...
"Marginal candidates may not be so happy, preferring a long, drawn-out marathon of debates as a means of selling themselves and their brand, and not necessarily with gaining the nomination."
...
"Priebus and the team will make the new rules stick. They have to. The damage from a score of roller derby debates is enormous."

Superpowers Don't Get to Retire

Robert Kagan 

  "Almost 70 years ago, a new world order was born from the rubble of World War II, built by and around the power of the United States. Today that world order shows signs of cracking, and perhaps even collapsing. The Russia-Ukraine and Syria crises, and the world’s tepid response, the general upheaval in the greater Middle East and North Africa, the growing nationalist and great-power tensions in East Asia, the worldwide advance of autocracy and retreat of democracy—taken individually, these problems are neither unprecedented nor unmanageable. But collectively they are a sign that something is changing, and perhaps more quickly than we may imagine. They may signal a transition into a different world order or into a world disorder of a kind not seen since the 1930s. 

Thomas Sowell; How the word 'racism' sways a fool's vote; random thoughts

"Any fool can say the word “racism.” In fact, quite a few fools do say it. But clever people can also say “racism” to get fools to vote their way."

Thomas Sowell   "Everyone was free to be a communist under the Stalin dictatorship, and everyone is free to be a Muslim in Saudi Arabia. Yet whole generations are coming out of our
colleges where only those who are politically correct are free to speak their minds. What kind of America will they create?
...
"If the Democrats retain control of the Senate after this year’s election, Barack Obama can load the federal courts from top to bottom with judges who will ignore the Constitution, as he does, and promote his far-left political agenda instead, long after he is gone." (Emphasis mine, TD)
...
"Those people who want Hillary Clinton elected president, so that we could have our first woman president, seem to have learned absolutely nothing from the current disaster of choosing a president on the basis of demographics and symbolism.

"The old saying that taxes are the price we pay for civilization has long since become obsolete. The amount that the government spends to defend us from foreign attack, or to maintain law and order at home, has been overtaken by the money it spends just to transfer some people’s money to other people who are more likely to vote for the re-election of incumbents.

Any fool can say the word “racism.” In fact, quite a few fools do say it. But clever people can also say “racism” to get fools to vote their way.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/how-the-word-racism-sways-a-fools-vote/#AzeZpEZxFk08CrsM.99