Tunnel Dweller on the road again

Blogging will be a bit sporadic the next few days as Mr. and Mrs. Dweller take US 40 to California. First it's Santa Paula, then up to Placerville in the beautiful gold country. Last is the trip up US 101 through the Redwoods to beautiful Tillamook County and my boyhood home of Garibaldi, where nothing is left of the local timber industry but a lone smokestack sitting in a grassy field. All due to the EPA back in the 70's.
Somehow Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown" comes to mind.   TD

Our Reactionary President

zappatrust

Victor Davis Hanson "Barack Obama is the most reactionary president in the recent history of the United States. Obama seems intent on turning back the clock to the good old days of the 1960s and 1970s, when rigid political orthodoxy, not an open mind, once guided government."....

"It turns out that the US may be the world's new Saudi Arabia when it comes to known reserves of all forms of gas, oil and coal. As our president still harps on solar panels and windmills, private enterprise on its own is exploring new ways of powering industries, homes and cars with cheap and plentiful natural gas — hoping to free us from dependence on OPEC."


 

Keep this for reference: 2011 Budget Chart Book

Heritage 



Federal Spending per Household Is Skyrocketing

National Debt Set to Skyrocket

More at Heritage

understandingfiscalresponsibility.org

Shock: Dept. of Defense Vindicates Fort Hood Killer

Pajamas Media  "U.S. Army tacitly endorses a religiously bigoted position: it is fine for Muslim service members to kill non-Muslims, but killing Muslims is grounds for an honorable discharge."
....
"By granting PFC Abdo’s conscientious objector claim, the Army may have created trouble for themselves in the court martial of Major Hasan for the murder of his thirteen fellow soldiers at Fort Hood. Hasan’s attorney can now claim that by refusing to acknowledge Major Hasan’s claims under Islamic law as a conscientious objector and granting him an honorable discharge, the Army created irreconcilable conflict that prompted the Fort Hood massacre. And they can use the secretary of the Army’s decision in the Abdo case as proof."

American Muslim organization asks U.S. Army to deny Pfc Nasser Abdo Conscientious Objector status and for Abdo to be punished to the full extent of the Uniform Code of Military Justice

Photo: TheIslamicStandard

"The American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) takes deep exception with claims from PFC Nasser Abdo regarding his application for Conscientious Objector (CO) status from the U.S. Army. Abdo claims that his faith precludes him from serving “in Afghanistan, Iraq or any war the U.S. Army would conceivably participate in.” Such a claim is patently false. Muslims serve with distinction throughout the United States Military and AIFD sees Abdo’s traitorous public assertions as a slap in the face to all American Muslims especially those Muslims who fight in our armed forces for the liberty and freedom guaranteed by the American Constitution." (Emphasis respectfully added)

More here.

Anatomy of Congressional Narcissism

Victor Davis Hanson  "Apparently Mr. Weiner believed that his position as a relatively high-profile congressman made, literally, all of him of interest to almost anyone. Someone somehow had apparently convinced the rather geeky Mr. Weiner that he was quite attractive, to the point that he assumed others would wish to join such a Narcissus in fixating at the pool of his own rather sad reflection."

Less tawdry, but as self-absorbed might be the two Obama autobiographies and Bill Clinton's My Life.

Video: The ULTIMATE SARAH PALIN is a Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest, STUPID MORON...etc

WeaselZippers , who got this from  iOwnTheWorld.com

Rich Terrell's pean to Algore

http://terrellaftermath.com

U.S. and Pakistan: Afghan Strategies

STRATFOR  "...the United States is exploring ways to accelerate the drawdown of its forces in the country. It is also clear that U.S. relations with Pakistan are deteriorating to a point where cooperation — whatever level there was — is breaking down. These are two intimately related issues. Any withdrawal from Afghanistan, particularly an accelerated one, will leave a power vacuum in Afghanistan that the Kabul government will not be able to fill. Afghanistan is Pakistan’s back door, and its evolution is a matter of fundamental interest to Pakistan. A U.S. withdrawal means an Afghanistan intertwined with and influenced by Pakistan. Therefore, the current dynamic with Pakistan challenges any withdrawal plan."

U.S. and Pakistan: Afghan Strategies is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

Obama to Announce Afghanistan Troop Drawdown Numbers "Soon-to-be-retired Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, on his final tour of Afghanistan earlier this month, warned that it would be "premature" to make any significant changes to the military campaign in Afghanistan before the end of the year or until the United States can say that "we've turned the corner here in Afghanistan." "

Michael Yon: Afghanistan is making undeniable progress, but it could all unravel "Let's begin with a few facts. For the strategy we used, we never had enough troops in Afghanistan to defeat our enemies and stand up a civil society. It can be argued that today, we still do not have enough.
"Despite this, the coalition and the Afghans appear to finally be turning the tide in our favor, and a great deal of this can be credited to President Obama for deciding to send more troops. Unfortunately, the President has stated that we will begin bringing troops home this year."

Photo by  Michael Yon

"This puts him in a bind. To keep his word, the President may have to undermine the very success that he facilitated."

Karzai Isn’t Helping  "Alls this makes one wonder if Karzai has a clue as to how tenuous support for continuing the fight in Afghanistan is in the United States. If the Afghan president’s goal was to undermine support for the U.S. role in the conflict, he couldn’t have said anything more likely to encourage anti-war activists and to discourage those who think the cause is still worthwhile."  Jonathan S. Tobin

Obama to announce big drawdown of Afghan troops "The reductions Petreaus wanted were largely symbolic - mostly support troops. He was making the argument that maximum pressure on the Taliban in the south for the rest of the summer is necessary in order for any withdrawal to impact our efforts as little as possible.
"But military concerns are hardly driving this decision. Obama is busy running a re-election campaign and can't be bothered with such mundane considerations. Most Democrats just want the war to go away by election day and the president will oblige them." By Rick Moran in American Thinker

Daniel Kurtzman, About.com

The iDad

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

Understanding Online Radicalization: The Jihadi Forums

Ali Teymouri  "Rising terrorism arrests in America, particularly the breaking up of 22 plots between May 2009 and November 2010, have sparked questions about how young Muslim men become terrorists. Although radicalization has become a catch phrase in the media, little has been written about the methods, websites, and actors involved in the process.

"This series, “Understanding Online Radicalization,” seeks to shed light on how the Internet functions as a tool for radicalizing would-be terrorists. It will answer questions about the kinds of websites popular among jihadists, how these sites have used new media and technology, and how they appeal to young people.

"Understanding the world of online jihadists gives us insight into what motivates its participants and what drives some of them to act out their violent fantasies."

Jon Stewart, Bully

Jon Stewart

Andrew Klavan  "But while The Daily Show’s behavior may not be surprising, it is kind of disgusting, isn’t it? Stewart is at the height of his career and in a position of power. For him to have his minions take action that costs a 23-year-old up-and-comer his representation is bullying, plain and simple."

Video: Jon Stewart: “The embarrassment is that I’m given credibility”  "His comments hit on a question I’ve had for quite some time. What is it that enables liberal journalists and artists — actors, authors, filmmakers, comedians, etc. — to escape the “liberal” adjective before their artistic title, whereas conservative journalists and artists are almost always labeled as such? “Oh, he’s a conservative comedian.” “Yeah, she’s a conservative blogger.”"

SAY WHAT? Fox News Is Biased ... and the Other Media Outlets Aren't?

The Daily Show  "Chris Wallace defends Fox News' Republican contributors, calls MSNBC biased, and asks Jon to come on his show."  And of course, he did. Last night.

Chris Wallace schools Jon Stewart. "As Jon Stewart demonstrates, over and over and over again; his repeated insisting that he wasn’t being ruled by his biases kind of lost power with every counter-example that Wallace put up on the screen. But then, it’s rare on television that people are actually grilled on things."

Well... give him a break. He's a comedian. "Really? He’s kidding, right? A president can’t do much to affect the economy? "

•Threatening small businesses – our main jobs generating machine – with tax hikes doesn’t affect the economy?
•Piling thousands of pages of new regulations in hundreds of new rulemaking processes doesn’t affect the economy?
•Having a president who has referred to the private sector as “the enemy” doesn’t affect the economy?
....
•Threatening American business with unneeded environmental regulations that will cost perhaps billions of dollars has no affect on the economy?
•Telling businesses that they are not going to be allowed to locate manufacturing facilities in states where workers cannot be forced to join unions won’t affect the economy?
•Pushing a bill that would allow unionization-by-intimidation in the private sector won’t affect the economy?

 "Stick to the comedy, Jon"   Neal Boortz

Flashback: Obama the Candidate Excoriates Pakistan for Holding Talks With Taliban (Video)

Gateway Pundit 

…But I do believe that we have to change our policies with Pakistan. We can’t coddle, as we did, a dictator, give him billions of dollars and then he’s making peace treaties with the Taliban and militants.

"Fast-forward to 2011—Afghan President Karzai yesterday confirmed that the Obama Administration is holding peace talks with the Taliban.

"Reminder: All of Obama’s statements come with an expiration date."