Thomas Sowell: Seductive Beliefs

Thomas Sowell

Townhall  "False theories are not just an intellectual problem to be discussed around a seminar table in some ivy-covered building. When millions of people believe those theories, including people in high places, with the fate of nations in their hands, that is a serious and potentially disastrous fact of life.

"Despite a carefully choreographed image of affability and cool, Barack Obama's decisions and appointments as President betray an alienation from the values and the people of this country that are too disturbing to be answered by showing his birth certificate.

"Too many of his appointees exhibit a similar alienation, including Attorney General Eric Holder, under whom the Dept. of Justice could more accurately be described as the Dept. of Payback."

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of The Housing Boom and Bust.

Obama’s Commerce nominee comes with green past

Daily Caller  "President Obama’s nominee for Commerce secretary, John Bryson, is good news for the environmental community and his nomination could foreshadow a renewed White House push for cap and trade.

"Bryson has a long history in the environmental community. He was one of the original co-founders of the Natural Resources Defense Council."...

Obama introduces Bryson (video)  "Notice the first-person references, including one Mr. Obama almost left out at the last, but corrected himself in time."

The Palin Bus tour

Chasing Sarah: The Boys Behind the Bus

"Palin is rubbing the media mob’s sense of entitlement right back in its face." Michelle Malkin

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



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



Exploring the Hollywood Propaganda Machine

This is a follow-up piece to the article the TW ran yesterday: Primetime Propaganda’: Help Us Expose Hollywood’s Conservative Blacklist  (Below)

Exploring the Hollywood Propaganda Machine..."We think it has no impact on us.
"But it does. Television made Barack Obama. Television it supported bigger and bigger government, from Welfare to health care; pushed abortion-on-demand and the radical gay agenda into the mainstream; it stumped against war and for meaningless buzzwords like diversity and dangerous buzzwords like multiculturalism. Television has done more to change the politics of our nation than simple politics has.

"Television has manipulated us. And those who create television have done it purposefully, and elegantly. They have weeded out conservatives in the industry wholesale. They have worked hand-in-glove with liberals in government to forward the leftist agenda. They have turned pure entertainment into a vehicle for propaganda."  Emphasis added.

"The number one tool in the left’s arsenal is the television industry. Let’s take that weapon out of their hands."

Related: Declaration Entertainment ;

From Newsbusters:  New Book 'Primetime Propaganda' Documents How Left Controls Hollywood
"...not only will they readily admit that Hollywood has a strict anti-conservative agenda, but further, that many of their TV shows have underlying political messages meant to influence the way their audiences think."

Pajamas Media: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Subtext  "This is where conservatives go wrong. Conservatives want to think politically instead of thinking entertainment wise. Liberals always understood that the key here is to make something really entertaining that happens to also be incredibly liberal — whereas conservatives, they take precisely the opposite approach."

scottthong.files.wordpress.com

A Politically Incorrect Look at President Obama’s Approach to Border Security

Big Government "Around the world, Western nations that wish to remain culturally in tact or, in some cases, simply to survive, are currently bolstering their borders and revamping their immigration policies."

....

"So it should come as no surprise that far from pursuing more border control, in the spirit of Italy and France, Obama is pitching a new amnesty plan to the House and Senate just in time for the 2012 elections. No wonder Israel is held up as an example: a nation whose policies are light years ahead of us when it comes to preserving a border in such a way as to be certain it remains what it ought to be in the first place: a divider between “us” and “them, between “ours” and “theirs.”

"Note to Obama: a nation without borders isn’t a nation at all – it’s just a bigger sidewalk."Emphasis added, with relish.

From Heritage: The Debt Is Not a Game, Mr. President

The Foundry  "Well, President Obama asked for it. And last night he got it in grand fashion—a “clean vote” on raising the nation’s debt limit, free of any of the desperately needed spending cuts that Americans are demanding, conservatives support, but liberals abhor. And by a 318–97 margin, the House of Representatives shot down the President’s effort to authorize $2.4 trillion in additional borrowing by the federal government without condition.
"The vote was introduced by the House Republican majority to send a message to the President in advance of their meeting today at the White House: There cannot be more borrowing and spending without significant spending cuts and reforms."   More on this topic here.  And here.

Primetime Propaganda’: Help Us Expose Hollywood’s Conservative Blacklist

Big Hollywood  "Because there are no codified standards, the reason for one’s employment or lack thereof are simply left to the whims of those in charge.

"And those in charge are Liberals. And Liberals, as we know, despise Conservatives.

"That is why Conservatives in Hollywood live in even greater fear than any other employee. In Hollywood, anyone can perform their job perfectly and still get fired. However, if one Liberal and one Conservative each performs their job perfectly, and one must be fired, the Conservative is the one who will be shown the door.

"It’s time to expose the discrimination that exists in Hollywood, and shine the cold light of reality on the Liberals who pay lip service to tolerating all points of view."

EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Former Network Exec Agrees It’s Difficult for Conservatives to Break Into TV Industry

Sesame Street's pinko puppets brainwash our kids  "Among Shapiro's most revelatory interviewees is Marta Kauffman, the co-creator of Friends, who recalls how she hired a "bunch of liberals" to run the programme to "put out there what we believe". In 1999, she admitted casting the actress sister of Newt Gingrich, the prominent Republican, to play a preacher at a lesbian wedding because she wanted to annoy conservatives."

Goodbye to 'Law [and] Order:' 20 Years of Attacking Businesses, Conservative Ideals  from May 26, 2010, but the show still does it in reruns.
"Cop/courtroom drama frequently puts corporate-types on trial, attacks traditional values and conservative views."....
"The Business & Media Institute examined the portrayal of businessmen in TV dramas in 2005 and found that a person was 21 times more likely to be kidnapped or murdered at the hands of a businessman than the mob. Businessmen also committed crimes five times more often than terrorists and four times more often than gangs."....
"Often the bias is written into a character’s dialogue, revealing the driving agenda. That’s what happened in late 2009, when one “Law & Order: SVU” character slammed conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly.

amazon.com



"“Limbaugh, Beck, O’Reilly, all of ‘em, they are like a cancer spreading ignorance and hate … They’ve convinced folks that immigrants are the problem, not corporations that fail to pay a living wage or a broken health care system …” the character (played by John Larroquette) said."....

"Original cast member Michael Moriarty condemned the “unconscionable” liberalism of “Law [and] Order” in Dec. 2009, saying, “I hardly expected my old television series to be the clown act that leads the American viewing audience into an increasingly predictable pile of hard left propaganda.”" (emphasis added)

The Unstimulated Obama Economy

Heritage  "Newsflash from The New York Times: President Barack Obama’s stimulus did not work. No, the Times doesn’t say that in so many words, but in an op-ed this morning, the paper laments the sputtering economy and the fact that Washington just isn’t doing enough to help the economy grow. The problem, of course, is that Washington has done too much of the wrong things to get the economy moving again."

http://terrellaftermath.com/



Reelecting Obama

Victor Davis Hanson ; Memo to GOP: Obama will campaign against Bush (again) and play the race card. Don’t let him get away with it.
"The president himself — well after the beer summit, Eric Holder’s rants about “cowards” and “my people,” the racist inanities of Van Jones, the “wise Latina,” and all the rest — in ethnically divisive fashion urged Latinos to punish their conservative enemies, and joked that his opponents wanted alligators and moats to stop Mexican nationals from crossing the border.
"So will this tripartite strategy work? Only if the president’s opponents allow themselves to be caricatured as greedy Wall Street profiteers who want to punish the elderly and are prejudiced against blacks. And if they can’t answer back defiantly to that nonsense, then they really do deserve to lose."

“The boldest undertaking any president has undertaken on a single event in modern history” except for ...  (Joe Biden, the Maxwell Smart of politics)
William A. Jacobson: "I'll add some:

an “undertaking” “undertaken” greater than the decision to resupply Israel in 1973 despite threats from the Soviet Union, to drop special forces into an Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban, to send Doolittle's Raiders over Tokyo, to launch the Berlin Airlift, or to land troops at Normandy?
The list could go on and on, but not if you think history started with Barack Obama's election (except for the bad stuff which started with Bush).

"The self-centered arrogance of this administration is beyond imagination. And it starts from the top."
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Tyrannous Regulation ; Equality before the law disappears in rule by regulation.  "Teamsters Local 522 did, and the United Federation of Teachers, and the Chicago Plastering Institute. And, as a result, they’ve all been “granted” Obamacare “waivers.” Rule, Obama! Obama, waive the rules! If only for his cronies. Americans are being transferred remorselessly from the rule of law to rule by an unaccountable bureaucracy of micro-regulatory preferences, subsidies, entitlements, and incentives that determine which of the multiple categories of Unequal-Before-the-Law Second-Class (or Third-Class, or Fourth-Class) Citizenship you happen to fall into." Mark Steyn

Graduates! Your Guide to Selecting a Political Party

Neal Boortz  "Science has discovered that in most young people the portion of the brain where judgment is developed doesn't fully form until around the age of 25. For many of you, that's still a few years away. Worry not, however, because I'm here to help.
"If you look far enough into your future, perhaps this simplified guide will help. Choose the person you want to be in your life, and your choice of political parties is clear."

Sociology and Other 'Meathead' Majors ;  "Archie Bunker was right to be skeptical of his son-in-law's opinions."
"Part of the problem is the political correctness responsible for "Gender Studies," a politicized major that has its little echoes in many other departments, and that never fails to mislead. "

Obama chews gum at Joplin memorial service (updated)

buzzle.com

American Thinker  "Is it nicotine gum? That is the most plausible explanation for this gross violation of propriety. Obama had a bad week in Europe, blundering badly with his toast to the Queen of England, humiliated before the world by speaking the magic line that cued the orchestra to play Britain's National Anthem, "God save the Queen," and blithely continuing to speak over the host country's most sacred anthem. Lech Walesa, a genuine Nobel laureate and hero to his people, humiliated him by refusing to meet him in Poland." 

Obama's Gum-Chewing at G-20 Raises Eyebrows  "But a website on chewing gum etiquette  suggests that gum should not be chewed during professional meetings and should not be chewed by someone whose job requires a lot of talking."

And, I dare say, at worship services, funerals and any professional conference?  But do you also remember when young people were taught to remove their hat when entering a home? Today you see people even wearing hats at a dinner table -when guests at the home of others yet.

Just because I'm anal doesn't mean courtesy isn't being lost in society.

Israel's Borders and National Security

STRATFOR "There is an argument prevalent among Israelis and their supporters that the Arabs will never make a lasting peace with Israel. From this flows the assumption that the safest course is to continue to hold all territory. My argument assumes the worst case, which is not only that the Palestinians will not agree to a genuine peace but also that the United States cannot be counted on indefinitely. All military planning must begin with the worst case."  George Friedman

"1967" borders= 1949 borders

This argument considers only strategic interests. The unspoken issue is that of giving back so many of the holiest sites of Israel including the city of Jerusalem. If we look at God's promises to Israel in the books of prophecy of the old and new testaments, we see that God will restore Israel in the latter days to the land He gave them. I see no mention of them ever being driven from there again.

Iranian cleric implies it's OK to kill Israeli children  "When is it permissible if you're a Muslim to kill children?
"Any old time, says Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah -- just as long as the child is an Israeli child." 
Rick Moran
Not a word of condemnation from "progressives" anywhere. We are angry about the millions of Muslims who do not condemn terrorism, but what about the lack of outrage from western liberals?

Post-Mubarak: Over 400 al-Qaida terrorists now in Sinai "Egyptian security officials were pursuing the terrorists, who are composed of Palestinians, Beduins and foreign Arab citizens, according to the report. The group was reportedly planning to carry out terror attacks in Egypt, the official said." Atlas Shrugs