Friday, June 3, 2011

Charles Krauthammer: Our salutary debt-ceiling scare

Washington Post  "Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner warns that failure to raise the limit would be disastrous. In that he is correct. But he is disingenuous when he suggests that we must raise the ceiling by Aug. 2 or the sky falls."
"There is no drop-dead date. There is no overnight default. Debt service amounts to about 6 percent of the federal budget and only about 10 percent of federal revenue. This means that for every $1 of interest payments, there is roughly $9 of revenue the government spends elsewhere."


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

John Edwards charged in felony indictment

Johnny Reid Edwards
Breitbart  "The case of USA v. Johnny Reid Edwards contains six counts, including conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements.
"The indictment said the payments were a scheme to protect Edwards' White House ambitions. "A centerpiece of Edwards' candidacy was his public image as a devoted family man," the indictment said.
""Edwards knew that public revelation of the affair and the pregnancy would destroy his candidacy by, among other things, undermining Edwards' presentation of himself as a family man and by forcing his campaign to divert personnel and resources away from other campaign activities to respond to criticism and media scrutiny regarding the affair and pregnancy," the indictment added."

John Edwards indicted (Update: Arrest warrant issued)  "Apparently Edwards was lobbying VP, and told Kerry a story about his son’s death, and gave a teary account of it, and told him that he’d learned so much from it and was ready to be VP, or that kind of thing.
cafepress.com/

And he concluded: And I have never. Told. Anyone. That story before.
"Kerry got a chill when he heard this, but not for the reason you’d think. He’d got the chill because he remembered Edwards telling him this same story, with the same dead son and the same “And I have never — told — anyone” conclusion, to convince him on some other virtue of Edwards’, years earlier. And he got a sense of the man he was thinking about putting on the ticket.

"Put him on the ticket anyway, of course."

The Palin Bus Tour

Palin Bus Tour: Corporate Media Stooges Playing Assigned Roles  "The Sarah Palin “I am the Media” Bus Tour rolls merrily along, with a trail of Corporate Media Stooges–acting all confused and hurt–bringing up the rear…"
http://terrellaftermath.com/
Sarah Palin plays the media like a violin: Her turn now  "And there are few things more sweet to Palin and her fervent supporters cheering their TV sets this week than the image of a hungry know-it-all “lamestream media” caravan of 15 or more vehicles traipsing along behind her red-white-and-blue bus enroute to they-know-not-where to do they-know-not-what.
"To make it worse, each one of the frustrated, confused chasers knows that Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren is….
"…riding along with the not-yet-and-possibly-never Republican presidential candidate, filing exclusive conversations for her audience to gobble up that only enhance Palin’s already million-dollar value to FNC. Can you hear the teeth grinding? While Palin smiles and waves away? "  LA Times Blog 
Hat tip to deathby1000papercuts.com


Neal Boortz: Ignore Her and Maybe She'll Go Away   "A better question would by why the media is paying so much attention to her.  Actually, I think I have an answer to that question. Let’s do this with bullet points:

•The ObamaMedia knows with absolute certitude that if Sarah Palin is on the GOP ticket in 2012 their guy, Barack Obama, will be reelected.


•The more attention given to Sarah Palin the greater the likelihood she ends up on the ticket.
"Wow. Only took two bullet points. Pretty simple scenario there."...

The Tunnel Dweller has so much admiration for Sarah Palin as a person and loves to see her really take it to the left. But researching her as a candidate, I keep finding troubling analyses such as that by Boortz and the following:
The Damage Sarah Palin Could Do  "If Palin were to be the GOP nominee, she would lead the ticket to a crushing loss for Republicans at almost every level in a year (2012) when they should win the presidency and make significant down-ballot gains."
"It’s certainly true that some of the criticisms of Palin have been unfair and driven by an almost irrational animus toward her. She is not a woman without talents, including the ability to generate media attention and excitement among some elements of the GOP base. But it’s also true that she has brought much of the criticisms on herself ... Palin radiates a sense of grievance that is antithetical to the Reagan style and spirit. And in interviews and on matters of policy, she often comes across as shallow. The problem isn’t that she’s not a public intellectual; it’s that she doesn’t seem able to sustain an argument beyond simply reciting talking points."
This has to trouble those of us who wish her well, yet know the overriding goal must be to get the Democrats out of the White House and out of Congress TD

Primetime Propaganda’: ‘Daily Show’ Tells Steven Crowder ‘We Never Book Conservative Pundits’

Steven Crowder
Big Hollywood  "You’ve heard about it, now you get to see it first-hand. Here we have a senior producer at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart shutting somebody out specifically for being right-of-center. The person…? Yours truly.
"Listen, I’m not one of those folks who yells “free speech” every time I don’t get my way. Jon Stewart’s program is a private entity and they can do whatever they damn well please. Just know this from here on out; if you have a different point of view than Jon Stewart… you don’t get to work with Jon Stewart."
By Steven Crowder  . However Debbie Schlussel strongly disagrees.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Victor Davis Hanson: The Factory of Selective Moral Outrage

Townhall  "Last week, President Obama quietly signed a renewal of the once-hated Patriot Act -- rather nonchalantly from the United Kingdom via mechanical autopen. There was no media outrage, there were no hyperbolic campus protests, no juvenile outbursts from a Hollywood celebrity about shredding the Constitution. Most even forgot that senatorial candidate Barack Obama had once promised to help repeal the Patriot Act.
"But then such moral outrage belongs to the now fossilized age of George W. Bush's presidency, when the exalted goal of stopping a conservative Texan justified any means of opposition necessary. We may continue almost all of his antiterrorism protocols, but they can no longer earn elite outrage."
....
"So either the retirement age must be upped, benefits cut, high payroll taxes further increased, or portions of the entitlements privatized to spur competition and efficiency.
"And the progressive response to proposed remedies? Instead of a detailed plan of salvation, we see ads portraying a Rep. Paul Ryan look-alike, who is not just throwing an elderly woman out of her wheelchair, but sending her over a cliff as well. "

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

Obama's abandonment of America

Caroline Glick  May 20, 2011  "While this sounds fair, it is anything but fair. The fact is that if you don't distinguish between your allies and your enemies then you betray your allies and side with your enemies. Bahrain and Yemen need US support to survive. Iran and Syria do not. So when he removes US support from the former, his action redounds to the direct benefit of the latter.
"I hope the US Navy's 5th Fleet has found alternate digs because Obama just opened the door for Iran to take over Bahrain. He also invited al Qaeda - which he falsely claimed is a spent force - to take over Yemen."
"Beyond his abandonment of Bahrain and Yemen, in claiming that the US mustn't distinguish between its allies and its foes, Obama made clear that he has renounced the US's right to have and pursue national interests. If you can't favor your allies against your enemies then you cannot defend your national interests. And if you cannot defend your national interests then you renounce your right to have them."

Israel: Well done, Mr. Obama; U.S. to Boycott Durban III Racism Conference

Atlas Shrugs " I applaud the Obama administration's decision to boycott the racist, antisemitic Islamic conference sponsored by the UN."....
"...The U.S. has announced it won't attend the 10-year commemoration of the UN Durban conference on combating racism on Sep. 21 in New York. Acting Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Macmanus said that the U.S. voted against the UN resolution establishing the 2011 event because the so-called Durban process "included ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism and we did not want to see that commemorated."....

 Conference of Presidents Lauds Administration Decision Not to Participate in "Durban III" Conference  "Senator [Kirsten] Gillibrand led a bipartisan effort urging the U.S. not to participate in the conference. She noted that it is “an insult to America that the United Nations has decided to hold the Durban III conference in New York City just days from the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. We all witnessed how extreme anti-Semitic and anti-American voices took over Durban I and Durban II and we should expect the same thing to happen with Durban III.”
"“The global campaign of delegitimization against Israel was launched at Durban I. It has remained a lasting scar on the reputation of the UN and ought not to be commemorated or celebrated. "
It's always a pleasant surprise when Democrats exceed my expectations.
 
Pat Condell on Jew hatred (Video) Though an atheist who rejects Israel's Scriptural claims to the land, Mr Condell offers articulate, solid, and slightly profane arguments for the existence of Israel and the Jews.  Caroline Glick

Photo: Pat Condell

TV Executives Admit That Hollywood Pushes a Liberal Agenda

Hollywood Reporter.com  "In the book, subtitled "The true Hollywood story of how the left took over your TV," Shapiro also tells anecdotes of bias against conservatives. One example is Dwight Schultz, best known for his roles as Murdock in The A-Team and Barclay in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
"The late Bruce Paltrow knew that Schultz was a fan of President Ronald Reagan. When Schultz showed up to audition for St. Elsewhere, a show Paltrow produced, to read for the part of Fiscus, Paltrow told him: "There's not going to be a Reagan a--hole on this show!" The part went to Howie Mandel."
....
"...and president of MTV Networks Entertainment Group Doug Herzog talking about his network having “superpowers” when it comes to its influence over young people."
....
"Another video has Leonard Goldberg — who executive produces Blue Bloods for CBS and a few decades ago exec produced such hits as Fantasy Island, Charlie’s Angels and Starsky and Hutch — saying that liberalism in the TV industry is “100 percent dominant, and anyone who denies it is kidding, or not telling the truth.”
"Shapiro asks if politics are a barrier to entry. “Absolutely,” Goldberg says."   Emphasis added.

This is related to our topic: NBC News to Hire Embattled Former NPR Chief Vivian Schiller   Firing  Fox News commentator Juan Williams has been a resume enhancement.

Photo of Schiller from Politics, Family and Religion

His saving grace is not being a Republican

Tunnel Wall is primarily interested in the difference in how a Republican is treated by the media and how they treat a Democrat. If this were a "Law and Order" episode, Mr. Weiner would be portrayed as a conservative who was a public champion of morals and family values.



Weinergate  By Neal Boortz  "Looks like Weiner needs to start looking for a new profession.  But wait a minute.  I’[m(sic) forgetting something here.  The Weiner is a Democrat."


Weinergate: Now the Democrats Are circling the wagons "The Democrats are taking oaths of fealty to Weiner’s veracity, one by one. Now we’re getting somewhere."

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

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

"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