Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The Lurking Peril of Ignorance

THE DRYER REPORT  "On this the day that 68 years ago Churchill first proclaimed and coined the phrase “Iron Curtain”…we can see today the prophetic words he spoke that day.  Churchill warned ….
 
From what I have seen of our Russian friends and allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. For that reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. We cannot afford, if we can help it, to work on narrow margins, offering temptations to a trial of strength. Last time I saw it all coming and I cried aloud to my own fellow countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might all have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind. There never was a war in history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe. It could have been prevented, in my belief, without the firing of a single shot, and Germany might be powerful, prosperous and honored today; but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. We must not let it happen again.
 

Park Service Knew World War II Veterans Would Be Locked Out

"Internal e-mails reveal Interior feared being blamed, bent rules for its own staff."
 
 
"The Department of the Interior knew beforehand that two groups of aging veterans would be visiting the World War II Memorial as the partial government shutdown began on Oct. 1 but decided to barricade the site anyway, according to e-mails obtained by National Review Online.
 
"The newly released public records also show National Park Service employees busily monitoring the news for any bad publicity and making shutdown exceptions for their co-workers."
....
"Tom Buttry, a legislative correspondent in Harkin’s office, wrote on Sept. 30:
While I understand that these memorials have remained accessible to the public during past shutdowns (I’d imagine with the mall being so open, it’d probably [be] more manpower intensive to try to completely close them), I wanted to do my due diligence and make 100 percent sure that people could visit the outdoor memorials on the National Mall in the event of a shutdown.
"The Department of the Interior and National Park Service decided instead to fully shut down the site, e-mails show:"  Full article

The President will protect us from the IRS


"A GOP-led House panel Tuesday released an extensive report that attempts to show former top Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner lied to Congress about her involvement in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax exempt status.
 
"Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the 141-page report “offers detailed evidence about steps she took to crack down on organizations that exercised their Constitutional rights to free political speech.' ”
Political Cartoons by Glenn Foden

What Else Can the Obama Administration Do to Undermine U.S. Security? Feinstein's bombshell .

Ron Fournier  "They spied on you. They lied to the Senate. They seized telephone records from the Associated Press and considered criminalizing investigative journalism at Fox News. What else can the U.S. intelligence community do to destroy its credibility, curb civil liberties, and ultimately undermine U.S. security?
 "Spy on Congress.
 "Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat bravely challenging a Democratic White House, accused the CIA of searching computer files used by her staffers on the Senate Intelligence Committee to review the CIA's now-defunct interrogation programs, potentially violating:
  • The constitutionally sacred principle of separation of powers, which prohibits one branch of government (say, a runaway executive branch) from strong-arming the other two branches.  
  • The Fourth Amendment, which protects from unreasonable search and seizure.
  • The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Executive Order 12333, which bar domestic surveillance.


"The expanding dispute has opened a rift between the CIA and the Senate committee that oversees it and often has defended it. Already, some CIA officers could face criminal prosecution as a result of a Justice Department investigation of the incident."  More.

Sharyl Attkisson resigns from CBS News


Politico  "Attkisson, who has been with CBS News for two decades, had grown frustrated with what she saw as the network’s liberal bias, an outsize influence by the network’s corporate partners and a lack of dedication to investigative reporting, several sources said. She increasingly felt that her work was no longer supported and that it was a struggle to get her reporting on air.
 
"At the same time, Attkisson’s reporting on the Obama administration, which some staffers characterized as agenda-driven, had led network executives to doubt the impartiality of her reporting." ...
Via Lucianne 

Leftist Racism 101:

Bloviating Zeppelin compares these two stories and comes up with a conclusion about leftist racism.

"MRCTV's Dan Joseph decided to stop by the DNC winter meeting to ask committee members just how much of the opposition to President Obama is racist." 

CNS lists their bona fides:
CNSNews.com is not funded by the government like NPR.
 CNSNews.com is not funded by the government like PBS.
 
"For years, the Federal Communications Commission has allowed TV stations to execute joint operating agreements allowing themselves to outsource tasks such as advertising sales to group owners with more resources.
 
"But when conservative columnist and entrepreneur Armstrong Williams recently purchased two stations, making him one of America’s few black owners of local TV affiliates, the commission unexpectedly decided to use his acquisition as a test case to review the practice." Video at the link.
 
Juan Williams writes about this in the Wall Street Journal: The Feds Target a Black TV Station Owner 
"How many black people own a broadcast television station in the United States? The answer is one: Armstrong Williams. I know this because he's a friend.
 
"So imagine my surprise when I heard that the Federal Communications Commission is currently considering pulling the financial rug from under him by changing its regulations to—get this—promote diversity."
 
So BZ concludes with this revelation:
 
Now, in brief, what have we learned?

1. That to question Mr Obama, who is black, is racist in nature, and
2. To question a black who is a Conservative is not racist in nature
See?  Aren’t racial issues simpler when you’re a Leftist?
 

Daylight savings time gives us a longer day.

Oliver Stone: filmmaker to the Commies

Oliver Stone: filmmaker to the Commies
 
"Famous foe of imperialism Oliver Stone recently premiered his documentary Mi Amigo Hugo (“My Friend Hugo”) in the Cuban colony of Venezuela. As the title suggests, the film honors Hugo Chavez, Cuba’s late Venezuelan viceroy. ...
“Venezuela today is a country that is practically occupied by the henchmen of two international criminals, Cuba’s Castro brothers,” recently declared Luis Miquilena, who served as Hugo Chavez’ Minister of Justice for three years before finally resigning in disgust. “We are in the hands of a foreign country. This is the darkest period in our history.”
....
"When a few questions strayed from the banal talking points and Castro answered evasively, Stone twinkled that, “his elusiveness is always charming.”
 
" 'Fidel is magnetic and charismatic,” Stone concluded. “He is a movie star.”
 
More on this:

Monday, March 10, 2014

Why Bakers Should Be Free to Discriminate; Guess what happens when you ask for a cake that really violates people's beliefs?

Before reading about coercion of bakeries, read this for perspective:
LA Times: We Don't Publish Letters to Editor Claiming Man Isn't Causing Climate Change  "So letters to the editor "that say there's no sign humans have caused climate change...do not get printed."
"That's quite a statement coming from an editorial writer not named Al Gore."

 From the LA Times itself: On letters from climate-change deniers   ... "Simply put, I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published. Saying "there's no sign humans have caused climate change" is not stating an opinion, it's asserting a factual inaccuracy."  By Paul Thornton, LA Times

Could that not be said about any political opinion?  When MSNBC pronounces  that conservatives voted against Obama because he is black, I tell you they are asserting a factual inaccuracy and should not be allowed to express this opinion. TD

Now, on to the issue of the bakeries:
 
... "First, that bakers, like all Americans, don’t check their consciences at the door. We’re not going to sue any of these establishments for refusing service, and the nation has an overwhelming anti-Nazi majority. But the social acceptability (or unacceptability) of an event or a viewpoint should not determine whether individuals are forced to violate their consciences.
</"Second, that we should think twice before forcing people to share our ideas of what is or is not offensive. Even an enthusiastic supporter of the right of gays to marry (and bear in mind that support for gay marriage has only become a majority position within the last few years) should shudder at the prospect of a professional being sued because he or she doesn’t want to participate in a gay marriage celebration." ... 

 ... "Republicans may not want to fight this fight, but they will be forced to have it. Their supporters will not stand by idly while the expression of their beliefs — beliefs connected to some of their deepest values — is criminalized."

The Barack/ Vladimir Show

Vladi vacations
John Kerry faced off with Russia's foreign minister over the Ukraine crisis Tuesday. He's fought in a war, opposed that war, threw his war medals over the White House fence and then ran for president as a war hero. John Kerry fought in Vietnam for your right to be strange. Argus Hamilton

:  A President Blinded by Righteousness    "Ukraine is illustrative of a flaw in Obama's worldview that consistently undermines his agenda, both foreign and domestic. He thinks being right is good enough. From fights with Congress over the federal budget and his nominations, to gun control, immigration reform, health care, and Syria, the president displays tunnel-vision conviction, an almost blinding righteousness. I'm right. They're wrong. Why isn't that enough?
Political Cartoons by Gary Varvel
                                      
"With such certitude, Obama finds it hard to see why anybody would oppose him, which makes it almost impossible to earn new allies. He's also slow to realize when some fault lies with him. The result is Obama's legacy of "Right, but …" moments."
 

A historical perspective on why Obama is wrong about Israel

"President Obama is engaging in a dangerous little dance as he attempts to shape world policy while simultaneously pretending the history of that same world didn’t happen.
"In my opinion, openly suggesting that Israel go back to the 1967 borders is, at best, dangerously naïve, does nothing to advance the goal of obtaining realistic peace for the region, and only emboldens Israel’s enemies who would seek to push the borders further and further back until Israel disappeared from the map altogether.
"Let’s remember why Israel’s borders changed in 1967: the Six-Day War." ...
 
Remember this? 
"Here’s a link to the video of Netanyahu’s meeting with Obama. There’s a line he says near the end that is especially chilling:
We don’t have a lot of margin for error. And…Mr. President, history will not give the Jewish people another chance. 
"Here’s a link to the video of Netanyahu’s meeting with Obama. There’s a line he says near the end that is especially chilling:"
We don’t have a lot of margin for error. And…Mr. President, history will not give the Jewish people another chance.
 

So much for Obama, Hillary and Democrats bringing us a peaceful world where nations respect the US.

140307-reset-19th-century
Chip Bok; Reset to the 19th Century     "Secretary of State Kerry feels President Putin’s “19th century” behavior is not up to G-8 elite standards.
This isn’t Putin’s first rodeo when it comes to dropping in uninvited on his neighbors. He invaded Georgia on President Bush’s watch in August 2008. Like the current Crimea crises, Bush didn’t do much to stop it.
"Then came Hillary’s “Reset”, or Overcharge."
 
The U.S. retreats: History tells us who will fill the vacuum  ... "But Obama deserves more credit for good intentions and intellectual consistency. His foreign policy does have a theory. He believes that as U.S. power retreats from the world, a variety of good things will fill the vacuum. Allies and international institutions will take more responsibility. The United States will be better able to promote liberal norms, unburdened by discrediting military power."
....
"The problem is this: When enlightened liberal norms are divorced from U.S. power, liberal norms do not win out. The vacuum is filled by...."

OK, OK, maybe we can't be the world's policeman, but the question has been asked, what if there are world criminals?
History tells us that things will have to get much, much worse for the free world before our people develop the will to stand up to oppressive factions. Especially now that so many on our campuses have learned that Marxism and Islam are superior to what we used to call "the American Way".
In the 1930s, Hitler had told the world what he would do to those he conquered; we saw him breaking treaties and threatening his neighbors. We saw his army grow and heard his venom being preached. Yet any steps taken to prepare our military for resisting Nazism were met with cries of "warmonger", encouraged by the political left.
Even a president with more character and courage will face the same resistance from today's left, which forced even President Bush to give in to their causes.
 Democrats will have to be opposed by Republicans who can lead in the face of a culture that fears the world's bullies and will have to be taught once again that we are the "good guys", standing against the Scut Farkuses of this world. TD
Which of these philosophies will keep us safe?
 
or...