I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article. Help your friends and relatives stay informed by passing the digest on. In some cases I post things sent to me by readers I might not have posted on my own, to get ideas circulating.
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Gas prices
We were in Wisconsin for the weekend, flaunting our “Recall Santa: I didn’t get what I wanted” bumper sticker. We made sure to fill up there before coming home. At $3.86, it only cost us $52.50 to fill up with 13.6 gallons. A lot better than the $4.69 here in Blagobamaville. We gotta get Bush and his oil cronies out of there to bring prices down. What?
Hey, remember when high gas prices were all Bush’s fault?
Excerpt: Does it make sense to place all the blame for high gas prices on the president? No — but neither does it make sense to excuse him, as though he has nothing to do with them. He should be held accountable for the policies he has put in place. As I’ve written repeatedly, nowhere are the president’s crony capitalistic tendencies more in evidence than in his energy policy. He rewards his preferred providers and punishes his least favorite. Caught in the middle of that is the consumer, who, under luxurious circumstances, surely cares about the environment, but, in tight times, cares most about affordability.
Excerpt: THE MSM – OBAMA DOUBLE STANDARD CONTINUES, THEY ARE ALL IN ON OBAMA PROPAGANDA …When Barack Obama became President of the United States gas prices were at a national average of $1.84 a gallon. Flash forward to present day and the national gas average is $3.89. However, what was a negative news story for George W. Bush and the increasing gas prices is not even close to the same story spewed by the liberal MSM.
Obama Is Going To Pay For My Gas And Mortgage!!!
Excerpt: I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car. (Wonder how that’s worked out for her? ~Bob.)
Excerpt: Yesterday afternoon at a press conference Mikhail Muhummud and the New Black Panther Party circulated a “wanted dead or alive” poster for George Zimmerman for shooting to death a Florida teenager four weeks ago. The new Black Panther Party offered a bounty of $10,000 Saturday for the “capture” of a Florida neighborhood watch captain who killed unarmed teen Trayvon Martin. (Does anyone think that Zimmerman could get a fair trial after the media and politicians have poisoned the jury-pool well so badly? What would the DOJ be doing if a white group was offering a reward on a black person like this? ~Bob.)
Police: Zimmerman says Trayvon decked him with one blow then began hammering his head
Excerpt: With a single punch, Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who eventually shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old, then Trayvon climbed on top of George Zimmerman and slammed his head into the sidewalk several times, leaving him bloody and battered, authorities have revealed to the Orlando Sentinel. That is the account Zimmerman gave police, and much of it has been corroborated by witnesses, authorities say.
Trayvon Martin and the Politics of Racial Guilt by Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: When at the beginning of March, Allen Coon, a thirteen-year-old boy, was set on fire by two black teenagers who told him, “You get what you deserve, white boy,” this did not prove to be an occasion for national soul-searching. But the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by a Hispanic neighborhood watch captain after a scuffle between the two men has led to hysterical media coverage, state and federal investigations, civil rights marches, lynching threats from the Black Panthers and a statement from Obama urging Americans to search their souls for some unspecified reason.
Excerpt: Former NAACP leader C.L. Bryant is accusing Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton of “exploiting” the Trayvon Martin tragedy to “racially divide this country.” “His family should be outraged at the fact that they’re using this child as the bait to inflame racial passions,” Rev. C.L. Bryant said in a Monday interview with The Daily Caller. The conservative black pastor who was once the chapter president of the Garland, Texas NAACP called Jackson and Sharpton “race hustlers” and said they are “acting as though they are buzzards circling the carcass of this young boy.” (Bryant’s off the plantation. They will send the dogs. ~Bob.)
Mother Seeks Trayvon Martin Trademarks: Records: Late teenager's kin filed pair of applications last week
Excerpt: Sabrina Fulton is seeking marks for the phrases “I Am Trayvon” and “Justice for Trayvon,” according to filings made last week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In both instances, Fulton is seeking the trademarks for use on “Digital materials, namely, CDs and DVDs featuring Trayvon Martin,” and other products. (Probably a fortune to be made in protest signs and hoodies alone. ~Bob.)
An Unfortunate T-Shirt Hits Florida Streets In Wake Of Trayvon Martin Killing
Cracker? I thought Hispanics were into tacos? I like tacos better than crackers. ~Bob.
Trayvon Martin case's myths, half truths
Excerpt: There is a great deal of misinformation surrounding the Trayvon Martin shooting. Here are some of the most prominent misunderstandings:
Three Black Men Murder White Mississippi State University Student
Note to editor: Please hold this item for expected statements of outrage from President Obama, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. ~Bob.
President Obama Asks Medvedev for ‘Space’ on Missile Defense — ‘After My Election I Have More Flexibility’ - ABC News
See, I can't dismantle our defenses when the voters might have a say about it! The media reaction will be, "Quick! Look over there! An Etch-A-Sketch!" ~Bob. Excerpt: At the tail end of his 90 minute meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev Monday, President Obama said that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with controversial issues such as missile defense, but incoming Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to give him “space.” The exchange was picked up by microphones as reporters were let into the room for remarks by the two leaders. (Let's put it this way: There's no way Obama could want more flexibility to take an even tougher line with Russia. – Jim Geraghty, NRO.)
Political Risk Casts New Shadow Over China
Excerpt: Markets fear a slowdown in China's factories; they should also be concerned about possible government instability. China's rapid growth, for years the outstanding constant in the global economy, is showing signs of faltering. In the first two months of the year, new real-estate investment showed no growth from a year earlier. Export growth slipped to 6.8% from 14.2% in the fourth quarter of last year. In the last week, a quarterly survey by the central bank showed demand for loans at its lowest since the financial crisis
Worth Reading: Lying About Health Reform By John Goodman
Excerpt: You can always tell that a person is losing an argument when he throws reason, logic and factual evidence aside and starts personally attacking his opponent. That’s the modus operandi of Paul Krugman, liberal columnist for The New York Times. Opponents of ObamaCare are telling “lies,” wrote Krugman the other day. In fact he used the word “lie” three times to characterize the critics in the space of a single column. Those who disagree with him “make stuff up” and concoct “completely fraudulent” statements, he adds. While he’s ranting and raving about people he calls “the enemy,” Krugman tells a few whoppers of his own, however. This is his defense of ObamaCare: The fact is that individual health insurance, as currently constituted, just doesn’t work. If insurers are left free to deny coverage at will — as they are in, say, California — they offer cheap policies to the young and healthy (and try to yank coverage if you get sick) but refuse to cover anyone likely to need expensive care. Now anyone who knows anything about the health insurance business knows that it is illegal under federal law for an insurance company “to yank” (cancel) someone’s insurance because he or she gets sick. That’s not only illegal; it’s been illegal for the past 16 years!
The Week That Was: 2012-03-24 (March 24, 2012)
Excerpt: …[S]ince there is no global warming trend, the term trend has been dropped in favor of the term level. The level of warming over the past decade has been greater than it has been since the start of the industrial revolution (about 1850) – essentially meaningless because the earth has been recovering of the Little Ice Age. Since carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) continue to increase, critical reading of this statement calls into question the accuracy of the claims that humans are causing unprecedented and dangerous global warming. Another definite trend in the general literature is broadening the terminology to make it more alarming. Global warming has morphed into climate change, which is not scientifically significant because climate change is normal and natural. Now, it has morphed again into climate catastrophe or catastrophic climate change.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s recall: Big money fuels small-government fight
Excerpt: Millions of dollars are pouring into Wisconsin from wealthy conservatives nationwide, and labor unions are preparing to pump resources into the campaign of whichever Democrat faces off against Walker. (A primary in early May will determine that.) (Wisconsin will have to decide if it wants to become another fiscal-disaster state like Illinois, where the Governor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the public employee unions, admits we are close to fiscal collapse. Maybe because of the deals he made to get union support. Things are so bad here that public employee union officials get $100k+ taxpayer-funded pensions for low-paid jobs, sometimes for working as little as one day, because the Democrat legislature changed the law to allow their union work to count towards their public pensions. Any taxpayer who doesn’t work for the government, who votes to recall Walker, should save time by putting a signed blank check into the ballot box with the vote. ~Bob.)
Hill Poll: Voters expect justices’ personal views to decide health case
Half of likely voters want the Supreme Court to overturn President Obama’s healthcare law, according to The Hill’s latest poll. Just 42 percent said the court should uphold the law, with 50 percent saying it should be struck down. (I’d bet $100 on a 5-4 decision, but not much on which way. Kagan prepared the brief supporting it, so we know her vote. ~Bob.)
Obama Lawyer Laughed at In Supreme Court
Excerpt: On the first day of health care reform arguments before the Supreme Court, two justices needled a top Obama lawyer for simultaneously calling the fine that will be paid under the law for not purchasing insurance a “penalty” and a “tax.” The confusion arises because of the administration’s argument that the power to enforce the individual mandate is rooted in Congress’ taxing power — but that the mechanism itself is designed to be a penalty, not a revenue-generating policy.
Slower jobs growth for women voters could cost Obama in election
Excerpt: Women aren't faring as well as other groups in the job market's recovery and that could put a dent into their support for President Obama. While female workers largely held their own through the recession, job gains have slowed since the downturn ended in June 2009, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data on the demographics of the labor market recovery. (I still think the election will turn on events yet to happen. ~Bob.)
Census Data Shows Inequality Linked to Education, Not Taxes
Excerpt: Much of President Obama's rhetoric and proposed policies have focused on eliminating what leftwing analysts have labeled a burgeoning income gap. However, the researchers and analysts that inform this stance and advocate its resulting policies often fail to account for the causes of that inequality, says Scott A. Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation. Specifically, the role of education in increasing incomes for the more-educated and lowering incomes for the less-educated is substantial. Just 8 percent of those at the lowest income level have a college degree while 78 percent of those earning $250,000 or more have a college degree or advanced degree. At the other end of the income scale, 69 percent of low-income people have a high school degree or less, while just 9 percent of those earning over $250,000 have just a high school degree. (In related news, experts show that weight loss linked to eating less, exercising more. Stunning. ~Bob.)
Why Won’t They Listen?: ‘The Righteous Mind,’ by Jonathan Haidt
Excerpt: You’re smart. You’re liberal. You’re well informed. You think conservatives are narrow-minded. You can’t understand why working-class Americans vote Republican. You figure they’re being duped. You’re wrong. This isn’t an accusation from the right.
Seeing Iran Through North Korea; Obama's Hard Work Ahead at Nuclear Summit
Excerpt: The summit's direct focus, and where it has achieved measurable success, is in reducing or securing loose nuclear materials or stockpiles of high enriched uranium that could be used to produce nuclear weapons. (…) But that is cold comfort to South Korea, which is hosting the summit in Seoul, and feels menaced and double-crossed since nuclear-armed North Korea announced plans to test fire a long-rang ballistic missile next month _ after promising not to in exchange for western food aid. And it doesn't calm Israel, either, as it weighs its intelligence on how close Iran might be to producing a nuclear weapon and what it might have to do militarily to stop it. (It is just barely possible that, in a democracy or other representative government, sanctions might have enough impact on the general population to effect a change in that nation’s policies. In an autocracy, or other sort of dictatorship, it can have no effect. Why? Because the dictator makes the decisions, not the majority of inhabitants. There is no popular opinion to please, no common desire to appeal to in an autocracy. The vast majority of those inhabitants are serfs whose well-being, comfort, and even lives mean nothing to those in authority. And, because both Iran and North Korea are police states ruling their own inhabitants by terror, there isn’t even much chance of successful revolution from within. Our choices are simple: quarantine, which requires the active cooperation of their neighbors, which we are unlikely to get, or we can impose change from outside by eliminating those “leaders.” Though I’m open to suggestion, I see no third choice that will work. Mad dogs and murderers aren’t executed because they’re sick; they’re executed because they are too dangerous to everyone else around them to leave alive. That's called self-defense. Ron P.)
One Year After the Fogel Family Murders, the Community Rebuilds By Stella Paul
Excerpt: It takes more than a murderer's knife to kill the Jewish spirit. One year after five members of the Fogel family were brutally stabbed to death, the residents of their small farming community in the West Bank dedicated a new religious school in their honor.
Excerpt: A Saudi husband used a loudspeaker to divorce his wife at a busy shopping mall after seeing her take a note from another man bearing his phone number. (Attention K-Mart Shoppers! I’m going to use religious law devised 1300 years ago to humiliate a woman in public. ~Bob.)
Dozens of Frenchmen being trained by Taliban: Pakistani officials
“We’re coming to murder your children. Allah sent us.” ~Bob. Excerpt: Dozens of French Muslims are training with the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan, raising fears of future attacks following the shooting deaths of seven people in southern France allegedly by a man who spent time in the region, Pakistani intelligence officials said Saturday. Authorities are investigating whether Mohamed Merah, the Frenchman of Algerian descent who is suspected of killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three French paratroopers in Toulouse this month, was among the training group, the officials said.
The Left No Longer Finds Dissent Patriotic
Excerpt: Workforce Fairness is releasing a series of videos chronicling left-wing intimidation, including showing up at people’s houses to harass them and their families. We’re pleased to debut the first of the videos here at RedState. The videos document a growing trend in American civic discourse — the use of intimidation against private citizens to punish dissent. Listen to Media Matters For America and other outlets on the left and they claim they are outraged at Rush Limbaugh for using the word “slut.” They’re OK with it when the left does it. Routinely, conservative activists are targeted for harassment, subject to degrading comments, etc. from the left and they are okay with that. Bill Maher gets invited to keynote Democratic dinners. Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia, in a Lenten Letter to his pastoral flock, said that evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant and then tries to silence good.
The Obama of 1995 by Ben Shapiro
Excerpt: Unfortunately, it’s supremely typical leftist-speak. Leftists believe that there is something pathologically wrong with those who disagree with them. Worse, it’s based in the notion that America is irredeemably racist, incapable of moving beyond skin color and making judgments based on logic. The idea that Americans immediately turn to blaming minorities demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the progress achieved in civil rights over the last fifty years. More than that, it dramatically underestimates the American people, who are manifestly not racist, and cannot be made so by bad economic times.
Fraud Alert
Excerpt: I am Col. Sam Colvin an officer of the U.S Army. I am on the move to Afghanistan from Iraq as the last batch just left and have some items I will need to ship to you. Can you be trusted?57% Favor Use of ‘Fracking’ To Find More U.S. Oil and Gas
Another issue Obama’s on the wrong side of. ~Bob. Excerpt: Despite challenges by the Obama administration and environmental groups, most Americans favor use of the so-called “fracking” process to produce more domestic oil and natural gas. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of American Adults favor the use of hydraulic fracturing to drill for oil and natural gas in shale oil reserves. Just 22% oppose the process, while nearly as many (21%) are unsure about it.
Worth Reading: Pro-Mitt Argument of the Day By Andrew C. McCarthy
Excerpt: For my friends who have hesitation on that score, I’d just ask you to keep four things in mind: Justice Scalia just turned 78, Justice Kennedy will turn 78 later this year, Justice Breyer will be 76 in August, and Justice Ginsburg turned 81 about a week ago. We wish them all well, of course, but the brute fact is that whoever we elect as president in November is almost certainly going to choose at least one and maybe more new members of the Supreme Court — in addition to hundreds of other life-tenured federal judges, all of whom will be making momentous decisions about our lives for decades to come. If you don’t think it matters whether the guy making those calls is Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, I think you’re smokin’ something funky.
Billions To Fight Global Warming In Poor Countries
Excerpt: Just when you thought the government couldn’t possibly find another social justice program to blow taxpayer money on, the Obama Administration is asking Congress for a whopping $770 million to help developing countries with global climate change initiatives. Here comes the best part. During Obama’s presidency American taxpayers have already doled out nearly $3 billion for this preposterous cause, according to a new congressional report posted this week by a think tank that publishes hard-to-find government documents of public policy interest.
Top Obama donors among frequent White House guests By Jack Gillum
Excerpt: The invitations to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., which are a legal and established practice by presidents, came despite Obama's past criticisms of Washington's pay-for-access privileges and mark a reversal from early in the president's term when donors complained he was keeping them at arm's length. As a presidential candidate running against Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's campaign noted that Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had invited David Geffen - whom Obama's campaign said had raised $18 million for the Clintons - to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom.
Israel knows sanctions aren't likely to work and is increasingly aware of the poor quality of U.S. intelligence.
Excerpt: In recent speeches, interviews and private meetings, President Obama has been trying hard to dissuade Israel from bombing Iran's nuclear facilities. All along, however, he's actually made it much easier for Israel to attack. The capabilities and will of Israel's military remain unclear, but the critical parts of the administration's Iran policy (plus the behavior of the Islamic Republic's ruler, Ali Khamenei) have combined to encourage the Israelis to strike.
Rushing for the exits: The wrong lesson of A’stan
Excerpt: To the amazement of opponents and skeptics (including Vice President Joe Biden), the surge worked. Last year Marines cleared out the last remaining Taliban strongholds in Kandahar and Helmand, turning the latter province over to the new 325,000-strong Afghan National Army. They and their US Army comrades were poised to do the same thing in eastern Afghanistan, starting this spring. Counterinsurgency isn’t a new strategy. Its roots go back to the Indian wars on the American frontier. Contrary to media myth, it isn’t about winning a popularity contest, or even hearts and minds.
Worth Reading: Beware of the Mob by Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Democracies are in general prone to fits of the mob. Just read the Thucydidean account of the debate of Mytilene. Or watch a 1950s Western as the lynch party heads for the town jail. Fear of democratically sanctioned madness is why the Founders came up not just with classical tripartite government to check and limit power between the judicial, legislative, and executive branches, but also now generally disdained notions of allowing states to impose property qualifications for voting, the Electoral College, two senators guaranteed per state regardless of population, and senators originally selected without direct votes.
Must Read: The Decline of Literate Thought: How does one go about trying to rescue a culture in the throes of dissolution? by David Solway
Excerpt: And what is one to make, for example, of the fact that someone like Canada’s quondam minister of Defense, John McCallum, who holds degrees from several prestigious universities, had never heard of the disastrous raid on the beaches of Dieppe until the moment came to mark its 60th anniversary? In a letter sent by the Minister to the National Post claiming to have been misinterpreted, Mr. McCallum referred to the WW I victory at Vimy Ridge as having occurred at Vichy, capital of the Nazi puppet regime in occupied France during WW II. … The level of ignorance is stupefying and, I have come to believe, barring a miracle, verging on the irreparable. (The level of economic, political and historical ignorance among the supposedly-educated is alarming. Recently I had an friend from the past, an Obama volunteer and retied educator, tell me that the debt was no problem because the “government could print money.” When I tried to enlighten her as to the effects of such a policy her reply was that she, “doesn’t do economics—it makes her eyes glaze over.” The heart despairs. ~Bob.)
‘Disabled’ FDNYer with $95K pension now a NASCAR rescuer
Excerpt: Cliff Stabner, a 55-year-old city firefighter who retired in 2003 with a three-quarter disability pension of $95,000 annually, has surfaced as a member of the fire rescue team responding to crashes at Dover International Speedway in Delaware. The Post has obtained photos of Stabner wearing an orange jumpsuit and a helmet and standing next to a rescue vehicle at Dover’s “Monster Mile’’ track. Stabner also is a fire captain in his quaint new hometown of Lewes, Del.
Danish TV host humiliates Obama with clips showing identical compliments
Earlier this month, sarcastic Danish TV announcer Thomas Buch-Andersen utterly humiliated President Obama and undid months of his ham-fisted foreign policy attempts by proving that Obama says the same thing — literally, the exact same words — to every single foreign head of state that visits the White House. (See, it’s not his fault. He inherited these compliments from George Bush. ~Bob.)
How Green Gullibility, Hyperpartisanship Are Wrecking The Climate Movement
This is an excellent essay. Ron P. Excerpt: One of the biggest intellectual failures of the global green movement against climate change is the persistent failure of its leaders and spokespeople to grasp the way their own advocacy fatally undermines their credibility. They blame cunning, unscrupulous and well funded enemies for disasters that their own inaccuracies, overstatements and disingenuous advocacy have brought on their movement.
FBI Tracked SurvivalBlog Visitors
Excerpt: It has come to my attention that from August of 2011 to November of 2011, the FBI secretly redirected the web traffic of more than 10% of SurvivalBlog’s US visitors through CJIS, their sprawling data center situated on 900 acres, 10 miles from Clarksburg, West Virginia. There, the Feebees surreptitiously collected the IP addresses of my site visitors. In all, 4,906 of 35,494 selected connections ended up going to or through the FBI servers.
Central Bankers Fear Long Term Price of Short Term Fix
Excerpt: The Fed’s controversial “Quantitative Easing” policies are only the most prominent of a number of similar actions by central banks around the world. Many countries’ central banks are pursuing a policy of easy money and low interest rates in an attempt to boost moribund economies and low investment. Yet at a recent meeting of central bank heads in Washington, the tone was pessimistic. Easy money policies may help boost the global economy in the short term, but bank heads are now beginning to worry that they are exposing the global economy to some serious long-term risks.
NBC: Did 'Controversial' Dick Cheney Really Deserve That Heart Transplant?
By Kyle Drennen
Excerpt: Sinking to a new low in their disdain for Dick Cheney, the hosts on Monday's NBC Today wondered if the former vice president should have received a recent heart transplant, with Ann Curry declaring at the top of the broadcast: "...even though he has waited longer than most to receive his donor heart, some are questioning whether someone that old should be getting one..." (well, I predicted this as soon as I heard. Liberals are always reliably un-liberal and vile about such things. Chaney’s five years older than me. I meet with the surgeon in two weeks to discuss if I should be in the queue for a lung transplant. Assume liberals will think I’m too old too. ~Bob.)
Excerpt: Chicago on Wednesday reached 100 homicides for the year—the fastest the city has hit this mark in at least seven years, RedEye and police data show. Seventeen homicides have been recorded in the last week—including four each on Saturday and Sunday, a RedEye analysis of preliminary police information found. Chicago has not reached 100 homicides in March since 2004, when the city logged 106 homicides before April 1, according to police data. (The Blagobamaville murder map. More useful than traffic maps for those of us here. ~Bob.)
Documents: White House was all-hands-on-deck as Solyndra collapse neared
Excerpt: Several key White House offices were involved with the Obama administration’s messaging plans and other preparations as the collapse of the taxpayer-backed solar company Solyndra was imminent, newly released documents show. The latest White House documents delivered to House Republicans on Friday again highlight the extent to which senior administration officials braced for the fallout as Solyndra – a company President Obama had personally visited – was about to go under.
Where the well dressed Taliban assassin shops
Excerpt: And I hope they were absorbing some of the strong conservative messages embedded in the film. The totalitarian state here has deprived all the citizens outside the capital of their liberty and livelihood, using them as tools to support the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed in the capital. But citizens, including our heroine, engage in little acts of defiance (in her case, hunting small game in restricted areas to feed her family). One senses the undercurrent of rebellion about to break forth at any time; a sense shared by the powers that be — embodied in the leader of the country (played by Donald Sutherland) — who try to walk a fine line between exploiting the Hunger Game participants as propaganda and reigning them in to avoid galvanizing the opposition.
Excerpt: The Port Washington-Saukville School District may be able to save nearly $1 million by switching health insurance carriers and making relatively minor changes in the plan it offers employees, a consultant told School Board members Monday. Hays Companies, an insurance and employee benefits consulting firm hired by the district, presented preliminary bids from four insurance providers showing that the competitive bidding process alone will save the district money.
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Robert A. Hall
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