Monday, July 27, 2015

Suggested Reading list for July 27, 2015

Note: Each block of text actually is a link to a story or a web page that I am commenting on. Click on that text and it will take you to the page being referred to.

Here are the selected readings for today that I have garnered off the internet. I hope you find them interesting, and thought provoking. As usual … if you want to make a comment about the article or my commentary on it, feel free, either here or one my Facebook Page as you desire, to skewer my comment or applaud it, or point out my failings.

This piece is from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and as the web site indicates, it is a progressive web site. I would take issue with two assumptions made by this article. The first being that it is the federal government's responsibility to a) provide of equality of economic outcome for everybody, b) that it is the federal government's responsibility to see that everyone gets to go to college, regardless of whether they need it or not, and c) that it is the federal government is required to see that anyone is provided with the basic necessities of life. Second, I remember that before 1970, few parents actually thought, much less saved for it, that there children needed to go to college. Actually, from my perspective it was the draft and the Vietnam War that drove the vast majority of young men to seek deferments by going to college in the 1960s and early 1970s and stretching it out as long as they could. And I realize I am a bit old fashioned here, but the from each according to their ability to each according to their perceived need concept has been repeated discredited so many times through out my life (and continues to be discredited in Europe as we speak today) that it absolutely amazes me that anyone continues to spout it. And I often wonder why corporations and individuals "park" their money in overseas accounts. But then I remember what happens to money in bank accounts: it gets lent out to other people, while the depositor gets interest for letting the bank do it. HMMMMMMM.

Leave it to Huffington Post to make an interesting statement ... about presidential politics

Ouch ... a rather acerbic attack on the Democrats ... but I am not sure the Republicans should be so sanguine.

One wonders, as does this author, how anyone can support Planned Parenthood's abortion clinic practices. I am all for family planning, and especially prenatal care, but abortions on demand, and apparently targeted at specific sub-groups of Americans ... that seems to me to be going beyond the pale.

Another global warming panic story ... but the question remains, in my mind, could it all be part of a natural cycle. The science tells us in the last 15,000 years, it has been both hotter and colder than it is now ... and that relatively rapid spikes in both directions have happened ... so to say, that all the problems with climate change are due to human activity seems a bit of a stretch. In addition, since the US has made consider progress in containing the evil gases, how are the global warming alarmists going to get the rest of the world to follow suit?

When you think about wars, it is best to keep your perspective ... and these figures can help you do that ... War is a terrible waste ... but unfortunately, sometimes, they have to be fought.

Sometimes the military uses some of the strangest pieces of gear ... here are a few examples

There is a certain element of truth in this commentary ... and that is that democratic forms of government are lousy at fighting wars that get prolonged. Our enemies know that. Given that the average attention span of an American today is about the time it takes to receive and respond to a text message ... our instant gratification society is not prepared for conflicts that may span generations. Our enemies know this.

America has a long tradition of scoundrels, ragamuffins and scallywags ... and they even are feted in their exploits in their own books.

OH MY! Another Climate Change crisis ... we are messing up future carbon dating.

I guess it is time for dueling studies on the impact of raising the minimum wage. Sigh, it still is a cruel hoax on those people who have worked their way up from the bottom, only to be slammed back down to the bottom to start again.

Our wonderful VA health care system strikes again ... well, I do my best to help those younger veterans avail themselves of its services ... I use my veteran's rights as little as possible and go out on the economy to get my medical care.

Mount Soledad - I am glad someone came up with a solution to keep the cross in place.

Interesting commentary on a number of issues ... I commend it to your perusal ... It is worth it.

Safe zone in Syria - Hmmmm .... isn't this how we got involved in Iraq after the First Gulf War?

OOPSIE! Not necessarily inspiring great confidence in Russian equipment, is it?

Oh my, imagine the right wing blogs lighting up if it was revealed that the Pentagon had a similar plan on the shelf somewhere ... it probably does ... but then again, think how ape-crap the progressives would go.

This is very good news, and shows a side of US military forces that make them particularly lethal - they come to train but are open to listening and learning from the locals ... proud of these troopers.

Well, I guess, in this case, the science must be wrong ... but then again, we have been genetically modifying food for millennia ... but apparently the science now agrees that GMO foods are not a threat to human health and well-being. Not that anyone will listen.

GMO is not a health issue, says this commentator, it is a political issue. She probably is correct.

This is an interesting article ... and to be honest, I don't know what to make of it. I still am trying to get my arms around exactly what the American culture is ... and what it is perceived to be. But then the concept of a melting pot and assimilation into a society based on English Common Law, Judeo-Christian ethos grounded in Greco-Roman concepts ... which pretty much makes in a Northern European design, seems to be being totally rejected these days … so I don’t know where to start.

I guess, to make a long story short, this article says President Obama's version of the Global War on Terrorism isn't working ... Somehow that does not surprise me.

President Trump? Get used to it ... or so the headline on this article goes ... I guess stranger things have happened.

I was never a George McGovern fan, but I do wonder how the media of today would have handled this information.

According the AP, it seems that the ACA is not turning out to be all it was touted to be ... strange.

As this commentary points out ... you should have seen this coming

Another example of the Balkanization of America ... and it puts the political crosshairs on Florida again .... oh boy.

South and East China Seas - Even the Aussies are getting wound up ... this is going to start boiling one of these days.

South and East China Seas - China's new artificial islands look suspiciously like military bases ... does that surprise anyone?

South and East China Seas - Chinese: Who? Us? We are innocent as a newborn lamb. It is all these other countries who are bad.

South and East China Seas - Interesting analysis of Japan's evolving military policy.

South and East China Seas - Interesting analysis of China's grand strategy in the region. Is if flawed? I don't know, but I do agree that with any strategy, the other side(s) always have a vote and that usually screws up any plan.

Navy is busy building baby flattops ... to supplement the big carriers

Iran Deal - it really comes down to Congress ... and the Democrats in Congress ... will they just toe the President's line ... or will they really examine the deal and consider whether it really does what the President says it does. Listen to the Iranians, the President and John Kerry seem to be on one planet and the Iranians on an entirely different one. Whom are we supposed to believe?

Footnote on the Global War on Terrorism: Guantanamo. The detainees will come to the US. The Progressives will have a field day sending them back into combat ... and more Americans will die.

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