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.
Lots of media feeding frenzies out there this week … which makes it fun to pick up differing views on various events. Bear with me, and read some of the following for edification and education … or at least thought provocation.
Walker withdraws ... this did not surprise me ... although I think he is ultimately a good candidate for president, he did not seem enthused about the prospect .... and that matters
The funny thing about this story in the WaPo is that it treats a mere plurality victory as some sort of major mandate for the Greek prime minister ... one has to remember (roughly) that for every 3 Greeks voting for him and his party, 7 were voting against him and his party ... where is the popular mandate then?
This a good story on why John Boehner will stay House Speaker ... but it continues to perpetuate the myth that it is the Republicans fault if the government shuts down because the House votes not to give Planned Parenthood $500 million. The bill will be filibustered in the Senate, not by Republicans but by Democrats who are unwilling to let anything pass that would defund Planned Parenthood. If it passed the Senate (which it wouldn't), President Obama would veto the government spending bill ... again to protect the funding for Planned Parenthood. So unless the Republicans submit to the minority (at last look, the Democrats were in the minority in both the House and Senate), it is the Democrats who are going to force the government to be shut down. Don’t look for it ever to be phrased that way however.
More on the unintended consequences of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Will it never end?
I find this all well and good, assuming that the people in these positions are competent with a modicum of integrity ... but it makes me think of Andrew Jackson and the advent of Jacksonian Democracy where the winner got to appoint only his supporters and hire only his supporters to federal office ... I thought the Civil Service reforms of the 1880s were an attempt to get away from that. It also, to me, smacks of a special interest spoils system. I wonder if we will soon get the the point where all federal jobs have to be apportioned out according to various diversity quotas. Something to think about, anyway.
The Syrian situation is going from bad to worse ... and I see dangers ahead that could really get sticky
This, like most commentaries about Dr. Carson's comments on a Muslim not being compatible with the office of the President, really ignores the point of what he was saying; which was that Islam is more than just a religion. If it was, then I don't think there would be any problem ... but Islam IS Sharia Law and Sharia Law is Islam ... and Sharia Law is not compatible or consistent with the US Constitution.
The Beebe, like the WaPo, makes the same mistake about Dr. Carson. And most of the politically correct demands that Carson drop out or retract his statement also ignore they reality of what Sharia Law means. There is no Catholic Law in the US, or Methodist Law, or Church of God Law, or Jewish law ... there is a system based on English Common Law in the US and that is not compatible with Sharia Law.
This BBC commentator again fails to understand the issue ... hence his position.
And the progressives and Democrats of at HuffPo are falling all over themselves condemning Carson for imposing a "religious test" when he was saying that a) he would not vote for a Muslim for president nor did he think that a devout Muslim could be compliant with Sharia Law and the US Constitution at the same time.
This blogger does a good job at pointing out the nuances of what Carson said ... and the implications of Sharia Law and Islam have versus the US Constitution and its system of English Common Law.
I am all for this bill ... not that it stands a snowball's chance in the Dark Underworld of ever even getting voted on, much less pass. Believe me, Congresspeople are like the rest of us: They vote their pocketbooks and they ain't about to vote taking a hit.
A rather telling tale, unfortunately ... that could have been alleviated by better staff work on the part of the President ... instead of a knee-jerk response.
Good grief, this is so obvious it shouldn't be a surprise. Everything in Washington involves paying off one special interest or another ... that is the dirty, ugly truth that no one seems to want to admit.
Will the Pope be safe in America? Probably about as safe as he is anywhere else. If someone wants to get to the Pope and is willing to die to do it ... then his safety can never be guaranteed.
Like ... the security people weren't already aware of this potential? Dang, if they weren't and if they weren’t taking affirmative measures to counter it, then they ain't doing their dang job right.
Oopsie, doopsie ... VW has been very bad and it is going to get spanked really hard, me thinks.
I am not defending this corporate decision ... other than to say: And who gives whom the right to say what anything should be priced? Sorry, I have real problems when you start down the path to price controls in any area ... but that is just me.
I am not sure what the Russians are up to in Syria ... but I can bet dollars to donuts that it ain't good.
And then the eternal question arises: Who checks the fact-checkers?
The Hillary E-mail furball just gets worse and worse ... The fox is in the henhouse and it is the guard dog.
Thomas Sowell joins the list of Americans who are not jumping for joy about the Pope and his visit to the US.
Another one of those stories that you wish weren't true, but you know are. And yet not enough Congress peeps are willing to call the Obama Administration on it and its incursions into its prerogatives. And if you keep re-interpreting things, it gets to the point where all law becomes meaningless.
Gee, and I thought legalizing marijuana in Colorado meant that everything was going to be sunshine and roses for everybody ... I guess I was hallucinating again.
The headline on this story is so bogus, it ain't even funny. They were not arrested for racist signs on their truck ... they were arrested for making a false police report that it was criminal mischief. Major difference there, Mr. Headline Writer.
I am not sure how wide this brush should be ... the connection to Ms. Clinton eight years later seems rather tenuous.
And I doubt very seriously that the pontiff would have done anything to express sympathy or try to help these people. It doesn't fit with the old Jesuit Liberation Theology in Latin America.
When I read articles like this, I am struck by the hubris of the author(s). These articles always seem so US-centric and seem to ignore that a) the US really is just a relatively small slice of the problem and we could do all these things (basically destroying the world these people live in) and without changing the behavior of the other 6 billion people on the planet ... we will have accomplished nothing. Unfortunately, we can't dictate to the other 6 billion how to live their lives.
Yet another article that distills the world down to what the US is doing, or not doing. Hello, you freaking idiots, there is much more to humanity than just this group in North America ... and they ain't taking orders from progressive idealists from the US on how they do things. Sorry, ain't happening.
You betcha Red Rider ... this story really is spot on ... and this is the reality of North Korea.
Well, ain't this the truth. This piece in Der Spiegel in Germany pretty much points out that Syria is toast and is only going to get worse. And it really is not the fault of President Obama, although his stupid policies sure helped. There are too many players in this game playing their own games .... sort of like the old saw about too many cooks in the kitchen tends to spoil the stew.
And if this happens in Palestine ... it really won't be the fault of the Israelis ... even though they will get the blame. It is not like the solution has not been offered a number of times that gave the PA and the Palestinians 95 percent of what they were demanding ... it was that they (like the Democrats in the US Congress with Republicans, unless it concedes all points) can't be seen agreeing to anything the Israelis are willing to sign.
I hope they catch these people ... and I hope the meat left behind can still be put to use.
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