Avatar

Oliver Friedfeld, a senior at Georgetown University, was recently robbed at gunpoint. His reaction was not to condemn his attackers, but to chastise himself … see: Breitbart Article. He wrote of this incident:

"Who am I to stand from my perch of privilege, surrounded by million-dollar homes and paying for a $60,000 education, to condemn these young men as ‘thugs?’ It’s precisely this kind of ‘otherization’ that fuels the problem … Not once did I consider our attackers to be ‘bad people.' I trust that they weren’t trying to hurt me. In fact, if they knew me, I bet they’d think I was okay. The fact that these two kids, who appeared younger than I, have even had to entertain these questions suggests their universes are light years away from mine … We should look at ourselves first. Simply amplifying police presence will not solve the issue … [We millenials must] right some of the wrongs of the past. Until we do so, we should get comfortable with sporadic muggings and break-ins. I can hardly blame them. The cards are all in our hands, and we’re not playing them."

This dude is a perfect personification of the current Obama administration’s foreign policy … an American avatar if you will.

Roasted Chestnuts

One favored tactic of liberal commentators is to start a biased point with "Some will say" ... see: Powerline Blog Entry to see Chuck Todd use this time-worn deflection. This is whether or not "some" had ever said the attack words so attributed. I guess I'll ever wonder why the interrogatee doesn't call out the questioner for this deliberate ruse. Some other favorite chestnuts that are used to lend weight to ...  or offload any blame for weak arguments are:

" I am told ..."
" I have it from a reliable source ..."
" I understand that some of your colleagues believe ..."
"Are you aware that ..."
"An anonymous source told me ..." (Reid on Romney's tax returns)
"The American people believe ..." (often used by Bill Clinton)
"Are you now willing to admit that ..."

I think listeners should be sensitive to such leaden lead-ins and discount what follows. Perhaps we can now roast these cheap chestnuts on an open fire?

News You Can Use

In talking recently to a well-versed and connected former politician, I broached two subjects of which he was unaware. I believe that this information is so important that I am going to reprise it here with links to my original blogs that more fully explain this news that, for some inexplicable reason, never made it into the main-stream media.

First, back in August, Egypt offered to cede to the Palestinian Authority (PA) 618 square miles of the Sinai Peninsula to expand the Gaza Strip. This would effectively quintuple its land area for the settlement of its refugees … and would have provided the PA the perfect opening to create its side of the famous “two state solution” to the decades' old smoldering conflict with Israel. President Mahmoud Abbas of the PA rejected this offer on the flimsiest of grounds … see: The Impossible Dream

Second, both the Clintons and the Obama administration have deep and important ties to the Muslim Brotherhood … the nursery for much of the Jihadists movement. These links have helped color our foreign policy in the Mideast over the last six years …and are, I believe, a primary reason that things are so bollixed up there. Read some of the known details here: Fleas.  I’m fairly certain that there are many other more incriminating connections.

Have you dear reader seen or read about these profound revelations highlighted in our national media? I thought not.

Afterward: Abbas once again showed his blood-stained hands ... see: Breitbart Article.

After Afterward: Now we learn that Obama's buddy, the religious head of the Muslim Brotherhood, is being sought by Interpol ... see: Atlas Shrugged.

Turkey Trot

Turkey is a full member of NATO and thus is a prime ally of the western world ... at least in name and form. However, this Muslim nation has drifted so far away from Ataturk's secular vision and from its responsibilities in this NATO alliance that serious thought should be given to showing it the door.

The President of Turkey, Recep Erdogan, took the opportunity of Pope Francis's visit to Turkey recently to denounce the West in terms devoid of any sugar-coating. He spat out:

I speak openly, foreigners love oil, gold, diamonds, and the cheap labor force of the Islamic world ... they like the conflicts, fights and quarrels of the Middle East. Believe me, they don’t like us ... they look like friends, but they want us dead, they like seeing our children die.

Pretty hostile words from the leader of a friendly nation. To read a fuller context of this diatribe against his alliance mates (including specific slurs against the United States), see: Powerline Comments

Pope Francis on the other hand turned the other cheek and praised Turkey for its humanitarian assistance in the ISIS conflict next door in Syria and Iraq. They both made nice-nice and then the Pope was shown Erogan's humble new abode ... a $600 million presidential palace. For more about this ecumenical belly-rub see: NY Times Article.

Obviously, the Pope either hasn't read the newspapers or has chosen to ignore Turkey's deviousness in allowing ISIS to attack the Kurdish town of Kobani, Syria from inside Turkish territory. Clearly Erdogan's hatred of the Kurds outshines his love for the West... see: The Guardian Article.

It surely looks to me like Turkey is a turkey ..

Afterward: To see how oppressive Turkey is becoming, read about a professor jailed there for barring the hajib in class: Atlas Shrugged.

reddit Gallery CCXXII

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Nicobar Pigeon

Unusual Mushroom

Farms in Saudi Arabia

Tibetan Mastiff

Mountain-scape

Happy Thanksgiving

Freedom from Want

Thanksgiving ... time to wax nostalgic. With all the harsh words and dastardly deeds swirling around the world these days, we all need to look back on easier times to get a little perspective on our current situation. I use the term "easier" with a little irony for Norman Rockwell painted the above picture "Freedom from Want" in 1942 ... during the darkest days of World War II ... see: Freedom from Want. However, fighting a global war on two fronts against known foes was a piece of cake when compared to what is now called "asymmetric warfare" against possibly millions of anarchists and Jihadists both at home and abroad.

In 1942 Americans were actually lucky to be able to put on a feast like Rockwell depicted above ... because each family had ration books that had little stamps allowing them to buy groceries, gasoline, tires, etc. (Although I was quite young, I still remember the constraints placed on our lives by these ration books ... see: National WW2 Museum Entry.) However, what we then lacked in material goods we made up with good sense. We, as a nation, were pulling together to save the world from tyranny. Yes, there was some griping and back biting, but underneath it all we had a common purpose and ethos.

Only with the actual freedom from want that has washed over our nation during the last seventy years have major dislocations occurred. Greed has too often replaced charity. Hedonism has too often replaced faith. Hubris has too often replaced humility. Ostentation has too often replaced modesty. Reticence has too often replaced valor. And we unfortunately view many of these trade-offs as progress and modernity.

So, to me, it is not too surprising when large swaths of the world revolt against these moral excesses by becoming religious zealots. But like most societal sea changes, charlatans are often the first to take up the flag and lead these revolutionaries to evil ends. But, at least in the United States, I believe there is still an undercurrent of virtue and nobility that needs to be recognized and reawakened ... for else I fear we are doomed.

Therefore, when we choose our next leader, this person should be able to encourage this renewal in us ... at the very least. For that then we could be truly thankful.

reddit Gallery CCXXI

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Xmas Shopping

Ebony and Ivory

Surf's Up

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Ancient Greek Mosaic

Prima Facie Evidence

There is evidence and then there is evidence. Now there is a self-admission by our president that he has unilaterally changed a law as passed by Congress. In response to a immigration heckler yesterday, he said, "I just took an action to change the law" ... see: Breitbart Article. In the courts this would be called prima facie evidence. So, if ever our hope-and-change emperor ends up in the well of the Senate on trial for impeachable offenses, I' m sure that this admission will be front and center.

Of course this may never happen because Congress is batting zero for two in pursuing this Constitutional remedy. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a dangerous situation because President Obama keeps pushing the limits of what he can get away with. How much further will this former college lecturer in Constitutional law try the patience of the American people before the last two years of his presidency expire? One can extrapolate from the track of his expansion of powers from 2009 until now ... and it's not pretty. I personally worry about the mischief ... wrong word ... criminality that our monarch will be up to before he leaves the White House in 2017. What possibly could be a bridge too far?

Can anyone imagine an action that Obama could take that would throw our country into paroxysms of popular revolt? Stay tuned ...

Ferguson Observations

I was surprised last night at the grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.  Here are a few of my thoughts on this issue:

- Even though it would have been the expedient thing to do ... the grand jury didn't even find for involuntary manslaughter. Felix Giuliani, a former prosecutor and once mayor of New York City, commented on TV that he and other federal prosecutors felt that this would be the outcome (as did I). However, given that it was unlikely that Officer Wilson would have been convicted of even this lesser charge, as a result, St. Louis and environs only had to suffer one spat of rioting rather than two.

- The civil unrest in Ferguson and around the country, I believe, would have occurred under almost any of the grand jury outcomes ... even possibly a indictment for first-degree murder. This civil mayhem was almost preordained, given the intense media coverage that was present. In fact, this level of media coverage likely contributed to the rioting. Perhaps there should be some retrospection of how, in the future, the media coverage might be less instigating.

- Robert McCulloch, the Ferguson prosecutor's lengthy explanation of the grand jury process was somewhat soothing in that he explained how many "witnesses" testimony had been found wanting ... and how much conflicting testimony still resulted from the more credible onlookers. However, there still were questions that I didn't hear answered ... to wit ... why twelve shots and six wounds? and why was the body left on the street for four hours? To me, I believe that Officer Wilson's juices were flowing as a result of being punched by Brown and that this was part of the problem.

- Being that schools in the area were closed anyway, I don't understand why the grand jury's decision was not announced at, say, 10 AM on today ... or even Thanksgiving day. Surely this might have mitigated the degree of rioting that occurred under the cover of darkness.

- I thought that President Obama said all the right words after the grand jury's decision was announced. However, his presentation was again very matter-of-fact. I constantly wonder why his speaking style never varies during emotional times. I believe it would be the same at the start of World War III as it would be announcing that he has a hang nail.

Humiliated

To no one’s surprise outside of the administration, the last four-month extension to the talks with Iran about constraining its nuclear program has concluded with another seven-month extension without an agreement … see: Reuters Article . I claim no unique insight in my pessimism about this process … see: Foot Dragging, but this result was just as I and thousands of other thinking people had predicted.

Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama are clearly suffering romantic agony in their attempt to woo Iran into abandoning its quest for atomic weapons. Kerry is so whipped that he allows the Iranian negotiator, Javad Zarif, to bombast him with tirades during their “discussions” … see: Free Beacon Story ... without any consequence. I’m reminded of that great “Animal House” hazing scene where the pledge being paddled says, “Thank you sir, may I have another?”

I think that Iranians must get their jollies by humiliating America and Americans. Remember how they treated the American embassy hostages back in 1979 through 1981? And somehow weak American presidents, like Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, must feel that their public frailty somehow benefits them and their country. Ronald Reagan knew better.

I will again go out on another limb and predict that nothing good will come out of this next extension of these talks with Iran … at least nothing good for Israel and the United States.

The Alpha of the Omega

The University of Virginia (UVA) has just suspended fraternities (usually titled with Greek letters) until the beginning of the Spring semester ... see: Breitbart Article for details. (Ironically, UVA was the birthplace of many fraternities.) And, at a faculty meeting at Dartmouth College recently, the vote was 116 to 13 to abolish the Greek system at this Ivy League school ... see: Inside Higher Ed Story. Is this the beginning of the end of the fraternity and sorority systems around the United States?

Reading the tea leaves, one would have to guess that this is the case. Tradition after tradition has fallen at Dartmouth as a genuflection to political correctness. Once Seniors there smoked clay pipes one last time before they ventured into the "wide, wide world" and then broke them on the stump of the Lone Pine as a symbol of their leaving their callow college days behind them. Then some general in the PC police decided that these pipes were "Indian peace pipes" and had to go. So they went. Tradition after tradition has met the dust bin there in much the same way during the last few decades ... all driven by similar misguided motivations ... not to be replaced by any warm-hearted and meaningful surrogates.

What is left? Insipid self-inspection and hyphenated curricula that have created an Inquisition-like frenzy at many colleges which, in turn, now paves the way for remanding fraternities and sororities "to the secular arm." (In Medieval Spain this was an euphemism for being executed.) So we soon will likely have one more legacy of college life that is to be recycled into an empty memory.

Funny Numbers

The federal government is quite punishing to corporations which report inflated figures to their stockholders. In fact, ever since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, CEOs and CFOs must personally sign off on their financial statements under the penalties of personal prosecution. But not so the federal government. Our White House hosers feel that they can manufacture any numbers that suit their political purposes. The most recent example is the inflation of the Obamacare sign-up numbers last Spring by 1.3 million out of 8 million reported ... see: Breitbart Article. This is a 16.2% inflation of this figure ... or a "material" misstatement in corporate terms ... one that might well end the responsible executive in the hoosegow.

And this is not the first time that the Obama administration has used funny numbers to serve their political purposes. Remember how there was a convenient reduction in the unemployment rate right before the 2012 presidential election? See: My Tinfoil Hat. This, in my opinion, was due to the politicizing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This slight-of-hand has oft been repeated when Obama brags about the number of new jobs he has created ... see: Weasel Words. And, as a consequence, I have become suspicious of most of the numbers that our current government publishes ... deficits, Federal Reserve balance sheet numbers (see: Finger on the Scale), and maybe even macro-economic measures may have been compromised.

I wonder how old our president really is?

Crow

Liberals are crowing (see: AP Story and Washington Post Story for their slant) and conservatives (including myself) are asked to eat crow as a result of the Friday's surprising House of Representatives Intelligence Committee's report on the Benghazi attack on 9/11/12. This report seems to dismiss that there were any intelligence failings leading up to this attack, deny that there were any "stand down" orders during this attack, and partially justify Susan Rice's claims about an Internet video being the motivation for these attacks (when she went on five Sunday talk shows shortly after the attack.)

However, there is obviously some push back from conservative commentators (see: Powerline Story and the more powerful Breitbart Story) who point out many of the issues and contradictions that were not answered in this Friday report. I myself am willing to eat some of that cornfield blackbird depending on a few outstanding questions. 1) Why would conservatives on this committee like Michele Bachmann and Peter King sign on to this report without any exceptions voiced? Are there intelligence issues that would be uncovered if all the facts were to be finally aired? And 2) Will Representative Trey Gowdy's Special Committee investigating Benghazi now fold its tent as a result of this other House committee's findings (see: Western Journalism Story) or will it soldier on?

My knife and fork are poised ...

Bumper Sticker

Now my delightful daughter, Rebecca, has just chimed in with a suggestion for this blog. She just phoned saying she saw a bumper sticker that said:

Confuse Liberals ... Use Logic and Facts

(I'm slowly winning her over ...)

Cards on the Table

Staying with my recurrent theme of lambasting our president, I offer the following semi-screed:

It has taken six years but President Obama is finally putting his “hope and change”cards on the table. He is effectively and unilateraly granting amnesty to about five million illegal immigrants. He is pushing extra-legal environmental rules to limit CO2 emissions, He is kowtowing to  the Iranians so that they can continue enhancing uranium against all eight U.N. resolutions. He morally equates the brutal murder of four rabbis in a Jerusalem synagogue with Palestinian terrorist deaths. He, from his first day in office, has backed the Muslim Brotherhood which has caused most of the turmoil in the Middle East. He had one Islamic Jihadist killed, but turned around and let dozens go back to their evil ways. His shameless infamy goes on and on and on.

Being that the voters can no longer damage Obama at the polls, he apparently feels he has now nothing to lose and can show us what his hidden agenda was all along … even if this means that he is helping to destroy the Democrat party. The American people have been hoodwinked and grifted by our leader who had promised to fix things. Instead he has pursued his mentor Sol Alinsky’s radical agenda and his mother's anti-American prejudices. He loves to poke his finger in the eyes of capitalists, patriots, and believers in the Constitution. He is not the messiah that his gang of political thugs led us to believe over two election cycles.

As president, Obama can deal himself winning cards and slip treys and fours to his enemies. His sleeves and socks are stuffed with aces and many of the other players at the table are colluding with him. He is not just a card shark … he is a whole pod of card killer whales.

2016 can’t come soon enough.

reddit Gallery CCXX -- NSFW

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Nano-Sculpture (in Eye of Needle)

Variety is the Spice of Life

Unexpected Selfie

Betty Brosner

The Hills are Alive ...

The First Ukase

President Obama has just transformed America ... as he had promised. He has issued his first ukase*... and I wonder how many more will follow?

In truth, what Obama did last night was to throw a bone to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants. This may not be all bad … except for one major flaw … and that was the way he did it. With the back of his hand he has undone what the framers of the Constitution feared most … he has become all-powerful. The people’s representatives, Congress, have just been neutered to the point of irrelevance … for they have no options. If they pass an immigration reform bill to his liking in the next six months, they will be bending to his will. If they don’t, then his ukase stands unless and until the Supreme Court finds the gumption to strip him of this authority … which may take months if not years. In the meantime the damage done will be irreversible.

The most insidious part of this ukase is that it appears to give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship … but is gift-wrapped in quite a few more presidential lies. These lies are meant to sugar-coat this blatant usurpation of power with administrative niceties that we all know will never be implemented. They are:

-        Our border’s will be made more secure

-        These newly legalized illegal immigrants will not be allowed to vote

-        These newly legalized illegal immigrants will not be eligible for Obamacare and a myriad of other welfare benefits

-        These newly legalized illegal immigrants will have to pay back income taxes and continue to do so into the future

-        Illegal-immigrant criminals will be deported

These amnesty-mitigating lies are so obvious that they are laughable … probably the side-splitting tenor of the White House meetings in which they were inserted into the president’s speech. I wonder if Jonathan Gruber was somehow involved in constructing this ukase?

* “A ukase, in Imperial Russia, was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader (patriarch) that had the force of law.”

Rump Steak

I thought Kim Kardashian's derriere was natural ... see: Juxtaposition LII. But no ... apparently the Hollywood glitterati have found a new way to maim their bodies. I came across the following "before and after" rump-steak revelation on the reddit Pics site:

Kim Kardashian -- Before and After Plastic Surgery

(Sorry for all this rear-end rotgut of late ...)

Afterward: And I also apologize for this one last Jimmy Kimmel spoof of dear Kim: Daily Caller Video. I couldn't resist.

Diapers

Today my witty wife, Jeanette, sent me the following quote:

“Politicians are like diapers; they need to be changed often and for the same reason.” Mark Twain

I agree ...  actually, politicians of both stripes are often pristine up until the time they first take office. Then for some strange reason Republicans avoid being besotted for a little bit longer than Democrats (in Massachusetts, they are so pervasively corrupt I like to call them Democraps). Good reason to vote for Republicans or Independents ... but only for their first couple of terms in office.

The Smirk

I don't know about you, but I often get the feeling the President Obama enjoys twisting the tail of the collective American public. Whenever he says something that he must know drives us up the wall, he often gets that half smirk on his face ... for an example, see the following video about his "non-foreknowledge" of Jonathan Gruber's role in crafting Obamacare: Breitbart Video. He knows he is lying ... and he knows that we know he is lying. His half smirk is his way of giving his enemies the one-finger salute and showing his gang members that he is still the alpha dog. All that is really missing is that playground taunt, "NAH, NAH, NAH, NAH!"

How did we Americans get ourselves into such a Kafkaesque position?

reddit Gallery CCXIX -- Modernism

Another excursion into the world of reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Do yourself a favor and click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Scorpion Chair

Cherubin Hummingbird

Electric Motorcycle

Minimalism

Royal Ontario Museum

Insurrection

The Justice for Mike Brown facebook activist group has just published a list of sixty-seven targets not to be looted, rioted at, or somehow violated if the verdict of the grand jury in the Ferguson, Missouri shooting case disappoints … follow this link for the specific targets: The Gateway Pundit Story. This list is comprised of landmarks, prominent St. Louis companies, restaurants, law firms, civic buildings, individuals, markets, banks, hospitals, churches, etc. … many of which seem to have no relation or relevance to the original shooting incident.

The result of the grand jury investigation is expected to be announced sometime soon and this list is obviously meant to concentrate the efforts of the expected “demonstrators” on targets of disrespect and opportunity. And why this list is not an incitement to an insurrection is beyond my limited legal understanding … even though such a purpose is cagily denied. But if and when such locations are trashed or looted or even worse if the grand jury decision in police officer Darren Wilson’s case is not of these rebels liking, I would imaging that this social-media listing comprises a major tort … and should be dealt within the justice system just as this system should deal with Officer Wilson’s possible indictment and trial.

Of course, race or political persuasion seems to be the determining factor driving opinions in this case and, although we, the public, do not have the benefit of all the grand jury testimony, from what I have read, I personally believe Officer Wilson was partly justified in doing what he did. But I do think he will be indicted for at least involuntary manslaughter. The most damaging factors in this whole sorry incident was that the "gentle giant" Michael Brown was shot six times and was left lying in the street for at least four hours before his body was recovered. These assumed facts clearly have caused most of the unrest in the population of this St. Louis suburb … and will be the reasons I expect that Officer Wilson will eventually face a jury of his peers.

However, an insurrections solves nothing as was learned in the Los Angeles “Rodney King” riots of 1965. I do hope that this very dangerous circumstance is avoided or thwarted. But I'm not holding my breath.

Bully Pulpit

Teddy Roosevelt bragged that the president enjoyed a “bully pulpit” from which he could persuade societal change. President Obama feels he can enjoy this same Roosevelt leverage to combat climate change with extra-Constitutional measures … see: Washington Times Story. There is one major difference however … in Roosevelt’s day “bully” mostly meant “good” and “beneficial.” To Obama “bully” means “intimidation” and “my way or the highway.”

Juxtaposition LIII

Bill Clinton

Bill Cosby

Both have been overly aggressive serial Lotharios ... possibly even rapists. Maybe still are? But which one is treated with kid gloves and which one is the pariah? Perhaps the national media is a tad racist?

On Another Planet

This country, nay this world needs to be grounded in reality … else we earthlings begin to do lots of stupid things. The leader of the free world is assumed to be the President of the United States, Barack Obama, and, when he avers silliness, he unnerves the rest of us. On his way back from his recent Asian confabs he duplicated one of his more naive pronouncement … that Islam represents a religion of peace … see: Breitbart Story.

Yes, I hope that this looniness is an attempt to convince those few Muslims who don’t want a worldwide caliphate (where we all must convert to Islam or be beheaded) that they are benign beings. But, if Muslims have read the Quran (aka, Koran) like they are supposed to, they are likely prone to unnerving violence. Here are a few quotes from The Religion of Peace edited by Glen Roberts 

The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.  Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding.  Muslims who do not join the fight are called 'hypocrites' and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter. 

 The strangest and most untrue thing that can be said about Islam is that it is a Religion of Peace.  If every standard by which the West is judged and condemned (slavery, imperialism, intolerance, misogyny, sexual repression, warfare...) were applied equally to Islam, the verdict would be devastating.  Islam never gives up what it conquers, be it religion, culture, language or life.  Neither does it make apologies or any real effort at moral progress.  It is the least open to dialogue and the most self-absorbed.  It is convinced of its own perfection, yet brutally shuns self-examination and represses criticism.

This is what makes the Quran's verses of violence so dangerous.  They are given the weight of divine command.  While Muslim terrorists take them as literally as anything else in their holy book, and understand that Islam is incomplete without Jihad, moderates offer little to contradict them - outside of opinion.  Indeed, what do they have?  Speaking of peace and love may win over the ignorant, but when every twelfth verse of Islam's holiest book either speaks to Allah's hatred for non-Muslims or calls for their death, forced conversion, or subjugation, it's little wonder that sympathy for terrorism runs as deeply as it does in the broader community - even if most Muslims personally prefer not to interpret their religion in this way.

Although scholars like Ibn Khaldun, one of Islam's most respected philosophers, understood that "the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and (the obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force", many other Muslims are either unaware or willfully ignorant of the Quran's near absence of verses that preach universal non-violence.  Their understanding of Islam comes from what they are taught by others.  In the West, it is typical for believers to think that their religion must be like Christianity - preaching the New Testament virtues of peace, love, and tolerance - because Muslims are taught that Islam is supposed to be superior in every way.  They are somewhat surprised and embarrassed to learn that the evidence of the Quran and the bloody history of Islam are very much in contradiction to this.

 and …

For their part, Western liberals would do well not to sacrifice critical thinking to the god of political correctness, or look for reasons to bring other religion down to the level of Islam merely to avoid the existential truth that this it is both different and dangerous.

Our president certainly is an archetypal Western liberal … living on another planet where political correctness is worshiped to a fault.

Stupid Is That Stupid Does

Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economics professor who has been called the architect of Obamacare, has made the headlines (only on Fox News unfortunately) by repeatedly referring to the American people as stupid and needing to be deceived about the Democrats' remaking of our health care system ... see: Powerline Opinion. Let me see, we twice elected Barack Obama president without knowing much about his background except what he chose to tell us (or to concoct.) The more damaging aspects of his earlier life were generally either ignored or rationalized by our nation's media.

Perhaps Gruber was right after all ...

Afterward: Since no Democrat seems to remember Professor Gruber's contributions to the construction of Obamacare, John Hinderaker of the Powerline blog has suggested that Gruber give back the $6 million of taxpayer money he collected in the process ... see: About Gruber, I have One Question. You also might enjoy Grubergate for Dummies.

Hardship

Some children in drought-stricken California are forced to bathe only once a week because of the shortage of water there ... see: SF Gate Story. Now I realize that times have changed and we live in a more pristine nation. But when I was a thirteen year old boy, I worked on a Pennsylvania farm for one whole summer ... milking, haying, plowing, mucking the barn, etc. And, like these put-upon California waifs, I too could only take a bath once a week. You really don't know what a bathtub ring is like until you take your only full-body lavation of the week on Saturday night. I'm not sure but I don't think that my plight was then a subject of the national news.

At that time I worked for ten weeks, ten hours a day, six and a half days a week ... all for my room and board and $100. I think that this works out to be about 15 cents an hour cash money. Although I'm sure this was then the equivalent of slave wages, I loved every minute of this experience

Conflicted

President Erdogan of Turkey has just claimed that Muslims discovered the new world and not Columbus (nor, presumably, the Norsemen) ... see: Yahoo News Story. Now this machismo boast presents an interesting opportunity to push back against the growing hegemony of Islam. There are many loony liberals in this country who are prone to embrace sharia law while at the same time denouncing Columbus for what his voyages wrought upon the indigenous people of the Americas ... see: Minneapolis Star Tribune Story and Atlas Shrugs Story.

Perhaps if we were to relinquish the kudos for discovering America to the Muslims, then these very same liberals would be so conflicted that they might screw themselves into the ground?

Afterward: To see some of the details of Erdogan's claim ... see: Powerline Blog Entry.

Open Mind

Please take four minutes to hear a Princeton Professor Emeritus in Physics, Will Happer, talk about CO2 and climate change ... see: Watts Up With That. It might just open your mind a tad ...

A New Station of the Cross

Apparently our modern society has become obsessed with our backsides. Witness Kim Kardashian's popularity (see: Juxtaposition LII) and a bunch of puerile Dartmouth College students' expressed curiosity about Texas Governor Rick Perry's anus (see: Bile Green). Now, some equally infantile feminists in Rome have decided that crucifixes make fine sex toys for insertion into their posteriors. A group of three topless oinkers from the Ukraine called Femen demonstrated outside of the Vatican protesting the Pope's planned visit to the European Parliament ... see: The Gateway Pundit.

Their attempt to rouse or arouse their onlookers with their 15th station of the cross certainly made international new reports ... but I don't think that Pope Francis was that impressed.

Lefty Lemmings

I can't possibly out wordsmith Charles Krauthammer ... so I won't. I will just ask you to read his recent OpEd on that MIT professor, Jonathan Gruber's Obamacare confessions ... see: Washington Post Column. If after you have digested this bit of enlightenment, you are still a fan of the current administration health-care solutions, then I'll count you as an unrepentant lefty lemming. If you chose not to read it, then ditto. Sorry for being so blunt ...

Juxtaposition LII

Kim Kardashian

Hottentot

See: Why Kim Kardashian's Bottom is so Implausibly Huge.