The Grasshoppers

I know that John Hinderaker is generally my go-to guy at the Powerline blog, but Paul Mirengoff has a very pity entry on the debt debacle in Greece ... see: Greek Farce Explained. In this posting, Paul quotes a lot of the inside skinny about how the Greek poobahs misplayed their hands at the financing negotiations with the rest of the European Economic Community (EEC). Talk about the JV playing against the L.A. Lakers. This arrogant bunch of lefties from Athens carried with them there the grasshopper's attitude that the world owed them a living. They may have learned a very hard lesson ... which I don't think is over yet.

I myself have a few comments on these Mirengoff revelations:

- How can Finland be made to adsorb such of heavy burden of this Greek indebtedness? This posting reveals that this country is being asked to pay out 10% of its annual budget and 2.5% of its GDP to hold Greece's head above water. This can't be fair. If the rest of the EEC ponied up the same relative amounts, I suspect that this would cover Greece's shortfall many times over.

- How can the EEC or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lend Greece any more money when they know that they are not going to repay what has already been lent? Yes I know that the formation of the Euro has benefited Northern Europe, mainly Germany, greatly ... GNP growth-wise. But nevertheless, if you have to lend someone money to buy your products ... and you know that this debt will never be repaid ... this seems a silly commercial strategy.

- The U.S. generally has assumed an attitude that all this European economic kerfuffle does not affect us. But we forget that we contribute something like 18% to the IMF funding ... so what the IMF loses, we also partly lose.

Isn't rather ironic that present-day Greeks seem to have forgotten Aesop's lesson from "The Grasshopper and the Ant?"

Gobbledygook

Professors and other hanger-ons in higher education communicate in tongues ... they have an unique way of forming ideas that are full of erudite phraseology but carry actual meaning only in the befogged minds of these pedagogues. Paul Mirengoff of the Powerline blog has uncovered a set of mission statements for a number of new professors hired at Dartmouth College that can do nothing but support this gobbledygook notion ... and should bring you, dear readers, a good bit of mirth. Here's a teaser sample:

How is queer intellectual design an intrinsic part of transnational knowledge production in the cultural sphere?

Enjoy this sidetrack into the ivy-covered ivory towers and see if you can actually decipher what these newly-hired liberal (but with a big L) edu-twits are actually saying ... see: Powerline Blog.

Afterward: My wife's comment ... "and for this many parents are spending $60,000+ a year?"

Stupid Statistics

With great fanfare and a slavishly uncritical media, outgoing Attorney General, Eric Holder, tried to make up for his department's lack of prosecuting that Ferguson, Missouri police officer, Darren Wilson, by making the case that the whole Ferguson police department was a bunch of racists. One particular he stated was that although Ferguson is 63% black, 86% of all traffic stops there were of black people ... ergo the police force is singling out blacks ... exhibiting their inherent racism ... see: New York Times Story. This kind of statistic proves absolutely nothing ... other than it might be that blacks disproportionally break Ferguson's traffic laws. Conveniently, A.G. Holder does not look into this possibility.

If Holder had instead stated that 39% of all Ferguson residents were under the age of 30, yet 56% of all traffic stops were people in this age group ... would this mean that the police there were discriminating against young people? Of course not ... so why are we subjected to his racist statistical extrapolation? Clearly the American public has had the drum-beat of these type of racist accusations for many years without any serious rebuttal ... and thus, we now accept such media tripe as gospel.

Yes, Holder's quoting of some racists e-mails does indicate that there are some bad apples in the Ferguson police department ... but the entire organization? I am more than certain that there is an undercurrent of anti-white police officer rhetoric circulating among Ferguson's young black community. Does this make the entire black community there racists? Of course not ... as was proven during the grand jury testimony when many blacks came forward with testimony which went against the "Hands up, don't shoot" perpetuated myth.

Also the Ferguson police department is faulted for not having proportional representation of the town's races. If this type of statistical syllogism has any merit, then why cannot one say that since 78% of NBA players are black whereas blacks represent only 12.3% of the U.S. population ... that this basketball association is exhibiting reverse racism? Can it not be that black players just tend to be better at this sport?

Why don't we look at such statistical misdirection in the face and conclude that Al Sharpton, Eric Holder and much of the media are also exhibiting as much or more racist tendencies than the Ferguson police department?

One might also read Paul Mirengoff's analysis of this statistical silliness in Powerline Part I . Watch for Part II.

Turd in the Punch Bowl

Paul Mirengoff of the Powerline blog has pointed out how the Libertarian candidate in Virginia, Robert Sarvis, is personally responsible for getting Democrat Terry McAuliffe elected governor last year and possibly causing Democrat Mark Warner to be re-elected senator from that state yesterday … see: Oh Those Libertarians. In each case the number of votes that Sarvis received would have been more than sufficient to tip the election results back to the Republicans ... Ken Cuccinelli and Ed Gillespie respectively..

Is this Libertarian dude on the Democrat’s payroll?

The Worm Turns

Hillary Clinton must be reading the latest polls … for she is now taking some astounding positions that are diametrically opposed to what she espoused just nine months ago. After being President Obama’s lap dog for four years, she is now growling, baring her teeth and is nipping at his heels. She has recently given an interview to Jeffery Goldberg of The Atlantic Magazine in which she did a wormy one-eighty from many positions she enthusiastically backed while she was Secretary of State. Now she conveniently states:

- President Obama was mistaken in not helping those opposing Assad in Syria early in the revolution there. (Lest we forget Hillary … and John Kerry … were big supporters of Assad back in 2009 when the United States re-established diplomatic relations with Syria.)

- The United States needs to formulate a “cold war” against jihadism. (Is and was not the Muslim Brotherhood in the vanguard of the jihadist movement … this same Brotherhood whom both she and President Obama did their level best to grease its way into running Egypt.)

- The United States needs an overarching strategy to defeat the radical Muslim movement … one that is clearly now lacking. President Obama’s doctrine of, “Don’t do stupid shit” is not a strategy. (What, pray tell, did she do to help formulate an overarching strategy?)

- Israel is in the right when it represses Hamas … even if this means that innocent civilians must die in the crossfire. (During her time running the State Department … and before ... Hillary has clearly hated Israel and loyally backed Obama in his callous and hostile stance toward this vulnerable nation.)

- Iran has no right to enrich uranium. (Good God, what a hypocrite!)

To see the much fuller context of these Hillary Clinton comments, read Paul Mirengoff’s excellent blog posting … see: Powerline Blog . I highly recommend it.

Hillary Clinton, the woman who may want to be our Worm in Chief, not only lacks a moral compass, she also is missing a tiller, rudder and sextant.

It’s My CIA Now

There is a great anecdote from the early days of the Clinton presidency when, during a ceremony, there was a fly-by by some Air Force jets. One in the president’s group started booing and was shushed by another who said, “It’s our military now.” Now, President Obama was exhibiting equivalent partisanship in yesterday’s news conference when he expressed “full faith” in John Brennan, the Director of the CIA, who is now under fire for spying on Congress ... and then lying about it. In effect Obama is saying, "It's my CIA now."

As Paul Mirengoff in the Powerline blog put it:

It’s sad when a U.S. president is more outraged by CIA efforts to obtain information from hardcore terrorists than by CIA spying on the legislative branch of government. The post-9/11 CIA interrogators were trying to protect this country from deadly attacks. The Obama era CIA snoops were trying to protect the CIA from the Senate. 

To read the full context of this quote see: Powerline Blog.

I have never been a fan of John Brennan as I view him as a self-serving hack who puts his loyalty to the president ahead of his loyalty to his country … see: Acolytes and Heads Should Roll. I believe that, like many others of his ilk that have infected our government, John Brennan could be a very dangerous person in his position of power. Now, even two Democrat Senators are calling for his resignation… see: Politico Story. And I’m reasonably certain that another Democrat, Senator Feinstein, would not be saddened by such an event.

Lipstick on a Pig

Paul Mirengoff of the Powerline blog today asks the musical question: “Will [the Democrats] be united behind Hillary Clinton [in 2016] or will she face a substantial challenge from the left?” (See: Powerline Blog).  I personally find it difficult to imagine that there is anyone further left than Hillary Clinton.  But apparently both Politico and The New Republic have recently found Elizabeth Warren as a credible challenger to Hillary in 2016.  Their arguments, to me, taste like thin gruel.  In fact, my spider senses tell me that these straw-woman arguments may be nothing more than Clinton’s deep operatives trying to position her more as a moderate.

I am tempted to use the analogy of putting lipstick on a pig … but I think that that shibboleth was overused in 2008 when the media-left took their snarky shots at Sarah Palin.

Empty Suit

I can’t help myself … and neither can Paul Mirengoff of the Powerline blog.  We both view President Barack Obama as an empty suit.  For Paul’s analysis, see: Powerline Blog.  I know that I am an evil, evil person … and a racist to boot.  I should be ashamed of myself for such an unpatriotic attitude … but rational thought keeps imposing itself. 

Over the last five years Obama’s artful politics keeps trumping his awful policy … over and over again.  His band of Chicago thugs have kowtowed much of the media into reverence for his craven claptrap while ignoring his inability to accomplish anything of value. As for my reasoning … let’s just say that I think Obama needs to be complemented for doing the most with the least of anyone in history.  Perhaps he should win a Nobel Prize?

And excuse me for being so partisan, but I also believe that John Kerry, Eric Holder, and Chuck Hagel are equally vacuous.  Obama with his arrogance, Kerry with his haughtiness, Holder with his mendacity, and Hagel with his ineptitude can easily be confused with the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Stronger blog post to follow.