There seems to be a meme floating around Facebook noting that, under George Bush, multiple embassy attacks were made (anywhere from 7 – 11) with up to 53 people being killed. The insinuation is that things were worse under Dubya than under Obama AND that people are somehow hypocritical if they criticize Obama for the attack on the embassy in Benghazi.
Let’s take a look at this.
From Media Matters there’s a post titled, Krauthammer Whitewashes Bush’s History To Bash Obama Over Embassy Attack, which lists out seven U.S. Embassy attacks under the Bush Administration. Yet in reading over each of these attacks one finds that not one American was killed. Not one! In some cases, the embassy or building attacked was empty.
But the most egregious problem with this meme is that it attempts to divert the attention from where it belongs. The issues with the attack on the Benghazi embassy have to do with,
Americans being killed (indeed, a U.S. Ambassador being one of them),
Americans requesting U.S. military intervention – and being denied,
A coordinated and well planned attack being carried out (ostensibly by paramilitary forces),
Said paramilitary forces belonging to a group (al Qaeda) which the current administration has declared to be decimated,
Said administration lying about what happened, why it happened, and how they addressed it.
This muddled thinking and blindness to issues of reality, by the Left, will continue to leave America open to attacks from terrorists abroad.
We hear a lot about the effect of the economy on small business but this video says it better than any other I have seen. Bill’s Barbecue was an institution in Richmond, VA for 82 years but it couldn’t survive four years of Obama’s economic policies.
Comments Off on Two black men; Two views on the 2nd Amendment
Black man # 1 incorrectly thinks the 2nd Amendment is all about providing the opportunity to go hunting and shooting and, more importantly, that weapons such as AK-47s should only be in the hands of soldiers and not criminals (one has to wonder if citizens are then equated with criminals?).
Black man # 2 correctly notes that the 2nd Amendment is all about being the citizen’s last defense against tyranny (and, that would tend to equate citizens as soldiers).
The sorry thing is, black man # 1 is supposed to be a constitutional professor.
Bonus Footnote: Watch Suzanna Hupp school Texas Legislators on the 2nd Amendment
From HotAir, apparently President Obama thinks the price of oil is hovering around $1.25 a barrel. Per his speech to Sempra Energy,
We have subsidized oil companies for a century. We want to encourage production of oil and gas, and make sure that wherever we’ve got American resources, we are tapping into them. But they don’t need an additional incentive when gas is $3.75 a gallon, when oil is $1.20 a barrel, $1.25 a barrel. They don’t need additional incentives. They are doing fine.
Yet this snip from oil-price.net shows the price to be hovering about 100 times that amount.
Honest mistake or intentional gaffe that leaves the impression that oil companies are gouging and, consequently, do not need government subsidies?
1.The mandate does not exempt Catholic charities, schools, universities, or hospitals.
2.The mandate forces these institutions and others, against their conscience, to pay for things they consider immoral.
3.The mandate forces coverage of sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs and devices as well as contraception.
4.Catholics of all political persuasions are unified in their opposition to the mandate
5.Many other religious and secular people and groups have spoken out strongly against the mandate.
6.The federal mandate is much stricter than existing state mandates.
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Message from Chuck Colson
If the administration does not back down, religious liberty—as clearly articulated in the Constitution and in court cases—will be gravely impaired. And your organization, like mine, will face the question of civil disobedience.
Perhaps the Government’s own attempt to kick this can down the road until after the elections will be cited as evidence. In its announcement of January 20, 2012, HHS stated that “birth control… is the most commonly taken drug in America by young and middle-aged women.” If contraception is already the most commonly taken drug in America, then it seems hardly necessary to shove a requirement to provide it down the throat of the Catholic Church and other religious organizations.
Abstinence for 15-year-olds is considered impossible–how in the world can they possibly control themselves? But obesity is something we can fix by teaching them to control their appetites for certain foods and eating veggies. What a country.
Remember when the Muslim Brotherhood was reckoned to be part of the movement for democratic change in Egypt? That was then. This is now. The New York Times reports that “Gaining Power in Parliament, Islamists Block a Cairo Protest”. Who could have seen that coming?
…
It’s a sad day indeed when President Obama has to hide behind the comparative resolution of Congress (only when compared to himself) to stiffen his spine. “They’re gonna make me do it!” he says. But the Egyptians have already got his number. They’ve got him figured out. Thus, they are probably betting that the administration will certify that Egypt has met every possible test of democracy and expression whatever they do since up until now he’s never missed a chance to stand up to Congress nor an opportunity to cave to foreign tyrants.
Say what?
From one company’s website, regarding a corporate restructure,
In order to maximize [company department’s] contribution to the company’s strategic objectives for cost competitiveness, organizational efficiency, improved margins and continued excellence in execution – as well as to create new and innovative business opportunities, we are pleased to announce our new center-led [department] organization structure…
If such results are truly possible, one has to wonder why such a move wasn’t done long ago?
I suppose if the photographer wanted to be left alone by the UK police he should have taken to looting, ransacking, and destroying downtown shopping establishments.
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But, we’re okay taking photographs here in the US, right?
Not in Long Beach, California, where the police department seems to think they have the right to detain photographers they deem to be taking photographs “with no apparent esthetic value.”
I suppose the new LBPD motto is to “protect and serve… and provide art criticism.”
“Israelis really hate Obama’s guts,” said Shmuel Rosner, a columnist for two leading Israeli newspapers. “We used to trust Americans to act like Americans, and this guy is like a European leader.”
In 2008, there were almost 10 million cases of identity theft in the US alone, 22% more than the previous year. While people are getting better at recognizing identity theft, and minimizing the damage, the best solution is to prevent it from happening in the first place by following these steps.
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Christmas Shopping Kudos From an e-mail sent by Sheplers (Western wear), not shying away from mentioning the unmentionable holiday this season.
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Holiday MP3 Store? From Amazon.com, a partial screenshot of their “Holiday MP3 Store”. In perusing the ~46 MP3 albums listed, it appears that the unmentionable word “Christmas” is mentioned 36 times. Of the remaining titles, a Christmas related word (e.g., Noel, Santa, etc.) is listed 6 times. Hmmm, 42 out of 46. Now, what “holiday” is that, again?
A coalition of Mexican mayors has asked the United States to stop deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes in the U.S. to Mexican border cities, saying the deportations are contributing to Mexican border violence.
Sorry, Mr. President, but we’re not buying this whole one-world idea and, just as a reminder, you swore an oath to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States of America.
Back in the day, at my blog New Covenant, I would periodically run a set of posts highlighting various current events or issues at hand, known as Rusty Nails. Similar to Mark’s Things Heard and Doug’s Friday Link Wrap-Up, I’ll be starting up a Stones Cry Out version of Rusty Nails.
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I’m looking through you. So, Sir Paul is happy to have a President who knows what a library is? Has Sir Paul become a U.S. citizen or is he simply giving us some unsolicited opinion? Anyway, maybe our current President knows what a library is, but he also thought: we have 58 states, Switzerland has its own language, England and the U.K. are interchangeable, the word “Orion” is pronounced “Ore-EEon”, the U.S. constitution was written 22 centuries ago, the word “corpsman” is pronounced “corpse-man”, and… Please, Paul, stick to singing.
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Why do I need to learn math, after all, I’ll NEVER use it! Maybe. Or maybe not. It seems that 20% of borrowers with poor math skills experienced foreclosure, while only 5% of those with strong math skills did.
The inability to perform simple mathematical calculations is likely to negatively impact a borrower’s ability to manage a household budget. In addition, such an inability may adversely affect the borrower’s ability to choose the appropriate type of mortgage given his or her current financial status and expected future financial situation. Both of these scenarios would likely put a borrower at risk of falling behind on his or her mortgage.
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Well, then, take a numeracy quiz. Better yet, have your children take the quiz.
Earlier this month, the New York Times ran a piece on the slant of the White House’ Christmas decor. From the Times,
But Washington is a city that likes its traditions, and Ms. Rogers has raised a few eyebrows by trying to bend them. When former social secretaries gave a luncheon to welcome Ms. Rogers earlier this year, one participant said, she surprised them by suggesting the Obamas were planning a “non-religious Christmas” — hardly a surprising idea for an administration making a special effort to reach out to other faiths.
A “non-religious Christmas”? Wouldn’t that be like having a Red Sox celebration in the middle of New York City? Hmmm. From FreeDictionary.com, we have, for the word “Christmas”,
1. A Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus.
2. December 25, the day on which this feast is celebrated.
3. Christmastide.
[Middle English Cristemas, from Old English Cristes mæsse, Christ’s festival : Christ; see Christ + mæsse, festival; see Mass.]
Christian? Birth of Jesus? Christ? Mass? Certainly seems to be a whole lotta religion going on there.
Well, it seems that Desiree Rogers wasn’t kidding as, per Breitbart, none other than Chairman Mao made it onto a White House Christmas Holiday Tree (as an ornament). And, to top it off (the story, not the tree), the Obama family will not be attending church this Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Even as the ObamaCare vote is delivered to us on Christmas Eve, HotAir provides a list of the payoffs… payoffs for votes, that is. From Investors.com,
Sen. Mary Landrieu was the new “Louisiana Purchase.” Sen. Ben Nelson got the federal government to pick up his state’s future Medicaid tab. Maybe we should just put Senate votes up on eBay.
Comments Off on Let’s Hope they Change security procedures
While one could easily dismiss the Obama Party Crashers incident as administration ineptness, let’s hope that officials within the administration treat it with the seriousness it deserves.
An inept guard was responsible for Lincoln getting shot as he allowed Booth to approach the unsuspecting president. Is it so unreasonable to think that either or both of these two individuals could have harmed President Obama had that been their intent?
Despite who might happen to occupy the White House, the office of the Presidency of the United States should not be treated with flippancy. State events should not be viewed as challenges to crash as if it were some “reality TV” contest.
Our culture may view the incident as mildly humorous. Our enemies, I fear, may see it in a completely different light.
Iran is judged today to be a up and coming mad-as-a-hatter soon-to-be nuclear regime with some short and medium range missile capabilities. Back in 2007 the Bush administration had wrangled some ABM bases in Poland with Radar in the Czech Republic which were at that time designed to knock down long range missiles, of which Iran had none, but of course Russia had (and has) plenty. Russia took umbrage to this and rightfully so, just look at a map, unless you have a much much bigger monitor than I do, you don’t see Poland or the CR on that map at all.
Mr Obama it turns out has been not well served by the conservative current events blogs … although his speeches and on this in fact do have some glaring omissions, in the light of which the conservative commentary does make more sense … but only in the light of those omissions. Here is the text from the Obama speech, although I don’t know how accurately this reflects his actual remarks or whether it has been changed to reflect better in the light of later remarks, i.e., Mr Gates this weekend). This was also released on the same day by WH to the press to accompany the speech. The disservice by the conservative press is that this is touted as a withdrawal of a program, which fails to mention that another is proposed in its place. Read the rest of this entry
Comments Off on Socialist Agendas under attack from the people: Republicans, beware
What is happening to the Left, the One, and their cherished socialist agenda? In Townhall meeting after Townhall meeting, we see the people voicing their opinions – and their opinions are decidedly against the moves the Obama administration are attempting to make (ref. here).
Somebody believes the left is losing the public policy debate because they’ve got all the flagship institutions. And that’s a liability. Umair Haque, writing in a Harvard Business Publishing article, argues that the right, like al-Qaeda has mastered the art of “5th generation warfare” and is swarming all over the left. He notices that liberals have been losing the debate lately and tries to analyze why. The problem with the left, he seems to think, is that they are responding from a center, sending talking points out to a periphery, whereas the right has discovered how to attack swiftly, from a plethora of directions and in depth. The right is inside their OODA loop and Haque realizes that if this goes on long enough, the left will lose…
Is the swarm simply a swastika-laden Astroturf tactic of the Right, per Nancy Pelosi? Fernandez doesn’t buy such conspiracy theories,
The Republican leadership was in fact the first victim of the revolt from below. Only after the “5th generation” war had ripped through the comfortable assumptions of business as usual did it break out to face the left. To think that the current unrest is the creation of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck would be to make a fundamental mistake. Those figures are simply its beneficiaries — and its beneficiaries by accident. If Haque really wants to fight 5G, I would like to propose a different set of rules.
Listen to the people;
Believe that truth is something to be discovered in dialogue with the public; that the debate is never “over” simply because the great and good say so;
Consider it possible that all men, including small businessmen, plumbers, rubes from Alaska, cleaning women who say their prayers at mealtimes — are in some fundamental way the equal of graduates of Harvard Law School and know as much about life and death as Dr. Zeke Emmanuel;
Accept that facts do matter because reality is authored by something larger than government, greater than the Congress and more lasting than any administration;
That all efforts to “attack the base” will ultimately fail because a government by the people, of the people and for the people will never perish from the earth; and
Realize that these precepts are obvious on the face of it though there are none so blind as they who will not see.
I would add that the Republican leadership had also better realize the following:
The revolt from below does not necessarily indicate that the people support Republicans vs. Democrats;
If they attempt to travel down the same spend-easy path, as liberals tend to rush into, they too will find themselves under harsh criticism (aka peaceful revolt);
The people, by and large, are repulsed by any political party’s attempts to increase government intrusion into their lives.
