Fertile Soil

Christie Count
Seeking Political Revival, Christie Joins ’16 Contenders at G.O.P. Forum (New York Times, 3/30/2014)

Only one Chris Christie story in yesterday's New York Times. This is outrageous. Write the Times today and demand more Christie/Bridgegate stories. 

(Of course still nothing on gun-running California Democrat Leland Yee....)


Melting, Collapsing, Intensifying
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that periodically summarizes climate science, concluded that ice caps are melting, sea ice in the Arctic is collapsing, water supplies are coming under stress, heat waves and heavy rains are intensifying, coral reefs are dying, and fish and many other creatures are migrating toward the poles or in some cases going extinct. (New York Times, 3/31/2014)

The previously discredited IPCC issues its April Fools Day missive on global...make that climate change.

Of course you would have to dig deep to find out the real objective. It's all about foreign aid:

It cited a World Bank estimate that poor countries need as much as $100 billion a year to try to offset the effects of climate change; they are now getting, at best, a few billion dollars a year in such aid from rich countries.

The wonderful Climatedepot.com provides the real (convenient) truth:

Seventeen and a half years. Not a flicker of global warming. The RSS satellite record, the first of the five global-temperature datasets to report its February value, shows a zero trend for an impressive 210 months. (Climatedepot.com, 3/4/2014)


Horror Story for Harry Reid
Then there is Donna Morse, 61, a widowed dental hygienist and yoga buff who is long overdue for a mammogram and blood work. She lost her insurance last year because it did not meet the new law’s standards. Now she has a new plan with much higher premiums, and which few doctors and hospitals will accept. (New York Times, 3/31/2014)

Not sure how this got by the censors at the Times, but it would appear that, for some, health care premiums are much higher and their doctors and hospitals are no longer available. Oh well...


Transoutrage
A Cambridge transgender woman, outraged that convicted wife killer Michelle Kosilek could receive a free gender reassignment operation that health insurers refuse to cover for law-abiding citizens, has filed suit demanding the same right to tax-funded surgery — a move critics say could mark the beginning of a dramatic, costly shift in entitlements under the controversial federal court ruling. (Bostonherald.com, 3/31/2014)

So - to be clear - an individual wants his/her health insurance company to pay for his/her "gender reassignment" surgery based on the legal precedent that a convicted criminal has apparently won the right to have taxpayers pay for his/her surgery (the criminal's that is).

This is the world that Liberals have created. And America as we knew it is gone.

The Emperor's Inclination

Headlines in Today's New York Times:
Port Authority Official Is Out Amid Scandal Over Shut Lanes
Christie Ally Is Undone by Word in an Email
Potentially Explosive Detail in Bridge Scandal Is Unlikely to Be Confirmed
Today's Editorials: A Christie Appointee Quits, Finally
Collins: A Christie Life Primer
Exchange in Bridge Scandal Unlikely to Be Confirmed
A Christie Appointee Quits, Finally

America's paper of record. Meanwhile, because the New York Times is a non-partisan paper we get this single headline:

Newly Released Clinton-Era Papers Show Damage Control During Scandal

Of course, the Times gives us not a word on gun-running California Democrat Leland Yee. Look away people, no media bias here. 


In This Corner
“No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation.” That’s the kind of sentiment you expect from a Miss America contestant asked to name her fondest wish, not from the leader of the free world explaining his foreign policy. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 3/27/2014)

Obama’s words and actions matter, however, and his handling of the Ukraine crisis has been firm, steady and realistic. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 3/27/2014)

Krauthammer vs. Robinson. It's just not a fair fight. 


Flaky Fluke
Depending on the court’s rulings, the cases’ outcomes could deny millions of women coverage of any or all forms of birth control, limiting women’s ability to control their reproductive health, plan their pregnancies and manage their lives. (Sandra Fluke, Washington Post, 3/24/2014)

America's oldest law student hasn't been heard from in a while, but she is back with her familiar cause: everyone should get free birth control. Never mind that it is well documented that birth control pills are available at Wal Mart pharmacies for $9.99. Less than a couple of vanilla lattes. No, "millions" of women are at risk. Even Liberals should run from this gibberish. 

Spirits to Enforce

Heavy Metal
Kennametal plant officials announced Tuesday they would close the Lyndonville plant, which employs a total of about 80 people. The last day of production will be June 30. (VTDigger.org, 3/27/2014)

Reached for comment about the latest hit to employment in Vermont while vacationing in the Caribbean, Gov. Peter Shumlin vowed to focus on job creation in the state when he returns. As soon as illegal aliens in the state are granted drivers licenses. 

Actually Crummy Shummy vowed to send a "Rapid Response Team" up to Lyndonville. Not to save the jobs of Kennametal workers, it is too late for that. The RRT will help the newly unemployed to apply for unemployment benefits. So Shyster Shumster apparently has no problem helping hard-working folks like the Kennametal employees, he would just rather wait until they lose their jobs first. 


Close Encounters
Self-employed people in her area — truck drivers and cosmetologists, for instance — seem eager to sign up, Ms. Walls said, but “negative press” and problems with the federal website have discouraged many consumers. At the small town educational sessions she runs, she often encounters people whose conservative political philosophy makes them uncomfortable about accepting federal subsidies to buy private coverage. (New York Times, 3/28/2014)

Ah yes, self-reliance. That is something that we conservatives are just going to have to get over if we are going to survive in Obamaworld. 


Praised
In some states that have expanded Medicaid, like Kentucky — which has drawn national praise as a model for other states to follow — the biggest chunk of the newly insured are Medicaid patients. More than 300,000 Kentuckians are enrolled in new health coverage, the state says, 80 percent of them through Medicaid. (New York Times, 3/28/2014)

Eighty percent on the public dole. That is something that Liberals can truly be proud of!


Headlines in Today's New York Times
A Whitewash for Chris Christie
Motive Still Unclear in Christie-Backed Lane Closing Report
Report Details a Claim That Christie Knew of Closings
About New York: Report’s Silence Is Deafening
Sexism Is Seen in Report on Former Christie Aide
About New York: Silence Is Deafening in Bridge Report
Report Details Claim by Ally: Christie Knew of Bridge Lane Closings

What is the most important story of the day according to the New York Times? 

Meanwhile, MSNBC (during our short daily watching period) did another ten minutes on Christie and Bridgegate. With a host and two analysts! After there was a brief mention of something happening in the Ukraine. 

Further Reflection

The Uneducated
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to explain the Obama administration's latest decision to extend a key ObamaCare deadline by saying people just "are not educated on how to use the Internet." (Foxnews.com, 3/26/2014)

Liberals are now forbidden from ever - that's ever ever ever ever ever ever - saying anything derisive about Sarah Palin. 

Ever.


Dirty Harry
Tuesday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reimbursed his campaign for nearly $17,000 in payments made in late 2013 to his granddaughter for “holiday gifts.” But new payments are surfacing bringing the total to $31,000. (Breitbart.com, 3/24/2014)

MSNBC has just interrupted their 24 hour coverage of the New Jersey Bridgegate scandal involving Gov. Chris Christie to report on Harry Reid's illegal gifts to family members. Just kidding!

In fact, kid wunderkin journalist Ronan Farrow opened his show on MSNBC talking not about Obama's visit with Pope Francis, not the mudslide out west, not the missing jet. No, instead he talked about the findings of Christie's lawyer on Bridgegate. For the first ten minutes of the show. No kidding!


Absolute
Even if Russia moves into eastern Ukraine, senior administration officials said, there should be absolutely no expectation that American troops would head to Kiev.

“The American people are not going to war with Russia over Ukraine, full stop,” a senior administration official said, echoing public comments by Mr. Obama. (New York Times, 3/27/2014)

There was a time not long ago (well, the Bush administration really) when America did not tell its potential enemies its military strategy in advance. All that has been changed now that General Obama is in charge. 


Aspirations
“If you aspire to be a gangsta rapper, by definition your lyrics need to be violent,” said Charis E. Kubrin, an associate professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine.
...
“What’s getting really unnerving,” said Erik Nielson, an assistant professor of liberal arts at the University of Richmond, “is the amount of time it appears both police and prosecutors are spending over rap lyrics and videos on social media rather than using that time to go and gather more convincing, more conventional forms of evidence.”
...
Critics like Andrea L. Dennis, an associate professor of law at the University of Georgia, say law enforcement ignores the fact that rappers do not necessarily live the lives they sing about. (New York Times, 3/27/2014)

The New York Times writes an article about rappers in jail, perhaps in the view of the Times unfairly, because of their violent lyrics. America's elite academics weigh in. Naturally they support the thugs.

Here is an example of those lyrics - quoted in the very same article - that Liberal professors (yes, that is redundant) suggest that we not take so literally:

"But nobody saw when I [expletive] smoked him. Roped him, sharpened up the shank, then I poked him, 357 Smith & Wesson beam scoped him."

Weep for the state of higher education in America.

Overload

The Big Stink
Once again, Vermont’s business climate is dismal. We rank 45th out of 50 (50 being the worst and 1 being the best.) The overall ranking is comprised of scores in five separate categories: Corporate tax (VT, 42th), Income Tax (VT, 45th), Sales Tax (VT,13th), Unemployment Insurance Tax (VT, 22nd), and Property Tax (VT, 48th). Only New York, New Jersey, California, Minnesota, and Rhode Island stink worse than we do. (Ethanallen.org, 3/20/2014)

But things are going just fine according to Vermont's progressives. This is one party rule in action. In Vermont, the most important thing is not growing business, but figuring out how to give drivers licenses to illegal aliens. 


Saint Barack
Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that President Obama should be “nominated for sainthood” for his patience during the botched rollout of Obamacare and HealthCare.gov, claiming he was as “frustrated as anyone you ever knew.” (Thedailycaller.com, 3/21/2014)

So - and we think we have this right - Obama is a victim. 

This is the doofus that Obama sends to assure Eastern Europe that the U.S. will protect them from Russian aggression.  


Intense
Ms. Rice’s comments, which set the stage for Mr. Obama’s trip to Europe next week, suggested that the tensions between the United States and Russia were continuing to intensify. Asked if the Ukraine crisis was prompting a “fundamental reassessment” of America’s relationship with Russia, she answered in a single word: “Yes.” (New York Times, 3/22/2014)

Asked if Obama's strategy in dealing with Russia was a complete debacle, she answered in a single word: "Yes."

(OK, we made that quote up.)


The top three stories in the U.S. section of the on-line New York Times (3/23/2014) 
For Gay Couples in Michigan, a Day of Joy Ends in Legal Uncertainty

News Analysis: Wave of Appeals Expected to Turn the Tide on Same-Sex Marriage Bans

Biden Notes Progress in Gay Rights, but Says There Is ‘Much Left to Do’

And just for good measure....
The Scientific Quest to Prove Bisexuality Exists


L'despair
France has been losing talented citizens to other countries for decades, but the current exodus of entrepreneurs and young people is happening at a moment when France can ill afford it. The nation has had low-to-stagnant economic growth for the last five years and a generally climbing unemployment rate — now about 11 percent — and analysts warn that it risks sliding into economic sclerosis.

Some wealthy businesspeople have also been packing their bags. While entrepreneurs fret about the difficulties of getting a business off the ground, those who have succeeded in doing so say that society stigmatizes financial success. The election of President François Hollande, a member of the Socialist Party who once declared, “I don’t like the rich,” did little to contradict that impression. (New York Times, 3/23/2014)

A nation that Liberals want the U.S. to emulate. 

Oh, and this:

“It is a French cultural characteristic that goes back to almost the revolution and Robespierre, where there’s a deep-rooted feeling that you don’t show that you make money,” Ms. Segalen, the recruiter, said. “There is this sense that ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité’ means that what’s yours should be mine. It’s more like, if someone has something I can’t have, I’d rather deprive this person from having it than trying to work hard to get it myself. That’s a very French state of mind. But it’s a race to the bottom.”

The Real March Madness

Promises Promises
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. met with Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland in Warsaw to assure allies in Eastern Europe that the United States would protect them against any Russian aggression. (New York Times, 3/19/2014)

Possible responses from Poland:

--Obama sends Biden, what is this, a joke?

--Five years ago Obama cancelled our missile defense treaty. Why should we believe him now?

--Thank you for your concern. By the way, we are moving Polish troops to our eastern border.


Seriously
The alternative to passivity is not war but a serious foreign policy. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 3/13/2014)

Peace through superior firepower.


Dintly
Sanders, a Senator with no private-sector experience and no scientific background whatsoever, declares that there is “no debate” on climate change. None. Simply by dint of him saying so, probably the least-qualified person schlumping down Senate hallways to make a pronouncement on science in any way, shape or form, says debate is over.

The core of science is debate. The core of science is to challenge accepted norms to find the flaws in the argument.  It’s like asking explorers to stop exploring because everything that could be explored has been explored – so stop exploring West in the Pacific, he would have argued, and North America wouldn’t have been discovered by European countries. (Chris Campion, Ethanallen.org, 3/17/2014)

Well put. The core of science is debate...except for Liberals. (Also loved the smackdown of "Bernie the Science Nerdie.")


Rank
Although a poll by the Pew Research Center last October found that 67 percent of Americans believe that global warming is happening, a Pew poll in January showed that Americans ranked global warming as 19th on a list of 20 issues for Congress and the president. (New York Times, 3/20/2014)

The cost of Obama and fellow Democrats focusing on issues like global warming, legalized marijuana, assisted suicide, opening more abortion clinics and gutting the military is Russian aggression, high unemployment, higher taxes and $4 per gallon gas.  


Pull
Guinness passed up a big beer moment this week when it pulled its sponsorship of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City. But it also sent a message about social change and the leading role that business, in its own interest, can play.

The flap in New York started when parade organizers said gay marchers were welcome but couldn't carry gay-related signs. Guinness called that a "policy of exclusion" and pulled the plug. (Wall Street Journal, 3/19/2014)

Because for the Gay Mafia, it is not enough to be included in the parade, they HAVE to be able to tout their sexual preferences, particularly if it is a family-friendly event. How would they feel, we wonder, about a group of Irish marchers under a banner that proclaims Proud Irish Heterosexuals?


The Brig
Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair received a reprimand on Thursday from a military judge, after he pleaded guilty to charges that included mistreating his mistress, adultery and requesting explicit photographs from female Army officers. (New York Times, 3/20/2014)

The Number One story in Liberal America for several weeks now has not been Crimea or the Malaysian airliner disappearance. No, it has been a sexual misconduct case in the military. We know that Liberals are serious about harassment of female subordinates in the workplace because of the way in which they went after Bill Clinton when he was doing the barely legal interns in the Oval Office. Just kidding!

Liberals are shocked - shocked - that after forcing the integration of the sexes in the military there is now sexual abuse. The military, which throughout the entire course of history has been male and included its share of deviants.

And one more thing, isn't the position of mistress a voluntary one?

Fell Dismay

At Home
Yesterday RedstateVT was watching MSNBC. Wait it gets worse. We were watching Ronan Farrow on MSNBC. Readers are cautioned NOT to do this. RedStateVT is a trained professional. Those who attempt to watch MSNBC (the journalistic home of Rev. Al Sharpton!) without the proper training could suffer grave injury. Anyway, the topic was "Homelessness in America." What was surprising about this is that this topic - Homelessness in America - has never previously been discussed when a Democrat occupies the White House. Homelessness in America, as all know, is the fault of Republican presidents, e.g. Ronald Reagan, George Bush, George W. Bush. Of course, no blame was laid at the feet of President Obama by MSNBC's boy journalist who asked for viewer input on homelessness in their communities and vowed to follow this story...even if it led to the White House. Just kidding about that last part!


Back to the Drawing Board
American officials made clear they would ratchet up the pressure if Mr. Putin does not back down. They went immediately back to the Situation Room after the announcement to begin work on a next round of sanctions that could come as early as this week. (New York Times, 3/19/2014)

In the next round of sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea President Obama threatened to not return Putin's phone calls, to deny Russians the next iPhone model, and to stop drinking Russian vodka.


Hopeless
Mr. Obama held out hope that diplomacy may yet succeed, but he sent Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to Eastern Europe to meet with nervous NATO allies like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and reassure them of American resolve. (New York Times, 3/19/2014)

After stiffing Eastern Europe several years back on the issue of missile defense in order to assuage Putin, Obama now sends Vice President Punch Line to tell them not to worry, Obama has their backs. Message to the Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians: Be worried, be very worried. 

And so this gets added to Obama's foreign policy highlight reel which includes among other things:

Telling a Russian diplomat on an open mic that he would have "more flexibility" after the election. Which Putin then rightly interprets as a license to have his way, whether it be in Syria or in the Ukraine. How ironic it all is, especially in light of Obama's derisive comments to Mitt Romney during the election about "the 80s wanting its foreign policy back." 

And one final thought for Liberals who say: what is Obama supposed to do, go to war over Crimea? That is not the point. The point is that Obama's repeated public appeasement of Putin created the very situation that he now finds himself in. Obama is like the kid who kills his parents and then asks for mercy as an orphan.

All the Fighting Hand-to-Hand

Break a Leg
The closest the president came to getting a leg up on mounting a defense was on Friday when he told Ryan Seacrest in a radio interview that he had been unfairly maligned for his mom jeans: “Generally, I look very sharp in jeans.” (Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 3/16/2014)

Even Liberals feel free to mock Obama. 


Anonymous
One Democratic lawmaker, who asked not to be identified, said Mr. Obama was becoming “poisonous” to the party’s candidates. (New York Times, 3/16/2014)

Even Democrats feel free to mock Obama.


Gaseous
“We’re seeing the ‘light footprint’ run out of gas,” said one of Mr. Obama’s former senior national security aides, who would not speak on the record about his ex-boss.
...
Ms. Rice was enthusiastic about Mr. Obama’s election in 2008, and talked to him frequently during the transition. But she argues now that many of his decisions — such as abandoning a plan to strike Syria for its use of chemical weapons and proposing a defense budget that shrinks the Army to its lowest levels since World War II just as the Chinese announced a 12 percent increase in their military spending — send clear signals.
...
Still, some senior officials who left the White House after the first term concede — when assured of anonymity — that Mr. Obama erred in failing to have a plan to back up his declaration that President Bashar al-Assad had to leave office. (New York Times, 3/17/2014)

Even former supporters and aides feel free to criticize Obama's foreign policy.


Beneficiary
Republicans also seem to be benefiting from the argument — reinforced by advertising and by their media surrogates — that Mr. Obama has presided over an activist government that has overreached and proved incompetent. (New York Times, 3/16/2014)

The New York Times, Democrat party's leading media surrogate, calls out Republican party media surrogates. That is precious.


The Plague
Well-known Republican politician Randy Brock has requested dozens of public records associated with Vermont’s problem-plagued online health insurance marketplace. (Burlington Free Press, 3/16/2014)

The BFP's headline sees partisanship in Brock's request. Perhaps if Brock were a Democrat investigating a Republican administration he would be seen as a crusader for the truth. In reality, Brock represents the biggest fear of Liberals: an African-American who is a Republican. Hence, like Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, Tim Scott, JT Watts, Dr. Ben Carson and others, he must be destroyed. 


Appearances
Vermont police organizations said Friday they oppose increasing the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the state or legalizing the drug and that Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration appears tolerant of marijuana. (Burlington Free Press, 3/15/2014)

Chose your favorite response:

Shummy responds: "We must recognize and address the scourge of opiate addiction in our state."
Shummy responds: "What is a 'gateway drug?'"
Shummy responds: "Legalize it!"
Vacationing at his Caribbean retreat, Shumlin could not be reached for comment.

Disenfranchised

Rome Burns
On Saturday, Obama joined former NFL star receiver Ahnmad Rashad ,former NBA star center Alonzo Mourning, and Cyrus Walker, Valerie Jarrett’s cousin, to go golfing in Key Largo, Florida. Obama brought the wife and kids for a weekend getaway. White House spokesman Josh Earnest explained that Obama was relishing warm-weather downtime.  (Breitbart.com, 3/8/2014)

Who called it? RedStateVT called it!

At least Obama will be well rested and better able to stand up to Putin when the latter begins amassing Russian troops on the Polish border...


Dented
But the law will only make a dent in the ranks of the roughly 50 million uninsured people in the U.S. in 2014. By 2020, there will still be 30 million people without coverage, according to projections by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. (Wall Street Journal, 3/8/2014)

So six years from now, Obamacare will have succeeded in providing insurance coverage to 5% of the 15% of uninsured Americans. Or as Democrats would say: a smashing success.

What could have prevented an even greater achievement?:

"I guess all I would say is, given the tremendous obstruction that Obama has been facing on the implementation of this program, it's a miracle that it's off the ground at all," said David Obey, who retired from Congress in 2011.

Yes, it was Republican obstruction which was unable to stop the passage of Obamacare. It was Republican obstruction which led to a favorable Supreme Court ruling upholding the law. It was Republican obstruction which caused the Obamacare website to implode. It was Republican obstruction which resulted in the unilateral actions taken by Obama himself to amend, delay and rewrite the law. 

Rare Air

The Bear Growls
Russia signaled for the first time on Friday that it was prepared to annex the Crimea region of Ukraine, significantly intensifying its confrontation with the West over the political crisis in Ukraine and threatening to undermine a system of respect for national boundaries that has helped keep the peace in Europe and elsewhere for decades. (New York Times, 3/8/2014)

And so the effects of the Obama Doctrine are made known. The Obama Doctrine states that the U.S. will not protect its strategic interests in the world, will not curb the advance of totalitarian regimes and will abandon allies if necessary. We wonder how Poland is feeling right about now. They have seen this movie before.

Meanwhile, Obama does what he does best:

He headed to Florida for a speech on education and then a weekend off with his family, but aides promised he would be monitoring the crisis.

No doubt, he will find time for a round of golf.


The Waiting
The February unemployment rate of 6.7 percent, for example, would have been 10 percent if the 5.7 million workers who are waiting on the sidelines for job openings were included in the jobless rate. (New York Times editorial, 3/8/2014)

Too late for the 2012 elections, the New York Times admits what the conservative press reported at the time. Of course, the Times goes on to explain that high unemployment is the fault of Republicans, and not of President Executive Order.  


The Irritant
Ralph Nader is irritated with Bernie Sanders.

Sanders won’t return his calls, won’t combine forces with other progressives, and as a result, he isn’t getting as much done as he could, the frequent independent presidential candidate and consumer advocate says.

Nader detailed his grievances Thursday in a blunt two-page letter to the Vermont independent senator with the heading, “Bernie, we thought we knew ye!” Then Nader called the Burlington Free Press and shared the letter, which accuses Sanders of “speechifying” but getting nowhere, because he is a “Lone Ranger.” (Burlington Free Press, 3/6/2014)

In the world of conservative blogging, this is what is known as a wonderful gift: two moonbats at odds. 

Of course, we would disagree with Nader in his characterization of Sanders as a "Lone Ranger." To us, Sanders is more of a "Tonto" which would make him "the village idiot." 

Test of Conformity

THANK YOU FOR 20,000 PAGEVIEWS!

Costly
From a White House podium late Friday, Obama told the Russian government that “there will be costs” for any military foray into Ukraine, including the semiautonomous region of Crimea, a strategically important peninsula on the Black Sea.

Within hours, Putin asked the Russian parliament for approval to send forces into Ukraine. The vote endorsing his request was unanimous, Obama’s warning drowned out by lawmakers’ rousing rendition of Russia’s national anthem at the end of the session. Russian troops now control the Crimean Peninsula. (Washington Post, 3/1/2014)

Vlad the Impaler teaches Obama something about "red lines." Namely the RED LINE he drew around Crimea. 


Off Base
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) implored President Obama to stop going on television and making baseless threats against Vladimir Putin or other dictators Sunday on CNN.

“It’s not your strong suit, every time the president goes on national television and threatens Putin or anyone like Putin, everybody’s eyes roll, including mine,” he said. (Freebeacon.com, 3/2/2014)

A pretty funny line from Graham.


Mainly
Mr. Obama came to office with little foreign-policy experience and has been repeatedly tested by a new world in which the main threats are Islamic extremism and civil war. (New York Times, 3/3/2014)

We remember well the concerns that the New York Times expressed in 2008 and again in 2012 in numerous articles, essays and editorials about Obama's weak foreign policy credentials. Just kidding!


Moving Violation
A movement with confidence in its scientific theories would be able to admit there are many climate factors beyond carbon dioxide that are not yet well understood, and that some climate models have been shown to be unreliable. Such a movement would not downplay or whitewash leaked emails evincing the possibility of massaged data. When it criticizes its skeptics as hired guns of the fossil-fuel industry who are influenced by money, it would be willing to acknowledge that it thrives on government and private funding that would shrink if its research did not continue to say warming is here and getting worse. And there would be more confessions such as Al Gore's belated acknowledgment that his support for ethanol was misguided. (Pete du Pont, Wall Street Journal, 2/27/2014)

If you are a global warming skeptic, Liberals call you a denier. If you believe that voters should be required to show an I.D., Liberals call you a racist. If you do not agree with gay marriage, Liberals call you a homophobe. This is how Liberals defend their positions. 


Be A Lert, We Need More Lerts
Gov. Jerry Brown (D., Calif.) said he wants to wait to see how experiments with marijuana legalization play out in Colorado and Washington before expanding access to pot in California.

“How many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?” Brown asked on NBC’s Meet the Press. “The world’s pretty dangerous, very competitive. I think we need to stay alert, if not 24 hours a day, more than some of the potheads might be able to put together, ” Brown added. (Freebeacon.com, 3/2/2014)

The original Governor Moonbat occasionally says something sensible. And so the question posed to Liberals is this: "How does legalizing another mind altering substance make America a better nation?

Helpful Hints for Increasing Your Carbon Footprint

Challenging
(Obama) also challenged black men to do better themselves, and said they must not make excuses for their failures or blame society for the poor decisions they have already made. (New York Times, 2/28/2014)

Good comment from Obama, but it is not the message that he has been sending for the first five years of his presidency. His message has been that America is inherently unjust, that any group or individual who can claim minority status is not to blame for their situation, and that government through its "tender mercies" will administer relief.


Anticipation
Parsing Governor Peter Shumlin's comments on the latest round of job losses in Vermont (IBM - 100 or so jobs), as reported in the Burlington Free Press, 2/28/2014:

Later in the day Thursday, Shumlin said he had anticipated even worse news.

Shumlin: Great news! It could have been worse. (Only in Vermont is success defined as not going backwards as fast...)

He said he heard from IBM last night and early this morning. “I made clear that when they shared what they were doing with me that I had a responsibility to communicate what I know with Vermonters.”

Shumlin: See how transparent my administration is. I could not - in good conscience - keep this bad news from the public.

The IBM layoffs came up Thursday morning as Shumlin addressed a gathering of Vermont grocers and retailers in the Statehouse....Shumlin told the group that Vermont’s economy is on the rebound. Several in the audience said they didn’t share his optimism, noting the IBM layoffs as well as the announced closing last week of Plasan Carbon Composite in Bennington and pending job losses when Vermont Yankee closes at the end of the year. Several said they were worried about the accumulative impact of legislation in the works to raise the minimum wage, require paid sick leave and adopt a government-funded health care system.

Shumlin: I don't care what anyone says, things are going just swimmingly here in the People's Republic of Vermont. And once we begin collecting taxes on legalized marijuana, just watch out. We may even be able to fund single-payer. 


Everything You Need to Know About Obamacare from the New York Times (3/1/2014)
The Obama administration said Friday that it would allow some people to receive federal subsidies for health insurance purchased in the private market outside of health insurance exchanges. The sudden shift was the latest in a series of policy changes, extensions and clarifications by federal officials trying to help beneficiaries and minimize political damage to Democrats in this election year.

Even one of Obamacare's biggest cheerleaders admits that the whole thing has now been politicized.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that four-fifths of people buying insurance through exchanges will qualify for subsidies, with the government spending an average of $4,700 for each “subsidized enrollee” this year.

Obamacare is Obamacaid. Eighty percent of buyers will receive government aid.

The health law fix this week comes after the administration delayed the requirement for larger employers to offer coverage to employees; extended the deadline for people to sign up for coverage starting on Jan. 1; delayed the opening of online marketplaces for small businesses; and asked insurers to extend individual health care policies that had been canceled for not complying with the new federal law. 

Harry Reid may think that there are no individual health care horror stories, but he is not looking hard enough. The whole law is a horror story. 


The Deep
In unscheduled remarks at the White House Friday afternoon, President Obama said the United States is "deeply concerned" about military movements by the Russian federation inside Ukraine, and warned that "there will be costs for any military intervention." (Washington Post, 2/28/2014)

We'll know that Obama is really really serious if he says "red line." Of course Krauthammer gets it right again:

Putin fully occupies vacuums. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 2/27/2014)

...Obama being the empty space. 


Behind Every Fortune a Crime
After nearly 20 months of celebrity theater and an incalculable amount of effort and courtroom expense, the misdemeanor trial of Kerry Kennedy ended on Friday in breakneck fashion, as jurors took one hour to find her not guilty of driving under the influence of a drug: a sleeping pill that she said she took by accident. (New York Times, 3/1/2014)

As they have for decades, the Kennedy clan runs roughshod over the American judicial system.