The Eccentricities of Folly

Weighty
The New York Times weighed in on the Planned Parenthood sting videos Wednesday with an editorial that reads like a press release for America’s largest abortion provider. Like a press release, the Times‘ editorial conveniently omits any evidence which might tend to undercut its claims. (Breitbart.com, 7/23/2015)

The folks at Breitbart channel their inner RedStateVT!


Headline of the Day
Sound familiar? Democrats blame people who made a video for horrific acts of others (Michellemalkin.com, 7/23/2015)


Prideful
Russia may be an authoritarian state, but it does have nuclear weapons and a deep national pride. We have every reason, as Stephen F. Cohen has argued, to seek a new detente with Russia. (Disclosure: Cohen is this columnist’s husband.) (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 7/21/2015)

We haven't heard from Kat in a while, but the wait has been worth it. She always delivers the yucks. Here she and her hubby cook up this gem: Putin invades a sovereign country and we should......seek a new detente!


Survey Says
A new New York Times/CBS News poll reveals that nearly six in 10 Americans, including heavy majorities of both whites and blacks, think race relations are generally bad and that nearly four in 10 think the situation is getting worse. By comparison, two-thirds of Americans surveyed shortly after President Obama took office said they believed that race relations were generally good. (New York Times, 7/23/2015)

And so there can be one conclusion and one conclusion only. It is all Obama's fault. (They will try to blame George Bush, but that one would be hard to sell even for Liberals.)

Small Victories

Longing
Long before revelations in the spring that the Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix had manipulated waiting lists to hide that veterans were facing long delays to see doctors, senior department officials in Washington had been made aware of serious problems at the hospital, according to filings before a federal administrative board. (New York Times, 12/26/2014)

An entire article on the Veterans Affairs scandal and not one mention of the politician in charge of Senate oversight of the VA. Who would be..... Vermont's own Bernie Sanders! Can you imagine such a journalistic oversight if the senator had been, say, Ted Cruz?


Jihadist
The revival of the U.S. financial system after the crash of 2008 is arguably the Obama administration’s biggest domestic policy success. But Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), in her jihad against Wall Street, seems determined to devalue this accomplishment — and to make financial expertise a mark of shame for Democrats, rather than a source of pride. (David Ignatius, Washington Post, 12/23/2014)

Even Liberal columnists realize that - when it comes to the financial markets - Lizzie Warren is off the reservation..... wait, can we say that? 


Let's Analyze Kat's Column
The embargo hurt the Cuban people it claimed to help and bolstered the regime that it intended to undermine. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 12/23/2014)

And how we know that the U.S. embargo has "bolstered the regime" is because ... what?

The effort to isolate Cuba has been increasingly isolating the United States both in the hemisphere and across the world.

And the specific proof that the U.S. has been 'isolated' by its embargo is that Hugo Chavez in Venezuela is no friend to the U.S. Oh wait, he's dead. 

Normalizing relations with Cuba enables the United States to advocate for individual liberty, without being seen as a bully trying to club a small neighbor into submission.

Great idea Kat! Let's try this with North Korea!

The Cold War is over; the Soviet Union no more.

And Putin's invasion of the Ukraine, that doesn't count.

For more than a century, we have casually and routinely trampled the sovereign rights of our neighbors to the south.

Finally we get to the real point that Comrade vanden Heuvel wants to make: it is all America's fault! Yes, blame America.


Eyes On
Polls taken over the last three months reveal a list of home-state complaints: Mr. Christie’s favorability is at its lowest point, with more voters disapproving than approving of his job performance. New Jersey residents think he is making decisions with an eye on his national standing rather than on what is good for their state. (New York Times, 12/28/2014)

Chris Christie probably breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the New York Times had pivoted away from writing endless negative stories about him to focus on Jeb Bush. He was foolish if he thought he could let his guard down. Given that the Times will be writing no hit pieces on Hillary Clinton, Lizzie Warren or Bernie Sanders, it has plenty of capacity to focus on all the potential Republican candidates.


Bouncer
What’s the important lesson from this late Obama bounce? Mainly, I’d suggest, that everything you’ve heard about President Obama’s economic policies is wrong. (Paul Krugman, New York Times, 12/29/2014)

After six years of dreadful economic news, it is now official. We can refer to any uptick as "the Obama recovery." Yes, those specific programs that Obama put in place have led to this "bounce." Guess they just took a little time to work..... Of course, voters rewarded Obama and the Democrat party for their careful stewardship of the economy by keeping the Senate in their hands and returning the House to the Dems. That happened, right?

Forget About Your Women and That Water Can

The Game
It has been a decade since he (Obama) confidently declared, hours before his Democratic National Convention debut, “I’m LeBron, baby. ... I got some game.” (New York Times, 10/26/2014)

Note to the President: Stop using basketball references. Everyone remembers them and they usually backfire on you. 


Rarely
Despite Mr. Sharpton’s current mainstream patina, his stock-in-trade has changed little from his Tawana Brawley-Crown Heights days, as the disintegration of his inflammatory narrative about the police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., demonstrates. Apart from rare forays into the rhetoric of personal responsibility, he still peddles the dangerous lie that police officers are the greatest threat facing young black men and that racial discrimination is the main force holding blacks back. (Heather MacDonald, Wall Street Journal, 10/24/2014)

Thanks to MacDonald for a stroll down the lane of Al Sharpton's most ignominious moments. And a reminder that the buffoonish reverend is held in high esteem by Obama and the Democrat party. A party whose senior statesman is an adulterer who lost his law license after committing perjury and whose leading candidate for president in 2016 is the aforementioned adulterer's wife. Also possibly contending for top honors is a millionaire lawyer who rails against the 1% and whose personal history narrative falsely asserts that she is a native American. With an honest media this party would be defunct. 


Telling
"Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs."

"I shorthanded this point the other day, so let me be absolutely clear about what I’ve been saying for a couple of decades: Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in an America where workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out—not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas..."

Hillary Clinton. 

Perfectly clear.


Without Regard
When asked whether they would vote for Mrs. Clinton or the Republican nominee for president in 2016, regardless of who that is, 63 percent of Latinos ages 18 to 34 said they would vote for Mrs. Clinton, according to a poll conducted in September by Bendixen and Amandi International for Fusion, the fledgling network owned by ABC and Univision. (New York Times, 10/27/2014)

Why Obama and the Democrats support immigration reform (a.k.a. unilateral rebadging of "illegals" as "legals"). 


Viral
On Sept. 16, Obama promised Americans that his administration was “taking the necessary precautions . . . so that someone with the virus doesn’t get on a plane for the United States.” Four days later, on Sept. 20, an Ebola-infected Liberian national, Thomas Eric Duncan, flew to Dallas, where he later died in a Texas hospital.

Obama further assured Americans that “In the unlikely event that someone with Ebola does reach our shores, we’ve taken new measures so that we’re prepared here at home.” A few weeks later, two Dallas nurses contracted Ebola because, as a nurses union put it, there was “no advance preparedness on what to do with the patient, there was no protocol, there was no system.” And now, a month later, an American doctor with Ebola was taking the subway and bowling in New York — all while following federal safety guidelines. (Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post, 10/27/2014)

We quote extensively from Thiessen's piece...because it is fun to do so. 


Swept Away
It is time for President Obama to offer clemency to Edward Snowden, the courageous U.S. citizen who revealed the Orwellian reach of the National Security Agency’s sweeping surveillance of Americans. His actions may have broken the law, but his act, as the New York Times editorialized, did the nation “a great service.” (Katrina vanden heuvel, Washington Post, 10/27/2014)

So when Republicans say that Democrats cannot be trusted with national defense and when Republicans say that Democrats are soft on crime, now you know why. 

Disregard The Cost

RedStateVT's Thought for the Day
Liberals shout at Conservatives to get out of private bedrooms on issues like homosexuality and birth control. Making it somewhat ironic - actually making it enormously ironic - that Liberals in California (and now elsewhere) have come up with the bizarre rules for consensual sex on college campuses. 


Historical
Before his 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Obama had little history of managing anything larger than a Senate office. To his critics, the breakdowns in various agencies are the natural result of that inexperience, a conclusion that really began taking hold with the botched rollout of his own health care program last year. (New York Times, 10/22/2014)

Six years in, the New York Times finally admits what many of us have said all along: Obama was not qualified to be president.


The Best Thing You Will Read Today on the Minimum Wage
Entry-level fast-food jobs have never been intended to support an entire family. So-called quick-service restaurants provide opportunities to lots of young people with few skills and limited experience. (Wall Street Journal, 10/21/2014)

Second best is this from Chris Christie (quoted in the New York Times): “I don’t think there is a mother or father sitting around a kitchen table tonight in America who are saying, ‘You know, honey, if my son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, all our dreams would be realized.’ ”


Remains of the Day
There are 149 prisoners remaining at Guantánamo. As a result of Mr. Zahrani’s change in status, 80 are now recommended for transfer if security conditions can be met, the majority of whom are from Yemen; 59 are recommended for continued indefinite detention without trial as wartime prisoners; and 10 have either been charged or convicted before the military commissions system.

Ten low-level prisoners were transferred in late 2013. But the process appears to be faltering again; it has transferred just one low-level prisoner in 2014. (New York Times, 10/21/2014)

There is something the New York Times is neglecting to mention in this article on prisoner transfers from Gitmo. What could it be? Oh, now we remember... Obama's release of five high risk Taliban prisoners! Probably an honest omission.


Excess
Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund founder who has pledged to spend $50 million of his own money to defeat Republican candidates in Senate and governor’s races this campaign cycle, exceeded that mark in September.

Mr. Steyer’s “super PAC,” NextGen Climate Action Committee, reported on Monday night that it received $15 million from him last month, putting his total contributions to the committee since June 2013 at $55 million.

That makes Mr. Steyer the largest super PAC donor, putting him ahead of the casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson, who gave $49.8 million to super PACs during the 2012 campaign. (New York Times, 10/20/2014)

Liberal hedge fund fossil fuel 1%er gives millions to Dems. Elizabeth Warren silent. Speaking of Liz:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she isn’t running for president. At this rate, however, she may have to. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 10/20/2014)

Run Liz, Run! As we have said many times, it is only on a national stage where the moonbat ideas and multiple hypocrisies of Warren and Vermont's Colonel Bernie Sanders can really get the attention they deserve.


Unseen
Obama is President Pariah in these final weeks of the 2014 midterms. Vulnerable Democratic candidates don’t want to be seen with him. Three Democratic senators have run ads distancing themselves from him, and Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic Senate candidate in Kentucky, has refused — absurdly — to say whether she voted for Obama. Obama’s support is 40 percent nationally and lower in the Republican states where many of this year’s competitive races are taking place. (Washington Post, 10/20/2014)

Tough column by Charles Krauthammer on Obama. Oh wait. It's not Krauthammer, it's Liberal Dana Milbank!


At Least
Democrats accuse the opposition of mindless obstructionism, deliberately sabotaging government, or at least tearing down belief in it, out of ideological fervor and political ambition. (New York Times, 10/22/2014)

Mindless obstructionism, ignoring, of course, Harry Reid's refusal to bring ANYTHING up for a Senate vote. Now that is some kind of obstructionism!


Instinctual
Although we believe that the president has many progressive instincts, he has shown an inclination to seek consensus rather than to fight. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 10/21/2014)

Kat is disturbed that Obama sometimes seeks consensus. Funny, when Republicans are in charge all Liberals can talk about is the need for consensus. 

Belief System

Avoidance
If we withdrew from the Middle East, especially from Iraq; if we avoided new entanglements, such as in Syria; and if we engaged with our adversaries, such as Iran and Russia, the anti-American furies would subside and the world would be safer. We should nation-build at home, not overseas, and slash the defense budget accordingly.

Mr. Obama pursued this vision starting with his Inaugural Address and throughout his first term. He tried to "reset" relations with Russia by dismantling a missile-defense deal with Poland and the Czech Republic. He muted support for the democratic uprising in Iran in 2009 lest it upset the mullahs he needed for a nuclear weapons deal. 
...
One way to start undoing the damage would be to concede that Dick Cheney was right all along. (Wall Street Journal, 9/9/2014)

Of course, Liberals would jump off a bridge before conceding that Cheney was right. Instead we get Obama attributing the various meltdowns throughout the world to the power and influence of Facebook and Twitter. 

A Liberal, but loyal reader takes it further explaining that Bush initiated rapprochement with Putin and Russia and that Obama did not do anything about ISIS initially because they were U.S. allies. Which does not explain 1) why Obama and Hillary Clinton made such a big deal about a "reset" with Russia (why reset if you are continuing Bush's policy?); and, 2) if ISIS was an ally (a preposterous suggestion) why did Obama belittle them by calling the group wanna-be terrorists?


Other Worldly
The goal seemed more preparing the NATO alliance for a new Cold War with Russia than exploring how to make peace, even as Moscow was helping to bring about the cease-fire agreement.
...
The meeting was just the most recent disturbing example of how cavalierly and cynically the NATO leaders — including President Obama — have escalated tensions, while dismissing opportunities to bring the conflict to a reasonable conclusion quickly. Absent from the discussion in Wales, among other things, was any recognition of NATO members’ own roles in triggering the crisis.
...
There would not have been such a concerted Russian nationalist response to the crisis had the West not sowed the seeds of suspicion and mistrust over the past 18 years by growing NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe, in spite of the assurances that Russia ostensibly received from the George H.W. Bush administration that “NATO will not expand one inch to the east.” Russia clearly views NATO expansion not only as provocative but also as a betrayal of an agreement, and it perceives NATO’s push toward its borders as an act of aggression — and Western leaders know it. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 9/9/2014)

At last the long-awaited Katrina vanden Heuvel analysis of the Ukranian-Russian conflict. 

Conclusion? 

It is all the fault of the West! Yes, you read that correctly and - as best as we can tell - it is not meant to be satirical. In the world that vanden Heuvel lives, the threat of NATO expansion provoked Russia into an unavoidable response and Russia gets credit for the tentative cessation of hostilities. Oh, and Bush Sr. is also somehow to blame.

vanden Heuvel is obviously making her bid to be named Vladimir Putin's favorite Western journalist. Right now, no one else comes close. Her only nit with Putin is the following:

"While there is no question that Russia at times has contributed to tensions in the region..."

And by "contributing to tensions" vanden Heuvel must mean Russia's armed annexation of Crimea.

Can journalists be fired for stupidity?

Quick! Who Still Thinks Obama is the Smartest Guy in the Room?

Doubtful
Hillary Clinton, in a sit-down interview with Fox News, suggested Tuesday that she had doubts from the outset about whether the Benghazi terror attack was triggered by a protest over an anti-Islam film -- though her State Department ended up pushing that narrative for days. (Foxnews.com, 6/17/2014)

So Hillary 'Inevitable' Clinton admits that all Republicans were right and all Democrats were wrong. Next thing you know, she will admit that there really never was a 'vast right wing conspiracy.'


Headline News from the New York Times
In Wichita, Koch Influence Is Revered and Reviled
Koch Group Forms ‘Super PAC’ as 2014 Races Near

The Koch Brothers share two of the top three headlines in the U.S. section of the online New York Times today. And just in case you missed it, the same headlines make up two of the top three listings in the Politics section.

Liberals despise the Koch Brothers and we cannot figure out why. The only reasons we can come up with are that they employ thousands of people and give millions of dollars to charity. Employing people and giving out largess are both functions that Liberals believe are the proper functions of government.

For the Times, from now until the mid-terms elections, it is going to be all Koch Brothers all the time with an occasional Sheldon Adelson thrown in.  How else to change the subject from the disaster that awaits Democrats?


Face Time
In the face of this threat, Mr. Obama is busy ushering America's adversaries into positions of power in the Middle East. First it was the Russians in Syria. Now, in a move that defies credulity, he toys with the idea of ushering Iran into Iraq. Only a fool would believe American policy in Iraq should be ceded to Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terror. (Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney, Wall Street Journal, 6/18/2014)

A lovable, if misguided Liberal blogger friend asks: why would we NOT talk to the Iranians? 

Answer above.

Answer (also) below:

Such is America's strategic disarray in Iraq that the Obama Administration has come up with a new version of an old idea—court Iran as an ally. So in order to defeat Sunni extremists who want to form a potentially terrorist state, we are going to get in bed with a terrorist-sponsoring Shiite regime that wants to dominate the Middle East....This outreach to Iran smacks mostly of strategic desperation. It is what an Administration does when it realizes its policy has failed and the damage to U.S. interests is becoming too obvious to hide from the American public. (Wall Street Journal, 6/18/2014)


Equivalent
In the current cacophony of Washington, we must remember that there is no equivalence to be drawn between Bush’s 2003 decision to invade Iraq and Obama’s 2011 decision to withdraw U.S. troops. Bush’s invasion, after all, was not just a mistake. At best a fool’s errand, at worst a criminal act, this great blunder helped set the stage for Iraq’s chaos today. The increased sectarian violence stems not from the 2011 withdrawal; rather, it is the fruit of the 2003 invasion, subsequent occupation and much-vaunted “surge” of 2007–08. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 6/16/2014)

Katrina 'Always Wrong, Never in Doubt' vanden Heuvel says that no one who was in favor of the Iraq War is allowed to comment on what is happening now in Iraq. Well, that eliminates Hillary Clinton and a lot of other Democrats. Further, in order to preserve her fantasy that everything Bush did was wrong and everything Obama did is right, she gives us this whopper: the current situation is a result of the 2003 invasion. If we recall correctly, the results of such invasion were Saddam Hussein being toppled, Baghdad being secured and democratic elections being held. All of which dates to ten or eleven years ago. Now - a mere three years after President Feckless cut and ran, squandering all gains, sectarian violence breaks out and Baghdad is threatened. But it's Bush's fault!  Which is what you would think if you were completely deranged. 


Stuck
Marijuana can be ingested in a tincture, capsule and vaporized form. But the issue of smoking, which advocates for the drug’s medical benefits say is often the most efficacious and controllable method of use, has become a major sticking point.

“Smoking needs to be an option for people,” said State Senator Diane J. Savino, a Democrat representing parts of Staten Island and the bill’s sponsor in that chamber. “And we’re going to hold to that.” (New York Times, 6/18/2014)

Liberals sued tobacco manufacturers for billions because people inhaled. Inhaling dope is perfectly fine to Liberals, however. In fact, it is preferable.

Beast at Bay

Run Away
If Sen. Bernie Sanders runs for president he could have support from former Gov. Howard Dean.

Dean says right now he is backing Hillary Clinton if she decides to run in 2016. But he said if Sanders got in the race, he'd have to consider supporting the home state candidate.

Sanders says he is 99 percent sure he would not run, but has left the door open, saying there needs to be more focus on the disappearing middle class. (WCAX.com, 11/12/2013)

Oh come on now, Bernie, run! Do not deny the American people the circus that would be a Sanders presidential bid. 

Of course, Dean's motivation is suspect. No doubt he wants to lose the label he now has of "that moonbat candidate from Vermont."


Miami Heat
President Obama appears to have remained overnight in Miami – incurring extra costs for taxpayers – just to play golf in the Florida sunshine.
...
There are no official events on his schedule today, golf seemingly his primary duty. He’ll depart Miami for Washington at 3:25 pm.

This marks the 150th time Obama has played golf as president, and the 39th time this year. (Whitehousedossier.com, 11/9/2013)

Not to worry, Obama has ordered a "tech surge" to fix Healthcare.gov. Thereby freeing himself up to hit the links!

(Great website, by the way.)


Due and Unpaid
All told, about 210,000 people have signed up, about 155,000 for Medicaid and 55,000 others for private insurance plans. Those numbers include people who have picked a plan but have not necessarily paid their first premium, which is not due for another month.

In addition, Oregon has signed up more than 70,000 people for the Medicaid expansion through a “fast-track” program that does not rely on the exchange. And Maryland will automatically enroll more than 80,000 newly eligible people in Medicaid in January. (NYT, 11/13/2013)

It's really Obamacaid, not Obamacare, isn't it?


Side Split
The split between lawmakers and the White House reflects the dilemma the president finds himself in as he seeks to follow through on last week’s acknowledgment about his incorrect promise on health care coverage. (NYT, 11/13/2013)

New York Times Style Book: Republicans flip-flop, Democrats evolve; Republicans lie, Democrats make incorrect promises.


Personal Beliefs
“I personally believe even if it takes a change in the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got,” Mr. Clinton said in the interview, published by Ozy, a web magazine. (NYT, 11/13/2013)

RedStateVT told you - just a week or so ago - that Bill Clinton would get his payback for Obama's slights. We had no idea, however, that it would happen so quickly!


Derivations
Many of the rigged rules derive directly from the Wall Street wing of the (Democrat) party, personified by Robert Rubin, former head of Goldman Sachs who served as Clinton’s economic guru and Treasury secretary. Rubin peddled the bankers’ creed: financial deregulation, fiscal austerity, capital gain tax cuts, corporate globalization, flexible (read anti-union) labor markets, combined with public solicitude for the poor, trumped always by limited budgets. Celebrated during the Clinton years, the combination proved a toxic brew that led directly to the financial wilding that blew up the economy. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 11/12/2013)

Liberals have been telling us for years - years! - that it was George Bush (and maybe Mitt Romney) who were responsible for blowing up the U.S. economy. Now one of their own 'fesses up: it was Bill Clinton. This is earth-shattering news. 


Dog Days
Call of Duty: Ghosts, developed for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC, is rated M (Mature, for players 17 and older) for throat knifings, profanity and a dog that feasts on human necks. (NYT, 11/6/2013)

Just keeping readers up-to-date on the latest in video games. 

Repeat after us: video games do not lead to violence, video games do not lead to violence....


Possibilities
Lady Gaga said she was addicted to marijuana in an interview with Elvis Duran on the Z100 Morning Show on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013, and that she decided to speak about it so young people are aware that addiction to the drug is possible. (WSJ, 11/13/2013)

Uh, Governor Shumlin? Governor Peter Shumlin? Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont? Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont whose signature legislative accomplishment is the decriminalization of dope?

The Fever Swamps

Refusniks
Obamacare is such a disaster that the people who wrote it refuse to live under it themselves. That's right, Congress won a waiver from Obamacare. 

Responding to the people's will, House Republicans first voted to fund all of government -- except Obamacare. Obama refused to negotiate and Senate Democrats refused to pass it. 

Then the Republicans voted to fully fund the government, but merely delay the implementation of Obamacare for one year. Obama refused to negotiate and Senate Democrats refused to pass it. 

Finally, the Republicans voted to fully fund the government, but added a requirement that everyone live under Obamacare. No more special waivers for Congress and their staff, and no waivers for big business without the same waivers for individuals. 

Obama refused to negotiate and Senate Democrats refused to pass it. So as you can see, Republicans are the big holdup here. (AnnCoulter.com, 10/9/2013)

The official response issued jointly by the Obama administration and the office of Senator Harry Reid is as follows:

"Ted Cruz...hostage-takers...anarchists...Ted Cruz...Ted Cruz...blackmail...Ted Cruz."


Crash Test
The administration claims the Obamacare online exchanges crashed because the Web site got more than 8 million hits in the first week. Please. You know how many people visit Amazon.com every week? More than 70 million. The difference is: 1.) Amazon seldom crashes, and 2.) on Amazon, people actually buy something. (Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post, 10/14/2013)

And yet somehow Kathleen Sebelius continues to have a job.

(Killer point by Thiessen.)


Tipped Off
But ObamaCare is the tipping point, the tea party believes. Unless the law is defunded, the land of limited government, individual liberty and personal responsibility will be gone forever, and the new America, dominated by dependent minorities who assert their "rights" without accepting their responsibilities, will have no place for people like them.

For the tea party, ObamaCare is much more than a policy dispute; it is an existential struggle. (William A. Galston, WSJ, 10/15/2013)

You may love the tea party, you may hate it, but you need to understand it.


What's for Lunch?
ObamaCare promised a free lunch: universal (or near-universal) coverage at lower cost without any diminution of quality or choice. It's a perpetual-motion machine. But even the Supreme Court can't strike down the laws of physics. If a large number of people benefit from ObamaCare--itself a big if--somebody has to pay. Much of the burden was supposed to fall on young, healthy people, who frequently do not have medical insurance. To compensate for price controls on premiums for patients with pre-existing conditions, their premiums would be jacked up. Somehow higher prices are supposed to induce them to get insured. (James Taranto, WSJ, 10/15/2013)

And you were cynical about today's youth!

(Killer point by Taranto.)


Threat Level
In response, Republicans threatened to default on America’s debts to force agreement on the Budget Control Act, which cut nearly $1 trillion in spending over 10 years with no tax increases. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 10/15/2013)

Trying to find the logic in a vanden Heuvel column is like...well, don't bother. The whole point of Republican spending cuts is to cut spending. It is not to cut spending and then raise more revenue so that spending cuts could be reversed. As RedStateVT has said a thousand times, the Liberal answer is ALWAYS taxes, more taxes.

Read the Omens

Theater of the Absurd
This latest round of hunger strikes isn’t an international human rights tragedy. It’s another manipulative act of Jihad Theater. (MichelleMalkin.com, 7/10/2013)

Great comment from the great Malkin on Gitmo hunger strikes. Do American Liberal jihadist sympathizers think that we are NOT being manipulated?


Transformative
....now is the time to invest in job creation and rebuild the country’s crumbling infrastructure. We could listen to 72 percent of the country and put unemployed Americans to work on government-funded projects to shore up aging bridges, roadways, and schools. President Obama and others have proposed a passel of infrastructure legislation that could put people back to work and transform our nation’s landscape. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 7/10/2013)

Liberal dingbat vanden Heuvel actually raises a good point: why no focus on high unemployment? Then she finds familiar ground: off the rails. Of course, the problem is Republicans.

vanden Heuvel wants to put all the laid off businessmen and unemployed college graduates to work....fixing bridges. 

We weep at the brilliance.

Counting the Broken Ties

Misunderstood
The Internal Revenue Service, according to an inspector general’s report, was not reacting to political pressure or ideology when it singled out conservative groups for special scrutiny in evaluating requests for tax exemptions. It acted inappropriately because employees couldn't understand inadequate guidelines. (New York Times editorial, 5/16/2013)

Such guidelines which said to scrutinize conservative groups? No ideological issue there, huh?

The utter lack of curiosity by the Legitimate Media about the Obama Scandals (we are trademarking that one, too) is truly astounding. The same media, for example, which spilled endless ink over two fruitcakes like Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame is suddenly maxed out on Benghazi and the IRS. Everyday they confirm what conservatives say about a biased media.

Of course the real goal of Republicans - the Times tells - us is stopping Obama's agenda. Exactly.


Remote Control 
It is not even remotely possible that all this was an accident, a mistake. Again, only conservative groups were targeted, not liberal. It is not even remotely possible that only one IRS office was involved. Lois Lerner, who oversees tax-exempt groups for the IRS, was the person who finally acknowledged, under pressure of a looming investigative report, some of what the IRS was doing. She told reporters the actions were the work of "frontline people" in Cincinnati. But other offices were involved, including Washington. It is not even remotely possible the actions were the work of just a few agents. This was more systemic. It was an operation. The word was out: Get the Democratic Party's foes. It is not remotely possible nobody in the IRS knew what was going on until very recently. The Washington Post reported efforts to target the conservative groups reached the highest levels of the agency by May 2012—far earlier than the agency had acknowledged. Reuters reported high-level IRS officials, including its chief counsel, knew in August 2011 about the targeting. (Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 4/16/2013)

Liberal astonishment that Republicans have jumped on the Obama Scandals(tm)  does not pass "the shoe on the other foot test." Would Bush's IRS targeting Media Matters raise the ire of Dems? Of course it would.


Back-to-Back
One tactic was to misrepresent the Benghazi attack, lest it undermine his narrative about taming terrorism. Does anyone think the administration’s purpose in manufacturing 12 iterations of the talking points was to make them more accurate? (George Will, Washington Post, 5/16/2013)

Four days after the IRS announced that it discriminated against conservative organizations, Carney said repeatedly in his daily briefing that, if true, the president would be outraged. If? By then, the IRS had not only admitted the grievous misconduct but apologized for it — and the president was speaking in the conditional. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 5/16/2013)

Conservatives have the brilliance of Will and Krauthammer. Liberals have Dionne and vanden Heuvel. We like our team's chances. 

Motionless

Stoner Shums
In the hamlet of Essex Junction, Vermont we hear of a backlash against the proposed opening of a smoking accessories shop wherein a variety of smoking-related paraphernalia would be sold. Some call these "head shops." So will Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin - who famously offered to be a spokesperson for NORML - support the beleaguered proprietor? If not, why not? This is what he has wrought after all. 


Laugh Track
Yes, we need to reform Social Security, but the reform should increase, not cut the income support that millions rely on. In an important political blueprint for sensible reform released by the New American Foundation, Michael Lind, Steven Hill, Robert Hiltonsmith and Joshua Freedman call for adding a supplement to Social Security that would guarantee all retirees about 60 percent of their average wage in retirement (similar to that of most other developed nations). (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 4/9/2013)

Why do we do it? We vow to ignore vanden Heuvel and we always break our promise. After considerable reflection (and therapy) we had an epiphany. We return for the yucks. Proving the old maxim about Liberals that if something is not working, double down, vanden Heuvel argues for MORE Social Security. How to pay for it? Tax the rich! We have many dear friends (and loyal readers) who are actuaries and quantitative analysts. We'll call upon them to do the math here. Not to pre-judge the conclusion, but our educated guess is that you could confiscate all the Buffet, Koch and Soros wealth and not fund a 60% social security benefit for more than one month. 

But thanks to vanden Heuvel for the laugh.


Valued
The first World Trade Center bombing, in 1993, al Qaeda attacks on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, on the USS Cole in 2000, the 9/11 attacks, and those in the dozen years since—all were fueled by Islamist hatred for the U.S. and its values.

There are Muslim organizations in this country, such as the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, headed by Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, that speak out bravely against that totalitarian ideology. They receive no shout-out at presidential speeches; no outreach is extended to them. (Michael B. Mukasey, WSJ, 4/21/2013)

Follow-up to yesterday's post about Muslims who speak out against violence. Glad to hear of this organization. Why does Obama not host them at the White House?


Media Mash
Other than financing a few fringe libertarian publications, the Kochs have mostly avoided media investments. Now, Koch Industries, the sprawling private company of which Charles G. Koch serves as chairman and chief executive, is exploring a bid to buy the Tribune Company’s eight regional newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Orlando Sentinel and The Hartford Courant. (NYT, 4/20/2013)

Lots of interest in the Koch brothers media strategy. Next up: an investigative journalism piece from the Times about the media strategy of George Soros. Just kidding!


Twit
Anthony Weiner is back on Twitter. The former congressman and potential candidate for mayor  began posting messages Monday on a new account on the social networking site that played a key role in his high-profile downfall two years ago. (WSJ, 4/22/2013)

Weiner will apparently maintain two Twitter accounts. The new account will be geared toward his potential campaign for mayor of NYC. His original Twitter account will remain active and be the one on which he sends pictures of his private parts to women. 

The Context of the Time

Labyrinthine
Two recent oil pipeline spills have prompted new criticism from opponents of the proposed Keystone XL project, while raising more questions about whether the federal government is adequately monitoring the nation’s vast labyrinth of pipelines. (NYT, 4/2/2013)

Here's the thing: pipelines will leak, ships will sink, cars will break down, walls will crumble, storms will wreak damage. Man-made devices will fail and nature will deliver unexpected results. It is the way of the world. When disasters - human and natural - occur, man reacts and recovers. Notwithstanding, Liberals would deny the U.S. a friendly source of energy. 


Puzzle Pieces
President Obama has been telling America for months that special tax breaks for the oil and gas industry must come to an end. The presidential demand always prompts puzzled gazes among tax and energy-industry experts, who ask: What special tax breaks? (Merrill Matthews, WSJ, 4/2/2013)

We are reminded of that wonderful moment during the recent presidential campaign when - after repeated battering from Obama - Mitt Romney said....."tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas? I've been in business for forty years and I have no idea what you are talking about!"

Tax breaks for oil and gas? Turns out to be another Liberal myth. 


Unhealthy
And now, with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and others calling for a federal Healthy Families Act that would establish national sick day standards, that movement has a chance to sweep the entire country.

America has reached a tipping point, and we’re sick of waiting. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 4/2/2013)

Coming to American business soon: The Healthy Families Act! Liberals can't understand why U.S. businesses move as many jobs as they can overseas even as they layer more and more mandates on them. Pelosi follows Liberal tradition in giving an uplifting name to her bill (how could mean Repubs vote against healthy families?) just as vanden Heuvel justifies it by describing the plight of some poor sad sack who was allegedly fired for calling in sick. Why do we suspect a hoax? Well because no tort attorney appears to have stepped forward to represent our victim for wrongful termination.