Create Your Own Foreign Policy Reality

Declare Victory 
“This is an attempt to come up with an Obama doctrine that looks at how do we think about the world now that the war against the Taliban and its allies is won,” said Peter L. Bergen, a national security scholar at the New America Foundation and one of several foreign policy specialists invited to lunch with Mr. Obama this week. (New York Times, 5/29/2014)

Someone should get the news to the Islamofacists that they have been defeated. Apparently they do not know and hence, continue to blow things up and kill innocents.


The Veteo-er
And Mr. Brown, a Democrat and gun owner himself, has vetoed gun control legislation in the past, including bills last year that would have done more to limit the sale of semiautomatic rifles and further limited gun ownership. (New York Times, 5/29/2014)

Who would have thought it? Governor Jerry Brown, the original moonbat, is packing heat!


Considerations
Edward J. Snowden said that he still considered himself to be an American patriot even after leaking thousands of classified documents, and that he was frustrated to be “stuck in a place” — Russia — that did so little to protect individual rights when he was trying to help protect American freedoms. (New York Times, 5/28/2014)

Finding Russia to be less the free and open country that he imagined, Snowden longs to return home. Humbly he says “I’m not going to give myself a parade.” So here is a perfect opportunity for Obama to patch up his rift with Vlad "the Impaler" Putin. He should convince Putin to relocate Snowden to Siberia for say, five years, before returning this "American patriot" back to face justice in the country he claims to love. 

Imperial Templates

Obama Motors
With a full battery charge, the ELR has an E.P.A.-estimated driving range of 37 miles — roughly the average American round-trip commute — in all-electric mode. That charge takes from 12.5 to 18 hours with a standard 120-volt outlet, and about five hours at 240 volts. (New York Times, 5/9/2014)

Liberals' favorite car company announces the Cadillac ELR. You read that right, it can go 37 miles on one charge. Which takes one-half day. 

Why can't conservatives get behind these wonderful green energy initiatives?


Sound the Trumpets
President Barack Obama on Friday trumpeted new executive actions and public- and private-sector commitments aimed at cutting carbon pollution and improving energy efficiency, saying that climate change is real and must be addressed now.

In a speech at a Wal-Mart store in Mountain View, Calif., the president laid out a list of clean-energy objectives he can accomplish without Congress's help and touted corporate pledges to expand the deployment of solar power. He lamented the lack of cooperation from lawmakers on clean-energy issues but said he would make sure the federal government does its part. (Wall Street Journal, 5/9/2014)

No humility, none at all when it comes to wasting more taxpayer dollars on these green energy sinkholes. Obama and his Legitimate Media sycophants do not even remember what Solyndra was all about. 


Dress Rehearsal
The reasons Benghazi is important do not have to be rehearsed here. An American outpost, virtually undefended, was attacked by armed and organized al Qaeda-associated militants on the anniversary of 9/11 and four were left dead, including the U.S. ambassador. It happened eight weeks before the 2012 presidential election. From day one White House management and leadership focused on spin and an apparent fiction. Did they deliberately mislead and misdirect? Why was there no military response? Who is responsible? (Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, 5/9/2014)

Good piece by Noonan which is incorrect only in the first line above. Democrats apparently do have to be reminded. 


Neither Nor
Yet others—until now not often quoted in news accounts—see Mr. Snowden as neither a hero nor a whistleblower. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified to the House Armed Services Committee on March 13, 2014, that "The vast majority of the documents that Snowden . . . exfiltrated from our highest levels of security had nothing to do with exposing government oversight of domestic activities." (Edward Jay Epstein, Wall Street Journal, 5/9/2014)

Epstein posits that the Snowden case is really more about espionage. We were fascinated to learn the information above: the bulk of what Snowden stole were national security secrets. Which means that when we get him back in the U.S. and he is tried and found guilty, the proper sentence is either life imprisonment...or execution. We would support either. 

Rich in Disasters

It's Official
Breitbart News and others have chronicled the "Unmatched failure" that Cover Oregon has now officially become. As was pointed out on March 20 of this year, "The Oregon Obamacare exchange has received $305 million in taxpayer-funded federal grants, spent $160 million on its busted website, dropped $10 million on hipster promotional ads, erroneously enrolled 4,000 illegal immigrants in full Oregon Health Plan coverage contrary to federal law, and has not enrolled a single Oregonian online." (Breitbart.com, 4/24/2014)

There certainly is something to be said about Liberals, isn't there? Massive waste of taxpayer dollars for failed ventures such as Solyndra and Cover Oregon does not faze them one bit. Of course, it does not hurt that it is tax dollars from wealthy Republican 1%ers that are financing all their wacky social experiments. 


Preppers
DC Prep operates four charter schools here with 1,200 students in preschool through eighth grade. The schools, whose students are mostly poor and black, are among the highest performing in Washington. Last year, DC Prep’s flagship middle school earned the best test scores among local charter schools, far outperforming the average of the city’s traditional neighborhood schools as well. (New York Times, 4/26/2014)

Liberals - who claim to have the interests of poor, inner-city minorities at heart - really do not. As the following demonstrates:

In Washington, where the charter system has strong backing in City Hall, supporters have been more successful than in New York, where opposition from teachers unions and others has kept charter school enrollment to about 6 percent, despite growth in the past decade. (New York Times, 4/26/2014)

Liberals hypocrites would rather suppress charter schools in order to keep teachers union contributions flowing to the Democrat party. 


No Horns
Upon the latest exasperating delay of the Keystone XL pipeline project, our union — the Laborers’ International Union of North America — suggested that the Obama administration grow a set of antlers or take a lesson from Popeye and eat some spinach.

After all, the evidence points to federal approval of the pipeline. After nearly six years of delay, thousands of pages of research, five environmental impact statements confirming the evidence and millions of public comments, a pipeline that could put thousands of Americans to work and help ensure our nation’s energy security remains stalled.

The evidence is clear: It’s the politics that are tricky. And that’s where courage comes in. (Terry O’Sullivan, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), Wall Street Journal, 4/24/2014)

OK, Mr. O'Sullivan, well said. Now is your union going to do the right thing and vote Republican? Nothing changes if you do not....


Prospective
But with the prospect of an even higher office on the horizon, Mr. Walker finds his earlier track record under increasing scrutiny, not only for how closely it hews to conservative principles but also for the criminal convictions of some staff members and the release of staff emails that included racial and ethnic slurs. (New York Times, 4/27/2014)

In its ongoing series - Roughing Up Potential GOP Presidential Candidates - the Times pivots away from Chris Christie to begin the smear job on Scott Walker. Up next on the Dem side: Hillary and Chelsea go shopping for baby clothes!


Attention Deficit
The Vermont Workers Center is holding a demonstration at the Vermont Statehouse on May 1 to bring attention to “fundamental rights,” namely universal health care, paid sick leave, affordable housing, better educational opportunities and livable wages for working class Vermonters.

In a post on the organization’s website, the center says lawmakers and the Shumlin administration are not paying enough attention to the problems of low-income Vermonters.

“Over the past year, we have seen these needs and rights come under attack,” Vermont Workers Center officials write. “Decisions are being made that will affect our lives for years to come, and we aren’t given a seat at the table.”

More than 25 local organizations are sponsoring the May 1 event, including several environmental groups, health care advocacy organizations, disability rights groups and unions. (VTDigger.org, 4/27/2014)

So to summarize: the Vermont Workers Center (communists) is unhappy with Vermont Progressives (socialists). 

The workers/communists want more freebies paid for by others.


Labeled
“Snowden is interested in returning home,” said Ben Wizner, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who also represents Mr. Snowden. “He is and always has been on America’s side. He would cooperate in extraordinary ways in the right circumstances. But he does not believe that the ‘felon’ label is the right word for someone whose act of conscience has revitalized democratic oversight of the intelligence community and is leading to historic reforms.” (New York Times, 4/29/2014)

Suggestion. Let's let 'Snowden the patriot' stew for a couple more years in Russia before bringing him back to the U.S. where he can serve his life sentence. 

Avoid Disappointment and Future Regret!

Snow Day
Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community. (New York Times editorial, 1/2/2013)

And so the New York Times finally comes clean and reveals itself as not just far Left, but as anti-American. Edward Snowden engaged in traitorous acts and the Times declares that "he has done his country a great service." Accordingly, with the moral relativism that only Liberals can conjure, the Times suggests for Snowden a slap on the wrist...and a parade.


Beastly
President Clinton, who swore in the new mayor, deregulated the financial industry, and possibly helped to unleash the animal spirits that led to the recent Great Recession. (New York Times, 1/2/2013)

The far Left New York Times says it so it must be true. 

George Bush and will now accept all apologies.


Kinship
More broadly, the new mayor’s speech underlines that those conservatives who cast a querulous eye and accuse New York City of floating closer to Europe than to North America are not entirely mistaken. It can seem more akin to a Social Democratic nation-state than to a typical American city. (New York Times, 1/2/2013)

Prediction? By the time Sub-Commander Bill de Blasio is done, it will be - New York City: meet Detroit. 


Grandiose
Mr. de Blasio’s hopes are grand. “When I said we would take dead aim at the Tale of Two Cities, I meant it,” he said. “And we will do it.” (New York Times, 1/2/2014)

Sub-Commander Bill needs to go back and read his Dickens. The two cities of his novel were London and Paris, the latter depicted during the time of the French Revolution which overthrew the monarchy. Undoubtedly de Blasio likes the analogy of the people taking power from the elites. After all that is essentially what his campaign was all about. Read (or re-read) the book to learn of the horrors that occurred AFTER the revolution when the people controlled the jails...and the guillotines. 


High Times
They lined up before dawn and in the snow on Wednesday, baby boomers from Nebraska, retirees from Denver and a young man who had driven all day from Ohio. Some were longtime marijuana users. Some had been arrested for marijuana possession.

They were among the hundreds of tourists and residents across Colorado who eagerly took part in the country’s first-ever sales of state-regulated recreational marijuana. (New York Times, 1/1/2014)

And so, little by little America dies.


Silver Lining
Ms. Hornbach, who has had breast cancer and retired early from the technology industry, said that insurance companies in Arizona had refused to cover her until about two years ago, when she got a policy with monthly premiums of $285 and a deductible of $5,500 a year. Last month, using the federal insurance exchange, she bought a midlevel silver plan with lower premiums and deductible. (New York Times, 1/2/2014)

We wish Ms. Hornbach nothing but the best.

We also note that she bought a silver level plan which makes her eligible for generous government subsidies. The New York Times does not explore this because to do so would undermine the puff piece they wanted to write on the wonders of Obamacare.

The Overhanging Sky

If it Quacks Like a Duck
The Phil Robertson controversy follows a similar pattern, indeed it is engraved in the playbook of the Gay Thought Police (GTP). Find a Christian target. It could be a politician, a celebrity, a businessman, an athlete or some other public figure. Ask them what they think about homosexuality. Then express outrage when they give you an honest answer. It has happened so many times that it is predictably boring. The difference this time is that the non-gay public, and frankly some thoughtful gay people as well, have had enough. 

We again implore everyone to adopt the RedStateVT philosophy which goes like this: 

Everyone is entitled to love who they love.
Everyone should stop talking about their sexuality. 


Conspicuous
After the Newtown killings a year ago, state legislatures across the country debated measures that would have more strictly limited the gun rights of those with mental illness. But most of the bills failed amid resistance from both the gun lobby and mental health advocates concerned about unfairly stigmatizing people. In Washington, discussion of new mental health restrictions was conspicuously absent from the federal gun control debate. (New York Times, 12/22/2013)

Because, God forbid, we do not want to stigmatize mentally ill people who may become violent.

And if the gun lobby truly did resist efforts at restricting access to gun by the mentally ill then shame on them. 


The Democrat Philosophy
Democrats Work to Raise Number of Female Governors (New York Times headline, 12/22/2013)

Here it is in eight words. 

Not let's find competent governors. Not let's find qualified governors. Not let's find experienced governors. 

No, let's find women governors. Because it is all about identity politics with Democrats. Hence, Hillary Clinton is already a front-runner. Another box to be checked. 


Repetition
Union cash helps elect politicians who then reward the unions with higher pay and benefits. The cycle repeats until taxes become destructive and spending is unaffordable. Exhibit A is Detroit. But some 38 local governments have filed for bankruptcy since 2010, "largely because of out-of-control pension costs," Mr. Bloomberg said. (Wall Street Journal, 12/20/2013)

Well stated.


Slammin' It!
MSNBC hosts David Gregory and Chris Matthews slammed the nomination of Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) to Ambassador to China Friday afternoon.

Meet the Press host David Gregory characterized the choice as “curious” considering Baucus’s lack of foreign policy experience and the immense security challenges the United States faces with China. (Freebeacon.com, 12/20/2013)

And we know that Gregory and Matthews are sincere because they similarly criticized the choice of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. Clinton who - like Baucus - had no foreign policy experience. 

Or are we remembering that wrong?


Significance
Suzy K. Johnson, who is president of Employee Benefit Advisors, an insurance brokerage firm in North Carolina, said HealthCare.gov had been working smoothly for her clients. “The website is working, and many are getting significant subsidies,” she said. By midday, she said, her office had helped six people sign up for coverage. (New York Times, 12/24/2013)

How exciting! Many are getting "significant subsidies." 

Question: Where do these subsidies come from?
Is it from a) The Magic Government Money Machine, or b) Money collected from taxpayers?


Lesser
The president opted for a bronze plan, one of the less expensive options on the HealthCare.gov site. (New York Times, 12/24/2013)

Curious that Obama shopped price. Which frankly is what most people will be forced to do given the sky high premiums. Most people that are not having their health insurance paid for through subsidies, i.e. from taxpayers. 


Snow Job
During more than 14 hours of interviews in Russia, the former NSA contractor reflected on the roots and repercussions of his decision to go public with caches of top secret documents. By his own terms, Snowden succeeded beyond plausible ambition. The NSA now faces scrutiny it has not endured since the 1970s, or perhaps ever.

“For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished,” Snowden told The Post’s Barton Gellman. “I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself. (Washington Post, 12/23/2013)

Hey, Snowden. You know what isn't finished? Your life sentence once you step back on American soil!

Forced Error

North Carolina
But with Republicans controlling all branches of the state government for the first time in more than a century, the legislature pushed through a wide range of conservative change. The Republicans not only cut taxes and business regulations, as many had expected, but also allowed stricter regulations on abortion clinics, ended teacher tenure, blocked the expansion of Medicaid, cut unemployment benefits, removed obstacles to the death penalty, allowed concealed guns in bars and restaurants, and mandated the teaching of cursive writing. (NYT, 8/13/2013)

Vermont
But with Progressives controlling all branches of state government, the legislature pushed through a wide range of Liberal change. Progressives raised taxes, decriminalized marijuana, put the state on a path toward single payer healthcare, legalized assisted suicide and enacted draconian energy policies. (RedStateVT.blogspot.com, 8/14/2013)


Echoes
Soon after the 10th anniversary of the foundation bearing his name, Bill Clinton met with a small group of aides and two lawyers from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Two weeks of interviews with Clinton Foundation executives and former employees had led the lawyers to some unsettling conclusions.

The review echoed criticism of Mr. Clinton’s early years in the White House: For all of its successes, the Clinton Foundation had become a sprawling concern, supervised by a rotating board of old Clinton hands, vulnerable to distraction and threatened by conflicts of interest. It ran multimillion-dollar deficits for several years, despite vast amounts of money flowing in. (NYT, 8/13/2013)

Whitewater. Just saying.....


Authenticity
To make a second impression, Snowden would need to come home, make his case and face his accusers. It would mean risking a lengthy jail term, but also trusting the fair-mindedness of the American people, who, I believe, will not allow an authentic whistle-blower to be unfairly punished. (Thomas L. Friedman, NYT, 8/13/2013)

And so we have the Liberal viewpoint: Snowden is an "authentic" whistle-blower. Even Obama would not cop to that.

Ghost of a Chance

Personalities
Andrei A. Piontovsky, a political analyst, said the cancellation underscored a visceral personal enmity between the two leaders. “Putin openly despises your president, forgive my bluntness,” he said.

He added that Russia sensed weakness in Mr. Obama that could lead to more dangerous confrontations. (NYT, 8/7/2013)

Liberals were forever bemoaning the way Republican presidents like Reagan and Bush (41/43) conducted foreign policy. Cowboys, they were said to be and not in any good way. Well cowboys or not, at least they were respected and even feared a bit by America's enemies and rivals. And that is much better (and safer) for America then to be perceived as weak.


Granted
Colonel Lind reduced the maximum sentence facing Private Manning to 90 years from 136 years on Tuesday, granting part of a request from the defense team and acknowledging the similarities between some of Private Manning’s charges. (NYT, 8/8/2013)

More proof that the military has gone soft.


Thought Process
"No, I don't think Mr. Snowden was a patriot," Obama said. (Huffington Post, 8/9/2013)

Well thank God for that. The bigger tragedy, of course, is that any American would ever even consider Snowden anything other than a traitor. 


Hard Rein
Warning of the fiscal danger if New York City fails to rein in its spiraling pension and health care costs, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday challenged his would-be successors to take a tough line in negotiations with the city’s unions, while worrying aloud that whoever is elected will be too beholden to labor. 
....
Over the course of Mr. Bloomberg’s three terms in office, the city’s annual pension costs have increased from $1.4 billion to more than $8 billion as a result of raises, pension sweeteners and a growing number of retirees, while health care spending has swelled to $6.3 billion. The city also has $85 billion in unfunded liabilities for future retiree health care benefits. (NYT, 8/6/2013)

On the way out the door, Bloomberg cautions about New York City becoming the next Detroit. Which begs the question why he was not more effective during his three terms. Prediction: NYC's next mayor will cave to the unions. 

Reprise

Expectations
America’s employers added 162,000 jobs in July, less than expected, as the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.4 percent. (NYT, 8/2/2013)

Unemployment falls to 7.4%. Previously it was 7.4%. More proof that Obama's economic plan is working.


Granted
President Obama is even less likely to go through with a visit to Moscow this fall after Russia’s decision on Thursday to grant Edward J. Snowden temporary asylum. For Mr. Obama, though, the Snowden affair is only one of myriad reasons to beg off the scheduled meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin. (NYT, 8/1/2013)

Putin gives asylum to Snowden. More proof that Obama's "reset" strategy with Russia is working.


Lapped
The overlapping lines that characterize the Clinton world set off questions, at times, about whose interests are being represented: For example, Ms. Abedin was permitted, while working at the State Department, to also work as a private consultant for a company linked to former President Clinton, for Mrs. Clinton in a privately paid role, and for the family’s foundation. (NYT, 8/1/2013)

So Danger Bird Weiner's wife - a federal government employee - also moonlighted at (if we have counted correctly) three other jobs. Nothing to see here folks....


R for Funny
“2 Guns” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Violence throughout, including a disturbing scene involving live chickens that’s both played for laughs and comes with a sharp, ethical jab. (NYT, 8/1/2013)

From the New York Times movie review of the hilarious new buddy movie "2 Guns." Those wacky Hollywood moviemakers are at it again! Of course, none of this will have an impact on society....

(RedStateVT note: Jared Loughner was 22; James Holmes are 24; Adam Lanza was 20.)

Dark Days

No Country For Traitors
President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela said Friday that he would offer asylum to the fugitive intelligence contractor Edward J. Snowden, who has been stranded in a Moscow airport searching for a safe haven. (NYT, 7/5/2013)

Excellent choice for Snowden! What with all the transparency in government that he favors......


The Wages of Sin
Eliot Spitzer, who resigned as governor of New York five years ago amid a prostitution scandal, is re-entering political life, with a run for the citywide office of comptroller and a wager that voters are ready to look past his previous misconduct. (NYT, 7/7/2013)

If you see us about town walking with a spring in our step, now you know why. Client #9 is back!

We'll reiterate that Republicans are mortified about Mark Sanford. Democrats welcome the return of Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer and lionize Bill Clinton. 


No Worries
In an effort to put President Obama’s health care program back on track, the White House has recruited Chris Jennings, a respected veteran of the Clinton administration, to join the Obama team as a health policy coordinator and strategist, the White House said on Sunday night.
....
Mr. Jennings was a registered lobbyist, but has not been one for a couple of years, so he would not have to worry about Obama administration restrictions on lobbyists joining the government. (NYT, 7/7/2013)

We got a laugh out of the hypocrisy here. Obama has spent half of his (admittedly short) political life railing against lobbyists.

We never quite understood the problem with lobbyists. In a representative democracy, groups hire individuals to promote their interests.


Less is Less
The controversy that erupted in May has focused on an ideological question: Were conservative groups singled out for special treatment based on their politics, or did the I.R.S. equally target liberal groups? But a closer look at the I.R.S. operation suggests that the problem was less about ideology and more about how a process instructing reviewers to "be on the lookout" for selected terms was applied to any group that mentioned certain words in its application (NYT, 7/4/2013)

The New York Times breaks its silence on the IRS scandal to conclude, well, it's not really a scandal after all.

This despite IRS officials invoking the Fifth Amendment and overwhelming evidence that conservative groups were targeted. Nothing to see here folks......


Ballot Box
But ballot initiatives on gay rights have overwhelmingly failed, aided by national groups that have run campaigns against them. And Democrats here have said that they do not want to put a civil rights matter on the ballot. (NYT, 7/2/2013)

A stunning - if unwitting - revelation by the Times. Democrats do not want to put gay marriage on the ballot....why? Well the obvious answer is that in many states where it has been voted on, it has been defeated. If the country was united across the board in favor, you could bet your last nickel that Democrats would push for the the issue to be on the ballot. We also loved the comment: "... aided by national groups that have run campaigns against." It makes us wonder why those in favor of gay marriage have not collected money, endorsed candidates who support their cause and run similar campaigns. 

What? They have?


Restricted
The North Carolina Senate gave its final approval Wednesday to legislation adding new restrictions for abortions in North Carolina, even as hundreds of angry protesters descended on the legislature to express their displeasure.
...
The updated bill also would prohibit gender-selective abortions, restrict abortion insurance coverage and require a physician to be physically present during an entire surgical abortion and when a woman takes an abortion-inducing drug such as RU-486. (Foxnews.com, 7/3/2013)

The pro-abortion crowd always says that they want abortion to be safe and legal. Sometimes they say they want it to be rare. But in reality, they only care that it is legal. Try to make it safer and rarer and they start screaming about the war on women......

Feathers Fall

Tipsy
He has revealed to a German newsmagazine that the NSA has been using data from Internet hubs in south and west Germany to monitor Internet traffic to Syria and Mali — two hotbeds of al-Qaeda activity — tipping off our enemies to these vital U.S. intelligence operations.

Of course, this is all in addition to broader leaks about details of two NSA spying programs — revelations that, according to the Associated Press, have U.S. intelligence agencies “scrambling to salvage their surveillance of al-Qaida and other terrorists who are working frantically to change how they communicate.” (Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post, 7/1/2013)

So for all the free speech - open government - no secrets crowd, how do you score this one? 

Aiding al Qaeda. 

We call it treason (as does Thiessen). Perhaps when homeless person Snowden gets back on U.S. soil we can get him a room. Right next to Bradley Manning. 


Full Disclosure
The Obama administration announced on Tuesday it would delay for a year, until 2015, the Affordable Care Act mandate that employers provide coverage for their workers or pay penalties, responding to business complaints and postponing the effective date beyond next year’s midterm elections. “We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” Mark J. Mazur, an assistant Treasury secretary, wrote on the department’s Web site in disclosing the delay. (NYT, 7/2/2013)

So the Obama administration - which did not listen to at least 50% of the country and steamrolled Obamacare - is now apparently in listening mode.

Don't be fooled. The key words above are "beyond next year's midterm elections." There is a healthcare crisis coming all right and Dems are petrified of what it will mean for the elections. 

Relentless Advance

Whistle Stop
In a new statement, the fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden said President Obama was employing “old, bad tools of political aggression’’ in his campaign to prevent Snowden from gaining political asylum. 

"Although I am convicted of nothing,’’ Snowden said, the Obama administration “has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person.’’ (Washington Post, 7/1/2013)

So taking a page from the Democrat playbook, Snowden announces that he is a victim. We prefer to think of him as something else. A traitor.


Count Down
New York Times IRS Scandal Article Count for the Day: Zero

New York Times Unemployment Rate Article Count for the Day: Zero

New York Times Gay-Themed Article Count for the Day: Six


Defiance
Mayor Michael Bloomberg answered his critics on Sunday with a defiant defense of his comments that the New York Police Department doesn't stop minorities often enough based on murder suspect descriptions.

"The numbers are the numbers, and the numbers clearly show that the stops are generally proportionate with suspects' descriptions and for years now critics have been trying to argue that minorities are stopped disproportionately," he said before the city's gay-pride march Sunday. "If you look at the crime numbers, that is just not true. The numbers don't lie." (WSJ, 6/30/2013)

We are not big fans of New York's Mayor Nanny Bloomberg, but he gets a RedStateVT tip o' the hat for standing up on the issue of profiling criminals. Yes, the numbers is the numbers!


Imperativo
Conservatism will flounder unless it remembers the imperative of addressing the interests of the many, not the few. (E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, 6/30/2013)

Dionne's ditty today is another one of those helpful columns that Liberals write in which they try to help Conservatives. Their advice typically runs to the need of Conservatives to embrace (pick one) abortion, gay marriage, higher taxes, socialized healthcare, drivers licenses for illegals...you get the picture. He ends by repeating the old canard above: Conservatives are so selfish, all they care about is themselves! It's a schoolyard taunt, devoid of any measure of reality. 

So we'll say it again. Conservatives want everyone to succeed. They want to create a society where anyone (even the mixed race child of an absentee father and a wanderlust mother) can achieve their dreams through hard work and perseverance. Liberals want to create their version of a just society by taking from the achievers and giving to the non-achievers. 

Rain Delay

Misused
On Thursday, federal regulators sued Mr. Corzine in connection with the collapse of the brokerage firm MF Global and apparent misuse of customer money during its final days. Mr. Corzine, a former United States senator and New Jersey governor, ran the firm until its bankruptcy in October 2011. (NYT, 6/27/2013)

After extensive investigation RedStateVT can report that former MF Global CEO, US senator and New Jersey governor Jon Corzine is, in fact, a Democrat. Undoubtedly the New York Times had not been able to determine that fact when this story went to press. In fact, Corzine is a Democrat and a 1%er.


Suppression
The number of homicides on record in New York City has dropped significantly during the first half of the year — to 154 from 202 in the same period last year — surprising even police officials who have long been accustomed to trumpeting declining crime rates in the city.
.....
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly attributed much of the drop to a new antigang strategy meant to suppress retaliatory violence among neighborhood gangs. Police officials also credited their efforts at identifying and monitoring abusive husbands whose behavior seemed poised to turn lethal. (NYT, 6/28/2013)

So by "identifying and monitoring" individuals who are likely to commit crimes, criminal activity can be lessened.

Geez, if only there were a way to apply that same strategy to terrorists....... Oh wait, there is, it's called "profiling" and law enforcement is not allowed to do it. That is why Granny gets strip-searched at the airport and Mohammad gets waved through. 


Chances Are
Though President Vladimir V. Putin said this week that “the sooner he chooses his final destination, the better for us and for him,” Mr. Snowden shows no sign of leaving.

The chance that Russia will turn him in has all but vanished, as evidenced by Thursday’s television programs, which were almost certainly produced under Kremlin orders and have a powerful effect on public opinion. Officials here have signaled an openness to granting him political asylum, and each passing day would seem to narrow Mr. Snowden’s options, giving the United States time to negotiate with Ecuador and Venezuela, other countries that may grant him asylum. (NYT, 6/28/2013)

Why is it that those who advocate for open government always end up in Russia, Cuba and Venezuela? All bastions of repression.