Power Play

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Riven Heart

Fact-based
The fact that Netanyahu felt compelled to speak directly to Congress in order to oppose the administration’s position speaks poorly, not of Netanyahu, but of Obama. If the leader of one of our closest allies is so worried about the deal Obama is going to cut with Iran that he is willing to risk a diplomatic rift with the administration to speak out, perhaps the problem is not with Israel, but with the Obama administration. And it is not just Israel that opposes Obama’s deal with Iran; Arab leaders have made clear that they share Israel’s view. (Marc Thiessen, Washington Post, 1/27/2015)

How, we wonder, is President Hillary Clinton going to handle Israel?  While she has always publicly supported Israel, the moonbat wing of the Democrat party has become increasingly anti-Israeli, favoring the peace-loving Palestinians (who lob missiles into Israel from schoolyards in Gaza). It is the same dilemma she faces as she attempts to reconcile her service on the Wal Mart Board of Directors with Speaking Bull Liz Warren's chants against corporate America. 
   

Dopes
Shumlin said he believes Vermont should legalize marijuana but has approached the topic carefully, waiting to take lessons from Colorado and Washington, which have authorized a retail marijuana market.

If Vermont lawmakers pursue legal marijuana, the regulatory system might not look like the set-up in Colorado or Washington. A lengthy report on the options was released Jan. 16.

The report, written by the Rand Corporation based in California, found that Vermont could reap millions of dollars of tax revenue by allowing a legal marijuana industry, but the highest tax revenues depend on becoming the first state in the Northeast to do so. (Burlington Free Press, 1/27/2015)

Well, the lessons from Colorado and Washington would lead any rational person to conclude that legalizing marijuana was a bad idea. Admitted ex-pothead Shumlin, however, cannot get beyond that additional tax revenue. Why it could even bring back single payer! Shummy would call that a win-win!


A Prayer
Oh, dear Lord above, I try not to ask for much, but if You could find it appropriate, please let the Democrats nominate Bernie Sanders to run for President. (Jazz Shaw, Hotair.com, 1/27/2015)

The conservative groundswell for Bernie Sanders to run for president (initiated by RedStateVT) continues to grow. Run Bernie, Run!

It would be great fun. 


Relent-less
President Obama, facing angry reprisals from parents and from lawmakers of both parties, will drop his proposal to end popular college savings accounts known as 529s....The decision came just hours after House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio demanded the proposal be withdrawn from the president’s budget, due out Monday, “for the sake of middle-class families.” But the call for the White House to relent also came from top Democrats, including Representatives Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority leader, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the ranking member of the Budget Committee. (New York Times, 1/27/2015)

When you have lost Nancy Pelosi, it is pretty much game over....

Did Obama the Mastermind really think this idea was going to fly?

Obama Bravely Confronts America's Biggest Problem: Cost of Community College

Fueled
Months of investigation by The New York Times, centered on extensive interviews with Libyans in Benghazi who had direct knowledge of the attack there and its context, turned up no evidence that Al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault. The attack was led, instead, by fighters who had benefited directly from NATO’s extensive air power and logistics support during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi. And contrary to claims by some members of Congress, it was fueled in large part by anger at an American-made video denigrating Islam. (New York Times, 1/15/2015)

We knew that The New York Times was heavily invested in Hillary Clinton for president. We just did not realize how much. The Times conducts an "investigation" and concludes that Hillary's hands are clean on Benghazi. Incredibly, absent any other excuse they revert to "the video made them do it." 

A video that no one saw. 

Of course, the Times must neutralize any potential threat to Hill. Henceforth, any time a Republican challenger brings up Benghazi, the Times will be able to refer to their own article as "proof" and accuse the Republican of deceit. This is how journalism works in a Liberal world.


Abstract Thinking
In the abstract, President Obama’s proposal for making community college tuition-free seems a reasonable response to a troublesome fact: The American work force is less educated than it needs to be at a time when most jobs in the new economy will require some college education. But for such an idea to work, states and localities that have been starving community colleges for decades will need to begin holding them to higher standards and commit to sustained financing instead of using the new federal money to dodge their own financial obligations....the preliminary plans released last week call for an estimated $60 billion in new spending over 10 years to help cover tuition and fees for full-time and half-time students who maintain a 2.5 grade point average — about a C-plus — and who make consistent progress toward completion. (New York Times editorial, 1/15/2015)

Catch the logic here! Editors at The Times demand that states need to hold community colleges to higher standards...and give them more money. Students, of course, will not be held to higher standards. A C+ will be just fine! This is accountability in a Liberal world.


Our Favorite Quotes
Two weeks ago, the economist Thomas Sowell posed a question that I can’t get out of my mind: “Has anyone asked the question, ‘How could so many people across the country spend so much time at night marching, rioting and looting, if they had to get up and go to work the next morning?’ ” (quoted by Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 1/16/2015)


We're now in a situation where the Belgians are carrying out preemptive raids against ISIS terrorists. The Belgium police are now taking a harder line than the White House. (former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, quoted on Foxnews.com, 1/16/2015)

 Yeah, liberals hate bullying all right, but they’re not opposed to using it. When they casually throw out words like ‘bigot’ and ‘racist,’ it does cow people into avoiding this debate. And if you’re doing that, you don’t get to wear the ‘Je Suis Charlie’ button, the button you should wear says, ‘Je Suis Part of the Problem.’ (Bill Maher quoted on Breitbart.com, 1/17/2015)

Hat tip to Bill Maher, someone we have been highly critical of in the past...and will be again in the future. For now, however, we will note that he has been incredibly brave in exposing both Liberal hypocrisy on the issue of free speech and on calling out Muslims on the intolerance and violence that plague their religion. 


Fruitless
Wall Street may be growing anxious about the negative impact of falling oil prices on energy producers, but the steep declines of recent weeks are delivering substantial benefits to American working-class families and retirees who have largely missed out on the fruits of the five-and-a-half-year economic recovery.

Just last week, the federal Energy Information Administration estimated that the typical American household would save $750 because of lower gasoline prices this year, $200 more than government experts predicted a month ago. People who depend on home heating oil and propane to warm their homes, as millions do in the Northeast and Midwest, should enjoy an additional savings of about $750 this winter. (New York Times, 1/18/2015)

Given lower energy prices Liberals will seek to raise taxes on oil and gas. That is basic economics in a Liberal world. 


Drop Outs
When Colorado legalized marijuana two years ago, nobody was quite ready for the problem of exploding houses.

But that is exactly what firefighters, courts and lawmakers across the state are confronting these days: amateur marijuana alchemists who are turning their kitchens and basements into “Breaking Bad”-style laboratories, using flammable chemicals to extract potent drops of a marijuana concentrate commonly called hash oil, and sometimes accidentally blowing up their homes and lighting themselves on fire in the process. (New York Times, 1/18/2015)

Coming soon to Vermont when Governor Shumlin realizes his dream of legal dope.  This is logic in a Liberal world.

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.

Torn Apart and Rent

Dopes
A new federal report shows that the percentage of American high school students who smoke marijuana is slowly rising, while the use of alcohol and almost every other drug is falling.

The report raises concerns that the relaxation of restrictions on marijuana, which can now be sold legally in 20 states and the District of Columbia, has been influencing use of the drug among teenagers. Health officials are concerned by the steady increase and point to what they say is a growing body of evidence that adolescent brains, which are still developing, are susceptible to subtle changes caused by marijuana. (New York Times, 12/18/2013)

And in the news today, Brattleboro becomes the fourth Vermont city to have a "medical" marijuana store. Governor Peter Shumlin must be so proud! Did he attend the opening? Was there a ribbon-cutting ceremony?


Cold
After being introduced, the president just about bounced onto the stage. A few days earlier I had heard a commentator say he seemed in the dumps these days. That afternoon he was fresh, unruffled — in other words, cool. (Maybe it was because our state’s health-insurance exchange, Covered California, demonstrates how well the Affordable Care Act works when implemented correctly: My youngest daughter got a silver plan that drastically reduces her monthly premiums within an hour of applying.) (Ishmael Reed, New York Times, 12/19/2013)

This is the kind of utter nonsense that the New York Times sees fit to print. An entire puff piece on how President Obama is President Cool. Yes, not only Cool, he is Be Bop Jazz Cool! 

And Reed is just thrilled that his daughter got a cheap new health plan. Why we wonder would a young person opt for a silver plan when cheaper options are available? Oh, that's right. You have to choose a silver plan in order to get federal subsidies. So President Cool did the Reed family a solid by giving them some freebies...courtesy of taxpayers. Got it. 


Roughly
Americans who lack medical coverage disapprove of President Obama’s health care law at roughly the same rate as the insured, even though most say they struggle to pay for basic care, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Fifty-three percent of the uninsured disapprove of the law, the poll found, compared with 51 percent of those who have health coverage. (New York Times, 12/19/2013)

Actually, the uninsured disapprove of Obamacare by a greater percentage than the insured. But that is something that the New York Times cannot bring itself to write.


Conflict Avoidance
Senator Max Baucus of Montana, soon to be nominated as President Obama’s next ambassador to China, is the powerful — and, to many fellow Democrats, infuriating — chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He is also the conflicted architect of Mr. Obama’s health care law.

Now, if he is confirmed, Mr. Baucus, who had already announced that he would not run for re-election in 2014, will join the administration whose bureaucratic ineptitude he foresaw in April when he warned of a “huge train wreck” if officials did not do a better job explaining the Affordable Care Act. (New York Times, 12/19/2013)

Obama's objective? To get Baucus out of town. As far away as possible. It's China only because the position of Ambassador to the Moon has already been filled.

Ruminations

Two Friends
A friend who works in the field reminds us that underage use of alcohol and illicit drugs in Vermont is the highest in the nation. Focusing in on this problem Governor Peter Shumlin and fellow Progressives acted decisively...to legalize marijuana. There are no issues for which Liberals cannot find the wrong solution.

Another friend, one with European socialist leanings, tells us of a recent meeting with his accountant. Through incredibly hard work and perseverance, this individual has spent the past half dozen years building an enormously successful consulting practice. Now, as his efforts have begun to yield monetary rewards, his accountant gives him the news that the government is standing ready to collect their (large) share of his payday. "It's enough to make me a Republican," he says. 


The Sealer
To the Israeli government, the preliminary deal with Iran that the Obama administration is trying to seal this week is a giveaway to a government that has spent two decades building a vast nuclear program. It enshrines the status quo — at a time when the Iranians are within reach of the technical capability to build a bomb — and rewards some unproven leaders with cash and sanctions relief.

President Obama and his top aides see the same draft deal in sharply different terms. (NYT, 11/18/2013)

What you need to know about Obama and Iran:

--Having seen Obama sell out America's ally Poland on missile defense, the Iranians know that he will sell out Israel as well.

--Whatever deal is struck, Iran will cheat and continue its nuclear weapon development program.


At Risk Behavior
The McKinsey report found that the effort was at risk because of issues including “significant dependency on external parties/contractors,” as well as “insufficient time and scope of end-to-end testing,” and “parallel stacking of all phases,” all predictions that have turned out to be accurate. Briefings on the report were held in the spring at the White House and at the headquarters of the Health and Human Services Department and for leaders at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, congressional investigators said. (NYT, 11/19/2013)

So the White House knew "in the spring" that the Obamacaid website was a mess. Now does that mean that Obama lied when he says that if he had known there were problems he would have never gone out and touted it?


Are You (Positively) Experienced?
... specialists plowing through an initial list of more than 600 software and hardware defects remain worried about whether they can meet the administration’s goal of enabling four in five users to enroll through the online federal exchange, HealthCare.gov, by Nov. 30. One person said a more realistic goal was that four out of five people “have a positive experience,” which could include being redirected to customer service agents. (NYT, 11/19/2013)

This is so unintentionally funny that you will roar!


On the Clock
Within 24 hours of Timothy F. Geithner’s announcement on Saturday that he would join Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm, a parade of naysayers emerged, almost like clockwork, to criticize the former Treasury secretary’s move as a prime example of the evil of the government’s revolving door. (Andrew Ross Sorkin, NYT, 11/18/2013)

Sorkin takes those to task for criticizing Geithner's move to the private sector - something which we have no objection to. However, he ignores RedStateVT's point that Geithner heads to the very industry that Democrats spent one year and $1 billion smearing in their attacks on Mitt Romney. 

Remember?