Wooden Props

Not So
Skeptics — and there are plenty in the National Security Council, the Pentagon, America’s intelligence agencies and Congress — are not so optimistic. They think Mr. Obama runs the risk of being dragged into long negotiations and constant games of hide-and-seek that, ultimately, will result in little change in the status quo. They argue that the president’s hesitance to pull the trigger on Tomahawk strikes on Syria nearly two weeks ago, and the public and Congressional rebellion at the idea of even limited military strikes, were unmistakable signals to the Syrian and Iranian elites that if diplomacy fails, the chances of military action ordered by the American president are slight. (NYT, 9/19/2013)

Well, what do you think?

Is it likely that the mullahs in Iran looked at Obama's actions with respect to Syria and said to themselves: "This infidel Obama is serious. We'd better not mess with him. Let's see if we can cut a deal..."


Aspirations
He told one man affiliated with the temple that he aspired to be a monk, but he would stay up late at night playing violent video games in his room. (NYT, 9/19/2013)

Aaron Alexis. Another mass murderer. Another video game addict. Connect the dots. 


Free Fall
While the unemployment rate has fallen steadily, hitting a five-year low of 7.3 percent in August, much of that improvement has come from workers dropping out of the labor force rather than vigorous job creation. The monthly pace of new jobs has slowed, falling from well over 200,000 new jobs being added each month at the end of 2012 to 169,000 in August 2013. (NYT, 9/19/2013)

Exactly the point that the New York Times raised so vigorously during the 2012 presidential election and the reason that they ultimately decided to endorse Mitt Romney.  

Or did that not happen?


Supreme AND Drastic!
In what can be seen only as an act of supreme indifference, House Republicans passed a bill on Thursday that would drastically cut federal food stamps and throw 3.8 million Americans out of the program in 2014. (New York Times editorial. (9/19/2013)

OK, here's an idea. If you want to qualify for food stamps you have to meet the following criteria, in addition to the income threshold:

You cannot have a smartphone with a data plan. Basic cell phone only.
You cannot have enhanced cable television. Basic cable only.
You cannot smoke or use alcohol. 
Public transportation only.
No fast food.
No piercings. 
No tattoos.
You have to show proof that you are actively looking for a job. No job training. No on-line courses. McDonald's is hiring.

Comply and Republicans will consider reinstating your food stamps. Or maybe you will not need food stamps....


Big Time
Apparently some White House staffers have a new nickname for the president: "Obam-me," because it's all about him and his big thoughts. (Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 9/19/2013)

Wow!


Walkers
On Thursday, all but two Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee walked out before the parents of two of the victims killed in the Benghazi attacks testified. (Breitbart.com, 9/20/2013)

Among those who walked out: Vermont's own Peter Welch. Thanks for honoring the fallen, Pete.


The Path to Doom 
California is challenging the historic status of American citizenship with measures to permit noncitizens to sit on juries and monitor polls for elections in which they cannot vote and to open the practice of law even to those here illegally. It is the leading edge of a national trend that includes granting drivers’ licenses and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants in some states and that suggests legal residency could evolve into an appealing option should immigration legislation fail to produce a path to citizenship. (NYT, 9/20/2013)

And so America ends.


Iced
Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean underwent a sharp recovery this year from the record-low levels of 2012, with 50 percent more ice surviving the summer melt season, scientists said Friday. It is the largest one-year increase in Arctic ice since satellite tracking began in 1978.
....
Contrary to popular impression, the melting of sea ice does not cause a rise of sea level, since the ice is already floating and displacing its weight in water. (NYT, 9/20/2013)

Now they tell us. 

Distinct Advantages

The End of Civilization
At 11 on a weeknight earlier this year, her work finished, a slim, pretty junior at the University of Pennsylvania did what she often does when she has a little free time. She texted her regular hookup — the guy she is sleeping with but not dating. What was he up to? He texted back: Come over. So she did. They watched a little TV, had sex and went to sleep.

“We don’t really like each other in person, sober,” she said, adding that “we literally can’t sit down and have coffee.”

Ask her why she hasn’t had a relationship at Penn, and she won’t complain about the death of courtship or men who won’t commit. Instead, she’ll talk about “cost-benefit” analyses and the “low risk and low investment costs” of hooking up.

“I positioned myself in college in such a way that I can’t have a meaningful romantic relationship, because I’m always busy and the people that I am interested in are always busy, too,” she said.

“And I know everyone says, ‘Make time, make time,’ ” said the woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity but agreed to be identified by her middle initial, which is A. “But there are so many other things going on in my life that I find so important that I just, like, can’t make time, and I don’t want to make time.”

It is by now pretty well understood that traditional dating in college has mostly gone the way of the landline, replaced by “hooking up” — an ambiguous term that can signify anything from making out to oral sex to intercourse — without the emotional entanglement of a relationship.

Until recently, those who studied the rise of hookup culture had generally assumed that it was driven by men, and that women were reluctant participants, more interested in romance than in casual sexual encounters. But there is an increasing realization that young women are propelling it, too. (NYT, 7/12/2013)

We read one page of this seven page New York Times article and got sick.  Here we have the logical endpoint of Liberalism, Feminism and Hollywood. 

--Never mind waiting until marriage to have sex. 

--Never mind having sex with your steady boyfriend. 

--Women are now free to have sex with men they don't even like.

War on women? Yes, indeed.


Spot On
House Republicans find themselves in a difficult spot on immigration, caught between the needs of the national party to broaden its appeal to Hispanics, and the views of constituents in gerrymandered, largely safe conservative districts. (NYT, 7/10/2013)

Hmmm...have we ever heard of "gerrymandered, largely safe LIBERAL districts?" 

The Times does not say whether they exist.


Standardized
The bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and hold abortion clinics to the same standards as hospital-style surgical centers, among other requirements. Its supporters say that the strengthened requirements for the structures and doctors will protect women’s health; opponents argue that the restrictions are actually intended to put financial pressure on the clinics that perform abortions and will force most of them to shut their doors. (NYT, 7/13/2013)

A question for opponents of Texas's new abortion law: do you think that abortions should NOT be performed in clinics with highly qualified doctors and high standards of safety?


Stamped Out
Ms. Pelosi's anger must be especially amusing to House Speaker John Boehner, because the Democratic leader helped to defeat the original $1 trillion version of the farm bill last month. That version included some $740 billion for food stamps, but Democrats opted to kill it because they wanted even more money for a program whose cost more than doubled from 2008 to 2012. They objected to a modest GOP proposal to allow states to adopt pilot work requirements for able-bodied food-stamp recipients. (WSJ, 7/12/2013)

Always good to get the complete story, isn't it?