Apologia
Heard this one on Laura Ingraham's radio show...apologies because we did not hear who the actual speaker was:
President Obama apologizes in an attempt to placate the offended religious sensitivities of Muslims over the accidental burning of Korans. He then turns around and offends Catholics with his mandates on birth control.
Wow!
Must See TV
If you have not done so yet, drop everything and watch the CNN interview by Soledad O'Brien with Breitbart's Joel Pollak. The subject is the Obama Harvard law school video in which the president-to-be champions radical professor Derrick Bell. Pollak is simply masterful in responding to O'Brien's unabashed subjectivity.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
It Will Come Back To You
College Daze
Picture this: video is discovered of Mitt Romney addressing a crowd of student activists during his days at Harvard Law School. In the video, Romney is seen asking for support for a controversial professor. Perhaps the professor has stated that admission to Harvard should be based solely on merit and not consider the race of the applicant. DOES ANYONE THINK FOR EVEN ONE SECOND THAT THIS WOULD NOT BE THE LEAD STORY IN EVERY NEWSPAPER AND ON EVERY PRIME TIME BROADCAST? Well of course it would be.
And yet, video is uncovered of Barack Obama speaking to Harvard Law students in 1991 in support of a professor with extreme racial views.
Non-event.
To paraphrase the climate change crowd: media bias is settled science.
Dream On
Advocates for the so-called Dream Act have the backing of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who said at a recent budget hearing that maintaining a system in which illegal immigrants cannot gain access to scholarship aid “is just asking us to continually have a group of people who can’t share in the American dream.” (NYT, 3/7/2012)
Well, yes, unfortunately the American dream may not be available to people who are not American and have violated the law.
Big Money
Big donors considering whether to work the phones raising money for President Obama’s reelection campaign might consider the fate of his 2008 bundlers. Many of them, it turns out, won plum jobs in his administration.
Obama campaigned on what he called “the most sweeping ethics reform in history” and has frequently criticized the role of money in politics. That hasn’t stopped him from offering government jobs to some of his biggest bundlers, volunteer fundraisers who gather political contributions from other rich donors.
More than half of Obama’s 47 biggest fundraisers, those who collected at least $500,000 for his campaign, have been given administration jobs. Nine more have been appointed to presidential boards and committees. (Washington Post, 3/7/2012)
Kudos to the WaPo for sharing this!
Picture this: video is discovered of Mitt Romney addressing a crowd of student activists during his days at Harvard Law School. In the video, Romney is seen asking for support for a controversial professor. Perhaps the professor has stated that admission to Harvard should be based solely on merit and not consider the race of the applicant. DOES ANYONE THINK FOR EVEN ONE SECOND THAT THIS WOULD NOT BE THE LEAD STORY IN EVERY NEWSPAPER AND ON EVERY PRIME TIME BROADCAST? Well of course it would be.
And yet, video is uncovered of Barack Obama speaking to Harvard Law students in 1991 in support of a professor with extreme racial views.
Non-event.
To paraphrase the climate change crowd: media bias is settled science.
Dream On
Advocates for the so-called Dream Act have the backing of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who said at a recent budget hearing that maintaining a system in which illegal immigrants cannot gain access to scholarship aid “is just asking us to continually have a group of people who can’t share in the American dream.” (NYT, 3/7/2012)
Well, yes, unfortunately the American dream may not be available to people who are not American and have violated the law.
Big Money
Big donors considering whether to work the phones raising money for President Obama’s reelection campaign might consider the fate of his 2008 bundlers. Many of them, it turns out, won plum jobs in his administration.
Obama campaigned on what he called “the most sweeping ethics reform in history” and has frequently criticized the role of money in politics. That hasn’t stopped him from offering government jobs to some of his biggest bundlers, volunteer fundraisers who gather political contributions from other rich donors.
More than half of Obama’s 47 biggest fundraisers, those who collected at least $500,000 for his campaign, have been given administration jobs. Nine more have been appointed to presidential boards and committees. (Washington Post, 3/7/2012)
Kudos to the WaPo for sharing this!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Witness The Quickness
Perspectives
"Your critics will say on Capitol Hill that you want gas prices to go higher, because you have said before that will wean the American people off fossil fuels onto renewable fuels. How do you respond to that?" he said.
Obama's reply combined annoyance and derision.
“Ed, just from a political perspective, do you think the President of the United States, going into reelection, wants gas prices to go up even higher?" he said. Turning to the room at large, he added, "Is there anybody here who thinks that makes a lot of sense?” (Huffington Post, 3/6/2012)
No, of course not. The president does not want gas prices to rise "GOING INTO REELECTION." To glean what the president might think on the subject of rising gas prices in a non-election year, let's turn first to President Obama and then to his Energy Secretary:
(CNBC's John) Harwood followed, “So could these high prices help us?” Obama answered, “I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment. The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing.”
Also in 2008, Stephen Chu, who Obama would name as his Energy secretary, said, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,” according to The Wall Street Journal. (CNSnews.com, 3/6/2012)
President Thin-Skin forgets what he says, but others do not.
Without You
On Tuesday night, progressives confronted the unimaginable: Congress without Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). The eight-term congressman lost his primary election for Ohio's newly created 9th district to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). (Huffington Post, 3/7/2012)
First Barney leaves us, now Dennis. A moment of silence please.
"Your critics will say on Capitol Hill that you want gas prices to go higher, because you have said before that will wean the American people off fossil fuels onto renewable fuels. How do you respond to that?" he said.
Obama's reply combined annoyance and derision.
“Ed, just from a political perspective, do you think the President of the United States, going into reelection, wants gas prices to go up even higher?" he said. Turning to the room at large, he added, "Is there anybody here who thinks that makes a lot of sense?” (Huffington Post, 3/6/2012)
No, of course not. The president does not want gas prices to rise "GOING INTO REELECTION." To glean what the president might think on the subject of rising gas prices in a non-election year, let's turn first to President Obama and then to his Energy Secretary:
(CNBC's John) Harwood followed, “So could these high prices help us?” Obama answered, “I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment. The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing.”
Also in 2008, Stephen Chu, who Obama would name as his Energy secretary, said, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,” according to The Wall Street Journal. (CNSnews.com, 3/6/2012)
President Thin-Skin forgets what he says, but others do not.
Without You
On Tuesday night, progressives confronted the unimaginable: Congress without Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). The eight-term congressman lost his primary election for Ohio's newly created 9th district to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). (Huffington Post, 3/7/2012)
First Barney leaves us, now Dennis. A moment of silence please.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Right
This of course does not mean that Rick Santorum is right; only that he is not a total outlier or a nutcase. His views, although perhaps less well expressed than they might have been, are well within the boundaries of a legal and political debate that has been going on for more than a century. (Stanley Fish, NYT, 3/5/2012)
In her testimony, Ms. Fluke claimed that, "Without insurance coverage, contraception, as you know, can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school." That's $1,000 per year. But an employee at a Target pharmacy near the university told the Weekly Standard last week that one month's worth of generic oral contraceptives is $9 per month. "That's the price without insurance," the employee said. (It's also $9 per month at Wal-Mart.) (Cathy Cleaver Ruse, WSJ, 3/6/2012)
It is hard what to make of Liberals. They claim to value intelligence and yet they will stoop to the flimsiest of stereotypes (Santorum is a religious zealot!) and will fall for the phoniest of claims (Fluke). The media abets them and Republicans are left to try and explain.
In her testimony, Ms. Fluke claimed that, "Without insurance coverage, contraception, as you know, can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school." That's $1,000 per year. But an employee at a Target pharmacy near the university told the Weekly Standard last week that one month's worth of generic oral contraceptives is $9 per month. "That's the price without insurance," the employee said. (It's also $9 per month at Wal-Mart.) (Cathy Cleaver Ruse, WSJ, 3/6/2012)
It is hard what to make of Liberals. They claim to value intelligence and yet they will stoop to the flimsiest of stereotypes (Santorum is a religious zealot!) and will fall for the phoniest of claims (Fluke). The media abets them and Republicans are left to try and explain.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Softly
Energized
President Obama, while in New Hampshire last Thursday, countered Republican charges that he was to blame for the rising pain at the pump. “We’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and approved more than 400 drilling permits since we put in place new safety standards in the wake of the gulf oil spill,” Mr. Obama said. (NYT, 3/5/2012)
Obama proudly points to the fact that we are producing more oil domestically than we have for some years. True. But that’s because Bush issued permits for a massive expansion in offshore drilling and exploration on federal lands. And it’s because private and state land is being used for horizontal drilling and fracking despite the increasing objections of Obama’s EPA. (DickMorris.com, 2/28/2012)
In fairness, Obama could not really give credit to Bush after first demonizing him endlessly in 2007 and then quietly continuing many of his policies over the past three plus years...
Fluked
This is the reaction we should have had to Sandra Fluke. Sandra, I hope you take to heart our school’s motto of “Cura Personalis” – care of the whole person. You are so much more than your reproductive organs. Please, have some self-respect and take responsibility for your choices instead of having to beg the government for help. The government should not be able to force a religious institution – like the one we attend – to pay for the things they don’t believe in. That is pretty clear in the first amendment. But since you missed the ten commandments I can’t expect you to read the Bill of Rights either.
I believe in Georgetown. I love this school. And I know that we are so, so much better than what Sandra Fluke would make us out to be. (Angela Morabito, thecollegeconservative.com, 3/2/2012)
Georgetown is a Jesuit University. It's Jesuits, run by the Jesuits, which are a Catholic order of priests. Their policy on birth control is not exactly a secret. It's not given to you in a sealed envelope after you sign up. It's out there for everybody to see. It's a Catholic university! Everybody that goes to there knows. Miss Fluke stated on occasion she went there specifically to change the policy. If birth control insurance is important to you as an enrolling student, and you find out that Georgetown doesn't offer it, you might want to attend (or work at) a school that isn't run by Catholics. (Rush Limbaugh, 3/5/2012)
And indeed, as it turned out, she didn't have much to say. The entire basis of her testimony to the Democratic Steering Committee the next week was that she had "a friend" who had a medical problem that required her to take birth control pills. Georgetown's policy covers her friend's condition, Fluke said, but did not actually pay for the pills, which caused her friend to stop purchasing and taking the pills and, later, to suffer a medical emergency. It was all pretty vague, and certainly wasn't expert testimony. (Byron York, Washington Examiner, 3/2/2012)
President Obama, while in New Hampshire last Thursday, countered Republican charges that he was to blame for the rising pain at the pump. “We’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and approved more than 400 drilling permits since we put in place new safety standards in the wake of the gulf oil spill,” Mr. Obama said. (NYT, 3/5/2012)
Obama proudly points to the fact that we are producing more oil domestically than we have for some years. True. But that’s because Bush issued permits for a massive expansion in offshore drilling and exploration on federal lands. And it’s because private and state land is being used for horizontal drilling and fracking despite the increasing objections of Obama’s EPA. (DickMorris.com, 2/28/2012)
In fairness, Obama could not really give credit to Bush after first demonizing him endlessly in 2007 and then quietly continuing many of his policies over the past three plus years...
Fluked
This is the reaction we should have had to Sandra Fluke. Sandra, I hope you take to heart our school’s motto of “Cura Personalis” – care of the whole person. You are so much more than your reproductive organs. Please, have some self-respect and take responsibility for your choices instead of having to beg the government for help. The government should not be able to force a religious institution – like the one we attend – to pay for the things they don’t believe in. That is pretty clear in the first amendment. But since you missed the ten commandments I can’t expect you to read the Bill of Rights either.
I believe in Georgetown. I love this school. And I know that we are so, so much better than what Sandra Fluke would make us out to be. (Angela Morabito, thecollegeconservative.com, 3/2/2012)
Georgetown is a Jesuit University. It's Jesuits, run by the Jesuits, which are a Catholic order of priests. Their policy on birth control is not exactly a secret. It's not given to you in a sealed envelope after you sign up. It's out there for everybody to see. It's a Catholic university! Everybody that goes to there knows. Miss Fluke stated on occasion she went there specifically to change the policy. If birth control insurance is important to you as an enrolling student, and you find out that Georgetown doesn't offer it, you might want to attend (or work at) a school that isn't run by Catholics. (Rush Limbaugh, 3/5/2012)
And indeed, as it turned out, she didn't have much to say. The entire basis of her testimony to the Democratic Steering Committee the next week was that she had "a friend" who had a medical problem that required her to take birth control pills. Georgetown's policy covers her friend's condition, Fluke said, but did not actually pay for the pills, which caused her friend to stop purchasing and taking the pills and, later, to suffer a medical emergency. It was all pretty vague, and certainly wasn't expert testimony. (Byron York, Washington Examiner, 3/2/2012)
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Post And Beam
Lawyers in Love
Here is what RedStateVT has learned about Sandra Fluke, the bold and intrepid crusader at the center of the (latest) contraception battle. Fluke is an unmarried 30 year old who voluntarily matriculated at a Jesuit law school where the stated policy is that its health care plan covered contraception for women who had medical reasons for requiring it. Georgetown's plan (again, this is a Jesuit institution) does not cover contraception for non-medical reasons, i.e. recreational sex. (RedStateVT note: cheap and affordable contraception is available at drug stores on every corner in Washington.) Fluke, President Obama and Democrats believe that it should.
This is the narrative that the Left wants to champion?
And then we have this, demonstrating that Liberals have absolutely no idea how insurance works:
He (Rush Limbaugh) said insuring contraception would represent another “welfare entitlement,” which is wrong — tax dollars would not provide the benefit, employers and insurance companies would. (Maureen Dowd, NYT, 3/3/2012)
Yes, that's right, insurance companies would pay for contraception, not the tax payer! Of course, insurance companies collect premiums from policyholders to provide coverage and benefits for those policyholders...who are also tax payers.
Shocking
At a conference in Washington, Mr. Obama told representatives of the United Automobile Workers that he would buy a Chevrolet Volt in five years, after fulfilling a potential second term as president. (NYT, 2/28/2012)
General Motors will suspend Chevrolet Volt production from March 19th to April 23rd in order to bring supply of the plug-in hybrid car in line with demand, according to the Detroit Free Press.
...
GM spokesperson Chris Lee told the newspaper that 1,300 employees at the Hamtramck, Michigan, assembly plant where the Volt is built would be temporarily laid off during the production freeze. (Foxnews.com, 3/2/2012)
Obama showing up at a green energy business is like the kiss of death. He shows up and shortly thereafter the business tanks.
Transformed
For Mr. Santorum, a Republican candidate for president, that conversation was an early step on a path into a deeply conservative Catholic culture that has profoundly influenced his life as a husband, father and politician. Over the past two decades, he has undergone a religious transformation that is now spurring a national conversation about faith in the public sphere. (NYT, 3/3/2012)
The Times gives us a detailed review and analysis of Rick Santorum's religious faith today, just like they did for candidate Obama back in 2008....Oh wait, they didn't?
Preferences
The meeting in the Bay Area is for Priorities USA Action, a super PAC set up by Mr. Obama’s former aides. It is being organized by Steve Westly, a venture capitalist and major fund-raiser for the Obama campaign in both 2008 and 2012.
Mr. Westly, a former California state controller who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006, has drawn scrutiny from the news media, because his venture capital firm, which focuses on green technologies, had stakes in a number of companies that have benefited from millions of dollars of loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to an investigation by ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity. The federal money flowing to the companies raised questions about whether political supporters to the president received preferential treatment in the awarding of funds, which was vigorously disputed by the administration. (NYT, 3/2/2012)
This has all the elements that Colonel Bernie Sanders has railed about in his attacks on Super PACs and the influence of the wealthy on the political process. We expect him to issue a scathing condemnation shortly. Well, no we don't really.
Here is what RedStateVT has learned about Sandra Fluke, the bold and intrepid crusader at the center of the (latest) contraception battle. Fluke is an unmarried 30 year old who voluntarily matriculated at a Jesuit law school where the stated policy is that its health care plan covered contraception for women who had medical reasons for requiring it. Georgetown's plan (again, this is a Jesuit institution) does not cover contraception for non-medical reasons, i.e. recreational sex. (RedStateVT note: cheap and affordable contraception is available at drug stores on every corner in Washington.) Fluke, President Obama and Democrats believe that it should.
This is the narrative that the Left wants to champion?
And then we have this, demonstrating that Liberals have absolutely no idea how insurance works:
He (Rush Limbaugh) said insuring contraception would represent another “welfare entitlement,” which is wrong — tax dollars would not provide the benefit, employers and insurance companies would. (Maureen Dowd, NYT, 3/3/2012)
Yes, that's right, insurance companies would pay for contraception, not the tax payer! Of course, insurance companies collect premiums from policyholders to provide coverage and benefits for those policyholders...who are also tax payers.
Shocking
At a conference in Washington, Mr. Obama told representatives of the United Automobile Workers that he would buy a Chevrolet Volt in five years, after fulfilling a potential second term as president. (NYT, 2/28/2012)
General Motors will suspend Chevrolet Volt production from March 19th to April 23rd in order to bring supply of the plug-in hybrid car in line with demand, according to the Detroit Free Press.
...
GM spokesperson Chris Lee told the newspaper that 1,300 employees at the Hamtramck, Michigan, assembly plant where the Volt is built would be temporarily laid off during the production freeze. (Foxnews.com, 3/2/2012)
Obama showing up at a green energy business is like the kiss of death. He shows up and shortly thereafter the business tanks.
Transformed
For Mr. Santorum, a Republican candidate for president, that conversation was an early step on a path into a deeply conservative Catholic culture that has profoundly influenced his life as a husband, father and politician. Over the past two decades, he has undergone a religious transformation that is now spurring a national conversation about faith in the public sphere. (NYT, 3/3/2012)
The Times gives us a detailed review and analysis of Rick Santorum's religious faith today, just like they did for candidate Obama back in 2008....Oh wait, they didn't?
Preferences
The meeting in the Bay Area is for Priorities USA Action, a super PAC set up by Mr. Obama’s former aides. It is being organized by Steve Westly, a venture capitalist and major fund-raiser for the Obama campaign in both 2008 and 2012.
Mr. Westly, a former California state controller who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006, has drawn scrutiny from the news media, because his venture capital firm, which focuses on green technologies, had stakes in a number of companies that have benefited from millions of dollars of loans and grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to an investigation by ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity. The federal money flowing to the companies raised questions about whether political supporters to the president received preferential treatment in the awarding of funds, which was vigorously disputed by the administration. (NYT, 3/2/2012)
This has all the elements that Colonel Bernie Sanders has railed about in his attacks on Super PACs and the influence of the wealthy on the political process. We expect him to issue a scathing condemnation shortly. Well, no we don't really.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Hideaway
RIP Andrew Breitbart
RedStateVT admired Andrew Breitbart greatly and will miss him. Kudos to those Liberal journalists who have - without qualifications - expressed condolences.
New Groove
President Obama has a new message: America has gotten its groove back.
...
“America’s not back,” said Stanley Greenberg, chief executive of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a polling company that works with Democrats. “We have long-term fundamental problems with respect to personal debt, etc. If you look at our data and history, it takes a long time before job numbers translate into accepting at a personal level that things are better.”
Mr. Greenberg’s firm did a poll of 1,000 likely voters after the State of the Union speech, testing the “America is back” message compared with Mr. Obama’s other messages, and concluded that it is “by far the weakest,” according to a memo the firm put out after the poll. (NYT, 2/29/2012)
Other messages which were rejected:
I Got Osama!
Unemployment Down 1%!
Investing In Our Green Energy Future!
It's Not My Fault!
The Fix Is In
The basic answer to fixing the long-term Social Security imbalance is just to eliminate the payroll tax cap, which currently exempts all income over $110,100 a year. Do that, and you have solved the problem. (Gail Collins, NYT, 2/29/2012)
The Liberal fix to Social Security....well, actually, the Liberal fix to ANY problem. Raise taxes! Brilliant in its simplicity.
Nonforfeiture
The court’s unremarkable logic was that individuals do not forfeit their First Amendment speech rights when they come together in corporate entities or unions to speak collectively. What is the constitutional basis for saying otherwise? (George Will, Washington Post, 2/2/9/2012)
George Will on Citizens United. Which makes us think of a Fantasy Debate we would like to see on this topic: Will versus Colonel Bernie Sanders (who opposes Super PAC money, but may have to consider taking it). After one hour, we envision Sanders sputtering incoherently.
Doctor His Eyes
If Texas physician Jacques Roy turns out to be guilty of charges he conspired to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of almost $375 million, we'll know where at least $1,650 of that money went: to a political action committee affiliated with the Tea Party Express, a group opposed to the health reform law that helped nab him. (Huffington Post, 2/29/2012)
RedStateVT admired Andrew Breitbart greatly and will miss him. Kudos to those Liberal journalists who have - without qualifications - expressed condolences.
New Groove
President Obama has a new message: America has gotten its groove back.
...
“America’s not back,” said Stanley Greenberg, chief executive of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a polling company that works with Democrats. “We have long-term fundamental problems with respect to personal debt, etc. If you look at our data and history, it takes a long time before job numbers translate into accepting at a personal level that things are better.”
Mr. Greenberg’s firm did a poll of 1,000 likely voters after the State of the Union speech, testing the “America is back” message compared with Mr. Obama’s other messages, and concluded that it is “by far the weakest,” according to a memo the firm put out after the poll. (NYT, 2/29/2012)
Other messages which were rejected:
I Got Osama!
Unemployment Down 1%!
Investing In Our Green Energy Future!
It's Not My Fault!
The Fix Is In
The basic answer to fixing the long-term Social Security imbalance is just to eliminate the payroll tax cap, which currently exempts all income over $110,100 a year. Do that, and you have solved the problem. (Gail Collins, NYT, 2/29/2012)
The Liberal fix to Social Security....well, actually, the Liberal fix to ANY problem. Raise taxes! Brilliant in its simplicity.
Nonforfeiture
The court’s unremarkable logic was that individuals do not forfeit their First Amendment speech rights when they come together in corporate entities or unions to speak collectively. What is the constitutional basis for saying otherwise? (George Will, Washington Post, 2/2/9/2012)
George Will on Citizens United. Which makes us think of a Fantasy Debate we would like to see on this topic: Will versus Colonel Bernie Sanders (who opposes Super PAC money, but may have to consider taking it). After one hour, we envision Sanders sputtering incoherently.
Doctor His Eyes
If Texas physician Jacques Roy turns out to be guilty of charges he conspired to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of almost $375 million, we'll know where at least $1,650 of that money went: to a political action committee affiliated with the Tea Party Express, a group opposed to the health reform law that helped nab him. (Huffington Post, 2/29/2012)
A criminal may have given money to the Tea Party. Ergo......what?
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