How's the View Up There...

... where the sun don't shine? The Kraut just ripped Secretary of State John Kerry a new one for a "peace plan" in which he proposed giving Hamas pretty much everything it wants even though it is losing heavily on the ground AND offended not only the Israelis. but the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia to boot. Way to hit for the cycle, Big John!  This is what passes for American foreign policy these days. Un-frigging believable! Some things don't improve with age. 

www.nationalreview.com/article/384274/legitimizing-hamass-war-criminality-charles-krauthammer

Chocaholics

A little off the beaten path today, but a fun diversion. These are cocoa farmers from the Ivory Coast who try chocolate for the very first time. They thought the cocoa beans were used to make wine. It's fun to watch their reactions.










portlandfoodanddrink.com/farmers-grow-cocoa-beans-taste-chocolate-first-time/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+portlandfoodanddrink%2FSdXY+%28An+Exploration+of+Portland+Food+and+Drink%29

Just a Cosmic Rorshach

Ravi Zacharias and his colleagues publish a journal, Just Thinking, which is one of the best intellectual journals around. This month has an article on the "Glamour of Atheism" which is a contradiction in terms if you think about it. 

Cameron McAllister, the author, says that all atheism has to offer is death, which is correct. We started as a cosmic accident, we live meaningless lives, and we die meaningless deaths under the pitiless gaze of a cold and uncaring universe. It's enough to drive you to drink. 

Which is why it is amusing to hear an atheist argue for anything "good" or "principled" or anything else. These concepts are fictions and nothing more that exist only in that person's mind but are not founded in any reality beyond, if their worldview is right. A person can choose this if they wish, but so what? Well, they typically argue, it's for the survival of the species. So what? Why does that make any difference if the species survives? It's all a meaningless accident anyway. These are their subjective preferences, but if mine is say serial killing, so what? The people I am killing have no intrinsic worth, their existence is random, it's just my subjective preference to wipe them out on a whim. Since neither of our preferences have any transcendent meaning, as I said, so what? Remember, we are accidents - cosmic nothings.

The "so what" is, of course, we're not cosmic accidents and people - even atheists - live their lives as if there is transcendent meaning to such concepts as "good" and "justice" and "fair." That is because at the deepest level of their being they know it to be true. This in turn logically leads to disruptive questions like where did this innate sense of conscience come from? Is there a Grand Design and if there is, who designed it? No, the "glamour"  of atheism is that it allows a person to be intellectually dishonest and justify their actions behind the fig leaf of no accountability to anyone, even if they have to hold their hands over their ears and close their eyes while shouting "la, la, la, la, la" as loudly as they can to avoid hearing otherwise. Is that glamorous? I think not, or even intellectually honest. Now can we have a real conversation about meaning?

www.rzim.org/just-thinking/the-glamour-of-atheism/

(Tip o' the hat to Clover Stein)

Is My Parka in the Closet?

It's a little hard to believe right now with the Pacific Northwest sweltering in mid-90s temperatures, but this is the coolest summer on record nationally since 1880. In fact, July temps nationally were the lowest ever recorded, period. Further, the average number of summer days above 90 degrees has been marching downward since 1880. Does this mean the dawn of a new Ice Age? Well, no, not necessarily - but it certainly doesn't lend itself to the au courant Global Warmist view of things either.  

www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/28/2014-The-Coolest-U-S-Summer-on-Record

Congress Gets One Right

A bipartisan bill passed Congress yesterday authorizing $17 billion to overhaul the VA healthcare system. It's something I rarely can honestly say about Congress but "Good job!" You got this one right.

www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/us/deal-reached-in-congress-on-va-funding.html

New Class of Drones Rolls Out

www.wnd.com/2014/07/obama-skewered-by-street-artists/?cat_orig=diversions

Day Late; Dollar Short

Romney beats Obama 53% - 44%. So says a new CNN/ORC poll. Better late than never doesn't really apply here and as proof of that point, Romney would lose to Hillary. Take another 40 laps around the Washington Monument, America.

www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2014/07/27/barack-obama-mitt-romney-hillary-clinton-elections-2012-2016/13237053/

A Time to Rejoice

Meriam Ibrahim is the courageous Sudanese woman married to an American who has steadfastly refused to renounce her Christian faith despite months in a Sudanese prison with her baby. She was released yesterday and flew to Rome. Her release was accomplished through the steadfast diplomatic efforts of Italy and the Pope. Thank you Lord; thank you Italia; thank you Pope Francis! Meriam - you are one brave soul and that does not go unnoticed in heaven.

As an aside, perhaps I just don't read the right media sources, but this story was conspicuously missing from all the usual suspects. I first saw it at Townhall, linking to the UK Telegraph. I am sure U.S. media were covering other, more important stories. Here's one from Yahoo's headline news roundup right now: " 'Lust, Caution' Actress Tang Weds in Sweden." Yup, only the important stuff.

townhall.com/tipsheet/danieldoherty/2014/07/24/cruz-on-meriam-ibrahims-release-truly-the-lord-works-in-mysterious-ways-n1865591

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sudan/10990691/Meriam-Ibrahim-leaves-Sudan-for-Rome-It-was-top-secret-until-the-plane-took-off.html

Just as I Thought

Millennial Politics: A Contradiction in Terms

Derek Thompson in The Atlantic is confused about what Millennials believe politically. I can't imagine why. Consider the following:

"Millennial politics is simple, really. Young people support big government, unless it costs any more money. They're for smaller government, unless budget cuts scratch a program they've heard of. They'd like Washington to fix everything, just so long as it doesn't run anything.

That's all from a new Reason Foundation poll surveying 2,000 young adults between the ages of 18 and 29. Millennials' political views are, at best, in a stage of constant metamorphosis and, at worst, "totally incoherent," as Dylan Matthews puts it.

It's not just the Reason Foundation. In March, Pew came out with a similar survey of Millennial attitudes that offered another smorgasbord of paradoxes:

• Millennials hate the political parties more than everyone else, but they have the highest opinion of Congress.
• Young people are the most likely to be single parents and the least likely to approve of single parenthood.
• Young people voted overwhelmingly for Obama when he promised universal health care, but they oppose his universal health care law as much as the rest of the country ... even though they still pledge high support for universal health care. (Like other groups, but more so: They seem allergic to the term Obamacare.)"

OK. Got me too - I can't make much sense of it either unless ... there is, somewhere, such a thing as a free lunch. Let me know when you find the diner. 

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/07/millennials-economics-voting-clueless-kids-these-days/374427/

Thomas the Imperialist Oppressor

A couple of years ago we took our grandson Braden to Hood River to ride a real version of Thomas the Tank Engine from the children's television series. Watching him look at the engine and ride behind it in great delight toward Parkdale was a lot of fun, but little did we know what Thomas was really up to. Ohmigosh! Tracey Van Slyke, writing in the Manchester Guardian, educates us on what the capitalist running dog Thomas was really doing: 

"...these trains perform tasks dictated by their imperious, little white boss, Sir Topham Hatt (also known as The Fat Controller), whose attire of a top hat, tuxedo and big round belly is just a little too obvious. Basically, he's the Monopoly dictator of their funky little island. Hatt orders the trains to do everything from hauling freight to carrying passengers to running whatever random errand he wants done, whenever he wants it done – regardless of their pre-existing schedules."

Thank you Comrade Tracey for re-educating us from the Little Red Book and turning our minds from this imperialist and racist drivel and towards the Truth! Wow, and we thought we just had a fun day. Who knew?!!

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/07/22/Guardian-Thomas-the-Tank-Engine-is-Racist-Because-the-Evil-Trains-Pump-Out-Black-Smoke

What - You Doubt the Economic Recovery?

Michael Schaus over at Townhall has some thoughts for those of us scratching our heads and wondering where this great economic recovery is hiding:

"If you still have doubts about the vibrancy of this recovery, it could be possible that you are somehow missing out on this Obamanomics success story in your every-day life. And, let’s face it, that’s pretty possible. Real hourly wages have seen virtually no noticeable increase; real median household income is down almost four percent; and basic life necessities have seen an average of 10 percent price inflation. (In fact, milk is 25 percent more expensive, meat prices are 27 percent higher, and gasoline has jumped in price roughly 40 percent since 2009.) [Emphasis added].

Or, maybe, you’re just not feeling the beneficial impact of those “10 million new jobs” because your home value has just barely increased above the rate of overall inflation. Or, maybe you’re one of the 2.9 newly impoverished individuals since the recession officially ended. (Are you one of the 11 million new food-stamp recipients?)"

Why son - you just got the wrong attitude! Yessiree, you gotta B-E-L-I-E-V-E and it will happen! Positive thoughts bring positive results! C'mon down and we'll fix you right up!

finance.townhall.com/columnists/michaelschaus/2014/07/23/the-brilliance-of-obamanomics-n1864881

Can We Build One for You?

Thanks, but probably not - a little over my budget. But Boeing is amping up its 787 construction schedule. This cnet article shows in pictures how the front fuselage sections are "taped and baked" and then finished in Wichita. After testing, they are shrink-wrapped and flown off to Seattle in an oversize 747 for integration into the rest of the aircraft. Very interesting and the spinoffs from mass manufacturing technology with carbon fiber will undoubtedly find its way into other manufacturing industries giving the U.S. a leg up on the rest of the world.

www.cnet.com/pictures/in-kansas-where-787-dreamliners-are-born-pictures/2/

Cinderella Emerges

The new Boeing 787 certainly had its share of teething problems, particularly battery fires from its new lithium ion battery. The press was all over Boeing for its troubles, but guess what? Any new aircraft, especially something as exotic as the 787 with its lightweight carbon fiber fuselage, has teething issues but those are now rapidly receding and the 787 is the new Cinderella of the airlines: 

"After a disappointing start with systems and software-related issues, most airlines are now approaching 777-like reliability levels with their 787 fleets. Many are also using the 787 to open up new point-to-point, long-haul routes that cannot be economically flown by any other aircraft, in most cases. Most significantly, and the raison d’etre for the 787, operators are also reporting significantly lower fuel burn per seat compared with older models such as the 767-300ER—20-22%, depending on the length of the flight."

A 20-22% fuel savings is HUGE in today's environment and should help exert downward pressure on international airline fares. Hopefully, Boeing will have learned its lesson and manufacture critical components of the 787 and other new aircraft in the U.S., but it is good news that they still know how to build good airplanes. 

aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/airlines-singing-praises-787

A Nice Summer Movie

Baseball, of course, and faith with a little twist. Well acted and well shot and available on Netflix. Worth a watch.

A Last Plea for Help

The head of Iraq's Catholic Church has issued a desperate cry for help to the world to stop a genocidal campaign against Iraqi Christians by ISIS. In Mosul recently Christians were ruthlessly exterminated and that promises to be the fate of the rest of the Iraqi Church as ISIS continues its march toward Baghdad. To a lesser degree this is going on throughout the Middle East as jihadis fight for power and an Islamic caliphate. 

The world went to war in the 1990s to prevent the Bosnian Serbs from "ethnically cleansing" (e.g. - exterminating) Muslims from that country. And the West's response when the shoe is on the other foot? 

www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/18/A-Desperate-Cry-from-Iraq-Christians

Observation Point

“In the end, it doesn’t matter how well we have performed or what we have accomplished—a life without heart is not worth living.”
― John Eldredge

Another Reason Hillary Should Not be President

Hillary was on the Charlie Rose Show on Thursday commenting about the Russian shootdown of the Malaysian Airlines 777:

“As you know, the Europeans have tried to figure out the best way forward,” she said when asked how the United States should respond to clear evidence that pro-Russian separatists using Russian hardware killed nearly 300 foreign civilians. “From my perspective — and I have the benefit of not being in the government — if there is evidence linking Russia to this, that should inspire the Europeans to do much more.”

Is it any wonder that we had Libya, Benghazi and Syria on her watch? This lady does not have a clue. As HotAir comments:

"That sucking sound you hear is the rapid formation of a power vacuum in Europe as the United States signals its noninterest in matters of regional and global security."

Stay tuned for Benghazi - The Sequel, soon playing at a shopping center near you!

We Are Definitely Screwed

The world is going to hell in a handbasket and Jen Psaki, the chief PR flack for the State Department, found the time this week to tweet the following:

"Great piece by former colleague Alyssa Mastromonaco who defines smart, savvy and fashionable."

Her boss, John Kerry, was off doing important things too, probably like an international treaty to save the polar bears and other similarly important diplomatic initiatives. It's the priorities, stupid. We are toast.
www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2014/07/18/State-Dept-Spox-Tweets-Out-Fashion-Column-Admits-Plane-Attack-Chaos

Fathers and Sons

It's always heartening to see fathers and sons doing things together like fishing, hunting, watching a baseball game at the park - that's nice. And since all cultures are alike, it's nice to see in places like the Middle East, Gaza specifically, that we value the same things. I mean, Isn't this a sweet picture? A family that plays together, stays together! Hmm - may have to re-think that one a little bit.


townhall.com/tipsheet/greghengler/2014/07/18/israel-uses-rockets-to-protect-people-hamas-uses-people-to-protect-their-rockets-n1863720

I Like Beer but...

"In this week’s do-not-miss world of beer news, it appears the Icelandic brewery Borg Brugghús has created a beer that gets its unique taste characteristics from, yes indeed, sheep dung."

Thanks, but I think I'll have the Hef.

eatocracy.cnn.com/2014/07/18/sheep-dung-beer/

Where was This When We Needed It?

This would have been useful back in the day:

"The latest version of the company's Sienna minivan has a feature called 'Driver Easy Speak.' It uses a built-in microphone to amplify a parent's voice through speakers in the back seats."

www.kgw.com/news/business/267700411.html

Let the Smears Begin

The SJ had a report today on Monica Wehby's fundraising and couldn't resist a shot at her over the Koch brothers. The media looks at the Kochs like the picture to the left - monsters that are out to wreck the United States and they (shudder!) gave money to Wehby's campaign. Oh my! Leaving aside the question of whether the Koch brothers are as bad as the mediaites would have you believe, the article softsoaps the fact that Merkley, Wehby's Democratic opponent, raised twice as much as she did in the same timeframe. And were these all grandmas sending in their $25 donations or more like SEIU or the AFL-CIO or Harry Reid and the DNC sending some serious green? Any guesses? Stand by for the media report on his contributors. Cue the crickets. 

www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/07/17/republican-monica-wehby-raises-senate-race/12785061/

(Tip o' the hat to Clover Stein)

The Re-set with Russia Keeps on Giving

An SA-11 missile supposedly shot down Malaysian Airlines flight #17. This is an SA-11 missile system. As you can see, it's not a "fire-and-forget" weapon that you fire from your shoulder and move on. It is also not something that even a bright separatist can operate alone. It is on the "A" list of concerns of American and NATO pilots going in harm's way. All of which is excellent circumstantial evidence that the blame can be laid at the feet of Mr. Putin and the Russian Army. President Obama, who was attending a fund raiser and then leaving for vacation on Martha's Vineyard, could not be reached for comment.

As the Wheels Fall Off

Victor Davis Hanson has a good overview of the myriad issues faced by the U.S. this summer. Change is what the President promised and change is definitely what we got. Ain't it great?

townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2014/07/17/the-turbulent-summer-of-2014-n1862718

Buying Time for Diplomacy

Missiles. Specifically anti-missile systems buy time for diplomacy. That's the essence of a piece by Austin Bay at Townhall and he is right.

Hamas is trying to bleed the Israelis right now by raining short and medium range rockets on all parts of Israel. Their efforts have been thwarted, however, by the Israeli "Iron Dome" system, which is a short-range tactical application of Reagan's Star Wars research, that the Israelis claim has been about 90% effective so far. All the Israeli citizenry has pretty much had it with Hamas, the politicians have not been forced by circumstances to retaliate massively and thereby potentially trigger a greater Middle East war. 

The same logic applies to the strategic situation. If one of the world's rogue states launches 1-2 ICBMs toward the U.S. an anti-missile system gives us the capability to take them out before they reach American soil and give our policymakers the luxury of time to formulate a response. In fact, any potential aggressor has to seriously consider a robust anti-missile system before they even think about attacking - it does them little good to be able to inflict no damage and expose themselves to crippling retaliation in return. Thus, anti-missile systems tend to preserve the status quo and encourage diplomacy, not deter it. 

P.S. - I hope this "Iron Dome" system is on the Pentagon's Christmas list.

townhall.com/columnists/austinbay/2014/07/16/israeli-iron-dome-demonstrates-missile-defense-payoffs-n1862469

Calling Al Gore

The UK's Department for Energy and Climate Change reports that people who are the most concerned about climate change use the most energy. So Al, about that biz jet... and oh the house too.

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/07/15/Official-Report-People-Who-Worry-Most-about-Climate-Change-Use-More-Energy

Les Nesman Memorial Bombing Competition

BLACKFOOT, Idaho (AP) -- A pilot who dropped 3,000 pingpong balls that were redeemable for prizes missed a crowd assembled for the stunt and instead hit a nearby interstate.

hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ODD_PINGPONG_BALLS_INTERSTATE?SITE=KGW&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Stuck on Stupid

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was on last Sunday's news shows thumping away on the ever popular theme that opposition to Obama = racism. Not true. I am absolutely color-blind in this area - Harry Reid, Joe Biden, and a host of other White Bread-types have similarly asinine ideas that are just as bad for the country. It's the ideas, stupid! And BTW - this race card stuff is getting really tiresome. Give it a rest, Eric.

A Christian Apologia for Today

Rachel Alexander writes an apologia in Townhall about why she is a Christian that I could have (and probably should have) written myself. It is well worth the read. Nicely done, Ms. Alexander.
townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2014/07/14/i-admit-im-christian-because-i-need-a-crutch-and-im-brainwashed-n1861809

Time is Running Out Millenials

In an article delightfully entitled "Socialism Punk'd You Millennials" Katie Kieffer, who is a Millennial herself, says that her generation is the unwitting victim of its economic and historical ignorance and has voted contrary to its true beliefs. She says, for example, that:

"In 1964, author and philosopher Ayn Rand was interviewed by Playboy Magazine and she defined socialism as a 'doctrine which proposes the sacrifice of the individual to the collective.' Defined thus, socialism would repel Millennials—70 percent of whom say they aspire to become entrepreneurs according to the 2014 Millennial Survey by Deloitte."

In essence, they tend to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative, which is more Libertarian than anything else, but they don't realize it because of fuzzy thinking. Of course, this isn't surprising either because they were brought up in an educational system including college that for most of them was amazingly fact-free. Per Santayana, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and that means that you have to read and understand it in the first place. It's time to get going Millennials - 2016 isn't far off. Don't get suckered again. 

townhall.com/columnists/katiekieffer/2014/07/14/socialism-punkd-you-millennials-n1861406

You Big Meany!

Congrats to Steven Spielberg for bagging this beautiful triceratops! Taking one of these babies down requires steady nerves, a steady trigger finger, and a BIG rifle. : ) See what some other people thought of the Great White Hunter.

www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/07/12/steven-spielberg-triceratops-facebook-jurassic-park/12574887/

Storm Warnings

Matthew Continetti has a very thoughtful piece at National Review quoting an editor of the German news magazine Die Welt extensively about his conclusion that Obama is the first European President and that it bodes ill both for this country and Europe from a foreign policy standpoint. Continetti extends the analogy to the immigration issue and finds a similar ill wind blowing:

"The questions of sovereignty, compassion, and relocation, of the economic and social costs of mass immigration of displaced peoples, of the most basic understanding of what a nation is, what borders are for, what distinguishes a citizen from an alien: Such questions have dominated European politics, and are coming to dominate American politics as well. They have also coarsened European politics, made it more antagonistic. They have set the advocates of the European Union, and of the immigrants, against nationalist publics. Elite condescension is met with public antipathy, even extremism. The casualties? No biggies: just trust, cohesion, and fellow feeling — the very ingredients for a healthy, successful country."

Indeed. What we may now be seeing in the U.S. is a coming apart of the bonds that have historically held us together. If this is accurate, it is a recipe for serious domestic trouble and then, when a nation of serious purpose comes along, it will catch us unaware and unprepared and unable to effectively respond. Not too far, actually, from where we are right now. I hope people are getting their storm shutters ready because a storm is heading this way. 

www.nationalreview.com/article/382554/our-europresident-matthew-continetti

Sometimes You Win One

Just yesterday I posted on the fact that the TSA was allowing illegals to board commercial airline flights with no ID but the government-issued Notice to Appear forms they are given for entering the U.S. illegally. Last night at 11 pm that apparently came to halt as a directive went out that another piece of identification will be required. Now to see if this is a temp job that lasts only as long as the media heat is on or whether it really is a longer term, albeit partial, return to sanity, as small a gesture as it is. 

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/07/12/TSA-Lying-and-Changed-Policy-After-Breitbart-Report-says-Border-Patrol-Union

Purely Intentional Part Deux

Thus saith the Border Patrol union:

"Illegal aliens are being allowed to fly on commercial airliners without valid identification, according to the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC). “The aliens who are getting released on their own recognizance are being allowed to board and travel commercial airliners by simply showing their Notice to Appear forms,” NBPC’s Local 2455 Spokesman, Hector Garza, told Breitbart Texas."

How long will it be before people recognize the facts staring them in the face?

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/07/11/Exclusive-TSA-Allowing-Illegals-to-Fly-Without-Verifiable-ID-Says-Border-Patrol-Union

Purely Intentional

And you thought that the chaos at the Mexican border was incompetence by the Obamaites? Think again:

"The former “border czar” for the Obama administration, Alan Bersin, who now is Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for International Affairs, declared in a speech he delivered in 2012 that the southern border of the United States is effectively the Mexican border with Guatemala.

Bersin made the remark at an annual Border Issues Conference hosted in Washington by the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.

“This is a terrific period,” Bersin said in remarks suggesting the “real action” economically in the world will be in North America in the future, thanks to the oil and gas resources of Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

“The Guatemalan border with Chiapas, Mexico, is now our southern border,” Bersin claimed."

Welcome to CanAmico!

www.wnd.com/2014/07/obama-czar-u-s-southern-border-now-guatemala/

Not So Much (Again)

The Trifecta crew at PJTV had an interesting piece today on plastic "islands" in the world's oceans. Back in the 1970s Professor Andres Cozar, a professor at the University of Cadiz in Spain, projected that there might be as much as 1M tons of plastic debris floating serenely in the oceans in masses as large as small countries. Of course (of course!) marine life would be endangered by this and we had to something - now! And we did. Plastic bags were banned in many areas, we started bring our reusable bags to grocery stores, we cut up the plastic rings stringing six-packs together, etc., etc. Don't it feel righteous! Well, as it turns out, Prof. Cozar recently admitted maybe he was a bit high on his original estimates.

On the basis of a world research cruise monitoring this issue Prof. Cozar now estimates that there might be as much as, well, er, um - only 7,000 to 35,000 tons of plastic in the world's oceans concentrated in about 5 current convergence zones. Let's see, if I am doing my math right, this is about 3.5% of his original estimate. Oopsie!

Just to set the record straight, I am not for carelessly throwing crap in the ocean or on any lake, river, etc., as anybody who has been a passenger in my boat can attest. And it's fine if you want to BYOB to the grocery store - notwithstanding some of the studies showing they can harbor some nasty pathogens. And I am glad that Prof. Cozar had the intellectual honesty to correct his conclusions based on new research. But I do get hacked when blown scientific data is used to promote one more cause to beat us about the head and shoulders for being stupid, careless, Americans slobs for 35 years or so and nobody goes out to actually collect data to verify the original estimates. No, it's much more fun to beat up on Americans for being the slobs we know they are. Why would that be and who is "we"?

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=327060297

Quote Without Comment on the Immigration Crisis

"Let me say this, when I saw, and I hate to use the word bizarre, but under the circumstances, when he [President Obama] is shown playing pool in Colorado, drinking a beer, and he can't even 242 miles to the Texas border, and plus, if he doesn't want to go down to the border, there's the Air Force base where HHS is holding some of the young kids from the border," Cuellar said. "He could at least make that trip to San Antonio. But again, border community leaders wants to see him down there on the border, and I think the optics of it is he should show up at the border."

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) speaking to Andrea Mitchell. 

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/07/09/Dem-Rep-Bizarre-Obama-Has-Time-To-Drink-Beer-and-Play-Pool-But-To-Not-Visit-Border

Global Warmism Shows Its True Face

Occasionally you hear an honest statement from one of the various "causes" about why they want what they want and such a statement recently came out from the UN Climate Chief, Christiana Figueres. Ms. Figueres said publicly that only communism could adequately deal with global warmism and cited China as her Exhibit A. Really, China? 

As writer Michael Schaus points out, China, the country that has dealt with unbelievable amounts of pollution thus far by handing out gazillions of masks and broadcasting sunrise and sunset on giant TV screens erected in public places? The country whose carbon pollution has continuously spiraled upwards while that of the United States has remained static? I'm sure there is no hidden agenda here on anybody's part. Naw - nosiree Bob!

finance.townhall.com/columnists/michaelschaus/2014/07/10/save-the-polar-bears-with-communism-n1860622

Yeah, But You Don't Get Re-Elected

From the Federal Reserve Bank - St. Louis regarding the negative effect of continuously extending unemployment

benefits:

"In summary, we find that the extension of unemployment benefits affected the labor market status of long-term unemployed workers in late 2013. Without extended UI benefits, these unemployed workers would have been more likely to be employed, more likely to exit the labor force, and on average 1.9 percent less likely to remain unemployed in the following period. In short, our simulated early termination of the EUC program lowered the unemployment rate by 3 to 5 basis points, suggesting that the December 2013 expiration of the EUC program might have slightly lowered the unemployment rate in early 2014."

townhall.com/tipsheet/kevinglass/2014/07/09/fed-report-unemployment-benefits-may-prolong-unemployment-n1860513

Can China Defeat the U.S.?

China has wanted Taiwan back for a long time but has lacked the military power to bring it about.  Apparently it now thinks that it could do so and checkmate any American military response to an invasion of Taiwan, assuming that the U.S. has the will to muster one. It has motive too - its population is rapidly aging and if it is going to move, it has about 20 years to do it before it is effectively loses the ability due to the seniority of its populace. 

The author of the article below thinks that the Chinese would come up empty-handed because of our submarine fleet. I for one hope so, but the old adage about putting all one's eggs in one basket still applies. Regardless of how good U.S. undersea forces are - and they are very good - we need to modernize all of our military, particularly the Navy and Air Force, and develop our cyber-warfare capabilities to be the best in the world, so that any aggressor will know deep down that an attack against the United States or its strategic national interests around the world is likely to come up a loser. 

theweek.com/article/index/264032/china-thinks-it-can-defeat-america-in-battle

Where We Are Headed

The Royal College of Surgeons has just issued a report that says that the British National Health Services systematically refuses surgery to people over age 75. It even has a sub-panel with the acronym NICE that makes the economic calls on who gets what health care and they have built this into their criteria, apparently violating British law. Nice. Thus seniors don't get gall bladder operations, knee replacements, or other routine surgeries - they literally aren't worth it.

Liberals/progressives always talk about wanting a more "compassionate and fair" society. C.S. Lewis back in the 1940s saw behind their verbal smokescreen when he wrote That Hideous Strength as part of the Perelandra trilogy. This book describes what a society looks like when the liberals/progressives take over and have free rein to employ their vision of a scientific and "progressive" society. Unfortunately, it looks more like something out of Hitler's fevered brow than Gandhi's. The name of the governmental agency with the real power in his book is NICE. A coincidence? Better question - think it can't happen here? Think again. 

www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/07/05/UK-Systematically-Denies-Surgery-to-Seniors