Indiana is clearly in the Progressive's dog house for having the temerity to pass a RFRA-type (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) law that the Feds had in the 1990s (and signed by then-President Clinton) and that 21 or so other states also have on the books. My, my! I expect drooling from the Left but I have been disgusted at the corporate bigwigs trashing the Hoosier state for their "dangerous behavior" and threatening boycotts.
I've got a suggestion Mr. Corporate Hotshot - let's see what you've really got. Go ahead and make the same threats against China - one of the leading practitioners of human rights abuse in the world. They run over people with tanks who express dissent from the political orthodoxy of the Communist Party and enforce population control at the point of a bayonet with forced abortions and sterilization. Or let's take a public poke and boycott those Islamic countries that throw gays off buildings and stone women to death who were raped. OK Mr. Bigwig - what have you got? You got nothing. I thought so. Hypocrites.
I was trying to arrange television service today for my mother who is moving to assisted living. In so doing, I had to contact Comcast and had totally forgotten how really miserable its "customer service" (Army intelligence?) is.
It started with 10 minutes on hold. I finally connected with a pleasant young lady who could sort of speak English. She kept telling me how much she appreciated me calling Comcast while consulting her "system." After an indecent interval she told me she was sorry but there was no Comcast service available at that location. Really? I politely told her that I didn't know what her system was smoking but I knew for a fact that the facility is pre-wired for Comcast as the sole provider and I had seen residents actually watching TV. That totally stumped her and so it was time to transfer to a HIGHER "customer service" level, God help me! Unfortunately, God was apparently otherwise occupied because after 7 or so minutes of banal music, an electronic voice informed me that they were unable to handle my call at this time and then cheerily disconnected me.
Yup, that's why we left for DISH in 2006 and never looked back. How this company stays in business is beyond me. Inertia is a big driver of the market I guess.
"Virgil" is a pseudonym for a columnist on Breitbart who frequently contributes articles on foreign affairs. This is a very thought-provoking piece which can be summarized as "transfer v. genocide" as the solution to the Israeli/Palestinian problem and a broader look at who American "friends" should be in the years ahead in this very tough neighborhood. Hint: he doesn't think they will be elected by popular elections. In any event, the article is well worth reading if you want to begin thinking about what U.S. strategy should be in the coming years in this dangerous and important (as long as oil is king) part of the world.
www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/03/21/the-future-of-the-middle-east-ominous-scenarios-and-a-possible-solution-for-israel/
"Liberalism Is Your Crotchety, Judgmental Aunt Wagging Her Finger At You!"
John Hawkins
There he goes again looking out for us, bless his heart. Yes, the President has floated the idea of mandatory voting as a cure to all this country's ills. Great idea, but why stop there? I mean let's just go to mandatory electoral results!
Think of it - a President would have a clear mandate to pursue the policies of their choice without bothering with annoyances like Congress or the Supreme Court. You do have to admit that leaders like Mussolini, Stalin and Mao were efficient and could really concentrate on leading their countries without worrying about these sorts of things. Of course they led them straight to hell but hey, you gotta break a few eggs when you're cooking up a Glorious Revolution! Darned good idea, Mr. President, darned good.
www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/18/obama-floats-mandatory-voting-it-would-completely-change-the-political-map/
Here's a story I missed last week and I wish I hadn't. There was a dustup at the University of Oklahoma recently because two boneheads at a fraternity sang racist songs. Dumb and wrong. Megyn Kelly brought Isaac Hill, the president of the Black Student Association, on her show expecting Southern fried racist served up fresh by him. Instead, here is what he delivered: they should be forgiven. What??!! Kelly was visibly stunned. Despite giving him several more chance to roast them, he demurred saying:
"It is not smart to fight hate with hate. It is only logical to fight hate with love."
This is a person of resounding character who when faced with the temptation to do evil, consistently chose good. In doing so he was following the legacy of a person who really did change the face of America, Dr. Martin Luther King. At the heart of King's legacy was this core belief that he expressed as follows:
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
He was right and Isaac Hill is cut from that same cloth. Well done, Mr. Hill. You are a leader I would follow.
townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2015/03/17/the-power-of-forgiveness-n1971592
This is what infuriates me about Pentagon procurement policies. The new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is supposed to be one of those "do-it-all" aircraft - you know, it's a floor polish, it's a dessert topping, etc. They never work well. Evidence?
The Marines have ordered a VTOL variant for close-air support. This function is rather critical to the Marines who get the nastiest big assignments that usually involve fighting up close and personal with the bad guys. If they are calling in air support, they want the ordinance put on the bad guys and not themselves. The problem: the new small smart bomb designed for the F-35 weapons bay doesn't fit and the software to operate it isn't ready and won't be ready until 2022. The aircraft (fingers crossed) is supposed to be operational in 2018. Well, I guess for 4 years the F-35 will have to buzz enemy lines and make them really, really scared. Oh, did I mention that the F-35 is stealthy. That will really help in the ground support mission. Perhaps it's invisible and makes no noise. Great strategy. Great execution.
In the meantime, the Air Force is doing it's best to get rid of a really terrific close-support aircraft, the A-10 Warthog. Designed to specifically fill this role and based on experience from the Vietnam War, the Warthog has been effectively supporting infantry for decades. It also brings its pilots home because the pilot is encased in a titanium "bathtub" and the aircraft has multiple redundant systems to take a licking from ground fire and keep on ticking. But no ..... we can't have a plane that is simply supremely effective if ugly - we have to have a shiny new model that doesn't do the job and if it takes a hit from a rifle round is probably going to crash and burn with the loss of the pilot and a $116M aircraft.
As I said before, great strategy; great execution. Our combat people in all services, all branches, deserve the best gear possible before they go against bad guys of whatever stripe. This is not it.
thediplomat.com/2015/03/oops-us-close-air-support-bomb-doesnt-fit-on-the-f35/
I previously posted on Seattle's victory for the proletariat when it increased the city's minimum wage in phases to $15/hour. At the time a council member ecstatically celebrated the "win" and stated:
"We forced the city establishment to lift the wages of 100,000 low wage workers in Seattle – to transfer $3 billion from business to workers at the bottom of the wage scale over the next 10 years. We did this. Workers did this."
Power to the people comrades! And how's it working out Seattle? Not so well it would seem, as some predicted.
Michael Hausam describes recent events in the Emerald City:
"The first face-plant scene in the compilation occurred in February, when a recreational gear manufacturer announced it was moving some operations to Nevada. The owners specifically stated that the new wage law was the sole reason for the change."
Just last week a number of Seattle restaurants closed again citing the minimum wage law. A representative of the Washington Restaurant Association said:
"Every [restaurant] operator I’m talking to is in panic mode, trying to figure out what the new world will look like."
As Slate magazine (not exactly a conservative journal) said in commenting on the fiasco:
"The city is now on a course for history—and quite possibly a nasty collision with unintended consequences."
Let the good times roulet, Seattle! Let 'em roll.
finance.townhall.com/columnists/michaelhausam/2015/03/14/seattles-minimum-wage-law-a-slowmotion-accident-right-before-our-eyes-n1970499
Ann Coulter is a bomb-thrower. She can be funny as all get out or miss and come off as just snarky. Today's piece about Barack Obama: A Man for the Ages bullseyes the target. An appetizer?
"He [the President] could call ISIS "Islamic." But anybody could do that -- even ISIS calls itself "Islamic." (Note for scholars: That's what the first "I" stands for.)
Well duh! But you have to go to Harvard to deliberately ignore pesky little facts like this so you can be "nuanced" in your worldview.
The main course, however, is Barack Revere and how he would have handled the approach of the Redcoats in the Revolutionary War:
"Good evening, everybody! I want to say a few words on a number of topics and take a few questions! First, beginning with the No. 1 thing most Americans care about -- the British are -- well, it would tempting to say they're "coming," but that would be painting with too broad a brush. Is the entire British Empire coming? Is Bombay coming? Bengal? The Turks & Caicos? This is something I just recently heard about on the evening news! The truth is, "We found out that certain forces are marshaling."
We are not at war with the British Empire. We are at war with people who have perverted the British Empire! Our military action has to be part of a broader, comprehensive strategy to protect America's working families and strengthen the middle class! And that starts with the Minutemen building on the progress that they've made so far and forming an inclusive force that will unite their towns and strengthen their security forces! And I've asked Secretary Kerry to continue to build the coalition that's needed to meet this threat. Which, by the way, is COMING!"
I love it! Oh the nuance! Oh the sophistication! Oh crap, we would have lost that war too with him in charge!
Read the whole thing - it's funny. Good hunting, Ann. It's a target-rich environment these days.
townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2015/03/11/barack-obama-a-man-for-the-ages-n1969279
Why? Good supply. The recent bump is probably transient as refiners shut down refineries for a few weeks to cut over to making their summer-blend fuels. This happens twice a year - once in the Spring and again in the Fall when they do the same to begin the production of winter mixes:
"AAA reports the national average at $2.44 this week, still below the 50-year inflation-adjusted average of $2.50 per gallon. If you’d like cheaper gas, don’t blame the oil and gas industry. It’s been the United Steelworkers and their strike against Royal Dutch Shell and 11 refineries that ticked gas back up more than anything, although it appears that a settlement has been accepted."
The political battles in this country are becoming so heated that it is easy for each side to depersonalize the other and act like people on the other side are caricatures rather than human beings. This story is a reminder that God doesn't make that mistake.
Ana Marie Cox "came out" last week as a Christian. I have previously written about Kirsten Powers story about coming to Christ. Powers is a center-left journalist. If Powers is descibed as center-left, Cox is one of those Screaming Yellow Zonker-types on the far Left who are True Believers of everything Left, i.e.- all Republicans are evil, not just misguided, LGBT, Global Warming, etc., etc. She was the founding editor of one of the snarkiest journals of the Left, a regular on MSNBC and generally not the sort of person I would sit down with to enjoy a reasoned political discussion. But...
Thirty years ago Cox read The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and Narnia stayed with her all these years and provided a refuge 4 years ago when her marriage fell apart and her mother became seriously ill. As things continued to fall apart, she said that she realized that she had:
" ... to start looking for her “Higher Power” not just in a “general neighborhood,” but rather looking for Him at a “specific address.”
Well said and the promise that is made is that if we seek, we will find and she did. Here is where she ended - and really just started - her journey:
"Here is why I believe I am a Christian: I believe I have a personal relationship with my Lord and Savior. I believe in the grace offered by the Resurrection. I try everyday to give my will and my life over to God. I try to be like Christ. I get down on my knees to pray."
