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APRIL 15,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:16 P.M. ET: 

GREAT EDUCATIONAL IDEA – From CBS:  "A Florida high school wants to set a dress code for parents.  Broward County School Board member Dr. Rosalind Osgood brought up the idea during a meeting after noticing parents dropping their kids off at Boyd Anderson High School while wearing saggy pants that exposes their underwear and curlers in their hair.  'We have dads showing up in sagging pants,' Osgood said, according to the Sun Sentinel. 'It’s hard for me to tell a child not to show up for school with hair curlers, pajamas or short shorts if they see parents wearing them. Parents need to lead by example.'"  What a radical, revolutionary idea.  Watch.  The left will claim that this constitutes oppression of the parent class.

PROGRESS? – From London's Telegraph:  "Rising numbers of infants lack the motor skills needed to play with building blocks because of an 'addiction' to tablet computers and smartphones, according to teachers.
Many children aged just three or four can 'swipe a screen' but have little or no dexterity in their fingers after spending hours glued to iPads, it was claimed.  Members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers also warned how some older children were unable to complete traditional pen and paper exams because their memory had been eroded by overexposure to screen-based technology.  They called on parents to crack down on tablet computer use and even turn off wi-fi at night to address the problem."  I wonder if this will affect the physical ability to vote.  It won't matter to Dems, of course, as they use the dearly departed.

HISTORICAL OUTRAGE – From AFP:  "Sydney (AFP) - A lock of Napoleon Bonaparte's hair and other 'priceless' artefacts linked to the French emperor have been stolen from a museum in Australia, police said Tuesday.  Burglars broke into the building on Victoria state's Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, in what was believed to be a targeted robbery.  'The offender(s) have jemmied open cabinets inside and stolen numerous priceless antiques,' a police statement said.  'The stolen items included a ring and (a glass frame) containing Napoleon's hair, a ribbon inscribed by Napoleon in 1815 and a snuff box.'"  At least they didn't get his iPhone.

WHITE HOUSE PETTINESS – From the Daily Caller:  "Neurosurgeon Ben Carson says the White House wanted him to apologize for 'offending' President Obama after he famously delivered a conservative message at the National Prayer Breakfast last year.  Carson, the former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, recalls the events surrounding his 2013 speech in his new book, One Nation: What We Can All Do To Save America’s Future. The Daily Caller obtained an advance copy of the book, which is set for release May 20.  'He did not appear to be hostile or angry,' Carson writes of Obama, 'but within a matter of minutes after the conclusion of the program, I received a call from some of the prayer breakfast organizers saying that the White House was upset and requesting that I call the president and apologize for offending him. I said that I did not think that he was offended and that I didn’t think that such a call was warranted.'"  Chicago politics in the White House.  Dr. Ben responded appropriately.

April 15, 2015       Permalink

REMARKABLE – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:   Last week Brandeis University disgracefully withdrew an honorary degree from one of the great women of our time, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a women's rights activist who has taken on radical Islam.  Apparently, her criticisms of Islam were too much for the delicate ears of the university, which prides itself on "inclusion," except for those it doesn't include.

In Britain, meanwhile, a somewhat different approach is being used to deal with an issue of Islamic extremism.  Maybe we'll learn, although not during the time of Obama.  From AFP: 

Britain on Tuesday sent in a former counter-terror chief to investigate claims of an Islamist plot to take over schools in the second city of Birmingham.

The education ministry appointed Peter Clarke, who headed the police investigation into the July 7, 2005 London bombings, to conduct a probe into the allegations.

The former head of Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command will “analyze evidence of extremist infiltration” in Birmingham schools, the ministry said.

However, the appointment drew immediate criticism from the local police chief, who said people would inevitably draw “unwarranted conclusions.”

Concerns about how some schools in the central English city were being run first emerged last year in a leaked anonymous letter which outlined how to implement what it called Operation Trojan Horse — the takeover of schools by hardline Muslims.

The letter, which credited the operation with forcing a change of leadership at four schools, gave instructions on ousting and replacing uncooperative head teachers and school governors.

“I am extremely concerned by the allegations made in connection to a number of schools in Birmingham,” said Education Secretary Michael Gove.

“These allegations need either to be substantiated and firm action taken, or to be shown to be baseless.

“Peter Clarke brings a wealth of relevant skills and experience, and is very well placed to lead a fair and thorough assessment of the evidence.

“No pupils should be exposed to extremist views or radicalization while at school.”

Gove has already sent inspectors to 15 schools, while Birmingham City Council is investigating 25, having received more than 200 complaints.

Since the letter emerged, whistleblowers including former staff have come forward, making claims that boys and girls were segregated in classrooms and assemblies, sex education was banned and non-Muslim staff were bullied.

Birmingham has a large Muslim community. Some 22 percent of the city’s 1.1 million residents identified themselves as such in the 2011 census.

COMMENT:  Michael Gove is a great guy, a thorn in the side of the British appeasement establishment, and this gutsy action is typical of him.  We need more like him, and we need them in a rapidly weakening America.

April 15, 2015       Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:41 A.M. ET:  As you know, the Pulitzer Prize was awarded yesterday to the Washington Post and Britain's Guardian for exposing surveillance activities of the National Security Agency, using information provided by Edward Snowden.

I think it's sickening.  There were many ways for Snowden, or anyone else, to blow the whistle on allegedly improper activities without exposing vast troves of classified information, then running to a hostile nation for asylum.  Snowden is currently a guest of the Kremlin. 

Liam Fox, Britain's former secretary of state for defense, is also outraged by the award, and provides us with our quote of the day.  From The Wall Street Journal: 

It remains to be seen just how much damage has been done to the West's security architecture as a result of the Snowden disclosures; much of this information would be classified. There has been speculation, however, that the ability to anticipate Russian intentions in relation to Ukraine and Crimea was diminished as a result of having to close down potentially compromised signals-intelligence capability. If true, this would be the first practical demonstration of how Mr. Snowden and his acolytes had successfully damaged security to the benefit of Vladimir Putin's regime.

The public justification given by Mr. Snowden for his actions was "I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things"—surveillance of its citizens—"I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded." So where does he choose to go? Russia. In a bizarre and perverse video statement in October, he said of America's intelligence techniques: "They hurt our economy. They hurt our country. They limit our ability to speak and think and live and be creative, to have relationships and to associate freely." This from a man who is snuggled up with Mr. Putin's henchmen.

Edward Snowden thinks of himself as a cyber-age guerrilla warrior, but in reality he is a self-publicizing narcissist. He did not find or expose anything illegal, nor did he exhaust all legal and constitutional options to express his reservations about the intelligence and security services. He did not attempt to limit any potential damage in making his point. He did not show that any agency activities were unreasonable in law. Let us not imbue his cowardice with higher motives. Let us not confuse his egotism with public service. Let's not call his treachery by lesser terms. Let us be clear about the intent and impact of his actions. Let us be clear to the American people and their allies about the threats they now face from enemies inside and out, terrorist and criminal. For once, let's say what we mean. Let us call treason by its name.

COMMENT:   Nothing more need be said.

April 15, 2015       Permalink

STATE OF THE NATION – AT 8:59 A.M. ET:  A new report from Harvard paints an alarming picture of the ethical state of elite young America.  From the Harvard Crimson: 

Administrative Board statistics detailing the outcomes of cases heard by the disciplinary body in the last academic year show that, as expected, the number of students required to temporarily withdraw from the College for academic dishonesty was more than three times higher than the number in 2011-2012.

According to the statistics, released Friday on the Ad Board’s website after repeated requests from The Crimson, 97 students involved in academic integrity cases were required to withdraw in 2012-2013, the year that saw Harvard’s largest cheating investigation in recent memory.

Roughly 70 of those 97 students, according to previous statements from administrators, were implicated in the Government 1310 cheating scandal, in which about 125 students were accused of plagiarizing or inappropriately collaborating on the course’s final take-home exam.

This would mean that about 27 students outside of the Gov 1310 case were required to withdraw for academic dishonesty last year, a number consistent with the previous academic year, in which 26 students were required to withdraw in academic dishonesty cases.

The number of students who were placed on disciplinary probation due to academic dishonesty also rose to 31 in 2012-2013, compared to only 16 students in 2011-2012. Administrators have previously said that about half of the students implicated in the Gov 1310 case who were not required to withdraw were placed on probation. In 2012-2013, the Ad Board took no action in 14 academic dishonesty cases, compared to just one in 2011-2012.

COMMENT:  Nice, huh?  This is an elite university that has the pick of the crop of the best American students.  This shows once again that academic excellence and ethical behavior are not necessarily related.  Neither are academic excellence and wisdom. 

At least Harvard is being open about the numbers.  I'm sure there are worse situations in some other places, but universities shun the bad publicity.

Is there an ethics crisis in the young generation?  I think there's an ethics crisis in the country generally. 

April 15, 2015       Permalink

UKRAINE CRISIS DEEPENS – AT 8:47 A.M. ET:  The Ukraine crisis is deepening, with one German cabinet minister even warning that this could lead to military conflict in Europe.  From Fox: 

Ukraine's acting president said Tuesday that a military operation to quash a pro-Russian insurgency has started in eastern Ukraine after more than a week of seizures of government building in the latest standoff to grip the country.

Oleksandr Turchynov said the “anti-terrorist” operation began in the early morning hours in the northern Donetsk region, where the majority of the pro-Russian forces are located, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“Overnight, an antiterrorist operation began in the north of Donetsk. But it will be phased, responsible and balanced. The purpose of the actions, I stress once again, is to protect the citizens of Ukraine,” Turchynov told Ukraine’s parliament, according to Interfax.

"The plans of the Russian Federation were and remain brutal. They want not only for Donbass (Donetsk region), but for the whole south and east of Ukraine to be engulfed by fire," Turchynov continued. The aim of the operation is to "defend the citizens of Ukraine, to stop terror, stop crime and stop attempts to tear our country into pieces," he said.

Elsewhere the Interior Ministry in the Donetsk region the police station in Kramatorsk that had been seized by pro-Russian gunmen was "liberated" Tuesday, but a nearby small airport was still controlled by the militia.

Over the past 10 days, more than a dozen government offices in 10 eastern Ukraine cities have been taken over by pro-Russian forces, with most of the seizures following the same pattern. Aggressive gangs, sometimes carrying firearms and wearing military fatigues, storm the buildings. The Ukrainian flag is replaced with a Russian one.

The insurgents are demanding broader autonomy and closer ties with Russia. The central government has so far been unable to rein in the separatists, as many of the local security forces have switched to their side.

COMMENT:  It is widely believed that Vladimir Putin's Russia is guiding the pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine.  President Obama and President Putin spoke by phone yesterday, but there is no report on any progress toward resolving this crisis.

What is feared is that Russian conventional forces might move on Ukraine, under the pretext of protecting the local pro-Russian population.

This is not getting any better.  We'll be monitoring the situation and watching for any flashpoints.

April 15,  2015     Permalink

APRIL 14,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:58 P.M. ET:

OBAMA'S AMERICA – From CNS:  "(CNSNews.com) - People participating in the food stamp program outnumbered the women who worked full-time, year-round in the United States in 2012, according to data from the Department of Agriculture and the Census Bureau."  Welcome to the recovery.  No hope, no change.

SANITY PREVAILS – The left has been dogging Condi Rice, trying first to get her dropped as the commencement speaker at Rutgers.  That flopped.  Then they tried to get her dropped from a tech company's board.  The response is in, from NRO:  "Condoleezza Rice? will remain on Dropbox’s board of directors, according to a blogpost from founder and CEO Drew Houston. Rice’s recent appointment to the board drew some controversy among political opponents of the former secretary of state, who urged the file-sharing company to reverse its decision.  The backlash to Rice’s addition came just days after Mozilla pushed out its newly hired CEO Brandon Eich for his support of traditional marriage in 2008, prompting some to think Dropbox would follow suit and let Rice go to avoid political fallout.  But Houston writes that Dropbox is 'honored to have Dr. Rice join our board” as it continues to ensure customers’ privacy.'"  Cheers for Dropbox.

LESS THAN STELLAR – "Mad Men" returned to TV last night.  The cable phenomenon is in its last season, although that "season" will be divided in two – half this year, half next.  It's been a great series, but, after six years, it's gotten a bit worn out, as last night's indifferent episode showed.  Ratings weren't that hot.  Aside from age, "Mad Men" has suffered from a weird policy in cable programming:   A season of a series ends, and the next "season" may begin nine months or more later.  By that time you've forgotten most of what's happened.   When series TV started, a series would end in June and pick up in September.  Much more logical and audience-friendly.

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – From NBC:   "'It’s kinda strange.'  That was New Jersey resident Barrett Griner's first thought when he checked his mail last week and found that one of the mail items from his local county clerk's office was not for him. It was for his 5-year-old German Shepherd dog, IV.  'I got the mail and I look at it, and I’m like IV Griner, this is my dog’s name,' he said. 'I’m wondering like, What is this? Something from the county office about her vaccinations or something? Like, why is my dog getting mail?'  The notice, addressed from the Cumberland County Clerk of Courts, was a juror summons for someone with the first name IV and the last name Griner -- the exact name Barrett Griner IV says he legally gave to his dog."  Considering some of the verdicts I've read about recently, maybe the dogs can do better. 

April 14, 2014       Permalink

FADING ICON – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:   Barack Obama was the "great inspiration" in 2008.   We were told he would move a generation, the way a few former presidents had done.  Turns out, that really isn't the case.  From a very incisive piece in yesterday's New York Times: 

Unlike John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, who inspired virtual legislatures of politicians and became generational touchstones, Mr. Obama has so far had little such influence. That is all the more remarkable considering he came to office tapping into spirit of volunteerism and community service that pollsters say is widespread and intense among young people. Mr. Obama has come to represent that spirit, but he has failed, pollsters say, to transform it into meaningful engagement in the political process.

“If you were to call it an Obama generation, there was a window,” said John Della Volpe, the director of polling at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. “That opportunity has been lost.” He said the youth who came of voting age around the time of the 2008 election have since lost interest in electoral politics, and pointed to a survey he conducted last year among 18- to 29-year-olds. Although 70 percent said they considered community service an honorable endeavor, only 35 percent said the same about running for office.

COMMENT:  Obama was an inspirational candidate, but has never been an inspirational president.   Kennedy ("He started us on the path to the moon") and Reagan ("He ended the Cold War on our terms") knew that a president had to have size.  True, Kennedy was cut down before he truly established a legacy, but he thought in large terms.  Reagan was always a "big" man.  Obama, by contrast, often has the image of a local politician.  He lacks not only size, but strength and conviction.  And his speeches, although always well delivered, lack elegant writing and soaring themes.   You wanted to follow Kennedy and Reagan.  With Obama, you want more information.

April 14, 2014       Permalink

IRAN GETS TOUGHER – AT 9:44 A.M. ET:   Iran, too, is marching forward, indifferent to "warnings" by an increasingly ridiculed Obama administration.  (Even Democrats in the Senate are starting publicly to question Obama's and Kerry's schoolyard foreign policy.) 

Now Iran is making increasingly rigid demands regarding its nuclear program.  And why not?  Who's pushing back?  From AP:

Iran’s nuclear chief asserted Sunday that under the terms of the recently agreed upon treaty with the West, the Islamic Republic has the right to enrich uranium to 90% grade.

“Firstly, we believe that we are entitled to any right that any Non-Proliferation Treaty and [International Atomic Energy] Agency member has, which means that enrichment from 1% to 90% is our right,” Ali Akbar Salehi said in an interview Sunday, according to a translation provided by the Iranian Fars News network.

Salehi, who serves as the Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, added that his country was also considering building four more nuclear power plants in the coming years, with the help of Russian experts.

In a different interview, Salehi raised concerns for the fate of the country’s only running atomic power plant amid talks with the West about a final deal to curb Tehran’s controversial nuclear program, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The government-run daily “Iran” quoted Salehi, the Iranian negotiator in talks with six world powers, as saying that Iran needs 30,000 more centrifuges to enrich uranium and produce enough nuclear fuel to run its Bushehr power plant for a year.

World powers negotiating a final nuclear deal with Iran want a reduction — not an increase — in the number of centrifuges Tehran is operating to remove concerns that the Islamic Republic may use its enrichment capabilities to build a nuclear weapon.

COMMENT:  Recently our less-than-swift secretary of state said that we were considering permitting Iran to have a nuclear program that would keep it within six months to a year of having a nuclear weapon.  Many observers were shocked by that concession since we previously had spoken of the need for Iran to be kept several years away from a "breakout." 

We aren't too good at this game, are we?  Not under this administration.

April 14, 2014       Permalink

UKRAINE UPDATE – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  This is getting very dangerous, just as we are reducing our deterrent forces.  As Col. Dowd says in his comments, posted just below, "Inevitably, just at the moment we feel it prudent to significantly reduce our military forces, the need for them has rushed in upon us."  Russia is becoming increasingly militant, with Vladimir Putin apparently trying to rebuild the Soviet empire.  From the Washington Post:   

MOSCOW — Pro-Russian militants ignored a deadline set by the Ukrainian government and remained ensconced Monday morning in buildings they have occupied in strategic towns throughout the eastern part of the country.

Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine’s acting president, said Monday that a major “anti-terrorist” operation announced the night before would get underway. But he also declared that he would be open to a referendum next month on a decentralization of authority to Ukraine’s regions.

The occupiers have claimed that a referendum is what they are seeking. But they are unlikely to credit Turchynov’s intentions. Since the appearance over the weekend of heavily armed pro-Russian squads in a handful of towns, accompanied by sporadic gunfights that have left at least nine injured and one dead, the prospects for a negotiated settlement have dimmed considerably.

In Luhansk, close by the Russian border, workers were evacuated from the local administration building Monday morning, the Interfax news agency reported, without being told why. In Horlivka, about 150 separatists stormed the local police headquarters, according to the unian.net news service.

Authorities in Kiev accuse Russia of stirring up trouble in an attempt to disrupt Ukraine and destabilize the government.

“The blood of Ukrainian heroes has been shed in a war which the Russian Federation is waging against Ukraine,” Turchynov said in an address to the nation Sunday evening.

COMMENT:  There is genuine fear in Western capitals that Russia might move militarily into Ukraine.  Our government keeps warning Moscow against such a move, but why would Putin take these warnings seriously?  He sees Obama reducing American forces and ridiculing the wisdom of past generations as "20th-century thinking."  Guess what, Barack?  Putin is living in the 20th century, and he's mastered it.

April 14, 2014       Permalink

DRAWDOWN – AT 8:30 A.M. ET:  We are very lucky at Urgent Agenda to have extraordinarily intelligent and accomplished readers.  We may be a small site, but I'll put our readership up against that of any other, including the online Harvard Crimson. 

One of our readers and subscribers, John Dowd, a West Point graduate, recently retired from a distinguished military career.  I asked him for his thoughts on the reduction of American military forces under the Obama administration.  I know you'll be interested in his response: 

My thoughts on the drawdown are in some senses quite conventional. History has punished us every time we have assured ourselves that it was safe to disarm. Inevitably, just at the moment we feel it prudent to significantly reduce our military forces, the need for them has rushed in upon us.

But I worry less about the mere loss of numbers and weaponry. We are good at regenerating formations and masses of modern, lethal equipment when called for. But these things do not make our military exceptional. I am concerned that, with a drawdown, we inevitably lose leadership, professionalism, experience, initiative...all the less tangible aspects of a well-trained, well-organized army that can cope with and succeed in vague and uncertain circumstances. Armies are great in spirit, not in numbers. But only with adequate numbers and funding are we likely to maintain all the training, leadership, and professional education opportunities that over time produce a strong cadre of commanders, staff officers and non-commissioned officers. Think about the talent that will be reluctant to join or stay with the armed forces when they see the limits to opportunities that the reductions will likely produce.

I leave aside any drivel that argues we can succeed by relying entirely upon stand-off weaponry, UAVs, satellites, naval and air forces. Clausewitz was correct: strategic victories are not secured through winning military battles, through body counts, by targeting enemy leaders, or by destroying military equipment. They are won by bending the enemy's will to our own. This is always dirty, always difficult, always time-consuming, and always requires the human element. The enemy is beaten only when he believes he is beaten. He is never beaten simply because he has lost this or that battle, this or that many troops, this or that amount of equipment. Once the military option is chosen, the enemy is beaten when he is, by force, made to believe he is beaten. This cannot be done from afar.

So, I think we will regret reducing our forces. Those who wish ill around the world will not honor our assumptions. But while we can probably recover numbers quickly, we risk losing those "softer," less obvious attributes that we have earned for our military only by maintaining relatively large, relatively well-funded forces.

Interesting that, in our flabby, inefficient federal government, we can only find room for cuts in the one organization that seems to do what it is chartered to do pretty well.

John Dowd
Colonel (Ret), US Army

COMMENT:  Well said, don't you think?  Comments please.

April 14,  2014     Permalink