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SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE – DAY THIRTEEN - HELP!

This is the last weekend of our current drive, one of two, or maybe three, this year.  We're ending the second week of our drive, which has produced reasonable results thus far.  But, again, almost all the good news has come from current subscribers and donators, who increased their support.  We deeply appreciate their wonderful assistance, but we also need new subscribers and donators.  We know we have many new readers, because we hear from them.  Please consider subscribing or donating.

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FEBRUARY 22,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:30 P.M. ET: 

OH GOODY – The United States is committed to reaching a final deal with Iran by July which would ensure Tehran will never be able to produce nuclear weapons, Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman said Saturday.   Speaking in Jerusalem, the top US negotiator in the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 world powers said there was only one measure of success, 'and that is if an agreement means that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon and that the international community will have assurance in the exclusively peaceful nature of a nuclear program in Iran.'"  Please note that Wendy Sherman was in charge of our nuclear negotiations with North Korea.   We were constantly outmaneuvered, and North Korea has the atomic bomb.  I guess we always promote the best.

SNAKE OIL – From the Kansas City Star:  "Al Gore has been known for his climate change warnings since the 2006 film 'An Inconvenient Truth.'  Former vice president Al Gore spoke about climate change Saturday during the Folk Alliance International conference at the Westin Crown Center hotel.  But the former vice president, speaking Saturday in Kansas City, cited many more recent examples how heavy use of fossil fuels is contributing to extreme weather events and trends, in his view.  Gore filled a Westin Crown Center ballroom with a 90-minute presentation, using photos and videos to illustrate a litany of floods, wildfires, torrential rains, droughts, dust storms, rising sea levels and increasing world temperatures.  To those attending the Folk Alliance International conference, he noted examples of flooding in locations both remote and closer to home, such as in Manitou Springs, Colo., where high water barreled down mountain highways last year, carrying cars along with it."  The Folk Alliance International Conference?  This is a scientifically qualified group?  Someday, Gore will be seen as a modern snake-oil salesman.  And his misuse of science will lower the prestige of science in the public mind.

NEEDLESS OFFENSE – From The Hill:  "The University of Notre Dame must provide birth control to employees and students after a federal appeals court ruled Friday, a move the school says will force it to violate its religious beliefs.  In a blow to religious colleges and universities across the country, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago denied Notre Dame's request for an injunction to the ObamaCare birth control mandate that requires the school to provide coverage for contraception.  The injunction would have given Notre Dame a temporary reprieve from the birth control mandate, as the Roman Catholic school challenges the rule in court. But the appeals court ruled 2-1 that the school will have to comply with the rule, even before it hears the court's final decision.  The court found Notre Dame 'has not yet shown that there is a substantial burden' in complying with the birth control mandate."  I find this alarming.  True, if a medical-insurance program guarantees specific forms of coverage to every citizen, the guarantee must be carried out.  However, historically, we have always found ways that permit religious institutions to maintain their beliefs and avoid violating their consciences.  Surely a way can be found to provide birth control to those Notre Dame students and employees who wish to have it, without the coverage going through the school.  A little imagination please.  But the contempt for traditional religion in this administration is substantial, and the Obamans seem little moved to provide an imaginative solution.

February 22, 2014       Permalink

GE TAKES A STAND AGAINST STAGED ENVIRONMENTALISM – AT 10:05 A.M. ET:  This is one of the most fascinating stories I've read recently.  From Breitbart:

In a watershed moment and a huge victory over environmentalists, General Electric has agreed to stop projects that are designed solely for the purpose of carbon dioxide reductions to please those who lobby for climate change concessions.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank which has been fighting GE for years because of GE’s liberal bias under CEO Jeffrey Immelt, scored a huge victory after receiving the commitment from General Electric.

Late in 2013, the National Center submitted a shareholder proposal as part of GE's 2014 proxy statement and annual meeting materials. The proposal:

...request[ed] that the Board of Directors adopt a policy that General Electric not undertake any energy savings or sustainability project for the sole goal of seeking carbon dioxide emissions reductions due to climate change concerns, except as required by law … given the Company's goal of reducing energy use (carbon dioxide emissions) and its admission that balancing this task with common business metrics is 'difficult at best,' shareholders are concerned that the Company may make some decisions in which the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions is a higher priority than maximizing financial returns.

Justin Danhof, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project, was delighted, saying:

General Electric's pledge to only pursue environmental projects that meet common business criteria is the culmination of years of efforts and a recognition that sustainability and the free market can work in concert. For years, GE has been the poster boy for crony capitalism and corporate America's green energy cheerleader. Now, GE shareholders have confirmation that the company's strategies will henceforth be led by true market forces and not by blind adherence to global warming zealotry.

COMMENT:  We're certainly not against reasonable environmental policies here.  But zealotry and sound policies are usually in conflict.  Environmentalism doesn't mean blindly following a party line.  We've shown in this country that you can have clean air and water without destroying the economy. 

February 22, 2014        Permalink

NOT A GOOD SIGN – AT 9:48 A.M. ET:   We are constantly told that Republicans have a good chance to take control of the Senate this year.  But what I'm seeing, day by day, is not that encouraging.  Many polls show races that should be easily won are actually very close.  And races that are possible pickups are slipping away.  Consider New Hampshire.  From The Hill:

Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is taking a hit from a recent barrage of attacks from Democratic groups as he continues to flirt with a Senate bid in New Hampshire.

The new survey, conducted by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling for the League of Conservation Voters, shows Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen expanding her lead over Brown — who isn’t in the race, but has made no secret of his interest in it.

February 22, 2014 Permalink

Shaheen now has 47 percent support to Brown’s 39 percent support among New Hampshire voters in the automated poll.

The last PPP survey of the race, conducted in early January, showed Shaheen leading Brown by just three points.

New Hampshire voters' perception of Brown has declined since that last poll. The share of voters viewing him unfavorably has risen seven percent, to 47 percent, in the new survey, while the share viewing him positively has stayed stable at 34 percent.

While Shaheen is favored for reelection, Democrats realize Brown, with his starpower and fundraising ability, could make the race competetive for Republicans if he does decide to run.

COMMENT:  This has become a typical pattern.  Some Republican flirts with the idea of running for an office, sucking the air out of the room.  Meanwhile, Democrats, who are much better campaigners, are strictly business, out campaigning early and building their strength.

Scott Brown should either get in or get out.  And the campaign against Shaheen needs to start right now, not months from now. 

And in too many states, Republicans are bogged down in ideological primaries.  It is crazy in Kentucky, where the Democrat is ahead in the polls, for disgruntled Republicans to try to bring down Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.  Republicans can lose that seat in a red state.  Same thing in Georgia. 

Someday Republicans may actually realize that if you lose elections, you don't have any power.  But the remnant gets to use the Senate gym.

February 22, 2014       Permalink

UKRAINE – AT 9:37 A.M. ET:  The latest "agreement" between government and opposition doesn't seem to be working out.  This is a mess.  And it is dangerous.  Ukraine borders both Russia and Europe.  From Fox:

Protesters took control of Ukraine’s capital on Saturday, seizing the president’s office as parliament sought to oust him and form a new government. An aide to President Viktor Yanukovych said he had left Kiev for his support base in the country’s Russian-speaking east, but that he has no intention of abandoning power.

Yanukovych left Kiev for Kharkiv, where governors, provincial officials and legislators gathered. Top Russian lawmakers joined the meeting, too, while thousands of angry protesters gathered outside chanting, “Ukraine is not Russia!”

The president reaffirmed that he won't resign Saturday, while likening the country's political crisis to the Nazis' rise in Germany.

The leaders gathered in Kharkiv approved a statement calling on regional authorities to take full responsibility for the constitutional order on their territory.

Some called for forming volunteer units to protect against force by protesters from western regions. The assembly urged army units to maintain neutrality and protect ammunition depots.

The trip comes a day after Yanukovych and opposition leaders signed a European-brokered agreement aimed at resolving the months-old political crisis that has killed scores and injured hundreds. The agreement calls for early elections and constitutional reforms that reduce the president’s powers.

COMMENT:  I can't say that I know much about the opposition.  Reports are very confused.  The opposition is anti-Russian, and wants Ukraine independent of Russia.  So far, so good.  But what else do they believe?  We're not getting a clear picture.

February 22,  2014     Permalink

FEBRUARY 21,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:25 P.M. ET: 

THE RIGHT THING TO DO – From The Hill:  "Singer Ted Nugent apologized on Friday for calling President Obama a 'subhuman mongrel' last month.  'I do apologize, not necessarily to the president, but on behalf of much better men than myself,' Nugent said in a radio interview on the 'Ben Ferguson Show.'  The rocker said he was sorry for using 'street fighter terminology of subhuman mongrel,’ and admitted 'I did cross the line.'  Nugent said he should have used a term such as 'violator of his oath, the Constitution' instead."  Nugent was under pressure from Rand Paul and Texas Governor Rick Perry.  His language has no place in politics.   Nugent will no longer be invited to travel with Texas gubernatorial candidate Gregg Abbott.  We hope the race will now continue without this distraction, and end in a victory for Abbott. 

HOLLYWOOD LIBERALS – From WaPo:  "A few weeks before Season 2 of 'House of Cards' debuted online, the show’s production company sent Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley a letter with this warning: Give us millions more dollars in tax credits, or we will 'break down our stage, sets and offices and set up in another state.'  A similar letter went to the speaker of the House of Delegates, Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel), whose wife, Cynthia, briefly appeared in an episode of the Netflix series about an unscrupulous politician — played by Kevin Spacey — who manipulates, threatens and kills to achieve revenge and power.  In recent years, Maryland has spent more than $40 million to reward movie and television production companies that choose to film in the state, and most of that largesse has gone to 'House of Cards.'"  And they want more and more.  Of course, they're for the people...especially when the people pay taxes.

I WOULD THINK SO – From The Hill:  "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is pulling the plug on a controversial study that critics warned would have threatened the First Amendment right to freedom of the press.  A spokeswoman with the commission said on Friday that a pilot version of the study would be suspended and redesigned so that journalists would not have to answer the FCC’s questions about their work.  'To be clear, media owners and journalists will no longer be asked to participate in the Columbia, S.C., pilot study,' Shannon Gilson said in a statement.  'The pilot will not be undertaken until a new study design is final. Any subsequent market studies conducted by the FCC, if determined necessary, will not seek participation from or include questions for media owners, news directors or reporters.'"  The "study's" goal apparently was to insure that Americans are properly informed by the media.  Kinda sends a chill up your spine, doesn't it?  If the Republicans had done this, it would have been called fascism.  When the Dems do it, it's called public education.

MORE HOPE AND CHANGE – From CNS:  "The electricity price index soared to a new high in January 2014 with the largest month-to-month increase in almost four years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Meanwhile, data from the Energy Information Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, indicates that electricity production in the United States has declined since 2007, when it hit its all-time peak.  The U.S. is producing less electricity than it did seven years ago for a population that has added more than 14 million people."  Brilliant energy policy, and Obama wants more regulations that will drive prices even higher.  Of course, he's saving the planet. 

February 21, 2014       Permalink

UKRAINE UPDATE – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  Movement in the Ukrainian crisis, but we remain skeptical that this will last.  From The New York Times:

KIEV, Ukraine — Opposition leaders signed an agreement with President Viktor F. Yanukovych on Friday to try to defuse a deepening political crisis that has left scores of protesters and security officers dead and hundreds wounded in Kiev, the capital.

The German Foreign Ministry announced in a Twitter message that the leadership council of the Ukrainian protest movement had authorized the signing of the deal, which calls for early presidential elections, a coalition government and the reduction of presidential power through constitutional changes.

A spokeswoman for the protest movement told The Associated Press that opposition leaders were headed for the president’s office to discuss the agreement.

Any deal that does not include the president’s departure, however, is unlikely to get the approval of the mass of protesters, and it was uncertain whether, in the event of a final deal, the protest movement’s political leadership could deliver the support of an angry base comprising many different groups and factions. Several demonstrators in the street said that the Yanukovych plan was unacceptable and that the so-called opposition leadership did not speak for them.

COMMENT:  This will be an hour-by-hour story.  It is far from over.  Obama must be relieved, though, that he doesn't have to decide anything today and that his friend Putin isn't too humliated.

February 21, 2014       Permalink

A LITTLE SANITY IN TEXAS – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  We've been following this story.  In recent years Republicans have blown easily won elections by nominating goofball candidates or tolerating elements who embarrass our cause.   

We just came close in Texas, a red state that is in chronic danger of turning at least purple, as Virginia has.  If we give away Texas to the loonies, the national GOP might as well close up.  From Newsmax:

Greg Abbott's campaign for governor in Texas will not continue to use controversial rocker Ted Nugent at public events, but won't condemn controversial remarks Nugent made about President Barack Obama, CNN reports.

Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that Abbott is in a "tough spot." The GOP favorite needs to keep very conservative voters in his camp while not angering more moderate Republican women in the suburbs who are being courted by likely Democratic challenger Wendy Davis.

Many in Abbott's conservative base agree with Nugent's pro-gun views, as does Abbott. But Nugent's description of Obama as a "communist-nurtured, subhuman mongrel" in a January interview amounts to racism, critics say.

Blitzer on Tuesday went after Nugent, saying the term "subhuman mongrel" has roots in the Holocaust. Nazis described Jews with that term as a justification for genocide, he noted.

While the Abbott campaign has not so far disavowed Nugent's specific comments about Obama, it did on Monday make a more general statement.

"While he may sometimes say things or use language that Greg Abbott would not endorse or agree with, we appreciate the support of everyone who supports protecting our Constitution," Abbott spokesman Matt Hirsch told The Dallas Morning News.

COMMENT:  Frankly, Abbott, who strikes me as a decent man, should go further and clearly denounce Nugent's obnoxious comments.  We are severely critical of President Obama here, but would never use language of the kind Nugent used.

Sometimes you have to lose some support to do the right thing.  But you may well pick up support elsewhere.  The role model here is Harry S. Truman, who refused to back down in his civil rights stand in his tough 1948 election campaign, a stand that led to many Southern segregationists walking out of the Democratic National Convention and supporting Strom Thurmond for president.  Truman won without them.  He also, by the way, confronted the far left in the party, driving them to support Henry Wallace for president.  Wallace didn't make a dent.

Wendy Davis has almost self-destructed in her campaign for the Texas governorship, with her craziness, her hypocrisy, and her dishonesty about her background.  There are some on the fringe right who seem to want to resurrect her by refusing to denounce bigotry.  They are wrong.  Nugent is wrong.  We lost Senate races in Missouri, Indiana, Nevada, and Delaware in recent years because our side embraced nut jobs.  Let's not make the same mistake again.

February 21, 2014       Permalink 

OBAMACARE, WE HARDLY KNEW YE – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  Even Joe Biden now admits that Obamacare enrollment just ain't what it's supposed to be.  From Fox:

Though officials have confidently claimed enrollment in ObamaCare is surging, Vice President Biden suddenly suggested during a stop in Minneapolis the totals might be lower than projected.

"Initially, we talked about by the end of this period having seven million people lined up," he told a group in a coffee shop on Wednesday. "We may not get to seven but we're gonna get to five or six, and that's a hell of a start with people."

That’s quite a difference from the confident predictions last fall, just before the rollout, from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

"I think success looks like at least 7 million people having signed up by the end of March 2014," she told NBC last September.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office stuck with that estimate for the exchanges until just recently, when it lowered its projection from 7 million to 6 million. But the vice president is the first to mention a number as low as 5 million, suggesting doubts in the administration.

In its report on signups through the end of January, the administration claimed 9.6 million total had gotten health insurance -- 3.3 million in the federal and state exchanges, and another 6.3 million in Medicaid, the health care program for low-income Americans.

But a nonpartisan health care firm says the number of new signups in Medicaid from ObamaCare is much lower than 6.3 million.

"It's about 1.3 to 1.8 million people who are new to the program The rest are part of the regular churn that are in and out," Matthew Eyeles, of the firm Avalere Health, said.

And those in the regular churn -- those who come and go all the time – wouldn’t count as part of ObamaCare because they were already eligible before the health care law.

For those new to Medicaid under the expansion encouraged by ObamaCare, the administration pays 100 percent of the cost for the first three years. But it pays no additional funds for those already eligible, which is often one of the top three items in state budgets.

COMMENT:  Not exactly what we were told when the original Obamacare salesmen were making the rounds. Something else we weren't told is that many of the Obamacare "plans" actually prevent participants from using the most renowned medical centers in the country.  They often force participants to change doctors, another violation of Obama's original promise that you can keep your doctor.

Let's face it:  The real goal of Barack Obama is socialized medicine with a single-payer plan, the way the British health system works.  Wait 'til Americans have to wait five months to see a specialist.  We'll see what socialized medicine really is.  The sad fact, though, is that the low-information voters who support Obama will probably go along with it.

February 21, 2014       Permalink

UKRAINE – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  There is some presumed political movement in the Ukraine crisis.  We note that a truce earlier this week lasted less than a minute.  We'll see whether some new "concessions" by the government have any effect.  From Fox:

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Friday announced early presidential elections and promised to bring opposition members into the government in a bid to defuse the country's political crisis, even as police and anti-government protesters exchanged gunfire near Kiev's Independence Square.

Yanukovych, who was in talks with opposition leaders and foreign officials until early Friday, gave no time frame and it's unclear whether his belated concessions will be enough to hold off protesters who have occupied a piece of Kiev and government buildings around the country in a nationwide battle over the identity of their country.

There was no immediate comment from opposition leaders, who were meeting among themselves after a marathon night of meetings with European diplomats.

Meanwhile, gunfire was exchanged near the main square in Kiev Friday morning. A police statement obtained by Reuters said Ukrainian police shot back when protesters opened fire on officers between the protest square and the parliament building.

COMMENT:  In the last day we've learned that government snipers have been targeting individual protesters and killing them with bullets to the head.  An inordinate number of the dead appear to have two bullet wounds in the head. 

It's hard to know whether the latest violence in Kiev, Ukraine's capital, was timed to coincide with the Olympics, but it is certainly embarrassing to Russia's Vladimir Putin, who has put his prestige on the line in trying to make Ukraine a kind of new Russian satellite.

February 21,  2014     Permalink