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SEPTEMBER 17,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:38 P.M. ET:

IOWA SURPRISE? – From Fox:  "Republican Joni Ernst has pulled ahead of Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley in the Iowa Senate race, according to a new poll that points to a heated battle for votes in the final stretch.  The Quinnipiac University survey showed Ernst, a state senator, leading Braley by 6 points, 50-44 percent among likely voters. The poll also showed her leading among independents, a key voting bloc.  The results are a break from earlier polling which for months has shown Braley leading or tied with his GOP rival.  Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll, said in a statement put out by the university that while 'some pundits back east' may have mocked Ernst’s ads in which she talked about living on a farm, 'they send an effective message to Iowans that she is one of them.'"  Polls differ, but there has been a trend toward Ernst.  This would be a great turnover for us.

POLICY OF THE DAY – From the Washington Times:  "Contradicting what his top military adviser said just a day earlier, President Obama personally assured U.S. soldiers Wednesday that he will not send them into ground combat against terrorists in Iraq and Syria, the latest example of the president’s direct involvement in setting the rules for the new war.  'As your commander in chief, I will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in Iraq,' Mr. Obama told about 1,200 troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, home of the U.S. Central Command. 'The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission.'"  Keep watching this space for tomorrow's foreign policy.

A SERIOUS WARNING – From Newsmax:  "Recalling that the Soviet Union stockpiled hemorrhagic fevers during the Cold War, a federal health official warned Tuesday the Ebola virus could be similarly wielded as a potential weapon of mass destruction.  'Theoretically, you can manipulate almost any virus to change it in any way you want,' National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, Anthony Fauci, told a Senate hearing, The Hill reports.  'The only trouble is, it wouldn't be easy for somebody to do that in their backyard laboratory. They would probably kill themselves doing it. It would take a state-type [actor].'"  We haven't discussed the threat of bio-terror much, but maybe we should.  Of course, one thing holding bio-terror back is that it may get out of control and kill the very people launching it.

SAD – Writers always hope this isn't true, but it must be reported.  From Daily Caller:  "Plagiarism charges against CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria are back with a vengeance.  The team at 'Our Bad Media' claims to have found more than two dozen episodes of 'Fareed Zakaria GPS' that featured content that was 'lifted without proper attribution.'  The content was lifted from outlets such as The New York Times, The Economist and National Review, along with academic papers and documentaries (as seen below).  'Zakaria will simply recite numbers and facts without any attribution. In others, he’ll cite a study or paper when he really only lifted someone else’s reporting on it,' according to the report. 'In all of them, Zakaria fails to give credit where it’s due, either on the show itself or the blog posts that accompany most segments on CNN’s website'  The most egregious example is placed front and center in the report.  Zakaria copied, almost verbatim, the introduction to an obscure Dutch documentary on the imprisonment and death of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian whistle-blower, into a segment on the story on his CNN show."  Zakaria has been suspended before due to alleged plagiarism.  I suspect CNN will have to investigate these new charges thoroughly.  The result can be grim.

September 17,  2014     Permalink

BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE – AT 6:43 P.M. ET:   Another setback for the "sky is falling, ocean is rising, skin is peeling, world is roasting" chorus who still sing the Al Gore Songbook.  From the New York Post:

In the runup to the Sept. 23 UN Climate Summit in New York, Leonardo DiCaprio is releasing a series of films about the “climate crisis.”

The first is “Carbon,” which tells us the world is threatened by a “carbon monster.” Coal, oil, natural gas and other carbon-based forms of energy are causing dangerous climate change and must be turned off as soon as possible, DiCaprio says.

But he has identified the wrong monster. It is the climate scare itself that is the real threat to civilization.

DiCaprio is an actor, not a scientist; it’s no real surprise that his film is sensationalistic and error-riddled. Other climate-change fantasists, who do have a scientific background, have far less excuse.
Science is never settled, but the current state of “climate change” science is quite clear: There is essentially zero evidence that carbon dioxide from human activities is causing catastrophic climate change.

Yes, the “executive summary” of reports from the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change continues to sound the alarm — but the summary is written by the politicians. The scientific bulk of the report, while still tinged with improper advocacy, has all but thrown in the towel.

And the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change lists thousands of scientific papers that either debunk or cast serious doubt on the supposed “consensus” model.

Oregon-based physicist Gordon Fulks sums it up well: “CO2 is said to be responsible for global warming that is not occurring, for accelerated sea-level rise that is not occurring, for net glacial and sea ice melt that is not occurring . . . and for increasing extreme weather that is not occurring.”

COMMENT:  Please read the rest of the piece.  Required.

I'm getting a sense that a number of people, perhaps previously unwavering believers in climate "science," are starting to have serious doubts.  And why not?  The "settled" science is becoming tumultuous. 

Consider this, from the terrific Melanie Sturm, conservative columnist for the Aspen Times.  (A conservative in Aspen is eligible for Secret Service protection.)  From her latest column:    

Today, life-enhancing devices unimaginable to Malthus – refrigerators, phones, air-conditioning, cars, and televisions -- are commonplace, except among the poorest. Why decrease their affordability by increasing the cost of the energy required to make, distribute and run them?

The truth is, affordable energy and the economic growth and well-being it enables are the keys to addressing our greatest concerns, including the environment, joblessness, poverty, and indebtedness – even terrorism.

Think Again – To pass a secure, prosperous and clean world to future generations, shouldn’t we encourage – not constrain -- the scientific inquiry that informs and unleashes boundless human creativity?

The answer, of course, is yes.  But the climate scare, like other scares before it – like the fear of a new "ice age" in the 1970s – is restricting research and investment in energy, transportation, and other foundations of a dynamic society, all in the name of a horror story that isn't following the original outline. 

September 17, 2014       Permalink

THE POLITICS OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT – AT 9:59 A.M. ET:   No attorney general has politicized the Justice Department more than has Eric Holder.  He's at it again.  From John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky in the Washington Times: 

Even we were shocked when we researched our new book, “Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department,” at the extent to which Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. has politicized the Justice Department and put the interests of left-wing ideology and his political party ahead of the fair and impartial administration of justice. However, there is no doubt that the American public has also recognized just how politically corrupt Mr. Holder is, given this month’s very embarrassing poll conducted by Hart Research for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal.

The poll asked respondents their opinions about 10 different national political officials, ranging from Bill Clinton to President Obama to Eric Holder, as well as the Democratic and Republican parties. They were given choices of very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, very negative and “don’t know the name.” About a third of respondents didn’t know who Mr. Holder is (37 percent). However, those Americans who knew Mr. Holder gave him the second-lowest “positive” rating of anyone or any organization on the survey at a mere 15 percent. Only Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio had a lower “positive” rating than Mr. Holder. The attorney general’s “positive” rating was less than half of the positive rating of the Republican Party and 27 points behind that of his boss, Mr. Obama, who was rated favorably by only 42 percent of respondents.

And now, From Fox: 

WASHINGTON – Broadening its push to improve police relations with minorities, the Justice Department has enlisted a team of criminal justice researchers to study racial bias in law enforcement in five American cities and recommend strategies to address the problem nationally, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.

The police shooting last month of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri underscored the need for the long-planned initiative, Holder said in an interview with The Associated Press.

He said the three-year project could be a "silver lining" if it helps ease racial tensions and "pockets of distrust that show up between law enforcement and the communities that they serve."

COMMENT:  Come on, Eric.  This is an old story, going back 50 years.  Sure, there are problem areas.  I hold no brief for violent, corrupt, or bigoted cops.  But the more serious problem is the horror of crime in black communities, which have sometimes become shooting galleries.  Investigating police departments, which is properly done all the time, will have no impact on that tragedy. 

Holder's Justice Department, for example, seems more intent on investigating possible problems in the New York Police Department than it does in holding up New York as an example of how crime can be successfully fought.  When New York's former police commissioner, Ray Kelly, went to speak to black churches, he always got a standing ovation.  African Americans knew what he had done to improve their neighborhoods.  I don't see anyone standing for Attorney General Holder. Well, maybe Al Sharpton.

September 17, 2014       Permalink

BOOTS? – AT 9:41 A.M. ET:  The phrase of the week is "boots on the ground."  Will American boots be on the ground again in the Mideast?  Field Marshal Obama came to office promising to "end wars," even though he had no idea how to do this.  Now his blunders have put us into a tough spot, facing the prospect of the Islamic State.   One of Britain's leading defense writers, Con Coughlin, comments in The Telegraph: 

I've been saying it for weeks – you can't defeat Isil without putting boots on the ground. And now US General Martin Dempsey, the head of the American Armed Forces, has confirmed what anyone with a reasonable understanding of what is required to defeat Isil knows, that some form of Western ground forces will be needed if this threat is to be fully destroyed.

I am not saying that we need another 2003-style military invasion. That conflict was completely different to the one we now face. Overthrowing Saddam's regime required a conventional state-on-state military operation. The campaign to destroy Isil will be more akin to how we approached the initial invasion of Afghanistan in 2001: Western forces working in conjunction with pro-Western allies such as the Northern Alliance – or France's military intervention in Mali last year, where a French brigade was deployed to deal with the al-Qaeda threat to the north of the country before handing over to African forces to keep the peace.

This should be the template for dealing with Isil, with American, British and other Western ground forces providing practical assistance to local Iraq groups such as the Kurds' Peshmerga fighters. By having our own troops involved, we can help to direct the campaign, as well as making sure that the Isil threat is completely eliminated.

But to do that ministers must get over their irrational hang ups about putting British boots on the ground.

COMMENT:  What we're seeing, of course, is the curse of the left-wing mentality in defense- and foreign policy.  Reports tell us that Obama is having more trouble getting his own party on board for an effort against the Islamic State than he is the Republicans, who are more supportive.  The left believes the problems in the Mideast are our fault.  That we are imperialists.  Colonialists.  Capitalists.  And that the real villain here isn't the Islamic State, but BUSH (!!) and CHENEY (!!!!).  The Democratic Party started to retreat from its pro-defense outlook in the late sixties, and I'm afraid the change looks permanent. 

September 17, 2014       Permalink

GOP DOWN? – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  New estimates by political observers have the Dems gaining in the race for the Senate.   As reader Will Stroock points out, estimates like these are part of every election cycle, so take them lightly.  But here is Nate Silver's current take.  He has a pretty good record.  From Newsmax: 

The Republican Party's chances of taking control of the Senate have decreased significantly as the fortunes of Democrats in key states have surged, says Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com.

According to the former New York Times statistician, Republican odds stand at 55 percent, a drop from 64 percent just two weeks ago.

"We've never quite settled on the semantics of when to call an election a 'tossup.' A sports bettor or poker player would grimace and probably take a 55-45 edge. But this Senate race is pretty darned close," Silver said on an article on his website.

Silver's detailed statistical model indicates that Democrats now have a stronger possibility of winning due to changes in the Senate races in Colorado and North Carolina which are currently giving the party an advantage when previously Republicans held the edge.

Silver categorizes the two states as "highly competitive purple states," among which are also Iowa, Michigan, and New Hampshire. All five seats are currently held by Democrats and, with the exception of New Hampshire, it has been in these areas where Democrats have gained ground.

He cited numerous recent polls that have shown a surge for North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and Colorado Sen. Mark Udall.

"What's perplexing is that [the Democrat surge in purple states] has happened right as Democrats' position on the generic congressional ballot — probably the best indicator of the nation mood — has deteriorated," he said.

COMMENT:  Yeah, it's perplexing.  It's also early.  Polls don't start getting serious until October.  It's those last three weeks that are critical.

Also critical is turnout.  The Dems traditionally have had a better ground game, and they're milking Ferguson for everything it's worth to bring out their base.  But Republicans have improved, and they're more energized, at least thus far.

But look for the Dems to throw a bombshell just before the election.  Anything to win.  Any smear is good enough. 

We've said all along that this isn't going to be easy.  The Dems begin with a huge number of voters who are dependent on government programs.  When these voters are told, "If you don't vote for us, the check may not be in the mail," it's tough to counter that. 

We'll know on November 5th.

September 17,  2014     Permalink

SEPTEMBER 16,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 8:34 P.M. ET: 

SERIOUS STUFF – From Fox:  "Iraq’s Ambassador to the Holy See is warning that Pope Francis could be targeted by ISIS militants ahead of the pontiff’s first visit to Albania this weekend.  The Vatican is not beefing up security to protect Francis during his upcoming trip to the majority Muslim country on Sunday, despite warnings from Habeeb Al Sadr, who said there are credible threats against the pope’s life, according to an Italian newspaper cited in The Telegraph.  The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said Monday that Francis would use the same open-topped vehicle he uses in St. Peter's Square when he greets crowds in the poor Balkan nation. Vatican security officials are 'calm' ahead of the 11-hour visit, he said."  Could be Iraqi hype, or it could be true.

WEIRD, MAN – From Weekly Standard:  "Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that to counter the ideology of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and its claim of a 'religious foundation' for its actions, part of the strategy of the international coalition he is attempting to assemble must be to 'begin to put real Islam out there.'"   Yeah, right.  We've been doing that for 13 years.  Not much excitement, is there?  The real Islam, as practiced in too many places today, is part of the problem.

MORE FROM THE RELIGION OF PEACE – From the New York Post:  "Supporters of the Islamic State terror group are being urged to attack Times Square and other popular American tourist attractions with easily assembled homemade bombs, according to a disturbing report Tuesday.  A message posted on an ISIS Web forum lists widely available ingredients needed to build a pipe bomb, and includes photos showing how to combine them into a deadly explosive device, Vocativ reported.  The Arabic-language message cites Times Square — the scene of a failed car-bomb attack in 2010 by al Qaeda sympathizer Faisal Shahzad — and the Las Vegas Strip as prime targets, but also suggests striking sites in Texas and mass-transit stations across the country."  I'm afraid it's just a matter of time.

BY POPULAR DEMAND? – From Times of Israel:  "Despite plans to leave her post, the European Union’s outgoing foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will remain in charge of the West’s negotiations with Iran even beyond the November 24 deadline, diplomatic sources in Europe said Monday.  While some Iranian and European voices express optimism that a final agreement will have been signed by then, Israeli officials are more than skeptical that the Islamic Republic is willing to make the concessions necessary for any deal.  Ashton has been leading the group of six world powers – the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany – that are currently conducting talks with Tehran since 2010. Her term as the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy ends on October 31, three weeks before talks with Iran are slated to close."  A fairly typical British diplomat, tilting to the left.  I can't see what accomplishment led others to extend her term.  The negotiations are not going well.  This may be the next building block of Obama's mythical foreign policy to dissolve.

September 16, 2014        Permalink

SOME COMMON SENSE – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  The new Egyptian government, whose establishment Obama fought tooth and nail – preferring the anti-American Muslim Brotherhood government that preceded it – is turning out to be one of the wisest, and most stable governments in the Arab world.  It actually knows how to do things, and why they're being done.  From CNS: 

(CNSNews.com) – During Secretary of State John Kerry’s weekend visit to Cairo, his Egyptian counterpart pushed for the new international focus on countering terrorism to go beyond Syria and Iraq, arguing that the same ideology espoused by the jihadists there is driving other Islamist extremists, including those in Egypt’s neighboring territories.

During his current travels in the Middle East and Europe, Kerry is seeking support for a coalition to tackle the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL), and he said Sunday he has received offers from some countries to take part in the military element of that campaign.

But while the administration’s focus has been largely centered on ISIS, Cairo sees the problem as a far broader one.

A spokesman for President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi said that in talks with Kerry the president had “stressed that any international coalition against terrorism must be a comprehensive alliance that is not limited to confront a certain organization or to curb a single terrorist hotbed but must expand to include all the terrorist hotbeds across the Middle East and Africa.”

COMMENT:  Egypt fighting terrorism, and willing to work with the United States to do so?  Egypt is the most important Arab country, and this is a major breakthrough.  But will Obama recognize it, or does he still yearn for the Brotherhood?  When Obama said that his closest friend in the region was the Brotherhood-loving prime minister of Turkey, we should have taken him more seriously.

September 16, 2014       Permalink

DISGRACEFUL – AT 8:55 A.M. ET:  With Obamacare fully kicking in this year, we need reminding of what socialized medicine can actually be like.  There are positive things, but the horror stories keep building up, including the stories from our own federally run veterans' hospitals.   Consider this, from Britain's Independent, itself a socialist paper: 

Thousands of people have attempted suicide while on an NHS (National Health Service) waiting list for psychological treatment, according to a comprehensive new study of mental health services in England.

In the latest evidence of a hidden mental health crisis, a coalition of leading charities and medical professionals report that one in 10 patients are waiting for more than a year just to be assessed for treatment, and one in six made an attempt on their life while on a waiting list.

GPs report a “huge rise” in the number of mental health conditions, which has coincided with cuts to mental health services and psychotherapy posts in many parts of the country.

The consequent delays in accessing treatment can be disastrous for patients, the report from the We Need to Talk coalition warns. In a survey of 2,000 patients, one in six said they had attempted suicide while waiting for treatment, four in 10 said they had self-harmed, and two thirds said their condition had deteriorated before they had a chance to see a mental health professional.

COMMENT:  One of the greatest accomplishments of the American health system, at least up to now, has been speed.  There are certainly exceptions, but most critical medical services can be delivered quickly.  I don't know what will exist in ten years.  I'm not sure how many potential physicians will turn away from medicine because it is a changed and more frustrating profession.  The news organizations seem little interested.  Too much trouble, I guess.  And why question the man they helped put in office?  Make your appointment now...for 2021.  They give out wonderful lollipops.

September 16, 2014         Permalink

THE DOCTOR IS IN – AT 8:44 A.M. ET:  Charles Krauthammer, one of the best conservative columnists around, is also a Harvard-trained board-certified psychiatrist.  I'd imagine his training helps him in Washington.  Now he analyzes one Barack Hussein Obama Jr., although he assures us it's from the position of a layman.  From Daily Caller: 

“But let me just say as a layman, without invoking any expertise, Obama is clearly a narcissist in the non-scientific use of the word,” said Krauthammer. “He is so self-involved, you see it from his rise. Here’s a man who says I don’t do theater, you know, I don’t do that. Well, his whole run in 2008 was theater, including the Roman, the Greek columns that he had around him at his speech at the convention in Denver.”

“So I think he’s extremely self-involved. He sees himself in very world historical terms, which means A) because he’s an amateur, he doesn’t know very much, and B) because he’s a narcissist, he doesn’t listen,” said the frequent Fox News panelist. “This is all because, I mean, count the number of times he uses the word I in any speech, and compare that to any other president …. For God’s sake, he talks like the emperor, Napoleon.”

“The man lives in a cocoon surrounded by sycophants. There’s not anyone of independent stature around him,” Krauthammer concluded.

COMMENT:  Other than that, I'm sure Dr. Krauthammer adores the president.  Trouble is, there isn't much "other than that."  I think he nails Obama, who is essentially a shallow man who conned a lot of people with Ph.D. after their names. 

In a way, Obama is part of a tradition that includes Adlai Stevenson, another Illinoisan who spoke well and said nothing; Jimmy Carter, who spoke poorly and also said nothing; and John Kerry, who speaks well and says a great deal, almost all of it gibberish.  Look, tradition can be beautiful.

September 16,  2014     Permalink

CHILL – AT 8:24 A.M. ET:  The U.S. Government yesterday denied that we have any known terrorist threat on the southern border.  Strange.  That's not what the guys who work there say.  Whom do you want to believe?  From CBS: 

Midland County, Texas (CBS HOUSTON) – Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter said that law enforcement agencies along the “wide open” border have received alerts to be on the lookout for terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria crossing into the United States.

Painter, who said he has worked along the border for “about eight years,” stated that alerts have been issued to border law enforcement to be on the lookout for suspicious terrorist activity, specifically involving ISIS cells being smuggled into the United States.

“I received an intelligence report that said that there was ISIS cells that were active in the Juarez area, which is the northern part of the Chihuahua state, and that they were moving around over there, that there was some activity…” Painter told Fox News. The report asked “for the sheriffs along the border to be on the alert, for all law enforcement to be on the alert, and to be on the lookout for these people maybe trying to come across.”

Painter sidestepped any direct knowledge that ISIS, specifically, is along the border, but he reiterated that the border “is wide open.”

“Well I’m saying the border is wide open, there is no control on the border, it’s not shut off,” said Painter. “There’s places along the Rio Grande you can walk across, there’s no water in it. I worked the border for eight years I walked back and forth across the Rio Grande; I was in Mexico, I was on this side. I never got challenged.

COMMENT:  I have no independent knowledge of this, but the sheriff's story sounds entirely logical, despite federal denials.  In fact, for years we've had solid reports of close interaction between Venezuela and Iran.  True, the Islamic State is in conflict with Iran, but there's no reason why it, too, cannot have allies in Latin America.  It would not take much to smuggle terrorists or terrorist devices over our southern border.

The Islamic State is also reported to be very wealthy.  Bribery is a tool.  It's also an old tradition in some Latin American countries.

September 16, 2014       Permalink