SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:39 P.M. ET: 

OREGON – THE SURRENDER – From The Hill:  "Oregon is set to become the first state to drop its ObamaCare exchange and transition into the system managed by the federal government.  The decision follows months of severe technical issues that have made Oregon's marketplace one of the worst in the country.  About $130 million has been spent on Cover Oregon, but it is the only ObamaCare enrollment system that won't let registrants buy coverage and qualify for tax credits in one sitting.   It had not enrolled a single person online as of early March, and remains mired in glitches almost seven months after a rocky launch.  Alex Pettit, the state's chief information officer, recommended to an advisory board Thursday that the state hand the reins to the federal government.  Members of the panel appeared to agree, The Oregonian newspaper reported. The board will meet again on Friday morning to further discuss the issue, and perhaps hold a vote."  Why is it that liberals can't run health systems or educational systems?

I WOULD HOPE SO – From The Hill:  "The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced Thursday it will reconsider whether Northwestern University's football players can organize the first union for college athletes.  One day before the Northwestern football players vote on whether to form a union, the NLRB said it would grant the school's request to review the decision, which was issued by a regional official last month.   The decision means the football players will still vote on Friday on whether to unionize. However, their ballots will be impounded until the NLRB issues a final decision on whether student athletes should be considered employees.  Northwestern had argued that the football players should not be considered employees because they are students first, athletes second. But NLRB regional director Peter Sung Ohr sided with the players.  'Eligible to vote are all football players receiving football grant-in-aid scholarship and not having exhausted their playing eligibility' Ohr said in his ruling."  The world gets sillier and sillier.  I want to see a championship team picket the Rose Bowl.  "No contract, no kickoff!"

ANOTHER TEMPEST – From AP:   "TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Michelle Obama is rearranging plans for a speech before graduating high school seniors in Kansas in the face of protests that her appearance at a combined graduation ceremony for five schools would limit seating for families and friends.  She had accepted the Topeka public school district's invitation to speak May 17 at the combined ceremony to mark that day's 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, outlawing school segregation. The case originated in Topeka.  But a furor over what the district considered an honor erupted after plans for Mrs. Obama's address were announced.  Under a new plan worked out by the district, the first lady will speak on May 16 at a 'senior recognition day' ceremony at the same 8,000-seat arena where the combined ceremony was to be held. The combined ceremony is being scrapped, and the five schools will hold separate graduation exercises instead."  Whether one agrees or disagrees with Michelle Obama, her presence would have been an honor at that graduation.  She's been treated with disrespect by self-centered, self-oriented "graduates" and their families.  Not much of a lesson for young people.

ELIE – Went to a meeting to hear Elie Wiesel today.  He has done so much not only to keep the memory of The Holocaust alive, but to remind us of many other horrors going on today.  He spoke about people who listen, but do not hear, and it struck a responsive chord.  As in the 1930s, so many in the West today listen, but do not hear.  They refuse to understand that there are extremists who threaten our very existence.  Indeed, if we mention those extremists, we're often called bigots.  Or Islamophobes.  We have the capacity to distinguish between members of groups who are moderate and reasonable, and those who will murder us.  We must not only listen, but we must hear.  Now, with the new rise of Russia, we're seeing a new wave of those, in fashionable circles, with their hands over their ears.  We must never yield to their fantasies.

April 24, 2014