SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:31 P.M. ET:

WISE AMERICANS – From Fox:  "By a 59-36 percent margin, voters oppose cutting Army troops to reduce military spending, according to a new Fox News poll.  The proposed Defense Department budget that President Obama sent to Congress on Tuesday would reduce the number of active U.S. Army troops from about 520,000 to about 450,000.  Most Republicans (83 percent) and independents (61 percent) oppose the cuts, while over half of Democrats favor them (54 percent)."  The Democratic Party, once the national defense party, is becoming a big problem.  It's now the send-me-a-check party.

THREAT TO THE NATION – From Fox:  " A few weeks after her foray into the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, Barbie is entangled in controversy again, this time over her ties with the Girl Scouts.  Two advocacy groups often critical of corporate advertising tactics -- the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for a New American Dream -- on Thursday urged the Girl Scouts of the USA to end its partnership with the doll's manufacturer, the Mattel toy company.  The partnership, announced last August, includes a Barbie-themed activity book, a website, and a Barbie participation patch -- the first Girl Scout uniform patch with corporate sponsorship."  I'm so glad someone is finally warning about the
Barbie/Girl Scout Complex.  Eisenhower warned about it, and was ignored.  Our freedoms are in danger.

REPORTING THE NEWS THEY LIKE – The news networks promote the illusion of near-unanimity among scientists regarding global warming by simply excluding skeptics.  From CNS:  "Neither CBS nor ABC have included a skeptical scientists in their news shows within the past 1,300 days, but both networks included alarmists within the past 160 days -- CBS as recently as 22 days ago. When the networks did include other viewpoints, the experts were dismissed as 'out of the scientific mainstream' or backed by 'oil and coal companies.'  The networks were able to promote the myth that there is a scientific consensus for man-made, catastrophic climate change by including climate alarmists much more often than skeptical scientists and by challenging the credentials of the skeptics that they did include.  There are thousands of skeptical scientists, so it's not like the networks couldn't find any."  And some of the "skeptics" are among the leading scientists in their fields.

BUT IS THE POLL SIGNIFICANT? – Rasmussen is out with its first poll matching Hillary Clinton against Jeb Bush in 2016.  Clinton has 47%, whereas Bush has 33%.  It looks like a romp, but look again.  If all Clinton can muster, with all her fame, is 47%, maybe she's not in such good shape.  Jeb isn't that well known, and the internals of the poll show that his last name hurts.  It's the dynasty thing.  It's an early poll.  But Hillary is the one to worry.

March 6, 2014