SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET: 

AL GORE IS CHILLING – No, it isn't a pun.  Al Gore's rhetoric on climate change is getting ugly.  It's part of a trend, a new McCarthyism, that's getting worse.  Al gave a speech last week.  From ecowatch.com:  "The former vice president focused on the need to 'punish climate-change deniers, saying politicians should pay a price for rejecting ‘accepted science,' said the Chicago Tribune.  Gore said forward-thinking investors are moving away from companies that invest in fossil fuels and towards companies investing in renewable energy. 'We need to put a price on carbon to accelerate these market trends,' Gore told the Chicago Tribune, referring to a proposed federal cap-and-trade system that would penalize companies that exceeded their carbon-emission limits. 'And in order to do that, we need to put a price on denial in politics.'"  That truly is chilling.  Gore repeated the statistic that 99% of scientists accept global warming, even though a recent survey of climatologists by Purdue University found that only 52% bought into the "science" of global warming.  And now a leftist Dem congressman is demanding universities provide the funding sources of scientist who question climate change.  Joe McCarthy would be proud.

THE HILLARY WAY – Reporters at the State Department have now waited a week for an answer to a simple question:  Did former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sign the standard State Department form upon leaving office, affirming that she'd returned to the department all property and and documents, which presumably includes e-mails?  A week?  Why would take a week?  Either the form is in Clinton's personnel file or it isn't.  And reporters still haven't gotten the answer.  It's pretty clear that a stall is underway, a stall probably ordered by the Clinton interests.  If Clinton didn't sign the form required of all personnel, why not?  If she did sign the sworn form, she probably committed perjury, since her departmental e-mails, kept on a private server, have just been discovered.

NANNY OREGON HOLDS VOTERS' HANDS – From Fox:  "Seventeen years after Oregon became the first state to hold all elections with mail-in ballots, it took another pioneering step on Monday to broaden participation by automatically registering people to vote.  Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill that puts the burden of registration on the state instead of voters.  Under the legislation, every adult citizen in Oregon who has interacted with the Department of Motor Vehicles since 2013 but hasn't registered to vote will receive a ballot in the mail at least 20 days before the next statewide election. The measure is expected to add about 300,000 new voters to the rolls."  The potential for fraud or error seems particularly great.  What is so wrong about asking a citizen to go and register himself or herself, providing the proper proof of age and citizenship.  It's an honor to vote.  People should be proud to register.  This Oregon plan looks more like an attempt to get certain low-information voters to the polls, where they will vote for the party that sends out the biggest checks.

ISRAEL VOTES – Israel votes tomorrow (Tuesday) in a major national election.  Pre-election polls show that it's possible Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lose his job.  But the Israeli system is complex, with 11 parties competing for seats in the Knesset (parliament).  When the votes are counted the president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, will choose an individual to form a new government.  The nod usually, but not always, goes to the leader of the party that received the most votes.  It may take weeks actually to put together a governing coalition.  It has been reliably reported that several Obama political operatives have been in Israel helping Netanyahu's opponents.  I'm not surprised. 

March 16, 2015