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SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE – DAY TWELVE - HELP!

Some nice things yesterday, but we need a head of steam.  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 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

FEBRUARY 20,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:35 P.M. ET: 

EUROPE ACTS – From Fox:  "The European Union reportedly has agreed in an emergency meeting Thursday to impose sanctions against Ukraine after violence flared up again in Kiev, leaving at least 33 people dead."  Please note that the European Union is taking this action, not the United States.  President Obama will contemplate our courageous course, for another two years.

OBAMA REBOUND? – According to the latest Gallup poll, President Obama has a 46% approval rating, an improvement over recent months, when he's sunk as low as 38%.  These polls fluctuate, however, and, with a 50% disapproval rating, Mr. Obama is still underwater.  The Dems will turn on the politics this year because there's a major election, and Obama will benefit from anything right that the party does.  If Obama's numbers are actually improving, it simply shows, once again, that our side cannot count on presidential unpopularity to win.  We have to have great candidates and great ideas of our own.

WHERE LAWS DON'T APPLY – New York's illustrious new socialist mayor apparently doesn't believe that the laws apply to leftists holding high office.  From politicker.com:  "Just days after Bill de Blasio unveiled an ambitious plan to reduce pedestrian safety deaths through lower speed limits, CBS New York reports that the mayor’s caravan was spotted speeding and blowing past stop signs.  During tonight’s evening news, CBS reporter Marcia Kramer said the allegations–which included clocking Mr. de Blasio going up to 15 miles per hour over the speed limit–smacked of hypocrisy.  'When Mayor de Blasio announced his safe streets initiative, which includes lowering the speed limit to 25 miles per hour, he said, and I quote, "We want the public to know that we are holding ourselves to this standard." So we decided to see if he practices what he preached. All I can say is: Not today he didn’t, said Ms. Kramer."  I'm shocked.

OLYMPICS – Watched the ladies' long figure skating program tonight, the marquee event of the Olympics. Russia won, followed by South Korea and Italy.  The Russian fans went crazy.  It's their Olympics, and they've been disappointed by many failures.  They got their victory tonight, although some debate whether their gold medalist, Adelina Sotnikova, actually deserved the huge score she received.  Many the judges just wanted to get out of Sochi alive.  We cheered for Carolina Kostner, who, at 27, is ancient in the skating world.  She won the bronze for Italy, the first time an Italian woman has won a medal in this event.  It was well deserved.  Our American girls were wonderful.  All three wound up in the top ten, a standing no other nation achieved.  Gracie Gold, who just missed a medal and came in fourth, will be a star, as will Polina Edmunds, who came in ninth, and is only 15.  Ashley Wagner, a veteran, may retire.

February 20,  2014     Permalink

AND MORE GREAT NEWS FROM A COUNTRY THAT IS INCREASINGLY LAUGHING AT US – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:   China is growing in might.  We are reducing our military.  Brilliant, isn't it?  From Fox: 

China is practicing for a "short, sharp war" with Japan.

That is the assessment of a top U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, who told colleagues that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is currently conducting training exercises in a practice scenario in which the military takes the Senkaku Islands, near Taiwan.

“We witnessed the massive amphibious and cross-military region enterprise,” Capt. James Fannell, deputy chief of staff intelligence and information operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLEET) said at the West 2014 conference on Feb. 13 in San Diego.

“[We] concluded that the PLA has been given the new task to be able to conduct a short, sharp war to destroy Japanese forces in the East China Sea following with what can only be expected a seizure of the Senkakus or even a southern Ryukyu [islands] — as some of their academics say.”

COMMENT:  Nothing to see here, nothing to see here.  Admiral of the Seas Barack ("Salty") Obama is in command.  And we know what that means.

China is not kind.  Its regime is cold, aggressive and expansionist.  And it is not interested in our Dear Leader's speeches.

We look around, and so much of the world is on fire.  Hope and change.

February 20, 2014       Permalink

AND THE WEATHER 50 YEARS FROM NOW WILL BE... – AT 9:01 A.M. ET:   Our intellectually astute secretary of state says that anyone who has doubts about global warming predictions is a flat Earther.  Maybe we need more flat Earthers.  From Bloomberg: 

Surprised by how tough this winter has been? You’re in good company: Last fall the Climate Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that temperatures would be above normal from November through January across much of the Lower 48 states.

And...

“Not one of our better forecasts,” admits Mike Halpert, the Climate Prediction Center’s acting director. The center grades itself on what it calls the Heidke skill score, which ranges from 100 (perfection) to -50 (monkeys throwing darts would have done better). October’s forecast for the three-month period of November through January came in at -22. Truth be told, the September prediction for October-December was slightly worse, at -23. The main cause in both cases was the same: Underestimating the mammoth December cold wave, which brought snow to Dallas and chilled partiers in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

The winter has stayed cold in 2014, and snowfall and snow cover are way above average. USA Today reported on Feb. 14 that there was snow on the ground in part of every state except Florida. That includes the peaks of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea in otherwise balmy Hawaii.

COMMENT:  These are the people who assure us that they can predict temperatures for the next 50 years.  And they are (violin music please) "scientists."  Yes, they are.  But scientists are often wrong, as the history of science shows.  And real scientists are constantly probing and questioning, not using terms like "the scientific consensus" or "settled science."  Science, like the weather, is never settled.

February 20, 2014       Permalink

WAR ON TERROR OVER! – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  Just kidding.  In fact, it is very much alive, despite assurances from Field Marshal Obama that the enemy is on the run.  From The Hill:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning airlines to be on the lookout for terrorists potentially targeting U.S. flights with shoe bombs.

NBC News on Wednesday reported that federal officials recently received a credible warning of threats to "attack passenger jets using explosives concealed in shoes."

A DHS official confirmed to The Hill that a warning was issued based on intelligence reports.

“Out of an abundance of caution, DHS regularly shares relevant information with domestic and international partners about relevant threat information as we work to meet our mission of keeping the traveling public safe,” the official said in a statement.

“These types of regular communications are part of that important priority. Our security apparatus includes a number of measures, both seen and unseen, informed by the latest intelligence and as always DHS continue[s] to adjust security measures to fit an ever evolving threat environment.”

COMMENT:  Some smug people say that nothing ever seems to happen, so what's the problem?  We hope that these alerts, and the actions that are taken in light of them, are deterring attacks.  But someone will eventually get through, and remind us that terror groups are actually growing today, not declining.

February 20, 2014       Permalink

UKRAINE ON THE BRINK – AT 8:34 A.M. ET:  The freshly minted truce in Ukraine has broken down.  From Fox: 

Violence between Ukrainian security forces and anti-government protesters broke out again Thursday in the capital, Kiev, leaving at least 22 people dead, as a truce called by President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders fell apart.

An Associated Press reporter saw 21 bodies Thursday laid out on the edge of the sprawling protest encampment in central Kiev’s Independence Square. In addition, one policeman was killed and 28 suffered gunshot wounds Thursday, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP.

Sky News later reported that 11 bodies had been laid out in the lobby of the Hotel Ukraina, which is close to the square and is also where many foreign media members are staying. All of the bodies were reportedly civilians.

The deaths Thursday brought the week's toll to at least 50 in Kiev, with hundreds injured. Protesters dispute those numbers though, claiming that the true toll is much higher. Yanukovych announced the truce late Wednesday after two days of fierce street fighting.

COMMENT:  This is exceedingly serious.  Ukraine physically symbolizes the new struggle between a weakening West and a bolder, stronger Russia. 

We seem powerless to influence events.  If I had to bet, I'd say that Ukraine will probably become a Moscow satellite again.  Obama has made some grand statements from the White House, telling the world that America "expects" the Ukrainian authorities, who are under the thumb of their Russian masters, to behave with restraint.  And the world responds by properly ignoring the president of the United States.

Meanwhile, Ron Paul, father of Rand, informs us that we should stay as far away from Ukraine as possible.  Cool idea, Ron.  And it's absurd to think that Japanese carriers could reach Pearl Harbor.  At the very minimum, America should be using this crisis to reassert our leadership, strengthen our defenses in Europe, and reassure, with substantive acts, our European allies that they can count on us to stand with them.  Not a bad strategy:  It was key to winning the Cold War without a world war.

February 20,  2014     Permalink