Post Scripts

Posted by Tina

Unemployment and underemployment continues to be high and the income gap in America is as bad as it was during the Great Depression after five years of the Obama hope and change economy. Hope Yen of the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The gap in employment rates between America’s highest- and lowest-income families has stretched to its widest levels since officials began tracking the data a decade ago, according to an analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press.

Rates of unemployment for the lowest-income families — those earning less than $20,000 — have topped 21 percent, nearly matching the rate for all workers during the 1930s Great Depression.

U.S. households with income of more than $150,000 a year have an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent, a level traditionally defined as full employment. At the same time, middle-income workers are increasingly pushed into lower-wage jobs. Many of them in turn are displacing lower-skilled, low-income workers, who become unemployed or are forced to work fewer hours, the analysis shows.
“This was no ‘equal opportunity’ recession or an ‘equal opportunity’ recovery,” said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. “One part of America is in depression, while another part is in full employment.”

The President will speak today from the rose Garden of the White House on the economy. Will he admit his policies are not working and change course? It’s unlikely. The President has continued to play president in campaign mode as if he were merely an observer:

“The folks in the middle and at the bottom haven’t seen wage or income growth,” Obama said on ABC’s “This Week.”

We know…we’re still waiting for some of that promised change.

In fact, the left would rather die than admit that <a Ronald Reagan was right.

If we want Americans to find good jobs and build personal wealth again we need to leave this airy fairy hope and change behind and embrace the vibrancy that flows when entrepreneurs are set free to invest and create growth and opportunity. We need to return to the American values of individual freedom and industry that built the greatest nation the world had ever seen.

Posted by Tina

Rick Ballard of Red State makes the case that Jay Carney was correct when he stated that Obama’s Red Line threat was not a gaffe but was, in fact, State Department policy…policy developed by Hillary and her gal pals at the State Department:

As much as it pains me to say it, Jay Carney is correct and the New York Times account is totally false. The use of “red line” to describe chemical weapons use in Syria did not originate with Obama going off message, it reflected a calculated use of the term.

On August 11, 2012, ten days before Obama’s statement, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had a joint press conference in Istanbul. During that press conference the following exchange happened:

QUESTION: Madam Secretary, for you, can you tell us a little bit more in detail about your meeting with the opposition activists? Did you get a better sense of whether they are really prepared to be able to be involved in leading a transition? What kind of questions did you ask them about who is actually doing the fighting on the ground? And what kind of answers did you get?

And then, for both of you, there has been a lot of talk about this common operational picture. What exactly is that common operational picture? Does it involve the potential of this corridor from Aleppo, north to the border here, turning into some kind of safe haven? And does it include anything on how to deal with the chemical weapons that everyone has expressed concern about? Thank you.

SECRETARY CLINTON: [yadda yadda] And both the minister and I saw eye to eye on the many tasks that are ahead of us, and the kinds of contingencies that we have to plan for, including the one you mentioned in the horrible event that chemical weapons were used. And everyone has made it clear to the Syrian regime that is a red line for the world, [italics mine] what would that mean in terms of response and humanitarian and medical emergency assistance, and of course, what needs to be done to secure those stocks from every being used, or from falling into the wrong hands.

It appears that where Obama deviated from script was in omitting “for the world” and substituting “for us.”

Those who need reminding can also read a total recounting of Hillary’s political failures and adventures in “Hillary! Because What Difference Does it Make?” by Clarice Feldman over at the American Thinker. She quotes Rick Ballard who claims that Hillary’s time in the State Department was supposed to give her the foreign policy stripes to win the presidency:

It was supposed to be a demonstration of her mastery of foreign policy and her “team” of Abedin, Powers and Rice were supposed to demonstrate how marvelous women were in applying “soft” power to effect “change”.

Instead, if indeed this was her baby, she and the girls have made one horrendous mess and diminished America’s standing in the world. Mrs. Clinton is not the person that I want to take a three AM phone call but the man we have elected hasn’t been any better.

Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize without significant contribution; some have suggested he should now give it back. Hillary Clinton was recently awarded the Liberty Medal to honor her “career in public service and advocacy for women’s rights”. At the end of what was described as a “bland speech” she was recognized a second time by a heckler who shouted “Benghazi” several times. These two politicians represent radical left politics and ideals. The radical left has been extremely vicious and un-supportive in its criticism of Republican presidents grappling with the horrendous problems that face our nation. As they did so, they mugged insufferable intolerance equaled only by their haughty sense of superiority. Watching them stumble and fail our nation so spectacularly now is one of the saddest, most disheartening moments I’ve witnessed in our nation’s history but it is something they have earned through bad decisions and that insufferable, haughty attitude.

Politicians come and go and thankfully their policies go with them. Its time to wake up America and reclaim our nations. The radical progressives that have taken over the Democrat Party are not aligned with our traditional American ideals of freedom and justice. Their “collective” mindset does not recognize enemies of freedom and justice and their policies flow from that mindset. The failures represented by the events in Benghazi and the empty “red line” threat are the result. It isn’t too early to say that we can’t afford another 4 to 8 years with Hillary Clinton in the White House.

The only thing that keeps me sane in the mean time is the thought of the men and women who honor America every day with their tireless sacrifice and service.

by Jack

I rode my bike down to the city center today for an early morning coffee (Pete’s). On my return trip I made a slight detour through the farmers market area aka City Parking Lot A. It get’s converted every weekend into a collection of street venders mostly selling fresh organic produce, but you never know what you’ll find and that is part of what makes it interesting.

As I walked my old mountain bike through the crowd, it struck me there’s almost something foreign about this place. Not just because it’s such an eclectic gathering of odd characters… where hemp products and Jesus sandals abound, or where tie-dye clothing is both a fashion and a political statement, it was something else…hmmm, what could it be?

Then it struck me, there’s no prices on anything! No signs saying beans half off today; no red cabbage at $1.29 per head, here, you had to ask! Maybe it was done this way to open an interaction between buyer and seller, I dunno. But, it was definitely not to haggle over prices. Haggling would have been a major faux paux. This “pay the asked price” concept may have been a spin off those with the anti-corporate and so-called “fair trader” mentality. Wherever it started had evolved to all the venders. Wonder what would happen if you opened a discount tomato stand in their midst?

I have to admit, it was fun to talk with your grocer or vender of crystals, honey, etc. And as to the pricing, well, you have plenty of folks willing pay, especially for certified organics. And to think, in just one quick diversion off the gree painted bike path I left regular downtown and entered Chicolandia with all the ubiquitous fold out canopy tents, new-age hippies, H’mong farmers and assorted artsy/crafty venders.

It was fun break from the traditional grocery stores. So, if go there, you’re going to spend a few extra bucks, but you will get really fresh, and sometimes unique veggies, not to be found anywhere else. I didn’t plan on buying anything, however I came back with a half pound of some really tasty jalapenos and a head of crispy butter lettuce.

Posted by Tina

Ted Cruz has not only tied the old guard Republicans in knots, he’s got the old guard columnists flummoxed as well. David Brooks appeared on PBS’s “News Hour” sounding like a man trapped in a panic room. The problem? Ted Cruz types won’t play Washington DC style footsie:

“What’s going on in the house, and a bit in the Senate, too, is what you might call the rise of Ted Cruz-ism,” Brooks said. “And Ted Cruz, the senator from Canada through Texas, is basically not a legislator in the normal sense, doesn’t have an idea that he’s going to Congress to create coalitions, make alliances, and he is going to pass a lot of legislation. He’s going in more as a media-protest person. And a lot of the House Republicans are in the same mode. They’re not normal members of Congress. They’re not legislators. They want to stop things. And so they’re just being — they just want to obstruct.”

“And the second thing they’re doing, which is alarming a lot of Republicans, is they’re running against their own party,” he continued. “Ted Cruz is running against Republicans in the Senate. The House Republican Tea Party types are running against the Republican establishment. That’s how they’re raising money. That’s where they’re spending their money on ads. And so they’re having a very obstructive role which is going on this week, and I think it’s going to make John Boehner’s life even more difficult.” (Bold emphasis mine)

Gosh…do you think they make his job even more difficult than obstructionist Democrats in the House?

Come, come Mr. Brooks. Democrats are not working with Speaker Boehner. Democrats NEVER work with Republicans to “create coalitions” or “make alliances”. With Democrats its always “my way or the highway. The people know it and you know it. Remember how the ACA was written and passed? Remember when Nancy Pelosi had to use bribes and coercion behind the closed doors of her office to force Democrat votes. She passed big legislation that has turned to crap for the American people. Normal Washington DC is crap, Mr. Brooks, and Ted Cruz knows it.

Ted Cruz and those like him are doing what the people who elected them want them to do. They were not elected to go to Washington to become members of the good old boys club, to behave like “normal” legislators, or to do the legislative bidding of progressive legislators propped up by journalistic sellouts like you. They were not sent to DC to become “go along” Republicans.

Ted Cruz, and the growing numbers of people who stand firmly behind him, expect him to break up that good old boy elitist Washington DC club.

Posted by Tina

Global warming scientists that have perpetrated the world biggest hoax for several decades, in the “believe because you want it to be so” department, costing taxpayers across the globe a staggering amount of money that could have gone to better purpose are now admitting they grossly overstated the case. These are the men and women who claim to be the elites in the world of science. These are the men and women who castigate scientists who deign to question or dispute their findings, as well as those who are simply skeptical of their consensus science, as “science deniers”.

Incredible!

According to the Daily Mail the IPPC warming scientists will now admit, in a report to be released later this month, that their computer models were wrong and the findings exaggerated…consider:

IPCC scientists accept their forecast computers may have exaggerated the effect of increased carbon emissions on world temperatures – and not taken enough notice of natural variability.

They recognise the global warming ‘pause’ first reported by The Mail on Sunday last year is real – and concede that their computer models did not predict it. But they cannot explain why world average temperatures have not shown any statistically significant increase since 1997.

They admit large parts of the world were as warm as they are now for decades at a time between 950 and 1250 AD – centuries before the Industrial Revolution, and when the population and CO2 levels were both much lower.

The IPCC admits that while computer models forecast a decline in Antarctic sea ice, it has actually grown to a new record high. Again, the IPCC cannot say why.

A forecast in the 2007 report that hurricanes would become more intense has simply been dropped, without mention.

This year has been one of the quietest hurricane seasons in history and the US is currently enjoying its longest-ever period – almost eight years – without a single hurricane of Category 3 or above making landfall.

According to Professor Allen, director of Oxford University’s Climate Research Network, this will be the last IPPC report issued because the “cumbersome production process” misrepresents “how science works”.

With all due respect, I’d say these scientists misrepresent how science works. And the failure to adequately admit it simply signals a temporary retreat to be followed by a brand new song and dance routine in the future. Why? Because the good professor and his pals still believe:

…the world will continue to warm catastrophically unless there is drastic action to curb greenhouse gases – with big rises in sea level, floods, droughts and the disappearance of the Arctic icecap.

And all because of evil human activity!

Dr Benny Peiser, no doubt a climate science denier in good standing, described the inforamtion from the leaked report:

“…staggering concoction of confusion, speculation and sheer ignorance…it would appear that the IPCC is running out of answers…to explain why there is a widening gap between predictions and reality”

Dr. Peisner represents the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a think tank:

The Global Warming Policy Foundation is unique. We are an all-party and non-party think tank and a registered educational charity which, while open-minded on the contested science of global warming, is deeply concerned about the costs and other implications of many of the policies currently being advocated.

We are in no sense ‘anti-environmental’. There is a wide range of important environmental issues, which call for an equally wide range of policy responses. Our concern is solely with the possible effects of any future global warming and the policy responses that may evoke.

Cooler heads…let us hope they prevail!

Posted by Tina

“The Book of Matt – Hidden Truths About the Murder of Mathew Sheppard,” written by an award winning gay journalist and writer, Stephen Jimenez, alleges that the homophobic narrative of the Mathew Sheppard murder was exaggerated, if not almost entirely fabricated. The book, promoted as in the tradition of Truman Capote’s famous, “In Cold Blood”, is sure to cause considerable discussion and push back in the gay community, as well as among high profile supporters that made Mathew Sheppard a gay icon, the tragic victim of homophobic hatred.

Breitbart has the story and also links to a story in the Advocate where Aron Hicklen asks:

“How do people sold on one version of history react to being told that the facts are slippery — that thinking of Shepard’s murder as a hate crime does not mean it was a hate crime? And how does it color our understanding of such a crime if the perpetrator and victim not only knew each other but also had sex together, bought drugs from one another, and partied together?”

I haven’t read this book but the most interesting thing about it for me after reading the articles is that it points to the lengths to which activists will go to change our culture and laws. The radical left gay community has no problem using distortion and lies to create emotional fervor. That fervor is also fueled by the creative community in plays, songs and dedications. Manufacturing Americans as villains, perpetuating the myth that homophobia is rampant in our culture, and that the violence homosexuals experience is part of the fabric of our entire culture, rather than a sordid and sad aspect of a sub-culture, is justified, in their eyes, as a means to an end. As the article in the Advocate acknowledges:

For many of us, the crime was not simply one family’s tragedy — it symbolized our vulnerable, uncertain place in the world. For many heterosexuals it challenged the myth of America as a guarantor of equality and liberty.

All that soul-searching may have felt necessary, especially in light of the legislation the case inspired, but was it helpful in getting at the truth? Or did our need to make a symbol of Shepard blind us to a messy, complex story that is darker and more troubling than the established narrative?

The writer asks this of the gay community rather than the nation at large. But if I were asked I would be compelled to say that I resent the implication that because homosexuals sometimes have horrible personal experiences it is somehow the “fault” of “homophobic” America or that it means America is “not a guarantor of equality and liberty”. I don’t deny the challenges that face people of the LGBT community but they are their challenges. Placing the responsibility on others only perpetuates powerlessness.

Adults of all stripes must learn to resolve personal issues along the road to adulthood. Everyone has lessons to learn and must decide how to best organize life in a way that will keep them safe and secure. None of us has the same considerations but all of us should realize that for the most part it is our choices and our attitude that determine how life plays out. Mathew Sheppard, along with the young men who shared his lifestyle and were ultimately found guilty of murdering him, were living a destructive, dangerous lifestyle. The drugs they were using alone made their chances of survival very limited. It made their chances of personal satisfaction in life impossible. Three lives were destroyed because these boys failed to mature into healthy, decent, respectful, contributing, citizens. This is the sad narrative behind the Mathew Sheppard case that was buried in a myth and that needs to be addressed.

The exploitation of this crime is part of a seedy social/political game…one that Americans would do well to reject.

Posted by Tina

The left always goes too far.

Today they are screaming that gun lobby interference caused the fall of two state Senators but a Colorado Democrat says this move is the direct result of gun grabbing zealots:

Some would suggest this just demonstrates the power of the gun lobby, but Sen. Lois Tochtrop, an Adams County Democrat and longtime Second Amendment activist, thinks it’s just a natural reaction to an overreach by Democrats in messing with gun rights.

Tochtrop feels the recall election was a reaction to seven gun-control measures introduced in the session, including a proposal by Morse. His law would have assigned liability for assault-style weapon damages to manufacturers and sellers.

Gun rights and freedom…they go together, people!

Excessive misuse of weaponry is a matter concerning a lack of morals and values. If we want the situation to improve we have to begin to address the problem.

Posted by Tina

“The greatest generation was the one that founded our nation and wondered if we could “keep” its republic, and there has been a consistent, but accelerating, degeneration ever since.” – Selwyn Duke, The American Thinker

Great wisdom for Millennials and their parents and grandparents!