Tuesday morning flotsam and jetsam Open Thread
My brain hasn’t yet synthesized all the fascinating data out there, including the wrenching stories of Sandy’s devastation. For the time being, I’ll just pass interesting links on to you. Please feel free to do the same.
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The former Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet has written a white-hot article excoriating Obama and his administration, based upon what we know to date about events in Benghazi. Because the White House is withholding information, and because the lap dog media is refusing to seek information (or even to talk about Benghazi), I have no problem with convicting Obama et al on the information currently available. If that crew wants a full and fair trial in the court of public opinion, it had better start releasing reliable information.
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There’s a fascinating story in my local paper today about a grocery store chain called Mi Pueblo. It was founded as a Mom-and-Pop store by a pair of illegal immigrants. It’s now a large, legal chain serving the Hispanic community throughout California. It’s also a law-abiding chain, in that it uses e-verify to make sure that it’s employees aren’t illegal immigrants. Here’s the interesting part: by abiding with federal law, the store has incurred the wrath, not only of the illegal immigration ground, but of SEIU. Yup, the unions are furious that as store refuses to employ illegals. Think about that: unions used to fight illegals, because they were seen as taking jobs away from legal American workers. Now, unions see the effort to stop illegal immigrants from working as a nefarious plot to weaken the unions. Legal American workers — those who are native-born or have green cards — should think long and hard about what the unions what to do for them. At the moment, it looks to me as if the unions aren’t out to protect workers, they’re out to protect unions.
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Victor Davis Hanson nails the fantasy-based “reality” that keeps affluent Californian’s voting for Democrats. I live surrounded by this mentality:
Did California’s redistributive elite really believe that they could all but shut down new gas and oil production, strangle the timber industry, idle irrigated farmland, divert water to the delta smelt, have 37 million people use a highway system designed for 15 million, allow millions of illegal aliens to enter the state without audit, extend free medical programs to 8 million of the most recent 11 million added to the population, up taxes to among the highest in the nation, and host one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients — and not have the present chaos?
The California schools — flooded with students whose first language is not English, staffed by unionized teachers not subject to the consequences of subpar teaching, and plagued with politicized curricula that do not emphasize math, science, and reading and writing comprehension — scarcely rate above those in Mississippi and Alabama. Did liberals, who wanted unions, a new curriculum, and open borders, believe it was good for the state to have a future generation — that will build our power plants, fly our airliners, teach our children, and take out our tumors — that is at the near-bottom in national test scores?
Do Bay Area greens really believe that they that will have sufficient water if they blow up the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir? Did Barack Obama think that the Keystone pipeline or new gas and oil leases in the Gulf were superfluous, or that we do not need oil to make gasoline, wheat to make flour, or to cut timber to produce wood?
Did liberals (and their hand-in-glove employer supporters who wished for cheap labor) think that letting in millions from Central Mexico, most without legality, English, or a high school education (and in some sense at the expense of thousands waiting in line for legal admission with capital, advanced degrees, and technological expertise), was not problematic and that soaring costs in law enforcement, the criminal justice system, the schools, and the health care industries were irrelevant?
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Reagan famously said “Trust, but verify.” In an internet age, one has to say “verify before you trust anything.” Case in point? A Halloween costume a young Boston Democrat put together to mock Tea Partiers. It features her grimacing, while holding a misspelled birther sign. Well, it went viral on the internet, not as a spoof, but as a “genuine” picture of a deranged young Alabama Tea Partier. The young woman involved (who did not intend to prank anyone), has learned a valuable lesson about her own political party. Maybe in a few years, she’ll be a true Tea Partier — and a nicer person for it too.
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Jonah Goldberg scolds the mainstream media for its incredible lack of curiosity about Benghazi. Goldberg doesn’t see a conspiracy. He sees liberal group-think that is so all-encompassing that the media people think candidate George Bush’s alleged conduct in 1974 is more important than President Barack Obama’s conduct in September 2012.
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While Jonah Goldberg is willing to damn the media with faint praise (stupid, not evil), Thomas Sowell is not so kind about the administration. He thinks that, when it comes to Benghazi, there’s a giant con going on. I think he’s right. (Is it redundant to say that one thinks that Thomas Sowell has made an intelligent, accurate argument? Doesn’t the name Sowell already encompass that description?)
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Keith Koffler does a great job summing up the way in which Obama has demeaned the presidency. We thought the Clinton presidency already did that but, looking back, that’s not quite accurate, Clinton demeaned himself with a variety of scandals, but he managed to stay presidential when he was in the business of politics (rather than the business of shtupping the help). Obama, however, has demeaned the presidency itself, by using sex, obscenities, and insults within the context of politics.
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Of course, when it comes to demeaning the office of the presidency, Obama is getting a lot of help. Witness this obscenity-laden video that purports to show members of the “Greatest Generation” engaging in vulgar trash-talk against Romney. Those elderly people who honor dignity should be offended by this, even if they’re Democrats.
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This is a lovely article that uses a faux debate to draw a devastating contrast between Barack Obama and Winston Churchill.
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And here is another devastating contrast: the vast cultural divide between Lena Dunham, who coos that voting for Obama is like losing ones virginity, and Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, who fought to the death to save others. Sadly, their Commander in Chief came from the Dunham side of the cultural divide, and left them to die alone in a Libyan hellhole. (Incidentally, Tyrone Woods left behind an infant son. If you would like to donate to a fund for that little boy, Power Line recommends this legitimate organization. It’s an easy way to donate. I was able to use PayPal, so I put some of the money you guys have so generously sent me towards Baby Boy Woods’ education.)
Cross-posted at Brutally Honest
