Stuff we would rather not know

Ignorance might be bliss temporarily, but it does a lot of damage in the long run

What’s all this fuss about Fast and Furious? 

For an explanation about the issues involved, listen to the NPR interview with attorney John Hinderaker:  “This is why the ATF whistle-blowers who eventually brought the program to light thought it was not just misguided, but crazy: they could see no possible law enforcement justification for letting thousands of guns walk into the hands of drug gangs.” Read more here

How much is 15.8 trillion?  You don’t want to know

“Consider this: If you have a briefcase full of $100 bills, you'd have roughly $1 million. Few of us have ever seen that much money in one place, but we can at least imagine what it looks like. But a trillion dollars in $100 bills would weigh 22 million pounds!”  Read more here

And where did some of this 15.8 trillion go?  You don't want to know that, either

Did you know that low-income people can use SNAP (food stamps) to buy soda pop and candy?  But not multivitamins?  Well, it gets worse.  65-year-old convenience store clerk Jackie Whiton just lost her job for refusing to take an EBT card to pay for cigarettes.  The foster mother of the would-be cigarette buyer complained.  (If he’s old enough to buy cigarettes, does he need a foster mother?)  “Whiton said she does not object to using the programs for food assistance, but does not think a person should be able to use public funds to buy cigarettes. 'They can’t even buy toilet paper with the EBT grocery cards but they can buy beer and cigarettes with the EBT cash cards,' Whiton said, 'Go figure.'"  Read more here

What news stories bother you the most? 

Come on baby, fight my liar

You can’t make this stuff up, because they already did

Elizabeth Warren goes Alinsky, fighting the Indians while STILL claiming to be one of them

Cornell Law Professor William A. Jacobson: “Four Cherokee women went to Boston this week to try to meet Elizabeth Warren to show Warren genealogical evidence proving that Warren has no Cherokee ancestry, and to explain to Warren why her continued insistence that she is Cherokee is offensive… part of a group of Cherokees who demand that Warren tell the truth…Warren talks a good game about fighting for the downtrodden at the same time that she steps on the backs of generations of Cherokees…The way Warren has treated these Cherokee women is the way a schoolyard bully treats physically weaker classmates.”  Read more here

But Warren isn’t alone in spinning yarns about her ancestry 

Mark Steyn on the fantasy element of Obama’s memoir:  “Courtesy of David Maraniss' new book, we now know that yet another key prop of Barack Obama's identity is false: His Kenyan grandfather was not brutally tortured or even non-brutally detained by his British colonial masters. The composite gram'pa joins an ever-swelling cast of characters from Barack's "memoir" who, to put it discreetly, differ somewhat in reality from their bit parts in the grand Obama narrative…”  Read more here

And the Washington Post (yes, believe it or not, the POST) has once again awarded its FOUR PINOCCHIO rating to Obama’s latest anti-Romney ad:

“On several occasions, we have faulted the campaign for its claims, apparently to little avail… On just about every level, this ad is misleading, unfair and untrue, from the use of “corporate raider” to its examples of alleged outsourcing.”   Read more here

Four Pinocchios:  Defined by the Washington Post as “Whoppers.”

 Heard any good ones lately?

We may as well laugh

Time again for some mid-week humor. 

Enjoy these stories from the Onion, America’s go-to source for the most authentic take on current events

Putting the "secret" back in the Secret Service 

“The alleged misconduct of Secret Service personnel accused of soliciting prostitutes in Colombia last month did not at any time compromise President Obama's security, longtime White House adviser Madame Chartreuse said during a press conference today.”    Read more here

A must-read for those wondering whether they have the power to make a difference

“Spurred into action by the surge of Super PAC donations ahead of November's general election, the American people this week collectively managed to raise $945.23 to offset the influence of corporate spending on politics.”   Read more here

  

To bring some bipartisan balance to this blog, we present the Onion’s take on where things stand (clearly inspired by the spirit of mainstream media coverage) 

"I like Money Man’s views on the economy and on money. However, you have to hand it to Black Guy for finally tracking down and killing bin Laden. And I like his wife, Black Lady, too."…"Food Man from New Jersey or The Woman would have been more in line with my sensibilities, but there's still a good chance Money Man will pick one of the two as his running mate," Ohio voter Margaret Yaster told reporters. "Besides, for me, pretty much any Republican would be better than Black Guy. Even Pizza Black Guy."  Read more here

Have you read a news story that made you laugh out loud? 
If so, send it in.  We need all the laughs we can get.

Not-So-Creative Explanations, chapter 487: Eric Holder

Note to Democrats: if you can’t be substantive, at least try to avoid clichés

Pelosi says it’s all about VOTER SUPPRESSION! 

"They're going after Eric Holder because he is supporting measures to overturn these voter suppression initiatives in the states. This is no accident, it is no coincidence. It is a plan on the part of Republicans," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said at her weekly press conference today.  Read more here

Steve Kornacki of Salon has a highly original theory – it’s all about RACE! 

"You take a prominent black lawyer and you put him in charge of the Obama Justice Department and I think that's, to people who sort of traffic in that sort of thing, you know it's really kind of a lightning rod."  Read more here

And the White House – SURPRSE! – says Eric Holder’s misdeeds are all Bush’s fault.  Read and listen here

What's your verdict on Eric Holder?    

For Obama, the No-Win Scenarios Are Coming Fast and Furious

He needs celebrities to help him raise cash, but has to embarrass them (and himself) to get it

“We don’t like what he’s doing, but we understand it,” says one Hollywood fund-raising insider.  “He has to raise the money. It’s a bad situation.”… “It's a mistake," a veteran Hollywood exec says flatly.  “He’s supposed to be a man of the people, and he’s hanging out with Anna Wintour?  Is he trying to turn the election into a celebrity reality show?”   Read more here


Meanwhile, no Democrat spin can undo the damage of the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare

Cornell Law Professor William A. Jacobson recently predicted a lose-lose no matter how it went: “..a total legal victory would motivate Republicans and center-right independents much as in 2010. A total loss would render much of Obama’s first term at best a waste of time. A split decision has a little of both bads.”   Read more here

 

And then, mostly flying below the radar, there’s this whole airline merger dilemma

Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Sam Batkins:  “The impact of the merger on fliers is an open question, but it is bad news for the president. He's either a flip-flopper on the merits of mergers or an aggressive regulator in an economy with 8.2% unemployment. And unlike Captain Kirk, he can't cheat his way out of this no-win scenario.”  Read more here

What other lose-lose situations do you see for either side?

Weekend wrap-up

In Michigan, some desperate tactics.

 “…while both sides enjoy a good, loud demonstration, it's generally acknowledged that paying people to protest is a form of cheating — which explains why the Obama campaign was quick to distance themselves from the group.”   Read more here

 

In the DC area, some fast drivers.

Does your local government issue SUVs to its employees who drive recklessly?  Or for that matter, to anyone?  Why don’t they use economy cars since they’re all in deep debt?  Read more here

In Wisconsin, some sore losers.

John Hinderaker gives us a good reminder of why we should mind our social media manners when commenting on the other party, and why we should appreciate Scott Walker’s gutsy stand against union bullies.  WARNING: PROFANE AND OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE.  Read more here if you can take the nasty talk

How do you feel about the upcoming election? 

Do you plan to do anything to influence the outcome?

Oh, the IRONY!

Convicted tax and drug criminal Marion Barry lectures the DC Council on ethics. 

Barry declares,“We are the laughingstock of the nation.” Read more here

Less than four years after George W. Bush endured relentless, often vicious criticism, his detractors have decided that we need to cut Presidents some slack nowadays – at least, if they are Democrats. 

Paul Mirengoff writes: “Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post frets that it may not be possible for any president to succeed in the modern world of politics. Did Cillizza raise this question when George W. Bush’s presidency encountered serious difficulty? I don’t recall him doing so.”  Read more here

  

Multi-millionaire entertainers obsess about Mitt Romney’s financial success. 

According toDan Gainor, “Journalists and Hollywood all want to pretend they were one with the common man. They aren’t...They are part of the elite in both wealth and access. They don’t care about Romney’s wealth. They care that he is not on their team.” Read more here

Attack of the clueless

OK, it's time for a little midweek humor. 

Just think of them every time you see the “occupied” indicator on the airplane bathroom.

John Hideraker’s witty post on the demise of the Occupy movement (no pun intended) highlights the sadly unintended but hilarious comedy of these straggling true believers.  Photos almost as humorous as the text.

“Remember when the Democratic Party saw the Occupy movement as the Left’s equivalent of the Tea Party? That lasted until it became obvious that 1) Occupy wasn’t actually much of a movement, and 2) to the extent it existed, it was an embarrassment. Occupy is in the process of fading away, not with a bang but a whimper, and with more criminal prosecutions to its credit than normal citizens converted to the leftist cause.”   Read more here and start your day with a laugh.

Cambridge, MA banning Coca-Cola?  Really?

Why don’t they go after alcohol?  It causes WAY more problems…oh, yeah, that’s right: prohibition didn’t work.  But you’d think they would KNOW that at Harvard, wouldn’t you?  “…then they came after Coca-Cola, and I said nothing, because I wasn’t a soda drinker…” Read the actual ban here  and for a sane commentary on this hilarious development, read the ever-logical Todd Starnes

More evidence that the DC metro area continues to model absurdity for the rest of the nation:

a self-help guru recently helped himself to $173k of taxpayer money.  At $7000 an hour, this is a lot more “change” than we need.   Read all about it here

Is it true Republicans have more fun?  Well, at least we have more to laugh at.  What have you read lately that would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic?  Or maybe was so funny it was funny anyway?

Wanted: dependable leadership

Barack Obama (2011 version) on why he, as President, does not have the authority to stop the deportation of students who are here illegally:

“With respect to the notion that I could suspend deportations through executive order, that's just not the case, because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed …The executive branch's job is to enforce and implement those laws and then the judiciary has to interpret the law. There are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system, that for me through simply an executive order ignore those mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as president.” 

Read more here

University of Chicago professor Luigi Zingales on why college costs are skyrocketing:

“Just as subsidies for homeownership have increased the price of houses, so have education subsidies contributed to the soaring price of college…These subsidies also distort the credit market. Since the government guarantees student loans, lenders have no incentive to lend wisely.”

Read more here

Marc A. Thiessen on the devastating consequences of leaking classified information for political purposes:

“ObamaLeaks has done damage to U.S. national security on a scale of which WikiLeaks only dreams.”  

Read more here


What have you read lately that inspires or erodes your confidence in our national leadership? Feel free to post your links.

What am I doing here?

It's no secret that a huge chunk of traditional media outlets have a liberal bias. A lot of significant news stories don't grab the big headlines.

This blog is produced by a Republican, and is intended for a conservative audience. I'll include three daily links to recent news events, op-ed pieces, blog posts and other item from various sources. My goal is to focus on content that might otherwise escape your notice, and perhaps introduce you to blogs, publications and authors you might like to follow.

I'll concentrate primarily on items that are especially relevant to the upcoming elections, hoping it will motivate us all to take action to influence the outcomes on local and national levels. A great many of these will come from the Washington Examiner because that is one of my local papers, but I'll also link to other sources including blogs. All links to credible sources are welcome; feel free to add your own links in the comments, which will be moderated.

*No comments from trolls, rumor-mongering for or against any candidate, or gratuitous ad hominem attacks on anyone will be posted.*

Please share the blog with any other readers who might want to read it, especially those who haven't yet made up their minds about the candidates and issues in this election.  Please DON'T share this blog with people who disagree and will only get angry and attack.

Today's three links:

Noemie Emery on the right and wrong way to beat Obama:

"Obama isn't a Kenyan, a Muslim, or alien presence. He's something worse than all that: He's a failure. And that should be more than enough."  read more here 

John Hinderaker on yet another recent power grab by Obama:

"Now we have President Obama announcing that he will selectively stop enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, where he thinks that such non-enforcement will be politically advantageous to him. What is remarkable about this particular instance is that Obama has previously stated that he has no legal authority to do what he did last week. No matter. Rule of law? That’s for the Republicans."

read more here 

Susan Ferrechio on yet another dubious use of your taxpayer dollars:

"What does sparkly styling spray for dogs have to do with the 2012 farm bill?  It's among the thousands of products U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing through little-known programs that have been embedded in the farm legislation for decades and that lawmakers are now fighting to extinguish."   read more here 

Can we really afford NOT to get involved in politics this year?  What are the most politically disturbing stories you've read recently?