<\/p>\n
News of the Week for July 7th<\/sup>, 2013<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Irony: Corrupt Obama Laments \u201cRot of Corruption\u201d in Africa<\/a> Gun control: Cartridge ID law to take effect<\/a> Police chief killed with rifle lost in ATF gun-tracking program <\/a> More and more Americans are becoming concealed-carry permit holders<\/a> Models Fail: Greenland and Iceland Land Surface Air Temperature Anomalies<\/a> <\/p>\n Health-Law Employer Mandate Delayed by U.S. Until 2015<\/a> Political posturing and corporatist collusion: The backstory of Obamacare\u2019s imperiled employer mandate<\/a> How you will know when #obamacare is doomed.<\/a> <\/p>\n Bolivian minister: Evo Morales\u2019 plane rerouted on suspicion Snowden on board<\/a> Egyptian Islamists Throw Protesters Off Rooftops<\/a> State Sen. Wendy Davis\u2019 Fragile Political Future<\/a> Sunt lacrimae rerum<\/a> New Hampshire Teacher: Stop Penalizing Boys Who Can\u2019t Sit Still<\/a> What Three Dissents Signal for Marriage\u2019s Future<\/a> Boys Punished for Being Boys<\/a> California Democrat Can\u2019t Make His Voter Fraud Trial. . . Too Busy in Senate<\/a> Texas Capital Abortion Supporters chant “Hail Satan” <\/a> Pro-Abortion Protesters Threaten Female Texas State Senator: \u2018I hope you\u2019re raped.\u2019<\/a> If Obama can unilaterally delay ObamaCare\u2019s employer mandate, why wouldn\u2019t he delay new border security measures too?<\/a> Public university unfairly raising grades of black students, say three former faculty members<\/a> Rainbow Beatdown<\/a> Gays attack street preacher <\/a> Daniel Hannan MEP: Thomas Jefferson, Anglosphere hero<\/a> Police Commandeer Homes, Get Sued<\/a> Americans Don’t Know WHY We Celebrate the 4th of July or WHAT COUNTRY We Declared Independence From!<\/a> Cornel West Gripes That Homosexuals Are Getting More of the Pie Than Blacks<\/a> Tales of the Red Tape #40: The USDA Rabbit Police<\/a> Where \u201ccomprehensive\u201d immigration reform meets the rape tree<\/a> Report: Liz Cheney May Primary Wyoming Sen. Enzi<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why Is European Unemployment So High?<\/a> France Requires Goodyear To Keep a Money-Losing Factory Open<\/a> Obamacare Strikes: Part-Time Jobs Surge To All Time High; Full-Time Jobs Plunge By 240,000<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Egypt: Protesters storm Muslim Brotherhood HQ<\/a> Protesters to Egypt’s Morsy: You have one day to step down<\/a> Asia\u2019s Great Game of Ports<\/a> Egypt Military Coup Ousts President Morsi <\/a> Arab Christians: Israel only state worth fighting for <\/a> The Risk of European Centralization<\/a> Dismiss the Egyptian People and Elect a New One<\/a> Brotherhood website: Egypt’s interim president is Jewish<\/a> Post-Coup Violence Spreads In Egypt <\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gay marriage fight now becomes a religious liberty fight<\/a> Where are the Boys?<\/a> Our Rights, Not the Court’s <\/a> Same sex cultural imperialism<\/a> ‘Cracking’ the Case <\/a> Why the Reagan Democrats Departed<\/a> Obama: Africa Must Remain Poor With No Power or the World Will Boil Over<\/a> Hamilton vs. Jackson: A Hamiltonian Looks at the Strengths–and the Weaknesses–of Jacksonianism <\/a> Tocqueville’s Warning to America: The Dangers of Despotism<\/a> Calvin Coolidge’s Address at the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence<\/a> The Next American Revolution<\/a> Dependence Day<\/a> Liberal Apartheid <\/a>\n
<\/a>Obama Scandals<\/h1>\n
\nLet\u2019s see, we\u2019ve got Fast & Furious, surveillance and wiretapping of reporters, a massive IRS scandal, the stench of ObamaCare, intimidation of opposition and an American public fed up with the government. So how ironice is it Obama goes to Africa and lectures about corruption? In the meantime, he pledges $7 billion for electricity projects, then says he\u2019s not offering handouts. All this on the most expensive vacation in the history of the planet.<\/p>\n<\/a>Gun Rights<\/h1>\n
\nA hotly contested gun-control law that was passed in 2007 is finally ready to be implemented, Attorney General Kamala Harris said Friday: a requirement that every new semiautomatic handgun contain “micro-stamping” technology that would allow police to trace a weapon from cartridges found at a crime scene.<\/p>\n
\nA high-powered rifle lost in the ATF\u2019s Fast and Furious controversy was used to kill a Mexican police chief in the state of Jalisco earlier this year, according to internal Department of Justice records, suggesting that weapons from the failed gun-tracking operation have now made it into the hands of violent drug cartels deep inside Mexico.<\/p>\n
\nFirearms sales have been on the up and up since President Obama was elected in 2008, and the federal government\u2019s attempt to pass more national gun-control measures did nothing to quell the firearms industry\u2019s personal economic boom. It isn\u2019t merely gun sales, however, that have lately been experiencing a major surge; the WSJ has the numbers indicating an encouraging trend of more and more Americans taking the responsibility of carrying a concealed weapon upon their person. We\u2019re only halfway through 2013, and it already looks like plenty of states are on track for their biggest permitting years on record<\/p>\n<\/a>Hide the Decline<\/h1>\n
Environment &
\n“Green Energy”<\/h2>\n
\nI\u2019m always amazed when global warming enthusiasts announce that surface temperatures in some part of the globe are warming faster than simulated by climate models. Do they realize they\u2019re advertising that the models don\u2019t work well for the area in question? And that their shouting it from the hilltops only helps to highlight the limited value of the models?<\/p>\n<\/a>Obamacare<\/h1>\n
Government in Healthcare<\/h2>\n
\nBusinesses won\u2019t be penalized next year if they fail to provide workers health insurance after the Obama administration decided to delay a key requirement under its signature 2010 health-care law.<\/p>\n
\nThe latest wheel to fly off the Obamacare wagon is the employer mandate \u2014 the policy that would force large employers to offer insurance, punishing those who offered insufficient insurance benefits with a big ol\u2019 fine.<\/p>\n
\nSemantically speaking, this interview with AMA President Dr. Arvis Hovenon the AMA\u2019s future relationship with Obamacare is pretty much a null value exercise \u2013 here\u2019s a sample, so that you understand what I mean<\/p>\n<\/a>War & Terror<\/h1>\n
\nThe plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales home from Russia was rerouted to Austria on Tuesday after France and Portugal refused to let it cross their airspace because of suspicions that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board, the country\u2019s foreign minister said.<\/p>\n
\nPro-Morsi Islamists are rampaging across Egypt. Carrying al Qaeda flags, they are viciously attacking protesters. It looks like they extended Friday’s “Day of Rage” through the weekend.<\/p>\n<\/a>National<\/h1>\n
\nWith Texas State Senator Wendy Davis\u2019 filibuster of SB 5 last week, she\u2019s become a liberal rockstar. Her filibuster was halted and the bill was passed, but not before the 12am deadline killed the bill \u2013 for now. The unruly masses of pro-abortion activists in the gallery caused such a disturbance that procedural motions were unable to be heard, thus preventing the bill from being passed successfully. It was mob rule. The bill would\u2019ve banned abortions 20-weeks into a pregnancy. And Gov. Rick Perry has already called another special session to begin in July The bill has the votes. It\u2019s going to pass. Yet, some on the left feel that Davis \u201crevived\u201d the Texas Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
\nMarco Rubio fell into a bad crowd with the Senate Gang of 8 that labored to bring forth the monstrous immigration bill Now tuhat the bill has been sent over to the House, Democrats will be looking to create a crisis atmosphere to compel passage. On Fox News Sunday yesterday, South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy gave voice to the thoughts of a lot of us who have been following this production<\/p>\n
\nOne of the points made in Dr. Helen Smith\u2019s new book, Men on Strike: Why Men are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream \u2014 and Why It Matters is that the deck is stacked against boys in the American school system.<\/p>\n
\nNot only was the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act baseless and just plain wrong, you won\u2019t learn much from reading Justice Anthony Kennedy\u2019s majority opinion. Except that he thinks only bigotry can explain support for marriage as it was until the year 2000\u2014a male-female union.<\/p>\n
\nBoys are being penalized in schools simply for exhibiting traits characteristic of their gender. So writes teacher Jessica Lahey in The Atlantic, who claims that her colleagues are failing to understand and engage boys in the classroom<\/p>\n
\nCalifornia Senator Rod Wright had a July trial set for multiple voter fraud and perjury charges. It has been moved to November at the request of the Senator.<\/p>\n
\nIt’s been a very interesting day at the Texas State Capitol. Cahnman’s Musings hasn’t been following the hearing. Instead, we’ve been participating in the surrounding events. LetTexasSpeak has been doing a live broadcast from the rotunda where women have been sharing their abortion related testimonies.<\/p>\n
\nA vignette from what has become an ugly week in Texas<\/p>\n
\nAn excellent question from Conn Carroll, especially in light of the news from CBO this morning that the Corker\/Hoeven \u201cborder surge\u201d will supposedly reduce illegal immigration by one-third to one-half. (The original Gang of Eight bill would have reduced it by just one-quarter.) That conclusion depends on a lot of assumptions, but the core assumption is that Obama will in fact enforce the new law as it\u2019s written.<\/p>\n
\nSchool administrators at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) are systematically raising the final grades of African-American students, three ex-faculty members told Campus Reform last month.<\/p>\n
\nI don’t care for street preachers, but they do have the freedom of speech. There was a tiny part of me hoping the would beat down this loud, obnoxious group of lesbians and their creepy ass cracker BFF.<\/p>\n
\nThis occurred at Seattle’s parade.<\/p>\n
\nWhen Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, he included a wistful line that was excised by the other signatories: \u2018We might have been a great and free people together\u2019.<\/p>\n
\nHenderson police arrested a family for refusing to let officers use their homes as lookouts for a domestic violence investigation of their neighbors, the family claims in court.
\nThe Mitchell family’s claim includes Third Amendment violations, a rare claim in the United States. The Third Amendment prohibits quartering soldiers in citizens’ homes in times of peace without the consent of the owner.<\/p>\n
\nMark Dice talks with California beach goers about the 4th of July and finds that many Americans simply don’t know WHY we celebrate the 4th of July or what country we declared independence from.<\/p>\n
\nEven Ivy League professor Cornel West has figured out that the more cultural Marxists seek out and grant special privileges to new groups of \u201cvictims,\u201d the less pie will be set aside for racist demagogues of the Afrocentric persuasion. Quoting from an interview with the absurd Tavis Smiley<\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s no good way to deliver this disturbing bit of news except to come right out with it: Marty the Magician and others in the business of pulling a rabbit from a hat are under strict orders from the federal government to develop a \u201ccontingency plan\u201d for handling their critters in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.<\/p>\n
\nAs the next battle over immigration reform winds closer over the dog days of summer, I was reminded this weekend of one of the key arguments I hear from reform supporters. It revolves around the idea that those who want the borders secured first are somehow using that as nothing but a tool to stop \u201cprogress\u201d on reform efforts. This was typified a few months back with MSNBC\u2019s Alex Wagner and her jaw dropping promo on the subject for her new show. Allahpundit skewered the video royally as soon as it came out, but it deserves a second look today.<\/p>\n
\nLiz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has told Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) that she is thinking about challenging him in Wyoming’s Republican Senate primary in 2014.<\/p>\n<\/a>Economy
\n& Taxes<\/h1>\n
\nThe issue of unemployment is a complex one for economists. There are many factors involved. I\u2019m a lawyer, not an economist, so I\u2019m not the best person to spell out a comprehensive plan to deal with the problem.<\/p>\n
\nReasonDo you remember when French government officials approached Titan Tires in an attempt to convince the U.S. firm to purchase an ailing Goodyear factory in Amiens, and the company’s CEO, Maurice Taylor, replied with a broadside about the French “work” ethic that sparked a miniature international incident? Yeah. Good times.<\/p>\n
\nAs a reminder: jobs have quantity and quality components. The quantity component was good enough to convince the 10 Year the taper is imminent (if not stocks, which continue to trade dislocated from any and all fundamentals). But how about the quality? In a word: not good. In June, the household survey reported that part-time jobs soared by 360,000 to 28,059,000 – an all time record high. Full time jobs? Down 240,000. And looking back at the entire year, so far in 2013, just 130K Full-Time Jobs have been added, offset by a whopping 557K Part-Time jobs. And there is your jobs “quality” leading to today’s market euphoria (if only for now).<\/p>\n<\/a>International<\/h1>\n
\nProtesters stormed and ransacked the Cairo headquarters of President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group early Monday, in an attack that could spark more violence as demonstrators gear up for a second day of mass rallies aimed at forcing the Islamist leader from power.<\/p>\n
\nEgyptians who helped overthrow a 29-year dictatorship in a widely hailed revolution have now given the country’s first democratically elected president one day to step down from office.<\/p>\n
\nChina is attempting to hijack India\u2019s port development project in Chabahar, Iran. It\u2019s a sign that the two largest economies in Asia are gearing up for a global battle over commercial harbors. India announced in May that it would fund a $100 million upgrade of the Iranian port, but yesterday the Indian Express reported that China offered Iran just under $80 million in an attempt to yank it out of India\u2019s hands. The Indian government is considering setting up a multi-ministerial task force to make sure China can\u2019t elbow its way in<\/p>\n
\nFireworks fill the Cairo city skyline as protesters celebrate the fall of Mohamed Morsi, who is now under house arrest.<\/p>\n
\nArab Christian residents of Nazareth who proudly serve in the Israeli army and encourage their children to do the same are coming under increasing attack, and Israel is starting to take notice and come to their aid.<\/p>\n
\nFor many European leaders, the eurozone crisis demonstrates the need for \u201cmore Europe,\u201d the final aim being to create a full-fledged political union. Given the continent\u2019s history of war and ideological division, and today\u2019s challenges posed by globalization, a peaceful, prosperous, and united Europe that wields influence abroad is surely a desirable goal. But major disagreements about how to achieve that goal remain.<\/p>\n
\nAs Communist writer Bertolt Brecht offered after East German workers rose against their Moscow-backed masters in 1953, perhaps the Egyptian government should dismiss the people and elect a new one.<\/p>\n
\nIslamist movement quotes senior Arab journalist as saying that Adly Mansour is of Jewish descent; journalist denies quotes<\/p>\n
\nTwo days after Egypt’s military replaced the country’s president, it sent soldiers into the streets to quell demonstrations, as a week of tensions between Islamists and the military transformed into deadly confrontations that heightened some Egyptians’ fears of civil war.<\/p>\n<\/a>Opinion<\/h1>\n
\nToday’s talk of tolerance and acceptance of gay marriage will soon give way to intolerance and rejection of those who hold a traditional view of marriage.<\/p>\n
\nLast week when I attended the graduation ceremonies for a local high school, ironically designated as a “National School of Excellence,” I noted a distressing fact: the ceremony was dominated by females. In a significant omission, the male student body president, a senior, was not identified in the program, nor did he have a role in the ceremony. Instead, six senior girls were prominently listed in the program, marched in with the school dignitaries and participated in the ceremony.<\/p>\n
\nThere’s no good reason to give the justices the last word on race, abortion and gay marriage<\/p>\n
\nFor decades the American left made a business of denouncing “cultural imperialism,” the imposition of Western values on third world cultures. Coca-Colonialism, as it was sometimes caricatured, needed resistance abroad and at home. So the left came up with “multiculturalism,” which held we cannot judge other cultures, and all must be equally respected.<\/p>\n
\nA racial turnabout in the George Zimmerman trial.<\/p>\n
\nOn Nov. 3, 1969, Richard Nixon, his presidency about to be broken by massive antiwar demonstrations, called on “the great silent majority” to stand by him for peace with honor in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
\nOn June 29, 2013, President Obama participated in the \u201cYoung African Leaders Initiative Town Hall\u201d in Johannesburg, South Africa. Toward the very end of his remarks, he said something very telling about his world view<\/p>\n
\nAndrew Jackson (1767-1845) was a great patriot and a great war hero, and that\u2019s saying plenty.<\/p>\n
\nAs Americans gather to celebrate the anniversary of our nation’s freedom, we contemplate, on the one hand, the revolution in Egypt, where people crying out for freedom could only appeal to the military, having lost any power of self-government; and, on the other, the slow imposition of Obamacare in the United States, delayed only so that it might never be defeated, creeping gradually into every aspect of life, administered by agencies already shown to be hostile to freedom. We have much for which to be grateful–and much about which to be warned.<\/p>\n
\nWe meet to celebrate the birthday of America. That coming of a new life always excites our interest. Although we know in the case of the individual that it has been an infinite repetition reaching back beyond our vision, that only makes it more wonderful. But how our interest and wonder increase when we behold the miracle of the birth of a new nation. It is to pay our tribute of reverence and respect to those who participated in such a mighty event that we annually observe the 4th day of July. Whatever may have been the impression created by the news which went out from this city on that summer day in 1776, there can be no doubt as to the estimate which is now placed upon it. At the end of 150 years the four corners of the earth unite in coming to Philadelphia as to a holy shrine in grateful acknowledgment of a service so great, which a few inspired men here rendered to humanity, that it is still the preeminent support of free government throughout the world.<\/p>\n
\nThe next American Revolution will not be an event, it will be a process. We naturally turn to the past for templates of the future, but history has a way of remaining remarkably unpredictable. Indeed, all the conventional long-range forecasts made in 1900, 1928, 1958, 1988 and 2000 missed virtually every key development–not just in the distant future, but just a few years out.<\/p>\n
\nBill Whittle thinks that the Freedom of Speech is in peril, and so is the Freedom of Religion. Hear why on this Afterburner as Whittle reminds you of the importance of our most important civil liberties, and how each is threatened by the expanding welfare state.<\/p>\n
\nThe elite mostly lead a reactionary existence of talking one way and living another.<\/p>\n