Sunday, June 29, 2014

Fwd: Soccer

'Isn't cheering a team of losers an un-American activity?

 

Not necessarily—at least, not in the World Cup, where the initial stage of the competition is conducted in groups rather than on a knockout basis. But it does take a bit of getting used to, as we discovered today, when Team U.S.A. progressed to the next stage of the tournament despite losing to Germany, 1–0, 

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2014/06/a-very-un-american-triumph-at-world-cup.html

Fwd: Health care

'Relatively expensive and under performing. These words describing Canada's health-care system are now widely accepted in political and medical circles – in contrast to what we heard as recently as a decade ago, when "experts" and politicians still insisted that Canada had one of the best systems in the world.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/apples-to-apples-canadas-health-system-underperforms/article19351870/

 

Fwd: Border

'They argue the administration's June 2012 decision not to enforce immigration law against those who had been brought to the country illegally as children—the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA—effectively signaled the United States would no longer deport illegal immigrants, even though the policy applies only to minors who have been in the United States continuously since 2007. 

http://thefederalist.com/2014/06/27/the-manufactured-immigration-crisis-on-the-texas-border/

 

Fwd: China

'Distributors and publishers impose an "effective ban" on Hard Choices, which is critical of the Chinese government.

 

Simon & Schuster president Jonathan Karp said in an interview that China's response to Clinton's book amounts to an "effective ban" by the country.

 

"It's outrageous and unfortunate," Karp said. "And it's a pretty clear indication of the low level of intellectual freedom in China right now."

 

Clinton's book, a 656-page retelling of her tenure at as secretary of state, is critical of the Chinese government. She details its censorship practices and characterizes the country as "full of contradictions" and the "epicenter of the antidemocratic movement in Asia."

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/china-blocks-hillary-clintons-book


Fwd: Eternal

'I had many "a-ha" moments during my trek from "moderate liberal" to "independent Constitutional conservatarian" (aka Right Wing Radical).

 

One of them was this:

 

That if you try and explain to a non-American why our government hasn't done something about X, Y or Z, and you tell them, "well, our government doesn't have the power to do that", they look at you as if you have 5 heads.

 

The very idea that a government is forbidden to do something is an anathema to much of the rest of the world, and that includes some countries in Europe.

 

And in fact, you may even run into some AMERICANS that will also look at you incredulously. Or they may acknowledge what the Constitution says, but then say "but we have to do something" or "it's for the children" or whatever the emotional argument is that day.

 

And when that happened to me - both with a non-American and an American - it was as if scales had fallen from my eyes. I realized at once how really precious our American liberty is, and how quickly people will abandon their liberty for security (Franklin had something to say about that, I think).

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/381374/eternal-dictator-kevin-d-williamson/page/0/1


Saturday, June 28, 2014

The Eternal Dictator | National Review Online

Great article:

http://nationalreview.com/article/381374/eternal-dictator-kevin-d-williamson

R. Kelly Accidentally Makes Video With a Full-Grown Woman | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381353/r-kelly-accidentally-makes-video-full-grown-woman-caroline-rizzo

If China and Japan Went to War: What Would America do? | The National Interest Blog

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/if-china-japan-went-war-what-would-america-do-10722

Senate Democrats’ Free-Speech Problem | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381335/senate-democrats-free-speech-problem-michael-barone

Government by Fiat | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381348/government-fiat-charles-krauthammer

Elizabeth Warren: The Obama of 2016 | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381344/elizabeth-warren-obama-2016-jonah-goldberg

GOP: Just Say No to Ex-Im | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381440/gop-just-say-no-ex-im-larry-kudlow

Fighting for Freedom in Iran | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381444/fighting-freedom-iran-mona-charen

Human Events

http://touch.humanevents.com/humanevents/#!/entry/rape-in-egypt-the-muslim-brotherhood-gets-even,53a1d807025312186c1e98e1

ISIS Is Dysfunctional | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381460/isis-dysfunctional-tom-rogan

What Liberal Internationalists Don’t Understand About Iraq | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381434/what-liberal-internationalists-dont-understand-about-iraq-matthew-continetti

Barney Fife Meets Delta Force | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381446/barney-fife-meets-delta-force-charles-c-w-cooke

Making Gay Okay - Robert Reilly : Ignatius Press

Misguided:

http://www.ignatius.com/Products/GAM-H/making-gay-okay.aspx

Boehner Is Bringing a Whistle to a Gunfight | National Review Online

http://m.nationalreview.com/article/381453/boehner-bringing-whistle-gunfight-andrew-c-mccarthy

James Burnham: Reagan's Geopolitical Genius | The National Interest

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/james-burnham-reagans-geopolitical-genius-10741?page=2

Friday, June 27, 2014

Fwd: Thailand



'But I can't. I fear that the latest Siamese coup signals something serious; I fear that this time 'Teflon Thailand' (the name is shorthand for the remarkable way its booming economy and amiable society seem impervious to the nation's political turmoil) might have altered for good. I also wonder if this evolution says something ominous to the rest of the world.'

 

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9247241/thailands-next-fix/

 

Monday, June 9, 2014

How ecological of you

"To make the world a better place, I invented a transformative water purifier. It takes in dirty and polluted water from rivers, lakes, and even oceans, then massively transforms the water into clean, safe and sanitary water, when humans and animals drink this water, they will live a healthier life."

- Audrey Zhang, 11

https://www.google.com/doodles/doodle-4-google-2014-us-winner

 

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Fwd: The Shocking Reason the Feds Targeted Gibson Guitar

Fwd: Obama's Afghan Drawdown Boosts al-Qaeda; Montel Williams: Veterans' Treatment an Outrage

Criminal Justice

Tim Lynch discusses problems with the American criminal justice system on Showtimes's Penn and Teller's Bullshit Viewer Discretion Advised


On January 12, 2007, Nifong asked to be taken off the case and on January 13, 2007, Attorney General Roy Cooper's office took over. On April 12, 2007, the attorney general, in declaring Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann innocent, also called Nifong a "rogue prosecutor". Nifong was ordered disbarred on June 16, 2007 after the bar's three-member disciplinary panel unanimously found him guilty of fraud, dishonesty, deceit or misrepresentation; of making false statements of material fact before a judge; of making false statements of material fact before bar investigators, and of lying about withholding exculpatory DNA evidence.

On August 31, 2007, Nifong was convicted of criminal contempt for knowingly making false statements during the criminal proceedings. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III sentenced Nifong to a single day in jail.

Pack continued to suggest publicly that Gary had in fact committed the crime and was freed only because the prosecution could not meet its burden of proof without the confession. He was pardoned in 2002 after two motorcycle gang members were ultimately convicted of the crime.