Truth, Lies and In Between

Today’s reading list:

Bada Bing

‘Hey, nice company ya got there. It would be a shame if anything were to, ya know, happen to it.’

“These are complicated companies,” one CEO said. Offered another: “We’re competing for talent on an international market.”

But President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation, and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to such explanations. “Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that.”

“My administration,” the president added, “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”

ABC News Touts Gun Control, Hypes Special Firearms

On Monday’s “Good Morning America,” reporter David Muir highlighted a rabidly pro-gun control group as an expert on weapons, without referencing the organization’s political stance. The journalist also promoted “If I Only Had a Gun,” an ABC special to air Friday night that seems to argue for tighter restrictions on firearms. During a segment on the tragic shootings in Pittsburgh and New York, Muir featured a clip from Michael Wolkowitz, who is a member of the board of trustees for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Deep Thoughts, By Katie Couric

Background checks are meant to keep criminals from owning guns, but just about anyone can walk into a gun show and buy a weapon from a private dealer, no questions asked.

Texas State Senator Glenn Hegar discusses state sovereignty

Taking time out between committee meetings, Texas State Senator Glenn Hegar sat down to talk about his state sovereignty resolution (SCR 39) now being considered by our legislature.

Senator Hegar, who lives in Katy, is a sixth generation Texan who farms land that has been in his family since the mid-1800s. He represents Texas Senate District 18, which stretches from central Texas south/southeast to the Gulf Coast, encompassing 18 counties plus the western half of Fort Bend County. Although the youngest state senator, Hegar has already received many awards for his leadership in reducing government spending and has earned leadership positions on numerous standing committees, as well as being appointed Chairman of the Legislative Sportsman’s Caucus.

More

Leo Rennert: President Obama, King Abdullah, and the end of Israel

During the G-20 summit in London, Barack Obama took time out for a brief meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia caught on video by two cameras, and by a still photographer, where the U.S. president bowed deeply in greeting the Saudi monarch. No major American media paid any attention to the startling, unreciprocated bow, gesture of subservience.

Stuart Schwartz: We are all anti-Semites now

“We are all socialists now”  Newsweek famously declared in a February issue this year, letting the nation know that our Knowledge Elites — the cultural establishment that dominates higher education, media, government and entertainment, and collectively fancies itself the agenda setter for the rest of us — is now officially backing the statist horse in the economic race. Good bye free market, hello socialism.  Why? Because we say so. Call them the Knowledge Elites (KE’s), who use position and information to shape our culture. Socialism has become trendy — witness Harvard’s recent conference devoted to trashing the free market, or the Obama administration’s war on the private sector. ‘Correct’ thinking influences corrective behavior and, in tandem, the culture.

Rich Galen: Hold Off on the Crown and Tiara

Democrats are busily scheduling a ceremony to continue the Administration’s designs on undoing the U.S. Constitution even more and coronate King Barack and Queen Michelle upon their return from their European concert tour.

They are soooo popular over in Europe. Michelle is soooo stylish. Barack is soooo smooth. Europeans are swoooooning over the visit.

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann: The Declaration Of Independence Has Been Repealed

On April 2, 2009, the work of July 4, 1776 was nullified at the meeting of the G-20 in London. The joint communiqué essentially announces a global economic union with uniform regulations and bylaws for all nations, including the United States. Henceforth, our SEC, Commodities Trading Commission, Federal Reserve Board and other regulators will have to march to the beat of drums pounded by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), a body of central bankers from each of the G-20 states and the European Union.

Phyllis Schlafly: College Student Alert: Beware of One-Party Classrooms

How can we explain continued public support for Barack Obama’s extremist spending plans, even though it is painfully obvious that his much-touted “remaking America” means mortgaging the financial future of young people with trillions of dollars in debt? Are the American people really willing to let the government be our nanny, manage our economy, federalize our schools, and decide which businesses can keep their doors open, what health care will be permitted, who will get new jobs and how extravagant will be the foreign handouts as Obama “rejoins the world community”?

Mona Charen: Apologizing for America

One of President Obama’s first official acts was to grant an interview to Al Arabiya, the Arabic language network that broadcasts worldwide. It signified, aides explained, the new page that Obama meant to turn in relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds. Just as he did last week in Europe, Obama began the conversation by criticizing America. Asked about relations between Israel and the Palestinians and the appointment of George Mitchell as special envoy, President Obama said ” … what I told (Mitchell) is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating — in the past on some of these issues — and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved. So let’s listen.” Throughout the rest of the interview, Obama returned again and again to the word “respect,” stressing that his administration — unlike previous American presidents — would base relations with the Muslim world on “mutual respect.”

Dennis Prager: America Has a Naive President

“The basic bargain is sound: countries with nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them.” — President Barack Obama, Prague, April 6, 2009

As far as nuclear weapons are concerned, the President of the United States wants America to disarm: “Countries with nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament.”

Chuck Norris: Is Obama Afraid of the J-Word?

According to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 11 percent of Americans still believe President Barack Obama is a Muslim. Seven percent of Democrats believe it. And nearly 20 percent of evangelicals do.

Thomas Sowell: Random Thoughts

Random thoughts on the passing scene:

I am so old that I can remember when music was musical.

Now that the federal government says that it will stand behind the warranties on General Motors’ automobiles, does that make you more likely or less likely to buy a car from GM? If you were a rising young executive with a promising future, would you be more likely or less likely to go to work for a company where politicians can fire you?

Lorie Byrd: Attacking The Tea Party Movement

Those on the left have spent so much time over the past eight years bashing George Bush that they are having trouble shifting gears. Instead of enjoying their big win in 2008 and going positive, following their leader Obama’s “hope and change” message, they are still tearing down anyone who doesn’t agree with them. The latest attack from the left is not aimed at the Republican party or Michael Steele or Rush Limbaugh, but at Democrat, Republican and Independent Americans across the country who have dared to organize “tea parties” to oppose rising taxes, more government control over private enterprise and less individual liberty.

Ed Morrissey: Europeans discover Obama’s arrogance

While the American media paints Barack Obama’s European tour as a balm on strained relations with EU allies, Europeans have a much different reaction to Obama today.  After Obama endorsed Turkey’s bid to enter the EU, the Continental grumbling has broken through in the media – and the political class.  Der Spiegel reports that German and French officials have begun complaining about Obama’s arrogance in injecting himself into a European decision, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy:

US President Barack Obama says Turkey’s future is in the European Union. Not everyone agrees. Numerous politicians in Germany have gone on the attack, and even French President Sarkozy is unimpressed. Turkey’s role at the NATO summit has soured the mood. …

House Ethics Comm. Is A Joke

In a pathetic attempt to appear effective, the joke of a House ethics committee has taken swift action against a congressman’s minor speeding infraction while it repeatedly ignores serious corruption allegations among several prominent lawmakers.

Gary Andres: Are You Laughing Now?
Comedy TV and the GOP.

A little less than a year ago, I participated in a meeting in Washington, D.C., with some prominent political analysts forecasting the 2008 election. One topic focused on trends in the youth vote. For Republicans, the patterns were ominous. George W. Bush lost to John Kerry among 18-29-year-olds by nine points (54 percent – 45 percent). Two years later in 2006, Democratic congressional candidates expanded that gap to 22 points, winning the younger demographic group on average 60 percent – 38 percent. And at this meeting in the summer of 2008, one analyst noted Barrack Obama might beat John McCain by over 30 points in the under-30 cohort. He was right. The Democratic presidential candidate’s margin surged to 34 points last November (66 percent – 32 percent) among 18-29-year-olds. Ouch!

Fred Barnes: The Master of Misdirection
How Obama maintains his popularity.

In football, it’s called misdirection. When the ball is snapped, offensive linemen pull from the line of scrimmage and head to the right or left. A running back takes off in the same direction. But it’s a deception. The play, a run or a pass, actually goes in the other direction. It’s a clever tactic–pretending to head one way while going another–that also works in politics.

President Obama is the master of misdirection. His skill in using this tactic is a key to his success as a candidate and to his popularity as president. He is a great salesman, marketing his product–the liberal agenda, plus a few add-ons–in a manner that disguises what he’s really up to.