Archive for 14 Oct 2009

Taking a look at who didn’t win the prize is more revealing than looking at those who won.

The Politicization of Peace
By Bruce Walker

Few spectacles so clearly show the politicization of life than the surreally silly award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama.  The Nobel Prize has long been a reflection of the whims of those who run political correctness.  The politicization of peace extends beyond just the Nobel Prize.  The very day that the Nobel Committee announced its choice of Obama, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin miraculously “discovered,” eight years after American forces invaded Afghanistan that “If the U.S. troops left – the country would collapse.  We’d go into civil war.”  The about face on our domestic peace movement reflects only who now commands American forces.  Benjamin likes Obama, so her doctrinaire commitment to peace goes wobbly when Obama is Commander-in-Chief.

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This one is huge. Read and understand thine enemy.

Decline Is a Choice
The New Liberalism and the end of American ascendancy.
by Charles Krauthammer

The weathervanes of conventional wisdom are registering another round of angst about America in decline. New theories, old slogans: Imperial overstretch. The Asian awakening. The post-American world. Inexorable forces beyond our control bringing the inevitable humbling of the world hegemon.

On the other side of this debate are a few–notably Josef Joffe in a recent essay in Foreign Affairs–who resist the current fashion and insist that America remains the indispensable power. They note that declinist predictions are cyclical, that the rise of China (and perhaps India) are just the current version of the Japan panic of the late 1980s or of the earlier pessimism best captured by Jean-François Revel’s How Democracies Perish.

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And the assault on free speech continues from the White House. Yeah, it will affect liberal speech as well. Do it to one, you can do it to all. Keep silent at your own peril.

Fox News: WH told us last week Obama won’t do any interviews with us this year; Update: Nixonian?
by Allahpundit

What’s the significance of this, aside from it being your daily reminder that Wallace was right? Go watch the clip of Anita Dunn whining on CNN or just skip ahead here to 2:25. Kurtz specifically asked her whether The One would sit for an interview with one of Fox’s news shows this year. Her weaselly response was to say that he would — eventually — while neglecting to mention one tiny fact revealed below by Rosen: She’d already given Fox a hard no for the remaining three months of this year and pretty obviously didn’t want to acknowledge it on CNN lest it show just how petty The One is. In fact, so coincidental is Kurtz’s question in hindsight that I wonder if some Foxie didn’t tip him to the freeze-out before the interview so that he could put her on the spot about it. Although if that were true, why didn’t he follow up and reveal the freeze-out when she declined to do so?

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This lie transcended both parties. It keeps growing like the proverbial snowball rolling down hill. Yeah, it’s economics. Pay attention people.

Magic Numbers In Politics
By Thomas Sowell

Back in the days of the Soviet Union, two Russian economists who had never lived in a country with a free market economy understood something about market economies that many others who have lived in such economies all their lives have never understood. Nikolai Shmelev and Vladimir Popov said: “Everything is interconnected in the world of prices, so that the smallest change in one element is passed along the chain to millions of others.”

What does that mean? It means that a huge increase in the demand for ice cream can mean higher prices for catchers’ mitts, among other things.

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Well? Now you’ve done it Skippy.

Pathetic. This moron has no idea what the hell he’s doing. This is an absolutely stupid law that will have ZERO affect on crime. It has already been proven to be useless as a crime fighting tool. Idiots.

Governor Schwarzenegger/California Lawmakers Squander Limited Financial Resources on Firearm Owner Registration Scheme
Fairfax, Va. – Governor Schwarzenegger has signed a severe yet impotent gun control measure into law. Assembly Bill 962, taking effect on February 1, 2011, mandates individuals purchasing ammunition to be fingerprinted and registered at the time of sale and outlaws mail order ammunition purchases. AB 962 also requires dealers to maintain these records indefinitely and make them available for inspection by the California Department of Justice. As an additional burden, ammunition retailers are also required to store ammunition away from purchasers. AB 692 also failed to garner support from Attorney General Brown, and any law enforcement organization. In fact, 15 sheriffs wrote letters of opposition to this legislation.

“This law presents intrusive and unnecessary burdens that will only affect law-abiding firearm retailers and gun-owners…not criminals,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. “At a time when California is facing dire budget problems, California has squandered valuable resources in policing law-abiding Californians instead of investing in substantive measures that target criminals. More than two decades ago, Congress abolished similar requirements to U.S. federal law because ammunition sales records were found to be ineffective for solving crimes. It is indeed regrettable that foolish minds and bogus arguments prevailed over common sense and empirical evidence.”

Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed Senate Bill 585, a bill that would have prohibited the sale of firearms and ammunition on the property or inside the buildings that comprise the Cow Palace in Daly City, just outside of San Francisco. He also signed Senate Bill 175, which will exempt gunsmiths from a vague California law. This exemption will now allow for the exchange of a firearm to or from a gunsmith for purposes of service or repair.

“Governor Schwarzenegger acted in the interest of good public policy with his actions to SB 585 and SB 175. But, in signing AB 962, he has paved the way for one of the most intrusive and ineffective gun control laws that California has seen in recent years,” said Cox.

The National Rifle Association will review all possible options to remove this draconian, requirement from California statute, and will assess legislative and legal remedies to do so.

-nra-

Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group.  Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime.  The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military.