The Republican party needs new management

  Well, interesting that a prominent Putin critic was murdered yesterday. Called a "contract killing" by some, we await the Russian Josh Earnest equivalent to announce it was a "random" killing.
  Is this the beginning of a trend? An attorney who allegedly had the goods on Argentina's president was murdered.
  Corruption in government is nothing new but it sure feels like we are breaking new ground with the Obama administration. 
  I won't go into the various slithering reptiles bearing Obama's face being uncovered under rocks everywhere these days; we all know what to expect from this guy and his people.
  The politicians who really win the prize for stupidity and corruption, in my mind, are the leaders of the Republican party.
  Do they not know they won? Do they not understand that this country wants balance? Do they not know that Obama is going to push as hard as he can to get what he wants these last (hopefully) two years?
  Instead we have a couple sour faced old men parading pompously in front of cameras, declaring this and that about this and that, apparently absolutely clueless as to what needs to be done to actually win.
  In one sense, Obama has been the most effective president in the history of the United Untied States. He has inserted the feds into health care, many private industries and most likely the internet. 
  He has imposed onerous regulations on banks, the housing industry and law enforcement.
  He has increased racism and corrupted the minds of young Black Americans by promoting petulance, racism and dependence on an elite class of selfish and wealthy political manipulators.
  He has intruded into our daily lives with imperious and grandiloquent commandments to change, to get with the times on gay marriage, abortion, race and a variety of moral issues that people hold dear.
  It's never been easier to defend conservative principles. Like the Ohio Republican party, the grandees are allowing Leftists to run away with the message. We rarely hear a conservative voice raised logically detailing what our response should be to these outrages.
  No, who do we have to combat this imperial presidency?
  Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, two decrepit, inept and ineffective hacks who find more solace in a bottle of scotch and fancy dinners than doing what's actually right for Americans.
  And the fancy pantser Reince Priebus who apparently only knows how to fight like a girl.
  OTOH, I guess we should be glad that Obama's critics are only being audited by the IRS and a few other federal agencies. So far, anyway.

Ohio gas production increased 25% over previous quarter.

Ohio oil and gas production rose nicely in the forth quarter of 2014. During the fourth quarter of 2014, Ohio’s horizontal shale wells produced more than 3.5 million barrels of oil and nearly 165 billion cubic feet of natural gas. That amounted to a 18.1% increase in oil and a 25.6% in gas production over the previous quarter. Of the 779 wells reporting production results, the average amount of oil produced was 4,568 barrels. The average amount of gas produced was 211 million cubic feet. The top gas producer was the Schroyer well in Monroe County which produced nearly 1.9 billion cubic feet. As I have previously written, 1 billion cubic feet is enough gas to heat 24,315 homes for 1 year.

Less than 50% of Americans think Obama loves this country

So Rudy Giuliani is out of line when he says he doesn't think Obama loves America? Hmm. Well less than half the country thinks he does. Among Republicans one might say that Rudy's view is conventional wisdom. Even 1 in 14 Democrats agree with Rudy. The same YouGov poll shows that both Obama and Giuliani have a 42% favorability rating but Obama with a 52% unfavorable edges out Rudy who has only a 28% unfavorable rating. Moreover 58% think Rudy loves America.

Walker widens lead in PPP poll

I'm both surprised and pleased to see Scott Walker emerge as the Republican front runner. This is the time in the election cycle when pundits of all persuasions feel compelled to remind all who will listen that it's too early for any candidate to be taken seriously. This seems especially true of the Peggy Noonan Beltway crowd who see the establishment favorite, Jeb Bush, a bit off stride breaking out of the gate. The only caveat I'm prepared to make is that this particular poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling (PPP) which leans Democratic and likes to editorialize by asking dumb question. No, most Walker supporters do not believe in global warning and yes, 87% of Huckabee supporters don't believe in evolution. Regardless of their iffy predictive value polls at this stage do give readers a sense of perspective and candidates feedback as to what is working for them and what is not. Besides that for many of us they are entertainment.
One thing that stands out is Ben Carson's favorability among the Tea Party although it doesn't translate into votes.. While it is 54% among all Republicans it is 80 /3 among the 27% who identified as Tea Party supporters beating both Ted Cruz, 70 /3 and Rand Paul, 60 /13. A trend that is hard to miss is the collapse of Chris Christie. Just 33% gave him good marks to 38% with a negative opinion. Rand Paul also appears to be losing ground since the last poll while Rick Perry and Marco Rubio have not moved. The table below contrasts the candidates' strength in the Tea Party and the greater Republican Party.

All Republicans	Tea Party
Scott Walker 25% Ben Carson 18% Jeb Bush 17% Mike Huckabee 10% Chris Christie 5% Ted Cruz 5% Rand Paul 4% Rick Perry 3% Marco Rubio 3%	Scott Walker 48% Ben Carson 25% Jeb Bush 6% Mike Huckabee 38% Chris Christie 0% Ted Cruz 57% Rand Paul 36% Rick Perry 34% Marco Rubio 10%

IPCC head caught in sex scandal

Anthony Weiner call your office! The phantom hacker has struck again! The head of the United Nation's climate science panel, Rajendra K Pachauri, has stepped down, amid claims that he sexually harassed a subordinate, reports AFP news agency but the former locomotive engineer turned climate scientist claims his email and phone accounts were hacked. The IPCC stated in a press release that his post will be filled by Vice Chair Ismail El Gizouli which "will ensure that the IPCC’s mission to assess climate change continues without interruption,” Thank God!
Meanwhile Pachauri has been granted "relief from arrest" for three day as New Delhi police investigate  charges that the good doctor sent lewd material to a 29 year old research assistant of the global warming think tank, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
 Presumably if Indian authorities indict Pachauri he could he could seek and receive refugee status from Obama, along with a social security number and food stamps paving the way for him to run for mayor of New York City were his moral standards seem well attuned to those of the electorate.
For many in the global warming movement allegations of sexual misconduct seem to have become an occupational hazard. Readers will remember that our own Al Gore was accused of acting like a "crazed sex poodle" by a Portland, Oregon hotel masseuse even after he had taken the precaution to register under the pseudonym Mr. Stone. Tell me there is no conspiracy!

Complete versus extreme innocence

I deeply regret my insensitive comment. I didn't know the meaning and would never intentionally use hurtful language. I sincerely apologize
— Kristi Capel (@Kristi_Capel) February 23, 2015

There is a big difference between being completely innocent and extremely innocent. I'm inclined to believe she is young enough to have never heard the the word in its original context.

Rudy: The truth hurts

Rudy is not backing down but he does concede that his candor stepped on his message. In other words the truth hurts. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed His Honor wrote;

“My blunt language suggesting that the president doesn’t love America notwithstanding, I didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart. My intended focus really was the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that effect may damage his performance.

Transforming the party is not the same as transforming the nation

At first glance one might be taken aback to learn that a plurality of Democrats think Barack Obama should ignore the federal courts and rule by executive fiat. Upon reflection one should remember that every year his party honors a president who did just that at it annual Jefferson Jackson Day fund raising dinners. The result of of Jackson's high handed action brought ignominy to the nation and death to many Indians who perished on the Trail of Tears. The Indians won in the Supreme Court but Andrew Jackson defied the Court. The exact history is more complicated than just stated, not all tribes were included in that particular relocation, and some relocations were brought about by states but the fact remains that the winning parties in Worcester v. Georgia lost their land notwithstanding.
A Rasmussen poll found that 43 percent of Democrats think the president should have the right to ignore federal court rulings if they are standing in the way of actions he feels are important for the country. Only 26 percent of Democrats think he should not. Among voters at large 65 percent of voter believe the president posses no such right. Among Republicans the answer is no by 81 percent and 67 percent for unaffiliated voters.
The president who promised to transform America failed in that venture but did succeed in transforming the Democratic Party and there may be hell to pay for that. In 2009, the year Obama took office the Democrats controlled 27 state legislatures, today it controls just 14. Nebraska has a unicameral legislature the remaining states all have a bicameral legislature for a total of 99 bodies. The Republicans control 68 of them. In 2009 the Democrats held 26 governorships today that number has dwindled to 18. Harry Reid had a 60 seat majority in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi had a 257 seat majority. Today Reid leads just 46 Democrats (44 if you exclude independent Angus King and socialist Bernie Sanders) while Nancy presides over a delegation of 188. If the Democrats cannot recapture some state legislatures by 2020 reapportionment will not bring them a lot of joy.
The upshot of this is the public does not much like the new, transformed, Democratic Party.
 Aside control of the presidency the Republicans are at the zenith of their power. One must go back to before FDR and the New Deal to see so many Republican holding elective office. Obama has made Democrats increasingly unelectable. When 43% of Democrats think they are living in or wish to live in a post constitutional dictatorship the party has a problem and the problem is Obama. He has liberated the loony bin. Like characters in the Stonehearst Asylum the patients run the hospital.
If Hillary Clinton cannot win the presidency we can kiss modern liberalism good-bye. The Republican president will be able to appoint as many as 4 or even 5 Supreme Justices in the likeness of Mike Lee or Ted Cruz. No matter how conservative the new president may be it will not be conservative enough for many in the Republican Party. The extremes always drive the debate. Deficits will get reduced with a vengeance and many of the reforms we have advocated for such as a flat tax will be enacted. Obama has given the Republicans a historic opportunity let's hope they don't blow it.

Rudy Giuliani "speaks truth to power" because the media won't

Thank God for Rudy Giuliani for stating the obvious. President Barack Obama doesn't much like this country, doesn't much like its friends, and doesn't much like its people. I'll concede that he is not a Quisling but that's a pretty minor concession. Barack Obama has waged  public relations and legal wars on every respected institution in this country from the Catholic Church to the Little League from the Cambridge, Mass Police Department to the Sisters of Charity.
Sadly the American Catholic Church has been more concerned about guarding its considerable not-for-profit assets in the areas of hospitals and universities than its principles. It was more than happy to join Obama in his take over of health care just as long as its hospitals got what they wanted. (As were the insurance and pharmacy industries. Everybody got what they wanted except the public).
When one lies down with dogs one gets up with fleas. The Catholic Church was rewarded for its fealty with the contraceptive mandate conjured up by Obama and his HHS once the bishops had served their purpose. Planned Parenthood was the new love of the moment and to its credit adhered to its principle more assiduously than did the bishops.
 Since then Obama has used the gay marriage issue and his perpetually evolving opinion as a wedge  against religious leaders and would like to assert that a life style choice trumps the constitutionally protected freedom of religion. Notice he always refers to that right as freedom to worship. Nowhere is worship mentioned in the constitution but Obama thinks that as long as he doesn't close churches he is free to suppress the exercise of religion.
In the beginning days of his administration one of Obama's first public acts was to return the Churchill bust to Britain, deliberately insulting America's oldest friend. He followed that up with an apology tour of the Muslim world making it clear to all except the servile and subservient press where his sympathies lie. The high priest of philistinism outdid his usual churlish self and was at his boorish best when he left Premier Benjamin Netanyahu waiting in the White House while he went off to eat supper. The chief practitioner of "smart diplomacy" could not manage simple manners. No, he does not like America's friends and has gone out of his way to make that point.
Obama's contempt for the America's people is boundless. It began to show itself during the auto bailout. His administration demanded the unnecessary closing of auto dealerships even though they played no roll in the bankruptcies and if anything were an ally of the automakers. It was the wanton destruction of wealth. The wealth of white Republicans. He followed up that affront to white America and the economic sense with his drilling moratorium in the Gulf where thousands of jobs in Texas and Louisiana were sacrificed and Louisiana was transformed from a purple state to bright red. The Keystone XL pipeline that would provide 40,000 well paying jobs has been delayed for years. A good case can be made that the anemic recovery is not accidental but a deliberate attempt to reduce self reliance and to promote governmental dependence. Whether or not Americans will fall into the dependency trap is debatable but the foreign born are diving in headlong.
From the Census Bureau; One in 5 children receives food stamps; 24 percent of children live with at least on foreign born parent. It seems the foreign born are doing pretty well without a vote.
Had the media spent more time in 2008 investigating Obama's whacked up and dysfunctional family Giuliani's criticism would have been old hat. Assuming that Obama had enough initiative to chose his own friends his cozy association with Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright begs a presidential explanation. Oh course the media didn't do its work but instead fawned that he was so intelligent that his gpa had to be classified. He was just too cool for school, a veritable deity. Now his speeches have become both boring and pedantic. His unique voice, crazy cadence, and goofy inflections would fool a blind man into thinking he was listening to a half witted character from King of the Hill instead of a presidential speech. Giuliani has stirred up not a swam of hornets but a hive of lazy drones. The media has not given up on Obama but it has become bored by him. It's been 6 years and the same old shtick is tiresome. They defend Obama but not with enthusiasm.
Would or should other Republicans follow Rudy's lead? No. At least not immediately. The damage has been done and any incremental gain will be extremely marginal. Just let it float out there for a few weeks and then try a slightly different attack. In the meantime; hats off to Rudy!

And Giuliani breaks the truth wide open

  So the latest attempt at "SQUIRREL" by the media/Democrat machine is claiming Rudy Giuliani is vile and outrageous for saying Obama does not love America, a fact which is pretty self evident to anyone who cares to actually listen and analyze the words and particularly actions of this "president" of some of these United States.
  This is really a hoot, when you realize that most of Giuliani's pinhead critics spend more time gushing over what Obama says rather than considering what he actually does. 
  So why are Leftist operatives so hysterical about this incident?
  The answer is simple, really.
  They know it's true.
  I've pointed out on several occasions that more and more people are openly questioning Obama's allegiances, both political and religious.
  Giuliani has blown that observation out into the mainstream, which is why they're all freaking out and making such a big deal out of it.
  So let's open it up a little more.
  Giuliani just said what many Americans--and non-Americans--are thinking about Obama.
  His behavior reveals that he does not love America.
  Or even like it.  
  This truthful observation by a veteran politician--who refuses to back down when confronted by the ninnies and jackals--has jolted the elite because they know it's true and have been covering for the man for years.
  It's also jolted other Republican politicians because they've been fancy dancing around the problem for years.
  This is why there was such a tremendous response to Dinesh DeSouza's films. Why there's a solid base of people disappointed in this presidency. 
  And why the partisans have jumped so hard on it.
  It's true.
  And they know it.
  Their behavior acknowledges it.

Jordan does not excuse Muslim atrocities. Why should we?

Enough is enough. It is time to speak out. “Islam is innocent” is an incomplete sentence. Introspection is needed, for, if we shy away from reality, the alternative will be more images like those we witnessed last Tuesday night, when brave Lt. Muath Al Kasasbeh was burnt to death in a cage. The inconvenient truth that is overlooked or willfully ignored by apologists for the indefensible is the fact that Wahabism, the cult of mediaeval austerity founded by Ibn Abdul Wahab (1703-1792), has over the last half century been exported to every mosque and school throughout the Muslim world until it completely enveloped mainstream Sunni Islamic teachings. Wahabism has entirely replaced, and become, Sunni Islam; the two cannot be told apart anymore. Some Wahabist teachings, which have permeated the air we breathe in the Muslim world, are simply irreconcilable with decent human values, especially the ones that declare that every non-Wahabist is a disposable body whose bloodletting is unproblematic. So enough of this burial of our heads in the sand. It has become tiresome to keep hearing the unproductive cliché that Islam is innocent after each atrocity committed by devout fanatics who did nothing except execute the exact letter of their textbooks, which order them to slaughter the infidels.

The above text was excerpted from an editorial appearing in The Jordan Times which should be read in its entirety. It's remarkable that President Abdel Al Sisi of Egypt and the Jordan Times can speak with more candor about the defects of Islam than President Obama and the New York Times. It is tiresome to keep hearing the same unproductive cliches.

Killing ISIS with kindness

The Atlantic post by Graeme Wood, What ISIS Really Wants should dissuade anyone holding the inane notion that Obama and his doctrinaire minions are remotely competent to deal with this seventh century menace. The 10,000 word treatise is insightful, thought provoking, and downright scary. At the White House summit on violent extremism, an event deemed so important it deserves it own acronym, CVE, Obama relentlessly tracked down and destroyed straw men with the zeal of Liam Neeson avenging his daughter's kidnapping however future presidential historians are apt to opine that the creation of its silly acronym was the crowning achievement of the summit.
"Words. Just words. Don't tell me words don't matter."

This week, the White House is convening a three-day summit on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) to bring together local, federal, and international leaders – including President Obama and foreign ministers – to discuss concrete steps the United States and its partners can take to develop community-oriented approaches to counter  hateful extremist ideologies that radicalize, recruit or incite to violence. 

Good grief! We are speaking of genocidal maniacs and the president wants to trot out the same old nostrums that failed to quell the violence between the Sharks and the Jets.
 One can almost hear Obama drone, " It's your choice, son. What's it going to be? A green job sorting garbage in the recycling plant, free community college and healthcare or would you rather have perpetual intercourse with 70 virgins for all eternity? If that's not enough we'll throw in free dental. Besides that the posture is ridiculous, heh, heh, heh".
When does the band play Send in the Clowns?
Returning to Wood's essay, the world is facing something it has not seen since the Khmer Rouge killed 3 million people in the space of 4 years. ISIS is as much a cult as the Branch Davidians or the Jonestown Kool-Aid connoisseurs but it is rooted in Islam and to the embarrassment of many modern Muslims not inconsistent with the teachings of the Prophet. Yes, the "religion of peace" condones slavery and demands the crucifixion of apostates.

Many mainstream Muslim organizations have gone so far as to say the Islamic State is, in fact, un-Islamic. It is, of course, reassuring to know that the vast majority of Muslims have zero interest in replacing Hollywood movies with public executions as evening entertainment. But Muslims who call the Islamic State un-Islamic are typically, as the Princeton scholar Bernard Haykel, the leading expert on the group’s theology, told me, “embarrassed and politically correct, with a cotton-candy view of their own religion” that neglects “what their religion has historically and legally required.” Many denials of the Islamic State’s religious nature, he said, are rooted in an “interfaith-Christian-nonsense tradition.”

The Islamic State's magazine, Dabiq, addressed the the division of spoils as ISIS captured Yazidis, a Kurdish offshoot of Islam.

Yazidi women and children [are to be] divided according to the Shariah amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations [in northern Iraq] … Enslaving the families of the kuffar [infidels] and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah that if one were to deny or mock, he would be denying or mocking the verses of the Koran and the narrations of the Prophet … and thereby apostatizing from Islam.

God forbid we apostatize from Islam but it's all but certain to the White House that such affronts to human decency can be subdued by "community-oriented approaches" once ISIS is allowed to voice its legitimate grievances. CVE may not make history but generations of historians may be debating whether Obama was a traitor or a fool.

Is Obama a Muslim?

  The first part of Obama's speech today is replete with historical examples of how the US has survived catastrophes.
  Obama immediately moves into sympathy with the catastrophe of Muslims who are being "attacked" around the United States, placing no responsibility on Islamic groups--who are also Muslim, defending those in the country he feels are being marginalized because of terrorism:

But we are here today because of a very specific challenge  -- and that’s countering violent extremism, something that is not just a matter of military affairs.  By “violent extremism,” we don’t just mean the terrorists who are killing innocent people.  We also mean the ideologies, the infrastructure of extremists --the propagandists, the recruiters, the funders who radicalize and recruit or incite people to violence.  We all know there is no one profile of a violent extremist or terrorist, so there’s no way to predict who will become radicalized.  Around the world, and here in the United States, inexcusable acts of violence have been committed against people of different faiths, by people of different faiths -- which is, of course, a betrayal of all our faiths.  It's not unique to one group, or to one geography, or one period of time.

  Obama then moved quickly into congratulating himself for asking the UN to do something to stop the murderers, spending a great deal of time claiming that there's no possible way the murderers and torturers are Islamic. 
  They're frauds, he tells us. 
  But we need to listen to the grievances of those who are, um, aggrieved about the West.
  To be fair, Obama does suggest that Muslims need to play a role in reforming the torturers and murderers, but at the same time claiming it is a "misperception" that Islam itself is the source of the problem, and that modern life is not in conflict with the barbarism, even while ISIS in Iraq is banning women from leaving the house or even revealing their eyes.
  Today the bespectacled and uber intelligent Harf "doubled down" on her insistence that jobs would stop the terrorists from attacking the West, a view that is probably too "nuanced" for most Fox News watchers to understand.
  How this is to be accomplished, Harf does not say, nor does Obama.
  Oh, and she said--in the most nuanced and sophisticated way anyone has evah--that the Christian equivalent of terrorism is the Joseph Kony group in Africa who murdered children. 
  See? Everybody does it. 
  There's nothing unique about Islamic extremism.
  Anyway Obama went on to repeatedly call for "pluralism," "tolerance," and jobs for extremists:

We are joined by talented young men and women who are pioneering new innovations, and new social media tools, and new ways to reach young people.  We’re joined by leaders from the private sector, including high-tech companies, who want to support your efforts.  And I want to challenge all of us to build new partnerships that unleash the talents and creativity of young people -- young Muslims -- not just to expose the lies of extremists but to empower youth to service, and to lift up people’s lives here in America and around the world.

  I don't want to waste anymore time on this.
  I just want to point out an interesting article today at American Thinker.
  It's another must read.
  I have mentioned before that more and more people are mentioning that they believe Obama is a Muslim. 
  I don't see how anyone can actually know this, though we can certainly see that Obama is definitely sympathetic to Muslims and not to democratic societies or Christians. Indeed, though Obama claimed today that no one should be discriminated against, he didn't mention Tea Partiers or Christians who have been targeted by his IRS and other government agencies.
  "Obama and the Muslim gang sign" at American Thinker begins this way:

Is President Obama a Muslim?  A lot has been written about this, but if photographs speak louder than words, then a photo taken at last August’s U.S.-African Leaders’ Summit in Washington D.C. might shed considerable light.

It shows Barack Hussein Obama flashing the one-finger affirmation of Islamic faith to dozens of African delegates.

  Author Burleigh analyzes Obama's behavior and this picture, complete with closeups that will explain it all.

  

So what else about Obama's behavior could lead Burleigh to the conclusion that Obama's just a little too comfortable with Islamists and not Americans? 
  The obfuscations. 
  Hiring Muslim Brotherhood as advisors. 
  Letting Iranian Jarrett run the country. 
  Opening the borders without discrimination to terrorists. 
  Coldly dismissing beheadings and burnings. 
  Siding with terrorists rather than democrats in countries struggling with anarchy. 
  Releasing terrorist generals back to the field.
  I dunno.
  What do you think?
UPDATE: New York Post 
UPDATE: And if you think this post is an exaggeration, check out the affirmation here. This should convince anyone.

Checkmate, Mr. President

After half a semester every intelligent student learns to write for the teacher. It more refined than simply writing what the teacher likes to read. It's also knowing what one can get away with. If the teacher is a stickler for precision avoid the adverbs "always" and "absolutely" unless they are completely appropriate. More likely than not the teacher will have stated several pet peeves and a wise student does not go there.
Judge Andrew Hanen knew what he was doing when he issued the injunction that stopped Obama's unconstitutional amnesty in its tracks. Following the news of the temporary restraining order every cable news channel trotted out a legal mind to make book on the eventual outcome. It's unlikely that any of them have Judge Hanen's insight into the thinking of the members of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. That appeals court has been reading the judge's opinions since 2002. They know his legal philosophy and he knows their's.
His Honor stipulates early in his opinion that both parties agree that no executive order has been issued by Obama. The focus of his opinion then becomes DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson whom he treats as just another out of control bureaucrat who has not followed the prescribed procedure to create a regulation. Hanen is more concerned that his restraining order not be overturned than eventually being reversed. If the appellate court does not vacate his restraining order Obama loses. The court is not swinging for the bleachers it is freezing the ball in hopes of running out the clock. If Obama must wait for the until the Supreme Court rules on the merits of the case someone else will be sitting in the Oval Office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Check! double check! and checkmate!

Obama lectures ISIS

  Wow.
  Imagine.
  Obama scolding ISIS in a rambling 45 minute "speech," in front of applauding lovers.
  Then chiding Americans for being mean to Muslims, including some obligatory little Muslim girl (who would be eviscerated in "another" country) who is begging him to clarify that not all Muslims are bad. (???)
  Do you s'pose it will work?
  Will ISIS quit burning people alive?
  Will ISIS quit beheading people because Obama lectured them?
  Will they stop selling the organs of human beings because Obama doesn't approve of their "antics"?
  I dunno.
  Color me... skeptical....

No fear of fracking! Ohio has permitted 1800 wells.

Ohio's natural gas production continues to be hobbled by a lack of pipeline infrastructure but to date the results are nothing short of spectacular. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources reports that it has issued a total of 1800 drilling permits mostly in in Belmont, Monroe, Harrison, Noble, Guernsey, Carroll and Columbiana counties. Last week's rig count was 37, down 3 from a year ago but that downturn is probably temporary.
Daily gas production has increased 12 fold since 2012 to 1.86 billion cubic feet per day. To put that number in context, 1 billion cubic feet of gas is enough to heat 24,315 homes for one year.
There are a myriad of pipelines projects either under construction on in the planning phase, including the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the Nexus Pipeline, the Rover Pipeline, the Leach XPress and the Mountain Valley Pipeline, plan to eventually transport Utica and Marcellus shale gas to new markets. I have already written to Shirley McClaine to see if I might come back as a pipe fitter.

How about midnight basketball to stop murderous terrorists? Will that help?

  On one hand, I think Obama is deliberately trying to destroy the reputation and standing of the US by acting like a fool in front of the world.
  OTOH, I think this extreme narcissist is too vain to shame himself in front of the world this way.
  So which is it?
  Does he just not know that he looks like a fool? That this great country will ultimately survive him, in spite of his clowning antics?
  Does he just not know? Or is he perhaps so taken with himself that he thinks everything he does is just so cute? 
  Either way, the Coldness Factor is disturbing.

Investors

  Today's must-read over at American Thinker entitled "Obama the Clown" perfectly encapsulates the Obama the Fool....just the pictures speak volumes at that article:

His gum-chewing during his inauguration was bad enough, but was par for the course (could not resist that one). He has gum-chewed his way through the presidency. He gum-chewed during D-day ceremonies; while meeting with Chinese leaders, where it was called rude and disrespectful, and then with Indian leaders shortly thereafter (for good measure he insulted India by characterizing its history as a racist one). Indian media characterized it as an “ungainly sight” (he actually took the gum out of his mouth and put it back in.)

Returning the bust of Winston Churchill, disparaging Canada as greedy despoilers of the earth, stiffing British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, having an aide call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “chickenshit” (Netanyahu served years in the Israeli Special Forces, led a commando assault into Syria, and lost his brother in the heroic Raid on Entabbe while Barack Obama was preparing for his “chooming days” at an elite Hawaiian prep school) -- bad manners in abundance.  Where was the media when Barack Obama had the disgraceful gall to snap selfies of himself and others during the funeral ceremony of Nelson Mandela?

  Now we have the idea put forth by the State Department's Marie Harf that if we'd just work with these terrorist countries' leaders, we could help get them to work productively so they wouldn't want to kill us, a fat chance idea that certainly doesn't correspond with the Obama administration's war on jobs, work and success in this country.
  (Imagine. The US advertises in Mexico to come here and we'll give you free welfare money but we're going to help Yemen create jobs for terrorists. Wouldn't free money be more consistent?)
  Indeed, the interview with Harf is shocking. Chipper and pert, she lists off all the countries who are killing terrorists in the same breath as asserting we are going to help them by finding the "root causes" of their murderous hatred such as "lack of opportunity for jobs," as if most of the terrorists haven't been well-educated and well-heeled. 
  The complete ignorance of the woman is appalling.
  Harf:

  if we can help countries work at the root causes of this, what makes these 17-year-old kids pick up an AK-47, instead of try to start a business? Maybe we can try– try to chip away at this problem,

  Perhaps Harf is unaware that Islamists are imprinting children as young as 4 year olds with murder and hate in their hearts.
  In schools.
  They're called madrassas and they've been around the world--including the US--for decades, as we are only recently reaping what they have sown.
  Newsbusters:
  


  Misunderstanding the nature of evil, the situation we are in reminds me of the Clinton days when he was promoting midnight basketball as a remedy for crime and drug use in the inner city, a program that has drawn praise from Leftists and ridicule from conservatives.
  It's all so foolish.
  After school programs, the arts, "jobs" at McDonald's for terrorists.
  That'll work. 
  I've written repeatedly that the fool Obama seems to have selected his underlings by virtue of their incompetence to draw attention away from his own.
  Marie Harf is proof.
  Who wouldn't take her seriously as senior spokesman for the most powerful country in the world?

Federal Judge Shoots Down Obama's Executive Amnesty - Issues TRO

This will make Senate Democrats think twice about their opposition to the DHS spending bill that forbids Obama's amnesty for illegal immigrants.   Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas  has issued a temporary restraining order thereby halting executive amnesty. Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot, who was Attorney General of Texas at the time, filed the suit on December 3. Sixteen states immediately joined Texas in the suit and that number has since risen to 26.
Gov. Abbott issued the following statement;

"President Obama abdicated his responsibility to uphold the United States Constitution when he attempted to circumvent the laws passed by Congress via executive fiat, and Judge Hanen's decision rightly stops the President's overreach in its tracks. We live in a nation governed by a system of checks and balances, and the President's attempt to by-pass the will of the American people was successfully checked today. The District Court's ruling is very clear — it prevents the President from implementing the policies in 'any and all aspects.' "

Cuomo: our rights come from "collective agreement." Huh?

  If you've read the Declaration of Independence, heavily inflluenced by the 1690 English document Two Treatises of Government by John Locke, you know man's rights originate from Nature's God . 
  The idea is that our rights were in existence before and supersede any government established by the people; thus those rights could never be taken away or abridged.
  Apparently this concept is beyond the reach of Leftists, particularly CNN's Chris Cuomo, who insisted vociferously the other day on television that our rights are granted to us by "man...collective agreement and compromise."
  Now, if this were true, think of the consequences. Anyone's rights could be revoked. Anyone could be required to follow laws, set up by "collective agreement."
  Of course, this form of government would NOT apply to Leftists, who are always right, because every time the people in states like that wildly conservative California vote DOWN gay marriage, judges intervene to countermand the collective agreement of the people and make gay marriage legal.
  Just so you know, your rights come from the elite among us: the college graduates, the advanced degree people, the lawyers, the rich and those with real pull in the universe.
  Not God.
  Because apparently he does not have the influence a Yale graduate has in the universe.
  

How will history view Obama?

  Not too well, apparently, even by the liberal historians who love to toady up to the Leftist politicians.

those who view Obama as one of the worst American presidents outnumber those who view him as one of the best by nearly a 3-1 margin. Similarly, nearly twice as many respondents view Obama as over-rated than do those who consider him under-rated.

  There's more, but we could have told them that years ago.

Jesus, help me!

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony. 10They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” 11Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters^f—their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them.

  The last words spoken by many of the Coptic Christian martyrs for Christ was "Jesus, help me."
  I too ask that "Jesus, help me," as I cannot ameliorate my grief at a golf course over the beheading of human beings, particularly those of my faith for their faith.
  The sea ran red with their blood but now their struggle is ended; they stand in glory, along with the other saints, victorious in Christ.
  Their blood will be avenged.
  Elizabeth Scalia of Patheos asks for prayer for us, those who are left:

Holy Martyr Milad Makeen Zaky, pray for us, and for the whole world,
+Holy Martyr Abanub Ayad Atiya, pray for your ISIS murderers,
+Holy Martyr Maged Solaimain Shehata, pray for their salvation,
+Holy Martyr Yusuf Shukry Yunan, pray for the release of their all their captives,
+Holy Martyr Kirollos Shokry Fawzy, pray for all in the path of ISIS,
+Holy Martyr Bishoy Astafanus Kamel, pray for the displaced, for those made refugees by ISIS,
+Holy Martyr Somaily Astafanus Kamel, pray for the protection of our Holy Lands and our history,
+Holy Martyr Malak Ibrahim Sinweet, pray for those who act now in resistance against ISIS,
+Holy Martyr Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros, pray for those in immediate danger from forces of evil,
+Holy Martyr Girgis Milad Sinweet, pray for those infected with the virus of hatred and extremism,
+Holy Martyr Mina Fayez Aziz, pray for families being challenged, throughtout the world, by ISIS,
+Holy Martyr Hany Abdelmesih Salib, pray aid workers may draw together, unmolested, to give assistance,
+Holy Martyr Bishoy Adel Khalaf, pray for the targeted clergy and religious of the Near East churches,
+Holy Martyr Samuel Alham Wilson, pray for all people of good will, in every religion, every nation, +Holy Martyr Whose name we do not know — you “Worker from Awr village” — pray for those in leadership, whose names we know all too well, that their motives may be purified of political intrigue, and for their salvation,
+Holy Martyr Ezat Bishri Naseef, pray for Jews, throughout the world, chosen of God and so despised,
+Holy Martyr Loqa Nagaty, pray for the “two lungs” of Christianity, East and West, to breath together,
+Holy Martyr Gaber Munir Adly, pray for the illumination of that which is All-Good,
+Holy Martyr Esam Badir Samir, pray that in beholding it, we will wish to serve it,
+Holy Martyr Malak Farag Abram, pray for the generation in power, that their egos may be put aside and their hearts might be opened to the Way, the Truth and the Life,
+Holy Martyr Sameh Salah Faruq, pray for the generations to come.
O New Martyrs, through a malevolent force as old as Eden you now number among the ancient holy ones; keep us particularly in your prayers, as once again we are focused on the mysterious lands where humanity first came into being, and into knowing, and where all will finally be revealed. Pray that we may put aside all that is irrelevant to the moment and, looking forever to the East, prepare our spirits for the engagements into which we may be called, whether we live amid these places of ancient roads and portals, or in the most modern of dwellings.
Mary, the God-bearer, pray for us,
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us,
Saint John the Forerunner, pray for us,
All Holy Men and Women, pray for us.
Amen, Amen.

Kayla Mueller--another Rachel Corrie

  Let me qualify this post.  
  I'm not one to mock someone's death or even make light of it. I'm not one of those hateful people who thinks human life is something political or easily expendable.
  I'm respectful of life.
  But I have to say the national gushing over Kayla Mueller as a person who sacrificed so much and made the world such a better place is a bit unwarranted.
  Reverend Kathleen Day's ode to her the other day was alternately bizarre, extolling her virtues while inappropriately laughing wildly in the order of a fabulist and fantasist, typical of Leftist behavior.
  Indeed this was an idealistic young woman, someone who threw herself in front of bulldozers ala Rachel Corrie to prevent Israeli settlers from building homes, ostensibly to save the children.
  She was a member of the BDS group--boycott Israel--someone who "fought" for Palestinians against Israelis by encouraging companies to divest themselves of any Israeli products.
  Mueller traveled to dangerous territories, apparently thinking since she had good intentions, she would be safe.
  Because Leftists who just want to help are exempt from violence from Islamist fascists, right?
  Between writing verbose, dramatic and sometimes eloquent letters about heroism among Islamists, declaring she wasn't suffering and making desperate phone calls, somehow Mueller managed to get herself killed.
  Was she "forced" to marry an Islamic fighter?
  Did she suffer?
  I don't know but I feel very sorry for this young lady.
  However, only the fabulist and the fantasist could believe that accompanying a Syrian male into dangerous anti-American ISIS territory would have no consequences.
  So it's not surprising that some wags name Mueller as another "Saint Pancake," in memory of Rachel Corrie, who died by bull dozer.
  Though she somehow wound up dead in their hands, Islamists "honor" her. No "suicide" too small, eh?
  You kind of get what you earn when you offer yourself in front of murderers.

Obama's attention grabbers are wearing thin

  Ok, so we have the ultimate humiliation now.
  We have a Leader from Behind who's been mugging for the camera yet again, only this time he's making "silly" faces, filming a bizarre Buzzfeed video to promote health care on the same day it was learned that Saint Kayla Mueller was announced as dead.
  If you haven't seen the video, I warn you. Don't just have eaten because you might cough up your cookies.
  It's as nauseatingly narcissistic as you think it will be. We all know he is one, but this video is just, well. It's pretty unspeakable.
  I have a smart phone. I even occasionally take pictures of myself for my FB page. In fact, I've done that precisely 4 times in all the years I've owned a smart phone. It's just such a waste, both of time and ego.
  When you look at the kind of things he's been doing with "press," like the Fruit Loops green lipstick wearing "journalist," it's quite in keeping, I guess.
  I can't even post this video. It makes me sort of sick, especially the last line and the chorus of laughter which greets it. I can just see all those twenty something suck ups standing around hanging on his every well-practiced move.
  I guess what do you expect from a guy whose primary advisor is the criminal Al Sharpton.
  Here's the link to Mr. Lightweight's latest foray into gravitas. I'm sure ISIL is laughing.
  Um. Enjoy.

Update: Twitchy wonders why no one's questioning BuzzFeed's "neutral journalism" policy. We all know the truth about that.

Why does Obama hate America?

  It's really a rhetorical question, at this point, but there seem to be so many reasons this man hates this country.
  There's a reason I've heard more people declare Obama is a Muslim in the past month than ever before.
  A crucial issue remains. Why does he hate us?
  Capitalism.
  Christianity.
  Political conservatism.
  Freedom.
  All of these?
  After last week's Prayer Breakfast when he claimed that Christians need to go back 1000 years to remember they are the equivalent to Islamists burning a man alive today and then scolded Americans not to get on their high horses because they don't burn people alive today...
  Well, it's really tough for even the morons to say this man loves this country at all.
  Consider the following:

• Obama repeatedly apologizes for this country, finding fault
• the Iranian born Valerie Jarrett is advising him (and in fact determining policy, in many cases), 
• that Obama was raised by self avowed communists, 
• that he attended a malicious church for years, 
• that he repeatedly defends Muslim extremists, 
• that the USA will be funding and facilitating nuclear abilities in Iran, 
• that Obama favors illegal law breakers to the point of financially supporting them against American citizens,
• that he prefers campaign speeches to leading,
• that in the face of horrendous beheadings and burnings he can turn around and go golf within 6 minutes,
• that he hates Republicans more than Islamist murderers,
• repeatedly, Obama claims he creates policy and doesn't enforce certain laws out of his sense of "fairness," often causing job loss, economic jeopardy, hazardous energy support and national insecurity...

  Knowing these things, I just have to ask.
  Why did Obama run for president since he hates America so much?

Vicious prominent fools exposed

  Well, Brian Williams has certainly disgraced himself, made a buffoon by his boasting and valor grabbing.
  He's a joke, a plaything for conservatives and even the dour lefty Maureen Dowd.
  And a more deserving non-presidential head of hair I cannot imagine, unless it would be the self important bloviator John Kerry, who appears to be slowly transmogrifying into one of the Rebel Flesh people from Doctor Who.
  Lying liars are being revealed, but most disturbing is the Obama administration's not so sneaky slides into bargaining with Iran for a nuclear "deal," as if a "deal" would yield any benefits for the American people.
  So we've been discovering that there's a "shadow immigration" bureau that's been handing out over 5 million work permits to non-citizens, not to mention the flood of Islamists from violent places like Somalia being imported to take jobs from Americans.
  It's difficult to believe, at this point, that Obama is doing anything but aiding Islamists. Even Egypt is furious with him for harboring violent terrorists in the administration like the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that has made significant inroads with Hillary Clinton also. (See: Anthony Weiner's wife)
  And Jordan, who has been begging for equipment to fight terrorists, aren't too happy with Obama who's turned them down because they weren't close enough allies, as if we have anybody anymore.
  Peh. Who cares about Ukraine? Who cares about the freedom seeking peoples around the world? About gay people being thrown from the tops of buildings, women and children being beheaded? 
  At least Dems have got their vaunted health care, though it's following the pattern (as planned) of Canada, where patients are waiting over 18 weeks to see a specialists (Dogs can get MRIs the next day.) and England, where they're pledging the ideal of an 18 week wait times.
  This in a country where freeloaders get free boob jobs and gender change hormone therapy before cancer patients, especially if they're over 60 years old.
  And now illegals in this country are guaranteed transgender hormone treatment.
  As I've said before, the chaff is being winnowed.
  The man who stood in front of the world and claimed Christianity had nothing on Islam for violence. Slavery for Christians is a way of life for Islamists who have taken more slaves than any time in history.
  Unless you're a wacko Leftist, you might be a little more familiar with history than Barack Obama, you might understand that the Crusades, which yielded little for Christians other than regaining some small territory that had been stolen by Islamists, were in response to Islamic violence.
  I won't attempt to explain explain all this because others far more knowledgeable have already.
  Obama rips Bible, praises Koran 
  Obama's Comparison of Christianity to Radical Islam Defies Logic
  Obama’s Drones Have Killed More Than the Spanish Inquisition
  Let's blame Christianity for everything and Islam for nothing.
  You thought the Crusades were evil until you read this
  The Crusades: Did you know?
  The truth about the Crusades
  Considering Obama had a secret meeting with Muslim leaders over Islamophobia on Tuesday, one has to wonder what was discussed and how it surfaced in that nasty, accusatory, inflammatory and vicious speech at the "Prayer" Breakfast.

Obama admin: ISIS doesn't provide health care

  Considering the last few war events, these comments by John Kerry keep ringing in my head. It doesn't help that Eric on Red Eye Radio keeps repeating the phrase in his most bloviating nasal voice.
  "[ISIS] doesn't provide health care."
  And "it's the government's job to ...take care of people, and to give them good health care and education and good jobs."
  Is it really the government's job? And, my, aren't they doing such a good job of all those things?
  ISIS doesn't provide health care.
  Think about the cognitive dissonance.
  Remarks occur at about 1:20.

Obama and the coldness factor, again

  Regarding Obama's statement on the burning man, I noticed something.
  Again.
   I've written before that his fans like to call it the "coolness factor," but the truth is the man has very little heart for anything but Islamist criminal operations.
  It's the coldness factor, not the "coolness" factor.
  Andrew Malcolm at IBD has noticed the same thing:

"This organization appears only interested in death and destruction." Appears??? What planet's he been on? Hasn't the commander-in-chief been paying attention since he called ISIS the JV a year ago as that crowd continued shooting, beheading, crucifying, torturing, raping, enslaving thousands of innocents? 

Now, we all know by now Barack Hussein Obama prides himself on being cool and aloof. Last summer when ISIS beheaded an American, Obama denounced it at a brief photo-op it, then played a long round of fist-bumping golf with pro athlete pals. Obama skipped the funeral of the first U.S. general killed in combat in decades because he was on vacation.

  This barbaric act  is simply another incident in the life of a man who feels nothing and only lives to further his goals of "fairness" against the average American, aiding and abetting the criminal, the grasping and the greedy elements on the planet Earth.

Reflections on the burning man

  Having been a newshound--in particular a political newshound--for many years, I have to say the past few weeks have been particularly grueling.
  I stay up on the news hourly. I feel dirty reading it, like I'm soiling my brain and spirit by being exposed to the lies and filth politicians heap on us daily.
  Lies and filth about which many people are too stupid to care concerning the direction of this country.
  Part of the mind game played by the schemers (and in this I include both Republicans and Democrats) is that they beat you down until you too simply don't care either or you retreat into anonymity because you're fond of your mental health.
  When I write for my little blog, I try to stay forcefully optimistic, partly because my Germanic nature is so morose and partly because I saw the news today, oh, boy. I mean, who needs more piling on of bad news?
  A simple recitation of daily events from media is enough, without bloggers adding to the shrieks and moans of discontent.
  So if you're reading this post, you're undoubtedly one of the culturally and politically literate, meaning I have about 10 readers. Ok, no. Sorry. It's at least 15.
  Anyway, as anyone who reads my blog knows, I am a Christian, a follower of Christ, and one who believes that I know who wins over all this mess in the end.
  It's getting there that's the problem these days. Conservatives comprehend the privilege of living in this country, especially considering the options. I'm sure there are many other lovely places to live, but this country, this grand vision of America, has independence and freedom woven into its very fabric; it is this that Leftists and many politicians are trying to change.
  Consider these events: the burning of a human, the constant excoriation of American principles, the White House consultations with the terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood and other enemies of our state, the flailing investigations into the murder of Americans in Benghazi, the ongoing attempts by Islamists to overtake and destroy civilized cultures, the escalating invasions into privacy, the persecution of Christians around the world far exceeding the past, the cultural rot as witnessed not only in the daily news but as exhibited almost every minute on American television.
  Depressed yet?
  And I haven't even really touched on the vacuous, traitorous nature of the man who currently occupies the office of commander in chief or even the evolution of the satanic natures unfolding before us.
  There's no getting around the despair that one feels by actually watching the black mirrors that are our televisions, our phones, our computers.
  What's becoming increasingly apparent, at least to me, is that the chaff is being winnowed from the wheat.
  There are numerous references to the winnowing of chaff from the wheat in the Bible.
  Though these days unsettle, perhaps they are what they are meant to be. 
  It's true there have been many recent terrible days in the past; certainly WW2 was a time of great tribulation. And when Israel became a nation in 1948, my mother nodded knowingly, saying that the days were numbered before what Christians think of as an end, though in reality it will be a new beginning.
  Is it the end of days?
  Certainly Islamists believe we have reached that point.
  Those of us who are older (and many Tea Partiers, I might add) have had a good foundation of Judeo Christian western civilization principles, principles that establish right from wrong, punishment for wrongdoing, fairness and peace.
  The younger among us have a greater challenge, as much of academia has degenerated into contemptible engines for the promulgation of weird and diseased cultural trends, not to mention their eschewing classic lessons from history.
  In these days as it becomes more challenging to declare one's belief in Christ, I believe it is part of the natural process of winnowing.
  Those of us who are clearly focused on the intended destruction of this country understand the destructive actions of Leftists. Those who are not focused on even self preservation are, I'm sorry--the fools-- who have little regard for their own futures. 
  Too absorbed in cat videos, their necks are sore and their heads are facing only the black mirror and their reflections in it.
  My morose nature shows here and, for that, I regret.
  Yet much of the prophecy has already happened, just as Christ foretold. 
  What happens next we do not know, as we are surprised daily as events unfold. Nothing is too bizarre, too horrendous, too outrageous. Confused and confusing genders, offense at every word, new regulations, restrictions, wars and rumors of wars.
  It almost seems like birth pangs, doesn't it?
  Surely there is more to come.
  Putting the house in order, we fight on, with love and compassion and peace toward others, though we abhor what they do.
  Prayers to the Almighty for the Muslim family of the burning man. His journey is over. My heart grieves for what he suffered, and for all the Christians who are persecuted and enslaved around the world.
  Selah.

Where's Hillary been?

  Sure, there are lots of theories about where Hillary's been.
  My bet is that she'll come back into the spotlight looking, um, better than she looked in say, 2000 or even 2008.
  The rumor was that just before she ran for president the first time, she and her daughter had surgery. Sure enough, you might notice that Chelsea's chin and cheeks mysteriously materialized while her nose, um, shrank.
  From Plastic Surgery Hits:
 

  Others speculate. Like here.
  I make no prognostications.