Jesse Jackson v Duck Commander

I haven't spent a lot of time here commenting on race hustlers like Jesse Hymietown Jackson. Best they be ignored, but this is just to rich to ignore.

Considering the, irReverend Jackson obvious bigotry while exploiting racial divisions for personal profit he pursues this adventure. With all his baggage I am constantly amazed anybody pays any attention to  this guy.

Jesse Jackson Calls ‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Phil Robertson’s Remarks About Blacks ‘Offensive’

Jesse Jackson is calling “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson‘s comments

toGQ magazine about black people more offensive than the actions of the bus driver who ordered civil rights heroRosa Parks back to her seat when she challenged bus segregation in 1955.

“These statements uttered by Robertson are more offensive than the bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, more than 59 years ago,” said Jackson in a statement obtained by ABC News. “At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law. Robertson’s statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was ‘white privilege.’”

Wall Street Journal

Jackson is entitled to his ignorant opinion.

I'll leave it at that.

GLAAD QUACKS

It boggles my mind the controversy over a magazine interview published by GQ Magazine.

From what I learned GQ is a publication directed towards young men. The magazine is not the issue, nor should its interview with Phil Robertson.

Sure most everybody is aware of the show, Duck Dynasty. The leader/patriarch spoke his mind only to draw such ire and condemnation. 

He is not a political leader nor does it seem that he is on a crusade to deprive homosexuals of their civil rights.

So what is all the hub-bub about?

Interesting commentary:

Duck Dynasty and a Free Society 

Normally at this time of year, the culture-war fight is over a guy with a white beard. That’s true again this year. What’s different is that Phil Robertson took Santa’s place, and instead of a war on Christmas, we have a war on Duck Dynasty.

The patriarch of the popular A&E reality show said some crude things about homosexuals to GQmagazine. A&E was sufficiently offended that it suspended him from a show about his own family.

So far, the controversy understandably has been framed as a fight over free speech. My National Review colleague Mark Steyn writes: “Most Christian opponents of gay marriage oppose gay marriage; they don’t oppose the right of gays to advocate it. Yet thug groups like GLAAD increasingly oppose the right of Christians even to argue their corner. It’s quicker and more effective to silence them.”

I think Steyn has the causation right. The free-speech issues are the inevitable consequence of a venerable argument about what a free society is.

National Review

A well written commentary, worth the read.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, Dies at 94

Not clear to me how this happens. One man, of humble origins by his inventiveness designs a wonderful product which influences the course of world history.

I see credit for much of the creation of the AK-47 to be a lot of time and circumstance of History. I also suspect there is more to the story than the official record reveals.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, Creator of AK-47, Dies at 94

Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, the arms designer credited by the Soviet Union with creating the AK-47, the first in a series of rifles and machine guns that would indelibly associate his name with modern war and become the most abundant firearms ever made, died on Monday in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurtia republic, where he lived. He was 94.

Born a peasant on the southern Siberian steppe, General Kalashnikov had little formal education and claimed to be a self-taught tinkerer who combined innate mechanical skills with the study of weapons to conceive of a rifle that achieved battlefield ubiquity.

Tens of millions of Kalashnikov rifles have been manufactured. Their short barrels, steep front-sight posts and curved magazines made them a marker of conflict that has endured for decades. The weapons also became both Soviet and revolutionary symbols and

widespread instruments of terrorism, child-soldiering and crime.

The general, who sometimes lamented the weapons’ unchecked distribution but took pride in having invented them and in their reputation for reliability, weathered the collapse of the Soviet Union to assume a public role as a folk hero and unequivocal Russian patriot.

The weapon, he said, was designed to protect his motherland, not to be used by terrorists or thugs. “This is a weapon of defense,” he said. “It is not a weapon for offense.”

New York Times

Annual Awards for Year's Worst Reporting

The end of the calendar year the season for reflections of the past twelve months is upon us. Such musing varies widely. This one, The Twenty-Sixth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting from News Busters tickles me.

Lest anybody missed it, I am a big fan of the Constitution of the United States, Bill of Rights and especially fond of the 2nd Amendment.

During the first half of 2013, liberals hoped they could leverage the tragedy of last year’s horrible shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, to push through their long-sought wish list of new federal gun restrictions, and the media cheered them on. Here are the quotes our judges designated as the worst of the worst.

Winning the category was CNN primetime host Piers Morgan, who dropped all pretense of objectivity and became an outspoken advocate for gun restrictions. On December 18 of last year, he used his CNN soapbox to hurl personal insults at a supporter of the Second Amendment:


Gun Owners of America executive director Larry Pratt: “I honestly don’t understand why you would rather have people be victims of a crime than be able to defend themselves. It’s incomprehensible.”
CNN host Piers Morgan: “You’re an unbelievably stupid man, aren’t you?...You have absolutely no coherent argument whatsoever....You don’t give a damn, do you, about the gun murder rate in America?...I know why sales of these weapons have been soaring in the last few days. It’s down to idiots like you. Mr. Pratt.... You are a dangerous man espousing dangerous nonsense. And you shame your country.”



Top runner-up was longtime NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw who, during a January 17 appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, equated the push for more gun restrictions with those championing civil rights 50 years ago:




It is worth while to visit News Busters and sample other foolishness of the past year.

News Busters

Presidential Selfie

Presidential Selfie

Anyone who ever read my posts here may have noticed that my vocabulary is pedestrian so pleas excuse me if I misuse the word narcissist.

Not like I never heard that word before, just seems it come to mind with the this guy doing something juvenile during the  memorial for his hero the criminal Nelson Mandela.

So where am I going with this?

Anyone ever heard of a selfie?

A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website. You can usually see the person's arm holding out the camera in which case you can clearly tell that this person does not have any friends to take pictures of them so they resort to Myspace to find internet friends and post pictures of themselves, taken by themselves. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera.

These are leaders of the Western World at a world.

Such antic really doesn't give me much confidence for the future of the western world.

How the West was lost by the selfie president

My bookshelves sag with encyclopedic volumes arguing that America and the West are in decline. But proving that a picture is worth a thousand books, the “selfie” seen ’round the world ends the argument.

It’s official — the government of the United States of Obama consists of boobs and bores and is led by a narcissist. It is no consolation that Great Britain joins us in racing to the bottom.

snip

But the “selfie” episode also symbolizes the greater global calamity of Western decline. With British prime minister David Cameron playing the role of Obama’s giggling wingman, the “look at me” moment confirms we have unserious leaders in a dangerously serious time.

The sign-language interpreter wasn’t the only fake at the Mandela funeral. Obama and Cameron were posing as world leaders.

They will never be confused with FDR and Churchill. The fratboys stand in stark contrast to the days when the “special relationship” meant two great leaders uniting two great countries in the fight for freedom. Those leaders understood the consequences if evil prevailed and were committed to victory.

Michael Goodwin

This guy, Michael Goodwin is worth a full read

Obama, Incompetatnt Commandar in Chief

Obama, Incompetent Commander in Chief

Whose side is he on anyway? Ya all know who I am talking about, that Barack Obama guy. I cringe at the thought the that community activist is Commander and Chief.

I am not a combat vet, but I wore the uniform and cannot imagine the unnecessary stress our warriors must endure.

Shades of Vietnam: Spike in U.S. troop deaths tied to stricter rules of engagement

strict

The number of U.S. battlefield fatalities exceeded the rate at which troop strength

 surged in 2009 and 2010, prompting national security analysts to assert that coinciding stricter rules of engagement led to more deaths.

A connection between the sharp increase in American deaths and restrictive rules of engagement is difficult to confirm. More deaths surely stemmed from ramped-up counterterrorism raids and the Taliban’s response with more homemade bombs, the No. 1 killer of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

But it is clear that the rules of engagement, which restrain troops from firing in order to spare civilian casualties, cut back on airstrikes and artillery strikes — the types of support that protect troops during raids and ambushes.

“It is no accident nor a coincidence that from January 2009 to August of 2010, coinciding with the Obama/McChrystal radical change of the [rules of engagement], casualties more than doubled,” Mr. Simmons said. “The carnage will certainly continue as the already fragile and ineffective [rules] have been further weakened by the Obama administration as if they were playground rules.”

The September 2009 battle also stands as a stark example of the effects the restrictive rules of engagement had on troops under fire, fighting for their lives.

Former ArmyCapt. William Swenson, who last month pinned on the Medal of Honor, repeatedly called headquarters to request airstrikes but was denied for hours, as more than 150 Taliban fighters surrounded and attacked his position.

Mr. Swenson vented his frustration in an after-action investigation.

“It’s not JAG [military attorney] responsibility to interject to say, ‘Hey, we are concerned that you’re going to hit a building,’” he said. “I can tell you that I am concerned with saving as many lives as I can, not necessarily one. Unfortunately, this is combat. I can’t be perfect, but I can do what I feel what’s right at the time.”

He added: “I am not a politician. I am just the guy on the ground asking for that ammunition to be dropped because it’s going to save lives.”

Mr. Swenson recalled other instances in which the brigade command would not authorize airstrikes on targets he identified.

“I just get the craziest thing across the radio sometimes,” he said. “Just people second-guessing.”

Of 13 U.S. forces at Ganjgal, five were killed. The Afghan National Army lost eight soldiers.

Another soldier said in the same after-action report that there was a dwelling in Ganjgal used by the Taliban — including women — as a safe haven from which to fire rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. Yet the command would not target the building.

"Let’s focus on [rules of engagement] because there is no reason you can’t level a house if they are shooting from it,” the soldier said. “I’ve never heard of a rule that would not allow [you] to fire on a house. They always teach you that you always have the right to defend yourself. Let commanders on the ground make decisions. We are using lawyers to make tactical decisions.”

He added: “You have the right to stay alive or keep your guys alive. We failed them by not keeping them alive because we didn’t provide them what they need to come out alive.”

WASHINGTON TIMES

Sitting here, I am totally amazed that the American people praise, respect, honor our troops abroad, do not hold that Occupant in the White House responsible.

Lame Duck Dynasty

I check out  CNSNEWS.COM most every day.

Those folk at CNS NEWS often present videos of current news, and distinguished commentators such as Jay Leno.

Men and Women's Different Brain

Men and Women's Different Brain

I come across this bit of news and wonder just how to  interpret it. I also wonder who paid for this marvelous news.

Q. Should it  come as a shock men and women are different?
A. No

You can read the following article concerning the study and it's results.  I am thinking more about social policy, with proof that as a whole, we should not expect in a society which prizes equality, that equality will results will be equal results for men and women.

I'm awaiting the radical feminist spin on this. They already deny the obvious physical differences, the invisible will be a playground for them.

I did some due diligence on this and beyond the the study was done at the University of Pennsylvania, have no idea if it was tax payer or privately funded.

How Men's Brains Are Wired Differently Than Women's

Men aren't from Mars and women aren't from Venus, but their brains really are wired differently, a new study suggests.

The research, which involved imaging the brains of nearly 1,000 adolescents, found that male brains had more connections within hemispheres, whereas female brainswere more connected between hemispheres. The results,  which apply to the population as a whole and not individuals, suggest that male brains may be optimized for motor skills, and female brains may be optimized for combining analytical and intuitive thinking.

"On average, men connect front to back [parts of the brain] more strongly than women," whereas "women have stronger connections left to right," said study leader Ragini Verma, an associate professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania medical school. But Verma cautioned against making sweeping generalizations about men and women based on the results.

Neural map of a typical woman's brain

Neural map of a typical man's brain

Brain networks showing significantly increased intra-hemispheric connectivity in males (Upper) and inter-hemispheric connectivity in females (Lower). Intra-hemispheric connections are shown in blue, and inter- hemispheric connections are shown

Previous studies have found behavioral differences between men and women. For example, women may have better verbal memory and social cognition, whereas men may have better motor and spatial skills, on average. Brain imaging studies have shown that women have a higher percentage of gray matter, the computational tissue of the brain, while men have a higher percentage of white matter, the connective cables of the brain. But few studies have shown that men's and women's brains areconnected differently.

FULL STORY - SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Obama Wasting more Money

Obama Wasting more Money

I dunno about our clown in chief. Is it a mental illness or a rejection of reality?

It isn't my position that there is no climate change (e.g. global warming), just that there is no evidence that it is either caused by human activity, or there is anything we can do about it. In any case, haven't seen the dire predictions of widespread disastrous weather come true.

An interesting article is worthy of note, To The Horror Of Global Warming Alarmists, Global Cooling Is Here. 

Around 1250 A.D., historical records show, ice packs began showing up farther south in

the North Atlantic. Glaciers also began expanding on Greenland, soon to threaten Norse settlements on the island. From 1275 to 1300 A.D., glaciers began expanding more broadly, according to radiocarbon dating of plants killed by the glacier growth. The period known today as the Little Ice Age was just starting to poke through.

Summers began cooling in Northern Europe after 1300 A.D., negatively impacting growing seasons, as reflected in the Great Famine of 1315 to 1317. Expanding glaciers and ice cover spreading across Greenland began driving the Norse settlers out. The last, surviving, written records of the Norse Greenland settlements, which had persisted for centuries, concern a marriage in 1408 A.D. in the church of Hvalsey, today the best preserved Norse ruin.

My point here is weather changes and the old saying people talk about the weather but do nothing about it stands the test of time. Reason for that is just because there is nothing we can do about it.

Now enter the Clown in chief,

Obama orders government to prepare for impact of global warming

President Obama issued an executive order Friday directing a government-wide effort to boost preparation in states and local communities for the impact of global warming.

The action orders federal agencies to work with states to build “resilience” against major storms and other weather extremes. For example, the president’s order directs that infrastructure projects like bridges and flood control take into consideration climate conditions of the future, which might require building structures larger or stronger — and likely at a higher price tag.

“The impacts of climate change — including an increase in prolonged periods of excessively high temperatures, more heavy downpours, an increase in wildfires, more severe droughts, permafrost thawing, ocean acidification and sea-level rise — are already affecting communities, natural resources, ecosystems, economies and public health across the nation,” the presidential order said. “The federal government must build on recent progress and pursue new strategies to improve the nation’s preparedness

and resilience.”

FULL STORY - Washington Times

I sit here wondering, with trillions of dollars in debt, just who is going to benefit from this sudden splurge of taxpayer money?

This is so hard to take seriously.  I mean the study. The fact that with a national debt of trillions of dollars the government is blowing some 18 million dollars on such nonsense. 

The climate fear mongers have already done a lot to damage our economy, armed with a new worthless study no doubt will feel more brazen with wild claims of doom to promote their agenda of less for all is better.

Feds Will Spend $18M to Develop ‘Reliable’ Climate Change Predictions

(CNSNews.com) –The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of

Agriculture have plans to spend up to $18 million over the next five years to develop “reliable” climate change predictions for the next few decades. The “funding opportunity enables interagency cooperation on one of the most pressing problems of the millennium: climate change and how it is likely to affect our world,” according to NSF’s official request for bids. (See Prediction.pdf)NSF Decadal & Regional Climate Prediction.pdf) 

And despite claims that climate change caused by global warming is causing "extreme weather," a new study by the SI Organization, Inc., a systems engineering firm, ranks 2013 as “one of the least extreme U.S. weather years ever,” noting that “there has been no major hurricane in either the Atlantic or eastern Pacific, , which only occurred one other year in recorded history – 1968.”.

FULL STORY - CNS News

Genetically Modified Salmon to be Approved by FDA ?

By now I should no longer be surprised at the lengths some people will go so to deny others a choice of how to live their lives.
For example, what to eat?
I love salmon and welcome genetically engineered fish to the market place. If somebody doesn't want to eat it, fine by me. 

A new method against genetically modified salmon: Get retailers to refuse to sell it

Consumer and environmental activists, facing likely defeat in their bid to block

government approval of the first genetically engineered salmon, are trying a different tack to keep the fish off America’s dinner plates: Getting retailers not to sell it.

And they’re making headway.

Read what this guy says;

“The goal is to make sure there is not an available market for genetically engineered seafood,” said Dana Perls, food and technology campaigner at Friends of the Earth, an international network of environmental organizations helping to lead the effort to make the fish unwelcome. “People don’t want it, and markets are going to follow what people want.”

Watta macaroon. Nobody elected him to be FOOD TSAR.

The Food and Drug Administration, which has been reviewing the genetically modifiedsalmon for years, has strongly signaled it intends to approve the fish, making it the first genetically modified animal cleared for human consumption. The decision, which could come this fall, would be a milestone not only for the decades-long fish controversy but also for the heated debate over the development and marketing of other genetically modified foods.

That would be good news.

For AquaBounty, it’s partly a matter of economic survival. But Stotish said FDA approval also could eventually lead to a more efficient food supply and create jobs in states such as South Dakota, where the governor has said officials “are making concerted efforts to be the home to future animal biotechnology companies, including Aqua­Bounty Technologies.”

Despite the pledges some retailers have made not to sell his salmon, Stotish said he believes the companies will reconsider in coming years if the price is right and consumers regard it as safe and healthy.

“If it’s not a good product, people won’t buy it,” he said. “All we’re asking for is the opportunity.”

FULL STORY - Washington Post

Obama's War Against Catholics Chaplins

Maybe I should have said against those who serve in our military. 

What is the message the Commander in Chief sending to those who wear the uniform?

DOD Still Barring 50 Priests from Administering Sacraments, Locks Up Eucharist, Priest Sues

(CNSNews.com) -- After the Obama administration, for the second Sunday in a row, continued to prohibit approximately 50 Catholic priests from saying Mass and administering other sacraments at U.S. military facilities around the world, Father Ray Leonard, who serves as the Catholic chaplain at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, filed suit Monday against the Department of Defense, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the Department of the Navy, and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

DOD is prohibiting Father Leonard and the other Catholic priests from administering the sacraments and providing other services to their congregations even though two weeks ago Congress passed, and President Barack Obama signed, a law that instructed DOD to maintain on the job and keep paying contract employees who were supporting the troops.

DOD took this action because Hagel determined--after consulting with Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department--that civilian Catholic priests, working under contract as chaplains, did not, among other things, “contribute to the morale” and “well-being” of service personnel.

DOD took this action because Hagel determined--after consulting with Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department--that civilian Catholic priests, working under contract as chaplains, did not, among other things, “contribute to the morale” and “well-being” of service personnel.

FULL STORY - CNS News

Is this administration out of touch our what? ?

Lot of nonsense surrounding this current farce of a Government Shut down. 

One of the thing which really infuriate me is the disrespect by the Clown in Chief towards our military. There is zero, none, no reason for the closure of the World War Two Memorial. Well finally some folk have had enough.  While slow in coming glad to see it happen. Wish I could be there.

Crowd storms World War II Memorial

WASHINGTON - Thousands of people converged on the World War II Memorial on the

National Mall on Sunday morning and tore down the barricades blocking it off, protesting the closure of the memorial during the federal government shutdown.

Beginning at about 9:30 a.m., Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as well as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were among the luminaries in a crowd that chanted

"Tear down these walls!" and sang "God Bless America" as well as other patriotic songs as they entered the memorial, which has been closed since the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.

Tractor-trailers headed down 17th Street toward the Mall, blaring their horns. The Metropolitan Police Department blocked off the street, prompting the crowd to head up the street, shouting at the police to move their vehicles.

WTOP 103.5 FM

To me, the police response seems to be a bit to much.

 

Obama, Kill Jobs, Coal

That rascal who occupies the White House is a real piece of work.

Since before the Obama occupation our country has suffered a depressed economy. One would think the President would do everything possible to relieve this situation. No secret there has been a lot of unemployment which leads me to wonder.

What is it with that guy's problem with COAL? 

 For what purpose that Barry would put hundreds of thousands of people out of work?

That guy continues the lie he cares about the MIDDLE CLASS, then boasts

"You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know -- Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad."

President Obama, Why Are You So Determined To Kill America's Coal Industry?

On Sept. 20 the Obama Administration proposed regulations that would require

future coal-fired power plants to deploy currently nonexistent technologies to reduce their CO2emissions. The President has also directed the Environmental Protection Agency to propose rules next year to reduce CO2 emissions from existing coal fired plants. Coal provides nearly 40 percent of America’s electricity – no small amount –

Forbes

EPA admits new coal regulations won't reduce global warming

An Environmental Protection Agency proposal designed to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce global warming will actually have no “notable CO2 emission changes.”

So, a rule that will essentially ban new coal-fired power plants will actually have no impact on global warming. Got it.

“The EPA does not anticipate that this proposed rule will result in notable CO2 emission changes, energy impacts, monetized benefits, costs, or economic impacts by 2022,” the EPA writes under the comments section of its proposal.

The EPA also admits that “the owners of newly built electric generating units will likely choose technologies that meet these standards even in the absence of this proposal due to existing economic conditions as normal business practice.”

Examiner

Dispelling Some Popular Myths on CO2 Emissions

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set out on the next step to make

certain coal never sees the light of day. Approximately 36 coal-fired power plants would be the immediate victims. Newspapers and liberal blogs are certain to applaud what the EPA is about to do and support that agency's claim it is all part of an effort to prevent Global Warming (AKA Climate Change). Many laymen will be willing to go with what they read, trusting that it is correct and unwilling (or unable) to check for accuracy or factual truth. In some ways this submission is preaching to the choir, but the following facts might be useful to the choir provided it is willing to sing its shocking lyrics to the environmentalists.

American Thinker