Political Digest August 14, 2010

I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.

We plan to be visiting friends this weekend, without a computer or Internet. So the next digest will be Tuesday, unless we get back in time on Sunday to do one for Monday. I’ll leave a column to post on Sunday, so check it out.

Last in Credibility
http://weeklystandard.com/articles/last-credibility
Excerpt: U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study.—Reuters, June 23, 2010 While Republicans advocate repeal of President Obama’s sweeping health care reforms, Democrats are pulling out all the stops to build support for the legislation. And the president’s party has a not-so-secret weapon at its disposal: a network of well-funded academics and researchers working to discredit the existing health care system. The Commonwealth Fund, a liberal think tank headed by a former Democratic staffer, leads the effort. Typical of the Commonwealth Fund is a recent study claiming that the U.S. health care system ranks last when compared with seven industrialized countries. It’s just the latest in a string of policy studies from organizations that want to see a European-style, government-run health care system brought to these shores. Democratic politicians and their allies then use those studies to bolster the case for dramatic reforms. (...) The Commonwealth Fund isn’t the only group regularly pumping out suspect studies. Others include Families USA and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. They, too, always seem to find that more government control improves quality while lowering costs, and are praised in the media for it, while getting a pass on their assumptions and methodology. (Figures don’t lie, but liars figure. For example, they said people in other countries live longer than we do, pay less. But if you take car accidents and murder out of the statistics we live longer than anyone. Obamacare won’t do anything about car wrecks or the inner city murder rate. If you look at individual disease survival rates, you’d sure rather be treated for most cancers in the US than in Britain, for example. ~Bob)

Serial Killer Who Targeted US Blacks is Palestinian Arab Illegal Alien, Police Hid “Mid-Eastern” Description
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/25786/serial-killer-who-targeted-us-blacks-is-palestinian-arab-illegal-alien-police-hid-mid-eastern-description/
Didn’t get the memo. Technically as an Arab born in Israel he’s an Israeli, but by using that in the headline, the Leftstream Media is trying to pretend he’s a Jew from Israel, not an Arab born in Israel. (They call themselves “Palestinians” as though that made them different from other Arabs.) If he was the murder victim, the headline would have said “Palestinian Murdered” not Israeli. Excerpt: For several weeks, police have been quietly searching for a serial killer who stabbed poor Black victims in Flint, Michigan, then fled to Leesburg, Virginia, where his sister lives. Many family members of the victims were angry that the police did not disclose the White identity of the murderer, saying it was racist. But, now, it’s very clear why they hid his identity and true visual description: Elias Abuelazam is a Palestinian Arab illegal alien who was here on an expired passport….Police stopped Abuelazam, who was trying to board a flight to escape to Israel. Unfortunately, while Abuelazam’s name isn’t being publicized, that he is “from Israel” is. It’s funny: they hate Israel, but whenever Palestinians are in trouble, suddenly they are “from Israel.” He may have been born in Israel and even have an Israeli passport, but he and his ilk identify as and with Palestinians. The guy is NOT Israeli, contrary to MSNBC’s disgusting headline: “Israeli held in investigation of serial stabbings.” He’s Palestinian Arab who was born in Israel. Get that straight.

US Government in Massive New Global Warming Scandal – NOAA Disgraced
http://www.climatechangefraud.com/climate-reports/7479-us-government-in-massive-new-global-warming-scandal-noaa-disgraced
Gee if you can’t trust the government, who can you trust? Excerpt: It would appear CoastWatch has removed the original image. Never fear, it's shown here on the right. Please see author's addendum at end of article. Global warming data apparently cooked by U.S. government-funded body shows astounding temperature fraud with increases averaging 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The tax-payer funded National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has become mired in fresh global warming data scandal involving numbers for the Great Lakes region that substantially ramp up averages. A beleaguered federal agency appears to be implicated in the most blatant and extreme case of climate data fraud yet seen. Official records have been confirmed as evidence that a handful of temperature records for the Great Lakes region have been hiked up by literally hundreds of degrees to substantially inflate the average temperature range for the northeastern United States.

Lawmaker jokes about Palin's death, resigns
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/08/lawmaker-jokes-about-palins-de.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
Vicious leftists…if that isn’t redundant. Excerpt: New Hampshire state Rep. Timothy Horrigan (D) resigned on Thursday over a joke regarding former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's death…..Horrigan is not to be confused with another New Hampshire Democrat, state House candidate Keith Halloran, who posted to Facebook that he wished Palin and her daughter's ex-fiance, Levi Johnston, were aboard the downed plane that claimed the life of former Republican Senator Ted Stevens.

Rangel dancing at birthday bash
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/08/rangel-dancing-at-birthday-bas.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
I reject the racism of the protesters, if this is true. White Democrats are every bit as corrupt as black ones. The Democrat Party stands for equal opportunity in corruption, especially here in Crook County, IL. Excerpt: Former Mayor David Dinkins gave the finger to a heckler outside, who witnesses said were screaming words like "crook" and "corrupt" at almost any African-American who walked into the building. A number of high-profile guests bailed on the event once the House of Representatives began investigating Rangel.

Convicted Con Artist Hired, Promoted by Tom Horne
http://www.icarizona.com/2010/08/convicted-con-artist-hired-promoted-by.html
Excerpt: A convicted con artist is in charge of information technology at the Arizona Department of Education, Attorney General candidate Andrew Thomas announced today. Tom Horne hired Donald Houde despite his criminal past. Houde is a convicted con man who was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing $1.7 million from his employer, Mile Hi Cablevision in Denver. An Attorney General is supposed to prosecute criminals, not hire them; but Tom Horne apparently didn’t get the memo. In 2005 Horne appointed Donald Houde Chief Information Officer for the State Department of Education. In 2007 Horne promoted him, adding Deputy Associate Superintendent to his title. He earns more than $140,000 a year. In hiring and promoting Houde, Horne has put a confessed thief in charge of sensitive information involving teachers and students across the state. (What’s the problem? A convicted con artist is perfect for government service, they won’t have to train him. ~Bob)

‘Professional left’ not ready to back an Obama primary challenger in '12
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/114081-professional-left-not-ready-to-back-a-2012-primary-challenge-
Who would they back? Who is to the left of Obama, who might have a chance? Only Hillary would have a shot, she’s a long shot and she is to Obama’s right. Would even a majority of Democrats back moving the country further to the left? And anyone running against Obama is automatically a racist, a charge a leftist will do anything—anything—to avoid. ~Bob. Excerpt: As angry as it might be, the professional left isn't ready to back a primary challenger to President Obama just yet. Two high-profile liberals on Thursday said they are not interested in running against the president in 2012, and liberal bloggers say any challenge to Obama would be fraught with difficulty. “I haven't heard of a credible name that has been floated that would challenge President Obama,” said David Sirota, a prominent liberal blogger. “I haven't heard of that. I think it would be very difficult to do.” Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, who is also a columnist for The Hill, said he didn't think Obama would get a 2012 primary challenge "in a million years." In an e-mail, Moulitsas also said Obama shouldn't be challenged.

Dutch euthanasia cases up 13 per cent last year
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/europe/article1669211.ece
Excerpt: The number of reported Dutch cases of euthanasia or assisted suicide rose 13 percent last year, the government said on Wednesday, spurring talk of a possible “euthanasia hospital” to help people end their lives. The annual report of the regional commissions that oversee the Netherlands’ euthanasia law said there were 2,636 cases in 2009, the vast majority of them euthanasia, or “mercy killing“, as opposed to assisted suicide, or helping someone to die. That represented about 2 per cent of all Dutch deaths last year, based on figures from Statistics Netherlands. Of the cases, slightly over 80 percent were cancer patients and more than 80 per cent of the deaths occurred in the patient’s home. The rise follows a 10.5 per cent rise in 2008, bolstering a campaign for more formal facilities to end peoples’ lives.

Vietnam miracle reunion
http://www.vietnamexp.com/Shadow/media_coverage/atlanta_journal_4_12.htm
Great story, but leaving a baby alive? The communists were usually more efficient. Excerpt: Out of the massacre came a miracle. In a Viet Cong attack on a village in May 1969, everyone was killed -- except a baby girl found wounded in her dead mother's arms. U.S. soldiers, helicopter crewmen, medics, nurses and doctors saved her life. They gave her a name, Kathleen. Eventually, the Americans came back home, not knowing what became of Kathleen. But they never forgot her. About 12 years ago, she began a search for answers about her past. On Monday, they will finally meet again. Baby Kathleen is now Kathleen Epps, a Northern California wife with three daughters of her own. The prospect of Monday's reunion at a Texas army base thrills her, yet makes her anxious.

The Gulf Recovery Obama Does Not Want to See
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/13/morning-bell-the-gulf-recovery-obama-does-not-want-to-see/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Excerpt: Next week, for the fifth time since July, the first family will board Air Force One for yet another luxury vacation, this time to an exclusive Martha’s Vineyard estate that rents for up to $50,000 a week. But before they head north, the Obamas will first grace Panama City, Fla., with their presence this weekend for what is being billed as a “solidarity vacation to the Gulf Coast.” While in Florida, the President is expected to meet with local business leaders to discuss the effects of the spill before departing on a cross-country trip around the United States including stops in Los Angeles and Seattle to raise cash for Democrats and a stop in Wisconsin at a renewable energy factory. Not on the agenda? Any meetings with oil workers in other Gulf states who are now unemployed thanks to President Obama’s Gulf oil drilling ban. If the President really wanted to see the economic damage his policies are causing in the Gulf, he could first stop in Pascagoula, Miss., where idle oil rigs in the Signal International shipyard have formed an eerie floating ghost city that locals have dubbed “Rig Row.” Instead of being deployed at sea where they could be creating wealth for this country and jobs for Gulf residents, these rigs are wasting away idly in port as a direct result of President Obama’s oil drilling moratorium – a moratorium that when first issued on just deep sea rigs, a federal judge ruled was “arbitrary and capricious.” Undaunted, the Obama administration doubled down, issuing a broader oil drilling injunction that is killing even more jobs than the first ban.

The Weeping, Wailing, and Gnashing of Teeth
http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-weeping-wailing-and-gnashing-of-teeth/?singlepage=true
Excerpt: The usual rush to the exits from a sinking administration is now ongoing. The only difference this cycle is that – whereas in the case of the Bush departed who, we were lectured, were rightfully bitter that their genius was not appreciated (e.g., Paul O’Neil, Richard Clarke, Scott McClellan, etc) by the Bush Neanderthals, and were men of conscience who were “blowing the whistle” — we are now told by the New York Times that the Obama parachutists are burned out and “exhausted,” from “blackberrying” all day long! You see, we should not imagine that these technocratic careerists want to leave the bank before the posse arrives in November, or are moving on to lucrative seven-figure jobs after the requisite administration bumper-sticker billet, but rather after being on the cross suffering for our sins for 18 months, well, can suffer no more for the unworthy. We hoi polloi didn’t turn around the economy, and we couldn’t win the war, and we made them keep Guantanamo open, and we wore them out over health care, and we forced more of those once damn Predators and formerly unconstitutional renditions down their throats.

REAL or FAKE: Can you tell which of these government spending projects are real or fake?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gp0JuBp8xA&feature=player_embedded
Funny but sad.

Fears of al–Qaida return in Iraq as US–backed fighters defect
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/10/al-qaida-sons-of-iraq
Excerpt: Al-Qaida is attempting to make a comeback in Iraq by enticing scores of former Sunni allies to rejoin the terrorist group by paying them more than the monthly salary they currently receive from the government, two key US-backed militia leaders have told the Guardian. They said al-Qaida leaders were exploiting the imminent departure of US fighting troops to ramp up a membership drive, in an attempt to show that they are still a powerful force in the country after seven years of war. Al-Qaida is also thought to be moving to take advantage of a power vacuum created by continuing political instability in Iraq, which remains without a functional government more than five months after a general election. Sheikh Sabah al-Janabi, a leader of the Awakening Council – also known as the Sons of Iraq – based in Hila, 60 miles south of Baghdad, told the Guardian that 100 out of 1,800 rank-and-file members had not collected their salaries for the last two months: a clear sign, he believes, that they are now taking money from their former enemies.

The Golden State’s War on Itself
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2010/08/09/the_golden_state039s_war_on_itself_239325.html
Excerpt: California has long been a destination for those seeking a better place to live. For most of its history, the state enacted sensible policies that created one of the wealthiest and most innovative economies in human history. California realized the American dream but better, fostering a huge middle class that, for the most part, owned their homes, sent their kids to public schools, and found meaningful work connected to the state’s amazingly diverse, innovative economy. Recently, though, the dream has been evaporating. Between 2003 and 2007, California state and local government spending grew 31 percent, even as the state’s population grew just 5 percent. The overall tax burden as a percentage of state income, once middling among the states, has risen to the sixth-highest in the nation, says the Tax Foundation. Since 1990, according to an analysis by California Lutheran University, the state’s share of overall U.S. employment has dropped a remarkable 10 percent. When the state economy has done well, it has usually been the result of asset inflation—first during the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, and then during the housing boom, which was responsible for nearly half of all jobs created earlier in this decade. Since the financial crisis began in 2008, the state has fared even worse. Last year, California personal income fell 2.5 percent, the first such fall since the Great Depression and well below the 1.7 percent drop for the rest of the country. Unemployment may be starting to ebb nationwide, but not in California, where it approaches 13 percent, among the highest rates in the nation. Between 2008 and 2009, not one of California’s biggest cities outperformed such traditional laggards as New York, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia in employment growth, and four cities—Los Angeles, Oakland, Santa Ana, and San Bernardino–Riverside—sit very close to the bottom among the nation’s largest metro areas, just slightly ahead of basket cases like Detroit. Long a global exemplar, California is in danger of becoming, as historian Kevin Starr has warned, a “failed state.” What went so wrong? The answer lies in a change in the nature of progressive politics in California. During the second half of the twentieth century, the state shifted from an older progressivism, which emphasized infrastructure investment and business growth, to a newer version, which views the private sector much the way the Huns viewed a city—as something to be sacked and plundered. The result is two separate California realities: a lucrative one for the wealthy and for government workers, who are largely insulated from economic decline; and a grim one for the private-sector middle and working classes, who are fleeing the state.

Awlaki vs. Predator
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704901104575423253031580156.html?mod=djemITP_h
As a taxpayer, I’d be happy to send unarmed ACLU representatives to Yemen at government expense to depose Awlaki about this matter. ~Bob Excerpt: The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) recently launched a legal challenge against the president's right to kill al Qaeda operatives. If the suit is successful, it will undermine the Constitution's separation of powers and make it virtually impossible for the United States to successfully defend itself with military force in the future. Since 9/11, the courts have increasingly encroached on the legitimate war-making powers of both the president and Congress. Federal judges now scrutinize the president's determinations regarding the detention of enemy combatants and pre-approve wartime electronic intelligence-gathering operations. But the courts have not yet claimed the right to review the president's decisions regarding whom to attack, or how to carry out an attack. Such determinations are at the very core of the president's power as commander in chief. Lawyers from the ACLU and the CCR are mounting their challenge on behalf of the father of Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki is an American citizen whom the government believes was connected both to al Qaeda's abortive effort to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day, 2009, and to Nidal Malik Hasan, the U.S. Army major who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, last November. According to published reports, President Obama has authorized the use of Predator drones against Awlaki, who is believed to be based in Yemen. Because of this, the ACLU and the CCR will soon argue in court that Awlaki is a "civilian" located thousands of miles from the "battlefield" in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that he is entitled to due process before he can be attacked. "President Obama," said the executive director of the CCR, "is claiming the power to act as judge, jury and executioner while suspending any semblance of due process."

Suspect in teen's slaying was deported twice
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7150691.html
Undocumented worker doing a job Americans won’t do. Coming soon to your family. Excerpt: As she made arrangements Thursday to bury her 14-year-old daughter, Keisha Lambert learned that the suspected gunman in the teenager's killing had been previously deported twice from the U.S. "It's not right that he came back a third time," Lambert said. Melvin Alvarado, 22, was convicted of two separate intoxicated driving offenses in Harris County in 2005 and 2007, criminal records show. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail in connection with the last conviction in November 2007. Gregory Palmore, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman in Houston, said immigration officials removed Alvarado from the country in April 2008 and again in May 2009. Palmore said it was unclear from his records whether Alvarado was picked up directly from Harris County Jail after the last intoxicated driving conviction. The second suspect in the fatal shooting of Shatavia Anderson on Saturday, Jonathan Lopez-Torres, 18, was a lawful permanent resident from Honduras, Palmore said. According to Harris County records, Lopez-Torres was arrested and accused of auto theft in February 2009. That charge was later dismissed.

Arizona Border Town Home to New Illegal Immigration Tactics
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12973520
Excerpt: While the entire nation is talking about illegal immigration, the residents of McNeal, Arizona are impacted by the smuggling activity on a daily basis. McNeal is a community located less than thirty miles from the United States and Mexican border. Illegal immigration is a big time problem in McNeal, and all three hundred residents (some say that number is inflated) seem to have a personal story about illegal immigrants and drug or human smugglers. "Just last week, three of them showed up at my back gate. It was three young men...they were from Mexico City," shared Richard Humphries. Stephanie Langham added, "We're dealing with drug wars, human trafficking wars...we're dealing with smuggling...all of this stuff!" "We probably see 30-40 (illegal immigrants) a day between Davis Road and here!" said John Brya, adding, "At least the ones you can see!" Ones you can see? KGUN9 On Your Side didn't know exactly what the local store owner meant. But, we started to figure it all out when McNeal residents Sean and Stephanie Langham took us for a little walk. The couple met our KGUN9 reporter weeks prior at an anti-SB1070 protest in Tucson and invited us to see first hand what they say really goes on in their border town. "In this area this is where the coyotes are, the drop vehicles ... This is where you see the beginning of the drug smuggling. This isn't just about people trying to find jobs," said S&S Auto owner Sean Langham.

Bean-Counters and Baloney by Thomas Sowell
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/08/13/bean-counters_and_baloney
Excerpt: The bean-counters have struck again-- this time in the sports pages. Two New York Times sport writers have discovered that baseball coaches from minority groups are found more often coaching at first base than at third base. Moreover, third-base coaches become managers more often than first-base coaches. This may seem to be just another passing piece of silliness. But it is part of a more general bean-counting mentality that turns statistical differences into grievances. The time is long overdue to throw this race card out of the deck and start seeing it for the gross fallacy that it is. At the heart of such statistics is the implicit assumption that different races, sexes and other subdivisions of the human species would be proportionately represented in institutions, occupations and income brackets if there was not something strange or sinister going on. Although this notion has been repeated by all sorts of people, from local loudmouths on the street to the august chambers of the Supreme Court of the United States, there is not one speck of evidence behind it and a mountain of evidence against it. Ask the bean-counters where in this wide world have different groups been proportionally represented. They can't tell you. In other words, something that nobody can demonstrate is taken as a norm, and any deviation from that norm is somebody's fault!.... One of the things that got us started on heavy-handed government regulation of the housing market were statistics showing that blacks were turned down for mortgage loans more often than whites. The bean-counters in the media went ballistic. It had to be racism, to hear them tell it. What they didn't tell you was that whites were turned down more often than Asians. What they also didn't tell you was that black-owned banks also turned down blacks more often than whites. Nor did they tell you that credit scores differed from group to group. Instead, the media, the politicians and the regulators grabbed some statistics and ran with them.

Race-Card Payment Coming Due
http://townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2010/08/13/race-card_payment_coming_due
Excerpt: "The race card is maxed out." That was the punch line for a recent hilarious exchange on "The Daily Show" in which Larry Wilmore, the faux news program's "senior black correspondent," reported that the race card is not only over its credit limit but is in fact "void during a black presidency." This discovery came in the wake of Maxine Waters' allegation that her political problems stem from a racially biased congressional ethics investigation. Wilmore said he should have seen this coming, given that "the Congressional Black Caucus has been overusing the race card for years." Like when it circled the wagons around Rep. William Jefferson. The CBC in effect argued it'd be no big deal if a white congressman had been videotaped receiving a $100,000 bribe and if the FBI then found most of it in his freezer. Singling out a black congressman for this sort of thing, Wilmore jokes, amounts to punishing Jefferson for "Legislating While Black." Of course, Wilmore (a great comic talent) is joking, but not everyone is laughing. Waters, the representative for South Central Los Angeles since 1991, is one of America's premier racial hucksters. A notoriously nasty piece of work, she sided with the murderous rioters in what she called the post-Rodney King verdict "rebellion" and danced the electric slide with the Crips and the Bloods. (Who says she's not bipartisan?) So it's hardly surprising that she'd lump all of her problems on Whitey.

India: Misunderstanders of Islam force woman to wear veil
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/08/india-misunderstanders-of-islam-force-woman-to-wear-veil.html
Excerpt: Islamic spokesmen in the West always tell us that the veil is a matter of choice. Yet women have been threatened and killed for not wearing it in Islamic countries. Sharia is not actually an optional matter where Islamic supremacists are determined to enforce it. "Kerala engineer forced to wear veil; protect her, HC tells police," by Shaju Philip for Indian Express, August 13.

Islamic cleric: "The Koranic verses that deal with fighting the infidels and conquering their countries say that they should convert to Islam, pay the jizya poll tax, or be killed"
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/08/islamic-cleric-the-koranic-verses-that-deal-with-fighting-the-infidels-and-conquering-their-countrie.html
Excerpt: Muhammad Al-Arifi is an Islamic cleric. He has devoted his life to studying the Qur'an and Islam. And somehow he has gotten the crazy idea that the Qur'an says that Muslims should fight against unbelievers, subjugate them, and make them pay the jizya. Now, whenever non-Muslims point this out, they're called bigoted, hateful, and ignorant of Islam. So is Muhammad Al-Arifi a self-hating Muslim who Misunderstands Islam and just narrowly avoided flunking out of his seminary? Or could it be that the "bigotry," "hate" and "ignorance" charges are just smokescreens designed to bamboozle the unwary into not realizing that the truth is being told? "Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Arifi: The Desire to Shed Blood, Smash Skulls, and Sever Limbs for the Sake of Allah Is an Honor for the Believer," from MEMRI TV,

Iran TV airs 'confession' from woman facing stoning
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10949629
Excerpt: The BBC's Jon Leyne explains what the footage showed. Iranian state TV has aired what it says is a confession by a woman under threat of being stoned to death for adultery. In the interview shown on Wednesday, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani purportedly admits conspiring to murder her husband in 2005 and denounces her lawyer. After an international outcry, Iranian officials temporarily halted her stoning sentence last month, but there are fears she will now be hanged. The 43-year-old had said she was forced to confess to the charges of adultery. In May 2006, a criminal court in East Azerbaijan province found Ms Ashtiani guilty of having had an "illicit relationship" with two men following the death of her husband. She was given 99 lashes. But that September, during the trial of a man accused of murdering her husband, another court reopened an adultery case based on events that allegedly took place before her husband died.

Manufacturing Liberals
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/manufacturing_liberals.html
Many don’t report being “liberals” because they are further left. ~Bob. Excerpt: Liberals are not insane, as many conservatives believe. Most liberals (I am not speaking here of the political or intellectual class) are ordinary human beings pursuing everyday human lives -- just like the rest of us. Here is a brief summary of why most liberals are liberal and what we can do to help at least some of them understand conservative thought: 1) Indoctrination, not education Polls consistently find that over 70% of college professors identify themselves as liberal. The percentage of liberal faculty members is even higher if one removes responses from those teaching the "hard" sciences. In our prestigious universities, the figure approaches 90%. Both of these reported percentages are probably lower than the real figures [i].

Daily Kos: Reaction to 9-11 “out of proportion” because of TV coverage
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=17765
Excerpt: Yep, 3,000 dead Americans at the hand of Islamic terrorists was totally blown out of proportion because of the dramatic TV coverage. Kos: Given that they are such a small minority in this nation, it is odd that so many of our fellow citizens see them as such a threat. Yes, the 9/11 attacks were horrific, but they were more about optics than actual harm. The economy was already taking a hit before the Twin Towers fell. The reaction of the nation to seeing two major buildings in New York fall on T.V. has boosted the attack out of proportion. While the loss of even a single life is to be condemned and the devastation these deaths caused the families of those killed, more than this number of teens are killed every year in car crashes. These are also tragic losses but we do not make the kind of high profile issue of it that the 9/11 attacks are.

CNN poll on illegal immigration shows Hispanics are not of one mind
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=17709
Excerpt: The real eye opening stats are those that pertain to American Hispanics. That’s right those named Gonzalez, Ramirez, Cuellar are no less American than the rest of us. One in four Hispanics believe that the Arizona law is a good thing and support it along with other Americans. That isn’t the most startling statistic however. Almost 65% of all Hispanics questioned want to see a tighter and more controlled southern border. They voted almost two to one in favor of putting more officers on the border. A third of all American Hispanics want to build the 700 mile fence along the border, and think Arizona’s new law if allowed to be implemented would reduce illegal immigration. When asked if employers who hire illegals should go to jail, 44% responded in the affirmative.

The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100050412/the-stunning-decline-of-barack-obama-10-key-reasons-why-the-obama-presidency-is-in-meltdown/
Excerpt: Growing disillusionment with the Obama administration’s handling of the economy as well as health care and immigration has gone hand in hand with mounting unhappiness with the President’s aloof and imperial style of leadership, and a growing perception that he is out of touch with ordinary Americans, especially at a time of significant economic pain. Barack Obama’s striking absence of natural leadership ability (and blatant lack of experience) has played a big part in undermining his credibility with the US public, with his lacklustre handling of the Gulf oil spill coming under particularly intense fire. On the national security and foreign policy front, President Obama has not fared any better. His leadership on the war in Afghanistan has been confused and at times lacking in conviction, and seemingly dictated by domestic political priorities rather than military and strategic goals. His overall foreign policy has been an appalling mess, with his flawed strategy of engagement of hostile regimes spectacularly backfiring. And as for the War on Terror, his administration has not even acknowledged it is fighting one. Can it get any worse for President Obama? Undoubtedly yes. Here are 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in serious trouble, and why its prospects are unlikely to improve between now and the November mid-terms. (Keep in mind, the (UK) Telegram is "Center-Left" in Britain, which makes them about equal to conservative Democrats from our early 1960s. He gives Obama no slack whatever. –Ron P.)