WHO ARE THE RAPISTS?
You may have seen the story up on Drudge and all over the news about a 17 year-old high school girl in Louisville, Kentucky, Savannah Dietrich. Savannah was raped by two teenagers who plea-bargained and got off with probation - then the judge placed a gag order on her not to disclose her rapists' names. She did anyway on Twitter - and now faces six months in jail for contempt. The outcry has been deafening. Yet in all the hundreds of news stories about Savannah defying this contemptible judge and outing her rapists - not one story says who the rapists are. Every news outlet in America is obeying Judge McDonald's order. Well, not TTP. We've learned who they are and are happy to identify them by name.
THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN IS UNWORTHY OF A DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT
[Note: this public letter is written by a hard-core life-long Democrat. Even these guys have had it with Zero.] As a Democrat and a staunch support of Barack Obama, I am completely disgusted by his campaign. Are we talking about the President of the United States? Are we talking about a principled man who has boosted our ideal for a fair and equitable America? Does this have anything to do with the American people? 1. A harassing campaign Everybody takes turns to bombard us with e-mails, phone calls to chip in for one reason or the other. Even those of us who asked to only receive selective information. To that "presidential" harassment one needs to add what the Democrat Party does: strangely enough they only call and e-mail to collect money. Never to tell us what are the important causes for the Party.
HALF-FULL REPORT 07/20/12
We might as well start right out enjoying ourselves with the funniest headline in world news this week. From New Zealand, we learn that Traffic Signs Are Being Destroyed by Prostitutes. Seems the working ladies use the signs for street pole dancing to advertise, and some of them are "big, strong women." Since the passage of the Prostitution Reform Act in 2003, all forms of hookerism - from brothels to street solicitation - are legal in Kiwiland. There's even a hooker's union: the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) with its own website: nzpc.org. More enjoyable news. Secretary of State Pantsuit went to Egypt on Sunday (7/15) to talk with the Moslem crazies who now run the country. Egyptians greeted her warmly - by throwing tomatoes and shoes (the latter being a gesture of utter contempt) at her motorcade in Alexandra. Even more insulting was the crowd taunting her with shouts "Monica! Monica!" And the week's best news - that would be Mitt Romney going lex talionis.
WEEKLY MIND FOOD 07/20/12
Welcome to the second issue of a new feature on TTP, Weekly Mind Food, which aims to show you what TTPers without a regular column, but with deep expertise in key fields, are paying attention to. Note the "Weekly Mind Food" category in the left side-bar now, which will have all our issues. We'll put out each issue on a Friday so you can peruse the linked articles at your leisure over the weekend. Note also that "Weekly Mind Food" is Free Access, as are all the linked articles. We call ourselves TTP's Team B. Paul continues to focus this week on Internet technology & security, with some side trips into economics. David will soon be joining us to cover technology, economics, and Plan B personal security; and Citizen K is beginning to cover the global hydrocarbon industry. More to come. We also congratulate TTPers mrapp, hardcharger, and dougk, for freelance link suggestions that met the test. To simplify your scans, I've divided the links into sections: Polis (domestic politics), Techne Logos (tech), Economos (global economy), Stratiootika (geopolitics & military), and Friday Joy (brighten your day and/or make you better). Enjoy!
THE ANTI-GEORGE WASHINGTON
Our first president was so revered for his integrity that most believed Parson Weems when he said that even as a child, George Washington could not tell a lie. Can our current president tell the truth? It's a legitimate question. Amb. Fred Eckert filled a 188-page book with "untrue, duplicitous, arrogant and delusional" things Barack Hussein Obama has said. We could call him the Anti-George Washington. Joel Wade is fond of advising us that you get good at what you practice. But evidently not always, for constant practice has not made Mr. Obama a good liar. A good liar tells plausible lies, and lies only when the truth could do him substantial harm. President Obama tells preposterous lies. He lies when the truth wouldn't hurt. He lies so often and so obviously about so many things it is doubtful lying for him is merely a tactic. It's an integral part of his character -- or lack of it.
LENIN IN THE WHITE HOUSE
There are many contenders for who is the most evil human being to walk the face of the earth - and there is no doubt that Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (1870-1924) is among them. He was born on the Volga River in Russia but he wasn't Russian. His father was an Oirat Mongol, his mother was Jewish-German/Swedish. He grew up in prosperity with his father as a prominent professor. He turned radical Marxist in college (Kazan University) becoming the devotee of Georgi Plekhanov ("the Founder of Russian Marxism"), and was exiled to Siberia for three years for subversive activities. While in Siberia, copying Plekhanov who adopted the revolutionary name "Volgin" after the Volga River, he invented his own revolutionary name after Siberia's Lena River: Lenin. As the great Austrian economist Ludwig Von Mises explained, his understanding of business was that of a filing clerk. A filing clerk soon to become a ruthlessly fascist tyrant. And today in America, we have our very own Lenin in the White House.
DISCLOSING DEMOCRAT PERFIDY
This week the Senate Republicans rejected - twice - the DISCLOSE Act, Chuck Schumer's legislative counter to the Supreme Court's Citizens United verdict so hated by Democrats. The acronym stands for "Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections" (who dreams up these bill titles - shouldn't they be punished in some way?). Its alleged purpose is to reveal who is behind the funding which fuels our election system. Often in life, disclosure is a good thing. There are few more liberating sensations than being honest. The pressure of keeping a secret is intense, which is why the saying "getting something off your chest" expresses so well the deliverance one feels in being honest and open. When I was a lobbyist, honesty and openness were the last things we wanted. In fact, we went to pains to avoid disclosing vital information about our efforts.
THE RACE CARD HAS BECOME A JOKE
It's crumpled, tattered and smudged from overuse, but it's the only card Democrats and liberal journalists have left to play, so expect them to play the race card even more. The economy sucks, and they hate his health care plan. But that isn't why Americans have soured on President Barack Hussein Obama, says the executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus. Opposition is racially motivated, Angela Rye declared. Her evidence? Crossroads GPS, the Karl Rove SuperPAC, used the word "cool" in an ad. I promise this is true, I didn't make it up. "Persistent racial animosity" undergirds opposition to the president, agreed New York Magazine columnist John Heilemann, who felt no need to produce evidence of any kind to back up that accusation. The facts say otherwise, but expect the Dems to keep playing the race card all the way to November. We should encourage them to, for the more they do, the more it becomes a joke.
ROMNEY’S SOLUTION ON A BUMPER STICKER
When Barack Obama announced that he again wanted to increase taxes on the top 2 percent of taxpayers, I would have recommended to Mitt Romney that he reply by saying: "President Obama has called for a tax increase on job creators, which will only fund the government for eight days, while I have an economic growth program that will fund the government for eight years and beyond." Mr. Romney is being justifiably criticized for not delivering a clear and concise description of his economic plan. Since he has not done it, I will give it shot. I can make it so consise, in fact, I can put it on a bumper sticker.
HALF-FULL REPORT 07/13/12
It's Friday the 13th, a date that fills many with dread. There's a cool word for our fear of it - friggatriskaidekaphobia. Friday the 13th has been considered a bad luck day for thousands of years, because it combines two ancient superstitions: *13 is an unlucky number. In numerology, 12 is the number of completeness. 13 transgresses it. The Code of Hammurabi (1700 BC) skips the number 13, presumably because of its unluckiness. There were 13 Apostles with Matthias replacing Judas who caused Jesus' Crucifixion, which, you'll recall, took place on a Friday... *which is named after a Norse goddess (Frigg or Freya), who early Christians associated with witchcraft. It is allegedly she who set the size of a witches' coven at 13. Friday was execution day in ancient Rome. The friggatriskaidekaphobists among you may regard it as an ill omen that I'm filling in for Jack Wheeler on the HFR this week, while he skulks around the Iranian border in Nagorno-Karabagh. For Zero and the Obamunists, every day this week was Friday the 13th.