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Tuesday, May 13 - 07:48 PM
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Too "Complex"?
Townhall.com, by Thomas Sowell Original article
Original Post
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Tuesday, May 13 - 04:58 AM
Some people think that the reason the public misunderstands so many issues is that these issues are too "complex" for most voters. But is that really so?
With all the commotion in the media and in politics about the high price of gasoline, is there really some terribly complex explanation?
Is there anything complex about the fact that with two countries-- India and China-- having rapid economic growth, and with combined populations 8 times that of the United States, they are creating an increased demand for the world's oil supply?
The problem is not that supply and demand is such a complex explanation. The problem is that supply and demand is not an emotionally satisfying explanation. For that, you need melodrama, heroes and villains.
It is clear that many people prefer to blame President Bush. Others prefer to blame the oil companies, who have long been the favorite villains of the left.
Jimmy Carter’s Second Term - Barack Obama campaigns to bring back the Carter administration.
American Spectator, by Jeffrey Lord Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Tuesday, May 13 - 04:44 AM
You have to admit it takes guts. Audacity, even.
Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive nominee of the Democrats, has in essence just defeated the heiress of the Clinton era by campaigning as the heir-apparent of the Carter era.
The question for the rest of the year is this: Are there enough voting Americans who survived the disastrous odyssey through the late 1970s that was led by blessedly now ex-president Jimmy Carter? While Ronald Reagan is rated in poll after poll by Americans as a great president, (most recently he rated second only to Lincoln), are there enough people who recall that Reagan's election came about because of Carter's...ahhh..."performance" in the Oval Office? And will they be able to make the Obama-Carter connection for younger voters hearing terms like "windfall profits tax" for the first time? More to the point, can Senator John McCain do this?
One in Five Democrats Set to Defect to McCain, Polls Show
CNSNews.com, by Fred Lucas Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Tuesday, May 13 - 04:40 AM
(CNSNews.com) - A string of polls conducted by the Suffolk University Political Research Center over the past month--in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and, now, West Virginia--show that roughly 20 percent of Democratic primary voters are ready to vote for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in November if their choice candidate isn't the nominee.
The latest survey, which questioned 600 likely voters in Tuesday's West Virginia Democratic presidential primary, shows Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) trouncing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the national front-runner, by 36 points in West Virginia, 60 percent to 24 percent.
Obama may be his party's presumptive nominee, but the Suffolk University poll indicates it is unlikely he can carry this battleground state that Democrats have won in eight of the last 12 presidential elections.
US elections: Hillary Clinton thank you video signals pull-out
Telegraph (UK), by Alex Spillius in Washington Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Tuesday, May 13 - 04:30 AM
A video sent by Hillary Clinton as a thank you to her supporters has fuelled speculation that she is on the verge of dropping out of the White House race, with its strikingly valedictory tone.
The senator was also heard inadvertently referring to the next president as “he” as attention turned to how she could make a graceful exit from a gruelling, 17-month contest.
As she continued campaigning for today’s primary in West Virginia, the former First Lady thanked her followers for “all that you mean to me” and “for what you believe in”.
Nowhere in the message did she mention winning the Democratic nomination or becoming president.
The Challenge From China
WSJ.com, by MARK HELPRIN Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Tuesday, May 13 - 04:25 AM
Even as our hearts go out to the Chinese who have perished in the earthquake, we cannot lose sight of the fact that every day China is growing stronger. The rate and nature of its economic expansion, the character and patriotism of its youth, and its military and technical development present the United States with two essential challenges that we have failed to meet, even though they play to our traditional advantages.
The first of these challenges is economic, the second military. They are inextricably bound together, and if we do not attend to both we may eventually discover in a place above us a nation recently so impotent we cannot now convince ourselves to look at the blow it may strike. We may think we have troubles now, but imagine what they will be like were we to face an equal.
Rethinking the Iraq critics
Washington Times, by Michael Barone Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Tuesday, May 13 - 04:20 AM
In trying to understand news about the conflicts in Iraq, I work to keep in mind the difference between what we know now about decisionmaking in World War II and what most Americans knew at the time. From the memoirs and documents published after the war, we've learned how leaders made critical judgments. But at the time, even well-informed journalists only could guess at what was going on behind the scenes.
Today we're only beginning to learn about what went on behind the scenes on Iraq. One important new source is the recently published "War and Decision" by Douglas Feith, the No. 3 civilian at the Pentagon from 2001 to 2005. Mr. Feith quotes extensively from unpublished documents and contemporary memoranda, just as in the late 1940s Robert Sherwood did in "Roosevelt and Hopkins" and Winston Churchill did in his World War II histories.
Obama not at home in W.Va.
Washington Times, by Andrea Billups Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Tuesday, May 13 - 04:15 AM
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Here in the Mountain State, where faith, firearms and patriotism are bedrock, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is failing to connect, trailing in the run-up to today's primary election by 40 points in some polls.
In a state where 16 percent of residents have undergraduate degrees and the median family income is about $12,000 less than the national average, it is no surprise to natives that Mr. Obama, an Ivy Leaguer, is not resonating with their blue-collar culture.
"I'm not sure he knows how to communicate well in rural environments," said Brian Alley, a hurricane aviation consultant and independent voter who added that he has not settled on a candidate to support. "He comes across as more of a professional-type person, much more sophisticated than even Clinton or Bush."
Stop Believing Obama - The Illinois senator's dance on Hamas is the latest blow to his credibility.
American Spectator, by Philip Klein Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Monday, May 12 - 05:31 AM
David Axelrod laughed.
We were in the spin room following last month's debate in Philadelphia, and I had just asked Barack Obama's chief strategist to respond to a statement made by a top Hamas adviser endorsing Obama's candidacy, and favorably comparing the young Illinois Senator to John F. Kennedy.
"I like John Kennedy too," Axelrod responded. "That's about the only thing we have in common with this gentleman from Hamas. We all agree that John Kennedy was a great president, and it's flattering when anybody says that Barack Obama would follow in his footsteps."
Just a few days later, Obama was asked, at a diner stopover, about Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas, and his response was, "I'm just going to eat my waffle."
Wind ($23.37) v. Gas (25 Cents)
WSJ.com, by Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Monday, May 12 - 05:27 AM
Congress seems ready to spend billions on a new "Manhattan Project" for green energy, or at least the political class really, really likes talking about one. But maybe we should look at what our energy subsidy dollars are buying now.
Some clarity comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), an independent federal agency that tried to quantify government spending on energy production in 2007. The agency reports that the total taxpayer bill was $16.6 billion in direct subsidies, tax breaks, loan guarantees and the like. That's double in real dollars from eight years earlier, as you'd expect given all the money Congress is throwing at "renewables." Even more subsidies are set to pass this year.
An even better way to tell the story is by how much taxpayer money is dispensed per unit of energy, so the costs are standardized. For electricity generation, the EIA concludes that solar energy is subsidized to the tune of $24.34 per megawatt hour, wind $23.37 and "clean coal" $29.81. By contrast, normal coal receives 44 cents, natural gas a mere quarter, hydroelectric about 67 cents and nuclear power $1.59.
McCain Promises 'Serious Action' on Global Warming
CNSNews.com , by Glen Johnson, Associated Press Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Monday, May 12 - 05:20 AM
Phoenix (AP) - Republican John McCain, reaching out to both independents and green-minded social conservatives, argues that global warming is undeniable and the country must take steps to bring it under control while adhering to free-market principles.
In remarks prepared for delivery Monday at a Portland, Ore., wind turbine manufacturer, the presidential contender says expanded nuclear power must be considered to reduce carbon-fuel emissions. He also sets a goal that by 2050, the country will reduce carbon emissions to a level 60 percent below that emitted in 1990.
"For all of the last century, the profit motive basically led in one direction -- toward machines, methods and industries that used oil and gas," said McCain. "Enormous good came from that industrial growth, and we are all the beneficiaries of the national prosperity it built. But there were costs we weren't counting, and often hardly noticed. And these terrible costs have added up now, in the atmosphere, in the oceans and all across the natural world."
McConnell: Democrats will 'turn us into France'
Washington Times, by S.A. Miller and Sean Lengell Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Monday, May 12 - 05:17 AM
The Senate's top Republican says Democrats' sights are set on European-style socialism, and derided likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama's claims of being a unifier — one of the major selling points the Illinois Democrat makes on the campaign trail.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a likely preview of the Republican line of attack in the general election, said Democratic leaders and Mr. Obama "get up every morning with three things on their minds: more taxes, more regulation and more litigation."
"It's pretty clear to me that the Democratic agenda is to turn us into France," the Kentucky Republican told The Washington Times in an unusually blunt interview at his office in the Capitol. "Americans may want change, but the question is, what kind of change?"
Clinton's records vanished after warning
Washington Times, by Jerry Seper Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Monday, May 12 - 04:51 AM
Hillary Rodham Clinton's Rose Law Firm billing records, found in the White House residence in January 1996 two years after they had been subpoenaed by government regulators, disappeared shortly after the first lady was warned that the firm's billing problems were "very serious" and the then-ongoing Whitewater investigation could result in criminal charges, newly obtained records show.
More than 1,100 pages of grand jury testimony, investigative reports, memos, charging documents, chronologies, narratives and draft indictments, previously undisclosed but now being "processed" at the Library of Congress, say Mrs. Clinton knew considerably more about the firm's billing problems and their potential ramifications than she publicly acknowledged at the time.
Anti-Hate Group Decries Ex-Florida Governor Graham Speaking At Event With CAIR’s Altaf Ali
PipeLineNews.org, by Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Sunday, May 11 - 05:10 AM
May 10, 2008 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Americans Against Hate, a Florida based civil rights and terrorism watchdog group, is protesting an "interfaith" event to be held today at the Miami Lakes Congregational Church.
Scheduled speakers include Altaf Ali, the Executive Director of the Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR] and former U.S. Senator and Florida Governor Bob Graham.
According to Americans Against Hate Chairman, Joe Kaufman, Ali was recently disinvited from a similar prayer breakfast after the organization's ties to Hamas were revealed.
In an interview with PipeLineNews, Mr. Kaufman stated:
Mississippi's Tort Reform Triumph
WSJ.com, by STEPHEN MOORE Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Saturday, May 10 - 04:13 AM
For most of the past 30 years, Mississippi has ranked as one of the poorest as well as one of the most litigious states. The two statistics are related.
I met with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour recently, and this politician, best known for helping his state rebuild after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, had a lot to say about lawsuits.
"We were America's No. 1 judicial hell hole for jackpot jury verdicts," the two-term Republican governor told me. "For trial lawyers, this was the state you wanted to come to if you wanted to sue someone."
But it was not the state to come to if you wanted to start a business. Mississippi's antibusiness reputation was so awful, Mr. Barbour said, that the CEOs of several Fortune 500 companies told him specifically that they wouldn't consider locating in the state unless the tort system was fixed.
US elections: Obama plans to declare victory
Telegraph (UK), by Alex Spillius in Washington Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Saturday, May 10 - 04:07 AM
Senator Barack Obama plans to push Senator Hillary Clinton out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in 10 days' time, his aides have said.
By May 20, when Kentucky and Oregon go the polls, he expects to have achieved a majority of "pledged" delegates, who will help nominate the presidential candidate.
Mrs Clinton, who is battling on despite losing heavily in North Carolina and winning only narrowly in Indiana on Tuesday, needs a hefty majority of the 795 "super-delegates" – party officials not tied by primaries – to overturn the popular will in order to win.
Mr Obama, who is already developing his campaign against the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, gave every indication that May 20 would prove a red letter day after nearly 16 months of campaigning.
9 more superdelegates endorse Barack Obama
LA Times, by Robin Abcarian and Bob Drogin Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Saturday, May 10 - 04:02 AM
ALBANY, ORE -- Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton each insisted Friday that the race for the Democratic presidential nomination wasn't over, even as Obama racked up at least nine more superdelegate commitments -- including another Clinton defector.
While Clinton contrasted their healthcare policies and Obama took aim at presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, media and supporters pressed the Illinois senator on whether he would ask Clinton to join his ticket and help retire her campaign debts.
Clinton pushes swing-state strategy
Washington Times, by Christina Bellantoni Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Saturday, May 10 - 03:56 AM
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's top aides yesterday accused Sen. Barack Obama of ignoring West Virginia, saying Democrats must win the state in the fall and using her 43-point poll lead there as evidence that her longshot bid deserves to run its course.
"What is the basis for the so-called 'presumptive nominee' not competing in a state that would be a key swing state?" Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson asked reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, adding that a Tuesday victory could be a turning point for his boss.
A 15-point win for Mrs. Clinton, "in an atmosphere in which she is being written off and told to leave the campaign, if voters hearing that in West Virginia decided to choose to affirm her candidacy despite that, I think that would say something significant about her ability to compete and win votes in a very tough environment," he said.
Ethanol as cause of food crisis 'flat-out wrong'
Washington Times, by David R. Sands and Stephen Dinan Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Saturday, May 10 - 03:52 AM
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer yesterday said U.N. and other international aid officials are "flat-out wrong" to call U.S. ethanol production from corn a major factor in world food shortages and riots.
Mr. Schafer, a longtime proponent of biofuels, vehemently disputed efforts by the leaders of the World Bank and the U.N. World Food Program to blame ethanol for rising world food prices. He said his department calculates that competition between food and biofuels accounts only for up to 3 percent of food price increases.
"Only a very small portion of this problem is ethanol driven," Mr. Schafer said in an interview with The Washington Times. Global food prices have risen 45 percent since mid-2007.
Oil Lobby Reaches Out to Citizens Peeved at the Pump
Washington Post, by Jeffrey H. Birnbaum Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Friday, May 9 - 05:13 AM
Faced with a national outcry over the high price of gasoline and soaring profits for energy companies, the oil and gas industry is waging an unusually pricey campaign to burnish its image.
The American Petroleum Institute, the industry's main lobby, has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign, which includes advertising in the nation's largest newspapers, news conferences in many state capitals and trips for bloggers out to drilling platforms at sea.
The intended audience is elected officials and the public, with an emphasis on the latter. The industry is trying to convince voters -- who, in turn, will make the case to their members of Congress -- that rising energy prices are not the producers' fault and that government efforts to punish the industry, especially with higher taxes, would only make pricing problems worse.
The Clinton Divorce
WSJ.com, by Original article
Posted by:
PipeLineStaff
on Friday, May 9 - 05:06 AM
No, we don't mean Bill and Hillary. We mean the separation now under way between the Clintons and the Democratic Party. Like all divorces after lengthy unions, this one is painful and has had its moments of reconciliation, but after Tuesday a split looks inevitable. The long co-dependency is over.
Truth be told, this was always a marriage more of convenience than love. The party's progressives never did like Bill Clinton's New Democrat ways, but after Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis they needed his epic political gifts to win back the White House. They hated him for their loss of Congress in 1994, but they tolerated Dick Morris and welfare reform to keep the presidency in 1996.
