News of the Week
"Hide the Decline" *************** Al Gore's next crusade: in your bed Michael A. Walsh Al Gore, America's loopiest ex-vice president, is at it again. Not content with pocketing a fortune by scaring his fellow citizens with the imaginary boogeyman of "man-made climate change," the prophet of doom now wants everybody to save the planet by -- wait for it -- halting population growth. *************** Sahara Desert Greening Due to Climate Change? James Owen Desertification, drought, and despair—that's what global warming has in store for much of Africa. Or so we hear. War & Terror *************** American Boots Hit the Ground in Somalia After Drone Attacks Adam Clark Estes Somalia is now the sixth country over which the United States is flying attack drones. Last month, the same Special Operations Command unit currently operating in Yemen carried out an attack on two leaders of the Somali militant group al-Shabab in a June 23 mission. *************** The Navy Bought Fake Chinese Microchips That Could Have Disarmed U.S. Missiles Robert Johnson Last year, the U.S. Navy bought 59,000 microchips for use in everything from missiles to transponders and all of them turned out to be counterfeits from China *************** China Exporting Submarines For Pakistans Nuclear Triad *************** DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA ASSUMES PRESIDENCY OF THE CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT The Conference on Disarmament held a plenary meeting this morning in which the Democratic People's Republic of Korea assumed the presidency of the Conference and members bid farewell to the departing ambassadors from Canada and the United Kingdom. *************** Kabul Bombing: Suicide Bombers Attack Hotel in Afghanistan By NICK SCHIFRIN Afghan commandos and international forces tonight regained control of a landmark hotel in Kabul four hours after it was stormed by insurgent gunmen and suicide bombers in one of the most significant attacks in Afghanistan in the past few years. National *************** Obama to Dump Biden for Andrew Cuomo So says Fred Dicker in the NY Post today. It's not as if Obama's in any danger of losing the New York electoral votes, although if Democrats are thinking ahead, it would give them a ready-made candidate for 2016. Upon hearing the rumor, Joe Biden said aloud "Wait, I'm the Vice President?" *************** Union curbs rescue a Wisconsin school district By: Byron York Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signs his first budget in front of supporters gathered at Fox Valley Metal Tech in Ashwaubenon, Wis., on Sunday, June 26, 2011. The budget helped save the struggling Kaukauna School District, in the Fox River Valley of Wisconsin. "This is a disaster," said Mark Miller, the Wisconsin Senate Democratic leader, in February after Republican Gov. Scott Walker proposed a budget bill that would curtail the collective bargaining powers of some public employees. Miller predicted catastrophe if the bill were to become law -- a charge repeated thousands of times by his fellow Democrats, union officials, and protesters in the streets. *************** Gun ranges to be allowed in Chicago under Rahm’s proposal The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Mayor Rahm Emanuel will introduce an ordinance next week to allow gun ranges to operate in Chicago. *************** Sixth Circuit Strikes Down Michigan Civil Rights Initiative Jonathan H. Adler In a divided opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down Michigan’s Proposal 2, aka the “Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.” Proposal 2 was a successful ballot initiative that provides that the state, including state educational institutions, may not “discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.” *************** The People’s Republic of Kalifornia: Unions’ Takeover Nearly Complete *************** Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson could face jail time for ethics violations By Jonathan Strong *************** Blagojevich guilty on 17 counts *************** National Council of La Raza Funding Skyrockets after Obama Hires Its VP by Tom Fitton You probably have seen plenty of evidence of the Obama administration’s hostility to existing immigration law, from supporting illegal alien sanctuary cities, to suspending the deportations of illegal alien criminals, to the infamous Obama administration memo outlining “administrative” ways to bypass Congress and enact illegal alien amnesty. *************** Principal Criticized For Delivering Graduation Speech In Spanish ZEPHYR COVE, Nev. (CBS13) – He congratulated the graduating class of 2011, but one but one principal’s commencement speech actually offended some in the crowd. *************** The Incarceration of Free Speech by velvethammer Were Zachrey Harris’ words contemptible? Most assuredly so. But a jailable offense? Not if you believe in the freedom of speech. Economy
& Taxes *************** Huge Rare Earth Deposits Found in Pacific Vast deposits of rare earth minerals, crucial in making high-tech electronics products, have been found on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and can be readily extracted, Japanese scientists said on Monday. *************** Obama’s Economists: ‘Stimulus’ Has Cost $278,000 per Job The stimulus is now causing the economy to shed jobs. *************** Could China Be the Next Greece? Posted by Roya Wolverson *************** Why the ‘Unexpected’ Keeps Happening Why do so many journalists describe Obama's foreseeable economic failures as “unexpected”? *************** The Forgotten Depression of 1920 by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. It is a cliché that if we do not study the past we are condemned to repeat it. Almost equally certain, however, is that if there are lessons to be learned from an historical episode, the political class will draw all the wrong ones — and often deliberately so. *************** International *************** U.K.: Proof that the Government is tilting at windmills The policy on which our national energy strategy is now centred is a ludicrously expensive, self-defeating joke, says Christopher Booker. *************** DSK’s French Accuser to File Attempted Rape Complaint Tristane Banon’s lawyer insists that even if the American prosecution crumbles, his client’s case is “extremely solid.” *************** Noam Chomsky denounces old friend Hugo Chávez for 'assault' on democracy Renowned American intellectual accuses the Venezuelan leader of concentrating too much power in his own hands *************** Thaksin party wins Thai election by a landslide By Jason Szep and Martin Petty BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's opposition won a landslide election victory on Sunday, led by the sister of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a triumph for red-shirt protesters who clashed with the army last year. *************** The Greek Way of Sorrow How a charismatic politician with the slogan “Change” launched Greece on the path to ruin Thirty years ago this fall, on October 18, 1981, a charismatic academic with rather limited government experience and with a one-word slogan, “Change,” was elected prime minister of Greece. His name was Andreas Papandreou. Greeks may now wish that 30 years ago they had had a Tea Party movement. Things could have turned out differently. *************** Jamaicans Nostalgic For Colonialism Jamaica’s biggest newspaper conducted a poll and got results that were considered shocking: by a 60 percent to 17 percent margin, Jamaicans say they would be better off if they were once again a British colony *************** Putin says Russian 2012 election will be dirty (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that the March 2012 presidential election campaign would be dirty, but stopped short of saying whether he would seek another stint as Kremlin chief. *************** After Chávez What awaits Venezuela if he dies? *************** Greece's crisis, Europe's nemesis The very idea of European union, always a top-down project without popular assent, faces serious questions of legitimacy *************** Silence of Hugo Chávez Fuels Speculation and Rumors What would a future with a diminished or dead Chávez mean for the rest of Latin America and for the United States? *************** Southwestern Chinese city leading ‘red’ revival By Keith B. Richburg CHONGQING, China — With the approach of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China on July 1, the country is being swept up in a wave of orchestrated revolutionary nostalgia. Nowhere is that more so than in Chongqing, this southwestern Chinese mega-city of 32 million people that has become the capital of the “red culture” revival. *************** Police clash with rioters as general strike turns violent Reuters - Greek police clashed with groups of hooded youths in central Athens on Tuesday at the start of two days of strikes and protests against cuts demanded by international lenders as the price for more financial aid. *************** Netherlands abandoning multiculturalism Thomas Lifson In a landmark turnabout, one of the cornerstones of contemporary liberalism is being rejected by one of the fountainheads of liberalism. The politically correct doctrine of multiculturalism is heading for decline, as Holland, one of the most socially liberal societies on earth, is reversing its former policy of multiculturalism. *************** Hugo Chavez's brother talks of armed struggle By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- One of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's brothers said Sunday that backers of the hospitalized leftist leader should not rule out armed struggle in the future, though they prefer to maintain power at the ballot box. *************** Opinion *************** Keep Cool with Coolidge Calvin Coolidge was assailed as “silent Cal”—though who wouldn’t wish more a relatively more silent president these days?—and ridiculed by fashionable people everywhere for saying “the business of America is business.” I’ve got a long passage in the second volume of my Age of Reagan recalling liberal outrage when Reagan put up Coolidge’s portrait in the White House cabinet room in place of Jefferson. *************** The Coming of the Fourth Reich? You — or your kids — will be assimilated: the "liberal" university prepares the totalitarian future. *************** Gay marriage is not an increase in liberty By Maggie Gallagher USA TODAY's Editorial Board is bending over backwards to find a way of engaging the marriage debate that escapes the key question: Is there a reason why marriage is the union of husband and wife, not only in our culture, but in almost every known human society? *************** The Peronist in the White House Controlling the economy, appeasing the masses. *************** She Went by ‘Daddy’ By Glenn T. Stanton My daughter and I were in Manhattan over this weekend so I could do some research at the Met. Waves of people were coming into the city for Sunday’s big gay-pride march, where they could celebrate the Empire State’s new same-sex-marriage law *************** Mexifornia, Quite Literally! By Victor Davis Hanson *************** ‘Gay Marriage,’ Libertarians, and Civil Rights Untangling several confusions. George Weigel *************** There Are No Socialists by Victor Davis Hanson Are There Really Socialists? Two unconnected developments were announced this past week. President Obama is releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, despite the absence of a global embargo or horrific natural disaster — and despite a litany of assertions from 2008 that drilling and increased supply might only have a marginal effect on prices. *************** |
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