|
THE WIZARD OF ID EXPLAINS DEMOCRACY |
|
|
|
Written by To The Point News
|
|
Friday, 11 June 2010 |
|
|
Read more...
|
|
HALF-FULL REPORT 06/04/10 |
|
|
|
Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
|
|
Friday, 04 June 2010 |
We begin with a happy announcement. Thanks to TTP's one
and only Miko, To The Point is now on Facebook!
Get on board, connect with your fellow
TTPers, get all your friends on board too.
Have fun and spread the TTP word.
Thanks, Miko!!
***
When I saw my friend Sara Carter's report yesterday (6/03)
in the Washington
Examiner about the Mexican government opening a satellite consular
office
on Catalina Island in California
to provide illegal Mexican immigrants with identification cards, I sent
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher the following email:
"Dana - since Catalina is in your district, when are you
going to take action against this?"
Well, I almost sent it, for at the very time I was about to push the
"Send"
button, I learned that Dana had already flown to Catalina that very
morning and was proceeding to embarrass
the
Mexican officials there into shutting their operation down. Is
he our kind of Congressista or what?
As most of you know, he's been my buddy for 44 years. I'm
prouder of him than ever. Glad I didn't push that Send
button though.
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
OBAMA IN OKINAWA |
|
|
|
Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
|
|
Thursday, 03 June 2010 |
Yukio Hatoyama is a weird guy, so weird his countrymen have
nicknamed him "E.T.", the Extraterrestrial.
What possessed the
people of Japan to, 8½ months
ago (Sept. 2009),
select Yukio Hatoyama as their Prime Minister is a mystery for
historians to
unravel. He screwed things up so badly
with such a massive mix of incompetence and corruption that yesterday
(6/02) he
resigned.
The excuse he gave
was Okinawa.
Yes, Okinawa. No one in mainland Japan really cares about Okinawa. No
one, certainly, in Hatoyama's party - the DJP (Democratic Party of
Japan) - which
won a landslide victory that sent the long-ruling LDP (Liberal
Democratic
Party) into the political wilderness last September.
What DJP
politicians care about is preserving their power - which they look sure
to lose
in the upcoming elections next month, July 11.
Heading towards electoral disaster, they threw Hatoyama under the
bus. Okinawa is just the cover
story.
Now - do you know
of any other political party that won a landslide victory in their
country's
last election, and is now staring Electoral Armageddon in the face
because of
the gargantuan incompetence, corruption, and unpopularity of its leader?
Any party, any leader, any country come to
mind?
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
|
COMMENCEMENT 2010 |
|
|
|
Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
|
|
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 |
[This commencement address was originally published five
years ago. We rerun it annually at college graduation time. Feel quite
free to send this to any recent college graduate you may know.]
Mr. Chancellor, Members of the Board of Regents, Members of the Faculty,
Honored Graduates, Families and Friends:
It's funny that they call this ceremony a Commencement, for you've all
reached
the finish line: college, goodbye, we're outta here. Yet of course,
"commencement" means a beginning, not an end.
But one is supposed to at least start - commence - a talk such as this
by
saying funny things. So I'll start by talking about Clark Gable
movies. If you've heard of Clark Gable at all, you know he was the
biggest movie star in Hollywood a
long time ago. His most famous movie was Gone With The Wind.
He made a movie in 1955 called The Tall Men with Jane Russell as
his
girlfriend and Robert Ryan as the heavy. It's a pretty ordinary Western
flick with outlaws and cowboys and Indians - and at the end, Ryan, the
bad guy,
and his henchmen get the drop on Gable, the good guy, and all seems
lost.
Suddenly, surprise, Gable outfoxes Ryan and triumphs. Gable makes his
exit, and after he does, Ryan delivers a line that I want you to never
forget.
Serendipity is funny, a very funny thing, finding something where you
least
expect it. Out of the blue, out of a movie awash with pedestrian
dialogue, comes a line so profound it detonates inside your brain. Ryan
turns
to his men and says:
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
THE MEDIA IS SINGING ALONG WITH B.B. KING |
|
|
|
Written by Jack Kelly
|
|
Thursday, 03 June 2010 |
"I felt this thrill going up my leg,"
MSNBC's
Chris Matthews famously said after hearing Barack Obama speak during the
2008
campaign.
But after the president's news conference
last
week (5/27), Matthews and the Obama-worshipping media are singing along
with blues great B.B. King, The Thrill Is Gone.
The thrill is gone
The thrill is gone away
The thrill is gone baby
The thrill is gone away
You know you done me wrong baby
And you'll be sorry someday
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
|
WHY SHOULD WE ASSUME OBAMA WANTS PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST? |
|
|
|
Written by Frank Gaffney
|
|
Thursday, 03 June 2010 |
In hindsight, it probably will be obvious that the missteps of the Obama
administration vis-a-vis Israel
were critical catalysts to a war that today seems ever more likely to
engulf
the Middle East, and perhaps the world more generally.
Assuming - assuming - such an outcome is neither the intention of the
president and his team nor is desired by them, American course
corrections must
be taken urgently.
Throughout their 17 months
in
office, the president and his senior subordinates have been at pains to
demonstrate a more "evenhanded" approach to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict
and to "engage" the Moslem "world."
The practical effect, however, has been to excuse, empower and embolden
those hostile not just to Israel,
but to the United States
as well. Consider just a few ominous examples:
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
|
THE PROBLEM IS TURKEY, NOT ISRAEL |
|
|
|
Written by Ralph Peters
|
|
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 |
The "aid convoy" incident off the coast of Gaza
on May 30 wasn't about bringing humanitarian supplies to the
terrorist-ruled
territory. It wasn't even about Israel.
It was about Turkey's
determination to position itself as the leading Moslem state in the
Middle
East.
Three ships of that six-ship pro-terror convoy flew Turkish flags and
were
crowded with Turkish citizens. The Ankara
government -- led by Islamists these days -- sponsored the "aid"
operation in a move to position itself as the new champion of the
Palestinians.
And Turkish decision-makers knew Israel
would have to react -- and were waiting to exploit the inevitable clash.
The
provocation was as cynical as it was carefully orchestrated.
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
|
CAPITALISM AND COMPASSION |
|
|
|
Written by Dr. Joel Wade
|
|
Friday, 04 June 2010 |
It is popular to talk about compassion, empathy and caring in terms of
what
you give away: you give to charity, you donate your time and goods to
worthy
causes, you "give back" to the community.
These are all noble and good things (though I have a real problem with
the
phrase "to
give
back"). Expressing kindness and giving assistance when needed can be
a
great joy and satisfaction in life.
But none of these acts of charity can hold a candle to the benevolent
effect
of capitalism on humanity.
My wife and I both had occasion to visit the former Soviet Union a
couple of
decades ago (isn't that great to be able to say: "former Soviet
Union?); me as an extension of a trip through Eastern
Europe that I took with Jack, she as part of a tour with the modern
dance
company she was in.
I went as a person who already had strong libertarian/conservative
convictions,
she went as a person who thought she was a liberal, and who voted
Democrat
because she mistakenly thought that they stood for liberty.
I came away from that trip much stronger in my convictions. She came
home as
a person who had dramatically changed her political views.
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
|
SARAH PARA BELLUM |
|
|
|
Written by To The Point News
|
|
Friday, 04 June 2010 |
On May 29, 1943, with the outcome of World War II still very much in doubt,
the cover of the Saturday Evening Post was a Norman Rockwell painting
that
quickly became an iconic expression of America's
determination to defeat a deadly enemy.
It was a painting of a woman - an aircraft assembly-line
worker with a rivet gun in her lap taking a lunch break: Rosie
the
Riveter.
While there was a real life Rosie - Rose Will Monroe from
Somerset, Kentucky, who worked in a Ford factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan
building B-29 and B-24 bombers - Rockwell took for his inspiration
Michelangelo's painting of the prophet Isaiah on the ceiling of the
Sistine
Chapel.
A modern-day Rockwell who goes by the single name of "Dale"
has now given us a new iconic expression of America's
determination to defeat the deadly enemy she faces today: Sarah
Para
Bellum.
"I
was trying to relate how Sarah Palin fit into the Rosie the Riveter
mold," Dale
says. "Rosie the Riveter was a testament to the women who helped the war
effort
by working in the factories. And Sarah Palin is trying to uphold the
traditions
of traditional America,
which I think is something worth saving."
The
"para bellum," he notes, refers to the famous Roman proverb Si vis
pacem, para bellum - If you want
peace, prepare for war. And if you point
out that para bellum by itself means
"prepare for war," Dale will just raise his eyebrows. He
explains his iconography:
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
HALF-FULL REPORT 05/28/10 |
|
|
|
Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
|
|
Friday, 28 May 2010 |
Fantasies aside, like Zero having a total mental breakdown and resigning, it's not clear how this week could have been realistically better.
The Gulf Oil Spill is rapidly becoming Zero's Katrina. Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu and Democrat guru James Carville - both Louisianan - are just unloading on Zero for his insouciant incompetence. The anger and contempt that lots of Democrats - Democrats - feel towards him now is growing. Even Chrissie Tingle-leg Matthews is blasting him.
More and more Americans are realizing that the "damn hole" that needs to be plugged is the one between Zero's nose and chin, which gushes verbal pollution far more destructive to America than any oil spill.
Then there is Sestak-gate. It is a complete win-win. It torpedoes Sestak's chances to get elected, virtually handing Snarlin' Arlen's PA senate seat to Republican Pat Toomey.
And, as Jack Kelly points out, most people will decide it's the Chicago Boys in the White House who are lying, not a Navy Admiral turned Congressman. Thus it adds to growing public belief that the Zero Regime doesn't tell the truth and cannot be trusted. Adding further is Republican insistence that Attorney General Holder appoint a special prosecutor to investigate what could be an impeachable offense by Zero.
Plus the economy continues to sink, the DOW is tanking, gold is rising and so is unemployment. All of this is great news. The worse things are, the worse things are going to be for the Dems in November. Yep, the glass is more than half-full this week.
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
|
SERENDIPITOUS HOPE FOR THE PROBLEM OF THE WORLD |
|
|
|
Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
|
|
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 |
Purple
Turtle Beach, Dominica. Serendipity is
finding something where you
least expect it. I found it on Purple
Turtle Beach.
This is just about the only appreciable beach on Dominica (da-ma-neek-ka),
a tiny island
Caribbean nation of 73 thousand folks, 290 square miles (less than 1/5th
the size of Rhode Island), and 365 rivers - more than one river per
square
mile. (You saw a couple of these rivers
in the Pirates of the Caribbean
movies filmed on Dominica.)
I'm here keeping a promise to an extraordinary lady I met 25
years ago. Eugenia Charles was Prime
Minister of Dominica in the 1980s, an ally of America's
and friend of Ronald Reagan. When a
Soviet-Cuban sponsored coup seized control of the island nation of
Grenada
in 1983 and began converting it into a Communist colony of the Kremlin,
Eugenia
Charles, in her capacity of chairman of the Organization of Eastern
Caribbean
States, appealed to President Reagan to liberate Grenada.
As we all know, Reagan did so, but he would not have been
able to without the unwavering support of Eugenia Charles. It
is thanks to her that the rollback of the
Soviet Empire began.
At the time of the Grenada
liberation I was in Angola
with the anti-Soviet UNITA guerrillas. I'll always
remember sitting by a campfire in
the Angolan bush listening to BBC reports on my short-wave radio - and
the
coughs of lions out in the darkness.
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
|
IT IS TIME TO END OUR COMPROMISE WITH TYRANNY |
|
|
|
Written by Dr. Joel Wade
|
|
Friday, 28 May 2010 |
We as conservative/libertarian/constitutionalist people have for many
decades now been drawn into a scenario where we have been continually asked to
compromise with fascism.
At each step, with each new administration - Republican or Democrat,
including even our beloved Ronald Reagan, we have seen the power and centralization
of our federal, state, and local government grow, its intrusion into our lives
expand, and its presence in our daily lives become ever more insidious.
Why do we condone this? How is it that we have allowed our politicians to
betray the principles of our Constitution?
Because we have accepted the premise of moral goodness claimed by those who
would enforce equality of outcome through government force; or, said in slicker
fashion, spreading the wealth around - at the point of a gun.
This premise is wrong strategically, economically, definitionally,
psychologically, culturally, historically, and morally. Here is why, one by one.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
WHO TO BELIEVE – AN ADMIRAL OR A GUY FROM CHICAGO? |
|
|
|
Written by Jack Kelly
|
|
Friday, 28 May 2010 |
Somebody's lying. It probably isn't Rep.
Joe
Sestak, D-Pa. But he's the one most likely to suffer from it.
No sooner had he won an upset victory over Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania's
Democrat primary than he was caught up in a "he said,
she said" with the Obama administration.
In an interview Feb. 18 with Philadelphia
talk show host Larry Kane, Rep. Sestak, a retired Navy
admiral, said he'd been offered a job in the administration if he would
drop his
plans to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter.
Mr. Sestak said the offer came last summer,
but
wouldn't say who made it, or what job he was offered. (The scuttlebut says it was Secretary of the Navy.)
I can't imagine he made up the story.
What would he possibly have to gain? I have no use for Rep. Sestak's
politics, but he seems an honest and straightforward man. In any event,
his reputation for openness and candor is considerably greater than that
of the
Obama administration.
That reputation for candor will suffer if
Rep.
Sestak doesn't provide very soon the critical details:
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
|
EXPECT SOMEONE FAR WORSE AS US INTEL CHIEF |
|
|
|
Written by Jack Kelly
|
|
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 |
He was in way over his head. But the
resignation last Thursday (5/21) of Admiral Dennis Blair as Director of
National Intelligence may have deprived the Obama administration's
intelligence
team of arguably its most capable member.
What may have done in Admiral Blair was a
scathing
report issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee May 19 which
identified 14
"significant intelligence failings" in the case of Umar Adulmuttalab,
the
underwear bomber, who attempted to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day.
The
most serious of these failings were by the National
Counterterrorism Center, which reports directly to the DNI.
So why would the ranking Republican on the
House
Intelligence Committee, Peter Hoekstra, say: "Blair's resignation is the
result
of the Obama administration's rampant politicization of national
security?"
It's an election year. But the bigger
reason
is who the president would rely upon for intelligence advice in lieu of
Mr.
Blair.
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
|
TREASON IN THE WHITE HOUSE – DOES ANYONE CARE? |
|
|
|
Written by Ralph Peters
|
|
Friday, 28 May 2010 |
This week (5/26), the New York
Times
published another front-page article based on a leaked classified
document.
This time, it was an order signed by Gen. David Petraeus authorizing
black
operations against adversaries and such dubious friends as Iran,
Syria, Yemen
and Saudi Arabia.
Gee, thanks. We really needed to know that. The world's a better place
now.
Yet the Times' sin was the lesser one. The paper has long since given up
any
pretense of patriotism. Its editors are
just publishing and perishing as citizens of the world.
It's whoever leaked the document that bears the burn-in-hell
blame.
And that person resides somewhere in the White House.
|
|
Register to read more...
|
|
| | << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
| | Results 106 - 126 of 2201 | |
|