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AMERICAS FUTURE AND THE EAST COAST


Wasilla, Alaska.  As I stand here in a high school gymnasium watching freshmen girls' basketball games, I'm struck by the sight of America's future right in front of me - these tenacious young women full of energy and intensity. I want them to realize every opportunity this great, free nation can provide.

There are big political races on the East Coast that are coming down to the wire - the results of which will impact policies and political actions that touch all of us in every state.

Like other independent Americans, I don't always see eye-to-eye with Republican political committees, so when I tell you that the Republican Governors Association has my complete support and confidence in its campaign efforts back East, know that I really mean it.

The RGA is helping lead the conservative comeback beginning this year, and its involvement in the East Coast races is significant. Let's consider the governor's race in New Jersey.

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WHAT WE HAVE IN COMMON WITH MONARCH BUTTERFLIES


You've probably heard of the spectacular migrations of hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies, which home in on one small region of Mexico for the winter then return as far north as Canada in a flight of thousands of miles that takes more than one generation. Clearly the insects have an inherited "map" of where to go, but what compass do they use?

It seems they have at least two compasses. One is a "time-compensated sun compass," located in their antennae, which calculates bearings from the angle of the sun corrected for the time of day.

But butterflies can also use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate. The butterfly antennae contain a protein molecule called cryptochrome, which can apparently act as a magnetic compass when exposed to blue or violet light. Human beings and other mammals also have a cryptochrome in their retinas, albeit in slightly different form, but until recently it was thought not to have magnetic directional properties.

Recently Dr. Steven M. Reppert of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and his colleagues took the human version of the gene that's the recipe for cryptochrome and genetically engineered it into flies, replacing the flies' own version. They then showed that, presented with two routes in a maze, the flies could choose a magnetic direction they had been trained to associate with a sugar reward, and they did so just as well with the "human" cryptochrome as with their own.

If it is at least possible to use our cryptochrome molecules to sense direction from the Earth's magnetic field, do we?

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HALF-FULL REPORT 05/11/12


It's early morning, but I know it's going to be a long day - and a fun one.  How so much cool stuff can get crammed into a single week, and how I can concisely fit it all into this HFR, is bewildering.  Sit back and enjoy.  Off we go.

This was a baaaaaaad-to-the-bone week for Zero and the Dems.  May 8th was Black Tuesday for them, simply disastrous. 

In Wisconsin, the desperate last gasp of the public unions to keep their gravy train rolling went right off the rails.  Gov. Scott Walker, whom they are rabidly trying to recall, got more votes in his primary than the two main Dems got in theirs combined

In West Virginia, Zero lost 42% of the vote in the Democrat Presidential Primary to a fellow named Keith Judd.  Keith is not from West Virginia.  He currently lives in Texas, where he resides at the Texarkana Federal Prison as Inmate 11593-051.

In Judd's bio on VoteSmart, he lists his religion as "Rastafarian-Christian," and his mother as actress Lillian Russell, who died in 1922.  He was born in 1958.  Obviously, no West Virginian voted for this weirdo, they voted against Zero.  Why?  Because they hate his guts.  Zero is destroying their state with his religious war against coal.

Something this absurd is more than a humiliating joke upon President Gutsy Call.  It's a portent. Tens of millions of Americans in every state are West Virginians now.  They hate Zero's guts for what he has done to their country and what he has done to their lives and livelihoods.  They would vote for Keith Judd, Mickey Mouse, or a Yellow Dog before voting for him. 

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THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE: MORE GOVERNMENT SPENDING KILLS JOBS


Do increases in government spending increase or decrease the number of jobs?

Conventional wisdom is they will increase jobs, and a few left-wing economists, such as Paul Krugman of the New York Times, frequently are trotted out by reckless politicians and some in the news media to argue that we need more government spending in order to create jobs.

If this were true, we should be able to see it in the historical evidence, so let's look at the numbers.

Government spending grows each year, but what is relevant is whether it is increasing or decreasing as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) and how it relates to the percentage of the adult labor force at work. As can be seen in the chart below , since 1929 there is an inverse relationship between increasing the size of government and job creation.

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THE BLACK NORKS OF ERITREA


Asmara, Eritrea.  I came here to see if the rumor is true, that Eritrea is the North Korea of Africa. 

Strategically situated at the entrance to Red Sea, it's ruled by Isaias Afewerki (ah-for-key), ranked by international agencies as one of the world's worst dictators, in the same league as Robert Mugabe, Kim Jong-il, and the Castro brothers.

The Heritage Foundation's Index of World Freedom ranks Eritrea #176 out of 179 countries.  Transparency International's Index of Corruption ranks it as one of the world's most corrupt countries.  Reporters Without Borders' Press Freedom Index ranks it as having the least press freedom on earth along with North Korea.

There are a number of exile opposition groups, in Europe, the US, and elsewhere in Africa that are clamoring and hoping for a Tunis or Cairo in Asmara - a popular revolution that will do to Afewerki what happened to Ben Ali and Mubarak.

Possible but exceedingly improbable.  And therein lies an important lesson for us as we try to recapture our freedom in America.

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A FIGHT FOR AMERICA


The reason I'm running for office in New York's 23rd  Congressional District is because the American Dream is quickly becoming a nightmare.

Unemployment grows, our economy is in crisis, and our elected officials seem out of touch with reality. They are addicted to spending. When they run low on funds they simply create a new tax or raise an old one. Taxes, the deficit, red tape and regulation are breaking the back of the nation, mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren.

Americans have had enough and are vocalizing their anger in town hall meetings and on the streets of Washington. They are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore!

That's why I am running. I am one of them!

Freedom is what Americans want. Economic freedom to reap the rewards of the free enterprise system, personal freedom from the intrusion of big government in our lives, freedom from the nanny state that is being forced upon us.

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THE BREXIT AND THE TEXIT


Last year, Europe's fear was the Grexit - Greece's leaving the EU.  Now, the fear du jour is the Brexit - Britain's departure.

Yet British Prime Minister David Cameron's pledge for an 'in-or-out' referendum on UK membership in the European Union will be overtaken by internal events long before we reach 2017. The vote may never be necessary.

The eurozone's North-South misalignment has not been resolved. The Club Med bloc is still sliding into deeper depression. The financial crisis - never more than a symptom - has graduated into a more intractable economic, social, and therefore political crisis.

Take a moment to read Eurozone crisis: it ain't over yet by Professor Paulo Manasse from Bologna University, posted on VOX EU.

Look at the German-Italian gap below. The two economies have diverged 14% of GDP since 2006 and the split is certain to keep growing this year, next year, and the year after that:

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HALF-FULL REPORT 05/04/12


This has been yet another week in the unfolding saga of The Weirdness of Zero.  We'll start with what the Washington Times calls his Midnight Madness:

"Americans witnessed a bizarre made-for-TV event Tuesday night (5/01). President Obama travelled 14,000 miles to Afghanistan to engage in a midnight marathon of election-year photo-ops. Never has U.S. national security been so twisted to fit a personal political agenda."

This, right on the heels of Zero's I Shot Bin Laden ad which the London Telegraph (5/01) describes as turning "a military triumph into a political disaster."  The ad has Zero looking "so politically tone deaf he makes Joe Biden look like Machiavelli."

And on top of this, we have Zero's Composite New York Girlfriend flap this week (5/02).  The white girlfriend described in Dreams was made up, it turns out - but that's okay by the lib media since the book's preface warned of this.  But it's not okay - for the real story is that she was no pretend composite at all.  She really existed - but she never knew Zero.

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THE DENOUEMENT OF THE DEBT CRISIS


It became increasingly clear last week how the debt crisis will end - and it is not going to be comfortable.


The latest phony solution is for the large, "responsible" countries to demand more fiscal responsibility from the smaller and purportedly "less responsible" countries. In Europe, Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy are demanding that other European states give up some of their sovereignty and agree to strict limits on their deficit spending.

President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, as well as British Prime Minister David Cameron, have been lecturing the European Union about being more fiscally responsible. How odd and hypocritical, based on their own behavior.

The simple fact is that most democracies are unable to police their own fiscal behavior, let alone the behavior of other countriesAs a result, the denouement of the debt crisis is upon us.  Here is what we are facing.

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DYLAN IN YEMEN


They'll stone you when you're trying to be so good
They'll stone you just like they said they would
They'll stone you when you're trying to go home
They'll stone you when you're there all alone
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned

Bob Dylan wasn't thinking of Yemen when he wrote Rainy Day Woman #12 and #35 for his Blonde on Blonde album in 1966 - but might be now.  "Everybody must get stoned" is the motto of the country.

I'm in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, where all those anti-government demonstrations are taking place according to the media, where the next Arab Dictatorship is going to fall as the Great Arab Revolt sweeps ineluctably across the Middle East.

Except there are no demonstrations here.  No tension.  No palpable anger.  There is peace and calm instead.  Everywhere I go, I'm asked where I'm from, and when I say "America," everyone smiles, nods, and says "Welcome."

Yemen's culture is one of the world's oldest, going back 4,000 years.  Yet it is tragically nearing extinction - because everybody must get stoned.  Yemen is killing itself with addiction to a drug called qat.

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A DITHERING DEMAGOGUING WHITE HOUSE THAT IS A DANGER TO AMERICA


[This is the full text of former Vice-President Dick Cheney's speech at the Center for Security Policy award dinner in Washington on October 21, 2009.  To The Point salutes Dick Cheney for his courage, honesty, and great contributions to America who should today be in the White House in place of the anti-American impostor currently occupying it.]

Thank you all very much. Its a pleasure to be here, and especially to receive the Keeper of the Flame Award in the company of so many good friends...And I thank you for the great energy and high intelligence you bring to as vital a cause as there is -- the advance of freedom and the uncompromising defense of the United States.

Most anyone who is given responsibility in matters of national security quickly comes to appreciate the commitments and structures put in place by others who came before. You deploy a military force that was planned and funded by your predecessors.  You inherit relationships with partners and obligations to allies that were first undertaken years and even generations earlier.

With the authority you hold for a little while, you have great freedom of action. And whatever course you follow, the essential thing is always to keep commitments, and to leave no doubts about the credibility of your country's word.

So among my other concerns about the drift of events under the present administration...

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IT’S TIME TO STAND UP TO THE FASCIST BULLIES OF THE LEFT


Who are the most unpleasant people on the internet? Obviously with so much competition, it is, to paraphrase Dr Johnson, like arguing the toss between lice and fleas. Disability rights activists would be a strong contender.  Thanks to them, money which could go to the genuinely needy is instead being hijacked by scroungers and fakes.

Yet this doesn't just apply to disability rights, of course. It applies to almost everything in the political domain. Pick any issue - the environment, education, healthcare, the economy - and time and again you'll find the agenda has been successfully hijacked by a handful of zealots who are not remotely representative of the broader public interest.

Why? Because politicians will do almost anything for a quiet life and find it much easier to buy off noisy troublemakers by capitulating to their demands, however unreasonable, than to take a principled stand.

Also, of course, it's much, much easier for a lobby group to make a powerful, emotive case for more government spending on its favorite deserving cause than it is for the government to explain why it can't afford it.

I don't know about you lot, but I've had just about enough of this apathy, ignorance, purblind denialism and culpable dishonesty.

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HALF-FULL REPORT 04/27/12


Let's start the week with two inspiring antidotes to black racism.  You are likely as sick and tired of black racist guilt-mongering, grievance, threats, and violence as I am. 

All the Twitter threats of riots if George Zimmerman is acquitted.  The "Justice for Trayvon!" beating of Matthew Owens in Mobile.  The "Empty your pockets, white boy" beating in Chicago.  The  group "Trayvon!" beating that will "permanently disfigure" the victim's face, and the mob "Trayvon!" stomping of a man stopping a robbery, both in Gainsville.

Is there a solution?  Here's one:

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Actually, a real one emerged this week.  Maybe two.

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DEMOCRACY VS. BUREAUCRACY


The financial crisis in Europe has resulted in the appointment of new prime ministers in both Greece and Italy, by in reality the Germans and French, rather than through the ballot box in Greece and Italy. This raises the question, "Is it possible to have both a bureaucratic welfare state and a democracy that protects individual liberties?"


In the United States, as well as most other countries, the people are increasingly governed and regulated by unelected bureaucrats who create "administrative law."

The rise of the Bureaucratic State, at least in the U.S., is only about 80 years old. The number of federal employees grew slowly over the first hundred years of the American Republic so by the time of the first Grover Cleveland administration in the 1880s, there were still fewer than 100,000 federal civilian employees. By 1925, the number had grown to about a half a million, and now there are almost 3 million civilian federal government employees, plus another 17 million state and local government employees.

There are two fundamental reasons for this trend:

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THE OPPORTUNITY OF EGYPT


It's a sign of age when you see pictures of two million people massing in Cairo's Tahrir Square, and the very first question that occurs to you is:  How do they all go to the bathroom?

It's a puzzle.  What isn't a puzzle is the next question:  What do these masses of Egyptian demonstrators want?  Let's start the answer by recognizing that it's very clear what they do not want, what they are not chanting and demonstrating for:  Radical Islam and an Iranian-type Islamic theocracy.

Sure they are 90% Moslems (about 10% of Egypt's 80 million are Coptic Christians), and when the muezzin calls out prayer time, the demonstrators kneel en masse to pray.  Yet whenever someone starts shouting religious chants over a loudspeaker, the crowd shouts back for him to stop.

Yes, this is all a moving target.  Yes, thugs from Napoleon to Lenin to Mao to Khomeini succeeded by taking over, not starting, an already ongoing revolution. So yes, Egypt could go sideways and we could have a Islamic mega-disaster.  But there's never opportunity without danger, for dangers are what make opportunities possible.

 Therefore - will all the doomsaying handwringing conservatives please stop their ceaseless worry-worting about the Iqwan - Iqwan Muslimi, the Moslem Brotherhood - and focus on how we can take advantage of the Arab Revolt instead? 

Focus first on three basic facts. 

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