Miscellany: 6/29/13

Quote of the Day
People are more easily led than driven.
David Harold Fink

Earlier One-Off Post: "An Uncle, Generation Next and Politics"

Obama and "Words, Just Words"

Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" - Luke 9:18

Obama would never be welcome in my folks' home. The reason I know is from the evidence in the photos of Obama at "work" below. I remember on Christmas break typing a graduate philosophy paper; I was sitting on a rocking chair at a desk in the living room. I was bracing my socked feet on a couple of drawers to stabilize against rocking. My Mom called out once, "Feet off the furniture!' She didn't ask a second time; she had my middle brother pull the rocker out from under me, which I never saw coming. In mid-stroke. I found myself crashing on the floor, my glasses flying off. I fought off the urge to go after the sibling; he was only doing what my mom told him to do. As for Obama putting his shoes on the people's furniture, not his own, the word I would use came out in prior iterations of the Pew survey: "arrogant".

So I can just see "The One" with his pollsters, asking them, "What do the voters say I am?" We have a good idea. Among the top 5 most recent words include "incompetent" and "liar" (as the music business would say, rising with a bullet up the charts). To show how the post-partisan has brought people together, the term that tied with 'liar' was 'honest'. 'Socialist' has been common across charts. Dropping on the charts: 'intelligent'.

Phoros Courtesy of Daily Mail

Another Obama Epic Failure: Deliberate Ambiguity on Keystone

As per Forbes:

In his speech [June 25] at Georgetown, Obama said that the Keystone XL pipeline would only be approved if it “does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”

Is there any intelligent person on earth whom doesn't realize this is a doublespeak load of crap? First, in a world where oil exports are in demand, Canadian oil will find a customer; China is willing to buy up every drop the US doesn't. Moreover, a significant percentage of our oil is still imported; do we want to buy it from a friendly supplier or from an unstable region supplier? The bottom line is our oil demand has not really been increasing from a rate of 20M barrels daily. Oil is essentially fungible: we don't care where it comes from. (I'm oversimplifying somewhat: there are some differences between light/sweet and heavy oil, the latter being more difficult to refine) Oil that displaces other suppliers' doesn't really add to "carbon pollution" (i.e., carbon dioxide, needed for vegetation). Second, if Canadian oil isn't processed in US refineries, US refineries can process oil from other foreign countries lacking refinery capacity. The pipeline itself would add very little to the carbon problem, particularly in relation to  other modes of transport, like oil tankers, trucks, etc.

You would think Obama would simply declare victory given market share gained by cleaner burning natural gas at the expense of coal plants, courtesy of private sector fracking supplies....

Beyond the Scope of SCOTUS: Real Love, Marriage, and Family









Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Henry Payne and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups Redux

The Beatles, "Do You Want To Know A Secret?"