High Ground Underground

The Middle East Democrat Senator Menendez has been extremely critical of this president’s Iran “negotiating” policy.  As with all his other “negotiations,” the other side comes out ahead – they just get more time to shorten the breakout time for nuclear capability.  Now Congress is going forward with a bill to ratchet up sanctions against Iran if yet another "deadline" slips -- kicking the can down the road is what Obama does best. Obama says the bill will be harmful to negotiations, and he'll veto it.  There may be enough non-Kool-Aid-drinking Democrats to override his veto. Krauthammer on Iran’s growing dominance of the Arab world:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-irans-emerging-empire/2015/01/22/c3098336-a269-11e4-903f-9f2faf7cd9fe_story.html?wprss=rss_charles-krauthammer And here’s an even bleaker picture of the Arab world, painted by a Lebanese intellectual:  http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/char...

Presidents’ Day As has become somewhat of a personal tradition, one of my Presidents’ Day activities was patriotically working on my tax returns.  Got to keep our government solvent, at least for a while longer.  Although more and more it seems like pouring money into a black hole.  And lest anyone take that racially, I do have an astronomy blog, and know whereof I speak. While engaging in that tax-paying tradition, I look forward to being entertained by 2 radio shows that also have a Presidents’ Day tradition.  Michael Medved highlights certain presidents, and today it was the worst presidents in U.S. history – Buchanan, Johnson, Hoover , Carter.  And no doubt also soon to be welcomed into the ranks – Barack Obama.  Then Hugh Hewitt had a history expert go through all the presidents briefly, including shining stars like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Grant, Coolidge (surprisingly), Eisenhower (also surprisingly) and Reagan.  State ...

Pres. Obama’s SOTU speech was more of his best oratory, following on the Tucson shooting memorial speech. Following his “shellacking” in Nov., he seems to be verbally rising to the challenge, and perhaps firing the first shots (oops! -- censor that!) of the 2012 campaign. There were plenty of lofty goals & American cheerleading (for a change) we can all agree on, as evidenced by some bipartisan applause. They hearken back to the “hope & change” mantra (which has produced only the worst of the latter). But the devil is in the details, and while he gave lip service to free enterprise and the deficit crisis, his policies boiled down to continuing significant government “investment” & meddling, and no significant cuts in the deficit. And there the “bipartisanship” ended. And his record of delivering any positive results for all his “change” in the 1st 2 years is abysmal, as even many of his formerly ardent supporters are lamenting. The gap between his words, actions and r...

Here’s a translation of excerpts of the State of the Union speech for those who haven’t yet mastered Obamaspeak. The quotes are rough based on scribbled notes, and the translation or occasional commentary follows. “After one of the most difficult years in our history...”  That’s why even I, the Great One, haven’t been able to deliver on promises. “I’ve cut several taxes....[looking at GOP side that didn’t applaud] I thought that’d get some applause”  Now that I’ve lost my 60 seat lock, I’ve got to throw you jerks some bones, even though they’re very small potatoes compared with the other tax & spending hikes, and of course I know you’re too stupid to realize that. “The stimulus bill will create 1 ½ million jobs in the future”  Trust me on this, just like when I promised a maximum 8% unemployment, made a small error of 1.9 trillion in the deficit, promised bipartisanship & inclusion & CNN coverage, etc., etc.,...... “Jobs is the #1 focus – a new bill will give small bu...