Bird Dog should be back tomorrow. Surely, lotsa photos of something or other. -- I've been a good boy, Mrs. She Who Must Be Obeyed, and did not post any photos of the disrobed beauties that MF readers crave. Boooorring.
Congressional report counts real costs of ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion: “The report estimates the health law will cost state taxpayers at least $118.04 billion through 2023--more than double the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) recent estimate of $60 billion through 2021.”
Remember when all children listened to and loved classical music?
Then Meet Jonathan. Along with 5.5-million viewers, start your day with joy and Beethoven’s 5th.
CYA Lawfare against ourselves:
You end up with four or five layers down there taking tucks and you end up with some rules of engagement that don't look like what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs or the Joint Chiefs of Staff or even the Combatant Commander intended. Now why is that? Well, it's fear. It's because of our litigious society. It's because of Congress overseeing things and having hearings.
Understanding PsyOps:
The recent Rolling Stone article by Michael Hastings has brought to the surface a debate over the difference between "inform," "influence" and the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948.
Human Rights Watch criticizes the only democracy in Middle East, but ignores Middle East tyrannies. Its Middle East director must go. – Related: Human Rights Watch founder starts new organization to actually advance human rights.
Egypt's Renegotiation Threat: Oh yea, trust in democracy for a saner Middle East, or let loose its devils?
[A]ll signs indicate that the first casualty of Arab democracy may well be Egypt’s peace with Israel — because so far, Egypt’s opposition has been unanimous in demanding that the treaty be either scrapped entirely or “renegotiated” out of existence....And while “renegotiating” the treaty may sound less threatening than scrapping it altogether, it isn’t. For the two items most Egyptians want to renegotiate are precisely those that made the treaty viable for Israel: one essential to its economic security, and one to its physical security. [Israel returned Sinai to Egypt, after capturing it in 1967 when Egypt invaded Israel, for supposedly secure supplies of Egyptian oil and the demilitarization of Sinai.]
A Word of Caution for The "Blame Obama" Crowd: History Can Bite Back
Fla. Federal judge tells Obama admin to get a move on if ObamaCare is not to be defunct. -- Obama has 7-days:
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled Thursday that implementation of the health law can proceed — but he gave the Obama administration just seven days to file an appeal….
Vinson issued a stay of his own Jan. 31 ruling that declared the entire health care reform law unconstitutional. He chastised the government for not interpreting that ruling as an immediate injunction to stop implementing the new law….
“It was not expected that they would effectively ignore the order and declaratory judgment for two and one-half weeks, continue to implement the Act, and only then file a belated motion to 'clarify,'” Vinson wrote….
Special from Hotels.com?
Suicidal ROE watch: Border control shouldn’t be beanbags; US border agent dies
Art Institute finds conservative art offending. -- (Piss on Maplethorpe, comments Jesus.) -- Skipping the Light Transgressive, Pratt Institute Edition:
In short, while one proclaims one’s admiration for everything “transgressive,” everything that claims to “challenge” the status quo, one in fact is scrupulously careful to direct one’s transgressive, challenging gestures only to those conventions which are not part of the artistic community’s self-understanding. In challenging conventions, you do not, of course, challenge your own conventions. In celebrating diversity, you do not, of course, celebrate anyone who dissents in any important way from The Narrative. You respect the diversity of all those who agree with you. As for the rest, they are “offensive,” “divisive”; they contribute to “a climate of hate,” or whatever is this week’s favored term of opprobrium. In the name of diversity, they must be silenced.
Why the Pope's Words on the Jewish People Matter
Irony Alert! Obama supporter says of Sarah Palin: “[Matt] Damon said he still feels it was reckless to have someone who was "a complete mystery to everybody" be "literally a heartbeat away from the presidency."
ZINGO!: The [AAUP] report is, in effect, a mask for the effort to politicize the university even further. The “controversies” it would protect the university from arise not, as the AAUP would have it, mostly from the “intrusion” of outside parties, but from the attempt to use the university as a platform for partisan political advocacy…. criticisms have to be weighed on their merits no matter how they arise and who brings them to light.
