A Decade of Missteps for U.S. Counterterror Policy in Africa?

At the Washington Post, "U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Africa defined by a decade of missteps":

The U.S. military was closely tracking a one-eyed bandit across the Sahara in 2003 when it confronted a hard choice that is still reverberating a decade later. Should it try to kill or capture the target, an Algerian jihadist named Mokhtar Belmokhtar, or let him go?

Belmokhtar had trained at camps in Afghanistan, returned home to join a bloody revolt and was about to be blacklisted by the United Nations for supporting the Taliban and al-Qaeda. But he hadn’t attacked Americans, not yet, and did not appear to pose a threat outside his nomadic range in the badlands of northern Mali and southern Algeria.

Military commanders planned to launch airstrikes against Belmokhtar and a band of Arabs they had under surveillance in the Malian desert, according to three current and former U.S. officials familiar with the episode. But the ambassador to Mali at the time said she vetoed the plan, arguing that a strike was too risky and could stir a backlash against Americans.

Since then, Belmokhtar has gradually built a Qaeda-branded network while expanding his exploits as a serial kidnapper, smuggler and arms dealer. Last month, his group, Signatories in Blood, took dozens of hostages at a natural-gas complex in Algeria. At least 38 foreign captives were killed, including three Americans.

In addition to raising his global profile, the spectacular attack turned Belmokhtar into a symbol of how the United States over the past 10 years bungled an ambitious strategy to prevent al-Qaeda from gaining a foothold in North and West Africa.

The U.S. government has invested heavily in counterterrorism programs in the region, spending more than $1 billion since 2005 to train security forces, secure borders, promote democracy, reduce poverty and spread propaganda.

The strategy was portrayed as a sobering lesson from the costly invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. By stabilizing weak African countries, the goal was to keep al-Qaeda out and obviate the need to send U.S. combat forces into the Sahara.

Despite those efforts, Belmokhtar’s group and a hazy array of other jihadist factions and rebellious tribesmen seized control of the northern half of Mali last year. In March, a U.S.-trained Malian officer carried out a coup, further plunging the country into chaos.

“We had this great program and we put hundreds of millions of dollars into it, and it failed. Why did it fail?” said a member of the U.S. Special Operations Forces who worked in Africa until he retired last year. “Fundamentally, we missed the boat.”

Amazing, isn't it? Not a mention of how the Obama administration's invasion of Libya, not to mention the whole Arab Spring clusterf-k, has unleashed a torrent of newly-vigorous terrorist activity in Africa. Here's how Der Spiegel described things last month, "Algeria Hostage Crisis Highlights Islamist Threat Across North Africa":

The security situation in Libya has visibly worsened since the beginning of the uprising against dictator Moammar Gadhafi nearly two years ago. The military has been essentially dissolved and weapons from Gadhafi's armed forces have flooded the markets in the region, ending up in the hands of various militias, including the extremists in northern Mali. Fifteen months after Gadhafi's death, a stable and sustainable government has yet to take hold. Real control over the country rests with competing warlords, and Islamist groups in the region have profitted.

The blood bath at the oil field shows that Algeria has been the most impacted by the developments in Mali. For this reason, Algiers has long opposed French military intervention in its southern neighbor. Algeria itself is still suffering the consequences of its civil war in the 1990s, in which fighting between the military and Islamists killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Anyway, WaPo's piece takes U.S. policy up to the present and doesn't discuss the collapse of security in North Africa over the last two years. But I wouldn't want to impute bias or anything. No siree. (More here, FWIW.)

Robert Reich, Former Clinton Administration Labor Secretary, Rails Against 'Indefensible Wealth'

Boy, this is really something else.

And remember, someone like Robert Reich defines the progressive establishment. Not only was he a former Clinton labor secretary, he's a co-founder of the neo-socialist rag American Prospect, and he was one of the Democrat Party's biggest shills for Occupy Wall Street during its brief leadership of the left's class-warfare agenda. (Barack Obama subsequently took Occupy's baton in early 2012 and has been running on the 99 percent platform since.)

See Twitchy, "Robert Reich disturbed by something called ‘indefensible wealth’."

Rarely in history has so much been spent by the very wealthy seeking intellectual and moral justification for their indefensible wealth.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) February 4, 2013

Previously: "#Occupy Shill Robert Reich Says Socialism Not the Answer, Wealth Redistribution Is — Wait, What?"

Fabulous Kelly Brook Bikini Pics!

Craig Ramsey sent me this via Twitter. I've never heard of the website at that link, so unless you're on Apple, click through at your own risk.

On the safer side, see this huge roundup at London's Daily Mail, "She's looking just rosy! Kelly Brook shows off her impressive curves as she models new bikini line."

She's gained weight. And it shows in the upstairs department. At this point it's a countdown for how long Ms. Brooks will be able to continuing modeling the way she does. I don't get the sense she takes care of her body with the same fastidiousness as, say, Cindy Crawford. I'm not complaining. She's more than ten years younger than the latter. But still. Seems like the hotties come and go rather quickly sometimes. Brooks' 15 minutes could well be about up.

Svitlana Buchyk

I'm just going to point folks over to The Other McCain on this one. Pretty interesting.

See, "Svitlana Buchyk: Mystery Woman in Menendez HookerGate Scandal."

And see David Martosko, at the Daily Caller, "PHOTOS: Meet one of Bob Menendez’s (alleged) call girls [SLIDESHOW]."

Piers Morgan Takes Target Practice at Texas Gun Range!

I was watching this. What a kicker.

At Twitchy, "Piers Morgan lives out his ‘Scarface’ fantasy at Texas gun range."

Embattled Sen. Robert Menendez Denounces the 'Smears' (VIDEO)

I was just watching this a little while ago. "Sleaze Bob" was getting pretty animated.

At CNN, "Menendez fights back, denounces 'smears'."

More here, "Woman denies meeting Menendez." And at Memeorandum.

PREVIOUSLY: "Sen. Robert Menendez Underage Prostitution Scandal."

Hotties on the Red Carpet at Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon

Very nice.

At London's Daily Mail, "Keeping it simple! Anne Hathaway, Naomi Watts and Jennifer Lawrence stick to classic black and white at Oscars luncheon."

Lots more hotties in attendance as well.

More at the Los Angeles Times, "85th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon."

Obama's Latest Gun-Grabbing Speech in Minneapolis (VIDEO)

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports, "Obama in Mpls.: 'It is time to do something' about gun violence."

It's the same stump speech O's been giving for months now, if not years. And he sounds desperate while claiming he's not going to take away anyone's guns. And for good reason: He's obviously lying. He would if he could.

I don't see the transcript, but Lynn Sweet has this, "President Obama official schedule and guidance, Feb. 4, 2013. Minneapolis gun violence events." And at the White House blog, "Keeping Up the Demand for Action on Gun Violence."

More at the Wall Street Journal, "Senate to Move on Gun Control: Magazine Capacity Likely to Face Limit." And from the Sunlight Foundation, "Why gun control faces an uphill battle in the Senate." (That's a nice graphic on the Senate vote breakdown, via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE: Linked at iOWNTHEWORLD. Thanks!

Mahmoud Ahmedinejad Prepares for Space Flight

At Gateway Pundit, "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: I Am Ready to Be First Iranian in Space." (At Memeorandum.).

IMAGE CREDIT: Blazing Cat Fur.

Sen. Robert Menendez Underage Prostitution Scandal

At The Other McCain, "HookerGate: Miami Herald Confirms Elements of Menendez Prostitute Story," and "Dominican Prostitute in Menendez Scandal Says They Were ‘Very Mistreated’." (Lots of links at the posts.) (Added: Now a Memeorandum thread.)

And see Flopping Aces, "Menendez: The noose tightens," and at Michelle Malkin's, "Ladies Against Senator Sleaze-Bob: Where are you?; Updated." (A call for bipartisanship!)

CSCOPE Communist Indoctrination in Texas

Here's your morning dose of progressive/communist indoctrination in America's schools --- and in Texas, of all places.

At EAG News, "Texas 6th graders design flags for a new socialist nation."

And at Texas CSCOPE Review, "CSCOPE’s Communist Indoctrination":

CSCOPE is the prelude to having the Obama Common Core Standards in our schools. Via our Texas School Superintendents, who are studying how to implement Common Core, our state Education services centers are setting in place the perfect technology framework called CSCOPE.

Following are the instruction from the CSCOPE activity directing students to design a socialist/communist flag.

Notice socialist/communist nations use symbolism on their flags representing various aspects of their economic system. Imagine a new socialist nation is creating a flag and you have been put in charge of creating a flag. Use symbolism to represent aspects of socialism/communism on your flag. What kind of symbolism/colors would you use?

Also at CSOPE Review, "CSCOPE Promotes Communism."

Be sure to click through to get a load of that graphic featuring the triumphant social climb to the communist utopia. Remember, children are sponges for this kind of stuff --- which is exactly why this CSCOPE curriculum tries to get 'em while they're young. Amazing. Brilliant even. American communism works its way through the institutions. FORWARD!!

More at Memeorandum.

Former Navy SEAL, 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle, Killed at Texas Shooting Range

This was one of the big stories over the weekend. Here's the CBS News segment from this morning, "Top SEAL sniper allegedly murdered by fellow vet."

And here's this morning's New York Times, "Untouchable in Iraq, Ex-Sniper Dies in a Shooting Back Home." And at the Los Angeles Times, "'American Sniper' Chris Kyle shot dead in a post-combat world."

Updates on the shooter at Dallas Morning News, "Alleged shooter of Navy SEAL Tasered after being aggressive with jailers." And at London's Daily Mail, "Marine who 'killed' the top American sniper and his workout buddy now being held on $3million bail after confessing to his sister."

More at Newsmax, "Palin Mourns “American Sniper” Kyle's Death."

Guns in Movies

Here's another example of our upside down world. As everyone knows, the movie industry is our culture's greatest purveyor of gun violence, but very few (if any) anti-gun nuts have called for limits on action flick shoot-'em ups.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Database catalogs movie firearms."

Read it all at the link. Aficionadoes don't see their gun-soaked films as contributing to a culture of violence. It's a strange world we live in. A f-ked up world.

New Gas Extraction Methods Push U.S. to Forefront of Global Energy Power

A great piece at Der Spiegel, "Full Throttle Ahead: U.S. Tips Global Power Scales with Fracking":

The United States is sitting on massive natural gas and oil reserves that have the potential to shift the geopolitical balance in its favor. Worries are increasing in Russia and the Arab states of waning influence and falling market prices.

Williston, North Dakota, is a bleak little city in the vast American prairie. It's dusty in the summer and frigid in the winter. Moose hunting is one of the few sources of entertainment. But despite its drawbacks, Williston has seen its population more than double within a short period of time.

The city is so overcrowded that new arrivals often have no place to stay but in their motor homes, which, at monthly parking fees of $1,200 (€880), isn't exactly inexpensive. And more people continue to arrive in this nondescript little town.
The reason for the influx is simple: Geologists have discovered a layer of shale saturated with natural gas and oil deep beneath the city. The Bakken formation, spanning thousands of square kilometers, has become synonymous with an American economic miracle that the country hasn't experienced since the oil rush almost 100 years ago.

North Dakota now has virtual full employment, and the state budget showed an estimated surplus of $1.6 billion in 2012. Truck drivers in the state make $100,000 a year, while the strippers being brought in from Las Vegas rake in more than $1,000 a night. President Barack Obama calls the discovery of Bakken and similar shale gas formations in Texas, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Utah a "stroke of luck," saying: "We have a hundred years' worth of energy right beneath our feet."

A Vital Nerve

The future of the American energy supply was looking grim until recently. With its own resources waning, the United States was dependent on Arab oil sheiks and erratic dictators. Rising energy costs were hitting a vital nerve in the country's industrial sector.

But the situation has fundamentally changed since American drilling experts began using a method called "fracking," with which oil and gas molecules can be extracted from dense shale rock formations. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the United States will replace Russia as the world's largest producer of natural gas in only two years. The Americans could also become the world's top petroleum producers by 2017.

Low natural gas prices -- the price of natural gas in the United States is only a quarter of what it was in 2008 -- could fuel a comeback of American industry. "Low-cost natural gas is the elixir, the sweetness, the juice, the Viagra," an American industry representative told the business magazine Fortune. "What it's doing is changing the US back into the industrial power of the day."
The government estimates that the boom could generate 600,000 new jobs, and some experts even believe that up to 3 million new jobs could be created in the coming years. "My administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy," Obama said during his most recent State of the Union address.

Shifting Calculations

The gas revolution is changing the political balance of power all over the world. Americans and Russians have waged wars, and they have propped up or toppled regimes, over oil and gas. When the flows of energy change, the strategic and military calculations of the major powers do as well.

It is still unclear who the winners and losers will be. The Chinese and the Argentines also have enormous shale gas reserves. Experts believe that Poland, France and Germany have significant resources, although no one knows exactly how significant. Outside the United States, extraction is still in its infancy.

The outlines of a changed world order are already emerging in the simulations of geo-strategists. They show that the United States will benefit the most from the development of shale gas and oil resources. A study by Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, concludes that Washington's discretionary power in foreign and security policy will increase substantially as a result of the country's new energy riches...

Russia's hardest hit, it turns out.

Keep reading at the link.

Best Super Bowl Ads 2013

I was pretty diligent about staying in front of the TV for the big-money advertisements.

Chrysler's "Farmer" ad really captured the hearts of a lot of folks on Twitter, and WSJ has more, "Chrysler Ram Truck Super Bowl Ad Aims at Consumers’ Inner ‘Farmer’ (Video)."

I like this KIA spot:

And see Adweek, "Search No More: All the 2013 Super Bowl Spots in One Place."

More at NYT, "Super Bowl Ads Speak to a Generation. But Which One?"

Beijing's Cyber Attacks Show World True Nature of Chinese Regime

At the Wall Street Journal, "Barbarians at the Digital Gate":

On a visit to our offices last year, a U.S. lawmaker with knowledge of intelligence affairs explained that, when it comes to cyber-espionage, there are only two kinds of American companies these days: Those that have been hacked, and those that don't know they've been hacked.

So it comes as no great surprise to learn that The Wall Street Journal has also been hacked.

Specifically, the email accounts of under two dozen Journal editors, reporters and editorial writers have been hacked for months and maybe longer by the Chinese government. The hackers entered our systems and sought to monitor our China coverage. We identified the hacking last year and have taken steps to prevent it. The attack parallels similar Chinese infiltration of the New York Times, which believes the cyber-espionage originated with a Chinese military unit, as well as a hacking attempt last year against Bloomberg News.

We'll go out on a limb and assume these hacks stem from a common source. As for the Chinese motive, our friends at the Times think it was in connection to the paper's investigation of the fabulous family wealth of the former premier, "Grandpa" Wen Jiabao. Bloomberg believes it was hacked after publishing an exposé of the riches of the relatives of Xi Jinping, then China's vice president and now the general secretary.

For our part, we can think of any number of Journal stories that have embarrassed the Chinese regime, especially in connection to last year's downfall of Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai. The Chinese government has frequently objected to and censored these pages for writing about Chinese corruption or publishing the work of Chinese dissidents, Tibetan and Uighur freedom fighters, and others who have courageously stood up to Beijing's bullying. We'll take it as a badge of journalistic honor that some of our editorial-page writers were among those hacked.

Lots more at the link.

Ravens Beat 49ers in Bizarre 'Lights Out' Super Bowl XLVII

I thought San Francisco was going to do it, but alas, it wasn't to be.

At Sports Illustrated, "Baltimore Ravens top San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII."

And here's NYT's live blog, "Live Coverage: Super Bowl XLVII."

Added: NYT's full report is here, "Power Fails and 49ers Surge, but Ravens Win."

Power Outage During Super Bowl XLVII

That outage caused some game-changing momentum on the field, and if San Francisco comes back all the way to win it, we'll be hearing a lot more about it.

For now though, check Twitchy, "NFL probes cause of power outage, snark and conspiracy theories abound."

Alicia Keys Sings Longest National Anthem Ever?

USA Today is on the case, "Was Alicia Keys' national anthem the longest in history?"

And on Twitter:

Was Alicia Keys' national anthem the longest ever? usat.ly/11yWEH1 // twitter.com/aliciakeys/sta…
— USA TODAY Sports (@USATODAYsports) February 4, 2013

Longest in the history of the Super Bowl, it turns out.

Super Bowl XLVII: 49ers-Ravens QB Matchup is Run vs. Gun

From Sam Farmer, at the Los Angeles Times:

Sprinter's speed makes San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick truly dangerous. Baltimore's Joe Flacco is a classic drop-back passer. Which philosophy will prevail?

NEW ORLEANS — Much of the talk leading up to Super Bowl XLVII was about the coaching Harbaugh brothers, San Francisco's Jim and Baltimore's John, and the historic spin they put on the NFL's splashiest showcase.

But the outcome Sunday hinges on the unrelated brothers in arms, Colin Kaepernick of the 49ers and Joe Flacco of the Ravens, quarterbacks of contrasting styles, and how they handle the biggest game of their lives.

Kaepernick is a sculpted, 6-foot-4 nightmare for a defense, a second-year player with the speed of a sprinter and a pitcher's right arm. He's the quintessential dual threat, whose post-snap intentions are as hard to read as the tattooed Bible verses that run up and down his biceps.

The 6-foot-6 Flacco is only 28, and he's already an old-school throwback. Although he's far from immobile, he's much more of a drop-back pocket dweller than his Super Bowl counterpart. And lately, he's on fire. In Baltimore's path back to the sport's marquee game — victories over Indianapolis, Denver and New England — Flacco has eight touchdown passes with no interceptions.

The Ravens, with Flacco at quarterback, have gotten to the playoffs each of the last five seasons, a feat no other NFL team has accomplished. What's more, Baltimore has won at least one postseason game in each of those years.

In this copycat league, the quarterback who hoists the Lombardi Trophy at the end of this game will be Exhibit A for two opposing football philosophies.

Does this league belong to the runners, or the gunners?

Steve Young, the last quarterback to win a Super Bowl for the 49ers, and a Hall of Fame player who wasn't shy about tucking the football and running, believes we're witnessing a fascinating historical hiccup. By his thinking, the Kaepernick-style quarterbacks — players such as Seattle's Russell Wilson, Washington's Robert Griffin III and Carolina's Cam Newton — eventually will log more pocket time than a stingy man's wallet.

"Sooner or later, you get straightened up to the fact that to deliver championship football, it's from the pocket," said Young, now an ESPN analyst, who capped the 1994 season by securing a fifth championship for the 49ers.

"I might be proven wrong, but I think we have a special gap in time. There's something unique happening, and I think it will close. Will it completely close? No. And I think that young, mobile quarterbacks will become more valuable now rather than in the past, and maybe become the prototype."

But, Young said, the ability to shred a defense with the run "can never be the full measure of what quarterbacks need to do in the league." That's why players such as Kaepernick, Wilson and Griffin — all of whom can pass, all of whom made the playoffs this season — are offensive cornerstones, and the one-dimensional Tim Tebow is not.

Flacco, whose own father describes him as "dull," is one of the more exciting passers in football because he throws the risky passes, the ones that tickle the fingertips of defenders but ultimately rest in the hands of his receivers. From his bombs to his back-shoulder throws to his darts he could wedge through a mouse hole, Flacco takes chances.

In three games this postseason, Flacco has completed 54.8% of his throws for 853 yards and a lofty overall passer rating of 114.7. He has thrown 162 passes without an interception, his last coming in a Dec. 16 loss to Denver. He's not a dink-and-dunk quarterback; he's completed 15 passes of 20 or more yards in the three playoff games.

"He's a guy that was always in constant control," said K.C. Keeler, Flacco's college coach at Delaware. "And I asked him one day, 'OK, I'm going to talk to a youth group someday about you, what made you great. What makes you great?' And he goes, 'I'm not afraid to fail. It's that simple. I'm going to prepare as hard as I can, and I'm going to go out there, and it doesn't matter what the arena is, I'm just going to go play. And if we're successful, great. And if we're not? I'll live with it. But I'm not afraid to fail.'

More at that top link.

First Pull-Ups, Then Combat, Marines Say

More on women in combat, at the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — How many pull-ups does it take to make a female Marine?

The answer, starting next January: a minimum of three, the same number required of male Marines.

If anyone thought the military’s decision to allow women into combat units would lead to exceptions for women when it came to fitness and physical strength, this is one service’s “gender neutral” answer — or at least part of the answer.

Like the men, women will have to perform the exercises on the Marine Corps’s annual physical fitness test as “dead hang” pull-ups, without the benefit of the momentum from a lower-body swing. Like the men, women can do the pull-ups underhanded or overhanded, as long as their chins break the plane of the bar.

The new requirement replaces the old “flexed arm hang” for women, in place since 1975, which had to be held for a minimum of 15 seconds.

“The physical requirements of female Marines, commensurate with their roles, have increased greatly since 1975,” said Col. Sean D. Gibson, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va. “The pull-up is a better test of muscular strength.”

But the new Marine Corps regulations are just part of a sweeping re-examination of fitness standards in the military that Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta’s announcement last week ending the ban on women in combat only accelerated.

As it stands now, service members face a gantlet of overlapping fitness tests throughout the vast sprawl of the American military, from initial ones that recruits have to pass to annual fitness (and weight) tests to specific physical requirements that must be met for combat jobs.

The Pentagon says it will not lower standards for women, but is nonetheless reviewing the requirements for hundreds of what are called military occupational specialties to see if they actually match up with the demands of each job.

Some combat jobs that might open to women may require them to meet only specific requirements rather than a wide range of fitness standards.

“We’re going to ensure that our tank crewmen are fully capable of removing 50-pound projectiles from the ammunition rack and loading them into the main gun in a sustained manner in a combat situation,” said George Wright, an Army spokesman.

Only three pull-ups? For a man!!! Gawd, we've got a bunch of weenies signing up. It should be ten pull-ups required. If it takes some training to get to the level of fitness, so be it.

More at that top link. The Army's not changing its "sex-adjusted" standards, so we'll see how this all works out.

RELATED: ICYMI, Phyllis Schlafly, at Human Events, "Panetta's Cowardly Decision."

Plus, from the letters to the editor at the Wall Street Journal, "Battle Over Women in Combat Has Been Won, or Lost."

NRA's Wayne LaPierre on Fox News Sunday: 'I don't think you can trust these people...'

He's putting mildly.

Gateway Pundit has the video, "NRA Chief LaPierre: You Can’t Trust This White House (Video)."

Also at The Hill, "NRA chief: Public cannot ‘trust’ White House on gun control." (At Memeorandum.)

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sundy Funnies," and Jill Stanek's, "Stanek Sunday funnies 2-3-13."

More at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – He the People."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

Obama Skeet Shooting Photoshops LOL!

Folks are already moving on to the second and third stages of presidential mockery, but I'm behind on blogging, so WTF?

At Twitchy, "Hilarity ensues as Twitter users caption and Photoshop Obama’s shooting photo."

Related bits here: "Media’s firearms experts confuse President Obama’s assault shotgun with rifle," and "White House pic: Obama goes shooting in his mom jeans ‘all the time’; White House sneers at ‘skeeters’."

Lots more at Twitchy.

Photoshop Credit: Stoaty Weasel.

And a bonus P'shop, via Wayward Okie on Twitter:

Drowned in a Stream of Prescriptions

My youngest son takes ADHD medication. My wife's still asleep, but this is one New York Times story she won't want to miss.

See, "Concerns About A.D.H.D. Practices and Amphetamine Addiction":

VIRGINIA BEACH — Every morning on her way to work, Kathy Fee holds her breath as she drives past the squat brick building that houses Dominion Psychiatric Associates.

It was there that her son, Richard, visited a doctor and received prescriptions for Adderall, an amphetamine-based medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It was in the parking lot that she insisted to Richard that he did not have A.D.H.D., not as a child and not now as a 24-year-old college graduate, and that he was getting dangerously addicted to the medication. It was inside the building that her husband, Rick, implored Richard’s doctor to stop prescribing him Adderall, warning, “You’re going to kill him.”

It was where, after becoming violently delusional and spending a week in a psychiatric hospital in 2011, Richard met with his doctor and received prescriptions for 90 more days of Adderall. He hanged himself in his bedroom closet two weeks after they expired.

The story of Richard Fee, an athletic, personable college class president and aspiring medical student, highlights widespread failings in the system through which five million Americans take medication for A.D.H.D., doctors and other experts said.

Medications like Adderall can markedly improve the lives of children and others with the disorder. But the tunnel-like focus the medicines provide has led growing numbers of teenagers and young adults to fake symptoms to obtain steady prescriptions for highly addictive medications that carry serious psychological dangers. These efforts are facilitated by a segment of doctors who skip established diagnostic procedures, renew prescriptions reflexively and spend too little time with patients to accurately monitor side effects.

Richard Fee’s experience included it all. Conversations with friends and family members and a review of detailed medical records depict an intelligent and articulate young man lying to doctor after doctor, physicians issuing hasty diagnoses, and psychiatrists continuing to prescribe medication — even increasing dosages — despite evidence of his growing addiction and psychiatric breakdown.

Very few people who misuse stimulants devolve into psychotic or suicidal addicts. But even one of Richard’s own physicians, Dr. Charles Parker, characterized his case as a virtual textbook for ways that A.D.H.D. practices can fail patients, particularly young adults. “We have a significant travesty being done in this country with how the diagnosis is being made and the meds are being administered,” said Dr. Parker, a psychiatrist in Virginia Beach. “I think it’s an abnegation of trust. The public needs to say this is totally unacceptable and walk out.”

Our doctors have said that kids often outgrow their ADHD symptoms and that they sometimes go off their medications as they grow older. An interesting story, in any case.

Continue reading.

The Football Nanny State

At WSJ:

In his 2012 book "Concussions and Our Kids," Boston University neurosurgeon Robert Cantu left little mystery about his tome's intended target: The photo on the cover shows a pack of little kids playing tackle football. Inside its pages, a section heading says: "No tackle football before fourteen."

As the Super Bowl approaches Sunday, this point of view has become an increasingly trendy one. The talk in New Orleans this week, even by some players, has revolved around whether this collision-centric sport can survive without drastic change. And a growing number of people inside and outside the sport are pushing the debate toward children. "If I had a son," President Barack Obama told the New Republic this week, "I'd have to think long and hard before I let him play football."

Recent studies performed on former longtime NFL players have left no doubt that playing professional football can be hazardous to one's brain—and one's future quality of life. But when it comes to the question of whether the sport is dangerous for kids, it's not that the evidence is inconclusive—there's no evidence whatsoever.

The Mayo Clinic has performed two studies on football and kids. In 2002, after examining 915 football players from elementary and middle schools, it concluded: "the risk of injury in youth football does not appear greater than other recreational or competitive sports." Last year, the Mayo Clinic studied 438 men who played high-school football between 1946 and 1956, when headgear was less advanced. That study found no increased risk of dementia, Parkinson's disease or Lou Gehrig's disease among these players compared with their non-football-playing male classmates.

The lack of data isn't a secret: In his book about kids and concussions, Cantu, the neurosurgeon, acknowledged that there aren't enough data to say anything about the long-term effects of football on "these little ones."

When Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was asked about the issue this week, he took a different view than many other experts and observers. "They're a bunch of 50-pound or 140-pound kids," he said. "I don't know how much damage they're actually doing to each other."

Football's a rough sport. It's our gladiators. Take away the danger and it won't be the same. Better helmets and stuff? Sure. Rules against above the shoulder tackles and all that? No doubt. But if the left's pussies turn the NFL into a professional flag football freak show, we're doomed.

Maniac Dude Holds Knife to His Throat at Buckingham Palace, Gets Tasered Like a Mofo

At BCF, "Islamic or Crazy? - You Decide!"

And at London's Daily Mail, "Shocking footage shows man holding six-inch knife to his throat before being tasered by police as he ran towards them wielding two blades during Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace."

Visiting Temecula

We all headed out to Temecula yesterday, to pick up my oldest son who was spending Friday and Saturday visiting with dear friends. We had dinner last night at Red Robin's, at the Promenade Mall in town there.

That's my 22 ounce Sam Adams next to my wife's iced tea:

Here's yours truly enjoying the ambiance:

This is Luke, 7-months-old, the newest member of their family:

This is my youngest son, now 11-years-old, holding Luke:

After dinner my oldest son, now 17-years-old, went cruising around the mall with our friends' daughter. We found them across the way from the Edwards 15 theater:

We enjoyed spending time with little Luke, especially. He's a sweet boy and is now rolling over very well and just starting to crawl. I tweeted about babies earlier. The more time one spends with children the more visceral one's opposition to abortion becomes.

Vote on Homosexual Marriage Rips Britain's Tories

Britain's ruling conservative party is trying to approve a vote on homosexual marriage, with some difficulty, it turns out.

At Telegraph UK, "Conservative party ripped apart by gay marriage vote":

The full scale of this week’s revolt by Conservative MPs against David Cameron’s plans to introduce same-sex marriage became clear on Saturday.

The Sunday Telegraph has established that around 180 Conservative MPs, most notably including six whips and up to four members of the Cabinet, are ready to defy the Prime Minister’s plan to legalise gay weddings.

Meanwhile, 25 chairmen or former chairmen of Conservative party associations across the country have signed a letter to Mr Cameron warning that the policy will cause “significant damage” to the Tories’ 2015 general election campaign.

One chairman, who has quit over the issue, said “this is a policy dreamt up in Notting Hill”, while a serving chairman said it had angered the grassroots more than Europe.

The vote on Tuesday is the first parliamentary vote on the gay marriage legislation and a test for the Prime Minister. However Downing Street now expects that only around 120 of Mr Cameron’s MPs will vote in favour of legalising homosexual unions. This leaves around 180 Conservative members likely to abstain or vote against. They include:

Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, and David Jones, the Welsh Secretary, both expected to vote against.

Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, who will either vote against or abstain, while Iain Duncan Smith is expected to abstain, although a source close to the welfare secretary suggested that it was still possible he may side with the Government.

At least half of the Tories’ 12-man whips’ office, relied on by Mr Cameron to enforce party discipline. They are Stephen Crabb, David Evennett, Robert Goodwill, Mark Lancaster, Nicky Morgan and John Randall.

Senior party members including Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Liam Fox and Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Commons Treasury Committee, who will not back the Bill.

Junior ministers including Mike Penning, John Hayes and Jeremy Wright. Mr Wright, a justice minister, said: “I will listen to the arguments in favour on Tuesday, but I am not persuaded by what I have heard so far.”

The Prime Minister has spoken passionately about allowing same-sex couples to marry, suggesting that such unions are in keeping with Conservative values.

Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, who is overseeing the Bill, has said that the proposed legislation includes a “quadruple lock” to ensure that no church or other religious institution is forced to marry a same-sex couple. And last night Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary – a close ally of the Prime Minister – issued a strongly-worded defence of the plan.

He said: “Religious freedom is not just for heterosexuals – we should not deny anyone the right to make a lifelong commitment to another person in front of God if that is what they believe and that is what their church allows.”

Sounds like homo marriage not going over too well, eh mate?

Ashley Greene Steps Out for Super Bowl Parties in New Orleans

Seen here with Anna Faris, via London's Daily Mail, "Ashley Greene shimmers in gold while Anna Faris keeps to basic black as they gear up for the Super Bowl."

PREVIOUSLY: "Smokin' Ashley Greene at Egotastic!"

Gas Prices Back Up Over $4.00 a Gallon

The Wall Street Journal reports that the economy's doing surprisingly well, and that's for sure, considering how the White House is doing everything it can to retard the recovery. See, "Economy Drives Market Rally: Jobs Report Propels Dow to Five-Year High as Earnings, Fed Policies Fuel Investor Confidence."

And also at IBD, "GDP Decline Masks Strengthening Consumers, Business."

Gritty Reality of Housing Projects in Memphis, Tennessee

I've long argued that President Obama is indifferent to the plight of inner city blacks. We haven't had an advocate for the poor in Washington, a genuine policy-expert advocate, since Jack Kemp was Bush 41's Secretary of Housing and Urban development --- just over 20 years ago. Kemp saw personal responsibility and market dynamism as keys to lifting the poor out of poverty, especially blacks. He made home ownership a priority and moved to privatize the nation's stock of public housing, distributing welfare populations outside of crime-riddled urban areas and encouraging work. There were some successes, but that's the kind of policy campaign that takes decades to effect.

In any case, see London's Daily Mail, "The Memphis Obama didn't see: Student who introduced the President at graduation reveals gritty reality of the projects where he grew up plagued by drug addicts, prostitutes and poverty."

The Real Groundhogs of New York City

This is a funny story, at NYT, "In Burrows Across the City, It’s Groundhog Day Year Round":

Staten Island Chuck lives the pampered life one would expect of a celebrity groundhog, lounging in a heated nursery at the Staten Island Zoo and noshing on sweet potatoes as the world outside shivers.

But as Chuck gears up to make a weather prediction Saturday alongside heavily gloved handlers and politicians, his wild counterparts occupy the proverbial other side of the tracks.

Meet the Real Groundhogs of New York City, a population of perhaps a few dozen scattered throughout city parks, botanical gardens and cemeteries, some so isolated from any other groundhog community that naturalists do not know for sure how they got there.

Right now, of course, they are sound asleep, as groundhogs are meant to be in midwinter (the greenhouse conditions in Chuck’s lair throw his hibernation software out of whack). When the weather warms, though, they emerge from burrows all over: Astoria Park in Queens, Conference House Park at the bottom of Staten Island and Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx.

Continue reading.

PROOF! Barack Obama Skeet Shooting at Camp David

That's it! Barack Hussein's a real American!

From Daniel Halper, at the Weekly Standard, "W.H. Releases Photo of Obama Shooting a Gun," and the New York Times, "President Claims Shooting as a Hobby, and the White House Offers Evidence."

Now if we could just see those academic transcripts! (Via Memeorandum.)

PHOTO: At the White House Flickr page.

Egyptians Protest Because They Have Nothing Else

At the Los Angeles Times, "Protesting in Egypt because they have nothing else."

And there's video of the mob storming Cairo's presidential palace, here.

So Much for Senate Decorum...

It's interesting, but one of the key takeaways I had from the Hagel hearings was the tenacity of freshman Senator Ted Cruz in grilling the Defense Secretary nominee. It was like watching the changing of the guard, from the establishment old to the tea party new. And the establishment old came out looking worse for the wear. It was a decorum issue, to some extent, although since Cruz was nowhere near the Senate when Hagel was serving his two terms, I guess the traditional demands of collegiality and deference don't matter worth a sh-t.

At the New York Times, "Decorum Becomes Less Traditional in a Hidebound Senate":

WASHINGTON — If Senator John McCain had an inkling of curiosity how his old buddy Chuck Hagel felt as the senator raked him over the confirmation coals on Thursday, Mr. McCain would get a slight taste an hour later during his own rendezvous with rudeness.

That is when Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky took to the Senate floor to deride Mr. McCain’s opposition to his measure that would punish Egypt as “spurious and really, frankly, absurd,” not the first time Mr. Paul has wielded verbal scythes toward his colleagues.

The willingness of Republicans to skewer one of their own became increasingly apparent on Friday as more and more members of the party peeled away from Mr. Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense, saying they would not vote to confirm him after Mr. Hagel melted like chocolate on a dashboard under combative questioning from Republicans.

Still, Republican senators and aides said that despite a halting performance, Mr. Hagel would probably be confirmed with Democratic votes. A filibuster of his nomination is still possible, a likely first for a cabinet nominee. Aides to Senators John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican, and Ted Cruz, a Texas newcomer, said Friday that they had not ruled out procedural roadblocks to stop Mr. Hagel’s nomination.

But Republican Senate aides say Democrats would probably be able to muster 60 votes to move to a final, up-or-down tally.

“For a cabinet office, I think 51 votes is generally considered the right standard for the Senate to set, and at that level, I think he makes it,” Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of the Republican leadership, said Friday on Fox News, even as he announced his opposition to Mr. Hagel.

The White House shared that view.

“I would be stunned if, in the end, Republican senators chose to try to block the nomination of a decorated war veteran who was once among their colleagues in the Senate as a Republican,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary.

Privately, White House officials agreed that Mr. Hagel came across poorly. “No one would argue that he had a good performance,” said one official, who declined to be named to be more candid.

Mr. Hagel has long been on the outs with some party mates because of policy disagreements with them over the years, which sometimes made him seem more like a Democrat. But stemming from their Senate ranks as he did, the intensity of their grilling was striking and illustrative of how the old ways of the Senate are disappearing.

With the current era of hyperpartisanship in Washington, the intra-Senate discord has reached new levels in the usually approbatory chamber in recent months, a place where a certain level of respect for fellow and retired members of the same party is generally more or less a given.

Melissa Frost's Battle for Her House

Here's a story to make you angry and frustrated, with similarities to the right's ongoing Brett Kimberlin saga.

See Instapundit, "NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED: True Story: Woman Invites Hurricane Sandy Refugee to Stay With Her, He Gets Violent And Refuses to Leave."

The woman, Ms. Frost, has a Tumblr set up for her defense fund, "MJF'S BATTLE FOR HER OWN DAMN HOUSE."

There be some valuable lessons for would-be humanitarians.

For the Love of Mercy, STOP WITH THE SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS!!

I'm serious.

This is puke-busting sick --- especially because it's so true. At The Other McCain, "Typical Democrat Voters™."

Have your doubts? Well, Larry Brinkin should refresh your memory on the typical Democrats, the godless depraved freaks.

PREVIOUSLY: "No Sweeping Generalizations!"

Apple's Falling Stock Causing Headaches for Investors

I haven't paid attention to Apple's share price, but apparently if you're an investor, it's not the best of times.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Coping With the Pain of Souring Apple Shares: Some Investors See a Cheap Stock, but Others Have Sold Everything; 'Headache, Not a Cancer'":

As the U.S. stock market flirts with record highs, investors who hold big stakes in Apple Inc. AAPL -0.41% are taking a beating.

Since peaking at $705.07 during the day on Sept. 21, Apple shares have fallen 36% to close at $453.62, erasing more than $236 billion in market value—a figure equal to about 35 times the current value of BlackBerry RIM.T +0.70% maker Research In Motion Ltd.

The pain has been widespread. About 60% of actively managed U.S. stock mutual funds that invest in big companies owned at least some Apple shares at the end of the year, according to investment-research firm Morningstar Inc. MORN +0.53% Ninety funds had 10% or more of their portfolios in the stock.

But Apple's plunge is affecting investors in different ways. While some are getting out for good, others are staying put or even buying more. And some are glad they avoided the stock altogether.

Most mutual funds disclose their holdings quarterly, but the 145 actively managed U.S. stock funds that hold Apple and reported monthly results sold a net 223,402 shares, or 3% of their Apple holdings, in December, according to Morningstar, a time when the stock was between 16% and 28% off its peak. Sixty-one funds sold shares, while 45 funds bought.

That doesn't mean all of them took losses. Even with the setback, Apple has generated a total return, including dividends, of about 28% annually over the past five years, versus 4% for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. In four of the past 10 years, Apple's stock price has more than doubled, and its only full-year loss over the past decade occurred in 2008.

Here are some examples of how professional money managers and small investors have reacted...

Continue reading.

Now, in related news, it turns out that my wife's iPad has a pretty serious browser glitch. It crashes a lot when I'm going heavy on the YouTube blogging. I love videos. And I thought Apple was going to be an improvement over the others, like Chrome. And it seemed like it for awhile, although it's been crashing pretty regularly, and not just this last few days. I found an article on this, at OS X Daily, "Fix Safari Crashing on iPad and iOS 5." I'm not going to worry about the fix, since it's not my device and my wife hasn't complained. We bought the extended warranty, in any case, so I'll bring it up with the Apple folks next time we're down at the Irvine Spectrum retail store. Still, folks should read this comment at the OS X Daily piece, from Martin Bloom":

In early Janurary I went onto the Apple Community discussion board because of my iPad 1 continually crashing after updating to IOS 5.  Specifically Safari would crash on sites rich with images and/or imbedded videos (techcrunch, techradar, etc).  Also iTunes wouldn’t stay open. And using the back arrow on sites like CNN and other news sites would bring up an old front page rather than the newer page.

At first I was just a viewer until some people, who were rudely dismissive of people’s crash problems, said that only signed in complaints were indicators of the breadth of the problem and the number of  ”views” didn’t count. So i signed in to: Re Safari crashes on iPad after ios 5 update.

I related that I had the same problems since ios 5, that I tried every fix written about to no lasting improvement, and that I sent a letter with a printout from the discussion thread to Tim Cook.  Next day I recieved a phone call and email from Apple’s Corporate Executive Relations Office. They were very empathetic and committed to work with me.  They listened to my background in the industry and my list of issues that were also expressed by others on the Apple Community under several separate discussion threads. The main issue being that Apple, apparently didn’t read the threads or was ignoring them.  I expressed that the single most helpful thing they could do would be some type of communication to the groups that they understand, they cared, and are doing everything to find a set of solutions.

They (Corp Exec Relations) assured me that they do look at the discussions, have replicated the problems in tech support and engineering. They also acknowledged a culture of keeping all work close to the vest and this could be hurting them by creating a perception of not caring about the user experience in a “post Jobs era”. They hooked me up with high level tech support and offered to work with me step by step to a resolution.  I said that working with me as an “one off” would deflect resources from solving the overall problems, since they have been documented and replicated.  I told them I would relate this conference with Apple to the discussion threads. These talks and emails with the Corp Office was over several days with much discussion about the impacts of the problems. This included losing the confidence in the reliability of Apple products since many of the iPad purchases and complaints were from PC platform crossovers who moved to Apple’s “because it just worked”. These new users, including corporations who bought hundreds for employees who were saying “never again”.

I then posted my discussions with Apple on the Community thread and was accused by a long time member of my post being a false, and self serving rant. He said he and other long timers took pride in reporting my abuse of the Community rules and had my post removed and my account banned.  I wrote back to the Corp Exec Relations office on the “irony of it all” since this had been a “keep the hope…..they do care” post. The Corp Office got me back on, removing the ban.  But now, no matter what I write, the discussion thread’s monitor removes it saying it is “off topic”.

I have not gotten back to Apple’s Corp Exec Relations regarding my posts being removed and am just waiting for the yet to come, update release with prayers of a fix for all affected users, and for Apple.  Yes, I am still a first in line fanboy.

Marty Bloom, Walnut Creek CA

Sent from my iPad

EXTRA: Here's more tech fun for you, from Twitter, "Keeping our users secure" (at Memeorandum). Twitter was hacked and 250,000 users had their data compromised. It's hard out there for a tweep!

Suicide Bombing at U.S. Embassy in Turkey on Hillary Clinton's Last Day at State Department

At the Guardian UK, "US embassy bombing in Turkey called 'act of terror' by Obama administration":

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says early information links Ankara bomber to a domestic militant group.

The Obama administration has declared a suicide bomb at the US embassy in Turkey, in which the attacker and a local guard died, as an "act of terror".

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said preliminary information obtained by police indicated that the bomber was likely connected to a domestic left-wing militant group.

A Turkish television journalist was also seriously wounded in the blast, which happened at around 1.15pm local time in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Two other guards sustained lighter injuries. The ambassador, Francis Ricciardione, was unhurt.

According to Turkish daily Radikal, the suicide bomber was Ecevit Sanli, a leftwing activist and member of leftwing organisation Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C. He was arrested in 1997 for an attack on a military dorm in Istanbul, and released in 2002, following an illness sustained by a period of hunger strike in prison.

Friday's explosion occurred inside the security checkpoint at the side entrance to the embassy, which is used by staff. A guard standing outside the checkpoint was killed while the two guards who were wounded "were standing in a more protected area", said the interior minister, Muammer Guler.

The embassy building in Ankara is heavily protected and located near several other embassies, including those of Germany and France.

Turkish police closed off the street to all traffic for fear of a second bomb attack, and embassy staff were moved to secure rooms inside the building.

In a statement, the embassy thanked "the Turkish government, the media, and members of the public for their expressions of solidarity and outrage over the incident".

In Washington, Victoria Nuland, the state department spokeswoman, said: "We are working closely with the Turkish national police to make a full assessment of the damage and the casualties, and to begin an investigation."

At the White House briefing, Jay Carney said: "A suicide bombing in the perimeter of an embassy is by definition an act of terror, a terrorist attack." But he also said: "We do not know at this point who is responsible or the motivations."

And here's the Washington Post, "Suicide bombing at U.S. Embassy in Turkey kills Turkish guard." This bit is intriguing:

Turkey, a key NATO ally, blamed the assault on a left-wing militant group with roots in the Marxist movements of the 1970s and a history of attacks on Turkish and American security targets.

There was no immediate indication of a link either to al-Qaeda or to militants in neighboring Syria. But analysts said the group identified by Turkish officials, the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP/C, has received protection and help from within Syria.

Right.

No "immediate link." I'm sure we'll know for sure sometime after Hillary's secured the 2016 Democrat nomination. The freaks.

'History of the Eagles'

As regular readers will recall, my wife and I saw the Eagles at the Honda Center in Anaheim a fews years back, and also Don Henley at Harrah's Rincon in 2011. They are  ---- without any doubt ---- one of the greatest American rock bands. Showtime's broadcasting the new Eagles documentary on February 15 and 16th, and here's the teaser trailer:

There's a longer trailer here, and at the Hollywood Reporter, "History of the Eagles Part 1: Sundance Review." And at Rock Cellar Magazine, "The ‘History of the Eagles’ Documentaries to Premiere on Showtime in February (Video)."

More at Rolling Stone, "Q&A: Don Henley Opens Up About 'The History of the Eagles' at Sundance."

Federal Spending Set to Climb Nearly 2 Percent This Year

At IBD, "Austerity? Federal Spending Set to Climb 2% This Year":

In the wake of Wednesday's news that the economy contracted slightly in the last three months of 2012, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid laid the blame on budget cuts.

"The economy was rejecting the austerity and brinksmanship," he said.

That theme — that spending cuts are putting economic growth at risk — has been gaining traction these days, particularly among those on the left.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said the GDP drop showed that pushing "big austerity measures now will hurt the recovery."

Former Obama economic adviser Jared Bernstein asserted U.S. policy has been based on "austerity at (a) time when we need a fiscal push."

And the liberal Center for American Progress complained that "fiscal austerity threatens the U.S. economy."

On the surface, it might look that way.

In its GDP report, for example, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said government spending dropped 6.6% in Q4. And unless Congress acts, more than $1 trillion in automatic spending cuts will start to kick in as part of the so-called sequester.

But dig a little deeper, and there's little to back up all this austerity talk.

Spending: Up

According to monthly spending data from the Treasury Dept., total federal spending — which includes transfer payments and other federal outlays not counted by the BEA — increased by $98 billion in Q4 compared with Q3. And spending was up $31 billion when compared with Q4 2011.

For the entire year, spending in 2012 was virtually unchanged from 2011, and was up $86 billion over 2010, a year when the government was still spending stimulus money in earnest.

Plus, the "fiscal cliff" deal worked out between President Obama and the Republicans actually added almost $50 billion to planned spending in 2013, and a total of $332 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Almost half of the 2013 increase will go to pay extended unemployment benefits, which Democrats have long argued are highly stimulative.

Reid himself has said that unemployment benefits "help our economy because recipients spend the cash they receive on the things they need right away."

In addition, even if the "sequester" should go through, federal spending will continue to climb.

No Real 'Cuts'

In fact, if nothing else changes, spending in 2013 will be $3.6 trillion, an increase of nearly 2% over 2012, according to data from the CBO. That's because the sequester's "cuts" are actually just reductions in planned spending hikes.

More at that top link.

And see Holly Robichaud, at the Boston Herald, "Need to face reality":

This week Senator Mary Landrieu claimed that our nation doesn't have spending problem. This U.S. Senator is denying that we face $16 trillion in debt. That equals $146,000 per taxpayer. I don't have an extra $146,000 to give to the federal government. Do you? This announcement of Landrieu comes on the heals of the President telling Speaker Boehner there is no debt problem.

I know that liberals want to tax the rich. Even if we tax the rich 100%, that won't make a dent in our debt. This money is going to be paid by the middle class and future generations unless we rein in spending.

It is time for some honesty from the Democrats!

Well, don't hold your breath. The left lives on lies. Pure lies. All the time. From Obama down to the most disgusting trolls of the progressive fever swamps.

NRA President David Keene Family Getting Death Threats

He jokes about it a little, but he's right about the incivility, the left's "civility bullshit," that is.

Israeli Warplanes Reportedly Fly Over Lebanon

My good friend Norm Gersman sent me the video below, of Israeli jets flying over Syria.

But here's this as well, at the Times of Israel:

BEIRUT — A Lebanese security official said Friday Israeli warplanes have flown over southern Lebanon.

The official said the flights were seen heading from southern Lebanon toward the eastern Bekaa Valley that borders Syria. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Israel Radio Friday cited a Lebanese media report that claimed Israeli jets were conducting imaging missions over several sites in the south.

Israel had no comment.

Friday’s reported flights come two days after officials said Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria, targeting a convoy carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese terror group allied with Syria and Iran.

The Syrian military denied there was a weapons convoy.

Also at CSM, "Israeli strike indicates Syria, Hezbollah may have crossed its 'red line'."

Bar Refaeli Makes Out With Nerdy Dude in Go Daddy Super Bowl Ad!

OMG!

At AdWeek, "Bar Refaeli Swaps Spit With Jesse Heiman in Go Daddy Super Bowl Ad":

The couple did 45 takes of the kiss, Go Daddy claimed, adding that [Jesse] Heiman afterward said he felt like he won the "championship of men."

Likewise, this is Refaeli's first Super Bowl commercial. She probably had never kissed a homely character actor before, either.

More at that link.

Yeah, that Heiman dude's a lucky man. One really lucky dude.

The Who Play 'Quadrophenia' at Staples Center

I caught Billy Idol mentioning The Who last night. Lucky me. He doesn't tweet that often:

Off out to see the Who & Quodrophrenia this evening at the Staples Center.....
— Billy Idol (@BillyIdol) January 31, 2013

A good pm/eve hanging with Roger Daltrey...seeing a movie & having dinner...tales of Tommy & Listomania..(also wth Rangi & Bill Curbishley)
— Billy Idol (@BillyIdol) February 1, 2013

In any case, now here's this, at the Los Angeles Times, "The Who performs 'Quadrophenia' and more at Staples Center." Sounds awesome.

Chuck Hagel's Credibility in Shreds

Boy is it ever.

It's painful to watch this dolt's testimony. Worse though is what says about President Obama. For shame.

From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Hagel’s Credibility Left in Shreds":

It’s not clear if administration sources that leaked the story that Chuck Hagel had three practice sessions before a mock committee before his actual Senate confirmation hearing were trying to help or hurt the former senator. Hagel’s performance was so shaky that even some of his liberal supporters like Peter Beinart were lamenting on Twitter about his stumbling and bumbling answers to tough questions. That he flopped so badly after being rehearsed speaks volumes about how bad he was. Indeed, he had so many misstatements that it will be hard for news organizations to choose which of them to broadcast in their highlights of the hearings. But as much as his inability to speak coherently and present a plausible defense of his record while under pressure was exposed today, in what was probably the worst showing by a presidential nominee in a confirmation hearing in memory, it was his credibility that took the biggest hit.

Keep reading. (Plus more on Hagel at Commentary.)

Video c/o Robert Stacy McCain, who posts this quote from Ed Morrissey:

The beauty of this clip isn’t just the spectacle of Graham making Hagel eat his own shinola. It’s the fact that 90 percent of the reason the left has gone along with this nomination is to see Hagel push back on questions exactly like this one. He was the guy who was going to speak truth to power by standing up to the neocon warmongers and their “Zionist” puppet-masters — and here he is, rolling over. You could almost hear liberals screaming at their TV sets when Graham asked him to name a dumb move taken by the U.S. at the behest of the Israel lobby, “Say ‘Iraq’, Chuck! Say ‘Iraq!’” But Hagel can’t make that move.

More at the link.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch Dead at 88

He was the quintessential New Yorker, and the New York Times does him justice in this obituary, "Edward Koch, Former Mayor of New York, Dies at 88."

And at Twitchy, "Photo: Ed Koch’s headstone quotes Daniel Pearl’s final words; Update: Koch and Pearl both died Feb. 1."

Lots more at Memeorandum.

I admired him a lot. A good Democrat and patriotic American. RIP.

Kelly Brook Breaks Up With Boyfriend Thom Evans

Lots of news this morning to report, but first an update from the Rule 5 department, at London's Daily Mail, "'It was a mutual decision': Kelly Brook confirms split from Thom Evans... but says it has nothing to do with ex Danny Cipriani."

Peter Thiel Speech to the National Review Institute Summit

This is quite an amazing talk, perhaps more eloquently advertised by Kathy Shaidle, "Holy f*cking sh*t: Don’t miss Peter Thiel’s speech at the NRI Summit (video)."

Also at this link.

The website is here.

And R.S. McCain was on hand, apparently the life of the party as usual.

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney Removed From Duties

I've been reading about Mahoney's cover-up at the Los Angeles Times, and now here's this, "Cardinal Mahony removed from public church duties":

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez on Thursday announced dramatic actions in response to the priest abuse scandal, saying that Cardinal Roger Mahony would no longer perform public duties in the church and that Santa Barbara Bishop Thomas J. Curry has stepped down.

Gomez said in a statement that Mahony -- who led the L.A. archdiocese from 1985 to 2011 -- "will no longer have any administrative or public duties."

Gomez also announced the church has released a trove of confidential church files detailing how the Los Angeles archdiocese dealt with priests accused of molestation.

Gomez wrote in a letter to parishioners that the files would be disturbing to read.

"I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children. The priests involved had the duty to be their spiritual fathers and they failed," he wrote. "We need to acknowledge that terrible failure today."

Gomez's statement came a week after the release of internal Catholic church records. The records showed 15 years before the clergy sex abuse scandal came to light, Mahony and Curry discussed ways to conceal the molestation of children from law enforcement. Those records represent just a fraction of the files the church released Thursday. The Times is now reviewing those files.

More, "Church abuse: Action against Cardinal Mahony 'extraordinary'."

RELATED: "Mishandling of abuse cases threatens Mahony's legacy with Latinos."

California Republicans Propose Armed Guards for Schools

My youngest son's school is completely vulnerable to gunmen just storming in there and opening fire. There's no security at the front door. It's not locked. The classrooms are all inside with open, walk-in entries (you couldn't even hide behind a door --- there are no doors to the classrooms, with the exception of a few portables outside). But the bill has no chance, being that the once-Golden State has an all-Democrat government nowadays.

See the Los Angeles Times, "GOP legislators propose California school districts arm teachers."

Alabama Bunker Hostage Standoff

At CNN, "Questions swirl as man holds boy in Ala. underground bunker."

U.K. Donor Dads Win Right to See Their Kids

Seems to me that if a donor wanted children he'd just go start a family, but society's FUBAR these days, so nothing seems as it should.

At London's Daily Mail, "Donor dads win right to see their children and play a part in their lives: Landmark ruling could affect thousands."

David Byrne and St. Vincent

On Letterman's show this week:

From the album, "Love This Giant."

Clinton Reviews Tenure, Focusing on Syria and Iran

She's been indefatigable although relatively undistinguished, notwithstanding the praise from her cult worshipers.

At the New York Times

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that both Iran and Russia continued to provide military support to the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad and that there were indications that Iranian assistance was increasing.

The airstrike that Israel carried out on Wednesday in Syria on an arms convoy that was believed to be en route to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, and Iran’s subsequent warnings that the Israeli attack would lead to “grave consequences,” have raised concerns that the conflict is becoming a regional one.

Mrs. Clinton, who will leave her State Department post on Friday, declined to discuss the Israeli operation.

But she noted that Iran appeared to have stepped up its aid to the Assad government, including the number of military advisers it was sending to Syria and the quality of military equipment it was providing.

“The Iranians have made it clear for some time that keeping Assad in power is one of their highest priorities,” she said in her final meeting with reporters at the State Department. “There is a lot of concern that they are increasing the quality of the weapons because Assad is using up his weaponry. So it is numbers and it’s matériel.”

Russia’s backing for Mr. Assad, she added, remains a worry as well.

“The Russians are not passive bystanders in their support for Assad,” Mrs. Clinton said. “We have reasons to believe that the Russians continue to supply financial and military assistance in the form of equipment to Assad.” Mrs. Clinton outlined her vision of diplomacy in a speech on Thursday afternoon at the Council on Foreign Relations here, repeating her themes that economic development and the use of social media were important complements to military force and the other more traditional levers of power.

“We face challenges, from financial contagion to climate change to human and wildlife trafficking, that spill across borders and defy unilateral solutions,” she said. “The geometry of global power has become more distributed and diffuse as the challenges we face have become more complex and crosscutting.”

But the immediate problems her successor, John Kerry, the former Massachusetts senator, will face after he is sworn in on Friday involve bitter military conflicts and looming confrontations, including the deteriorating situation in Syria, the diplomatic standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, the turmoil in Egypt and the emergence of affiliates of Al Qaeda in North Africa.

Iran and major powers have yet to settle on a site and date for resuming talks on the Iranian nuclear program.

“I don’t think the window can remain open for too much longer,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I am not going to put days, weeks or months on it.”

More at that top link.

And see the Wall Street Journal, "Clinton's Exit: Either Epilogue or Prelude: Secretary Leaves Office With High Popularity and a Loyal Donor Network but Remains Diplomatic About Presidential Plans."

Michelle Malkin Does Double Facepalm at Ridiculous Department of Homeland Security 'Active Shooter' Video

Yes, it's truly unreal.

Michelle isn't rendered speechless very often, so this is something, with Eric Bolling. Scroll ahead to just after 2:00 minutes:

And see Jammie Wearing Fools, "Shear Madness: Department of Homeland Security Says You Should Use Scissors to Fight Off Gun Attacks." And the New York Post, "Homeland Security has advice for confronting mass murders: scissors."

Anti-Gun Advocates Heckle Woman Wanting to Defend Her Children During Gun Violence Hearing

From Katie Pavlich, at Townhall:

CAPITOL HILL -- During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill about how to prevent gun violence, Senior Fellow of the Independent Women’s Forum Gayle Trotter was loudly heckled by anti-gun advocates in the crowd after she suggested women need firearms to protect young children in their homes.

"An assault weapon in the hands of a young woman defending her babies at her home becomes a defense weapon,” Trotter said as jeers erupted. “Guns are the great equalizer during a violent confrontation.”...

Continue reading.

Bill Whittle's Afterburner: 'What Difference Does It Make?'

Via Theo Spark:

Gracie Carvalho Bikini Pics

Very nice.

At Popaholic, "Drool-Inducing Gracie Carvalho Candid Bikini Overload, Woohoo!" (Via Linkiest.)

The lady's on Twitter as well.

Obama's Shill Media Flood the Public With Disinformation

At IBD, "The 'Obamedia' Ignore Major Events, Fabricate Others":

Establishment media outlets disregard major story after major story, meanwhile a phony story gets made up. A constant diet of disinformation and outright lies does not a free, informed America make.

Have we become "AmeriKa"? Viewers of B-grade 1980s TV miniseries fare might remember that as the title of a more than 14-hour-long dramatization of life in the Land of the Free under Soviet control.

Would Communist Russia's TASS news agency or Pravda newspaper have been any more subservient to the party in power, the chief executive who leads it, or the ideology at their foundation than America's major media outlets are being to Barack Obama, the Democratic Party and their socialist-style liberalism?

How else to explain a virtual media blackout on allegations that a just-re-elected U.S. senator repeatedly patronized underage prostitutes on foreign visits?

If New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez were a conservative Republican, there would be a daily drumbeat of stories updating the latest revelations — the FBI confirming that four hookers admit attending a sex party with Menendez; the shamed senator reimbursing a big campaign donor for nearly $60,000; the thousands of dollars in contributions from that donor, Miami ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, to Al Gore, New York Sen. Charles Schumer, Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other Democrats; plus a prostitute's e-mail stating that Menendez "likes the youngest and newest girls."

If Menendez were a Republican, the media hurricane would dwarf what drove Rep. Mark Foley from office — whose crime was sending smutty computer messages to underage congressional pages. As then, the media would insist the GOP was tainted.

It's only thanks to web-based sources like Breitbart, Daily Caller and Gateway Pundit that this story has stayed on the screen.

Name checks. Cool.

More at that top link.