Foreign Policy:
No one know the city by city, county by county political make up in America better then Michael Barone. In this case he writes a scathing opinion piece about the Presidents foreign policy. “Being on the lookout for common ground is sensible. Assuming common ground when none exists is foolish. And often has bad consequences.” Agree or not with his opinion, you’ll learn a new word : solipsism. –Voted “Best read of the week”
“Vladimir Putin is a lucky man”, says Krauthammer, and adds, “Would Putin have lunged for Ukraine if he didn’t have such a clueless adversary? No one can say for sure. But it certainly made Putin’s decision easier.” Ouch.
I respect Major Garrett. He’s giving the president the benefit of the doubt. Who’s right, Garrett or Krauthammer?
Three of a kind. Energy independence. Seems like more than one person is savvy on this idea this week and point out why it helps us and others. Environmentalist that don’t like it, have to face the reality that we will continue to rely on other countries to meet our energy needs (like the those in the middle east) and that if we do take advantage of our own domestic resource we’d be in a stronger position to help our friends resist the clutches of tyrants like Putin. Here are the three articles: #1 #2 #3
Global Warming:
Unexpected dissent from the Greenpeace co-founder. He spoke out on the “science” behind Global Warming claims. His insights about science and funding ought to give us all pause as we consider, who and what, gets money in the quest for learning more about the world around us.
Commentary on Culture:
Dennis Prager at it again for Prager University. This free University may be the best free education you can get. Dennis gives his classic explanation on why the, “The Bigger The Government, The Smaller The Citizen“. #pragerU
Bravery... Marriage isn’t the only word undergoing a broadening of definition. “Being brave means that you have something to lose. It means that you are going against the grain and willing to face the almost certainly harmful consequences.”
A follow up on the articles from last week (best reads of the week) on the Arizona religious freedom bill that was veto by the governor. I came across this Atlantic article. Although its short it’s thoughtful. The truly insightful part to me was the email exchange front the New Mexico wedding photographers who’s case is being appealed to the Supreme Court. Anyone who reads the short email exchange would have a difficult time explaining to me how one could reach the conclusion that it’s the people seeking to force the photographer to serve in a capacity that violates their conscience that are truly the intolerant people, not the photographer.
Adam & Eve?:
I have always enjoyed (and sometimes cringed, example: see the Ken Ham vs Bill Nye debate although I’d recommend you spare yourself the pain) the Creation / Evolution debate. This one caught my eye not because it’s from a Christian College but which Christian College. The Bryan College gets it’s name from it’s founder, William Jennings Bryan, the lawyer who opposed evolution in the famous Scopes trial. For those of you that remember MTV’s “Celebrity Death Match”… it’s the Faculty vs. the Board! It will be interesting to see how this evolves… excellent background from World Magazine.
By The Numbers:
Over the past few months sever articles suspected this would be true but it looks like at two surveys point that at least one major reason for Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) is no where close to fulfilling it’s promise.
A Better Life:
The disciplined pursuit of less. 5 minute video on the importance of saying, “no”. From the Stanford Graduate School of Business (thanks to Bryan Rosner for passing it on to me!).
For the Fun of it:
There might be a lesson here about building on a firm foundation etc… but the lean in the Leaning Tower of Pisa explained!
Barone’s “Obama’s mistaken belief that others see the world as he sees it”:
Who cares about Best Read of the Week, including the word “solipsistically” in any literary work nominates you for the Pulitzer. He makes a great point concerning Obama’s views about West Bank construction, Jews being the roadblock to peace, and getting that insane disposition from college faculty types. It seems the more important the issue, the more obvious is Obama’s lack of Statesmanship.
Krauthammer’s “The wages of weakness”:
Kerry’s quote about 19th Century behavior in the 21st Century is telling. The Left will always have a distorted view of foreign policy and international relations because they read history through Socioeconomics, rather than Great Ideas as the Right does. Those who understand that human nature does not change, and that leaders are influenced by national interests, are not surprised. Political institutions and world economic flat-interconnectedness-unified-connectability, as Thomas Friedman would phrase it 😉 …will never stop that.