RUTHFULLY YOURS

Obama’s Assault on America’s Prestige Posted By Bruce Thornton

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/02/13/obama%e2%80%99s-assault-on-america%e2%80%99s-prestige/print/

In 1868, a British army led by Sir Robert Napier sailed from India to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to rescue several English and European hostages from the mentally unstable, sadistic King Theodore. Theodore had become enraged a few years earlier because his letter to Queen Victoria asking for military assistance had been ignored, and so he retaliated by taking the hostages. Napier’s expedition required the building of a port, railroad, and road in order for his army of 13,000 soldiers to march to Theodore’s stronghold Magdala, 400 brutal miles from the coast. After the three-month march, the British met Theodore’s army at Magadala and routed it. The hostages were released, and Theodore committed suicide. Then Napier led his army back to the coast and sailed away, surprising many who believed that rescuing the hostages was a pretext for colonial expansion.

The Abyssinian expedition illustrates the British awareness that an empire must defend not just its material interests, but also its prestige. Insults and injuries to its citizens cannot be tolerated, for rivals and enemies will interpret such forbearance as a weakness to be exploited. The expedition was an expensive, massive undertaking, but one necessary in order to warn the Empire’s potential enemies that England would pay any price to defend its honor and interests. Power is not just about material resources, but also the perceptions of others that power will be used, a perception that works as a force multiplier. As Vergil says in the Aeneid, “They have power because they seem to have power.”

Why Conservative Movies Outperform Liberal Ones Posted By Ben Shapiro
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/02/13/why-conservative-movies-outperform-liberal-ones/print/

The Hollywood Reporter wrote this week about Dr. Ted Baehr’s Movieguide Awards, handed out to the most family friendly films of the year. According to the Reporter, “The report praises such 2011 releases as Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Battle: Los Angeles, Moneyball, We Bought a Zoo and Hugo while heaping scorn on the likes of Super 8, Red State, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Bad Teacher and Happy Feet Two.”

Just as importantly, the report demonstrated that such family friendly films are significantly more lucrative than non-family friendly films: “Movieguide identified 91 movies in 2011 that scored high in ‘conservative/moral categories’; these earned an average of $59 million apiece. On the other hand, it identified 105 movies that scored high in ‘liberal/leftist categories’; each of those titles earned an average of just $11 million. The average movie scoring four stars from Movieguide earned $53.5 million while the ones that scored just one star earned $10.6 million.”

“Most moviegoers want good to conquer evil, truth to triumph over falsehood, justice to prevail over injustice and true beauty to overcome ugliness,” said Baehr.

Breaking: Iran’s ‘Fordow’ Nuke Plant Now Fully Operational Posted By Reza Kahlili

URL to article: http://pjmedia.com/blog/breaking-irans-fordow-nuke-plant-now-fully-operational/

According to Mehr News Agency, sources within Iran revealed [1] that there will be an announcement in a few days that the previously secret nuclear site, the Fordow nuclear enrichment facility, is now fully operational and enriching uranium at a 20% level.

The world learned about the existence of this site in 2009 when the Iranians disclosed it to the IAEA right before President Obama, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France made statements at the G-20 summit in Pittsburg that referenced the secret Iranian site.

The site is built deep into a mountain on a Revolutionary Guards’ base near the city of Qom.

The Iranian leaders had intended to transfer much of their low-enriched uranium stock from Natanz to Fordow and to start the process of enrichment at a much higher level with protection against any attack.

Now it’s $11 Billion for the Muslim Brotherhood? Only in America Posted By David P. Goldman
URL to article: http://pjmedia.com/spengler/2012/02/12/now-its-11-billion-for-the-muslim-brotherhood-only-in-america/

Now that America-hating Islamists control three-quarters of Egypt’s parliament and the military government has rejected American protests at the prosecution of U.S. citizens for supporting democracy, Egypt is asking for $11 billion in Western aid. That has to be the least popular idea to float down the Potomac in a long time. Nonetheless, the Obama administration and its supporters in the Punditeska doubtless will ask American taxpayers to ante up a large part of the $11 billion handout, in the interest of “promoting Egyptian democracy.” Only in America do we feed the mouth that bites us. CPI Financial News reported on Sunday:

Mumtaz El Saeed, Egypt’s Finance Minister, says the country needs $11 billion to help it get through the next fiscal year, as well as help with economic reforms, according to a report in Al Ahram, a local newspaper.

This comes as rating agency Standard & Poor’s lowered its long-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings on the country to ‘B’ from ‘B+’; with a negative outlook.

S&P said that Egypt’s external position has deteriorated and is likely to weaken further, absent stabilisation in the domestic political situation alongside external financial support.

“Egypt’s external financing risks have risen significantly, with foreign direct investment having declined sharply and net portfolio flows also having turned negative. Egyptian Central Bank interventions–to support the Egyptian pound in the face of significant capital outflows and double-digit annual inflation–have resulted in a sharp decline in net international reserves. These were $16 billion at end-January 2012, down from $36 billion at the start of 2011. Historically, S&P’s assessment of Egypt’s external score has been a relative strength to the rating; this is now being eroded. It estimates that net international reserves, excluding gold, now cover less than three months of goods and services imports compared with more than six months at the start of 2011,” the rating agency said.

What Egypt’s reserves might be is unclear — the New York Times recently published an estimate of $10 billion, or less than two months’ imports — but at least half of the $20 billion to $25 billion loss in reserves is the result of flight capital. Only half reflects the minimum, essential import needs of a broken economy that imports half of its caloric consumption.

Wealthy Egyptians, that is, are moving their money out of the country at the rate of $2 to $3 billion a month. The actual rate is higher, because a great deal of diesel fuel, propane gas, rice, wheat, and other things are stolen and sold overseas. As I reported (exclusively in the English-language media) last October, Egypt’s generals fired all the outside directors of the country’s central bank, which means that no-one outside the military knows precisely what is happening. After sixty years of military rule, Egypt’s military runs the Egyptian economy, which means that most of the capital leaving the country belong to the generals or their friends and family.

To ask Americans to pour more money into this kleptocracy is outrageous. Like Somalia, ordinary Egyptians will never see the benefits. But that is precisely what the Obamoids will demand. Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, for example, begs America not to cut off aid in response to Egypt’s provocation:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/02/saudi_mobilizes_interpol_for_sharia_blasphemy_prosecution.html

OBAMA BOWED TO THESE THUGS, BUT IT WAS THE BUSHIES, FATHER AND SON WHO KOWTOWED TO THEM PRETENDING THEY ARE ALLIES OF AMERICA….AND PAVING THEIR ROAD TO THEIR VILE INFLUENCE IN AMERICAN MEDIA AND UNIVERSITIES….RSK

At what point does Saudi Arabia become treated as the pariah state they are? Saudi Arabia whose official faith is a strict form of Islam known as Wahabism, has bestowed upon the world some of the worst terrorism mankind has ever seen. Sharia, in all its seventh century glory, reins supreme to this day. Beheadings, amputations, stoning, floggings, all punishments handed down by the Koran, are done in the public square, with crimes as blasphemy, apostasy, rape and murder on par with witchcraft, homosexuality and the simple act of being a woman in public without an escort. But the world turns a blind eye to this disgusting behavior over oil, again.

In December Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bought a stake in Twitter for 300 million. Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s king who was estimated by Forbes magazine this year to have a fortune of over 19 billion, already owns a 7 percent stake in News Corp and plans to start a cable news channel.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203646004577215183632347566.html?mod=opinion_newsreel
Fortuño’s Plan to Energize Puerto Rico
Tax cuts and regulatory reforms are increasing investment on the island.
So Mitt Romney doesn’t “care about the very poor.” But what about the rest of the American political class who jumped all over him for his recent gaffe? Its loud protestations aside, how truly interested is Washington in reducing poverty?

That question occurred to me during an interview with Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuño here 10 days ago. If his plan to boost the island’s competitiveness by switching electricity generation from oil to natural gas is to succeed, he’s going to need relief from the pernicious 1920 Jones Act. It prohibits any ship not made in the U.S. from carrying cargo between U.S. ports. There are no liquefied-natural-gas (LNG) tankers made in the U.S. Unless Puerto Rico gets a Jones Act exemption, it cannot take advantage of the U.S. natural gas bonanza to make itself more competitive.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203824904577215623915733132.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

GOVERNOR PERRY, ADMITTEDLY A KLUTZY DEBATER HAS A GOOD RECORD AND GREAT IDEAS BUT THE “ROVE”ERS AND PERRY’S POOR TEAM TORPEDOED HIS CHANCES….TOO BAD…..RSK
Texans Are Baffled by the Keystone Decision
China will get the oil from Canada that could have come to the U.S.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Beijing recently signing an agreement and touting his country’s growing energy partnership with China. It’s good news for Canada, which is rightfully looking to grow markets for its sizeable oil reserves. And it’s particularly good news for China, which needs to keep tapping into fresh supplies to feed its growing economy and mounting demand for oil.

Unfortunately, it’s bad news for Americans, particularly when you consider that one of the main reasons China has become such an attractive market to Canada was President Obama’s recent rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline. This cross-border connection would have provided a golden opportunity to partner with our neighbors to the north in producing massive amounts of energy, both for our country and the globe.

It seems unimaginable, yet President Obama refused Trans-Canada’s request to run its pipeline across the border from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. This extensive pipeline holds the potential of moving up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day—including oil produced in North Dakota and Montana—to refineries here in Texas. Translated into job numbers, that’s up to 20,000 direct jobs and estimates of up to hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs created by this $7 billion project.

Keystone would have provided a shot in the arm for our nation’s uncertain economy, and it could have provided economic opportunity for tens of thousands of families, stretching from here in Texas all the way to the Canadian border.

Hoping to appease environmental radicals, President Obama said no, claiming he didn’t have time to adequately consider the pipeline.

Army’s Medevac chopper policy in need of revision
Michael Yon Online
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Commentary
Going unarmed into combat is a bad idea. Going unarmed while wearing a Red Cross to alert the enemy that you are defenseless is dumb. A commander who forces his troops to do this without good cause is at best incompetent. Read more…

Read more at: http://times247.com/

Inside the Beltway: Gingrich gets a ‘dream team’
Jennifer Harper
Newt Gingrich is not done yet, despite gleeful pronouncements by pundits and foes who insist the Republican presidential hopeful is finished, kaput, washed up. As the campaign trail looms in a post-CPAC world, the nimble Mr. Gingrich has assembled a powerful, familiar and possibly remarkable group to see him along the increasingly steep and rocky way. Read more…

Palin still not sold on Romney’s conservatism
Ben Wolfgang
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Sunday again questioned Mitt Romney’s conservative credentials but said the Republican presidential front-runner remains in the lead because he’s “a great candidate.” Read more…

Read more at: http://times247.com/

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/
In his latest article (entitled “UNESCO On The Nose”) via the antipodean J-Wire service, Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer pinpoints five main reasons for opposition to his petition from some perhaps unexpected quarters, and urges a rethink on the part of those who have proved reluctant to sign. He also draws attention to a group he has set up on Facebook, called “Help Restore UNESCO’s Funding” and urges readers to join.

Writes David Singer:

‘UNESCO seems set to preside over a looming global humanitarian crisis as it continues to struggle in its efforts to cope with the loss of $260 million – 22% of its projected budget – until the end of 2013.
Trying to make up the shortfall – including lobbying America and Israel to resume the payment of their dues and establishing an Emergency Fund to solicit donations from its other 193 member states and the public at large – have clearly failed so far.

UNESCO‘s finds itself in this sorry situation because of its decision to admit “Palestine“ as its 195th Member State on 31 October last.

In an effort to recoup the shortfall – I have proposed to UNESCO that it approach the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on whether the requirements of UNESCO’s Constitution were satisfied in admitting “Palestine”.

If the Court rules that the provisions of the Constitution were complied with – then this avenue as a means of recouping the $260 million would be closed – but the provisions of the Constitution would have been judicially interpreted to prevent a repeat of the current controversy when dealing with other applications to join UNESCO in the future.

If however the Court found the decision to be unconstitutional – then the $260 million would start to flow into UNESCO’s coffers immediately and the emerging global crisis impacting on scores of millions of people world wide would be averted.

Faced with continuing UNESCO resistance to discuss my detailed submission to it on 1 December last – I started an online petition on 1 January seeking public support for this proposal – which has so far attracted more than 1000 signatures from people in 26 countries. Please also sign it if you agree with the views expressed in this article.

What has been surprising – and very disturbing – has been the opposition expressed to signing my petition – which I have been able to attribute to five main reasons gleaned from the responses received so far to my proposal:

* Some have expressed their utter contempt for UNESCO and its continued existence – suggesting it has become ineffectual and politicized and should be shut down.
They delight in the financial difficulties being faced by UNESCO – which they see as a self-serving organization that exists to feed an over bloated bureaucracy of overpaid and well travelled employees – rather than spending its budget on helping the hundreds of millions of people world wide who are crying out for some hope to relieve their distressing lives.

* Some Americans are supportive of their country’s decision to stop the payment of its financial dues – automatically suspended as a result of an American law dating back to the 1990’s which prescribed such action should any UN agency act as UNESCO did.

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/

There are two possible conflicts on the table in Washington. One is with Iran and the other with Syria. The Iran conflict is the one that Washington doesn’t want. Its most likely trigger at this stage is an Israeli assault on Iran’s nuclear program. Like most of the wars centering around Israel, this one is existential and of no interest to the philosopher kings in D.C. who wage wars with the grand purpose of making the world a better place.
Washington does not particularly care whether Iran gets nukes or doesn’t get nukes. It cares about History. With a capital H. Libya got bombed because it was on the wrong side of history. Syria is about to get bombed because it’s on the wrong side of history. There are people in the administration like Samantha Power who would like to bomb Israel for being on the wrong side of history, but they don’t think that even J Street and Peter Beinart could spin that as a pro-Israel move.