RUTHFULLY YOURS

In the world of Gates, terrorism, much like the weather, just seems to happen. The notion that something ideological — a grand political goal — motivates terrorism, is apparently a conceptual bridge too far for Gates
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4673/bob_gates_is_mr_establishment_and_that_s_worrying
Christian Whiton is the president of the Hamilton Foundation and the author of “Smart Power: Between Diplomacy and War.” He was a State Department senior advisor during the George W. Bush administration
Can you image if Robert Lovett, a Republican who served as President Harry Truman’s secretary of defense during the Korean War, left office and wrote a book that ignored communism, only mentioned the Soviet Union in passing, and reserved more criticism for Washington and London’s South Korean wartime allies than for our North Korean and Chinese enemies?

It would have been odd. Yet Robert Gates effectively authored the modern analogue of this in “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.” Lost amid early reviews of the former Pentagon chief’s new book, which stressed its political gossip, was just how poor his analysis of the world is — and what that says about our national security establishment embodied so perfectly by the politically androgynous Mr. Gates.

In the world of Gates, terrorism, much like the weather, just seems to happen. The notion that something ideological — a grand political goal — motivates terrorism, just as the communist ideology drove political subversion and military aggression in an earlier era, is apparently a conceptual bridge too far for Gates.

Thus one word you will find nowhere in “Duty’s” 594 pages is “Islamism.” And what is never mentioned was presumably never targeted as a threat by the vast bureaucracy Mr. Gates oversaw for four years. That might explain why the political-military force whose name must never be uttered has done so well these past several years — especially its terrorist vanguard.

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/370001/print

The seltzer-maker spokeswoman strongly supports Israel and its manufacturers.

Puleez!!! Enough already. The actress is doing what a sensible and fair minded person should do….good for her…but the endless columns and fawning and gushing praise will make her nuts. rsk

Of all the possible defenders of the Israeli town of Ma’aleh Adumim, a burg of 40,000 located five miles east of Jerusalem’s Western Wall, a gorgeous worldwide movie star is hardly the most likely candidate. But there was Scarlett Johansson, the 29-year-old screen and stage actress, vigorously doubling down on her decision to sign on as a spokesperson for SodaStream, a do-it-yourself-soda company headquartered in Israel, and to appear on its behalf in a provocative ad during this Sunday’s Super Bowl.

“I stand behind the SodaStream product. . . . I am happy that light is being shed on this issue in hopes that a greater number of voices will contribute to the conversation of a peaceful two state solution in the near future,” she wrote in the Huffington Post late last week.

Why such a fuss over bubbly water?

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303448204579338650490889042?mod=Opinion_newsreel_10
Tender Is the Light of My Incandescents
Bracing myself for life once the filaments in my beloved bulbs grow weak.

My heart aches as I stand in the light bulb aisle of Home Depot, looking for an LED light to replace the incandescent bulbs that went out of production at the beginning of this month. The saleswoman asks if I prefer a soft white or a warm white—as though between the two either is less harsh.

I wonder if the members of Congress who passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which slowly outlawed the manufacture of incandescent bulbs, have ever sat beneath an LED or Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulb. If they have, they will know that it induces a sort of drowsy numbness—something I learned recently when my roommate brought home a set of Nanoleaf LED bulbs with an advertised 30-year life span.

After a few minutes sitting in his room, we both realized that there was something almost nauseating about the quality of the dull light. That the makers of Nanoleaf—or any manufacturer of efficient bulbs—would be deluded enough to think that I would want to spend the next 30 years with their product is beyond me. And not only are their life spans unbearably long, but the manufacturers want to charge $20 per bulb. Over time, we are told, they save us money. I’d rather eat the extra cost and avoid having my living room look like an interrogation cell.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304007504579349011669560726?mod=WSJ_Opinion_

Investigating Chris Christie’s administration, indicting another prominent Republican. Is it political?

Is Eric Holder’s Justice Department driven by a political agenda, or are the department’s recent prosecutorial decisions simply signs of overzealousness?

The Justice Department has focused on two prominent Republicans, announcing a corruption indictment of former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell and launching an active and very public criminal investigation into the antics of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. In doing so, federal prosecutors have created at least the appearance that they are targeting two men who have been touted as plausible candidates for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

A reading of the McDonnell indictment raises the obvious question of why the feds are charging someone who, as governor, engaged in conduct that is run-of-the-mill political activity in virtually all jurisdictions, but especially in states, like Virginia, whose laws quite clearly allow it. Certainly Mr. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, don’t come off well in the indictment. She in particular is painted as greedy even by political standards. Both are charged with receiving expensive gifts as well as loans from businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr., whose commercial dietary supplements were promoted by the governor. Mr. McDonnell and his wife also invited Mr. Williams to dinners and events at the governor’s mansion and arranged audiences for him with state health officials.

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/01/29/forget-lbjs-daisy-ad-watch-goldwaters-campaign-film-choice/?print=1
BARRY GOLDWATER IGNITED THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA—AND PAVED THE WAY TO THE ELECTION OF RONALD REAGAN…..RSK

I haven’t seen the new documentary MITT and I’m not sure I can bring myself to do so.

Living in the real-life aftermath of Romney’s failed presidential campaign is depressing enough without sitting through a cinematic autopsy, too.

Some say that if this documentary or something like it had been screened before election day, Romney’s chances would’ve improved.

Obviously we can’t know that for certain.

I feel more confident declaring that had an infamous but little seen Barry Goldwater campaign film called Choice aired in 1964, he still wouldn’t have won.

That’s because Goldwater had no chance of winning anyhow.

Americans weren’t going to dishonor their recently assassinated Democratic president by failing to vote for his successor. Period.

It didn’t help that the elites had successfully painted Goldwater as a racist, warmongering loony.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/how-good-could-2014-be-for-gop/ Several thoughtful political commentators, including Sean Trende of Real Clear Politics and Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia Center for Politics, have written articles this month suggesting that prospects for Republicans in Senate contests in 2014 are improving. Trende goes as far to suggest that in a wave year, if the GOP can avoid nominating self-destructive […]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/not-hope-and-change-but-real-jobs-in-oil-patch
William C. Triplett II is a national security and energy writer in Washington.
Employment booming in the energy sector

As a whole, America’s job numbers are appalling. At least 12.6 million people have dropped out of the work force. Millions of Americans who had a job when George W. Bush was president don’t have one now. Future job prospects look abysmal, clear across the demographics – men, women, teens, minorities, recent graduates and seniors.

Twenty percent of the American population is on food stamps, and there is no answer in sight for the country’s misery, except the American shale revolution.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, in passing, President Obama took undeserved credit for increased American oil and gas production before he returned to his usual liberal agenda of government programs, including raising the minimum wage.

What Mr. Obama didn’t tell the American people is this: The oil patch is hiring right now, and the jobs offered pay much better than the federal minimum wage.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4146/uk-northern-nigeria “The British colonial masters took our land and handed it over to Muslim rulers… They gave us [non-Muslim groups] an inferior social and political role in the colonial hierarchical system in northern Nigeria, and that is exactly where we are right now.” — Dr. Yusufu Taraki It is a truth not universally acknowledged in […]

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4149/spain-universal-jurisdiction Worried that Spain’s judicial system was being hijacked by activist judges pursuing a political agenda, Spanish lawmakers voted…to restrict the scope of universal jurisdiction. “Universal jurisdiction risks creating universal tyranny — that of judges.” — Henry Kissinger Lawmakers from Spain’s ruling center-right Popular Party have submitted a bill that would limit the conditions under […]

Honor Diaries a groundbreaking film that tackles the sensitive issues of women’s rights and violence in Muslim-majority societies.

http://www.clarionproject.org/news/honor-diaries-film-about-womens-rights

Honor Diaries is a groundbreaking interfaith film, co-produced by Women’s Voices Now, the Aha Foundation, Karma Nirvana, Council of Muslims Facing Tomorrow, and Clarion Project, that tackles head on the sensitive issues of women’s rights and violence in Muslim-majority societies. It brings together nine women from different backgrounds with unique expertise to share their stories. Honor Diaries won the St Louis International Film Festival Interfaith Award, and was an official selection at the Chicago International Film Festival.

The film discusses gender inequality, honor-based violence, forced marriage, and FGM. The women in the film come with awareness and understanding of the complex cultural issues at play, and are therefore able to attack ‘political correctness’ taboos that restrict dialogue and prevent true acknowledgement of the abuses perpetuated worldwide against women and girls. The 9 women that are followed in the film all have fascinating and troubling first-hand experience of the subject matter. Although the film does not focus on scenes of violence, FGM, murder, rape and spousal abuse are all discussed in depth, and by those with personal experience of it. For allowing these stories to be told alone, Honor Diaries is worthy of praise.