RUTHFULLY YOURS

In the June 5 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Bill McKibben declares his desire to “set the world on a fundamentally new course.” He’s inviting fellow climate-change activists to participate in a “People’s Climate March” in New York City on Sept. 20—which he hopes will be the “largest demonstration yet of human resolve in the face of climate change.”

Mr. McKibben is among the world’s most famous environmentalists. He’s written or edited 15 books and been awarded honorary degrees from 18 colleges and universities. He is also the founder of 350.org, whose goal is to reduce atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels to 350 parts per million from the current level of about 400 parts per million. To achieve that goal, he’s written that “we need to cut our fossil fuel use by a factor of twenty over the next few decades.”

But what are the actual implications of cutting fossil fuels 20-fold? Let’s “do the math,” as Mr. McKibben is fond of saying.

Global hydrocarbon consumption is now about 218 million barrels of oil equivalent energy a day, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, which includes 83 million barrels of oil as well as about 75 million barrels of oil equivalent from coal and about 60 million barrels of oil equivalent from natural gas. Reducing that by a factor of 20 would cut global hydrocarbon use to the energy equivalent of 11 million barrels of oil a day, roughly the amount of energy now consumed by India, where 400 million people lack access to electricity.

In 2012, the average resident of planet Earth consumed about 1.3 gallons of oil-equivalent energy a day from hydrocarbons. If Mr. McKibben’s plan were enacted—and we shared those available hydrocarbons equally—-each of us would be allotted about eight fluid ounces of oil-equivalent energy from hydrocarbons a day. Today, the average resident of Bangladesh uses about half a liter of oil equivalent—slightly less than 17 ounces—a day. Under Mr. McKibben’s prescription, the average Bangladeshi would be required to cut his hydrocarbon use by about half.

The fall of Mosul, Iraq, to al Qaeda terrorists this week is as big in its implications as Russia’s annexation of Crimea. But from the Obama presidency, barely a peep.

Barack Obama is fiddling while the world burns. Iraq, Pakistan, Ukraine, Russia, Nigeria, Kenya, Syria. These foreign wildfires, with more surely to come, will burn unabated for two years until the United States has a new president. The one we’ve got can barely notice or doesn’t care.

Last month this is what Barack Obama said to the 1,064 graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy: “Four and a half years later, as you graduate, the landscape has changed. We have removed our troops from Iraq. We are winding down our war in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda’s leadership on the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been decimated.”

That let-the-sunshine-in line must have come back to the cadets, when news came Sunday that the Pakistani Taliban, who operate in that border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, had carried out a deadly assault on the main airport in Karachi, population 9.4 million. To clarify, the five Taliban Mr. Obama exchanged for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl are Afghan Taliban who operate on the other side of the border.

Within 24 hours of the Taliban attack in Pakistan, Boko Haram’s terrorists in Nigeria kidnapped 20 more girls, adding to the 270 still-missing—”our girls,” as they were once known.

Then Mosul fell. The al Qaeda affiliate known as ISIS stormed and occupied the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, population 1.8 million and not far from Turkey, Syria and Iran. It took control of the airport, government buildings, and reportedly looted some $430 million from Mosul’s banks. ISIS owns Mosul.

Iraq’s army in tatters, ISIS rolled south Wednesday and took the city of Tikrit. It is plausible that this Islamic wave will next take Samarra and then move on to Baghdad, about 125 miles south of Tikrit. They will surely stop outside Baghdad, but that would be enough. Iraq will be lost.

Julian Hassan graduated from Vassar College with a degree in Cognitive Science and Russian. He is currently an intern at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in Washington, D.C. Last year, their ”What Will They Learn?” project gave Vassar an “F” ranking for weak curricular standards.

Julian Hassan stood up for Israel against faculty, Students for Justice in Palestine and J Street U

I graduated from Vassar College in May 2014. I was the President of the Vassar Conservative Libertarian Union, and the anti-Israel fervor found me.

Before we go into this sordid story, it gives us perspective on the times to remember that Vassar College was once a great friend of Israel. In 1975, “Students React Quickly to U.N. Zionism Vote” was a headline in the school paper:

“Concerned Vassar students gathered in the Chapel on a rainy Nov. 12 to protest the U.N. resolution condemning Zionism as racism. Chaplain George Williamson, Jewish Chaplain Derry Baker, Professor Benruy Kraut and two prominent Jewish community leaders, Rabbis Arnold and Zimmet spoke at the student organized rally.”

It took thirty years, but what if I told you today that this same college community now views Zionism as the most insidious form of racism. Would it seem Orwellian?

Two student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and JStreetU, were formed last fall. Both liberal, SJP rallies against a two state solution while JStreetU claims to endorse one. At a glance they might seem different, but they share a lot in common when it comes to condemning attempts to by me and my group to counter anti-Israel propaganda on campus.

In December 2013, the American Studies Association released a resolution boycotting Israel. Reminiscent of students in 1975, the Vassar administration swiftly rejected this resolution right after New Years 2014.

Diana West, author of American Betrayal, graciously consented to an interview with Marcia. While garnering enthusiastic reviews, Ms. West has been excoriated by some members of the conservative media, accused of being a crackpot and closet John Birch Society member. Apparently many of her critics never bothered to read her book, though, or check her voluminous research. This reviewer has read her book and the subsequent rebuttal addressing her attackers — reviewed here and here, respectively.

Marcia: I’d like to start by inquiring about the mechanics of writing the book. Before conservatism was much more than a gleam in Bill Buckley’s eye there was scarcely a conservative publication or organization that didn’t have M. Stanton Evans’ fingerprints. Did he encourage you to write the book?

Diana: Perhaps you’re thinking of Stanton Evans’ father?

Marcia: Yes I am. Sorry, my confusion. They both wrote books about McCarthy and I conflated the two.

Diana: I didn’t get to know M. Stanton Evans until after I was already at work on American Betrayal. That said, I consider his seminal book, Blacklisted by History, an inspiration, and not only because it sheds new and vindicating light (and documents) on McCarthy’s career, and offers a damning case against his political enemies. What Evans’ McCarthy book also demonstrates is that it is possible, through much hard detective work, to assemble an archive of facts, primary-source materials, from which to reconstruct reality-based history – as opposed to the endlessly recycled “court history” our professional historians tend to produce. The “conventional wisdom” may be conventional but it is also, I find more and more, usually wrong.

While working on American Betrayal, I had a question related to something in Blacklisted – I think it might have been to ask Stan to elaborate on why it was, after he had assembled the facts about Joseph McCarthy, there was still no redress, and whether he thought there ever would be. I was still rather innocent about the lengths the Establishment goes to preserve its “narrative.”

Anyway, someone gave me Stan’s number and I just called him up. From that time forward, he was always generous with time and expertise. Later, when the disinformation campaign against American Betrayal was on – Stan labeled it a “mugging” – he was very supportive and actually wrote two related essays: Harry Hopkins, Diana West and Me, and In Defense of Diana West. It was a career highlight to be introduced by him last November when the Center for Security Policy gave me the Mightier Pen Award for American Betrayal.

The last engaging book I read on the means and ends of warfare before John Lewis’s was a 2009 abridged version of Winston Churchill’s The River War, originally published in 1899. Its original, full title included An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan.

The term “reconquest” was misleading, because the Sudan had never before been “conquered” by the British, but was under the jurisdiction of Egypt, then a protectorate of Britain. Egypt was unable to deal militarily with the Dervish forces that meant to conquer it. It fell to Britain extinguish the Mahdist or Islamic threat, which, unchecked, could well have spread from Egypt to the rest of North Africa and the Middle East.

General Herbert Kitchener was tasked with that formidable project. Churchill describes the meticulous and determined campaign he waged, which was not just a matter of sending an army into the desert wastes to fight fanatical tribesmen. It meant reforming the corrupt and ineffectual Egyptian government, rebuilding the Egyptian army and its Sudanese levies, building a railroad into enemy territory, and mastering the stupendous logistics of supplies and men. The stated objective was to erase the Mahdist regime as a military and political threat in the whole region. The climax of the campaign was the Battle of Omdurman in September 1898, in which the Dervish army was utterly decimated and routed.

In the end, over a year later, the successor of Mahdi Muhammad Ahmed, Abdallah ibn Muhammad, was killed and the remnants of his forces routed at the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat.

The Sudan Campaign had clear military and political objectives. The British government then had the will to take the necessary actions to destroy an enemy and discredit the ideology that moved it.

Churchill noted in The River War that, ” The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.”

“America cannot do a damn thing.”

A banner displaying that slogan adorned the stage of an elegant mausoleum in Tehran where Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appeared last week. Negotiations to conclude a deal ending Western sanctions on the Islamic republic, the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism, in exchange for a verifiable halt to its nuclear weapons program, are now in a critical phase with a new round of talks to begin Monday in Geneva. At this moment, it would make sense for Iran’s rulers to soothe and reassure their American interlocutors. Why are they provoking and taunting them instead?

Because they can. They are convinced that the U.S. government is as feckless and self-deluding today as it was when “America cannot do a damn thing” was first proclaimed, 35 years ago this fall, by Iran’s revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, after his followers seized the American Embassy in Tehran and took the diplomats working there hostage.

Doing so was not just a violation of international law. It was a casus belli — an act that unquestionably would have justified going to war against the fledgling Islamic republic. Instead, President Jimmy Carter launched a rescue attempt that failed. After that, he utilized diplomacy to no effect.

The number of executions in Iran in 2014, up to June 5, now totals 325; the Iranian government has admitted to only 122. These numbers do not include the Iranian regime’s “silent executions” — depriving prisoners who were tortured of medical care, and then claiming they died in prison of “natural causes.”

On February 13, two prisoners were publicly hanged in Kouzehgari Square, in the Iranian city of Shiraz, and in the same spot on February 19, another prisoner was also publicly hanged.

The number of executions in Iran in 2014, up to June 5, now totals 325; the Iranian government has admitted to only 122, according to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center’s Chart of Executions by the Islamic Republic of Iran – 2014. These numbers do not include the Iranian regime’s “silent executions” — depriving prisoners who were tortured of medial care, and then claiming they died in prison of “natural causes.”

The Mehr News Agency, an official mouthpiece of the Iranian regime, also reported that a prisoner was condemned to the sharia law punishment of “cutting off one hand and one foot.”

The recent victories in Iraq and Syria by the terrorists of ISIS — said to be an offshoot of al-Qaeda — have emboldened the group and its followers throughout the Middle East. Now the terrorists are planning to move their jihad not only to Jordan, but also to the Gaza Strip, Sinai and Lebanon.

Failure to act will result in the establishment in the Middle East of a dangerous extremist Islamic empire that will pose a threat to American and Western interests.

“The danger is getting closer to our bedrooms.” — Oraib al-Rantawi, Jordanian political analyst

Islamist terrorists in Iraq and Syria have begun creeping toward neighboring countries, sources close to the Islamic fundamentalists revealed this week.

The terrorists, who belong to The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS — known as DAESH in Arabic] and are said to be an offshoot of al-Qaeda, are planning to take their jihad to Jordan, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula — after having already captured large parts of Syria and Iraq, the sources said.

The capture this week by ISIS of the cities of Mosul and Tikrit in Iraq has left many Arabs and Muslims in the region worried that their countries soon may be targeted by the terrorists, who seek to create a radical Islamist emirate in the Middle East.

According to the sources, ISIS leader Abu Baker al-Baghdadi recently discussed with his lieutenants the possibility of extending the group’s control beyond Syria and Iraq.

Tea Party fave is challenging Sen. Thad Cochran in a runoff on June 24…..stay tuned

U.S. Senate
Roger Wicker (R) Next election in 2018

Thad Cochran (R) Incumbent

http://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/ http://thadformississippi.com/issues/
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Thad_Cochran.htm**

•Rated 0 by AAI, indicating a mixed Arab/Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

ISSUES

GOVERNMENT OVERREACH Thad has opposed the Obama Administration’s efforts to limit gun rights; he opposed the Wall Street bank bailout; he opposed the President’s bloated and ineffective stimulus package of 2009; he opposed Obamacare; and he has consistently voted against the Administrations’ failed immigration proposals. Thad cosponsored legislation that would prevent the IRS from targeting individuals because of their political beliefs, and Thad supports legislation to restore the Tenth Amendment, sending power back to the states. Thad has introduced legislation to prevent overregulation of family farms by the EPA. He recently worked successfully to stop overregulation of family farms by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

ENERGY The United States can enjoy a secure and affordable energy supply. Thad believes in an all-of-the-above policy to harness our nation’s energy resources. He has supported efforts to expand offshore oil and gas development, and to return a portion of federal offshore revenues to the states for natural resource conservation and other purposes. Thad opposes President Obama’s delay in approving the Keystone XL Pipeline. A recent report by Obama’s own State Department concluded that the pipeline would support over 42,000 jobs, during construction and beyond. It is time to create these jobs and make the U.S. more energy independent. Thad is committed to supporting common sense energy policies.

Thad has spent his entire career making Mississippi a leader in energy independence. He has worked to bring investments in power generation throughout the state and has enabled Mississippi universities to conduct cutting-edge research in energy innovation. Over 22,000 Mississippi jobs are directly attributable to our energy assets, but more jobs are needed. Reliable and abundant energy sources are good for Americans because they help lower electric bills and prices at the pump. Diverse, affordable energy sources also are critical to attracting high skilled manufacturing and technology companies.

He is staunchly opposed to a “carbon tax” and sees it as a sure job killer, particularly in states like Mississippi that are growing manufacturing jobs. Thad has supported legislation to block EPA overregulation of American industry and energy providers. Thad will continue to fight for an all-of-the-above energy policy that is fair to the American consumer.

HEALTHCARE Thad continues to fight against Obamacare. He has voted to oppose, defund or repeal Obamacare’s overreach 102 times on the Senate. In 2013, Thad cosponsored the Obamacare Repeal Act authored by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). Thad believes that Obamacare denies healthcare choice, stifles economic mobility and costs American jobs. In fact, a February Congressional Budget Office report confirms that Obamacare is reducing American jobs.

Thad also cosponsored legislation that would prevent taxpayer-funded bailouts of health insurance companies at the Obama Administration’s discretion, as permitted under Obamacare. Beyond the cost of these bailouts, these payments would likely end up being one more smokescreen to hide just how harmful and costly this ill-conceived law is turning out to be. Thad believes that lawmakers must go back to the drawing board and draft legislation that will work better for all Americans and actually reduce the cost of healthcare services without spending billions of taxpayer dollars to support these failing policies. The White House’s delay of the employer mandate past the 2014 elections is a sign that employers are responding to Obamacare’s mandates exactly as critics have contended: by cutting back on workers and hours. More recently, we learned that Medicare is being raided to pay for Obamacare. Seniors could lose access to the doctors they liked and were told they could keep. The President has shown he isn’t afraid to cherry-pick which parts of the law he delays, so he should stop these harmful cuts to Medicare.

Thad believes healthcare decisions are best made by families, not bureaucrats in Washington. That’s why he has made sure Mississippians have access to high quality care and transformative research. Thad forced the National Institutes of Health to stop putting Mississippi at the back of the pack and advocated a greater focus on Mississippi academic research partnerships. Today, doctors and researchers at the Guyton Research Complex headquartered in Jackson work with other world-class institutions to find cures for diseases affecting thousands of Mississippians.

IMMIGRATION Thad has consistently voted against inadequate immigration legislation. He even voted against his friend Ronald Reagan’s amnesty bill in 1986. In fact, he is one of three Senators in history to vote against every comprehensive immigration reform bill that sought to provide amnesty to those who have entered our country illegally (1986, 2006, 2007, 2013). Thad has voted against all legislation that would allow a process to grant legal status to illegal immigrants now in the United States. Thad realizes the importance of guest worker policy improvements that would benefit agriculture, seafood, high-tech and other industries in Mississippi and other states. However, as a member and first chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that secures our borders, Thad knows better than almost anyone that before solving the nation’s border security or law enforcement problems, we must not consider a path toward citizenship for those here illegally. Thad believes that the United States needs to improve its legal immigration policies and consistently enforce laws already on the books so that we remain globally competitive.
Chris McDaniel (R) Tea Party Challenger

https://mcdaniel2014.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE Obamacare is a train wreck and must be repealed immediately. Chris was a leading opponent of ObamaCare in Mississippi, volunteering his free time as lead counsel in a suit against Obamacare. As a state senator, Chris also opposed Obamacare’s massive expansion of Medicaid that would have bankrupted Mississippi and subjected the state to increased government mandates.

Chris supported conservative senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee in their effort to defund Obamacare and believes we must do whatever it takes to repeal Obamacare and save the American people from the increased costs, lost jobs and loss of privacy that Obamacare will bring.

He supports efforts to replace Obamacare with commonsense health care reforms that lower health care costs, increase choice for consumers, and protect our individual liberties. These reforms include enacting tort reform to limit the skyrocketing cost of defensive medicine, allowing individuals to receive the same tax benefits for their health insurance as employee-provided insurance, encouraging health savings accounts, and allowing people to buy health insurance across state lines.

REGULATIONS AND THE EPA Government has grown too big, meddling in almost every aspect of our daily lives. Whether it is the EPA telling our farmers how to run their farms or new rules dictating what kind of light bulbs we can use, government regulation is destroying jobs and impinging on our most basic liberties.

It is time to reduce the size of government and the power granted to massive government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. As a state senator, Chris sponsored legislation designed to give owners of small businesses more say about state regulations that could affect their livelihoods. As a U.S. senator, Chris will oppose increased government regulation and will seek to repeal the most egregious regulations currently on the books.

IMMIGRATION Chris believes America is the greatest country on earth and we should welcome those who want to partake in the American Dream. But this dream is made possible by our country’s long-standing respect for the rule of law and basic fairness. Amnesty rewards those who willfully break American laws and unfairly penalizes those who follow the rules and wait their turn to enter this great country.

Chris opposes amnesty and believes we most enforce the laws on the books and secure our border first and foremost. As a state senator, Chris introduced the Employment Protection Act to require all companies to use the Internet-based system to check the legal status of potential employees. This legislation was passed and signed into law.

ENERGY Implementing a domestic energy policy that uses our natural resources in a responsible way will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce the cost of energy, and increase jobs here at home.

Chris supports increasing offshore drilling and opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to exploration and drilling. He is a strong proponent of building the keystone pipeline and will oppose government funding for inefficient sources of energy like ethanol and solar energy. Government should not pick winners and losers and force American taxpayers to subsidize more expensive forms of energy. Instead, government should get out of the way and allow consumers to choose the fuel sources that best meet their needs.
Travis Childers (D) Challenger

http://davebratforcongress.com/issues/

Issues

Obamacare
Obamacare has proven to be an economically disastrous law and an unconstitutional power grab by our Federal Government. The government cannot and should not be permitted to run and regulate nearly 20% of our nation’s economy. We must restore the relationship between doctor and patient. We must restore the relationship between price and service in medicine or we will continue on the Road to Serfdom. I support a plan to defund the law and replace it with free-market solutions that lower costs, improve quality, and increase access to care.

Fiscal Responsibility
Our national debt has skyrocketed, reaching over $17 trillion dollars. What our leaders in Washington fail to mention is the $127 Trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities (see U.S. Debt Clock). This lack of leadership on both sides of the aisle threatens our nation’s stability and long term growth and forces an undue burden on our children and grandchildren. We must balance the federal budget by reducing spending. I will support a balanced budget amendment which will force Congress to reign in the out of control federal spending and to restore confidence in the American economy.

Immigration
When addressing the issue of immigration, we must start by securing our border. An open border is both a national security threat and an economic threat that our country cannot ignore. I reject any proposal that grants amnesty and undermines the fundamental rule of law. Adding millions of workers to the labor market will force wages to fall and jobs to be lost. I support proposals that will secure our border, enforce our current laws, and restore an orderly and fair process to allow law abiding individuals to work towards becoming citizens of this great nation.

Term Limits
I am a strong proponent of term limits for members of Congress. Career politicians and special moneyed interests have corrupted our democratic system. I pledge to support and submit legislation that enforces term limits. Ideally, Congressional term limits would be for 12 years total, across both The House and The Senate. Thus, I pledge to term limit myself to 12 years in Congress.

2nd Amendment
I will oppose any efforts to undermine or limit the Constitutional right to bear arms.

I am a strong supporter of gun rights. The right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right enshrined in the constitution for a reason – it provides the people with the ultimate guarantee of sovereignty. I will oppose any back door attempts to confiscate guns or create a national gun registry. All too frequently the knee jerk reaction to tragedies by the media and chattering class is to move to restrict our rights. In Congress, I will be a steady and firm supporter of our 2nd amendment rights at all times – not just when it is convenient. Our founding documents make it clear that our inalienable rights come from God and that the job of the government is to ensure and protect those God given rights. I intend to keep it that way.

Education
As an economist and educator for eighteen years, I understand the value of a good education. This is why I oppose top down approaches by the Federal Government such as Common Core and No Child Left Behind. I will support efforts to place Virginia’s teachers, parents, and local officials, who best understand the needs of the community, in control of our education system.

National Security/Foreign Policy
Ronald Reagan said it best: “Peace through strength.” A strong military is essential to the success of our nation. We must secure our borders, support the Armed Forces, both at home and abroad, and maintain a strong national defense in order to secure our country’s future. In addition, I support a full investigation into the Benghazi attacks.

Federal Reserve
I support a full audit of the Federal Reserve System.

Energy
I support a broad-spectrum energy approach that relies on the free market. The private sector must be set free to invest in natural gas, wind, solar, oil, nuclear, and other forms of energy as we move forward. Ending our reliance on foreign oil and moving toward energy independence is vital to the future welfare of America.

10th Amendment
The federal government has grown far too large. Our Founders envisioned a nation in which the federal government’s powers were explicitly listed and limited. I fully support the Constitution and enforcing the 10th Amendment and getting the government out of the way of economic growth. I will work to bring power back to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Individual Freedoms
The federal government’s abuse of our freedoms has spun out of control. Whether it is the NSA violating our 4th Amendment Rights by collecting phone records, the IRS violating our 1st Amendment rights by targeting conservative organizations, or President Obama violating our 5th Amendment rights with the indefinite detention of American citizens, our freedoms have been under attack and they must be restored.

Uphold Human Life
Human life is sacred, as proclaimed by our founding documents, and I will always support laws that protect life. Our fundamental rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness precede the existence of government and come from God, the Author of Nature. These core constitutional rights have been usurped by the Judicial and Executive Branches and must be returned to the people and their representatives.