There's no end of stories about kids being hassled or harassed by the authorities - and no, we aren't talking about a group of kids hanging out on a street corner, or student protestors, but when kids are brought up short by an encounter with the modern, politically-correct, bureaucracy. We all have heard about little girls whose lemonade stand is shut down because it lacked a permit; or youngsters whose tree house was ordered removed because it hadn't been inspected, etc. We've had kids get in serious trouble at school for kissing someone on a dare, for hugging, for chewing a Pop-Tart into a gun-like shape, for saying "God Bless You!" or for drawing a picture of Christ for an art project.
By John Shaffer There's no end of stories about kids being hassled or harassed by the authorities - and no, we aren't talking about a group of kids hanging out on a street corner, or student protestors, but when kids are brought up short by an encounter with the modern, politically-correct, bureaucracy. We all have heard about little girls whose lemonade stand is shut down because it lacked a permit; or youngsters whose tree house was ordered removed because it hadn't been inspected, etc. We've had kids get in serious trouble at school for kissing someone on a dare, for hugging, for chewing a Pop-Tart into a gun-like shape, for saying "God Bless You!" or for drawing a picture of Christ for an art project. By John D. Shaffer Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida, has somewhat of an reputation as an expert in education, but he has announced at least one terrible idea: to provide two years of Community College for free. This is almost the same proposal that President Obama offered in January, and it is no better an idea and has no more connection to economic reality than the President’s proposal did. But, let’s make it two terrible ideas, for Gov. Bush also said, “If kids can’t graduate with a four-year degree in four years, there ought to be some payback to their families or to them, or there’s got to be some support for the loans they’ve taken out.” We are trying to understand why it is desirable to refund money to students who are unable to complete the program. We suppose adjustments would be made for those who take an extra semester or extra year to get their diploma – for would it be an easy thing to lack a few credits, thus taking more than four years to graduate, and thus get a refund? Whatever the details, shouldn’t the student, and not the institution, be responsible when the student fails to graduate?
By John Shaffer On Sunday, the President announced that the name of the highest peak in North America, Mt. McKinley, would revert to Denali (which means “the great one” or “the big mountain” and is one of the names used by native Americans to refer to the mountain). We do not have strong feelings whether the peak's name should be Mt. McKinley or Denali. The congressional delegation from Alaska has been in favor of the latter and the Ohio delegation has been in favor of the former. (Mr. McKinley, our 25th President, was from Ohio.) Mr. McKinley’s biggest mistake probably is to be a dead, white male, and a Republican one at that. We doubt that the President would have changed the name if Mr. McKinley had been a progressive Democrat; but we’ll never know. What we do know is that Mr. McKinley, our 25th President (assassinated in 1901), served in the Civil War. He also served in the US House of Representatives and as Governor of Ohio. He earned and deserves our respect and admiration.
By John Shaffer President Obama traveled to Las Vegas to make a speech on "climate change," which he blames on the use of fossil fuels. He traveled on Air Force One, which consumed approximately 21,000 gallons of fossil fuel during the trip. He could have made his points via teleconference or traveled by other means, which would have attained no less attention, and conserved the fuel besides. Either alternative would have proven his commitment to the issue, but the President placed a greater value in hectoring the rest of us about conserving energy than he does in actually conserving the energy.
By John Shaffer A few months ago, Hillary Clinton was seen as the inevitable nominee of the Democrat party, and, likely, the next President of the United States. However, her changing stories about her “home brew” server, and the emails it contained; about what was on the server and how and when it was “scrubbed,” if the emails were classified or not or contained sensitive material; and of course, if, as Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton should have had a private server at all. We have been told various stories about where the server was (In her basement in Chappaqua? In a business in New Jersey? A bathroom closet in Denver? Or somewhere else?). She wants it all to go away, and well it might have, if Mrs. Clinton had told the truth back in March or even if she had stuck to the same story, true or not. Perhaps if she was not dishonest and untrustworthy her poll numbers would not be in free fall and folks would not describe her as dishonest and untrustworthy.
By John Shaffer The EPA has admitted its responsibility for polluting the Animas River with over a million gallons of wastewater from an abandoned gold mine, north of Silverton, Colorado. Farmers and ranchers were advised to cease taking water from the river, and recreational areas have been shut down as well. The EPA, we are sure, will not be harsh on itself – in fact, within a week, the Administrator of the EPA was assuring the public that “the river is restoring itself.” That may be true – but if it is, it also is true with almost every other chemical or toxic spill. Severe damage may be caused to water quality, wildlife, local economies, etc., but as time passes the damaged river begins to recover. W
By John Shaffer Sometimes it seems as if there is little that remains constant in this rapidly changing world, but one thing we can rely on is big-government politicians -- for purposes of illustration, let’s say, Hillary Clinton... trying to win votes by spending other people’s money. Another is the habit of politicians to respond to rising costs of a service – let’s say... college education . . . by throwing even more money at the problem. A third constant is when politicians dangle money in front of the states in order to coerce them to do something they can’t afford -- let’s say, making college free. And,what do you know? The three come together very nicely with Mrs. Clinton’s recent plan to provide “free” college education to every state that will provide “no-loan tuition at four-year public colleges and universities.”
By John Shaffer When we were in high school, we were taught that "socialism" was an system in which government controlled "the commanding heights" of the economy. It provides for collective ownership and management of the means of production. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz did not attend the same high school we did, so perhaps she was never taught about socialism; but one would think she might have picked it up sometime on her way to becoming Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Apparently she doesn’t know – or isn’t telling – because in two different “mainstream media” platforms, she did not answer questions about the distinctions between the Democrats and the Socialists. She dodged the questions and refused to find any difference between Democrats and Socialists. One of the candidates for her party’s nomination for President, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, has been elected to the House and the Senate as a Socialist. He is running as a Democrat. It is highly probable that if the leaders of the Democrat party in Congress and the White House were somehow transported to Europe, almost all of them would join socialist parties.
By John Shaffer A series of videos may have brought the issue of abortion front and center into the Presidential race. Operatives from the Center for Medical Progress posed as executives of a medical tissue company and taped Planned Parenthood officials (without their knowledge). In the first video, the official describes how Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue and organs. In the second video a Planned Parenthood official tells the "executives" that Planned Parenthood is willing to "violate protocol" to obtain fetal tissue and organs for sale; the third video another official discussed the sale of fetal tissue and organs on a "per-item" basis. In all three videos, the Planned Parenthood officials are laughing, making wisecracks and generally failing to treat the aborted babies with any respect, but that should not come as a surprise.
By John Shaffer Flags have been in the news recently more that usual. President Obama ordered flags flown at half-staff to honor the Marines and the sailor who were murdered at Chattanooga. The President did not lead on this issue – he didn’t exactly follow. It would be more accurate to say he trailed, and far behind.Congress already had lowered the flag in homage to the victims, as had the governors of at least six states. We don’t want to characterize his delay, but he has a tendency not to get involved with issues unless they serve his ideological proclivities; and given that he refuses to call terrorism by that name, we are not shocked that he wasn’t very interested in honoring its victims.
By John Shaffer America suffered another atrocity a few days ago when a man murdered four Marines and a Sailor at a reserve installation in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The incident still is under investigation, and the President has described the killings as “heartbreaking.” That’s a word that we would think better used when a child’s puppy is hit by a car or a man dies on his honeymoon. It doesn’t have the proper ring to describe an illegal act of violence. The President also called them "senseless," as if it was impossible to figure out why it happened. Perhaps if the President was not so reluctant to use the words “Islamic” or “terrorism” he would understand it better.
By John Shaffer Here's a quick way to tell if a diplomatic deal with an enemy is in the best interests of the United States: if the other party in the agreement is pleased with it - it probably is not in our best interests. With that in mind - Iran is happy with the deal announced on Tuesday by President Obama - ergo, we should not expect the deal to be something we should like. To say that Israel is not pleased with the agreement is an understatement – they are profoundly opposed to it.
The President stated, years ago, that there were demands he would insist upon, and there were conditions Iran demanded that he would not accept. Well, this deal doesn't even measure up to the original standards demanded by President Obama himself: The President set a ceiling of 500 to 1,500 centrifuges for Iran. The agreement gives them 6,000; He had insisted that Iran close its Fordow nuclear facility. Fodrow will remain open; He promised to “shut down” Iran’s production of ballistic missiles. The deal will end the embargo on ballistic missiles; He promised that some sanctions would remain in place, others be removed in phases. By John Shaffer The circumstances of several recent killings and traffic accidents are so maddening that it's hard not to be outraged by them.
In one a sports broadcaster in Oklahoma City was killed in a traffic accident; in another a 32-year old woman was shot and killed as she and her father were walking on the pier in San Francisco. In Phoenix, a mother and her two children were injured by the drunk driver; in Laredo, Texas, a man used a hammer to murder his wife In all these cases, the perpetrators were illegal aliens. In America illegally, these perpetrators had been deported three, five, six and four times, respectively. In other words, had the federal government done its job and kept the perpetrators from reentering the country, the victims would be alive or uninjured today. By John Shaffer In the past several years President Obama raised the specter of "racism" over any incident involving black victims and white suspects. As it developed, none of them were incidents of racially-based violence. Ironic that when we have an incident that truly is a race-based attack - the horrendous murders of nine black people in their church in Charleston, South Carolina, by a white racist, the President has not played that card - instead, he used the attack to push for gun control.
By John Shaffer On the eighth of June, President Obama made a speech in which he declared that Obamacare is working. He said none “of the horrors of Obamacare” “have come to pass.” And yes, he did use the term “Obamacare.” He assured his audience “It hasn’t had an adverse effect on people who already had health insurance.” He said “Costs are substantially lower” and said “none of the predictions about how this wouldn’t work have come to pass.” Well, this challenges almost everything we have read about Obamacare (excepting that which comes from the Administration itself and its most fawning supporters), so we’ll challenge the President’s version.
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