Bobert wrote: Mitt Romney would be as bad as bush so we would have a tie for worst president ever. -There is No God but Barack Obama; and Chris Matthews is His Prophet

Dear Comrade Bobert,

I loved the album Bad as Bush. It’s in my vinyl collection along with Cheap Trick Live at Budokan, Ted Nugent Double Live Gonzo and More of the Monkees.

I think maybe you mean Bad-A$$ed Bush, perhaps?

Que es muy macho? Obama använder en drönarattack? Eller? Bush öppnar en burk whoop-arsle?

I like the Whoop-Arsle strategy best personally.

I think it worked better than Obama’s proxy-war idea, where he’s arming Al Qaida around the world. No one who counts is sweating Obama being commander-in-chief.

Bush was right: Osama bin Laden didn’t matter. He was a non-entity hiding in compound in Pakistan, doing nothing.

Obama’s foreign policy is non-existent: He lost us Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt- although because of the good sense of the Egyptians hopefully we’ll get that one back. And he’s trying his very best to lose us Syria.

Imagine this: Obama chose to back the one group of people who make Syrian dictator Assad look like an attractive alternative.

Obama’s foreign policy can be summed up in one phrase: Wrong Every Single Time.





Patrick wrote: Mitt Romney is the worst Presidential candidate ever! Mitt and his corporate raiding overseas accounts buddies! We need someone who cares about America instead of lining his pockets and protecting the tax status of the super rich. -There is No God but Barack Obama; and Chris Matthews is His Prophet

Dear Comrade Patrick,

Well he’s the second candidate to lose to Obama, so perhaps he’s tied for the worst candidate. But it’s a three-way tie.

It goes: 1a) McCain, 1b) Romney, 1c) Obama.

Barack Obama has a very impressive GOTV apparatus. He’s got the media on his side too. He has many advantages that other candidates won’t have. And twice he eked out a victory.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking that an electoral victory is the same thing as getting whatever you want politically.

Obama made the mistake of thinking his re-election was a coronation, and he was wrong. He wasn’t a strong candidate. And this is born out by the fact that politically he hasn’t been able to do much.

I can’t think of a president who has done less in a term than Barack Obama. We will see how much of Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and other so-called reform measures will last the test of time, but I don’t see much future in them.

Besides the fact that none of these legislative schemes work, they also aren’t popular with anyone, either.

So far, the only people who have benefited by Barack Obama are people at the top of the oligarchy that is currently mismanaging the country.

Scott4616 wrote: Greece should declare national bankruptcy, tell all of the creditors to take a flying leap, exile all Communists and Leftists, establish a minimalist government with a Constitution to protect individual freedom and property rights, then declare Greece as a Tax Free Zone and welcome any law-abiding Greeks and visitors who want to set up shop and do business. -Congrats President Nobel: Obama Allies Behead Catholic Priest In Syria

Dear Comrade Scott,

And posters shouldn’t split hairs on matters of Christian doctrine especially as: 1) It might annoy me; 2) You might be wrong; 3) It’s off topic.

Salvation may come from grace alone, but faith without works is dead.

Matthew 25:31-46

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Troglodite wrote: Actually, Russia spent much of the 19th century trying to act as the (mostly self-appointed) protector of Christians in the Ottoman Empire, so this is "deja vu all over again." Personally, I would prefer a "protector" less thuggish than Putin, but would certainly rather bet on Putin than on Obama. Putin is self-interested and nasty, but at least a man. Obama is malevolent and a weakling. -Congrats President Nobel: Obama Allies Behead Catholic Priest In Syria

Dear Trog,

It began earlier than that.

Peter the Great was called Liberator of the Balkan Christians by biographer Robert K. Massie for his role in fighting the Ottoman Empire in the early 18th Century.

And of course, the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches are both part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It would be natural for Russia to consider herself defender of the Christian faith now that the communists are gone.

Corbett wrote: The Catholics in the US overwhelmingly vote Democrat. That is an absolute fact & you cannot truthfully deny it. As long as that is the case, the Catholics will be treated like dirt by the Democratic Party. In his article, Mr. Ransom bemoans the administration's treatment of the Catholic Church and Catholics. I merely explain WHY the Democrats treat Catholics the way they do. I do not agree with the way the Democrats treat Catholics, but then I do not agree with the way the vast majority of Catholics vote for Democrats. -Congrats President Nobel: Obama Allies Behead Catholic Priest In Syria

Dear Comrade Corbett,

It would more truthful to say that Hispanic Catholics vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. In 2012 Obama got 50 percent of the Catholic vote, while Romney got 48 percent. That’s not an overwhelming total. It actually makes me feel pretty good about the odds of getting back a majority of Catholics.

In 2004, Bush got 52 percent of the vote to John Kerry’s 47 percent. Kerry by the way is Catholic.

So if there is some secret Catholic handshake, John Kerry doesn’t know about it.

One problem that outsiders seem to have is in understanding that Catholics are diverse voting block. There is no solid Catholic vote. It’s up for grabs.

But as the largest, single, religious voting block- with stated values more on the conservative side than liberal- it’s a block worth working.

I will happily work it.

I don’t bemoan anything.

I work at politics, especially voting.

DG Wrote: John said: ..... "Happy Dependence, I say to you Sirs." Reminds me. The IRS bosses are not celebrating the Fourth this year. Instead they celebrate the Fifth. - This Will Leave a Mark: More Bi-Partisan "Reform"

Dear DG,

RIMSHOT!

Goldilocks wrote: please explain how [Obama did everything to keep the economy bad]. explain how he is an ideologue. - This Will Leave a Mark: More Bi-Partisan "Reform"

Dear Comrade Goldilocks,

Hopefully this explanation will be just right for you.

Obama’s overseen the worst jobs recovery since the Great Depression. Remember all of those Recovery Summers we were supposed to have?

Either Obama’s ideas to get the economy working were faulty or he just doesn’t care.

I’m inclined to think it a bit of both.

The chart above graphs real unemployment in the United States. It includes U6 unemployment plus long-term discouraged workers, who were written out of the data in 1994.

As the blue line shows, a quarter of the labor force is either unemployed, underemployed or has just given up hope of ever finding a job, which while that doesn’t count as unemployed by government statisticians- or Obama- it’s good enough for me to count as unemployed.

For the most part, the unemployment-underemployment trend has been confined to the Obama’s term, hence the growing divergence between the blue line and the other lines used to measure unemployment.

Into this miasma of economic slop that Obama has created he has: 1) Imposed the one of the biggest tax increases ever; 2) Imposed more regulatory burden on companies than any of his predecessors with 131 new rules that cost $70 billion per year to enforce- including rules that will negatively impact the cost of everything from energy to healthcare to autos to homes; 3) He’s proposing even more regulatory burden by trying to impose carbon taxes by executive fiat because Congress won’t pass carbon legislation and 4) He’s not reformed the financial industry so that it is any more sound than it was previously. In fact, the financial industry now has more assets, concentrated in fewer big banks- and now under the law the federal government is required to bail them out if they fail, which they likely will… again.

Amy DB wrote: Thank you Mr. Ransom for a brief & concise bit of history. -Washington's First Fourth

Dear Amy,

You’re welcome.

I think Washington is one of the most interesting and enigmatic leaders the world has ever produced. After long study, I’m persuaded that King George III was right.

I’ll let Cato’s David Boaz tell that part:

The writer Garry Wills called him “a virtuoso of resignations.” He gave up power not once but twice – at the end of the revolutionary war, when he resigned his military commission and returned to Mount Vernon, and again at the end of his second term as president, when he refused entreaties to seek a third term. In doing so, he set a standard for American presidents that lasted until the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose taste for power was stronger than the 150 years of precedent set by Washington.

Give the last word to Washington’s great adversary, King George III. The king asked his American painter, Benjamin West, what Washington would do after winning independence. West replied, “They say he will return to his farm.”

“If he does that,” the incredulous monarch said, “he will be the greatest man in the world.”

I agree.

Oligarchyrising wrote: Score one for the Grand Kids; well, at least temporarily. Now, to stop the friggin, fracking! But, that may not be necessary; as, the price of Natural Gas is so low, that Producers can't bring it out of the Ground. One thing is certain; the Country don't need no more of that, "Stinkin," Carbon - - in any form! -What Obama Did on His Summer Vacation: Kill 760,000 Jobs

Dear Comrade Oligarch,

You must be one of those Obama guys who owns a lot of solar or G.E. stock.

I guessed you missed the part where the United States will sell its coal overseas to countries like China. Carbon output will be about the same actually regardless of what energy we use.

What Obama is asking Americans to do is to finance the cheap energy of other countries at the expense of American citizens. We pay more; they pay less.

China already spews out about 5 times the amount of carbon we do to produce one dollar of GDP. In absolute terms, China is the biggest polluter in the world.

And by the way, isn’t it all you liberals who are celebrating the fact that China will overtake the United States as number one economy in the world by the middle of next week or certainly by year 2178?

Experts have changed their minds and made revisions to the obituary of the United States so many times that I’ve lost count.

Anywho…I’ll keep my carbon.

Do us all a favor and live for one week without any sort of “stinkin carbon - - in any form.”

Good luck breathing.

Bskeptik wrote: Did Ranson READ any of the links in his story? The EPA regs WILL NOT cost the power industry 760k jobs, just as the previous round did not cost them 60k jobs. The fact is, the industry employs 760k jobs and enforcing tighter regulations is going to provide an opportunity for many power generating companies to convert older plants to natural gas, or, to build NG plants to replace their very old, very expensive to maintain, fully depreciated plants with new NG plants with lower maintenance and operating costs. Georgia power completed two of those projects last year with a net gain of 10 employees and created 600 construction jobs in the process. I don't like, don't agree with the EPA actions. There's no reason to paint these regs and their impact as worse than they really are. -What Obama Did on His Summer Vacation: Kill 760,000 Jobs

Dear Comrade Skeptik,

Oh, let me guess: I bet you’re a Republican too?

Why can’t you let the industry decide whether take advantage of the opportunity to “convert older plants to natural gas, or, to build NG plants to replace their very old, very expensive to maintain, fully depreciated plants with new NG plants with lower maintenance and operating costs”?

Oh, I forgot: You’re liberal; that’s why.

You just can’t stand it when people don’t see it your way. So instead of conceding that in some things people get to decide for themselves, you have to force people to take on whatever nut-job ideas that you have about what’s good for them.

Look, I can accept that we have differing ideas about climate change, but please spare me the lecture about how you and Obama are just helping power companies by forcing them to do what they wouldn’t do if given a choice.

This is like me and our readers deciding that your neighbor needs a new roof; and, by the way, you and the guy next door to him? You get to pay for it.

Please send an estimate for the work and your neighbor’s address as soon as possible.

Jokamura wrote: I will believe all of this has an effect, when I see Obama's job approval rating plummet. -The Obamacare Jobless Rate Soars from 13.8 percent to 14.3 percent

Dear Joker,

53.4 percent approval to 45.3 percent is a plummet.

That’s it for this week.

V/r,

JR