Category: Posts


Why the Bain attacks will backfire

Filed under: Posts — Leave a comment
May 25, 2012

Remember Solyndra? Just one of many of President Obama’s public equity “successes” (I sure hope you caught the sarcasm there).

President Obama has been extremely harsh on Mitt Romney regarding his tenure at Bain Capital, a private equity firm. He has attempted to portray Mitt Romney as a vulture capitalist who completely disregards the lives and jobs in order to secure his own personal profit. However, it seems that the president’s strategy is backfiring, as top Democrats continue to repudiate his push against private equity, which contributes greatly to a healthy business environment. But yesterday, an intriguing editorial by Marc Thiessen in the Washington Post revealed that there could be more serious repercussions for the president than just some defections, as Obama’s comments about Romney’s career in private equity opens himself to criticism about his abysmal and corrupt use of taxpayer dollars in government-funded public equity schemes.

I certainly hope that you all remember Solyndra, President Obama’s most publicized failure in public equity. After giving a half-billion dollar loan to the Obama donor-run solar energy company, Obama made a speech to the press about the “promise” and inevitable success of green energy. Well, things didn’t turn out that way, as Solyndra filed for bankruptcy and fired its workers, leaving the American taxpayer with a massive monetary loss. In his editorial, Mr. Thiessen discusses several other failures on the part of the Obama administration in public equity, including SunPower, Raser Technologies, and several other green energy flops.

However, it is not just the president’s loans themselves that upset taxpayers across the country, but also the blatant corruption that accompanies them. According to Hoover Institution scholar Peter Schweizer, a whopping 71% of President Obama’s green energy grants went to “individuals who were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democratic Party.” If giving a massive majority of supposedly merit-based loans to campaign donors doesn’t speak of massive corruption, I don’t know what does.

Essentially, President Obama has worked himself into a difficult position. By bringing up Mitt Romney’s mixed record at Bain Capital, our president has opened his own absolutely horrific record as the chief steward of taxpayer dollars to voracious and damaging attacks by the right. I am certain that President Obama will be quick to regret his line of attack on Bain Capital if such attacks begin to occur.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Winnable? Church sues Obama on contraception mandate

Filed under: Posts — Leave a comment
May 21, 2012

This suit by Catholic organizations will pit President Obama’s intrusive contraception mandate against the US Constitution. Pictured: Birth control pills.

It seems that President Obama’s hotly contested contraception mandate will finally be put to the test, but in front of panels of federal judges. Forty-three Catholic organizations, ranging from charities to dioceses to schools and hospitals, filed twelve new lawsuits in a dozen separate federal jurisdictions across the United States this week, marking the first aggressive action on the part of the Catholic Church to combat President Obama’s contraception mandate.

The contraception debate has been a hot topic this year. I’m sure you all recall when Rush Limbaugh was ferociously attacked by the left for his less-than-savory comments about leftist Sandra Fluke, who notoriously testified on a committee that birth control costs for a law student like herself could exceed $1,000 per year for three years. But anyway, the left has been attempting to portray the contraception debate in the light of women’s health, arguing that insurance companies – regardless of the religious beliefs of their customers – must provide free contraception as a part of their health care plans. However, conservatives like myself disagree. Forcing insurance companies to provide a specific health care treatment, contraception or not, is a massive overreach of government authority, not to mention the fact that many religious institutions are obligated by their doctrinal values to not provide contraceptives at all!

Of course, the success of the Catholic lawsuit hinges on one crucial question: does President Obama’s mandate on insurance companies to provide contraception violate the Constitution? In my opinion, it does. The separation of church from state in our Constitution was not meant to keep the state safe from religion, but to keep religion safe from the state. Thus, I believe that forcing religious organizations to violate their beliefs in the name of “women’s health” is utterly preposterous and is an absolutely crystal-clear violation of the US Constitution. It is only a matter of time before President Obama’s contraception mandate meets its demise, either by the hands of the federal courts or by the election of Mitt Romney – who has pledged to repeal the Obamacare and its individual mandate – this coming November.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Election 2012: Vote projections

Filed under: Posts — Leave a comment
May 19, 2012

Even though President Obama’s reelection campaign has an uphill climb to victory in November, it is still a formidable force. Obama is desperate, and his plan to deface Romney’s character and public image will likely have a significant impact on voters this election season. However, I believe that Romney will be able to secure victory for one major reason: the economy.

If Romney can seal up economically troubled states, he will easily win the election.

Mitt Romney stands to benefit from the current economic downturn. Growth has slowed to a crawl across the country, and President Obama’s policies have seemingly done little to relieve the suffering of millions of Americans. This lack of relief, consequently, has fueled a rise in the anti-incumbent mentality among potential voters, as these voters see little improvement in their lives and view new leaders as the only solutions to their problems. Thus, President Obama will face some significant difficulties in November if the economy continues to be stagnate.

For example, take a look at the electoral map above, which I created with a useful tool on the New York Times website. (If you want to play around with this tool yourself, click here). In my electoral map, Romney barely defeats President Obama, gaining 279 electoral votes to clinch the presidency. However, take a look at the tossup states, shown in yellow, that Mitt Romney wins: Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin, Nevada, Iowa, and Virginia. In Florida, the economic downturn has been extremely damaging, causing record numbers of foreclosures and declining quality of life. Romney’s economy-centered message will resonate well there and will probably give him a victory, especially if he chooses well-liked Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to be his running mate. Colorado and Virginia have been reliably Republican in the past, and given the current economic position of the US, they will probably go to Romney in November. However, Nevada and Wisconsin are particularly intriguing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.7%. The economy in Nevada has been hammered by the recession, and because of this, voters there find President Obama’s economic record to be awful at best. Contrary to popular belief, I think Nevada will be an easy victory for Romney, or at least a Romney-leaning state, due to the severity of the recession there. And then, there is Wisconsin, a state where Republican Gov. Scott Walker has taken significant steps to reduce the bargaining rights of public employee unions to balance his state’s budget. As a result of Walker’s policies, Wisconsin’s economy has righted itself and is on the fast track to lasting success. However, Walker is hated by the Democrats in Wisconsin, who have put up a candidate to run against Walker in a recall election this June. A comfortable victory for Walker would reveal that Wisconsin voters believe that the policies of their governor, which run contrary to those of the president, are the best for their state. Consequently, such a result would show that Mitt Romney will likely scoop up Wisconsin as yet another easy victory.

This electoral map is by no means a concrete prediction, but it is what I think might happen in November from what is happening now. If my prediction changes dramatically, I will be sure to update all of you.

So, how do you think the election will turn out? Leave your thoughts below or on our Facebook page!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

New evidence backs Zimmerman, refutes the media

Filed under: Posts — Leave a comment
May 17, 2012

I’m certain that you all remember the massive firestorm that developed after the death of teenager Trayvon Martin. As I documented in a recent article, the case was totally taken out of context by the mainstream media giants, namely CNN and ABC, which both were quick to accuse Mr. Zimmerman – the man who shot Trayvon – of doing so with racist intentions. Democratic leaders were quick to call the shooting a hate crime, a travesty, a poignant example of racism. Turns out, nothing could be further from the truth. New, indisputable evidence has finally emerged to clear George Zimmerman’s name, and finally, the mainstream media and others on the left will have to be content with eating their own words.

A smiling George Zimmerman in a recent photo.

According to an autopsy of Trayvon Martin’s body, the teenager was shot directly in the chest from point-blank or near point-blank range. Also, trace amounts of marijuana were found in the young man’s urine. Beyond the autopsy, however, new witnesses have come forward. One, a man who observed most of the incident, noted that Trayvon was “throwing punches MMA-style” while on top of Zimmerman. Moments later, the witness heard a gunshot, and Trayvon was on the ground next to Zimmerman, dead.

This new evidence is groundbreaking, as it will certainly help keep Zimmerman out of prison and out of the public eye. Now that we know that Zimmerman was certainly attacked and was in an extremely perilous situation with Trayvon, it is almost a certainty that Zimmerman killing Martin was an act of self-defense. Now, of course, the main issue for Zimmerman is his motive for leaving his vehicle to supposedly follow Trayvon. I’ve watched enough Law and Order to know that there is far too much reasonable doubt regarding his intentions to convict him of anything substantial. In the worst case scenario, Mr. Zimmerman gets a few years in prison for manslaughter. However, I think that Zimmerman will find far better luck in light of this evidence, and he may not even be charged.

The Zimmerman case is a rare example of how, in spite of an angry wave of public sentiment driven by a biased media, a man can win his freedom and at least begin to move on with his life. However, it is crucial that in the future, cases like this are not muddled by uninformed accusations, especially those of racism and of discrimination. It is the job of the prosecution, not the mainstream media, to levy such charges, and in the future, I expect far more from ABC and CNN in the reporting of such cases.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The problem with the European Union

Filed under: Posts — Leave a comment
May 14, 2012

To prevent a massive regional economic collapse, the European Union must either break apart or allow the EU’s leadership to have more jurisdiction over the Union’s economies. Pictured: the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

The European Union is experiencing some serious difficulties managing its finances. While some member countries like Germany have managed to keep their finances and their economies in decent shape, others like Greece have abused the financial support of their fellow members and have run their economies into near or total bankruptcy. Now, amid the election of anti-austerity leaders in the recent Greek and French elections, the European Union is faced with a precipice. Should Greece’s new leaders refuse to pay their debts to their fellow EU members, Greece may be removed from the Union entirely. What can be done?

To solve the debt crisis, the European Union has only two options. The first is to decentralize power, but this move would be extremely problematic as it would allow countries like Greece and Italy to continue to spend massively beyond their means. This would place even more pressure upon the better economies of the Union (namely Germany and France) to cough up the money needed to support their ailing neighbors. The interconnected nature of the European Union ensures that countries like Greece cannot be allowed to fail, as such an action would seriously damage the economies of the other states using the euro currency. Kicking out countries like Greece and Italy for failing to comply with austerity measures would be similarly damaging, as an entire sector of the interconnected European economy would completely disappear with the introduction of a new currency in Greece and/or Italy.

The second option is extremely unpalatable to many Europeans, but it seems to be the only option remaining to keep the benefits of the European Union from diminishing entirely and turning into drawbacks. Allowing the central leadership of the EU to retain more control over the fiscal matters of each EU country would allow economically productive countries such as Germany to force Greece and other delinquent nations to balance their budgets in exchange for debt payments from the rest of the EU’s members. However, as a consequence of this, the power of the individual nations of the EU would be severely limited, and this could cause some serious friction between members. Additionally, it is entirely possible that the push against fiscal austerity could be magnified on a regional scale, meaning that fiscally irresponsible leaders allow the EU to be driven into a ditch by out-of-control spending and massive debts.

The bottom line is that the European Union must begin to manage its fiscal problems the right way. Since the Union is so interconnected, it is an absolute necessity for the responsible members of the EU to enforce austerity measures on their fiscally wasteful companion states. Otherwise, the entirety of the Union will slip into a lasting and deeply damaging economic malaise.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Acceptable? Obama paints targets on Romney donors

Filed under: Posts — Leave a comment
May 12, 2012

Frank Vandersloot, pictured above, is just one of several private citizens that have been crucified by the Obama administration for their financial support of Mitt Romney.

Three weeks ago, the Obama campaign dove headlong into the very depths of dirty politics by publicly naming and libeling eight of Romney’s most prominent donors. The campaign even called these donors “wealthy individuals with less-than-reputable records,” with the campaign’s only real reasoning for this statement being that this assortment of people supported Mitt Romney.

This attack by the Obama administration was intended to discourage people from donating to Romney and to keep those on this short list of donors from speaking out. However, one of the donors on the list, Mr. Frank Vandersloot, has spoken out about the impact that President Obama’s defamation has had on his life. According to the Obama campaign, Mr. Vandersloot is “litigious, combative and a bitter foe of the gay rights movement.” According to Frank, however, this could not be further from the truth.

Mr. Vandersloot, the CEO of a health and wellness company called Melaleuca, said in an interview with the Weekly Standard that his company has lost “a couple hundred [memberships]” from customers. Frank bitterly resents the Obama campaign’s vicious portrayal of his character, and he is considering filing a lawsuit.

This entire story is deeply concerning to me. President Obama may be desperate to win reelection, but if he is willing to stoop so low as to directly target Mitt Romney’s donors to scare them out of giving money, that is a new (and quite frightening) level of desperation. If he is willing to target private citizens for public defamation, what else might he be willing to do to suppress Romney’s reelection chances?

Desperation can drive people to do extraordinary things. If President Obama becomes desperate enough, is it possible that he would take advantage of the powers of his office to suppress those that support Mr. Romney? This would be a frightening occurrence, and one that I hope will not present itself during this election cycle.

I have faith in America’s democracy, and I believe that President Obama will not abuse his power to further his reelection. However, I hope that the Obama campaign issues an apology for defaming these eight donors, because it is not democratic to threaten your opponent’s donors.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Obama’s “Julia” reveals his vision for America

Filed under: Posts — 2 Comments
May 8, 2012

Obama’s vision for America is one of slavery to government, not one of personal achievement.

From cradle to grave, the government will take care of you.

This is the message that lies behind a series of interactive slides on President Obama’s campaign website. And, quite honestly, this message is quite a frightening one, especially considering our nation’s founding. Every person, as enumerated in our Declaration of Independence, has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And unless I’m crazy, being a slave to the federal government for every need and desire does not seem to provide for these unalienable, God-given rights in an ideal fashion.

But before I definitively gut the basis of President Obama’s argument, I will share with you the nature of the slides themselves. The interactive slideshow depicts the life of a fictitious woman named Julia and shows how the policies of the Obama administration help her from cradle to grave. For example, when Julia is three years old, she is enrolled in President Obama’s Head Start program (which, by the way, has proven to be an utter failure). Of course, the slideshow portends, Julia would not be able to attend school under Paul Ryan’s budget, which Mitt Romney supports. From cradle to grave, Julia is depicted in the context of government dependence. With Obamacare, Julia thankfully has access to health care and gets access to lifesaving surgery. Thanks to Obama, Julia has a right to the same pay as men in the workplace. Without Obama, Julia wouldn’t have made it through college, wouldn’t have gotten free birth control, wouldn’t have borne a healthy child, and wouldn’t have been able to start her own business. Of course, the evil Romney administration (sarcasm) would have ensured that Julia would fail at everything in her life.

The story of Julia is, quite frankly, downright creepy. Does President Obama really think that the American people are so incompetent and helpless that the government must step in on their behalf for every single one of their needs? Moreover, does he believe that government can fulfill the dreams and desires of millions of Americans? Both of these questions are largely rhetorical in nature, as we both know that President Obama believes firmly in the power of government to restore the lives of Americans. Obama has spent trillions in failed stimulus spending programs and has only managed to drive the American economy even deeper into the ditch. Now, as true recovery continues to elude the country and Americans drop like flies from the labor force, President Obama continues to promote the same government-oriented policies and regulations that caused the housing bubble and that have prolonged our recession. As evidenced by the story of Julia, Obama’s vision for America is one of slavery to government, not one of personal achievement and hard-earned success.

President Obama’s vision has been tried and tested all over the world, but has failed tremendously. Communism and socialism are both two examples of how the good intentions of government-centered reform can lead entire nations down a dark road paved with poverty, anguish, and the suppression of human rights. In China, millions still starve because their government is oppressive and stalls free-market reforms that could save their lives. In North Korea, people suffer and die in prison camps for speaking out against the ideas of the government elite. Although many socialist and communist regimes have operated with the good intention of helping their people, the programs that are needed to level society are painful and costly both monetarily and in a humanitarian sense. In Russia alone, millions have perished at the hands of communist leaders who have willingly sacrificed lives for the “common good” of the Russian population. The fact is that the best way to ensure maximum communal success is to adopt free market policies that reward innovators and job creators while providing working-class Americans with more opportunities than their ancestors.

Check out the creepy slideshow yourself here, and please share this article with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, or whatever else fits your fancy. By the way, just so you know, I will be taking two Advanced Placement exams and my school finals in the coming weeks, and I may get slightly behind on writing articles. However, you can rest assured that I will do my best to keep up.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Obama’s trump card: throw out Joe Biden

Filed under: Posts — Leave a comment
May 5, 2012

If his situation becomes dire, President Obama might throw Joe Biden under the bus in a last-ditch effort to shake up the November election. Photo credit: Hugh Dillon/WENN.com.

At Ohio State University today, President Obama officially kicked off his 2012 election campaign. However, he did so in an utterly unspectacular fashion. Despite his high hopes for the November election, President Obama failed to attract a large enough crowd to even come close to filling the 20,000-seat stadium, with estimates by the campaign itself showing only 70% attendance there. Clearly, the president’s campaign is suffering from a major enthusiasm gap, and if Obama has any hopes of surviving the election, he will have to address this gap. Ironically, he may decide to take a leaf from the book of his 2008 general election challenger John McCain and attempt to invigorate the Democratic base by tossing Vice-President Joe Biden just before the election.

President Obama could benefit slightly from such a move, but he could also suffer tremendously. For some voters, the elimination of Joe Biden would be a refreshing change, a sign of new life in the clearly stagnant Obama administration. However, for others, such a move would indicate the utter desperation of the Obama campaign for a victory in November. Biden has worked very hard for President Obama, even earning the nickname “campaigner-in-chief” for his extraordinary work on the campaign trail for Mr. Obama. Although certainly not without his gaffes (don’t even get me started…), Biden has been a crucial asset for the president, and his dismissal would clearly indicate to educated voters that the Obama administration is resorting to desperation to win the election.

If you were wondering why I think Biden’s dismissal is on the table, it is because he has been increasingly cut off from the administration in recent weeks. Biden is no longer included in President Obama’s Sunday campaign meetings, which are – according to the New York Times - reserved for “trusted confidants.” I, as well as the writers at the Weekly Standard, think that this indicates that Biden potentially is not considered to be a trusted confidant by the administration and therefore has been deemed expendable. It is entirely possible that the president will drop Biden to gain political points, but I sincerely doubt the effectiveness of this tactic. If Biden is fired, you can rest assured that the Obama administration is in its death throes.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Russian aggressiveness will not promote world peace

Filed under: Posts — Leave a comment
May 3, 2012

What does Russia fear from a defensive missile shield? Pictured: General Nikolai Makarov

NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has long desired to place defensive missile sites in Eastern Europe to stave off disaster in the event of an attack by Iran. However, the Russian government has continued to obstruct the idea, claiming that such sites would render Russia’s missiles utterly useless.

Prior to today, Russia has offered some unworkable solutions to this problem, but has at least put forth an effort. For example, Russia wants to have partial control over the missile sites, a demand which has NATO extremely worried. Russia has sympathized with Iran greatly in the past several years, and only Russian support has allowed Iran to continue to enrich uranium without western interference for so long. Thus, placing Russia in a position to prevent NATO intervention in an Iranian attack is complete folly. Another concern is that Russia is simply attempting to exert control over the former Soviet states in which this missile shield will be placed. Poland and Romania both were part of the Soviet bloc during the Cold War, and Russia lost the allegiance of both territories after the breakup of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s. Certainly, Russia still desires control over those territories, and this missile shield represents an outright defiance of Russian authority in these former Soviet areas.

Today, however, any attempts to come up with diplomatic solutions have been abandoned by Russia, which has decided to adopt the same sort of rhetoric that characterized the Cold War era. Russia has threatened to preemptively strike these NATO sites if the United States proceeds with deployment plans. In other words, if the missile shield is built, Russia will blow it to smithereens. This aggressive threat is intolerable, and it illustrates the current coldness of US-Russian relations. While democratic forces continue to be suppressed in Russia by radical leader Vladimir Putin, the United States continues to stand as the beacon of hope and of democracy for millions of people around the globe. It’s like the Cold War all over again, with Russia’s pseudo-democracy facing off against the ideals of freedom and liberty that have characterized the United States throughout its existence.

I sincerely doubt that the Russian people are deeply concerned about the NATO missile shield. Rather, it is the radical leadership in Russia that continues to put into place aggressive, unfriendly policies toward its neighbors, who are simply trying to defend themselves. Russia’s missile arsenal is large enough to completely overwhelm the NATO missile shield if need be, so in my view, Russia’s leaders are just trying to pick fights.

The United States can do little to solve Russia’s aggressive nature. As a superpower itself, Russia will not take kindly to either military force or intense diplomatic pressure. In the end, it will all hinge upon the people of Russia. Standing up for true democracy and holding Vladimir Putin accountable for his malevolent attempts to exert totalitarian control over Russia will solve many of Russia’s national crises and will make the Russian government far more receptive to American ideas about protecting democracy around the world and keeping Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

An inside look at North Korean prison camps

Filed under: Posts — Leave a comment
April 30, 2012

Does this look delicious? Try it with cow dung, courtesy of the North Korean government.

Shin Dong-Huyk was born in a North Korean prison camp with no running water or furniture. Within the concrete walls of Camp 14, Shin was forced to subsist on corn kernels in cow dung and to participate in North Korean indoctrination programs. At the age of fourteen, he witnessed the violent deaths of his mother and his brother at the hands of North Korean authorities after Shin himself reported their talk of escape to a teacher at the prison camp. He watched as his fellow prisoners struggled to survive on rats and their own vomit.

After meeting a North Korean traveler who was placed into his camp, Shin was convinced to participate in a daring escape plan. His new companion died from electrocution on the way out, but Shin managed to reach China and eventually safety at the South Korean embassy there. His story, detailed in the book Escape from Camp 14, is riveting, and I highly recommend that all of my readers get the book because of its political importance. Unlike most novels about life under totalitarian regimes and oppressive governments, Shin’s book goes into great detail about life in the North Korean prison camps and takes the reader inside the cruel reality of totalitarianism. Far from being beneficial, totalitarian governments – as Escape from Camp 14 points out – terrorize their populations and presses upon their peoples a forced equality that brings every person down. Political enemies are thrown into prison to rot or are killed, and the impoverished are silenced through violence and fear. The result is a poor, underdeveloped society, the regime of which regularly suppresses the human rights of the millions within the society. This is real totalitarianism.

While North Korea continues to expand its prison camps to demolish the rights and dignity of thousands more of its impoverished people, Mr. Dong-Huyk is driven an intense desire to destroy the North Korean prison camps and to save the people inside. In an interview with the London Evening Standard, Shin proclaimed this desire in a very forceful manner: “I want the camps eradicated — that’s my driving force. I urge people to sign petitions and write to MPs [members of Parliament], and keep raising the human rights issue. Holding talks and events will put pressure on the North Korean government.”

I agree wholeheartedly with Shin. The camps must indeed be eradicated, lest they become the noted human rights disaster of the 21st century. But we must always remember that the hundreds of thousands of people imprisoned in North Korea’s brutal prison camps are not simply victims of cruelty. They are victims of a robotically-crafted system of oppression and destruction known as communism, and without the outright elimination of this cruel governmental system, the North Korean people will never be truly free.

Mr. Huyk today. He is currently visiting Britain to urge action on North Korea in front of Parliament at the House of Commons. Photo credit: Daniel Hambury

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 52 other followers