gdp's Comments

Commentary Magazine : Hillel’s BDS Battle and Anti-Semitism

Mon, 4 Feb 2013 22:12:37 +0000

In my Bible Study class, we are re reading the Old Testament. To Jews, the Tanakh. This is such an old story. When we talk about Ancient Israel, we say the story is about syncretism ( i.e . assimilation) about trading in G-d's commands for popularity and acceptance. And, in the Old Testament, it never leads to anything good.

Frontpage Magazine : Demonizing America’s Mainstream Right

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 11:18:16 +0000

this is becoming scarily reminiscent of the 30's. Somebody has already been put in jail for daring to diss Islam. I am beginning to look for my mountain retreat.

Commentary Magazine : The Ugly Politics of Piers Morgan

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:08:54 +0000

Here is my reason for owning an "assault" rifle: the Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict. Police were nowhere to be found. Korean store owners protected their property with high capacity rifles from the roofs of their stores. Seraphic Secrets a blog by Robert Avrech, talks about his experience on that day. I don't own an assault rifle, but there are parts of L. A. where I would want to own one. And please don't tell me it can't happen again. It happened twice in Los Angeles.

Frontpage Magazine : The Tea Party Got It Right, Mitt Got It Wrong

Wed, 7 Nov 2012 23:47:05 +0000

To the best of my knowledge, the Romney campaign really didn't run a Hispanic campaign at all. Nor did he make much of a reach toward blacks other than the obligatory NAACP appearance. He was late coming to the womens issue and did not speak out distinctly until late.

Commentary Magazine : The Conservatives' Obama Delusion

Wed, 7 Nov 2012 21:58:24 +0000

Contrary to what a lot of people think, this election does not so much signify a left turn by the American people so much as it is a state of confusion. After all, at the same time that they re-elected the most leftwing president we have probably ever had, they re-elected one of the more conservative Houses of Representatives. I think that, facing uncertainty, confusion and not knowing what to do, they voted to stay in the same place. When you are lost in the woods, this is generally a good idea. Those of us who think we know the way to safety are, of course, dismayed. The vast majority of people who are classified as minorities voted for Obama. Romney made them feel uncomfortable in a way that George Bush did not. Michael Medved made the point that if Romney had won the same percentage of the minority vote that Bush did, he would have won. Romney was unable to convey that he understood minority issues and that his administration would not be a closed white man's club. Bush did a much better job because he had courted that vote as Governor of Texas and his brother had courted it as Governor of Florida. Those communities knew the Bushes from before the campaign. The Dems can afford to come around to minority communities every two years and gather up the votes while doing nothing. Republicans cannot. Telemundo gave Romney a great chance to do something with the Fast and Furious issue and he didn't do it. The Republican party now has to see courting minorities as a 24/7 project. And the project is pretty simple really. It is to reach out to minority communities, many of which are pro-life for the most part, and persuade them, as those two republicans persuaded Susannah Martinez, that they are already, really, Republican. If they believe this is the land of opportunity, if they or their parents or grandparents are what Ronald Reagan called "citizens by choice", who came here to work hard, save, invest and enjoy the freedoms this country has to offer, they belong in the Republican party. That must be an ongoing round the clock message from the Republican party. Luigi Zingales, has written about a People's Capitalism. The Republican leadership should read it and put it in the platform.

Commentary Magazine : Does Romney Want to Abolish FEMA?

Thu, 1 Nov 2012 10:40:10 +0000

Just an addendum to my previous comment-- http://www.workingforest.com/us-forest-service-re... here is a story showing the problem with the feds. They like the big super scooper airplanes. The problem, in California, is that fires most often rage in narrow canyons that helicopters can get into but big airplanes can't. Further, the super scoopers require large bodies of water which, other than the Pacific Ocean, are in short supply in California. The helicopters can suck up water from nearby much smaller ponds and pools and reservoirs that are inaccessible to a big plane. All of which illustrates, local governments know better what is needed than the feds so they should be in charge.

Commentary Magazine : Does Romney Want to Abolish FEMA?

Thu, 1 Nov 2012 10:32:23 +0000

Shortly after the Katrina disaster, residents of my home, California, faced a huge disaster of their own. I don't recall the exact number but it was at least 3 and maybe as many as 5 simultaneous enormous brush/forest fires. Here in California such fires can consume hundreds of thousands of acres, can move 40 miles in an hour, have flames that jump 40 or 50 feet in the air, and can burn at 1200 degrees farenheit. These fires were in Malibu, San Diego, Laguna Beach and the Antelope Valley. I particularly remember the Antelope Valley fire because it moved about 40 miles in the space of an hour threatening a cabin I own. These fires are not only fought with fire trucks, but water dropping helicopters and aircraft. They threatened hundreds of thousands of homes, coming within 10 or 20 feet of thousands of homes and consuming hundreds of homes. Massive evacuations were required and completed. Afterwards, with very little loss of life, some commenters contrasted the efficient response in California to the chaos in New Orleans. In California, and all of the western states there are various agreements for mutual support where municipalities and state agencies agree to coordinate their responses to major disasters. The firefighters who saved my cabin(and about 50 more) near Valencia, California had travelled from Gilroy and Santa Clara California, about 400 miles away, to fight the fire. Local officials are eminently more capable of responding right away and appropriately than FEMA is. As a somewhat bitter side note-- my cabin is on National Forest land. There was a federal fire station just a 1/4 mile from the nearest cabins. They did nothing to protect the cabins. They explained afterward that they didn't fight building fires and had no authority to protect the five cabins literally a 1/4 mile up the road that burned to the ground before the helicopters and other fire trucks could get there. I have little doubt that Romney is right. It is better for local governments to take responsibility to coordinate disaster relief by a series of agreements like we have in California. The only big dispute that came out of this was a complaint from Orange County (where Laguna Beach is located) that Los Angeles (City and County) refused to loan out their helicopters and aircraft. L. A. apparently had 14 helicopters. But it also had two major fires burning covering hundreds of square miles and threatening a lot of homes (and, indeed, many were lost in Malibu and the Antelope Valley). So maybe the residents of Orange County will vote to spend more money on helicopters in the future. The federal government helped out very little and FEMA was mostly good for coming in late and making loans for rebuilding.

Commentary Magazine : The Obama Ground Game Myth

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 22:17:56 +0000

Those who are skeptical of the skepticism of the present polls need to remember the exit polls in 2004. I still remember the glum faces in the Bush field office in Santa Fe New Mexico when the first exit polls came in. The next day at the airport in Albuquerque as we waited for our various planes to take us home (we had been flown in for a voter integrity project) we were the happy few surrounded by a sea of glum Kerry supporters. If a poll taken the day of the election of people who have actually voted can be off as far as that one was, some skepticism of any poll is in order.

Big Government : Poster Boy for DNC/MSNBC Attacks on Romney Worked with Ted Kennedy to Provoke Strike, Destroy Compan

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:06:01 +0000

Am I the only person who noticed this was Smith Corona? It was a typewriter company. Hello. The people who put it out of business were not employees of Bain Capital. Apple Computer, Microsoft, IBM, Compaq, Dell and others who popularized the personal computer put Smith Corona out of business. Sort of like digital cameras and Polaroid. In the free enterprise system its adapt or die. Isn't it a good thing to let companies that produce products that nobody wants die? We see it over and over again. Anybody remember Wang? How about Underwood and Singer?

Big Journalism : 2012 Is Coming, the MSM Is Corrupt, and Big Journalism Needs Your Help

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:50:32 +0000

One suggestion you left off. "Share on Facebook" sharing conservative comments and news stories on your Facebook account does 2 things. It reinforces other people who are conservative and gives them easy access to specific information to back up their conservative beliefs. It provides information for those independents and liberals who are curious or openminded enough to look now and than at your links. So Share on Facebook is a great way to spread informations.

Frontpage Magazine : Who Is Davidi Gilo?

Thu, 6 Oct 2011 15:44:02 +0000

Reading this article reminded me of why many fundamentalist Christians are supporters of Israel. I am not a fundamentalist but I have read the Old Testament (aka The Torah and the Tanakh). Cleanse Jews from Judea? From Samaria? These areas are, to paraphrase Rupert Brooke, their own , their native land. We who have not only read the Bible stories, but also know that archeological discoveries have supported the essential veracity of some of those stories ( i.e . towns and forts have been located with the same names) What kind of self destructive mental illness do these liberal "Jews" have that they want to destroy their own history? Those of us who have simply read and learned a little about the Bible know that these stories were written down and circulated before Muhammad was ever born. These leftists are not merely anti-Semitic, they are deniers of history who are funded by that Nazi collaborater, George Soros.

Big Government : Will the Left Blame Conservatives and the Tea Party for the Norway Tragedy?

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:50:23 +0000

So far, Redbadge,you are the only person advocating the suppression of first amendment rights and violence. As is so typical these days, even your little video doesn't prove your point. So these moveon people don't like counter demonstrations? How many counterdemonstrations has the left called? What about what they did in Wisconsin where it became necessary for a Democrat legislator to protect a Republican legislator from actual physical aggression when the latter tried to enter the state building. It is you who wants to shut down Fox, Breitbart and Geller. It is you that threatens to "stomp on" people who disagree with you. If you want to see a person who is a tyrannical bully, look in the mirror.

Frontpage Magazine : West vs. Wasserman Schultz

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:23:30 +0000

Colonel West is glad to debate, I'm sure. The point of his e-mail was that waiting until he left the floor to call him out personally is not a debate. It's an attack behind someone's back. If she had said it while he was there, he could have responded. She waited until he could not respond because he wasn't on the floor. He sent her a private e-mail which SHE chose to make public and then accused him of sexual harassment. It looks to me like the person who can't take the heat is Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She made false allegations against him when he couldn't respond right away. Typical Democrat tactics. What a bunch of low lifes my former party have become.

Big Hollywood : Conor Friedersdorf: The Colonel Klink of the Blogosphere Responds to Breitbart and The Bigs

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:26:53 +0000

This wasn't an ad for the movie. It was a movie listing in the Los Angeles Times for that theater. In other words, if you were looking to see what is playing at the AMC at The Block in Orange, you would look there. to call this an ad for the movie is a stretch. The ad, if any, is placed by the theater not by the promoters of the movie. The promoters of the movie knew nothing about this supposedly planned showing of the movie. HOWEVER and I repeat, I, who actually bought 3 tickets to see the movie, went online to the theater's website where you can actually buy a ticket and did not see it listed there EVEN THE AFTERNOON BEFORE. I don't buy the LA times because it is a left wing propaganda rag not a newspaper. I get my news online. How is that people who were actually involved in promoting the movie never saw the listing. I hasten to add that this theater does not normally have 12:45 AM showings on a Friday morning. That was apparently for Harry Potter. And, by the way, the Harry Potter midnight opening was widely advertised. And by advertised I mean a heck of lot more than just listing it in the newspaper. People my niece's age (22) rarely read newspapers. They get their information off the net just as I do. My niece and her friends knew about it and bought their tickets well in advance just as I bought two of my 3 Undefeated tickets well in advance. Not just I, but many other people can testify that the 12:45 or 12:10 or whatever midnight showing of the Undefeated was not listed online at the AMC website even the day before.

Big Hollywood : Conor Friedersdorf: The Colonel Klink of the Blogosphere Responds to Breitbart and The Bigs

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:01:29 +0000

Again-- what ad? My understanding is that there was no paid advertising for the movie in any newspapers. I don't read the LA Times so I wouldn't have seen it if it ran. But I did go to the website for AMC theaters to buy tickets and I did NOT see a listing of a 12:10 AM showing. Period. NONE. The first showing was listed at 10:15 AM. That was on Thursday. If there was a 12:15 AM showing for the undefeated on Friday, you would think it would have been listed. There was no such showing listed. If you have a copy of an ad that lists a showing at 12:15 or any time before10:15 AM on July 15, I would be very interested to see it. And your psychobabble does not intimidate me nor other Palin supporters. I have yet to talk to a Palin supporter who supports her for any other reason than the positions she takes and her history of fighting for what she believes in. I don't know a single Palin supporter who "worships" her. We support Palin because she supports the same positions that we support. I think that is political. I think that is rational. WE are defensive because she is constantly and irrationally attacked, often in vile and obscene ways. We have made up our minds that we will stand by those who stand by us and we will not tolerate the lies and misrepresentations about her and her record that are constant. We know that whoever is nominated to run against Obama will be the target of such slanders. We have seen it over and over again and we have decided not to put up with it anymore. Its just that simple. Your insinuations that Palin supporters are mentally unbalanced are like those people who talk about the horror of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan while conveniently omitting any discussion of World War II. Well, gee golly, dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki does seem like a very horrible thing to do. But when you put it in the context of a nation at war preparing to lose a million men in the proposed invasion of Japan, after a long and deadly war where the Japanese were still unwilling to acknowledge defeat, well, a little more difficult to condemn. When the MSM and conservative elites stop their constant petty and often lying attacks on Palin we will stop defending her.

Big Hollywood : Conor Friedersdorf: The Colonel Klink of the Blogosphere Responds to Breitbart and The Bigs

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:28:03 +0000

Well, the funny thing is, as I said before, I bought a ticket online the day before and the 12:10 or whenever it was showing, was NOT listed. Period. No one but Conor Friedsdorf appears to have seen it. 12:10 AM showings on weeknights are not normal for ANY movies except Harry Potter openings. My niece is a big Harry Potter fan and has been at other midnight openings including this one. Some other blockbuster movies have used the same opening, but a documentary? Nevertheless, it wasn't listed when I went to buy a ticket the daybefore. So, I think that it is permissible to ask, why was it run when it wasn't advertised or even listed on the website for buying tickets? But my real point is that, while claiming that Sarah fans can't take the heat, it is people like you who can't take the heat. Someone disagrees with you and you get all indignant. Sorry, the people with the thin skin are the ones who think that Palin has no right to defend herself and Palin supporters have no right to defend her. Also, I did read the article.

Big Hollywood : Conor Friedersdorf: The Colonel Klink of the Blogosphere Responds to Breitbart and The Bigs

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:24:02 +0000

So, some poor hapless reviewer from the New York Post "suffered" blowback from the movie's producers. No one is "allowed" to disagree with Palin. Is this the new meme? If Palin supporters call out misrepresentations, unfair criticisms and downright lies, they are somehow unable to deal with criticism? No, we don't think Sarah is perfect. We think there has been plenty of published criticism of Sarah and it is time for the other side to be heard. The person who doesn't like being called out is Conor Freidsdorf. What did anyone say about him? That he misrepresented the opening? Hey. It's true. Deal with it. Nobody who actually wanted to see the movie, other than Conor was even told about the showing. I know. I went on the website less than 8 hours before that showing to buy a ticket and that showing wasn't listed. I might have attended if I had known about it. The people who can't stand criticism, who seem to think that disagreement is a violation of their first amendment rights, are the Palin critics.

Big Journalism : Media Matters Declared War, Let's Give Them One

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:34:08 +0000

We should also remember that when conservatives, like Newt Gingrich, tried to set up tax exempt educational organizations, the left went after them and pretty much won. They should very much not be allowed to continue to get away with this.

Breitbart.com : Money woes could threaten high-speed rail\'s future

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 05:13:39 +0000

The project in California (from San Francisco to Anaheim) is a boondoggle of truly gargantuan proportions. The estimated cost of the whole system is somewhere around 160 Billion. Because of the Tehachapi mountains which run across half the state between Los Angeles and Bakersfield, there is no way to build a high speed rail system without either tunneling under the mountains ( for approximately 35 miles and crossing the San Andreas fault) or going through heavily populated coastal areas. Either way, the cost is going to be really enormous. And people will end up not taking it. We have the metro light rail system in LA which is costing many billions and runs either half empty or close to empty most of the time. The estimate subsidy per ride is over five dollars.

Macleans.ca : The truth is out there. Somewhere.

Sat, 9 Jan 2010 00:27:41 +0000

One avenue is to read what is written on the science by some of the skeptics. For example, if you go to the Web site, WattsUpWithThat, by Anthony Watts you will find a plethora of research, performed by qualified people concerning the accuracy of the surface temperature record. You should also go to his Web site, surfacestations.org. This is real science. Anthony has recruited hundreds of volunteers to survey the surface station measuring sites in the United States and Canada to see if they are subject to Urban Heat Island effects. The answer is that the majority of them are. This is not speculation. This is not a computer model. Hundreds of volunteers have photographed the surface temperature measuring stations. Those photographs show that many of them are located next to air conditioning vents (which add heat and distort the measurements), large amounts of concrete in parking lots, buildings and driveways, ( which add heat) and are otherwise suspect in terms of their accuracy. That is real science. Going and looking at the source of your data and evaluating on a case by case basis whether the source of it is accurate. You will find that the discussions on such websites are about the facts. That is what scientific discussion should be about. If you read the post on Watt's Web site called the Smoking Gun at Darwin Zero, you will see why so many skeptics have cause for concern. It is not just that the Hadley CRU people said they were fudging the data. It is that they actually were fudging the data -- that is, they "adjusted" at least one record from one site to show temperature increases when there had been, in fact, a decline. AS I once said to my struggling to learn music son, I don't have to know how to play the violin to know if you are playing in tune and on time. I do not have to be a scientist to know if you are dealing accurately and fairly with the basic data. When so called scientists lie to the public about the data, there is serious cause for concern.