Sophia Loren on Life

John McCain: "Get out of here, you low-life scum.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee was preparing to hear testimony from three super-annuated former Secretaries of State when the proceeding was rudely disrupted by Code Pink.  The self proclaimed "peace and social justice" NGO dedicated to protest all US wars through obnoxious grandstanding sought to make a citizens arrest of 91 year old Henry Kissinger.  Kissinger was President Richard Nixon's (and later President Gerald Ford's) National Security Adviser and Secretary of State .

It does not seem like the Capitol Police were prepared for the street theater in Senate hearing rooms, as the pink protesters were at first escorted to the back of the room.  When they continued to agitate, Chairman John McCain decried their lack of decorum and bid a rude adieu to the ideologically addled agitators. The Chairman's ire might have been aided by his memory of spending five and a half years as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. 

What was truly outstanding was former Reagan Secretary of State George Schultz's response to the ruckus.  The 94 year old diplomat stood up to confront Code Pink and then declared:  “I salute Henry Kissinger for his many contributions to peace and security.” This led to a standing ovation which drown out the progressive protesters. 

It was curious that Code Pink wanted to refight the Vietnam war nearly 40 years after the fall of Saigon.  If they wanted to confront a Secretary of State present with a more recent war record, they could have gone after Clinton's second Secretary of State Madeline Albright, who was at the helm at Foggy Bottom during the NATO bombings in Serbia during the Spring of 1999.  

Ironically, Code Pink staged this protest the same day the secret tapes of Congressmen and the Pentagon communicating with Libyan officials in order to  sidestep the warmongering strategy  of  Obama's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who led America into what was deemed  an unnecessary war in Libya.  Was that really practicing "Smart Power"? 

But progressives have different rules for Democrats and it is dubious if these anti-war agitators would challenge their comrades. 

Robert Frost on Laughter

Huckabee POTUS DREAMing?

Former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR) has been making the media rounds purportedly to publicize his new book "Gods, Guns, Grits and Gravy" (2015).  However, the PR campaign is laying a predicate for an all but announced run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

During an appearance  on "Meet the Press", Gov. Huckabee exclaimed: “You don't punish a child for something his parents did," regarding the children of illegal immigrants (a.k.a. DREAM Act kids).  

But when Gov. Huckabee addressed a crowd of Christian conservatives in Richmond, Virginia, he Gov. Huckabee tried to temper these sympathetic sentiments towards DREAMers with some red meat for borders, language and culture. 

Those clarifying comments sound sweet to conservatives, but to put it in homespun terms, isn't this after the barn door has already opened. Governor Huckabee is fond of telling a true story about an Arkansan DREAMer who went on to become high school valedictorian.  But how does he feel about the flood of undocumented migrants who were admitted last year under de facto amnesty and 94% of them never bothered to report to their Immigration hearings?  How does Gov. Huckabee feel about Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch ignoring established employment law so that illegal immigrants can work in America?

Governor Huckabee seems to have slightly refined his view on the DREAM Act from when he spoke with Laura Ingraham in 2010 in which he insisted that treatment of DREAMers should be a state issue.  Since the Supreme Court has ruled that the Federal Government has primacy on immigration issues, the Federal Government must enforce laws on the books regarding allegiance, employment and education for citizenship.

Immigration is going to be a flash point in the Republican race for President.  There are establishment proto candidates like former Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL) who embrace liberal immigration and former Governor Mitt Romney who has evolved and advocated that the GOP should swallow hard and succumb to the inevitable by passing comprehensive immigration reform.  On the other end of the spectrum, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) would neither cotton to an open borders immigration amnesty nor a DREAM Act which penalizes legal immigrants who played by the rules.  

It sounds like Governor Huckabee is trying to split the baby by allowing for illegal immigration accommodations yet advocating an aspirational secure the borders and invigilate immigrants.  That sounds like DREAMing in more ways than one.  

Punctuating  his immigration opinions before the Family Foundation, Governor Huckabee proclaimed:  “If that bothers you to the point that you’d say, ‘I’d never vote for you,’ then you’re never going to vote for me, because that’s something on which I will not recant. Gov. Huckabee's unequivocal utterance may be prophetic, considering the anti-immigration ardor in Iowa today.

H/T: Henry Payne 

Mohandas Gandhi on Virtue

Goethe on Magic

Dwight Eisenhower on Leadership

Robert Burns on the Rights of Women

John Barrymore on Life

Sarah Palin on Deflated Balls

Wonder if the First Lady of the Outdoors who stars in the Sportsman's Channel's show "Amazing America with Sarah Palin" is suggesting politically hunting for RINOs with deflated balls.  

That might make them endangered species in 2017.  

George Carlin on Political Correctness

Mae West on Life

Eleanor Roosevelt on Beauty

Sophocles on Communication

Bobby Jindal and Smart Power

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA) traveled to London England to address the Henry Jackson Society.  This British think tank, named after the anticommunist defense hawk Sen. "Scoop" Jackson (D-WA), is dedicated to support a strong military and a "forward strategy" (involving diplomacy, culture, economics and politics) to make the world safe for modern liberal democracies.

Jindal's speech before Scoop Jackson academics had the potential for promoting his political standing amongst aficionados of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, while contrasting world views with his prospective general election rival Hillary Clinton.  However, Jindal chose to focus his remarks on the dangers of political Islamism both in global hot zones as well as within Western democracies. Jindal alluded to no go zones in Europe.

After the speech, Jindal was pressed by a CNN reporter to name a No Go zone in London, the presumed Republican presidential hopeful refused to give specifics


.

So instead of concentrating on the substance of the speech, a politically correct media inclined to destroy any rivals to the second coming of the Clintons to the Oval Office, played a media game of Gotcha'. While progressive partisans may think that they have already won in taking down Jindal with no go zones, just like Gov. Chris Christie's prospects were impaired by the ersatz "Bridge-gate" scandal, they are too clever by half.

Jindal should feel justified that there are at least 85 sharia courts operating in the UK. Recently, terrorism pundit Steve Emerson opined on Fox News that Birmingham was "entirely Muslim", which FNC publically disavowed.  But England's second largest city is 22% Muslim and this can create a de facto no go zone with western women not dressed modestly enough for unofficial prude police.  Then there is the case of the two evangelical preachers threatened with "hate" crimes for passing out Christian pamphlets in Muslim majority neighborhoods.   However, that is not a formal "no go zone" as in France. 

Jindal sought to properly define "Smart Power" to pursue American political and economic security.  But since the two term Louisiana Governor is considered in the hunt for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, the Lamestream Media will use political language to shape the race as they will.

Post Scriptus 01/21/2015 At Red State, Eric Erickson pointed to an earlier video from CNN which reported on Muslim patrols which sought to enforce ad hoc sharia law on the streets of East London. 

George Orwell on Political Language

Allen West: "In the NBA, it's like outer space Al -- the higher you get, the darker it gets"

After the 2015 Academy Awards nominations did not include any nods for black actors and actresses, the Reverend Al Sharpton grabbed headlines which racially acrimonious analogies about the Oscars.  

Former Congressman Allen West (R-FL 22nd), who recently became CEO of the Dallas Texas based National Center for Policy Analysis, countered Sharpton's intimations that racism influenced the Academy Awards nominations by citing sports analogies. Sports allow us to celebrate excellence and achievement not about proportioned prosperity.

As Americans celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, we should remember that the Civil Rights movement sought to allow the equality of opportunity not of achievement.

Martin Luther King on Hate

Seattle Socialist Councilwoman's Silly Scheme for Seahawks Seats

Defending Super Bowl Champions Seattle Seahawks have been successful on an off the field.  Civic pride for the Seahawks in Seattle is legendary, as their fans are considered the 12th man, giving the team a tremendous home field advantage.  Seahawk fans are so loud that their boisterous cheers caused two measurable earthquakes.

However, in the run up to the NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers, Socialist Alternative Councilwoman Kshama Sawant railed against the restrictiveness nature of Seattle Seahawk season tickets preventing many unprivileged WeHawk fans from seeing the game in person.

Sawant organized some street theater to illustrate the divide between the Seahawk fans have and have nots with a "13th Man Initiative". The socialist rally on Capitol Hill gathered hundreds of blue and lime clad workers chanting "No justice, no beast".  During their march to Pioneer Square, protesters carried signs reading "We are the 13" and "12th Man, aka Bequeathed Mode".  

Sawant's solution to the Seahawk ticket situation is to share seats among the metro Seattle residents.  According to Sawant: 

“With 3 million people in the Seattle metro area, that’s about 44 people per seat. After this weekend, the Hawks will have played 10 home games, or 41 quarters (remember the overtime versus the Broncos). If you subtract infants and Sounders fans, that comes out almost perfectly to one quarter per person."

Right. And Sawant is supposedly an economics professor.  Perhaps it should be noted that Washington state has legalized the recreation use of marijuana.  College campuses may have been a bit ahead of the pot legalization initiative.

Some claim that this 13th man initiative is just satire.  Where you stand is where you sit.  Street theater might be a lark for an Occupy rally.  As an elected official, such satire is unseemly, especially without denoting that it was allegedly illustrating a point.  If so, what was the point?

The 13th Man ticket sharing idea is about as idiotic as the living wage initiative which Sawant championed to raise the Emerald City's minimum wage to $15 an hour.  Seattle's City Council unanimously passed the $15 minimum wage and chose to fully implement it in April 2015, even though liberally minded restaurant owners warn that the drastic wage increase will decrease labor and threaten small business survival in the city.

Sawant gained notoriety for her involvement in the Occupy  Wall Street movement.  It seems like the "13th Man Initiative" is ersatz opposition which injects  class strife and partisan politics into sports successes.  The NFL has been plagued with politically correct controversies which are peripheral to football, like political pressure and  Obama Administrations machinations to force the Washington Redskins to change their name and football players engaging in the "Hands up don't shoot" meme ala Ferguson.

It is a pity that rabble rousers and progressive political animals continue to use sports as a platform for forcing their politics into sports rather than allowing the teams to build unity among the community. Alas the 13th man initiative is the odd men as the are people who can not root  for their team without playing victim (for not having tickets), "raising consciences" and politically dividing the Seahawks fan base.

Humphry Davy on Life

Al Sharpton: "The Academy Awards Are Like the Rocky Mountains..."

In reaction to the 2015 Academy Awards nominations which did not include a black actor among the twenty top nominations, Al Sharpton pulled the race card.  

Sharpton made an acrimonious analogy of the "White" Rocky Mountains and promised to meet with a task for to discuss possible actions around Oscars awards time.

During the leaks surrounding Sony Pictures release of "The Interview", Sharpton seized on inconvenient emails in which film executives joked about pitching African American oriented films which President Barack Obama might like.  Sharpton's agitation about Sony Picture's snafu won him a place at the table in Hollywood as Racial Inclusion Czar.

Al Sharpton street Press Conference after Sony Pictures shakedown with Amy Pascal, 12/18/2014

 It seems that Sharpton has been bitten by the show business bug and can't stop trying to steal the lime-lights, even for the Academy Awards ceremony.

Normally, when self appointed racial justice leaders protest, they settle the problem by enriching themselves without "solving" the problem.  There is still time to implement a simple solution.  Now Al Sharpton could host the Academy Awards, with a special guest appearance by North Korean Dictator Kim Jon Un. 

The challenge would be having Al Sharpton read the teleprompter and to stop talking with the orchestral cues so the Oscars are not as long as an old time Fidel Castro speech.

The Simpsons: Animated Ambassadors of Free Speech

  

 Five days after the horrific massacre in Paris at the offices of Charlie Hebdo by radical Islamist terrorists, the Simpsons showed a short tribute to support free speech.

Maggie Simpsons flag waving was a homage to the iconic painting Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Eugene Delacroix along with the social media meme #JeSuisCharlie (I am Charlie). Or perhaps the pose was inspired by Cosette in Les Miserables.

Even after 26 seasons on American television with nearly 550 episodes, the Simpsons shows that it has the pulse on what animates the public.

This is not the first time in which the Simpsons has sought to make serious points with ancillary scenes.  In 2010, the Simpsons kept it real for their twentieth anniversary season with a title card sequence inspired by the graffiti artist Banksy.

The typical close to the Title Sequence of the Family watching the boob tube revealed itself to be a plasma television image in a grim Asian sweat shop churning out images of the Simpsons.  As the camera focused on the toxic slim dripping below, it shows lower levels of commercial exploitation.  The surreal sweat shop infused humor in its dark comedy, as a pooped panda hauled a cart of plush dolls, which were stuffed of ground kittens.  A decapitated dolphin sealed boxes of this Simpsons merchandise. 

The picture of the Simpsons watching the boob tube reveals itself to be a plasma television image in a grim Asian sweat shop that is laboriously drawing images of the Simpsons. As the POV focuses on the toxic slime dripping below, there are subterranean layers of exploitation. Busy sweatshop seamstresses sew Simpsons licensed garments, worker stuff Bart plush figurines and a DVD duplication production line.

 Banksy’s contribution seemed reminiscent of Salvador Dali on a dark day. But the sequence may have been meant as more than a dark fantasy.  Show runner Al Jean may have been protesting outsourcing animation offshore overseas by illustrating intolerable production conditions which feeds the public's hunger for inexpensive entertainment.

The Simpson's standing in solidarity with the Paris Shooting protesters demonstrated that they are animated ambassadors of free speech.  While the Les Miserables motif was apropos, an even more poignant pairing would have been to mash up the Simpsons with operatic Les Mis anthem "One Day More".

George Burns on Politics

Duke Ditches Plan to Sound the Friday Call to Prayer Across Campus

Duke University announced that the Muslim Call to Prayer would be broadcast every Friday at 1PM. This was being done to promote religious pluralism for the 700 Muslim students on campus. Imam Adel Zeeb, the Muslim chaplain at Duke explained: "The adhan is the call to prayer that brings Muslims back to their purpose in life, which is to worship God and serves as a reminder to serve our brothers and sisters in humanity." 

 Off-campus, however, reaction to this news was swift and condemnatory.  The Reverend Franklin Graham took to social media to express disapproval of Duke's decision.  Although Muslim students had been meeting in the basement of the Chapel for years, Rev. Franklin felt that amplifying the adan was poisonous pluralism.  Franklin posited that: "You're taking that bell tower, and you're turning it into a Muslim minaret. I think it's a slap at the Christian faith."

The day after the Duke Call To Prayer idea was shared with the world, Duke University backtracked on the decision. Michael Schoenfeld, Duke's Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations, stated:

“Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students. However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.”

It may not have just been Franklin Graham's moral suasion which won the battle for the bell tower. Franklin Graham's initial Facebook post suggested that alumni and donors ought to withhold support until the decision was reversed.

After University officials opted  against amplifying the adan, Rev. Graham posted his support for Duke's decision.

Omid Safi, the director of Duke's Islamic Studies program, disputed the notion that the Call to Prayer was an effort to supplant Christianity on campus.

"Every day from that same Duke chapel, church bells ring, and twice on Sunday. The cross is on the emblem of Duke University. The entire quad, and the entire campus of Duke University is laid out as a cross. And the Christian chapel is the very symbol of Duke University. So the kind of fanatical proclamation that Christianity is being erased from Duke’s campus is frankly a poor indication of the intelligence of that argument."

While it is true that Duke University was founded by Methodists and Quakers, the Blue Devil's campus has long been operating as a secular school.  It is facile reasoning that the church bell rings twice on Sunday at Duke Chapel as it ignores the symbolic importance of the adan.  Duke's Chapel is at the highest ridge on campus and one of the highest points in  Durham County.  Having the Collegiate Gothic Chapel broadcast the prayer Friday afternoon would be interpreted by radicalized religious as establishing the dominance of Islam over those academic ivory towers.

It is reminiscent of the controversy over the 2010 proposed "Cordoba House" at Park 51 near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.  There was a great effort by Developer Sharif El-Gamal to plant a mosque in the area, even though there was not a large enough community to support it.  Three years after the mosque opened, El-Gamal announced that he aspired to build a three story museum dedicated to Islam near Ground Zero.  

What explains this obsession with establishing iconic Islamic edifices near prominent real estate?  As Robert Spencer speculated about the current Park 51 plans:

“The structure as you describe it would be as grotesque as a three-story museum dedicated to exploring the faith of Shintoism and emperor-worship, and its arts and culture, with a sanctuary for prayer services and community programs, at Pearl Harbor." 

We in the west seem like we are metaphobes who are incapable of appreciating the significance of symbolism or the political impact of Islam.  They fail to consider that Islam is a holistic system which incorporates law, governance as well as spirituality.  

Radicalized Islamists seek to impose sharia law through cultural jihad.  France is grappling with a suspicion the political correctness coupled with Islamic accommodations is creating an Islamicized France. While the majority of North American Muslims seem content to live in a secular society with a pluralistic polity, it is easy to understand why some are chary about allowing accommodations which can be seen as a primus entre pares situation.

panel management

The Islamization of France?

 The idea of the Islamization of France is not a new one.  The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) has been covering the sensitive subject for a couple of years, as is seen in their report about Generation Identity protests against '68ers (street protesters in May, 1968) who are allowing the Islamization of France.

   

 But the Islamist jihadist Parish shootings at Charlie Hebdo as well as the Kosher grocery store highlights the cultural clash as well as homegrown terrorists who feel isolated from mainstream French values.   

 Soren Kern of the Gatestone Institute had a sobering chronology of the tensions created in the gradual Islamization of France. It is estimated that 10% of the French population are Muslim (about 6.5 million of the total population of 66 million), but the government can not say with certainly since French is mandated to be secular.  Nonetheless, until the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the French government have implemented politically correct accommodations their Muslim residents and citizens.  The most notable of these practices are 750 "No Go Zones", which are euphemistically called "zones urbanes sensibles" where French gendarmes dare not go and sharia law reigns. 

 French Prime Minister Manuel Valls commented that there is a war being waged by Islamist Jihadists which threatens western values. 

 How the world reacts to these outrageous atrocities will determine if the West will retain its values of freedom and religious pluralism or if we will cower into de facto dhimmitude.

Manuel Valls on Defending Values

<

Henry Ford on Public Opinion

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio on IDs for Illegals

  While it is no surprise that a progressive politician such as Bill De Blasio wants to welcome those who are socially disadvantaged, like people who broke immigration laws.   Some states like California, are trying to get everyone operating on the roads with a drivers license for safety concerns. Unfortunately, making the privilege of driving available to indocumentados does not mean that they will qualify.  About half of the illegal immigrants taking the California DMV test failed, often more than once. 

 But such bleeding hearts usually just  refer to the group  as "undocumented Americans".   De Blasio apologized if these people felt like "second class" citizens.  Really?  This is insulting to those who follow the rule of law like citizens, taxpayers and especially those honorable immigrants who played by the rules and endured the long and costly process to become a legal citizen of the United States. 

The IDs which the undocumented New Yorkers will not only allow them to use banks and fly on airplanes.  It also entitles them to use the 33 city agencies.  How do such residents treat the civic largess?  The track record for this class of immigrants is not promising.  




If  they do not necessarily have Social Security numbers, they will either use false IDs or work under the table.  Perhaps President Obama's extra-legal Executive Action moots that issue before the judicial branch which makes it a political issue not to be overturned with a chary Congressional leadership.

President Obama allowed a large influx of Central American immigrants to migrate to America and be disbursed on their own recognizance throughout the United States so long as they showed up for their scheduled INS hearing. The government now reports that 96% of these people were "in abstentia" (i.e. no shows). 

Many suspect that some politicians encourage immigration of "undocumented Americans" as a way to increase voter turnout.  In Maryland, it is estimated that 7% of the electorate may be comprised of illegal immigrants.  This was determined cross checking voter rolls to  jury summons which were appealed because they were not US Citizens.

As this nation tries to grapple with the thorny subject of illegal immigration, we ought to stop ignoring the rule of law by minimizing the duties along with the rights of citizens.

Schopenhauer on Books

Sajid Javid on Islamist Terrorism

Saudi Prince Ilweed bin Talal on Oil Prices

Americans have been reveling in low gas prices wondering if they are in a time warp.  Many do not realize that petroleum prices have plunged because of American entrepreneurial ingenuity and Saudi backup strategy.

The shale oil which is being extracted due to fracking in  American oil wells on private land is creating some oversupply.   Saudi Arabia is not cutting production.  This is not simply because others in OPEC would not respect production cuts but is part of a long term strategy.

Fracking is an effective way to get more yield out of an oil field, but it is only economical at certain prices, which are believed to be around $55 a barrel.  If OPEC can keep flooding the market and keeping oil prices low, it becomes uneconomical to do more fracking ventures.  

The oil industry can not start up on a dime due to infrastructure and regulatory impediments. For example, the  moratorium which President Obama imposed after the BP Deepwater Horizon spill chased away jobs, as uninstalled oil rigs were sent away from the Gulf of Mexico to more productive waters.  If fracking becomes unproductive for a prolonged period, the equipment may be reallocated to other sectors.  If not, an overreaching EPA and lawfare can slow down a renewal of fracking. 

Thomas Sowell on Rules

Rick Santorum on Bomb Throwers

Carly Fiorina on Leadership

Michael Jackson on History

Stephen Harper on the International Jihadist Movement

Bibi Netanyahu on Adversity

   

John Boehner on Being Anti-Establishment

Speaker Boehner's anti-establishment apologia seems about as accurate to Tea Party types as Saturday Night Live's sketch: "We Did Stop (the government)".

On a related note, Speaker Boehner has now vowed to "fight tooth and nail" against President Barack Obama's unilateral Executive Amnesty action, despite the fact that the lame duck Cromnibus spending bill put no prohibitions on spending funds to implement the amnesty.

Stephane Charbonnier on the Freedom of Speech

Stephane Charbonnier, Chief Editor of the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo", was one of France's leading cartoonists who created under the pen name "Charb".   Charbonnier was also an outspoken advocate for free speech who fiercely defended his right to push material that others, particularly Muslims, deemed offensive. 

In 2011, Charbonnier invited the Prophet Muhammad to be a guest editor to Charlie Hebdo. This prompted a firebombing which destroyed Charlie Hebdo's offices and put Charb on an Al-Qaeda hit list. 

Stephane Charbonnier defiantly posing after Charlie Hebdo firebombing,  Nov. 2011

The three Islamic terrorists who brutally attacked Charlie Hebdo's offices on January 7, 2015 reportedly asked for Charb by name as they slaughtered twelve people. 

Some Muslim spokesmen justify a rabid response like the terrorist attack as Charlie Hebdo published pieces which were offensive to the Prophet Muhammad.  Bill Donahue,  President of the (American) Catholic League, condemned the killings but stated that "Muslims have a right to be angry" over Charlie Hebdo's provocative publications.

Many media outlets are quick to point out that Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical publication, which is true but is misleading.  This Charlie Hebdo massacre was an attack on Free Speech.  It was cultural jihad which is imposing tenants of sharia law (among which is to not to offend Muslims) on Western society.  This movement is being aided and accelerated by Political Correctness, which seeks to not  provoke favored minorities but is happy to taunt traditional mores.

The fact that many media sources were self-censoring about showing "provocative" Charlie Hebdo covers, but had no problems publicizing Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" (1987) or Chris Orfill's depiction of the Virgin Mary covered in elephant dung (1996) shows the double standard from the supposed guardians of the First Amendment.

Such spurious self-censoring of provocative content towards a violent minority which seeks to apply sharia law is an early stage of dhimmitude. 

So Much for Being Guardians of the First Amendment

The Mainstream Media loves to trumpet the trope that they are Guardians of First Amendment rights for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.  However, the timorous self-censoring displayed by major media outlets in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in Paris exposes this ideal as an intellectual chimera.

CNN Senior Editorial Director Richard Griffin issued an internal memo which dictated that the media outlet not show images that could be considered offensive to Muslims.  The Politico released Griffin's email:

Although we are not at this time showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet considered offensive by many Muslims, platforms are encouraged to verbally describe the cartoons in detail. This is key to understanding the nature of the attack on the magazine and the tension between free expression and respect for religion. 

Video or stills of street protests showing Parisians holding up copies of the offensive cartoons, if shot wide, are also OK. Avoid close-ups of the cartoons that make them clearly legible.

It's also OK to show most of the protest cartoons making the rounds online, though care should be taken to avoid examples that include within them detailed depictions of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.

NBC News mimicked this tact by guiding their outlets to neither show headlines nor cartoons which could be deemed insensitive or offensive.

In the print medium, the Associated Press applied an internal policy of "not moving deliberately provocative images" so it removed Charlie Hebdo images from their database. However, it only took the Associate Press 27 years and an embarrassing exposure by the Washington Examiner for the same standard to be applied to Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" (1987).   Was this because a crucifix dipped in urine and displayed as art is not deliberately provocative? Do elitist editors think that anti-Christian imagery is not provocative but that they dare not offend adherents to the Prophet Mohammad?  Or does publishing some provocative pictures might put their lives on the line by radical terrorists?

The New York Daily News covered the source material which provoked these three Islamic terrorists to assassinate twelve French citizens by pixillating the Prophet Mohammad's image.

Stephane Charbonnier posing with satirical cover pixillated in NY Daily News {photo FRED DUFOUR/AFP}

As Mark Steyn remarked, the New York Daily News put Mohammad in the witness protection program with their editorial sensitivity, yet the editors did not obscure the hook nose caricature of a Jew which shared the frame. So much for sensitivity or avoiding provocative pictures.

It is galling that the media outlets are proud as a peacock as being protectors of Free Speech while acting in a duplicitous and cowardly manner.  While these Charlie Hedbo pictures are provocative, they are no longer a polemic point of view but now are a news story. None the less, the major media acts in a Milquetoast manner towards the prophet Mohammad.  No wonder why they can derisively known as the "Lamestream Media".

In 2013, Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) sought to limit who can be a journalist. Feinstein argued that a federal shield law should only apply to "real reporters".  But what if these paid journalists refuse to report the news?

These pusillanimous journalists should review what dhimmitude means.  This second class citizenship of non-Muslims acknowledges the dominance of sharia law and does not allow anything to offend those within the Dar-Islam.   Self-censorship so as not to give offense to Muslims is a major step in accepting those social shackles.

In Paris, many protesters to the Charlie Hebdo atrocity carried pencils to symbolize that the pencil is mightier than the sword and that they are not afraid. The cartoon of the Twin Tower of Pencils links terrorism from America's 9/11 attack to the Parisian terrorism.  Sadly this cartoon has another connection.  American news networks stopped showing the terrorist planes hitting the World Trade Center except briefly during the 9/11 anniversary to supposedly not to show provocative images. Of course, such horrific footage might remind people about the consequences of unchecked terrorism.  

Rep. Mia Love on Her Vote for Speaker

VP's Creepy Chatter at Ceremonial Senate Swear Ins

As President of the Senate, Vice President Joe Biden has the duty to administer the oath of office to members at the start of a session (even though the Senate maintains that it is a continuous body).  Members take the official oath in groups of ten on the Senate floor, but as part of the pomp and ceremony of the 114th Congress, Senators and their families make ceremonial poses in the Old Senate Chambers in the Capitol.

Vice President Biden's Id appeared unleashed as he was administering this ceremonial duty.  When 80 year old Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) stepped to the dais to take the oath with his teenaged granddaughter Emily, the Vice President complimented the pretty teen by quipping: "I hope you have a big fence around the house!".



Mr. Biden was so pleased with his presumed piropo that he repeated the "big fence" line with freshman Senator Joni Ernst's (R-IA) daughter Libby. This was not the end of Biden's smooth moves with the Ernsts.  He addressed his colleague as Gail (her husband's name) instead of Joni.  Furthermore, the Vice President then put his arm around Libby as the oath was administered.

[L] Senator Joni Ernst's ceremonial oath, by V.P. Joe Biden  Old Senate Chambers 01/06/2105 {Photo credit: AP}

These creepy comments and  awkward encounters were not reserved exclusively for GOP families.  Vice President Biden said to four term Senator Dick Durban's (D-IL) grandson: "You've got killer eyes. The girls are in trouble.".

When first term Senator Chris Coons (R-DE) was posing for his 114th Congress oath, Vice President Biden tried to kiss Coon's daughter Margaret on the head, but she turned away.

These avuncular blurtations and clumsy socialization might have been tolerated at a family gathering with an odd old uncle, but this was a public ceremony.  Moreover, the special attention which Mr. Biden gave lovely young women was uncomfortable, if not creepy.

Remember, Mr. Biden is one heartbeat away from the Oval Office.  In addition, the Vice President is positioned to make a run for the White House on his own in 2016.  This gives the "big fence around the house" quip even more poignancy.

UPDATE 01/11/2015  While responding to a Chris Wallace's question on Fox News Sunday, Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) insists that his daughter does not think that Vice President Biden is creepy.  In fact, Coons claims that Biden was just trying to help Maggie get through a day in the spotlight. Oh, by putting the spotlight on a teen by whispering sweet nothings in her ear and seeking to give her a peck on the forehead.  Sure.

h/t: Daily Mail
      New York Magazine