RonaldReagan.com Forums http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums RonaldReagan.com - The Official Site en Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:14:57 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/styles/dj/misc/rss.jpg RonaldReagan.com Forums http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums A scandal for each age group http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36219&goto=newpost Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:47:12 GMT ---Quote--- President Obama is as thoroughly fenced in by his scandals as Richard Nixon ever was. The scandals that are engulfing him hurt him badly...
Quote:
President Obama is as thoroughly fenced in by his scandals as Richard Nixon ever was. The scandals that are engulfing him hurt him badly with both the younger voters who have been his political base and the older voters he has sought to woo. And, the media scandals are destroying his image with his political mainstay: his popularity with the press.

The latest CNN poll affords ample evidence that Obama is hurting himself with young people. The survey reflects a 17-point drop in job approval among “under 30″ voters in just one month, to 48 percent. More than half feel that the National Security Agency scandal threatens our freedom. The very anti-war, pro-civil liberties attitudes that he ran on as he opposed the war in Iraq and demanded amendments to the Patriot Act are now coming back to bite him. But the use of the Internal Revenue Service to punish political foes also strikes deeply into the heart and soul of any taxpayer. The Nixonian effort to intimidate conservatives hits everyone who has to deal with the IRS and suffer its arbitrariness.

Obama’s assertion that he had nothing to do with the IRS audits is a claim that is doomed to fail. Already, the CNN poll establishes that 47 percent of voters believe that the IRS audits were based on instructions from above, as opposed to agents acting alone. One month ago, only 37 percent believed that. Worded differently, Rasmussen’s polling shows that 70 percent believe the decision to audit was made at a higher level. But behind these scandals lie two fundamental facts about which Obama can do nothing: The media has come to dislike him for his attacks on their privacy and his attempts to stop leaking; and Obama has no major initiative around which to rally his forces and seize control of the agenda.

Historically, the Obama administration’s decision to seize The Associated Press’s computers and the Justice Department’s harassing tactics against Fox News’s James Rosen and, perhaps, CBS News’s Sharyl Attkisson, constitute the same kind of blunder that arrogant presidents often make. Just as Nixon ordered a cover-up, FDR demanded court-packing and a purge of Southern Democrats, Woodrow Wilson wanted the League of Nations approved without amendment, and Bill Clinton grew arrogant and reckless, so Obama’s arrogance has proven his fatal flaw. Sensitive to criticism, crazed about leaks, he has turned the media decisively against him. The drip-drip-drip of scandal is not only the reality, it is a perception nurtured and fed by the media. It is payback.

But as difficult is the lack of a second-term agenda of any significance. Immigration reform, if it passes, will help him with Hispanic voters for a while, until their basic instincts drive them toward Republicans. But the rest of the nation will remain largely unaffected and unimpressed. Meanwhile, ObamaCare implementation will get more and more irritating and threatening to the average American. Obama cannot distract attention from ObamaCare or from his scandals with the tools at hand. Using the presidency as theater in foreign travels is no solution.

History will ponder why Obama threw it all away on the vengeful pursuit of his enemies through the IRS and on a Nixonian desire to wiretap, pry and surveil. Why was he so eager to get in his enemies’ face that he resorted to tactics sure to blow up in his own face? Was it class envy? Or anger against the rich and powerful? Or taking the media for granted? Or an obsession with his prerogatives as president? What is the flaw in this Greek tragedy of a second term that is leading to his downfall? How have power and perks blinded him? Why and when did he lose that political sense that guided him so surely to the presidency in the most unlikely succession in our history? Obama’s coming downfall will keep historians guessing for decades … or centuries.
http://www.dickmorris.com/a-scandal-for-each-age-group/#more-11977
:professor: ]]> Liberalism Vs. Conservatism (Debate Forum) 261911 http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36219 US, Russia Cyber Hotline Brings Back That Cold War Feeling http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36218&goto=newpost Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:25:11 GMT *US, Russia Cyber Hotline Brings Back That Cold War Feeling* The U.S. and Russia are going to cooperate more closely on cybersecurity. They are... US, Russia Cyber Hotline Brings Back That Cold War Feeling

The U.S. and Russia are going to cooperate more closely on cybersecurity. They are setting up a new working group under the auspices of the Bilateral Presidential Commission, set up in 2009 by President Obama and then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, to assess emerging threats to information and communications technology and propose concrete joint measures to address them.

More... ]]> Max Headroom http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36218 Huawei Muscles In on Samsung, Apple Smartphone Turf http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36217&goto=newpost Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:08:47 GMT *Huawei Muscles In on Samsung, Apple Smartphone Turf* Huawei on Tuesday announced the Ascend P6, its first high-end smartphone. The China-based... Huawei Muscles In on Samsung, Apple Smartphone Turf

Huawei on Tuesday announced the Ascend P6, its first high-end smartphone. The China-based company is the largest telecommunications equipment provider in the world, but it also has a device manufacturing business among its many operations. In the smartphone realm, it is perhaps best known for its low-end line. That could be about to change.

More... ]]> Max Headroom http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36217 ‘Free at Last’: La. State Senator Explains Why He Recently Left the ‘Government Plant http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36216&goto=newpost Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:59:41 GMT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_YQ8...layer_embedded ]]> Rancho del Cielo (General Forum) qrayjack http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36216 Google to Pit Technology Against Child Pornographers http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36215&goto=newpost Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:54:30 GMT *Google to Pit Technology Against Child Pornographers* Google is spearheading an initiative to build a picture-sharing database aimed at ridding the... Google to Pit Technology Against Child Pornographers

Google is spearheading an initiative to build a picture-sharing database aimed at ridding the Web of child pornography. The company's new database will rely on "hashing" technology; once an image has been flagged as offensive, it uses an algorithm to identify that photo elsewhere on the Web. Despite widespread efforts to combat it, child pornography online is only growing.

More... ]]> Max Headroom http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36215 Obamaman http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36214&goto=newpost Mon, 17 Jun 2013 06:54:52 GMT Image: http://media.cagle.com/153/2013/06/16/133244_600.jpg 6-16-2013 / Obamaman / Ken Catalino / http://www.cagle.com/2013/06/obamaman/ :toocool:
6-16-2013 / Obamaman / Ken Catalino / http://www.cagle.com/2013/06/obamaman/

:toocool: ]]> UB_S http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36214 <![CDATA[Happy Father's Day!]]> http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36213&goto=newpost Mon, 17 Jun 2013 01:05:51 GMT Just wanted to wish all you dads out there a happy father's day! :smile2: ]]> Rancho del Cielo (General Forum) 261911 http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36213 <![CDATA[Don't be alarmed]]> http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36212&goto=newpost Sun, 16 Jun 2013 07:38:54 GMT Image: http://d1ovi2g6vebctw.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/024.jpg ]]> 261911 http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36212 Special election for Mass. Senate seat http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36211&goto=newpost Sun, 16 Jun 2013 07:22:54 GMT *Polls show Gomez, Markey close in special election race for Mass. Senate seat* ---Quote--- The Senate race in Massachusetts is deadlocked heading... Polls show Gomez, Markey close in special election race for Mass. Senate seat
Quote:
The Senate race in Massachusetts is deadlocked heading into the final weeks – again challenging the assumption that a little-known Republican cannot win national office in such a heavily Democratic state. Yet most polls show first-time Republican candidate and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez within several percentage points of Democratic Rep. Edward Markey -- in the special election that sends voters to the polls on June 25.

Political strategists gave Republicans little chance of winning when former GOP Sen. Scott Brown decided not to run -- considering he had just lost his own reelection bid for the state’s other Senate seat. And the state GOP party was left with a field of lesser-known candidates. However, Gomez, the former Navy SEAL, emerged successful from the primary and has continued to build name recognition beyond Boston where he works as a private equity investor.
Gomez press secretary Will Ritter said Wednesday that his candidate gained popularity and strengthened his poll numbers by relentless campaigning -- including 50 events since the April 30 primary.

“I know it sounds cliché, but the more Gabriel Gomez talks, the more people like him,” Ritter said. “He wakes up at 5 a.m. and wants to campaign.” State Democrats privately acknowledged that this spring’s Boston Marathon, in which two terrorist bombs killed three and injured hundreds of others, was a tragic yet expected twist of political fate for Gomez. Having crossed the finish line within minutes of the explosions, he emerged as a frequent TV eyewitness while the other candidates in both party primaries shut down their campaigns.
“What kind of evil people would do such a cowardly thing,” Gomez said on Fox TV. “We need to hold these people accountable.”

Gomez and Markey are vying for the seat left open by Democratic Sen. John Kerry who in January was appointed Secretary of State. Markey, who entered the race as the presumptive frontrunner, has relied on campaign experience gleaned from 20 terms in Congress to try to win the race, while his campaign doesn’t over-react to poll numbers. “Ed Markey has distinguished himself. And we’re in the driver’s seat,” said Markey spokesman Andrew Zucker. “Gabrielle Gomez is not for the middle class.” In March, the 66-year-old Markey began blasting a Transportation Safety Administration plan to allow small knives in airplane cabins, a plan that the agency has since cancelled. And he has called upon President Obama for some outside help, bringing the president this week to Massachusetts, where Obama defeated Republican presidential nominee

Mitt Romney by 23 percentage points in his successful 2012 reelection effort.
“If you are making sure that people know Ed Markey's remarkable record in Congress, then I guarantee you he will be the next United States senator from Massachusetts,” Obama told a crowd Wednesday in Roxbury, Mass.
The candidates laced into each other Tuesday in their second debate -- with Markey portraying Gomez as somebody ready to give tax breaks to the wealthy, and as unsupportive of women’s rights, while Gomez tried to convince the crowd that Markey is responsible of much of America’s financial problems.

“You are Washington, D.C.,” the 47-year-old Gomez said. “And you own the national debt, sir.” A Gomez victory would not be unprecedented. In 2010, Brown was a little known state senator who won a special election race for the long-held Democratic senate seat of Sen. Ted Kennedy. An averaging of polls by the website RealClearPolitics now has Markey leading by 9 percentage points.

Democratic strategist Ben Tulchin argues that Markey leads in almost every poll, including one by 11 points, and the poll in which Gomez trails by just 1 percentage point was done by a Republican-leaning firm. Still, he recognizes the challenges, including the likelihood of a low voter turnout in a special election, particularly this time when people are otherwise occupied in the summer. “When you have a lower turnout special, Democrats lose their edge quite a bit,” said Tulchin, founder of San Francisco-based Tulchin Research. “And while Massachusetts might be considered a heavily Democratic state, it has a lot of older, white, blue-color workers. It’s never as easy as it looks.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...est=latestnews ]]> 261911 http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36211 CIA to arm, train Syrian rebels http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36210&goto=newpost Sun, 16 Jun 2013 07:17:12 GMT ---Quote--- As the United States prepares to supply Syrian rebels with small arms through a CIA-run program, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said...
Quote:
As the United States prepares to supply Syrian rebels with small arms through a CIA-run program, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Saturday that U.S. troops temporarily in neighboring Jordan will leave behind fighter jets and a cache of Patriot missiles.

So far the White House has committed only to supplying rebel forces with small arms and ammunition, following confirmation that the regime of Syria President Bashar al-Assad's has been using chemical weapons in the 2-year-long civil war in which at least 90,000 people have been killed. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and other Capitol Hill military hawks have called for much heavier arms including the Patriot defense missiles and for the United States to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria.

However, the Pentagon made clear Saturday the detachment of missiles and F-16s was brought to Jordan as part an annual, multi-nation military exercise called Eager Lion and will remain there only at the request of the country leaders, when the exercise ends next week. The White House announced the decision to aid the Syrian opposition Thursday. President Obama vowed last summer to take action should the Assad regime cross a “red line” by using chemical weapons, but has been challenged in verifying whether Assad's forces used chemical weapons and in determining which rebel forces can be trusted.

Critics of the plan say it might be too little, too late as Assad's forces appear to be taking control of the war. The White House has still not decided whether to send anti-tank weapons, while the CIA prepares to arm and train the rebels, as confirmed Saturday by Fox News. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday explained the president’s decision to go beyond supplying humanitarian aid.

He told Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari that the use of chemical weapons, the militant group Hezbollah’s increasing support of Assad forces as well as the regime’s threats and lack of commitment to negotiate “put a political settlement out of reach,” according to the State Department. The United States also has roughly 5,000 troops in Jordan. But they will leave at the end of the military exercise. And the arming of the Syrian rebels will happen in Turkey, another bordering county, military sources say.

Russia, which backs Assad, is questioning the White House’s evidence about chemical weapons, including the use of the nerve gas sarin and says the reports do not meet stringent criteria for reliability. Russian officials also opposed the call by McCain and others for a no-fly zone over Syria. In fighting Saturday, Assad forces captured a suburb of Damascus near the capital's international airport, according to SANA, Syria's state news agency. SANA says troops killed several rebels and destroyed their hideouts in the Ahmadiyeh area on Saturday, two days after a mortar round landed near the airport's runway and briefly disrupted flights.

A local rebel commander who identified himself by his nickname, Abu Hareth, for fear of government reprisals, said soldiers and rebels have been fighting sporadically in the area since late Friday. He said two rebel fighters have been killed there since. Ahmadiyeh is part of a region known as Eastern Ghouta, where government forces have been on the offensive for weeks.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...-fox-confirms/ ]]> 261911 http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36210 <![CDATA[It Was a Mad, Mad Gaming World at This Year's E3]]> http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36209&goto=newpost Sun, 16 Jun 2013 03:26:17 GMT It Was a Mad, Mad Gaming World at This Year's E3

Another Electronic Entertainment Expo video game show has come to a close, and more than ever, the battle lines were drawn as Microsoft and Sony both unveiled new systems. Sony may have gotten the upper hand by announcing that its PlayStation 4 will be $100 cheaper than the Xbox One and free of restrictions on the buying of selling of used games, but a lot can happen in the next few months.

More... ]]> Max Headroom http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36209 Only me and the CIA... http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36208&goto=newpost Sat, 15 Jun 2013 08:13:59 GMT

:professor: Check out more cartoons from Patriot Post's "Tuesday Humor" section at:

http://patriotpost.us/humor/18603 ]]> UB_S http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36208 <![CDATA[Privacy Isn't All We're Losing...]]> http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36207&goto=newpost Sat, 15 Jun 2013 07:59:21 GMT Privacy Isn't All We're Losing

The surveillance state threatens Americans' love of country.

By Peggy Noonan
June 15, 2013

[Excerpt from the article:]

...I feel that almost everyone who talks about America for a living -- politicians and journalists and even historians -- is missing a huge and essential story: that too many things are happening that are making a lot of Americans feel a new distance from, a frayed affiliation with, the country they have loved for half a century and more, the country they loved without every having to think about it, so natural was it.

This isn't the kind of thing that can be quantified in polls -- it's barely the kind of thing people admit to themselves.

But talk to older Americans -- they feel they barely know this country anymore. In governance its crucial to stay within parameters, it's important not to strain ties, push too far, be extreme. And if you think this does not carry implications for down the road, for our healthy continuance as a nation, you are mistaken. Love keeps great nations going.

Some of the reaction to the NSA story is said to be generational. The young are said not to fear losing privacy, because they never knew it. The middle-aged, who grew up in peace and have families, want safety first, whatever it takes, even excess.

Lately for wisdom I've been looking to the old. Go to somebody who's 75 and ask, "So if it turns out the U.S. government is really spying on American citizens and tracking everything they do, is that OK with you?" They'll likely say no, that's not what we do in America.

The other day on Fox News Channel I saw 79-year-old Eugene Cernan, the Apollo astronaut. Mr. Cernan's indignation about the state of things was so sincere, so there. China had just blasted into space, bringing its pride and sense of nationhood with it. America doesn't do that anymore, said Mr. Cernan, we're not achieving big things. Now we go nowhere.
The interviewer, Neil Cavuto, threw in a question about the spying.

Yes, we're under attack, said Mr. Cernan, but "we can handle it," we can go after "the bad guys" without hurting "the good guys," you can't give up your own liberty and your own freedom.

Exactly how a lot of us feel about it, rocket man.

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/18672 ]]> UB_S http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36207 Ouya, ESA Scrap Leaves Both Bruised http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36206&goto=newpost Sat, 15 Jun 2013 03:48:08 GMT *Ouya, ESA Scrap Leaves Both Bruised* Indie startup Ouya had a showdown with ESA at E3 this week, momentarily overshadowing the rivalry between... Ouya, ESA Scrap Leaves Both Bruised

Indie startup Ouya had a showdown with ESA at E3 this week, momentarily overshadowing the rivalry between Microsoft and Sony. The brouhaha actually involved real police and took place on the streets of Los Angeles. It seems Ouya opted to introduce its open source gaming console not on the floor of the trade show, but in a parking lot across the street.

More... ]]> Max Headroom http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36206 GOP Congressmen Pen Letter to Obama Requesting Holder Be Fired http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36205&goto=newpost Sat, 15 Jun 2013 01:02:08 GMT ---Quote--- Forty-Six Republican members of Congress have signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to remove Eric Holder from the Attorney...
Quote:
Forty-Six Republican members of Congress have signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to remove Eric Holder from the Attorney General’s position. Among those forty-six, five members of the Florida Congressional delegation -Ron DeSantis, Ted Yoho, John Mica, Rich Nugent, and Dennis Ross, have signed on.

Letter cites the recent NSA/Verizon scandal, as well as the botched Operation Fast and Furious program, as the reasons why Holder needs to be fired from his position.

The Attorney General has either overseen a rogue agency, one that he cannot control, or directly played a role in allowing these unacceptable actions to take place.
http://shark-tank.net/2013/06/14/gop...lder-be-fired/ ]]> 261911 http://www.ronaldreagan.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36205