{"id":27185,"date":"2014-09-03T09:56:11","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T13:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=27185"},"modified":"2014-09-03T09:56:16","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T13:56:16","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-monday-september-1st-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=27185","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Monday, September 1st, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Monday, September 1st, 2014…but before we begin, a brief observation. \u00a065 years ago today, the appeasement policies practiced by the Barack Hussein Obama of his day…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"obamachamberlain\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…coupled with war-weariness and weakness in the remainder of Europe led to the onset of the bloodiest war in human history.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though the terminology for the various parties has changed over time, writing at BlueForceTracker.com<\/em>, Drew Peterson identifies one of the primary problems from the past which has survived the intervening years:<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Hippies suck’ \u2014 The abyss between military and civilian cultures<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"stupid-obama-supporter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“…Since leaving the military a few months ago, most of the people I’ve met in the civilian world haven\u2019t experienced true adversity in their lives, although they think<\/span> they have<\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Most of these \u201cchallenges\u201d are in the pursuit of personal happiness and nothing more.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

They brag about their big adventures to Australia\u00a0or Europe, talking about how enlightened they are and how much they love to travel. They complain about\u00a0how uncultured Americans are compared with the rest of the world. Right. Try spending half a year in Afghanistan, then tell me what the rest of the world is like.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Their problems seem petty.\u00a0Getting over a failed relationship, not getting a dream job, or whatever other trivial event over which someone might lament are not really problems at all, and it is baffling that our generation doesn\u2019t have the courage to confront and overcome such overcome-able issues.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What happened to the resiliency and the ability for people to defeat obstacles? We are breeding a generation who just throw up their hands and quit in the face of adversity, instead of leveraging challenges as motivation to learn, grow and become a better person.\u00a0(See “Missouri, Ferguson<\/em>“)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"blackswhitescomp\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Which just goes to prove a significant percentage of Whites are utter idiots!<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

These people cannot possibly understand what it is like to take an oath to sacrifice their minds and bodies to protect a population that won\u2019t even take the time to look at a map to know where their\u00a0friends went to die.<\/p>\n

With the greatest generation slipping closer and closer to becoming a memory, and with only 1 percent of the current U.S. population ever having served, I am concerned about the mental and moral fortitude of the future leaders of this country…<\/strong>“<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As all of us should<\/em><\/span> be. \u00a0In<\/strong>\u00a0other words…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"square-large-bloom\"<\/p>\n

And a hopelessly naive Liberal peacenik by any other name…or era…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1730264373_58954e0022_o\"<\/a>\"Cindy1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…smells just as bad.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, here’s The Gouge!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leading off the first edition of September ’14, in response to the latest revelations about the actual existence of Lois Lerner’s “deleted” emails, if not her “scrubbed” cell phones, Commentary Magazine<\/em>‘s Seth Mandel wonders…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Will IRS\u2019s Strategy of Destroying Evidence Pay Off?<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hen-House-IRS-DOJ-Scandal-Corruption\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“…So the IRS attempted to destroy evidence of the emails after the investigation began, and those emails might still exist somewhere beyond the reach of the government officials in charge of destroying the evidence. Again, this is a direct challenge to the media: the IRS is expecting either a pass or scandal fatigue to play to their advantage. That is, they are hoping to set a precedent that the government can get away with heavy-handed abuse of its power so long as it destroys enough of the evidence once an investigation commences.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It is especially a challenge to the press if it\u2019s true that the emails still exist but the government doesn\u2019t want to go through the hassle of finding them. It\u2019s actually more brazen, in some ways, than even trying to destroy them.<\/span> It\u2019s the sign of a government with nothing but pure<\/em><\/span> contempt<\/em>…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"056687408_obama_flipping_the_bird_xlarge\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…<\/strong>for the people<\/em><\/span>…<\/strong><\/span>“<\/p>\n

Since we’re on the subject of a government with nothing but pure contempt for the people, we’re hoping…and praying…the Washington Examiner<\/em>‘s Brian Hughes is one prodigiously perfect prognosticator:<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘No strategy’ a gift-wrapped gaffe that could haunt Obama<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"81_15297520140830043759\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are gaffes \u2014 and then there are\u00a0gaffes<\/em>. President Obama’s\u00a0admission in a press conference Thursday that \u201cwe don\u2019t have a strategy yet\u201d for a broader confrontation with the\u00a0Islamic State of Iraq and Syria\u00a0is a real problem for the\u00a0White House.<\/p>\n

Rather than the average inartful comment that disappears after a few news cycles, the no-strategy line could help cement charges that Obama lacks the competency to handle multiple crises at once.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A central component of the\u00a0GOP’s strategy for the\u00a0midterms\u00a0is to paint Obama as either overwhelmed by the challenges of his office or simply too detached to care \u2014 and makeDemocrats\u00a0defend an unpopular second-term president. \u201cIt doesn’t get any better than that,\u201d a senior House GOP leadership aide said gleefully of Obama’s mistake. \u201cHe basically just articulated the very thing we’ve been saying for a long time now.<\/span> Thank you, Mr. President.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Conservatives nationwide, there are political parties – and then there’s The Gang Who Still Can’t Shoot Straight. \u00a0You know: the fools who hired a variety of Hard Left “journalists” to sabotage…er, “moderate”…their own presidential primary debates.<\/b><\/p>\n

We’d LOVE to think even the GOP couldn’t clang this breakaway layup off the glass; but if history’s any guide at all…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"ToddAkin\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…we won’t be counting a single chicken until it’s hatched.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next up, the great Thomas Sowell differentiates betwixt…<\/b><\/p>\n

Facts vs. Visions<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"2014-08-24T084141Z_1_LYNXMPEA7N02O_RTROPTP_3_USA-MISSOURI-SHOOTING\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“…this is the golden age of talking points, as distinguished from serious thinking about serious issues.<\/p>\n

These talking points are often based on a prevailing social vision, rather than on hard facts. According to the prevailing vision, ghetto riots are due to racial injustices — and the way to deal with them is to make concessions in words and deeds, while severely restricting the use of force by the police.\u00a0Factual evidence cannot make a dent in that vision<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

But, for those who are still so old-fashioned as to rely on facts, here are a few: Back in the 1960s when ghetto riots broke out in cities across the country, the region with the fewest riots was the South, where racial discrimination was greatest and police forces least likely to show restraint. In Detroit, with a liberal mayor in the city and a liberal governor in the state, where the police were warned against shooting during the 1967 riots, there was the largest death toll of any city during any riot during that whole decade — 43 people dead, 33 of them black.<\/p>\n

Both the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0expressed astonishment that such a riot could occur in a city with such liberal policies. But neither of them changed its vision in response to facts which contradicted that vision<\/em><\/span>…<\/span><\/strong>“<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In a related item, <\/strong>writing at\u00a0LawOfficer.com<\/em>,\u00a0Chief Ed Delmore\u00a0<\/strong>details the delta between willful ignorance and blind ambition:<\/strong><\/p>\n

An Open Letter to Captain Ronald S. Johnson<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

From a former St. Louis Metro Area police chief<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"captain-ron-johnson-tweet\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“I have to call you out. I don\u2019t care what the media says. I expect<\/em><\/span> them to get it wrong and they often do<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> But I expect you<\/span> as a veteran law enforcement commander\u2014talking about law enforcement\u2014to get it right<\/span><\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, you blew it.<\/strong><\/span> After days of rioting and looting, last Thursday you were given command of all law enforcement operations in Ferguson by Governor Jay Nixon. St. Louis County PD was out, you were in. You played to the cameras, walked with the protestors and promised a kinder, gentler response. You were a media darling. And Thursday night things were better, much better.<\/p>\n

…Well Captain, this veteran police officer feels the need to respond. What you said is, in common police vernacular\u2014bullshit<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong> The fact that Brown<\/em><\/span> knew he had just committed a robbery before he was stopped by Officer Wilson speaks to Brown\u2019s mindset<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> And Captain, the mindset of a person being stopped by a police officer means everything<\/span>, and you know it<\/span><\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider a few examples…”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, an Administration whose purposeful pandering in its pursuit of votes via racial division we once thought couldn’t go<\/em><\/span> any lower has proven us once again wrong, as…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Justice Dept. Opens New Asylum Gate For Guatemalans<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"texas-border-crisis-immigration-cis-e1405436135964\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Department of Justice\u2019s board of immigration appeals has decided to let Guatemalan women win asylum in the United States if they claim to be victims of domestic violence<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The decision creates a huge new incentive for Guatemalan women to cross the U.S. border, because if their asylum claim is accepted, their children get U.S. citizenship, plus the use of federal health, education and retirement programs, regardless of their initial education and work skills.<\/p>\n

The new decision also means that many of the Guatemalan women who have already crossed the border this year have a new claim for asylum.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Is it any wonder a recent Pew Research poll shows…<\/strong><\/p>\n

1\/3 of Mexicans Want to Move to America<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"USA-MAYDAY\/PROTESTS\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of unsurprising results from Pew Research polls, here’s one, courtesy of Jeff Foutch, which should leave anyone with a lick of common sense nonplussed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Democrats More Afraid of Global Warming Than ISIS<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"isis-iraq-killing-civilians\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yeah…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stunning satellite images show summer ice cap is thicker and covers 1.7million square kilometres MORE than 2 years ago…despite Al Gore’s prediction it would be ICE-FREE by now<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"polarbearschilling\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…right<\/em><\/span>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a related item detailing Liberal lunacy, the WSJ describes…<\/strong><\/p>\n

What Happens to Palestinian Moderates<\/span><\/h1>\n

Shot in the streets with a pistol to the head after midday prayers.<\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"BN-EF952_edp082_G_20140824170117\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the myths about the Middle East is that there would be peace if only Israel courted Palestinian moderates. <\/span>This might be possible if any Palestinian who harbored such a thought wasn’t summarily executed<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong> On Friday Hamas shot 18 fellow Palestinians on suspicion that they had collaborated with Israel. Here’s how a Journal dispatch put it:<\/p>\n

“In one instance, about 20 militants dressed in black and with their faces covered brought six of the condemned men, their heads covered with cloth bags, to an alley near the Great Omari Mosque in Gaza City after midday prayers, witnesses said. A militant shot the men in the head one at a time with a pistol, after which he sprayed them with automatic rifle fire, the witnesses said. The bodies were loaded into government ambulances and taken away.<\/em>“<\/p>\n

That followed three previous executions carried out a day earlier. The killings followed Israel’s attack that killed three senior commanders of Hamas’s military wing after Hamas broke another ceasefire by shooting more rockets into Israel. It’s possible that one or more of those executed did provide information to Israel, but you can be sure that none of them received anything more than a summary trial after a brutal interrogation that would have made any man confess to something.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In any case Hamas considers the public demonstration to be more important than guilt or innocence. The public killings are intended to show anyone who dissents that they will suffer the same fate.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The practice goes back to the days of the British mandate when the mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini killed Palestinians open to a Jewish presence<\/span><\/em>.<\/strong><\/span> During the anti-Israel uprisings in the 1980s, Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction that still rules the West Bank murdered some 800 Palestinians for alleged collaboration.<\/strong><\/span> The Palestinians will never have peace as long as they keep murdering anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0NOT<\/em><\/span> without the indispensable assistance of their sympathizers in the Fourth Estate:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bias, Blood Libels, and the Media\u2019s Race to the Bottom<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"blood-libel-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“If you are looking for a single headline that best sums up the state of American reporting on Israel, the Algemeiner has\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span>provided<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0a good candidate: \u201cTIME Magazine Retracts\u00a0IDF\u00a0Organ\u00a0Theft Claim\u00a0Following\u00a0Criticism.\u201d Do Jews kill gentile children to harvest their organs?<\/strong><\/span> It\u2019s a question that has echoed throughout the ages, and was asked\u2013and initially answered in the affirmative\u2013by a major institution of American journalism in 2014. That question raises another one: Have the editors at\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span>Time<\/em>\u00a0magazine completely lost their minds?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

…It may not seem earth shattering, especially because it is unlikely to change many minds; the critics of Israel\u2019s right to self-defense have never been particularly susceptible to facts.<\/strong><\/span> But it\u2019s a glaring example of what the \u201cofficial\u201d media, the mainstream press, isn\u2019t doing much of…”<\/span><\/p>\n

And in the Environmental Moment, courtesy today of Jeff Foutch, while The Dear Misleader continues his pursuit of a UN “climate accord” in direct violation of his own Senate’s constitutionally-delineated power over treaty ratification, Jon Entine details why natural gas, once touted even by the Environazis as the bridge between fossil fuels and the magical world of affordable renewable energy, is now persona non grata in green circles:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fracking The Anti-Fracking Movement, Part I: The Inside Story Of The Foundation Behind The Campaign To Discredit Natural\u00a0Gas<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"gasland-poster\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“…Natural gas used to be seen as a marriage of enlightened capitalism and pragmatic progressivism. It was welcomed as a relatively low-impact fossil fuel, much superior to America\u2019s previous industrial and power-generating workhorse, coal.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Unconventional natural gas] is unstoppable,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Jesse Ausubel, an academic ecologist at Rockefeller University in New York not noted for his hyperbole.\u00a0Gas, he said, will be the world\u2019s dominant fuel for years as coal gave way to economic and environmental realities. It was believed there were sizable but limited reserves, enough to carry over the US until the price of alternative energies became competitive.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

But that brief period of moderation, which lasted until the late 2000s, has since given way to vitriol, as many advocacy environmentalists have done a 180 on natural gas. Rapid advances in extraction technology\u2014hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking\u2014made gas an increasingly inexpensive fuel. New reserves began popping up everywhere, ensuring a supply that could last well into the next century and beyond<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"AE2611\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While we are awash in inexpensive natural gas, many loudly trumpeted \u201cenergy alternatives\u201d have disappointed proponents and taxpayers amidst aggressive recent efforts to take them to mass scale.<\/strong><\/span> Vast research, production and operational subsidies for ethanol, solar panels, windmills and other fuel sources have often backfired in white elephants or scandal. Ethanol squanders energy and farmland, solar generation fields create eyesores, windmills are hard on wildlife.\u00a0There are still no practical means on the horizon to make these hoped-for solutions efficient, cost-competitive or environmentally friendly on a mass-scale basis<\/em><\/span>. Big Green\u2019s argument in support of massive subsidies for alternatives was dissolving.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As gas prices plummeted and reserves exploded, the cold reality settled in on activists: alternative fuels might never compete economically with natural gas from shale (setting aside the complicated and contested debate over \u2018externalities\u2019). An almost endless supply of inexpensive natural gas meant that gas from shale might not be a bridge to the energy future; it might\u00a0be<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the future.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Environmentalists, who until then had embraced natural gas, soon began seeing it as a Trojan Horse of their own creation. Their rhetoric shifted, dramatically…”<\/p>\n

Not if these<\/em><\/span>…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1013667_10151627948860914_1467283859_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…hyperbolizing hypocrites have anything to say about it!<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the Lighter Side…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"cb083014dAPC20140829044623\"<\/a>\"sk082914dAPC20140829084513\"<\/a>\"12_15278820140826115635\"<\/a>\"12_15298420140830040505\"<\/a>\"lb0826cd20140825103406\"<\/a>\"mrz082714dAPC20140827024534\"<\/a>\"4_15284520140827083556\"<\/a>\"RAMclr-082814-isis-IBD-COLOR-FINAL\"<\/a>\"Mail<\/a>\"download<\/a> \"download\"<\/a>\"download<\/a>\"download\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, in the Sports Section, CBS<\/em>‘ Pete Prisco reveals the…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tape shows Michael Sam wasn’t good enough<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"USP<\/a><\/p>\n

“Did rookie defensive end\u00a0Michael Sam\u00a0deserve to make the\u00a0St. Louis Rams’ 53-man roster? The answer is no<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s put aside the social issue of him being the first openly gay player in the NFL and just focus on the football. Sam did some good things in the preseason, but he did it against backup tackles, some of the already-cut variety.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I went back and studied Sam’s preseason games and came away with this conclusion: He plays hard and has some pass-rush ability, but he needs a ton of seasoning. One more thing: Undrafted rookie\u00a0Ethan Westbrooks, who made the team, outplayed him…<\/strong>“<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To borrow a phrase from the immortal Clay Davis, it appears by all accounts Michael Sam isn’t Jack…<\/strong><\/p>\n