The Republican Party is crumbling before our very eyes.

LIMBAUGH: In these 21 hours, even the hours leading up to it, the criticisms of Ted Cruz from his own party. The attempt to ruin him and mock him in his own party and from the so-called conservative media. And then of all places Fox News trashing all over this, and Fox News essentially blaming me and other conservative media for making Ted Cruz what he is.
Brit Hume, of all people, essentially said that Ted Cruz is who he is because he’s being pressured by people like me. And left to his own devices, Cruz might not be doing this, is the implication. He didn’t actually say that. I was literally stunned watching this. The fact that even after 21 hours, even at the beginning of it, they cannot at least admit that this is who the man is. He doesn’t need any advisers here. He doesn’t need any pressure. The man is not a coward. Ted Cruz isn’t afraid of anybody. The real question is, what is the Republican establishment afraid of? What are some of these conservative media types at Fox News afraid of? What is the Washington establishment on the Republican side afraid of? Government shutdown, losing elections, what do you guys think you’ve been doing?
Did you look at how many Republicans didn’t show up to vote for Mitt Romney in 2008? Do you realize that if the Republican Party base had turned out, Obama would have been defeated? Why didn’t it happen?

First off, Limbaugh is wrong. By total number of votes, Republican turnout was virtually the same in 2012 as it was in 2008. The problem for Republicans is that the same narrow of white men keeps turning out, while Democrats are adding women, Hispanic, and African American voters.
Sen. Ted Cruz has restarted the full blown civil war in both the Republican Party, and right wing media. Fox News and Limbaugh are two of the three biggest players in conservative media. (The Drudge Report completes the un-holy trinity of right wing propaganda.). When they start going after each other, the foundation of the Republican propaganda machine is cracking.
What is happening here is that the Republican Party is literally tearing itself apart from top to bottom. House Republicans are fighting with each other. Senate Republicans are split in two. The party leadership is trying to stop a far right rebellion that will destroy the economy, and party’s top two propagandists are now at each other’s throats.
The Republican Party is crumbling before our very eyes.
The intra-party warfare isn’t really about Obamacare and funding the government. This is the same power struggle that has been going on for nearly six years. Republicans aren’t unified at all, and even their ability to dominate the media with a unified message is on the verge of complete collapse. Right wing media has been driving the Republican Party for years. If they can no longer agree on a message and direction, it’s pretty much over for the Republicans.

I think Ive heard this before "You'll fail without me"

Regime Falls Only With ‘Battles and Bloodshed,’ Says Mouthpiece

By Shannon Liao, Epoch Times | August 6, 2013

Last Updated: August 6, 2013 7:36 pm

 

 

   

A Chinese paramilitary policeman guards at Tiananmen Square under crimson clouds at sunset after several days of heavy air pollution on July 4, 2013 in Beijing, China. An August 5, 2013 editorial from the Global Times, a state-run news agency, says that the Chinese Communist Party's collapse will only bring "battles and bloodshed," a claim highly disputed by Chinese netizens. (Feng Li/Getty Images)

A regime mouthpiece commentary said on Monday that the Chinese Communist Party’s collapse will only bring “battles and bloodshed,” a sentiment immediately rebutted by Chinese netizens who grew angry over the report.
The editorial from the Global Times, a state-run news agency that plays to nationalist sentiments, cites Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 as an indicator of what could happen to China, saying that bordering nations saw “immense suffering at the beginning of the Soviet collapse.” It went on to state that a “couple of years’ chaos” would be an unfair price to pay for national prosperity, while dismissing the value of democratization.
Netizens on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, expressed their disapproval of the Global Times’ views, with many writing lengthy responses.
A Beijing netizen compared the trials China may face to the labor pains of a mother giving birth, saying, “Suffering is the price for transitioning. The longer you delay change, the more suffering and unrest there will be. The Global Times described this as a collapse filled with blood and war—but that’s either slander or a threat they’re making.”
“Let’s cast aside the Soviet Union’s misery and focus on the sources of unrest in China,” said well-known Chinese scholar and lawyer Yu Jiangrong. “Isn’t unrest caused by selfish members of the upper class who rob people and widen the wealth gap? And aren’t corrupt officials living large, causing morality to crumble?”
A netizen from Guangdong Province said, “If Russian instability cost ten years of life, how much does maintaining China’s stability cost?”
“Don’t try to intimidate us with the threat of wasting ten more years. Weren’t the lives of those born in the 1980s to 1990s wasted by you? These days, a person can barely even afford an apartment.” commented a Taiwan netizen.
A Shangdong netizen wrote, “People are becoming more and more aware of human rights. There’ll be a revolution someday if you don’t change now. Who’s really jeopardizing China’s well-being?”
Translation by Amy Lien and Rebecca Chen. Research contributed by Ariel Tian.

Former Red Guard Regrets Tip-Off That Led to Mother’s Execution

He fights to make his mother’s grave a Cultural Revolution landmark

By Wu Kailin, Epoch Times | August 15, 2013

Last Updated: August 15, 2013 9:49 am

 

 

   

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Let people scorn me and condemn me. I want to serve as a negative example that they can all learn from.
Zhang Hongbing

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Regime Falls Only With 'Battles and Bloodshed,' Says Mouthpiece
China and Party Will Collapse by 2016, Says Hong Kong Media

Radicalized by the Cultural Revolution, Zhang Hongbing was just 16 when he denounced his own mother as a “counterrevolutionary” to the authorities, which led to her death before a firing squad, according to the Beijing News. Now 59 years old, Zhang, whose given name literally means “red guard,” is fighting for his mother’s grave to be officially recognized as a historical landmark, representing the cruelty of the Cultural Revolution.
Born in Wuhe County, Bangbu City, Anhui Province, Zhang was a Red Guard at the time of the Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards were a paramilitary movement of youth who would frequently beat up anybody they considered to be “counterrevolutionaries,” including intellectuals, former land owners, and old people. According to Zhang, the Cultural Revolution was an era when it was not uncommon for people to abandon their family ties and report their own family members to the authorities.
Zhang told Beijing News that on the evening of Feb. 13, 1970, his family had an argument over the Cultural Revolution, which culminated with his mother criticizing the political leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for promoting idol-worshipping.
She then suggested that “we should redress Liu Shaoqi.” Liu was a prominent political figure who had been branded a traitor and died in custody the year before. The Cultural Revolution was essentially a political struggle instigated by Mao Zedong to eradicate Liu’s influence in the CCP.
Fang’s words shocked Zhang. At that moment, in his eyes she was no longer his mother, but a class enemy.

Reporting His Mother

Worried that his father might choose to remain silent on the matter, Zhang secretly wrote a letter and slipped it along with his Red Guard badge under the door of a local army officer’s house, knowing that it could lead to his mother’s arrest and execution.
Zhang told the Beijing News the officer later arrived at their home with a subordinate. They then proceeded to kick Fang, who collapsed to her knees, and tied her up. Forty-three years later, Zhang says that he can still remember the cracking sounds that his mother’s shoulder joints made as they bound her arms tightly with rope.
Zhang’s father had reported Fang to the authorities himself as well, and he said to her, “You’re going to be buried in Guzhen County. I’ve reported you, and I wrote in the report, ‘Crush Fang Zhongmou, a counterrevolutionary who was caught red-handed! Execute Fang Zhongmou!’” Fang was executed two months later by firing squad.
Zhang’s 66-year-old uncle, Fang Meikai, recalled being present throughout the events of that evening. He said that at that time, he had believed that his sister would only end up being sent to prison.
Despite the heavy toll Zhang’s family paid, Zhang and his younger brother were still eventually barred from enrolling in senior high school, joining the army, or working in the factories, as punishment for their mother’s deviation. They were later both expelled to countryside.
It was another ten years before a provincial-level court overturned the original verdict after re-examining the case, and declared the case to have been misjudged.

An Example For All

Zhang has deeply regretted his actions ever since then, and has appealed to the local authorities of Guzhen County since September 2011 to have his mother’s grave marked and preserved as a historical landmark, according to the Beijing News. None of his appeals have been successful so far. Zhang hopes that through his efforts, he can encourage people to discuss, criticize and remember the brutality of that historic era.
Zhang hopes that a museum commemorating the Cultural Revolution can be built someday in the future, and that his tragic story can be documented and displayed there. “Let people scorn me and condemn me. I want to serve as a negative example that they can all learn from,” said Zhang.
Translated by Leo Chen. Written in English by Tan Shu Yan.

what FOX does

I get that Fox opposes the Syria peace plan because its modus operandi is to foment dissent in the form of a relentless, irrational contrarianism to Barack Obama and all things Democratic to advance its ultimate objective of creating a deliberately misinformed body politic whose fear, anger, mistrust and discontent is the manna upon which it sustains its parasitic, succubus like existence, BUT... sorry, I blacked out for a second I was saying something?

Syria is bad but WE Allow Business with China

A Poet’s Perspective on Bombing Syria

By Evan Mantyk | September 9, 2013

Last Updated: September 9, 2013 9:43 am

An engraving showing the child Astyanax thrown from the walls of Troy as his mother Andromache looks on. (public domain image/Wikimedia Commons)

The urge for civility in war is noble and worthy. In an epic poem written over 2,500 years ago, even Homer recounts a Trojan War where the two warring armies stop to allow each other to claim their dead. Leaving them out in the open would be a moral travesty.

That said, once the Greeks conquer Troy, dropping Trojan babies from the high walls becomes a common practice. We are left to suppose that moral warfare is a matter of perspective.

So too is President Obama’s appeal to bomb Syria for its use of chemical warfare both noble and a matter of perspective.

I am a traditionalist. So, if our leader gives the order to bomb or go to war, then I don’t see much point in doing anything else or griping. But the president has waded into the sticky and fickle territory of public opinion, perhaps because he owes so much to it. Thus, we are left with a matter of perspective: Why doesn’t the public feel the urgency and nobility in bombing some country out there called Syria that did bad things with bad weapons?

To that, I offer a narrative: Imagine that Syria had a neighbor. Let’s call it Tyria. Tyria has a really good relationship with the United States. There is free trade with few restrictions. We buy their stuff; they buy our stuff. It’s great.

But Tyria, it turns out, is a lot like its neighbor Syria. It’s not really democratic and squashes any serious democracy advocates. Tyria doesn’t use chemical weapons, usually just harassment, torture, or old fashioned murder. Also, unlike Syria, Tyria tortures and kills people frequently for their religious beliefs. Tyria has also admitted that it takes people against their will, steals their organs, and sells them for top dollar on the international market.

Now, if President Obama looks Joe American in the eye and says bombing Syria is the right thing to do, Joe may be somewhat puzzled. “Did I miss something or is this guy looking at me a shyster?” he might ask himself. “Can’t we just get along with Syria like we do with Tyria?”

As you may have guessed, Tyria is an allegory for China and the tyrannical bloodstained Communist Party that’s hijacked China since 1949. Our close economic relationship with China undermines the U.S. government’s moral high ground and eats away at the integrity of our founding principles.

This tyranny is much closer to home than Syria—just look at your “Made in China” toys, shirt, and computer. My advice to President Obama: As the leader of the free world, do whatever you must with Syria. But, remember the responsibilities, however inconvenient, that the title entails. If Joe American cries foul and says, “Hey you think I’m a schmuck?” then it’s probably because your iPod and his iPod are made in a far more tyrannical state.

Evan Mantyk is an English teacher in New York and president of the Society of Classical Poets.

Birth rate for teenagers reaches new low in U.S.

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Birth rates for teenage mothers hit another historic low last year in the United States, government researchers announced on Friday.

The number of babies born to teenagers was about 305,000, less than half the peak of nearly 645,000 in 1970, according to the new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The teen birth rate has been falling since 1991, and has been cut in half since then.

Bill Albert of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancycalled the drop a "stunning turnaround."

Experts attribute the decline to a range of factors, including less sex and more use of contraception.

Overall, the U.S. birth rate might finally be leveling off after falling four years in a row, according to the report from the centers' National Center for Health Statistics.

The number of babies born last year, a little shy of 4 million, is only a few hundred less than the number in 2011.

That suggests that lately, fewer couples have been scared away from having children because of the economy or other factors, some experts say. Among the signs of a possible turning point: The birth rate for women in their early 30s inched up for the first time since 2007.

"We may be on level course or potentially even see a rise" in birth trends in the near future, said Brady Hamilton, a statistician with the CDC.

Some are a bit more pessimistic.

"The decline has slowed down, but it's still a decline," said Carol Hogue, an expert on birth trends at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

Falling births is a relatively new phenomenon in this country. Births had been on the rise since the late 1990s and hit an all-time high of more than 4.3 million in 2007. The drop that followed was widely attributed to the nation's flagging economy. Experts believed that many women or couples who were out of work or had other money problems felt they could not afford to start or add to their family.

The economy officially was in a recession from December 2007 until June 2009. But well into 2011, polls showed most Americans remained gloomy, citing anemic hiring, a depressed housing market and other factors.

The new report is a first glimpse at 2012 birth certificate data from state health departments, but the numbers aren't expected to change much.

Highlights of the report include:

- The birth rate for all women of childbearing age, 63 births per 1,000 women, was essentially flat from the year before.

- Rates dropped for Hispanic women, 2 percent, and black women, 1 percent, but less than the previous year. The rate continued to stay the same for white women, rose 4 percent for Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, and fell slightly for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

- Rates fell again for women in their early 20s, down 3 percent from 2011. That is the lowest mark for women in that age group since 1940, when comprehensive national birth records were first compiled.

- For women in their late 20s, birth rates fell 1 percent. That age group accounts for more than a quarter of all of the nation's births. The rate rose a slight 1 percent for women in their early 30s, who have nearly as many babies as women in their late 20s.

- Rates also rose 2 percent for mothers ages 35 and older, and 1 percent for women in their early 40s. Rates in older mothers have been rising slightly in recent years, despite the overall downward trend. Experts say that is because older women generally have better jobs or financial security, and are more sensitive to the ticking away of their biological clocks.

Another report highlight: About 33 percent of births last year were delivered through Cesarean section, a rate unchanged from the previous two years.

C-sections are sometimes medically necessary. But health officials believe many are done out of convenience or unwarranted caution, and in the 1980s set a goal of keeping the national rate at 15 percent.

The C-section rate had been rising steadily since 1996, until it dropped slightly in 2010.