Monday, July 2, 2012

Political Digest for July 2, 2012


The Old Jarhead Blog: Bringing you news and information the MSM is too busy covering American Idol, celebrity affairs and sensational missing person cases to cover. Please forward to friends who need to be informed.

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Conservatives’ consolation prize. By George Will
Excerpt: Conservatives won a substantial victory Thursday. The physics of American politics — actions provoking reactions — continues to move the crucial debate, about the nature of the American regime, toward conservatism. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has served this cause.

Worth Reading: The Healthcare Myths We Must Confront. By Cliff Asness
Excerpt: The Court found a convoluted way to uphold the law. That’s done, but the debate on whether ObamaCare’s provisions are good ideas will continue. To date, this debate has been unable to shake off a lot of mythology—things believed about healthcare and our healthcare system in general, or ObamaCare specifically—that simply are not so.

Why John Roberts is Mitt Romney's Secret Weapon. By John McCullough
Excerpt: I would caution my fellow conservatives on the frustration they may be enticed to express at Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. It is unwarranted, and it is unwise. The reason I state such is that it is my firm belief that the Roberts' decision on the Obamacare mandate will without question bring about ultimate doom to the government control of healthcare, and through the best means possible--not judicial activism--but through the democratic process. (I love this and only pray it's actually right on the money. --Del)

Conservative anger growing over Obamacare decision. By Byron York
Excerpt: I ran into a prominent conservative member of Congress Friday night just before the huge storms moved through Washington. He was, he said, far angrier on the day after the Supreme Court Obamacare decision than he had been the moment he learned Chief Justice John Roberts had joined the Court’s liberal bloc to uphold the individual mandate at the heart of Obamacare. He didn’t resort to histrionics or profanity, but he was spitting mad — and his anger was growing, not diminishing.

Chief Justice Roberts and His Apologists. Some conservatives see a silver lining in the ObamaCare ruling. But it's exactly the big-government disaster it appears to be. By John Yoo.
Excerpt: Since his appointment to the high court in 2005, the most popular answer was Chief Justice John Roberts. But that won't remain true after his ruling on Thursday in NFIB v. Sebelius, which upheld President Barack Obama's signature health-care law. (I'm hoping that those who see the Court decision as a good one for the long term are correct. But there's always a second opinion, and here it is. I really hope Yoo is wrong, because if he's right, we're in worse trouble than ever. --Del)

Obamacare and New Taxes: Destroying Jobs and the Economy
Excerpt: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)[1] imposes numerous tax hikes that transfer more than $500 billion over 10 years—and more in the future—from hardworking American families and businesses to Congress for spending on new entitlements and subsidies. In addition, higher tax rates on working and investing will discourage economic growth both now and in the future, further lowering the standard of living. (OK, here's a summary of what's really coming after us if ObamaCare isn't stopped. "No new taxes".... sure. Telling the truth must make some people violently ill, so they happily avoid it all the time. --Del)

Roberts did not change. By Michael J. Fahy
Excerpt: Contrary to most that has been written since Thursday's enactment of RobertsCare, Chief Justice John Roberts did not change. He has always been that way. Eight years ago, when John Roberts was nominated, we were warned that he was a liberal jurist appointed by a RINO president, just as liberal David Souter was appointed by the previous RINO president.

Repeal and Replace. By John C. Goodman
Excerpt: When Barack Obama was a candidate for president, he endorsed universal health insurance, but opposed forcing individuals to buy their own insurance.
As president, he signed into law a bill that violates both of these promises.

A Surgeon Cuts to the Heart of the ObamaCare Nightmare. By Stella Paul
Excerpt: The day the Supreme Court ruled in favor of ObamaCare, a friend called me. He's an extremely dedicated, much-loved surgeon, and he was frustrated and livid in equal measure. "I've actually had a lot of experience working in all different types of environments," he began. "I've worked in a government-run socialized medical care system, and I saw the waste and inefficiency.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal refuses to implement Obamacare despite Supreme Court ruling
Excerpt: The Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's health care law on Thursday, but Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a possible Republican vice presidential contender who has refused to establish a federally mandated health care exchange in his state, said Friday that he will continue to ignore it.

Black Mobs Now Beating Jews In New York. By Colin Flaherty
Excerpt: “Anti-Jewish crime wave,” read the June headline about a series of recent anti-Semitic attacks. “In the most disturbing incident, a mob of six black teenagers shouting, ‘Dirty Jew!’ and ‘Dirty kike!’ repeatedly bashed Marc Heinberg, 61, as he walked home from temple in Sheepshead Bay (in June.)”

15 Christians killed in attacks on churches in northern Kenya
Excerpt: Shabaab and its affiliate in Kenya, the Muslim Youth Center, appear to have taken a page out of Boko Haram's book and launched coordinated attacks on churches in northern Kenya. "Gunmen" killed 15 people and wounded more than 40 in separate attacks on two churches in the town of Garissa, which is near the border with Somalia.

Supreme Court's health care ruling imperial Clean Air Act
Excerpt: Within hours of yesterday's monumental Supreme Court ruling upholding the 2010 health care reform law, environmental law scholars were already pondering whether it could have an impact on the Clean Air Act. Their answer? A qualified "yes." (Just like Americans didn't see the massive tax program coming (AKA Obamacare). The lefties didn't see that coming. --Chris)

Google Censors All Gun, Ammo & Accessories Results
Excerpt: With Google being the major presence on the internet and now seemingly having ties to the government and doing their bidding in providing information and even censoring web sites, it should come as no surprise that Google is now in the business of gun control. That’s right, Google Shopping is now controlling guns, ammunition and gun accessories from showing up in their search. They are censoring perfectly legal products.

New standards highlight massive government retirement shortfalls
Excerpt: As if the housing market collapse and European debt crisis weren’t bad enough, another fiscal disaster looms on the horizon. New rules adopted last week by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) clarify the depth of mismanagement of state and local government pension programs. When the bills come due, it’s going to be very, very expensive. (Yes. One of the factors I talk about in Collapse. ~Bob.)

Darrell Issa Puts Details of Secret Wiretap Applications in Congressional Record
Excerpt: In the midst of a fiery floor debate over contempt proceedings for Attorney General Eric Holder, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) quietly dropped a bombshell letter into the Congressional Record. The May 24 letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member on the panel, quotes from and describes in detail a secret wiretap application that has become a point of debate in the GOP’s “Fast and Furious” gun-walking probe.

White House Salaries Jump. By Wynton Hall
Excerpt: White House salaries and hiring increased in 2012,according to an annual report released Friday by the White House. The "Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff" reveals that White House staff salaries jumped from $37.1 million in 2011 to $37.8 million in 2012, with the total number of White House workers increasing from 454 in 2011 to 468 in 2012. (Memo to Obama. its not the "private Sector" that's doing "fine." ~Bob.)

False arrest: Supreme Court upholds the right for us to lie. By Noah Feldman
Excerpt: Three justices — Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas — said the answer was, “none.” There was no reason, they said, to stop Congress from criminalizing lies about military service. ... We don’t need to tolerate the liar. In a free society, however, maybe we have to shoulder the burden of condemning him ourselves — instead of lazily trusting the government to do something about it.

South Africa: Zulu leader blasts boycott of Israel, compares it to Nazis
Excerpt: Mangosuthu Buthelezi is right. It is tragic that he is one of the few political leaders anywhere in the world willing to enunciate this truth.

Bangladesh: Madrassa girl punished for acting in play. By Shariar Sharif
Excerpt: Seventeen-year-old Rasheda Begum didn't have the slightest idea that she could be punished for acting in a play that highlighted various social ills that are forbidden in Islam – usury, dowry, gambling, child marriage and corruption. Her participation came at a painful cost, however. The 10th grade madrassa student was caned in front of her classmates and expelled from indulging in "un-Islamic activities" when she returned to her class on June 2nd after the end of summer vacation.

Excerpt: An imam has been killed in a mosque in Russia's southern Dagestan region, police said on Friday. The four masked assailants also killed another man and set the mosque on fire, before fleeing the scene in a stolen car. The imam, Magomedkamil Gamzatov, was well-known for his rejection of "any form of violence and openly condemned the extremist insurgency," the National Anti-Terror Committee said in a statement. (In case you were wondering why more "moderate Muslims" don't speak out against terror and violence. ~Bob.)

Pro-Taliban rapper gets taxpayer subsidies. By Daniel Proussalidis
Excerpt: OTTAWA - A video glorifying Taliban attacks in Afghanistan and the slaughter of Canadian soldiers disappeared from YouTube and other sites Friday, mere hours after QMI Agency began questioning taxpayer subsidies for the francophone rapper who made it. "The enemy approaches," rapper Manu Militari declared in the video. "I recognize Canada's colours."

Obama administration considers turning Taliban detainees over to Afghanistan.
Excerpt: The Obama administration is considering a new gambit to restart peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan that would send several Taliban detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a prison in Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan officials told The Associated Press. (The Audacity of Dope. ~Bob.)

Grassley: Politics in US attorney’s decision not to prosecute Holder? By Matthew Boyle
Excerpt: "The Department has determined that the Attorney General’s response to the subpoena issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform does not constitute a crime, and therefore the Department will not bring the congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General,” Cole wrote. But in a letter to Machen, Grassley wrote Friday that the U.S. attorney doesn’t appear to have personally made the decision not to prosecute. It appears, he wrote, that Holder or some other political figure in the Obama administration made it for him, and that the decision seems to lack even the appearance of “independence.” (Ya think? ~Bob.)

Allen West: Black caucus, liberals judged Holder ‘by color of his skin,’ not ‘content of his character’ By Matthew Boyle
Excerpt: Florida Republican Rep. Allen West said liberal Democrats in Congress — including many members of the Congressional Black Caucus — who walked out on the bipartisan votes to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal and civil contempt of Congress did so because Holder is black. 9ya think? And what kind of Congressman blurts out non-PC truth like this? Geeze. ~Bob.)

Issa, Grassley release details about Fast and Furious whistleblower retaliation, cover-up. By Matthew Boyle
Excerpt: “We just learned that ATF senior management placed two of the main whistleblowers who have testified before Congress about Fast and Furious under the supervision of someone who vowed to retaliate against them,” they wrote before describing how senior political figures have made dangerous threats before. Grassley and Issa said that in early 2011, right around the time Grassley first made public the whistleblowers’ allegations about Fast and Furious, Scot Thomasson– then the chief of the ATF’s Public Affairs Division – said, according to an eyewitness account: “We need to get whatever dirt we canon these guys [the whistleblowers] and take them down.” (It's The Chicago Way." ~Bob.)

Michelle Obama Compares Barack to Biblical Figures
Excerpt: Michelle Obama speaks at AME Church conference in Nashville [And the point is? --Jer]

Obama To Military: Pay Up
Excerpt: On Friday, Barack Obama threatened to veto a defense appropriations bill partly because it did not include higher health care fees for members of the military. That’s right. Obama was out to veto a bill because they didn’t raise fees for health care on military personnel.

City Council Rules: Flags and Decorations Banned From Veterans’ Graves
Excerpt: First, this is another symptom of a disrespect (whether they admit it or not) for the flag, our fallen and living heroes, and patriotism as a whole. The byproduct of this disrespect is basically being unwilling to simply apply a few more resources to make sure that these hallowed places stay looking beautiful in addition to the celebratory decor. The second is that city councils all over the country think that their position to serve the citizenry means that they’ve just been crowned as one of the oligarchs. (A quote attributed to George Washington states that a nation can be judged by how it treats its veterans. I think in this case it also applies to city councils and the people who elect them. MasterGuns)

Knox v. SEIU: A Victory for Worker Freedom
 Excerpt: In the immediate aftermath of its unfortunate Thursday ruling on the constitutionality of the Obama health care law, it’s easy to forget that the Supreme Court gets things right from time to time. A decision one week earlier, on June 21, was such an occasion. And at least part of the nation’s work force is a little freer for it. (In the long run, this ruling may be as important as the Obamacare ruling. Part of the problem we must overcome in our courts is that so many judges, including a majority of the Ninth Circuit, view their job as “doing justice” rather than “doing law.” Both concepts are slippery, but “justice” seems to be more easily manipulated than “law.” Ron P.)

Report: Vietnam tears down new Hmong churches
Excerpt: Vietnamese officials in Muong Cha district, Dien Bien Province, destroyed two new church buildings of ethnic minority Hmong Christians this month and threatened to tear down a third. (And the Hanoi constitution guarantees freedom of worship..... right!!! --Del

For Patriot Dreams. By Nancy Flanagan
On Monday morning, I will join the Northport Community Band in a concert at the Northport, Michigan Village Cemetery. This is my first performance with the NCB, a group that includes a range of musicians from college students home for the summer to three former college band directors. I haven't played on Memorial Day for five years, since I retired--and I've missed it (A nice input from a teacher. To be a loyal American does not mean to believe America is perfect and our society is above all criticism. We need neither the idea that we are perfect, or the idea that we are totally flawed, a forever imperialist, racist, manipulative, despoiler nation, yadda-yadda. There are some who believe and promote the former idea, and some who promote the latter. (see Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright, etc.) My own strong belief is that with all our past sins and present frailties, we are still the best game in town, and a nation worthy of affection and loyalty. And that we are in some ways truly exceptional, and that we need to understand how we are exceptional and how we need to work at ways to continue to repair and improve our systems, for the good of all our citizens, and to some degree, for the good of all in the world. OK, call me an old patriot, I can live with it. --Del)

Former ICE agent gets prison for information leak
Excerpt: A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent from the Nogales office was sentenced Friday to 3years in prison for using her work computer to access classified information without authorization and leaking it to a sister in Mexico who investigators say had ties to violent drug cartels.

What That Second Vote Yesterday Against Holder Means – Take Him To Court
Excerpt: Lost in the initial contempt vote attention yesterday was the vote that quickly followed – a vote that gives the House the authority to take Obama Attorney General Eric Holder AND the Obama administration to court in order to obtain documents tied to the failed and deadly Fast and Furious gunrunning operation that has lead to the deaths of hundreds of people – an operation Barack Obama is now himself actively covering up via his use of Executive Privilege.

Jerry Brown's Budget Holds California Hostage
Excerpt: Jerry Brown gets his budget, and voters get a ransom note — send more money or the schools get it. The public needs to stiffen its spine and say no, for the health of the state. The term "California state budget" has become a byword for gimmickry of all kinds: stealth borrowing, raids on local governments, pie-in-the-sky projections — you name it.

'ISI behind Afghan Taliban attacks on US bases'
Excerpt: Referring to the recent spate of attacks on US military bases in Afghanistan, Western analysts have warned that the attacks serve as growing evidence that Pakistani Intelligence agency (ISI) is stepping up its support of insurgent groups ahead of the scheduled 2014 departure of US combat troops from the country. (The "ally" we send billions of your dollars to. ~Bob.)

Islamic Mediators and Germany's 'Two Legal Systems.' By Joachim Wagner
Excerpt: Demir's typical clients are husbands whose wives have left them and fathers of couples who are having problems. They often complain about their wives and daughters, namely Muslim women who rebel against corporal punishment or want to free themselves from the confines of marriage, even if they have children.

Obama Contributor, Who Helped Enact Assault-Weapons Ban, Ran ‘Fast and Furious
Excerpt: Dennis K. Burke, who as a lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1990s was a key player behind the enactment of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, and who then went on to become Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano’s chief of staff, and a contributor to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential primary campaign, and then a member of Obama's transition team focusing on border-enforcement issues, ended up in the Obama administration as the U.S. attorney in Arizona responsible for overseeing Operation Fast and Furious.

WH Needs Special Prosecutor Now. Alana Goodman
Excerpt: This is even more critical in the wake of the Eric Holder contempt vote, as the same Obama-appointed U.S. attorney is now in charge of dealing with the charges against Holder and the investigation into the intelligence leaks. The most obvious problem is the conflict of interest. It’s doubtful that U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ronald Machen, an Obama appointee, can fairly investigate his own boss (Eric Holder), or his boss’s boss (President Obama) in either the leak cases or the Fast and Furious stonewalling. (Simple, logical, compelling.... so will they do it? --Del. No. ~Bob.)

Health Care, the Euro Crisis, and Entitlement Slavery. By y Ralph Peters
Excerpt: In an age of the globalization of everything from bird flu to bad debts, we still try to compartmentalize, pretending that what happens in Athens, stays in Athens. Thus, too many Americans fail to connect the massive attempt at wealth transfer (and wealth destruction) behind Obamacare to the wild irresponsibility of southern Europe's socialist government models that have led multiple states to practical, if not yet formal, bankruptcy.

While We Were Sleeping. By Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh
Excerpt: While the entire country was riveted to the news that Obamacare—the most expensive and freedom robbing tax bill in U.S. history—was upheld by the Supreme Court, the President was busy driving in the last nail in the coffin of liberty. It is not the first time the media helped in the deception of Americans and in hiding the truth.

 In Palestinian society, it is much more important if one graduates from an Israeli prison than from a university in the U.S. or Europe. Economic prosperity and the peace process with Israel are not going to convince most Palestinians to vote for people like Fayyad or Abbas. The most recent public opinion poll in the Palestinian territories shows that Marwan Barghouti, the dominant Fatah leader who is serving five life terms in Israeli prison for his role in several terror attacks during the second intifada, would win the presidential election. (According to Mr. Jarallah, a Palestinian writer, the most popular candidate for their presidency is Marwan Barghouti, a man who serving 5 life sentences for murder. If Abbas cannot even negotiate because to do so has no legitimacy with either the populace or Fatah or Hamas, is Israel really expected to make an agreement with someone who cannot deliver. Of course what the Palestinians really want is the capitulation of the Jewish state. Cordially, Larry Greenberg)

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