Sunday, December 30, 2012

Old Jarhead’s Political SitRep for December 31, 2012

Old Jarhead’s Political SitRep for December 31, 2012
Robert A. Hall

“…for the old order of things has passed away." I hope 2013 is a good year for you, and a better year for our country than I fear it will be. ~Bob.

The Old Jarhead... Thank you for a wonderful year
Hey, Bob, Just wanted to note that I loved how you snuck in the Gandhi quote. Amazing how liberals have no problem with their propaganda machine (Facebook) taking away their freedom of speech, privacy, rights or skewing election outcomes... I guess that makes it easier for them to embrace when their nation does it. Thank you for keeping up the posts during hard times. It is appreciated. You are appreciated. Take care. –Chris

Excerpt: The reports are absolutely true. Facebook suspended the Natural News account earlier today after we posted an historical quote from Mohandas Gandhi. The quote reads: "Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." - Mohandas Gandhi, an Autobiography, page 446.

Worth Reading: Voting for Liberals. By John C. Goodman 
Excerpt: If you are one of the folks who voted for Barack Obama in the last election, what did you vote for? More generally, if you voted for any liberal politician, what did you vote for? Here are three things for starters: (1) no reform of the public schools, (2) no reform of the welfare system, and (3) no reform of labor market institutions that erect barriers between new entrants and good jobs. (Dr. Goodman is president of the National Center for Policy Analysis. Ncpa.org. His Health Policy Blog and their Daily Policy Digest, both free, are worth following. ~Bob.)

Semper Fi, Unless It's Not Convenient. By Bill O'Reilly 
Excerpt: Jon Hammar saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, but his most brutal foreign experience was in Mexico. Last August, the 27-year-old former Marine corporal was incarcerated by Mexican authorities in Matamoros for trying to register an antique shotgun with customs agents. Foolishly, Cpl. Hammar followed instructions given to him by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas. (Mexico has really tough gun laws. That’s why there’s no violence there, you know. ~Bob.)

The Continuing Exodus of Jobs – and Taxable Income – from California. By Daniel J. Mitchell 
Excerpt: But since I’m a bit of a curmudgeon, I also feel all warm and fuzzy when bad things happen to bad people. That’s why I always smile when I read stories about taxpayers moving across borders, thus preventing greedy tax-hiking politicians from collecting more revenue.

Bush Tax Rates: Democrats were against it before they were for it. By Bob Beauprez 
Excerpt: One of the more hysterical components of the fiscal cliff saga is watching the Democrats falling all over themselves to champion the importance of preserving the existing tax rates – the George W. Bush Tax Rates – for nearly every American taxpayer. … But, it is impossible not see the humor in watching Barack Obama and the Democrats now embracing the very policies they spent the last decade demonizing as the reason for deficits, unemployment, the downturn of the economy, male-pattern baldness, PMS, and the Cubs not winning the World Series. Regardless of the problem, it was always George Bush's fault.

Indian Muslim leader says, "Remove police for 15 minutes, we will finish off one billion Hindus"
Didn’t get the “Islam is a religion of peace” memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: He is boasting that the Muslims could essentially wipe the Hindus from the face of the earth in fifteen minutes, if the police look the other way. This joins the Iranian leadership's many genocidal statements against Israel in being ignored by a world "human rights" community that is consumed with working out a remedy to "Islamophobia."

Jihad-Free Holiday Gifts: Check That List Twice! By David Yeagley
Excerpt: What do Caribou Coffee, Church’s Chicken, J. Jill, and PODS Moving and Storage have in common? They are all owned by Muslim Brotherhood-linked Arcapita Bank (formerly known as First Islamic Investment Bank).

Pakistan: Islamic supremacists, outraged by paintings, threaten violence
Excerpt: If these paintings depicted Catholic priests, the artists would be getting grants and articles praising them in the New York Times, which would suddenly remember that it's against censorship. No Catholics would be threatening any violence. But this story is just more of the same: Muslims outraged by perceived "insults to Islam" reacting with violent threats, and the objects of those threats caving in.

Syrian Jihadist Group Threatens United States
Excerpt: A Syrian opposition group tied to al-Qaida has issued a threatening statement against the United States two weeks after the U.S. Treasury Department designated its leaders as terrorists.

Excerpt: In the report Human Rights Watch places blame squarely on terrorists in Gaza for the boy’s death. “Some rockets launched by Palestinian armed groups fell short and struck inside Gaza. On November 16, a rocket that appears to have been launched from within Gaza hit a crowded street in the Gazan town of Jabalya, killing a man, 23, and a boy, 4, and wounding five people.”

Swedish Officials Order Iranian Christian Deported for Second Time
Excerpt: An Iranian convert to Christianity seeking asylum in Sweden is once again facing deportation to Iran, according to his pastor. If he’s sent back to Iran, the convert, Reza Jebbari, could be imprisoned or even put to death for leaving Islam.

Worth Reading: Dear Mr. President, Zero-Sum Doesn't Add Up: Is life like a pizza, where if some people have too many slices, other people have to eat the pizza box? By P.J. O'Rourke
Excerpt: In this zero-sum universe there is only so much happiness. The idea is that if we wipe the smile off the faces of people with prosperous businesses and successful careers, that will make the rest of us grin.

Spokane Valley Police: Burglar Meets Marine
Excerpt: The homeowner told 911 that her son, an active United States Marine home on leave from Afghanistan, went inside the residence. … Mr. Pohle said Schwanke tried to shut the door, which was not an intelligent choice. Infantryman Pohle pushed the door open, escorted Schwanke to the ground with his father and waited only a minute or two for deputies to arrive.

Kathleen the Terrible: Kathleen Sebelius is the most corrupt and arrogant HHS secretary in history. By David Catron 
Excerpt: Among the gifts Nancy Pelosi brings to the House of Representatives is her ability to draw a hearty guffaw from the most jaded observer of American politics. This talent for comedy was on display last Wednesday when she told a group of toadeaters disguised as journalists that she belongs to the anti-corruption party. (What is really tragic and extremely worrisome to any remotely aware citizen is the rampant corruption we have been witnessing in our government for the last four years. Certainly there was corruption before then, but things have ramped up to new heights (or depths, perhaps) right before our eyes. Here is an article that will take the sunshine out of your day, but it's worthwhile to at least stay informed of what goes on. –Del. Corruption is a part of the human condition, and is found in every party and every political system. No party says they are in favor of corruption, but many individuals, of all political stripes, indulge in it. ~Bob.)

Think you have troubles?
Worth seeing (after the ad.)

Excerpt: The release of evidence in George Zimmerman’s murder trial quickly made a mockery of his second-degree murder charges, and threw a further layer of shame upon media and political opportunists who misrepresented a tragic, but fairly straightforward, case of lethal force employed in self-defense. It is remarkable to take stock of this evidence and realize that it supports every single aspect of Zimmerman’s statement to the police. (Well, it's perking along slowly in the system, but increasing flow of information about the events of that fateful evening is occurring. And the more factual information that we can examine, the more it looks like a sad but simple case of self-defense. It doesn't matter if Zimmerman might have stayed in his car, turned a blind eye, and driven home to dinner. It doesn't matter if Martin found it irritating that someone was watching him. Attacking someone with force and fisticuffs is not permissible, and what the victim does to defend himself is permissible, especially when the attacker is younger, likely stronger, and not holding back in his attack mode. Maybe Zimmerman could have shot to disable, but how much control he had of the gun while being pounded on is an open question. The bottom line is that while the death of the young man is tragic, his aggressiveness is the real root cause of the whole sad mess. And there's no way Zimmerman is guilty of any level of murder. –Del. Still going on? I thought he’d been convicted by the media and sentenced by Judge Obama to punishment by the NBPP, AKA “Holder’s Irregulars. ~Bob.)

UK: A dad was the tenth most wanted Christmas present. This is the real culture war. By Tim Stanley
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100195679/one-in-ten-children-asked-for-a-daddy-for-christmas-this-is-the-real-culture-war/
Excerpt: A truly heartbreaking story broke over Christmas. A British consumer agency released a survey that showed that the tenth most requested gift from Father Christmas was “a dad” (coming in just behind “snow”). The first choice was a baby brother or sister, which is a heartening sign that materialism hasn’t quite claimed our souls yet.

Do Gun Buybacks Really Work?
Excerpt: He raised an issue that just prior to the one gun buyback, there was an increase in home break-ins and gun thefts and that many of those guns were recovered in the buyback program. (But they make liberals feel good, which is the point of all liberal policies. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Anybody who’s thought about it for two seconds knows we don’t have a taxing problem – we have a spending problem. We borrow about 42 cents on every dollar we spend, and under President Obama we’ve been spending more than $1 trillion dollars a year we don’t have.

A Merry Irish Christmas
A little late but very funny! ~Bob

Life on board a British nuclear submarine
Excerpt - They hug cruise missiles in their sleep, don't see women for months and their biggest fear is 'going wibble'. (I can identify with the badger keeper though we had nauga’s, among other things. --Al P.)

The "Fiscal Cliff"
I know a lot of people have been worried about what will happen once Obama throws us off the "Fiscal Cliff". Don't worry! Obama and Congress will be just fine! As a matter of fact, congress is even giving themselves a pay raise! And Obama can go back to Hawaii to finish his all taxpayer expense paid vacation with his family. As for everyone making a million dollars or more, you know, those evil bastards that own the businesses that employ most of you? Obama decided that if he can't raise just their taxes, then by God he will make sure everyone's taxes goes up. Happy New Year! –Larry W.

Daily Times op-ed hits the mark on Pakistani Taliban. By Bill Roggio
Excerpt: However, closer examination of the conditionalities attached by the TTP to any proposed talks indicate that the whole exercise is a non-starter and probably only aimed at exploiting the divisions in the polity and society at large on the approach to be taken to the Taliban menace.

Pakistan militants kill 41 in mass execution, attack on Shi'ites
Guess they didn’t get Obama’s “Islam is a religion of peace” memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Pakistani militants, who have escalated attacks in recent weeks, killed at least 41 people in two separate incidents, officials said on Sunday, challenging assertions that military offensives have broken the back of hardline Islamist groups. … In the attack in the northwest, officials said they had found the bodies of 21 men kidnapped from their checkpoints outside the provincial capital of Peshawar on Thursday. The men were executed one by one.

Elizabeth Warren Makes Year-End Pitch To Help Retire 2012 Campaign Debt
Excerpt: By November 1, 2012, Warren and Brown had spent nearly $68 million in their heated election battle, shattering previous fundraising and spending records in Massachusetts. (...) Warren defeated Republican Sen. Scott Brown last month in what was easily the most expensive campaign in Massachusetts history. Despite raising $42 million, Warren ended the campaign more than $400,000 in the hole. ($42M divided by $68M = 61%. Thus, Warren spent just over $3 for every $2 spent by Brown. Tell me again why the Republicans are regarded as the “rich” party? It’s also worth noting well over half of Warren’s money came from out of state. And, we may STILL get the last laugh on the Democrats. When (not “if”) Viet John Kerry is confirmed as SecState, another special election will be called. Brown will surely run. A bunch of Democrats are making noises about running against him, Ed Markey being the current leader of the pack. None of them are looking forward to the battle with neither Obama nor Patrick on the ballot to help boost turnout. The only problem I see is that the Dems now know how strong we can be, so we won’t be able to sneak in on them again like we did in 2010. This upcoming campaign will be bloody as neither side will hold anything back. Ron P.)

Military supposed to defend First Amendment rights. By Adm. James A. Lyons
Excerpt: A recent Wall Street Journal article described the U.S. Army's final-draft handbook, which indoctrinates our military personnel heading to Afghanistan in how to be sensitive to and accept Muslim and Afghan 7th-century customs and values -- or possibly be killed by our Afghan partners. Unbelievable. This is being done to prevent the so-called "green-on-blue" attacks, which have cost 63 American lives this year. (Yep, it's literally insane, that is, mentally dysfunctional with serious negative consequences, but that's what the brasshats of today are coming out with, as they go through insane contortions to stay in the graces of the Executive Branch. Time to reject it like Sarin gas at a Kindergarten, and move back towards the kind of thought patterns that are meaningful and have positive consequences. --Del)

$1 Trillion Obamacare Tax Hike Hitting on Jan. 1
http://conservativebyte.com/2012/12/1-trillion-obamacare-tax-hike-hitting-on-jan-1/
Excerpt: Obamacare contains twenty new or higher taxes. Five of the taxes hit for the first time on January 1. In total, Americans face a net $1 trillion tax hike for the years 2013-2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Worth Reading: Gun Control Tramples On The Certain Virtues Of A Heavily Armed Citizenry. By Lawrence Hunter
Excerpt: A people cannot simultaneously live free and be bound to any human master or man-made institution, especially to politicians, judges, bureaucrats and faceless government agencies. The Second Amendment along with the other nine amendments of the Bill of Rights was designed to prevent individuals’ enslavement to government, not just to guarantee people the right to hunt squirrels or sport shoot at targets, nor was it included in the Bill of Rights just to guarantee individuals the right to defend themselves against robbers, rapers and lunatics, or to make sure the states could raise a militia quick, on the cheap to defend against a foreign invader or domestic unrest.

Exclusive: How Israel's drones help minimize civilian casualties. By Paul Alster
Excerpt: The numbers speak for themselves, but very little credit has so far been given by foreign governments, NGOs, and the international media for the care taken by the Israeli military to avoid collateral damage during its recent vicious engagement with Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters. "In cases where there are people inside a house or building we never strike the target without prior warning."

Obama Steals Change From Eddie Murphy
Excerpt: In 1992, Eddie Murphy played a con artist turned Congressman, who ran on "Change". "The Distinguished Gentleman" (see Video)

Congressman: Obama ‘Reckless’ To Arm Egypt With F-16 Fighter Jets
Excerpt: On Thursday Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) criticized the Obama administration for sending twenty F-16 fighter jets to the new Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Egyptian government. "It is reckless and unwise for the U.S. to give F-16s to Egypt and its new president/dictator, controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood," Poe explained. "This extremist group is notoriously anti-American and anti-Israel. The United States should not be arming a country ruled by a group that has the destruction of Israel in its charter. (Obama’s “final solution” of the Israeli question—arm the Brotherhood. ~Bob.)

Police: Christmas Eve firefighter shooter used ‘straw purchaser’ to acquire weapons
http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/29/police-christmas-eve-firefighter-shooter-used-straw-purchaser-to-acquire-weapons/#ixzz2GYI72YuY
Excerpt: The 62-year-old convicted felon who gunned down two firefighters and wounded three first responders on Christmas Eve in WebsterNew York used weapons his neighbor illegally purchased for him, according to state and federal authorities. The neighbor, 24-year-old Dawn Nguyen, was arrested on Friday after police traced the serial numbers on two weapons used by William Spengler, the shooter: a Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun, both purchased in 2010. While this so-called “straw purchasing” is illegal, the U.S. Department of Justice sanctioned the practice between 2006 and 2011.

Excerpt: Throughout the presidential campaign, conservatives regularly chided President Obama for ducking media venues where he would likely be asked substantive questions about serious issues. He ignored their criticism and spent his time sharing his iPod playlist with MTV, calling morning zoo deejays on local radio stations, and basking in the fawning adulation of the ladies...

Excerpt: Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief-of-staff for Obama, recently condemned the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre for suggesting that armed guards in schools could be appropriate in some situations. … Yet, a report from Second City Cop, further investigated by Rebel Pundit, reveals that the University of Chicago Lab School, the elite private school where Mayor Emanuel sends his children, has its own armed guard. Not only that, Second City Cop reports that Mayor Emanuel’s children have an armed escort to and from school. (Hy-poc-cri-sy: That's the term for people who talk about one thing for everyone else but do the other thing for themselves. Amazing how so many antigun public figures have no trouble keeping themselves and their dear ones surrounded by gun carrying security at all times. --Del)

The Benghazi Investigation: Criminal Charges Pending? By Marshall Frank
Excerpt: Benghazi’s assault on America happened on September 11th, 2012. The election has been over since October 6th. We are approaching New Year’s Eve, 3 ½ months later, and it is being treated like a neighborhood bike theft. (Another nice summary and expanded discussion of the situation. –Del. Nixon would have survived Watergate if the media covered for him the way they do for Obama. ~Bob.)

Hard to say how much of this is BS, satire or true. We know DHS and social security has bought thousands of rounds of ammo and mostly soft point not full metal jacket like the military uses. Some of it may be true. The fiscal cliff discussion is all about taxes and not about reducing spending. Just kicking that can down the road. Such articles as this one is another reason to plan for the worse case scenario...nothing like this may ever happen. Even so, better be prepared for what could happen. –GBH. I get a lot of these “anonymous insider” pieces, most of which get disproved or come to nothing. I tend not to credit people who won’t put their name behind their statements, though I understand the fear of retaliation. ~Bob.

Excerpt: A scenario that police in western Oregon feared came true in the thick of holiday season after two dozen inmates were freed from a county jail that could no longer afford to hold them. Less than an hour after one low-level offender walked out, authorities say, he was demanding that a bank teller hand over money.

Islamist gunmen kill 15 in Nigeria by slitting throats
Didn’t get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Suspected radical Islamist gunmen have attacked a village in northeast Nigeria, tying up men, women and children before slitting their throats and killing at least 15 in the troubled region's latest attack.

Russian police free child hostage, kill seven militants in Dagestan
Excerpt: Russian security forces killed seven militants and freed a 6-year-old girl taken hostage in the restive Dagestan region of Russia's volatile North Caucasus on Saturday, a national anti-terrorism committee official told Interfax news agency.

A Lesson to be Learned on the Anniversary of Wounded Knee
Excerpt: These 297 people, in their winter camp, were murdered by federal agents and members of the 7th Cavalry who had come to confiscate their firearms “for their own safety and protection”. The slaughter began AFTER the majority of the Sioux had peacefully turned in their firearms.

DOJ Forces Mega-Mosque on Norwalk, CT Community. By Ryan Mauro
Excerpt: The Al-Madany Islamic Center of Norwalk in Connecticut wasn’t ready to give up when its proposal for a 27,000 square foot facility was turned down by the zoning commission over matters completely unrelated to religion. The Islamic Center sued, asserting—as you might have guessed—it was religious discrimination. The cry of “Islamophobia” got the Justice Department on its side, and the zoning commission suddenly changed its mind after a closed session. (Ah yes, our totally objective Department of Justice.... well, more like the Dept of Social Justice, and the definition of social justice is entirely the purview of the people at the top. Our tax money at work... isn't that great? –Del)

Discovered papers: Hanoi directed Kerry: Recovered Vietnam documents 'smoking gun' researchers claim. By Art Moore
Excerpt: The first documentary evidence that Vietnamese communists were directly steering John Kerry’s group Vietnam Veterans Against the War has been discovered in a U.S. archive, according to a researcher who spoke with WorldNetDaily. (Isn't this interesting? No, we don't have a video of Madame Nguyen Thi Binh giving specific directions to Kerry about how the antiwar groups should do their attacks against the war effort, but we have a bunch of dots that connect fairly well to indicate that Kerry and others were communicating with the communists and then what the communists wanted to happen, happened. If you want to believe in a series of happenstance coincidences, OK, but for my money Kerry and his pals were acting as conduits from Hanoi to the "useful idiots" in the US, and we know the Communist Party USA was paying for travel, etc. And Obama wants this clown to be the next Secy of State? Heaven help us. --Del)

Civic Literacy Exam

33 for 33. ~Bob.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for December 29, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for December 29, 2013
Robert A. Hall
As regular readers know from my whinging, my Internet at home when down on December 12, and I've been working around it with a slow AT&T card, or Bonnie's laptop in Madison. Finally restored by Comcast on December 27. Apparently the modem went bad. Gotta love technology. I hate the news at this time of year when every media outlet feels compelled to compile a list of the big stories of 20123. If you read my blog regularly, you don’t need a list. If not, you can scroll through. I’ll be spending Hogmanay with my bride, Bonnie, my granddaughter, Britnye, and her pup, Caramel (I call him “Hinky Dink” after a short, corrupt Chicago politician of 100 years ago), and that takes priority over saving the world, so I will post when I can. Have a great 2013 and thanks for reading—and contributing! ~Bob

Information on my books

You lost something?
Cartoon.

Excerpt: President Obama will meet with Congressional leaders Friday afternoon at the White House just days before the so-called fiscal cliff deadline, when taxes are slated to increase. Obama will host Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), according to a White House official. 9(The voters had their chance to fix the fiscal cliff on November 6, and didn’t. They could have elected a Democrat House and let Obama tax, and spend and see what that did to the economy [Greece, IMHO], or Romney and a Republican Senate to try to rein in spending and debt. They did neither and must live with their collective decisions. Kicking the can again may be the best we can hope for. ~Bob.)

Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, who led coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War, dies
Excerpt: A U.S. official says retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991, has died. He was 78. (An American patriot. Led a brilliant military campaign. ~Bob.)

Quote
It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle. –Norman Schwarzkopf

Former law dean Harold Koh to return to Yale
Excerpt: Within the Obama administration, Koh has been known for advocating Obama’s drone program against militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a position some have challenged as at odds with Koh’s record of criticism against former President George W. Bush’s legal approach to the war on terror. (Perfectly consistent liberal position. Bush did it, it was bad. Obama did the same thing, it was wonderful. ~Bob.)

Obama’s Drone Dilemma
Excerpt: State Department legal adviser Harold Koh, the former dean of Yale Law School and even more former darling of the left for his criticisms of the Bush administration’s aggressive theories of executive power, plays a prominent role in them. Koh apparently concluded that the drone war “veers near the edge” of illegality but does not quite tumble over it.

City forces Minnesota soda shop to pull fake cigarettes
Excerpt: In an effort to stop youngsters from picking up a tobacco habit, city inspectors have ordered a small Minnesota soda shop to stop selling its popular candy cigarettes and bubblegum cigars. (Per notes, city passed ordinance in 2009. --Barb. I enjoyed candy cigarettes, never smoked a real one. ~Bob.)

Report: $91 million spent on secret NSA tests probing domestic computer systems
Excerpt: The level of disclosed spending on offensive and defensive spending by the Pentagon on cyberweapons and cybersecurity technology for 2012 was $3.4 billion, according to the Post. The Pentagon has requested the same amount for the 2013 fiscal year. The Hill reported late last week that the White House could issue a much-anticipated cybersecurity executive order as early as January.

Krauthammer slams Obama for ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ regulatory overreach http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/27/krauthammer-slams-obama-for-illegal-and-unconstitutional-regulatory-overreach/#ixzz2GI7ONjPH
Excerpt: During Wednesday’s broadcast of “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer criticized the Obama administration for something even President Barack Obama has admitted could be an obstacle to economic growth: the expansion of regulation through executive fiat ... “Then you’ve got the lack of being open about it. …“And lastly, you get the arrogance of it,” he continued, “the administration essentially enacting legislation on its own through regulation, the way it did the DREAM Act and the way it did in stripping away the work requirement in a reform of welfare.”

Rise in renewable energy will require more use of fossil fuels
Excerpt: The Delta Energy Center, a power plant about an hour outside San Francisco, was roaring at nearly full bore one day last month, its four gas and steam turbines churning out 880 megawatts of electricity to the California grid. On the horizon, across an industrial shipping channel on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, scores of wind turbines stood dead still. (Everything is always more complicated than people first think. What's unfortunate is that when some programs are sold to the public, the over simplified version is what is displayed. Incomplete information is really misinformation, just as psuedoscience is bad science, and we see way, way too much of both in the media and academia. --Del)

‘Die painfully’: 50 soulless degenerates who can’t wait for George H.W. Bush to die
Just typical Progressives heeding Obama’s call for more civility. ~Bob.

Ordinary folks losing faith in stocks
Excerpt: "You have to trust your government. You have to trust other governments. You have to trust Wall Street," says Neitlich, 47. "And I don't trust any of these." Defying decades of investment history, ordinary Americans are selling stocks for a fifth year in a row.

Flashback 2005: Michael Moore's Bodyguard Arrested on Airport Gun Charge

Colorado gun background check system tops out as checks still pour in
Excerpt: The continued rush to purchase firearms in Colorado has overwhelmed the system businesses use to track background check wait times and left thousands of would-be gun buyers on wait-lists that are now many days long. (Gun dealers have to LOVE Obama. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: Misery is Humanitarians’ Gift to Aleppo. By Walter Russell Mead
Excerpt: The Syrian war is a many sided catastrophe and it has no one cause. From the failures of Ottoman rule and the Sykes-Picot agreement to the Sunni-Shiite split and the problems of nationalism and tribalism, many cooks labored together to spoil this broth. But a contributing factor to this as to much else in the Middle East is the failure and inadequacy of American policies constructed along humanitarian lines.

Rep. Markey to seek Kerry’s Senate seat
Excerpt: Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) announced Thursday that he plans to run in the special election to replace Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). (Markey owes his career to then-Speaker Tommy McGee, who was annoyed with then State Rep. Markey and took away his office. “You can tell Ed Markey where to sit, but not where to stand!” As my floor leader, the late Sen. John Parker used to say, “It is always an advantage to a public man to be the victim of an outrage.” ~Bob.)

Advantages of Low Capital Gains Tax Rates. By Chris Edwards, Director of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute
Excerpt: Policymakers should reconsider capital gains tax policy. Capital gains taxes raise less than five percent of federal revenues, yet they do substantial damage. Higher rates will harm investment, entrepreneurship, and growth, and will raise little, if any, added federal revenue.

Doc whose Fremont clinic infected patients with hepatitis seeks N.Y. license to practice
Excerpt: Javed, 47, fled to his native Pakistan 10 years ago, when the severity of the hepatitis outbreak became known. His medical license in Nebraska was revoked. He surrendered his New York license. In Pakistan, Javed became a public health official and reportedly blamed the situation in Nebraska on anti-Muslim sentiment. (They have learned to play the victim card well from American race baiters. ~Bob.)

Turkey: No Demand from US to Reduce Oil Purchase from Iran
Excerpt: Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz announced that Washington has not demanded Ankara to reduce its oil purchase from Tehran and Turkey will continue buying Iranian crude. (The Obama sanctions at work. ~Bob.)

Weapons: So Easy A Caveman Can Do It
Excerpt: If you are ever faced with an imminent or active life threatening attack you can significantly increase your chances of survival by creating an improvised weapon out of everyday items that you would find around the house, on the street, or in the woods.

Worth Reading: Five 'ObamaCare' provisions to watch. By Sam Baker
Excerpt: 2013 will be a big year for President Obama's signature healthcare law. By next New Year's, almost all of the law's major provisions are scheduled to be fully in effect. And that means 2013 will represent a mad dash to get ready — both in the states and in the Health and Human Services Department. In addition to the intensive preparation for 2014, next year will see several key provisions take effect, among them some of the law's most controversial provisions, including new taxes that will hit millions of employees.

The 10 Worst Regulations of 2012
Excerpt: It seems that no aspect of American life can escape government regulation. In the past year, regulators drafted rules that addressed everything from caloric intake to dishwasher efficiency. Most of these rules increase the cost of living, others hinder job creation, and many erode freedom.

Worth Reading: Teachers union, fired teachers sue Chicago for racial discrimination
Excerpt: Donald Garrett Jr., Robert Green and Vivionell Brown Jr. lost their jobs because of the Chicago Board of Education’s turnaround program, which replaces most of the administrative and teaching staff at low-performing schools. (Getting rid of low-performing teachers is racist because the majority of the low-performers are black? Is that what they are saying? But this probably has more to do with grabbing the brass ring than with race. Mike Royko once proposed that Chicago’s official motto be changed to Ubi Est Mea (Where’s Mine?) Obama has taken this “I want mine now and to hell with the future” to Washington. But the future is coming, sooner than they think. ~Bob.)

Yasser Arafat’s widow admits Palestinian terror campaign in 2000 was premeditated
Show me your shocked face. ~Bob. Excerpt: Suha Arafat, the wife of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, admitted in a TV interview earlier this month that the Palestinian terror campaign against Israel launched in 2000 was a premeditated act orchestrated by her husband, not a spontaneous “intifada,” or uprising, as many have claimed.

Pentagon lagged on pursuing porn cases. Senator calls it risk to US security. By Bryan Bender
Excerpt: The Pentagon’s investigation of defense and intelligence employees who downloaded child pornography is being criticized in Congress after the Department of Defense acknowledged that its investigators failed to check thoroughly whether its employees were on a list of suspected porn viewers. (I guess they aren't keeping some people busy enough at work. Hopefully they'll finish tracking down every case of actually guilty parties and prosecute them. Oh, and of course FIRE the perverts! –Del. I gather from this that watching regular porn, as opposed to child porn, in the office is okay. Where do I apply for one of these government jobs? ~Bob.)

How Obama’s Policies Led to Benghazigate. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: It took some 22 hours for American help to arrive in Benghazi after all the t’s had been crossed and the i’s had been dotted, and the body of America’s ambassador to Libya had been dragged through the streets by “rescuers” stopping along the way to pose for cell phone pictures with his corpse. By way of comparison it takes about 16 hours for a boatload of Libyan illegal immigrants to row to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Black judge commutes four killers’ sentences based on race. By B. Christopher Agee
Excerpt: An activist judge in North Carolina said prosecutorial racism was the reason he commuted the sentences of four convicted killers. Described as three of the state’s most notorious death row killers, among the group’s victims are three law enforcement officers, two women and a teenager. The judge was able to overrule the first sentence under the state’s controversial Racial Justice Act.

What’s Meant When Liberals Say “Compromise.” By Burt Prelutsky
Excerpt: Barack Obama and his stooges are forever complaining that Republicans are obstructionists, unwilling to compromise and meet them halfway. What’s so irksome about these nitwits is that when they say compromise, what they really mean is unconditional surrender.

Zuma in doghouse after pet comments
Excerpt: South African president Jacob Zuma got into a spot of bother Thursday when he suggested that owning a dog was not African and belonged to white culture. (Huh. Lots of black folks in Chicago own dogs. Pit Bulls seem favored. Don’t mean that pejoratively—I owned one myself once. Sweet dog, wouldn’t hurt a bug. 5 pound Yorkie backed him off. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: Gun Control, Gun Rights, Gun Politics and Newtown: Part I of II. By Dan McLaughlin
Excerpt: The school shooting atrocity in Newtown, Connecticut has, predictably, touched off another round of the perennial gun-control debate. Especially for parents of young children (my youngest is the same age as most of the victims), the horror of the shootings is almost beyond description, and tends to make rational discussion impossible. 

Tweet from @keder 
Whatever the problem, it's safe to bet that the Democrat solution will involve more taxes & more spending. (Dan McLaughlin ‏@baseballcrank Or more regulations. )

Armed teachers, guards bolster school security in Israel
Excerpt: Americans intent on ensuring a school massacre like the one in Newtown, Conn., never happens again could learn a lot from Israel, where the long menu of precautions includes armed teachers.

Black Racism Unchained
Excerpt: There’s no better example of black racism than when actor Jamie Foxx hosted “Saturday Night Live” and joked about his new film, “Django Unchained”: “I get free. I save my wife and I kill all the white people in the movie. How great is that?” He went on to say, “My president, President Obama, is back up in the White House for four more years. How black is that?

Excerpt: Eschewing great literature for ghastly technical reports doesn’t make much sense to those charged with getting young people to read—hopefully with some degree of enthusiasm. And there’s a total lack of research suggesting that education will be advanced by a forced march to Executive Orders. The University of Arkansas’ Sandra Stotsky argues that an emphasis on informational texts actually prevents children from acquiring “a rich understanding and use of the English language” and “may lead to a decreased capacity for analytical thinking.” (Precisely. –Barb.)

Obama Claus Give You 90 More Days To Collect Your $50,000 Reparations Check
Excerpt: Circle March 25, 2013 on your calendar. That's the last day you can submit your claim form from this official U.S. government website to collect fifty thousand tax-free American dollars, courtesy of the Obama administration in its current multi-billion giveaway scheme. No, you don't need a potted plant and you don't even to be black or even Hispanic; as long as you are a woman (or related to one) and you fill out the forms correctly, you can collect the money because nobody will verify your information. Welcome to the Love settlement for women farmers, the close relative of the Pigford black famers settlement that has already paid out billions of dollars to thousands of claimants and the Garcia Hispanic / Latino farmer settlement that is in progress right now. (Tax free. –Barb.)

Excerpt: America is rapidly becoming a nation of takers. An increasing number of Americans expect the government to take care of them from the cradle to the grave, and they expect the government to dig into the pockets of others in order to pay for it all. (The bad news is that these reckless policies will not be able to sustain themselves for long. The good news is that these reckless policies will not be able to sustain themselves for long. --Don Hank)

Hamas-linked CAIR protests exclusion from U.S. of Muslim cleric who preached jihad against Christians: "Throats must be slit and skulls must be shattered"
Excerpt: Hamas-linked CAIR, ever-lauded by the mainstream media as a "civil rights organization," once again reveals its true colors.

Saudi detains dozens for "plotting to celebrate Christmas"
Excerpt: Saudi religious police stormed a house in the Saudi Arabian province of al-Jouf, detaining more than 41 guests for “plotting to celebrate Christmas,” a statement from the police branch released Wednesday night said.

Rhode Island: Muslim naval officer from UAE must pay $1.2 million to domestic worker for holding her as slave
Excerpt: Slavery was taken for granted throughout Islamic history, as it was, of course, in the West up until relatively recent times. Yet the impetus to end slavery moved from Christendom into Islam, not the other way around. Because the Qur'anic word cannot be questioned, and the book does not contain the Biblical principles that led to the abolition of slavery in the West, there has never been a Muslim abolitionist movement. Slavery ended in Islamic lands under pressure from the West.

Suspected Islamic extremists attack Indian student in Germany
Excerpt: Police say an Indian student in Germany has been attacked and injured by suspected Islamic extremists who accosted him and demanded that he convert to Islam.

Excerpt: Two teenaged sisters, Shamia and Khalida, told Yar Hussain police that three armed men broke into their house in Mera Bakakhel while their family was asleep. The men opened fire and killed their parents, three sisters and one-year-old niece. SHO Qazi Asmat said that the sisters have accused three brother-in-laws for the crime. 

Senator calls for oversight of agencies that might be monitoring Americans
Excerpt: Wyden said he supports the goals of FISA, but said his amendment to the bill is needed because intelligence officials have been unable to provide any details on how often American communications are picked up during surveillance. He said he and other senators have asked the director of national intelligence for that information, but have received little in the way of a response. 

Excerpt: The latest newsletter from the environmentalist group Earth First! Journal contains a curious topic — assassinations. In fact, the newsletter conveniently provides the names, addresses and phone numbers of the assassination targets. Naturally, none of this is to be taken seriously, the environmentalists tell us. (But let Conservatives “target” a liberal for electoral defeat, and they are “creating a climate of violence.” ~Bob.)

Excerpt: During an interview with Barbara Walters on December 11, President Obama announced the U.S. would formally recognize the recently established Syrian National Coalition of Revolution and Opposition Forces (SNCROF), an umbrella group seeking to depose Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Obama extolled the SNCROF for its inclusiveness, allegedly being open to various ethnic and religious groups, and bonds to local councils participating in the fight against Assad’s security forces. forces.

Lawmaker rips State after claim that official who 'resigned' over Libya remains on payroll
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/26/state-department-official-who-resigned-after-libya-findings-reportedly-staying/#ixzz2GJixF3BW
Excerpt: A top Republican lawmaker chastised the State Department Wednesday following a report that a security chief said to have resigned in the wake of the Libya attack is still on the payroll, calling the response "pathetic." (Musical chairs and still on payroll. What does it take to get fired? –Barb.)

Excerpt: The Senate on Friday approved a bill reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in a 73-23 vote. The bill will extend for five years the ability of U.S. intelligence authorities to conduct surveillance of suspected terrorists overseas without first getting permission from a court.

Petition urges White House to classify Westboro church as hate group
Nice thing about Westboro Baptist is it unites by liberals and conservatives—we all loath them. But this could be a slippery slope. ~Bob.

47% Think Health Care System Will Worsen Over Next Two Years
Excerpt: Most voters continue to give positive marks to the health care they currently receive, but nearly half expect the health care system in this country to get worse over the next couple of years.

Media Turns Good News Into Bad, And Blames Republicans
Excerpt: The good news is simple enough: consumers are cutting back in their spending. This may not be pleasant for some people because they want to sell more stuff. But their welfare is not the general welfare. (They are always moaning that Americans aren’t saving enough or, conversely, not spending enough. ~Bob.)

Older story, but a Happy Ending: Police Release 911 Tape Reporting Duluth Shooting
Excerpt: “I was in the shower and the lights cut out in my house, and a man came in with a hood, and he had a knife in his hand….He told me to be quiet. He told me to get out of the tub, and he tried to force me on(to) the bed,” the woman told the police dispatcher.
The woman was able to retrieve a .22 caliber pistol that she kept in a nightstand near the bed. “I took my .22, and I shot him as much as I could.” (The next time this psycho wants to rape a woman, I’ll bet he finds a gun-free-zone. ~Bob.)

Been Around, Worth Reading: The Gun Is Civilization. By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)
Excerpt: Human beings only have two means to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you must either convince me by reason or force me to do your bidding under threat of harm. Every human interaction, without exception, falls into one of these two categories. Reason or force, that's it. … When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a means to negate your threat or employment of force.

Record number of Americans oppose handgun ban. By Aaron Blake 
Excerpt: An unprecedented number of Americans support the right to own a handgun, despite the recent mass killings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that have renewed the push for gun control. Even with the killings in Newtown as a backdrop, a new Gallup poll shows 74 percent of Americans now support the right to possess a handgun, while just 24 percent would support a ban.

Texas has 2.2x as many gun homicides as Chicago. Texas has 10x the population of Chicago. The city of Chicago has more gun homicides than AK, DE, HI, IA, ID, ME, MN, MT, ND, NE, NH, RI, SD, UT, VT, and WY combined. (Because only police, politicians and gangbangers can carry in Chicago. And because most of the murders are black thugs killing black people, it’s racist to mention them. ~Bob.)

Grim milestone: Chicago records 500th homicide of 2012
Those strict Illinois/Chicago gun laws really keep us safe here. ~Bob.

Quote
Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. –Gandhi.

Iran starts naval drill, prepares to confront Western threats
Excerpt: Tehran has started a six-day naval drill aimed to show "the armed forces' military capabilities" in confronting enemy threats, and also conveying the message of peace to its neighbors. The training is being conducted in key Strait of Hormuz. (One of their new suicide subs detonated under a US carrier... pissedlizard كافر ‏ @pissedlizard)

25 Facts That The Mainstream Media Doesn’t Really Want To Talk About Right Now
Excerpt: Unfortunately for them, a whole lot of Americans are starting to break free from that paradigm and think for themselves. A Gallup survey from earlier this year found that 60 percent of all Americans “have little or no trust” in the mainstream media. (Interesting. Blurs the line between facts, opinion and speculation though, IMHO. ~Bob.)

Corporate Money Allowed for Inaugural Donations
Excerpt: President Obama will accept unlimited donations from corporations — but no money from lobbyists or political action committees — to finance his 2013 inaugural festivities, a spokeswoman for his inaugural committee said Friday. (Nice of him not to make the corporations funnel the money through their lobbyists or PACS, but to give directly. Much cleaner influence buying that way. ~Bob.)

The Higher Ed Bubble Is Very, Very Real. By Walter Russell Mead
Excerpt: It is this delivery system, not the diplomas themselves, that impresses many serious people as being caught up in something analogous to a bubble. People with college degrees are going to continue to earn more than people who don’t have them (though this will vary by degree), but they will be less and less willing to accept the high prices and slow methods by which the guild system delivers those degrees.

The Tip of the Spear. By Joel Sappell
Excerpt: In the mid-1980s, journalist Joel Sappell and a colleague began a five-year examination of the Church of Scientology that would ultimately produce a 24-article series. It would also change Sappell’s life in ways both mystifying and unnerving. Decades later the onetime investigative reporter investigates what happened to him.

The plain bigotry allowable in media under the guise of Israel critique is remarkable, but unsurprising.

Erian tells Egyptian Jews to leave Israel, return to Egypt
Excerpt: Essam al-Erian, deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, called on Egyptian Jews to leave Israel to the Palestinians and return to their own homeland. (Doubtless to a warm welcome in multicultural Eqypt. ~Bob.)

Tehran lied about boy ‘killed by sanctions’
Excerpt: Five weeks on, the teenager’s death has instead underlined the hypocrisy of his own government, desperate to shift the blame for a deepening health crisis amid accusations that state corruption is putting lives at risk.

Woman finds note from Chinese labor camp prisoner in Kmart decorations
Excerpt: "Sir: If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever." (See, Obama doesn’t like slavery—but it does fund our $1T annual deficits to buy him votes, so not all bad. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: The Doc Fix Economy: If you want to understand the fiscal cliff, you need to first understand the doc fix. By Peter Suderman 
Excerpt: The doc fix is just one relatively small part of the fiscal cliff. But in many ways it is the fiscal cliff in miniature. That’s because the doc fix is perhaps ultimate example of a poorly conceived temporary budgeting measure that's not really temporary. And its history suggests what’s in store for the federal budget—and the economy—in our post-fiscal-cliff future.

A Short History of Amorous Generals. By Victor Davis Hanson
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson122312B.html
Excerpt: Are generals, however, to be judged under different rules? Unlike most politicians, they operate under more stringent codes of personal conduct and are often in harm’s way with responsibilities for the lives of thousands under their commands. (Good history lesson. --Del)

Ripples from the Election. By Victor Davis Hanson
http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson122712B.html
Excerpt: Barack Obama is not very interested in tax reform, deficit reduction, or curbing annual spending. He believes in big government, and the bigger the better. His tenure is not so much a repudiation of Reaganism as it is of Clintonism, and the whole notion of keeping the annual growth of federal spending at or below 2 percent, balancing the budget, and declaring the era of big government over.

Basic errors killing 1000 NHS patients a month a study has revealed
Excerpt: The largest and most detailed survey into hospital deaths has revealed that almost 12,000 patients are needlessly dying every year as a result of poor patient care. The researchers from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine based the study on 1,000 deaths at 10 NHS trusts during 2009. (David Burge ‏@iowahawkblog: A Briton is 5 times more likely to die from government health care than an American is to die from a gunshot.)

Obama Orders Pay Raise for Biden, Members of Congress, Federal Workers. By Daniel Halper
Excerpt: President Barack Obama issued an executive order to end the pay freeze on federal employees, in effect giving some federal workers a raise. One federal worker now to receive a pay increase is Vice President Joe Biden.