Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Book Review from the March issue of Leatherneck Magazine

Victory in Iraq: How America Won.
By Hon. Duncan L. Hunter. Published by Duncan L. Hunter, 2010. 393 pages.

I suspect that most military readers will feel a bit unsettled, as I did, when they start reading Victory in Iraq. Then the reason hits you: this guy is on our side! The author believes in America and America’s cause, and reveres the men and women who serve our Republic in uniform. He feels no need to, in the modern “journalist’s ethic,” be neutral between the child and the virus that is trying to kill it. For someone who spends a lot of hours keeping up with news, commentary and reports on current events, it’s exhilarating.

Victory in Iraq focuses heavily on the struggle that developed after the fall of Baghdad, which is good, as the initial invasion has been well chronicled by other writers. This is history on four levels. It deals with the strategic and tactical levels, but also has a strong focus on the guys stacked outside a Fallujah door, ready to kick it in and deal with what follows. Military readers and their families will appreciate how often and reverently Duncan focuses on the individual heroism of our combat troops and their deeds. These are stories military readers will appreciate, but they are stories that civilian readers, fed a steady diet of negativity by a media determined to downplay American success and magnify American setbacks, need desperately to hear. This book should help overshadow the few, highly-magnified alleged misdeeds of our troops in the public’s mind.

The forth level of Victory in Iraq is the political war at home, where what in the 1860s would have been called “copperhead” politicians and their media supporters were willing to undermine victory and denigrate the troops to score political points. So make no mistake, this is as much a political history of the war as a military history by a writer who was in the thick of the political action. A WWII buff once told me that he was interested “in the war-fighting, not the politics” of that conflict. I replied that all wars are political, and you cannot separate the two. Then-Representative Hunter, as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee from 2003 to 2007 and with a son who was a serving Marine officer in Iraq had both a strong, pro-military point of view and unique access to leaders and to information about the struggle there and in Washington.

There are lessons to be learned in Hunter’s book, especially about the successful Task Force ODIN to eliminate IEDs, which, “…saw roadside bombs diminished by 90%.” And which “…killed an astonishing 3,000 insurgents, most caught in the act of emplacing roadside bombs.” (p287) Hunter reports that as of his writing, it had not been replicated in Afghanistan.

The inclusion of numerous pictures adds greatly to the interest of the text. Marines, however, will find poignant the photo of Karen Kelly, wife of Lt. General John Kelly, along with her son, Marine Captain John Kelly, pinning lieutenant’s bars on her other son Robert. Lt. Robert Kelly was KIA in Afghanistan about the time this book went to press.

Military readers may find a bit tedious both the explanations of common military terms and the reiteration of key points as the focus shifts between levels and tactical areas. But they are necessary for clarity for the civilian reader who is familiar with Iraq and the military only from the news-as-entertainment industry.

One note of caution. I recommend this book, especially for your interested-but-less-aware civilian friends, but I hope that politics will not make the title a bitter joke. As a Vietnam veteran, I’m keenly aware that a book entitled Victory in Vietnam: How America Won might have been justifiably published in 1972, had there been potential readers. Let us hope that Congressman Hunter’s title will endure, and the sacrifices of our troops will not be made moot for short term political advantage, to the detriment of the nation.

I’ve heard from people who should know that, had McCain prevailed in 2008, Duncan Hunter would have been on the short list for Secretary of Defense. I hope this book is not his last service to the Republic.

--Robert A. Hall

Editor’s note: Former SSgt Robert A. Hall served with HQ, 26th Marines, at Khe Sanh in 1967, noting that, “It was quiet when I left—I don’t know what happened.” Immediately after earning a BA in Government from UMass in 1972, he served five terms in the Massachusetts state senate, as well as another six years in the USMCR. In 1980, he earned a Master’s degree in history from Fitchburg State University. Since 1982, Hall has been an association executive. He’s a frequent contributor of poetry to Leatherneck. In 2011, he published two books:  The Coming Collapse of the American Republic and Old Jarhead Poems. He donates all royalties from both books to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. 

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Political Digest for February 29, 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.

Happy Leap Day. Do federal workers get the day off? I can’t recall.

I'm leaving this to post before the primary polls close. Why no news of the big win by Romney in AZ & MI

The Gathering Darkness
There I was, minding my own business, when my muse struck. ~Bob

Resources
For those who want further information about the topics covered in this blog, I recommend the following sites. I will add to this as I find additional good sources.

Excerpt: The toll fell particularly heavily on the educated classes that supplied the young lieutenants and captains who led their troops out of the trenches and into murderous machine-gun fire. To give but a single stunning example, of the men who graduated from Oxford in 1913, 31 percent were killed.

Excerpt: A U.S. federal judge has ruled that Twitter users who threaten presidential candidates with violence can’t expect to stay anonymous.

Excerpt: David Brock, fearful that damaging information about Media Matters For America would be released, reportedly paid his former domestic partner $850,000 to stay quiet, according to a Fox News report Monday. Brock later characterized the arrangement as “blackmail.” (I would like to assume my fans that no one will ever blackmail me for $850k. Not even close to having $850k. ~Bob.)

Fiat to build Jeeps in Russian factories
Excerpt: Fiat SpA has reached an agreement to with Sberbank Rossii to build Jeeps in Russia, according to reports in the Italian media Sunday. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said Sberbank, which is controlled by the Russian government, has inked a letter of intent with Fiat to open two factories to assemble vehicles under the Jeep name. (It's halftime in America. Scratch that, I mean Russia  --IowaHawk.)

Pettiness and Mud by Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: The only good news for the Republicans coming out of the seemingly endless presidential candidate "debates" is that some Republican leaders are now belatedly thinking about how they can avoid a repetition of this debacle in future elections. What could they possibly have been thinking about, in the first place, when they agreed to a format based on short sound bites for dealing with major complex issues, and with media journalists -- 90 percent of them Democrats -- picking the topics?

Idolizing an American Traitor by Rick Moran
Excerpt: Lionized as a hero by the worldwide left, Manning is the latest in a long line of outrageous nominations considered by the peace prize committee, including past winners Yasser Arafat, Mikhail Gorbachev and Kofi Annan. Although it certainly comes as no surprise that a soldier alleged to have committed traitorous acts and severely damaged the interests of the United States would be included in the nominations for the award, the controversy over Manning’s case obscures the truly lamentable figure the young man makes as a liberal icon.

Learning to Love Big Brotherhood by Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: The Muslim Brotherhood is not a supporter of foreign funded regime change, unless it’s a foreign funded regime change that brings them to power. When the Brotherhood is wielding absolute power, then IRI activists won’t merely be prevented from leaving the country, they’ll be put on trial and face the death penalty, like Amir Mirzaei Hekmati in Iran or they’ll be attacked in public like Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh, a splinter Brotherhood candidate.

The Vicious Cycle of Western Apologies and Muslim Violence by Bruce Bawer
Excerpt: And the next thing you know, large numbers of people have been killed, Western embassies have been vandalized, mischief and mayhem of every imaginable kind has taken place. And meanwhile, the air is thick with apologies. Not, of course, apologies by Muslim leaders for the primitive, brutal, and murderous conduct of their coreligionists, but apologies by Western leaders because somebody, somewhere, drew a picture or destroyed a book.

Pamphlet By Maldivian Islamist Party That Triggered Coup Against Reformist President Nasheed: 'No Law Contrary to Islam Can Be Enacted in the Maldives'; Government Taught 'Good Things About the Jews'
Excerpt: The document accused the Nasheed government of supporting Western governments in international forums, and claimed that it was teaching "good things about the Jews." Mohamed Nasheed headed the first elected democratic government of the Maldives, a group of islands situated about 400 km southwest of India. (Well, you can laugh, but if some third world backwater gets away with teaching good things about the Jews, Obama might try it. Where would we be then? ~Bob.)

Father tries to set 23-year-old daughter alight
Excerpt: Le Parisien newspaper reported that the man sprayed teargas in the young woman's face and then covered her in petrol on Saturday evening. The father was apparently annoyed that the woman planned to go out with a group of friends that evening and considered her "too emancipated". The newspaper quoted a source describing him as a "Muslim fundamentalist." (Accidentally burning Qur'ans that have been defaced by Muslim terrorists using them to further murder? Outrage, riots and murder. Burning your own daughter? Not so much. ~Bob.)

With Panetta facing Senate panel, new questions on Afghan future
Excerpt: The murder of two U.S. officers inside the Interior Ministry in Kabul by an Afghan soldier over the weekend is raising new questions about the Obama administration’s ability to implement its strategy in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is sure to face tough questions on the U.S. military commitment in Afghanistan when he testifies Tuesday morning before the Senate Budget Committee.

Syrian activists: 64 bodies found near Homs in one of the worst mass killings
Excerpt: The bodies of dozens of men were found dumped on wasteland on the outskirts of the stricken city of Homs on Monday in what appeared to be one of the worst instances of mass killing since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began last March. (Assad seems to have learned the lesson from Egypt and Libya that you hold on at any cost or you die. ~Bob.)

Democrats target likely veep pick Sen. Rubio
Excerpt: Democrats have started to wage a political assault against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and the intensity of their attacks will intensify in the coming weeks. Senior officials in the Democratic Party anticipate that Mitt Romney will win the Republican presidential nomination and then tap Rubio to be his running mate.

Worth Reading: Shariah's threat to civil rights By Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
Excerpt: What is going on in country after country, in international forums such as the United Nations Human Rights Council and even in some American courts, is a calculated effort, backed by terrifying violence or its threat, to make us "feel subdued," as the Koran puts it. The idea is to use Western sensibilities and civil liberties - notably, respect for the free practice of religion - to deny the rest of us our fundamental freedoms. These include the freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and, yes, freedom of religion.

French election: Hollande wants 75% tax on top earners
Excerpt: The Socialist favourite in France's presidential election, Francois Hollande, has said top earners should pay 75% of their income in tax. "Above 1m euros [£847,000; $1.3m], the tax rate should be 75% because it's not possible to have that level of income," he said. (Good news for us. If it passes, the French economy will decline and we can attract wealthy, high-productivity Frenchmen to the US to contribute to our economy. Bono talks about helping the poor, but does he pay high Irish taxes? ~Bob.)

Sudan rebels say border battle killed 150 troops
Excerpt: Sudanese rebels said Tuesday they killed 150 government soldiers along the disputed border with South Sudan in a battle that prompted Khartoum to threaten retaliation against the newly independent state. Sudan's military denied the casualty toll and said it had killed a "huge number" of rebels, but gave no figure.

Excerpt: It's no secret that most Democratic strategists consider Mitt Romney the GOP contender who poses the biggest threat to President Obama. It's also no secret that Michigan, the state where Romney grew up, is a must win for him. Combine those two dynamics, add in the fact that any registered voter is allowed to vote in Michigan's open primary, and you get a recipe for Democrats to make mischief.

How Chrysler Can Actually Help Detroit
Excerpt: Did you know that there are no Volkswagen manufacturing plants in the Detroit area? Or Mercedes-Benz? Or Kia? Or Hyundai? Or BMW, for that matter? The Motor City has a well-earned reputation for having the greatest auto workers in the nation, yet honorable Michiganders largely build cars for only three companies. Apart from having their cars assembled in Michigan, it turns out that those three companies have something else in common: the United Auto Workers union (UAW). It also turns out that every other car manufacturer has something in common, too: not wanting the UAW to do to them what it did to the Big Three.

Why I am so rude to Warmists
Excerpt: The reason this cant phrase makes me want to throw up every time I hear it is that it's such a grotesque inversion of reality. It's not people on my side of the debate who want to ravage the countryside with wind farms (with no provision for decommissioning them), rein in economic growth, introduce wartime-style rationing, raise taxes, destroy farmland and rainforests to create biofuels, and base heinously expensive public policy on hysteria and junk science. It's not people on my side of the debate who are condemning those "future generations" to a lower standard of living and an uglier environment in order to deal with a problem that doesn't exist. So how dare they have the gall to try to take the moral high ground?

State and Local Pension Plans: Funding Status, Asset Management, and a Look Ahead by Jagadeesh Gokhale
Excerpt: State and local employee pension plans, which are primarily defined benefit plans, have come under increased scrutiny of late. Plan funding conditions have worsened during the early years of the 21st century, especially during the aftermath of the post-2007 recession. But the patterns of financial changes vary considerably across the U.S. states and under alternative ways of measuring plan funded status. Much of the worsening in plan funding conditions between 2001and 2009 occurred in states with initially well-funded pension plans. Much of the blame for this must be placed on the illogical accounting standards set by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), which allow plan managers to discount accrued pension liabilities at rates of return expected on plan asset portfolios.

Israel Won't Warn U.S. Before Strike On Iran: AP Source
Excerpt: Israeli officials said that if they eventually decide a strike is necessary, they would keep the Americans in the dark to decrease the likelihood that the U.S. would be held responsible for failing to stop Israel's potential attack. The U.S. has been working with the Israelis for months to persuade them that an attack would be only a temporary setback to Iran's nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered the message to a series of top-level U.S. visitors to the country, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House national security adviser and the director of national intelligence, and top U.S. lawmakers, all trying to close the trust gap between Israel and the U.S. over how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions. (BS! If I was the Israelis, I wouldn’t tell us anything, either. They don’t DARE tell us ahead of time or it’ll be all over the news. Notice the source for THIS very story is anonymous “to discuss sensitive strategic negotiations.” In other words, it is probably illegal for him/her to talk about it. In the old days, we called that “espionage,” and hung those doing it. Now, we give them Pulitzer Prizes and/or political promotions. Perhaps they can use those prizes to decorate the graves of the poor beggars they’ve killed by exposing operational intel. Ron P.)

Five Things Children Know That Liberals Have Forgotten
Excerpt: This is not a lesson liberals seem to have ever learned because their thinking is, "If it's a 'good idea,' then it should be funded, regardless of what it costs, regardless of whether it's worth the money." It's like liberals start with the assumption that we have infinite money and if anyone opposes spending for any reason, it must be because he’s "mean." Did you know we actually have a higher debt load per person than Greece ($44,215 vs. $39,000), a nation that's only being saved from default because richer countries are paying its bills?  (I live in a state with a large liberal majority. I don’t think they’ve “forgotten” these things, I think they’ve refused to “know them” to begin with. Ron P.)

Afghanistan; Understandable rage or Unacceptable Travesty?
Excerpt: There have been many in the media, in politics and in the upper echelons of our military structure who have been “grappling” with this question; at least they would like you to believe that. The fact is those who seem to be trying to make sense of the events which unfolded in the wake of the revelation that certain “holy books” were treated disrespectfully, by American Service members, arrived at their “understanding” long before these events occurred.

Gas prices up, Obama wrongly attacks critics again: Americans are simply not getting fact-based leadership and good judgment from President Barack Obama.
Excerpt: When Barack Obama assumed the U.S. presidency, gas prices were less than $2 a gallon. He proceeded to shut down deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, tightened federal restrictions on petroleum development and vetoed the Keystone XL Pipeline. Now, even with Americans driving not a lot more than three years ago and global growth slowing, gas is nearing $4 a gallon.

Excerpt: And more drilling plans are rejected than ever. The five-year average had been 73.4 percent approval; now it’s down to only 34 percent of drilling plans approved. (Remember at the pump—and in November. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its annual report addressing duplication and areas for costs savings throughout the federal government.

Durable Goods Orders in U.S. Slump 4%, Most in Three Years
Excerpt: Orders for U.S. durable goods fell in January by the most in three years, led by a slowdown in demand for commercial aircraft and business equipment.

Police dismantle Occupy London camp
Excerpt: Hundreds of police in riot gear staged an early morning raid Tuesday to clear Occupy protesters from a campsite outside London's St Paul's Cathedral, activists said.
Just after midnight local time (GMT) officers accompanied by bailiffs converged on the camp, which was home to around 70 activists, Occupy London organizers told CNN.

Worth Reading: President Obama: “America is back!” Guess again: More than 40% of Americans aren’t working.
Excerpt: The employment/population ratio compiled by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (see http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000) may provide a better indicator of our economic health and its political impact. This number is the percent of Americans 16 and older who are employed. Right now, that number is 58.5%. That’s right, fewer than six-in-ten Americans who are eligible to work are actually working. More than four-in-ten are not. (scary chart. ~Bob.)

Tim Hawkins - The Government Can
Too funny. But too true. ~Bob.

Fairness: Huge Majority of Voters Want Lower Taxes for the Rich by Guy Benson
Excerpt: An exquisitely delicious data set, courtesy of The Hill's polling team. … Here's how it will go: President Obama will roll up his sleeves (this is how we know he's connecting with the common man, you see) during taxpayer-funded campaign stops and invoke his "fair share" talking points. … The big majority opted for a lower tax bill when asked to choose specific rates; precisely 75 percent said the right level for top earners was 30 percent or below. 

Cross
Excerpt: My son Blake made this para cord Cross while deployed and it was found in his pocket when his body arrived at Dover AFB

Everything you need to know about the power of economic freedom in 3 charts By James Pethokoukis
Excerpt: The West was quite poor heading into the 1700s and then it got richer. A lot richer. Real fast. Its embrace of economic freedom and creative destruction and both legally and culturally — what economist Deirdre McCloskey calls the idea of bourgeois dignity and liberty — led to a rise in real income per head in 2010 prices from about $2-3 a day in 1800 worldwide to over $100 today.

The Work Ethic and U.S. Unemployment
Excerpt: Consider, for instance, developing an official policy banning "foul language." The words and expressions must be specified (including non-English ones), permissible level would be listed (perhaps so many obscenities per day or a point system depending on offensiveness), and then records must be kept of all cursing, swearing, and vulgarities for all employees so as to justify a termination for "too much" bad language. Similar rules must then be formulated for each required work ethic trait and perhaps adjusted for specific tasks (for example, sales jobs may require higher grooming and language standards). (Not to make light of a serious problem, it isn’t often we find an article that says the unsay-able with a sense of humor. In my experience in the convenience retail field, even when hiring only the best to apply, the greatest challenge was simply finding employees who would show up for the hours they had agreed and expected to work; competence was an unexpected bonus. 90+% of new hires were eligible for a tax credit to the company, IF they survived six months; few lasted that long. They viewed us as offering “throw-away jobs;” is it any wonder we sometimes viewed them as “throw-away employees?” Sadly, we figured (conservatively) that it cost the company, on average, about $400 to train ONE part-time employee, and it took (again, conservatively) about three months of employment to recoup that expense (don’t even ask about management candidates). Does this help explain why the C-store employee you saw the other day was born somewhere else—or else wasn’t paying attention to you? Ron P.)

Fighting drugs and border violence at Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument: What about the ranger’s M14 rifle, Yogi?
Excerpt: Since 2009, the park has offered van tours to the springs, as long as rangers armed with assault rifles go along to protect the visitors. Now, ten years after Eggle's murder, the park's leadership has decided to open up a portion of the closed areas to the public in March, citing improved safety conditions and a big increase in Border Patrol agents in the area. (See, if you’re an American and think you should be able to enjoy an American national monument, you’re racist. ~Bob.)

‘Your Call Is Very Important To Us’ — Why Else Would We Place You on Hold for 30 Minutes?: Five invaluable tips to prevent call center derangement syndrome
Excerpt: Few statements are more ludicrous, or more insulting to our individual and collective intelligence, than the cloyingly ubiquitous, “Your call is very important to us.”
No, actually, it’s not. If our calls were even remotely important to you, you’d hire more people to answer our very important calls. They aren’t and you don’t. (One of my pet peeves. When you call the non-profit I manage during work hours, a real person usually answers. Yes, with only six people, we can have too many out or tied up, but we try for live answer. ~Bob.)

WikiLeaks: Chavez could die within a year
Excerpt: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may have less than a year to live and his condition is "very serious," reports the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting citing a memo released by WikiLeaks. (I wonder if his Jihadist pals will cut him in on the virgins? ~Bob.)

Mark Levin’s EPIC Apology to the Troops for President Obama

Feds allege largest-ever Medicare scam by single doctor
Excerpt: A Texas doctor and five owners of home health agencies were arrested today on charges that they are part of a nearly $375 million fraudulent home health-care ring that authorities say is the largest such case ever against a single doctor. The doctor, Jacques Roy, 54, of Rockwall, Tex., was charged in an indictment with masterminding a Medicare fraud conspiracy over the past five years. (In addition to prison and other penalties, anyone convicted of Medicare fraud should never be able to draw a dollar from any government program, including Social Security, ever again. ~Bob.)

Equality or Inequality by Walter Williams
Excerpt: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Asian men and women earn more than white men and women. Female cafeteria attendants earn more than their male counterparts. Females who are younger than 30 and have never been married earn salaries 8 percent higher than males of the same description. (What? Hold people responsible for their lifestyle choices? Why, that’s, that’s, uh, simply barbaric! Mean, even! Or at least that’s what they want us to think. Ron P.)

Regulators to require rearview cameras in all new cars by 2014
Excerpt: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to send its final version of the proposed regulation to Congress on Wednesday, after first proposing the rule change in 2010. (…) In a draft paper, regulators said it would cost automakers between $160 and $200 to install the cameras and viewing screens in each new vehicle -- as much as $2.7 billion per year overall. (Although presented as if those rich auto companies are going to be stuck for the $2.7B, who do you suppose will actually have to bear the cost of this every time we buy a new car? If it’s such a good idea, the market would’ve gotten there by itself by simple competition. And, we’d have been glad to pay for it. Instead, the nanny-state will order it for us—at our expense. Be sure to eat all of your broccoli; it’s good for you. No doubt, this is also interstate commerce, just like healthcare. Ron P.)

New Poem: The Gathering Darkness (2012)

The Gathering Darkness (2012)

The darkness gathers on all sides,
Our allies slink away,
No hope of victory now abides,
No dawn to light the day.

And those who should have manned the walls,
Now squabble o’er the bones,
And so the culture fades and falls,
With no one to atone.

And we who cannot bend the knee,
Our people’s forlorn hope,
Come joyous, brothers, stand with me!
Bow not before the rope.

Let those who must go make a peace,
Who lack your heart and will,
From freedom’s rigors they shall cease,
And take the galling pill.

Sweet handouts make a man a slave,
As sure as lash and chain.
If freedom’s portion is the grave,
Who kneeling would remain?

So stand my brothers, proud and free,
And make a gallant fight,
That down the decades yet to be
Our doom throws freedom’s light.

--Robert A. Hall



Political Digest for February 28, 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.

Free PDF Copy of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.

American Narcissist? Obama Personality Cult Grows Bigger and Stronger
Kids forced to memorize song praising BO. Funny but sad. ~Bob. Excerpt: Barack Obama read a book to school children about himself. The President even personally launched African-American's for Obama. Trifecta looks at the growing personality cult of Barack Obama, and the role the President plays in its creation.

Burning the Koran Was Wrong, but Stop Apologizing for Me, Mr. President
Excerpt: The president of the United States sends an apology letter because a couple of books were burned at a military base in Afghanistan? I had to read the Reuters story twice to believe it and, as unbelievable as it may sound, it is absolutely true.

Protestors throw urine bombs at Denver Police
Though it says they weren't "directly" associated with Occupy, BO said people like this were the reason he ran for office. Fooled me, I thought it was for the power and wealth. ~Bob. Excerpt: The Mall Ride was forced to shut down as protesters allegedly threw urine-filled balloons, set off fireworks and sprayed painted several vehicles including an RTD bus.

CAIR Slams NY Post for Political Cartoon That ‘Evokes Anti-Semitic Themes’
Excerpt: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on the New York Post to apologize for a political cartoon published in the paper Friday which CAIR says “evokes anti-Semitic themes” through its depiction of hook-nosed terrorists objecting to the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslims without warrant throughout the city.

American Kadi* in Pennsylvania’s Court
Excerpt: Responding with self-righteous indignation this past August, 2011 to queries about his judicial appointment of Sohail Mohammed, a Muslim, New Jersey governor Chris Christie proclaimed “Ignorance is behind the criticism of Sohail Mohammed.” He added, peevishly, that his “sharia-[Islamic]law business is crap . . . and I’m tired of dealing with the crazies!” But Christie’s uninformed and defamatory diatribe willfully ignored that Mr. Mohammed was a board member of the cultural jihadist American Muslim Union (AMU) organization, and personal attorney for AMU’s Mohammed Qatanani, an admitted member of Hamas, whose covenantal goal is the jihad genocide of Israel’s Jewish population.

Pakistanis Want Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Arrested For Hurting Feelings Of Muslims
Excerpt: A case for the arrest of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Cultural Editor of Danish Newspaper Fleming Rose, for allowing ‘blasphemous’ caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh), was registered at the Kotwali Police Station in Jhang. The case, FIR no 134/12, was registered after Advocate Muhammad Zahid Saeed, stirred by websites allegedly demeaning the Prophet (pbuh), filed a petition before the District Session Judge seeking a ban on websites including Facebook, YouTube, Google and others.
Excerpt: Health Affairs is a peer-reviewed journal, which is why it was surprising to see it publish a recent article on the Massachusetts health reform, by Long et al [gated, but with abstract]. Based on telephone surveys, the authors declare that RomneyCare “continued to fare well in 2010.” This is an important finding, as the authors consider RomneyCare “the template for the federal Affordable Care Act of 2010.” Unfortunately, in several cases the authors fail to inform readers that their results are contradicted by other, possibly more reliable, sources of information. They also neglect to put some of their results in proper context. Some examples:

Obama Doctrine Failure
Excerpt: Three years ago, President Barack Obama set forth to recast American foreign policy in an image of his own design. It was one in which the White House engaged with enemies and undercut allies, apologized for American exceptionalism, and favored the "soft power" of treaties and international organizations. This "Obama Doctrine" was tailor made to burnish America's supposedly flagging reputation on the world stage. Today we are seeing the disastrous results of a doctrine gone wrong. The Middle East is a logical starting point of this Obama Doctrine retrospective, a region where the President's soaring aspirations have been mugged by the reality on the ground. Beginning in Iran, Obama sought to engage a regime led by a man who has openly called for the destruction of Israel. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not mollified by the President's charm offensive, and now, even in the face of escalating sanctions, Iran is ratcheting up its rhetoric, threatening to cut off a quarter of the world's energy supply, and marching toward a nuclear weapon. The Obama Administration's response? An admonishment of Israel for considering a strike against the murderous Iranian regime.

Trial of U.S. Nonprofit Workers in Egypt Is Abruptly Put Off
Excerpt: The adjournment of the case, until April 26, adds another wrinkle: Congress recently passed a law requiring that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton certify that Cairo is making progress toward democracy before American aid can be delivered to Egypt. State Department officials have said that the deadline for the certification is in April and that Mrs. Clinton would not make the certification while Egypt continued to restrict the American groups and other nonprofit groups. (Look Akbar, we get the infidels’ money first, THEN we hang them. ~Bob.)

Europeans Agree to Review Size of Firewall Fund
Excerpt: The finance chiefs of the Group of 20 countries won a commitment from the European Union on Sunday to review the size of its planned rescue fund, as a step toward amassing international resources to guard against global financial turmoil.

Wikileaks publishes confidential emails from Stratfor
Excerpt: Whistleblowing website Wikileaks has begun publishing the first of more than five million confidential emails from US-based security think tank Stratfor. The group said the documents would reveal Stratfor's "web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods".

Here Comes Obama's 3 AM Phone Call by James Lewis
Excerpt: In the next 60 days Obama's presidential career will finally meet that concrete wall of reality. He will either fail or survive. Trouble is, he might take many innocent people with him if he fails. So far, the most hyped-up and unqualified president in US history has shown no capacity at all to act, in the face of a do-or-die challenge.

Excerpt: One rare apology might in theory make things safer for Americans; lots of them in fact make things more dangerous for our troops. In general, if you apologize gratuitously when there is no need, remorse loses its currency in the rare cases when it might be necessary. All this saying “we are sorry” has also energized our enemies as much as it has depressed the public at home.

Hamas Prime Minister Breaks With Syria
Excerpt: Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh saluted the Syrian revolution during a rally Friday in Cairo, in the group's first sign of support for rebels fighting their former patrons. The comments indicate Hamas may be moving out of the Shiite Syrian-Iranian orbit, and into alliances with conservative Arabian Gulf countries and new Islamic regimes throughout the Arab world.

Apologizing to Our Killers
Excerpt: When Jimmy Carter was president, I dreaded the morning news, which invariably brought some new embarrassment, whether it was the president boasting that America had “lost its inordinate fear of Communism,” or whispering to the Polish dictator that Carter had not lost hope of bringing the tyrant back to Christianity, or slashing our military strength, or apologizing to the Khomeini regime in Iran for presumed past American sins. The dread is back. Worse than before. The disgusting spectacle of President Obama personally — the usual first-person verbiage again in play — apologizing to murderous Afghan Muslims for the Koran book burning, without condemning the murder of American soldiers, is a new low in failed leadership.

The Week That Was: 2012-02-25 (February 25, 2012)
Excerpt: Is Heartland justified in intensely defending its work against individuals such as Gleick? Unlike the leaks during Climategate, Heartland is a private organization, not a government funded one. The information came from someone who clearly misrepresented himself, a felony, not from a leaker. And, Gleick’s efforts were to discredit individual funding sources, not discredit a small government funded team manipulating science. Please Article #1 (Just a reminder that all the “numbered” articles appear at the end of the summary. Article #2, “Obama skins the cat” is especially worth reading. Ron P.)

Expect the Unexpected
Excerpt: In one sense, energy has always been a constraint. Firewood is needed by less developed societies for cooking and warmth, and large areas have been effectively denuded of trees (a process which occurred much earlier in Europe as forests were cleared for farming, building and fuel), but this is used only intermittently. In the industrialised world, we now take for granted that energy is constantly on tap and, not surprisingly, sometimes get concerned about security of supply. In many ways, our sophisticated lifestyle is uniquely vulnerable; localised power cuts can cause real problems for people in the short term, but national or regional blackouts would soon cause chaos as IT systems went down. (This is an interesting view of the purely economic future (assuming there is one). Ron P. Of course there will be an economic future; I’ll trade you four skins for two spear points. ~Bob.)

Climategate sequel? Scientist lies to get Heartland Institute documents.
Excerpt: Some who advocate action to combat climate change equate Gleick's actions with those of whistleblowers, who make sensitive information public despite the legal and personal risks they may face. Others are more guarded. Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, notes that “it's wrong to obtain documents under false pretenses, just as it was wrong for hackers to have taken scientists' e-mails from the University of East Anglia” – a reference to “Climategate” in 2009. (Keeping in mind that Christian Science Monitor is strongly in the warmist camp, the mild tone of criticism in this article becomes a dismayed shout of outrage. Think about it: how bad does it have to be for the Union of Concerned (Creditcard-holding) Scientists to be against it? Ron P.)

Bending over backwards to let unlicensed drivers keep their cars.
Excerpt: It has been at once amusing and saddening to witness the debate here in Los Angeles over how police officers should respond when, having made a traffic stop, they find the driver to be unlicensed. At issue is the decision an officer must make as to whether or not to impound the car as authorized by California state law and, if the car is impounded, for how long. It’s been amusing to see so many people twist themselves into legal and intellectual contortions in arguing that cars driven by illegal immigrants should not be impounded, and saddening to know that no matter how tenuous their grip may be on the legal and intellectual arguments, these people will prevail regardless.

The Not-So-Vast Conspiracy
Excerpt: Press coverage has focused in particular on Heartland's plans to produce and distribute "educational material suitable for K-12 students on global warming that isn't alarmist or overtly political." Heartland is budgeting $200,000 this year for the effort, which in the past has "had only limited success," per one of the documents. Little wonder if teachers aren't returning Heartland's calls: Last year the World Wildlife Fund spent $68.5 million on "public education" alone. (It takes a lot more money to promote lies than to promote truth, I guess. Notice that when WSJ compares Heartland expenditures, it compares them to only the best-known individual organizations, not to the total by ALL the interested groups spending money to promote the AGW cause. The skeptics are such small Davids battling such large Goliaths, terms fail to express the lop-sidedness of the relationship. If the truth wasn’t on our side, we’d have faded away long ago. Ron P.)

Green – the Color of Rotten Corruption
Excerpt: As if it were his private stash of fun-money, Barack Obama set aside $80 billion of the Stimulus boondoggle to artificially pump up the green-energy industry through a DOE administered program of grants and loans. When three of the companies that received funding, Solyndra, Beacon Power, and Ener1, each declared bankruptcy in rapid succession, a rotten stench started to waft from the DOE and the White House. It quickly became apparent that there were numerous close connections between many of these heavily government funded businesses and Obama campaign supporters and operatives. (Drained the swamp, eh, Nancy? Or, were you hoping to wash it clean by flooding it? The sheer scale of this makes all previous lootings of the public look like kid-stuff. Ron P.)

Wikileaks Pairs with Anonymous to Publish Intelligence Firm’s Dirty Laundry
Excerpt: WikiLeaks did not mention the source of the reported five gigabytes of e-mails in its press release, but did say it has been working for months with 25 media outlets from around the world to analyze the documents. The first batch of leaked e-mails purport to show that Stratfor monitored the political prankster group known as The Yes Men on behalf of Dow Chemical, which has been targeted by The Yes Men over the company’s handling of the Bhopal disaster. The e-mails also purport to show Stratfor’s attempt to set up an investment fund with a Goldman Sachs director to trade on the intelligence Stratfor collects, as well as give insight into how the private intelligence firm acquires, and sometimes pays for, information. (Gee whiz, it's all being done to save us from the evil rich! If anyone notices some of the uber-geeks have vanished over the next few weeks…. They might not be celebrating in Disneyland. Ron P.)

Big Asteroid 2011 AG5 Could Pose Threat to Earth in 2040
Excerpt: Scientists are keeping a close eye on a big asteroid that may pose an impact threat to Earth in a few decades. The space rock, which is called 2011 AG5, is about 460 feet (140 meters) wide. It may come close enough to Earth in 2040 that some researchers are calling for a discussion about how to deflect it. (Good luck with this and the national debt kids—outside my lifetime. ~Bob.)

Bradley Manning Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Excerpt: Bradley Manning has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, the Associated Press reports. Manning is most famous for allegedly leaking troves of classified documents, including State Department cables and Military files, to WikiLeaks. He was arraigned last week in Ft. Meade, Maryland and is being charged with "engineering the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history." Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who allegedly received the leaked information from Manning, was nominated last year for the award, though he did not ultimately receive it. (As deserving as Obama, except he’s not black. ~Bob.)