Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for May 1, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for May 1, 2013
Click on the link to see the full SitRep
Robert A. Hall

I will be traveling on business through Sunday. I will have a computer, but not sure how much time to post a SitRep. ~Bob.

Information on my books

Comment on “I’m Tired” from Poland
Sir, Brave and wise words. I'm not American, but I'm tired too. I'm younger than you, healthy, hard working girl from Poland and I'm tired of listening people crying because they're unemployed (I found job in Germany, 1150 km away from my family and home), they don't have a second car (I don't have a first one) or that they must rent a house. Well, I live with my mom (when I'm at home) and I'm saving every cent I earn, working 13 hours a day/7 days a week. You should also mention that Polish Troops were and are fighting for freedom. In Iraq, Afghanistan and few other countries all over the world. God bless you and your family! 

Worth reading: The Coming ObamaCare Shock: Millions of Americans will pay more for health insurance, lose their coverage, or have their hours of work cut back. By Daniel Kessler
Excerpt: In recent weeks, there have been increasing expressions of concern from surprising quarters about the implementation of ObamaCare. … These individuals are worried for good reason. The unpopular health-care law's rollout is going to be rough. It will also administer several price (and other) shocks to tens of millions of Americans.

Worth Reading: The Obama Borg: How “man-caused disasters” replaced Islamist terrorism in the Obama lexicon. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: In Star Trek lore, the Borg was a collective of servile drone operatives that sought to assimilate other species into its “hive mind.”
Something akin to that creepy groupthink arose when the Obama administration took power and sought to reformulate the so-called war on terror. Almost immediately, Obama operatives suggested that radical Islamists were no more likely than any other group to commit acts of terrorism. In fact, the very idea of terrorism — not to mention a war against it — was supposedly a Bush-administration construct unfairly aimed at Muslims. (I just read in the May issue of Leatherneck that Dr. Hanson’s father was a B-29 pilot in WWII. He had a cousin with whom he was raised like a brother, Vic Hanson, who was a Marine KIA on Sugarloaf on Okinawa. Dr. Hanson is named for the Marine. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Publicised by Euractiv and many others yesterday was the news that the University of Delaware had sold power from electric vehicles to the power grid for the first time – in what appears to be the first working application of the Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) concept. There has to be a reason why a website specialising in EU news should be carrying this item, and that is undoubtedly because V2G is slated as an essential of the EU's response to increased use of intermittent and highly variable renewable energy, and in particular the use of windmills. 

Bomb in Central Damascus Kills 13
Excerpt: A powerful explosion ripped through Marjeh Square in the center of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Tuesday, killing 13 people and wounding over 70, according to state television, which showed video of what it said was the aftermath. The bombing came a day after an explosion targeted the convoy of the Syrian prime minister, Wael Nader al-Halqi, in the affluent Mezze district of Damascus.

Israeli Airstrike Kills Palestinian in Gaza
Excerpt: A Palestinian man was killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza on Tuesday hours after an Israeli civilian was stabbed to death by a Palestinian in the West Bank. The two attacks, coming against a backdrop of growing tensions, were the first such killings in months and raised the specter of further confrontation.

Marines Have Six Four-Stars--But Not for Long
Excerpt: Earlier this month [April 19], the officers gathered at the Home of the Commandants at the Marine Barracks Washington, the only time six active-duty four star generals have gathered together, according to the service. Except for a handful of five-star admirals and generals in American history, four-stars is the highest attainable rank in the military. And for the Marines it is unusual to have four or five, much less six. (Probably won't ever see this many Four-Stars in the Corps again. What a feat it would be to have a copy of this picture autographed by all six Generals. --MasterGuns)

The incredible stagnant U.S. economy. By Neil Irwin 
Excerpt: We’re still stuck in the muck. That’s the conclusion to draw from the new report on gross domestic product. The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, which was an improvement from the weak 0.4 percent of the final months of 2012. But Friday’s report was nearly a percentage point below analysts’ expectations, and for the last six months, number averages to only a 1.45 percent annual rate of growth. (The country voted on November 6 for anti-growth, anti-business, anti-job policies, and must live with the results. Elections have consequences. ~Bob.)

Obama By Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt
This president can't get squat done about North Korea or Syria, and so he doesn't want us to focus on those far-off lands. His policies have done diddlysquat for most of the long-term unemployed. He's not interested in throwing people off public assistance, even when they don't deserve it, and he wants to insist that every terror attack is a one-time occurrence, instead of connected bits of an international ideological movement dedicated to killing Americans. Obamacare's a mess, and he's hoping you don't notice. The national debt continues to increase, even with the alleged horrors of sequestration. "God, gays, and guns." That's what he's got left. And that's what he hopes stays on your mind, for as many days between now and November 2014 as possible.

Worth Reading: The Art of the Impossible: It’s more important for a policy to sound good than to be feasible. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: Someone once called politics “the art of the possible.” But, in the era of the modern welfare state, politics is largely the art of the impossible. Those people morbid enough to keep track of politicians’ promises may remember how Barack Obama said that Obamacare would lower medical costs – and lots of people bought it. But if you stop and think, however old-fashioned that may seem these days, do you seriously believe that millions more people can be given medical care and that vast new bureaucracies can be created to administer payment for it, with no additional costs?

Excerpt: An article in London's Telegraph is refocusing attention on a school program run by Hamas in Gaza that trains children how to use weapons and explosives.

'Beach Week' Draws Black Crowd - And Violence: 1 weekend: 3 shootings, 3 stabbings, 3 robberies: By Colin Flaherty
Excerpt: Reporters with all the local media had trouble describing what happened over the weekend when 40,000 black people descended on Virginia Beach for a party. Their audiences, however, did not. … “Because it was a group of young black college people everyone is scared to say anything for fear of being called a racist,” he said in a post to a Virginian-Pilot news story. (Three shootings, stabbings and robberies? Slow day in Chicago. ~Bob.)

AP Scrubs ‘Muslim’ from Obama’s Self-Referential Joke. By Robert Spencer 
Excerpt: Obama said: “These days I look in the mirror and have to admit, I’m not the strapping young Muslim Socialist that I used to be.” But, noted Huston, “in one version of the night’s story (as seen at Huffington PostTime MagazineBreitbart Wires, the Ottawa Citizen, and The Columbian to name a few), the AP’s Bradley Klapper forgot one part of the President’s joke,” reporting his words as “I’m not the strapping young Socialist that I used to be,”

Excerpt: Keep your resume updated boys and girls! Looks like employment in America is going to be a hard road to hoe in the coming years. We just saw the GDP numbers come out on Friday and economists were bemoaning the sluggish 2.5% Economic Growth Rate. Last quarter it was worse; less than half a percent in growth. Now I'm not an expert here so I have to go with formulas that all economists accept. One of those truisms is that, just to accommodate new workers entering the work force, America must have a minimum of 4% sustained growth quarter after quarter.
My boyfriend the bomber
Excerpt: AN ex-girlfriend of dead Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev has told how he tried to brainwash her into becoming a Muslim fanatic who hated America. Nadine Ascencao, 24, said Tamerlan made her wear an Islamic hijab and pray to Allah and slapped her when she wore Western clothes.

Excerpt: On April 23, Saad al-Durihim, a Saudi Wahhabi sheikh, posted a tweet on Twitter in which he said that jihadist fighters in Iraq should adopt a "heavy-handed" approach and kill any Shiites they can get their hands own, including children and women. This is so that the "rawafid" — a term used by Wahhabi Salafists to refer to Shiites — will fear them. (Catholic priest calls on Catholics to kill Evangelicals -- no, wait... If a Catholic really had done that, there would have been an international uproar. But no one will take much notice of this. –Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.Org.)

Germany Charges 4 With Sending Iran Reactor Parts
Excerpt: Federal prosecutors say they have charged three German-Iranian dual nationals and a German man with breaking export laws for allegedly supplying Iran with parts needed to build a nuclear reactor in violation of the country's trade embargo.

The Snake in the Bloody Garden
Excerpt: The left has a clearly defined set of responses to a terrorist attack. After all the hopes for a properly right wing terrorist have come to naught, it begins the long slow process of rolling back the laws and emotional attitudes stemming from the attack. For it, terrorism, like anything else, either fits into its narrative or conflict with it. The narrative defines the world, past, present and future, in terms of the political agenda of the left. An event that clashes with the agenda must have its meaning changed so that the power of the narrative is restored.

National Editorial: President Obama steals credit for energy success he opposed
Excerpt: All presidents take credit for the good things that happen on their watch no matter if they actually deserve it, and they blame their predecessors' follies for the bad things, as well. But President Obama may be the first chief executive to take credit for the results of things he has opposed throughout his time in the Oval Office. The latest example came last week, when the Department of the Interior announced it had approved 21 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for energy resource exploration and development.

US forces could have intervened in Benghazi, ‘special operator’ tells Fox News
http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/30/u-s-forces-could-have-intervened-in-benghazi-special-operator-tells-fox-news/#ixzz2Ry3E42v3
Excerpt: Those with knowledge of what went down in Benghazi “feel threatened and are afraid to talk,” the source told Fox News. Active duty service members within the special operations community “would be decapitated” if they spoke out, the source insisted, though that same community feels betrayed by the Obama administration. “There were at least two elite military units that could have made it in time” to preempt or turn back the second attack, Housley reports. (Housley a reporter from Fox News. –Barb.)

Excerpt: “I’m going to ask some folks over there [on Capitol Hill] who care about fighting terrorism — but also care about who we are as a people — to step up and help me on this,” he said during an April 30 press conference that was announced just hours before it was held…. The jihadis should be transferred from the military’s tropical prison in Cuba into conventional civilian-run prisons in the United States, he added.

Excerpt: Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to recognize that climate change is hurting women more than men, and could even drive poor women to "transactional sex" for survival. The resolution, from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and a dozen other Democrats, says the results of climate change include drought and reduced agricultural output….."[F]ood insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health," it says. (Feeble minded folks. Global cooling would be far worse for food supplies. And if they are going to be whores, they can run for Congress. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: The State Department on Monday defended its decision not to have lower-level employees testify before Congress about last year's attack in BenghaziLibya.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is pushing ahead with his investigation of the terrorist assault, and has asked for legal protections for lower-level employees who might be called to testify. The State Department pushed back on Monday and said the independent probe into the attack "should be enough" for lawmakers.

Excerpt: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are getting frustrated about President Obama’s apparent lack of urgency in speeding up the claims process for veterans waiting nearly a year on average to get processed by the VA. Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) today sent Obama a letter asking the president to take “direct action and involvement” in ending the backlog in which more than 600,000 veterans are stuck. Sixty-five other senators joined on to the plea for the president to get things moving.

Excerpt: Will Al Jazeera America, like its mothership network, soon be bringing us the ravings of Richard Falk? Would Al Gore perhaps like to comment on this brand of commentary, and whether giving it a platform is a service to the American public?

Monday, April 29, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 30, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 30, 2013
Robert A. Hall

My health and approaching retirement
I have just announced to my Board that I will retire as Executive Director on November 30, 2013, unless a lung transplant or another sharp decline in my health forces me out earlier. Not unexpectedly, the lung transplant re-evaluation at the VA in Madison last week showed a sharp decline in my health over the last three months. Given that pulmonary fibrosis is a disease that can go on at the same level for months or years before taking a drop, and that my lung function improved in 2012 due to my weight loss, I was hopeful that I'd be able to meet my goal of working until I was 70. Unfortunately with PF, it's like an airplane flying ever lower--eventually you fly into the ground. My pulmonary function test and blood oxygen test both had lower numbers than December. Worst was my six-minute walk. In December, I walked 1,600 feet, on 3 LPM of oxygen, and my oxygen saturation (O2 sats) level dropped to only 87% at the lowest point. As you doubtless know, below 90% is considered risky for the heart and other organs. (No jokes about Marines not having hearts!) Last week, I only walked 1,200 feet, on 6 LPM of O2 and my sats dropped to 77%. The only positive was that at rest, without O2, my sats still stay at 91%, just barely in the safe range, though this is down from about 94% in December. This will keep my lung allocation score low, making it unlikely I will have a transplant soon, though light household activity such as making the bed or doing laundry leaves me breathless, even with O2 running. My cough has grown much worse, both the dry "PF cough" as my lungs attempt to cough up the dead areas, and especially the productive cough, as it has gotten harder for them to clear the mucus from PF and my allergies. This results in long coughing spells, drops my sats into the 80s, leaves me breathless and often with back and/or chest pain. It also interferes with my verbal communication skills. I do not know what this will mean for this blog. I will be joining the ranks of the poor and unemployed, and it takes time but brings in no revenue. I was off line for two days and had 800 e-mails when I returned, which is becoming increasingly difficult to manage as my health declines. We shall see. ~Bob.

John Quincy Adams Quote
When John Quincy Adams was eighty years of age a friend said to him: "Well, how is John Quincy Adams?" "Thank you," he said, "John Quincy Adams is quite well. But the house where he lives is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it, and it is becoming quite uninhabitable. I shall have to move out soon. But John Quincy Adams is quite well, thank you." (Bob Hall is quite well, thank you. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: Happy Birthday to a Great President. By Mark W. Hendrickson 
Excerpt: Monroe played a key role in Washington's famous 1776 Christmas night sortie across the Delaware River. The teenaged Monroe was the co-leader, with one of Washington's cousins, of an advance party of 50 that had crossed the river ahead of the rest of Washington's troops, and then captured the two strategically placed cannons that defended the Hessian military camp outside of Trenton. Though seriously wounded by a musket shot, Monroe stood his ground, repelling repeated Hessian attempts to recapture the big guns, thereby saving many American lives (including, possibly, Washington's), and thereby making that indispensable, resounding victory possible.

Antiabortion group releases videos of clinic workers discussing live births
Obama’s position. ~Bob. Excerpt: An antiabortion group that mounted a six-month undercover investigation has released videos this week that raise questions about what might happen to a baby as a result of an unsuccessful abortion. One video features a D.C. doctor, Cesare Santangelo, who said that in the unlikely event that an abortion resulted in a live birth, “we would not help it.” Santangelo was answering repeated questions from an undercover operative about what would happen, hypothetically, if she gave birth after an unsuccessful abortion.

Liberal Chick Gets College Students to Sign Pressure Cooker Ban!
http://clashdaily.com/2013/04/liberal-chick-gets-college-students-to-sign-pressure-cooker-ban/

West Haven police charge local man in theft of cash register from convenience store
Excerpt: Police have arrested Michael L. Peterson at 288 Front Ave. for allegedly brandishing a hand saw and threatening a clerk before stealing the cash register Sunday at Sam's Food Mart, 667 Campbell Ave., according to a press release from police. (I bet it was one of those assault hand saws and must be banned. They're "weapons of mass construction." --George)

China's Militant Nationalism. By Gordon G. Chang
Excerpt: As we kept providing incentives for unacceptable behavior, Beijing predictably became less cooperative and more assertive. Worse, the less and less the Chinese felt the desire to engage us, the more and more we felt the need to engage them. If we do not change our policies, our indulgence may end up creating the very thing we have desperately sought to avoid: an incurably aggressive Chinese state.

Worth Reading: The Premature Mirandizing of a Terrorist. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: It was late at night when she began walking home from the bus stop, but crime rates in Phoenix, Arizona were only beginning the upward rise that would take hold in the seventies. In 1963, the year that Lois Ann Jameson was walking home, there had been 222 rapes. Ten years later, that number would stand at 637. Today there are over 2,000 rapes a year in Phoenix; ten times as many. But one of those rapes would be hers. And it would lead to a new standard of protection for murderers and rapists.

Time to Derail the Saudi "Visa Express." By Clare M. Lopez
http://lopez.pundicity.com/13224/saudi-visa-express
Excerpt: One of the more striking—and worrisome—aspects of the April 2013 Boston Marathon terror attack and the cross-border al-Qa'eda/Iran plot to bomb a passenger railway that runs between New York City and Toronto, Canada is the realization that all four suspects so far identified in the two plots had entered legally into the United States and Canada, respectively. Crossing legally into Western countries targeted for terror attacks, entering immigrant and refugee streams without drawing attention from security services, and blending into existing multicultural communities while establishing personas indistinguishable from those of tens of thousands of other new arrivals, appears to be a tried and true modus operandi for Islamic jihadis. It definitely worked for the fifteen of nineteen 9/11 hijackers who were Saudis.

Report: Obama Spent Twice As Much Time On Vacation/Golf As Economy
Excerpt: According to a new report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Institute (GAI), President Barack Obama has spent over twice as many hours on vacation and golf (976 hours) as he has in economic meetings of any kind (474.4 hours).

Desegregation, before Brown: Barry Goldwater and the forgotten campaign in Phoenix. By Kevin D. Williamson
Excerpt: Here, Barry Goldwater enters the story. Goldwater was a department-store proprietor and a member of the Phoenix city council. He was a very conservative Republican, something that was not at all at odds with his membership in the NAACP, which was, in the 1950s, an organization in which Republicans and conservatives still were very much welcome. 

5 car bombs kill 26 in Shiite areas across Iraq
Excerpt: Five car bombs exploded Monday in predominantly Shiite cities and districts in central and southern Iraq, killing 26 civilians and wounding dozens, officials said. (I wonder f Iraq won’t return to the Saddam era when his son would call a school principal and order him to send over a pretty young Shiite school girl to be raped. You know, what liberals call the “good old days” before bush stopped this. ~Bob.)

New Twinkie Maker Shuns Union Labor
Excerpt: Chief Executive C. Dean Metropoulos said the company will pump $60 million in capital investments into the plants between now and September and aims to hire at least 1,500 workers. But they won't be represented by unions, including the one whose nationwide strike sparked the 86-year-old company's decision to shut down in November.

Exempting Congress From ObamaCare: The Members try to protect themselves from 'Medicaid plus.'
Excerpt: The Politico website broke the story Thursday morning that Congressional leaders were in hush-hush talks to exempt themselves and their staff from the wonders of ObamaCare. The story succeeded in blowing up the talks, but there's a bigger story here about Congressional intentions that is worth telling.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 29, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 29, 2013
Robert A. Hall

Your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion. Please forward to friends who need to be informed. This SitRep (Military for “Situation Report”) is created by many readers who send me items for inclusion, which I would have likely missed or skipped. And I can only spend at most three hours a night pulling stuff, plus the healthcare or economic stuff that crosses my desk at work. As always, I—and you—owe them thanks and appreciation. I post articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and discussion. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article, or that I was able to verify the information presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to post things that are false, or too far a stretch, regardless of the view point, but I don’t always succeed. As always on the Net, or in the legacy media, you must read critically and with skepticism.

Advice for my Granddaughter: For When I'm Gone
https://www.createspace.com/3792897
All royalties go to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (which gets a larger royalty if you order directly through Create Space.).

Worth Reading: Boston Bomber Magistrate’s Middle Eastern Connections. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: As FOX News reported and Robert Spencer noted, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stopped talking once he was prematurely read his Miranda rights. That helps the authorities establish the lone wolf narrative. Whatever else we might have learned from him is probably lost.

Excerpt: Bush was honest, his tenure was without corruption, and he entered and left office with dignity, without either the Obama-like reprehensible blame gaming of his predecessor or the shameful pardons granted by Clinton.

Vietnam Sucker-Punches the US on Human Rights and Religious Freedom. By Michael Benge
Excerpt: For years, the American Embassy, the State Department, and the Senate have enabled communist Vietnam, ignoring the regime's abuses of religious freedom and human rights to allow it privileged access to U.S. and international investments, markets, and donor aid. Now, Vietnam has sucker punched the U.S. by increasing its repression. (They're Communists--it's what they do. And aiding and abetting their oppression is what liberal do. ~Bob. It's way, way more than time for our politicians to stop doing the kid glove treatment of Hanoi. They care nothing for human rights, have enormous abuses going all the time, either for suppression or for corruption. We got them into the international trade organization, gave them MFN status, and as soon as they had what they wanted they stop even the minor bits of loosening control they had played to get us to accommodate their wishes. Time to stop all that, go back to CPC status, and tell them plainly that relations will not go anywhere until they back off these horrendous abuses. Meanwhile, we need to give a break to the refugees from the abuses, and fast track them into refugee status. It's among the least things we can do. --Del)

Excerpt: John Adams, 61, was shot and killed by police in a drug raid on the wrong house. His wife Loraine, 70, was also handcuffed and forced to the ground. (The cops claimed they yelled "police." Of course, no thugs would ever lie and yell "police" if they were just crooks looking to get in. Just ask the members of the North Side Gang in Chicago who lined up against a brick wall when the guys in police uniforms told them to. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: The New York Times thinks the Boston bombers "self-radicalized" on the Web. But it didn't look at their mosque, which has churned out other terrorists, too. USA Today, on the other hand, did look at their mosque — the Islamic Society of Boston — and found "a curriculum that radicalizes people," according to a local source quoted in the paper's investigation. "Other people have been radicalized there." In fact, several ISB members and leaders have been convicted or suspected of terrorism, including: (Going on all over the country. But you don't dare say anything, because a charge of "Islamophobia" makes you an outcast, may end or career. Better to let people die. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: According to the sheikh, Egypt must be less cooperative with the U.S. and at the same time insist for more monetary aid. If so, the sheikh believes that “America will accept; it will kiss our hands; and it will also increase its aid. And we will consider its aid as jizya, not as aid. But first we must make impositions on it.”

British traitors in high places making the UK even more unsafe
Excerpt: Hesham Mohammed Ali won an appeal against moves by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to deport him because of his crimes. He convinced a judge he had a “family life” which had to be respected because he had a “genuine” relationship with a British woman – despite already having two children by different women with whom he now has no contact.

Quote
To buy books would be a good thing if we also could buy the time to read them. --Arthur Schopenhauer (Alas, too true. ~Bob.)

Russia caught Tamerlan Tsarnaev and mother on wiretap discussing jihad
Excerpt: Russian authorities secretly recorded a telephone conversation in 2011 in which one of the Boston bombing suspects vaguely discussed jihad with his mother, officials said Saturday, days after the U.S. government finally received details about the call. In another conversation, the mother of now-dead bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, officials said.

Calling Islam “Islam.” By Bosch Fawstin 
Excerpt: Imagine, if during past wars, we used terms such as “Radical Nazism,” “Extremist Shinto” and “Militant Communism.” The implication would be that there are good versions of those ideologies, which would then lead some to seek out “moderate” Nazis. Those who use terms other than “Islam” create the impression that it’s some variant of Islam that’s behind the enemy that we’re facing. A term such as “Militant Islam” is redundant, but our politicians continue praising Islam as if it were their own religion. Bush told us “Islam is peace” — after 2,996 Americans were murdered in its name. He maintained that illusion throughout his two terms, and never allowed our soldiers to defeat the enemy. And now we have Obama, who tells us, from Egypt: (The term "Islamophobia" was invented to tie us up in political correctness so we could not prevent things like the Boston Bombing. Seems to be working very well. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: Morocco Fatwa Demands Death Sentence For Christian Converts
Excerpt: Christian converts in Morocco feared for their future Thursday, April 25, after the country's highest Islamic institute issued a fatwa demanding the death penalty for Muslims who renounce their religion. The Supreme Ulema Council of Morocco (CSO), a body of Islamic scholars headed by King Mohammed VI, said that Muslims who reject their faith "should be condemned to death." (Ah, Moderate Morocco under the Religion of Peace. Don't go all Islamophobic. It's their culture under Shari'a Law, and if a few Christians have to die, well, the New York Times and several federal courts have said opposing Shari'a Law here is racist. Though they don't say what "race" Muslims belong to. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: "You treated her like a piece of meat": Yet another Muslim sex slavery case in the UK
Excerpt: The Qur'an commentator Maulana Bulandshahri explains the wisdom of this practice, and longs for the good old days: ... None of the injunctions pertaining to slavery have been abrogated in the Shari’ah. The reason that the Muslims of today do not have slaves is because they do not engage in Jihad (religion war). Their wars are fought by the instruction of the disbelievers (kuffar) and are halted by the same felons. The Muslim [sic] have been shackled by such treaties of the disbelievers (kuffar) whereby they cannot enslave anyone in the event of a war. Muslims have been denied a great boon whereby every home could have had a slave. May Allah grant the Muslims the ability to escape the tentacles of the enemy, remain steadfast upon the Din (religion) and engage in Jihad (religion war) according to the injunctions of Shari’ah. Amen!

Mom wore a burka to go undercover in Egypt and take back her son, 12, who was kidnapped by his father and forced to live as a Muslim
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2314690/Kalli-Atteya-wore-burka-undercover-Egypt-son-12-kidnapped-father-forced-live-Muslim.html
Excerpt: A mother dressed up in a burka and flew to Egypt to take back her son who had been kidnapped by his father and forced to live as a Muslim. Kalli Atteya, from Pennsylvania, put on the traditional Muslim clothing as a disguise so she could wait until 12-year-old Niko got off the school bus in the city of Alexandria. She then grabbed his arm and moved him towards a waiting motorized cart with the words: ‘Get in.’

Excerpt: A council worker who was found with 352 computer discs containing terrorist material, including footage of executions and the 9/11 attacks, was today jailed for two years. London Borough of Hackney revenue officer Khalid Baqa, 48, also used his work computer to watch the footage and trawl Islamic websites. He stashed the discs - which contained 26 hours of speeches by the hate preacher Anwar al-Awlaki - in his car and his children’s bedroom.

Sharia in action in Iran: 850,000 female children are married
Excerpt: "The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)." -- Bukhari 7.62.88 Muslims take this seriously and imitate Muhammad in this. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: "Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed." The Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. 

Excerpt: "East is East..and West is West..and never the twain shall meet" Eleven years ago, having returned home from living and working in the Middle East for a decade, I sat watching TV and seeing American troops invade Iraq. I turned to my wife and said "what the hell is Bush doing?" We were already well into the quagmire of Afghanistan and were now "doubling down" by invading Iraq! A decade of living in the region had proven to me that you can't democratize a Muslim culture. I knew Bush had access to diplomats who surely told him the same thing. So why were we getting so deeply involved? Why were we not just going after the Taliban and Al Quada, doing a quick hit, then getting the hell out? Ten years later we finally left Iraq, after spending a trillion dollars and sacrificing American lives and Iraq is as troublesome as it was before we went in. They pal around with Iran and have no special gratitude for America. The same tired story in Afghanistan. More lives and more national treasure, and only to prop up a corrupt Muslim regime. ("But there is neither East nor West, nor border, nor breed, nor birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the Earth." If memory still serves. ~Bob.)

Creating Monsters: Terrorism, Welfare and “Celebrating Diversity.” By Derek Hunter 
Excerpt: They came to this country legally…and got on welfare. Why was a family that literally brought nothing to the table allowed to immigrate? I haven’t seen an answer yet, but I suspect asking the question will be called “bigoted.” As would asking why we should legalize millions of unskilled workers when we have too many of them already. In the days since the Boston terrorist attack, we’ve learned the Tsarnaev family – except for Uncle Ruslan – is exactly the type of people a functional immigration system should be designed to keep out. It’s not, and despite all the lip-service being paid by advocates, the “reform” making its way through the U.S. Senate won’t do anything about it either.

Fisker: Free to Make Flashy Cars in Finland. By Marita Noon 
Excerpt: With nearly a year’s worth of exclusive reporting on Obama’s green-energy crony-corruption scandal, you might think we’ve covered them all—but the hits just keep on coming. This week Fisker is in the news due to its failure to meet a Monday payment on their Department of Energy (DOE) loan, with $10 million due, and Wednesday’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing: “Green Energy Oversight: Examining the Department of Energy’s Bad Bet on Fisker Automotive.” Along with researcher Christine Lakatos, who writes The Green Corruption Files, I’ve addressed Fisker before.

Speeding toward Gomorrah
Excerpt: ….They argue that in an unsuccessful abortion, where the child is born alive, a woman’s right to a dead baby must be preserved. As the left’s Orwellian overlords assure us, this isn’t murder, it’s “health care.” ….And with the help of their media disciples, they will continue to assure us, as they redefine depravity downward, that any behavior which brings personal pleasure, fulfillment or empowerment — unless, as Deborah Kerr added, “it’s unkind or violent” — people have a civil right to express and a moral right to celebrate.

Worth Reading: Many Openings at State Agency Go to Those With Ties to Cuomo
Excerpt: The next month, the agency hired 23-year-old Andrew Moelis, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, for another new position, strategic planning associate, at a salary of $75,000 a year. Shortly before Mr. Moelis’s first day of work, his father, Ron Moelis, a prominent real estate developer, gave $25,000 to Mr. Cuomo’s re-election campaign, according to the records. (Show me your shocked face. ~Bob.)

Worried parents force cancellation of Payton-Brooks baseball game
Excerpt: A baseball game between two Chicago public high schools was canceled Saturday when some parents from a North Side school refused to let their children travel to the South Side for the game, saying they were worried about the safety of their kids.

Atlantic asks: 'Why is a conservative rocker [Kid Rock] one of the few to lower ticket prices so that fans of lesser means can attend?'

Departing French Envoy Has Frank Words on Afghanistan
Excerpt: It is always hard to gauge what diplomats really think unless one of their cables ends up on WikiLeaks, but every once in a while, the barriers fall and a bit of truth slips into public view.

What Does the White Man Owe Blacks? By Wayne Dupree
Black writer. ~Bob. Excerpt: No one can completely understand the current position of the American Negro (sometimes referred to as African American). Liberal Blacks in America can't deny the fact that they have become the "Professional Victim" here in 2012. This is mainly attributed to the preaching of victimization that has been pounded into the brains of Liberal Blacks by Paternalistic White Liberal law makers, charlatans, crooks and thieves left over by the Civil Rights movement in addition to a conclave of ignorant and bafoonish Black clergy beholden to the Democratic Party. 

National Journal: DC Never More Out Of Touch Than During White House Correspondents Dinner
Excerpt: Ron Fournier at the National Journal blistered Saturday's White House Correspondents Dinner, where celebrities and the permanent political class members -- and the reporters who are supposed to keep them accountable -- wine and dine the weekend away, oblivious to the stark realities outside the Washington "Boomtown" bubble. The publication wrote Washington, "never looks more out of touch than it will this weekend, when movie stars, music moguls, media mavens and their advertisers" gallivant around Washington, D.C., which NBC newsman Tom Brokaw compared to Versailles.

"In Defense of a Good Guy with A Gun." By Brian Castner, The Daily Beast.
Excerpt: In the aftermath of the Newtown school shooting and Boston attacks, Iraq war vet Brian Castner considers his own experience of returning from war and arming himself to protect his family. He speaks to gun expert David Grossman about why we need “sheepdogs” in schools to defend students, the power of violent video games, and profiling for aggression A refreshing answer to the many "guns are bad" diatribes so often delivered by individuals who do not know the difference between a magazine and a clip, between a muzzle and a trigger.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 28, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 28, 2013
Robert A. Hall

I have been out of pocket for a health care lung transplant re-eval at the VA last week. And fighting a touch of the flu. Just back on the computer to over 800 e-mails, many of which I will have to delete unread. Sorry.

Still a lot of interesting links I was able to pull. Muslims who didn't get the "Islam is a religion of peace" memo were apparently very active while I was off line. ~Bob

Information on my books

Excerpt: A jury in South Bend, Indiana has found that fraud put President Obama and Hillary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot in Indiana in the 2008 election. Two Democratic political operatives were convicted Thursday night in the illegal scheme after only three hours of deliberations. They were found guilty on all counts.

N. Korea: Detained American will soon face trial
Excerpt: North Korea said Saturday that a detained American allegedly tried to “topple” its government and will soon be put on trial, a potential complication as Washington tries to ramp down tensions stemming from Pyongyang’s recent weapons tests and threats of nuclear attack. (I was hoping it was Dennis Rodman. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: The FBI says a Mississippi man whose home and business were searched as part of an investigation into poisoned letters sent to the president and others has been arrested in the case. FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden says 41-year-old Everett Dutschke was arrested Saturday at his Tupelo home in connection with the letters, which allegedly contained ricin.

6 Reasons Why States Should Continue to Oppose Obamacare: States can block many of the law's worst provisions and most troubling consequences. By Peter Suderman
Excerpt: Over the past year, 34 states have decided against implementing some, or any, parts of Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges—and with good reason. As Cato Institute Health Policy Director Michael Cannon argues in his recent paper“50 Vetoes: How States Can Stop the Obama Health Care Law,” states have the power to block many of Obamacare’s most troublesome provisions and consequences simply by refusing to participate in the implementation process. Cannon’s paper provides an array of reasons why state legislators should resist the law. Here are six:

Greed Is Green: How the Profit Motive Helps the Environment. By Pierre Desrochers
Excerpt: Yet, as documented in several studies, our environment has paradoxically gotten cleaner and greener as we have become wealthier. These counterintuitive results are typically conveyed through inverted U-shaped “environmental Kuznets curves” (EKCs) that document how emissions and/or concentrations associated with several pollutants first rise with economic development, but then fall as income exceeds a threshold level (Figure 1). (How have non-Capitalist societies done with the environment? ~Bob .)

Can Wind ‘Compete’ without Subsidy?
Excerpt: The first witness, Frank Rusco, director of energy and natural resources for the Government Accountability Office, summarized his March 2013 GAO report on federal financial support for wind energy. Rusco testified that nine agencies administer 82 programs providing $4 billion in financial support to the wind industry in 2011 in the form of grants, loans, loan guarantees, and tax expenditures (targeted tax breaks). Some wind projects received support from seven initiatives, Rusco found. (No, but it competes well for Obama's Green Crony Capitalism handout. ~Bob.)

Feds spend at least $890,000 on fees for empty accounts. By David A. Fahrenthold
Excerpt: If you are a federal worker on furlough this week — or an airline passenger delayed by federal furloughs — you might want to save your blood pressure and go read another story. This one is about all the money the U.S. government spends on . . . nothing.

Excerpt: The CIA asked the main U.S. counterterrorism agency to add the name of one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers to a watch list more than a year before the attack, according to U.S. officials. The agency took the step after Russian authorities contacted officials there in the fall of 2011 and raised concerns that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was seen as an increasingly radical Islamist and could be planning to travel overseas. (Boy, the media will rake the Bush administration for incompetence. Oh, wait, never mind. Nothing to see here. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: A rusted 5-foot-tall piece of landing gear believed to be from one of the hijacked planes destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks has been discovered near the World Trade Center wedged between a luxury apartment building and a mosque site that once prompted virulent national debate about Islam and free speech. The twisted metal part, jammed in an 18-inch-wide sliver of open space between the buildings, has cables and levers on it and is about 17 inches wide and 4 feet long, New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Friday. “It’s a manifestation of a horrific terrorist act a block and a half away from where we stand,” he said. (When those working on the Islamic mosque found the debris, they called—ready?—911. --Barb.)

Excerpt: One person was stabbed in the stomach and another was stabbed in the head and arms as they tried to defend themselves. As Ly looked for a third victim, a 47 year old man with a conceal carry permit saw what was happening. He pulled out his gun and told LY to drop the weapon or he would shoot him. Ly complied and dropped the knife and was subdued by Smith employees. (Couldn't they have just declare it a "knife free zone"? ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Critics view the academic detailing project as a conflict-of-interest because it allows the federal government — which has an incentive under Obamacare to keep health care costs low — to guide doctors toward choosing cheaper generic drugs for their patients. Pfizer CEO Ian Read strongly agreed with remarks calling the program a conflict of interest during the question-and-answer session at the annual Pfizer shareholder meeting in Short Hills, New Jersey Thursday.

Excerpt: Planned Parenthood received $542 million in federal funding in 2012. “[N]o matter how great the challenge of opposition,” Obama told the crowd, “Planned Parenthood is not going anywhere.” “It’s not going anywhere today, it’s not going anywhere tomorrow.” (It's going to continue its mission to prevent more of the unfit [minorities] from being born. ~Bob.)

7 Things Every Moderate Muslim Should Believe. By John Hawkins 
Excerpt: So, let's shoulder past both political correctness and "Islamophobia" and have a real discussion about "moderate Muslims." We do hear the phrase "moderate Muslim" tossed around a lot; so isn't it about time that someone actually takes a crack at defining what it means? As a non-Muslim, I consider someone to be a "moderate Muslim" if he....

Guns, Bombs and Government. By John C. Goodman 
Excerpt: In fact, none of the bills being considered in Congress would have prevented a single mass shooting in recent years, had they been law at the time of these incidents. Meanwhile, residents of Watertown, Massachusetts — sequestered in their homes while one of the Boston Marathon bombers roamed their neighborhood — can be thankful Congress is slow to act. Under some proposals, it would have been illegal for a Watertown homeowner to lend a gun to his neighbor, or even to a member of his own household, for self-protection!

Jailed jihad terrorists to be set free in weeks
Excerpt: The ringleader of a Birmingham terror cell who plotted a suicide bombing campaign in the UK may never be released, a judge warned on Friday. (Now this is how you fight terror. Show jihadis love and understanding. Don't let them ever have a motive to call you an islamophobe. Be a dhimmi. Feed the alligator and be eaten last. --Don Hank)

Russia detains 140 in Moscow on suspicion of Islamic extremism
Excerpt: Russian police and security agents detained 140 people at a mosque in Moscow on Friday on suspicion of involvement with Islamic extremism. (Whoa, there! I know what you're thinking, but these people didn't know each other. They were 140 lone wolves. They just happened to feel lonely and decided to find each other. Any violence they may have plotted was work place violence. That's it: 140 Russians going postal. Put that in the official report. Don Hank)

Exclusive: FBI Informant Claims Taliban Members Are Living In America
Excerpt: “I am an informant and all I can tell you is that Talibans are walking freely right here in the soil of America right now, right now.” That’s the haunting worry of South Floridian David Mahmood Siddiqui.

Exclusive: Government doc shows how closely Boston Marathon bombers followed al Qaeda plans
Excerpt: A detailed analysis of the bombs used at the Boston Marathon and during a firefight between the suspects and law enforcement shows how closely the bombmakers followed instructions from the digital al Qaeda magazine “Inspire,” according to a government document obtained by NBC News. (Can't be true. The knee pad media assured us pressure cooker bombs were the signature of right wing extremists. ~Bob.)

Obama's scrub of all mention of Islam from counterterror training materials under fire after Boston jihad bombings
Excerpt: CAIR deserves some credit for this -- they mounted a huge campaign in 2010 to have me dropped as a trainer of FBI agents. Others responsible for the politically correct scrubbing of counterterror training materials of any mention of Islam or jihad include hard-Left pseudo-journalist Spencer Ackerman, who published a series of "exposes" of "Islamophobic" counterterror training; Fatima Khera, who wrote a letter to John Brennan demanding that this material be removed; Brennan, who readily acquiesced to this demand; and Salam al-Marayati, who piled on in the mainstream media. They got what they wanted: the scrubbing of counter-terror training materials of the truth about Islam and jihad. Now in Boston, we have begun reaping the fruit of this.

Feds Further Investigating Role of Bomber's Wife: Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva notified husband that the FBI had released his picture.
Excerpt: According to those officials, Dzokhar Tsarnaev told interrogators that the information that set in motion the series of events leading to Tamerlan’s death and Dzokhar’s apprehension came in a phone call from Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva to her husband. (Note also that when his picture and his brother's was released, no one from the Islamic Society of Boston contacted authorities and told them the bombers' identities.--Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org.)

"Terrorist" axe, knife and arson attack kills 21 in China's Xinjiang
Excerpt: A confrontation involving axes, knives, at least one gun and ending with the burning down of a house left 21 people dead in China's troubled far-west region of Xinjiang, a government spokeswoman said on Wednesday, calling it a "terrorist attack". .... Hou did not name any group, but China has blamed previous attacks in energy-rich Xinjiang - strategically located on the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Central Asia - on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent East Turkestan.

Krauthammer on 'Red Line': 'What’s At Stake Here Is Whether Anything This President Now Says Is Believable"
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/04/25/krauthammer-syria-what-s-stake-here-whether-anything-president-now-sa#ixzz2RWMLcN8N
Excerpt: With the revelation that Syrian President Bashir al-Assad has used chemical weapons on his people, folks on both sides of the aisle are wondering if Barack Obama will keep his word that this is the red line that if crossed would require American action. On Fox News's Special Report, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said Thursday, "What’s at stake here is whether anything that this president now says is believable around the world. (Never was, doc. ~Bob.)

NYTimes Confirms: Massive Fraud At USDA In Pigford; Breitbart Vindicated. By Joel B. Pollak
Excerpt: The New York Times reported Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has likely enabled massive fraud in the Pigford series of legal settlements, in which black, Hispanic, female and Native American farmers have claimed to be victims of past discrimination. The cost of the settlements, which could exceed $4.4 billion, is the result of a process that "became a runaway train, driven by racial politics, pressure from influential members of Congress and law firms that stand to gain more than $130 million in fees," the Times notes.

Excerpt: The Department of Agriculture, via the Mexican government, assures potentially ineligible immigrants that they can still apply for food stamps on behalf of their eligible children without giving information about their immigration status, according to documents released Thursday by Judicial Watch.

Clashes kill 41 in northern Iraq city of Mosul
Excerpt: More than 40 people were reported killed in fighting in a key city in northern Iraq and gunmen took over a town elsewhere in the country Thursday, raising concerns that unrest roiling Sunni areas is spreading. Iraq’s prime minister appealed for calm following three days of violence that has left more than 150 dead.

Death toll in Nigeria shootout with Islamist militants reaches 25
Excerpt: Twenty-five people were killed in a clash between Nigerian security forces and suspected Islamist Boko Haram militants who robbed a bank and attacked a police station in northeastern Yobe state, police said on Friday.

It’s Time To Do Something About Knives. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: Most people don’t think about knives at all. They don’t think about knife culture. They don’t think about what’s wrong with a society that allows anyone to buy a set of Japanese ceramic knives that claim to be able to cut through bone faster than any other knife on earth for only $29.95 plus shipping and handling. They don’t think about the knives until the knives come after them.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev vowed to die for Islam; judge may have prematurely stopped brother's interrogation, sources say
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/25/tamerlan-tsarnaev-vowed-to-die-for-islam-judge-prematurely-stopped-brother/#ixzz2RhRLAY3l
Excerpt: The mother of Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev knew as early as 2011 that her son had been radicalized and sent text messages to family in Russia suggesting he was willing to die for Islam, the FBI told lawmakers this week according to two officials with knowledge of the Capitol Hill briefing.

Domestic terrorist who hoped to "kill as many as possible" says he targeted group because SPLC listed it as a "hate group"
Excerpt: The SPLC, the well-heeled propaganda machine that smears conservatives for cash, is an integral part of the ongoing Leftist effort to demonize and destroy legitimate conservative voices -- like our American Freedom Defense Initiative, which they also classify as a "hate group" -- by lumping them in with the likes of the KKK. The SPLC turns a blind eye to the real hate that comes from the Left and Islamic supremacists, and offers with its hate group listings not only an incitement to violence, but a handy tool that lazy Leftist mainstream media journalists use to try to intimidate people away from supporting our message of human rights. 

The California Assembly passed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the first in the nation to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve on jury duty. Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said his bill, AB1401, would help California widen the pool of prospective jurors and help integrate immigrants into the community. It does not change other criteria for being eligible to serve on a jury, such as being at least 18, living in the county that is making the summons, and being proficient in English. (Let’s get this, sorry, straight. Illegals cannot be put in jail or sent back over the border to their home country but they can come here, vote, get SNAPS, free phones and put US in jail. What is wrong with this picture? --Babr)

Excerpt: More than 100 crucial gauges that warn of imminent flooding or lack of needed water will be shut down starting next month as part of the federal government's automatic budget cuts. Some are in the nine states threatened with spring flooding, U.S. Geological Survey officials said in interviews with The Associated Press. In rivers where flooding is imminent, such as near Fargo, N.D., officials are scrambling to keep needed monitors working and make the cuts elsewhere. (Well, you wouldn't want to cut something important, like White House celebrity concerts, fighter jets for the MB or cash for terrorists in Gaza? ~Bob.)

New Comment on "I'm Tired
The thing that made me happiest about all this comments is the majority of all you Republican rightwing freaks are all old and hopefully very close to death. The problem with this country is all of your selfish asshole selves. So go on with your moronic ramblings and know when you all die America will be a better place. (I know I'm excited and I'm only 17). :) 

Go Navy! US sailor thwarts Dubai bus driver rapist after putting him in strangehold with her thighs and then beating him into submission
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2314631/US-sailor-thwarts-Dubai-bus-driver-rapist-putting-strangehold-thighs-beating-submission.html
Excerpt: An off-duty US navy sailor wrestled a bus driver to the ground and beat him into submission after he attempted to rape her at knife point, a court heard yesterday.

Not All Moslems Are Jihadists - But, Too Many Are. By Rabbi Aryeh Spero
Excerpt: After the shootings at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut, liberals insisted that guns be banned since guns are used to kill. While it is a question whether guns kill or actually the people who pull the trigger, there can be no question that Islamic terrorists do kill, and want to kill. Accordingly, liberals should be the first to demand that we ban from our midst all Islamic terrorists. Right? Well, not exactly.

Five Arrested in Plot to Blow up US Bridge
Excerpt: Five home grown terrorist spawned by the Occupy Wall Street movement arrested in alleged bomb plot in Cleveland area. --MM

George W. Bush is smarter than you. By Keith Hennessey 
Excerpt: One of my students asked “How involved was President Bush with what was going on?” I smiled and responded, “What you really mean is, ‘Was President Bush smart enough to understand what was going on,’ right?” The class went dead silent. Everyone knew that this was the true meaning of the question. Kudos to that student for asking the hard question and for framing it so politely. I had stripped away that decorum and exposed the raw nerve. I looked hard at the 60 MBA students and said “President Bush is smarter than almost every one of you.”

Excerpt: Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security is using roughly 1,000 rounds of ammunition more per person than the U.S. Army, as he and other lawmakers sharply questioned DHS officials on their "massive" bullet buys. (Internet wheel squeaked enough that Congress noted. --Barb)

Big Sis: Obama Admin Can Pick Which Laws to Enforce
Excerpt: During her testimony on the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared that she, President Barack Obama and other political officials at the top of this administration have the authority to decide which laws to enforce, and which ones to ignore. (The idea that executives can pick and choose which laws to enforce utterly flies in the face of the whole concept of a nation of laws. This is intolerable arrogance, plain and simple, from someone who is not remotely embarrassed to make such a claim. Democrat, Republican, Independent, makes no difference. This is an attack on the basis of our society. --Del)

Napolitano: Yes, we knew that Tamerlan Tsarnaev left for Russia last year
Excerpt: First, Jake Tapper’s intelligence sources told him it’s “rare” for the Russians to reach out to the FBI and ask them to investigate someone. If that’s true, why didn’t the feds take more of an interest in Tamerlan? Second, notwithstanding America’s “frosty” relations with Russia, since when is U.S. intelligence kinda sorta disinterested in tracking jihadis just because they’re probably more likely to strike elsewhere than here?

Janet Napolitano’s Major Admission: Saudi Student Was Put On Watchlist

Excerpt: Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano admitted Tuesday that a Saudi national once identified as a “person of interest” in the Boston Marathon bombings was put on a terror watchlist after the attack….Napolitano firmly responded: “He was not on a watchlist. What happened is — this student was, really when you back it out, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

The D-Word. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Deportation has become a near-taboo word. Yet the recent Boston bombings inevitably rekindle old questions about the way the U.S. admits, or at times deports, foreign nationals. Despite the Obama administration's politically driven and cyclical claims of deporting either a lot more or a lot fewer non-citizens, no one knows how many are really being sent home -- for a variety of reasons.

France: Muslim screaming "Allahu akbar" slashes rabbi's throat; authorities searching for motive
Excerpt: Here's your motive, geniuses: Muhammad said that “the last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him” (Sahih Muslim 6985).

Charts: How Much Danger Do We Face From Homegrown Jihadist Terrorists? | Mother Jones
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/charts-domestic-terrorism-jihadist-boston-tsarnaev
Tries to make the case that home grown right wing extremists are responsible for more terror plots than jihadists, and then go on to say that the largest number was left wing extremists in the 70s. Please explain. --George